Sunny: OK, I'm trying to work on GSH, as well as Inlay, D. Theatre, and Fading. (Also working on the sequel to Results May Vary, for the people who are begging me for it. I'll be posting that as an independent story and removing it from WTFE soon.)
Unfortunately, I'm suffering a vast writer's block. Chapter 7 of Inlay has been sitting on my hard drive since the beginning of September, untouched. As for DT, I've got the idea, I just need to sit down and write it.
But, this shouldn't be about those. This is about Unmarked, the only story I'm doing right now that is actually attached to the series...heh.
Midvally: Anyhow, due to the overly-whacked imagination of Sunny, this is actually going to end up going the same way as Purest of Pain, sans the death of two people and the random songfic chapters.
Sunny: If you didn't notice, I took that story down because I hated how it was, but I liked the general premise...
Wolfwood: If my brother and the author would shut up, I'd like to point out that we don't own Trigun and we'd better get on with the chapter.
Sunny: One more thing: PEOPLE! Please stop being so nit-picky about my interpretation of Trigun! It's my view of it, and how I saw the way things work! If my continuity is screwed, I'm sorry. But the way I think things worked out is exactly that: what I think.
Unmarked--Chapter 5
I lifted Rebekah out of the cradle she shared with her brother and carried her to the window, staring out at the multi-colored moonlight cast down on the land. The infant nestled herself in my arms and cooed softly.
In the two months it had been since the twins' arrival, Milly had taken over my job of attending to Knives, as well as taking care of the children. Myself, I was now acting as general security for the town, as there were still bandits out there, as well as bounty hunters and general criminals.
Something was starting to feel wrong. Knives's ambiguity about the death of his minions, true, could be passed off with his utter distaste for the human race, but the way he acted, it was as though they were really still alive.
Milly had told me of how Vash had gone back on his promise to the woman who raised him, and killed Legato, as well as Midvally's suicide. Both had clearly struck the Humanoid Typhoon deeply, even though all seemed to be out to kill him.
Stroking Rebekah's hair, which reminded me of black feathers (A/N: I did my background checks, there are real birds on Gunsmoke. Check out episode 10, unless those are further examples of Leonof's puppets...sorry to interrupt like that), I gazed out to the street below, expecting to see only shadows.
Instead, I saw three vaguely familiar forms, however androgynous in the darkness.
"Nicky-kun, what are you looking at?"
I turned and looked at Milly, sitting up, rubbing her eyes sleepily. "Nothing, my honey. I just thought I saw someone out there,"
True to my word, when I looked back, there was no one there. I had probably imagined it.
"Nicky, if someone's there, Vash-san will know."
I nodded and carried Rebekah back to the twins' cradle, pausing to stroke Daniel's cheek. The boy turned slightly towards my hand, smacking his lips softly.
"Are you all right?" Milly asked softly as I returned to bed. I nodded slightly.
"Just not used to having them sleep through the night?"
Again, I nodded. Between the two of them, I'd lost about three hours of sleep per night on average. It was making me long for the days before I'd supposedly died, when I would traverse the planet alone, or at times with Vash and the Insurance girls.
I heard soft voices coming from nearby outside, and passed them off as teenage lovers meeting late at night.
§§§§§§§§
Vash the Stampede sat straight up and slipped silently out of his bed. Striding cautiously towards the window, his aquamarine eyes scrutinized the landscape. Gently, so as not to wake Meryl, he slid it open and stuck his head outside. He could see no sign of life, nothing at all. He made himself close his eyes, to avoid looking up at the moon.
"I don't remember," he whispered silently.
"Vash?" Meryl's worried voice came from right behind him. "What's wrong?"
"Something's out there," the Humanoid Typhoon said quietly, taking himself back inside and closing the window. "I felt it. Something or someone is out there."
Meryl's gray eyes had fear etched within them. "A bounty hunter?"
Vash shook his head. "It's almost as though it's a Gung-Ho Gun--"
"But they're all dead! You killed the most dangerous of them yourself!"
"And watch many of the others die, most at their own hands,"
Meryl regarded him with the silent stoicism she had long since reserved for when Vash spoke of death or his past.
"Something's out there," Vash repeated. "And it's very close nearby. And after something,"
"You,"
He looked back out the window. "Something else, I think. Something that would hurt someone a lot more,"
§§§§§§§§
Three people appeared at the foot of Knive's bed, seemingly out of nowhere. No doors or windows had been opened, and no one in the house had left their rooms.
Two men and a woman stood, as though awaiting instruction. One of the men was wearing a black suit and a pink dress shirt, his black hair slicked back, while the other wore a dark shirt and pants beneath a long white trench coat that had a skull on one sleeve and spikes sticking out at odd angles on the other. The man in white was also wearing a fingerless glove on his right hand and had a strange attribute, blue hair.
The woman, who had hidden herself slightly behind the man with the pink shirt, was dressed in a shirt, pants, and coat the color of the sand, with a hat of the same hue in her hands. Over her right eye was a metal eyepatch of sorts.
"Dominique, you have again proved your skill," Knives said softly.
"Not even your feather-brained brother saw through it this time," the Psyclops said, the ice in her voice intermingled with slight humor.
"That is because he believes the three of you are dead. He is presently becoming a nervous wreck due to your presence."
Legato stroked his left hand gently, raised it to his lips, and licked it like a cat grooming itself. "It is a joy to be in your presence again, master,"
"How many others have been found?"
"Just Leonof, sir, and, as you know, Chapel's boy" he bowed his blue-coifed head, letting the dark hair shield his striking golden eyes.
Midvally spoke softly, "I investigated rumors of Zazie, Rai-Dei, and Grey's life. All of them, dead,"
"No matter," Knives waved it away with a dismissive gesture. "Garbage. Only good for consuming resources,"
He shot a loathesome glare at the three assembled at his feet, in case it was unclear that he considered them wretched as well.
"I understand, master," Legato said solemnly, raising his left arm. "I am still working to cause Vash the Stampede eternal pain and suffering,"
"Unfortunately, your little death trick did not work, Legato," Knives went on, his voice dripping with distaste and malice. "Possibly a month afterwards, just before he felt compelled to render me immobile indefinitely, he somehow redeemed himself and does not feel as though he regrets it anymore."
"A few more minutes, and those bitches would have died," Dominique muttered.
"I am aware of that, Dominique!" Knives snapped. "Legato, you were careless. Yes, it was merely a puppet, but you should have delayed your alleged death, so those girls would have been out of the way. I fear it was one, or even both, of them who changed his view and redeemed him from his misery.
"But you know what to do now. Unless Legato has intended for me to inform you,"
"I told them, master,"
"Leave,"
The three Gung-Ho Guns bowed and retreated, passing Wolfwood and Vash in the hall.
§§§§§§§§
I couldn't fall back asleep, so as soon as Milly'd returned to the innocent world of her dreams, I slipped into the hallway.
Vash was leaning on the door outside of the room he shared with Meryl, on the other side of the hall. I walked down towards him.
"You felt it, too?" he asked quietly.
I shook my head. "I saw someone, and heard voices,"
The Humanoid Typhoon nodded, clenching his right fist. I watched a machine gun break out of his other arm. He stared past me, concentrating on the door to Knive's room then trailing to the stairs
"I thought I told you to wear a skirt next time," he whispered. "Not that you're caring,"
"WHAT?" I asked.
Vash loosened his hand and the gun retracted into his arm. "Never mind,"
"What's going on?"
He shook his head. "I really hope I imagined that,"
"What?"
Vash just turned around and walked back into his room.
'Chapel!'
I trudged into Knives's room. He looked disturbingly smug.
"What is it?" I asked, overemphasizing my aggravation.
"Don't act like I dragged you out of bed. I know you've been up, for well over an hour now, Chapel,"
I scanned the room.
"And don't think you can slam your fancy little box on my head again. It's been dealt with,"
I smelt smoke faintly from far away, as well as heard a soft, slow song.
"So, on the second enchanted evening," I sang along softly.
"SILENCE!"
I bit my tongue shutting my mouth. Oddly, the song stopped too.
"Dismissed,"
I nodded and bowed out of the room.
********
"Two coffees. One black and one polluted,"
Meryl glared at me. "You know, Mr. Wolfwood, you could act like something less of a baka once in a while."
"Any suggestions?"
"You could say please once in a while," she whirled away in her french-maid style work uniform. "And not refer to Vash's coffee preference as polluted,"
"But it is," I protested as she handed me two cups of the steaming liquid.
I slammed $$5 on the counter and left the restaurant before she could snap at me more.
"Thanks," Vash murmured, sitting on the steps outside the plant, as I handed him his overly diluted coffee. I sat down next to him and drank my own.
"You saw someone last night." I finally said. "Who?"
"I thought I saw someone," he corrected. "Looking back, I most likely didn't, because I know for a fact that she's dead. I saw her hanging from a wall in Augusta,"
I almost dropped my coffee. "I thought you didn't remember..."
"I remember that. It was before. It's one of the last things, though."
Vash gazed up at the plant. "Be calm, little sister,"
I got up, leaving him to his job, which really just entailed sitting around and being there if the plant suddenly malfunctioned. He was the only person in the town who understood it.
My general security job had me frequently wandering the town, but I would frequently stop in front of the tiny church there. It was smaller than the ones in the cities or even in Tonim, with four rows of pews on each side, facing a small altar.
I pulled one of the heavy doors open and leaned on it, gazing at the stained glass rainbows cast upon the tiny chapel. Today, I'd felt confident enough to leave my cross behind, at home, and was just carrying one of the little six-shooters that was stowed away in the branches.
"Interesting effect it has upon you,"
I turned to see a woman with long, dark brown hair sitting on the steps. Her back was to me, but I saw that she was wearing a simple blue dress.
"I may not look it, but I'm a priest," I simply replied.
"One who carries weaponry with him at all times? I don't see that as the mark of a clergyman."
"Unfortunately, we live in a dangerous world," Who had I said those words to before?
"Nothing to do about that,"
I blinked, and she was gone, not even the slightest inclination that there may have been someone there.
§§§§§§§§
From the roof of the house where his master was being held a prisoner of sorts, Legato smiled. The plan would be put into effect soon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Egad! So these GHGs are not dead at all. What will become of this? ::faints::
Well, actually, I know how they're not all dead.
And why are they here in the first place? What does Knives want with them.
Well, I'd tell you, but that would ruin the story!
--Sunny