Hey, needle noggin, you're blocking the hallway!" yelled a familiar voice.
The voice wasn't hers, it was that other voice he heard when he had failed. He could still see Rem in front of him, but she was turning away from him now, slowly disappearing. Vash put his hands on the side of his head and screamed, his body still shaking. A strong kick from a large foot incased in a large boot brought him fully back to reality.
"I said, you're blocking the hallway."
It was the same voice, but it was coming from outside of Vash's head. The trembling man uncurled himself and looked upward. A man who looked a hell of a lot like Wolfwood stood there with Knives slung over his shoulder and he was holding a very
bedraggled Meryl by her hand. Behind them were the guards that had been incapacitated on the archway. Vash looked up at them not believing what he was seeing. The man kicked Vash again. Vash put his back against the wall and drew his knees up to his
chest.
"Stop that, Wolfwood," said Meryl looking up at the man.
She knelt down beside Vash, took his hands off his head, and held them in her
own. Vash's hands were still trembling as she held them. He looked closer at
Meryl. Her wrists were bruised and she was covered with a layer of dirt and
sand. She was there looking at him but he couldn't believe it. He closed his
eyes and continued to tremble.
"Vash?" she said as she put one hand on his forehead.
He opened his eyes. They were still there.
"I couldn't get the doors to open, Meryl. I couldn't get out," he said.
"The guards told us what happened, Vash."
"Did he hurt you?" Vash quietly asked.
"No. Wolfwood was in another cave up there. He heard me."
"Get up off the floor needle-noggin. I want to find Milly."
Vash was still stunned. He stood up slowly and looked face to face with the dead
priest, Wolfwood, still dressed in his black attire.
"Are you here to kill me?" Vash asked the imposing man.
"No, you idiot. What the hell happened to you? Meryl's in worse condition than
you are. What are you freaking out about?"
"You. Knives. Meryl. Why are you here?"
"I'll explain it later, Vash. What am I supposed to do with this?"
The man in black pointed to Knives. Vash had to think. He didn't want to have to
think right now.
"We'll put him in a sleep chamber," he said.
One of the guards radioed Doc that Knives, Meryl, and the preacher in black were
back. Vash's hands were still shaking as he walked through the ship. Meryl put
her arm around his waist.
"I'm sorry, Meryl," he said.
"Stop your being sorry until we get this body off my shoulder," said Wolfwood as
he walked behind Vash. It had to be the real man.
They went to plant room one where the specialized plant sleeping chamber was
stored. Vash turned on the controls and several lights blinked on in the front
of the chamber. The glass door to the chamber opened with a healthy purring
noise. Wolfwood set Knives in the chamber. The hatch closed automatically and
shut with a loud click. Vash adjusted the controls to the settings used for a
plant being.
"We can lock him in a room down the hallway."
More equipment had been traded to various businesses and another storage
room had been cleared of its contents. Vash and Wolfwood carried the chamber to
the room.
"Is there any chance he can get out of here?" asked Wolfwood as he set his end
of the chamber down.
"Not while he's unconscious, as far as I know," replied Vash.
Meryl peered in the chamber as it filled with gas.
"Is there really any way to keep him from using his power?"
"I'll have to ask someone," said Vash as he checked the controls one more time.
The three left the room.
"Now, where's Milly?" demanded Wolfwood, smiling at Vash for the first time.
"She's probably in the control room with Doc. Meryl, you can take him there."
"Where are you going, Vash?" Meryl asked as Wolfwood tugged her towards the
door.
"I need to talk to someone."
Vash walked back to plant room two. He put his hand to Suzume's bulb. She
responded immediately floating down to him.
Up in the control room Meryl assured Milly she was okay and Meryl told her that she
had somebody to introduce.
"Hey, big girl!"
Milly's eyes opened wide. She squealed and plowed into Wolfwood. He hugged her
tightly and stroked her long hair with his hands.
"I'm not going anywhere for a long time, Milly."
She kissed his cheek and both of them started to cry. Doc quietly led Meryl out
of the room.
"Those two should probably be alone for a while," he whispered to her. "You
should get those scrapes on your elbows cleaned up, young lady."
Doc brought Meryl over to his medical office and got out a bottle of iodine. He
put a bit of the solution on a piece of cloth and started to clean her scraped
elbows.
"Were you hurt anywhere else, Meryl?"
"No. Not badly." Meryl thought about Vash's miserable condition, trembling in
corridor.
"You may want to look at Vash. He looked really awful when we saw him at the
entrance."
"I'd like to take a look at that preacher, too. A doctor doesn't get to examine
a man like him often. I hope he'll stay for a while."
"He'll want to stay wherever Milly is, Doctor."
Meryl noticed the wedding ring on Doc's finger for the first time.
"We're you married, Doc?" Meryl asked the man as he dabbed a bit more iodine on
her wounds.
"Yes, for 37 years I was married to a wonderful woman. We had three children and
they had children, and I'm actually a great-grandfather to eleven great-grand
children and all of them want to see the outside."
Doc taped two gauze pads over her elbows.
"Are you sure you're not hurt anywhere else?"
She had a few bruises on her wrists and legs but they would clear up over time.
"Nothing serious. You should take a look at Vash, Doc. That man, he always has
one disaster after another. I wonder what's next."
Doc sighed.
"Even if he has an open wound somewhere he always tells me he's fine and that
nothing's wrong with him. It amazes me that you got him to trust you so fast. It
took me over fifty years to find out what his brother was really like. I think
that you two have a much greater influence over him than you think."
"Was Vash ever involved with anyone on the ship? He's been here for 80 years,
hasn't he?"
"There were several ladies, you worked with a few of them in the cafeteria, but
once they heard that he could talk to the plants their interest seemed to go to
other men. A few humored him a while and then ended up dropping his heart on the
ground. He stopped going after the ladies for a while but once he went searching
for his brother he started back up again. There were so many women out there, he
thought he'd find one, but by then he had that bounty on his head. Vash is lucky to be
alive. I guess he's happy with that."
Vash's voice came from a pen in Doc's pocket.
"Doc? I found out how to take away Knives power completely. I'll need your
help."
"I'm in my medical room with Meryl. Should I come down to the plant room?" "No,
we need to plan things out up there. I'll be up."
Wolfwood and Milly came into the room. They both were beaming.
"Doc, can Wolfwood stay here for a while?" Milly asked.
"Yes he can. Anybody who helps you ladies is free to stay," said Doc.
"Oh, yay!" said Milly and she started to describe to Wolfwood all the beautiful
places on the ship she would have to take him especially the observation
deck.
It was early in the morning by now. Meryl was exhausted. She just wanted to get
some rest and find out about Wolfwood tomorrow. She was happy for Milly, very
happy for Milly and her baby. She had a feeling that Wolfwood wanted more than
anything to be a good father. Vash entered the room out of breath.
"Doc, you need to do brain surgery on Knives."
"Why am I not surprised?" said Wolfwood as he patted Milly's belly with his
hand. "That should've been done a long time ago."
"It's late," said Doc.
"Lets all get some sleep and we can talk about brain surgery tomorrow. I'm
certainly not going to be operating on anyone tonight. Vash, Mr. Wolfwood can
stay with you tonight."
The old man looked over at Milly who was massaging the preacher's shoulders. "We
can figure out future arrangements tomorrow."
The four went down to their rooms. Milly and Wolfwood exchanged several kisses
before entering their respective rooms.
"This is a pretty nice place, Vash," Wolfwood said as he looked around the room.
"Until yesterday my brother and I shared it."
"Shit. You're not kidding are you?"
"No. He had been getting a lot better, a lot better. He hadn't talked about
wiping out the whole human race for at least a month."
"You're way too trusting, Vash."
"I know."
Vash lay down on his bed.
"Did you know what he was doing with Meryl?"
"I know."
"How do you know that?"
"Telepathy. He was talking to me that way."
"I'm not sleeping in that man's bed."
"Sleep on the floor."
Vash threw him his blanket. Wolfwood took off his suit coat, lay on the floor
and covered himself with the blanket.
"Knives is one hell of a bastard. Do you know how I got her back?"
"No."
"I heard a woman screaming. I found the cave, went in. I thought it was you with some girl. It took a few punches, he's a tough bastard like you. If I knew it was him there's no way in hell I would've gone in there."
"Thank you, Wolfwood."
"He must have been too busy talking to you to notice me. No wonder you were a
quivering lump when I saw you. You are more human than I thought you were."
Vash didn't reply.
"Why aren't you with that little insurance agent yet?"
"It has something to do with a sixty billion double dollar bounty and a
psychotic brother."
"Meryl said all those trucks from the government came here. She said you and
Knives were cleared from being Vash the Stampede. I would've been back sooner
but I visited all the kids that were in my orphanage at the new places they were
sent to. A lot of them found homes. A few kids are in Inepril. I thought I'd
stop over here to see if you went back home and I saw the trucks. The government
doesn't deal with dead men very well so I hid in the rocks. Damn good thing."
"I'd like to get some sleep Wolfwood."
"Do you want to know why I'm here at all?"
"Yes."
"Because of Milly. Someone more powerful than you has a soft spot for her. Some
very bad things would've happened to her if I hadn't been there. I got a deal
with the great beyond. If I could keep you from doing anything real stupid I
could come back. The clergy at that church kept me in a room until they got
enough money for the burial. I was cold but I hadn't started to rot. They kept
me around to see what happened. Two months later I walked out. Do you know what
I was doing for those two months?"
"No."
"I was looking through your memories."
Vash sat up in bed and looked at Wolfwood.
"Stay the hell away from my memories, Wolfwood."
"Too late. Vash, you need her and you know it. Rem isn't the only women who
loved you."
"Why did you get a chance to come back? Why didn't Rem.?"
"I don't know, Vash."
"She shouldn't of died because of us."
"Nobody should've."
"Why are you lucky enough to get a second chance with Milly?"
Wolfwood could tell Vash was trying to hold back his tears.
"Didn't I give you another chance with Meryl?"
"I don't want to talk about this," Vash lay back down.
"Goodnight, Wolfwood. You're getting your own room tomorrow."
"Goodnight, Vash the Stampede."
Meryl and Milly woke the men up at noon the next day. They brought them lunch
and they all sat around the table filling each other in on the events of the
past few months. Vash left as soon as they started coming up with names for the
baby. He went up to Doc's room and told him the details of the Knives' surgery.
Vash would have to make a different type of dampener for Knives. Vash worked the
next week on finding and shaping the different metals to just the right
thickness. He gave the finished iridescent strip of metal to Doc. Knives was
given ten times the normal amount of anesthetic before the surgery. The thin
metal strips were fastened to the inside of a small portion of his occipital
bone. Knives was put immediately back in the sleep chamber after the surgery was
completed. Vash slept a lot easier that night, especially now that Wolfwood and
Milly had their own room.
Meryl had written the final report on Vash the Stampede and mailed it out the
week before. In it she thanked her boss for hiding their reports from inside the
seeds ship. One of the few times the insurance girls left the ship was when they
had to mail a letter. Meryl spent a lot of time with Milly and Wolfwood.
Wolfwood assured Vash several times that he had gotten there before anything had
happened.
Vash spent most of his time repairing and restoring the recreation room. He
thought about her often as he fixed worn out wiring and transplanted new
varieties of flora to the room. Many different animal species had been able to
survive in the recreation room even with minimal power. Humans were like that.
They didn't need a lot of power to survive. Maybe she realized how terrible he
could be if was just a little bit more like Knives. Maybe that's why she stayed
away. Knives needed a month and a half for his head to heal and then Vash could
put him where he could be happy. That was his priority now, making a
Knives-proof recreation room.
Wolfwood started to incorporate himself into the culture of the ship. He had
already performed several wedding services and unfortunately one funeral.
Fortunately for everyone on the ship, he'd stopped smoking. Being dead for two
months had greatly reduced the nicotine cravings. After the funeral there had been an opening in the kitchen staff and Meryl had been accepted. Milly was back up in the nursery since she'd be spending a lot of time up there in a few months any way. For
another week Vash didn't see Meryl except for a brief glance in the cafeteria as
she doled out mashed potatoes or beans. He missed her, he actually missed her.
That evening Meryl left Vash a message at his room: I'd like to come over and
talk when you get in. Vash pushed a button on the intercom connecting their rooms.
"Are you in, Meryl?"
"I'll be right over," she said.
Meryl entered his room a few minutes later and sat down at Vash's table. Vash
joined her.
"Milly and Wolfwood are playing another game of chess. I'd prefer figuring out a
truckload of disaster claims than have to watch another move. Tomorrow's my day
off from the kitchen. I'd like to help you more with the recreation room. I know
we haven't had a lot of time to talk lately. How's the room coming?"
Meryl looked nervous as if she was waiting for him to snap at her.
"It should be done this week, in four days, maybe. I have all the backup sets of
wiring put in, the cameras are all working and the pond recycling system is
working so if you could help transplanting a few dozen shrubs I could use the
help. I do appreciate the company."
"Sure."
They looked at each other for a little while not saying anything. Then Meryl put
her hand on his left arm right down by the wrist.
"Milly and I got a reply from the chief today. He wants us both to head the
training of new disaster investigators back in December. Milly wrote her
resignation letter before the chess match. Wolfwood likes it here. She says
Wolfwood is determined to win a chess game one of these days but from their last
match that didn't look likely."
"Milly's a smart on in her own special way, even when it comes to men. She found
a good one," replied Vash.
Meryl looked back at Vash's arm. She unbuttoned the cuff of his shirt sleeve and
pushed the sleeve up to his elbow.
"I never did get a chance to get a good look at your new arm."
She rubbed her fingers against the skin.
"It looks completely normal."
"It is. I haven't felt any differences compared with my natural arm."
Meryl turned his hand over and followed the line of his veins with her fingers
gently massaging his arm. He looked into Meryl's eyes, his mouth drawn into a
thin line.
"It's an angel arm, just like my other one. You know that."
Meryl reached over and rubbed Vash's chest near his heart.
"That metal grate is gone."
She stood up next to Vash still rubbing his chest as she put her other hand in
his hair.
"Still the same," she said and she leaned in front of him and kissed his lips.
"You're not my job any more, Vash. I'm here because I want to be."
She kissed him again and Vash returned the little woman's kiss. It really wasn't in his
nature to turn down a woman. This one knew everything about him. He had nothing
to hide from her. Vash pulled back from her and gathered her hands into his.
"Please tell me you won't leave me. I never want you to leave me. I've lived 131
years, Meryl, I don't know how much longer I'll live this way. It could be
another 100 years or more. Do you think you can deal with me like this?"
Meryl could see the fear in his eyes as they glossed over with tears.
"Why wouldn't I want a kind, caring, gorgeous guy for as long as possible?"
Vash smiled and kissed her lips. He scooped her up, placed her on his lap, and
hugged her to his chest. Her head rested snugly against his shoulder.
The two talked for a long while about Meryl's family and growing up on the
planet surface. It was about four in the morning before Vash carried Meryl, sleeping back to her room. He laid her down on her bed, pulled the covers over her
and left.
A month and a half later Knives was ready to be transferred to the
recreation room. Vash, James, Wolfwood, and Kevin carted the sleeping chamber to
the room. Vash opened the large double doors and the men pushed the cart in.
Vash lifted his sleeping brother out of the chamber and placed him on the grass.
The men pushed the cart out and closed the doors behind him. Vash sat down on
the outside of the outer door and looked at the camera monitors, waiting.
Knives woke up surprisingly soon. Vash watched as his brother sat up and surveyed his new home. He was instantly transfixed by a brown creeper spiraling up a tree probing for insects.
Knives sat there for a long time as the bird pecked at a beetle, caught it, and
swallowed the wriggling insect. Knives decided right then he liked birds. Knives
sat up and leaped at the next bird that flew above him. He caught a red-breasted
nuthatch and poked at it as he held the squirming bird in his hand. Knives
released it and ran after it hoping to find more. Vash sighed. Finally, a place
where his brother could be captivated by other things than killing humans. He
watched his brother on occasion for several days to see if he could adjust to living in the forest environment. It turned out that Knives was actually happy here, marking out the different territories of different animals with sticks and leaves and he was making a tally of all the different kinds of fish in the pond. There was enough food for him and the animals, and they seemed to get along. One evening Knives left Vash a message written with sticks on a field in front of one of the cameras at the edge of the room.
"No Humans."
Vash walked away from the monitors and returned to his separate life on the ship.
**** Author's note: This is where the story originally ended, but some people were rather unsatisfied with the ending, so I ended up writing more.