Advent Of A Gunslinger

Leona opened the folder in her hands, and read through the files that existed on Mio. “...I see here that you were orphaned at a young age, displaced by the effects of the Abyssinian Civil War.”

“...I was,” he admitted, and hung his head in an attempt to avoid eye contact with her, “What makes you bring it up?”

“...Because I endured the same thing,” said the nurse with the same flat, stoic inflection in her voice, “I too, was a product of that war. But it’s become something no one else is willing to discuss because it’s a rather taboo topic. I was hoping to ask you a few questions so we could understand each other better.”

While it was a rather uncomfortable subject, this was the first time that Mio had come into contact with someone who could both relate to, and understand him and his troubles. After all, Abyssinia had a rich, impactful history on the southern hemisphere that not many were caught up on. A bit of a refresher couldn’t hurt, could it?

“Alright then,” Mio agreed, “Fire away.”

“Good. Well, I’m sure you’re familiar with Abyssinia’s long history throughout the ages….” She turned to a nearby shelf, and grabbed a book off of it, “But are you aware of the few times that the rulers had encounters with Princess Celestia and Luna of the ponies?”

“They have?” Mio asked with a snicker of disbelief, “Small world this is. Do they play a major role at all? Prior to the Storm King’s invasion and the Summits that the current king and queen attend?”

Leona shook her head as she sat down in a chair next to Mio’s bedside. “Not really. There have been dozens of kings and queens throughout our history.” She then opened up the book she wanted to discuss--a history book. “But the rulers I would like to focus on are the ones who were in charge during the era of that very war: King Devon and Queen Persia. These two desperately wanted to annex both--”

“Siam and Catskills,” Mio interrupted her and continued, “From what I read through my history studies, they had a falling out with the rulers of both of those regions and started the war as a way of getting back at them. The rest of the details are fuzzy though.”

“...That’s because they don’t have everything in the books you can find in the libraries,” Leona replied with an annoyed purr, “That’s why I keep this copy of our history book--an uncensored one that doesn’t leave out any gory details.”

That completely stole Mio’s attention. The idea that certain parts of history would be omitted was strange to him. “...Why would the current king and queen censor history?” he asked inquisitively.

Leona flipped through the pages. “Beats me. It may have something to do with the fact that the current king wants nothing to do with the acts of his parents. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Anyhow...I was from Catskills. And the things I saw still haunt me to this day,” she muttered in a low tone.

Mio clenched the sheets of the hospital bed. “...And I’m from Siam. It seems as if we both went through quite a bit. However...” He turned his head to her, and halted the turning of the book’s pages with his tail. “I don’t want to hear someone else’s account of that conflict,” he said, pulling his tail away, “I want to hear from you, Leona. What did you see?”

The she-cat nurse paused for a moment, and thought about what the tom had said. After a moment or two, she shut the book. “Very well. I’ll start off from what I remember down to the letter…”

A young Leona watched as Abyssinian soldiers forced their way into Catskills. The small mountain village was quickly overrun and its militia was incapable of defending itself against a large, foreboding army that was armed to the teeth with pistols, rifles, gatling guns, explosives--the works. Everyone who objected was either beaten down or shot down.

Including Leona’s father who lived on a small farm. The pale grey cat-man took up arms to defend his home alongside his fellow men but to no avail. They were quickly slaughtered without hesitation. It took almost no effort on the Abyssinian soldier’s part to make a swift, yet powerful dent in the town. It was enough to completely force a surrender immediately, with the Catskill males being rounded up and put to work as slaves. The females were captured, and were either also enslaved or picked out as personal spoils of war for the Abyssinian males who raped them….including Leona’s mother.

Fortunately, Leona was able to get away and found herself running all the way to Klugetown…

“...Where I’ve remained ever since,” she said coldly as she finished her explanation, “I never saw my mother and father ever again….but I know that the current rulers of Abyssinia abhor what King Devon enacted, which is likely why all accounts have been lightly altered in current texts.” She gingerly held her tail in her hands. “...And that’s why I continue to live here. To make sure nothing like that ever happens again.”

After hearing all of that, and visualizing some of the horrors in his mind, all Mio could say was, “...Damn…”

“Now you, Mr. Thuong,” Leona continued, her tone still bitter, “Tell me about what you endured while you were in Siam during the war as a child. Though, from what I read on your file, it states that you lived in Tabbytown for most of your life as you were passed through the foster system. Care to elaborate?”

“Well...” he interlocked his fingers and tapped his thumbs together, “Before I begin, you need to know something about Siam.”

“And that is?”

“...It was a bit more well-fortified than Catskills was, so they had to devote extra time to it.”

The nurse she-cat tilted her head. “...Wasn’t that a good thing? That meant more time for your people to escape right?”

“No,” Mio replied with a low growl, “...It meant we had to suffer longer.”

Indeed. Siam was actually far more wealthy than Catskills due to being a well-kept, bustling town filled with life--much larger than a mountain village. But that all changed when the war started. Yes. The subjugation of Siam was actually more difficult due to the increased man--er, catpower of the region. The military and defense budgets were far greater than that of Catskills, so one would think that it would actually be far easier for them to succeed, right?

Wrong.

Whereas Catskills fell to Abyssinia in a matter of days, Siam was locked in combat for three arduous weeks. During that time, Abyssininan soldiers had taken control of various smaller cities within the land of Siam as they worked their way to the capital.

Soon enough, power started to go out around the town. Clean water and food became inaccessible, and no one was able to leave their homes without the fear of being shot or beaten. Just how did this happen?

Queen Persia was quite the strategist. While her husband managed Catskills, she took care of Siam with an iron fist. Her orders to her soldiers were to first destroy and capture all nearby farms that supplied Siam. Then, they would proceed to slowly shut off their electricity by snapping and cutting all the wires that fed into the town. Lastly, all the pipes that fed water to the town were destroyed with careful placements of explosives underground.

In short: Siam was starved from the inside-out.

And no one could escape. Anyone caught leaving their homes or trying to escape would be killed on the spot. The head of Siam was forced to submit on the spot.

At least, that’s what the history books say.

In reality, the one in charge on the front lines of Siam--Abyssinian General Zula--decided to take a more sadistic approach. With a little bit of magic using what was known as the Mouse Medallion, she successfully hypnotized the leader of Siam. As a result, he continued to put on a brave face, and refused to surrender to Abyssinia. In turn, Siam was further locked into war, with the Abyssinian soldiers able to lock down, and do whatever they desired to the Siamese.

Many unfortunate Siamese Cats starved to death. Others succumbed to disease from fleas, causing a widespread plague that claimed even more lives. But because their leader never officially ‘surrendered’, they were unable to return to the life they once knew.

Enter Mio. Born in Siam, he watched as his mother fell ill to the plague, leaving him a pair of red half-rim glasses as the one item that she could pass down to him without further spreading the plague fleas. She died with a smile on her face as the kit cried and cried, begging for his mother to wake up.

His father had been captured and tortured for days on end. But somehow, he managed to escape quickly enough to retrieve his son and take him to the border of Siam.

Unfortunately, there was one problem standing in their way:

Chimeras.

That’s right. The Abyssinian Army had employed the use of demonic beasts--chiefly of which was the tiger-goat-snake hybrid creature known as the chimera. The Abyssinians had successfully tamed, and struck gold with them in regards to having their unwavering support.

Just as Mio’s father was about to cross the border, he was stopped by not one, but two of the hybrid beasts. With no other option, Mio’s father hugged his son one last time, and chucked him over the border, causing the young kit to fly far and land in a pile of leaves outside of the city.

As soon as Mio landed, he could hear the sounds of his father’s screams. His death was slow and painful from the snake bites, impalement from the goat’s horns, and being shredded to ribbons by the tiger’s teeth and claws.

The little tom wanted to cry desperately, but knew he had to stay quiet in order to stay alive as he ran away from his birthplace, biting back tears, and never looked back…

“...That was when I was about seven or eight years old,” Mio said with a sigh as he wrapped up his explanation. “...And when I ran off to Tabbytown. Unfortunately, things didn’t get much better when I arrived there, but I don’t think you want to hear all of that.”

“...It’s just as bad as I had imagined.” While the nurse continued to keep her professional, stoic exterior, she still felt the need to look out for what he had endured. “I won’t force you, but as your nurse for the time being, I’d like to know as much as possible for the sake of your health. Please, tell me more if you’re comfortable.”

With that in mind, Mio couldn’t exactly argue. “...Fair point. In that case, I’ll continue…”