Pearl’s POV

I could feel the excruciating pain in my feet as my sister and I ran through the cold and wet forest barefooted. The sticks and roots on the ground giving us more and more scratches on our feet. My long brown hair in knots, my body sticky and sweaty. Hunger and exhaustion coursed through my entire body. We’ve been on the run for about six hours straight. Not even pausing for a short break. 

My mind kept telling me to keep running, but my body told me otherwise. I was slowing down. Scarlet grabbed my hand telling me with her eyes to keep running. I could tell that she was equally exhausted. Allowing my older sister to pull me, we suddenly found ourselves falling. Lower and lower into the darkness.  I heard a short shout of pain and then I out...

Scarlet’s POV

I awoke from the faint smell of medicinal herbs. I panicked as realization struck me and I remembered what happened to us. I sat up immediately and frantically looked around to find my sister and found her lying next to me. I shook her awake and she groggily rubbed her eyelids. She winced a little from the scratches on her legs, she could never take pain very well. We looked around and saw an old man around 35 walking towards us while carrying two bowls.

I raised my arm and held it out in front of my sister. "What do you want?" I asked suspiciously. The man placed the bowls on the tables next to the bed we were on and said, “Do not be afraid of me, I mean the both of you no harm. What are your names?”

I looked at him suspiciously and looked back at my sister to get her consent. She nodded her head and I replied, "I'm Scarlet and this is my sister, Pearl." I pointed towards her with my finger. The man introduced himself and informed us that his name was Songyeol.

"Why were the both of you in my trap?" questioned Songyeol with his deep whale-like voice."Erm…." "We were running away from our abusive father," my sister replied on the verge of tears. "I see, that explains the many bruises on your body… Well since you probably can't go back anymore, would you like to stay with me?" "Yes!" I told him eagerly. "Okay, but first, I think you should know that I run a assassin business, do you trust me enough to live in an murderers house?" "If you were kind enough to bandage and feed us, I think that you are not that bad," I stated.

"Well then, welcome to my house. There are a few more others like you two outside, be nice to them." Songyeol warned. 

Pearl’s POV

Songyeol opened the door and six boys came stumbling inside the cottage. They stood by the fireplace and laughed sheepishly. *Where did they come from?*

“Girls, these are the other people you’ll be training with.”

“What training?” I asked dubiously.

“Well, I’m running an assassin business! I need young and fresh assassin-” 

“I’ll do it.” my sister agreed readily. I looked at my other sister with unsure eyes.

“I’ll do it too…” I murmured.

“Wonderful! Now let the boys introduce themselves.” He gave a little clap.

The first boy said in a deep voice without a smile, “I’m Yongguk, 12 years old. Nice to meet you.”

The second boy muttered, “I’m Himchan… 12 years old…”

The third said in a cheerful voice with a kind smile, “I’m Daehyun! I just turned 11! Let’s be great friends!”

The forth said with a small smile, “ Youngjae. Age 10.”

The fifth boy went over and gave Scarlet’s hand a little kiss. He said, “Good evening ladies! I’m Jongup! Age 9. And what’s your name, fine lady?” Jongup asked, addressing Scarlet.

“I’m Scarlet, age 9. Nice to meet you, Jongup.” Scarlet said without emotion and rudely snatched her hand away.

The last boy blushed a little before saying in a really fast voice, “I’m Zelo! I turned 8 this year! Both of you are pretty!” 

I finally said in a cheerful voice, “I’m Pearl. I turned 8 this year too!” 

“Now go have some bonding time with them, training starts tomorrow.” Songyeol told us.

Yongguk’s POV

*What’s with them? One of them is so happy and cheerful and the other is so unhappy.

Jongup’s POV

*Wow! She’s pretty! And her name is too! I wonder why she’s so moody. Well, master did find them in his trap… I wonder why they ran away?*

Scarlet’s POV

I followed the boys to the backyard. “So, how do we bond?” Zelo asked innocently. “Weeeeell-” Jongup started. “Don’t even think about that.” Yongguk slapped him in the back of his head. I couldn’t help but smile a little when I saw the funny scene between them. “SHE SMILED! SHE SHOWED EMOTION!” Daehyun pointed out and started hopping up and down. “Sheesh! Stop embarrassing yourself!” Himchan spoke in an irritated voice. 

“Do you all wanna play Ice and Freeze?” Pearl asked. “Ice and Freeze? What’s Ice and Freeze?” Zelo questioned. My sister and I immediately burst into laughter. “What’s so funny?” the maknae pouted. “You..don’t…know what’s that?” I asked in between fits of laughter. Zelo could only shake his head. “Well… It’s a game where a person will be the catcher and the others will run away from the catcher. If the catcher touches you, you’ll have to freeze and wait for the other runners to tap you ‘back to life’. If all the runners are ‘frozen’ the catcher wins the game!” Pearl concluded in one breath. “Okay! Let’s play that!” Yongjae said.

For the first round, I was the catcher. I had to count up to thirty before I could run and start catching. *Hehe.. It’s so easy catching them. Idiots don’t know what they’re up against* I smiled wickedly.

*Hehe~ Found you Yongguk~* I snuck up behind him and poked his cheek, “caught you~” “AH!” he let a cry of shock. “Not so tough now huh?” I said sarcastically. I dragged him to middle of the backyard so I could keep an eye on him.

Pearl’s POV

Zelo and I are still running and hiding from Scarlet. We were now crouching behind a tall bush. *Dammit… she had already caught the others. She must be after the two of us now.* Zelo whispered, “Where is Scarlet noona?” I shrugged my shoulders in reply. Suddenly, my sister appeared out of nowhere. I screamed in shock, telling Zelo to run while my sister dragged me to the middle of the backyard where the others were and continued searching for Zelo. A while later, a loud THUMP could be heard. Apparently, my older sister had tackled poor Zelo to the ground.

After the first game, the boys had made sure my sister was not the catcher EVER and rotated being catchers and continued the games till the evening.

Scarlet’s POV

Before we went to sleep, the boys pulled us to the backyard again and wanted us to play truth or dare with them. The bottle turned to me first and Jongup immediately asked me why we were in the trap. When the light in my eyes disappeared, the boys knew that they had asked something VERY personal. Pearl shouted in rage, “You guys only wanted to play Truth or Dare with us to learn our past?!” The boys hung their heads in guilt and nodded. 

No One’s POV

Scarlet walked away into the house without saying anything.“Look what you did?!” Pearl hissed. She went up to talk to her sister while the boys just looked at her dumbfounded; they had never seen her like that before.

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The boys immediately hit Jongup’s head when Pearl and Scarlet was out of sight. “See what you’ve done?” Youngjae said. “Why are you so insensitive?” Daehyun demanded. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know they’ll react that way!” Jongup defended himself. “Now Pearl’s angry…” Zelo murmured. “Don’t ask about their past till they’re ready to tell us themselves.” Yongguk told them sternly.

Pearl’s POV

I ran up into our new cozy room and saw Scarlet sitting by the window, looking at the bright moon. I sat beside her and gave her a tight hug. We both started sobbing, thinking about our past and what our future had in store for us. But we had the same thoughts in our head; revenge.