In a small village, there's a few wooden houses built near a lake. With small hills and mountains around.
Children enjoyed playing near the lake, while adults carried water from the lake for their crops.
When night falls, the older villagers enjoy telling tales to the rest of the villagers.
Such was a simpler time. Such was a simple life.
Till one day, many vehicles arrived at the village.
"Capture everyone! Leave no one behind!" A soldier ordered, and many other soldiers executed the order.
A young Lux around the age of 15, whose hair was fully black, watched as all of this happened while playing at the hill.
She saw how the soldiers forced the villagers into a small truck, and she wanted to go help them.
Another little boy younger than her held her shirt, "Galiba," He looked to be younger than 5, yet his eyes shone with intelligence, "Bad guys," He looked at her, "Chief said, bad guys kill."
"We-." He quickly placed a finger on his lips.
"Whisper. Mountain echo." He muttered as she gritted her teeth.
"We can't let them die!" She whispered harshly, "We have to save them!"
"Sometimes, we need be selfish." He looked at the soldiers slowly scouting the area, "Do you think, the crops is for everyone? It was originally meant to be for those that planted only. But because they have enough, then they share. Are they selfish? Or selfless? Doesn't matter, right? They get food." The light shone on the little boy blue-grey eyes, "They survive. That's all they care about. If not, would kids like us even feel hunger?"
Lux remained silent for a moment, letting the words sink in, "Being so direct hurts you know.."
He shrugged as he looked at the soldiers slowly climbing up, "The trees can only provide so much cover, we need to hide."
She nodded as they moved along the hill.
Looking over the other side of the hill, she saw water, and from the distance, there seemed to be a shore, and what looked like buildings.
"Igor," She said, looking at the little boy, "Can you swim?"
"You're crazy." He simply said as they continued walking along the hill.
The soldiers who raided all the houses were getting ready to head back.
"Is that everyone?" One of the soldiers asked another.
"Boss said he's going to capture two more people." Another replied.
Bang!
Lux and Igor quickly ducked their head, hearing the sound so close to them.
"If you survive after this," They heard a rough voice sound from behind them, "You can gain powers like gods! So don't make this hard for us. We need you alive." They turned and saw the first soldiers that commanded the other soldier.
Lux stood in front of Igor, who was holding onto her shirt tightly. Both of them were trembling.
Igor glanced down at the water, "Galiba," He whispered, "Survive." He wanted to pull her towards the water, but she resisted the pull with her strength, "Escape!" Tears escaped from the corner of his eyes.
"No you!" She stood her ground and pushed him off the side, as a bullet shot out and gazed past Lux's right shoulder and Igor's left arm.
Igor's feet could no longer feel the ground, as he fell down towards the water. Lux had one feet off the cliff, another foot still on the ground.
The soldier quickly grabbed Lux's shirt to prevent her from falling, and watched as Igor fell, with blood spilling from his left arm.
"No!!" His shout was drowned out not longer after, as Lux saw Igor fall into the water.
Her knees fell down and hit the ground, she held onto her right arm that was bleeding nonstop.
"He will die." The soldier said.
"But he won't suffer by people like you." She slowly stood up, wobbling as she walked towards where the village was.
"Since you know," The soldier put his pistol away, "Don't make things hard for us, go on. Lead the way."
Lux stood there for a moment, glancing down at the water for one last time, and she led the way back to the village.
Like a film, this scene seemed to slowly fade to black.
Lux opened her eyes and saw the cell ceiling.
She slowly sat up, and lifted her right sleeve. A scar she forgot how she got, now contained the memories of her childhood.
She looked at Wirt who was sleeping against the wall, and looked out the metal bars.
Without her knowing, Wirt had helped to 'rust' the chains in her memories. What would've taken more than ten years to recover, is being recovered at a faster pace.
…
"Agh!" Sanosuke suddenly shouted as he sat up, ditched in sweat.
"I might really tape your mouth when you go sleep next time." Elda said at the side, as she was sewing her jacket, "Nightmare again? Do you always get such a nightmare?"
Sanosuke calmed his breathing, and wiped his sweat. He realised his muscles no longer ached, and many of the bruises around his body is not so swollen anymore.
"I don't even remember the nightmare when I wake up.." He finally replied, "I just felt like I was falling."
"They say nightmare represents something, but having repeated nightmare tells something you've buried." She glanced up at him for a moment before looking back down, "What have you buried?"
Sanosuke didn't reply and just looked up at the dark, starless sky.
His ears suddenly twitched, causing him to turn his head towards where the sound was coming from.
"It seems like more people are arriving." Elda muttered, "Survive for three days, and we shall head towards the centre."
'Huh?' Sanosuke wanted to ask what she meant, when suddenly something shot towards him. He barely managed to dodge it, when the projectile cleanly tore his whole left sleeve off, 'What the fuck?!' He looked down and noticed only his sleeve got torn, there weren't any injuries other than a part of his skin that looked darker than the rest.
He quickly put out the flame behind him, and everything went dark.