Chapter 17
Meryl slowly opened her eyes to see the whole room in a blur, and next to her was a red blur. Opening her eyes widely, the blur became clearer to show Vash the Stampede standing next to her.
"Vash?" she asked in a whisper, barely audible to Vash.
"Meryl? You're...awake?" Vash smiled happily, yet his smile wasn't his goofy smile, but a truly happy one. Hugging Meryl gently, he grinned goofily as he took off his amber glasses.
Meryl smiled weakly as she looked up at Vash, as if to remember all his features from his spiked blond hair to his brown boots. She was frightened to think that she was about to lose him if she said that she'd prefer to die in the astral space.
"Vash? Could you say something? I want to hear your voice..." Meryl said quietly as Vash laughed goofily.
"Nyahahahaha~! Heh, you like listening to my voice? Well, I do have a very manly voice with a tint of pain and sorrow, as well as kindness and..."
It was a few seconds later when the doctor entered their room, smiling as he shook Meryl and Vash's hands. "Good morning Ms. Stryfe and Mr. Vash. I'm Doctor Nasevich, head doctor of the hospital. How are you all doing?"
Vash grinned as he said he felt well, and Meryl smiled, saying she was fine. Doctor Nasevich just smiled at them as he took Meryl's pulse.
"Ahh Ms. Stryfe...you've made a miraculous recovery, I should say. You should be out of the hospital in no time, that's for sure. I was afraid that you'd be much sicker as you've lost a large amount of blood, but you're doing just fine."
A few seconds later, the same fox-like nurse came in to tell Vash to get out, but the doctor stopped her with a gentle wave of his hand.
"Let Mr. Vash stay here for as long as he wishes, Adelaide. I believe Ms. Stryfe will have a more pleasant recovery with Mr. Vash by her side."
Chuckling slightly, he felt the room, his black shoes making a tapping sad while the nurse followed him annoyed. Meryl played with her fingers before opening her mouth to speak. "So...how's Milly and Mr. Wolfwood?" she asked, looking up at Vash, eyes concerned deeply for her friends.
"They're fine...especially Milly, who was dreaming about pudding." He chuckled, making Meryl smile. In a second though, her eyes clouded like the stormy clouds and she looked down at the white covers, deep in thought.
"What...about Jake?" her voice was timid, almost apologetic as she continued to look down. Vash, seeing how worried Meryl was, put his arm around her and let her lean into his chest as he held her tight. Meryl instantly felt the warmth of Vash's body go through her own cold body. It felt nice, that she had to admit. But remembering Jake's pain written eyes, Meryl had to wonder if she really deserved this.
*~*~*~*~
Wolfwood tottered on his new crutches as he walked down the long halls of the hospital to visit Milly. As soon as he got to her room, he was promptly squished by Milly's bear hug.
"H-hey Milly...good to...see you...healthy..." Wolfwood choked out as Milly planted a big kiss to his cheek.
"Oh Mr. Wolfwood! I missed you so much!" Together, they walked across the hospital hall, both of them in their own world. Although it was a plain, gray hall, Wolfwood and Milly made it seem like a flower garden by the way they smiled brightly and made loving eye contacts.
The old ladies laughed gaily watching the two, young ladies admired and sighed as they walked beside them, and Doctor Nasevich smiled kindly over to them as he went back into his office.
*~*~*~*~
Meryl cheered up when Vash brought her a letter from her company. Meryl opened the envelope with delicately, and scanned through the letter before her gray eyes widened in surprise. She let out a loud scream, a scream loud enough for the entire hospital to be heard.
Milly and Wolfwood, instantly alert with Meryl's scream, ran to her unit as quickly as they can. There, they found a pale Meryl pointing at the letter like it was some kind of monster. Vash was looking confused as he leaned over to read the letter for the umpteenth time.
"Meryl, I don't see why you're so angry, really." He said plainly as he handed the letter to Milly, who was looking very worried.
"Dear Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson,
We have heard that you two were recently involved in an accident. Due to your injuries, we had no recent reports confirming the whereabouts and so forth concerning Vash the Stampede. Although you were injured, the Bernadelli Insurance Society expects diligent work from all employees, and we must say that your recent behavior is not tolerated within our company. So we have decided to cut your wages by 20% due to the lack of reports that were expected by you two. And Ms. Thompson, please remember to use proper grammar, as we were not able to fully understand your last report concerning Vash the Stampede. You two must pull yourself together and devote yourself to work as we are counting on you to minimize the damage caused by Vash the Stampede.
Eric Michaelson Vandarkbrink, head of the main office of Bernadelli Insurance Society"
Milly had a puzzled look on her face as she scratched her head. "Meryl...what's so bad about this letter?" she asked as she looked confusedly as Meryl, who was fuming.
"Milly! Don't you get it? Our wages lower because we haven't been writing reports recently!" Meryl said in a loud voice as Vash and Wolfwood backed down in fear of Meryl's rage.
"But Meryl..." Milly was about to say something about money not being the key to happiness but stopped instantly as Meryl dangerously crumpled the letter into a small ball.
"That purely evil, no good, lower-than scum, annoying, stupid, ugly, imbecile! His behavior absolutely DISGUSTS me. When I get my hands on him, he WILL suffer, that's what I'll do!" Meryl snarled as she threw the ball at Vash, who ducked in time and instead hit Wolfwood right in the face.
"But Meryl...Maybe Mr. Michaelson Vandarkbrink is just doing his job..." Milly said quietly as Meryl cracked her bandaged knuckles.
"That slime-ball will NEVER work...ugh, people like that ABSOLUTELY disgust me to my stomach!" growling, she got out of bed and started to walk down the hall before she was stopped by Milly, Wolfwood, and Vash.
"Hey little girl, you need to go rest!" "That's right Meryl, you need lots and lots of rest and pudding too!" "Insurance girl, you're going to die if you don't go back to bed!"
Meryl grasped free from all six hands as she twirled around, looking at them seriously as she pointed to the door.
"Fine, I'll go back to bed. But Vash, you need to go back to the inn to get my typewriter because there is NO way I'm going to let the dumb little Michaelson Vandarkbrink cut my wages again. Got that?" she said with an air of finality as she turned around to go back into her room.
Vash knew he'd be tortured until he screamed like a girl if he didn't get the typewriter, so he went back to the inn to get it. However, the city of October sounded very quiet when he stepped outside the hospital. Too quiet, in fact.
'Is Keja the Hunter still here? But that's impossible...the grenade should have damaged him, if not killed him...'
Shrugging the idea off, yet keeping a close hand nearby his gun in case, Vash got the typewriter and headed back for the hospital. Still unsure of the silence of the town, he went back into the hospital, where it was just as quiet as the town.
Vash walked over to Meryl's room rather quickly, not wanting to get in trouble for getting the typewriter to slowly.
Meryl was waiting impatiently for Vash to come back, and just as Vash suspected, she was about to yell at him when her chest suddenly started to hurt. Thanking Vash quickly, Meryl typed up the reports at lightening speed, perhaps too fast that her knuckles started to bleed.
Even when Wolfwood, Milly, and Vash fell asleep, Meryl continued to type reports although the doctor warned her to take it easy. It was around midnight when she finished typing up fifty reports and stacked them neatly onto the coffee table beside her bed. She hated typing reports, but she couldn't risk lowering her wages again for laziness, and Meryl had a strong pride that was broken slightly by Eric Michaelson Vandarkbrink.
Vash was fast asleep, his head on Meryl's bed. Gently stroking Vash's spiky head, Meryl looked up at the stars.
"Aren't they beautiful, Vash? Jake and I used to look at them almost everyday with a telescope..." Meryl whispered to him as she covered her blankets over Vash's shoulders. Walking out of the room, she glanced at him one more time before closing the door.
Tiptoeing across the dark hospital hall like a cat in the shadows, Meryl left the hospital quietly. Finding Wolfwood's prized motorcycle, she hopped onto it, ignoring the slight pain in her stomach after she accidentally bumped into the door of the hospital.
Where was she trying to go?
The burnt laboratory.
The motorcycle flying across the desert sand like the wind, she reached the site in about ten minutes. Getting off the motorcycle, she went closer to the burnt site, looking around.
'I didn't know grenades were so powerful...there's no way Jake would've survived this...'
Yet while she was looking at the burnt laboratory, a pair of angry yellow eyes flashed in a corner of the laboratory. Meryl noticed that, and frowned slightly as she scanned the area around her. No one was there.
Backing, she hopped onto the motorcycle to see that the eyes flashed again. Yet this time, it seemed as if the yellow eyes had gotten closer to her. Afraid, she turned on the engine, but the engine didn't move smoothly as it should've. Frustrated, she kicked the motorcycle to see that the yellow eyes were closer to her.
Another second passed. The yellow eyes were just behind her when the motorcycle moved. As Meryl turned around fearfully, a scream left her throat as she saw who was chasing her.
Jake.
Driving the motorcycle wildly, she almost lost control of it when she drove it as fast as she could. (A/N: I mean, wouldn't you be too scared to drive a motorcycle when a pair of yellow eyes followed you? O_o) Meryl finally relaxed her tense muscles as she thought she got rid of Jake. But a few seconds later, a large jeep came forward, following her.
Tensing up again, she fled in Wolfwood's motorcycle, thinking that he'd get angry after what she did to it.
'Dammit, he's still following me? Meryl, you did a stupid thing. Right after Leisath gave you another chance to live, you blew it. OH for Pete's sake, what am I going to do?'
Her heart thumping loudly, her hands sweaty, and her eyes terrified, Meryl almost cried with relief as she reached the hospital. Yet when she reached for the door, a strong hand pulled her away from it.
Shaking with fear, Meryl tried to calm herself down as Jake stared at her with his dull brown eyes. Then, he lowered himself down to place his lips on top of Meryl's, kissing her deeply.
Meryl was horrified as Jake continued to kiss her. Her mind was in a dazed sort as he slipped on a diamond ring on her ring finger on left hand. And like the moonlight, he left quickly and quietly in his jeep.
Wiping his kiss away with the back of her hand, Meryl felt tears coming down from her eyes as she slowly entered the hospital. What she felt was indescribable. She didn't like the kiss, first of all, because the same person that had led her to the brink of death was kissing her. Second of all, the same person that had kissed her had frightened her to death. And third of all, she didn't like Jake. Or did she?
Walking gloomily to her room, she was surprised when Vash was looking at her with concerned eyes. Meryl burst into tears as she ran into Vash's warm arms, sobbing into his red coat. Grasping onto the coat like a child holding onto her mother, Meryl held onto it tightly, making Vash realize once again that Meryl had many sides to her.
"It's okay Meryl...cry all you want...it'll make you feel better..." Vash said gently as he stroked Meryl's navy tinted hair. Meryl continued to cry as her tears soaked through the red coat.
'Man, something bad must've happened to her...'
A few minutes later, Meryl was fast asleep in his arms. Carrying her gently over to her bed like a porcelain doll, he tucked her into bed as he stared at her pale face.
'Maybe Keja the Hunter IS alive...'
Many awful thoughts filled his mind, and thinking about it made him somewhat sleepy. Watching Meryl's face, he soon fell into the land of dreams as he observed Meryl's pretty face.
'Rem...she looks just like you...but very different...'
Meryl slowly opened her eyes to see the whole room in a blur, and next to her was a red blur. Opening her eyes widely, the blur became clearer to show Vash the Stampede standing next to her.
"Vash?" she asked in a whisper, barely audible to Vash.
"Meryl? You're...awake?" Vash smiled happily, yet his smile wasn't his goofy smile, but a truly happy one. Hugging Meryl gently, he grinned goofily as he took off his amber glasses.
Meryl smiled weakly as she looked up at Vash, as if to remember all his features from his spiked blond hair to his brown boots. She was frightened to think that she was about to lose him if she said that she'd prefer to die in the astral space.
"Vash? Could you say something? I want to hear your voice..." Meryl said quietly as Vash laughed goofily.
"Nyahahahaha~! Heh, you like listening to my voice? Well, I do have a very manly voice with a tint of pain and sorrow, as well as kindness and..."
It was a few seconds later when the doctor entered their room, smiling as he shook Meryl and Vash's hands. "Good morning Ms. Stryfe and Mr. Vash. I'm Doctor Nasevich, head doctor of the hospital. How are you all doing?"
Vash grinned as he said he felt well, and Meryl smiled, saying she was fine. Doctor Nasevich just smiled at them as he took Meryl's pulse.
"Ahh Ms. Stryfe...you've made a miraculous recovery, I should say. You should be out of the hospital in no time, that's for sure. I was afraid that you'd be much sicker as you've lost a large amount of blood, but you're doing just fine."
A few seconds later, the same fox-like nurse came in to tell Vash to get out, but the doctor stopped her with a gentle wave of his hand.
"Let Mr. Vash stay here for as long as he wishes, Adelaide. I believe Ms. Stryfe will have a more pleasant recovery with Mr. Vash by her side."
Chuckling slightly, he felt the room, his black shoes making a tapping sad while the nurse followed him annoyed. Meryl played with her fingers before opening her mouth to speak. "So...how's Milly and Mr. Wolfwood?" she asked, looking up at Vash, eyes concerned deeply for her friends.
"They're fine...especially Milly, who was dreaming about pudding." He chuckled, making Meryl smile. In a second though, her eyes clouded like the stormy clouds and she looked down at the white covers, deep in thought.
"What...about Jake?" her voice was timid, almost apologetic as she continued to look down. Vash, seeing how worried Meryl was, put his arm around her and let her lean into his chest as he held her tight. Meryl instantly felt the warmth of Vash's body go through her own cold body. It felt nice, that she had to admit. But remembering Jake's pain written eyes, Meryl had to wonder if she really deserved this.
*~*~*~*~
Wolfwood tottered on his new crutches as he walked down the long halls of the hospital to visit Milly. As soon as he got to her room, he was promptly squished by Milly's bear hug.
"H-hey Milly...good to...see you...healthy..." Wolfwood choked out as Milly planted a big kiss to his cheek.
"Oh Mr. Wolfwood! I missed you so much!" Together, they walked across the hospital hall, both of them in their own world. Although it was a plain, gray hall, Wolfwood and Milly made it seem like a flower garden by the way they smiled brightly and made loving eye contacts.
The old ladies laughed gaily watching the two, young ladies admired and sighed as they walked beside them, and Doctor Nasevich smiled kindly over to them as he went back into his office.
*~*~*~*~
Meryl cheered up when Vash brought her a letter from her company. Meryl opened the envelope with delicately, and scanned through the letter before her gray eyes widened in surprise. She let out a loud scream, a scream loud enough for the entire hospital to be heard.
Milly and Wolfwood, instantly alert with Meryl's scream, ran to her unit as quickly as they can. There, they found a pale Meryl pointing at the letter like it was some kind of monster. Vash was looking confused as he leaned over to read the letter for the umpteenth time.
"Meryl, I don't see why you're so angry, really." He said plainly as he handed the letter to Milly, who was looking very worried.
"Dear Meryl Stryfe and Milly Thompson,
We have heard that you two were recently involved in an accident. Due to your injuries, we had no recent reports confirming the whereabouts and so forth concerning Vash the Stampede. Although you were injured, the Bernadelli Insurance Society expects diligent work from all employees, and we must say that your recent behavior is not tolerated within our company. So we have decided to cut your wages by 20% due to the lack of reports that were expected by you two. And Ms. Thompson, please remember to use proper grammar, as we were not able to fully understand your last report concerning Vash the Stampede. You two must pull yourself together and devote yourself to work as we are counting on you to minimize the damage caused by Vash the Stampede.
Eric Michaelson Vandarkbrink, head of the main office of Bernadelli Insurance Society"
Milly had a puzzled look on her face as she scratched her head. "Meryl...what's so bad about this letter?" she asked as she looked confusedly as Meryl, who was fuming.
"Milly! Don't you get it? Our wages lower because we haven't been writing reports recently!" Meryl said in a loud voice as Vash and Wolfwood backed down in fear of Meryl's rage.
"But Meryl..." Milly was about to say something about money not being the key to happiness but stopped instantly as Meryl dangerously crumpled the letter into a small ball.
"That purely evil, no good, lower-than scum, annoying, stupid, ugly, imbecile! His behavior absolutely DISGUSTS me. When I get my hands on him, he WILL suffer, that's what I'll do!" Meryl snarled as she threw the ball at Vash, who ducked in time and instead hit Wolfwood right in the face.
"But Meryl...Maybe Mr. Michaelson Vandarkbrink is just doing his job..." Milly said quietly as Meryl cracked her bandaged knuckles.
"That slime-ball will NEVER work...ugh, people like that ABSOLUTELY disgust me to my stomach!" growling, she got out of bed and started to walk down the hall before she was stopped by Milly, Wolfwood, and Vash.
"Hey little girl, you need to go rest!" "That's right Meryl, you need lots and lots of rest and pudding too!" "Insurance girl, you're going to die if you don't go back to bed!"
Meryl grasped free from all six hands as she twirled around, looking at them seriously as she pointed to the door.
"Fine, I'll go back to bed. But Vash, you need to go back to the inn to get my typewriter because there is NO way I'm going to let the dumb little Michaelson Vandarkbrink cut my wages again. Got that?" she said with an air of finality as she turned around to go back into her room.
Vash knew he'd be tortured until he screamed like a girl if he didn't get the typewriter, so he went back to the inn to get it. However, the city of October sounded very quiet when he stepped outside the hospital. Too quiet, in fact.
'Is Keja the Hunter still here? But that's impossible...the grenade should have damaged him, if not killed him...'
Shrugging the idea off, yet keeping a close hand nearby his gun in case, Vash got the typewriter and headed back for the hospital. Still unsure of the silence of the town, he went back into the hospital, where it was just as quiet as the town.
Vash walked over to Meryl's room rather quickly, not wanting to get in trouble for getting the typewriter to slowly.
Meryl was waiting impatiently for Vash to come back, and just as Vash suspected, she was about to yell at him when her chest suddenly started to hurt. Thanking Vash quickly, Meryl typed up the reports at lightening speed, perhaps too fast that her knuckles started to bleed.
Even when Wolfwood, Milly, and Vash fell asleep, Meryl continued to type reports although the doctor warned her to take it easy. It was around midnight when she finished typing up fifty reports and stacked them neatly onto the coffee table beside her bed. She hated typing reports, but she couldn't risk lowering her wages again for laziness, and Meryl had a strong pride that was broken slightly by Eric Michaelson Vandarkbrink.
Vash was fast asleep, his head on Meryl's bed. Gently stroking Vash's spiky head, Meryl looked up at the stars.
"Aren't they beautiful, Vash? Jake and I used to look at them almost everyday with a telescope..." Meryl whispered to him as she covered her blankets over Vash's shoulders. Walking out of the room, she glanced at him one more time before closing the door.
Tiptoeing across the dark hospital hall like a cat in the shadows, Meryl left the hospital quietly. Finding Wolfwood's prized motorcycle, she hopped onto it, ignoring the slight pain in her stomach after she accidentally bumped into the door of the hospital.
Where was she trying to go?
The burnt laboratory.
The motorcycle flying across the desert sand like the wind, she reached the site in about ten minutes. Getting off the motorcycle, she went closer to the burnt site, looking around.
'I didn't know grenades were so powerful...there's no way Jake would've survived this...'
Yet while she was looking at the burnt laboratory, a pair of angry yellow eyes flashed in a corner of the laboratory. Meryl noticed that, and frowned slightly as she scanned the area around her. No one was there.
Backing, she hopped onto the motorcycle to see that the eyes flashed again. Yet this time, it seemed as if the yellow eyes had gotten closer to her. Afraid, she turned on the engine, but the engine didn't move smoothly as it should've. Frustrated, she kicked the motorcycle to see that the yellow eyes were closer to her.
Another second passed. The yellow eyes were just behind her when the motorcycle moved. As Meryl turned around fearfully, a scream left her throat as she saw who was chasing her.
Jake.
Driving the motorcycle wildly, she almost lost control of it when she drove it as fast as she could. (A/N: I mean, wouldn't you be too scared to drive a motorcycle when a pair of yellow eyes followed you? O_o) Meryl finally relaxed her tense muscles as she thought she got rid of Jake. But a few seconds later, a large jeep came forward, following her.
Tensing up again, she fled in Wolfwood's motorcycle, thinking that he'd get angry after what she did to it.
'Dammit, he's still following me? Meryl, you did a stupid thing. Right after Leisath gave you another chance to live, you blew it. OH for Pete's sake, what am I going to do?'
Her heart thumping loudly, her hands sweaty, and her eyes terrified, Meryl almost cried with relief as she reached the hospital. Yet when she reached for the door, a strong hand pulled her away from it.
Shaking with fear, Meryl tried to calm herself down as Jake stared at her with his dull brown eyes. Then, he lowered himself down to place his lips on top of Meryl's, kissing her deeply.
Meryl was horrified as Jake continued to kiss her. Her mind was in a dazed sort as he slipped on a diamond ring on her ring finger on left hand. And like the moonlight, he left quickly and quietly in his jeep.
Wiping his kiss away with the back of her hand, Meryl felt tears coming down from her eyes as she slowly entered the hospital. What she felt was indescribable. She didn't like the kiss, first of all, because the same person that had led her to the brink of death was kissing her. Second of all, the same person that had kissed her had frightened her to death. And third of all, she didn't like Jake. Or did she?
Walking gloomily to her room, she was surprised when Vash was looking at her with concerned eyes. Meryl burst into tears as she ran into Vash's warm arms, sobbing into his red coat. Grasping onto the coat like a child holding onto her mother, Meryl held onto it tightly, making Vash realize once again that Meryl had many sides to her.
"It's okay Meryl...cry all you want...it'll make you feel better..." Vash said gently as he stroked Meryl's navy tinted hair. Meryl continued to cry as her tears soaked through the red coat.
'Man, something bad must've happened to her...'
A few minutes later, Meryl was fast asleep in his arms. Carrying her gently over to her bed like a porcelain doll, he tucked her into bed as he stared at her pale face.
'Maybe Keja the Hunter IS alive...'
Many awful thoughts filled his mind, and thinking about it made him somewhat sleepy. Watching Meryl's face, he soon fell into the land of dreams as he observed Meryl's pretty face.
'Rem...she looks just like you...but very different...'