Yup. I'm back.

I appologize for the massive time lapse. Once again I've gotten too involved in other projects (Three Part Harmony at "melvinawright (dot) deviantart (dot) com" for one...) and things kind of lagged.

But after recieving a recent review, I logged back into and realized how dire the need to finish this is.

BTW, a very belated thanks to: Arigatomina, Closet-Monster, dk-joy, Ed Chandor, Kira666, La Rhapsodia, Ookami Jinx, Rhosyn Du, Sockpuppet-of-love, tatsumaki, the way out is, Titan of Saturn AND Tongari0104721... not to mention everyone who has read the fic so far, and all the lovely reviewers.

/-Lio pauses for a moment, gasping for air-/

OK, so here's how things are going to work.

'Running Down' has one more chapter after this. That chapter will be posted next Tuesday, March 14th. The next volume is 'Seeking Felicity', and the first chapter from that will be posted the 21st. The rest of the series will be finished in the same way.

Come back. Tell a friend.

And keep faving and commenting, my heart soars everytime you do.

And without further ado...

I heard shouting behind me, as I marched past the blockade, which was just a ring of parked cars loosely surrounding the city, but I paid them no mind, walking like a man on a mission. I knew no one in their right mind was going to come in after me.

No one in their right mind.

As I got into the city, it was as quiet as a grave. Market stalls were still set up for business, the doors to the banks and businesses and buildings were still wide open. Car doors were open, People had certainly left in a hurry.

Smoke and Debris hung increasingly heavy in the air as I kept going. Out of necessity, I removed my collar to use as a crude mask. My eyes burned with my lungs, but I kept going. I had set out to come here and I swore I was going to finish it.

First things first. Find out where Vash went. He had been staying at an inn in town, so if it was still standing, that would be the best place to find clues as to where he had gone, right? Unfortunately, it wasn't like I could ask one of the locals, was it? Well, the phone booths were still standing, maybe I could get an address out of a phone book. I made my way over to a nearby booth. Now what was the name of the place? Kuroneko?

Something large smashed the phone booth I was inches away from, throwing it several yards away from me. Even through the smoke I could see it was a sign. A metal sign. The Black Cat Inn.

Yeah, that was it.

Well, fuck that theory straight to hell.

I heard something coming at me, screaming like an electric drill. I expected to see some sort of flying smart bomb headed for me. Instead I saw, faintly in the dusty artificial twilight, a blob of yellow and dark red as it flew past me, squealing like a little girl.

"Is that…" I muttered.

I don't know how he could have heard me, the way he was running, but peeking over his shoulders, his eyes bugged out to inhuman proportions, and he slammed his feet into the ground so hard, he made skid marks deep enough to be a kiddy pool.

"NICK!" he screamed, "What are you doing here?"

Even with my heart spinning, warm and happy in my chest, I wasn't going to let an insult slide. "What do you MEAN what am I doing here? YOU'RE the one who's destroying the…"

The overpowering groan of metal being torn apart by metal, made me slowly look over my shoulder. An enormous leg, six stories high appeared in sight poking out of the cloud of debris. The sound it made, as the metal foot landed on the ground felt like an earthquake.

Oh shit…

"GAHH!" I ran towards Vash, then past him, hearing and feeling the metal and moving earth coming up on me. "MONSTER!"

"What are you DOING here?" He had caught up with me easily, and I was starting to see him more clearly as we got away from the center of the town.

"Never mind that! What the hell is that thing?"

He grabbed me by the arm, forcing us both down a series of dark alleyways. "Two Tons the Lawless. He's a local gangster... GAH!" this after barely dodging a falling piece of masonry, "I beat him in the local quick draw tournament they have here, so he's kind of upset."

"You THINK?" I asked, jumping over a tipped trashcan, "What is he trying to do, kill you?"

He managed to looked sheepish, his hand finding the back of his neck even when he was running, "Well, that usually is the way these things work…"

"You're serious? Over a tournament! What is with that guy?"

Vash looked at me like I was a moron. "You've lead a pretty sheltered life, haven't you? Guys of this kind always want payback if they think you've taken something away from their tough guy image, it just comes with the territory!"

"How would you know? How long have you been living like this?"

"As long as I can remember. Vash the Stampede, remember? … hmm…" He led me down one more alleyway and forced us both to a stop. I tried to catch my breath, my sides were pounding and my lungs were about to explode.

He had a point. The legends of Vash the Stampede when back as far as colonist times. Even if he had been born with a gun in his hand, it still made him centuries old. Had people always been like this to him? And I thought the monotony of the church was starting to get to me. There was no way this guy was ever going to escape being chased down. Poor bastard.

"You got a plan… to get out of this?" I gasped.

"Not really. I was planning on waiting until he wore himself down. But he's been destroying so many buildings; I'm going to have to find a way to stop him soon."

"Bring down a guy that size yourself?"

He smiled, "Well, there's no harm it trying."

"Didn't just letting the guy win enter your empty skull during the tournament?"

"He wasn't this big at the tournament. He's wearing a suit of arms and legs. If I can find how to take out his power source for the suit he'll be helpless."

The sound of pounding and screeching metal was coming closer.

"This would be a lot easier if I just had a gun." He said, quietly listening, "I'm starting to think I really shouldn't have put my old one down."

"What, you need a gun? Here." Pinching it by the handle, I pulled the gun from my bag.

As he took it, he seemed surprised. "Where did you get this?"

"Don't ask. It's loaded at least, isn't it?"

He kept looking at me, but finally checked and nodded.

"We can count that as a blessing, then. Anything else?"

He was still looking at me, still trying to see something in me that I didn't know if I had. But he finally smiled, "We're going to need a decoy. If he gets drawn out where we can actually see him, we could get a clean shot."

"All right then, I'm your man." Zipping it closed, I slung the strap of my bag across my chest, so I could run with it.

Vash looked shocked. "I meant me!" he protested.

"What am I going to do, shoot him? I've never fired a gun in my life! Why is everyone I meet lately giving me guns? I'm a priest for crying out loud! Doesn't that mean anything to anyone anymore?"

"Oh… Sorry. I guess I just… forgot there for a second."

A huge footstep slammed down close by, too close for comfort. We started running together.

"Where am I going?"

"He's on the Main road right now. As soon as you get his attention, just start running towards the light. Try not to go out of the city walls."

"But you'll get him before I reach them, right?"

"I'm going to try." Vash said.

"If that isn't a confidence builder, I don't know what is."

"You're the one whose trade is faith."

I heard a foot slam into the ground yards away and I tensed, getting ready to run. I felt Vash tense beside me. "God helps those who help themselves." I whispered to no one.

The next foot fell. "GO!"

The light was straight ahead of me, the darkness behind. I ran like a man possessed. Behind me I heard the earth shattering footsteps speed up, chasing me. C'mon Vash, shoot already. I started coughing and sputtering as I hit mostly clean air again, my feet tripping as I tried to breathe normally again.

The first gun shot sounded like a hallelujah, even if the chorus that followed it was the sound of metal ricocheting off metal. The second bullet seemed to find mark in something, but the footsteps still kept coming. Dammit Vash! Take the guy down, aim for the head, something. I'm running out of street!

I had too much faith in Vash. I must have. It's the only explanation for why I turned around to see if Two Tons was still following me. I briefly saw the huge gauntlet of a fist headed for me before night came suddenly and hard.

As I woke up, I realized I was having trouble breathing. The dust, I thought, and then I realized that wasn't the whole of it. I was lying on something. Bent metal.

Vash was screaming.

No. Don't pass out again. Open your eyes. C'mon.

My neck hurt like hell. My back hurt like hell. Everything hurt like hell.

There was glass everywhere.

Get up a little more, a little more. Sit up. That's it.

Damn.

I was lying in the center of a crater where the windshield of a nice new automobile. Well, formerly nice and formerly new. I was lying in a human-sized crater in the middle of it all. The gangster had thrown me into a car.

And I was still alive. It was the closest I had come to a miracle.

I slid off the car's hood and amazed myself by still being able to walk, although hardly with the same ease and enjoyment that I had before. But I wasn't paralyzed, always good. Unbuttoning my priests cloak helped me to breath a bit better.

A familiar scream came from behind the cloud of smoke.

Vash and Two-Tons were on the other side of the town.

He had led him away from me…

Heavenly Father, how was I supposed to get that lunkhead out of this situation? It wasn't like I could just walk into the devils mouth like this.

…but…

But I could always drive…

The years of hotwiring cars before the priesthood came back to me as easily as riding a bike. I got the fastest car I could find and drove into the abyss. It took me longer to find him than I expected, even with the way he was screaming nonstop.

Like a little girl. Moron.

The black smoke did nothing to help my lungs. I was loosing it fast. If I couldn't find him in a few more minutes, we were both dead.

And suddenly there he was, skidding to a stop in front of my headlights. I laid on the horn.

He turned around completely surprised.

Another long blast and he was in the car, fastening his seatbelt.

"Did you… get him?" I asked between hacking coughs, making the U-turn and peeling rubber. There was the sound of heavy footsteps behind us.

"Not yet, but he's not going to last much longer." I felt a concerned hand on my back, warm in more ways than one. "Are you all right?"

I wanted to fall asleep then. It would have felt wonderfully right. Those warm hands, concerned and gentle, wrapped around my aching back, stroking my weeping body back to health. It was all an illusion, though, and one that would send us both into the side of a building if I wasn't careful. "I'm fine!" I spluttered, trying to push him away.

Light was coming back onto the road, and I could see the gates to the city coming up. I parked as carefully as the situation would allow. My adrenaline levels were starting to wane and the pain was ganging up on me fast. I had probably injured something vital. I leaned on the steering wheel, trying to hide the pain. "Can you see him? Is he still coming?"

"Nick, you're hurt."

I would have shaken my head if my damn neck didn't hurt so much.

"Nick, listen to me. Drive out to the blockade. I'm sure there a doctor out there-"

"I'm not going!" Dammit, even my voice box hurt.

The slow thud of the monster boot hit the ground near us. The car shook violently.

"You're going to get yourself killed! Don't you understand that?"

There was a sound like a great foot being dragged and another stomp.

"It took me months to find you. If I leave now I'll never see you again."

Stomp.

"At least you'll be alive!"

The smile came easy, "C'mon Vash. Don't you think I have faith in you? I know you've gotten out of worse situations than this. Just go out there, do the hero thing and bring him down. Then you and I can get to a doctor, together, to see if there's any hope for me."

Drag, Stomp.

"Nick, I've only got one bullet left. If I miss I don't want you to see what I'm going to have to do."

"Well, good thing for me you've got that bullet."

STOMP. Two Tons screamed like a demon as he came to a stop yardz behind the car.

"Now could you go take care of him?" I asked, "He's really starting to give me a headache."

The smile he gave me was a nervous one, but he got out of the car, and moved around to behind the back bumper, facing the gangster.

Thankfully alone, I let myself slump over onto the steering wheel. My hand was shaking as I adjusted the rearview mirror to see what was going on.

Vash mentioned that here they were again, and asked if he still thought this could be a fair challenge. Two Tons gave an answer that was long, insulting and used the phrase 'Vash the Stampede' over nine times. In two minutes. If blinking hadn't hurt, I would have gone out there and shot him myself.

There was long and strange silence when Two tons finally shut up. Then, a volley of machine gun fire screamed through the air. Bullets landed everywhere, shattering the back window, taking chunks out the car left and right. I felt myself get grazed a handful of times, but no new galaxies of pain had erupted on my body so I guessed I was OK. A bullet hole took out the left corner of the rearview, but I could still see most of it. Vash hadn't moved.

Vash said something.

The giant paused, as if trying to figure out if he had really said what he think he had. Then he started laughing. Hard and long. Vash didn't move. I couldn't have moved if I wanted to.

And then the giant began to charge.

All I could do was stare at the reflection in the spider-webbed mirror, angry and scared. Run Vash. Get out of here. I'm dead anyway, leave me! Run, save yourself! Don't just let him kill you!

If I hadn't been staring so hard, I wouldn't have seen it.

Vash fired.

There was a burst of neon light, a sound akin to a car skidding over and over again, and finally, and earth shattering thud as a very large, very unconscious body hit the dirt.

As the dust cleared, I saw Vash. Standing there. Unharmed.

Praise God. Oh praise god.

I closed my eyes for a second, and suddenly someone was slapping my face. "Nick! Nick, please speak to me!"

He looked heroic. He looked beautiful. He looked scared too, but hell if I knew why. We had won, hadn't we? "Hey. Nice job."

"Yeah… yeah, guess so."

"Mmm." I tried to get a hold of the front of his jacket, but my fingers kept slipping. I wasn't going to hold out much longer, I was loosing it. But, oh… what a way to go... "I'll be right back, OK? Don't go anywhere without me." he grabbed onto me as I fell, but darkness was very insistent, and very soothing.

I woke up in a bright, white room, where the pain was dull, but not gone, and I was alone.

Dammit, I had told him not to leave…

"Father Wolfe?" the voice was mature and held a great sense of humor, along with a familiarity to respect.

"Mmm?" I asked.

The bed started moving until I was sitting up. A pretty young nurse with short brown hair, and a grey-haired man who looked more than a little like a shaved monkey were smiling at me. "Well! You're finally awake, I see. How are we doing today?"

"Mmm." I pointed out.

"Still a little groggy, of course. Not surprising, though, considering what you've been through. We almost thought you wouldn't make it, to be quite honest. You were badly dehydrated on top of being seriously injured."

"How…" I tried to say. The pretty young nurse carefully gave me a sip of water. "How long have I…?"

"It's been about 12 days since you got here. We all heard about how you sustained your injuries from the young man who brought you in. I must say, it's a bit exciting to have a celebrity in our little clinic."

I tried to smile kindly and found it hurt on several levels. 12 days. I could almost smell the smoke from my bridges being burnt. There was no way I was going to complete any training for the priesthood now… "Celebrity?"

"The man who took down Two Tons! Don't be so modest!" he said.

"Oh… that." Almost slipped my mind. "It was nothing. Really."

"But it's helped the town so much! The freedom from his iron hand, the town cleared of buildings too worn down to use… we've been meaning to rebuild, but we've never had much incentive…"

"Good for you."

"Well, then, I had been hoping you wouldn't mind, seeing as we had to take our share out of the reward…"

"Share?" just keeping my eyes open was exhausting.

"Oh yes. Most of the repair costs, damage to the car you used, and your hospital bills, of course, just little things like that. Not a significant chunk out of the bounty, but…"

"Bounty?" I asked.

"The $$500,000 bounty that was posted! Wasn't that the reason you came when you heard the town was being destroyed?"

"Something like that…" Damn their stupid reward to hell. I came for Vash, I fought for Vash, what the fuck did I care about money for? And where was that lunkhead while I was lying here?

"Don't worry about a thing, though, you should still have some left. Our town's auditor estimates you should have at least $$10,000 by the time you're back on your feet."

"That sounds about right." I said. Dammit, I don't give a fuck. "Is he still around?"

"Who, Father Wolfe?" the young nurse asked.

"The guy who brought me in? Blonde guy, as tall as I am? Dark red coat?"

They looked at each other, nervous.

"What? Don't you remember him?"

"No," the doctor said, "No, I do believe I remember him. Yes, you're right. He was the one who brought you in. I remember that much."

That didn't sound good. "Well, is he around?"

"He might be. Why?"

"Because, he's an old friend of mine, I'd like to talk to him."

"Well, visiting hours aren't for a while yet. Perhaps he'll come in when those start." He looked at the nurse, and she began busying herself on a nearby table.

"Are you sure you can't pull a few strings? You said yourself I'm the man of the hour." I was trying to look charming, and I was sure I was failing fast.

"I'll see what I can do. But I shouldn't tire you out like this. You still have a lot of recovering to do! You just take it easy, and if he comes in, we'll be sure to wake you up."

"Wake me up?" I asked, like a moron. The pinprick made itself felt immediately, and the blackness came back, happily flooding into me.

I woke up now and then after that. Each time it was a different time of day or night. The pretty nurse fed me sometimes, and always gave me a drink of water. The needle came again and again and after a while I began to worry if the stuff was addictive.

And then I woke up one night, and Vash was sitting next to me in one of the hospital chairs.

I found I could move enough to hug him, and I was delighted. "Where the hell have you been, you idiot?"

He spoke quietly, like he was afraid of waking someone up. "Sorry, I've been busy."

"You bastard," I said, holding him tighter and tighter.

"I missed you too Nick."

I was getting annoyed that he wasn't hugging me back. I didn't know why until I looked down.

".. I thought something was wrong with this picture."

"One of the worst parts about being Vash the Stampede is that people find out. And when they find out, they usually panic." Even the jingle the handcuffs made was sheepish.

"Maybe if you hadn't registered as the Stampede, this wouldn't have happened."

"I'll remember that for next time." He said.

"Just how often does this kind of thing happen?"

"More often than you'd think."

"You poor bastard."

"Maybe. But what else am I going to do? Stop living?" he looked at his boots. "That's just not an option for me."

The kiss was easy, even if I couldn't find his lips in the dark.

He pulled away as I leaned in again. "Nick, that vow of celibacy you took should make you think twice about groping handcuffed outlaws in strange hospitals."

"You must be talking about…" I looked up at the clock, "…the vow I should have been taking right now, aren't you?"

"You… haven't completed your training for the priesthood?" He seemed… scared.

"Not yet, no."

"Why not?"

"Because it was a choice of staying with the parish, or going on a wild goose chase after you." I said, "And here I am."

"You shouldn't have done that."

"That's what I kept telling myself the whole way here. But as soon as I arrived, I knew it was the right thing. Actually, I had more fun than I should admit to."

His smile was infectious. I put a hand behind his head to pull him towards me, but he refused to go anywhere. "They're watching."

"Do you think I care?"

"Just hold on for a while, OK? I don't want you having to answer any weird questions."

"Hey, if that's a promise you'll keep when we get out of here, the wait will be worth it."

"Huh?"

"I am going to be leaving here with you, right?"

"I'm kinda still working on that…"

"What!" I shouted, "Don't tell me you're going to ditch me again!"

"Hey, keep it down, will you! They'll send me back early if they think I'm getting you riled up." He said mournful chibi face perfectly in place.

I heard myself growl as I sat back on the bed, "I'm never going to understand what's going on in that empty noggin of yours… telling me now that you're still working on it…" I was going to keep going but I realized his face had gone completely white. "…wha?"

"Nothing…it sounded like you said something else…"

"What do you think I said, exactly?"

He held up his cuffed hands defensively. "Nothing bad, promise! I just… forgot."

"I notice you've been forgetting a lot lately."

"Huh?"

"Just before I ran out to distract Two Tons… you said you forgot for a second. What do you keep forgetting?"

He looked down at his boots. "You'll think I'm insulting you. I'm not, really."

"You don't know until you ask, do you?"

He bit his lip, something that I had thought incredibly contrived until this very moment. "You keep reminding me of him…."

"Wolfwood?"

"Yeah…" the smile was a wistful one. "You can't even begin to know how much."

"What was he like?" I asked, adding, "Besides handsome as hell, I mean."

"You've already got a lot on your mind, I don't want to add to it."

Shrugging, I leaned back on the bed. The sheets were itchy, and the ceiling was cracked. Wonder why I hadn't noticed it before. "All right. If you don't want to talk about it, you don't want to talk about it."

He closed his eyes, as if lifting an impossibly heavy weight. "I met him years ago, on a bus that was coming here. His bike had broken down, and he was passed out, dehydrated. I was the first one to see him, and the bus went out of its way to pick him up. By the time we had stopped for a break, I had felt like I had known him all my life…"

And then, just like well rehearsed villains, the cops came back to collect him.

Vash had told me that he'd see me later, and I got angry, I remember that much. There was a fist and the needle again, and then I didn't remember much at all.

Next: Playing Doctor the HARD way.