A/N: Hello my people!!! I am so surprised at the great feedback I've gotten for chapter 9, thanks a lot . . .
Sets, Darkraven, Vashies-Girl, Rainy-days13, luvviks, Blackrose7, Animegurl777, kitty-jinxx
(Sorry if I missed someone) Anyways (thanks again ^_^.), I'm really happy and that's a good thing because if I'm happy you guys get faster updates! At first I was only planning on a short fluffy with no plot but I changed my mind and now I'm planning on a long fluffy with a plot (and there will be just as much fluff, maybe even more so don't worry!). Now the story! Oh and I'm sorry for the kinda late update but the amount of my math homework has gotten worstL!!!
Disclaimer: What do you think?!
P.S. The "gang" is going to Bernardelli to get the information they need.
~*~previously in chapter 9~*~
Meryl yawned loudly; her peaceful sleep left her content this morning. Meryl glanced over at her alarm clock, bewildered at why it didn't wake her up. Meryl's eyes widened an inconsiderable amount. They were supposed to leave for Bernardelli H.Q. to get the info then be out of December by 12:00AM; it was 1:00PM.
"Millie, why the HELL didn't you wake me up, my alarm clock didn't go off!" Meryl screamed, her eye twitching madly. Meryl heard a clatter then Millie came busting in with a sheepish grin.
"Well you looked so peaceful and I-I didn't want to disturb you!" Millie said cheerfully, her sheepish smile never leaving her face.
"Gods Millie, go get everyone up and get ready . . . hurry!" Meryl screamed jumping out of bed to change.
When everyone was changed they went downstairs, didn't have breakfast (thanks to Meryl) and set out to Bernardelli H.Q., necessities in hand.
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Chapter 10 ::Found::
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Millie kicked the dust with her feet, Vash fiddled with his yellow-orange sunglasses and Knives stood still as a rock, until . . .
"Vash you idiot, your STUPID sunglasses almost blinded me!" Knives screamed, rubbing his eyes from the glare which just emitted from Vash's sunglasses and into his eyes. Most of the waiting was much like this, waiting for Meryl to come out of the Bernardelli H.Q., oh yeah let me mention it has been 45 MINUTES! Meryl was in there asking her old boss for any information on the kidnapping of Josh Tolury or any remote information of their locality so they could leave and look for Josh and Kodal the treacherous to save Josh.
Vash was wearing a light tan shirt with two buttons unbuttoned and his sleeves rolled up; in this heat his scars were nothing but a mere problem. Sweat was present on Vash's brow so Vash pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed his forehead, as would a "damsel-in-distress", so to speak. 'I'll have to endure another hot day on this desert planet known as Gunsmoke . . . Oh joy!' Vash thought sarcastically; obviously bitter from the heat he was being exposed to.
"Hey guys, are you ready to go?" Meryl said, cheerfully waving and walking out of the door. Meryl hardly looked hot; on the contrary she looked quite cool. Vash scanned the building and for this time it looked really high-tech, one of the best buildings he has seen (since the crash).
'Air . . . conditioning, it was rare in these times but this building is so high-tech it's bound to have it.' Vash thought.
"Air conditioning Meryl, that's why you were inside so long right?!" Vash screamed, half whining, tears streaming down his eyes like waterfalls; Vash dropped to his knees.
"Vash, you are such a drama queen." Meryl said rolling her eyes, an evil grin plastered on her face, walking towards god knows where, Knives and Millie following her. Vash got up from his knees and ran after Millie, Meryl and Knives, trying to catch up to them.
"Meryl – I – I – I, where are we going, give up the INFO!" Vash screamed at Meryl while walking in front of her, breathing heavily.
"Well Kodal was last seen in Fevrier, so we're going to Fevrier." Meryl said walking briskly. They were now in the outskirts of December city, an outline of December city barely visible.
"Okie Dokie, how long will that take?" Vash said curiously, walking backwards in front of Meryl.
"About 2 days, ok today is Monday so we'll be there . . . Wednesday evening." Meryl said proudly. After Vash moved a little to the side and turned around Meryl gazed at the horizon, silently praying Josh was ok. Meryl cared about him a lot, almost as much as she cared about Vash.
'Almost' Meryl thought sighing at the thought of Vash and blushing almost instantly because of her recollection of the "encounters" she has had with Vash since he came back. Meryl thought for a moment, 'Vash is Vash again!' her mind screamed. 'Maybe what Knives did wore off!' By now Meryl was almost positive Knives slipped something into Vash's drink.
Knives could hear Meryl's thoughts and he came up with a bright idea. 'So you've figured out what I have done, good show spider.' Knives said telepathically to Meryl. Meryl quickly jumped and looked at Knives. Meryl quickly caught on and talked to Knives with her thoughts.
'So it was you!' Meryl thought, grinding her teeth and glaring daggers at Knives. Both Millie and Vash were too deepened into their thoughts to notice Knives and Meryl's present rivalry.
Knives snickered and gave Meryl a smirk. 'Yes, alas it was me, but I suspect you want to tell the big spider and Vash?'
Meryl's lips formed a cocky smile, 'Actually yes, I was planning to, what are you going to do about it?' Meryl knew she said the wrong thing and was going to pay for it sooner or later. Meryl wasn't about to show her fear to Knives so she put on her "I-can-beat-you!" acts and looked away from Knives while rolling her eyes.
'Hmm, you really want to know?" Knives said, raising an interested eyebrow. The reason why this human interested him eluded him; few things did. Meryl fell deathly silent and unconsciously bit her bottom lip.
A smile full of madness crawled on Knives's lips unconsciously. When Knives noticed his smile he mad no attempt to take it off his face, on the contrary he actually grinned with more madness. Knives knew Meryl was afraid of him yet didn't want to show it; he admired that she was strong – 'Wait, I don't "admire" humans.' Knives thought to himself only, but shook the thought away in an instant. The silence between Knives and Meryl's telepathic speech ended.
'I – why is Vash back to normal?' Meryl said telepathically, using some mustered up courage to do so.
'Well I just gave him the substance yesterday so he'll come and go but after 2-4 days he won't be the Vash you know anymore.' Knives said with a satisfied smirk. 'Actually, he will have all of Vash's memories, I just kind of "Jump started" his evil side, hope you don't mind.'
Meryl thought for a moment and said 'Wait, Vash doesn't have an evil side!' Meryl said proudly.
'Shows how much you know, ALL plants have a "good" and "evil" side, how the plant was treated tells whether the plant will choose the side of "good" or the side of "evil". 99% of plants choose the good side but there's always that 1%.' Knives said, sounding like a know-it-all in the process.
'You . . . you . . . how could you, what are you planning to do with him if he turns bad?!' Meryl was almost in tears yet no tears dared to come out.
Knives grabbed Meryl by the arm (still unnoticed by the two in front of them) and silently whispered in Meryl's ear 'If I told you my plan it wouldn't be a surprise my little spider.' barely audible to the ear. Knives gave Meryl's hand another tug and this time, telepathically said 'If you tell Vash or the big spider you will most defiantly see my wrath.' Then he let her go.
Later (night)
Meryl was half asleep on the sand will Millie next to her snoring peacefully, Knives sleeping peacefully, back turned from her, and Vash - 'Wait where is Vash?' Meryl thought, fully awake now. Meryl looked around her, being met by a sandy abyss. She looked around herself once more and saw a cliff with a muscular figure sitting on the edge, blissfully unaware of the pair of smoky lavender eyes looking at him. After a second of looking over the figure she found that it was Vash.
She got out of her sleeping bag and proceeded towards the cliff. She walked slowly yet very determined to get to Vash. When she got to the cliff she was sure Vash knew she was there yet Vash made no attempt to acknowledge her presence. Meryl figured Vash wouldn't say anything so she did. "Vash I have to tell you something about Knives," All fear left her at that time and courage ensued in "he slipped something into your drink yesterday and you haven't been – "Meryl quickly stopped talking and put her hands over her mouth. She wasn't talking to Vash but rather Knives. She figured that out when "Vash" turned around and she saw Knives, particularly his disappointed frown and ice cold eyes.
"I warned you spider, I really did." Knives got up and solemnly walked over to Meryl and stood in front of her, the height difference dreadfully visible. Knives closed his eyes and Meryl felt a very sharp, stinging pain in her head; like hundreds of needles in your head, poking and prodding. It was getting worst by the second and Meryl dropped to her knees and clutched her head.
Knives felt a distant guilt for doing this to Meryl; he had grown fond of her these past few days (even if he would never admit it).
This is the first time he felt remorse in a long (very long) while (even if the remorse is diminutive) for any human he ever tortured or killed for that matter.
Meryl was on her knees clutching her head with tears pricking her eyes and slowly rolling down her cheeks. Meryl tried to scream yet failed because Knives was mentally blocking her screams. Knives thought it enough so he let Meryl go and walked passed her down to camp. Meryl just sat there on her knees quietly sobbing, not wanting anyone to know she was crying because if she was seen or heard she would have to explain and that she could (certainly) not do.
Meryl stayed on that cliff till 5:00AM; never a wink of sleep came for her that night. Meryl got up in the early morn and went down to camp into and into her sleeping bag so when everyone woke up they would have no thought or suspicions. Even though the sunrise hasn't even begun Meryl knew they had to get up at 7:00AM yet she couldn't bear to sleep so for 2 hours Meryl did nothing but stare at the sky, thinking about everything going on. None of Meryl's scenarios (about how to tell Vash what Knives has done) worked yet she kept trying even though her mind was quickly running out of ideas. All her scenarios ended in herself, Millie or Vash getting hurt by Knives and that brought her spirits down.
Vash groaned loudly and looked over to Meryl and saw her staring at the sky thinking; as he presumed, he usually doesn't wake up before her. "What are you thinking about?" Vash said lying back down and yawning. Meryl was startled for a second and jumped with a muffled yelp (she covered her mouth not wanting to wake Millie or Knives; especially Knives). "I thought you were sleeping Vash." Meryl said taking her hand off her mouth, while recovering from her previous startle.
"You didn't answer my question." Vash insisted persistently, oddly interested in her thoughts. Vash's right eyebrow lifted curiously; as did the right corner of his lips in a half smile.
"I – uh – nothing just Kni – "Meryl quickly stopped because of the memory of the pain she felt just hours ago. "Night, I meant night, it's very umm nice!" Meryl said while smiling sweetly.
"Ok, if you say so. So we're going to Fevrier tomorrow right? Vash said unnerved.
"Yeah, we'll be there tomorrow night." Meryl said calmly. "Well we better wake up everyone else!" Meryl aid while quickly getting out of her sleeping bag and shaking Millie lightly.
Vash took the hint that Meryl was waking Millie and he was waking Knives when Meryl completely ignored Knives and got her stuff ready. Vash got out of his sleeping bag and lightly touched Knives on the shoulder and backed away quickly, dodging the hand he know would fly at him. Since they were little kids Vash would wake Knives, the consequence being Knives's hand flying back in aggravation, clobbering him.
Knives got up swiftly, almost knocking over Vash. Knives turned around and saw Vash smiling and waving. "OH, IT'S JUST YOU." He said blandly, rolling up his sleeping bag.
The whole day seemed to pass by too quickly. It was already night and Meryl was in her sleeping bag once again, pondering her problem. Morning came too quickly also and Meryl got up to wake every one once again.
They were ½ hour away from Fevrier when they heard a man scream. Millie, Meryl, and Vash turned around, a worried look on their faces while Knives's face held an unknown emotion yet he had something in his eyes; his emotion unknown by the other three travelers.
All four travelers ran in the direction of the scream and in a few minutes they found a man with a muscular body and tall build; quite handsome, tied in a rope.
All the travelers were about 5 feet away from the man when Meryl ran over to the man and screamed "Josh!". Meryl quickly untied the man and caught him in a big bear hug, toppling them both over while laughing.
Vash felt like taking out his gun at that moment. The jealousy was beating him down. Just watching the two on the ground so close together was getting him mad.
Knives was feeling the same as Vash and he was just about to take his gun out of its holster. "Guys, this is Josh!" "Josh, this is Vash the Stampede and his brother Knives and you already know Millie." Millie nodded her head and smiled but both Vash and Knives made absolutely no attempt to smile but they both did nod. Josh smiled at Millie and smiled at Vash and Knives, although the smile he smiled at Vash and Knives was not kind but had a glint of something else, something . . . bad.
Meryl and Josh both got up and dusted themselves off. Meryl was visibly happy and glowing. Meryl'/s face went sad when she thought back to Vash. She needed to find a way to cure him. Meryl explained to Josh that Vash was harmless. After getting reacquainted they were off to Fevrier to rest then go back to Meryl's house in December.
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End of chapter 10 ::Found::
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A/N: Hope you liked my evilness!!!! I had to put some jealousy people!!! But wait their journey is not over by the least. You guys didn't think that would be the whole story did you? ^_^ I hope you liked this chapter and I would REALLY, REALLY APPRICIATE IT IF YOU
REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!! Please review or I'll, I'll, ILL CRY!!!!
MUCH LUV TO YOU ALL!! Love & Peace . . . and Doughnutz!!
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