Chapter Three: "Apocalypse Please"

Knives stopped by one of the old newspaper dispensers lined up in front of a deserted, half-"bombed out" office building. The wind blew lightly, flapping the long red coat he now wore around his legs, but he didn't notice that. He'd been exploring this town for the better part of an hour (his search also provided his newest article of clothing), yet he found little answer to two pertinent questions - when was he and where were all of the people?

He yanked on the handle of the machine and easily busted it open. Carefully, he removed the severely yellowed newspaper from insideand studied it. He recognized the language for this paper. Unlike the ones in the other dispensers, this was English.

The headline heralded the end of the planet Earth with the destruction of its only moon, the result of an explosion in space. Apparently, a new technology, for the people of this time period, anyway, a hypergate had malfunctioned. The force of the explosion reduced the moon to bits of rock. Now, those left on Earth were under constant stress, fearful of being crushed by the falling debris.

It served humankind right. To believe that they were capable of controlling the very essence of space and time, to create a wormhole for their personal use, it was disgusting. As he had so long ago on the Project SEEDS ship, the universe fought back against the human plague and wiped out a good portion of them in retaliation. He let the paper drop from his hands and flutter to the ground, where it was quickly picked up by the dry wind and carried down the empty street.

He looked to the sky. The rock that had nearly killed him and Vash earlier was from the universe's revenge. His eyes scanned the buildings - some were leveled by fallen rock, some had deteriorated on their own - then he fully realized where he was.

Earth.

He drew in a deep breath then made a face as though he smelled something foul on the wind. Humans still polluted the area. He couldn't see them, but their stench was unmistakable.

"Hey! Who the hell're you?"

Knives' eyes flicked open when he heard a man's voice address him. And rudely. Shortly thereafter, he heard the click of a gun being cocked. Casually, he turned towards whoever was stupid enough to speak to him. Behind him, he found four young men. All of them were armed, but only one, the one who'd spoken, he assumed, had a weapon drawn.

"I'm talkin' to you. Are you deaf?" demanded the blond in the middle. He didn't directly aim his gun at Knives, but made it clear he wouldn't hesitate in using it.

"No, I'm not," he evenly replied.

"Then who are you? What're you doin' here?" The man eyes Knives warily. The black gun strapped to the stranger's leg made him highly uncomfortable. He caught sight of it again as the breeze forced the long red coat open once more. His hand regripped his own weapon.

"Who am I?" Knives smiled, amused by the question. "You want to know who I am?" His eyes gleamed with a twisted perversion. "I'm the one who is going to save the universe from you useless resource consuming trash."

The man with the gun glanced over his shoulder at the three with him. Was this guy serious? He sounded like it. If that were the case, he must be crazy, too.

The expression on Knives' face darkened when he heard laughter erupt from the group of humans before him. "You shouldn't do that," he warned, his tone cold. How dare they laugh at him? The one who was their superior in every way imaginable?

"Oh really?" spluttered the leader in between laughs. "And what are you gonna do about it, pretty boy?"

The man's laughter, as well as the others, was cut short by three rounds being fired in rapid succession. The leader gasped when the bodies of his companions dropped into a pile at his feet. Each bore a single gunshot wound in the center of his forehead. Hands shaking, mouth hanging open in horror and shock, the last man standing looked to Knives. The blond in the red coat wore a sadistic grin on his face and held a smoking black gun in his hand.

"Wh-who ... are ... y-you?" the young man whispered when he finally found his voice.

"Vash ... the Stampede." Knives glared at the man as his arm began its transformation into a much more destructive weapon. He watched the terrified piece of garbage back away, stumbling over his own feet. "Run. Tell the rest of your worthless, sickening kind that their days are numbered. Time ... is running out."

With a frightened shriek, the man pivoted on his heel and took off in a flat run. He didn't care about the extreme possibility that a piece of moon rock could smash him into the ground. All he wanted was to survive whatever this psycho planned to do. Tossing his gun aside, he willed himself to run even faster. He didn't stop running, even after he managed to escape the city limits.

Back in the center of the city, Knives closed his eyes as he aimed his most powerful weapon in his war on humankind at the ground beneath his feet. He hesitated when he saw a flash of Vash's face in his mind. Only for a brief moment, though.

No one can stop me, Vash. Not even you.

He fired.


"Rem!"

Young Vash watched as the door to the escape pod slid shut, separating him from the most precious person in his life. He saw her smiling face through the crack ...then she was gone. Forever. Her last words to him resonated in his mind.

"Vash ... take care of Knives ..."

"Rem ..." he whispered.

Slowly, his eyes opened and Vash stared up at the ceiling of a room he did not recognize. From elsewhere in that room, he heard a woman's voice softly singing a familiar song - her song. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to sit up in bed. One hand absently rubbed at the back of his neck as he scanned one side of the room. A single bed, in which he currently lay, a window covered with a tattered cloth as its curtain and a table, where a few things he recognized sat, were all he found.

He looked down on himself. He was naked to the waist with a blanket draped over his legs. Where am I? he wondered. He remembered Knives, the gunfight, the mysterious portal ... then their appearance on a strange planet. "Meryl," he said, suddenly recalling that she had come through that portal, too.

Across the room, Meryl startled when she heard Vash gasp her name. She'd had her back to him as she worked to repair the damage done to his coat. Placing the garment aside, she rose to her feet as she turned around.

"You're awake," she greeted with an uneasy smile. When he didn't respond, she picked up a glass of water from the nearby table and brought it to him. "You've been asleep for almost two days." She watched him drain the glass of its contents. "How do you feel?"

Vash stared at the tattered cloth fluttering in the gentle breeze coming through the open window. He wasn't certain about how he felt. He'd failed to do what he'd intended to with Knives. Nothing turned out as he'd planned. Whatever Knives' scheme was, Vash couldn't sort it out. Why did he bring them ... here? Wherever here was?

"Where are we?" he quietly asked as he looked to Meryl.

Her mouth quirked slightly. He'd made it a point to avoid answering her question, now he changed the subject. She took the empty glass from him then went back to the table cluttered with their personal items. She kept her back to him as she bowed her head. "We're on Earth ... of the past."

"The past?"

"Yes." Her head lifted and she shifted her gaze to Wolfwood's cross, which was leaned against the wall near the table. "We're at an orphanage run by a Sister Clara." She placed the glass on the table and turned around. "A few of the children found us two days ago. Unconscious and close to death from what I understand. We were very lucky."

"How long have you been awake?"

"Since yesterday." A hand absently brushed at the nasty bruise left behind from her encounter with Knives' gun. "I ... I thought you might never wake up." A pause. Her lips pursed. "Vash ... the other day ... what was - "

"Where are my clothes?" he interrupted as he climbed out of bed. He placed a hand on the wall to steady himself. He wasn't fully recovered, obviously. Only marginally rejuvenated by the water Meryl had provided upon his waking. "I'm fine." He waved her off when she took a few steps towards him, concerned. "I ... I just need my clothes."

She sighed then retrieved his things from the corner of the room. As she handed them over, she tried to look him in the eyes. But he wouldn't allow her. Shaking her head, she went back to her chair and sat down as he dressed. If he wanted to act like this, she wouldn't push. They had bigger problems, ones that concerned her slightly less than Vash's emotional state.

"Do you know how far back we've gone?" Vash inquired as he glanced in Meryl's direction.

"We're in the year 2083." She shrugged and picked up his coat from the floor. Her fingers traced over the fresh stitching she'd finished only moments ago. "I'm not sure where that is in relation to our own time." She bowed her head slightly. "Do you know?"

As he finished with his gloves, he glanced at her. "A long way. At least a thousand years."

"At least?" she repeated as she turned in her chair. After he nodded, she sighed heavily. "Why did he do this?"

"It's pretty obvious."

"I know what he wants to do," she shortly replied. Pausing, she turned back around in her chair, staring at Wolfwood's cross. "Why did he bring you with him? You're the only person who could possibly stop him. It doesn't make sense."

"The why doesn't matter." He stopped by her and took his coat from her hands then gave it a once over. Meryl'd done an impressive job in repairing the damage done. "He's not going to do anything if he's here. If that were so, he would've by now."

Meryl bit her lower lip as she watched Vash put his coat on. "Uhh ... " She didn't know how to tell him that Knives wasn't a guest of Sister Clara and her orphans. He'd been so relaxed and pleasant in the last five minutes, she didn't want to destroy that.

"What?" He saw the expression on her face. "What is it?"

She averted her gaze. "He's ... " Her voice dropped to a faint whisper. "... not here."

"He's not?"

She flinched. "He was gone by the time the children found us." She flinched again, when Vash slammed a fist into the wall behind her. It had surprised her as well. He was never prone to violence, of any kind. "I'm ... I'm sorry."

"Two days ... " He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against the wall. His hands clenched into fists as he pressed them against it. "He could be anywhere by now." His eyes flew open as another revelation hit him. Suddenly, he whirled around and searched the table filled with their personal items. His gun was there. Knives', however, was not. Any color that had returned to his face drained away. "He has his gun."

Meryl looked from the table to Vash. Until just then, she'd not realized the danger of that fact. The story he'd told her, not long ago, about those weapons his brother had created and the terrible destructive power they bestowed upon them.

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

Meryl jumped when Vash's shouting voice broke into her thoughts. She rose to her feet, slowly, and fought to retain her control over her emotions. "You needed the rest," she calmly replied. "You were pretty badly battered when they found us. You ... you could've ... died."

He grabbed her by the upper arms and gripped her tighter than he should have. "He'll kill every single human being in this time period! Don't you understand? If I don't stop him, who will? Who ... can?"

"Well, you certainly can't stop him if you're dead!" she shot back. While Vash was momentarily surprised by her fiery response, Meryl wriggled free of his grasp. Her eyes narrowed. "Which is what you would've been had you gone after him in your state! Dammit, Vash! I'm trying to help you. Why won't you let me? Do you think I want him to slaughter the human race? You're the only one who can stop him, but you can't do that when you're barely able to walk, let alone hold a gun!"

A loud knock on the door made them both look across the room. A moment later, the door opened and a woman - in her mid to late forties - poked her head into the room. The habit she wore told Vash this must be the "Sister Clara" Meryl mentioned earlier. The nun smiled slightly at the two of them.

"Is everything all right?" Sister Clara asked as she raised her eyebrows at the young couple facing off. She'd heard them arguing clear in the other room. She'd hoped to curb it before it got out of hand. The children were already worried enough with this insane man destroying cities.

"Yes, Sister, everything's fine," Meryl uneasily replied after a short silence.

The nun looked to Vash and smiled a little wider. "It's good to see you awake. Do you mind if I come in?"

Meryl glanced at Vash, noting the complete change in his manner upon Clara's appearance. "No, Sister, not at all," she said. "We can't thank you enough for your help. I imagine it's difficult for you, taking care of these children, then we come along."

Clara stepped into the room. "Always be kind to strangers," she said as she clasped her hands together as she approached her guests. Her gaze shifted to Vash. "For you may be entertaining angels unawares."

Vash's eyes widened briefly at the nun's words then he looked away. He couldn't bear to be reminded of his old friend - Wolfwood. Not only the affiliation with God, but it was the way this woman spoke. Wolfwood often quoted from his Book. Usually, it was in order to support some course of action, which Vash objected to, though.

"We were about to have lunch, if either of you are -"

In a flash, Vash was on his feet, in front of nun. "Food! I'm famished!" He placed his hands to his stomach and frowned as it growled. "I feel like I haven't eaten in days!"

"Because you haven't," Meryl muttered.

He laughed. "Oh, yeah! Right!" He drew in a deep breath then sighed. The smell of whatever the nun had prepared overwhelmed him. "Smells wonderful!" With that, he darted out of the room.

Sister Clara blinked as she turned from the doorway to Meryl. "He's certainly feeling better."

As the insurance woman and the nun entered the main room of the small orphanage, Meryl sighed heavily at the scene before her. Vash was flat on the floor, face down, with two young boys perched on his back. One held tightly to his right leg while the other attempted to pin Vash's left arm to the floor. Vash, though, refused to give up the donut clutched in his right hand.

"Get it from him, Kit!" yelled one of the boys to one of the nearby girls who watched them. "Give it back!"

"Ow! Let go!" Vash exclaimed as the angered boy gave his arm a hefty yank.

"Not until you give it back!"

"Didn't anyone ever teach you to respect your guests?"

"Jack, Daniel!" Sister Clara firmly called out. She raised an eyebrow when both boys ceased in their torture and turned sheepishly towards her. "Let him go."

Grumbling, the boys did as they were commanded. Vash rolled onto his back then propped himself up on his elbows. The look on Meryl's face elicited a sheepish grin from him. She, on the other hand, only shook her head and sighed.

"The two of you will apologize for your behavior," Clara instructed. She hook her head as they began to protest. "You should be ashamed of yourselves!"

Heads bowed, the boys turned to Vash and murmured," I'm sorry" in unison.

"Good." Clara pointed to the empty chairs at the table. "Sit down." Once they were seated, she looked down to Vash. "Ed certainly was right about you."

Meryl's head snapped up when Clara spoke a familiar name. Vash was equally surprised by the nun's comment.

"Did you say 'Ed'?" Meryl asked.

The nun nodded. "Yes."

"Ed as in a little red-haired girl with an obsession over food?"

She smiled. "That's the same Ed."

Meryl looked down to Vash. The same realization had struck him, too. If Ed was around, that meant they were in the same time period as the Bebop. And where that ship was, they had possible allies in their quest to stop Knives. That glimmer of hope filled Meryl with a sense of relief. She suddenly didn't feel so alone, either. They had friends here. Friends they could count on.

Clara pulled out a chair for Meryl, who promptly plopped into it. "She told us all about her trip to the future and her adventures on a planet called 'Gunsmoke'. I didn't believe any of it until yesterday, Miss Stryfe, when you told me your names."

"Why didn't you say something before?"

"I wanted to be sure." She approached Vash and pulled out a chair for him. "And now that I've officially met you ... " She smiled as Vash sat down in the chair. "I'm very sure." She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "I understand why she likes you so much, Vash."


End Chapter Three.

Song Title Used: "Apocalypse Please" - Muse