PROLOGUE
A war was going on a place far away, unseen and unknown by the world. Dead bodies were scattered everywhere. The remaining survivors were in hiding, but they were found out one-by-one by the soldiers of the tyrannical general of the king. Although the king was supposed to be the one who ruled, it was the general who thought and controlled him like a puppet from the shadows, always influencing him until he agreed to start a war. And never had he thought that the general he so trusted and believed in, would actually be the one who will betray the kingdom in which he had built for years and kill him.
A mother was walking quickly with some children, presumably three girls and two boys. They all looked sullen and tired, but it was no use. The soldiers were closing at them. The woman looked wildly from her back and hurried the children along. A little girl with blond hair that reached up to her shoulders tugged at her mother's tattered dress.
"Mama, where are we going? ", the blonde-haired girl anxiously asked her mother. The mother looked down at the 8 year old girl, then to her four playmates who were following her. She sighed as she led them into an alley and hurried down.
"I can't tell you where, Flonne dear. But don't worry," her mother replied. "It will surely be more secure than here. " Flonne's 6 year old sister, whose name was Ozonne, clung to her sister's dress even harder. Her other playmates followed.
They turned to a corner to the left then to the right and stopped walking. They have reached a close end. The footsteps of the soldiers could be heard from afar and it was making their hearts beat anxiously faster. The mother fell to her knees and hugged Flonne and Ozonne tightly. She threw a glance at an auburn-haired boy then and nodded.
"Promise me you would protect them," she whispered to the nearest playmate, Shiro, who was several years older than the others. Shiro twiddled nervously
"Okay," Shiro answered nonchalantly and looked down. Flonne and Ozonne's mother nodded again, signaling them to gather the children and they obeyed.
Flonne's mother stood up. She whispered something and clasped her hands together as Shiro and Flonne huddled the others together. As she whispered the last words, she gently threw her hands and there became a blinding light that transformed the small group into furry kittens.
Shiro became a Siamese kitten with gold and brown spots on his paws. Takeshi, a playmate, was made into a fat black Persian with a white spot of fur under his chin. Rika, another playmate, a tabby with a mixture of yellow, white and brown colors on her fur. And last, Flonne and Ozonne became white and yellow tabby kittens. The 5 kittens mewed and mewed and Flonne's mother had her heart broken with pity and sorrow.
Flonne's mother held the kittens to her chest. "I'm sorry, Flonne, Ozonne, everyone," she murmured, tears coming into her eyes as she held the mewing kittens. She knew she hadn't had more time. The footsteps came nearer. The mother set down the kittens and pushed them towards a barrel. "Go. Now," she urged the five kittens.
The kittens stayed, refusing to leave her. She exasperatedly urged them, trying to move the five little felines. Shiro craned his ears to listen at the footsteps and finally, they agreed to hide somewhere. The kittens hid in one of the big barrels feet away from her.
"HALT THERE!"
The footsteps came, revealing the general with his soldiers. The soldiers surrounded the young mother and pointed their weapons at her. The soldiers' faces were hidden in their helmets, but she felt they didn't want to do these to her, just because she was the second cousin of the king and fourth heir to the throne in case the king died. But whatever will be, will be. The general looked down at her and sneered.
"Well, well, well. What do we have here? Little princess of Indun! What a find, what a find! Isn't that right, my friends?"
The soldiers jeered and thrust their fists and weapons in the air. It was quite terrifying, the noise. Smiling evilly, the general turned to the mother and pointed his left index finger at her.
"There's no one to go to your rescue now. Your prince's been killed, and soon you'll be joining him, Erl. Oh, what will the old princess do," he asked her tauntingly, "cry for your subjects," he leaned closer to her face,"when none of them would come?"
Erl rolled her eyes daringly and growled. She knew her love was dead, as one messenger told her apologetically. But as brave as she looked on the outside, on the inside, however, she was slowly crumbling down.
"You're just a ambitious rotten sour grape," she taunted him, crossing her arms. "Pesky, ego-logistical, spoiled green monster who couldn't get a wife with his personality and looks." She wished the general would take the taunt and become angry, for she had known that the intelligence of angry people were really low.
The general's face scrunched in annoyance. "No thank you. A lot of women are already at my feet."
"They're at your neck. Not your feet."
"JUST SHUT UP!" The general screamed as he pulled out his sword and waved it around in irritation. "SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!" The general turned to his soldiers, who were cowering in fear, and scolded them hysterically, "WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! EXECUTE HER NOW."
The soldiers cowered again, but they stood up straight and readied their weapons. Two of them grabbed Erl's arms, and she resisted, kicking them in their shins. Another soldier came to restrain her, but he got a punch on his face. Three of them started to fight her, and she fought back bravely, grabbing one naginata from a stunned soldier and swinging it around in defense. But one kicked her from the back and she fell to the ground. Several soldiers came to secure her to the earth, holding either her arms or her feet.
One of them asked the general, "Sir, will you do it?" The general glared and turned his back on the soldier who asked. Some soldiers were eyeing the woman with either glares or hungry looks.
"No. Do anything you want to do to her. She's already useless. She'll only hinder our plans if she lives any longer than today."
Several of them turned to look at Erl hungrily, their menacing smiles getting bigger.
Screams of Erl and jeers of the soldiers could be found echoing throughout the place. Flonne buried herself into Takeshi, who was covering his ears by his paws, and Ozonne sobbed quietly onto Rika. Rika looked worriedly at Shiro, who was greatly distracted by the screams. He didn't know what to do; he was supposed to try and think how they would escape, but the prolonged stay of the soldiers increased the tension and pressure.
The kittens escaped earlier when all the attention was on Flonne's mother. They crept through the alley, jumping, running, tumbling, and trying to get used to their four-legged furry body. They were still young, except Shiro, whose age was older, so they had difficulty adjusting to their surroundings with the bodies they have now.
Rika aimed a swipe at Shiro. "Shiro, do something!" She hissed, the words coming out as a big meow. Shiro dodged the swipe and grabbed a loose part of Ozonne's fur with his mouth and ran away from the screams. The others again followed, not knowing where they are going, until they finally got out of the alley.
Flonne looked around the dilapidated houses. There must be somewhere they could hide, somewhere the soldiers would never think of looking for. They would now be branded as outcasts, so one thing may as well as be done: get out of the kingdom. She suddenly got an idea where they could temporarily stay and nudged Takeshi, "Let us find the town market. Eat and rest as much as you can when we get there."
"Why?" asked Takeshi and licked his side. It was getting itchy and he didn't mind getting a bit hungry. But why the market? It was possible that there will be soldiers stationed there.
Shiro looked at him as if he was going senile. "We're now kits. And we're leaving the kingdom," he replied. "Tomorrow morning, when the first cry of the rooster comes in."
Author's Note: I said that I'm going to revise this story right? Then, here it is. I hope you'll be satisfied now. Although the story plots will be affected. Also, there might be a possibility of removing or reducing the high-school-life idea just because it may not be fitting anymore. And there's the small cliche, okay?
P.S. - It's up to your imagination on what the soldiers did to Erl though. I've been thinking if I would make this more of an adventure-type story.
Disclaimer: I don't own Disgaea or its Characters.