Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Incompatible ❯ Chapter 0027 ( Chapter 27 )

Trigun Fanfic

Trigun © Yasuhiro Nightow * Shonen Gaho-sha * Tokuma Shoten * JVC * Pioneer Entertainment (USA) Inc.

The following fanfiction was written by me (Chiruken) and is intended for the sole purpose of shared entertainment and not intended for publication or sale.

--Incompatible-

Trigun Fanfic Featuring Knives and Meryl. Knives hates all humans. Meryl just hates Knives. It's a match ideal for the promise of Eden.

By Chiruken

Chapter 27

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Knives was becoming increasingly frustrated as he followed the twisting and turning path of Meryl's psychic signature. The only thing keeping his irritation down to a minimum was the fact that it was becoming stronger the longer he followed it. He knew that he was slowly closing in on her location, but as far as he was concerned it was still taking too long. She'd now been missing for two months and he was beginning to wonder what shape he'd eventually find her in. He didn't like the way she'd been seemingly passed around and it left him wondering just what her captors were doing with her. He hated to admit it, but he was becoming increasingly worried for her mental well being. There'd been a subtle yet definite change in the patterns of her psychic signature and he was hard pressed to define it, yet it was there all the same.

He'd kept the telepathic link to his brother open and through their frequent conversations he'd learned that Vash was also running into problems of his own in his search. From what Vash had told him, he'd found people who recognized her description, but were reluctant to give much information concerning the young woman. He found it rather suspicious. It seemed that there was more to this supposed random disappearance than first met the eye. Knives was beginning to wonder just what manner of humans had taken her in the first place. Being naturally wary of humans to begin with, he was hard pressed to not just assume the worst. He suspected that the men currently holding Meryl captive weren't common bandits as he'd first assumed. No demands for ransom had been made and from the way she'd been shuffled around, he was fairly certain that none would ever be made.

He topped a rise in the dunes and scowled at the town spread before him. He scrubbed a hand over his face as he recognized it. He had a feeling he was about to come up against another obstacle in his search. "Damned infuriating creatures…" He muttered and shook his head. The path led right into the town so he had no choice but to follow. Checking his gun to ensure that it was loaded he sighed and continued forward. He doubted he'd be well received by the townspeople, not after the altercation from nearly a month before. He didn't think they'd forgotten yet what he'd done and fully expected to be met with an armed mob. They probably wouldn't be easily intimidated this time around and he had a feeling there were going to be a few casualties before the day was through. He didn't much care whether or not the humans attacked him, but unlike his brother he had no intention of allowing them to actually harm him. They'd been in the wrong in the first place and he wasn't about to let them take their frustrations out on him. He was just as glad, though, that Millie wasn't with him. Her presence would definitely complicate matters and the situation would escalate into a blood bath in all likelihood. Humans, he knew, weren't very forgiving…especially when their pride had been hurt.

Glancing up as he passed under the swinging sign he frowned at the faded lettering proclaiming that he was now entering the town of Engelheim with a population of one hundred and three. Odd that he hadn't noticed that many people during his last visit. He shrugged and continued, looking around warily. Not a soul was in sight, but he could definitely hear them. It seemed there was some sort of commotion one street over. He sighed and shook his head, reminded of how he'd found Millie in the first place. He wondered what lame excuse the townspeople had concocted this time around to railroad some poor traveler whose only crime had been seeking shelter in their town. He wasn't sure if he should step in again, but he was rather curious to see who it was all the same.

Having the advantage of greater height, he was able to look over the heads of the gathered crowd. He groaned and slapped a hand to his face and rubbed it in frustration when he recognized the two individuals standing in the middle of the crowd. "Honestly…you'd think she learned the first time around!" He muttered before roughly pushing his way through the grumbling mob. "Vash, you bird brain. What the hell are you doing here?" He scowled at his brother impatiently.

"Knives! What are **you** doing here?" Vash looked around at the angry faces surrounding him and grinned weakly. "Boy am I glad to see you!"

Knives folded his arms across his chest and glared at his twin. "And why is that?" He snorted at the almost desperate look cast his way. "What? You expect me to actually help you? You got yourself into this, you can get yourself out." He turned with the intention of walking away and found himself staring down the barrels of a shotgun. Raising a hand, he placed two fingers against the barrel and pushed it aside. "Kindly point that elsewhere." He scowled when it moved back immediately. He growled, his irritation growing. "I don't have time for this."

"Oh oh oh…" Millie wrung her hands in agitation, eyes moving back and forth between the angry mob surrounding them and Knives. "This is a very bad situation!"

Ignoring her, Knives drew his gun and aimed. "Move, insect." His expression hardened when his command was ignored. He cocked the hammer back. "Are you so eager to die?"

"Knives! Don't kill them!" Vash sounded close to panic and drew his own silver gun, aiming in his brother's direction. "Please…we can work this out without violence!"

"Love and peace again, brother?" He snorted disdainfully. "I highly doubt they're willing to listen to your pacifistic nonsense, Vash. Unlike you, I don't have a death wish and don't intend to allow them to shoot me full of holes." He glanced at his twin with a smirk. "Contrary to you, dear brother, I don't have a liking for pain."

"What? I don't…"

"Drop 'em or the woman gets it!" Knives glanced over at the speaker and rolled his eyes. He recognized the man as being the same one who had previously accused Millie of stealing his Thomas. "I ain't kiddin' around here! Do it now!"

With a heavy sigh Knives shook his head as he whipped his gun around and shot. "Moron." He muttered as the other man's gun flew from his numb fingers to land in the dust. "I swear, this is becoming tedious." He glared at his brother, silently daring him to object as he proceeded to rapidly fire and eliminate more of the hostile weapons aimed in their general direction. When he reached his last shot he glanced over at Vash with a raised eyebrow only to see him sigh and take over for him, aiming with his own silver gun. Knives took the opportunity to reload quickly.

"You know, Knives…I'd hoped to avoid this sort of thing." Vash glared at him briefly as the crowd began to scatter with shrill screams and much trampling of feet. "There are better ways to resolve conflicts than resorting to just shooting at everyone, you know."

"Is that so?" Knives took careful aim and shot between the feet of the stragglers who seemed to be hesitating in vacating the proximity to the brothers. "Could have fooled me."

"That's your problem, Knives! You never look at the big picture. Violence never solved anything and usually makes matters worse." He quickly reloaded his own weapon.

"And how is this worse, brother? The crowd is gone, you're both alive, and no one died…yet." He lowered his arm and broke open the chamber to empty the spent casings on the ground and load more bullets. "This is a waste of time. If you just killed them in the first place you wouldn't have to worry about them returning later with reinforcements and increased weaponry."

"Yeah, well…I didn't see you killing anyone either." Vash frowned thoughtfully. "Why is that?"

Knives shrugged and returned his gun to its holster at his side. "I have more pressing matters to attend to than killing a few spiders."

Millie stepped forward hesitantly. "Um…Mr. Knives?" She shifted uncomfortably when his gaze fell on her. "What are you doing here?"

"I followed Meryl's trail here." He answered shortly as he looked around. He was rather pleased to see that all the humans had disappeared, presumably gone into hiding. "Excuse me…" He muttered absently as he frowned thoughtfully, the distinctive psychic trail thickening around him now that he wasn't distracted by the mob of angry humans intent on doing violence to his brother. He turned in a slow circle, ignoring the curious looks his brother was sending his way, and closed his eyes as he concentrated. "She was here…" He murmured softly, a frown furrowing his brow. "Recently…"