Disclaimer: And yet again, here we are. This is the part where I say some witty little disclaimer thing, but I'm fresh out, sorry. But for your annoyance . . . I don't own Trigun or any of the characters in association with the original series. I know you wish I did, but I don't. Enjoy.

Chapter 9. Tremble

It had been one of the first times he had spoken her name. She heard it echo through the hollow town, the streets completely devoid of life, save for Meryl. Startled at his voice crying out to her, she turned, but it was only too late to run.

The bright light beamed above her and its warmth cascaded down upon her before it hit. She knew what it was, and she knew the damage it would probably do, but the comfortable warmth engulfed her, swallowing her body and forcing her into a tingling numbness.

She only barely knew what was going on. The bright light prevented her from seeing, the extreme but comfortable warmth sending her body into a state of numbness. She didn't feel herself fall to the sand below her, only felt the rush of wind before she hit, and even when she did she felt nothing.

But somewhere in the back of her mind there was that one sane voice asking, 'What's happening?' She herself didn't know it was there, and even if she did she couldn't have even begun to comprehend the correct answer . . .

"Sir . . . do you honestly think this was the right time to do this?"

"Humans' emotions are so easy to toy with," came the blonde man's reply as he watched the city below him crumble away. "Let me have my fun."

The wind forced the dark blue cloak to whip fiercely around Kate's tiny body. With one hand she kept her blonde curls from whipping her face and the other fist held the upper part of the cloak tightly around her chest. She and Rath were walking their way back to the Plant, as Rath's wings were useless against this harsh wind from an upcoming typhoon.

Kate was several feet in front of her brother. Her tracks in the sand were blown away as quickly as they were formed, which came quite unfortunate for Rath, as he couldn't even see his sister's body through the sand.

In coming across the Plant, Kate stopped. Of course, Cal's body would no longer be there, but she hadn't expected the Plant to be missing as well.

Vash pushed the man out of the way, his gun inadvertently going off. Vash only felt the tiny tingle in his shoulder when the bullet ripped through his flesh, but he kept on going. He had to get to Meryl . . . but why were they after her? Was it because she had told someone about the night December was attacked? Why would that matter now, though? After everything . . . that had happened since they had left . . .? It didn't make much sense . . .

A very heavy wind had picked up just as the blast had hit the middle of the town. There was probably some stupid typhoon heading toward the city. Well, with Vash's luck there was. But he quit thinking about that. He had to get to Meryl . . .

Toward the middle of the city things were simply blown apart. It was like one really big mountain range now; piles of boulders from mountains on the outside of the city, debris from the buildings . . . And then he saw it: the man named Joseph. He cradled Meryl in his arms, making Vash run faster. Vash collared the Plant just as he had set Meryl back down again. Joseph's feet came several inches off of the ground, and needless to say for a few seconds he was scared to death.

"What the hell did you do?!" Vash demanded furiously. He was obviously angered by this man.

"I didn't do anything!"

"Vash!" Vash turned his head to look over his shoulder. Kate and Rath were running through the wind. "Vash! The Plant! It's gone!" Vash moved his death glare from Kate's face to just above her head. Sure enough, the Plant was no long blocking the view from the fountain the in the middle of the town to the Mountains and Geyser Mile a distance out.

He absently dropped Joseph and turned completely around to face the direction the Plant had once proudly stood on its base to protect Fondreake. He had only barely noticed when Kate had gone, "Vash, what happened to your shoulder?" He really noticed it when someone happened to touch him through the fabric of his coat.

"Just a . . . scratch," he replied before turning back to Joseph and a rather banged up Meryl. He picked up her tiny, limp form and began to walk away with her. "Come on. Let's go find Milly."

Her cries were coming out loud now, and she felt she couldn't- or shouldn't- stop herself. As much as she hated to admit it, she was hurt, and in more ways than one.

Milly didn't know what had happened, only that something had blown up and she was no trapped in a hole, the walls being tons of steel, metal, stone, and rock. There was no way out, and even if there was, she couldn't have made it.

She had been asleep when the blast had sounded. Meryl had told her she was going to the grocery store, and Milly had absently 'okay-ed' her and then dozed back off. A rumbling had disturbed her slumber, and then a bright light made her open her eyes, a warmth enclosed her body, and then everything went dark. Now, here she was, trapped inside of steel, metal, and stone walls, hurt both physically and emotionally, and there was no way out . . . whether her wounds would allow her to move or not.

A headache had been the result of crying and screaming at the top of her lungs. She had been calling for someone to help, for someone to do something, for she was no alone. No, there were three unconscious children in the entrapment with her. Them . . . and their dead parents.

None of the young children woke when she cried, so she continued. She knew, in the back of her mind, that there was no one out there . . . not after the blast. Maybe hours, days even, there would be search parties looking for survivors of this terrible disaster, but she doubted that she- or the children- would last that long.

"He would know what to do," she said aloud. "Mr. Priest would be able to get us out of this." Then she began to cry again, until she heard the sound of moving rock. Someone above her was shifting the rubble and debris! Someone was there!

Milly quieted herself and waiting for the sun to shine through a tiny hole. A male voice told her to hold still for only a moment, and then the hole became larger . . . and larger . . . until the hole was big enough for even Milly to climb comfortably through.

"Here, give the children to me," he demanded. Milly, her face red from crying and cheeks streaked with tears, passed the small children up to him, and he finally hoisted her through the opening. Looking up to thank that man, she said,

"Mr. Vash!" then, realizing her mistake, corrected, "Oh . . . I'm sorry . . . You just-"

"Yes, I know . . . that would be because he is my brother. And I . . . am Knives."

Author's Notes: Yeah, I know, really short chapter. I didn't try very hard, so it's not actually, like, any V/M there, much to my imaginary friend's disappointment. Sorry Bill!! Sorry evil imaginary twin Bob!! By the way, for those of you who DON'T know, Evil Imaginary Twin Bob is the leader of a super-secret crime syndicate, along with my friend Emily! Their specialty is . . . um, bombs . . . ?

I nearly got hit by a school bus today! We were walking back to the junior high from the football field after a very exciting but winning game (on our part ^_^ Go Vikes!) and this psycho bus driver decides not to yield or slow down. I hear this roar behind me, jump into the dirt (much to my humiliation) and the principal jumps in front of the bus (NOW it slows down) and starts screaming at him to stop before it hit my friends! BUSES SUCK! r/r!