<span style="font-style: italic">"Oof," the boy said as he fell to the ground. He looks up and sees a shadow walking to him. No, not a shadow, a very dark girl, with pale skin, black eyes and a few white streaks in her hair. The boy stares up at her from where he still lie on the ground.<br/><br/>"Hello little one," the girl said as if she were much older than she looked. "What are you doing lying there on the ground? You'll catch cold if you stay there." She gave him a warm, almost motherly smile.<br/><br/>"Just woke up," the boy says. "Trying to remember. Can't though. Keep falling down again."<br/><br/>"Falling down?" the girl asks, only slightly caught aback by his speech. "Were you trying to get up somewhere?" She looks up, "There's nothing up there but clouds and sky."<br/><br/>"Not going somewhere. Just trying to remember how. Could fly. Can't remember. Just woke up and can't remember."<br/><br/>"You can fly?" the girl asks. She smiled warmly again. "I'll bet that's fun."<br/><br/>The boy nods, "Think so. When don't fall."<br/><br/>The girl laughed. "Well keep trying. I'm sure you'll get it." She held out a hand to help him up. "My name's Reina. What's yours?"<br/><br/>The boy took her hand and let her help him up. "Am Mai."<br/><br/>The girl looked at him and smiled. "So you said you were sleeping? For how long?"<br/><br/>The boy looked around ant their desolate surroundings. "Don't know. But woke up and world was different. Everything gone..."</span><br/><br/>------------------------<br/><br/>Mai woke to someone shaking him. He opened his eyes to see Reina looking down on him. "It's time to wake up," Reina said. "The guards will be starting their rounds soon. We need to get to the next people's shelter before then.<br/><br/>Mai sat up and stretched, "Am awake," he said. He looked out the window that was one of the few sources of light in this secret underground people's shelter. "Still dark." he said. "Used to sleep longer."<br/><br/>Reina smiled gently, "It can't be helped. Aiso's guards get up early and if we want to travel safely we have to get up earlier."<br/><br/>Mai nodded and folded the tattered blankets which had been his bed the previous night. The shelters didn't have much to give the people. Some had blankets, some had lights, some had food and drink. If you were lucky you'd find one with two of the three. As for clothes, if you needed them find a dead person. They didn't need them anymore.<br/><br/>Mai followed Reina out through the secret exit from the shelter. In the few months they'd been together Reina had been like a mother to Mai. Even though really he was much older than her, he'd been asleep for much of that time and so hadn't really grown up. She was a very kind and accepting person, and in the time they'd been together, so far she'd only had to kill once.<br/><br/>Mai watched it happen. The final thing to change color had been her right eye. He'd noticed her hair and eyes slowly changing color from black to white, and after it happened she explained it to him. It brought him some pain to remember. She'd tried to hard to contain herself, but the more she tried not to hurt others, the worse her own pain got. In the end a guard passed by and she was able to kill him without getting any more people involved. They'd even gotten a day's worth of rations off the body. But still it made Mai sad. She was such a good person, and she didn't want to hurt anybody, so to be forced to was an awful curse.<br/><br/>They spoke little as they journeyed to the West B3 secret people's shelter. Reina was aware that Mai realized his talking made him sound dumb and was respectful of that. So often times they were quiet as they journeyed, with Reina doing most of the talking where strangers were involved. Mai usually only talked to people he felt comfortable with.<br/><br/>Mai and Reina simultaneously wrapped their cloaks tighter around themselves to protect from the cold, sand filled wind. Reina's hair had thick white streaks in it now and her left eye was visibly lighter than the other one. They watched carefully for guards as they weaved the decaying skyscrapers.<br/><br/>((Sorry, I went a little over board. You don't need to feel compelled to write nearly this much. I just saw an opportunity for character development is all  ^_^ ))