Seven stood before the walls, whose length extended as far as the eyes could see and whose height made it seem like they touched the heavens. He slid his hands across the walls to feel their partially rough texture.

The gentle breeze ruffled his short black hair. This was his place of peace‒his escape from reality.

As Seven gazed up at the wall, he couldn't help but feel a sense of awe and wonder. There was something mysterious and alluring about it, as if it held secrets just beyond his grasp.

These walls served an important purpose: to protect them from the evils that lay beyond. Ma had told him the story multiple times—the story of how a hero, a man who had suddenly appeared and possessed strange abilities, tipped the scales of battle and led humanity to victory, which ended their many years of fear and oppression. Later, toward the end of his life, when he couldn't fight anymore, he built those walls to protect humanity.

Seven admired the hero and wanted to be like him. These walls were the only things that held the memories of what was once, and Seven felt a connection to them. However, Seven couldn't stop wondering what these strange beings could have looked like. Whenever he asked Pa, Pa would give him a weird look and tell him that what mattered was they couldn't bother them; some things are best left unknown. Ma said they were monsters who excelled at deceit and could shape-shift into the forms of their victims.

Seven's train of thought was cut off by a familiar voice. "SEVEN!" it called out. As he heard this name, he turned around to see a tall, light-skinned feminine figure standing before him. She had light blue hair that almost looked white if you weren't paying attention, and blue eyes to complement this color. She wore a simple grey shirt, a black skirt, white sneakers, and a metallic bracelet on her right wrist.

"That's Ash for you, Vi (short for Violet)," Seven snapped back.

"Here you go with these weird names again," Thirteen rolled her eyes in reply. "They're not weird; people refer to themselves as these in the books Pa reads," he said defensively.

With a blank expression, Seven proceeded to ask her what she wanted. She sighed and reminded Seven that Pa had warned them not to go too close to the walls. Seven looked away in guilt and pleaded with Thirteen not to tell Pa.

"Whatever, Pa wants you home now," Thirteen said.

"Why?"

"I don't know. Just come home, okay?" Thirteen replied, her voice sharp with annoyance.

Seven decided to stay a little longer before he finally left.

On his way, Seven noticed how vibrant and bustling the place was. He met up with, and even helped, Fifty-Six's Ma carry some loads through the crowd. However, there was a sharp contrast with the residential area. The residential area was dead silent, and all the houses looked so similar that it was as if they'd been stamped out by a cookie cutter.

He arrived at the front of the house and stared at the silver metallic plate next to the door, engraved with the words 'SECTOR E.'

He took a moment to appreciate its existence. It had saved him from getting lost countless times since all the houses looked so similar.

He placed the bracelet on his right wrist close to the sensor right under the address plate. A feminine voice said, "Welcome back, Zero-Seven." The door opened and shut with a soft hiss as he walked in.

Seven walked into the living room and met Pa sitting in a rocking chair, his head buried in the little red book he was reading. Curled up at his feet was Twenty-Three. He was Seven's younger brother and Thirty-Two's identical younger twin. They both looked so alike that Seven would have mistaken one for the other on multiple occasions if not for the bracelets on their ankles, boldly displaying the numbers 32 and 23.

Twenty-Three looked so cute and innocent asleep, even though he and his brother were the complete opposite of that.

Pa looked away from his book. He asked Seven why he was always stopped from going near the walls.

"Although they're there to protect, there might be cracks in them, and the evil may seep in and corrupt me," Seven replied, his voice sounding a little robotic as if he had said this a thousand times.

"So you wouldn't go near them again," Pa asserted.

"Yes," Seven replied, his head hung low in obedience.

Of course, this was a lie. He knew Pa just wanted the best for him and didn't want him to worry so much. However, he was annoyed that Thirteen had snitched on him. "She just had to snitch," Seven thought to himself.

Pa smiled and told him not to forget his checkups. Seven's face turned sour at the memory of how painful they were, and he begrudgingly dragged himself into the check up room.

On his way there, seven bumped into Thirteen who was doing some basic cleaning around the house. He tried to pretend as though he didn't see her, but he was a second too late as they had already made eye contact before he could react.

Thirteen asked why he looked so angry.

He simply shrugged and tried to move out of Thirteen's, but Thirteen moved into his path again. Seven felt annoyed by this. Thirteen breathes in, her head hung low and with a remorseful voice says, "I'm just trying to look out for you." She stammers for a bit while trying to say the word, "I'm sorry."

Seven was a bit calmer now. With a dry smile plastered across his face, he assured her not to worry so much. He could very much take care of himself. This reminded him. He hadn't seen twenty-eight today at all. He asked where she and twenty-three where. Thirteen told him the went out to buy groceries a few minutes after he sneaked away from home.

Thirteen stepped out of the way to let seven pass through. Even though she saw seven smiled, she couldn't help but feel it wasn't genuine. She let out a loud sigh grabbed the duster and continued cleaning.

The check-ups took a while partially because seven spent the first 20 minutes planning how he was gonna do it, so it doesn't feel as painful. The moment he stepped out of the room, he met one of the twin standing right in front of him.

"What took you so long." the twin said with a smirk on his face trying to taunt seven. "Even I'm not that scared of needles."

"I'm not scared of needles." seven retorted defensively feeling a bit embarrassed. "get out of here umm." Seven's eyes instinctively darted towards the twin's ankle. However, the twin had come prepared. He wore baggy trousers that extended past his heels.

"Aren't you gonna complete that sentence," the twin said staring at seven with an innocent look.

"hm-hm-hm," seven murmured, his eyes looking away in shame.

"huuuh"

"tweeen-teeee-thr" seven said slowly.

However, the twin shouted "Wrong! Haha," before seven could complete it. "Brother! Brother! Brother! Seven mixed up our names again. What should we collect from him this time?" he said as he ran off toward the living room.

Seven, looking a bit confused, could swear that was Twenty-three because he had a slightly brighter shade of brown than his twin thirty-two. That was when seven saw the number '23' flash from beneath his trousers as twenty-three ran. That little rahhh, seven screamed to himself.

On Seven's way to the kitchen, he met Ma who pulled him into a tight hug before he could even react. Her gentle hug, mixed with the smell cherries always seemed to make seven feel relaxed. Although seven felt embarrassed and tells Ma he's no more a child, in truth, seven yearned for her embrace.

"I was surprised not to see you home this morning. Thought you would have wanted to spend your last day with me," Ma said, still holding him tight in a hug.

Part of Seven felt guilty. After breaking free from Ma surprising monstrous grip, he apologized and said he'll make it up to her by helping her prepare dinner. Ma's smile widened for a brief moment before she told him they would be having dinner together and he shouldn't come late, then she walked away.

Seven met twenty-eight in the kitchen together with Thirteen preparing dinner, while thirty-two assisted them. Twenty-eight smiled when she saw him walk in. "Oh! Look who finally decided to join in," she teased, her voice playful and gentle.

"Had to deal with Twenty-three trying to mess with me again," Seven replied, walking over to the counter.

"He's just trying to get a rise out of you. Don't let him win," Twenty-eight said, letting out a short laugh. "

Thirteen who had been focused on cutting vegetables shifted her attention towards seven. "You shouldn't let him bother you so much. He's younger than you, and you know he looks up to you, right?"

"yeah right," Seven scoffed.

Seven went to the cupboard and grabbed a few spices and walked towards thirty-eight who was stiring soup in a pot. "didn't know buying groceries took to long," Seven said.

"wellll, 'buying grocery was actually a cover up so Pa didn't get suspicious.you know how stricter he's been since those men from the capital came." Twenty-eight said, grabbing a spoon to taste the soup. "Ma actually took us to the mall to have some fun together."

Twenty-eight excitedly dug her hand into her pockets and revealed what was four matching silver bracelets. Engraved at their centers were the names Ash, Amber, Flint, and haze. Seven's eyes automatically turned to thirteen's wrist. Right above the usual one which displayed 16 on it, he also saw one that caught the light with every movement with the word Violet engraved on it.

"Thirteen and I had these made for us. Um well, Ma did, but we both came up with the idea of what to write on them," Twenty-three said, trying her best to hide the smug look on her face. "Ma also made a pair for herself and she wrote the name Zoe on it."

Seven reached out to take one of the silver bracelets from Twenty-Eight's hand, his fingers brushing against the smooth metal. The word Ash gleamed faintly under the kitchen's dim light.

"Ma really made these?" Seven asked, turning the bracelet over in his hand.

Twenty-Eight grinned. "Yep. Pretty cool, right? She said she wanted us to have something that felt… personal."

Seven slid the bracelet onto his wrist, positioning it just above the standard identification band. It felt strange, like wearing a piece of rebellion. He glanced at Thirteen, whose "Violet " bracelet gleamed every time her wrist moved.

"Looks like you're officially one of us now," Thirteen teased, her voice carrying an uncharacteristic softness. For a moment, Seven thought she might smile, but she quickly looked away and returned to chopping vegetables.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Seven muttered, though the faintest smirk tugged at his lips. He couldn't help but admire the bracelet. It made him feel different.