Chapter Text
“Happy birthday, Hans!”
“Blow out the candle!”
“Blow them all! Leave none behind and your wish will come true!”
The children in the orphanage cheered one after another as they circled around Hans. Hans blew the candles on top of the birthday cake. However, he needed 2 blows to put out all the 10 candles, as they were positioned at the perimeter of the cake at equal distance. Failing to blow off the candles in one go, Hans was about to cry. Yet before he did, the big brother of the orphanage, Luke, put his hands on Hans’ and another children’s shoulder and pulled them together as he said, “Now quickly gather around Hans!”
All the other children quickly followed, squeezing their spot around Hans while watching the smoke reach the ceiling. Once the smoke was fully out, one of the kids commented, “Now Hans is free from evil spirits!”
“Yes! Since we all gathered around Hans, the evil spirit wouldn’t dare to touch him! And with no evil spirit, your wish will reach heaven and it will come true,” Luke smiled as he patted Hans’ head.
“Really…?” Hans looked at Luke with his teary eyes.
“Yes, so don’t worry!” He continued patting the ginger-haired boy’s head.
Hans then now showed his sheepish smile after wiping his tears and blowing his snots.
“Yay, that means I can celebrate my birthday with everyone even in the future!” The boy commented while looking around him and added, “Thank you for protecting me from the evil spirits!”
All the children at the orphanage and Luke gave Hans big hugs one after another.
That was how Hans celebrated his 10th birthday.
Hans was a very cheerful and bright boy. He lived in the orphanage with Luke, an adult around his 30s, and 3 other children younger than him. Although called an orphanage, it was really just Luke taking care of 4 children. They didn’t stay in one place and kept moving from location to location. But they would always live, study, play, and eat together.
They would race on who would wake up the earliest and proceed to their morning exercise. Luke would cook for them and they would all sit in a circle facing each other as they ate their meals. They would play chase in the garden, roll on the ground, and laugh together as Luke scolded them and pushed them to shower. Luke would personally teach them some basic skills, both academic and technical ones, and some interesting skills, like a mini encryption code just for the 5 of them. When night came, they would sleep in one room and Luke would have a candle lit as he told them a bedtime story. The candle remained lit to keep the awake children company, and only when everyone was asleep would Luke blow off his candle. And the routine repeats the next day, except for when they had to move location.
Hans couldn’t remember how his early years were, how long he had been there, or even who his parents were. But those did not matter to him. His name, one that he picked himself on his 7th birthday, and the orphanage were all he needed. Hans engraved one of Luke’s favorite saying by his heart: ‘We should focus on the present, as we could neither change the past nor predict the future.’ Hans enjoyed each of his days in the orphanage, and sincerely hoped that this happiness would continue forever.
However, the reality wasn’t as ideal as one hoped.
The tragedy started on the day Luke disappeared from the orphanage. The children did their morning routine and around noon, they cooked for themselves, with an extra portion for Luke.
The children wondered where Luke was and why he hadn’t come back. They thought that Luke might have gotten lost on his way to the market, and that he would come home soon. However, even after they ate their dinner, Luke was still nowhere to be seen.
Night came. As all the children were getting ready for bed, some unknown adults slammed the door open. Hans, being very attentive to details as always, noticed that they were all wearing black outfits with five white stars and one red star on the chest, which was a symbol in one of the outfits Luke used to wear.
All the adults had daggers on their hands while the foremost man shouted, “Don’t move! Hands in the air and obediently follow us if you want to survive.”
The children trembled in fear. Some were crying, some were on their knees.
Hans, considering how the symbol in the adult’s shirts was similar to what he had seen Luke wearing, commented, “Where is Luke-hyung? Are you his friends?”
The adults all laughed before one of them replied, “He really made us work harder than we should. He should’ve just handed you guys to us and gone with his next job. But he kept moving, trying to hide you guys. No way he’s our friend anymore.”
“W- where is Luke-hyung?” Mai, the second oldest after Hans, shouted.
“Just know that he could no longer come here to see you all.”
All the children were shocked, not knowing how to interpret that reply. But the thought of not being able to see and be with Luke anymore threw a pang in their heart.
Getting impatient with the children not moving an inch from where they were after being shaken down by the reply, one of the adults kicked one of the children.
“MOVE! Don’t make us work overtime!”
However, contrary to their expectation, the children were now weak on their knees as they trembled.
“Haaa, you know what,” the foremost adult carried one of the children, Dia, with his other hand still holding his dagger and continued, “Just take them and throw them into the carriage.”
Dia started resisting from the man’s arm, trying to break free. That moment, the adult warned all the children, “By the way, if you try to resist or run away, you won’t be unhurt. Our order was just to bring you all alive, our boss wouldn’t care if you have one or a million scars.”
All the children trembled even more as they heard that. They all became as still as some limp dolls as they were ushered or carried into the wood carriage.
Upon confirming that they have got all the children in the carriage, the adults closed and locked the carriage, then they started moving.
That was the first night where no candle remained lit although none of the children had slept.