Chapter 6
Alone
There was a throbbing pain in his chest. Vash could feel it every time he breathed. His heart felt heavy, it hurt, every inch of him, without thinking about it, it hurt. Vash twitched his fingers; he could feel them, they moved slowly as he raised his hand to his chest. It felt heavy, so heavy. His eyes fluttered open into the light and he moaned. "Where... Where am I?"
No one answered, but as his eyes adjusted, he knew he was back in the hospital. Lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling... What happened? He remembered shooting Knives, remembered his brother's gun going off at the same time, but then it was all dark. Where was Knives? What about Marissa? He squeezed his eyes shut, maybe it was all a dream, maybe he fell asleep and it was all a dream. But in his heart he knew it wasn't. Everything happened just as he remembered it. So did he kill Knives? Was he dead? But why was he alive? His chest hurt...
Fingers carefully pried at the bandages over his heart. It was painful, very painful. He moved his head, looking down, ignoring the headache he got as he bent his head to look at the wound. Underneath the bandages was a heavy metal mesh. It was screwed into his ribcage. What in the world did they do to him? Knives shot him in the heart... But he survived, and now... Vash laid his head back into the pillow. Knives was right, they were immortal. If he could survive this, he could survive anything. Knives wasn't dead, he was out there somewhere, just as alive, even if his shot was dead on, Vash knew he would see his brother again.
But what about Marissa? Vash sighed. There were drugs in his system. That's why he couldn't move without hurting. Must be. It was nice to feel the pain, to feel human for once. He smiled grimly, but even that hurt. Vash wanted to get out of the bed and find out what happened. They had to tell him... "Hello! Hello? Is anyone out there?"
"Shut up..." A voice came from his left, and Vash turned his head to look at the source. "You're giving me a headache." Vash's eyes widened.
"Marissa?"
"Who did you think it was?" She turned her head to look at him. "You look terrible." Her neck was bruised, her shoulder bandaged, and her eyes were bloodshot. "Don't tell me, I look bad too..." She chuckled to herself. "But I wasn't shot three times." Marissa coughed and cringed. "Throat still hurts however."
Vash heaved out a sigh, "You're alive."
"Thanks to you," she said. "I shouldn't have followed you... But I had to know..." The girl coughed again and she reached out her good arm to grab a glass of water by the bed. After taking a sip, she looked over at Vash. "I wanted to know why he didn't kill me. I guess I hoped that maybe he..."
"Liked you?" Vash shook his head and closed his eyes. "He hates the whole human race, Marissa. I don't think Knives can like anyone. He's forgotten how to love."
Marissa laughed, "I doubt that man ever knew how."
"He did," Vash thought back to Rem. "Once. He was kind once." His eyes opened and he moved his hands to get a grip on the bed. Marissa watched him, she opened her mouth to say something, but Vash ignored her and pulled himself up in the bed. He cringed, but the pain was starting to recede now that he was awake. "Where is he, do you know?"
The girl shook her head, "I'm sorry, I don't. My Dad said one of the plant workers found us last night. We were all alone, there was no sign of him." She chuckled, "They said you looked dead. I would have believed it too. Dad said your heart stopped. The bullet bent your ribs inward, and ripped through your heart. He was about to do an autopsy when it started beating again." Marissa slowly turned on her side and looked at him. "I'm sure he would apologize for the haphazard job he did, he said the mesh was the only way he could figure out to pull your ribs back into place long enough to let your heart continue beating."
Vash set his hand back on his chest and shrugged. "I'll have to thank him."
"You already have, by saving my daughter." Vash and Marissa looked over to Dr. Neiman. He was holding a tray of bandages, but managed not to drop them this time. Apparently he'd gotten over the shock of Vash healing quickly. He came over to the bed and set the tray down. "You are awake again I see. Mind telling me how come? A human wouldn't have survived it."
"I'm not a human," Vash replied. He looked down at his hands. "Please, don't ask me any more. It would only put you in danger."
Dr. Neiman opened his mouth but Marissa shushed him. "He's right Dad. Just look at where it got me." She smiled slightly as Vash looked at her. He couldn't believe she was so light-hearted after everything that happened. How could she still bare to look at him? Marissa had almost died because of him and his brother, and yet... Yet, here she was, smiling, violet eyes filled with forgiveness. "Has there been any word on his brother?"
Vash turned to look at the doctor, but the old man shook his head. "No one saw him leave. But Frank's car is missing. There are tracks leading out into the desert." He pulled back the sheets over Vash's lap and started to examine the bullet wound on his leg. "Looks like you'll be up in a few days," he said after a moment. "You heal quickly. I just wish Marissa had your... whatever it is."
"No, I don't think you would," Vash replied slowly. "When I can stand again I'll leave town. I'm really sorry about all of this."
"You could... Always stay..." Marissa said next to him. He turned to look at her. She was still smiling. "If your brother thinks you're dead, I'm sure that he won't come back. It would be nice to have you around." She lowered her head and blushed.
He shook his head, "No. I have to go find him. He's dangerous, and I'm the only one who can stop him."
"Oh."
Vash sighed. "Thank you for the offer. I wish I could stay."
Marissa looked up at him with her violet eyes and she smiled. "Me too."
The suns were high over the city when Vash climbed the stairs to the plant. The engineers struggled to save it, but after the outside air seeped in, his sister just faded away. Vash looked at the inanimate plant with sorrow. I'm sorry, Sister. He pressed his hands to the cool glass and tears rolled down his cheeks. He wasn't like her, but she had been alive, and it was wrong to kill her, just like any other creature. Vash sniffed and wiped his nose with a sleeve. There wasn't anything more he could do. It was his fault she died, but he couldn't think of another way to stop Knives... Could he have made a better decision? Saved everyone? Vash closed his eyes; he'd do better next time when he found Knives again.
Knives, Vash thought, opening up his mind even as he opened his eyes. Where did you go? There was no response. He didn't really expect one. Vash turned to walk back down the steps, listening to the engineers talking. They'd lost a third of the city's power when the plant died. He bit his lip hearing this, adding more salt to his open wounds. The other two plants were struggling to make up for her loss. In time they would most likely learn to live with one less plant, but the city would suffer until then.
Vash continued his walk. He didn't really help anything at all did he? Knives was still out there and dangerous. Marissa was okay, but forever scarred. The city lost one of its plants. All he wanted to do was to show Knives that the humans weren't all evil, that they weren't all garbage. Why didn't Knives see that? These people took them both in without a question, took care of them and even showed love to him... Vash smiled briefly, Marissa had fallen in love with Knives. Didn't matter that it was just an idea she had of him, for six years it was he she wanted to see most, to learn more about... Knives. The killer of millions of people, stranding them on this desert planet forever, and not even human. But she loved him. It saved her life too. He could have killed her easily, could have sent that shot straight into her heart, but he missed, and Vash had a feeling it might have been on purpose. Whether it was or not, she survived Knives' wrath, and Vash knew that she'd do great things one day. Only God could have saved her.
Outside of the plant facility, Michael, Frank and Stephanie were sitting in their car eating lunch. Vash looked up at them, he'd met them about a week before, when they came to the hospital. Stephanie and Michael were engaged. Frank was Stephanie's older brother; he worked part time at the plant and did other odd jobs around the town. They were humans, living normal lives, but they all stopped to help... These three cared for the brothers instantly without question. So why didn't Knives see that?
Vash's eyes fell on the car. There were only a few cars around the town, they normally were shipped from one of the cities, usually December, but the car they sat in now had not arrived by sand steamer. "Guess what we found," Frank said, leaning over his door to look at Vash. He held out a sandwich.
Vash's eyes went wide, "That isn't your old car is it?" He stepped forward and took the food without question. Ah... Salmon. Vash smiled, "Thanks, this is very good." It didn't take him long to finish it.
Frank nodded; he hitched a thumb at Michael. "The two of us followed the tracks out into the desert a few days ago. At first they were real clear, but then they disappeared, but Mike said we should go a bit farther, and finally we found it." He smiled, patting his car with a gentle hand. It was a special thing to have a working vehicle around these parts. "Ran out of gas and he didn't know to check the trunk for more. There weren't footprints or anything, but there was a lot of blood."
"Took me four hours to clean it all up," Stephanie piped up from the backseat. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand almost to demonstrate how much work she put into it for her brother. "I'm surprised whoever lost that much blood survived."
Vash nodded slowly, "Which direction was it headed in when you found it?"
"Straight east, towards the small sun," Michael answered. He tilted his head to the side and adjusted his coveralls. "You going after him?"
"I've got to," Vash replied. "Although..." His mind trailed off for a time. If Knives were headed toward the little ship, he would have driven southeast, not directly east. There was a small mountain range that separated the southern and northern parts of the sandworm territory. To the south was where they uncovered the small ship, to the far north, the mother ship, but why go to the mountains? He shook his head, it didn't make sense. "I'm not exactly sure where he was headed... Or if he'll go back to where we were staying."
Stephanie leaned out from the car, "Then why go at all? You're a smart guy, I'm sure Frank and the boys could use your help getting the plants working again." Frank nodded slowly, but they all seemed to know that Vash wasn't going to stay. She shrugged, "Well, you will come back for the wedding, won't you? It's only a month away, once we get the spare room built."
Vash smiled, "I'll see what I can do. Thanks for the sandwich." He turned and walked down the street back to the hospital. It was quiet this time of day. The whole town was quiet since the plant died. Vash pushed through the front doors and looked over at the nurse behind the desk. She smiled and pulled out his belongings. "Thanks for watching them," he said slowly and looked around. "Where are Marissa and the Doc?"
"Gone to lunch," the nurse replied. "They're over at Shelby's..."
"No... I need to go. Tell them thank you for me, okay?" The nurse started to open her mouth, but Vash silenced her, "It's better this way." He left the hospital and walked down the long road out of town. It was harder to leave this time than it had been before. Things were different now. He wasn't sure about his destination, there was no place to go to besides the little ship... Vash readjusted the bag on his shoulder as he walked up the hills leading to the sea of sand. He hoped that Knives would be there, but unsure what he would do if he found his brother again. The seeds of hate fermented within Knives. He'd be a stronger man now, more dangerous, especially if he thought that his brother was dead.
Even though Vash felt Knives' tight leash around him, the truth was he was the only thing keeping his brother in check for these last fifty years. What would happen now that his conscience was gone? Vash shivered to even think about it. He'd go back to the ship and wait. It was the only thing he could do. Even if he had to be alone, he'd find his brother someday. Or Knives would find him.
Alone
There was a throbbing pain in his chest. Vash could feel it every time he breathed. His heart felt heavy, it hurt, every inch of him, without thinking about it, it hurt. Vash twitched his fingers; he could feel them, they moved slowly as he raised his hand to his chest. It felt heavy, so heavy. His eyes fluttered open into the light and he moaned. "Where... Where am I?"
No one answered, but as his eyes adjusted, he knew he was back in the hospital. Lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling... What happened? He remembered shooting Knives, remembered his brother's gun going off at the same time, but then it was all dark. Where was Knives? What about Marissa? He squeezed his eyes shut, maybe it was all a dream, maybe he fell asleep and it was all a dream. But in his heart he knew it wasn't. Everything happened just as he remembered it. So did he kill Knives? Was he dead? But why was he alive? His chest hurt...
Fingers carefully pried at the bandages over his heart. It was painful, very painful. He moved his head, looking down, ignoring the headache he got as he bent his head to look at the wound. Underneath the bandages was a heavy metal mesh. It was screwed into his ribcage. What in the world did they do to him? Knives shot him in the heart... But he survived, and now... Vash laid his head back into the pillow. Knives was right, they were immortal. If he could survive this, he could survive anything. Knives wasn't dead, he was out there somewhere, just as alive, even if his shot was dead on, Vash knew he would see his brother again.
But what about Marissa? Vash sighed. There were drugs in his system. That's why he couldn't move without hurting. Must be. It was nice to feel the pain, to feel human for once. He smiled grimly, but even that hurt. Vash wanted to get out of the bed and find out what happened. They had to tell him... "Hello! Hello? Is anyone out there?"
"Shut up..." A voice came from his left, and Vash turned his head to look at the source. "You're giving me a headache." Vash's eyes widened.
"Marissa?"
"Who did you think it was?" She turned her head to look at him. "You look terrible." Her neck was bruised, her shoulder bandaged, and her eyes were bloodshot. "Don't tell me, I look bad too..." She chuckled to herself. "But I wasn't shot three times." Marissa coughed and cringed. "Throat still hurts however."
Vash heaved out a sigh, "You're alive."
"Thanks to you," she said. "I shouldn't have followed you... But I had to know..." The girl coughed again and she reached out her good arm to grab a glass of water by the bed. After taking a sip, she looked over at Vash. "I wanted to know why he didn't kill me. I guess I hoped that maybe he..."
"Liked you?" Vash shook his head and closed his eyes. "He hates the whole human race, Marissa. I don't think Knives can like anyone. He's forgotten how to love."
Marissa laughed, "I doubt that man ever knew how."
"He did," Vash thought back to Rem. "Once. He was kind once." His eyes opened and he moved his hands to get a grip on the bed. Marissa watched him, she opened her mouth to say something, but Vash ignored her and pulled himself up in the bed. He cringed, but the pain was starting to recede now that he was awake. "Where is he, do you know?"
The girl shook her head, "I'm sorry, I don't. My Dad said one of the plant workers found us last night. We were all alone, there was no sign of him." She chuckled, "They said you looked dead. I would have believed it too. Dad said your heart stopped. The bullet bent your ribs inward, and ripped through your heart. He was about to do an autopsy when it started beating again." Marissa slowly turned on her side and looked at him. "I'm sure he would apologize for the haphazard job he did, he said the mesh was the only way he could figure out to pull your ribs back into place long enough to let your heart continue beating."
Vash set his hand back on his chest and shrugged. "I'll have to thank him."
"You already have, by saving my daughter." Vash and Marissa looked over to Dr. Neiman. He was holding a tray of bandages, but managed not to drop them this time. Apparently he'd gotten over the shock of Vash healing quickly. He came over to the bed and set the tray down. "You are awake again I see. Mind telling me how come? A human wouldn't have survived it."
"I'm not a human," Vash replied. He looked down at his hands. "Please, don't ask me any more. It would only put you in danger."
Dr. Neiman opened his mouth but Marissa shushed him. "He's right Dad. Just look at where it got me." She smiled slightly as Vash looked at her. He couldn't believe she was so light-hearted after everything that happened. How could she still bare to look at him? Marissa had almost died because of him and his brother, and yet... Yet, here she was, smiling, violet eyes filled with forgiveness. "Has there been any word on his brother?"
Vash turned to look at the doctor, but the old man shook his head. "No one saw him leave. But Frank's car is missing. There are tracks leading out into the desert." He pulled back the sheets over Vash's lap and started to examine the bullet wound on his leg. "Looks like you'll be up in a few days," he said after a moment. "You heal quickly. I just wish Marissa had your... whatever it is."
"No, I don't think you would," Vash replied slowly. "When I can stand again I'll leave town. I'm really sorry about all of this."
"You could... Always stay..." Marissa said next to him. He turned to look at her. She was still smiling. "If your brother thinks you're dead, I'm sure that he won't come back. It would be nice to have you around." She lowered her head and blushed.
He shook his head, "No. I have to go find him. He's dangerous, and I'm the only one who can stop him."
"Oh."
Vash sighed. "Thank you for the offer. I wish I could stay."
Marissa looked up at him with her violet eyes and she smiled. "Me too."
The suns were high over the city when Vash climbed the stairs to the plant. The engineers struggled to save it, but after the outside air seeped in, his sister just faded away. Vash looked at the inanimate plant with sorrow. I'm sorry, Sister. He pressed his hands to the cool glass and tears rolled down his cheeks. He wasn't like her, but she had been alive, and it was wrong to kill her, just like any other creature. Vash sniffed and wiped his nose with a sleeve. There wasn't anything more he could do. It was his fault she died, but he couldn't think of another way to stop Knives... Could he have made a better decision? Saved everyone? Vash closed his eyes; he'd do better next time when he found Knives again.
Knives, Vash thought, opening up his mind even as he opened his eyes. Where did you go? There was no response. He didn't really expect one. Vash turned to walk back down the steps, listening to the engineers talking. They'd lost a third of the city's power when the plant died. He bit his lip hearing this, adding more salt to his open wounds. The other two plants were struggling to make up for her loss. In time they would most likely learn to live with one less plant, but the city would suffer until then.
Vash continued his walk. He didn't really help anything at all did he? Knives was still out there and dangerous. Marissa was okay, but forever scarred. The city lost one of its plants. All he wanted to do was to show Knives that the humans weren't all evil, that they weren't all garbage. Why didn't Knives see that? These people took them both in without a question, took care of them and even showed love to him... Vash smiled briefly, Marissa had fallen in love with Knives. Didn't matter that it was just an idea she had of him, for six years it was he she wanted to see most, to learn more about... Knives. The killer of millions of people, stranding them on this desert planet forever, and not even human. But she loved him. It saved her life too. He could have killed her easily, could have sent that shot straight into her heart, but he missed, and Vash had a feeling it might have been on purpose. Whether it was or not, she survived Knives' wrath, and Vash knew that she'd do great things one day. Only God could have saved her.
Outside of the plant facility, Michael, Frank and Stephanie were sitting in their car eating lunch. Vash looked up at them, he'd met them about a week before, when they came to the hospital. Stephanie and Michael were engaged. Frank was Stephanie's older brother; he worked part time at the plant and did other odd jobs around the town. They were humans, living normal lives, but they all stopped to help... These three cared for the brothers instantly without question. So why didn't Knives see that?
Vash's eyes fell on the car. There were only a few cars around the town, they normally were shipped from one of the cities, usually December, but the car they sat in now had not arrived by sand steamer. "Guess what we found," Frank said, leaning over his door to look at Vash. He held out a sandwich.
Vash's eyes went wide, "That isn't your old car is it?" He stepped forward and took the food without question. Ah... Salmon. Vash smiled, "Thanks, this is very good." It didn't take him long to finish it.
Frank nodded; he hitched a thumb at Michael. "The two of us followed the tracks out into the desert a few days ago. At first they were real clear, but then they disappeared, but Mike said we should go a bit farther, and finally we found it." He smiled, patting his car with a gentle hand. It was a special thing to have a working vehicle around these parts. "Ran out of gas and he didn't know to check the trunk for more. There weren't footprints or anything, but there was a lot of blood."
"Took me four hours to clean it all up," Stephanie piped up from the backseat. She wiped her forehead with the back of her hand almost to demonstrate how much work she put into it for her brother. "I'm surprised whoever lost that much blood survived."
Vash nodded slowly, "Which direction was it headed in when you found it?"
"Straight east, towards the small sun," Michael answered. He tilted his head to the side and adjusted his coveralls. "You going after him?"
"I've got to," Vash replied. "Although..." His mind trailed off for a time. If Knives were headed toward the little ship, he would have driven southeast, not directly east. There was a small mountain range that separated the southern and northern parts of the sandworm territory. To the south was where they uncovered the small ship, to the far north, the mother ship, but why go to the mountains? He shook his head, it didn't make sense. "I'm not exactly sure where he was headed... Or if he'll go back to where we were staying."
Stephanie leaned out from the car, "Then why go at all? You're a smart guy, I'm sure Frank and the boys could use your help getting the plants working again." Frank nodded slowly, but they all seemed to know that Vash wasn't going to stay. She shrugged, "Well, you will come back for the wedding, won't you? It's only a month away, once we get the spare room built."
Vash smiled, "I'll see what I can do. Thanks for the sandwich." He turned and walked down the street back to the hospital. It was quiet this time of day. The whole town was quiet since the plant died. Vash pushed through the front doors and looked over at the nurse behind the desk. She smiled and pulled out his belongings. "Thanks for watching them," he said slowly and looked around. "Where are Marissa and the Doc?"
"Gone to lunch," the nurse replied. "They're over at Shelby's..."
"No... I need to go. Tell them thank you for me, okay?" The nurse started to open her mouth, but Vash silenced her, "It's better this way." He left the hospital and walked down the long road out of town. It was harder to leave this time than it had been before. Things were different now. He wasn't sure about his destination, there was no place to go to besides the little ship... Vash readjusted the bag on his shoulder as he walked up the hills leading to the sea of sand. He hoped that Knives would be there, but unsure what he would do if he found his brother again. The seeds of hate fermented within Knives. He'd be a stronger man now, more dangerous, especially if he thought that his brother was dead.
Even though Vash felt Knives' tight leash around him, the truth was he was the only thing keeping his brother in check for these last fifty years. What would happen now that his conscience was gone? Vash shivered to even think about it. He'd go back to the ship and wait. It was the only thing he could do. Even if he had to be alone, he'd find his brother someday. Or Knives would find him.