Prerogative

BDN

With the dust clearing away slowly, Meryl held her breath, waiting to view the people in front of her who had caused the destruction in town. As the sand lifted into the sky, she noticed a large looming figure in front of her and as it cleared more, she released her breath in an annoyed sigh and hunched over shaking in anger.

"Meryl! Its..."

"I know...," she muttered furiously, as her fist clenched to her sides. She suddenly stood up straight and held out her right arm, pointing at the figure in front of her while her left was firmly rooted to her hip. "You! What the hell do you think you're doing! You could have killed someone!"

The man before her released a loud laugh. "You girls are in this town eh? And one has to make an entrance don't you think?"

"No I don't think! Just what do you think you're up to! You're supposed to be somewhere between Inepril and May near the Lotenburg Canyon! Why are you reeking havoc way out here!"

The man laughed again, looking around at the townspeople who were gawking at Meryl, not at all happy that the petit woman recognized their towns foe.

"I thought I'd expand my turf, and I heard this little place had some water findings, thought I'd stop by and make it mine."

"You blew half the place up! What could you want with it now!"

"I'll have the lackeys fix it up." He gestured lazily behind him at his expansive masked Bad Lads. He turned to face Millie.

"It's so good to see you again Mr. Brilliant Dynamites Neon!"

"Please, BDN is fine, and likewise miss."

Meryl's jaw dropped at her friends welcome. "Millie! Did you not just see what he did!"

"Well, Meryl no one was killed or hurt much."

Meryl was about to protest when she looked around at the people and realized Millie was right. No one had been killed or badly injured for that matter. She turned back to large flashy man. "Point is, you cant have this town."

"To bad for you I'm taking it, but being the gentleman that I am, I'm allowing everyone back in to grab their useless personals. But leave all the shiny stuff behind, it'll save me the trouble of having to search everyone."

"And where are we all supposed to go!" Meryl demanded.

He shrugged with a smile. "That isnt my problem." He looked to the silent townspeople. "You all heard me, get in there and get what you want, my men will be monitoring everything to make sure your valuables stay with me!" He grinned before turning and walking into the middle of town, sitting comfortably on a chair, sipping a drink.

"Well that was nice if him don't you think Meryl? He didn't have to let us get our stuff." Millie said as they began walking to what was left of their tiny house.

"He didn't have to bomb us, or put us out either." She muttered to herself as she opened the door that at once crashed to the ground. Cringing at the wreck that their small house now was, each made their way cautiously through the house, being careful not to touch a wall in fear it'd fall on them.

Most of their stuff was trashed, including the typewriter Meryl had been using to write Bernardelli. Meryl sighed at this and saw the burnt letter she had been writing the boss. 'Great, now what's the boss going to think?' She thought as she gathered what few belongings she could salvage.

Meeting Millie back outside the house she saw most of the townspeople just lingering around, eyeing the remains of the town. Most people couldn't even get what few belongings they had, as the missile had hit their houses directly and had destroyed everything.

Both Millie and Meryl jumped when they felt a hard poke in their backs, turning their heads they saw two of BDN's men pointing guns at their backs.

"The boss wants a word with you two before you leave."

Meryl twitched in irritation, putting her hands up, Millie following suit. They were walked before Neon who sat up at their arrival.

"Still got those derringers?" He asked, looking directly at Meryl.

Meryl had no intention of answering, but a sudden hot wind picked up, allowing Neon full vision of the 50 neat arranged derringers in her cloak. He laughed at this while Meryl huffed.

"Don't worry, you can have them. They're so tiny I can't even fit my finger around the trigger."

"So what is it that you wanted?" She asked, nearly cutting him off in her rising anger.

"Right." He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms with a smile. "Vash the Stampede. Last I heard he was still with you two, even after that hole in the fifth moon incident."

"Well you heard wrong, he isnt with us." Meryl replied firmly.

"We haven't seen Mr. Vash in months." Millie added. "The last time we saw him he went off to fight his brother."

"That guys got a brother?" Neon asked in slight surprise.

Millie nodded. "His name is Mr. Knives."

"Wait." BDN sat up again and stood, looking down on the two. "You mean to tell me the same Knives that wrote his name in blood in that town full of missing people?"

"The same." Meryl said quietly.

"Now that's a guy I'd want to fight." Neon said thoughtfully looking in the direction of the sparkling suns.

Meryl's lip curled in disgust. "You would."

"Hey!" All three of them turned to looking at a random man that was shaking. "You destroyed our homes! I wont let you take our town! You cant! I wont allow it!"

BDN smiled as he stepped around the girls. "That so?"

The man was instantly surrounded by a group of Bad Lads, all guns pointing in the mans direction.

"How are you going to stop me?" Brilliant asked the man with a kind smile.

The man couldn't seem to stop shaking, and he lifted up a giant gun, that had been somehow hidden from view.

"Where the hell did he get that thing?" Neon asked to no one in particular.

"Hey! That's my stun gun!" Millie responded.

Neon turned to face the larger woman. "That huge gun is yours?"

"Yes."

He put on a gleam of interest. "Its big and flashy, something I can appreciate, is it actually heavy though?"

"Not to me, but for most people it is rath-"

"Don't ignore me!" The man interupted. He tried to pull up the gun on his shoulder and only succeeded in falling to the ground.

"Kill him." Neon gave the order and in an instant a loud chain reaction of guns went off.

"How could you just kill him!" Meryl protested.

"I didn't kill him, they did." He motioned over to his gang members. "Besides you don't want the hysterical people around during a time when you should all be using your common sense, that is if you plan to get to the next towns in one piece? It is a hot desert out there."

He gave them another one of his full grins, that showed all his big pearly whites, tipping his hat in respect toward them. "You ought to be off. Again, nice seeing you both, and if you run into the former Outlaw tell him I still plan to kill him the next time I see him. Let him know I'm alive and well, still waiting for a match that shines will ya?"

He walked off toward the center of the ring, where his men were busy packing up the dead mans body and cleaning up the mess that it caused.

Meryl turned her head with a sigh back to the townspeople who looked at her and Millie expectantly.

"Let's go." She stated as she began to trudge herself out of the town that now belonged to Dynamites and the members of the Bad Lad Gang.

After walking a mile or so, Meryl stopped as did Millie. "This isnt going to work is it?" Millie asked quietly.

"No." Meryl responded. "We have to think of something, a plan, we cant just walk around the open desert with all these people. We're a complete target to other desert thieves."

"Maybe we ought to split up? The stronger go to the further away towns, the less strong head for the nearest towns?" A female voice spoke up from behind them.

Meryl and Millie turned to face the woman and exchanged looks before nodding in agreement.

The woman smiled. "I'll spread the word."

They watched as the woman disappeared into the dense crowd murmuring what was to happen as she passed people. It took a few hours for people to agree on who was to go where but the large group finally dispersed into smaller groups, each with a specific destination in mind. Before they all left though, Meryl dispensed a few derringers to each group warning them that the small guns did indeed only hold one shot, and therefore had to go to the one with the best aim and should only be used in dire need.

By the time she had given them all out she only had two for herself. They had retrieved Millies gun, but it held none of its rubber bullets, so it was like carrying dead weight but she place it under her cloak as usual.

The group with Meryl and Millie turned toward the distant mountains, heading for the furthest town. The suns were setting behind them and a soft unified sigh could be heard through the small group. Getting a strange feeling, Meryl looked to the left of her, and her eyes widened in recognition at the blonde haired man standing on a distant cliff.

Her spirits lifted for a second before she noticed another blonde haired figure walk up toward Vash. This man glanced in her direction with a smirk and steered his brother away from the cliff's edge. Meryl furrowed her brows in confusion when she remembered something.

She remembered seeing both those figures in the distance when BDN had attacked the town, at the time she hadn't though anything of them, figuring they were a part of the gang, but now she realized. It had been Vash and Knives all along. They had both watched as BDN shot the missile, watched as he overtook the place, and watched as he booted them out without any food or water. He had watched, and he had done nothing to help.

Meryl's logical mind added up these instances, coming to the conclusion that if Vash didn't help, it could only mean he hadn't wanted to. Why? She didn't know, but the plant that was looking at her now could not be the same Vash she had seen walk into the desert all those months ago. This was a Vash that had become so much like his brother. Her face contorted in misunderstanding and she turned her back on the former outlaw, not quite seeing his pained expression as Knives led him away.

AN: Imagine having to relocate a whole town? What a pain. What's the last town Meryl and Millie are in at the end of the series? The one I just had BDN take over? I don't remember, but I have always loved BDN with a passion, and you should too. I haven't started the next chapter but I've got the ideas for it in my head. I'll try to get it up in two weeks. Key word: Try. Please Review!

Yours Truly,
Faery Goddyss :)