Chapter 4

NOTE: Back to the 'present,' again… (i.e. where we left off the chapter before last…)

'You've not changed,' said the grey haired woman, 'you're still as young as you were all those years ago.'

'You've aged,' commented Vash, his voice dreadfully calm, 'how has life treated you?'

'Well enough,' admitted the woman grudgingly, 'even without you… Vash, we need to talk.'

'Why? So you can feed me more lies?'

'I didn't lie.'

'You did nothing but lie.'

Wolfwood's eyes flickered between the speakers as he watched the dynamics of the conversation develop. He reached into his shirt pocket and withdrew a cigarette. This was beyond strange. Vash was acting… cold. As cold as he'd ever seen the renegade Gunslinger, yet the woman was behaving in a very civil, if not friendly manner.

He knew far from everything about Vash's past but he had been told a little about Rem. Knives had mentioned her as the woman Vash looked up to the most, and who had brought them up for the most part. Vash himself had let slip her name a few times, often with great reverence. But, from what Wolfwood had been told, Rem was dead. Had died over a century ago, so who the hell was this? And what had pissed Vash of so much?

'That's not right,' said the old woman, her large, blue eyes hardening, she straightened herself, 'some of it was true.'

Vash shrugged, 'a truth built upon a lie is also a lie, just a prettier one.'

He turned at this, making to leave but the woman, whomever she was, wouldn't let him go so easily. 'You can't just do that, Vash! I'm part of your past, no matter how much you try to deny it!'

Although he didn't turn to face her, Wolfwood saw Vash smile, a cold, humourless twist of the lips, 'I've enough problems with my past as it is,' he said, 'I've no time for you. Move on, Rem.'

'I can't!'

'Sure you can, your ticket to the future's always open, you know. I'm just not one of the destinations.'

He started to walk away.

'Vash!' the woman screamed out behind him, her voice a mix of rage, sadness and desperation.

'Later!' was all he called back, casually waving a hand as he did so, as if this was just another parting.

The woman looked imploringly at Nicholas, who was by now half way through his cigarette.

The crooked priest shrugged, he wanted to say something but Vash, with his needle sharp hearing, would undoubtedly catch what he said, and that would only make him more resolute.

If there was one thing Vash possessed it was stubbornness, one couldn't barge though his determination to change his mind, one had to approach from the side.

Nicholas sighed, turned away and followed his blond companion, dragging deeply upon his smoke as he did so. Like everything which involved Vash the Stampede, this was complex.

He followed Vash to the local saloon. Of course the town had a saloon, every town did. On this harsh world alcohol was almost as much a necessity as water.

By this point Vash seemed to have reverted to his characteristic self. He had removed the sunglasses and walked with a confident, almost skipping stride, a plastic grin pasted all over his face.

'Oy, Needle Noggin!' yelled Wolfwood, 'where do you think you're going?'

'To get a drink!' called back Vash merrily.

'How, exactly? What money are you going to use?'

'Yours.'

'But you gambled it all away you idiot, remember?!'

'Yeah but you've still got that spare stash you keep in your back pocket.'

Wolfwood blinked, how did he know about that? It wasn't nearly enough to buy them enough fuel to get anywhere useful, but he always kept a little spare cash aside for emergencies.

'I heard the change rattle as you walked,' explained Vash, as if reading the priest's thoughts, 'come on and buy your old pal a drink!'

Wolfwood frowned then let out another, heavy sigh. Why the hell not? It wasn't as if he didn't need a drink too and besides, alcohol might be just the thing to loosen Vash's lips on the whole Rem thing.

'Fine,' grunted Wolfwood, 'but we're gonna get a room with the rest of the cash, OK?'

'Sure, sure,' laughed the gunslinger, dancing into the saloon and heading straight for the bar.

It wasn't much of a place, it had very few patrons and those that were there looked like the sort of drinkers who rarely left. The chairs and tables were mismatched, obviously rescued from the ruins and the choices of drink were few.

The barman, a scraggly guy with only one eye and thousands of wrinkles; glared at the two men as they approached.

'Hi!' greeted Vash in his usual friendly manner, 'a bottle of Wild Turkey please!'

The barman sneered but did as he was told, turning round to grab a dusty bottle of whisky from the shelves behind him and slamming it down on the bar.

'That'll be thirty Double Dollars,' he grated.

'Thirty Double Dollars!' repeated Vash incredulously, his voice high, 'but that's-'

extortionate Wolfwood thought, privately agreeing with his companion. What he said was quite different.

'-Absolutely fine!' he finished for his friend, putting one, restraining brown hand upon Vash's shoulder and flashing his friendliest grin, 'here's the money!'

When the barman had finished counting the coins the two men retreated to one of the back tables with the bottle and two glasses.

'Thirty Double Dollars,' whined Vash under his breath as he took a seat, 'I could have bought three bottles of this for twenty Double Dollars in December!'

'Don't see what you're complaining about,' said Wolfwood, also taking a seat, 'I paid for it.'

Vash shrugged, conceding the point. Inside, Wolfwood relaxed, keeping Vash out of trouble was like keeping a child out of a cookie jar sometimes, but it was well worth it.

The Gunslinger opened the whisky bottle with relish and poured them both very generous helpings of the golden nectar.

'Cheers!' he crowed, raising his glass to the ceiling then, with one quick motion, before downing it all in one almighty gulp.

Wolfwood raised one dark eyebrow speculatively as he took a sip from his own glass. Vash was drinking like a man who's trying to forget something.

'Ahhhhh!' sighed The Stampede, slamming down his glass, 'that hit the spot!' he thumped his chest to emphasise the comment then reached over to grab the bottle once more.

Wolfwood's hand shot forward, grabbing Vash's forearm.

'You know,' he said, 'drinking… its fun, but it's not a way to live, you can't lose you past that way.'

'Yeah,' agreed Vash, his face suddenly turning solemn, thoughtful, 'drink is no escape from pain, but it's a brief reprieve. I deserve that kinda break every now and then, right?'

Wolfwood let go of Vash's arm, allowing him to take up the bottle once more and pour some liquor into his glass.

'Hey,' said Vash suddenly, a playful grin spreading across his face, 'you know what goes really well with drink? Drinking songs! Here I know one… One evening as the sun went down, and the jungle fire was burning. Down the track came a hobo hikin' and he said boys I'm not turnin'. I'm headed for a land that's far away, besides the crystal fountain. So come with me we'll go and see the big rock candy mountain!'(1)

Resisting the urge to put his hands to his ears, Wolfwood put up with the dreadful, semi drunk singing until Vash had finished his third glass.

'So,' said the Priest, when Vash was in between verses, 'what was going on between you and that Rem then?'

Vash suddenly fell silent, the goofy smile wiped from his face, he spent a moment staring contemplatively into his glass, 'that,' he said eventually, 'isn't any of your concern.'

'It's bothering you,' put in Nicholas, 'so it's my concern. Besides, if I don't get you to talk you're gonna start singing again and my ears can't handle any more of that!'

Vash smiled wanly, 'alright,' he said, 'but… it's kind of a long story and some of it's gonna sound a little crazy…'

'Needle Noggin, with you everything is crazy. Besides, we've got time. It's not as if there's much else to do around here. So tell me, who is this Rem?'

'Rem is…' Vash paused, 'Rem was someone very, very special to me, but that woman you met before wasn't her, she was just using her name.'

'Why's that?'

'Well… it all starts over twenty years ago, just after the destruction of July…'

(1) Lyrics taken from Big Rock Candy Mountain, I'm not sure who it belongs to, but it ain't me!

Notes: Back to July next chapter, sorry if this one sucked but, as you can see, this is… complex…

Reader's Replies:

LeDiz: Yeah, you about summerized the situation nicely, and yeah, things are gonna get very painful… as you can guess from this. I hope in inspires you to write me!

Thoughtlesswanderer: Thanks for the complement, glad I've got you hooked. But don't worry, things will resolve themselves eventually!

Ron The Future Weasel: Hehehe… maybe teasing isn't the right word… but something like that.

Mangaqueen13: Thanks! The first one was fun to write, spooky is good though I thought that the last chapter was kinda spooky too… I hope you say hooked and please keep on reviewing, it's my life blood!

Saraki: Don't worry, all will be revealed in time, and you'll soon understand exactly what is going on… things are not, needless to say, as they appear.

Lady Shadowcat: I'm not going to confirm or deny any of your suggestions, because I don't want to give anything away. Though the answers right in front of your face if you look at things the correct way… but don't worry, things will become clear soon.

Thanks for reviewing everyone, keep it up!

Next Chapter: It's back to July in the past and Vash settles into his… old life? Thing seem good, seem right, but something odd is niggling at his mind…