Between the Black and Grey (Starlight Brigade AU)

18 - Childhood Memories

Sung padded along the woodland path, nursing a headache and a painfully fresh cut on his cheek. He'd been fighting with his parents again, which always seemed to end with him storming off like this. He was too proud and stubborn. Though deep down he supposed he was scared of getting hurt any more, so he ran.

The forest by his village had always been a nice escape. Sung enjoyed the gentle buzz of unseen wildlife, and the explosive bright colours of the vast array of plants. Earth was a beautiful planet, Sung had to admit, but he often wondered what other worlds awaited him, beyond the stars. It was a dream and nothing more, he knew that. How could he, a neglected and beaten child, ever hope for something greater than the unfair lot he'd been given?

A flurry of wings just above his head shocked Sung out if his thoughts. He looked up in alarm to see a flock of birds hastily vacating the trees, stray feathers floating down in their unbridled panic. Sung raised an eyebrow, wondering what had scared them so. Then, he heard voices. Must be some rowdy teenagers or something, Sung thought. Still, he was curious.

He left the footpath, pushing aside some leaves to peak through to where the sound was coming from. At first he saw nothing, but then a butterfly fluttered past, quickly followed by a flash of blue fur. Sung stared wide eyed at the spry creature, a mammal of some kind. It had a long snout, yellow eyes, a tail and a patch of fluff on its head that then trailed down its back. It looked like a lion cub with the beginnings of a mane, but the colour was throwing Sung off.

And he was wearing a jacket.

The butterfly he was chasing flapped just out of his paw's grasp, and he growled slightly in frustration as it fluttered upwards out of reach.

"Aw, I was so close!"

Sung wasn't prepared for the lion to speak. So much so, that in his shock he found himself scrambling backwards and catching his foot on a root. He landed heavily on the dirt path behind him and groaned as he tried to sit up again. Then, he looked up and screamed.

The lion's furry face poked out of the undergrowth, rounded ears pricked up and head tilted curiously. He flinched when Sung screamed, and an oddly human expression of worry made its way onto his face.

"Hey, hey, it's okay! I didn't mean to scare you!" he cried frantically, emerging onto the path and trying to help Sung up.

"NO! STAY AWAY!" Sung shouted in fear, and the lion stepped back.

"S-Sorry... Uh, are you okay?" he asked from a distance.

Sung let out a slow breath, staring at the creature in front of him warily. He was young and didn't seem at all threatening, but still. He was speaking!

"Who are you?" he asked him.

"I'm Meouch, first in command of the Starlight Brigade!" the lion said proudly, saluting jokingly with his paw.

"The... what?"

"Oh, well, it's kinda something I came up with... There's only two of us, so I guess it's not really a brigade, but it's still fun to think of it like that!"

The cub's yellow eyes glinted happily, "Anyway, what's your name?"

"Uh, I'm Sung. You're a, a lion...?" He still couldn't quite get over that fact.

"Is that what I am? Huh, never heard that one before," Meouch said, "What are you, then?"

"A human..."

Meouch gasped.

"Whoa! I've never seen a human before! So, that must mean... we're on Earth right now!"