Taehyung and Jimin were enjoying the fact that Jimin had his body back, though Jimin still had the inclination to do mischief, it wasn't so easy when you weren't a ghost. He forgot at least twice that he couldn't pass through walls anymore. The worst of it was when he ran straight into one at full speed while chasing Taehyung, nearly breaking his nose and leaving a full body imprint on the kitchen wall. Hoseok said he was going to leave it there so it could remind him of what a he was that day. Jimin swore he would fix it just to spite the crotchety old witch, but he realized he knew nothing about home repair and cared nothing to learn. On the upside, the pesky brothers took it upon themselves to cheer up Jungkook, to remind him that not everything in life has to be a huge dramatic cryfest. Jungkook was grateful they liked to distract him, he really missed Seokjin, especially since he knew the elder was hurting, but he had to be sure not to rush back into this, he wanted Seokjin to know that what he did was not okay. The brothers being there for him made that a little easier to deal with.

     Seokjin didn't have anyone to distract him, Yoongi was still avoiding him, making it painfully obvious that he was quite perturbed with him, his mood swings were on full display, with no effort to mask his emotions. Seokjin didn't have much of a connection with anyone else, he helped Hoseok a few times with some experiment stuff, but other than that, the elder spent most of his days working out or driving around. Cato may have left his body, but most of his power was still there and with all that extra energy, it was a must to work it off. Seokjin felt amazing, stronger than ever; physically he was perfect. Mentally though... he wanted to die.

     Namjoon insisted that they all eat together as a pack that night, paying no heed to the groans and complaints from the peanut gallery. He quelled the uprising by giving them all a quest for the day;

     Hoseok was in charge of getting the meat, Taehyung and Jimin had maintained that they help, and the three of them chased around pigs all day. Hoseok was 98% sure that they just wanted to occupy themselves so as not to have to set the table with the good china that Noni had well hidden in the cabinets in the kitchen because, for some reason, old women liked to collect it, and rarely eat on it. Jimin suggested several times that they should have just gone to the 'meat farm' and purchased the damn pigs, already neatly cut and packed. Hoseok insisted it was good for their animal instincts to 'hunt' every so often.

     Jungkook was put in charge of dessert, Namjoon didn't really care if he made it or bought it, he just wanted to see the table adorned with at least two pies and one very specific cherry chocolate cheesecake. The younger had decided on the latter and trudged into town, hitting up the bakery and supermarket, then having to head two towns over for the cheesecake. As it turned out, Groverfield was famous for their cherry chocolate cheesecakes and Jungkook was quite sure that Namjoon knew that.

     Seokjin was to make the side dishes. He settled on mashed red potatoes, a green bean and pea medley, and beer-battered deep-fried mushrooms. He knew he got a bit carried away with it, but the cooking kept his mind off of things he much rather not think about for a short time.

     Namjoon and Harley decided to dust down and de-critter the formal dining room, it was a room that was barely used and only on special occasions which probably happened twice a century, and consequently, maybe the last time this place had seen a thorough cleaning. Namjoon had shown Harley what happens when you let the dust bunnies (or in this case monsters) get out of hand. She was having quite a fun time tackling the job with her newly found powers.

     Yoongi's job was alcohol, which meant raiding the wine cellar of Cato's estate. The process was quite an ordeal, considering that the estate was still very much haunted and a bit pissed off at the intrusion of an agitated white-haired vampire that kept cussing out loud at how the house and whatever the was stalking him should not so kindly just off.

     At half-past seven, the eight of them sat down for dinner, having gone with the mild formal attire idea Harley suggested. Since she had never even had a chance to wear a pretty dress... or have a dinner party for that matter, they were happy to oblige. She insisted all the men wear button-down shirts with a nice tie and dress pants. Taehyung voiced several times that the tie was very uncomfortable and he might die of strangulation. The night was a tad awkward, what with half the members having had history together. 'Ahem', ual history to be exact, and with half of them not talking to each other. Seokjin was unusually quiet and mostly just concentrated on his plate, picking at his food while the rest of them talked.

     Harley demonstrated several times how she could transfer into her small fairy onyx self and Jimin got quite a kick out of it.

     "Can you turn into a werewolf again?" She asked Jimin leaning her head on the back of her hand, elbows on the table to spite the etiquette she was forced to learn when she was five, looking at him like he was the best thing since late-night deer hunting.

     Jimin's eyes popped out of his head, "Yes. Oh my god, yes."

     "Just don't do it at the table," Hoseok frowned.

     "Aha, no, I'll come find you later," Jimin smirked, throwing a pea at Hoseok.

     "Hey!" Hoseok whined picking it off his shirt, "What the hell?" 

     "Sorry, old habits," Jimin chuckled and they all stifled some laughter.

     Jungkook glanced over at Seokjin, the elder appeared to be lost in his own world. His eyes were fixated on his plate, deep in thought, paying no mind to the conversation that was happening around him. Jungkook averted his gaze, feeling somewhat guilty that he was having a decent time and Seokjin was so miserable. He then noticed that Yoongi kept sneaking peeks at Seokjin, as if there was something the bastard longed to convey, yet hesitated to express.

     "So, is the council done grilling you?" Taehyung asked, slurping down some of the steak juices and getting a smack from Hoseok, who was on his last nerve with these brothers.

     "Yoosun cooperated with the spell for his freedom, no telling where he's gonna go now," Namjoon answered. The sound of a fork handle snapping made them all turn their attention to Seokjin. The elder calmly set down the broken fork and stood.

     "I'm going for a walk," Seokjin announced, his focus lingering on the unfortunate utensil. He then pushed his chair away with the back of his legs and headed out of the room.

     Jungkook pondered for a moment, then threw his napkin down, excused himself, and went after the elder. He caught up with him just as he was about to open the door.

     "Seokjin, wait-" Jungkook placed his hand on Seokjin's shoulder, turning him around.

     "I'm okay, I just need air." Seokjin couldn't bring himself to look at Jungkook, it hurt too much.

     "I miss you," Jungkook blurted out, almost immediately regretting it when Seokjin locked eyes with him.

     Seokjin couldn't bear it, he turned away, feeling the heavy weight of dismay in Jungkook's expression. With a quick movement, he flung open the door, ready to escape into the night... but his path was blocked by Yoosun, who was standing there, hand extended, poised to knock. Seokjin's face flushed red with rage, having to restrain himself from throttling his father into non-existence.

     "What the hell are you doing here?" Seokjin seethed and Jungkook could feel the heat coming off of him.

     "Is that any way to greet me Seokjin, I'm still your father," Yoosun pushed his son aside and stepped over the threshold, closing the door, "We need to talk."

      "I have nothing to say to you," Seokjin hissed and went to turn around, but Yoosun stopped him, grabbing his arm, only to have Seokjin yank it back just as fast.  Seokjin grabbed his dear, old, back from the never-dead dad by his collar and was seconds away from socking him one, when Namjoon came into the room.

     "Don't do it, Seokjin, he's protected by the council at the moment, he'd have you arrested if you lay a hand on him," Namjoon spat, annoyed that the piece of got off so easily.

      Seokjin blinked, unsure of what he just heard, "What?"

     "You'd do best to hear me out," Yoosun removed the fabric of his shirt from Seokjin's grasp and straightened out the wrinkles.

     "Leave." Seokjin raised his voice and Jungkook tensed up, his tone was alarming, "Nothing you have to say is anything I want to hear."

     Yoongi and Hoseok came into the doorway. Yoongi completely lost it, he rushed straight over and decked the traitor, watching as Yoosun hit the floor with a thud, he grabbed his mouth, turning to look up at the fierce vampire.

     "You son of a ," Yoongi ranted, Seokjin had to hold him back. "You ing piece of ."

     "I'll let that be a freebie," Yoosun snarled as he stood up, dabbing at his lip with the back of his hand.

     Yoongi broke free of Seokjin's hold and backed up, "Wait until the council lifts the protection," Yoongi warned, "See how much I back off then, you ing traitor."

     Seokjin stared at Yoongi a second longer than he should, almost smirking at the thought of his best friend going full rogue and taking Yoosun out, it was a fight he would pay to see. Jungkook felt a fierce pang of jealousy, not liking how Seokjin was looking at his rival.

     "There are some things we need to clear up," Yoosun glared at his son. Yoosun who was an older, much more worn and hairy version of Seokjin, it was obvious who he favored in the visual department.

     "What could you possibly have to say to me?" Seokjin scowled through elongated fangs.

     Yoosun reached into his pocket and everyone went on the defensive.

     "Woh, it's just a handkerchief." Yoosun grinned, a little too amused by the fact that they feared what he could do. He held it out to Seokjin, who just looked at his hand, not interested, "Take it, your mother wanted you to have this."

     Seokjin stared down at it as he reached out, taking it and slowly unfolding the handkerchief to reveal a small locket inside. It was the one that Amari never took off, he had always wondered what was inside of it and she always told him that one day when she was gone from this world, he would find out. He was choked up seeing it there, tarnished, lying in the silken threads of a tattered handkerchief. He took a deep breath and reached out his other hand, gently pushing the clasp and watching as it popped open in his palm. Inside was just a picture of himself as a toddler. He remembered the day that picture was taken, it was an extremely sunny day, he had to wear a baseball cap with the visor tilted down to shield his eyes from the bright sunlight and his mother kept fussing at him to leave it on.

     "It's the day I caught my first deer..."

     "It was the day she convinced herself that the rumors were all lies," Yoosun was displeased.

     "Why?"

     "Do you know how many four-year-olds can catch a full-grown deer galloping at full speed?" Yoosun questioned and Seokjin merely shrugged, "In all of history? Two."

      "I don't understand?" Seokjin wanted to know more, but he also did not want to hear it from this man.

     "Amari feared that the prophecies could be true, that you could do the horrendous things they said would come to pass. You certainly had the strength and the drive. Not many children would attempt to chase down such a fast animal just for the sport of it." Yoosun shook his head, "But five seconds after you caught that deer, you let it go. You said there was no reason for you to take its life."

     Seokjin didn't remember what had happened to that deer, all he remembered was the rush he felt as he chased it down.

      "She knew in her heart you'd turn out okay." Yoosun harbored a great contempt for that day, "She decided from that day on, she would protect you from Cato. We went into hiding as best we could, but it's an arduous task to hide an onyx hybrid because you stand out so much."

     "But, I was at Cato's house as a kid-"

     "I had my own plans for you," Yoosun sneered, it was clear that he had a much different future in mind for his son, "He said it was okay to placate her, let her believe you were safe from being the heir."

     "So lie to her?" Seokjin fumed.

     "If you want to put a label on it," Yoosun shrugged, not caring what Seokjin thought about any of this, "She had other plans, had your memories of Cato hidden by Misae." Yoosun gawked at Jungkook, "Misae was very busy."

     Jungkook looked at Yoosun confused.

    "Misae was working against him the whole time, she was pretty crafty, had us all fooled."

     "You were working against him too, let's be real," Yoongi snapped. Yoosun gave a smug smile.

     "I tried it her way, I lived as a human, did my best to keep you away from Cato," Yoosun shrugged again, "The instinct kicks in hard. When Jacker found me through Eric, he knew he could appeal to my onyx nature and I let him, because I wanted that throne, I believed in his plan to save a species from extinction-"

     "So you could enslave them-"

     "Specifics aren't important." 

      "You're a walking bag," Yoongi didn't hold back on what he thought of Yoosun and his demented plans, "You think yourself a hero."

     "If my Father believed in me as much as he believed in Seokjin, maybe this would have all ended up differently," Yoosun shot Yoongi a dirty look.

     "Oh, boohoo," Seokjin mocked him, "All this over some daddy issues?"

     "Jacker and I made a deal, I'm not ashamed of it," Yoosun declared, "I was denied what was rightfully mine."

     "So how didn't you die?" Seokjin questioned, "I saw you burn in that fire."

     "You saw an illusion..." Yoosun placed his left palm over his right and conjured up a small ball of light, twirling it around until it started to stretch out, turning into a life-sized version of himself burning to death, complete with horrific sound effects. Seokjin's body gave an involuntary jolt, reminded of the fateful day his life had changed. The spell fizzled out and went up in a puff of smoke, "My grandmother wasn't just an onyx." Yoosun boasted, his level of magic was quite impressive, they had to admit. "Jacker thought wolfsbane would kill me, burned the house for good measure. Being a full-blown witch has its advantages."

     "So you off your son and use the werewolves as slaves?" Yoongi scorned, "Wow."

     "I deserved that throne," Yoosun screamed, "That was my legacy."

     "You didn't even believe in what Cato was doing," Seokjin spat.

     "My father and I may have had very different ideas of how to use the Lycans, but once I killed him none of that would have mattered."

     "So kill us both off and just continue on your merry way?" Seokjin scoffed, "Lie to me my whole life?"

     "Get over your 'daddy issues'," Yoosun ridiculed, "Why would it surprise you that I wouldn't have been that attached to you? I never even ing wanted you."

     "Then why did you fulfill her wish and bring this to me?" Seokjin balled up his fist, the locket inside was warm against his palm.

     "I loved her, she was my bond mate," Yoosun cleared his throat, bothered. "I didn't expect her to die. It was only supposed to be you," Yoosun clenched his jaw, "Eric's greed messed that all up."

     Seokjin felt sick, all these years he thought his father had been betrayed too, losing his life in a fire. He had mourned him, dedicating his life to seeking out his revenge on Jacker,