Dreams of Armageddon [Kimetsu No Yaiba/PROTOTYPE] One shot

[ScriptGenius12]

The wheels of the chaos to come, if they were not already in motion, probably began to move on the fifteenth of June when the following words were spoken.

"These adult specimens are the real deal? All the way from Japan?" a slightly muffled voice asked.

"You can bet on it, Savini. They've been in holding since Monday, but last night they were taken to the new hab. Now we get to see them early!" Came the reply, visible excitement in the speaker's voice.

Down a sterile white hallway, two men walked. Their features were concealed under blue hazmat gear that they wore from head to toe. Silver oxygen tanks were strapped to their backs, indicating a long shift coming up in a potentially hazardous area. Black visored helmets hid their heads from view while filtering out their voices. The first speaker was walking to the left, making sure his white gloves were secure. P. Savini-Level 26 was helpfully written on a tag hanging from a brown belt around his waist.

The second speaker wore near identical garb, with his nametag identifying him as M. Wallace-Level 26. Wallace was pushing a silver cart with a cover over it. On the left and right of the cart's sides, a sign lay in the middle. The sign took the form of three red octagons bunched together like a honeycomb. It was the symbol of the company they worked for.

They continued their talk with Savini taking the next line. "I'll be honest, if you told me a plant would be the source of our department's next big project, I'd tell you to, uh," Savini rubbed the back of his helmet. "…I swear I had something clever to say but I forgot." Wallace shrugged. "Well, it's not the strangest thing we've done here." He said as they entered a small grey hall full of tubes.

Grey mist began firing out of the tubes in bursts as a screen at the end of the hall displayed the following message [AGENT CHECK IN PROGRESS]. Both men were unbothered, having gone through this more times than they can count. Considering all the samples and material they were working with, having to go through these rooms where sanitizing mist and computer scans would check for unsecured or uncontained infectious agents was only logical.

So far, no major lockdowns had happened at their workplace, so they were doing a good job being careful.

As the process finished up with the mist tubes retreating into the walls, Wallace moved his cart forwards as an [ALL CLEAR] flashed across the screen before the door opened. The men exited, once more chatting without anything to interrupt. Compared to the flat sided hall from before, multiple doors were visible along all sides. If anyone was there, the thick doors and walls would keep any noise on the other side down.

Biohazard symbols lay across each door, with each having a different color to represent the exact experiments being done in every room. Red symbols represented viral cure research, blue symbols represented human genome study, and so on.

The room they were going to was at the end of the hallway; a black biohazard symbol meant that it was not given an official designation. It could have been due to the research subject being poorly understood, or because whatever was behind the door was meant to be top secret to all but the ones directly working on it and their superiors.

It could easily have been both.

It is one thing to see the samples under a scope, Savini thought as he and Wallace put their ID's into a keypad before typing in the codes that would open the steel door. The door opened, and Wallace began to enter first with Savini behind him. -But words don't do them justice.

The room was divided by a glass barrier. On the side where he and Savini entered, a fully stacked lab table with beakers and microscopes lay in front of them alongside a cleaning sink and a closed compartment door in the back.

On the other side was a bed of brown soil under artificial sun lamps. A glass door secured by a keypad lay near the compartment, ready to be opened. Within the soil lay a dozen or more bright blue lilies that glowed under the light.



The Blue Spider Lily.

Exclusive to the Japanese islands until today.



The flowers had traveled a long way to the laboratory complex. Even if he wasn't already aware of the plant's unique nature, Savini would have still found something beautiful about them as they glowed under the sun lamps, casting a shadow to the other side of the dark room.

He remembered his first time seeing cells from the flower in action not so long ago.

[-]

It was early in May when Savini received the secure phone call that sent him to the lab early in the morning.

Wallace had gotten him and the rest of their team into the high security section of the micro labs. Wallace described how his superiors in the company had sent cases full of samples labelled "BSL" into his lab, alongside strict instructions to expose it to the usual tests involving quarantined microorganisms and cells. After working all last night, he wanted them to see what he had witnessed under the lens.

Each of them had a turn at the microscope, looking at the spiky lily cells. As a man with a minor degree in botany, the first surprise had been how the blue cells seemed more like those found in fauna then in flora, or how the chloroplasts apparently had peculiar concentrations of a chemical with a composition 90% identical to copper that gave the cells a red-black tint around the blue center. Ordinarily the plant cells apparently were inert when placed into the usual concentrations of testing material. But that changed when the cells met live human blood cells in culture plates during testing.

For days his group had watched a variety of transformations in the petri dishes whenever the lilies cells met those of a man. Human cells would enlarge, often "devouring" one another. Some human cells would warp and shift individually into a variety of shapes, often tearing themselves apart into new cells. This could hypothetically occur in the cells of other animals, but for now they stuck with human cells. It was all very fascinating.

If the properties of the Blue Spider Lily could be properly synthesized, the potential was endless. Limb and organ regeneration were at times talked about as a real possibility. Yet the idea had a few snags.

First off, their carefully preserved cell samples, even with their best efforts, kept on withering one by one until eventually they ran out by the end of the month. There was also the issue of the cell transformation's; within minutes or even seconds after introduction, both the mutagenic lily cells and the blood cells they changed would dissolve into mirco-sized vapor; apparently the strain of the genetic rewriting process caused rapid degeneration. They had been so busy with trying to understand the decay that they didn't even have time for animal testing.

Then there was the human immune system; white blood cells virulently and often successfully destroyed the foreign plant cells. Given what they already knew, it was highly likely that if a live human were exposed to the plant in it's pure form, nothing much would happen. No crazy mutations or transformations into something out of Resident Evil. Hell, someone could eat the plant and they would only suffer relatively mild excretory and digestive symptoms.

The effects they saw only happened on a cellular level, so they would have to be injected into living fauna, and if that happened the immune system would likely take care of it before anything major would happen.

They needed something that could both protect the lily samples from the average immune system while also keeping it and the cells it mutated alive before the strain of the mutating process "burned" itself out. Of course, making sure a hypothetical human receiver of a lily derived treatment would survive the process was also a bridge they would need to cross when it came to it.

Wallace had a hypothesis. "We are missing something." He had said. "A particular environment and set of circumstances, or a right combination of genes in a living test subject, the kind you see once in a lifetime." There could also be other components they might be missing, ones that would have to be added to the plant cells to get anything close to what they were hoping for. Hell, they might need one of a kind ingredients as rare as the lily itself, perhaps moreso. But with their current budget, they would have to use their time wisely.

[-]

-have live rats for now, later we can move onto bigger animals- Savini?" Hearing Wallace call him from the other side of the room, Savini shook his head and turned. "Sorry, I was just thinking back to May for a moment." Wallace nodded in understanding. The man had been in the company five years longer then Savini, so if anything, he could grasp how a fellow scientist getting reflective during moments like this.

"Like I said, we now have live rats in our lab, so we do the usual process. Inject then quarantine. But first, we need to extract the cells without harming the plant. This is the first time we've had adult organisms in the lab and not aged samples. Now, onto the wilting problem," Ah, that. "-I believe I may have solved it."

If Savini's attention hadn't been held already, it sure was now. "Well, don't keep me waiting." He looked away from the flowers and back to Wallace as the senior scientist opened the compartment door, revealing a switch. A small circular tank, silver in color and resembling a flask, was visible beneath the switch. A hose sticking out of the top. He recognized it as a sprinkler system like the ones used in other botany experiments at the facility.

"Remember the Hashibira Report?"

"Yeah, the one from last week."

Aoba Hashibira was a prominent botanist from Japan. He was part of a team that had started studying the Blue Spider Lily around the same time as Savini's team as far as he knew. Hashibira was considered by many to be the most well known prominent public expert on the subject. Where Savini's team and the rest of the company had been doing their research in secrecy as mandated by contract, Aoba's program was in the public eye and widely reported on in certain parts of the world.

In fact, Aoba had found the only known habitat of the Blue Spider Lily around the same time that the company sent their samples into the complex where Savini was working.

Released a week ago, the Hashibira Report was a sort of documentary about the flower done right in Aoba's lab, with much about what was known about its short lifespan and even shorter blooming time being discussed with how it could be extended for research purposes. Notably, nothing about the potential mutative or regenerative properties was mentioned. Perhaps the government was keeping it secret, but if so, he doubted that Aoba was the kind of person who wouldn't try to make it public, especially considering how he would have nothing to lose with what followed: The flower's wilted overnight, and right after the report's release despite seemingly being healthy too.

To make a report on a project with so much effort put into it, only for the flowers to wilt a day after Aoba promised an update in July? The embarrassment and shame must have been utterly agonizing. Losing the samples in their own lab was one thing, but a fully grown batch of flowers? Savini felt sorry for the guy, even if he was technically part of a competing company.

Speaking of that…

"What does this have to do with the wilting problem, Martin?" The answer was swift. "Well, I was looking it over when I figured it out." Savini could feel the smugness in Wallace's voice. The man had his hand on the switch above the vial shaped tank. The man had not pulled it; he was clearly waiting for a big reveal. Savini decided to indulge him. "Alright then, was it something that everyone working on the flower missed?" Wallace nodded. "It was in plain sight. I'd remembered the bizarre chemical resembling copper in a majority of the cells while I was reading Hashibira published data." Savini had read it too and wondered what the man was getting at.

"I had gotten to the section where Hashibira described the nutrients he used to keep the flowers alive after they were initially discovered. Despite the death of his batch last week, I admire the success he had in keeping them alive as long as he did. It was then that I noticed something. The water he gave to the plants contained some very notable minerals. Iron. Calcium. Phosphorous. Magnesium." Wallace paused. "Copper. Savini, what do these components have in common?" The second he heard "Components", Savini's brown eyes widened under his rubber hood as he figured it out.



Blood.



Wallace pulled the switch.

Red fluid sprinkled out of the ceiling on the other side of the room, falling like rain onto the Blue Spider Lily's.

Those minerals were all components of human blood.

Before Savini's eyes, the petals seemed to glow even brighter as the blood soaked into the soil. He blinked, swearing that one lily near the center seemed to have suddenly grown an inch. A few other lilies that had been slightly drooping near the edge of the soil suddenly straightened. The umbels twitched, briefly curling inwards before slowly moving back into their usual place.

Wallace had stopped talking as he looked at the lilies, entranced like Savini was. It could have been a minute or two later when the sprinkler system automatically stopped. The switch slowly snapped back in place as Wallace took his hand off it, staring at the red stained flowerbed. The blue glow of the lilies was visible under the blood, and the blood itself soaked down into the soil like water. He wondered if it would be long before the blood was absorbed entirely.

He turned to Wallace. "H-how…what happened? After you had your realization." Wallace paused, as if remember he was there, then turned to Savini. "I got a message from the silo. The one that checks foreign imports for contaminants before sending them here. Adult specimens for our project were being sent to the lab within a week, and at once I knew what they meant. I-I wasn't expecting them to answer what I asked next." Wallace took a deep breath. "At the moment I was in a rush, realizing that red blood might be key to the survival of the specimens, unorthodox as it was. So I asked if they could directly open some healthy red blood vials over the petals of a few lilies, not enough to contaminate the whole batch you see. Then they said they would look into it. The next morning, I get another message saying that the plants vitals rapidly increased because they did it, they actually did it! And then I got a call straight from HQ, don't know who it was but they sounded really high up and they mentioned that they would be sending in the necessary blood needed in whatever way was most practical for me-"

"Doctor." Savini firmly said, feeling that it was time to put his foot down. "You're rambling again." It was not unusual for such a thing to happen. "Ah. Yes." Wallace shuffled around in embarrassment for a moment before continuing in a more coherent fashion. "It appears that red blood heavily increases both the longevity, blooming period, and general vitality of the species after direct exposure. Not only did the adult lilies survive long enough to be transported here after exposure to the blood, I checked the biometric results today after the blood was first installed and tested in the sprinkler. The results I saw were…" He paused, shaking his head. "Phenomenal. One long session of spraying per month can potentially allow this batch to live for half a year if I'm right. Further research is obviously required to answer this question and others, such as-"

Savini quickly cut off another possible wall of spoken text. "Do you know exactly why human blood works so well?" Wallace sighed and folded his arms. "I wish I did. I know it works, but I don't understand why? Why red blood on a plant that so rarely blooms? Could it just be human blood, or the blood primates in general? All mammals? Could it all animals with red blood be capable of feeding the Lily?" He breathed in and out, sighing.

Savini could see where he was coming from; even after this miraculous breakthrough, they still had questions with no answers in sight. He thought about what he had just seen. While introducing a relatively small amount of lily cells and red blood cells to each other ended poorly, a large collection of blood falling onto an adult plant clearly meant something else. But until they could look at anything under a lens, they would keep guessing. The rest of the research group could not arrive soon enough.

Another thought came to Savini, and he spoke up. "Wallace, where exactly are they getting all of this blood?" Ever since the shock had faded, another emotion had seeped into his mind as he considered all the ways this amount of blood could have bene acquired. None of them were good.

Wallace held up a gloved hand. "Don't worry. Gentek has contracts with multiple blood banks. They assured me that they were able to make requests and adequately compensate those banks afterwards."

Right. Their employers were major shareholders in the fields of genetic and biological research. Being able to make such an arrangement was not beyond their power.

At least that's what they told Wallace.

The man himself proceeded to reach into the compartment, where he began to slowly unscrew the hose from the tank vial. "Should be empty now. I'll fill 'er up for next week, I think I'll give a smaller spray then since all we fed the flowers already will keep 'em sated for awhile. Here, hold this, we can clean it out and use it again later-" Wallace handed the now empty vial to Savini before going to the cart and opening a door on it. He pulled out another vial, and Savini heard sloshing within. More blood.

As the man took it to the hose to connect the fresh blood, he began speaking more quietly. "This mini tank is impressive, acts like a thermos according to the specs, it will keep things fresh until the next feeding time-"

Wallace really did like the sound of his own voice.

As he went to work, Savini mused to himself once more as he took the empty blood tank to the sink to clean it.

Things were not adding up again.

As far as he knew and at times guessed, the silo Wallace had mentioned was one of many out of public view and on a need to know basis, even to people working at a high security lab in the middle of one of America's most populated cities. The kind of environment were information was a currency.

The silo, as Wallace said, made sure that foreign specimens, specifically those from out of the nation, were "Acceptable" for research purposes before being sent to their complex. Wherever it was, he knew they could send vetted samples to the lab within a day once the process was done. They rarely answered or accepted questions. They sent your lab samples and sometimes a set of instructions on experiments if they did not expect you to already know what to do with them. This was the first time they had ever answered anyone that he knew of, and that was not getting into the massive amounts of effort suddenly put into assisting Wallace's project. He could see them unfreezing some blood vials, but contracting blood banks for entire carts full of the stuff? It was clear that they saw far more value in the spider lily then they had seen in it a month ago.

The more he thought about it as water ran over his gloves and the vial, the more his questions piled up.

Back when they first sent those samples, how did they know that the lily would have such potential? Given that blood cells were in all the cultures they used, does this mean his employers had already suspected a connection?

Given how quickly and thoroughly the vetting silo and the rest of the company had responded to what must have been a strange request, were they aware of some level of the rejuvenate effects of human blood on the lily beforehand?

If so, why not tell him and the other scientists?

Did Gentek know something about the Blue Spider Lily that his team didn't?

Something that the company didn't want them to know?

Come to think of it, there was something…interesting about the fact that a shipment of live lilies came to them not long after Aoba Hashibira's own batch had withered away.


While he was mostly content to act as a lab assistant or technician doing what others told him, Savini considered himself to be a very observant man, and he had some thoughts that often kept him up at night, ones that rose long before May.

He and the other scientists, ranging from researchers to prominent doctors, were being told that the endgame of the varied experiments running throughout the complex was cures for various diseases as big as cancer, and for treatment of disabilities caused by both genetics and physical trauma amongst other goals.

How even though the company had plenty of questions relating to diseases or unique organisms (Like a certain Lily) that their researchers and scientists were meant to solve, they rarely answered any questions given to them by those very same employees

It was common to be shuffled around on various projects. It was also common for people assigned to different projects in the past to quietly talk about separate operations when in the same group for a new series of test.

It was in those times that he learned of something common across all groups in the complex. How samples often disappeared from the lab once they were done with a test. How they were encouraged by the company to not speak in public even though their work despite the benevolent intentions they were supposed to be working towards.

The fact that the microorganisms they were working for their research ranged from petri dishes filled with what he sometimes heard contained everything from Ebola to AIDS to things he'd never heard of until weeks ago was the smoking gun. He would not be surprised if cure research was being worked on with less ethical programs involving ways to use these diseases a hall or even a door away. It could be going on in the door right across from his own room.

For a few very good reasons, Savini kept these suspicions and questions to himself, never uttering a word of what he suspected to anyone else, not even Wallace.

He turned off the sink, satisfied that the metal vial was clean as he turned to Wallace, who had just finished setting his blood tank into its compartment. The older man got up with a grunt, slapping his gloved hands together with a rubbery smack as he turned to Savini. "Alright, now with that done we can check the blood tank's temperature before we go to the lab-" Wallace suddenly stiffened as he froze, looking directly at Savini, who proceeded to freeze in turn as he slowly turned his head.

They were not alone. A third hazmat clad form stood in the center of the room, staring at the lilies.

The man in front of them wore a hazmat suit colored just like their own, but without an oxygen tank; he must not have been planning to be here long. A black card hung from between his fingers, one that could be used to access all levels of the complex except for the most secure and private sections.

Cards like that were only used by project heads. Wallace had been so into his work, Savini so into his ruminations that they hadn't noticed him entering.

"Sir, are you lost-"

The man silently turned around, and with one look at the name tag made Savini regret speaking.

Shit. It was him. The Iceman.

"Patrick Savini." He began, slowly turning his gaze away to Wallace. "Martin Wallace.'' He began walking to the latter, and Savini sighed in relief as quietly as possible. The man's voice sounded rough, yet cold and almost passionless at the same time. Like a firm clinical tone with an undercurrent of contempt.

But for the few seconds they had looked at each other, behind the black visor he could imagine the man's cold blue eyes gazing into his own.

His very presence could leave you feeling cold. Like you had just stepped into a room with a barely restrained predator.

That's why they called him the Iceman. The other reason was that, like the Yeti and the Sasquatch and the other creatures of myth associated with the cold, they knew little about him. What he and a few others did know was that he was a highly credited doctor who worked on a massive project spanning an entire floor or two. More depending on who you would ask during quiet moments while passing another research group in the hall.

Whatever he worked with, it might have involved genetics. Virology. Radiation if you believed the guys transferred in from a lab in Nevada, but they were always a bit eccentric.

The answer was always different. But whatever the project he oversaw was, it was clear was that it gave him a relatively high status, higher than that of the other project heads in the building. Maybe even more then some of their superiors.

It was not uncommon for him to come down to the labs to requisition equipment. Once taken, none of it would ever be given back. Gentek must have really liked the man's work if they were giving him this much power.

"The research team you oversee is being moved. You have the rest of the day to begin evacuating your workstations and rooms."

That got their attention. Savini stiffened while Wallace briefly stepped back from the approaching third man's gaze. "I'm sorry, did I hear you correctly, er, sir?" He fumbled out, taken by surprise. The Iceman's answer was swift and cold. "Perhaps I should have been clearer. Your teams group projects are being folded into my operation. I sent a message to your office that you should have received an hour ago. Distribute it to the rest of your people when they get here. I've already prepared an empty laboratory for the specimens here."

Clipboard in hand, he passed it to Wallace. Wallace read it over for a minute, during which silence reigned in the now quiet room as Wallace flipped his gaze from the clipboard to the Iceman to Savini. "I see. Is…is this allowed?"

"It is now. Your work here will continue with additional responsibilities while I do my own duties. Once you are done transferring to the next lab, I'm going to be looking over this project's data and specimens every week. Make sure to have that in mind."

Taking the clipboard from Wallace, the third man began walking back to the front. He spoke up as he began opening the door outside. "As usual, discretion applies to this type of transfer." He then stood to the side. Wallace awkwardly rubbed the back of his hood as he began walking out. "Ah, yes, I'll be going to my office now. I don't mind being out of this stuffy thing to tell you the truth. I'll make sure to contact everyone else on the secure line, oh and uh, Savini, make sure to check the cart blood temperature's before you come out, I'll be waiting at the usual place, then we can give the rest the news-" And with that he was out, quickening footsteps retreating.

With Wallace gone, the room was quiet, but the tension was still there.

On one hand, he could see the potential benefits despite their lack of consent in this change. Being on the other man's project would mean them getting access to a higher class of funding and laboratories for their own work, and they would be studying the Blue Spider Lily alongside whatever Iceman was working on with some of the best and brightest minds of this generation. It honestly was not that bad of a transfer if he looked at it logically.



So why did he feel like he was about to walk into Hell?



As if Savini wasn't there, the man turned his gaze to the lilies. There was less blood visible then before. The plants really had absorbed it quickly. Savini noticed the man's posture. The way his hands were at his side, his back slightly hunched like a hunter about to pounce-

A chill went up Savini's spine as he considered exactly why the man would want their team and their data on his own project.

The Blue Spider Lily had been the first thing that Alex was looking at when Savini saw him.

Did he know?

The man was already walking out of the room as Savini broke out from is paranoid rumination. He paused outside the door and turned his gaze to Savini one last time.

"Gentek isn't paying you to just look at pretty flowers. Try to remember that."

And with that, he turned around and left as if he hadn't all but taken over their project as his footsteps slowly receded. He wondered if the man enjoyed watching them squirm, or if the whole exchange was as casual and normal for him as a subway train home.

Savini stood in place, anger and fear slowly dissipating but definitely not gone as his fists unclenched. His next words came as whispers under his breath, knowing that the man would not care to dignify much of an answer.



"Alex Mercer, would it kill you to not be such a hardass all the time?"



[-]

In the middle of a city that never sleeps, dark seeds of change seethed and grew along with the future they represented.

A new era that will begin when these ravenous seeds finally hatch.





Under a rising sun, blades will be sharpened and breaths will ignite as a new generation inherits an ancient legacy.

A blackened vigil stained in blood will be tested like never before with the defiant cracking of glass on a long night that will be the first of many.

Two secret wars would become one.





Within the depths of Pennsylvania Station, destiny was waiting.

 

[ScriptGenius12]

I've been thinking about whether or not to turn this into a full story, and while I have several ideas, the main ones regarding the backstory are below:

Spoiler

One thing to consider is that the BSL was one ingredient out of multiple in Muzan's medicine. An important ingredient, but not the only one.

Those other components would likely need to be found before any demonization could occur, but given Mercer's sheer skill and Gentek's* massive resources, it may still be possible without those other ingredients if effective enough substitutes can be created or found.

The main impetus for this snip was the idea of what a "Modern" strain of the demon disease would be like. If a doctor during the Heian period managed to figure most of it out by himself, what would it be like if a modern medical corporation with large resources and comparatively smaller moral compass tried their hand at making it? How different would the demonization effect be? Would the resulting infected have any resemblance to Muzan's brood? The same weaknesses? None? New ones?

Creating a mood of tension and dread was a major direction. A sense of ambiguity was also built up through what was left unsaid.

How did Gentek first learn about the BSL? Just how much do they, and by proxy Mercer, know about what it can potentially do?

Do they know about demons? Do they know about Muzan? About the Demon Slayers? If so, how?

There is also the Demon Slayers themselves. A new generation is taking up their swords and cause. Will this incarnation consist of the characters we saw in the epilogue, or an entirely new cast with sufficient motivation to get involved? A mix new and old characters?

Note that while the narration mentions a "Rising Sun", there are many places where the sun rises above the land. This new generation of slayers does not necessarily have to solely hail from Japan.

Finally, I think I will only keep this as a one-shot for the foreseeable future. I haven't made a solid outline for what would happen after the Penn Station incident, assuming that the event and everything that occurred before it would still happen exactly as it did in the game. I am working on other major projects, including my ongoing fics and some RL duties.

There is also the fact the idea is on some level a cruel twist ending to the epilogue.

Fanfiction is not meant to follow the stations of canon to the core, and deviation is a big point to much of it. Acts of cruelty happen often in the native stories of both sides of the crossover, with the deaths of good people being as common as the victories over literal monsters.

Nevertheless, I feel that a full continuation would go against the spirit of the manga's ending, about how the descendants of the original cast get to live in peace after everything that their ancestors went through.**

Now they live in a time where demons are set to return in a far more dangerous "modern" form in a highly populated city. The "Masquerade" as it was will not last long.

And that's before we involve the assorted horrors of the Protoverse.

These events may be occurring a continent away, but the fact of it still remains.

In one way or another, some of these descendants are likely going to get into an extremely dangerous conflict involving old foes in new forms and new threats with more than a few similarities to the enemies of their ancestors.

The question is how it will happen, and if it can make a good story without the sacrifices of the Kamado siblings and their allies being rendered futile in hindsight.

---
*Also Blackwatch by proxy.

**The battles against and the final death of Muzan come to mind. There is also the fact that the survivors of the final battle and any immediate children that had would have likely end up living through World War II. Even if they probably lived away from the cities that were attacked during the war and understandably weren't likely to want to get involved with any of it, this is still something to consider.