Chapter Ten: Eden
"Thank you for holding most of the things we bought, Mr. Priest."
Milly said, a bounce in her step as she and Wolfwood walked up the stairs.
"Well, anything for you."
He said, stumbling over the last step to the second floor, but managing not to drop anything.
A pleasant sort of blush coloured Milly as they walked towards room number 204.
"You're very nice, Mr. Priest."
She said with a sweet smile. Wolfwood sighed.
"Nothing compared to you,"
He replied,
"but enough of the compliments. Where are we eating?"
Milly thought for a second.
"Probably in in room 203. You can go into your room first."
They rounded the corner, and Wolfwood held the vast amounts of food still while Milly knocked on the door to 203.
"Sempai-! It's Milly, open the door please!"
Complete silence.
"Maybe Vash and her took it outside,"
Wolfwood suggested. Milly gave a worried glance at the door to 203 before searching her pockets for the keys, so they could put the groceries down.
Then Milly realised that she had the keys, so Meryl couldn't be in room 203 in first place.
'Oh well. I guess they did take it outside.'
Wolfwood's arms were starting to ache when Milly exclaimed,
"Found it!"
Milly was about to open the door to 203 when a Vashy "YAARRRGGGHHH-----!!!!" was heard, followed immediately by a very Meryl "Vash-san!!", punctuated with several crashes and clangings.
Milly and Wolfwood blinked and exchanged surprised looks. The noises had come from 204.
Milly smiled, all signs of worry disappearing.
"They made up, then! That's good."
Wolfwood was glad, too.
He and Milly had even eaten a cup of caramel pudding each downstairs just to give Vash and Meryl some time to clear matters up, and Wolfwood was glad he'd bothered.
"The door's probably open. We should probably go in."
He handed a bag of groceries to Milly, who took it with a understanding expression.
"I'm sorry; was it really heavy?"
Wolfwood grinned.
"Not too heavy. But if I carried both bags, I wouldn't be able to do this."
He leaned over and kissed her on the lips again, only this time it was longer. He leant back to see Milly looking shyly back, and she began stuttering again.
"C-c-c-"
"Caramel pudding,"
Wolfwood finished for her.
"Let's go in now."
He pushed the door open.
"Heyyy, these beds are much nicer than the last beds we spent the night in!"
Vash pounced onto a bed, rubbing a cheek against the smooth blanket material with a look a bliss on his face.
"I like comfy beds! Don't you?"
"To some extent, I do, I guess."
Meryl sighed as she pulled out a chair from the wooden table that stood from the bed and sat down in it. Then she did a double-take.
"This table's made out of wood?!"
She ran a hand over the surface of the wood in awe.
"Wow... and this inn's not even that expensive."
Vash looked at Meryl upside-down from his position of lying flat out on his bed.
"It's probably because geoplant veins run under this area."
Meryl looked at the well-crafted table.
"Like the time we met that old couple? You know, who owned that piece of forest-like land?"
"Yeah."
Meryl stretched out onto the table, looking at Vash who was lying on his back on the bed.
"It'd be nice if geoplants ran everywhere."
She commented.
"I agree. But it's kind of high maintenance requiring, and it costs more than this planet alone. At least we have ships."
"True."
She rested a chin onto her arms, brooding.
"It's amazing that this planet has lived uptil now. I guess it's because we all want to live."
Vash flipped himself round and onto his stomach, and pulled at loose threads from the sheets below the silky material.
"Have you ever wondered why people bother living?"
Vash asked. Meryl nodded.
"I guess human nature is just stubborn. We want to live."
"Yeah... but have you ever wondered specifically why?"
"Sure I have. People on this planet know that this planet sucks. But we try to make the most of it... make it better to live in, make it like the Earth we sometimes hear of. But it's not for us; it's for those who will live in future generations."
Meryl tilted her head slightly to one side.
"To put it into terms like that... it comes to this. We've heard of stories of Earth, with its green hills and rolling green pastures. But there are stories of Earth being of war, hunger and suffering. I guess that now that we're on a new planet...
"We're forced to start over again. But since Earth chose seemingly the wrong choices, the wrong paths... we were given another chance. We're making what we hope are the right choices, taking what we hope to be the right paths...
"And I guess we hope to end with those green hills and pastures. But it won't have any violence or conflict. And eventually, we'll end up what we were meant to have in our first try..."
There was a sudden pause.
Meryl had just realised that she was sharing thoughts with Vash that she'd never expressed or shared with anyone.
Vash had just realised that he was having a conversation about life with Meryl; it was the first one he'd had about life in depth since Rem.
After a few moments of the contemplative silence, Meryl spoke.
"Eden."
Meryl said simply. Vash was visibly shocked by the word, and fell off the bed.
"Eh?? Vash-san, are you alright?"
She stood up and ventured towards him. He fumbled around the silky covers that had fallen off with him before managing to stand up himself.
He laughed a little awkwardly, still shaken by what Meryl had just so plainly stated.
"I think I'll go take a shower."
He said, and attempted to walk. Instead, he tripped over the covers at his feet, tumbling into the suitcases Meryl had put at the foot of the bed.
"YAARRRGGGHHH-----!!!!"
He let out a strangled cross between a yelp and a scream.
"Vash-san!!"
Meryl exclaimed, half in exasperation and half in concern. However, being at the foot of the bed as well, Vash's arm caught Meryl around the waist, and together they crashed into the chair.
Meryl rubbed the side of her head as he tried to relieve herself of the pain of knocking it against something(had it been the chair?), and found herself on top of him.
Well, sort of.
As in, she was sort of sprawled on top of him, and he was wincing as he rubbed the back of his head, propped up on his other elbow.
Meryl picked herself up quickly; feeling his heartbeat near hers was not something she was used to at all.
He laughed after she got up, remaining on the floor.
"Sorry, I didn't think I'd trip!"
"Well, you did. And you brought me down with you!"
"Hey, hey... sorry about that."
He gave her an apologetic grin. Then it turned into a mischievous one.
"You should apologise, too."
Meryl raised an eyebrow.
"Why?"
"Because although you look light, you sure are heavy!"
A vein twitched dangerously in Meryl's temple.
"Say that again?"
"Why not? It's just the truth. I said although you look light, you-"
Meryl didn't let him finish - she lunged at him.
"YOU MORON!!!"
She yelled, and proceeded to beat him up as Wolfwood opened the door.
"Help meeee--!!"
Came Vash's plea as he tried to block Meryl's blows with his arms. Milly quickly went over and picked off Meryl, who tried to get away from her so she could still hit him.
"Milly, let go of me! Do you even know what that git said?!!"
"Sempai, calm down!!"
Wolfwood bent down to pick up the bag Milly had recklessly dropped onto the floor, shaking his head but laughing.
"Looks like things are back to normal again."
He mused.
He looked at the Cendre inn, a bitter laugh escaping from his lips.
"Sleep well, Vash the Stampede."
Amber coloured eyes hardened.
"You'll need it."
