PROLOGUE

"Happiness isn't something you postpone to future; It is something you design for the present."

Lying on the soft mattress in a comfortable position, Percy stared at the magnolia painted ceiling, trying to get himself some peace. He filled in his lungs with the warmth of the cigarette stuck in his mouth. He usually didn't have a habit of smoking, but the cold climate of Europa forced him to inhale some of them. He ran his hand through the long black silky hair obstructing his view and tucked them behind. A gentle motion on the mattress reminded him that someone was still beside him on the bed.

"Once you start to smoke, you really get a hang of it. It's better to stop before you make a habit." A voice said to him softly. Percy turned around to look at Calypso who was carefully assembling the dismantled parts of the grenade launcher.

"Well, I have already made," Percy said. "It's really cold in here. I can't help it."

As Calypso bent to place the final piece of the weapon, her tank top rose up and revealed a faint red cicatrix on her back. Raising his finger, he gently traced over it. "I never saw this before. Looks pretty severe. Where did you get this one from?"

"I was serving for the tactical assault core to repress the mutiny back on Ogigya. One scumbag ran a blade on me." She said, reaching for his hand.

He looked into her almond brown eyes, shining in the dimly lighted room. Her caramel hair was tied into a messy ponytail. Most of her hair strands were randomly hanging out, but it made her face look pretty. She gave him a quizzical look. "What are you staring at Mister?"

He smiled a little.

She playfully punched him on his shoulder. "Don't give me that shit. Just tell me what you are looking at." Her gaze quickly averted to the digital wall clock hung on the wall. "Oh crap, it seven already. We need to-"

They both heard it at the same time. An almost inaudible metallic double clack from the corridor. The two pair of eyes met each other across the room and Percy saw his own shock mirrored on Calypso's face. Silently, she removed the blaster from under the sheets and threw it at him. He slowly went to the edge of the bedroom and pressed his ear against the wall to hear. Just as he expected, his ears met the sound of the faint droning beep. Even before he could react, the whole bedroom caved in thunder and the blast knocked him to the corner of the floor.

Through the ruined wall came five or so heavily armed soldiers wearing exosuits. The sharp light coming from their helmets filtered the smoke and dust the room was filled with. From the Bedroom's entrance, where he was stranded, Percy saw the rapid movements of the lasers of their guns trying to find the target. In all of the sudden chain of events, all he could think about was Calypso. Where is she?

"Percy!" He heard her whisper his name. He turned to the voice's direction and looked at her, curled behind the kitchen.

"Watch your back!" She yelled and abruptly pulled the trigger of her Glock. He heard the sonic crack of the bullet passing by him. It struck on the soldier's helmet glass panel, sending him stumbling backward.

Sliding on the floor, Percy went to the kitchen counter to take cover from the sudden gunfire. He could hear the quick breathing of Calypso beside her. She was pressing her palm on the gunshot wound on her abdomen. She squeezed her eyes shut and hot tears spilled out. "P-Percy, you need to get the hell out of here."

"Are you kidding me, I am not leaving you here. We are in this together."

Another deafening shot of gunfire brought both of them back to their senses. Taking a deep breath, Calypso rose up from her position and randomly fired the bullets on the flock of soldiers just outside the bedroom. As she distracted them, he unstrapped the grenade on his belt, unpinned it and flung it on them. From then, he saw it all happen in slow motion. The flying shards of glass paused in the air. The soldiers halted in their position, still pointing the laser at Calypso. The floating lump of smoke behind them became stagnant. The flying feathers from the torn pillow froze in the air.

When everything in his surrounding ceased to move, a long bullet coming out of the suppressor of the soldier's machine gun taking the lead hurtled towards the grenade still in Percy's hands. Though he knew what was going to happen next, it was far beyond his reach to prevent it from happening. The sharp tip of the bullet pierced through the grenade, causing a blinding flash followed by a violent explosion. Both of them plummeted backward and slammed against the concrete wall. Immediately, starting from the parietal, pain pulsed throughout the skull. His whole left hand had been reduced to red and raw flesh, stinging and burning more than what he could imagine.

"Percy, Percy, Percy." Said a familiar sarcastically apologetic voice. Due to the injury, his vision had become distorted and all he was able to see was a hazy vision of the man in the man in the exosuits who was speaking. He removed the helmet he was wearing, which resembled an insect's head, revealing the face of the man. "See what you have made of yourself."

He had short cropped sandy blonde hair and crystal blue eyes which were filled with satisfaction. After seeing the ugly scar which ran across his face from the left eye to the edge of his chin, his suspicion was confirmed. "Luke," Percy whispered.

"The one and only." He said and knelt forward to snatch away the gun from his disfigured hand. "I bet it hurts, doesn't it?"

His nails dug its way into his palm with knowing and blood oozed out of the delicate flesh. But the pain he felt was nothing compared to what he was feeling inside. He couldn't bear it anymore. "Y-You, you are gonna'-" His words were cut off by Luke.

"'You are gonna' pay' for this and stuff. For Christ's sake Percy, we are living in the twenty-seventh century. And all those dialogues are Stone Age stuff. It makes you sound like a grandfather." He said.

"Why are you doing this Luke?" He asked, voice cracking.

"Why am I doing this? 'cause you did something you shouldn't have done, Perce." He said venomously. He pointed his finger at the body of Calypso sprawled on the floor. The pool of blood surrounding her made it pretty clear that she was about to die, or worse, dead. "You betrayed your kith and kin just for that bitch."

"How can the disgusting soul of yours filled with just hatred understand what love is?"

"Wow, young Perce is talking about love." He laughed mockingly at him. "This situation reminds me of saying, 'Love knows no difference between life and death. It gives you a reason to live and takes your breath away.'" He loaded a magazine strapped on his armor into his gun and pressed the cold metal against Percy's head. "And for the same shitty love you chose, I am taking your breath away." He said and pulled the trigger.

They said death was painful. But he didn't even feel it.

A/N: This is the new prologue that has been added to this chapter. This prologue would help me explain the origin story of the protagonist in the future better, and hence I added it. I would again be updating the first chapter with minor edits in this week. Please favorite, follow and comment on my story. Thank you.