freedom nights || stray kids au

three

"We don't get visitors often. And when we do, they're usually outsiders. Kind of like what you said, Chris, about the bandits. However the ones that enter our village are very discreet. They will sneak in and attempt to blend in with the crowd before they begin harming our village." Felicity explained, navigating her way through the bushes.

"The bandits that robbed us were definitely not discreet." Chris said, biting his cheek as he briefly remembered the horrifying events that had went on only days before. "They were wearing bright green sashes and hats and leather jackets. The spoke a language that none of us could understand."

"I've never heard of any bandits like that before." Felicity said, looking over her shoulder at Chris sympathetically. "Maybe our queen might know about the bandit clan that invaded your warehouse. I just hope they aren't near."

"Trust me, we've been travelling alone for four days, I doubt any of them are within hundreds of kilometres from us."

Whilst the two leaders were discussing, Audrey had drifted further towards the back with the rest of the boys.

"In the morning we wake up and get ready. Then we go to our first class and learn about language and culture. Then we go to the town hall for lunch! After that, we have our second class, where go help out at the community gardens and tend to crops. Then we go and practise our hobbies and meet up with all the villagers our age. And then we go home for dinner and spend time with our families until dark, and as soon as the sun sets, we are to stay in our huts until the sun comes out again!" Audrey explained.

"Then how come you're outside now?" Jeongin asked.

"Oh. The rule doesn't apply on Saturday nights or Thursday nights as we have no classes on Sunday morning and we have our Freedom nights on Thursdays."

"Nice!" Hyunjin said enthusiastically, giving Audrey a high-five in which she had to jump in order to to reach his hand.

"So is today Saturday or Thursday?" Changbin asked, and Audrey gave him an 'are-you-stupid?' look.

"Saturday, silly!" Changbin pouted which made the young girl laugh, causing the boys to laugh with her.

"What do you do on Thursday nights again? Freedom nights?" Felix asked.

"Yeah! Did your village have freedom nights?" Audrey asked, and the boys all wore pained expressions.

"We were only a little bit older than you before we were taken away Audrey, so we don't remember too much. But I don't believe we had freedom nights." Seungmin told her, and she nodded.

"That's sad. Freedom nights are the best!" She jumped excitedly, which brought a smile to the boys' faces.

"What are they like, Audrey?" Woojin asked her.

"Well, we also call freedom nights Noctis Licentia. We gather as a whole village in our town hall, which is massive! People play music and sing and dance. There are lanterns everywhere, and I can't forget the food- oh, the food! We have bigger feasts at Noctis Licentia than we do on Saturdays! Often we give out gifts on Noctis Licentia too. It's a night of happiness, creativity and freedom. We get to do whatever we want, be whatever we want, and most importantly, eat whatever we want." Audrey told the boys with a grin.

"That sounds amazing!" Felix said in awe, dreaming about the food.

The boys all thought that it was extremely strange that both Audrey and Felicity had warned them about how nothing is as it seemed in their village, but what Audrey had told the boys made the village sound like a dream. They were torn with what to believe, but they guessed they'd have to see the village themselves before they made any assumptions.