A/n: This story takes place immediately after the anime. Personally I feel (and many others do too) that the anime ended with too many lose ends and unanswered questions. Such as: what to do about Knives? For the record, I have never read the manga so this is strictly anime-verse only. Without further ado…this is my take on the next chapter of Trigun. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun. In fact...I own nothing. Nothing...

Chapter One:

Return

They ran as quickly as the soggy ground would allow them to. Millie was laughing as she ran. And Meryl couldn't deny the joy she felt either. Despite her confident words on his return, she couldn't deny that she had had misgivings about the situation. From what she had been told, Knives would be a terrible opponent. Lethal. The hope that a conflict that had spanned over a hundred and thirty years would be ended happily was slim. And then there was Vash himself. It was like pulling teeth trying to find that man. And he had never, never sought them out willingly. So despite all she had put on for Millie, Meryl had gotten little sleep the past few nights. And yet in spite of it all, there he was; waving to them. Joining in with Millie's joy, Meryl allowed herself a few laughs as well.

"Your back! Your back!" Millie excitedly said as they finally met.

"Yeah. I guess I am." Vash said rubbing the back of his head abashedly.

"I'm so glad! I've been worried to death about you. And Meryl's been too, although she would never admit it." Millie happily chattered away bouncing up and down.

"Is that..." Meryl tentatively began.

"Yeah." Vash said, shrugging him higher up on his shoulder. "Meryl, Mille...This is my brother. Knives."

Meryl silently studied the motionless figure that Vash was carrying with mixed feelings. He was alive, there was never any question about that, but the same thought frightened her a little.

"Gosh, he looks pretty hurt. We need to get him inside and get him taken care of." The tall girl said. Meryl smiled inwardly. Millie. Forever the compassionate saint towards others, despite whether or not the individual deserved it.

"Yeah, and I would like to go sit down too. He's heaver than he looks. I'm so tired!" He whined. They just smiled.

"Common then. Let's get inside. I see that you need patched up some too." Meryl said, crossing her arms and giving him a scolding look. He managed a sheepish smile and chuckled weakly.

She abruptly turned started towards their little temporary house before her emotions betrayed her. She heard the Vash and Millie follow suit. Millie offered to help carry Knives since Vash had already carried him for such a long ways, but he politely declined. The excited chatter around the well died down once they saw exactly who was approaching. There were various expressions of anxiety, distrust, and outright hostility. Murmurings began to break out among the groups. Their voices were low enough to count as private conversations but deliberately loud enough for them to hear.

"Great something to ruin a good day."

"Who's that other guy? Another victim?"

"Maybe we should just call the feds already before this town gets it as well."

"Common, let's hurry and get inside."

"As if it would help."

Meryl paused long enough to shoot them an acid glair then haughtily walked on. Millie sighed to herself; usually the town's people acted so nice, why did they have to be this way? Vash acted as if he hadn't noticed. The shade of the indoors was a welcome relief to the sweltering heat of the sun. The girls followed Vash as he stepped into the small bedroom and carefully lay his brother down on the bed. Then he sat down in the chair nearby with an exhausted sigh. Draped over a shoulder, they hadn't had a chance to get a good look at the man, but now they had a clear view of Millions Knives, the man solely responsible for their marooning on this sandy star. The similarities between the two brothers were incredible, Meryl observed. Height, build, face structure; they were clearly twins, if not close to identical. Seeing him now, unconscious and so closely resembling Vash, Meryl found it heard to believe everything she had heard about him. But then again she was clearly biased, she conceded to herself.

"Oh dear." Millie fretted. "I'll go get some water. He's going to need washed up and some clean bandages. It's so sad that it came to this. I could never imagine hurting my own brother." She paused for a moment, realizing what she had just said. "No I didn't mean it that way. I'm not trying to say you're a bad person Mr. Vash. Actually I think that you're a really good person. I was just thinking that it was awful that you two had to fight. But I guess if you could have talked it out you would have done that a long time ago, huh? I mean, I'm sure you tried and all but please don't get upset at what I said. My brothers have been great to me and all and..."

"Millie...."

"Don't worry; I know you didn't mean it like that."

"Ha ha. Ok. Good. Well I guess I'm going to go get everything." Millie left the room, giggling to herself.

Meryl smirked and shook her head slightly. 'What am I going to do with that girl?' she thought to herself. The smile faded away as she looked back to the figure on the bed.

"What now?" She asked Vash, who was looking at Knives himself. "You two obviously haven't worked things out or else it wouldn't have come to bloodshed. What happens when he wakes up?" Vash sighed, thinking to himself for a moment.

"He's going to be out of commission for a while, but not for long. I have to get him back to New Oregon and the Doc. We came up with a plan long ago about what to do with him if I ever got him. But since the plants were destroyed and the ship has crashed I don't know if it will work anymore." He said rubbing his neck, never taking his eyes off the still figure beside of him.

"Well we'll worry about that when the time comes. But for now first things first." She said with a smile, slightly stressing we'll. Vash picked up on it and returned her smile.

"Yeah, your right."

"Ok!" Millie announced, bursting into the room, arms loaded. "Let's get the two of you patched up!"

"Knives first. He's the worst off."

Vash insisted that he take care of him by himself, while the girls insisted that they could take care of it by themselves and that he should get some water and rest. Normally they could bully him into having their way, but this time he refused to back down. Eventually they had to reach a diplomatic solution that they would all do it together. They came to the truce delicately. Vash eventually caved in to the idea, but Meryl could tell that he would have disputed the subject further if he had had more energy to do so. The three of them tried to be lighthearted about the matter, but an unspoken unease hung in the air.

Once Knives was cleaned, properly bandaged, and dressed in some spare clothes that some of the towns people had loaned Vash, Millie announced that she was going to make some of her special homemade soup to celebrate and that she had better get started on it now or else it wasn't going to get done in time for dinner.

Meryl took out the used water and returned with a fresh bowl. "Ok mister. It's your turn." She said sitting the bowl down on the little night stand and placing her hands on her hips.

"Its just a few grazes, that's all. Nothing to worry about."

"You didn't even bother to bandage yourself up at all." She scolded. "With all that dirt, dried blood, and whatever else you could start to set up a serious infection and then it will be something to worry about. Now you let me clean you up or else I'll get Millie in here to hold you down while I patch you up. And don't believe that I won't. Are we clear?" She said, crossing her arms firmly.

"I can do it myself you know." He pouted.

"It's a little too late to get bashful now." She said turning him around and began tugging at his shirt. "Besides, it's nothing I haven't already seen before."

There was no contest. It was either give in or face the short woman's wrath. Millie hummed contentedly from the kitchen, oblivious to the conversation in the next room. He sat with his back to her, facing Knives, while she gently washed off the old blood that had been smeared around and even more carefully; the bullet creases.

"Except for your shoulder, these aren't all that bad."

"Told you so."

"You know, with all the practice that you've been giving me, I could easily start up a career in nursing. I think I would be good at it." Meryl began, casually trying to strike up a conversation.

"Yeah but you would need to work on your bedside manner a bit though...Oww! That's exactly what I mean." He said in response to the light rap to the side of his head.

"Don't insult the nurse or else I'll have to call in Dr. Thompson." He laughed a little at this then fell into thoughtful silence once more. Meryl's smile faded as the silence stretched on. Now? Should I tell him now? Could I tell him now? It was fine and well to think about it and plan what to say. But now that he was actually sitting here before her she could feel her nerve quickly wilting away. She was a little surprised when he spoke up first.

"Is she mad at me?" He asked her.

"Huh?" Meryl asked, completely taken by surprise by the question.

"Millie. Do you think she's mad at me?"

"No! Why in the world do you think Millie would be mad at you?"

"Because I didn't bring it back." He said softly. The realization of what he was talking about clicked into place. "It was hard enough to carry Knives all the way back here like this." He said, fingers unconsciously trailing up to the wound on his shoulder. "I don't think I could have managed to carry both. Maybe I should have tried. What if..." Meryl cut him off by lightly laying her hand over his fingers that were still placed over the injury.

"Vash, you should know better than that. I've known Millie for years. It's nearly impossible to get her angry...Although when she is people need to take cover." She joked. All she got in return was a halfhearted laugh. She pushed on. "She would be upset if you carelessly misplaced it or sold it for beer or something. But considering the circumstances, she understands why you had to leave it behind and she's not mad. If you don't take my word for it you should ask her yourself."

"...I believe you. But I still wish I hadn't had to leave it behind."

"I understand." Meryl said. And the hesitant silence reigned once more as they both remembered the one that should have been here with them.

--L&P--

She sat outside on the porch, softly petting the sleeping cat on her lap, staring up at the red moon as she did all too often theses days. The sun had set hours ago but she was in no mood for sleep. There was just too much going on in her mind to be able to rest. And she knew that back in the house someone else was refusing to sleep as well. Despite Millie's attempt to have celebratory dinner, the mood was quite subdued as they ate. Vash refused to leave his vigil over Knives so the girls opted to eat there in the bedroom with him. With the unconscious individual only a few heels away from them all of them spoke in quite hushed tones. Although there wasn't much conversation to be had.

"So what happened out there? I mean if you want to tell us that is." Millie had tentatively asked between huge spoonfuls of soup.

"I, uhh..."

"Not tonight. Maybe sometime later though." Meryl quickly stepped in to redirect the conversation from where it was heading. Although personally she was nearly rabid with curiosity, she didn't want to him to be pushed into a conversation that he obviously didn't want to have. He shot her a quiet 'thank you' glance and turned back to his bowl.

Millie, however, was tenacious and didn't quite pick up on the hint. "Hey! Your gun's gone! I just noticed. What happened?" Meryl was about to cut her off again when Vash surprised her by speaking up first.

"I left it behind."

"Huh?"

"What?"

"I didn't need it anymore. There was no need for me to hold on to it any longer." He said, mood lifting visibly. "Besides, everyone is better off with those things buried in the sand."

"Won't you miss it though? I mean, you've had it for so long." Millie asked.

"I suppose I might a little." He confessed. "But then again it's caused nothing but trouble, so I'm glad to be rid of it."

She could understand what he had meant by that, Meryl thought as she sat outside, still gazing at the moon. A weapon that could cause that amount of damage...it was probably a relief for him to abandon it. She still saw the moon burning and Augusta crumbling in her dreams. She could only imagine what he dreamt of.

Meryl pulled her gaze away from the heavens to the humble little house. She looked long and hard at it, as if trying to peer through the walls at who was inside. Part of her wanted to march in there and scold him for sitting up all night in that uncomfortable little chair when he should be sleeping. But another part of her was thankful for the nighttime vigil he kept over his sleeping brother for fear of their safety. Despite all that she had been told of him, and despite of what her mind adamantly insisted, she just could not view the man as evil. In fact, she suddenly realized, she felt sorry for Knives. They just looked so alike. The fact that Vash's goofy smile was completely alien to his brother's face upset her. A hundred and thirty years of hate and rage...she felt so sorry for him. How could he have lived like that? Why would he want to live like that? She sighed to herself. She didn't understand, nor did she want to really.

She gently lifted the cat off her lap and set it down on the ground. Annoyed, it lashed its tail at her once and strutted off into the night. With a final glance upward, Meryl got up and went inside. It was going to be a long day tomorrow.

--L&P--

"Good news everyone!" Millie announced, running inside.

"What?" Meryl asked, nearly finished packing the precious few belongings that they had. "Did you manage to find one?"

"What's that?" Vash asked, peering out from behind the bedroom door.

"I managed to find us a car! And even better...they're giving it to us for free!" She said excitedly bouncing up and down.

"You're kidding!"

"Wow Millie. The people here must really like you or something." Vash said stepping out and closing the door behind him.

"Yeah they do but that's not why they're going to let me have it."

"Why are they then?"

"Uh well...it's because they want us out of here as soon as possible." She said, fidgeting uncomfortably.

"At least they're giving us a car instead of running us out into the desert, guns blazing." Meryl said absently, trying to make light of it. "Asides from that one incident, the people here have been more than nice to us. By the way, where is the car Millie?"

"Oh it's still behind the store. I was so excited I had to come tell you guys right away. And I know how you feel about my driving Meryl, so I was going to let one of you get it."

"What about her driving?" Vash asked her.

"Long story. Long, long story. I still get nightmares about that day." Millie laughed a little sheepishly.

"Yeah. Now the only thing that Meryl lets me handle are thomases."

"Aww, common...You got me curious now. Let me hear it." Vash insisted.

"Nope, not now. We still have a few things left to pick up before we go."

"Pleeease..."

"No. Now move it. The sooner we get going the better."

"Alright." He sighed. Millie giggled at him. She would tell him herself, but Meryl told the story so much better. Besides, she had something else she wanted to talk about with him. But she didn't know how to approach the subject.

Meryl put all the dishes in the same spot that they had been when they had been loaned the house. Except for a single bowl that she filled with water. Everything was ready to go. Their things were in a rather small pile by the door and everything had been straightened up for the next lot that clamed the house. The only thing to do was to go over dressings of the two injured members of the party and they were ready to go.

She picked up the bowl and walked into the living room where the conversation hushed instantly. Slightly suspicious she looked back and forth between Millie and Vash. They, in turn, sheepishly looked back and forth between each other and her.

"What?" She asked slowly.

"I was just asking Mr. Vash here what happened to...uh..."

"It's ok Millie. I get it." Meryl said and slipped into the bedroom to give them the privacy to discuss what had become of Wolfwood's weapon. Before she had a chance to completely close the door she heard Vash again.

"You know you don't have to call me mister."

"Sorry. It's a habit." This was followed by a giggle.

Meryl let out an exasperated, but good natured sigh. Millie...you had to love her. She set the bowl full of water down on the nightstand, dropping the folded washcloth in the process. She sighed in irritation this time and knelt down to pick it up. She stopped mid-stoop, her eyes locking on with a pair of blue ones.

"It's ok that you had to leave it. Just promise me that one day you'll show me where it's at so I can have it again. It might be a little dusty, but I can shine it up real good! You'll see! I'm really good at that sort of thing." She said, already looking pleased with herself.

"Ok, I promise." He said with a smile. That faded, however, as the sound of a broken dish rang out in the next room. In an instant he was up and yanking the door open.

Meryl was desperately struggling in vain to pry away Knives'es hand that was clamped around her throat, but it was no use; he was hell-bent on murder.

"NO!" Vash cried out and rushed over. He tried to pry him lose but Knives was being fueled by manic strength and rage. "Let Go!"

Millie watched helplessly from the doorway as the horrible scene unfolded before her. Beginning to black out, Meryl fell to her knees, her face screwed up in a cry of pain and terror. Vash gave Knives'es arm a hard twist and the strangle hold was broken. Meryl fell backwards on her back then scrambled out of the room coughing and sputtering.

"You should have killed me when you had the chance you bastard! I'm going to make you pay For THIS!"

"Knives stop it! Calm Down!" But he didn't calm down. He continued to struggle against Vash'es restraining grip shouting obscenities at him all the while. But soon the stress and the straining of his injuries caused him to slip into quiet unconsciousness once more. Vash sat for a moment, breathing heavily, still holding Knives in a tight embrace. He had anticipated trouble whenever he awoke but he never expected him to come to so soon, and not like this. With a pained look he lay Knives back down. Instead of the almost peaceful look that he had had earlier while sleeping, Knives now had a slight grimace on his face. He had also broken out into a fine coating of perspiration. He couldn't let him wake up again before they made it to see the Doc. It was just too dangerous. They had got lucky this time. Next time...

He began to pick up the broken pieces of the bowl that was knocked over from the nightstand. It would be unwise to leave these sharp shards where Knives could so easily get to them. He looked back at his brother. The expression on his face fading as he slipped further into sleep. This wasn't going to be easy; Vash thought as he left the room and locked it behind him. He would just have to take it one day at a time.

He was surprised to see Millie sitting all by herself at the table, crying. "Millie...where's Meryl? Is she ok?"

"She... (sniff)...she ran outside behind the house... (sniff)...she said she wanted to be alone." Millie choked out, wiping at her eyes. "T-that was awful...he w-was so scary..." Vash sadly sighed, what could he say to that?

"Millie. Could you do an important favor for me?"

"Sure." She said shakily, wiping her eyes again.

"Could you run to the doctors and pick something up for me?"

--L&P--

Meryl sat on the porch out behind their little house, coughing and crying softly to herself. There was no mercy whatsoever. The way that he had looked at her...it was so cold. She hadn't done anything to provoke him; she didn't even have a chance to speak. As soon as their eyes had met he had lashed out and caught her by the throat. She couldn't even breathe much less scream for help. While she had struggled he had flatly stared, with that cold empty expression. No...It wasn't empty. There was hate in that look, and enjoyment, pleased that he was ridding the world of her. If she hadn't kicked the nightstand and knocked the bowl over...

She quietly choked on another sob, holding her neck with both hands. It hurt so bad! She drew her legs up and leaned forward, resting her face against her knees. As her hitched breathing slowly began to regain a normal rhythm she began to feel the strange sensation of being watched. She turned her head just enough to peer out with one eye and wasn't surprised to see a tall figure dressed in black waiting at the corner of the house. As he walked over she straightened up some, trying to put on a cool composed expression. She casually rested the back of her hand against her jaw, fingers strategically splayed out to block the view of her neck.

He came and sat down close beside her but didn't say a word. She didn't look up at him, keeping her gaze steady and forward. Despite her attempts to remain cool, as the silence spanned for several minuets she was the first to cave in.

"I'm ok. Really." She said softly, inwardly wincing at how hoarse her voice sounded.

"Are you?" He asked her, obviously not convinced. She nodded, not wanting her voice to betray her anymore than it had already. "Let me see." He quietly asked her. She didn't reply but when he pulled her hand away she didn't resist. He winced in sympathy at the sight of the angry bruises forming already. Four long ones across her neck, perfect finger prints. There were also small smears of blood where Knives had dug in with his finger tips. He felt his own composure begin to fade away as a single tear slowly trailed down the side of her face.

"I'm not mad." She said.

"Hmm?"

"I'm not mad. I know I probably should be but...I'm not" she paused for a moment as her voice began to hitch. "I...He...You..."She struggled to say. Words just refused to form properly. "...I'm so sorry!" She burst out, and then buried her face into her hands crying harder than ever. His entire story, everything that had happened...it all flooded back to her. She thought she knew, but how could she have ever known what Knives was truly like? She could just see it now, clearly. She could feel just how much Vash had suffered. She wasn't mad, she was heartbroken. She was crying for him, not herself.

"I'm so sorry." Meryl weakly said again, unable to properly articulate what she was feeling. "Y-you don't...didn't d-deserve..." she stammered out.

"Shh." he soothed, taking her in his arms. He understood everything that she wasn't saying, and it broke his heart that she was hurting so much for him. He held her closer and she turned and buried her face in his shoulder, her sob punctuated by the occasional cough as the crying irritated her throat. He rested his head against hers.

"Shh." he tried again after a while to calm her down. "It's alright..."

"No its not! Its not..."

"No. Maybe not now, but it will be. So please don't cry." He softly pleaded, trying hard not to do so himself.

"How can...any of it ever...be alright?" She said, calming slightly but still not moving away; and he didn't let go.

"Someone always used to tell me that the ticket to the future is always open. The future is what we chose to make it. Personally I'm going to go for a happy one," this elicited a small chuckle, "that's why I know that, eventually, it will be ok."

"Ticket to the future...who told you that?"

"Rem."

"Hmm. She was right."

"Yeah. She was. I had forgotten that for a while but I was recently reminded of it by a short woman with an equally short fuse to match." He joked, and was rewarded with a laugh. He was relived to know that she wasn't crying any longer.

"Thank you though. For caring." He said, finally loosing his embrace and looking down at her. She leaned back, wiping at her face with her sleeve. She opened her mouth to say something, closed it again with a sigh, then tried again.

"Your welcome." She said, unconsciously rubbing her throat.

"Are you sure that you're alright? Those bruises look..."

"Yeah. I'm fine." She waved the question off.

"Promise me, and the same goes for Millie too, that neither of you two will go near him. Not without me anyway."

"Yeah, that would be for the best. And speaking of Millie, I had better go apologize to her. I kinda just brushed her off as I went by." Meryl said, pulling away and sitting up straight again.

"She's not here right now. I sent her over to the doctors to get something that will help keep Knives sedated until we get to New Oregon."

"Then I had better go get the car. We need to get moving!" She announced, getting up and walking by. At the corner of the house she paused and looked back. He was still sitting there, smiling at her in a small way like only he could. She returned the smile before stepping out of sight.

The opportunity was there and she blew it. But still she couldn't fight the happy grin that spread across her tearstained face.