Trigun: Agony

A/N & Disclaimer: Sadly, I still do not own Trigun. I wish I did...Then I could draw the manga for this fanfic, and have it made into anime, and all would be right in the world...*sigh*...*snaps back to reality* Moving on, this is chapter four..err, no wait...five. Yeah, and Vash is going to seem a little OOC, but if you read the last four..yeah, four chapters, you should realize he isn't. Have fun! (Is that the right thing to end this off with...hmm...oh well...)

Chapter 5: A Heart So Cold

As he walked through the desert city people hurried out of the street to the safety of their homes, where they locked the doors and latched the wondows tightly shut.

Vash walked nonchalantly down the street, no expression on his face, the light from the double suns of this desert world reflecting off the orangish- yellow lenses of his sunglasses. Even their heat could not melt the ice that encased the eyes hidden behind the lenses.

The scene spread out before him was very similar to the one he had encountered after Legato left a city, leaving many men dead by his hands. That same fear arose from the people who watched the blonde, spikey-haired man with the red, flowing trenchcoat, calmly walk down the main road of their city.

The rumors about him had grown in their intensity, and although the $$60,000,000 bounty was still on his head, no one dared to obtain it. The stories that followed him told of a man that bathed in the blood of the people who tried to stike him down. This "Vash the Stampede" was the ultimate killing machine, and none of his targets escaped his deadly accurate aim.

There was a time no less than a couple of years ago when these rumors were less potent, and the description of the enemy less exact, but now the stories were swimming with detail and everyone in town had heard them. No soul dared to look out a window at him, but all women clung tightly to their children and all men bore weapons they knew as useless in a futile attempt to protect their families in case the need arose.

When Vash had reached the well located at the center of town, he calmly got a drink, and then proceeded to walk the rest of the way down the street, out of the town, and into the setting sun.

Inside his head swam many memories, all of which blurred together to form an incoharent sequence of pictures that told his life in a rather unsequential order. It was the desperate attempt of his subconscious to remind him of who he was and what he should be,...But the pictures meant nothing to the green eyed man, and he walked on into the dusk of the dying day as if his mind was a complete blank.

The pictures that swam in and out of focus came from over a hundred years of a life of torture. Pictures of Rem and her untimely death made up most of tge incoherant jumble. Knives made up a good portion as well. But the most recent, and clearest pictures, were of Merle. She stood out surprisingly clear against the rest, and was shown most ofen when Rem was, his mind categorizing them together, being the two most important focuses of Vash's love. Of course, he loved his brother, or had loved his brother, but they were too different to ever form a deep brotherly affection for each other. Peace and war just can't coexist.

Vash's legs still carried him onward, even after the sun had set and the bright light of the moons filled the sky, along with the light of the brighter stars that could break through the moonlight.

He was barely alive. He couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten, or slept, and his thoughts didn't even seem his own anymore. He was insane. In a sense, anyway. He was acting purely on instinct, and instinct alone. There was no "conscious thought" for him. He was an animal. An animal with no home and nothing to protect. An animal that didn't know he had a life, or what to do wit it. He was nothing, and because of this, life meant nothing.

Or, it would mean nothing, for a while anyway, until the next day dawned, and his conscious mind would finally be awakened from its long slumber.

***

A/N: Yeah, that was kind-of depressing, huh? Um...sorry?....It's just the mood I'm in...Yeah....Well, anyway, that was kind-of like a filler episode (in a fanfic?! what is wrong with me?!...yeah, yeah, I know....). It's just this joke me and my friend have about waht happens in the next chapter, and how it's in chapter 6, long story...(See, if I hadn't gone to sleep, and I didn't dream about an episode of Trigun that doesn't exist, this would've never happened..yeah, anyway...) Chapter 6 will be coming soon. Jaa!

Preview: The snap that echoed so long ago reoccured in this man's mind. When he realizes what horrible things he's done he can't help but freze in horror and let the tears that filled his eyes trickle down his trembling cheeks. The ice has melted and the mind has returned, but will there be sanity after so much chaos was created by his hands? Will he forgive himself, or kill himself? Or will he choose the ice? Only father time can heal the wounds of the heart.

Chapter 6: Shock of Returning