The morning's sun bore down relentlessly on Seokjin as he lay in the sand. The heat had dried his clothing which had been soaked from the tide that he had collapsed in the night before, but it did not remove the sand that was plastered to his face.

      "." He sat up, spitting out the granules from his mouth as he shielded his eyes from the overpowering rays. He studied the landscape, rising slowly to take in the yellowed horizon that was stretched out before him welcoming the new day. Too damn bright.

     Seokjin shut the blinds and slumped down on Yoongi's couch. His head was pounding so hard he swore there was a rock concert going on in his brain, even the birds outside chirping out about the morning sun was almost unbearable. The house was empty, he had searched briefly for Yoongi when he got back, but he was nowhere in the house or on the grounds. Seokjin felt it was probably for the better, he was sure that Yoongi wouldn't be pleased and would try to convince him this was all because of Cato taking up a small part of his existence and he had no other good god-damned reason to feel this way about him. Seokjin rolled his eyes. Ugh.

     This was a convoluted mess.

     Meanwhile, back at the castle, Jungkook was sprawled out on his floor in the same spot he fell the night before, his eyes were open, but he was still unconscious. Taehyung had managed to turn him over and was now running his hand in front of the younger's face, but Jungkook did not move or blink.

     "What the hell is this?" Taehyung looked up at Jimin. 

     "I don't know," Jimin shrugged.

     "Go find Hoseok."

     Jimin nodded and floated off out the door. Taehyung felt Jungkook's head for a temperature, but he was chilly to the touch. He then listened against his chest to make sure that his heart was beating correctly and he hadn't somehow been petrified by an evil spirit. His heart was strong, it definitely was not a spirit, "Hang in there buddy."

     Hoseok came up moments later, bending down to check Jungkook's pulse.

     "Peculiar," Hoseok looked into the younger's nose and then opened his mouth to peer inside, finally checking his ears to make sure nothing had lodged itself in his body and was controlling him. 

     "What's wrong with him?" Jimin asked as he floated through the floor and hovered just above Jungkook's body.

     "I dunno." Hoseok peered up at Taehyung, "Help me get him to the lab," He stood and turned to Jimin, "Find Namjoon for me, bring him down."

     Jimin nodded and once again floated off. Taehyung scooped Jungkook up in his arms and Hoseok helped guide him through the door and down to the lab. He set him down on the lab table and backed up, watching as Hoseok checked his eyes with a small flashlight, his pupils did not dilate.

     "I think it's some sort of coma," Hoseok was genuinely baffled.

     "A coma?" Taehyung scratched his head, "How is he in a coma?"

     "I dunno that either."

     Namjoon strode into the lab followed by Jimin.

     "What happened?" Namjoon leaned down to inspect Jungkook, touching his cheek, "He's cold."

     "He's showing clear signs of a coma," Hoseok pointed out.

     "We don't know what happened," Taehyung added.

     "I do," Sebastian popped into the room and they all jumped back, alarmed.

     "What the -" Jimin exclaimed, hating Sebastian's lousy habit of popping in unexpectedly. That was his job.

     "Sebastian?!" Namjoon called out, recognizing him at once. He hadn't seen Noni's son in.... well, in ages.

     "Seokjin attempted to break the bond last night-"

      "Why would he do that?" Taehyung piped in.

      "I can only speculate at this time," Sebastian reached down and held his hand over Jungkook's eyes. He mumbled an incantation, then removed his hand, "He'll be okay in a couple of hours."

     Hoseok noticed that the younger's breathing began to even out, "Attempted broken bond makes sense."

     "Only attempted?" Namjoon inquired, not worrying at the moment how Sebastian came to know about this and how serious this all was if a member of the Preservation Squad was involved.

     "Breaking a bond takes a great amount of strength and both parties have to be willing," Sebastian looked down at Jungkook, "I suspect Jungkook fought it and that's how he ended up in this state."

     "You need to get a hold of Yoongi and find out what the hell is going on," Hoseok urged, turning to Namjoon.

     Namjoon sighed as he pulled out his phone, "Yeah."

     Yoongi was seconds away from stepping into his house when his cell rang. He stopped midway through turning the handle and looked down at the screen, he saw Namjoon's name pop up and answered, "Namjoon, what's wrong?"

     "I should ask you that," Namjoon's voice seemed urgent, "Did something happen with Seokjin last night?"

     "What do you mean?" Yoongi leaned against the wall of the house, closing his eyes. If you tell him, he's going to be mad. 

     "Did he do something that would cause Jungkook to go into a coma over an attempted broken bond?"

     "What the ..." Yoongi's words broke off, he opened his eyes and scrunched up his face, distraught. Seokjin, you stupid .

     "Yoongi... What happened?"

     Yoongi struggled to form words... "I tried Namjoon, I really did-"

     "You ed him?" Namjoon was livid, he rarely resorted to vulgar language.

     Taehyung looked up at Namjoon, his face dropped. He slumped down onto the stool disheartened, he felt Hoseok's hand squeeze his shoulder.

     "Now is not the time to be quiet, Yoongi-" Namjoon complained, pacing the floor.

     "I didn't know he'd try to break the ing bond, okay," Yoongi yelled back.

     "How exactly did you think this would be helping him?"

     "You know what, you, you act like I did this all myself," Yoongi hung up his phone.

     "Jesus Christ," Namjoon had to clench his fists to suppress his anger.

      Yoongi threw his phone, "ing ."

      He shook his head, angry. He knew he'd get blamed for this whole thing. He was sure the majority of them thought that was his plan all along. Wasn't it though? You couldn't control yourself, you let it happen. You wanted it to happen. The loud rumble of a missing muffler jolted him from his contemplations as a car drove past.

     , my phone. He lumbered over and grabbed his phone from the bushes across the street. He glared at the cracked screen, his jaw clenching. You're not helping Seokjin, you're playing into Cato's ploy... you're gonna be the reason Cato takes him over if you keep this up. He pocketed the phone and trudged back to his house, pissed off. He reached for the door handle, about to turn it when Seokjin swung the door open. Yoongi stopped, studying the expression on Seokjin's face, something in him snapped. He drew his hand back and using all his body weight, he plowed Seokjin right in the face. Seokjin flew backward, his head bounced off the floor with a thud as he grabbed his broken nose.

     "This is your ing fault," Yoongi raged.

     Seokjin could feel the blood running out of his nostrils, but he didn't move, he just held his hand cupped to his nose and stared at the ceiling. Yoongi walked over and stared down at him.

     "Feel better now?" Seokjin pinched his nose closed, glaring at Yoongi through watery eyes.

    "Do you know what breaking a bond does to the other person?" Yoongi held out his hand. Seokjin grabbed it and stumbled up, Yoongi helped him over to the couch and then pushed him down, thumping down next to him.

    "What are you talking about?" Seokjin lifted off his shirt and pressed the fabric to his nose.

     "You tried to break your bond with Jungkook last night," Yoongi looked at the cut on his knuckles from hitting Seokjin, it began to heal over as he flexed his fist open and closed.

     "I didn't try to break ," Seokjin looked over at him, "I passed out on the beach last night after a panic attack."

     "Well then Cato did, you put Jungkook in a coma," Yoongi shook his head, this was too much even for Yoongi to bear and he didn't even like the kid.

     Seokjin felt nauseous but he didn't react, "He'll be okay."

      "What the is wrong with you?" Yoongi eyed Seokjin in disbelief, "You really want to do this to him?"

     "I already did." Seokjin threw his shirt down on the table and laid his head back, "What's done is done."

     "You really are too far gone," Yoongi scoffed as he stood and tromped from the room.

     Hours later, Taehyung and Hoseok were sitting at the counter in the lab, a touch-screen tablet in front of them, working on a set of plans for a device that would catch the tunnel creature so they could move it, they weren't sure if Seokjin was going to help them at this point, so they had to have a plan B.

     "What are we supposed to tell him when he wakes up?" Taehyung glanced over at Jungkook still asleep on the table.

     "I don't know." Hoseok set his stylus down and took a deep breath, "I'm sure he knows what was happening with the bond thing."

     "But I don't think he knows that Yoongi and Seokjin-"

    "Yoongi and Seokjin what?" Jungkook's head was raised and he was staring at them.

     Hoseok and Taehyung shot each other some wide-eyed, 'oh ' glances and then glared back down at their device on the tablet screen.

     "You tell him," Hoseok whispered.

     " no," Taehyung whispered back.

    Jungkook slid off the table, rubbing his temples, his head was hurting something terrible and he felt dizzy, "What did he do?"

     "Jungkook, you shouldn't move-" Taehyung warned, but Jungkook wobbled over to them and leaned his hands on the back of Hoseok's chair for support, "Or just move, it's cool..."

     Hoseok put his stylus down again, "You should sit," Hoseok stood and offered his chair, exchanging glances with Taehyung.

     "I don't wanna sit, I wanna know what the is going on," Jungkook's eyebrow twitched, the frustration was turning to anger too fast.

     Hoseok sunk back down in his seat, "He tried to break the bond-"

     "I know that," Jungkook looked down at him, his face became flushed, "Why?"

     Taehyung felt bad, when he heard the news, he was shocked more than anything, but the hurt crept in soon after. He wasn't bonded to Yoongi and he certainly wasn't madly in love with him, even so, it still stung hearing the news. He knew Jungkook wasn't going to handle it well.

     "Yoongi and I broke up," Taehyung thought maybe a little detour in words could lighten the blow.

     "That , I'm sorry," Jungkook looked apologetic for a moment before realizing they had said Yoongi and Seokjin had done 'something', "Why did you break up?"

     "Jungkook, I don't know how to say it-"

     Jungkook's face sunk, he knew what Taehyung couldn't say, he knew it since last night when he felt Seokjin trying to pull away from him. He felt nauseous now, he looked at Taehyung, dread taking over, "Just say it."

     "Seokjin and Yoongi were... together," Taehyung enunciated the 'together' with a lude hand gesture, immediately regretting his use of signals.

     Jungkook grimaced, "So they fu-" He closed his eyes and cracked his neck, staring back down at his saddened friend, why did I make Taehyung say it? "They ed?"

     Taehyung couldn't speak, he just nodded and gave Jungkook a sympathetic look, "I'm sorry."

     Jungkook shrugged, he wasn't about to show them how aggrieved he was.

     "Are you gonna be okay?"

     "I knew it would happen," He said flatly, focusing on the floor. He had to keep it together, he was sick of breaking down in front of people, even though on the inside he felt like he was about to puke up the entire contents of his stomach, "I'll be in the weight room if anyone needs me."

     "Okay," Taehyung knew he shouldn't be working out right now, but he wasn't going to tell Jungkook he shouldn't, not when he knew the younger had to release some pent-up emotions.

     Jungkook wandered into the weight room, a lost soul. He slammed the door shut and broke down, succumbing to his emotions after the whirlwind limbo he was stuck in for over a week. His heart was breaking and there wasn't a ing thing he could do about it. The one person he needed right now, the one person he could go to when he was upset was the person that had made him feel this way. He slid down the door and slumped onto the floor, leaning the back of his head against the door, trying to regulate his breathing before he hyperventilated. His chest hurt, his head hurt, his whole being was in anguish. Jungkook ran his fingers through his hair, defeated, letting the tears stream down his face and moisten his shirt, he didn't care anymore.

     ...He never felt so alone in his life.

     Yoongi watched Seokjin doing pushups on the hard wooden floor, his claws scraping against the wood with each repetition. He was cursing himself at how much he was staring at Seokjin, he wanted to just kick him out and forget he existed because he didn't seem to have self-control around him. He couldn't figure out why, Seokjin was not a witch, so he wasn't casting any love spells, but he felt like he was under one. The only logical conclusion was that he genuinely was in love with him. The notion frightened him, because he knew Seokjin could never be his, and worse - it made Yoongi vulnerable to being manipulated by Cato.

     "Admit it, you like what you see," Seokjin looked up at him, smirking that Yoongi was staring at him so longingly.

     "Point?"

     "Point is, why fight it?"

     "Because this isn't you Seokjin, this is because you have an evil ing inside of you-"

     Seokjin rose to his feet, "You think this is because of Cato?"

     Seokjin situated himself in front of Yoongi, who was now leaning against the doorjamb, looking like he was straight out of an angsty Zac Efron movie.

     "I know it is," Yoongi looked out at the lake, trying to remain unfazed by the sudden closeness.

     "Maybe it was inevitable."

     "I'm not going to wish for a fairy to appear and grant me wishes, Seokjin. It's pointless. I know what's going on here."

     Seokjin grabbed Yoongi's chin and turned his head, he leaned in and kissed his lips, pausing for a moment to look into his eyes, "You can sit there and deny it all you want, but I know what you feel."

     "I am glad you're getting a sick enjoyment out of this," Yoongi pushed him away from the door and stormed out.

     "Why are you so stubborn?" Seokjin called after him.

     "Get Cato out of your head and then come back to me and say it's real, say you can give Jungkook up," Yoongi yelled back, not bothering to turn around.

     "Jungkook probably knows by now, he won't forgive me."

    Yoongi stopped and looked over his shoulder, "Well, the fact that you only want me because you've given up on Jungkook is enough to tell me not to let this happen." 

     Seokjin watched him trudge off down the lake. 

     He is a stubborn one Seokjin, you need to work harder. 

     "Why, why do you want to torture him?" Seokjin yelled at himself, knowing Cato was not going to let this go, "I am making him miserable." 

     You want this just as bad as I do, stop letting your conscience get in the way.

     Jungkook's recklessness almost cost him his life twice tonight, weaving in and out of traffic while going over 100 mph down the highway was probably not a good idea