Chapter Fourteen: Blue Sky

"So..."
Meryl slowly opened her eyes.
Blue sky.
She was suspended in the sky, with no ground.
How strange.
"Hitotsu me no yoru ni..."
Is she awake yet?
Red rose petals gently floated above her, carried by soft winds.
She felt light, almost weightless...
"Izuko kara koishi ga... sekai ni ochi... ru...."
Aa, she is awake now.
The singing stopped.
A light laughter instead sounded.
It sounded like...
Vash.
Meryl sat up, and turned to her right.
Seated there was Vash, hugging his knees to his chest.
He turned to notice her, and laughed.
"Hello. I see you're awake now."
Meryl blinked.
"Vash-san...?"
Vash blinked back.
Vash?
"Eh? Vash?"
Vash looked confused, and so Meryl.
Then Vash perked up.
"Oh, do I have a mole under my right eye? Am I blond?"
Meryl was taken back from the sudden eagerness, and the strange questions.
"Uhm... yeah."
Vash laughed.
"Alright. I see."
So this is the girl.
He went back to looking at the skies with brighter eyes.
"Do you know where you are, Meryl?"
Meryl was startled.
"You called me by my name!"
Vash cocked his head to one side as he looked at her in surprise.
"Don't I usually?"
"N-no!"
She spluttered.
He laughed.
"Aa. What a mean guy."
I can't believe he's still afraid. He truly is an idiot.
Vash shook his head and went back to looking at the sky.
"Do you know where you are?"
He repeated.
Meryl looked at him curiously. Something was off about him.
"Uhm... no."
Something made her say,
"Are you Vash?"
Vash laughed.
My, she must be very close to him to figure out so quickly I'm not really him.
"Very good! Correct. I am not Vash."
Vash smiled.
Meryl noted that the smile was not really a Vash smile. It was more of... an elderly one.
Vash laid himself back, and looked at Meryl with a sweet smile.
"This is the neutral ground between Heaven and Land."
Meryl snorted.
"Some ground."
Vash laughed.
"Too true. In any case, you are here to be tested by me."
Meryl raised her eyebrows in surprise.
"Tested?"
Vash nodded.
"I am the gatekeeper of this neutral ground. Those who God considers to have a second chance are given to me to test."
Meryl looked up at the endless skies.
Why did she die?
"You look a lot like Vash-san."
"Do I? I turn into the person you wanted to see the most before you died."
Before I died...? Meryl thought absently.
Died?
Meryl bolted upright, the memory of what had just happened to her rushing back into her.
"I'm dead!!"
She yelped.
"You are."
Vash said calmly.
They always take a while to realise.
"Crap!"
Meryl said, her hands threatening to tear out her hair.
Yikes!
Vash quickly got up to stop her.
"What's wrong??"
"Vash-san is going to blame himself for my death! He'll think it's his fault! Craaap!! I need to live! Argh!"
Vash laughed.
"I did say God sends those who He considers worthy of living again to me."
Meryl stopped running around to look at her.
"Ne?"
"You can live again on the conditions given to me."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Time to see how much she cares for him.
Vash paused, and then smiled.
"Sit down. Tell me about this... Vash."
Meryl looked at him for moment, then sat down as well, and looked up at the blue and white.
"He's the weirdest person I've ever met."
Was how Meryl started. She rushed on a tirade on his stupidity, his skirt-chasing and his annoying personality.
"...and he called me fat just yesterday! I mean, is that what you say to a lady? And I remember he tried to look up a girl's skirt! Huh! And ..."
My, she's lively. And I'm not too sure whether she even likes Vash or not.
The Vash Meryl was talking to was looking more and more amused and surprised she spoke.
Finally, Meryl calmed down, and there was a pause.
Then Meryl picked up again on a different strand.
"But.. that's not what's all to him. He's.. he's got this beautiful side of him he doesn't reveal until someone gets hurt."
Her violet-grey eyes softened as she described the times he cried not for himself but for others, and the times when he risked his life just to save others. She then said quietly how she'd died.
So that was how she died.
"...so although I didn't cry out this time, I don't think..."
She trailed off, and looked sadly at the Vash across her.
"He doesn't deserve to get hurt like this."
She whispered.
...I can't believe he had to go through so much...!
Vash's eyes brightened with tears.
"Meryl, I think you've earned back your ticket."
Meryl snapped to full attention.
"What?"
"I mean that your ticket to the future was given back to you."
"Really?! But--"
"It's still blank, so you've got nothing to worry about."
Meryl's smile warmed as she said sincerely,
"Thank you."
This girl...
Vash pulled her into a hug, and Meryl felt as though she wasn't hugging Vash, but someone else.
She smiled.
"What's your real name?"
Meryl asked.
"You can ask him later."
Meryl frowned in confusion.
"Eh?"
She'll find out eventually.
"You're a woman though, aren't you?"
Vash blinked.
She's sharp.
"How'd you know?"
"You... act like one."
Vash smiled through his tears.
"Don't be afraid."
He whispered.
I mean it. Don't be afraid... of him, mostly.
Meryl saw a light slowly begin to glow from her.
"I'm glowing!"
"Don't worry, I'm just sending you back."
Meryl watched herself grow brighter and brighter, contrasting strongly against Vash's red coat.
I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask.
"Meryl."
"Yes?"
Meryl shut her eyes tightly, feeling herself slowly fade from the person's presence.
"Please... tell him I'm proud of him."
Meryl's eyes flew open in surprise before the bright light whitened her vision to nothing.
You two deserve each other.