The True Alpha: Invictus // jjk

01: The Pack

It seemed like an odd dream to Jinsang. Many days and nights, he spent sitting on a rock, on the lower level of the cave, staring in amazement at the pack. The multitude of people and life that had arrived there over the course of days and continuously kept on growing with each passing moment. The pack that had once been there, the pack that had initiated it all for him, had returned in his eyes; far bigger, far greater and stronger than it was before. Honestly, Jinsang often found himself walking rather nostalgically around the place. His youth and life had been spent there, in that pack, the pack that had died and vanished in front of his eyes. And now, luckily, he was there too, watching it rebuilt itself, rising from the ashes, growing taller and spreading further than he ever imagined it could. Often, his eyes would search for the True Alpha; he'd smile, gently, fondly at him from afar. He would remember the days he had spent by his side, advising him, helping him sort out his thoughts, planning and managing the growing pack of the past. Yet, by his side, no longer he walked. Time had drifted them apart, even if they both were still in the same timeline. By the True Alpha's side, his 6 betas marched; taking the place that once was Jinsang's and offering more to Jungkook than the old man could. Strangely though, Jinsang found no difference between the Jungkook and Hani from the past and the couple that stood in front of him. Surely, individually time had moulded them and changed them – it was notorious how pain had scarred them. Yet, or so it seemed that when together, their Love, their bond had never been damaged, hurt, or changed by time and pain.

In the months that had gone by, the cave had changed drastically. The group that had followed the True Alpha and the Luna back there – to that place they called home – had settled in. Now, the pack extended itself far out of the cave; widening and stretching into the surrounding woods, replacing the dense vegetation and somber silence with houses and noise. All the different individual packs still kept their communities and attentively, Jungkook, The True Alpha, watched them all mingle and interact with one another; step by step approaching one homogenous pack – his. However, as expected, time and space had severed the loyalty and trust of some towards Jungkook. There was still a few of them who doubted him, especially the Alphas previously in charge of these packs. And so, Jungkook, more than ever, felt that he had to regain their trust, their loyalty, the wolf they all claimed to follow blindly, before he died.

It was not easy. Often, he found himself debating and rethinking the way he was currently managing the pack. His nights were rather sleepless; his thoughts and plans didn't come with a brake. Instead, they ran and ran, ran and ran all night inside his head. Despite it all, Jungkook and Hani were fine, the pack was fine and it seemed that life had not been harsh to them recently. It felt like the past months had been somewhat a merciful vacation that the universe and fate were giving to them. However, things weren't perfect either. The warm breeze could not erase the harsh winter wind that had scarred them both.

Fai's absence and the pain that came with losing him for the second time was prominent in their hearts, in the walls that supported the cabin. Every place, every object, every monotonous, nonchalant activity reminded them of him. The room that they had prepared for him was locked; it stayed like that the whole day, the week. If the door happened to be unlocked, then, it was because one of them remained inside, dwelling on all the memories and plans of future that they had made for the boy. 

That morning, as Jungkook sleepily searched for his mate throughout the house, his feet halted in front of that door. It was slightly opened; it creaked, swaying alongside the June breeze. Hesitantly, Jungkook approached it; his fingers, shaky and cold, grabbed the doorknob and gently, he opened it a bit more. Inside the room that was decorated by all sorts of toys, of all different shapes and sizes and had an easel leaned against the wall with a big bright red box under it, filled to the brim with pencils and pens; Hani was laid down on the floor. She slept peacefully. Yet, for the Alpha, there was nothing peaceful in the image that stood in front of him – a broke, barely functioning expectation of a family. Jungkook's heart twisted on itself; testing and threatening to break the stitches that tied the two halves of his heart together. Abruptly, he turned around and marched back to their room. Then, when he returned, reluctantly, he entered Fai's room. Each step was harder than the last one. Gently, without waking up the tired girl, Jungkook lifted Hani up and placed her head on a pillow. A blanket he rested on her body, shielding the girl from any incoming shiver or cold. And still, as if the world enjoyed and rejoiced in causing him pain, the strands of Hani's hair moved; revealing the tear-stained cheeks that painted her. He got up to leave. Lately, he had learned that drowning himself in work and in the war that approached with each passing day, was a better distraction – the most effective one – of his own pain and grief. Yet, as he stared at her and as his mind pictured her crying by herself in that room as the night progressed, away from his embrace and comfort; Jungkook grew brave. For the first time, he stayed in that room. Tenderly, he joined her under the blanket; circled his arms around her body and with his cheek pressed on hers, silently, Jungkook wept.