Shattered Promises

Disclaimer/Notes: I don't own Trigun, or any of the totally awesome characters therein, but... Hmm... (plots evilly) I'll get back to you all on that. Anyway, this story's outline is sort of expanding as I take new things into account, and I think I'm going to make what was going to be one chapter into two for reasons of length. This may end up being longer than I thought! My deepest, heartfelt appreciation to all my reviewers, Sugar Pill, SiNicaLLY diSTuRbEd, Igbogal, Redcliff, Syody, Chibimonkey 13, Alythia, Sunoko, Camerine, ssjjvash and Pyromoogle. Thank you to everyone who's kept reading this! Your reviews have kept me going even when I wasn't sure I should. And now, without further ado...

Pain ripped through him with each movement, and blood dripped from the wound with the exertion of using his abilities. Vash stood shakily with his feet each a few feels apart, skin specked with sweat. His single wing curled over the front of his shuddering body almost instinctively as Knives released another fusillade of blades. The soft feathers cradled him, keeping him upright. They were stronger than they felt, or maybe it was something else, but they blocked Knives' attacks.

"Knives," Vash said, but his voice was not loud enough to be heard.

'We don't have to do this,' he continued.

'I do, Vash. Don't make me kill you; stop this now. You have two choices. You don't have to die.'

Vash bit his lip and tried to stay upright. His world swung madly in and out of focus. He had long since stopped feeling the warmth of the blood as it slowly etched a trail to its resting place on the floor. He couldn't let Knives win. He wouldn't be put in one of those chambers.

Now...Vash fought off impending blackness. Now was not the time to be weak.

Rem, what should I do?

But her voice was gone, and her wisdom echoed mockingly in his mind.

Take care of Knives.

No one has the right to take the life of another.

But what if he had to ignore one to make sure that the other was fulfilled? She'd told him to take care of Knives, but he could no longer do that. She said that lives were sacred. If he allowed Knives to capture him and put him in a cold sleep chamber, then Knives would no longer have anything to keep him from creating the Eden he'd always dreamed of. By allowing himself to be taken, he'd seal the human race's fate. He couldn't do that.

A jarring shock pulsed through him as the wing cradled Vash's injured body from yet another attack, one much stronger than the last. A phantom pain and weakness rolled through him, but it was gone before his mind had time to register its existence. Vash looked down to the flawless white of the feathers, only to see it tarnished by bright red smears of his blood. Like scarlet dewdrops, it rolled down off of the feathers and dotted the dull floor.

For a single moment, he allowed his eyes to close. Images filled the tingling, black void. Wolfwood, Millie, Meryl...memories of the beautiful expanse of sky and trees and flowers in the SEEDs ship Rec Room. He wondered if it was really possible to make this dusty desert into such a breathtaking paradise. Vash opened his eyes. He'd never know if he didn't live to try. And he would try. He'd try for Rem and for Mary, for Joey...and even Steve. He'd try for Wolfwood, and for all the people who could not be here now.

"Rem...I'm sorry. I...can't let him do this. I have to make my own choice now."

The wing curled away from his body and spread out behind him. Vash stumbled when its support had left him, but he kept standing. "If that's what it takes, I'll fight you again, Knives." I won't...I can't kill you. I might be able to stop you, though.

Knives shook his head, and a tinge of concern crossed his face as his eyes swept over the stained coat and the blood streaked across white feathers. His view met the floor and narrowed, moving over the generous spattering of scarlet. "I have more control over my abilities, and more experience with the things I can do and the lines I cannot cross. If you fight me, you're going to die, brother."

Vash smiled, but it was twisted with pain, sharp against his pale features. "I don't plan on dying."

"Neither do I," Knives said.

"A little town called Jastin," Meryl said, examining the map as if Vash's location was slashed somewhere on it.

"Hmm?" Millie turned around in her seat and looked at her friend, whose short upper body was completely enveloped in the map. Only a few black cowlicks were visible over the paper.

Meryl dropped it to her lap and pointed to a small slash that marked their destination. "Jastin. It's where we'll stop. It shouldn't be too much longer now."

Millie looked at where Meryl's finger stabbed, and then glanced up at the unusually disheveled woman beside her. Meryl, Millie had learned,was a woman guided by rules and traditions.

She always woke up with the twin suns and took a shower before brushing her hair and getting dressed. However, Meryl had ignored all but the former this morning. She'd taken a quick shower, but the Derringer-laden cape was no longer on her shoulders. The black bow around the neck of her plain white shirt had long since come untied, and was now wrapped around her shoulders in a sort of accidental scarf. Where her black hair was usually combed in a careful swirl around her head, the thin strands now framed her face in a more feminine slope. Her smoky violet eyes were bright but rimmed with dark circles from lack of sleep.

Millie wasn't sure if her sudden change was a result of finally loosening up, or the forgetfulness caused by lack of sleep. Probably the latter. Millie watched as Meryl nervously tapped her fingers on the map.

"Are you worried about him, Sempai?"

Meryl looked up, a blush creeping across her features. "Why should I be?" she asked defensively. "He always does fine! He..." Her voice trailed off, the defensive tone suddenly gone. Maybe it was because she hadn't slept much in so long, but she continued silently. She leaned her tired eyes against stiff palms and rubbed at her face in slow circles. Her words were muffled by her hands. "Why do I feel like something is horribly wrong, then, Millie?"

Millie reached forward impulsively and wrapped her arms around her friend. "He's always okay, Sempai. He's even more determined than you are sometimes! He'll be fine."

Meryl nodded as Millie withdrew. "I'm sorry to drag you into this. I...I guess it's nice, though. This isn't just following him, Millie. I've made my choice now. You know...if you don't want to, you can stay behind. The 'Steamer ends up in December, I think."

Millie smiled. Go, and miss seeing you and Mr. Vash? "I want to stay and look with you, Meryl. Don't you worry about anything! Mr. Vash will be okay."

Meryl's tense posture loosened and she offered a smile to her friend.. "Thanks."

But Millie felt the same thing, like an ice cold feeling growing inside of her. Something wasn't right.

Meryl leaned forward onto the map and chewed absently at a fingernail, humming softly to herself. Her thoughts were now concentrated completely on the yellowed sheet of paper. Millie smiled softly and excused herself to the restrooms outside of the sleeping cabins. She closed herself in the stall and sat in the darkness, not bothering to turn the light on. She took the cross cuff link from her wrist and looked at it. Worry tugged at her half-hearted smile. She didn't want to be this way in front of Meryl, because her friend was already worried enough.

She was just...so scared. Since Mr. Priest was gone, Millie had hoped that one day she'd be able to see Meryl finally admit her feelings to Vash. Everyone but the two of them, silly as they were, could see the truth. She'd just...she'd hoped that maybe Meryl could be happy.

It hurt so much to think that Meryl might not even get the chance. Millie bowed her head in the darkness and prayed. She would be strong for Sempai.

A sudden jerk sent Millie tumbling to the floor, and the captain's voice echoed from voice tubes all over the ship, permeating her fuzzy consciousness and making her painfully aware if the whistling winds beating against the Sandsteamer's hull. "We're sorry for the momentary turbulence. Due to the violence of the sandstorm we're facing, we are going to take a safer detour to our destination. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause."

Millie stood to her feet and pressed the heel of her hand against her forehead where it had hit against the door. It felt like it would leave a bruise, but nothing worse. She set her face in a smile and walked back to the room.

Though the storm had nearly passed the SEEDs ship, it wasn't willing to leave without wreaking some damage. The winds lashed at the hull with hostile intent, but their intensity paled compared to the tension inside of the ship.

Come on, Knives... Come on. Vash leaned against the counter nearest to the cold sleep chamber, hoping that his brother would hesitate before risking its destruction. With trembling hands, he quickly lifted the soaked red cloth away from his wound. This wouldn't do. Any longer and he would not be able to fight. Vash borrowed a strip from his tattered coat and folded it against his side. If he was going to make it through this, he needed an opening. If Knives would open up for just a moment, or if Vash could catch him off guard, he could pin him.

With what weapon, though? Vash didn't know how to use his abilities like Knives did. He wasn't sure he wanted to. What if he did something that he couldn't stop?

July.

Augusta.

He could not use these abilities that he did not understand...

Checkmate.

'This power isn't a gift, Knives. It's a curse!'

'And that, dear brother, is why you'll never use it properly.'

Vash almost laughed. Properly?

Whatever weapon Vash used, he knew he didn't have too much time. Sighing and leaning against the back of the counter, he listened to Knives' approaching footsteps and the soft scrape of the blades as both sounds joined the desolate cry of the wind. The silence was broken by the whistle of an approaching attack as three huge blades nearly split the table. Vash spun around immediately, his uncertain balance cradled and his body protected by the mass of feathers that spread over him. Knives had not bothered to release these blades, and they withdrew into him again as he navigated his way around the fallen glass and tables.

Vash looked around for some place to run, but there was nowhere he could get to in time. His vision lurched, fading to a hazy blackness, and he only stumbled when he tried to move. If only he had his gun. Or any gun. If only...

"I'm sorry, Vash." Knives curled his arm back and looked at the crescent-shaped Angel Blades. Even through his faded vision, Vash saw the blades lengthen. Knives drew his fist in and closed his eyes, readying himself. Before Vash could think or even react, Knives swung his arm wide, releasing the blades. Vash couldn't tell how many there were. Six, seven? More?

They were big enough that Vash's single wing would not be able to stop them. This attack would kill him.

Remembered promises echoed through his mind and a thousand memories filled the split second in which he was able to think, stretching time out to eternity.

The grass was the most vivid and beautiful emerald the brothers had ever seen. The trees wafted a soft breeze over them, and flowers peeked from the brilliant sheet of green beneath them. Both boys watched as the long fingers of the tree reached down, tickling their upturned faces. The first boy laughed and looked back down, across the breathing expanse of color. Far away, a woman watched them. She smiled and waved when the boy caught her eye. He smiled back.

Both brothers leaned back onto the trunk. Swirling shadows crossed over their faces.

This was their first time in what Rem called the Rec Room.

The other boy's voice rose above the breeze. Face still turned toward the sky, he murmured matter-of-factly, "Rem says it's called a Weeping Willow."

"Why does it weep, Knives?" the other boy asked.

The twin with the cool blue eyes looked around at all the other trees. There were big ones with small leaves and little ones with fat leaves, and some baby ones that had just begun to grow. He saw no more Weeping Willows. "Maybe it's because it's alone, because it's the only one of its kind," he observed.

The other twin sighed. "That's so horrible. I hope I'm not alone. Do you think I will be, one day?"

The second brother looked over at Vash. He gently reached up and caressed the outstretched fingers of green. "No. Even if everyone else goes away, I won't leave. Brothers stay together. Brothers help each other. I won't leave you, Vash."

"You promise?" The turquoise-eyed twin asked, smiling.

"I promise, Vash. I promise."

Two hands joined together and two twin smiles floated with soft laughter upon the breeze. Eden had never been so close than in that moment.

Millie and Meryl screamed as the lights in the 'Steamer flickered out. The great behemoth shuddered as the speed seemed to spike upward and then drop drastically. Both girls were thrown from their seats onto the floor. When the lights came back on, they were vague yellow, and shaded through cages. Emergency lights. Millie and Meryl stayed on the floor, both holding tightly to the nearest stationary objects. Passengers who had been thrown from their beds cried out in fear, and voices in the halls screamed frantic questions.

Millie and Meryl stood to their feet even though the 'Steamer continued to rock. They made it to the door and opened it. Engineers raced past, stopping only for a moment to calm the people all around them. "There's been a large electrical disturbance. We're having...problems maintaining the Plants."

But the fear in his voice made it clear to Meryl that this was more than just a routine problem.

In a few moments, the Sandsteamer stopped completely, grating to a slow and jerking halt. Millie and Meryl raced to the observation deck and stared in shock at a rising cloud of sand about ten iles to their left. One of the engineers was standing there, too, staring out. He was young, probably in his early twenties. He had a look of numb awe on his face.

"What happened?" Meryl asked. Though the wind from the storm had begun to abate, it was still strong enough to make her hunch for fear of being thrown across the deck. She grabbed the railing and turned squinted eyes to the young man beside her. "Another man said there was a problem with the Plants. Do you know...what caused it?"

The engineer shook his head. "We don't know. There was some kind of explosion over there, and then...some kind of energy surge, I suppose. The Plants are all going haywire in there. It's...amazing. And frightening."

Millie looked over to Meryl, and both of their gazes wandered to the rising cloud of dust.

Millie whispered, "You think it could be...?"

Meryl nodded. "Who else can make such a ruckus?" She turned her attention to the engineer. "I don't suppose you could tell us how far it is to Jastin."

The boy looked up and pointed his finger along the horizon to the right, away from the blast. "I think it's about ten iles that way."

Meryl nodded and thanked the man. She ran back into the 'Steamer and grabbed her little suitcase.

"Where are we going, Sempai?"

"We're going to go to Jastin. We can probably ask someone in the caravan to give us a ride, but I can't think of anyone stupid enough to drive us right to where the explosion was. We need some kind of transportation of our own. We need to be prepared. There's no time to waste, though. Let's go."

In one moment, Vash was sure that he was going to die. He couldn't move, and there was no way to deflect the blades. In the next, he didn't know what had happened. He didn't know what he'd done, or how. The only thing he was aware of was that he had survived. He was alive.

How?

He was on the floor. It was...cold. Or was that just him? Vash let his eyes focus, and he scanned the room. He was shocked by what he saw. The ship's hull had been split open, its insides bared to the elements through large, jagged holes peppered across the walls and ceiling of the room. Some dragged the whole length of the wall while other holes were smaller, cleaner.

What had happened? Had he done this?

"Knives!"

Where was Knives?

Vash grabbed at the slick wall to lift himself up, but he just slid back down as his own blood met the slippery metal. His voice was not a cry, but more of a whisper. "Knives!" he said again, louder. 'Why am I alive? What have I done?'

Silence.

'You've seen only the beginning of your potential, brother. But it's...amazing.'

A pile of rubble and scattered equipment off to his left shifted, and Knives stood up out of it. He was dirty and his body was specked with cuts, but he was fine...

Thank God... Vash sighed before he could rationalize that thought.

Calmer now, Vash didn't see a reason to stand, so he stopped trying.

"You see what you've done? You used only the bare minimum of your abilities here, but in a way I've not yet achieved. That was pure energy, Vash, with which you deflected that attack. I was almost sure that you wouldn't be able to handle something like that so soon. Using too much unchecked energy can be dangerous, you know. You need to watch yourself. It was a selfish dream, I suppose, but I was hoping that I'd be able to see you skim the surface of your huge potential one day. I'm honored to be the one to have brought it out of you." Knives' lips curved into a smile. Vash looked at his face and tried to determine the emotions he saw there. Was that pride? Something else?

It didn't matter...

The shrill screaming of an alarm transmitted shakily across the room, and the lights shifted colors until they were a deep scarlet. The sirens blared mockingly, but their sound was all but lost in the deafening scrape of metal on metal as a section of the ceiling fell over by the sleep chamber.

A mechanized female voice was issuing a warning, but Vash couldn't make out the words.

When the dust had settled and the sound of metal was not so all-encompassing, Vash could hear the insistent alert.

"Instability warning. Evacuate room 2-D now. Instability warning..."

Knives' eyes went wide, and he ran on top of the pile he'd been standing next to. In the bloody scarlet glow, he stared at the ceiling, where jagged bits of obscured grey light from outside penetrated the red lights' illumination. The hole seemed to widen with each moment and with each metal groan. Knives glanced back at Vash. 'It's going to fall, brother!'

The ceiling above them was unstable, about to collapse. Knives looked to Vash and then to the door, and Vash held his gaze for a moment. Knives was so close to a possible exit. Why didn't he leave? "Go, Knives!"

Then he remembered. But was it his own memory he was seeing, or his brother's? ...I won't leave. Brothers stay together. Brothers help each other. I won't leave you, Vash.

It was so sad that a promise made with such truth could be so rudely refuted. His hazy mind wandered. Had it been his fault, or Knives'? Could he have helped his brother if he hadn't distanced himself from him so much?

"Knives, get out of here!" Vash screamed impatiently. "You want to drag me out there just to fight me again? Go!"

"You idiot!" Knives cast a burning glance at Vash and then ran. He disappeared into the grey haze outside just as the section above him crashed down in front of that exit. Vash smiled softly in the draining glow of the lights. He stood slowly and navigated his way along the wall. Dust and sand permeated the light in the nearest hole, but the light was slowly being swallowed up.

There was not much time now. This room was like a precarious stack of cards. One feather touch and it would fall. Pieces of the gutted ceiling fell around him, revealing larger and larger chunks of glaring sky. Just a few more moments before everything in this room collapsed...

He needed to get out.

Author's Notes: (Evil laugh) Sorry about that cliffhanger...again. Sorry about taking so long to update! I really had a lot to think about while writing this chapter, and I was kept off of the computer because my grandma came over. She was here for several days, and needless to say I wasn't able to get on much. We've also been kept off of the computer by some thunderstorms. Anyway, thanks for being patient! Please, pretty please review! I'll kiss your feet and give you chocolate and love you forever! Remember...if you find anything wrong, don't hesitate to call me on it.