A week later

‘Are we really not going to stop him?’ Kai muttered to Suho, watching D.O tear the wall apart with his bare hands, punching through it to take the bricks out and throwing them over his shoulder.

‘Do you think you can stop him?’ Suho muttered back, wincing at D.O’s bloody fingers as he ceaselessly pummeled the wall, digging relentlessly to seek the portal again. It had vanished soon as D.O had regained his senses and despite keeping a constant lookout, they hadn’t been able to locate it again.

Kai shook his head, his eyes tearing a little but he blinked them away. All of them were going through an emotional turmoil, the news of Chen’s death still like a nightmare they hoped to wake up from but D.O was taking it the hardest.

No one blamed him either – Chen was his Shadow, the other part of his soul. Kai may have hated Luhan at some point during their battle for Mei’s affections but even then, had Luhan’s life been in danger, he would’ve done anything to save him.

And if his Shadow had been captured and put away somewhere, he would’ve torn the world apart until he’d found him. And if – and his heart gave a hard thud, unable to even take the thought of it – if someone had ended...

He couldn’t even complete the thought, the sudden urge to flash away and see his Shadow alive and well with his own eyes suddenly overwhelming. He bit his lip instead and pushed against the link, sighing with relief when Luhan replied immediately.

No wonder D.O was having a bat – add the fact that they hadn’t found Chen’s body and tearing up walls was tame. He’d vowed, his face drenched in blood and tears, that he wouldn’t sit back until he found his body and gave him a proper burial; no way in hell was he leaving it to be devoured by the creatures of the Abyss and they were backing him a hundred percent.

Sadly, the portal was still hidden and Evil had retreated, either too scared to face a pissed of D.O – for which Kai had to give him marks, that was a smart move – or he was planning something even bigger, in which case they needed to be on their toes.

Naturally, the safety of the pack came first and all of them were under strict orders not to use their powers until completely necessary. And other than D.O and whoever’s turn it was to accompany him, they didn’t venture out during the day. Night time shifts were even more rigorous than before as they practically turned the entire city inside out for any signs of their arch enemy.  

All of which did nothing to distract them from the reality which was becoming more and more certain each day that passed. D.O’s link with Chen was now nonexistent, something Kai still had trouble understanding. From what he’d been able to gather, D.O was now in possession of both the Beast power and the power of Lightening, which meant that he now had to contend with two beasts instead of one and it was making him more prone to violence and wild fits of frenzy than before.

Not that others were in any better condition. All of them were taking Chen’s death differently and evidently, some of them were coping better than the rest.

Sehun was taking it particularly hard but seeing as the cub had been particularly close to him, it wasn’t surprising. He – and Tao, for that matter – was on edge, coming into maturity as they were and he’d been already too reactive. He’d been alternating between crying and throwing angry tantrums and no one, except Luhan, had been able to get anywhere near him.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol weren’t much better, both still shell shocked and going around in a zombie like state that was so out of character for them, it was awful just watching them try to go on.

Lay, whom they’ll all expected to have the worst breakdown, was taking it much better, going around trying to soothe anyone he could get his hands on, even at the risk of being pummeled into the wall by D.O or blown off his feet by Sehun. Then again, he’d had time to prepare for this and damn, his crying sprees were making horrible sense.

Kai wasn’t sure how he was feeling, except a little too clingy when it came to Luhan – more than an hour without any sort of contact and he’d start to panic. Luhan, being the elder he was, was trying his best not to let others see his pain but Kai knew the guy was hurting as much as anyone else.

Kris was, like Suho, keeping his own emotions firmly at bay so they could try to keep the plan moving forward even as everything fell apart like a house of cards, folding in on itself.

But most surprisingly, it was Xiumin who became their rock for emotional support. The eldest was usually the most aloof among them – hell, he was the only one who’d had the desire to move to a separate house which was completely against pack instincts since they stuck together – and they all knew the guy was completely out of his comfort zone when it came to feelings.

But in this calamity, they were all glad to have his solid shoulders to lean on. He was warm and open and had it been under normal circumstances, they might’ve wondered if it was indeed their brother. As it was, he had been acting like the elder he was, not panicking or breaking down or giving into tears even though he had to be sad like the rest of them.

And he’d started taking care of the rest, so that Suho and Kris would be free to take practical steps without worrying about the pack’s emotional health. Even the elders went to him to let out their sorrows and Kai had seen Xiumin giving out hugs more than once and not only to the cubs.

In fact, he’d sought Xiumin out when he’d been down more than once himself and the elder had made sure Kai had completely unburdened his heart, cried his eyes out and finished his huge mug of frothy coffee before patting his shoulder and vowing – quite vocally, he might add and that was another surprise, the guy rarely talked without prompting – that they would avenge Chen.

Hearing him say that had been reassuring. They had to avenge Chen – Evil had already taken too much from them, their planet, their race and now he had taken their brother. There was no way they could forgive that kind of impeachment.

The frustrated growl from ahead made Kai snap out of his thoughts. D.O was staring at the empty space in front of him – the wall he’d broken down looked into the back room on some abandoned building – sightlessly. His breath rose and fell harshly and his eyes were wild, looking like a beast on the brink of attack.

He lifted his nose in the air and sniffed, then bared his teeth again, evidently frustrated. Turning on his heel, he stomped towards the mouth of the alley and started marching in the direction of the next one. Suho stared at the rubble in front of him and sighed. ‘We’ll get Luhan to fix this later.’

Nodding in agreement, Kai started hurrying after D.O.

……………………

Must find him, must find him, must find him…

The thought had gotten lodged into his head and was banging around, so loud it was hard to hear anything else over its clamor. All he could think about was that he had to find Chen’s body, had to locate where his brother was, had to see where he had failed.

Oh god, he had failed so badly! The urge to rip his hair was nearly overwhelming as he continued forward in his search and it was only because he was moving, doing something that kept him relatively sane. He hadn’t been that far gone even during the first fever and that had been bad.

Then again, there was still a chance of finding his mate even if it would take him time. With Chen…

His punch landed on the side wall, tunneling through it but he wasn’t aware. Dammit, why? Why did it have to be like this? They’d been right outside that ing portal and if they hadn’t waited to gather everyone else, if he hadn’t listened to the alpha and barged in like he’d wanted to, he would have – dammit, he would’ve saved him!

He stared sightlessly ahead of him, his mind still burning with that last parting thought his Shadow had left him – I’m sorry – because he’d known D.O was coming and he’d been unable to hold on despite his desire to do so? Or had it been because he knew just what his leaving would do to them?

The power that had slammed into him had knocked him unconscious. If he’d stayed upright… if he‘d managed to somehow bear the impact…

Suho had told him the portal had been open up until the time he’d regained consciousness. They would’ve found him, D.O was sure of it, if they’d stepped inside.

So many things he could’ve done and yet he had failed in each and every one of them. Tears suddenly blinded his eyes but he blinked them away impatiently – there was no time to be wasted. They had to find another portal, had to locate Evil and take back Chen’s body. He had to do this before he could get any form of peace in himself, before he could accept the second beast his brother had entrusted him with.

Lightening flashed as if in reminder of his vow, the ground thundered, rumbling and shaking in response and he plowed forward, looking for another portal, another possible hideout while ignoring the gnawing ache inside his heart.

There would be time for that later.

…………………...

A/N

Just in case you guys don't realize it, the next few chapters are gonna be super angsty and feely 

On a more positive note... if you can call it that, Evil will finally make an appearance so action coming up as well. 

Do comment and let me know what you guys think of this more serious tone of the story. 

Also, double update, yay :)