Chapter 7: Whatever It Takes

The moonlight shone brightly, finding their way in through the gaps of the metal bar window of a cell that Sehun was trapped in. Sehun’s body shivered lightly as his skin pressed against the cold hard floor, however, that wasn’t any of his concern, right now, his mind was full of the thoughts of his mother being all alone, full of injuries, without anyone to help. Surely, after the incident earlier, nobody would dare to help them. Helping Sehun nor his mother would be the same as going against the village leader. Sehun closed his eyes as he reminisced the happy memories that would soon be over. 

He rested his head against the stoned wall. He darted his eyes towards the ceilings of the confinement, water were dripping from the between the cracks of the old walls every few minutes, a sign that it needed immediate repair. Sehun sighed, although his main worry was his mother, somewhere in the back of his mind, he was deeply concerned about the beast as well. The boy knew the beast was malicious and was known for destroying villages, at least, it was what he heard, however, the beast he knew was the complete opposite of all that. It’s true, it had a frightening appearance, but behind that, he was like a soft child who had the gentlest voice. There was something more to the beast that Sehun couldn’t quite decipher.  

He let out a sigh, right then, Sehun decided he wasn’t going to let the beast get injured, after all, the beast had risked his life in order to save Sehun. 

I must protect him in return. 

Sehun stood up hastily and searched around the walls with determination, looking for anything that might help him escape. He peeked at the hallway, there was only one man guarding his cell, and two men each at both ends of the hall, where the exit doors were located. Time is running short and a single plan hadn’t come up.

“You’re not allowed in here—“

A voice, which Sehun assumed had belonged to one of the guards was heard spoken, but before the guard was able to finish his sentence, there were noises of something being slammed to the wall, and something thudded to the ground. A series of rough noises of men fighting soon followed, but after a moment, it stopped, and the hall was quiet again. 

Sehun was in awe, what greeted his sight was five bodies scattered on the floor, with no signs of blood. It was evident that whoever taken them down had no intention of ending the guard’s lives. 

Two men soon showed up in front of Sehun’s cell, not saying anything. 

“W-Who are you?!” Sehun scanned their black outfit that covered everything but their eyes. 

They stayed immobile, not a word spoken. 

Sehun continued, “Why are you doing this…” Hold on.

Something was very familiar about the both of them. It was their eyes, one of them showed signs of a stern attitude whilst the other one was showcasing a hint of mischief, as if it was smiling behind the mask he was wearing. Both of them didn’t seem to have much of a height difference. 

“Don’t tell me…” Sehun was now almost sure of the identities behind those masks. 

The two ‘strangers’ waited for the younger boy to finish his sentence. 

“…Minseok?… Luhan?” 

In a blink, the two strangers pulled down both of their masks, revealing a grinning Luhan and a smirking Minseok, both seemingly to be proud of their accomplished rescue mission and happy to see their younger friend safe from harm. 

“We thought you might needed our help,”, Luhan started, scanning Sehun’s surroundings, “well, of course, you did.” 

Sehun grinned like a little child, “Thank you Minseok, Luhan! Without both of you, I didn’t know what I would do…” Sehun pouted, remembering all the villagers that were clearly against him earlier today. It never came to his mind that the two men that he just got to know last night would come to save him. 

“Now, we don’t have much time before one of the guards would regain their consciousness.” Minseok kicked of the metal lock with one sturdy move and it shattered into two pieces. Sehun quickly pushed the metal door and headed towards the exit door with Luhan and Minseok following behind closely.

Upon exiting the dungeon, they were greeted with a sight that brought terror to Sehun. Everything was chaotic, unlike the peaceful village he always knew by heart. Troops were gathered in long lines, positioned starting from the entrance of the gates until the city hall. Several troops were given the mission to hunt the beast, while the rest were given the task to defend the village. Amongst the troops, Sehun spotted a familiar figure. 

“No way…” Sehun muttered. Why is he with the troops?

Minseok and Luhan exchanged confused looks. The boy looked very much in disbelief in whatever he was seeing. 

“Sehun, what’s wrong?” Luhan patted the younger boy’s shoulder. 

Luhan’s question was left unanswered by the other, instead, Sehun walked closer towards the figure, until there was almost little to no distance between him and the person. 

Sehun held his breath and lifted his hand carefully before touching the other’s shoulder. 

“…Kris?” 

The figure turned around and Sehun was greeted with features he had instantly recognised. Thick strong eyebrows, black stern eyes that would pierced through your soul but was always gentle to Sehun, and his strong jawline that could cut deeper than knives. Whereas all of the features were the same, there was something different about him. Ah, his hair, it was shorter in length, which previously was below his ears. 

“Sehun…” His stern eyes turned gentle, those eyes, the ones Sehun was so familiar with, those eyes that resembled a caring older brother whom Sehun loved dearly. However, it only lasted for a second before his gaze hardened, forming into the coldest look Sehun had ever seen. 

“What are you doing? You’re not supposed to be here.” 

Sehun bit his lips and knitted his eyebrows in confusion, “No,” he breathed out, “what are you doing here? Why are you a part of the hunting troops?” 

Sehun was beyond confused, Kris, the eldest of the group was always one to stay away from violence and fights. Although he was one of the strongest amongst their group of friends yet he never opt to use his strength, choosing to live his life in peace with his mother who owned a small farm.

 “Kris hyung! Hyung!” A little boy, no older than nine, was seen running as fast as his little legs could bring, towards a taller boy, who was undeniably older. 

The older boy, who was watering plants by his house halted his movement upon hearing the little screams, a smile formed on his face as he crouched down and patted the little boy’s head, which was responded with a little grin and a hint of smugness, clearly proud of what he was about present to the older boy. 

“Look what Sehun found, Kris hyung! He jutted his hand and uncurled his fist, revealing a purple seed.

“This… Where did you find this, Sehun?” Kris was in awe. This purple seed was of a rare plant that could only be found deep inside the forests near their village. This plant would grow flowers that had great healing properties that could used as an ointment or a drink, depending on how it was processed. 

Sehun pretended to think hard before sticking his tongue out, “It’s a secret!!” 

Kris laughed at the cute manner before pinching his cheeks playfully, “Why you…! Come here you brat!” 

“No!! Please don’t eat Sehun, you scary monster!” Sehun cried, running as fast possible to avoid getting caught by Kris, however, his attempts of escaping failed as he tripped upon a rock and fell on his knees. A sharp pain went to his knees and soon, blood was trickling from his knees down to his ankles. Seeing blood on his skin, Sehun cried like the baby he was. 

“Hurts… hurts!!! Huwaaaaa!” Tears and snorts were now all over his face. 

Kris let out a huge sigh before pulling Sehun by the wrist, making him sit down in a proper position. 

“Now, now, who told you to run away from me?” Kris shook his head and gave a stern face. 

“B-but…” Sehun pouted, tears still streaming down from his eyes, “Sehun want to run away from big bad monster.” 

Kris pointed at himself, “Well, this big bad monster is going to eat Sehun while Sehun doesn’t have the energy to run!” Kris lowered his voice to imitate a monster before playfully biting Sehun’s cheek. 

“Noooo!” Sehun giggled while trying to push his hyung away. 

“Okay, let’s get your wounds treated before it gets infected.” Kris stood up and dusted his pants. 

“No! No! Sehun don’t want!” Sehun crossed his hands and refused to stand up. 

Kris smiled upon seeing the pouted and angry expression of Sehun’s. 

“If you don’t want to get treated, big bad monster will eat you again!” 

Hearing that, Sehun quickly stood up and winced at the pain from his knees, “No… no! okay, okay, Sehun will get his wounds treated.” 

“Sehun is a brave boy now?” 

Sehun nodded with conviction. 

Kris squatted and lowered his lower back, “Get on my back, I will get you home, it’s almost supper time, your mother must be frantic by now.”

Sehun nodded and jumped on the older’s broad back, tightening his arms around the other’s neck in order to prevent himself from falling. 

“Kris hyung, what do you want to be when you grow olde?”

The skies were a mix of purples and orange, reminding them of the tulips flowers that Kris hyung aways waters often. 

“I’m not sure yet…”

“Oh! I know I know! You’re strong and big, Kris hyung can be a warrior like my father, fight evil people and monsters!” 

“Sehun’s dad is brave indeed, but I have decided to never use my strength. I just want to live a simple life with my mother.”

Sehun tilted his head in confusion, he thought it was an amazing thing to fight evil like his father. He missed the elder man dearly, it had been two months since Sehun had last seen his father. 

“Sehun don’t understand. Why not use power?”

Kris shook his head and smiled, “You will understand when you’re older. Sometimes using your power is not the only way to fight.” 

“Lame!” Sehun rolled his eyes. 

“Why you little brat!”

“You know what I’m here for, Sehun.” 

Sehun stood still in silence, waiting for Kris to say more.  

For a split moment, Sehun saw what seemed to be a sinister look forming on Kris’ face, but it disappeared before Sehun could even blink. 

“I don’t understand…” Sehun shook his head lightly, “I mean, ever since we were little, you were always the one avoiding violence, why would you even be here?”

Kris chuckled, “Sehunnie, you’ve got it all wrong, these past few weeks, I’ve learnt something… I… I’ve come into realisation that there are some things that are inevitable.”

Sehun didn’t understand at all. The Kris in front of him didn’t sound like the older brother he once knew. 

“Like what?”

“You see, when I heard that the beast was the one behind the three death cases, I saw it as a sign. I was blinded back then, but now I know that I had to use my strength for something useful.” 

“So you want to kill the beast.” Sehun said, almost too loudly, too quickly.  

Kris raised an eyebrow at Sehun demeanour. It was as if… Sehun didn’t want the beast to be chased after, but he was not sure of it yet, Sehun was always quite impulsive and more often talk without thinking of the consequences of his words. 

“I was going to put it in nicely, but I see that I have gotten my point across, now if you excuse me, I have to go, Sehunnie.”

“Wait—

Before Sehun could finish his sentence, Kris turned his back and walked to join the rest of the hunting troops who were preparing to leave any time soon. 

“That is definitely not the Kris I know… Something must’ve gotten to him.” Sehun muttered under his breath. The Kris he knew would’ve always greeted Sehun with a smile. Sehun had always felt safe and warm with him, but that was the least he felt earlier. It was safe to say that the Kris was already like a different person. 

“What’s going on with you and that tall grumpy looking dragon back there?” Luhan patted Sehun’s shoulder, waking the younger from his train of thoughts. 

“That… that was my friend.” 

Minseok and Luhan looked at each other, and Minseok nodded, as if they knew something. 

“Well, what are you going to do now, Sehun?” Minseok asked. He looked around and saw that the half of the hunting troops were already making their moves. Most of them were too busy to even notice that Sehun was outside of the dungeon. 

“I have to warn the beast.” Sehun nodded to himself. 

“Boy, you can’t be serious… why are you so adamant on going to the beast, last time, we also caught you trying to get to the forbidden castle.” Minseok crossed his arms. 

“I can’t tell you yet,” Sehun bit his lips, although he barely knew both of them, he knew that both of them were good people. 

Luhan sighed, “Haven’t we warned you enough? Just take a look at Minseok’s shoulder.”

“I know…” Sehun remembered the series of scars that were on the older boy’s shoulders. It was hard to forget the deep, horrible red marks that were longer than his face. 

“But this is something that I have to do.” 

“Sehun, you don’t know what’s coming for you.” Luhan looked at the younger boy with worry. 

However, determination was written all over Sehun’s face, and right at that moment, he made up his mind not to let anything injure the beast. His mind was telling him that what he was about to do was beyond crazy, however, all that his heart wanted to do was run as fast as possible to the beast. 

“I don’t care, all I know is that he is out there waiting for me.”

“…And it needs me.”

a/n: YO! I'm back from a hiatus!! It's been too long! I'm sorry for those who have been waiting! I want to say thank you for for those who have been waiting patiently, also a huge welcome to the new suscribers! <3 See you soon lovelies!!