20. Ironic
Vash felt himself stumble, sending him tumbling to the dusty earth. He barely noted the impact his tired body made, but still squeezed his eyes and his mouth shut against the dust out of habit. After all, he had fallen many, many times before, he was used to it. Only this time, he wouldn't be getting up…
Vash could feel it. This was the end.
Once the dust had settled, Vash opened his eyes. The sun blazed above him in the flawless blue dome of sky. There were a few clouds here and there, whimsical wisps of white that floated lazily along the horizon. All around him there was serene silence, the world seemingly at peace with itself. It was nice.
Vash felt he could not have asked for a better deathbed. He felt strangely at ease, and let his palms unfurl from the fists he customarily made. From the corner of the universe came a breeze that gently stirred his hair, which had turned completely black in the previous months.
His only regret was that he was alone. Somehow he had always known that he would die alone, but then again, he had been alone for most of his long life. Vash was used to solitude, to loneliness, and the empty spaces in between had always been his home. He could not have expected anything more.
But there was one person who had made him feel a little less lonely, a long, long time ago. She had made him a warm place, and had even loved him, which was vastly more than Vash had ever expected from anyone. Until she had died… ages and ages ago it seemed…
All this reminiscing was getting Vash a little choked up, and as his tears ran down the sides of his face and pooled on the dry earth beneath him, he smiled wryly, in spite of such normally grim circumstances. Here he was, at the end of his own life, and he was remembering hers.
Before Meryl had died, her hair had turned completely white. And now, as Vash lay in the dust preparing for his own death, his hair was completely black. It was ironic, in a funny sort of way.
Vash exhaled and let his eyes drift closed, the dust settling around him for the final time. Strange how things worked like that sometimes.