Our little group has always been, and always will, until the end.

Rebirth

The black-haired child awoke to the sound of a whip in the cell beside his. He knew that the cruel young master, Venion, had begun the day's torture session, starting with the little black dragon, who was but a few hours older than himself. The dim light shone down on them from the open door coming from upstairs. The child closed his heterochromatic eyes, flooded with trauma and distrust, even though he was only four years old. In his short life, he discovered that life was difficult and the world was unkind.

His eyes jolted open when struck by the same whip the cruel man had used to injure the black dragon. He could distinctly make out the cackles the blonde man had let out. He wanted nothing more than to strike the sadistic adult lounging on the couch while watching him suffer, but he knew the moment he so much as protested the beatings, he would undoubtedly be beaten even harder. That was his life. if he didn't let out his voice to please Venion, he would be beaten. If he asked no more, he would still be beaten.

When he was first sent to the cellar as a child, he was only beaten. Recently, however, the detestable adult would beat and rape him. He experienced excruciating pain during the times Venion Stan violated his insides, making them do things that they were not yet prepared to do. It hurt. It was painful. He wanted nothing more than to escape this disgusting place with his hyung, the one living being that truly understood how he felt and what he was going through. The tiny, skinny, and malnourished black-haired child bared it, even though—histhroatburnedhisbodywasweakhescreamedhecriedhebegged—he wanted nothing more than to feel at peace. Anywhere was better than here, even if it was the afterlife. He endured so Venion wouldn't direct his attention to the black dragon, instead. In fact, he was glad when Venion said that the dragon turned him off, and that the human child was a lot cuter and obedient. The two children found comfort and solace in each other's presence.

The human child found comfort in cuddling with his affectionate hyung. He found comfort in the dragon's words, "Do not worry, my adorable dongsaeng! This great and mighty dragon will definitely find a way to get out of here. We will make it far, far away from this place." while the dragon escaped their terrible reality by hiding in his dongsaeng's arms, and gazing into his vast, comforting eyes.

The black-haired child made up his mind to finally escape, and late at night, he woke up the black dragon, who was bigger than him by a few centimeters, and cut his mana restriction chains off with the torture tools kept inside their cells. It took a bit of work and time, but eventually, hr human child managed to take off the mana restrictors and throw them to the side, giving the black dragon his long-awaited freedom. The two children then ran away hand-in-paw while the torturer and knights were still distracted by the commotion the dragon caused with his magic off to the side.

That night, both of them slept within the safe confines of each other's arms.

"Silly dongsaeng, wake up! It is time for us to go hunting for food!" The dragon excitedly flew around while occasionally tugging on the human child's clothes—or, well, rags.

Since the two children were barely fed unappetizing porridge every other day, the human child would naturally not have any clothes of his own. The warm and soothing sunlight rained on the black-haired child's face, stirring him from his slumber—which was untouched by nightmares for the first time in a while. The human child squinted his eyes open and laid his head on his hyung's comforting scales. The dragon rubbed his cheeks on his dongsaeng's face, giving a sense of peace to his traumatized dongsaeng. "Mm... Hyung is going to go hunt food?" the human child questioned.

"Uh-huh! This great and mighty hyung is going to go look for fish. I don't want you to get kidnapped, so I'm bringing you with, 'kay? I'll make you float with flight magic so you don't have to walk." The dragon stated.

At this point, he knew that his lazy dongsaeng hated walking, and he couldn't help but want to spoil him, considering what they went through together. The next thing the human knew, he was sitting by a river, and his hyung was presenting him with a bucket filled to the brim with fish. "doesn't all this fish look delicious, dongsaeng?" the dragon questioned.

"Yeah! I don't think we've ever gotten to eat meat before. But... aren't we supposed to cook the fish over a fire? I heard that you can get sick if you don't." the human replied.

"Oh, no! I don't want us to get sick, dongsaeng! I'll start a magic fire and cook the fish right way." For the next 10 minutes, the black dragon sat beside his dongsaeng, eating cooked fish. Emphasis on the cooked. The first 5 fish all ended up partially burnt, but still joyfully eaten.

After the fish were all devoured, the black dragon started thinking. He remembered how that dastardly human, Venion, had a name, but they didn't. That damned Venion had the privilege of having been given a name at birth, but they didn't. That cruel, villainous human was given the luxury of having a name, but they weren't? How was that fair? But then he remembered that nothing in their life had ever been fair. Nothing they had been through would ever be considered even close to a luxury. He wanted to be blessed with a name. he wanted his dongsaeng to be blessed with a name.

'Wait, we can just name each other, can't we? I will pick the prettiest, mightiest name for my dongsaeng!'

"Dongsaeng, dongsaeng!" the dragon called. "Hmm... Hyung?" the human inquired.

"This great and mighty me just thought of a brilliant idea! We can give each other names, and we can keep those names forever. What do you think? This great and mighty me will conjure up the prettiest, cutest, mightiest name for you."

The human child giggled. "I think that's a great idea, hyung." The child lovingly gazed at his hyung with his red-blue eyes. The human had wondered, and had already thought of a great name for his hyung. In one of his dreams, a few months ago, he saw a piece of paper in the hands of a strangely familiar looking man. He read two words, he thought he didn't know how to read, but he was suddenly able to. He recalled two words from that piece of paper. 'Raon' and 'Miru.' He also remembered from the definitions underneath the two words. 'Joyful' and 'Dragon.' The human child thought that these two words were extremely fitting for his hyung. He wanted nothing more than for his hyung to feel joy.

"Hyung, your first name is Raon, and your last name is Miru. I came up with this name in hopes that you will live a happy life."

"What does it mean, dongsaeng?"

"It means you. They are words that mean you, and are just for you."

"Words that are just for me... I love it, dongsaeng! I will use this name. I am the great and mighty Raon Miru, I am the hyung of Estelle Miru!" the black dragon, Raon, happily announced.

The startled child looked at his hyung and gave an extremely intelligent response, "huh?"

"Your name is Estelle. It means a bright star! Because of you, I could see the stars for the first time, so your name is Estelle. Estelle Miru!" Raon said.

The human child—Estelle—smiled happily and said, "Thank you, hyung. From now on, my name is Estelle."