She sat in the living room, hugging a cushion and staring into the blank screen. It was ten at night and she's supposed to be sleeping, not here, thinking.

              "A penny for your thought?"

              She looked up, looked down, and sighed. "What's with that? Fox legend? You didn't tell me about that. I- I mean you did talk about legend but you didn't say it's about foxes!"

              "Well, that's because you didn't ask? And Jinki did."

              "No, dad you should know what I meant," she shifted her body so that she's facing him as soon as he sat down beside her.

              Silence stood between them. It was never this quiet between the two because they never really got the chance to sit down together...and think.

              "Remember how your mum died?"

              Rein knew there was something more to this question. She sat up straighter, crossed her legs and raised a brow.

              "In American? Of illness?" She answered carefully.

              Her dad let out a small smirk before shaking his head, "she was killed by skulk."

              "What?"

              "Skulk. Meaning, a group of foxes."

              Rein felt like she was hit by a rock in her head, causing her to be giddy for a second before composing herself for further questions. 

              "But dad—"

              Mike placed his hand on his daughter's head, signaling her no more questions before smiling. "It's time for bed, my princess."

              Pecking a kiss on her forehead, he whispered some words that makes Rein confused but before she could ask, he has gone back to his room.

It wasn't supposed to feel awful. It certainly wasn't.

              He sat on the high kitchen stool with his bare feet resting on the lowest rung. With his elbows on the marble table and hand under his chin, he stares into blank.

              Not until Taemin decided to invade his vision.

              "What now?" The younger asked, settling himself on the stool opposite of Jinki's as he look into his hyung's unfocused eyes.

              Minutes passed and Jinki still didn't say a thing. Taemin got pretty bored with it but he did not leave. He knew that his hyung had something to say and he's going to wait for that no matter how long it takes.

              An hour passed, Jinki still did not move an inch. Taemin frowned, feeling his backside getting numbed because of sitting too long on the stool. Another hour passed, it is past midnight now. Pixie walked past them, stopped to stare and yawned before padding away again. Taemin's eyes were too heavy to glare at Pixie so he decided to let it go and not argue for once with the wolf.

              "Taemin," Jinki voice out. "The white foxes that were killed recently, was done by a person called Mike Kingsley."

              Taemin run both of his hands over his face before crossing his arms, the time is finally here. "And Mike Kingsley is?"

              Jinki sighed, "Rein's dad."

              "Wow. That's...a big news," Taemin shrugged, linking everything in his mind and when he finally registered what his hyung said, his frown turns deeper. "That's a damn big surprise..."

              "Oh where's Luna? Her scent was in Rein's house. Whatever the purpose is, ask her not to do it anymore. I bet she climb the window and did something stupid." 

              "Pixie told me that Luna was summoned back to the kingdom. Guess whatever she did, won't happen again." Taemin replied, drawing circles on his left hand with his right thumb. Jinki nodded, finally shifting himself in a different position with his hands crossed on the table. "Anyway, you have something to say?"

              The younger looked up, his frown gone as soon as he swallowed his ball of saliva.

              "Hongki's condition is getting worse. He's changing, don't you see? He didn't even chase after Rein when she left the classroom. He's starting to change, into the mind of a beast that cares about nothing. Perhaps he's also curious on why he didn't chase after her but maybe he just doesn’t feel like."

              "Is there really no cure?"

              "No. He's supposed to change into fox but because he kept on struggling that's why it's delaying the process."

              "Aish," Jinki sighed. "Now back to the topic," Taemin cleared his throat.

              "If you said that Mike Kingsley was the one who did it, he's a fox hunter."

              Jinki nodded, agreeing to what his dongsaeng said.

              "And you're in love with Rein, the daughter of the fox hunter."

              Jinki nodded again.

              "And you're a fox."

              This time, he didn't nod. His jaw dropped because it totally didn't cross his mind that Mike Kingsley was actually his enemy. All this time he was only thinking of the fox hunter as Rein's father instead of his enemy that killed his white foxes.

              But he loves Rein. He can't do anything to her dad; he was the only kin left to her.

              "...Taemin, what if I decided to tell Rein about us?"

Again, it has become so normal for Hongki to wake up with a headache every day and to the extent that he can't feel his legs when he get down from his bed.

Ah-ah...it's no use defending...my dear...Hongki...

              Sweats were dripping down from his forehead and hanging off at his chin. Wiping them off with the back of his palm, he takes in deep breath to calm his self-down. He couldn't remember how often the inner fox had talked in his sleep but every time he does, it was reminding him that he's turning into beast soon.

              "I'm not going to let you take over me," he whispered, dropping down on the floor and hugging his knees together like a lost kid against the bedside.

              He stayed in the same position until the darkness in his room turn away and soon, it's sunrise. The padding sound of a fox could be heard from outside his room and he automatically assumes that it was Seunghyun. And the fox started scratching on the door, creating eerie and disgusting sound that irritates him.

              "Seunghyun it's weekend. Leave me the hell alone," he shouted but strangely, the scratching sound is still there.

              "Song Seunghyun!" He shouted again, getting off the floor and walked towards the door.

              This is not Seunghyun.

              Who is it?

              His hand was trembling against the door knob as he hesitates whether to open it. He had no idea who it was because the fox doesn’t smell like Seunghyun; it just smells like....like...blood.

              His eyes got wide opened. Immediately, he opens the door and the fox lying before him, was Seunghyun, covered in blood. The blood scent was so overwhelming that it covered Seunghyun's scent, and it got Hongki into a freak attack.

              "What the hell Seunghyun?! What happened?!" He kneed down beside the injured, looking at all the gun shots and the damp fur drenched with blood.

              The fox groaned once, before becoming motionless.

              "Seunghyun!!"

              Seunghyun was his best friend amongst the black foxes. They stayed with each other together when the black foxes were wiped out.

              And now, Hongki's alone. Again.

Rein stared at the wolf standing on its four legs in the living room. Ever since she had arrived, she has been staring at her so hard that there had been this awkward and tense atmosphere surrounding them; it sort of suffocated the brothers. Taemin squirmed a bit as he stood beside the wolf, seeing how Rein was staring at the little one with suspicious eyes.

              "You said she's Pixie?" Rein started, "and she's a wolf?"

              Jinki's eyes merely blinked as he walked closer to the girl. Circling her shoulder, he sighed, "it's hard to believe but whatever I will be saying later, is the truth that I want you to know."

              Rein looked into Pixie's eyes; the wolf groaned before looking away and brushed her nose against Taemin's leg. As soon as the eye contact was broken, Rein looked around the mansion and finally realizing how huge it is, too huge just for the brothers.

              "What? Wait, this is crazy. The mansion is crazy, the wolf is crazy. You two are crazy!" She frowned, stepping backwards until her back hit against the carpeted wall.

              Taemin rolled his eyes as he clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. He had already warned his brother that it's not going to be easy to tell a human who they are and especially when the father of that human, is a fox-hunter.

"Wait, there's this thing on my window saying that I should leave you alone. Don't tell me you know who did it?" Rein raised an eyebrow as she clenched up her fists by her sides.

              "Yeah I know. It's just my childhood friend, Luna. She's—"

              "She climbed up to 18th floor? What is she? Spider?"

              "No, it's just she has this habit of climbing windows since young and-"

              "She climbs the window?? Which normal human being climbs the window since young??" Rein narrowed her eyes.

              Jinki bit the inner of his mouth as he rubbed a hand through his tousled hair. He never knew it was this hard to disclose a truth to someone, when that someone is someone he loves and he doesn’t want her to get hurt.

              "Hyung, just tell her. We are fox, white fox." Taemin purposely said it out loud and clear. It wasn't his style of beating around the bush so he decided to just get straight to the point since his hyung couldn't do it.

              "What?" Rein narrowed her eyes. "And...Hongki? You all know each other right?"

              "Yeah," Jinki answered, looking at Taemin silently asking him to back off. The younger one rolled his eyes before going away to find the little wolf.

              "Hongki...we grew up together."

              "You mean Hongki is a fox too?"

              "No Rein, no. He's not a fox; he grew up with the foxes. He's an orphan and, he's kind of being raised by the black foxes."

              "Black?" Rein repeated, "There are black and white foxes?"

              "Yes," he replied. Glad that Rein was actually listening to him instead of having freak attacks. "Come, sit down, don't be scare."

              Jinki was feeling pain inside; he was hurting because Rein was afraid of him. When he had decided to tell Rein the truth, the last thing he wanted was Rein avoiding him.

              "I want to tell you about Hongki, before we move on to other topics," Jinki sat on the couch with Rein beside him.

              "Hongki...he's a human, but not a normal human. He's a fox, but not a real fox. He's caught in the two worlds and he carries the burden that no one could understand."

              Rein's brows furrowed together while registering what Jinki had just said.

              "He's becoming a fox?" was what Rein interpreted. "You're right."

              "Do you know how insane it sounds?" She asked, sounded like she wasn't pleased at all with what she was hearing.

              "I know, Rein." Jinki emphasized on the words 'I know'. "And do you think I want to tell you all these insane things? It's because I care and I love you that's why I want you to know about me."

              Rein was very much intrigued by what Jinki had said that she literally just stops thinking and looked at Jinki. It was the very first time that she heard him saying that he loves her and she seemed pleased, just at the wrong timing.

              "Jinki, you know," she paused, trying to put all her words together to make sense, "We don't really know each other that long and, I don't know, I have this feeling towards to you as well but now the problem is...."

              Jinki shot Rein a worried glance, afraid of what she would say next. Would she reject him?

              "Hongki," she continued, "If what you said was true, I can't leave him alone."

              Jinki's jaw dropped at this, "What? But you can't go. Do you have any idea how dangerous it is to be with a person who's becoming a fox?"

              "And you think it's safe to stay with someone who's a fox?" Rein retorted, not knowing that she's hurting Jinki with her words but when she do, she regretted.

              "I love you; at least I won't hurt you." Jinki shrugged it off.

              "Hongki loves me too," she said it bluntly; "He won't do anything to hurt me."

              "You have no idea, Rein," He sighed, "What if he lose control?"

              "I believe in him," she said before standing up and wanting to leave.

              Just when she was reaching out for the door knob, she was knocked-out.

              "I'm sorry," Jinki whispered while holding onto her body before carrying her bridal-style. "I'm not going to let you get hurt."

EMIZ's Dungeon

hiiii, today is just one of those days where I just feel that my fanfic was rubbish. I just couldn't write as well as others do no matter how hard I tried......

Sorry for the emo hehe okay enjoy!