Chapter One... Road into Tomorrow

The blistering horizon wavered in the distance as a tiny speck moved across the dusty and sandy hills of the lone desert. The bus that held them moved along the bumpy road, as the scene of endless sand passed along the view from the windows. Vash and his friends had been through enough, as they traveled together. Disaster did seem to follow him around. Almost everywhere he went someone died, got hurt, or something expensive was severely damaged! These memories passed by him, as he turned towards his new life, hoping this bus ride would take him to some destination that would bring him some good ones. Looking over at his brother, pity came over his features. He would forever love his brother, because they were brothers, but that didn't mean he had to agree with the way Knives lived his life. He was against everything that Vash treasured.

Life… Human life was very precious to him. All humans were precious to him. Through the many long years that he'd been here, all the people that he came to know as friends, most of them had died because of him. All of them had died in front of him. Sadness crept into his eyes, as his brother met his gaze, his dark eyes piercing Vash's thoughts. "Don't look at me like I can still hurt you? You've done enough of that to me already." Knives spoke darkly. Vash turned away from his brother's painful words and stared to the front of the bus. Maryl looked over at them after hearing Knives voice and felt a pang of guilt, knowing that Vash must feel the same way. She wished she could feel his pain, however, knowing she could never be able to handle it all as he did.

These words Knives had said to him did indeed make him feel guilty. Again, he felt like he was always hurting everyone else. He sighed knowing that what he used to be was no longer a problem, but part of him. Rem was the only one he had ever turned to for help, but now he looked to someone else. Maryl had taken her place in that aspect but would never replace her in Vash's heart. Mostly from the moment she had risked getting shot to protect him, taking over his old memories of Rem's long ago actions. He knew she was looking at him, he could almost see her saddened look as his brothers vengeful words pierced him like a rusty bullet. Looking in her direction he forced one of his wonderful smiles onto his face, seeming to lighten her mood, but the look still lingered in her dark eyes. "So, where are we going exactly?" Maryl asked him, changing the mood of things. Vash shrugged his shoulders lightly. "I'm not sure, and I don't want to know really. With all of the things that have happened, we need something different. I'm just hoping it will be something better than all the others." He replied, as his enlightened mood seemed to take a quick plunge. Maryl saw this and wished she had never asked. "I'm sorry…" she trailed off, hoping to leave it at that. His expression changed again, his moods to her like the rise and dip in temperature, and he smiled. "It's okay, no harm done!" he stated, his eyes taking on a lighter façade.

Maryl had knowingly liked him for along time now, but her mind kept telling her that she was silly and that she really didn't like him, she just really wanted to find him for the Insurance Agency! She had quickly grown to like the man when she didn't know who he actually was. His strange actions, quick smiles, and quite handsome features caught her eyes the first time she saw him in those desert mountains. Millie on the other hand had somehow figured out that the blonde man in the red coat that constantly ended up wherever they were, was indeed Vash the Stampede! Maryl still doesn't understand why she couldn't have known it was Vash right off the bat. Was it because she had liked the stranger and somehow didn't want to connect the quirky grins to the horrible stories she had heard about Vash the Stampede? Possibly this assumption of her was right, as she thought about the past few months with him. They had gone by so fast, and yet they had seemed like an eternity ago. It was just yet a few days ago that she had worried about loosing him to his brother Knives. Maryl was afraid that perhaps Knives could have bested Vash and he would have died, leaving Knives to attempt to exterminate all human life.

Although in her heart, she knew that Vash would never let that happen. His very life was spent saving life, all life. Maryl wondered if that was where his problem with drinking came in. He had such a great weight on his shoulders and all that previous pain from his past she knew he carried, but would not tell her of. Somehow it surprised her that with all that Vash had been through in his long life, why he hadn't turned out like his brother? She hoped that whomever this Rem was he mentioned sometimes was the reason, and somehow deep inside she knew that it was. Maryl looked over at her long time friend Millie and smiled as she had already begun to snore. Taking a deep breath, she looked at Vash once again and then closed her eyes, leaning up against Millie, attempting to follow her into that dreamland everyone yearned to reach.

Looking over at Maryl, Vash smiled happily. He didn't know when he had started liking her! It must have been when he saw her motherly instinct back in the desert, when she cooked for them and the children. Remembering that made Vash suddenly feel a pang of loss for Nicholas D. Wolfwood. He had been sent as one of the Gun Ho Gun's but somehow, through all of the commotion, they became friends. A sigh escaped him as he thought of how he died, alone in that church. Vash felt anger well up in him, as he wished Nicholas were still alive. Beside himself, Vash felt that the only person who could out best him was Wolfwood. His heart also went out to how Millie had been devastated to find out that he was not going to come back to her. She knew he wasn't going to but she still felt, to him, that Wolfwood had lied to her. In that aspect, she would never forgive him, but then again Millie was such a strange girl. Vash smiled at that, and glanced over at his sleeping brother. Content with the way things were going, Vash soon found sleep as well.

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This is not my first fanfiction, but it's my first one for Trigun. I don't know what anyone will think about it, but it happens after he wins against his brother. :0) I will have the second chapter or so up soon.

If you want to email me with questions or comments, then mail me here: sakura_blossom@hotmail.com!