Lots and lots of history of the old days were passed down generation after generation in the form of stories and tales. Some would call them tall tales and merely fables. Of course, you could imagine that much of the truth had been lost or perhaps stretched through the years of story-telling. So I wasn't sure how much of these stories were true.

I had heard great things about technology, music, and art. I wanted to believe it all. But some of the things that people had told seemed a bit far off. I refuse to believe that people could somehow be obsessed with a person who lives around the globe and doesn't even know of their existence.

Yet the visions of that Seohyun girl would appear many nights. I was glad to actually have some peace for a few days as the visions had ceased. I was finally feeling normal again.

History told of many activities and events that were enjoyed and loved by many. Performances by singers and dancers would be popular and watched by many people. Sports and games would be viewed by many people and in fact, there were different teams from different places. It was always interesting to hear of a time where the land was better and people didn't have to worry about getting their next meal. Although, of course, I never had to worry about getting a meal with Brutus around.

I was at a young age when I first heard of this different time. And because of the stories, my friends and I made a game.

As we grew up, we stopped playing it or rather I stopped playing with them. Seeing as Brutus was always trying to train me and turn me into a killing machine, I had less time to be a kid again. The game seemed pretty chaotic for little kids to come up with but we did grow up in Ira, which is as chaotic as the other colonies may say. So now, as the day of my departure was getting closer, Donghae suggested to me that we play the game again. Only this time, there were little to no rules. I tried to excuse myself from the wreck that was about to be by saying I didn't even remember how to play. That wasn't actually a total lie. It had been such a long time since I last played the hectic game and I couldn't remember everything. The guys pulled me along anyways.

When we went back to the dirt fields we used to play in, the memories started to come back as the feeling of nostalgia took place in my heart. Things seemed much simpler when we were children even though things were never simple in Ira. I could imagine that things were always simpler for any child at all, though.

Even though I was able to remember what the game was about, Eunhyuk decided to explain for me. (I smacked him in the head afterwards, finally letting him know that I already got everything down in my head)

The basic point of the game was to get more points than the other team. Because we were a group of four, it would be two versus two. We would use items to play the game. These items would be placed in different locations of the town and none of the players are supposed to know where they were hidden. That required having someone who wasn't playing to do it. Sonia happily agreed to doing it and I'm not so sure why.

After the items are hidden, the person who hid it would give us a hint of the locations before the start of the game. Once we're given the hint, each team gets ready and has a basket or bucket on their side of the dirt field to place the items. When the game begins, both teams will go into the town looking for the items. Each item is worth one point. The team with the most points wins. And there would be no possible way for a tie because we'd make sure there was an odd amount of items being used.

The losing team would have to eat what we called the "footfruit". The reason why we called it that was because it smelled like feet and it didn't taste any better. When we were kids, we found it in the wilderness one day and decided to try it. It wasn't poisonous and it didn't make us have illusions, but its taste was quite alarming. So we decided that the losing team would have to eat it all. Honestly, it's really hard to eat it without wanting to throw up terribly. I know since I have lost a few times in the game.

The rules included no hitting, no kicking, no stealing the item using foul play... Just don't be a .

But having no rules meant that we could hit if we wanted to and we could use foul play as well. I thought they were mad. A game like that could definitely ruin friendships. They still insisted on playing it so I joined in anyways.

"Don't worry, man," Kangin chuckled after I expressed my concern regarding no rules. "It makes it more fun."

During this little talk, Sonia had already left with items we gave to her and she was placing them in the town.

"Plus, we're not little kids anymore who can't handle pain," Eunhyuk added. "We're MEN!" I noticed the special emphasis he put in the word "men".

Donghae agreed with them, saying, "We're stronger and we can definitely take it. Besides, you grew up taking a lot of pain from your father and siblings and you're also a Miracle. You have nothing to worry about."

"It's not me I'm worried about," I admitted. "It's just you guys."

The three laughed a bit followed by Eunhyuk asking, "Why are you worried about us? Is it because of what happened to Ichiro?"

"Hey, can you please not mention that?" I grumbled. His last question brought the memory of the fight, Ichiro's dead body, and most of all, my mother's disappointment. Although Donghae was chuckling at his brother's question, he shoved him a bit as a warning.

"Let's remember the real reason why he doesn't like that moment," he said. Eunhyuk nodded a bit in understanding.

They also grew up loving their own mother just as I had loved mine. She was all they had left. Their father was, as I could recall from childhood memories, as fun and crazy as his sons whom he loved very much. In fact, he loved the idea of our silly yet insanely dangerous game despite their mother's disapproval. I was never sure of the relationship between their father and mother because I hardly ever saw them together. But Donghae and Eunhyuk claimed that their father actually cared deeply for their mother so I was a bit envious. It was hard to find something like that in Ira.

He was a hunter. I would see him entering the town from outside with the other hunters from time to time while I was playing with the twins. We'd all watch in awe whenever he carried in some good meat. I knew he was brave and strong, the kind of man every little boy would want to be. Not only was he all that, but he was also very kind towards me. Perhaps it was because he knew the trouble I had to go through with being the son of Brutus, but I was happy either way.

I'd always be polite and call him Mr. Lee, but he insisted I called him Uncle Lee even though we were in no way related to each other. So I would call him Uncle whenever I saw him and we were all happy with him.

However, the happiness with their father had stopped once he died after a hunting trip. It happened when they were eight-years-old. There were rumors about how he died, saying he was killed by a wild boar. That seemed to be the most unbelievable story regarding his death, for I knew he was strong and he would've killed that boar easily with his bare hands. None of the stories sounded right and I knew, myself, that none of them were true because I had an idea of what happened to him. I never had the courage to tell my friends that it could've been Brutus.

Brutus was angry with him that day and though I wasn't living with him yet, I was inside his house, being taken care of by one of his female workers, or as my mother called them, slaves. I seemed to be among their favorites and I guess I was always a "cutie" or else I never would've gotten so many women in my arms with just a smile. It was after his disciplinary lessons when I was running from my siblings who were trying to beat me up. I succesfully got away and hid in the kitchen, and one of the workers spotted me, deciding to patch up my new cuts given generously by my -father.

It was then when I heard Brutus yelling at their dad, resulting in me peeking through from the kitchen door. Their argument was about finding some good animals to hunt. Brutus was complaining about how the only meat that was being sold currently at the butchers was rabbit.

Their little spat continued outside when Uncle Lee stepped outside the front door with Brutus following him. I didn't know what happened after but I didn't want to assume the worst.

Of course, both of them were devastated and also their mother. Donghae was the one who tried to be strong even though you could tell how sad he truly was. I'd say he did a very good job trying to hide his sorrow with his smile. Eunhyuk didn't even try to hide it, but I would never for it. Uncle Lee was probably the best father I'd ever seen in Ira. So I knew how much he had been hurting. Originally, Eunhyuk's name was Hyukjae, but Uncle Lee would always call him Eunhyuk instead as a nickname. After his death, Eunhyuk decided he'd go on with that name.

And as the years went by, they got better and tired to be the men their father would want them to be.

Kangin, on the other hand, still had both his parents around. And we would've called him lucky if his parents really even cared for him. He didn't talk to his parents nowadays and honestly, I can't say I know a lot about his past. When we were kids, I knew never to ask him about his family. The last time a kid did, it was in the school we went to and Kangin did not like the question. He beat the crap out of the poor lad. At the time I saw that, I was still being beaten by my older siblings and by my father, still a weak little boy. So I never disturbed him.

He noticed the bruises on my arm one day and was nice enough to befriend me. But after all those years of friendship, I never asked him once about his family, so I can't really say much on the subject.

School in Ira sounds pretty strange, I know. We don't learn much over there or at least we're not taught very well. We know the basics in reading and writing. But the classes that seemed really important for all of us was math and science. It was probably because we actually had some technology, like the damned flickering lights in the buildings. So when it came to those subjects, everyone had to know it.

I don't want to brag, but I was really great in the math classes. It was really interesting to me.

Other things we learned in Ira was how we're supposed to live in the cruel town. They split the genders for this. Boys were taught how to hunt and do a bunch of other things so we'd head out to the wilderness for those classes. I'm not so sure what the girls learned exactly, but Sonia explained to me that it was rather boring compared to our class. They had to stay in a classroom all day and learn how to do "woman" things. Apparently sewing was an actual lecture. She said the only thing she enjoyed was cooking.

Some of the boys would laugh in the girls' faces about how cool our classes were, but even then, I knew it was pretty unfair.

There was one class that both genders could agree was interesting, exciting, and gross at the same time... and that was health class. Since we don't have the healing side of the Miracle bloodline, we had to learn how to take care of ourselves. But that wasn't the exciting part. The REAL exciting part was learning about our body parts. And when I say that, I mean the body part that tells the difference between a man and a woman.

The whole class would be filled with giggles and sly smiles as the teacher would point out what boys had and what girls had and how babies are made. When I was younger, I never understood how girls were so different and why they were. I, of course, knew that women gave birth to children, but at the time, I didn't know exactly where babies came from. And women grow differently than men, usually.

Like when it came to hair... Girls always had longer hair and the boys usually had shorter hair. Although, there were some women who had cut their hair short. But facial hair was also a topic in that. Men grew facial hair and every now and then, when it grew a lot, some would shave it. Others would keep it for some kind of manly thing. For some reason, I didn't grow facial hair as fast as the rest, but even when it happened, I'd shave it all no matter how small it was.

Point is: I was a bit confused about the difference between genders when I was very young.

I really don't want to stay on the topic though.

"My bad," Eunhyuk said with a smile. He turned his head in the direction of the town. "Man, how long has it been since she left? I want to start the game already."

I shrugged a bit while also glancing in the same direction. "About thirty minutes, I guess. Don't worry, she'll be back real soon, probably."

Donghae sighed a little and said, "Well, she better because I don't want to play when the sun is down."

Just then, Kangin yelled, "There she is!"

We all looked and saw her figure jogging up towards us on the top of the hill. She walked up to us, panting from the little journey across town and back. "Alright I'm back."

I smirked and raised an eyebrow. "You don't look a bit tired."

She rolled her eyes at me and nodded. "I had to climb a few buildings, you know?" She took a moment to get herself together before she looked at all of us. "You chose your teams?"

"Yeah," Donghae answered. "Brothers are sticking together." He put an arm around Eunhyuk, signaling they were a team.

"As always,"  Kangin muttered. Then he laughed. "You guys are out of luck. I'm with a Miracle."

I laughed as well. "You guys are screwed now that there are no rules."

"Hey!" Eunhyuk smiled. "I thought you were concerned about that earlier."

"Well, now I changed my mind. Let's get this game started." Kangin and I stood next to each other as Sonia faced the four of us.

"I am now going to give you your starting hints," she told us. "I am not going to repeat this. You four already know what the items are but for the sake of being an actual host of a game, I'm going to say what they are." I scoffed playfully and she gave me a funny look with her eyes. "The five items consist of a toy gun, a wooden sword, a tattered book, a jewelry box, and a red ball."

"Wait... did you get that jewelry box from your mom?" I asked Kangin.

Kangin nodded a little. "It's not like she needs it. She doesn't deserve it anyways."

I decided to leave that alone.

"The first hint," she continued, "Is that girls will try not to go in this room."

Men's bathroom. Way too easy. But if girls don't go in the room, then how did she hide it there?

"But how did you—" I was going to ask, but she cut me off.

"The second hint is that bunnies cannot escape from this place."

The damn butchers, can she be anymore obvious?

"Third hint: Education. And yes, I know these hints are pretty obvious." She gave me a look which made me believe she was able to read my mind for a second there. "Fourth hint is it's the only place in town that looks healthy." That's probably the crop fields, or at least what they called a crop field. "And finally, the last hint for the last item is that it's in a place where the moon and the stars are all you need."

I gave a slight snort at the final hint. That cliff was a spot that only she and I would go to, along with my mother. My mom was the one who showed me that place. It felt nice to just sit on the edge and just look at the start at night. If anyone else went there, it would've happened when I wasn't at the location. I never saw anyone else there but Sonia and my mom.

Sonia winked at me. I was probably the only one who knew what her hint meant.

"Ready?" she asked us.

"Wait," Kangin said, suddenly. "We should plan on where we should go." While Donghae and Eunhyuk scooted away and made a safe distance from us to discuss their plan, Kangin turned to me. "She gave it away pretty easily... but I'm not so sure about that last one."

"I know where the last one is," I told him. "I'll be the one to get it."

"Okay, cool. Remember our plan about ten years ago?"

"We split up?"

"Yeah. I'll go for the one at the butchers. Where will you go?"

"I'll just go for the one in the school house. Class is out already, so the kids won't be there."

"That Mr. Harris might."

Mr. Harris, if you're curious, was one of the teachers that worked there. He was the one who was supposed to teach us how to read and write. He didn't do a very good job but he was not only lazy. He was a very mean person, and I can remember every reason for my disdain towards him. But I wouldn't go into detail now.

"Ugh... right... I'm sure he won't mind if I just drop in for a while." I smirked a bit and we both nodded as Donghae and Eunhyuk came back near us.

"So I'll just assume you're all ready?" Sonia asked. Once we answered with a nod, she stood in front of us. "Ready. Set. Go!"

At the sound of "Go", the four of us sped down the hill and into the town. Kangin started to run in the opposite direction as I was when I was running to the school house. In the corner of my eye, I could see Donghae was following me. "Damn it," I muttered. "They're doing their stupid 'Tail' strategy."

Back when we were still kids, Donghae and Eunhyuk came up with an annoying strategy in which they each follow one member of the opposite team. And once the person from the opposite team achieved the item, they'd take it for the steal. Honestly, I thought it was stupid, even back then, because really, they could just head off to get the other two items that the opposite team wasn't aiming for.

After running for a little while, dodging every person who was walking on the path, I spotted a little dot which was the school house. Soon, it got bigger in my sights as I got closer, though it was a small school with only two classrooms for the seperation of the genders. Because Donghae was a few meters behind me, I decided to make things a little harder for him. I looked to my right and saw a window to a house open. Quickly, I reached inside, grabbing as many pots and pans as I could and I threw them across the path, the sounds of the clanging almost deafening my ears. Someone from inside the house screamed at me at the window.

I only grinned slyly and sprinted towards the school house, clearly hearing Donghae's panicked yell when he fell on the pans. Once I reached the school, I opened up a window, seeing no kids were inside. But when I entered, I saw I wasn't alone.

"Kyuhyun..."

I looked and saw my old teacher, Mr. Harris, or I should just say Jacob Harris since I don't owe him any respect at all. I didn't think he was actually going to be there when I was discussing the plan with Kangin, but he was anyways. I'm sure he knew I didn't like him. With how I never showed respect to him, I feel it's not possible for him not to know. So he also showed that he never really liked me either.

"Jacob," I responded.

He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and slightly glared at me. I could see the light shining on his almost bald head. I believe at this time, he was fifty-two years old. "I haven't seen you since that little incident regarding Ichiro."

I scoffed. "Well, I'm honestly glad you of all people saw it." Ichiro was actually one of Jacob's favorites. Though I'm still not proud of what I did to Ichiro, I felt I had to shove something that terrible in his face.

"So do you really not care about what you did?" he asked with a hint of anger. "Though I'm still not sure why it happened, I think I could've predicted something like that would happen when I was still teaching you in this school."

"Well, you didn't really teach me anything useful, or at least if it was useful, I didn't know because you did a terrible job doing it," I explained to him hatefully.

"Oh, you were always such a brat, weren't you?"

"That depends on who's looking. A lot of the women didn't seem to think so."

He scoffed this time. "You seem full of yourself. Just because you're a Miracle, right? I guess I should expect it from the son of Brutus. Are you going to be like your father now?"

"I'm not like my father," I immediately responded as reflex. I didn't want to hear those words at all, no matter how big my pride was. My father was a terrible man and I wanted to be nothing like him. But it got me thinking... Is that really what I'm going to be?

"Well, it really sounds like you are," he continued. "Now I hear talk of you going to Kaliroo to kill the Miracle descendant. How many more are you going to kill?"

"What happens in my life is none of your business," I muttered dangerously, almost growling.

He crossed his arms and leaned against the desk at the front of the room. "Fine, fair enough. But I'm guessing what's happening in your life at this very minute is that stupid game you and your silly friends made when you were kids."

I raised an eyebrow. "Could you tell by the way I got in here?"

"No," he answered while shaking his head. "I had no idea why you were in here. It's just that Donghae Lee is smiling at you from the window, holding some kind of book in his hand."

I turned my head and sure enough, Donghae was smirking from outside and holding up the tattered book. "Damn it!" I yelled as he began to run away. I jumped out the window in an immediate chase. I really let my pride get the best of me back in the class room with Jacob Harris poking at it. I took too long.

Donghae ran fast, but I was keeping the same speed. And that meant that we were keeping the same distance as I chased after him. I looked around for some way to mess him up and I saw some clothes hanging from the drying line, so in an instant, I took out a pocket knife and opened it before throwing it up at the dangling clothes.

I smiled with success when I saw that it actually worked, which I was not expecting since this was an action committed totally out of desperation. The line fell along with the clothes, swinging its way to Donghae and throwing him off a bit. Although it did make him lose his speed for a while, he was still able to keep running and eventually, I decided to stop chasing him. I saw him jump over the fence that guarded the perimeter of the town and sprint towards the hill where Sonia was sitting down, watching with amusement. She gave Donghae a thumbs up, I believe.

I grunted not because of jealousy, mind you, but rather because I also saw Eunhyuk approaching with a wooden sword. I immediately turned and decided I'd go and get a different item. I was saving the stars and the moon spot for last; I knew that the rest didn't know of that location or at least what Sonia meant when she gave her hint.

So as I made my way to the crop fields, I saw Kangin running towards me with a toy gun in his hand. He had a smile on his face. "Dude, Eunhyuk may have gotten the toy sword from the butchers, but I actually got both the toy gun and the red ball. I guess Eunhyuk forgot that there's a men's bathroom right next to the crop fields just in case a man working in the fields needed it."

I really almost laughed. "Sonia probably just got lazy and tossed it in there while leaving."

"Wouldn't surprise me," Kangin chuckled. "You think they'll nag on me?"

"Nah, there's no rules, remember?" I reminded. One of the rules was that no one can hold more than one item. But of course, the no rule thing is all Donghae and Eunhyuk's idea. "I'll head off to get that jewelry box. There's no way they'll find it."

"See you in a little bit, then," he told me before running off to the hill where Eunhyuk and Donghae were temporarily celebrating their thefts of the items from us.

I shook my head a bit and jogged down the path, heading straight for the hill and the cliff. When I made it there, I glanced around and saw nothing. But when I looked around the big tree that sat beautifully on the hill, I found the bronze jewelry box with emeralds decorating its top. I picked it up and, out of curiosity, opened it to find just a ring. Seeing there was no special little note inside to give me context, I closed it and made my way back to the town and back to the rest.

—⇔♦⇔—

Kangin and I could barely hold in our laughs as we watched Donghae and Eunhyuk be tortured by the awful taste of the footfruit. The look on their faces when they smelled it was already enough, but knowing the taste myself, I knew it was going to be bad for them. Nevertheless, they still claimed that the game was still as fun as it used to be.

After the punishment, which was most definitely a whole lot of fun, the boys said they were going home to rest. The game was hectic and crazy, all of the energy in them. But I wasn't exactly exhausted. Perhaps, I was a bit tired, which was why I found myself sitting on the edge of the cliff, the place where the moon and the stars are the only things I need.

I didn't want to go home yet. I did wish to see my mother and spend some time with her, but I didn't want to face my hateful siblings.

Before the boys left, though, they told me to join them for our last hunting trip together until I'd come back from my assignment in Kaliroo. They said it'd be the next day where I'd be going with them. I agreed to join them because it had been quite some time since I had done it. I also wanted to get back to my bow and arrow. I was really good at using them, but after so long of not being able to, I'm sure I got a bit rusty. It'd be nice to have some practice.

I sat on the edge of the cliff, staring at the old buildings of Ira. Most of the buildings were made out of wood or clay with a bit of stone here and there. A lot of them had parts that were the remains of big battles of war. The only building that wasn't was the school house, which was made of brick. I was able to see it from up on the cliff.

I wasn't alone on the hill, I realized, when I heard gentle footsteps. I sighed. "Sonia, you know you shouldn't do that. I'll pull a sword on you again or something."

I could hear her chuckle just a tiny bit as she sat next to me. "Alright, sure thing." We both stared down at the town in silence before she finally spoke up. "How's your mom?"

"She's fine, thanks for asking," I answered quietly. I turned my head to look at her, just in case she took my sentence as sarcastic. Her ginger hair was being blown by the wind and her green eyes were looking down at her hands. "I... meant it. Just so you know."

"Yeah, I got it." She nodded.

"Right," I replied. "I'm glad that you've been here for me, even though I can't ever return your feelings." I didn't if she'd feel awkward if I brought that up, but she did seem tense once I mentioned it. "You've been a great... friend. So thanks."

"Of course," she said, her voice just a little shaky. "Anything for a friend."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that, though," I said after a while of an awkward silence. "I just need to clarify to you before I go, things have to stay the same between us." I didn't like the sadness in her eyes, so I looked back at the town. "Besides, Sonia, do you know how terrible that would be? Falling in love with someone here and then leaving them because of this whole trip. And you know me, I don't really think much of the whole love thing. It just doesn't happen in Ira."

"It happened to me," she told me. "And I really do wish it didn't, Kyuhyun, really."

"I wish it didn't too," I said to her. "Because then at least, I wouldn't be feeling a little bad for you." I wanted to make the mood a little lighter. "Why would you even like me in the first place, honestly? I'm not a good person."

"Maybe, you don't think you are," she responded. "But there might be more to you than that."

"I doubt it," I remarked.

"Whatever, Kyuhyun. Just make sure you don't think too low of yourself, or else your siblings will think they won inside."

"Right, thanks for the advice."

She stood up and got ready to leave. "I have to go and make myself some dinner. You should go home now too."

"I will." I stayed sitting on the edge, noting to myself that I'd leave once the moon and the stars were all up there and visible. I wasn't able to react when she swiftly kissed my cheek. I turned to watch her run down the hill and back to town. I shook my head and sighed. I was really beginning to feel sorry for her. Did she really like a guy like me?

I saw myself as a type of guy that'd be hard to change. But perhaps, I was wrong.

    Author's note:

      Guys, believe me when I say I have been working on this chapter for a LONG time. Mainly because I was sort of out of ideas, and I don't really want Kyuhyun to get to Kaliroo too quickly because I still feel like some information needs to be said. Like some people's backgrounds. I still haven't introduced certain people and Kyuhyun's other siblings. The only ones we know are Bruno and Ichiro, who is now dead. Good job, Kyu. (lol jk you know we love him) Anyways, yeah this is really long. I'm going on a camping trip so I won't be on this for quite some time, but I will return very soon. Thanks for reading!

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