Running after Luhan was proving itself to be a strenuous activity for Sehun, who had been forced into bed for a long, long time. He wasn’t out of shape per say, his body was still as lithe as it ever was, but he seemed to get out of breath really easily, and his muscles were screaming at him to stop and return to bed.

Luhan was agile, that was for sure, but he was never a match for Sehun, even if the younger beta was still recovering. The younger male launched himself at the older wolf, his friend and mentor, and tackled him to the ground making him land on the puddles of murky water on the ground, dirtying Luhan, and himself, all over.

Luhan trashed around blindly, trying to shake Sehun’s form from above himself, without much success: while normally Luhan would do it easily, being compact and quite strong, despite not being the tallest person around, Sehun had the advantage of being broader and being so determined that not even a tornado would succeed into lifting him up.

“Luhan, please! Just stop and hear me out.” He spoke into the other’s ear trying not to attract too much attention; there was not a single person wandering around with this kind of weather but one could never be sure.

“You are sheltering enemies!” shrieked Luhan completely out of control.

To tell the truth, Sehun was completely baffled at the other’s behavior: Luhan was generally a person who listened to others very well and tried to hear people’s sides before making a decision, to see him like this was surprising and Sehun couldn’t help to feel a little disappointed with his mentor. Luhan had taught him a lot of things throughout his life and for him to act so brashly was sad.

“Listen to me! You are making a big mistake.”

“The only mistake that I made was to trust yours and Jongdae’s judgement. The two of you always had your head in the clouds over equality, talking about Oracles all of the time. They are enemies! Enemies!”

“Calm yourself down and look to me; talk to me and hear what I have to say. Not everything is what you think. You told me that multiple times, to assess the situation and think about it objectively. Please, Luhan.”

“No!” yelled the other man.

Sehun was starting to sweat by now; Luhan was looking like a raging lunatic who was rolling in the mud, yelling and cussing at Sehun, who frowned at the man.

“Luhan, stop!” he begged.

“Sehun.”

When Sehun heard the calm and collected voice behind him, he turned his head around to look to Baekhyun’s figure, slightly fuzzy with the rain. The man approached with small, confident steps and Sehun’s heart did a little jump inside his chest at the sight of the older male.

“Baekhyun…”

“If he doesn’t want to listen let him go Sehun.” Stated the man very softly and gently, eyes fixed on Sehun and completely ignoring Luhan, who was still on the floor and had stopped trashing in order to pay attention to the interaction.

“He’s going to rattle us to the Council.”

“I know. I am perfectly aware of that but if he wants to, he will tell the Council sooner or later. So, there is nothing much we can do.”

Sehun was lost, which was something that didn’t happen often and he personally hated it.

“But that means that…”

“I am aware of the meaning of my words and the further implications but I mean it Sehun: let him go. If it comes to the point where the Council comes after us, then so be it.”

“That’s dangerous! If you get caught you’re killed, I am exiled and…”

Sehun didn’t have an opportunity to finish the sentence since Baekhyun approached him and, very gently, held up his arm and helped him stand up, freeing Luhan from the weight of his body.

“I know. As I told you, I am aware of the consequences and the possible outcomes of this. However, worry not; if bad turns to worse, Yixing and I will gladly stay behind so that you, Jongin, Jongdae and Chanyeol can escape.”

“Just us?” asked Sehun, sadly, knowing fully well how this decision had been made in the other’s head: he would never send his own brothers, much less now that Chanyeol had a mate, and he could never allow Jongdae to stay for the same reason.

It was rather strange how they were in a complicated situation, possibly one that would kill them all, and yet there was nothing more than them two at the moment. There always seem to be the case when the older male was around and Sehun couldn’t quite to put his finger as to why it happened: he wasn’t sure if it was the novelty of a good friend, the comforting presence of an older brother figure, the soothing actions of a wise soul or simply something more.

He snapped out of his reverie when Luhan moved, scooting back some inches in order to achieve a reasonable distance between the two males. The action seemed to draw Baekhyun’s attention who looked over at the male with unreadable eyes, asking him without words what would his next course of action be.

Sehun was scared out of his mind and he was sincerely trying to abstain from doing something stupid like kidnap Luhan and lock him up in the hut, inside a cage, in order to prevent him from rattling them out to the Council, although he knew that that was just impossible to do so: as a wolf Luhan would tear the place down.

He took hesitant steps, placing himself near Baekhyun and looked over at the older male in guidance. He didn’t know what the other man was planning or what he was intending to do, he wasn’t even sure that this wasn’t a ruse on Baekhyun’s part to make Luhan stop to listen to them but, whatever it may be, he opted to trust the other as he always did; Baekhyun was reliable and Sehun trusted him, as everyone did.

“If he’s really going to tell people, we need to leave…” stated Sehun lowly, only to Baekhyun’s ears.

“I’m not leaving Sehun.” Replied the older male gazing at him, eyes very soft and resigned.

“Why?” asked Sehun in the same tone; he knew that it wasn’t worthy to argue with Baekhyun, the older male hardly budged in his decisions once he decided on something. At the same time, he knew that Baekhyun must have a good reason for his decision.

“I am tired of running away.” Replied the berserker simply. “I am tired of living a life of constant motion, without a proper place to rest my head at night. I have been too many years on the run, hiding in every nook and cranny possible, to fight the world for being different and I am tired of the isolation. I love my brothers, do not get me wrong but Jongin is someone who belongs to the world: there is something about him, a magic if you want to refer yourself as such, that makes it hard for you to pin down and force him to stay. Chanyeol, well, he has found a reason to live and he should enjoy it: he should be happy with his mate. As for me… I was never meant to fight, my previous rank speaks for itself, I was an omega who is usually a creature of peace, something that I crave. I don’t know why I was chosen to be a berserker and I don’t know why this is all happening at the same time but I am so extremely tired of running. I don’t care if I have to fight, I just want to stay.”

“Baekhyun…”

“I finally found some sense of belonging, I feel accepted for who I am, something that even my brothers took time to do after our parents death, and I would rather fight for it than run away from it.”

Sehun had an urge to hug the male, to reassure him with kind words, but Baekhyun’s sadness, the same sadness that was so palpable in his voice, made it hard for him to speak. There was such genuine emotion in Baekhyun’s words, translating itself into the tiredness that Sehun could see in Baekhyun’s eyes that drew the breath out of Sehun’s lungs.

This was probably the first time that the taller male saw the berserker looking so lost and defeated, so extremely tired, and that was like a slap on the face: he assumed that Baekhyun would always be strong, that he was undefeatable, which led him to forget how fragile people could be; how fragile Baekhyun could be.

“And if they decide to kill you?” asked Sehun when his mind thought about the possibility; if Baekhyun was captured, or Chanyeol or Jongin for the matter, Sehun had no doubt in his mind that he would be executed promptly and publicly to add to the humiliation of the wolf, and to the power of the Council; to let anybody know that you had killed a berserker… it was no joke, that would make you a force to be reckoned.

“Then they kill me.” Replied the male simply, shrugging his shoulders as if it didn’t matter too much if he lived or died.

The world seemed to tilt out of axis as Baekhyun uttered these words, at least to Sehun: his eye widened out and he looked over at the male, lips parting to take a small gulp of air. He rotated to face the other properly and, without even thinking, he held up the older male by the shoulders, shaking him slightly. At that point, they both had forgotten that Luhan was observing everything from the floor, keen eyes taking in every subtle movement.

“What are you saying? Are you trying to say that you’re disposable? That it's okay for them to kill you if means we are safe?”

“Exactly like that!” replied Baekhyun with a spark to his voice that overpowered the remorose feeling from seconds ago. “As long as the ones I care about are okay I don’t really mind. Sometimes people can be disposable in order to achieve a greater good.”

“I don’t know what you did to your brain cells but are you listening to yourself?” asked Sehun, looking aghast. “No person is disposable! What are you talking about? That’s absolute bull, you are essential to us, to your brothers, all three of them, and to us, our friends so please, stop saying that. Nothing justifies a death, no matter the motive. Also, have you ever thought about the consequence of your stupid words just now? Have you ever thought about how your brothers would feel? All the people you helped throughout the years, like Minseok and Kyungsoo, all the lives you changed? Like mine and Jongdae’s? Death doesn't affect the ones who leave, death affect those who stay and those who will miss you!”

“Will they?” questioned Baekhyun with a strange glint in his eyes. “After all the crap I have put them through? After making them follow me, a teenager who they had no affiliation to…”

Baekhyun didn’t finish since Sehun lost his mind after the load of self-hate coming from the other’s mouth, he simply allowed his mind to blank and his body to take action for once, punching the smaller wolf on the cheek.

Baekhyun staggered back from the force of the punch, while being extremely lithe, Sehun was quite strong and, to be frank he wasn’t expecting it. He would guess that Sehun could be tired from his depressive talking, Baekhyun had these moods where, sometimes, he would get too self-destructive and he tended to lash his frustration and self-hate at everyone who listened. He didn’t have a filter at all and he didn’t measure his words, spewing them all.

He stopped trying to regain his senses and shook his head in order to cast away the negative feelings that were beginning to overwhelm him and thought about the things he had just said. It was true, Baekhyun was prone to have moments like this where he would blame himself for all that his brothers had gone through and let’s face it, he hated himself at the best of the times, although he was slowly trying to improve that since he knew that it hurt people: he just couldn’t help it sometimes.

Baekhyun looked at Sehun’s stricken face and he seriously regretted saying anything, although he couldn’t lie to himself and say that he didn’t mean any of those words, because the younger wolf looked absolutely devastated and he hated himself even more for making the younger feel like that.

“I am not saying I want to die.” He stated, trying to backtrack his own words and make the other feel better to get rid of the frown on his face. “I never want that but I am saying that if my death means that you are safe…”

“Baekhyun, shut the hell up please; you are not helping and you are stressing me more and more because of your words… How can you say that!”

“Sehun…”

“Shut the hell up and stop giving me motives to punch you again. Wasn’t it enough once?”

“Please, try and understand my point of view.”

“I don’t understand it, I don’t want to understand it and you better stop saying things like this. Please!”

“I’m sorry. I apologize if it makes you feel better.”

“It doesn’t make me feel better that you, apparently, have these kind of thoughts and beat yourself so much, blaming yourself over things you have no control over and just being so negative. That can’t be. You are truly hurting me saying things like that because now I feel like I have the knowledge that you think things like this and that you actually would be okay with dying for us. That is so wrong on so many levels that I don’t know if I should get worried or if I should cry over it, even though I don’t usually cry.”

“Just ignore me.” Replied Baekhyun worriedly; he didn’t like how things had gone completely off topic, and he also didn’t like the fact that Sehun was distressed over his mental breakdown. He didn’t even know how this situation had gone from the Luhan guy, whom he vaguely remembered Jongdae and Sehun mentioning, finding them, to Sehun following him and he, himself, following Sehun, ending in a bout of heartfelt confessions that weren’t correctly timed.

“I am not forgetting anything you said soon.” Replied the younger man with a determined look upon his face. “I realize your intentions saying those words to me and I am telling you right now that is not going to work. However, now is not the best time to talk about this, the subject was drawn out and we got too carried away with it. Now is not the appropriate time but I guarantee that you and I are going to talk about this, whether you like it or not.”

Baekhyun looked over at the younger and he knew that the beta would not let him go that easily and, once again, he beat himself up over even mentioned it but what was done was done and he couldn’t back out of it soon enough.

Trying to appease Sehun, Baekhyun gave him a nod, indicating that he would be willing, although in a forced sense, to talk about it with the other male somewhere in the future, also agreeing with him that the present time, as in right now, wasn’t really the best to discuss the matter further on.

Feeling a little appeased at the nod that Baekhyun gave him, Sehun let out a hesitant smile and they both turned their heads to Luhan.

The older beta had managed to get back on his feet and he was regarding them both with a closed of face and much distrust. The moment was very tense with none of the present parties knowing what to say to the other, although Sehun was taking it as a positive sign that Luhan hadn’t bolt out of there when he and Baekhyun were having a heart to heart.

“Luhan…” called the younger male looking at his mentor.

However, before he could continue was he was going to say, not that he knew what that was very well, a strange sound made itself be heard, although quite in the distance.

“What was that?” asked Sehun looking at Luhan and then at Baekhyun knowing fully well that the berserker would have heard the sound better than the two of them.

“It was a roar.” Stated Baekhyun with a frown on his face. “But I cannot seem to match this sound to any animal I have ever seen…”

Baekhyun stopped abruptly and both betas looked at him curiously. Luhan didn’t even know why he was still there, listening to this man but there was something about the way that Sehun seemed to be drawn to this man and hearing him with the upmost trust that made him stay and listen as well, the thick veil of panic being pulled from his eyes just a small fraction, allowing him to think and observe before he acted.

“What’s the matter? Baekhyun? What’s…”

Luhan turned his head over to Sehun as the beta stopped talking as well, a look of horror painting his face.

“What?” he found himself asking, even though none of the two offered him a reply; however, the word that came out of their mouths the next moment left his blood freezing.

“Chimeras.”

Jongin felt restless ever since Luhan had exited the house, followed by Sehun and Baekhyun. He was obviously nervous about the outcome of the situation: a feel of melancholy passing through him as the dark side of his mind, replied with boredom that it was quite sad that they had to move, since he was enjoying sleeping on a better bed. Maybe that was also the cynical part of him talking as well, but he would never admit to it, especially once he looked over Chanyeol and Jongdae, seeing the taller comfort the beta.

However, Jongin also knew that it was more than just that; there was something blinking at the edges of his mind that was unsettling and strange, a sort of mist that kept him from thinking.

He opted to sit on a chair, the overall feeling proving itself to be a little too much at a time like this. Yixing, bless his soul, approached him, probably noticing the actual green tint that his skin sported.

‘To match my eyes.’ He though bitterly, raising his head with faint interest as the male squatted next to himself.

“Is everything alright? You seem unwell.”

There was concern in his eyes, that much was evident but Jongin didn’t actually know how to react to this. Was he supposed to anyways? There was a sort of unspoken animosity regarding the blood brothers versus the birth brother going on, or was he mistaken? Was Yixing not meaning his own words when dissing his and Chanyeol’s existence in Baekhyun’s life? Jongin thought so but he could be very hypocritical when he wanted to be.

“I’m feeling…unsettled.”

Yixing’s eyebrows shot up when he heard this; he knew that Jongin had had a vision that morning, Baekhyun had actually explained him the symptoms but he didn’t expect the other man to still be feeling unwell over that.

“Is this the aftershocks of your visions?” he asked tentatively, not really knowing how to approach the subject with Jongin and trying not to offend the other male.

Jongin’s pale green eyes met his suddenly and a shocked breath left his lungs at the intensity of the said eyes. They actually seemed so mystic and hauntingly beautiful that his voice disappeared for a second, while staring at the eyes.

“Why do you ask? Scared?”

The voice asking Yixing the question didn’t seemed like Jongin’s light and relaxed voice; instead it was a deep and somber voice that gave him the chills.

“Well… Baekhyun talked about it and I am just trying to help. The situation is tense as it is and I don’t think we need you to be unwell too.”

“I’m just unsettled.” Replied the Oracle, pale green eyes staring unblinkingly at Yixing making him shiver.

“I understand that but are you okay?” asked Yixing, croaking a little as he spoke.

The color in Jongin’s eyes disappeared and the normal brown eyes were staring at him. The younger male blinked a couple of times, as if trying to dispel something from his head before replying.

“I am, there is just something at the back of my mind… some sort of thought or idea or image that wants to appear but it doesn’t. A sort of vision that is being blocked.

“Oh?”

“I cannot explain it very well though. It never happened to me and it’s something that has been occurring quite frequently. It frustrates and intrigues me in the same manner.” Replied Jongin with a sigh, deciding not to be hypocritical and simply go with whatever was on his mind.

Yixing looked properly worried for him and he opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, struggling what to say. He wished to be poignant but he knew nothing about the struggles of being an Oracle.

The action itself brought a small smile to Jongin’s face but it was quickly whipped from his face as he saw Chanyeol’s face snap up from where it had been burrowed against Jongdae’s hair.

“Chanyeol?” he called, standing up quickly when his brother began to growl, scaring even Jongdae who was looking at his tall mate with wide eyes. “Chanyeol, what is it?”

The other’s multicolored eyes looked over at him, feral and properly scary.

“Chimeras.”

And that was when Jongin knew that things were about to go to the gutter.

Baekhyun maintained his calm despite the seriousness of the situation. It wasn’t easy, not by far but Luhan was starting to freak out when, in the distance, the shape of something that Baekhyun’s head could register as manticores became clearer. Sehun wasn’t fairing any better, Baekhyun could see how utterly terrified he was, however, his composure was far better than Luhan’s; Baekhyun wasn’t sure how Luhan could be Sehun’s mentor but he wasn’t going to dwell on it right now.

As the manticores stride on, the first screams were heard and Baekhyun supposed that it would only be a matter of time before chaos ensued. Turning to Sehun, he grabbed the other’s wrist, ignoring how hard the hand was trembling.

“You need to get out of here.” He said to the other, very calmly, gaining Sehun’s attention. “You need to go back and warn everyone you can about this and run to Minseok’s and Kyungsoo’s hideout.”

“Baekhyun, no!” protested Sehun.

“Don’t argue with me.” Replied the older rather harshly: there was no time for this and Baekhyun would be dammed if any harm came to Sehun. “You need to lead them to safety, Sehun. This is not a hypothetical situation anymore, it’s real and people are in danger.”

“But I don’t get it!” exclaimed Sehun agonized. “This isn’t supposed to be happening. You saw their underground lab, you spoke to that creature. Why would they attack the ones who created them?”

It was a very interesting question, one that Baekhyun had mulled over for some seconds before the taller voiced his thoughts.

“I wish I’d known.” Replied Baekhyun. “But regardless of it being planned or unplanned, now it’s really not the best time to theorize about it.”

“Baekhyun…”

“Just do as I ask you, Sehun…Please.” He had resorted to begging, something that he never thought he would have to do but he was getting desperate and Sehun wasn’t leaving; he might not have a superior sense of smell like his brother, his was almost destroyed, but his hearing was still as perfect as ever and the sound of other creatures reached his ears and it left him nervous, because some of the things sounded exactly of things that the prophetic banshees had warned him about such as jorogumos, soucouyants and even minotaurs.

Sehun looked over at Baekhyun, not wanting to leave; however, he knew that he had to, lives were depending on it. He nodded the older male but remained where he was, regarding the other wolf quietly and almost reverently.

“Where are you going?” he asked in a barely there voice.

“I’m helping. I need to find Seungwan and hopefully help somebody else.”

“Why Seungwan?” Both Baekhyun and Sehun turned to Luhan, surprised at the question. “She’s nothing to you.”

“She isn’t.” replied Baekhyun with a nod. “But a life is a life regardless. And Seungwan owns me some answers. You go with Sehun; he’ll lead you to safety.”

Baekhyun turned his head back to the direction of the horrible sounds and the screams and made a move to just run when Sehun’s hand shot out of nowhere and grabbed him tightly.

He turned to look over at the younger male, eyes questioning and urgent, without making a single sound.

“I…” stuttered the younger male. “Just…”

“Sehun…” he hurried the other as the screams intensified in both quantity and in desperation.

“Please be safe.”

Baekhyun was startled the say the least at the other’s request; he didn’t expect the request. No one ever had made him such request and he admitted, although only to himself, that it had left him feeling warm all over and with a renewed vigor that he didn’t know he even possessed.

“Be safe and alive. When this is over look for us as I will look for you.”

“I cannot promise you that.” Replied the male gently, not comfortable with promising something that he could predict he would be able to swear upon or not.

“I know.” Stated the other male very softly. “Try.”

Baekhyun nodded; that was something that he could promise. He gripped Sehun’s hand tightly in his before letting go and running away, not daring to look back.

Sehun stood where he was for a few seconds before Luhan, who managed to finally get a grip apparently, pulled him while yelling ‘let’s go’.

It was raining still and for once, although he despised rain, Sehun felt glad that it did because that way he, himself, would know if the wetness on his face were actually tear or it was just the rain falling.

A/N: Hello everyone! How have you been doing? I am hoping that everything is well and that every single one of you is doing amazingly well. Well, here's the next chapter of the story and I am proud to say that this chapter is here thanks to a huge effort, since I was falling behind on my schedule and I managed, somehow, to write two chapter, a total of thirty pages, in five days which for me is a record! Especially if the weather is burning out (around 43ºC and you start to think that North Pole is a nice option for some vacations.) 
On a more serious note, the weather here is truly hot and many fires have started, one had achieved such dangerous proportions that it claimed the life of sixty two people already and it's not extinguished yet. It's tragic and saddening and one of the biggest tragedies ever occuring on my country thanks to natural occurences, since the fire started thanks to a lightening bolt. 
I am not alongating myself much further, other than I hope that you enjoy this chapter, who deals with feelings on the SeBaek relationship and, if you do, please comment, message me, upvote and upvote it. It's very much appreciated!
As always, be safe and healthy, love yourself, love others and allow them to love you to and be insanely HAPPY!
Have an amazing week!
Lots of love,
<3