A/n: this is my first Trigun fic. Well, it was. I now have others. I have also decided to redo the chapters of this story. They are all filled with typos and crap so I thought I should revise them. I have also combined some chapters to make them longer.

For all you who like this story, don't worry. I have kept the story line the same, I have just added stuff that needed to be added and taken out stuff that didn't need to be there. If you have any complaints on me doing this, please leave it in a review.

I know this is a kind of stupid author note, so if you want, skip on over (like you haven't already XD). Please enjoy this new 'Promise'. Thank you for reading my story and please review…for my sanity…well…what is LEFT of it…

Just so you know when it is in first person, it is in Wolfwood's POV.

~Blu

~*~*~

Prologue

"Oh God."

"I know…I know…"

"YOU DON'T KNOW A DAMN THING!"

Meryl storms upstairs, leaving Vash at the run down table. The kids watching from the door mumble to each other before disbanding and moving back to play. Vash shakes his head, his grip on the glass tightening in disgust. Little waves form on the side as he lifts it to his mouth, gulping down the contense. "There was nothing I could do…nothing."

"NICK!"

The blonde looks up from the table top to the woman on the stairs. Millie Thompson hangs from the banister, questioning the look on the gunman's face. "Well hi, Mr.Vash," the tall woman says with a wave. Her eyes dart around the small room. "Where's Nick?" The green eyes linger on the girl sadly then return to the gin in the glass. Millie shakes her head, disbelief making her brow crinkle. "No…Nick is..."

"Dead." Vash finishes. "Wolfwood is dead."

Shock hits the insurance woman like a ton of bricks, if not like a whole Thomas. She backs up the stairs before turning around and heading for her room in a dead run. Vash chokes on the liquor and begins to sob in the kitchen. The little boys and girls in the other room begin to whisper among themselves, some teary-eyed, others full out sobbing. A group of girls huddle in the corner hugging and crying together. The oldest boy closes the door connecting the kids little play room to the rest of the house. As the door shuts, Vash stands up, glasses in hand, and walks out the door.

~*~

Meryl pounds on the locked door of Wolfwood's former bedroom. "MILLIE!" she calls, her fist being drowned out by her yelling. "OPEN THIS DOOR!" 

Inside the room Millie is sprawled out on the small cot she and Wolfwood had shared the night before. Her normally large, heart-filled eyes are drawn thin as more tears form behind them. The salt streams pour down her cheeks, making the sky-blue eyes close completely. Gun shots go off in her brain, a loud reminder of what happened only hours ago. She lets the deadly music play over and over again in her mind, knowing any of the explosions could have been the one to bring her love down.

"MILLIE! OPEN…UP!" Meryl tries in vein to pry the wood open with her hands but she just ends up tiring herself out. "FORGET IT!"  She bangs her fist on the wood, bruising her knuckles. Her forehead sets itself next to the quivering fist. Tears run from her eyes and down each cheek. As she begins to sob, she turns and sets her back on the wood, sliding down to meet the floor. The small woman pushes her legs into her arms, hugging them to herself.

"Oh God…"

~*~

"So your leaving too?!"

Meryl's fist collides with the small table, sending the plates on it into a frenzy. Vash shakes his head, the small earring in his left ear slightly moving. He adjusts the bag on his back before answering the insurance girl's question. "No," he says, only loud enough for the two to hear. "I'm going to go…bury Wolfwood." The veins popping in Meryl's skull go double time. Her slender eyebrows push her eyes closed in anger.

"You just…I can't…how could…GAH!" With that Meryl storms upstairs, slamming the door behind her. Vash's eyes turn downward before he slinks out the door.

Chapter One: Home Coming Blues

"Ow…my heeeeeeead!"

I force my eyes open, only to see Vash sitting at the altar, smiling down at me. Oh God, I'm going to get the 'thank-God-your-alive-not-that-I-didn't-think-you-would-die' talk. I HATE that talk. Why couldn't I've woken up in my bed or something? I glare at him, inspecting the grin a little harder.

It's fake.

This can not be good.

"Don't fake it Vash," I say, pulling myself to my feet. "I know when you are faking it." He looks at me stunned. I smirk at him, pleased at myself in confusing the bastard. He doesn't lose the look, though. He stares at me for a bit, the silence forming around us.

"How…how do you know my name?" he says plainly. I gape at him.

"Duh, I know your name, you jack ass," I say, leaning forward. "I've known you for like five years!" He frowns at me.

"Kids shouldn't cuss." He says putting his hands on his hips. I look at his in shock. Did he just call me a…kid?

"Vash, what the hell are you talking about?!" I practically scream. I blink, for the first time hearing myself speak.

That's not my voice.

I look down at myself.

That's not mine either.

"Oh…my…GOD!"

~*~

"…So that's what happened." I finish, taking deep breath. I begin swinging my feet over the altar. I'm shorter now. MUCH shorter. Vash shakes his head, a small smile forming. I look over to the heap of flesh I used to call my own. Some how it's still breathing. I don't know how, though, seeing as I'm over here in this kid body, and it's over there across the room propped up on my Cross Punisher. This has got to be the weirdest day ever.

EVER.

"I can not believe it," Vash says with a small giggle. I glare at him, watching the little snicker multiply into a cry of psychotic laugher though slit eyes. "YOU'RE SO SMALL!"

"And you're a idiot." I say shaking my head, silently calling him a lost cause.

~*~

"INSURANCE GIRLS! I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!"

Vash bursts through the door, nearly sending the poor piece of wood off its hinges. I side glance, temped to put my hand up gesturing that I do not know this crazy man. Meryl's head, once lying on the table by the door of the kitchen, bolts up with a look of surprise plastered over every corner. Her eyes, usually gray, are red and puffy. That means one of three things;

She has been sobbing her eyes out,

She is on a MAJOR hang-over,

Or she is really, REALLY pissed.

From the amount of glaring she is doing, I am going with the last one. This is the time when you slowly back away, find a sound proof wall in the nearest town about 50 iles away, and hope to God you keep your hearing. But just my luck, Vash has closed the door behind me. I'm cornered and Meryl is on the war path.

We're boned.

"What the hell were you THINKING?!"

There goes the atom bomb…

~*~

"…So you just thought he could stay the night with us, with the other kids." Vash finishes, ice pack pressed on his jaw. Meryl's vein hasn't stopped throbbing. I keep telling myself not to stare…but it just keeps throbbing and throbbing. It's going to burst and when it does…

It takes me a minute to realize I was being spoken to. I blink, clearing my mind of the vessel about to pop and turn to Vash, staring blankly. Of course I answer with a oh-so-intelligent; "Umm…what?"

"He said, do you want to stay in the room with the other kids or with one of us?" Meryl repeats, the small vein growing in size. Oh God, I'm making it worse.

Wait…sleep with one of them…MILLIE!

SCORE!!!

"I'll sleep with Millie."  

Both do a double take.

"I mean…err…Mr. Vash told me about Millie," I say, putting on my best kiddie face. I hope to God she buys this. "Mr. Vash says she's really nice, so I was wondering if I could sleep with her for the first night." Oh God, I just called Vash MISTER…twice!

"I'm sorry," Meryl replies, her face turned down to the table top. I look up at her, waiting for her to finish. "She isn't herself at the moment."

Vash and I exchange glances. He nods, telling me Meryl is speaking the truth. I look back down at my glass of water. It's my fault, isn't it?

~*~*~

Wolfwood: There is place, deep down inside each of us, that is our own. A place where no one has been, a personal place, untouched. Some people don't even know they have that place inside until they need it, others never leave it. If you bury yourself too deep into that place, it may hard to leave. To be alone in a place only you can go to when you are hurting, not to have other people trying to help you with something they know they never can, it is tempting. But if you never leave there, if that place becomes your reality, how do you know what you are missing?

Next Chapter: So Far Down