A/N: After seeing "Paradise", I couldn't stand what had happened. So, I decided to write a fic about the way that I wanted things to happen. We'll see if I continue it as a complete parallel plot or if I just leave it as a segment.

Chapter One: No More Paradise

BLAM.

Millie heard the gunshots from outside. She was afraid to move, and wouldn't, because Wolfwood had not yet come back. But after a while, curiosity got the better of her. She walked out of the room, calling for him in her high, timid voice.

"Wolfwood?"

She walked into the street to see a trail of blood. Knowing that the worst had probably happened, she followed it anyway.

"WOLFWOOD!!! Where are you?" She shouted, helpless, hopeless, as she ran after him. The trail led into a church.

"Huh?"

Wolfwood kneeled, praying, hoping that whatever God was there would save him, if not even for his sake, for Millie's.

Clack…clack…

He turned to see her behind him, in the door. Unable to muster the strength to talk, he simply turned back towards the cross and collapsed.

"NO! WOLFWOOD!" She ran up to him, and crouched in front of him. "Wolfwood…you can't die!" Tears streamed down her face, into her hair, onto her clothing, and onto the floor, melding with drops of his blood. "VASH! MARIL! VAAASHHH!"

A whisper came from the broken body in front of her. "Millie…"

She looked up, a tiny ray of hope lighting her tear-streaked face.

"Millie…I…"

At that moment, Vash and Meryl ran into the room.

"Millie!"

"Wolfwood!"

Meryl ran to Millie, and Vash to Wolfwood. He dropped his head onto his chest again.

"Millie…this isn't looking good…" said Meryl.

Millie's eyes met her best friend's. "Meryl I know but there must be something we can do he can't die he just can't!" The words emerged in her typical rushed voice, but now, it was shredded by sobs as she spoke.

Vash looked up to her. "Millie…there's really no way to save him…"

"Look we have to we just have to find a way there's got to be a doctor around here somewhere!"

"Millie…this town is abandoned," came the answer from Meryl.

"I don't CARE if it's abandoned! I want to save him and we can, even if there are supplies we have to find a way!"

Meryl was startled. "Millie…"

She turned her face to Meryl. "Yes, all right, I do have feelings for him and he doesn't deserve to die! We've got to save him Meryl!"

"I…want…to…live…" was the whispered opinion of Wolfwood.

Vash's eyes swelled with tears. "Damnit. I haven't been able to save anyone lately. This is all wrong!" He ran from the building.

Millie turned to Meryl.

"Meryl…how would you feel if Vash died?" she asked.

"Well…I'd…I don't know…"

"Meryl you know you feel for him. I feel for Wolfwood, the same way! You have to understand it I just want him to live!"

Meryl embraced Millie. "Oh Millie…if there's any way to save him…Vash will find it. We just have to trust him."

Vash returned with forceps, bandages, and antiseptic.

His face was serious as he looked at Wolfwood. "I think I might be able to save you. Do you trust me?"

All he got was a tiny nod.

"All right this is gonna hurt but if you want to live it's all I can do."

He stuck the forceps into the wound as far as they could go. Wolfwood's body tensed in pain, but he just squinted his eyes shut and thought of living, and of being with Millie.

"I've got the bullet," said Vash, "and I'm going to pull it out."

He wrenched the bullet from Wolfwood's body and then poured antiseptic into the wound. He covered it with bandages and laid Wolfwood down.

"Vash is he gonna be okay?" Millie's tears were still flowing.

"I- I don't know, Millie. I'm sorry. We'll have to get him to a bed and see."

Vash took a pew from the church and lifted Wolfwood onto it.

"Come on girls, help me carry him."

They brought him back to where they had been staying, and they put him into a bed. His eyes remained closed, but he was breathing, shallowly, but breathing nonetheless.

Millie sat down with her head in her hands. "Wolfwood…"

Meryl and Vash sat on the floor by her chair.

"Millie…he might still be okay. There's a chance that he'll live…"

She lifted her head, and amazingly, she smiled. "Yeah, I guess there is a chance!"

Vash grinned widely. "See, that's what I like to see, smiling! Just try to be happy, keep up the positive energy, it could even help him, who knows!"

She brushed the hair from her face. "I'm going to go sit with him…alone…if you don't mind."

Standing up, she walked into the room where he lay. She hummed to herself, sitting there for hours, until it turned into night. She fell asleep, and awoke the next morning to the light of the sun coming through the window. For another entire day, she sat next to his bed and hummed little tunes to herself, until the time when dusk returned.

Then, a voice spoke. "Millie…"

"Wolfwood!" Her eyes opened and brightened, and she snapped out of the dazed state that she had been in.

"I'm sorry, Millie."

"For what?" she asked, in a worried tone.

"For worrying you like this. I-" he cringed in pain- "I'm sorry that I got hurt, and that you've cried so much for me. But your voice has helped me get through this…The little tunes you've been humming…they're so soothing."

"They're lullabies that my mother used to sing to me. I just wanted to help you feel better, and I know they made me feel good when I was sick as a child," came the tender answer.

He smiled, but the warm gesture was twisted by his pain.

"Millie, will you lean down closer to me?"

Her brow furrowed. "Okay, why?"

"I want to kiss you."

Her eyes widened. "Um- really? Oh, Wolfwood…" She leaned closer into him. He struggled to raise his hand and caress the side of her face.

"Such beautiful skin…" he said, and he guided her face to his.

Their lips met, his callused, chapped ones to her soft, smooth ones, and Millie felt a peace inside her. Wolfwood's body coursed with a warm feeling, and some of his pain dissipated. Millie broke the kiss and looked into his eyes.

"Wolfwood…"

"Call me (blahdeeblah)."

She moved in to kiss him again, this time gently opening her mouth and letting his tongue caress hers. She started at a knock at the door.

"Millie, is Wolfwood any better?"

She smiled. "He's doing a lot better, come on in and see!"

The door opened, and Meryl came in, Vash behind her.

Wolfwood smiled at them. "I'm feeling a lot better now, and a lot of it's due to Millie, here. She's stayed here, humming to me…it's made me feel a lot more at peace."

Vash and Meryl smiled. "Okay…well, we'll leave you two alone then."

They walked out the door, and when they had shut it, they looked at each other and smiled. "I've got a feeling about those two…" said Vash, and Meryl just smirked and said, "Well, they've probably got a feeling about us, too, Vash," and she grabbed his hand and led him into her room.

Wolfwood sighed, and Millie looked at him. He was staring out the window.

"Ha! The first star!"

Millie smiled. "Make a wish."

"I wish that I could stay with you…and Vash and Meryl…and live."

"You're not supposed to tell anyone, or it won't come true," she said, laughing.

"Ah, hell, I'm not superstitious anyway."

He turned his head back towards her. "Might I have another kiss?" he asked politely, like a young schoolboy.

She leaned in and kissed his mouth again, and he reached up his hand to caress her hair, then softly massage her neck.

"I should go. You need to sleep, Wolfwood. You need to recover!"

"Sing me to sleep first…and I mean sing, not just hum!"

She laughed nervously. "I- I really don't have a pretty voice…"

"I'm sure you do, Millie," he said sincerely.

So she opened her mouth and sang him one of the lullabies that she had been humming before:

Go to sleep, my dearest one,

Go to sleep, my lovely,

I will wake you in the morn,

When the sky is sunny.

Sleep in peace, my shining sun,

Sleep in peace, my darling.

I love you more than anyone,

And I'll see you in the morning.

Wolfwood smiled. "Thank you, Millie." He then passed into sleep once more, and she sat back in her chair. Soon her eyes closed and she, too, slumbered, snoring very softly.

In the next room, Vash and Meryl lay in her bed together, sleeping soundly, fully clothed. There was evidence that they had been together in the intimate sense, but they had been too exhausted to fully complete what they had intended to do.

A sense of peace fell over the house for the night.

A/N: So…yeah…that was my Trigun fic. It's sad, isn't it? I'm sorry if I'm crappy at writing! I hope I'm not. As this is my first attempt at a Trigun fanfic…please don't flame it. Actually, flame it if you want! Please! Go ahead! Just be honest. Thanks!

Elf-Of-Mirkwood