With You, Under the Moonlight

A Sense of Normalness

Prologue: A Talk Under the Moonlight

One night, a father noticed his youngest son was sitting outside in the garden looking up at the moon, talking. He has seen the boy do this on several occasions when the moon was full and, curious what this new ritual was about, decided to make his way outside and sit next to his son. The child, Soobin, stopped talking and turned to his father.

"Father, why is the rabbit all alone?"

The man, slightly surprised by this question, hums to himself and picks up the boy to cradle him in his lap. "What do you mean?" he asks the little one.

"You know," Soobin points to the sky, head resting on his fathers chest, "up there in the moon."

"Ahhh, up there..." He takes a moment and breathes, taking in the sweet night air, enjoying this moment with his son.

"When the rabbit's moon is suuuppperrr big," Soobin goes on, "it looks so lonely up there in the sky, so I decided to become the rabbits' friend!"

The father must admit, he's a bit amazed and so proud of his son's caring heart and imagination.

"You see," the older begins, "originally there was only a man up there on that moon." Young Soobin tilted his head curiously. "Then one day, he came down to Earth disguised as a beggar where he came across a fox, a monkey, and a rabbit. The fox presented the beggar with a fish, the monkey with fruit, and the rabbit with mear grass."

"But, people can't eat grass"

"Exactly. That's why the rabbit felt so useless that it couldn't help the beggar to where it told the man to build a fire, then threw themself onto it!"

Little Soobin turned around in his fathers lap with such a look of astonishment, his father laughed at his son's reaction.

"Don't worry Soobin, it's only a story" he says, still chuckling, wiping a few tears from his eyes. "After all, the beggar is so touched by the rabbits actions to where he turns back into the Man on the Moon, pulls the rabbit from the fire, and brings his new friend back up to the moon with him."

Little Soobin sits and ponders this new story for a few moments. "So... where is the man then? I only see the rabbit."

"Who can say?" the father ponders with him, "Maybe he is out exploring beyond the moon and left his trusty companion to keep an eye on things over here?"

Soobin shrinks a bit as he pulls his knees into his chest. "Sometimes, I feel like we're a family of rabbits...all alone up there on that moon as everyone stares..."

The caring father looks down at the back of his child's head. He's barely six, yet already realizing where we–where he stands in this world... his heart aches for his son's feelings of loneliness...

"My Binie-bunny..." his father begins, "we aren't like the others with whom we share this world; not humans, nor like the other vampires. But you know this; You know what it means to be able to live forever, it's in our DNA. You understood it from the very beginning. We are different creatures from the rest, full of powers and mystery only we know the full extinction of." The father squeezes the young one in a tight embrace as Soobin listens solemnly. His father continues, "The others, they're drawn to us, like moths to a flame. Our kind–yes, it is like you said: we, the purebloods, are all rabbits alone on our moons, looking down at everyone as they can't help but be drawn to our eminent light."

———

-Today-

A sliver of sunlight shines over Soobins eyes, disrupting his sleep. The teenager squints and shifts his tall body away from the source of discomfort and disappears into his comfey bundle of blankets...