Chapter 0 -> Flash-back

"Please pass your essays forward, those at the front of the room bring them up to my desk. Thank you. "

Mire woke from his short reprieve. He looked up groggily at the paw shaking his shoulder gently. A tall, gaunt Hekshanian girl with night-black fur and clearly unnatural, blood red head fur half-stood behind him. Mire smiled. His best friend, Keri Lerz was trying to rouse him from his daily history class nap.

"Whaddaya know?" He stood up, about half a head taller than his companion. "I've known you for 16 years, we haven't even dated, and I'm waking up to your face." His smile grew into a huge grin, he kissed her lightly on the cheek, and took her books.

She grinned back. "You sure we're not dating? Cuz that's an open invitation for a slap." Just like every time Keri spoke, Mire wondered where she had acquired her Russian-- an Earth nationality --accent. Mire laughed, and leaned towards her to kiss her on the cheek again. She pulled him down and kissed him full on the lips. "Hm... y'know you're right. THAT was a dating kiss." She started walking away quickly.

Mire stood there for a moment dumbstruck, then ran after the maroon-haired Hekshanian. [Wonder if she would be open to actually dating... and if that would mess up our relationship. Better not to find out, probably.] He set it aside for a while. "Much as I love sitting in on more lectures with you," Keri mumbled something that Mire pretended not to hear, "I gotta study for my own classes." They arrived at Keri's Primary School Teaching classroom. "Guess growing up in Riewou rubbed off on ya..." he trailed off, his voice cracking.

Keri looked up at Mire worriedly. "Mire?"

The arctic blue Hellcat's eyes had suddenly gone wide. He shuddered once, and his lips formed the single word again. "Reiwou..."

["Left flank, fire!" A volley of bullets rang out across the small courtyard. Mire turned to stare as people he had grown up with-- his teachers, his parents' closest friends... even some of his own --dropped, collapsing and spasming under the rain of bullets cutting them down. Mire resumed running, shaking his head to get rid of the picture. The fleeing Pagans glowing red-- in Mire's mind-- then the actual red spray of blood replacing the ambiant glow.

Just as the frozen shades of death faded from his mind, Mire turned a sharp right with the rest of the fleeing crowd. A new wave of people turned bright, glowing crimson. Mire looked to his left. His parents weren't red. He looked ahead, up to the front of the crowd. Though most of them were normal, a few were red. His eyes searched for another small, child's frame. He found her. Niev was fine. Keri ren next to her.

Niev.]

Mire snapped back from his reverie and looked down at the concerned girl in front of him. "Mire... what was--"

"It was nothing, Red. You have class... I have to study..." Mire sounded like he was making sure nothing was missing. "Good luck." He placed her books down on her desk. "Bye," he kissed her lightly, his normal rougish grin returning. "I'll see you next period. Until then," he looked over his shoulder as he exited the room, "I'll miss you." He hoped he wouldn't have a reason to. Keri just stood in front of her desk, shaken and confused, and for some reason, deeply, unexcplicably frightened.

Mire hurried down the hall to one of Makio School's main libraries. He did not like what he was seeing. The Pagan university housed many soldiers, and almost all were turning red. Mire would never tell any of the civillian occupants, but their compatriots' days were numbered. Today... those reds had spread to others.

More disturbingly, the non-soldiers were developing their own red glows. Hekshanians, Myches, dozens of other cultures, and a scattering of humans were ALL red. Mire's step increased as he spotted a group of humans laughing. They were all red but two. One of the two narrowed his eyes at the laughter. That was Jinru Itame, Mire's lab partner. Not waiting to see his friend turn red, Mire broke into a run towards the library.

Passing through crowds of ominously glowing Pagans, Mire all but dove through the library doorway. He came to a sudden stop, slamming the heavy door behind him. Students talking quietly all around the huge room turned and stared. Mire's back was pressed against the wall, his eyes darting around the room. So many... his eyes went wide. [The people here... they were all red, too.] Mire slid along the wall into the long rows of tomes. Away from the other students. A small group of Hekshanians and ranecs sitting around a table resumed studying. The other various study groups and relaxing friends followed suite. Mire shrugged into the shadows, looking for an empty table away from the others.

A Roger he had known from high school, Chippy, was hovering over a corner table with his dim addict friends. [I could go for a drink or something right now.] An Andoian standing next to the Roger apparently found what he was looking for-- an old twenty-first century style lighter-- and they walked towards the back exit into the courtyard. Another Roger named Leo flashed Mire a peace sign. Mire smiled for a moment. None of the dimmers were red. Mire had taken a shine to them. He didn't have drinking buddies, just the normal barflies. He didn't smoke-- his limited funds wouldn't let him. The reason he liked the dimmers was, put simply, their artificial innocence. He knew their life expectancy wouldn't be very long anyway... but he took some comfort that their time wasn't up yet.

The table they left behind was alone. And empty. Mire's attention snapped back to his strange viewings at the school. And how to get away from them. He took a step toward the table-- and stopped. "What...," A strange golden aura seemed to flash, in and out, around the table Mire was approaching. A halo... Mire felt a tug-- so light it was probably nothing more than his imagination-- but he felt it. He took another step towards the table. The pull was more defined this time, definitely real, not imagined. The halo started glowing brighter. occasional bubbles of firey red floated through it lazily. [Red...]

["Left flank, fire!" A volley of bullets rang out across the small courtyard. Mire turned to stare as people he had grown up with-- his teachers, his parents' closest friends... even some of his own --dropped, collapsing and spasming under the rain of bullets cutting them down. Mire resumed running, shaking his head to get rid of the picture. The fleeing Pagans glowing red-- in Mire's mind-- then the actual red spray of blood replacing the ambiant glow.

Just as the frozen shades of death faded from his mind, Mire turned a sharp right with the rest of the fleeing crowd. A new wave of people turned bright, glowing crimson. Mire looked to his left. His parents weren't red. He looked ahead, up to the front of the crowd. Though most of them were normal, a few were red. His eyes searched for another small, child's frame. He found her. Niev was fine. Keri ren next to her.

Another wave of Reiwou students turned bright red. As bullets rained down into the crowd, Mire stopped entirely. A grenade ripped apart the asphalt-- and the would-be escapees on it-- just meters ahead of Mire. His parents were thrown forward, but otherwise unscathed. As the people behind and passing him started turning red, he resumed fleeing. A tug-- a familiar tug-- pulled him to the left. Hard. He dove, and the ring of automatic rifle fire ripped through the spot where he had been standing seconds ago.

As he jumped back to his feet, he caught sight of the contorted face of the body which had taken the bullets meant to kill him. The tug... Mire forced himself to look down at the horrified countenance, covered in snow white fur staining deep red. Mire gagged as thick black blood started spreading from the corner of the corpse's mouth.

Choking back the waves of nuasea, Mire leaned over, in passing, and slid down the wide eyelids of the cloud-hued Hekshanian. He didn't know why... it seemed somehow the only apropriate ceremony with armed troops closing in. Mire didn't want to convince himself he was more invincible than he truly was. An unpleasant reminder of that invincibility pulled him out of the way of a stray bullet. "I'm sorry, who... who ever you were. i have to do something... maybe soon, but I'm only 6 and i haven't done it yet... sorry you had to leave too soon... but you were red, you would have anyway. thank you." The eerily calm boy shut his eyes before moving on, and looked back down greatfully at his nameless, unwitting savior. And stopped.

He shuddered violently. "No..."]