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Run.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Whatever happens, don't look back. That's our number one rule for now, never, I repeat, NEVER look back again. Keep running forward and ignore anything else.

Those were the last things Minjee and the whole EXO heard from their respected leader, Kris. Since then, they never looked back and kept following the straight path Kris and Suho walked. All they had were the faint hope they believed in and the memories of their deceased brothers.

First Luhan.

Then Sehun...

Chen.

Then Xiumin.

"Why us of all people?" Baekhyun breathed out as he began to feel the cold to hit him. "Why EXO? Is fate such a  ? Why us of all people?!"

"Baek, calm down." Chanyeol shivered, feeling the chill kick in him as well, his arms s around his tall body to at least have a little warmth felt.

"Calm down? Chanyeol, can you not see? We've lost four brothers! Four brothers we grew up along with!"

"Baekhyun." Suho hissed, scowling. "Lower down your voice or else they'll hear us."

"... So what? We're gonna die anyway." Baekhyun hissed. "Why wait longer?"

"Byun Baekhyun-!"

"Joonmyeon." Kris called out, not facing his younger brothers. "Stop it. We might as well rest for a while. Fatigue must be kicking in the all of us, which resulted in such attitudes. Rest for a while."

"They might catch up on us though." D.O worriedly stated out.

"They won't. My hearing is advanced, I'll hear even the slightest breathing feet away from us."

"... Sure?" Minjee worriedly asked, shiverring inside Tao's arms.

"Yes. We might as well build a faint source of warmth too. By the looks of it, any second now, you're going to be frozen alive, Minjee." Kris said.

"Not a good joke." Tao pouted as he sat down, arms still wrapped around Minjee. The group slowly stopped and sat on the white ground, shivering due to the dropping temperature. Some where out of breath, namely as Lay and Kai, and had got the chance to catch it. So far, Kris was calm as he heard no one approaching but the silence was killing them.

Silence brought back the memories they tried to block and forget. 

"... Where are we going?" Lay wondered as he looked at Suho, trembling in the cold. "A-are we still far from our destination? I'm going to faint soon if we don't arrive there-"

"Yixing, please. If you faint, you'll die in this bitter cold. You wouldn't want a freezing coffin, right?"

"No?"

"Then don't faint." Suho pouted, ruffling the brother's snow-topped head. "I promise, I bet the place is near already, right, Kris?... Um, Kris?"

"What?" Kris blinked, seemingly snapping out from the trance he fell in. 

"The place, Kris. We're near, right?"

"... I think." he said, burying his face under his arms. "Oppa's acting weird." Minjee said as she poked Tao, pointing at Kris afterwards. "Do you know anything about it?"

"He might be upset... like the rest of us are." Tao sighed. "Of gege's death."

"Xiumin-oppa's?"

"Everyone's. Like what Baekhyun-gege said, we grew up together for years. It's definitely very painful to do face and so on."

"Oh...-"

"-Like the feeling when you had to loose Haewon-hyung." 

"... That painful? Yeah, I see that it is."

Silence broke a few minutes later. The freezing cold was a big threat and in no time, Minjee knew that she'd freeze to death if it weren't for Tao protecting her from the deadly cold. She's a human and the males with her weren't. It's a big difference seen, and she was completely aware of it.

Silence was still on going until it was smashed into pieces by Baekhyun and Chanyeol's conversation starting to get louder. In the start, everyone seemed to just ignore it but as it got louder, it garnered everyone's attention. Bit by bit.

"Baekhyun, will you please calm the down?" Chanyeol begged to the seemingly deaf brother. "Calm down!"

"How am I supposed to calm down in this situation?!" Baekhyun cried, standing up on his feet, eyes burning in fury. "We all know what's going to happen to us, right? None of us is escaping this fate we have!"

"Baek-"

"All of us are getting killed, Yeol! Why are you so blind about that?!"

All of us are getting killed. "W-what?" Minjee faltered with the frightening words the older male uttered. She was actually getting frightened that they wouldn't live under the dropping temperature but the words Baekhyun just gave out made her fear rise up by levels! 

"Don't listen to Baekhyun, Minjee." Chanyeol said, trying to calm the female down.

"Don't listen to me?! Park Chanyeol, you big liar! We're dying soon and she's going to be too! Accept that ing fate already and let her see the truth!"

"I-is that true?" Minjee trembled despite the calming down of Tao and the rest. 

"It's not!" Chanyeol insisted, eyeing Baekhyun. "It's not true so don't listen to him, Minjee."

"Liar!" Baekhyun yelled.

"Byun Baekhyun, what is it with you?! Why are you being like this?" Chanyeol cried. "You're being such an to everyone! Why're you like this?! Is it because of the deaths we've seen?"

"YES!"

"Then, darn it, move on! We've all witnessed their deaths and are trying to move on! At least comply!"

"How can I freaking comply if I clearly know how we'll all end up? We're all gonna die, Park Chanyeol! Die! We don't stand a chance with the ones chasing us so we might as well make our deaths easier and everything! Accept that ing fact, Chanyeol-!"

Cutting his brother off, fury rose in the taller's eyes and without hesitation, placed a sharp punch on the brother, making the shorter fall down on the snow covered ground. Reacting in their senses, the other brothers tried to stop the two from clashing once again, but eventually failed when Baekhyun rose back up and returned the attack, this time,  making Chanyeol fall down on the ground.

"Stop! STOP!" Lay screamed in horror as he held Chanyeol back with Kai's help.

"Baekhyun, calm the down!" Suho yelled, holding back his brother. "Will you two calm the down?!"

"Stop it you two!" Kris exclaimed, shocking everyone with his bombarding voice. Baekhyun and Chanyeol had their eyes on the annoyed leader and so did everyone else. "Look, we've only got each other alone so if you want to break this apart, don't! Don't even try to break us up anymore as we're few and we need the strength we need the most!"

"Then tell Baekhyun about it!" Chanyeol cried.

"Me? That's it! If you don't face it sooner or later, then I am!" Baekhyun hissed as he broke free from the grips of his brothers before stomping away. Everyone soon collapsed on the ground, exhausted to stop the closest brothers crumble down and fight.

"This is just getting worse and worse." Tao sighed.

"W-why?" Minjee blinked cluelessly.

"Closest brothers fighting is just a no-no in this pack. Baekhyun-gege and Chanyeol-gege never fought among these years and this is the first time they did."

"Say what?" Minjee blinked, obviously astonished. "But, why-"

"Deaths of our brothers. That's why." Kris breathed. "It's just, ugh, troublesome."

"The bond mended for years by those two... ruined." Kai frowned. "Because of that darn fightings over deaths. Baekhyun-hyung is just too negative and Chanyeol-hyung's in the positive light so it's kinda confusing why they attracted each other. You know, magnets of positive and negative thingie?"

"We can't let them break like this now." Kris crossed his arms. "We're in a big trouble now."

"Let him go then. Let's continue our path and leave Baekhyun. He said he's gonna die anyway." Chanyeol scoffed, rolling his eyes in clear anger.

"Chanyeol!" Suho hissed. "Baekhyun is still your brother!"

"Maybe not anymore then." 

"Chanyeol-"

"Let's just get going, can we?"

Silence fell as the taller brother went on his way. Kris had his head lowered with his left hand on his forehead. Minjee, though constantly being pulled back by his mate, decided to approach the leader bravely, tugging on his sleeve. "Oppa, is he serious?" Minjee frowned in worry.

"... We must go. I do feel that they're near." Kris faintly said as he walked behind Chanyeol. Minjee had no idea that she let go of Kris' sleeve and had her eyes dazed. Noticing that, Tao had to grab hold of her hand. "Trust him." Tao whispered.

"I don't even think I can now." she sighed and buried her face on Tao's chest, sobbing quietly. Baekhyun was gone as well.

"Stop."

With Kris' command, everyone froze in place. The sun was beginning to set again and the temperature dropped extremely low. Minjee was nearly frozen to death if it weren't for the hugs Tao would constantly give her warmth. "What is it?" D.O asked as he froze in his place.

"Run!" Kris commanded before sprinting. With no questions, everyone followed close behind. Minjee was quickly carried by Tao "bridal-style" before sprinting off. 

"W-what's up?!" Minjee cried, clinging tightly on Tao.

"Just following orders." Tao panted. Soon, everyone stood frozen when a loud thud filled the place. Kris was looking cautiously around his surroundings, guard always kept up. "What's up, Kris?" Suho asked.

"Is something wrong?" Kai stuttered.

"... Let me guess, they're here?" Lay trembled as he eyed the nervous leader. "Are they, gege?"

"Of course we are, dear Yixing."

The familiar voice made the group turn their heads around, just to see four men standing proud and smiling at them. Evily. "SuJu!" Lay screeched before hiding behind Suho's back. "Ugh, why of all times, now?!"

"I suppose we came in such good timing?" Kyuhyun smirked as a brunette haired male stood beside him, arms crossed and smirking happily.

"... Henry?" Kris gasped as he saw the new face in the pack. "Lau Henry?!"

"Hey, Yifan." he smiled, waving casually at the younger. "Long time no see!"

"G-gege, who is that?" Tao trembled. "Who is that?"

"... Amber's far relative." Kris softly answered. "Say what?!" D.O literally cried out as his eyes scanned the new face in the pack. He did quite resemble Amber in a few angles but he never knew that Amber had a relative in another pack.

"I heard Amber was killed by your darn hands." Henry said, smiles fading in a second, clad by a rather anger-filled frown. "Killing her because of that worthless human!"

"Minjee is not worthless!" Tao cried, standing up for the freezing female whose fear was clearly felt and seen. "Everyone deserves to live, even humans who are nothing up against us wolves!"

"Tao, Tao, Tao. Can you even hear what you're saying?" Donghae sighed heavily. "You're standing up to a prey! Have you seriously gone bonkers? Is that how fragile Huang Zitao is?"

"Watch your mouth, Donghae." Leetuk smirked. "The baby might cry."

"Shut up!" Kris hissed. "Mess with me all you want but leave the human female and my brothers alone!"

"Aw, is Yifan standing up now?" Zhoumi snickered. "I used to hear from your parents that you're nothing but a big baby who'd run off once trouble sprouts. You can't even stand up for your sister. In fact, I can adopt her if you'd want. She deserves a better bro-"

"Meilin is not my sister in status, but she is by blood to me. And don't dare put her up in this conversation!" Kris taunted, but failed to do so to the older male. 

"One, two... six, seven. Hm, someone's missing?" Ryeowook playfully asked, tapping his chin. "Did your brothers really die that easily?"

"Stop that." Chanyeol growled.

"Well, it ain't our fault your brothers were such easy targets!"

"Shut up!"

"... Where's the poodle one? Did he die too?" Kyuhyun joked. "I never knew SNSD could kill three persons in one go!"

"Amazing!" Henry clapped.

"We should wipe them quickly then so we can go to rest!" Donghae suggested before averting his glare at the group. With on swift move, a sharp punch on the chin was given to the golden-haired leader, making him fall on his back flat.

"Kris-!" Chanyeol cried, but was cut off when Lay grabbed him by his arms. 

"Run!" Lay cried as he followed Suho, leading the way away from the enemies. With the still fazed female, Tao carried his mate on his back easily while Kris tried to catch up with his pack, distracting the foes and protecting them with D.O and Kai's small helps and assistance. SuJu caught up easily, as if sprinting was nothing less that a few baby steps. They placed a lot of attacks on the group, and even Tao fell down while carrying Minjee on his back.

A few turns here and there, the group tried to make SuJu loose track of them. Thankfully, due to Kris' quick thinking, they hid behind enormous and shaddy trees, covered with powdery white snow.

"Darn it. They'll find us in seconds!" Chanyeol huffed.

"What now?" Minjee trembled in both cold and fear. "Don't worry, we'll get over this." Tao comforted, wrapping his arms around the female in hopes of giving warmth to his mate. "Soon."

"Darn it." Kris panted. "They're in the offensive and defensive sides! We're no match!" 

"Don't give up yet, duizhang." Suho breathed. "We can get over this."

"... Darn it."  Kris breathed out before noticing a small movement a few inches away from them. Quickly getting into their attacking poses, the group had their guards up like there weren't any tomorrow. To their surprise, a familiar man greeted them, sweaty and worry crossed on his face.

"Baek?!" Chanyeol literally shrieked in shock as he saw his brother in front of them.

"There you are!" Baekhyun cried, tackling the giant tightly, obviously worried and relieved at the same time. "Goodness, I thought you guys were in serious trouble!"

"We are, hyung." Kai glared. "Where've you been?!"

"Baekhyun-oppa! Are you alright?" Minjee worriedly asked as she saw how tired and worry-bout the older male was. "Where were you?"

"Hiding. I saw SuJu pass by our place where me and Yeol fought and I was worried they caught up with you. I wanted to warn you but it seems like I've came late." Baekhyun explained. "So, where are they now?"

"We kind of successfully made them loose track of us." D.O answered, eyes still roaming around the place. "They might be anywhere around here!"

"I know a place to hide!" Baekhyun said, leading the group deeper into the forest. "Surely, they won't find you there! They won't find us there!"

"Sure?" Tao asked.

"Trust me." Baekhyun smiled faintly before leading the way down the deepest parts of the tree-filled environment. Silently and carefully taking steps in the snowy ground, the pack found themselves out of the forest and out in an open-spaced one.

"There you are, EXO!" Donghae cried out loudly upon spotting the group.

"!" Kris cursed before gesturing his brothers to sprint off. With Baekhyun leading the way still, the group ran as fast as they can, escaping SuJu if possible.

"Sheesh, running won't make any difference!" Zhoumi laughed.

"We're still going to cease your existence in the end anyway!" Ryeowook added and with those words, chills ran up and down Minjee's spine repeatedly. It was just too fearsome. Everyone was busy running, and all they had in mind was to escape death, meaning, escape SuJu.

"Stop running, pups! We're gonna catch you sooner or later anyway!" Kyuhyun exclaimed.

"Never think of listening to them!" Kris cried out to his group. "He's trying to break down your hopes!"

Soon, the group found themselves near an old and abandoned hut, made of logs and a few vines and wild plants growing around the pillars and it. Thankfully, it wasn't locked and EXO easily got their way inside. Afterwards, they decided to lock themselves in and keep SuJu out in the freezing atmosphere.

"Are any of you guys not okay?" Kris panted, eyeing his remaining brothers.

"None is." Baekhyun breathed. "I think we'll be okay here."

"Not for long, Baekhyun." Chanyeol panted. "At some time, we'll need to go out and SuJu would be waiting outside."

"... A-are we finished then?" Minjee nervously asked, still trying to cease herself down, her arms snaking her body. "Are we out of hope?"

"Don't say that." Tao pouted. "We're making our way out of this. For the meantime, gege, what do we do?" he asked, eyeing the nearly-out-of-breath leader of theirs.

"Stay here for the night. It'll be dangerous if we take our leave while some madmen are watching for us." Kris commanded before sitting down on the doorway. Everyone, even Minjee who tried her hardest to stay awake, drifted slowly into a light sleep under the cold blanket of the dropping temperature. 

Silence.

Crackles.

Gray.

Everywhere was gray and orange-like in color.

"Wake up!" Baekhyun cried, his voice slowly ringing in everyone's ears. Wiped away in a few seconds, sleep soon drifted away from everyone's eyes and within a matter of few seconds, everyone jolted up, shocked by the new scent in the air and the new environment.

Red. Orange. Yellow. Bright flames.

Burning.

"W-what the heck?!" Suho cried in shock as he fell on his back upon seeing flames clad the place they were staying in. Everyone was coughing in a matter of minutes. Coughing violently and craving for fresh air. They were all choking due to the heavy curtain of gray smoke.

"What in the world?!" Lay choked as he tried to reach for his brothers in the heavy smoke in front of them all. "Where are you guys? Help!"

"Lay-hyung! I'm over here." Chanyeol said, reaching out for Lay's outstretched hands. "Over here! Guys!"

"Tao!" Minjee coughed as she slowly found breathing difficult. "He-help!" the poor female croked.

"Minjee!" Kris called out, trying to locate the human with them. "Zitao! Look for Minjee!"

"On it!" Tao cried back, trying to find his mate in the dark smoke. With squinted eyes and vigorous coughs filling the burning place, Tao slowly located his mate, lying down on the floor.

Unconscious.

"Minjee-! Help! Gege! Anyone!" Tao panicked as he slowly picked up the female and carried her in his arms. Luckily, his coughing brothers heard his plea and came by to approach him. By the sight of the unconscious female, everyone had their eyes widenned and had surprised facial expressions on them.

"Do something!" the yellow-headed wolf pleaded, tears forming on the corners of his eyes. "Do something, Kris-gege! Please-!"

"Get outta here!" Baekhyun cried out as he gestured at his brothers. He knew, by the looks of it, that the roofing would fall anytime now that flames had consumed parts of them.

Quickly, the pack found a place to escape at the back. Turns out that the cottage they slept for a few hours had a secret back exit and that's where they decided to take their leave. Baekhyun wanted all his brothers to get out and unfortunately, time wasn't in their side.

A piece of wood fell from the roofing parts and soon, not longer after the first wood chipped off, another fell and another and another.

Baekhyun was trapped.

"Baekhyun!" Chanyeol cried, trying to shoo away the smoke from his face. Despite the heavy curtain of gray smoke, he could see clearly how hard Baekhyun was trying to struggle free. He could see how his brother choked slowly.

"Baekhyun-!"

"Chanyeol, just run along with them! You'll die in here!" the brunette exclaimed. "Get going!"

"I ain't leaving you!"

"You want EXO to live, right?"

"I do!"

"Then go!" he smiled, a strong command still heard from his cry. "Live, alright? I've made lots of mistakes, doubting our pack wouldn't live. I even jumped to conclusions that we'd die one by one like our brothers. And I guess-"

"Don't continue that ing statement, Byun Baekhyun!" Chanyeol cried, reaching out his lean arm. "Come on! Let's go!"

"... It's my turn now, Park Chanyeol." he smiled, pushing his brother off the place, waving happily. "See you soon, Yeol. I'll be going with our brothers now."

"Baek-! No-!"

Gray smoke.

Gray ground.

White snow.

Ashes.

Small orange-red flames burning bright slowly dies in the cold.

That one light soon dies and joins the other dead flames in an eternal slumber.

Byun Baekhyun was that light.