My Nightmare

Everything happened so quickly, in that sandbox. Dad ordered me and the 71st ground regiment to hold the western flank. I was holding my part of the flank, with my powers I was easily able to help crush the enemies. Little did I know that this little proxy war in Ghanistan would change the entire war, and my life.

A hail of laser blasts were all around. Gleaming red blasts went back and forth, AMA forces held the city of Kabar and thus far we were kicking ass. Explosions all around, it was making my ears ring as all of this shit was going on. However I wasn't afraid, at least not before it happened. Nope, I was enjoying every bit of it, the thrill of battle, yet another victory I could claim for the cause and yet another victory for Moebius. As my father's men held their position I stomped forward to take on their position at the hill. While those darned lasers strong as they impacted my body I've gotten used to it and I was too caught up in the thick of things to fall back. This combined with the sandstorm that was picking up was really pissing me off as not only could I not see all to well, but pieces of sand and shit were getting into my eyes.

"Ha ha! You better run little losers!"

Slowly but surely my massive body was approaching them even while my vision was being impeded by the dessert weather, the look in the cowards eyes was precious as they saw some titanic sized like monster approach them, and not on their side once I've stomped right up to them. They fired a few blasts at me which stung like fuck. However soon the worms started to lose morale and break off from their position on the hillside as they began to flee into the mountainside. This apparently was these dumbasses sort of chickenshit tactic, when things weren't going their way they would run like little bitches and hide in these little shitholes in the side of the mountain.

Lifting up my giant leg I caught some of them who were firing in a MG nest they've set up in on the hillside. Nothing is better than seeing your foe so helpless as to come to the certain knowledge that they're all about to be crushed like bugs. They started screaming in whatever the fuck they were saying as with one good step I squashed them to paste.

Behind me I could hear a distinct 'hoorah!' as AMA forces pushed from our position in Kabar and were charging up the nearby hillside just as the sandstorm started to subside. As I've said, once the enemies realized who they were fucking with they turned tail and ran. I couldn't help but chuckle at this, literally the morons were squirming all around to go into their holes while trying to even the odds by stopping the advance. My guys rushed up there and after a few good potshots or something, most of the enemies were gone. One of them, I think a cat stuck a Federation flag unto the hill and we all couldn't help put up our fists and cheer!

"They're running scared! We got this! Push forward and let's teach these prime insurgents a lesson! For Moebius!"

"Master Griefan! Master Griefan!" One soldier was saying as he came from the east towards me.

"What is it? Can't you see we're pushing here? Dad wants me to ruin their flank!"

"Your father, lord Bradanska has been shot! He, he needs you to come to him right away! We're pulling out and getting a medical Raven to him ASAP!"

At this my heart started to pound and my body tensed. The mere thought of these very words to me was unthinkable at the time. Could my dad really be mortally wounded? Half of my mind was trying to deny it, the other half couldn't help but worry as I did what the soldier said. I've reverted back to normal and followed the soldier. What happened to the soldiers that pushed ahead as I ordered I don't know, but all I could care about at that moment was the well being of my father.

Eventually we got there, the situation was bad. Ravens were flying in and our soldiers, to the best of my knowledge now, were pulling out. Soldiers were holding my father's line valiantly, but it was as if the bullet to my father had pierced the entire armor of all of the AMA forces there. Things were going to go from bad to worse.

When I got to him he was bleeding out badly. I rushed over to him and pushed the soldier out of the way. When I got there he was coughing up blood and all over his shirt and even his mouth was red. I knelled down to him and did my best to stop the blood by placing my gloved hands over his wound.

"Dad? Dad are you alright?"

"Griefan..It's going to be okay son, everything is going to be alright."

"We need to get him on the evac Raven, Grief help your father!" A soldier said to me as I nodded.

Nothing could have stopped me from tearing up at this moment. While I didn't understand at the time how close to death he was I could still feel his warmth as I've picked him up and carried him on my back to the Raven. He was breathing, but having a hard time. As I moved I could feel him take his hand and rub it against my head. I rushed the best I could to the medical transport, like most Ravens in the first Great Dimensional War it was one of our older, yet hardy 310 models. Only there was no weapon on it and it was painted white and red. Once there the medics told me to push him down on a stretcher. Doing so as gently as possible, I did what was told of me. As tears ran down my eyes I looked at him. All he could do was try to comfort me with a faux smile as if he was doing everything in his power to comfort me in his own last moments!

They pulled him inside and I got in. As we took off the sandstorm picked up and it gave us a bit of turbulence. Sadly however this craft would be his deathbed. While returning to base Ivan died of his wound. It wasn't apparent at first, but the blast had went not only through his lung, but the other side of his back. With his last breath of life all he said to me was "I'm proud of you Griefan". As his eyes began to close I couldn't help but sob.

Chapter 2: Day of Sadness

The flight back to Siag was one of silence and misery, my dad cold dead on the floor of the ship, turbulence, and all the certain knowledge that we just went from my allowing us to potentially win the battle, to completely and utterly screwed. I was so shook up for the first time of my life I actually felt depressed enough to open the side hatch and leap out the side of the gunship. However I just couldn't bring myself to do it, not with my father's dead corpse right next to me. So instead of pussing out I could do nothing but sob and clench my fingered nails into my skull in agony.

When we arrived back on Moebius it was of course raining. While normally I like cold and cloudy days with a feel of brisk breeze, the even more depressing weather made the ride all the more worse. Lighting in the distance, drops of water pounding the steel chasis of the ship,it was as if Moebius herself was weeping for the loss of her most prized possession.The chatter from the pilot and soldiers was unnerving and their words still plague me to this day.

"This is Zalga Veris 727.We had to make a emergency evac, overlord do you copy? AMA forces in full retreat from Ghansistan and heading back to Siag. Lord Bradanksa has fallen, requesting entrance to Siag and inform command over."

As we were given clearance I could hear from outside of the ship a loud siren, a sound that I have heard before. This warning siren always meant something bad was happening. The last time this blasted noise pierced my ears was during the bombing of Siag itself. I was an even younger kid back then, no older than five. When the humans invaded they left a deep wound in the back of my people, however I didn't even realize before what all this would have brought me in the future. It was at this moment that I felt the fear everyone has inside of them, the fear of not only death, but helplessness. Just like all the people who died in the bombings, now I felt useless as my father laid dead before me.

Once we landed the side hatch door was opened and our entire landing strip was surrounded by soldiers and officers. Outside all I could see was people all around me, everyone stared inside the vessel and waited in shock to see what I had to see. Ever see a Moebian cry? I mean really cry? It's pathetic, and yet not only me, but all of us were close to tearing up.

"Kid, I don't know if you want us to but um, I think it would be best if you carried him out. He's your father you know? It would be best." Nodding my head I felt I had but no choice. Out of all of me not wanting to have to carry his now cold dead body I knew deep inside this maybe the last time I felt the warmth of my father. So I picked him up with my enhanced strength and stepped out of the ship. All around me I could see the stilled hearts of my comrades. All kinds of soldiers and comrades of mine who followed my father and I into battle were now spirit broken as all they could watch as I carried his body towards the medical lab for an autopsy. As I moved the torrenting rain increased, yet no soldier or officer dared head back inside of the Central Administration Building. No, instead as I neared them they began in unison saluting with the customary Moebian left-handed salute.

His funeral was a few days after this. Not being the religious type of folk as the humans are, save for a few tree huggers, the service was quick and more of a way of coping with the loss of our leader. Seeing my father's body all embalmed like that was too much for me, I could barely hold it in as we carried him in a casket from the meeting area to bury him deep under the Central Administration Building.It was to be that all of the Bradnaksa family would be buried under the nerve center of Siag, the CAB. To this day I don't venture below to the isolated bunker where my father's corpse resides.

Chapter 3: Day of Defeat.

"Hey Grief, hey Grief, wake up!"

My ear twitched and I started to groan, a few seconds later I felt a hard punch to my stomach. Suddenly my eyes both went wide open as I looked in a blurry haze to find that out of all people, my sister Scylla had socked me in the gut to wake me up in my own room!

"Gah! What the crap, sis?"

"I told you to get up two times."

"Why are you in my room? Get outta my room!"

"Nuh uh, daddy's generals want us to come speak with them in the meeting room. It's an order.I just did what they told me to do."

"Grrr! I don't take orders from them! They're not our dad!  They can choke for all I care!"

"Grief, it's important! Now get up and come on!"

As Scylla exited the room I had half a mind to toss a pillow at the back of her stupid gingered head. However knowing how dense she is I soon realized that she couldn't have came here without it being a major issue. All month things have been going bad for the Federation. After dad died we were left leaderless. Without proper leadership we suffered defeat after defeat. All I wanted to do was curl up in my room and sleep it all away like it was a bad dream. However, I soon realized the nightmare was going to soon get worse.

Putting on my purple slippers, I got up and walked out the door of my room to follow my sister towards the meeting room in the Central Administration Building. The mood as I went through the halls was even more depressing than normal. All the soldiers and officers didn't even have on their normal blank expressions,  no a aura of weariness and anxiety was what removed this. Passing every soldier it looked like they were all trying to hold in the urge to cry, it was bizarre and creepy to see this from the finest soldiers my father could muster before his demise.

Soon I arrived at the guarded door where the meeting was supposedly taking place within. The two soldiers their were in the standard old AMA uniforms that were grey, they gave me a lefthanded salute and I did so in return. In their eyes they seemed nervous, and soon I became nervous inside as I tried to hide it.

"Master Griefan, the Commandant wishes for you to come in."

"Okay?"

They opened the doors by typing in a code and the reinforced automatic doors slowly opened with a loud moan of a motor. One of them nodded to me and I entered the room as the door closed slowly behind me. Inside the interior of the room was a scene that could only be described as pathetic. At the meeting table was various members of my father's old 'Commandant', or his cabinet of advisors, top ranking officers, and other important members of the Federation. All throughout the room I could tell something was up. As soon as I entered they all stared at me as if they were a bunch of clueless students looking to receive directions from a teacher, and I was the teachers pet. The only one not showing a sort of incompetent stupor was my sister, who was in the corner and trying to stare outside the window.

"Greetings young master Griefan, it's..good..that you could attend this."

"What's going on?"

One of them stood up. He appeared to have sighed as the man dressed in a grey uniform with a grey cap with a crimson red band put his cap down from his head and placed it on the table. No doubt he was a member of the Grey Party, my father's old political movement that was established during the years of the Revolution. However I never seen such a staunch party supporter just as this show this sort of expression on his face. There was no doubt in my mind that the man was just as broken as we all were.

"Young master Griefan, it has come to the majority decision of the Commandant of the Federation that we, we, it has been decided that the forces of the Anti Mobian Army pull out from the war and from the prime world."

At this my blood started to surge. What this man said filled me full of anger. After all the lives who were lost in the Bombing of Siag, and through the 'Great Dimensional War' that my father fought, and just recently died for, and now this smuck was informing me that all the rats in the room voted for us to surrender?

"Are you nuts? That's it? You're just going to surrender to our enemies? After ALL my father stood for and all the lives lost, you're going to just throw in the towel now?"

"I'm sorry Grief, it cannot be helped. Without acquitted leadership the Federation simply cannot go on.  There  is just no conceivable way we can continue the fight. We brought you here, along with young lady Scylla to be present when we negotiate the terms."

"Chickens! All of you! You're a bunch of chickens! No! I will not let you do this to my father's dream! Scylla, we cannot let them do this to us!"

"I-I dunno Grief. Both daddy and mommy are gone, we can't win without dad."

"So this is it? We just quit?"

"It's not like that Griefan, we're going to try to negotiate for a favorable surrender. Perhaps we can create terms that would allow us to still come out relatively unscathed."

"Terms? If you think after all those people we fought they're just going to go easy on us than you're delusional! They will enslave us! Dad knew this.."

The members of the Commandant all shook their heads, save for one brown furred major in a grey uniform. Merci, a soldier dad placed to watch over me with the army in the war.The major had a blank expression on his face. He didn't like it either.

One of the men typed on a console on the table and on a monitor came the image of a man in a civilian like politician uniform. From what could be made out he appeared to be what the humans call 'a president'. The man was just as confused as Scylla and myself were as his image appeared on the feed.

"What is the meaning of this? Who is this?" The man asked.

"We are the representatives from the government of the Moebian Federation. We are hailing you, mr.president to speak with you on behalf of the people of the Anti Moebian Federation. We wish to negotiate a potential peace agreement between our two respective entities."

"A peace agreement? Well this IS surprising.Well then, what do you have for us?"

My body surged with anger and I couldn't hold it back anymore. I looked around for any object I could until  I fount a vacant chair. Moving over to it I grabbed it and with my nature enhanced strength I've picked it up, much to the shock of everyone and even the human leader in the room.

"This!" was all that was let out from my mouth before I furiously tossed the chair straight at the monitor. All the people in the room were shaken up. The chair impacted the monitor and destroyed it. In my animosity I was growling and panting.

"You fool! What have you done?" one of the officers near me let out.

At this I didn't hesitate to demonstrate to the coward just who exactly the fuck I am. In one motion I leaped and tackled the soldier to the ground. The terror in his eyes as he fell on the ground sickened me. These traitors were handing over everything my father worked for on a silver platter to our foes and they had to be taught a lesson.

"Grrrr! I'll kill you! I'll kill all of you traitors!"

The man didn't get the chance to counter my surprise attack. I wrapped my hands around him to crush his circulation of air. He gasped and had trouble breathing as almost every soldier in that room pointed their sidearms at me. Scylla got worried and tried to pry me off the soldier but I wasn't budging.

"Master Griefan! Enough if this! That man is not a traitor, now let him go!" Major Merci Androlf let out at me.

The major's face was authentic, in a bizarre way I felt he was being sincere about this and thus I decided to spare the miserable wretch's life as I let go of him and got off, but placed my sneaker's heel on his chest.

"Stop it Grief! Just stop it, this isn't helping!" Scylla said as she was tugging on my tail.

"Shut up!"

"Both of you, everyone calm down!  Grief, let the man go. Lord Bradanksa wouldn't want you attacking a comrade. Ivan taught you better than this." the major told me. My foot was let off the soldier and he started to gasp for breath. All the officers kept their 'Yogger' laser pistols aimed at me, but the major motioned for them to stand down. All the while my body was still tense and I was panting, however soon tears began to ran down my eyes.

"Listen everyone, Griefan is just feeling as remorseful for the lost of Lord Bradanska as the rest of us are. Perhaps Scylla and himself need to be relieved of this meeting and dismissed? We shouldn't expect children to be able to take all this stress on themselves."

All the officers hastily nodded in agreement. Merci called in two of our psychic Guardsmen into the room to escort both my sister and I to our rooms. As they entered the room I could see their various glowing and high tech uniforms with their distinct color coded illuminate patterns. The major simply nodded to them and they moved over towards me. I turned to face them and lowered my head in shame. Me, the son of Ivan Bradanska only a few steps away from being declared a traitor by the majority in that room, were it not for the quick thinking of the major. The feeling was utterly misery and now my head was filled with adrenaline and ironically, grief.

My Nightmare Part 4: The Vision

Scylla and myself were escorted back to our rooms by the psychic Guardsmen. The trip back was eerie silent. Two guardsmen, side by walked me to my room like I was some sort of political prisoner. These guys were no joke, so I kept my mouth shut. The last thing I needed was one of them deciding my head needed to explode so I kept my trap shut on the way to my room.

Once we got there I opened the door. The mere fact these guys were breathing down my neck was pissing me off. Out of all people, these morons were supposed to be the Federation's best? These gifted psychics that my father had given everything in his power to promote themselves and their gifts for the greater good of Moebius, and now they're reduced to a bunch of 'yes men' for a group of cowardly chickens. I typed in the code to open my bedroom door and I proceeded to go in. The door swished behind me as it closed.

As I listened in with my foxy ears for them to go I merely huffed and moved over to my bed. My eyes started to tear up once more, the mere thought that I had gone from serving my father as he was bringing victory to our people, to lost without him and the indentured servant of a cabal of incompetent generals who at the drop of a hat were willing to surrender everything we've fought so hard for their own survival was just nerve wrecking.

Eventually my mind and body tired out and I passed out in exhaustion. The next thing I knew I was in that buddy swamp once more. My body was shivering that night as it was covered in mud and water, there next to me was my father who was trying to hide the shivering of his own freezing body as the midnight went on.

"It's going to be okay Grief, everything will be alright. Just keep quiet" He whispered.

"Where the hell are they? The boss wants these these traitorous pricks fount before dawn! You know what he'll do if we don't find them! Find them!"

A light shined through the pathway to the right and it moved around every so often as someone on the other side was scanning through the pitch black midnight. Slowly but surely the ray of light moved closer, and closer as my entire body froze up in nervousness. All I could see to find hope was my father's own eyes. Inside of them I could feel that he was suffering just as much as I was, if not more.

"Check that river over there." A voice from where the light was coming from ordered. My father game me an expression to keep absolutely quiet. I could see a  second light come closer until I could barely make out the image of the person, it was a hedgehog. One of HIS goons. After several mind haunting moments of nervousness and silence the hedgehog appeared to not spot us and went back to the group.

"They're not in there. We need to check the trees. They could be above us."

Suddenly a zap in my happened as I re-awoken all sweaty and gasping for breath. While I fount myself warm in reality once more the memory was nevertheless haunting. Sadly however, this was one of the times I could remember how safe I felt with Ivan with me. After getting a few breaths in I tried to calm down. My mind was racing in thought as I thought of one single thing over and over again, hedgehogs. This all started with them.

The next day I was allowed to be released from the C.A.B. However I knew without a doubt that it would be far safer in the building than in the streets of Siag. Maddening chaos was happening all around the city as word came to the people that the Federation had surrendered by default. Moving down the street around the CAB I could see What appeared to be a bunch of protestors in the streets with signs saying 'Moebius is finished!' and 'This war was for nothing!' What really made me mad was that many of the protestors were in fact, you guessed it, hedghogs.

Why is this a big deal you may ask? Well it's simple: They didn't do shit during the Great Dimensional War and our former despot is one. These crowds were my father's critics, now spitting on his grave in the most appalling of way. These damn opportunists were defacing one of MY father's monuments! With this I clenched my fist and stormed over there. I wanted to grab each one of them personally strangle the life out of the bum, but before I could near them I saw the blast of laser and plasma fire as the beaming sounds of energy blasts hit the crowd of protestors.

On the other side of the street was a garrison of Anti Mobian Army soldiers in line and firing upon the protestors. The crowd of hedgehogs that didn't get shot and fall down dead began to hastily scatter and hide in the nearby alleyways. My mind raced as I saw this sight with mixed thoughts. First off this reminded me of what my father happened in the Grey Rebellion where our own political party was protesting and the king's loyalist gunned down our revolutionaries. However, on the other hand something in my mind seemed to be happy to see the image of laser and plasma bolts bursting into the chests of these assholes as the blasts when through their bodies and heads, almost in a sad and twisted irony as had my father's.

Chapter 5: The Meeting

After the riot was quelled dead Moebian bodies littered the streets.As they lied on the ground bleeding out until their blood would thicken and cease flowing the soldiers in the group ordered some men to go over to them and drag them on a pile to be burred or incinerated. Being sort of used to this due to the war I really wasn't phased by this as much as I should have been, however a soldier in the unit spotted me. The man was an officer by his uniform and he ordered his men to stay there as he proceeded to walk up to me. From his species he appeared to be a Moebian cat with dark brown fur and blue eyes. As he approached he gave me the old left handed Federation salute, in which I responded with my own as I didn't want to piss the guy off.

"Ah, Master Griefan. It's so good to see you.I'm captain Arax." The captain said to me as I stared up at him.

"Hi"

"I've been sent by Major Merci to speak with you. It is important, but the major wishes to keep it confidential. I have been instructed to give you this." The soldier said taking out a small envelope.

"Uhh, thanks."

The officer tipped his grey beret at me as to say 'good day', and then moved back towards the uni5 or soldiers, from the looks of their faces the men appeared to be confused and distanced from the events that had just transpired. However, now wasn't the time for me to stay around and have any of those soldiers do something to myself so I went away. To calm down myself I went to the park to relax and get some isolation. Once there I became curious about the note and I proceeded to open it. The stamp on the letter was a grey star, the symbol of my father's top political movement, the Gray Party.

"This must be important for them to give me this."

"Near the old factory, where you rescued that family during the Bombing."

What a bizarre thing for a note to say raced through my noggin as I read this. However something got into my memory, a sense of bad memories. However, I knew where the note was talking about as I could vaguely recall the events that happened about five years prior to that time. To hide the note I took off my shoe and put it under my foot. While it felt funny to walk on at least nobody would know it was there.

As I walked down the street to old part of Siag I looked around at the buildings. In my mind I could envision the Bombing like it was yesterday. Here I was remembering how all I was doing was minding my own damn business, then before I knew it buildings were being demolished and people were screaming.

At the time I had no idea what was going all, but soon I found out we were under attack by the humans and I offered the use of my powers to help search and rescue trapped citizens while everyone else was either dead, fleeing, or fighting off the humans themselves. Suddenly as I walked the smell of sludge and garbage became ash and sulfur. The buildings that were remained were once more ruin and the cries from the mothers,children, and fathers of panic once more filled that bad memory in my mind. Why of all places this location? I pondered as I moved down the sidewalk towards this literal pathway down memory lane.

Nightfall began to happen as the light went down all over the city. Soon the automated powergrid would set in and street lamps would begin to turn on as normally Siag would be filled with an abundance of nocturnal nightlife. However, in this section of the city things were eerily quiet and spooky, and for good reason. Not only was  I moving through basically a restored grave site basically, but this was the region of the city where things 'happened' to people. One good aspect was however that I felt alone and once more I could clear my thoughts while heading over to factory. Once I got there I saw someone standing near a alleyway. In my mind I began to get concerned, either I could be walking right into a trap, or whoever sent the note wanted to send someone to kill me.

"Uh, hey there." my mouth let out to the person.

"Master Griefan, you're just on time. Please, follow me."

"Dad told me not to talk to strangers, pal. You try any funny buisness and I will use my powers on you.I wasn't born yesterday."

"Lord Bradanska has taught you well, young 'baron', but you shouldn't fear. Now please, follow me."

"Baron?"

The man was in a coat and appeared to be a black lab like canine. While he moved I saw his tail and thus making out his species was easy. I took out a huge sigh and decided to follow him, whatever he could try to do to me wouldn't be nearly as bad as what's been going on. When you're back is already against the wall the only thing you can do is fight back anyways.

He led me inside an abandoned warehouse. At first when I entered it was dark, and my first instinct was that this was some sort of ambush. However it would be too sloppy and more than likely anyone inside would be trapped in here with me should I try to fight back. They wanted to kill me? They would have to be prepared to dig a few more graves. Suddenly lights went on in the corner and to my surprise a bunch of officers and even the major were there sitting around a table. Their figures were illuminated by the light, and while there was a soldier here or there, most of them didn't look like they wanted to fill my face full of cold plasma anytime soon. My curiosity got the better of me while I walked over and stared at them.

"What's the big idea? What's going on?"

"Relax, all will soon be explained to you. These are members of the Grey Party. Your father's first political movement. Many of us share your sentiments about the 'peace' talks with the prime world Grief. We feel you're old enough to divulge into the real power base within the Commandant. Now please, have seat." The major's voice told me. There was an empty chair at the end of the table. Not thinking anything better, I quickly deduced that this chair was intended for me to sit at. After all my dad always sat at the end of a table and these were the guys who liked their meetings to go smoothly. So my body calmly went over and I took a seat.

"Now, let's get down to business. You have been summoned here Grief with a promising offer. We would like you to join us. After your display in the meeting room some of us were convinced that your actions while rash, were genuine and justified. Sadly, not everyone in the Commandant believes this way. That is why it is up to the Grey Party to keep up the good fight as we always have for the sake of Moebius's future."

"Me join you? Don't I need like a bunch of tests or some ceremony for that? Sort of like the human 'boy scouts'?"

"Normally yes, but this occasion is different. You are the son of Ivan Bradanska and the heir to his legacy. The Grey Party believes that his wishes living on inside of you, thus we want to inaugurate you into our organization as quickly as possible."

"I see" Was about the only thing that could come in mind to reply to the major.

"For now however, we would like to here more about your thoughts on this.Ever since your father died both of us have been admittedly put into disarray, correct?" A mobian wolf asked me.

"You're telling me, I miss him so much. It's like once he's gone all of Moebius is slowly going back to days  of the old tyrant king. People are just going nuts!"

"I assure you Grief, we will not let that happen. The party was created just for this circumstance, so that no monarch may ever rule over us with an iron fist ever again."