“Get offa me!”

“Your elbow’s in my face!”

“Will you stop?”

Junmyeon sighs and shakes his head at the commotion. He takes one last look at the eleven fighting boys - minus the sleeping Yixing - and steps out of the tree.

Yes, they live in a tree. It is a tiny hollow at the base of the tree, leading to a huge underground living area. It’s not the best, but it’s home.

Suho walks. His legs take him to the edge of the forest, where there are homely cottages, smoke drifting lazily out of their chimneys.

Sunlight rains down, across the sky, through the treetops, dappling the ground. A light breeze passes by, ruffling the leaves.

And he remembers what he needed to do.

Junmyeon decides that there needs to be a meeting.  This isn’t the first one ever and they usually never end well.  Most of the time, the result is more arguing or a lecture that no one ever wanted to hear.

As usual, most of the occupants in the room are in no mood for another one of Junmyeon’s meetings, but Junmyeon simply rolls his eyes.

“It’s important this time, just listen,” Suho begins.

“Hyung, this isn’t some stupid meeting about us messing up the hous- or rather, tree, is it?” Sehun sighs.

“No, it isn’t.  That’s an important topic, but right now I have something bigger that I think we should discuss.”

No one else makes anymore comments, so Junmyeon wastes no time and presents his idea.

“I think we should stop relying on the leftovers that the townspeople leave for us.”

His idea receives mixed reactions.

Everyone begins talking at the same time.

“But that means we have to go into the village!”

“We’re not children anymore, we can’t just rely on other people!”

“But hyung, it’s dangerous for us to leave!”

“Yeah, it’s sounds like a lot of work that I don’t want to do!” Everyone momentarily turns to look at Jongdae, who grins and looks a bit sheepish.  “I’m only kidding, guys.”

“Look, I know some of you guys think it’s a bad idea, but really, we need to be more independent.  Besides, with what they’re providing us, it’s not nearly enough food to feed twelve growing boys,” Minseok says.  Suho shoots the older boy a grateful look.

It’s clear that some of the boys are still unwilling to, but Minseok is the oldest and Junmyeon is leader, so the choice is pretty much made.

Everyone falls into a bit of an uncomfortable silence, trying to think of what to do next.

Chanyeol, ever the optimist and slightly rash, jumps up and shouts, “Alright, let’s go get some meat!”

Baekhyun grabs his arm and pulls him down, “Idiot! This is gonna need a lot more planning than just getting up and running into the village!”

D.O scowls and nodded, “Yeah, we’re going to need a plan.”

“Actually,” Luhan pipes up, “This might actually take a few days.”

“I think we should do some scouting and look for paths to take,” Yixing says slowly.

“This sounds like a lot of work,” Jongdae complains, again. Jongin frowns at his brother and elbows him. “You’re spoiled.”  Jongdae simply stares back at him with an innocent look on his face.

“Alright.  Now for the next step,” Suho says. “I’m going to assign jobs for everyone.”

Everyone groans internally.

“Yifan.  You and Jongin should scout the village for houses we can raid at night.”

“Minseok and Kyungsoo will go look for paths we can take.  I trust that you two will take this seriously.” The two nod and murmur something to each other.

“Chanyeol and Yixing.  You two need to find a way to cover up our paths and make sure the villagers are mislead in case they come after us.” Chanyeol smiles and gives Suho a thumbs-up while Yixing nods sleepily.

“The rest of us need to find objects in the forest that we can use as weapons,” Junmyeon directs.

“Uh… Zitao… make sure you don’t wander off by yourself.  Actually, make sure Sehun is with you when you go out,” Suho adds after a second thought.

The twelve boys work hard, determined to make their first raid successful.

    Yifan, despite his usual “cold guy” attitude that did not care for anything, focuses on the task at hand for whatever reason.  Perhaps it was the realization that if they failed, the twelve boys would be caught and separated.

    Jongin works his hardest as well, even though keeping up with Yifan’s long legs were tiring.  Nevertheless, he walks quicker and ran faster.

    Minseok and Kyungsoo, as always, take their jobs very seriously.  They find (steal) some parchment and ink and manage to plot out the routes as best as they could, though they couldn’t reach the center of village without being seen.

    Chanyeol and Yixing do their best as well.  It seems that even the happy virus knows how dangerous this could be.

    Zitao manages to temporarily suppress his fears of going out in the forest without the entire group and ventures with Sehun to find several rocks and sticks.  Sehun, as usual, complains but does not hesitate to help.

    Jongdae, well, one could say he works harder than usual. However, he is as laid back as he had always been, always joking around.

    Baekhyun works harder than anyone, afraid of what might happen to the twelve of them if this failed.  He’d finally found something that was like a family, and doesn’t want it to slip from his grasp.

    Luhan assumes the place of the eldest for the time being, seeing that Minseok is mostly away near the edges of the village. Spewing orders that would have done a lieutenant general proud, Luhan stalks around, trying to sound - and look - confident enough to earn respect, which he does not, by the way, gain.

    Suho himself works hard, often sleeping late and rising early.  He’s the leader and he would feel personally responsible if any of the boys got injured.  Not only that, but he’d grown up with them, been with them for as long as he could remember.  His happiest memories were always with all of them.  He wouldn’t be able to bear it if any of them… were taken.

    Finally, the day comes.  The day of the raid.

    They are to depart in the night and make as little racket as possible.  They would steal.  And they would leave.

    Simple, really.

    But of course, they were fifteen year old boys, inexperienced.

    “Alright, everyone.” Junmyeon gathers the boys at the gates of the village, and after observing it in the shadows for a while, makes sure that the village rs are all in their cottages.

    It is not easy, raiding at night.

    No one can see very well, and they have to split up.  Into pairs, of course.

    Luhan and Sehun.

    Chanyeol and Baekhyun.

    Jongdae and Zitao.

    Yifan and Yixing.

    Minseok and Junmyeon.

    Kyungsoo and Jongin.

    “Remember, be back here in about an hour,” Junmyeon reminds them again.

    The rest of the boys nod back, with empty sacks clutched in their hands.

    Suho watches them disappear into the village, all heading towards different directions.

    Minseok motions for Junmyeon to follow him and the two head towards their destination - the bakery.

    They make their way towards the small hut as quietly as possible.  Suho hopes and hopes that his boys wouldn’t run into any trouble.  Minseok pries open the lock with deft hands and ever so slowly pushes the door open.  Thankfully, the baker and his wife had already retreated to the back room, where they usually slept.

    Quickly, Junmyeon motions for Minseok to search for as much food as they could find.  Suho himself searches for flour and other baking supplies, in hopes that Kyungsoo will be able to bake some bread for them back in the Tree.

    Suho’s heart pounds like a drum, and his nerves make his hands shake a bit.  Cautiously, he proceeds into the kitchen and grabs two small paper sacks of sugar and salt.  But the problem is flour.

    Junmyeon finds lots of sacks of flour, but they are heavy.  Suho heaves one giant pack into his arms and tucks his sack with the other baking supplies under his arm, making his way out the store room.

    Minseok, still stuffing his sack full of pastries, turns when he hears Suho’s footsteps.

    Seeing the younger struggle, Minseok places a few more items into the almost filled bag and heads towards Junmyeon.

    “Ah, let me help you with that,” Minseok whispers.  “My arms are stronger.”

    Junmyeon makes no complaints and, as quietly as possible, hands the large sack of flour to Minseok, who heaves it up into his arms.  Then, Minseok nods towards his sack, and Junmyeon bends down to pick up the pastries bag.

    Finally, with one last glance at room where the couple seemed to be sleeping soundly, Suho and Minseok sneak out the door and step into the dark night.

    “Successful!” Minseok grins happily.  Junmyeon lets out a breath that he hadn’t know he was holding.

    “Let’s head to the meeting place,” he replies.

    They make it back to the outskirts of the village and bump into Kyungsoo and Jongin as well, who are cheerfully lugging their sacks back to the meeting place.

    Yifan and Yixing make it back, though a little shaky.  They explain that a villager had woken up and found them.  Luckily, Yifan had knocked him out with a well placed blow to the head.  Of course, the villager wasn’t dead. He was only a sixteen year old boy, after all.

    Luhan and Sehun return as only Luhan and Sehun can.

    Now they only wait for Chanyeol, Baekhyun, Jongdae, and Zitao.  But those are the ones they worry most about.

    “Hey, hyung.  It’s been an awfully long time, hasn’t it?” Sehun says.

    As if on cue, a yell sounds from the village, followed by a scream.

    Suho tenses up and the rest of the boys look at each other.

    “Oh God, that scream sounded like Zitao, didn’t it?” Jongin asks.

    “What do we do?”

    “What if someone’s hurt?”

    The previous victorious feeling fades, and Junmyeon feels fear wash over him.  “Okay.” He takes a deep breath in and wills his nerves to calm down.

    “Um… Yifan, Minseok, and Luhan, come with me into the town,” Junmyeon directs.

    “The rest of you, stay here- wait no, go back to the Tree with what we’ve stolen already.  Get there as fast as possible.”

    No one says anything, they only nod back solemnly.

    As Junmyeon’s small group makes their way towards where they had heard the ruckus, more yells are heard.

    And there they are, Jongdae, Zitao, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun.  It seems that Chanyeol and Baekhyun had also made their way to the commotion.

    One villager had waken up and his yells of “Kids! Stealing my food! Someone help! Get them!” had waken up his neighbors as well.

    Zitao and Jongdae are cornered, with their backs against the side of a cottage and they clutch their sacks and weapons tightly.

    Zitao looks like he is on the verge of crying and Jongdae has an expression that Junmyeon had never seen on the boy’s face before.

    Their weapons are not much use; after all, what are sharpened sticks going to do against spears and pitchforks?

    Junmyeon frantically starts thinking of plans in his mind, but nothing comes. No ideas.

    Yifan, being brash and headstrong, immediately jumps out and yells, “Over here, you bunch of thick clodheads!”

    The villagers turn around and start advancing towards Junmyeon’s small party.  Yes, Yifan had successfully distracted them, but a few villagers still have Jongdae and Zitao cornered.  Thankfully, they are still a distance away.

    “Alright, the best option now is to split up,” Luhan whispers.

    The villagers are getting closer.

    “I’ll go with Yifan and get Jongdae and Zitao,” Minseok replies.

    Closer.

    “Then Luhan and I will, hopefully, run and throw off these people,” Junmyeon says while pointing a finger at the approaching group.  “On three.”

    “One.”

    Junmyeon is surprised they aren’t running towards them.

“Two.”

    There are approximately five meters left.

    “Three!”

    Yifan and Minseok sprint straight towards a gap between two villagers and make a beeline for Jongdae and Zitao.

    Junmyeon and Luhan run in the opposite direction and the villagers yell, causing another uproar.  Luck must have been on their side, as the villagers circling Jongdae and Zitao turn around to peer at Junmyeon and Zitao.

    Yifan and Minseok push past the momentarily distracted villagers and grab Jongdae and Zitao, making a run to the nearest road that would take them out of the village.

    Junmyeon gasps for air.  He can see the edges of the village already, but he hadn’t managed to throw off some villagers yet.  He glances at Luhan, and he knows that they are both going to need to rest for a while.

    “Hyung, let’s run into the forest and find a place to hide for a while!” Junmyeon wheezes.  Luhan nods back and the two of them race into looming trees.  They slow down and carefully make their way to the left, away from the Tree.

    Junmyeon sits down against the trunk of a tree that is surrounded by bush and undergrowth. Luhan sits down next to him, panting.

    “Now what?”

    “We hide, I guess.”

    And they hide.

    They hide until they are sure there are no more villagers stalking around in their forest.

    Slowly, the two make their way back to the Tree, often checking behind them.  Junmyeon jumps at every rustle and Luhan, as he observes, is no better.

    Finally, they find themselves at the entrance of their home.  Thankfully, everyone else had listened to Junmyeon and returned to the Tree.

    When the two walk in, the rest of the group lets out a breath. Soon, Junmyeon finds himself surrounded by his friends, asking if he is injured or not and why it took them so long to get back, as even Yifan, Minseok, Jongdae, and Zitao had returned already.

    “No, we’re fine…” he says, looking around. “But are you?”

    And indeed, everyone has scratches on their arms and faces from stumbling through the undergrowth.

    “We were chased too!” Sehun pipes up. “There was a white warrior behind me, but when he caught up with me he just told me to go back!”

    “Yeah, hyung, me too,” Jongin jumps in. “Someone dressed in black touched by head and said that I’ll find out soon.”

    Junmyeon, completely baffled, sits everyone down and listens to each and every confession.

    Yixing’s pursuer had been green and disappeared after he glances at it.

    Baekhyun had been chased by a shining silver thing that refused to do anything but follow.

    Chanyeol’s had been the color of fire and made crackling noises as it moved along.

    Kyungsoo said his was the exact brown of the dirt underneath and that it had even kind of smelled earthy.

    “What… what does this mean…?”