Paradise Veiled in Black

Notes: Ah, the 12th chapter! Darn I just love titling these things. I love writing all the wonderful characters and more than anything, I love all the reviewers who've encouraged me and kept me writing! I honestly hope that you enjoy reading this short chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. More to come soon...

Air whistled through Vash's hair as he leaned out of the rolled-down window. His face was lazily propped up with a fist, and his eyes wandered far out onto the horizon, scanning it for a familiar flash of foliage. He'd walked a while before he'd thrown those weapons down. The geo plant was probably close to them. Maybe they were even passing it right now.

But he didn't see it.

He could not even spot its outline, and Vash cursed the darkness he stared into. Even that small piece of paradise was veiled by the night. Isn't it always? Vash reflected. The good things seemed to be obscured by darkness so much of the time.

Vash shook himself out of his contemplation. He wasn't going to get anywhere thinking like this. He smiled as he remembered Rem's words to him.

You're always so serious...

She'd said he'd turn into an old man if he kept thinking that way. God knew he tried to do what she'd said, but sometimes...sometimes it was hard not to let things get to him. Despite his efforts, his soul was ragged and worn. Vash sighed and still aimlessly searched the darkness. "Sorry, Rem. I try."

"What did you say, Vash?"

"Oh...Nothing."

Vash forced a smile to his face. He turned his gaze ahead, wondering where Knives was taking him. "Where are we going, anyway?" And what was going to happen when they arrived?

Knives did not turn to look at Vash, but he smiled. "To my home. Some of our sisters are there, too. It's far from those parasites. I think you'll like it."

Meryl and Millie had hitched a ride with an old man on his way to the sandsteamer in LR, and now stood in the center of the buzzing activity in the heart of the town. "Well...we should at least ask around." Meryl wasn't sure that Vash would have come back here, but it was the nearest town to the little one in which they'd been staying. She had to try. If she gave up now, they'd never find him.

She and Millie wandered the busy paths, avoiding running children, dodging couples with arms linked and voices low, and stepping around groups of men and women wandering the dusty down. The sandsteamer had docked, and life in LR was more active than ever, and would remain so in the following days before the leviathan's departure. Staring up at the dull copper-colored monster, Meryl sighed. She had come to hate those things. Twice she had gotten on them, and twice she had been kidnapped. It wasn't a good track record.

But there wasn't time to think about that. Vash may have even still been here...

No. He'd left with Knives, and Meryl couldn't imagine any scenario in which Vash's human-hating brother would take the 'Steamer.

Meryl bit her lip and looked around. Millie wandered carelessly through the crowd, distinguished by her abnormal height and the sunny colors of her coat and shawl. Meryl's eyes caught a small booth, and she turned in its direction. She smiled dryly.

No...it really couldn't. It couldn't possibly be that simple.

She walked up to the booth and was greeted by a painfully cheery woman. "Can I help ya?"

"Um, yes. I'm Meryl Stryfe of the Bernardelli Insurance Society. I'm looking for someone. You wouldn't be able to remember a certain customer, would you? I think...he may have stopped by here."

"Can't say I will, but you can ask. What's this fella look like?"

"He's..." Meryl thought it over. He'd changed a lot and didn't look as noticeable as he'd looked before. "He's kind of tall, blond, crazy hair...he was probably wearing black with a red jacket. And he's crazy for donuts." He's stupid and he's got those big big blue eyes and I don't even know why I care, why I left that nice little home that we made. "Uh, have you seen him?"

The woman thought for a while, adjusting her apron and turning her attention to some freshly made donuts. Her eyes squinted as if she was thinking very hard. "Yeah. Yeah! I think I know the guy! He came in and bought five double dollars' worth of 'em yesterday. He left that way." She pointed out. "More'n likely that they're heading out there." Her finger trailed the horizon, past the town and the cliff where Legato Bluesummers had died. Meryl felt an ice cold shudder run the length of her. "He bought some fuel and headed out. Must have had a car, so..." her voice trailed off. "Yeah, up there's the best route."

"You wouldn't happen to know how much fuel he got?"

"Ah...enough. A jug about...yeah, this big. I only remember because I figured it'd be hard to carry it since he was walking."

"Okay! Thank you." Meryl nodded politely and walked away, searching Millie out in the crowd. "Well, I think I know where we're going to go."

The tall woman was looking at everything in the square, childish adoration on her face. "Did you find him, Sempai?" she asked.

"I think so. Sort of. They're in some kind of car. We have to check it out. I don't know where they could possibly be, but if...if we take the steamer, I'll bet we can catch up with him, maybe even get ahead."

Millie looked confused and examined her friend as if she was insane. "But then what?"

Meryl's façade was firmly in place when she said, "We sit in the town and wait to hear rumors of destruction, and we go where they lead."

Millie nodded. "Sempai..."

"Yes?"

"Make me a promise, okay?"

Meryl tried to see what her friend was thinking, but Millie's normally expressive eyes showed nothing but concern. "What about, Millie?"

"Promise me you'll tell Mr. Vash when you see him again."

She strongly emphasized the word when. Meryl avoided Millie's gaze. For all the activity around them, this conversation seemed strangely personal, as if no one else heard or cared, as if all the loud sounds had suddenly stopped, leaving the two standing alone. "But—Millie..."

"Promise me, and I'll get on that steamer with you and go wherever you go for as long as it takes. Please promise, Sempai. It hurts when I look at you and Mr. Vash and see that you're both not saying things that you should! Some people...don't get the time to say the things they need to say."

Meryl thought of Wolfwood, and she felt like a rebuked child; ashamed. "I'm sorry, Millie."

Millie still looked on, waiting, her usually tranquil features set into an expression of concern and determination.

"Millie...I..."

"Sempai." Millie crossed her arms.

"I...I do need to—to say some things to him. It's just... Okay Millie. I promise."

By then, Meryl was blushing so hard that it felt like the desert heat had skyrocketed.

Millie hugged her friend spontaneously, a huge grin brightening her face. The momentary look of sadness had passed. "Good! Now let's go get ready to chase Mr. Vash!"

Meryl found herself smiling too.

Millie pulled two cups of pudding out of her jacket, and then two spoons. She handed one to Meryl, who didn't even bother asking where her friend stashed that stuff. Millie opened up her pudding and ate it while they walked, but Meryl waited.

She followed Millie and they made their way through the town. They took a room at the inn there and stayed up through the night, planning their moves, eating pudding, and just talking.

It must have only been hours, but it seemed like days had passed in the tense silence of the car. Vash was just about to do something insane to break the built-up dam of unsaid words, but something about his surroundings kept him from speaking.

The night sky was clear and cast starlight down on them, and three of the moons were visible in the sky. Their conjoined light was an eerie white-blue, and everything it touched looked lifeless. Ahead of them, sand and dust swirled with the brisk wind, snapping against the car. The dunes of sand rose up around them on every side.

The car drove over a big dune and down...down into a recess that swirled with what looked like grey fog. Vash supposed it was just dust touched by the moonlight, but it sure looked awful creepy.

"There," Knives said.

For a moment, the dust obscured everything, but Vash made out the vague outline of something as the dust was blown by the wind.

Something huge and pale rose from the ground. Jagged peaks jutted from it and scraped the sky. They were white on the outside, but behind them, the worn and unpainted metal was blacker than night. Large letters contrasted against the pale color. Though barely visible, they were still there.

SEEDs.

"This is my home, brother."

Author's Notes: Sorry this one was short. I'll have my next chapter up very soon and it will have some very interesting things happening in it. This chapter is just a short one to show where the characters are. A calm before the storm, I suppose. The next one should start things rolling to the conclusion. Please review, and thank you for reading! (Pushes review button close to reader.)