Destiny (Anime Style)

Chapter 6: City Tour

It was 8am now and Ravi slowly opened his eyes. Leah was still there, and she just couldn't help but to gasp from happiness after noticing Ravi had regained consciousness once again.

"Ravi..." the young girl muttered in a soft and relieved voice. "You are finally awake. For a moment I thought..." She stopped mid-sentence as a few tears fell from her eyes.

"Yeah... I'm ok" Ravi replied while still a bit confused. "Wh-what happened? The last thing I remember is punching that fallen maniac with all I had... and then..."

"Well, you managed to beat him"

"Ah? Really?"

"Yes... but you passed out later. That's why I had to carry you and take you all the way to the ship"

"I see"

Just then, Ravi noticed Leah was actually wearing some completely different clothes now: a tight and long white turtle-neck sweater with sleeves that reached her wrists, some black tight and comfy-looking pants, and a pair of dark brown boots. It was a more casual and not so protective outfit which by the way, highlighted Leah's stunning silhouette with ease.

"Why are you wearing that?" the boy asked, a bit puzzled. "Aren't you afraid that the Fallen might find us? You should be ready to fight again"

"Don't worry. There are no Fallen here" the young girl replied with a soft smile.

"No Fallen? What do you mean? And where are we anyway?" he asked once again while standing out of curiosity and approaching the nearest window.

"Hey, wait! You are still in bad condition. You should lay down and rest"

Ravi opened the curtain and then, he startled in complete surprise at the sight of a totally new and almost futuristic landscape. It was... a city, a wide, modernized and very populated city. Completely different from the one the bluenette visited as a kid. There were lots of tall buildings, cozy houses, and crowded streets with lots of people of different kinds. What is more, there was an extremely HUGE white sphere just floating in mid-air. Almost like a tiny moon resting above everything.

"A... amazing!" Ravi slowly claimed as he had no words to describe such scenery.

"Do you like it? This is the Last City of humanity" Leah claimed with a grin. "The place were almost all remaining humans leave in peace along with the awoken and the exos"

"Awoken? Exos?"

Leah giggled a bit after noticing Ravi had no idea what she was talking about. "Don't worry, I'll tell you everything..." She then changed into a more serious tone. "...AFTER you lay down and rest" she finally lectured the innocent boy.

And so, after getting comfortable and clearing her throat, Leah finally put Ravi up to date with everything she knew about the history of humanity...

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Long ago, humanity took notice of a very strange and unusual object suddenly floating above the surface of planet Mars. Therefore, after sending an specialized team to investigate the red planet, humanity startled in shock at the fact that such interesting object was in fact almost like a tiny white satellite... with a life of its own.

That's right, the weird floating object was alive, but more than that, it had the peculiar and surprising ability to... terraform... which basically meant it could change the atmosphere, weather, ecosystem, and characteristics of an entire planet in any way it wished.

Soon, Mars became an immensely fertile paradise, and following that, the unusual object disposed itself to travel towards many other places located all around the vast Solar System: Venus, Mercury, Phobos, Titan... even planet Earth's sole and only moon received a visit from the weird object which then started to be known as... The Traveller.

The Traveller was a gift, a miracle. It allowed humanity to expand in unimaginable scales and reach other planets, as well as develop technology that could only be seen in movies up to that point. Humanity built cities on planets Venus and Mars, tourist attractions on the Moon and Mercury, and lots of research centers on different planets, planetoids and satellites. This... was the so-called Golden Age of humanity. An age of fantastic development... and glorious miracles.

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But unfortunately, it didn't last forever...

After a very long and peaceful time, the fatal consequences of having used the Traveller for humanity's advantage finally showed themselves in the form of LOTS of unknown alien races which suddenly arrived at the Solar System. Invaders from different parts of the galaxy which travelled all the way here in search of the almighty Traveller... in search of its powers... in search of its miraculous light.

That's right, the four-armed and four-eyed creatures known as the Fallen were one of such alien invaders. However, they weren't the only ones by any means, nor were they the most deadly and dangerous out of all.

There was one in particular... One so dark and powerful that almost eradicated all of humanity in an extremely short time lapse. This gloomy and dark era is usually known as: The Collapse. A time in which almost every single miracle that the Traveller caused in past centuries, as well as almost every effort humanity spent in developing itself... went to waste in an instant.

Nonetheless, and contrary to what one may believe, humanity survived this terrible extinction-like event thanks to none other than the Traveller itself. The godly machine protected everyone by sacrificing all of its remaining strength and energy to drive away these dark invaders, becoming unable to stay awake any longer after that. Before going dormant however, the Traveller did 2 last things... 2 very important actions that would mark the dawn of yet another new era in humanity's history.

First, it shared its light with those he deemed worthy, filling their bodies with great energy and potential. And second, it created those tiny floating and weird-shaped droids called... 'ghosts'.

In any case, humanity changed thanks to this. Many people began sensing the Traveller's light inside of them and what is more, the ghosts took on the job of choosing whoever they considered strong and brave enough to fight for humanity. This... is how the very first 'guardians' from the Last City were born.

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Many years passed until present day. Humanity built walls around their so called last city to protect itself with the Traveller still resting over it up to this day. The Fallen, as well as the many other monstrous invaders are still lurking around the Solar System, plotting and waiting for the right time to attack. The Guardians created their very own military-like division called... The Vanguard. And their heavily protected and modern headquarters was a huge Tower at one of the city's limits.

This tower... is where Ravi and Leah were at that moment...

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Ravi widened his eyes in amazement and shock after hearing all of this, and in addition, the great excitement he previously felt for exploring the world turned into anger and frustration for not knowing any of what Leah just told him.

"What the hell?!" the blue-haired boy screamed in a very angry but kind of childish tone. "You can't be serious! So, you mean we lost everything because of those four-armed bastards and whoever were the other invaders!?"

Ravi kept on complaining like a child while, on the other hand, Leah just continued to look at him with kind of a weirded out expression. The young boy was clearly angry, but she just couldn't take him seriously at all given that he was acting almost like a puppy complaining for not having food.

"He... hehe..." the young girl laughed while sweat-dropping.

"Seriously, I can't believe this!" Ravi continued. "I was so excited and happy, but now I feel ashamed for not wanting to be a guardian at all!"

"You mean... you wanna be a guardian now?"

"Of course!" the bluenette finally stated with determination.

"But, what made you change your mind?"

Ravi didn't reply. Instead, he startled in troubleness after making memory of how he almost abandoned Leah at the Fallen's mercy back in Old Russia.

"I'm... sorry, Leah" the boy said while staring downwards.

"Huh? For what?" Leah bluntly asked. "For almost abandoning me back at the Skywatch?

Ravi raised his head in surprise. "You... You knew?"

"Yes, Cybel and Wire told me"

"I... see..."

"But..." the young girl continued while smiling softly. "...they also told me how you changed your mind. How you flew the ship without any knowledge of it and came for me"

The bluenette startled without a clue of what to say in return.

"I was there too. I saw it. You risked your life to save me, even though we've barely known each other for only a few days" A few tears began falling down from Leah's cheeks. "It... It was so painful for me to see how you were hurting yourself against that beast"

"Leah..."

"But, it's over now" the girl finally added while clearing her tears away with a grin. "We are safe here... YOU are safe here"

"Y-yeah..." Ravi finally replied in a calm and slightly happy voice.

And so, both teenagers kept on staring at each other for a long time, almost as if having each other at their side was an even greater reason to be happy apart from just being alive.

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"Are you 2 done now?" Cybel suddenly asked out of nowhere.

"AH!" the human duo finally exalted in surprise since they never actually noticed there was someone else in the room.

"H-how long have you 2 been here?!" Leah asked, nervously.

"A while" Wire bluntly replied.

"And... wh-why didn't you say anything?!"

"Because you 2 looked like you were having a moment" Cybel added this time, to which the human girl couldn't help but to blush, slightly, at the female droid's words.

"Wh-what do you mean by that?"

"Oh, nothing... Forget about it"

Leah kept on blushing a bit longer, but the truth was Ravi didn't really understand what Cybel tried to imply. Therefore, his expression was just one of full innocence and confusion.

In any case, it didn't take long for yet another pair of humans to arrive at Ravi's hospital room. A male middle-aged doctor and a female nurse to be more precise.

"Well, I see you woke up" the doctor claimed with a smile. "That's good"

Just then, Ravi turned over to Leah again. "Who's this?" he whispered into Leah's ear while a bit puzzled.

"He's your medic" the young girl replied. "He's the one in charge of helping you recover"

"That's right... You were unconscious for two days" the doctor continued. "It's only normal that you don't remember anything"

"T-TWO DAYS?!" the bluenette asked in shock.

"Yes, your wounds were really bad, especially the heavy burn in your right arm. We even had to use our special healing machine just to help you recover from that injury"

"Special... healing machine?"

"Don't worry about the details. What's important is that you are recovering smoothly. Though if you had arrived some time later, you really could've died"

At that precise moment, the joyful nurse joined the conversation. "Yeah! You should've seen yourself... Your girlfriend here entered the hospital all desperate while carrying you and crying inconsolably"

"G-girlfriend?" Leah asked while blushing, slightly.

"She too had a broken leg and a few burns from touching your heated body. So, we had to give her some treatment too. Though she's now fully healed"

"Eh... Excuse me, but..." Leah muttered while looking to one side with embarrassment. "I am not... his girlfriend"

"Don't worry, I'm just joking" the nurse replied with a smile, after which she turned back to Ravi once more. "In any case, it's thanks to her that you survived!"

"I see..." Ravi muttered with a soft grin, only to then turn to face the young girl who saved his life one more time. "I believe I still haven't thanked you Leah, so... thanks a lot! Hehe..." the young boy finally claimed while smiling at her. Something that actually caused Leah to blush once again.

"It... it was nothing" the young girl replied in a soft and shy voice while looking to one side.

Either way, the bluenette actually had to stay 1 more day at the tower's hospital before finally recovering completely and being freed. However, the brief wait was completely worth it, because when he finally stepped outside and into the big city, a huge smile filled with excitement appeared on his face.

The young boy just couldn't believe the many new things that were right in front of him. And without a second thought, he quickly began running around and checking every single thing that happened to catch his full attention while, parallelly, the people on the streets couldn't help but to feel uncomfortable and weirded out due to the childish and... unusual behavior that the blue-haired boy was displaying.

In the end, it had to be Leah the one to put him on his place...

"CALM DOWN ALREADY!" the young girl yelled while hitting Ravi in his head.

"OUCH! Th-that hurt!" this last one claimed in annoyance while rubbing his forehead.

"Well, I'm sorry... But you were embarrassing yourself. Everyone around thinks you are a weirdo"

"Oh, come on... I'm just too excited! This is totally new for me!"

Just then, Leah startled, slightly, and took notice of how strange Ravi looked. He was still wearing the very same ripped off and dirty outfit he used back at the desertic wasteland after all.

"Ehh... I know you are excited..." Leah muttered with a fake grin. "But for now, what do you say we go get you some decent clothes?"

"Huh? Why? My clothes are fine" the young boy replied, innocently. "They are torn apart and burnt, but still wearable nonetheless"

"Just... listen to me, okay? Now let's go"

And so, both humans, along with Cybel and Wire, headed to nearest giant shop center. There were all kinds of different stuff there: clothes, food, electronic devices, etc. And evidently, Ravi looked like he didn't fit at all with that torn apart outfit.

"Here, try this" Leah said after choosing and handing Ravi some new clothes she chose herself.

"Is this what you want me to wear?" the blue-haired boy asked, a bit weirded out.

"Yup"

"But, this looks strange to me"

"That's only cause you've never worn anything like this before. Trust me, it'll look good on you" the human girl finally claimed with a grin, only to then take a long sigh at the fact that Ravi still looked a bit hesitant. "Listen, how about this?" she continued with a smirk. "If you put on those clothes, I'll give you a full city tour. You'll be able to see all the best and most interesting spots of the Last City... Doesn't that sound great?"

Ravi exalted in happiness and got all excited after hearing that. "Ok then! These clothes just started looking a lot better to me!" he finally claimed with a smile.

And so, he finally did as Leah told him. Though not in the way she wanted.

"EAH!" Leah screamed while blushing at the fact that Ravi was taking his shirt off right in front of her. "WH-WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Eeehh... changing my clothes?" the boy replied, innocently.

"Y-you can't do it in a public place! There are special dressing rooms for that!"

Leah took Ravi to the dressing rooms immediately, and after a while, the young boy came out of it with his brand new outfit on: a white shirt of modern design with a black thin jacket over it, some dark blue modern style and comfy-looking pants, and a pair of dark grey sneakers with a few black and white patterns all over them. A very casual an kind of fashionable look, almost like the one Leah was wearing.

"So, how do I look?" Ravi asked with eagerness.

"It looks great!" the human girl claimed with a smile. "I knew that would fit you!"

"Well, if you say so. Actually, these are a lot more comfortable than I thought!" the blue-haired boy finally added with a smile.

And so, as promised, Leah took Ravi on a complete tour around the city. They visited the central plaza, the great lookout tower, even the shopping street which had lots of small stores, entertaining centers, restaurants and many other exciting things to see.

Nonetheless, Ravi's excitement was then suddenly interrupted... by the sound of his stomach growling like a lion. "Hahaha... seems I'm a bit hungry" the blue-haired boy said while laughing, slightly.

"Yeah, I noticed" Leah replied while sweat-dropping. "In fact, it's almost time for lunch. Wanna go eat something?"

"Eat something? Where?"

"There" Leah added while pointing to a small modest restaurant located at one side of the street. "This is one of my favorite places to eat. I'm sure you'll love it!"

"Ok... But, this is gonna cost you right? Just like the clothes"

"Well, yeah... it will cost. But take it as a gratitude gift from me. It's the least I can do for saving me from those Fallen" the young girl finally claimed, happily, only to then take a hold of Ravi's hand while pulling him into the restaurant.

Just as she said, Leah paid for the meal of both of them given that she owed Ravi her life. However, the human girl soon regretted it when the bluenette finished his 5th plate in a row.

"Uh... eh..."

Leah didn't know what to say. She just limited herself to watch, a bit worried for her wallet and embarrassed, while Ravi kept on eating and eating non-stop almost like a black hole of food.

Meanwhile, the many people around just couldn't believe someone with such extreme appetite even existed.

"He's... worse than a dog" Wire muttered.

"He's worse than a pig" Cybel added.

Following that, the hungry bluenette smacked the table with his already empty 7th plate only to claim with a big smile "ONE MORE PLEEEAASE!"

"OF COURSE NOT! NO MORE!" Leah yelled in a annoyance.

And so, after finally leaving the restaurant behind with their stomachs full, the duo took notice of how late and dark it was. They had lost too much time just eating due to Ravi's incredible and almost insatiable appetite.

"I can't believe it... I just lost almost all my savings in one mere lunch because of you"

"Hahaha.. sorry" Ravi replied with a fake grin, only to then startle at something he had been ignoring that whole time. "Hey, Leah... Why are there so many different people here?" the young boy finally asked out of curiosity.

"Uh? What do you mean?"

"You said this is humanity's last city, right? But, those people over there aren't humans, are they?" he added while pointing to a group of people with light-blue skin.

"Ohh... well, it's true that they are not exactly humans. But, they descend from humans. They are called Awoken"

"Awoken?"

"Yeah..." Cybel intervened. "It's a really complicated story, but people like them are basically mutants born after humans like you were exposed to the farthest places in the Solar System"

"You mean those people reached the edge of our system?!"

"Not exactly" Wire added this time. "A group of humans did it long ago and turned into the first Awoken. After that, they were just born naturally among us"

"Woah! And what about them?" Ravi then pointed to yet another group of humanoid androids this time. "They are robots, so they aren't humans, are they?"

"True, they are not humans" Cybel bluntly replied. "But, they aren't robots either. A robot can't think for itself or have a conscience, they are programmed for a specific job. But them... They are Exos"

"Exo? What's an Exo?"

"It's a human or awoken whose conscience has been transferred into a machine"

"A human conscience... into a machine?!" Ravi asked while in complete surprise.

"That's right. Believe it or not, there are many people who opt to change their bone and flesh body for a metallic one in order to live longer or cure themselves from a deadly disease"

The amount of information was too much for Ravi. After all, the world ended up being a lot more complicated than he originally thought. Though the truth was... he still had no idea of what other things were awaiting for him in the future.

"So, the big and white sphere above the city is the Traveller, which gives us our powers" the young boy continued, only to then ask another interesting question. "What about the tower?"

"What about it?" Leah asked while raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I've been in its hospital, but I haven't really seen much of it. Why don't you take me there next?"

"Well, I'd like to. But because of you it's too late now. We lost too much time in the restaurant after all"

"Mmmm... I guess you are right. In that case, let's go to sleep and wait for tomorrow"

"Sounds good" Leah happily agreed, after which she inevitably startled at what Ravi told her next.

"So, where do you live?"

"Eh?"

"I wanna know where you live so I can go to sleep"

"You... you wanna sleep at my home?!" the young girl asked in surprise.

"Well, yeah... Where else can I sleep? I don't know this place at all"

At that moment, Leah felt her cheeks turning pink, and her head being filled with embarrassment at the mere thought of having Ravi sleeping at her house alone with her. Though the truth was, she had no other choice.

She had been so busy worrying for Ravi when he was still at the hospital and then showing him around town that she totally forgot about where the bluenette could spend the night. There were of course lots of hotels scattered around the city, but... she unfortunately just lost almost all of her money on the food.

"O-ok then, just... f-follow me" Leah finally ordered while getting all flustered.

Either way, the human girl didn't really have a house as such. She actually lived in a small apartment with 2 bedrooms, 1 small bathroom, and 1 main living room which was also a small kitchen. A very small but cozy place which she rented thanks the money she usually gained from jobs and also from her mother's generosity.

Upon arriving at her home, Ravi instantly got surprised at the fact that it was very... VERY... clean and tidy.

"Wow... You sure like keeping this place as shiny as crystal, don't you?" he asked while examining the entire place with rigor.

"Well, of course" the young girl bluntly replied. "I'm not like you who just lived in a messy room full of trash"

"Hehehehe..." Ravi inevitably laughed after comparing both Leah's home, and his bunker/house.

"Anyway, follow me" Leah took Ravi to the second bedroom. "This is where you'll be sleeping. It's only until you get your own place, don't forget"

"Yeah, I know... Don't worry"

Cybel then barged into the conversation. "Hey, Leah. I think I'm gonna go turn myself off" the female droid said while leaving the room.

"Sure, go ahead" Leah replied.

"I'm gonna turn myself off too, Ravi" Wire added this time while leaning over a nearby table, only to say one last thing before finally going to sleep. "Tomorrow we should go and turn you into a full legal guardian"

Ravi found himself puzzled at those words. "Legal guardian? What did he mean by 'legal'?" he asked while raising an eyebrow.

"We'll talk about it tomorrow. Just rest already" Leah finally claimed as she began leaving the room.

However, just before she could close the door and leave Ravi alone for the day, she stopped on her tracks when the bluenette suddenly called her one more time. Seems like he still had one more thing to say to her. "Hey, by the way..."

"Y-yeah?"

"Thanks again, Leah!" the young boy claimed with a big innocent smile, to which Leah couldn't help but to startle and blush, slightly, yet again.

"S-sure... don't worry about it" she finally claimed while leaving for good.

And so, after taking his white shirt, black jacket and grey shoes off, Ravi finally jumped into the bed, ready to call it a day, and eager to start this new chapter in his life once and for all.