Death had never seen a town like Paradisus. Javier pushed his goggles up and kicked some rubble aside, looking up to survey the scene.

“God, what a dump.” He remarked. He had only been exposed for ten minutes and already his clothes were covered in a sheen of the metallic ash. He walked down the path, or pile of rubble really, trying to navigate around the random stumps of metal that lay scattered across the ground until he found a large rectangular one that looked like a beam. The color was rusted and roots curved in and around the structure. One woody plant root came all the way to the ground, brushing the small soil as it swung slowly like a pendulum. Javier smiled, and grabbed the root, planting his foot into one of the crevices and in one motion swung himself on top of the beam. Once he secured his footing he stood up to get a better view.

“I got a good view from here!” He cried, straightening his pack. He shaded his eyes from the yellowing sun to get a good look. Below him, Paradisus expanded, sweeping across the tucked in valley and grabbing on desperately to its corners. Large, irregular straight lines clashed with nature’s jagged ones, forming scribbles across the landscape. Hundreds of piles of metal, dust and rock were scattered about. The wind was low today, so the town was relatively paused. Blades of grass, like guerrilla soldiers, dived in and out of the sea of gray, weaving webs and nets across the ruins. The buildings themselves were dismembered, eyes lying near the trees on one end, hands at the edge and a nose lay at Javier’s feet. A stray breeze by his face picked up a bolt, mocking it for a moment before throwing it away callously.

“If you fall I’m not going to catch you.” A voice below him said. He peered down in the shadow of his own body to see Emilie standing there, holding her satchel. “Done sight-seeing?” She asked.

“There’s nothing to see in this trash pit.” Javier replied, miffed. He’d been turning around and around, trying to find something interesting but each piece of metal was just the same piece over and over again. “What a let down.”

Emilie snorted. “What did you expect? Moving castles? Talking heads?”

Javier didn’t reply, instead turning to look down at the landscape. After a moment, he said, “So, what’s the job this time?”

“Elder Jonas wants us to find some storage devices. Apparently the healer is running low on places to keep the new herbs we are getting.”

“Where would those be?” He asked.

“Usually we have found a lot in the Central West corner, at the end of the divide.” Javier peered around to find where she was describing. When he did, he nodded.

“It doesn’t look to far off to me.” He said, grabbing ahold of the root and swinging down to land next to her. She nodded in agreement and they set off.

As they walked, Javier looked around the scene from on the ground. The blocks of metal were strewn haphazardly, but there seemed to be a general path going straight through the town. He watched a small bluejay land on a round bin, picking at a small flower that was growing there.

“Can’t believe people actually used to live here.” He said, shaking his head.

“Well, that’s what the Elders say, anyway.”

“You don’t believe them?”

“It’s not that…listen, we should just hurry up and find what we are looking for and get out of here. We don’t have an unlimited amount of time.” Emilie checked her watch.

Javier persisted. “What? Come one, you can’t leave me hanging here Emmie.”

She shot him a glare. “I thought I said you can’t call me that anymore.”

“Why not? It’s not like once a relationship ends we forget everything that’s happened, huh Emmie?”

She rolled her eyes. “I didn’t ask you to come here with you Javi.”

“And I didn’t either. For some reason, I always get stuck with me. The guy just won’t leave me along.”

“Very funny.”

His smile fades and somewhere in the distance the coo of a bird is heard. “So do you think it’s true?” He asked.

“What?”

“What the Elders say. About this place. You know…how it was once the center of human civilization until this war happened and they dropped a ball of fire on this place and killed everyone. The war was so evil and so many horrible things happened, that the air is still poisonous today. That’s why we have to wear these attractive things.” Javier tapped his gas mask with a finger.

“You were already told all of this during training. If you take the mask off, you lose consciousness in a minute and you die within the hour.” Emilie said as she adjusted the straps of her pack, “That’s common knowledge.”

Javier sighed. They continued to walk down the path, passing strange masses of metal, harsh points that broke up the continuity of the skyline. After a while, he turned to Emilie, opening his mouth to say something but was cut off as his foot got caught and he fell.

“Are you alright?” Emilie cried, running over to pull him up.

Groaning, Javier looked down to see what had tripped him and whatever he was going to say was stopped dead in its tracks. Underneath him, cracked and sharp, was a skeleton. His eyes widened and he jumped away, gripping Emilie’s jacket sleeve tightly. “What the hell—” Javier’s words were cut short as Emilie pushed him aside and leapt towards the corpse. He watched, sitting on the ground, as her shaking hands began searching the skeleton frantically. After a moment of staring at her, watching her chest flutter like a caged bird, he got up and walked over to where she was. He crouched down next to her, watching as her fingers dug into the soil.

“Do you really think he’s still out here?” Javier asked. Emilie’s hands stopped abruptly. Gently, he pulled her hands away from the body. “This isn’t him, Em. This guy’s been dead for a very long time.” He gestured towards the stems of the plants that curved along the tibia, nestling cozily in the joints. Emilie didn’t say anything.

“Is that why you’ve been going on all these missions? To find him? Em, you have to stop, he’s gone. James is gone.” Javier said, gripping her shoulders.

“No he’s not!” Emilie cried, turning to face him suddenly, her eyes burning. Tears threatened the corners of her eyes, spilling angry pools of lava down her burnt cheeks. “The Elders are lying. He didn’t just disappear on a mission; he isn’t a deserter! My brother isn’t a deserter!” The tears broke forth, making a pool at the bottom of her goggles. She reached up to wipe them on instinct, hitting the glass instead. Javier swallowed loudly, his stomach twisting. He’d never heard Emilie burst out like that. He opened his mouth, but nothing would come out, so he helped Emilie up in silence and they continued to walk.

Javier had only met James once. It was at training; he had come to pick Emilie up since it had gotten late. He looked nothing like her—brown hair, with light blue eyes, so light they almost looked white in the fading light of the sun that day. But perhaps it was only his arms that made Emilie smile like Javier had never seen before. Arms that sheltered her, arms that promised to never leave. When she embraced him, Javier only saw two halves becoming a whole.

Javier had wanted to offer, to ask a question to let him stay by her a little longer, to walk together with the backdrop of a fading sunset.

The tinted sun had slid a little behind them now as they approached the area with the materials. Emilie stopped and pulled out long claws to dig through the massive heap and a contamination container. The two of them began digging through the heaps. Finally, Emilie spoke.

“He was…James was my only family. We’d promised to always be together, you know? Always.” Her voice sounded funny through the mask, short and distant. “He meant everything to me.”

Her words were final, nothing Javier could do or say would ever change that. He sifted through another pile, using the claw to pick away at tiny pieces of scrap metal. After he finished, he tried to push the pile away with his foot, but his toe caught on something. He looked down to see the clear material below him. Crouching lower, he used the claw to push of the debris, unearthing a smoothed container with a dirty blue cover. Below were two more.

“Found them.” He said, lifting it high for Emilie to see. She walked up to him, taking the container from his hands and putting it into the contamination box. Just as she turned to go, the sun dripped its glaze across the pile, illuminating a shiny piece of material on a large beam to the right of them. Emilie tensed, eyes widening and she dropped the contamination box, breaking out into a sprint.

Javier tried to stop her, but it was too late. She dashed up the side of the large beam, trying to scale it, but she was too careless and her foot slipped. He began to sprint, screaming her name, calling for her, pleading to God, just this once don’t let her fall.

Her goggles hit the cement first, shattering into millions of tiny shards, pieces of forgotten stars that flew around her. She didn’t have time to cry as her tiny body fluctuated under the staunch road. Her body bounced slightly from the impact, but when it fell she didn’t move.

Panting, Javier ran over, turning her over in his shaking hands, pulling her auburn hair away from her face. The goggles were useless; just the frame remained. He pulled it off of her, and wiped the tears that were still on her face. As his fingers brushed her cheek, her eyes fluttered open.

“Javi?” Her voice was no longer distant now, he could hear her so clearly.

“Yeah?” He said, his voice weak. He hadn’t realized he was crying.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t…I knew but I couldn’t…” She tried to move her hand but he shook his head. He nodded, understanding.

“Say hi to James for me.” He said.

When the air in her throat broke and her chest’s waves seized to be, he lifted her head off of his lap and placed it on the ground. Calmly, he walked over to the large beam and grabbed the thick root Emilie had missed. He climbed up and grabbed the shining item and carefully came back down. The dog tag jingled in his hand as he walked over, gingerly placing it in Emilie’s already-cold hands. The curve of the J hit the sinking sun perfectly, casting a glow onto her silent face. As he turned to go, the shadows grew and took on their own shape, creating faces and hands and feet, whispering stories of a place that was no more, keeping secrets of the dead and of the living. He looked up, watching the sun and the azure sky. A breeze played with his hair and somewhere a bird let out a song.

He had to admit, Death had never seen a town like Paradisus.