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-Music Box-

There it was again. That stupid song.

Meryl turned over in her bed, glaring at the cursed box. "You're so annoying!" She growled.

Her reward was the song repeating. She huffed in frustration. She really needed to get rid of that thing.

Meryl threw the covers off and stomped to her dresser. She picked up the box and tossed it lightly from hand to hand. She had always liked the ornate carvings that decorated the music box, but it had to go. The song stirred up too many unwanted memories.

She wound up and threw it as hard as she possibly could at the opposing wall. It hit the wall with a satisfying crash and broke into smithereens.

Meryl smiled tiredly. Finally. No more of that stupid song.

---

The next morning, she woke to the box's incessant song. She blinked groggily. 'I thought I got rid of it!' she thought.

Meryl stumbled out of bed, eventually coming to stand in front of her dresser.

Nope. No sign of it there.

The song grew louder, and Meryl looked toward the sound. Someone was humming; she could hear them over the tinkling of that damn music box.

Vash appeared in the door frame, a goofy smile on his face. "You broke this last night." He stated cheerfully. It looked perfect. He must have been up all night fixing it. Meryl scowled at him, and Vash's face fell a bit. "I wanted it to stay broken, you idiot." She growled.

"But why?"

She turned away from the gunman's curious gaze. "Because." She said. "Because it's what that priest used to sing all the time."

She heard Vash sigh. "I know. But wouldn't you rather have something nice to look at instead of a broken heap of glass?"

Meryl was starting to get choked up. "No," she managed. "I'd rather that I didn't have anything but a few nice memories to remember him by."

There was a soft thunk as Vash set the box down. "If you're miserable, how do think Millie feels?"

Meryl whirled to face him. "You're always so annoying! Why can't you just leave me alone?!"

Vash looked at her with his unreadable eyes in a penetrating stare. "Don't look at me like that…" she whispered. He finally looked away, his eyes clouding with some unknown emotion. "Fine. I'll leave you alone." With that, he left.

Meryl sank to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably.