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The night was cold, and dreary, and little Cale was a little slave lying on the ice-cold ground with nothing to cover him but the thin rags he wears as clothes. He laid on his side with his arms crossed and his hands squeezed between his arms. His eyes were shut tight. He could feel his whole body shivering, chills running down his back no matter how many times he tries to chase away the cold.
'Cold, cold, cold!!' he couldn't help but think.
The shackles around his arms and legs were not helping with the cold. The shackle around his neck made it painful to lie down on his back.
He cannot cry out loud. The guards will hear him. And if they hear him, they will beat him. And Cale doesn't know if he could handle another beating.
He let out a trembling breath.
'Maybe if I think of something warm, I will get warmer...' he thought. And so, he imagined himself wearing the fuzzy cape that the man who often visits his cell usually wore. It looked all white, and fuzzy, and it was probably really fluffy...
Cale was still shivering, but his mind no longer minded the cold.
It was working. Thinking of warm things was working.
But then, he went back to remembering that man.
He didn't know his name, but the guards kept saying that he was important enough to become king. A prince maybe??
'His life must be really nice...' Cale thought.
The supposedly-Prince's life must be filled with warm things. The prince probably doesn't have to work a day in his life, or have to work hard to survive. The prince probably didn't have to starve, or get hit, or have people mock him...
'Probably, probably...' Cale huffed and turned to his other side. The prince's life that he imagines must be really, really nice.
'I want that life,' he thought.
'But I can't get it,' he thought.
And with that final sentence left in his mind, he went back to shivering in the cold.
But then, he heard screaming.
Cale sat up in alarm as screams of pain resounded in his cell. He glued his back to the wall--
'No, wait! The corner is probably safer!'
'No--'
'If the door opens, the corner by the door would be safer!!!'
And so, Cale hides in the darkness of his cell, in the corner waiting for the door to open--
BANG!!
A man with black hair and gleaming blue eyes slammed his cell door open, and Cale couldn't find it in himself to move.
'Escape! Dammit legs! The door's open!! Escape!!'
But he won't move. He can't!! He can't move!! There's something in the air that's making him scared of the man in front of him.
The best Cale could do right then and there is to curl into himself. But Cale forgets that he wears shackles. Shackles that are attached to chains. And the chains made the loudest noise in the silent cell.
And just like that, the gleaming blue eyes of the man snaps to him, making Cale much more frozen in his place.
O_O_O_O
'He's small...' the man thought, observing the familiar red hair and reddish-brown eyes. He glared at the shackles that were around the child's neck and wrists, and the numerous cuts and bruises that the child has painted on his pale skin. The child looked so thin, so frail, like a gust of wind could blow him away. He let his glare go the moment he realized that it made the child more apprehensive.
But this child's eyes...
They were alive. They want to live.
The man's heart was beating so loud in his chest, it was almost as if his heart beat is the only thing he could hear.
And so, the man, who is actually a great and mighty dragon, slowly walked closer to the child, who tried to back away more and more despite already being glued to the wall. The child was shivering, and the child was glaring.
Alive... such eyes were alive...
"Hey," the man began, and he crouched in front of the child. This child did not let up his glare despite the man softening his expression. But, he continued to speak to the child, a joyful smile on his face. "Let's leave."
The man brought out the keys that he managed to snag. And, although the child's expression expressed his mistrust with the man, the man still crept closer to the child. And then, without asking the child for permission, he began unlocking the shackles one by one.
The child did not look thankful. He looked defiant, mistrustful, alive.
"What a nice gaze," the man commented aloud. And then, with a small yelp from the child, he lifted the child into his arms.
O_O_O_O_O
'What a scary man...' Cale couldn't help but think. Cale didn't dare move while he was being carried, fearing that the man might change his mind and just throw him into the corner.
But, instead of running, the man might be some kind of wizard, because in one blink they were in the forest -- with the moon just above their heads and the stars twinkling brightly. They looked even more beautiful outside of his cell than what he could glimpse from the small window.
That was when the man let him down, to which Cale stumbled because he suddenly lost all sense of balance. But the man steadied him, held on to him until Cale got his bearings.
Cale dare not try to smack the man away. He still remembered the screams. He still remembered the glare and the thick air that surrounded him. This man could kill him.
Just then, a shadow ran over to them. A man with black hair and black eyes and black clothing... So much black, that the only place Cale could see the any other color was the small flecks of blood on the man's face.
"Raon-nim," the man called out as he arrived. But then, the man's eyes widened when he saw Cale, and Cale couldn't help but flinch just a tiny bit at the newest man's stare.
The man that brought him out of the cell, Raon-nim, smiled at the other man. "Choi Han," he began. "Did you do as I asked?"
The other man, Choi Han, nodded. "I only slightly injured them. No one died."
Cale blanched. 'Scary... so scary...' He really wanted to get away from these two. Both of them could kill him the moment he does something wrong. But, he really cannot deny that this 'Raon-nim' saved him, and he needs to pay him back before he could run away.
But Raon-nim turned his attention back to him, and Cale wanted to pat himself on the back for not flinching again. Raon-nim crouched in front of him again with a bright and excited smile, and handed Cale a bottle. The liquid was the same color as Cale's hair, red, and Cale couldn't help but stare at the man. 'What am I supposed to do with this?'
The man opened the bottle, and without asking Cale for permission again, shoved the bottle to Cale's mouth.
"Mmhph?!"
The liquid tasted... bitter? sour? sweet? A mix of all??? Cale didn't know, but, suddenly, Cale didn't feel any pain from his bruises anymore. His cuts were disappearing, too.
"You stupid small human," said the man, but the smile on his face was not mocking. "You better heal properly."
Once Cale finally drank it all, he felt energy surrounding his body. Which was weird. It felt weird. It felt like he could run far, far away without having to look back on who might catch him. It felt good.
"Hey," the man called out, snapping Cale out of his thoughts. Raon-nim was standing again, and he looked so tall that Cale was reminded that this man was the one who took out all the guards.
When the man took a step forward, Cale took a step back.
"What do you want to do now?"
Cale didn't want to answer this man.
"I know that you can talk," said Roan-nim, eyes gleaming in the moonlight as if he knows that Cale can. "You're a small and very tiny human, but I know that you are also very smart."
"So," continues the man, "what did you want to do once you got free?"
Answer, Cale should definitely answer.
If the man was going to kill him anyways, he might as well make his last words what he wished for. The smile on the man's face looked peaceful, and Cale wants that. He wants what the life he imagined for the prince had. He wants to snuggle in a soft and comfy bed and eat delicious food.
"I'm going to live!" he shouted, staring directly into the man's gleaming blue eyes. "I'm going to live a long and peaceful life!"
No matter what it took. After paying this man back, he's going to go and get himself a house that he could live in.
"I'm going to live peacefully," Cale said.
And the man nodded, the joyful smile never leaving his face. "Yes, yes! You are right!!"
And Cale was lost. Why did this scary man agree with him?
"You're a small human! A HUMAN!! You have the right to live the way you want!!"
This was unreal. There's no way this scary man was really letting him live the way he wants.
And, why does he keep calling Cale a human?!? Isn't he human, too??!
But, the man smiled to him. "I will take care of you."
"No, thank you," Cale promptly replied. "I can take care of myself." There was no need for this man to take care of him. Not at all. No way. That would just make his dept to the man bigger and bigger.
"I'm sure you can," said the man. "But I want to take care of you."
Cale shook his head. 'Taking care' that Cale was familiar with was the kind that meant that slaves were going to die. And although the man sounds like he means well, it doesn't mean that Cale would immediately trust him just because he was saved.
"No," said Cale.
Raon-nim looked lost. And, as if the man's eyes turned absurdly cuter, Raon-nim turned to Choi Han, the other man that Cale promptly forgot about the moment the magic drink was shoved into his mouth.
"Maybe he's hungry," suggested Choi Han.
And Cale couldn't help but think that the other man was crazy. 'What's food got to do with this?!?'
But Choi Han just kept a steady gaze at him, a smile on his face. "We can give you food if you're hungry."
And like a traitor, his stomach let out a growl.