A/N: This story was requested anonymously on my Tumblr (which you can follow at spezria-cobra-awesomeness) as an Ezria AU prompt. I usually don't write dystopian stories, but this one has been fascinating for me and is helping me become a more well-versed writer. I hope you enjoy. (To those who follow me and check up on me frequently, I want you to know that I am currently editing Where We Are Supposed to Be, and still have plans to wrap up any unfinished PLL story on this site. Thank you for sticking with me and my terrible motivation.)
Until the World Ends
By Lady Elena Dawson
Chapter 1
From the moment the heart tattoo on Aria's right wrist blinked, Aria was devastated. Not because she wasn't happy to have found her soulmate, but because of who her soulmate was. It was not who she had wanted it to be. Not at all.
The evening that she and her soulmate went on their first official date to plan a future wedding and all the crap that went along with finding your soulmate, Aria scrubbed the tattoo on her wrist until her skin was burning and raw. The black and red ink dribbled down her wrist, looking like she had cut herself. For years she thought the tattoo was a burden. Now that it was washed off after completing its duty, Aria wished it was still there.
She was only eighteen years old. It was early for her to be paired off. The Government usually picked people off in their twenties. Aria knew of a girl who was only fourteen when she was bonded by marriage to a man of thirty-five. Ever since then, Aria questioned the Government more than ever before. Why was it their right to choose who belonged with whom?
In a small way, Aria understood. Ever since the world broke out in a vicious war twenty years before she was born, the American Government had to make some drastic changes. The population had dwindled dangerously low. They needed a sure way to get it up again without risks. So what better way than to pair people up so that it was certain that everyone had a partner to reproduce with? There was no longer the choice of not getting married, of not having kids. If someone refused to have a child, the Government would come in the night and the couple would be gone by the morning, even if one person wanted a child. For a while, no one knew what happened to these people who were plucked out of their beds for standing up for their free will and the other half of the couple who might have been punished with them. Then a group of young boys discovered an unmarked graveyard. After further, and careful, investigations by some brave authorities, they found out that each person had been buried alive—and each were the ones who had refused to follow the Government's wishes.
It was ironic, really, that the Government wanted to increase the population, but decided to pick people off just for not listening to their wants. As soon as this was revealed to the public, the Government used that to their advantage to scare people into doing what they wanted. Their goal was so that each couple had at least one child, and that each couple was chosen by the Government in permanent matrimony. That way, the Government argued, America could return to its former glory once again—not realizing that the people had lost their freedom to be with who they wanted, reproduce with who they wanted. To the Government, there was no longer a risk of people wasting their time finding someone, or maybe never finding someone, and never reproducing.
Now Aria had to marry and reproduce with her best friend since grade school. Holden was a nice guy, but she didn't love him. She couldn't see herself getting into bed with him. She couldn't see them doing more than holding hands. Their first kiss had happened that night and Aria had hated it. Her hazel eyes had burned into his, wondering if he had hated it too. This didn't feel right to Aria, but she didn't say anything. Holden didn't say anything either, except he marked off the calendar for May fifteenth to be their wedding date. Why he was agreeing to this, Aria had no clue. She wished he would have said something. But Aria didn't say anything, so she had to let go of that hypocritical expectation. The next step was choosing a name for their firstborn child, a conversation that they hadn't touched on yet. The idea made Aria's stomach sour, and she wished infertility on herself. Not that that would relieve her, of course. The Government had become proficient in controlling everyone's reproductive system so that it worked as they wanted it to. Aria could have her uterus ripped out right then and she would be given a new one. Biology had come a long way in the past forty years; for better or for worse, Aria didn't know.
At breakfast the next morning, Aria stared at her parents and ignored her plate of food. She never asked them if they had found a way to love each other, or if they were lucky enough to have loved each other the moment their eyes met. Her throat was dry and lips chapped from a sleepless night where she mostly cried into her pillow like when she was fourteen and fighting a crush she had on a boy in her science class. She pretended to finish her food as her parents cleaned up their dishes and parted for work, then Aria dumped her meal, plate and all, into the trash.
After a job interview that Aria felt like she had bombed, Aria hopped on the train home and leaned her forehead against the cool glass window, fighting the urge to cry again. She saw a person around the age of twenty-five standing a few feet in front of her, holding onto the bars with one hand and reading a book in the other. The lucky blonde had the black-and-red tattoo on her wrist. Despite the oppression the country faced, this woman seemed utterly pleased with how her life was going. Aria could tell by the small, pursued smile on her lips, her nicely laundered clothes, perfected makeup, and wrinkle-free forehead. Unconsciously Aria reached up and felt the grooves forming between her eyebrows, trying to smooth them out.
Once the train reached her stop, Aria stood up in preparation to leave, but found herself frozen as the train commenced motion again. Plopping back down, Aria felt that the part of her forehead she'd been leaning on the window was numb. But she liked the numb; she didn't want to return to her new matrimonial life with Holden just yet. Glancing down at her phone, Aria wished for a text from Holden saying, "I'm sorry this is so awkward for us. I wish we could stay friends, but this is what the Government wants. I don't want us to be killed because we want to keep our friendship as only a friendship." Just any acknowledgment that Holden was having just as hard of a time accepting this choice as she was.
Nearing dinner, Aria had been on the train as it looped through its stops four times. By then, there were very few people left dispersed among the train. Aria glanced around and noticed a man sitting a few seats behind her staring out the window with his forehead against the glass, just like Aria had been doing. Out of all the people she had seen coming and going from the train that day, he was the only one who had appeared to be grieving as she was. His right hand reached up and cupped the side of his face to cushion his forehead a bit. Aria couldn't see a tattoo marked on his skin.
Once Aria reached her stop for the fifth time, she stood up, ready to leave this time. Somehow, seeing that man made her feel less alone. Now she didn't feel like the only one grieving over her fate. When she stood up, he glanced up at her for a second, but Aria hadn't noticed.
The next day, Aria went to another job interview she felt she had done better on and rode the train for a few hours just like she had yesterday. Right before her stop, she studied the people on the train again, and was surprised to see the same man as the day before. This time, she noticed the color of his eyes, blue like the sea. Standing up, this time she caught his gaze. A half smile crossed his lips, and Aria returned it. After all, it was the only smile she could muster in how her life was unraveling at that moment.
For the rest of the week Aria repeated her days: breakfast, job interview, a train ride that took her through another uneaten lunch. Each day she noticed the same man in the same spot, studying a different feature of his: his pointed nose, dark and unruly hair, and small amount of stubble covering his chin. She wondered if he had freckles on his nose. By the fifth day, she wished he would look at her for longer than a second.
The weekend forced Aria to break the cycle, as she had plans with Holden to go on a dinner date followed by a movie date followed by a family meeting between their two families. Aria wondered if the man noticed she wasn't on the train, or if he was stuck with his soulmate like she was all weekend.
Come Monday, Aria didn't have a job interview, but she rode the train regardless. Her heart picked up in speed when she noticed the man again. Rather than wait until right before her stop, Aria turned around and stared at him as soon as he sat down. After a minute, his eyes shifted and met hers. They kept that stare for a solid minute before Aria broke it, turning back around and feeling flushed.
It took Aria another two days to grow and nurture the courage to ask to sit with him. Unbeknownst to Aria, it had taken the man the same amount of courage to say yes. Both were painfully aware of what might happen if they decided to interact with each other. So many things could go wrong, but they wanted some aspect of their lives in their control.
His name was Ezra, and Aria would grow to love that name and the person it associated with even if it meant she'd meet her dirty grave early. At least then she would be at peace knowing that she had loved.