Snippet #2406124

Ah yes, reality. Not exactly somewhere desired by many people right now. Supposedly, it was that intense desire which had convinced people to ruin their home. No matter how they looked at it, Earth was the home of all the people, whether they were on the planet or in a fantasy world where everything was perfectly ruined. The fantasy worlds always went wrong in some way. It's probably because they're supposed to represent life as realistically as possible. You can't really get more realistic than death, enemies and wars. Despite that the whole point was to be an escape from everyday life and that nothingness people had succumbed to, day in, day out: work. You were born, you were sent to school and then you had to work if you wanted to keep your two feet on the ground. It wasn't so surprising that people had wanted to run away from that responsibility.

But then, there was Earth. It was still the base world. Once that was gone, there would be no more fantasy worlds, according to some people, and no more humans. Like a big zap, as if someone had switched off a TV, people would disappear without knowing of their impending doom and their regrets would haunt the universe for years to come. No goodbyes. Not many, at least. As I said, this was according to some people. Raven supposed he agreed, somewhat, with this theory.

Earth was so far gone, it seemed like a fantasy world invented by a lover of dystopic novels. Someone who'd seen 'I Am Legend' or 'The Day After Tomorrow' way too many times and had written a crappy version of Earth for themselves. Except it wasn't just a shitty world; it was real and people had to live there occasionally. No one stayed in the same place for long though. As usual, the Shadows would find them. And then you'd have two choices, Raven guessed, which was to run or to give in to the clutches of death.

Raven didn't feel close to giving up anytime soon. He had to live on for the Noir family, yet not under their name. He didn't belong with them - not yet. He thought he would feel the point upon which he would have to become a Noir again, when he did something honorable. He also thought he would probably die soon after. Honor is a great responsibility but often comes with many unwanted side effects.

The city they were walking through was much too overgrown. Plants had taken control over every single surface they could possibly live on and Raven's acute research told him they'd adapted to live in places they shouldn't be able to. Earth may be over for humans, but it would go on long after they were gone. Perhaps it could be restored to it's original, natural state. Maybe it was better off without humans - no, that wasn't a 'maybe' anymore. It wasn't a choice. Earth would be better without humans.

Leaves and branches crunches quietly under their feet as they walked. Raven was returned to the present day, the present moment, and he had a question on his mind. "Where are we even going?" And there was his question, straight from the mouth of Robin. That's right, that's who he was with. He remembered where he was and who he was with and why he was with this mostly insufferable pair. "Nevermind, I remembered." Good for you, Care Bear. Raven thought, rolling his eyes. He wasn't exactly planning on answering, but if the silence had go on for long enough, perhaps he could have returned some words. Probably not.

Anyways, other than answering questions, Raven had more important things to do. Like what, numbskull? he asked himself, before pausing to think. Think. That's what I have to do. More thinking... He'd come to a conclusion. Thinking was a brilliant idea. After all, what sort of human got anywhere without thinking? Well, thinking and dreaming and wishing is what got the human race into this stupid predicament anyways. Raven put his headphones on his head, only covering one ear. He just needed to drown out the sound of footsteps and nothing else. No birds or life. Just grey, black and white.

He wished he could stop brooding about the world, he really did, but it was only a matter of time before the insects and beasts would evolve and kill the humans on Earth or something. It's not like they were at the top of the food chain anymore. It would become impossible to return to Earth. Not to mention the Shadows lurking in every nook and cranny, craving the dreams of people and replacing them with their worst, worst nightmares.

"I forgot your stu--" Robin started. He better not have forgotten my goddamn name again. Raven thought, a smirk on his face. The smirk disappeared incredibly soon however, for Raven saw them. He froze in his steps, hoping, wishing and praying to a god he didn't even believe in, not at this point in time, that they had been unseen. But that was a lie and he knew it. They'd have an awful lot of running to do, and soon. Robin nudged Nayu in a certain direction and Raven followed soon after. He thought he spotted someone else though. "I think they saw us." Raven nodded.

But then he sighed. "Look." he whispered, not wanting to talk too loud. "The whole reason why Homo Sapiens were able to survive through everything, the tough climate of Earth and all that, is because they had communication. They spoke to one another and they understood each other. And then they gave each other names to make said communication easier. A helluva lot easier. So I'm telling you this one more time, for the sake of our survival and in respect to our ancestors, that I'm Raven and he's Nayu." Raven pointed at himself and the white-haired boy respectively. He placed a hand on the back of his neck and turned in the direction of where they had come from.

"The Shadows will be here soon. Very soon. Let's keep moving, and..." Wait, he had spotted someone else. Some green-haired person. The green-haired-person had done a strange dance. Green was a weird hair colour to have, but he, nor the rest of his group, were none to judge. Pink hair, white hair and light, silvery hair. It didn't do well in staying camouflaged, but the trio had managed so far. He actually couldn't remember when he met Robin and Nayu. He didn't need to remember. It's not like they were undercover government spies or anyone he should be wary of. He was sure of that. For one, there was no government.

And secondly, none of the three kept up any fake appearances or faked any emotions or words. He knew that for sure from the bickering they sometimes indulged in for the sake of keeping sane around each other. "There is going to be an eternity of them near the library. Perhaps we can sneak in through a back door though, or something like that." Raven suggested, tugging at the sleeves of the two boys to carry on walking, though quietly. "Let's get going then, before they catch up."