Erm, yes. In light of the recent abandonment and removal of Purest of Pain (yeah, I know, it was pretty bad), I have started this. I wouldn't have come up with it if it weren't for the ambiguity of episode twenty three.
I don't own Trigun.
Spoilers for the whole series. If you haven't finished it, I suggest that you don't read this.
Also, Unmarked is the working title. If someone can come up with a better one, I will be eternally grateful.
Unmarked
Why was it so cold in here? I could have sworn it was pleasant when I had fallen asleep.
I sat up, aware that I was only wearing my slacks. "Hello?"
"About time you woke up," a man in the corner said, nonchalantly washing something. "Hungry?"
I nodded scanning the room. On a chair nearby were my shirt and my blazer, both lightly stained.
"My wife tried very hard to get all the blood stains out, but it was difficult. Also, I'm afraid I have no idea who you are. The man who brought you here kept your wallet, I assume. I wish that man would have stopped to think, though. He was sure you were dead. Never bothered to check for a pulse,"
'Good old Tongari,' I thought to myself. 'Never thinking at all,'
"I hate to say that they left a few days ago," the man continued, bringing me a sandwich. "Your friend, as well as two of his companions,"
Shit.
The sandwich hardly sated me, but it was fine for the time being. I noticed the stitches on my chest, and winced slightly.
"Is there a motorcycle parked anywhere nearby?" I asked, racking my brain for the address of the hotel where we'd stayed. It evaded me entirely.
"A few blocks down," he said, studying me, my wounds in particular. "Is it yours?"
"Red?"
"I'm pretty sure,"
"Yes," I murmured. But, how the hell was I gonna pay for gas if Vash had ripped off all my cash? I'd only had a few hundred double dollars as it was, and now I was flat broke.
"What's your name?"
I turned back to the man. "You don't already know?"
"I told you. Besides, your friend was in about a million pieces, not coherent enough to string two words together."
'That's him alright,' I thought. If that wasn't the Vash I knew, I didn't know what was.
I'd spared Chapel, when I should have killed him, and it nearly cost me my life. For once, it seemed as though God had bestowed his mercy on me, instead of me misinterpreting it and using it as a reason to shoot and kill.
'Decisions have to be made in a split second.'
It was.
********
"Do you think you'll be okay, Nicholas?" the man asked me. I'd never asked his name, never cared to find out in the few weeks I'd stayed with him. He'd been kind enough to led me enough money to get me to where I should be headed.
I nodded.
"Don't you dare go and buy cigarettes with that money. They'll be the death of you."
'You sound like the girls,' I thought.
'Cigarettes are bad for the baby, darling,'
"I know. That's why I quit, Milly," I murmured.
"Who's Milly?" the man asked, answered only with a cloud of dust kicked up by my bike.
It would only make sense to go to LR, since I knew Legato would be there, and I had a bone to pick with him, but something steered me in another direction.
"Damn."
Up ahead lay what looked like the remains of a town. I tensed up immediately, wishing that baka hadn't taken my cross. There had been evil here, decimated down to a large crater. Had Vash and his destructivity attacked again?
I parked the bike at the edge of the crater, hunting for clues. I felt slight stabs of pain where my wounds were still healing, but this was something I had to do.
"He must have had his reasons," I announced to the empty desert. "We all do."
'Talking to someone, Nicholas?'
I spun around, sure I had heard a voice. "Who's there?"
There was no one.
'You won't find me here,'
Where had I heard that voice before?
'Useless spider,'
Knives.
"Dammit! Where are you?"
'Come and find me. Then, perhaps, I'll have my little traitor properly destroyed.'
Little traitor. That would be me.
I had honestly wanted to save Vash, to protect him from the Gung-Ho Guns. I didn't want him to be destroyed. So, now, I was the target of destruction.
I slumped against the wall of the crater, the red dust coloring my blazer and trousers. The blood stains on my shirt were covered by my jacket, but their placement were perfect indications of what lay directly underneath.
"Milly,"
Would she still want me now? Now that I was this scarred, supposedly dead being? If I appeared on her doorstep, would she run away screaming? What about Meryl? Or Vash?
That night, I felt truly redeemed then. It was as though God had sent me an angel, for me to keep on earth and protect. One simple night of passion, which was all I required.
"Oh shit,"
I had left a part of me behind, within her.
Did she know it yet?
The dust whirled around me, stinging my eyes, burning my skin, the twin suns setting slowly around me, casting a palette of pinks, oranges, and vibrant reds.
The brightness of the red caused me to shut my eyes. It was the exact color of freshly spilt blood, and I'd seen too much of that in my life. It was probably the sight of my own on the ground behind me that traumatized me the most.
Closing my eyes, though, conveyed images that I never wanted brought to my face again.
And, in the middle of it all, the oddest thought struck me.
What had ever happened to Legato's real left arm?
I opened my eyes, startled at the insanity that was clearly settling within me. Then, in a final glint of sunlight, just as the twin stars dipped below the horizon, there was a flash.
It struck me as oddly familiar, like sunlight being reflected off of metal. Particularly, a buckle.
I hurried deep into the crater, chasing where I'd thought I'd seen it, promptly tripping.
I clutched my side in pain, aware that I'd ripped open one of my wounds. I yowled in pain, knowing that no one was going to find me out here. I was as good as dead now.
"I admit, that when Milly wanted one of us to bring her the cross, I didn't think she'd want the priest as well," a familiar, semi-sarcastic voice commented.
I turned around. Standing behind me was a petite woman with short, jet black hair, and gray eyes that clearly gave away her surprise.
"I must be tired," she murmured. "I'm seeing things."
"Either that or I am," I countered. Meryl would never grace the top of my list of favorite people, and we tended to have trouble getting along. "Why are you here?"
"Because Milly wanted either Vash or me to bring your cross to her," Meryl stood before me.
"It's my cross!"
"You're dead,"
I narrowed my eyes at her. "Meryl, tell me something. Do I look dead to you?"
She hesitated slightly, before whispering, "No,"
"Well?"
"There is no way that you're alive. Vash brought you to the coroner's office. It just isn't possible."
I would have argued further, but a fresh stab of pain shot through me.
"Let…me…have…my…cross," I growled, through clenched teeth, holding a fist to my side. "It…belongs…to…me."
I felt my eyes drooping, sleep taking over. I surrendered to the weight of my eyelids.
********
"BOKUSHI-SAN!"
Oh no.
"Sempai! How?"
I felt two arms wrap themselves around me.
"Milly, give him a break. He's torn open his own wounds."
"But he's alive! Oh, Vash-san will be so happy when he hears this!"
I opened my eyes, wincing at the pain. "Milly, precious, please,"
My pleas fell upon deaf ears, as she embraced me tightly. I scanned the area around me, aware that I was in a room of sorts.
"Meryl, where the hell am I?"
"Home," Milly said, cuddling next to me. I noticed her long brown hair and her clothes were slightly damp. "This is home!"
"It's a house that the people in this town, October, have been kind enough to rent out to us. They aren't too fond of Vash, still, though it's improving. They don't want to kill him anymore, at least."
I remembered the voice I heard out in the desert. "Knives. Where is he?"
Milly stared at me. "Knives-san is upstairs, asleep. He's been that way for a very long time, now."
"A few weeks," Meryl clarified, washing a few potatoes in the sink.
"Where's my cross?"
"With your bike, outside," she answered nonchalantly.
"Any chance I'll be allowed off the couch?"
"No," Milly murmured, nuzzling me. "I missed you so much,"
I reached my hand out to stroke her hair. "And I, you,"
Meryl coughed, her not-so-subtle way to tell us to cut the affection.
"Wait till Vash-san gets home," Milly whispered. "She'll be all over him,"
"I'm sure," I murmured, watching the shorter insurance girl peel the potatoes. "Milly-chan, sweetheart, could you help me?"
Her large blue eyes stared at me. "How?"
"My cross," I muttered vaguely. She got off the couch and helped me up, acting as a human crutch. Leaning on her, I smelled the faint odor of sulfur on her clothes. What had she been doing?
She led me out to the porch, where a black cat jumped off the railing.
"Nyao,"
"I'm having a nightmare," I muttered, watching it walk away.
"Bokushi-san?"
"Milly?"
She giggled slightly. "Would you like me to carry it? It's probably too heavy for you right now."
"It's never too heavy," I muttered defensively, reaching out for it. "Oomph,"
Milly propped me against the railing, walked over to my cross, picked it up off the ground, and slung it over her shoulder without giving it a second thought. Then, she walked back over to me and led me inside.
"Come on," she said. "You need your strength,"
"I've heard that one before," I muttered. Somehow, though, I got the feeling that it wasn't going to end up the same way it had before.
Milly led me up the stairs to a simple bedroom. "This is my room, but you can use it. I'll share with Sempai tonight,"
I shook my head. "You don't have to do this. I can take care of myself,"
"No,"
Milly took off my jacket and led me over to the bed. "Lie down and rest. I'll come and get you when supper's ready." She glanced warily at one of the walls, then left.
Why had she done that? Was there something wrong with me being in here?
'You're digging your own grave, Wolfwood,'
Not again…
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Well, whaddya think? Give me five *GOOD* reviews, and I'll continue it! Also, someone, please, help me think of a better title! It's rather irrelevant!
Ecaep dna evol, Sunny