Moshi everyone. I'm actually on time ^_^  Which is probably early for you guys, since I don't think anyone is used to one week posting, myself included. But, it's here. If you've missed some, you're going to want to go back and catch up, a lot has happened in the last couple chapies. I'm so evil sometimes. Enjoy


***

Wolfwood smiled as the desert suns heated his back and brow. It felt so good to know his journey was at an end. There was a rusting swingset off to the side next to a jungle gym that was more likely to give a kid tetnis than anything else. All and all, it was good to see the orphanedge at December again. Except that he had no idea what he was doing there.

Suddenly the kids noticed his presence, streaming out of the doors like a stampede. Happily, Wolfwood set his cross aside and knelt in the tide of young ones. They latched onto his legs and faught to get hugged before the others. One little girl grabbed his hand, refusing to let go. "You're back! You've been gone so long, tell me you aren't leaving again? Please!"

Wolfwood smiled. A dream, he knew that's what it was. "I'm sorry I've been gone so long. I'll come back as soon as I can, you have my word." This was God's way of reminding him that, second chance or no, he had a responsibility to these kids and he'd been ignoring it. That had to be it. Behind him, several of the children were working in tandem to try and lift his cross. He turned to them, putting one hand underneath and lifting the cross slightly. The children cheered, believing themselves to be the ones lifting it.

Suddenly Wolfwood stopped. He knew what day this was. There was no particular way to tell, of course, he just knew. His heart almost seemed to stop. This was a dream, it was supposed to be a good dream. He stood quickly, sheparding the kids inside with the promise that he'd play more once they were out of the sun. No, wait, that's what he'd done in real life and it hadn't changed anything. He stopped at the door, turning to see three of the kids had lagged behind.

Against the backdrop of the sky and desert, Legato looked like he was glowing. The kids were staring at him, motionless. Whether it was from fear or the other man's will, Wolfwood wasn't sure. "What are you doing here?" No, no! That's what happened before, he couldn't let this repeat itself.

"You've been avoiding us. Master has begun to question your loyalty."

Wolfwood bit back the comment in his mind. Something about arrogant son of a, um, and shoving a cactus, er. Well, easily not the smartest thing to utter while staring down an angry psychopath. Determined not to repeat his mistakes, Wolfwood jogged the short distance until he stood in front of the other man. "Legato, I appologize. Tell me what you want."

Legato's face darkened, his mouth contorting into a scowl, almost as if he had heard the insult. "I'm here to teach you a lesson about following orders."

"No! Legato, don't do this!" He shot out his hands, firmly gripping both of Legato's shoulders and shaking him slightly. "Please don't do this." Behind him, he heard the little girl scream and fall. Shocked, he turned to see her sprawled on the sand. He clenched his eyes shut, not wanting to see, but the image was already burned into his mind. He had had to bury that girl and both of the boys, died from self inflicted wounds.

Suddenly Legato seemed to snap to the present, reacting to Wolfwood for the first time. He backfisted the priest, sending him sprawling to the ground. "You must be taught respect. Have I made myself clear?"

Wolfwood sat in silence, not looking at him. Slowly he cradeled his jaw. That had hurt. But, that wasn't possible, this was a dream. He could hear one of the boys wimper behind him. He clasped his hands over his ears to block out the sound. "This isn't happening, I can't go through this again."

"Nicholas?"

"You aren't real, you bastard!"

"Nicholas! That's not nice!" Wolfwood snapped his eyes open to see Millie's face. She was leaning over him, eyes wide with concern. "That's better. It was just a nightmare, are you all right?"

Wolfwood sat up quickly, burrying his head in Millie's neck and holding onto her for dear life. "I will be. I'm sorry to have worried you." Millie made a sad noise, hugging him back and just stood there to comfort him.

Finally Wolfwood pushed away, wiping the memory from his mind as best he could. "Millie, I need to go somewhere. I shouldn't be gone long, is that all right?"

"Where are you going? Can you afford it?"

Wolfwood stopped, a frown plastered on his face. No, he couldn't afford it, but he had to go. "I can probably get some time off from work, the resturaunt is owned by a really nice couple. If I take what we have, I can afford the bus fare, but . . ." With a silent curse, he searched his pockets for his cigarettes and drew the last one in the pack into his mouth.

Millie was watching him closely as he sat in quiet contemplation. Finally she stood and crossed to the door of the room. "Go, Nick. The others will be fine, I'll make sure of it. I'll watch over them for you, all right?"

"I know I should wait. I should stay with you, I have responsibilities here. But . . . they're important to me too and I want – I need to see them again before I'm out of time." He turned to Millie and saw her nod and leave. He stood to stop her, but she was already gone. Wolfwood thought about it a moment and sighed. He couldn't think of a single time he'd seen her frowning like that except once. The morning before he left. I'll come back to you this time, Big Girl. I swear it.

Wolfwood hurried to the resturaunt he was working at, just catching the elderly couple as they opened up and then went quickly to the bus station and baught his ticket. With less than a half hour before he left, he ran across town and to Vash's house. Vash was downstairs on the couch; he looked utterly exhausted. With a muffled groan, the gunman put on one of his infamous empty smiles and stood up. "You're here early."

Wolfwood nodded, realizing from his friend's face that he must look equally exhausted. "I was actually looking for Midvalley, he wasn't at home. Is he here?" Vash nodded and pointed upstairs. With a rather forced smile of his own, Wolfwood climbed the stairs as fast as he could.

"You worthless, filthy-!"

"Oh, shut up! It's too early to listen to you yell at me!" Wolfwood paused, confused. The confusion didn't last long as a large vase flew out of a room, crashing into the opposite wall. Midvalley hurried out of the room, half crouched with his hands over his head. A few more items could be heard crashing, clearly missing the door and several choice phrases followed the musician. "Jeez, I'm only trying to help!"

"You're asking for it, messing with him like that."

Midvalley jumped, clutching his chest. "Oh, Chapel. It's you. You need something?" Midvalley walked to another door in the little hallway and pushed his way through. Wolfwood followed after a small serving tray hit the wall with a vengence.

Legato was laying on the bed in that room and Wolfwood blanched, looking away from the boy. "Midvalley, I need a favor from you." The sax player looked up, one eyebrow raised. "I'm leaving. I left your name at work, in case they really need some help. If they contact you, I need you to go in for me."

"You're kidding me, right? Why should I help you! What if they call while I'm working?"

"Then do what you think is more important. But I'm asking that you help these people for me."

Midvalley was obviously angry, glaring with all his might at the older boy. "Where the hell are you going anyway? What could be more important than money, since we're so lacking in that?"

"I'm going to December."

The change of mood was instantaneous in Midvalley. He stopped, dropping his gaze to the floor. "I'll cover for you."

"Huh?"

"I'll take care of it, go see your kids." Wolfwood was in shock for a moment before he smiled and hurried out the door. Midvalley sighed and sat on the edge of Legato's bed, rubbing his temple.

"He dreamt about it last night. He must have."

Midvalley looked at the blue haired boy. "I didn't realize you were awake. You think that's what it is?"

"He refused to look at me. Usually he's glaring with all the hatred he can muster. He still doesn't know you were there, does he?"

"I don't know whether or not to feel grateful for that."

"I deserve his hatred more, you didn't kill any of his precious children."

"No, I just scared them and forced them to see Chapel for what he was. There are worse things than death, sometimes."

"You know, I thought I'd always have that scar he gave me."

"Let's talk about anything else now, all right? What I did to them – to him – I don't want to relive it any more than he does."

Legato sighed and nodded, taking in the large bruise on Midvalley's neck for the first time. "I take it you're not having any luck with Master?"

"When did you go back to calling him that? And no, I'm not having any luck. You'd think that blind, he'd be easier to dodge."

"He's not?"

"Well, I guess he is, but he tries to hit ya so much more often that it sorta cancels out, ya know?"

"I'm sorry. It's my fault for asking you to do this."

"No, forget it. It's annoying, but if it can get through to him, it's worth it."

Legato sat up straighter and winced as his bruises were stretched. "You should probably get back to him."

"Huh? Why?" A second later, the musician's question was answered as a long string of cursing echoed from the stairwell. With a groan, Midvalley rushed out the door to see Knives crawling up to his feet again. "If you want to go downstairs, tell me and I'll help you down."

"I don't need your help, you miserable little spider." Nevertheless, he accepted the boy's shoulder for support and they stumbled down the stairs together. "Pathetic, worthless, human." Midvalley did his best to tune out the blonde's ranting until they reached the first floor again. Suddenly, Knives twisted, catching the musician off guard and shoving him away. Midvalley cursed, tripping over the end of the couch and landing quite uncerimoniously on top of Vash, who woke from his doze in a fit of coughs.

With a groan, Midvalley pushed himself up to glare at the blinded man. "I should just let you fall down the stairs next time and hopefully you'll break your neck and be out of my hair."

***

So, how's everyone been doing? Lots of midterms? I figure that's why I haven't seen some of my reviewers. Like lyerial! I got too used to see you review first every chapter. And Raditz! Ne, you must have either read Monday or Tuesday – here ya go, some more fic to sustain your life. I look forward to more mindless babble ^_^ In any case, I wish you all good luck in school and hope you send me lots of reviews soon ^_^ I'll see you all next week.