Author's Notes: I apologize for taking so long to get this up, and I apologize for it being so short. But I figured it'd be better to put up most of a chapter than wait a few months and put up the whole thing. I have an actual idea of where this is going, and it's probably quite cliché, but I'm trying to actually finish a fic for once. Anyway, enjoy the chapter, constructive criticism is welcome and pleaded for, and yes, cliché, but hopefully not that bad.
Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun, I don't own any of the characters, and I barely own Nicky. I barely own the plot, and I definitely don't own the idea. But I own this story enough that it's mine. So yays!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I shot him a couple of times, so where he passed out. I bandaged his wounds and started back towards town, carrying him. I was hoping to get him help. Not just for the gunshots though, real help."
"Half way back, I sat down for a rest. I guess he must've woken up then, or maybe a little earlier, I'm not sure. Anyway, before I knew it, I was waking up a few hours later, sporting an enormous lump on the back of my head. He had apparently snuck up from behind me, taken back his gun from me, and clocked me on the head with it, probably after finding it empty of bullets. After I had realized what had happened, I followed the foot steps in the sand."
"He kept killing, and each time I followed the reports, always hoping the next town would be the last. Two and a half years after the battle in the desert, I finally managed to catch up with him without him slipping through my fingers once again. Oddly enough, it was near what was left of the city of July."
"We fought for almost an hour, the sound of each shot echoing over the walls of the canyon. I shot his gun, and it slid over the cliff's edge. He jumped after it and just missed it. But he was off balance when he jumped. He toppled over, and was only just able to grab the edge with one hand. I rushed over to help him; I wanted it to end, but not like that. It was one of the farthest drops I had ever seen, and there was my brother hanging off the edge of it."
"'Take my hand Knives!' I had yelled."
"He just laughed at that. 'But how, dear brother, can I trust you when all you want is to kill me?' he had asked after he finished laughing."
"'Not like this, Knives. And I only wanted to stop you, not kill you.' He slipped a little farther. 'Please let me help you!' I yelled, afraid now."
"He just stared up at me. The rock underneath his hand shifted then, and he slipped even further, so close to falling now. His face changed. His voice was no longer mocking as he said 'Help me, Vash.'"
"I grabbed his hand and started pulling him up immediately. 'I'll get you all the help you need, Knives. Everything's going to be okay…' As I had been pulling him up, he had grabbed his gun off the ledge it had landed on and fired at me. I dodged enough that it didn't hit my heart, but the pain in my shoulder made me scream and let his hand go. He started scrabbling up to get a second shot in, but I couldn't let him do that. So I kicked him. But through the haze of the pain, I completely forgot about the blade in my boot, which had been triggered without my knowing at some point during the fight."
"The look on his face… He stared up at me, choking on his own blood, hatred in his eyes. I… had kicked him in the throat. He lost his grip and fell over the edge. I started to crawl over to the edge, thinking in vain that I might be able to catch his hand again. I didn't catch it, and couldn't stand to watch, so I started crawling away. But I passed out then, from loss of blood, I guess. I had four gaping wounds, so I must've lost a lot of blood."
"I woke up a few weeks later in the nearest town. They told me how long I'd been out, and that Knives had been found dead on the canyon floor a few days after I had been found. After I was well enough, I started searching for you." Vash finished his story, and finally looked up from his fidgeting hands to see Meryl's reaction.
She was a little teary-eyed, but smiled as Vash looked at her. "Wow. That was some story. I'm sorry I yelled at you now." She sat down next to him on the bed and hugged him.
He hugged her back and sighed happily. Meryl yawned, and only then did she remember that she had been up most of the night fixing Vash's coat.
"You're tired, you should probably go to bed now," he said quietly, even though he really didn't want her to leave.
"I'm not leaving you," she said, not breaking the hug.
Vash just laughed. "Fine, be that way." He leaned back, and Meryl, not wanting to ever let go, leaned with him. Finally, he just lay down completely. Meryl, still wearing the now-ruined green sweater, curled up next to him above the covers. She yawned again. "I love you, Vash," she whispered.
He kissed her on the top of her head. "I love you too, Mer."
***
Vash woke up a little while later, the sun still not up, to a shivering body next to him. He was confused at first, until he looked over to see Meryl still next to him and still on top of the covers. Then, as gently as he could so as not to wake her, he pulled the covers out from underneath her and covered her up. The shivering lessened as the blanket did its job. Vash smiled and lay back down; glad he hadn't disturbed her slumber. His smiled widened about as much as it could as Meryl wrapped her arms around him and curled in even closer to him. 'Life is good,' he thought as he fell asleep with that smile plastered across his face.
***
"She's a nice girl, you know," Rem commented before taking a sip of tea.
"Yeah, great," Vash said through a mouthful of cookies, crumbs flying in every direction.
Rem laughed. "You never could resist those." Vash shook his head as he stuffed two more into his mouth. "You're here for more than just cookies, though. Another reason."
"Was dat?" Vash asked before shoving one last delicious cookie into his mouth.
"You wanted my approval?" She took another sip of tea as she waited for the red-coated man to finish chewing.
"Yeah. Approval. That was it!" He laughed and stuck his hand behind his head. "So, you like Meryl then?" He asked, goofy grin on his face.
"I told you already. I think my descendent is a great girl. I approve." She took one last sip of tea before setting her cup down.
"Wha? Descendent?" Vash was dumbfounded.
"Goodbye Vash," Rem said sadly.
"Wait! What do you mean by…?"
The dream faded off into nothingness.
***
It was one in the afternoon when Vash woke up with a jolt. A dark-haired ball of energy had just flung itself onto the bed, making the frame shake and waking the two inhabitants.
"What the?" Vash mumbled, still not one hundred percent awake.
"Huh?" Meryl muttered, sitting up and starting to wipe the sleep out of her eyes. At least, she tried to. She was interrupted as that ball of energy flung itself onto her lap.
"Mer-Mer!" yelled Nicky. "Lun'time, Mer-Mer!" Bouncing on the bed, the hyper toddler grinned and glanced over at Vash. "Misser Vash! Lun'time!"
"Nicky! Off the bed, now!" Millie said as she poked her head around the doorway. The toddler jumped off the bed and looked down at his feet for all of five seconds before running off to the kitchen. "You're up now, Mister Vash?" Millie asked, before realizing how obvious the answer was. "I'm so sorry about Nicky waking you. I didn't realize he was headed here. You feeling better now, Mister Vash?"
Vash nodded, still half asleep.
Glancing over at Meryl, who was finally getting to wipe her eyes, Millie smiled and nodded herself. "I'll leave you two alone now. Little-big sister made sandwiches for lunch. Come and eat whenever you're ready." With a wave and a knowing smile, Millie went off in the same direction as her son, but at a much slower pace.
Now awake, Vash looked over at Meryl, and after the initial awe in the fact that he finally had his Meryl back, he tilted his head and asked "Who was the little boy?"
"That was Nicky, Millie's son," Meryl replied. She had never been much of a morning person, and her mind didn't care that morning had been over for over an hour.
"And the father…?" He let the question hang in the air, afraid he already knew the answer.
He did, and Meryl nodded, the look of tears that refused to form in her eyes. "Yes, Wolfwood was the father." She inhaled loudly and lay back down.
"Is she okay?" he asked, lying down next to her. She nodded and he placed his arm around her. She moved her head so it was resting on his chest.
"'He's watching us from heaven,' it's what she keeps saying. It's how she gets by, I guess." She sighed and closed her eyes, weighing the choice of going back to sleep or not.
"Cute kid," he commented, closing his eyes as well. In his opinion, Wolfwood wasn't the only one in heaven. With the warmth of her body against his and the scent of her hair filling his nostrils, he couldn't think of any place that could possibly be better than this.
"Yeah," she replied sleepily. Yawning, she snuggled up closer, nearly asleep already, her choice made for her.
"No lunch?" He asked playfully, though completely willing to go back to sleep himself.
"Later." She almost yawned out the word.
"Mmmkay." And for the second time in less than twelve hours, Vash fell asleep with an enormous grin plastered on his face.
TBC……….