pairing: BaekChenLay
length: 5133 words

He could almost reach it. The glittery orb of white light was just out of reach. All he needed to do was stretch his fingers a few inches farther. Just a bit more. Just a little bit…more…

“Yixing, we have an emergency!”

And the illusion was shattered as the elf was forced out of his meditative state. His head spun uncomfortably while he groaned in frustration at experiencing yet another failure. “What in the world are you screaming about, Jongdae?” he harped as he gradually got to his feet with the help of his wooden staff. “I specifically told you to leave me be when I’m meditating!”

“But Yixing, look at what I found!” the fairy yelped as he staggered into the elf’s living room with a gigantic mass of white fur splayed on his back.

With one glance, Yixing drew in a sharp breath and his annoyance at his best friend immediately melted away as he quickly helped Jongdae to the couch. “Is it…?”

“Yeah,” the fairy confirmed with a grunt as the weight on his shoulders disappeared with the furry mass sliding onto the beige couch cushions. His pale yellow wings fluttered weakly as they tried to shake off the sense of being crushed underneath a heavy body. “I stunned it as soon as I came across it and Kyungsoo is currently guarding the area it destroyed. It’s awful,” Jongdae ended with a grimace.

Yixing nodded as he rested his staff against the arm of the couch and leaned forward to gently card his fingers through the pristine white fur that looked like moonlight. It was much softer than he had anticipated it would be, but the dark aura that pulsed around the creature made his insides curl with fear. Something like this should have never been created.

As he slumped down into the large matching armchair at the couch’s right side, Jongdae wordlessly watched as the elf began muttering various spells under his breath while continuing to the furry mass. The fur began to recede under Yixing’s instructions and reveal the creature’s original state.

Within seconds, an unconscious humanoid figure with snow white hair and deathly pale skin lay on the elf’s couch. The figure had paws where hands and feet would usually be, and a long furry tail was attached to its bottom. The ends of its sharp fangs were peeking out from under its thin upper lip. A black collar was wrapped around its neck, contrasting greatly with its paper white skin, and Yixing bit his lip when he realized that there was a barrier protecting the collar as he tried to prod the air around it.

“What are we going to do now that we have it?” Jongdae asked, finally breaking the silence in the elf’s cottage.

“We shall wait until it wakes up,” Yixing answered after murmuring another spell while waving his hands over the creature. Silver strings flowed from his fingertips and wrapped around the unconscious body like a cocoon before fading into nothingness.

The fairy nodded and got up from the armchair, his wings flitting as he floated into the air. “I’ll cast a force field around the area it was in and send Kyungsoo back home. Do you have a gem I can give to him as payment?”

Yixing slipped off the garnet ring that adorned his left pointer finger and tossed it to Jongdae who easily caught the accessory. “Be careful!” the elf cautioned as he watched his friend zip out of his cottage.

“You too! I’ll be back in a bit!” Jongdae called over his shoulder. Soon, he was just a yellow speck in the sky as the fairy zoomed away.

Yixing sighed as he slowly lowered himself onto the ground and crossed his legs to resume his meditative position. He waved his staff and murmured a spell to notify him if the creature regained consciousness. The elf knew that he wouldn’t have time to attempt to retrieve the orb, so he settled for tuning into Mother Nature’s life force. He’d at least be able to keep track of Jongdae and make sure that the fairy returned safely. With a deep inhale, Yixing’s consciousness melded with the environment and the only thing that kept him tethered to his cottage was his wooden staff, standing upright while surrounded by a soft green glow.

--

Jongdae returned to Yixing’s cottage after several hours, thoroughly spent. The white-furred creature had singlehandedly destroyed almost three miles of the forest, so Jongdae had spent the better part of two hours trying to repair as much as he could with his magic. Kyungsoo had helped him fix most of the earth, but dwarves had limited magic reserves to dip into so he had mostly kept watch while Jongdae flitted around, casting spell after spell.

When the fairy touched down and entered his best friend’s home, Yixing was softly humming to himself as he sat at his loom, weaving a tapestry. It looked as if he hadn’t gotten very far yet, since there were only a handful of threads woven in at the moment. They shimmered under the elf’s skilled fingers, which moved across the loom in a blur.

“I’m back. Most of the damage is contained for now,” Jongdae reported as he sunk into the large armchair again. “I’ll have to ask Junmyeon later if the rivers were affected enough to need our help fixing them. Kyungsoo told me he’s currently down south, convening with the other water elemental gods about a stronger purification process and he won’t be back for at least another fortnight.”

The elf nodded in response as he continued weaving. Gray threads overlapped white, currently looking like a mish-mash of wiggly shapes in grayscale as Yixing worked on the left side of the loom.

“How is it?” Jongdae tilted his pointed chin towards the creature; it was still fast asleep, its emaciated chest barely rising and falling with every shallow breath that it took.

“It hasn’t stirred the entire time you’ve been gone. I suppose you stunned it quite well earlier,” Yixing lightly commented with a lopsided smile.

“It was on a rampage like you’ve never seen! Of course I had to stun it into oblivion,” the fairy said defensively, huffing as he crossed his thin arms over his chest. A moment later, he dropped his arms down and leaned over, propping his elbows on the left arm of his chair, in order to get a better look at the unconscious creature. “You don’t think it’ll attack us when it wakes up, do you?”

“I hope not,” Yixing answered grimly, “but we should still be on guard. We have no way of predicting its actions and we’re already banking heavily on the hope that it will be able to communicate with us. It’s quite possible that there could be a language barrier neither of us can surpass, depending on exactly how it was modified.”

Jongdae winced as he imagined the creature in a lab, being prodded with sharp needles and hooked up to various beeping machines. Humans were despicable.

“In the meantime, we should begin making preparations to head north and find Minseok,” the elf added, briefly pausing in his tapestry-weaving to summon a spool of peach-colored thread from a basket that sat on the dining table, which stood about five feet away from where the pair of best friends was sitting. “He should have some answers on how to undo this and if anything, he can lead us to Yifan.”

“How much help can a dragon rider actually be?” Jongdae asked with a scrunch of his nose. “Yifan won’t know anything about magic. At least not to the extent that Minseok does.”

“That is true, but Yifan understands humans better than Minseok does,” Yixing calmly explained as he began threading the peach strands into the tapestry. “As a mage, Minseok was treated as an outcast from the beginning. Yifan chose to leave his home after discovering the dragons’ nest. He should have a deeper understanding of the humans’ motivations for meddling with the natural balance of the world.”

“What if neither of them have any knowledge on this, though? What if we end up back where we started?” the fairy murmured in a low voice, his gaze fixated on the creature.

Yixing didn’t dare to entertain the idea of failing, especially since he and Jongdae had been tracking this creature for several moons now.

They couldn’t fail. It wasn’t an option.

There was a stretch of silence before the elf finally replied, “We shall get to the bottom of this, no matter what it takes.”

--

An earsplitting yowl filled the air, causing both Yixing and Jongdae to jump awake. They had fallen asleep in their chairs, their heads lolling to the side, once nightfall had arrived. Neither one had wanted to leave the creature alone, especially since they weren’t sure when it would wake up.

But now, it was on all fours, snapping its fanged jaws while viciously tugging against the invisible strings that trapped it to the couch. Spit flew from its mouth and its claws raked against the wooden floor. Its umber brown eyes, streaked with bright silver, flashed with fury and it snarled even louder when it realized the other two males were now conscious.

“What do we do?!” Jongdae flew up, his wings fluttering as fast as a hummingbird’s, and he warily looked down, his eyes glancing from the creature to Yixing and then back to the creature. It lunged for the fairy and Jongdae let out a high-pitched shriek as he quickly dodged its sharp teeth. “Should I stun it again?!”

“No,” Yixing answered immediately as he slowly reached for his staff. It was propped against the dinner table, safely out of the creature’s reach, but that didn’t prevent the creature from still trying to bite the elf once it noticed Yixing’s movements. “It’s only scared and we don’t want to aggravate it any more than it already is.”

When the elf tried to step forward, the creature bared its fangs and growled at once, “I’ll kill you!”

“We come in peace,” Yixing declared, his voice soft and lyrical in hopes of soothing the hostile creature. “Please calm down. I promise we won’t hurt you.”

“Liar!” the creature hissed as it struggled against the invisible string. “You lie, just like everyone else did! Just like those sick scientists did when they stole me away from my home to engineer me into—into—into this!”

“We won’t touch a single hair on your head,” Yixing promised again. He then slowly set his staff on the ground and held his hands up. “See? I am at your mercy.”

Jongdae, realizing that being in the air was seen as a threatening stance to the creature, lowered himself to the ground, little by little. He joined the elf in his surrendering stance, adding, “We have no intention of harming you. All we want to do is help you.”

“Let—me—go!” it screamed. The creature tried to slam into the other two with its sharp claws outstretched, but the invisible string yanked it back onto the couch.

“We know what you are. We know that you’ve suffered. We want to enact justice, just as much as you do. Wolf hybrids are not a natural part of this world and we want to reverse the wrong that has been done to you,” Yixing explained, trying his best to keep his voice level. The elf knew that if he seemed even the tiniest bit agitated, the creature would pick up on it. “We are on your side.”

The wolf hybrid’s triangular ears perked as it paused for a moment. Its eyes narrowed into slits while its body hunched back in a defensive position. “What do you know about my kind?” It spat out that last word like it was poisonous.

Yixing took a deep breath before answering, “We don’t know much, but we do know that humans have been trying to engineer wolf hybrids as weapons of war. You seem to be the most successful one they’ve created, but your power is too great to be controlled by them which allowed you to escape their facilities.” After a brief pause, in which the creature did not respond, the elf added, “My name is Yixing.”

Following his cue, the fairy said, “My name is Jongdae.”

Yixing smiled encouragingly as he then asked, “Do you have a name, little one?”

The wolf hybrid’s tail swished from side to side for several heartbeats before it answered, “I used to be known as Baekhyun, before they locked me up and called me Number Four.”

“Baekhyun… What a beautiful name,” Yixing commented as he slowly lowered his arms. This angered the wolf hybrid, who snapped forward again with a throaty howl, but the elf firmly stood his ground. “Please calm down, Baekhyun. We want to be your friends. We want to help you.”

“We won’t hurt you,” Jongdae reiterated as he also lowered his arms.

But the wolf hybrid paid no heed as he thrashed around, screaming at the other two to release him. It wasn’t until he caught sight of the tapestry Yixing had finished weaving the previous night that he stopped howling and instead fixed his eyes on the picture: it was a white wolf hybrid, standing tall and proud while surrounded by twinkling stars and a bright moon in the background.

The elf noticed Baekhyun’s sudden change in demeanor and followed his gaze to the tapestry. Realization then dawned on him, and Yixing sent the wolf hybrid a kind smile as he walked over to the tapestry and shook it out. The fabric billowed outwards before straightening into its full glory. The elf’s magic was woven into the threads, causing the picture to shimmer in a life-like manner. “It’s for you,” Yixing said softly as he walked back to the couch and held out the tapestry. “We want you to be safe.”

Baekhyun leaned forward as much as the invisible strings would allow him to and sniffed the woven piece several times. There was a look of confusion on his thin face, as if he couldn’t decide whether or not he wanted to continue making a ruckus or submit to the soft, secure feeling that was emanating from the tapestry. After a few minutes of tense silence passed, the wolf hybrid asked, “If I promise not to attack you, will you release me from these binds and let me take this…thing?”

“I trust you,” Yixing said decisively. Jongdae was slightly more apprehensive, but he also nodded in agreement.

“Alright, I will trust you as well. For now,” the wolf hybrid added as he let his raised hackles fall so that he was in a neutral, less aggressive stance.

“Thank you, Baekhyun,” Yixing breathed out as he undid the spell and levitated the tapestry onto the wolf hybrid’s frail body.

Baekhyun immediately snuggled against the woven piece, sighing in contentment. The dark aura that pulsed around him had dialed back until it was barely detectable, and Jongdae and Yixing let out a loud exhale when they felt the pressure retreat. They silently watched the wolf hybrid, who wiggled around every now and then, and it seemed like he was completely enamored with the tapestry, to their relief.

Yixing had woven it on a gamble, imbuing the threads with relaxation spells, and he was pleased to see that his plan had worked. Now that Baekhyun was in a relatively good mood, the elf decided that he would try speaking to the wolf hybrid again. “Baekhyun,” Yixing murmured as he drew near, “would you like something to eat?”

The wolf hybrid opened an eye and stared at the elf for five solid seconds before closing it while answering, “Yes, please.”

Yixing and Jongdae grinned at each other before the elf headed to the kitchen to begin cooking while the fairy took a seat in the armchair to keep watch over the guest.

--

The three males were in Yixing’s cottage together, like always. The elf was in a deep meditative stance while Jongdae kept an eye on Baekhyun, making sure the wolf hybrid wouldn’t disturb Yixing. But Baekhyun was too busy napping on the couch, his bare body wrapped up in the tapestry that Yixing had woven of him. Jongdae noticed how peaceful the white creature looked while it rested and he involuntarily sighed when he thought of how nice it would be for Baekhyun to not be so hostile all of the time.

The wolf hybrid was much less reactive after living with the elf and the fairy for several weeks, but he still kept to himself when he could. At the very least, he no longer snarled at the other two and grudgingly let Yixing bathe him every other night. Baekhyun hadn’t warmed up to Jongdae as easily, eyeing the fairy’s wings in suspicion, but after being gently reprimanded by Yixing several times for trying to nip at the pale yellow appendages, Baekhyun opted to stare at Jongdae from the couch instead. His brown eyes would follow the fairy’s every move, which disconcerted Jongdae at times.

One thing that the wolf hybrid did seem to like, though, was how Jongdae cast spells. He found it more intriguing than Yixing’s wordless magic; the yellow sparks that danced around the fairy’s fingertips were quite hypnotizing and Baekhyun’s tail would wag whenever Jongdae use his magic to create levitating balls of light or starry diagrams that he’d later project on the ceiling of Yixing’s cottage as a temporary indoor night sky.

The days were usually quiet, with Jongdae and Yixing murmuring to each other about their plans to eventually see Minseok. They were putting off the journey until Baekhyun was healthy enough to travel the long distance to the cold north. The wolf hybrid was still extremely gaunt, although his body was now slightly more filled out than it had been when Jongdae first found him, thanks to Yixing’s cooking. The elf also made to transmit some of his life force to Baekhyun through the food, since the wolf hybrid was not emotionally ready for a direct transfer. Especially between species, energy transfers could be taxing for both parties and because Baekhyun had never experienced one, Yixing was worried that he would reject the gift and end up in a worse state.

About two hours later, when the sun was beginning to gradually dip towards the west, Yixing emerged from his trance. Both Jongdae and Baekhyun, who had woken up about half an hour before, were silently watching him from the couch. The tapestry of the wolf hybrid was currently hung on the far wall, next to Yixing’s bookshelves; Jongdae had moved it there after Baekhyun woke up, since the wolf hybrid wanted space to stretch his limbs.

“Did you manage to get it?” the fairy asked, looking at his best friend hopefully.

Yixing sadly shook his head as he used his staff to help himself up. “I don’t know why, but I can’t seem to move past the barrier around it.”

“Can’t you take me with you next time?” Jongdae pleaded. “Maybe it’ll be possible to break down if we merge our magic.”

The elf shook his head again as he responded, “You know I would if I could, Jongdae. But the maze is large enough for only one of us. We can’t enter if we’re both there.” He smiled apologetically at his best friend, who sulkily pursed his lips together. As he shuffled to the side to place his staff in its holder, Yixing called over his shoulder, “Shall I read a story before I start making dinner?”

Baekhyun vigorously nodded his head, his snow white hair wildly flopping about. He was captivated by the lore of these magical creatures, having lived most of his life in ignorance, as most humans did. When Yixing and Jongdae had discovered his fondness of their species’ legends, they had decided to take turns to read various tales to the wolf hybrid. It also served as a way for the three of them to bond in peace, especially since Baekhyun seemed to relax around even more as he drank in the magical stories.

Settling in his armchair, Yixing cracked open the book of elven lore and began reading the tale of Queen Sonia, who had saved elfkind from a traitor of the Elven Council who destroyed their species’ magic source and tried to use its shattered remains in a spell that would completely annihilate elfkind. It was one of Yixing’s favorite stories, since the legendary queen was not only courageous and beautiful, but also an extremely skilled magic-user. She had not only saved his species, but had also pushed boundaries in elven magic that had never been explored before. Queen Sonia had ruled the Golden Age of elfkind, when they were at the pinnacle of society.

Within minutes, the three were lost in the adventure of the legendary elf queen, seemingly transported into her story as Yixing’s words wove the scene around them. Baekhyun unknowingly scooted closer to Jongdae as he watched his surroundings with wide eyes.

But then, in the middle of the story-telling, there was a sudden bang as the door to Yixing’s cottage flung open, showcasing a tall demon who calmly walked in like he owned the place.

“Jongin, what are you doing here?” the elf asked, dropping the book and quickly moving to use his body to shield Baekhyun from the uninvited visitor.

“I received news that the hybrid has finally been captured and I have come to take him to the Shadow Lands,” the demon answered as he fearlessly strode up to Yixing. Holding out a clawed hand, he beckoned for the wolf hybrid, who growled loudly in response. “Now be a good boy and come to me, you filthy mutt.”

Jongdae immediately flitted in front of the demon, spreading his arms out in an attempt to guard both Yixing and Baekhyun. “Back off, Jongin. Baekhyun isn’t yours to take.”

Jongin’s black lips pressed into a thin line as he sneered at the small fairy. “Nor is he yours to keep. Get out of my way, fae. I will not ask again.”

Before Jongdae could protest, the demon’s aura suddenly surged within the room, filling the atmosphere with thick black smoke. When Yixing and Jongdae, coughing violently, managed to open their watery eyes several seconds later, Jongin already had Baekhyun in his grasp. The wolf hybrid howled at the top of his lungs and thrashed about, trying to free himself from the demon’s large claws.

“Baekhyun!” the elf and the fairy simultaneously yelled as they lunged for the wolf hybrid, but Jongin easily knocked them back with a force-field.

“Thank you for the tip, Kyungsoo. I will pay you handsomely for helping me today.”

Jongdae’s eyes bulged with disbelief as he scanned the room for the dwarf. “He’s here?! And why would he tell you about Baekhyun?!”

Kyungsoo stepped to the side, finally revealing himself while abashedly looking down at his feet, not daring to make eye contact with either Yixing or Jongdae. “I—I thought it was the r-right thing to d-do,” he stammered in a low whisper.

“It was the right thing to do, Kyungsoo, so don’t blame yourself,” Jongin said smoothly as his grip on Baekhyun tightened, causing the wolf hybrid to yowl even louder in agony when the demon’s sharp claws mercilessly dug into his weak body.

“Stop it, Jongin. You’re hurting him,” Yixing begged, feeling his heart twist with pain when Baekhyun glared at him with pure loathing in his silver-flecked eyes. “Please give him back to us. You don’t know what you’re dealing with.”

“On the contrary, I know exactly what I’m dealing with. I am far more versed in creatures of darkness than you creatures of light are. Even if he is just a mutt,” the demon added with a disapproving curl of his bottom lip.

Baekhyun continued to struggle as he haphazardly snapped his fangs at Jongin, who merely lifted the wolf hybrid away from his body. The silver color in Baekhyun’s eyes spread even more, completely eclipsing the warm brown that was usually there, and his fur began to grow as his wolf side tried to take over. “I’ll—kill—all—of—you,” he snarled in a guttural voice. “Every—last—one—of—you!”

“Very funny,” Jongin deadpanned as he used his free hand to cast a silencing spell on the wolf hybrid. “Well, I have a mutt to muzzle, so I shall take my leave now. Come, Kyungsoo. We have much to discuss when we return to the Shadow Lands.” Before Yixing and Jongdae could launch themselves at the demon again, Jongin flicked his wrist to teleport away with Baekhyun and Kyungsoo.

The fairy let out a yell as he violently smashed his small fists against the floor, not caring that he was leaving burn marks on the previously pristine wood. Meanwhile, Yixing was struggling to stand; the demon’s dark magic had sapped most of the area’s life force and since Yixing, as an elf, was the most in-tune with Mother Nature, his energy reserves were heavily depleted. “Jongdae,” the elf gasped, feeling his grip on reality begin to slip.

Realizing that his best friend was about to collapse, Jongdae snapped into action and carried Yixing onto the couch, carefully laying him down while fretting non-stop. The fairy quickly cast a rejuvenation spell and transferred some of his life force to Yixing, whose paper-white face was now beginning to regain a splash of color.

Once the elf’s breathing evened out, Yixing managed to crack a weak smile and say, “I think the worst has passed. Thank you, Jongdae.”

“I’m just glad you’re not about to keel over,” the fairy answered with a wry smile of his own. But he immediately turned somber when the full weight of what had just transpired pressed down like a dark cloud on the two friends. “But I can’t believe Kyungsoo betrayed us…”

Yixing looked down at his wizened hands as they trailed across the beige leather, his fingers barely grazing the loose strands of white fur that Baekhyun had shed. “We shouldn’t blame him. The dwarves have always been a neutral, independent party and Kyungsoo was only looking out for his tribe. Jongin must have offered him something that he couldn’t pass up.”

At the mention of the demon, Jongdae’s scowl returned. “Even so, Kyungsoo had no right to reveal that Baekhyun was with us. He knows Jongin is going to torture Baekhyun in the Shadow Lands! How is he so selfish?!” His voice became more high-pitched by the second as he continued ranting. “The ghouls will feed on Baekhyun, the vampires will drink away his blood, and the demons will absorb what’s left of him after ripping him apart from head to tail!” Before he knew it, crystal tears were streaming down the fairy’s small face and Yixing reached forward to carefully wipe away the precious drops with his right pointer finger.

“Don’t worry, Jongdae. We shall save Baekhyun from Jongin before Sehun and Tao can get within a meter of him.” The elf’s eyes flashed with determination as his hands pushed down on the couch cushion, the edges of fur strands imprinting against his palms. “The new moon doesn’t arrive for another two weeks, so we have that much time to rescue him from the Shadow Lands. It isn’t much, but it is better than nothing. We can ask Junmyeon, Lu Han, and Chanyeol to help us.”

“Who’s to say they won’t backstab us like Kyungsoo did?” Jongdae pointed out, not trying at all to conceal his newfound distaste towards neutral parties after the dwarf’s unexpected betrayal. “Junmyeon is the only one of those three we can rely on. The giants are too similar in nature to the dwarves while Lu Han is a complete wildcard. He’ll just try to make as much mischief as he possibly can.”

Yixing heaved a sigh, knowing that the fairy’s concerns were valid, especially regarding Lu Han. But he couldn’t think up any alternatives, especially with his mind as fatigued as it was after Jongin’s sudden appearance. “Be that as it may,” the elf started, “he will be of great help to us as a shape-shifter. In fact, he would be the most useful of the three, if they agree to help us rescue Baekhyun. Junmyeon’s mobility is restricted to the rivers while Chanyeol will be too large to escape detection once we reach the Shadow Lands. Our magic, even when combined, is not strong enough to cast a durable concealment charm for someone of his size when we are surrounded by dark magic.”

“Can’t we follow through with our original plan and go north to ask Minseok for help? Or somehow rally the dragons to our side?”

“There is no time to make a trip up north,” the elf answered with a shake of his head. “It’s in the opposite direction of the Shadow Lands and we have limited time as it is. On that vein, we still have no clue where the dragons’ nest currently is, since Minseok is our only key to getting in touch with Yifan.”

“So we’re stuck relying on the three most useless creatures in the forest?!”

“Jongdae,” Yixing said warningly, his eyes filled with reproach.

The fairy hung his head, mumbling, “Sorry. I’m just really worried about Baekhyun.”

Yixing’s expression softened as he placed a comforting hand on Jongdae’s left shoulder. “I am as well, but we have no other choice. I’m unable to send Minseok a message, since he has blocked off all magical communication, and it will take more than a week to send someone as a messenger up north. By the time they reach Minseok, if he even grants them an audience, it will be too late for him to meet us at the Shadow Lands.”

“Stupid mage,” Jongdae muttered.

The elf chose to ignore his best friend’s needless comment as he resolutely continued, “It isn’t ideal, but Lu Han, Junmyeon, and Chanyeol are the only ones we can rely on right now. And if turns out they cannot aid us, we shall have to figure out a plan in which the two of us can successfully rescue Baekhyun ourselves.” His eyes landed on the tapestry, which had been knocked down during the earlier altercation, and his heart twisted again with regret and guilt.

Yixing hoped he wasn’t overestimating their capabilities. Going against a demon, a vampire, and a ghoul in their territory was a foolish venture in any other case. But for Baekhyun, for the other wolf hybrids that were being created, he would risk everything to save them.

♈♈♈