Author's Notes:

A: Well, we're back again! …*crickets chirp*

B: ZZZ…zzz…ZZZ…zzz

A: *sweat-drop* Okay…well yeah…I suppose this ends our brilliant Author's Notes…

Disclaimer: We still don't own Trigun… But if you want to believe we do, then go right on ahead!

Chapter 4: Dreaming

By the time he went into the cabin, both women were past asleep. Settling down in his previous spot, he gazed out the window at one of the moons. He let out a near-silent sigh of longing. He stayed that way for a while before finally allowing himself to drift to sleep.

* * * *

It had been quite sometime since Vash's reunion with his brother. Life had once again become good. Vash and Meryl's relationship had progressed and Knives was back to what Vash considered normal - how he was before all problems arose. Milly had returned to her home and family for some time since Meryl had given up her position as an insurance agent.  Everything was the way it should be and all were happy.

But nothing lasts forever.

That morning, Vash went through his regular morning routine. It wasn't until later in the day that he discovered Knives missing. After everything, just when he thought he'd gotten though, his brother disappeared.

He didn't know whether to be furious, sad, worried, or happy. He did, however, know he had to find Knives before he tried to annihilate the human race again.

But there was one problem.

"Meryl, you have to understand -"

"NO! You shouldn't have to go. Just leave him be. He can't do anything!"

"We both know that's not true. He'll try again and again until he succeeds,"

"If you knew that then why didn't you kill him when you had the chance!?"

Vash recoiled. He'd thought she acted peculiarly when he'd returned with his live brother but he blamed it on the fact that she didn't know Knives. He never dreamed she wanted him dead.  "Meryl,"

"I don't care! We have a life here, don't take that happiness away from us…from ME!"

He lowered his head, "What about my happiness?" She looked up at him abruptly, "W-what?,"

"You should know me well enough by now to know I won't be able to be happy with him back to his old ways," Meryl took a step back but he didn't let her off that easily. Stepping forward, he grasped her upper arms tightly but not painfully, "No matter how much I love you…and I do…as long as my brother suffers, I can't just sit here with my hands in my pockets,"

Awkward silence followed. Vash stared at Meryl while she stared at the floor. A single tear fell from her before she broke the silence, "Fine. Go." Her voice held no emotion but anger. Violently, she pushed away from him and headed for the door without a single look back.

Her final words and the slam echoed in Vash's mind long after she had gone.

* * * *

The sun rose high into the morning sky, spreading its fingertips of roseate light across the horizon. The clouds that had blocked the sky on the previous day were gone by dawn, and replaced by a light fog covering the dunes of sand and the sand rock roads. There were no birds around to sing, however the light was bright enough to awaken most sleepers.

The sun grew larger and golden as it rose into the sky, it was around nine-o-clock' when Lomnen awoke from her peaceful sleep only to immediately fall into panic. She leapt out of her bed, and examined the empty covers of the bed next to her where Iriya should have been sleeping, but most definitely wasn't.

"Iriya- Iriya-?" Lomnen leaned out the window and called her partner's name expecting a response. She continued yelling but got no reply from her partner, she did however manage to wake up Vash with a rather good start.

"What's going on? Huh?" Vash opened his eyes and nearly fell out of the chair he had been sleeping in. He spotted the two empty beds, and caught a glimpse of Lomnen as she pulled the door open and sped outside. "Hey! Wait a second!" Vash tumbled out of his chair and scrambled outside after Lomnen. "What happened?" Vash stopped right next to Lomnen and nearly fell over.

"Iriya is gone! Oh where could she have gone to?" Lomnen sounded rather frantic, which also seemed against her character. She rather hated when people ran away from her and didn't tell her where they were going, she tended to worry quite a bit.

"Well the city of January is about an hours walk in that direction…" Vash pointed towards a set of rocks that jutted up out of the sand, and appeared to form the top of a cliff.

"I have to go find her!" Lomnen began to worry about her friends temper and what trouble it could get her into. She quickly began jogging off in the direction of the rocks.

"Hey wait for me! You'll get lost in January!" Vash chased after her because letting two injured lost women wander around a large city like January unescorted wouldn't be right in his book.

The two ran until they came to the edge of the rocks. Vash stopped on the rocks and looked ready to collapse, even though he was skilled in running for long distances he wasn't used to running like that in such heat. Lomnen wasn't in much better condition, she was tired and about to pass out but she refused to allow herself to look it. She stood high, and looked down over the city, it was breathtaking.

Though not very high tech, the white houses seemed to shine in the sun, and there was a huge piece of a starship surrounding the city, it rose over one hundred feet into the air and had what appeared like a giant light bulb placed in the center. Lomnen didn't take too much time to admire the sights because if Iriya was down there, she had to get to her as soon as possible.

Vash recovered and got his second wind just as Lomnen was looking for a way down to the city. He walked up beside her and set a hand on her shoulder, this almost caused her to jump out of her skin but when she realized it was just Mr. Vash she went back to looking.

"We HAVE to find her before she looses her temper…" Lomnen's worry and urgency showed in her voice as she looked around. "Do you know the fastest way down?" She turned to Vash and gave him a pleading look.

"Well there is a path down over there…" Vash pointed to a path that doubled back at least fifty times and led down into the city.

"That will do!" Lomnen rushed to the path with Vash in tow. Rather than walking down the path slowly, she leapt down off of one level and landed where the path was after it had doubled back. She repeated this rather dangerous and hurried practice until she stumbled and rolled the rest of the way down on the sand.

Vash, however, took a much safer route and simply ran down the path rather than leaping. If it weren't for her stumbling he wouldn't have been able to catch up to her when she went into the city. He helped her up out of the sand, and they began to search the city for Iriya.

* * * *

(Challenge Time: Think you're good at figuring out pointless questions and retrieving information that no one would ever really care about? Then this is for you.

"Can you tell which Author is the creator of which Sue?"

If you think you know the answer to this Challenge Time, then post it in a review- If you get it right you may win a mystery prize! […nothing of actual value of course.] )