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Kim Jongdae.

Luhan.

Oh Sehun.

"Three brothers are down, that leaves nine of us." Kris said as he recalled how many was down. "There're still lots to come, so we might as well make sure no one of us goes down. We need to be a lot careful."

"They're in an advantage, gege!... ow! It's impossible to defeat someone, ow-! watch it!, like them. They're strong and we've, ow, knew that from the start- ow! Lay-gege! Watch it!" Tao squirmed in pain as Lay was busy tending the younger's wounds he gained from the fight before.

"Stay on the positive rails. We're not going to be defeated if we believe we aren't going to be." Kris stated out. "We're all in this together, and with all of us standing side by side, nothing can come up against us." 

"Lies." Xiumin sighed. "We had Jongdae dead even if we did such."

"Minseok-hyung, it wasn't your fault, alright? For the hundredth time, it isn't your fault." Kai sighed as he patted the eldest's back gently. 

"Jongin's right. It wasn't entirely your fault. I mean, you were born with that, um, thing." Chanyeol said, stuttering a few times. "Your father had it when she was your age, right?"

"Yes, and it was the cause of his death." Xiumin sighed heavily, making everyone fall in a deep silence. Minjee, meanwhile, was still freezing yet refused to show it to the males. Her arms were s around her body, trying to give her at least a little source of faint heat. 

"Now what?" Baekhyun asked, blinking a few times.

"It's freezing. I'll go gather a few twigs and leaves." Chanyeol said, standing up on his legs. "I'll go with you, Chanyeol." Suho said, following the taller younger right behind. Everyone else sat down, freezing.

"There, all done." Lay said, finishing with Tao's wound treatment. "It'll heal on its own soon, but I do advice you not to get into much fight for some time. Focus in escape and defense, not on attacking."

"Alright, gege." Tao obediently nodded as he crawled carefully and slowly beside his freezing mate. "You okay, Minjee?" he questioned.

"Mhm. I can handle the cold." she smiled as she scooted closer to the male. "Your wounds look bad, are they gonna be okay?"

"Yes. Lay-gege said they'll be okay if I don't get in much fights."

"That's good then." Minjee smiled. "You seriously got beat up bad last time so you've got to be a lot more careful, Zitao. You'll make me die in the second time around-"

"Minjee, are you good?" Kris cut, sitting beside the seemingly frozen and snow-covered female. "Can you go on?"

"Mhm!" she smiled. "I can."

"... You're pretty impressive for a human." D.O smiled, patting her head. "You can withstand the freezing environment. Most likely, your kind might die easily out here."

"Usually, yes, for a long time." Minjee nodded.

"I'm beat." Kai yawned, sleeping on Minjee's lap comfortably. That made the older smile and ruffle Kai's reddish-brown colored hair lightly. A smile crossed her face but vanished the next three seconds.

"Something wrong?" D.O asked, noticing the frown that crossed Minjee's face.

"Just thought of something, but I'd rather not speak of it." Minjee smiled.

"Tell us." Tao begged.

"... Alright." the female nodded. "Well, I'm curious about Xiumin-oppa's past. What's this beast you are talking about and what happened to his parent?"

"... Ah, that. Come to think of it, we never told you, eh?" Kris sighed. "It's a long story but we'll try to summarize a bit for you."

"Prepare those tears." D.O joked, which Minjee seemingly got confused to.

"Long before EXO was complete, Xiumin lived rather a typical life." Kris began. "He has a younger and an older sister, a mother and a father yet the Kim household was bestowed with one of the most powerful weapon and that's their beast. Wolves have inner beasts and those come out in battles. In Xiumin and his father's case, it wasn't only in battles but any time they get furious or feel like it."

"Beasts are deadly creatures. It's like a Jekyll and Hyde situation. It's having two individuals living in one body." Tao added.

"And having an uncontrolled beast is dangerous." Kris completed. "And eventually, that beast took the life out of Xiumin's father when he was at the age of six. It was something the whole family agonized over. Unfortunately, that time, they were totally oblivious of Xiumin's state."

"... That he got the same beast his father has?" Minjee asked.

"Exactly. It was dangerous how it first came out, and me and Luhan were one of the witnesses." Kris said. "I believe Chen witnessed it too, but he was too young to remember so back then."

"Chen-hyung told me that Xiumin-hyung nearly killed his younger sister back then for annoying him." D.O said in horror. "His eyes were blood red and it was just extremely frightening!"

"... What horror." Minjee trembled.

"He actually had a few medicine Lay made himself to control his growing ferocious beast." Kris sighed. "But it seems once it's out, it can never actually be controlled."

"And this day, he actually lost grip of his beast and killed, well, Chen." Tao sighed heavily, tears threatening to roll down yet again.

"How dangerous is this beast?" Minjee curiously asked.

"Dangerous that it in its eyes, you see no ally, enemy or family." Kris said. "Or even love."

"D-does everyone have it?"

"All wolves have it. The only main difference is that mostly all wolves are born with controllable beasts, either early bloomers or late bloomers. Almost all in EXO are average bloomers and have controllable beasts. Few had taken grip and controlled them fully, such as me and Suho, while the others are still struggling in such."

"... Tao has one too?" Minjee asked, eyeing her dear wolf.

"I do believe you've seen his already, Minjee." D.O stated out. "I mean, Kris sensed his wolf when you did 'it' before."

"Don't remind us." Tao groaned.

"We'll take a rest for tonight." Kris stated as the fire starting burning big. "Tomorrow, we keep our journey." 

"To where are we going again?" Baekhyun asked, blinking sleepishly as he placed his head on Chanyeol's shoulders. "Is it still far because I can't take this cold anymore."

"Quite." Kris sighed. "Well, to be honest, I have no idea if it is still. All I know is that the further, the better."

"I'm going to die in this cold!" Suho complained.

"Ironically complaining, eh, supporting leader?" Lay teased, earning a pout from the other. "Wherever we go, safety isn't really sure though." Lay sighed.

"Even still, we've got to stay away from here from now on due to the beasts following us." Kris said. "Xiumin, scoot over there or you'll freeze."

"I'd rather freeze." Xiumin mumbled.

"Minseok, move on. It was not your fault." Kris sighed, tapping his brother's back.

"Obviously, it is, Yifan. It's my fault since I'm the one who made him cease." 

"Xiumin-"

"Leave me be for a while." Xiumin sighed heavily, making Kris nod sadly. 

Night came. Kris was a light sleeper so he can stay asleep and alert at the same time. Everyone else was asleep, and Minjee was actually snuggling warmly next to Tao. Everyone was peacefully in slumber until a cold wind brushed over at Minjee, waking the female up. 

And with her eyes still squinty, she noticed that there was one missing.

"Xiumin-oppa?" she called out quietly upon spotting the male crawled up into a ball, far from the rest. "Are you alright?"

"Does it seem that I am?" Xiumin sobbed.

"Do you, um, want to talk about it?" Minjee smiled, carefully scooting beside the eldest. "I can listen."

"It's just that... Chen's death is something I can't forget. He stood like a family to me when I ran off-"

"You ran off?"

"Ah, yeah. When I was eight or nine I guess. Chen was left with nobody back then, his parents and brother were persecuted and exiled after mingling with a human." 

"Chen-oppa's family did such?"

"Yeah." Xiumin faintly smiled. "Chen's mother had a human friend that took her in when she was a pup. When the clan discovered that, they were immediately executed, leaving a very young Chen behind."

"Ah, I see."

"And since then, when I ran off, I stumbled across him. It's ironic how I said I'd protect him, but I ended up hurting him." Xiumin cried, burying his head underneath his arms. "I just..."

"Hey. Everyone makes mistakes, don't they?" Minjee smiled, patting Xiumin's back.

"How often does anyone make the same mistake I do, Minjee?"

"N-not the same mistake, but just other mistakes. You know?"

"... It's still not the same."

"Xiumin-oppa, Chen-oppa wouldn't want you crying, you know? He wants you to be that bright eldest brother until this thing ends." Minjee smiled, flashing her signature sunny smile to the older, which Xiumin tries to mirror.

"Mhm. He would. How I wish I can be by his side." Xiumin softly said.

"Hey, nothing's impossible, oppa."

"There is nothing impossible?"

"With will, nothing is!"

Will?

"Move it!" Kris' voice bombed, making everyone snap out of their peaceful dreamlands. "W-what's up this time, hyung?" Chanyeol yawned.

"Someone's getting near and that scent is no mistake that they're SuJu." Kris softly said, gesturing everyone to get up on their feet.

"How many are they this time?" Suho worriedly asked.

"I sense three or four." Kris said in a soft voice. "Hurry! Up with your lazy butts!"

"Wait! Xiumin-gege's missing!" Lay cried as he noticed the eldest missing. Everyone had panic and fear mixed in them as they noticed the sudden disappearance of the eldest brother. "Geez! Where is he this time?!" D.O growled.

"Someone find him before SuJu catches up on us!" Baekhyun panicked.

"Guys, bad news." Tao softly said as he spotted a familiar yet different color within the snow. Everyone walked towards the yellow-headed brother and gasped in fear and astonishment.

Red. Red drops of blood tainting the pure white snow. 

"Oh heck no." Kai shook his head in fear. "Please tell me I'm suspecting wrong things."

"The smell isn't that far from here. The trails are short and seemingly went back to Chen's grave." Lay gasped. 

"Oh dear heavens." Minjee began to sob. She recalled Xiumin's words last night, and her words as well. Can it be that Xiumin did stay beside Chen's side this time? "No, he can't be-!"

"S-shall we go and see where hyung is?" Kai asked as he eyed the leader. "If we do, we'll get caught and Tao's wounds hasn't healed much yet." Kris said as he made the hardest decision.

Suddenly, he stopped moving and tears rolled down the leader's cold cheeks, surprising mostly everyone. "W-what's wrong, oppa?" Minjee asked in a shaky voice.

"W-we've gotta run." Kris stuttered.

"But Xiumin-hyung!" Tao cried.

"Run!" Kris cried as he shook his head, not bothering to wipe the warm tears flowing down his eyes. "Just run quickly before they catch up with us!"

"But-"

"HURRY!"

Everyone obeyed in defeat and began running. Minjee was sobbing too, as she knew exactly where the remains of the eldest wolf was. She knew what happened to the eldest wolf and she actually felt guilty with the words she let go last night. If only she hasn't said those words, perhaps Xiumin wouldn't be in such situation.

"Xiumin-oppa, why did you follow Chen-oppa?" Minjee sobbed quietly as her legs carried her to no where with the rest of the wolves. "You never needed to make such painful decision"

"Why did you choose to die as well? Chen-oppa didn't want you to die, you bastard."