Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Forever Mine ❯ Tempermental Twins ( Chapter 11 )

 

Disclaimer: Hmmm... I own my kids (Because I made them) I own my husband, (Because the Marriage License says so) and I own a REALLY big mortgage. (Because I'm stupid and signed on the dotted line.) However I don't own Trigun. (Because if I did, I wouldn't have said mortgage.)

“blah blah” : talking

`blah blah' : thinking

“blah blah” : telepathic talking

blah blah : other misc. stuff.

 

*~*~*

 

Forever Mine

 

 

Chapter 11: Temperamental Twins

 

 

 

Two of the three conscious travelers stood in awe before a shallow crater several iles wide. They just couldn't believe the desolate land, up until a few days ago, had been covered with lush grass and magnificent trees. That was before the twins had completely decimated the area with their angel arms. Who would have thought that someone could possibly want to destroy something they created just to bring down their own flesh and blood, but apparently Millions Knives would and had.

 

“Gee… Sempai can you believe it? There is absolutely nothing left.”

 

“Unfortunately… yes,” Meryl sighed as she took in her surroundings and recalled the Augusta/fifth moon incident.

 

“So, what's Mr. Vash looking for, anyway?” the tall girl asked has they started down the lip of the crater to catch up with their blonde comrade.

 

“Well, I have a feeling that it's something for you, Milly.”

 

“You mean…” Milly whispered, her eyes going wide.

 

“Yeah,” replied the shorter woman, while referring to the Cross Punisher that belonged to the deceased Nicholas D. Wolfwood.

 

“Oh Sempai… this really means a lot to me!” Milly cried before she ran toward the outlaw and gave him a big hug.

 

“Ugh… Milly, what's this for?” Vash grunted as the air was knocked out of him by Milly's embrace.

 

“FFF...For coming aaa…after iii…it, Mr. VVV…Vash!”

 

“Hey big-girl,” the outlaw started as he eased himself from the strong woman's hug. “I knew you would want it. Besides… uhhh… well… let's just say that I had been advised that I had better come after it or else,” Vash added as he brought his right hand up to scratch the back of head.

 

“Oh… don't you mean that Nic… I mean Mr. Wolfwood came to you in a dream and told you to come and get his `baby'?” Milly questioned.

 

“Hey, how did you know that?”

 

“He comes to me in my dreams, too,” the brunette replied with a small smile on her face. “He said that he would always be there for us.”

 

“Who will always be there for us?” Meryl asked as she caught up with the two.

 

“Nic… I mean… Mr. Wolfwood,” the taller girl answered, turning her attention to her partner.

 

“Yeah, he probably will be,” the shorter woman agreed. “So where did you leave it Vash?”

 

“Well, it will probably be in this general area…” the outlaw muttered as he turned his attention to the sandy ground and started looking again. A moment later he caught a glimpse of a shiny object glinting in the sunlight that was sticking out of the sand a few yarz away. “Wait, over there…” he added before striding over to the object and squatting. Immediately, he started shifting and pushing away the sand that was covering it. And sure enough, after a few moments of digging, Vash uncovered Wolfwood's Cross Punisher. But, that wasn't the only item he found. He just stared at the remaining objects completely at a loss.

 

Meryl and Milly walked up behind him wondering why he had stopped removing the Punisher until they saw what captured the blonde man's attention. There before them were three very painful reminders of Vash's sorrowful past, a tattered red duster and two .45 long colts, one silver and one black.

 

“Oh Vash,” Meryl breathed, placing her right hand his left shoulder.

 

“Ya' know… I don't even know why I'm so shocked to see them. After all, this is exactly where I left them just a few days ago…” he whispered while wiping the tears away from his eyes. “Well, I guess we should bring them along. That way we can make sure they are dismantled… permanently,” Vash added softly as he stood. Then after expelling a long and staggered breath, he grabbed the Punisher and hauled it up on his left shoulder before heading back to the truck.

 

“Oh will you two get those for me? I would rather not touch them right now,” he called over his shoulder to the women behind him.

 

“SSS…Sure, Vash.” Meryl replied as she picked up the guns in the sand. “What about your coat?”

 

“Leave it.”

 

 

 

*~*~*

 

 

 

 

The trek, itself, across the dessert flew by relatively quick and had been surprisingly uneventful, even when they happened to stop in a town to refuel, relax for a moment or change drivers. Of course, nobody recognizing Vash with is non-spiky hair and the lack of his red coat helped considerably. Even Knives wasn't too much of a bother. He just slept most of the way, with the help of his prescribed meds.

 

Mentally, now that was another matter. Since retrieving the once abandoned colts, Vash had become unusually quiet, contemplative, almost to the point of brooding. He just sat in silence, with his golden tinted shades on, only talking when one of the girls would ask him something. And then he would only respond with as few words as possible.

 

At that particular moment in time, the blonde man was looking out the passenger window, with his chin resting on the palm of his real hand. He just stared out into the barren wasteland, but seeing nothing, while the big-girl drove and chatted about everything and everyone, especially her family. She tried to get him to liven up, but with no such luck and was getting tired of talking to herself. Besides, his despondent behavior had gone on for almost two days and it was about time that he snapped out of it.

 

`Maybe I should try something else…' thought Milly as glanced over to Vash. “Ummm… Mr. Vash?”

 

“Yeah...”

 

“How much longer before we get there?”

 

“About eight or nine hours.”

 

“Are you going to keep on brooding the whole time?” Milly asked without looking over to him. “After all, if something's bothering you maybe you should share it. I bet you'll feel better and be able to smile again once you do. Meryl's worried about you and she thinks you're mad at her.” Of course, the short-girl didn't think that, but Milly figured if Vash thought that then he might open up.

 

“I'm not mad at her… it's just that…” the outlaw sighed as he took of his sunglasses and turned his gaze to the big-girl.

 

“Just what? Having second thoughts about your feelings for Sempai?” the big-girl prodded.

 

“No… Never!”

 

“Then what? You know you can't always worry about the future, it's gonna come no matter what you do. Besides, your brother promised you that he would try to see your point of view. So, I see no harm in having a little faith in him. Just maybe that's all he needs is to have someone show him a little faith, understanding, and love. Oh and Mr. Vash, one more thing…” she said with a giggle before stating the most obvious, “If you're so worried about those guns, then why don't you just take out the thingy that makes them light up?!”

 

Vash just stared at the tall woman sitting next to him in awe. She, in a nutshell, just helped him solve all of the revolving questions/problems that were flowing through out his mind since late Friday afternoon. “You know what big-girl, you're right,” the outlaw declared with a warm smile. “Just how did you become so wise?”

 

“Well…when you come from a family a big as mine, you put down a few things along the way!” she chirped happily.

 

Vash just laughed at the woman and added, “Milly you're amazing!”

 

“Gee… ya' think so?”

 

“Oh yeah.”

 

“Well, I think you're pretty amazing, too!” Milly interjected with a big grin before adding, “And so is Sempai!”

 

“She is definitely amazing,” Vash whispered, turning to look out the window again while wondering how she was doing with his sedated twin in the back of the truck. All of the sudden he realized that Knives hadn't taken his prescribed meds since late last night and should wake soon, if he hadn't already. `Fantastic!' Vash sarcastically thought and decided that he should check just to make sure that everything was okay. So, he opened the mental link with his brother to see where his thought patterns lie and, sure enough, he was awake and having a conversation with his short-girl.

 

“Hey… Vash, I'm glad to see that you have decided to join us,” Knives thought to his brother upon realizing that Vash had lowered his mental barriers.

 

“Is everything all right back there?” the outlaw tentatively asked.

 

“But, of course! Your lovely pet and I are having a delightful conversation about what exactly she is going to be to you once you've claimed her.”

 

“Knives…” Vash started in warning, but the injured twin simply laughed internally and then the link was disconnected. `Just perfect,' he thought to himself before saying out loud to Milly. “Ya' know… you have been driving for a while. Why don't we stop and have some lunch. Then we can let Meryl drive for a couple of hours and then I'll finish the rest.”

 

“Okie Dokie Mr. Vash.”

 

 

 

*~*~*

 

 

 

Meryl sat in silence, staring at the sleeping man before her while wondering how he, even though being identical in almost every way physically, mentally could be the polar opposite of his twin. Wondering how he could be so cold and uncaring while Vash was warm and loving. Vash had told her that at one time Knives had been just good-natured as he was, though not as silly, and that he even liked humans. Also, how the platinum blonde used to spend hour upon hour in the cold sleep chamber. He used to love walking down the rows of cylinders while observing the people cryogenically frozen, wondering about their past and what their future would hold.

 

However, one day something changed and he snapped, causing the Great Fall and the loss of Vash's mentor, Rem Saverem. She just couldn't help but wonder what happened in the man's past to make him hate humanity as much as he did. It must have been something tragic…

 

“So, trying to figure out how I tick, Miss Stryfe.”

 

“Huh?” Meryl questioned out loud as she focused in on the `sleeping' man's face only to lock her stormy eyes with his artic ones.

 

“Oh come now… I know that you do have some intelligence in that otherwise inferior brain of yours or else my brother wouldn't have decided to keep you,” Millions Knives said with a scratchy voice from lack of use. “Water.”

 

Out of instinct Meryl immediately grabbed one of the canteens and moved to tilt the platinum blonde's head so he could drink. After talking a couple healthy pulls from the container, Knives high-handedly advised her that it was good that she already knew her place, since she had, without question, served him. His snide comment instantly hit its mark (as he knew it would) making the petite beauty growl as she not so gently lowered his head to the mattress. Then with a few muttered curses, she proceeded to roughly tighten the lid of the container.

 

“I want to sit up,” Knives then commanded, thoroughly intrigued by the small woman's `colorful' vocabulary.

 

“That would not be a good idea, especially with the wound to your side,” Meryl smugly advised while returning to her original position, leaning against the side of the truck. He was already becoming quite irritating and he was only awake for a few minutes.

 

“I do not care what an inferior creature thinks. I am tired of lying down and I want to sit up!”

 

Meryl just crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the reclining `superior breed' and mockingly said, “Okay then, sit up…”

 

Knives just looked at her incredulously and then laughed, laughed coldly.

 

`Ooooookay…' Meryl thought had she continued to gawk at the laughing man before her.

 

The man's eyes gleamed with a cold amusement as he regarded the petite woman. Her silvery gaze held confusion while the rest of her tiny form gave off, or at least tried too, irritation. Knives' laugh diminished to a chuckle before he finally said, “You do realize that I could terminate your very existence at any moment… with just a thought.”

 

“I'm sure you could, very easily in fact. However, I also know that if you were to do that, then your brother would retaliate and since you aren't in the best of shape… Well, let's just say that I would hate to see what would happen to you.”

 

“Perhaps…” Knives considered her retort as he turned his gaze to canvas top of the truck. “Perhaps not…”

 

“Then do it,” the petite woman dared with her voice clearly reflecting her agitation and her eyes flashing dangerously.

 

Without looking at the simmering beauty to the right of him, Knives smirked to himself and stated, “I can see why my brother has decided to make you his. Even though you still stem from a lower species, you are slightly above your counterparts and I'm sure that he will thoroughly enjoy himself while making you submit to his every whim.”

 

“Excuse me?” the irritated insurance girl seethed.

 

“It is elementary really. Vash has decided to claim you, turn you into one of his servants or more to the point… one of his concubines,” Knives clarified as he turned his gaze back to Meryl. “Though, I can not comprehend why he would even contemplate doing something as disgusting as fornicating with someone from such a repulsive species.”

 

“What?”

 

“Oh come now… even though you, and I'll admit, are one of the lovelier and more intelligent members of your species, you could not possibly believe that my bother would want for you more than just a toy. You are a temporary distraction until something better comes along. Remember, we have been alive for over 132 years and Vash has had other distractions in his lengthy lifetime and will certainly have more,” he snidely pointed out. Though, he knew very well that his twin had never had that type of `distraction' before and that he regarded the raven-haired woman as something incredibly more than just a `toy'. Knives also knew that there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it either. Well… at least for the time being.

 

So, the older sibling decided to test her to see just how she would react, see if she would stay loyal to his twin. Be worthy enough to have him. He observed her, felt her, as the anger drifted away and turned into a deep sadness. He watched as she closed her eyes and looked down to the faux-wood flooring of the truck's bed. Then she breathed in deeply and returned her watery gaze back up to meet his. Knives expected her to be like the rest of the human race and retaliate. Condemning both Vash and him for being different...

 

Being monsters.

 

However, she just gave him a small smile and replied…

 

“I love your brother and I always will. If all I can have is a few short years then…” she paused, breathing shakily as the tears began to flow freely down her cheeks. “…it will have to be enough.”

 

“Hmmm… I see,” the contemplative man mumbled before feeling his brother's presence. Then with a gleam in his eyes, he sarcastically added, “My brother has finally realized that I'm awake. Please excuse me for a moment as I greet him.”

 

“Hey Vash, I'm glad to see that you have decided to join us.”

 

“Is everything okay back there?”

 

“But, of course! Your lovely pet and I are having a delightful conversation about what exactly she is going to be to you once you've claimed her.”

 

“Knives…”

 

“Well Miss Stryfe, I believe that our engaging conversation will be coming to a close.”

 

And he was correct. Just as soon as Knives finished that last statement, the truck started to slow, eventually coming to a halt in the middle of the desolate terrain.