Red Geraniums
Gyphie's Note:
Yo, wuttup dawg g's. Okay, I'm bad with slangwurds, so sue me! Okay, not really, I'm not worth much. -Frown face- At any rate, I have not tried to write a Trigun fan story in such a long time… and I finally picked up my Trigun manga after the longest time and was reminded why I love Yasuhiro Nightow. He is my favorite manga artist, because he's very detailed AND! … he created Vash the Stampede. -Heart- Just a wurds up to yo mothas, I'm using original book characters and meshing them with the manga-verse of Trigun. I only have up to book eight in the series though, due to shortage in el cash-o, but I'm hoping to get some more to buy the rest. Anwai, Alex is based off of me, but she is NOT me. She only acts as I do, has similarities (only I don't play bass/guitar like her). And her companion J represents the first letter of my RL name, 'cos it starts with a J… So this is NOT me, it is a character from my original trilogy that I based heavily off of myself (the only difference is her appearance/back story/talents/name/accent). Okidoke, after this ridiculously long… note… I'll let you el read-o my crap-o fanfic-o. Hah.
DISCLAIMER: All characters that are recognized by Trigun (I.e. Vash the Stampede, Nicholas D. Wolfwood, Legato Bluesummers, Rem Saberem, etc.) are not mine, they all belong to Yasuhiro Nightow and company. THEY IS AM NOT MYNZ!
Chapter One
Dancing Revolver
She stood for a moment, only for a moment, before she collapsed onto the surface of the warm sand. It felt so good, pressed against her face which had become raw from crying, and her shaggy blue locks acted as a type of shade. No one noticed her, however, when she was swept up and tossed into luggage compartments of the next sand steamer, Mubra. Alexhandrya, or Alex as she was more commonly known as, lay and thought, about a lot of things. Not too long ago she had dealt with losing her fiancée, her unborn child, and watched the one responsible die. Once he was dead, she was merely a wandering, lost soul.
Everything seemed so peaceful, and she lay, unmoved, in the luggage compartment until gunshots sounded and she fell face-first from her perch. She wore a queer leather jacket that had the right sleeve ripped clean off and the right side of the collar propped up. A purple and black arm sock covered her right forearm, purple and black tights beneath her jeans. A hole was ripped over her right knee, another below her left knee. Holding her pants in place were crisscrossed black belts, and she wore a purple tank top belly shirt. On her feet were a pair of red chucks, her headphones laying next to her feet.
Alex opened her silver eyes, bright rays of sunlight setting off rainbow prisms in her eyes. She flexed her brown and green dragon wing (far too small to actually sustain flight), a few leaves that sprouted at the base of the wing rustling. In place of a right wing was nothing but a broken nub with a few gray feathers still clutching to it. A slightly curled, gray monkey tail lay over her leg, Alex twitching it slightly to make sure she was still able to feel everything.
The cry of a man caught her attention, Alex scrambling to hand and knee to see what was happening. She caught a glimpse of someone in red before something fell onto her head and caused her to fall over. Alex looked to see what hit her, spotting her little winged companion clinging to her bass guitar. The critter had bat wings and a bat head, smaller wings protruding from its head. Large, rabbit feet twitched, as the bass landed on the critter as well, a large whip-like tail thumping the floor. On the end of the tail was a small triangular piece of flesh, a large spike directly in the center.
"J thinks we are not in Kansas anymore, Frodo." The creature spoke in a child-like tone, the clawed fingers on the peaks of its wings still clutching the neck of the bass.
"A Wizard of Oz an' Lord of th' Rings reference in one sentence… you amaze me, J." Alex said to the little creature, its name being oddly enough J. Her voice was heavy with an English accent, but she sounded as if she fought with it to sound at least relatively normal.
"Who is that!? Who's there!?" A man shouted, Alex and J ducking into the luggage. The unrelenting silence which followed this question was deafening at best, Alex's head feeling a bit numb for a moment.
"I SAID, 'WHO'S THERE!?'" The man's voice seemed to be breaking beneath the pressure of the situation at hand, Alex figuring it would be best to reveal herself. Alex slowly picked herself up out of the luggage, spotting a man wielding a gun and jamming it into the face of another man. Another lay on the floor, his face bloodied from being hit continuously (clearly).
"Who and what the hell are you?" The man asked in a slightly calmer tone, being a bit taken aback by Alex's appearance.
"A-Alexhandrya. 'M a Dragonoid… an' this 'ere is my friend J." Alex picked up her friend, the Mierbluk blinking its four turquoise eyes as it examined its surroundings. It then examined the man in a red trench coat on the floor, his greenish-blue eyes widening slightly. He had spiked blond hair, for the most part, as a portion of it was black. He had a silver hoop earring in his left ear, this man seeming to be that one J had seen a picture of somewhere…
"What is that thing..?" The man stared at J, the Mierbluk squeaking.
"J is a Mierbluk!" J answered simply, smiling a fanged grin.
"J, shu' up, you're goin' t'get us killed!" Alex held her friend's mouth shut, the man lowering his weapon slightly.
"Please drop the gun, we're not 'ere to hurt you." Alex said, the man turning his head away and jamming the gun into the other man's face.
"This scum deserves to die! He ki-killed my daughter..!" Tears ran down the gunman's face, Alex releasing J. She stepped over the luggage carefully, holding her arms out towards the man to show she meant no harm to him.
"No matter wot others have done an' how badly they deserve t'die, no one has the right to determine whether or not someone lives. I've been in your situation, had someone's life clutched tightly in me hands, but I le' 'er go." Alex said, attempting to get the man to drop his weapon. She wasn't sure what exactly was happening, but she didn't feel safe with someone pointing a gun at someone else's head.
"How do you know my pain!? What have you lost!?" The man screamed, Alex's eyes fluttering away from his.
"I-I've lost… I've lost me--"
Alex was cut off as something hit the sand steamer, causing everyone to lose their balance. The gunman's weapon was sent clattering across the floor, the gunman hitting his head on the seat and being knocked unconscious. J shook itself free of the luggage that landed on it, the Mierbluk fluttering over to a window to see what had happened. It squeaked, Alex holding her throbbing head and looking to J. A loud roar sounded through the area, being a mix between a lion's battle cry and the call of desperation of a whale. It ended in an ear piercing shriek, the glass windows all cracking and shattering. Alex held her head in both hands and cried out in pain, the man in the red trench coat following suit.
"KILL. KILL, KILL, KILL!" A thunderous voice broke through the town, Alex gasping.
"Alexhandrya! Alexhandrya!" J cried, Alex's eyes widening.
"I know, J. I recognize tha' call an' tha' voice anywhere…" Alex murmured, the roar sounding again. Once more, everyone cried out and covered their ears in pain.
"KIIILLLL!! HEHEHE…" The voice broke out into high-pitched laughter, Alex shaking her head.
"'E must be th'reason we ended up 'ere in the first place. But I thought 'e died, dinnit 'e?" Alex looked at J, the Mierbluk shrugging softly. The man in red walked over to Alex, peering out through the window to see just what was out there.
A most frightening display of slaughter awaited the red-wearing gunman on the other side of the broken window. A few corpses lay sprawled throughout the city, one of which was the rather familiar preacher in navy blue (whether or not he was dead was unable to be told, but he was definitely unconscious at least). A man in a denim vest and dark colored jeans lay on the ground as well, next to a man in black, the red-coated gunman identifying both of them as Brad and his sensei.
Perched on the side of the sand steamer was a gargantuan blood-red scaled lizard, even larger wings spread out to give the beast a more frightening appearance. Large fins sprouted from the sides of its head, a large black horn on the top left side of its head. A chain hung around the end of the horn, a black gem swinging at the end of the chain. The right horn of the beast seemed to have been broken off, being nothing more than a small black bump at the top right of its head. Large spikes jutted out from under its chin and off of its shoulders, plate-like spikes lined up in twos going down its back. Its chest was colored silver, and in the fin on the left side of its head were silver loop earrings all held together by a small silver chain. A long tongue lolled from the side of the creature's mouth, a pair of unblinking golden eyes staring out at its surroundings. Over each eye were spikes, and instead of normal pupils, the creature had hourglasses in their place. Black blood ran from its eyes, nose, and mouth, dripping from its face and giving it an even more gruesome outlook. Its tail swung behind it, on the end of it a fin like a killer whale.
"Wh-what is that thing..? Why did it kill all those people!?" The man asked, looking to Alex for answers. The girl was frightened at least a little, as she didn't quite know how to answer the gunman, unsure of if he were a friend or foe.
"Don't talk to a lady like that you rude, rude… man! You should introduce yourself at least!" J frowned, crossing the claws on its wings.
"I think introductions are a bit unnecessary at th'moment, J. Wot the bloody 'ell is Kryptik doin' 'ere!? Damnit! Why does nothin' make any sense!?" Alex held her head and slowly sunk to the floor, attempting to wrack her brain and figure out how exactly she ended up here. No memory was recalled, nothing at all… but wait… there was a faint glimmer of a bright portal opening up and that creature, Kryptik… he was hovering over her, his sword-like fangs glistening with his own black blood.
"…I can tell you're not from here, so I can trust you with my name, if it's so important. I'm Vash." The gunman said, Alex looking up at him. She saw the deepest sincerity in his eyes, something she hadn't seen in the longest time.
"Th' answer to y'question is… tha' thing out there is somethin' called a Dragon Raider. From my home planet… those things tried killin' the Dragons an' moreover, my people, the Dragonoids. That particular one, however, is loony. 'E had an encounter with the god of time, Chronos--, which isn't supposed t'happen. 'E's supposed t'be dead, but 'e got away, the nasty lil' bugger, an' now 'e's tryin' t'kill me, I think. An' no, m'not from around 'ere, an' neither is J, but I think Kryptik had somethin' t'do with why I'm 'ere an' not back home." Alex explained, seeming a bit pained as she brought up the fact that that beast out there was out there trying to kill her.
--My books use the Greek/Roman gods, however the stories/myths don't exist in my books, just the gods.
"I can't say I quite understand all of that, but one thing is for sure… that… whatever that is, he killed all those people for no reason, and I can't let him get away with it." Vash said simply.
"Um, Alex…" J whimpered softly.
"Not now, J, we gotta figure out a way t'get loony bin out there." Alex waved her hand to her friend, getting back to her feet.
"B-but Alex…" J whimpered again, this time a bit more urgently.
"Not now, J!" Alex shouted.
"ALEX! SNAAAAAKE! SNAAAAAKE! OHHHH IT'S A SNAAAAKE!" J screeched, flying up into the air as a snake lashed up to bite her. Alex cried out in alarm as she backed up against the wall, various snakes slithering out from the luggage. A few even lay on the two unconscious men on the floor of the sand steamer, Vash's right hand twitching towards his gun.
"M'not sure whether t'continue that song or stand really, really still so I don' get all these snakes on me…" Alex spoke slowly, moving just as slowly as she spoke.
"J doesn't see Kryptik anymore at least… J thinks we are safe for the most part." J said.
"Safe!? We go' snakes all over us!" Alex shouted at J, one of the snakes being alarmed by this sudden rise in volume and lashing out towards Alex. It sank its fangs deep into Alex's ankle, Alex screaming in agony as she went to rip the scaled creature from her leg. Vash grabbed his gun and shot the snake, the others growing alarmed now and beginning to go after him.
"J will save you!" J flew in front of Vash and spread its wings, a small turquoise wall of energy forming in front of the both of them. The snakes collided with it, soon evaporating into black smoke. Alex slumped to the floor, soon falling over to her side as she shuddered softly.
"You're all under arrest! Put your hands up!"
That voice was nothing more but an addition to what was already wrong. Vash turned, slightly panicked, and he dropped his gun to surrender his freedom with a thrust of his hands into the air. J squeaked, landing on the ground and looking up at the sheriff, a few other officers stepping out with handcuffs ready for everyone in the room. A few groans sounded, some men getting up out of the sea of luggage and holding their hands up in a surrendering notion. Alex still lay on the floor, showing little signs of even living, her breathing rather shallow.
J's eyes glowed for a moment, and Alex slowly came to as if nothing happened, her bass that had landed on her earlier dissipating into thin air. Everyone in the room was put in cuffs, and everyone was escorted off of the sand steamer. Alex half expected to see the massacre outside, and everyone's shocked expressions, but much to her surprise and relief everyone was perfectly fine and Kryptik was nowhere in sight. He left no evidence behind that he had even been there, not even the shattered glass, and so Alex simply shook her head. Brad simply watched as the police took Vash and the others away, furrowing a brow as he saw J and Alex.
What… just happened..? Fifteen people arrested… and what is that creature..? Brad watched as the sheriff took those responsible for the hijacking of the Mubra and the two who were merely caught in the crossfire towards the police vehicle that would transport them to the jail.
"I don't understand," Brad frowned deeply. "What was the point of all that? It makes no sense, sensei!" The elderly man who was Vash's sensei only smiled.
"It was to keep this incident from leading to blood-shed." The sensei answered simply.
"I get that, but… why put himself in danger, just to come out of it a wreck like that?" Brad asked, utterly confused by Vash's actions.
"Ah, you. What if I had gotten caught in there? Would you save me?" The sensei looked to Brad, whom was taken aback by shock that his sensei would ask such a thing.
"Of course I would. We're kin." Brad replied without thinking.
"Well, it's exactly the same. But Vash the Stampede's idea of 'kin' stretches far beyond the norm. It must be a great, painful burden, for one so long-lived. Well… let's go." The sensei turned and began to walk away, Brad blinking.
"Eh? What? We're gonna leave him!?" Brad was shocked yet again.
"Our work here is done," the sensei peeked over his shoulder at Brad. "Don't worry. He'll wriggle out of his predicament somehow." And with that, the sensei began to walk again, Brad shrugging and following him.
As night fell, Alex's condition seemed to improve further; it was almost as if that snake hadn't bitten her at all. Vash sat leaned against the wall as the man who had been jamming the gun in the other's face lay on the bench and slept. They found out that his name was Shidan. Alex was lying on the floor and gazing up at the ceiling as J floated about on a light blue cloud. It hummed to itself merrily, as if the stench of the jail cell and the dampness of sweat didn't get to it at all. Alex sighed and sat up, gazing out of the barred window at the two moons outside; one moon had a large crater carved into it, and it had a rusted crimson look to it.
"You said you came from another planet, right?" Vash asked, his curiosity piquing.
"Mmhmm… 'M originally from Elipsia, but I spent most of me life on Earth," Alex answered. "Wot about you, love?" Vash seemed to think a moment, soon shaking his head in an answer.
"Alex thinks the Vash-kun is attractive!" J giggled as it fluttered by, Alex snatching it out of the air.
"Keep y'mouth shut, J! 'E looks like th'type who's go' ladies crawlin' all over 'im anyway! When he's not in jail, that is." Alex released her friend. She crossed her arms and pouted slightly, a light blush on her cheeks. Vash blinked and then chuckled softly, J making faces at Alex.
"Ha! Y'look be'er when you smile, y'know." Alex sadi as she looked upa t Vash.
"Oh! Urm…" Vash scratched behind his head, looking away. Only once before had he been told something similar, and it was by that same preacher that was seen standing in the crowd of people who had looked to be dead.
"Tha's where y'say, 'Thanks, deary.' I's okay, m'goin' out on a limb 'ere anyway… I don' normally tell people that, I jus' feel like you're th'type who won't find me too odd in sayin' that." Alex laughed softly.
"Thanks, deary," Vash smiled as he tried to mock Alex's accent. "Where on Earth were you from, anyway? I've never heard your accent before."
"I wos from Bristol, England. I was there so long I sorta picked up on th'accent. An' if this isn't Earth, wot is it?" Alex asked.
"This is a planet called Gunsmoke--." Vash replied. His answer was rather short and to the point, so Alex figured she would try prying.
--Yasuhiro Nightow stated in his little notes at the end of Trigun Maximum book four that the difference between the manga and the anime is that in the anime the planet is called Gunsmoke. I don't recall him mentioning the actual name of the planet in his books, so I'm using the anime's name for the planet.
"Wot's y'story? I mean, you can't possibly have wound up in a situation like th'one you were in on tha'… oh, wot's i' called?" Alex held a hand to her chin as she tried to think back to when she heard the name of the vehicle they appeared on.
"It was the sand steamer Mubra." J squeaked matter-of-factly.
"Aye, the sand steamer Mu--wait, wot do you know? I dinnit even know it had a name." Alex's eyebrow rose on her face, Vash blinking. J's cloud disappeared from beneath it and it landed on Vash's knee.
"J remembers this! Princess Saiyaknight was reading this book, remember? And… and… something about Rem and red geraniums… oh, J's head hurts." The tiny Mierbluk held its head as Vash's eyes widened slightly. Oh, yes! This was Trigun! Saiya always bothered Alex about reading this Japanese "manga," because she'd become an "otaku" due to the girls at school who loved this stuff.
"Vash the Stampede! An' your brother was Knives! You're tryin' t'stop 'im an' there's twelve assassins after you called the Gung-ho Guns! I remember Saiya tryin' t'get me to read those books." Alex snapped her fingers as she grew excited at remembering something. Although, as she remembered this, a searing pain shot through her head and she crumpled up into a ball. Vash and J rushed over to her side, Vash unsure of whether to be alarmed that Alex knew this type of information or to be alarmed that she had fallen weak to some type of pain in her head.
"Oi, me 'ead… M'all right, Vash. Don' go gettin' own hea din a tizzy." Alex slowly sat back up, a bit pale from the pain.
"Mr. Vash, sir, we have to go with you. J is afraid that maybe Kryptik formed a pact with Knives and that's why we're he--eek!" J squeaked as Alex grabbed it and soon put her hand around its muzzle.
"Quiet, J. Why would Kryptik do something' like 'at for when 'e can barely think for 'imself? 'E prolly thought i' in good taste to put us 'ere, since Saiya likes readin' these books." Alex sighed softly, J beginning to wriggle in her hands.
"I think your friend is onto something… but I can't involve you in my affairs. It's too dangerous." Vash frowned.
"I understand, lovey. I think we can go our separate ways soon as we're out of 'ere, aye?" Alex smiled. Vash nodded in agreement, J still struggling in Alex's hands. It then proceeded to bite Alex's hand, the poor girl yelping and letting it go.
"Wot in bloody 'ell is your problem!?" Alex cried, quite aggravated.
"For one, J is following Vash, because J thinks we should! For two, J hears something!" J barked, its eyes twitching slightly.
Alex blinked and tilted her head to the side to listen and see if J was actually right about the sound. It was a low rumbling sound, like a vehicle of some sort, and it grew louder as it came closer. Alex blinked, soon leaping from the spot and landing in front of Vash, J, and Shidan, holding her arms out as there was a large explosion in the wall.
"EEK! ALEXHANDRYA!"
Gyphie's Note:
Congratulations! You have somehow managed to choke your way through the first chapter of my first successful Trigun fic since… I was like thirteen. Well, I wrote one chapter of one not too long ago, but then scrapped it because I changed the plot of my trilogy to where Saiya couldn't come to Gunsmoke… lawlipops (Saiya was mentioned in this chapter as Princess Saiyaknight btw, she just goes by Saiya for short). So I chose Alex, mostly because I still need "training" with her accent, if you couldn't tell. Woot. But if her accent becomes a problem, Alex can also revert to "American" accent, so people can understand her better. And I chose Kryptik as the bad guy because I need to work out the kinks in his personality… as it changes after the trilogy I'm writing. ;x I promise it'll make sense, just bear with me! Stick around for the next chapter, if you wanna deal with my bad writing! 8D