Meet Me in the Moonlight

By: Haruka-chan

 

Chapter 5: Finding out the hard way

 

The Next Morning...

 

Vash woke to a loud thump on the door.

 

"Mr. Vash, Nick" yelled Milly.

 

‘When did she start calling him 'Nick' oh well’ thought Vash as he opened the door. "What happened?"

 

"Meryl where is she, she wasn't in her bed" said Milly.

 

"Maybe she went to talk to the lady at the restaurant for the job" said Vash.

 

Milly sighed "Yeah maybe your right, sorry for bothering you both" said Milly with a smile before walking in to the room next door.

 

Vash closed the door to find Wolfwood sitting on his bed looking down on the floor. "What happened?" asked Vash.

 

"The small girl left last night" he said.

 

"What?" asked Vash.

 

"She said that she wanted the big girl to be happy, and that the only way that was possible was if she left, I tired to stop her but she hit me with something that hurt and it was truth" said Wolfwood.

 

Vash looked at his friend with a worried look.

“I am sorry but in order for everyone's good and safety I can't”

Meryl's words drifted in Wolfwood's head like a song that wouldn't leave one's head. Wolfwood looked toward where Vash was getting dressed.

 

"Where are you going?" he asked.

 

"To find her before she does something stupid" said Vash. ‘I know she is going to kill someone and I have to stop her, no matter how much pain he caused her.’

 

"Are you crazy? Where would you start looking?" asked Wolfwood.

 

"Take care of your girlfriend" said Vash as he loaded his gun and grabbed his shades.

 

"Vash you idiot!" yelled Wolfwood.

 

"Sorry but I got to go and find her" said Vash as he walked out.

 

Vash knew Wolfwood didn't protest much, because he wanted her to be found, but did protest to hold up his promise to her.

 

‘Why would she do this? Everything was going fine, but then again she must have been planning this for a while. She is smart to act as if nothing was wrong and everything was fine’ thought Vash. He walked out of the town, he didn't know how he was going to find her but he'll find a way. ‘All I need now is not for Legato to go all paranoid on me and send one of the gun ho gun people after me’ thought Vash. "Why am I even out here looking for her?" asked Vash suddenly stopping and looking back at the town that was still close by. "I could just go back and act like nothing happened" he said. ‘But what about her? What if instead of killing who ever she wants to kill, she gets hurt. She went through so much...No! I have to do this’ thought Vash as he started to run just so he wouldn't look back and stop to question himself.

 

Wolfwood sat on his bed and thought of ways to explain to his 'girlfriend' of their current situation. Milly walked in to the room and sat down next to him.

 

"What happened?" asked Milly.

 

"Huh?!? Oh nothing at all" said Wolfwood laughing nervously.

 

"Are sure?" asked Milly.

 

"Yeah...listen Milly I have some bad news" said Wolfwood.

 

"Ohmigod your married and have two kids!" said Milly.

 

Wolfwood's eyes went to SD dots. "No, I am not married with two kids" said Wolfwood.

 

"Really?" asked Milly.

 

"Yes, Really...what I wanted to tell you was that your friend Meryl she left last night...she said it would be best if we stayed away from her" said Wolfwood. Milly looked down at the floor.

 

"She is so stubborn" said Milly.

 

"You knew she was going to do it didn't you?" asked Wolfwood.

 

"Yeah, she told me she was sorry and that she loved me a lot" said Milly.

 

"Don't worry Vash went to look for her" said Wolfwood.

 

Milly shook her head. "Mr. Vash is wasting his time, Meryl isn't...doesn't want to return" said Milly.

 

Wolfwood saw the hurt look on her eyes, he sighed and pulled her in to a hug. ‘Life is a bitch’ he thought.

 

"I knew Milly had an idea of my plans, she was such a good girl, she cared about 'almost' every living thing. I envied her for everything she was, and everything I could never be. She reminded me of my mother, and the man called Vash reminded me of her. I never really meant to hurt anyone, that was never my motive, it was the opposite. I wouldn't care for my own happiness as long as the people I cared about were happy. I thought that made me a good person, but all it did was create a monster with in me..."

 

Meryl walked slowly in the endless gold. She looked back every five minutes doubting herself of what she had chosen ‘I can't go back, for Milly's sake’ she thought. Meryl looked back once more only to see a weird red spot approaching her fast. "What is that?" she asked curious. The spot got bigger and until she could make out that it was a man, and suddenly it hit her who it was. ‘Damn how did he find me so quick? This is what I get for sitting on that rock most of the night crying’ she thought as she started to run just she could be out of sight.

 

Vash saw someone standing looking his way. He ruled out the possible of it being a town's men considering only a fool would travel the distance he ran on foot.  And it couldn't be an illusion, he wasn't 'that' tired. He saw the white coat like material float around a small figure a found that it was indeed Meryl. Vash noticed that she took of running when she noticed it was he. ‘Damn her! Why run? She could talk and I'll listen’ he thought running faster.

Meryl didn't look back, but just ran as fast as she could to avoid him. "Maybe for once my luck would change and there could be a bad sandstorm right now" said Meryl. "Nope not happening" she said. ‘I can't let him take me back’ she thought as she ran only to be pulled around the waist and on to the hot sand. Meryl looked up to find Vash's face out of breath and sweaty above her.

 

"At that moment all I could think of was how handsome he looked. I wanted to slap myself for thinking such stupid things, but couldn't help myself. Suddenly I found the tears blur my vision. I didn't want him to see me this weak, where I had no mask at all, were I had no protection at all...when I was so ugly"

 

Vash stared down at her face, and saw the tears that clouded her eyes. He had seen many people with blue eyes, brown and green eyes, but she was the first person he met with eyes that could match the clouds before a storm. He had already said how beautiful she was, even if she was vertically unfortunate, she had everything else that would make a man want to beg. It was no wonder that she had gone through what she had.

 

"Why were you running away when you saw me?" he asked.

 

"Leave me alone...I don't want you involved" said Meryl looking away.

 

"I'm already involved so you should tell me what is going on" said Vash making her look at him.

 

"Nothing is going on, I wanted Milly to be happy, and I want her free of the life she...I had pulled her in to" said Meryl.

 

"So now everything is your fault?" asked Vash.

 

"Yes! Everything is my fault!" yelled Meryl. Vash sat at her side, she was still lying on the ground with him holding on to her small waist.

 

"Let go, and just go back" she said.

 

"No" said Vash looking down at her.

 

"Why won't you just leave me?" asked Meryl.

 

"Because I can't let you take a life, doesn't matter if it's someone else's or yours I just can't" said Vash.

 

Meryl pushed up and looked at him. "Your nothing like me Vash the Stamped, we share different pains, and you have your way of dealing with it just like I have mine! My life is mine to give, take, and keep" she said.

 

"I know, but are we that different?" asked Vash. Meryl's eyes widen as she stared at the man at her side.

 

"I didn't know what came over me. His words were just so damn strangely affective that they scared me. I sat there staring at him, was he for real or was I finally losing it. I questioned myself over and over about if this man and everything that has happened was real. To you I might sound like someone who needs serious therapy and maybe I did. But I couldn't bring myself to say anything to push him away, because in truth I wanted him at my side...because I was weak..."

 

Meryl flung herself on to his chest as tears poured out, seems that was all she was to do. Vash wrapped his arms around her and let her cry, and soon found himself crying along with her. They sat at the middle of nowhere just holding each other. It would have been a funny scene if not for the tears and the hurt evident in their eyes. To some they might have looked like lovers, to others siblings, but if they looked closely they would see two lost souls searching for a place to belong. Meryl held on tighter, as did Vash. Strangely she felt good holding him, she felt terrifyingly complete. Vash was also going through some emotional changes. Just holding her made him feel happy and not just the kind of happiness he always had on his face, but the real thing.

 

"Holding him gave me a kind of peace that I lost 10 years ago. I missed the warmth that I got when I use to hold my mother...Funny isn't it that how I never got this much out of holding my father or brother, not that they had times for such things but, I was holding a stranger and yet my heart stopped the hurricane that it was raging against my head since, I lost myself..."

 

Back where Wolfwood and Milly were...

 

Wolfwood looked up toward the sky, the lazy white clouds making their way cross the celestial heaven making their own journey. He couldn't admit it before, but he knew how the small girl felt, what she was going through. He was having a war with himself, and he knew the dangers, and the pain each day caused, but these past few day he was happy, to be with Milly, Vash and her. They were like distilled rain that made you look up at the clouded sky and still smile. He knew what she was doing might seem selfless to others, but to her she was being selfish, she was causing pain to others for her own benefits. A thief always knows when another man is like him. That was what Wolfwood felt toward the small girl, she was like another thief, and he knew very well what she was capable of. He felt bad for her, his own life has been SO different from normal priest. He based his life around doing all that had to be done, for the wanted out come. She saw the hurt in her eyes, unlike him she had good control over her emotion, but then a glass filled with water can only hold so much. Wolfwood glanced towards Milly as they sat a small restaurant eating breakfast. ‘Funny how she doesn't look a bit worried, yet I'm the one worried as hell’ thought Wolfwood watching Milly eat her pancake 'face' that she made.

 

"I hope Meryl, and Mr. Vash will come back soon" she said.

 

"Yeah hopefully they will be" said Wolfwood. ‘Good luck...’ he thought.

 

[AN: Ok from here on Wolfwood and Milly will disappear for a couple of chapters' k]