"RUN!"

A shrill call echoed through the sleepy morning market as three children scrambled through the thin crowd. Their giggles and cries of fear were drowned out by the angry hollers of the vendor that they had stolen goods from.

"Raine, give the things to Kaz to fly them back home, then come with me."

The leader of the little thieving group was a beautiful, pale skinned albino boy, no older than 10 years old by the looks of it. A girl with sandy brown hair, the one he had called Raine, tossed a sack of goods up to another boy running on the rooftops, the one they called Kaz. He secured the cloth sack tightly in his arms and then dove off the other side of the roof, disappearing from view.

After skidding around a few people hoping to snatch them, the pair hopped over a table which made its vendor fall hard onto her bottom, knocked over a rack of clothes before disappearing into the alleyway.

"Look! Can we keep it?" Raine smiled as she held up a nice, new woolen sweater. The albino boy nodded. They needed all the clothing they could get since winter was fast approaching.

After a long trek through an abandoned path through the forest and a grassy field, a worn down shed came into view. It sat hidden in the outskirts of the town and it was the place 15 young children called home.

"Brother Ruski! Sister Raine! You're back!" the family chirped and grouped together to see what they had brought back in the sack. One of the older girls stayed against the wall with a frown on their face as the other younger kids unwrapped the goods. Once the items were stored away safely, the girl walked up to the other three and folded her arms.

"You guys were late and we were worried. Are you guys alright? Nothing went wrong right?"

"Don't worry Bela, everything went fine," Ruski replied and she sighed. She was only the third oldest but she worried the most, especially when they went out to gather living necessities.

"I should be out there with you guys," she would lament every time the others went out. Bela had hurt her ankle a while back which made it basically impossible for her to run errands like that but that only made her more determined to help out in the house.

As the night drew the day to a close, the eldest children tucked the others into bed before gathering in the living room. They sat in the dark to discuss future plans before bidding each other good night and heading to their own beds. Each one slipped into their covers, closed their eyes and listened to the silence. But before they went unconscious, regrets, complaints and longings never failed to appear.

"If only we could live as freely as other children..."

"Why do we have to struggle just to see another day?"

"It's so unfair but this is what reality is."

"I wonder... "

...

Cold. Everything was cold and dark. I couldn't see, I couldn't feel until suddenly, a splinter of light erupted from my peripheral view. After a few seconds, I could finally make out a few dark shapes. A hand? Two hands? Legs? Those were my body parts.

It was the first time I saw myself and I began to register my surroundings too. Above me was a heavy but flexible material. A coat, I realized . Under me, there was something cold. So cold it began to sting my skin and dark shards lay everywhere. But that was all I could see because the cloth covering was blocking me. I shuffled around with my hands and arms, pushing the folds out of my way until an exit appeared where the light rushed in. At this point I could also hear footsteps and voices coming towards me.

"Look over there! That's dad's coat," one exclaimed, "and it's moving!"

I cautiously peeked my head out from the coat and after letting my eyes adjust to the brightness, I could see a group of faces staring back at me. They were all children and I could see that there were a few older ones in the group. One of them, who wore strange gold beads in his hair, was the first to step forward.

"Hello there," he said politely, "Have you seen our dad?"

I blinked a few times and shook my head. He looked at me with a blank stare in return.

"Really? So why are you in dad's coat?"

"And why are you naked?" a younger boy piped.

I decided to ignore their questions and looked around instead. We were in the middle of a frozen plain with no life in sight other than us. The dead land ran on and on, meeting the dull grey sky in the distance. We were in the middle of nowhere.

Finally, I turned back to the children who had been patiently waiting for me. I looked up at them and this time, an older girl stepped up.

"So who are you? Where did you come from?" she asked as she knelt down to my crouched level. I was about to answer when it hit me; I didn't know. Who was I? Where did I come from? How did I get here? My distress probably began to show because the girl stepped back with a worried expression.

"I- I don't know," I whispered and my voice began to crackle as warm tears rolled down my face, "I don't know... I don't know..."

"Hey, don't cry," she pleaded as she tried to comfort me, "It's ok, I'm sure you'll remember eventually."

Now, the other children gathered around to comfort me but I just continued to stare at the ground. I felt so lost and with no direction to follow, there was nothing I could do.

"You can come with us, if you want."

The final girl who stood above the others offered. "We are basically like you now. We have nowhere to go-"

"Well, we just need to find father and-"

"Father is gone," she roared with a hint of anger mixed in her voice, "We have no one to rely on anymore except each other and I think having one more brother won't be too bad. You look old enough to work."

She then pointed to herself, "Call me Raine. That's Kaz and Bela. And then there's Bekistan, Georgie, Baija, Kyrgey, Taji, Menia, and Menistan. Those four are Lithy, Tonia, Via and Dova. We picked them up on the way, like you."

I noted down all the names at once but I still was a bit lost in what was going on. Raine saw my lingering confusion and decided to spell it out for me.

"From today forward, we are going to be your family. We are now you're family and you are now our brother. Does that sound good?"

Realization hit me all at once but I simply couldn't believe my luck.

"Does this mean... I won't be alone anymore?"

"Yeah, you'll have us," they all said in unison and for the first time ever, I felt the corners of my mouth lift into something new. It was the first and purest smile I have ever made.

They helped me stagger to my feet like a newborn fawn and wrapped the coat over my bare skin. As I shuffled forward, I felt something brush against my leg and peered down.

A green sprout poked out of the snow next to a scrap that was torn from the coat. After brushing off the snow, I examined the cloth. There was a red rectangle with a blue stripe running down its left edge and it seemed to have sparked a memory in me.

"Ruski."

"What?" Raine turned to see me with a new look of surety.

"I think I just remembered my name," I repeated, "Call me Ruski."

...

Winter finally came rolling in with freezing winds and unrelenting snowfall. We had gotten busy, patching up any cracks and holes but we still faced the problem of food.

"I'll go hunting tomorrow," I assured my frowning siblings, "Maybe I'll catch something worth salting."

"You know that's risky," Raine protested, "You know how those snobbish rich hunters are. They're getting pretty pissed at us for using their hunting grounds."

"Well what other choice do we have?"

So the next morning, I picked up the rifle hidden in the storage and a precious cartridge. With a wave goodbye, I pulled on my coat and walked into the white winter world.

The forest was quiet and still as I carefully stepped into the clearing where the hunters had set traps.

"Tsk," I muttered to myself, "What idiot sets their traps like that? No wonder there's nothing there."

With a few quick readjustments, I shouldered my gun and walked deeper into the woods. I crouched down at a good spot after I had placed some bait and began to wait. It didn't take long before some movement began to appear. Too small, too little, I let them pass by. There was one target in particular that I was waiting for. A nice and meaty boar had been spotted a few days ago and I was determined to be the one who got it.

Time began to fly by and my body began to stiffen. Finally, I took my tired eyes off the spot and stretched my aching muscles. As I reached up, my hand touched something musty and furry.

"What the-" I began as I turned to look straight into the face of a giant brown bear. My blood turned to ice as I froze in fear. It approached so silently that I hadn't known it was here and I slowly tried to back away. What was a bear doing here? Did I accidentally wake it from its slumber? But to my surprise, the bear pushed something towards me with it's giant paws and then disappeared back into the woods.

It had brought me a beautiful fur cap with a blazing red star in the center of it. Two soft ear flaps were tied up with a string of golden wheat dangled from the corners. I couldn't take the time to examine it any further because the next thing I knew, a giant boar trotted out of the nearby shadows and stopped right where the bait was laid. With delight, I hoisted up my gun and took aim. The familiar click of the trigger was followed by the bang, leaving the beast dead before it realized what was going on.

"Yes!" I exclaimed as I immediately hopped out to claim the prize, knowing that the gunshot probably alerted the hunter jerks.

"Just wait till the others see this," I grinned to myself, "Meat for at least a week!"

Just as I thought, their spirits soared when I presented this jackpot. The girls immediately got to work, skinning the animal and whatnot while the boys began to prepare a campfire and examine the ushanka I had also brought back. This was gonna be a feast for us. We laughed and ate until we were stuffed with plenty to spare. At the end of the day, each went to bed with full stomachs and grins from ear to ear.

I smiled as I pulled the covers over my head as I thought to myself, "I was wrong. Even if we have to work a bit harder, as long as we work together, everything will be fine. We will be fine."

But little did I know, our happiness was so short lived because the next morning, a thunderous pounding appeared at our door.

"You filthy brats," the rough voice of an angry man bellowed, "I know you're in there so come out right now!"

Raine almost dropped the plate that she was holding and Kaz froze stiff. The children looked at one another in fear as they huddled behind sister Bela.

I took the lead and cautiously crept up to the peephole where a dozen men were gathered. The hunters had found us.

"Damnit, I was too careless," I hissed as I motioned for everyone to be quiet. Kaz, Bela and Raine nodded to one another and began to gently herd the others towards the back hatch where they would escape. I took a deep breath and creaked open the door.

"Okay, I'm coming out now..." I whimpered as I shuffled out of the space, "Can I help you?"

"Yeah you can," the youngest hunter, a dirty blonde man barked, "You went hunting in our grounds again! Not to mention you stole the boar that was supposed to be my winning ticket to a competition!"

I had finished scanning through the men who were all armed with rifles, a handgun and a dagger. If there was a fight, I would immediately die so I did what they wanted. I groveled at their feet and gave them our sob story but these heartless bastards replied by jabbing me with the barrel of their guns. Their ugly laughter filled the air as the leader began to mock me.

"Maybe you can repay us by becoming our servants! I would really like that. Oh and don't forget your little sisters too, they can come as well!"

With that, my eyes widened as a shriek came from behind me. I whipped my head off the ground to see another group of men, dragging my family out to where I sat.

"Hey! GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY SISTER- URK!" I was sent sprawling as he dug his heel into my gut. I felt sick.

"Don't you dare speak like that to us, vile parasites!" he spat as he continued to kick me while I was down. The torture seemed to last forever as pain seared my vision and finally, sweet little Dova couldn't watch anymore. With forceful chomp, the man who was holding her shrieked and she dashed towards me. "You little bitch!" he growled in a frenzy, pulled out his handgun and let a bullet fly.

A crimson thread burst from her side and she lurched forward in shock. Scarlet bloomed from the hole in her white silk dress and I could only watch in horror as her body hit the snow.

(NOBODY POV) TRIGGER WARNING: BLOOD, DEATH AND MORBID SCENES AHEAD.

"MOLDOVA!" Raine screamed in horror as she strained against her captor but Kaz slid his foot out to stop her.

"Hold on," he muttered somberly, "Something isn't right."

Just as he had said, the previously stagnant air began to pick up until it circled the area in a wailing squall. The ground beneath began to shake as well, as if trembling with anger and the men looked around wildly, unsure what to make of the situation.

Kaz seemed to have figured it out, unfurled his wings and pressed everyone to the ground. The hunters stepped back in surprise as the blizzard blocked out the sky, turning day into a monochrome night.

The bruised and bloody boy sat up, and with trembling hands, knelt at his dying sister's side. Her eyes watered with tears, pain flaring with every breath but she was too weak to even express her torment.

"My tummy, it hurts," was all she could whisper before the boy placed his hand over her eyes.

"Do not worry, just close your eyes," he whispered as he watched her with a chillingly calm stare, "They're knocking on our door now. They're coming for those who cannot sleep."

"He's lost it," Bela gasped as they watched in horror as Ruski cradled the girl in his arms. The pain in her torso began to fade, replaced by a cold, numbing sensation as a shining layer of frost crawled up her skin.

"The night will muffle everything," he continued to recite.

Finally, the dirty blonde man had enough and trained his gun on the boy's head, "I don't know what the hell is going on but I know damn well that you are behind this somehow-"

But when he pulled the trigger, the boy didn't slump over and die. Instead, the man found himself suspended above the treeline, staring at the hole that had appeared through his stomach.

"Wha-" was all he could say before he gurgled up blood and slumped over, lifeless and ragged.

"Huddled in a corner, with a penetrating gaze," the boy continued and with every word spoken, another column of ice shot out, killing another man in awful, gruesome ways. Blood sprayed through the air like a veil of mist, slowly tinting the white snow red. The rest of the children had buried their faces into Kaz's wings with their hands over their ears as they tried to muffle the screams of men being torn apart.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, only one man from the two dozen was left standing. He quivered on the spot, snot and tears of fear running down his face, as he stared into the bloodbath that had occurred. He didn't even realize that he had pissed himself. His friends and associates, broken beyond recognition with their bones peeking out of their flesh.

Unable to spit out any words, the man held up his quivering handgun in a final desperation, for he didn't see a child before him. He saw the devil.

The winds began to die down as the boy, drenched red, got up and began to hum a tuneless melody.

"Tili Tili Bom, a child's lullaby. I'll let you go to sleep now, so close your eyes quickly."

With a thump, the handgun sunk into the snow as it's handler watched from above with glossy eyes. The boy in red walked up to the deathly structure and the ice swallowed the corpses, encasing them in shining rubylike coffins. With his knuckle, the boy gave the base of the structure a knock.

At first, nothing happened but then, a fissure cracked open, snaking throughout the slabs like branches of a tree, extending outwards. The boy frowned before picking up the dropped handgun and took aim.

The bullet flew through the center, shattering everything like mirrors and it all came tumbling down. The corpses inside had also splintered into a thousand tiny bits along with the ice that had held them.

As everything lay in ruins, the storm had also come to an end and the only thing that could be heard was the stifled sobs of the others. The terrible energy that had flowed through the boy's veins were now completely gone, replaced by a dulled and fuzzy sleepiness. So he dragged himself back to his unconscious sister and blacked out as well.

"Read me that report again," a man in a foreign uniform demanded as they approached the alleged site where the massacre had happened. Many of the shards had already been removed but few scarlet shards still remained. The man frowned as he picked it up gingerly, examining it closely.

"According to the bartender's recount, a group of two dozen men left the bar at around 6 in the morning after a night of heavy drinking. Two of them claimed to have direct contacts with one of the oligarchs and put the drinks on their tab. After that, they were seen arming themselves with hunting gear before leaving town. Their footprints go directly to this place where they went missing. Their remains are believed to be split all throughout the pile of ice shards that have been taken for investigation. We will need to wait for that report though."

"And where are the kids you previously mentioned?"

"They've been taken to a temporary encampment to seek medical treatment. Two were found unconscious, one had a bullet wound encased in some sort of unbreakable ice."

"And you're thoughts on this case?" The man glanced at him sideways and the assistant shuffled uncomfortably.

"I don't know what to say. I just believe that it is beyond our power to deal with this."

After storing the shard in a small vial, the man nodded and fished out a small device.

"This is NATO speaking. Get me connected to Headquarters. Tell them I think we've found his legacy."

Author's Notes:

Update done >:3

Damn, I think this takes the cake for the longest chapter. Welp, It's getting late over here so I should sleep. Hope I won't get nightmares though XD

But to ease this gruesome chapter, have this shitpost I put on Instagram a while back.