Sorry about the really long wait you guys! I was SO busy it was unbelievable, I went camping for about 5 days, then I went to my friend's house for the weekend, later I went to the Warped Tour and got my butt kicked around in the Mosh pits. Later we had some power issues and then of all things I had most of this chapter written up but then it ALMOST got deleted and I found it again and waited till we had Microsoft Word again to finish. Sorry but I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Dead Start

Chapter 10: Small Break

The next couple of weeks at school were pretty calm, Meryl fought with Vash, Vash was acting dumb, Vash took a good smack. Wolfwood and Millie were getting pretty close, Meryl began to realize. They would always walk together, get pudding together, chat, and many more things that would make people assume they were going out. Meryl wasn't surprised when Millie told her that Wolfwood asked her out, but she was stunned that Millie could get a boyfriend before her.

Life seemed easy and care-free after Wolfwood and Vash quit the Dead Start gang, too easy... Meryl was worried, she was sure she wasn't imagining things when Vash and Wolfwood looked really worried about Knives, yet said everything was fine. Meryl was gazing down at a blond haired punk who sat before her, his eyes seemed empty, and his smile looked painfully fake. Meryl was supposed to believe everything was going to be alright with the look on his face! He was terrified, who knew what Knives would do...

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It must be hard for him to live with a brother like that, Meryl thought as she picked up some scissors, starring at Vash's head, but why do I have to cut his hair? Why doesn't he go to a professional or something, Meryl wondered to herself as she slowly moved to snip off some stray strands of hair. Snip, snip, was the only sound heard from the scissors, as blond strands of hair fell to the ground. Time seemed to stop, as Meryl was cutting Vash's hair, she felt like she could stay there for hours in the bright sunlight with Vash. But time always keeps moving, and within ten minutes she was done.

"There, see what you think," Meryl said, handing Vash a little hand mirror. Vash looked at his reflection for a moment, before smiling and thanking Meryl. Vash's hair was tall and spiky like normal, but in the recent weeks his hair had grown out some, to where he couldn't have it up like he always did. So not having enough money to spare on a hair cut, he asked Meryl if she would be so kind as to cut it for him. Meryl, being who she was, demanded to know why, yet Vash didn't say after a long hour of torture, so Meryl gave up and decided to give him his hair cut.

Meryl sat next to Vash on the grass looking out into beautiful scenery with all mountains, and lush green hills. It was so quiet that you could only hear the leaves rustle in the wind as a small breeze came through every so often. Meryl had the strongest erg to lie down and just sleep on this warm day, but she reconsidered because Vash was starring at her.

"What!" Meryl demanded, getting uncomfortable at Vash starring at her for so long.

"You just look like her, that's all!" Vash said smiling, but this smile seemed different, it wasn't a happy smile, it seemed to have a dark secret behind it.

"Like who?" Meryl asked interested in this new person Vash had mentioned.

"Oh Rem! She was one of my foster parents when I was younger, but she died in a horrible car accident," Vash said, smiling, again that dark smile.

"I'm sorry," Meryl said looking down at the grass, why did I have to ask!

"No problem, I got over her death," Vash said carelessly which made Meryl look up to find that his eyes had a whole swirl of emotion inside of them. Most of the time Vash's eyes were empty, and you couldn't tell anything from them, but with the mention of Rem it seemed to open a new side of Vash that Meryl hadn't seen. He wasn't ok, he was depressed, angry, and sad all in one, and only Meryl could see, but what could she do?

"I bet you miss her," Meryl muttered, looking down again as Vash looked at her. Vash seemed to pause for a moment until he sighed.

"Yeah I do, but I must keep living for her," Vash replied, for once he began to see that maybe he could live a normal life. After all that had happened to him, could it be possible to have a normal life? Yet here was Meryl sitting next to him, watching him, some one who cared about him. Vash looked out the scenery, he loved to just look and watch the butterflies and the other creatures run around happy.

"Here you are," Cried a voice that sounded familiar, too familiar, Vash thought as he instantly got up and looked around to see his own brother Knives. Vash's face turned from shock to worry, he looked at Knives wondering what he would do.

"Oh no need to get up my dear brother…" Knives said dangerously, he reached behind him pulling out a long black gun. Meryl froze, she didn't want to get shot again, and now here she was in the middle of a battle again! Vash pulled out his silver gun ready, he didn't honestly want to fight Knives, but he knew if he didn't Knives would go on and one day maybe even hurt the one's he loved, again….

"What do you want?" Vash yelled pointing the gun at Knives, who laughed.

"I only want to see you, it's been forever since I saw you," Knives snarled shooting at Vash but he missed on purpose. Vash stood still, he knew that his brother missed for a reason, but he wasn't going to fall for Knives game any more.

"I told you I'm not coming back," Vash said to Knives who glared at him, Vash's gun was still pointing at Knives, "Now leave, I don't want to fight you."

"Oh dear brother I don't think you understand the rules of Dead Start," Knives said dangerously, "If you quite, you DIE!" Knives began shooting madly at Vash who ran and hid behind a tree while Knives laughed. Meryl screamed laying flat on the grass, she watched Vash, worried for her safety and his.

"Interesting, maybe this girl will prove useful," Knives laughed grabbing Meryl who screamed again.

"You wouldn't!" Vash yelled coming out from behind the tree to see Meryl had a gun pointed to her head by his own brother.

No! Vash thought as he starred at Knives, sick little… KNIVES!

Well all you Millie and Wolfwood fans sorry, but this story is more focused on Vash and Meryl. So what do you think Good, Bad, Odd, Not interesting enough, Funny, Mysterious, Weird, Boring, Action packed, BLOODY? So tell me what you think by REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!