Vash: *batting his eyes with a tissue* This is the end… my only friend… the end…

Knives: *has a Legato locked on his leg* What are you doing?

Vash:  This is the last chapter of Boku.  I'm mourning.

Knives: *unsuccessfully tries to shake Legato off* Hasn't Shesta started on the second half already?  So it isn't technically done.

Vash:  I guess not, unless you're reading this ending.  The second ending is the one with the sequel.  This one is kinda… unable to continue… or so I've heard. *coughs*

Knives:  I snuck a peek at the sequal and thought I'd post a snippet.

Vash:  A… snippet?

Knives:  Yeah, a snippet.  You have a problem with my vocabulary?

Vash:  No, no, course not.  Proceed. *chews on a donut*

Knives:  Good. *kicks Legato in the head* Here it is:

            A person cloaked in a ragged brown blanket stood atop the pile of rubble.  The person gazed out at the endless desert then down at the ruins.

                "You lookin' for a town?" and old man sat in a tattered rocking chair on a flat slab of debris.  The cloaked figure looked down at the man.  The man puffed on a cigar and ran a dirt caked hand through his greasy grey hair, "Vash the Stampede gone and destroyed this one.  You best go back the way you came."

                "Where is Vash the Stampede now?" the feathery voice from under the cloak made the man jump.

                "Golly… How do ya's like that?  I didn't'a realize you was a woman," the man stared up at the cloaked figure.

                "Where is Vash the Stampede now?" the voiced repeated in the same light tone.

                "Well… uh… some say he made his way out ta the desert and is probably long gone now," the man scratched his head and looked at the horizon, "others say he be out squattin' in the ol' Wittemore place.  Figure with them huge, white wings he'd be pretty easy to spot, ya know?"

                "Where is this Wittemore place?" the woman didn't change her tone.

                "Well if ya just wait 'til the sun comes up you'll see it.  Big green patch 'a land a few iles from here," the man threw his cigar to the ground, "What business you got wit' 'em?  You a bounty hunter lookin' for that monster reward?"

                The woman pulled the blanket from over her head and jumped down next to the man.  Her long, dark hair cascaded down the cloak, her piercing, purple eyes locked on the man.  The man was speechless at her beauty and could only stare as she turned and walked towards the horizon.

            Vash:  Yep… All the beautiful ladies just travel a thousand iles to meet me.

            Knives:  Oh, just die already.

            Vash:  Eh…

            Legato:  KNIVES-SAMA! *re-latches onto Knives' leg*

            Knives:  GEH!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Ten:  Shadows

Vash started a fire in the fireplace then sat next to Meryl.  Both sighed in unison.

"Nice night," Meryl yawned.

"Very nice," Vash replied.

"Vash, about Knives, I…" Vash didn't want to hear what Meryl was going to end the sentence with.  He leaned forward and placed his lips to Meryl's.

"What's… what's he doing…?" Meryl thought, "Is he doing this because he doesn't want to hear what I have to say, or is he doing this out of love?"

Vash moved back and looked at his feet.  He was blushing, Vash was actually blushing.

"I'm sorry," Vash mumbled.

"You never act like this around those women you flirt with," Meryl looked down at her feet too.

"I never really loved them," Vash mumbled again.  He quickly realized what he said and looked up, face red.

Meryl smiled and placed her head on Vash's shoulder.

"I'm tired," she yawned.

"Then… let's go to bed," Vash felt his heart speed up and his chest tighten.  How many woman had he said a similar statement to, and this was the only time he felt this way.  This must be the way Rem felt about that special person she lost on Earth.

Meryl stood up and Vash followed.  Vash placed an arm around her waist and she placed her head back on his shoulder.  The moons fell behind the clouds and left the room in firelight.  Vash and Meryl walked out of the room and went up the stairs to Meryl's room.

Knives opened his eyes and yawned.  The moons lit up the room in a white glow.  In the dim light Knives could see that Vash was no longer next to him.  Knives narrowed his eyes and go out of the bed.  He left the room and walked down the hall.

Knives opened the door to the room next to Vash's.  Milly was fast asleep in her bed.  Vash wasn't there.

He moved to the room across the hall.  He opened the door and peered in.  Remil was asleep in her bed, Wolfwood's Cross Punisher was propped up against one of the windows.

He went to the last room across from Vash's.  Knives opened the door just as the moons went behind the clouds again.  Knives could see a dark form in the bed, but even his eyes couldn't make it out in the darkness.

Knives took a step into the room and crouched down.  As he did, the moons passed from behind the clouds and light streamed into the room.  His eyes grew wide at the sight.  He could see Meryl, but in the bed as well, with his arms around her, was Vash.

"That's it…" Knives crept from the room, "humans truly are the greater evil."

Knives knew what he had to do.  He knew it would hurt Vash, but as long as they were around, Knives couldn't make Vash see how worthless humans were.

Remil pulled the sheets up tight to her chin.  It was nice to have people in the house again.  She hoped that Mr. Vash, Mr. Knives, Miss Stryfe, and Milly would stay there with her.  She missed having a family.

Remil watched out her window as clouds covered the light from the moons.  Her room became dark and she closed her eyes.  Just then, she heard a creaking coming from one side of her room.  She opened her eyes and faced the door on the far side of her room.  As the moons came back from behind the clouds, she saw a dark figure standing in the doorway.

Vash pulled Meryl tighter into his strong grip.  This night truly was beautiful.  He didn't want to leave that bed ever, for he had found a person who accepted him and loved him no matter what he was, and he knew he loved that person as well.

A scream followed by a gunshot made Vash jump and Meryl wake.  Meryl pushed herself away from Vash and fumbled around the room.  She pulled hastily grabbed a robe and pulled it around herself.  She ran out the door and down the hall. Vash stayed sitting on the bed for a moment until the familiarity of the gun's shot sank into his brain.  It was his gun.  His eyes grew wide and he pulled on his coat.  Vash rushed to the door just in time to hear two more screams.

Milly stared out her window at the moons in the sky high above.  Knives had such animosity towards humans, but Vash loved humans.  How could twins be so different?  She rolled onto her side and pushed the blankets down past her waist.  In the morning she was going to sit down with both of them and find out more about when they were kids.  She knew a little, but not enough.  Milly closed her eyes to go to sleep when she heard a scream.  Her eyes flew open and she jumped from the bed.  The scream had come from Remil's room.  Just as she was making her way to the door, there was a gun shot.  She ran from her room.

Ending One

            Meryl and Vash entered Remil's room through the door next to her bed.  They stared in horror at the lifeless body in the corner of the room.  Knives was standing in the middle of the room with a grin on his face, the silver gun in his hand was still smoking.  Near him, in the other doorway to the room, Milly stood still with a look of horror across her face.

            Vash dashed to Remil's side.  He picked up the child's small body.  Tears rolled down his cheeks as he saw the blood pouring from her chest.  He placed a hand over the wound.

            "Well, Vash…" Knives' grin grew even larger, "I thought that in July I had stolen everything there was left that could tie you to Rem.  Apparently you were able to find two more to take her place.  Unfortunately for them… they must die."

            "You killed her…" Vash gasped, "When will it end?" Vash stood, holding the child in his arms, "KNIVES!  When will it end?!" Vash felt his legs grow weak.

            "There's only three ways that it can end," Knives tightened his grip on the silver gun, "Either when you kill me, when you die, or when she dies," he pointed his gun at Meryl.

"You slime," Vash growled, "How can you so easily take people's lives?"

 "We're the same, Vash.  You know that don't you?" Knives moved the gun down to his side again, "You pulled the trigger on Legato very easily, didn't you?  You took a life with your own hands."

Vash fell to his knees.  He was fully crying now.  Knives would never understand, but it was true.  Vash knew he was no better than Knives.  Even taking one life made him hypocritical.

"Only one more has to die, Vash" Knives quickly pointed his gun back at Meryl, "I'll end it now."

"NO!" Vash screamed, he shifted Remil's body to one arm and lunged towards Meryl.

A gunshot rang out.  Vash saw a terrified look in Meryl's eyes.  He pulled an arm around her and his vision went black.  Vash felt a pain in his back and he fell to the ground.

Bullets, gun smoke, death, July, Tessla*, Legato, Augusta, Wolfwood, donuts, Plants, Rem, spiders, butterflies, geraniums, Brad, Lina, Meryl, Vash's mind was reeling.  His vision blurred.  Vash closed his eyes and saw his entire life, all 130-some odd years of it, flash before his eyes.  The ship, his childhood, Rem, July, Augusta, and the time he pulled the trigger.  His mind settled on one thought as he was pulled into an everlasting sleep.  I'm dying.

Meryl kept her eyes squeezed shut.  If she didn't see it, then it couldn't be real.  She felt something warm oozing down the arm she had pulled around Vash, but it must only be water.  She felt her eyes burn, she couldn't keep them closed any longer.  She turned her head to the side and opened her eyes quickly.  She lost her breath at the sight she saw; Remil's bleeding body was lying next to her head.  She quickly turned her head to face the opposite direction.  Her vision blurred with tears as her eyes fell upon Vash's face.  For once he looked genuinely at peace.  She felt the weight of his body on top of her and felt more warm liquid run down her arm.  She shut her eyes and bit her lip.

Knives stared at his brother's lifeless body.  He dropped the gun and fell to his knees.  This wasn't how it was supposed to be.  He was going to make a perfect world for himself and Vash, Vash couldn't be dead.  Knives felt his body begin to shake.  He knew that what he was seeing must just be a dream.  Knives couldn't move his gaze from Vash's body.  For the first time since their days on the ship, Knives felt tears run down his cheeks.

Milly's hands were clasped over her mouth.  She couldn't even force herself to comfort Knives.  She couldn't even look at him.  She had tried to get close to him, to be his friend, to change his views on humans.  Now, Vash was dead, an innocent little girl was dead, and Meryl was crying.  Milly fell to the ground and sobbed.

The moons went behind the clouds and threw the room into darkness.  The three were lost in their own thoughts, but they were all crying for the same reason.  The moons came back from their hiding spot behind the clouds and light slowly crept back into the room.  The light hit the Cross Punisher propped up against the window and threw its shadow across the lifeless body of the legendary man in red.

*Tessla is a character in the Trigun Maximum manga.  For more info, wait for the sequel to Boku.  It doesn't have a title yet… but Tessla becomes more important in that story.

*Knives is doing a provocative pole dance for Vash while being clung to by Legato*

Knives:  This is the intermission for the second ending…. Yeah, baby.  Yeah.

Vash: *bursts into tears* No wonder Shesta made a second ending… I don't wanna die! *begins bawling*

Shesta:  Oh, relax you big baby… Maybe that's why I killed ya off.

*Knives and Vash stop and stare at Shesta*

Knives and Vash: o_o

Shesta:  What?  I was just… making conversation… I… um… Bye! *dashes out the door*

*Vash begins bawling again*

*Legato slips a double dollar in Knives' thong*

Knives:  GAH!

Ending Two (Begins where Meryl and Vash enter Remil's room)

            Meryl and Vash entered Remil's room through the door next to her bed.  They stared in horror at the lifeless body in the corner of the room.  Knives was standing in the middle of the room with a grin on his face, the silver gun in his hand was still smoking.  Near him, in the other doorway to the room, Milly stood still with a look of horror across her face.

            Vash dashed to Remil's side.  He picked up the child's small body.  Tears rolled down his cheeks as he saw the blood pouring from her chest.  He placed a hand over the wound.

            "Well, Vash…" Knives' grin grew even larger, "I thought that in July I had stolen everything there was left that could tie you to Rem.  Apparently you were able to find two more to take her place.  Unfortunately for them… they must die."

            "So that's why you kill?  To remove Rem from my life?" Vash tried to keep his voice steady, but he could feel himself weakening, "Well killing the people I care about won't get rid of Rem… because Rem isn't in them… she's in my heart."

            Knives clenched his teeth together and pointed the gun at Meryl, "it's for the best that they die Vash.  You can't think clearly when you are around humans."

            "No Knives, it's that you can't think clearly that causes problems," Vash stroked the child's head, "you hated the crew on that ship, but not all humans are like them, you know.  Just look at Milly… She isn't kind to you to take advantage of you later, she's kind to you because she cares about you.  I can see a look in her eyes when she is near you… She really, truly cares for you."

            "I… it's true," Milly took a step towards Knives, "I care about you… I don't want to hurt you.  I just want to be near you."

            Now Meryl stepped forward.  She smiled and held out her hands, "I know it sounds silly, but I like to think that the ticket I was handed on the day of my birth was open.  I even used to have this dream where… where I was on a sandsteamer and when I looked at my ticket… there was no destination written on it," both Knives and Vash gasped and stared at Meryl.  The story was nearly exactly the same as Rem's, "so I told the attendant and he told me that life is an open invitation… and that only I could decide where I wanted to go.  He said that my choices were limitless, that I could go anywhere that I wanted to."

            Vash and Knives couldn't believe what they were hearing.  Rem had told Vash about her train dream where she was handed an open destination ticket and then Vash had told Knives.  Now Meryl was standing in front of Knives trying to talk him out of killing with nearly the exact same story.

            "When we were born, none of us were born to cause others harm," Meryl continued towards Knives, "and we were all born with a ticket to take us anywhere wanted to be.  All we have to do is choose a path."

            Meryl placed her hands on the gun's barrel.  Knives couldn't believe what he was hearing.  This woman truly was Rem.  When he realized what was going on, Meryl had already removed the gun from his hands and was walking away.

            "My path…" Knives gasped, "I've already chosen my path… and that is to create an Eden for Vash and I."

            Knives pulled the black gun from his holster and pointed it at Meryl's back.  Vash caught a glimpse of the gun and lunged forward.  As the bullet fired, Vash knocked into Meryl and they fell into Wolfwood's Cross Punisher that was propped up against the window.

            Knives growled and aimed again.  He pulled the trigger but the gun mearly clicked.

            "Damn…" Knives mumbled, "I didn't bring extra bullets."

            Milly ran forward and grabbed Knives.  She grabbed onto him with such force that they both fell to the ground.  She was sobbing and buried her face into Knives' chest.

            "Y-you killed an innocent wrong girl," Milly sobbed, "but I can't hate you."

Knives dropped the gun.  He had lost.  As hard as he tried to not care, when he saw pain in Vash's eyes he felt ashamed, and now, looking into Milly's face, he felt the same way.  Vash was making him feel compassion towards humans.

"He's contagious," Knives mumbled.

"Huh?" Milly looked up at Knives and blinked.

Knives sighed and looked and Vash and Meryl.  They were carefully rolling Remil's body in a blanket.

 "We're the same, Vash." Knives pried himself away from Milly, "You pulled the trigger on Legato very easily, didn't you?  You took a life with your own hands."

Vash moaned and looked at Knives.  Vash knew it was true.  It didn't matter if you killed a hundred people or one person, you are still a murderer if you take a life, and he had taken a life.  It didn't matter if he took the life of an evil man or an innocent child, a life is a life.

"People…" Vash stood up, "people have many different ways of thinking, but as long as you recognize your mistake, you can overcome it.  That's how, someday, I'll save you.  I'll make you recognize you mistake."

Vash picked up Remil's body and left the room.  Meryl watched him, but couldn't find the strength to move.  She looked at Knives.

"You got lucky," Knives mumbled, "since Vash is so fond of you, I won't kill you quite yet."  He looked at the blood on the floor and stood, brushing Milly off on the way.  He stumbled out of the room and went across the hall and into's Vash's room.

"Meryl," Milly wiped away the remainder of her tears, "what's going to happen now…?"

Meryl sighed, "I don't know Mily…, but something tells me it won't be a walk in the park for the next few days."

Back in the rubble of the city, a cloaked figure climbed onto the top of a debris pile.  A black cat followed the figure to the top of the mound, both stood in the moonlight and surveyed the wreckage.

"I've finally found you, Vash the Stampede," a light voice came from the darkness underneath the rags.

The black cat looked up at the figure and "nyao'd."

The Adventures of Chibi-Gun

Vash:  Aaah, much better.  Ending with foreboding instead of ending with death…

Legato:  I liked the first ending. *stuffed three hotdogs in his mouth and swallows*

Vash:  You would, you psychotic freak…

Knives:  *brushes hotdog crumbs off his pants and tries, unsuccessfully, to pry off Legato* Whine, moan, cry.  That's all you ever do.  That's the last time I ever strip for you.

Legato:  You can strip for me, Knives-sama!

Knives:  Dear god…  No…

Vash:  Hey, didn't I shoot you?

Legato: ….. *runs away*

Shesta:  Stay tuned for the next arc in Shesta's Failed Attempt at a Decent Trigun Fan Fiction!  I have a lot done, but it's not going to be up until I think of a title… Any ideas?  Anybody?

Vash:  When did you get here?

*Knives holds up a sign advertising free lap dances to anybody willing to kill Legato… again*

Legato:  I'll take ten!

Knives: -_-''

Shesta:  Since, when rereading the last chapter I thought some people may be confused by Remil's house setup, I decided to make a floor plan.  The plan can be found at so if you were confused then check it out.  I made a plan for the upstairs and downstairs, as well as a set up of where the characters are standing in Remil's room.  However, I also posted my new bishonen music video, so leeches are… leeching my bandwidth.  The site is going to be down a lot until the smart AMV downloaders come around and listen to my specific downloading instructions.

Vash:  I'm glad that kid's dead… too much baggage.

*Knives, Legato, and Shesta stare at Vash, mouths wide*

Vash:  Eh… I mean… I AM LEGATO!  I AM CONTROLLING VASH TO MAKE HIM SOUND LIKE HE WANTED THE KID DEAD…. RAWR….

*Legato licks his hand and smirks at Vash*
            Vash:  GEH GEH GEH EWWWWWWWWW I thought we agreed there wouldn't be anymore of that… *tackles Legato and pulls his hair*

Legato:  KNIVES-SAMA!  SAVE ME!

*Knives and Shesta wander away quickly to work on the sequel*

Legato:  KNIVES-SAMA!  Don't leave me, Knives-sama!  OW!

*Vash pulls out a marker and writes on Legato's face:  Continue to the next page for the Boku soundtrack list, official site address, and another episode of Chibi-Gun!*

*Vash nods, admiring his work then skips out after Knives*

            Legato:  x_x  Why… didn't I just manipulate his mind and get rid off him… Geh…