LOVE ME NOT?
Chapter 1:
Pain of Loss

Hey just a chapter on the craziest wild man of the west, though you guys might like it, though I think it's pretty sketchy all things considering... so here you go...... P.S. if you find some part in this chapter about Rem and Vash and whoever else, after Rem is dead, and even though Rem is dead. Just remember that this whole Fanfiction thingy has problems doing stuff like maybe ITALISIZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! God knows I feel frustrated too. But just read the chapter and you can probably figure out the bumps and bruises of the story, so enjoy. AND AGAIN! Here you go..................

.............................."Look after your brother, Vash. Make sure Angel sees a red chrysanthemum, all right?"...........................

"Mommy!" Angel screamed as Rem closed the capsule door on her face. She beat her hands furiously on the door but Vash pulled her into his lap as she sobbed into his shoulder. "But what about, Mommy?" She screamed, her hands gripping to his gray shirt.

Vash couldn't say a word, he was too angry, too scared, too everything. He could only hold Angel as she beat her fists at his chest and cried in his arms. Then the capsule moved and sent the three children into a pile, him on the bottom then Knives, then Angel.

Knives grunted and then laughed neurotically, a strange habit he acquired when he was hurt. He pushed Angel off of him and began playing with his blonde hair, there was nothing else to do except wait and watch.

Angel sniffled and went for the window to see what was going on, but the clouds surrounding them were too thick. She slipped to the floor in a sobbing mess, her arms and legs hurt from Knives unwanted attention hours before. Her brother had decided to play cops and robbers. Well she was the robber, and by the time Vash found her all tied up in the engine room, it was too late. The countdown had begun and Rem was searching all over for her precious little girl, but nearly gave up hope until she saw Vash carrying her little ten-year old in his arms like a baby. Immediately she flung herself at her daughter, tears in her eyes as they streamed down her cheeks.

"I thought I'd lost you!" She cried and yanked Angel from Vash's grip. He knew that Rem loved her daughter as much as she loved him, but he knew something the young girl did not and so he didn't bother Rem until it was really time to go.

Rem raced down the metallic halls, her hand grasping Vash's while her other arm held her daughter. The escape pod was just down here and she prayed there was one left after everybody had abandoned ship only moments ago in a hurry to get away from and exploding ship.

Suddenly Knives came out of the shadows, his eyes nearly glowing in the dark. He looked up at Rem, then to Angel. "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO DIE!" He screamed, his voice echoing even though the ships caving walls around them was all ready ear splitting and loud.

Vash grabbed his brother's hand and dragged Knives as fast as they could through the halls until the capsule came into view.

Rem breathed some relief, but Angel kept fidgeting in her arms and crying that it was difficult to keep both her and Vash in her grasp. She stopped in front of the door and flung it open, throwing the boys in first and then her daughter. At first Angel cried from the sudden impact of the fall, but recovered enough to reach up and grab her mother's hand. "Hurry, Mommy!" She shrieked, but the sound was cut off when blood sputtered from her mother's mouth.

Vash leapt forward in an instant and grabbed Angel, pulling her away from Rem. "She's sick," he muttered, his hand going for the small revolver in his pocket, if her had to, he would shoot Rem to keep the sickness from getting to his little sister. He aimed it at Rem and pushed her out, "I'm sorry, Rem. But you can't contaminate Angel. She isn't what we are, she'll get sick."

Rem's hand flew to her face to keep the blood from getting on Angel, and took a step back. She decided then that to die by explosion was better then to die from the plague. Her daughter screamed out to her but Rem knew better then to touch her daughter now that the sickness had finally surfaced and was contagious. "Look after your brother, Vash. Make sure Angel sees a red chrysanthemum, all right?"

"Mommy!" Angel shrieked, her hands outstretching so her mother could pick her up, but Rem stepped away. The black-haired woman watched as Vash grabbed his little sister and pulled her away from her.

"What about, Mommy?" The girl's cries pierced through Rem's soul, but she refused to cry in front of her daughter.

Rem slammed the door on Angel's face then and ran to the control panel and slammed her fist down on the green "Go" button and watched as the capsule's engines clicked on and the ship instantly fled. "I LOVE YOU THREE!" She yelled, praying they heard, even though the action was most likely in vain because she couldn't even hear herself speak. Another explosion rocked the ship and Rem was thrown into a wall. She rose to her feet as another coughing fit seized her chest. It felt like her lungs were on fire, every breath she took cost her much agony and when she finally regained consciousness milliseconds later, she knew it was over. Then the ship exploded and Rem knew no more.

Angel's eyes flew open and she felt something constraining her chest. She tried to breath but it was hard to. Her head moved down to see Knives lying on her and Vash sitting in an awkward position on the other side of the capsule. The explosion had sent them all flying in different directions and knocked them all out, now the engine was quiet and Angel pushed Knives off of her. She went to the window and saw something she had never seen before, a green cactus. At first she thought she was just watching the pixel machine that showed images from earth to the space ship, but the longer she looked at it, the more sure she was that the cactus was in fact very real and only a few feet away from the window. She wanted to touch it, but the window prevented that and she spent the next few hours trying to waken the boys from their strange sleep.

Knives was the first up and as usual he went on ranting about something that made no sense to Angel or Vash, so they ignored him while Vash struggled to get the control panel for the capsule open. He dug his fingernails under the lid but it refused to come off and Vash, now angry and rather disoriented punched the panel until it bent in and crushed the buttons beneath it. The door flew open then and the first thing they all noticed was that it was HOT! An instant wave of hot air was thrown into their faces and Angel fell over in instant exhaustion. She had a disease that prevented her from keeping a sane body temperature, and so in turn she wasn't able to go out into hot weather for a long time.

Angel's eyes drooped closed, but Vash wouldn't let her fall asleep and he yanked her to her feet, making circulation go through her. "You will stay awake, Angel. You have to or you'll fall asleep and never wake up."

"Mommy," she whispered, rubbing her eyes. She stood up and leaned against Vash a moment before Knives grabbed her hand and pushed her out into the sun. The second the sun touched her skin she curled up into a ball and began to cry. It was too hot and the sun burned her skin. She felt like she was in an oven and cooking like some Sunday dinner roast.

Vash fled the sanctity of the capsule and shielded the sun with his body. He picked Angel up like she was some weightless rag doll and wrapped her in the shirt he had stripped from his body. He knew he had to get her to some shade soon or she was going to burn up and die. "Knives? Do you see any trees or shade? Anything?"

Knives wiped away the sweat forming on his brow, suddenly in this heat, he felt something float into his body. He didn't know what it was, but it felt good, like he could think faster then before. He felt SANE, that was all he could think of. "No," he said looking around. Vash instantly gave him a look of uncertainty, but brushed it away when he saw Knives had caught the expression. "What?" Knives asked, coming out of the capsule slowly.

"Nothing," Vash muttered and raced forward over the sand, kicking up dirt and expecting his brother to follow. Which of course Knives did, he always did, and Vash didn't worry about looking back to check on him until they had made it to a large rock formation.

Knives looked back to the capsule and saw it was nearly four or fives miles away now. He sighed, "all that work and we only made it this far in a few minutes. I think we're losing our edge, Vash. What do you think?"

Now Vash knew his brother was acting strange. He set Angel on the ground and tackled his brother to see what the hell was going on. At first Knives struggled but quickly found that his brother was stronger and more determined, so he stopped and let Vash look him over.

"What's the matter, brother?" Knives asked, cocking his head to the side and staring hard into his brother's eyes.

Vash shook his head and pushed Angel farther into the shadows before unwrapping her from his shirt and cuddling up next to her. She was unconscious, but he expected that, and just laid his head on her shoulder and held her close to his chest.

Knives suddenly felt a small prick of jealousy as HIS brother was holding a girl not even related to them like she was their sister. He instantly wormed his way between them and hugged Angel instead of Vash. His brother's hands moved slightly and went to hold Knives instead, keeping his brother safe in his clutch.

The nighttime sounds woke Knives from his slumber and yanked him into the conscious world. He looked to Vash, but saw the spot was empty and then to Angel, and saw her cuddled up to his chest in his arms. Quickly he pushed her away and looked around, footprints leading to the top of the rock formation led him to his brother and he felt an odd attachment to the boy that saved his life again and again. It wasn't sexual or anything of that matter, but Knives knew he was the risk taker, the one who did the crazy things and still had enough guts to tell Rem about it. But Vash, his little brother, could do none of those things, he kept Knives in check when things were slightly too dangerous and still had time to defend him to Rem when he was about to get into some serious trouble.

Vash had always been there for him and Knives didn't want that to go away, to wake up like he did a few minutes before to find that his brother was just gone and left only the rubbish of a girl behind. A feeling of abandonment had hit him when he saw Vash gone and he refused to have that feeling permanently engraved in his soul if Vash did ever choose to leave.

"Are you okay, brother?" Knives asked, laying his hands on his brother's shoulders.

Vash dried his teary eyes and looked to Knives with a tormented look, "I miss Rem," he whispered, "How could she get sick like that and leave us? I don't know how to take care of a little girl, I only know how to take care of you, and even that's hard enough."

Knives brushed his fingers over his brother's cheek and wiped away the wetness, "we could just leave her here, Vash." The suggestion made Vash's nose flare and he bolted to his feet in indignation.

"I may not know how to take care of a girl, but I won't kill her, Knives." With that said, he jumped off the side of the rock formation and crawled back under to Angel's side and holding her close to his heart. She breathed into his neck and nuzzled herself deeper into his grip before another dream took her over and she was still once again.

Knives growled angrily, he hated women and girls alike. They were weak, insufferable creatures that had no idea that they only had one purpose in life, to keep the human population going, and they were failing even that job. He skidded down the cliff's edge and curled up next to Vash for warmth as the desert night air had suddenly gone from blistering hot to icy cold.

Morning came and went, but they all slept through the day and were plunged into darkness again. What finally got Angel up from her slumber was Knives threatening to cut out her throat if she didn't get up, and fast. Vash had tried to prevent this, but his brother was right in the fact that if they didn't get moving now they might not be able to get very far before sunrise.

Angel blinked confused at Knives before pushing him over and diving into Vash's outstretched arms. He had been waiting for this movement from her and with it now completed, they could walk a little farther tonight and hopefully find a town with water in it before Angel dried out.

Vash remembered the things Rem had taught him about Angel. She was a young girl who, like them, aged slowly, but she had other things about her that made her special. Angel wasn't a plant creature, as strange and abnormal as that sounded, like himself and Knives, she was some creature made almost completely of light and darkness, the strangest being Vash had ever come to know. But Angel wasn't dangerous, so he felt her to be an all right being to be around. She hung about a lot, always with either Knives or Vash, sometimes even both if the occasion so called for it.

"Now be gentle with her," Rem had ordered once to Vash as he was holding the tiny life in his arms, "she's just a little baby now, remember that, Vash." The black-haired woman was exhausted from her efforts of bringing the child into the world. Now she propped up against a stack of pillows, her face flushed a red color, and a mysterious smile dancing upon her lips.

"She's so tiny," Vash exclaimed almost silently so as to not wake up the baby he held. Rem laughed shortly, "of course she is. And ugly too, but that'll fade as she gets older. But she was just born, so it makes sense that she's very small." Her eyes sparkled with a gentle glowing light as she took the babe from Vash carefully, "you were once this tiny, Vash. Did you know that? And Knives too, he was even tinier." She laughed again and the baby woke up, but strangely, she didn't cry, just stared cutely at Vash with her BIG blue eyes.

Vash gasped lowly and touched her face tenderly with his fingers, hoping to not break this fragile creature by accident, but wanting to see if she was a doll or not. Her eyes made him think so, but the cute noises she was making were the only things to keep him from thinking her a doll completely. "Will she stay this tiny forever?" He was still very young and wanted to know everything he could about the little baby.

Rem shook her head, "you grew. Lord you grew, I was so scared you'd keep growing too."

Vash gave her the strangest of looks; as if he didn't have the slightest idea about what she was talking about. He reached up for the baby and took her again, he wanted to hold her just one last time before going to bed, which was very, very soon. "What are you going to name her?" He asked innocently enough.

She went into thought for a moment. Really, she hadn't even thought about naming the child until just this minute, and now that she was being forced to think about it, she didn't have a clue.

Somewhere close by there was a loud crashing sound, and out of one of the air ducts came Knives, in all his evil, impish-like glory. He laughed like a demon before racing over to Vash's side and looking the new baby over. Instantly, his eyes fogged over and he just stared at her long and hard, his gaze never leaving hers, and hers never leaving his. "An angel," he muttered lowly, before flopping down on the ground and falling asleep.

Rem seemed to smile now as the name she was looking for had just hit her. "She'll be called, Angel." And that was how Angel received her name.

Vash grimaced when Knives pinched him in the arm, "hello? Move it, we gotta go. You 'membering somethin' again?" He saw the lump in Vash's arms wiggle slightly to find a more comfortable position and he didn't like it so he pinched her too, just to see her cry. Remarkably, she didn't. Instead, she turned to face him and fixed Knives with the most terrifying glare he'd ever seen come out of a seven-year old in his life.

"Mommy's not around anymore, so I don't have to be nice to you," she whispered lowly, so only Knives could hear her. With lightning-like swiftness, she punched him in the nose and watched him fall backwards into the sand as if he weighed a ton.

Angel laughed when he lay there on the ground, struck, bemused, and now very irritated. He jumped to his feet and looked at Vash for a defense, but his brother was peering off into the distance, trying to see something only he could see and Knives gave up the tirade and just had a glaring fest with Angel, who refused to back down.

Vash seemed to find what he was searching for and began to race across the desert with a swift speed unknown to any human.

Knives was in quick chase, never letting his brother from his sight and always within a few feet distance, even though they were going nearly one hundred miles an hour. He peered down at his legs and smiled when he saw they were only a blur of motion as he ran, just another ability he possessed as much as his brother did.

The sand behind them whirled up as they blazed past, but fell back onto it self when they were gone. Something beneath the yellow earth soon awoke and smelled the scent of another feast and made itself ready to attack at any moment. The humans it had eaten three days ago hadn't appeased its hunger, but maybe the strange plant scents that were coming to it would suffice more then those gangly humans ever had.

Silently it slithered under the cover of the sand, its long, slender body easily snaking its way through the dirt and racing after the fast creatures.

Not being able to comprehend thought, the creature didn't realize that maybe because these things it was about to eat were very fast, that maybe they were good fighters as well. But the monster didn't notice anything wrong with eating these creatures until it met the end of Knives' gauntlet.

Knives felt the tremors of the earth shaking beneath him and looked back to Vash with wondering eyes. His brother hadn't noticed a thing; he was too busy fussing over the sand that had gotten into Angel's eyes to worry too much about what was going on about him. For a few slow moving seconds he peered down at his feet again to make sure he wasn't being his loony self, but saw the ground actually quaking beneath him and in an instant, he had let his arm change. One moment he had a perfectly normal human arm, and the next he held a huge plant-like machine, aimed for the ultimate attack. Then the worm threw itself up from the sand and Knives fired...

How'd you like that chapter, pretty strange how the worm just came up from the sand like that. Makes you wonder if there are any more creatures like that. Well to find out, you'll have to check out the next... over-so... exciting chapter of...

"To Love Me Not?"

Next time in the chapter you'll find, what?!!!! MORE WORMS? And a brainwashed town? God, do these guys get a break after what happened to their surrogate mother?

You'll just have to read the next chapter and see what happens, maybe things will cool down a little... maybe...