He walked, slowly, patiently, down the street, long pike in one of his pale hands. He was never really too fond of his complexion. He had never really gotten used to the repaired sunlight, and unlike all of the other young men these days, he would simply burn instead of tanning. He spiked the pieces of assorted garbage that covered the city street until his pike was full, and then he slid them off into the thick bag he held in his other hand. Times like this he wished his boots were better-fitting for all the walking he did.

Ivan had a job as a trash collector, and he had worked at this for a long time. He was twenty now, having been a part of the city cleanup for five years. As his mind flicked back to five years ago, he remembered today was the anniversary. Five whole years, eh? he thought to himself. "It's been a while."

"Been a while since what?" asked Natalya, a small girl walking along beside him. She was his little six year old sister, in a way. He had taken her in after her parents had died of the smog, much like Yao.

"The man I love died." Ivan answered. He'd vaguely mentioned Yao to her perhaps once or twice.

"Oh, right," she nodded, reaching up and taking Ivan's big hand. "Do you still love him?" Natalya asked quietly, looking up at her big brother with large dark blue eyes and a soft frown. There was no need for elephants anymore; technology had advanced through these twenty-one years of suffering to fix the world, what with the trees from tree cases being genetically modified to grow larger and stronger, and water beginning to be purified for drinking. Even now that things were better, humans were right back to tossing their garbage wherever they wanted. Ivan didn't want that. He had promised Yao a clean world.

"Of course I do." Ivan smiled, gently tousling her scruffy hair and fixing up the ribbon that was threatening to fall out. "And I love you too, sestra."

Ivan finished his rounds, and paid a trip to Francis the Giver after dropping Natalya off at the child safety center. It was better for Natalya to spend some time with a big sister figure, and Ivan had found a lovely woman there who would care for her when he needed his time alone. He appreciated Katyusha. "Good evening, Francis the Giver," he said, sighing quietly and sitting down in the grass. "Oh, I brought you something," he nodded, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out something he'd bought in the Right Place this morning. Speaking of which, at this time, the Right Place was hardly just a ghetto anymore. In fact, the whole area had been transformed radically, turning into a blossoming marketplace for trades of all kind. It was the heart of the breathing city. "It's called a 'crepe'," he said, pulling the packaged bit of food out of the wrappers and putting it down amongst the roses. "They said it was a recipe from France, which is where you came from, right?" he laughed.

Francis the Giver said nothing, and in the silence, Ivan smiled. "Thanks again for your sympathies all those days ago," he smiled faintly. "I'll come visit you on your birthday. Another important anniversary I must remember," he chuckled, sighing softly and touching the earth in front of him. "I really must buy one of those new 'calendar' things. Apparently people who survived the Dark used them. They're so odd! They have all these funny symbols on them, and apparently it helps organize what day it is, or something," he mused. "Did you hear of a calendar?" Ivan sighed softly and pet Francis's headstone twice, before slowly standing up and stretching his arms. "Oh well. Au revoir," he cooed, before leaving the grave and heading homes. Calendars were not the only things resurrected nowadays; languages had been carried on by the few people who learnt and survived long enough to teach. It was a real fad nowadays to be fluent in a couple of languages. Ivan only really bothered taking Russian and French. He found those the most interesting.

When he returned to the small apartment he called home, Ivan sighed and headed straight out to the balcony. It was his favourite place to be. From this spot, at the little table near the railing, he could look out at the sky and feel like he was talking straight to Heaven. Smiling Tom, who had only a few years ago come out as a man from Long Before named Romulus, was head of the city's churches, and sometimes, when he didn't have a shift of trash collection, Ivan would attend. He learned about Heaven and Hell, and all of what was inbetween. He wasn't sure how much he believed. He wanted to believe what Yao thought about God all those years ago, about how God had forsaken them and would not have let this plague overcome them if he had truly existed, but he could not. Ivan couldn't find it in himself to blame anyone or force anger onto anyone for Yao's death. He believed Yao had gone up to Heaven, and that he would like it there, with the animals and the family members he had lost. And so, talking to Heaven was what Ivan did often.

"Good evening," he said to the setting sun, watching as the sky dappled pink and orange. He wondered how he ever lived without these colours that were finally starting to show as the last of the smog was drawn from the air of this world. Colour was so beautiful, and so striking to a boy who had only ever seen the world in greyscale. "Yao," he said quietly, smiling, because that is what Yao would have wanted. "My love. How are you?" he asked, sitting at the small table and leaning back in his chair. "That's good. Me too."

"They're starting to make food again, you know," Ivan mused softly. "I can hardly eat any at once because my stomach is very small," he scoffed, thinking back to the doctors when he'd scoffed down a large plate of expensive food only to throw it up because he'd been on SFs almost his whole life. "It all costs so much, but I understand why you loved it so much," he chuckled. "I had water the other day, too. I still have Sustenance Fluids around, but I had water today." Ivan couldn't help but smile. It seemed the wind was picking up. "Wish you could see this."

After a little while of pleasurable silence, Ivan remembered something, and headed inside for a moment. It had grown dark without his notice, and so he flicked some lights on. This technology still amazed him. Everything operated so quickly. He found what he was looking for in his bedroom, and slowly took it outside. "Hey, look at this." He scoffed softly, gently putting down his tree case on the table. "Look at it," he mumbled, gently putting a hand on the dirty glass. "My dear old tree. " He sighed and looked down at the elephant that was still connected to it. "It's starting to look like yours, Yao," he murmured, leaning in. The tree indeed looked lifeless, with just one or two little leaves remaining on the dying trunk. It was probably already fully dead, but those leaves just held on with all their might. "It's dying. Like me."

Ivan had been dying for a while. He had breathed in more than enough of the smog while he was out with Yao five years ago to have killed him by now. However, not even a year after returning to the city, the new, larger trees were developed and prototyped, and the world was blessed with real, large, living trees, that spouted grand amounts of oxygen. The world was starting to purify once more. Due to all the fresh air, and no longer using his small tree and ergo recycling the poison to himself, Ivan was able to considerably lengthen his lifespan. He had seen the doctor the other day after coughing blood, and it was revealed he had another few years on him, if he was lucky.

In all honesty, Ivan didn't think dying sounded that bad. He would be reunited with his love, up there in the Heaven he was convinced existed. He would leave Natalya behind, sure, but she was only six, and she had a proper and untainted set of lungs to last her all of her life. She was a part of the new generation, the healthy one, that would lead the world into sustainability one day. Plus, she had Yekaterina to look after her. Ivan didn't have much of a legacy he was leaving behind, but he wasn't that bothered. He would be fine with it if he passed away. He would go with a smile.

"Sometimes I wonder what you would've said if you'd lived to see this," Ivan said, leaning on the railing and looking out over the glowing city, simply shining out with life and the noises of the night. "I think you'd like it here. It's bright and warm, just like you." He laughed quietly to himself, feeling the wind gently tousling his hair. "Oh, look at that," he sighed, catching a glimpse out of the corner of his eye of one of the two remaining leaves on his tree falling down and resting amongst the roots. "It's the last leaf. I guess it's true what they say. What you say." he scoffed, lifting up the tree case and gently shaking it, watching as the final leaf of his autumn fluttered down to the bottom of the case. "Leaves fall so new ones can grow, am I right?" he mumbled.

There was a sudden shift in the wind, and Ivan felt like he'd be knocked off his feet. He simply laughed as the cold breeze whipped his face and hair, and he spread his arms wide. "So let them grow!" he laughed into the evening sky, accepting the embrace from the elements. His laughter continued, before slowing down and turning tearful. Still, the wind battered him, pushing him this way and that and flicking his hair every which way. He held tightly onto the railing, knuckles turning white. "I love you," he finished quietly.

The blustery breeze still whistled past Ivan. Amongst the soft howling of the wind turning this way and that, he could have sworn he heard a few quiet words amongst the air. Perhaps his dying ears were just playing tricks on him. Perhaps God was real, and perhaps Heaven was real, and perhaps everything Smiling Romulus had said had been true. Ivan never settled on why he thought he heard what he did, only ever really knowing who had spoken. There was no doubt in his mind.

"I love you too."

the real end uvu thanks for reading ;w;