He couldn't take it anymore

He got up slowly, almost reluctantly, in one day, he'd lost everything he'd ever truly cherished, he put her down gently, stoking her cheek softly he fell to the ground, never minding the pain he felt and held his hands onto his face, chocking on his sobs he quickly tried to regain his composure, he felt miserable, miserable and alone. Looking down he reached for the derringer, this wasn't the first time he'd ever though of suicide… He turned the gun idly, looking at it with fascination, this would solve all he problems. He ached, both mentally and physically, not only that he was exhausted, exhausted of fighting exhausted of running away, exhausted of losing people he cared about, just how much should one individual suffer?

Click… Click… Click…

Too bad there were no more bullet inside the gun,

He sighed and threw the derringer to the floor, killing himself was not the answer, no matter what, people still needed him and as long as he lived he would help those in need. Limping over to the screen, Vash saw the countdown, less than an hour and a half remained, plenty of time for him to deactivate it. With shaky fingers he set of to work, trying to figure out how to shut down the main computer with ought causing a damage or, if he knew his brother, he was sure that Knives would of set a-

The computer turned red as it blinked,

"Process speed up, 40 minutes remaining,"

"-trap,"

Crap, he set it off, trying to go in manually fastened the time, he watched the screen intently, looking down at the panel he started to type in commands,

"If I can't go in manually, then I guess I'll have to force my way in,"

The screen flickered off as Vash typed in the commands and pressed enter, momentarily giving a signed in relief he turned but stopped when the screen flickered back on,

"Minus 10 minutes remaining, processed speed up due to hacking, prevention measure taken,"

He cursed loudly, he wasn't fixing the problem, he was making it worse. He had to stop and think for a while, but found it difficult, he could barely stand up, how in the hell could he solve this? He stopped and took a deep breath, there had to be another way, he was wasting time he knew he didn't have,

"Minus 5 minutes remaining,"

He looked at the computer, maybe a password was needed to deactivate it, he hit his head gently against the palm of his hand, of course, a code of some sorts. But what was it? As he typed in instructions a red panel appeared asking for the deactivation password,

"Minus 4 minutes remaining,"

He felt fear trickle down his spine, there were so many passwords he could of used, which one was it? He thought hard, and it hit him,

'Shangri-la,'

The last words Knives tried to tell him….

…before he died….

"Minus 2 minutes remaining,"

Could he really trust that that was the word he needed?

"Minus 1 minute remaining,"

He had no choice…

"Connecting with satellites, launch will begin shortly,"

He typed the word, Shangri-la, and pressed enter.

The computer stopped time, and for a moment he though it was going to commence launch,

"Launch cancelled, deactivation success, disengagement with satellites will commence,"

Vash breath out a sign of relief, he did it, he stopped it just in time. His eyes scanned the computer one more time before he would shut it down for good. As he was about to push the button, his eyes caught onto something he hadn't seen before, a file that was blinking blue. He opened the file, and read the information, as soon as he finished, he read it again, and then a third time to see if he was reading it correctly. He felt a flicker of hope enter his mind,

The antidote…..

There might be a chance….

Limping towards the door Meryl had come out of he pushed the button to enter, his breathing now raged as he tried his best to keep going. As he entered the room, he noticed it was large, white, and filled with lost medical technology, there were two large white medical cabinets on the left, on the right there was a long table that reached each side of the wall, a metallic cooler stood on the table, in the middle of the room there were two boards, On the far end he noticed the doors to another room, but quickly changed his view over to the cabinets. Ignoring the pain on his side he set off towards the cabinet, searching inside until he found needles he took one out and rushed over to the cooler, opening it he took out one of the many small white glass bottle filled with a green liquid. Opening the top he took the needle and started to insert the liquid into the needle until it was full. Rushing out he took the needle, and injected Meryl in the arm, throwing the needle he held her in his arms, and although his vision was somewhat blurry he took her back into the room and set her one of the boards, and waited.

A car slowly appeared on the horizon and stopped, two people came out, the man on the wheel, walked slowly towards the destination while the second passenger looked on quietly and soon joined him. They stood there for a while as she saw him bury a black and silver gun, near one of the newly made tombstones. As he finished he stood up, and quietly looked on, she took his hand and squeezed it gently, he looked at her, his eyes gentle, and filled with tears

"There was nothing you could of done for them Vash, please don't blame yourself,"

"Of course their was, I just didn't see it in time,"

Gazing at the two tombstones he chuckled sadly, she gazed up at him, his eyes never left his brothers tombstone as he started to speak,

"When me and Knives were young, we used to talk about how we would both construct a beautiful house, were we would have a vast garden. I would always ask him, to tell me about it and he would describe it down to the tiniest details. I would always asked him, if we could have geraniums, and he would laugh an ask why, I would grin, and would always reply by saying, 'there Rem's favorite'"

He signed,

"Guess we never got to it, our little 'Shangri-la,' he would call it that,"

"I'm so sorry Vash,"

He looked at her,

"why?"

"For what I did,"

"You didn't mean to…"

"I though he was going to kill you, I didn't know…"

"I know,"

He patted her gently on the back,

"You're so forgiving…"

She whispered,

"Time has a way of healing all wounds,"

She looked at the other tombstone,

"He had no right to take her life,"

He nodded in agreement, soon after he found the remains of the plant, it almost made him want to gag at what remained, it took all his strength to take her out and give her a proper barrier alongside his brother. He shuddered and looked at the second grave, since she really had no name, he called her Rebecca Millions, and alongside her was his brother Knives Millions. He looked down to Meryl, and realized she was shivering, taking of his coat he put it on her shoulder, she thanked him. Looking at the setting sun, he took her arm, and sighed as he looked at the tombstone were his brother and Rebecca rested peacefully one last time, he looked sadly at the horizon,

'Take care of him Rem'

He felt a tug, looked down at Meryl and realized it was time to go, he smiled warmly as he kissed her gently on the forehead, she smiled as she whispers the words,

"Let's go home,"