Eight makes one crew

The Black Swan 2

Someone was always awake. There has to be one person awake in order to alert the others if anything happened. In addition to this, there was a warning bell on the second upper deck, where the wheel was. Hongjoong always tried to be the one to take this post but on occasion, when he was so tired that he couldn't stand, one of the others took over.

Yunho was pulled out of his deep sleep by the sound of a bell ringing in the distance. He recognized it immediately and jumped out of bed, throwing on a shirt and his boots and running up to the main deck.

"What is that?!" Mingi stumbled up the stairs, still half asleep. 

"The bell. Why did you ring it?" Hongjoong cornered San, demanding an explanation. San just pointed in the distance. Hongjoong groaned and gave a loud shout of anger. He was getting tired of this.

"Why can't they just leave us alone?! Seongwha, get the others up and grab your sword. I'm afraid of how this will go" Hongjoong ordered. Seongwha barely made it two steps before someone swung down from a rope and landed on the Ateez. He was followed by two more and Seongwha could see a few other people on the larger ship.

"What do you want?!" Hongjoong put a hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it. The rest of the crew came running up, weapons drawn and ready to defend their ship.

"Ooh! He's so tiny!" The first guy squealed, looking Hongjoong over. His sword stayed where it was and he didn't seem to be wanting to fight. The same could not be said for the other two.

"He could slice you to pieces!" Wooyoung retorted. Hongjoong stayed quiet. He didn't even scold Wooyoung for the comment.

"Yes! I think so, if what we've heard about the old Kim's son is true, I believe that" The boy nodded, moving closer to the captain. Hongjoong drew his sword. Wooyoung, Yunho and Jongho flanked their captain, moving like a well oiled machine. Yeosang, Seongwha, San and Mingi took a more spaced out formation, all eight of them prepared for a fight.

"JK! Give it a rest" Four more people jumped down, boarding the smaller ship.

"But Joon! Look at him, this is him!" JK pointed at Hongjoong.

"And the rumors are true. Now back off before you cause him to feed us all to the sharks" Hongjoong had to guess this was the Captain, judging by the authority he held.

"Besides, we're outmatched and we didn't come here to fight. That's too much work" The shorter one, with the face of a cat, added on.

"Sorry about him" Joon smiled in what he hoped was a welcoming manner.

"If you didn't come here to fight, then why have you been following us?" Jongho wondered.

"To see him" One of the first three raised his sword, pointing it at Hongjoong. And just like that, a fight broke out.

"Ugh! Tae, seriously?! Now we have to fight" The one who had been complaining before reluctantly drew his sword and took a fighting stance. Before anything could happen, Joon brought a hand up to his mouth and whistled long and loud.

"Enough! All of you, fall back!" He ordered, turning to his crew. They reluctantly, and joyously, sheathed their weapons and fell into a straight line.

"I know you're suspicious of us and you have every right to be. But your father died two years ago. My name is Namjoon. I'm the Captain of this ship" Namjoon held his hand out to Hongjoong, who shook it somewhat nervously.

"Do I know you?" Hongjoong questioned. Something about this man was vaguely familiar.

"Probably not. But I'm your cousin"

________________
Wooyoung kept his arms crossed, glaring at the Black Swan crew. He wasn't sure why Hongjoong had let them stay.

"Your father knew that he was getting older so he tracked me down. I was still in an orphanage at the time, working for my stay. That's how I met these guys. After you were gone, he needed someone to take over the ship and so he chose me, knowing what I had been like. I'm not proud of my past but it got me this ship and I've been trying to do better than I used to. I wanted to give the Black Swan a better reputation so I released the whole crew and let them return to their families. You probably wouldn't even recognize it" Namjoon explained, spilling his whole story. Wooyoung didn't think any of that was true. He motioned for Hongjoong to follow him outside the room.

"Please don't tell me you actually believe anything he's saying?" Wooyoung whispered, keeping his voice low to keep any one else from hearing. The rest of the Ateez crew joined them.

"I don't know how true any of what he is saying is, but it wouldn't do any good to turn them away. The last thing we need is to be enemies with the Black Swan" Hongjoong pointed out.

"So you want to be friends with them?! After everything!?" Wooyoung glared at Hongjoong.

"Maybe not friends but it wouldn't hurt to have allies" Hongjoong shook his head. Wooyoung couldn't believe it.

"And what happens if he's just lying? What if we trust them and end up getting killed or captured?" Seongwha piped in.

"We escaped once. We'll do it again" Hongjoong reminded them. And with that, they went back into the Captain's quarters.

"We should be going back soon. I just thought you would want to know that your father is no longer the Captain" Namjoon stood up, motioning for his crew to do the same.

"It was nice seeing you again. I hope the Ateez and Black Swan can be allies, if not friends" Hongjoong held his hand out for a handshake this time.

"If you ever need us, the Swan will be there to help" Namjoon promised. "And once again, I apologize for my guys. They've been eager to meet you for almost a year now. JK has been more eager to meet actual royalty as well. We don't see the Princes out here very often" Namjoon tipped his hat to the four princes and then took his leave, cutting the rope between the Swan and the Ateez. Hongjoong turned around to talk to his guys, specifically Yunho, Wooyoung and Jongho. Wooyoung stormed off, slamming the door to his and San's room.

"Why would you trust them?" Yunho questioned, looking like a kicked puppy. Jongho stayed quiet, arms crossed and staring into the distance. Yeosang went to him, putting a hand on Jongho's shoulder. The younger turned to him and wrapped Yeosang into a hug, his shoulders shaking softly.

It was good to have allies, Hongjoong knew that, but the one thing more important than having allies was having the trust of his crew. And he may have just lost it due to his decision to trust his cousin.