June 12th, 2003

7:30 A.M

In the dwellings of a simple Washington town was a particular suburb. Within this suburb was a painfully ordinary house. White picket fence, freshly cut green grass, plain cars that fit perfectly in the middle class and other various details defined how dull and ordinary it all was.

A dark room in the home was barely illuminated by the faint vestiges of morning sunlight piercing through the blinds that revealed the form of a young, sleeping boy with a rich creamy skin tone and hair reminiscent of the color belonging to dark chocolate. This child lightly snored and mumbled in his sleep as he wrapped himself around a large pillow, embracing the soft object in a sideways hug.

His door softly opened due to a young woman pushing it. Her appearance suggested she was in her early twenties, but this woman, this mother, was actually in her early thirties. She softly smiled and approached the sleeping child, brushing a strand of red hair out of his eye as she gazed at him. The woman remained like this, gazing at her child with nothing but the strongest love. Eventually, she placed her hand upon his shoulder and lightly shook him.

"Christopher, oh Christopher, you need to wake up now." She gently cooed the boy to awake. His dark brown eyes that matched his hair blinked a few times before remaining open. A yawn escaped his lips as he smiled up at his mother.

"Good morning Mommy." His voice was clearly tired as he spoke.

"Good morning Sweetie. You need to get up now." She tried to get him up.

The boy had other plans as he simply threw his blanket over his head and attempted to go back to bed. It was summer after all, early wake-up calls weren't a concern to him until August, and even then they weren't as drastic as they used to be.

Knowing how this game, and by extension her son worked, she feigned a sigh and giving up. "Well I suppose your brothers and I can eat all that breakfast I made earlier for my birthday boy. But I guess he's too good for his favorite kids meal now-" His mother's words spurred him awake practically instantaneously. She couldn't even tell him to get cleaned up before he had rushed out to the kitchen. The woman sighed as a smile adorned her face before following her son.

The boy quickly took a seat at the dining room table, his older brother of eleven years and younger brother of five already there. Without even greeting his brothers, Christopher tore into the classic breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and pancakes. His younger brother following his example, albeit a bit messier in the execution given his age.

"Heh, kids these days." The young man smirked at his brothers as he also ate, their mother joining them shortly after.

All three ate in silence, not feeling any need to discuss the ongoings of their personal lives. The mother's governmental job paid for the bills and then some. While the oldest brother, Peter, attended college for computer programming. As for the youngest brothers, young Christopher was homeschooled by his mother and the youngest brother, James, was still a year away from preschool.

"Well, I'm off to class." Peter stood up from the table and grabbed his backpack.

"Drive safe honey." She wished her son well.

"Later bro!" Chris barely spoke between chews, being reprimanded by his mother for poor manners.

Once breakfast was over, Chris entered a room solely dedicated to his hobby: music. He excitedly hopped up onto a piano stool and started playing Für Elise as a warmup. Chris had taken to music as an outlet after some… unfortunate incidents lead to his family moving across the entire country. He'd actually shown incredible prodigious ability with the piano at first, quickly learning many pieces. Then it was onto Violin. Next was Guitar. Followed by the Saxophone.

It quickly spiraled into a frenzy of bottomless learning from the boy. He had no real desire to take his abilities to a professional field, entirely content with playing only for himself and his audience. Whenever he wasn't being taught school subjects by his mother, he remained in this room all day. Time was an indifferent factor to the boy as he learned the flowing and graceful songs of Mozart to the emotional and technical songs of Chopin.

As day slowly turned to night, Chris' mother entered the room as he was in the middle of practicing on the piano.

Her hand lightly fell onto his shoulder, startling the intensely focused boy and making him jump a bit. She giggled at that common sight.

"Come on now honey, it's bedtime." She gestured to the clock which read 8 P.M.

"Okay Mommy!" He smiled and ran to the bathroom to brush his teeth, so used to this process by now that moaning and groaning didn't feel neccessary anymore.

The boy crawled into the sheets as his mother tucked him in. When she was thoroughly sure her baby boy was all warm and snug, she gently kissed his forehead.

"Goodnight Love Bug." She smiled at hin.

"Goodnight Mommy! I love you!" He lazily smiled at her after yawning.

"Mommy loves you too." She stood up and slowly closed the door after turning the lights off.

A little after midnight, Chris awoke with an extreme urge… to pee. He quietly walked to the restroom and did what he needed to do before exiting. As he walked back to his room, he noticed the lights were still on in the livingroom. With some curiousity guiding him, Chris looked from the stairs into the room where his mother looked at the TV in worry.

The broadcaster sat in the chair with an expression of pure and utter disbelief on his face, as if he was told he'd won the lottery and that his mother was dead.

"L-ladies and Gentlemen, we have a breaking news story developing in Japan currently." He glanced back and forth between the paper in his hands and the camera, desperately trying to piece if what he was reading was even real. "I may warn you, what you're about to see… is unlike anything that's ever been documented in our history."

With a short burst of static, the screen eventually swapped over to what was very clearly rushed and archaic camera footage. However such a thing was ultimately worthless to focus on compared to what was currently on the screen.

Chris' mother put a hand to her mouth as her hidden child gazed at the screen, the both of them dumbfounded and questioning if this was real or not.

A dragon, was falling from the sky.

June 12th, 2020

2:30 P.M

The massive elevator slowly descended down the bottomless chasm carved into the earth by man. What must have been around fifty people and a few scientists were dimly lit by the lights of the steel coffin. The crowd was made up of an extreme variety of people. One could discern at least one man and woman of every common ethnicity that walked the planet, well, some more common than others these days.

Western Asians had virtually entered the endangered category of humans along with eastern Asians. Africans and Europeans were also beginning to thin out as well. This was all thanks to the combination of White Chlorination Syndrome and The Legion. Both things ultimately going hand-in-hand as they tore through the human population.

Japan was practically in martial law as it was rendered to nothing more than a wasteland for the most part. Between the incident 17 years ago and the bombs 11 years ago, not much remained of the large island now that was habitable. All efforts ultimately proved fruitless, as even the greatest weapon man ever made couldn't kill even one of the parasites sucking the life of the species.

Once WCS appeared globally? It was a feeling unlike any other. Slowly but surely, no one began trusting each other as fear of contamination just rose by the day. This wasn't helped by the public reveal of Project Gestalt, many not only doubting it's effectiveness, but also pointing the finger that the government was gonna save themselves and leave the public for last, if they even remembered they existed at all. Riots, unrest, crime spikes and countless other signs of society breaking down plagued large countries, and completely tore apart smaller ones. South America had torn itself to shreds as the already shaky governments there couldn't hope to control the large population.

Then came the advent of a slowing agent named Luciferase, the name was probably a twisted sign from god about the future of his created playthings. This drug slowed the spread of WCS in a person considerably, as such, they gave it to a bunch of soliders and had them fight The Legion. The irony of them being named the 1st Crusaders was not lost to many. Even complete with the absolute slaughtering of them all. What really drove the general populace into a frenzy was when they found out the drug was far more effective in younger subjects. It definitely didn't help public opinion when orphans, juveniles and other young teens were forced into a training program to learn how to fight an enemy that would kill them like a mindless beast.

Even despite all of this fighting, this clawing and desperate struggling, the best humanity has managed at this point is a stalemate with untold casualties. The numbers were never made public, but they were starting to make the Mongol Conquests look like a simple riot in comparison. That brings us to this mishmash of humans currently descending into what some believed to be salvation.

After what must've been around an hour, the elevator slowed and soon stopped. The man at the front of the group, a scientist if one went by the lab coat, cleared his throat to get the attention of everyone.

"Ladies, Gentlemen, Humans, I stand before you all today with an offer. An offer that I am certain, will lead to the salvation of our species. Each and every one of you has been chosen for some reasons obvious, and some not so obvious. Ultimately, such specifics are a moot factor. What truly matters, is that we, as a species, live on. Our attempts to combat The Legion and WCS have done nothing but reap our population even faster. Whether or not any of it succeeds is insignificant for the time being right now. For I believe that if we can not survive with our humanity and morals intact, then the WCS would have truly won. Hence, why I have gathered you all here today." The man spread his arms as the doors opened, a blinding light spreading from the widening crack and illuminating the group.

When their eyes had adjusted, their salvation lay before them.

"I present to you: Project Arc." He lead the group into the massive concrete room, using the cane he desperately relied on to walk rather heavily.

At first, and even extended glance, the room put a nuclear shelter to shame. Heavily reinforced concrete with a combination of tungsten, lead and titanium made sure that nothing could pierce into the room. The large pods were in multiple neatly organized rows, many scientists running around them and making final checks. A first aid tent was placed in the corner of the room, parallel to where dozens of tables and state-of-the-art computers rested atop them.

"We shall preserve humanity much like tree sap preserved ancient fossils millions of years ago. All of you will be cryogenically frozen until it is deemed safe enough to release you all once more."

Everyone understood the idea of it quite clearly, such an idea had been pretty prevalent in mass media back when it was even being manufactured.

"Now then, do any of you have questions before I direct you all to the tent in order to receive all your neccessary shots?" He opened the floor to the group.

One black woman raised her hand.

"Yes?" The man urged her on.

"What's gonna happen to the things we have on us?"

"Ah, simple: all your personal belongings shall be placed in a small container within the pod. Also within this container are a few extra tools, just in case." His answer raised only another.

A European man raised his hand next.

"What do you mean by, "Just in case"?"

"Well that could mean a variety of things. From you all waking up early, to maybe being down here for an extended time before safe evacuation. Truly I mean nothing negative by it, it's just better to be prepared in any scenario." The man attempted to ease everyone.

A few more questions were raised, but they were ones that didn't matter to a certain man in the crowd. Christopher indifferently glanced around the room, his white bangs getting in his line of sight. He noticed a few people shivering already, though he wasn't even remotely cold in his outift of a black jacket over a white hoodie, blue jeans with a white belt and black boots.

After the Q and A was done, the group was put in a single file line as they entered the tent. They all received a variety of shots, ranging from the ordinary ones for things like Tetanus, to even Luciferase as a safety precaution just to be safe.

Christopher sat in the chair after taking off his jacket and rolling up his sleeve. He didn't see the look of the nurse giving him his shots, but he knew she saw the horizontal scars across the underside of his forearm, probably opting to remain silent out of some kind of pity. The man bit his tongue as she gently touched his arm to apply alcohol before the injection. He hated being touched, but making a scene now would be pointless.

Once everyone had gotten their medical OK, they were all directed to their pods. Christopher approached his and stared at the metal tomb where he'd rest. The inside was fitted with a slot for a person to sit in as they rested for potentially over a hundred years.

A scientist pulled out a slot in the pod, the place for his personal belongings. In went his wallet, a necklace, his jacket and a harmonica, the only things that mattered anymore to him. His dull, lifeless eyes closed the slot shut without blinking, sealing away the remnants of his past life indefinitely.

"Please take a seat sir." The man that tinkered with a console on the side of the chamber spoke to him.

Christopher sat in the chair that was surprisingly comfortable. 'At least they had enough courtesy to make us cozy popsicles.' He dryly remarked in his head as he sighed.

"Just so you are aware sir, we're going to put you to sleep first before the cryogenic process begins. Do you have anything to ask beforehand?" They spoke like they were reading off a que card.

"…No." He responded after a few seconds of thought. It didn't matter to him, he was still perplexed as to why they decided to save a criminal like him. A bitter smirk of irony crawled its way onto his face. They put a goddamn murderer in a project to save humanity from extinction, god must really have a sick sense of humor.

The scientist stood at the head of the room. "Before you all enter your slumber, I have one last thing to say: may you all wake up to a better tomorrow."

And then, everything slowly faded to black.

Project Arc

March 13th, 11945

6:30 A.M

The dark tomb that was once the proud home of Project Arc barely clung to life. Most of the lights were off, either from burnt out bulbs or a lack of power. The computers were all coveted in a thick layer of dust and sat as nothing more than mementos of now ancient technology closer to the age of Gilgamesh than the modern day.

Beep

Beep

Beeeeeep

A sole pod remained active as the door suddenly opened on its own, likely a fail safe in the event the outside handle didn't work. Mist fell from the metal and draped the ground as Christopher sat in the chair, life and consciousness very slowly returning to him.

"Ugh…" Sound escaped his lips for the first time in over 9000 years. He groaned as his eyes fluttered open and shut numerous times, his pupils desperately attempting to dilate for maximum light intake.

Christopher slowly lifted his head, his bones audibly popping and his muscles straining from their first use in many years. What was the real kick in the ass to wake the man up, was the smell of the room. If Christopher's body could remember how to gag, he'd be doing it right now. The odor of the room immediately reminded him of some kind of ancient crypt you'd see Indiana Jones explore.

"Oh god, who the hell didn't clean the fridge?" His arm very weakly rose and swiped the air in front of his face. The limb trembled and shook as he eventually placed it back on the rest, its desperate plea for rest being heard.

By now his sight had adequately returned to him, granted he still needed to squint to see better in the dark room.

"Since when do large-scale projects believe in saving energy? Cheap bastards." He swore and attempted to stand, only to fall from the chair and on to the floor. Christopher groaned in pain and rolled onto his back.

"Yeah, thanks guys, real big help." He sarcastically chided the lazy scientists he believed to be still around. However, the lack of a response finally kicked his brain in gear.

"Hello?" He asked for someone, anyone to respond, but silence remained his only compatriot.

With his body protesting, Chris managed to sit up and look around at… well… not much. He rubbed his nose which began to run with snot, likely from the dust in the air.

"Hello?" Christopher called out once more. "What the hell is going on?" He knew this wasn't a dream based on his very real physical pain, so that rules out the not-so-obvious.

With his body still weak, Christopher had to crawl his way across the room and to a chair. He dropped his arm atop it, only to get a face full of dust in return. Coughing for a moment, he eventually struggled and managed to lift himself onto the chair.

"Ah great job Chris, you went from a nice, cozy chair to a shitty, dirty one." The man spoke to no one in particular as he looked at the computer in front of him. An exhale signaled the start of his attempts to turn the accursed thing on.

"Where the hell is the tower?" He looked around for the obvious compatriot part to a computer, but didn't see it. "Oh god are these things the computer and monitor hybrids I heard about?" Feeling around the item for a power button answered that as the computer flared to life. A sigh of relief came from Chris as he could at least get some answers now. Why the hell was he the only one here? Why was this place abandoned? And what the goddamn hell was that smell?!

As the screen displayed the homepage, Chris immediately noticed a folder labeled: Project Arc. Without anything better to go from, he started there. Using the dust painted mouse, he clicked on the folder and several video files sprang to life.

"Let's see here…" He scrolled past the video files pertaining to everyone in the pods with him. A few images were also there, but those were insignificant in the face of the file series labeled "Personal Logs". Clicking on the first one, Christopher didn't expect the audio to play over the speakers. He also didn't expect to hear the project head's voice.

"First entry of Project Arc, June 12th 2020, 5:42 P.M. We just put the codenamed Pandora's to sleep about an hour ago. All systems are clean and life signs are optional, it was a complete success. For the foreseeable future, the staff shall run regular shifts like any other job until the event of WCS spreading even furthur. Rations have already been stockpiled down here in the case of that event. Until then: nothing further of note needs reporting." The audio then cut off as it automatically went to the next entry.

"Second entry of Project Arc, September 5th 2023, 3:27 A.M. Due to the ever-growing battles between the Legion and Crusaders and the destabilization of the global economy, all needed bodies have been permanently moved to this facility while the government shall send supplies and such via a service elevator in the stairwell." The man sighed in clear frustration. "At the current rate these battles are going and the massive slowdown of vaccination development for WCS, I'm afraid Project Arc may hold true to its namesake. One can only hope for the best as we press onwards past this flood." Once more the log ends as Chris digests what he already knew would happen at the rate everything was already heading. The next log played.

"Third entry of Project Arc, June 30th, 2032, 7:15 P.M. It seems as though our worst fears have come to pass. Project Gestalt shall be initiated to the surviving human populace in a last-ditch effort. …How truly foolish they all are. To believe that magic from another world shall be the path to the future. The staff that remains shall now be sealed in, myself included as we are not infected. This place… shall serve as our tomb." The man went silent for a moment, as if reflecting on something. "Regardless, life signs remain normal and Project Arc is alive and well. Let us hope it remains that way."

Christopher had at least received his answer towards that abhorrent smell he'd grown used to by now. With the knowledge of their inevitable fates in mind, he continued with the next log.

"Fourth entry of Project Arc, December 25th, 2054, 4:25 A.M. Happy Birthday to the newly made fake humans are in order I suppose. Project Gestalt has evolved in a new direction in part, due to their nonsense magic. It's all humbug to me either way. I've remained down here for 35 years now. I'm approaching the tender age of 80, and soon I shall pass on. Not many of the staff remain with me. We had… hoped to reduce cases of violence caused by isolation, repression or other such things by having a staff equal parts male and female, however, it seems as though all things are destined to crumble. After a violent and sexual outburst from one male, which resulted in two deaths, one by suicide, the groups have seemingly formed their own dynamics. I've heard murmurs of... unsettling prospects. From cannibalism to sexual satisfaction from the Pandora's." The voice stops as Christopher can tell the owner itself is beginning to crack. "Perhaps… we deserve the fate which god has wrought upon us. Perhaps we as humans are inherently flawed and thus don't deserve to persist in the future. For now, and for as long as I live, I shall persist on what has now become my life's work."

Christopher eyed the final video log and hit play as he started to explore the environment with these parting words as his background noise.

"Fifth entry of Project Arc, January 1st, 2075, 2:35 P.M."

The young man, using the chair as a mobile carrier, pushed off the desks.

"As if the universe itself was telling me that I was a fool, only I remain now. All my staff are dead. Communication and supplies from the outside world have ceased. This place… is the final bastion of the once great human race."

He eyed a nearby door and made his way to it.

"I've manually reworked the power system to supply all electricity to the pods. As long as the solar panels, wind turbines, generators and the like persist, so shall mankind. Heh, it's rather ironic, the very planet we polluted and pillaged of its resources is now the sole things keeping us alive. Heheheheheh. Hahahahahaha! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" The old man burst into uncontrollable cackles of madness as the feigning vestiges of his sanity slipped away.

"To anyone or anything listening to this, know that we tried. We so desperately tried to survive. But this cruel, ugly world brings nothing but ruin and death to all that seek to thrive in it. I pray that perhaps, by some miracle of god, those in the pods shall awaken to a world from which they can survive, and bring glory to mankind."

Christopher reaches the closed door, and with a bit of force, opens it to reveal an office.

"This is Tobias Jefferson, head of Project Arc, signing off."

The man stared at the chair before his eyes where a skeleton sat, clutching a cane in its hand, and a revolver in the other. A dried, black stain against the wall told the whole story to Christopher.

He wordlessly approached the man responsible for preserving his life, no real emotion or feeling in his eyes. How was one supposed to even feel in this situation? For all he knew, he was it. He was all that remained of humanity. The fact only his pod had opened and none of the others had even a single light on told him that everyone else was dead.

Christopher, was all alone once again.

Christopher, after taking the cane and gun, for later use if necessary, had explored the rest of the facility. The cane was a very useful tool for his arms to regain their strength as he pushed off of objects to propel the chair forward. He saw many bunk beds and skeletons too. The condition of their skulls, ribs and the like telling him more than enough about the fate of the scientists.

After scavenging for what felt like hours, his sense of time completely shot, Chris had gathered the remaining useable supplies he had as by some miracle, a single refrigerator persisted. Plenty of dried beans, honey, sugar, non-iodized salt, maple syrup, canola oil, popcorn kernels, white vinegar, cornstarch, vanilla extract, white rice, soy sauce and even an old bottle of brandy.

"Might as well get a kick in the ass before I do something dumb." Christopher popped open the bottle and took a sip of the drink. His eyes immediately bugged out as he quickly placed the beverage down and coughed harshly.

"God fuckin damn!" He spat out between coughs. "Alright! I'm awake now!" Christopher proclaimed to the graveyard he was in.

After this he wrapped up everything neatly and tightly in a backpack, reclaimed his belongings and rummaged some other goodies from the other Pandora's, they won't be needing that stuff anymore, and before too long, sat before the door leading to the stairs.

He'd originally tried the elevator, but everything was completely rusted over to a degree he'd never even imagined. To Chris, that only told him he was way out of his time period.

Chris opened the door and was greeted by the stairs he so dreaded climbing. But what truly caught his eye was a small table with an odd object and note atop it.

Squinting in confusion, he made his way over to the object and grabbed the note.

"To the sole surviving human reading this:

Greetings! The unit writing this note is designated as Zinnia. There are without question many things you wish to know and many things I so wish I could tell you. However, I am not aware of when you shall awaken from your slumber, nor do I know if the world you shall awaken to is free of the Machine plague infecting it. What I do know however, is that you will awaken one day. And when that time comes, you must press a button on the object with this note. I promise you, people that have nothing but your safety and preservation in mind will find you.

I… wish that perhaps we could someday meet in person. However I am all too aware that such a thing is highly unlikely. I swear though, that upon my creators and upon my very existence, I shall see to it that you will be protected. It is all we desire to see, and all we desire to do. With this, I bid you farewell, our hope for the future.

Zinnia."

The note was recent as the dust on it was rather minimal in comparison to everything else. This was recent. Perhaps within the last ten years.

Following the instructions, Chris decided to press the button on the black object, it gave off a faint beeping sound and nothing else.

"The hell is this? Some kind of tracer?" He eyed the object oddly before shrugging and placing it in his bag. "I don't even know if anyone is gonna come. Soooooo." The man looked at the stairs in apprehension before sighing. "I should've asked for money before agreeing to this dumb project."

It seemed as though the service elevator for carrying small things was also not an option for his lithe, but very tall frame. So, he began his slow ascent up the seemingly endless chasm of steps.

Ten stories.

Twenty.

Fifty.

One hundred.

"I. REALLY. HATE. STAIRS." He groaned, as by this point his body had fully reawakened from 9000 years of rest.

Two hundred.

Five hundred.

"My ass. Is going to look fantastic after this." He groaned as he climbed up more steps.

One thousand.

Chris sat off to the side, taking a break for the time being. "Okay, maybe I should've just waited."

One thousand five hundred.

Two thousand.

After what was unquestionably an eternity and having eaten most of his non-taste enhancing foods, Christopher finally saw his salvation. Natural light.

He'd been climbing virtually in the dark, muscle memory getting him through climbing up the countless steps the entire time.

With the end of the road in sight, Christopher began running up the stairs and came to a door with light peeking through it. A wide smile on his face he moved to open it, only to find the damn handle rusted. Hell, the whole thing was!

"Oh ho no you don't." He took a few steps back and shoulder checked the door, the steel very audibly groaning in pain.

"I DID NOT!"

SLAM

"CLIMB THAT MANY STAIRS!"

SLAM

"TO HAVE MOTHER NATURE FUCK ME OVER!"

With one last push, Chris broke through the door and fell to the ground face-first.

"YEAH, TAKE THAT STEEL! WHO'S THE MAN NOW?!" As he cheered with his face in the ground, Chris failed to notice the device from earlier fall out of his bag.

Finally being able to take in actual sunlight was cut short as he finally saw what the surface looked like.

There were no words.

There was nothing he could say.

Before his eyes lay the ruins of a city. What was once a proud testament to humanities unrivaled ability to create, was now nothing more than a bitter reminder.

Christopher, was all alone in this world.

The Bunker

March 15th, 11945

7:32 A.M.

In the control room for the Bunker was a myriad of Operator units, assigned to assist the ground troops of YoRHa in their various assignments.

A unit designated as 15O picked up an odd signal coming from a city nearby where the 243rd Descent Operation occured. She cross-referenced the signal and found it to be a beacon of YoRHa origin.

"Commander!" She called out to the android in charge of the entire organization.

The blonde woman heard the cry and walked over to the unit.

"Is something wrong?"

"I've picked up an odd signal of YoRHa origin, however it doesn't match that of any active units."

The woman scowled as she went into thought as to what the origin could be.

"Send the details to other Operator Units and have them see if any squads are nearby to investigate."

"Yes Ma'am!" She nodded and did as ordered.

After a moment of the information being passed around, another unit spoke up, 6O.

"Commander! Unit 2B and 9S are in close proximity after having left the Resistance Camp."

"Order them to investigate at once." She ordered without hesitation.

"Yes Ma'am!" The android then spoke with the units in question.

The Commander stared at the signal with a mix of thoughts.

'Just what is happening? And why do I feel like something big is brewing?'

Little did she know, little did any of the androids know, that this signal would change everything.

City Ruins

March 15th, 11945

7:40 A.M.

Christopher just… knelt there. The weight of everything crashing down upon him like a maverick wave. Countless questions bubbled to the surface of his consciousness, slowly killing the shock of his situation.

What year was it?

Are there truly any other humans?

Where was he?

Is WCS gone?

Is his older brother…. no, that's a foolish question to even consider. The vague spark of hope in his chest was immediately snuffed out as he recalled at least 55 years had passed since he was frozen based on dates. However the skeletal state of the other humans told him it was more like over 60. But given what he was seeing right now, it could even be well beyond that.

What really stumped him was the city before his eyes. He'd never even seen it before, let alone knew of it. The last of the surface he saw was an incredibly dense forest, not whatever this was. His heart beat much faster as he looked at the fractured skyscrapers, supported by unbelievably massive trees. Nature had reclaimed this world, humans had come and gone with their borrowed time and now she had taken back what was always hers.

After a few moments, the man stood and took a look around his immediate surroundings. Something rather odd caught his eye. He approached a large rock that lay on the ground, about the perfect size for someone to sit on. On this rock were a bundle of odd-looking clothes and a sword stabbed into the ground.

With a bit of force, the man managed to pull the sheathed weapon from the ground, the black carrier of the blade masking any sign of dirtiness well. Its handle was rather simple and reminded Chris of those officer swords you'd have seen with the Marines, except this was an iron color instead of a gold.

He pulled the blade out, surprised it wasn't rusted at all. The single-edged weapon looked as ready to kill now as it had been whenever it was forged. It surprised the man that weapons were still being forged. Perhaps this was a sign? Maybe he wasn't alone on this lush wasteland.

Christopher chose to ignore the fleeting ember of hope that remained in his chest, deciding such a thing was ultimately wasted on him. He sheathed the blade and tied the strings on the top of the sheath to his belt before pressing on.

Though Christopher quickly realized he was currently atop a large cliff overlooking the city.

With a sigh of annoyance, the teen began the dangerous task of climbing down the landmass without dying.

City Ruins

March 15th, 11945

12:15 P.M

"Looks like this is the place." A male voice spoke as he climbed over the top and stood. He dusted off his entirely black clothing which contrasted his snow white hair and pale skin. "You need a hand 2B?" The young man offered a hand to a woman who had also just reached the top.

"I'm fine." She bluntly retorted and leapt up the edge, landing rather harshly on the ground, her weight cracking the earth a bit.

"Easy there, this is a cliff after all. Wouldn't wanna cause an landslide." He chided the rough treatment of the woman.

"Let's just focus on the mission 9S." Her cold voice shot down the complaint.

"Yeah yeah." He rolled his covered eyes. "Hey pod, any idea on where this signal is?" 9S spoke to the flying contraption next to him.

"Searching… Search complete. Signal is approximately fifteen feet north and three feet west." The feminine robotic voice pinpointed the origin.

2B easily saw what the device was with the location, approaching the contraption and lifting it.

"Pod, scan the item." She ordered her own assistant.

"Scanning… Scan complete. Object is of early YoRHa origin. It was activated approximately two days ago." A masculine robotic voice answered.

"Two days? That's not right, we only just got the signal about Five hours ago." 9S placed a hand to his chin in confusion.

2B looked ahead to spot an open door and stood.

"Maybe we'll get our answers down there."

The male unit followed her line of sight and nodded before they both descended the seemingly bottomless chasm of stairs.

After what seemed like hours of sprinting down stairs, they finally reached the bottom.

"Geez, no wonder that signal was two days old, it was probably activated down here first." He sighed in relief upon reaching the bottom of the stairs.

"…" 2B kept quiet as she approached the open door and entered the massive chamber of Project Arc.

"Whoa…" 9S gaped as he looked around in awe. "What in the world do you think went on here." He asked out loud.

"Don't know, maybe these will give us some answers." The woman walked over to the tables lined with what she assumed was some kind of old technology. "Pod, can you scan the contents of this?"

"Scanning… Scan complete. This was the area in which Project Arc was conducted."

"What the hell is Project Arc?" 9S questioned as he approached a pod.

"Project Arc was a last-ditch effort to preserve humanity. Humans of various backgrounds and ethnicities would be cryogenically frozen before being thawed out in the future. Upon release, they would repopulate the earth if neccessary. All subjects were chosen based on superior genetic advantages so the best possible offspring would be produced."

"Elaborate on that." 9S requested, annoyed he couldn't see into the pods.

"Humans with superior muscle structure for hard labor. Humans with strong genes that resisted disease. Human females with optimal bodily ability to produce many healthy offspring. Human males with superior breeding abili-"

"O-Okay Pod! You can stop now!" The young boy feverishly told the pod to shut up, a blush spread across his face as he looked down in second-hand embarrassment.

If he hadn't overreacted that harshly, he would've seen even 2B look a bit flustered at that kind of information.

"A-anyways! So these pods have humans in them right?!" He excitedly looked over the many chambers, beyond eager to finally meet one of his creators.

"Negative." It coldly replied to the robots shock.

"Elaborate." 2B ordered.

"Due to power issues, the cryogenic process could not he sustained for over 9000 years. As such, each occupant slowly awoke over time and died of dehydration or starvation." It lay the harsh truth to the pair of androids, both feeling a sense of disappointment.

"… I see." 2B responded in a hollow tone.

"W-wait!" 9S quickly rushed over to a different pod row. "This one is open!" Hope and excitement returned to him. "This one must have activated the signal!" He pieced together the most likely scenario from what he had.

"Pod, who was in this pod?" She demanded an answer.

"Cross referencing pod locations with names… the occupant of this particular pod was Christopher Friedrich Arouet. Age: 23. Sex: Male. Ethnicity: Caucasian."

"He must not be far from here then! If we hurry, we could catch up to him!" 9S closer resembled an excited puppy right now than an android meant to slaughter alien-made machines.

"As soon as we get out, we inform Command first. We need to rescue the human before the machines find him." 2B roped in 9S and made sure he remembered their mission.

"R-right! If he's from over 9000 years ago, then he wouldn't know about the machines! We gotta go!"

With that in mind, the group rushed back to the outside world. Their entire beings filled with a new sense of duty.

Well hello there readers new and old! I am SK. Why SK you ask? Because I can't find the goddamn name change option.

I make bad-to-mediocre fanfiction stories that somehow don't make people contemplate burning my nonexistent house to the ground... or they don't vocalize that thought.

Anyways! This story has been in the works for a bit now, the announcement of the Nier Remake giving me the kick in the ass I needed to finally put this sucker out. First chapters are always the worst to put out since you have no idea how people will respond.

If you are familiar with my other story, thank you for actually reading my other content, this one will be a bit of a change of pace. I won't really bother going into detail about that since you'll just see what I mean as this story continues.

I will eventually tackle Chris' story of survival when the world just went to hell, so don't worry if that intrests you, we will get to it.

As for how long this fic will be, I dunno. I don't limit myself with imaginary chapter numbers or word count limits. However! I do already know how I wanna end it, so rest assured there is an ending, we just gotta, y'know, reach it.

Updates will be whenever, I need to settle into the pattern of doing two stories at once first before I can solidly say, but I hope biweekly at the worst.

So! Until next time, I bid you all adieu.