Kyungsoo, in Jongdae’s perspective, had reacted much better to the presence of the other wolves than he had previously thought: at least he hadn’t fainted like he had. He kind of looked as if he was in a deep state of shock looking at the trio in front of him with widened eyes and in complete silence.

He just looked as if he was contemplating the last half hour and wasn’t really responsive to anyone or anything. Jongin had left the man when he noticed that he needed some time to breathe, or rather, everyone left him in order to give the omega some time to digest everything.

The Oracle approached Jongdae, who was biting his lips, worrying the tender flesh between his white incisors, and looking at Kyungsoo with apprehension which, after the stunt he pulled by bringing the priest to them, was slightly normal.

“How are you?” asked the taller of the two with a comforting hand on the smaller’s shoulder.

“A little worried…He is too quiet and after everything sinks in, I don’t know how he is going to react.”

“Understandable. Why did you bring him here? You tried to explain but, in all honesty, you rambled more than everything and I only understood half of it.”

“Something happened at the village and I…”

Jongdae didn’t have time to finish since Chanyeol came barreling over and grabbed his arm forcefully almost sending him tumbling to the ground.

“Chanyeol!” chided Jongin, sighing at the forcefulness of his brother’s gesture.

“We were promised that no one, aside from you too, would come here and invade our space and now you bring him here? What is this? Where the heck is the other one?”

“I…”

“You better have some really good explanation for this!” proceeded Chanyeol, as if Jongdae didn’t even try to speak.

“Let him speak Chanyeol!” came Baekhyun’s voice, approaching them, no doubt startled by Chanyeol’s gesture and angry voice.

The older of the wolves made Chanyeol let go of Jongdae with a flick of his wrist at the other’s hand. Chanyeol glared at the male but said nothing once Jongin sent him a warning glance.

Once Chanyeol settled, resorting into a sort of an angry stance beside him; seeing him in his better behavior, Jongin turned to the beta beside him.

“What happened at the village? You were saying something before you were interrupted.

“Something happened at the village. Is not that I wanted to bring Kyungsoo but I didn’t know what else to do and he doesn’t believe me!” replied Jongdae, sending a nasty glare on Chanyeol’s direction, discreetly rubbing his arm where Chanyeol had grabbed him; the taller, for his part, just snorted loudly, looking unimpressed at the glare that Jongdae was sending him.

“What happened?” prompted Baekhyun, voice even and calm, trying to ease Jongdae up and relaxing him.

“Start from the beginning.” Advised Jongin, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

“Well, Sehun told me that he came here to you and talked about what happened with one of the members of the Council. He also told me that he was followed and you helped him Baekhyun!”

Both Baekhyun and Jongin nodded at his words, certainly remembering when Sehun was there, just a few hours back.

“However,” proceeded Jongdae, “after he came back the Council took him for a hearing because, apparently, Sooyoun went to tell the other members that he had been rude to her and he was condemned to a public lashing.”

“What?” they both asked, a shocked look appearing on their faces; even Chanyeol looked rather surprise at the news.

“The thing is: we know that it wasn’t the case, Sehun was never rude to anyone. We believe that it might be related with his findings, perhaps with the fact that someone had followed him, although that is just a guess. What I know is that Sehun is currently past out at home and has a healer and an apothecary with him, along with other friends, nursing him back to health.”

“That’s horrifying!” exclaimed Jongin, completely appalled at the treatment the other had surpassed. “How bad it is?”

“Bad enough to leave permanent scarring all over his back! It was brutal; they beat him everywhere and too many times. He didn’t even manage to stay conscious for the most part of it.”

Everyone was agitated after that; Jongdae could see that even Chanyeol was affected when he learned what had happened.

“Aside from that, I found out who was the one you saw in your vision, which was Kyungsoo, whom I brought with me. I saw his bracelet and I pretty sure that his him because I didn’t find anyone who matched the description. However, Kyungsoo doesn’t believe in me; he says it was either a sunstroke induced fever from working on the fields or the shock from seeing Sehun like that.”

“Did you explain the situation?” asked Jongin with a furrowed eyebrow, glancing over to his brothers who still seemed lost in the world of shock at the news they kept receiving from the beta wolf.

“I did!” nodded Jongdae. “I explained over and over again and I desperately tried to have him believing in me without having to mention you but it didn’t work, he simply didn’t believe in me… I am truly sorry for bringing him here, I know that you preferred that things were differently but he is my friend and I had to do something, this was the only thing I remembered. And I hope I don’t get him any trouble… if someone finds him here he will have a punishment much worse than Sehun: it’s forbidden for a priest to leave the village at night.”

“Why doesn’t he believe you?” asked Chanyeol suddenly, the tone of his voice giving away his surprise. “You are the picture of honesty! I would, at least, take your words into consideration, even if you would just tell me it was probable that my life was in danger.”

Jongdae’s mouth hang out open in shock as he heard those unexpected words from Chanyeol; Baekhyun and Jongin also seemed a little surprised but they said absolutely nothing.

“Did you just compliment me?” asked Jongdae completely baffled, looking over at the taller man who grunted in his direction and didn’t answer, opting to look at him with unreadable eyes.

“Well then…” intervened Jongin, not wanting to add any fuel to the fire that Chanyeol could be. “I think that we need to talk to Kyungsoo and put things in perspective for him or, at least, explain something to him.”

“I’m really sorry for bringing him here but really I didn’t know what else to do.”

Jongin and Baekhyun looked at each other when Jongdae lowered his head looking so absolutely defeated. Jongin patted the beta soothingly on the arm, seeing that the other needed some comfort. It seemed like both Jongdae were going through a hard moment at the time, it wasn’t something that it was on a very personal level, it affected them indirectly through the problems that the Council brought to them, added to the stress of a world seemingly thrown out its axis by the creatures suddenly appearing and also their own appearance. As it seemed, these problems were already affecting them, not only mentally, clearly demonstrating itself on their drained appearance and hopelessness, but also physically, since they seemed to be paying for everything with their own bodies.

“I’m going to talk to Kyungsoo and we are all going to figure something for better or for worse. I’ve said this to Sehun and I’ll say to you too: we got you and we will help you.”

With another pat in the back and a reassuring and honest smile that lightened up Jongdae’s heart, Jongin walked away, in Kyungsoo’s direction to try and talk to the male and, Jongdae would guess, to explain the situation.

Jongdae sat on the ground, sighing a little with relief, especially when he saw that Kyungsoo didn’t protest when Jongin approached him and sat beside him to talk, he even seemed civil as Jongin spoke to him.

“How are you?”

Jongdae almost startled himself when he heard the voice beside him, except for the fact he didn’t; he knew that Baekhyun was still beside him, Chanyeol long gone to the darkness of their cave, but he didn’t expect the berserker to speak to him.

“I’m…” began Jongdae, stopping after the first word, not knowing what to say. “I don’t know how I am actually.”

“Hmm…It’s understandable. You are facing a rough period filled with hardships that are all summing up into a single period and doing it with so little support, since it’s mainly you and Sehun to deal with all of it, it certainly not an easy task.” Replied the other man understandingly, opting to sit himself next to the beta wolf.

“It’s just being difficult and I am now feeling truly co-dependent of Sehun; I mean, we grew up together and he helped me through a lot of difficult times growing up. We have always been together and basically fending for ourselves since our p…Let’s just say that he is the brother that and the platonic soulmate that I never thought I needed and it’s hard to function when he isn’t here to help me think and plan my next movements.”

“Separation issues, if I didn’t know better I’d say you were mates.”

“We are not!!” defended Jongdae, quickly denying any kind of relationship with Sehun, which was true; the thought alone was a little disturbing, not because Sehun wasn’t attractive, because he rather was, but due to the fact that Sehun was family.

“I didn’t say you were.” Replied Baekhyun with an amused smile on his lips. “I meant to say that you have a close relationship, which is really enjoyable to see. However, it is also obvious that you have a purely platonic relationship.”

“True. He is my closest friend, truly a brother in my perspective.”

“How is he?” asked Baekhyun turning his head to the side to look into Jongdae’s eyes.

“He is really not faring well. It was truly brutal what he went through. I am concerned about him; I know that we will not be bothered by the scars or anything like that but the trauma to his body is nothing something easily forgotten.”

“Do you reckon that he will be fine?”

“He will be fine, Sehun as a real ability of bouncing back from a hard situation, but I don’t know how fast that will happen. As cliché as it sounds: only time will tell. Nevertheless, I am really worried right now about his wounds, they are enormous and too many, the pain must be intolerable.”

“Have some faith; everything will work in your favor eventually.” Replied Baekhyun encouragingly but with some good dosage of reality in his words, stating clearly, that it could take a while until that peace arrived.

“Can’t it be now?” asked Jongdae jokingly, hands on his lap twiddling nonstop in a clear gesture of anxiousness.

“We all wish…” stated the other wolf with a slight smile that was parts amused and parts sad. “But we all know that things don’t go how we want them when we want them,”

“Experience talking?” questioned the beta slowly.

 Jongdae really wanted to have a conversation with the brothers but, up so far, only Jongin had shown some interest in talking to them, Chanyeol was much to spiteful and angry all of the time and Baekhyun, most often than not, just seemed very withdrawn, lost in his own thoughts. He didn’t want to cross any boundaries but this seemed like a good moment to just talk to them and get to know them better, or at least Baekhyun, since they were their allies.

Baekhyun regarded the male from the corner of his eyes and, for a split second, Jongdae was really worried that the other wolf was offended by his question, even preparing himself to apologize, eyes frantic and posture rigid, but Baekhyun answered his question.

“You could say that. I imagine that Jongin told you about our story?” the nod he received made him continue. “It weren’t the best times; as you know, I’ve dealt with many things since I was young, unpleasant things, and, to be perfectly honest, it still chases me now, at this moment, but throughout the years, I learned that sometimes you have to hold on to something much more abstract than family and friends to keep on going, especially when those categories are reduced to two people, one of them who is willing to start a war at everything I say or do, and for me that was faith: the knowledge that at one point in my life I will find the peace that I want.”

The berserker’s words made sense, at least to Jongdae. However, the idea that had been passed to him, that berserkers were wild, unpredictable and violent, was really shattering to pieces with just a few words from the wolf next to him, since he wasn’t really was going to consider Chanyeol in his equation: Chanyeol was a temperamental little bastard and Jongdae wanted to kick him in the nuts, which he would if he wasn’t certain that Chanyeol would murder him.

Both berserkers had an aura of power around them, very visible and almost tangible; they exuded strength and just looking at them was intimidating but, somehow, there was a softer side to Baekhyun that was completely unexpected. Also, despite the constant presence of his two brothers, there was also a loneliness to and a longing to him that he couldn’t exactly pinpoint what were the true causes.

“Not that I can compare, but I understand a little bit what you are trying to say.” Pointed Jongdae, a little more relaxed, seeing the other wolf open to engage into conversation.

“I guess you do. After all, as you told us, it’s only you and Sehun, is it not?”

“Well, we do have other friends but none of them know about you and the whole creature, Council stuff. We are advancing into deep waters and I don’t want to drag them down with me, in case this ends wrongly.”

“You did brought Kyungsoo.” Hummed Baekhyun.

“Different circumstances; if I could not bring him, it would be perfect but the possibility of him dying with me knowing about it and doing nothing is terrifying and horrible; what kind of person would do that? Also, I am trying to not endanger them but I will forget about that plan if something worse happens and this life or death scenario justifies it; to me it does.”

“It does justify it and it’s noble of you. It makes you a great friend; even though it might not seem like that do you due to the current circumstances.”

“Is that the motto you use when it comes to Chanyeol?” asked Jongdae a little disgruntledly, watching the man in question appear at the entrance of the cave, looking at them with a snort.

Baekhyun let out a small chuckle when he heard the question, as it seemed Chanyeol had managed to rub Jongdae the wrong way and vice-versa, but Chanyeol didn’t like anyone aside from Jongin.

“Chanyeol wasn’t always like this you know. He used to be a sweet, bright little kid when he was younger but life changed him. I guess losing a mother and a father does that do you, especially when all you have left are a younger brother who is marginalized by being a little different than usual, something that people can understand, and an older brother, who isn’t even your real brother, with whom you don’t see eye to eye.”

Baekhyun’s voice seemed distant and the sadness returned with more intensity to those dark eyes. Baekhyun had nice eyes, thought Jongdae, they looked trustworthy and Jongdae liked that.

“Why don’t you see eye to eye?”

“Being the oldest of the three of us, I only want what is best for all of us. Since the death of our parents I have been trying to do what I think it’s best for them, everything was done with them in my mind: they safety, their health, their happiness, but it’s a hard thing to do when your younger brother is almost a ticking time bomb: his mind bursting with too much knowledge given to him by some kind of divine power while the other one was just a confused teenager looking for some guiding. I made many mistakes but being selfish and assuming that I knew what was best for them was the worst of them. I let it cloud my judgement and affect some of my decisions and for that said teenager that was something unforgivable. That’s why Chanyeol and I have some… trouble with each other, or rather, why he has some trouble with me.”

Jongdae pondered over the words that were just relayed to him. He could understand the message that Baekhyun was trying to pass but, somehow, it seemed more like it was something that Baekhyun wanted to believe, something that explained to his tired and martyrized mind why things were the way they were.

“I don’t know about what you been through with them, I can’t ever imagine what it is to lead a life like you did, for so long but I don’t think it’s fair that you are blaming yourself for the lives Jongin and Chanyeol have. You had many unfortunate events crossing paths with your life and you suffered so much that it’s ridiculous how sane and how pondered you look like. However, despite the words you just said, they are alive and they look okay, a little rough around the edges, a little chipped here and there but alive.” Stated Jongdae  softly. “I know it will not ease any of the burdens you carry on your shoulders but, one day, when you decided to ponder about it, remember that there was once a Jongdae, a wolf that you met, that told you that you did something good and raised two people, on your own, despite everything, and they turned out quite okay.”

Baekhyun looked at him before focusing on the dark night in front of him again. Jongdae looked over the profile of the man: he really looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders and yet, Jongdae couldn’t help to like the man more for the humbleness and sheer strength that he seemed to possess.

“Thank you!” Came Baekhyun’s voice, soft as a whisper, in the semi silence of the night.

Jongdae didn’t utter a word; he knew Baekhyun had understood him and thanking him had been more than enough already. They both stood, side by side, in complete silence as the minutes passed, enjoying the moment and taking a moment to relax while Jongin spoke with Kyungsoo and Chanyeol was busy glaring at them from a few meters away.

Normally, the behavior would set Jongdae ablaze, especially since it had come from Chanyeol with whom he had an altercation before which had rubbed Jongdae the wrong way, but not this time. Maybe it had been the conversation, maybe just his tiredness but the truth was that he felt very relaxed and peaceful. ´

And in few minutes, Jongdae fell asleep.

Jongdae woke up when a hand shook him up gently. He opened his eyes slowly, a familiar rich scent filling up his nostrils and proving him with a sense of security, and looked up, almost falling backwards when he found Chanyeol’s wild eyes looking over at him.

“Wha…?”

Jongdae was completely disoriented; he knew where he was and why he was there but that didn’t explain why Chanyeol was above him, waking him up.

“My brother finished talking to your friend.” Stated Chanyeol with a grunt, displeased at being assigned with the task of waking Jongdae.

Jongdae nodded silently, rubbing his eyes with a fisted hand, trying to erase the remnants of sleep from his face, while Chanyeol looked at him. The beta found it weird to have the tall wolf staring at him so intently.

“Stop staring!” he requested with a pout when he realized the other wasn’t going to stop so soon.

“I’ll do whatever I want!” replied Chanyeol flippantly, with an air of superiority that made Jongdae sock him in the face; he had that reaction a lot when he contacted, sparsely, with Chanyeol and he wasn’t even a violent person.

Jongdae rolled his eyes before standing up and passing by Chanyeol, trying to reach Kyungsoo who was a few meters away, talking with Jongin and Baekhyun. He only walked a few steps before he stumbled slightly, uncoordinated from sleep, but Chanyeol’s hand came from nowhere and grabbed his arm, stabilizing him by pulling him towards his own chest.

The scent of lemongrass, sandalwood and vetiver reached his nose when it smacked against the warm chest.

“Be careful! Fuse yourself with the ground some other time!”

Jongdae whined indignantly and freed himself from Chanyeol, marching towards Kyungsoo and the others with his nose held high. When he reached them, they all had amused smiles on their faces, to which he scowled, telling them to stop it.

“Stop smiling and just telling me what’s up.” He grumbled, leaning against Kyungsoo and peering up at the male beneath his long lashes, trying to disclosure what was his mood and, in the case of Kyungsoo being mad or sad, melt up his friend a little bit; he almost sighed in relief when Kyungsoo’s arm slid on his shoulders, tugging the male closer to him and cooing slightly at the beta’s adorable disposition.

“I’m not mad at you Jongdae: you can stop digging for affection like a little kid.” Smiled Kyungsoo, rubbing the other’s shoulder in comfort.

“I’ve updated Kyungsoo on everything and now he is up par with you and Sehun.” Relayed Jongin. “I’ve also told him about my vision obviously. I have no doubts in my mind that it is, in fact, Kyungsoo, since his bracelet matches exactly the one I’ve been seeing. We all know that this assassination attempt is going to happen tomorrow and, while I think it is better for Kyungsoo to lay low and just hide, but Kyungsoo thinks otherwise and thinks that it would be a very good idea to actually try and understand who exactly is behind this scheme, if it is happening, so that we can prevent it or, at the very least, counterattack.”

“That’s dangerous!” exclaimed Jongdae in a panic, straightening up in a second, bumping, once again, against Chanyeol, who had just joined them.

“I know you are concerned Jongdae, but I have the right to know!” replied Kyungsoo easily, as if it wasn’t his life the topic being discussed. “I know it’s dangerous, I know that you might not agree but if I want to have some leverage on them, if it does actually happen, like Jongin said. I cannot live my life afraid and keep on wondering who is after me.”

“I get that, Kyungsoo, I really do!” argued Jongdae hotly, his elbow accidentally meeting Chanyeol’s gut, due to his wild gesturing. “But how are you planning on doing that and escaping with life? The only people who are remotely strong to protect you aren’t in town or they are recovering from a harsh beating! I do it in a heartbeat, you know that but I’m not strong enough to protect you! I am a lowly beta whose pastimes as a little kid and an adolescent were books instead of rolling in the dirt along with the other wolves. I couldn’t even stand up to my parents…”

Jongdae stopped there, cutting his sentence in half, breathing heavily, severely agitated. He was visibly upset and the others were feeling a little bad for the beta. The wolf was almost hyperventilating and, strangely enough, it was Chanyeol who managed to calm him down, looking and sounding far softer than usually.

“Calm down and breathe.” Said the tall wolf soothingly. “We all know that you are worried about Kyungsoo, he also understands it and appreciates, but he is also right in wanting to know about who is plotting against him; there is morbidity about it but he has the right. Also, neither of you has to go through this alone; Jongin promised that we would help you, because he cares and because you were kind and helped us, therefore, I will too honor that promised and I’ll assure you that we will find who is trying to hurt him and protect you both and Sehun too.”

The words were reassuring enough for Jongdae to be able to breathe a little better, feeling safe when he heard those words, although it took quite a while to calm down. When he did, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo’s hands helped him sit on the floor, fearing that the he would be too overwhelmed for his legs to function properly.

“How do you plan to do that exactly?” he asked, placing his head between his knees; he was very emotional at the moment, pretty much like an omega on heat, and he had just blabbered way too much to the trio: he didn’t exactly want them to find that he had been beaten up as a kid and look more weak to their eyes than he already was; Jongdae was all brains and little brawl.

“Tomorrow, I need you to sneak us inside your village. We will help you up against whoever it is trying to harm you. “ Replied Jongin.

Jongdae’s head shot up at that.

“What?”

“You are going to get us inside and we are going to help you up. It’s already decided, you just need to come pick us up at the northern part of village, which Kyungsoo said it’s less guarded and from there you’ll guide us to the temple, which is the place where Kyungsoo is going to be. We’ll hide there and come for help if needed, before dawn we’ll leave, and return to our cave.” Stated Baekhyun this time, looking calm and collected, as if theiy weren’t discussing their lives.

“What…”

“It will work!” interrupted Chanyeol, not letting Jongdae finish his sentence. “Have some faith in us please!”

“I’ve discussed all the necessary things with Jongin already! Jongdae, it’s time to go home before someone discovers about this and we get in trouble and all my plans go down the drain.”

Jongdae didn’t dare to argue with Kyungsoo; there was a fire in his eyes that hadn’t really been there for a long time, probably subdued due to the impositions made on his life, affecting his free will and his own life. Knowing that his life was being threatened must’ve been a decisive factor to the small change that he was seeing; Kyungsoo was docile but a force to be recognized when he wanted to.

He nodded to the omega and stood up, aided by said male, preparing himself to return to their village. It wouldn’t be a very long walk but it wouldn’t be an easy one.

As if reading Jongdae’s mind, Jongin announced that Chanyeol would take them to the outskirts of their village, assuring them a safe return thanks to his enhanced senses, which elicited a protest from said man, who shrank back in his skin when Jongin sent him an ice cold glare: a clear indication to follow his request ‘or else!’.

Jongdae received a warm hug from Jongin and a pat on the back from Baekhyun, both of them wishing him the best and offering him a small amount of strength and solitude, doing the same to a surprised Kyungsoo, before stating that they would see them again tomorrow.

As they left, Jongdae couldn’t help but to think that he would rather live here, in the wilderness, with these men, instead of living where he did right now; at least, here, he felt safe, he felt loved.

Jongdae and Kyungsoo arrived safely at the village a good half an hour later, they had to wait for at least ten minutes at some random place before Chanyeol, who scented some random person walking around the village, gave him the ‘go’ signal, allowing them to run and get inside the limits of the place they called home.

As they ran, Jongdae looked once back, towards the berserker, and breath almost left him when he noticed the tall male observing them from a distance, luminescent eyes twinkling in the distance, staring at them. He could’ve just turn back as soon as they got inside the established perimeter but he didn’t and that warmed Jongdae’s heart.

He left Kyungsoo as the temple, looking left and right at all the times, looking for anything that would represent a threat, only leaving when the other locked himself inside his room, with the promise that tomorrow he was going to claim in sick, so that he could be safe and sound inside his room all day.

Jongdae, feeling slightly paranoid, sniffed the entire area around the temple, to be sure that no one had been anywhere near there, returning to Sehun’s hut when he was finished, and satisfied that no one had been there.

Seungwan was sat on the bench near Sehun, who slept with his back facing the ceiling. She lifted his eyes to him when he got inside.

“Did you do everything you needed to do?” Was the question she posed him, looking relaxed and nonchalant about it.

“Yes, I did.”

“Good.”

And without any more words, except that Luhan would be back in the morning to check on the patient, she left him alone, in the dark hut with his best friend.

Jongdae sat on the chair where Seungwan had been before and covered himself with the blanket that she had left behind, stretching an arm to grab Sehun’s hand and provide some comfort, to Sehun and to himself.

He was tired and, despite the nap he had took before, he knew that sleep would reclaim his conscious again pretty soon; he could feel it from the moment he sat down and heaviness took part of all his limbs, making them so heavy that it would be impossible for him to move for a while.

As the darkness began to claim him, making his eyelids drop naturally and drag him into a restoring sleep, Jongdae prayed.

“Mother Earth, I know that I am not the best son out there or even the best friend but please, please, help us all in this difficult moment. Keep safe everyone I cherish and protect them. I am not asking you to protect me or even to watch out for me, just… please, look after them!”

He looked one last time to Sehun’s peaceful face, no doubt heavily drugged by Luhan’s medicine, before sleep claimed him and he let himself follow the welcomed darkness.

A/N: Well, another day, another chapter! First of all, how have you been doing? I hope that you are all feeling okay and that you had a good week and that the one that is starting is even better. Everything exponentially better it the best way!
Well, as the new chapter comes, we find some more things and now Kyungsoo is fully disclosured about everything that is going on! Action is really going to come in blasting in the next chapter and you can expect the unexpected (Am I not always like that? :3 )
I hope that you all liked the chapter, if so please subscribe and upvote, which always make me happy, and come talk to me via comment or message me, I am really sociable and I promise to reply to you all! I always do!!!
Lastly, but no less important, I wish you all an amazing week; be safe and be healthy, love people around you and let others love you too, it is very important to feel appreciated and loved and, more importantly, BE HAPPY! 
Lots of love and bear hugs to you all!
<3