Work Text:
One could say the end of the world was peaceful.
Of course, it wasn’t that way for everyone. The radio attested to that, though it hadn’t been turned on in several months. It never played music anymore. Only constant reports about how the world was ending and calls for help or places of underground safe houses or reports of killings and disappearances and resurrections took up all the channels. Every two weeks or so the radio would be turned back on. Nothing had changed. A year after the end started, everything suddenly worsened and continued to be so. Four years ago the end had started, and now it seemed like it was starting to come to a finish. You could hear the calls of the creatures echoing from the depths of the seas. Calming to One and terrifying to others. You could smell the burning smoke from the everlasting fires in the air. Comforting to One, sad for others. Every night, you could see the planets and the moon growing ever closer, as stars exploded and collided behind them. A spectacle for One, a sense of eternal dread for others.
Yes, the end of the world was peaceful. One simply enjoyed the ambiance of it all, the sounds, the smells, and the views. One would sit out on the porch of their makeshift house, nursing a cup of whatever drink they’d chosen in the early hours of the ever-growing day. One would watch from their clifftop down to the rising water levels below and watch in calm silence as shadows from beneath pulled the boats of hopeful survivors down to their domain. One would bask in the shadows of the creatures roaming the air as they passed over them. One would hum along as the pouring rain harmonized with the various sounds the world produced.
Jupiter collided with Saturn, Uranus with Mars, Neptune with Mercury, and Venus with the moon. Eight minutes later, a massive heatwave and suffocating darkness washed over the world. You could see the events happening in the heavens much clearer. One could see the aftermath of the sun’s explosion in every beautiful little detail. Just as quickly as the heatwave came, a wave of icy coldness swept over the earth, as pieces of the moon and various planets rained down on the world below. One believed they could hear the distant screams of people grieving the end of the end. One turned on the radio they’d brought out with them, barely paying attention to the broadcasts as one by one the channels cleared up.
Yes, One could say without a doubt that the end of the world was peaceful.