Chapter 3: Uplifting Discoveries
It took a month to find the city Rem was talking about. There were 3 of them 10 isles west of where they were. When they finally reached the small suburb, they found only a small trickle of hope. Why would Rem send Meryl to such a dirty backwater town? The allies stank of rats and the garbage cans were overflowing with God knows what. Mold was growing inside the well and floating on the water. The buildings looked as if they'd be a second from collapsing. Some had already collapsed and no one bothered to fix them.
"I hope Rem didn't actually send Meryl to such a godforsaken place," said Vash.
"I understand completely. This place smells like a hog in heat," observed Wolfwood.
"That's probably how these people act. I can only imagine how they'll treat Meryl." Vash furrowed his eyebrows worriedly.
Wolfwood, Millie, Knives, and Vash found a small decent looking hotel to stay in for the months that followed. Every day, they'd split up to search orphanages and the allies just in case a small girl was hiding there. With every day that passed, Vash lost more hope. 'Maybe it was just a dream,' he thought sadly. After 2 more months, he lost hope completely. "I feel so stupid," he told Millie.
"You can't lose faith yet, Mr. Vash! She might just appear any day now. You said that by now, she'd look about the age of 3. We'll just look for any 3 year old looking girl and ask her a few questions."
"It's no use. I'm going whether you guys follow me or not. I'm not going to spend forever looking for her," he ran outside and into one of the foul allies and broke down crying.
"It's funny..." said Wolfwood coming up behind the stunned Millie. "He was the one who said to believe in this. Poor sap..." Millie ran into Wolfwood's arms.
"I miss Meryl, Nicholas!"
"So do I, Big Girl. So do I..." Wolfwood rubbed his wife's back soothingly and a tear fell from his eye.
"Hey, mister? Why are you crying?" a little girl asked Vash.
"One of my friends... went away and I'm sad," he replied without lifting his head from his hands.
"What happened to your friend?" the girl asked innocently.
"She... she died," Vash whispered.
"I'm sorry, mister. I know how you feel, though. My mommy and daddy died when I was real little. I didn't know them. A mean man adopted me from the orphanage in town. He hurts me and calls me a... a monster."
Vash looked up to a toddler with muddy brown hair and dirt-caked cheeks. Her eyes were a murky brown. They were warm and innocent yet wise and understanding at the same time. She wore a ripped muddy brown dress that seemed too short like she grew a foot in a week. "How old are you?" Vash asked quietly.
She held up three fingers and said, "This much."
"Oh." Vash sighed. "Three years?"
The girl blushed. "No," she said. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone this but I'm really three months old." She looked down.
"What's your name?" he asked, slowly gaining hope.
"M- m-... I'm not supposed to tell my name to strangers. The mean man will hurt me again." She thought a while then stuck out her lip. "I don't care if he hits me! My name is Meryl."
Vash beamed and was just about to hug her and tell her how much he missed her and loved her until a thought came to him. 'She doesn't remember you, stupid! She doesn't even know your name!' "Hi, Meryl! My name is Vash! It's great to meet you!"
"You don't think I'm weird? You don't think I'm a monster? Why aren't you running away from me?" Meryl narrowed her eyes.
Vash smiled. 'Yeah. This is definitely Meryl,' he thought. "I don't think you're a monster," he said.
"Really?" Meryl asked him unbelieving. Vash nodded.
"There you are you little brat!" A drunken looking man staggered up to the girl and tightly grabbed her small hand. "Come on, stupid little girl!" He was too drunk to see Vash in the shadows but Meryl waved while being dragged away by her cruel guardian.
Vash nearly kicked that guy's butt and taking his beloved Meryl back home but stopped remembering that Meryl had to grow up away from him. He wasn't allowed to interfere with her life until she was old enough. He had to watch over her to find out when the time was right.
Vash ran as fast as he could to the hotel. He dashed up the stairs into Wolfwood and Millie's bedroom not caring what they were doing. Luckily, they were just drinking coffee by the window. They simultaneously turned around at Vash's sudden arrival. "I've found her!" was all he could say before he running out of the room, jumping up and down and singing happily. Wolfwood and Millie just looked at each other, shook their heads, and followed Vash out of the room.