Blu: NO!!!
TK: WHAT?!
Blu: MY RECORDING OF TRIGUN HAS BEEN TAPED OVER?!
TK: OMIGOD! …thank the reviewers
Blu: …but I want to morn more…
TK: NOW!
Blu: oh fine…
Hustino- I always love your reviews ^^ thankies!
Ali1- …I hope Millie can read too…THANKIES FOR THE REVIEW!
Blu: that's it
TK: yupp…now do the chapter
Blu: no duh…
Read, Review, and Wait, the three things that happen on this site.
~*~*~
Chapter Six: Forgive and Forget or Regret
Meryl sighs as she sits by the bewildered Wolfwood. "She liked it, I'm guessing," she says, straitening her cape.
"How did you know?" he asks.
"She attacked me on the stairs screaming something about how great you are," she replies, running a hand through her now wild hair.
"Ah."
"NICKY! HEEEEEEEEEELP!!!"
Attention pulled to the pile of scrambling children, Nick sighs and trots over to the mound. Taking a deep breathe, he dives into the pile. Two seconds later, the former priest reemerges with a handful of gold hair. Hope rises in Meryl's stomach, but dies when Wolfwood raises his hand, showing the hair is no longer connected to the Stampede's scalp. That would explain the yelp of pain. Giving up, Wolfwood jumps out of the mound again and sits next to Meryl. After another twenty minutes of 'Kill-the-Outlaw', the boys and girls get tired of ripping the Humanoid Typhoon to shreds and break off into groups again. Vash, who is now missing most of his buttons, sits there in the sand, dazed. Just as he gets up to sit on the porch, Millie burst through the door. "LUNCH TIME!" she yells, calling the children from play. Before Vash can even utter a yelp, he's trampled by the rushing kids. Meryl and little Wolf stare at the twitching mound of flesh that kinda looks like their $$60 billion friend…but not really. Meryl gets up to scrap the poor outlaw off the front yard just as Millie sits next to her mini priest. "Mr. Vash was playing with the kids, huh?"
Nick smiles, moving into her lap. "Yeah…"
"Well," Millie chirps, shooting up. Nick tumbles from her lap and lands face first into the sand. "Lunch is ready, Mr. Vash!" She waves a hand to the staggering outlaw and turns around the leave. Opening the door, she stops and turns to Wolfwood, who is pulling himself back onto the steps. "What's wrong, Nicholas?" she asks, completely clueless.
The priest gives his Big Girl a strange look but shakes it off before answering. "I'm fine, Millie," he says, standing up to full height. "I'll be there in a minute." The insurance girl smiles and exits via the open door (which is about to fall off the hinges from the stampede two seconds ago). Sighing for the billionth time today, Wolfwood turns to the other insurance girl to see if she has made any progress in getting the blob at her feet in any condition for walking. Sadly, the only thing he sees is Meryl chucking her shoe at the deformed man.
"Jackass," she mutters as she passes the chibi on the porch. Vash literally pulls himself together and crawls back up the steps.
"You're so cold!" he yells after her just as she slams the door behind her. This, of course, was a very bad idea, seeing as the door was just barely on its frame as it was. The poor hunk of wood falls over and lands on the dusty porch, revealing a very embarrassed Meryl. The heads popping out of the kitchen snicker.
"VASH! YOU IDIOT!" Meryl screams. "LOOK WHAT YOU DID!" With that, she storms off, past Millie and the other children poking out of the kitchen.
"But Sempai," Millie says, looking up at her friend as she passes, "didn't you break the-"
"Not now Millie."
"Okay…"
Smiling at the insurance girl's antics, Wolfwood stands up to leave, but is stopped when Vash grabs his arm. "Not you," he says, meeting the boy in the eyes. "I have something to ask you."
~*~
"I have something to ask you."
Dammit, here it is.
"What about?" I ask, ripping my arm free. Vash lets out a sigh, searching for the words.
"How…how do you know about Knives?" he asks slowly. "Why did you know where to find him and…"
"Because I work for him," I say cutting him off. The gun man lets out a sharp gasp, putting two and two together. I ignore it and turn around, heading for the door. "Now if you don't mind, I want some lun-"
"Wait!" The Stampede yells, twisting around. Grabbing my arm again, he pulls me back to the steps. "So it was all a lie?!" he all but screams.
"Ow Vash, that hurts!" I snap, trying to jerk my arm away.
"Please, Nick," he pleads, making me look at him. "Tell me, was it a lie? Our friendship? you and Millie? All of it?! Please tell me this all isn't a game planned up by my brother and that mad-man!"
"None of that is a lie!" I snap, wrenching my arm free. Taking a long breath, I sit down next to Vash, cradling my head in my hands. "None of it…including your brother and Legato…" The Stampede's eyes widen. "I really hoped it never would have come to this."
"So…were you appointed to pick me off when I was weak or something?" he asks, choking back tears. What a friggin drama-queen.
"No," I reply. "My job was to protect you…that included cleaning up after you…"
"You mean you-"
"-I finished every Gung ho you didn't have the heart to."
The blonde gives a disgusted shudder. "How…how could you?!"
"It was that or let you and girls get killed!" I scream, shooting up. "If I didn't clean up your mess, you would be dead along with everything that matters to the both of us. My job was to keep that from happening! Don't you see?! I had no other choice!"
"When did you get that order?" he asks behind me.
"Two weeks after the caravan."
I can hear his head snap up. "You mean our first meeting, the shooting contest, all of it was-"
"A complete twist of fate," I finish, pulling into a sitting position. I let out a lungful of air I didn't know I was holding before continuing. "A month or so before I ever met you, Legato and my…teacher came to get my alliance with the Gung hos, but I refused and ran. I never thought of coming back until…until I met Millie. After what she did at the Caravan, I knew I had to go back. When I did…" Trailing off, I tug my knees to my chest, burying my head in them. After a moment of word searching, I reemerge to finish the story. "I came back to find the place all but destroyed. The kids were gone and most of the orphanage was in ruins…" I pause, fighting for my composer. "Legato…Legato assured me that if I found you and carried out his orders, the kids would be safe…along with Millie."
"So you found me and now this?" Vash asks. I nod, avoiding his eyes.
"I knew you were no ordinary priest, I just didn't know how unordinary!"
Both of us jump, spinning around to see who is at the doorway. To our horror, it's both of the insurance girls leaning on the empty frame. Meryl looks somewhat sober, but doesn't seem to have completely calmed down from earlier. Millie, on the other hand, is on the verge of tears. $$20 says they heard the whole thing. I get up, expecting Big Girl to run from me. "Millie," I say, my voice slightly shaking. "I can explain…"
"OH NICK! I AM SO SORRY YOU HAD TO GO THROUGH THAT!" She screams, pulling me into a very unexpected (and very bone-crushing) hug. Letting go of me, Millie sits back, wiping a tear away.
"I can't believe that evil man did that!" Turning my gaze from Millie, I see Meryl sitting on her knees, fists clinched. "How could he!?" Okay, this is just weird.
"HEY!" Vash calls, alone in his little corner of the porch. "WHERE IS MY SYMPATHY?!" His answer is Meryl's other shoe in the face.
"There's your sympathy, you dumb Needle Noggin!"
~*~*~
Blu: YAY! I WAS WAITING FOR THAT CHAPTER!
TK: …you are a sick and twisted person, Blu-chan
Blu: it comes with the job! Before I forget, remember to sing the Genocide song in your reviews so those mean animators get the hint that offing Wolfwood was bad!
TK: you better do as she says, she has a flamethrower…somewhere…
~*~
Wolfwood: 'Bless the Beasts and the Children, for in this world they have no voice, they have no choice.
'Bless the Beasts and the Children, for this world can never be the world they see.
'Guild their way when the darkness surrounds them.
'Give them love, let is shine all around them.
'Bless the Beasts and the Children.
'Give them shelter from a storm.
'Keep them safe…Keep them warm…'
Next Chapter: Bless the Beasts and the Children