Prologue: Wandering

Disclaimer/Notes: Trigun is not my creation, though I sometimes dream it is. The characters are not mine, and I am making no profit from this story.This story is placed after the final fight, somewhat ignoring the final and obscure flash of Vash returning to Millie and Meryl in the end. I hope you like it! Please leave your thoughts. Reviews are my life! And don't worry...those insurance girls will show up soon enough.

Wavering pinprick stars danced over the sand and sky as he walked. Each footstep sent jolts of pain through injured legs. The heat of two suns bearing down on him made the blood on his bare shoulders painfully warm, yet Vash ignored every unpleasant sensation, forcing himself to move one foot in front of the next, just as he had for the last four hours and for several days before this one. Every step he took brought him closer to home, to rest.

If he kept reminding himself of that, he might just make it.

Vash sighed, searching the wavering horizon for any sign of life or movement. He saw none. It wasn't like it was a horribly big surprise, but it still made the weight on his shoulders feel heavier than ever. For a brief moment, he wondered if he'd ever make it to a town. The settlements on Gunsmoke were few and far between.

He shook the thought from his head. He had to. No maybe or if or but about it...if he didn't make it, Knives would die.

A wave of dizziness made the dancing silver stars converge and waver. Vash coughed through a parched throat and fell to one knee, ignoring the pain that surged upward from the barely congealed wound, and laying his brother down carefully on the scorching sand. He just needed a few seconds of rest, that was all.

He gasped in a sharp breath and, with still faded vision, checked on Knives. The bandages on his arms were still warm and dry, but blood had begun to seep from the stomach wound. Vash felt a surge of fear as he looked at the pale and sweaty face of his own brother. Did I do this?

It hurt to look. He'd felt so much pain in his life. It made him feel sick to imagine that he had done to someone else what so many others had done to him. I had to do it! His sins glared up at him from the ground.

Five bullet holes. One in each leg and each arm, and one in the stomach.

Knives got what he deserved! He killed Rem. So many other humans never got the chance to open their eyes again because of Knives. Hundreds of thousands of lives...lost forever. Little boys and girls were denied a future because of his reckless and heartless actions.

Vash sighed. This...is the only way. Somehow, I will work things out.

Vash reached out to lift his brother onto his shoulder again, but his grip was too weak. He sat back on the sand, drawing a shallow breath that caught in his throat. A logical part of his mind knew that if he cared for himself now, it would be easier to care for Knives, but the rest of him strangled that thought.

He did not have the luxury of spending time on himself! Knives was hurt. No matter what his brother had done in the past, Vash had caused this pain and it was he who was responsible for securing his brother's safety. And now it was time to get moving. Vash clenched his teeth and forced his body to cooperate. Every time it hurt too much, he let a bit of breath out until he was to his feet again.

I will not fall. I won't fail to save you this time, Knives. No matter what it takes.

Those thoughts gave him a kind of peace, and from that moment on, all that he cared about was one foot and the other one that inevitably stumbled in front of it. Nothing else mattered, because nothing else existed in those perfect, silent moments.

Though the wind that journeyed from the sky to his face was burning hot, it sent shudders of weakness through his body. That didn't matter, though. Vash tucked everything away and walked on, not realizing that his own blood dripped down his black bodysuit into the nearly molten sand, leaving a trail of sizzling droplets. Ahead, the sunlight made tantalizing rivers of deceptive illusion, but every time Vash got close, they vanished like mist.

After what seemed like centuries of walking, he couldn't take even one more step. A surge of nausea and weakness rolled through him from the center of his body outward, leaving ice in its wake. So cold...

Vash tried to walk forward, but his legs gave out on him and he plunged into the sand, body shuddering as if trying to rid itself of the ice that chilled his bones. He felt like retching but couldn't bother with something so trivial, not when movement was a near impossibility. "Knives..."

His brother had slipped gently from his sodden shoulder to the sand, and there he rested peacefully, chest rising and falling with a steady rhythm. Knives was fine. His wounds were clean and cared for.

Only then did Vash acknowledge that he was the one in danger.

He rolled over, cursing fate and his stubborn brother. Wind swept over him, through his hair that lay limp over his eyes with cold sweat. His stomach rebelled and he lifted himself up with his hands and let his head hang, waiting for the nausea to pass. He retched but nothing came out. How fun.

Vash let himself rest in the freezing sand. He didn't want to sleep, but the world around him did a crazy dance and faded to black...blacker than a moonless night, blacker than death. A part of him welcomed it. More than thirty iles from the nearest town, where only the desolate cry of the wind intruded, the silence here was beautiful.

Get up! Wake up and keep going!

He ignored reason's demands as he faded deeper and deeper into unconsciousness, where things like thirst and fever did not exist.

Note: So, what did you think? Good, bad, ugly? Please review! This is my first ever Trigun fanfic! I'd desperately appreciate any feedback you could give. Thanks for taking the time to read! Please excuse any minor errors...lol, it may just be my computer, but some of the words seem to run together when I try to save this. (grumbles) They're stealing my spaces. Space thieves... Anyway, I hope that you liked this and dare to take a peek at the next chapter.