Notes: Is this fandom even alive anymore? Well, at any rate, hello and welcome to the beginning of what will probably be yet another long project—especially considering this one has been in the works for over 10 years now. This story is the first project that we'd begun writing together, and has gone under VERY heavy revision since its birth that one stormy night 13 years ago. Oh, they grow up so fast! -sniffle-
Anyway, this is one of those post-canon fics, a 'what happens after Vash kicks Knives's ass?' if you will. The story will be blending both anime and manga canons, mostly adhering to the anime's series of events but using the manga's version of the twins' origins. Also will include a sizeable serving of Fix-it -coughWolfwoodcough- and a heaping spoonful of romance (in later chapters). And angst. So much angst. Plus, we'll see what the insurance girls Meryl and Millie are up to. The gang's all here, and then some!
Hope you enjoy, and please consider leaving us a review if you happen to give this a read. It gets lonely in this corner!
What if it hurts, what then?
What do we do, what do you say?
Don't throw your lifeline away.
— "Lifelines" by A-ha
.: Chapter 1 :.
It had been a last-ditch effort.
After 150 years on this planet—most of them having been spent apart from each other—Vash couldn't let his brother continue down the destructive path that he'd been on; a path where all of humanity simply wouldn't be allowed to exist. Hadn't he spent most of his life protecting humanity? Knives saw them as beneath him, things to be abhorred and disposed of with haste.
Vash never bought into that type of thinking. Not even when they'd beat him down again and again, put a price on his head, not even when his friends had turned on him one by one. He loved being close to people and he let it happen over and over, though each time ended just like the last; leaving him betrayed and alone.
Why did he keep doing that to himself? Wouldn't it have been easier to join Knives on his mission? At least then he wouldn't be alone.
Vash shook his head as he carried his brother's unconscious body over his shoulder, carefully as the blood dripped from his leg. He wouldn't be like him. Even if every human on the planet Gunsmoke had made up their minds to kill him, he'd still protect them all. They weren't all bad. At least one of them, he remembered with great clarity...one of them had come back.
Wolfwood...
He closed his eyes tightly, willing the tears to stay where they were. Crying wouldn't bring him back. That was the other burden he carried; the cross punisher that Wolfwood had claimed was heavy because it was so full of mercy.
He had to find a safe place, away from too many prying eyes. Someplace where Knives could recover and hopefully rehabilitate. Vash remembered all too well the look on his face upon his first real injury all those years ago when Vash himself had dealt that blow.
Now he'd done it again. Shot at his brother with harmful intent…and succeeded.
Four bullet wounds…one on each limb. Vash could only hope to be so lucky. His own body was scarred and disfigured from every fight he'd been in, and to save the lives of people who'd hated and betrayed him no less. No one ever said that doing the right thing was easy, and Vash couldn't help but think that it was the right thing, even if it hurt him so much. It was what Rem had taught him. It was what Rem would have liked to see. It would have made her proud.
He didn't really know what he expected from his brother when Knives woke up. An angry tirade? Most likely. But when the fighting was all over, Vash hadn't wanted him dead. No...he couldn't see himself killing his brother simply because he'd been the one to win the fight.
He clung to that last spark of hope that Knives wasn't a complete loss, the way a man dying of thirst clung to the last drop of water in his empty canteen.
Finally the outline of a town came into view. It was a welcome change from the endless beige sand that had been blowing in his face for isles and isles. He smiled, stumbling slightly over the dunes as he picked up his pace and the buildings became clearer the closer he got. The suns were high and hot, but it wasn't yet noon, he noted with relief as the billboard with the name of the town came into view.
"February," he read aloud.
As luck would have it, February didn't appear to be a particularly large or bustling type of town. Since it was almost noontime, people would be indoors to escape the blistering heat, preparing their lunches. His stomach growled as if on cue and he gulped, his throat so dry it felt like it was coated with the blasted sand that this entire planet was covered in.
No good. He couldn't stop and eat. He needed to find a place where Knives could recover. Someplace long term.
He turned down one of the side streets, now walking along the outskirts of the town. Some place out of the way would be good. He noted a lot of residential areas back there, but finally a respite came into view. There was a swinging wooden sign hanging from a modest one-story building that read 'Dwyer Inn.'
It wasn't fancy by any means, but it looked comfortable enough from the outside.
Shifting his heavy burdens and leaning Wolfwood's cross against the wall outside, he managed to make it through the door with Knives in tow. A small bell signaled his entrance as he did so.
The lobby was larger than he would have thought from the outside. He walked across the tiled floor to the reception desk where a tall, pale and thin woman was standing. She had red hair that was slightly curly, and appeared to be counting a large pile of pencils. Her eyes were intent on their task, darting back and forth and her freckled nose was wrinkled ever so slightly. Her lips were parted as she mumbled the numbers under her breath.
Vash felt a stupid grin coming on, even in these serious times. What a pretty woman! He sauntered closer to the counter, trying not to scare her as he leaned against it slightly. "Excuse me, Miss...I'm terribly sorry to interrupt you, but I'm looking to rent a room for a while."
"Twenty-seven...twenty-eight...twenty-nine..." The woman's head snapped up as she caught sight of the strange man with spiky blond hair and she twitched, breaking the pencil in her hand in half. "WHAT…?" Her tone had come out more annoyed and loud than she intended and she took a breath, as if remembering she was running a business and as the proprietor it wouldn't do to scare the guests away.
She placed the broken pencil halves down on the desk in front of her and smoothed her hands against her pants. "Hi, welcome to the Dwyer Inn. A long term stay, you said? Well, it's the off season right now, not like there's really an 'on' season here...but most of the rooms are usually free since most people only stay a night or two as they're passing through."
Vash grinned. "Great!"
Upon noticing what he had slung over his shoulder, the woman's eyes widened. "JESUS CHRIST is that man okay?! Do you need me to call a doctor?" She gaped at the apparent gunshot wounds and blood that continued to flow from the prone man's legs. "What's going on here?!"
Vash quickly held up his free hand. "NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! That won't be necessary! I'm his personal doctor! We just need a place to stay while he recovers...ahhh...preferably a larger room, somewhere in the back?" He hoped he looked and sounded sincere enough.
"Are you sure about that? He's bleeding! He looks awful..."
"NO, REALLY! Everything's fine!" At least he hoped it was, anyway. "I just really need to get him into bed. If you don't mind, about that room..."
Her body language indicated that she was still a bit wary. But as business hadn't exactly been booming lately, she didn't really have a choice when it came to her patrons. She needed the money.
"Alright...I do have a large room in the back. I'll just come and grab my sister's shit out of it for you. She'll have to deal, since you're paying customers." The woman grabbed a key off the wall behind her and made her way out from behind the desk. "Follow me, Mister...?"
"SMITH!" Vash answered quickly. "It's Mr. Smith...AHAHAHAHA!"
The proprietor looked uncomfortable, her eye twitching slightly. "Should you really be laughing when your friend looks that bad?"
"He's my brother, actually," Vash answered, followed by loud fake coughing.
"That's even worse! Well, this isn't a charity organization so as soon as you get him in bed I hope you're prepared to pay a handsome deposit, Mr. Smith..."
"Of course I am, Miss...err, I didn't catch your name."
"It's Olivia. Olivia Dwyer." She'd led him to the very back of the Dwyer Inn and unlocked the door to the suite, swinging it open for him. She stepped inside quickly and grabbed a basket half full of clothes from the floor, then walked around the room, grabbing other various odds and ends.
"Hopefully this suits your needs. I also serve breakfast and dinner, and sandwiches are available for lunch on request. There's no smoking inside the inn though you're welcome to do it outdoors, and there's a communal bathroom complete with soaking tubs down the hall. Some of them have privacy screens if you're so inclined, though each room has its own toilet. I'll just get you some extra blankets." She held the basket against her hip as Vash carefully deposited Knives on the nearest bed and fluffed the pillow around him.
"Come on," Olivia continued, "I'll get you set up in the register."
Vash's eyes began to sparkle. "MISS OLIVIA!" He practically crooned, purposefully misconstruing her words, "Well! I'd absolutely love to have a drink with you some time!"
Olivia groaned, "Seriously?" She gave him a withering glare. "Worry more about your brother right now. I don't have drinks with my guests."
Vash tried not to look too dejected as he poked his fingers together. "O-okay..."
Olivia quickly set up an account in the large ledger next to her register and handed Vash the key she'd used to get into the room. "And you'll find some extra towels in the closet next to the bathroom if you need them," she informed him as she collected his security deposit on top of the next two weeks' board. She finished stowing away the double dollars and writing everything down. "So, great, let me know if there's anything else you need. Especially if that happens to be a doctor."
"Thank you, Miss Olivia! I have things under control for now...but I'd love it if you'd go out with me some time." He grinned at the inn keeper in a way that he hoped came off as suave, but she only groaned again.
"What'd I just say? Look I'm trying to be nice here, but I have a business to run."
"Of course, of course!" Vash waved a hand dismissively. "I'll leave you to it then!" He bowed before dashing off.
Olivia shook her head as she began counting the pile of pencils once more. "What a weirdo."
oOo
A three-wheeled motor bike slowed to a stop in front of the Dwyer Inn later that night, around the time most people were retiring to their beds. The rider swung one leg over the side of the bike and slid off, dragging a large duffle bag along.
Reaching up, the person removed the helmet, revealing the slightly dirtied face of a young woman. She shook the dust from her long, tawny-colored hair before tucking the helmet beneath her arm and pocketing the key. Then she strode toward the inn, her boots quiet against the creaky floorboards as she reached the door and opened it as silently as possible, making sure not to set off the bell overhead.
She vaguely remembered at that moment, with a curse under her breath, that she'd told Olivia she would help with the evening chores...though with any luck, the woman in question would be busily taking inventory, as she usually did each night.
Besides, some things were far more important than menial tasks like folding laundry or doing dishes.
The young woman deposited her helmet on the table by the door and made her way toward the back of the inn. She stifled a yawn as she went. What a long day it had been! She couldn't wait to just crawl under her sheets and sleep like a rock until morning.
But when her hand gripped the doorknob and it refused to turn open, she knew something was wrong. Furrowing her brow, she tried again, more forcefully this time. It didn't budge and then she began to shake it a bit.
"What the HELL?"
The duffle bag fell to the floor at her feet as she abandoned it in favor of using both hands to attempt to open the door. Why was it locked? She never left it locked!
Just then, a muffled voice within the room called out, "Who's there?"
"Excuse me?!" She retorted, her tone full of indignance. "That's what I'd like to know! What are you doing in my room?!" She pounded on the door a few times and then turned her head to shout, "OLIVIA!"
At the front of the inn, Olivia chose to ignore her sister's shouting, as she was currently absorbed with the daily evening inventory of the kitchen. She finished counting the forks with a sigh of dismay. "Twenty-nine... Shit. Always twenty-nine."
Vash approached the door warily, making sure the chain was securely fastened before he cracked the door open.
"Err, can I help you?"
The girl he was faced with crossed her arms. She was not exactly thrilled to find that her usual room had suddenly become occupied without so much as a warning from her sister...though her annoyance was short-lived as she quickly realized that it wasn't fair to be upset at this guy. It wasn't as if he had known he was intruding.
She sighed and the frown on her face disappeared. "No, I guess not," she muttered, sounding somewhat defeated. "My sister must have set you up in here. Never mind, I'll go find somewhere else to sleep," she said as she bent to pick up the duffle bag from the floor.
"Wait!" He yelled, rushing to open the door the rest of the way. "Miss! I didn't catch your name!" Vash jumped out into the hall, putting a hand to his chin and winking at her. "You know, you're welcome to sleep in here with me as well!"
The young woman turned back toward him, one eyebrow arched in response to his last comment. Her eyes traveled down, noting the collared shirt he wore was stained with several splotches of dark red.
"Um...are you alright?" Her brow furrowed in obvious concern, and she had to wonder if Olivia really knew what she was doing. Letting this strange, blood-covered man stay in their family's inn? Surely they didn't need the money that badly!
Vash looked puzzled for a moment until his eyes widened, realizing what she'd been referring to. He made a squawking, embarrassed noise. "AGH! Um...just doing a little impromptu surgery, Miss!" He insisted, quickly wiping his bloodstained fingers off on the seat of his dark jeans. "Nothing at all for you to worry about! I'm actually a medical student, ahahaha! AHAHAHA!"
A groaning noise from Knives filled the air at that exact moment, and as she tried to peer around him to have a look at the source, Vash quickly slammed the door behind him.
"I was just on my way to the bathroom to clean up," he hurriedly explained, hoping that she hadn't managed to see anything.
There was a long pause as she regarded him with the same sort of look that people commonly gave him when they were wondering whether or not he was just an idiot.
"Right, well...I'll be up the hall if you need anything. I'm Sky, by the way." Her nose crinkled slightly as she studied him a bit longer. "Just...try not to make a mess of my stuff, okay?"
Vash's face went blank for a moment until he remembered quite clearly how Miss Olivia had been haphazardly grabbing things into a laundry basket as she set them up in the room. And she'd mentioned how her sister would 'just have to deal.'
"OH...you must be the sister of Miss Olivia! Miss Sky, you said? A gorgeous name for an equally gorgeous woman." He jigged his eyebrows up and down. "My deepest and humblest apologies for commandeering your room! Is there anything I can get for you out of there?"
"Um..." Sky felt her cheeks flush slightly; there was indeed something that she needed, but she certainly wasn't going to ask a complete stranger to go digging through her underwear drawer. After a moment, she shook her head. "No, it's fine. I'll come back for some things later, when you're...maybe not so busy."
She couldn't help but give him a funny look; he was standing there in a blood-spattered shirt, yet he acted as if there was nothing at all strange about it. She made a mental note to keep an eye on him, and to find out whether or not the other inhabitant of the room was really alright with a so-called 'medical student' like the man standing before her looking after him. If that was even the truth, anyway.
She blinked just then, breaking from her thoughts. "What was your name? Did you say?"
"WHO, ME? They call me the man who chases the elusive mayfly of love, a soldier of peace and prosperity...a man of mystery and wonder...a man among men, even! I think it's probably for the best if I don't tell you my full name. It's been known to make women swoon if they even so much as hear the first few syllables! Of course, there are those who have taken to calling me Mister Smith, which I suggest you do as well!"
Sky stared back at him and tried very hard to keep herself from rolling her eyes at that long and flowery introduction. She thought that he couldn't have possibly been more suspicious if he'd been actively trying to make her think he was full of crap, but in the end she just shrugged.
"Okay. 'Smith' it is, then." She took a step backward before turning on her heel and heading toward one of the rooms near the front of the inn, shaking her head as she went. "Well, I guess I'll see you around."
Vash watched until Sky was out of sight around the corner and rushed back into the room, locking every lock available on the door before collapsing against the back of it. He then let out a huge sigh of relief.
"Ahhh...that didn't go as well as I thought, but damn, what a cutie!" A blush rose in his cheeks as a dirty thought filled his mind and he surmised that she still had her underthings stored in this room. "NYEE HEE HEEE!" He giggled with glee and was about to start digging through the drawers when Knives groaned from the bed.
His brother had broken out into a sweat and his brow was furrowed in what must be pain.
Vash felt terrible, but there was really nothing else he could do to make his twin feel more comfortable. He fluffed the pillows behind Knives's head and covered his brother with a thin sheet, placing a damp cloth gently on his forehead.
"I'm sorry, Knives..."
He felt even more sorry for what he did next. Withdrawing a set of chains and cuffs from the large pack he always carried, Vash locked them securely around his brother's wrists and ankles before finally anchoring them to the wall just behind the bed.
Vash didn't know when his brother was going to wake up, but he'd have to be prepared for what would happen when he did.
Thanks for reading! And if you've got a second, please let us know what you think. Feedback, it sustains us. -pours water over fandom in hopes of helping it grow again-