/A.N. Disclaimer. You know the drill :I Insomniac owns everything they made. I own what I made. This story is gonna be mostly O.C. driven, and it's the prequel to The Guardians (along with Childhood on Veldin). It's Melody and Kira's past, from childhood to when the portal to Fastoon was created by Kira and Prof. Adimen. For those of you who were wondering :)/

Anguished sobs pierced the still air of Fastoon, the heart-wrenching wails of the grieving stabbing his already bruised heart like knives.

A small-ish semi-circular concentration of energy had been deliberately torn between the dimensions. A dimensional portal.

What remained of the Praetorian Guard was trying to usher the terrified civilians through the portal. Most of them were too shell-shocked to protest, obeying clumsily.

Ezio Gallassia stared in horror through his place at the other side of the portal, at his home, completely obliterated by that foul Tachyon and his damned race. He held the hand of his young daughter, her mother snatched away from her.

So many wonderful people, many of his friends, had been lost…

Alister had been exiled by the council. Despite being good friend's, he couldn't help but not blame them. Jack and Marisa, Ezio's childhood friends, Jack would never get the chance to see their daughter grow up. It was almost certain that Marisa would not either, mortally injured and being treated by a few surviving medics. Kaden had gone to confront Tachyon after finding Kezia, his wife, dead. His baby son had not been found, and was presumed dead. Ezio blinked his yellowy-gold eyes hard. It was a bad enough blow to both his heart and his psyche that his own wife was dead- it would destroy him if Melody had also been killed in the most recent raid. Jozef's wife was dead, as was his unborn son. The Lombax snarled a little unconsciously; the Cragmites had attacked the nursery where the new/expectant mothers and children had taken refuge, almost all of which were unarmed. The small band of soldiers that had been guarding had either fled or been easily cut down. There were few survivors, one of them being Lorna Cross' crippled daughter. Lorna herself was dead.

"Daddy?" A quiet voice sounded to his right. He looked down at his daughter, only just a year-and-a-half old. Her familiar golden coloured eyes were wide with confusion, the black triangular markings beneath her eyes distorted by her expression. She looked painfully like her late mother, excluding the eyes. Her crimson coloured hair barely reached her shoulders, and she was shivering in her thin nightdress. It was the middle of the night, after all. "Where is mummy? Daddy, where is she? I can't see her!" Her voice grew steadily shriller, and with each word Ezio's heart sunk a little further. Her young voice cracked.

"Daddy…Daddy I'm scared! Is Mummy coming with us?" The elder Lombax squeezed his daughter's hand tightly.

"No sweetheart," He whispered. She stopped and stared.

"Why?"

Ezio gulped. How do you answer that? With a shaky sigh, he knelt to one knee, careful not to jar the baby who had finally exhausted herself to sleep.

"Melody…" He took a deep breath. "You've heard of…angels, right?"

The child blinked, wiped a fist across her eyes and nodded.

Ezio's heart finally snapped in two as he explained, unable to do a thing as his daughter's face crumpled. He was vaguely aware of being tapped on the shoulder by one of the guards. Oh no..

"She's not going to make it, is she?" He said sadly. Lt. Nox shook her head, equally mournful.

"She has requested to talk to you though- follow me." She gestured for him to follow her, and he obliged willingly enough.

"Melody, stay with Lt. Nox, okay?"

"Yes Daddy," She stood obediently beside the dark grey furred woman who had resumed her defensive post at the entrance of the sick bay (i.e. a bunker).

The sick bay was filled with Lombaxes, often groaning in pain. Ezio tried not to look at the brutal gashes, the pain-filled faces as he hurried towards the end of the bunker where the more severely injured were. He found her easily enough. Her chocolate coloured fur was dyed an even deeper colour by blood, and a small stream of it ran from the side of her mouth. Her eyes were closed, but she held tightly to a small bundle in her arms.

"E-Ezio?" She rasped, her eyes fluttering open. They were violet, and very, very sad looking.

"I'm here, Marrie." He said quietly, taking a hold of her free hand.

"Ezio, I'm going to die. I can feel it,"

"No you aren't! Just hold on a little longer until the troops have time to search for healing herbs!" He knew it was futile, however. Her breathing was slowing even as he watched.

"Please…I have one last request." She shakily held out her arms. "Please, look after my daughter."

Ezio took the bundle, which he noticed for the first time was Kira, Jack's daughter. She was almost a mirror image of him, right down from the pale brown fur to the abnormally large ears with tufty tips, to the three chocolate-brown stripes on her jawline. The only slight differences were the more feminine features, and her stripes were a slightly more similar colour to Marisa's fur colour.

"Marisa…don't die. Other than Jozef, you are my last friend that is still alive! Please hold on, for your daughter, for me!"

Tears began to stream down her face, wiping trails in the blood and grime on her cheeks.

"I wish I could, but I can feel my life slowly draining away. Anyway, I'm a lost cause, you know that. Everyone knows that. Let them use the herbs on Lombaxes who can be saved. Plus.." Her eyes darkened slightly. "I will be with Jack again…Please, just…just…" She started hacking. Kira started whimpering softly.

"Please…just…look after her." She whispered. "Promise me."

Ezio blinked. "Promise."

"Pinkie swear?"

Ezio smiled sadly. "Pinkie swear."

She smiled back, before gently closing her eyes. She sighed softly once more, then silence. The hand Ezio was holding was limp.

Tears stinging in his eyes, Ezio made his way back to his own daughter.

"Melody," He called. She ran over to him and hugged his legs tightly.

"Yes, Daddy?" She whispered.

"How do you feel…about…" He swallowed, before smiling. "..about having a sister?"

/A.N. I don't usually write prologues this long, but I couldn't thing of a way to cut it down. Please review, and I hope you enjoyed so far :) By the way, a good friend of mine has moved away, so if the next few chapters are full of angsty goodness, then you know why :') It is in fact, the person who Melody is based off of xXx/