Ruined City

Ever since the day Almeric ate Ilyia's homemade food, he has had a change of heart and decided to change himself for the better. He spent countless awkward hours alone all by himself where he tried to eliminate rude or dismissive language from his speech, which he found to be extremely difficult, even near impossible levels. He enlisted in the military from a very young age and spent most of his life training in the army with other soldiers, and eventually participated in the war. Crass and direct speech was the norm in the military and that manner of speech became second nature to Almeric.

"Can you go away?"

"--No, that's no good! I should say 'Can you please leave me alone for a brief moment' instead!"

As Almeric says this, he looks at himself in the mirror and cringed.

"I-I SOUND SILLY!! THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL I CAN EVER GET USED TO SPEAKING THAT WAY!!" He ruffles his hair and crashes his body onto his bed, tossing and turning. This is completely unlike his usual calm demeanor, which shows little to no signs of emotions. The impact of Ilyia's actions on this ex-soldier has played a major part on him loosening up.

While Almeric struggled with himself, Ilyia, on the other hand..

The young girl is curled into a human ball on her bed, clutching her stomach, coughing and hacking. Her fists are clenched so tightly that her fingernails started to dig into the skin of her palms. All of her toes shiver, curling inwards. The pain in her body was so intense that Ilyia couldn't even tell where the pain was coming from. It felt as if sharp pain permeated throughout her entire body, with her not being able to find a single moment of respite since the pain started. Veins were surfacing on her neck and temple, visibly swelling. Her bloodshot eyes darted at every corner without stopping, accompanying the tears that flowed endlessly. She continues to squirm helplessly in pain this way over the next few minutes, her body sweating profusely, with her mind eventually going blank with the hellish pain flooding it.

After being in this state for about ten minutes or so, the pain subsided and Ilyia is sprawled over her bed, her limbs lying limp and spread far apart. Her heavy and panicked breathing started to take a more consistent rhythm as she slowly recovers from the severe bout of pain caused by her illness.

She has suffered from these random bouts of severe pain ever since she was rescued from the first-aid center where the large-scale poison attack was launched. It was determined that this was an incurable side effect that the poison had on her organs, and she was left for dead by the government at the shelter. The government refused to give her any medical aid as the financial investment they would have to put in for even having a chance to save her was too high to even be considered worth giving a try.

Every time Ilyia writhes in pain like this, she would convince herself that everything's alright and she'll eventually get used to the pain, making the next time she suffers like this easier to get through. However, she never got used to the pain, with it being so unbearable that each time feels even worse than the last. It would have all been too much for her to handle if not for the presence of Evesteria Systoli, a 16-year old orphan living in the shelter.

She is the oldest among all the children in the shelter, but her entire existence is the complete opposite of a big sister figure. Without taking her impulsive and somewhat bratty nature into account, her appearance itself already does not reflect her status of being the oldest. She is of very short stature, with her height being no more than one-hundred fifty meters. Furthermore, she has both a childish face and voice, leading to everyone who she has met recently believing that she was no more than 12 years old. She currently tends to crops growing in the very little fertile soil that's still around in the shelter.

She, however, has a big heart and cares deeply about the well-being of others. Evesteria is the only person that Ilyia shows her pained expressions and weaknesses to. Evesteria refers to Ilyia as "Big sis" affectionately, and the two of them get along well.

After Ilyia's bout of pain, she made her way to where Evesteria is. Her body is devoid of any energy or strength, and the way she was limping made it look like she has problems with her legs.

"Big sis!"

Evesteria notices Ilyia and rushes over to help her to a nearby bench.

"You had one of those episodes again, right!? Why did you come to me? You should rest more!" Evesteria lashes out at Ilyia, deeply concerned about her health.

"It isn't that big of a deal--"

"IT IS a big deal! Please, take better care of yourself! Hmph!" Evesteria folds her arms and cocks her head away from Ilyia's face to show displeasure.

"You're so cute, Evesteria.. hehe." A weak smile forms across Ilyia's face.

"Why are you saying that-- Anyways, don't try to force a smile! I know that you're suffering!"

"I'll somehow manage, alright? And this smile's genuine, because you're so cute."

Evesteria sighs and leans back against the bench, gazing towards the sky with a slightly annoyed look on her face.

"Anyways, what's up with that new guy? Soldaterin? Why are you running around for him? What is he making you do? You need to rest, you're sick!" Evesteria shakes her fists, speaking Almeric's name with contempt in her voice.

"Making a sick girl run around.. I'll have to go set him straight, that bastard.."

Ilyia's weak body is imbued with strength all of a sudden, leaping out of the bench and shaking her hands at Evesteria's face fervently.

"You've got the wrong idea about him! I--" Ilyia freezes up in the middle of speaking, embarrassed to admit to her friend that she was actually stalking Almeric around the shelter, which made it look like Almeric was making her do things for him as she was always in his vicinity.

"See? You can't come up with anything at all! Don't find excuses for him! You're too kind, Big sis! I'll go and have a word with him!" Evesteria gets off the bench and started to storm towards the main building.

"Hey, it's a misunderstanding!" Ilyia runs after Evesteria.

Coincidentally, Almeric was looking for Ilyia to discuss plans regarding the shelter, and happened to chance upon the two leaving the backyard.

"A-Almeric!" Ilyia yaps his name out loud, shocked by his sudden presence.

"Ah, you're here. I was just looking for you--"

Evesteria interrupts Almeric and gets in between him and Ilyia, creating a barrier. She puts both her arms up firmly and looks at Almeric with a hostile look on her face.

"And this is..?" A perplexed Almeric asks in confusion.

"So this is Soldaterin, huh?" Evesteria gives him a death stare, and looks him up and down.

"This guy, he looks like he came from the junkyard!" She points directly at Almeric's face and mocks him.

"Excuse me?" Almeric returns her menacing gaze, staring at her now with serious eyes.

"Ilyia, are all the elementary school aged children here this rude?"

"You're the rude one here, I'm 16 years old! Besides, can you stop making big sis Ilyia do things for you?"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Don't feign ignorance, junkyard man!"

"Huh, don't lie about your age, you elementary schooler! Learn to show some respect to your elders!"

Sparks flew between their stares, and the situation looked to be escalated into a full-blown fist fight very soon. Not that Evesteria would be able to win, but she would still go at him with everything she got.

"Cut it out, the two of you!" Ilyia broke the two of them apart before their sudden argument became serious, and drags Almeric to the side.

"Come with me, you! I'll see you later, Evesteria!"

"Hey! Come back here!" Evesteria shouts at them as Ilyia dragged Almeric by the hand out of the shelter.

"You better not hurt Big sis!!" She screams, hoping that her voice would reach 'Junkyard Man'.

Soon after, Evesteria was left alone and fuming in the shelter, picturing Almeric's face in her head while Ilyia dragged him to the outside.

"Ilyia, where the h-- Where are you bringing me?" Almeric tries his best to be mindful in the language he uses, in an attempt to better himself.

"To just get you away from Evesteria! Sheesh, the two of you couldn't keep your cools when around each other, so I had to drag you out!" Ilyia pouts and speaks in a stern tone.

"Well, it isn't my fault, that this girl that I just met for the first time decides to randomly come up to me and--"

"It's both of your faults! She has a misunderstanding about you and me!"

"Misunderstanding?"

"You remember.. about the time I was following you around?!?" Ilyia tries her best to hide her embarrassment from recounting her stalker-like actions, but her voice became shaky as she spoke. Almeric paid no mind and simply nodded, prompting her to continue.

"You see, she thinks that you were making me run errands during the time I followed you around, and now she has something against you.. She thinks that you were making me run around the place despite knowing that I'm sick."

"How the hell did she come to that conclusion?" Almeric let his tongue slip, flabbergasted at how ridiculous the situation is. He's the victim here, isn't he?

"That's how misunderstandings happen!! You better clear things up with her when you see her the next time, without getting into an argument again! I'll help you convince her that whatever she thinks happened wasn't the case!" Ilyia says firmly to Almeric, wanting to make sure he understands.

"What a pain.."

"Promise me that you will!"

"Fine, fine.. I'll do what I can, alright?" Almeric sighs and fiddles with his makeshift prosthetic arm, frustrated.

"Ilyia's somehow got me all wrapped around her finger, huh.. Since when did I submit to someone else this easily? The old me would've snapped at her telling her there's no point in talking to whoever that girl was because it wasn't my fault.. But I mean, I did get angry and retort at her.." He ruffles his hair with his good arm, further frustrated after having a brief moment of self-reflection. Ilyia notices this, and decided to lighten up the mood a little.

"Before you do that, do you want to go on a walk to clear your mind?" Ilyia switches her tone to a cheery and inviting one.

"To where? Do you even know this place well? I've only ever been in the shelter after I was sent here."

"I've never really ventured out before as well.. But let's go out for a little! We won't get lost if we don't wander too far off."

"Whatever goes, then. Let's go."

Ilyia leads the way towards the area out of the surroundings of the shelter, kicking up her feet excitedly with every step she took. This was actually partly a selfish request, as she has always wanted to explore the outer area, but was too afraid to. But now she has a capable fighter in Almeric with her, so she has nothing to worry about.

On the other hand, Almeric's nonchalant to whether if he gets to go out or not. After all, he knows this world all too well. He figured that it'll probably be a ruined landscape littered with tattered buildings and abandoned vehicles, with scarce greenery. Most places would be probably half-submerged in water as well, with how he firsthand witnessed the rapid rising water levels during his service in the war.

The shelter's located in a relatively high location, and a flight of stairs leading downwards have to be taken to leave the area. Almeric and Ilyia carefully made their way down the staircases, taking extra caution to not slip as the steps were mostly cracked to a state where it is no longer even ground. Furthermore, the stairs appeared to be built in a hurry, with no railings on either end for support. The area surrounding the staircases appeared to be an endless sea of grey and blue; crumbling concrete buildings everywhere slightly submerged in water accompanied with the occasional half-dead tree. Not a single person could be seen; these conditions were simply uninhabitable.

"And to think this country used to be a lively place.. This place reeks of war." Thought Almeric to himself as he took in the surroundings.

The two eventually made the whole way down, and were faced by a standalone stonewall that held a rusty metal gate in the center. The shape of the stonewall resembled a semicircle, appearing to be what remains of a bigger wall that got blown up with explosives, rendering the gate obsolete as one could just bypass it by going around what remains of the stonewall. Debris littered the area around it, but not enough to be an obstruction.

"Let's go around the wall, shall we?" Ilyia suggests and tiptoes over large pieces of debris as she tried to make her way over. Almeric notices that her legs were shaking, and she appeared to be languid. He hastened his pace to catch up to her.

"Hey, take my hand." Almeric offers his hand to Ilyia.

"W-what is this all of a sudden? I'm fine doing this by myself. Besides, that's your only good arm, right? Won't you have difficulties doing--"

"That doesn't matter. Don't try to lie to me. Look at your legs. They're shaking. You're feeling really weak now, right?"

"...Fine then.."

Almeric grips her hand firmly and walked by her side, matching his pace with hers. Ilyia stares at her feet, blushing fervently while Almeric tried his absolute best to focus on supporting her.

"So this is how soft a girl's hand feels like, huh." Almeric had a brief slip of judgement, a worldly thought coming to his mind.

"I'm doing this just to help her, alright!?" He quickly snapped out of it, "shutting" the voice inside his head up.

They made it over the pile of debris, and followed a brief path ahead of them, leading them into what looked like to be a city.

Walking hand-in-hand, both their feet wet from being submerged in the water, the pair arrives at an intersection in the city. Brown wooden cross-shaped lampposts with broken electric lines continued to stand in the broken city; it was safe to assume that electricity no longer runs and the water was safe to trudge in, as the parts of the broken electric lines lie in the water, just under their feet. The concrete buildings were all torn and tattered, nearly every building looking identical and incomplete. The colors probably all faded to the original shade of grey the material the buildings was built with, and no one building was complete, with parts of the buildings simply existing as debris in the water now. The abandoned city appeared eerily devoid of life; nature would have reclaimed such a place long ago, but not even a single plant grew in these waters and buildings, probably caused by the the excessive usage of nuclear weapons during the war which rendered the land completely infertile for any form of life. A building with its walls completely blown out has its interior exposed to the pair; an Italian-themed restaurant that is nothing more than an artifact of what life was before with some of its signs and furniture still intact.

"Look, Ilyia. This is our reality. No one lives here anymore. The buildings are all wrecked. We're abandoned, left here to die.. I don't think help will ever come." Almeric shakes his head with a solemn look on his face.

"But still, I will never give in to this reality. If I show my weakness, who would take care of those children?" Ilyia responds to Almeric with determination in her voice.

"Heh, you're really different from me... Good for you."

"Really? You're not too different yourself either, with what you were doing, reinforcing the safety of the shelter and whatnot." Ilyia gives Almeric a smug look.

"What are you saying-- Forget it, let's be honest with myself. You're right, I guess. I want those innocent children to be able to live a life as normal as possible." The tough ex-soldier blushes slightly.

Ilyia was surprised that he said his honest thoughts instead of retorting her.

"He's really a good person after all, huh.." Ilyia thought to herself.

In the meantime, something about the place bothered Almeric. An unsettling feeling he couldn't describe.. The place seemed oddly familiar to him.

Almeric suddenly hastens his pace towards a corner, and Ilyia had no choice but to quicken her footsteps lest she falls over from being dragged along by him.

"Slow down! What's the rush?" The still unwell girl cries out at him. Realizing that he was pulling her along too quickly, Almeric slowed down immediately.

"I'm sorry... There was a lapse in my judgement. I was too worked up. The layout of this place seems familiar.. I might know an area here that might confirm my suspicions. If the area even still stands."

"Really? This place's ruined beyond recognition, and you can tell where it is from just the layout?" Ilyia's impressed through and through once again by how capable Almeric is.

"It's just a gut feeling, so don't count too much on me. This layout of this place.."

A big piece of debris blocks the way, and Almeric lets go of Ilyia's hand momentarily to get it out of the way.

"--looks eerily familiar to--"

He pushes the debris out of the way with his good arm, clearing the path.

"--a part of the country that the darned war was fought in!"

Almeric offers Ilyia his hand once again, and she took it gracefully this time. She continued to follow Almeric's lead, which eventually led them to higher land, meaning that their feet were no longer submerged in the water. They were now at an area akin to a hilltop, albeit it being still fully made of concrete. At this height, they have an eagle's eye view of the city, which is now no more than a mess of discolored derelict buildings strung together inside the water.

"Haaaah! We're finally out of the water! My shoes and socks.. They're all soaked!" Ilyia stretches her arms in an outward motion. She kicked her feet back and forth in a futile attempt to fling water off her shoes, and stopped doing so when she realized how embarrassing it looked.

Almeric wasn't paying attention at all to her. His gaze was instead fixated at a structure in front of the pair. It was a small temple tucked away at a corner, with taller concrete walls that seemed to be the base to even higher ground serving as its backdrop. His eyes usually appeared to be on the smaller side, carrying a cynical gaze that looked to shut down anyone who looked directly into them. However, his eyes were nothing but that right now; his eyes are wide open, revealing a wide area of the whites of his eyes, and his pupils seemed to be smaller than usual, trembling with fear.

"...Frieden City.." Almeric mutters the name of the place, the temple seemingly having confirmed his doubts.

Ilyia, in the meantime, was looking off into the distance at the city, now far removed from where they were. Despite the state it is in being a product of war, the sight felt oddly serene to her. It was just the buildings and the waters joined by the clear blue sky in the background, and nothing more. This is proof that the war's over. For now.

"GAHHHH!!!"

A sudden yelp from Almeric jolted Ilyia from her sightseeing daze, and she stumbled clumsily towards him.

"Almeric!? What's wrong!?"

The usually stoic and cool Almeric is now rolling on the ground, his able arm clutching the stump of his missing arm. He tosses and turns, letting out heavy grunts of pain.

Ilyia knew what was going on: phantom pain. The pain experienced by someone who has lost a limb. She stares at Almeric and frantically tried to think of a solution to help him. In a panic, she decided that this was the best course of action to take and she knelt down beside him, taking his head and hugging him tightly, pressing his face on her chest. Seeing him in such pain sent her thought process into disarray, and the first thing she thought of was how she used to sooth crying babies in hospitals; by cradling them.

To her surprise, Almeric's cries of pain stopped and he is now completely silent, with his head still buried in her chest. Her right hand hovered over his head, hesitating for a moment before stroking his hair gently.

"There, there. You'll be okay."

This continued for what felt like an eternity, the two of them remaining in this position without exchanging words.

"Does it still hurt?" Ilyia spoke in a soft gentle tone while continuing to stroke his hair softly.

"Of course it still does.. But somehow, you doing this have eased the pain slightly." Almeric's muffled voice uttered from inside Ilyia's chest. She blushes from hearing his voice like that, realizing how deep his head is buried in her chest.

"I'm an idiot, an idiot an idiot an idiot!!!" She screamed internally.

She calmed herself down before she could let her embarrassment show. What she's doing is working, after all.

Almeric would've normally lost his composure in a situation with a girl's chest pressed up towards his face, but he had absolutely no dirty thoughts in this moment. He simply felt like he was being saved by Ilyia.

"You're really good at hugs, you know?" He uttered once again.

"P-please refrain from talking, y-y-y-your.." Ilyia has overheated.

Almeric grabbed her hand that's on his head softly and raised his head out of her soft embrace, placing her hand on her lap. The youth was greeted by a tomato red Ilyia, sulking.

He averted his gaze immediately, aware that his very own facial expression would end up like hers if he started at her for any longer.

"T-thanks. You're a livesaver. I'm fine now."

"Y-you're welcome.."

The two remained in awkward silence, sitting on the cold hard concrete towered over by the temple and concrete walls.

"This place.. This place is Frieden city." Almeric broke the silence.

"Frieden city...? That Frieden city..?" Ilyia responds with both shock and confusion in her voice.

"Yeah.. I have no idea this place's just right beside the shelter..."

"This is where the main battle that drove the enemies out of our country took place, right?" Ilyia recounted what she heard from the other nurses during her service in the war.

"Yeah.. It was also the place where I lost everything.. My family, my comrade, my arm..." A forlorn look with a tinge of pain formed on his face.

"This wretched temple right here.. It was used to house the injured.. I watched my comrades expire one by one as my arm bled profusely.."

Realizing that this was probably what triggered his phantom pain, Ilyia grabbed him by the arm, pulling him up.

"Let's get out of here now! This place.. it's all in the past now! We have to look towards the future for greener pastures!" Ilyia tries her very best to cheer him up.

"Heh, you don't have to say all that just for the sake of saying so. The pain won't go away that easily no matter what I try to tell myself. But thanks, anyway. Let's go."

They made their way back passing through all the sights they have gone through while on the way up.

"Look, Ilyia... These buildings. And how they're all inhabitable. This is the reality of the world now, one without hope.." A strong air of melancholy hovered over Almeric, as he once again talks about how the world is hopeless.

Ilyia ponders if she had already heard something similar from him earlier, a conversation related to the children of the shelter. She understands the man named Almeric Soldaterin a little better now.. He'll default to talking about such depressive things whenever he's feeling down. As if a lightbulb lighted up in her head, she was immediately able to find the words to say to him that she felt is perfect for the situation.

"You said that I can pull you out of 'your daze' anytime you regress back into this depressive mood, right? So.. Let me ask you something. Why the sudden change of heart?" Ilyia bends forward, looking at his face from the side.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Suddenly deciding to open up more.. The way you treat me now from back then is day and night. I thought it would be harder to break you out of your shell."

Almeric smirks a little.

"She really is such a klutz.." He thought to himself.

"After all that persistent stalking and bugging, and you don't know why? I-it's because some of your energy and headstrong attitude rubbed off on me, o-of course. Given your grim situation, it's really admirable to see your zest in life, you know?" He scratches his head, embarrassed from admitting that he admired her attitude.

"I want to try my best like you too, you know? I won't want to live a daily life full of loathe and I want to try adopting a positive attitude as well.. But the reality's that everything's still screwed up..."

Ilyia looks at him with a dead serious expression, and opened her mouth.

"Some of that positive energy of mine exists to cover up my fear. I'm afraid of dying, and the very thought of my death torments me greatly. But this is the only way I can move forward, by accepting the circumstances and making the most of what I have left. I can only continue to live day by day, making memories that I will cherish."

Almeric looks at her with a newfound respect that added on to his admiration for her attitude.

"This girl.. She's more of a warrior than I am. She's fully aware of what's to come for her, and yet.." Almeric's starting to feel emotional, thoughts flooding his mind.

The mood has gotten really pensive. Ilyia wanted to cheer him up and lighten the load on his heart by getting him to talk about himself, but it didn't seem to work. She is able to sense this, reading the atmosphere perfectly.

"A-anyway! We're all here in the shelter together, so we have each others' backs!" Ilyia declared in a loud confident voice. She grabs his arm and pulls him along like how she pulled him out of the shelter earlier in the day.

"Y-you're not wrong about that, but first I'll have to learn to trust everyone else at the shelter better.."

"T-then trust in me! I'll be the first one for you to trust! I'll help you in anyway you can! Just no sexual favors!" That took a lot of courage for her to say.

"S-sexual favours!? What made you think that I'll ask something like that from you!?"

"Y-you seemed to really enjoy that just now, when I was cradling you! Pervert!"

"What.. You're making no sense, you're the one who decided to do that!"

"Pfft!"

Ilyia burst out in laughter, and soon, Almeric started to laugh as well. The mood has completely changed.

"Don't worry.. I trust you, okay? Besides.. Come on, you're a sick girl, aren't you? Shouldn't I be the one taking care of you instead?" Almeric says as he wiped away his tears from laughing too hard.

"That's my pride as a nurse! I'll take care of you!" She puffs her chest out with pride, Almeric averting his gaze immediately as it reminded him of what transpired earlier.

"Why are you looking away? See, I knew it! You're a pervert!"

"Like I said, you're the one who decided to do it!!"

"Hehe. In all seriousness though, as I said earlier, we'll support each other, and everyone else in the shelter as well, alright? We'll become a community that radiates hope.. in this world you call 'hopeless'."

Almeric simply nods his head in agreement, smiling at her.

"You're smiling a lot more now. That's good!"

The genuine smile turned into one of embarrassment, his hand once again reaching to scratch back of his head.

"We've been out here for quite some time. Let's get back soon. We can't neglect our duties at the shelter." Almeric tells Ilyia and starts to pick up the pace, with her following suit.

And so the day ended peacefully after the two's venture into Frieden city and Almeric's past, the pair returning to the shelter safely.