Crimson General Red

“Red! Red!”

“Reeeed! If you’re here, please answer back!”

“Sir Red! Do you copy?! Sir Red!”

The Crimson Army was in a frenzy. After the large explosion in the sky, where the boy named Red used himself as a shield to protect his troops, Graham the Golden General emerged from the destruction to announce his victory, and with that, the Golden Army retreated.

However, the boy’s body was nowhere to be found.

Clinging onto the faintest hope that Red survived the explosion, everyone from the Crimson Alliance, including non-combatants like Adam, Jason, Catherine, and even Anabelle, who was carrying Rose in her arms, were scattered throughout the battlefield. Meanwhile, Victor, the man who had lost his arm in order to protect that boy, had survived and was currently unconscious so he could not participate in the search.

And so, that one name resounded throughout the remains of what had been the setting for the final battle of the Global Unification War.

“Red!”

“Red!”

“Kiddo!”

“Sir Red!”

Several minutes have passed, and despite the sheer number of people searching, they could find no traces of the boy. And then, after a while, a global transmission was sent out by an Ivory bio-soldier calling for everyone, and the people nearby gathered around the headquarters.

The soldier revealed a metallic Bo Staff and shook his head.

“Red...” everyone said in disbelief.

Greatly influenced by the repeated mention of the name, Rose, the baby who was lying down on Anabelle’s arms, reached out towards the staff.

“R-Red...” she muttered, and then she started to cry.

Catherine’s face squeezed and soon she could no longer stop the tears from falling. The bio-soldiers all lowered their heads, several of whom also sobbed alongside the teenage girl and the baby. Jason on the other hand slammed his fist onto the table where Red had, on more than one occasion, slammed his right before going out straight into danger.

“Y-you idiot...” he softly said as he tried his best to suppress his emotions. “You did it again, you stupid little...” He could now feel tears slowly filling his eyes. “This is no different from the last time! You think you’re so selfless, but you’re not! You’re selfish! You throw yourself away all willy-nilly, leaving everyone who cares about you in pain and grief. This is the second time, Red! It’s not fair...Just when we were finally reunited, this had to happen. Dammit, dammit all...!”

Adam, gritting his teeth, flipped a switch connected to a microphone and announced, “Halt the search.”

Catherine’s crying intensified, and everyone stopped looking for the boy. That is, except for a certain group of people.

“Wh-what...?” the scientist asked after receiving a certain response on his speaker. “That was an order, you fools! Stop wasting your time! There’s no point...”

Several soldiers from the Crimson Army refused to follow Adam.

“I ain’t stopping until every single inch has been covered!” one of them said.

“He could have been blown away from the center of the explosion!” another soldier followed. “Back when we were fighting against the Ivory Army, I left the battlefield because I didn’t believe in him, and what did he do? He singlehandedly took on a huge chunk of the enemy. He just did the same thing all over again; you can’t tell me to just back out now! I have a score to settle with that kid!”

Hundreds of people protested along with them, and Adam could do nothing to stop the onslaught of verbal sentiments.

“If that’s what you want...” he finally said. But don’t you guys get it? he said in the deepest corners of his mind. It’s useless! You guys saw the explosion! Not even he could possibly survive that...

In the end, they could not find him, and February 10 was soon after listed as the day the boy named Red died.

The day commemorating the end of the fourth general.