Shadow owes its birth to light. - John Gay

 

 

JULY 4

     

      Seokjin knew his inhumanity needed to make an exit, his emotionless self was dangerous, it didn't care about doing the right thing or keeping a calm demeanor... that side craved chaos, that side of him knew he should stop feeling lonely and get on with his life, that he should forget about Jungkook, forget about that he was ever head over heels, madly, deeply in love with the guy. That side was easier, but it wouldn't let him suffer, and he needed to feel everything to grow. 

     It was a good thing his therapist appointment was today, because man if he didn't want to throw up the minute his emotions all came scurrying back at full throttle. It didn't help that Jungkook had reached over him at the breakfast table to grab the salt and Seokjin inhaled him, the scent he would get lost in and call home, his safe place. Now it was just a reminder of how stupid he was.

     He made himself comfortable on the couch while Dr. Poe took a seat.

     "How are you feeling?" Dr. Poe took out his pad and paper, "I notice you're not wearing your wedding band anymore."

     "What's the point?" Seokjin grabbed a pillow and set it on his lap, something to fidget with while he bared his soul.

     "Still silence between you and Jungkook?"

     "No, now there's obvious loathing," Seokjin grinned before shaking his head and down a gulp of air, "I had another panic attack."

     "Did something cause it?"

     "I am hanging on by a thread here," Seokjin stood and traipsed over to the window, "I feel everything, it hasn't dwindled even a little."

     "The bond is still intact on your side, him breaking it just makes it much worse, you feel twice the amount of pain."

     "I want it to stop," Seokjin turned to him, desperate, "how do I get it to stop?"

     "As cliche as it sounds, time does heal all wounds."

     "No, that's bull," he leaned his back against the glass, "time isn't healing , it's getting worse."

     "Are you still spending time with Yoongi?"

     Seokjin gave a nod, "I don't know how I would have survived all this without him."

     "Do you have feelings for him?" Dr. Poe noted a tone in his voice.

      "I've thought about giving in, seeing where it might take us, but then... I think about Jungkook and I don't want to give him the satisfaction of being right about us."

      "Are you scared he might be right?"

     "I can't help but think that things with Yoongi would be perfect," Seokjin confessed, "we're compatible."

     "But?"

     "But," Seokjin expressed, "I don't feel that passion with him that I did with Jungkook. I mean attraction, sure... but it's not," Seokjin turned back to stare out the window, "It's not that intenseness that I had with Jungkook."

     "Some people would be content with compatible."

     "It's nice, don't get me wrong, but Jungkook made me feel more alive than I have ever felt, he gave me purpose."

      "Go on."

     "I guess the best way to describe it is, Yoongi makes me feel like I'm allowed to... survive... but Jungkook... Jungkook makes me feel like I'm allowed to live."

 

     The therapist sent Seokjin off with an assignment; to blog his feelings. The doctor recommended downloading a program, and Seokjin suspected that the doctor may have benefited financially from suggesting it, cause damn if he didn't sound like he was acting in a commercial. "There is this journaling app that encourages you to type out what you feel, it's the perfect tool to aid you in expressing yourself and discovering ways to move on." Journaling was, as Dr. Poe put it, "Really the ultimate way for people to vent their feelings instead of bottling them up." Seokjin felt like it couldn't hinder him at this point, so he set his laptop down on the library table and downloaded the app, Internal Life. 

     "Day one, I'm sitting in the library like an idiot staring at a screen and trying to figure out my emotions," Seokjin said aloud, scrunching up his face. What the hell do I type? You're an expert on crippling heartbreak at this point, pen a new self-depreciation book, you'd make millions. 

     There was a prompts tab on the top bar and he clicked on it, a drop-down menu appeared and it gave the option of choosing what kind of thoughts one wanted to tackle for the day. LOVE, the option blinked in his mind like a neon sign. He clicked it and a pop-up listed ten possible different scenarios to vent about, with an option to list more. He clicked the third option. Entry one: What does love mean to you?

     "What does love mean to me?"

      Love is... He glanced around the library, it was quiet for a houseful of loud people. "Where the hell is everyone?" Concentrate. Love is a constant state of feeling too many emotions, good, bad, and grotesquely annoying. He hit backspace to erase the sentence. Be serious. Love is... believing in the person you pledge yourself to, trusting them to have your back. Knowing that even on your worse days they are there holding your hand. You're describing your relationship with Yoongi. Seokjin sighed. He couldn't even get through the first sentence, let alone a whole paragraph. "Dear gods, save me from this torture-"

     An arrow shot through the glass of the library window, flying across the room and impaling Seokjin in his left shoulder, he screamed out as he fell forward, typing a string of ajksdhiwerklsdfkl across his screen.

     Beomgyu ran up to the window and peered inside, "Holy , Seokjin."

     Seokjin's teeth grew past his lips and his eyes darkened as Beomgyu sprinted into the room, his voice deepened, "Pull it out."

     He propped himself against the table as Beomgyu grabbed ahold of the shaft and gave it a good yank. Seokjin lurched forward, growling out.

     "Are you okay?"

     Seokjin grabbed him up by the collar and pulled him close to his face, "Who shot it?"

     "I didn't mean to," Jungkook walked in, crossbow in hand, "it flew off course."

     Seokjin let Beomgyu go and shut his eyes, composing himself before opening them again. He clenched his jaw, glaring at Jungkook, "Next time, aim lower."

     "I'm sorry," Jungkook apologized, watching as Seokjin slammed the laptop shut. Wait, lower is his heart. "Seokjin-"

      "Save it," Seokjin scooped up the laptop and left the room.

      "Maybe we should move the target away from facing the estate," Beomgyu grimaced.

   

      Seokjin pulled a hoody from his closet, accidentally knocking over his momento box that was hanging partially off the shelf, he caught the box, but not before some of the contents hit the floor.  

     "Perfect..." Seokjin muttered as he bent down to pick up the items that fell and then stuck them back inside, looking down at his wedding ring sitting on top of some scattered pictures. He scooped it up and set the box back, walking over to sit on his bed. He removed his bloody button-down and slipped on the hoody, staring at the piece of tungsten, he remembered the night that Jungkook had slipped it onto his finger.

     "With this ring, I join together our hearts and our souls." 

     Seokjin was so sure of everything that night, he knew that their love would get them through anything. He had looked his lover in the eyes and recited his vows; "You are my life, Jungkook, and I promise you that no matter what happens, nothing will break us." He repeated out loud, closing his fingers around the ring, the promise, that rested in his palm, "You're a liar and a fraud, Seokjin, you did let something break you, and now here you will sit, alone forever."

      Yoongi balanced a dozen blood bags in his hand as he hurried into the kitchen and over to the refrigerator. Hoseok stopped in mid-motion, about to taste test his stew when he eyed Yoongi pull open the fridge door and release the contents of his arms inside, dropping several.

     "You ever considered asking someone for help?"

     "Nope," Yoongi bent down and picked up the fallen bags and shoved two inside, and then closed the door, holding the third one in his hands.

      Hoseok sipped the soup off his spoon, "Mmm, more oregano."

     "What are you making?"

     Hoseok set the lid back on the pot, "Deer."

     "Isn't deer hunting season still a couple months away?" Yoongi sipped the blood, letting out a burp.

     "Not when you know a dude that has a private stock and sells them for a living," Hoseok noticed Yoongi was looking a little peaked, "everything okay?"

     "Perfect," Yoongi made a sour face.

     Seokjin flounced into the room, a man on a mission, having heard Yoongi's voice and needing an accomplice.

     "Want to scale the mountain of Mordor with me, today?"

     "Huh?" Yoongi threw the blood bag into the trash, half empty.

     "I have a ring I want to throw into the fire of Mount Doom," Seokjin held up his wedding band.

     "Your wedding ring?" Hoseok was surprised.

     "I'm game," Yoongi took the ring, "where we gonna burn it?"

     "I was thinking more burial at sea, actually," Seokjin snatched it back.

     "Okay, but I need to stop at my place, I have something that can go with it."

 

     The two of them made it to Yoongi's cabin, where Yoongi entered and reached for Jungkook's necklace on his key hook, but it was gone.

     "What the hell?" He looked around the floor and searched through the junk on the table.

     "Lose something?" Seokjin peeked his head in.

     "Not exactly," Yoongi had a sneaking suspicion that Jungkook might have nabbed the necklace back, and if that were the case, he was going to have to have an in-depth conversation with the younger about breaking and entering. "Never mind, let's go."

     They made it halfway down the driveway when Namjoon rang Yoongi's cell and told them to come to the library for an emergency pack meeting.

     Yoongi informed Seokjin and they their heels to head back to the estate, "Never a dull moment."

 

     Everyone was already in the library by the time they sauntered in, taking seats at the far end of the table.

     Namjoon held up two folders, "The full report from MAANTIS, and an assignment."

     He threw the folders down on the tabletop, Beomgyu reached for the first one, from MAANTIS. 

     "Namjoon sure does have an absurd amount of folders," He whispered to Taehyung and Jungkook.

     Jimin opened the second folder and scattered the papers across the middle of the table.

     "There are three endangered insects on this list," Beomgyu pointed out, "Did they say what the the demonic one was?"

     "Demonic?" Hoseok questioned.

     "Well not exactly demonic," Namjoon corrected, "and also not exactly an insect."

     "Do tell," Hoseok inquired.

     "Page 3," Namjoon instructed and Beomgyu turned to page three.

     "A worm?" Beomgyu doubted, "Worms don't talk-"

     "Keep reading."

     "Spinosus nematodias or the spined worm is a species of supernatural parasitic creatures used for mind control," Beomgyu stopped reading, "You gotta be ing kidding me?"

     "What the?" Taehyung peered down at the paper as Beomgyu gave it a speed read.

     "Is this thing capable of influencing your mind for itself?... or does it assist someone in manipulating minds to aid in sinister doings?" Hoseok was grossed out.

     Taehyung paraphrased, "They turn creatures into mindless wights, but a necromancer can use that to control the host."

     "Why does such a thing exist?" Jungkook hoped he'd never cross paths with one.

     "Oh, it gets better," Taehyung's face contorted into repulsion.

     “They either crawl up your or you eat them,” Beomgyu made a gagging sound, “Once inside you, it lays exactly five eggs that take only twenty minutes to hatch. The juveniles enter the bloodstream… and this is where you’re gonna wish you were dead," he exchanged glances with Taehyung, "Four of the five are females, who implant themselves in various organs, infesting you with their gelatinous secretions that help to break down the tissues so they can feast on your innards,“ Beomgyu made a gagging sound, “The fifth one, a male, embeds itself in the brain rendering the host incapacitated… you know, so that you can’t fight against the infection,” Beomgyu’s summary was enough to make them all gag, he threw down the sheet and leaned back, "Yeah I'm gonna take a hard pass on that one."

     Jungkook picked up the paper, reading, "The alpha of the females enters the digestive system, where she will be excreted from the body through fecal matter, whereby they acquire a new host to begin a fresh cycle, via aual reproduction."

     "Or in simpler terms, you out your brains in your final moments of life so it can crawl up someone else's ," Beomgyu shook his head, "Hell to the ing nope."

     "Is there a cure?" Seokjin asked.

     "In the first 48 hours, antibiotics can be taken to kill them," Jungkook read the last paragraph, "They can take down a human in eight days."

     "I'm gonna need a minute to process that," Hoseok shuddered.

     There was a collective silence as they all tried to erase the mental images swimming around in their brains.

     "This assignment, what is it?" Jimin was beyond ready to change the subject, but he couldn't make heads or tails of what the mission was, the terrible handwriting made it impossible to read.

     "It's the retrieval of an ensorcell gem," Namjoon enlightened, "This one is geared to go off if a werewolf touches it."

     "What is an ensorcell gem?" Beomgyu asked when no one else said anything, "and why does it matter who touches it?"

     "I'm really glad we have you Beomgyu, saves me from asking the stupid questions," Jungkook joked, but he really wasn't, he had no clue what it was.

     "An ensorcell gem holds spells, they either activate from a word spoken or if the someone it was meant to harm touches it," Taehyung recalled hearing about these when he was a kid.

     "The spells aren't just for harming, some are good," Hoseok negated, "it's just most of the spellcasters that use them are necromancers."

     "Who spelled this one?" Jungkook asked.

     "It's one of Joy's," Namjoon answered.

     "How do you know it's just for werewolves?" Beomgyu was skeptical.

     "There are people that can read them without touching them, this one was delivered to the Superno Anthropology Institute."

     "That's the place that studies supernaturals and the whys of their existence," Taehyung told Beomgyu and Jungkook.

     "I'm not that dumb," Beomgyu snapped, realizing that Jungkook didn't know, because he glared down at the carpet and made a face.

     "So why do we need to retrieve it? Aren't there better organizations equipped to deal with this ?" Yoongi contested.

     "The fact that Joy created this is probably reason enough we need to handle it," Namjoon insisted, "The reader wasn't sure of its purpose, he could only tell that it was meant to activate if a werewolf were to touch it."

     "That's ominous as ," Beomgyu uttered.

     "Are there any werewolves of importance at Superno?" Seokjin queried.

     "Faraji Abara, the head of the Alternate Universes Department," Namjoon worried that the Nobles were up to something far more sinister than they had foreseen, "Seems the Nobles are exploring every avenue."

     "You might have a purpose for your Dimensional Spectrometer after all," Jimin smirked, smacking Hoseok on the arm.

     "The gem is our top priority," Namjoon asserted, "I have a reader that can come in and better examine its purpose."

     "So what you're saying is, you need a vampire to retrieve it," Beomgyu wondered if he should volunteer or if Yoongi would do the honors.

     "This can be a brotherly bonding experience," Namjoon added.

     "When do we need to leave?" Yoongi sighed.

     "They're expecting you within the next couple of hours."

     "Good, because Seokjin and I have a tiny mission of our own to do first," Yoongi stood, "Is that all?"

     "Let me know when you're back," Namjoon waved him off.

     

     Seokjin pulled off into a parking spot at his favorite stretch of beach.

     Beomgyu peered out the window, "Why are we here?"

     Yoongi unbuckled, "The less you know the safer you are."

     Seokjin snickered as he opened his door and climbed out.

     "There is nobody here, doesn't that seem weird on a summer day?" Beomgyu opened his door, glaring at his brother.

     "Jellyfish advisory," Yoongi shut his door, "We'll be right back."

      "I'm coming with," Beomgyu stumbled out and caught up to them as they began their trek down to the water's edge.

     "You know he's going to tell Jungkook," Yoongi whispered, peering back at his brother who was studying the sand for shells.

     "Good," Seokjin stopped just inches away from where the tide was breaking on the sand, "This isn't a secret."

     Beomgyu nearly bumped into Yoongi as he came up behind him, "Ooh, sea glass."

     "The hell?" Yoongi side-stepped.

     Beomgyu bent down to nab the weathered sliver of a broken glass bottle and held it up to the sun, "Good condition."

     Seokjin glanced down at the ring, grasping it between his fingers, reliving the moment he picked it out at the jeweler. Remembering when he knelt down to ask Jungkook to marry him.

     "Is that your wedding ring?" Beomgyu stuffed the glass in his pocket.

     "Yeah, why don't we go find some shells or something," Yoongi ushered him off away from Seokjin, "give him some space."

     Seokjin took a deep breath, he glanced up at the horizon... when he released this ring into the ocean, he was saying goodbye to a chapter of his life that he never would have imagined could end. He was saying goodbye to Jungkook and regaining his life. Alone. Maybe this would quell the aching in his heart, the emptiness in his soul.

     "Goodbye Jungkook," He whispered into the crashing wave and then heaved the ring.

     *Splash* Down it sunk, just treasure for a mermaid now.

 

     Seokjin waited in the car while Yoongi and Beomgyu entered Superno. Yoongi did all the talking while Beomgyu read the wooden placards below each of the exhibits of supernatural scenes, he halted at the vampire encasement.

     "A vampiric feeding ritual," Beomgyu glared at the vampire inside feeding on a peasant girl in front of a backdrop that looked straight out of Dracula's castle, with a mannequin that looked too close to the actual Dracula. He cocked his head, questioning the display's use of a 1400s visual and not using a more updated one.

      "This is a bit outdated, no?" Beomgyu said aloud and the curator stopped mid-conversation, about how the gem had come to them, to glare over at Beomgyu.

     "I beg your pardon?"

     "I mean Dracula was a myth, based on Vlad the Impaler," Beomgyu spouted, "I feel like this just propagates a false stereotype."

     "Are you so bold as to stand here and question the judgment of the vampire ancients?"

     "My father was the king of the vampires, I don't see your point in advertising that our elders were some kind of genius just because they were the first of their kind."

     Yoongi didn't know whether to be impressed or alarmed that his brother was questioning the very foundation of vampire hierarchy. You've questioned it no less than a thousand times yourself, and the kid has a point.

     "This is the problem with youth today-"

     "I mean he has a point," Yoongi decided impressed was more appropriate, "This is not at all like how the real history is, this is monster movie fiction."

     The curator was insulted, his face scrunched up into disbelief, "I think I better just show you to Mr. Abara's office."

     "I think I would like to have a word with the head of this establishment when we are done," Yoongi sassed, mimicking the man's tone.

     Beomgyu and Yoongi snickered as the elevator door closed and the man tromped off in a fit of choler.

     "You weren't wrong," Yoongi gave his brother a grin.

 

     A quick talk with Abara and they were off, it seemed like the man was just glad to be rid of the blasted thing. Gods forbid their head of alternate universes had been the one to open the package, thank the gods he had an assistant who had no werewolf blood running through his veins.

     "How did it go?" Seokjin sat up, refastening his seat belt.

     "Fairly well considering Beomgyu insulted the curator," Yoongi turned to look back at his brother as he climbed in, "How many times did you get suspended from Artis?"

     Beomgyu adjusted the box on his lap, "A few."

     "He's definitely your brother," Seokjin shook his head, smiling.

 

     Beomgyu set the wooden box on the lab table and backed up, glancing up at Namjoon. Everyone was gathered around the lab table like it was some rare jewel that would answer all the questions of the universe.

     Yoongi opened it and removed it from the satin insert it sat upon. It was a baseball-sized black opal, there was nothing menacing about it at all. In fact, the glimmering properties were quite beautiful, mesmerizing even.

     "I feel like I need to touch it," Jungkook mumbled.

     "Please don't," Namjoon insisted, "I shudder to think what kind of this thing can cause."

     "All the werewolves in the room would go poof," Jimin joked, "No more awooo in the night."

     "When does your guy come to examine it?" Taehyung too felt the strange urge to touch it.

     "In the morning," Namjoon gawked at it, fixated.

     Yoongi set the gem back in the box and closed it, "We should set this somewhere safe."

     "That is a good idea," Namjoon was feeling a bit dizzy, "the pull is strong with this thing."

     "Do you all feel it too?" Jimin asked, thinking he was going nuts.

     "Yeah," everyone but Yoongi and Beomgyu said in unison.

     "Okay, that's disturbing," Yoongi picked up the box, "Where should I put it?"

     "Somewhere none of us know the location of," Namjoon responded.

     The box jolted Yoongi and he dropped it back to the table, "What the holy ?"

     "What happened?"

     "It zapped me," Yoongi could still feel the tingling in his fingers.

     "That..." Beomgyu was unable to speak as he pointed at the box, "...f-feet."

     The box began to sprout legs, bursting out of the wood and raising the box up a good six inches as it got its bearing and began to wobble across the tabletop, sprinting towards the edge, Seokjin managed to catch it as it flipped off the side. The box split open in his arms and shattered, causing the gem to fall into Seokjin's hand where he grabbed a hold of it.

     The shrieking filled his head and he dropped the gem to his palms to his ears... seconds later Jungkook did the same, they both fell to their knees as the high-pitched cries grew louder and louder inside their heads and they both began to scream.

     "What is happening?" Taehyung yelled over the infernal noise that came from the two hybrids, looking to Jimin and Namjoon, neither of which heard or saw anything from the gem.

     Yoongi picked up the gem and sprinted from the room, determined to get the thing as far away as possible.

     "Seokjin?" Taehyung bent down to him, "Seokjin, can you hear me?"

      Seokjin's eyes shot open as his screaming stopped, all he saw in his head was a depiction of a banshee murdering a community of werewolves? with its reverberating wails. A dozen of them marched down a street, screeching at people until their ears began to bleed, and then *pop*. They fell over, dead.

     Jungkook let go of his ears, confused as to what just happened, he didn't see a vision, all he felt was an intense pain like the wails of a thousand banshees were penetrating his brain to the point where it could explode.

     "Jungkook?" Hoseok helped him up, "What happened?"

     Jungkook shook his head, out of sorts, "I... I don't know."

     Seokjin was in a stupor, staring ahead, unblinking... his breathing labored.

     "Seokjin, can you hear me?" Taehyung repeated.

     Yes. He could, but he couldn't speak the words. Joy was trailing behind the banshees, reanimating the bodies, calling them to her as the army of the risen filed in, growing in numbers. Her voice filled his head, chanting out "march my progeny" in different languages; iter progenies, mars ma progeniture, marsch meine nachkommen... repeating over and over, in every language known to man.

     "Mars afkomendur mínir," Seokjin yelled out.

     "Did he just speak Icelandic?" Taehyung asked rhetorically.

     "Can't you do anything?" Jimin shouted to Hoseok.

     "I don't know how to counter this," Hoseok tried to recall how these gems worked, "it, it's timed, I, I think."

     Taehyung pulled up the supernatural wiki on his phone, typing in ensorcell gem, he skimmed the page.

     "There," Jimin pointed, listed under visions, "five minutes. The visions usually last around five minutes."

      "What the hell kind of spell is this?" Beomgyu crowed.

     "A trance spell?" Jimin asked and Taehyung nodded.

     The vision began to fade and Seokjin exhaled, blinking several times to try to concentrate on something in the real world.

     "Hey," Hoseok snapped his fingers and Seokjin glared up at him, "What did you see?"

     "I felt like I had to go through the veil," Seokjin explained, "like it was calling werewolves everywhere to follow."

     "Why didn't we hear it too?" Namjoon wondered.

     "I think because it was meant for that guy at the institute," Taehyung figured.

     "But then why could Jungkook hear it?" Jimin challenged.

     "I just heard loud wails," Jungkook commented, "I didn't see anything."

     "I think you should lie down, I'll walk you to your house," Taehyung requested, grabbing his arm.

     "Okay?" Jungkook glanced at Seokjin as Taehyung pulled him from the room.

     

     Taehyung helped Jungkook over to his couch, where he leaned over to peer into Jungkook's eyes.

     "What are you doing?" Jungkook pushed him back, "I'm fine."

     "Something is not adding up here."

     "What do you mean?"

     "You felt what Seokjin was feeling-"

      "The thing affects werewolves-"

     "No, see cause I didn't feel it, no one else in the room felt it," Taehyung pushed.

      "Sympathy pains?" Jungkook knew Taehyung would not buy that. 

      "You have some explaining to do." Taehyung sat on the arm of the couch, crossing his arms.

     "Just pretend it didn't happen-"

     "Everything that's happened the last few days is not pointing to a broken bond," Taehyung probed, "Your headache at the RV?"

      "Coincidence," Jungkook denied, "It was a migraine."

      "Seokjin's nose bleed after Yoongi whacked you in the nose?"

     "So?" Jungkook shrugged.

     "You didn't think I'd figure this out?"

      "Nothing to figure."

     "Jungkook, I am the second smartest person here," Taehyung indicated.

     "You don't think Hobi is smarter?"

     "Knowledge of a Hollon TL-30 aside, no-"

     "What the hell is a Hollon TL-30?"

     "Google it," Taehyung was not letting this go, "What happened up there?"

     Jungkook leaned back, defeated. He was sure Taehyung had already formulated an idea in his mind and would not let this rest until he heard the confirmation.

    "The bond isn't broken," Jungkook admitted, glancing at Taehyung who was now confused.

    "What do you mean?" Taehyung questioned, "his pain certainly feels legit."

    "I just put it into his head that it was over, that the bond was gone."

     "But why?"

     "Because he needed to know what it felt like to lose me."

     "That is cruel-"

     "What was my other option, at him, wish for things to change?" Jungkook huffed, "Been there, done that."

     "I mean lying doesn't seem like the best way."

     Jungkook scoffed, "He wasn't going to change unless something drastic happened."

     "He's ing heartbroken, that doesn't eat away at you?"

     "Maybe I needed to know what would happen if I was out of the picture," Jungkook explained, "What he would do when he has full reign to pursue Yoongi."

     "So it's a test?"

     "It's piece of mind, so I know he truly wants to be with me."

     "You didn't think this would make them closer?"

     "If it does, then this bond meant nothing to him in the first place."

     "So you expect him to stay loyal until you decide he's proven himself enough?"

     "No-"

     "You told him there was no hope, made him think you hated him," Taehyung questioned, "and how can you say that when you go home with people from the bar?"

     "I didn't think it all through, I just know I was sick of being hurt," Jungkook clenched his jaw, holding back some sort of emotion that Taehyung assumed was guilt.

     "So all this bachelor time is a perk?"

     "I don't know what life is like without him," Jungkook knew he went a little hog wild, but he had reasons that would probably make no sense to anyone else, "I wanted to see if I could forget him."

     "He's going to figure it out," Taehyung stated, "and he'll probably be pissed."

     "We needed this, we needed to figure out who we are as people before we can ever thrive as a couple," Jungkook justified, "Something extreme had to happen."

     "I guess, just hope it doesn't backfire."

     "I feel like if we didn't get back together, I'd still be okay, I could be on my own-"

     "You want to?"

     "No, I don't want to, but I could," Jungkook laid his head back, "I love him, I always will... I just need him to be all in too."

 

     July 5

     Taehyung was to start his internship with Brahms today, he was nervous, he didn't want to say something and make a fool of himself. Brahms was his literary hero. Brahms, who has extensive knowledge of the supernatural and could spot a phony wannabe from a mile away.

     "You should wear a tie," Beomgyu fiddled with Taehyung's tie rack, spinning it.

     "Could you stop that, I am nervous enough."

     "Sorry," Beomgyu walked over and plopped on Taehyung's bed.

     "You will do fine," Jimin assured, "just be yourself."

     I wonder if he'll know I'm a zombie-"

     "The man knows everything there is to know about monsters, he probably will."

     "Why does that matter?" Beomgyu bounced several times, "this bed is way too hard, how do you sleep?"

     Taehyung grimaced, "Ughh."

     "Calm," Jimin reminded.

     Seokjin peeked his head into the room, "There is a car here for you, Tae."

     "A car?" Taehyung glanced at his watch, "it's early, ."

     "Breathe, brother," Jimin grabbed him by the shoulders and gave him a stern, but hopeful look, "He will be impressed by your mind, I promise."

     Taehyung nodded, taking one last look in the mirror and giving his underarms a quick sniff, "I can do this."

     "You WILL do this," Jimin nodded.

     "Here goes nothing," Taehyung exhaled.

     "Knock 'em dead," Beomgyu cheered.

     He was out the door seconds later, popping back in to grab his beret and then back out again, with a nervous laugh carrying off down the stairs.

 

     Seokjin was bored, Yoongi was downstairs having a vampire training session with Soobin. So he made his way to the kitchen, where he had been hovering for the last five minutes, glaring into the refrigerator at the pot of deer stew that took up the whole middle shelf, struggling with if he should leave a plate of food at Jungkook's door. He knew the younger was pretty tuckered out from yesterday's events and hadn't emerged from his house since. He was probably starving. Hoseok made stew the day prior and he knew how much Jungkook enjoyed it, afraid it might be gone before he even got a taste.

     " it, it'll be anonymous, he doesn't have to know it was you," Seokjin dished up a bowl of the stew and covered it with some tin foil, plopping a spoon down on the top and grabbing a can of Pepsi. He marched down to Jungkook's cabin and set the food down on the bench next to the door.

     Jungkook watched from inside his window as Seokjin set something down and backed up, contemplating. The elder exhaled and set the soda down next to it, then reached for the doorbell and gave it a ring. Jungkook expected him to be standing there when he opened the door, but Seokjin had ding-dong-ditched him. A sincere gesture is one that is made anonymously. He remembered a line from one of Brahms' books. He picked up the bowl and soda and went inside, removing the foil, he sniffed the stew, glorious deer.

     He gobbled down the stew and pushed the bowl back, patting his stomach. Why though? Beomgyu had told him this morning that Seokjin had thrown his wedding ring into the ocean, some sort of purge... "so why would he bring you stew when you've been such an to him?"

 

      "You did what?" Yoongi was shocked, "I thought the whole purpose of throwing your ring into the ocean was to purge yourself of him?"

     "I felt bad," Seokjin picked up a haybale and threw it onto the pickup truck that one of Sunoo's men was driving along the field, "That whole fiasco that happened with the gem was very draining."

     "He has his minions to bring him food," Yoongi tossed a bale up.

     "What does it matter? He didn't know it was me."

     "He's been a to you, just feels wrong."

     Seokjin shrugged, "I don't know, I just saw the stew in the fridge and I know he loves it."

     "I mean I get it, you don't just stop caring for someone just because you wake up one day and say so," Yoongi knew all too well, "Just wish he didn't make you feel like ."

     "It's not gonna be a habit," Seokjin threw up another bale onto the truck bed, "I know I need to move on."

     "You sure that gem thing didn't mess with anything in your brain?" Yoongi had worried that whatever Seokjin saw was pretty disturbing, "Don't want you to open an accidental portal to another dimension."

     "I have no urge to," Seokjin smirked, "Although, Namjoon said his guy concluded that had Abara been the one to touch it, there would probably be some sort of rift."

      "Do you think the vision was premonitory?"

     "Or she was instructing him to do something so she could wreak havoc in another dimension."

     "Portals are heavily regulated now," Yoongi remembered the portal Sehun was trying to open a few years ago, he got in serious trouble with the vampire council and was pretty much banished for his part in Amelia trying to murder her husband. "Abara should be guarded, no telling what Joy will pull next."

     "Apparently he is good with clone magic."

     "Oh holy hell, no, nothing could go wrong there," Yoongi bemoaned, "Clones are not the smartest, nor do they always obey their caster."

     Seokjin snickered, "Holy hell indeed."

 

      Jungkook was emptying his pockets in the laundry room, he had put off laundry day for a bit too long and was low on clothes. He pulled a twenty dollar bill from a pair of jeans and smirked, "Sweet, I'm not poor today." He also pulled out a couple of ticket stubs, an unused salt packet, three gum wrappers, and one crumpled-up letter, "Oh ."

      He forgot that he had pocketed Yoongi's letter in the whole stealing back his necklace plan. You should give that back. Yeah sure, hey Yoongi, oops accidentally stole one of your doctor's notes while I was breaking into your cabin.  He unwrinkled it and looked at the letterhead, Dr. Saba, hematologist, "Blood doctor?" Test results... for what? No, you can't read it, it's an invasion of privacy. Who cares? It's Yoongi, what if he has some sort of infectious disease and Seokjin catches it? Still, none of your business. Ugh, maybe just a peek.

     "Jungkook?" Hoseok called down the hall.

     "," Jungkook stuffed the letter back into his pocket, returning his attention