bloodline. ateez x reader

|4| free speech

"And he said that he was being paid to keep quiet!" She exclaimed somewhat loudly. Some heads turned towards her direction but nobody really knew what she was on about.

"Nalini," Sara said and tapped her shoulder. "Please, don't speak so loud. Isn't this supposed to be a secret?"

"Yeah, well, it just makes me wanna scream, Sara. Don't you understand? Something's wrong here."

"What do you mean?" She pushed her friend to keep talking. 

"The government wants to cover this up. Fifty people died, more or less, and yet the officials are trying to ignore this.  Aren't you curious about what is going on?"

Sara shrugged. "Not really. I mean, everybody knows the world is about to collapse. Ever since the Grey War, countries are falling apart. I won't be surprised if ours does, too."

Nalini frowned. The Grey War- The Grey war had ended 50 years ago but the effects had been detrimental. Countries had been broken up into regions, characterized by the people's own ideas of government. There could be a whole history class about it, but here's a summarized version:

The continent of North America discovered an element found deep in the Earth's surface that could completely change the coding of human behavior. It was said to have the ability to make humans more supernatural, though it was just conspiracies as the whole ordeal was kept quiet. The discovery of this element wasn't publicized until ten years after the discovery. In those ten years, everything was peaceful and nothing was heard from the continent. Then hell struck, and in a blink of an eye, the U.S. and Mexico broke into fragmented regions of their own distorted government and started to invade the rest of the world. The war began as a civil war among the countries before spreading around the world, it erupted into chaos and hardly any continent was the same.

In only 100 years, the number of world states was cut in half. The population decreased to a third of what it once was. Some called it an apocalypse, others called it natural selection. The environment was left ruined and torn apart, gaseous organic matter dyed the air orange for 20 years. Most countries were left poor while others slowly started to pick up their things, and the environment tried to heal itself. Places that used to be urban cities were now lush forests of green. Some cities still have the horrifying rusty glow surrounding them. 

It would never be the same.

Nalini didn't know a time before the war, she was born years after it ended but she remembers her parents telling her how her grandfather died fighting in it. She didn't even know what a grandpa was until she was old enough for her parents to tell her why she doesn't have one.

"Yeah." Nalini agreed, getting back on track. "You're right. But still, people should know what's going on. Even if that means I need to do the research myself." Nalini took a long sip of her drink and Sara watched uneasily.

"It's probably just those killers again," She mumbled, "Police have been reporting murders more frequently, and they said they were around that area a week ago. I think they have something to do with this. Nalini, it's not that I don't support you, but our town is super small. I don't think you'll affect anyone by not publishing a story to the local paper. I don't even think people read those anymore." Sara put her lips to the glass of her cup before slowly glossing her lips with liquor.

The girl beside her groaned, her thick, wavy black hair rolling around as she leaned her forehead on the table. She mumbled out a small "I know".

Sara patted her back. "C'mon, let's get you home."

Nalini nodded and allowed her friend to drive. In the car, she stared out the window at the dark blue sky. She dreamed of somewhere where the sky was clear enough to see the stars. She had always longed to watch the stars quietly, like sprinkles on a dark frosted cupcake. But now all she could see was the moon and light pollution. "I'm serious about this." She said to the girl beside her.