Maybe Kris was right. Maybe it was the wolf that was making Tao disappearing right under their eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Sehun whispered, holding tighter on the gun that seemed to weight a ton.

It was wrong. And he knew that. It was immoral and wrong from so many aspects, that the boy found himself staring at the white wolf’s body, lowering his hand with every heart beat he could hear throbbing in his ears.

“Shoot the Goddamn wolf already!” He then heard Kris yelling with despair from the other side of the camp.

And once again the gun was pointed at the poor wolf, trembling fingers close to pull the trigger. But something inside Sehun’s head was screaming ‘No!’. Something inside his chest was refusing to pump the needed adrenaline for such a deed. And in the end, it was the brain that refused to give the order to the fingers holding the weapon.

“Shoot the ing wolf!” Kris was almost out of his mind this time and Sehun almost slipped his finger on the curvy trigger, almost releasing the bullet into the wolf’s head. Almost.

It wasn’t the consciousness that stopped him from pulling the trigger, no. Nor was the shock of discovering that the wolf was looking at him or the way she was hitting the ground with the side of her paw. It was the way the witness of her fur started glowing all of a sudden, twitching like Christmas lights right under his wide opened eyes. And it wasn’t only the fact that it was glowing, but slowly, the slender body of the white wolf seemed to disintegrate itself into that white, sparkly mist.

“ it! it, it, it! I’m going to kill you, Oh Sehun!” Sehun’s body froze at the anger in Kris’s voice, knowing that if it were to be approached, he would definitely die under his attack. “I’m going to kill you!” The promise resonated clearly into the morning air.

But how could he have shot the wolf that gave him that pained look? How could he have shot a being that was still breathing?

And looking at the mist floating in front of him, Sehun found that the particles seemed to be regrouping, the whiteness becoming almost unbearable to watch, illuminating the surrounding as it approached the ground, forming a strange looking silhouette that became more solid with every single second that passed. The sounds were muted as he witnessed the mist turning into skin and the whiteness becoming a fair, porcelain like cover for the flesh of  human body. And he understood why it was so difficult for him to pull the trigger…

“Guys,” Sehun spoke, surprising himself with the shaky tone of his voice, “I think you want to see this…”

“Sehun, it’s not the time to call us there, you know?” Chanyeol answered, still fighting with Kris to keep him away from the boy with the gun hanging heavily in his arm.

“It’s Jaelle.”

☾ ♅ ☽

Lay proved to be the fastest and the most efficient of them all. He dropped everything and ran passed Chanyeol and Kris that were just staring in shock at the body laying on the ground at Sehun’s feet. He quickly checked her pulse and turned to them with a relieved expression.

“She’s alive. But the wound needs to be treated differently now. Chanyeol,” he signaled the giant boy to release Kris and to help him out with carrying the unconscious girl inside the van.

And Kris stood there, still, looking how the girl’s head would rock from left to right as Chanyeol carried her inside the vehicle. And the sight of her was like a punch in his plexus, leaving him behind breathless. Questions like ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘why’ were banging on the walls of his skull from the inside, while the mouth was incapable of opening to let the words out.

“Kris!” Sehun’s eyes were still wide opened in shock and he was shivering as if he was walking through a snow storm. “What did we do? What did we do?”

“What do you mean?” The boy’s voice sounded harsh even to his own ears. “We didn’t do anything!”

“We shot her!” Sehun stepped backwards from him, looking at the gun in his hand only to throw it away seconds later. Then he looked at his own two hands, lips lifting in a disgusted grin. He felt dirty just as if his hands were stained with the girl’s blood. “I almost… killed her…”

“Shut up! Shut up, do you hear me?!” Kris’s hand shot up and grabbed Sehun by his throat, his fingernails scratching the skin. For a second, the taller one seemed to wait for those three seconds before killing the weakling in his grip. But then he noticed the tears that began running down the white cheeks and he snapped out of it, releasing Sehun from his grip. “I-I’m… sorry…”

And he just spun on his heels and left the place, running as if chased by all the demons of Hell. But it wasn’t the demons that had cornered Kris as he lost himself in the fair mist that had just lifted from the ground. It was that haunted, shocked and hurt expression of Sehun as he panicked: “What did we do? What did we do?”. Sehun was just being nice, putting himself as well in the whole situation.

“What did I do? What did I do?” Kris huffed and puffed as he fell on his knees in the middle of the road. “What on Earth did I do?!”

Jaelle’s inert body being carried by Chanyeol, the checkered shirt soaked with blood, Sehun’s reaction – everything was replaying inside his head, the truth being distorted with each second. In the end, he was to blame for her being hurt. Her blood was on his hands.

“I’m sorry,” he cried, staring at his shaking hands that seemed to turn red with the blood of the girl on the palms and fingers. “I’m… sorry,” the soft whisper sounded harsh, more like cussing.

His deed was inexcusable. Unforgivable. An abomination brought by the Wu Yifan he wanted so much to leave behind. He had betrayed his heart for a second time, hurting the only one that came to his heart in a way that was almost irreparable. Almost.

“You couldn’t have known, Kris,” a voice spoke from behind, making the knelt boy freeze on his spot. “You couldn’t have known she was one of those magical beings that we kept on seeing after her appearance. You did what Lay told you to do, right?” Chanyeol revealed himself from the mist, approaching like a demon, all serious and alert.

“What are you doing here? Go back!” Kris refused to look at him, resting his palms against the cold asphalt of the road. Fragments of stones were scratching his palms, but he couldn’t care less. After all, the pain he was feeling could not be compared with that of the poor girl he had shot.

“I came because I knew you’d be blaming yourself, Kris,” Chanyeol squatted to his level. “It’s not your fault. Really now! You were just following Lay’s advice and after all, the wolf could have been dangerous for you and Sehun.”

“You don’t… understand,” the other boy shook his head, refusing to understand what the other one was saying. “I was the one that hold the gun! It was me who pulled the trigger while looking right into her eyes. Me! Not Sehun. Not you. Not Lay. I am to blame for her pain. I almost killed her. And I would have if it weren’t for Sehun to stop me back in the forest when I wanted to shot her a second time. Can’t you see,” Kris finally looked up with scared eyes, “I almost killed Jaelle.”

The words came out as a whisper, like the soft touch of a feather. But to Kris, they were the echo of his inner voice.

“But you didn’t,” Chanyeol frowned at him. “You didn’t kill her. and Lay is doing his best to make sure she will be alright. Why don’t you get that you couldn’t have known it was her?”

“Tao knew.”

“You don’t know that!”

Kris shook his head and stared at his ground. “Tao knew. He tried to tell us and we thought it was the fever talking. He knew it was her and I think he tried to protect her by rushing his own end. He knew... while I sent Sehun to be her executioner…”

Silence fell over the two. Chanyeol knew Kris was somehow right, but he didn’t want to push the young man further into his guilt. He didn’t want to be responsible for any of the actions Kris might have taken to end his life. But at the same time, he was aware that there was no word that could have brought Kris comfort or make him feel a little better. After all, he was the one that hurt the woman he loved.

“I should die,” Kris whispered, looking at both his hands with the eyes of a mad man. “I should die and go to Hell. That’s what I deserve!”

“Are you nuts?! Snap out of it, Wu Yifan! This is the desperation speaking in your name!” Chanyeol’d big hands grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a good shake. “Lay is performing a small surgery on Jaelle as we speak and if she needs anyone there, by her side, then that’s you!”

“Surgery? What surgery? I thought Lay said she’s fine,” Kris’s eyes lit up for the first time since Chanyeol joined him.

“Oh, that,” the giant loosened up his grip, “something about, uhmmm, a nerve I think? Anyway, you should hurry back. Lay said Jaelle might lose the ability to play the guitar if he doesn’t manage to save the nerve.”

And Kris listened to his words for the first time. He seemed to go back to being his old self, dusting off the worries that overwhelmed him for some time. Jaelle was alive and he wanted to make sure she was staying that way before doing anything to earn her forgiveness. He needed her alive.

He needed her…

☾ ♅ ☽

“Where’s Jaelle?” Kris tried to calm his breath as he reached the camp.

“She’s inside, sleeping,” Lay turned to him, showing a tired face and dark purple bangs under his eyes.

“Is her hand alright? She’ll be able to play the guitar, right?”

“There was no reason why she couldn’t,” the brown haired boy frowned at him.

Kris’s brows knitted tog