Chapter 12. You Must Choose

Luhan smiled at his mate, he had spent the whole day laughing and smiling, but the news of Minseok's upcoming death was eating away at him. The truth was, Luhan was terrified, he had not only discovered that his precious Minnie was dying, he also discovered that he had the power to hurt everyone he loved. Suho had been sending him curious looks and Luhan knew he had picked up on his fear, "Luhan can I talk to you?" He sighed.

He nodded and followed Suho out of the kitchen, the two sat down in the main room and Suho turned to Luhan with a worried expression, "you seem troubled by something, you can tell me and I will not judge you."

Luhan opened his mouth to say something but suddenly felt a dampness on his cheeks, salty tears streamed down his face and Suho became alarmed, he quickly rushed to Luhan's side and rocked the fragile boy in his arms as he sobbed into his shoulder. "Hey, it's okay, it'll be okay," Suho cooed softly.

"No it won't!" Luhan sniffed, "Minseok is... d...dying."

Suho froze, "how did you know?"

Luhan looked up at him with red eyes, "you knew too?... did everyone know except me?"

Suho shook his head, "only me, Lay and Tao."

Luhan shivered and clutched Suho's shirt, "please... when Minseok dies, kill me too," he whispered.

Suho looked at Luhan sternly, "you are not going to kill yourself, and none of us are going to kill you understand?"

He sighed and nodded, "then just... help me make Minseok feel better in the time he... has left."

Suho smiled slightly, "okay then, I'll help as much as I can."

Suho guided him to an area of the house Luhan had never been, he pulled out a key that hung off the chain of a necklace and turned to the door in front of them. It was a large oak door with carvings of wolves and magical creatures on its border, Luhan the seemingly ancient wood and smiled at the texture, Suho gently pushed the door open. Inside, the walls were painted sky blue and detailed images were hand painted on them, the floor had a large comfy rug on it with two large sofas either side. There was a large fireplace and a huge window where you could look up at night and see the stars and constellations, Luhan stared wide eyed, "what is this place?" 

"Its somewhere for wolves to think, to dream and to get away from the darkness, my parents fell in love here too. Luhan, if you ever feel upset, trapped or... lost, then you can come here," Suho sighed.

Luhan turned to him, "thank you... can I?..."

"Yes, you can bring Minseok here if you like," Suho smiled.

"He would appreciate somewhere like this, he never really had a home," Luhan looked at him sadly.

Suho nodded, "I'll leave you to think for a while, call me if you need anything."

Luhan smiled thankfully and watched as his friend left, he decided to shift and lay on the rug, "Minnie... how have you stayed so strong for so long?" He mumbled.

His ears pricked up as he heard a faint melody in the distance, he padded over to the window and looked out at the fields, It was Minseok.

It hurts to remember

Trying to pick up the pieces

Being trapped behind this glass

Watching you from the one sided mirror

I hate to think

That this whole time I've been missing you

You just flew away for a little while

You told me not to cry

So why is it now?

that you chose to return?

To taunt every move I make?

Or to watch me burn?

With the face of an angel,

But a darkened heart.

Do you feel my pain?

I'm falling apart.

Yet there's something deep inside of me

It says let me go,

So we can set each other free

I feel so torn

Bound too tightly by our red string of fate

Will you miss me when I'm gone?

Or will you simply forget?

Luhan's heart ached as he saw heard the sorrow filled words that came from his mate, he felt so confused. Minseok was strong, but strong people break eventually, Luhan knew that he was dying but he never really asked if Minseok was afraid of dying. He saw him standing in the field, he skillfully winded daisies around each other and made a crown. Minseok smiled but as he held the crown it wilted and froze in his hands, he sighed and threw it onto the ground, Luhan desperately wanted to run over and hug his precious wolf but couldn't bring himself to leave the room. Instead, he reached over to the window latch and pushed open the creaking glass, "MINSEOK!" He yelled.

Minseok jumped and saw Luhan's pained expression, he walked up to the him and pushed his hand through the gap in the window, they both intertwined their hands, "I won't let you die," Luhan whispered.

Minseok tapped the glass of the window and a thin layer of ice spread over it, he drew on the window with his finger and Luhan smiled when he saw the image of two wolves chasing one another through the land with a small pup behind them. He smiled and just about managed to reach up through the gap in the window and Minseok's cheek, "I love you."

"I... love you too," he smiled softly.

A loud crash came from behind Minseok and a powerful gust of wind knocked them back, a huge shadow like creature stood in the middle of the field, "Minseok stay back!" Luhan growled.

He smashed the window and vaulted through it, ignoring the glass that cut into his palm. "Surrender or die," the shadow creature cackled.

"You know what? I'm getting pretty sick and tired of you creatures," Luhan grimaced.

"Then let me end your suffering," it smirked.

~~~

"What the hell happened?!" Chen growled.

"It was her, she... she attacked us!" Chanyeol sobbed into Baekhyun's shoulder.

There was giant shards of ice everywhere, some shattered and lying in pieces on the ground. Luhan stood there, covered in scars, he was breathless and motionless. His left eye had a cut right through it, from the top of his forehead, to just above his lips. It was coated in blood and his eye was not visible, Yixing walked up to him and studied the wound. "He's badly injured," he reported to Suho.

"Damn," Suho muttered.

Minseok was lying on the ground in almost the same condition, both his eyes were fine but his neck was red and burnt. Yixing was about to check his wounds but he felt the prescience of dark magic at play, he saw there was an odd bracelet on Minseok's wrist. "Nobody go near him!" He yelled.

Suho pushed the others towards the house, "Kai, help Luhan into the house."

He nodded and cautiously walked over to him, "Luhan, it's okay let us clean you up and you'll be fine."

Luhan did not respond and Kai gently lifted his shaking body off the ground, he carried him back into the house, not caring about the blood staining his clothes. "Kyungsoo, can you help me with Luhan?" He called.

DO and Kai sat him down and Kyungsoo took out a wet cloth, he gently began to wipe away the blood that had crusted around his eye which made him receive pained growls every now and then. Once he had cleared most of the blood, he put disinfectant on the cloth and carefully pressed it to his cut to see how Luhan reacted, he howled in pain and swiped at Kyungsoo. "Stop! I'm helping you, if I don't do this then it'll get infected!" DO hissed.

Luhan calmed down and nodded for him to continue, he winced as it stung his skin on contact and the pain was intense. Once Kyungoo had finished he sighed and looked up at Luhan, "open your eye."

Luhan did as he was told and then froze, "holy !" Kai yelled.

Darkness...

"His eye's gone blind!" Kyungsoo yelled into the other room.

Chen ran into the room and stared at Luhan with horror, his left eye had turned an extremely pale brown and a faint blood red lined his pupil. "Get Lay," Kris turned to him.

He nodded and ran outside where Yixing and Suho stood with Minseok lying on the floor covered in a healing barrier, "Luhan... He's gone blind in his left eye and there's something wrong with it," he bit his lower lip.

Lay followed Chen inside and frowned as he saw Luhan, "his eye has been struck by powerful magic, so the mystic properties within it have vanished.

Kai scratched his chin, "so... if Luhan's hurt by the same power then..."

"Yes, he will lose his powers and die," Lay nodded, "thank goodness it was only his eye."

He held his hand over Luhan's wound and used his healing powers, after a minute he took his hand away, "whatever did that is a lot stronger than me, I cannot return your sight but I was able to speed the healing process of your cut, it's just a scar now."

Luhan stayed silent and played with his fingers, "what happened?" Kai crouched down front of him.

Something appeared, it was too strong for me to control... it was some kind of shadow fire Phoenix. I tried to protect Minseok but it just tossed me aside. Minseok fought so well... but even he could not stop that thing, it... it hurt him bad. Then it put something on his wrist, I couldn't see it properly. It walked over to me and scratched something into my back with its claws then flew away," Luhan felt tears pooling in his eyes.

"Can we see this cut?" Kyungsoo spoke softly.

Luhan nodded and pulled his shirt off, Lay let out a shaky breath, "that's the mark of Orochi, but that's impossible..."

"But Orochi has been dead for many years," Kai looked at him questionably.

Lay froze as he suddenly remembered something important, he grabbed Luhan's wrist and pulled him outside, he pushed him towards Minseok. "You see that bracelet?"

Luhan nodded, "it has the same mark, Orochi is meant to be dead but... His followers still live, they have bound Minseok with his own blood's magic."

"I... I don't get it," Luhan laughed awkwardly.

"It means that they are purposefully trying to hurt Minseok," Yixing groaned.

"What do they want with him?" Luhan growled.

"They don't want him... they want you," Lay bit his lip.

"Why?" He frowned.

"You have the power to reverse death Luhan, they want you to resurrect Orochi," Lay spoke seriously.

"I would never do that!" Luhan snapped.

Lay looked at him sadly, "Minseok... He's dying... it's him or Orochi."

"What are you saying!?" His eyes widened.

"That bracelet is going to make Minseok's death a lot more slow and painful than before, first, he will develop a fever, then he may begin to violently shake once in a while. This will become more common as time progresses, then Minseok will constantly be fainting and also losing control of his power. Until, his fate will be sealed in the worst way possible... The only way to get rid of that thing is for them to remove it, in return they will demand that Orochi must be resurrected, but if he is, a great darkness will spread over the world and we shall be plunged into eternal chaos. Everyone will die."

"So you're saying I have to choose!?" Luhan's breath shook.

Lay nodded and Luhan looked at his mate, "I... I... I ca.... I CAN'T DO IT!"

Yixing sighed as he ran away sobbing, "you were too harsh Lay," Suho spoke from behind him.

"I know... but we cannot allow Orochi to be resurrected no matter how large the cost," he frowned.

"It's a difficult choice for him, imagine if I was Minseok, what would you do?" Suho spoke softly.

Lay looked down with guilt swarming his emotions, "I... It would be difficult..."

"Then give him time, we have to help him through it," He patted his head gently.

~~~

"Release the prisoner?"

"Yes, I need you to get rid of him, after all... it's not him we want"

"Are you sure mistress?"

"Are you questioning my authority?"

"No!"

"Good, then release the prisoner"

"O... of course"

"You can run but you can't hide, boy. I'll make sure that my master is awoken and then I'll kill you. Perhaps not our young prince... We may still have a use for him..."

A/N ;( I'm so sorry, I stopped writing for ages, I feel like I neglected the story

Please forgive me, I have had a lot on my mind recently so I have been finding it difficult to get time to write this. 

Sorry again

~EXOdarkwolf~

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