Breakdown

Wolfwood couldn't stop. It wasn't all that surprising, but it was damned annoying. The kid. He couldn't stop thinking about the kid he'd killed. Vash... The day after, he had looked at him with such sad eyes... He scrubbed his face, telling himself to forget the shining tears barely controlled behind the glistening emeralds. He clung to his cross, wept for the pain he had seen in the blonde's face. Remembered the scars on his body, all acquired saving people from themselves. "There is another way," he whispered. He was so weak... he could barely even prop himself up. His blood was beginning to form a small pool around his aching body. "Vash..." he whispered. "Where are you? Vaassh..." He blanked out, slipping into dark unconsciousness.

"Nicholas D. Wolfwood don't you dare die on me," Vash yelled, throwing the doors of the church open. He had followed the blood, trailed it to the broken body slumped before the cross, looking for all the world like the Messiah re-crucified. "Nicholas, Nicky come back to me," he said, lifting the body of his fallen angel. The giant metal cross clattered to the ground as Vash the Stampede, the Humanoid Typhoon, carried away the priest who killed with all the gentleness of a mother and her babe.

"V..Vaash," whispered a pained voice as Vash set him down on a table made of a slab of rock. It was cool in the room, the stone walls keeping most of the heat away.

"Shh, let's get you fixed up," the lanky blonde replied, putting a finger to his lips. He pulled away Wolfwood's shirt and gasped. Six holes in his gut, clean and all the way through, but with so many surely Nicholas would never survive. He set his face and tore the younger man's shirt into strips, cleaning the wounds as best he could and binding them with the fabric after. He turned away for a moment, and Nicholas reached out to grab his sleeve, his grip weak but insistent.

"Take them my cross... Milly, and Meryl... Don't tell them about me... I... I want to repent," he hissed, each word painful.

"Nicky, Nicky, Nicky," Vash said, running a finger down his cheek. "I'll do you the favor, but you have to promise to come back someday, okay?" Tears glistened in his eyes; he didn't want to lose Wolfwood so soon. Nicholas smiled faintly.

"Sure, okay. As if I'd let you off the hook that easy," he said, laughing wheezily. It hurt Vash, hurt him deeply, to see him in such a state.

"Nicholas... are you sure you want me to lie to them?" Vash asked uncertainly.

"Don't lie, just say I couldn't come back with you. Laid to rest in the church and all that. S'true, you know," he said, smiling.

"Yeah I guess you're right," Vash replied, laughing a little. Nicholas reached up to catch Vash's tears as they trickled down his face, unchecked.

"Don't cry Vash... I swear, I'll come back. But I don't need my guns anymore. I've decided to stop killing, and repent for what I've done... Maybe someday we'll meet again. No, not maybe. We will. I know it," he said confidently.

"Okay then... We'll... we'll all miss you," he replied.

"Yeah... I know..." Sapphire eyes bore deep into emeralds. "Kiss me," he said softly.

"Wha?" asked Vash, confused.

"Please?" Vash nodded, blushing slightly, and pressed his lips gently on the younger man's. Nicholas smiled at him. "Now you must go. I've made a promise and sealed it with a kiss, so you're stuck with me forever till I return."

Vash smiled. "Right. Stuck with you then. I better go tell Millie and Meryl... Good luck, Nicky."

"You too, Vash. You too."

~*~*~*~*~*~owari~*~*~*~*~*~*~

well that was a rather pointless chunk of fluff... o0;; i can't help it i love these guys!! and i certainly don't want Nicky-boi to die... so he heals quietly, the old father of the church tending him, and he makes his peace with God and returns to his love, Vash! =D i dunnoo, that's how *i* see the epilogue... u.u