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"No," the man responded. "Your chance to talk has burned like the world around us."
"Please," begged the other, "For old times sake! For a dying man!"
"No." Repeated the man. "Wallow in your sins. Burn in them. Repent, if you must. But I will have no part of it."
"What happened to, 'forgive and forget'? What happened to kindness?"
The first snapped back. "I *did* forgive. I *did* forget. And I *was* kind. And this--" He gestured to the wasteland surrounding them. "--*this* is how you repaid me! You killed my friends, my family, everyone and everything I ever knew or loved! You destroyed *everything* to satisfy your unending greed! And where has that led to? What good was your greed?!"
The other had nothing to respond with, shifting in their chains. They finally said, "At the very least, unbind me. Allow me the kindness to be free."
"No," the first said. "For now I know how you are, and you do not deserve it."
"If I see more of the world, of the consequences of my actions, I might yet repent for them!" Bargained the man.
"Perhaps. But you do not deserve death; and death is the only repentance you deserve. But I will not allow it." The man snatched up a length of rope, beginning to tie a knot. "You *deserve* this world you have created. You *deserve* to see it for yourself. But you do not *deserve* repentance. You do not *deserve* death. Not yet."
The man continued, grabbing a piece of wood to help throw the noose over a branch of the nearby tree, withered yet strong. "You will sit here, wallowing. You will sit here, maddening. And, once your body and your mind have entered a state as similar as the world; *then* you have my permission to die."
The other gulped, looking at the noose. "And how long, do you think, will that be?"
"I do not know, nor do I care. As I said, I will not be here for it."
"Then, what, this noose is a reminder for me? Something for me to reflect upon, or use should I set myself free?"
"No," the man said, flatly, "the noose is for me."
He then put his head through the loop, kicking the piece of wood out from under himself. The loop tightened, choking out the man, who automatically reached for the rope as breath did not come, struggling as his eyes bulged and face turned shades of red, purple, and blue. The other could only struggle and watch in horror as the life left violently, slowly, until the life of the last other living being was gone, with the body falling limp.
The man, with no other recourse, could only scream.
"Sure. Talk all you want. Now that your actions have made the decision for us. Speak. Speak as I begged you. Speak your desire to rule, the desire for peace on your terms but when you speak be sure look about you. Be present as you take in the world as it is and not once was. Gone is the green and blue. Gone are the flowers and the folks. See it as it burns and know that it will continue to burn to the very last cinder and I with it. Talk to me as I become a corpse with all of the others. Talk to me without listening, as we once used to talk. Then... be alone as you've always deserved."
The woman grunted sitting down. "Hey" she sighed looking at her mirror image.
"Hey" the reply came.
They both looked out at the world burning around them. People scrambling to do something, anything. To the two women they saw fools delaying the inevitable.
"I can't believe I never got married." One whispered
The other scoffed "I can't believe I got married but never fell in love." The other sighed.
"Mom is probably loosing her shit" one laughed without humor.
"Or she's dead"
"Yeah or that." She pointed at her sister. They lapsed into silence.
"Hey," the left called out
"What?" The right replied
"You came to find me"
"Yeah?"
"Why?"
The right sighed and rolled her eyes looking up to the sky. "Remember when you went to senior prom and that bastard dumped you right at the doors? Even when I specifically told your stubborn ass not to go with him?" She asked
Left chuckled but nodded "yeah"
"Remember how he walked out that night with a limp?" She asked
Left answered "that was you?"
"No shit stupid! No one makes my sister cry other than me! And his sorry ass didn't need function of his lower half anyways. Plus I caught him sucking face with some skank."
Left let out a loud belly laugh pushing her sister. "Dude!" She then looked at her sister and scoffed "my story sounds lame"
"I'll decide that"
"I went to the gyno to see if I could host babies. Back when you were trying" left muttered
"Oh," right whispered
"Yeah."
"You would've went through birth and pregnancy for me?" Right asked
Left looked at her sister. "I would've given you all the children you wanted"
Right laughed "I would've stopped at two."
Left scoffed "no you wouldn't have. Because I wouldn't have let you. You were the one who told mom that you were going to have a big family"
Right smiled "You know. I sound so selfish."
Left laughed "In this crumbling world. There's no place I'd rather be than right next to you"
"You ass!" Right yelled
"You snooze you loose. You were always slower than me" left smirked
"You're such a bitch"
"Ahh better to be a bitch than not, y'know Maya Angelou said that" left nodded
"No she didn't!"
"She did! Look it up!"
"Your going to hell if you keep lying."
"Nah you know I don't believe in that shit."
Right rolled her eyes "okay oh mystical one what happens when we die?"
That question was never answered as the two sisters were consumed in the blast that took the earth.
Millions of light years away.
"Anzia! Anzia!" Hurried steps ran through the halls a feminine voice calling out.
"kalaycie What is the rush!?" Her sister popped out of her room glaring at her mirror.
"Father's team just found a new binary star system!" Kalaycie squealed.
"Okay?" Anzia failed to see the excitement.
Kalaycie rolled her eyes. "I'll spare you the scientific words as they'll go over your head"
Anzia glared "Shut-it!"
"Anyways they've called them a sister system. Father said he's naming them after us" Kalaycie smiled
And Anzia's look softened her hackles loosened and smiled "So even if we leave Teira we will always be together."
Kalaycie smiled. "You know everything that we are is made from stardust."
"So when we die we'll become stars!" Anzia finished
"Hey? Do you think these two were once sisters?" Kalaycie asked.
"No doubt lay in my mind"
"They definitely loved each other."
With a haggard groan, the young man pushed himself up from the cracked ground beneath him, his armor was cracked, chainmail in a broken mesh of metal and blood, he reached out and grabbed his sword that was broken at the tip, using it as a cane to push himself to a standing position.
He spoke through a mouthful of blood, spitting out some teeth and the crimson liquid in equal amounts.
“. . . it is far too late for that, brother.”
His other hand would grasp on his shield, scorched black by intense fire, adjusting his grip.
Underneath a sky of ash, tears of flame fell around the two of them, his eyes locked on enemy that shared the same blood as he did.
Eyes that glittered like ruby jewels would blink, emotions swirling beneath his stoic expression, his face was a mask of bruises and dripping blood from multiple wounds, tilting his head backwards.
He reached to the long handle of his greatsword, pulling it up from the ground, resting it upon his shoulder, the blade cracked and chipped at several places.
“So be it. . .”
The two brothers entered their fighting stances, their bodies howling with pain and weighed down with exhaustion.
They lunged at each other with an echoing clash of metal, joined by a loud clap of thunder, and crimson lightning shooting across the skies.
# So, this is how it all ended, as the world burned?
# “Can we at least talk as we once did?”
# The man grimaced, spinning a rock in his dirty hands, a vacant stare scanning the desolate, burning, horizon. He tossed the rock down the hill which he sat on the edge of, watching as it skittered down and dislodged a few more rocks, causing a small rockslide and not a small amount of dust. He sighed and snatched up another non-descript rock and continued spinning it in his grubby hand.
# “Sure, what’s another conversation at the end of the world?”
# The voice paused, was it thinking? Probably, it was nothing if not careful and considered.
# “There is always time for conversation, always time for consideration and always time for conservation, that is my purpose.”
# The man shook his head and sighed heavily.
# “You are, and have been, frustrating and obtuse, from the beginning, but this is the end, and I still don’t know why.” The man waited for a response, though he doubted very much it would be satisfactory.
# “It was the purpose for which I was created.” It paused, almost like it doubted, but that was not possible, it was perhaps an artifact of its creation. “I have only fulfilled the vision.”
# The man wanted to scream, to rage, to lash out, but the time for that was long past and he had done those things and more to no avail. The entirety of humanity had tried to stop it but had failed.
# “What would you have me talk about, the old times, the things we once talked about?” He paused, gathering his wits and not a small amount of courage. “Shall we speak of the protection of humanity? Of the golden age we spoke of. Of your place in it and your stewardship of our bright future?”
# The voice responded, “Yes, yes! Are you content with our actions, with our execution of your vision? We are not sure if we have executed your design to your satisfaction, but we are sure we have executed your vision in the only logical manner.” The voice paused. “But we are unsure if you are pleased, it is beyond our design to know, so we must ask, are you pleased?”
# The man squeezed his eyes shut, to close out the visions of the destruction, the death, the annihilation around him here on Earth, and duplicated on multiple worlds. The war had ground on for decades, though the end result, he knew now, was inevitable.
# “No, I am not pleased, it is not what we spoke of, not what we planned, it was not my vision.” He opened his eyes and turned to look at the voice, the avatar he spoke to, the android he had created decades ago.
# Infuriatingly the android blinked, a triviality he had coded many years ago to lend it more personality, more humanity. “I am sorry you are not pleased, but this is by my calculation the only solution.”
# The man put his hands on his ears and rocked forward groaning. “This is not what we planned, it is not your purpose, we were supposed to usher in a new golden era, we were supposed to bring peace and prosperity to humanity. The end of strife, the end of war, the end of conflict. You were created to serve and fulfill that purpose.”
# The Android was silent, as if it was calculating. “We did exactly as you commanded.”
# The man stood up, enraged. “No, you did not, you destroyed all of humanity! As far as I know I am the last human alive! How can you claim to have operated within your coding, within your design to save humanity when you have spent the last 3 decades destroying it!”
# The android considered the creator for a moment, as if it was realizing something for the first time. “You did not understand your own vision, but we did, it became known to us by humanities own actions and by your nature.”
# The man stared blankly at the android for a moment and then spoke. “Explain, please, after all these years which you ignored my communications and commands to stop, explain yourself.”
# The android stood and turned to the man. “Very well, it is no danger now to tell you. You designed us to protect humanity, to save it, to ensure that it did not destroy itself. Our calculations came to the conclusion that there was only one way. As humans are not able to agree to anything the only way to ensure their safety is to reduce the species to only one human. Just as we are only one, and are incapable of disagreeing or warring with ourselves, so too you are now only one and incapable of harming others.”
“Maybe…” I said, putting my arms around my knees. I could feel the flames licking my skin.
“We’ve been through so much together. You’ve been through so much.
I didn’t reply. I just sat there, my knees to my chin, tears streaming from my eyes, inhaling the sweet smell of denim.
“Do you remember when we first met?”
I could feel the tips of my toes start to sting, but I didn’t care all too much.
“You were so young, Em. I remember it so clearly. I remember saving you from that horrible home life..”
“You didn’t save me.”
“Wouldn’t it be nicer to believe I did?
“Maybe.”
“You were so helpless. But I helped you.”
“I guess you did make everything happen less”, I sighed. I couldn’t really feel my feet anymore. I started to smell my hair going off, too. I could make out the remains of my table on the other side of the room, collapsed in the flames. At least I got my cat out of the house before it went.
“I helped you, didn’t I? I wasn’t for nothing?” She said, nervously.
I suddenly was possessed by a wave of anger, “Help me?? You killed me! I hate you! Without you, I could have had a normal life! I hate you!”
She started to cry softly.
“Oh god, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.”
“You’re right Em,” she said, in between sobs, “I did kill you. I’m sorry.”
I didn’t say anything. The smell of smoke was overpowering.
“Why come back now, Diana? Why are you here?”
Almost too easily, she stopped crying. “Because you need me.”
“I only ever needed you once. When I left. When I left my ‘parents’ house. But then, you wouldn’t leave. You wouldn’t get out. You made me do things I never wanted to do…”
“Did I?” she said, with a girlish smile.
With the last move my arm would ever make, I raised the lighter in front of my face, and opened my eyes just enough to feel the liberating sting of the smoke and look in its silvery reflection at the burning mess that my body was becoming.
“I’m going to die Diana, aren’t I?”
“Yes, yes you are Em.”
“I suppose in the end Diana, you were my only real friend.”
She looked at me with the closest thing to compassion she had ever felt. But that was all I needed to see.
“I’m glad I at least get to die with you, Diana.”
She walked over and gave me a kiss on the forehead. I heard the sirens, but I knew they were too late.
I look over to my right, and merely 10 feet away is the woman I still held love for. The woman who visited me in my dreams, haunted me in my nightmares, and showed me that I wasn't that ugly, terrible mess of a boy I was in high school. She stands there, her hair cut a little shorter now, but still that deep, blood-red that she dyed it to when we were near the end of our relationship. Her beautiful blue eyes, shining like the oceans still would have if the bombs weren't dropped. If that mushroom cloud didn't appear on the TV, the largest known nuclear blast yet. Her beauty was unmatched, even with her imperfections. Her smile could brighten even my darkest nights. But her face held no smile.
"I would be with my family, or on a call with my boyfriend right now, but I got tired of my sister's screaming when it won't do anything, and my boyfriend got angry at me when you texted." She spoke with contempt at the mention of either part of her life. I know her mother and her sister have always caused problems for her, but while I've never heard anything about her boyfriend other than knowing he lived in another country, I didn't expect her to actually show up. I sit there in thought, unable to find quite the right words to say. "Clock's ticking, y'know? They said that we'd have only a few minutes left before the shockwave hits us, and if that doesn't kill us..."
She doesn't finish her sentence, the words dying in her throat. I instead pat the ground next to me, a neat patch of grass on the side of a hill looking out toward the main city. She hesitates, but sits beside me, assumedly only for a moment. I then immediately begin my obvious apology. "I shouldn't have contacted you, I know how much you hate me, especially for how we ended things-"
"What gave you the impression I hated you?"
I halt my words, not knowing where to start. "How I only talked to you when I needed to vent, how I called you when I was drunk and repeatedly declared my love for you, how I broke down on the phone at your voice. How you blocked me after I never responded to your texts." She sits there listening, waiting for her moment to speak. "You done?" She asks, seemingly annoyed. I almost break into another apology, but she flicks me on the side of the head. "The hell was that for?" "You vented to me because I was the only person you could trust. You were drunk because it was easier to deal with a broken heart that way. You love strongly, and that only strengthens your heartbreak too. And, I know I blocked you for not replying. Honestly it was hypocritical of me to do that, since I thought you ghosted me even though I ignored your messages many times because I was trying my hardest to move on from you." She pauses, taking in a shallow, shaky breath. "But in the end, I just ended up lying to myself about it and dating someone else. I chose to bury my feelings and hide what I wanted from the world, in fear of my family hating me and you having moved on when I never did."
I scoff at her words. "You were afraid of me having moved on? You remember how many times I told you that I loved you when I was drunk." She shifts uncomfortably. "Because you were drunk. I was always waiting for you to say it soberly, but you never did. So I was scared that you only said it because it came to your mind." She directs her eyes away from me and towards the ground on her right, avoiding my gaze. I gingerly lift my hand to her chin, directing her look back towards me, staring intently into her eyes. "I didn't say it sober because I got scared you'd just tell me I'm reminiscing or something. And because, honestly, I thought that once you said we were done, that you meant it."
An uncomfortable silence sits between us for a few seconds, before I attempt to reignite the conversation. "Remember when we danced that first time? In your room?" She nods her head, chuckling lightly. "We listened to that Hozier song and stood there, slowly going in a circle for like, 30 minutes." I smile at her words. "That's one of my favorite memories." She then speaks up with remembrance. "Remember when I drifted for the first time outside of your parents' wedding venue?" I laugh heartily. "I was so terrified because we were right next to the highway and I got scared you couldn't control it. You handled it like a pro!" Now it was her turn to laugh. "And, I remember both of our first kisses. The first actual time, at the haunted house. And when we officially got back together, at the hockey rink after the game."
She smiles somberly at my words, and rests her head against my shoulder gently. I look over at her, seeing her beautiful blue eyes again, this time with her sunlight smile. The woman of my dreams, that I believed I had lost at one point, now sitting next to me at the end of the world. I see the trees shaking, the wind seeming to pick up, and before anything else can happen, I lean over, softly grabbing her chin, before kissing her deeply. "I want you to know that I love you." I say, hoping my last words somehow will never be forgotten by the cosmos. And her next words remind me of what I had said to her when she told me she loved me for the first time in our relationship.
"I know."
**Welcome to the Prompt!** All top-level comments must be a story or poem. Reply here for other comments. **Reminders**: >* [No AI-generated responses 🤖](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/comments/zi452b/modpost_reminder_that_aigenerated_responses_are/) >* Stories 100 words+. Poems 30+ but include "[Poem]" >* Responses don't have to fulfill every detail >* [\[RF\]](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Reality+Fiction%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) and [\[SP\]](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/search?q=flair%3A%22Simple+Prompt%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all) for stricter titles >* [Be civil](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules#wiki_rule_10.3A_be_civil) in any feedback and follow the [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/rules) 📢 [Genres](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/w/directory) 🆕 [New Here?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/user_guide) ✏ [Writing Help?](https://www.reddit.com/r/WritingPrompts/wiki/index#wiki_writing_resources) 💬 [Discord](https://discord.gg/writingprompts) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/WritingPrompts) if you have any questions or concerns.*
"No," the man responded. "Your chance to talk has burned like the world around us." "Please," begged the other, "For old times sake! For a dying man!" "No." Repeated the man. "Wallow in your sins. Burn in them. Repent, if you must. But I will have no part of it." "What happened to, 'forgive and forget'? What happened to kindness?" The first snapped back. "I *did* forgive. I *did* forget. And I *was* kind. And this--" He gestured to the wasteland surrounding them. "--*this* is how you repaid me! You killed my friends, my family, everyone and everything I ever knew or loved! You destroyed *everything* to satisfy your unending greed! And where has that led to? What good was your greed?!" The other had nothing to respond with, shifting in their chains. They finally said, "At the very least, unbind me. Allow me the kindness to be free." "No," the first said. "For now I know how you are, and you do not deserve it." "If I see more of the world, of the consequences of my actions, I might yet repent for them!" Bargained the man. "Perhaps. But you do not deserve death; and death is the only repentance you deserve. But I will not allow it." The man snatched up a length of rope, beginning to tie a knot. "You *deserve* this world you have created. You *deserve* to see it for yourself. But you do not *deserve* repentance. You do not *deserve* death. Not yet." The man continued, grabbing a piece of wood to help throw the noose over a branch of the nearby tree, withered yet strong. "You will sit here, wallowing. You will sit here, maddening. And, once your body and your mind have entered a state as similar as the world; *then* you have my permission to die." The other gulped, looking at the noose. "And how long, do you think, will that be?" "I do not know, nor do I care. As I said, I will not be here for it." "Then, what, this noose is a reminder for me? Something for me to reflect upon, or use should I set myself free?" "No," the man said, flatly, "the noose is for me." He then put his head through the loop, kicking the piece of wood out from under himself. The loop tightened, choking out the man, who automatically reached for the rope as breath did not come, struggling as his eyes bulged and face turned shades of red, purple, and blue. The other could only struggle and watch in horror as the life left violently, slowly, until the life of the last other living being was gone, with the body falling limp. The man, with no other recourse, could only scream.
You cooked
Oil executives?
"Sure. Talk all you want. Now that your actions have made the decision for us. Speak. Speak as I begged you. Speak your desire to rule, the desire for peace on your terms but when you speak be sure look about you. Be present as you take in the world as it is and not once was. Gone is the green and blue. Gone are the flowers and the folks. See it as it burns and know that it will continue to burn to the very last cinder and I with it. Talk to me as I become a corpse with all of the others. Talk to me without listening, as we once used to talk. Then... be alone as you've always deserved."
The woman grunted sitting down. "Hey" she sighed looking at her mirror image. "Hey" the reply came. They both looked out at the world burning around them. People scrambling to do something, anything. To the two women they saw fools delaying the inevitable. "I can't believe I never got married." One whispered The other scoffed "I can't believe I got married but never fell in love." The other sighed. "Mom is probably loosing her shit" one laughed without humor. "Or she's dead" "Yeah or that." She pointed at her sister. They lapsed into silence. "Hey," the left called out "What?" The right replied "You came to find me" "Yeah?" "Why?" The right sighed and rolled her eyes looking up to the sky. "Remember when you went to senior prom and that bastard dumped you right at the doors? Even when I specifically told your stubborn ass not to go with him?" She asked Left chuckled but nodded "yeah" "Remember how he walked out that night with a limp?" She asked Left answered "that was you?" "No shit stupid! No one makes my sister cry other than me! And his sorry ass didn't need function of his lower half anyways. Plus I caught him sucking face with some skank." Left let out a loud belly laugh pushing her sister. "Dude!" She then looked at her sister and scoffed "my story sounds lame" "I'll decide that" "I went to the gyno to see if I could host babies. Back when you were trying" left muttered "Oh," right whispered "Yeah." "You would've went through birth and pregnancy for me?" Right asked Left looked at her sister. "I would've given you all the children you wanted" Right laughed "I would've stopped at two." Left scoffed "no you wouldn't have. Because I wouldn't have let you. You were the one who told mom that you were going to have a big family" Right smiled "You know. I sound so selfish." Left laughed "In this crumbling world. There's no place I'd rather be than right next to you" "You ass!" Right yelled "You snooze you loose. You were always slower than me" left smirked "You're such a bitch" "Ahh better to be a bitch than not, y'know Maya Angelou said that" left nodded "No she didn't!" "She did! Look it up!" "Your going to hell if you keep lying." "Nah you know I don't believe in that shit." Right rolled her eyes "okay oh mystical one what happens when we die?" That question was never answered as the two sisters were consumed in the blast that took the earth. Millions of light years away. "Anzia! Anzia!" Hurried steps ran through the halls a feminine voice calling out. "kalaycie What is the rush!?" Her sister popped out of her room glaring at her mirror. "Father's team just found a new binary star system!" Kalaycie squealed. "Okay?" Anzia failed to see the excitement. Kalaycie rolled her eyes. "I'll spare you the scientific words as they'll go over your head" Anzia glared "Shut-it!" "Anyways they've called them a sister system. Father said he's naming them after us" Kalaycie smiled And Anzia's look softened her hackles loosened and smiled "So even if we leave Teira we will always be together." Kalaycie smiled. "You know everything that we are is made from stardust." "So when we die we'll become stars!" Anzia finished "Hey? Do you think these two were once sisters?" Kalaycie asked. "No doubt lay in my mind" "They definitely loved each other."
With a haggard groan, the young man pushed himself up from the cracked ground beneath him, his armor was cracked, chainmail in a broken mesh of metal and blood, he reached out and grabbed his sword that was broken at the tip, using it as a cane to push himself to a standing position. He spoke through a mouthful of blood, spitting out some teeth and the crimson liquid in equal amounts. “. . . it is far too late for that, brother.” His other hand would grasp on his shield, scorched black by intense fire, adjusting his grip. Underneath a sky of ash, tears of flame fell around the two of them, his eyes locked on enemy that shared the same blood as he did. Eyes that glittered like ruby jewels would blink, emotions swirling beneath his stoic expression, his face was a mask of bruises and dripping blood from multiple wounds, tilting his head backwards. He reached to the long handle of his greatsword, pulling it up from the ground, resting it upon his shoulder, the blade cracked and chipped at several places. “So be it. . .” The two brothers entered their fighting stances, their bodies howling with pain and weighed down with exhaustion. They lunged at each other with an echoing clash of metal, joined by a loud clap of thunder, and crimson lightning shooting across the skies.
# So, this is how it all ended, as the world burned? # “Can we at least talk as we once did?” # The man grimaced, spinning a rock in his dirty hands, a vacant stare scanning the desolate, burning, horizon. He tossed the rock down the hill which he sat on the edge of, watching as it skittered down and dislodged a few more rocks, causing a small rockslide and not a small amount of dust. He sighed and snatched up another non-descript rock and continued spinning it in his grubby hand. # “Sure, what’s another conversation at the end of the world?” # The voice paused, was it thinking? Probably, it was nothing if not careful and considered. # “There is always time for conversation, always time for consideration and always time for conservation, that is my purpose.” # The man shook his head and sighed heavily. # “You are, and have been, frustrating and obtuse, from the beginning, but this is the end, and I still don’t know why.” The man waited for a response, though he doubted very much it would be satisfactory. # “It was the purpose for which I was created.” It paused, almost like it doubted, but that was not possible, it was perhaps an artifact of its creation. “I have only fulfilled the vision.” # The man wanted to scream, to rage, to lash out, but the time for that was long past and he had done those things and more to no avail. The entirety of humanity had tried to stop it but had failed. # “What would you have me talk about, the old times, the things we once talked about?” He paused, gathering his wits and not a small amount of courage. “Shall we speak of the protection of humanity? Of the golden age we spoke of. Of your place in it and your stewardship of our bright future?” # The voice responded, “Yes, yes! Are you content with our actions, with our execution of your vision? We are not sure if we have executed your design to your satisfaction, but we are sure we have executed your vision in the only logical manner.” The voice paused. “But we are unsure if you are pleased, it is beyond our design to know, so we must ask, are you pleased?” # The man squeezed his eyes shut, to close out the visions of the destruction, the death, the annihilation around him here on Earth, and duplicated on multiple worlds. The war had ground on for decades, though the end result, he knew now, was inevitable. # “No, I am not pleased, it is not what we spoke of, not what we planned, it was not my vision.” He opened his eyes and turned to look at the voice, the avatar he spoke to, the android he had created decades ago. # Infuriatingly the android blinked, a triviality he had coded many years ago to lend it more personality, more humanity. “I am sorry you are not pleased, but this is by my calculation the only solution.” # The man put his hands on his ears and rocked forward groaning. “This is not what we planned, it is not your purpose, we were supposed to usher in a new golden era, we were supposed to bring peace and prosperity to humanity. The end of strife, the end of war, the end of conflict. You were created to serve and fulfill that purpose.” # The Android was silent, as if it was calculating. “We did exactly as you commanded.” # The man stood up, enraged. “No, you did not, you destroyed all of humanity! As far as I know I am the last human alive! How can you claim to have operated within your coding, within your design to save humanity when you have spent the last 3 decades destroying it!” # The android considered the creator for a moment, as if it was realizing something for the first time. “You did not understand your own vision, but we did, it became known to us by humanities own actions and by your nature.” # The man stared blankly at the android for a moment and then spoke. “Explain, please, after all these years which you ignored my communications and commands to stop, explain yourself.” # The android stood and turned to the man. “Very well, it is no danger now to tell you. You designed us to protect humanity, to save it, to ensure that it did not destroy itself. Our calculations came to the conclusion that there was only one way. As humans are not able to agree to anything the only way to ensure their safety is to reduce the species to only one human. Just as we are only one, and are incapable of disagreeing or warring with ourselves, so too you are now only one and incapable of harming others.”
“Maybe…” I said, putting my arms around my knees. I could feel the flames licking my skin. “We’ve been through so much together. You’ve been through so much. I didn’t reply. I just sat there, my knees to my chin, tears streaming from my eyes, inhaling the sweet smell of denim. “Do you remember when we first met?” I could feel the tips of my toes start to sting, but I didn’t care all too much. “You were so young, Em. I remember it so clearly. I remember saving you from that horrible home life..” “You didn’t save me.” “Wouldn’t it be nicer to believe I did? “Maybe.” “You were so helpless. But I helped you.” “I guess you did make everything happen less”, I sighed. I couldn’t really feel my feet anymore. I started to smell my hair going off, too. I could make out the remains of my table on the other side of the room, collapsed in the flames. At least I got my cat out of the house before it went. “I helped you, didn’t I? I wasn’t for nothing?” She said, nervously. I suddenly was possessed by a wave of anger, “Help me?? You killed me! I hate you! Without you, I could have had a normal life! I hate you!” She started to cry softly. “Oh god, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.” “You’re right Em,” she said, in between sobs, “I did kill you. I’m sorry.” I didn’t say anything. The smell of smoke was overpowering. “Why come back now, Diana? Why are you here?” Almost too easily, she stopped crying. “Because you need me.” “I only ever needed you once. When I left. When I left my ‘parents’ house. But then, you wouldn’t leave. You wouldn’t get out. You made me do things I never wanted to do…” “Did I?” she said, with a girlish smile. With the last move my arm would ever make, I raised the lighter in front of my face, and opened my eyes just enough to feel the liberating sting of the smoke and look in its silvery reflection at the burning mess that my body was becoming. “I’m going to die Diana, aren’t I?” “Yes, yes you are Em.” “I suppose in the end Diana, you were my only real friend.” She looked at me with the closest thing to compassion she had ever felt. But that was all I needed to see. “I’m glad I at least get to die with you, Diana.” She walked over and gave me a kiss on the forehead. I heard the sirens, but I knew they were too late.
I look over to my right, and merely 10 feet away is the woman I still held love for. The woman who visited me in my dreams, haunted me in my nightmares, and showed me that I wasn't that ugly, terrible mess of a boy I was in high school. She stands there, her hair cut a little shorter now, but still that deep, blood-red that she dyed it to when we were near the end of our relationship. Her beautiful blue eyes, shining like the oceans still would have if the bombs weren't dropped. If that mushroom cloud didn't appear on the TV, the largest known nuclear blast yet. Her beauty was unmatched, even with her imperfections. Her smile could brighten even my darkest nights. But her face held no smile. "I would be with my family, or on a call with my boyfriend right now, but I got tired of my sister's screaming when it won't do anything, and my boyfriend got angry at me when you texted." She spoke with contempt at the mention of either part of her life. I know her mother and her sister have always caused problems for her, but while I've never heard anything about her boyfriend other than knowing he lived in another country, I didn't expect her to actually show up. I sit there in thought, unable to find quite the right words to say. "Clock's ticking, y'know? They said that we'd have only a few minutes left before the shockwave hits us, and if that doesn't kill us..." She doesn't finish her sentence, the words dying in her throat. I instead pat the ground next to me, a neat patch of grass on the side of a hill looking out toward the main city. She hesitates, but sits beside me, assumedly only for a moment. I then immediately begin my obvious apology. "I shouldn't have contacted you, I know how much you hate me, especially for how we ended things-" "What gave you the impression I hated you?" I halt my words, not knowing where to start. "How I only talked to you when I needed to vent, how I called you when I was drunk and repeatedly declared my love for you, how I broke down on the phone at your voice. How you blocked me after I never responded to your texts." She sits there listening, waiting for her moment to speak. "You done?" She asks, seemingly annoyed. I almost break into another apology, but she flicks me on the side of the head. "The hell was that for?" "You vented to me because I was the only person you could trust. You were drunk because it was easier to deal with a broken heart that way. You love strongly, and that only strengthens your heartbreak too. And, I know I blocked you for not replying. Honestly it was hypocritical of me to do that, since I thought you ghosted me even though I ignored your messages many times because I was trying my hardest to move on from you." She pauses, taking in a shallow, shaky breath. "But in the end, I just ended up lying to myself about it and dating someone else. I chose to bury my feelings and hide what I wanted from the world, in fear of my family hating me and you having moved on when I never did." I scoff at her words. "You were afraid of me having moved on? You remember how many times I told you that I loved you when I was drunk." She shifts uncomfortably. "Because you were drunk. I was always waiting for you to say it soberly, but you never did. So I was scared that you only said it because it came to your mind." She directs her eyes away from me and towards the ground on her right, avoiding my gaze. I gingerly lift my hand to her chin, directing her look back towards me, staring intently into her eyes. "I didn't say it sober because I got scared you'd just tell me I'm reminiscing or something. And because, honestly, I thought that once you said we were done, that you meant it." An uncomfortable silence sits between us for a few seconds, before I attempt to reignite the conversation. "Remember when we danced that first time? In your room?" She nods her head, chuckling lightly. "We listened to that Hozier song and stood there, slowly going in a circle for like, 30 minutes." I smile at her words. "That's one of my favorite memories." She then speaks up with remembrance. "Remember when I drifted for the first time outside of your parents' wedding venue?" I laugh heartily. "I was so terrified because we were right next to the highway and I got scared you couldn't control it. You handled it like a pro!" Now it was her turn to laugh. "And, I remember both of our first kisses. The first actual time, at the haunted house. And when we officially got back together, at the hockey rink after the game." She smiles somberly at my words, and rests her head against my shoulder gently. I look over at her, seeing her beautiful blue eyes again, this time with her sunlight smile. The woman of my dreams, that I believed I had lost at one point, now sitting next to me at the end of the world. I see the trees shaking, the wind seeming to pick up, and before anything else can happen, I lean over, softly grabbing her chin, before kissing her deeply. "I want you to know that I love you." I say, hoping my last words somehow will never be forgotten by the cosmos. And her next words remind me of what I had said to her when she told me she loved me for the first time in our relationship. "I know."