"It was almost as if, in the blink of an eye, they were all gone. The man in the black trench coat, the Mankiller, had claimed another town as a knot on his belt. Another hundred people dead due his guns. I could see it in his eyes as he held the gun to my head, I could see the evil that killed those people and the pleading man inside trying to escape. As he pulled the trigger I wonder why he let me live"

Fallen Angel

January

A breeze of cool desert wind blew gently across the ground. Raymond stood there with the barrel of one handgun pointed out, smoke came out of the end, while the other one was aiming down. Vash lay in the red desert dirt looking up at the light blue sky. He stared up at the light blue sky and blinked, sighing. He closed his eyes for a few seconds then he slowly opened them. Sighing once more he pushed himself up with his elbows and looked over at Raymond. Raymond lowered his handgun and fell to his knees. With a big sigh he fell forwards into the red desert dirt. Little clouds of red dust flew up around Raymond's body. Vash slowly pushed himself up so he was sitting up and leaned forwards, pushing himself onto his knees and finally up onto his feet. He slowly stumbled forward and fell to his knees, right next to Raymond who was able to roll over onto his back. Raymond slowly opened his eyes and coughed, the red dirt was on his left check. He slowly reached up and wiped it off. Just across town Meryl and Milly exit the shop keepers secret basement alone with the man and the old woman. They all gasped as they saw them. Hundreds of people were laying all over the town, dead, shot dead. "How can this be?" asked Meryl horrified, "Who could have done all of this? It is as if every single person in this town is dead except us. Could it have been Vash?" "No Meryl, do not think that. Vash does not kill people", replied Milly. "Vash? Vash the Stampede is here? Then he is to blame! He is the whole reason why my entire family including my cat is lying dead on the street!" yelled the man. Suddenly Kuroneko landed on his head, falling off the roof. Kuroneko yawned and meowed. "Oh, so my cat survived, but that is not the point!" The man quickly ran back inside the shop and came out with a double barrel shotgun. "I am going to kill that demon once and for all", shouted the man as he ran off. Meryl and Milly chased after him.

Vash stood, frozen in fear as Raymond held the barrel of his silver handgun against Vash's forehead. Vash moved as quickly as possible, falling backwards onto his back as Raymond fired. He then realized the delay that Raymond had when he fired his final bullet. The bullet purposely missed it's mark but skinned Vash's chin. The bullet had flew across the way and ricocheted of a steel pipe. It then flew sideways and hit a little girl in the back of her head, killing her instantly. It was as if Raymond had done what his bounty said he would do, he had killed every single person in the town, aside from the few hiding. Raymond slowly stood up and brushed the red desert dust off of his black trench coat. He then reached out and helped Vash the Stampede up. He sighed and smiled looking at Vash, reaching up and shielding his eyes from the sun. "What? Do I have something on my face?" asked Raymond laughing. Vash could not help but to laugh as well. Suddenly Raymond fired a bullet into the shadows.

The man's eyes were wide open as he dropped his shotgun, it went off as it hit the ground but it hit no one, for there was really no one to hit everyone was dead. Meryl ran over to the little girl with the bullet in her head, the last bullet to be fired off Milly pulled out her stungun and aimed it at Vash and Raymond who had both stopped laughing and looked over at them. The man was hit in his upper chest so he wasn't fatally hurt. Tears ran down Milly's checks. "Mr. Vash I want you to tell me the truth, who did this?" asked Milly sadly. Vash slowly pointed at Raymond and Raymond raised his hand. "How could you do this?!" screamed Milly as she fired off three shots at Raymond. Raymond quickly pulled out his hands guns and fired six shots, he had somehow managed to swipe some bullets from Vash. Two bullets hit each stunner bullet sending it off coarse and crashing into nearby buildings. Raymond put his guns away and spoke. "Hey you shouldn't destroy the buildings, that is Vash's job" Vash and Meryl fell down.

A little while later they were all back in the bar. Vash and Raymond sat drinking and laughing as Milly and Meryl watched them. "Meryl does this seem weird at all to you?" asked Milly as she slowly sipped some hot tea. "I don't know Milly, I just don't know. It is almost like they have known each other for years but one of them just brutally murdered everyone in this town. I don't get this at all", replied Meryl as she and Milly cringed as the old woman pulled the bullet from the man's chest. When they opened their eyes they gasped as they saw that Vash and Raymond were gone. "Where did those two idiots go?" asked Meryl as she ran outside.

Outside at the edge of the town Raymond and Vash stood at the entrance of the town's maze. "Uh how do we get out of here?" asked Vash as he looked at the maze. Raymond scratched his head and yawned. "Well since there is no reason to have this maze here to protect dead people, we should just blast our way through", said Raymond as he pulled out his handguns and aimed them at the stone wall. "Uh Raymond you do know that you are using metal bullets to try and blast your way through stone right?" asked Vash. Raymond smiled and aimed his guns. "Who says I am using normal bullets?" asked Raymond as he opened fire. Blasts of many colors shot out of his handguns, pounding into the walls destroying all of them, making a passageway out. "Well then", said Raymond as he put away his guns, "I guess it is time for us to go". With that he left the city, Vash picked up his stuff and followed. "That attack, those bullets", thought Vash as they walked, "The light looked so familiar, why can't I place where though?" "Hey slowpoke, any slower and you'll start gathering buzzards", shouted Raymond who had somehow gotten a lot further ahead. Vash freaked out and started running hard and fast with his head down. "Wait for me!"

500 Iles from February

Clouds of dust formed in the air as Nicholas D. Wolfwood, the traveling preacher, rode his motorcycle across the desert. The hot desert sun beat down on him, but he remained cool, unblinking behind his black sunglasses. He sighed as he revved his engine and tore off across the desert towards the town of February. It had been just about a month since he last ran into the bumbling baboon called Vash the Stampede and honestly he was getting worried. Not that he cared about that idiot or something but he was worried about the girls. "That moron always gets into trouble and I bet that he had something to do with the destruction of January. I know he does not kill people but an entire town was killed within maybe hours. He has to be involved somehow", thought Wolfwood and he gazed off into the distance. "Him, or Knives"

January

Local officers from neighboring towns arrived in January three hours after Vash and Raymond left. Meryl and Milly were still in town when the police arrived. They were both questioned along with the old woman and the man. Milly sat inside one of the empty houses across from a young officer, her stungun sat in the corner. "So please tell me what happened", said the officer. "Well me and Meryl", started Milly when the officer interrupted, "You mean Meryl Stryfe?". "Yes, me and Meryl had arrived in town with Mr. Vash. When we got here we noticed the new posters and saw the Mankiller's notice. After a few minutes Mr. Vash had lurked off somewhere, probably a bar or something and me and Meryl went shopping." "Wait do you mean Vash the Stampede was here?" asked the officer excitedly. "Yes, Mr. Vash was here but he did not do anything.." "That is enough questions for now Ms. Thompson you may go now". Milly smiled, picked up her stungun and left.
"Now Ms. Stryfe what is your relations with Vash the Stampede?" asked the Commanding Officer. "Me and my friend, Milly Thompson are agents for the Bernardelli Insurance Agency and we are assigned to keep a close eye on Vash in order to make sure he does not cause anymore damage", replied Meryl calmly. "Well then it seems like you have not been doing your job. There are about six hundred bodies found lying on the streets, dead", snapped the Commanding Officer back. Meryl rose and slammed her fists into his desk. "Now you look here", she said with anger in her eyes, "I know that Vash may not have the best reputation but you know that he has never ever killed a single person. This is not like him. He would not kill!" "Calm down missy, then who did all of this?" asked the Commanding Officer. Meryl stood up walked over to the wall and ripped a poster off the wall. She slammed it down on the desk and the man gasped.

100 Iles from February

A gun shot rang out across the desert. Raymond sat inside the remains of an old car with his eyes closed. When he heard the shot he slowly opened his eyes. There stood four ruthless looking men. The leader was a big guy with long brown hair. He stood at 6 foot 7 with blue eyes and a scar running across his left cheek. They all wore dirty, ragged clothes and looked as if they have not eaten in days. They all had automatic weapons except for the leader who hand an AK-47 and a black handgun. "Are you the one known as Vash the Stampede?" asked one of the men. Raymond yawned and stretched. "Actually no, he and I got lost about two hundred miles back, towards January. Which was quite odd since there's no place to really hide, aside from this junker I found. Why did you ask and wake me?" "We are sorry for waking you Sir but we need to find and capture Vash the Stampede for you see we are in desperate need of the money. Our crops have dried out in the harsh heat and now we are left with no money or food. Our friends and families are starving and we can use the bounty on Vash the Stampede's head to buy food", said the leader as he began to turn away. "Where do you think you are going?" asked Raymond. The leader turned around. "What do you mean Sir?" he asked as he looked into Raymond's burning red eyes.

"I still do not understand you people. You say you want something yet when it is told to you that the one that you are seeking means very little because the true gold mine is sitting right in front of them", said Raymond quietly to himself as he closed his eyes once again and thought of what just happened. "Why must you go for the smaller fish?" asked Raymond as he pulled himself up, "Or do you not know who I am?" "Who are you?" asked one of the thin men. "My name is Raymond the Mankiller and I am worth 150 billion double dollars" "150…billion?" asked the leader stuttering. "Yes 150 billiondouble dollarsand you are about to learn why", replied Raymond as he pulled out his hand guns.A few moments laterhe was sitting back in his shell of a car resting and thinking. Blood was all over the ground and some was even on the car. Four bodies lay face down in the dirt.

February

Vash literally crawled into on his belly. He had wandered the dessert for hours with no food or water and somehow he lost Raymond in the sand. "How did I lose him?" asked Vash sadly, outloud, "We were in a desert and some sand blew up. One moment he was there the next he was gone" He then heard a mew, looking up he saw Kuroneko holding a canteen of water in her mouth. Vash smiled and snatched the canteen from Kuroneko and chugged it. "Wow you are thirsty. Where are the girls Mr. Vash?" asked a tall man with a large cross slung over his shoulder. Vash squinted and looked up. "Well well well, if it isn't Mr. Preacher Man. Last time I saw Meryl and Milly was in the town of January", replied Vash as he stood up. "January? You mean the town where the entire population was killed in a massive slaughter? The very same incident that many people claim you did", said Wolfwood. "What? They think I killed people?" asked Vash panicked. "Yeah that is what I heard" "But it was not me" "Then who was it?" "Hello boys", said Raymond as he walked over to them.

"Raymond when did you get here?" asked Vash. "A few minutes ago. Who's your friend?" Raymond asked nodding towards Nicholas. "Oh, Raymond this is Nicholas, Nicholas this is Raymond". Raymond smiled and held out his hand, Nicholas also smiled and shook his hand. Suddenly five cars roared into town. "I wonder what is going on here", said Nicholas outloud. Men started firing into the air, a small man pushed to the front of the crowd. "We are looking for two men. Vash the Stampede and a new killer known only as Raymond the Mankiller. These two are wanted for the devastation that occurred in January". Raymond and Vash looked at each other then backed away slowly, leaving Nicholas there rubbed his head. Kuroneko meowed.

"Fear can make people do the strangest and stupidest things ever. When a man sees Raymond in his regular face as a threat he would go as far as risking the lives of the children around him. The Mankiller was more of the town's children's playmate instead of a violent killer. It was not until a small child explained the situation to me, then I saw who the real Raymond was"

Dark Hearts

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Yes this new update came on a little fast but that's because I already had this chapter ready to go, expect things to slow down and speed up depending on what's what. I have a month before college classes start up again so let's hope things go smoothly.