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Hey guys, welcome to the new improved chapter 3. Since this story is sort of a joint effort, me and my co-author have changed a little around. Plus, things in this chapter weren't meshing with later chapters, which can happen when chapters are written like 2 years apart :( So I am working on fixing those errors, to bring about a BETTER, more fulfilling story.....that and to force everyone to read the entire thing again!!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....ahem, on with tht show )
---Chapter 3---- Bounty----
Another night is passing uneventfully in the sleepy town of Pilum. In his bed Ardens, the son of the town sheriff, turns restlessly, haunted by nightmares. A noise in the corner startles the boy awake. Rubbing his eyes to try and banish his sleep, he turns toward the corner, to see a man in black perched on the chair. The moonlight coming in through the window gives the mystery man's hair an eerie luminescence, and his eyes glow a chilling shade of red. The man brings a single finger up towards his pursed lips...
Mystery man: "Shhhh...."
Ardens only nodded and stared at the man. For some reason, even though Ardens was scared, this man put him oddly at ease, a hypnotic sort of feeling washing over him. A faint smile coming to his lips. He sits there watching as the mystery man reaches behind his back. The mystery man's arm returns to site with a metallic coating, wires hanging off of it. The other arm disappears and returns in a similar fashion. In the man's hands' are two large guns, with chains of bullets hanging down. Slowly the man stands, revealing even more bullets strapped to his chest in a criss cross pattern over his black body armor. The man smiles as he raises the guns, a quick fire, and Ardens lies dead. Neighbors begin to shout, as they are awakened by the gunshot. The man reaches for his belt, pulls of a grenade, rips out the pin, drops it, runs, and jumps out the window. Flipping around he hits the ground and starts running again, tossing more grenades into various windows as he goes, and shooting anybody he sees. As the first explosion hits, the man shouts out one thing....
Mystery man: "Haryusa is coming for you little Brother."
----Miles away, Aculeus City. One hundred Iles east of Mei, 30 Iles southwest of Pilum ----
Meryl and Millie sleep soundly this night, totally unaware of the events in Pilum. However, Bounty is not such a sound sleeper. She sits on her bed, staring out at the hole in the moon. Idly wondering how such a nice man as Vash could have caused such destruction. Images of the ruins of July, run through her head. How can such a gentle man cause so much sorrow? With all these thoughts in her head, sleep is impossible, so she decides to take a walk. Leaving the confines of her room, she tiptoes down the hallway, down the stairs and out the back door. Wandering through the streets she makes her way to the center of town, only to find that there was another restless soul on this quiet night.
Bounty: "Vash?"
Vash: "Hello Bounty, what are you doing up so late?"
Bounty: "One could ask you the same question."
Vash: "So I take it you couldn't sleep, either?"
Bounty: "You guessed it. Vash?"
Vash: "What is it Bounty?"
Bounty: "What was it like being the most hated person on the planet? To know that your name scared little children? To know that everywhere you turn another person wanted your head?"
Vash: "Wow. That is a heavy question." (Smiles and grabs the back of his head) "I don't know how to answer that."
Bounty: "But how did you live, knowing that everyone hated you?"
Vash: "I lived the only way I knew how to live, protecting people, avoiding blood shed at all costs. Only in those principles can one find a decent life."
Bounty: "How do you continue to avoid killing when it would stop you from suffering?"
Vash:" A good friend of mine once said 'No one has the right to take the life of another'. I have always lived by that philosophy. There is always a way to save the butterfly...... and the spider."
Bounty: "Huh?"
Vash: " Now you know about me, tell me about yourself. Why are you after my brother?"
Bounty: "I'm a bounty hunter, that is my job, to seek bounties, and collect them."
Vash: "How does one come to choose that as a profession?"
Bounty: "I was adopted when I was five by the nicest people I've ever met.I was brought up like one of their own. Yet as I have come to see, things are never good for very long. They were killed, viciously murdered when I was fourteen.I became a bounty hunter when I was sixteen. I do it because I want to bring those basterds who killed my family to justice."
Vash: "Amazing story, but what can be so demanding that it requires $$80 billion?"
Bounty: "I want to be able to adopt children, if not adopt, help children who are going to be adopted. I just want to help for once.."
Vash: "With $$80 billion, you will definitely be able to do that."
Bounty: "Yeah."
The two sit there, lost in their thoughts, staring out, but seeing nothing. Listening to the sounds of the night, and the sound of their own hearts beating. If one listened close enough they would hear an odd synchronicity to the beats. Two beats, one sound a perfect unity.
Vash: "Bounty?"
Bounty: "Yeah?"
Vash: "What is your real name?"
Bounty: "My mother calls me Gina."
Vash: "Gina, lets go back to the hotel.... we need to get some sleep if we are going to continue looking for my brother tomorrow."
Bounty: "Yeah....we probably should go."
The two stand up, and Vash grabs Bounty's hand. Bounty stands up on her tiptoes and gives Vash a quick peck on the cheek.
Vash: "What was that for?"
Bounty: "For listening.....thank you."
They walk back through town, holding hands, but not saying a word. They climb the stairs and stop at their respective doors. Turning around they look at each other, and then open the doors. Bounty closes hers first, but instead of being in her room, she is behind Vash, waiting to enter his room.
Wolfwood rolls over and covers his head with his pillow.
----The next morning----
After a wonderful nights sleep, the two insurance girls wake up, stretching, and feeling the warmth of the sunlight coming through the window. Looking around the room they notice that Bounty is missing.
Meryl: "She must have got up before us. We better go get the guys."
The two insurance girls get up and quickly get dressed. They exit their room, and head towards the room occupied by Wolfwood and Vash. Meryl knocks on the door, but receives no answer, so she promptly barges in to wake them up.
Meryl: "Rise and shine, we've got a lot to....."
The rest of her sentence is lost as a flying pillow hits her square in the face. Stunned she stumbles back into the hall, as the door closes.
Millie: (smiles) "Maybe they don't want to get up right now."
Meryl: "I am not letting that broom head sleep any longer. We're up Bounty's up....those two should be up, too!"
Her mind set, Meryl enters the room again, this time dodging a shoe, a flower pot, a small table, and a copy of the bible that comes included in every room.
Meryl: "Hey that almost hit me!"
Bounty: "That was the point you loud mouth."
Meryl: "Loudmouth!?!?!? Well I........ Bounty?"
Bounty: "What do you want?"
Meryl: "Y-y-y-y-y-ou.........never mind."
Bounty: "Ok. Don't let the door hit you on your way out."
Meryl: "We'll be out looking for leads as to where Haryusa may be."
With that the red faced insurance girl closed the door and started walking down the hall. Her face covered by a mixture of embarrassment and anger. Millie just walked along behind her, silently making their way to the tavern. They take a seat at the bar, Order some drinks, and then proceed to sit there listening in on various conversations, listening for word of the Dragon. Silently Meryl was enraged. 'How dare that girl take Vash! Well I'm glad! That broom head is nothing but trouble, let her deal with that.' No matter how much she dissected the thoughts in her head, though, she couldn't change the fact that she did indeed want Vash, and bad. Unfortunately her work ethic prohibited the mixing of business and pleasure, and since Vash was business....... her thoughts are interrupted by a crash at the doors. A man, panting and sweating has just burst through the door and he wastes no time delivering his message.
Man: "The Dragon has struck again! He took out Pilum last night!"
The tavern is filled with the scared cacophony of voices. Shouts of scared townsfolk, worried that their town may be next. Chaos follows. People run around bumping into each other in their rush for the door. One thought fills everyone's mind 'Must flee to safety'. The poor messenger is trampled to death by the herd of frightened people. Millie and Meryl remain at the bar.
Meryl: "Lets get Vash. We're heading to Pilum"
----Flash forward----
The trip to Pilum is filled with yawning. The five travelers must use a bigger truck this time around, and truthfully it is more of a bus. Vash and Bounty sit in the back, trying to catch up on some sleep. Wolfwood, Millie and the cross, sit in the middle... Millie talking, as Wolfwood continues trying to wake up. Meryl, behind the steering wheel, drives like a woman possessed. Apparently on a complex course that takes the vehicle through every pothole and ditch between Aculeus and Pilum. However they do arrive in one piece, and park right inside of the city limits. This time however they don't split up, instead they just walk deeper and deeper into the city, stepping over the bodies and rubble that litter the streets. Towards the center of town they find a message scribbled out in dead bodies. 'Hello Little Brother, I'm here.'
Vash: "You guys stay here. I'm going after Haryusa"
Bounty: "But Vash...."
Vash "No buts... I don't want anyone getting hurt. Stay behind... I have to face this one alone."
Wolfwood: "Good luck Vash."
Vash: "Thanks."
With that Vash disappears into the rubble, searching for his brother. The other four remain behind, sitting around, Wolfwood casually puffing on a cigarette. Meryl pacing around, occasionally disappearing behind large piles of rubble.
----Interlude, Vash----
Vash continues climbing across rubble, with no idea where to go, just heading through looking for some sign, something to tell him where to go, where to find Haryusa. He finds it too, in the form of an arrow, pointing north, the arrow made out of mangled bodies. Vash chokes back the rising bile and continues on. Finally he reaches a single two-storied house on the northern edge of town, a sign roughly scribbled in blood reads 'Enter'. So Vash does just that, entering into a nauseating display of inhumanity. The entrance way decorated in human flesh, and littered with bones. The stench of death is overpowering. Unable to keep the bile down Vash empties his stomach on the ground, and searches the various rooms for his brother. Each room brings another level of disgust. Dead bodies mutilated in various ways adorn the walls. Not finding Haryusa on the first floor, Vash heads for the second. At the top of the stairs a man has been nailed to the wall his arms spread, and his feet crossed. His head leans forward. Vash watches a very ragged rise and fall in the mans chest....he's still alive. Covering the remaining distance in just two strides, Vash pulls the nails out and lowers the man to the floor:
Vash: "Sir, are you okay?"
Man: "Thank you sir....but the others are dead.... all of them........ leave me be, and go get that son of a bitch....."
Vash: "Stay here... I'll be back to help you soon."
Vash rushes off to the first door he sees. All he finds is a room filled with skulls, human and animals, all mixed together. He leaves and heads to the next room, similarly devoid of life. The next room seems empty, so Vash turns to leave.
Voice: "What took you so long little Brother?"
----End Chapter 3----
Hey guys, welcome to the new improved chapter 3. Since this story is sort of a joint effort, me and my co-author have changed a little around. Plus, things in this chapter weren't meshing with later chapters, which can happen when chapters are written like 2 years apart :( So I am working on fixing those errors, to bring about a BETTER, more fulfilling story.....that and to force everyone to read the entire thing again!!!! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....ahem, on with tht show )
---Chapter 3---- Bounty----
Another night is passing uneventfully in the sleepy town of Pilum. In his bed Ardens, the son of the town sheriff, turns restlessly, haunted by nightmares. A noise in the corner startles the boy awake. Rubbing his eyes to try and banish his sleep, he turns toward the corner, to see a man in black perched on the chair. The moonlight coming in through the window gives the mystery man's hair an eerie luminescence, and his eyes glow a chilling shade of red. The man brings a single finger up towards his pursed lips...
Mystery man: "Shhhh...."
Ardens only nodded and stared at the man. For some reason, even though Ardens was scared, this man put him oddly at ease, a hypnotic sort of feeling washing over him. A faint smile coming to his lips. He sits there watching as the mystery man reaches behind his back. The mystery man's arm returns to site with a metallic coating, wires hanging off of it. The other arm disappears and returns in a similar fashion. In the man's hands' are two large guns, with chains of bullets hanging down. Slowly the man stands, revealing even more bullets strapped to his chest in a criss cross pattern over his black body armor. The man smiles as he raises the guns, a quick fire, and Ardens lies dead. Neighbors begin to shout, as they are awakened by the gunshot. The man reaches for his belt, pulls of a grenade, rips out the pin, drops it, runs, and jumps out the window. Flipping around he hits the ground and starts running again, tossing more grenades into various windows as he goes, and shooting anybody he sees. As the first explosion hits, the man shouts out one thing....
Mystery man: "Haryusa is coming for you little Brother."
----Miles away, Aculeus City. One hundred Iles east of Mei, 30 Iles southwest of Pilum ----
Meryl and Millie sleep soundly this night, totally unaware of the events in Pilum. However, Bounty is not such a sound sleeper. She sits on her bed, staring out at the hole in the moon. Idly wondering how such a nice man as Vash could have caused such destruction. Images of the ruins of July, run through her head. How can such a gentle man cause so much sorrow? With all these thoughts in her head, sleep is impossible, so she decides to take a walk. Leaving the confines of her room, she tiptoes down the hallway, down the stairs and out the back door. Wandering through the streets she makes her way to the center of town, only to find that there was another restless soul on this quiet night.
Bounty: "Vash?"
Vash: "Hello Bounty, what are you doing up so late?"
Bounty: "One could ask you the same question."
Vash: "So I take it you couldn't sleep, either?"
Bounty: "You guessed it. Vash?"
Vash: "What is it Bounty?"
Bounty: "What was it like being the most hated person on the planet? To know that your name scared little children? To know that everywhere you turn another person wanted your head?"
Vash: "Wow. That is a heavy question." (Smiles and grabs the back of his head) "I don't know how to answer that."
Bounty: "But how did you live, knowing that everyone hated you?"
Vash: "I lived the only way I knew how to live, protecting people, avoiding blood shed at all costs. Only in those principles can one find a decent life."
Bounty: "How do you continue to avoid killing when it would stop you from suffering?"
Vash:" A good friend of mine once said 'No one has the right to take the life of another'. I have always lived by that philosophy. There is always a way to save the butterfly...... and the spider."
Bounty: "Huh?"
Vash: " Now you know about me, tell me about yourself. Why are you after my brother?"
Bounty: "I'm a bounty hunter, that is my job, to seek bounties, and collect them."
Vash: "How does one come to choose that as a profession?"
Bounty: "I was adopted when I was five by the nicest people I've ever met.I was brought up like one of their own. Yet as I have come to see, things are never good for very long. They were killed, viciously murdered when I was fourteen.I became a bounty hunter when I was sixteen. I do it because I want to bring those basterds who killed my family to justice."
Vash: "Amazing story, but what can be so demanding that it requires $$80 billion?"
Bounty: "I want to be able to adopt children, if not adopt, help children who are going to be adopted. I just want to help for once.."
Vash: "With $$80 billion, you will definitely be able to do that."
Bounty: "Yeah."
The two sit there, lost in their thoughts, staring out, but seeing nothing. Listening to the sounds of the night, and the sound of their own hearts beating. If one listened close enough they would hear an odd synchronicity to the beats. Two beats, one sound a perfect unity.
Vash: "Bounty?"
Bounty: "Yeah?"
Vash: "What is your real name?"
Bounty: "My mother calls me Gina."
Vash: "Gina, lets go back to the hotel.... we need to get some sleep if we are going to continue looking for my brother tomorrow."
Bounty: "Yeah....we probably should go."
The two stand up, and Vash grabs Bounty's hand. Bounty stands up on her tiptoes and gives Vash a quick peck on the cheek.
Vash: "What was that for?"
Bounty: "For listening.....thank you."
They walk back through town, holding hands, but not saying a word. They climb the stairs and stop at their respective doors. Turning around they look at each other, and then open the doors. Bounty closes hers first, but instead of being in her room, she is behind Vash, waiting to enter his room.
Wolfwood rolls over and covers his head with his pillow.
----The next morning----
After a wonderful nights sleep, the two insurance girls wake up, stretching, and feeling the warmth of the sunlight coming through the window. Looking around the room they notice that Bounty is missing.
Meryl: "She must have got up before us. We better go get the guys."
The two insurance girls get up and quickly get dressed. They exit their room, and head towards the room occupied by Wolfwood and Vash. Meryl knocks on the door, but receives no answer, so she promptly barges in to wake them up.
Meryl: "Rise and shine, we've got a lot to....."
The rest of her sentence is lost as a flying pillow hits her square in the face. Stunned she stumbles back into the hall, as the door closes.
Millie: (smiles) "Maybe they don't want to get up right now."
Meryl: "I am not letting that broom head sleep any longer. We're up Bounty's up....those two should be up, too!"
Her mind set, Meryl enters the room again, this time dodging a shoe, a flower pot, a small table, and a copy of the bible that comes included in every room.
Meryl: "Hey that almost hit me!"
Bounty: "That was the point you loud mouth."
Meryl: "Loudmouth!?!?!? Well I........ Bounty?"
Bounty: "What do you want?"
Meryl: "Y-y-y-y-y-ou.........never mind."
Bounty: "Ok. Don't let the door hit you on your way out."
Meryl: "We'll be out looking for leads as to where Haryusa may be."
With that the red faced insurance girl closed the door and started walking down the hall. Her face covered by a mixture of embarrassment and anger. Millie just walked along behind her, silently making their way to the tavern. They take a seat at the bar, Order some drinks, and then proceed to sit there listening in on various conversations, listening for word of the Dragon. Silently Meryl was enraged. 'How dare that girl take Vash! Well I'm glad! That broom head is nothing but trouble, let her deal with that.' No matter how much she dissected the thoughts in her head, though, she couldn't change the fact that she did indeed want Vash, and bad. Unfortunately her work ethic prohibited the mixing of business and pleasure, and since Vash was business....... her thoughts are interrupted by a crash at the doors. A man, panting and sweating has just burst through the door and he wastes no time delivering his message.
Man: "The Dragon has struck again! He took out Pilum last night!"
The tavern is filled with the scared cacophony of voices. Shouts of scared townsfolk, worried that their town may be next. Chaos follows. People run around bumping into each other in their rush for the door. One thought fills everyone's mind 'Must flee to safety'. The poor messenger is trampled to death by the herd of frightened people. Millie and Meryl remain at the bar.
Meryl: "Lets get Vash. We're heading to Pilum"
----Flash forward----
The trip to Pilum is filled with yawning. The five travelers must use a bigger truck this time around, and truthfully it is more of a bus. Vash and Bounty sit in the back, trying to catch up on some sleep. Wolfwood, Millie and the cross, sit in the middle... Millie talking, as Wolfwood continues trying to wake up. Meryl, behind the steering wheel, drives like a woman possessed. Apparently on a complex course that takes the vehicle through every pothole and ditch between Aculeus and Pilum. However they do arrive in one piece, and park right inside of the city limits. This time however they don't split up, instead they just walk deeper and deeper into the city, stepping over the bodies and rubble that litter the streets. Towards the center of town they find a message scribbled out in dead bodies. 'Hello Little Brother, I'm here.'
Vash: "You guys stay here. I'm going after Haryusa"
Bounty: "But Vash...."
Vash "No buts... I don't want anyone getting hurt. Stay behind... I have to face this one alone."
Wolfwood: "Good luck Vash."
Vash: "Thanks."
With that Vash disappears into the rubble, searching for his brother. The other four remain behind, sitting around, Wolfwood casually puffing on a cigarette. Meryl pacing around, occasionally disappearing behind large piles of rubble.
----Interlude, Vash----
Vash continues climbing across rubble, with no idea where to go, just heading through looking for some sign, something to tell him where to go, where to find Haryusa. He finds it too, in the form of an arrow, pointing north, the arrow made out of mangled bodies. Vash chokes back the rising bile and continues on. Finally he reaches a single two-storied house on the northern edge of town, a sign roughly scribbled in blood reads 'Enter'. So Vash does just that, entering into a nauseating display of inhumanity. The entrance way decorated in human flesh, and littered with bones. The stench of death is overpowering. Unable to keep the bile down Vash empties his stomach on the ground, and searches the various rooms for his brother. Each room brings another level of disgust. Dead bodies mutilated in various ways adorn the walls. Not finding Haryusa on the first floor, Vash heads for the second. At the top of the stairs a man has been nailed to the wall his arms spread, and his feet crossed. His head leans forward. Vash watches a very ragged rise and fall in the mans chest....he's still alive. Covering the remaining distance in just two strides, Vash pulls the nails out and lowers the man to the floor:
Vash: "Sir, are you okay?"
Man: "Thank you sir....but the others are dead.... all of them........ leave me be, and go get that son of a bitch....."
Vash: "Stay here... I'll be back to help you soon."
Vash rushes off to the first door he sees. All he finds is a room filled with skulls, human and animals, all mixed together. He leaves and heads to the next room, similarly devoid of life. The next room seems empty, so Vash turns to leave.
Voice: "What took you so long little Brother?"
----End Chapter 3----