~Chapter 16~

Disaster

Taemin’s POV~

            Her eyes glow under the moonlight. The exposed teeth are sharp and threatening. Her once human face is now strangely scrunched, forming animal-like features. Her long, pointy claws make a shiver run down my spine. Jiyeon is no longer the harmless human girl I knew her as, but a dangerous creature. A growl escapes as she leaps forward. I hold onto my sword tightly and lay the flat blade on my other hand. Her claws make contact with my blade and I push forward, repelling her. “Can you still fight?” I ask Kai.

            “I can. Can you? You’re still a bit unstable,” he replies.

            “I wasn’t drunk earlier, I’ll be fine.”

            “They drugged the drinks…but whatever you say Mr. Tipsy; I’ll believe you.” We stand side by side each other and hold onto our swords tightly. “Don’t go easy on her, she’s a spy too. She drugged me and the rest of the clan.”

            “We can’t kill her. We need her to talk,” I say.

            “Let’s try to survive first.” Jiyeon leaps forward and charges for Kai. I put my sword in front of his and push her back. I exchange a few moves with her until my sword flies out of my hand. She claws me, but I dodge quickly. I roll over on the floor to escape her, but she manages to lunge at me. I hold onto her wrists, trying to hold back her claws. Kai cuts her with his blade and she yelps, jumping off of me and quickly charges Kai. As they fight, I run over to my sword and pick it up. Before I turn around, I hear Kai groaning as she growls loudly.

            I whip my head back and see her snapping her jaw at his face as he tries to hold her back. I pull her off and try to jab her with my blade. She leaps back and snarls at me. “Jiyeon-ah, I won’t kill you. Stop fighting with us! We just want you to talk!” I yell at her. Without a warning, she hits Kai and knocks him out cold. “Damn you!” I yell and slash at her. She swipes her claw and slashes my right arm, making me drop my blade. My arm throbs as the blood seeps out of the wounds. My arm becomes weak and I feel the pain spread up to my shoulder and to the tips of my fingers.

            She starts clawing at me and tries to bite me. I grab my sword with my left hand and slash at her. She claws me with her left arm as she blocks my sword with her right. Her sharp claws pierce my chest easily and I fall over, coughing up crimson blood. “Taemin!” I hear Minho hyung’s voice in the distance and look up. He is running toward Jiyeon with his weapon pointing toward her. She dodges his attack and tries to claw at his face, but misses. Nam Kyu slashes forward with his claws. He snarls as nine tails appear from his rear end. Nam Kyu is a monster? 

            As I watch them fight Jiyeon the wolf, I slowly feel my breathing slow down. The pain is slowly spreading around my body and I can barely move. “Taemin!” Onew hyung runs toward me with Joon hyung besides him. He lifts me up and leans me against his chest. “Are you okay?!”

            “Does he look okay?” Joon hyung shakes his head and bends down. “Those gashes look pretty deep. Hey Minho! Make sure you kill her!”

            “Don’t kill her, we need to ask her things,” I say with a weak voice.

            “Okay, okay,” Joon hyung pats my shoulder. “Minho! Taemin says to beat the sh*t out of her!”

            “Save her life though!” Onew hyung adds.

            “Hyung, can you help Kai out?” I ask. Joon hyung nods and walks over to Kai who is still unconscious.

            “Taemin-ah, you’re bleeding so much…” Onew hyung bites his lip. “Please be okay.”

            “I thought you hate me. I would think that you would be happy seeing me in this state.”

            “Don’t say that, Taemin-ah. I know I was wrong back then. You never wanted Joon and me to separate. You wanted us together as much as we wanted to be. I’m sorry I doubted you. I’m so sorry.” Hearing this, I smile although the pain is engulfing my whole body.

            “Taemin! No no no no no! We can’t be too late!” Jonghyun hyung kneels down next to me and holds onto my hand, tearing up.

            “You’re back,” I smile. “Don’t start crying. I’m not dead yet, hyung.”

            “You better not die. Jonghyun hyung and I just found out that you can’t die in this time period or else you will die in the future life too,” Key hyung says. “I’ll be back. I’ll go help them fight the wolf.” He takes out a fan and runs toward Minho hyung, Nam Kyu, and Jiyeon.

            “Key’s right. Heechul hyung let us see the future and we found out that whatever happens to us at this time will happen to our bodies in the future. If you die now, you’ll never wake up again,” Jonghyun hyung sniffs.

            “Slight problem…” I cough and wince. “I’m not sure how long I can stay awake.” Minho hyung, Key hyung, Joon hyung, and the unconscious Kai huddles around me.

Minho’s POV~

            I hold back my tears as I look at Taemin’s pale face. His chest and arm is soaked with his own blood and his hair is wet from his sweat. His breath is weak and his lip is slightly shaking. “Can you tie up the werewolf and keep her in the clan cell?” I ask Naeun and she nods. She grabs the unconscious wolf and drags it away.

            “Keeping Taemin on the floor like this is no use. Let’s get him back into his room. Key, how about you go and check on the clan members to see if they woke up or not?” Joon hyung asks.

            “Where’s Gun Tae?” Key asks. “He was supposed to get here before us and tell you guys to protect Taemin…”

            “We haven’t seen him,” Onew hyung says. “He might just be lost in this mess. He’s probably running around somewhere.”

            “Taemin-ah, can you get up?” I ask him. He shakes his head slightly but moves his legs, trying to get up. “I got you,” I say and lift him up. “Don’t strain yourself right now, you’re hurt.” Taemin leans his weak head against my chest and closes his eyes.

            “I’m really tired right now,” he says weakly.

            “I know I’m not supposed to tell you to sleep, but go ahead. As long as I’m here, I won’t let you die.” Taemin smiles slightly and nods his head. “Sleep well.”

            “The clan is huge, we should split up and take care of the drugged members,” Onew hyung says. “Although Taemin is hurt, we can’t ignore the rest of the clan. Key went toward the dining area. Jonghyun, Joon, and I’ll split up and gather up the clan. Minho, Taemin is in your hands.”

            “I won’t let him out of my sight,” I nod confidently and carry him into his room. I lay Taemin on his bed and untie his waist sash. I open his garment and take a sharp breath. Taemin’s chest is a sickly red-ish pink color, surrounded by a dark shade of purple. The long, deep gashes are across his chest, right on top of the disgusting flesh. I pull his sleeve off and see his arm is also in a similar condition, but the flesh around the gashes is a milky, fair color. I clean his wounds and wrap it up as carefully as I can. I wet a cloth and wipe his face with care. I feel his feverish face and touch his cold fingers.

            I wish that I can share the pain with him so he can wake up and smile reassuringly at me. I don’t want to see him like this. From the first time I ever met him, I haven’t gotten to see him healthy for a long period of time. He rarely smiles and he always tries to put on a tough act. He knows that he is weak, but he hides all of his pain so we won’t worry about him. Now that he can’t hide how hurt he is, he is totally vulnerable. Although he’s so hurt…I wish he would be like this all the time. I wish he would show us what he is truly feeling. Although he is nearly dying, at least I can tell how hurt he is and enjoy the fact that he is letting me take care of him.

            I dress him up again and sit beside him. I place his cold hands against my cheek and look at his face. “Thanks to you, I finally found the courage to show people my face,” I say to him. “Thanks to you, I’m slowly returning to my original self. I’m not as scared of expressing my feelings and I am slowly accepting the past…This is all thanks to you Taemin-ah. Now that I can finally be myself, you aren’t giving me the chance to repay you. I want to be able to support you and make you express your true feelings as well…If you’re hurt, you should tell me. If you’re scared, you can ask me to protect you. If you’re worried, you can just ask me to listen to your thoughts just like how you willingly listened to me. You better not die Taemin-ah. If you die…” I close my eyes and take a deep breath. “You’ll take away all of my chances to help you. If you die, I won’t be able to repay you…so you can’t die.”

            “I won’t,” Taemin says weakly and smiles slightly.

            “Y-you were awake?” I blush, ashamed of my cheesy words.

            “That was meant for me to hear, why are you so shy?”

            “I just thought you weren’t awake…Are you feeling better?”

            “Not one bit,” he shakes his head. “Happy? I’m telling you what I’m feeling~” He tries to laugh but ends up coughing. I ruffle his hair and smile despite my worried heart.

            “Good Taeminnie.”

Kai’s POV~

            I hold onto my throbbing head and sit up weakly. “Ouch,” I mutter.

            “I’m glad you are awake, Kai,” Jong Kook hyungnim exclaims. I look around and see tired-looking clan members staring at me. “Joon has just brewed up a quick antidote and we are all basically drug free. How do you feel?”

            “Better, hyungnim,” I reply. “Where’s the wolf? Where’s Taemin?”

            “Jiyeon is in the cell and Taemin is injured. I know you worry about him, but we need you here. I need you to tell me everything you saw.”

            “I was just going to the kitchen and overheard Jiyeon and the guys Taemin hyung brought back from the mountains about drugging the clan members. I wanted to stop them and asked Taemin hyung to help me. I swear he isn’t from the enemy clan. He never knew about them as spies!”

            “We know, don’t worry. We know where Taemin’s loyalty lies,” Jong Kook hyungnim pats my back.

            “Thank goodness.”

            “Can you explain to us anything else about what happened?”

            “We were fighting and Taemin hyung decided to not kill everyone and locked their acupuncture instead. Jiyeon then turned into a werewolf and attacked us. We were overpowered by her since we were both drugged.”

            “Don’t worry; the antidote I got was able to stop the drug inside everyone. Taemin just drank it too,” Joon hyung explains. He passes me a bowl of a milky liquid and I drink it. After a few minutes, my body starts to feel more energized, like I drank a magical energy booster. How come I didn’t realize that Jiyeon drugged me? Maybe because she is a wolf too…

            “Bad news! Bad news!” A clan member comes rushing into the meeting room, out of breath. “Taemin’s dying.”