*****

Paradise

*****

Knives turned in a slow circle with his eyes gazing upwards. A deep lung full of clean air rushed into him, and grass beneath his feet caressed him with their slick little fingers. Pools bubbled, birds nested and the wind brought their sounds to him, a melody he had waited for so long to hear and it all seemed a deserved reward.

Paradise.

His eyes could not get enough of the colors; like a hungry man they gorged themselves on pink lilies, blood red roses, and clouds as white as a dove's wing. Where were the harsh yellows and smoldering, desert browns? The scorched, dry land he had suffered on for 130 years seemed to have been drowned in green, everywhere green. It was if waves of emerald water had washed the scum and dirt from the earth peacefully although his mind showed him that the explosions of white energy accompanied by the fluttering of feathers had really done the necessary task. He felt complete suddenly and a smile spread across his face, somewhat less twisted than it might have been had it shown what was hidden beneath his scar-free skin. Surrounding him, an army of silent trees dipped and swayed in the breeze, perhaps not zealous and obedient, but much, much worthier. His siblings his kin.

And when he raised his hand, up, up towards the heavens, he almost laughed, feeling as if he could touch the clouds. Everything was all right now, he told himself, ignoring the persistent voice in his mind that told him one thing in particular was wrong. That could be fixed, he argued. Once it was clear how much better everything was this way, everything would be perfect. As if in affirmation to his thoughts, a dove swooped past, bright wings fluttering and a stray feather floated to the pristine earth, without the sound of screaming or the crash of metal ships colliding with each other. And the dove and the feather were lovely and pure and all the things that the world should have been all along.

And now it was.

"Vash," he began in a reverent whisper as he lowered his eyes to stare at his sullen brother, "tell me this wasn't worth it."

~owari~