Beautiful

40 - No Warnings

Winter had come around again, forcing everyone to slow down everything. Mina felt like she was struggling with her children on snow days. At least until she had more help.

"I'm going to get you!" Jeongyeon laughed while chasing Yukime through the snow. She let out a scream, running through the yard, trying to escape her aunt. Nayeon laughed with them, watching from across the yard. Shizuha sat in the snow, making tiny snowmen around the tree in the corner of the yard.

"Why doesn't the other one want to play?" Nayeon asked her.

"No idea." Mina sighed. "I just let them do whatever at this point." Mina groaned. Nayeon looked at her younger sister, seeing the exhaustion in her eyes...

"You're not sleeping are you?" Nayeon frowned. Mina shook her head, watching her daughters in the snow. "Have you talked to her this month?" She asked. Again, another shake of the head. It was silent for a while, Jeongyeon teaching Yukime something with the sled and Shizuha still content in the corner of the yard. Mina heard a car drive up, forcing the adults to look up.

"Who is that?" Jeongyeon frowned.

"No idea." Nayeon answered her, both of them on edge. Mina caught the familiar scent, and saw her sister step out of the car.

"Jihyo?" Mina called out. The girl smiled, waving at her. Shizuha watched carefully, reacting only when her mother did. "Jihyo!" Mina was excited, she hadn't seen her sister in a while, making her happy. She walked down the path, opening the gate for her, engulfing her in a tight hug.

"Sorry for the unexpected visit." Jihyo whispered. "But I was on my way going back home. I thought I would come visit." She smiled. "How are you holding up?" She asked.

Nayeon and Jeongyeon watched their exchange, looking at each other with raised eyebrows.

Everyone was back inside, warming up from the cold, talking. Nayeon and Jeongyeon loved Jihyo, all of them joking with each other and talking about various things. Mina was happy to have someone who really understood what was going on in her life there with her.

"Mama... Who is she?" Yukime whispered.

"Girls, this is your aunt Jihyo." Mina smiled. "She lives out in the Arctic with grandma and grandpa." She explained. "Jihyo, this is Yukime and Shizuha." Mina introduced them.

"Wow... They're both beautiful girls." Jihyo smiled at them. "They look just... like a perfect mix of you and Sana." She was in awe of the girls. Her eyes drifted to Shizuha who watched her from behind her older sister. "Mina... Shizuha... Isn't okay." She whispered.

"What?" Mina looked at her daughter, seeing nothing visibly wrong with her. "What do you mean?" She asked. Right when she finished her question, Shizuha collapsed, Jihyo, moving quick, caught her before she hit the ground.

The little family sat in the waiting room of the hospital, Yukime sitting with Jeongyeon as she waited for her mother to come back.

"How did you know something wrong was with her?" Nayeon asked her, extremely suspicious of her now.

"She smelled sick." Jihyo frowned. "Did you guys really not smell it?" She asked. Jeongyeon shook her head, Nayeon eyed the omega from across the room.

"She smelled different." Yukime answered. Everyone had stopped talking when Mina had came back to them. All of them standing quickly, waiting for something.

"She's going to be okay..." Mina started. Everyone let out a sigh of relief. "She's just a little dehydrated, and caught the flu." She explained.

"How did you not smell that she was sick?" Jihyo whispered to her.

"She's been scenting herself with my scent, she must've masked it.." Mina frowned while wringing her hands. "I'm a terrible mother..." She whispered.

"No you're not." Jihyo quickly said. "You're trying your best right now. With everything going on, you're working overtime to make sure your daughters aren't experiencing anything that you are. Right now, it's just a little hiccup, she'll get medication, and she'll be right back to playing in no time." She pulled her sister into a tight hug, reassuring her that everything was going to be okay. Mina was extremely grateful for her now.

It was late, Sana sitting in her cot reading what she could of the legend Momo spoke to her about weeks prior.

'Zeta - not much is known on this classification. Extremely rare, known to be truly neutral and all powerful. Known to bend the will of others with just their scent. - See example 1 on page 37 "Tale of the Mountain Man" for further explanation'

Sana sighed, flipping through the pages for the legend. She had read it as a kid, wanting to be just like the mountain man. But she wasn't, she was biologically a high alpha and nothing stopped her, but how was it that her daughter was showing signs of this?

'The mountain man descended from the top of the most snow covered mountains. Wrapped only in his furs, he held out his hands in the middle of the Great War of Alphas. His blizzard like scent engulfing the entire battle field, forcing everyone to kneel in his presence. Higher leaders fought against the scent, but eventually succumbed to it. He spoke few words...

"You are all fighting for a power that does not exist. This war has caused enough damage in this already cruel world. Your families miss you... They wonder if you are still alive, and yet you strive for this power that does not exist. End this war or it will end you."

With those words, he turned, heading back up the mountain. Within three days, the war had ended, all packs agreeing to keep their ways separate from each other.'

The legend didn't help her at all. The man was fully grown when they figured all of it out. She groaned at the thought of having little to no information to go off of. It killed her not knowing anything really. Especially about her children.. She missed them and her mate terribly.

"Fuck." Sana looked up to see Momo groaning in pain.

"Again?" She asked her older sister.

"I'm going outside and sleeping in the damn snow." She growled while grabbing her blanket, covering her lower half. Sana let out a chuckle, watching her sister leave the tent. "I hate being this far and away from her." Momo grumbled as she left.

"Me too." Sana sighed. "Me too..." She mumbled to herself.