Anthor's quick note: Hey, this is my first Trigun fic (YAY), and it has been a little while since I've watched the series, so let me know if I get anything totally wrong. This is based on the anime version, and takes place right after the last episode. Some little details "will" be manga based though, if the anime didn't really clarify something that the manga did, though nothing major (for example, Knives can still make blades sprout from his arm). It's actually the first part of a four fic series, so, I've got a lot of writing to finish, huh? Anyway…so…what are you doing reading this! Read the fic for gosh sakes, I'm looking forward to those reviews about my poor writing! (hehehe)
Disclaimer thingy (which I almost forgot, jeeze!): I don't own Trigun, blah blah blah. If I did, little Knives and Vash would have passed out long ago from too much of my hugging, so there.
Chapter I: Homecoming
Clouds roiled over the desert, building into massive thunderheads almost as black as an utterly moonless night sky. In the distance, where the mass of darkness had not quite reached, the twin suns, bloody and wreathed in shining haze, dipped toward the distant mountains.
Below this, between shining noon and frigid dusk, a lone figure limped across the sands. His head was held low, for though he was strong, the heat was almost stronger. And his gait was pained, for though his physical body was healing, his mind was still on the verge of tears.
Silently, with only the occasional scrape of boot against sand, Vash brought his brother home.
* * *
She had left the town square, hard hat slung under her arm, for the scheduled appointment with a lady doctor she had never met, but who's very next words would determine her entire future.
"Yes, the test is definitely positive," the doctor held the test strip so that Millie could see it better. The tiny drop of blood that had been applied to the tissue had now turned from dark red to a pale blackish-blue.
Millie looked down and sighed, clasping her hands in her lap. How could this have happened? She thought - no - she'd known. But, Nick had promised! When they'd held each other, he'd always promised. Now. . .now she knew how much of a cruel lie that had been. Fate had not been kind, but, still, there had to be something somewhere to be happy about.
"Congratulations," the female doctor laughed. "It's your first time, right?"
"Yes," she whispered.
"Then won't your husband be happy! Well, if you have any trouble, any at all, come back here. You hear me?"
Millie looked up at the ceiling , then shifted off the examination table.
"Yes Ma'am. Thank you doctor, I really appreciate it."
"Of course," the woman saw her out, continuing to smile, and shut the door behind her with a little friendly wave.
Millie waved back, faking a smile for probably the first time in her life. Then she descended the steps leading from the porch into the street, and simply stood there.
The wind brushed her legs, pulling at the hems of her socks and the trousers she had on underneath her smock. It swept sand and a soft, slightly humid breeze with it, a possible sign of a coming storm, but she didn't seem to notice. To the east, the sky was still blue, and the clouds were losing their hold on the world as suddenly as they had come, making her wonder if maybe her storm estimate had been premature. Instead, her eyes went to the double sunset, the contrasting pinks and golds taking her mind a million miles from this little desolate world.
Well, one thing was for certain. She couldn't keep this a secret for very long. Nick had known about her suspicions, and it was, at the time, going to be their little secret for awhile until he could get marriage papers and she had started to show. But now, what could she do? Her parents would have to know, and how would they feel? What about her older brothers and sisters? Such a situation was frowned on in her family, because it made her unmarriageable. But. . .but her and Nick's love had felt so right, she'd been so sure that he was the one, and now -
Still, the insurance company would have to know, and she would be put on leave, and her parents would definitely write to her then and ask her why. Yes, why?
And. . .and, she felt her heart ask, what will Vash think?
Nick and Vash had been very close, "gun-brothers" even, if there was such a term. Had Nick, in his moment of excitement after talking to her, told The Stampede about it?
Then, of course, there was Meryl. The older woman was her senior, in more ways then one, she knew. Still, over the years, working together in the barren stretches between towns, they had become something more then that. Millie knew that they were good friends, in such a close way that neither ever mentioned it. Still, she was worried. Meryl had told her never to get involved, and she had tried. But had Meryl ever been in love?
Oh, just what had she done so wrong?
* * *
Meryl set down her pen and looked out the window. Something was wrong, but she wasn't sure what it could possibly be. All day she'd felt edgy, and now it was interfering with the letter she was writing to her parents. Topping this off with the mood she was in at the moment, it almost seemed like everything was conspiring against her to ruin what little sanity she had left. Sometimes, OK, more then just "sometimes" she simply wanted to scream and get it over with. But in the past couple of days, after Nick's death, that simply hadn't worked.
The odd thing was that she was probably the only person in this town not happy about something. Water had finally been pumped out of the cracked soil, and a late winter shower was possibly on the way. . . somewhere out there. The town council was also planning a festival tonight in celebration. She could see little kids racing down the streets as the light from the twin suns dimmed, laughing and tumbling in the dust. Many of the town's men were even lighting decorative lamps over stoops, as their wives hung streamers and tacked papers inscribed with "Good Luck" symbols to each door. Resting a palm on her chin, Meryl closed her eyes.
Yet, something wasn't right somewhere.
Briefly, her thoughts shifted from Millie, and then to Vash. Well, what was there to say about Millie? She was happy, but then she was always happy. But, well, lately her partner had seemed preoccupied. Millie may have misunderstood many of life's simple things, but her memory was good, and she hardly ever got really worked up over anything, unless it was a matter of love. Yet, now she seemed so. . .well, more disconnected then usual. She had taken Nick's death extremely hard, and in such a strange way that it had surprised the older woman. Meryl knew that her friend had liked him, and he had been making passes at her, after all. They had been hanging out together quite a bit, and she had given them their space, happy to see the other women always smiling. But still, that didn't mean that it was the end of the world.
Right?
Then there was Vash, the one man in this purgatory of a desert that she couldn't quite understand. For a guy, Vash was probably the oddest she'd ever met. All of the boys she'd grown up with were steel-eyed, like the very guns they toted, and as gritty inside and out as the sand beneath their feet. Yet, Vash remained gentle, and he didn't hide it. His soul was different, just as she had imagined the original colonists must have been like.
But she felt nothing but confusion around him, no matter how hard she actually tried in her heart to understand and be his friend. When they were together, she couldn't stand it, and then, when she struck him, as she so often did…she always regretted it later. Sometimes he just acted so childish! Yet. . .what was she going to tell him when he came back. . .IF he came back?
And what about the night before, when she'd found him singing on the cliff? For a split second, she'd felt nothing but surprise. At that moment, she had wanted more then anything to comfort him. He had lost so much, and now he had finally gone off, for better or worse, to end it.
Inside, she didn't quite know if this was love. . .she had only been half-joking with Millie about Vash's return to her. But, she did have so many things that she wanted to say to him. . .so many that she just couldn't say.
Meryl sighed and went back to her letter. Now, at least, she felt that she could probably finish it.
* * *
"Rem told us many things Knives, but do you remember what she really wanted most of all?"
Vash rolled his brother off his shoulder to make sure that the other was still breathing. Blood even now trickled out of the other man's chest and limbs beneath the bandages, but it was a slow steady drip, not the throbbing gush that would have meant the injury was not clotting properly.
To the west, the crimson and soft rose in the sunset glinted over his leather armor and along his knee and elbow guards. He looked to the east, where azure sky still reigned, then back at his brother's wounds, reaching down a hand to touch one of his shoulders.
Knives winced at his touch, but was too far gone at the moment to say anything through the pain. His brother's whole body trembled, and Vash felt his vision blur. He had done this, and yet, still he cared so much about his twin. Was he really no better, then? Was he such a hypocrite? Without a concrete "plan", confronting Knives and all of his own ideals in the same moment, he had made the best choice he felt could be made. They were the only ones of their kind, and he didn't think that he could live by avenging Rem's death with another, let alone exist as the only member of his kind.
But why couldn't Knives see things as they really were? Why couldn't he just accept that the humans, plants, animals, the desert, they were all part of one important whole! Inside his heart, he knew that he couldn't bear to lose either the humans or his brother.
But where was the middle ground?
"You don't remember at all, do you?"
Knives mumbled something, and Vash bent down, tenderly cupping the other's head in his long fingers.
"What?"
Coughing, Knives opened one of his eyes, the one that had not swelled completely closed with an ugly bruise. But that single eye held so much anger, pain, and hatred-mixed scorn, that Vash didn't quite know what to think. Such intense hatred was completely beyond him.
"Of course I remember, you idiot. She said that, no matter what, she wanted us to love each other and stay together. But life got in the way. . .eh? You really did come to "take care of me", didn't you?"
The statement shocked Vash, and he wrinkled the bridge of his nose in disgust, eyes becoming glassy.
"How can you hate so much, and yet still be my twin at the same time?"
Knives chuckled, coughing up blood.
"Here's some news, little brother, we aren't identical."
A single tear glimmered at the corner of Vash's vision, and dropped down onto his brother's nose.
"Hey," Knives snarled, then gasped in pain, "what are you crying over? What a baby! You always were. You know, that spider Rem was right about one thing. You need my guidance and protection more then anything, don't you?"
Vash sighed, and his lips tightened in pain, his bow creasing in a way that made him look at least twenty years older.
"Your protection, perhaps. . .but never your guidance Knives. In that way, you need me more then you'll ever know. I'm not such a fool after all."
Then," Knives whispered, flashing sharp white teeth at Vash, "why don't you act your age and just leave me here? You know that carrying me, in your state, you won't make it back. Maybe it's better that way. . .maybe Rem would have wanted it. Besides, I'm half-dead anyway."
"NO!"
Vash shot to his feet, his shadow casting darkness over the many curves and planes of the other's face. His twin, now that Vash thought about it, did look like the stronger of the two. Where Knives was more muscular, his features worn by the flow and twist of time, Vash was slender and lanky, with a youthful appearance that made many people blindly believe his charade of stupidity. It was an interesting, and odd thought at such a painful moment.
"Knives, if I leave you. . .and, and you survive. . .you'll just come back to hurt me, to hurt those I love. You. . .you killed Nick. . .he was my best friend. . ." The outlaw sniffed, tears streaming down his cheeks as he shut his eyes in a grimace of intense pain.
"But brother, I only wanted what was best for you - for us! The spiders don't deserve to hurt us, or our brethren that they so cruelly harvest and consume. Do you think they know plants feel pain? Do you think they would care?"
"Do you care?"
Knives' eyes widened, and he choked.
"What?!"
Vash opened his own eyes, and the light blue-green orbs were soft as they turned down to his brother, poignant and forgiving.
"You hurt me, and I am your own blood, half your soul, when you think about it. Yet, yet you were so willing to go ahead with it. I could have died Knives! Did you really want the world all to yourself? Really? How selfish. . .how, childish!"
"But brother -"
"No more!" Vash held up a hand, and his pupils narrowed in anger. "There was a time when you loved Rem as much as I did, and what happened? You killed her out of spite and childish jealousy, because this is really about not being human, isn't it? You can't fit in so you kill those that can! Sometimes, yes, sometimes I know that I think no better then you. . .but it is actions that determine our fate, not our thoughts. You hear me Knives!"
He bent down and grabbed his brother by the collar of his body suit, pulling the other's head off the sand with the force of his anger.
"I will still honor Rem's memory. . .because she was my mother. But for you, I will no longer be a slave to it! You have much to learn until you are truly my brother. . .right now, I don't even know what you are."
For a second, Knives truly looked hurt, and in that moment Vash saw the little boy that he had separated with so many years ago.
He's still in there, the outlaw realized, beaten and hidden, but he's still there.
"Then. . .then just kill me Vash!"
Knives tried to sit up, but the wound in his chest ripped open again, and he rolled onto his side, gasping and shivering.
"No," Vash sighed, "no more killing, not ever. Besides, death would be too good for you."
His twin grimaced in a parody of a thankful smile.
"Ah then," he murmered, "I guess you wish to play the brother's keeper?"
"Damn straight," and the other dipped down to grab his brother's hands.
* * *
"So Meryl, where are they holding this party tonight? I heard it's going to be big!"
Millie tipped open the window shade and looked out of the dusty glass and into the street. Behind her in the shade of the living room Meryl was busy washing her clothes, having used well water from a barrel out on the back porch. The same back porch of the house that they were currently loaning from some locals. She didn't look up, but continued to scrape one of her cloaks against the washboard as she started to speak.
"Well, it's a small town, so I don't think it'll be that much of a party. Just the townspeople getting together to celebrate the work crew's accomplishments."
"Oh," Millie seemed to think about this for a second, then she grinned in understanding. "It is a small town Meryl, but if it's anything like my hometown, they can get pretty rowdy!"
She blushed in remembrance, and the older woman looked up, surprised.
"You're so funny sometimes, I don't know what I would do without you."
"Probably run around in circles screaming at Vash, but then, that's just my idea afterall!"
Meryl smirked, rising up from the wooden stool to go hang her cloak on the line of rope she had strung up across the room. From this vantage point she could see that almost the whole town had gathered out by the well, cheering and laughing. It was a kind of happiness that she hadn't seen in so long that her heart ached to join them, and she was very relieved when Millie spoke up behind her.
"Oh, ma'am, look! They're selling cotton candy out there! Lets go get some, come on!"
The other woman felt her partner's long fingers wrap around her own, and in seconds they were back in the street and moving toward the well. Milling around in the crowd were various venders, selling food and the occasional bottled soda, but Millie only had eyes for the young girl who was rolling pink fluff onto paper cones.
Sliding along and trying to keep up to the other's longer strides, Meryl looked back over her shoulder, and suddenly dug in her heels. She stopped so abruptly that Millie tripped, and they landed in a disheveled heap on the warm, water-soaked sand.
"Um," Millie helped the other woman up as she dusted off her smock, "what's wrong ma'am?"
"Millie! Millie look back down the street and tell me what you see!"
Both turned in unison, and their eyes brightened at the sight.
"Why Meryl, I do believe that's Mr. Vash! He came back, yup he did!"
In the distance, framed by the blue sky and the glaring light of the sinking suns, Vash saw them and smiled, his first real smile in so long that he'd long since forgotten who he had given the last one to. Millie saw the smile and raced out over the sand, arms in the air and smile wider then his own. Behind her, Meryl tried to contain her excitement and quell the sudden feeling of anger that threatened to overwhelm her happiness. She trotted toward them both as Millie helped Vash put down Knives for a moment to rest his shoulder. As he rubbed at the muscles in his neck, the girl abruptly threw her arms around him and squeezed, causing him to squirm in discomfort.
"Hey there big girl! Eh, watch the shoulder! Oof, can't breathe-"
"Oh, Mr. Vash! We were so worried about you. . .and Meryl, she couldn't stop talking about how-"
"About what Millie?" Meryl had come up beside them both, her usual business frown back in place. The other woman let go of Vash, who heaved a huge sigh.
"Why, about seeing Mr. Vash again Meryl! Don't you have something to say to him?"
"Other then the fact that he was an irresponsible idiot, no! Is that your brother you brought back with you? He looks dead."
Vash grimaced, taken aback by her words, and looked down at Knives. The other man was still breathing, but very slowly, stretched out on the sand in relaxed unawareness. Why did Meryl always have to talk to him like this, he thought she was his friend, right?
"He's - he's not dead. Just, he's wounded and sleeping while he heals. I. . .aren't you glad I came back? That I came back home?"
Meryl drew in a sharp breath, her eyes widening at his words.
He came back to me, he said he came back home. Does that mean that his home is with me? Her mind raced with a thousand wild thoughts and feelings, none of which she was able to quite control. Maybe that was why she couldn't stand him, because he made her lose all that control?
"Oh Meryl," Millie breathed, "look at Mr. Vash."
The shorter woman looked up, only to see the confusion in the gunman's eyes. He was glancing at her, but in such a way that it was obvious he was waiting for her to slap him.
When he looks at me like that, her mind answered her heart, you just can't hate him anymore.
"Welcome home Vash," Meryl spread her arms, and he knelt down slightly to embrace her as well. She could feel his hands, strong and loving against her back, and she knew that this-
"Ouch," he pulled away, looking pained. She peered down at her hands as if they had suddenly grown spikes, but, of course, there was nothing different about them.
"What's wrong? Oh my."
He was holding his shoulder, and his side, blood seeping through his gloved fingers. She looked down at the front of her cape, only to see the clean white stained crimson.
"You're bleeding a lot! Millie, help me get Vash and his brother back to the house."
"Hey girls, don't worry about me! It's just a little blood, I've had worse. I could really use your help though with Knives. He was gettin' kinda heavy."
"Sure," Millie offered, the concern not leaving her eyes, despite her smiling lips. She grabbed Knives' arms and gently hauled him onto her own shoulder, then headed off toward the house. Vash watched them go, then took an uncertain step forward, trying to hide his discomfort.
"You know," Meryl whispered, "you can lean on me if you think it'll help. Really, I'm stronger then I look, what with carrying all those derringers around-"
"That's okay," Vash gave her one of his pained smiles, then turned back to walking.
She followed him up to the stairs like a mother hen, then into the house. He glanced around, then collapsed into one of the wooden chairs at the table in the center of the room. A trail of blood followed him across the floor, and more continued to drip down from his shoulder and onto his legs. He leaned his head into his arms, resting his cheek against the cool table, and passed out without another word.
Muffled footsteps thumped down the hall, and Millie came back to see Meryl standing as if in a daze by the door. The younger woman noticed all the blood, and gasped.
"Meryl! Didn't you notice that Mr. Vash is bleeding to death!"
"Hum?" She looked up, giving Millie an odd glance and seeming to come out of her reverie. "Ack! You're right, he is, how could I be so stupid! And at a time like this!"
"It's okay," she gave the other girl a little smile, "just run and get the lady doctor down the street. I'll boil water and work on stopping the bleeding. Besides, we really need somebody to look at Knives, he's wounded pretty bad and he needs new bandages."
"Of course."
Meryl glanced back at Millie, then opened the door and dashed away, mud and sand covering her boots as the well's geyser rained water all around her feet.
On the roof, a little black cat finished licking the rest of the beer out of a yellow and white can that she had managed to purloin the other day. Weaving back and forth, the very drunk feline shook her fur and got to her tiny paws. She stood there for about ten seconds, let out a broken meow, and tumbled off the roof along with the empty beer container.
Together, cat and can floated away in the watery cascade lining the streets.
Endnotes: Wow, you read all that (I must be doing something right)! So, that's the first chapter. . .hope you liked it! The real plot is about to start in the next chapter, which is why I thought I'd put up both of them, just to get things going. Anyway, review and let me know if you liked it or didn't (constructively, of course) and if you would like me to continue, ok? Thanks so much!
Disclaimer thingy (which I almost forgot, jeeze!): I don't own Trigun, blah blah blah. If I did, little Knives and Vash would have passed out long ago from too much of my hugging, so there.
Chapter I: Homecoming
Clouds roiled over the desert, building into massive thunderheads almost as black as an utterly moonless night sky. In the distance, where the mass of darkness had not quite reached, the twin suns, bloody and wreathed in shining haze, dipped toward the distant mountains.
Below this, between shining noon and frigid dusk, a lone figure limped across the sands. His head was held low, for though he was strong, the heat was almost stronger. And his gait was pained, for though his physical body was healing, his mind was still on the verge of tears.
Silently, with only the occasional scrape of boot against sand, Vash brought his brother home.
* * *
She had left the town square, hard hat slung under her arm, for the scheduled appointment with a lady doctor she had never met, but who's very next words would determine her entire future.
"Yes, the test is definitely positive," the doctor held the test strip so that Millie could see it better. The tiny drop of blood that had been applied to the tissue had now turned from dark red to a pale blackish-blue.
Millie looked down and sighed, clasping her hands in her lap. How could this have happened? She thought - no - she'd known. But, Nick had promised! When they'd held each other, he'd always promised. Now. . .now she knew how much of a cruel lie that had been. Fate had not been kind, but, still, there had to be something somewhere to be happy about.
"Congratulations," the female doctor laughed. "It's your first time, right?"
"Yes," she whispered.
"Then won't your husband be happy! Well, if you have any trouble, any at all, come back here. You hear me?"
Millie looked up at the ceiling , then shifted off the examination table.
"Yes Ma'am. Thank you doctor, I really appreciate it."
"Of course," the woman saw her out, continuing to smile, and shut the door behind her with a little friendly wave.
Millie waved back, faking a smile for probably the first time in her life. Then she descended the steps leading from the porch into the street, and simply stood there.
The wind brushed her legs, pulling at the hems of her socks and the trousers she had on underneath her smock. It swept sand and a soft, slightly humid breeze with it, a possible sign of a coming storm, but she didn't seem to notice. To the east, the sky was still blue, and the clouds were losing their hold on the world as suddenly as they had come, making her wonder if maybe her storm estimate had been premature. Instead, her eyes went to the double sunset, the contrasting pinks and golds taking her mind a million miles from this little desolate world.
Well, one thing was for certain. She couldn't keep this a secret for very long. Nick had known about her suspicions, and it was, at the time, going to be their little secret for awhile until he could get marriage papers and she had started to show. But now, what could she do? Her parents would have to know, and how would they feel? What about her older brothers and sisters? Such a situation was frowned on in her family, because it made her unmarriageable. But. . .but her and Nick's love had felt so right, she'd been so sure that he was the one, and now -
Still, the insurance company would have to know, and she would be put on leave, and her parents would definitely write to her then and ask her why. Yes, why?
And. . .and, she felt her heart ask, what will Vash think?
Nick and Vash had been very close, "gun-brothers" even, if there was such a term. Had Nick, in his moment of excitement after talking to her, told The Stampede about it?
Then, of course, there was Meryl. The older woman was her senior, in more ways then one, she knew. Still, over the years, working together in the barren stretches between towns, they had become something more then that. Millie knew that they were good friends, in such a close way that neither ever mentioned it. Still, she was worried. Meryl had told her never to get involved, and she had tried. But had Meryl ever been in love?
Oh, just what had she done so wrong?
* * *
Meryl set down her pen and looked out the window. Something was wrong, but she wasn't sure what it could possibly be. All day she'd felt edgy, and now it was interfering with the letter she was writing to her parents. Topping this off with the mood she was in at the moment, it almost seemed like everything was conspiring against her to ruin what little sanity she had left. Sometimes, OK, more then just "sometimes" she simply wanted to scream and get it over with. But in the past couple of days, after Nick's death, that simply hadn't worked.
The odd thing was that she was probably the only person in this town not happy about something. Water had finally been pumped out of the cracked soil, and a late winter shower was possibly on the way. . . somewhere out there. The town council was also planning a festival tonight in celebration. She could see little kids racing down the streets as the light from the twin suns dimmed, laughing and tumbling in the dust. Many of the town's men were even lighting decorative lamps over stoops, as their wives hung streamers and tacked papers inscribed with "Good Luck" symbols to each door. Resting a palm on her chin, Meryl closed her eyes.
Yet, something wasn't right somewhere.
Briefly, her thoughts shifted from Millie, and then to Vash. Well, what was there to say about Millie? She was happy, but then she was always happy. But, well, lately her partner had seemed preoccupied. Millie may have misunderstood many of life's simple things, but her memory was good, and she hardly ever got really worked up over anything, unless it was a matter of love. Yet, now she seemed so. . .well, more disconnected then usual. She had taken Nick's death extremely hard, and in such a strange way that it had surprised the older woman. Meryl knew that her friend had liked him, and he had been making passes at her, after all. They had been hanging out together quite a bit, and she had given them their space, happy to see the other women always smiling. But still, that didn't mean that it was the end of the world.
Right?
Then there was Vash, the one man in this purgatory of a desert that she couldn't quite understand. For a guy, Vash was probably the oddest she'd ever met. All of the boys she'd grown up with were steel-eyed, like the very guns they toted, and as gritty inside and out as the sand beneath their feet. Yet, Vash remained gentle, and he didn't hide it. His soul was different, just as she had imagined the original colonists must have been like.
But she felt nothing but confusion around him, no matter how hard she actually tried in her heart to understand and be his friend. When they were together, she couldn't stand it, and then, when she struck him, as she so often did…she always regretted it later. Sometimes he just acted so childish! Yet. . .what was she going to tell him when he came back. . .IF he came back?
And what about the night before, when she'd found him singing on the cliff? For a split second, she'd felt nothing but surprise. At that moment, she had wanted more then anything to comfort him. He had lost so much, and now he had finally gone off, for better or worse, to end it.
Inside, she didn't quite know if this was love. . .she had only been half-joking with Millie about Vash's return to her. But, she did have so many things that she wanted to say to him. . .so many that she just couldn't say.
Meryl sighed and went back to her letter. Now, at least, she felt that she could probably finish it.
* * *
"Rem told us many things Knives, but do you remember what she really wanted most of all?"
Vash rolled his brother off his shoulder to make sure that the other was still breathing. Blood even now trickled out of the other man's chest and limbs beneath the bandages, but it was a slow steady drip, not the throbbing gush that would have meant the injury was not clotting properly.
To the west, the crimson and soft rose in the sunset glinted over his leather armor and along his knee and elbow guards. He looked to the east, where azure sky still reigned, then back at his brother's wounds, reaching down a hand to touch one of his shoulders.
Knives winced at his touch, but was too far gone at the moment to say anything through the pain. His brother's whole body trembled, and Vash felt his vision blur. He had done this, and yet, still he cared so much about his twin. Was he really no better, then? Was he such a hypocrite? Without a concrete "plan", confronting Knives and all of his own ideals in the same moment, he had made the best choice he felt could be made. They were the only ones of their kind, and he didn't think that he could live by avenging Rem's death with another, let alone exist as the only member of his kind.
But why couldn't Knives see things as they really were? Why couldn't he just accept that the humans, plants, animals, the desert, they were all part of one important whole! Inside his heart, he knew that he couldn't bear to lose either the humans or his brother.
But where was the middle ground?
"You don't remember at all, do you?"
Knives mumbled something, and Vash bent down, tenderly cupping the other's head in his long fingers.
"What?"
Coughing, Knives opened one of his eyes, the one that had not swelled completely closed with an ugly bruise. But that single eye held so much anger, pain, and hatred-mixed scorn, that Vash didn't quite know what to think. Such intense hatred was completely beyond him.
"Of course I remember, you idiot. She said that, no matter what, she wanted us to love each other and stay together. But life got in the way. . .eh? You really did come to "take care of me", didn't you?"
The statement shocked Vash, and he wrinkled the bridge of his nose in disgust, eyes becoming glassy.
"How can you hate so much, and yet still be my twin at the same time?"
Knives chuckled, coughing up blood.
"Here's some news, little brother, we aren't identical."
A single tear glimmered at the corner of Vash's vision, and dropped down onto his brother's nose.
"Hey," Knives snarled, then gasped in pain, "what are you crying over? What a baby! You always were. You know, that spider Rem was right about one thing. You need my guidance and protection more then anything, don't you?"
Vash sighed, and his lips tightened in pain, his bow creasing in a way that made him look at least twenty years older.
"Your protection, perhaps. . .but never your guidance Knives. In that way, you need me more then you'll ever know. I'm not such a fool after all."
Then," Knives whispered, flashing sharp white teeth at Vash, "why don't you act your age and just leave me here? You know that carrying me, in your state, you won't make it back. Maybe it's better that way. . .maybe Rem would have wanted it. Besides, I'm half-dead anyway."
"NO!"
Vash shot to his feet, his shadow casting darkness over the many curves and planes of the other's face. His twin, now that Vash thought about it, did look like the stronger of the two. Where Knives was more muscular, his features worn by the flow and twist of time, Vash was slender and lanky, with a youthful appearance that made many people blindly believe his charade of stupidity. It was an interesting, and odd thought at such a painful moment.
"Knives, if I leave you. . .and, and you survive. . .you'll just come back to hurt me, to hurt those I love. You. . .you killed Nick. . .he was my best friend. . ." The outlaw sniffed, tears streaming down his cheeks as he shut his eyes in a grimace of intense pain.
"But brother, I only wanted what was best for you - for us! The spiders don't deserve to hurt us, or our brethren that they so cruelly harvest and consume. Do you think they know plants feel pain? Do you think they would care?"
"Do you care?"
Knives' eyes widened, and he choked.
"What?!"
Vash opened his own eyes, and the light blue-green orbs were soft as they turned down to his brother, poignant and forgiving.
"You hurt me, and I am your own blood, half your soul, when you think about it. Yet, yet you were so willing to go ahead with it. I could have died Knives! Did you really want the world all to yourself? Really? How selfish. . .how, childish!"
"But brother -"
"No more!" Vash held up a hand, and his pupils narrowed in anger. "There was a time when you loved Rem as much as I did, and what happened? You killed her out of spite and childish jealousy, because this is really about not being human, isn't it? You can't fit in so you kill those that can! Sometimes, yes, sometimes I know that I think no better then you. . .but it is actions that determine our fate, not our thoughts. You hear me Knives!"
He bent down and grabbed his brother by the collar of his body suit, pulling the other's head off the sand with the force of his anger.
"I will still honor Rem's memory. . .because she was my mother. But for you, I will no longer be a slave to it! You have much to learn until you are truly my brother. . .right now, I don't even know what you are."
For a second, Knives truly looked hurt, and in that moment Vash saw the little boy that he had separated with so many years ago.
He's still in there, the outlaw realized, beaten and hidden, but he's still there.
"Then. . .then just kill me Vash!"
Knives tried to sit up, but the wound in his chest ripped open again, and he rolled onto his side, gasping and shivering.
"No," Vash sighed, "no more killing, not ever. Besides, death would be too good for you."
His twin grimaced in a parody of a thankful smile.
"Ah then," he murmered, "I guess you wish to play the brother's keeper?"
"Damn straight," and the other dipped down to grab his brother's hands.
* * *
"So Meryl, where are they holding this party tonight? I heard it's going to be big!"
Millie tipped open the window shade and looked out of the dusty glass and into the street. Behind her in the shade of the living room Meryl was busy washing her clothes, having used well water from a barrel out on the back porch. The same back porch of the house that they were currently loaning from some locals. She didn't look up, but continued to scrape one of her cloaks against the washboard as she started to speak.
"Well, it's a small town, so I don't think it'll be that much of a party. Just the townspeople getting together to celebrate the work crew's accomplishments."
"Oh," Millie seemed to think about this for a second, then she grinned in understanding. "It is a small town Meryl, but if it's anything like my hometown, they can get pretty rowdy!"
She blushed in remembrance, and the older woman looked up, surprised.
"You're so funny sometimes, I don't know what I would do without you."
"Probably run around in circles screaming at Vash, but then, that's just my idea afterall!"
Meryl smirked, rising up from the wooden stool to go hang her cloak on the line of rope she had strung up across the room. From this vantage point she could see that almost the whole town had gathered out by the well, cheering and laughing. It was a kind of happiness that she hadn't seen in so long that her heart ached to join them, and she was very relieved when Millie spoke up behind her.
"Oh, ma'am, look! They're selling cotton candy out there! Lets go get some, come on!"
The other woman felt her partner's long fingers wrap around her own, and in seconds they were back in the street and moving toward the well. Milling around in the crowd were various venders, selling food and the occasional bottled soda, but Millie only had eyes for the young girl who was rolling pink fluff onto paper cones.
Sliding along and trying to keep up to the other's longer strides, Meryl looked back over her shoulder, and suddenly dug in her heels. She stopped so abruptly that Millie tripped, and they landed in a disheveled heap on the warm, water-soaked sand.
"Um," Millie helped the other woman up as she dusted off her smock, "what's wrong ma'am?"
"Millie! Millie look back down the street and tell me what you see!"
Both turned in unison, and their eyes brightened at the sight.
"Why Meryl, I do believe that's Mr. Vash! He came back, yup he did!"
In the distance, framed by the blue sky and the glaring light of the sinking suns, Vash saw them and smiled, his first real smile in so long that he'd long since forgotten who he had given the last one to. Millie saw the smile and raced out over the sand, arms in the air and smile wider then his own. Behind her, Meryl tried to contain her excitement and quell the sudden feeling of anger that threatened to overwhelm her happiness. She trotted toward them both as Millie helped Vash put down Knives for a moment to rest his shoulder. As he rubbed at the muscles in his neck, the girl abruptly threw her arms around him and squeezed, causing him to squirm in discomfort.
"Hey there big girl! Eh, watch the shoulder! Oof, can't breathe-"
"Oh, Mr. Vash! We were so worried about you. . .and Meryl, she couldn't stop talking about how-"
"About what Millie?" Meryl had come up beside them both, her usual business frown back in place. The other woman let go of Vash, who heaved a huge sigh.
"Why, about seeing Mr. Vash again Meryl! Don't you have something to say to him?"
"Other then the fact that he was an irresponsible idiot, no! Is that your brother you brought back with you? He looks dead."
Vash grimaced, taken aback by her words, and looked down at Knives. The other man was still breathing, but very slowly, stretched out on the sand in relaxed unawareness. Why did Meryl always have to talk to him like this, he thought she was his friend, right?
"He's - he's not dead. Just, he's wounded and sleeping while he heals. I. . .aren't you glad I came back? That I came back home?"
Meryl drew in a sharp breath, her eyes widening at his words.
He came back to me, he said he came back home. Does that mean that his home is with me? Her mind raced with a thousand wild thoughts and feelings, none of which she was able to quite control. Maybe that was why she couldn't stand him, because he made her lose all that control?
"Oh Meryl," Millie breathed, "look at Mr. Vash."
The shorter woman looked up, only to see the confusion in the gunman's eyes. He was glancing at her, but in such a way that it was obvious he was waiting for her to slap him.
When he looks at me like that, her mind answered her heart, you just can't hate him anymore.
"Welcome home Vash," Meryl spread her arms, and he knelt down slightly to embrace her as well. She could feel his hands, strong and loving against her back, and she knew that this-
"Ouch," he pulled away, looking pained. She peered down at her hands as if they had suddenly grown spikes, but, of course, there was nothing different about them.
"What's wrong? Oh my."
He was holding his shoulder, and his side, blood seeping through his gloved fingers. She looked down at the front of her cape, only to see the clean white stained crimson.
"You're bleeding a lot! Millie, help me get Vash and his brother back to the house."
"Hey girls, don't worry about me! It's just a little blood, I've had worse. I could really use your help though with Knives. He was gettin' kinda heavy."
"Sure," Millie offered, the concern not leaving her eyes, despite her smiling lips. She grabbed Knives' arms and gently hauled him onto her own shoulder, then headed off toward the house. Vash watched them go, then took an uncertain step forward, trying to hide his discomfort.
"You know," Meryl whispered, "you can lean on me if you think it'll help. Really, I'm stronger then I look, what with carrying all those derringers around-"
"That's okay," Vash gave her one of his pained smiles, then turned back to walking.
She followed him up to the stairs like a mother hen, then into the house. He glanced around, then collapsed into one of the wooden chairs at the table in the center of the room. A trail of blood followed him across the floor, and more continued to drip down from his shoulder and onto his legs. He leaned his head into his arms, resting his cheek against the cool table, and passed out without another word.
Muffled footsteps thumped down the hall, and Millie came back to see Meryl standing as if in a daze by the door. The younger woman noticed all the blood, and gasped.
"Meryl! Didn't you notice that Mr. Vash is bleeding to death!"
"Hum?" She looked up, giving Millie an odd glance and seeming to come out of her reverie. "Ack! You're right, he is, how could I be so stupid! And at a time like this!"
"It's okay," she gave the other girl a little smile, "just run and get the lady doctor down the street. I'll boil water and work on stopping the bleeding. Besides, we really need somebody to look at Knives, he's wounded pretty bad and he needs new bandages."
"Of course."
Meryl glanced back at Millie, then opened the door and dashed away, mud and sand covering her boots as the well's geyser rained water all around her feet.
On the roof, a little black cat finished licking the rest of the beer out of a yellow and white can that she had managed to purloin the other day. Weaving back and forth, the very drunk feline shook her fur and got to her tiny paws. She stood there for about ten seconds, let out a broken meow, and tumbled off the roof along with the empty beer container.
Together, cat and can floated away in the watery cascade lining the streets.
Endnotes: Wow, you read all that (I must be doing something right)! So, that's the first chapter. . .hope you liked it! The real plot is about to start in the next chapter, which is why I thought I'd put up both of them, just to get things going. Anyway, review and let me know if you liked it or didn't (constructively, of course) and if you would like me to continue, ok? Thanks so much!