Chapter 1: First Contact

Author's Note: Hello everyone, and welcome to this cringefest! I had this story in the back of my mind for some time now, but because there is this meme on /r/PCM now about shipping AuthRight and LibLeft as a couple, I decided I'd take this story and just change the names, along with some other modifications to fit the narrative. You tell me how it turned out, I guess. I'll include the other quadrants as well as side characters, and I'll specify which quadrant a character belongs to the first time I mention them. I hope you cringe as much while reading this as I did while writing it :). I also changed the character of "Emily" and "Ben" a little to fit my narrative. And no I don't care if it offends your funny color. I also used my creative liberties to exaggerate some characteristics of the various political ideologies, please don't call me unbased.

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events and incidents are the products of my imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual places is purely coincidental.

Some warnings before we start: This story contains elements of: strong language, explicit violence, mild suggestive themes, and PTSD/Mental trauma, and politics (duh). Reader discretion is advised.

PS: I'm not a native English speaker, so forgive grammatical errors if I make them please (or if I don't portray American culture as accurately, because I don't live there).

"GET DOOOOWN!" Someone shouted. Ben (AuthRight) opened his eyes in a flinch. Right after that, an artillery shell exploded near him. Apart from the buzzing in his ear, he was not hurt. But after a short while, the buzzing made way for the ear-piercing screams of one of his comrades in arms. "HELP! I can't feel my legs!" he shouted. He knew that voice from one in a thousand. It was Peter (LibRight), a friend he had known since childhood, perhaps the only friend Ben ever had. They grew up together, went to high school together, and signed up for the army together. Ben signed up because he believed it was the right thing to do. He loved his people and country beyond what one would consider normal, but it was normal to him, despite what others might say. He would always support his country, wether it was right or wrong. As for Peter, his motives were much more simple: he wanted a quick buck. After his contract was over, Peter said he wanted to start a business offshore to stay away from the IRS. Before they signed up, Ben used to joke a lot about it. "You'll commit so much tax fraud later, enlisting would be the correct thing to do to repay the country for the funds you'll take away from it." Peter needed some convincing, but he decided to sign up with Ben after a lot of persuading, and he could really use the money to kickstart his business.

But now, Ben's friend laid there in the sand, a puddle of blood around him. When Ben looked up more, he noticed that Peter wasn't exaggerating when talking about his legs: they were really gone. "Peter!" Ben shouted while getting up and hurdling towards him. As gunfire from his squad was heard in the background, he provided aid to Peter's wounds. It was worse than just his legs being blown off: a piece of shrapnel had buried itself in his left eye casket, and his right arm was burned black. But his torso was still intact. With a little bit of luck, he might survive. For a moment, Ben was completely frozen in the moment, but he pushed his thoughts aside, for his friend's sake. "You're not gonna leave me here Ben, are you?" Peter pleaded with Ben while shivering in pain. "Of course I won't. We're in this together!"

Then suddenly, his squad commander called out: "AMBUSH! They're behind the rocks!" Ben ducked down for cover, before the sound of an alarm was heard...

Ben woke up, panting heavily and the sheets of his bed completely drenched in sweat, and with his alarm clock blasting in the background. Ben spent a while to catch his breath, afterwards he threw the sheets off him and sat on the side of his bed, completely stuck in his thoughts.

He was sick of remembering Peter that way. It was never a dream of how he used to cheat in school to get ahead, or manipulated the teachers. Or how he set up an underground black market in high school and ran it like a drug cartel with himself at the center. It's never a dream of them singing and marching during basic training, having a good time. Instead it is always the same nightmare, the nightmare of seeing his best friend butchered up like that. Ben put his hands on his face. "We were only 21..." he muttered to himself.

Ben was now 25. He should've forgotten about it by now, but he won't. How could he? In any case, he had to get ready for his current job: a car mechanic. He took trade school after his service, because he knew college was bullshit.

During his morning routine, Ben thought back to when he came back home from the Middle East. On the tarmac there were people protesting against him and the few comrades who returned alive. For no reason at all. Not to mention those were the same people he fought for in the first place. But here they were spitting on him and the rest, completely thankless for the sacrifices they've made. Accusing them of crimes they themselves had nothing to do with. Ben was actually pretty neutral on politics before that event, though he was very nationalistic. But he was an atheist, and didn't really mind people expressing themselves. That was, until these so called "liberals" excluded him from society for stuff he didn't do. What really grinded his gears, was when they began to throw objects at the body bags rolling out of the airplane. From that point on, he gladly radicalized himself and swore that he'd resist LibLeft in all ways possible. He prepared himself in the woods for the inevitable civil war in his free time, but for now, making "LibLeft bad" agenda posts on /r/PoliticalCompassMemes would suffice.

But in the end, they will pay. All of them, for how they treated him.

Ben was ready to go to his workplace. He put on his earphones with "Start up the Rotors" by KELTHUZ Music playing full blast, while walking to the garage he worked in. It wasn't far, so he usually walked that distance. But on his way there, his music got interrupted by an incoming phone call. It was Desmond (Centrist), probably the only friend he had at this point. Ben met Desmond shortly before his military service. Desmond was a black man of about the same age as Ben, so it was strange enough that Ben was friends with him. But they still somehow got along pretty well. Desmond always wore a t-shirt with 4 colors on it: red, blue, green, and yellow. Ben thought they were funny colors. Desmond also owns a small hamburger wagon that he set up near the community college of their city. After all, Desmond's only passion in life was to grill, and the college snowflakes loved to have good food nearby (if they weren't vegetarian), so he made easy money. But Ben would never voluntarily go there, because he hated the people who went to that community college. Ben picked up the call.

"Hey Desmond, what's up?"

"Hey Ben, just wondering what you're up to?"

"I'm heading to work right now man. After that I'll probably head into the woods."

"What do you even do in the woods?"

"Oh just... stuff."

"Oookayyy... Did you sleep well?" Desmond said. Despite Desmond being indifferent to pretty much everything, he was still a caring guy.

"No, as always. The nightmares keep coming back."

"Hey, if you want to talk about what happened over the-" Desmond was swiftly interrupted by Ben.

"No I don't, and I never will."

"You'll have to at so-"

"I said NO!"

"Okay okay, I'm just worried. Hey, I've created a new burger recipe, maybe you should come over here before doing your stuff in the woods and try it out?"

"Since you're selling to those college kids, I doubt it's to my taste."

"Oh I promise you it will be to your taste!"

Ben really didn't want to go, but the fact that Desmond stayed near him during this time... He did owe Desmond for this. "Alright, fine Desmond. I'll be there after work."

When Ben hanged up, he had arrived at work. "Ah crap, I didn't even get the chance to listen to my music." So he started his workday anyway.

Emily (LibLeft) had finished her day at college, and was rejoicing on some coffee at the nearby Starbucks with her two friends, Joyce (LibLeft) and Rianna (orange LibLeft). They weren't really talking however, all three of them were busy on their phones. Suddenly, Rianna spoke out while showing her phone to her friends.

"Girls, check out this tweet! They're trying to cancel someone!"

"Who is it this time then?" Emily asked.

"Look, this fast food employee misgendered this transgender woman on purpose."

"Alright, I'm joining in" said Joyce.

"Are you sure it's on purpose though?" Emily inquired. Emily, though having strong feelings about equality and justice towards minorities, was not always a fan of how Rianna jumped to conclusions. Though, being cat-called when passing near a construction site, guys assuming that she'll open her legs for just being nice, and other small and larger forms of sexism got on her nerves as well. So, she completely understood Rianna. Rianna was still a bit more extreme than she was. After all, Emily doubted if she really belonged in the 'woke'-camp: she was heterosexual, a CIS woman, and white. The only way she was 'strange' to the outside world was probably that she dyed her hair in a dark shade of green. But still, being of a majority group herself, doesn't necessarily mean she can't help others in supporting themselves, right?

"Who are you to say that anyway, Emily? As far as I know you might be someone of the other side!" the black woman responded.

This hurt Emily quite a bit. Why would Rianna even think that? She was present at every BLM protest Rianna had been to as well, she had supported her through all the racism and bigotry she had to endure.

"Relax Rianna, Emily is asking a good question.", said Joyce. Some people looked over at their table because despite taking voice lessons, Joyce still retained some of her masculine voice from before her transition.

"Ugh, fine. I guess we'll have to wait and see." Rianna finally gave in. Then Joyce made an attempt to lift the awkward silence that had developed between them.

"Aaaanyway girls, I discovered this political test online. It's called 'The Political Compass'. Should we give it a try?"

"Sure, sounds like fun!" Emily responded. And thus, the three began to take the test.

Emily had a score of -6.4 on the economy scale, and -7.8 on the social scale.

"So what does this mean, Joyce?" Emily asked.

"Well, LibLeft means that you are economically left, so in favor of wealth distribution and such, and the 'lib' basically means that you want the state to stay out of people's affairs."

"Yeah I can see myself that way, and hey we are in a similar place! What do the other quadrants mean?"

"Well, AuthRight is the opposite of us: They believe in privatized property and in a strong government, they also tend to be conservative, but that is not always the case. AuthLeft are basically communists in CCP style, and LibRight are the Wall Street capitalists."

"AuthRight is not always conservative then?" Emily asked curiously.

"Well, it's up for debate. Some say it is, others say there is a 3rd axis, the 'progressive-conservative' axis. The Sapply version of this same test applies that axis. Hey Rianna, where did you end up?"

"Well, I'm almost in the red square." Rianna answered.

"I see... Well, you are just under the black line, that means you are slightly more authoritarian than us, because on the economic axis we are the same."

"I AM NOT AUTHORITARIAN!" Rianna shouted, attracting the attention of other people inside.

"Alright alright, take it easy, it's just a test, right?" Joyce said.

"Well girls, I think I'll be going then. See ya tomorrow!" Emily said before getting up and picking up her brown bag, made of 100% eco-friendly material. She cared about the environment.

Ben was done for today. He said goodbye to his boss, put on his regular clothes, and then went home. Desmond wasn't exactly around the corner, so he went home first to get his car. While he was home, he checked quickly on Reddit to see how his LibLeft bad post was going. His based count had increased by 25 because of his post, a few lefties were whining in the comments but his ego was still stroked by the many people calling him GigaChad.

As he was shutting down his computer, he by accident dropped a few files that were laying on his desk. As he picked them up, a picture dropped out. A picture of him and Peter, taken during their time in the Middle East.

Immediately, almost like a teleportation to another universe, Ben was drawn from this world and suddenly stood back there in the desert. Everything flashed before him again. How he and Peter were chatting pleasantly in the barracks before that fatal mission, how the bomb exploded and wreaked havoc on Peter, how he...

Ben managed to pull himself out of it, somehow. "Fucks sake, first the nightmares, and now flashbacks? When will I be able to move on?" Ben thought to himself. He put the picture aside, locked the door to his apartment, and boarded his car to drive to Desmond.

Ben arrived at Desmond's stand, after he parked his car a few streets away. It was already pretty late, this way he was sure he wouldn't run into any of (((them))).

"Hey Desmond." Ben said in a slightly unenthusiastic tone. He wanted to get this over already so he could go back to the forest to work on his project.

"Ah, there you are finally! What took you so long!"

"Just wanted to make sure I don't run into anybody. You get me?"

"Yeah I get it. Here, I kept a burger for you." Desmond said before Ben accepted the burger. It really was good.

"Woah Desmond, they're really great! What do you make them with?"

"Sorry man, secret recipe."

They were still pleasantly chatting, Ben finally relieved that he could think about something else. When suddenly, he saw a silhouette appear on the other side of the plaza. He didn't recognize it at first until she stepped more into the light, and he could recognize that distinct dark-green hair dye. When he realized, he just froze. He remembered this girl from when he came back home, she was the girl that was throwing debris at his friend's body bag. He lunged at her on that sight, but his comrades pulled him back just before he could land a hit back then, but he would never forget that face. Not too long after, Emily noticed him too... and recognized him as one of the soldiers she had protested against. How they could extend American imperialism overseas while still sleeping comfortable at night, was beyond her. Ben and Emily stepped towards each other to start a confrontation, while Desmond had no idea what was going on. Ben and Emily's faces were only inches apart when they finally spoke.

"I guess you must feel pretty proud huh, killing brown children in a foreign country?" Emily said to Ben in a passive-aggressive tone.

"I did no such thing, but if I had known you'd be so pissed about it I would've ordered airstrikes on them no problem."

"HOW DARE YOU?!". The volume of both of them shifted from speaking to shouting

"NO, HOW DARE YOU?! How dare you throw debris at the dead?! DO you seriously have that little respect, Bitch?!" Ben said before pushing her over.

Ben turned back to Desmond. "Desmond, I think I should go now, before I end her life." and then Ben left.

Desmond, still taken aback by the events that unfolded in front of him, rushed towards Emily to help her get back up.

"Are you alright, miss?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks for helping me up."

"What was that about?"

"That horrible man over there committed war crimes in the middle east. They shouldn't even be there in the first place. I met him a few years ago when I was doing some activism against them when they returned home. We were throwing debris at them, and he tried to lunge at me. But his fellow soldiers pulled him away before he could hit me, and then the cops pulled us away from the airstrip."

Desmond sighed. Now he knew what was happening. "Look, that guy is a friend of mine."

"He... But, you're black?"

"Oh so we're pulling the race card huh?" Desmond said. Emily froze.

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it like that!" Emily pleaded apologetically.

"It's alright, I was only messing with you." Desmond said. "But regarding my friend... There is something I would like to show you. Care to follow me?" Desmond asked. Emily was a bit reluctant. Was it a trap? But then again, she owed this guy for helping her after her fight with Ben. She nodded.

Desmond closed his burger stand and took her to the local graveyard of their hometown, not too far from where they were. Desmond led her to a grave that read "Peter F. C. Greg, Died 4 February 2017, Private 1st class". Usually fallen soldiers were buried at military cemeteries, but in his testament, Peter asked to be buried in his hometown, should he die. Emily was about to ask what they were doing here, but Desmond began talking before she could say anything.

"I knew Ben, that's his name, a little bit before he went into the military. He was very young and patriotic, and a little conservative, but still not enough to not be friends with a black man. He had his best friend, Peter over here, whom he knew since they were elementary schoolers. They signed up for the army together, but only Ben returned alive, as you can see. Ever since then, Ben changed. He does not want to talk to me or anyone about what happened over there. His views also became more radicalized. He was never clear about what or why, or how, but he said it had something to do with people on the airstrip when he came back."

Emily just stood there in silence, looking at the grave, before Desmond spoke again.

"Look, I get your intentions. I know why you did what you did. You only want to see the world be a better place, right? But in your haste to save the world, take care you don't destroy it." Desmond said. Emily turned towards Desmond.

"You said earlier that he committed war crimes over there, what makes you think that?"

Emily answered with a crack in her voice. "W-well not him specifically, but..." and it dawned on her. She had accused him in her head all this time of something she had no proof of. She... generalized, the same thing she hated when done to minorities.

"I caused this, didn't I?" Emily asked Desmond.

"You didn't cause anything. But we have to be careful with what we say, and how we act. That's true for all of us."

Emily smiled. "Thanks."

"You're welcome, but I should be going home by now. Be safe." Desmond said before departing.

Emily stared at the grave for a few more minutes. It dawned on her that one of the rocks she threw back then landed on a body bag, and that is when he lashed out. It was not her intention to do that, but now she understood that body bag must've been his friend over here. She should be mad at the government that sent him there, not at the individual person. She had to make this right somehow, but after she felt his physical strength earlier, she was afraid of him. Would she even have the guts to... apologize? No, why would she apologize to someone like him? Emily finally left the graveyard and went back home, thinking about what has happened here tonight.

A/N: Well that's it for the first chapter guys! I feel so cringe after writing this that I hope AuthCenter will show up soon to execute me. Anyways, looking forward to what y'all think of this so far. I'll release new chapters soon (if I haven't been shot already).