Promise- Minsung

Chapter Forty Five

"Run! RUN FOR IT!" the village was on fire. The houses around him were burning.

General Kim Taehyung ran out of the flames, coughing. General Jeon came running out after him. "It was a trap!" he shouted, looking around. "We have to get out of here!"

The mission was a failure. There had been no leads to the Black Masks found in this village. They had received a clue from a southern-reaching master that there may be a hide out within this village; It was a small village on the outskirts of the country with a low population that was mostly agricultural-based. Seemed like the place the Black Masks might be hidden in.

Well, that was a lie. Or perhaps... It was full of Black Masks, but they were waiting for them when they arrived and attacked both generals and lit the entire village on fire.

"We have to save the civilians!" General Jeon yelled, waving over more of his men. "Hurry and get water from the aqueducts and keep the fire from getting to the crops!"

"Yes, General!" their men ran off as both Jungkook and Taehyung rushed towards the coughing villagers who were stumbling out of their burning homes. "Hurry!"

As the buildings began to fall to the ground, Jungkook and Taehyung checked every last house to make sure there were not more people inside.

"Stop!" Taehyung cried, running to the last house in the village. "There are people in there!" he began to desperately search for a way into the blazing house that was about to collapse at any time.

"Our dad is in there!" three young boys came running up behind them. "And MOM!" they tried to rush into the fire.

"Stop!" Jungkook pulled the boys away with one arm. "Stay back!"

"MOM!" one of the boys cried, falling to his knees in tears.

"WATCH OUT!" Taehyung ran from the side of the building as it came crashing to the ground, embers and flaming wood falling over the ground in a giant heap of burning wood.

Jungkook shook his head as Taehyung turned to him with a fallen face. He looked down at the three boys that were holding each other crying. They were in their early teens, younger than the generals by a few years.

Jungkook sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Get them away from the fire, I don't want them doing anything stupid."

"Hyung!" another small boy came running up as the three fallen young men turned to see him running over, another hooded young man at his side.

"T-Taehyun..." the younger of the brothers looked up with tears streaming down his face. "Our mom and dad were in there..." he sniffled. "They're both gone now!"

The arriving boy, Taehyun, looked up at Jungkook and Taehyung in their battle armor. "Are you here to help us?"

"Yes," Taehyung said quickly. "Anything we can do to help, we will."

The boy looked around at the other four boys around him. "We're all orphans now, sir. Is there some place that you know of that we can all stay for the time being?"

Jungkook glanced at Taehyung, who nodded. Jungkook sighed and leaned in. "Can I have your names?"

"The three brothers are Soobin, Yeon-jun, and Byeomgyu," he glanced at the small boy beside him who hadn't removed his hood. "This is my friend. Kai."

"Kai?"

The two generals stared at each other, then turned back. "Ga-ie?"

"No, Kai." The hooded young man grabbed the edge of his hood and pulled it far enough back that the two generals could see his face.