Chapter 3. Broken Mirror

I was once told that a broken heart is like a broken mirror, it's better to leave it broken than hurt yourself trying to fix it. When I met Luhan, the shards of the mirror cut my skin and tore through my soul. At first he seemed harmless enough... until I saw his smile, I remembered him... a living remnant of my past... The one who was ripped away from me and left me alone... forever to wander... with the white flakes that fell from the skies as my sole company... Lost...

"Luhan! Luhan! Luhan!" Chen whined, hugging Luhan's leg.

He groaned and turned to Chen with a menacing look in his eyes, "hyung, please eat, you look so pale and weak!" Chen looked up at Luhan with pleading eyes.

Luhan shook his head quickly "I promised I would stay right here for as long as it takes and it isn't fair that Minseok can't eat and I can, so if he can't eat then neither can I."

Chen smirked, "you know friends don't do that for each oth..."

Luhan slapped him over the back of the head, it had become a kind of habit, "shut up idiot..." he mumbled with a faint pink hue visible on his cheeks.

Luhan looked over at the sleeping Minseok, it had been four days since he had slipped into his unconscious state and Luhan had not once left his side, Chen and the others occasionally came into the room to beg him to eat but he simply refused. Chen was right, no friend would ever do this, but there was just something he felt he owed Minseok, something important that he just... couldn't... remember...

Chen looked at him with pitiful eyes, "hyung, I'm sure Minseok wouldn't want to see you hurt so... please?"

Luhan hesitated and looked over at Minseok, it's true that he would probably be hit by Minseok if he knew that he wasn't eating for his sake... Luhan sighed and nodded, "Yesss! Come on hyung! DO made some soup for you." 

Luhan stumbled out of his chair and regretted stepping out of the room as he began to feel lightheaded, Chen helped him down the stairs and into the kitchen where the others all feasted. Kris' eyes lit up and he ran over to Luhan, "you look so weak Lu, please eat something..."

Luhan smiled and nodded, he hungrily wolfed down his soup and his eyes shone, "DO have you ever taken culinary classes?" He asked with his mouth still stuffed with chicken.

"Well, I've always wanted to but... I'm a wolf so..." DO scratched behind his black furry ears.

"Why don't you just use a necklace like Kris did?" Luhan asked confused.

"I am not able to harness that power, only alphas can use the power of the necklaces to blend with human kind, omegas like me and betas like Lay can't wield that ability," DO explained.

Suho pulled out a necklace identical to Kris' except the charm was a water droplet with some odd markings in it. "What's with these weird symbols then?" Luhan tapped the charm but a shock rippled through his hand and made it numb.

"They represent our elements, oh yeah and if you touch them they'll hurt you as a safety precaution in case anyone tries to take them off," Suho smirked.

Luhan whimpered at his hand and Lay stood up and walked over to him, "let me demonstrate."

Lay held his hands over Luhan's and shut his eyes in concentration, a beautiful pink glow emanated from Luhan's hand and he watched in amazement as the pain in his hand vanished and he could move it again, "wow..." He muttered under his breath.

Lay smiled and pinched Luhan's cheek, "the look on your face is so adorable!"

"May I remind you that I'm older than you?" Luhan rubbed his cheek protectively.

Lay shrugged, "you must have drank some kind of elixir of youth... can I have some?"

Luhan hit Chen over the back of the head, "Hey! Lay said it not me!" He whimpered.

"Lay just healed me so I can't hit him, also your face was annoying," Luhan shrugged.

"THAT'S NOT A GOOD REASON!" Chen complained.

A loud crash was heard from upstairs suddenly and Luhan sprung from his seat, he ran up the stairs and into Minseok's room. He saw the huge white wolf lying on the floor, his purple eyes dulling and his breaths becoming weaker, Luhan rushed beside him and panicked, "Minseok! Get up please!" He begged with tears b in his eyes.

Lay ran into the room and gently pushed Luhan away from the wolf, he cautiously placed his hands over he great wolf's heart and focused all of his power into it. Luhan saw Lay's face show agonizing pain but he continued to try and heal Minseok before he couldn't take it anymore, "Some kind of ancient power is keeping me from healing him, I've done all I can but... it's only enough to keep him alive for the next... two hours or less..."

Luhan stared at Minseok with his heart losing any hope of repaying him for that 'something' in the past, Lay saw and scratched his chin, "... go back to the tree, it's your only option."

Luhan looked at him confused, "why?"

"Remember the legend, the great snow wolf and the tree of life... if something has happened to the tree it must be effecting Minseok now, take Tao with you he'll know what to do," Lay suggested.

Luhan nodded in agreement and ran downstairs, "Tao! You're coming on a little trip with me."

Tao's eyes flashed with excitement and he ran into the bathroom to shift, he came out as a rich dark brown wolf with hazel eyes, "let's go hyung!" He spoke with a deep scratchy tone.

Luhan and Tao walked out into the cold, he climbed into Tao's back and Luhan guided him through the snowy tundra as the flakes began to grow heavier. Tao was careful not to hurt Luhan with his usually careless actions and had concern written on his face as he remembered what Lay had told him...

 Use your power, and Luhan will come to realize what has long been forgotten...

Lay had whispered these words to him before they left and he had genuine concern for his hyung, "Luhan? Are we there yet?"

Luhan shook his head, "just a little longer..."

Tao halted abruptly as he sensed the presence of other wolves, "there's someone ahead Luhan..." He whispered.

He started to walk backwards quietly but by then the wolves had already detected them, a large silvery wolf pounced at them and growled menacingly. Tao took up a defensive stance and Luhan jumped off his back, he backed away a little knowing to stay behind Tao, "what's a lone wolf doing out here? With a... human?" The silver wolf spat the word out like it was poison.

"None of your concern... pup," Tao growled knowing this wolf was younger than him.

The wolf looked like it was going to attack at those words until he was stopped by a huge deep grey wolf with a few brown streaks in his fur, "that's enough Sehun! Sorry about that one, he's awfully rude," the wolf apologized sincerely.

"W... who are you," Tao's voice faltered slightly while he stared at the giant alpha.

"I am Kai, and this is Sehun, Chanyeol and Baekhyun," he introduced two other wolves.

Chanyeol was a crimson coloured wolf with fiery red eyes and Baekhyun was a light brown wolf with bright yellow eyes, "what are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere then?" Chanyeol asked curiously.

"I'm helping a friend," Tao spoke not trusting these strangers.

"We're running out of time," Luhan whispered to Tao desperately.

"You mean the human?" Kai asked.

Tao nodded, "we really need to get going or I won't be able to help him so..." 

"Let us come with you! We're kinda lost, we came from the South you see," Baekhyun spoke quickly.

Tao knew that there was no getting out of this one, Luhan nodded frantically trying to speed things along, "fine just please be quick."

Tao allowed Luhan to climb on his back again and rapidly ran towards their destination, the others following in close pursuit. Luhan pointed at a shadow in the distance, "that's it!"

Tao picked up his pace and prayed they were not too late... but the tree was in a terrible condition, its branches looked weak, its bark was dull, the leaves were dead and the magic of the place was just gone. "Luhan, lie beneath the tree and I'll take over," Tao sighed.

Luhan the bark of the tree and lay beneath it as Tao had said, he immediately felt his eyelids get heavier. Tao muttered something under his breath and some kind of barrier shut Luhan in with the tree, "go now back into the past, complete your deadly, tiresome task, and when you wake again once more, you'll learn the truth of time before..."

Luhan's eyelids drooped and he stared into the darkness...

For Minseok...

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