5 years ago,

Red, 8th moon

"When are you going to come back?" Her small voice drifted to him, filled his ears with it's sweet sound. He sighed, pulling her ten year old body towards him and hugging her tighter.

"I don't know." He said simply, looking off into the distance. They were quiet for quite a while, just staring out at the morning sunrise as it came up. Neither said anything, nor moved much. After a while, she spoke again.

"Why are you going? There are people here that....need you." She said, choosing her words carefully. The cinnamon-haired girl stared up at her smoky-haired counterpart with glassy eyes. He stared off into the distance still, eyes glistening, refusing to meet her gaze. True, they were only ten, but still that damned emotion called love flowed heartily through both of them, though they were both too scared to tell the other. Now, it looked as if it would be too late...

"I have to. Dad said I didn't have a choice in the matter." Gatti Nero said simply, hugging her tight to him. His partner, Gabrielle, hugged his body as tight as she could, without cutting off his air supply.

"Damn that stupid rule. Damn that stupid Zaibach!" She said suddenly, startling him. He looked down at her, a small frown appearing on his face. He took up her chin in his hand, tilted her head so she was looking up at him.

"Don't say things like that, Gabby. You could die for saying things like that..." He said seriously, his eyes narrowing slightly. She sighed, shaking a little. She didn't like when Gatti got like this. All noble and sure that it was God's calling for him to be a soldier.

"But I don't want you to die, Gatti!" She said suddenly, shifting so she could look straight into his aquamarine eyes. She took up the collar of his shirt, practically hanging off him with desperation.

"Do you hear me? You could die out there, and then I would never see you again!!" She said, her eyes filling up with tears. He continued to stare at her with an icy cold gaze, one that he had only developed recently. He knew she was about to cry, but did nothing to comfort her in any way. Gabrielle let go of him, sinking into a little ball on the ground. She held her face in her hands, and Gatti could see crystal tears dripping through some of the spaces. Just great, hotshot. You made her cry. He thought to himself, feeling the guilt immediately rush through him, like a rush of adrenaline would.

"I..." Gabrielle stopped, thought about what she was just going to say. "You are so different from the boy I knew, only three months ago. But, no matter how much you have changed, you are still my friend, Gatti." She said softly, propping her hands up on her knees. Gatti stared at her, wondering if he should say anything.

"I'll come to visit, If I have time..." He offered, raising an eyebrow. Gabrielle stopped, stared at her friend. She got up, practically shaking with anger. Gatti watched her as she came toward him, her face beet red, fists clenched.

"How dare you! How dare you humour me like that, Gatti Nero!" She screamed at him, her little ten year old body shaking quite violently for a girl her size. She took her hand up, and with one motion, slapped him hard across the face. Gatti immediately reeled from what she had just done, eyes wide, fingers caressing the place where she had struck him. She waited for him to say something, but he didn't, so she took off and ran home...

Gatti merely sat there and watched her...

---

"Gabrielle, honey, wake up! Gatti is leaving today!" Her mother shook her shoulder a little bit. "Come on, or you'll miss him!" She said excitedly, shaking her daughter some more. Gabrielle lay in her bed, staring at the wall with blank eyes.

"I don't care about that idiot. He can leave and never come back for all I care." She said softly, her voice devoid of any emotions. Her mother stepped back, shocked. She stood there, not sure what to say. Her daughter and Gatti had always been the best of friends, but she had assumed that it was something...more.

"Come on, you don't mean that..." She said, but was roughly cut off by Gabrielle. She sat up, eyes still blank as ever.

"You see, I don't plan to become attached to that ass, since he's most likely going to go away and never come back. He's become as thoughtless and emotionless as anyone who entered that damned army in the first place." She said softly, staring not at her mother, but at the wall above her head. The woman stared at her child, sighing.

"Well, I will leave you then. If you hurry, you could see his transport through your window." She said, leaving her child's small room and returning to her morning kitchen duties. Gabrielle lay her head back down on the pillow, and resumed counting up though the numbers. This was the only way that she could possibly think of that would make sure that she was not thinking of Gatti in any way, shape or form.

She only stirred when she heard the antigrav units powering through the sky as they passed over her house.

5 years ago,

Red, 10th moon

Gatti stared in awe at the huge training centre. It was covered head to foot in beautiful frescoes and tapestries of the time, depicting the courageous knights of the Zaibach army. It truly was a sight to behold. In some of the dug out training rings, Gatti could see some of the apprentices training, with their masters watching with careful eyes behind them. He wondered briefly where he would be placed, what aspect of the military trade he would be.

"Come, gather together, you slime!" Came a voice. It was the man who had taken attendance only three or four minutes earlier. Gatti moved into a tighter pack with the other recruits, some as young as nine, and as old as eleven or twelve. The older man was standing higher than the boys, so he could see them all properly.

"As you all know, you have been picked to become the next generation of soldiers for Zaibach. Some of you have been handpicked for certain jobs, and if this is so, your background would have been researched extensively." He looked down at his sheet. "Now, when I call your name, report to the appropriate master, they of whom are standing to the sides, as you would have already noticed." The man gestured, waving his hand across the room. He looked down at the sheet again, and proceeded to roll names off the list.

Pretty soon, there were only about fifteen or sixteen boys left, and Gatti was getting nervous. He heard about this. They leave the worst boys for last, and shoved them into shovelling in the engine rooms on Flying Fortresses. It looked as though each 'master' had his standard number of recruits, so he was probably sacked.

"And finally..." Came the man's voice again, "You boys still in here, you will..." He was suddenly cut off by another man, this one about twenty or so, with bluish hair and purple tattoo under one eye.

"That is enough, I will take over from here." The man said, stepping in front of the guy. We all looked up at him, immediately filled with awe. They looked up at him, knowing that this man would take them far. No one was sure how he knew it, but they just... knew.