A/N: I had an assignment in English class to write my version of paradise, so of course I had to involve Rodama.
~oOo~
She had never seen anything so beautiful in all of the time that she had been alive. In a world ravaged by war, death, and destruction, this new place, this tranquil place, was everything she had ever dreamed of. The untouched Earth, free from humanity and its equally disastrous counterparts, caused her mind to flood with memories. She couldn't remember the last time she had been to a place so calm and serene. The rolling hills and mountains dominate the landscape, and to the east, a small lake reflects the rising sun through water so clear it's like looking through glass. Enjoying this world and all the sights within it, she embarks towards the lake, the tall grasses of the meadow scratching at her legs. Could this be the place where the Father and Mother of Humanity resided? It was a curious prospect, but one she allowed herself to ponder nonetheless as she continued towards the lake. The air that filled her lungs was so fresh, so clean it nearly burned. The old, refiltered air she had spent the majority of her life breathing was nothing compared to this, and a smile swept across her face as she enjoyed the sensation. A noise to the north calls her attention and she turns, startled, to find a flock of large, pink birds scattering around her. She'd never seen anything like them where she had been before, and she paused her trek for a moment just to enjoy the beauty this world had bestowed upon her.
The lake, one of the many mysteries of this new place. Coming to it and kneeling down to cup the water with her hands, she is taken aback by the clarity of it all. The lake seemed even more transparent than glass, almost as if it were empty despite the presence of water. Splashing the cool liquid on her face, she lets out a contented sigh. Who would have thought a place as picturesque as this existed? Standing up with a crack of her knees, she observes her surroundings once again. To the south grew a flourishing forest that ascended the highest peaks of the mountains, erupting in vivid shades of green.
Then she saw it: the cabin . The cabin her childhood stories had been based off of, the cabin of the Mother and Father of Humanity. When she was younger, she had wanted nothing more than to find this cabin, the cabin the Father had built after the Mother passed away. The stories said that she was buried there, that the Father covered her body with rocks and sat with her on the edge of the mountain. The storytellers would spin tales of the Father with his greying hair, laying with the Mother long after her spirit had fled her hollow body. As the myth told it, the Father built a cabin with an easterly view in her memory, so that each morning when the sun would rise above the highest peaks of the mountains, the heavenly light would remind him of her. It was tragic, yet beautiful, their story, their place that many believed to be nonexistent, yet this young girl found herself standing in the midst of it all.
Arriving at the cabin, she walks carefully around the perimeter. It was just how the stories said it would be, a small, wooden cabin with a garden behind it, and to the front of the cabin sat the rocky grave of the Mother. Cautiously, she steps towards the door and knocks. What was she expecting? The legend claimed that the Father died soon after constructing the cabin. What if she was alone in this place?
The girl jumps back in shock when the cabin door is opened to reveal a woman with long, red hair and piercing green eyes who appeared just as perplexed as she was. The woman closes the door and retreats into the cabin only to return moments later with a man. The man with greying hair stared back at her, looking almost exactly as he had in the paintings she had studied in school. She was standing face to face with the Father of Humanity in this mysterious yet somewhat magical place. He looks at her and smiles, reaching out and embracing her in a hug. The girl glances over his shoulder and the redheaded woman offers her a smile and a small wave when a sparkle catches her eye. A wedding ring? The woman was wearing a wedding ring? When she is released from the hug, the girl looks curiously back and forth between the man and the woman. If she was wearing a wedding ring that meant that… She was the Mother of Humanity, or at least she presumed. Once again, she saw the very subject of her childhood stories materialized right in front of her. The legend claimed that when the Mother had passed away, the Father had placed his ring on her finger. But the Mother was dead, how was she standing right in front of her? Startled, the girl turns to leave the cabin, the couple, and this strange place. Just as she steps off of the landing, she feels a tug on her wrist. She turns to see the Mother looking at her, tears clinging to the corners of her eyes.
"Welcome home." She whispers, pulling the girl into a hug, "Welcome home."