[b]Chapter 2- Awoken[/b] Muffled sounds began to ring his ears. After a while, some words slowly became understandable. "He's stabilizing." Said a faint voice. Skylar slowly opened his eyes, the light from outside the window was blinding. "The girl.." He groaned, "Where's the girl!?" "The girl is fine. She's, actually, in much better condition than you are, Mr. Wilson" Answered the doctor. "Well.. what's wrong with me?" Skylar asked. "We're not quite sure, yet. You're physical appearance is all that we know that's changed. We've yet to encounter any negative side-effects from your condition." Skylar rushed to a mirror. He stared at his new reflection. His skin, the hue of the sky and his eyes glowing like fireflies at night. "I look like a Twilight fairy.." Skylar whined. "Mr. Wilson.. the others.. [i]everyone[/i] with your condition; we're calling them, the Awoken." Skylar took a moment to digest everything coming to him. "Yeah, that sounds about right." "So, where's the girl?" He asked. "She's sitting in the waiting room. She comes here [i]everyday[/i] after school to see if you've gotten better; to see if you've woken up." Skylar asked, "'Woken up?' ..How long have I been out?" "You've been asleep for a year, Skylar." Said the doctor. Skylar quickly grew suspicious of his surroundings, not recognizing this medical facility. "Wait. Where are we? Is this Chicago?" He asked. "We're in the last city on Earth, Skylar, appropriately named, the Last City. After the Collapse, the invasion, we had to build a fortress beneath the Traveler. It warded off most of our enemies. Some are still out there. We have [i]Guardians[/i] now, though. Warriors utilizing the energy of the Traveler to fight back against humanity's dangers." Skylar gave the doctor a strange look. "Are you gunna tell me you've been my father this whole time, too?" He joked. "Where are we really?" "I'm afraid this is the truth. Geologically, were where the Cosmodrome used to be, in Old Russia." The doctor answered. "There are few colony ships lef-" "Yuh'know what!?" exclaimed Skylar, "I'm done. I [i]just[/i] wanna know where the girl is. I want to see her" The doctor let out a sigh of exhaustion. "Alright, she's this way." "Rubi?" The doctor got her attention. She was sitting, off somewhere in her mind. When the doctor asked for her, she said, "Yeah? Is he awake?" "Yes." The doctor answered. "Here he is." Skylar walked out from behind him and ran over to Rubi. "So, your name is Rubi?" "Yup." She answered smiling. "You're Skylar, right?" She asked playfully. "Yeah.." He answered, confused. "Okay! 'Just wanted to make sure you knew." She said giggling. "So, whata'yuh say we get outta here, Rubi?" Asked Skylar, "I know how thrilling the waiting room can be-" He said sarcastically, "-but there's a whole world out there to explore." Skylar joked. "Sure!" Rubi answered excited. "I can't wait to show you around the city!" Skylar realized in that moment that Rubi was his only friend. All ties to his former life were cut and everybody he knew before, were most likely wiped out. He, for some unexplainable reason, didn't care all that much, though. He was happy that she was safe. "You have to meet my teacher, Yggdrasil!" She giggled excitingly, "He's my teacher!" Trying to catch up to her, he replied, "Okay, okay!" Skylar lifted Rubi up on his shoulders and they left the hospital.