Finally, all four of them could rest at ease! The girls, Meryl and Millie, have insisted on going for a vacation to a foreign place. A place of tropical climate, a place that wouldn't make them think of the dessert they lived in. Of course, Meryl and Millie wouldn't go anywhere without their boys Vash and Wolfwood. Wolfwood wasn't hard to persuade, Vash on the other hand was another story.
"Come on, why won`t you go with us?" Meryl asked almost pleadingly.
"I think you know why. Vash the Stampede in an airport? That won`t go well…"
Meryl wished everyone knew the real Vash. Going to an airport can't be that bad, can it? Anything that's considered a weapon would get confiscated, no one could possibly fear Vash if he had no gun. Although there is no reason to fear him anyways… All Meryl wanted was having a good time somewhere without even thinking about guns, crazy people to follow or being stalked by. But it wouldn't be a good time without Vash, he had to come along.
"You don't have to go to the airport as Vash the Stampede, you can go as Eriks"
Vash raised an eyebrow.
"Aren't there laws about fake identities? I would for sure not come along, I could end up imprisoned!"
"You are an outlaw, since when do you care about laws?!"
Meryl yelled at him, her hands angrily fluttering in the air. Vash made an expression mixed of scared and hurt. Meryl took some deep breaths, in through the nose and exhaling through the mouth. Slowly she lowered her hands.
"I`m sorry, I just… I would really like to go on this trip with you.
The mixed expressions on Vash` face vanished quickly, getting replaced by soft and calm features. He sighted.
"No, I`m sorry. I really want to go on this trip too, but you know what happens whenever you follow me, or I tag along with you in public. I don't want to ruin everything."
The corners of Meryl`s mouth drew upwards slightly. It appeared to be a smile, but it wasn't a smile, it was a small glimmer of hope and relief.
"Oh, Vash…
Vash and Meryl stood silent for a while. Things had been quiet for a long time in society, no one had mentioned "Vash the stampede" and there had been no fights or any other difficulties lately.
"Okay"
Meryl snapped out of her thoughts and looked directly at Vash. What did he say?
"Okay?" Meryl questioned.
"Yes. I don't think this will be easy, I know something will happen but you are right, we all should go and relax in a foreign place."
Meryl jumped on Vash and hugged him.
"I will be Eriks when we travel and be Vash again when we arrive"
Meryl drew back from the hug and looked at Vash confused.
"What about the laws about fake identities on airports?"
Vash raised an eyebrow.
"I am an outlaw, remember?"
"
Meryl was exited for this trip but there was one thing that wouldn't leave her mind. Vash was against going and then he suddenly agreed going through with it. He gave in rather too easily…
All four arrived at the airport, everybody carrying their luggage. Before entering, Wolfwood put down his bag, dug in his pocket and lit a cigarette.
"You smoked three times on the way here, haven't you had enough yet?" Vash asked.
Wolfwood inhaled deeply and exhaled the smoke slowly. He was like a starving child; his cigarette was like some piece of bread. The remaining three went inside the airport.
"We will be on the plane for a while, I think he smokes as much as he can before having to check in his tobacco" Millie whispered to Vash.
Wolfwood was still his usual self, Vash however didn't look that part. His trademark red coat was off, he was clad in a white dress shirt and black jeans. If it was to wear something comfortable for the journey or Vash trying to hide his "Vash the stampede" personia, the girls didn't know. Wolfwood probably knew but he didn't care, his mind only consisted of getting enough intake of tobacco. They waited for Wolfwood for a long time, a bit too long.
"We have to go check in our luggage soon, what`s taking so long?" Meryl wondered.
"I`ll go check on him" Millie said and went off.
Meryl and Vash remained in their places. Meryl looked at Vash and he seemed to be cautious and restless. He looked around carefully, any sudden movement or sound from other people in the airport made him jump. Vash` hands were shaking, his eyes trailed everywhere. He looked like an animal in a cage about to be slaughtered any minute. Meryl carefully took hold of a shaky hand of his.
"How are you holding up, Vash?"
His hands stopped shaking and his eyes focused on Meryl. This was no situation of them being in any danger, yet Vash acted as if something awful was about to happen. He never acted like that when they were in danger, but then again, he was without his gun…
"I`m… okay"
Meryl shook her head, let go of his hand and placed her hand on Vash` cheek.
"We arrived here without trouble, so we will get there without trouble."
Vash seemed to ease up slightly by her words as he let out the breath he held in.
"Yeah, I guess… So, what do we do now?"
Meryl told Vash they had to check in their luggage and go through a security check. She explained what to be vary of during these checks.
"Objects used as weapons and fluids gets taken away. If you have anything metallic, it must go through a screener.
Meryl examined Vash.
"You must take of the belt and your earring and place them in box to go through the screener. Then you won`t set of any alarms, and remember to always carry your passport"
Meryl was about to tell him more but before she could, Millie and Wolfwood showed up. Wolfwood smelled more of tobacco then what he normally used to, Vash and Meryl backed away slightly when he got near them. No one knew how many cigarettes he had smoked, neither did they want to know. They went off quickly to go through the checks while he was still satisfied.
"
Meryl and Millie were done checking in and waited for their boys to be done. It was taking so long, why was it taking so long? Vash heard what Meryl told him, didn't he? Perhaps there were too many words for him to remember in such a short time… Did he get into trouble when he got through the security checks? What if he did bring his gun? Vash was never without it after all and he promised her to not bring it… Maybe he brought it along unintentionally but then again, he was so nervous before it seemed unlikely he had his gun. What if they found out he was Vash the Stampede?! Oh no, he would get arrested for having a fake passport and by just being Vash! Also-
"AHHHH!"
Meryl and Millie jumped in surprise and turned their heads vigorously to see who let out that piercing scream. What happened? What was going on? The scream reminded Meryl of whenever one or many men with weapons came raiding a town. Maybe Vash got busted and now everyone around panicked!
"Senpai, look!" Millie said and pointed towards something.
Meryl almost let out a piercing scream herself. She figured out what the scream was for and Vash was involved. But not in the way she thought he would be…
Vash went limping towards the girls. His white dress shirt was ripped open and soaked in blood and his right arm was missing! He looked as though a gang had beaten him up and raped him! Meryl and Millie ran towards Vash and supported him to the nearby benches. Vash left red foot tracks on the floor as he walked.
"Vash, what…what… what happened?!" Meryl stuttered as she tried to stop the bleeding.
Vash coughed. He covered his mouth with his remaining hand, said hand got bloody.
"She pulled out my tooth too…" He muttered and wiped his hand clean with his shirt.
"Mr. Vash, can you tell us what happened?" Millie asked and tied a cloth tightly around his arm stump.
First thing first Vash loosened the cloth and told them it seemed bad, but he had no serious injuries.
"My prosthetic arm was attached to the skin so when it got ripped off some of the skin came off too. But it was much worse when my real arm was shot off"
Vash tried to lighten the mood with jokes.
"Who ripped it off, Vash?! Where is it now and why are you covered in blood?" Meryl shouted.
Vash sighed. Wolfwood had not arrived yet, so there was no rush in telling them. He pressed the cloth to his arm stump and settled into a more comfortable sitting position.
"
Vash went through the things Meryl had told him in his mind. He had checked in his luggage and he now stood in line for the security check. The progress went slowly and with Vash` nervousness it felt like an eternity for the man who had lived for hundreds of years! One person after the other were checked, some went through them without any problem while some had to confiscate certain items unwillingly.
"Next!"
His head shot up, it was his turn now. He had nothing in his hands or pockets, he took off his belt and earring and left them in a box to be scanned. Vash somehow felt calm about how he could let himself get "vulnerable" to people who didn't have a go at him when they had the chance. That was before he went through the full body scanner.
"Arms out!"
A little and plump female security guard shouted at him. She went on scanning him with a metal detector which beeped by just being near him.
"What are you hiding?!"
Before Vash could answer she began to scan him physically. The security guard couldn't find anything in his pockets and scanned him again with the metal detector on his upper body. It beeped and by this she tore up his shirt.
"Aha! And what do we have here?!"
With his shirt torn up people could see his scarred chest with a metal mesh on it, followed by his entire torso as the security guard stripped it off and showed off more scars, metal mesh and his prosthetic arm.
"Is this some new way of hiding weapons, eh?"
Vash didn't like the way she looked at him, the look from a little wild dog about to attack.
"No, ma'am. These are patches for missing flesh of my body and- "
Before Vash could continue, she ripped off the metal mesh on his chest. Vash barely had time to react before she proceeded to rip off the other metal meshes and his entire prosthetic arm!
She inspected the metal meshes and his prosthetic arm and afterwards inspected Vash, who was on the floor covering the bleeding areas the best he could with his remaining arm. The bleeding got worse as she prodded, inspected, or whatever, and it also got more painful for Vash both physically and mentally. The security guard took out a flashlight from one of her many pockets. She lit it directly at Vash` face.
"Say "ah"!"
Caught aback Vash blinked a couple of times. What on earth…?
"I don't have any- "
"SAY "AH"!"
He made no sound, but his mouth opened wide agape. Fingers, soiled with his blood, rummaged through every angle of his mouth. Teeth, tongue and palate, even a dentist didn't examine any mouth that carefully. Slowly she withdrew her hand when her fingers had reached the back of his throat and the hand came out quickly as she had pulled out a tooth as well.
"This tooth looks suspicious…"
That security guard had to be either very paranoid or insane, Vash` teeth was no different than any other person. Vash coughed out blood from his mouth if she continued, he would maybe die of blood loss!
"Okay, it's more than enough!"
Someone came forth, it was a male security guard. He berated the woman while Vash slowly got up.
"This is assault! No security guard can do this!" Meryl exclaimed.
The cloth Vash held to his arm stump was blood soaked but it had stopped bleeding, now he needed something for the other bleedings.
"Where is your arm and the other parts now?" Millie asked and took out tissues for Vash.
"Well, even though that woman did something wrong they still got confiscated, I won`t get them back until the plane has landed" Vash pressed the tissues to his chest which quickly got blood soaked as well.
"
After another long period of time, they all finally got to their seats in the plane and it was soon ready for take-off. Aside from Vash` incident, Wolfwood had own his incident that involved tobacco and fighting security guards. The fight left him bruised with a bleeding lip but seeing Vash he couldn't complain about his condition.
The plane was ready for take-off and everybody clasped on their seat belt. Meryl saw how Vash struggled to clasp his seat belt.
"Here, let me help you"
His bleedings had stopped but he didn't look well, one might have guessed he was a survivor from a bomb attack.
Meryl sat quietly in her seat fidgeting with her fingers after the take off. She sat next to Vash who was inspecting his arm stump.
"Vash…"
Meryl slowly lifted her gaze toward Vash, barely daring to look at him. Vash looked at her confusedly.
"I… I'm sorry about all this"
Vash turned his body towards her.
"Sorry for what? You didn't do this" he said as he pointed at his bloodstained shirt.
"No, but you told me about how things wouldn't go well when you were in an airport. And then all this happened to you… I should have listened to you, I'm so sorry"
Vash put his single hand on Meryl`s shoulder.
"This is nothing compared to what I thought would happen! I didn't hurt anyone, there was no chaos or panic and I will get my arm and metal meshes back. And you are right, it will do us good to travel to a foreign place for a vacation. And I must expect things goes the hard way, I am Vash the stampede after all"
Meryl hugged Vash and they both settled down comfortably in their seats afterward to enjoy their time in the plane. Things would be just fine when they had reached their destination and Vash had got his arm and all the other pieces fastened back on him. If only they didn't figure out there was a gun inside his prosthetic arm…
Long time since I've written a Trigun fanfic, it's been 20 years since the series started. I originally wanted to make a comedy, but it turned out to be a bit more serious.