prologue
impulse
{ three years ago }
“Why did we agree to go on this stupid trip,” Kibum, better known as Key, grumbled as he hiked behind Jonghyun. “Who goes camping in the middle of the woods when it’s raining like this and-”
“Real men, Key. Real men.” Jonghyun turned around, slapping the back of the younger man who almost tumbled onto the ground due to the weight from the bag on his back. The five were following closely behind their other classmates. The sophomore class of their high school always had two trips; one for boys and one for girls. While the girls were busy enjoying themselves on a private island, swimming and soaking up the sun, the guys had to hike through three hours of rough terrain to get to a clearing in the middle of the woods, where they’d sleep in plastic tents on the cold, hard ground. What made it worse was the oncoming storm, which made the trail slippery, the air cold and obviously, them wet.
“You guys, I can’t see the others from here,” Jinki, or Onew, muttered to them, covering his eyes and looking ahead to find no sign of their classmates. All he could hear was the sound of the rain beating down on the stone path and the leaves of the trees shaking with the strong wind. “Maybe we can take a shor-HEY!”
The other four that were there widened their eyes as the oldest didn’t notice where his foot was and slipped on the edge of the small cliff, making him slide down the side nearly fifty feet away from where they had gotten. Thankfully, there was nothing too dangerous to hurt him and his backpack protected his bag from getting scratched up.
“Onew, are you okay?” Minho cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted over the rainfall so the older man could hear him.
“Y-Yeah! But you guys, come here and look at this!” They all looked at each other, noticing the fear in his voice. The first to move was Jonghyun, no surprise. He shrugged and moved his bag to cover his chest, jumping headfirst over the edge and sliding on his belly down to meet Onew.
“ARE YOU CRAZY?” Key shrieked, shaking his head rapidly. “I AM NOT DOING THAT!”
“Key, you can either do it and come with the rest of us, or stand here and get soaked, and then freeze to death.” Minho stared at the other with a serious expression, awaiting his answer. Picking up on the tiny “no” that slipped past his lips, he shook his head and began to sit at the edge to slide down. “Suit yourself.”
“Taemin, you’re not doing this, right?” He felt his hand shaking as he placed it on the youngest’s shoulder, expecting a resounding no.
“Uh…” Taemin mumbled, not wanting to disappoint any of his hyungs. But considering the fact that three were already down there and he was obviously the youngest, he thought it was best to go with the flow. Giving the older man an apologetic look, he carefully hooked his foot over the edge and slid down the pathway the others had already created. Key covered his face and cursed them all, wondering why he couldn’t be friends with the losers who were always right up in the teacher’s and never got lost like these idiots.
“Key, come on! HURRY UP!” Jonghyun bellowed from below, the others hollering for him to come down in anticipation. His fingers curled around the straps on his shoulders and he started whining, not wanting to seem like a wimp but also not wanting to kill himself in the process. Hesitantly sitting at the edge, the others cheered to show support and he covered his face as he felt himself slipping down to them. Realizing he was picking up speed he started screaming, falling over at their feet.
“That’s more like it!” Minho snickered, patting his back. He was still shaky from the way down as he glared at the taller man, all of their attention now on Onew. “So what is this you want us to see now?”
“Look at this.” The oldest led them to a large slab of rock, which had cracks and sinks in it that made it seem like benches. He brushed his hand over the top of one, drawing their attention to a wide pool of blood at the other. “O-Oh my…is that what I think it is?”
“You’re not serious,” Key covered his mouth, feeling sick at the sight.
“Is it a human’s?” Taemin piped up, peering over his hyung’s shoulder.
“I think so…who could’ve done this?”
“Guys, we really need to get back to the trail before anyone gets worr-WHAT WAS THAT?” Jonghyun at this point was terrified as well, grabbing onto Minho’s arm at something that sounded like a howl.
“Are there wolves in this area?”
“I think so…apparently there were killings around this part of the woods over the past few years.” Taemin’s one statement made all of them shiver in fear. Suddenly Jonghyun chuckled, taking a seat next to the red liquid and shocking them all.
“I think it’s just a joke. Remember all of those stupid stories about how if you get scratched or bitten by a werewolf you’ll become one? I don’t believe ‘em.” He started screaming, making the others back away a little with a flinch. “Come get me, stupid werewolves! I’m not afraid of you! What are you gonna do, bi-”
His sentence was cut off when a flash of fur bolted past them and they ran into the bushes, greeted by two other beasts of the same size. They heard Jonghyun cry out in pain and began screaming themselves, realizing that there was no way for them to run. The two wolves in front of them circled them slowly, analyzing their every move as they tried not to seem afraid. Suddenly the missing of the five staggered in, clutching his arm with wide eyes as he joined the others only to notice the other two wolves.
“Oh .”
Unfortunately for them, no one was around to hear them scream as the beasts surrounding them tackled them to the ground, not damaging them enough to kill them but enough to leave a mark. They all shook in pain and froze in disbelief when they noticed the largest of the three animals take the form of a human. The two behind him followed suit, with the largest man stopping in front of Jonghyun with a dark chuckle.
“Thought you could mock us, didn’t you?” He pressed a finger against the smaller man’s chest, flicking it against his chin. “Let’s see how you like it.”
“What do you mean?” Onew spoke up for him, considering he was apparently mute.
“I’m sick of hearing people complain about werewolves. Werewolves this, werewolves that. Try living in our shoes, see what it feels like to you.”
“So does that mean…” Taemin trailed off, eyeing the other two wearily.
“Yes, we’re werewolves. No we’re not those stupid things you see in movies. Clearly we’re not considering what you just saw. What happened to us is basically going to happen to you anytime there’s a full moon out or if you get pushed off the edge, if you know what I mean.”
“So we’re going to change into…wolves?”
One of the smaller men from behind the one that was speaking continued for him. “Long story short, you’re wolves now. We bit and scratched yes, but you’re not going to die. You will change anytime there’s a full moon and anytime you feel extreme anger, which can explain why we changed after hearing your friend here talking about us.”
“But how did you become werewolves?” Minho asked cautiously.
“We were born this way. If you’ve been turned into a werewolf by someone else, you’d earn a power that has some sort of connection to your personality. Don‘t bother telling anyone, but you should know whoever you fall in love with will adapt to your powers and you‘ll have to let them know.” The leader gave them a smug grin. “I have superhuman strength. They have speed and invisibility.”
Each demonstrated their powers for the disbelieving five. Key finally opened his mouth after his long period of being silent. He squinted in confusion, not quite understanding.
“You’re joking right? Haha, guys this isn’t funny, there’s no way we can be a bunch of werewolves because some thugs came to beat us up and-”
“Still not believing?” The leader grabbed him by his shirt collar, making him stammer and cower down in fear. “Thought so. Now then. If you want to get out of the forest, go this way. I suggest you don’t go back to your little group looking like that.”
- - - - - - -
“This isn’t happening.” Key repeated for the umpteenth time to the four others, all of which were seated on the living room couch in Onew’s apartment. He usually shared it with his brother, who was out of town with a few friends for the week.
“Don’t any of you feel funny after all of this?” Taemin tilted his head, trying to make sense of the situation.
“I feel sort of…I dunno, stronger?” Jonghyun shrugged, turning to Onew.
“If this is really the case, we need to keep this between ourselves. Telling others may seem strange and we need to figure this out alone before we do anything wrong. Wait-” He stopped himself, widening his eyes. “Is there any way to stop this? Did they mention anything?”
“No…” Minho thought back, remembering something else. “They did mention us having powers, though. They said it’s based on our own personalities or whatever. What does that mean?”
“Guys, where’s Jonghyun?” Taemin cut them off, eyeing the couch where the older man was just seated.
“I’m right here.” The thin air replied, making them shout in surprise.
“Where?”
“Here!” Key felt a hand on his arm without seeing anything and yelped, tearing his hand away. “S-So uh, is Jonghyun’s power invisibility?”
“I guess so?” His figure finally came back into view and they all sighed. “What about Minho?”
“I have an idea.” Onew picked up a remote control from the table and tossed it at Minho’s head. His suspicions were confirmed when the younger caught it immediately without looking. “This is probably because Minho’s already so good in sports.”
“Onew, you’re an honors student, right?” Jonghyun directed to the oldest, who nodded. “Tell me about Einstein.” After he rambled on about the scientist for nearly ten minutes, he finally stopped him. “Alright, so you just got smarter. Next!” They all turned to Key, who gave them a blank look.
“I don’t feel different.”
“Me either,” Taemin added.
“I guess you two will figure out what you can do in due time,” Onew decided. “For now let’s lay low and hope it blows over and this is all just a misunderstanding. By the time we get to university I’m sure it’ll be easier to deal with.”
“THREE YEARS?”
“We can only hope,” he sighed.
- - - - - - - - - - -
{ A/N } this chapter is sort of weird huh...i apologize if it is, it's just for you to understand how they became wolves. happy reading!!
also SHAWOLS, did you see the youtube comments lately? apparently a fan asked taemin if he thought that SHINee would win an award at the GDA's and he said "no". keep voting for them in mama and for mcountdown and the gda's etc etc!!
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