The same infinite blackness.

"Poor Vash. Why can't we go easier on him?"

"Because it's the beauty of tragedy."

"At least it's not Kikaider. Man, Jiro's a loser."

"Don't say that!"

"He is! 'Oh, I'm a sentient robot. I'll never find love.' Compelling, but STILL! C-3P0

was less annoying."

Vash the Stampede rode beneath the New Mexico sun, his glasses hiding his eyes from

no one. He watched the rode ahead of him unwaveringly, watching for the next town.

Santa Fe. He was close, now, very close. This was where Knives would make his last

stand. Knives' gang was dead, as much as Vash regretted it, it was a fact, and Vash

would have to stop Knives himself, now. He would not kill his brother, but somehow, he

would make sure he was stopped.

Meryl had beaten Vash to Santa Fe. She had been brought with the swiftness of the dead.

At the moment she slept in a barn at the edges of the city, curled into a ball on the hay. A

lone figure stood at the door. She had refused to sleep while he was there, so he had left,

but came back again. He watched her sleep with an idle fascination. Here was the woman

that Vash loved. He had her here, completely at his mercy. But oh, what to do, what to

do? As he thought, Meryl awoke, screaming. He laughed at this, amused by her, this

woman's fear and suffering. The entertained him. He smiled and looked at her with

cloudy, murky eyes. His appearance disgusted her, he knew, but it was necessary. There

was no way to fight how his body appeared. She looked back at him with eyes full of

fear. She tried to move away, tried to escape from him. He laughed. Why did she not

understand that if he was going to kill her, he would have when he'd seen her under the

desert heat? He took a step closer, the tendons and joints in his legs audibly creaking, and

chuckled to himself. Fluid dribbled down into his eye, and he blinked it away.

"Now, now, child. There is no reason to fear me. I will not kill you."

She still cowered. He could hear her whispering prayers beneath her breath. He laughed

more loudly.

"You- You're a monster!"

"I'm no monster. I have achieved true peace, so that I can achieve my goal, my purpose."

He lowered his voice to a whisper.

"Murder."

His laughter and Meryl's screams filled the barn.

Vash rode past the final milestone. Santa Fe was five miles ahead on the road. It was after

noon. Vash would not make it. He had been to Santa Fe before...

Flash.

"Hello, brother."

Flash.

A man lying facedown on a desk, all the answers Vash wanted bleeding out of him.

Knives standing by the window, smiling.

Flash!

Knives leapt at Vash, inhumanly fast, inhumanly strong.

FLASH!

Vash was falling, broken glass surrounding him, tears streaming from his eyes and blood

from a hole in his gut.

Vash shook his head, trying to forget his memories. Santa Fe had prospered because it

was next to the only river that ran through the New Mexico desert. It ran dry a few miles

away, the heat sapping up the water as it got further away from the mountains that fed it,

but the river, short as it may be, stayed full all season, allowing the town to grow. The

area just outside of town was lush, grassy, and kindly serene. That was where Vash

would make camp tonight. He continued riding. Short brown grass became green, and it

grew. Bushes and shrubs became trees, and before long, Vash heard the blessed sound of

running water. He rode his horse up to the water's very edge, and waved at another

encampment on the other side of the river, a man chopping wood (who didn't notice

him), the sound of the ax splitting the logs ringing across the forest, while his wife

cooked dinner and daughter played. He dropped from his horse and began to unpack,

smiling as he heard the young girl's laughter. As Vash pitched his tent, he heard the man

sigh. With a final 'whap', he embedded the ax in the nearest unfelled tree. Vash tossed

his things inside and sniffed the air, his nose filled with the scent wafting from the pot on

the other side of the river.

Vash was very hungry.

"Hey!"

The man cracked one eye from where he had been napping beneath the tree and cast it

over the river at where Vash stood.

"Who are you?"

"Oh, just a stranger. I was hoping you might be able to spare a bite to eat!"

Those words rattled inside the man's head.

"Oh, I'm just a stranger."

Another day, so many years ago. He had been saved, had escaped and ridden into the

sunset, he had been saved from that brothel in New York...

Julius nearly leapt high enough to get stuck in the tree.

"Jesus Christ! Vash the Stampede!"

Vash raised his eyebrows.

"Do I know you?"

"You'd better! You saved me! And Moore! In New York! Four years ago, don't you

remember?"

Moore's head rose from inside the tent, where she had lain their daughter down for a nap.

"What, now?"

Realization dawned on Vash.

"Julius! You..."

He was at a mild loss for words. The boy had grown up so much in four years!

"Um... Nice beard."

"And you haven't changed a bit! Come on!"

The sun set that night as they ate. They each huddled around Julius' campfire, Julius and

Moore's daughter staring wide-eyed at Vash, who, as her father told it, had saved her

mommy and daddy from a terrible, terrible place. She asked him to tell the story again

and again.

"And then you tricked the bad men, right Uncle Vash?"

Vash laughed and cast a look over at Moor and Julius.

"Uncle Vash?" He whispered.

Julius shrugged. After a few (dozen) more tellings of Uncle Vash's stories and many

heroic deeds, the little girl gave a deep yawn. Moore shook her head.

"Time to go to bed, Virginia."

The girl shook her head.

"I'm not sleepy, though, mommy."

"Come on. Bed time."

The girl pouted, but went with her mother anyway. This left Vash and Julius alone. Vash

was suddenly deadly serious. They both stared into the fire for a few moments.

"Julius."

The man looked up at Vash.

"Why are you here? In New Mexico, I mean."

Julius' answer came almost immediately.

"Land. I'm going to work the land here, in Santa Fe. We ride into town tomorrow to pick

up the deeds. I was cutting wood for our house today."

Vash nodded.

"I want you to wait one more day before you go into town."

Julius furrowed his brow.

"Why?"

"Because by the end of tomorrow, there may not be a Santa Fe."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not going to tell you who or what, but promise me you'll stay out of Santa Fe

tomorrow. You might be used against me."

Julius nodded. He seemed to understand by Vash's tone that this was much bigger than

him and his family. The deeds could wait one day.

"I promise."

"Thank you."

Vash stood and disappeared into the night.

Vash awoke the next day. Sunlight lit the canvas of his tent. He stretched and pulled on

his coat. His ear twitched.

Something was terribly, terribly wrong.

No bird sang, no cricket chirped, and no sound came from Julian's camp. The only sound

was that of the running water of the river. Vash holstered his gun and cautiously pulled

back the tent flap. No threat away from the river.

A chilling laugh rippled through the forest. Within an instant, Vash had drawn, and had

leveled his gun at the man. He did not stand by the river. Instead, he levitated above it,

his tattered coat billowing out on an invisible wind. Vash could see that much of his skin

had been tanned to a dark, brittle leather after being left in the sun for so many days with

no nourishment, while other parts of him were rotting away. His dark hair had lost it's

shine, and the tips of a few of his fingers had fallen away, showing the mottled gray bone

beneath. Fluid dribbled into his eye from a prominent hole in his forehead, and the skull

on his left shoulder shone as brightly as ever. Legato Blue Rivers, the living dead,

levitated before Vash. He laughed.

"Legato! How... How can you..."

Legato stopped laughing, although a maniacal grin spread across his face.

"The Great Spirit simply heard my prayer. As I have revived many others, so I brought

myself back to walk the Earth and pursue my destiny."

Legato lowered himself to the riverbank.

"What have you done with Julius and Moore?"

Legato laughed again.

"Are you really that concerned with them. Perhaps you should be more concerned with

someone else."

Vash leveled his gun at Legato's heart. Deep inside, he knew what Legato had to mean.

"Yes... Yes..."

Legato closed his eyes, savoring what he felt.

"Let the dread close over your soul like a black cloud. As a matter of fact, you aren't far

from the truth. Watch."

A body dropped from a nearby limb, wordlessly. It hung beneath the limb from a rope

around it's neck. Silent. Dead. Vash's mouth opened and closed wordlessly. His gun

dropped from his hands. Meryl hung from the branch, her eyes open and her mouth in an

expression of utmost horror. Then, it vanished. Vash was left crying over the illusion

Legato had spun.

"You're a fool, Vash the Stampede."

The tears stopped falling. Vash snatched up his gun and fired once, the bullet piercing

Legato's heart, practically liquidating the muscle. Legato did not so much as flinch.

"Vash, you have already killed me once. How do you expect to kill me again?"

Yet, as though the gunshot had been an ending, the cause of her freedom, Meryl ran from

among the trees towards Vash. She cried out his name. He looked towards her. Yards

away from him, she was snapped up by Legato's invisible arms, and thrown like a doll

into the river.

"No, no. That game can wait for later. First, I have something even better."

Another body levitated from the dense brush. Little Virginia hung in the air next to

Legato, oddly serene.

"She's still alive, I assure you. However, that remains a temporary condition. Julius, you

may enter."

Julius stepped out from behind a tree; his ax held firmly, tears in his eyes.

"Vash..."

Something was missing from this scene, even as sadistic as it was. Legato never

overlooked something so obvious.

"Where's Moore?"

Julius did not say anything. Legato would not have killed Moore, not without making

Vash watch, he understood that much of the man's mind. So where was she? Vash didn't

waste the effort of pointing his gun at Legato, or even threatening him. He knew he

would get the same answer any way.

"Moore has done enough. All I needed her for was to convince Julius that I could truly

ruin his life."

Vash lowered his eyes. Legato had done unspeakable things to them, this creature from

beyond the grave. How could he? How could he hurt people like this? Julius did not

move as those Legato controlled directly. He still had his free will. And he stepped closer

to Vash, his ax held high.

"Vash, I'm sorry. He'll kill Virginia unless..."

Vash looked up again at Julius and nodded.

"I'm sorry."

Julius came within arm's reach of Vash. Vash serenely holstered his gun.

"Vash, I'm so sorry."

He raised his ax.

Bang.

The top half of Julius' ax flipped end over end, landing in the river, the head embedding

itself in the mud, the shaft rising out of the water. Julius' eyes widened as he looked

down at Vash's smoking gun.

"No!" He cried. He looked to his daughter, dangling precariously in the air.

"Virginia!"

Legato cackled.

"I believe that you haven't failed me yet, Julius. The deal still stands. Kill Vash the

Stampede, your daughter will live, and your... other... child will be erased from

existence."

Vash saw images flash behind Julius' eyes as he stared at Legato with nothing but pure

hate. He faced Vash again and gripped his new club with one hand before he charged at

Vash. Vash dodged Julius' first blow. He raised his gun again and fired two shots at

Legato; these aimed at the skull he wore. Watching closely, he saw them swerve away

through Legato's abilities, one flying harmlessly by, the other entering his body just

below the charm. A punch from Julius sent Vash reeling, his gun bouncing away into the

brush.

Meryl watched Vash from where she had been cast into the river. She had watched

Legato torture Julius, terrified. She had been tortured by him, pain wracking her body

from nothing more than a pointed finger, though she had been spared the horror he had

committed, the final torture he had given to both Julius and his wife... And now he would

hurt Vash just as he had hurt them all, except he planned to kill him.

No. She would not let that happen. Vash had fallen. Julius beat him, dropping blow after

blow on Vash's body, his tears mixing with Vash's blood. Meryl stood. Legato watched

them, too entranced to notice she had moved he was in a strange thrall. She watched the

men, then looked at Legato, then Virginia, hanging over the river, and just beneath her...

The ax. She waded over to where it lay, and gripped it firmly by the splintered shaft. She

wrenched it free from where it had embedded itself in the mud. It came free, and she

turned towards Legato. He still had his back turned to her. She raised the ax, carrying it

so that she was ready to strike with the flat back of the head, not the blade. With a yell,

she brought it down at the skull Legato wore. She felt some charm, some force, pushing it

away, trying to slide her blow away, fighting to preserve itself. No, it was fighting to

preserve Legato. She threw everything she could into the blow, forcing down, reaching...

The ax stopped, hovering within millimeters of the charm. Legato smiled.

"You thought you could catch me off guard."

Meryl reached deep within herself. One last bit of strength, anything... Vash looked at her

out of the corner of his eye as the blows fell on him. His gun lay within reach. He reached

out for it, lifted, and lined up his shot.

Click.

Legato gasped. His world fell away as his eyes turned towards Vash.

Bang.

The bullet ricocheted off the blade of the ax, flying wildly away into the forest, and

pushing the ax down, almost imperceptibly. It's corner lightly brushed the skull. Meryl's

strength gave out, and she was cast backwards into the river. Dust rose from Legato's

charm.

"No..." He whispered.

The skull crumbled to dust, blowing away on the wind. Legato's eyes widened, and

inside them Vash saw the last emotion he had expected from Legato Blue Rivers. Fear.

Legato fell backwards into the stream with a loud splash. Virginia dropped onto Meryl,

who more-or-less caught the girl. Julius stopped his beating of Vash and resurveyed the

scene. Even without taking time to fully understand what had happened, he ran for his

daughter, sweeping her up in his arms and falling onto the far bank, holding her close and

crying onto her shoulder, but now hew shed tears of joy. Meryl picked herself up, as did

Vash, who was a bruised and bloody mess, cut along his face and arms. Warily, they

approached Legato's corpse. His face was still frozen in that final look of stunned horror.

Vash knelt by his side and passed a hand over his eyes with a sigh. He stood again. Meryl

took his arm.

"I'm glad you're all right." She whispered.

Vash lowered his head and wrapped her into an embrace.

"You too. Thank you, Meryl. You saved me."

She smiled.

They shared that moment, moving together into a long kiss. They stood there for an

immeasurable time before they parted.

"There's still one more thing I have to do.

Meryl nodded. Knives was waiting.

"Go then. I'll wait for you."

"I'll come back."

Meryl nodded. Vash let go of her and turned away, walking to the road, and towards

Santa Fe.

"Ave Maria, gratia plena,"

Knives sat in the same pew of the same church, rosary beads draped over his right hand.

"Dominus tecum; Benedicta tu in mulieribus et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Iesus."

The priest lay slumped over the altar, dead.

"Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae."

Other than that, Knives was alone, waiting for Vash. Waiting.

"Amen."