Chapter 2: The Source of Grief

A high-pitched, almost child-like, female voice responded, muffled by the door, "Only if you put your guns down."

"Already did."

The door slowly opened a crack while the tall woman peeked through. Then, seeing he really had put his pistols aside, she straightened and opened it the whole way.

"My name's J-" Jake suddenly remembered the sizable bounty on his head, "-iim. Jim... uhh... Pete...Peterson. Jim Peterson" He cringed at the pisspoor coverup, extending his hand.

The tall woman took his hand in her vise-like grip, nearly breaking it as she pumped it several times. "Milly Thompson," she said brightly, "You sure are lucky, Mr. Peterson. You were half dead when my friend found you."

"Your friend?" Jake asked. Holy shit, it actually worked, he thought to himself with an incredulous half-grin.

"Oh, you haven't met him, that's right. Wait here, I'll go get him," she said, speeding out of the room.

Hm, Jake thought, Nice girl. He picked up his guns, spinning them on his fingers and dropping them at his sides as he had done so many times before. He tilted his head to the side as he heard them clatter to the floor, mildly confused. Looking down, Jake saw that his holsters werent at their usual spots, low on his outer thighs. Instead, they were hanging on the hook next to his coat. He shook his head with a chuckle and a grin at his mistake, and bent to retrieve his firearms.

Jake placed the weapons in their holsters on the wall, as a fairly tall man with spikey blonde hair walked into the room.

"Hey, there, Mr. Peterson," the man said with a friendly smile as he extended his hand, "Erichs. Just Erichs." Jake shook his hand, tilting his head to the side slightly.

"You look familiar... Have I seen you before?" Jake could swear he had, but couldnt think of where.

"Maybe... I have the same feeling." The two looked at each other intently. The man who stood before Jake was dressed in a rather drab grayish long sleeved shirt and equally muted pants, both of which seemed to go against his wild standing up hairstyle and stylish orange shades. He wore one earring, and had a small mole under his aqua eye. A sudden image of a faded, yellowed sheet of paper flickered into Jake's mind. It read: "WANTED, DEAD OR ALIVE: Vash The Stampede. $$60,000,000,000 REWARD," with a picture of a man bearing striking resemblance to the one Jake was talking to.

Jake's eyes opened wide, his jaw dropped, and he pointed, stammering at the man in sudden recognition. Less than a second later, Vash did the same.

"Y-" They shouted in unison.

"You're-!" They continued.

"Vash the Stampede!" yelled Jake.

"Jake Krieg!" screamed Vash.

Both men dropped into alert crouches, circling one another slowly, waiting for the other to attack.

"Grrrrrrr," suggested Jake quietly.

"Rrrrrrrr," explained Vash in a hushed voice.

"Well?" Jake said, sneering as he circled.

"Well what?" Vash replied in a smartassed tone.

"Well are we fighting or not?" Jake asked, raising an eyebrow and halting his circle.

"I'd rather not," Vash said, as he too stopped.

Jake straightened back up and exhaled, "Good. You're a smart man," he said in a cocky tone.

Vash relaxed as well, "You know, I'm not so brutal as people make me out to be. Actually, I don't want to hurt anyone at all, I just want to live a quiet, normal life."

"Bounty like that, its not gonna happen for ya, pal. I'm not sure I belive you anyway."

Milly walked back into the room at this point, accompanied by a short, black haired woman dressed in white with blue stockings.

Vash inquired, "Why's that, Jake? Can I call you Jake?"

"You're going to anyway, I can tell. But you don't get the biggest bounty in teh world by being a nice guy, Vash. I didnt get my relatively small one that way, that's for damn sure." Jake spat.

"Jake?", Milly asked huffily, "I thought your name was Jim?"

"Oh that? Yeah... that was just a lie. I didnt want you guys to know who I was, but the Humanoid Typhoon here recognized me." Jake said to Milly, who had a miffed expression, "He did the same thing, by the way. Told me his name was Alex or somesuch nonsense."

Milly glared at Vash.

"What about this bounty you mentioned," said the short woman sternly. She seems kind of bitchy, Jake thought.

"What about it? Its nowhere near Vash's. $$300,000, last time I checked. Course, they'd say I added a few offenses since then." Jake said to her.

Vash broke his uncharacteristic silence, "Offenses? What kind of offenses, exactly?"

"Killings, mostly. I think I'm up to 47, now." Jake replied, matter-of-factly.

Vash's face began to turn red, "You bastard. You don't have any respect for life. Almost a contempt, it seems," he said with an angry expression, restraining himself from yelling, "I don't under-"

Jake turned to Vash, interrupting him, "Its not like I had a choice!"

"You always have a choice!" Vash said, trying even harder to keep his voice down, "No one has the right to take the life of another!"

"I never said I had the right!" Jake shouted, grabbing the collar of Vash's shirt, "I said I didnt have a choice!"

"Yes you-" Vash began.

"NO I DIDN'T! It was them or me!" Jake bellowed as he pushed Vash against the wall, "Not just me, it was them or me and the woman I was there to help!" The strength began to leave Jake's voice, "There were ten of them," he explained, "I was way outgunned. The only way out was through. I killed them, all but one. That was what started it. If I had killed the last one, I wouldnt have had a bounty at all. Wouldn't have had to kill anyone else.

"That bastard," Jake continued, "He goes to the police, says I attacked them for no reason. No reason! Shit... you know what they were planning on doing to that poor girl? Sons of bitches, they deserved what they got. They deserved way worse. Anyway, the asshole cops believe the little shit, seeing as he didnt have any criminal record and I had gone to jail once for wrecking a bar after I got dumped when I was younger." Jake let go of Vash and sat on the bed, gradually losing his anger and becoming more and more depressed in his remembrance as he spoke, "So they broke down my door, stormed in, and beat the shit out of me. They were hauling me in, said I was gonna be executed, so I broke loose and stole one of thier guns. I shot one of them in the leg, the other in the arm, and ran like hell. They put a price on my head after that, 1,000 doublebucks at first, for 'murder, assaulting police with intent to kill, and resisting arrest.'"

Everyone stood silently as Jake sighed with grief, "Then bounty hunters started tracking me down. Little punkasses at first, didnt know what they were doing. Got by without hurting them too bad. But each one bumped up my price just a little, till I had some big name guys after me. Guys like... shit, what was that guy's name? Constance Rifle or some crap like that. Those kind of guys were relentless. I couldn't get away, we ended up in a real gunfight, and I killed them too. 38 bounty hunters, all totalled. Each one raised the bar just that much more. I don't know how long I can keep it up. I don't want to kill anybody, I just don't know any other way." Jake covered his eyes with his hand as he began to sob, "Every night... I have horrible nightmares... All the people... they're people I killed! I'm afraid to sleep, It's driving me insane. I don't know what to do..."

Vash and Milly both walked over and sat next to him. "As long as you realize what you've done," Vash said as Milly hugged him comfortingly and petted the back of his head, making "shh, shh" noises, "There's still hope for you. I think we can guide this wayward soul back to the right path, don't you, Meryl?"

"...perhaps," Said the short woman, presumably Meryl, unenthusiastically.