I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORYLINE AND CHARACTERS YOU DON'T KNOW FROM THE MANGA/ANIME!
Chapter Eleven
Escape From Pain
A choice between two things. The forked road every person brought into the world must eventually face. A crossroad. Whichever path they choose, they lose something. Whichever path they choose, they are unable to find happiness. But are there really only two paths to a forked road? No. there are infinite paths we should take. There is more than one path we should take. There is more than one path to the future.
"What do you think is wrong with her?"
"I don't know, Alex, and she won't tell me."
"Should we ask Vash then?"
"I think that's the problem."
"You think Vash did something?"
Alexia sighed. "Maybe."
"Then let them sort it out on their own. We shouldn't go trying to invade on their personal life, all right? Everything will straighten out in the end, you'll see."
"Maybe," Alexia sighed again. "Hopefully." She paused at the sight of Milly walking next to Wolfwood, two bags of pudding in her arms. "What's this, Priest? You don't buy me that lunch you owe me, but you do go and buy another woman all this? You scoundrel."
"What?" Wolfwood looked at her like she was crazy. "How do you know that I bought it?"
"One, you just told her," Alexander answered him. "And two we travel with them. There's no way that Milly had enough money for all of that." He then shook his head. "You know Meryl isn't going to like you bringing all of that, right?"
"And you care?" Alexia replied.
"No, not really." He opened his mouth to talk more but was cut off when a young girl ran into Milly.
"I'm sorry," She cried in a hushed voice.
Wolfwood raised a brow. "Hey, aren't you the dancing girl?"
"Dancing girl?" Alexia repeated him but the sight of a group of men running around the corner of the tents made the girl cry.
"I need your help! Please don't let them find me!"
The two men seemed confused but Milly and Alexia moved together to hide the girl before the men could reach them.
"Hey, buddy!" Wolfwood turned to the men. "A dancing girl just came through here. Which way did she go?"
"Is she in trouble?" Wolfwood asked.
"Just answer the question!"
"All right, all right. You'll find her hiding right behind me."
"What?!" Alexia cried as her brother let out a huge laugh.
"I answered your question," The priest grinned as the man moved forward. "Now answer mine."
"It's got nothing to do with you," The man replied, moving forward more; until he stomped on one of Milly's dropped puddings.
"Ah! That happened to be my can of pudding! And you just wasted it!" She growled, whipping out her gun. It took three shots. "You should never get between people and their pudding!"
"But you are the one who dropped them, you know," Wolfwood decided to remind her.
"Um, thank you for your help. I have to go now," the dancing girl gave them a small bow and tried to take off but Alexander grabbed her jacket.
"Wait just a second, kid. What are they chasing you for? You didn't steal something from them, did you?"
"No, of course not! I-" The girl's face grew pale at the sound of more men shouting about catching her.
"What do we do now?" Alexia asked the priest beside her.
"I'm not sure but we can't just let her run off."
"But can't we?" She replied. "It's got nothing to do with us." Her voice had begun to fade as the two of them watched Milly hide the young girl in her jacket; it made her look like she was pregnant; really pregnant.
"You were saying?" Wolfwood laughed.
"Come one, guys!" Milly grinned as she locked her arm around one of Alexander's. "Let's get out of here."
Alexander pulled a face but stayed silent, letting Milly lead him off.
"Did that really just happen?" Alexia asked as she and Wolfwood walked behind them.
"Yes, I believe it did." The Priest chuckled.
As they moved down the street, Milly got comments about having sextuplets and other things from being so big. Alexia walked behind them, but she could see the corner of her brother's face and saw that he was clearly not enjoying himself; his face was beet red. Wolfwood and Alexia were having a blast though, trying not to laugh so hard as Milly tried to get Alexander acting like they were a married couple about to have a kid. They had to stay in character though, as more and more of those men ran around, trying to find the dancing girl.
"You better explain this when we get out of here," Alexander hissed at the girl hiding in Milly's jacket.
They escorted the girl out of the caravan and out into the sand dunes before releasing her back to her own two feet.
"I'm sorry for all the trouble," She told them.
"Oh, we're just lending a helping hand, right dear?" Milly grinned at Alexander.
"Yeah, that's it." He replied through clenched teeth.
"So, want to give us those answers?" Alexia asked her.
"Actually, I'm-" The girl was cut off by a gunshot and they all turned to see that a man had been waiting for them out here.
"Get away from Moore!" His voice called out. He gave off another shot and Alexander pulled out his own.
"Give off another shot, and I'll return it, kid." He growled. "I am so not in the mood to deal with you."
"Moore!" He cried out again.
"Julius, stop shooting!" The girl, now known as Moore, ran forward. "These people helped me."
They all watched as the two hugged each other. "Come again?" Wolfwood asked, leaning on his cross as he lit a cigarette. The duo decided to explain everything to them.
"Julius and I have been friends since childhood. But he's the son of the owner of the transportation company which passes through Demislad, and I'm just a simple dancing girl."
"Yeah," Wolfwood nodded. "But why are they after you?"
"It's Fondrique," Julius muttered.
"What? You mean the city?" Alexander asked.
"I'm actually the son of the mayor of Fondrique. And the caravan needs me because I'm the only pass that they have letting them into the city."
~That would drive anyone down,~ Alexia sighed, staring at the mark on the boys arm as he showed it to them.
"So they're actually after you and not her?" Wolfwood commented. "That's still no reason to run away."
"But we do have a reason!" Moore told him.
Julius pulled a glare. "I ran the day I discovered what the person I thought was my father and my real father had been doing. Yes, Fondrique did use the caravan to import cargo but their cargo wasn't all in boxes."
The twins got it quickly. "That explains why they're after you," Alexander looked at Moore as his sister gave a few curses. Wolfwood lit another cigarette.
"They treat people like property. That's how they got so rich." Julius continued.
"That's horrible." Milly sighed.
"So, she's the new cargo?" Wolfwood had caught on as well.
"What's why we ran away," Julius nodded as he held the shaking girl to him. "We can't go on living like this!" He stood up, picking the bag at his feet up. "Thank you for helping Moore get away from those men."
"You're not actually thinking about traveling off on your own, are you?" Alexia asked him. "Where will you go?"
"Somewhere we can be free."
"But going through there will be dangerous; you'll be killed!" Milly cried.
"The caravan people know every inch of this area. They won't dare to follow us in there."
"Even if it means dooming everyone in the caravan?" Wolfwood decided to speak again. They all looked at him. "If you leave, they lose their contract with the city, the caravan goes under, and everybody dies."
"Any caravan that participates in something like that should go under!" Julius growled. "I hope Fondrique goes under, too!"
The priest wasn't taking that and whacked the kid across the face. "Don't give me that! People are going to die because of you! Listen to me, kid! You can only say that because you won't be there. Say that after you watch them die. Can you flee over the bodies of the dead?"
There was silence for a moment.
"We made up our minds to do this and it's none of your business!"
"That's true, you're right," Wolfwood turned and unlatched his cross, pulling out one of his guns. "However, the fewer sacrificed the better." He lifted his gun and pointed it at the two of them. "Am I right?"
"Mr. Priest…" Milly stared at him in shock as the twins just stood there and watched.
"Your freedom, or the lives of the people in the caravan…it's obvious which is more important. I'll choose for you." He then turned his gun to his own head. "If you do decide to leave, someone will die." He gave them a moment. "Can you still move? Can you still run?" He cocked the gun. "I'm waiting for you to show me how determined you are."
Julius stared at him before grabbing Moore and beginning to walk off with her.
"I don't think leaving is a good idea," Milly tried to talk but they moved right past her. "Hey, I'm not kidding."
"Leave 'em be," Alexander told her. "Let the cowards run. It's all they're good at."
Alexia turned to her brother as the others continued. "Dude."
"Don't worry," He told her, watching as Milly walked off after the two kids. "The story's not done yet."
Alexia watched as Wolfwood and her brother both took a seat on a large rock. "Are we just going to let her go off after them?"
"Don't worry," Alexander repeated, but that was all he said. It was about five minutes later that they saw a group of men from the Caravan moving down the sand. Alexander stood up. "You ready, Priest?"
Wolfwood dropped the cigarette from his mouth before giving a sigh as he stood up himself. "I suppose."
Alexia smiled at the two of them. "Oh, you're such softies; both of you."
"Now, now," Alexander waved his sister off as they moved after the men. "Don't go spreading that around, understand?"
"Yeah, yeah," the trio followed the men for a good ten minutes, moving through the steam and hot water, before they caught up to them in time to see them grab the kids. Wolfwood gave a frown before throwing his cross at the man and pinning him to the ground. "How in the world can you toss that monster?"
Wolfwood gave her a grin before moving forward to beat the hell out of the other men that ran forward to attack them.
"You okay, Milly?" Alexander asked, moving forward to help the other woman.
"Yes," She smiled. "Thank you, Alex."
"Lord," Wolfwood began as Julius ran to Moore. "What the hell am I doing here?"
"You're helping people in need, Nicholas," Alexia told him with a smile. "That's what Priests do, right?"
"Yeah, well, you'd better be ready to help, too." He told her, glancing at all the men that lined up on the hill behind them. He called out to them. "So you mean business, do you? Then expect no mercy!" He grabbed his cross again and grabbed a gun. Alexia and Alexander did the same but they all froze at the sight of a man in a long red jacket stepping up between the men.
"Vash?" Alexia looked all over the area for Kyri but it didn't seem like she was there.
"No way," Julius cried. "Was he hired by my father?"
"Fuck this! I'm out!" Alexander dropped his guns. "I'm not going to die because a little brat doesn't have the balls to stand up to his father."
"Do you have any idea what you're doing?!" Wolfwood growled as Vash pulled his gun out.
"Yes; as God as my witness." The blond man replied. He pulled the trigger and Julius jumped in front of Moore, taking the shot. He gave off another one and hit the girl, too. They all just watched as the two bodies fell into the ground before disappear when more water shot up.
"Holy shit, he actually did it." Alexia lowered her gun as the men all yelled at Vash.
"He's Vash the Stampede, Alexia" Alexander told his sister. "You weren't expecting him to have a heart, did you?"
"But…after all we've seen him do, after doing all he could to save those cities-"
"Grow up, Alexia!" Alexander growled as Wolfwood and Milly moved up to the man in red. "He's a killer; killers don't change." He went to say something else but a gunshot went off and they turned back to see Vash on the ground with a pained face and Wolfwood standing over him.
"Hey, don't fire those things so close. That stings!"
"What?" Alexander blinked.
A huge smile spread across Alexia's face as she ran forward. "Rubber bullets, Vash?" She jumped on the man in red as he tried to stand up. "I knew you couldn't do it!" Vash gave her a smile. "Where's Kyri?"
"With the car," He answered her. Grabbing the suitcase of cash he walked over to the hill. On the other side were Julius and Moore, unharmed, with Kyri sitting on the hood of a car.
"I have a message from your father," Meryl began. "He says he's sorry for deceiving you and that it's no excuse, but he did it all to protect you and the caravan. He says you are now free to go."
Julius looked like he was about to cry. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me, thank him," She turned to look at Vash. He gave a grin and tossed the suitcase of money down.
"You know, we could totally use that money for some sweet stuff!" Alexander growled at Vash.
"What do we need it for?" Alexia asked her brother. "We've already got way more than enough."
"Yeah, but this money isn't ours; I will happily use it."
"You're an ass," She sighed as Kyri joined them.
"They're not taking the car or the money," The quiet woman told them.
Wolfwood closed his eyes. "And thus, your name is being spread across the planet. Maybe this is what they call karma."
"Oh, not really," Vash told him.
"Well, I've got things to do, so I'll be leaving now." The man told them, turning from the group.
"Aww, you don't have to, you know." Alexia smiled at him. "You and I both know that you like us; why not stay? You'll just run into us again and again, you know."
"That may be true," Wolfwood grinned at her. "But there's something that I have to do. Don't worry. The next time we do meet, I'll get you that lunch I owe you."
"I'll make sure you keep it this time, Priest."
He gave a chuckle. "I'm sure you will."
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