Souls of Seoul: The Rise and Fall | OT7

10.

The two days you wait for Perri to arrive are spent training and reading. You have developed your ability to draw power from the guys and project it out more. The crack radiating along the AstroTurf basketball court in the backyard is evidence of that development. You hadn't meant to actually damage anything, but you were frustrated and it just kind of happened. But, it did confirm the speculation that you can use the power from the bond to fight. Hobi immediately set to collecting various things to be used as targets for you to practice on.

You also have mastered being able to choose who to pull power from and how much. This revelation has made you more comfortable with training, knowing you can control it and not take too much from the guys. After you stopped the training session last night, Namjoon commented that he can feel your power already growing. He said that you have almost doubled in power since you were bonded, which was already pretty powerful. The power feels good, real good...and that scares you.

The day after you arrived back in Seoul you reached out to Philip and confirmed that the De Luna quaerenti will be arriving the day after Perri does. She's looking forward to meeting them, but they're all very nervous to be meeting the Bangtan Clan, Renee, and Ramey, plus Perri. Sai never truly introduced them to the supernatural or even superhuman world. You have agreed with everyone that you have a lot of work ahead of you when it comes to educating the hidden quaerenti.

Des impresses you yet again. His ability to connect dots and formulate hypotheses has you in awe. Something he did uncover in the new journals of Sai's has piqued your interest. You had missed it the first time going through the journal but Des had commented about how thick some of the pages were compared to the others.

Armed with a scalpel and steady hands, Des discovered that some of the pages were glued together. Tucked between the glued pages were scraps of paper with faint scrawls of writing. There are eight in total...one for each member of Bangtan. At the top of each scrap of paper, Sai penned each of your names.

The notes, for the most part, were apologies. Sai expressed his genuine distress and sorrow for knowing what would ultimately befall the Bangtan clan but how he knew, in the end, they would prevail, he had faith and love for them enough to even rival that of Beomsoo.

Your note is a little different. The apology is more for the part he played in your kidnapping and the ritual that would be performed. It's clear Sai hid these notes before all of that took place. You recall his sudden change in demeanor the night Ivar tried to perform the blood magic ritual and the surprise on his face when he first realized Ivar intended to kill Jo. Sai knew Ivar was bad, knew that he was becoming the Black Son, but he didn't know it would cost his clan mates their lives. He explained in the note that all he's ever done is try to ensure Sinda would succeed, even if it meant lying and being deceitful to the men of Bangtan. He even expressed in his note to you how he's not sure the men of Bangtan would ever forgive him, but he hopes they can at least one day maybe understand. You're not even sure you understand, but you're trying. Things are slowly starting to fall into place and make sense.

According to the whiteboards and the connections everyone has been able to make, Rey is the starting point. His visions led Beomsoo and Sai to the actions they took which ultimately is how everything has come to how it is now. They both knew they might lose their lives, but that it was necessary in order for Sinda to beat the Black Son. Another journal entry from Sai touched briefly on Rey and his sacrifice, all but confirming it's tied to the unfinished blood magic Ivar performed. That, if Rey hadn't provided the sacrifice that he did then things would have turned out a lot different...a lot more unfortunate if you can believe it. That information seemed to alleviate a small thread of stress that had been wound around the clan, something no one had really noticed was there until afterward.