A/n: Okay, you guys held up your end of the promise so I guess it's time to uphold mine. Past time actually.
Sorry again for bugging out… things have been chaotic recently, a mix of both good and bad. I'm overwhelmed, I never could manage my time well. Hell, I could never manage my emotions well either.
But I'd like to thank everyone for reviewing, and reading as well. My God, I suck for taking so long with this!
The air feels good on my face. It's the first time I've been able to appreciate it in days. I haven't been outside my room in a while. But today I guess I just became fed up with myself, really sick to death of myself. So I dressed in my usual attire and forced myself to get out the door. As soon as the sun and air hit me, I felt human again. It feels good to be human.
I breathe slowly, enjoying the crisp taste of the air as it hits my tongue. And suddenly it's easy to smile again. I don't know how it happened, but it's like my sadness just balled itself up and disintegrated. I can still feel a gnawing ache in my gut when I think about him, but I can smile now as I remember. It's not so hard to think of him now.
The town is alive with people as I walk along the main street. People laughing and talking, huddled together or standing alone; someone is crying, face gathered in his hands. I want to reach out to touch him, but I know I shouldn't. It's not my place, his sadness is his and he has to be the one to conquer it. I know that better than most.
A rumble shakes the ground, and I stumble in my steps. The crew working at the well begin to shout to each other as the rumbling increases. Suddenly a burst of water escapes the pull of gravity for a moment and shoots into the air, coming back down as raindrops. I stand in the middle of it all, just looking up and letting the rain hit my face. It's so refreshingly different.
"Meryl! Water! We hit water!" Millie runs up to me, so excited, so proud of herself. She's the happiest I've seen her in a while. She's smiling with all of her heart. And I find that I am too.
It's strange, the feeling of water hitting me on the crown of my head, my shoulders, down the front of my chest. It's how I would imagine what falling into a water tower feels like. It's like taking a shower with all my clothes on. It feels amazingly refreshing.
"Vash will come back won't he?" My partner questions suddenly. But it's not really a question. She knows as well as I do that this separation is not forever. With Vash, it never really is, is it?
"Of course he will. He wouldn't dare keep a good woman like me waiting, would he?" We both laugh a little, nervous but true. It feels good to joke again. It's a little forced, but familiar. This is how it should always be between us. It's how it hasn't been for a while. And it's good to be back to the way things were before this mess started. Back to when Millie and I were all the other had.
We fall into a silent spell, just letting the water hit us gently, before it slows to a light misting. Soon it stops entirely and is content to lie within the well. And that's fine with us, so long as it remains there for a while.
Millie look so happy, she's running around with the children, like Vash would, splashing in newly made puddles. None of the mothers complain about dirty knees or faces, they're too happy. Everyone is too happy, it feels surreal. Yet I know something is missing. Vash is missing.
I smile at a woman across the way, a fellow waitress, and she nods in turn. I'm happy, I want to say, I really am! I just miss him is all. I'm happy, I swear. And I am, I really am.
Millie finds her way back over to me, grinning like that legendary cat who ate the canary. Just looking at her face makes me smile. I don't think it's possible to look at her and feel upset. Just another one of the great qualities Millie possesses.
She begins to say something, I think, but her gaze locks onto something over my shoulder and she stops mid-word. So I turn to see what's got her so focused and serious looking and I see a man on the horizon. My heart leaps into a thumping, noisy pattern of off-beat beats. I can see blonde hair and for a rare moment I'm the happiest I've ever been. But as he gets closer, I see he's wearing black, not geranium red, so this man can't be my Vash. And I want to sink down into the muddy sand and cry.
But the closer he gets, the clearer his face gets and it's him! It's him! Millie and I both shout to him at once. And I'm running so fast, my legs burn and cramp from such sudden abuse, but I don't give a damn because it's him! He smiles, like he always did and waves a one handed wave. And for once, I am the reckless one because I barrel into him.
I throw him off balance, he is carrying his monster of a brother, which in all honesty should shock me a little more than it does; but I know Vash and I know he could never kill Knives.
We fumble for a moment, me clinging to him almost desperately, him patting my back almost lovingly. And he does the most amazing thing in the world. He says my name, my real name.
And I'm mumbling little half-prayers, "Oh thank God you're back, you're back. You're back." It's all I can do not to cry. So I just dig my face into his chest to the point where it must hurt him, but he doesn't complain; he just keeps petting me in a strangely comforting manner. I love it. I want to feel it forever.
And it's like the world around us melts down and runs away in colorful rivers. I forget that Millie wants to say hello too, I forget that Knives is slung across Vash's shoulder, and I even forget that he must be injured. All I can think is how good it feels to be in the arms of the one I love.
It feels better than anything I've ever felt, and likely anything I will ever feel again.
Oh good God. See how I love you? I stay up until 3 a.m. writing and proof-reading and damn I'm tired and morning comes so fast and work is hard, damn it! See how I love you? (After neglecting and yelling at you I try to say I care. I must be slightly bi-polar.) But anyways, sorry this took so long. Life is just… trying to really kill me I think. But regardless, thanks for reading and not giving up hope! (And if you did, screw you! Kidding…) Review if you deem it worthy. Tell me what's good and what sucks. I'm trying to better myself because college is showing me how stupid I really am… Ok, enough! I'll stop throwing my problems in here someday. Peace and love.