Chapter 4

Halo of a Fallen Angel

The next day they set off, Meryl was driving, Knives was in the front passenger seat whilst Millie and Vash lounged in the back. As they left the small town that had served as their home, Millie stood up and began to wave at it furiously, bidding good bye to all their friends, tears, real this time, budding in her eyes.

Vash also waved from the passenger seat, yelling his goodbyes to the town in a genial manner. He didn't cry though, his status as somewhat of a pariah had left him with few friends there. Besides him Knives sat slumped in the seat, acting as if no one else existed.

Meryl had said her fair wells before they left, she kept her eyes on the road.

For three days they travelled, Vash providing directions in the trackless desert. It was a strange journey but not an all together unpleasant one. Vash, Millie and Meryl chatted, argued and whined intermittently, as was usual, generally over petty things though Vash's progressive illness hung over them like a cloud. Knives, however, refused to join the banter, speaking to the girls only when necessary. Vash was the only one he casually talked to and then only at night, when he thought the two women were asleep.

On the forth night, over dinner, something new came up.

'I don't see why I can't drive for a bit,' Vash had whined, wrapping his ragged blanket closer around himself, 'I'm tired of sitting in the back doing nothing.'

'Because you're ill,' reminded Meryl, 'and besides, I remember the last time I let you drive, I am not letting you get behind the wheel of a car again!'

'Aw Meryl,' moaned the gunman, 'you're so mean! What about Knives then, why not let him drive?'

'You. Must. Be. Joking.'

'Come on! Knives is a great driver… well, except when it comes to Thomas's… but other than that he's just fine! You haven't heard of him crashing any cars, have you?'

'No, but I've heard he's caused his fair amount of property damage, eh 'The Razor?'

Knives, seemingly tuning into the conversation at the mention of his name, snarled, 'it was hardly my fault.'

'Oh really?'

'Really.'

'What did you do?' asked Millie, who wasn't as up on recent disaster events.

'It's a long story,' sighed the half-Plant, 'but basically I… caused some damage in a backwards little village a few isles away…'

'He blew up half a town,' Meryl translated.

'It wasn't my fault they kept the gunpowder storage room next to the inn! How was I to know that? It was poor planning on their part and besides, I was actually trying to help someone!'

'Oh yes? Did you charge them money afterwards?'

'No! I was actually doing it out of the goodness of my heart.'

'You have one? That's news.'

'You know, some gratitude or at least recognition wouldn't go amiss.'

'Um… I appreciate it,' put in Vash quickly.

'You don't count,' growled back Knives, his eyes not leaving Meryl.

'What? You want me to thank you?' her voice fairly dripped sarcasm, 'alright then, thanks for not wiping out the entire human race, really nice of you that. Don't know how I'll ever repay you. That better?'

'It's a start.'

Meryl opened her mouth to say something else nasty but before she could get the words out she was interrupted by Vash.

The dorky gunman had jumped up, leaping to his feet with incredible speed, his eyes began to gaze into the distance, his posture suddenly tense.

'What is it?' asked Knives, picking up on Vash's worried expression.

'I'm not sure,' muttered Vash, 'I thought I saw…' he paused, his keen eyes narrowing. Knives joined him, trying to scan out the horizon. Suddenly Vash gasped, 'damn!' he swore, 'quick, get in the jeep!'

He led the charge, bounding over sand and the others followed him, not understanding quite what was going on, but knowing to trust his judgement. Soon they were back in the vehicle, Meryl driving recklessly as Vash yelled directions at her, telling her to duck behind dunes and even drive through them at times.

'We've got to loose them,' he yelled, 'shake them off our tail!'

'Who's 'them'?' asked Meryl, her eyes glued ahead of her.

No sooner had she spoken when Vash screamed, 'down!' and a hail of bullets flew overhead. Several punched into the side of the Jeep, though none penetrated the thick walls, thankfully.

'Oh no!' wailed Millie, 'Mr Mark is going to be so upset!'

'Don't worry about that now Millie!' yelled Meryl, twisting the wheel furiously, willing the jeep to go faster.

With a smooth 'click' Vash activated his machine gun, the barrel slipping into his artificial hand easily. He let off a few shots, a scream split the air as one met its target. A man, dressed in worryingly familiar black and yellow, a mask covering his face, rolled down a dune, yelling in pain as he tumbled.

'The Bad Lad Gang!' gasped Meryl, 'I thought they only raided the area round May City!'

'They must have moved on,' grunted Vash, letting off a few more expertly aimed shots, 'run out of trade routs to pillage.'

'The prey population runs out so the predator goes and hunts in new territory,' sneered Knives, reaching for his own weapon, 'how very typical!'

There was another hail of bullets, Knives ducked, almost absently pulling Millie down besides him. Once more the bullets failed to penetrate the shell of the jeep, but there was an ominous hissing sound that filled the passengers full of dread.

'They've shot the tyres!' gasped Meryl.

'We've got to make a stand then,' responded Vash, 'everybody out! We'll use the jeep as cover!'

No one was about to disagree with him so Meryl brought the vehicle to a screeching stop and, as one, everyone rolled out, Vash and Meryl covering the front, Millie and Knives the back, trying to ensure no one snuck round from behind.

There was another barrage of gunfire, bullets bounced off the Jeep, despite herself Millie cried out in shock but her face was set in resolve. Vash frowned, trying desperately to formulate a plan. Then, as it turned out, things were settled for him.

'Vash the Stampede,' a familiar, deep voice boomed out, 'Vash the Stampede! Come out you dog!'

Vash exchanged a quick glance with Knives then, before anyone could stop him, he stood up and walked round the vehicle, his gun still at the ready.

'Hello Brilliant Dynamite Neon,' he said, 'it's been a while.'

'It has, Humanoid Typhoon,' responded the bandit leader, grinning and twirling his LED studded gun in his hand, 'but I've not forgotten you. You've not changed much. What happened to your coat?'

'I left it behind,' said Vash smoothly, 'I didn't need it.'

'Shame, it suited you. I told you, almost five years back, if I ever met you again I'd show you no mercy, I'd kill you. Well, I want a rematch of our little dance from back then, I want to see if you still sparkle. How's that?'

'Fine but for one detail.'

'And that is?'

Vash gave a goofy grin, 'I don't rally wanna,' he whined.

BDN growled and shot his gun.

The bullet came so close to hitting the prone gunman it 'pinged' on his silver ear ring. Despite himself Vash gave a little yelp of shock and from their spot behind the jeep, watching proceedings, Meryl winced and Knives frowned in concern.

'I guess I don't have much of a choice, do I?' sighed Vash, 'well, what's in it for me?'

'Simple,' supplied BDN, 'your life. You win, you live and so do your friends.'

'And if I loose?'

'Then you'll be too dead to care about the state of your companions… but I might spare them, if I feel like it. Depends how much they sparkle.'

BDN's grin was wide and wicked, it made Vash shudder.

'Very well then,' he said grimly, 'are you going to flick a coin?'

'Nah, I don't think so,' responded the raider lazily and fired his gun.

What followed was an amazing display of gunmanship and acrobatics, both contestants using their abilities to the maximum. The girls watched stunned, it occurred to Meryl that, no matter how many times she saw Vash in action, it always felt amazing. That such a clumsy goof could transform into the sleek, dexterous killing machine. Not that he killed people, but that wasn't the point. It served to remind her why the name of Vash the Stampede still chilled the blood of so many of Gun Smoke's populace. If only they could see the other side, the pure, gentle, caring side of Vash… if only they knew him.

Knives, for his part, was less impressed than he was worried. Vash wasn't fighting as well as usual, in fact he was fighting positively dreadfully. Several of his shots had gone wide when they should have hit target, he was panting more than he should, his movements were wild, his legs were off balance. In short, his illness was taking it's toll and Knives wasn't sure how long he could last before one of BDN's bullets found its mark.

His worst fears were proved true when, after pulling of a particularly sloppy manoeuvre, Vash skidded in the sand which gave BDN those extra nanoseconds he needed to get a proper target and fire.

A bullet ripped its way through Vash's shoulder, causing him to cry out with agony, he fell onto the sand breathing hard, blood seeping out of the wound.

The blood… that was all Knives could see for a moment, that familiar crimson liquid seeping into the soil, that horrible bullet, the filthy human ammunition scaring his beloved brother. How dare they! How dare they!'

Yelling, Knives jumped up and, before BDN could finish off the prone Vash, he was forced to dodge again as Knives' bullets spun towards him.

In his rage Knives was barely able to aim straight, each bullet missed its target as BDN, with an agility surprising for a man his size, spun through the air, dodging the shots.

'Knives!' Vash yelled, his voice ragged with pain.

The sound of his name brought Knives back to reality, the red haze drained away and he found himself standing out in the open, alone, with a nearly empty gun. He was shivering, the sweat on his skin drying, chilling him.

BDN arose from his defensive crouch, he grinned, 'well, seems like you're run out of bullets Twinkle Toes.'

Knives snarled, 'so have you, or you would have shot me by now.'

'How do you know I wasn't just too busy dodging?'

Knives narrowed his eyes, to be honest he wasn't sure.

'Who are you, anyway?' asked BDN, 'that coat… it's the same as Vash's except for the colour. Are you related to him in some way?'

'I'm his twin brother.'

'Oh, really? How sweet. Do you intend to die with him?'

'I don't intend to die at all.'

'Heh, you put on a good show, I'll give you that much. How about making things more interesting?'

'What do you mean?'

'You shot at me five times, that gun's a six shooter, so you've got on bullet left,' BDN reached to the chamber of his gun and spun it, 'ever played Russian Roulette?' he asked, his pearly white grin widening still further.

'How do I know you've just got any bullets left? Or if you've just got one bullet left?' asked Knives, 'that's a custom made gun, I'm not familiar with it.'

'You don't, that's what makes things interesting.'

Knives frowned, turning matters over in his head, 'alright,' he said, spinning his own chamber, watching it revolve, 'let's do this.'

The two men faced each other, the only sound to be heard was that of chambers spinning. Knives tried to keep track of the chambers, waiting until the time was right until… he put one gloved finger out and stopped the turning. A few seconds later BDN did the same.

From the sides the Bad Lad Gang, the Insurance Girls and Vash watched. Vash was paying special attention, sweat beaded his brow and, from the corner of his eye, Knives saw him slowly raise his artificial arm, still in gun mode, pointing it towards…

'Any last words, kid?' sneered BDN, 'or are you just gonna go out with a bang?'

Knives' finger tightened on his trigger.

BDN followed suit.

For a moment Knives had a flashback to the last time he'd done this, when it had been Vash at the other end of his gun. When it had been enraged, aqua eyes that had glared at him. BDN's eyes were dark and beady but full of passion, rage, life, sparkle. His gun was aimed at Knives' head, and Knives' returned the favour.

At this distance the bullet was sure to kill.

There was nothing but the sound of their breathing and the shifting of sands in the endless desert. Dust rustled around them, the gun was heavy in Knives' hand, his trigger finger felt sore and stiff, it ached to be moved. His eyes were fixed on BDN's own finger, waiting for it to move that tiniest fraction…

Then it happened, the muscles in BDN's bare arm twitched that slight amount, his finger moved inwards and…

Knives somehow got off the first shot.

:Click: went his gun, the cartridge empty.

BDN, no more than nanoseconds behind, pulled his own trigger.

:Click:

Empty.

There was silence again, accentuated only by the soft panting of BDN, Knives' own breathing remained deep and steady.

Eventually BDN grinned, 'not bad,' he chuckled, 'I'd hoped you'd have some of your brother's sparkle, I'm glad you didn't disappoint.'

'Sparkle?' echoed Knives incredulously, 'my brother may sparkle, but I,' he grinned, 'I'm positively dazzling!'

For a moment there was silence then a loud, booming sound rang out amongst the dunes.

Brilliant Dynamite Neon was laughing.

'Lower your guns doggies!' he chortled, 'we've got a good one here! I'm not putting this light out!'

There was the sound of guns being slid back into holsters, soft murmurings rose up from amongst the crowd of Band Lad Gang.

'Come out,' called BDN, beckoning to the girls behind the wreck of the Jeep, 'I'm not going to do anything, not now.'

'You mean it?' asked Vash, still clutching his wound.

'I'm a man of my word, ain't I?' said BDN.

Vash nodded and staggered to his feet, in no time Meryl and Millie were besides him, helping him stand.

BDN, meanwhile, turned to Knives, 'you've proved yourself,' he said, 'I like you.'

'I hope that means you'll let us live?' said Knives dryly.

'Of course, but you won't get far in that,' BDN jerked a thick thumb towards the bullet ridden jeep, 'how about we give you a lift to your destination?'

Knives narrowed his eyes, scrutinising BDN but before he could respond to his offer Vash did it for him, 'sure!' he said, his voice high with false happiness again, 'that'd be just dandy!'

'Excellent, we'll take you wherever you want to go tomorrow. But first to our camp, there's twenty bottles of Wild Turkey with our names written all over them, eh Twinkle Toes?'

BDN leaned towards Knives, casually nudging him in the ribs.

'Don't call me that,' grunted Knives, massaging his now bruised side. BDN only laughed harder.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The Bad Lad Gang, being in a somewhat nomadic group, had no 'solid' camp, there weren't any abandoned buildings or cliff top caves for them to settle in. Instead they found a hidden spot, put up hundreds of tents, lit fires and settled down to some hard core banditry until the trade routs ran dry.

Currently the majority of the group, besides a few on sentry duty, were crowded round the central camp fire, laughing, talking, eating and (above all) drinking.

Mille and Meryl sat close together, neither looking to happy about the situation, none of the boys had made a move yet but both girls remained alert, Millie especially looked a little panicked. Meryl made sure that she didn't touch any whisky.

Vash, on the other hand, appeared to be having a grand time. He was quaffing down liquor at a tremendous rate partly, Meryl suspected, to dim the pain of his bullet wound. He'd refused to let them treat it, instead settling for a quick bandage. From what she'd noticed the bullet had gone right through, missing any vital organs and the wound looked clean but it concerned her never the less. He could hardly afford to be injured in his condition, much less infected.

'Ill huh?' grunted BDN, slugging back more whisky, he had one arm easily drooped about a rather annoyed looking Knives (something which amused Meryl endlessly,) 'that explains why I got him. Did I tell you 'bout that Sand Steamer incident? When the idiot went doing all those acrobatics with that bullet wound in his gut?'

'Yes,' drawled Knives, despair evident in his voice, 'three times.'

'Yeah well, he must be pretty sick,' continued BDN, 'to be taken down that easily.'

'He needs medical attention soon,' said Meryl, 'we're taking him to Sky City, he has friends there.'

'You talking about the city that fell from the sky a couple of years back? The one near New Orleans?' Meryl nodded, 'no problem, we can take you to the outskirts of it tomorrow morning. It's only a few hours drive away.'

'Can't you take us there now? The sooner we get there the better. Mr Vash may not look it, but he is very ill.'

BDN frowned, 'we don't like crossing that stretch at night,' he said.

'Why ever not?'

Before BDN could reply one of his lackeys did it for him, 'spooks,' a Bad Land boy whispered dramatically, 'ain't no one willin' to travel those sands when the Haints are about.'

'Spooks!' echoed Millie, 'how scary!'

'Don't be silly Mille,' admonished Meryl, 'that's just a load of irrational nonsense, it's probably just dust clouds or something. Bandits are notoriously superstitious.'

'All well and good for you to say,' responded the Bad Land Boy, 'but I'd like to see you move out from your nice, cosy little home and face what we face. I been livin' out in the desert for a year now, an' already I seen twenty six of me mates die. We see a lot of strange stuff out here, lady, an' maybe some of it is dust or mirages, an' maybe some of it ain't. I heard of enough of the lads wanderin' out in the desert an' simply not comin' back the next day, investigatin' weird happenings. So, when we starts hearin' strange noises, we don't go riskin' our necks. Men have died for less.'

Meryl snorted derisively and crossed her arms over her chest. She decided to drop the issue, it wasn't as if she'd be changing the man's mind any time soon. She'd just have to wait until tomorrow and hope the delay didn't effect Vash too badly.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Knives was not enjoying himself.

He'd been stuck next to BDN all evening, the bandit leader had casually drooped his arm round Knives' shoulders, preventing him from moving and, to Knives' further chagrin, insisted upon drinking himself into oblivion.

As the evening wore on things only got worse, BDN would occasionally squeeze Knives closer to him, laugh and retell bad joke after bad joke in an obvious attempt to become friendlier.

'Y'know,' he slurred, 'you'd make a great Bad Lad, I'd have you in the gang any day of the week!' he drunkenly swung his hand around to emphasize his words, 'you re-really sparkle, really shine! How's about it? You an' me, we'd set the desert alight!'

'Seems like the desert's bright enough as it is, to me,' remarked Knives, trying to lean as far away from BDN as he could without seeming rude. He was growing more and more uncomfortable with the way the bandit leader was talking, the way his eyes kept lingering on him.

'Ah,' said BDN, emptying his bottle of Wild Turkey and flinging it to the side where it exploded on the fire. His eyes seemed fixed on the blaze then, glued upon the flickering flames as if they held some answer, 'but tha' different, not real sparkle. Come on, it'd be fun, better than jus' dyin' alone in some dark alley! People like us, we gotta shine an' glitter, gotta fill the world up with all the lights we can, 'cos we're like flames, y' know? We're gonna all flicker out eventually…'

As BDN talked his voice lowered until his last words were spoken with an almost wistful tone, quite different to his usual bragging.

Knives found himself suddenly enraptured by this strange, bulky man, fascinated by what he meant, who he was…

'I won't flicker out,' he heard himself say.

BDN turned his gaze away from the fire and looked hard at Knives. His brown eyes, previously so tough and glittering suddenly seemed different… deeper, sadder, almost gentle.

Knives found himself uncomfortably aware of how close the Bandit Leader was to him, he could smell the whisky on his breath, feel the warmth of his skin. BDN opened his mouth to say something but, before he could get anything out, he gagged.

He let go of the confused Knives and, clutching his mouth, dashed away, undoubtedly to be sick in the sand dunes.

For a moment Knives sat there, stunned. Then, as soon as he'd gathered his wits, he shook himself out of the daze and jumped up, taking the opportunity to escape the ring of rejoicing bandits whilst he still could.

He moved passed the Bad Land Boys and rushed into the darkness. Being careful not to move too far away from the camp, lest he was needed, he climbed a near by hill and sat down to watch the stars and think.

A little while later he heard footsteps behind him, he turned and saw Vash, trudging across the dust towards him, one arm wrapped about the blood stained bandages across his shoulder. He seemed to have shaken off the semi-drunken stupor he was in before, Knives couldn't help but wonder if he'd ever entered it.

'Hi Knives,' he greeted, sitting in the sand besides him, 'you OK? You left in a bit of a hurry.'

Knives shrugged, 'you know how I am amongst humans, especially large crowds, it took me a while escape Brilliant Dynamite Neon.'

'Mmm,' responded Vash, 'he's an interesting guy, isn't he?'

'Living proof of what I said before, humans are incomprehensible.'

'But you like him, right?'

'I… suppose so, he's interesting.'

Vash sniggered, Knives decided he really didn't like the tone of that, 'what is it?' he demanded roughly.

'Nothing Knives,' Vash said, still grinning dirtily, 'I'm just glad you've found someone, that's all…'

'Excuse me?'

'Oh come on, I saw the way you two were snuggling!'

'S-snuggling?' Knives eyes were as wide as saucers now, quite a comical sight from the usually composed man.

'Well yeah, it's obvious he likes you. And you like him, right?'

'What? No! NO!'

Vash blinked, seemingly shocked by Knives vehement response, 'but I thought you liked men?'

'Where the hell did you get that idea?'

'Well, you did hang out with Legato… and just before we set off you said you weren't interested in girls so…'

'That doesn't mean I'm interested on men! I'm… I'm just not interested in humans, that's all!'

'Really?' asked Vash.

'Really.'

'Oh…' then, 'that's a shame, you're missing out on a lot of fun.'

'With girls or with- no, wait, I really don't want to know.'

Vash grinned, 'hey, it's not my fault I was the twin who got the stunning looks.'

'You? Looks?'

'Aw, could you resist these eyes?' Vash batted his eyelids dramatically.

'Stop that, it's disturbing!'

Vash exploded into peels of laughter, his high pitched giggles ringing out into the air. Knives found himself chuckling along, unable to resist sharing his brother's mirth.

They fell back on the sand together, still laughing and for a moment things were as they had been, as they should be, two twin brothers laughing, joyful, happy.

Then, 'Knives?'

'Yes Vash?'

'Thanks… for before.'

'You're not upset… that I tried to shoot Dynamite Neon?'

'Kinda… you were mad, but when you calmed down it was good. You could have taken him out in that Russian Roulette routine, after all. You're perfectly able to follow the spin of a gun barrel.'

'Vash…'

'Mmm?'

'The bullet… was in the second cartridge, I was going use it if he shot me. I didn't know he'd keep his word, after all.'

Vash said nothing, his eyes were fixed upon he stars above.

'Vash…'

'I'm listening.'

'I saw where your gun was pointing… it was pointing at me, wasn't it? Would you… if I had killed him… would you really…?'

'I would… I'm sorry.'

'Why?'

'Because the year's not over yet. You promised me that you wouldn't kill anyone for a year, you swore that to me, Knives. If you betray that oath then how do I know you won't go back on any promise you give me? How could I trust you at all?'

There was a further silence, after a moment Vash continued, 'I… I still believe in love and peace, I still believe that no one has the right to take the life of another and I still love you, Knives, as much as I can love anyone. But… I will not repeat the mistakes of the past. I won't let hundreds of innocents die because of these things. I'm sorry.'

Knives sighed, his breath turning to steam in the cold night air, 'damn,' he whispered, 'must it always be like this between us?'

'You started it,' said Vash, and there was no anger or recrimination in his tone, just a simple statement.

'Yeah,' said Knives, his eyes locked onto the star filled sky above, 'I suppose I did at that.'

NEXT TIME: The group finally reach Sky City, but don't quite get the reception they hoped for…

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