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Chapter 2: A Quiet Evening
“What would men be without
women? Scarce, sir, mighty scarce.”
-Mark Twain
************
A soft tapping noise cut down into the peaceful darkness mixed with a muffled voice. The voice drifted unintelligible through the air until it became clearer and higher. Vash took a deep breath as he woke, but kept his eyes closed. The lids felt heavy anyway and he entertained the thought of going back to sleep until Millie’s soft voice caught his attention.
“Is Mr. Vash still asleep?” he heard Millie whisper.
Vash didn’t hear a response, but he could just imagine Wolfwood nodding his head.
“Here then, I’ll just give this to you. Meryl and I made it so make sure Mr. Vash eats it all,” the girl said merrily.
“Alright.”
“And before it get cold,” she warned.
“Sure thing honey.”
Vash, on the bed, had to fight not to open his eyes wide in surprise. Honey? When had the ‘Big Girl’ become honey? And where had Wolfwood’s sudden cooperation come from?
Wolfwood shut the door and turned around with a container of soup in his hands and froze to find Vash smiling soft up at him. To his amazement the blonde wasn’t flashing him one of his phony smiles, but a genuine one. Wolfwood cleared his throat and sat the container down on the table.
“What are smiling about?” he asked gruffly.
To Wolfwood’s great displeasure Vash’s smile only widened.
“Nothing,” Vash responded innocently.
“Well, since your up you should eat this before it gets cold.”
Vash really had to struggle to keep from laughing. Never would he have imaged someday Wolfwood, of all people, would be telling him to eat his soup before it got cold. The thought was enough to send him into a huge laughing fit. The gunman bit his tongue though at Wolfwood’s glare. If Nick and Millie were becoming close, then he was happy for them, of course a little teasing was in order.
Vash pushed himself up into a sitting position and was disturbed to find how sluggish his muscles felt. He knew he wouldn’t be dogging anything for a while like this and hoped things would stay peaceful. He rose stiffly to his feet and walked over beside Wolfwood.
Although Vash was trying hard to hide it the priest noticed how dull his movements were and hide a frown.
“So Wolfwood, Millie is a good girl don’t you agree? Such a kind and pretty girl too,” Vash said innocently.
Wolfwood gawked at the question and the cigarette nearly fell from his mouth.
The image of Wolfwood staring at him blankly with his cigarette perched precariously on his lower lip was too much for Vash and the blonde man broke out in laughter. As soon as he started laughing Vash saw the tantrum coming. Wolfwood’s eyes narrowed and he saw the priest fist ball up.
The blonde danced around to the other side of the table to put some distance between the two as the dark-haired man lunged at him.
“Come on now preacher man, I’m sick remember?” Vash squeaked.
“Well hallelujah, you look like your moving better already,” Wolfwood answered as he stalked slowly around the table.
Vash’s eyes went wide as he dodged another lunge and side stepped to purposely keep the table between the two.
“If you keep that up you’ll end up spilling the girl’s soup and I’m not going to take the blame for it,” Vash said with a glint in his eyes as he dodged a few more attempts.
Wolfwood stopped in mid spring and glared at the blonde man.
“Well if you held still this would go a lot easier,” Wolfwood said calmly.
Vash smiled mischievously back at the priest. Deciding their foray was over for now Vash sat down at the table.
In actuality he was glad to sit down. They had only skirted around for a few minutes, but he was weary already. He couldn’t believe it. He had walked through the blazing desert for iles at a time and this short little run around the table had tired him out.
Vash turned to gaze out the window. The twin suns were low in the sky casting their golden sheen across the landscape and for a short while the harsh world looked warm and inviting. A bit of orange and red tinted the otherwise golden sky just above the horizon.
The blonde did not miss the significance of the near setting suns. It had been mid morning when he had laid down which meant he had slept most of the day. Most of the day and he was still a little exhausted, he thought with a sigh. Vash glanced over at Wolfwood. The other man sat at the table quietly, his face an unreadable calm mask.
“Millie said to eat that before it got cold,” Wolfwood began stoically, “and if you don’t I’m not going to tell her why.”
Vash did has the girls had instructed and ate the soup. Surprisingly his stomach did not protest the action this time. The two sat in silence as the blonde ate and Wolfwood smoked a cigarette. Vash was sure that if cigarettes were edible they would be the man’s favorite food.
Afterwards Vash felt somewhat better and decided to be polite and find the insurance girls and thank them. He rose from the table, grabbed his coat, and left the room with Wolfwood.
************
Meryl sat on the porch outside of their hotel. The hotel had a common room that doubled as a saloon and the dark-haired woman wasn’t in the mood to deal with the growing crowd inside, so she sat on the quieter porch outside. Millie had gone up to deliver the soup they had made and Meryl was left alone. She would have liked to check on Vash herself, but what would she say once she got up there? And if he was still resting Millie would definitely be the better one to deal with Mr. Wolfwood. She hoped Vash only had some sort of cold and that was it, because she didn’t like seeing him like she had this morning.
Meryl looked up as Millie stepped outside. She turned questioning eyes up to the brunette as Millie sat down beside Meryl.
“How is he?” she asked keeping her voice neutral.
“Apparently Mr. Vash is still asleep.”
“Still?” she said somewhat surprised.
“Don’t worry about it ma’ am. One time my big brother started feeling bad and he took a nap. He slept for so long that I was starting to get worried, but my big, big sis said to let him sleep and that rest was good for your body. And do you know what? When he woke up his cold was already gone, so maybe Mr. Vash will sleep it off.”
“Maybe your right Millie,” Meryl smiled at the other woman.
Millie returned the smile and, not caring that it was a normal chair with four legs, began rocking in the chair. The two sat out in the cool night air for a time talking about everything except men.
“Are you hungry?” Millie finally asked.
“Not really,” Meryl responded, “but you go ahead. I think I’ll stay out here for a little longer.”
Millie nodded to the other woman and headed back inside.
Meryl looked up to the stars and wondered what was going on upstairs.
************
Millie had just walked in the door when she saw Wolfwood and Vash coming down the stairs.
“Oh Mr. Vash your awake!” she called happily up to them.
“Are you feeling any better?” she asked once they had reached the bottom of the steps.
“Yea, Millie thanks. Your soup did the trick,” he said smiling at the woman.
Millie beamed at the news and smiled back.
“It was Meryl’s recipe actually. I was just going to get something to eat. Would you two like to join me?”
“I could use a bite,” Wolfwood said.
“I’m really not hungry anymore, thanks Millie,” Vash said softly.
“That’s okay. Meryl is outside,” Millie said before she turned with Wolfwood for the saloon / dinning area.
**************
“Do you mind?”
Meryl was startled out of her thoughts and looked up at the source of the voice.
“Vash!” she said somewhat surprised, “Not at all.”
Vash sat down in the seat Millie had vacated moments before.
“So, how do you, do you feel better?” Meryl asked frustrated with herself for stumbling over her words.
“Yes, thanks Meryl.”
“For what?”
“Millie said the soup was your recipe, thanks.”
Vash smiled at her as he spoke and Meryl felt her cheeks getting warm. She smiled back and quickly turned her gaze back up at the stars.
“It’s nice out tonight,” she commented changing the subject.
“Yea,” Vash muttered.
Had he not been feeling like the floor of the saloon he was sure it would have been a nice night. The night air was comfortable cool as the stars came out. The chill of the sandy planet’s nights hadn’t caught up with the air yet. The merry noises of the people inside floated out to the pair sitting outside. The stars shone brightly casting a pale silver light over the street and reflecting off of Meryl hair giving it a luminescent glow. Vash found himself staring and turned his attention somewhere else before Meryl caught him.
Sweeping his eyes over the empty street and finding nothing better to look at he finally looked up. His aquamarine eyes locked onto the plant peaking over the buildings. Immediately the same cold shiver went down his spine and the joyful noise from inside became eerily quiet. One second Vash was looking at the street and the next he was lying on the grass looking up at the woman sitting beside him.
“Rem?” he asked in confusion.
***********
Meryl was looking up at the stars without really seeing them. She could almost feel Vash’s eyes boring into her. Oh how she would have loved to turn and look into them, but she held herself back. Although it was rather noisy inside the silence outside was deafening for Meryl. Deciding to start a conversation about anything she turned back to Vash.
Just in time to see the blonde stiffen and she watched almost in slow motion as his eyes rolled back into his head. The gunman collapsed to the left overbalancing the chair and both fell over sideways.
“Vash!” Meryl cried as she scooted to her knees and bent over the man.
“Vash, can you hear me? Wake up,” she said firmly shaking the still form.
Meryl looked around desperately. There was no one on the street and she didn’t want to leave him. She seriously doubted anyone inside would hear her calls unless she screamed and she didn’t want to draw too much attention to Vash when he was like this. One never knew when a gunman looking for glory would pop up.
“I’ll be right back,” she said reassuringly and ran inside.
*************
“Rem, what’s wrong with me?” Vash asked.
“Why there’s nothing wrong with you Vash,” she answered with a laugh.
“Then why do I feel like I’m being drained somehow?”
Rem smiled sweetly down at him, her hair blowing in the gentle breeze.
“You just have to find your way.”
“My way, what do you mean?”
She didn’t answer him right away and looked longingly at the blue shy.
“I have faith in you Vash,” she finally said.
“I don’t understand.”
The wind picked up and to Vash’s dismay the image of Rem started to blow away with it.
“No, Rem wait,” he cried, “I don’t understand.”
She smiled at him once more then the whole landscape around him started to dim into nothingness painfully slow.
Suddenly the heavy silence that hung around Vash’s mind crumbled and noise flooded back to him. The laughter and shouts from the bar, people talking nearby, and Meryl’s worried voice directed at him.
“Vash come one wake up. Can you hear me? Is this what happened earlier?”
“No,” Wolfwood’s voice came out of nowhere, “he didn’t black out earlier.”
“Should we take Mr. Vash back up to the room?”
“Alright honey.”
Vash slowly opened blurry eyes to find Nick’s face right above him. Rem, no it was Meryl’s face, was hovering near him. Slowly her form became clear and he could see the worry in their blue gray depths.
“Good,” Wolfwood began, “now I don’t have to carry you up to the room.”
With the help of three sets of hands Vash sat up and had to close his eyes for the lightheadedness to pass.
“You don’t have to get up yet,” Meryl suggested.
Vash opened his eyes and smiled at Meryl.
“It’s alright, really. What happened?”
“I was just about to ask you that,” Wolfwood chimed in.
“I don’t know, but I think I know someplace I need to check out.”
“You can’t seriously be thinking of going anywhere like this,” Meryl said sternly.
“Meryl is right, you don’t look well Mr. Vash.”
“It can wait until the morning, would that make everyone happy?” Vash said a bit annoyed.
“Alright, but you are not going anywhere along while you are sick, do you hear me?” Meryl demanded.
So back up to the room Vash went with Wolfwood again. This almost seemed to be a habit, Vash thought with a sigh. Well, he would keep his promise in that he was going to wait until the morning, because he was just too tired to go anywhere tonight, but whether the girls went along would be another matter.
Vash had no idea what he would find tomorrow and he didn’t like the thought of putting the insurance girls into such unknown danger.
Ch.1 / Ch.2 / Ch.4 / Ch.5 / Ch.6