Sorry I took so long, readers. I've just been really busy. School and stuff… it throws. Anyway, at least I have this update. This is the second to last chapter of the story. I have one more. It'll be the last. It's going to be three different endings to the story. I'm going to pick one of them to be the real end and I'm going to use it for the sequel. Oops! I didn't just say there would be a sequel! 'clears throat' Anyway, the sequel (I'm not saying there will be one or anything…) won't come until later. I'm going to take a break from this story and try to finish Trigun Holidays. I'll like… pre write all the holidays or something. After that, I'm going to finish Loving Life. But before that, I'm going to start on a new fic. I don't know what it's about yet, but I'm working on it. Thank you so much for your reviews and whoever has stuck with me from the beginning of this fic to the end. I love y'all. Well, here's the chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter 9 It's a bird! It's a plane! No… IT'S ANDIE'S TRIGUN DVD!

Sleeping on the sand steamer in the third class cabin was the worst, most uncomfortable experience. Waking up was worse. Heather hit her head on the bunk above her, forgetting where she was.

"Crap…" she muttered angrily as she rolled off her bunk in pain and opened the door to the third class corridor. It wouldn't budge. "Come on, you stupid thing."

It finally flew open. Heather walked out to a surprise.

"Did I wake you up?" Forrest asked.

"No. What time is it?"

"About 4:30 in the morning."

"Oh."

"Heather? There was something I wanted to tell you," Forrest said hesitantly.

"What is it? I think I have an idea of it, but tell me anyway."

The guilty boy tried to stall. "Tell me what you think it is," he said.

"No, no! I'd much rather have you tell me," said Heather irritably. 'I know your secret, Forrest,' she thought to herself. 'You can't hide from me anymore.'

"Ok…" Forrest began. "I uh… wasn't at your lunch table to tell you how I felt. I was kind of dared to do it. Jesse and Philip dared me to pretend that I liked you. So… I don't really… like you…"

Heather chuckled. "I knew it."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to see how long you could stand to be an asshole before you broke." Forrest looked down shamefully. Heather smirked. "Hell! I don't need you anyway. Besides, I've got bigger fish to fry."

"Like who?" Forrest asked thinking about his friends, Jesse and Philip.

"No one. I've just always wanted to say that." The blonde grinned.

"So, you're not mad?" Forrest asked.

"Damn straight I am!" Heather glared. "I-" A crash in a nearby room interrupted her oncoming verbal attack. She ran to the room where the noise originated.

On the ground with cleaning supplies piled on top of him, sat the hottest boy Heather had ever seen. He had thick, glossy dark brown hair and blue eyes. He wore a white shirt with brown overalls. "Be careful!" His warning came a second too late. Heather had slipped in a puddle of water that spilled out of a bucket the boy had dropped. He kicked the cleaning supplies off of him and pulled Heather up off the ground. "Hey, sorry about that. I'm just really tired. I was trying to put this stuff away but I sort of knocked something over which caused a huge chain reaction. My name is Kaite."

Heather just stood there staring. She had never in her life seen a guy that hot that was around her age. She shook her head to rid herself of the hormonal thoughts she was having. "I'm Heather. What are you doing up at 4:30 in the morning?" she asked. 'You stupid girl. You don't have to ask. Hello? You've seen Trigun. He works here.'

"I should say the same to you."

"I just broke up with my boyfriend," she explained.

"I heard. I work on this rig."

'Score one for me!'

"I've been up all night cleaning the place. I was just about to get a few hours of sleep."

"Oh…" They just stared at each other.

"Kaite!" Vash came into the storeroom. "I didn't know this was the steamer you worked on! How've you been?"

"Great, actually!" Kaite replied.

"Vash? What are you doing up?" Heather asked, angry at him for ruining her moment with the hottest guy she had ever seen.

"Well, I heard a crash so I decided to check it out," he replied, completely oblivious to Heather's glare.

"It's great to see you again, Vash. I never thought this day would come." Kaite smiled. "The Bad Lads haven't bothered us at all since you came and we've been through that pass hundreds of times!"

"Vash! Heather!" Forrest tried to get their attention. They turned around to see the sand steamer's captain standing next to Forrest with a worried look on his wrinkled face.

"I'm so glad you're back, Vash. They're here!" the captain screamed.

"Who's here?" Vash asked.

"Your mom!" Rachel appeared out of nowhere.

"Really?" Vash asked wide-eyed.

"The Bad Lad gang!" the captain screamed like a little girl and ran around in circles. "Help! Help me, Mommy!"

His screams woke everyone in the third class cabins. A booming voice was heard over the passengers' cries of terror. "Vash the Stampede! I know you're down there!" bellowed the voice. "Come out! Face me!"

"Damn… it…" Wolfwood muttered. Chrissy was too frightened to glare and all the others were too scared to notice. Slowly, Vash made his way through the crowd, his friends following him dutifully, having his back.

"I hope this doesn't turn out like the last time," Meryl whispered.

"It won't," Andie reassured.

"How can you be so sure?" Millie asked.

Stephanie smiled. "Because we're here," she replied optimistically.

Within a minute, Vash found himself face to face with the one and only Brilliant Dynamites Neon himself. "We meet again," Vash said with an air of confidence and casualty as he coolly slid on his orange sunglasses.

Heather rolled her eyes. "I hate it when he does this. He doesn't know how retarded he looks."

Danielle boldly walked up to him and, to his surprise, snatched off his glasses. "Look! Sunglasses are only to be worn when sunny," Danielle scolded like the true fashion guru she was. "It's almost five in the morning! Gosh! Flippin' retard…" She left him stunned and stood next to Chrissy, still holding the orange shades. Vash blinked at her.

"Go on, Vash!" Knives ordered. "Pretend she didn't take your stupid sunglasses!"

"They are not stupid, Meanie!" Vash pouted. "It's so hard sometimes to have an older brother who bullies you around all the time, you know?"

"I completely understand!" Heather exclaimed.

"Whatever! Just keep up your little "cool" façade," Chrissy said, doing air quotations when saying "cool".

"Ok! I'm getting sick of this shit! Who are these children, buddy?" BDN asked Vash and pointed angrily at Chrissy, who had a "speak-again-and-I'll-kill-you" look on her face.

Heather, Rachel, Vash, and Knives magically pulled out their guns and aimed them at BDN and his gang. Andie suddenly held her whips, Meryl had two of her fifty derringers, Millie held her huge stun gun, and we can only guess how Wolfwood retrieved his Cross Punisher.

Neon glanced at his opponents and laughed. "What a nice little ragtag team you have here. You sure know how to make your entrances good and flashy!"

Hal jumped out from behind Danielle. "Thank you!" he replied then hid behind his girlfriend again.

Before he could react, Vash shot BDN's lit-up guns out of his hands. Levi caught one and Chrissy caught the other. They smiled at each other and he winked.

Hal magically held a rope and faced the audience. "Don't try this at home, kids!" Then he jumped high onto one of BDN's broad shoulders. He threw one end of the rope at Danielle and swiftly pulled her up to the other shoulder. Heather tossed one of her guns at Danielle, who sat by Neon's head, and pointed the gold weapon on a spot right above his ear.

"Dang!" Heather exclaimed.

"Yeah, I know I'm fast," Hal said proudly.

"No, not you! You are hecka strong, Neon!" Heather pointed out.

"You're related to your brother!" Danielle grinned.

"That means I'm related to me!" said Heather.

"Of course I'm strong, woman! I have to be. I am the greatest, most flashy and feared man on the planet," Neon said haughtily, completely unaware of the gun pointed at his head.

"Well, if you're going to be all snooty about it, she takes it back." Eric placed his hands on his hips.

"You have truly out-gayed yourself, Eric," Stephanie laughed, her long black mane of hair shaking behind her.

"Snooty?" BDN giggled girlishly. "Even I don't say snooty!"

"Hey! I do!" Eric, Hal, Legato, Knives, and Forrest all yelled out defensively.

"Ok… this is just getting weird…" said Andie. 'Eric is sort of gay… he says snooty. I suppose Neon is, too, because he said that "even he" doesn't say that. Legato, Forrest, Knives, and Hal all use that- Oh… my… GOD!' "Legato?"

'Oh, crap," Forrest, Hal, Knives, and Legato thought simultaneously.

"Can we just get to the point of this little rendezvous?" Rachel asked.

"I'm here to kill you, Vash, and collect the bounty on your head."

"Seriously?" Heather asked, gaping.

"Yes. Last time we met, I said I would take his life. I didn't think it would hurt to make some money for it."

"Honey… no," Hal patted Neon's head from his perch atop Neon's shoulder.

Vash snorted and dropped to the ground, holding his side, practically laughing his organs out.

"Dude, Vash doesn't have a bounty on his head anymore," Stephanie said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Seriously!" Heather repeated. Then she stomped her foot. "You kept us up for almost an hour for NO FRIGGEN REASON AT ALL?" Her eyes blazed red as she clenched her fists. "Look! I value my beauty sleep! AND YOU TOOK IT AWAY FROM ME!" Kaite came up behind her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She was instantly calm.

"What do you mean that flashy bounty isn't there anymore?" BDN looked ready to kill.

"First of all, that's not what she said," Chrissy corrected.

"Second of all, it's true. I ordered the retraction and signed the papers myself!" Meryl grinned broadly.

"Third of all, it doesn't matter if the bounty is there or not," said Stephanie.

"And why the flash is that?" Neon asked.

"Because you have a gun pointed at your head," Danielle whispered.

"And it's loaded," said Hal.

"And it's pretty!" Heather squealed.

BDN smirked. "It won't matter if you kill me anyway."

Vash stopped laughing. Wolfwood narrowed his eyes. "Why the hell not?"

"Because I said so," Neon answered.

"No! Not the evil parental words!" Heather moaned.

The captain appeared out of the frightened crowd. "He trashed the engine, the engine controls, the brakes, everything!" the captain wailed.

"All right! Nobody panic!" said Heather.

"And the award for stupidest thing to be said in this situation goes to… Heather!" Chrissy said sarcastically.

"I'll get the anchor," Kaite volunteered. He fought threw the throng of passengers and ran into the storage room.

"Well, Vash the Stampede, looks like you've beat me again," Neon said, feeling the gun press against his head. "Come on you scum bags! This man beat us fair and square." He slowly raised his hands up in surrender. Danielle and Hal jumped off his shoulders. BDN skipped across the deck and leaped over the railing. Millie dashed to the edge and looked down just in time to see him and his army of Bad Lads drive off into the rising suns.

Kaite ran back out and swiftly threw the anchor out into the sand. Everyone stood there silently holding his or her breaths. After what seemed to be an hour, the sand steamer skidded to a halt.

Heather broke the silence. "Danielle? Can I have my gun back?"

"Well, Kaite. Looks like you've saved the day yet again." Vash smiled at the teen.

The captain walked up to Kaite and shook his hand. "Good job, kid," he said with a new dignity. "I've called bus services and three buses are on their way."

"Do you think we'll meet another almost dead priest on the way?" Andie grinned suggestively.

"I hope not…" said Chrissy.

"It doesn't matter," the captain said. "You're not going on the bus. It's your fault that we have to use them, anyway."

"How do you suppose we'll get to the next city, then!" Knives exclaimed.

"You can walk," the captain said simply and walked away, barking orders at the first mate.

"I guess we deserve it," sighed Vash.

The buses arrived within the hour. The passengers boarded with the exception of our favorite wanderers. Kaite was the last to get on. Before boarding, her kissed Heather on the cheek.

"I really hope we meet again, Heather." Kaite smiled. "Until then, I'll be thinking about you, every time I look into the night sky." Then he was gone.

Heather stood there with her hands clasped over her heart. "How romantic…" she sighed, her eyes glazed over.

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Heather, you're such a sap."

"That was such a cheesy line. I wouldn't buy it at all if a guy ever said that to me," Hal said.

"Oh and by the way, Hal, we're over," Danielle said. "You are so gay. I was just too blind to see it. That's why you're so good in Queer as Folk! You weren't acting!"

"How did you…" Hal began.

Andie cleared her throat. "Does the word snooty ring a bell?"

"And Forrest, you could have told me you were gay, if that's why you never liked me in the three years I've known you," said Heather.

"Legato, Knives… You two are next," said Andie. Chrissy smiled.

"Let's just go," Meryl suggested.

Vash moaned. "Do we have to walk?" he whined and leaned his head on her shoulder. "Meryl?" he said meekly. "Will you carry me?" He pouted.

"Vash! Get off!" She pushed him off her shoulder and he smiled and lightly kissed her cheek and started running with Meryl close on his tail. Millie started laughing and Wolfwood wrapped his arm around her shoulder. They started walking in the direction Vash ran in. Knives and Legato followed arguing about who was cuter: Vash or Wolfwood. Hal and Forrest talked about their ex-girlfriends and what was wrong with them. For example, "Heather's sense of style is so whacked out," said Forrest. "I mean, who wears a belt over a mini skirt anyway?" Levi and Rachel were trying to find the nicest way to break up with each other. Heather and Stephanie were talking about Stephanie's commitment issues. Danielle, Andie, and Chrissy were talking about their gay boyfriends.

An hour later, Hal and Danielle were making out because they wanted to. Chrissy and Levi were together silently walking, randomly giving each other kisses. Andie, Stephanie, Rachel, and Heather were talking about the new play Andie was writing. Knives, Legato, and Forrest were talking about cute boys. Millie and Wolfwood were reminiscing. Meryl had long since caught up to Vash. They were hanging out with Millie and Wolfwood.

Danielle spotted a black spot in the distance. "Hey, what's that?" she asked.

"I don't know," Hal replied. "Maybe there's a grain of sand on your eyeball."

Andie, Rachel, Stephanie, and Heather joined them and looked at the spot. "I can see it too," said Andie. "But I don't expect you to be able to see it, Heather." She grinned.

Heather pouted. "That's mean. You shouldn't make fun of my near-sightedness."

"It kind of looks like a bird," said Danielle.

"A dead bird…" Rachel squinted.

"Or a plane," said Stephanie. Everyone looked at her strangely. "What? It could be a plane crash."

"I don't think there are any planes on this planet," said Andie.

"It's superman!" Heather cheered. She paused. "A dead superman… No!" she cried.

Andie saw Vash and Meryl run up to the spot. "It could be another half dead priest."

"That might be what you're hoping for, Andie," said Rachel knowingly.

"Let's just go see what it is and stop trying to guess," said Hal.

They were the last ones there. Vash was squatting by it looking at it curiously. "I have no clue what this could be," he said.

Chrissy pushed through everyone and only had to glance once at the unidentified object. "Andie!" she exclaimed. "You'd better get over here."

Andie came over. A smile slowly became her. "My Trigun DVD! Oh my gosh!"

"You do know what this means, right?" Rachel asked, solemnly.

"We're going home," Heather stated the obvious. Everyone stood silently staring at the DVD sadly.

Andie picked it up. "Well… we should be getting home."

"How do you think we should do it?" Heather asked.

"I think we would go back the same way we came," Chrissy suggested. "We'll all touch it at the same time."

"What if it doesn't work?" Millie asked worriedly.

"I don't know." Rachel sighed. "But we won't know until we try it."

"Levi, Hal, you guys have to touch it, too. It's your only way back," said Stephanie.

"But if my DVD came back, I think the one they used will, too," said Andie.

"We should stay a little while longer and look for it," Hal said.

"It's ok," said Levi. "I don't think my friend will mind that we left it here. I'll buy him another one."

Vash, Knives, Meryl, Millie, Legato, and Wolfwood had been quiet. "We're going to miss you guys," Wolfwood spoke up.

"I admit it. I'm going to miss you spiders, too," Knives sighed, defeated.

"Aw come on, Vash," said Heather. "One more hug for old times sake." Vash grinned and hugged her, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

Eric winked at Meryl. "It's too bad we never really got it on. I always thought you were pretty hot."

"Excuse me!" Meryl gaped and blushed.

"Bye…" Legato hesitated. "…friends."

"Oh! I'm going to miss you all so much!" Millie started to cry.

"Don't, Millie!" Heather's voice was shaking. "You're going to make me cry, too!"

"It's been fun," said Wolfwood.

"I guess I'll miss you guys, too," Chrissy admitted. "Even if I hate Trigun. And I'm still never going to watch it. I've had enough of Vash the Stampede to last a hundred lifetimes."

"Hey! I resent that," Vash pouted. Chrissy laughed. "Andie? That picture of me on you DVD makes me look stupid."

"It doesn't take much to do that, Vash," said Knives.

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Chrissy smiled.

Forrest stepped out from behind everybody. "I really hate to say this… but we really have to go."

Andie still held the DVD. She felt like she had the burden of telling everyone the world was going to blow up in two minutes. "Ok everyone. We just have to touch it at the same time. When I say go…" Millie and Wolfwood held on to each other, hoping it wasn't the end. Andie shut her eyes tightly. "Go!"

WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTER IN THE ENTIRE FIC! I just realized, I really want to know. Are you cool and is it the one, only Heather? Is it Andie, Steph, Chrissy? Rachel, Danielle? One of the boys? Or are you an irreversible Trigun fan and you still love Vash, Meryl, Millie, Wolfwood, Knives, or Legato? Tell me please in your next review! I also want to know if it would be ok if I use a bad word once in my next chapter. I'm gonna tell Forrest off. 'evil grin' It's a rated R word. I just don't want you to get mad if I use an R word in a PG-13 fic. Review and tell me! Thanks.