Wolfwood's been gone a long time now . . .

Meryl and I had been sitting around one of the tables in the hotel lobby. Mr. Vash was standing out on the roofed porch of the hotel, a worried look on his face. But he had looked like that a lot lately, hadn't he?

The first time I had laid eyes on him I would have never thought he could be serious at all, then a bunch of things concerning Knives happened and Meryl and I knew he wouldn't be the same. But of course Meryl could see through him a lot better than I could, knew when he was hurting. It was obvious how he felt, but Meryl just knew . . .

I felt that way about Wolfwood. He really had been gone for quite a while. He and Vash had had gunfire, I knew, but then Vash came back without Wolfwood. I knew he knew a lot more than he was going to let out, but he wouldn't tell me when I asked. All he said was he didn't know where Wolfwood was or when he would return . . . And Vash has been standing in that same spot ever since then.

I'm beginning to worry about the both of them again.

No one would have ever thought that Vash the Stampede could care this much about people, but since Meryl and I had spent so much time with him we knew him well. He was willing to stand in that spot for days to wait for Wolfwood's return. Or at least, that's what Sempai told me.

Meryl went and bought drinks for us but I just took mine out to Vash. I handed it to him and asked if he thought Wolfwood would come back to us. He didn't answer for a minute.

"Actually, I don't know. I know something's happened, I just don't know what," he had said. He took the drink and stared at it for a minute then took a sip. The ice-cold water probably made him feel a little better, though Meryl and I both knew he was still worried . . . But so was I.

"Vash . . . I'm worried too. I want Wolfwood to come back."

He didn't answer me so I went back into the lobby with Meryl. He kept the drink with him.

Meryl sat and watched in pity and awe as Vash stood there, all the way through sundown. He didn't even come in to have the donuts Sempai had picked up for us. This surprised us both.

When the moons were finally visible in the clear night's sky Vash stepped off the porch. Meryl and I walked after him and watched him walk a little ways, then I ran after him.

"Mr. Vash, wait!" I said, catching up with him. He turned his head to look at me as I approached. "Vash, I wanna come with you!"

He hesitated for a minute, looking at me with those green eyes, the same look that he had when he felt like he was going to cry. I didn't want him to cry. That would make me cry.

"Milly, you don't want to come with me. Not even I'm going to like what I find when I get there. Because . . . I fear that Nicholas D. Wolfwood has already approached his Pearly Gates."

I knew what he meant and I watched him go, my eyes brimming with tears, though I was afraid he was right and wishing he was wrong.

Author's Notes: It's a little sappy, but this is the first time I've written anything from Milly's POV. This is also a little different than the series, but that's my little touch . . . R/R and tell me how you feel about this and what you think of it. I also ask that you read and review my other one-shot called Ponder. It's for a series of one-shots I'm documenting ^.^