Do or do not kill, that is what this country has come to. It is the future and the government has collapsed. I am already 17, and my hands are stained with the blood of the innocent. Most of the American population has died, and the rest of us live in the crumbling New York City. But supplies are dwindling and the fight to survive gets harder. There are two gangs, and we are trying to eliminate the other. Right now my side is close to the prize. We had an unstoppable plan, and it was going to take us to victory.
“Levi! You’re in charge of Squad 1!” the leader of our gang, Finlay, called to me.
“Yes sir!” I saluted.
My squad was made up of the best fighters; Kai, Reese, Scarlet, and Rin. Yeah, it was a small group, but they sure could kill.
“Alright, you know the plan is, get in and set the bombs in place. Then get out of there as fast as possible,” I said in my monotone voice, “and remember, no dying.”
They all nodded, and they went to get geared up for the mission. We may look bored and we may look like this was going to be easy, but on the inside we all know how many were going to die. And one wrong could lead us to the staircase of heaven. Wait, nevermind, we were definitely not going to heaven. We’ve killed so many people, there was no way we were going to where the angels lived.
The rest of the day was a blur. I felt like it was going to be another mundane Thursday. I had helped unload the bombs into new containers, and I helped some idiots with their aim and shooting. I had missed dinner, knowing I was going to be hungry later, but I felt to nervous to eat.
I walked to my dorm room, and I saw Rin standing at my doorway. I smiled as I saw she brought me food. She was always so kind to me and her smile always kept me going. One day I was going to tell her my feelings, but right now we were great friends, and I didn’t want to ruin what we had already.
“Hey Rin,” I said smiling.
“Hi Levi! I brought you dinner! I knew you weren’t going to eat, because you usually don’t eat missions,” she said, grinning from ear to ear.
“Thanks Rin, you’re the best!” Now go get some rest,” I ordered.
She saluted, “Okay Captain!”
I chuckled at her childish ways and I walked into the room. Finlay was already sitting on his bed, and reading a book. Yeah, I shared a room with him. Quite unfortunate. I set my guns down on my bed and grabbed my clothes and headed for the bathroom.  I got ready for bed and I came out of the bathroom. I walked to my side of the room, but stopped when Finlay started talking.

“You’re nervous,’ Finlay murmured.
“Yeah, well, who isn’t,” I muttered.
“You’re usually so calm. But you’re shaking, and your eyes are always flitting around the room,” he smirked.
“Lies!” I hissed
“No use in telling me otherwise, I can see right through you,” he crooned.
The idiot was always trying to get to me, never relenting. Some days I’m sure he’s asking for a fight. I hated him with a passion. I don’t know if he hates me or not, but he loves irritating me, that’s for sure. He always pointed out every emotion or flaw I had.
“I hate you!” I spat at him.
“But I love you,” he said maniacally.
“Just shut up!” I said raising my voice.
“As you wish Levi,” he whispered.
Surprisingly enough he kept quiet in the dark of the room. I turned over on my side, away from him. I closed my eyes, letting the silence sink into me. I gripped onto the sheets and breathed in and out. Finlay was right, I was so nervous for tomorrow. I felt tears roll down my face, and I cried silently. And I just laid there in utter silence. Sleep claimed me in my worst thoughts.

…. 

Bright sunlight streamed into the room, and I blinked in annoyance. I tried to remember what day it was and I instantly regretted it. Today was the day of the mission. The day where so many could die, and it all depended on me.
I let Finlay sleep in, and I got dressed as fast as I could. I definitely didn’t want to wake him up. I went downstairs and I went passed the cafeteria and directly to the training room. I couldn’t eat, I just couldn’t eat.
“Levi! Wait up!” a voice called to me.
I turned around and saw Rin running up to me. She had knives in a box and it looked very heavy. Oh no.
“Rin watch out!” I shouted at her, but I was too late.
She fell, and the newly polished and sharpened knives tumbled out. I caught her before she hit the floor. She quickly got up and looked down in shame.
“I’m so sorry Levi!” she apologized.
“It’s fine, but next time be careful,” I said chuckling.
She nodded, and took out a piece of bread from her pocket. “This is for you!” she said smiling.
I wanted to reject the piece of bread, but she shoved it into my hands. I didn’t even get to say anything before she ran off. I looked at the small, thin slice of bread she gave to me. I started feeling dizzy, and I covered my mouth as I tried my best to not throw up last night’s dinner. I fell to the ground, and I threw the slice of bread across the room.
“You’re so weak, you can’t even eat before a mission!” a voice behind me sneered.
I spun around and picked up one of the knives and threw it as hard as I could. Too bad it didn’t hit Finlay. He had caught it and he looked so smug. I just wanted to punch his face so bad!
“Shut up!” I snarled.
He walked over to me and put a hand under my chin.
“Make me,” he whispered into my ear
I swung a punch, and I barely missed. I kept swinging hits at him, but I could never hit the idiot in front of me. I fell to the ground sobbing, Finlay was right I was weak! I can’t…
“You can punch me now Levi,” Finlay said quietly. I looked up and saw he was right in front of me. He had his eyes shut, looking like he was awaiting a punishment. But his punishment never came.
“Weakness is hitting your comrade to get even. I won’t hit you. That would just be wrong. You guys are my family and I care about you guys. So no I won’t punch you,” I said coldly.
He looked up at me in surprise, but before he could say anything, I stormed off. But in a sense I felt a lot better. I know I’m not weak now. What I said came from my heart and I didn’t think about it. And what I said, I know it’s true.

….

We were equipped with every single weapon we could find, and we headed out into the city.  We slunk through the city’s shadows and we easily found the headquarters of our enemy. It was a skyscraper and I nearly bursted out laughing. Who the heck has their hideout in the middle of the city and in the tallest building?! From what I saw, there were only 4 people guarding the entire outside. Who does that?!
“Idiots,” I mutter.
We took cover in a really, crumbling building. The sign read Starbucks I think? I don’t know, the words on the sign had faded quite a bit. We stayed in their as Squads 2, 3, and 4 went into the building and knocked out or killed everyone in there.
“Levi, I think it’s time to go,” Kai whispered loudly.
“I see Squads 2, 3, and 4 coming out of the building!” Reese said quietly.
I looked down at my old watch, and saw it took them 30 minutes to get in and out. I wasn’t surprised, there were around 200 people in squads 2, 3, and 4. I sighed and got up from the old, worn out chair I was sitting in. I looked over my shoulder and saw that Scarlet was staring blankly at me.
“Hey Scarlet! Are you okay there?” I asked her.
She shook her head and her face turned a bright red. “I’m fine,” she muttered. I started to head out the door, but Scarlet quickly grabbed my arm.
“Wait Levi! I just wanted to say… I… I like you!” she shouted, her face a deep shade of red. Her face was literally as dark as her hair.
“I’m sorry Scarlet… but I don’t like you like that,” I muttered.
I turned away from her and ran out of the door. I shook all of my thoughts, emotions, and feelings out of my head. I had to focus on the mission. I caught up to Kai, Reese, and Rin. I looked at the building and saw that all four guards had been knocked out.
“Is everyone out?” I asked them.
“Yeah,” Kai and Reese said in unison.
“Let’s wait for Scarlet to get here, then we can go,” I said.
I saw her running towards us. Her head was bowed and I could hear her sniffling.
“Come on Scarlet! Get your lazy butt over here!” Rin shouted.
Scarlet caught up to us and we immediately took off towards the building. I crouched down next to the unconscious guards and checked their pulses. They were breathing and we didn’t want that.
“Rin they’re breathing. Can you take care of them?” I said in a monotone voice.
“Of course Levi!” Rin said smiling.
I went inside and I heard Rin’s gunshots ringing through the air. I sucked in a breath and started going up the stairs. I put bombs in the correct places on each floor of the skyscraper. I noticed behind me, Kai and Reese were holding hands, and I smirked. They were so cute together. I imagined Rin and I holding hands and my face felt really warm. I tried shaking it out of my head, but it was stuck there.
“Hey boss are you okay?” Kai asked.
“I’m fine,” I whispered.
As I put the last bomb in place, I heard a click. I looked at the bombs and saw the countdown had begun. I turned around and saw that Scarlet had pressed the remote that sets all of the bombs off. I know, a remote is pretty cliche.
“What did you do?!” I screamed at her.
She smiled,”If you won’t have me, you won’t have anyone!”
I pushed her onto the floor, and I pushed Kai and Reese down the stairs.
“We have to get out of here as fast as we can! We only have about 8 minutes left!” I shouted at them.
We sprinted down the stairs, stumbling along the way. All I could think was that we had to get out of there as fast as we can. Rin was coming up the stairs in a panic.
“Go down!” I shouted at her.
She nodded and we scrambled down the stairs. 8, 7, 6, 5… That’s when I heard a gunshot, and Kai screamed out in pain.

“Kai!” Reese shouted.
“Take him down the stairs and get out! I’ll take care of this guy!” I shouted at them.
“I’m not leaving you behind Levi!” Rin screamed at me.
“You have to! Now get out! That. Is. An. Order!” I screamed at them.
They got out of the stairwell and I stood face to face with the idiot who hurt my friend. He kept shooting at me, but I dodged the bullets and ran at him. I grabbed the gun and flung it out of his hands. He punched me in the nose, breaking it in the process. Dark, red blood spurted out everywhere and I gasped in pain. This idiot was going to pay! I grabbed his head and repeatedly bashed it into the wall. I heard a sickening crack and his body slumped to the floor. ‘Whoops,’ I thought.
I looked at the timer on one of the bombs and it read 2:34. I looked around and saw that a window was on my left.
“Best chance I have,” I muttered.
I ran towards the window, and it shattered at the impact. Thankfully, I was only on the 4th floor so I thought that it wouldn’t hurt that much. Oh how wrong I was! I hit the ground and I screamed in pain. It felt like my whole body was shattering. I got up and limped/ran away from the building as fast as I could. I hid behind an old statue of… something and curled up into a ball.
The blast from the, about 400 explosives in that building, was gigantic. The burning explosion singed my skin. It was a sort of burning pain, like I had gotten a rug burn. But this time it felt like I had gotten 100 rugburns that were 50 times worse. That was the intense feeling on my skin.
The deafening sound from the explosion had finally ended. Either that or I lost my hearing. To make sure it had ended, I looked behind the once standing statue. Everything was gone or a pile of rubble. The building itself was in grey ashes. We won… I had to let those 2 words process in my head, before I could rejoice.
“We won!” I screeched into the empty air.
My voice rang throughout the air and apparently throughout the city. I could hear cries of triumph from everywhere in the city. It didn’t just come from my gang, but the civilians living here too. Our enemy was cruel and evil. They took in the best fighters and left everyone else they met dead.
I walked back to headquarters, and breathed in the air. It was nice to relax without having to worry about anything. I didn’t have to watch my back with every bend of the road I took. They were all dead, and the city was at peace,
It took me 20 minutes to get to headquarters, and everyone was setting up a celebration tonight. I smiled, it was to see everyone in such high spirits.
“Levi!” a voice called to me.
I turned around, surprised to see Finlay running towards me.
“I just wanted to say sorry for being a jerk to you all these years,” he said sheepishly.
I smiled, ”It’s cool.”
“Alright! I’ll, uh, see you later then,” Finlay said with a red face.
I saw Rin, standing alone to the side of the building, looking at the sky as it was slowly turning into a sunset. She looked so beautiful. Her brown hair falling over her shoulders, and her eyes reflected the Sun’s dying rays of orange. She was so perfect. I walked up to her and hugged her from behind. She gasped and turned around to see it was me.
“Hi Levi! You scared me! Isn’t it amazing that the war between the gangs ended so fast? It’s taken us only a little less than a year I was expecting it to take longer,  to be honest,” she said laughing.
I smiled, “Yeah, it started May 21st, 2016 and now it’s June 11th, 2017.” 
She looked at me confused, “No, it started May 21, 2135 and it ended June 11th, 2017.”
“Wait, what did you say?” I asked Rin again.
“I said the year is 2136,” she stated.
I was puzzled. The year wasn’t 2136, it was 2017. That’s when it hit me.
“Oh my gosh it’s 2017,” I muttered shocked.
Rin placed a hand on my shoulder, with a worried expression, “Levi are you okay?”
I looked at the broken city of New York, realizing none of this is real. I then at looked at Rin, my Rin.
“You’re not real then either,” I whispered.
“What are you talking about? Of course I am real!” She scoffed.
“Rin… when did we first meet?” I asked quietly.
She looked at me confused, “We met in 2135, and you were knocked out and you couldn’t remember a thing.”
“We met in 2016, and I couldn’t remember anything, because I am in a coma,” I stated calmly. But I didn’t stay calm for long.
“None of this is real! When I am finally happy, when I’m finally content, everything gets taken away!” I spat.
My memories finally start coming back to me. The car crash, how my life was miserable. I was working at a coffee shop, and I heard my mom had died in the hospital. My father left me when I was 2, and I didn’t have any siblings. I had no family left...
I fell to the ground sobbing, and I realized everything was starting to collapsing around me. Rin got down next to me and looked at me with sad eyes.
“So this goodbye then huh?” She says quietly.
I nod, sobbing, “Please don’t leave me! I don’t want you to leave! I love you! There, I said it! I love you, and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you! Grow up here and make this place beautiful again!”
She hugged me tightly, and she buried her face in my my neck. I could feel her tears soaking my shirt, and we cried together as everything around us fell away into nothing.
“I love you too, and I don’t want you to leave either. I was hoping the exact same thing,” she whispered.
She looked at me, tears in her eyes, and she was struggling to smile. “Well if this is goodbye, we should make it a goodbye that we will never forget then,” she said sadly, tears now flowing down her cheeks.
I nodded, and we leaned in and our lips touched each other. It was so soft and so perfect. We pulled away and we realized that she was slowly leaving as well.
“Levi…” She whispered, not smiling anymore, and her tears flowing harder now. Her once strong face, now broken with agony.
“NO! Please don’t leave!” I screamed in agony, hugging her, hoping that would prevent from disappearing.
“Please don’t forget me, I love you so much… Goodbye Levi!,” she said sadly, but her words were full of love. And with that, she faded away into nothing leaving me there.
I stared at the spot she was last in, and I screamed. She was gone… My Rin, my beautiful Rin. I cried, harder than I’ve ever cried before.
“Why her?! Even so why couldn’t you have taken me too?!” I screamed at my mind, and reality.
I started to hear voices. “He’s waking up!” I heard someone yell.
I curled up into a ball, not wanting to leave the spot. This was the last spot Rin was at, and I didn’t want to leave it. I was afraid that my memories of her would leave, her teal eyes, her brown hair, I didn’t want to forget anything about her, but I also didn’t want to forget Scarlet, Kai, Reese, Finlay, all of my friends… But I guess reality couldn’t wait for me. I woke up to blinding light, and voices all around me, but I wasn’t focusing on them, I was thinking of my perfect world and how I missed it so much.
23 Years Later…
I had died in a car crash, I should have a learned a lesson but I didn’t… I was in a rush to get home, and I guess I wasn’t paying attention to the road. I was single, and I never forgot about Rin, I still had my job at the coffee shop, and I had gotten over my perfect world. But it still lingered in the back of my head. I was so happy there, but I guess the world and my life couldn’t wait for me to recover.
When I left this world, I would never have guessed what was awaiting for me and to lead me to the stars and the clouds. When I opened my eyes, I could see everything going on. The police and the medics had arrived, but they were too late. I felt a hand placed on my shoulder, and I turned around. There I saw teal eyes, brown hair, and the most perfect smile. I covered my mouth so I wouldn’t sob in joy but I did let my tears flow freely.
“You came back,” I whispered, embracing her for the first time in what felt like an eternity.
“I came back,” she whispered.
She let go and took my hand, and started upwards into the sky. “Come on Levi! Everybody is waiting for us!” she said excitedly.
“Everyone? Like Scarlet, Finlay, Reese, Kai, and EVERYONE else?” I asked.
“Yep,” she said smiling, “we’ll finally be a family again!” I broke out into a true, genuine smile. Not a broken one, not a sad one, but a true smile.
As we reached the top and we were on top of the clouds, I saw everything I could have ever hoped for. My family was here, everyone even… my mom. We ran to each other, and I just broke down.
“Please tell me this isn’t a dream… I don’t this to be one,” I sobbed into her arms. “This isn’t a dream,” my mother said soothingly.
Everyone gathered around for a group hug, and I was finally surrounded by people who loved me. As we broke apart, I grabbed Rin’s hands and I leaned my forehead onto hers.
“Promise you won’t leave me like that again?” I said desperately.
“I promise,” she whispered.
I let go of her left and we joined the others. Our hands were originally stained with blood, and we didn’t want a life full of scarlet, that was all we craved for. But now we had the white, wings of angels and there wasn’t a single trace red. Everyone was here, and we could fly forever with each other. This was no longer a falling city, but a forever standing city and no would could take it away from us.