Afterlife
I don't own SCRYED. Nyao. Also, Kazuma just might be dead. But then that would leave some things gone unexplained, now wouldn't it?

Oneshot/shortfic.

The sun and the afternoon calls the birds like colorful geishas and harems of gowns, fluttering from in the wet, new branches of green trees. The earth is lush - so unlike the desert of rock and rough terrain that had become the Wastelands before - and vines grow over everything. The rubble and the buildings. The houses. The towns. HOLY. Everything. He didn't know about the Mainland, or the city. Whatever it was that had happened, the Mainland and the city would be safe. Was the Lost Ground safe now?

In the distance, in a place so far from here that he can't even see it, are the distorted remains of what had once become Mujo's Alter Castle. He knows Cherise Adjani is still there.

Sun tickles his face and grass pushes up beneath his feet as he wanders, experimentally across the grounds, smelling what watermelon fields have sprouted up. Those two men -- no, a big man and a boy -- have their sleeves rolled up and they're working out there, tending to the rows. One of them is large and laughing. The other one has lost a father. He is laughing too.

Where was Kanami? Where was Kimishima?

Kanami's tinkling laughter wasn't there.

Kimishima was dead.

Had he died too? Was this what it was like to die? He grins.

The world was so perfect and so green here. It was nice here. He could get used to this.

But also in the distance, there was Mimori Kiryu, the doctor from HOLY that had helped Kanami that once. She was standing and she wore a white shirt - her sleeves were rolled up too - and she was saying something. Her name. "It's Mimori." The man who bowed at her feet smiled lopsidedly behind his sunglasses. Cougar! Had Cougar died as well?

He held a flower out for the black-haired woman. This time, she took it without prompting.

There was no information chip inside.

Turning around, he was beginning to like this. He knew every person here.

There was Asuka Tachibana, standing at the wind and smiling from inside the camel shawl swimming around his shoulders. The girl was not there with him, but she was very much there. He had finally found truth.

There was no Commander Zigmar - the man who had organized the HOLY organization and the oldest known Alter User - because he had died. With every stroke of his son's arms, his influence could be felt, seeping through the cracks.

There was Emergy Maxfell, playing with his toys. There was no cliff to fall over here. There were no pinch situations; no reason to run.

There was no Kunihiko Kimishima, because he had been dead for a long time, and Ayase Terada had gone with him. Akida was with her there. Kazuma quickly moved on to the next string of thoughts.

So many people. . . . He knew them all by name.

But then it hit him.

Where was Ryuhou?

As he turned to look, he felt a hand on his shoulder, squeezing.

"It was all worth it, Kazuma."