Disclaimer: I own nothing except Celestia, Demonte, and the Mafia (so far). Trigun and its contents belong to Yasuhiro Nightow.

Engel: Sacrifice

Chapter Two

Geranium Petals

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same."

-Author Unknown

On the outskirts of town, Demonte found a secluded cave and motioned Celestia out of the storm.

"A cave? Why didn't we just get a hotel room?" She looked at her companion as she removed her hood.

"Isn't it obvious? That's because I'm in the Mafia, remember? People are hunting me. And besides, do you really think we have the money to pay for a hotel room? We're in the middle of the Dark Ages here." Celestia bowed her head as Demonte pulled out a flashlight and lit the cave walls. "Even my own money has to go somewhere. It's not just for vacation you know."

"Yeah, I know that."

"Hey, you're the one who insisted on coming with me."

"That's only because I'm a wanted criminal too! They'll shoot me dead if they ever found me!"

Demonte laughed. "So what did you do to get them so pissed off?"

"Well," Celestia looked around for dry sticks to use for a fire. "I kinda bribed the Insurance Agency to let me slide for a little while on some things that came due. So, payday came and went, except they went unpaid. Things kinda escalated from bad to worse when the Boss said that he'd let me go off completely if I spent the night with him."

"And?"

Celestia looked up at Demonte, angrily. "I told him to screw off! Hey, I'm only twenty-five okay? I'm not gonna sleep with some guy twice my age."

"I'll take it that he didn't like that," Demonte couldn't help but let out a few stifled hiccups.

"Just what is so funny!? Hey, I was scared after that, you know. I'd get these weird letters in the mail and these people that would always stalk my house!" Celestia sighed and turned to build a fire in the middle of the cave. "It's not easy being a psychic. Not only do you have the stuff that's going on outside, but on the inside is even worse. I was so paranoid you would've thought I was insane."

"So you joined me?"

"Of course! After their Boss finds out what happened to his posse, he'll be after me like a bounty hunter to an outlaw. But you know," She smiled as her gaze diverted to his hidden face. "You seem like you live a lonely life. I suppose that's another reason I couldn't let you go off alone."

"I'm used to it."

"Yeah right. Don't give me that anti-social, tough guy crap. I get enough of that as it is."

"And just what would you know about tough guys?"

"Plenty more than you." She remarked. "My father was one. And not the one who acts tough to protect something he loves either."

"Oh, I see." Demonte chuckled.

"Idiot," She muttered and continued to stack the sticks for the fire. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not following because I like you or anything…"

"Oh…?"

"Yeah, I need the protection of someone like you. Especially after what happened back in December."

"Oh, so now I'm a bodyguard?"

"In a nutshell."

"So I'm getting paid?"

"Well, since I'm flat out broke, let's make a deal."

"Shoot."

"If you act as my bodyguard until I get as far as November City, I'll help you with your hunt for Granus."

"How?"

"Don't be stupid, I'm a mind reader after all."

Demonte flicked the tip of his chin. "You've got a point."

Finally, smoke emerged from the bark of the sticks and Celestia blew into it. After the fire had advanced to a reasonable height, Celestia wiped the sweat from her brow and sighed happily. She slammed the palms of her hands on her thighs and turned to look up at her companion.

"Well? Do we have a deal?" Celestia held out her hand and Demonte took it lightly.

Pumping her arm a few times, Demonte nodded. "All right, you help me get any information I need, and I'll take you to November City, is that fine with you?"

"Absolutely." She smiled as she shifted her position and motioned Demonte to sit beside her. "Hey, come on, take off that hood of yours Dem. I wanna see the face of my ace gunman here."

She reached for his hood, but he swatted her hand away.

"Not right now, I don't want anyone to see my face."

"Huh?" She blinked, laughed, and sobered up. "What are you ugly or something? I'll bet you have a big boil on the side of your face. Or a pimple." She again reached for his hood and was once again welcomed by Demonte's swatting hand.

"Leave it alone," He warned.

"All right, all right," Celestia sighed, disappointed. "Geez, you're no fun." She turned back towards the fire and took out the barrette on the back of her head, leaving her goldenrod hair to fall about her shoulders and a little past that. Smoothing out her black velvet dress, Celestia bit her lip as she prepared to ask Demonte another question.

"Hey, Dem,"

"Don't call me that."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"N—"

"Why exactly are you in a Mafia such as Hell's Mafia?"

He sighed, wishing that she had given him a chance to deny her question. However, since it was asked, he felt that he had no choice but to answer.

"I thought you knew that."

"I do…kinda…but I want to hear it from you."

"Kinda?"

"I can't exactly see what you're thinking, only feel it."

Well, that was comforting to know.

"Well," He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He most certainly did not like bringing up the past.

"And don't lie to me either. I'll know if you're lying."

"You know it's rather uncomfortable for a person that I hardly know to know all about me, my life, career, and family."

"Sorry," She said. "But would you at least answer my question?"

"A lot of choice I have."

"Please?"

"Like I said, I have no choice." Demonte sighed and scooted himself closer to the fire. Celestia did the same. "When I was born, my parents, Eric and Jennae Kalabis were millionaires. They also had four other children besides my 'supposed' twin sister and myself."

"The Kalabis Family…I've always heard that they liked to stay concealed, so not much was known about them. What were your siblings' names?"

Demonte looked towards the ground. "Cassidy, Joel, Lindsay, and Mark. My brothers…and sisters…"

"What about your twin?"

"I never even knew that I had a twin sister until tonight. My Boss had mentioned the subject to me after we had gotten into a bit of an argument. Anyway, my family had bought land in Augusta and they had a wealthy estate growing prosperously from it. I was the youngest of my siblings and so they would inherit all of the money. None of it was ever intended for me or my sister either, I suppose."

"But why?"

"Because I was the youngest. I was the most ignored, and I was a 'mistake'. I'll admit, I hated my family, even my brothers and sisters whom treated me the same way my parents did. They never even told me that I had a twin sister because they sold her at market one day. My Boss said that it was because my family never wanted a girl, but I don't see how that was possible because there were two other girls in my family."

"Perhaps, it was…something else that the girl had." Celestia suggested.

"Maybe, but he said that she was sold off to another family from Lewiston City and she was never heard from again. My family was associated with this man named…"

"…Charles Franklin Rohgsworn, leader of the Hell's Mafia."

Demonte looked at her in disbelief. "That's right, but how…" Then he remembered her special talent. "Nevermind. Anyway, he was supposedly the accountant for my family's money, AND the undercover Mafia Leader. When I turned twelve, Rohgsworn killed my family. He shot them all with his stainless steel revolver…custom made by my OWN father…" Demonte's eyes became locked onto the fire. "Sure, I had had my own thoughts of vengeance about my family and their cruelty towards me, but that was something that I had learned to keep to myself. But when I came home that day…"

Demonte felt himself break off.

"Mom, dad! I'm home!"

Blood. Dripping from the bathtub.

Drip…

Drip…

Drip…

In the master bedroom, his father's body, blood soaking the silky sheets of his parents' bed. Perfect round black circles all in his father's body, mainly near the chest. The expression on his father's blue face…

…Why was the boy shaking?

Mother, hanging in the bathtub with a leather belt around the collar of her neck, like a noose of a sort. Her dark brown hair mattered all around her face; he couldn't even see his own mother's expression.

All he could see was the blue nightgown draped loosely around his mother. Blood smeared the front of her chest down to her crotch. Crimson…rich…and thick…

Drip…

Drip…

Drip…

Cassidy, Mark, Lindsay, Joel…

Where were they?

Mark and Joel were sprawled out across their beds, facedown, as if they were asleep. He would have believed it to be so, if he had not had eyed the dark pool that his two brothers had been swimming in. The clock still ticked in their room, as though nothing had changed. But they were dead, and the boy knew it.

Cassidy…Lindsay…

Cassidy lie facedown on her vanity, fresh blood smudged across the mirror. Was that a handprint? The same dark holes that he had found on his mother, father, and two brothers were on his sisters as well. Blood streaked the back of Cassidy's white low-cut shirt. As he turned, he saw Lindsay's body shoved into a closet, blood sliding across the marble floor. The blood, the blood was advancing towards him, like it was going to devour him like it did mother and father and his brothers and sisters!

Screaming, he teetered and dashed out of the room, tripping over the living room carpet and greeted the ground all too abruptly. He lay there, and whimpered. Then warm liquid dropped onto the back of his neck, making the small hairs on his neck stand on end. He slowly looked up and a dark drop splattered on the tip of his nose.

Holding his head up, he met the deadly eyes of Charles Franklin Rohgsworn, and stared down his lethal revolver. The boy had remembered the apprehension in that face. It looked almost as though Rohgsworn had intended on killing him too. But instead, he wiped the trail of blood from the tip of the boy's nose and patted the boy's small head. The child saw the patches of fresh, dark blood on Rohgsworn's white business suit.

"Demonte Kalabis, from now on, you will ask no questions and you will forget everything you've seen today. You are my son from now on."

"Hey, HEY! Dem!" Celestia shook Demonte by the shoulders. "Hey what's the matter with you? One minute you're talking, the next you stop mid-sentence and drift off into Nowhere's Land."

Demonte had barely escaped that dream, if it hadn't been for Celestia's constant nagging. He shook himself from the nightmare and looked at Celestia. He was almost thankful that she had pulled him out when she did.

"I'm sorry, you didn't by chance…see anything…when you were reading my mind, did you?"

"Not in particular. I can only hear your thoughts, I can't see your visions."

"Oh, well…"

"Why, what did I miss?"

"Nothing," He said quickly, wanting to close off the subject for good.

A hiatus in the conversation for a brief moment and then…

"Well?" Celestia asked impatiently.

"Well what?"

"Aren't you going to finish what you were going to say?"

"Oh yes, well when I came home that day, I found all of my parents murdered and Charles at the scene. He took me in as his own, and I've been in the Mafia ever since."

Celestia pulled her knees to her chest and placed her chin on top of her kneecaps. "Boy, wandering around at the age of twelve, working for thugs like them?"

"It was all that I knew. I was twelve."

"What happened after that?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, how did you get those Forbidden Magicks and everything?"

"Huh? I thought that you were a mind reader."

She glared at him. "You're a moron. I've told you this before. I may be a psychic but I'm not omnipotent, dammit." Thank God. "I can't see your visions, only hear them. AND I can only read your mind with what's on it at the time. I knew about your Mafia problem and your family problem because that's what you were thinking about at the time. But other than that, I don't know anything about you unless I'm reading your mind as you think about something." Well that was a relief. Then that meant that she didn't know about the Ohio Ru—

"So you don't know anything other than that?"

"No."

Good, he'd have to keep it that way. If he kept his thoughts more closed when she was around, she wouldn't be able to read them at all. He quickly changed the subject.

"Well after that, there was that mysterious beam over in Volman. Vash the Stampede disappeared and so did our peaceful days. There hasn't been a blue sky since then."

"Everyone…" Demonte turned to look at the blonde girl next to him. "…thinks that the end of the world is near. I mean, from the beginning of the existence on this planet, the legend of Vash the Stampede has always just 'been'."

"Can you blame him for everything?" Demonte felt himself ask.

"Well," Celestia looked around the cave walls. "…No." Well at least she wasn't as narrow-minded as most people. Even Demonte had wondered about the Legendary Gunman. He had never met him and doubt that he ever would, especially now that he had disappeared.

"It's hard to think that a man that strong would just curl up and die." Demonte said thoughtfully. "I mean, he's been around for over one-hundred and thirty years and just all of a sudden, he dies? Just who the hell are they blaming for this catastrophe anyway? We've been held up in his Hell hole for four years now, just who are they blaming?"

"Maybe," Celestia twiddled her thumbs. "Maybe we should just let the Alchemists continue their research and find a way to get off of this planet. Why are we out to destroy them anyway?"

"…I don't know. Charles wouldn't explain."

"Maybe…he's afraid of getting off this planet. Here, he has control. While everyone is starving to death in the Dark Ages, he's just kicking back and swindling money." Celestia suddenly became outraged, as though Rohgsworn were in the room right at that moment. "It's not fair! He should—"

"Enough of that!" Demonte snapped. "We are in no position to question him. He says that what he is doing is right. And besides, his selfishness is what keeps food on MY table. I have no choice but to obey him. I can't break free; it's too late." Demonte lowered his head, chewing on his bottom lip. "I'm twenty-eight years old, I can't break free now." He repeated.

Celestia felt the space next to her become vacant as Demonte arose and settled down in the far corner of the room, sprawling across the cave floor, his back to the cold ground. Rolling over, his back becoming opposite of his partner, Demonte only bid her goodnight and drifted off to sleep.

"But you still never answered my question!" Celestia protested.

"Hmmm? And what was that?" He asked groggily.

"How did you come to acquire such powerful Forbidden Magicks?"

"I'll tell you later," He waved her off. "I'd ask you about your past, but unlike you, I don't care."

Celestia frowned and leaned forward, trying to concentrate her thoughts onto his mind. But to her surprise, he had built walls, meant to keep her out. Shivering, Celestia shifted herself comfortably on the cave floor, next to the fire, and curled herself into a ball.

"Where are we going tomorrow, fearless leader?"

"Dankin Town," Demonte yawned. "So shut up and go to sleep. I'm waking you up at the crack of dawn tomorrow."

"What!?" Celestia blinked. "What the hell for!?"

"I have to meet with another of my subordinates there."

Celestia sighed sadly. "Does this have to do with Granus?"

"You know that it does."

"All right," Another sigh.

Demonte shut his eyes, tuning himself out of the noise in the background. He was extremely sleep deprived, especially after the sand steamer had crashed and he had found himself walking all the way to December.

However, the sandman had no intended mercy on Demonte,

as his dreams were brutal all night long.

La, la, la, la…

Singing? Was that mother?

"Demonte, a world full of beauty and grass and trees. It's just waiting for us!"

Wait, not HIS mother…

Just, another woman, from his memories…

Long black hair, white shirt, faded blue jeans that fig snugly around her thin figure, red petals swimming in the sky…

What was her name again?

It was just on the tip of his tongue…Or was it…?

La, la, la, la…

All that he had knew…was that she disappeared…and he had never seen her again…

Re…

Wait. Someone was pulling on him. Soft hands caressing his face, running long fingertips through his black hair. It was the first time that someone had touched him so gently in…how many years?

Demonte's hand jerked up and snatched the moving hand from exploring his facial features any further. Opening his eyes fiercely, Demonte gazed up at the woman towering over him. In his hand, he had captured her silky warm hand. He growled as Celestia shrunk in fear.

"What are you doing?" He hissed.

"I…It's daybreak…" Celestia said meekly. "I was only trying to wake you…"

Then Demonte's heart raced in panic. She had removed the hood from his face. He pushed her off of him and looked at Celestia, mouth agape. She stared at his face, shocked. A handsome face was hidden beneath that hood, with tinted purple eyes and raven hair that fell about his face, even into his eyes. Along the side of his cheek was a Band-Aid, meant for whatever kind of injury that had been engraved there.

"You…you look like…" Celestia began. Demonte quickly pulled the hood over his eyes and scrambled to his feet. "…that boy from…"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Demonte interrupted and hastily made his way to the mouth of the cave. "Let's go."

"But Dem…!"

"Be quiet and just follow, all right?"

Celestia held her hand up in protest, as though she had planned on saying something more, but bit her tongue and just followed a few steps away from her male companion. Demonte held a hand up to the side of his face and fingered the Band-Aid. His spine grew chilled as he touched the soft fabric. Unfavorable memories were held within the torn flesh under that piece of fabric.

Well? Getting any better? Oh! I must say that the next chapter will prove better. Familiar faces return, but it is up to you to distinguish them. Take care! Oh and I know that I said that I would post the next chapter on Monday. But… ^_^ I lied. I just wanted to get on with the story so yeah. I'll post the next one soon. R&R please!

BLD