trouble - evnne

21

When Minseoung cautiously stepped through the void within the box, he suddenly began plummeting down, not even given a second to try to cling to the exterior of the box. Junhyun immediately went after him, as did Keonhee after ensuring Woojin was right behind him.

They expected to land heavily and perhaps break a couple bones, but were delighted and relieved to be relatively unharmed and entirely intact when they did meet solid ground. And when they finally regained their bearing and got to their feet, they were, yet again, met with an enchanting sight.

Merely a couple feet before them was a beautiful ornate golden gate, reaching high and spanning endlessly. Behind the gate was a plain, sandy ground, with a strange, dark blue mass sealed behind the gate, as though there was a filter. At the foot of the gate was a metal plaque which read "Aquaphobia".

"What fear is this?" Keonhee asked, tilting his head as he thought.

"The fear of drowning," Minseoung replied immediately, shifting nervously.

"You?" Junhyun asked, pointing at Minseoung as his eyes darted between him and Keonhee, the only two options now. The oldest hunter made a face but sighed, nodding.

"Wait, why didn't you mention it?"

Minseoung fidgeted uncomfortably, before saying softly, "Didn't want to look weak."

"But...you went into the ice dungeon," Woojin said, "Even after Hanbin broke the ice, you didn't even freak out."

"How could I? They needed us in there."

The other three stayed silent, in awe of his courage, so Minseoung shook his head and turned to look at the gate. "We have to go in, there's probably no other choice. And I suspect it will feel like we're submerged in water."

"We'll be alright," Junhyun suddenly reached over to squeeze Minseoung's hand, a surprisingly tender gesture, "We will be right by you."

Sucking in a shaky breath, Minseoung nodded, grateful for his member's comfort, then Keonhee gave the gate a good tug to open it and through the gate they went.

"This is weird," Keonhee cheerfully remarked, taking good care to keep checking up on Minseoung, "Feels like there's water up to my neck." The hunter also noted how they all sounded a little muffled and far-away.

"Feels like we're walking in water too," Woojin wrinkled his nose, dragging his leg forward as an invisible force worked against him.

Minseoung had his eyes tightly screwed up, his full concentration on taking slow, deep breaths in.

For fun, Junhyun experimentally released a small burst of ice, eyebrows flicking up when, rather than sinking down as gravity took hold, remained suspended in the air. And, startlingly, the ice started to grow, spread around.

"Junhyun, that's not funny," Keonhee chided, thinking the older was purposely manipulating the ice. Junhyun blinked, "I'm not doing anything."

Minseoung's breath hitched slightly as the realisation dawned on them simultaneously.

"Huh," Woojin suddenly remarked, cutting into their slowly-growing panic, "Did you guys notice that just now?" Woojin had turned around to study the golden gate they had entered from, his gaze drawn up to stare at the swirling decorative arches right at the top of the gate.

"Shit," Junhyun swore, immediately turning to herd a frozen (not literally) Minseoung off, whose widened eyes were fixed on the arches now. Glistening in an elegant font, almost mockingly, was a timer, golden seconds slipping by the more they watched it.

"Less than fifteen minutes and no end in sight!" Keonhee tried to keep his voice light and cheerful but they all quickened their pace as much as they could through the resistance of the water they could not see. But Keonhee was right, the countdown was terrifyingly short but all they could see around them was the deep dark blue that may very well turn into real water which will undeniably drown them.

"I'm gonna do something," Junhyun announced vaguely (again), dropping to the ground with his hands splayed out.

"What are you-"

To answer Minseoung's question, Junhyun's lifted swiftly, and from where his palms were placed where two thick poles of ice that shot upwards, and occasionally a thinner rod would connect the two in the middle.

"A ladder?" Keonhee wrinkled his nose, "Are you crazy?"

"Yes," Junhyun said, confirming both his mental instability as well as his choice to create the icy structure. "We gotta move up. If we don't move upwards, we are going to drown at the bottom of their weird ocean."

"Thanks for the reminder, man," Minseoung grumbled out uneasily, wrapping his hand tentatively around a ladder rung.

"As we move up, we should try to make it move too," Woojin mused, watching as the ice crackled and formed in bizarre spiky shapes reminiscent of snowflakes.

"Leader first," Junhyun offered jokingly, but his eyes were gentle. With a soft nod, Minseoung heaved himself up, scaling quickly to give them space, as he reached the tip of the ladder, he continued to extend it himself. Right at the bottom, Junhyun was working to move the entire ladder upwards, while the other two focused on enhancing the strength of the ladder to work against the water.

The climb was tedious, the sound of water sloshing about ferociously terrified Minseoung, but he kept his eyes fixed above, knowing full well that if he even peeked at the timer, he would lose his cool. Junhyun, on the other hand, was periodically checking the timer, lightly chewing on his lip as the minutes trickled away.

But above them, seemed to be a light source. The blue all around them became lighter, suggesting that they were reaching the surface.

And suddenly, it was though they had broken through the surface of a choppy sea, Minseoung gasped in a mouthful of clear salty air, as his arms bobbed on the waves of the sea. A quick look down confirmed that the others were still climbing but close behind, so Minseoung decided to start working on something solid for them to be on.

As ice crept across the water, thickening to withstand the movement of the waves, Minseoung carefully pulled himself onto it, right as Woojin emerged, hair sprinkling water as he shook his head. Once Minseoung hauled Woojin up, Keonhee followed immediately, looking relaxed. The final S-class hunter popped up excitedly, immediately entranced with the mesmerising view.

"We're in the sea!" Keonhee said all too happily as his head whipped around, catching a glimpse of the horizon all around.

"More water," Woojin lamented, but Junhyun chimed in, "No, look there. A little island, isn't that cute?"

"Not to burst your bubble, Keonhee," Minseoung said, "But all three of us have had our fears. You are aware that you'll be next, right?"

Keonhee's shoulders sagged lightly, but he tried to shrug it off, "Don't worry about me. So, are we gonna paddle over there or are we making a path?"