Chapter 170 - The Ark Of Broken

Yan, being the small, malnourished child that he was, chose the smaller crates to hide in. Despite his timid nature, he made quite the fuss when he wasn't allowed to be next to his mum. But, the young woman smiled gently as she squatted down to his height.

"It'll be better. If one of us gets found, the other will be ignored. Don't worry, I won't lose so easily," assured the mother as she patted the angry child.

With that out of the way, Yan crawled into the small crate box. His mother and the kind shopkeeper began to cover the small box with other boxes, to reduce the chances of finding him. His mother tried to crawl into a large box, but the sound of the authorities yelling halted the process.

"Drag him as well!" shouted a few guys as they pinned the shopkeeper down.

The shopkeeper's shouts were quickly silenced as Yan watched the attackers deliver a fatal blow to his head. He winced but feared what they would do to his mother. As the group surrounded her in the corner of the alley, Yan endured the sheer hours of torture that was about to come.

His mother, beaten and bruised. Refusing to cry, refusing to tell them about her only child's whereabouts. But he could have never imagined what the gang had planned to do next. Ripping off her clothes, the gang had their way with his mother.

Her fierce and strict demeanor broke down as the group of males shredded her humanity. Took what was left of her dignity and sanity. Yan peeked through the small openings of the crate and witnessed the horrific scene from the start to finish.

He could not scream, he could not shout. He could only cry in silence as he saw his mother's lifeless eyes looking back at him. Tears flowed freely as he continued to stay as silent as possible. As his one strand of hope was gone, the light in his eyes finally died.

As he stepped out from the crate at dawn, he dared not look at the two mutilated bodies and took off. He ran as fast as he could. No money, no food, no home, no family. With nothing left, Yan kept running, using whatever energy he's got left.

Until he bumped into two boys, who were begging for food around the borders of the Teuton domain. They were around his age but could be older. They looked similar, most likely identical twins. They both had short, dirty red hair and wore tattered clothes.

As passerby continued to throw rubbish at them, Yan stood still and watched them. One of them scooted slightly and gestured Yan to join them. Yan was hesitant but quickly mustered the courage to sit next to the poor boys.

The two kids looked foreign their faces implied that they came from the other side of the world. After an hour passed, the two foreign boys stood up. The one who invited Yan to come gripped on the Yan's hand.

"Come on, we'll dig for scraps from the big bins. It's better than nothing."

With a small tug, Yan found himself following the two boys and dug for scraps. A few rotting foods, scraps of meat, the three children tried to best to find edible things to eat. When the three kids gathered back, each of them showed their findings.

The twins found bread each while Yan found a can of unopened tuna. As they sat down on the ground to eat their late lunch, Yan could finally speak up.

"I'm Yan," said Yan as he looked at the twins.

"I'm Ciel," said the one on his right.

"And I'm Cordelia," replied the one on his left.

"Uhm, it's quite hard to tell you boys apart. You've got anything to use to differentiate yourselves?' asked Yan, eating some more tuna.

The twins looked at each other in confusion. They then glanced at Yan as if he was mad.

"I'm Ciel, I'm a boy," replied the twin on his left.

"I'm a girl," replied the other as she pushed out her chest.

"But you look like him!" shouted Yan, as a bit of tuna fell out of his mouth.

"We are considered mirror twins but our genders are not the same," explained Ciel.

"Wanna have a look-see down under to confirm?" asked Cordelia with a cheeky smile.

"No thanks!" yelled Yan.

"Come on! No need to be shy!"

Yan looked embarrassed as he tried to continue to eat his food peacefully. Ciel shook his head and pulled his sister back.

"You've got a home?" asked Ciel, looking at Yan.

"No, haven't got one in ages. Do you guys steal?" asked Yan.

"We can't, we don't have the strength to do that."

"At least you've got each other."