Disclaimer: Trigun isn't mine.
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"Wow, so you decided to have dinner with us tonight?" Vash teased as he met Millie and Wolfwood in the hallway.
"Hey, last time Meryl said she'd be back with dinner. We waited." Wolfwood replied. "Speaking of which, where is Meryl?"
"I'm here." Meryl opened her door. "My head is splitting for some reason. I think I'll just stay here." Vash studied her carefully.
"Do you want us to bring you something Meryl?" Millie asked. Meryl turned paler.
"No thanks, I don't think I could eat right now." Meryl disappeared back into her room and the other three headed out to eat.
Vash had intended to check on Meryl when he got back to the hotel, but somehow he ended up in a drinking contest with the other two. It was very late when they got back to their rooms. Vash promised himself that he'd check on Meryl first thing in the morning.
There was someone pounding on his door. Vash raised his eyelids and groaned. What now? He pulled himself from the bed and went to lean on the door.
"Who is it?"
"Mr. Vash? It's Millie! Please open up!" Vash opened the door, responding to the utter panic in her tone. She pushed past him into the room and looked around it with wide, frightened eyes.
"Millie, what is it? What's wrong?"
"Meryl's not in here with you?' Vash flushed.
"Of course not...." He muttered.
"I went to her room this morning and she wasn't there. The room's a mess and Meryl never leaves it a mess... not ever..oh, Mr. Vash do you think something happened to her?" Millie's voice got more and more distraught.
"Millie, relax. I'm sure she's fine..." Vash attempted to calm the frightened woman, but Wolfwood interrupted him.
"Vash, come take a look at this." Wolfwood leaned in the door, his calm cracking a bit at the edges. "Now."
Millie had a talent for understatement, thought Vash as he looked at Meryl's room. A mess was not making your bed, or leaving your clothes around. Meryl's room was not a mess, it was a disaster. The bed was overturned, the mattress slashed open in several places. Papers, clothes and furniture lay scattered.
"And she always seemed like such a neat freak." Vash commented as his eyes scanned the room.
"How can you joke like that, Mr. Vash?" Millie scolded, her eyes teary.
"It's just his way," Wolfwood reassured her. His boot touched the mattress and flipped it over. "Oh no..." The mattress had a large reddish stain on it, slowly drying to brown. Vash knelt next to it.
"Why didn't I hear anything? I was right next door."
"Maybe it happened while we were at dinner?" Millie suggested, frightened.
"Can you tell if it's hers?' Wolfwood asked.
"Do I look like a forensic scientist?" Vash retorted.
"What's that?"
"Never mind," Vash frowned, panic was flaring deep inside him and he struggled to keep it down. Meryl needed him to be focused now.
"Mr. Vash?" Millie's voice broke his concentration. "Look." She was standing by the desk, the only piece of furniture upright in the room. On the desk was an apple with a knife stuck through it, pinning it to the table.
Vash didn't remember leaving the hotel, he only remembered running from the room, fetching his gun, looking for his brother. How could he have done this? He couldn't leave the sphere! But then again, he and Knives shouldn't have been able to be outside the spheres at all... He let his senses expand, hoping for a clue. 'Up' his brain told him. 'He'll be up high somewhere....'
The man standing on the cliff waiting for him was not Knives. He was short and compact, his hair a dark brown. Blood stained his right shoulder. Another Gung-ho gun? Vash thought, but the man turned around and Vash froze. "Hey Vash," he said in Knives's voice, his eyes the same bright blue. "I knew you'd be showing up soon. Miss your little insurance girl, hm?" How the hell had he done this?
"What did you do to her?"
"I didn't do anything to her."
"Liar," Vash snapped.
"No really, I didn't. I did take her, that's true. But..." his voice trailed off into silence. His eyes darted back and forth, sweat beading his brow.
"Answer my question." Vash's gun was out, steadily pointed at the man on the cliff's edge. His glasses shaded his eyes, but his mouth was tight with tension. Knives's eyes studied him for a moment.
"The gun won't really help you Vash. This man is just a carrier. I'm controlling him. He's innocent and you don't kill the innocent... or the guilty either." Vash holstered his gun, but kept his hand on it.
"Where is she? Tell me!"
"I'm not surprised you're upset. She reminded me of Rem too-" Vash noted his brother's use of the past tense and his eyes narrowed. "Such a lovely girl...."
"You haven't answered me, Knives. Tell me what you did to her." The anger was heavy in his voice now, making the words clipped and hard. He knew what Knives had done to Rem. Please, please let Meryl be okay...
"She wouldn't shut up," his brother turned away from him, back to the cliff's edge. "She kept telling me you wanted a peaceful life, how good and kind you were... it was sickening..." He shivered.
"It would be- to you."
"I told her she was delusional, that her fixation on you was making her blind to the killing machine that lived inside you." He laughed suddenly. "She said you only used your weapons to help people, not to hurt them- even if they deserved it. She said that didn't sound like a killing machine to her. She said I was the delusional one. She was quite a spitfire."
"Was?" Vash managed, his heart sinking at the word. His brother's voice changed, he spoke softly, almost reverently as he twisted the knife:
"She obviously loved you, Vash. Just like Rem did. She told me she'd do anything, if only I'd leave you alone, anything at all to help you live a peaceful life...." Vash felt the tears gather at the corners of his eyes, but he wouldn't let them fall- not yet.
"Knives..." he growled.
"I gave her a choice. I would let her go, but it meant that I could continue our little game. Or- she could give up her life for yours and I would let you live in peace for what would have been the rest of her lifespan- 50 years or so... just an eye blink to us, hm?" Vash felt cold. He knew what Meryl would choose. Her grandfather's voice echoed in his head. 'She's a lot like her mother...'
"No! You didn't- she..."
"She agreed. She didn't even argue with me. She drew one of those silly little guns of hers," Knives paused for a moment. "I thought she'd try to shoot me, but she placed it against her temple," his finger touched the side of his forehead. "And stood here at the edge of the cliff." His voice slowed. "She...smiled... She looked so happy..." His voice had deepened for a moment, his eyes fading into brown. Then they brightened back to blue and his voice resumed it's frantic pitch:
"I reminded her that you disapproved of suicide more than anything, but she just smiled. 'It's a sacrifice, not suicide,' she said." Vash took in a sharp breath. Knives shook his head. "I asked her how she could be sure that I would hold to my side of the bargain. She just smiled more- she said she had to hope I would- that my love for you would let her do this small thing to make you happy."
"Oh no...no..." Vash closed his eyes, tears stinging the lids. He couldn't cry yet. Not yet. Knives turned and looked at him. Oh yes- Vash was suffering. And it was going to get worse. Much worse... Knives smiled.
"She bought you 50 years of peace, brother. Enjoy them."
"Peace bought with her blood," Vash answered, opening his eyes and glaring at his brother. "How can I enjoy that?"
"Peace is a dear commodity," Knives turned his back again. "It always comes at a high price." The two brothers were quiet for a moment. Then Knives spoke, his voice mocking, hateful: "Aren't you going to do something Vash? Swear that you'll come and kill me, push this fool off the cliff, something? Anything? Haven't I caused you enough pain, yet? Or is her loss not a great one after all? Was she just a stupid little girl in love with someone who didn't give a damn about her?" Vash snarled.
"She bought me 50 years of peace. I'm not going to throw it away by starting the fight with you again. I wouldn't cheapen her sacrifice like that." Vash took a deep breath, eyes glowing a bright blue. "But when the 50 years are over, brother, you'll pay for her death!" He ground out, teeth clenched. Knives laughed then.
"Ah, a flash of rage! Finally! In that case, you win- this time," he said. "Look behind that rock over there after I go. Make sure she gets a decent burial. Rem didn't." He jumped off the cliff.
"NO!" Vash hadn't expected that. He should've seen it coming! Knives hadn't been able to keep complete control over that man. Vash looked over the edge of the cliff. Far away he saw a small crumpled body. There was no way the man could've survived. Knives had been out to kill.
Vash looked towards the rock and let the pain swirl out of his heart. Now he had time to mourn. He took a deep breath and walked over to the rock. Meryl's body was curled on it's side, a thin trickle of blood was drying on the side of her face. Her eyes were closed and Vash was glad. He didn't want to look into them. Meryl had become another victim of Vash the Stampede. He bent down and gathered her body up into his arms, cradling her head against his cheek. A tear slid down his face and into her hair.
"I'm so sorry Meryl. I failed you." He remembered how Meryl's grandfather had asked him to take care of her. How was he going to face her family and tell them that she was dead? He heard the clatter of footsteps up the rock face behind him and knew Wolfwood and Millie had finally caught up to him. He turned to face them, heard Millie's gasp of dismay, saw the stricken look in Wolfwood's eyes.
"Mr. Vash? What happened to her? Meryl is okay, isn't she?"
"She's dead." Tears were sliding down his face unheeded.
"Oh no..no..it can't..no..." Millie's voice broke.
"She sacrificed herself for me. She bought me 50 years of peace with her life." Vash's voice was empty. Wolfwood touched his shoulder as Millie's arms embraced her friend. "Knives said she smiled as she did it. She didn't even fight him..." Vash's arms released Meryl into Millie's. "Why? Why would she do this?"
"She loved you Vash." Wolfwood spoke softly. "She wanted to help you."
"I didn't want this!!"
"Mr. Vash, you wanted to be left in peace, didn't you?" Millie countered as she touched Meryl's temple. Her eyes widened.
"Not at the cost of her life! Rem sacrificed herself too! Why? Why them and not me? Why do they have to pay? It's not fair!! She's gone and I have to stay!" He struck out blindly, crushing the rock with the force of his blow. "I have to go on alone! Without Rem- without Meryl... Always alone!" He covered his face with his hands, barely registering the hand that touched his shoulder.
"Vash- you're only alone if..." Wolfwood started.
"Nicholas! Mr. Vash!" Millie's voice cut him off. Vash stayed- eyes squeezed closed as Wolfwood turned to Millie.
"Millie- not..." Millie had placed Meryl on the ground, her fingers tight on her senpai's wrist.
"Nicholas- please... feel- tell me I'm not imagining it." Wolfwood's fingers replaced Millie's.
"A pulse... she's still alive?"
"I can't find a bullet wound either- just this bump..." Wolfwood was shoved out of the way by Vash. He touched Meryl's throat gently, then examined her temples.
"We've got to get her back to town."
"Wow, so you decided to have dinner with us tonight?" Vash teased as he met Millie and Wolfwood in the hallway.
"Hey, last time Meryl said she'd be back with dinner. We waited." Wolfwood replied. "Speaking of which, where is Meryl?"
"I'm here." Meryl opened her door. "My head is splitting for some reason. I think I'll just stay here." Vash studied her carefully.
"Do you want us to bring you something Meryl?" Millie asked. Meryl turned paler.
"No thanks, I don't think I could eat right now." Meryl disappeared back into her room and the other three headed out to eat.
Vash had intended to check on Meryl when he got back to the hotel, but somehow he ended up in a drinking contest with the other two. It was very late when they got back to their rooms. Vash promised himself that he'd check on Meryl first thing in the morning.
There was someone pounding on his door. Vash raised his eyelids and groaned. What now? He pulled himself from the bed and went to lean on the door.
"Who is it?"
"Mr. Vash? It's Millie! Please open up!" Vash opened the door, responding to the utter panic in her tone. She pushed past him into the room and looked around it with wide, frightened eyes.
"Millie, what is it? What's wrong?"
"Meryl's not in here with you?' Vash flushed.
"Of course not...." He muttered.
"I went to her room this morning and she wasn't there. The room's a mess and Meryl never leaves it a mess... not ever..oh, Mr. Vash do you think something happened to her?" Millie's voice got more and more distraught.
"Millie, relax. I'm sure she's fine..." Vash attempted to calm the frightened woman, but Wolfwood interrupted him.
"Vash, come take a look at this." Wolfwood leaned in the door, his calm cracking a bit at the edges. "Now."
Millie had a talent for understatement, thought Vash as he looked at Meryl's room. A mess was not making your bed, or leaving your clothes around. Meryl's room was not a mess, it was a disaster. The bed was overturned, the mattress slashed open in several places. Papers, clothes and furniture lay scattered.
"And she always seemed like such a neat freak." Vash commented as his eyes scanned the room.
"How can you joke like that, Mr. Vash?" Millie scolded, her eyes teary.
"It's just his way," Wolfwood reassured her. His boot touched the mattress and flipped it over. "Oh no..." The mattress had a large reddish stain on it, slowly drying to brown. Vash knelt next to it.
"Why didn't I hear anything? I was right next door."
"Maybe it happened while we were at dinner?" Millie suggested, frightened.
"Can you tell if it's hers?' Wolfwood asked.
"Do I look like a forensic scientist?" Vash retorted.
"What's that?"
"Never mind," Vash frowned, panic was flaring deep inside him and he struggled to keep it down. Meryl needed him to be focused now.
"Mr. Vash?" Millie's voice broke his concentration. "Look." She was standing by the desk, the only piece of furniture upright in the room. On the desk was an apple with a knife stuck through it, pinning it to the table.
Vash didn't remember leaving the hotel, he only remembered running from the room, fetching his gun, looking for his brother. How could he have done this? He couldn't leave the sphere! But then again, he and Knives shouldn't have been able to be outside the spheres at all... He let his senses expand, hoping for a clue. 'Up' his brain told him. 'He'll be up high somewhere....'
The man standing on the cliff waiting for him was not Knives. He was short and compact, his hair a dark brown. Blood stained his right shoulder. Another Gung-ho gun? Vash thought, but the man turned around and Vash froze. "Hey Vash," he said in Knives's voice, his eyes the same bright blue. "I knew you'd be showing up soon. Miss your little insurance girl, hm?" How the hell had he done this?
"What did you do to her?"
"I didn't do anything to her."
"Liar," Vash snapped.
"No really, I didn't. I did take her, that's true. But..." his voice trailed off into silence. His eyes darted back and forth, sweat beading his brow.
"Answer my question." Vash's gun was out, steadily pointed at the man on the cliff's edge. His glasses shaded his eyes, but his mouth was tight with tension. Knives's eyes studied him for a moment.
"The gun won't really help you Vash. This man is just a carrier. I'm controlling him. He's innocent and you don't kill the innocent... or the guilty either." Vash holstered his gun, but kept his hand on it.
"Where is she? Tell me!"
"I'm not surprised you're upset. She reminded me of Rem too-" Vash noted his brother's use of the past tense and his eyes narrowed. "Such a lovely girl...."
"You haven't answered me, Knives. Tell me what you did to her." The anger was heavy in his voice now, making the words clipped and hard. He knew what Knives had done to Rem. Please, please let Meryl be okay...
"She wouldn't shut up," his brother turned away from him, back to the cliff's edge. "She kept telling me you wanted a peaceful life, how good and kind you were... it was sickening..." He shivered.
"It would be- to you."
"I told her she was delusional, that her fixation on you was making her blind to the killing machine that lived inside you." He laughed suddenly. "She said you only used your weapons to help people, not to hurt them- even if they deserved it. She said that didn't sound like a killing machine to her. She said I was the delusional one. She was quite a spitfire."
"Was?" Vash managed, his heart sinking at the word. His brother's voice changed, he spoke softly, almost reverently as he twisted the knife:
"She obviously loved you, Vash. Just like Rem did. She told me she'd do anything, if only I'd leave you alone, anything at all to help you live a peaceful life...." Vash felt the tears gather at the corners of his eyes, but he wouldn't let them fall- not yet.
"Knives..." he growled.
"I gave her a choice. I would let her go, but it meant that I could continue our little game. Or- she could give up her life for yours and I would let you live in peace for what would have been the rest of her lifespan- 50 years or so... just an eye blink to us, hm?" Vash felt cold. He knew what Meryl would choose. Her grandfather's voice echoed in his head. 'She's a lot like her mother...'
"No! You didn't- she..."
"She agreed. She didn't even argue with me. She drew one of those silly little guns of hers," Knives paused for a moment. "I thought she'd try to shoot me, but she placed it against her temple," his finger touched the side of his forehead. "And stood here at the edge of the cliff." His voice slowed. "She...smiled... She looked so happy..." His voice had deepened for a moment, his eyes fading into brown. Then they brightened back to blue and his voice resumed it's frantic pitch:
"I reminded her that you disapproved of suicide more than anything, but she just smiled. 'It's a sacrifice, not suicide,' she said." Vash took in a sharp breath. Knives shook his head. "I asked her how she could be sure that I would hold to my side of the bargain. She just smiled more- she said she had to hope I would- that my love for you would let her do this small thing to make you happy."
"Oh no...no..." Vash closed his eyes, tears stinging the lids. He couldn't cry yet. Not yet. Knives turned and looked at him. Oh yes- Vash was suffering. And it was going to get worse. Much worse... Knives smiled.
"She bought you 50 years of peace, brother. Enjoy them."
"Peace bought with her blood," Vash answered, opening his eyes and glaring at his brother. "How can I enjoy that?"
"Peace is a dear commodity," Knives turned his back again. "It always comes at a high price." The two brothers were quiet for a moment. Then Knives spoke, his voice mocking, hateful: "Aren't you going to do something Vash? Swear that you'll come and kill me, push this fool off the cliff, something? Anything? Haven't I caused you enough pain, yet? Or is her loss not a great one after all? Was she just a stupid little girl in love with someone who didn't give a damn about her?" Vash snarled.
"She bought me 50 years of peace. I'm not going to throw it away by starting the fight with you again. I wouldn't cheapen her sacrifice like that." Vash took a deep breath, eyes glowing a bright blue. "But when the 50 years are over, brother, you'll pay for her death!" He ground out, teeth clenched. Knives laughed then.
"Ah, a flash of rage! Finally! In that case, you win- this time," he said. "Look behind that rock over there after I go. Make sure she gets a decent burial. Rem didn't." He jumped off the cliff.
"NO!" Vash hadn't expected that. He should've seen it coming! Knives hadn't been able to keep complete control over that man. Vash looked over the edge of the cliff. Far away he saw a small crumpled body. There was no way the man could've survived. Knives had been out to kill.
Vash looked towards the rock and let the pain swirl out of his heart. Now he had time to mourn. He took a deep breath and walked over to the rock. Meryl's body was curled on it's side, a thin trickle of blood was drying on the side of her face. Her eyes were closed and Vash was glad. He didn't want to look into them. Meryl had become another victim of Vash the Stampede. He bent down and gathered her body up into his arms, cradling her head against his cheek. A tear slid down his face and into her hair.
"I'm so sorry Meryl. I failed you." He remembered how Meryl's grandfather had asked him to take care of her. How was he going to face her family and tell them that she was dead? He heard the clatter of footsteps up the rock face behind him and knew Wolfwood and Millie had finally caught up to him. He turned to face them, heard Millie's gasp of dismay, saw the stricken look in Wolfwood's eyes.
"Mr. Vash? What happened to her? Meryl is okay, isn't she?"
"She's dead." Tears were sliding down his face unheeded.
"Oh no..no..it can't..no..." Millie's voice broke.
"She sacrificed herself for me. She bought me 50 years of peace with her life." Vash's voice was empty. Wolfwood touched his shoulder as Millie's arms embraced her friend. "Knives said she smiled as she did it. She didn't even fight him..." Vash's arms released Meryl into Millie's. "Why? Why would she do this?"
"She loved you Vash." Wolfwood spoke softly. "She wanted to help you."
"I didn't want this!!"
"Mr. Vash, you wanted to be left in peace, didn't you?" Millie countered as she touched Meryl's temple. Her eyes widened.
"Not at the cost of her life! Rem sacrificed herself too! Why? Why them and not me? Why do they have to pay? It's not fair!! She's gone and I have to stay!" He struck out blindly, crushing the rock with the force of his blow. "I have to go on alone! Without Rem- without Meryl... Always alone!" He covered his face with his hands, barely registering the hand that touched his shoulder.
"Vash- you're only alone if..." Wolfwood started.
"Nicholas! Mr. Vash!" Millie's voice cut him off. Vash stayed- eyes squeezed closed as Wolfwood turned to Millie.
"Millie- not..." Millie had placed Meryl on the ground, her fingers tight on her senpai's wrist.
"Nicholas- please... feel- tell me I'm not imagining it." Wolfwood's fingers replaced Millie's.
"A pulse... she's still alive?"
"I can't find a bullet wound either- just this bump..." Wolfwood was shoved out of the way by Vash. He touched Meryl's throat gently, then examined her temples.
"We've got to get her back to town."