I OWN NOTHING BUT THE STORYLINE AND CHARACTERS YOU DON'T KNOW FROM THE MANGA/ANIME!

Chapter Twenty-One

Out Of Time

There are some things you can't give up. Some things you want to protect. Sometimes we must take a stand no matter what kind of pain awaits. The man in the red coat took up his gun once again in order to stop the grief…in order to stop the hatred. I keep the word of the red geranium, which taught me so long ago…I keep the courage and determination deep in my heart.

Anger flowed through her. Anger. Betrayal. Sorrow. Kyri knew that by coming here she would, undoubtedly, run into Vash the Stampede again, but she also knew that she would not enjoy it. She kept silent, her head turned, as Alexia greeted the Humanoid Typhoon. Instead, she kept her eyes trained on the Puppet Master at their feet; or at least what was left of him.

A frown spread over her lips. "It pains me to see you again, Leonof. I thought you would have died off long ago."

"And you're just as foul as ever," The puppet master replied with a chuckle. "Imagine how strong you would be if you had stayed instead of leaving us all those years ago."

"I'm plenty stronger; shall I prove it to you by removing your head?" She then took a pause. "Three of you, you say?"

He gave another sick chuckle. "You must be aware that this ship is easy prey. The next few moments are likely to be the most fulfilling you have ever experienced." He gave a chuckle as Vash shot at his head. "Oh, both of you have such short tempers. Then again, we're the reasons why, aren't we?"

Wolfwood gave a sigh. He really wished that he and Alexia could have been reunited under better, and less violent, circumstances, but it seemed that he wasn't going to be able to get his wish when it finally came down to it. He could wait a little longer. Besides, he needed to get her away from her brother before he was able to do any of that things that he wanted to to greet her back.

"I say the three of us just blow this joint and leave Vash and Kyri to take care of these fudge-packers." Alexander told his sister and the priest. "They can handle this all on their own, no problem."

"Alex, we can't do that! These people could die. These are the Gung-Ho Guns!" Alexia growled at her brother.

"Bullshit! I say we can and so we should!"

~God, it feels great to argue again~ He secretly grinned to himself. He hadn't realized just how much he had missed doing so until now.

Wolfwood was pleased to see that Alexander wasted no time into getting back in touch with his sister but they had a serious problem on their hands at the moment. Something that needed their immediate attention. He shouldered that large gun of his and walked forward.

"I'm going to do this my way." He didn't even glance over his shoulder. "Oh, and a word for the wise: we're not dealing with typical human beings here. If you try pulling the same stunt as before, I guarantee you that they will destroy you this time."

"How about the two of us go with the good priest while Vash and Kyri go the other way?" Alexander grabbed his sister and began to pull her after the priest.

"Uh, Alex, I don't think that's a good ide-"

"Just go!" Alexander gave her a shove and then glanced at the other two still behind them. "Be careful, guys!"

"Alexia," Kyri's voice called to her and she turned to look at the woman. She had her back to her but she could clearly imagine the closed eyes and small frown that graced her face. "Take care of Leonof; bring me back his head."

She gave a salute. "Yes ma'am!"

Alexander frowned at her. "Wanna explain?"

"We can talk later," Wolfwood commented.

Alexia shook her head but continued to move after Wolfwood. She understood that Kyri was still upset with Vash, but they had to make up sometime, right? After all that the two of them had been through together, they still had to have a deep connection; there was no way that it could have been broken in three years after all the time that they had spent together…

Could it?

Then again, from what she had seen from the other woman over the last months of traveling with her...was the Kyri she knew even still there?

Kyri shook her head and turned to go down the opposite hall; the way she and Alexia had come. She heard Vash yell something at the humans left there but she kept her sights straight as he caught up to her. She really didn't want to deal with this right now. She saw from the corner of her eye as Vash opened his mouth to start saying something but he would pull back with a look of defeat. She felt a spark at that look. She hated it when he wore that look. It always made her want to make him feel better but she refused to give in.

More of Leonof's puppets littered the halls, giving things for Kyri to relieve her stress and anger out on. She had tried to lose Vash multiple times but he always found her and stuck as close as he could. She had been expecting him to say something the further they walked through the ship but in the end he had given up and kept silent, just making her attitude grow worse and worse.

Screaming caught Kyri's ear. Pausing in her steps, Vash right behind her, she located where it was coming from and got to the screaming man just in time to save him from Leonof's wooden dolls; Vash took care of any leftovers.

"They're going to be trying to bring the ship down," Kyri commented to herself, moving through the halls again. "I have to get to the main Plants and save them. If I can find the bastards along the way then good."

"Yeah." That was the only thing that came from Vash's mouth, the tone was clearly tense and…

~Stop thinking about it!~ Kyri screamed at herself. ~You've been without him for three years. After all of this is over, you can return to your search~

"I think that's most of them," Vash sighed in relief as their next batch of puppets went down. He glanced at the woman beside him. "It seems that your technique has become more refined. I-"

"Let's just hurry and get to the Power Room," Kyri moved past him.

"You're not even going to talk to me?" Vash moved after her but stopped when she turned to glare at him. Those eyes...they were just like they had been over twenty years ago. So cold and dark; and lonely.

"Talk to you? Why should I talk you? You didn't seem interested in talking for the last three years."

"Kyri, I-" His words were lost as his radio went off in his ear; she turned away from him, trying to cool her anger.

"Vash! One of the demons is heading for Power Room Number 2! They're going to bring down the ship!"

"You were right," Vash glanced at the woman before him. "They are trying to bring down the ship."

She tried not to give a smirk. "And if I remember this place correctly, we're a few floors above the power room; we'll never make it in time."

Vash pulled a frown before whipping out the secret gun in his arm. "Not without a shortcut!" Kyri watched with a shocked expression as Vash shot a circle in the floor around his feet; it began to crack and slid under pressure. Vash pulled a face. "But now that I stop to think about it…this is really kind of scary!" And down the hole he went with the last word.

Kyri leaned over the hole to watch as Vash shot more holes in the floors beneath him, making a clear passage below as he continued to scream. Giving a sigh, she jumped down after him, trying to hold back her smirk. She would have landed on top of him if she hadn't grabbed onto the last hole and swung away from him. He was too busy talking about his new gun model to notice the massacre that the two of them had just dropped in on. She turned from the bodies, not wanting to look at all the people that she and Vash had known but as he called out their names in horror she felt her heart ache in pain. She hadn't gotten here fast enough to save them; she had been too slow.

"Kyri!" Vash crying out her name made the woman turn in time to have Vash grab her and yank her out of the way of what appeared to be a spinning top that was flying towards her. Shoving Vash away from her, she placed a hand on her Gunblade, ready for another attack of any kind. They both watched in anger as the thing turned into a…man?

"Don't make me laugh. What are the two of you so upset over? This only happened because you're here, remember? I am the third Gung-Ho Gun, Hoppered the Gauntlet."

"A new member?" Kyri glared at him. "Have the standards truly fallen this low? I'll have to remind Legato just how to find capable members next time I see him."

The villain said something else to the woman in the room but Vash's attention was still on all the dead bodies around them.

"Why?!" Vash roared. "Why did you have to kill them!? Why did you have to do this?!"

"That's simple. Because you're Vash the Stampede. Compared to what you did to July and Augusta, this is a stroll through the tulips! And don't even get me started on you, Bladed Siren. You-"

"I am not in the mood for conversation with the likes of you, filth," Kyri cut him off. "Tell me where Legato and Eryn are!"

Vash glanced at her. That's who she's been looking for all these years?

"I'll tell you if you win, Siren, but I'm afraid that won't happen, you see. I'm going to crush you with my Gotterer." The man launched himself at them and Vash began to shoot but his bullets just bounced off.

"Tch," Kyri whipped out her Gunblade but it did nothing either. "How?"

"This shield was specifically made to withstand you blade, Siren. Especially after what you did to Elendira the Crimson Nail." He tsked her. "I had heard that you left behind your old life and walked the path of not killing. You can't change who you are, Bladed Siren; not when you were shaped into a ruthless, killing machine. The evidence against you is clear; especially after what you did. You left poor Elendira in shreds. Perhaps you're more like you sister than we thought."

"You…you killed someone?" Vash looked at her.

She kept her eye trained on the Gotterer."I see no need to explain myself."

"Kyri!" Vash grabbed her arms in horror. "You killed someone! Why? What about Rem's teachings?! She-"

The woman had had enough. "Get off of me! I see no problem with killing the bastards that are trying to kill me!" Kyri roared. "If you can't do it, then stay out of this fight! I can handle Knives and Kyra just fine on my own!"

Vash stared at the woman like he was hurt and that was for multiple reasons. "What happened, Kyri? What happened to change you like this?"

Kyri glared at him, he saw murder in them this time and had to fight himself so he wouldn't take a step back. This anger, her murderous intent, it was all focused on him right now. Was she...would she attack him?

Kyri turned her head from the man behind her and turned back to the enemy. "You may be able to resist my weapon but that doesn't mean I don't have new tricks."

"What-"

Vash couldn't see what was happening, due to Kyri's back being towards him, but he watched as blood erupted from the man's face; his eyes, his nose, his ears. It was similar with what happened three years ago with E.G. Mine and Mai.

"But...how?" Hoppered gasped.

Kyri only stared at him. "Eryn, Sylvia, and Mai were all my students; who do you think taught them their attacks? Did you really think you could win? If anything, they sent you after me as an offering to show me just how pitiful my team has become. It's almost devastating."

"Kyri, don't! Stop it!" Vash cried but it was already too late. He watched as Hoppered's body collapsed to the floor among the other dead bodies.

Vash dropped to his knees. Alexander had been right; this was no longer Kyri. This wasn't the woman that cried when he got hurt. This wasn't the woman who stayed up late into the night and made him donuts or laughed at his stupid jokes. This wasn't the woman that he had tried to hard to impress. This was the woman that killed without a second thought. This was the woman who had been created by Knives and Kyra. This was the woman that Vash had tried so hard to erase from the world; and he had failed.

The Bladed Siren had returned.

He was at a loss. He had been sure that, without him around, Kyri would be able to live a normal life but it hadn't gone like he wanted to. He had worked so hard, so hard, to change Kyri from what their siblings had turned her into. What went wrong? When had he failed?"

No, he knew the answer to that. He had failed when he had left her. But...wouldn't her life be better without him in it? No running from Bounty Hunters and danger? Wouldn't that be better? Wasn't that what she wanted?

A jerk made Vash look up. Kyri was standing at the control panel now, typing something in. At first Vash thought she was checking on the power of the ship...but he could feel the ship descending.

He jumped up and hurried over, demanding her to stop, asking what she was doing, but she lifted a leg and kicked him away, her fingers never stopping, her eyes never moving; until she heard a click. She paused for a moment before turning to face the blond behind her. He had pointed his gun at her.

"Stop it, Kyri. Just what are you doing?!"

"These sniveling monstrosities have been living up in the clouds for far too long, afraid of anything and everything. It's time to bring an end to that. You don't have to worry, though. I'm sure Kyra and Knives won't waste too much more time and wipe them out so why not give them a chance to see what their fears have cost them?"

"Kyri, please," Vash gripped his gun. "Stop this! Don't make me-"

Kyri's eyes widened. "You would shoot me? Over some humans? Just like you shot Knives all those years ago? Would you just run off and leave like you always do, leaving me alone?"

Vash felt like someone had kicked him in the chest; more than once. He remembered shooting Knives. He remembered leaving Kyri behind; remembered her crying for him as she tried to chase after him but he had been faster. He had left her behind then...and left her behind three years ago, too. This...

Kyri took this moment and locked the panel to where no one, not even Vash, would be able to stop the descending of the ship. She turned to leave the room but paused for a moment to lean down to his ear. "You'll ever be able to shoot me." Her cold words left the man shivering on the floor among the dead bodies as she left the room.

Vash didn't move again until he felt the ship crash. He tried to ignore everyone as they poured out of the ship, tried to ignore Jessica as she cried over Brad's dead body. He...he couldn't tell the others that Kyri was the one that crashed the ship. He couldn't...

Kyri was standing off to the side, Vash was surprised that she hadn't disappeared again, but Alexander could have been the reason behind that. He was currently scolding her for taking his sister away for nearly two years. Kyri just help a smirk on her face as she stared at Alexander's face. Her lack of emotion seemed to bring Alexander's anger down and he gave a sigh.

"Just...just keep in contact next time if she chases after you, will ya? I don't think my heart could take it again."

"Twins usually have a bond," Kyri replied coolly. "That helps them tell if their sibling is in danger or not. My sister and I do. Do the two of you not?"

"After finding out who you are, lady," Alexander gave her a frown. "My danger radar was going off like crazy."

"Good. Now maybe you can explain that to your sister and keep her from following me this time."

"You're leaving again?" Alexia turned from the conversation that she and Wolfwood had been having at the other woman's words. "But why? We're finally all together again!"

"I have no intention of traveling with you all again," Kyri's cold answer came. "I am merely looking for Legato and the others before..."

"Before what?" Alexander asked.

She gave a smile; it was dead. "That need not concern you."

"No, but it does concern Vash," Wolfwood decided to add his say as he lit a cigarette. "The Gung-Ho Guns are after Vash as well as yourself. Having the both of you together in the same area would be easier to lure the ones you want. What if this Legato comes after Vash instead of you? You haven't run into him since those events three years ago, have you?"

"He makes a point," Alexia replied. "Even Elendira didn't know where we could find them; or Knives and Kyra."

"Those two names keep coming up," Alexander narrowed his eyes. "Who are they?"

"Old friends," Kyri replied and turned away. "Even if we do end up traveling together, don't expect me to help you. If you get in trouble you can get yourselves out of it."

Alexander and the others all watched her as she walked away from them. "Damn, I liked her so much better before. What the hell happened?"

"A lot of things," Alexia sighed. "It's not my place to say. Ask her...if you can. I can't promise she'll answer you, though."

Alexander glanced over at the blond that had moved towards them. "You've got a tough one on your hands this time, Stampede. Good luck handling it."

Alexander and Wolfwood turned away themselves to talk, leaving Alexia to move up next to Vash.

"She's the one that did it," Vash quietly told the younger woman. "She's the one that crashed the ship, not the Gung-Ho Guns."

There was a silence between them as Vash watched Kyri disappeared in the sand. Was she really going to travel with them again just to lure out Legato and Eryn?

"She crashed the ship so other Gun-Ho Guns can't come back and use it against you," Alexia told Vash. "At least, that's what I think."

Vash glanced at her. He wanted to believe that but with the way Kyri was now, he didn't know what to believe. Kyri had practically changed back to the Bladed Siren from all those years ago. There was still something of the Kyri he liked there, else she would have killed Alexander on the spot for yelling at her, but it wasn't much.

"I don't know what to do," Vash said sadly. "How can I get her back to the way she was? I don't think she'll ever trust me again."

"I don't think you understand, Vash," Alexia shook her head. "In order to help her you have to understand. You believe that Kyri changed on her own but you're wrong. It was you, Vash. Always you. You were the restraint keeping her from going back to her old ways. You were the one keeping the Bladed Siren from emerging again but now...I've witnessed firsthand just how horrible the Bladed Siren is and that is your fault. You disappeared without a word, Vash, and then she found you living happily with that family." Vash's eyes widened. Kyri had seen him with Lina and her grandmother? "You left her, Vash, and it made the restraint break. I don't see anything left of who Kyri was with you. I just pray to God that you can bring her back again. She's too weak to do it on her own; she needs you."

Alexia left Vash to stand there now, thinking to himself. Her words...they made sense. After the events in July Kyri had begun to travel with him. In the beginning she still killed people but after Vash's scoldings he had seen her change and she stopped it all completely. Every time she went to kill someone he was able to stop her, just like he had with Neon on the Steamer. Mai had been the first person she had killed in nearly 15 years. Now all of that had gone to waste. Would he be able to save her again?

~No,~ Vash clenched his fists, staring at where Kyri had disappeared. ~There's no other choice. I have to save her. I will save her again!~

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