Once again, thanks to my reviewers: sausuge, Bouzouki Joe, and Ashari. You guys are great! I hope you continue to enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun or any of its characters.

LIVING MEMORIES

-A Trigun Story-

Chapter 6: Returning

Frey had been drifting near consciousness for a few minutes now. She would become faintly aware of a few noises around her, though most of them were drowned out by the air rushing quickly past her ears. That meant she was moving, and fast. She always ended up falling back into darkness, however.

This time, though, after gaining that first grain of awareness, she began to feel the power of her limbs returning to her. Then her eyes fluttered open slowly. At first the bright light blinded her, and she closed her eyelids quickly, but after a few moments she was able to open them and leave them that way. After a few more minutes spent waiting for her vision to focus, she sat up slowly.

"Good morning, sleepy head." It was Alec. Of all people. They were in a car, the one she had refused to get in last night. Last night . . .

She bolted up straight in her seat, the occurrences of the previous evening coming back to her, including her last moments of consciousness, as Alec had lifted her, helpless, into the car.

"You-" her next word wasn't heard, as Alec had slammed on the brakes as she practically tackled him. As the car came to a halt, he shoved her off of him.

"What do you think you're doing!"

"What do I think I'm doing? You're the one that kidnapped me and dragged me here! I can't believe you did that!" She dove at him again, completely knocking him out of the car and jumping on top of him. Her usually copper eyes were sparking dangerously, giving them a red glint that Alec knew all too well.

"Frey," he gasped, trying to shove off her hands which were clenched a little too tightly around his throat, "it was for your own good . . ."

"Don't give me that! You know nothing! You . . . you-"

Some of the sand around them began to swirl up around her as she involuntarily began to use her powers in her anger. She was distantly aware of Alec's voice, screaming at her, but she was too consumed in anger to care.

He had taken her away from them. From Vash, from Michael, Aidan, Milly, all of them. He had had the audacity to drug her so that he could take her without a struggle. And he had tried to kill Vash.

"Frey!"

She felt herself pinned to the ground as Alec freed himself of her grasp and pushed her down. It practically rained sand as she regained control of herself, breathing heavily. Her eyes began to return to their natural color.

"How long!" Alec suddenly yelled in her face. "How long would it have been before you lost your temper like that with one of them! What would have happened then? They would have had no idea what was going on, and you would have ended up hurting someone! You could have hurt the very children you were trying to help, Frey!" He had given up on trying to convince her that Vash was really the Stampede, so he decided to take this action instead in order to stop her from going back. He saw that it was working, too, as the impact of his words hit her.

"You can't just run off like that, Frey," he continued, "you never know when you might lose control. You were right, Frey. You're not normal. And your little tantrum there was nothing compared to what you could have done." He released his hold on her shoulders, seeing that she had completely cooled down. She sat up slowly, avoiding his gaze, then climbed back in the car. She sighed heavily, knowing that he was right. She didn't have sufficient control of herself, and she had been stupid to put them all in danger. She hadn't even told them about her powers, or given them any warning. She could have just thrown a fit one day and ended up severely injuring someone, or worse. Still, somewhere in the back of her mind she couldn't help thinking that they could have handled it. Maybe that was just her stubbornness when it came to admitting she was wrong.

"What did they do to you?" he asked, shaking his head.

"What do you mean?"

"It's like they've brainwashed you or something. Like you had completely lost sense of your other life, back home."

"That's ridiculous, I-"

"Do you even know how long you were gone?"

"Of course! It was just a couple of weeks."

"Three months, Frey."

Silently, Alec climbed back into the car and pushed down on the gas. He was mad. She couldn't blame him. But she knew it wouldn't last. He hadn't come all the way out here to bring her back home just to leave her behind because of a disagreement. And he would go through all of it again for her, she knew. After all, he had been her best friend for five years, ever since his grandfather, the doctor, had adopted her.

Frey was drawn out of her thoughts as the car started to sputter, eventually sliding to a halt with one last spit of life from the exhaust pipe. Alec moaned and placed his head in his hands.

"The car died."

Instead of answering him, she just glanced around them. All that surrounded the car for as far as the eye could see was sand. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Nope." Alec sank into his seat and laid his head back, closing his eyes. Seeing that he wasn't going to do anything about it anytime soon, Frey just slid off her jacket and climbed out of the car, plopping down on the ground in the small shadow that the car cast on the desert floor.

"Got any water?"

"Nope."

"Food?"

"Gone."

"How long do you figure we'll be stuck here?"

"Well, I figure a bus should be this way in about a month. That is, assuming you have money for bus fare."

Alec sighed, revealing clearly enough his answer.

"Well, we're stranded in the middle of nowhere, with no food, no water, and no money. There's no one looking for us, and we probably won't see another living being for at least a few weeks."

"Hey, at least it's not raining."

"Don't jinx it, stupid."

At that Alec fell silent, wondering if he had been wrong to come get her. Quickly he shook himself out of that train of thought. She had been with Vash the Stampede. Who knew what that man wanted with her? Besides, both he and his grandfather had been worried when she hadn't returned from Tonim Town like she had promised she would after a week at most. He smiled wryly, remembering the look in her eyes when she had attacked him. They shouldn't have worried. She was a force to be reckoned with. He should have known that she would be fine. Suddenly he found himself unable to be angry with her anymore. That wasn't very surprising. She had that kind of effect on people, at least those that had known her for awhile.

"Alec, how did you find me?" Alec opened his eyes slowly, aroused by her question.

"Huh? Oh, I was just talking to that guy who was after the typhoon, and he told me he had seen a young woman with black hair with him. So I thought I'd take my chances and see if it was you."

"His name is Vash, you know."

"Whatever." Alec was still sprawled in the driver's seat. He had hardly moved since the car had broken down.

"Frey, how long have we been here?"

"Two days," she answered from under the car. Then she emerged, wiping a wrench clean on a rag. Her face was smudged, her hair pulled back away from her face into a messy bun on the back of her head. Alec just turned his head to look at the vast expanse of desert, his eyes half open. He sank further into his seat, sighing.

"I think I might have it fixed," Frey said for what seemed like the hundredth time. "Try the ignition." Alec half-heartedly reached out and turned the key. The car sputtered a few times, nothing more.

Frey sighed and wiped her forehead with the rag, just dirtying it further. "Guess I'll try again." She wasn't sure why she hadn't just given up like Alec, laying in the car and moaning. She had tried countless time to fix the car, obviously to no avail. But she couldn't give up. After all, she had been stranded in the desert before and survived. She wasn't about to die in this wasteland. She shoved the rag into the back pocket of her pants and leaned against the car door, taking a moment to brush some of the sand off of her. Her gray sunglasses slid slowly down her nose.

"Frey, I think I see a car."

"That's a lizard, Alec."

The boy's emerald eyes fell in disappointment.

"Well, can we eat it?"

"Are you going to cook, or would you like me to?" she asked sarcastically.

"We're going to die, aren't we."

Deciding not to answer, Frey slid back under the car. The shade was always a welcome escape. The heat was almost unbearable. Frey had shed her jacket long ago, but that left her with just her black T-shirt. It had to be black. The heat was obviously getting to Alec. She just hoped she wasn't next. After all, they were both relying on her sanity to get them out of this alive.

"Hey, you guys need some help?"

Frey moaned. Great. Now I'm hearing voices.

"Hello?"

"Alec, make the voices go away."

She received no response.

"Alec? Alec?" She slid into the open, automatically looking to the driver's seat. Alec was gone.

"Excuse me miss, can I help you? Your friend's already in the car."

Car?

Sure enough, Alec was sitting in a car barely a few feet from her, looking down at her, waiting. She leapt to her feet.

"Are you serious?" she asked, mostly speaking to herself. She touched the car door just to be sure it wasn't another mirage, then lifted herself over the door and into the back seat, feeling suddenly rejuvenated and grabbing her jacket as she went. "Yes!"

"Where are you guys headed?"

"September."

The man that had rescued them laughed as he climbed into the driver's seat. "Wow, you're miles from there. Did you have any idea where you were going?" Frey glanced at Alec, who sat up proudly.

"Yes! We just got a little . . . distracted."

"You mean lost."

He frowned. "Well if you have to put it that way."

"You mean we were lost!" Frey shouted. "You idiot, you didn't even know where we were going!"

The man laughed again as Alec looked down, muttering. "My name's Sloan. I've got to take care of some business back home, but I'll get you guys put on a bus to September once we get there. How's that?" Frey smiled gratefully.

"Thanks. How long do you think it will take to get to your town?"

"By nightfall at the latest."

Frey looked up. The sun was nearing its peak in the sky, which meant it was nearly noon. They had several hours ahead of them. The man, Sloan, offered her a canteen, which she quickly took and drained. She was quickly beginning to like him, but that was hard not to do considering he had just saved her life and offered to send her back home.

He appeared to be a middle-aged man, probably mid-forties. His hair was mostly gray, with a few hints of red left. She guessed that his hair had probably been as bright as Aidan's in its prime. He was tall, nearly as tall as Vash, lean, and muscular. His skin was tanned and leathery, his features chiseled from obvious months spent in the sun and sand. In the passenger seat sat a calvary man's gray cap and jacket, with blue trim and shiny gold buttons. As she noted the rifle protruding from next to him, she determined that he was probably a force to be reckoned with.

The rest of the trip was fairly silent, with the exception of Alec's snoring and the man's occasional humming. He was obviously excited to be returning home. Just before sunset, Frey sighted the town in the distance. Her eyes widened, and she rubbed them twice just to make sure she wasn't seeing things. After all, she had been stuck in the desert for two days.

"Is that . . ."

"The wonderful town of December," Sloan said when she trailed off. "Is that a problem?" he continued, taking note of the look on her face.

"No, most definitely not," she answered, grinning.

"Shouldn't we wake up your friend?"

"No way."

She held her breath as they pulled into town and neared the street Michael, Milly, Carly, and everyone else lived on. Sloan turned the wheel and pulled onto it. Frey laughed at the irony of the situation as he pulled right in front of Carly's house.

"Alright, here we are," Sloan said, smiling. "You two can come in for a minute and meet my family if you want."

Frey suddenly remember Aidan's explanation of her father, who was in the calvary. Oh, it was a small world.

Alec began to stir next to her. Thinking quickly, she grabbed the nearest object, which happened to be the canteen she had used earlier, and hit him over the head with it. She grinned in satisfaction as his eyes closed and his head fell back, snoring again.

"I think we should just leave him here to sleep," she said to Sloan, following him up to the door. He shrugged, then turned to the door and knocked heartily, obviously pleased at the though of seeing his wife and daughter after several months.

Though she couldn't see who opened the door on the other side of Sloan, Frey immediately knew it was Aidan as a high pitched squeal was heard.

"Daddy!"

Frey smiled in spite of herself at the sweet reunion, and her grin just widened as Carly came pounding down the stairs and flung herself into the arms of her husband. Sloan laughed out loud, swinging Carly around a few times before placing her back on the ground and stepping aside to reveal the girl standing behind him.

Aidan and Carly's jaws dropped.

"I want you two to meet-"

"Frey!"

Frey grinned. "Hey guys."

Michael jumped as the door to his bedroom suddenly swung open and his cousin burst into the room. Aidan had a huge grin on her face.

"What's up with you?"

"Guess who's back in town."

"Um . . . I don't know. Who?"

"Oh come on, just guess."

"Your dad?" She nodded excitedly.

"Guess who else."

"He brought someone with him?"

"Mmmhmm."

"I give up."

"Oh come on."

"I don't know, Aidan," he replied, growing quickly tired of her games.

"Well, she's about your age, and she has black hair, and-" Michael was out the door before she could finish.

He sprinted down the street, not daring to believe that she was back, but hanging onto this shred of hope for dear life at the same time. Sure enough, Sloan's car was parked in front of his house. He ran up to the front door, but stopped when he heard a soft moaning. Turning around, he noticed a body in the car.

"Hello?"

The body sat up slowly, then looked up at him with half-open eyes. Michael froze. It was the boy that had drug Frey after him a few days ago, the same one that had thrown that knife.

"Why you-"

Alec's eyes flew open and he jumped out of the car as Michael practically flew at him. The anger in his eyes was unmistakable. Alec couldn't really blame him, considering what he had done.

"I'm going to kill you," Michael muttered, realizing all too soon that he didn't mean it. That wouldn't stop from venting his anger on the other young man, though. He dove at him again, this time managing to land a fist in his face. Alec fell backward, then drew a knife. Michael easily dodged it, then attacked again, this time his punch being blocked.

Alec wrestled him to the ground and held him there. "Look," he muttered, "I don't want to fight you."

"You kidnapped Frey!" Michael said, throwing Alec off of him and shoving him to the ground.

"Well yeah," Alec answered, smiling in spite of his current situation, "but you wouldn't understand why, not someone like you, who associates with Vash the Stampede . . ."

"You don't even know him," Michael retorted, hitting Alec in the face again.

"Michael!"

Both boys looked up in surprise to see Frey standing in the doorway, frowning. "I can't believe you two!"

Michael reluctantly moved away from Alec, who wiped at a small cut he had received on his cheek.

"What happened to not risking hurting them by staying here?" Alec muttered, receiving a strange look from Michael.

"Well, thanks to you, I now know that Vash really is the Stampede," she answered, smiling, "and if that's true then I'm pretty sure he's dealt with worse. They can handle me."

Alec frowned, standing up. "Come on Frey. We're going home."

Michael looked back and forth between the two, confused. "You mean you actually know him, Frey?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I'm her best friend," Alec answered for her, glaring at Michael. "Now go home. We're leaving."

"No we're not."

"Yes we are, Frey."

"I can't believe you actually know this guy! He tried to kill Vash!"

"He was doing it for my own good," Frey shot back, suddenly on Alec's defense.

"What good was killing Vash going to do!"

"He wanted to kill her!"

"No he didn't!" Frey yelled, turning on Alec now.

"Yes he did!"

"How would you know! You big jerk, I can't believe you did that to her!"

"Don't call him that!"

"So you agree with him? He wants to kill us!"

"No, just Vash."

"Oh, and that's okay!"

"No!" Frey shouted, pulling at her hair. "Would you both just shut up! This is all just a big misunderstanding! Alec just tried to kill Vash because he thought I was in danger, even though I never was."

Sloan and Carly appeared from behind Frey, having heard the commotion. "You mean this guy tried to kill Vash?" Carly asked.

"Yeah, and his little friend almost killed Aidan at the same time," Michael muttered.

"What!" Sloan shouted, bristling.

"Don't worry, Dad." It was Aidan, who had arrived in the middle of the fight after following Michael back from his house. "Vash stopped the bullet. And that guy's gone now." Sloan frowned, still glowering.

"Get in the house, Aidan." Aidan silently obeyed, looking down and wishing Michael had just kept his mouth shut. Sloan slammed the door shut once she had entered, and Frey heard his footsteps pounding up the stairs. Then she turned and glared at the two young men still standing in the street.

"Nice one, guys."

"What are you blaming me for? It's not my fault we ended up back here, I-"

"Shut up, Alec. I'm going to bed." She turned and started down the street for her apartment. After all, her stuff was all still there, and she hadn't officially checked out.

"Where am I supposed to sleep?"

"Sleep in the street for all I care."

"That's right, you tell him," Michael whispered. She just glared at him, her look telling him that he hadn't escaped her wrath either.

"So you came back."

"What's it to you?" Frey answered, her voice caustic. She was still mad at him.

Michael wasn't stupid. He knew she was angry with him, for good reason, and he honestly felt bad. He also knew that she had been telling the truth. Alec had only done what he did because he thought he was protecting her. But perhaps her stubbornness had rubbed off on him, because he found himself unable to apologize to her, though she obviously deserved it.

"Forget it."

"Fine."

"Why are you following me anyway?"

"I'm not. My house is this way."

"I guess I should have gone the other way, then."

Rolling his eyes, Michael quickened his pace so he wasn't so far behind her. He glanced up at her, and she quickly looked away.

"What happened to your car?"

"It broke down," she muttered.

He smiled. "So you accepted a ride from a complete stranger, having no idea where he'd take you?"

"We were stranded in the middle of the desert and half dead. What would you have done? Besides," she added, "Alec was starting to chase lizards. We were desperate." Michael laughed at her last comment, easing the tension a bit. Finally he took a deep breath and decided to take the plunge.

"About him-"

Frey looked up, her eyes still holding a fiery glare. Michael swallowed hard.

"I, I'm-"

"What?"

"I'm s . . . , I'm sor-"

"Sorry?"

"Yeah," he admitted.

"Well that's good to know."

"Yeah . . ." he answered apprehensively, wishing he hadn't brought it up. Thankfully for him, they had reached his house, and the front door swung open, interrupting them. Milly stepped out of the house. She stopped short at the sight of Frey.

"Frey!" She squealed, practically leaping across the room and smashing Frey in a giant bear hug. "You're back! It's so good to see you!"

"Mom! Don't kill her!" Milly quickly released Frey, who bent over, taking deep breaths.

"Oh, I'm sorry, are you okay!"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, smiling at the woman's reaction to seeing her again.

"How'd you get here?"

"The car Alec and I were traveling in broke down. Sloan happened to find us and gave us a ride back here," she explained.

"Oh, so Sloan's back!"

"Mmmhmm."

"Wait, who's Alec?"

"The guy I was with."

"That kidnaped you?"

"Well I see that Michael's told you everything."

Michael smiled sheepishly.

Several hours, awkward moments, and drawn out explanations later, Frey had finally convinced almost everyone that Alec wasn't out to kill them all. She knew it wouldn't be easy regaining Sloan's trust, though. He was obviously very protective of his daughter, and hearing that Alec's accomplice had threatened her had made Alec, and Frey somewhat, unforgivable in his eyes. She could also tell that Michael still disliked him, but found herself forgiving him for it. She couldn't really blame him, considering Alec really had kidnapped her. Milly, Carly, Vash, and Meryl had all trusted him, though, after hearing the explanation, which she was grateful for. She didn't want to have to leave with them all hating her because of her association with Alec.

Alec had slept outside Frey's apartment building, accepting Frey's indirect punishment. The whole thing had given her great satisfaction, but she knew she couldn't make him do it again. Luckily, Milly had welcomed Alec to stay at her place, though the best bed he would get would be the couch.

Alec was angry about the entire situation. He had just been trying to get Frey back home, but had somehow gotten himself involved with Vash the Stampede and his psychotic friends and family. But there was nothing he could do, at least not now. Frey wouldn't be so easily taken again, and even if she would she would never forgive him for pulling something like that a second time. His only hope lay in convincing her to go home, and his prospects in that area didn't look too bright. They would be here for awhile. Eventually she would get bored or homesick, or both, and then they could leave. Until then he'd just have to sit it out, putting up with her new friends and dealing with Sloan's hatred every day.

"Something wrong, Alec?"

"Of course not," he answered, giving Frey an obviously fake smile, "everything's just peachy."

She grinned back. "Oh, I knew you'd just love it here." He tried to ignore the underlying threat in her voice, telling him that he had better love it or he was going to get it.