Anthony stumbled forward, eyes locked on the twisted, charred remains of his mother. What was once a human form was now little more than a gory, melted mass.
“M-mom…?”
After reaching a certain point, he just stood there, unable to shed a single tear. He gaslit himself by thinking it was all a very very bad dream and that his sister and mom were just waiting for him to wake up…
Then it hit him.
“Wait… sister?! Damn it!”
He bolted toward the inferno that he once called home, desperately climbing the set of scorched stairs without a second thought. Once he reached the fourth floor, the door to their apartment was wide open, thick smoke pouring from the ceiling but he paid that detail no mind. Anthony ran without a second thought in a cloud of smoke. His legs carried him forward, heart pounding in his chest.
“SIS! WHERE ARE YOU?!”
A faint voice reached him from the kid’s bedroom, “B-brother…”
The faint confirmation that she was still alive was enough to relieve him a bit. but it was short-lived. The bedroom couldn’t be opened normally. The door handle had become way too hot to open.—He tried opening the door of the bedroom by kicking and punching, but he was way too weak for that to have any effects. Desperation surged as he kicked and pounded on it again, but the door held firm.
“Come on… come on…”
He finally tried wrapping his coat around his hand to try opening the door without burning his hand crisp. He yanked the door open and charged inside. but all he found was the body of his sister lying on the floor, limp and barely breathing. He didn't pay no mind though, he just scooped her up, cradling her fragile body in his arms, her face pressing against his shirt to shield her from the choking smoke.
The room behind them was quickly becoming an inescapable furnace, The smoke-screen had become too thick to pass where he came from without fainting himself. He scanned out the room’s window frantically. his eyes finally locking onto a pile of trash that was near enough from the window to jump into it.
There was no time to think for much longer.
So he jumped.
He fell,
And landed.
They hit the ground hard, his legs buckling under the weight. Pain shot up through his body, but he didn’t care. All that mattered was the tiny figure in his arms.
“S-sis… are you okay…?”
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He held his young sister tighter in his arms as he tried to put his head against her chest to see if she still had a heartbeat.
“Sis…? N-no…”
“SIS?! NO! FUCK! NOT YOU—”
Frantically, he pulled a revive syringe from his pocket, stabbing it into her arm, praying it would buy him time—just enough time to reach a medical center. He forced himself up, pain shooting through his injured leg.
But he didn’t stop.
He ran.
Not caring about his gravely injured leg that he got from his awkward fall. Anthony knew that his sister had a better future than him. The girl was always book smart and very intelligent. She even was a prospect for an elite academy in the very center of Deimos.
He tried everything, but she was slipping away. With every breath, her life ebbed out, slower and slower.
Time felt like it had stopped for Anthony, The world around him blurred, snowflakes were falling awfully slowly. The only thing that mattered was her taking another breath, a sign, a means—anything—to at least hint that she was still alive.
But it never came.
That night, Anthony Riviera became the last surviving member of his family.
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December 25th, 2145
12:47 AM
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“So… you want me to bury her?” The grave-keeper squinted, scratching his beard. “Y’know, in this day and age, that’s gonna cost ya. Quite a bit of credits, I’ll tell ya that much.”
“I don’t care.”
Anthony reluctantly hands over the now body-bagged corpse of the body of his sister to the “grave-keeper” of the industrial district. The man responsible for getting rid of the corpses of those unfortunate enough to die.
“When will she be buried?”
“Buddy, you won’t be able to see it, so don’t ask questions ‘bout that…”
“I know…”
“I-I’m really sorry kid.. She was way too young… and-”
“It’s alright…”
“...”
Soon after, Anthony stepped into the elevator, slightly warm hair from the clinic lingering on him as the doors closed. His legs felt weak, He could barely stand up, He couldn't believe that he just handed his sister’s body just like that. Before he knew it, he sank to the floor, curling himself into a ball.
"Why..." He muttered, barely more than a whisper.
“It’s all my fault…”
He trembled, his fingers digging into his scalp.
"What did I... fucking do to deserve this?"
Tears swelled up, pouring down his face, soaking into his shirt and neck. Almost damaging his microchip. His body quivered forcefully with the weight of his sobs. The loss, the helplessness—it tore at him from the inside, clawing its way out.
Then, he snapped. He screamed, a scream so raw, so guttural, it shattered the already wavering silence of the elevator.
"WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! WHY?!"
He smashed his fists against the floor, the rage and grief bonding together, crashing onto him. "Why did they have to die?"
His voice cracked, his throat sore from the strain.
"It should’ve been me... It should’ve been me..."
For a long time, he just sat there, tears pouring down his face, his chest trembling with every shaky breath. The world outside felt like a far, far away place. The elevator moved, but he felt trapped, sinking deeper into the hole that swallowed him whole.
Eventually, his sobs began to fade gradually, leaving only the hollow pain swelling in his chest. He lifted his head and stared out through the glass window. The city skyline stretched far beyond the industrial district, its lights shining so far even he could see them.
He glared at the city, almost as if he was angry at it.
The elevator finally reached the ground, and Anthony stood up unwillingly, his legs shaking beneath him. He finally stepped out of the mortuary clinic.
For a while, he just roamed the streets aimlessly, letting himself be guided by the wind. Not thinking about what’ll happen next, about what his life will look like…
“I-I… wanna see Mary…”
“H-her lovely face…”
The words he’d just muttered escaped by themselves, but he instinctively listened to them, they felt like truth. With nothing left to guide him, he finally had a new destination in sight, Deimos’ center…