COUNTDOWN: 27 DAYS TO FULL MOON #4

The house had been silent. The past three days were a myriad of thoughtful brooding, intent researching, and of course, one count of ashamed hiding. Even D.O. couldn’t get Kai to come out of his room, and the other wolves weren’t sure what to do. They couldn’t go in when they were so conflicted, so unsure about what the future held. How could they possibly comfort him with such empty words? And they all remembered the pain that the transformation forced him through, he deserved rest if nothing else. They had not forgotten Kita, in all of this. Xiumin and Luhan had stuck by her side ever since the moment she’d woken up and head to the basement, pouring over book after book. She acted like she was fine, but the wolves could see the stiffness in her joints and her reluctance to move, she was still in pain.

All of this confusion, and the pack found themselves divided. Kai and D.O. remained on the second floor. Kita, Xiumin, and Luhan remained in the basement. This left Suho, Kris, Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Chen, Lay (now fully healed from his tussle with wolf-Kai), Tao, and Sehun, trapped on the first floor, whispering in hushed voices so as not to be overheard by either party on the other floors.

“Do you think he’s going to turn every moon?”

“Think Kita can reseal him? She’s a Fey right?”

“Not likely that she would though, she’s been against it from the start.”

“This she’s ok? Taking on Kai’s transformation like that…?”

“And how’d she do that anyway?”

Kris rubbed his arm, remembering the jolt he’d felt when Kita had touched it. Maybe it was instinctive or maybe she knew more than she let on. Either way, her magic was getting more powerful by the day. Not that he could really complain - as much as he might want to – without her wolfsbane he couldn’t imagine how they would have stopped Kai.

“Has anyone spoke to Kai since it happened?” Sehun asked. He himself had tried, but Kris had alpha ordered him not to, so he’d been unable to see how his friend was doing. Almost unanimously, the pack looked away from one another, shuffling their feet. “Well why not? He’s one of us. If one suffers then we all suffer, that’s what being a pack is about isn’t it?” He could see that they were all still torn, so he gathered up his guts and went for it. “And if Kai is going to be suffering every full moon then I want to suffer with him.”  

“Sehun-”

“I don’t care.” He looked stubbornly at Suho, “Kai is our brother and we should be there for him.”

Chen piped up after a moment of silence, “Kita did say that we’re damaging other magical creatures by being this way.”

“You can’t be serious.” Kris said, looking between the wolves, “You want to go back to being wolves?”

“We are wolves.” Chen countered, not used to standing up against his alpha like this, but Sehun was right. “And who knows, maybe Kita can figure something out to let us keep our own minds during the change?”

Kris looked among his pack, not a single one speaking out to combat Chen, “do you all feel like this?”

Slowly, they all began to nod, the thoughts form the past three days converging to one decision.

“Kai needs us.”

“We can’t let Kai do it alone.”

Kris ran his fingers through his hair, knowing the weight that lay on him. As Alpha, he had the final say. He looked at his brothers, at the spark of fear in their eyes, their clenched fists that told him just how afraid they were of this decision. Not one of them wanted to be a wolf ever again, to lose themselves to the primal beast that lived for killing and destruction. But they were united to stand with their packbrother who needed them. If Kai would change, then so would they all.

He sighed, knowing what his decision would have to be. A wolf needed their pack, and Kai needed his now more than ever.

“I’m sick of this forest anyway.”  

Kita was laying on her stomach on the ground, attempting to decipher some of Kris’ chicken-scratch handwriting in one of the spell books. Beside her, Xiumin and Luhan were eating the bag of candy they’d found in Tao’s room earlier. Honestly, the two had no shame.

She was about to tell them off for the millionth time when the door to the basement opened, and multiple pairs of shoes began descending. Their footsteps were heavy, they were walking with purpose, and this alone is what made Kita mark her place in the book and stand to greet them.

Suho maneouvered to the front, as many of the others arranged themselves as comfortably as possible, Chen and Baekhyun fighting for a spot on the couch before Baekhyun just chose to lay across everyone.

“What’s going on?” she asked nervously, as the movement began to still.

“Why do you think Kai turned into a wolf?” Suho asked, eyes focused for her answer.

Were they blaming his transformation on her? Well to be fair, it was entirely her fault, but were they angry about it? Had they waited this long only to tell her to leave, that she had done too much damage, that she had meddled one step too far? But she couldn’t lie to them, even now. “Most likely because I unlocked his magic, allowing it to grow and return to the levels required to sustain a transformation.”

Suho shared a look with Kris who was leaning against the back wall. “And do you think there is a way to reverse the process?”

“Not without knowing what the Fey did to seal your magic in the first place, and maybe not even then.”

Another shared look, before Kris spoke up this time. “do you think you could replicate it?”

What?

“You… you want me to replicate it? You-want to become wolves?”  

“A wolf needs his pack.” Chen said, sending her a look of such innocent understanding that she almost broke down into tears.

“You seem to understand your magic more.” Suho said, “you’ve proved that when handled correctly, it is not a threat. Kris will translate anything you need, and the rest of us will do whatever we can to help and support you. The only thing we ask is that before the next full moon, you work with us to figure out a way to contain any wolves who turn, including Kai, which might be marginally less painful and dangerous than last time.”

Kita nodded, a smile breaking out. She wasn’t being sent away, she was being accepted in a way she’d never thought. They were trusting her, they were putting their trust in her to help them. This dark and twisted thing inside them would be lifted, they would return to the wolves they were meant to be.

“I’ll do my best.”

“No! No you cant do this! Are you insane!” Kai coughed, windpipe still a little raw from the wolfsbane and yelling was doing it no help. He still hadn’t been allowed to get up from his bed, nurse-D.O. keeping him on bedrest. “We chose to not be wolves for a reason.”

“And now we have a better reason to choose to be wolves again.” D.O. said. He, Xiumin, and Luhan had been called to the kitchen to have a discussion with the Alphas about how they felt, since they’d not been included in the initial decision. It was now D.O.’s job to explain the situation to Kai, which is how Kita, D.O., Xiumin, and Luhan ended up in his room, piled on D.O.’s bed.

“Just because of me? I’ll be fine!”

“Quit feeling like a burden.” D.O. said, nailing the issue on the head with one guess, “we’re doing this with you and that’s that. Besides, it’s about time.”

Kai was silent, fuming up and the ceiling and refusing to look at any of them. He shuffled over to his shoulder to turn his back to them.

D.O. rolled his eyes, nudging Kita with his foot. Hi looked pointedly over at Kai, go talk to him.

Kita pointed at herself, incredulously. Me?

Luhan rolled his eyes this time, obviously. He shoved her off the bed and she had to stagger to prevent herself from falling. Cautiously, she made her way over to Kai’s bed and perched on the end of it, ignoring the stab at her heart when he still refused to acknowledge her.

“Kai.” She said, sighing. Absent-mindedly she placed a hand on his arm, running it up and down, though to soothe him or herself she wasn’t sure. “I’ve not known your pack for a long time, but even in the short time I’ve been here it’s obvious to see that they place family above everything else. But if they didn’t want to do this they’d damn well find a way to get you out of it. I could see them dragging you right into the heart of the forest and demanding that you be resealed if they couldn’t think of anything else. But they don’t want to do that, they want to be with you and support you. This is a big step for them, but they wouldn’t be doing it if they didn’t think this is what was best for everyone in this pack. You need to stop worrying about what you should be and stop denying who you are. You are more than a wolf, Kai. You are a member of this pack and a member of this family. Remember that, first and foremost above everything else.”

Kai breathed heavily, his body sinking into the mattress. He still didn’t turn to look at her, but his head turned the tiniest amount, and Kita smiled as she thread her fingers through his hair. “You’ll be fine.”

On the other bed, the three wolves were watching with baited breath, hands pressed to their heart. Xiumin and Luhan looked with excited eyes to D.O. who nodded at them wisely. This was their first time seeing the interaction between the two that was now so natural for them. D.O. was almost used to seeing them act so comfortably around one another but Luhan and Xiumin definitely weren’t. The two of them were almost squealing like schoolgirls.

Oh yes, there was something going on there, something that they were going to make sure blossomed into something wonderful. D.O. might be content to sit and let things unfold, but Xiumin and Luhan?

They were meddlers.