Twilight found the warm light against her eyelids to be too annoying to sleep any more. She stretched as much as she could in her seat, removing her head from Alucard's shoulder- all of the other passengers seemed to be asleep, including her bodyguard. She doubted he really was, and was most likely resting his eyes, or something. Out the van's windows she could see the wisps of white clouds peppering the blue sky slowly trundle past, faintly cognizant of where they had been, and unsure of where they were going- borne along by some convoluted invisible force that they could not understand. Twilight smiled at the parallels.
"How are you doing, driver?" she called softly.
"Fine, fine," assured Holly. "The long-cut around Terre Sombre was a pain in the bottom, but we're nearly to Easton now. No sign of Katniss on the road."
"Do you think she's there, in Easton?"
"Either that or she got carried off by some giant desert death-bird, but I guess both are equally possible."
"We'll find out soon, then," said the unicorn, settling back into her seat. Across Alucard's shoulders, she could see across the sea of salt-packed dirt, until it was eventually halted by great hazy, distant mountains. Somewhere in the haze, something flickered.
"What's that?" she asked quietly, hoping not to wake her more excitable companions.
Alucard stirred, pulling his sunglasses off and blinking into the distance.
"I don't know," he murmured. "But it's very strong. I can feel it."
The flicker at once erupted into a great pillar of light that tore into the sky for miles, suddenly bleaching the normally sun-lit landscape.
"D'Arvit," swore Holly, keeping check on her volume as well. "It's a good thing we're nearly there."
"Agreed. Whatever caused that… I wouldn't want to run into it," said Twilight.
Holly eased off of the accelerator and began to shift down as they rolled into a dusty patch that might have been a parking lot next to a run-down looking diner, sliding up alongside a custom semi-tractor. She opened the door quietly and pounced to the ground, motioning for Twilight to do the same. The unicorn and the vampire followed Holly out, with Alucard doing his best to push the sliding door back into place silently. Holly drew her blaster as the other two formed up, and the trio whipped around the corner, ready to fight. They were not ready to be greeted by the tall, wiry man in a red coat that was sitting along the wall with a box of donuts.
"Hello!" he cheered, taking another bite of an éclair.
Holly gave the man a skeptical look. "Uh-huh. And you would be…?"
"Valentinez Alkalinella Xifax Sicidabohertz Gombigobilla Blue Stradivari Talentrent Pierre Andri Charton-Haymoss Ivanovici Baldeus George Doitzel Kaiser III, don't hesitate to call."
"What a colorful name," gushed Twilight, before turning to Alucard and whispering, "Seriously?"
"I like his coat," the vampire replied quietly.
Holly scratched her head. "And you're eating some donuts, there?"
"Yeah, and watching the fireworks. You want some?"
"No thank you," declined the elf. "And are you sure about those fireworks? I don't think that's something you want to stick around for."
"I dunno," he shrugged. "We thought they looked cool."
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "We?"
The door to the diner jingled open, and a girl emerged carrying a soggy white cardboard box.
"Okay, Vash, this is the last box they've got."
When both parties saw the other they set down their respective weapons and donut boxes and charged headlong into an enveloping embrace.
"Oh, Katniss! You're okay!" cried the elf.
"Yeah, I'm fine," strained Katniss.
"So we've got Katniss back. That's a relief. Thank you for taking care of her, Mr. Vash," said Twilight gratefully.
Vash let out a nervous giggle. "He-heh, no problem. Just doing my part, ya know?"
"I'm going to go tell the children that we've got breakfast," groaned Alucard to Twilight. "And when I get back, I want to know where you got that coat," he added.
