Tales of Raiverin: One

Chapter 3

As he looked out into the outside land, he realized that Leon's claim of him missing the last eight years was true. The world was desolate, destroyed, empty. Everything looked abandoned and torn down. One had no words, he just stood there in silence as he took in the sight. Leon, however, began to walk forward. One couldn't move, everything he could only barely remember was gone. The grass was dying, concrete paths lined every inch of ground that wasn't destroyed. There was little wind, the sun was setting, but it didn't change anything.

One's head spun, and his ears pinned against his head. "Is... is this real?"

"Unfortunately," Leon replied. "Welcome back."

One stared further into the distance, soon losing the ability to stand as tears silently rolled down his face. "No, no... this can't be real..."

"Come on, we should keep moving. We don't have a lot of time."

One didn't respond, he couldn't get up. It was hurting him to even look at this. From the little he could remember, the world was bright and lively. But none of that was true anymore. His memories were nothing more than false hopes and dreams.

"What happened"

"The collapse."

"But what is it?!"

"One, come on."

"What the hell is the collapse?! Please, I have to know!"

"One, you're a kid, I can't explain this to you. We need to leave, please. I can't lose anyone else."

"Leon, I'm not a kid, please. Tell me what happened!"

"You wouldn't understand, you're not ready for this, and it'll break you. The world died when it collapsed, and there's no coming back. You have to stop, let's go."

One couldn't understand how Leon was okay with this, or how he expected him to accept it so quickly. The entire world was like this? No, surely not.

Leon nudged the feline, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, One, I am. But we need to get going, we can't stay here."
"How..?"
"How, what?"
"How are you okay with this?! The world is gone! Where is everyone?!"
"One- I- ...They're all gone, One. It's just us."

This was the final straw, One's entire worldview had shattered at this point. He couldn't control himself anymore, collapsing onto the ground and sobbing uncontrollably. How could everything he knew be fake? How could the people that he didn't know, that he wanted to meet, his family, be gone?
His family...

One's eyes shot open, he gripped the sides of his head and began to yell a long, painful scream.

Leon winced, he knew exactly what he was feeling.

"One, please-"
"My family, they're dead?! That's what you're telling me!?"
"Yes, but-"
"I don't even remember them! And they're dead?!"
"One, it's okay, I'm-"
"Leon, please, stop! I can't do this!"
"No, One, we're family."

One stared up at Leon, who gave him a small smile in comfort. One didn't bother to question it, he just hugged Leon and cried. The brown cat rubbed his back, staying silent and letting his relative grieve the loss of the rest of his unknown family.

The two remained in an embrace for quite a while, neither of them saying a single word to the other. One's body hurt, it hurt because he knew that this would be the only embrace he'd get from any family for the rest of his life. It hurt because he knew that he didn't like Leon, it hurt because he would rather be dead or stay in the lab than live out here. There were so many things out of his control here, and he hated the feeling so much,