And I should have woken up to the sounds of that peaceful quiet town, and the emptiness of my partner's bed, but I didn't.

It was pitch black when my arm was twisted so hard I screamed. A hand was already covering my mouth.

"Nick. We've got to go. Be quiet."

Vash. Vash was still here.

He got off me and I rolled onto the floor soundlessly. "Our stuff?" I murmured.

"No time. Go."

I crept along the floor, my eyes adjusting to the dark. I could see Vash's form, the streetlamp's light filtering through the shades, and underneath the door…

Shoes appeared under our door. Came back. Stopped.

Vash pushed me in the direction of the open closet. He carefully took a squatting step back and leveled the barrel.

The door opened slowly. The sliver of light carefully placed where someone lying on the beds wouldn't see it. An impossibly long barrel poked through the door, and leveled itself out. There was the brush of the hand behind the door where I couldn't see. It took me a second to realize that it was skin against wallpaper, and that the gunman was looking for the light switch…

The light flicked on, and it all happened at once.

I knew that the first shot was Vash's, the one that shattered the light bulb with a commonplace pop. The rest I can't be sure of. I saw shadows rolling, I heard grunts, half screams, I heard punches thrown and punches connected but with only the slim light of the hallway, I couldn't really tell what was going on, and I wasn't sure I would want to.

The struggling tapered off and I heard Vash whisper, "Nick?"

"I'm here." I said, starting to move towards him.

"No! Wait..." Vash told me. There were sounds of a struggle

"Can I at least turn on a light?" I asked.

"Not unless you want them to know we got him." Vash said as whoever's body it was hit the floor with a sigh.

I pulled my priest's cloak off of the hanger and slipped it on. "How much time do we have?"

"A few minutes." Vash said, as the door opened a little more. "Maybe less."

I followed him outside, not really looking.

In the light outside, I realized his shirt had gotten torn in the struggle. One shoulder, huge and magnificently scarred poked out of the brown sweatshirt. I gave into my urge to touch it,.

Vash jumped and turned towards me, looking startled and depressed.

"You really do have all those scars, don't you?" I asked.

His eyes blanched. "What?"

"The scars and that mechanical arm," I said, simply.

"How did you know?"

"Long story, just keep an eye out f-"

"Nick, how did you know about my scars?" Vash asked, clearly starting to panic, "I never told you. I made sure never to tell you, or show you or…"

"Keep it down, will you?"

From the other end of the hall, someone started shooting at us, Vash returned first, and suddenly we were in the emergency exit staircase, with nowhere to go but down.

"Nick, tell me."

"Now? Focus on keeping us alive!"

"Nick! This is important!"

Above us, the gunman squeezed off a shot, and Vash returned fire.

"What does it matter? It not like you're going to hang around long enough to understand why, just run off like usual."

"If you knew why, you'd understand."

"If you TOLD me, I'd know!"

More gunfire, and Vash all but threw me out of the door onto the street. Empty, so he took the time to reload.

"Nick, we don't have time, tell me!"

"You want to know? You want to know about my dreams? The dreams I've had all my life and have never been able to confess to anyone, not even the father? I had them before I ever met you! I dreamed of a chain-smoking man in a black suit. He tells me things I couldn't possibly know, he tells me what I most want to do is right… and I think he's been helping me find you ever since I left December… And he looks like Nicolas D Wolfwood."

Vash stared.

"He does! Even before I found that photograph, even before I knew what he looked like, it was him! He's always been in my mind, even when I was young, telling me I had to leave the priesthood, because something was out there waiting for me. When you left he kept telling me to follow you. When I was stuck in NeoSky, he started showed me what you two were to each other, why you're still looking for him even now. You made me feel like a bastard for wanting to touch you, when that was once my reason for living, for existing…" I wasn't sure what was coming out of my mouth now, "… the reason for throwing myself in the hands of death, because I thought one last time you could snatch me from the ashes, and like a BASTARD you left me in December to rot!"

"Nick… Nick, shh…" Vash said, pressing his forehead against mine. I calmed down by degrees.

I could hear many boots running off in the near distance. I wondered if I could manage to kiss him again before we were shot to ribbons.

"All I can think of is how won't even trust me with something as trivial as this…" My hand clamped on his exposed shoulder, right over a large scar. His skin was painfully warm. "…when you know exactly what I am."

"You're serious… " Vash looked completely thunderstruck.

"Do you think I'd go on this wild goose chase if I didn't have anything more than a weird picture to connect us? I've tried to tell you so many times… why wouldn't you help me try and understand?"

Vash quietly got to his feet, took out the guy above us, and grabbed me, pulling me to my feet. He wrapped me up with the warmest hug I had ever been given. Then we calmly walked to the car, me still wrapped up in his arms, being shielded by his body, him casually picking off snipers as we walked along. He only let me go after we reached the street.

"Start the car." He said, "We've got to get as far away from…."

The car sputtered to life as he trailed off. I looked over at him. He was staring off at the horizon.

I followed his eyes, and saw four men standing at the other end of the street. Hands on their guns. I saw Sen right away, and I could see the family resemblance in the other two. Nim was the last to get there, easily walking up and taking his place in the line.

This was it. This is where they would kill me. I supposed I could take some consolation in the fact that Vash finally believed me now. I tried to do just that and just came up bitter and longing.

Vash moved closer to the car, keeping his eyes trained on his four nephews while he did.

"Nick..."

"Vash, it's all right. I deserved it, I'll give myself up. You don't have to-"

"Nick, listen to me. Have you ever heard of a little village named Felicity?"

"Vash what does…" but I thought about it. "Yeah. Yeah, I do. It's a hundred iles outside of December's city limits."

"Down by Felicity, there's a large property out in the desert. It's about 50 iles from the town, and it looks like eight or nine houses stuck together. It's all tied in with a large wrap-around porch. Do you think you could find that property?"

"I could. Why?"

Vash reached into one of the bags we had left in the car. He pulled out a cache of Ammo I thought I had kept well hidden. "If I don't find you by tomorrow, go to that property and wait for me. Don't stop for anything; don't stay anywhere longer than you should. Do you understand?"

I nodded.

"Then go Nick."

I blinked, uncertain.

"It's all right. Go. I'll take care of this."

I leaned over the passenger seat, to get close enough to whisper to him desperately. "Vash… Vash, you can't think you can…"

His hand fell over mine, calm. But I could see panic, fear and desperation in his eyes, bleaching them out. "Please don't make me yell. They'll understand what's going on if I yell, and then it'll be ten times harder to get you out alive. Please, Nick."

My sight started to waver with the tears filling up my eyes. "Vash…"

He leaned in and kissed me gently and sweetly. I could hear someone gasp down the street, but I wasn't sure if it was the crowd who had gathered or Vash's family.

I pulled back, shifted gears, and floored it.

For a moment I saw Vash as he receded behind me, standing in the middle of the street, innocent in his torn night clothes, holding the gun that could work miracles, wearing a face so pained that could make the devil himself weep.

Then I felt, not heard, the explosion that followed in my wake. The tidal wave of gunshots, the screaming, the metal against metal and the overwhelming destruction. I got down as close to the floor of the car as I could and floored it.

I was very proud of myself later. When I saw the town consumed with a horrible and inhuman light in the rearview mirror, I kept driving.