Stolen Fruit Is The Sweetest. 

"Right," Luhan exhaled as he looked over the fully inhabited room, watching as Baekhyun and Chanyeol fought.. Equally, Sehun and Kai were leant on each other as the sleep took over their bodies and Tao and Kris laid around like they were in some sort of crippling existential crisis. "We need a plan."
"Well obviously..." D.O. sarcastically offered, "But, firstly, Suho hyung and Lay hyung aren't here. Secondly, Kris hyung is dead."
"I'm not dead..."
D.O. grimaced at the lethargic response, "...Well, he might as well be dead."
Everyone crammed into the singular room darted their eyes around the room inconspicuously as D.O., yet again, pronounced one of them dead...prematurely. 
"Right... okay," Luhan tried once again, sick of always being the logical one, "It's only about three, which means, we could totally be out of here before dinner is finished." 
Tao scoffed from where he was laid across the sofa lazily. kris's damp attitude had since taken over his own practical view on things and left him equally as pessimistic. "I don't know if you've noticed Ge," Tao sarcastically remarked, "but we are surrounded by walls and manned gates."
Luhan pursed his lips, "Yes, Thank you, Tao, I had noticed." He proclaimed, returning the sarcasm the younger had dished out, "But if you used your stupid brain for a second you would remember that we have somewhat of an escape expert in our presence."
For a split second, Sehun rose his head from Kai's shoulder and looked over the room... they weren't talking about him, where they? 
Xiumin laughed, "No Sehun, not you," He proclaimed as Baekhyun joined in the laughter, "Ye," The short brunette added, "We all admire how you got banished from an entire civilisation but... you know... we're not that skilled."
Sehun narrowed his eyed in a begrudged manner, "Ha," He deadpanned as he was mocked, "Who then?"

As if light shone from the heavens and drew him up to his feet, Chen stood, "Me," He righteously proclaimed with the graciousness of only God before being pulled back down to hell by D.O.'s strong grip.
"Really?" Sehun grimaced, "No offence, Hyung, but I remember the time you got stuck in the toilets in the food warehouse." 
Kai scoffed and began to snigger, "Oh yeah~" He proclaimed, "And Baekhyun hyung had to slink through the window and simply unlock the door."
Everyone in the room - sans Kris, Tao, and Chen - graciously poked fun at the aforementioned as he tried to calm them down.
"All right, all right," Chen hushed, "It seems you've all forgotten my biggest achievement!" He proclaimed with a smug grin.
Kris sighed, "I'm sure we can count on you to remind us."

Chen's story
Area: Camp 8, Area 8 
Year: 3010 - 3013

As a child, Chen - or Kim Jongdae - had led a promising life. He had a three bedroom, detached house in camp 80, his mother and father doted on him dearly and even sent him to school three days a week. Schooling was a privilege that many were denied yet, for the three years before his 9th birthday, it was one Jongdae definitely enjoyed. 

Despite living in, admittedly, one of the superior camps in the West, Jongdae saw holes begin to open in his family life. The reason camps 75 through 85 were so pleasant was down to their location; each was a border camp, looking over to the east. In these camps, the only jobs worked by the men were guard jobs and thus the government liked to keep them motivated with modest luxury. Another advantage of spending money on such dwellings was the image it conveyed to the outside world. Th government assumed, that if the East looked over and only came across extravagant richness it would dampen moral and thus benefit the West in their military endeavours.  Obviously, the downside to this was, the sheer fact that one had to live in constant danger. 

From the balcony of the 1st floor of his home, Jongdae could peer over the barbed wire fence and see into the demilitarised zone. He always wondered what it was, in all honesty. It was just an area of wide plush grass, and as a kid, Jongdae considered it the perfect football pitch. On hot days, when there wasn't a cloud to be seen in the sky, Jongdae would sneak through the hole in his back fence and venture into the long grass of the empty plain. He would chase butterflies with no one to tell him to 'slow down' or 'get home', he would be free and smile wider than he ever knew possible. At the young age, he was, Jongdae didn't realise the danger his secret paradise posed and, somehow always returned before dinner was set on the table each night. 
That was, until one day, he just didn't.  
 

He still, to this day doesn't really remember how it happened. The last thing Jongdae remembers is chasing a big blue butterfly through the long grass of the demilitarised zone. The fluttering insect had caught his eye as he laid still in the green and couldn't help but see where it was going. The long pains of weed scratched at his thin legs yet he was too distracted to mind it and merely continued to follow the beautiful bug. Jongdae mustn't have realised how far he had wandered over the field as he lost sight of his house and strayed into a group of tall, dense trees. The child didn't think too much of losing his way, deciding he would be fine if he went back the way he came as he continued to follow.

Having entered the forest, Jongdae knew nothing but the shreds of light breaking through the dense canopy illuminating his path. He smiled widely as he spotted the crystal,  sky coloured butterfly settle on the dark bark of a thick tree trunk. Opting to see how close he could get, the young West Korean took sly steps towards the object of his admiration. Around the tree roots, the ground was permeable and allowed his steps to be quite and stealthy, Jongdae had wondered why the ground where he lived was so dry compared. 

As he was only inches away, Jongdae grinned while bringing his hands up to clasp around the fluttering angel. Ironically, the butterfly wasn't caught and the last thing Jongdae can picture is falling to the ground as his prize gracefully fly away.

At 9 years of age, waking up in a small room all alone was no doubt traumatic. Jongdae can still remember every scratch on the four walls that imprisoned him for hours on end. He was given no answers and left under the harsh, artificial light to cry. Jongdea's big brown eyes ached as he rubbed them over and over and wanted no one but his mother to come and save him. Being so young, it was impossible for him to comprehend what was going on and why he had been brought to such a callous place. Jongdae didn't know of the bad in the world, yet soon, his innocence would be stripped.

The first person that Jongdae saw in the East - the East who had kidnapped him - was a man of medium stance. He had a cute face yet a stern gaze with thin eyes. This confused Jongdae greatly and deterred him from exiting the corner he had huddled in within the room. The concrete flaw was freezing, no doubt, and the air was stuffy, but Chen wouldn't move... not yet. 

"May I ask your name?" The man has started coldly as he sat down before the large desk in the centre of the room. Jongdae would later remember this to be an interrogation room. At first, he had said nothing, yet as the man's gaze met his eyes, Jongdae decided it was better for him to do as he was told. 
"Uh..." He stuttered, "Kim Jongdae."
The small man behind the desk nodded and smiled a little as he wrote on the paper. Jongdae couldn't help but smirk a little too and he noticed how, like his own, the man's smile made it all the way up to his eyes. 
"Okay," The other in the room beckoned, "Could you come and sit at this table with me, Jongdae-ssi?" I have a couple of questions for you.
Whether or not it was the right decision, Jongdae obliged and took a seat. This situation would become very familiar to him in his time in the East. Jongdae would get used to harsh artificial light, and have all his conversations recorded. Most of all, he would grow accustomed to the company of his interviewer... 
That took a while, though.

"Alright, Jongdae," The man opposite him had declared in their first ever meeting. "I reckon we should go straight ahead and get that name of your's wiped."
Jongdae had frowned at the prospect; he was tired, lost and scared, his clothes were smelly and his hair itched. Anyone could see that the child was in despair but it seemed to not matter as the man before him grew restless. 
"The sooner you oblige the sooner we can get you clean clothes and food," He assured, his eye smile returning as he opted to drop his harsh tone, "I promise."
Chen nodded, furrowing his brow nonetheless. "Why do I have to change my name?" He inquired, wondering what sort of place he was.
"It's for your own safety." The eastern male told, "It's better you start your new life by cutting all ties to the West."

Jongdae didn't want a new life.

"So, how about you pick?" The elder asked, "I've got a couple of options here, which do you like?"
Jongdae shrugged as he looked through the list presented, having gone to school, he could read yet not that fast so deciding took a while. "I don't know," He pouted as he scoured the names once more, "Did you change your name?" The child poked, wondering if he was alone on this or not.
The other pursed his lips, "Shall I?" He offered, "Would it help you if we did it together?"
Jongdae nodded very surly, as he looked the list through one more time before making a decision, "I like Chen." He confirmed after remembering that it meant 'star' in Chinese.  
That was cool, right?
"It means star." He later told the other who seemed to approve of this selection.
"Then I'll be 'Hoshi'" The other added, nodding to the kid who seemed reassured somehow. "It means star, too."

Maybe that's where the bond started.
Maybe said bond salvaged what was left of Jongdae's - No Chen's -childhood. 

For his time on the other side of the border, Chen had a very important job... well... kind of, it was more of a duty than a job. He started out having weekly meetings with 'Hoshi' about what went on over the border. Chen wasn't trained not to tell; he was a child, thus getting information out of him was much easier than it would be coaxing words from a soldier. Chen later decided that's why they asked kids; kids didn't lie like adults did.
Hoshi asked all sorts of boring and useless things, he inquired about Chen's stupid schooling and about what sort of things they stocked in the supermarket. Chen decided that this was a punishment of some sort as talking about his camp for multiple hours a week was the worse. There wasn't anything to say after a couple of months yet Hoshi would probe further and further insisting that Chen was valuable to the regime. 

Chen never felt that valuable as, at the end of the day, he would go home to an empty dorm. Other kids his age lived with him, they seemed to be orphans, all of which were from the West too. Chen felt nothing but alone for the years he spent surrounded by others in that room. He had no one to call his own and wasn't loved by a mother or father. Hoshi was pleasant, and maybe they bonded over the times that the East Korean through their work out the window and just joked freely.  In fact, Hoshi was the only escape Chen was ever granted and really... he meant the world to the younger. 

As a 10-year-old boy, Chen realised that Hoshi wasn't that much older than him... maybe 6 years? He still attended the school on the base where the Western children were kept along with some other Easterns who were employed in the camp. Chen first noticed his 'mentor' at his school in his 4th year, the classes were small so a single school held kids from 6 to 16. Hoshi was in his last year at this point and Chen thought it strange that someone like that was doing the work of an adult. 

It seemed that all the adults did absolutely nothing, only taught and policed the state. On the flip side, Chen didn't really see many people surpassing the age of 30 and thought that this might have something to do with the young workforce. One day, in the summer of his 6th year, Chen would ask.

"Hoshi hyung!" He called as he knocked and then strode into the elder's office. It had been three years now so all formalities were lost between the pair. "You asked for me?" He groaned as he sat down on the spinning chair in Hoshi's new office. The place was much brighter than their usual 'interrogation room' so Chen had little qualms yet couldn't say it was nice. 
In fact... it was horrible. 
Everything in here was brown, from the desk to the lamp shade, from the floor to the little name plaque that read 'Kwon Soonyoung - head of international affairs'. 
Chen grimaced as he read the words, "You... have a new Job?" He asked, still spinning on the brown, leather chair as Hoshi put down his pen and nodded regretfully. "I can't look after you anymore." He admitted, "I got promoted... but I'll still be around."
Chen pursed