The Dying of the Light(Social)

It was odd to watch a village die a slow death. It wasn't literal death of course, there was no blood in the streets, no screams on the wind or the scent of fire dancing across the rooftops. No it was a softer, gentler death than that. Safety and silence had led to complacency and complacency had lead to the death of initiative. It was a quiet day, though that was perfect for such an inauspicious death.

A young girl sat on a rooftop, leaning against a chimney stack, one leg hanging off the edge and swinging back and forth. Her long hair had been pulled into a pair of braids swept over her shoulders and her glasses had slid down her nose. Her chin was down on her chest though her eyes were open and seemingly dull.

There was no one walking around for her to watch, the clouds were a deep, hollow brown-orange with the setting of the sun. What was the point of being here anymore? Seiko had found her purpose and then found that the world had faded away before she could put it to use. Such a desolate feeling of 'Why bother?' had soaked into her bones which was how she had found herself here.

Was there even anyone still here?

Was she all alone now?

It wasn't something anyone saw coming, at least not directly. Perhaps a nagging feeling in the back of everyone's mind that something like this could happen, would happen. The populace found it easier to push those thoughts away and ignore the creeping inevitability of what was on the horizon. It had happened to all great civilizations before them, but in their innate arrogance, they assumed it would be different for them. No doctors were hard at work trying to develop a cure, politicians were not squabbling amongst themselves behind closed doors about the best way to proceed. People simply existed in a state of in-between.  A state of acceptance they weren't even fully aware of.

Indra had done his best to try to stave off this collective acceptance, but it was a lonely task and one that he was failing. As he knew he inevitably would. Walking the nearly empty streets of a once bustling village, a place where he had made countless memories and spent the entirety of his youth was now nothing more than a fading memory. The Republic had weathered attacks, natural disasters, and even multiple Bijuu attacks only weeks...or was it months...prior. Yet this was how it ended, not with a bang, but with one final exhale.

As he walked the streets aimlessly, a single figure above him stirred him from his stupor. For a moment, he allowed himself hope. If there was anyone still out there he could discuss this creeping dread with, it would be her. He didn't allow himself to hope too much though, because a secondary thought was trying to weasel its way in as well. Leaping to the rooftop, Indra smiled at Seiko, though she was still turned to the setting sun.

Seiko-sensei, I must say it's a relief to see you out here. Things have become...strange.

Instincts that felt so old now flickered into life in her mind, a spark of life flared in her eyes and sparking blue lightning danced around her joints as her head snapped up. One hand pushed her glasses up her nose and her eyes locked onto Indra like a targeting array. Bytecode was already beginning to dance into existence around her, ready to summon her Knights but she stopped. She hadn't expected to see someone, anyone, still here. Seiko's face softened and relief spread into her eyes like ink spreading through water.

"Indra, it is good to see someone else, more so someone that I respect," She murmured, her voice hoarse as though it hadn't been used in some time. She let out a cough and pushed herself to her feet, dusting down her skirt and the lab coat she was wearing. She hadn't bothered to get changed when she left the hospital, there hardly seemed to be a point, nothing was changing. The patients weren't getting worse, nor better, and no one had the energy to do anything anymore it seemed.

She gave the boy a soft smile before turning to look out across the Village. "This place is fading, I think. Perhaps even the world itself. It feels like it has been forgotten, a page in a book turning mottled with age, the dust building on the shelves, the clock no longer wound." There was a strange melancholic wistfulness to her voice and she adjusted her glasses once more before turning back to look at Indra. "I'm glad you seem to have noticed it as well, I worried for a while that I had finally been lost to the grips of madness... Or perhaps had been put in a Genjutsu that I could not escape from. Now though it doesn't seem that way at all..."

There was relief, but also an uncanny strangeness to talking to another person after such a long time. He had lost track of time and although he remembered speaking with others at some point, the conversation had been little more than nods or a few single-syllable words. I considered that too. It would make sense really. Now that I know it's not... He trailed off, the truth of their circumstances sinking in, ...I'm not sure I prefer this reality. Maybe a genjutsu would've been better.

He took a seat beside her on the roof and for a time they sat in silence, simply admiring the fading sun. Y'know, in the history books they talk about this sort of thing. Well, not this exact thing, but the turning of the wheel so to speak. This world has a rich history of falling and rising again. He swung his legs idly, hands back to support himself as he leaned and looked up at the darkening sky. I read about the Shogunate, out to the west. According to my father, some of our lineage comes from out that way actually. Then, even further back, there are records of an entire other dimension intersecting with our own. The Yokai...Youkai maybe...dimension. I wonder if this is that, perhaps everything is just resetting. As it always has.

His legs stopped swinging and simply hung, even his own body didn't believe the words it whispered.

There were a few long moments of silence as Seiko sat there, enjoying just having someone around. It was at times like these that she missed her cousin more than anything but she hadn't heard anything from him in a long, long time now, or at least it felt that way. There was an uncharacteristic waver to Seiko's voice as she finally spoke, the stoic facade cracking slightly, "I don't think I prefer this reality either. We get to watch as it all fades away, perhaps it would be better if it happened without us really being aware of it?"

She shook her head slightly and let out a sigh, regaining her composure. "All things pass, all eventually returns to dust and nothingness. We are not exempt from this but it's one thing to have it happen over a long period of time and it's certainly another to suddenly be faced with the concept of endings. Maybe there will be a new beginning, we can only hope... And maybe we'll be part of it when it comes." She turned to him and gave him a soft, if sad, smile.

"At least there are good memories to be had here at the end of the story, things we've done and fought for, people we've met and spent time with. Do you think it needs to be sad at the end of it all?" She asked, turning away once more to look into the sunset.

Kotone wasn't even sure when it happened. One moment she'd said a forced good bye to family, right in to an apocalypse. She had her name made for her, perhaps not in the right way, but she would atone. Or she hoped to. A whole new life, and she had taken the steps forwards. Even with so much impeding, getting in the way. But always she pushed, to keep herself present, to keep in the moment. A whole future was ahead of her, a book of plans, basically a compendium. And before she knew it... That was it. Kotone wanted to be a story teller, and here and now, she questioned if she lived up to that. Now it was no longer future, but past.

She left the mark of her people, the temple, behind her. Thinking back to all the stories she knew. Going back generations, wondering just how her people got here. How during a time they were fractured, lost in the window and as a memory of... well just like they felt soon to be. How during that time, her people could have just as easily vanished. And how they continued, and they flourished anew. As the last brick crumbled from the roof, it was only just feeling the end of this story. "It's... Almost like you're still here. In me. Somehow." A whisper to the breeze as familiar shapes occurred in the dust. Strong women in her past, surrounding what looked the eldest, propped up in the center. And just as softly as they appeared, they dissipated. The dust blowing off to a new world. Maybe.

Following the sunset, it was almost relieving to see another. And yet once more. But that was all was here. A view to watch as they drifted through what remains, surrounded by stories connected through blood and spirit. And feeling surrounded by ghosts, with so many stories tied to her soul, and of those of the others she know sat with, she could only watch. And catch the last of the comments. "It is sad. I don't think any of us didn't think it would. Maybe we hoped to see life continue, after enduring so much in the last... well it feels like years. A lot of people say 'don't be sad it's ending, be happy it happened in the first place'. I think I'll do both." And so she sat. As the sun set possibly it's last light on a once vibrant land.

If Indra was surprised to see another individual join them, he didn't show it. He nodded to Kotone, happy to see that Seiko sensei wasn't just a fluke and there were others out there like him still. However, he didn't let that joy blossom into hope, that would simply be too much and only set him up for disaster. The creeping acceptance of fate and passive regard for the world ending was once again enveloping him like a soddened blanket.

He felt its cool touch around his shoulders, but he was tired of fighting it. Here he had found others who managed to fight off the creeping dread, even if only temporarily. Indra had no idea how long it would truly take for this reality to cease, but he had a feeling he wouldn't be aware of it at the end. So, if this memory, one beside comrades reminiscing about the past and what had once been was the last moment of clarity he had before it all ended...he was content with that.

For a brief moment, he allowed himself to smile and simply live in the moment. I like that plan. He said to Kotone, regarding her idea of being both sad and happy about the end of everything. I think I'll borrow it, if you don't mind. The body of the sun was just about gone over the horizon now. The golden streaks of sky were replaced by a deep orange, with violet rapidly infusing. The day was nearly done.