Vash, Vash, how does your garden grow?

[goldenglasses]

Who: goldenglasses  and openfuture 
What: Rem's introduction to Luceti
When: Today!
Where: The flower garden Vash planted out in the woods.
Summary: Vash goes out to check on Rem's flowers that he had planted in the woods. They had survived the winter well and were growing strong, but he liked to check on them daily. He never imagined that his garden would one day grow a Rem

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[openfuture]

Some would say this was quite the unusual blossom

[goldenglasses]

When Vash reaches the clearing he stops dead in his tracks. It couldn't be who he thought it was laying amongst her flowers, could it? She had been here once before and Vash has always held on to the hope that he'd see her again sometime, but could it really be happening again?

The small pail of assorted gardening supplies he had borrowed from the flower shop falls through fingers he can't even feel anymore. He can picture in his head running over to her, but he's almost afraid that if he moves the image will vanish like a water mirage in the desert.

"Rem?" Could it really be her? Could she really be back?

[openfuture]

The sound of her name sounds far-away and dreamy.

She can smell flowers... feel the warmth of the sun -- ah, how long has it been since she's been able to truly know either outside of the rec room's artificiality? Close as that had come, it could never replace... this.

She shifts, slightly... the softness of the flower petals against her skin is real, and there is something strange at her back -- a foreign feeling, dull ache, she doesn't quite understand or properly register in this sleepy state. But as she gains more cognizance, she realizes that voice calling her name was real.

Eyes crack open curiously to the brilliant expanse of sky above her. It's...

...beautiful...

Rem pushes herself upright with no short amount of awe on her face. This...

Is this... Heaven? The land of angels... The tall figure at her peripheral vision goes momentarily unnoticed, lost as she is in the wonder of waking up amongst the Eden she had dreamed of for so long...

[goldenglasses]

She was real! She really was back! Suddenly Vash could feel his legs again as he propelled himself the remaining distance between himself and the flower patch, stopping just outside of it. He could feel himself beginning to tremble from trying to contain his excitement, but he knew he had to try to take this slow. She may not remember the last time she was here. She may not recognize him right away. A hundred and thirty years changes a man's looks after all.

How he hopes she remembers, because there are a few things he'd rather not have to explain again. A little tentatively he tries her name again. "Rem." And then his mouth just hangs open a bit. He doesn't know what to say. 'Hello' just isn't enough, but anymore than that and he doesn't think he could hold back any longer from falling to his knees and hugging her.

[openfuture]

Rem hears her name again, and this time... it stirs her properly from the bewilderment. Tilting her head toward the source of the sound, she glances up and briefly squints against the sun -- ah...

That hair she'd recognize anywhere, and-- wings... is it--

"Alex?"

The name leaves her lips in a quiet exhale of disbelief, her heart fluttering faster than the wings of a hummingbird. Has she finally come to be with her lost love...? Was this truly Heaven--

--But as her eyes adjusted against the sun, his features came to her, and she realizes that this wasn't Alex at all. A little too tall... and...

[goldenglasses]

His heart sinks just a bit. So it seemed she thought she was dead, and there was only really one reason for that in his mind. He shakes his head and kneels down a bit so she can see him a little better.

"No, Rem. It's... I'm Vash."

[openfuture]

Vash...?

She shifts where she is to sit on her knees and look at him clearly -- those eyes, she'd recognize anywhere... even if it made no sense that they belonged to a much older man than the child she'd left behind to escape in the shuttle. She looks more than a little confused... but one thing was certain.

"...I was right."

Joey had asked her, once... why Vash and Knives had come to them. She remembered her answer well.

"You were an angel after all."

[goldenglasses]

That line confirmed it for Vash. She didn't remember being here before, did she?

"Not exactly, Rem." Angels don't kill people. "This place is called Luceti, and it brings people from different worlds and times here. Everyone gets a set of wings here."

[openfuture]

The wings are not the sole reason for this revelation -- but she keeps that thought to herself for now.

This wasn't Heaven? 'Luceti;' she had never heard the name before, and the look of disorientation is creeping back over her features as she listens to him. This isn't an afterlife? But the SEEDS ship... the self-destruct...

Wings, and...

He's saying he's from a different time? How much older than the Vash she knew was he...? She reaches out, touching his sleeve as if to make sure this was real.

"You're from the future?"

[goldenglasses]

He smiles and laughs a small, sheepish laugh. "I guess so? Although it doesn't really seem like the future to me."

When she touches his sleeve he can't help but that his left hand and place it on her's. She wasn't the only one who wants to be sure this is all real.

[openfuture]

Vash's skin is warm where it touches hers. This is so -- unbelievable! Was it possible she had really been taken right when she was sure her life had reached an abrupt end to somewhere new? A world full of life...? Something so close to the Eden she had preached to Vash they would create...

And here, with this boy, all grown up before her eyes...

She feels more than a little overwhelmed, something hot and stinging in her eyes -- but not out of sorrow or grief. She's... happy.

"This feels like a dream... Vash, you're--"

So...

"--big!"

It sounds underwhelming and childish leaving her lips, and he can't help but laugh at herself despite the tears that threaten to well over. This is all crazy! She can't wrap her head around it, doesn't know what to do or ask about first, or...

[goldenglasses]

Vash can't help but to laugh right along with her. It sounded so good to hear her laughter again. It was one of the things he missed the most about her. "Yeah, I grew up a bit since you last saw me!"

[openfuture]

She can't help herself. She had been so sure she had passed on -- was ready to face whatever awaited her in the afterlife with open arms, if with regret that she couldn't have built the Eden she so desired with Vash and Knives and the crew of Project SEEDS. It had all gone so wrong, so quickly -- in the blink of an eye, everything had changed

[goldenglasses]

What Rem can't say. Vash can with his own happy tears in his eyes.

"I've missed you, Rem!" Please don't ever leave him again.

[openfuture]

Those words make her chest tug with painfully strong affection.

"I missed you too," she says, her voice only a tad shaky, somehow. She's sorry she ever had to leave. But that he'd grown so big meant... he had survived. And surely... Vash was building their dream.

[goldenglasses]

"I'm sorry, Rem. I told you I'd never leave you. I'm so sorry, that I couldn't keep my promise."