Notes: Sorry about taking so long to update! Though I haven't been particularly busy lately work-wise (job-hunting, ugh), I've been distracted by the writing of other fanfictions and by inspiration for original works. I'm glad I'm finally writing this again.
Additional notes on the scripture in the first part of the chapter: Scriptural references taken from the New International Version Bible. When I have "LORD" capitalized, it is not meant to be "loud" or "shouting." This is correct and direct scriptural reference – "LORD" being (God the Father, in Christianity), and "Lord" being (God the Son / Jesus, in Christianity) (and thus in Christian translations of the Bible). The use of scripture is not heavy - but it is there and I wanted to clear up some little religious things for those who might misunderstand and to be correct in my references.
Disclaimer: Trigun and its characters belong to Yasuhiro Nightow, Victor Entertainment, and other people. I am making no money from this and am only writing out of love for the original anime.
JOURNEY OF REMEMBRANCE
Part V
She watched the preacher pace the floor behind the pulpit. He waved his hands whenever he raised his voice for emphasis.
"The roles of angels..." he continued, "are many. I've discussed them as protectors of God's people, and as messengers. Now, we shall look at some scriptures that reveal another aspect of angels – one we don't often like to think about. We shall discuss their role as deliverers of God's judgment."
Rem had rarely seen a preacher so animated. The young man paced, paused and took a glass of water off the pulpit. He took a sip before continuing.
"Let us turn to the Second book of Samuel, chapter 24. In it we see King David taking a census of Israel and Judah to determine the number of his fighting men. He sinned against the LORD in doing so. He was prideful, trusting in his strength as king rather than in the LORD God."
Rem listened to Bibles being opened, the gentle rustle of thin pages being flipped. She held a Bible open in her lap, and was reading the chapter.
"David's seer, Gad, came to him with three choices of punishment for his sin from the LORD. Starting in verse 13: 'So Gad went to David and said to him, "Shall there come upon you three years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now, then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me."
The preacher cleared his throat and ran his hand along the page of the open Bible on the pulpit. "David chose to fall into the hands of the LORD. God sent an angel to afflict the land with plague for three days. Seventy thousand people died. In verse 16 we see an angel with his hand stretched out to destroy Jerusalem. The LORD was grieved and told the angel to relent."
The young man wiped his brow before continuing. "After that, David repented. He offered sacrifice and his prayer for mercy on the land was answered. The point of our look into 2nd Samuel 24 today is this: That angels are not only messengers and protectors – they also can deliver the punishments of God. Angels can kill people."
Everyone had their gaze fixed on the young reverend. To some, these scriptures were old news, things they'd read time and again. To others, this view of angels was completely new. Rem didn't really know what to think. She'd read these passages before, but hadn't thought of angels in this way in quite a long time. She had a passing thought upon her "angels" – the Plant children she had raised long ago, Knives and Vash.
"And let us not forget the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah," the preacher continued. "The LORD sent two angels to destroy the cities because of their great wickedness. Some say that twenty-four years ago, when the city of July was destroyed, that an angel made its presence there. The light of the explosion, according to the survivors, was like nothing ever seen before in Heaven or on this planet. Many likened it to the nuclear explosions that happened in the wars of Old Earth – or to 'angelic light.' Perhaps what is said of angels and July is the truth. Perhaps judgment fell upon the city as a warning to this wicked planet of coming judgment for all the blood shed upon the sands."
The preacher stood still now and regarded everyone with a solemn gaze. "That concludes today's sermon," he said, "but I have a few announcements before I dismiss you. This will be my last Sunday at this church. As the regulars know, I'm going on a long journey to make some money for this place and I'm not sure when I'll be back. I've arranged for Reverend Patterson to handle the Sunday sermons and the Thursday Bible Study and for Reverend James to take care of the children. I will miss all of you and my prayers will be with you. I ask all of you to keep me in your prayers. You are now dismissed."
People filed out of the pews and walked up to the preaching platform. They offered out their hands to shake the young reverend's hand to wish him well. Rem was just a visitor here, but she found herself walking up to the platform, too. A little girl and a little boy were ahead of her. They hugged the preacher's legs tightly and cried.
"Mr. Wolfwood, please don't go! We don't want you to leave!" they whined.
"I have to go..." Wolfwood whispered, gently placing his hand atop the boy's head. He knelt down so as to be eye-level with the children. "I need to make money for the church, to take care of you. You know how the roof leaks and the west windows need to be replaced. Don't worry. I'll be back as soon as I can. Mr. James will take good care of you. You like playing with him, right?"
"But you're more fun!" the girl moaned. "Mr. James doesn't let us wrestle him like you do!"
The preacher laughed. "He is a bit of a stick in the mud, isn't he? I think you can break him out of that. I need to talk to the rest of the people now, okay?" He rose to full height and greeted Rem with his hand outstretched to receive a handshake.
"A visitor," he said with a smile, "It's always nice to see a new face. I'm sorry you caught me on my last day."
"It was a lovely sermon," Rem said politely as she shook his hand, "Reverend... Wolfwood?"
"Nicholas D. Wolfwood, at your service. And you, Ma'am?"
"Oh... Samantha," Rem whispered nervously, "Samantha Pemrose." Rem had been traveling the cities and towns of the planet Gunsmoke for over one hundred years now. She had found a need to change her name twice. She was alive, well, and little aged. She had crow's feet at the corners of her eyes and a shock of gray hair at her bangs, but otherwise, she had not aged in a normal human manner.
She had herself checked out for health anomalies by several doctors and had done exhaustive research into the aging processes of both humans and Plants. She had developed a theory on her aging. She remembered touching hands with the dying Plant just after waking up in the wreckage of Alpha Ship after the Fall. She believed that the strange tingle of energy she had felt when she touched the Plant's pale skin was responsible for her longevity. Rem had read about certain experiments that found that Plants could transfer some of their energy to other living beings. A study of mice given this treatment found that the mice lived three times their normal life spans. Similar results were found in Plant-treated flies. No such experiment had been formally done on any human subject.
Rem had needed the name changes, and various retooling of her identity, to keep suspicions about her down. She had no desire to become the study subject of some group of sadistic scientists. She had heard of certain cruel experiments done on low-level Plants. Rumors of human experimentation on First Generation people kept in Coldsleep abounded. She'd even heard of a black-market organ trade along some of the major trade routes of Gunsmoke. She would be of great interest to organ traders, as her body remained healthy and relatively young for so many years.
She let go of Wolfwood's hand. He had the most startling gaze she had ever seen. She regarded the dark blue eyes and the sly smile that he possessed. There was something unusual about him that she could not put her finger on. Maybe it was the smoky scent that clung to the air about him.
"So, how did you come by our little parish, Ma'am?" the preacher asked. "We don't get many visitors, considering how far away we are from the big towns."
"Oh, I was just passing through." Rem said. "I'm on a journey of my own. By the way... about the destruction of July... do you really think that was an act of divine judgment? The work of an angel?"
"Sure, why not?" Wolfwood replied as he exited the church with Rem and with the last of the parishioners. "This world is full of suffering and sin. Most of these orphans I take care of watched their parents get gunned down by outlaws. Judgment like that wouldn't surprise me one bit. People say that city got destroyed by Vash the Stampede. Heard many rumors about him. People call him 'The Devil's Helper,' but some people also call him an angel of vengeance. Maybe he is some kind of angel or force of divine punishment, sent upon this world by God to destroy us for our sins."
"My, Mr. Wolfwood," Rem said, "That's a pretty dour view of the world you have. The Stampede's just one man – I think most of the rumors about him are hyped up. None of us really knows what happened to July. I think... with a little work, and with kind people like you and the other pastors here who do things like take in orphans – I think there's hope for this world to become a better place in the future."
Safely out of the confines of the chapel, Wolfwood lit a cigarette and took a long drag. "Ah... been waitin' to do that all morning," he sighed.
Rem looked at him oddly. "I've never met a priest who smoked before. You know, those things will kill you."
"I think this world will kill me first."
Of the many things Rem had experienced, three things stood out the most vividly in her memories. The first of these things was the image of Vash's small, chubby, tear-streamed face as she closed the escape pod with him and Knives inside during the Fall. The second thing that took a vivid hold on her memory was the scent of stale death around Sedona when she had rode back to the town after hearing of its destruction. The third thing that seized her mind was the destruction of July.
She'd been a wanderer for many years now, a drifter going in and coming out of the cities and towns all over the western hemisphere of Gunsmoke. She never stayed in a city for more than six months. She often camped in the desert. She followed reports of "Vash the Stampede" closely, determined to find him. She was certain that he was her little boy. She'd come across scant reports of an outlaw named "Knives," too, but no one seemed to know much about him. She was not as sure that this "Knives" was the Knives she had known as she was about Vash.
Reports on Knives surfaced before the destruction of July and were linked to scenes of mass murders. News would come up of a caravan discovered waylaid in the outlands with no survivors, the name "Knives" scrawled in red paint on one of the overturned vehicles. Word had come occasionally about a small village or family estate where every person therein was brutally murdered and the name "Knives" was found written on a door, an interior wall or the side of a barn in the victims' blood.
The reports of the mysterious "Knives" stopped after July was devastated. Reports about Vash increased. The reports had changed, too. A person thought to be a helpful if slightly dangerous vigilante became a vicious mass murderer and "angel of destruction" in the rumors. People spoke of entire villages slaughtered by Vash, of eyes that burned with the fire of Hell, of valleys filled with bones and lakes of blood.
Rem listened to the rumors and to official reports. Officially, Vash the Stampede was merely suspected in the destruction of July. There was no official record of him actually having taken any lives. Rem wondered about her "angel." She was certain that the legend was her child – for she knew what he was. He was one of "the ones that lived outside of time." Photographs, drawings, and descriptions of him changed very little over the years. Rem paid special attention to the rare photographs that were published. She wondered if he really was responsible for what happened at July. She wondered if the darker rumors about him could be true. She didn't think that the child she knew would be capable of such terrible things. In any case, she desired to find him and to learn the truth.
Vash and Knives, if she could find them, would be the closest thing to family that Rem had left.
She rode back to Sedona from Dos Angeles after recovering from her gunshot wound. She found the entire city in ruins. The only living creatures that remained within were a few stray dogs, several stray cats and an old man. She found her and Salem's house burned out. The Bluesummers estate was in similar shambles. The old man took her to the edge of the ruined city to show her the graves he alone dug for what remains he could gather. Salem Greer, Rem's husband, was among the dead. The Bluesummers family had survived, but fled.
Rem spent many years searching for the Bluesummers. She never found them. She followed reports of Vash the Stampede, and followed him to any town he was reported to be in or near. Whenever she came to such a town, she learned that he was gone as soon as she had arrived.
It was night when she came to outskirts of the city of July. After an exhaustive search of survival records in many town libraries, Rem had learned that the son of a cousin of hers was the mayor of July. She sat upon her tired thomas on a cliff overlooking the city when the disaster hit.
The light began at the center of the city and spread out like a wave. The thomas moaned. Rem rode swiftly away from the city as light filled the sky above her. The wind hit afterward. She was blown off her mount and skinned her arms on the gravel of the mesa. She looked back and the city was rubble and flames. She spent two days on the mesa; hunting down her fled thomas, which she found. She rode down into the city and met survivors. She did what she could to help wounded people.
Rem was sent with a party to get help from the nearest city, June. There was little that could be done for the citizens of July. Before the help party was able to make it back, the survivors in the ruins of July had degenerated to a state of brutality, stealing and murdering one another for the few recourses that were left.
Thereafter, the rumors of Vash the Stampede picked up. Rem continued to follow his trail, just as she had before, only now, she was left wondering. The destruction of July looked, to her, like the Plant explosions she had read about – rare occurrences, both on old Earth and on this new world, but they had been documented. Could her Vash, the sweet-natured child she knew, have done that? What of Knives? Could her intelligent, kind-natured Knives have become the murderer of rumor? Was he even alive? The rumors of Knives were gone from the world, having disappeared with July.
Rem rode away from the December parish at dawn the next day to continue her search for her angels of devastation.
To be Continued!! Turn to the Next!!
S.E. Nordwall, aka Shadsie