Yao blinked his eyes open. A few days had passed as per usual. He and Ivan would rise here, in their home, in the alley, and then go to work. Sixteen hours meant three syringes each, and they could scrape by on one each per day. Saving up was good, and the pay Francis gave them was great. No-one else worked for Francis the Giver as long as they did. "Hey, wake up now," Yao said, sitting up from where he'd been laying on Ivan. Ivan was much preferable to lay on than the cold alley ground. Yao had almost traded a syringe for some cardboard sheets to make shelter with, but decided Sustenance was more important than luxuries like that.

Ivan slowly blinked his eyes open behind the thick lenses of his gasmask. "Your elephant's eyes are all cloudy," Yao frowned, looking all down the sleeve of his coat and trying to find a relatively clean spot. Once he found a slightly unmarked patch of fabric, he gently rubbed it on Ivan's lenses so he could see better. "I swear, we go to sleep, and wake up covered in a whole new layer of grit. My hair was dark before, now it is just black."

"Well, I like it whatever colour it is," said Ivan, humming softly to himself and reaching tiredly up to touch Yao's straw-like hair. "Are you ever going to get it cutted?"

"Get it cut, Ivan. Not cutted," he corrected, laughing tiredly. "I don't know. Maybe. I like it long, even though I can't wash it now."

"That's a weird thing," Ivan mused, crinkling his nose and slowly sitting up. "Washing your hair."

Yao sighed and started to get ready to get up. Ivan helped him set up his tree case on his back again, and Yao helped Ivan do the same with his own. "I have my checkup today," he mumbled, pulling the lidded syringes from his pocket and sighing. "But first, we have to eat. Here, can you do yours? I probably overslept." He nodded slightly, offering one of the syringes to Ivan.

"I hate doing my own," he mumbled, staring at the Sustenance Fluids before shakily taking the cap off the syringe. Frightened, he brought it to his neck, and took a deep breath.

"Wrong place," said Yao quickly, just snatching the syringe from Ivan's hands and pressing it quickly into his shoulder. "Ivan, you have to remember where it goes."

Ivan frowned and fiddled with his hands as Yao injected his own. As the nutrients started to start working within their systems, Yao got up and helped Ivan to his feet. "Are you going to wait for me outside the doctor's?" Yao asked, putting two fresh syringes in his pocket (he'd pay the doctor with them), and the two empty ones in his other.

"Where else would I go?" Ivan smiled.

They walked to the doctors, and Ivan sat outside while he waited for Yao's appointment to be over, Ivan watched the people pass. He wondered why Yao called their masks 'elephants'. Just what was an elephant, exactly? It sounded dangerous, thought Ivan. He wouldn't like to run into an elephant. It would probably scare him. Maybe it was a kind of machine, or a disease. Could gasmasks look like diseases? Ivan observed everyone passing. Before Yao came out, a large bell started to toll though the city from the old bell tower. It seemed their mayor was going to speak today. The people from inside the doctor's building began to walk out, Yao included in the small group.

"What did the doctor say?" said Ivan, straightening up and slowly moving over to Yao.

"He said we've got to go and listen to our beloved mayor," he deadpanned. "I donated our empty syringes, too."

"Alright," Ivan said quietly. "To the town square, then?"

"Oh boy." said Yao as they started to head off.

The town square was incredibly populated, perhaps thirty or forty people gathered. That was more than Ivan had ever seen in one place in his entire life. "A big crowd today," wooed Ivan, holding onto Yao's sleeve like a small child would with their mother. Not that he knew that was what he was emulating. He didn't have a mother, not since he'd received her tree.

"I think this might be everyone in the city," Yao mumbled, edging into the crowd and stopping once he had found a spot with enough space for Ivan to stand beside him. Up front, behind the podium, stood a man codenamed as 'Smiling Tom'. No-one knew what his real name was. Yao knew he wasn't from here. He spoke another language when people weren't supposed to be looking. The nickname came from the large smiling grin painted onto his elephant.

"People of the city! Citizens, my dear friends," he began, arms moving quickly and vibrantly as he talked. Yao tried to remember what country's people did that. It had been a long time since countries had mattered. "I have come here today to assure you that we can be saved! Purification, cleansing! It is not far away!" he bellowed, throwing his arms up in what Yao could only assume to be enthusiasm. His dark chestnut hair was incredibly curly, and oddly, it wasn't covered with grit and soot. He hadn't been in the city long, obviously. Yao made a scrupulous and hidden pout up at Smiling Tom.

"Eradicate the sinful!" he bellowed, pointing out over the crowd. "While they still exist, God's punishment will continue to poison our hearts! With your devotion, we can live without our masks once again! The world can be pure!" There were positive murmurs around the crowd. Those born Before were all hanging on Smiling Tom's words as some fanatical hope for themselves and their salvation. Yao was not among those of good faith. He hated every word, because he knew they were lies. People would do anything for power, wouldn't they? Or perhaps, Smiling Tom was a true believer of his stupid religious words. "Eradicate those showing any of the seven deadly sins! Rid yourselves of those curses upon humanity! You and I can work together and save our city!"

Yao scoffed quietly, looking to Ivan. Ivan seemed to be a bit entranced by Smiling Tom's speech. "We're leaving," Yao mumbled, lightly taking Ivan's sleeve and starting to pull him out through the back end of the crowd. Ivan didn't say anything, just sighing and lightly following Yao. As they escaped the crowd, Yao felt more resistance from the man he pulled along behind him. After this started getting on his nerves, he turned his head, pausing in his walking. "What is it? Keep up," he huffed, letting go of Ivan's coat and turning his whole body to face him.

"Your tree.." Ivan frowned, moving around behind his friend and gently putting his hands on the glass of Yao's capsule. "It looks a little like Mister Giver's. Is it supposed to?"

"No, it's not supposed to." Yao murmured. "My tree is dying. I know." Ivan fell silent, fearful as to just what that meant. "Come on. We're going home." No-one spoke again until they were back in the alley.

"Do you want to lay on me?" asked Ivan as Yao lifted his tree case from his back and lightly set it down on the ground. Ivan sat beside it, back up against the alley wall.

"I'll lay beside you," Yao nodded, settling down beside him, and resting his head lightly on Ivan's chest. He helped Ivan in draping one arm around his shoulders. He always felt safer when Ivan held him. Another silence befell them, until Yao decided to break it. "Do you believe what Smiling Tom says?"

"Honestly?.." said Ivan, looking down at Yao and putting his other arm around him too. "I don't know. He seems like he could be onto something."

"I don't think there is a God," said Yao quietly. "If there was, would He let this happen to the world?"

"I thought you said people Before were pretty bad. Maybe it was a punishment."

"A true God would not do something like this to us," Yao murmured, trying to press his face against Ivan's chest. His elephant's trunk just bent uncomfortably, so he gave up, and rested the side of his face on Ivan instead. "If He exists, 'God' has forsaken us and left us to die on the planet we destroyed."

"So, Yao," Ivan said quietly, after another moment of silence. He shifted a little, leaning closer to his friend. "What are you going to do?" Yao tilted his head a bit, and laughed sadly.

"I'm going to die."

"Before that happens," Ivan mumbled. "Is there something you are going to do before that happens?"

"I don't know," he said softly. "If there's anything I want, I-.." His voice was growing shaky with a fear he didn't want to admit was piercing his heart. "I want.. To feel alive again," Yao whispered, putting his arms back around Ivan. "I want to feel again, I want to feel the wind in my hair, I want to feel the sun on my skin one last time before I go. I want the world to go back to how it was," he whimpered.

Ivan had never seen Yao this meek and tearful, and he didn't know why, but his eyes felt odd behind his elephant's lenses. It wasn't like they hurt, but they felt.. Ivan couldn't find a word for it. He felt sad, and his eyes itched ever so slightly. He felt something fall down his cheek from inside his mask. "I want to make that happen for you," he said quietly, staring down at Yao. The bottom of his vision became blurred from something, and he blinked rapidly. His eyelashes only caught something cold on them, and it became harder to see at all. "I.. I think I'm going blind," he said quietly, leaning down. "My eyes are falling out.. I-"

"You're crying," Yao mumbled, lip quivering. "You're crying, Ivan. That's what it's called. Your eyes are fine," he whimpered, unable to hold back tears of his own. "There's some water in them. Remember what I told you water was?"

"Oh, yeah," he said weakly, sniffling instinctively. "Water's the stuff you put in your mouth. Why is it in my eyes?"

"Because you're sad," Yao answered quietly. "The world is sad, and unfair, and unjust, and I'm sad too," he cried softly. "And you're going to be left alone again."

Ivan cried more at this, actually letting out a weak sob from his mouth. "Why am I doing this?" he whimpered, despairing and petrified. He hadn't cried since he was first born, and he didn't understand. He had been a very quiet child. "Why am I doing this?!"

"Shut up, Ivan," Yao mumbled, lightly punching Ivan's chest. "You don't understand, and you probably never will, just shut up," he breathed. He was really too emotionally worn to explain every human function to his After companion.

"Okay," he mumbled.

After a while of quiet, Ivan did something stupid. As Yao's crying started to recede into silence, he lifted the bottom of his mask, then pressing his dry lips to a relatively undirtied spot on Yao's head. He had managed to get a spot on the side of Yao's face, not covered by the elephant. It was just beneath his temple. Just as quickly as he'd lifted it, Ivan put his elephant back on properly, and let out the breath he'd been holding. Yao tensed, looking up at him. "You told me your mother did that?" he said quietly, voice trembling and wavering slightly. "I want to make you feel better," he said quietly.

"Never take off your mask, you idiot," Yao hissed. "Idiot. Don't do that." He breathed. "I appreciate the sentiment, but don't risk anything like that for me." He, of course, had his heart warmed by the notion. However, he valued Ivan's safety over his own wellbeing.

"I'm going to help you," said Ivan softly, determinedly.

"What? What are you talking about?" mumbled Yao, tugging lightly at the fabric of Ivan's coat. "I'm beyond help. The doctor says I'm going to die and I can't be helped."

"Didn't you tell me that everyone dies one day?" Ivan murmured. "I'm going to help you get what you want."

"Yeah, right," Yao mumbled. "I can't see the world fixed. It's too late for that."

"I'll take you out of the city," suggested Ivan, in a soft, cautious tone of voice. "You can feel the wind in your hair and the sun on your skin."

"That's such a stupid idea," he murmured. "What if something happened to me while we were out of the city? You wouldn't make it back alone."

"I think you're what matters most to me." said Ivan, lowering his head. "If I don't make it back after losing you, I will be okay with that. I don't see a future without you in it."

"You're such stupid dreamer," mumbled Yao, closing his eyes and resting more against his companion. "Thank you." He really didn't think Ivan was serious.

good fun! good fun. the real plot is revealed. also, smiling tom is actually romulus, if you didn't catch that.

Glossary –

Before – Any place in time prior to the Dark.

The Dark – The time when a great amount of toxic smog, acid, and vile pollution were released into the environment. Released initially as a contained test of eliminating a single country, the situation quickly got out o f hand, and spread like wildfire, obliterating fauna and flora on a global scale. This event destroyed the world. Only a few civilizations remain across Northern America. Other continents are also affected, but it is unknown if there are any surviving humans on them. There were some precautions in place before the pollutions were released, including the SFs, and tree cases. These products are now being produced as quickly as possible, however, resources are very limited. The trees now within the tree cases are incredibly precious, as they are the last trees in existence.

After – Any place in time following the Dark.

Tree case – A miniature tree growing in a shallow layer of dirt within an unbreakable glass capsule. The bottom is made of thick metal. Airtight tubing connects the capsule to a mask strapped onto the wearer's face. The exchange of carbon dioxide from the wearer and oxygen from the tree create the wearer's personal air supply. The case is worn like a backpack, with straps crossing over the chest. The gasmask only covers the front of the head. Ears, hair, etc, are still visible and stick out from between the straps.

Elephant – Yao's term for the gasmasks, due to their trunk-like tubing.

SF/SFs – Sustenance Fluid/s. A re-energizing liquid within a syringe that has become currency. SFs replace the need for food or water, and are mostly nutritiously sound. They are becoming increasingly hard to come by.

DPP – Depopulation and Protection Program. The government's law states that for every child born, its parents must opt to either have the child live forever without a tree to themselves (ergo giving them up and letting them die) or sacrifice both the mother and father's trees to the government. The mother's tree goes to the child, and the father's tree goes to the government. This is a scheme in place to reduce the population to accommodate for having very limited resources.