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PROLOGUE: THE TALE OF THE BROTHER SUN AND SISTER MOON

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THE MOON WAS a wraith-silver disc hanging in the lonely sky. It was the promise of life in the darkness, a sense of warmth springing from the cold. It was a vastness to bring humbleness and an eternal space to bring gratitude for the coziness of home. A little girl named Moon-Young climbed up the small platform to observe the beautiful night sky before her.

It was in the late evening of the twenty-third of August 2009 when her father brought her and her twin brother, Jae-Hyuk, to the university he was teaching in. The twins' father, Seo-Jun, was an astrophysics professor, passionate about the celestial bodies outside their planet. As the young girl's eyes remained glued to the sky, anxiously waiting to see the first stars through the clouds, she grabbed her twin brother's arm and pulled him close to her. He was nearing the edge of the open window and she feared he might fall over if he leant further.

Her twin, Jae-Hyuk, was an adventurous individual. He was the type of kid who would not stop on getting an answer to his question especially if he was curious, resulting in her always keeping an eye on him. After all, she was the eldest between them, she came out first. "Aish! Ya!" complained Jae-Hyuk, quickly pulling himself away from Moon-Young's tight grasp. "What's your problem?"

The girl, not moving her gaze away from the sky, nonchalantly replied with, "You're leaning too closely to the edge. You'll fall."

"But, I want to see what's down there." argued Jae-Hyuk, pouting.

"Your sister is right, Jae-Hyuk. A little closer and you might slip and fall." Their father walked over and picked him up, carrying him in his arms. "You don't want to worry me and your sister, right?"

The young boy shook his head, wrapping his arms around his father. "No, I don't want you to worry, appa. You look old when you do."

Seo-Jun dramatically gasped. "I look old? Ya, Moon-Young, does appa look old?"

"Jae-Hyuk said you look old when you worry."

"Oh, so that means I should not worry?"

Moon-Young nodded, exhibiting a big smile that reached her eyes. "Yes."

"Then, you two must not give me a reason to worry." He verbalized, sauntering over near the telescope. "Come here, you two. I want to show you something." Putting his hand at the girl's shoulder, he lowered down the viewing instrument to her height, enabling her to grab it. "Now, what you two are seeing is the moon and the sun is - "

"The bright sphere that is above us during the day?"

"Yes, son. That bright sphere is the sun, but many scientists say that it is not a perfect sphere." He explained with enthusiasm. Seo-Jun always loved talking to his children about his passion for outer space. It was only the time where they got to bond since most of the time, he was busy with his work. "Anyways, the sun is a 4.5 billion-year-old star - a hot glowing ball of hydrogen and helium at the center of our solar system. Without its energy, life as we know it could not exist here on our home planet."

"What about the moon, appa?" inquired the young girl, her eyes sparkling with wonder. "Tell me something about the moon!"

"The moon..." the doting father gently put his son down and held Moon-Young's hand. His eyes flickered to the celestial object in their night sky. The glow of the moon was faint, yet still predominantly illuminated the night sky. "... is the brightest and largest object in our night sky. The Moon makes Earth a more livable planet by moderating our home planet's wobble on its axis, leading to a relatively stable climate. It also causes tides, creating a rhythm that has guided humans for thousands of years."

"What if... what if there's no moon? What will happen to Earth?"

"Well, it is the pull of the Moon's gravity on the Earth that holds our planet in place. Without the Moon stabilising our tilt, it is possible that the Earth's tilt could vary wildly. Life will change for us all since it influences our oceans, weather, and the hours in our days. Without it, tides would fall, nights would be darker, seasons would change, and the length of our days would alter."

"Between the two, who's more important? What can we not live without?" Jae-Hyuk tilted his head, curious, and the father slightly chuckled since he could almost see the gears in his son's head turning.

"Many say it's the sun, but for me, it's both." He knelt down between them, his hands on their back as if to support them. "We cannot live without them. Without the moon, we lose the tides. Without the sun, we lose life." He shrugged. "Just as light cannot exist without darkness, the sun and the moon must exist too for mankind to survive."

The twins puckered their lips as if they were heavily pondering what their father had just explained to them. They couldn't comprehend everything he was saying, but they got the gist of it. The sun and the moon must exist in order for everything to not go haywire. Moon-Young rubbed her cheek, feeling light-headed from all the information dumping.

"Do you want to hear a story about the sun and the moon?"

The two children's eyes lit up and they jumped up in joy, giddy for their dad's storytelling. "Please, please, please, appa!"

Seo-Jun beamed, walking away to sit down at a vacant chair. "Come here," he beckoned the two to come closer. Moon-Young and Jae-Hyuk excitedly rushed over to him and sat on his lap, each taking their spaces atop his thighs. "Once upon a time, a mother was on her way home to her two children, when a tiger came across her and asked for her rice cakes."

"Oh, no!" Moon-Young gasped.

"Afraid, the mother gave the tiger all she had and begged to let her get home to her family." He narrated with such vigor that it evoked emotions - fear from his children. "The tiger disappeared but a few minutes later, still hungry, devoured the mother whole, but took her clothes, put them on, and went to the house where the children waited. The tiger convinced the two kids he was their mother, covering himself in white powder to match her skin."

"Bad tiger!"

"When the kids opened the door, they found that it was not their mother, but the tiger. So, they ran!" Seo-Jun imitated a running person, panting heavily. "The two siblings ran in circles everywhere and eventually ran up a tree where they thought they would be safe. Though the tiger was making his way up the tree so the two prayed."

Moon-Young and Jae-Hyuk listened intently.

"They asked that if they were kind-hearted people, to send down a strong rope to carry them to the heavens, and if they were not, then send a rotten rope, and they would get what they deserved." described their father. "A strong rope was sent down, and the siblings were carried to the sky, where the brother became the sun, and the sister became the moon. Our people called them, the Brother Sun and Sister Moon."

Despite them being born in America, their father made sure that they were still in touch with their South Korean culture and heritage. When the twins were still toddlers, Seo-Jun decided to migrate to the land of opportunity in hopes to have a better life. That life came sooner than they expected because three months later after they came, their father was hired as a professor of astrophysics at the University of California, Los Angeles.

"So, what is the moral of the story?"

"Never trust strangers!" Jae-Hyuk exclaimed then narrowed his eyes into slits. "Stranger..." he paused, emphasizing the word. His fingers pinched together as if to prove his point. "... danger."

Seo-Jun blinked. "Alright, good point. What about you, Moon-Young?"

The little girl looked down at her hands, fiddling with her thumbs. "When you want something badly enough, you will be able to find a way to receive it, as long as your intentions are good, kind and pure." She softly recited from memory.

Her twin brother reacted, "How were you able to get that from the story?"

"Because I already read it before."

Moon-Young was well-versed when it came to literature since her favorite pastime was reading. Whenever her father would bring her and Jae-Hyuk to the university, she would always visit the library and read books. Actually, the books that always captured her attention were medical publications. She would read them for hours as she was deeply interested in medicine.

"That's cheating!"

"It's not my fault I already read it!" argued Moon-Young, frowning.

"Ya, ya, Moon-Young, Jae-Hyuk, do you two really need to fight about it?"

"Mianhe, appa." Sorry, dad. The two children apologized to their father, hanging their heads low in shame.

The father sighed, patting his children's back. "It's okay, it's okay. Try to understand each other more, arasso?"

"gwaenchanayo." Okay.

"Aish, you two are really like those objects in the sky. Jae-Hyuk, you're like the sun. You are fiery, happy, and just full of life while you, Moon-Young... you are calm, honest, and peaceful. It's like you two are the yin and yang, where one is not viable without the other so try to understand each other."

"Appa," the fair girl tapped Seo-Jun's arm, looking up once again at the dark sky. She could see the transparent clouds rolling by to reveal distant stars and the lone pearl in the black sea now had a warm milky glow, as if the sight of it could become a song in the eyes of anyone willing to raise their head upward. It was as if she was watching a stunning scene from a movie, beguiled by its beauty. "Do you think someone lives on the moon?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because whenever I wish on the moon, they all come true. I think whoever is in there listens to my wishes and grants them." At that, Moon-Young saw her father glance at the shimmering celestial object with a wondrous glint in his eye.

He shrugged. "Maybe there is someone from the moon who listens to your wishes, Moon-Young."

The little girl glimpsed at the glowing orb hanging in the blanket of darkness, looking very beautiful. It was like mother nature was wearing a beautiful ornament. She had always believed that maybe her mother was on the moon or maybe a deity lived there, maybe that deity was her mother, looking after her. To be honest, she and Jae-Hyuk never saw their mom. According to their grandmother, their mother disappeared a month after they were born. Not even a single trace was found that day and the police ruled her vanishing out as abandonment even though everything she owned was safe and intact inside their home.

"Ya," the father called them. "You two ready to go home?"

"IT'S MY LIFE! It's now or never!" sang the zestful Moon-Young, her head swinging along with the rock beat of Bon Jovi's It's My Life. Like the night, the road before them grew longer and longer, darker and darker with every passing hour. "But I ain't gonna live forever!"

The little girl peered through the front window trying to see what was ahead of her; the rain was coming down in torrents, blurring Megara's vision even more. Their windshield wipers whipped back and forth over the window, attempting to clear away the large droplets clinging to the glass - but it seemed they weren't moving fast enough.

"I just want to live while I'm alive! It's my life!"

Moon-Young giggled, dancing a little more in her passenger seat. She and her father were very fond of rock songs and they would often play them in their car stereo, jamming to it while they were on the road. The young girl glanced at her sleeping brother and placed her arms above her head to make the shape of a heart. "Appa!" She called, her smile touching the heavens. "Saranghaeyo!"

"Nado saranghae, my daughter!"

That was when a huge Toyota truck rammed into her father's side and their little car rolled over several times, shattering their windshields and windows, and inflating the safety bag. Their car radio still played the song as they tumbled down the road, the lyrics will forever be etched in Moon-Young's memory, scarring her.

"My heart is like an open highway, like Frankie said, "I did it my way.""

Everything happened so fast that no one had any time to even scream and her head made contact with the car door not a moment later.

"I just want to live while I'm alive. It's my life!"

Then, silence.

A moment of silence, an unavoidable nothingness. A quiet that was so deafening, that it only took another glass shattering to jolt Megara awake from her position. She didn't know how many minutes had passed, but she could see even when the car was upside down that smoke came out of their front hood. Her head hurt too much. Her body hurt too much. It seemed that everything hurt too much. Slowly, her senses started to send reports back to her brain. There were bruises and cuts and scrapes that she kept her eyes closed, not because she didn't want to see where she was, but because she thought it would hurt too much to open them. She could hear the engine hissing, tinkling, pinging but still running. Trembling in fear, she slowly opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was the glowing moon in the sky. Blood trickled down the side of her face, and soon, her body wracked with an onslaught of sobs and tears.

"Appa!" She called out, but there was no response. Moon-Young turned her head around to see him unconscious and bleeding as well. "Appa! Jae-Hyuk!"

Still, no response.

A flood of tears gushed down and she looked up to the moon, crying out, "Please, help us! Please!"

Moon-Young continued to beg her father and brother to wake up when bright white beams of light streamed onto the shattered windshield, blinding her momentarily. Its rays touched her skin and there was a small hum that rang in her ears.

Then, she blacked out.

A few seconds must've passed since then, but she was no longer stuck in her seat upside down when she opened her eyes. Moon-Young was standing outside of the wrecked vehicle with no injury and no pain. It was raining heavily, but her clothes and hair were not getting soaked wet. The rain just touched her skin and slid off like she was waterproof. Baffled, she was about to check the inside of the car when she caught a glimpse of two tall, fair-skinned men wearing an all-black ensemble and long overcoat escorting a man she knew very well. "Appa! Jamsimanyo!" Dad, wait! The little girl exclaimed, pushing her feet to catch up with them. Why were they with her father? And where were they taking him?

The three men froze in their tracks and the ones who were escorting him arched their eyebrows, looking confused like her. "Reaper Shin, why can this child see us?"

"Go back to your body, child. It is not your time yet." The other replied instead, not addressing the question.

"What?" Moon-Young couldn't understand what they were implying. Go back to her body? Why would they tell her to go back to her body? "Appa? What are they saying? Why are they with you? Where are they taking you, appa?"

One of the men sighed and raised his hand in level with the girl's height. "I'll send her soul back to her body, Reaper Kim." He announced it to his companion.

"Go ahead."

"No, wait!" protested Seo-Jun, stopping the two men from doing whatever they were about to do. "Let me talk to her."

"You can't do that, Lee Seo-Jun."

Her father stepped forward and faced his companions, bowing his head. "Joesonghamnida," he apologized. "But, I must."

The young girl embraced her father's leg, tugging his pants. "Appa, who are these people?"

She watched as her father knelt down before her and placed his hand on her small shoulders, noticing how his eyes glistened with tears. "Moon-Young," he choked, a sob escaping his lips. "It looks like appa cannot be with you and Jae-Hyuk anymore."

"Why?"

"Because I'm going somewhere you two can't follow."

"Will you come back?"

He shook his head.

"They're taking you away from us?"

Her father stayed silent.

"No!" She wailed, streams of tears flowing faster than her heartbeat. Eight-year-old Moon-Young was young, but she wasn't ignorant. She knew what death means, that it was irreversible and absolute. Her father was going to leave them, just like how their mother did. He will be gone forever. "Appa, no! We can't let you leave us! Please, appa! Don't leave us!"

Seo-Jun's bottom lip quivered, and his shoulders dropped in resignation. Hot torrents of grief that rain down his face at lightning speed. Whimpering, he embraced his daughter tightly in his arms. "Why?" He asked the sky in despair. "Why me? Why now? Oh, why did it have to be now? Why did it have to be me?"

"Appa! Please don't go..."

If only she knew how much her father didn't want to, but he knew that it was time, he knew deep inside that this was the last time he'll see his children.

"Moon-Young, appa..." he sniffed, trying to calm himself. Rain continued to pour on them as if it was imitating their tears and sorrow. "Appa is so sorry he will not be with you and Jae-Hyuk. God knows I want to stay with you two forever, but..."

"Lee Seo-Jun, it's time to leave."

Moon-Young's heart broke and she bled an ocean through her eyes. Her soul felt wafer thin and her body trembled and chilled. It was like she was sliced open by a glass shard, the pain raw and sharp. She observed her father compose himself, lifting his shoulders up as if to show he was strong. "Listen, I need you to be strong for you and your brother. Take care of him. You know how much trouble he gets into. Understand and love each other more, be there for each other, arasso?"

The little girl shook her head. "No, no, no! Appa!" She wrapped her small arms around her father's legs and held on to him tight. "No!"

But, the two men tore her father away from her and the little girl collapsed to the ground in a disheveled heap as her grief poured out in a flood of uncontrollable tears. She reached out to him, crying, "Appa!"

Her surroundings then blurred, making it difficult for Moon-Young to see her father, but she heard his last words loud and clear. "Moon-Young! Jae-Hyuk! I love you, my children!"

At the same time, she felt a blaze of pain pierce through her entire being and spun around to see several people surrounding her physical body. Her lips fell open slightly. If that was her body, then was this her soul? One of them had their hands above the center of her chest, pushing hard and fast. "Defib!"

"Charge to two hundred!"

"Clear!"

They placed the pads on her chest and back and soon, her body jolted upward. Moon-Young felt a strong force pulling her that she felt like it almost dragged the little girl's soul back to her physical body. The girl's eyes snapped open, a new surge of energy flowing through her veins. She heaved a lungful of air and stared once again at the moon. It loomed larger, surrounded by an ethereal glow. Her vision began to show black spots and the voices of those who revived her became muffled. The midnight sun's light illuminated against her skin that with labored breaths, she raised her small hand as if trying to touch the celestial object.

Then, darkness took her away.

lee jung-jae as lee seo-jun
baek eun-ha as young
moon-young/megara
moon woo-jin as young
jae-hyuk/theseus

thank you so much to Raichia for helping me cast meg and theo's biological father! ilysm!!