12.DH Barbells

Eunhyuk just has different style. He has his own feel for what is cool and what isn´t. Just like instead of a horse, he prefers a deer. He´s simply peculiar. Those were words with which I was trying console myself when I was sitting on his wet back and holding onto the harness for dear life.

“Too deep!” I yelped but quickly bit my lip in order not to scream when the water animal beneath me dove a little deeper into the river.

I expected him to transform into an alligator or maybe even shark, to be honest. Instead, I was sitting on a large catfish with long silver barbells and scale-less skin. All Eunhyuk´s transformations were somehow majestic, except for the mouse of course. Those amazing animal forms always made me feel safer than I actually was in the given situation, as the morpheles usually transformed in order to solve a difficult situation.

Eunhyuk was swimming steady and fast across the river, confidently delivering me on the bank. None of the bandits noticed me and I jumped from the catfish, landing in the knee-deep water. I began untying the harness quickly and clumsily brought it with me on the bank. Eunhyuk looked me in the eye, it was strange since he was a catfish now, as if to remind me for the last time to be careful. I gave him thumbs up and then hid in the reed from where I watched his next moves.

Eunhyuk disappeared under the water, and for the first time the whole picture of the incident sank in for me. The steamboat was in flames, people were either in water or on salvage boats, trying to escape the terror. Screams were slithering over the river and disappearing in the darkness. Eunhyuk picked up Kyuhyun who was trying to swim with one of his guns in the air. I didn´t see Zhoumi anywhere, though.

“Kyuhyun,” I whispered and rushed to help him climb down from the catfish because he kept gripping his gun. Poor hunter didn´t even have time to mock Eunhyuk for this weird transformation of his.

The said morpheles in the meantime went to look for the last member of our small group. Kyuhyun and I, were shaking in the reed for a very long time. I was becoming worried, gritting my teeth, ready to jump into the water in search for those two. Fortunately, Kyuhyun held me down. And I was glad because in the end we spotted them. The large catfish resurfaced and Zhoumi, who was hopelessly gripping his saviour by the barbells, took a deep breath. I guessed they had to dive in order to hide from the boats that began crossing the river from one side to another. Just as Eunhyuk warned, the bandits were moving where the passengers were.

“Now,” Eunhyuk coughed, transforming into the wolf this time. “Now it´s the time to leave, quickly!”

I tied the harness on the wolf´s back, when Kyuhyun was busy helping Zhoumi back on his legs. The smart animal began leading the way again, we all followed quietly. We didn´t know if we weren´t walking into a trap. More bandits could wait ahead, or we could walk in them retreating. I felt incredibly cold, I have been out of the water for the longest time and my teeth were clattering. I bit my lips to stop the sound from ratting us out.

There wasn´t any forest for us to hide, the only vegetation was around the river, which we had to avoid. But the darkness was the hideout for us, the role of our senses was played by Eunhyuk. Even without the moonlight, we managed to find a tall shrub. Eunhyuk stopped there and whined. I walked to him and put down the wet and heavy harness. And then he did it, the thing I kept missing while we haven´t seen each other. He began shaking off the water from his fur and although the situation was very bad, I felt scared and cold, his action draw a wide smile on my lips. I went to him and rubbed him between his ears.

“Good boy,” I whispered. Kyuhyun snorted but Eunhyuk poked me gently with his snout. He liked the touch.

We decided that making fire was too risky in the current situation. Instead we divided clothes from Eunhyuk´s bag because those were pretty much dry. It was cold, I kept shivering even in the new clothes. The wolf was watching me with sad expression, we both wished his fur wouldn´t be wet so he could warm me up. I curled around Kyuhyun instead. But the night passed quickly and when I woke up at dawn, the fire has been lit already.

“Here,” Eunhyuk noticed me waking up and handed me a cup with warm water. I sipped from the drink and felt much better right away. “Your shoes are almost dry, everything will be fine, Hae,” he whispered gently.

“I know, I´m not worried,” I told him quietly because I didn´t want to wake others up. Eunhyuk felt much calmer right away.

The sun was just rising and for the first time I could see where we ended up. The river was nowhere in sight, we must have travelled quite far last night. Short bushes were rounding our small camp but apart from that there weren´t any other shrubs or trees around. And just like there wasn´t much of greens, there wasn´t much of living either. I wondered how would we find the right path to the city of gods.

“Eunhyuk, I think we need to return to the river if we want to get back on the track,” I told him when he handed me an apple.

“That shouldn´t be a problem,” he nodded, “so you suggest we follow the river?”

“I think that´s the safest way for us to not get lost,” I bit into the apple that was given to me and watched Eunhyuk think deeply about my idea.

“Honestly, I wanted to continue from here because eventually we would come across those mountains we wanted to cross. But you are right that following the river would be much safer since you have more detailed information about that path. Alright, let´s do that,” Eunhyuk agreed.

It felt great. I mean, I shouldn´t keep going on and on about that but it really made me happy that Eunhyuk took me seriously and even changed the plan according to my suggestion. I felt like an important member of the expedition.

“What´s with that face,” Kyuhyun who just woke up asked me. Instead of the answer, I gave him the cup of hot water and after drinking it, he sighed in contentment.

Zhoumi woke up not long after Kyuhyun, and Eunhyuk informed him that he took liberty to rummage a little bit through his baggage in order to find his clothes so he could start drying them on fire. The reason for Eunhyuk´s unusual stepping into someone else´s privacy, was the sole fact that the clothes Zhoumi was currently wearing, which were Eunhyuk´s, were horribly small for the oriental man. Zhoumi was grateful. Those two get along pretty well, I thought. Is it just me or does Hyukkie take care of Zhoumi almost as much as he cares for me? Wait, Eunhyuk cares the same way for everyone.

“Can I get an apple too?” Kyuhyun asked.

“Do you not have your own food?” Eunhyuk growled at the hunter and continued with what he was just doing. Maybe he really doesn´t tend to everyone in the same way, after all.

“So what´s with the blissful face?” When he didn´t get an apple from Eunhyuk, Kyuhyun turned to me with the same question again.

“I feel important,” I told him with a chuckle. It was ridiculous. Kyuhyun rolled his eyes and Zhoumi laughed too a little. I must have sounded silly.

“Of course, you are important,” the joking atmosphere was broken by Eunhyuk´s serious but quiet words. Maybe he hoped we wouldn´t hear him, he was turned away from us. Yet, after he spoke up, we all looked at him. Eunhyuk felt our stares on his back and turned around only to become suddenly embarrassed. What a pure soul, this morpheles.

Hello! I´m updating a little late due to Easter holiday. Sigh, it´s finally over. So, what do you say to Hyuk´s new transformation? kkkkk By the way, have you registered suju live broadcast? So messy, poor Yesung. Thank you for reading and have nice day! - PandaHero