Back In The Sun
Chapter One: Desert Tears
"You're gonna cary that weight..."
~*~
Is it right, what I have done? The thing that I have taken... life... But, was it ever really in him to begin with? True life? Or was he just an empty shell, filled with only hate? I have to believe that if only... if only to keep my sanity.
His cold body is slung over my shoulder, and I'm careful not to get the cross I still carry in the way. His heartbeat stopped soon after I shot him. And I still can't help but wonder: Did I do the right thing?
I think I'll always ask myself that question. An escape from pain. Yes. A paradise where everything is right. I can only hope that he's there now, all the hate gone from him. I can only hope, and I must convince myself, that now he's free...
***
I waited there all night. Millie stayed with me, of course, but she fell asleep leaning against me. I didn't mind, really, I just sat staring out at the deep blue horizon, hoping to see him, if only for a moment. It seemed unreal to me that he had set out to do the one thing he'd always tried to prevent from happening. I was scared that it would change him, and I almost wished he wouldn't kill his brother. I wanted to be selfish. I wanted Vash to be selfish. Of course, I knew he never would be, so I wouldn't be either.
I sat there thinking as I stared all night into the ever-lightening blue sky. Dawn broke, and I was almost surprised to find a figure walking steadily toward the town. It was a tall lanky figure, with a large cross slung over his back. As he got closer, I could se his signature red coat being tossed about by the wind.
"Vash." It was a raspy whisper in my throat. Then, before I knew it, my cheeks were washed with salty tears, and I was standing up. I'm sure Millie must've woken up at that point, considering I'd probably dropped her, but I was only concentraing on Vash. The sun rose higher behind him as he walked, and I couldn't make my legs work to go and greet him. As I saw his heaviest burden, I was glad that my legs didn't want to obey my brain. Vash was carrying his dead brother over his left shoulder.
***
I had walked all night. It was cold, but I had promised Meryl I would come back, and I would. Besides, nothing seemed as if it could get as cold as Knives' body. It seemed, also, that nothing could be heavier. even the cross I also bore accross my back was light compared. But maybe that was just my conscience.
The walk was long, and I didn't rest. I was sweaty and gross, and I didn't care. As dawn broke, I saw the outline of the town in the greying sky. I almost smiled, but a need to shift my weight reminded me of what I carried. That was when I saw her. Them. Meryl and Millie, the insurance girls, were waiting for me in the same place as where I'd left them. Meryl had just stood up and knocked Millie over, and she was crying.
I was now only a few feet away from her. I dropped the cross, and it fell to the ground in back of me with a dull clunk. Knives went soon after, except in front of me. I layed him down there, not knowing what else to do. Only then did I notice that I was crying, that I was on my knees. I looked up and saw that Meryl was crying to. I needed her right then, and I can't explain it, but it was like she knew. She hugged me. Right over my brother's corpse. She reached over and hugged me. I thought she would be afraid. I thought they all would.
But one by one, the townspeople came out of their houses to go to work, or just to watch the sunrise, and they stayed to watch something else. There was a girl hugging a man in a red coat over the body of the man who was once his brother. They all knew who it was. The coat and gun said it all. He was Vash the Stampede. And he was bawling his eyes out in the arms of an insurance girl who had stayed with him even when he had killed a man.
A/N: What'd ya think? I know it was short, but it's the best I can do right now, 'kay? Anyhoo, feel free to review. Yes, by the way, that quote is from Cowboy Bebop, but I didn't wanna put it up there 'cause it just wouldn't look right. I really hope you liked the first chapter. I'm noticing that this one, also, could be a one shot; but there'll be more cliffhangers! Promise!
Next Time:
Sometimes you don't think of what you're doing. You just know that you have to do it. Whether it's because it was assigned to you, or because you made a promise... you know you have to. It doesn't hit you until it's over, exactly what it is you've done. Can you face what will happen when that time finally comes?
Consequence
