What had they done…what had the done…what had they done…

Key kept pacing back and forth, hands writhed deep into his scalp, pulling his hair back as it kept flopping to the front of his face. The stress of reality was starting to hit, and it was hitting hard. Meanwhile, Taemin and Minho were awing at the world around them. A mix of heaven and astounding beauty of nature. They were in Paradise and now they understood why the two Tribeless called it such. It was incredible. Glistening leaves, fresh…really fresh water that shimmered an iridescent blue and that waterfall; the encasing of antique brown granite. On top of all that, it was…morning. Or at least partly, or maybe the sun was going down soon, the sky was a subtle orange.

Onew couldn’t help but smirk a little bit. They were like two puppies who’d just discovered the outside world for the first time. But when he turned, he witnessed the obvious distress on his friend’s face. The lingering sorrow, utter disappointment, and rethinking of strategies. Yep, he knew that expression all too well.

“Key,” he murmured, ushering a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

Key jumped around, facing his friend with rounded eyes.

“What did I do Onew. I screwed up…we screwed up. If I would have thought a little be-“

“Key, calm down,” he assured. “the grownups had their problems and their fights way before we showed up. Don’t blame yourself for that. We couldn’t have done anything. I think we were right not to trust any of them.”

“I know that!” Key hollered. “I wouldn’t change my decision to not trust them, just look at this mess we’re in. They wouldn’t have told us anything anyway. My aunt still looked like she was holding onto a secret back there.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“Because my aunt is still back there!” He screamed. “And you’re mom! Fighting off a drugged-up version of them!”

He waved his arms towards Minho and Taemin, who, at the same time, sprung around at the sound of their names.  

“They could be dead for all we know. I should’ve—maybe I could’ve helped. Maybe we could’ve—”

“With these-“ Onew interrupted, grabbing Key’s hands and pulling them up to the light.

Like Aunt Kim, they still held that bloody ombre effect that now, like her, ushered up his arm, encasing his skin like velvet.

“There’s a reason they told us to leave,” he angered, “and trust me. I don’t like it any more than you do. Leaving my mother back there and all, but it’s not like we can fight Key. It’s not like we know how to fight. We’re not them.”

He threw his arm in the direction of the two Cerberi.

“I can—what, glow my damn eyes and see in the dark. We can run fast, and you have two bloody hands and sharp claws that all you know from the scrolls are poisonous to other supernatural creatures. That’s not a lot to help us when in a fight Key. You said it yourself, Donghae looked like a drugged-up version of them. You want to run into a fight and risk your claws not being effective what-so-ever on that guy?”

This time he threw both of his hands up into the air and left them for a second before bringing them back down.

Key was quiet. His lip quivered out of anger, but he knew his best friend was right. They weren’t the Cerberi. They hadn’t been trained for any of this. The only thing they had to their advantage—if it could even be called such—was the knowledge of the scrolls hidden in the care of Min-seo, Onew’s mother. And they weren’t that much help, to begin with.

“It’s true,” Taemin said. He waltzed up to them in a long stride, hands placed on his hips. “You two can’t fight to save your lives.”

Onew scoffed and rolled his eyes.

Key did the same.

“But—” Minho interfered, right behind, “what my colleague is trying to say is, you two have something else. Apparently, something that Donghae suddenly lacks in.”

The two turned to look at them, the anger subsiding from their faces.

“And what’s that?” Key asked in disbelief.

“You have smarts,” Minho answered. “You two can plan, you can sneak, you have ideas. We all wouldn’t be anywhere without your ideas.”

“And Key, you got the whole damn forest for crying out loud,” Taemin interrupted, “You’re a freaking Gumiho. Use that to your advantage. Onew can blend into nature and you can make it work for you. Doesn’t sound like a bad combo to me.”

The best friends looked at each other. They weren’t wrong. Not in the slightest. Key had felt the forest around him when his aunt started transforming. Like it was breathing for the first time but trying to find the heart of its breath. He still felt it now, even though they were in the safety of Paradise and far away from his aunt. But then he shook his head.

“I don’t even know how to control the damn forest,” he sighed.

“It protected you last time,” Taemin retorted.

“Yeah, but I was terrified for my life .”

“And you’re not now?” Minho asked.

The sudden question made the boy pause for a second.

“Of course I am,” his voice lowered, “but during that time I was about to be eaten and could only think about being covered—”

“And the forest covered you.” Onew interfered. “You wanted protection and it was there Key. The same thing happened when you were in that tree for 5,000 years. Whether your mom put you there or not, you need safety, and it gave you that. Your aunt might be powerful, but you are stronger. In your own way. If your aunt could’ve brought out the forest like that for protection, she wouldn’t have been in a coma all this time. There was a reason your mom and dad were the leaders. Stop doubting yourself all the time.”

“I’m not doubting myself. I’m just thinking ahe—”

“Oh Key, yes you are. You were different a couple of months ago. Before all this happened or we ever found out anything about us. You were brave and headstrong. Now, all you do is complain about your ability to do nothing. Well, guess what. We’re all in the same damn boat whether we like it or not. Even these two,” he shrugged his shoulders in the Cerberi direction. “And if we all doubted ourselves, we wouldn’t be here. But, we have each other, no matter how corny that sounds. We do. So you need to start acting like it. Get rid of this new Key who does what I do. There only needs to be one of me.”

“Does what you do?” Key asked.

“Think too much!” Onew shouted. “I already do plenty of that, we don’t need that from you too. We need the Key who thought everybody around him was stupid for believing in rumors and a tail. We need the Key who was okay with risking his life for a few pictures. We need the Key that was willing to go into the forest because consequences be damned.”

“Onew, nothing you’re saying is really sounding like a confidence booster,” Taemin added, pointing his finger in the air.

“I-I get what he’s saying,” Key replied. “But…it’s hard when-“

“Of course it’s hard,” Onew sighed, “that’s what we’re here for though. Our family is out there though, fighting that monster. That same monster and his counterparts murdered your entire species, our species.”

“Is this where it is.” Came a sudden, chilling voice.

The four of them stopped what they were doing, Paradise no longer seeming like a veil of protection now that, that voice was piercing through their walls. Their eyes went in full wide circles. Nobody said a word.

“Strange,” Donghae’s voice sounded again, but it was…different.

Gruffy and foggy. A little rustic.

Minho straightened his figure and issued two fingers into the air for them to follow him. He crouched then and lead them closer to the source of Donghae’s voice. Onew wondered why the plan was to go towards this and not away from it, but he soon found out why.

Because Minho realized what they did not.

When they got to the source of Donghae’s voice, there he was, standing almost, inside but not inside their barrier for Paradise. It was strange. Night followed him with each movement of his body and each breath of his lungs, but they were close. And Donghae…could not see them.

They could see him though. Oh…could they see him.

He was taller than before. Much…much taller. His hair had grown into a long, thick ruffled mane that shagged across both shoulders. Shoulders that were hunched forward over legs, legs that cocked back at his ankles. Donghae’s arms were thicker, skin darker than before. Like a fresh new layer had formed over the old. From what Key could tell, his veins arched through his arm like mounds and hills. Whatever shirt he had before, was now gone. But there wasn’t much to explore. The piercing orange set of the sun from their Paradise, created a weird light that reflected oddly against the dark of the outside world. Either way, it was obvious to Key that the man was nowhere near full transformation as he was the night he attacked him and his aunt, but it didn’t make him any less frightening. There was one more exclusive feature to note about him: His eyes. Donghae’s eyes were a penetrating silvery white overlay of what used to be burnished brown irises.

And they stared right at Key.

Each time Donghae stepped closer, their Paradise expanded, forming around them in a curved protective shield and night from the other side moved in with him. It was like the time the others were in search of the two Tribeless boys and couldn’t see past the barrier. Though, this was quite different. They hadn’t stepped forward like the Elder was doing. And with each step he took, they took one back.

Minho had realized from afar that though the voice was close, Donghae was speaking as if he didn’t know where they were. True, the Elder most likely followed their scent, but then…he found nothing. Perhaps, this was the one thing that he couldn’t overpower, no matter how strong he was.

“He can’t see us,” Minho announced, straightening his posture.

Instantly Onew shushed him, his pulse leaping in through his throat.

“Wait,” Key added.

He pointed to Donghae, a mere few feet away from them. The Elder had a forward look. He was searching for them but hadn’t reacted to Minho just talking right now at all. Last time Onew and Key were in Paradise together, they had gotten so scared of being found out as they stood at the edge of the barrier that they instinctively didn’t make a sound.

But now it was obvious.

Donghae, the oh-so-powerful Elder, could not hear them either.  

So, in some, odd way, they had the advantage…for now.

“And he cannot hear us,” Minho finished, “It is what I was about to get to before you shushed me Onew. Whatever barrier you two created, it’s the one thing he can’t overpower.”

“We didn’t create it though,” Onew replied.

“Then who—”

“My mom,” Key stated.

The three turned around to meet his gaze but Key’s eyes were still focused on Donghae, sniffing the air with no founding luck.

“It had the tree that I was found in, but the tree…disappeared or something,” he continued, “I’m not sure how to explain it. And I’m not sure how I found this place the first time. The forest just…lead me here.”

“Strangeeeee……” Donghae’s voice ushered again, making the four of them jump.

Key immediately tightened his lips, though he knew the man couldn’t hear a word they were saying. It was just too coincidental. And too unnerving.

Donghae raised his elongated and bony hand in the air where the barrier lay and he waved it, then let it hover, before dropping it back down to his side.

“I can smell the four of you, but I don’t see or hear anything…”

He smiled.

For what, the four of them didn’t know.

But that too was unnerving. Because every row of teeth that showed from that flash of his opened mouth displayed nothing but sharp, kill-ready fangs.

The cause of his rustic voice.

He chuckled again, before pacing back and forth in short breaths.

“I wonder if you all can hear me,” it was a statement more so than a question.

“If you can,” his voice grew louder, “then hear what I have to say,”

It was only until he was striding that both Key and Onew realized in a uniformed gaze that the man’s hands were bloody. Not too deeply but like a sharp gash around the edges.

And Onew’s mother. Key’s aunt. They were…nowhere to be found.

“You should be thanking me Key,” Donghae announced, still in a back and forth pace, “who do you think scratched you that night you came exploring.”

He chuckled a bit to himself.

The four of them stood there, frozen in place. Eyes simmered towards Key.

“Does that night still not bother you? Does it still not run through your head as you tried to figure out why…just why you healed so fast,” he laughed, “You should be thanking me. I helped you figure out the truth about who you are, planned or not. Your aunt sure as hell wasn’t gonna tell ya.”

They were still frozen.

“I came back to retrace my steps. See what I missed after all these decades…maybe centuries. I don’t know. The time just runs in together nowadays,” he shrugged, “And what do I find, but a curious, what I thought to be, human, roaming the woods. Only…”

He tapped the edge of his chin just now with the tip of his finger and stopped in his tracks.

“The smell was different. It didn’t smell like a human...but it did. Like, there was something hiding inside of it. I wasn’t sure, so I decided to test it. A mere scratch, that’s all.”

Unconsciously, Key reached his arm behind his back, touching the phantom spot that once was. If it’s possible to become so horrified that the heart stops beating yet you still breathe, that was the best way to describe Key at this moment. His mouth was opened just a tad, trying to control what little breath came out, but it was faint and there was a tingle in his skin. It grew, making the hair on the ends of his arms and neck stand. There was a shake in his bones. A rumbling terror that vibrated throughout his entire body. Donghae’s version of a scratch was a deep gash that left a mental mark on Key to remember for the rest of his life.

Donghae sighed.

“Technically, your fox was gonna come out eventually. But then again…I was never one for patience.”

He shrugged again.

Minho furrowed his brows.

The way Donghae said that. The way his mouth twitched and his shoulders moved. What did he mean by that: never one for patience.

“Either way I was right. One more Gumiho to eat and you smelled just like your mother and your father. Or at least…what I remember of them. But you know, finding you I wondered…where was your mother hiding. She must be somewhere around here, right? Close by, watching over her son like a good mother does. Only…I found Kim instead. Still as beautiful as she was the night of the massacre. And then I found her Owl. And then I found Onew too, a strange…very strange owl, with a different scent. At first, I assumed this was a gift from the Heavens, but then I thought. Well, if this family is here, then where oh where was your mother. Now I know you’re wondering the same thing.”

The fright that was freezing Key’s body in place quickly turned into heated anger. Onew attempted to touch him on the shoulder and calm him down, but Key harshly brushed him off with one swing of his shoulder.

“Key, even I gotta say that you can’t let him get to ya,” Taemin urged. He held his hands in front of the boy to keep him from stepping out of their protection, “it’s what he wants.”

“Don’t listen to him Key,” Minho added, “it’s not worth it.”

“Not worth it!” Key screamed, “you didn’t have your entire species slaughtered!”

“I did,” Onew interrupted, “Ours died together and I’m telling you right now, he’s not worth it.”

“What kind of mother,” Donghae continued, “abandons his own son and what kind of aunt keeps a fox sealed away. If you ask me, you got the raw end of the deal. As an old saying once goes, ‘we stand in stride, in one, if not together at all.’”

Minho mouthed the words.

Something wasn’t adding up.

“That’s an old Elder saying,” he whispered to himself.

“Who gives a damn Minho,” Key angered. “I don’t care about some saying,”

“But why is he saying it like that?” He asked the question in general, but his eyes went to Taemin, only for the boy to shrug his shoulders.

“Minho, I’m with Key on this one, no one really cares about an old saying right now. Especially knowing that our people massacred another. I think you should drop it. I’m already holding one back.”

“But he’s saying it in past tense,” Minho continued.

Onew was angry too, but he also was paying attention to Donghae’s demeanor.

“He should be saying it in present,” Onew added and Minho nodded, a little surprised the Owl caught on.

“What the hell is wrong with you two, no one CARES!” Key screamed.

“That saying is very important to us,” Minho went on, “but the way he’s talking. Like a passive voice, nonchalant.”

“Like it’s over,” Onew added.

“Precisely. If the saying is so true to him—”

“Minho,” Onew interrupted, but his gaze went to both Taemin and Minho, “weren’t there other Elders in your stories. Hence the “s” at the end.”

“So where are they…” he whispered.

“You know, I guess I can’t blame your aunt though,” Donghae continued, “she was always a vital, precious thing. Never wanted anyone to get hurt. Always wanted some nonexistent harmony to latch onto. It was easy, real easy, to make her think I was in love with her. Latch onto her as if all the troubles that our tribes faced, would be over. I mean, if she and I were together, then that showed that the Cerberi were more than angry wolves who didn’t know any better. But, as I told Kim all those centuries ago, ‘if we want to be close to one another, we can’t keep secrets. I have to know everything about you and you about me.’”

He mimicked a crying distressed voice, but when he got to the end of his sentence, he laughed.

A deep, whole-hearted laugh.

“Just like your people Key, Kim was always a dunce. Too stupid to know when to take precaution. Like you when you entered the forest that night. Gumihos… always so primitive with their choices.”

And just as a tsk attempted to leave Donghae’s lips, Key jumped forward, straight through the barrier with his claws angled to kill—a growl, deeply embedded into the echo of this throat, and his teeth, sharp, growing longer and ready to kill.