After Earth's Fall. A time of great devastation, greed, gluttony, lies and murder. With Miss Chaucer dead, many upper class Edenians fled for their freedom and possibly for their lives, as they weren't sure how the people of Mars or Sanctuary Beach would punish them. Though, some stayed. A few couple million hid, nevertheless, they were found eventually. Meanwhile some dropped to their knees and begged for mercy or forgiveness. The E.P.D.F surrendered as well as any remaining soldiers from the Emergency Defence Force. Obviously, there were a few dilemmas concerning what should've been done with them..but mass genocide? Not really Friday nor Nila, Kaitlyn or Riley's style.

The remaining citizens of Eden were put to hard labour, the exact same that those in Working Class were forced to do daily. They were put to tasks such as helping rebuild Sanctuary beach or the affected areas of Eden in preparation for Mars' arrival. DNA Harvesting labs or businesses within Eden were stopped in their tracks and all samples were burnt, buried or locked away. The "people" that relied on these harvests, well, unfortunately their time was coming to an end. But those that did fall ill with age would be taken in by the nurses in the Medical Unit of the Tower to be cared after for the small percentage of time they'd have left on Earth.

According to those that survived the rebellion and to my mother, when the humans on Mars finally made their descent to Earth via their numerous space shuttles, it was a miraculous sight for sore eyes. It was sometime during midnight, just before a new day was arising. A beautiful constellation of fiery balls of light dotted the sky, zooming across it at high speeds like thousands of shooting stars. My mother couldn't help rejoice on the inside, however, on the outside she was
a sobbing mess. Dropped to her knees and just stared at the sky. "I need you to do me a favour," is what she said to her friend Chloe in the OMCC (Operation Mars Control Centre). That's what started it all. Mars had a little revolution of its own, with a little push from her childhood friends Dylan and Chloe and my grandparents.

Though, one thing still concerns Sanctuary Beach, myself and my mother to this very day. Adrian was caught, at one point. There were a few issues regarding Adrian's punishments. At first Sanctuary wanted to do a new take on the old Earth "Bull fighting", with a Rhino as the bull and Adrian as the "matador" however, as much as she hated his guts with a passion, Nila suggested to take a more humane approach for this new generation of mankind. Somehow, he escaped one night from Sanctuary Beach. This sparked worry, especially since now one had seen Fester nor the second in command, Mark, since Earleen died. Though, with nothing out there but wasteland, the dilemma was temporarily put to the side. From then on, my mother and Friday agreed to set up a system of law of their own to prevent chaos. Firstly, they were ridiculed for their decision to put three adolescents as the head of this system, but when lectured on how much the three had done for them and how much they'd seen, the people against the idea were quick to shut their mouths. Friday was still the leader of Sanctuary, though mainly when it came to the military side of things. Naite, security. Jefferey, agriculture. Lucas, weaponry and infrastructure. Dimitri? Well, for the time being he just focused on getting back his bearings and occasionally helped out Miss Dandra with teaching all the new kids.

That brings us to today. The year is 18 A.E.R. Eighteen years after Earth's resurrection. My name is Nora Weathers and this is the story of my mother and the Battle of Eden."

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There's a long pause, a pause someone would put shortly after finishing a tale or a story and the children couldn't help but fail to hide their disappointment.

"..What? That's it?! Where's the rest?"

"The rest?" I ask sceptically, a smile on my face. Every year I'd tell this story to the new arrivals into my care. Usually they'd be either seven or eight years old, meanwhile, Miss Dandra or Pauline should I say, who is an old, sweet little lady now, teaches the youngsters.

A little girl in piggy tails stutters unhappily. "W-what about..what about Nila and Riley and Nila seeing her family again?"

I sigh, "You were always the romantic type, weren't you Malia?"

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Nila struggles to open her eyes, her eyelids surprisingly heavy. The air is cold, her face itches from not being scratched or touched for so long. She forces them open, breaking apart the tiny bits of crust that have formed in the corners of her eyes. Once slightly, then again. Until she's fully awake. Beside her, the fuzzy outline of Dimitri can be seen sitting asleep in a chair to her right. Nila yawns and groans as she sets herself up against the pillows stacked against her back. She goes to stretch out and wiggle her toes..but there's nothing there. In fact, she can't sense anything there at all from her kneecaps down. Her panic rising, her eyes go wide when she throws back the white sheets encasing her tightly. The bottom half of both her legs have been decapitated. She gasps, awakening Dimitri from his small shut eye session.

"You're awake!" he exclaims, sounding a bit relieved. "You might feel a bit groggy. Look, I'm sorry nothing else could be done for you legs..they were just too damaged from the fall," he says slowly in a grim tone.

He must notice Nila's devastated, crestfallen expression because he quickly shoots out of his chair and gestures towards the door. "But, um, on the bright side, you have some visitors that have been dying to see you."

Abruptly, the white double doors leading into where she is in the Medical Centre swing open with a BANG! And out comes Dylan, Chloe, her mother Janice and her father Jerad.

"My baby girl!" Janice squeals and bolts over, immediately laying a hand over her forehead and another against one of her "stumps". "Oh Nila, what have they done to you?" she asks in a whisper, her father standing tears eyed just behind her.

Nila, still a bit out of it from whatever the nurses or doctors put her under, replies with half lidded eyes. ".....It's okay, mum. It was worth it in the end."

"As long as you're alright. Poor baby-" she starts but her husband politely cuts her off with a light tap on her forearm and she moves out of the way for him to embrace his daughter. "I'm so proud," he states.

"Hey," another familiar voice speaks up. "We all came to visit last night after we arrived but you were sort high as a kite and not up for a conversation."

Nila averts her eyes to the end of the hospital bed to see Chloe in all her beauty standing at the end of it. She still looks the same, however, her under eyes are smudged grey from exhaustion. She assumes that discovering your best friend was sent down to a slaughter house then started a rebellion is a little bit stressful on one's mind. Dylan stands anxiously on her right, giving a goofy smile.

"Thank you all so much," she murmurs, receiving friendly smiles in reply. "Especially you Chlo, I never took you as a disobedient law breaker."

"I have my moments, Dylan was pretty persuasive. He really wanted to get down and make sure you were were alright," Chloe blabbers, rolling her eyes and Nila swears she sees the ghost of a blush arising on Dylan's cheeks.

"Oh!" she gasps, suddenly remembering something important. "About Anna-"

Dylan cuts in, "We know."

"I told them all about it," Dimitri informs.

The atmosphere in the room starts to get heavy with grief and Nila's mother is quick to fix it. "Okay, honey! Sorry to leave so abrupt but it's a bit disorganised out there with lunch. Your father and I will grab some food and come back later okay? We'll leave you to it, I, we, love you so much. Please, get some rest."

And with that, after a peck on the forehead, Dylan, Chloe, Dimitri and her parents leave her be. However, just as she's about to doze back off, the sound of the double doors swinging open and close again catches her attention.

"Nila? Oh god," he mutters to himself but tries to hide his shock. It's not like her own reaction was any different but it still hurts to be reminded of her "loss". "How are you?"

"Um, officially disabled," she says bitterly.

"Sorry," Riley utters and throws his arms around her shoulders, resting his head atop of hers for a few seconds before pulling away.

"T-thanks, but have you seen Kaitlyn yet? Is she alright?"

"Yeah, she just went into a little shock when she got shot. Luckily, she agreed to put on one of those bullet proof vests on instead of me...she's just resting for a little bit. It's actually been about four days now, she's fine. As for seeing her? No, I haven't."

Nila sighs in relief then furrows her eyebrows, her heart sinking. "You haven't? Riley, she was willing to die for you, she was absolutely devastated when you nearly died the first time in that drain. If there's anyone you have to go and talk to right now, it's her," she lectures, astounded at how oblivious he seems to be.

"I know, I just, I was concerned about you, about us," he replies and leans down to give her a kiss but Nila gently lies a hand across his chest to stop him.

"I love you Riley but with this," Nila pauses gesturing to her legs. "My family finally being back, setting up Sanctuary, the training I'm going to have to do with the bionic legs they're probably going to make for me and especially since Fester, Mark and Adrian are still out there somewhere...I don't think I can do it all at once. I don't think you deserve that. You deserve all the attention and the most wonderful relationship you ought to get and at the moment I can't give you that. I need time for myself. Look, go see Kaitlyn, please, if not for me than can you do it for her sake?" Nila questions, squeezing Riley's hands in hers. Surprisingly, he isn't angry as if he were already aware that this would've happened at some point. Nila, being the main spearhead for the rebellion against Eden just has too much of a responsibility that it would've gotten in between them at some point. Though, he just hoped that it wouldn't of had to happen so soon. There's a small moment of silence before he ends up saying anything.

"I-I understand. Um, I get what you're saying. I'll go to see Kaitlyn when I go, okay? Just.." Riley sighs with a forlorn expression, closing his eyes for a few seconds. "Could we maybe, perhaps, just share one last moment?"

Nila doesn't hesitate before giving a small nod and she moves over a bit so she's on one side of the bed, meanwhile Riley crawls on and lies beside her. Warmth radiate between the two, Nila slowly lifts up her head and one of his arms snake up behind it like an extra pillow and they snuggle up close to each other. The moment is blissful, calming, relaxing. As if it were meant to happen and Nila quickly finds herself falling into a deep sleep.

"If you're happy. I'm happy," Riley's mumbling can just be heard in the distance before Nila drifts off, setting a sweet smile plastered on her face.

From then on, Sanctuary Beach progressed massively. Years went by, excavations were made. Yet there was no sight of Fester, Mark or Adrian anywhere for kilometres upon kilometres around Eden. As for Nila and Riley? They went their separate ways. It was for the best anyway as they both later found out for themselves as the two ended up finding true love in friends that had been by their side from the very start. For Nila, it was Dylan. The only other guy her age that lived in the same unit as her on Mars due to a lack in children. For Riley, it was Kaitlyn. The girl that'd take a bullet for him and the girl that'd always been in his sights. Perhaps not as close Nila and Dylan were on Mars as childhood friends, but Kaitlyn had always been there, in the same training existing from afar.

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"And I'm sure all of you are smart enough to guess how yours truly, Nora, was created," I give a sly remark, placing a hand gingerly across my heart.

My gaze travels across the shoreline, eventually to my right where a few dozen crosses lay, crafted from sticks tied together. However, a little higher than them all lay three large crosses. These are the graves that pushed Sanctuary forward to fight against Eden. Anna, Bruce and Maya. Below them lay peacefully, the strong, brave people that fought and died for what is right.

"Kids, see those crosses on that little mound in the graveyard? Well that's where they buried Nila, Kaitlyn and Riley's friends. And see the spaces left beside them? Well that's where the three founders of Sanctuary Beach will be laid."

"Are they your mummy and her friends?" a little girl mumbles in a cute, lisp filled voice.

A smile creeps it's way on my face. I smile and nod, "Uh-huh. But ha, let me tell you that it's going to be a long time until she passes away."

"Children!~" Miss Dandra's voice calls.

Which reminds me, it's lunch time, all the students have to eat.

I clear my throat and hastily turn around, sitting on the edge of my fold up chair in the sand. "Okay, well I better finish this story shouldn't I?"

They all nod excitedly in reply.

"The evil has been abolished, or so Sanctuary Beach hopes. Human kind has finally taken its rightful place back on Earth. Nature, now back to its original glory. There's about a billion people scattered and dotted across the shoreline.

It's time. Time for a fresh, new start.

And this time, we are going to do it right."

"Is that the end?"

"The end."