Random Rambles: Whew long chappie again, guys! It took a while to get this updated because I was thinking how I could move the story forward without it being too long or tedious. Hope it won't disappoint! Over here people are going through exams and other not-fun stuff; should you happen to suffer a similar fate of having to study and work hard for school, I wish you the best of luck! You can do it! Fighting~! Per usual, thank you for all your support guys ^^ <3

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"She's late."

Suho pointed out anxiously as he looked at his watch. He rubbed his hands together for warmth, breathing out a cloud of smoke which added to the mist that had come rolling in. 

"Yeah, thanks for the update, Captain Obvious," D.O. retorted bitingly, earning a scowl from their leader. "She sent a text that she would be, right?" 

"But she's late," Tao interjected, "as in, really late." 

"Noona sent the text twenty minutes ago. You think she got lost in the fog?" Chen remarked, gazing into the thickness of the mist. "I nearly lost my way, too." 

"We should look for her," Kris then mentioned, saying out loud what the others had been thinking all along.

"What if we all go looking for her and there's no one around if she does arrive?" Chanyeol then questioned.

"I'll make a quick round from above. I'll see more that way," Kris replied confidentally, already set to take off. 

"In this mist? You won't see a thing," Luhan commented. "We should split up. Six of us stay here to wait for Jae in case she comes, the other six go out and look for her." 

"You don't think anything happened to her, do you?" Lay asked quietly, concern etched on his face. "She didn't look all too well." 

"Don't worry, you get to heal her once she's here," Xiumin reassured his younger brother, placing a hand on his shoulder. 

"So, who should stay and who should go?" Baekhyun then asked, snapping his fingers to produce a ball of light and dousing it again. 

"Kris, you should take Baekhyun, Luhan, Chen, Kai and Sehun with you and look for Jae. We'll stay behind," Suho then instructed. "The moment you find her, teleport back here. Luhan, keep the channels open so we can let you know if she came here on her own accord." 

Kris nodded and rounded up the assigned guys, but there were some that protested. 

"Hold on, why should they go?" D.O. prompted, Chanyeol and Tao nodding in protest beside him. 

Suho sighed before he turned towards the smaller teen. "Because Kris is fast and can soar through the woods in no time, same goes for Kai. Baekhyun can use the light to look for Jae through this fog, Chen can sense any security fences and disable them if need be, and Luhan's telepathy can act as a beacon for Jae, should she be in distress. In addition, if this mist becomes more dense, Sehun can blow it away. Any further questions?" he summed, watching a disgruntled D.O. 

"Well, you can't expect the rest of us to just sit around and do nothing," he mumbled, wrapping his green scarf tighter around him. Suho watched as he saw his younger brother briefly nuzzle it as subtly as possible, but everyone could tell that it had Jae's scent on it. She had worn it before, after all. 

He softened up and ruffled D.O.'s hair. "We're not doing nothing. We're waiting for her to show up. Chanyeol can start a fire so she'll know which way to go to, and we'll keep a lookout."

"We'll let you know as soon as we find her. Knowing her, she's probably wondering around lost out there," Kris stated, simultaneously trying to reassure himself and his brothers. "Why don't you guys see if you can reach her on her cell," he then suggested. 

"Oh! That's a great idea!" Tao immediately whipped out his phone and dialed her number.

"Be careful and get back soon," Suho then told Kris. "We'll let you know if we hear something from her."

Kris nodded and told his group to follow him.

Kai adjusted the snapback he was wearing so it wouldn't fall off his head when he ran, when he noticed Sehun staring off into the distance, as though he was peering through the thick fog. Now that he thought about it, their youngest brother had been awfully, uncharacteristically quiet.

"Sehunnie, come on, let's go," he urged, but the lanky teen didn't move. This drew the attention of his other brothers as well, and Suho heaved another sigh.

"Go on, Sehun, you're not getting out of this one," he attempted to joke, but Sehun didn't even turn around to look at him. He kept looking around, his face scrunged into a deep frown of concern.

"I don't like this mist," he finally spoke, holding out his hand as the mist swirled around it.

"It's just the fog, Sehun, it happens from time to time. Now, come on, let's go," Kris called, though he was wary of his behavior.

Sehun shook his head firmly, swallowing. "No. The air doesn't smell right," he said.

"Guys," Tao then piped up in concern, looking at his cell phone. "Jae-noona isn't answering," he said a little breathlessly.

"Doesn't mean anything, maybe she didn't hear her phone," Baekhyun tried, but he didn't sound too convincing.

"We'd better hurry up and look for her then. The sooner we find her, the sooner we can laugh about this later," Kris suggested, but again, Sehun stopped him.

"Wait, hyung. We should all go," he prompted. "There's seriously something wrong with this air. Focus and tell me that you can't sense it," he challenged. "There's something wrong- off balance. This fog- it's too dense," he struggled in explaining what he felt, but the distress in his voice told his brothers enough.

D.O. squatted down and placed his hand firmly on the ground. The earth was moist, but when he made it move, the energy seemed to have weakened, as if it had mysteriously shifted and not necessarily for the better.

"Sehun is right," he added, whilst looking at his hand. "There's something off." He looked at Lay, who was crouching down beside a fern to inspect its leaves. He frowned when Lay's hand emitted a gentle glow to heal the droopy leaves, but it didn't heal in full, which startled him. 

"Do you think it's the mist?" Kris asked, after having seen Lay's startled reaction. 

The boys looked around, with Baekhyun even trying to steer clear from the rolling fog. Kai turned swiftly around when he thought he heard the sound of branches breaking and he took a deep breath of air, allowing the scents of the night to overwhelm his senses. Being able to distinguish most of them, he shook his head in disgust when there was one particular scent that he didn't like. 

"Chanyeol-hyung, you're not burning anything, are you?" he asked, just to be sure. 

The tall teen widened his eyes at the accusation and lifted both his hands. 

Kai clacked his tongue. "Didn't think so," he uttered, rolling his shoulders while his eyes glowed a crimson red. He growled and snapped his head when he heard something approaching them from the fog. He was ready to pounce when out of the grey swirls of mist came a rottweiler, running towards them with her tongue wagging out of . 

She ran straight towards Xiumin, who was surprised to see the dog this far out in the woods. "Hey, girl, what are you doing here? You scared us," he knelt down to pet her, but the rottweiler whined and whimpered. Upon closer inspection, Xiumin noticed that the dog's eyes were unusually bloodshot and she was limping. 

"What's wrong with her, hyung?" Tao asked, carefully petting the animal as well. 

"I don't know," Xiumin whispered, scratching her ears in concern. "She doesn't look too well." 

"Hey, maybe the dog can lead us to Jae-noona," Chen then prompted, but tilted his head when he saw that the dog sank to the ground, panting. 

"What is it, girl?" Xiumin asked, stepping back a bit when the rottweiler lowered her head and started wheezing. She whimpered and fell to her side, pleading eyes looking at the twelve wolves. 

Xiumin's eyes widened at seeing the dog having vomited a dark substance. "Lay," he called and his younger brother quickly joined his side. 

"Omo! What's that?" Lay asked, carefully reaching to the substance before Suho grabbed his wrist to stop him. He moved his hand and saw some of the dark substance move. As Xiumin urged Lay to heal the rottweiler, the leader walked to a nearby stream, Kris and Luhan in tow. 

The water moved under his command, but unlike its usual crystal clear clarity, the water was murky- polluted. 

"What the heck?" he muttered at seeing the dirty water. Suho turned to Luhan and Kris to show them his finding. The older brothers exchanged glances, at a loss at what was going on. 

"We have to find Jae," Luhan said, while Suho nodded. 

"Quickly," he agreed, a look of urgency and anxiety on his face as he looked at his surroundings. Everything had been fine up until the point that the fog came rolling in and the whole world seemed to have started to disintegrate. 

"Suho-hyung!" Came Sehun's call and the leader responded, walking towards his brothers who had gathered around Xiumin and Lay, as the latter was healing the rottweiler. 

Lay was concentrated as his hands hovered over the dog, the rottweiler whimpering softly.

"We think she may have been poisoned, hyung," Tao said, looking worriedly at the animal. "Lay-ge says the source of her pain is her stomach. That's why she keeps coughing up that dark goop," he explained. 

"Poor thing," said Suho, taking a deep breath as he thought of what to do. He didn't like it that Jae still hadn't shown up either. The little hope he had of her simply walking up to them apologetically through the mist had faded. He ran a hand through his hair as he racked his brain. What the hell is going on around here? 

"Will she be okay?" Kris then asked, as he heard Lay muttering quietly to the animal. 

"No worries, doggie-ah, I'll take care of you," he whispered. "I think she'll be alright, gege," he said. "She was smart to come looking for us to help her." 

"She must've been wandering around and drank the water, or something," Kris replied. "I don't mean to rush you, Lay, but do you think you're almost done? We have to see what's keeping Jae. This fog is getting thicker and that isn't helping either." 

"Lay-hyung mentioned that she didn't look her best yet, right?" Kai then mentioned, looking antsy. "What if she just fell asleep to rest and get better and is still at her house?"

"How do you explain the text she sent, then? She said she was on her way, but running late," Baekhyun replied. 

"Maybe she ran to meet us and forgot about something and ran back to the house and something kept her there? Maybe her parents found out that she snuck out?" Tao tried innocently, because the thought of something bad having happened to Jae was making him feel panicked. 

"Let's at least check the house to rule it out before running through the forest for nothing," Kai suggested, sounding agitated to mask his true concern. 

A strong bark sounded and the rottweiler got to her feet, Lay gratefully for healing her. She barked a few times and wagged her tail, moving towards Kai as she nudged his hand. 

"You're not coming, girl," he said, petting her gently, but she didn't seem to want to hear it this time. She simply bit into the lower leg of his jeans and didn't let go. 

"Yah! S-stop that," Kai tried, but to no avail. 

"Guess we have an extra member for tonight," Suho stated. "Come on, let's go," he nodded at Kai, who took a deep breath. The black smoke was already surrounding the brothers when they huddled together and with a blink of an eye, they stood in front of Jae's house. It was quiet and dark, which wasn't that surprising, given the time of night, but it made the brothers doubt that she was there. 

"What now?" Chanyeol asked, standing on his toes to see if he could look through the windows for any movement. 

"Should we knock, or something? Throw pebbles at her window?" Baekhyun suggested. 

"And wake her parents? No way," Chen dismissed. 

"Well, what do you suggest we do then?" Baekhyun replied. 

"Argh, we're wasting time! Luhan, can you sense if Jae's there?" D.O. blurted, having no patience left. His older brother shook his head ruefully. 

"But that doesn't have to mean anything. I can't get into her head unless she grants me permission, remember?" 

The pack went quiet as they thought of a plan to check if Jae was there. Eventually, Kai grunted and cracked his knuckles. "Screw this," he cussed, walking towards a trash can and grabbing the lid. 

"What do you think you're doing?" Xiumin inquired, watching in mild astonishment as Kai held up the lid of the trash can as though it were a shield. 

"I'm going in," he said rather dramatically. "This way, if she's in there, she can throw anything she wants at me, but it won't hit," he waved with the lid. "Be right back," he breathed. "Just hope she's there." 

Kai disappeared in a poof of smoke while the brothers waited outside. They all silently hoped to hear Jae's cry of shock and outrage at seeing Kai uninvited in her room, but there came no ruckus, no chaos. Everything remained still and dark. There was no shouting, no sound of things being thrown, no angry Jae appearing in the window to gasp in exasperation at seeing all of them waiting for her in front of her house. There was no sound of a sweet voice scolding the living daylights out of them, accusing them of being stupid or insane for coming here, knowing that her parents were home, sleeping soundly in their beds- and the boys hated that silence. 

All of them sighed in disappointment when Kai returned without her, placing the lid on the trash can, looking dejected himself. "She's not here," he said out loud what they had suspected. "All I could tell from her room was that she seemed to have left in a hurry." 

"Which means that she's still out there, alone, by herself," Luhan mused. 

"We have to find her!" Sehun exclaimed in alarm. "What if something happened to her? Or what if noona got thirsty for some reason and drank from the same water that dog drank from?!" 

"Sehun, calm down, don't panic until there's legitimate reason to do so," Suho attempted to calm him down, but the problem with that was that he was sounding pretty worked up and panicked himself. If anything happened to Jae, he wouldn't know what to do. "Kai, back to the woods. Let's see if we can pick up her scent," he instructed. 

"Wouldn't it make more sense if we ran from here?" D.O. then argued. "If she happened to get lost somewhere, we might meet her on the path she took to get to the woods from her house. Not to mention that her scent will be easier to pick up." 

Suho nodded and saw no reason to disagree. "You're right, let's go," was all he uttered as they started the frantic search for Jae. Even the rottweiler seemed to have picked up what was going on and ran diligently beside the brothers, sniffing out the scent of the girl. She wasn't startled when they changed into wolves midway. It only made her want to run faster with them. 

They ran down the path Jae would take, her scent still fresh and strong. Along the way, however, the fog and diminished their sight and confused their senses. 

"The earth is stirred here," D.O. noted, back in human form. 

"Is there a trail?" Suho asked, while D.O. followed it until the ground curved down a hill, but the mist made it difficult for him to see. Without having to ask, Sehun blew at it, the fog dispersing, if only for a little while. 

"Hey, what was that?" Chen piped up. "Sehunnie, do it again," he instructed, the maknae quickly complying. Chen peered into the darkness and pointed at a dark shape on the forest floor. "There!" 

Without hesitation, the boys slid down the hill. Tao was first to arrive, running towards the silhouette Chen had made out before. 

"Jae-noona! Jae-noona, is that you? Are you alright? Jae- huh?" He stopped to look at the disregarded backpack, its contents spilled out. 

"That's Jae's bag, isn't it?" Kris asked as D.O. went to pick it up. The rottweiler sniffed at the material and walked at the scattered papers, looking for someone to go pick them up. Kai knelt down to gather them with Chen and Lay. The teen scanned them over quickly, frowning to himself when he recognized Jae's handwriting and found himself staring at a particular drawing of a dagger. 

"Find anything interesting, Kai?" Luhan questioned, but the younger brother shook his head, handing the papers over to D.O. so he could place them back into the bag. 

"Why would Jae-noona leave her bag like this? Do you think she fell from the hill and is unconscious somewhere?" Chanyeol then asked innocently, refusing to think anything negative at this point. 

"If her bag is here, then it should mean that she has to lie close to it. But there's no trace of her," D.O. stated bluntly, still looking around. 

The rottweiler, meanwhile, had resorted to whimpering softly, as though she wasn't very hopeful herself. She sniffed the wet earth to trace Jae's last whereabouts, walking around with her nose hovering over the dirt. Xiumin watched carefully to read the dog's reaction and silently nudged his brothers to watch as well. They held in their breaths as she perked up her ears and jerked up her head at a certain direction, as if she caught a scent. 

"What is it, girl?" Xiumin started quietly. "Did you get something? Do you know where Jae is?" 

The rottweiler turned around, wagging her tail. For a moment, she seemed excited, but then something changed in her demeanor as she looked back to the direction that had drawn her attention and the dog started growling, barking. Her fur spiked as she barked at the approaching entity from the mist, and the boys were on alert as well. 

"Who is that? Is it Jae-noona?" Baekhyun wondered out loud, peering into the fog. He started playing with a little ball of light in his palm, but Suho told him to douse it. 

"Last I checked," the leader started as he transformed easily into a wolf to disguise himself, the others quickly following his example, Jae didn't smell like burned wood. 

Sehun was the last to have changed into a wolf when the entity from the mist revealed herself. Her eyes sparkled in mirth as she saw the pack of wolves, who growled and haunched down as they looked upon her, but she was not intimidated. 

Kumiho, Suho hissed. 

"Oh, my, my. What a fortuitous coincidence," Miss Kumiho purred, letting her hazel green eyes wander over the pack of animals. "That I would run into a vicious pack of wolves at this hour! What is a helpless woman like me to do?" she sighed in despair, but her tone of mockery in her words were as subtle as a train wreck. 

The wolves made sure not to respond, and they stood their ground. 

This woman really gets on my nerves! What the hell is she even doing here?! asked Kai, bearing his teeth at the smiling woman. 

I don't know, but with her around, the best thing we can do is stay on guard and be cautious, Suho instructed, though he looked like he was ready to bite the woman's head off if she came too near.

Do you think she has anything to do with Jae-noona being missing? Chen asked, keeping low to the ground as though he were ready to pounce her if necessary. 

If that is the case, then I'm gonna- D.O., started as he growled furiously at the woman, drawing her attention as she looked straight at him. 

"You'll do what?" came her surprising reply. "Go on, finish your sentence," she urged, startling the brothers as she smirked and rubbed her hands together. 

...Did she-, Luhan breathed, I mean, you don't think that she can-!

"Hear every word you're thinking?" she finished, chuckling as she dared came closer. "Oh, come now, boys," she huffed as they all instinctively stepped back when she approached. "Do we really have to continue with this tedious game? Don't tell me that you didn't have a bit of a hunch about me," she giggled, placing her hands on her hips as she stared them down. "There's no need for all of this hiding, and hostility," she purred, her eyes glowing briefly to prove her point. She grinned when the wolves were still too stupefied by her sudden announcement to even react. 

Miss Kumiho breathed and directed herself to Suho, tilting her head to the side as she inspected him. "Suho-sshi, is that you? There's no need for disguises, boys. I know exactly who each of you are. You'd be surprised how much we have in common," she said, her tone changing sharply as she uttered the last sentence, putting a threat inside of her words meant to intimidate them. 

Suho finally moved, taking a tentative step forward. 

Suho-hyung, no! Tao warned, not caring whether the creepy woman could hear him or not. Suho turned his head and gave Tao a reassuring nod. 

Miss Kumiho showed a row of pearly teeth as she watched how Suho transformed back into his human form. She even clapped her hands together in mirth. 

"That's better," she commented, looking around the pack as the wolves changed before her eyes, one by one, her smile widening even further. "Much better," she mused, looking them over with hungry eyes. They lingered on Kris as she her ruby lips, subtly lifting her eyebrow as she saw the young man glaring angrily at her. 

"Aren't you a big, bad wolf," she purred, pretending to be impressed when Kris' red eyes glowed fiercely at her and he growled, showing her his fangs. 

"Who are you?" Suho interrupted as calmly as he could. His voice was strong and determined, his stance confident and unfaltering. "How do you know about us?" 

Miss Kumiho smirked. "Such interesting questions to ask at a time of crisis, Suho-sshi," she breathed, chuckling lightly to herself. "Believe it, or not, but we're more alike to one another than you think. Do you all truly believe that you're special? Exceptional? Not at all," she mused. "We've been keeping a close watch on all of you, mongrels," she spewed. "It was difficult to locate you. You caused me quite a great deal of trouble," she continued, but the boys were none the wiser. 

"Locate us? Why have you been looking for us? How do you even know that we exist?!" Suho blurted, making the woman laugh. 

"Oh, do forgive me, Suho-sshi. I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's begin with the order of business for today, shall we? Before we start reminiscing and lose track of things altogether," she clasped her hands together. "Although, speaking of which," she mused, the glint in her eyes indicating that she wished to torment and mock them further. "How are the memories, boys?" she grinned devilishly when they startled. 

"I see I've hit a sensitive note," she immediately continued as they didn't react instantly. "Well then, let's see what will happen if I start pushing more buttons, shall we?" Miss Kumiho looked around the group and started pointing at each member. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven," she counted, "eight, nine, ten, eleven, and Suho-sshi makes a dozen!" she exclaimed as if the number was a miraculous feat. 

"Hm," she then hummed obnoxiously loud. "I do believe that there's something not quite right about the number," she tapped her finger against her lips, feigning having to think about it. Then, she snapped her fingers upon realizing something. 

"Ah, yes, of course!" When she smiled this time, there was a distinct darkness in her eyes, and a shift in the air that had the boys on alert. 

"There's someone missing," she taunted. "Lucky number thirteen, is it not?" she asked in feigned innocence. She chuckled when this got a reaction from the teens, and she could nearly feel the daggers they were shooting at her through their glares. She reveled in it. 

"What have you done to Jae?" Suho growled, his fist balled tightly to such an extent that his knuckles were white and his nails dug into his own flesh. 

"Poor Suho-sshi," Miss Kumiho tutted. "How dreadful it must feel for you, the guardian who was unable to guard one of his own. My, my," she breathed. "Such a shame. And you dare care yourself a leader?" she grinned as something broke in Suho's eyes. 

"Yah, enough of this crap!" Kai shouted, leaping towards her with the speed of light, ready to attack. 

"Oops, I don't think so," the woman stated as she evaded Kai's attack and slammed her palm against his chest, easily sending him flying backwards. 

"Kai!" Suho called out, running towards his brother as the teen started writhing in pain. 

"Y-yah! Stop it!" Sehun shouted at Kumiho. 

"What are you doing to him?! Leave him alone!" D.O. yelled, slamming his fist on the earth as it rippled towards her with terrifying strength and speed. The woman merely jumped back, unimpressed by the attack. 

"Hot-blooded much?" she mocked, waving her hand in Kai's direction as the young man stilled and took deep breaths. "See? He's fine, a picture of health. That's my little trick, you see, my vice, if you will," she explained as the brothers looked at her. "Poison," she clarified, beaming at them as if she expected them to burst out in applause. "What he felt was my beautiful poison, slithering through his veins, taking control of his body, killing every cell one by one until everything stops living. But I healed it, too. You shouldn't worry for him," Miss Kumiho told the wary boys as she briefly disappeared into the thick mist and they heard the sound of rustling. 

"If I were you," her voice resounded around them. "I'd worry- for her," she finished and they exclaimed when Miss Kumiho returned and they heard a loud thud. 

It seemed as if the world stopped for that brief moment. Seeing Jae barely conscious, her skin riddled in black branches and veins, body twitching and convulsing out of pain, knocked the wind right out of the boys. Her name was on their lips. 

"Jae! What did you do to her?!" Kris yelled angrily, as the brothers rushed over to her side. Lay wasted no time as he frantically started to heal her and Miss Kumiho only watched, twirling a lock of hair between her fingers. She bit her lip in amusement at seeing the black veins disappearing, only to reappear with a vengeance. She stared at the healer, carefully studied his serious expression, read the hope, determination and despair in his eyes. 

"Tell me," she mused quietly. "What was it like to be at the mercy of a puny piece of metal?" she provoked, Lay's eyes flashing briefly at her, but not answering, concentrating on Jae alone. This, for whatever reason, infuriated her. Miss Kumiho clacked her tongue in derision and inspected her nails, picking the imaginary dirt from them. 

"You remind me of someone I know," she hissed. "Always with that bleeding heart. Ridiculous. I honestly cannot understand why you would so willingly lower yourselves in such a disgraceful manner. It should be obvious that people like us are far above the filth that walk this world," she uttered in annoyance. 

"Like us? You are nothing like us, lady! And if you know what's good for you, you'll leave, right now!" Kai growled. 

At this, the woman laughed and lifted her hands up in defense. "I'm sure that's true, but will it be good for darling Jae, as well?" she asked, her voice sickingly sweet. 

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Suho, standing in front of Jae and Lay so he could heal her without interruptions. 

Miss Kumiho directed herself at Lay. "How's the healing coming along?" 

Lay still didn't grace her with a reply, quietly keeping focused as a sheen of sweat covered his face, giving his all to cure her. He wouldn't give up. 

"Lay-hyung?" Sehun asked worriedly, gazing at his older brother putting in all of his strength to heal Jae. 

"It's-," Lay panted, refusing to stop, "it's not working," he breathed, the glow under his hands intensifying. 

"Of course it's not," the woman replied casually. "Did you honestly believe me to be so cruel-hearted to have poisoned this darling girl for sport? No," she shook her head, pouting slightly. "I needed to find some way to get your attention, didn't I?" she looked at Lay. "You can heal her all you want, handsome, but you won't succeed. I'm the only one who can cure her." 

The news caused a tense silence to fill the air, the brothers exchanging glances in frustration and confusion, trying to figure out what was going on. Lay had started panting, the exhaustion kicking in, but he didn't falter. He steadily continued to heal even though it hardly had any effect. Eventually, it was D.O. that stood up, stepping away from Jae as he directed himself towards the woman. 

"Then cure her," he stated, his voice trembling with emotion. His body was tense, rigid, and anyone who knew D.O. well enough, could tell that he was ready to explode. "Cure. Her." He demanded, emphasizing the words. When the woman only silently looked at him, waiting to see how he would react, he stomped his foot, causing a minor tremble that was strong enough to have startled her. "Cure her!" he shouted. "What do you want?!" 

"Temper, temper," Miss Kumiho finally tutted before smirking again. "That's exactly what we wanted to see. It's good to know that despite your faulty memories, there's nothing wrong with your- gifts. Mr. Yok will be pleased. He's quite eager to meet all twelve of you. He's been waiting all this time," she spoke as though her words had any meaning to the boys. 

"Mr. Yok? Who the hell is he? Why would he want to- why did he wait-, argh! Who are you?!" Suho finally snapped, which the pack took as a sign to get ready for battle, should it get that far. They stood in a half-circle in front of Jae, with Lay still focusing on trying to heal her on his own accord, standing tall and ready for anything. Chanyeol's hands were already covered by a gentle layer of flames, while Chen's fingers were encircled by purple sparks of lightning. 

"I'm someone with a proposition," Miss Kumiho replied, her hazel green eyes shining. "I will provide the cure, safety and well-being of Jae-sshi and in return, I ask all of you to grant us whatever we may need from you." 

"A bargain?" Luhan questioned skeptically. "And what may that last part entail, exactly? What even makes you think that we trust anything you say?"

"You don't have much choice, do you, pretty boy? It's very simple. Agree to do whatever we may ask of you - without protest - or, leave precious Jae-sshi to her fate. I can tell you right now," she feigned in concern, "it's not going to be pretty."

They all responded when Jae gasped in pain, turning their heads to witness the poison destroying her body.

"You were never after Jae-noona, were you? All of this was set up because it was us that you wanted," Sehun uttered in disgust and disbelief, the hurt and anxiety clear in his expression, the tone of vulnerability proving again that he was indeed the youngest of their pack.

"Mr. Yok has been keeping tabs on you for a long time. All that we needed was confirmation. Our meeting had always been inevitable, boys," Miss Kumiho elaborated plainly. "Now, you don't have much time. I need an answer. Do we have a deal?"

"Why this way?" Suho asked, breathlessly. "Why not just come to us to ask, why are you doing this?"

"Please, would you have even confirmed it if I accused you of being wolves? That you knew magic? Besides, I fear it's a bit more complicated than that, Suho-sshi. Now, I need an answer. Do we have a deal? Jae-sshi's safety for your compliance? Or will you allow her to die, instead?" she threatened, startling them when she waved her hand and Jae yelped out in pain. The sudden attack had somehow awoken the girl, and she started to utter protests against striking a bargain with Miss Kumiho.

"D-don't listen t-to h-her..." she panted, fighting hard against the pain. "S-s-she'll hu-hurt you," she managed to utter in a voice weakened by the poison and the torment it caused her.  

"Oh my, how noble," Miss Kumiho prompted sarcastically. "It appears that you've found your speech again, darling. Let's remedy that, shall we?" she exclaimed, balling her fist and watching Jae writhe helplessly, her screams of agony filling the air. 

"Stop it!" Lay shouted, his voice uncharacteristically rough. "Enough! Don't hurt her!"

"We'll do whatever you want," Kris filled in, though he said so reluctantly. He looked at Suho and the leader had very little choice but to agree. 

"Just leave Jae alone. If your business is with us, then she shouldn't be involved," he added, as the screams stilled.

A triumphant smile played on the woman's lips when she heard the answer, and a wicked gleam appeared in her eyes. "I suppose you make a fair point, Suho-sshi," she remarked, noticing the defeated, angry looks on the boys' faces. "Though, having said that, it's rather difficult to not involve Jae-sshi in this, is it not? She's a witness to all of this and I'm not quite sure I like that," she balled her fist again, hearing Jae cry out in pain.

She laughed at hearing the brothers' startled outbursts, their pleas to spare her. "Just joking, boys," she purred. "Where's your sense of humor? Now then," she clapped her hands. "Since we've come to an agreement, I'll let you know when Mr. Yok wishes to meet you. Should you fail to comply after we've struck our bargain, make no mistake that I'll know where to find you. Should you attempt to flee, then know that I won't spare darling Jae's life a second time," she said coolly. "Of course, telling anyone about this would be a terrible mistake indeed. You go on with your lives as if this world is still right, is that understood?" 

"At least tell us what you want from us. Why is this Mr. Yok figure so keen on meeting us?" Suho demanded to know, but of course he was denied a straight answer. 

"My, my," she mused instead. "You really don't remember a thing, do you?" she said, raising suspicion. Miss Kumiho dismissed it. "Never mind, it'll come eventually, but hopefully by then, all the hard work has already been done."

"Start making sense, will you?!" Chen blurted. "And heal Jae-noona!"

"You first," she stated. 

"You want us to go see this Mr. Yok guy, now?!" Xiumin asked in annoyance, but the woman only snorted. 

"That moment will come soon enough. And what did I tell you about asking questions? You agreed to comply as part of the bargain, to do whatever I ask of you. All I need is one string of hair from each of you."

"Our hair? Forget it, lady, you think we're stupid, or something?" Baekhyun spat out. 

"Ah, very well. In that case, say goodbye to Jae-sshi," Miss Kumiho waved at the suffering girl, her outcry so heart-wrenching it brought panic to the brothers. 

"No! Stop! I'm sorry," Baekhyun immediately called out. "Don't hurt her," he said as she collected what she needed from them. Satisfied at the collection of DNA, she smiled widely once more, though her eyes could not have looked emptier. "Wonderful. I knew that we could come to an agreement together, boys," she rubbed in, reveling in the fact that they were helpless in doing anything against her. She enjoyed that kind of power. 

"We did our part," D.O. said. "Now you do yours." 

"Yeah! Heal her!" Tao shouted, unable to mask his frustration and anger. 

Miss Kumiho gave a lopsided grin before she side-eyed Jae. She dramatically kissed her finger tips and blew a kiss her way. The girl lost consciousness and her body had stilled. 

"There. She'll live," she said coldly, turning around on her heels. "It was nice doing business with you, boys. I look forward to our next meeting," she gave a small wave and winked at them before disappearing into the mist, leaving the pack of young wolves annoyed and infuriated, confused and anxious. 

"What the hell was all of that about?!" Kai shouted. 

"I don't know," Suho replied, running his fingers through his hair. "Right now, I don't care," he said bluntly, turning around to check on Jae. "Did she really do it? Did she heal her?"

"Jae-yah?" Lay asked tiredly, gently shaking her shoulders. 

"Jae, open your eyes," D.O. commanded, far less patient and less tender, for that matter. 

"The veins are disappearing," muttered Xiumin. "I think it's working." 

"Jae, can you hear me?" Luhan asked softly, but the girl gave no reply. 

"We're taking her home," Suho then said, looking dejected, and frankly, like hell. 

"Um, shouldn't we discuss what just freaking happened, hyung?" Chen prompted. "Is it just me or does anyone else have a severe need for a proper explanation and a pair of new underwear?" 

"Not now, Chen!" Suho snapped. "Jae's safety comes first. We'll worry about the rest later," he reprimanded. "Kai, get us out of here." 

What would have been a night of clarity and explanations, a night of questions possibly getting answered, turned into a nightmare. The boys realized then that their peaceful lives were never meant to be eternal. They should've known better than to believe that they could live in peace and quiet while possessing such exceptional gifts. It was a bitter pill to swallow. 

No one spoke a word when they brought Jae home. They put her to bed, silently hoping that by tomorrow, everything would be turned back to normal. Except they knew now, as they parted ways to go home themselves, that nothing would ever be the same again.