Lazarus Heart
Chapter 2: Discovery Disclaimer: I still don't own Trigun. (*=Thoughts)
Vash sat out on the porch of the house he and the girls rented, waiting for the girls to finish packing their things. Meryl was still kind of mad at him, not because of the broken window, or even for the incident with the town's people, she was angry because he hadn't let her and Millie deal with the problem.
Vash didn't understand totally, he'd solve worse problems before by himself, and without a gun as well. He understood that she didn't want him to get hurt, but still she should understand that he didn't want to get the girls involved with his troubles. They had both helped him so much, giving him the strength to face his brother, and then helping him take care of knives when he had brought him back wounded. Thinking of knives, Vash decided to go check on him and see if he was awake yet.
As Vash turned to walk back into the house, he saw something on it that he had missed before, during the wild race around the house. Written in blue letters all across the front of the house was "Vash the Stampede is here", and on the front door there was a blue "X". The blue letters brought a memory to Vash, a memory of "Knives" carefully written in red across the monument of a deserted town. Vash's eyes darkened as he quickly threw open the front door of the house, and ran down the hallway to knives's room.
Millie looked out of the room her and Meryl shared "what's wrong Mr. Vash" she asked him as he ran past her. "Nothing" he called over his shoulder before he came to a stop at knives room; his hand shook a little as he slowly opened the door. Vash's eyes widened, as his worst fear was realized, knives was gone.
Millie startled by Vash's behavior, walked over to him, and looked over his shoulder "where did Mr. Knives go?" she asked him. Vash said nothing as Meryl walked into the room, wondering what was going on. She saw the empty room, and brought a hand to her mouth. "Oh no." she said as Vash finally turned to face the girls, "are you almost done packing?" he said in a serious tone.
"I'm done," said Millie, Meryl nodded, "we just need to get our cloaks," she told him. The girls went to retrieve their traveling cloaks as Vash walked back out on the porch, and was soon joined by the two girls. Vash turned and gave them a soft smile," ready to go?" the girls nodded and followed him as he walked down the street to the edge of the small town.
*What are you planning knives? * Vash thought as he and the girls left the town that had been their home behind them. It wasn't far to the next town, and there they could find a car or a bus that could help them catch up to knives. He really didn't want the girls to follow him, but he had promised not to leave them behind again. Vash smiled; *well at least I'm not alone. *
It was around nightfall when the little group walked into Carson town, tired and hungry. Vash told the girls to rest and get something to drink, while he got them some rooms for the night. So Meryl and Millie walked into the local saloon, and sat down at a table in the back. Millie ordered them some tea as they waited for Vash to arrive, which he did about five minutes later.
"We leave for Warrens city in the morning" Vash said as he sat down at their table. Meryl raised an eyebrow, "why Warrens city.is Knives headed there?" Vash shook his head "no, but I need to talk to an old friend about a new gun". Millie perked up, "oh you mean that nice gunsmith who lives there?" she asked him. "Yeah that's him, Frank Marlin" Vash said with a tired smile. "Do you have any idea where Knives is headed?" asked Meryl. Vash thought a moment then answered, "I'm almost sure that he'll head to the place where me and him fought the last time". "Why would he go there?" asked Millie in a confused tone.
Vash's reply was interrupted by the sound of arguing; he turned in his seat towards the commotion. At a table next to the bar, four men had stood up and were yelling at one another. The men appeared to be drunk, and one of the men who had his back to Vash's table, went to grab the gun holstered on his hip. Vash acted quickly by jumping out of his chair, and then kicking the chair with his foot. The chair flew upwards in an arc, and then crashed into the back of the man who was about to draw his gun, it knocked him over onto the table where he lay unconscious.
One of the unconscious man's buddies went to draw his gun as well, but he was quickly thrown into the bar, courtesy of Millie who had drawn and fired her stun gun. "I think we should get out here," Meryl said as she stood up. "Good idea" Vash replied. Vash and Meryl backed towards the door, while Millie kept her stun gun pointed at the people in the saloon, and then she too backed towards the door.
Once they were outside Millie put her stun gun back under her cloak, "we should turn in, we have to get up early tomorrow" Vash told them. Millie yawned in agreement, and followed her friends across the street. They walked into the one story building and went to their rooms, the girls in one room with Vash's across the hall. "Goodnight ladies" Vash said as he went to his room. The girls went into their room, and then after putting on some nightclothes, they turned in for the night.
Meryl lay awake for a little while before going to sleep, thinking about Vash and what she wanted to tell him. She had promised to herself that she would tell him how she felt about him, but she didn't know how, and with Knives running loose she didn't think it was a good time to tell Vash. He had enough to deal with at the moment, and didn't need any more thoughts to worry about.
Meryl smiled as she heard Millie mumble something in her sleep, at least she didn't have any trouble falling asleep, Meryl noted. Millie had an inner strength that rivaled her kind heart. She had taken Mr. Wolfwood's death in stride, not letting his passing interfere with her duties as an insurance agent, and most importantly her friends. Meryl didn't know if she could do that, and with knives loose again, her fear that Vash might be killed returned. That fear alone had kept her awake at night many times before, and it looked like it would again tonight.
She was wrong though, even with the troubling thoughts in her mind, she thankfully fell asleep a few minutes later. Across the hall Vash was having his own troubling thoughts, and like Meryl, they revolved around his brother. He'd beaten knives in their last battle, but only by the skin of his teeth. If they were to fight again, the battle could go either way, not to mention that knives had an edge now, and Vash was sure he'd use it to his advantage.
Vash had left the guns that activated the angel arms where he and knives had fought, which meant knives would probably head there first. If he did Knives would have both guns, leaving Vash at a disadvantage, and probably no hope at beating knives again. He didn't really want to make a detour at Warrens City, but he couldn't take a chance that he would beat knives to the guns, and if knives did get there first, Vash would need a reliable gun to stand against him.
This whole situation wasn't looking good at the moment, but Vash knew that if he believed in himself, he could beat knives and save him from the demons driving him to violence. Vash turned over in bed, and then clearing his thoughts from his mind, fell asleep.
At daybreak the three of them boarded a bus heading to Warrens City. It would take about two days to get there, provided there weren't any delays along the way. Vash looked out the window of the bus, while the girls talked between themselves, and hoped that this time trouble wouldn't follow after him. Meryl seemed to catch on to his worries; she turned in her seat to face him. "You shouldn't worry so much, or you'll be an old man before you know it" she said with a soft laugh.
Vash gasped and quickly turned his head to face Meryl "what did you say?" he asked her with wide eyes. Meryl looked started at his reaction, and Millie repeated what she had said. "She said you shouldn't worry so much, or you'll be an old man before you know it". "Is there something wrong with what Meryl said?" Millie asked him. Vash smiled "no it just reminded me of someone". Meryl was about to say something else, but the bus driver cut her off. "The winds picking up, it looks like there's a sand storm up ahead," he yelled over his shoulder. "Great" Meryl grumbled sarcastically. Millie stood up "is it a bad one?" she asked the driver. "Looks that way, I'm going to have to take a detour, there's a town about three iles west of here where we can wait it out", he told the passengers. Vash sighed, so much for escaping trouble.
********
At that very moment, knives was driving across the desert in a stolen truck. The truck had picked him up the night before, and then after snapping the driver's neck, he took the truck. He had been driving non-stop since then, and was about half way to destination, the Seeds ship that was his headquarters. Knives noted that he was low on gas, and would soon have to walk again, unless he came across another traveler with a vehicle.
* It doesn't matter*, he would reach the seeds ship first. Then he would have both guns, and Vash wouldn't be able to stop him this time. That thought alone brought a smirk to his face as he pressed the accelerator to the floor, trying to cover as much ground as possible before the gas tank went dry.
********
Interlude: York Town, one month ago.
The duel suns of the planet Gunsmoke shone down upon York Town with intense ferocity. Lazarus sat alone at a table in the town saloon, trying to escape the heat. He was also thinking over the information he'd gathered about the planet. The planet was mainly populated by a lot of small towns, and few major cities. The money, measurements, and even the modes of transportation had changed very little over time. Sitting in saloons for the past month had allowed him to gather all the information he needed to survive. Lazarus would soon begin searching for the plants he was ordered to find, and he had a good idea who one of the plants was.
Every town he had wandered into was full of gossip, about a man named Vash the Stampede who was wanted for 60 billion double dollars. He had also been declared mankinds first localized human disaster, and was rumored to have put the hole in the fifth moon. Lazarus believed the rumor about the moon, and he had an idea of how the outlaw had done it. Lazarus reached down into the duffle bag at his side, and pulled out one of the revolvers he'd found in the desert.
It was silver, and based off a 45. Long colt, but appearance aside it had been made with plant, or as the people now called it, lost technology. The gun was used to focus a plants energy, and activated their angel arms, which was what probably had put the hole in the fifth moon. Lazarus sighed, and put the gun back in his duffle bag, * at least I have a name to follow* he thought to himself.
He stood up, grabbing his duffle, and the huge cross that rested against the table. Lazarus didn't like the cross, it gave him a bad feeling every time he touched it, and it was very heavy to boot. Lazarus grunted as he picked the cross up by its straps, and gripped it over his shoulder. He would have left it in the desert, but when you hear a voice in your head you tend to listen to it. Every time he tried to leave it somewhere, a voice would growl at him to pick it back up.
Then there were the dreams he'd been having, about a man clad in black, and he always had his back to him, never letting Lazarus see his face. The dream always took place in a church, and the man clad in black kept saying the same thing, "find him". Lazarus shook his head as he walked out of the saloon, he'd worry about his mental health later, right now he had to complete his mission.
The only problem was, that Vash the Stampede hadn't been seen in months, and even if he was, Lazarus didn't know what he looked like. The rumors about his appearance varied from person to person, and he was known for escaping those who tried to capture him. Lazarus didn't know exactly what to do, but he figured that if he traveled fast enough, he might just run into this legendary gunman. Lazarus walked away from the saloon, and then down the street towards the bus that waited at the edge of town.
Riding on the bus was expensive, but thankfully the people on this planet still played poker, a game Lazarus was very good at. He gave most of the money he'd won from gambling to the bus driver, and then took a seat in the back. It wouldn't be long before Lazarus was in a different town, with new rumors to follow, and new people to beat at cards. End chapter two, written by Lee
Chapter 2: Discovery Disclaimer: I still don't own Trigun. (*=Thoughts)
Vash sat out on the porch of the house he and the girls rented, waiting for the girls to finish packing their things. Meryl was still kind of mad at him, not because of the broken window, or even for the incident with the town's people, she was angry because he hadn't let her and Millie deal with the problem.
Vash didn't understand totally, he'd solve worse problems before by himself, and without a gun as well. He understood that she didn't want him to get hurt, but still she should understand that he didn't want to get the girls involved with his troubles. They had both helped him so much, giving him the strength to face his brother, and then helping him take care of knives when he had brought him back wounded. Thinking of knives, Vash decided to go check on him and see if he was awake yet.
As Vash turned to walk back into the house, he saw something on it that he had missed before, during the wild race around the house. Written in blue letters all across the front of the house was "Vash the Stampede is here", and on the front door there was a blue "X". The blue letters brought a memory to Vash, a memory of "Knives" carefully written in red across the monument of a deserted town. Vash's eyes darkened as he quickly threw open the front door of the house, and ran down the hallway to knives's room.
Millie looked out of the room her and Meryl shared "what's wrong Mr. Vash" she asked him as he ran past her. "Nothing" he called over his shoulder before he came to a stop at knives room; his hand shook a little as he slowly opened the door. Vash's eyes widened, as his worst fear was realized, knives was gone.
Millie startled by Vash's behavior, walked over to him, and looked over his shoulder "where did Mr. Knives go?" she asked him. Vash said nothing as Meryl walked into the room, wondering what was going on. She saw the empty room, and brought a hand to her mouth. "Oh no." she said as Vash finally turned to face the girls, "are you almost done packing?" he said in a serious tone.
"I'm done," said Millie, Meryl nodded, "we just need to get our cloaks," she told him. The girls went to retrieve their traveling cloaks as Vash walked back out on the porch, and was soon joined by the two girls. Vash turned and gave them a soft smile," ready to go?" the girls nodded and followed him as he walked down the street to the edge of the small town.
*What are you planning knives? * Vash thought as he and the girls left the town that had been their home behind them. It wasn't far to the next town, and there they could find a car or a bus that could help them catch up to knives. He really didn't want the girls to follow him, but he had promised not to leave them behind again. Vash smiled; *well at least I'm not alone. *
It was around nightfall when the little group walked into Carson town, tired and hungry. Vash told the girls to rest and get something to drink, while he got them some rooms for the night. So Meryl and Millie walked into the local saloon, and sat down at a table in the back. Millie ordered them some tea as they waited for Vash to arrive, which he did about five minutes later.
"We leave for Warrens city in the morning" Vash said as he sat down at their table. Meryl raised an eyebrow, "why Warrens city.is Knives headed there?" Vash shook his head "no, but I need to talk to an old friend about a new gun". Millie perked up, "oh you mean that nice gunsmith who lives there?" she asked him. "Yeah that's him, Frank Marlin" Vash said with a tired smile. "Do you have any idea where Knives is headed?" asked Meryl. Vash thought a moment then answered, "I'm almost sure that he'll head to the place where me and him fought the last time". "Why would he go there?" asked Millie in a confused tone.
Vash's reply was interrupted by the sound of arguing; he turned in his seat towards the commotion. At a table next to the bar, four men had stood up and were yelling at one another. The men appeared to be drunk, and one of the men who had his back to Vash's table, went to grab the gun holstered on his hip. Vash acted quickly by jumping out of his chair, and then kicking the chair with his foot. The chair flew upwards in an arc, and then crashed into the back of the man who was about to draw his gun, it knocked him over onto the table where he lay unconscious.
One of the unconscious man's buddies went to draw his gun as well, but he was quickly thrown into the bar, courtesy of Millie who had drawn and fired her stun gun. "I think we should get out here," Meryl said as she stood up. "Good idea" Vash replied. Vash and Meryl backed towards the door, while Millie kept her stun gun pointed at the people in the saloon, and then she too backed towards the door.
Once they were outside Millie put her stun gun back under her cloak, "we should turn in, we have to get up early tomorrow" Vash told them. Millie yawned in agreement, and followed her friends across the street. They walked into the one story building and went to their rooms, the girls in one room with Vash's across the hall. "Goodnight ladies" Vash said as he went to his room. The girls went into their room, and then after putting on some nightclothes, they turned in for the night.
Meryl lay awake for a little while before going to sleep, thinking about Vash and what she wanted to tell him. She had promised to herself that she would tell him how she felt about him, but she didn't know how, and with Knives running loose she didn't think it was a good time to tell Vash. He had enough to deal with at the moment, and didn't need any more thoughts to worry about.
Meryl smiled as she heard Millie mumble something in her sleep, at least she didn't have any trouble falling asleep, Meryl noted. Millie had an inner strength that rivaled her kind heart. She had taken Mr. Wolfwood's death in stride, not letting his passing interfere with her duties as an insurance agent, and most importantly her friends. Meryl didn't know if she could do that, and with knives loose again, her fear that Vash might be killed returned. That fear alone had kept her awake at night many times before, and it looked like it would again tonight.
She was wrong though, even with the troubling thoughts in her mind, she thankfully fell asleep a few minutes later. Across the hall Vash was having his own troubling thoughts, and like Meryl, they revolved around his brother. He'd beaten knives in their last battle, but only by the skin of his teeth. If they were to fight again, the battle could go either way, not to mention that knives had an edge now, and Vash was sure he'd use it to his advantage.
Vash had left the guns that activated the angel arms where he and knives had fought, which meant knives would probably head there first. If he did Knives would have both guns, leaving Vash at a disadvantage, and probably no hope at beating knives again. He didn't really want to make a detour at Warrens City, but he couldn't take a chance that he would beat knives to the guns, and if knives did get there first, Vash would need a reliable gun to stand against him.
This whole situation wasn't looking good at the moment, but Vash knew that if he believed in himself, he could beat knives and save him from the demons driving him to violence. Vash turned over in bed, and then clearing his thoughts from his mind, fell asleep.
At daybreak the three of them boarded a bus heading to Warrens City. It would take about two days to get there, provided there weren't any delays along the way. Vash looked out the window of the bus, while the girls talked between themselves, and hoped that this time trouble wouldn't follow after him. Meryl seemed to catch on to his worries; she turned in her seat to face him. "You shouldn't worry so much, or you'll be an old man before you know it" she said with a soft laugh.
Vash gasped and quickly turned his head to face Meryl "what did you say?" he asked her with wide eyes. Meryl looked started at his reaction, and Millie repeated what she had said. "She said you shouldn't worry so much, or you'll be an old man before you know it". "Is there something wrong with what Meryl said?" Millie asked him. Vash smiled "no it just reminded me of someone". Meryl was about to say something else, but the bus driver cut her off. "The winds picking up, it looks like there's a sand storm up ahead," he yelled over his shoulder. "Great" Meryl grumbled sarcastically. Millie stood up "is it a bad one?" she asked the driver. "Looks that way, I'm going to have to take a detour, there's a town about three iles west of here where we can wait it out", he told the passengers. Vash sighed, so much for escaping trouble.
********
At that very moment, knives was driving across the desert in a stolen truck. The truck had picked him up the night before, and then after snapping the driver's neck, he took the truck. He had been driving non-stop since then, and was about half way to destination, the Seeds ship that was his headquarters. Knives noted that he was low on gas, and would soon have to walk again, unless he came across another traveler with a vehicle.
* It doesn't matter*, he would reach the seeds ship first. Then he would have both guns, and Vash wouldn't be able to stop him this time. That thought alone brought a smirk to his face as he pressed the accelerator to the floor, trying to cover as much ground as possible before the gas tank went dry.
********
Interlude: York Town, one month ago.
The duel suns of the planet Gunsmoke shone down upon York Town with intense ferocity. Lazarus sat alone at a table in the town saloon, trying to escape the heat. He was also thinking over the information he'd gathered about the planet. The planet was mainly populated by a lot of small towns, and few major cities. The money, measurements, and even the modes of transportation had changed very little over time. Sitting in saloons for the past month had allowed him to gather all the information he needed to survive. Lazarus would soon begin searching for the plants he was ordered to find, and he had a good idea who one of the plants was.
Every town he had wandered into was full of gossip, about a man named Vash the Stampede who was wanted for 60 billion double dollars. He had also been declared mankinds first localized human disaster, and was rumored to have put the hole in the fifth moon. Lazarus believed the rumor about the moon, and he had an idea of how the outlaw had done it. Lazarus reached down into the duffle bag at his side, and pulled out one of the revolvers he'd found in the desert.
It was silver, and based off a 45. Long colt, but appearance aside it had been made with plant, or as the people now called it, lost technology. The gun was used to focus a plants energy, and activated their angel arms, which was what probably had put the hole in the fifth moon. Lazarus sighed, and put the gun back in his duffle bag, * at least I have a name to follow* he thought to himself.
He stood up, grabbing his duffle, and the huge cross that rested against the table. Lazarus didn't like the cross, it gave him a bad feeling every time he touched it, and it was very heavy to boot. Lazarus grunted as he picked the cross up by its straps, and gripped it over his shoulder. He would have left it in the desert, but when you hear a voice in your head you tend to listen to it. Every time he tried to leave it somewhere, a voice would growl at him to pick it back up.
Then there were the dreams he'd been having, about a man clad in black, and he always had his back to him, never letting Lazarus see his face. The dream always took place in a church, and the man clad in black kept saying the same thing, "find him". Lazarus shook his head as he walked out of the saloon, he'd worry about his mental health later, right now he had to complete his mission.
The only problem was, that Vash the Stampede hadn't been seen in months, and even if he was, Lazarus didn't know what he looked like. The rumors about his appearance varied from person to person, and he was known for escaping those who tried to capture him. Lazarus didn't know exactly what to do, but he figured that if he traveled fast enough, he might just run into this legendary gunman. Lazarus walked away from the saloon, and then down the street towards the bus that waited at the edge of town.
Riding on the bus was expensive, but thankfully the people on this planet still played poker, a game Lazarus was very good at. He gave most of the money he'd won from gambling to the bus driver, and then took a seat in the back. It wouldn't be long before Lazarus was in a different town, with new rumors to follow, and new people to beat at cards. End chapter two, written by Lee