Vash had no time to react as the deadly beam headed straight for Meryl's still form. Vash closed his eyes afraid of the impact he would have to endure if they remained open. The next thing he heard was Knives cursing in pain. His eyes jerked open and he saw Nicholas Wolfwood holding a still smoking gun. His gaze was defiant and his next words addressed the infamous outlaw. "
You better take care of this guy before he winds up killing your woman." Vash flushed slightly at the "priest's" choice of words. Nonetheless, he proceeded to straighten his yellow glasses and shot a solitary bullet. It missed and ricocheted off the steel walls. Nicholas sensed the need to move he and Millie aside, as they didn't want to come face-to-face with an estranged bullet. Vash once again glanced at Meryl; she was desperately clinging to life. He felt fresh anger boil and spew over into his veins. His brother, his twin, had done this to Meryl for no reason but spite. For a long time since Rem died, Vash felt pure hatred. It was then that Knives aimed a white hot blast that Vash deflected but it hit a beam and the structure of the building began to rumble and shake. It was then that Vash realized Knives had knocked out the support beam of the entire warehouse. This building was going down.
"We need to get out of here or we'll all be crushed!" Vash cried out to his brother in urgency.
"I'm not leaving until one of us is the victor!" He cried back.
"You're insane!" He said utterly appalled. A metal beam crashed from the derelict warehouse and trapped a squirming Knives beneath it. Vash saw that Mille and Nicolas were scattering and he couldn't blame them. This old building would be down in a matter of minutes. Vash hurried over to Meryl and gingerly scooped up the black-haired woman into his arms. She stirred slightly, feeling safe in his warm arms.
"I'm getting you out of here Meryl, don't worry." He used his free hand to gently run his fingers through her hair. She managed to mumble "Vash," with the little strength she had regained. Vash used his lighting speed to rush Meryl out of the crumbling building.
"What happened to Meryl?" The voice of a concerned Millie drifted through the scorching desert air.
"Knives shot her." Vash replied.
"What an asshole," Nicholas responded.
Vash couldn't find room to argue with that. "See what you can do for her, I need to go back." Nicholas gave a 'are you dead serious' look.
"HOW CAN YOU EVEN CONSIDER THAT! THE GUY IS A LUNATIC!" Nicholas roared in rage. It was rare to watch Nicholas lose his temper, but when he did it was extremely volatile.
"It doesn't matter, I'm not giving up, there's some good in him somewhere." Vash bent down near Meryl tenderly tearing off pieces of his red jacket to make a makeshift tourniquet.
"This will have to do for now. Get her to a hospital now, don't' wait for me!" Millie stood there looking both uncomfortable.
"But Mr. Vash we should help you, you're hurt to." Vash just then noticed the warm gush of blood leaking from his shoulder and his right leg.
"I've had worse and I heal a lot faster than she does."
His aquamarine eyes were pleading, and Millie finally gave in. "Hai, Mr. Vash we'll take her to a hospital. Meryl won't be happy when she finds out I left you all alone and hurt here though." Vash smiled, Millie knew Meryl better than anyone.
"Hai, you're right, but I'll explain to her later, right now she needs medical attention." He scooped her up into his arms gave her a tender kiss and watched Nicholas jump into the driver's seat, Millie close at his side.
"Well needle-noggin just swear you don't get yourself killed. You want to use my gun?" Nicholas cocked his head in the trunk where his gun lay.
"Iie, that's alright, I can handle this, just go, kudasai." Nicolas nodded and Millie called out
"Ja-ne Mr. Vash!" She did this while waving rather enthusiastically and Vash couldn't help but smile and wave back. Vash trod on the ground where rubble from the building was scattered. He intended to shift through the carnage to find his brother. He had not gone far when he found him crushed under a now twisted and heavy steel beam.
"You came back Vash, how odd." Knives's voice was not the usual cruel and curt note; it was strained and weak.
"You should know by now I'm not going to leave you alone and hurt no matter what you say."
Knives shook his head with extreme difficulty. "You always were a soft-hearted fool Vash. Even when were children you were fond of the human Rem and now it's another woman you are so protective and loving towards. You will keep living and keep getting hurt by these humans, and how will it feel to keep living while your beloved human grows old and dies?"
Vash took a deep breath. "I love her no matter what the circumstances, and just maybe I'll find a way to die with her."
Knives gave a cold strained laugh. "Well what I wished for is finally here, death. Farewell, Vash the Stampede." Vash was horrified and yelled at his brother to hang on as the managed to lift the beam off of Knives. The beam had crushed Knives internal organs including his lung. In the impact, his gun had also gone off piercing his heart. Vash watched as Knives took a wheezing breath and then lie still. Knives, the plant hybrid who hated and vowed to destroy humanity, lie dead. "IIE! IIE!" Vash sobbed hysterically into the now approaching night. He buried his face in his hand, held his brother's frigid hand and sobbed. His full-body sobs echoed through the night. Vash flung off his tattered red coat and yellow sunglasses and cried as tears spilt down his face and onto his white shirt. Meryl slowly let her eyelids flutter open. She was greeted by over illuminated white light in an immaculately kept hospital room. She pivoted her head to find herself attached to several IV and a heart monitor. The line was steady, and she found herself feeling venerable and naked in her hospital gown. There was a chair drawn beside her bed, and in it was the slumbering form of Millie. Millie awoke with a short yawn and a smile instantly graced her face.
"Meryl, you're awake! You were in a comma for about a week. The doctors said you wouldn't make it because of the blood loss." A tear formed at the corner of Millie's eye. Meryl smiled kindly at her and reached out and hugged her to the best of her abilities.
"I'm sorry to have worried you Millie, but I'm feeling much better now." She then noticed the blood being supplied to her.
"They want to give you a few more transfusions just to be sure you'll pull through." Millie was now telling her that they had been permantly fired from Bernedelli Insurance and that Vash was no longer a fugitive.
"They found out what really happened and his name was cleared." Millie informed her friend.
Meryl smiled. "He deserves to be free, especially since he was innocent all along." Meryl scanned the room, expecting to see Vash there snacking on doughnuts. Her face fell, when she saw he was conspicuously absent.
"Where is Vash?" Meryl asked with a hint of sadness in her voice. Nicholas lumbered in, smelling strongly of tobacco. "
We haven't heard of him since he rescued you from that warehouse, it's been about three weeks." Meryl's eyes changed from sadness to worry.
"He could be really hurt, or he could have been captured! How could you just leave him there?" Meryl's tone and anger was the magnitude Millie had expected it to be, but that didn't mean she liked it any better.
"We tried to convince him to come with us so he could get his wounds treated, but he refused! He made us take you to the hospital and that was it." Millie sighed and saw the hurt look upon Meryl's face. "
I'm sure he has other more important things to take care of," Meryl said in an attempt to be her usual brave self. Meryl and Millie talked, and Nicholas joined in, it was after visiting hours were over and Nicholas and Millie were heading to the hotel they'd rented that things got heated.
"What if he did run off and leave her, the poor kid will be heartbroken." Nicholas asked Millie.
"That just doesn't seem like Mr. Vash to leave Meryl. He has a good reason for not being with her yet." Nicholas was always impressed by Millie's faith in seeing the good in people.
"So, honey what would you think of the idea of marrying me?" She looked at him incredulously.
"I'd love to Nicholas." He laughed as she threw her arms around him nearly knocking him down and they stood there for a while just kissing each other passionately under the pale moonlight.
Back to Meryl in her hospital bed :
Meryl sighed and rolled over. Her pillows were nearly flattened and her bed sheets tangled. She was thinking about Vash and everything she loved about him. She wondered why he hadn't come back, was it because he couldn't or didn't want to? Maybe after all that happened he decided she wasn't worth the trouble. Vash was now a free man, and Meryl concluded he had probably had a lot better things to do than hang around the likes of her. She felt salty tears flow freely into her flat white pillow.
"I like you much better when you're smiling," a soft familiar voice rang out of nowhere. Meryl felt her heart pound against her chest and thought she must be half awake and dreaming. There was no way she was hearing Vash's voice in the middle of the night in a locked hospital.
"I think they have me on too much drugs I'm beginning to hallucinate." There was no mistaking that profile when he stepped into clear view in the moonlight. His tall, spiky, and handsome features set him miles apart.
"I'm sorry, I should have been here sooner." His voice was kind and sad. Meryl stared at him barely daring to believe he was there. Yet, she knew it was real when she saw him sit in the chair Millie had occupied early and he lovingly took her hand into his own.
"I was beginning to think that.." He finished her sentence for her "That I didn't want to come back? Meryl, I love you and I'd never run from you." She smiled.
"I love you to Vash and I believe you." He gave his trademark grin and kissed her. Even though she was hooked up to IV's and monitors she could have died and gone to heaven.
"What did happen to you?" She finally asked him as he held her gently.
"After my brother died, I guess you could say I went insane from grief. I became disoriented and lost my memory for a short period of time. I wandered the desert, but finally collapsed of my wounds. A compassionate traveler took me to his hometown where his family nursed me back to health. I couldn't remember who I was or where I'd been. So, I stayed there in that town living with that traveler's family. I had a nightmare late one night and everything came flooding back to me, including my brother being killed and you being hurt. I was horrified I'd forgotten so I managed to track you down and I headed here."