[Disclaimer] I don't own Trigun, nor Jewel's song, Painters. If I did, then I'd be one rich little teenage girl.
[Author's Note] I noticed that there are no Rem/Alex fanfics (or at least ones that I have seen, anyways), nor any songfics for her. So I have created something quite different: a songfic dedicated to Rem and her old lover when she was living at Earth, Alex. I now present to you, a song written by Jewel, and a very sad Rem songfic....
Painters
The sky overhead formed into blood red clouds as Rem Saverem boarded the Project Seeds ship. She looked back, trying her best to holds back the tears. She had lived on Earth for such a long time, and leaving behind all the memories was too much for her to bear. But there was just some things that she had to take care of. Things that she had to do, and she wasn't ready to die, yet. She promised him that she would make a difference in this world...and she promised him that she would never cry again.
"Rem, hurry!" Joey called to her. Rem turned, and walked on the ship. Her friends, some people she didn't know, but it didn't matter. She would live and risk her life to make sure that these sleeping people live to see a new world where they can live happy lives.
There were four other crewmates, Rowan, Mary, Steve, and their captain, Joey, who ran the entire Project Seeds, and herself. The others would help her get through this, at least she wasn't alone. But she still felt so unaided without Alex. She wiped a tear streaming down her eye, and walked on board the ship, the planet behind her just starting to die. The proud planet that the humans have lived on for billions of ears, and finally it was all coming to an end.
Rem watched her old home, as they took off, she had seen pictures on how it looked like thousands of years ago, it had once been an attractive green planet, and now it was nothing but a brown globe, too polluted to be inhabited for life any longer. She pressed her hands against the glass, as Joey took the ship up off the ground. Rowan and Mary couldn't bare to watch as they left, their planet being destroyed slower. Steve stood next to Rem, watching. How could he just watch all of this going on without showing any sign of emotion? It was more like hatred that she saw in his eyes, rather than feeling as mournful over the loss of their loved ones as they have.
Maybe Steve just didn't have any loved ones to care for leaving behind.
Quickly, the ship took off. Rem couldn't help it, tears were now pouring down her eyes. "Alex!" she cried out, as there was a jerk in the ship, and she fell down to the ground, getting a glimpse out the window, and saw the planet breaking a part. It had become too weak to sustain itself any longer. "Oh God...." she whispered, "Oh my God...." she covered her face with her hands, trying to hide the tears, with a final look at Steve.
"Humph," he snorted. "No big loss," he turned, and walked away, leaving Rem by herself. She stared out the window, Joey took the ship off, and she stared outside in horror, the planet ripping into many pieces. A beautiful planet that had once been so great, and now it was gone. Everything that was so beautiful, the plants and the animals went with it, other than some recreational bits and pieces that they had kept somewhere on this ship.
"Alex," she whimpered, shuttering, her hands pressed tightly against the damp skin of her face. "Please...help me get through this...."
(music ensues)
Rem Saverem, at the age of twenty–two, stands at her mother, Kyoko, grave, her father's tomb right next to it. She watched it for elongated moments, her eyes soft, trying not to weep. In her hands, she held red flowers, geraniums, they were Kyoko's favorite, and as Rem grew older, she had an affinity for them as well. She remembered how close to her mother she always was.
And when she was eighteen, she recalled watching her mother fall to the ground in the kitchen while she was watching TV. Her father, Michiyo, was sitting next to her, when there was a thump in a far off distance. Kyoko was in the kitchen floor, sprawled. Rem called the ambulance, but by the time they arrived it was already too late. Michiyo tried his best to support Rem as she grew older, but as the four years passed, she had grown too old for his aid.
The worse the Earth came to be, the more limited human's lives would be. In the bible they used to live a little more than five hundred. A thousand years ago people would live as long as eighty, and now humans would barely make it passed fifty before they die of old age. For some reason Rem still had faith in her own kind though. It worried her. She didn't want to die that young....
"Eighty years, an old lady now
Sitting on the front porch
As the clouds rolled by the old lady reminded her
How he loved her."
"Pretty nice day to be in the cemetery," came a voice.
Rem spun around, facing eyes with a man who looked like he was in his mid twenties. His hair was spiky blonde, with seafoam green eyes that seem to have a blissful spark. He held his hands in his pockets, wearing a red leather jacket. He approached her slowly.
"Who are you?" Rem asked.
"Nice way to make a first impression, eh?" he shrugged. "The name's Alex. Alex Vash."
"Alex Vash?"
"Yeah. What about you?"
"Rem Saverem."
"Saverem? That's Latin I think," Alex smiled, squinting on eye. "For...I must protect this thing, no?"
Rem nodded. "Yes, that's exactly right," she laughed, and then it faded, her eyes following to her mother's grave.
"When she used color carelessly,
Painted his portrait a thousand times
Or maybe just his smile,"
"Family?" Alex asked her.
Again, Rem nodded, then said in a weak tone, "My mother."
"I lost my old man, also. So, I know how you feel," his eyes followed to her hands. "Geraniums?"
Rem forced out a chuckle. "Yeah, they're my favorite flowers."
"I've painted them before."
"Painted...?"
"Yeah, I'm an artist!" he said, barking out a chuckle.
Surprised, Rem stared at him, speechless. She didn't know any artists, most people gave up the occupation. No one wanted to buy art anymore, and with that, no one wanted to be an artist. She was surprised to actually meet someone who did it for a living.
"Hey...Rem?"
"Yes?"
"Do you mind?"
"Mind what?"
"Her and her canvas would follow him
Wherever he would go...."
Alex took half of the Geranium, and placed it upon the top of the grave. He turned to her, his eyes more serious now. "I know how you feel, it's too nice of a day...."
"Because they were painters and they were painting themselves
A lovely world."
His smile formed into a wide grin. "...do you mind if I take you out somewhere...if it isn't much for you? It's not like I am asking you out on a date or anything, I just–"
Rem smiled, waving her hand to get Alex to keep quiet. "It's alright, Alex. I am free."
Alex jumped in surprise. "R–Really? That's great!"
"Oil streaked daisies covered the living room wall
He put water colored roses in her hair,"
They had gone to a restraunt. Rem left him later on, he gave her his phone number. Many weeks later, she called him after Michiyo passed away. She wanted someone she could consult to. She remembered calling him on the phone, tears poured out down her eyes as it was hard for her to speak to him. Later on, he came over. It was the best night she ever remembered.
He came to her house, with a bouquet of flowers, and she was stunned to see that he had remembered that Geraniums were her favorites. She took the flowers, pressing her nose against them and smelt their sweet aroma, allowing Alex inside.
Later that night, she had permitted him to stay over, he had treated her so kindly, she wanted him to be there to support her through the loss of her father. When they were sitting on the couch, for some reason, he seemed to edge closer to her. Alex's hand shifted from his knee, and onto the coffee table, picking up a crimson flower, and placed it behind Rem's ear.
"He said,
'Love, I love you, I want to give you the mountains, the sunshine,
The sunset too
I want to give you everything as beautiful as you are to me
'Cause I'm were painters and I wanna paint you
A lovely world.'"
"Rem," he said softly. "It's alright, I'll be here for you."
With watery eyes, Rem threw herself around his neck, her arms hung loosely around his shoulders. Alex remained silent, brushing the back of her head, running his fingers through her black hair and closed his eyes, and her body shuttered. It felt comforting to be this close to someone, especially after they had just told you that they would be there for you.
Suddenly, without warning, he kissed the crown of her head, Rem pulled a part from him, looking up at him with her deep brown eyes. His face was so filled with concern. He leaned forward, and pressed his lips against hers. Rem closed her eyes, allowing his contact without resistance.
Pulling himself away again, Alex ran his hand down her hair. "I've been thinking about you, Rem. I been wanted to meet you again. See, I created this painting a long time ago, of a woman with black hair. She came to me in my dreams, and I put her on a canvas. When I was walking through the park, I saw you there, and...here," he pulled out of his pocket, a eCom, portable computer. When he pressed the red button, then an image popped up, a picture, the streaks running across the picture so carefully, and what Rem noticed the most, was that this girl looked like....
"Yes," Alex told her. "You are a work of art, Rem," he pulled her close to him. "My art."
"Alex...." Rem trailed off. She wanted to feel angry with him for some reason, but instead she rested her head upon his shoulder, and the night picked up from there.
"So they sat down and made a drawing of their love,
They made it an art to live by.
They painted every passion,
Every home,
Created every beautiful child"
Months had passed since that day, July 13th, she had been seeing Alex for a year now. That was when she had him move in with her. Alex did so without hesitation. She even had met his family, on Holidays she sat and laughed with them, and each moment that passed, Rem could still feel that Michiyo and Kyoko were sitting with her the entire time. She missed her parents, and wished that they could be here with Alex. They even set plans. Actually, they were originally Alex's, he had some blueprints of a cottage, and the perfect place: because his father had left him with some acreage, far away from the cities, and the best place was the forest. Rem had thought that there weren't any anymore, but it turned out that Alex had owned three hundred acres of it.
After he had created the house, the two of them building it together by hand, Rem would watch him paint in her living room, sitting down next to him while he carefully brushed up and down, creating vivid images of mountains, meadows, sunsets, ocean views, light houses, places that barely exist any longer, seeing that the world had been so tainted with the Plants and factories, Alex always created paintings of dimensions that Rem had never seen before, other than in books, she would stay all day and watch him.
"Where do you come up with these?" she asked him on their one–year anniversary from the first day they met.
"My dreams. I have so many," he leaned back, taking a good look at the painting of the beach scene, watching it intensely. "There is something missing...."
"What is it?"
"Oh, I know!" he leaned forward, dipping his brush into the ruby red paint, and made quick streaks through the canvas, Rem watched closer, and noticed that he had put bushes of geraniums around the forestry.
Rem beamed at it, and then dove at him, wrapping her arms around him. "Oh Alex, it's beautiful!"
"In winter they were weavers of warmth,
In summer they were carpenters of love."
"Rem...?"
"Yes?"
"I love you."
"They thought blue prints were too sad
So they made them yellow."
With a moment of vacillation, Rem replied, "I love you, too, Alex."
"They were painters and they painted themselves
A lovely world."
He looked back at the painting, and set it on the wall in Rem's living room, placing it up on the wall, he took a few steps back, his hands on his hips. Rem stood next to him, and he wrapped his arms around her. It was then that Rem realized that she wanted to be with Alex...always.
"I'm glad you feel that way...." Alex said. She looked over at him, and could have sworn that she had seen tears form in his eyes.
"Until one day the rain fell
As thick as black oil,"
Two months later, Rem was walking across the red flower field that was setted in the back of the cottage. She remembered Alex had painted something much like this world she was walking in right now. Something hot dripped upon Rem's head. She looked up at the sky, black clouds quickly formed, and rain poured out of the heavens. With a crack filling the air, the rains feel harder to the point where she could barely see through the green splotches of what was supposed to be water, and with each drop, Rem felt a sharp pain sting her skin. Rem realized what this was.
"Acid rain...." she whispered, then looked up. "Alex!"
"And in her heart she had known something was wrong."
Dashing through the forests as fast as she could, Rem ran as fast as she could, heading back to her house that was now in the forest. Something told her, deep down inside, she knew that something was erroneous. Her legs pumped faster, running as fast as she could, until they ached. It didn't matter that the rain feel and burned her skin so badly, there were blisters on her skin, Rem only thought about Alex, and fearing for his safety. The house was now safe....
"She went running through orchards screaming;
'No, God! Don't take him from me!'"
"Alex...." she said quietly, "God, I beg of you, protect Alex...keep him safe...."
"And by the time she got there
She feared he already had gone."
Entering her house, she looked around. The place was quiet. She looked around franticly, her dark eyes scanning the living room. Drops of rain spilled through the roof. She knew that Alex looked at his paintings as the most important things he owned, sometimes Rem thought she cared more for them than herself. She ran around the living room, kitchen, bedroom...and lastly...the green house.
"She got to where he lay
Water colored roses in his hands for her."
The acid rain started dripping through the glass, Rem used a steel shield she had gotten from the kitchen (it was common for houses to have one, for they frequently had acid rain), there were paintings all around the greenhouse, geraniums with burnt peddles, and the colors of the paintings that were hung up on the walls started to be ripped off, fading. Ruined. Hundreds of paintings...gone.
From the corner, she saw Alex's hand, with immense panic, Rem ran to his side, seeing Alex lay down on his side, his body protecting something. Rem pulled his body over, his green eyes looking up at her. She observed the painting, and saw what it was.
The forest scene, geraniums covered on the outside. Only there was one thing added. A figure standing in the background. Rem squinted, trying to make out what it was, but with a drop of rain, the figure faded away.
"No...." Rem muttered franticly. "No, Alex," she dropped the painting to the side, and to her horror, she saw tha Alex's face was paved with eruption, his hands bleeding rapidly. Rem picked up his hands, holding them close to her chest. "ALEX!"
"She threw them down screaming,
"Damn you man! Don't leave me
With nothing left behind but these cold paintings,
These cold portraits
To remind me!'"
Rem threw herself over Alex's body, she shuttered, her body shook, she wasn't ashamed this time to cry, she cried loud, the tears streaming down her eyes and landing upon Alex's bloody face. With a drop, his eyes blinked.
"Alex...please don't leave me...don't let this happen...don't leave me alone...."
"He said,
'Love I leave, but only a little, try to understand
I put my soul in this life we created with these four hands
Love, I leave, but only a little, this world holds me still
My body may die now, but these paintings are real.'"
With blunt hands, Alex took her hands, she could feel the bumps, the rain began to fade, replacing it with the sun. His green eyes looked like foggy emeralds, when the light shinned upon his wounded face. He closed his eyes, then reopened them, holding Rem's hands tightly, taking heavy breathes. "Rem...don't end it...don't let me truly die...I love you Rem...I have always loved you...."
"Alex, don't do this!" Rem begged.
"I'm sorry Rem."
"La de da
Da de da
La de da da da...."
His eyes closed. Rem had forgotten many things after that, and it took her many weeks to recover from the injuries that she had gained from the acid rain. The only things that she could really remember while she was still on Earth was just that she was standing before his grave in the same cemetery where...she had met him. She covered her mouth, gazing down at the tombstone. She was now alone...all alone...Alex was gone....
***
For five years, she spent her time doing one thing, after she rebuilt her home with her own hands by herself, as what she had helped Alex do.
"So many seasons came,
And many seasons went,
And many times he saw her love's face
Wandering through the flowers,
Talking to the trees,
And singing to his children."
Rem stood back, taking a last look at the house, her eyes following where she could recall the figure in the painting was. At that moment, she could have sworn that she had seen someone standing there. Rem gasped, a black figure...someone was standing there...watching her. Everything seemed to have been moving in slow motion, she head fuzzy and spinning, she brushed passed the trees, her sleeves now ripped, and the closer she got to the figure, the more distinct it had become.
"And when the wind blew,
She knew he was listening,
And how he seemed to laugh along...."
Her legs gave it their all to make their way there. The figure turned around. Rem gasped.
"No!" she cried. "Don't go!"
But when she had gotten further ahead, she had seen what was up ahead: a flower field. Only this time, it was no regular field. The moon silver light grazed over the grass, but she could see that all the flowers were red. Not just geraniums, and not just one shade of red, but many others. Dark, light, crimson, pink, she stood there, watching it.
"And how he seemed to hold her when she was crying.
'Cause they were painters,
And they had painted themselves
A lovely world...."
Rem fell to the ground, watching the field, the moon fell and the sun rose over the hills, and that was when she had seen that the sun had reflected off the grass, giving it off the most beautiful sight that she had ever seen before. Rem breathed in, but nothing came out. The sight literally took her breath away. There was a whisper next to her ear, that she could have sworn was no one else's but Alex's.
"I will always be here for you, Rem."
"Eighty years, an old lady now,
Sitting on the front porch
Watching the clouds roll by
They remind her of her lover, how he left her,"
Rem stood on the yard, standing outside, with a canvas and holding a pallet in her hand, full of different colors. She would carefully create brush strokes, her eyes watching the canvas intently, making sure that she did not make one flaw. This had to be perfect, because she was making this for him. This was Alex's gift. The brush moved like a dance, and with each stroke, she could remember each memory that she had spent with him. Alex...had risked his life for his paintings. He lived to paint. And now Rem was going to fulfill that.
"When she used color carelessly,
Painted his portrait
A thousand times
Or maybe just his smile."
After many hours, Rem took a few steps back, giving the portrait a final look, she was satisfied. She had created the red flower field that she had seen, completed with the morning sunrise. Alex had told her something once about why he liked red geraniums.
"Red means courage and determination. Something that we both share, Rem, remember that," those were his last words.
She smiled, seeing that somewhere in this painting, Alex was there, she could see herself standing out in the flowers, Alex with her, in the world that she had created. Together, they both created their own world, their own paradise.
"Eden," she said out loud. Declaring the name of the art.
"Her and her canvas would follow him
Wherever they go.
Yes, her and her canvas still follow."
Rem heard a snap far off. She turned, and saw one of Alex's friends. His name was Joey. He approached her, his hands in his pockets. Rem dropped the pallet, she had never seen anyone around here other than Alex and herself. Otherwise she never had any visitors. This was one of the few forestry's in the world that still existed, and she felt that living here, it was like living in a painting itself.
"Cause they are painters and they have painted themselves a lovely...."
***
Earth faded away. Rem watched it closely, the tears drying. It hadn't been so long ago when she had met Joey, and he told her about Project Seeds. Deep in her heart, she knew that Alex would have wanted her to see other worlds, she wanted to be able to paint as many paintings that she could come across, and see as many things in other worlds that Alex had seen in their own.
"Alex," Rem whispered, fading away, the ship took off, with other sleeping pods taking off along with them.
Rem was off to paint other worlds.
"Because they were painters and they have painted themselves a lovely
World...."