Author's Note: In which two ideals clash.
The End
a Trigun fanfiction
XXV. ALTERCATION
AF0155-05-30. 16:20 PM.
Vash's driving pissed Livio off. Here they were, in the middle of the desert, moseying along, as though they weren't all hungry and thirsty and miles away from civilization and quite possibly being pursued by the Earth Federation, which quite possibly might be building an army against them. At least, that's what the presence of the artificial creature meant to Livio. He knew that they couldn't just stop with one. No, they had to keep creating more monsters. That was their M.O.
He and Millie hadn't said anything about what they saw. They all already knew it existed, and it would only upset Vash to bring it up again. The only question was how much time they had between now and the moment the Federation tracked them down and struck again.
Livio was beginning to reconsider not telling Vash about the looming threat, because Vash's easy-going attitude about the whole stuck-in-the-middle-of-nowhere-and-low-on-gas thing was getting on Livio's nerves.
"Can't you go any faster?" demanded Livio irritably. "You drive like an old man."
"Hey!" Vash turned to glare over his shoulder at Livio and the car swerved. Knives grabbed the wheel without looking up and straightened their course, and Vash turned forward again with a sheepish blush.
"My driving is just fine," he protested, now that his eyes were back on the road. "And I am an old man," he added, frowning into the rearview mirror. "You should respect your elders."
"Shut up," said Livio, kicking the back of the driver's seat. "You're not my elder." He crossed his arms and slouched back in his seat. "You look twenty-four and act your shoe size."
"Well, at least I don't drive like a maniac," retorted Vash. "Like Wolfwood. He had bad road rage. He would kick me off the bike constantly."
"That's not road rage," said Livio. "That's Vash Rage."
Vash threw a frown at Knives, who had chuckled in understanding.
"Screw you guys," muttered Vash.
"Well, I like your driving, Mr. Vash," said Millie cheerfully. "We have to be careful in the middle of the desert anyway. No one could help us if we get in an accident."
"If we plummet off a dune due to this slow driving, then we'll be too dead to worry about accidents," said Knives.
"We won't—" Vash began to protest, turning to glare at Knives.
"Eyes on the sand," said Knives, pushing Vash's face back to front and center.
Vash grumbled under his breath, but then he slowed and leaned forward. "What's that?"
Livio looked out the side window. He didn't see anything on the horizon, but Vash was still, on high alert.
"There," said Knives, pointing at the horizon to the south of them.
"Crap," said Vash, and he stopped the car and cut the engine.
"What is it?" asked Meryl, leaning forward to see around Knives.
"Federation," said Knives.
"What are they doing out here?"
"They're sent out on regular patrols," said Chronica.
"They're kind of far from the headquarters," said Vash.
"They're driving this way," said Knives.
"What do we do?" asked Millie.
Vash thought for a moment, and then he started the car again. "Maybe they'll just ignore us," he said. "There's no reason for them to come after us, after all."
Livio doubted that the Earth Federation would let an unidentified, lone vehicle travel across the desert without stopping it, but then again, he didn't know very much about governments, and Vash and Chronica had dealt with them more. Thankfully, Vash was driving a little faster now, but not fast enough that it would draw attention to them.
The Federation platoon was coming toward them at a casual angle. If Vash had not sped up, they probably would have intersected. Unfortunately, as they passed by, with five hundred yarz between them, the Federation caught sight of them. A few trucks separated from the rest of the group and drove out to them.
"Faster," hissed Livio.
"That'll look suspicious," said Chronica.
"If they catch up to us, they'll recognize Vash right away," argued Livio. He looked over the back seat. The three trucks were gaining on them. They didn't have much of a choice.
"Move over," he said, tapping Vash on the shoulder.
It was awkward, but Livio managed to climb over the front seat while Vash held the wheel steady and kept one foot on the gas.
When the Federation trucks pulled up next to them and stopped them, Vash quickly jumped over the seat and sat between Millie and Chronica. When a Federation soldier came to the driver's window, he saw Vash and Knives wearing false moustaches (which Knives was not too happy about), and Chronica wearing Vash's yellow sunglasses, her hair tied up in an uncharacteristic ponytail. To complete the look, she was chewing bubble gum and popping it loudly.
"Hi," said Livio brightly. "Can I help you?"
The soldier looked at all the passengers briefly, then at a clipboard in his hand. "Identification papers."
Livio blinked. "Um… Identification papers?"
The soldier glanced at Livio boredly and sighed. "Where are you from?" Another soldier called something from the truck. "He doesn't have ID papers," the soldier called back, and then turned back to Livio.
"December," said Livio.
The soldier made a face, and Livio realized why and mentally kicked himself. December was not yet occupied by the Federation.
"What are you doing out here?" asked the soldier, writing something on the clipboard. Livio leaned over to see, but the soldier noticed and moved the clipboard up.
"Just traveling with… family," he improvised, and he heard Knives snort behind him.
The soldier wrote that down, told Livio to wait there, and then went back to his truck.
"Step on it," whispered Knives.
"No," hissed Chronica. "They'll chase us."
"We're fucked either way," said Knives.
"Shut up," snapped Livio. The soldier was heading back.
"All right, we're going to take you in," said the soldier, still looking bored. "Get you some papers." He peered back into the car to look at the rest of the passengers. "Anyone got papers?"
Livio heard Knives move behind him, and suddenly, his black revolver was right next to Livio's head, aimed at the Federation soldier.
"Here are our papers," said Knives.
Livio barely had time to slap his hands over his ears when Knives pulled the trigger. The gun exploded with heat and sound, but it moved at the last minute, and when Livio turned his head, he saw that Vash had grabbed Knives's arm.
The soldier fell, and Livio knew that people were yelling, but he couldn't hear them. He could barely think with the ringing in his head, and his vision was blurring and everything was shifting around quickly. He tried to hold still, but everything kept jumping around, and the ringing was really distracting. Someone was yelling at him, but he couldn't discern any words. Disoriented, he gathered his thoughts enough to put the car back into drive and step on it, though he could barely see where he was going. The best he could do was to get them out of there, and hopefully, the world would stop shifting soon.
It did, everything slowly falling back into place, like the gunshot had kicked up sand in front of Livio's face and it was just settling. He glanced in the rearview mirrors and saw the Federation trucks following them, and Vash and Chronica were shooting out through the rear windows. Vash stopped to reload and glanced back at Livio, making eye contact in the mirror.
"Pull over to those rocks over there," he shouted. "We can't outrun them." He glanced at Knives, who was leaning over Meryl out the passenger window.
Livio veered over to the rock formation, and they were far enough ahead of the Federation that he was able to swerve around the rocks. He stopped once they were out of sight, and Knives jumped out of the car. Vash followed him quickly.
"What do we do?" asked Millie.
Livio opened his door and went around to the back of the car. "We just have to stop their vehicles long enough for us to get away. You girls watch the perimeter, make sure they don't come around behind us." He pulled out the sniper rifle and checked it quickly. It wasn't loaded, so he reached for the ammunition. Chronica grabbed his arm, stopping him, and he looked up at her, confused.
"If they find out who we are—" she began.
"Well, we'd better not let that happen," Livio interrupted. She let go of his arm, and he loaded the sniper rifle, then turned to follow Vash and Knives. He found them higher up, using the rocks for cover, and he dropped down onto a flat area, positioning the sniper rifle so that he had a clear shot on the Federation trucks. He shot at the tires, sending several trucks spinning. A few flipped over, and some soldiers leapt out of the doors and windows before it exploded. Livio stopped, watching the sudden bursts of fire and smoke, and he felt something hit his leg. Vash had kicked him.
"What?"
"That one."
A truck was making a wide circle around the rocks, trying to get around behind them. Livio adjusted the rifle and shot both wheels on the side facing them, and the truck tipped over, but didn't explode.
Now that all the trucks were taken care of, he turned the rifle back to the front. Federation soldiers were crouching behind fallen vehicles, returning fire. Livio felt some bullets graze his arms, so he crouched lower, and the bullets ricocheted off the rocks, splitting off pieces. Several soldiers lay immobile on the sand in front of the rocks, near the trucks. A few more fell. He aimed for arms and legs, but it seemed like someone wasn't holding back.
Livio didn't see any other trucks on the horizon, so he pulled the rifle back. "They're grounded," he said. "Let's go before they call for back up." He turned, and Vash had heard him, but Knives was still shooting.
"Stop," said Vash. "We have to get out of here."
Knives let off a few more shots, and Vash lifted him by his shirt and threw him down.
"I said stop!"
Knives stood up quickly and brushed himself off. Vash turned away from him and led the way back to the car, but when they got there, the girls were nowhere to be seen.
"Meryl! Millie!" shouted Vash.
They appeared from behind some rocks, running down a slope, with Chronica close behind. Meryl was clutching her shoulder, and Livio felt his blood stop in his veins, but when she reached them, she pushed through them and clambered into the car.
"Let's go," she said through her teeth, as the others piled into the car.
Vash looked like he had seen a ghost. "Meryl—" he began.
"Let's go," she snapped.
Livio started the car, and when he heard the last door slam, he floored the gas pedal and sped away from the rock formation.
His heart was pounding in his ears, but no Federation trucks followed them. Millie tended to Meryl's shoulder. She insisted it was just a scratch, but that didn't make Vash any less jumpy. He didn't say anything and slowly fell into a tense stillness. Livio veered northwest a little, to hopefully throw off the Federation's trail, if they bothered to follow them, and after a few hours, as the suns were dipping into the horizon, Livio stopped the car. They all stumbled out, and Livio felt the adrenaline pumping still.
"What are we going to do now?" asked Millie, breathing heavily, as though she had just run all the way instead of riding in a car.
"They can't pursue us," said Chronica. "Not with their trucks disabled like that. But they will be looking for us."
"Then we can't stay here," said Meryl.
"What about your shoulder?" asked Millie.
"What happened, anyway?" asked Livio.
Meryl wrinkled her nose. "It was the truck that tried to come around. You got it before it could do any major damage… I was just… It was stupid," she said, shaking her head. "I hadn't taken cover yet—"
"You should have just stayed out of the way," said Knives.
Meryl glared at him. "Yeah, because I was trying to get in the way. It was a stray bullet that's all," she continued. "And it's just a scratch. So we should keep moving."
"I don't know," said Millie, her brows wrinkled in worry. "I really think we should check your shoulder again. The light wasn't good in the car, so I'm not sure if I cleaned it right…"
"You can do it in the car again," said Chronica. "We have flashlights. They'll be looking for us."
"I agree with Millie," said Livio. "We can't go any farther today. We won't be able to see where we're going." He pointed up at the sky, where there was only a sliver of one moon. "And the Federation won't either," he added.
"If we move while they can't, we can get further away from them," argued Chronica.
"What if we end up going over a dune we can't see?" asked Livio.
"I'll drive," suggested Knives.
"No way," said Chronica. "We just escaped from a life threatening situation, I'm not going to let you put us in another one."
"What is that supposed to mean?" hissed Knives.
"That was unnecessary," she hissed back. "We could have gotten out of that another way."
"What, once they'd gotten us back to their headquarters?"
"Everything about that situation was dangerous," said Livio. "But I think we could have gotten away without a fight."
"Unlikely," said Knives, raising an eyebrow. "The moment you mentioned December, they went on high alert. They were going to arrest us."
"They wouldn't have," said Chronica. "They don't arrest people unless they have a valid reason, or evidence."
Knives glared at her. "How can you be so naïve, after what you've seen them do?"
Chronica looked taken aback, but she gathered herself quickly. "You're too rash. I could have talked to them."
"And revealed who you are?"
"Guys," said Livio, trying to stop them. Once Knives and Chronica got going, sometimes it seemed like they would never stop. And now they weren't even arguing about what to do next. They needed to focus on their next move. It was too late to change what had happened.
"Knives," said Vash sharply, and they all stopped. He was staring at the ground, his face contorted in anger.
"…What?" said Knives after a pause, utterly oblivious.
"You killed those people," said Vash.
Knives snorted. "They were attacking us, brother."
Livio was about to point out that Knives started it, but he didn't get the chance. It was probably wiser to stay out of this one anyway.
Vash whirled around to face his brother. "You haven't learned anything!"
Knives crossed his arms and gave Vash a disbelieving frown. "No, you haven't learned anything. If I didn't kill them, they would have killed us. That's how the world works."
"You can't make that decision," said Vash quietly and firmly. "We can do better than that."
"Are you still on about that?" growled Knives. "You killed Legato, and you're still denying the right to make that choice?"
Vash's arm moved too fast for them to see, but when it had stopped again, he was pointing his revolver at Knives's head, his hands shaking. Livio wasn't sure if he had ever seen Vash this angry, and when he looked at the others, Meryl and Millie looked as though they had, but that they had forgotten that he could be this angry.
Knives stared at the gun at his forehead and then sighed. He looked at Vash with a doubtful smile.
"Are you going to shoot me again?" he asked in a low voice. Vash's arm shook, but the gun stayed steady. "Again?" said Knives more loudly, and then he reached up and grabbed the gun, pressing it closer to his forehead. "Then do it."
Vash put both hands on his gun now, trying to keep it steady, but he was shaking so violently, he looked like he was about to shatter.
"Do it, goddamn it!" screamed Knives, gripping the barrel of Vash's gun so tightly that his fingers turned white.
Vash made a helpless noise, but he didn't move. While he had looked so angry before, now he looked anguished and torn.
"After everything," said Vash after a long silence. "After everything, you still haven't changed. I thought I could trust you." A tear fell down his cheek. "You killed Rem," he said, stammering, "and I've been trying to keep her alive by honoring her sacrifice, and you… You just keep killing… They all deserve to live. She saved them, and you…"
His words caught in his throat and he couldn't speak anymore. Knives dropped his hands from Vash's gun.
"If she did sacrifice herself, like you say," he said quietly, "then it was to protect people." He fell silent. "…To protect you. I—" He stopped again and shook his head, his expression hardening. "You can't tell me that you would be happy if I hadn't killed those people and we had gotten caught and they killed Meryl."
"There has to be another way," said Vash, his voice shaking. "There has to be another way to protect ourselves."
"What, then?"
Vash's expression struggled with several emotions, and then he shook his head. "I don't know. But you have to stop killing."
"Only after I'm finished with the Federation and the Eye of Michael," said Knives, looking suddenly tired. "Then, if you still want, I'll stop."
"That's not good enough!" cried Vash. "You can't just kill without discretion."
"I'm not. I said the Federation and the Eye of Michael."
"But who? Who?" demanded Vash.
Knives growled and flung his arms out. "I don't know! Everybody! Everybody who dared to experiment on Plants! Why aren't you as disgusted by that as I am? You saw what I saw, didn't you? You tried to kill yourself because of it, didn't you?"
Vash flinched. Livio started in shock. What were they talking about? He glanced around and saw that the others were stunned, too. Meryl looked stricken.
"So why are you so goddamn attached to those people?" hissed Knives. "They betrayed us."
"You betrayed them," said Vash. "You betrayed Rem. And me."
Knives just returned Vash's glare tiredly. "Are you still going to shoot me," said Knives, his voice flat, "or are you just going to stand there with your gun in my face forever?"
Vash stood there, his arms extended and his gun aimed at Knives's forehead, and then he turned abruptly, walking away into the desert.
Meryl stepped forward to go after him.
"Just let him go," snapped Knives, turning in the opposite direction and also walking away.
Millie looked back and forth, from Vash's retreating back to Knives's.
"Well, now what do we do?" she asked, worried.
Their next course of action had been decided for them. They made camp and silently prepared dinner. Vash and Knives were still missing. As they sat down in a semicircle around the stove, keeping close to the car in case they needed to make a quick escape, Livio broke the silence.
"Can't you call them or something?" he muttered.
"They've blocked me out," replied Chronica.
Meryl turned to the desert, her heart heavy and restless. She had not seen Vash that angry in a long time. After they had been getting along so well... Knives broke one of Vash's cardinal rules, and Vash didn't know how to deal with that. Would he have shot Knives?
Would he have been able to live with himself if he had?
"I'm going to go find them," she said, standing up.
"Leave them alone," said Livio. "They just need to cool off."
That may be true, but Meryl couldn't sit there any longer. She grabbed a lantern and a bowl and scooped some instant rice and vegetables into it. They didn't have much food left.
She walked into the desert in the direction she thought one of them went, but she couldn't remember which one. After about one hundred yarz, the light of her lantern illuminated the white back of Knives's motorcycle jacket. He was sitting on the sand, facing away from their camp. She walked over and waited a few feet behind him. He acknowledged her after a moment, but begrudgingly.
"What do you want?"
"I have dinner," she said. He didn't tell her to go away, so she walked up next to him and offered the bowl. He took it without looking at her.
"May I sit?" she asked. When he didn't answer, she took it as consent and set the lantern down in front of them. "You should eat," she told him, "we've all had a long day."
Knives gripped the bowl, looking ready to throw it, but instead he picked up the fork she had stuck into the rice. They sat in silence while Meryl tried to gather her courage.
"Can I ask you a something personal?" she tried, at last.
"No."
"Okay."
"You aren't going to ask anyway?"
When she looked up, Knives had a skeptical eyebrow raised.
"I don't want to infringe on your privacy," she said.
He looked dubious. "You don't think you're doing that right now?"
Meryl shrugged. "You could have told me to get lost." He didn't respond, so she decided to keep talking. "Vash doesn't like to kill, but he understands that sometimes it's unavoidable. So he tries everything else first. He wants you to do the same."
Knives snorted. "He's naïve. It's better to eliminate the threat before it can even think of eliminating you. How's your arm, by the way?" he added.
Her arm stung, it was true, but Meryl ignored the jab. "Fine," she retorted. "But you know," she continued, "Vash doesn't think that way. That people are threats." She shook her head. "The sooner you understand that – and accept it – the sooner you two can get along."
Knives sneered at her. "So I'm supposed to change, while he does the same damn thing he's been doing for a hundred years?"
"No," she admitted, "he probably needs to understand your point of view, too. But I think you should reexamine why you're doing it. Because he's right; people shouldn't kill randomly. As I understand it, Legato wasn't a random kill."
He didn't answer because he already knew that, and Meryl knew he did. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye and looked back out at the desert. It was too dark for Meryl to see anything, and she had no idea if it was different for Plants. Was he seeing something out there, or was he only seeing the darkness?
"My father gave me my first gun," she said, surprising herself, but she decided to keep going. "To level the playing field, he said. To protect myself. What does that mean, though? Protect yourself." She frowned. "It means people might hurt you. So we're stuck at a standoff. Everyone is pointing guns at each other. Who is being protected?
"I think you're right, though," she added. "This is the world we live in. I just wonder if there is another option after all. I think that's what Vash is looking for." She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.
"I know you really care about him," said Meryl, drawing in the sand with her finger. "And he really cares about you, even if he gets mad and points a gun in your face. You fight because you care enough to put effort into understanding each other."
"Thanks for the psychology lesson," said Knives. He stood up and started to walk away. Meryl scrambled to her feet to follow him, but he didn't go far. He stopped, his back to her, and stood still as a statue just outside of the ring of light from the lantern.
"I'm just trying to put the pieces together," she said. She was trying to help, because it sounded like they really needed some mediation, but maybe it was best to just leave them alone like she and Millie had been doing all this time. She wanted desperately to take a step forward.
Knives suddenly shot a glare at her over his shoulder. "How much has Vash told you?" It sounded like an accusation.
"Nothing. He won't tell me anything."
"Good," said Knives firmly.
Meryl growled in frustration. "How am I supposed to understand if you don't give me anything to go on? I want to understand. I want to know more."
Knives turned and, frowning, considered her. She shrank away under his gaze.
"It won't work out, you know," he said at last.
She frowned and opened her mouth to reply, but she was too flustered to form words. He turned away and walked further into the desert. Meryl sat back down and Knives left her like that, feeling hot shame in her stomach and a cold disappointment in her chest. Both burned.
Livio found him sitting in the sand, facing the desert. His posture screamed frustration, with his elbows on his knees and his hands gripping his head. Livio walked up next to him and the reflection of the faint moonlight on Vash's silver gun caught his eye. It was lying on the sand next to him, looking almost abandoned.
Livio walked around, sat down on Vash's other side, and stared out at the desert. The moon provided very little light, so there wasn't much to see. They sat in silence for a long time, and after a while, Vash sighed heavily.
"How many?" asked Livio.
Vash didn't answer at first. "Four," he said at last.
"Well, at least his aim's not better."
Vash didn't even crack a smile, but even if he did, Livio probably wouldn't be able to see it, the way Vash was covering his face.
"I've been thinking about why I'm doing this," said Livio, leaning back on his hands. "I guess it's only taken this long because I've haven't had a lot of time to think, between running the orphanage and following you around."
Vash's shoulders moved up, and Livio was sure he heard a short laugh. "Doing what?"
"Following you," answered Livio. "Not killing." He looked up at the sky. It was a clear night, and the stars looked like bright specks of sand thrown onto the darkness.
"Nicholas surprised me," he continued, "on that last day." He paused, knowing it was probably painful to bring up Nicholas. "He was really whaling on me. I mean, Razlo," he corrected, remembering. Razlo had taken over by that point. "But it was never a killing blow. He'd always let me regenerate, and then he'd lay right in again." He reached up to scratch his head, and he heard Razlo snickering at him. He pushed Razlo back. This wasn't about his confusion. He was trying to make a point here.
"I didn't think so at the time, but…" Livio glanced at Vash, who lifted his head, resting his chin on his knees. "But I think that was his form of mercy," Livio finished, looking back at the sky. "I mean, that probably sounds stupid… Beating the pulp out of a guy usually isn't what people would call 'mercy.' But he could have killed me, a hundred times over. It was that he didn't that got to me."
Vash still didn't say anything. Livio glanced sideways at him. His expression was unreadable, his eyes fixed on the empty desert in front of them.
"It occurred to me that what he was doing was another way to do it," Livio continued. "He could possibly beat someone without killing them.
"He probably only spared me because we knew each other from before. I think he was giving me a chance." He paused. "I think he learned that from you. That people could change. That he should give them that chance."
Vash's eyes flickered down to the ground, but he still didn't say anything.
"I knew from just looking at him – and you – that it wasn't an easy lifestyle. It ended up killing him in the end, after all. If he would have killed me and Chapel in the first place…" He shook his head. "But it was his mercy, and his sacrifice, I think, that made me believe I could live like that, too. He made it so I could live a different sort of life. I thought maybe if I showed someone else the same kindness, then maybe they would get a chance to change." He glanced at Vash. "That sounds stupid, doesn't it?"
"No," said Vash quietly. "It doesn't."
They were silent for a long time, because Livio wasn't sure what else to say, after that confession. He didn't suppose there was much more he could say.
"I feel like an idiot," said Vash at last. "I don't know why, but I thought that he'd changed. It was stupid of me to expect that he'd changed that much."
Livio almost laughed. Maybe Vash didn't see it because he hadn't actually spent much time with Knives in the years when they were trying to kill each other, but from Livio's point of view, Knives had changed a lot. He was still cold and selfish, but he wasn't as cruel as he used to be. And he was quite visibly trying to tolerate all of them, which he never would have done before. He used to kill anyone who dared cross him – or who even slightly pissed him off.
"Vash, you are an idiot," he said, trying to stifle his laugh. "Knives lived with the girls for six months."
Vash frowned at him. "So?"
"So, no offense, but Millie talks ears off, and Meryl isn't the most relaxing person to be around, and – well – Knives hates Chronica, that's all there is to that. And yet," he continued, "he's never done anything to them." He raised his eyebrows, and Vash stared at him, unconvinced. "Six months. Millie even told me that he saved her from a falling building once."
Vash's eyes widened, but then he frowned and looked away. "But he still killed those people," he murmured. He ran his hands through his hair and clutched his head. "I can't control him."
Livio snorted. "Vash, it would piss me off, too, if you were trying to control me."
Vash put his chin on his knees and thought about that.
"Maybe he just hasn't found his reason yet," said Livio.
"For what?"
Livio shrugged. "For not killing."
Vash turned his head at last and looked Livio in the eye. "So what am I supposed to do?"
Livio leaned back to lie in the sand. "I dunno. He's your brother."
When Vash woke up, he had sand in every crevice. He sat up, confused, and felt sand spill out of his hair. He shook his head and glanced around. Apparently, he and Livio had fallen asleep in the desert. He was grateful for his duster, but when he looked over at Livio, he felt sorry for him. Livio was covered in sand, and he didn't have a coat like Vash's to cover him up. He would be shaking sand out of his pants for days.
The suns were only a few inches over the horizon, so the others hopefully did not miss them too much. He reached over and grabbed Livio's shoulder.
"Hey, Livio, wake up."
Livio responded almost immediately. He swung his arm around, smacking Vash in the face, and the next thing Vash knew, Livio had pinned him to the ground.
Livio stared down at Vash for a moment, and then blinked, his eyes clearing. "Oh. Sorry." He jumped off Vash, getting to his feet quickly, and looked around.
"That's okay." Vash stood up, too, brushing himself off. "Don't the kids wake you up at the orphanage all the time?"
Livio looked away, and Vash thought he seemed a little embarrassed. "Yeah," he mumbled. "They don't do that anymore."
Vash laughed.
"Sh-shut up. It's habit."
They walked back to camp, and Vash felt a little guilty for staying out all night when he saw Meryl and Millie, sitting in the sand looking despondent.
"Good morning," said Vash loudly, and they both jumped and whirled around, on their feet immediately.
"Vash! Where were you?"
It almost sounded like Meryl was scolding him. Vash winced and tried to smile, but his embarrassment made it difficult. He hadn't meant to make a scene, especially in front of the girls. He hated to show them that angry side of him.
Livio clapped him on the shoulder. "Just cooling off. Are we ready to go?"
"Who's driving?" asked Chronica, walking up behind them. "Livio?"
"Sure."
She turned to Vash. "Vash – "
He smiled. "Good morning," he said, interrupting her. He didn't want to talk about it. "How did you sleep?"
She took a moment to look him over, and then shook herself. "Fine. You?"
"I have sand in my ears," he whined.
"Oh no!" said Millie. "Did you sleep in the sand?"
"Yes," grumbled Livio, leading the way to the car. "And while he's complaining about sand in his ears, I've got sand in my – "
"SHOES," shouted Vash. Millie laughed, and Livio shot Vash a frown, but then he smiled and shrugged.
Knives was leaning against the side of the car, his arms crossed over his chest, and he turned his head when he heard Vash approaching. Vash stopped, and Knives stared right back, unflinching. The others got in the car, and Vash heard the doors slamming shut. Meryl and Chronica were in the back seat, and Millie was cheerfully talking Livio's ear off. He was right. Millie could do that. It's one of the things Vash liked about her. Nothing ever got her down. Not really.
"Vash?" Meryl was leaning over to peer at him through the rear passenger side window, but he didn't look over at her.
Knives uncrossed his arms and turned to face him, but suddenly, Vash didn't want to talk about it. He turned away, opening the car door, and climbed in next to Meryl. Knives stood there for a moment, but he didn't try to contact Vash. He was probably still angry, too. Finally, Millie leaned over and opened the passenger door.
"Let's go, Mr. Knives," she said, as cheerful as ever. He seemed to hesitate for a second, but then he climbed into the car and closed the door.
"I've still got sand in my pants," grumbled Livio.
Notes: These poor guys. Can they ever learn to compromise?
Can we?
2014-06-29