The battle is like no other she’s ever been in before. Her most trusted horse trots heavily beneath her, its neighs loud and mighty, as if it’s resolution to come out of this battle as the victor as strong as her own. Casualties, her people, lie all around her, an image she will never be able to forget. Dying for her cause, their cause, a sacrifice she will not let be in vain.

Try as she might, the enemies only get stronger, smarter, and more merciless.

Her sword still heavy in her hands, like it was the first time she had picked it up only mere months ago, pulls her body with as she swings it to slay her opponents, its heavy end meeting flesh and clanging against just as heavy counterparts.

She’s tired. Oh, how very tired she is.

Seeing her once beautiful land of lush green and jovial faces now desecrated with ash, blood and bodies. Her castle is wounded with cannonball destruction, her father’s flag, may he rest in peace, barely flutters in the wind now, burnt to soot with its once gleaming golden pole washed over with the crimson of the body that lies impaled on it.

Everything’s wrong. Has been for a long time. But just how long must she fight for it to be right?

Her horse jostles under her, struck with fear as it voices out to her, jerking her left in time for her to see her enemy’s new weapon. Scales larger than any she’s ever seen before, it shimmers a frightening maroon as its tremendous wings sweep across her army, taking them out with the sheer force of the tornado it creates, travelling across the expanse of the battle field before it turns into a breeze slapping her face.

A dragon.

Only alive in her father’s folklore, she never knew them to actually exist.

With their new target now on the field, she lets out a battle cry that rains across her people as they let out a scream of their own, even her horse follows along. All weapons converge towards a main target now, keen to bring the flying beast down before it becomes the end of them.

Becomes the end of her empire.

Raising her sword high towards the sky, she kicks her heels into her horse’s ribs, a yelp is the initial response before her steed leaps into long gallops towards what may be her doom. The overbearing sun strikes down onto her sword, reflecting off the purple gemstone of the royal’s, catching the towering beast in its blinding glint.

Its attention is caught, and it lets out a roar that shakes the ground beneath her. With one enormous flap of its mighty wings, it swoops down towards her in an unmoving nosedive.

It’s now or never. Keeping her sword steady, she trains the point of her blade at the approaching beast.

Readying for impact, she lets out what could possibly be her last cry as the beast’s face now comes crashing down towards he-

“Lily, time to go ho-.”

A high-pitched “Mummy!” fills the air before the Spyro plush crashes into Lillian Bae’s face when the sudden appearance of her mother breaks her chain of imagination. Arms come to catch her around her waist before she could meet the floor, and she falls with a small oomph when she collides into the chest of her supposed trusty steed.

“What’s going on in here.”

Standing in the doorframe is Irene Bae, still in her work uniform, arms crossed and grocery bags littering her feet. Eyes take in the absolute mess around her. From an array sea of little green army men, to two separate fans both in different corners, and finally at the dangling dragon plush hanging on a strand of wool taped from one end of the room to the other, Irene is baffled as usual upon arriving home. She directs her questioning eyes to the woman now cushioned between the floorboards against her back and the toddler in her arms.

“Bedtime story?”

Lily giggles at the nervous waver leaving the woman beneath her, only to laugh more heartedly when eyes dart down at her, begging for help.

“A bedtime story is supposed to put her to sleep, Seulgi. She looks as far from sleepy as she ever has.”

Seulgi Kang lets the explanation dawn on her, glancing from mother to daughter and nods at the sparkling eyes of the toddler staring up at her in amusement. Far from sleep is correct. With a cheeky grin that Lily mimics, Seulgi rolls them over, staying in her position for a second as she blankets the toddler until Lily grunts and starts kicking at her to gain oxygen once more.

“You’re squishing me!” She thunders from under Seulgi, causing her to chuckle with just as much enthusiasm before a rolled-up catalogue smacks her into calling defeat.

“Stop trying to crush my child.”

Sitting on her shins, Seulgi raises her arms like she used to in school when she got into trouble, watching with heavy betrayal as Lily giggles, stumbling up into a run to crash into her mother’s legs with a welcoming home hug.

“Hey baby, have a good time?”

Both mother and daughter ignore her existence now, so she drops her arms to crawl towards the grocery bags still at the door.

“Yeah! We finger painted, and, and, Seulgi helped me make a sword!” Little feet stamp against the floorboard as they run to retrieve the fallen sword from before. Presenting it to Irene like it was some sort of amazing artwork, Irene feigns astonishment as she stares down at the cut-out cardboard sword, painted patchy white with a blotchy purple circle on the blade (not the handle where it’s meant to be). “We were about to beat the dragon before you came home.”

The rustling of plastic bags has her diverging her attention from her daughter to Seulgi, who is now snooping through her bags, still in her crawling position with one hand pawing at the openings as to not fully intrude inside. Rolling her eyes, she smiles back down at her daughter, sliding her messy hair from her face.

“That sounds great, honey. Ready to go home?”

With nods that push tresses of locks back into her face, Irene tries once more to fix it before letting her palm rest at the back of Lily’s head, gently guiding her towards the door. Where Seulgi still blocks.

“And if I may ask: just what are you doing?”

Hopeful eyes shift towards her, the silent question, and mostly expectation, pouring out from them as a response as good as any.

“The furthest bag from you,” she barely gets out before Seulgi goes sliding against the floor towards the mentioned bag. “I really don’t know how you’re still alive. You have the unhealthiest diet.” Her reprimanding falls on deaf ears as packets of biscuits are hauled out from the bag, before Seulgi rips one open and begins munching down. “Why don’t you eat anything else besides ladyfingers?”

Crumbs come flying out as Seulgi tries to explain, but everything comes out muffled and Irene can’t help but look on with disgust. She doesn’t need to understand the woman anyways, she’s asked enough times to know the answer by now: because they’re delicious! Is always the answer. Easy and simple.

“You better have fed Lily proper food and not your usual junk.”

She catches Seulgi in between her stuffing her face to get a decent enough answer. “I did! I swear. Cooked your prepped meal you dropped off.”

She squints her eyes at the woman, still seated on the floor, before sighing because there’s no winning with her. “Good.” She looks down at her daughter that had detached from her leg to go bonk the dragon plush on the head with her homemade sword, following its sway in the air before going in for another hit like it was a piñata. “If she grows up violent, I’m suing you.”

Seulgi can only laugh at the threat, waving off the glare. “I’m just building her imagination, nothing more.”

Irene hums at the innocent answer before moving to coerce her daughter into going home over defeating “the beast” as the toddler tries to explain.

“Thank you for babysitting Lily, again.” Irene watches as Seulgi places the grocery bags on her kitchen island. The woman turns to her to wave her thanks off, grinning a: don’t worry about it. “How’s the book coming along?” She leans against the armrest of her couch, Seulgi doing the same but on the pillar the kitchen island is fused against.

Seulgi shrugs. Looks around the apartment a bit then back at her. “It’s coming.” She shrugs again.

“Writer’s block still?”

Once again, she shrugs. “It comes and goes. Mostly comes and stays, but still.”

She nods at the answer, not really understanding the process, but understanding the stump, nonetheless. She stares at the woman for a bit, finally noticing the small eyebags forming and just how tired she looks overall. Not something she’s really ever been aware of from how cheery Seulgi always is.

“I can drop her off at a day-care tomorrow. Give you some alone time and rest.”

Blinking for a second, it’s almost as if Seulgi had to regain her concentration before she pushes herself off the pillar. And once again, the bright aura is back, and Irene doesn’t have to wonder why she’s never been conscious of the woman’s other moods besides this. Seulgi is just always happy. Or is good at turning that happiness on.

“No, no. You’re saving for that fancy school for her, remember. And besides, I have nothing else going on. Not much of an alone time type of gal.” When Irene doesn’t look like she’s backing down, Seulgi falls to her default shrug. “She helps turn my engines. Who has a better imagination than a child?”

Irene instantly smiles at that and can’t help but quip, “you.”

Seulgi chuckles with Irene for a bit before she lets out a small sigh. “Not lately, I haven’t.”

Not liking the tonal shift, Irene immediately tries to comfort her. “From the wild journey Lily hasn’t stopped raving on about, I think it’s safe to say you’ve still got it. Just,” she tries making gestures with her hands because honestly, having a writer’s block as an author is something she has no knowledge about. “Having trouble tapping into it?”

Seulgi smiles at her attempt, more than appreciative for the kind gesture behind it. She pushes herself off the pillar with a nod. “I’ll hold you to that. Anyways, it’s getting late and you must be tired. How was work?”

Always the considerate one, Seulgi never lets their conversation dwell on herself too much. “Tiring, I guess. Was on the registers all day today, so my feet hurt from being immobile for the entire shift. But, nothing new really.”

The smile Seulgi gives her is warm. “Well, you should get some rest then. Drop her off normal time?”

“Normal time.”

Seulgi bids her goodnight at her door before slipping through her still open one just across from Irene’s.

❀❀

"Remember, your spare key is in this pocket here," Irene quickly runs through their morning routine. Squatting to be face level with Lily, she points at the specific compartment in the toddler’s Mickey Mouse backpack, making sure she gets a nod of understanding from her daughter. Still dressed in her pyjamas, Lily had said something on the lines of Seulgi promising her that they’d build some type of fort today, so she was adamant in staying in her pyjamas. “My phone number is?” Nodding when Lily relays the order of numbers Irene had made her memorise, she moves onto her next checklist. “Dinner by 6pm, and when Seulgi tries to give you any of her snacks you say?”

“No! They’re bad for you so they’re worse for me!”

Irene can’t help but laugh at the soldier like scream coming from her daughter. She had never meant for Lily to quote her, a no was sufficing enough, but it was still funny hearing it, if only she could see Seulgi’s face when Lily screams it at her.

Finally, happy with checking everything off, she gives Seulgi’s door three knocks. Something falls from behind the door, sounding very familiar to that of a pot falling, before the locks click and Irene is presented with Seulgi dressed in khaki coloured joggers and shirt. But never mind the colour scheme choice, what more is the two black lines (Irene is certain she finger-painted her own face) slapped on both her cheeks, and she was correct, a pot atop her head. Taking a quick glimpse into the apartment, she spots an overturned couch, a good armful of nerf guns behind it and army men lined up all along the kitchen island, atop the fridge and sink. Where there is space there is an army man. Just what is this woman up to today?

“Sergeant Lillian, thank god you’re here.”

She sees her daughter bouncing on the spot, eager to play along but still waiting for Irene to let go of her hand and send her off. Just seeing how excited she was has Irene’s chest blooming. The sight makes her more grateful for Seulgi. The woman in mind looks up from the energised child to Irene, giving her a quick wink before she continues her roleplay.

“Quick Sergeant! You must get on the plane!”

The small hand in hers tug to gain her attention. Puppy-dog eyes and a pout, Lily is almost shaking from the anticipation. “Mummy! Mummy, please! Can I go play!”

Who in their right mind can say no to that?

“Give mummy her goodbye hug and kiss first.”

She crouches down in time to catch her daughter bouldering into her arms. She gives her a tight squeeze before Lily wiggles in her hold to give her her customary kiss on the cheek.

“Okay, go have fun.”

A squeal of utmost glee leaves her daughter before she zooms through the door with a loud “have fun at work, mummy!”

Seulgi runs after her and catches her sprinting body, spinning her in the air as she mimics the sound of a plane engine. Irene stays a bit, watching Seulgi jog around the living room before she settles behind the toppled couch.

Seeing as she’s been forgotten by now, she closes Seulgi’s door just in time to hear a flurry of fake bullets being shot. She swears, if her Lily turns violent, Seulgi will beg for mercy. Shaking her head with a small smile at hearing her daughter’s tinkling laughter leak through the door, Irene straightens out her red work vest and nametag that Lily knocked during the hug.

With a sigh, she leaves Lily and Seulgi’s harmonious laughter and heads to work.

a/n: quick beginning :)