A/N: Finally I'm back, amidst the death threats…makes sure there are no chainsaws or sharp objects around Touchi. Sorry for not updating, I haven't had the time nor motivation to do so. But then I figured I might as well finish before it got really out of hand and I lost the grasp on my ideas entirely. So here we go. Anyway. Thanks for the reviewers who responded and helped me with my plight. I'm going to listen to Raditz and CaptainMurphysMistress, and name the mother after something musical instead of the father, and you shall find out their names as soon as I shut up, or as soon as you scroll down and read.

Haha… I wrote some of this at work. What does that tell you?

Anyway-

Disclaimer: I still don't own Trigun…and whoever thinks I do is sadly mistaken…

Note: This chapter will basically be a dream Legato is having about his past memories, and will jump around in times. (Hence why everything will hopefully be in italics if I format it correctly.) For instance, in the first memory he may be six years old and the next be older. - Indicates a new memory. Hope that is not too difficult to understand.

P.S.

Go go Godzilla. (Don't ask….)

Enjoy.

Silent Scream

Chapter Five

"Legato, honey! Where are you?" A woman's clear soprano voice rang through the small house. "I made some cookies, don't you want some?"

At the sound of her gentle voice, the small six-year-old boy came running. The woman smiled as she saw the blue mop of hair that belonged to her son came flying down the hallway, and latched itself onto her thigh, looking up at her with expectant golden eyes. She held out the tray of still warm chocolate chip cookies to the boy before her.

"Would you like one?" She offered.

Legato nodded his head and selected a large cookie from the center of the tray, devouring it swiftly.

"Here, you can have another," she said winking at her son, who was eagerly licking the remnants off of his fingers.

Given permission to do so, young Legato wasted no time in choosing another cookie and consuming it. He beamed up at his mother in gratitude, smiling happily until he heard heavy footsteps behind him. He turned, looking up at the intimidating figure that stood before him. The man looked dejectedly at the boy before turning his gaze to his wife.

"You shouldn't spoil him, Sonata," he said coldly.

"It's only a cookie, Trent, I'm not spoiling him." She replied, placing a reassuring hand on Legato's back.

His father made a grunting noise and walked past them, leaving Legato to watch his retreating form in despair.

"Why doesn't father like me?" he asked in no more than a whisper.

His mother, surprised at his current speech, placed the tray on the counter and knelt down beside him, bringing herself to his level.

"Don't say that, of course he likes you. He just has his own manner of doing so, that's all. Don't worry Legato." She explained, caressing his unnatural blue hair lovingly.

Legato glanced at a stray stand of hair that fell in front of his face. Its vibrant color was a distinct contrast to the hair colors of both his mother, who possessed light brown coloring, and his father, who sported jet-black hair. Was that it? The other kids he met would make fun of his hair, was that the reason his father didn't like him too? He glared at the strand, wishing it to disappear. Instead, his mother brushed it away from his face.

He looked up into her warm, honey brown eyes, and realized another difference. His eyes. They were gold. Not golden brown, just gold. "Cat's eyes," someone had once called them.

"Is it because I look weird? Because…I'm a freak?" He asked earnestly, quoting what he had heard from others.

Sonata blinked in confusion, before deciphering what her son had said. She gripped him by the shoulders, staring straight into the golden orbs he possessed.

"Don't you ever think that! No one has the right to judge you, just because you look different. You are unique, Legato. Be proud of that."

Legato smiled wanly and hugged his mother, who returned the embrace.

His parents were fighting again. It had become a recent occurrence recently, and it was happening right now in the living room. A ten-year-old Legato lingered in the threshold of his doorway, painfully listening to his parents' strife, another one that was centered on him, as it usually was.

"If you didn't coddle him, perhaps he would be able to defend himself!" His father bellowed, "He's too quiet, it's his own damn fault anyway."

"How can you say that? At least I pay attention to him! You don't even give him the time of day! Then, you wonder why he's so sullen and withdrawn. He doesn't have a father that cares enough to acknowledge his existence!" His mother shot back.

Legato meanwhile had lowered his head, and clenched his eyes shut. Not for the first time, he had gotten into a fight with some of the local kids, after being insulted several times, and both beat up and was beaten up. They had exaggerated, saying that he had tried to kill him, causing his household to receive many calls from outraged parents. This naturally relfected upon on his own parents, questioning how they were raising him, and now they were fighting over it. Why couldn't the children at school just leave him alone? He hadn't done anything to merit their snide remarks and bitter insults. And if they just let him be, then maybe his parents wouldn't have to have these fights all the time. He just didn't understand. Then his father made things painfully clear, as he continued shouting at his mother.

"Who has a child with such abnormal features? Who has seen a child with unnatural blue hair and yellow eyes? No wonder the other kids are afraid of him, calling him a freak and monster. Even adults will call him a demon-child! That doesn't reflect well upon us, Sonata, we spawned a monster."

Sonata stared at her husband in shock, unable to believe what he had just heard uttered from his lips.

Before she could stammer out a protest, Trent continued, in a gentler voice.

"Believe me Sona, I love you. My dream was to marry you, buy a beautiful house and raise beautiful children, with your warm-brown eyes, your silky hair, and your smile… Instead, we were fated to have an abomination, one that soils our very name. How can you not see that?"

Tears had long since begun to well up in Sonata's eyes, as well as Legato's, who still leaned against his doorframe, listening to every word that transpired between the two. He wondered what would happen next. Would his mother turn on him now as well, the only person that truly cared for him?

"Is that what you really think?" she asked tearfully, "And what of Allegro? Is she less than perfect too?"

Allegro. His fifteen-month-old sister. The baby that lay sleeping in the other room, oblivious to everything, incapable of hearing this argument, incapable of feeling pain or hurt. Legato envied the sweet bliss of ignorance she lived in everyday. She was perfect. Her almond eyes brought attention to her delicate face, which was framed by beautiful short brown hair. She was the very image of the child his father had just described, with a striking resemblance to his mother. But not him, he was the abomination, the outcast, the very opposite of Allegro. He should hate her, hate for her perfection, but he just couldn't bring himself to do so. Like his mother, she was the only other one that saw him for who he truly was, not for his appearance. However, he would still long to be in her place, and not have to deal with the difficulties of being an insufficient child to his parents.

His father's voice brought his attention back to the couple down the hall.

"I love her as well. Allegro is the very image of the child I dreamed about. She's a blessing to this family, ridding it of the plague that has already befallen it. She will grow up to be a beautiful woman, just like her mother. But Legato, he's already aging and nothing has changed. He will be the same for the rest of his life. His very existence brings shame upon this family, upon this house, where honor once resided."

His soliloquy continued, but Legato could not stand to hear it any longer. He fled into his room, closing the door behind him, trying to drown out the sound of his father's derogatory voice.

Sonata strode ahead of him, carrying a 2 year old Allegro in her arms. She looked back to Legato, urging him to walk faster.

"Come on, I have to make it to the bank before it closes. If you hurry, I'll buy you an ice cream afterwards," she added with a smile.

Legato looked at the people sending penetrating stares in his direction and then back at his mother. He trotted over to her, walking by her side and contemplating what flavor he would get later. He could really go for a chocolate ice cream cone right now, he decided as they approached the concrete building.

Amidst the chaos, the only thing Legato could fix his eyes on was his mother. Her face, contorted in pain and unnaturally pale, looked at his face and stared into his wide eyes. She murmured something before slowly sinking to the floor. He watched in horror as a crimson liquid began to empty from her body…

Legato jerked upright in his bed, the sudden motion paining his still injured abdomen. He breathed heavily, and a cold sweat dripped from his brow as he thought of his dream. Regaining some of his sanity, he looked out the window into the blackened night.

Gazing at the twinkling stars, he uttered one single word.

"Mother…."

A/N: Yay, I'm done. Sorry if it seemed a little condensed at the end. I was rushing and just wanted the madness to end. There's your little look into Legato's childhood, which is not really comprehensible right now, but things will fall into place later, don't worry. Also, Rei may come back next chapter, if anyone really missed her presence (doubtful). Or maybe not. Depends what mood I'm in.

Anyway, you know the drill. Review and tell me what you think. Ja