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Nicholas feels a biting impact, immediately followed by white burning sharpness that shoots up his left leg. It’s a different kind of pain; one that Nicholas has never quite felt before. In mere seconds it feels like he can’t breathe. The air is escaping from his lungs, aching whimpers billowing out from his entire chest as his body collapses into at least 1 meter (3+ feet) of snow. His limbs have gone limp, his entire form trembling down to his very bones. In his mind, Nicholas knows it feels cold. It’s far too frigid outside to be lying on the ground, but his brain can barely process that as a concern right now. He only knows that it hurts. The pain is still rippling, traveling up his thighs and into his hips. It’s too intense to ignore. Too unbearable to move.  

With gasping struggling breath, uncontrollable screams of agony still slipping past his lips, Nicholas curls together and looks down towards his leg. Nicholas can’t remember changing back, but he’s not in wolf form anymore.  Maybe it just happened on instinct? Like… holding his wolf form under the pressure of such intense pain was too much for his body to bear.
That’s not good. Nicholas knows that. He’s completely exposed, barren pale-white human skin entirely open to the weather. Along with everyone else that happens to be watching or walking by. Every inch of himself is now digging into the snow beneath. He can’t even move or hide himself to cover up. 

Somehow even more frightening than that, is the deep red pool of rapidly chilling blood that Nicholas sees collecting around his legs. Nicholas hands reach out towards it, his fingers uncontrollably trembling. 

There’s a shiny silver arrow sticking out from the back of his ankle. 

Nicholas doesn’t know what happened. He was just walking through the twilight, not bothering anybody. About 15 minutes ago he went on a short unexpected run because he thought the chilly air felt nice, at least it did while he was enveloped within the safe warmth of his wolf form. Nobody should’ve even known he was here. 

Nicholas’s shaking fingers barely brush against the carefully crafted metal, but that tiny wriggle of movement sends a bright hot rush of pain up his body. It’s paralyzing. The most pain he’s ever felt in his life. 

He can feel his own heartbeat halting, his lungs gasping in the weakest breaths he’s ever taken. Nicholas doesn’t know what to do. Somebody shot this. Somebody shot him with this, with silver, and now they’ve seen him changing back. They can probably see him lying here, completely vulnerable.
They’re hunters. There’s no other option that it can be. Hunters found him, and now he can’t move. Nicholas has never felt more utterly fucked in his life. It feels like any moment now some stranger is going to pop out from behind the treeline with a freshly loaded silver arrow. They’re going to shoot him again. He’s going to die in the middle of some random-ass snowy forest, in pain and alone.

Instinct drives Nicholas' chest, his mind completely overwhelmed and flooding with endorphins. He feels dizzy, like he might puke.
Before Nicholas can even notice that the sound is him, his throat is already howling. In a wretchedly piercing and wailing kind of way, the kind of terrified and tormented howl that Nicholas has only heard about in stories. He didn’t know that his human throat could actually make a sound like this. 

Nicholas just doesn’t want to die this way. He doesn’t want it to hurt. He doesn’t want to be alone. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time Nicholas is howling for the second time, spare for a couple wheezing gasps, his pack is already dashing through the trees. The 8 of them move as wolves in a single unit, blindly following the sound of their packmate in distress. As if the sound of his terror draws them in by itself; as if they don’t need to see to know where their going.
The closer they get the more they start to smell the stench of fresh blood. They move fast, looking at one another with pounding hearts. They can smell his earshattering fear. 

‘Everyone be careful. It’s Hunters’. Fuma is the one to tell the others, even though he doesn’t need to. Everyone could easily figure that much. They don’t know a single other thing on this planet that could make their Nicholas scream like that. 

Nicholas doesn’t have to howl a third time. His pack has already found him by then. The second the 8 reach the snowy clearing, they’ve already sensibly split apart without words. A well-oiled machine that’s running through a carefully practiced routine, even though that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Their actions don’t accurately portray the horror pulsing inside of their hearts. The 8 just know each other well. Their a family, so much so that they can trust their instincts to tell them what everyone else is going to do. 

Yudai and Fuma immediately rush into the center of the snowy clearing, bounding towards the crumbled up form a bloody human male with soft pink hair. The remaining 6 split into groups of 3. Eujoo, Maki, and Taki start circling through the inside ringlet surrounding the clearing. They’re keeping a careful eye on Nicholas’s condition, while also vengefully pursuing the hunter that did this to him. Yuma, Harua, and Jo span out farther to dash through the outside ringlet. Their eyes are all twinkling with sparkling gold.
The pack knows their strengths well. They know just how connected they are, with strong senses. If another arrow comes flying, the group will be able to track down the shooter within seconds. They’ll protect Nicholas. They won’t let anyone hurt him again. 

Fuma remains in his wolf form when directly beside the others, Yudai immediately changing so that he can sprint the last few steps and crumble into a frantic heap by Nicholas’s side. He’s not worried about anyone seeing him. Their pack has the hunters covered. 

Yudai kneels directly inside of the pool of bloody snow. His hands are already reaching out with a combination of worried and sympathetic tears welling up at the brim of his eyes. Nicholas is sobbing. His lungs are desperately gasping for his breath that refuses to come, his eyes looking directly into Yudai’s soul and pleading for help. Begging for his hyung to save him. To make the pain go away.
“It’s okay now- You’re going to be fine, I promise. Hyung will fix it.” Nicholas isn’t responding verbally, just looking. Just watching as he cries, and Yudai has never seen him so scared before. Still, the pack’s eldest forces himself to suck a long deep breath into his lungs. He’s screaching and weeping inside, loudly and desperately questioning how anybody could do this to one of his precious dongseang’s and still call themselves a person. Could even dare to say that it’s morally just? It all stays inside though, deeply buried away inside of a carefully guarded box.
He won’t allow himself to waver in person. There will be ample time for that later, after Nicholas is safe. Right now he needs them. 

Yudai pushes the tears away with impressive emotional control, trying to ignore the way quivers travel throughout Nicholas’s body as he analyzes the wound. Whoever did this to him has good aim. You don’t hit a spot this sensitive on a moving werewolf by accident. The shaft of the weapon is made from pure silver, so it’s safe to assume that the arrowhead is too. It must be at least 12 centimeters deep, piercing just to the right of the achilles tendon. It’s dug into muscle, and if Yudai remembers his anatomy correctly likely close to a pile of nerves too. 

Yudai’s sorrow is rapidly fueled away by a building fire of pure rage and hatred. Yudai hopes, for Hunter’s sake, that they’re running fast enough to avoid being caught. This was targeted. It’s the kind of carefully practiced shot that a well trained Hunter would make to cripple somebody. They do this to utterly incapacitate their prey, just before sending a shinily polished silver arrow directly through their heart. 

‘I know, I see it too. Just hurry.’ Yudai can sense Fuma’s words even without his wolf form. He can see the equally ignited wrath trickling down the large black wolf’s fur. 

Nicholas starts weakly hiccuping in oxygen, as if the pain is physically choking him. Yudai knows what might happen if they leave this. It won’t take long for the silver’s singing poison to start seeping through Nicholas’s muscles from the inside out, if it hasn’t already. If they don’t act fast Nicholas may never be able to walk again. 

Yudai reaches forward, his fingers close to wrapping around the arrows shaft before another blistering screech of words invites itself into his brain. 

‘Don’t pull it out.’

“Yah!” Yudai doesn’t need a voice to know that the words belong to Eujoo.
‘He’ll bleed to death. Please… please get him home hyung.’ Yudai can physically feel the sorrow deep inside of Eujoo’s soul, the guilt, and he can sense Eujoo’s world-rocking hurt and the terror as if it was own. It practically is. Yudai can feel his own heart breaking into hundreds of pieces. 

“I will. Of course I will, don’t worry.” Yudai speaks in a hushed tone, trying to silence the tears hiding within it. Eujoo isn’t close by, but he knows that their leader can hear him anyways. 

“H-hyyung…” For the first time since they got here, Nicholas actually speaks. Hearing him try hurts Yudai even more. His voice is cracking with every syllable. Every word sounds like it’s truly painful for him to utter; like it takes more energy and oxygen than he actually inside of him. 

Still Yudai responds to Nicholas’s attempt with a warm, loving gaze and a gentle smile. He takes a silent mental note of the sweat beading down Nicholas’s forehead, despite the younger’s skin being fully exposed to below-freezing temperatures. 

When Yudai replies it’s with a confident tone that it makes it sound like everything’s already okay. Like Nicholas is simply fighting a cold back at home, wrapped safely inside of his bed while half asleep. As if none of them ever left safety to begin with.
“Hi darling. You’re going to be fine. I’m gonna to lift you up as carefully as I can, but it might hurt for a minute.” 

“HyungI-I can’t-*gaasp*-... Mmy leg is on fire.” 

“I know-I know. We’re getting you home sweetheart. This’ll just be a moment." Before the sentence is complete Yudai is already pushing his hands deeply into the prickling snow, shoveling them lower until his arms are wrapping beneath Nicholas’s chest and knees. “On 3. 1.” Yudai’s heart has already stopped beating. “2.” He can hear Nicholas choking air down into his chest, sniffling heavy tears back inside of his skull. As if he’s trying to prepare himself for agony. “3.”

Just as he said he would, Yudai clenches his arms around Nicholas’s chilled skin and lifts. He can feel Nicholas’s muscles rigidly tighten together at the same time that he starts screaming. Thunderous, blood curdling, and murderous shrills. Yudai kept to his word, he was careful. Nicholas’s ankle hardly moves, rather the entire position of lower leg falls slightly as Yudai stands to his feet. It doesn’t matter. Even that miniscule fraction of motion is enough to send Nicholas' ailing body into turmoil, a piercing white hot blaze of pure agony scorching up his entire calf, traveling rapidly into his thigh and burrowing deep into his hip bones. It’s as if the lower half of his leg is telling his brain that it’s being actively chopped to bits with a machete. Nicholas actually wonders if that might be less painful. 

Yudai acts fast. Fuma helps by kneeling closer towards the ground, allowing Yudai easy access to the jet-black wolf's back as he gently starts placing Nicholas’s quivering body on top their sub-leaders' soft fur. Nicholas is already coughing, his throat physically choking itself on the force of his own screams. His eyelids are clenched together so tightly that Yudai worries they could bruise.
Yudai knows that Fuma’s running won’t be gentle, and Nicholas can’t hold on properly in this condition. He’s already struggling to cope with this amount of pressure. Once the younger is tentatively resting ontop of the other wolf’s back Yudai hesitates. His pressed-white fingertips are briefly rumbling with panic as his brain frantically compels itself to be clever. He has to make sure that their Nicho stays safe while Fuma is taking him home. He would never be able to forgive himself if Nicholas fell off somewhere in the forest, or the bouncing back and forth motions of Fuma’s rushing happened to dig the arrow even deeper into Nicholas’s ankle and made the injury worse.  

“I need branches, tree bark, and leaves. Strong ones.” Yudai doesn’t shout. He doesn’t need to. Less than 10 aching seconds pass by before their pack members are scrambling foreward, Taki, Jo and Harua all carrying hurried mouthfuls of shrubbery and tree pieces with them. Yudai nods his thanks, carefully pulling each and every last bit out from their packmates teeth. Yudai turns back to Nicholas, and the three of them have already returned to their circling positions inside of the treeline. A guarded, reliable, and mighty source of protection for the three that remain in the center.
It was obviously a rushed selection, but this should be more than enough material to create a very temporary support for Nicholas’s wounded leg. “I’m sorry, hyung needs to touch it for a quick second. Bear with me.” 

Yudai leans forward with two lengthy pieces of freshly torn tree branches in hands, expecting Nicholas to start howling again the very second that his fingers touch the stabilizing feathers on the back of the arrow. He can feel the singing of his own skin rapidly heating from the silver, but that ache is practically nothing. Yudai feels worse when all he receives from Nicholas is the sight of his dongseang biting his teeth harshly into the bottom of his lip, creating a small river of blood that starts flowing down his chin as he struggles to suppress the sobbing groan that is begging to be released. Nicholas is holding his breath. 

Yudai works as quickly as he can, using his right hand to very gently keep the arrow still inside Nicho’s leg stable as he places the two tree branches on either side of his ankle. The pieces are long enough to extend from the base of Nicholas’s knees to just a few centimeters past his heels. Yudai uses large handfuls of the leaves and marred shrubbery as a source of padding between the thick tree fragments and Nicholas’s icy skin, especially surrounding the area of the wound. Using his teeth as a makeshift third arm, Yudai then carefully chooses a few more flexible pieces of bark and secures the make-shift splint to Nicholas's ankle.
His handiwork is far from perfect. Yudai can practically see the heartbroken emotion that’s screaming to be let out within every piece of it, but that doesn’t matter right now. The only thing that he needs is for this to do absolutely anything to keep Nicholas’s ankle as still as possible while Fuma is moving. To keep it from bending and getting thrashed around by the rapid motions.

“Good job. Hyung’s done now.” Yudai can physically feel Nicholas’s relief as the words echo throughout the clearing, although he can’t visibly see any evidence of it. Nicholas’s muscles don’t relax at all, his mouth still dripping with a continually steady stream of crimson. His breath doesn’t seem to ever return to the same fractured pace that it clung to before.
As soon as he feels Yudai secure Nicholas’s position ontop his back, Fuma stands. Bright red snow clings to the fur along his belly. Yudai’s arms reluctantly fall to his sides, but his eyes never leave Nicholas' breathless expression. His dongseang’s skin still looks damp with persistent beads of sweat. 
“He’s near the center of your back okay. Go fast, but smooth. He could fall if you take the corners too sharply.”
‘Got it.’

“The arrow could still brush against your back a bit alright? Don’t be surprised if it burns a little.” Yudai sees the large wolf nod. Then, with a soft pat along Fuma’s hind legs Yudai sends the two rushing off into the treeline. He stands still in the clearing for just a minute, closely observing the small motions of Nicholas’s wounded leg as it rests on top of the bounding wolf’s back. He hopes he did enough.

Before Fuma and Nicholas are completely out of sight Yudai changes back, creating the image of a large crystal white wolf with golden glowing eyes trailing behind the other in a clear uniform line. Yudai can hear Eujoo and Taki’s footsteps to the left of them, the wolves remaining buried into the treeline just a few meters away. Jo and Harua are doing the same on the right. Their making sure Yudai, Nicholas, and Fuma stay safe. Keeping a watchful eye for any unwelcome visitors to ensure that their pack makes it back alone; that they don’t accidentally lead hostile Hunters directly to their home. 

Yudai is too anxious not to ask.

‘Did you find the shooter?’ The eldest can practically feel Eujoo’s sigh inside of his own chest. 

‘Maybe. We have a lead on 2 humans, an older male and a young girl, both of which took off to the North when we showed up. Maki and Yuma are tracking them down now; making sure they stay in the North.’
Yudai hates the reply he receives. It’s not at all that he disagrees with their leader's decision, or that doesn’t trust Maki and Yuma to take care of this on their own. He does. It’s only that Yudai's heart is utterly broken. He didn’t want to hear a ‘maybe’. Yudai is craving to hear a confident reassurance that Nicholas is going to be safe, that he’s never going to be in pain like this ever again, and that the people who did this to him are out of the equation completely. There’s a growing part of Yudai’s soul that’s hurt and incredibly angry. It wants them to feel the same kind of hurt that Nicholas is.  

Eujoo can understand those sentiments without words. He can see it in Yudai’s movements. In the rigid intensity that’s practically buzzing through their eldest’s veins. In the way that he both trusts Fuma, and also never peels his eyes away from Nicholas as they continue running. 

‘It’ll be them hyung. It has to be. We checked a 7+ kilometer radius. They were the only people even remotely close to that clearing.’ Eujoo’s smart. Yudai knows there’s a good chance that he’s right. Their pack might’ve found the Hunters, and now they’ve sent Maki and Yuma after them alone.
It won’t be enough. These hunters are smart. They knew exactly what they were doing when they shot Nicholas, and they planned for this. The Hunters won’t be able to follow them, but they will be able to get away with it. Their Nicho is in immense pain right now. He’s crying. He’s suffering, and those two will get to walk back home and shoot someone else next week.
That’s not justice. It hardly feels like something to be satisfied with. 

‘How was Nicholas?’ Jo’s probably asking just to get Yudai’s mind off the subject. To keep him focused on what truly matters right now, their family. 

‘...Not good. I’m worried.’
‘We need to move fast when we get to the den. No freezing up.’  Eujoo hasn’t given such a commanding stance for anything in a long time. That alone is enough to get the entire pack’s blood pumping faster. It makes their pawed footsteps speed up, their heavy hearts pounding in perfect synchronicity. 

The group sees the familiar shambled aging walls of a cabin come into view a few minutes later, although it feels like years have passed since they left. Just as they all quietly agreed upon, nobody wastes any time reminiscing. The moment they feel the giving creek of decades old wood against their feet Yudai, Eujoo, Haura, and Taki are all changing back. Jo remains in wolf form to take one final lap around the surrounding area, making sure that every last possibility had been triple checked and accounted for.
Eujoo is the first to step towards the sobbing, still bleeding human boy ontop of the large jet-black wolf near the cabin’s front entrance. Yudai falls in line closely behind, carefully watching over every single movement. 

The very first thing that Yudai notices makes his pummelled and shattering heart start to crumble to dust inside his chest. Nicholas’s body isn’t quivering like it used to be. Throughout their brief travels his dongseang's breathing patterns have remained staggeringly lopsided, with an unwavering cascade of swollen salty tears pouring past his marred and reddening cheeks. Nicholas noticeably flinches as Eujoo gently drops his fingertips down, lightly brushing them against the skin along his calf. His nose scrunches together, his mind already starting to prepare itself for the anticipated pain of being moved once again. The moment that Eujoo makes solid contact with Nicho’s skin, their leader's eyes instinctively dart towards Yudai’s. Their leader’s look says more than his words ever could.  

It tells Yudai that Nicholas is still mostly exposed to the elements; that their packmate's skin is still mind-numbingly frigid to touch. Yudai remembers how it felt to touch Nicholas as they were leaving the clearing. 

He’s far too cold to not be trembling like a leaf. 

“Hi Nicho. We’re going to take you inside and get this thing out okay?” Nicholas replies with an excruciatingly aching exhale, his voice coming through in whines and crackling as he does so. Eujoo’s brows furrow tightly. Yudai gets it. He can feel the burdening pain inside of that exclamation too.
“We’re going to be extra careful okay? It’ll be over before you know it.” Yudai can only imagine how difficult that must be for Nicholas to believe at the moment. He can only pray that it's the truth.

As both Eujoo and Yudai’s grasp begins to reach out, they hesitate for a brief moment. Yudai’s options felt incredibly limited back at the clearing. Now, with better access it’s up for the two of them to decide what the safest and least painful way to take Nicholas inside will be. They don’t have much time to idly contemplate. 

“Do you feel comfortable taking Nicho’s legs hyung? I’ll help carry the other side.”
“Yes.” Yudai feels so grateful for Eujoo's decisiveness as their leader carefully slides over with a nod, Yudai moving into position beside Fuma’s back legs. For a very brief millisecond of time, Yudai’s been given an unexpected chance to take a more detailed look at his handiwork. He can tell that a couple of the leaves and more flexible branches have been tussled during their frantic run back. The securement that he placed just several centimeters below the arrow has shifted slightly lower than before. The very top of the ‘split’, at the base of Nicholas’s knee, is now making slight contact with the skin. Overall, it’s held together about as well as can be expected for something he hurriedly threw together by himself with half-a-thought and a maximum of 2 minutes. “We’ll lift you on the count of three Nicholas.” Having some amount of warning seemed to at least minorly help Nicholas bare with the transition before. With that in mind, Yudai speaks up the moment that Eujoo is able to squeeze his hands beneath Nicholas’s shoulders. Eujoo nods along, eager to follow anything that their hyung thinks is the right thing to do. “One.”
Yudai is picturing how this same thing went less than 10 minutes in his head. He’s hearing his donseang’s heart wrenching screams play back to him like a record. His heart is pounding more this time that it did before. 

“Two.” Eujoo seems like an  unusually picturesque image of put-together across from him. He speaks far more easily, much more assured. It makes Yudai feel jealous, even if they both know he’s simply trying to be strong as the pack’s leader. 

“Three.” The two raise Nicholas’s body with perfect synchronicity, Yudai having at least one hand carefully placed beneath his dongseang’s wounded leg to provide more direct support. Nicholas’s breath shutters inward as they say the final number. He holds it tightly inside of his chest, as if that will help keep his pain at bay. They can hear his whimpers and moans, along with the gasps and sniffles of Nicholas trying desperately to hold himself together.
He doesn’t scream like he did last time, but for some reason that might make Yudai feel worse. 

This plan feels moderately more effective for everyone, Nicholas included, but they have a much longer distance to cover this time around. As soon as Fuma can feel that the steady weight on his back has fully lifted he starts to change back, doing so just in time to scramble towards the front door and yank it open for the other three. Fuma’s body is turned to the side, his eyes scanning the surrounding area for Jo as his foot and hand hold the door as far back as it can go. Yudai catches a glimpse of Fuma’s skin as they walk past. The center of their sub-leader’s back, and maybe certain parts of his stomach as well, are neatly spotted with deep crimson red bubbles. With Nicholas’s blood, just like the snow had been. 

Yudai can feel the temperature difference hit him as soon as they get inside, the dank cabin’s walls finally providing them with some actual protection against the chilly air. It feels warmer in here than it should be. Yudai’s head grows confused at the same time that he realizes Eujoo is leading them somewhere, as if he knows exactly where they need to go.
As soon as they arrived home, Yudai's sole point of attention became Nicholas. It became checking on his condition, his progress, how Eujoo plans will proceed from here, and how their injured packmate managed to hold up during their travels. Yudai’s stomach feels sick because his dongseang is hurt, but also because somehow he’s forgotten about everybody else. About the other 6 members of their pack, all also his precious dongseang’s who love Nicho just as much. They’ve been doing everything they can on their own while he was fretting. 

While Jo checked the area directly surrounding their home for unwelcome visitors (as well as watching out for Maki and Yuma’s return), Taki and Harua both rushed inside to get their house prepared. Or at least, as prepared as anyone could be using what they happened to have lying around. Their actions were well-coordinated just as much as they were considerate. From the corner of his eye Yudai can see that someone has gotten the fireplace started while they were figuring things out. They also apparently prepared the packs’ dining room to be a makeshift treatment center, with their table being selected as the haphazardly chosen bed.
Eujoo takes them over right away as if he was planning for this, Nicholas still carefully enveloped within his grasp as his breath shutters. 

Personally Yudai is equally as surprised as he is impressed when he sees a collection of plushy couch cushions strewn out on their dining room table, with what looks to be a freshly opened and brand new white sheet thrown ontop. Harua is standing nearby with misery-inducing anxiety painted across his entire face. He also has a first aid kit clutched tightly within his hands. 

“Taki and I didn’t want anyone’s bed or comfortable spaces to get ruined because of this so…- I hope this will work for now! Taki’s getting warm clothes and blankets together for everyone.” Harua is responsive, even if the tone of his voice sounds just as unsettled as he looks. Nicholas distinctly groans out in pain as Eujoo and Yudai come to a sudden halt beside the table, a pointed rush of fiery hot pain scorching through his bones as Yudai’s award-winning stamina threatens to fail him. Yudai seriously thinks that he might throw up. 

“This is all great. Thanks Harua.” Eujoo’s words sound like a gentle hat on the head would feel. Yudai can see a small smile crawl across Harua’s lips when he hears them. “We’re going to put you down now Nicho.”
Nicholas mumbles something in Mandarine as he moans, the others seemingly to gather some sort of perceived sense of relief from it. Yudai can see it through the tension in their muscles, along with the way Eujoo’s grip seems to hold on ever so slightly while they start jointly raising Nicholas towards the covered pile of cushions. 

Yudai can’t reciprocate similar feelings. The moment that tiny peak of Mandarin slips past Nicholas’s tongue, Yudai can only start to imagine how exhausted and addled his dongseang’s head must feel. It’s been ages since Nicholas last slipped up without recognizing it. Today he’s gone through so much agony in such a short amount of time, and at least some part of him must know that it’s not even close to being over yet.
Yudai can only seem to visualize what that must feel like as he hoists Nicholas ontop of the table, Fuma already beside them to carefully position a small cushion beneath Nicholas’s wounded leg. Yudai doesn’t know when their sub-leader even left the doorframe. He hasn’t seen anyone move significantly since they got inside. Yudai did see that there’s now thick clots of blood starting to form around the silver arrow sticking out from Nicholas’s leg. Clots that will undoubtedly get ripped apart when the arrow is removed. His dongseang’s skin is sticky with dripping sweat. His body is reacting like it’s hot, despite the fact that most of his skin is physically chilly to hold.

With Fuma’s assistance, Nicholas is cautiously lowered onto the table. As soon as their packmate looks stable and secure Yudai looks up, keenly waiting for a nod of approval from Eujoo before they slowly release Nicholas from their hands entirely. Nicholas immediately breathes out a heaving breath, one that brings with it choking and sniffles. His body seems to settle cruelly into the plushy cushions, his fingertips instinctively curling into the white sheets directly beneath him. Yudai can see the base of his dongseang’s fingernails pressing white. 

“Does this feel comfortable Nicho? As much as it can at least….” Eujoo’s words somehow seem to perfectly tread a thin balance between sounding normal and caring, while simultaneously acknowledging the situation and Nicholas’s suffering. 

A short moment passes by before Nicholas manages to utter a muffle of ‘mmm’ sounds that might sound somewhat similar to an affirmation. Yudai is still watching struggling tears drip steadily past his crackling lips. The thought crosses his mind that his dongseangs eyes and throat are going to feel sore after crying for this long. 

To the left of them Harua has moved to a nearby countertop, starting to establish a procedural set up of medical equipment as he takes time to open and organize each different product from the first aid kit. Fuma is temporarily focusing on surveying the state of Nicholas’s leg, taking advantage of his first true opportunity to personally assess the damage. After hearing Nicholas’s response Eujoo is rubbing a few brief, but unbelievably important, soft circles into the chilly skin on Nicholas’s shoulders. He hangs there for a few moments before walking around the table to join Fuma and Yudai.
Yudai doesn’t take note of any of it. He only looks at Nicholas, trying to see how he is, trying to gauge how much pain he’s in at this very moment. His head almost instinctually goes back to the clearing. To when he first noticed that Nicholas was sweating and the sinking feeling that’s since instilled inside of his heart. His mind rushes through what little pieces he can still remember about his distraught yet determined examination of Nicholas’s injury. Their Nicho must’ve left a sizable amount of blood behind in that snow. He can’t help but to wonder if the pack will still be able to see traces of what happened today the next time that they return to that place?
He also wonders if Yuma and Maki are having any luck with finding the Hunters that caused this?

“Taki, good timing.” Fuma’s voice snaps Yudai’s mind back to the present, although his body doesn’t necessarily follow. Their pack’s sub-leader sounds just as calm or collected as Eujoo does, with only a slightly more pointed and determined hint in his tone. “Can you and Yudai hyung help get Nicho covered up?”
“Eh,” Yudai’s eyes flutter briefly, his brain putting an expected amount of effort into forcing his body back towards what’s actually happening around him. He now remembers Eujoo expliciting saying that their isn’t any time for freezing up. They need to be on top of this. Nicholas needs his pack’s help; needs them to take care of him and keep him warm whilst he’s struggling. “Of course.” 

Yudai physically shakes his head back and forth, trying to sway the clouds out through his ears. Taki is standing right in front of him with a fuzzy blanket stretching out, a nervous furrow in between his eyebrows. Yudai’s not sure exactly how long he’s been there, but he does notice that their younger’s nerves don’t necessarily seem directed towards Nicholas. 

“Thanks Taki.” Yudai forces himself to smile as he steps away from the end of the table. His legs physically tremble as he walks. It feels odd to not be directly tending to Nicho’s injury, although he’s starting to understand why Fuma asked him to move away. He doesn’t want that to show as he takes the incredibly soft, gray blanket from Taki’s hands though. He wants to look confident, assured, and calm. Just like their leaders do. “You’ve done well. Nicho will like this.” 

“Thanks…” Taki’s words sound somewhat light, but his body language doesn’t reciprocate that. He opens his mouth as if he's going to say something else, but turns around before he has the chance to. Yudai finally notices that less than a meter away from them sitting a new large pile of sweatshirts, sweatpants, and blankets.  Anything and everything fuzzy and warm that Taki could find around the house. It's a pile that will slowly start to diminish over the course of the next few minutes, as everyone grabs a little bit of something whenever they get the chance. Taki’s been working hard, while Yudai hasn’t done much other than look and think.
While his back is turned away Taki’s voice finally pipes up. Like it was easier for him to speak when he’s not looking directly at Yudai’s face. “Are you okay hyung?” 

“Hmm?” Yudai has started stepping up towards the front half of the table, but stops for a second as his brain tries to process Taki’s question. “Of course I am. Why do you ask?” 
“You just look a little… distant, and pale. That’s all.” Does he? Yudai didn’t mean to be.

Just as Eujoo had said though, their no time for him to stand there and ponder about it. Yudai is quickly reminded of that when Taki drops the subject in favor of grabbing a sweatshirt and rushing towards the other side of the table. Yudai tries to take a deep breath in through his lungs, and then finishes approaching the table. Approaching Nicholas, whose skin is damp from chills and even more ghostly pale than Yudai’s might be. His eyes look hazy, with some sort of cloudy hopelessness lazily tossed into the mix by someone cruel. 

“Hi hyung. Can I lift your arms up a little bit?” Taki is already doing so before he’s even finishes asking. Yudai watches for longer than he should, seeing Taki be so delicate with his hyung as he starts to maneuver a thick army green hoodie over his arms. Right now, he looks so different from the little awkward 14-year-old that Yudai first met. 

“Hyung,” Taki looks up at him with a wide-eyed expression, catching Yudai directly in the act as he does nothing. Very hastily he starts to toss the gray fabric over the bottom half of Nicholas’s skin, covering him up just until the top of his knees. Yudai doesn’t cover anything past that point, aware that whatever he did blanket would only get recovered with blood once the arrow is removed. “Will you help me lift Nicho hyung’s chest?” 

“Of course.” Yudai finishes positioning the blanket around Nicholas’s hips, tucking the soft fabric in at the sides like a human-burrito. He hopes this warmth will help his dongesang’s skin feel a little more human again. As soon as he’s satisfied he transfers up towards Taki, diligently helping with anything the younger needs as they start to protect and warm the skin around Nicho’s arms and chest. 

Unconsciously, Yudai’s hands drop down and mimic the motions Eujoo had made earlier. Gentle slow circles at the front of Nicholas’s shoulders, a comfortable rubbing motion that doesn’t go unnoticed by Taki or their packmates surrounding him. 

Just beneath them, Yudai can hear Eujoo, Fuma, and Haura start to chat with other as they remove the hastity made split and rush to start treating Nicholas’s injury.  

“Okay, let’s see what we're dealing with here huh?”
“Our poor Nicho… they really got you good didn’t they?” Yudai doesn’t understand how it’s possible, but Fuma’s voice still comes across as deceivingly lighthearted and pure. It doesn’t match the gravity of the serious injury that Yudai thinks he remembers seeing earlier.
Nicholas is still raised ever so slightly within Yudai’s hands, as Taki carefully wiggles the sweatshirt over their packmate’s head and chest. Yudai can feel how intentionally Nicholas is listening. He’s clinging onto every single word that he hears, and the muscles in his back start to physically relax as Fuma speaks with the same safe and overly comfortable tone. One that makes Nicholas instinctively feel like everything will be okay again, regardless of how perilous the sub-leaders' words actually are. “We're gonna need to make very detailed and slow movements when we’re removing this. There’s probably at least 1, if not 2 nerves pretty damn close to where that arrowhead landed. You’re honestly being a total badass about this Nicholas. Literally anyone else would probably be screaming and sobbing like a little baby.”

Those words don’t settle well with Yudai. They only make him think about how Nicholas has been sobbing. He hasn’t stopped crying since it happened (because who wouldn’t be?), and he was shrieking so resonantly back in the clearing. Yudai won’t ever be able to forget that part of this. Nicholas’s reactions now strike Yudai as seeming to be too slow, more beaten down and exhausted than anything else. Like he’s losing the spare energy to scream.

“Harua-shi, do you happen to have any gloves over there? I don’t want our hands to be getting burnt by the silver while we’re doing this.” 

“Yeah, there’s some latex gloves here. They’ll be sterile too.” Harua responds to Eujoo with as much urgent precision as the space around him is set-up with. If Yudai didn’t know Haura already, he would believe that the younger is a well-practiced nurse given the current state of the first aid kit. Less than a second goes by before Harua is already delivering 1 set of crystal blue latex gloves to Eujoo and then returning back to his station with militaristic diligence. He knows how important his role in this scenario is, despite it potentially seeming small in comparison. 

Taki seems to have a similar understanding. It’s just putting a sweatshirt on someone, but he’s still being picky about it long after the fabric has been put in place. He’s been fussing over the fit and bagginess of the clothing item since they finished putting it on, wanting to make sure that this 1 item is providing as much warmth and security as it possibly can. He knows that this means something to Nicholas. That being covered and warm is just as valuable as being safe is.  

Yudai feels stuck. It’s useless to just keep tumbling his fingertips around a blanket, but he feels like he’d only get in the way of Eujoo and Fuma synchronicity. They give off the impression that they have their ducks in a row. He’s not sure where exactly Jo is anymore, but he’s not willing to part with Nicholas for long enough to find out. Yudai struggles to see the meaning of it, but right now he’s just hovering behind Nicholas’s shoulders. He’s not sure what else his role is. He’s pressing the warm fabric deeper into his dongesang’s skin, wiping away his tears as they fall, and trying to rub his palms against the open parts of skin. Yudai thinks that he’s mainly doing it for himself. 

Eujoo is different. Personally, he feels like can see that those actions are comforting to Nicholas. The physical touch is relaxing to him, and to Eujoo staying loose and as calm as he possibly can be is of the absolutely biggest importance to Nicholas’s continued health and safety during this. Even more so than anything the rest of the pack could possibly be doing. His brain needs to be fully focused on the serious ‘operation’ that he’s about to do right now. There’s no opportunity to share this with Yudai yet, but he  does take a mental note to make sure Yudai knows how grateful he is once everything has settled. 

“We don’t have much in terms of pain management…” Harua speaks up on instinct, his eyes surveying all of their available options as he thinks of the impending agony that’s about to happen when Eujoo and Fuma yank the arrow out of Nicholas’s leg. “Just some over-the-counter pills, N-SAIDs or Acetaminophen, and Maki’s migraine medication.”
“The migraine medication might come in handy after this whole thing is over.” Fuma smiles so genuinely, his wide grin nearing a legitimate laugh as Yudai stands back and watches in pure astoundment. His pack is so much stronger than he is. 

“If Nicholas is able to stomach it, he should take a dose of our acetaminophen for now. It might take the edge off a little bit. He can combine that with the NSAID later, when there’s no longer a bleeding risk. We’ll get him some stronger medication first thing tomorrow morning if needs it.” As always, Eujoo’s words are smart. Yudai knows better than anyone. It would be dangerous to give Nicholas a blood thinner, knowing that he’s already lost more than anyone would be comfortable with. 

Before Yudai can twitch his pinky finger Hurua is already right beside them, 2 white pills and a small glass of water in hand. He stands patiently for several seconds, as if he’s waiting to see a sign that Nicholas is conscious enough to take this. Yudai already knows that he is. He’s been listening to everything. His body has clearly been reacting to it, but he’s in probably too much pain to do much without assistance. 

“I’ll lift you up a bit Nicho. Just open your mouth and swallow sweetie.” Nicholas pushes out an intense gasp of breath, wincing as Yudai repeats the same gentle rising motions that he did earlier. Yudai can’t describe how much it hurts his heart to hear that. It makes him feel like he’s the one hurting Nicholas. Like that wince of pain was all his fault. 

Nicholas is strong though. As soon as he’s somewhat close to a raised position, he does exactly as Yudai said. Taki rushes over to lift the glass of water to Nicholas’s lips, Harua putting both little white pills on his tongue and watching as he they slide down his throat. Nicholas is already gasping again, a small whimper escaping as soon as he’s finished. 

“Sorry Nicho, I’m lowering you back now.” Yudai moves swiftly, fully convinced he’s hurting Nicholas. Those sentiments only feel further confirmed by the sound of Nicholas groaning as he once again settles into the cushions. 

“Don’t apologize hyung. You didn’t do anything wrong.” Taki worries that his words will feel out of place or overbearing, but he still wants them to be heard anyways. He knows inside his heart that Nicholas would be saying the same if their positions were switched. 

On the opposite end of the table, Fuma and Eujoo have ‘game-planned’ as much as they possibly could have. Wordlessly, they have mutually come to the decision that Eujoo should be the one to pull out the arrow. His hands are the steadiest. Fuma will be staying close by to provide some guidance, as well as to be prepared to pack the deep wound with gauze as soon as the offending weapon is out of the picture. Their priority will be to halt what they anticipate to be a fairly hefty amount of bleeding given the injuries location. Harua has already left Taki and Yudai to put down the water and take care of Nicholas. He’s readily observed everything, and supplied what should be more than enough sterile gauze to get the job completed well. 

“I wish we could wait a little longer for that medicine to kick-in Nicho, but I think we need to get this silver out quicker than that.”
Nicholas replies to Eujoo in more painfully slurred Mandarin, this time with a short phrase that Yudai actually recognizes.  

“Bié shuō le.” An oddly chummy term that Nicholas has only used sparingly with Eujoo until this point. Yudai is honestly surprised that he remembers it.

Eujoo smiles at the familiar words, giggling with pale blue gloved hands outstretched. The latex is fitting tightly around his wrists, the gloves included in the first aid kit seeming to be at least one size too small to fit his hands comfortably. 

“Message received. I’ll make this as smooth as I can but… it’s probably still going to hurt like hell.” Yudai is mentally preparing himself just as heavily as Nicholas is. He goes back to Nicholas screaming in pain at the center of clearing, to how powerless Yudai felt at that moment. This will probably feel at least 3x’s worse for both of them won’t it?

Taki has seemingly decided to respectfully check out of this part of this experience. Yudai doesn’t blame him. He would likely do the same if were physically able to peel his eyes away from the unfolding disaster. He’s proud of Taki, and he doesn’t want their sweet and funny mood maker to be scarred by something like this. So Yudai doesn’t say a word when Taki starts conveniently making complaints, just as Eujoo inhales a deep breath and starts lowering his palm towards the offending object. He leaves the dining room under the guise of wanting to find Jo and get Nicholas’s bed comfortable for him to rest in after this whole ordeal is finally finished. Yudai only hopes that they both walk far enough away to not hear what might happen in the next 10-15 minutes. 

Nicholas himself hardly could blame Taki either. He’s always been too kind for that, and likely would never blame anybody for wanting to leave right now. Yudai can see that he’s already struggling not to hold his breath. He seems to be leaning into the feeling of Yudai’s palms massaging into the tops shoulder blades, his heartbeat racing and flooding his system with adrenaline. Nicholas is trying to focus on the sensations of Yudai behind him, on the small whining whimpers that he’s not sure his hyung even knows that he’s making.
It’s better than silently begging a world that isn’t listening to him to please let this end torment already. He’s never felt such pure white hot agony like this before now. He hopes he never will again. Passing out would be a kinder fate than this, but succumbing to that urge would also mean frightening his packmates even more than he already has. Nicholas doesn’t want to be the kind of family that puts their hearts through that again.
So no matter how desperately he doesn’t want to, Nicholas lets himself gasp and cry as he forces his mind to pay attention to the feeling of Yudai’s warm fingertips sliding against his cheeks. His eldest hyung diligently swipes off the salt from his skin time and time again, no matter how many times Nicholas makes that effort fruitless. He can’t even feel any change in pressure as Eujoo wraps his covered fingers around the base of the arrow. Only the fiery anguish of his lower leg burning itself to ash from the inside out, shooting intense force all the way throughout his muscles, up his thighs, and into his hips. It feels like he’s being lit on fire, melting, and getting electrocuted all at once. Just slightly lower than that Nicholas can feel a numb tingling sensation radiating around his ankle and toes, but at this exact moment his emotionally exhausted and delirious mind is lying to itself. It’s trying to tell him that’s being numb is a relief, that it’s somehow better than the torture of being in constant pain. Even if in the long run he’ll regret every daring to think about it. 

“Good Eujoo, now start pulling back slowly in a straight line. If you feel any sort of resistance stop.” Eujoo nods, taking another long deep breath and rehearsing over Fuma’s words once again. He then starts purposefully pulling backwards on the hilt of the arrow. 

Nicholas screams, a burst of murderous agony that’s horrendlessly similar to what happened back in the clearing. Yudai immediately goes back to that moment. His own fingers start quivering, his mouth uncontrollably salivating and his throat gagging as he hurriedly leans to the side. He thinks he might see Harua rush over to try and take him out of the dining room, but the younger quickly realizes it’s useless after a few seconds pass. Yudai is refusing to leave. He won’t, not while his dongeang is still screaming. He would rather clean his own throw up off the floor later than ever leave Nicholas all alone again. 

Eujoo pulls at a steady pace, gradually bringing the arrow closer to the surface. Nicholas screams and sobs, harshly begging for Eujoo to stop in a mix of Mandarin and choppy Japanese. Yudai can feel bile rising from his stomach and up his esophagus, because the more that Eujoo pulls the more that Yudai can hear the poison like silver sizzling. Their listening to Nicholas’s muscles basically cook from the burning effects of the silver, and inside he’s desperately praying that Nicholas is far too delirious to hear that sound for himself. 

“You’re doing so good Nicho. So good, just a little bit further.” For the first time since they arrived here, Fuma’s gentle tone is far from enough to placate the situation. Eujoo has to stop pulling on the arrow for the first time about halfway through the process of removing it, because Nicholas suddenly stops screaming. He goes from being noisy and ear-shatteringly desperate, to holding his breath and staying mostly quiet within a single second. It’s such a stark contrast that both Eujoo and Fuma immediately freeze, worried that the arrow has gone slightly off course and is nicking against a nerve. “Come on Nicho, we’ve come so far. It’s almost out. Just stay strong for a little bit longer?”
“I didn’t feel any extra resistance… Let’s let go, reposition, and try to start again.” Eujoo does exactly that, as swiftly as any true doctor could’ve managed. He does what little he can without any equipment to observe the arrow in its current position, and then regrips the silver shaft closer to the base where more of the arrow has been exposed. There’s a thin layer of blood coating it. With a slowly drawing breath, and a few directing words from Fuma, Eujoo starts to pull up again. 

Yudai forces himself to swallow the sickness down, lurching his head up to look over Nicholas. Unconsciously, Yudai’s hands are still massaging into his dongseang’s cheeks and neck; the still exposed parts of his skin. Nicholas looks completely delirious. His eyes have a distinct, far away look to them. His breath hardly managing through miniscule hazard and shallow motions. Everything seems… slow. Even the way that his tears are falling. His body is finally starting to shake again, but something tells Yudai that it doesn't have anything to do with Nicho’s body temperature finally starting to rise. 

“He’s okay hyung, they’ve almost got it out now.” Yudai finds it hard for him to listen. He knows Harua is only trying to help, but how could he say something like that? What about any of this looks ‘okay’? “If you breathe, I bet Nicho hyung will breathe with you.” 

Yudai doubts it, but what else is he supposed to do in this situation? 

“Almost there.” Eujoo is only a few centimeters from the skin now. The arrowhead should be far enough away from delicate nerves and muscle to tug a little quicker. 

The sheer metal slices through flesh like it's butter. It’s almost disturbing how easy it is to pull through, until suddenly Eujoo is holding a fully intact silver arrow, shining with dripping deep red crimson. 

Yudai gets one glimpse, and Harua can barely get a bag in position fast enough before the insides of his eldest hyung’s stomach are spilling into it.  

Fuma hears what's happening, but he doesn’t have the opportunity to be involved. Blood is already starting to spill from the now open wound, Fuma quickly taking wads of the sterile gauze and packing into the deep puncture. The arrow was so sharp. With plenty of fabric present to slow the blending internally as well, Fuma keeps his hands pressed firmly onto Nicholas’s leg, trying to create as much pressure as possible. 

“There we go. Let’s torch this horrible thing when you're feeling better huh? A little healthily destructive therapy.” Eujoo holds the arrow up closer to the light for a brief moment, ogling at just how much damage can be done by such a simple contraption. Upon a close analysis, it looks like this must have been homemade. 

“I’ll take it off your hands in just a minute okay? As soon as Yudai hyung feels decent.” Yudai’s breaths come through heavily, his head attempting to nod an affirmation to his dongseang. He wants to tell Harua that he’s fine, even as more gags are still trying to climb up his esophagus. 

“It’s okay. Just try to relax, both of you. He’s made it through the hardest part now.”Eujoo’s tone sounds so bouncy and hopeful as he continues. “All that's left is a little bit of cleaning, and we’ll get you all bandaged up and ready to go Nicho. You’ll be feeling so much better before you even know it”. Yudai can only pray that the sentiment will ring true. 

As Nicholas’s haze of delirium begins to fade in miniscule fashion, he has a lot less doubt souring throughout his head. He feels lightheaded, and listening to the sounds of Yudai puking just behind his head are making him feel incredibly nauseous. For the first time since he was shot though, for just a brief flash of a moment, the flaming pains have stopped. The ache inside his flesh feels somewhat tolerable, and whatever Fuma happens to be doing to him now feels absolutely nowhere near as miserable as melting from the inside out did. Nicholas dared to think that he may yet be able to legitimately take in a full breath somewhere in his future. Leave it to his pack to create what only a few minutes ago felt entirely impossible. He should’ve known that Eujoo, Fuma, Yudai and all the others could fix it. 

Then his fuzzy, exhaustion filled brain processes the word ‘cleaning’ about a minute and half too late, and all that relief flies right out the window again. Nicholas is quickly rethinking his desire to stay conscious, to not pass out on his packmates. If he’s going to, maybe he should throw in the towel now before whatever ‘cleaning’ it means. 

“Good news, the bleeding looks like it’s slowing down pretty quickly. Nicho will survive to see another day after all.” Surviving is great, but Nicholas is still wondering if any of that survival will entail not feeling utterly miserable sometime in the near future?
Yudai finally is able to sit up completely, Harua rubbing gentle circles at the base of his lower back as he takes in a full deep breath for the first time in far too long. Now that his mouth tastes disgusting, Yudai feels incredibly dramatic. Unfortunately there’s no way that his current hindsight, or Eujoo and Fuma’s calm and overly content voices, will be able to stop him from hearing the sound of their Nicho screaming and pleading in his dreams tonight. 

“How you holding up hyung?” Yudai nods and gives Eujoo a thumbs up, taking in yet another shaky breath before even entertaining the thought of speaking again. 

“Peachy.” Eujoo nods. Now that he has a minute to actually survey the situation, he thinks Yudai may actually look even paler than Nicholas. For the first time since they arrived, it looks like Nicholas may finally be comfortable enough to start settling a bit. His cheeks are regaining a little bit more color, while the beading sweat may finally be starting to slightly dry up. His skin isn’t exactly as warm as it should be, but it's not quite so frigid to the touch any longer either. Nicholas’s breath is unsteadily wheezing and gasping, but that’s actually a deeper sound than the suffocation that they heard only a few minutes ago. Their packmate may finally be starting to look just a few steps further away from dying. 

Yudai on the other hand… he may still need some ongoing treatment after the entire leg ordeal is finished. 

“Hyung, I have some water for you and Nicholas.” Once again, Harua is already right by his hyung’s side before they can even vocalize that they need it. As they were all expecting, Yudai resumes the same position that they were in previously immediately and motions for Harua to give the drink to Nicho first. Harua smiles. He finds the whole thing quite sweet. He’s not sure Eujoo and Fuma have noticed it yet (although he'll be sure to tell everyone as soon as Nicholas has been completely put back together again), but even when he’s feeling so nauseous their Yudai hyung never pulled away from Nicholas. His hands always remained firm, his touch acting as a steady supporter for their packmate throughout the entire ordeal. 

A little sooner than anyone expected, Taki comes stumbling back into the dining room before Yudai can even consider actually taking a drink for himself. Nicholas had just barely finished taking a few steady sips. Judging from the sound of footsteps surrounding them, JoJo is trotting along not far behind. 

“Is it over? Nicho hyung is going to be okay?”
“We’re still getting there, but yeah. He should be fine. He’ll just need to take it easy for a little bit.” Yudai can’t even remember the last time one of them had to ‘take it easy’. They get scrapes and bruises all the time. It’s never slowed them down very much until today. 

“I think a few more minutes with the pressure and it should be safe enough to move on with this.” Eujoo nods, leaning his head over Fuma’s biceps to take his own assessment of the current bleeding status. Harua has already taken the silver arrowhead out with a fluffy towel between his fingertips, throwing it god-even-knows where. Somewhere safely out of the way for the time being. 

Around that safe time Taki comes rushing behind Fuma and around the side of the table, seemingly to check on how his initial task of getting Nicholas warm again has progressed. In typical Taki fashion, somewhere in between his concern and hurry his feet start to tumble. Eujoo’s hands reach out, but before he can completely snatch Taki away the younger's arm barrels directly into the bottom of Nicholas’s wounded leg. 

Taki catches himself quickly, pulling his body backwards and instantly bowing over and over again. Apologizing so noisily and profusely that the pack’s not sure anybody could actually bring themselves to blame him.

“Sorry Nicho hyung! Sorry! I’m sorry! Are you okay?! That didn’t make it start bleeding again right?! I’m sorry, I-I should’ve been more careful. My foot slipped.”

Yudai’s eyes dart up, his lips leaving the ring surrounding the bottle of water immediately. Harua sighs, seriously starting to wonder if Yudai ever plans to take a legitimate drink. Their hyung clearly needs it, but doesn’t seem very motivated to focus on self-care at the moment. 

His own needs are definitely the very last thing on Yudai’s mind. First, is currently making sure that Taki’s slip-up didn’t hurt Nicholas. Second, worrying about why Taki said his foot slipped. Implying that there’s something slippery and potentially trauma inducing covering their dining room floorboards. 

It seems like the rest of the room has similar ideas. Suddenly everyone is staring at Nicholas with wide-eyed and worried expressions. They all seem to be thinking the same thing. That it was a pretty hefty knock against a still seriously injured limb, so there’s no way that wasn’t absolutely excruciating for Nicholas’s tenderly fried muscles and nerve endings. “It’s okay Taki. It was an accident, just try to step around slowly okay?” Fuma can’t help but feel bad for the younger, hoping that his words are able to have some sort of calming effect.
“Are you okay Nicho?” Eujoo isn’t graced with a rapid response. After everything he’s been through today, Nicholas’s brain seems to finally be succumbing to some of the jaw-dropping pain and pressure. He’s exhausted, dizzy, and nothing is processing through his head as quickly as it’s supposed to be. Despite that, no one sees exactly what they are expecting to when they analyze Nicholas’s condition. It makes Yudai's body crumble in on itself slightly, his aching head immediately pounding backwards to when Nicholas was in a horridly-unresponsive state as their leaders were yanking the 2nd half of an arrow out of his leg.
It’s hard to believe that was less than 5 whole minutes ago. 

Right now, their seriously injured packmate is carrying the same increasingly dazed, exhaustion, and ache-filled indications that he has been. His breath is similarly uneven, not becoming any more rapid or shallow. His body is starting to tremble less and less as his temperature warms up and his brain slows down significantly. His skin is drying, but nothing about his condition is anywhere close to being quite right yet. It’s not getting worse either. Nicholas isn’t crying anymore than he already was, and he’s not screaming or groaning with pain like they were expecting him to be. 

“I’m sorry hyung. I promise I’ll be more careful.” Taki bows a full 90 degrees again. He feels horrible, his own tears brimming at the mere thought that he might have hurt his hyung. Finally, some of the words being said are starting to process through Nicholas' addled and dopey brain. It takes so much more effort to speak than it should, and all his words come out more cracked and slurred than he anticipated. 

“Why are you all freaking out? I’m not any-*gasp*-more shot than I was.” If Yudai’s heart was still managing to beat before, it’s definitely not anymore. 

“Huh? H-hyung…” Taki’s stutters, his syllables dropping out before he can figure out what he’s supposed to say. Even Eujoo is startled into momentary silence, Fuma being the only person collected enough to think of a proper response to the unexpected statement. 

“Taki just bumped your bad leg. It shook underneath my hands even. You didn’t feel that?” A few pauses pass with baited breath. Given how severely his eyes are drooping, Yudai is worried that Nicholas will fall asleep before he’s able to respond. 

“Oh. I guess not that much. It hurts like hell all-ready Taki. *tskk-gasp* A little bump won’t make a difference.” Nicholas seems satisfied with the looped together sentence, his head lulling to the side already as he physically struggles to keep his eyes open. 

Yudai looks towards Eujoo, and then towards Fuma, neither of which have anything positive to say to him. 

That would’ve been fine enough but that wasn’t any ‘little bump’, and suddenly Yudai’s world is crashing down upon him once again. He thinks of his worries from the clearing, his deeply ridden knowledge that a shot like this was intended to cripple Nicholas. Now he’s being presented with this, and Yudai can’t forget that. He can’t shake the awful image inside of his mind of Nicho never walking again, of him never being completely ‘okay’ after this, and those hunters are going to go home and live on with the knowledge that they succeeded. Maybe they didn’t kill their target, but he’s incapacitated, and what good is a werewolf that can’t walk anyways? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Over 3 hours later, the cabin is finally warm again. It’s oddly quiet, but not in a soul-crushing or world ending panic kind of way. It’s more like the pack is just… emotionally taxed. Worn out. Like finally, the dust is settling over the still all-too fresh medical crisis. Everything is taken care of enough to barely start breathing again, and they can all sit down for just long enough to really think about what the hell has just happened to them.

Maki and Yuma returned about 30 minutes ago, having come back with a much more detailed report than anyone anticipated. As the pack already knew, they were both smart and careful about how they approached this. They knew that Nicholas wouldn’t fall prey to a hunter that’s careless, and they knew that 2 wolves would be far from enough to truly interfere with any Hunter that cautiously crafted retreat. They were also just as livid and upset as the rest of the pack had been, and clearly had zero intentions of letting these 2 people get away with what they did. So Yuma and Maki decided it would be within everyone’s best interest to keep their distance, carefully tracking the Hunters all the way back to what seems to be their home. After that, they waited in the treeline. Taking careful inventory of the area and listening to clues. 

They both confirmed that Eujoo had been right to think those 2 humans must be the right ones. They are. Apparently, Yuma watched them putting away the bow and 1 extra silver arrow right after arriving at a house to the West of the clearing.
They also overheard the 2 humans talking pretty extensively about the process of shooting Nicholas. Maki said that it sounded to be something like a training session. Like the older man was a seasoned and very experienced Hunter, who has been trying to instill his deadly knowledge into the younger girl. Maybe she’s a granddaughter to him, or a family friend? That seems to make sense and piece together well with the level of knowledge and experience needed to succeed at what they did. 

Yuma and Maki both listed as the older man confirmed that his ‘Hunter-In-Training’ had been the one to hand make and fire the arrow. It was very very intentional, and he was praising her for it. He boasted about how perfectly she had executed such a high-level skill. His only critique seems to have been that she hesitated. Based on what the two of them could gather, the younger girl got spooked when she saw Nicholas turn back into a human right after being hit. It was easier for her to kill a large wolf, but when she could visibly hear him screaming, and bleeding into the crystal white snow, howling for his pack to come save him, she couldn’t take the final shot. 

That hesitation is probably what saved Nicholas. 

The pack had a hard enough time listening to all of that back within the warm safety of their own home. They can’t even begin to imagine how Maki and Yuma must have felt listening to it all in person. But they did, and they gathered all the intel they could manage before safely returning back with the Hunter’s exact location. 

They did what Yudai thought was impossible today. He might not get his revenge right away, but the Hunters won’t be able to get away with what they did. Their repentance will come for them. Maki and Yuma made sure of it. 

After the intense focus and adrenaline wore off, understandingly both wolves just wanted to check on Nicholas and rest. Nobody could blame them. They were all in a similar predicament. 

Taki never stopped feeling guilty for running into Nicholas, at least not completely. After 17 straight minutes he did eventually decide it was okay to stop profusely apologizing for it. Much like Harua and JoJo, they all helped with anything and everything that they could possibly manage to think of until the tasks ran out. Between the 3 of them, Nicholas’s temperature (and the rest of the pack’s as well) remained very well taken care of and stabilized. His room was a little scarily, but oh-so-sweetly, decorated with all of Nicholas’s favorite scattered objects, a true mountain of adjustable pillow, blankets, space heaters, and a never-ending playlist of soft tunes. They’re ensuring that everyone has been drinking and staying well hydrated. They cleaned up the dining room, including Harua’s carefully kept medical station, mopping the floor, and disposing of a now blood coated white sheet. JoJo and Harua even went on an early run together to get Nicholas some more appropriate medications for pain-management, swelling, and some more bracings for when he’s eventually able to start carefully putting a little bit of weight on it again. 

Eujoo and Fuma have somehow been managing everyone throughout the entire crisis, whether that be directly or by warmly supporting and pushing from behind them. They’ve watched everybody, acted fast, and made sure to step in when they feel that the pack members are getting overly stressed or exhausting themselves. Even now, after everyone has fallen asleep, slowed down, or simply quieted with their thoughts. The two of them are still going. Their the only two that don’t get to rest. Instead, Fuma is focused on cautiously planning out the next steps for the pack to consider taking over the next few days. He thinks they need to act carefully, both in order to best take care of Nicholas’s injury and to keep the Hunters from coming back to finish the job. Eujoo is making rounds around everyone, ensuring that nobody is crying too heavily or struggling as they sit without company for just a little bit too long. Every 5-10 minutes he goes in to check on Nicholas. To make sure the dressing over his leg is dry, still well elevated, and importantly blood-free. He doesn’t want Nicholas to be in lots of pain anymore, or to try standing up when he shouldn’t be.
There’s always at least 1 other person in the room with Nicholas carefully watching for that anyways, but they know Eujoo feels best when he can see it for himself. Right now, it’s probably JoJo sitting in the little bean bag chair beside Nicholas’s bed. Watching silently as he draws in his sketchbook to process and pass the time. 

Yudai, he’s the only person still daring to be outside and sitting on the snow-dusted porch. He’s not sure what else he can do anymore. His brain is still reeling too much to fall asleep, not that he would really want to sleep anyways, and being inside feels too stuffy. It’s still bringing up too many not too distant memories, and he’s not quite sure how long that will keep bothering him.
He just can’t quite believe that this is where the day has led them. If someone had told  him this morning where he would be right now, he's not sure his cocky past self would have believed them. 

The pack has always had emergency plans, a carefully coordinated routine for all sorts of emergencies. It’s how werewolf packs like their own continue to survive honestly, and it’s the only reason they could get Nicholas to safety so smoothly. Despite always knowing all those things, and knowing why their so important, it had been a long time since a Hunter had found any of them. Almost a year in fact. Somewhere during that stretch, Yudai supposes he had started to wrongly feel like they were invincible. 

He knows they're all talented, and smart, and they’ve proven themselves as being among the fastest packs in Japan. He had let all of those great traits go to his head. Yudai honestly didn’t believe that any Hunter would be quick enough to get the drop on any one of them, let alone Nicholas. 

Today was a stark wakeup call that Yudai wishes had never happened. Nicholas didn’t deserve that. None of them did. It just doesn’t feel fair. 

Why can’t being talented, and smart, and careful, and fast ever be enough? What do they have to do to just be left alone? 

“Hyung,” Yudai jumps a little at the unexpected addition of a visitor, leaning back to see Eujoo walking up to join him along the front steps. He scootches to the side to make room for the leader, supposing it must be his turn in the rounds. “,it's like 3 degrees out here. What are you doing hanging around outside?”

“I don’t know.” Yudai shrugs. He can feel Eujoo’s shoulders brushing up against his own as the younger sits down with a ‘thunk’ beside him. Still, Yudai keeps his gaze fixed onto the dark treeline just a few meters off from the cabin. He doesn’t need to look at Eujoo to know what his expression is saying anyways. He can already read all of those placated and warm emotions from the smells and feelings surrounding his dongseang. “Just don’t wanna go inside yet.”
“Yeah… I can’t say I blame you there.” Eujoo remains silent for a few seconds, but in a good way. There’s no uncomfortable feelings between them. Just loving contemplation. “It’s not too bad being chilly. Kinda feels nice actually. Taki has Nicho’s room feeling like it’s a bright sunny day at the peak of summertime in there.”
“Good. Nicho will like it.”
“You know what else I’m sure that Nicho would like?”
“Hmm?” Yudai wishes he had a rock to throw or something. A way to keep his hands busy while the conversation passes. 

“For his oldest hyung to visit him before midnight.” Yudai should’ve known that was coming, but he still sighs heavily and presses his teeth into the bottom of his lip. This time he refuses to even glance in Eujoo’s direction out of pure stubborness, even though their pack’s leader is 100% prompting for his hyung to look at him.
Yudai can’t argue with that statement. Eujoo is right. Out of the entire pack, Yudai is the only person that hasn’t popped his head in to see how Nicholas is doing yet. Not even once since Nicholas was taken back there to rest, just after Eujoo and Fuma finished initially bandaging up his leg. 

“...I want to.”
“So what’s stopping you? I know he’s pretty damn exhausted but, I think he can still sense that we’re in there. He would really like knowing that you're near him hyung… even if he still looks like he’s asleep. He knows.” Apparently Eujoo does as well.
“Would he?”
“Why not?” Eujoo isn’t accusing Yudai of anything. The question doesn’t come across as rude, judgemental, or pushy in any way. It just sounds genuinely curious. Like Eujoo is softly prying, wanting to know what’s going on inside Yudai’s head.
Yudai supposes of everyone, Eujoo would be the person he most wants to share something like this with.
“... I was too freaked out before. As soon as we got him home, it’s like some awful wussy lightswitch just flipped in my brain. I couldn’t get over it. I should’ve stayed calmer. I was just a source of stress for everyone.” Yudai looks to the right, not wanting Eujoo to see the salty-tears brimming at the base of his eyelids. Saying the sentence out loud feels worse than thinking it has been. Audibly admitting that as soon as the Hunters were no longer a direct threat, Yudai stopped being the reliable eldest hyung that he has always wanted to be in any semi-serious situation.  

“That’s not true hyung. Sure, you got pretty spooked there towards the end, but no one blames you for any of that. We were yanking a poisonous weapon out of someone you’re really close with and connected to hyung. You were worried, and you wanted to help him stop hurting. Caring too much about someone you love isn’t something to be ashamed about.” 

Eujoo has always had a way of phrasing things. The way he speaks about subjects like this makes them sound sweet and loving, in a way Yudai can’t ever seem to manage on his own. 

“It doesn’t feel like it. Everyone else cares about Nicho too, but I was the only one that puked.” 

“Well, that probably would’ve been a whole lot different had Taki been in the room.” Eujoo’s attempt at making a lighthearted comment doesn’t exactly land like he had intended it to, but it’s still enough to make Yudai smile a bit. He would happily listen to all of his dongseang’s bad jokes all day if he could. “Can I tell you what I think hyung?”
“Of course you can.”
“Okay. Well, I truly and honestly believe that you must have been the most important person for Nicho today Yudai, you did the best of everyone, and I don’t think Nicho would’ve made it through this without you.” 

That is the first thing to make Yudai look up. Tears are now slowly dripping down his cheeks, his jaw  hanging open and his eyes gawking directly at Eujoo’s. His breath gasps in surprise, his mind utterly astounding at what he just heard. How on Earth could anything like that possibly be true?
“What? No, don’t discount everyone like that. You and Fuma, Harua, JoJo, Taki, Maki, Yuma… The only reason our Nicho’s insides aren’t 100% well-done and crispified right now is because of the pack’s quick thinking and your ability to stay collected Eujoo. You guys did everything. He’s alive right now because of you.” 

“I disagree with you.” Eujoo is blunt, blatant in a way that Yudai sometimes forgets he’s capable of. Eujoo is nice and always so warmly sweet, but he doesn’t beat around the bush when it counts. 

“Back in the clearing, we weren’t smart hyung about that hyung. We focused too much on finding the Hunters. We basically left you alone to do all the immediately lifesaving medical assessment by yourself. Sure Fuma was there, but under my direction he was more so transporting than contributing directly. You did all the important bits on your own. You thought fast, you were creative and resourceful, and you got Nicholas home in one piece when literally no one else could’ve managed it hyung. Of course that put a lot of strain on you. Literally not a single one of us could’ve done that better. Your stress is on us too. We relied on you in the wrong way today. You were the only person that was made to manage anything all by yourself, and we shouldn’t have done that to you. As the pack’s leader, that’s something I need to take responsibility for.”
“No, you don’t. It’s not like th-”
“I’m not done yet.” Yudai immediately shuts up, getting rapid feedback that he shouldn’t be interrupting Eujoo. “When we got back to the house… sure. It’s true that Fuma and I took over the medical stuff. You didn’t do any running around, but that’s not what you needed to do. Out of 8 packmates, you were the only member of our pack that Nicholas could rely on. He got actual physical comfort from you. I tried a little bit at the beginning but, I couldn’t manage to maintain that when it really mattered. Once again, that was all on you. Only you. It shouldn’t have been, but it was. No matter how you felt about everything, you stayed beside Nicho the whole time. You held him, you watched over him, and you made sure he knew he wasn’t alone. You never left, ever. That’s the most important thing here.
Without you, Nicholas would’ve felt so scared and lonely hyung. He would’ve had nothing to hold to. You created that safety net for him. You were there, when everyone else was too busy being focused or running around. That was all you. Everything.”
“...Eujoo.” Yudai’s completely lost the words he was intending to say. He has no idea how he’s supposed to reply to this. 

“So, I’ll stop blabbering but respectfully I totally disagree with you when you say you didn’t do enough. We all relied on you for all of the most important things hyung. You were the MVP of our crisis today, and I’m not gonna let you forget that.” 

That last statement sounds a little odd to Yudai. The Most Valuable Player in something terrible. That shouldn’t exist. It’s awkward, and an unusual way to apply that particular term, but it doesn’t matter if that’s true. Yudai trusts Eujoo. If that’s what his dongesang truly believes, then Yudai doesn’t have any right to deny it. Even if he doesn’t completely agree with every single one of those sentiments himself. Eujoo has already helped to soothe his aching heart so much , and he’s given him some ideas for something to focus on when he has to go back inside again. Something other than pain and screaming. That means more to Yudai than his own self-assurance. 

“Okay. Can I ask you one last thing then? It’s been bothering me.” Yudai’s already gotten this far, and it hasn’t been awful. Even after clearing up some of what’s happened, there's still something else lingering. Something that’s preventing him from being able to go inside of their house and walk straight into Nicholas’s apparently summer-like bedroom. 

“Of course. Ask me anything hyung.”
“Nicho’s injury was in a really nasty place. Given what we know…” Yudai stops with an unbearably heavy breath. This is even harder to say out loud that the last statement was. “,do you think he’ll ever be able to walk the same again?”
This time Eujoo sighs too. It’s heavy, and carrying so much more than words could ever hope to express.
“Honestly, I think it’s too soon to tell. That might be up to Nicho, and how badly he really wants to.” It’s not what Yudai was hoping for, but at the time it’s not the worst reply he supposes he could’ve received either. “It might not be easy for a while. He has lost some feeling below the injury site, mostly in his ankle and toes. Everything above seems to be relatively intact though, given its lightly crispy state. The rest of that sensation might come back as he heals a little more…. Or it won’t.”
Yudai appreciates the honesty he’s receiving.
“Alright.” 

“Even if it doesn’t though, I don’t think it’s impossible. Personally, I think Nicho has a pretty damn good chance of being able to walk relatively normal after all this. Would someone else be able to? Probably not. This is Nicholas we’re talking about though. If anyone’s determined and stubborn enough to not let anything get in his way, it’s him.” 

There it is. The final piece to Yudai’s miserable puzzle,and the thing that he’s been needing to hear more than anything. That’s the piece that Yudai has forgotten to consider.
Even when he didn’t necessarily have faith in himself, Yudai’s never lost faith in any of the others. In his pack, and he never will. Yudai trusts them more than anyone. Somehow, somewhere along the line he discounted Nicholas himself from this scenario. Yudai should probably apologize to him for that later. 

Suddenly, it all fits together. Like it’s been this easy all along. Nicholas’s injury isn’t something for Yudai to worry about this much. He just needs to do what he can to support him, to be there for Nicholas while he’s struggling. Now that they’ve taken care of the rest of( at least to some degree), he needs to place his trust in Nicholas himself. To have faith that Nicholas is already determined and stubborn enough to not let this stop him.
Of course Yudai can do that, he already has. Already does. Wholeheartedly. 

“You know what your real problem is hyung? It’s not Nicholas. It’s that you wear your heart on your sleeve, and you put your whole mind, body, and soul into absolutely everything. First aid, running, taking care of others, loving, thinking, stressing, just about everything else you could possibly think of. You commit all of everything to it, no matter how hard it is on you.” 

Once again, Yudai can’t say Eujoo’s wrong. That’s not how he would’ve chosen to phrase it, but it’s not necessarily an arguable point either. 

“That’s why I’m the eldest, and you’re the leader here Eujoo.” Yudai smiles at his own statement, in the clear view for Eujoo to ogle at all he wants. Suddenly they breathe a little bit easier. The air feels clearer. Content, and finally just about as cold as actually is. 

“As such, I would like to declare that you come inside and eat some real food. Taki made the noodles that Nicho likes.” Yudai didn’t think that it was possible after the rest of today, but somehow his mouth starts drooling after he hears the mention of food. He supposes he might be a little hungrier than he thought. Suddenly, the thought of walking back inside doesn’t sound quite so suffocating as it did before anyways. Not if he’s walking inside with Eujoo. Maybe he’ll even pop his head into Nicho’s door and see how well his dongseang has been able to sleep off his truly terrible day. He could bother Jo as he watches him sketch for a little bit. All that considered, he definitely will not be eating anywhere near that dining table for a little bit.  The mere thought of it is enough to make Yudai physically recoil. 

“Only if I get dibs on breakfast in the morning.”
“Do you promise to wake up before noon?” 

“Nope.” Yudai grins, already re-listening to all of the pack’s previously voiced complaints about having ‘breakfast’ halfway through the day in his head. “Nicholas won’t be awake before then anyways. I’m spoiling him right now, not you.”
Eujoo rolls his eyes. He wants to say no, but Yudai is smiling again for the first time in hours. He doesn’t have the heart to kill his hyung’s freshly improved mood. “Fine. I’ll tell all the early risers to strap in and eat a very big dinner.” 

Yudai pumps his fist through the air as Eujoo rolls his eyes, celebrating in a way that he didn’t think he could do so soon after Eujoo initially walked out. He didn’t think he would be walking inside anytime soon either, and doing so not completely stressed about Nicholas’s recovery and future health following this. It’s not like any of the worry and concern has entirely disappeared. It hasn’t. 

Yet right now, with a lot of help from Eujoo, Yudai is walking inside with a newly found remembrance. This is his own pack he’s been pondering over all this time, which includes Nicholas. The fastest pack on this side of Japan, and they aren’t dumb either. They’ve done the impossible before. A truly countless number of times. At least a dozen today alone. 

He doesn’t need to stress so much about all of this at this exact moment. The time to stress will rear its head again later. Today, he can pour the rest of his fractured heart into putting itself back together again. All of his worries and concerns are still just as important as they were 10 minutes ago, but if anyone will be able to figure it all out and get Nicholas running alongside the rest of the pack again before the year ends, it’s them. 

He wouldn’t entrust such a vital task to anyone, but when it comes to their pack anything and everything is possible.