Previously on Black Gold:

Taeyeon: Y-you guys…think that my parents a-are….

Tiffany: We’re pretty sure that we found documents that prove that your parents are North Korean spies.

//

Tiffany: The regime knows about us…and they’re getting these crazy chimeras out of it!

Sooyoung: Actually, I think they’re trying to make naguals.

Hyoyeon: What’re naguals?

Sooyoung: Basically a type of shapeshifters. Naguals can freely shift in and out of their creature and human form, unlike werewolves who are bound to the full moon.

//

Taeyeon: I need to know. I need to find them.

Sooyoung: When do we leave? Tomorrow?

Taeyeon: Next full moon is in a week. Let’s not hang outside with a bunch of werewolf-chimeras again. We’ll leave right after that.

Even with the worry of the next full moon arriving in seven days, the girls try not to fret about being trapped on an entire island that’s overflowing with werewolf-chimeras. Instead, Yuri finds herself with some of her friends in the school’s massive kitchen, cooking dinner for the evening. She scoops a neat mound of creamy pasta into a white bowl and finishes off the dish with dash of chopped parsley on surface.

“That looks nice, right?” she asks Tiffany.

However, it’s Yoona that pops over the fox’s shoulder instead. “Oooh, it looks pretty, but does it taste any good?” she teases before reaching her fork forward to grab a bite of penne.

“Aw come on, you ruined it!” Yuri whines at the crater that’s now destroyed her perfectly plated dish.

After chewing the bite of pasta, Yoona’s eyes practically sparkle in approval of the savory dish. “Heol! Deabak sagun!” she laughs through a nasally voice while pinching the tanned girl’s cheeks. “Oh my gosh, Fany-unnie, our little gumiho has finally learned to cook!”

“The pasta I made yesterday was not that bad!” the fox whines.

Tiffany laughs from the other side of the kitchen. “Dude, the spaghetti wasn’t even cooked all the way through. It was bad.”

“But you’re a master pasta maker now! Good job, Yuri-unnie,” Yoona congratulates the fox by tickling the underside of her chin. “I’ll go let the other girls know that dinner is ready!”

When Tiffany wanders over to Yuri’s side with a tray of grilled chicken to plate along with the pasta, she notices the way that the gumiho’s fixated on watching Yoona leave the kitchen.

Tiffany gasps. “Oh my god.”

Feeling the girl’s eyes on her, Yuri turns to meet her friend’s wide stare. “What?”

“You…look at yooooou~” Tiffany coos, grin broadening across her face.

“Wh-what?” Yuri replies, suddenly feeling very self-conscious about the way her friend’s teasing her.

“You know!” Tiffany replies, wiggling her eyebrows. “You like her don’t you?”

Confused, Yuri blinks slowly. “W-what?”

“Yoona! Seriously, look at this dumb smile on your face!” Tiffany jabs, pinching the other girl’s cheek.

The fox isn’t sure why her face suddenly feels hot or why her stomach hurts, but she thinks she might be feeling painfully embarrassed for the first time and she’s mindful of quickly forcing her smile into something more neutral. “I’m not dumb,” she mutters, pulling her cheek out of Tiffany’s fingers.

The other girl squeals when she sees right through the gumiho’s mask. “AHHH, Yul!” she shrieks, dropping the tray of chicken onto the counter before crushing the taller girl into a tight hug. “You’re soooo cute when you’re crushing!”

Yuri’s not sure why her whole body feels warm and tingly at the thought of Yoona. “Get off! You’re b-being weird!” she blurts out, shooing the other girl away.

Tiffany just continues to giggle at gumiho’s fluster. “It’s cute. It’s like you’re a gawking elementary school kid.”

“Hey, Fany,” Hyoyeon greets as she suddenly enters through the kitchen doors, “can you come with me?”

“Hey! Nice timing, you. Dinner is pretty much ready. Come eat first!”

Hyoyeon sighs when the other girl is smiling so bright that her eyes have turned into those cute crescents. She knows that’s about to change though. “Yeah...I don’t think this can wait.”

Smile finally falling from her lips, Tiffany quickly removes her apron and sets it on the counter. “Yul, can you finish plating? I’ll be back soon.”

Following the speed-walking witch through the long halls, Tiffany doesn’t pester the girl with questions when she knows that it’s probably best she just witness whatever Hyoyeon wants to show her. They eventually stop at the edge of one of the big bay widows and Hyoyeon keeps the volume of her whisper to a bare minimum. “Careful. Stay out of sight.”

Confused, Tiffany cautiously leans to look outside the window where she observes the courtyard that’s connected to the school’s main gate. When she spots the group of chimeras nesting in the courtyard, she softly gasps at the intruders and, worse yet, among some of the bodies, some of the chimeras look like they’re wearing SKY school uniforms. Tiffany wheezes, but still has enough wits to quickly cast a silencing charm around herself and Hyoyeon before she lets panic get the best of her.

“O-oh my god...a-are they...from our field trip?”

Hyoyeon gives a hesitant nod. “I think I saw Gyuri, Sunmi, and Dasom too.” The witch sighs before she points to the window and tries to redirect Tiffany’s attention to something even more devastating. “Fany...is that…Bora?”

Tiffany feels her stomach plummet as she looks to the far end of the courtyard and, when she sees her old roommate, she feels liquid begin to pool in the corners of her eyes. “Yeah,” she wheezes, “that’s Bora.”

 ***

***

Sitting at the circular dining table with all of the girls, Yuri frowns as she pokes another bite of pasta onto her fork. “So much for a nice dinner….”

“We got to clear that courtyard. Now,” Hyoyeon sternly says as she continues to cut her chicken apart to eat with her pasta.

Seohyun feels like she’s lost her appetite though. “Those are our classmates,” she says through gritted teeth.

“And in a couple of days, the full moon’s going to turn some of them into real werewolves. Big, scary werewolves that—don’t forget—killed our werewolf,” Hyoyeon says before stuffing a bite of food into .

Next to Hyoyeon, Taeyeon purses her lips at the memory. “Yes, I’d rather not have a repeat of what happened last time, please.”

“And don’t forget that I probably can’t resurrect anyone again, okay?” the gumiho adds. “No more dying for anyone.”

With food completely abandoned, Tiffany continues to hammer her fist against the top of her knee, frustrated beyond belief. “I’ve known Bora since I was fifteen. W-what if we find Tae’s parents? Maybe they can reverse it?”

Sooyoung sighs at her friend’s farfetched optimism. “What’re you going to do? Muzzle Bora? Put her on a leash? Tie her to the back of our pickup truck till we find Dr. Kim? Come on, you gotta start being realistic, Fany.”

“You guys are telling me that I have to go kill one of my best friends. And what about the others?! You guys knew them too! We grew up with them! They’re your classmates too!”

Hyoyeon sighs when, even though she isn’t friends with most of the kids in that courtyard, she definitely recognizes their faces nonetheless. “I’m sorry! I just...I don’t know what else we can do! We can’t have them near us when that full moon goes up—hell, they might even be too dangerous right now! What if they can get through the physical and magic barriers on the front door in their current state?”

“We are not out in the woods anymore!” Tiffany counters. “We are at home with way more resources at our disposal. We can think of something else!”

“Okay,” Hyoyeon challenges, leaning her elbows onto the dining table. “Best case scenario, we capture them, lock them up in the dungeon where we used to keep Taeng on full moons while we go look for Dr. Kim, then what?!”

“T-then…then,” Tiffany stutters, trying to rattle her mind for any possible suggestions. “What about a sleeping draft?! We can just knock them out every day until we’re ready to leave. That way no one dies.”

“Even if we delivered it in a gas form to work more efficiently, we have no idea how werewolves in their full form would react to a sleeping potion,” Jessica says, voicing her expertise. “Last full moon, they made my stupefy charm look like a pebble was hitting them. On any other day, I could’ve paralyzed a chimera.”

“Fany, we can’t spend forever thinking of ways that we can or can’t save them,” Taeyeon honestly tells the other girl. “The longer we wait to do something about them, the worse things might get. The full moon’s next week. It’s too big of a risk.”

“It’s almost been two months,” Sunny suddenly mentions, directing her gaze at Tiffany. “Bora and our other classmates have been cursed like mindless savages for nearly two months now. We should do something about it. I know I’d rather be dead than be that way.”

“Me too,” Yoona sadly mutters as she pushes her food around her plate, far too upset to eat like she normally does.

“You were in school training to be an auror, weren’t you?” Hyoyeon unexpectedly says, watching Tiffany tense up. “Someday, if you want to be strong enough to help those who can’t help themselves, then you better be ready to make the hard decisions too then.”

“Then maybe being a military major was wrong for me!” Tiffany admits. “Looks like I’d make a pretty bad auror, huh?”

Hyoyeon angrily sighs when she realizes she may have taken her preaching too far. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—”

“Look, I get it. Do whatever you guys need to do, okay? I’m going to bed.”

Seohyun frowns as the older witch rockets out of her seat, leaving the dinner that she helped cook practically untouched. “Unnie….”

“Let her go,” Sooyoung advises, well aware of the Hufflepuff witch’s stubborn and sensitive nature.

As Tiffany angrily stalks out of the dining room, Yuri jumps up to her feet and follows the girl out into the hall. “Fany.”

Getting halted by her shoulders, Tiffany keeps her head bowed as Yuri spins her around to face her. It doesn’t take long for the fox to realize that the other girl is crying and Tiffany takes a shuddered breath before she leans into a shoulder to cry into. “I d-don’t want to watch her die.”

Holding the smaller girl in her arms, Yuri doesn’t know why she finds herself thinking about Taeyeon’s corpse, laying on the workbench with all of her grieving friends surrounding her. The fox tightens her embrace around the Hufflepuff witch when she knows that, even if Tiffany is conflicted about what to do about their chimera classmates, Yuri isn’t confused at all.

She’s going to protect her friends at all cost.

“Fany, why don’t you just sit this out? If you can’t do this, you shouldn’t,” she tells the girl, gently her back. “Leave it to me, okay?”

***

Taeyeon would much prefer spending her morning with a cup of coffee and a plate of pancakes while watching the romantic first snowfall of the year with Jessica. Instead, she finds herself standing at the front doors to the school courtyard while removing her leggings and sweater as they prepare themselves to ambush the sleeping chimeras. They’ve nervously waited through the night to gain the morning light’s advantage and, as Taeyeon drops her sweater to the ground, she releases a soft exhale, glad to see the chimeras still asleep outside.

“Sometimes I wished they were zombies,” Hyoyeon suddenly whispers as she looks out at the pack of chimeras, nestled and sleeping on the ground, “cause at least then they’d be slow, right? But right now, I’m glad these guys still work like normal animals.”

Sunny feels worse about ambushing the chimeras in their sleep though. She knows this it’s tactically the smartest thing to do, but she can’t help from feeling bad about murdering some of their classmates in their slumber.

“You guys ready?” Yuri asks, twirling a beater’s bat in each hand.

“Not really,” Taeyeon groans. “It’s been a while since we’ve done this.”

Standing just a few meters back at the bottom of the stairs with Tiffany, Seohyun, and Sooyoung, Yoona deeply frowns before she finds the courage to mention, “M-maybe I can try to help too? Just tell me what you guys would need.”

Sunny looks over her shoulder at the younger girl. “No way. I’ve seen your offensive spells, Yoong. You…better just sit this out.”

“…Are you guys going to be okay though?” Yoona asks.

Yuri gives the girl a thumbs-up. “As long as we got you here to patch us up afterwards,” she laughs, “we’re good!”

“O-okay….”

“Good luck you guys!” Sooyoung blurts out, which earns a few shushes from the nervous girls. “Sorry…go kick some !” she whispers emphatically.

Safe behind a visual and sound protego charm, Jessica continues to stare out the window next to the main door. Hypnotized by the large flakes raining down, Jessica softly laughs as she mentions, “Not exactly what I was expecting for the first snowfall of the year.”

When Taeyeon looks over, she meets her girlfriend’s eyes and they both crack a small smile. “Yeah, this isn’t how I’d want to spend the first snowfall either,” the wolf-girl replies.

“Well, looks like we’re all going to live together forever, happily ever after then,” Sunny adds to the couple’s conversation, giving the girls a much needed laugh before Hyoyeon puts her hand on the front doors.

“Okay. Just like we planned, alright?” Hyoyeon nervously asks.

Dropping their smiles, Jessica and Sunny nod as they step up to the doors, ready to be the first ones out.

“Hey.”

The girls look over their shoulders, surprised by the gravity in Taeyeon’s voice.

Even though the small wolf-girl is awkwardly standing in the foyer in her undergarments, it’s hard not to get drawn into her strong, golden gaze. “Everyone be careful. Nobody dies. Nobody gets injured.”

It’s not wishful thinking. It’s a command.

Hyoyeon smirks when her quiet childhood-friend has grown so much. “You got it, boss,” she tells the girl.

Taeyeon nods before she crouches down on all fours. “Okay. Let’s do this.”

Giving Taeyeon time to transform into her werewolf self, Hyoyeon helps part the heavy doors open for the other short witches and Jessica has to rush out in front of Sunny first. As the alchemist rushes down the steps, she holds her breath when the noise of her footsteps against the wooden planks causes some of the chimeras to jolt upright from their sleep. Mindful of not stepping into the foot of snow that’s covering the ground, Jessica plunges her cherry wood wand into the wintery ground. “Reducto,” she casts, using the charm to liquefy the frozen flakes into a couple inches of water.

“Rwargh!” One of the chimeras is the first to rise to its feet, now scrambling in shallow pool of water towards the sudden strangers that are intruding on their defenseless pack.

“Aguamenti!” Jessica quickly counters, firing a powerful jet of water from her wand to strike the beast back to the ground.

Taking advantage of the spraying water that’s helping hold the faster chimeras at bay, Sunny quickly shuffles beneath Jessica’s outstretched arm and dips the tip of her wand into the pool of water. “Glacius!” she casts causing the water to start freezing. As Sunny jumps to her feet, she grabs a hold of Jessica’s wrist and jerks the girl’s arm up to disrupt her stream of water so that the freezing charm doesn’t climb up the wrong limb. “Okay, let’s go!”

Their whole plan starts to set in motion as disorientated chimeras, still rousing from their slumber, are suddenly waking up beneath a sheet of ice. Even with their superhuman strength, it’s still difficult to break out of their confines when there’s no momentum to use to break the frozen water encasing their bodies.

It’s Taeyeon through the gate next and, even though she hasn’t been in her beastly form for weeks, it all feels so familiar and easy for her.  Fueled by the need to protect, protect, protect, the huge, black werewolf leaps onto the frozen arena and cracks the ice where she lands. The cracks immediately begin to spread and a chimera gladly takes advantage of the nearby aid and breaks free from its icy confines. However, it’s still drowsy and disorientated as it scrambles out of the mess of ice shards, so Taeyeon lunges and clamps her jaws around the thin neck.

She bites hard.

“Keep going!” Yuri yells at her canine teammate while sliding past the werewolf on the slippery surface. As she clumsily scrambles towards the chimeras at the far end of the courtyard, the fox curses over the worry of her own sloppy footing. Still, she tries to take advantage of their surprise tactic, so she wails her beater’s bat across a chimera’s face.

Even after the violent blow, the female chimera’s still alive and now snarling streams of blood from its mouth as she continues to try to break out of the foot of ice that’s holding her down. Inhaling sharply, Yuri tries not to focus on the tattered Hufflepuff garments that are cloaking the girl’s body, so the gumiho tries to get it over with faster and cracks the bat over the chimera’s skull again and again. “Come on, j-just die already,” she pleads, agonized about how long this is taking.

Starting to grow irritated with her own pathetic strength, Yuri tries to ignore the way that her fingers are starting to go numb from the cold. She grips the wooden handles of her bats until the wood creaks in her grasp as she summons powers she thought had been lost long ago. In a bright flash, the gumiho’s covered in a bright cloak of pearl light that breathes a life of its own. But in contrast to the heavenly glow it exudes, Yuri draws from the s