We are NOT Humans

“Ministry of Internal Security. Open the door now.”

One terrified young man opened the door. He was shaking and sweating like hell.

He had in front of him two people. One man and one woman.

The woman had silver hair and one single grey eye. Well… one single grey left eye because her right one was hidden behind a black eye patch.

The other was a bit younger. Probably three years her junior. His subordinate. He had black hair and glasses. The young man who was surely a student started speaking in a very soft tone.

“Yes Sir and Ma’am? What can I do for you?”

The woman advanced, her officer hat with the golden eye symbol watching and accusing anyone daring to look at it.

Ma’am? Who is he calling ma’am?

The young lieutenant crossed his arms and said in a very formal tone.

“We were informed about antisocial threats in that building. We are inspecting every apartment. Step aside.”

The young man looked around him. Other men and women in that same black uniform entered the other apartments; sometimes you could hear children crying or some men insulting.

But no places were left unchecked. And looks like it’s his turn.

Rein looked behind him and saw a man and a woman being dragged by force. The woman was young and blonde. The man had black hair and was a muscular one. Looks like the agents got enough of them refusing access and protesting. And they did that in front of their two crying young children of 6 or 7 years old who were screaming “daddy” or “momma.”

Rein sighed while adjusting his black officer cap.

Why can’t they just follow simple orders? Oh well…

The young agent looked at the young student who looked like he was a bit younger than him. Rein said, “If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. Don’t worry,” while smiling.

The student offered his red card to the young agent.

“Naimon Rotzner… Noralian caste.”

Rein looked at the young student and offered him a nod. A fellow member of his caste is always good to meet. Even if they are the majority.

The Colonel who was checking the student’s bedroom found a transparent suitcase full of clothes, towels, and shoes. She smirked before asking, “You are going somewhere?”

Naimon placed his hands in front of him and said in a calm tone, “Yes ma’am. I’m going on a trip to the mountains. I received approval from the Ministry of Traveling. I can show it to you if you want.”

The Colonel looked at the student with her only one grey eye before saying to her subordinate, “Rein. Go check his office. And you. I’m no ‘ma’am.’ It’s Colonel. Got it? I’m still in my late twenties for fuck’s sake.”

Rein entered the little office of Naimon. It was a decent one. A little library on the left side full of books and a wooden desk. Rein checked if there was any forbidden book.

Independence War of Astasia.

Political System of Astasia.

How to Cook?

How to Talk to citizens from different castes?

How Astasia Crushed Its Enemies.

But between a book that talked about the biography of a respected General and how the Chancellor handled the economic crisis, he found another book.

A brown book. Explaining the old theories of men and women. During the time all men and women were in the same… category as a species.

“Um… that book is dangerous. We should confiscate it.”

That book wasn’t enough to arrest. But if there is a trial, it will be an aggravating item to show to the court.

Behind the desk, Rein found something. Another hidden book. And it was… pink… it was a magazine.

“Colonel. I found something.”

The Colonel approached and looked at what her subordinate found.

Rein showed her the brown book, and she sighed while shaking her head.

But when she saw the pink one... It was a magazine… full of… nude people. Particularly muscular men full of sweat who looked at the reader with that face saying, “I will take great care of you.”

Both Rein and the Colonel looked at the content while raising their eyes and stared at Naimon.

The Colonel said, “Well… their outfits are surely… really original…”

Rein added, “I don’t know how they can wear this. It looks painful. I swear their sweating is the result of them enduring the pain.”

The woman showed a page with her finger and asked her subordinate. “Tell me… isn’t it supposed to hurt for you men?”

Rein nodded at her question. “Yeah. And it’s too tight to not feel it.”

The young student who was being stared at by four eyes (well, in that case, three). And then there was a silence interrupted by noises coming from the other apartments. A man fighting while screaming, “Fuck you. You don’t have anything against me. Let me go!”

The young student was the first to speak while laughing and sweating. “Hey hey… listen, I can explain…”

The Colonel smiled a bit and said, “Do not worry, citizen. We don’t judge your taste.”

Rein, while still looking at the magazine, added, “I do judge… ”

Rein sighed while throwing the magazine away. “I don’t want to look further. I bet the pages are glued together.”

The young student lowered his eyes and placed his hand on his face while the two agents ignored him.

The Colonel had enough of staring at this transparent closed suitcase. Sure, we could see through it, but you could hide so many things behind the objects…

The woman approached the student and barked her order. “Open it.”

Naimon’s eyes opened at this order. “Ma’am, please…”

The Colonel’s only eye glared at the young student. “Don’t ma’am me. It’s Colonel. Not ma’am. Now open it or we do it ourselves.”

Rein walked to the transparent suitcase and opened it while the Colonel was holding the young student with her body.

The young agent literally threw away every cloth, every towel, every… thing that was related to the magazine they found…

“Well, well… what do we have here?” A picture with a fist raised. With big letters saying,

“WE ARE HUMANS.”

Human.

The word no one should ever say.

And it wasn’t only one picture.

He had plenty inside his suitcase. One, two, three, four, five.

Rein smirked and turned to the young student. “So… planning to… inform people on something proven false by our science? Well. We have a winner.”

The Colonel looked at the picture, but then she smelled something. Acidic… “Ah, come on, you pussy. Have some dignity, will ya?”

The young Noralian literally peed on himself… his brown pants were going a bit darker between his legs. He was sweating, and he couldn’t express any coherent word.

“Do not worry. In your cell, you’ll have some new clothes.”

The young student pushed the Colonel while screaming,

“Fuck the MIS. We are humans. Equality for all humans!!!!”

The Colonel slammed her back against the wall and cursed before running after him. She took her gun from her belt and started shooting in the hallway.

The young student entered the staircase and was already downstairs. The other agents who were checking the other apartments looked at the fleeing student while they were busy searching their own targets.

The Colonel cursed under her breath. “Damn it…”

Rein appeared behind her and yelled, “Do not worry, Colonel. I’ll get him.”

And Rein, with a smirk on his face, climbed the barrier of the stairs and… literally jumped while holding his hair with his right arm and offering a sensual smile to his superior… before he started regretting it and screamed while falling. “SHIT. MY LEG!”

The Colonel looked from upstairs and saw her subordinate on the ground, on his knee, aiming his weapon and firing three shots. After the shots, we could hear a voice screaming in pain. “I got him.”

The woman ran down the stairs and found her subordinate lying on the floor with the barrel of his gun still smoking. The Colonel ran towards the suspect who was yelling…

“MY ASS. YOU SHOT ME IN THE ASS!”

The Colonel pulled out her handcuffs and started to tie the young student. She looked at the hole in his brown pants. And that hole started bleeding.

“Well. At least you have a second butthole. It will be easier for ya to take a dump.”

Rein approached while looking at his sharpshooter skills' results and asked. “Well… looks like the Cobalt mines will have a new miner… just don’t puke too much blood… my leg. Damn it.”

2 hours later.

“Finally I can drink myself like there’s no tomorrow… ah…”

The Colonel started drinking a heavy glass of whisky. And around her, a lot of people sitting at their tables were doing the same. Folks liked to drink, lose their minds, and then wake up in a bed alongside the person they hated. Sometimes even involuntarily starting a family with them…

“Colonel… You said you would reduce your amount of drinking.”

The Colonel placed her glass on the table with more strength than necessary, producing a glass noise before looking at her subordinate with her only one grey left eye.

The right one was still hidden behind a black eye patch.

“Know your place, lieutenant. I said it, yes, and that’s what I’m doing right fucking now. Look. I’ll only drink one glass tonight.”

Rein looked at his superior before placing his hand on his black hair.

“You literally said the same thing yesterday and I ended up carrying you to your quarters.”

The silver-haired woman wearing her black uniform with the golden insignia of the Astasian Republic started to sigh before saying: “Okay… let’s make a deal, Rein. If I end up drinking more than one glass, you can kick my ass for real.”

Rein looked at his superior, and he couldn’t understand how that woman who drinks like madness could be his mentor. But… she was.

“Colonel… you know… I can’t… touch your… butt in any way.”

The Colonel laughed at this before saying, “If I say you can touch my ass, then you can. And in that case, you’ll be allowed to kick it. But I’ll definitely kill you when you do it. But I’ll also shoot you if you don’t. So you better make sure I don’t drink more than one glass.”

Rein looked around them. One man was already sleeping. Another one was singing. And one was… doing something that shouldn’t be described. All of them wear the black uniform of the Ministry of Internal Security. The MIS.

Well, Rein found this fascinating. By day, they are the most feared organization of the country. But at night? They turn into… whatever they are. Happy people, maybe? Yeah… the man vomiting in his glass must be the happiest man alive.

The young lieutenant looked at his colonel. She was placing her long black boots on the table. Her uniform was like the other women's. A long black shirt. A dark skirt with brown stockings. The stockings were optional, of course, but the superior of Rein liked wearing them.

“Hey Colonel Ela. How u doing?”

The Ela in question turned her head and looked at the man who talked to her with her only one eye. A blonde man with a cocky smile and blue eyes. He also had the rank of colonel on his jacket.

“Fuck off, Leonard. If you want to annoy me, wait until tomorrow when we are at the office.”

Leonard took a chair and sat like he owned the place. His smell was full of alcohol.

“Tss tss, come on. Don’t be so harsh, Miss Cyclops. I’m just here to salute my fellow colonel.”

Leonard turned his head to Rein before smirking.

“Oh… you’re with him…”

Rein didn’t say a word. He knew he couldn't go against a colonel. He would be shot if he even raised his voice. But looks like Ela did it for him. “Yeah, I’m with him. So what now, Leonard?” Leonard laughed a good laugh at this. “Well. A gorgeous Inorian like you shouldn’t waste her time with a vulgar Noralian like him. But at least he’s not a Randonian…”

Ela looked at Leonard with her only one grey eye while holding her knife a bit too tight. Rein placed a hand on her arm saying,

“Colonel, please. Just… ignore him.”

Leonard looked at Rein while his smile evaporated.

“Who do you think you are, you little worm? Uh? You think a Noralian like you can dismiss me? Lower your eyes when I talk to you.”

The Colonel looked at her younger subordinate and claimed in a loud voice. “Rein. When you talk to this piece of trash, raise your eyes.”

Leonard got even angrier and said, “Lower your inferior eyes.”

Rein raised his eyes and said in a cold voice. “I’m under direct order of Colonel Ela Reiner. I have no legal obligation to obey you.”

Rein even took the cigarettes of Leonard, put one in his mouth, and started lighting it while puffing a good smoke into the face of Leonard. He even threw away the pack. The pack landed on the head of an enforcer (someone with big muscles. A Noralian like him).

The sergeant looked behind him and found a young Randonian sleeping on the table after he drank like madness. “Hey you.” The Randonian raised his head and asked while yawning, “Yeah?” The Enforcer grabbed the head of the Randonian and slammed it against his empty glass. Now he had pieces of glass everywhere on his face. And he was bleeding a bit.

He literally screamed until his lungs couldn’t take it anymore.

Leonard, who was more concerned about the disrespect he received than the disaster Rein caused behind him, grabbed his collar. “What did you just do, you scum?”

Ela intervened while grabbing Leonard’s collar. Her only one grey eye wide open and her teeth visible.

“Don’t touch my subordinate.”

Leonard dropped the collar of Rein but grabbed the hair of Ela.

“You… you… Do I need to remind you who you were back then in the academy? How you were practically begging for my presence. Remember behind the lockers? We used to have so much fun, you and I… too bad it didn’t produce a pure Inorian that evening.”

Rein grabbed the throat of Leonard and squeezed it, forcing him to let go of the silver hair of Ela.

“Don’t you dare touch her ever again, you Inorian idiot.”

Rein pushed Leonard from his chair. He managed to get up, but he collapsed on an Enforcer. He was called Jules. He was an Inorian too. When Leonard collapsed on his back, Jules got his face in his spaghetti plate.

The whole crowd stopped what they were doing and stared at the scene in silence.

Leonard immediately got up, hyperventilating and sweating. “No wait, Jules… we know each other. Chill, chill. Let’s stay calm.”

Jules, the bald muscular man with his face full of sauce, had his eyes wide open while looking at Leonard. He got up. Grabbed Leonard’s throat (yeah, again) and launched him across the restaurant.

Leonard crashed against a brown Noralian who was eating a cup of noodles; he had soy sauce everywhere on his face. The Noralian lieutenant wanted to slam his cup against Leonard, but he remembered which caste both were and immediately stopped.

But a Randonian sitting at the table was laughing at this scene. The brown Noralian yelled at the young Randonian, “You think this is funny?” The lieutenant launched his chair against the Randonian, but he dodged at the last second. The chair smashed against another Noralian woman who was just drinking a beer, slamming her to the ground.

The Noralian who threw the chair yelled at the Randonian, “Who gave you the right to dodge? Look what you fucking did!” But the dark-haired Noralian woman, who was far from understanding that mistake, immediately got up and threw herself against her colleague of the same caste with her fists ready to strike.

The two fell on the table of two Inorians who were drinking their coffee and then it kept going like this.

Well, the whole restaurant turned into a mess.

The barrier of caste was now shattered. Ela and Rein looked at the mess.

Men and women punching each other. A Noralian fighting an Inorian. A Randonian fighting an Inorian. A Randonian fighting a Noralian. Ranks were ignored, castes were ignored.

Ela got grabbed by two Noralians. And before she could do anything, Rein smashed a bottle of whisky on the face of one of them. But he got himself grabbed by Jules, the muscle man.

Jules literally pulled him up by his black uniform, but Ela smashed a chair against the back of his head, making him scream. But Jules threw Rein, and he was sent into the snowy street by going through the big window of the bar. Ela was grabbed by Jules by her collar, but she managed to smash his head with her boot.

She also got the same treatment, being thrown away into the street, onto Rein while he was trying to get up, making him lose his breath. “Boss… you’re heavy.”

Ela punched the chest of Rein. Not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to make her displeasure known.

Among them, other agents or MIS employees. All castes alike lying on the ground. Bleeding, suffering, yelling, and some laughing.

And then a whole crowd of men in green uniforms with the same eye logo arrived.

They entered the bar while yelling and raising their batons. Rein and Ela both got crushed by two men’s knees and got their hands both painfully handcuffed behind their backs. Others among them got the same treatment.

While on their chests, both Rein and Ela looked at each other, smiling and laughing.

None said a word, but their four eyes (in that case, three eyes) were saying this: It was worth it.

2 hours later.

Rein was sober enough to not sleep.

He looked at his superior. She was laying on the “bed,” if we could call this a bed. That “bed” was nothing more than a glorified wooden bench.

Ela smelled of alcohol and her eye patch was missing, exposing her scar—the place where her right eye should have been. Now it was just an empty eye socket with a hole.

Rein forced himself to watch. She was so… peaceful. Her chest rising and lowering at a slow pace. How could she sleep in this cold? Rein was holding his own body because of how much he was shaking. He could even see the steam of his breathing.

Rein looked at their new room. Dark bricks, a window too high to be reached with bars on it, and a metal cell door.

Rein remembered how Ela defended him against the General. How she took full blame on behalf of her subordinate.

Of course, it was impossible to know exactly who started the fight. And the General didn’t want to know. He yelled at everyone, temporarily removed the rank of everyone in this bar, and assigned them to cleaning the prisons, annoying desk office duties that will take hours and hours of writing, and for the most unlucky (probably those poor Randonians), cleaning the sewers.

Rein looked at his sleeping superior. Steam being evacuated from her nose and mouth. That fight. That… brawl. It was brutal, yes. Rein’s right hand was still hurting. But… holy damn… how fun it was.

Men, women, Noralians, Inorians, Randonians. Colonels, lieutenants, employees, Enforcers. All forgot their caste. All forgot their rank. They just wanted to punch the human in front of them.

Shut up idiot. Don’t talk about humans.

The Colonel yawned and opened her grey eye. She looked at her subordinate sitting on the wooden bench.

“Rein… how u doing?” Rein smiled at her question.

“I’m fine, boss. I’m fine. And you?”

Ela raised her body and sat on the wooden bench of the cell, looking at her legs hidden behind her brown stockings. “My head hurts, but hey… at least I know that bastard Leonard is also in his own cell. Hey, who knows. Maybe Jules, if he’s with him, would cuddle him while sleeping. Hehe.”

Rein dared to ask the question. “Colonel… About what Leonard said about the lockers…”

Ela interrupted him while raising her hand.

“Don’t forget we lost our rank for the time being. Now please, call me Ela.”

Rein looked at his (former) superior while his eyes were wide open.

“I can’t do this.”

Ela raised her head and looked at him with her only one grey eye. She didn’t smile. And the moonlight reflected on her only remaining eye.

“Please. Just once… just from you.”

Rein got up and walked around the cell. “Why just me, boss? I’m just a useless Noralian.”

Ela got up too and yelled at him.

“Oh yeah, sure. Send that fucking Leonard to the ground. An Inorian. Have the balls to do it and then you are here crying like a bitch while feeling yourself inferior in front of me.”

Rein raised his voice too while approaching her.

“Well, isn’t it true though? The hierarchy is clear. I’m just a Noralian while you’re an Inorian. Biology doesn’t lie.”

Ela laughed at this while placing her own finger on the forehead of Rein and pushing it, making his eyes see the dark ceiling.

“Please. I’m sure you and I have the same kind of skull, of liver, of lungs. It’s just proof that…”

Rein panicked and placed his hand on the mouth of Ela. “Shut up, you idiot. What if someone hears us?”

Ela removed Rein’s hand from her face and said in a cold voice. “Well. Let them hear. I want the whole world to hear how my subordinate, my friend, and my only ally was so cool and brave when he defended me against that scum of Leonard.”

Cool? Rein being cool? Rein being brave?

“Colonel… don’t talk nonsense…”

Ela grabbed his shoulders and shook him.

“When you could defend yourself against Leonard, you didn’t. I saw you. You accepted every nasty word he launched at you. You even agreed to some of it. But when he attacked me, you forgot everything about those castes, about those laws. And you started a whole war just for me. I despise you for this. I despise you for not seeing the value in you while I do. You proved a Noralian could be better than an Inorian.”

Ela raised her eye. Rein saw it. It was wet, and a single drop of water was falling from it…

“Rein… please… let me hear it… from you. Don’t make me beg you, please.”

The former lieutenant looked at his former superior while she was holding his shoulders. Her lips shaking. Her silver hair messy. Rein placed his hands on Ela’s shoulders and said. “Okay, Ela."

The former Colonel kept looking at Rein.

"Repeat it"

Rein nodded

"Ela"

Ela placed her head on Rein's shoulder and said in a soft tone.

"Please again"

The former Lieutenant placed his right hand on her silver hair and started caressing it.

"Ela… your name is Ela. I value you, Ela. You matter, Ela.”

The Colonel was now sobbing removed her head from Rein's shoulder and looked at him while her left cheek was wet.

“You’re amazing, Rein. You’re a wonderful man. You matter. You have value. You matter more than a lot of Inorians. I love you.”

Rein… couldn’t believe what he heard… love? Love? Between an Ironian and a Noralian, it was against biology and… ah fuck it.

And then their lips met in a wonderful embrace. It wasn’t rough. It wasn’t awkward. It was… just perfect. Two lips connecting. Four eyes closed (again, in that case, three eyes). Both were holding hands. Their fingers joined and connected, pressing gently against the other's fingers. Not roughly, not painfully, but hard enough to say, “You are mine.”

Rein separated from her and looked while caressing her cheek.

“Ela… if people learn, you will be a pariah. You will be a traitor to your caste. You will be mocked, insulted, looked down on, and you can forget every social advantage you have."

Ela smiled and sat on the bench, still refusing to let go of Rein’s hand.

“What’s the point of all of this if I’m alone anyway? What’s the point if you’re not there to share them with me? I’ll endure every word and every bureaucratic vice the state will throw at me.”

Rein smiled at this and let some of his own tears fall from his eyes. “I love you, Ela.”

Ela smiled too. “I love you too, Rein.”

Rein sat on the wooden bench and took Ela by the waist and led her to him, letting her head rest on his chest while Ela wrapped her arms around him. Both felt the warmth of the other.

Hey. They needed to start a fight for this. And that bar brawl was very messy. At the end, no one cared about the caste of the other they were punching.

Yeah… that fight was very human.

Rein placed his hand on his boss's forehead and adjusted her silver hair. And forced himself to look at her whole face.

He didn’t hide her scars. He smiled while looking at her whole face.

He wanted to look at her whole head. All of her beauty, all of her hair, all of her quirks, all of her scars.

Rein didn’t look away when he exposed her red and purple scar where her right eye was supposed to be. He didn’t. He kissed her silver hair before saying.

“Rest well, boss. Tomorrow we will have a long day…”