Until We Become Untethered (The Forever Pirates) #3

Seonghwa

I felt... I was weak.

Empty.

All of my rage had been expelled for some time, and now all that was left was a feeling of emptiness. Especially as more time passed from that event, I felt tired.

My anger for Hongjoong still existed, just as his anger for me. But being around him was a different type of agony. Even if I avoided him like the plague, his presence was there. And I was always reminded of it.

Everything I fought so hard to get rid of. His scent, his touch, his voice, everything was gnawing at my brain. Torturing me.

Forgiveness was not what I felt for him, but it wasn't the same level of extreme hatred, either. He was now the captain, and not a single person on this ship had that respect for him. I gave him a terrible position to have. A captain with no loyal followers. They do it out of obligation and no respect. After burning down his home.

I wasn't....sorry. I wouldn't go as far as to say that. But there was a slight regret to my actions. What I did to him was irreversible, I watched as his eye darkened. In a very real and terrifying way, his eye turned to pitch black, like it cut out all of the humanity he had.

MM was furious even if she wouldn't admit it. She made the curse with the possibility of it being broken, even if she didn't believe it could. She tried to help him, and in the end, she even hoped for it so he could be put out of his misery.

I knew that, and I still did it. I knew his illness and torment, and I still chose to break the cromer.

I didn't see much of his reaction as I had walked away after making him captain, but I heard from Yunho that he stayed there on his knees for hours, staring at the remains.

I sighed, walking towards the cabin. If there was a reason, I had not made it known to myself. I usually didn't, surviving on impulse for most things in life. I grabbed the door, opened it, and walked in -

Everything melted around me, showing a very familiar home entrance. I spun around, processing my surroundings while reaching for the doorhandle, and then it was gone in an instant. 

I felt chills along my spine, dread gripping my gut.

"You failed." A sultry voice said, speaking in my ear like a snake. "You were supposed to kill him, and yet he is alive. Would you like to explain that to me, Seonghwa?"

I slowly turned around, meeting the witch once again. "Things changed."

She smiled at me, but there was no warmth, no kindness in her eyes. I had not met a colder person in my life. Like she was carved from ice.

"I told you, I'd get what I needed from you in the future. Make no mistake, Seonghwa. I will get what I need."

"And that's Hongjoong's death?" It was such a weird question because I bristled with the slightest need to protect him. Protect Hongjoong? The one man I wanted to kill for nearly a decade. Protect him? But that is how I felt.

"My daughter is with you." She changed the subject, her eyes shifting from me. "Sympathetic for the man she doomed for eternity. Seems as if the story is repeating itself. Is it repeating itself, Seonghwa? Are you sympathizing for the man who doomed you? Now? After you ruined his one chance of freedom?"