Author's note: It's just a story. Read it. I hope you like it!
Chapter One: The Growing World
*
Near the Strife-Stampede family enclave
220 years after the Project Seeds landing
"Whatcha doin, Uncle Knives?"
"Watering my garden."
"It sure is pretty."
"Heh. You must be the fifth generation of Vash-spawn. Why did you come here? Vash send you to meet me?"
"Um...my name is Val. Nice to meet you."
"You can go, now. I don't like company."
"Does it make you happy?"
"What the fu--why do you care, little girl? Go back home, get back to training to be a plant technician like the rest of your kin."
"I'm not going to be a technician."
"Oh, you're not?"
"No. When I grow up, I'm gonna be just like Uncle Vash!"
*
June City
16 Years Later
"Excuse me. I'm Marlene Thompson, from the ST Division of Bernadelli Insurance, and this is my partner—"
"Brian Darrow, pleased to meet you." The young man extended a hand, but the client, a scientist named Dr. Albert Fulton, didn't shake it. Brian shrugged.
"Yes," Marlene continued. "We're here to assess the damage."
"You don't understand," moaned the scientist. He was probably approaching sixty, more than half of his hair gone to gray and wrinkles creeping around his eyes and mouth. "What I've lost is priceless—all my years of research, irretrievably lost. No insurance could repay it...but you damn well better try."
Marlene didn't bat an eye. "Yes, sir, we'll do what we can. Do you mind if we have a look around?"
"What's to see?" The scientist waved his hand, indicating the burnt-out hull of a building behind him. "It's all gone—everything—my whole life is—"
"You can explain to Brian. I'll go take a look."
"Marlene, it could be dangerous—"
"Talk to him. I'll be back in a few minutes." Marlene hiked off into the wreckage.
Brian sighed. "So...uh...what happened?"
"I had just set up a few experiments—very fragile, very difficult experiments, the data from which is now lost, not to mention the capability to perform them—and was heading home for the night, when I entered my car and began to drive away. And then, as I did, the whole building exploded into flames!" Dr. Fulton exploded into pathetic sobbing, and Brian offered him a tissue.
"It's not possible that one of your experiments triggered the explosion?" Brian said, after the scientist had blown his nose.
"You insult me," whined the victim. "None of my experiments were of an explosive or combustible nature. It's quite impossible for them to have triggered a spark, let alone a catastrophe on this scale. It was the Twilight, I'm sure of it."
"The Twilight?" repeated Brian, taking notes. "Like...same as the crash twenty-five years ago?"
"I'm sure of it," the scientist replied. "And Bernadelli suspects it, too, or they wouldn't have sent the ST division."
"Sir, the ST division deals with all unexplained disasters. And there hasn't been a confirmed incident of action on the part of the Twilight in twenty-five years."
"I came on one of those ships," the doctor insisted. "The Twilight holds a grudge against all of us—she wants us all dead! There hasn't been anyone with so much destructive power since Vash the Stampede himself!"
"Whoa, hold on a second! As a member of the ST division, I've made quite a study of the Stampede incidents of a century past. After all, the division is named for our founders, Meryl Strife and Milly Thompson, who followed the Stampede for several years. Marlene, in fact, is actually the great-great-niece of—"
"I want to talk to your partner," the scientist insisted, not listening to Brian's ramblings.
"Wait! Mister..." Brian followed the scientist into the wreckage, towards where Marlene was kneeling and taking notes.
"Dr. Fulton, what did you store in the room at the northeast corner of the second floor?" Marlene asked as the two came into hearing range.
"What?" The scientist thought about it. "As I recall, the room was empty. I—I sometimes used it to sleep in, when I was too tired to drive home from the laboratory. Why do you ask?"
"That's where the explosion seems to have originated. It's a good thing you weren't sleeping there on Wednesday night." Marlene stood, dusting off the legs of her pants. The scientist laughed nervously.
"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" he said.
"You didn't have any assistants? Anyone else who witnessed the explosion?"
"No...there's no one else."
"All right, I think I've seen all we need here. I have some forms that you need to fill out, and we'll return tomorrow morning to pick them up," Marlene said, smooth and businesslike as always.
"You do realize that I've been left with nothing...nothing whatsoever. I have to start over again...my whole life's work is gone..."
"Yes, that will be taken into account when your case is processed." Marlene led them back to her car, where she shuffled through a briefcase to pull out a folder full of papers. She handed the folder to Dr. Fulton. "Please fill these out as completely as you can. If you have any questions, Brian and I are staying at the Orange Hotel downtown." She started the car and drove away,
"There's something fishy about this," Marlene said.
"I think so too," Brian added eagerly from beneath the pile of papers on his side of the car. "That guy was weird."
"I don't think he's telling the whole truth," Marlene continued. "I mean, I don't think he'd do it himself, to collect on the insurance...he is upset about losing all his work. He seems like the type who might try to cover up his own accident, though, by blaming it on a mysterious force that hasn't been seen nor heard from in twenty years. He might as well say Vash the Stampede did it."
"You can't just rule her out, though," Brian said. "I think we need to find out exactly what it is that scientist-dude was studying, and what sort of experiments he was doing—"
"Brian, no," Marlene replied. "We both know he's probably lying, but there's nothing we can do. The guy did lose his life's work, after all, so we can have a little pity. Hopefully we can get the paperwork done and be on a ship headed home by the day after tomorrow."
"You're not even curious? This could be big, Marlene...you could follow in the footsteps of your great-aunt Milly and—"
"Are you kidding?" Marlene wished that her partner would keep his big mouth shut. "I don't intend to follow some nutcase around the world and back unless Bernadelli is paying me damn well for it. And until they do, we're going to do our jobs as quickly and neatly as possible and then go home. All this traveling really doesn't agree with me."
"You have no sense of adventure," Brian pouted.
"You have no sense whatsoever," Marlene replied. She put the car in park, and Brian looked up to realize they had already arrived at the hotel. His partner shot a look at him. "And if you don't come back with me, that leaves me to explain it to our boss."
"Okay, okay, jeez," Brian sighed. "No wonder you're not married."
"What?"
"Um...nothing."
Marlene rolled her eyes. "As if all I should care about is getting married."
"It's better than having the only thing you care about be a paycheck!" Brian retorted. He slammed the car door and stormed towards the hotel.
Marlene didn't bother arguing with him any more. It's not true. I like what I do, and I'm good at it, and being able to afford food and a place to live doesn't hurt.
"Stupid kid," she sighed, following him at a distance to the hotel.
*
"Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!" Brian practically fell into Marlene's room.
"What's your problem?"
"He's here," Brian gasped. "He's here!"
"Get a hold of yourself. What are you talking about?"
"Vash the Stampede! I swear, I saw him, here, in this hotel!"
"Oh, God." She rubbed her forehead. "This is going to be good."
"I'm serious. The blond, spiky hair, the mole next to his eye...he's here. I saw the pictures—he's exactly the same!"
"Brian, please don't make fun of me any more. I'm tired. I've been typing all evening."
"Geez, I'm sorry," Brian replied. "All right, I'll leave you alone. Good night."
"Good night." Marlene waited until Brian shut the door and counted to twenty, enough time to ensure that he had gone back to his own room for the night. Then she slipped her feet into her shoes and headed out into the hallway.
She walked slowly, trying to act normal and at the same time peeking into doors left partially open. Marlene stepped down the stairs to the hotel lobby, where a single receptionist sat at the desk, a young girl who looked rather dreamy.
Well, it's certainly not Brian who's making her look like that. Well, if Vash is here, he's probably out drinking. There's a bar across the street, if I remember right...
Marlene headed out the door.
"Been a while, Emily," a voice said. Marlene looked up in shock.
"How do you know—" she began. "Oh..."
"You sure have grown up pretty." Vash smiled.
"And you haven't changed at all," Marlene replied. "I assume you're in town for the same reason I am?"
"I am?" Vash looked confused. "Are you old enough to drink, Emily?"
"Actually, I am," Marlene replied, annoyed. "And I go by Marlene. There's already both an Emily and a Milly in my generation. And a Meryl, and a Nicholas. You can probably see how things could get confusing."
"I suppose so, Marlene. Want to go get a drink with me, then? It's not often that I run into a pretty girl like you—"
"You can't fool me, Vash, I know that you're too old for me—" Marlene cut off. "But I would like to talk to you, and you're not allowed to pretend you don't know what I'm talking about."
Vash sniffled. "What I have to do to get a date these days...fine, it's a deal."
I guess his wife has been dead for almost thirty years, that's long enough to stop mourning...still, it's weird to think that his wife died of old age, but Vash still looks like a young man. I wonder if he'll ever grow old, or if he's immortal. Or does he even know the answer to that?
Vash ordered a beer, and Marlene asked for a strawberry milkshake. "So, what's been going on at old Bernadelli lately?" Vash asked her, but Marlene wasn't going to let him beat around the bush.
"There was a Plant on that ship, wasn't there," she said. "The one that crashed, twenty-five years ago."
Vash sighed and stared into his cup. "According to the ship's records, there were three," he said. "Two of them most likely didn't survive the trip, and the third...was assumed killed in the explosion."
"But this person's probably not dead, right?" Marlene said, after taking a sip from her straw.
"I don't know."
"Don't you people have a sense for that sort of thing?"
"Not really," Vash replied. "I might be able to tell, if I could see this person—but I haven't."
"Would that scientist know anything about it?" Marlene asked.
"I came here, right after the crash, and spoke with Dr. Fulton then. He said that there had been a plant on the ship, but she had disappeared...he blamed her for the crash. He called her the Twilight."
"The same Twilight he's blaming for destroying his laboratory now. So now there's a hypothetical Twilight running about? Another plant? And we don't know if this person is like you, or like your brother..."
Vash shook his head. "Some people told me that on Earth, they used us...the Plants...as weapons. They left the planet to escape the constant warfare...and, knowing the destructive power of a Plant..." He sighed. "I don't know too much. No one likes to talk much about Earth."
"They all ran away from it," Marlene said. "I know a little bit, too. My uncle married one of the settlers...she didn't want to talk about it, either." Vash must remember when the first ships landed on this planet...like stones from the sky...brought here not by choice, but by his brother. Knives...I wonder whatever happened to him.
The new settlers followed the trail left by the Project SeeDs, 236 years ago. A new crop for our sandy garden, but again they landed in tragedy. The ships of settlers in cryosleep survived, but the one flagship crashed, the ship carrying most of the scientists...and the Plant. Marlene frowned. She didn't want to get deeply involved in this, but she was too curious now to just let it sit. "Vash—"
The spiky-blond man smiled at her, looking nothing like a legendary gunman. "I had forgotten how lonely traveling could be. Would a beautiful girl like you be in need of a bodyguard?"
Marlene groaned and stirred the remains of her milkshake with her straw. "Sorry, I have nothing against a little age gap, but I draw the line at a century. You've got great-grandchildren who are older than I am. Besides, I've already got a partner."
"Oh? A new generation of insurance girls, huh? Is she cute?"
Marlene giggled. "He's adorable," she said. "Don't look so sad. I bet he'd look great in a skirt."
"I'll take your word for it," Vash replied.
"Brian's young and enthusiastic. An idol-worshipper. I'm sure he's going to want to get messed up in this, too. Maybe I should ask him to go with you. He'd love every second of it."
"Really, I'm not interested in men," Vash said, holding up his hands defensively.
"I know that," Marlene replied. "You're a horribly dirty old man, but a flamboyantly straight one."
"Flamboyantly? What's that supposed to mean?" Vash thought for a moment. "Dirty? Old?!"
"You can't fight that one," Marlene replied. "Maybe it's time you retire. I mean, you've already got a successor."
Vash blinked at her. "I do?"
"Don't you? Isn't that your great-granddaughter I hear about, traveling around, carrying a giant cross? They call her Val the Stampede.