40th of Nadus, 2990
7375 days to The Cataclysm

5-year-old Gerard ran across the house, with his infant brother Alberich in his arms, screaming at the top of his voice.

"MOMMY, the guests, they're hurting Abby's cheeks, please tell them they cannot hurt his cheeks."

His mother, Serena, came out of the bedroom, her fair complexion now pale with terror.

"T-Take Abby and hide in the bedroom" stammered Serena.

"Yes, I'll keep him away from those monsters," replied Gerard with a bright smile on his face.

Gerard entered the room and locked the door behind him. He walked towards the window sill and struggled to get up. He swung his brother in his arms, lovingly looking into his little yellow eyes.

"I'll never let anyone hurt you. I promise," said Gerard.

Alberich responded with a little smile as he reached for Gerard's hair.

Meanwhile, Serena ran to the living room and looked around, searching for her husband, Erebus. She spotted the tan 6 feet tall, muscular man with his close-cropped black hair indulging in a conversation with one of the guests. She ran to him, pulled him out of the room, shut the door behind them and whispered;

"I-I-," she stammered.

Erebus caressed her cheeks and stroked her blonde hair;

"Calm down. It's all right. Just tak-"

"HOW DO YOU KNOW ITS ALL RIGHT!" screamed Serena.

"I'm so sorry," she said, this time in a much lower tone.

"It's okay, tell me what happened."

"I-I just got off the phone with Navy HQ, they said the Shirozou's have been attacked. The only survivors are Elric and his brother, what was his name again uhh-"

"Tadashi."

"Yeah, Yeah, Tadashi. Apparently, the person who attacked them wanted Elric. Do you thin-"

"Just go, take your gauntlet and fly to the military base with the kids."

Serena nodded and ran towards the bedroom. Erebus cracked his knuckles and went to the armory in his house. He put on his custom gauntlet made of Kanis, a brown gemstone that can remold itself on electrical stimuli, and picked up his Skotono, the legendary black blade known as Kurokami. He opened his supply closet and pulled out an ankle long, gold-trimmed white robe that read "KUROKAMI" vertically downwards at the back. As he walked out of the room, his grip tightened on his blade, and he thought to himself;

"So it's finally happening, eh?"

"This is much earlier than I expected, but I must say, this isn't necessarily a bad thing, once I'm done with those murderers, Gerard doesn't ever have to fight again, he can become a doctor just as he always dreamed."

He went into the living room and screamed out;

"PARTY'S OVER, GET OUT EVERYONE!"

One look at the battle attire that draped over Erebus's muscular frame and the guests scurried for the exit, all except one.

One man still remained on the sofa, sipping a cup of Biboto, a drink made from the blood of a carnivorous planet, Babox.

"Your wife brews a killer drink!" exclaimed the man.

"Now which one of the hundred men taught her this eh?" he continued.

Erebus gritted his teeth but immediately calmed down. Analyzing the situation, he realized responding to that insult wasn't the priority.

"Are you gonna do anything else other than passing snarky comments, tough guy?" mocked Erebus

"Nah, not really," replied the man.

He finished the drink and gently placed down the cup. He then reached for his face, peeled off a guise mask. As soon as it was completely off, his white skin started to crumble and disappear into the air, revealing his real appearance.

He was a black man, 6ft tall with medium-length white hair. He was missing an eye, and a long scar ran from his forehead all the way down to his neck. He wore a checkered T-shirt paired with black jeans. He took out a metal glove from his pocket and wore it on his right hand.

"Why are you here?" said Erebus in a commanding tone.

"For Gerard. I'm asking you nicely, we need the kid," said the man, calmly.

"What if I disagree?"

"Let's just say, that's not an option."

"Do you even know whom you're talking to?"

"Duh, Wing Commander Erebus. You're pretty much a living legend. Thing is, my orders are absolute."

Erebus unsheathed his Skotono and snapped;

"Do you really think I give a shit about your orders?"

"Nah not really" replied the man.

"But what's the fuss, you adopted that little turd a mere 5 years ago, it's not like he is your actual son."

"You really are a bad negotiator, you know?" smirked Erebus.

"Yeah, that has always been my weak point," said the man, putting down his cup of coffee.

"I'm way better at this."

Almost instantaneously, the man dashed towards the back door where Serena and her children escaped from. Erebus tapped his Skotono on the ground, covering the whole house in shadows and rendering the man unable to see a thing. Large spokes of shadows arose from all around the house, each one heavily wounding the man. He walked to the man and picked him up by his neck.

"Whom do you work for?" demanded Erebus.

The man coughed up blood and replied;

"The World."

He placed his gloved hand on Erebus's chest and let out a massive burst of lightning. Erebus was unfazed as he threw the man onto the floor. He retracted the shadows and walked towards him.

"Disappointing, I was expe-"

Erebus stopped in the middle of his sentence as he felt a sudden crushing pain in the chest.

"W-what did you do?" he managed to say, panting heavily as he gripped his chest.

"I hope you liked your meal with Admiral Shirozou last week," smirked the man.

Erebus fell to his knees. The man knelt and lifted up his face. With his gloved hand, he grabbed Erebus's head, crushing it with all his might, yet, he refused to scream.

"Damn, you won't even give me the satisfaction," sighed the man.

"You'll never succeed in your goals. You may kill me, but you'll never kill Randel. Mark my--"

The man interrupted Erebus by letting out a massive charged attack, fatally injuring Erebus as his lifeless body dropped down to the floor.

"I don't give a shit about Randel, jeez."

The man picked up The Kurokami and raised it high above, marveling the legendary skotono.

"There's no way I can hide if I take this with me, I might as well leave it here."

He dropped the sword next to the charred remains of Erebus and took his gauntlet instead. He flew out of the house in search of Gerard, breathing heavily due to the blood loss.

Meanwhile, Serena held Alberich and Gerard in her arms as she flew towards the military base in the central city.

"MOMMY!" screamed Gerard.

"WHY ARE WE RUNNING? LETS HELP DAD!"

"JUST KEEP RUNNING FOR NOW" screamed back Serena, still worried about her husband.

"ILL TELL YOU EVERY-"

Serena's sentence was cut short by a lightning bolt that struck her at the back of her head. She crashed onto the soft grass as Alberich and Gerard fell out of her arms.

Gerard froze, but was quick to recover, immediately turning to his mother.

"Mommy, are you okay?"

Gerard turned his mother over, but she pushed him away.

"TAKE ABBY AND RUN!" screamed Serena

"I'M NOT LEAVING YOU HERE" screamed back Gerard.

Serena pulled Gerard closer to herself and whispered into his ear.

"Promise me, Gerard. Promise me you're going to live. Promise me you're going to become the greatest doctor this world has ever seen. Promise me you're going to move on and learn to live your life to the fullest. If you really love me, my son, you'll take Abby to go to daddy's office, okay?"

Gerard nodded, and he turned out and ran towards Alberich. He picked him up and ran in the opposite direction.

Serena turned towards the man, with a deadly protective instinct that loomed in her eyes.

"Yeah just because I let you have that sweet little conversation with your son doesn't mean I'm going to let him leave," said the man.

He immediately dashed towards Gerard but was stopped by a kick to the face by Serena.

The man flew and skid on the grass but was quick to get back onto his feet.

"I should really stop trying that, it never works," thought the man.

He covered himself in lightning and lunged towards Serena. She took a deep breath and lunged right back at him, their fists collided, sending a shockwave that pushed them both back. They lunged at each other again, but this time Serena maneuvered herself in the air and landed a somersault kick to the back of the man's head that sent him flying face-first into the ground. She landed on the man's back and pinned him down.

"There's no way a weakling like you could have beat my husband" scoffed Serena.

"Yeah, I did have some help," replied the man.

He followed his remark by discharging a bolt of lightning that forced Serena to jump to a safer place.

He flew up in the air and pointed both his hands towards the ground.

"THIS WAS FUN BUT NOW ITS TIME TO END THIS!" screamed the man.

He charged up a blinding bolt of lightning that rapidly grew to a terrifying size.

"LIMIT BREAK!" screamed out the man, as he discharged the bolt.

Serena clenched both her fists and slammed them into the ground, raising a rock barrier that blocked the attack.

To young Gerard, it felt like the whole world shook as the lightning bolt made contact with the barrier. He suddenly felt worried for his mother and put his brother down under the shade of a tree. He patted his head and said;

"I'll get mommy and come, okay? Sit tight"

He then ran off towards the battle scene.

Meanwhile, Serena was pushed back by the massive force of the man's attack but held her ground. As she neared the conclusion of the struggle, she could feel her footing slip. Though it was her end, it was just the beginning for her children. This thought alone allowed her to be content, even in the face of death.

She gave in, and the rock barrier broke, letting the lightning pass through. As she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, she lapsed into a state of euphoria and greeted death with open arms. The state was short-lived as she immediately regained her senses on hearing Gerard's footsteps.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?" screamed out Serena, crossing her rock-coated arms.

"I CAME TO TAKE YOU BACK MOM!" screamed Gerard but was sent flying by the shock wave caused by Serena blocking the lightning bolt.

The bolt dispersed, causing mass destruction all around. The cliff they were on started the crumble and chunks of rock fell onto the city below, causing city-wide panic.

"ABBBBYYYYYY!?" screamed out Gerard, with tears in his eyes.

"NO! NOT ALBERICH" thought Serena to herself.

"GERARD, LIVE!" screamed out Serena.

"But mommy, what about Abby?" said Gerard in a broken voice.

"JUST LISTEN TO ME FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE AND LIVE! GET OUT OF HERE!" screamed Serena with her last breath.

Almost instantaneously, the struggle stopped, and the lightning bolt disappeared. An eerie silence followed, only to be interrupted by the sounds of the man and Serena hitting the ground.

Gerard ran towards his mother and shook her lifeless body.

"Mommy? Mommy? Wake up, we have to find Abby, the cliff broke. I don't know where he is," said Gerard.

A child who has never experienced death before was now forced to loom over the charred remains of his mother. When this realization struck Gerard, he stopped moving and his muscles relaxed.

His thoughts swirled in an array of unstable emotions. He felt his mind being torn apart, and his senses slowly fading away. Gerard had attained a state where his consciousness existed in a world of its own.

He started to hear a voice in his head, his own voice, speaking to him;

"It's all his fault."

"It's all his fault."

"It's all his fault."

"It's all his fault."

Suddenly Gerard found himself lying under a fiery red sky, illuminated by the soft glow of three moons. He got up and saw that he was surrounded by an endless grassland. The embers of the sky shined off the tall yellow grass that danced to the melodious whistles of the wind.

He wandered around, confused as to where he was. All of a sudden, the ground started to violently shake, and he was thrown to his knees. The shaking ceased, and he felt something dripping down his neck. He looked up, and much to his horror, he witnessed the three moons transform into a swirling sphere of blood.

The sphere lowered down to ground level and morphed itself into a person who had his back turned towards Gerard.

He walked towards the person, confused. Before he could say a word, the person turned around and was shocked to see it was none other than himself.

"W-Who are you?" stammered Gerard.

"I'm you," replied the man.

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is, we're gonna be together for a long, long time."

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Hope you're enjoying my story
Don't forget to vote and comment your thoughts. Until next time, shirozou signing out