Chapter 2:
Reunion
"Meryl?" Millie called out from the other room. Meryl's right eye lazily opened halfway, only to find Millie standing in the doorway. "Meryl. Come on. Get up! There's some news about the Bernadelli Insurance Company. You wouldn't believe it!"
"Uuunngh," Meryl groaned for a reply. She closed her eye again and tossed back in the bed. She had been crying all night and her face and eyes were swollen. On top of that, she didn't feel like a million bucks at the moment. She had yet another dream about her first meetings with Vash.
"Mer-ryl! Come on now, you're beginning to make sulking a habit for you!"
"I don't feel good," Meryl dryly responded from the bed.
"Suit yourself," Millie said, walking back into the main room. The footsteps grew faint, and Meryl could hear Millie's voice resume talking. She was on the telephone.
"I am sorry sir, but Ms. Stryfe isn't well enough to talk yet." There was a pause. "Oh? Well, she just came down with the flu, that's all." Meryl could feel her insides swell with appreciation for friendship.
"Sure. Of course. I will inform her right away. When are they coming?"
They? They who?
"Today?" There was another long pause.
Someone is coming today?
"Yes. Yes, sir. I will." Another bit of silence. "Yes. Thank you, sir. From both Thompson and Stryfe. Have a nice day!" And then there was a loud thunk of the receiver.
Got. To. Get. Up.
Meryl stretched her sore limbs and rubbed her twice-sore eyes. What was going on? Who was coming? She scrambled to sit upright in her bed. Slowly and painfully she was finally able to succeed. She rubbed her eyes again as if trying to cover up the swelling.
Come on, Stryfe, get up, get up, get up!
She literally threw herself out of bed and hit the cold hard floor. "ARGH!" For a brief moment, her body was numb. Then began her nerves began to sing of pain, and she jolted upward. "OWWW! Damn it!" She rubbed her head and her shoulders, a little angry for herself for the irrational behavior.
"Meryl? Meryl are you okay in there?" Millie's voice echoed from the hallways.
"Peachy keen, Millie," she said sarcastically and limped towards the closet. "I need to get myself together," she grumbled to herself. "Even if Vash is gone, I still have my job to do. My mission. I have people out there depending on me. I can't..."
She grabbed her usual white dress and over coat and dragged herself to the dresser. She opened the second to the top drawer and yanked her navy tights out, and then dragged herself back on her bed to dress herself up.
- - - -
"Why did it take you so long, Meryl?"
"Sorry, Millie...I was dealing with some bodily difficulties. So what's new with the company?"
"We're getting two new members on our surveillance team."
"What?!"
Millie smiled brightly and began to prepare herself for the dirty work they were about to endure. She put a old apron on and some working gloves. She tightened her working boots and brushed a golden strand of hair out of her face. "We're getting two members for our mission. Boss thought that the reason we had failed to somehow prevent Vash's disasters was that we were not capable of doing such things--"
Meryl had taken the comment the wrong way. "WHAT?!"
"--No, no, not that way, Meryl! He meant that we were not people of combat. So, out of desperation as he told me, he decided to send us two experienced fighters that may aid us to stop the disasters!"
"And they are?"
"Umm, well, there is just one but she is sometimes accompanied by another. The first one is of top class combatant. Boss said that she was the best in her line of work," she paused and looked up at the ceiling. Her right finger at her pursed lips. "And I wonder what her line of work is, anyway? But back to it. The Boss said she's called 'Rapture'--"
"'Rapture'? A code name?"
Millie shrugged some. "I guess so."
"And the comrade?" Meryl questioned, both her hands cupping her mug of coffee. She stared at the brown liquid and the threads of steam emitting from it, awaiting Millie's answer.
"He said that her name is 'Sanguine'."
"Another code name?" Meryl looked up to Millie, her expression solemn. "Usually secret agents use code names like that. Does Boss even have a record of them? What if they're just another bunch of assassins after Vash?"
"Hmm, hadn't thought about that," Millie looked ahead of her thoughtfully, while finishing up her other shoe.
Meryl sighed annoyed. "Oh well. Looks like we don't really have a choice if they are or not. When are they coming?"
"Today. But only Rapture is coming." Millie stood up with a shovel in hand.
"And where is Sanguine going to be?" Meryl finally looked up to her golden haired companion.
"She occasionally comes. But it seems that Boss just primarily assigned Rapture to assist us."
"He sure has a lot of confidence in the agent," she growled, getting up herself to get a shovel. She had already been geared up for the digging.
"Don't be so harsh, Meryl," Millie optimistically replied.
The dark amethyst haired woman ignored the comment. "So it's a girl, I take it?"
"Yes. A woman."
"And how old is she?"
"She's around 20."
"Both of them?"
"I believe so."
Meryl grunted and threw the shovel over her shoulder. Her eyes an annoyed dark blue. "Huh. He has too much confidence for such a young woman."
Seeing this as an opportunity, Millie went on with the descriptions of the girls. "She's around 5'3", so she's as tall as you, Meryl. She has wavy chestnut hair that I think goes down to her waist, if I remember correctly. She wears black a lot.. Boss said that her looks might catch you off guard. You'd never guess it was her. Oh. And Boss said that she had green eyes. Deep green eyes."
Meryl looked surprised. The only person that had any link to green eyes was Vash. He was the only person she had ever seen with that color of eyes. "Green eyes? Huh. Well that's certainly rare. I guess it would prove some interest if we did meet her."
"And Sanguine has lighter brown hair. Cut to her shoulders and her hair kind of wisps out from her face. She's around 5'4" or 5'5". She most of the time wears white. And her eyes are an aquamarine."
Meryl looked at Millie. "Like Vash's?" Everything seemed to be reminding her of the outlaw. It was beginning to get on her nerves. Was she this obsessive with Vash, or was this pure coincidence?
"A little lighter than Vash's."
Meryl hummed. "...Interesting. Well, I guess we'll have to keep a look out for a girl of that description. I just hope she's as nice as you anticipate, Millie. Usually warriors aren't..." Meryl walked out the door with the shovel in hand and with her head up high.
Millie laughed complaisantly. "Oh Meryl. You know, Mr. Vash is a warrior. And look how he turned out."