Safety and stability. That’s what every single living thing strives for. Whether it be a plant, animal, or human, they all search for it. A life with balance, for things to continue at an equilibrium.

With this mindset, one would assume that such an environment would come from a physical place. Somewhere that stays in one area and can act as a home to shelter one from the dangers of this world. But what if there was another way to go about this? What if such a secure state could be found within something else?

After his grandma’s funeral, Chan hadn’t been the same. It had happened again. He had lost another family member in his life.

While walking through his grandma’s house, he lightly brushed his fingers against the various trinkets on her shelf. There was a small bird decoration made of glass, a few rocks and crystals arranged in a neat manner, and a box Chan dared not to open. When his grandma was alive, she was very strict about Chan and his siblings touching her wand. Being a green witch herself, she had been very strict about magic. Since her house was right next to a very urban area, one slip up could have gotten them all killed.

But even so, the lady was drawn to plants like a moth to a flame. Her gardening skills were extremely impressive, and while Chan’s sister tried her best to keep the plants alive, it didn’t look nearly as bright as when his grandmother used to take care of it.

Chan flopped on the couch and stared at his laptop on the coffee table. He’s been stuck lately. After High School he never really saw a purpose in pursuing any higher education and getting some boring human job. His heart was naturally drawn to music. Every single sound, rhythm, and beat gave Chan life. He truly felt most alive when he listened to music, and especially when making his own.

He had remembered the day when he figured out what kind of witch he was. Usually the average witch shows their speciality at around 12 years of age, but it could come to them at any other age too, it just wasn’t as common. Chan was living in Sydney when he was 12. There was one night where he couldn’t sleep, and snuck downstairs to sit next to the window and watch the rain pour outside. The calming yet strong sound of the water hitting the ground was almost musical to him. He decided to tap his hand against the table, humming along to a melody that he had made up on the spot. And that’s when it happened. Chan felt a slight rush of the most euphoric sensation he had ever experienced. His soul felt powerful, and his body was urging to release his newfound energy, his fingers tingling with mana.

Back in the present, Chan frowned. He felt trapped. Why be born with such abilities that he can never use? It happened everywhere. Almost everything was like music to Chan. The world was his own personal symphony, and Chan could feel the magic bubble inside of him whenever he heard the beautiful tunes, urging to be released into some sort of action. But Chan couldn’t. He wouldn’t want to put him or his siblings in danger. Especially after what happened to his parents all those years ago.

His Mom had been coming home from work one day when she suddenly got attacked by someone late at night. Panicking and letting her instincts take over, her fire magic seeped out and she burned the aggressor’s hands before escaping. One thing led to another, and a few days later a whole army of soldiers broke into their house and killed his mother.

Chan preferred not to remember that day, but from what he could recall, him and his younger brother and sister were in their room scared out of their minds. Chan had barely entered his teen years, but being the oldest child, he held his siblings while they listened to the screams and ruckus outside. Then, the floor beneath them started to glow white. A circle on the ground surrounded them, and inside the circle was some ancient symbol that drew itself into completion. He remembered clutching his siblings tight while feeling light-headed, and then blacked out.

When he woke up, they were outside his grandma’s house all the way in South Korea. Showing up unannounced like that, his grandma made a fuss once she saw them through the window, and instantly took them in. It was a tough situation for everyone, and his grandma had explained most likely that his Dad had teleported his children all the way to her place. But such a spell would have taken a lot of energy teleporting one person, let alone three people. Whatever happened back in Sydney, Chan knew his parents were long gone.

Chan sat up on the couch and opened up his laptop. There were many unpolished drafts on there just waiting to be turned into full on projects. But there in the dull, lifeless house that his grandma used to own was not the environment he would have liked to do it in.

He checked the grandfather clock on the other side of the room, seeing it was 12:47 a.m.. His brother and sister were both in bed, but of course Chan was up because of his insomnia. He was getting restless, desperately wanting to work on another track but not being in the right state of mind nor place to do it. He needed to go somewhere, a place where he could clear his head and work more diligently.

Hyunjin casted a water breathing spell before fully submerging his body into the sea, like he had done countless times before. Summer was just around the corner, meaning that the water felt a little cold against Hyunjin’s skin. But he didn’t mind. He’d always had a deep connection with this particular sea. It was the only place he’d ever known, he had grown up there his whole life.

His family is the main reason why he stayed. Not knowing what happened to his real parents, Hyunjin for as long as he could remember had been raised by seven mermen. They were all really compassionate, but strange creatures. Hyunjin saw them all as his brothers, practically raising Hyunjin even though he wasn’t a merman.

The sea witch walked deeper into the sea, strolling through the sandy floor. He had gone to the beach earlier that morning before the humans came around, but he’d always leave early enough where he wouldn’t run into any. After a short walk, Hyunjin approached the underwater civilization his brothers lived in. Hyunjin himself couldn’t stay underwater forever like they could, but he could easily manage staying down there for a few hours.

Before Hyunjin could even approach the house, Yugyeom busted through the door and quickly swam out. He gave Hyunjin a mischievous grin before continuing to book it. Then the witch turned his head to the door frame where he saw an angry Jaebum panting, his chin sticking forward and everything.

“Why that little— Oh hey Hyunjin, you’re back early,” Jeabum said as soon as he noticed him.

Hyunjin gave a polite smile but then looked in the direction of where Yugyeom swam off to. “Let me guess, him and BamBam are up to something again?” Hyunjin snickered.

“Yup. Those two never grow up. And that’s why you’re my favorite Hyunjin,” Jaebum smiled.

Hyunjin heard a fake gasp coming from inside the house and watched as Youngjae stepped out and stood next to Jaebum. “Okay, that really hurt hyung,” Youngjae whined.

The older rolled his eyes, a smile etching on his face. “I can have multiple favorites.”

Lunch was eaten with the background noise of the TV playing. Jackson kept cracking jokes and telling stories about his family last week when he went to visit them, and Mark nearly choked on his food every time he tried to hold in his laughter. Hyunjin quietly sat next to Jinyoung, just taking in everything and enjoying the noodles the older cooked for everyone.

“Hyunjin-ah, how has your magic been?” Jinyoung asked.

Hyunjin shrugged, “I’ve been trying my best. I don’t know a lot of spells but those books I got from the library have been teaching me well.”

“That’s good. Be careful about practicing it on the beach. It’s a shame I can’t come there with you all the time and watch over you,” Jinyoung sighed.

Jinyoung was basically Hyunjin’s main caretaker. When he was little, he used to idolize him so much, looking at him like some sort of celebrity. Over time, Hyunjin had gotten accustomed with his hyung’s personality and no longer saw him as invincible, but Jinyoung still showered Hyunjin with love and brotherly advice.

Hyunjin put his empty bowl down and looked at Jinyoung. “Hyung, I’m 20 years old now. I’m sure whatever happens, I can handle it myself.”

Jinyoung just smiled and pushed back some of Hyunjin’s hair out of his face. “When did my favorite child become so grown up?” He cooed.

A snort could be heard across the table. “Gosh, you and Jaebum hyung are so whipped for him,” BamBam laughed.

“Well maybe if you didn’t take so many random pictures of me and used it as blackmail I would treat you a little better,” Jaebum grumbled.

Yugyeom and BamBam just high-fived each other under the table with proud smiles mirroring each other’s.

After dinner, Hyunjin would soon have to go up for air again. The sea witch usually had a spot away from the main beach where no human ever goes. It was behind some rocks, and it was the perfect place for Hyunjin to relax and do whatever he felt like.

But things weren’t all perfect. While leaning against a rock and reading his magic book, he couldn’t help but let his mind wander. Being a sea witch, he always felt out of place with his seven brothers. Of course he loved them, but they were different from Hyunjin. They had beautiful merman tails that glistened metallic shades of all sorts of colors in the light. They swam around and spent all their time in the water. Hyunjin felt a little left out. He always stayed because the sea was safe. Because his hyungs were there. But even with his deep connection with the sea, he couldn’t help but feel like he was destined for something else. He had to have some greater purpose, but he had no clue what it could be. He’d never met another witch before, not even another sea witch. The only clues he had to his identity were the books he got from the library. Through the small collection of books they had, he was able to pick up a few spells and tricks as a witch. But even so, he hadn’t the slightest idea of what he was truly capable of.

Chan looked up at the bright white moon in the sky, casting down a glimmering light across the water. The beach’s sand was white, feeling cold as Chan picked some up in his hand and let it run down and fall between his fingers. He took a deep breath.

The sounds around him were like a gentle melody in his ear. He could hear the splashing of water against the rocks, the steady rhythm of the waves, and the occasional splashes coming from the water that abruptly hit the edge of the beach.

Chan drew closer to the water, laptop held snugly against his side. The dark night sky was clear, full of stars and constellations of all types. A gentle breeze carried a whiff of the salty air to Chan’s nose.

Once he found a good spot that was a comfortable distance away from the water, he sat down on the soft sand, not caring about his black ripped jeans getting dirty.

He hummed a melody as he started up his laptop, finding this place the perfect environment to work on a song. He knew coming out here for inspiration would be good for him. Why he worked best at such ungodly hours was something that always puzzled a part of him, but it’s not like he could ever sleep anyway.

Hyunjin could hear faint humming coming from the beach. He panicked. He had gone to an area closer to the beach because never before had he ever seen or heard anyone else at this late of an hour. Is that a human? What would a human be doing out in the middle of the night?

He peeked out from behind a rock and saw someone sitting down in front of the sea. He had a head full of light blonde curls. His black headphones that were connected to his laptop blocked his hearing from the rest of the world, completely immersed in whatever he was listening to. Hyunjin could make out a slight smile on the man’s face, one of content. How Hyunjin was curious about that smile.

Despite Chan looking like any other human Hyunjin has seen before, there was something odd about him. Through his connection with the sea and the man’s close proximity with the water, Hyunjin couldn’t sense such an energy coming from him. His energy was peculiar, almost familiar to Hyunjin’s senses.

The sea witch furrowed his eyebrows, already hearing the warnings his hyungs would give him about approaching such a person sitting on the beach. His head was filled with worst case scenarios, his body wanting to go back into the water, back to safety. But in that moment, he did something for the first time in his life. He took a chance.

Chan was about to play with the different pitch settings of a music sample when he heard footsteps. His ears immediately focused on the person approaching him, but he didn’t look up from his screen just yet. Instead he just sat there, listening to the gradual crescendo coming from the other’s steps across the white sand.

Chan took off his headphones and set them to the side, eyes moving from the black shadow on the ground up to the figure. His skin was slightly sun-kissed and his eyes lit up in the moonlight. He had a delicate mole placed near his eye, plump lips, and a confused look on his ethereal-seeming face.

“What are you doing?” The other finally asked after a moment of peaceful silence.

Instead of replying right away, Chan just did what he always did when he encountered another being that interested him, he listened to their sound. Everything had a sound, and it didn’t have to be musical. Like some people can see auras, Chan’s abilities were similar in the way that he could hear how a person would carry themself.

This man was not human, he could pick up on that. This tall male sounded nearly identical to the waves of the sea behind him. He must have some deep spiritual connection with the body of water, otherwise Chan would have detected maybe some other sound.

The music witch titled his head slightly. “What are you doing?” He questioned back.

Hyunjin was immediately taken back. Okay this man is kinda weird. Maybe I should just go away-

“Just walking,” Hyunjin said nonchalantly. He must have been getting bolder by the minute, because he just answered without thinking about the words spilling out of his mouth.

The curled blonde let out a soft hum, sounding like he wasn’t too convinced by Hyunjin’s answer. But it seemed he chose to not press forward.

“Are you... working on something?” Hyunjin asked him while pointing to his laptop.

Chan nodded, looking at the sea witch in front of him. “I work best at night. And being here is good inspiration for my latest song.”

“So you’re a music producer?”

“Something like that,” Chan shrugged. He reached out a hand, holding it out in Hyunjin’s direction.

“I’m Bang Chan by the way. What’s your name?” He asked.

Hyunjin awkwardly shook hands with him, the custom being too human for him. “I’m Hyunjin. Hwang Hyunjin,” He answered.

Chan patted a spot next to him on the sand and grinned at the sea witch. “Wanna sit down? I could really use a second opinion on this track.”

Hyunjin ran a hand through his long blonde locks and debated on whether or not he should stay with the stranger. He could be dangerous for all he knew.

“Please Hyunjin?” Chan asked again, this time having a more playful tone in his voice.

The sea witch snickered a little, he almost sounded like his brother BamBam. “Sure, why not?” Hyunjin gave in.

The two witches had been meeting up with each other every other night. Usually after midnight so Chan could sneak out of the house without his younger siblings questioning him. Hyunjin would ask Chan lots of questions about being a witch and what things were like on the surface, while Chan would ask Hyunjin what he thought about his music. To Chan’s surprise, Hyunjin had a pretty good ear for it. The sea witch had explained that people in his family would sing and rap all the time around him, but Hyunjin himself had never studied or practiced music.

“Why’d you bring a microphone hyung?” Hyunjin asked one day while they sat on the beach. Learning from the first time he came, Chan brought a blanket to lay on the beach as well as some snacks and beverages from the surface for Hyunjin to try for the first time. Hyunjin was currently sipping an americano and eating some jelly candies.

“I brought a microphone because we’re going to be recording ourselves singing and rapping the lyrics,” Chan grinned.

“Us?” Hyunjin questioned. Hyunjin helped Chan in the creative process a few times, but this was nothing like that at all. Hyunjin was worried. He’d never tried anything like this before.

“Yeah, us,” Chan chuckled while bumping shoulders with Hyunjin, “I really feel like your voice will compliment the song. The beach is not my preferred location to record, but we’ll make it work.”

Before Hyunjin could express his doubts and concerns out loud, Chan already put his headphones over Hyunjin’s ears, pulled up the lyrics, and instructed Hyunjin on what to do. At first Hyunjin was frozen and Chan had to give him reassurance and let him try again. But after gathering a little bit of courage, Hyunjin sang. And his voice was extraordinary.

A few days after Chan finally finished the song, they listened to it together. Hyunjin did the vocal parts while Chan did the rapping and some background vocals. He was proud of himself, but especially proud of Hyunjin.

The sea witch smiled when they listened to the finished song once more, and he started to get up on his feet. “Well now that you’re finished, I guess you won’t really need me anymore.”

Chan’s smile slowly started to drop. “Won’t be needing you anymore? What makes you think that?”

“Well I helped you with your song, and even though you’re really nice to me, I’m not sure what else I could help you with,” The sea witch shrugged.

Chan got up on his feet too and looked the taller in the eyes. “Now hold on there. I’m not spending time with you just because I need your help. I spend time with you because I want to be your friend. I like talking with you and seeing you.”

Hyunjin pursed his lips and his gaze quickly went over to the sea. Although he and his seven brothers got along, he had never really had any friends or close relationships outside of them. The other merpeople usually avoided Hyunjin, sea witches in general having a not so nice stigma around them. But he was used to it, and his brothers made sure to treat Hyunjin like they would treat any other merperson. But never in his life did Hyunjin have such a person like Chan. A person that reached out and wanted to be his friend.

“Oh my god, are you tearing up? Hyunjinnie, I’m so sorry,” Chan apologized when he saw how glassy the other’s eyes were. He went in for a hug, wrapping the younger’s torso in his arms. Hyunjin didn’t look down at Chan, instead he just stared off at the sea. Through his tears, Hyunjin smiled. There was a warmth inside his body that felt new, but comforting to him.

Hyunjin let out a weak laugh. “It’s okay hyung. I’m just happy.”

Notes:

Idk why but in my opinion, I feel like Chan and Hyunjin’s friendship is grossly underrated in real life. So I decided to make it more of the main focus in this chapter :)

Deep in a cave behind a wall of vines, there lies a deep pool of water. To the average eye, nothing about it would look abnormal. But once you clear your mind and jump into the bright blue water, an entire different realm awaits you on the other side.

The safe realm, as the residents called it, was a place tucked into a small pocket of the dimension. A space on Earth that wasn’t directly attached. And there in that safe realm lived magical creatures of all types, freedom for all who lived there. Ever since humans took over Earth, any other creature that could serve a potential threat to them would be killed in an instant. That’s when a few creatures found out about the portal inside the cave. It led to the perfect place to hide, the perfect place to build a new life. Those who found out about it and entered the safe realm were able to continue their lives. The realm was almost a parallel to the planet, from its waters to its earthly materials.

Present day...

“Mark. Haechan. For the last time, I am a divination witch. I run a fortune telling service, not a couple's therapy. You two are just wasting your time and your money,” Jeongin sighed, burying his face in his palms.

The two had come into Jeongin’s house bickering something about their relationship. Jeongin was in the middle of meditating and the interruption really set him off, especially because the couple didn’t even make an appointment first. But Jeongin decided to be nice since he wasn’t seeing anyone else later that day. Unfortunately, all Jeongin got out of helping them was 30 gold coins and a migraine.

Haechan huffed dramatically. “Well you’ve got to have at least something! There’s really nothing more you can tell us about me and Mark’s future together? I don’t even know if he loves me,” He said while pointing a finger at Mark.

“Oh my god, we’ve been dating for two years,” Mark groaned and shot a glare at his boyfriend.

“Yeah, and I regret every second of those two years! And don’t think I didn’t notice that my hairbrush was missing this morning. You used it, didn’t you?”

“I did not touch your hairbrush, Donghyuck,” Mark said while sticking out his tongue at the other.

“Don’t call me that you Canadian freak!”

Jeongin had had enough. He levitated his tarot cards into a neat stack and put them back in their wooden box. Then he stood up from his table and went to the door, opening it.

“If you two don’t get out right now so help me I will call one of my friends to hex you both!” He yelled.

The couple reluctantly walked out of Jeongin’s house and mumbled something about him “overreacting” which really made the witch’s blood boil, but he was too done to say anything.

Before Jeongin could close the door a foot blocked it from closing. Jeongin threw open the door again and almost smacked the person before he realized who it was.

“Woah Jeonginnie, why do you look like you’re ready to commit homicide?” Seungmin asked while putting his hands up in defense.

The younger’s posture slumped and without saying a word, he just turned around and laid himself on his couch, burying his head in a pillow and letting out a high pitched dolphin scream. Seungmin closed the door behind him and went over to the younger, sitting down on the couch near his feet.

“I just came to visit you but if I knew you were in a bad mood, I would’ve picked a different day,” Seungmin said.

“No, it’s not you,” Jeongin mumbled while throwing the pillow to the side, “just some stupid customers.”

“Oh yeah, I saw Mark and Haechan walking out when I got here. They got their fortune told?”

“No! They barged in here arguing about nothing and wanted me to answer all these detailed questions about their future. It was so ridiculous!” Jeongin ranted.

“Jeez, that makes being in a relationship sound terrible. Glad I’ve never been in one. I wanna stay single forever. Especially now since my art career is making a lot of progress.”

Jeongin straightened himself up and looked at Seungmin with a genuine smile. “That’s good to hear. I’ll go make you some tea since you came all this way to visit.”

While Jeongin worked on the beverage, the two spent the time just catching up. Seungmin had recently spent a lot of time drawing sigils in people’s houses to give them protection, but he’s also been working on a project with an art-loving werewolf named Renjun. They were in the process of painting the hallways of some magic learning academy. Jeongin set down a cup for Seungmin. It was green tea made with loose tea leaves that sat at the top.

“So earlier today while meditating, the strangest thing happened,” Jeongin started.

“What was it?”

“I started to feel on edge almost. Like something bad is going to happen. I can’t put my finger on it yet, but I could feel four energies all at once. And it seems like in the future, whatever those energies were connected to, are in danger,” He said seriously.

Seungmin had talked with Jeongin countless times about the future. The younger, while being good at his job, almost always had his mind focused on the future. In order to get the most clear and accurate understanding of what would happen to his own future, he would meditate. For other people it’s easy for him to read their tarot cards or read their palms but for Jeongin himself, he couldn’t successfully get an idea of his future from that because his own bias could alter his interpretations to what he wants to happen, rather than what will happen. Jeongin tried to be careful. That’s why he only followed and told his customers vague information. The more detailed things were revealed as, the more errors there could be.

The art witch took another sip of his tea, processing what he had said. “Where do you think these energies could be coming from Innie?”

“I don’t know. But judging by the way I felt them, they were far away,” Jeongin said.

“Well if you did know specifically where these energies were coming from, what would you do about it?”

Jeongin’s eyes looked in a random corner of his living room. His gaze sharpened, and the corners of his lips slightly fell. “I would go to them. I would find them, and protect them. Wherever they are, I know they’re not safe.”

“Maybe you can try meditating again to see if you can find out about anything else,” Seungmin suggested.

“No, that would be too tricky. It might not even come back to me that way. The energies I felt were almost like a dream to put in simple terms. I was interrupted before I could really focus on it. And sometimes when you have a dream that cuts off, it might not even come back to you, let alone continue from where it left off,” Jeongin explained.

“Mm, I see,” Seungmin said in between sips.

“There is another way I could go about it. But there will be more possibilities of inaccuracy if I try it.”

“Well anything is better than nothing really. What did you have in mind?” Seungmin inquired.

“You know I hate reading you, Felix’s, and Jisung’s futures. I’m always afraid my own bias will get in the way of interpreting your futures correctly. But if there are truly beings out there in danger, I can’t just stay here and not do anything about it. Since my future is fairly entangled with yours and the other’s, maybe I could do tarot card readings on all of you.”

Jeongin’s specialty was tarot card readings. It’s what he mostly used to read people’s futures. Slightly behind in skill were his palm reading abilities. And then he also knew how to read tea leaves a little bit.

“Well I’d be more than happy to help you. But we’ll need to call over dumb and dumber here so you can read their futures too,” Seungmin snickered.

Jeongin’s eyes turned into crescents as a smile spread across his face. He could always count on his friends to help him out.

The divination witch then noticed something in the corner of his eye. He looked at Seungmin’s almost empty cup of tea on the coffee table. He leaned forward a bit to look at the pattern closer and Seungmin just narrowed his gaze at the other, wondering why he was staring so intently at it.

“Seungmin,” Jeongin said with wide eyes.

“What?”

The younger looked at Seungmin square in the eyes and the older started to get nervous. It almost looked like the fortune teller saw a ghost.

“Your tea leaves. They... the pattern. It shows that there’s love in your future,” Jeongin sputtered.

Seungmin quickly looked back at his cup and almost screamed. He hadn’t realized it, but the remaining tea leaves at the bottom were mostly speckled out with one clump of leaves near the side. And that clump was in the shape of a heart.