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How many times have they gone through this? These aimless motions, void of any thought—how many times have they done it? How many times will they continue to do it? How many nights will they have to rest, wondering what their future could’ve been?
“It’s just a little farther, Noah. The haze is brighter here. We’re getting close.”
Celestia says this, but Noah still has his doubts. He’s been repeating those same phrases for the past few days, so what difference would it make now? Even so, a part of him wants to foolishly believe…
It’s hard to ignore it, though. The smell of an eternal flame. The ashes of a city. It’s hard to even look away from the smoke that perpetually rises in the distance.
Their walk continues. The sky is much clearer now than it was when the fires first broke out, if one ignores the permanent stains of smoke and dust in the atmosphere at least. Their journey has no clear destination or a goal, though Celestia insists it’s to ‘see a sunset’ — as if such a luxury would be found in the ruins of a broken world. Still, he remains hopeful that “someday, beyond this cage”...
Isn’t it funny, how hope can drive the human body to its limits? It seems like such a stupid thing to believe in, yet it’s all the pair have. They’re the last humans on Earth. They’ve known this for weeks, or maybe even months, but hope keeps driving them forward.
“I want to reach the coastline.”
Celestia had once said these words before wordlessly gathering his things into a bag in a spontaneous frenzy. He didn’t elaborate on his thoughts then, and still hasn’t now. This could be some twisted suicide pact that Noah hadn’t agreed to but Celestia dragged him into regardless, or there could be a deeper meaning to his actions. It’s near impossible to tell when you’re stuck with an eccentric as your last form of human contact.
The scenery isn’t much to behold. Cars have melted into each other and to the asphalt from the heat, while trees stand charred where forests used to be. There’s little color in this world now, save for the gold of Celestia’s eyes that mimics the sun and clothes that have since faded and become covered in dirt and dust.
There may be the occasional corpse if one dares to look deep enough, but most have burned and melted away. Whatever skeletons may have been left are surely brittle and waiting to be blown away by now, ready to return to ashes and dust. In this sense, the fact that they’re alive is an amazing feat in and of itself. The fact that they’ve survived so long in a wasteland is a miracle. It’s the final sliver of hope that drives the both of them to keep going. They’ve survived this long, they have to go longer. They need to ensure the mark of humanity is left somewhere, anywhere. Monuments and cities mean nothing when the things that built them no longer have an image.
Celestia suddenly stops in front of Noah. From behind, he can’t see the expression on the other’s face, but their voice in the words that follow are full of a peculiar mix of excitement and sadness. “Can you hear that?” Ah, that’s what it was… It’s bittersweet.
“Hear what?” He replies, finally breaking out of his thoughts and looking ahead, instead of around.
The city they’ve reached, if it can even be called that anymore, still burns with black dust coming from ruins and wreckage. A sudden breeze blows, forcing Noah to cover his eyes.
“In the distance. If you listen closely, you can hear it.”
All Noah can hear is the howling wind, low and somber and remorseful.
Celestia notices this, and continues ahead.
The roads, for the most part, are blocked. They have to take unorthodox routes, ranging from climbing over fallen buildings to squeezing between vehicles that barely resemble what they once were. As they scale what may have been an apartment building in the past, Celestia speaks again.
“Look, over there.”
He points to their left, and Noah’s line of sight follows naturally. What he sees on the other side…
It shouldn’t be as amazing or as glorious as Noah thinks it is, yet he can’t help but stare in dumbstruck awe. It’s the ocean. Sure, it’s a discolored blue-grey reflecting an orange haze, but it’s still the ocean. It’s wide and vast and beautiful. It’s mesmerizing. It isn’t dry and empty like everything around them is. It’s full of life, the way the waves carelessly crash and flood lower parts of the city. It’s free to do whatever it wants and remains completely undisturbed by this disaster the two have to call reality. An unending constant.
A miracle.
“We got here earlier than I thought we would. I wanted to watch the sunset, but it’s still early in the afternoon.” Celestia sits, glad that this building fell on one of its flat sides instead of a corner. “You can rest, if you want. Take a nap or something. I’ll wait ‘til I can see it again.”
Noah sits beside him, hesitantly. There’s a feeling he won’t say aloud plaguing his thoughts. He opens his mouth to speak, hesitating again. “...Wake me up. When the sun sets, wake me up. I… want to see it too.”
Celestia is surprised at these words but still finds himself smiling. “Of course.”
He doesn’t lay against the rubble, but rather finds himself resting with his head on Cel’s lap. Celestia doesn’t protest and simply pets Noah’s head as if he were a cat.
That feeling that tugs at his heart, what is it…? He can’t name it, and maybe he doesn’t want to. His eyes close and his body relaxes.
Celestia doesn’t mind this turn of events. It’s quiet and peaceful, something he wishes he could’ve had long ago. For now, it’s alright. Though nothing of the world remains, it’s alright. He doesn’t know how, but they’ll be alright from now until the rest of eternity.
Hours go by, and soon enough Cel can feel the sun on his face. It doesn’t burn like it had in the past; rather, it’s comforting. It reminds him of late winter days when spring started showing its colors and skies were clear. It reminds him of new beginnings. It reminds him of the future.
When Celestia refocuses on reality, the sun is mere minutes away from meeting the ocean. He gently shakes Noah to try to wake him up, only to be met with a slight stir.
It’s that feeling again. Is it because he knows things will end soon? He wants to go further, but all good things come to an end. No living thing can last forever, so these sentiments of his can’t last either.
“Noah, wake up.”
“I… I don’t want to.”
Words met with a quiet chuckle.
Noah sits up, but his eyes are closed.
“I don’t want to look.”
“We’ve come all this way just for this, and now you’re backing out?”
There’s always tomorrow, but they both get the feeling that ‘tomorrow’ won’t ever come. One tries to make these final moments last as long as they can, while the other doesn’t want them to come to begin with. Accepting these final moments would be to accept the end… Such a thought is unbearable.
“Hold my hand, Noah.”
“What?”
“Well, I was the one that wanted to watch the sunset, but if you’re scared… Then we can watch it together.”
Noah opens his eyes slightly, only slightly, just enough to see Celestia and the hand he holds out.
“Let’s say goodbye to yesterday.”
Noah accepts it.
Together, they bid their farewells to the ruins of humanity.