-----Gossamer Wings and Sweet Tasting Things-----
---A Trigun Fanfiction---

 

-----DISCLAIMER-----

You sue me, and all you'd
get is a a couple of gaming consoles and an apple core.
...
Is it really worth it?
...
No one's getting my consoles. >:(

 

-----AUTHOR'S NOTES-----

Lynda: I suppose I should apologize for the enormous wait. -_- Real life sucks and it seems to influence internet life too, so I'm buggered from square one.
Well, it's hard to write in the mood I'm saddled with, so just bear with me, k?

Kuroneko: Mya, Mya!

Lynda: O_O Jenny Bird drew me a picture for my story. O_O It's the dissilation scene. Check it out, people, CHECK IT OUT!!

http://www.mediaminer.org/fanart/view.php?id=111199
O_O

 

-----*+*-----

 

'Well, I can give 200 double dollars for the car.' the mechanic announced discompassionately, hands methodically running through an oil stained rag. He was a tall lanky man, his posture a seemingly permanant question mark of etiquette, grubby smears of black staining his rag wrung hands.

'Aw... Comeon, Mister! Have a heart!' Wolfwood implored, clasping his own hands together. 'If that's all you can spare then we won't have enough for food for the horrible journey ahead! You wouldn't starve innocent people would you?'

'Hey, I'd offer you more, but... Well...' the mechanic muttered. He trailed off listlessly. Eventually giving up the fight for words, the mechanic relinquished one hand from his rag to wave expansively at the car. Vash, Meryl and Milly looked at the wreck. Their features remained carefully blank. After the thin, oil stained man was sure everyone had taken in the situation, he continued, 'Well... You see, I buy cars, yeah. But... Well... This one... Well... It's a heap.' the man finally managed, struggling for words.

'It's.. Got character?' the priest offered hopefully.

'My comatose granny has character.' was the prompt reply.

'We made it from Dankin town in it. Purs like a kitten?' fumbled the smoking man desperately.

'200, take it or leave it.' the mechanic said firmly, stubbled jaw set. Wolfwood grimaced. Then with the panic of a peddler sinking hurriedly to the bottom of the pool of trade, he turned to his three companions for backup. They stared blankly back. Vash seemed to have an immediate interest in his surroundings, Milly blinked slowly in innocent confusion and Meryl had the expression of one with some severe patience issues.
Damn.

'Fine!' Wolfwood finally snapped in an agonized submission. 'Give me the damn money!' He thrust out his hand and tried not to break the man's arm when the small amount of bills was laid out in his palm. With a shrug, the mechanic thereafter immediately dismissed the presence of his visitors and began monitoring the mangled hunk of machinery more closely.

With a huff and a scowl, Wolfwood pushed past the man and stalked out of the garage, grumbling heatedly and rubbing an irritated thumb over the small wad of notes in his hand. As soon as sky and sun replaced the metal ceiling of the car yard, the priest stopped and lit up a cigrette with the smooth fluidity of an one very accustomed to the movements. It wasn't until the first smoke curled it's way lazily skyward that the three behind him hazarded contact.

'200 Double Dollars?' Meryl asked frugally. She was being careful to mask all aggrivation from her tone, but in the priest's heightened state of irritation, she couldn't have screamed her annoyance any louder. And it irked him. So as if to pass the responsibility on, the dark haired Winger thereafter threw the money over his shoulder. The soft patter of paper indicated someone had caught it. Good. Let them deal with it.

'How much do we have from the Society, Sempai?' Milly asked in a hush.

'Not enough.' was the short reply. 'This will last us one night before we need more... If we want to sleep in decent beds, that is.' More silence as more smoke snaked through the air.

'Hey, don't look at me! If we had money, we wouldn't have sold the car!' Vash blurted suddenly. The panic in his tone indicated he was probably recieving the Look from his Guard.

'If it wasn't for you, the car just might've been worth something!' Meryl snapped back. 
Oh, great. Fighting again.

'I wonder if we could earn some money in this town...' Milly murmured.

'It's against regulations to partake in part-time jobs.' Meryl returned promptly.

'You don't seriously think that Bernadelli is still running, do you?' Vash asked pointedly, his voice carefully blank. Silence. Then, in an overly chirpish manner,

'Wow, Sempai! We're jobless!'

'It's nothing to be proud of!' was the flustered and obviously panicked reply.

'Take it easy Insurance Girl, it isn't the end of the world!'

'Well, maybe to you it's not!'

'The life of a drifter isn't that bad.' Vash replied simply, mild indignation interwoven through his tones. 'It's like a rootless tumble weed! Free as the wind.'

'Tumble weed is right! Rootless and empty like your head, you idiot!' Meryl snapped back.

'I'm hungry.' Milly announced.

'Aren't you full from lunch?' the blonde Winger asked, earnestly intrigued. He seemed rather talented at bouncing back from any conversations that just might lead to insults.

'Not a bit!' the Big Girl declared happily.

'We have to ration this money, Milly.' her smaller partner replied steadily, albiet in a forced manner. 'We can't afford big meals anymore.'

'I'm telling you, I can Materialize us all the food we want!' Vash offered.

'Just how far into the desert do you think we'd get on an all sugar diet, you moron?!'

Without even realizing it, Wolfwood found himself moving away from the conversation. He sniffed loudly to drown out Vash's protests, caught himself ignoring the short girl's snappish retort, and even discovered that he wasn't at all interested in his own Guard's imput. The usual high regard in which he held her mediating had slipped and the smoking man found himself irked by the whole ordeal. The priest wondered why.

Maybe it was the arguing. Maybe the constant bickering finally slid past the comfortable "familiarity zone" and into that of just plain irksome disinterest.
Was he annoyed because he was suddenly surrounded by people who could argue back? Refute his view and logic? Was the fact that he wasn't invisible anymore aggrivating?
Or maybe it was the money. He had never been a rich man, but in his fundless life, he had never been responsible for anybody but himself... Not three more people who might just starve to death, might just have to sleep in an alleyway...

Wolfwood grimaced, teeth subconsciously clamping down on his cigarette.

Or maybe it was the indecision.

It was irksome that they were standing there, arguing; tossing about causes of problems and faults and never trying to solve anything. It wasn't just the money, it was everything... They were stalling, waiting for solutions that mightn't come at all.

After all, to hesitate is singulary the worst option one could take. It wasn't just seconds slipping by in indecision... It was days, weeks... What it was, was annoying. It was grating against nerves that were suddenly and unexplainably piqued... 
And Wolfwood wasn't all that enthusiastic about figuring out why his old hypothesis was emerging from the darkest dredges of his mind.

'What's the matter Mr. Wolfwood?' a familiar voice asked innocently to his left. Had the smoking man not been expecting at least some interuption eventually, he just might've been surprised. He, of course, wasn't. But his disinterest in the situation had caused his brain to not prepare for such a question. Damn.

'Nothing.' Wolfwood muttered eventually. Then allowed himself another grimace as his admittedly non-eloquent answer returned to ruthless ears.

'You look like your waiting for something terrible.' Milly pointed out cheerfully.

'Don't be ridiculous.' the Winger replied immediately. The retort was pure habit, and it wasn't until a few seconds later that the dark haired man let her statement truly sink in. So it was while he was pondering the concept that the Big Girl piped up again.

'In fact, you look just like Big Big Brother... Right before Uncle Charlie comes to visit!' she announced. Wolfwood snorted. Family problems? Since when did he have to worry about unwelcome family? Come to think of it, since when did he have a family at all?

'Must be tough.' he replied dryly, in too foul of a mood to care how evident the sarcasm was within his voice.

'He doesn't visit very often. Uncle Charlie lives all the way over near LR. He works at a geoplant, did you know that? It must be wonderful working with such healthy crops!'

'Must be.'

'Yep! But it's such a big geoplant, I'd bet it'd be alot harder than working the feilds back home.' Milly murmured, eyes raised skyward in contemplation.

'You don't say.' Wolfwood replied in a drawl. He was aware of the futility of using acerbity against the rather intellectually selective Thompson, but he was also aware that it gave him an excuse to be down right nasty without actually insulting anyone. Thank god for blissfully ignorant Guards.

'But it must be good,' Milly continued, impervious, 'because Uncle Charlie always brings us some of his cider when he visits. From hand picked apples!' the Big Girl announced happily.

Wolfwood stopped dead in his tracks.
It was cliché. It was over used and corny... But a simple word from a simple girl and suddenly everything was clicking together like a jigsaw puzzle. The reason why he was irritable and tense was so elementary it was downright painful.
The priest was attempting to splutter something in reply when Vash walked straight into his back, dislodging any explainations that just might've made their way to his mouth.

'W-What'd you stop for?' the Humanoid Typhoon demanded in a whine, rubbing the spot where Wolfwood's shoulder had connected to.
Damn explanations. When it came to those, Wolfwood found he didn't have enough. And what explanations he did have, he wasn't willing to share. But questions... Questions were a different matter.
He had plenty of those...

'Do you feel anything?!' the smoking man demanded his Angelic counterpart, spinning to face him. Vash took another step back in surprise.

'Uh... Feel?' he echoed in weak query.

'Cold. Y'know? Chilly?' Wolfwood elaborated, fumbling for words desperately in a fluster while Milly and Meryl watched him panic owlishly.

'Cold?' Vash asked, grinning. With a small and slight smirk, the blonde continued, 'The suns have hit Midday. 'Chilly' isn't the word I would've picked... But...' 
He shrunk under the glare he recieved.

'I mean DEMONIC, you idiot!' the priest snapped. The 60 Billion Double Dollar Man's eyes flooded with realization, and the next few seconds were dedicated to sweeping the area with a suddenly focused gaze. After he had surveyed the scene, stare noticebly lingering on alleyways, he replied,

'...No. No, it seems clear to me.'

'Well it ain't.' snarled a now incredibly tense priest.

'You mean there's Demons here?' Meryl hissed, appraising the area with sudden caution.

'But.. I don't feel anything.' Vash repeated hastily.

'You don't get electricuted when you try to look up skirts now, either. You might've noticed?' Wolfwood snapped. He wasn't stupid enough to make any sudden movements, but it suddenly felt every inch of skin of his body prickled as if pinned by scrutinous eyes.
Vash the Stampede blinked, then grinned like an idiot.

'Hey, yeah! Come to think of it, I spent most of yesterday thinking ab-'

'You tried to look up skirts?!' Meryl demanded, interupting him.

'Um... Emphasis on "try"?' Vash attempted, holding up his hands in the universal sign of "don't hurt me". 

'You used to get electricuted?' Milly asked innocently, cocking her head gently to one side.

'It was a censorship system thing.' Vash hastily explained, trying not to combust under Meryl's inferno of a death glare. 'Y'know? No Unholy thoughts allowed of Angels?' Aforementioned Guard blinked.

'...And the system was shut down, so the punishment no longer applies.' Meryl muttered, lowering her eyes in contemplation. One could almost see her tying the ends of logic together. The relieved grin that the impending pain had blown over was dropped hastily from Vash the Stampede's face. And was replaced with confusion.

'So if sensing Demons was a system thing... And the system no longer works... Then why is it that you can still feel them?' he asked Wolfwood pointedly. And again Wolfwood froze.

How was he going to get out of this one?

'Well, you see-' the smoking priest began hopelessly, black sunglasses pushed further up the bridge of his nose. He was trying to find an excuse to change the topic, but Fortune, as it did sometimes, bet him to it. The Winger was already trailing off into silence when voices drifted to the quartet from around the street corner.

'-round this corner sir! They're in this town!' the first distanced voice exclaimed in a muffled manner.

'What would Vash the Stampede be doing so close to Augusta?! Surely he knows he's got a bounty!' the second replied, shrinking proximity clearing the speech and increasing the volume.

'Don't know, sir! But they're there!'

'Get yourself some more Angels and head them off then!!'

4 individuals froze and exchanged somewhat panicked glances.

'Oh my.' Milly murmured.

'H-H-How did they find us?!' Meryl demanded in a fluster.

'No time!' Wolfwood snapped, then promptly herded the pair of Guards into the nearest building. To be perfectly honest, relief was the only emotion that dominated his head at current point in time. Relief that he no longer had to explain something he never wanted to explain in the first place, and relief that they were now inside and not out in the open... Larger than life under the scutiny of whoever might be watching.

The door to what turned out to be a house was all but kicked open. The crash of it hitting the wall and rebounding caused the little old lady by the stove of the dinky little room to jump. She spluttered to herself, ladle dripping, as 4 people barrelled into her home. Glancing around once, the four in mention then immediately headed for the stairs leading up at the back of the room.
Wolfwood was the first to pass the woman and he didn't even acknowledge her existence. Meryl was next and she had donned the expression of one who had broken laws, knew it and didn't like it at all. Thus why only a small apologetic glance was spared in her rational turmoil. Milly was after her and she paused, waved congenially, then jolted back into motion when she realized her Sempai was already heading up the stairs two at a time.
The last was the guilt ridden Humanoid Typhoon.

'Sorry 'bout this!' Vash blurted as he bounded past the little geriatric. He gave Milly a gentle push of reminded haste when she paused again at the stairs, and he used the break to glance apprehensively back at the door. Voices filtered through it from outside.
With one last wince, he began up the stone stairs.

'Damn...' Wolfwood muttered, turning and trying to find an exit to the small bedroom the four had inadvertedly broken into. He found none.

'What are you waiting for?!' Vash demanded when he reached the rest of the group, glancing surreptitiously down the stairs for pursuers.

'For a bloody exit to present itself!' Wolfwood snapped back.

'Out the window!' was the immediate and flustered reply. The priest turned at stared at the curtained escape as if it had grown fangs and was grinning.

'What, out there?' he managed, scowling his obvious disapproval.

'Why not?!' Meryl snapped. 'There's no other way of getting out of here!'

'Because we'll be in broad daylight, which is just like asking to be decapitated by any Demon that might just be waiting for us!' the dark haired Winger retorted waspishly.

'But we don't even know if there are any Demons out there...' Milly murmured, careful to remain aloft from the fluster everyone else had worked themselves into. Vash slammed the door to the bedroom shut as soon as voices suddenly appeared at the foot of the stairs.

'Hurry?' he implored apologetically.

A quick decision was by far better than no decision at all.

'Alright, let's go.' Wolfwood announced simply. He turned and pointed to Meryl. 'I'll go first, the you'll follow. Big Girl, you're next and Tongari'll take up the rear, ok?'

'Why you first?' Milly asked quickly, jumping when the door Vash was leaning against thumped against the blonde's back and started straining against it's hinges.

'So if there are Demons out there, my horrible and painful death will warn the rest of ya.' Wolfwood muttered sarcastically as he stood by the window. He managed to get the Punisher through the small opening and swung a leg over the frame after it.

'A brace or chair, please?' Vash queried, jolting as another assault on the door nearly toppled him. Milly hurriedly grabbed a hold of the bed to her right and began pulling it over.

'Hurry it up, Small Girl!' Wolfwood snapped, feet landing lightly on the roof outside. The Punisher was propped up on his back, it's huge cloth wrapped frame blotting out the sun like short, hard wings. 
With the surreal, metallic sound of a ricochet, the cross suddenly dipped to the left slightly. Wolfwood swore and ducked further under it's frame.

'Caine.' he snarled, peering cautiously over one arm of his enormous weapon. He recoiled when another bullet jolted the Punisher. 'Great..' He raised the volume for all ears. 'Any more bright ideas Tongari?!' he demanded heatedly, still clutching the window frame for dear life, trying to keep every inch of himself safely behind his giant gun.

'What's happening?' was the response from the other Winger. Vash helped Milly heave the bed into place in front of the door and finally raised his eyes.

'Caine the Longshot is sniping us!' Wolfwood snapped. 'Still wanna go and play in the sun?!'

'Where else can we go?!' the blonde complained. The priest swore, glanced around slightly, then leant back from the frame carefully to cast a cautious gaze down the rooftop. As soon as another bullet rocked his hefty sheild, he pulled himself back to the window.

'There's another window a couple of feeles to our left. If we can hop it over there without Caine lodging a bullet between our eyes, I think we can jump between the buildings easier. We're on the edge of a block here.'

'You mean we have to go out in that?' Meryl spluttered, wincing as some of the wood from the window frame was blown off. Splinters cascaded through the air and scattered across the carpeted floor.

'Does it look like we have a choice?' Wolfwood asked shortly. Satisfied, he rose slightly from his crouch, the bulky frame of the Punisher eclipsing the sun through the window. 'Come on, we haven't got all day.'

Meryl glared at him, cast a look back at Milly then took a breath. Scowling all the way, the short insurance worker ducked slightly and sidled up to the window. She jumped when another bullet ricocheted off the metal of the Cross Punisher, but resolutely pulled herself over the window frame and onto the rooftop, careful to keep Wolfwood between her and the wilderness.
Vash gave the bed one last hearty shove back into place, then jogged up to the window, herding Milly before him.

'How long do we have?' the Humanoid Typhoon asked simply.

'He's got six shots before he has to reload,' Wolfwood replied. 'He's already nearly killed me 4 times, so that's two more to go. As soon as he empties the last, you've got about 3 seconds before it's show time again... Think you can get the Big Girl over to shelter before then?'

'Piece of cake.' Vash acknowledged shortly with a shrug. Milly frowned in determination.

'Why does Sempai have to go first?' she demanded.

'Smaller of a target.' Wolfwood declared immediately. Meryl glared at him but took a breath.

'It's ok Milly. I think the plan is for this Demon to aim at us and use up the last of his ammunition. When it's your turn, he won't have anything to shoot.' she elaborated in the calm and even tone she used when discussing claims reports. Milly sniffled but nodded.

'We ready?' Wolfwood asked, wincing as he gauged the distance between this window and the next.

'Let's just get this over with.' Meryl muttered. 

With a short breath and a slight adjustment of footing, both pushed away from the window frame at the same time. And a split second later the first shot sounded. Instead of hauling it along with him, Wolfwood had slid away from his bulky sheild, tilting the Punisher slightly in the direction of the Small Insurance Girl's immediate flight route. As anticipated, Caine had been aiming in much the same direction. And, surprising both, Meryl had also anticipated this and had ducked around the place where she would've been had she tried to sprint for the window. She was already a few steps ahead of the Winger by the time he realized he'd been sheilding nothing.

Swearing under his breath but thankful for the opportunity to worry about his own health, the dark haired Guardian Angel immediately began stumbling over the shaky tiling. The first few feet were easy enough, because Caine was damn well aware that he had only one bullet left. But the roofing didn't take much to dislodge and the clumsy boot would doubless send a quite a heft of stone to the streets below. Ahead of him, Meryl had caught ahold of the next window and had managed to swing herself inside without much difficulty...

And a few heartbeats later, more feet sounded across the rooftop. Stumbling on the un-even shingles, Wolfwood twisted slightly. And swore again.

'I TOLD YOU TO WAIT!!' he shouted at Vash as both he and Milly sped their way across the rooftop. Vash seemed ready to answer, but his eyes widened and the 60 Billion Double Dollar Man suddenly slid to a jarring halt, his left arm thrust backwards in a blur of motion. The limb bucked slightly, torn leather revealing the glinting metal of his gun arm that Caine's last bullet had ricocheted off. Milly, who's head had been the original target, collided into the Humanoid Typhoon's halted frame.

Vash stumbled, waving arms in a bid to not fall down, but the Big Girl's foot slipped out from under her due to the loose tiling, and the pair fell to the rooftop in a mass of tangled limbs and red coat. But both out of the way and Wolfwood could now see the reason for their haste. Three Angels were struggling to fit out the window all at once. They were shouting at each other, seeming to be attempting to dislocate a few bones to make the cramped passage through the frame easier. They paused their quarrel to blink owlishly at Wolfwood as he snapped the buckles vindictively from his Cross Punisher. Then panicked as the giant gun was unleashed and aimed directly at them.

The dark haired Winger gave them 2 of the 3 seconds they had until Caine had reloaded to scramble back through the window. They amazingly managed to. With the snarl of one who had lost their patience long ago, Wolfwood let fly. Not halo nor feather could be seen peeking from the now mangled mess of a window.

And it was in those spared seconds that Vash had hauled Milly up and pulled her across the roof. They made it to their goal and tumbled somewhat ungracefully in... Just as a bullet hole lodged itself in the lentil above them.

'Dammit!' Wolfwood cursed aloud, all too aware that he was the sitting duck in the shooting gallery. Only one remedy for that.
He started running.

He was only a few steps to salvation when the shingles at his feet exploded in a shower of mortar and brick. Not having the time to stop, the priest's foot landed on the mess and instantly slipped out from under him.
As, no doubt, was the intention.

But instead of flailing about and trying to gain his footage again, Wolfwood allowed himself to hit the roof roughly and roll downwards. Which was just as well, because trying to gain footage again was like turning into a large, slow, black-clad target. The fact that a bullet whizzed past where his chest would've been was testimony of this theory.
The priest tensed as he continued his short, bone jarring tumble down the tiles... And managed to catch the sand gutter that skirted the roof with a boot. Bringing his immediate descent to a halt, he then used the leverage to instantly launch himself back into motion, albiet a little off balance. But the lack of speed was redeemed as this time the Punisher was being used as a sheild again.

Tiling shattering about him, the Punisher wrenching in his grip from the sniper slugs, Wolfwood managed to stumble the last steps to the window and throw himself through. He hit the carpet of the room within and skidded to a halt on his back.
Much panting ensued.

'Mr. Priest! Are you alright?!' Milly exclaimed, immediately hauling her Angel to a sitting position. Even if he didn't want to move, the force behind the lift was inexorable. So instead, the decided to use the inertia of her tug to attempt to get upright.

'How many Angels are chasing us?' he croaked in response, wincing as he stood.

'About 5.' Vash replied shortly. 'And it won't take them long to follow.' he added as an after thought.

'And Caine's not alone.' Wolfwood muttered.

'Can this possibly get any worse?' Meryl moaned, derringer notably in her hand. Milly bit her lower lip gently and asked in a hush,

'What do we do now?'

'We keep going.' Wolfwood replied simply. 'Out the other window. We jump buildings until we lose them.' Vash nodded and headed to the window on the opposite wall of their entry.

'I'll go first this time.' he declared firmly. Meryl nodded.

'Milly you go next and help Wolfwood through.' she turned her slate gaze to the window. 'I'll hold off anyone who tries to follow.'

'But-' Milly began, but was silenced when Wolfwood began making his way shakily after Vash. Aforementioned Stampede slipped through the window and deftly jumped to the next building.

'Come on, Big Girl.' Wolfwood implored, slowly catching his breath. 'The sooner we get outta here, the sooner this is over.'
Milly seemed to be having some conflict of decisions, but after a pause, she reluctantly made her way to the window. With a frown, she swung a leg over the frame and carefully maneuvered herself to the opposite building. Secure, she turned and reached a hand back to Wolfwood. He nodded, but turned back into the room.

'You come right after, got it? No stuffing around.' the priest warned to Meryl, flicking his cigarette and freeing it of ash all the while fixing her with a pointed stare.

'I got it!' Meryl snapped in reply, scowling. Content with this understanding, Wolfwood turned back to the window.
And froze.

Behind Milly's confused countenance, Vash's eyes were wide, a look of horror spread mercilessly over his features.

He instantly leant forward, managed to get a hand around one of Milly's wrists and pull her away from the window. In the same heartbeat, he waved his other hand hurriedly while shouting,

'DON'T! IT'S LEGAT-'

The window exploded.

After the dust, brick and mortar had finally come to smouldering rest on the scorched carpet, a very shocked Meryl and Wolfwood looked up to find that the roof had caved in.
It seemed tons of brick, mortar and roofing had formed an impenatrable wall between them and their counterparts. And considering that the legions of Heaven and Hell were all literally fighting for a piece of them, being split up wasn't all that good a thing to be.
Wolfwood and Meryl exchanged a glance.

To put it bluntly, this was bad.

 

-----*+*-----

 

-----AUTHOR'S NOTES-----

Lynda: Eeh... @_@ Um...
...
Sorry that this took all of about 3 weeks to write. ^^;; Things have been pretty lousy lately. So writing GWSTT was transformed from a hobby and into a chore. Which, when you think about it, should never, ever happen. -_-;;

A BIG thanks goes to Justin. Because you reassured me that feeling better should be top priority... And not churning out more chapters of this story. Well, I still churned one out, and surprisingly feel better for it happening. (I feel less guilty >:D) But I think you can tell I'm in a Bad-Lynda-Writing-Mood, because this chapter was pretty damn gross. @_@ Heh. I'll survive. >:D

Kuroneko: Myaaaa~

Lynda: Hmmm... A reassurance for me: this is the longest story I have written without dropping it. This is the only story that has a hope of being completed. It WILL be completed... >:(
... I need to write more; more often.

Sorry 'bout the delay. -_-;;