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It had been 5 glorious, peaceful months. Vash (or rather, "Ericks") was almost immediately accepted back into his former home, as well as into the new town. He allowed his hair to grow out again, and also began wearing the small glasses he had last time he came to live as Ericks - partly as a disguise, and partly at Lina's request. She just couldn't get used to him with short hair and no glasses.
One bright, sunny day, Vash and Lina were walking to get groceries when an excited (as usual) Jeff raced up to them and began tugging wildly on Lina's arm. "Nicky's back! Nicky's back!" As usual, Jeff had managed to totally confuse Vash, who simply stood there looking utterly puzzled. "Who's Nicky?" He whispered quietly to Lina, assuming this was something he should know. "His best friend." Lina whispered back. "He's been gone on a trip for the past few months with his Mom. Left just before you arrived, in fac- " She was abruptly cut off as Jeff started off full tilt down the street with Lina in tow. About 1 minute later, they arrived in front of a house - there was nothing special about it really, it was just another house - Vash hadn't even noticed it before. It had been empty the whole time he had been here, he realized. It didn't really matter. Jeff happily raced inside, and emerged a few moments later with his friend happily trailing behind him. "Mr. Ericks, this is my friend Nicky!" Jeff joyfully proclaimed, and Nicky chimed in with a cheerful hello. Vash could only stare. He looks so much� so much like him� Vash wondered if his imagination was playing games with him, but Nicky looked undeniably like a smaller version of Nicholas D. Wolfwood. And with the same name, to boot� Vash mused briefly over if there was such a thing as reincarnation, but a better explanation of this strange phenomenon was presented to him when Nicky's mother stepped through the door. "Oh. My. God." He muttered under his breath. He couldn't take this. It was most definitely the last thing he had expected. Nicky's mother seemed to be a tad disturbed by Vash's staring, so to break the silence, she managed a nervous "Hello�" Lina, who was totally oblivious to the confusion, suddenly realized that she hadn't introduced either of her friends to each other. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't introduce you guys! This is Ericks, and-" "Mr. Vash�?" Nicky's Mom spoke uncertainly. Vash sighed. "Hello, Milly." *** "It's been a while�" Vash stared down into his rapidly cooling cup of coffee, not quite sure what to say. He hadn't seen either of the girls since before his fight with Knives, and wasn't entirely sure that he was forgiven for that. Not to mention that he was now living in the same town as Milly, who knew all about him� All he really wanted was a peaceful, anonymous, life as Ericks, was that too much to ask? Not to mention she had a kid� It was Wolfwood's, no doubt, that went without saying. He hadn't even been aware that anything had happened between them, but apparently it had. Just before he died, probably� Knowing Wolfwood's fondness for children, it saddened Vash to know that he hadn't lived to find he had his own. Milly sat silently, just as unsure and ill at ease as Vash was. And then there was Lina, standing to the side, not quite sure exactly what was happening. She didn't dare break the silence, for fear that she would say the wrong thing. She just stood, and shifted nervously waiting for some kind of development to occur. "So� what have you been up to?" Vash finally managed to ask her quietly. Milly gave him an awkward look. "I quit Bernardelli just before Nicky was born. We moved here, to the most peaceful town we could find. Not much to say, really. How about you, Mr. Vash?" She regarded him with interest. "It's a� rather long story." He finally took a slow sip of his drink. "After I left you two�" And he started to recount the whole story, how he had fought Knives and managed to injure him without killing him, how he took him to the middle of the desert to heal where he could harm no one, and how he finally started to get through to him about the value of human life. It took almost 6 years for Knives to finally realize it, but eventually he started to see the truth in Vash's ideals, and Vash was ready to take him back to civilization again. "Then one day� he was just gone. After a little investigation�" Vash's eyes were downcast. "I� I'm pretty sure he's dead." His eyes were clouded with tears. "He finally became a good person� I finally got through to him� I thought I had saved him, and then�" Choking sobs obscured the rest of his words. Lina moved to comfort him, trying not to show her puzzlement and surprise at the strange story presented before her. After all, she had known that gentle Ericks was actually Vash the Stampede, but there were still a lot of blanks to fill in with this strange story. And then suddenly, the trio was distracted the sound of the door being slammed open. In rushed a rather flustered middle-aged woman who Vash recognised to be Lina's next-door neighbour, Mia. "Lina," She said breathlessly, "Come quick! It's your grandmother, come, quickly!"
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