The Usual Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun, Meryl, Milly, Wolfwood, Rem, Knives, or Vash, as much as I wish I owned one particular character. . . .Oh, well. I can dream, can't I?
Glory
Chapter Twelve: To Recover
Things got more and more calm as the days, and soon weeks, passed. During the first few days of her recovery, there was always somebody nearby, to heed her every call. Usually it was Knives, being the only one who didn't work or have things to do. His own pain was completely forgotten; Glory was hurt and he was going to take care of her until she fine again. . .and even then, he'd still take care of her. Vash stopped by every chance he got, and his sleep was starting to suffer for it. He took up a job some time ago, and he needed to be up and focused for it. However, the boss accepted his work - no matter how badly done it was - because of Glory being in such bad shape.
She became a kind of godly story as more time passed. At six feele ten, she was extremely tall, strong, and apparently, immortal. Thirty two gunshot wounds - six that went through - soon became thirty six and two that went through, and then forty two with eight that went through. . . Soon it became sixty, and none of them went through. The doctors had to pull them all out, and she had to have blood transplanted into her along with a kidney, a liver, half a heart and a lung.
The rumors kept going, spiraling out of control. People came to see her, starting with Wesley's family with thanks for saving them, and with cards, balloons and presents.
Her family was given money, too. Vash, Meryl, Knives, Milly and Nicholas all got helpful presents and money to help make end's meet. And end's meet alone was postponed, to give Glory - the huge woman that she was - the time necessary to recover enough to take care of herself. They all were paid a little extra, just for the effort it took for them to focus on the job, and soon Vash was given two week's leave with pay so he could take care of her.
When the news reached Bernadelli, they sent news that nothing would be cut from either girl's paychecks, and even, for their hazardous life living with Vash, they were given hazard pay. They even went so far as to request news of when Glory was back on her feet, and then they begin paying Vash to keep out of trouble as best he could - it was their intention since Meryl sent news that the threat of Vash the Stampede was over - more or less.
It was a sympathy story.
Glory hated such stories, and refused all rumors. Knives agreed heartily with her, and turned away every 'groupie' that came by to see her, and even threw down the cult that was forming in her honor. While Knives would have liked to have the humans see themselves as the lower beings they were, this was nowhere near how he wanted it to happen. A rumor about being invincible because Glory got so many wounds - no. He wanted them to finally realize who they were looking at when they looked at himself, Vash and Glory. Superior beings with unfathomable powers.
After two weeks neither brother could deal with her being away from home any longer, or the strange devoted people who wanted to touch Glory in hopes of absorbing her immortality. They took her home, giving up their own bed in the process. It continued to where they warned everyone else to stay out of the room, for a number of reasons.
The main one was that Glory was naked save for her bandages and blanket. Her brothers changed her bandages often and double-checked her wounds nearly every day, making sure everything was going along as it should. Meanwhile she wasn't given food - and it was a good thing, too, that Plants didn't have to eat. It stretched out to where they also didn't have to go to the bathroom every day - or at all.
The second reason was because they washed Glory in that bed, careful of moving her. As such they changed the sheets every time they changed her bandages, and tried to keep her from hurting. Knives especially, being so sensitive to pain. While the fear of her dying was still thick in the air, Knives feared most that she would die writhing in pain.
The weeks that followed seemed just as bad. Milly was showing at her ninth week, Wolfwood was fully functional, Knives was more than healed and no longer in any sort of pain, Vash was starting to catch up on his missing sleep, and Meryl fussed over every detail.
Every Saturday Vash and Knives would help Glory out of bed, lead her to the bathroom, and let her soak in a warm bath until she told them it was enough. Every now and again she spasmed in pain, but it was getting less frequent. The last strong one was while she was in the bath, both brothers there and - as carefully as possible - washing her. Vash was doing most of the washing, sitting on the lip of the tub, while Knives did his best to keep her attention so if anything hurt, she likely wouldn't feel it.
She coughed. A series of aches came alive at the movement and then she was hissing in pain, one hand grabbing Knives' arm tightly as her breath struggled to get under control.
It was, in fact, the worst spasm she'd had. Or that she could remember. She knew she screamed in her sleep at times, when something would jerk and all the wounds would throb and she would shake, the pain becoming worse and worse until her brothers were there and soothing the pain.
Thirty two. Thirty two wounds. Twenty six bullets inside of her body all at once, each one having to be dug out. Seven stitches per wound - two hundred, twenty four stitches all together. By the end of the forth week, fifty three of them had popped and had to be replaced.
It was worse to know that Vash was crying. At night, sometimes when she woke, she could hear him. Usually Knives would know first and go to comfort him, but always, Knives would end up crying along with him. And worse still, it wasn't just because she was hurt and screamed at night. It wasn't just because Wesley's family was also threatened and nearly killed. Even more so, it wasn't just because they were so late.
It was because of what Judgment had said to her. About being poison, infecting the humans. That she was a monstrosity, an anomaly, a freak of nature.
And because they all promised Rem they wouldn't kill. That alone hampered them, for Glory was certain that if they didn't promise her such a thing, they would have hunted down every man and woman responsible and slaughtered them, mercilessly.
The most frightening part is that Glory would have enjoyed watching them die. She would have smiled and laughed as their blood covered the ground and soaked into the earth, and laugh harder at Knives' telekinetic tortures. She would have cheered him on, watching the men's bones snap one at a time, until they finally choked to death on their own blood.
Preparations were being made by the sixth week for them to leave and not come back. Everyone supported the idea and helped, even Glory, in her little ways. She could sit up by herself and wince all the way to the adjoining bathroom, roll over and speak without rasping. Coughing, though it still hurt, didn't send her into spasms. She got one or two of the spasms a day, much less frequent than how it had started. She began eating again, but it was a hindrance as much as a healthy way of healing.
She usually needed help just getting to the bathroom, and then sitting down on the toilet. Reaching in front of her to grab the toilet paper was just as much of a stretch, as was getting up again she could make it back to the bed. Since Vash was back at work, and working harder and doing overtime for extra pay, Knives had to be her brace and at times he winced with her when something clenched.
While it was such a horrible experience for her, Glory had to love the way their bonds tightened so much while she recovered. Knives especially was becoming more and more. . .well. . .affectionate and clingy. He tried harder than anyone to make sure she was okay and had everything she needed, and that lifted a lot of obvious pressure off of Vash.
Meryl comforted him a lot. She seemed unsure of what to do, more than anybody else, and as such, she did everything. She kept the house looking spotless, made sure everyone else had dinner on the table and no worries about work or home, or Glory.
There was a type of anger in her eyes for Glory. Glory prodded her mind on several occasions and met with block after block, Meryl hiding her feelings inside of her as she struggled on to be the strong one. But when Glory did get a peek, she wasn't sure if she was more confused or shocked.
Meryl hated her, for the simple reason that she was Vash's sister. It seemed to her as though Vash did two main things: take care of Glory and then cry. Meryl couldn't help Glory, and comforting Vash usually led in circles. He babbled a lot, spewing out riddles on he knew the answer to. The word "Mom" came up a lot in his mumblings. And what was worse for her, Meryl had never been in such a situation before. She didn't know how to make a man feel better when his 'baby sister' was mortally wounded and in constant need of care. She didn't know what to do to make Glory's recovery a little easier, and she hated the fact that Glory had shown up like she did and inadvertently caused this pain for him.
Milly was better. With Nicholas always making sure Milly had what she needed and calming her when things got out of hand, she was doing pretty well. The baby was at a healthy eleven weeks, showing just enough and Nicholas adored the mound on Milly's stomach. Glory heard them often, him talking to the unborn child and making all sorts of cooing sounds, and Milly responding with giggles and gleeful cries as the child moved.
Four weeks later
For the first time, Glory awoke with a contented groan, in no pain. She sighed and took a deep breath -
And instantly regretted the idea. Her breath hissed out again and she lifted a still horribly wounded right arm to touch her chest, brushing over her most life-threatening of her wounds. It twinged in response and she winced reflexively, but this time, searing pain didn't come with it. She let her breath out carefully and sat up as Knives entered the room again.
She offered him a smile as he neared and sat down beside her. A single, crucial eye looked her over as he did every morning, and then he put an arm around her waist.
"This is quite a turn of events, is it not?" he asked, standing up and bringing her up with him.
"What do you mean by that?" Glory asked, letting him lead her towards the door.
"Before this happened, you were helping me walk everywhere," he explained, and paused to look at her. "I had just four wounds, and while you have thirty two, I swear at time that you are taking it much better than I am."
Glory shrugged and then regretted that bright idea as well. It took her a minute to catch her breath after that one, but once she did, she grinned at him. "That's me all over. Women, as the bearer of children, naturally have a much higher tolerance of pain." Kicking her brother back into drive, she kept talking. "I'm thinking of having you be present when Milly gives birth, you know. You'd rethink how sensitive them humans are."
Knives smirked. "Maybe in the next lifetime."
"I can wait that long to show you," Glory replied with that grin remaining.
Knives caught her eye and had to laugh once before settling her into a chair. "Right. I remember; you're my teacher."
"At least until you get an A," Glory said back, evenly.
Knives chuckled again, and the high spirits remained as Meryl placed their plates in front of them and Vash came out to eat as well, sitting on Glory's right. He gave her an amazingly gentle hug and kissed her cheek before turning to his food and going on with the usual breakfast's compliments to Meryl.
Another Three Weeks
Glory waved off her family, after about three hour's worth of convincing them that she'll be fine by herself for a few hours while they get everything underway for their trip out of here. She stepped back inside after a moment and shut the door, followed instantly by locking the door. She stared at the knob a moment, and then her hand began shaking badly. She looked sharply at her hand, but it took several minutes before she got it under control again.
What in the world was she thinking?! She could be alone for the next four or five hours! There was plenty for her to do. . .
That's how it started. Those simple thoughts that pushed her into drive and made her do the first thing she thought of. It soon escaladed heavily, becoming a type of game to her - How Long Can I Stay Occupied! However silly the name sounded, it wasn't funny at all. She hated to admit it, so she didn't, but she was actually paranoid. Every sound was another gunslinger, every odd shadow a gun about to fire at her. . .And Vash and Knives weren't her to help her. . .
It nearly drove her nuts, seeing all those shapes and hearing all those sounds. So she did everything she could, inspected everything to make sure it wasn't a possible threat.
But it didn't stop there, with looking at things. She was hungry and made herself something to eat. And then she was tired, so she laid down. Then she became restless so she wandered aimlessly.
When everyone came back, it was like walking into someone else's house.
The furniture was rearranged, put in neater places and placed so strategically that it saved the most space and was the most out of the way. The scent of cooked food hit their noses and they went to inspect the kitchen, finding that nearly everything was covered in food, and great ones at that. Like they were expecting to host a party. Looking in their rooms proved that she's gotten into their rooms and cleaned and rearranged everything there, as well. But there was a large problem.
Glory wasn't there. Not in the living room, the kitchen, her room or bathroom, or the other two rooms or storage room. Staring at the hall bath, they all regrouped and wondered who should go in, and wondering more so what they would find. Knives began quoting her thoughts, as though it might help.
"Not scared, not really. Annoying thing. Bully. What was that? Stupid prickle. Sew. Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do. . .Doe, a deer. Nighttime sunshine. . ." He cut off there and looked confused. "I think she's trying to avoid a certain thought," he told them. "And I think I know what it is."
Vash nodded. "It's gotta be. I'll go see her. You guys just. . ."
"Wait here until you make her sane again?" Wolfwood suggested.
Vash glanced at him. "Yeah." With a strengthening breath, he opened the door.
Inside, Glory was sitting in the tub, fully dressed, with water a few inches up. She even had her boots on. She had a couch pillow in her hands, poking at fraying threads. She looked up when the door opened and smiled. It was a horrible smile to look at, though - there was not just pain behind that smile, but fear, and with amazingly cheery eyes. "Hi, guys," she said. She held up the pillow. "It frays. I have to fix it. Do you mind?" She looked down again and began pricking at a certain thread.
Vash walked in and shut the door. He knelt in front of the tub and folded his arms on the lip. "Glory?" he asked.
She looked up with that smile again. "Did you eat anything? I would've made donuts for you but I don't know how. How is the air out?" She looked down hastily again.
Vash bit his lip before speaking. "Are you alright?"
"Peachy!" Glory claimed, her eyes becoming crescents as she grinned at him again. "Whatever could be wrong?! I'm great! The pain's nearly gone -" she giggled - "and the house is fine and I can walk again! You've been sleeping and Milly's been eating right and Knives' isn't hurt anymore!" She giggled more again, and then her face fell.
Vash swallowed and reached out to her. She didn't respond. "Glory?" he prodded. "Do you want to talk?"
"Another one bites the dust," she sang, suddenly. "Another one bites the dust. And another one gone, and another one gone, another one bites the dust!" Switching songs, she went on. "It's funny how I find myself, in love with you. If I could buy my reasoning, I'd pay to lose. Oh, it's my life!" She swung her gaze on Vash. "Don't you forget! Caught in the crowd! It never ends!" Eyes narrowing, she quit singing and glared at the tile in front of her. "It'll never fucking end."
She'd begun shaking.
Not sure what to do at this turn, Vash got up and left her to herself until he could figure out something to do. He exited the bathroom to find that everyone had had their ears against the door, and he caught Meryl when she fell forward. Stepping forward and shutting the door, he looked pointedly at Knives. "We've got a problem."
It was all he needed to say.
She snapped! I hope this wasn't too tense of a chapter. For those of you who need a little push, at this point Milly is eighteen weeks pregnant - almost five months. And Glory has had her injuries since Milly's fifth week, making this her thirteenth week of physical recovery. Case in point? Not really. Thirteen is a somewhat bad omen for those of us silly humans who are superstitious, though.
Until next time! Geez, two more successively. . . .I'm being too nice. . .
DL
