**A/N** Look, look, Miss Author Lady is at it again! Oh wait! That's me, isn't it? XD Yep, it's about time I started posting the sequel to Aftermath, oro? Sooo, without too much more ado, I give you chapter one of Sound Life. Ta-da!!
Disclaimers: The Trigun title, characters, and original plotline do not belong to me and I've no affiliation with Pioneer or the creators and producers of the manga or anime series. (Though, wouldn't that be awesome?!). This fan-fiction is for the reading pleasure of myself and my friends and fans, and I'm making no profit from it (which bites coz I really should be making money instead of wasting my times with fan-fictions, oro?).
Claimers: ^_^ As before, any references to the New Gung Ho Guns (Shaman, Gemini, Fire Ghost) and characters Artemis Fawn and Lily Rose are owned or co-owned by me and one other person ONLY. ^_^ Thank you, have a nice day!
Sound Life
Chapter One: Reminisce
Meryl Stryfe leaned her head against the cool pane of the bus window, not minding that the smallest rifts in the non-existent road caused her to constantly bump against the glass. Her blue-grey gaze remained blank and distant, staring toward the vast desert. There lie no sign of any town or establishment for as far as she could see. Demetri had to be at least fifty iles behind them by now.
The ex-insurance woman sighed softly, pressing her forehead to the glass. Just what did she think she was doing, anyway, leaving that lovely little town? So much had happened in the past six months, it was making her head cloudy.
All that time had passed since the near destruction of Demetri, when the New Gung Ho Guns had stormed the town that night. Granted that not too much damage had been done, certain aspects still needed to be renovated once more. The water reserve had cracked due to Midvalley the Horn Freak's rousing saxophone rifts, not to mention some of the buildings were no longer stable. Even though the group was quite shaken up from the skirmish, they vowed to stay behind and help fix everything up.
Meryl sighed yet again. After typing up her disaster report to send to Bernardelli, she'd decided it'd be the last one she would ever do. The raven haired woman sent along with the report a letter of resignation. Millie had been awfully upset, but within a week had followed suit, saying she wouldn't have wanted any other partner than Meryl and would've hated staying cooped up in the office all day. The gesture had brought tears that would not fall. Millie really was a sweetheart.
The resignation left Meryl and Mille open to new job options, and they had found replacement jobs in no time flat. The owner of the restaurant was glad to hire them when they both came in to see if he was short on waitresses. He had even doubled the normal salary of six double dollars an hour, gushing to them both about how much they'd already done for the town of Demetri. After he said that he'd given both girls a strange wink and grin. Meryl suspected he was a dirty old man at heart, but a job was a job.
What had surprised the ex-insurance girls, now waitresses, the most, was how long Vash had lingered in town. The Stampede was a wanderer, but perhaps now that he no longer had reason for it, he decided to stick around and finally attempt living out a normal life.
For those six months, however, life wasn't all doughnuts and coffee. While Vash had initially accepted the fact that Legato had pulled such a horrible prank on everyone and that the twisted man was gone for real this time, it began to dawn on him the reality of everything. The realization of what Vash's brother had gone through, changing from superiority on the way to humble human, had struck a chord in the gunman's heart. Knives underwent a tragedy that none should ever have to go through…he had lost someone he cared for, perhaps more deeply than he ever would have admitted.
Vash could sympathize with his brother indefinitely. The ache in his heart reminded him of the mother, the sister, the best friend he ever had in Rem Saverem. He had lost her too, and though Knives was behind the woman's untimely demise, Vash knew he had to have hurt somewhere deep inside.
Unfortunately, this loss caused Knives Millions to regress into his human-hating shell. Perhaps it was the guilt within and the irony of the entire situation that made him want to return to his state of superiority, though none could truly say. However, he wasn't nearly as bad as he'd been before.
When Knives had finally broken the straw on the camel's back, though, Vash figured it was time for them to move somewhere not so familiar to his brother and not so full of memory.
Naturally everyone else insisted on following. Vash clearly stated that their coming along with he and his brother might only worsen conditions, though honestly he couldn't stop them from going. The warning had been spoken, and the others followed at their own risk.
Meryl sighed again. She really should have stayed behind.
"Meryl, you're awfully quiet. Are you okay?" Millie Thompson's cheery voice spoke laced with worry.
Without so much as a glance in the girl's direction, Meryl replied.
"I'm fine, Millie, just…" she trailed off.
Millie blinked her bright eyes several times. She had a knack for seeing right through people, even though she was a bit more than just naïve.
"There's something on your mind, Meryl, I can tell there is." She smiled to her friend.
Somehow, Meryl knew just what was coming up, and so remained silent as the big girl went on.
"Like my middle-big sister always says, you should talk about things that are bothering you because you'll just feel better after doing it."
Smiling faintly, Meryl shook her head slightly. She supposed there was never any escape from one of Millie's relative's sayings.
"I know. It's not really something that's bothering me, though, Millie, so try not to…"
"…Get away from me, Spider!"
A sharp voice had cut the jobless woman off, coming from near the front of the bus. Both women turned their gaze ahead. It'd sounded strangely like Knives. Meryl could only hope, but what she saw shattered those hopes of the voice not belonging to the plant.
Nicholas D. Wolfwood stood in the aisle of the bus, one hand on the back of Knives' seat, a perplexed expression upon his face.
"Mr. Priest?" Millie called out, just as confused as to what was going on.
Meryl could see from the outburst that the other passengers were already getting nervous. She sighed. Bounty head or no, trouble just always seemed to follow Vash the Stampede- this was no exception. After all, Knives was Vash's brother.
Wolfwood swung his piercing blue eyes upon Millie and shrugged. "He just snapped at me, honey."
The big girl raised her eyebrows, standing up from her seat and stepped out into the aisle. Meryl quickly pulled her friend back down. They didn't need to get into the middle of whatever breakdown Knives was having.
Knives' face couldn't be seen, though his gaze may have been in the general direction of the priest. He growled.
"Leave me."
"I only wanted to ask if you two were hungry." Wolfwood persisted, reaching into a satchel to relinquish a wrapped sandwich. "The restaurant owner gave me some to bring with us before we left."
Knives' seat partner turned his spiky blond head toward Wolfwood as well. Meryl peered over the back of the person's seat in front of her, listening as Vash spoke.
"Thank you Wolfwood- Knives, you could afford to be a little bit more gracious; he was trying to be kind and help."
The priest continued to stand there, sandwich in hand as Knives growled again softly.
"If I wanted to eat your disgusting human food, I would have asked for it. Do not offer help where none is needed, spider." Knives snapped at Wolfwood, but took the sandwich nonetheless. "Now…Leave. Me. Alone."
Millie frowned as her priest man returned to his seat, a fire burning within her. She stood up despite Meryl's order to sit down and stomped over to where Knives and Vash sat.
"Mr. Knives!" She squeaked, her high pitched and usually mellow voice had anger mixed into it. "I don't believe you, I just don't believe you!"
Meryl widened her eyes, standing up to see what was going on better. The other passengers were still cringing and now the driver appeared annoyed, though just as nervous.
The plant with pale blond hair turned his sky blue eyes to the big girl, a frown besetting his sharp features. There was something unsettling about his gaze, about the way his hair had grown much longer than he would usually have allowed it to, framing his face in waves of soft white-gold. Millie would have thought him an angel if not for his behavior.
"What is it now?"
Vash leaned forward, looking past his brother to Millie and laughed forcefully, feigning a grin. "Maybe you should go sit down or something before things get worse?"
Millie stomped her foot. "No, I most certainly will not!" she crossed her arms, bottom lip trembling, eyes shining. "Mr. Knives you lied to us. All this time you told us you changed and you didn't. Mr. Wolfwood didn't do anything wrong to you and you yelled at him for no reason. We're doing the best we can to be your friends but…but you know what? Nobody wants to be friends with someone who's so…mean all the time! You should be ashamed of yourself!"
Meryl's eyes rounded. "Oh Millie…you idiot." She whispered to herself and slumped back into her seat.
Vash and Wolfwood gazed at the big girl in shock. It wasn't like her to blow up at anyone- most of the time she simply tried to talk to them with a smile on her face. When she yelled at someone and became emotional like this, they knew it was due to something bothering her for a while.
Knives' harsh gaze remained unaltered, expression hardened. He didn't speak for a few moments- which to everyone else seemed to stretch out for eons. The bus driver spoke up, taking advantage of the silence.
"Everyone is still alive back there, right?"
The poor guy thought perhaps the heated discussion had halted due to Knives murdering someone.
"You should keep your attentions to the road, driver. This is none of your concern." Knives narrowed his eyes to slits without so much as looking to the very front of the bus.
The bus driver did just that, jerking the wheel in time to avoid hitting a boulder in their path.
Millie stumbled back from the jarring movement in danger of hitting the floor, but Knives reached an arm out with lightning reflexes. His grip was firm and kept the girl from falling, however there was no amiability in his actions. He pulled her back beside his seat and sneered.
"If you think I care whether I have friends or not, spider, you are sadly mistaken. I need nobody but my brother. You and your…kind, continue to flock together and follow us like pathetic insects, as ants go after their queen. Continue this," he paused and released her arm to face forward, "and like lemmings you'll stupidly waste your lives."
Vash sighed, picking up his heavy glass bottle of whiskey and clunked it against his brother's head. Knives slumped forward, pushed back by Vash's arm against his seat, unconscious.
"Mr. Vash, you didn't have to hit him," Millie blinked.
"No, I didn't, and you know I don't like violence," Vash replied, sitting back. "But he was really getting on my nerves- and he shouldn't talk to anyone like that. So I thought it might get him to shut up for a while until we get to the next town. You should go sit down now- I'm sure Meryl could use the company."
Meryl's head jerked up at hearing her name, though soon realized it was only mentioned and she wasn't being called.
Millie retreated back to her seat, Wolfwood watching her intensely before moving his gaze to the seat in front of him.
The big girl sat down, mumbling about how much she'd really like some pudding and Ceylon Tea before she drifted to a light, snoring slumber. Meryl pressed her forehead back to the glass window and gazed out at the darkness.
Why hadn't she just stayed in Demetri?