Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ The Demon Within ❯ Chapter One: Promises Made ( Chapter 1 )

The Demon Within
Chapter 1: Promises Made

By Selenity Jade

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun, though I seriously adore most of the men in the series. Vash, Legato, Knives, Wolfwood... (sighs happily)

 

Notes: Here by popular demand!

 

Last Chapter: Vash returns with Knives, and Meryl bandages him up, causing a grumpy Knives to snap at her.

 

X

 

Meryl blinked as silence fell over the room. She glanced between the twins curiously before sighing. They obviously wanted to speak without her there. "Well, I guess I'll get Knives-san some dinner. I only hope Milly doesn't start crying into the soup again."

 

She turned and opened the door, only to be stopped by Vash's voice.

 

"Milly's been crying?" the outlaw asked in concern.

 

Meryl glanced at Vash over her shoulder. "Only sometimes, when she thinks she'll be alone for a bit. She misses Nicholas."

 

He nodded in understanding. His emerald green eyes were dark with pain and grief. Milly wasn't the only one missing the priest.

 

Both of them ignored Knives annoyed snort from the bed. "I'll just get dinner now," she repeated, and left the room.

 

She wandered over to the small kitchen. She hesitated before poking her head inside, and spied Milly staring over the stew blankly, though she hadn't started to cry yet. Meryl sighed and walked up behind her friend. "Milly? Are you okay? Do you want me to finish-"

 

The taller girl shook her head rapidly - too rapidly - and began to stir the contents of the pot. "No, I'm fine, Meryl. It's just..."

 

"It's just what, Milly?"

 

The sandy-haired girl glanced down at her friend, her eyes bright with tears. "I think... I think I'm pregnant, Meryl."

 

"Oh, Milly..."

 

X

 

Vash glanced from the door as it shut to stare at his twin. Green eyes met blue as they studied each other for the first time since the battle, and the first time without a fight hanging over them.

 

Finally, Vash spoke. "I don't want you to hurt Meryl."

 

Knives snorted again as he forced his pained body into a sitting position. "I will do what I please, even to that stupid human woman."

 

The spiky-haired blond sighed. "Don't kill her, alright? Don't shoot her, or push her, break her, or anything. You can be mean, if you wish, she's a strong girl, but if you hurt her, I'll have to shoot you again, and I don't want to do that."

 

The other twin merely glared at his brother. "I want humans to die, Vash. I want you to understand why they should die! I don't want to play 'nice' with some human wench you care about."

 

Vash walked over to the bed and slumped down into the chair beside his, crossing his long legs underneath it. "Look, Knives," the infamous gunslinger started softly. "There are four of us in this house. Milly, Meryl, you, and me. Milly is still upset over Nicholas' death, so I won't ask her to help with your wounds. It would be just cruel to have her do that, even if she's more forgiving than even I am. Meryl, on the other hand, is a strong girl. I trust her to help you, because she trusts me when I tell her she won't be hurt. And she's feisty enough not to back off when needed. She's the only option I have to help heal your wounds, other than me, and I'm not very good with that kind of thing. I want you to give your word you will not hurt Meryl. She's important to me, Knives."

 

"Idiot, she's human!"

 

"I know that, Knives. I'm not blind. Human or not, she's still important to me. I want your word."

 

"If you'd just stick me in a-"

 

"If I did that, you'd be completely healed, of course. But I want you to learn some things. If there is scarring that you want to remove later, I'll even help you find one to use, but for now, I want you to heal the human way."

 

Knives glared at his brother angrily. "We aren't human! Why should we have to heal like humans? Do they even know what you are?"

 

"Meryl knows I'm not human, but I didn't go into many details. She may guess eventually, but... it doesn't matter. I want to be human."

 

"I don't understand that inane wish! Why would you want to be vermin like that!"

 

Vash smiled sadly. "Right now, that's not what I wish you to understand. What I want from you is your word you will not hurt Meryl. I want you to give your word that you will not harm Meryl - who is taking time to help heal you - or Milly, who you probably won't see until you're able to walk around. Please, Knives. This is all I'm asking for right now."

 

Knives snorted, turning to glance out the window angrily. "What do I get out of it?"

 

"Do you want to make a deal then?"

 

"Call it whatever you wish."

 

"Alright, then." Vash paused thoughtfully. "How about you stay here, and I show you things. You tried to convince me of your course, and that didn't work. For over a century, you tried to change my mind to your way of thinking, and it didn't work. So while you heal, you stay here with me, Meryl, and Milly, and you listen to what I have to say and show you. And you promise not to hurt Meryl and Milly."

 

"And if you can't 'change' my mind?"

 

"Then I'll let you go. You can do whatever you wish, and I'll try to stop you like before."

 

"Time limit?"

 

Vash cocks his head thoughtfully. "One year."

 

"One measly year of being stuck in this godforsaken hell?"

 

"Picking up humanisms, Knives? Plants don't have gods."

 

The angry twin growled at his brother. "It was an expression. One I particularly like."

 

"See, you already like one thing about humans."

 

Knives rolled his eyes. "I like a human expression. I must be changed! Look at me now; I'm a human-loving freak!"

 

"Sarcasm will get you nowhere. Do we have a deal?"

 

"Let me get this straight. You want me to stay in this stupid village with you, two human females, and let you preach at me for a year?"

 

"Pretty much, with your word you won't hurt Meryl and Milly while you're here. Though it'd be wise not to hurt the other villagers while we're staying here, too. Just to keep everything safe and keep people from suspecting who I am, and what we are."

 

"Wonderful." Knives paused, crossing his arms over his chest with a wince. "Any hidden conditions to this agreement?"

 

Vash smiled slightly. "Not really."

 

"If I don't agree?"

 

"Then we'll still help you until you're healed, only I will always be in the room with Meryl in case you get an itch to kill her, and as soon as you try anything, I'll have to shoot you again."

 

"And you'll accept my word?" Knives asked, frowning suspiciously at his twin.

 

Vash smiled serenely. "You always keep your word, Knives. Always."

 

Knives blinked and smirked slightly. "Yes, I do. Though I haven't yet killed you, and I swore I would after I realized you refused to see things my way."

 

Vash sighed. "That was different. Now, please, Knives. Your word that Meryl and Milly are safe from you."

 

"I don't have to defend them, in this little agreement of yours, do I?"

 

Vash blinked. "I hadn't thought of that, but no, you don't need to defend them if someone should attack us. They can take care of themselves, and I'm good enough to protect them both if need be. Against normal humans, anyway."

 

Knives sighed. "Fine. For one year, I will let you try to 'convince' me, and I will not harm the human women who live in this house. Satisfactory?"

 

Vash nodded with a grin. "Thanks, Knives."

 

"Don't thank me, idiot. I just don't want to be shot until I've healed. You keep shooting me, and I keep healing, so let's just keep it that way."

 

The spiky blond man grinned wider. "Sure, Knives." He leaned back into the chair and stretched. "I miss being brothers, you know. Like we were on the ship."

 

Knives didn't respond except to look away from his twin brother and towards the small window for a long moment before he spoke again. "I just want to know what deluded you so much into believing in these parasites that you'd turn against your own brother." Knives glanced at Vash. "I want to know why you'd fight for them. Why you'd abandon me for them!"

 

Vash blinked in surprise. "Knives..."

 

The door opened, and a subdued Meryl came in with a tray for Knives. Both twins glanced at her, falling silent, but Meryl obviously didn't notice. Vash frowned at her obvious sadness. "What's wrong, Meryl?"

 

She shook her head. She walked over and gently put the tray over Knives' lap, smiling weakly at him. "Here, Knives-san. I'll come back for the tray and dishes later."

 

His brother snorted, but otherwise ignored Meryl, which she didn't seem to even notice. She turned to Vash, and wrung her hands in front of her anxiously. "Can I speak to you outside, Vash?"

 

The blond man cocked his head. "If it's about Knives-"

 

She shook her head. "No, it's not about your brother. But privacy would be best for this."

 

He nodded. "Alright," he agreed before he turned his gaze to his prone twin. "I'll leave you be for now. If you need anything just yell, and Meryl or I will be here, alright?"

 

"Just get out," Knives snapped angrily, having still not touched his dinner.

Vash ignored the venom in his voice, and simply smiled at his twin before gently steering Meryl from the room with a hand on her back. "What is it?" he asked after they had shut the door.

 

She looked up at the tall blond sadly. "Milly's pregnant."

 

He blinked before his eyes widened. "She's what?"

 

"You heard me. She's pregnant. With his kid."

 

Vash stood there in shock, his mouth finally falling open. "She's going to have Wolfwood's baby!"

 

Meryl nodded. "Yes, though she's not sure yet. But from what she told me, I'm positive she's pregnant."

 

"Well, shit."

 

Meryl nodded again. "My thoughts exactly. I mean... I had thought they might have, you know, but... they did. And now, he's dead, and she survived, and she's pregnant, and alone. She's really scared, Vash."

 

The gentle man nodded, leaning against the door behind him with a sigh. "She's not alone, though. We'll be here."

 

Meryl gave a small, bitter laugh. "It's not the same, you know. She loves him, even now, and she cries sometimes when she thinks I can't see her. She cries when she thinks she's alone. She puts on a brave, cheerful face, and now it's just going to be worse. She doesn't want us to be there through this, even though it'll help. She wants him back, and she knows he's gone forever, so we're just very poor substitutes."

 

Vash exhaled in frustration. "Okay, I get that. But it's not like she'll be really alone. We'll help. I'll be Uncle Vash and you'll be Auntie Meryl, and Knives can be Uncle Knivesies. Though we'll spring that on him later."

 

Meryl's eyebrow rose in complete shock. "How about we don't spring it on him? Look, Vash, I know you're trying to look out for your brother because he's your brother, and you love him, and I'm helping him because you love him. But I seriously think letting that man be around an infant would be disastrous. What if it pukes on him? He'd probably break its neck."

 

Vash laughed. "You don't really know Knives, Meryl. He wouldn't let the baby close enough to puke on him."

 

"True, but the point remains. Having him in the same house with a squalling baby would probably end up with someone dead."

 

"No, I'll just have to add the kid in on the agreement."

 

Meryl blinked. "What agreement?"

 

"He swore he'd stick around for a year and let me try to understand what I see in humans and while he is here, he wouldn't hurt you or Milly. Adding the baby into that will be nothing."

 

Meryl hesitated. "But don't say anything to him yet, okay? Let Milly come to grips with being pregnant first."

 

"He probably already knows."

 

Cocking her head, the blue-haired woman blinked. "Huh?"

 

"He can read minds, Meryl. He's probably curious as to why you wanted to talk to me, and read your mind before we left the room, or he's listening to our minds now. Either way, I'm betting he knows. He doesn't have any morals about reading human minds because he believes they're lesser than he is, so it's not immoral to do so. You'll understand when you talk with him more. Knives thinks he's doing the planet and our species a favor by eliminating humans. He thought he was helping me by doing what he did to me. He has his own code of honor, and he never breaks his word. But he will read minds as easily as he talks, so there's no point in asking him not to."

 

"Great, let's just hope I don't think of anything damaging then."

 

Vash laughed, setting a hand on her shoulder. "It doesn't matter. Knives is here now, and I want you to treat him like one of us, not like an enemy, okay? Do that for me?"

 

"Treat him as a friend, then? But..."

 

The blond gunman nodded. "Like a friend. Just like that. Like how you treat me, and Milly, and how you treated Wolfwood. Please?"

 

"But, Vash," she began again.

 

"Please, Meryl. I'm just asking you to try to befriend him, okay? He won't take friendship from me right now; our ways of thinking are too different. But I think he'll respond to you."

 

"Me!" she squeaked in surprise.

 

Vash merely nodded, his eyes serious. He was studying her carefully, concerned that befriending Knives would end up hurting her in the end, but knowing it was probably the best course of action. He had been more serious in the past hour than he had the entire time he had known Meryl and he hoped it impressed upon her the importance of his request. "Please, Meryl. Just be a friend to him. You're a strong girl and you won't take his threats too seriously, and most of all, I trust you. I don't want you to do it just because I asked; I want you to really be his friend. He won't accept it at first of course, but eventually..."

 

"Vash, I think you're forgetting a few things. If he is reading our minds, he'll know this is some sort of plan. Secondly, he respects humans like me even less than he respects you, so how could I possibly befriend him when you can't do the same? He's your brother!"

 

"He's not reading us now, he's eating, I checked. And yes he's my brother, but I'm 'weaker' to him, too gentle. You and he have similar temperaments, though yours is by far less violent. But the point remains, I just know you can reach him. Teach him that humans aren't less than us. Okay? Just try? Be nice, take care of him, and don't let him bully you. That's it."

 

Meryl frowned. "You checked?"

 

Vash winked. "I'm telepathic too, you know. I just don't use it often." He leaned down and cupped her face in his large hands. "Just be his friend, Meryl. See him as even I can't see him anymore. Care for him like no one's done for him since we were children. Just try. I know you can do it, because I trust you. Show him understanding because I can't, and he needs it."

 

"Vash..."

 

He kissed her forehead softly, letting his mouth linger there. "Promise me you'll try?"

 

Meryl sighed, closing her eyes at the feel of his lips on her skin. "Yeah, I promise."

 

He pulled back to give her his trademark grin. "Thanks, Meryl. I'll speak with Milly now, if you want to check on Knives' bandages again."

 

She nodded. "Okay," she agreed finally.

 

He gave her a quick hug before leaving her there in the hall outside of his twin's room, staring at him in a mixture of awe and shock.

 

X

 

Next Chapter: Death Threats

 

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AN: I hope everyone's happy with this chapter. I'm very tired and wrote it anyway.

 

Lovies!