-----Gossamer Wings and Sweet Tasting Things-----


---A Trigun Fanfiction---

 


-----DISCLAIMER-----


... One day I'm going to get to write a
"Claimer" and won't THAT be a pretty day!
But not for Trigun. Because I don't own it.
No profit, only hours lost on it.


 


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

Lynda:  Hokay, time to reply to some of those reviews...
Cymberleah ma'am: Heh. Hey, typos are apart of my writing! It's intentional, I swear! **sniggers** I'll clean the fic up before I upload the very last chapter, I think...
A. Metallium: Hehehe... Hentai? Nah, I was contemplating the same thing... >:D Only I'm too evil to let them get what they want so easily... Nyuk nyuk.
Jaz: O_o;; Good point! But, alas, that is a spoiler. Wait till the next chapter and ALL will be explained. I mean it. ALL.
K. Sharpe: Yep. Lost. I know. Blame my lack of story telling skill. -_-;; And the change in pace. Things will click together soon.
M. Eriks: A spanner, my wonderfulous friend, is like a wrench. Yep. i.e. one of those tool thingies that you throw in cogs to make things go creeeak BOOM!
K. Mama: I totally agree. But, unfortunately, it needed to be there. Pah! And I use a tablet, yesh. ^^;; Plus Photoshop. Heh. And BJ? I'm sure he'd love to hook up with you. **glares at creation. Creation grins back lasciviously** 
... **gags**

I'll keep writing, yes?

Kuroneko: Mya!

 


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

 

And the stars came out; dotting the sky and twinkling brightly as if there were, ironically, no tomorrow. The brilliance of their presence reflected, glinting, off the thick glass of the Plant bulb which lay nestled under the navy canopy of space. And beneath the power Plant, 4 people huddled around the makings of a fire. 
It was burning merrily away to itself now, but the quartet sitting around it were blinking in a desperate bid to cleanse the flare still burnt into the backs of their eyes.

Vash the Stampede had a slightly singed counternance... Being that while he had been puffing gently on the embers and small tendrils of the budding fire in an attempt to make it grow, Wolfwood had tipped a drop of whiskey over the flames. The resulting mini-mushroom of smoke and heat had amazingly spared the outlaw his eyebrows.
The priest in mention seemed close to laughing himself into a premature death, Milly had set about unpacking the rest of the bottles and seemed completely unaware that a small explosion had up ended a stuttering 60 Billion Double Dollar man, and the outlaw himself was trying to rub the ash of his face the end of his red coat.
Meryl seemed either too horrified at the alchohol or too incensed at the health hazardous fire starting to speak. Either way, she was oddly silent.

Until Milly handed her over her first drink.

'There's got to be a better way of spending my last day of existence.' Meryl murmured, glaring at the small glass of amber liquid. Vash, finished with repairing his appearance, leant over and elbowed his guard in the ribs. The congenial gesture scored a deeper scowl from the short woman.

'Bottoms up, Insurance Girl! We've got a lot to get through!' he declared loudly, swaying slightly as he motioned to the still half packed crates Milly was tending to. Meryl's eyebrow twitched.

'You seem to be doing just fine by yourself!' she snapped back in poorly repressed ire. 'I saw you! Don't deny you snuck a few drinks in while we were looking for something to start the fire on!'

'Well, then you'll just have to catch up.' Wolfwood replied easily, reclining back against a convenient rock and taking a swig of the bottle he held.

'Isn't this fun, Sempai?' Milly asked cheerily. She sat with her legs folded beneath her and fingers knitted about her own glass as if it were a mug of hot chocolate, a silly and overly broad grin splayed across her flushed face. The first button to her over coat was undone.

'How many have you had?!' Meryl demanded in horror.

'Um...' the Big Girl mumbled through pursed lips. Her head cocked almost comically to the side as a frown replaced her grin in concentration.

'Three.' Wolfwood supplied, grinning.

'Tha's right!' Milly reasserted, impervious that her raising of her glass had spilt some of the liquid therein into the fire again, flaring it up dangerously.

'Oh god...' was the short Claims Investigator's only assessment.

'Okay, enough talk! Let's get this show under the road, right Insurance Girl?' Vash suddenly declared, striking a pose where he sat. A gaudy tie had mysteriously appeared around his forehead as a makeshift bandanna.

'Hardly.' Meryl retorted, eyeing the green and orange striped monstrocity suspiciously. 'I'm still thinking about it.' she added, closing her eyes and sitting primly with a slightly supercillious expression on her face. Her Guardian Angel snorted into his glass.

'Sure, sure. Sounds good to me.' he consoled. 'You'll probably be floored after a couple of drinks, anyway. I mean, there's not much of you. It'd best if you wait a bit bef-'

'What?' the slate eyed woman queried in a deathly calm voice, eyes snapping open as a single eyebrow arched dangerously. Vash raised his hands in ceasefire.

'Hey, it's ok to be not able to hold your alchohol!' he asserted hurriedly, grinning. 'I know plenty of people who are... Out of it... After... The...' The reassurance trailed off to a weak halt as the subject in whom it was being delivered had just downed her glass of whiskey in one irate gulp.
Then slammed the empty vessle down on the ground in front of her and folded her arms victoriously.

'YAAAY Sempai!!' Milly cheered, clapping.

Wolfwood and Vash blinked as one entity, then stared. 
And stared some more as they awaited the traditional wheezing, coughing and tears that usually accompanied an individual's first whiskey.
None of the above symptoms ever came.

'Umm... I don't think... You're supposed to drink it that fast.' Vash observed weakly, all but squinting at his guard for the proof that she had just sculled a substancial glass of hard liquor. She simply glared ahead at nothing in particular. Wolfwood coughed.

'Uh. How was it?' he queried carefully.

'It tasted terrible.' Meryl declared simply. 'Why the hell do people bother?! Give me another.'
Silence.

Then, slowly, Vash reached forward and poured the woman her requested glass which much the same trepidation as one would have when preparing to prod a tiger in the eye with a fork. Meryl picked it up and switched her intense glare to the glass.

'Just sip it.' Vash offered hurriedly when she raised it to her lips. Then grimaced and added, 'Occasionally.' His Guard scowled at him then replaced her drink on the cold, rocky ground.

'You can't sip something that smells this bad!' she retorted waspishly.

'We've got vodka?' Wolfwood suggested, eyeing her glass.

'And gin.' Vash added.

'Port?'

'Rum?'

'Don't be silly.' Milly interrupted the pair sternly. She sniffed and unfolded her arms to pick up several of her own bottles. With the now available view, Meryl noted, with some horror, that the second of the girl's coat buttons had mysteriously popped open. 
The Big Girl laid down a small shot glass, then began the meticulous task of pouring in two different liquids. 'She needs something sweeter!' she scolded.

'Sweeter...' Meryl repeated weakly.

'That's right! And something to gulp... Right, Sempai?' Milly asked, finished with her delicate work then carefully handing the duel layered cocktail to her friend. The short Insurance Girl took it as if handling a bomb.

'Shots. Good idea.' Vash stated firmly, then grinned enthusiastically when Milly handed him his drink.

'When did you learn to mix "Cowboy"s, Big Girl?' Wolfwood asked, raising his eyebrows in intrigue.

'Middle Big Brother is a bar tender. Did I tell you that?' the taller of the girls replied brightly, carefully mixing two more drinks.

'Thats... Jimmy? 5th Thompson child?' one smoking priest attempted.

'That's right! Wow, you're getting really good, Mr. Wolfwood!' Milly confirmed happily, a giggle escaping her lips and reddening her already flushed cheeks. She handed him his shot glass and, content that everyone had something in their hand, she raised her own. Over the other side of the outdoor hearth, Vash followed her lead.

'Down the Hatch.' he quoted happily, grin threatening to remove the top of his head. Meryl glared at her small glass. The small section of clear, amber liquid sloshed about merrily under her gaze and it was capped near perfectly off with a thicker, creamier alchohol. The whole thing, in her obvious opinion, seemed dangerously mysterious.
Slowly, brow furrowing at much the same pace as her words were being developed, she said,

'...And this is called a Cowboy, is it?'

'Well, yes. But that's not the full name.' Milly elaborated, nodding her head and frowning happily to herself. The shorter of the pair raised the drink in mention to her lips and genteely tested the top layer with her tongue. It was sweet.

'What's the full name then?' the small Claims Investigator then asked.

And Milly told her.

And Meryl flushed an instantaneous deep scarlet as the connection between shotting alchohol and the origins of the overly sexual name for her drink slid together like monoliths mating.

'I'M NOT DRINKING SOMETHING CALLED THAT!!' she shouted in shock, nearly dropping the small shot glass in her embarassment. 
Vash spluttered and choked loudly next to her, immediately doubling over. The reason for this being that he'd been halfway through his own shot when a spontaneous laugh had attempted burst it's way from his preoccupied throat.
Much coughing, wheezing, husky chortles and mirth spawned tears followed.

Over the other side of the fire, Wolfwood had smothered his mouth with a hand and his broad shoulders were to be seen shaking slightly in caged jocularity.
Milly blinked innocently.

'Why not?' she murmured in geniune confusion. 'It's simple, Sempai, really! Look!' With that, the Big Girl lifted her glass, tilted back her head gently, then poured the contents of the tiny vessle down her throat in one fluid movement. Silence ensued.
Then, at Meryl's silent, aghast and extremely red counternance over Milly's demonstration, both Vash and Wolfwood didn't bother attempted to hide the jocundity of the situation. 
With one loud bark of a laugh, Vash failed to remain upright and he tilted gently to the rocky ground, shaking all the way. Wolfwood in turn gave up stifling his laughter and the resulting explosion of hilarity spilt his own drink over his hand. Before long the pair of them were guffawing themselves into an episode.

'Well, go on!' Milly urged, grinning and completely impervious to the cackling pair of Angels.

Scowling at their two indisposed companions, Meryl huffed in a desperate and irked bid to quell the raging blush that had conquered her cheeks, then glared at her glass. Some of the top layer had spilled over the rim in her chagrin, and it made her fingers sticky. But, resolutely, the small woman took a huge breath and tossed back the shot with a bitter grimace.
She held her breath until the entirety of the alchohol was curling about her stomach and spreading it's warmth there, then finally allowed her breath to escape; slowly. She glared at the empty glass.

'YAAAAY SEMPAI!!' Milly cheered, throwing her arms up in the air. Wolfwood, one hand wiping away stray tears and the other navigating a vodka bottle between the empty glasses, finally managed to speak between the post hysteric giggles.

'I think we'll stick to the simple stuff before you kill me.' he admitted, chuckling.

'Fi-Fillerup, Wolfwood!' Vash finally sniggered, hauling himself back into a sitting position. The round of glasses were quickly refilled. And then drained.
Slowly, like a blanket finding her tongue and muting it, Meryl found the drinks sliding down easier and easier with each glass. Before long, she barely tasted it at all.

And so the first few moments of the tryst passed. Gradually; awkwardly at first, but steadily enough considering that each of the people present had their own pace of drinking.
Milly, of all people, seemed to quickest to finish her round. And it was while she was awaiting her friends to catch up that she was staring into the fire. The orange hue from the flames cast warm and smooth highlights across her face, dancing with the shadows and staining her flushed appearance an earthier tone than before.
It was into this light that she frowned.

'It's hot.' the Big Girl declared suddenly.

'Don't sit so close to the fire, then.' Meryl replied instantly, gazing distractedly at the rest of her own drink and wondering for a moment why it wasn't full.

'I'm getting soo-oo hot.' Milly repeated, her words disjointing oddly. 
Her shorter partner sniffed slightly in her own form of nonchalance, letting the situation slip momentarily from her attention... Then snapping her head up instantly within the same split-second that the first "wowee" escaped the sky blue eyed woman's lips.

'M-Milly, don't do that here!' Meryl blurted in advance, flapping her free hand about hurriedly.

'Do-Do what? Sempai?' was the muffled reply; muffled, considering that Milly was having a good go at navigating her suddenly uncoordinated body from her overly large cover-coat. With a huge, relieved huff, the tall woman finally struggled from it's thick materialled entirety and flung it from her frame to land somewhere to their left. She settled down again, momentarily content.
Then pursed her lips and frowned again.

'What's wrong, Insurance G-Girl?' Vash asked Meryl, nudging her in the ribs. 'You wouldn't let the Big Girl spen- spontir- spontane- comboost... You wouldn't let her fry, would you?'

'It's not that!' Meryl replied indignantly, but her tone was slightly relieved. She settled back down. Her relaxation, however, was short-lived, because before long, Milly was back to struggling with the first couple of buttons of her white office shirt.

'MI-MILLY! I knew I shouldn't have let her have too many!' Meryl blurted in a panicked fluster as she desperately, if not futilely, attempted to unfold her legs. Her distressed complaints were somewhat muffled by the sudden cheer that went up about the fire.

'To the Big Girl!' Vash suddenly shouted, sniggering as he and Wolfwood leant forward and tapped their drinks together in a toast. Content with the appreciative little tinkle of glass meeting glass, the 60 Billion Double Dollar man twisted in his seat and lifted up Meryl's alchohol occupied hand and steered her to salute in much the same fashion.
The woman in mention managed to, after blinking her eyes several times, to stutter,

'D-Don- Oh, just stop her before she embarrasses herself!'

'There's nothing embarrassing about taking off clothes.' Wolfwood replied indignantly, motioning with one hand for his Guard to continue. Milly blinked back at him. She had paused a fraction of the way through her liberation of her clothed state when the toasts had taken place and now she seemed to be awaiting, despondently, for someone to tap glasses with.
Meryl rolled her eyes.

'To striping.' she said in a sarcastically monotone voice. The sentiment had been followed with a raising of her spirits in Milly's direction, but she was to be surprised when the majority of the contents were instantly spilled when three enthusiastic glasses were slammed against hers; accompanied by an ardent chorus of "to striping!!".
Then further more horrified when Milly returned to her buttons and Wolfwood started shrugging out of his black coat.

'I WAS BEING SARCASTIC!!' Meryl shouted hurriedly, finally managing to get to her feet. A black coat was thrown over her counternance. It fell from her face and into her waiting arms.

'Really?' Wolfwood asked casually as he methodically began popping buttons from his shirt. Vash was laughing himself to the ground again. Meryl's brain finally caught up with her blushing face.

'Y-Y-YOU C-C-CAN'T DO THAT HERE!!' was the next flustered and stuttering statement from the smallest of the odd group, panic rising the pitch to tones hitherto unexplored. Next to the smoking priest, Milly had stopped her endeavor in surprise and she began laughing somewhat childishly in her excitable mirth.

'TO WOLFWOOD!' Vash shouted when he had righted himself, regardless that jocularity still danced in his cyan eyes.

'How can you-' Meryl attempted, only to be cut off when a white shirt was thrown onto the bundle in her already occupied arms.

'To me!' Wolfwood reasserted, lounging back against his rock and toasting himself with such a nonchalant attitude that one could almost forget the small irrelevant fact that he was, in fact, naked from the waist up.

'YAAAY MR. WOLFWOOD!' Milly cheered, then clinked her glass against his happily.

'Am I the only one who-' the small Claims Investigator endeavored again, only to, once again, be cut off.

'To the Insurance Girl!' was the Humanoid Typhoon's next salute.

'To the Insurance Girl!' Wolfwood and Milly affirmed fervently in unison.

'To Big Stupid Morons with Spikey Hair!' Meryl snapped in a contumelious manner, dumping the bundle of clothes on the dusty ground and sitting herself down. She was echoed immediately in a much more blithe fashion, more crystalline tinklings indicating the tradition of toasting was continuing, insult or no.

'And here's to ungrateful Guards!' Vash retorted haughtily, casting a quick and puerile glance at aforementioned Guard out the corner of his eye. Wolfwood and Milly, regardless of the battle that was going on, repeated the sentiment happily and tapped their glasses together.
The smoking priest suddenly sat up and grinned.

'Speaking of which, here's to Blowing up Typewriters!'

'Hey- Tha- Wh- You!' Vash stuttered.

'WHAT?!' Meryl snapped, instantaneously.

'And to trying to spy on your Guard in the shower and nearly dying! AGAIN!' the 60 Billion Double Dollar Man retorted quickly, not to mention somewhat vindictively.

'TO PUDDING!' Milly shouted, caught up in her own little world and impervious that her Guardian Angel seemed ready to throw a bottle at the smug head of his blonde counterpart.

'And banana Sundaes.' Meryl reminded sedately, raising her glass and having it buck slightly under the barrage of fellow vessles.

'Donuts!' Vash cheered.

'Here's to cigarettes!'

... And so the night went on. 

The inky, thick light of the fire cast itself, and reflected, off of the glass of the Plant bulb above the quartet, dancing for the darkness within. And still the toasts came. It said something for the consumption of alchohol that, in the end, even Wolfwood began saluting things like puppies and rainbows, along with the odd insult or accusation.

But it was when the 5th moon had risen from behind the metal curve of the Plant's support arm that the night grew colder. In more ways than one.

Meryl had just raised her glass to the toasting of Cat Cults when the group turned to Vash for his turn to praise some obscure and random facet of reality.
The ridiculous orange and green bandanna he donned had slipped slightly from his forehead and it hung limply over two eyebrows, the tied tail falling across the blonde's eyes. With the back of his hand, the Outlaw pushed the material aside and grinned broadly at the group. 

His surreal ocean gaze swept each face in turn, yellow flickering as the light from the fire caught the deep oculus of his eyes.
He opened his mouth.

Then abruptly shut it again.

Something dark and melancholy filtered across that gentle face and Meryl shivered, instantly.
Slowly, Vash the Stampede smiled morbidly.
And raised his glass.

'Here's to the End of the World.' he said simply, quietly.
The silence that met him was long, stifling and mildly painful.

Then, at a deliberate pace, Wolfwood shifted forward and clinked his glass against that already raised.

'To the End of the World.' he repeated softly.

As the pair of Angels settled back down, each individual turned their fuzzy thoughts to the topic so ardently avoided for the entire night. It was not to be ignored, now, and eventually Meryl sighed loudly.

'Here's to what could have been beautiful.' she declared. Each member about the camp-fire nodded once.

'To Friends and Family.' Milly offered sadly, an obvious shiver causing her glass to shake slightly. She shifted closer to the fire.

'And here's to an Eden stolen.' Wolfwood announced. He reached over and snagged his white shirt with one hand, then began the slow and deliberate motions of shrugging it on. Due to the unrelented hold one hand had on his glass, he left the cloth unbuttoned and open to the sudden chill.
And, again, all eyes turned to Vash the Stampede.

The blonde smiled softly before stating in an equally gentle tone,

'To a life too long, and a death too short.'

And that was it. 
The fire still burned, but it was cold. The stars still shone, but they were dull. The alchohol was still plentiful, but it was bitter.

'Bugger this. Who's goddamn idea was it to waste our last moments on this planet drinking?!' Wolfwood demanded, tossing his glass away.

'Yours.' Meryl replied evenly, emotionlessly.

'Well, I ain't gonna waste it like this.' the smoking man declared. He sniffed, scowled slightly into the camp-fire in obvious thought, then raised his face and announced, 'I'm going for a walk.'
He stood and brushed off his black pants.

'I-I-I'm co... I'm coming.' Milly stuttered weakly. She'd been hugging her knees to her chest in a bid for an elusive bit of warmth, but she suddenly struggled to her feet, hands contracted into worried fists. Wolfwood nodded at her in acknowledgement, then turned a smokey gaze on the two still sitting by the fire.

'See ya back.' he said eventually, then turned and began walking away from the Plant.
Milly cast one look back at Meryl and Vash before sniffing slightly and jogging the distance to catch up to her Guardian Angel.

The wind picked up. 

And the fire, glowing weakly as an ember, snuffed out.

 

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

 

This, Wolfwood had to conceed, was not the way he would've liked to spend his last moments on Gunsmoke.
Here he was, under the stars, the excuse of one's last moments alive under his belt and the confidence alchohol tended to give one... Not to mention the fact that he knew damn well what he wanted to dedicate his rapidly running out time on...

So why was he crouching behind a rock spying on Tongari?!

'SHH!' Milly hissed, completely and utterly enthralled with the camp-side scene that, evidently, was as uneventful as behind this rock was. And had been for the past 10 minutes or so.
Wolfwood allowed his eyebrow to rise in ire, and he contemplated several ways of turning the situation his way. Each seemed asking to be Stun-Guned.

'This sucks.' he noted aloud, rocking back on his haunches and huffing up at the sky, watching the crisp cloud of his breath billow out to the stars.

Sucked, because he'd always considered himself a brave man. He could stare down the barrel of a gun. He could carry the weight of people's very lives on his shoulders. He could place friends on a rational set of scales and monitor the outcome. He faced his darker side and survived...

It sucked because despite this, he couldn't say a single thing to the woman beside him.

'What's the matter, Mr. Wolfwood?' Milly asked when he made a small noise of frustration, blinking innocently and amazingly turning away from her spy spot.

'Listen, Honey,' the priest attempted, facing her. 'Do you really want to spend your last moments of living watching Tongari and the Small Girl count the rocks?'
His Guard blinked back at him.

'Don't you find it wonderful that Sempai and Mr. Vash have each other?' she asked in genuine surprise.

Wolfwood failed to answer. "Have each other" seemed possibly the wrong term to use, as both individuals in mention seemed, at this moment, to be very successful at ignoring the other's immediate existence.

'I just know they'd be happy if they had a little time.' Milly continued when he held his silence, turning back to her vantage point with a small smile on her face. 'I really hope Mr. Vash tries his best. I have to find out what happens, because if they can be happy, I think I can let things end this way...'

Silence stretched it's guileful fingers through the air and time. It was slow, languid and heady...
The only thing fast was the speed in which Wolfwood's thoughts were racing.

'You're serious.' the black-haired Winger finally managed, eyes wide and incredulous. 'You're really serious. You'd be happy if someone else is, even if it's the last thing that happens.' His sentence wavered when he shook his head in disbelief. Milly turned back to him.
Her eyes said, in multitudes, what her lips could not.

'Wouldn't you?' she asked.

They held eye contact. And the strength of the bond tethered time into a struggling trickle, stifling and intense.

Then it was all shattered when a surprised shout sliced through the air from the clearing.

As one entity, Wolfwood and Milly leapt to their feet and dashed toward the thrumming and glowing Plant.

 

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

 

'So.' Vash said awkwardly, elbows rested on his knees and fingers steepling casually between them.

'So.' Meryl repeated. She had found herself an old, thin bit of piping, and she was prodding the dead fire in a futile attempt to nudge some life back into it. After a few half-hearted attempts, she let the lead fall to the rocky ground with an odd sound.

The silence, previously rendered by the crankling of the flames, now fabricated itself with the gentle thrumming of the Plant behind them.

'This sucks.' the small Insurance Girl declared suddenly, staring scathingly at the ashes.

'Tell me about it.' Vash muttered.

Yes, this did suck. It sucked because there was a time in his very long life when he had too much Time. He had the eternity some wished for and he had hoped desperately to rid himself of it.

And here he was hating the number that had been placed, inexorable, besides his hours alive. Hating the fact that beside this number was a sudden list of "things to do" that hadn't really been catered to a time limit. 
And the things on this list were infuriatingly nameless.

How could he describe this nagging need he felt? Vash the Stampede had always assumed that being with his friends before he died would be enough. But here he was and desperation was rendering him useless. The very presence of said friends seemed to annunciate a gap that was almost painful.
There was something he needed to do, needed to be before he died and and it was horribly obvious that he wasn't there yet.

And he had no time to find out.

'What are you laughing at?' Meryl asked, and Vash found that, yes, he had been chuckling aloud in an entirely mirthless manner. He cast her a glance, then immediately wished he hadn't.
That desperation had flared.

'I-I was just thinking...' he stuttered, hurriedly turning his attention back to the ashes of what had once been a fire. 'I've... Had so much time in my life... And now I have none. Right when I need it the most.'

'That's right.' his Guard murmured. '"To a Life too long, and a Death too short"' she quoted. 'I don't think I understood what you meant.'

'Just that.' Vash replied enigmatically, knitting his fingers together.

'You don't seem all that old.' Meryl pointed out. Her Guardian Angel snorted dirisively, bitterly. Not to be detered, the young woman continued with, 'You can't be more than 27 years at the most.'

'You've forgotten to add my time as an Angel on to my life.' Vash pointed out, nudging a stone with his boot. 'It all adds up.'

'Oh yeah... Angel.' Meryl murmured.

A cold wind swept warmth, sound and comfort from the scene. The small Insurance Worker shivered in the chill.

'I keep forgetting.' she sighed eventually. Then, after a lengthy pause, 'Actually, I still don't believe it.' she admitted.

'Why not?' was the quiet reply.

'Why should I? It doesn't make sense, and it never has. So far, I haven't seen actual proof that you are an An-'

Meryl was cut off when, with a dazzling and blinding spark of white, luminance crackled and spilled from the shoulder blades of the man sitting beside her. With a squeak, she jumped slightly, but before she could scramble to her feet, one glowing wing had cupped gracefully about her.

'Is that proof enough?' Vash asked, managing a grin.

'Th-Th-Those are wings.' the small Insurance Girl stuttered, as if naming it would make it any better.
And Vash laughed.

Then blinked in surprised.

So that's what that desperation is. He mused, staring long and hard at his Guard as she gingerly prodded a feather that had tousled her sleek, obsidian hair. A confused and determined frown had stolen her features, and one could almost see the logical thought process whir into overdrive.
After twisting the gossamer feather in her fingers, she released it then tucked the few rampant strands of hair the plume had stirred behind her ear.

And looked up.

'What?' she asked, blinking.

'Hm?' Vash managed, blinking along with her.

'You're staring.' Meryl noted, frowning slightly.

'Sorry.' was the habitual reply.

Silence.

'You're still staring.'

'I am not.'

'You are.'

'Sorry.'

'No you're not.' Meryl managed in a soft and almost scared little voice.

'You're right, I'm not.' Vash admitted, then blinked when he realized the sentence left his lips.
He wasn't sorry. He was extremely aware, that's what he was.
And Vash the Stampede, Humanoid Typhoon and 60 Billion Double Dollar Man suddenly knew exactly what he wanted from life.
And he suddenly knew where it could be found.

And knew that he didn't have to hold back anymore.

With a small and almost relieved little breath, Vash leant closer into the soft, wonderful proximity of his Guard. And -

And excitement, bubbling in waves of pure shock and panic. Writhing, gripping and dibilitating. Battering as insistently as the ocean at the shore-

'WHATHENRGL?!?' the Humanoid Typhoon shouted out loud, surprise throwing him back to the ground like a punch would to the side of the head, the mental shout thundering in his ears and drawing a tortured ringing from them.
Somewhere back in the normal audio of the world, Meryl was demanding what was wrong in an extremely embarrassed fluster.

But Vash wasn't listening. The Plant above them was relaying a message to his brother Knives with such ardor that it was near defeaning. And the blonde Winger could hear every snippet of information being said.

'What the hell happened?!' Wolfwood demanded after what seemed an infinitude. The white wash of buzzing that had accompanied the finished Plant ebbed along with the surreal timelessness it had induced.
Vash realized that minutes had passed.

'But it doesn't matter, because we have all the minutes in the world.' he croaked aloud, struggling to sit up. Several hands helped him do so.

'What?!'

'He's babbling nonsense. Small Girl, slap him!'

'I have! He didn't even notice!'

'Nonono-' Vash managed, hauling himself to his feet. He clutched his head, then shook it.
Then laughed.

'God, he has lost his mind.' Meryl murmured.

'It's not over!' the Humanoid Typhoon suddenly shouted, making them jump. At their incredulous gazes, he said, 'It's not over! R-Rem has the trigger to the Apocalypse! Knives can't do anything unless he has it! And Rem has it!'

'Tongari, you're not making sense.' Wolfwood noted in much the same tone of voice one would use on an idiot. Vash waved an irritable hand at him, then began striding off away from the clearing. Shocked, the trio behind him instinctually followed.

'I'm making perfect sense.' the blonde retorted. 'The Plants... The Plants have been reporting to Knives. There's a key to the Apocalypse, and Rem got a hold of it! Which means if we can find her before Knives or anyone else does, we can stop the War!'

'But-But who- Where is this Rem?' Meryl demanded, her purposeful stride keeping her alongside her Guardian Angel. Vash cast her a glance, then grinned.

'Augusta.'

 


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

 

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

Lynda: ^^;; **sniggers** Moi, a wee bit o' calmness to fill in the necessary gap between here and next... **sniggers some more** FINALLY!! You've all got your bloody Wolfwood "strip" scene, so you have no excuse to beat me anymore!! Despite the lack of anything interesting/erotic/descriptive... HAHAHAHAHAH!!! **strikes pose then winces when all the old prod marks flare up again** Mou...

Hokay, that's it. No more writhing in suspense as I've been told I'm making some people do. ^^;; The next chapter should explain ALL. Just WHAT is in the guitar case?! What's with the Angelinas and why are they acting so weird lately?! What EXACTLY is Knives doing?! How do Fate and Death tie into things?! Who are Rem and BJ going to see?! How are the Plants involved?!
Awwwgawd... Due to tying every single random thread in my story together, the chapter is going to be monolithic. I'm not going to give two hoots about the word count so it's going to be HUGE. i.e. Very little Authors notes.
Let's see how quick it comes... >_<