Nicole's POV

My eyes snapped open as I sat up from my sleeping bag.  "What the hell is going on downstairs?" I grumbled as I scratched my head.  I had just been woken up by mysterious thumping sounds below me.  I turned to my left and noticed that my older sister was currently rubbing her eyes and yawning.

"Are you going downstairs, Nicole?" Another yawn left as I nodded.  "I'll go follow you."

The two of us slowly got up - Seungyeon in her cream-colored nightgown and me in my white, silk shorts and cotton tank top.  I held back the urge to shiver as we walked down and gaped at the scene before us.  There...  In front of our eyes...  Was the biggest gray wolf I had ever seen in my life.  And it was currently snapping its jaws at the ice prince as he attempted to block the wolf with his arms.  I noticed that Sunggyu was also awake, but he was held down by one of the wolf's paws and couldn't move.  Jinwoon...  Was surprisingly still asleep.  Damn boy was quite the deep sleeper.

"P-prince Woohyun!" my sister exclaimed.  The wolf turned to face her as she covered quickly.  Aish...  Unnie and her stupid worry for that good-for-nothing ice prince...

"Well, well, it looks like I'll be having a five course meal tonight." The wolf its lips and got up from its original position over the prince and Sunggyu before charging towards my sister and me.  I closed my eyes and crouched down, expecting impact and drool to hit.  Nothing.

"THUMP!"

I opened an eye at the sound and peered up from my crouched position.  Jinwoon had apparently woken up - actually, now I'm thinking he's been awake this whole time.  He was currently holding a sheathed broadsword against the wolf's paws, blocking the wolf from moving any closer to my sister and I.  With an eye smile, he spoke words filled with enough ice to rival speech from the ice prince himself.  "It's not polite to go around attacking innocent people, wolf-sshi."  With a sudden burst of energy, he pushed against the wolf and made it fall back.  It growled before retreating to the door and arching its back.

"You have a sword?  Hmph, what an annoying one you are." snarled the wolf as it took a slow step towards Jinwoon.  I held my breath as everyone fell silent.  Things were starting to get action-packed and I was beginning to feel like I was inside a bad fairy tale.

Suddenly, another - even bigger, if possible - wolf barreled in through the door.  I heard Woohyun curse before grumbling, "Another one?"  My thoughts echoed his exactly until the new wolf pounced on the smaller one.

"HARA!" roared the intruder.  "THESE PEOPLE ARE OUR GUESTS - DO NOT ATTACK THEM."

Wait...  What?  Did that new wolf just call us its guests?

---

Seungyeon's POV

"A-Are you, by any chance, Gyuri-noona?" stammered Jinwoon as he pointed at the wolf who had just crashed through the front door.  His confused expression mirrored those of everyone's in the room.  The wolf in question simply nodded before the smaller wolf pushed it off of itself.

"BUT UNNIE MMM THEY WERE JUST LYING THERE LOOKING DELICIOUS AND MMM I HAVEN'T HAD ANYTHING TO EAT ALL NIGHT." The smaller wolf - not Gyuri but apparently named Hara - was its lips while eyeing each and every one of us.

"If you think that you cannot control yourself until the change back, then leave at once." Gyuri growled as she hovered protectively in between us and Hara.  Hara simply growled back in response before trudging out through the door (that had been broken into a large, gaping hole thanks to Gyuri's entrance).

"Gyuri-sshi," Sunggyu began as he gingerly picked up his lute from the side of his sleeping bag.  He strummed a few notes before looking seriously at the wolf.  "I think you have some explaining to do."

"Damn right, you've got some explaining to do." Woohyun huffed as he rubbed at his neck and arms.  I hope he isn't too hurt...  I shuffled over to him and attempted to massage his shoulders as he shouted incredulously, "First of all, why the hell aren't you a human right now?"

"I'm sure you're all curious about this, er, current state of affairs." Gyuri then coughed - can wolfs cough? - before staring at the open entrance where the door used to be and where Hara had just left.  "However, it's dangerous for you guys to be here now that the door's nonexistent.  Wolfs can smell human flesh from miles away; there might be more that will come back.  We need to move to the basement at least."

We all stiffened at the idea of more wolves headed our way.  Without a word, we followed Gyuri as she walked outside and motioned to a large, locked entrance leading underground.  "Quickly, in here."

Woohyun seemed to just notice my hands on his shoulders.  He shot a glare in my direction before harshly brushing my hands off and heading into the cellar first.  I saw my sister open , but quickly shook my head, telling her to hush.  I was used to Woohyun's cold reactions to my little actions of affection by now.

Of course, that didn't mean it didn't hurt each time he reacted in such a manner.

---

Nicole's POV

"So...  Let me get this straight..." Jinwoon began as he cleared his throat.  We were all currently sitting in a giant circle, with Gyuri lying down in the middle in her wolf form.  She had just finished answering all of our random questions, and now Jinwoon seemed to feel the need to summarize everything asked and answered.  "Okay, so...  This town is a town of werewolves.  You guys were all cursed two decades ago by a wandering witch, and now you all turn into wolves at midnight...  Before returning to human form at sunrise."

"And you guys have prolonged life spans, so while you look like you're in your early twenties, you're actually about forty years old." The ice prince raised an eyebrow.  "This town just gets weirder and weirder..."

"Yep, you guys pretty much know everything now." The female wolf in front of us sighed as she adjusted her position on the floor.  "This is why you guys were supposed to stay indoors until the sun was up; I didn't want you all to accidentally wander outside and be met with us as wolves.  Most of us lose our senses under the moon's light."

"How come you're still so thoughtful though?" Sunggyu raised an eyebrow.

"Like I said...  Most of us.  Not including my younger sister though.  Meet her during the day, and she's completely sane and normal.  Meet her at night and...  Well, you just saw what she's like at night." Gyuri chuckled.  "Anyways, I'll leave you guys alone.  There are so few left of us sane wolves out there; I need to keep an eye on this town.  I'll be back in the morning."

---

???'s POV

"What the hell?" I threw my hands up in the air.  I had just returned from visiting another town, eager to see five bodies ripped to shreds in the middle of town.  Instead, I see them being led safely into a cellar by one of the guardian wolves of the village.  "This is ridiculous.  I guess if you want to get anything done at all..."

I raised an eyebrow and smiled as I observed the she-wolf leaving her cellar.  My smile widened as I pulled out a dog whistle.

"... You need to get your hands dirty yourself."

---

Woohyun's POV

"Did you hear that?" I jolted out of my sleep as I quickly sat up from my position on the floor.  After the wolf-lady had left, the rest of us had decided to sleep together in the cellar.  The lack of response from my fellow travel-mates indicated I was the only one awake.  "How eerily familiar..." I mumbled to myself as I stared at the closed entrance to the cellar.  Suddenly, the door burst open and a pack of wolves showed up.  One, two, three, four...  Five wolves had shown up, each with drool dribbling down their faces.

"Were you the one who blew the dog whistle just now?" growled one of the wolves.

Another one of the wolves its lips.  "Yum, food~"

I fought the urge to facepalm before staring at the people sleeping around me.  Why am I always the one awake for these things?  Ah shi-

My thoughts were cut off as the wolves began charging in our direction, one of them getting ready to pounce.  Until...  It happened so fast.  One minute, I was scrambling to my feet to shake the others awake.  The next, a skinny man from nowhere had jumped into the fray, punching out one of the wolves headed in our direction.

"NO NEED TO WORRY - KWON IS HERE TO SAVE THE DAY!"

... Who?

---

Nicole's POV

I opened my eyes as I heard someone shouting.  Maybe I shouldn't have, because I was soon met to face to face with quite the sight to behold.  There stood the ice prince and some random guy, fighting back an onslaught of wolves with their bare hands.

"TAKE THIS - KWON KICK!"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP AND JUST FIGHT?"

"TAKE THIS - KWON UPPERCUT!"

"I SAID SHUT UP!"  Suddenly, both of their eyes met mine.  "Don't just stand there, princess." Woohyun emphasized the last word.  "Wake up the others - this wave of wolves doesn't seem to be ending any time soon."

I nodded before shaking everyone awake (damn, everyone seems to be a heavy sleeper in this group).  Jinwoon was the first to fully gather his senses and enter the fray; he simply woke up, quickly took in his suroundings, and then grabbed his broadsword to assist the ice prince and mysterious stranger.  Sunggyu was the next to be fully awake, quickly picking up my still-sleeping sister and piggy-backing her.

"So, we kind of need to leave." Jinwoon grinned good-naturedly, but his eyes seemed to reveal the iciness from earlier, when he had been fighting off Hara.  Without another word, he used his sheathed sword to knock out one of the wolves.  I shivered; Jinwoon seemed to be the type who's personality took a complete 180 when fighting.

"Guys, quickly, up here!" Sunggyu shouted, my sister still sleeping on his back.

Everyone stopped what they were doing, exchanged glances with one another, and then hurried to meet up with the troubadour.  Within a few minutes, we had all managed to make it outside, locking the cellar door shut and locking the wolves still inside.  Thankfully, it seemed like there were no more wolves that were going to try to enter the cellar, for apparently it was sunrise - the wolves struggling to enter the cellar were now returning to their human forms.  After several seconds of awkward silence, we all seemed to release a simultaneous breath neither of us knew we had been holding.

"Oh my god, you guys need to understand that blowing a dog whistle in a town full of werewolves is a big no-no." The mysterious stranger from earlier was clicking his tongue at us.

"We didn't blow a dog whistle; we've all been sleeping." Seungyeon, now awake, was frowning.

"Thank you for helping us out though," I extended a hand to the stranger.  "I'm Princess Han Nicole from the Han kingdom.  This is Princess Han Seungyeon; she's my older sister and-"

"I know who you all are." replied the stranger with a shrug.  "I'm an ex-knight, so I've traveled to a lot of kingdoms in my time.  You're all pretty well known...  Except for that tall one over there."

"You can call me Jinwoon.  But what do you mean by ex-knight?" Jinwoon raised an eyebrow.

"It means that I, Jo Kwon, am no longer a knight!  As of two days ago, I relinquished the binding shackles of knighthood to pursue my dream." Jo Kwon's eyes seemed to sparkle as he gazed off into the distance.

"What dream?" Sunggyu questioned, furrowing his brows.

"My dream to...  Become a dancer!" Jo Kwon then danced to prove his point.  And his dance...  His dance...  Er...  It was rather...  Risque, to say the least.

Seungyeon burst out laughing though.  "Hahaha, you seem like a bundle of energy; I like you."  I noticed from the corner of my eye that Woohyun's eyes had narrowed at my sister's statement.  Jealous, ice prince?

"Well, I'm glad you do...  I couldn't help but notice that you guys seemed to be on a journey of some sort.  Mind if I tag along?" Jo Kwon held up a thumbs up and a thumbs down.  "Yes?  No?  Maybe so?"

"Sure!" We all (except for Woohyun) chorused.

---

Woohyun's POV

Why not.  Besides the ridiculous names he had for his moves, he actually had decent combat potential.  And he didn't have a silly eye smile like the rest of the group.  I'm cool with that.  "Sure," I echoed weakly, as the rest of the group began exchanging conversation with the guy - now known as Jo Kwon.

"Ah, you guys are alright, thank goodness." I turned around at the sound of a familiar voice.  It was Gyuri, human arms outstretched ready to wrap all of us into a hug - and that she did.  "I was busy with something outside of town when I heard the whistle.  It wasn't you guys who blew it, was it?"

"Everyone's talking about a whistle, but I didn't hear a thing." Nicole frowned.

"It's a dog whistle that they're referring to," Jinwoon smiled.

I laughed.  "Normal humans can't hear it, stupid."  Nicole glared at me before rolling her eyes.  What a princess...

"No, we didn't blow it, Gyuri-sshi." Sunggyu interrupted.  "Honestly, I feel like this was a set up by some sort of outsider."

"An outsider?" Nicole raised an eyebrow.  "I guess that would make sense...  That would explain the magical little girl and all our past hardships on this journey so far..."

I frowned.  "Wait, maybe the outsider's not an outsider after all.  Maybe it's someone we've met before.  Like that little brat from earlier you mentioned."

---

???'s POV

Well, I'll be damned.  Those kids are beginning to realize something.  That's bad.

That could get in the way of my plans.

Author's Note: Long time no update!  Sorry, if you didn't notice by now, I've been on hiatus from all of my AFF stories.  I've been busy trying to get my first semester grades up, and I've been busy with applying to universities/colleges.  I think I'm alright now, in terms of time management skills (psh, yeah right), so expect another update within a month's time.  To all the people who've subscribed me since the beginning of this fic, thank you very much!  And to all the people who've subscribed while I was away, I-I don't usually update this slowly!  Thank you all anyways for staying subscribed~  And I hope you enjoyed this long-overdue update~