Russia
Always UnsuspectingSeokjin knocked on the door to the little hut-shaped home in the middle of a snowy field in an obscure part of the countryside, it was quaint but a tad out of place. Taehyung felt like he stepped into a fairy tale, expecting to see talking animals sitting on mushrooms warning them not to wander too far.
"Is this place real or am I high?" Taehyung joked.
"Both," Jungkook gave a snicker.
A little old man, that was a near clone of Noni, opened the door. He smiled widely and hugged them all as they walked in, as if they were old friends coming for a weekly visit.
"It is so good to finally meet you all."
His living room was small, filled with pictures of himself posing with various creatures that hung on the walls and were crowded onto shelves and tables. The parts of the room that weren't occupied with photos, were covered with shelves of books; tons and tons of books.
Jungkook noticed an old photo of Noni, he smiled as he picked it up, showing it to Seokjin, "Noni was pretty cute back in the day."
Seokjin nodded and continued scanning the photos, mostly there were just old black and whites. Seokjin got the feeling that Abram was a collector, his wall was like a true-to-life bestiary documenting real creatures he encountered through his travels, "He's like a walking wiki page of the supernatural."
Taehyung knelt down to pet the fluffiest white-haired dog he'd ever seen in his entire life. He began playing around, ruffling its fur and scratching that 'oh so sweet' spot that made its leg thump the floor. It yipped out, excited to have new visitors for a change. "Yes, you like that, don'tcha?"
"Noni talks about all of you so often, I feel like I already know you," Abram offered the trio a seat at his table, which was overflowing with all sorts of trinkets; from longswords to magic balls to vials of rainbow-colored potions to several watermelon-sized eggs that looked near ready to crack. Taehyung stayed seated on the floor with the dog while Jungkook and Seokjin sat down in the tiny chairs that were about the perfect size for a gnome.
"I'm afraid I might break this-" Jungkook whispered to Seokjin, trying to balance his on the minuscule seat cushion.
"The craftsmen never did understand when I said human-sized." Abram had to chuckle at how ridiculous they looked with their big bodies hanging off chairs that were way too small for them.
"They're fine." Seokjin cleared his throat, wanting to get down to business... he didn't have time to worry about the little things, (literally).
"Tea?" Abram offered, holding up the teapot that sat in front of him.
Jungkook nodded and Abram filled a small cup with tea for him, then looked at Seokjin, who shook his head.
"Namjoon told me you were coming, but I didn't have time to tidy up much." He sat down, preoccupied with the mess in front of him. "I did find the book he asked for though." He reached across the table and grabbed an antique-looking leather-bound tome and placed it in front of Seokjin.
"Is that the demon bestiary?" Taehyung spoke up, standing to get a better look.
"Da," Abram nodded, "You know of it?"
"My father told me about this," Taehyung grinned as he picked it up, running his hand over the cover. He turned to the first page, eyes wider than a kid on Christmas; Spread out before him in glorious full-color was an illustration of a furry-winged black demon sitting atop a table of contents. "I didn't imagine it would be so beautiful."
"You can to it later," Seokjin yanked the book back from him then turned back to Abram, irked. Taehyung made a sour face at him behind his back.
"Jacker is a hell demon, right?" Taehyung sat back down with the dog again.
"Yes, a very powerful one," Abram became grim.
"Is there a way to kill him?" Seokjin looked at Abram, hopeful.
"There is a way to kill all supernatural creatures, except a god or goddess of course," He answered, "But even they can be controlled by the other gods."
"So how do we kill him?" Jungkook asked, then glanced at Seokjin.
"With a special dagger," Abram reached across Jungkook and grabbed a book on 'special weapons' from the shelf next to the table. He dusted it off and searched through it, stopping on a page in the middle. He handed it to Seokjin and sat back in his seat, "It's all in there."
Taehyung leaned up over Seokjin's shoulders. "I've seen this dagger before, in a book about rare treasure-"
"Then you know there are only two in existence and both are well hidden away from the world," Abram sighed, "I am sure Jacker suspects that you will be searching them out."
"Does Jacker know where they are?" Seokjin looked down at the book, studying the picture, wondering what was so unique about a piece of metal.
"No, not at the moment, only a spare few do." Abram took a sip of his tea, "But he knows one of the people that do. You met her already."
"Who?" Seokjin asked trying to recall any women he met recently...
"The prophet," Abram answered.
"We met her granddaughter," Seokjin corrected him.
"Madame Kimura is seldom seen as her true self, it is how she has stayed alive so long," Abram informed him. "She knows too many secrets, someone is always after her."
"Well, she's a ert," Seokjin declared and Jungkook stifled a laugh. "Why didn't she just tell us about the dagger while we were there?"
"Something tells me she was hoping to get a return visit from you," Abram informed him, "That woman has her motives."
"Yeah, to waste my time," Seokjin huffed, closing the book. He pushed it away and stood, "I need some air."
Jungkook watched as Seokjin walked out.
"I should go make sure he's okay," Jungkook stood.
"Go, I want to talk to Abram anyway," Taehyung moved up to where Seokjin had been sitting and grabbed the demon bestiary again.
Jungkook buttoned up his jacket and ventured outside. He found Seokjin standing by a giant, out of place, run-down maroon barn, just staring up at the night sky. The elder was kicking at a pile of hay, that too, seemed out of place, as there were no animals around for it to be needed. It didn't look like there had been any sort of life within the building in decades.
"Why so uptight?" Jungkook asked, leaning against the side of the barn, staring at the side of his head.
"I'm just sick of this ," Seokjin took a deep breath.
"You've been tense all morning-"
"Well, I didn't expect I would be in a shootout last night and see you laying on the floor with a gaping bullet wound in your chest." Seokjin spat as he thumped against the barn next to Jungkook.
"You're worried about me?" Jungkook was stunned.
"I'm just stressed," Seokjin remarked, exasperated.
"Jesus, is it so hard for you to admit you worry about me?" Jungkook yelled at him, he thought they had gotten past this 'hide your feelings' bull.
"Yeah, I am worried about you, I'm worried about what Jacker will do to you, and I'm worried that I can't protect you enough," Seokjin burst, "Is that what you wanted to hear?"
"It'll be okay," Jungkook turned to him, putting his hand on the elder's shoulder trying to calm him down.
"But for how long?" Seokjin was beside himself. He didn't expect slaying Jacker would involve such a complicated plan.
Jungkook felt horrible, he felt like the elder needed comforting... so he hugged him. At first, he froze when Seokjin wrapped his arms around him and pulled him in tight, burying his face into the crook of Jungkook's neck. His arms felt so safe and warm, he was so lost in Seokjin's embrace, he never wanted to let go.
Seokjin held him for a good couple of minutes before he backed up. S
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