Chapter Five: Miracles and Responsibilities
Wolfwood cursed as he tried to repair his motorcycle. Beside him, the twins handed him the tools he needed.
"Wrench." Wolfwood muttered. Lee handed him the wrench.
"Damn. Hammer." Wolfwood again muttered. Grant handed him the hammer.
"Why'd you need the hammer, Uncle Nick?" Lee asked, wincing when Wolfwood hit the now stuck wrench with the hammer, sending both flying into the air and into a nearby trash can.
"Never mind. Thanks anyway, kids." Wolfwood said, with an exasperated sigh, as he went to retrieve his crutches and stand back up.
"You're welcome. But why're you tryin' to repair this thing anyway? You can't ride it the way your leg is now." Grant said, as Wolfwood hobbled over to the trash can and distastefully removed the lid, watching with a deadpan expression as a black cat jumped out of it.
"So it'll be ready when my leg is healed. I like having an extra mode of transportation in case the main one breaks down." Wolfwood replied, making a face as he retrieved his tools from the bottom of the can.
"Oh. But according to Daddy and Aunt Milly, it's the motorcycle that's always breaking down!" Lee said, remembering what he'd been told about the first meeting with Wolfwood in the desert. Wolfwood rolled his eyes.
"Ignore that. Anyway, you might as well run along. Meryl's probably lookin' for ya." Wolfwood said, shooing the twins away.
"Okay! See ya later, Uncle Nick!" the twins said, before running back to the house the group was staying in. They had arrived in the abandoned town the previous day, and Vash was almost immediately back in his melancholy mood. The moment he'd seen the single word on the monument in the town's center, the life just seemed to leave his face. The word itself puzzled all but Wolfwood and Vash; the word was Knives, scrawled in blood red spray paint across the monument's facade.
"Mama, what does the word 'Knives' have anything to do with?" Grant asked, when his mother had sat down to take a breather.
"I don't know, Grant, but it seems to be bothering your father." Meryl replied, as she gazed out the window at the town center.
"Hey, Mama, do you want me to take something to Daddy for him to eat?" Lee asked, looking for a reason to spend time with his father.
"Yes. Take these sandwiches to him. He hasn't been eating well since this whole 'Gung-Ho Gun' mess started." Meryl said, as concern flickered across her features for the man she'd come to love.
"Be right back!" Lee said, but Meryl knew that that meant 'I might be awhile' in Lee Language. When Lee had found his father, he was still sitting where he had been an hour before, and he sat down next to him.
"Hey, Daddy, here's some sandwiches. Mama said for you to eat them." Lee said, hoping to get a response from the depressed man.
"Huh? Oh, thanks Lee. I'm sorry I'm worrying you. There's just an awful lot on my mind right now." Vash said, as he gently took the bag from his son and ruffled the boy's hair.
"Does it have to do with that ugly word?" Lee asked, as he pointed up at it.
"Yeah. That and more. It has more to do with the person who put it there." Vash murmured, distantly, his expression difficult to decipher. That night, as the adults were sleeping, Lee, Grant, and Peter sat up, talking quietly with one another.
"Daddy said there was something more about that word that bothered him. But what is it?" Grant asked, as the other two boys shrugged.
"Beats me. I hardly even know 'im, much less know what he acts like when he's not sad." Peter said, as he turned to his gaze to the silent moonlit streets outside.
"I wish there were still people here. It's too quiet." Lee commented, straying from the subject at hand.
"Yeah. It's like a graveyard at night, only the silence stays even into the daylight." Peter murmured, thoughtfully.
"Pete, did you ever think of writing a book?" Grant asked.
"No, why? It's not like I even know how to write!" Peter said, startled by this change of topic. Grant smiled.
"Mama always says that when she hears someone talk like that. It was a very spooky description." Grant said, leaning forward slightly to emphasize his point.
"Yet very true. I wonder what happened to everyone? And I wonder what it has to do with that word on the monument?" Lee mused, as all three of them looked out the window, halfway expecting to see some sort of ghost flit past.
The next morning, Vash was walking quietly out of the house. He had made a decision late the previous night that he didn't want to drag his friends and family into even further danger and was going to leave without saying where he was going.
"Leaving us without even saying goodbye? Don't you think that would hurt Meryl and the twins?" Wolfwood asked, as he emerged into the sunlight, carrying the Cross Punisher with him.
"Shouldn't you be resting? That leg can't be anywhere near completely healed yet." Vash said, unaware that the twins had woken up and were sneaking a peek around the door jamb. Wolfwood shook his head in annoyance.
"Forget my leg! You and I live completely different from one another! Do you remember that one-on-one we had ages ago? Well, let's finish it now!" Wolfwood said, as he unbuckled the shroud from around the Cross Punisher and aimed the huge weapon at Vash.
"What brought this on?" Vash asked, not hearing when Grant put his hands over his brother's mouth in an effort to keep him quiet.
"If I tell you, will you be willing to die? Draw your gun!" Wolfwood ordered, clenching his teeth as pain began anew in his injured leg.
"Stop it, Uncle Nick!" Lee suddenly shouted, as he escaped from his brother's grasp and got between his father and the priest.
"Lee!" Wolfwood, Vash, and Grant all yelped at the same time.
"Why're you fighting each other? You're on the same side!" Lee said, trying to talk sense into the adults.
"Stay out of this, kid. I don't want to hurt you." Wolfwood said, his voice low and serious.
"You'll have to go through me in order to get to my father! You'll have to kill me first!" Lee shouted, as angry tears cascaded down his face.
"And me too!" Grant said, quietly, as he joined his brother in the standoff. For a moment, Wolfwood froze; his loyalty to his former teacher (who had popped up from nowhere the previous day to see him) and his reluctance to hurt children warring within him. Finally, he lowered the Cross Punisher with a sigh. He could not go through with it; he could not kill the children he had almost adopted as his own nephews in order to get to their father. He just couldn't do it.
"Wolfwood…………" Vash murmured, stunned about what had just taken place. Then, suddenly, Wolfwood ran over, scooped the twins towards their father, and blocked a shot that had come from nowhere with the Cross Punisher.
"Hide, now!" Wolfwood shouted. Immediately, Vash, Lee and Grant dove for cover, with Wolfwood closely following them.
"Who's shooting at us now?" Grant asked, ducking as another shot took off a chunk of a table.
"I think the culprit is outside of the town. Vash, you go and take care of him. Lee, Grant, you two go back to where your mother is. I'll take care of the other guy." Wolfwood said, with determination in his voice.
"But………" Lee began, but found himself cut off when Wolfwood put a finger to his lips.
"Not another word, kid. You can't come with us and that's final." Wolfwood said, sternly, as Vash leaped through a window and took off in the car.
"What's gonna happen to you?" Grant asked, sounding afraid for the priest.
"Don't worry. I'll be back before you know it." Wolfwood said, as he disappeared out the door. With much reluctance, the twins did as they had been told and returned to the place where Meryl, Milly, Orchid, and Peter were waiting. The moment they entered the house, however, the sound of machinegun fire reached their ears.
"Uncle Nick…………." Both twins muttered, before taking off in the opposite direction. They ran through the center of town, following the sound of the Cross Punisher's machine gun, fearing the worst.
"We're not gonna make it, Lee, we're not gonna make it!" Grant sobbed, as the machine gun sounds and explosions got even farther ahead of them.
"We can't give up, Grant! We can't!" Lee replied, as they continued running. After hours of frantic searching, they found their father leaning against the car, looking downright miserable.
"Daddy, have you seen Uncle Nick?" Grant panted, breathlessly.
"Here he comes." Vash said, as Wolfwood limped over, looking a bit rough, but pleased with himself.
"Uncle Nick! Are you all right?" Lee asked, worriedly. Wolfwood smiled down at the boy, with an unusual gentleness in his eyes.
"Yeah, I'm all right. You two look tired. Have you been looking for me all this time?" Wolfwood asked.
"Yeah. We were afraid that you were gonna die!" Grant said, noticing when a slight look of pain entered Wolfwood's eyes.
"Uncle Nick?" Lee asked.
"Vash, Knives is in Berd." Wolfwood said, looking directly at Vash when he said that. Vash stiffened in surprise.
"How do you know? I never told you about Knives!" Vash said, looking up and finding Wolfwood gone, and the twins following. Then he sees the blood trail on the ground.
"Oh God………………….Wolfwood! Not you too!" Vash thought, as he made a move to follow the trio.
"I hope you don't mind if I come in here." Wolfwood murmured, as he opened the doors of the town church, not knowing that the twins now followed him with fear in their eyes. They could see the blood that was dripping from a wound in Wolfwood's chest, and knew that such wounds were, more often than not, fatal.
"We can't let him die." Grant telepathically said, to Lee. Lee's eyes widened for a second, then he sobered and nodded.
"No, we can't. Aunt Milly would be sad if he left her now, or ever. We've gotta save him somehow." Lee replied, in kind, as they watched Wolfwood approach the altar and fall to his knees. Silently, the twins walked over and joined him, wanting to save their 'uncle' yet not knowing exactly how to do it. Yet.
"I don't want to die! There is still so much I want to do!" Wolfwood murmured. These words brought tears to the twins' eyes and, without thinking, they placed their hands over the heavily bleeding wound in Wolfwood's chest. Wolfwood's eyes immediately snapped open when he felt the gentle touch on his wound.
"Lee…………………Grant………………….What……………….?" Wolfwood choked, painfully.
"Don't try to talk, Uncle Nick. Use your strength to help us save you!" Grant's voice said, inside of Wolfwood's mind.
"H-how the……………………..?! What're you doing?!" Wolfwood asked, his eyes widening when he saw bright light come from the twins, and felt it sink into him. He grimaced as the mental energy firmly took hold of the bullets in his body and removed them with a surgeon's care. Then the wounds sealed themselves after that. Wolfwood sighed as the energy became more gentle, giving his spirit the strength it needed in order to remain in his body. Then he felt the twins withdraw, and he felt himself drift into the sweet oblivion known as sleep.
When Vash had caught up with the trio, he was stunned at what he saw when he entered the abandoned church. He could see Wolfwood lying there, in deep sleep, and saw the twins curled up on either him; but the twins looked different somehow! With uncertainty, Vash walked over and gently turned one of the boys onto his side and gasped. The twins had aged! Now, they no longer looked like they were five or six years old, now the looked like ten-year-olds! And the oddest thing of all was the fact that their clothes had grown with them.
"Meryl's never going to believe this. What could have caused this growth spurt?" Vash wondered, as he watched the twins and their 'uncle' sleep, still at a loss for what to do next.
"I guess whatever happens, happens." Vash thought, with a shrug, as he then exited the church, heading for the house so he could tell the others of the twins' and Wolfwood's whereabouts. Wolfwood and the twins slept on, oblivious to what was going on.
Legato shook his head, amazed despite himself. One of his spies had just reported in, and the news was unbelievable; two more Gung-Ho Guns were lost, and Wolfwood had been saved by the twins' emerging powers.
"Those twins could become a threat to us. Eliminate them and their troublesome father as soon as possible. Is that clear?" Legato asked. Behind him, his spy nodded, then vanished without a trace.
Milly let out a wail of joy as she rushed towards Wolfwood, hugging him tightly against her and crying into his chest.
"I'm glad to see you too, honey. Now, can you let me breathe, please?" Wolfwood said, jokingly.
"Oops! Sorry, Mr. Priest! I'm just so happy to see that you're okay!" Milly sobbed, smiling as she said that.
"It's all thanks to Lee and Grant. They saved me." Wolfwood said, honestly.
"But how? How could those two little boys do such a thing?" Milly asked, greatly confused by that statement.
"I don't know, but they did it somehow." Wolfwood said, as he watched Meryl hover beside the twins' bed, looking decidedly anxious about them.
"Vash, you say that they are only sleeping, but are they really? What if they are in comas or something? Shouldn't we go to a town that has a doctor or something?" Meryl asked, nervously.
"It's all right, Meryl. They'll wake up, and it'll be as though it never happened. They might remember saving Wolfwood, but they probably won't remember how they did it." Vash said, smiling slightly, when one of the twins muttered something under his breath and rolled over.
"If that's the case, then why did they suddenly grow? What caused it?" Meryl asked, still very unused to this, even though she knew that the twins were special ever since their first growth spurt.
"Your guess is as good as mine. But I can safely say that, no matter what, they will age normally now. They won't have any more of their childhood taken from them in that way." Vash reassured.
"I hope you're right. Vash?" Meryl asked.
"Yes, Meryl?" Vash replied.
"Where are we going from here?" Meryl asked, concerned with where the journey would take them next.
"We're going to Berd. It's time I confronted Knives, and settled the score, once and for all." Vash said, with quiet resolution in his voice.
"Then we'll stand by your side, always. I think I am safely speaking for everyone here when I say that." Meryl said, with a grave smile. Vash smiled and nodded, then looked around the room. Wolfwood was leaning against the door frame, with a cocky grin on his face. Milly was standing beside him, looking happy and content to be by the priest's side. Orchid stood at the foot of the twins' bed, giving him a serene smile. Peter was sitting on his bed, also looking a little cocky. The twins were still sleeping peacefully, but he knew he had their full support. Then he looked back at Meryl.
"I know. And that's why I say I am ready to face him." Vash said, with new confidence in his eyes. On the bed, even though they didn't know what was going on, both twins smiled in their sleep, and dreamed of a peaceful future. A future that had a slight chance of happening; even if the chance was very great indeed.