Shattered Colors

Shattered Colors is the story of the rebellion whose defeat led to the Color System having six colors, instead of three, and to some of its stricter rules and more militant followers.

### **Chapter One**

John Campbell-Lambert sighed as yet another red light slowed his travel to L’arbre Vert, the expensive French restaurant where he worked. He could already hear his manager yelling at him, face redder than her blood-colored sash: I don’t want excuses - you’re lucky I’m even hiring a scrawny Yellow like you here! I’ve already got half a mind to fire you, you imbicilic, bumbling frog’s wart! At least her insults were moderately original. Her threats to fire him and hire a Red were empty, though - no self-respecting Red would ever work as a waiter, let alone a waiter whose manager constantly yelled at them. Most self-respecting Yellows wouldn’t, either. Unfortunately for John, his parents were both Blues, which led most employers to believe he’d gotten lucky on his test - not that they ever said that out loud, of course. Wouldn’t want to imply that the oh-so-perfect sash system could be flawed-

A loud curse escaped John’s mouth, and he slammed his foot onto the brake. He’d been so lost in thoughts that he’d nearly run over a girl in the middle of the street. Cursing again, John rolled down his window and shouted at the girl - probably a self-righteous Red who thinks she’s better than him just for passing some stupid test - “You could’ve gotten yourself killed, you-

More curses were ready on his tongue, but the girl had turned around, and he saw why she was doing something so dangerous and thoughtless.

Her eyes were puffy red, swollen with tears. Her hair, gorgeous, perfectly brushed gold on any other day, was dull yellow, wild and knotted as if she’d been trying to pull it out. Most importantly, though, the sash she had balled up and now held in her trembling hand was blue.

“Sorry,” she whispered, voice trembling.

The logical, sensible part of John knew that his manager would practically explode with rage if he was late because he helped a Blue, but he didn’t move his vehicle. Instead, he said, “It’s tough to get a sash you didn’t want. But you still have to-

“Tough? TOUGH?! My parents, my friends, my sister - they’re all Reds! My parents don’t even have Blue servants because they think their “foolish degeneracy” will somehow infect me! I thought I was gonna be- wait. John?” The girl looked at John more carefully, and he recognized her as the now unfortunately-named Scarlet who sat near him in algebra and physics. Scarlet constantly complained about every possible detail of their school; the banning of private schools was the only law passed by the Councils that she seemed to dislike - although now that she was a Blue, John suspected she'd quickly find more issues within the color system.

John realized an awkward silence was growing between them. He wanted to break it, but couldn't think of anything to say-

“Scarlet? What happened?” Another girl from his school, Ruby, was rushing down the polished red marble steps that led to her house. She’d clearly dressed hastily, as her clothes matched neither each other nor her sash, the color of the gem she was named for.

Ruby was, John remembered, Scarlet’s best friend. However, instead of speaking to her, Scarlet collapsed into another wave of tears. Ruby rushed down to her - or began to, but froze when she saw the crumpled-up sash in Scarlet’s hand.

“I-I’m so sorry. Please don’t hate me. My parents already hate me, if you do too I-

“Scarlet! Calm down. I don’t hate you.” Ruby said, walking further down the stairs… but stopping, lurching back a bit, before she got to Scarlet, as if getting too close might, as Scarlet had said earlier, infect her.

Scarlet saw it - and knew exactly what it meant. For a second, she stood perfectly still, trembling. Then, she whispered, “Yes, you do.”

Ruby said, unconvincingly, “No, I don’t.” Then she added, even more half-heartedly, “The fact that you’re a Blue doesn’t change anything.”

“It changes EVERYTHING!” Scarlet shouted, stepping closer to Ruby, who backed away from her.

Then, with an almost inhuman yell, Scarlet hurled her sash at Ruby. Ruby screamed, leaping away from it as if Scarlet had thrown a grenade instead of a sash.

Quietly, Ruby said, “You’re wrong. The only thing your sash changes is what I know about you - and now I know that you’re nothing more than a dirty, lowly, *idiotic* Blue.”

Tears began to well up in Scarlet’s eyes. “Well, you’re just a stuck-up \*censored\*. And no red sash can change that.” Before Ruby could respond, Scarlet turned, and started running.

This time, John didn’t try to stop her.