- Pan Tal -
A voice sang softly in the distance. Smoke and ash billowed around the abandoned bodies scissored across the streets. But a lone voice sang, soft, soft, leaning against the concrete walls of the prison camp, a broken child cradled in his arms.
In the blue sky, down the milky way,
A little white boat sails...
A muffled hiccup came from his arms, and Yong Soo brushed his thumb comfortingly over her unburnt hand. Her face was cracked with dried tears - she had been too tired to wipe them away.
...Under a laurel tree, just one,
A rabbit sails into the distance...
Suddenly, somewhere, a woman screamed, high and terrified, before stopping abruptly. But, still, Yong Soo sang, softly, softly, pausing only to nestle his little one more snugly against him.
Without oars and a mast,
How do you know where to go?
He could feel her drifting to sleep now. Her burnt fingers were cupped tenderly in his - her hand was so, so small.
Gently, still, it sails...
With a contented sigh, she sleepily squeezed his fingers, and, her eyes fluttering, fluttering closed, she fell asleep in his arms. Silently, without a word, he gathered her lifeless body closer in his arms, and pressed a kiss into her hair, and wept.
...West, to that faraway land.
A/N: Pan Tal (반달 - Half-Moon) is a Korean folk song that was composed during Japan's rule over Korea.