(Luhan POV)

Once, just once is enough

Thud.

"GET OUT!!" a deep, male voice yelled. His shout was followed by the crash of something delicate, and the shattering of glass. "AND NEVER COME BACK!"

A young man stormed out of the room, his long bangs covering part of his face as he slammed the door behind him. Luhan ran up to him and grabbed his arm with a worried look. "Are you okay? What happened?"

The other male just shook his arm to release himself from Luhan's grasp. Without replying, he continued to walk at a fast pace, and Luhan stared after him until he disappeared down the stairs. Luhan heard someone else talking to the guy on the floor below him.

"Lay? What's wrong? What was that--" SLAM. "....noise...?"

Luhan sighed and walked down the stairs and found a D.O. staring dumbfound at the door. Luhan could relate to how he was feeling. Lay rarely gets mad, and when he does, it's often because of an extreme reason.

"Should we go after him?" Kris asked, silently approaching from behind.

"I'll go." Luhan offered. The other two nodded in agreement, knowing that Luhan was the best choice for those kinds of situations.

Without another word, Luhan opened the same door Lay had slammed shut earlier, and stepped into the dangerous outside world. He felt the barrier close again after him as he walked outside of safety. Luhan glanced around, looking for any signs of danger or monsters. When he found none, he ran to the direction he thought Lay went in. After all those days of living with him, Luhan knew one place Lay liked to go to when he was upset.

Luhan swiftly ran down the long staircase, Luhan entered the forest and continued running. Seeing familiar land marks, Luhan changed direction according to them, and eventually ended up in a huge, open field filled with lush green grass and beautiful flowers. Luhan looked around and finally spotted Lay on his back in the centre of the meadow. Slowly, but making sure that Lay was aware of his presence so he doesn't get startled, Luhan approached the male staring up at the sky. Luhan stopped a few metres away, and sat down.

He knew that their father liked to pick on Lay. The now quiet, calm boy is constantly getting yelled at for no reason by the other man, and Luhan was surprised Lay hadn't snapped by now. Lay usually just smiled tightly after getting shouted at, telling the rest of them that nothing was wrong. Then there were times he just ran away like this time. Lay would always end up in the same field, and when he was asked why, he said that he felt a special connection to it. Luhan would always chase after the other boy and waited silently until Lay was ready to talk.

The two stayed in their positions silently as the soft breeze rustled the grass beneath them, creating a gentle hum.

Luhan would wait until Lay was ready to talk this time too.

He didn't know how much time passed, but eventually, Lay sat up with a sigh. The boy with long bangs turned around to face Luhan.

"Thanks for coming after me... again." he said.

"It's dangerous for you to come out alone." Luhan told him.

"I know. I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize. Don't worry about it, I like this place."

"Do you? I feel like... it's special, somehow. I feel warm and safe when I'm here. I don't know why."

Luhan glanced around the clearing after hearing Lay's words. He couldn't feel anything special about that particular grassy field, but he was glad that Lay thought so. It meant that at least there's one place where he can express his feelings.

The two stayed in the same position for the next hour or so, until Lay had completely calmed down. He gave Luhan a grateful smile before leading the way back to their house. Once they entered through the door, an extremely worried Baekhyun threw himself at the Healer and tackled him to the ground with a hug. Luhan stepped sideways just barely in time to avoid being thrown to the ground as well. Kris walked up the them with a relieved look on his face and D.O. followed along with Xiumin.

"Are you okay, Lay?" the tallest of the group asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry about that." Lay told them.

"Don't worry about it. You need your way of releasing your anger once in a while." Baekhyun said.

D.O. looked at Kris from the corner of his eye and shifted uncomfortably. Luhan's gaze shifted to him in surprise. "What's wrong?"

Kris hesitated before talking, which was unlike him. "While you were gone, father told us about what had been happening outside these days."

"There are a lot more active Monsters." D.O. explained. "They're targeting humans more often now."

"And they're much more aggressive." Xiumin added.

"Father wants us to go hunt them before the other Clan does." Kris said.

"Us? But we're not even properly trained yet!" Luhan blurted out.

Kris sighed and rubbed his forehead as if he had a headache. "I know, but... we don't really have a choice. He told us to leave tomorrow." 

Luhan stared at him in disbelief. "Tomorrow? That's hardly any warning at all! We're suppose to go hunt dangerous Monsters by ourselves? We've never even went with another Member before."

"I know." Kris sighed again.

Luhan stopped asking questions, not liking the look on Kris' face. It was so unlike him to look uncertain and worried. "I guess we should rest today and go out tomorrow then."

"I'll go make us some energy drinks." Lay suggested, and disappeared into the kitchen with D.O. trailing along after him, offering to help.

"Go and get some sleep. We're going to need all the energy we have tomorrow." Kris told the remaining two. They nodded and dispersed, minds distant as they wondered what will happen the next day.

- - - - -
Sorry for not updating for so long and making it so short when I did. I will try to make the next chapter better. The introduction chapters are finally over! The story will officially start in the next chapter! :D