Necessary (BTS X JJK)

Chapter 55

"You're...you're what?" Jungkook felt like time was frozen. Or maybe he was frozen. Or his brain had stopped working. He wasn't even sure what was happening anymore.

"Jungkook," the elder reached out to take his hand but the omega pulled away immediately.

"You're my grandfather? But why? Why did you do that to my parents? It was so cruel. And why are you changing your mind now? It's been so long. If...if I hadn't been the supreme pack omega then..." Jungkook's mind was reeling, he could hardly put together a sentence. Was this man really his grandfather? And why was he doing this after so much time? After so much pain?

"Hobi?" the omega whispered looking to his alpha for strength. "What is happening?"

"I don't know little one, but I think at this point we just need to listen. Do you feel ok doing that or should we come back another time? You don't have to stay if you don't want to. I can take you home right now."

Jungkook shook his head no as he wiped away his tears, sniffling in an effort to keep himself under control. "No, I want to hear." Then he continued to communicate silently. "I'm just scared."

"I know little one, I know you are but you are the strongest and bravest omega I know. Most omega's couldn't survive half of what you've been through. I promise I'll stay next to you." Hobi offered Jungkook's hand a gentle squeeze of encouragement.

Jungkook sat up straighter and looked the elder in the eye. "Tell me, why did you do it?"

The elder looked at the omega sadly. There wasn't really a nice way to tell this story. It was a truly terrible story.

"I felt I had no choice at the time. I know this will feel confusing to you but times were very different back then. The community was much less accepting of relationships between wolves who came from different backgrounds. My own father was an elder at the time. He made it clear to me that I had to take the role of elder after him. After all it was my birthright and pack tradition. My family had been given certain power, certain authority, and the family would not sacrifice all of that. My father told me I must banish my daughter, your mother in order to ensure our reputation and authority remained strong."

"But..." Jungkook couldn't get any additional words out. Each word of the story stung him to the core.

"My sweet grandson. I want you to know that I didn't want to banish your mother and your father. I fought with my own father for weeks on end but eventually I had to accept that his will was stronger than mine. And then, after he died and I had taken on his role and authority, I felt trapped. I couldn't end the banishment without admitting I had made a terrible mistake which would have created a huge scandal and ripped my elder position from me. In my pride I just buried that away and hoped your parents had found some way to survive and be happy. I didn't know anything about what happened to them. I didn't know about you. I didn't know anything."

At this point the elder broke into tears, feeling both the anchor of his actions and the small relief from confessing his sins.

"Why now? Just because I'm the supreme pack omega? Didn't they deserve to be restored before you found out?"

"My beautiful, loving grandson. You are right to ask every question you have. And for many of them I have no answer for you. Seeing you and your strength and discovering you were my grandson, I knew I had to do something. Even though it is far too late I am going to admit my mistake and relinquish the banishment order. You never have to forgive me. Your parents never have to forgive me. But it's time for me to do the right thing even if it means humbling myself. I can only hope that someday, even if you don't forgive me, you might be able to understand how sorry I am. Truly."

Silence fell on the trio as Hobi wrapped an arm around the shaking omega. "Are you ready to go?" he finally whispered to the boy, wanting to offer him the opportunity of time and space to think through everything he'd just heard.

Jungkook nodded and without another word to the elder in front of them they rose and filed out of the room, making their way back to the rest of the pack.

The pack immediately picked up on his anguish, seeing his red rimmed eyes as he continued to try to wipe away his tears. Namjoon took the omega's cheeks in his hands, looking him over carefully. "Are you ok? Are you hurt anywhere?"

Jungkook sniffed as he shook his head no. "Can we go home?" he whispered. The sadness in his voice nearly broke Namjoon's heart but he wanted to be strong for their omega. "Of course, of course we can."

With a brief nod to the remaining elders Namjoon led the pack out of the room and to the waiting car, quickly pulling Jungkook in so he was snuggled into his side.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Namjoon asked quietly, anxious to hear what had left their omega so upset.

"No," a sad whimper came from their omega as he allowed himself to lean further into the alpha's side, burying his face in Namjoon's arm as he was wracked with sobs that shook his whole body.

"Shhh," Namjoon tried to comfort the boy. "We're all here, we're all safe. You're safe. Everything is going to be ok." The same alpha was giving Hobi a look of bewilderment, trying to figure out what could have possibly upset their omega so deeply.

"Later" Hobi mouthed to the alpha. Clearly he wasn't getting any information right away.

The omega had fallen asleep shortly after they arrived home, held in Taehyung's arms who was gently swaying side to side in an effort to calm the boy who had exhausted himself with his tears. At least his sleep seemed to bring him some temporary reprieve from his upset even if they still had no idea why their little one was so distraught.

Hobi quietly filled them in on all of the details, everything the elder had said. The pack was shocked into silence.

"Our poor baby boy, It must have been so painful to hear. I think the only thing we can do now is to assure him that he can count on us and we'll support him no matter what he wants. But if his parents are unbanished it would be good to find a way for them to come visit us soon. I'm sure our little Kookie misses them and will be glad to be one of the first to welcome them onto pack lands."

The other alphas murmured their agreement with Yoongi. They didn't know how the boy would feel after he had time to digest the news but they would support him either way.

"Joon?" Jin called to the alpha, noting he seemed to be lost in thought. "Is anything wrong?"

Namjoon shook his head to clear his thoughts. "Oh, uh, I just...well..." he trailed off, once again deep in thought.

"I feel like I need to say something. The elder that is Jungkook's grandfather. Well he is the same elder that helped us. The one that helped provide us information so we could figure out what the council was doing and who was doing it. He was the one who sent the message that it was time for us to come back. The message Jungkookie received in that letter."

"I know it doesn't change anything," Namjoon quickly clarified, "but it does seem like he really tried to help us. That in fact he truly cares about Jungkook and was willing to take some pretty significant risks to help us out, and by extension the entire wolf community."

After another pause Namjoon continued, "I don't want our omega to think he owes that man anything or he has to forgive him just because he helped us in exchange. But I also think he should know what kind of person his grandfather has become. I'm not really sure what to say."

Even then Namjoon knew he really didn't have to say anything. The quiet omega voice in his head told him everything. "I know. I hear you but I already knew. From the moment he told me he was my grandfather."