Prerogative

Alive and Well

"Meryl?"

"Mmm...mmm?"

"Meryl? You have to get up now."

Finally rousing herself from the prodding brought out by her taller friend, Meryl lifted her head from where she had fallen asleep. Her type writer. She gazed lazily at the paper that was still intact in the writer and noticed that a long stream line of the page repeated the same letter 'g' on it.

Groaning, Meryl lifted her upper body and yanked the paper out, tossing it out in the garbage. 'How could I have fallen asleep!' She thought. "Thanks for waking me up Millie."

"No problem, if you want lunch I making some."

"Yeah, thanks I'll be out there soon once I finish re-typing this letter to the boss."

"Alright."

The shuffling noises of loading paper into the writer followed by the clicking sounds of the typewriter started before Millie had even reached the rooms door. Stopping at the doorway she turned her head to gaze back at her superior who was too deeply engrossed with her writing to know she was being watched. Millie hesitated to speak but closed her mouth instead and walked out.

Meryl Stryfe, Claims Investigator writes:

On behalf of the whereabouts of Vash the Stampede,

It has been over two months since I (Meryl Stryfe) and my accompanying partner (Millie Thompson) have heard of any word from former Outlaw (Vash the Stampede). All has been peaceful and water continues to be discovered. There has been no major events that can be deemed critical.

Vash has been reported to have vanished and all enemies of the one, Stampede, have been quiet and undisturbing or have perished from past battles. Peace is on the horizon.

... Meryl hesitated on her next line.

Request permission to return to the Bernardelli Insurance Companies main office.

Claims Investigator #AGJ7FR

Meryl Stryfe

Quickly pushing away from the desk she had been working on before she had fallen asleep, Meryl stood and began to walk away from the report to Bernardelli. She stopped and glanced back at the paperwork a few times before rushing back over and erasing the last line.

'Just hold out a little while longer Meryl. Vash will come back.'

Twiddling her fingers as she inspected her work over again, she walked slowly over to the open window, allowing the breeze to brush against her now slightly below shoulder length hair. Glancing up at the sky she noticed its color. 'Hm, that's a certain shade of blue you don't see very often. Something must be brewing.'

'...dammit Vash, where the hell are you?' She wondered to herself again. Folding her arms brushing a finger by her cheek she stopped when she felt an odd shaped indent on her cheek. Heading into the bathroom to look at the mirror she groaned in annoyance at the pressed markings from her typewriter, a backwards letter 'g' could be faintly made out.

Rubbing her cheek hard trying to rid herself of the mark she only succeeded in making her cheek a bright color of red. Letting out another groan of disapproval, Meryl left the mark alone and headed into the dining room only to collapse into an unoccupied chair.

Millie looked over at her friend and smiled. "There's something on your cheek Meryl."

"I know Millie, thanks for pointing that out."

Not seeming to hear the irritation in her voice, Millie continued to stir the concoction she was making and went on talking.

"So what did you update the boss on?"

"Nothing, as nothing new has happened... Millie...," Meryl hesitated before continuing. "How would you feel about going back to December?"

Millie stopped stirring the pot and turned to face Meryl. "But what about Mr. Vash?"

Meryl shook her head.

"He's taking too long to come back, we can only stay here for so long before the boss begins to questions what we're doing out here."

"But what will happen when Mr. Vash does come back and we're not here?"

"We can leave a message with the landlord." Meryl said, placing her elbow on the table and resting her head on one of her hands.

Millie regarded her superior silently for a few moments. "And... that would be okay with you? Leaving without knowing if he's okay?"

"Of course its not okay with me, but we cant just wait forever. Who knows how long it'll take for him to get beak...he may never get back."

"Meryl you shouldn't say things like that." Millie interjected quietly.

Heaving a deep sigh, Meryl looked out the side window of their little house, watching the townspeople walk by.

"No I shouldn't, but it is a possibility, and acting like its not wont make the chances of him not returning higher. I mean, just look outside Millie, everything is in perfect order. There's been peace in all the towns. With Vash's bounty gone no one's making any trouble."

About to respond, Millie said nothing when a slight shake of the house ensued. Both women exchanged glances and sat very still, saying nothing to each other.

"Millie."

Millie nodded and slowly filled a glass of water and placed it on the small table. They watched together as the water in the glass continued to shake slowly in a constant pace.

Meryl stood from her chair and walked outside, with Millie on her heels. They looked around at the town and saw that all the townspeople had stopped what they had been previously doing to look in one direction. A cloud of dust could be seen from a far distance.

"I think you spoke too soon Meryl." Millie said quietly.

"Get your gun Millie and meet me in the head of town." Meryl began walking toward the front of the crowd that was forming to look out into the distance. Millie nodded and walked back into the house to grab her stun gun, which laid slightly abandoned, covered in the smallest layer of dust. Picking it up and dusting it off she hoisted it over her shoulder and walked back out of the house to meet up with Meryl.

While walking Meryl checked her cloak, the 50 derringers were still inside and they all had been reloaded. Trying to push past the silent crowd, Meryl found it to be a little difficult to move through the dense gathering.

"Excuse me, please move, excuse me ma'am, pardon me sir." She repeated over and over again, trying to get through.

When she finally managed to push her way through she looked out into the desert and saw the foe's headed their way. Millie was at her side seconds later.

"Who is it?" Millie asked quietly.

"I don't know... I cant really tell..." Meryl responded in a muttering tone. "But I don't like the looks of it."

"Something's headed right for us!" A random voice called out.

"Meryl..." Millie's slightly alarmed voice whispered out.

"I think so too." Meryl turned to overlook the stony faced crowd. "It's a missile!" She yelled.

Instant panic and disorder struck the small town as the people began to run in frantic directions.

"Head for the opposite side of town to get out of range!" Meryl yelled out another command, and the people listened and ran as a group for the other side.

"C'mon Meryl! We have to run too!" Millie grabbed her friends wrist and began running from the fast approaching weapon. While running Meryl took notice of a little boy crying in the middle of the stampeding crowd. She pulled herself from Millie's grasp.

"Meryl!" Millie called out frantically.

"The boy!" Meryl replied pointing to him. She ran over to him and swept him up on her back, turning on her heel quickly to run back with the crowd that was headed away from the fast approaching missile.

While running Meryl heard the boy whimpering something.

"What?" Meryl yelled over the screaming commotion of the townspeople.

"My little sister is still in the house!" He cried out.

Meryl gasped and looked back at the house the boy pointed to. The weapon heading towards them would strike any minute. Meryl was at a loss, as she didn't know what to do, she couldn't risk going back and having the boy and herself killed, yet, his younger sister... she'd definitely be killed instantly.

"I'm on it Meryl!" Millie yelled appearing at Meryl's side before dashing back at a faster sprint.

"Millie!" Meryl's voice caught in her throat, there was no way she could ask Millie not to go after the left behind child. "Hurry!" She yelled.

Millie was already too far back to hear Meryl over all the noise. Meryl kept running with the rest of the people, ignoring the less than comfortable clutching the boy caused from clinging on to her. Meryl didn't see the explosion, but she heard when the missile came in contact with the sandy ground.

The giant missile missed her and the boy by millimeters as Meryl kept running. The giant explosion it created, caused both Meryl and the young boy as well as few lagging people to stumble, some fell. But they all quickly got to their feet, helping each other up as they continued to flee. Some of the runners turned to look.

"Don't look back! Just keep running!" Meryl yelled out, and everyone did so until they were at the very edge of the other side of town.

The running ceased to a jog, then a swift walk until people stopped to turn and look back at their town. Jaws dropped, and eyes widened as they observed where they all had just been standing moments ago, there was now nothing but blackened buildings from the explosion that the missile caused.

"What the hell is going on?" A woman next to Meryl muttered to herself.

"I don't know," Meryl answered, even though the question wasn't aimed at her. Her panic level was rising as she looked over the crowd, unable to make out the large profile that Millie possessed. She set the little boy on her back down as he seemed to be searching the crowds as well.

"Meryl!"

Meryl's head turned at the sound of Millie's voice. She was emerging from the dusty air that the missile had left behind, a little girl was riding piggy back behind her.

"Millie!" Meryl cried out, rushing to her friends side.

"Sister!" The little boy added, following behind Meryl.

Millie set the little girl down and watched with a smile as she ran over to her older brother.

"Big brother!"

As the two little kids hugged, Meryl looked over her friend. "I didn't think you got out in time for a while there."

"Almost didn't, I had to toss my gun though, it's the first time the weight became a disadvantage. I couldn't hold it and the little girl."

They watched as the two little kids scampered off into the crowd meeting up with people they assumed to be their parents, but not before giving both Meryl and Millie a thank you.

"Meryl?" Millie turned back to the smaller woman. "I saw them."

"Who?"

"The people who shot off the missile. Based on where they were when I saw them, they should be directly in front of us when the dust clears away."

"What!"

Millie nodded and looked toward the thick air and Meryl joined her. As well as the rest of the town, that had since reaching the opposite side, had remained silent, hearing Millie's words clearly. They waited till the wind swept away the lingering dust to meet the people who had destroyed their homes and businesses without a moments notice.

AN: So begins Meryl and Millie's introduction to the fanfic. Chapter 4 suprisingly already has a nice outline, so that should actually be up rather soon! (Major shock, I know) Oh and I do have a little direction now for this story, (at least for 2-3 more chapters) but suggestions would still be appreciated:) Please review!

Yours Truly,
Faery Goddyss :)