(A/N: Christ-How do you write between a Sky fanfic and a Voltron fanfic-)

+++

Strangely, that dream never reoccured. Not when I turned twelve and it all completely stopped by then. Maybe there's still some part of me that remembers, even if I had sworn to forget all about it.

Unfortunately, it was never a dream. Never will be.

I passed an age where I grew up, started studying at ours​ recently installed public school where some maybe interested in this or that. Problem is, all the topics were based on poor jobs that earned us a bit of shelter and maybe food that were never served on proper plates, clothes barely described anything more than 'rags'.

This was the age where I learned, that these occurances were never really a dream. Whether intentional or not.

They weren't dreams anymore, they were horrible memories, stored in the back of your mind, haunting you. Similar to a monster lurking behind you, just ready to tear you up into pieces of you that no one will ever pick up, much less put back together.

It's a metaphor that we can't escape.

All I remember was running, stumbling on rocks, roots, vines and plants, frantically trying to wipe the tears from my eyes. I had ran past the outer part of the forest, travelling deeper into it each step.

Choked sobs echoed around little me, sniffs and hysterical cries for it to stop.

I kept crying, begging, trying to escape. From what? I had no clue.

In related thoughts, all I could think about was missing my mother so much. How much I lost-her touch, her love-everything about her hurt me.

She took care of you, sacrificed her life to keep yours safe.

I was too young, I couldn't find out what the double meaning was behind my father's words.

I broke down in the middle of the forest. Nobody could find me there, and frankly I didn't want to face anyone. Not in this condition.

Truth be told, I wanted someone to comfort me, hold me, tell me that everything's fine and that whatever happened never actually happened, and that it will never happen.

Humans, in a way, are intelligent. They use it to their advantage, but it's also used against themselves. Individuals-they make their lives and other's a whole lot more harder just by being intelligent.

I came to this conclusion a long time ago, and it was decided; I was spending time away from humanity.

Staying there for seven days wasn't exactly good for my health, not to mention how autumn had taken it's grip on the village and all of it's surroundings, leaving me to fend for myself against the chilly air. All the time I spent there, I was crying from all the halucinations, dreams and sounds the forest made at night.

A traumatic experience for a child-I thought I was going crazy when I heard groans and hisses every corner and each passing night they always creeped closer. Funny, I remembered​ when my mom used to tell me that 'the monsters wouldn't ever hurt me,' and that I believed monsters never existed in the first place.

Of course, mother only chuckled and said quote 'The only monsters that have ever existed are man.'

I was puzzled. That didn't seem quite true.. after what the king has done, I refused to believe it, but at the same time I knew something was off about it. I kept replaying it in my head, almost forgetting about the strange noises.

Eventually, I grew out of it, realization setting in as my stomach actually growled back and we were left in silence for a while. Contemplating everything from how I basically had no sense of direction as to where I came from and the word 'survival'.

Being the small, scared and slightly optimistic child I am, I convinced myself that I could gather food somehow, and not die by falling from a cliff. It was the only life line I hung on to.

As time went on, I started to gather berries, apples, even peaches and a few Cocoa beans I found on the ground, everything you would normally find in a forest that my seven year old mind thought was healthy, and I did believe they were healthy, often finding them fresh in markets nearby but never knowing that they were most likely dead and rotten when left too long in the wilderness.

Shoving a crippled berry into my mouth wasn't a great experience, nearly spitting it out the second I tasted it. Learning from my mistakes, I checked every fruit I had bundled up in my arms, almost throwing away half of the 'basket' and submerging the fresh ones into the river in my cupped hands, just to make sure they were clean.

And during those treks, I was oblivious to the curios stares and silent hisses of curiosity, always so engrossed in finding food and interesting things.

By the river, a lot of sticks had washed up on the side, mostly long and sharp ones that sometimes just consisted of one branch. It was heavenly to find out that wouldn't be able to prick yourself trying to hold it.

This is when I started to experiment, picking up sticks and random wood, mostly oak and occasionaly jungle wood. I even figured out how to take a few strips off-was it bamboo?-so I could tie it around the sticks, just like I once saw people do at the market when me and my father went out to buy a few things.

It reminded me of seeing a man in clad uniform, consisting of gear and this one huge bow. Somewhat wanting to build it, I immediately gathered the materials.

It was getting darker by the fourth night, the moon a quarter and a half across the sky. I sat by admiring the sky, and how it illuminated my dark surroundings.

Times like this, I wished my family was here, watching with me, telling stories and sharing food until sunrise, I'd be carried off once I was asleep.

By then I felt homesick, wanting to go back to the village and frankly my friends to tell them that I had a great experience and I was slightly thankful. Yet I was lost, being much more stupid and getting myself deeper into the woods with death in every corner.

Until something wet pressed against my arm.

It scared me and almost made me fall off the cliff-which I was not going to due to my earlier ambissions. Alias or not, I almost died because of this anomaly.

The thing that scared me was an animal-a puppy, or so I thought it was.

We sat there, looking at each other with utmost awkwardness. I considered reaching out to it to find out how it would react but it was already knelt down and wagging it's tail as it sniffs through a pile of berries I had nearby.

It was playful, energetic and way too hyper to be considered normal, but I still wanted to play with it none the less.

After a few minutes of trying to get it's attention, it finally noticed my presence. I was happy to say the least when it slowly walked up to me, not wanting to provoke me in any way.

It go close enough to sniff my face, and without any hesitation, started to lick my cheek. All I could think of was the sensation that tickled me and almost forced me to fall off again.

Once it was done, it began prancing around, barking at a few things, annoying a few birds up on a nearby tree and even trying to chase a butterfly.

I thought of him as a friend, always deciding to prance around me and bark. It slightly annoyed the other animals I was unaware of around it, and deliberately named him Rascal.

Once I got home with a grin on my face, people immediately bomboarded me with questions, scolding and hugs. I couldn't say that I didn't appreciate all the snacks and food afterwards, cause that'd be a lie. My friends found out later, barging into the house with happy exclamations. Even Tyler, who never stopped apologizing after that.

People from fifth district found out about the minature bow I carried, questioning my dad as to how I figured out how to craft it at such a young age. He only waved it off and said 'he's into hunting.'

Remembering that I had met a pup in the fields, I went out of my way to pack my leftovers from lunch and excused myself to visit the heields.

It was hard to find it again at first, but when I eventually did, Rascal surprised me with a lunge that sent both of us tumbling down towards the river.

Father questioned me once I got home a bit soaked, too drowsy to process the fact that I had went out and fell into the river for whatever reason he believed. I got away with it.

After a while I would always leave at sunset, coming back home just before my dad would wake up, he always overslept because of his job despite his heart condition. This didn't mean I left him all alone at home however, always taking care of him whenever I could.

Back to the main topic, I visited the fields almost every day. Mostly bringing a few scraps and leftovers after taking a look at Rascal's sunken stomach.

By then, Rascal was healthy and a bit more larger. Abnormally larger than most puppies-at an age that I haven't quite deciphered at the time. Proving his strength just by launching himself at me and nearly knocking the wind out of me. He would become a great hound. At one point, I decided to bring him into village, fitting him inside the fashionable bag I found behind an old warehouse and bringing him home. From then on I took care of him there, placing the semi large pup in my room

That is until my dad came home and found him, he was a few weeks older by then. My dad presumed that I took him away from his mother, or that his mother was dead. So he insisted on killing him because of how he needed to be supplied with proper food, yet I promised to take care of him as much as I could. Even for an eight year old.

He not so willingly agreed, on the verge of scolding me but somewhat still trusting me to take care of Rascal like a second brother. The look he gave me was basically the scowl your parents gave you when they're serious, and that I had a responsibility.

A few days later, Tyler had visited me again and apologized greatly, though I just smiled and waved it off, even though he did that for the rest of the week everytime we met up or when we were along. Then again, I did breakdown and disappear for several days, without anyone knowing.

Months passed, Rascal seemes to have grown up to my waist. If he stood up on his hind legs he would be able to reach his paws on my shoulders. It was quite scary, and in public would just look like a child with his best friend until you find out the dog could eat the child.

It was, per se, a complicated hybrid of a hound and a Dire wolf. A breed meant for hunting and killing, but that didn't mean he wasn't friendly.

I had told my friends about him in secret, and they practically considered him one of our own. Playing catch and as well as laying on him like he was a sofa. Trust me, it would be a lie if Rascal wasn't pleased with this.

We spent our time laughing, joking, playing and having adventures, usually never outside of the village and just in one of the nearby fields. This doesn't mean we stopped Jerome though, we would often sneak out whenever we felt like it. His nature truly intrigued all of us.

Not long, we hung out as a group of eleven, twelve and thirteen year olds, sometimes maybe as just a whole group of eleven year olds. The older of us took quite the burden in school, starting to pull their weight around the village and leaving the younger to play around in the fields.

I never got to see Ty or Jerome again after I turned twelve. Being fourth oldest I began to experience what Ian had experienced. Education and work definitely weighing down my time as a child and forcing me to drag my mind in the mud.

It was becoming harder to take care of Rascal altogether, and due to Dad's sickness, he wasn't in any condition to work. It's much more better than simply dying of a heart attack in one day, and it forced him to retire. My grandparents from mom's side, however, offered to let me stay with them in region seven, which was far away from my friends and left no room for Rascal to play around since it only consisted of houses, no fields, and basically a settlement surrounded by walls. They had much more money from their retirement, and they also tried to hire a doctor for my father best they could, but all of them were preoccupied.

I turned down the offer, deciding to stay and take care of my father and give Rascal a good life myself, and not in a life where I had partially better clothes and food, but no freedom or excitement from adventuring. My grandparents understood, knowing how much I cared for my family. They still held the offer up however, and said 'you could move in anytime you like.'

I decided to work part-time jobs when I turned thirteen, able to support me and my family best I could, worried that all the mouths to feed had already died and I was still carrying stacks of wheat across the farmlands.

It was hard, shuffling between school, work and chores, but somehow, I managed it.

It got more harder eventually, Dad was getting more Ill each time I came home and at the raw age of fourteen I was already starting to tire myself out, around the same time I had gotten much more pay than usual, my superior explaining that 'Winter had sunk it's claws into the village and not many survived to work for that month, leaving him as one of five lads to deliver food rations from one part of the village to another, feeding the entirety of it.'

When I told my father, he nearly flipped.

Dad, who sat on the rocking chair with graying hair, dull brown eyes and wrinkled cheeks kept then suddenly apologizing, crying even when he realized how much I've done for him and the village. The look he bore in his eyes were filled with pride and regret, babbling inaudible thoughts to himself.

At one point when I was turning fifteen, the entire village thought he was crazy, always muttering something and staring at the open field, dazed.

+++

"Dad?" I call cautiosly, scanning the porch with narrowed eyes. No sign of him, and for once he wasn't just glaring at the grass or having a heated conversation with Mitch's father, a dear friend of his who also had graying hair and rather fierce eyebrows with a cut running through his left brow, obviously from his younger days wherein he used to fight for the kingdom.

He used to be quite the womanizer, my dad mentioned, and I could definitely see it, as Mitch was the spitting image of his dad, if not, a bit more handsome than him. His dad married a fine woman from another kingdom, and Mitch was there to inherit those features that made him stand out amongst men and attract women from all kinds of places.

I shook my head, a bit jealous that he was lucky enough to inherit from two of the most perfect people from all over the kingdom, whilst I stood by his side with dull brown eyes and a rather weak physique.

Finally, I open the door to reveal my father sleeping on the bed, softly snoring. Seeing his relaxed face made me smile softly, and I moved over to his bed.

I set the dead squirrels and the other bag of vegetables, eggs and wheat down on the worn bedside drawer. Kneeling next to his sleeping form, I bring my hand towards his forehead, and his neck. The temperature had gone down drastically during the last few months, and I was happy. It was like a birthday gift for me turning fifteen.

I softly smile. We were going to make it.

After a while of making sure he wasn't overheating or too cold, or maybe even thirsty, I get up and walk over to bedside drawer and picked up the fresh squirrels and the bag, mind set on getting the squirrels cooked.

"You were better off with her..." I hear my dad whisper in the silence of the room, and momentarily I froze in the doorway, debating on whether I should check if he's awake or not.

What does he mean by that?

Having it repeat itself in my head, I slowly walk out, not sparing a second glance. I close the door behind me as I walk past a tired Rascal on the floor. His tail immediately thumping against the wood as he wags it.

"Good boy." I mutter, not even sure if I actually said it as I start to gather materials for the squirrel.

+++

I never really saw Mitch's father anymore, for the past year, he just stopped showing up.

It didn't matter to me, though. Each time I shot an arrow at the heart of an animal, Rascal drags it back. We would sell the meat, raise enough money to buy food, eventually better hunting gear, and even managed to get proper clothes as opposed to the stained shirt and pants.

They were the only things I cared about right now.

+++

A/N: Guys!! Please don't move on to the next chapter, it has spoilers of chapter 9/presumably other chapters too, and I'm writing chapters quickly so I can fill in the gap between 4 and 9.

Please do enjoy the book! :)