Disclaimer- I don't own Trigun or any of its characters.

Chapter 2: Rem's Choice

When Vash woke up, his arms were around Meryl's thin waist like the anchor against his problems as she was in life. Vash sat up and stared at her bloody shirt. He got up and fumbled through Meryl's pink suitcase and pulled out her long white t-shirt, the one she slept in. He breathed in the fabric, trying to remember her scent.

After changing her, Vash cleaned her wound and bandaged it. He called for one of the hotel maids so she could change the sheets. From sleeping next to her, some of Meryl's blood seeped into Vash's clothes. He changed into a plain white shirt and tan pants. Vash spent the rest of the day crying lightly and brooding. 'I should have let her come with me. She wouldn't have been out to look for me if I had taken her along.'

Knives tried unsuccessfully to bring Vash out of his room. He sighed. 'I'll wait for Vash's friends to come help,' he thought.

While waiting for Wolfwood and Millie to arrive, Vash fell into a restless sleep, waking up every hour to a nightmare and each time forgetting Meryl was dead before seeing her body lying on the now clean sheets. Soon enough, Vash fell into a deep sleep.

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(Vash's dream)

"Rem? Rem? What can I do? Meryl's dead. She left me alone," Vash told a black-haired figure in the distance. Red geranium petals blew around the two.

"Oh, Vash. You will never be alone. She'll always be there with you. You have your other friends, too. You have me," Rem replied.

"I love you, Rem. You're like a mother to me, only that. Meryl was different. I want to see her again so much!" Tears fell from his eyes.

"Vash..." she whispered.

"What can I do, now, Rem?"

"I can help you," she said simply. "I can give her a choice."

"How will she choose?" Vash asked, truly curious.

"I can bring her to life for just enough time for her to decide."

"What choice does she have?" Vash questioned, desperate for anything.

"She is between life and death. She isn't alive, but she has not yet reached heaven. I can bring her back to give her the choice of life or paradise."

"Let her live! Please! That's what she would choose! I know it! She loves me!"

"I know she does, Vash. Here she comes." Rem pointed to a tiny figure walking up the hill clad in all white.

"Vash? Is that really you?" Meryl ran to Vash and jumped into his arms.

"I thought I'd lost you forever!" Vash exclaimed.

"So, Rem... What's the catch?" asked Meryl, raising an eyebrow.

"You will be a plant, living outside of time. Never growing older... never changing. You'd have to watch your friends get old and die. This change might even change your physical appearance drastically. You'd have to be reincarnated as a child. Somebody would have to adopt you and you'd have to grow away from Vash, who can't adopt you. The good thing is, you'd be together forever unless one of your deaths occurred."

Meryl pondered it for a while. She would be with Vash forever but what about Millie? She would leave her behind. Same with Wolfwood. But she'd be able to see Millie's kids grow up. She'd be able to see her own kids grow up.

Rem spoke up. "If you need help deciding, this is how you'd be if you agreed to live." A girl materialized on the grass sitting cross-legged. The girl had dirty, tangled brown hair. She looked at them through two dark brown eyes, one covered by side-swept bangs. She looked to be about the age of sixteen. Her eyes held an emotion that none could decipher. It looked to be sadness, abandonment ... abuse... The girl disappeared. "Your future..." The girl appeared again but she was older, around the age of twenty-four. She had a true smile on her face. Her eyes were filled with joy, love of life, happiness, and fulfillment. She laughed at nothing... or maybe something. The figure disappeared. "So, Meryl? What do you say?"

It took a while for Meryl to choose. If she agreed to reincarnation, her teen years might be hard-filled. But it would pay off if when she grew up. If she just decided to go to heaven, she'd never see Vash again unless he was killed, which would also be sad.

Vash held his breath. He didn't know what Meryl was going to do. Deep thought was embedded into violet orbs. He couldn't figure out what she was thinking.

Out of the blue, Meryl said the first thing that popped into her head. She closed her eyes tightly and said, hoping it was the right decision, "I accept."

Vash let out his breath and asked Rem, "How will I find her?"

"Well, you know what she'll look like. Your job is to watch over her and make sure she finds you and remembers you. You have to keep a close watch on her but not too close. She'll grow up quite quickly and you have forever to find her. She will not be in this city. She'll be in the small suburb 10 isles west from July. Good luck to both of you."

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With that, the background of the dream faded into Vash's hotel room. He looked to the side of him where Meryl laid, but she wasn't there! He glanced around the room and saw Millie crying into Wolfwood's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Vash. We tried to make her stay. We didn't know what happened. She just disappeared," Wolfwood said guiltily.

'The dream!' Vash thought happily. "I know where she is!" he said and proceeded in telling his friends the dream.

Wolfwood looked skeptical. "How do you know this is what happened?" he asked.

"Just trust me. We have nothing else to believe in," Vash replied, his deep aqua eyes boring unwaveringly into Wolfwood's navy ones, scanning them for a spark of hope.

"Vash is right, Nicholas. We should do anything in our power to find Meryl and bring her back!" Millie said softly.

The absence of the mister in his name startled Vash. Didn't she know that Meryl would leave her behind? What she even disturbed by that thought? Did it bother her in the least?

Suddenly, Knives walked in the room. Wolfwood narrowed his eyes. He still didn't trust Knives despite what Vash said. Knives noticed but didn't say anything. "So, what's taking so long? It's about time I help you, brother, to bring about something right! Just tell me what to do," he said.

Vash smiled. It was great to have his brother like this, even if it was just an act. It was amazing that he had to wait one hundred and thirty years for it but Vash wasn't complaining because in about one hour, he would see the love of his life again. Who cares if she wouldn't remember him? Who cares if she'd look a little different? "Let's go," he said.