“Chen.” Sehun interrupted. “Can I talk to you?”

Chen looked down at Sehun before nodding his head. “I’m guessing you want to talk in private?” Sehun sighed before muttering a yes and motioning for Chen to follow. Before the two were gone, Sehun quickly turned around and called for Lay too.  The three stepped away from the campfire and into the dark plains. Sehun motioned for a gust of wind to surround and soundproof them and in a second, they were in the center of a wind vortex.

“I need to tell you guys something.” Sehun muttered.

“Well, no duh. That’s why you brought us out here.” Chen said.

“I know how to break the curse.” Sehun quickly uttered before looking down. “I was afraid to say so before, but since you, Chen, were wondering… I thought I should speak up.”

“Why am I here then.” Lay said, though super curious on how Sehun managed to figure it out.

“It deals with you.” Sehun whispered. “You’re the only way.”

 

⚀ ⚁ ⚂ ⚁ ⚀

 

Sehun, Chen and Lay slowly stepped back to the fire. “So…” Kris spoke. “What did you talk about?” They should’ve known nothing ever stays private in their group.

“We know how to break the curse.” Lay stated, staring right at Suho.

Suho shot his head up in surprise. “W-what? How?”

Sehun sat back down next to Luhan. “When I went to fetch Tao, Hani flashed a short image in my head. I didn’t understand at first, but now it all makes sense.”

“What is it? What has to happen?” Suho asked around, deathly curious.

“Suho…” Lay gently called. “You have to kill me.”

Suho looked up in shock, tears immediately b his eyes as he shook his head side to side. “W-what? N-no… this has to be a mistake…” Suho stuttered. “She was probably just fooling around with you, so we’d be even weaker.”

“Suho” Lay called. “It’s the only way, don’t worry. I’ll be okay.”

Suho gaped. “You’ll be okay? You’ll be dead is what you’ll be!” Suho yelled in frustration. “For weeks I have been trying to kill you guys unconsciously and now you want me to kill one of you, but know absolutely what I’m doing?”

“Not just somebody, Suho.” Chen said while rubbing Suho’s back in comfort. “Your bond.” At this, Suho completely broke. His sobs echoed throughout the quiet night. The air around the campfire was both sad and tense.

“Suho… Junmyeon.” Lay called the other by his historic name. “Take it.” Lay held out a sharp dagger.

“Where the hell did you even get that from?” Suho muttered, tears streaming down his face and voice cracking from his sobs.

“I’ve always learned to carry one with me.” Lay smiled before placing the sharp dagger in Suho’s hands. The rest of the legends sat in complete shock. They couldn’t comprehend what was actually happening right before their eyes. Chen and Sehun make momentary eye contact before looking away.

“N-noo…. No. I-I won’t d-do it.” Suho tried to throw away the dagger, but Lay held it firm. Slowly, a low growl started to come out of Suho’s throat.

“Suho.” Lay called with a bit of urgency. “Now, before you turn. It won’t work then.” Fur started growing all over Suho’s body as he continued to resist. Lay sighed before catching Suho’s lips in one last kiss before hugging Suho and driving the dagger into his own heart.

Lay looked into Suho’s eyes before falling to the ground limp.

A loud howl brought everyone out of their trance. Suho was in full wolf form and everyone immediately went on high alert, but Suho only knelt next to Lay and nuzzled his chest before howling some more.

“He did it…” Kyungsoo mumbled while looking at the tame wolf and Lay's lifeless body before latching onto Kai’s shirt.

“What do we do with the body?” Chanyeol nervously asked. “Cremate it?”

Suho quickly turned and growled while Chen and Sehun shot up and yelled a simultaneous “NO!”

Chanyeol quickly stepped back next to Baekhyun. “I was just wondering…”

Baekhyun reached up and patted the tall male’s head. “Care to explain what we are going to do then?” Baekhyun asked while still comforting the sensitive giant.

“Suho and Lay are lucky.” Sehun voiced.

Kai turned and stared at him. “How are they lucky? Suho just had to kill someone and Lay just had to die?”

“Kai, calm down.” Sehun calmly said, clearly showing how much he had matured since they first arrived back on Earth. “Suho feel in love with a healer.”

A look of realization slowly spread across everyone’s face. “Lay’s body automatically heals itself. Even after death. As long as there is oxygen or energy left, he can heal.” Chen explained. “Since Lay was in the equation, we were able to cheat the curse. That’s why they are lucky.”

Wolf Suho slowly trotted up to Sehun before looking up with watery eyes. “No, Suho, he’s not gone forever. He’ll be back.” Sehun quietly mumbled while ruffling his fur. “It might take a while though.”

“We can always carry him around. But for now, we need to get out last member back.” Kris interrupted. “I consider myself co-leader with Suho and right now since everything else is alright, we start searching for Xiumin.”

Chen visibly stiffened as he felt a chill run through his spine. His heart physically felt like it turned to ice before it warmed up again. “I-I think I have a lead on where he is.” Chen spoke up.

Kris smiled. “Let’s go then.”

 

⚀ ⚁ ⚂ ⚁ ⚀

 

With Chen's guidance, Kai transported them to the coast of an unknown place. The mysterious blue water slowly lapped against the white shore.

“Where the hell are we…” Tao muttered as he kicked the colorless grains of sand. Nobody answered Tao’s comment mainly because nobody knew the answer. “Kyungsoo, you can’t tell where we are?” Tao turned to the brown-haired male.

“No, it’s like it doesn’t exist. We’re standing on blankness.” Kyungsoo admitted.

“Same with the water.” Suho interjected. “It’s as if it’s never been traveled of known of before.”

“How the hell did Chen even lead us here?” Tao groaned, but Chen only ignored the younger’s comments.

“It’s there…” Chen whispered. “We need to sail the ocean.” He turned to face the other legends. “We need a boat.”

Both Chanyeol and Kyungsoo fidgeted at the thought of going on water, yet again. “Are you sure we need to?” Chanyeol pleaded. “Maybe we can like-“

“No.” Chen interrupted. “I feel like going by water is the only way.”

“How do we know if that’s true?” Chanyeol groaned, slowly turning into a mirror of the whining Tao.

Baekhyun placed a hand of Chanyeol’s back. “He already led us to this place, wherever this place is.” Baekhyun consoled. “If he didn’t feel something, I don’t think we’d ever be brought here.”

A strong gust of wind swept over the legends. ‘Find Xiumin in 3 days or he’s gone forever.’

Everyone immediately turned to Sehun and he put his hands up in defense. “I know I did something like that before, but that wasn’t me.” He defended. “Anyways, the voice was a girl.”

Tao widened his eyes. “It was Hani. I promise you it was.”

Sehun nodded in agreement. “She was the one who taught me how to do that.”

From the murky waters, a small, yet fancy yacht appeared. ‘My present for you.’ Hani sent in the wind.

“Come on, let’s go.” Chen said before wading into the water to get to the boat.

“No way!” Kyungsoo yelled before pulling Chen back. “That was sent by our enemy. The person who has been trying to kill and separate us! We aren’t supposed to just step onto it without wishing for our deaths!”

Chen turned back showing his pure agony in his eyes. He quickly regained his composure and looked at each one of them. “We have three days to find Xiumin, my soul mate, or he’s gone forever. This is our only chance and I can tell we are supposed to go this way.”

Reluctantly, the 10 of them (plus an incapacitated Lay) stepped onto the luxurious boat and Suho directed the boat to Chen’s willing. As they sailed, the waves got rougher and the wind got stronger. After hours, a light drizzle started to fall from the sky before turning into a full on thunderstorm. The waves tossed the boat and everyone clung on for dear life.

“CHEN!” Suho called over the raging winds. “WE HAVE TO TURN AROUND! IT’LL ONLY GET WORSE! I CAN FEEL IT!” Chen said nothing, but only shook his head as he looked at the horizon, ignoring the pelting rain on his face.

“WE NEED TO TURN BACK!” Sehun screamed, but his voice was muffled out by a loud crash of thunder. Everyone did everything in their power to keep the boat safe and every bolt of lightning that was aimed for the boat, Chen deflected without even thinking about it.

“We’re close… I know it.” Chen whispered as he leaned forward at the bow. The rain stopped. The wind retreated and the water turned eerily still. The only noise was the panting breaths of the legends and the gentle lapping of water against the hull.

“SUHO STOP!” Chen yelled, causing Suho to jolt the boat to a stop. The boat teetered at the egde of a waterfall, except that the whole ‘fall’ part of the water was frozen over. The ice slowly crept up the water and started to spread across the ocean.

“We got to get out of here.” Chanyeol muttered. “It’s going to freeze us over.” He quickly started melting away any ice the came closer that 3 feet to the boat.

Chen quickly looked back to his friends who were all preoccupied by the ice. He slowly stood at the bow before looking down at the foggy expanse of nothing at what seemed to be the base of the waterfall. Only he seemed to get it. Xiumin was frost. Xiumin was near. Chen closed his eyes before stepping off the boat and plummeting into the fog.

“Chen-“ Suho quickly turned around to get Chen’s opinion on what they should do, but he was gone. “Chen?”

Suho scrambled to the tip of the boat and looked over. “He’s not here…”

1. Go After Chen
2. Let Him Go