INTERLUDE: from the diary of meryl stryfe
July 19, Year 131, 12:30 a.m. – Stryker defended us today in a way that reminds me so very much of Vash. As those two off-worlders raped this ship and took what they would need to get their own off the ground, he revealed a passion for survival that would rival that of the Humanoid Typhoon. He was thorough, watching them even when they could not be seen. I can't believe, sometimes, how powerful the senses of these two special people really are. I truly believe that if a single heart stopped beating somewhere on this godforsaken planet, they would sense it.
Whoever those people were, they've been watching us since the moment we stepped foot onboard. Stryker cued in on the cameras that are littered throughout the ship, each in working condition, and confidently destroyed them all. I don't know who the hell they are, but by damned they're not watching us while we rest our bones and wait for the return of Vash the Stampede.
I don't know where he went, or how long he intended to be gone, but I do know that he will return to me. He wouldn't keep a good love like ours waiting.
Well, I don't know. I've been wrong before. Very wrong. What truly matters is that this time, we're involved, and he knows it. He's not going to leave us with Stryker and disappear. He knows me better than that. I'd strangle the very life from him if he pulled that God-damn stunt on me, and he knows it.
Milly disappeared after our off-world visitors left the SEEDS shuttle with the parts they needed, along with a few gallons of water. I don't know exactly what she was doing, but I'm pretty sure she has her reasons. She doesn't do things like this often, but when she does it's habitual. She has something up her sleeve. I only wish I knew what it was. I would have followed her but she got away before I could figure out she was even leaving.
So there it is, all of my aches and pains in a few simple paragraphs. Vash is gone, bounty hunters are after him, and overlaying all that bullshit are his own problems. I don't know if I have any room to bitch, but I fully understand just why I can't. Who am I, anyway, to use my own petty troubles to gain leverage over his heart? That's not love, that's selfishness.
Therefore, I've decided that I'll tend to my own problems on my own time. It really doesn't matter. Even if I were to focus on myself, there'd be no guarantee that anything would ever come of it. Vash's problems are my own, as is, and without his love I would be lost. I look down the road that winds in the distance and wonder where it might lead. I only know it makes no difference, so long as I walk alongside him. The world turns, on and on, and all I can do is smile. If it all falls apart, I will know deep inside that the only dream that mattered has already come true: in this life, I was loved by Vash the Stampede.