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Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun, although I wish I owned Vash and Wolfwood. They are the property of Yasuhiro Nightow, Young King Ours, and Madhouse.
Warning: spoiler concerning
Wolfwood.
*************
Chapter 3: A Bright Morning
"Everywhere is within walking
distance if you have the time."
-Steven Wright
*************
The next time Vash woke up the pale light of the double suns was just beginning to peak into the room. With a relieved sigh he realized that he did not feel quite as tired now, although he still felt sluggish. Still on the bed the gunman glanced over at Wolfwood. The priest was sprawled out on his bed with the covers bundled over him. Vash sat up and stretched. Looking at Wolfwood again a mischievous glint came to his eyes. He rose quietly and tip toed over to were Wolfwood lay asleep. Vash made it almost to the bed before Wolfwood’s muffled voice resounded from somewhere in the covers.
“Don’t even think about it,” the priest warned.
Vash stopped mid step and froze. The action made in over balance a little and he swung his arms back and forth to get his balance.
“But how…” he stumbled.
“Don’t worry about it,” Wolfwood cut in.
“You had to have been…”
Wolfwood sat up suddenly throwing the covers back.
“A man can’t even get any sleep while your around you know that?” he asked testily.
Vash smiled nervously and scratched the back of his head.
“Umm..”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Wolfwood cut the gunman off again.
Vash smiled once more and quickly headed off towards the bathroom leaving one very irate priest behind.
**************
Twenty minute later two bleary-eyed figures crept silently down the stairs of the hotel. There was really no reason to wake the insurance girls after all. Meryl had warned Vash about going out by himself, and well, Wolfwood was with him. At least that was how they saw it.
“So where are we going?” Wolfwood asked once they had cleared the stairs and made it outside.
Vash led Wolfwood’s gaze up to the plant poking over the tops of the buildings.
“Oh, so why there?”
“I don’t know, but I just need to check on things,” Vash answered simply.
Wolfwood merely shrugged, slung the huge cross over his shoulder, and started walking. Vash glanced back at the hotel and to the two figures hidden inside and turned to follow Wolfwood.
*************
Meryl woke up to the twin suns shining brightly into her and Millie’s room. Millie was snoring softly in the bed across the room. With a yawn the small woman sat up in bed. Without waking her partner she went about getting dressed.
Meryl left the room quietly and headed to the room Vash and Wolfwood were staying in. Not wanting to wake them if they were still asleep the dark-haired woman knocked as quietly as she could. When she received no answer she assumed both the men were still resting.
It was then, as she turned to leave, that Meryl remembered that Vash had said he wanted to go and check someplace out today. The small woman became suspicious of the silence. They wouldn’t, would they?
Meryl knocked on the door louder this time. Still no answer. Gathering her nerve and her ire she opened the door to find the room empty. The small woman’s fist balled at her sides and she couldn’t help the scowl that came to her face. She should have known! The dark-haired woman stormed back to her room and threw open the door startling Millie out of her sleep. Millie shot up in bed and turned to Meryl.
“What’s wrong ma’ am?”
“That idiot is gone!” Meryl hissed.
“Uh… do you Mr. Vash or Mr. Wolfwood?” Millie asked a bit confused from just waking up.
“Both!” Meryl practically shouted.
“Oh.”
“Were would they have gone? Doesn’t he even care if he’s not well?” Meryl mumbled as she started to pace the room.
“They probably went to the plant,” Millie chimed in.
“What? Why would you say that?”
“Well,” Millie began throwing the covers back, “didn’t you notice Mr.. Vash staring at it yesterday morning?”
Meryl couldn’t answer because she had not noticed what Millie was asking. She stopped her pacing and stood in front of the window. Could Vash have thought something was connected there? Surely his illness couldn’t be tied in with the plant somehow, could it?
Meryl made up her mind and turned to Millie.
“If that is were they are going then someone needs to keep them out of trouble. Hurry and get dressed Millie, we have a job to do!”
“Right ma’ am,” Millie cheered and got dressed.
****************
By the time the two companions cleared the city limits the twin suns had rose fully and the heat was quickly becoming sweltering. Both men had put on sunglasses to cut the bright glare of the suns down, but there was nothing to be done about the heat, so they walked on.
As the suns and the heat raised so too did Vash’s malady. The blistering conditions, which had never bothered him before, threatened to weigh him down now. This apparent new fault greatly frustrated the blonde and through sheer stubbornness the gunman trudged on. Wolfwood noticed Vash seemed to be having a more difficult time and kept his pace slower than normal.
*************
Another bus was making its rickety way to May City that same morning. On that crowded bus sat a quiet man in the very back. His brown hair was cut neat and short just as his mustache. His brown overcoat was closed to reveal nothing else about the man.
When the bus arrived he quietly rose and left the bus. He bumped into a woman reaching for her bag at the same time, said an apology, and let the woman get hers first. What was a man without style after all? He retrieved his bag and headed for a hotel. He passed the salon without a sideward glance and walked on down the street.
He found there were three hotels in this city and wondered which one he would be at. Taking a random guess the brown clad man headed for the nearest one to check in. Whichever one he stayed at didn’t matter any way, because he knew he would still have to survey the other two and the saloon to find his mark. Opening the hotel door for a man behind him to go in first, the quiet man followed behind the stranger.
*************
“You know if we go any slower Vash, it’s going to be tomorrow before we get there?”
Both of them knew Wolfwood’s statement was not true. The priest was just complaining.
“What’s the matter Wolfwood? Are you afraid Millie will be upset if you are not back in time for dinner?” Vash teased.
“Laugh it up noodle noggin, at least mine won’t punch me through the wall for the offense,” Wolfwood replied trying not to smile.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Vash asked stopping dead in his tracks.
“Oh nothing,” Wolfwood said lightly and kept walking.
*************
Meryl and Millie existed the hotel into the blistering sun a short while after another bus arrived in the middle of the street. They saw the people milling about and headed down the streets to make as strait of a path possible toward the plant. Meryl was so caught up in her ire that she walked right into someone else. She was just about to tell the guy to watch where he was going when she realized he had been standing still. The mishap was her fault.
“Sorry,” she quietly to the guy.
“Quite alright. Are you hurt?”
Meryl was a bit taken back by the question. Why would he care? Looking closer at the man she discovered he had a kind face and was smiling at her. Before she realized it she found herself smiling back.
“Uh… fine, it was my fault really,” she stumbled, “well got to go, sorry again.”
She quickly finished and hurried down the street.
“He was polite wasn’t he Meryl?” Millie asked.
“Yeah, almost too much.”
“What do you mean?” Millie asked confused.
“Oh, nothing,” Meryl answered and kept going.
************
“You can’t pass.”
“Why not?” Wolfwood asked.
“Because it’s restricted,” the guard answered back.
“Then you can watch us, we just wanted to see what it looks like inside that’s all.”
“Listen preacher its not my call, I’m just doing my job,” the guard pleaded.
It had been such a peaceful day for him before these two arrived, he thought to himself. Why would anyone want to look inside anyway?
“I fully understand, but we just want to look, not touch. What could be the harm?” Wolfwood asked innocently.
“Why do you want to look inside anyway?” the guard asked.
Wolfwood glanced over at Vash. This was his idea in the first place and the blonde had not said a word through the whole conversation.
“Look noodle-noggin, you’re the one who wanted to come here. The least you could do is help me out!”
Vash said nothing as he looked up. The closer to this place they had come, the weaker he felt. It was arduous just standing here by this point. That fact could only mean one thing. There was definitely something terribly wrong with this plant. The city seemed to be functioning properly so it wasn’t affecting the city yet, but the blonde was sure whether the plant looked normal or not there was something not right. He wanted to express this to Wolfwood when the man looked over at him, but the words would not form. Actually all thought was impossible now and he could no more than look blankly back at the priest.
Wolfwood noticed the dull eyes looking back at him and wondered what was going on. His companion had gotten worse the closer they were to this place, but not this bad. Although Vash didn’t know that Wolfwood knew, the priest was well aware of what the blonde man was and could easily see the strange link the gunman had with one of his, well for lack of a better word, kind. Was the plant making his friend sick or perhaps the other way around?
Wolfwood was drawn out of his contemplations when Vash’s complexion lost a few shades.
“What the…?”
The blonde man didn’t answer. Instead all he could do was sit down. Wolfwood grabbed for his companion when he went down expecting him to pass out, but Vash simply sat strait down. The priest knelt down next to the other man.
“Vash are you alright? Can you hear me?” Wolfwood asked.
The only answer he received was for Vash to look up at him and blink. Well, the blonde had heard him anyway.
“Is he going to be alright?” the guard asked.
Well, Wolfwood thought, the situation was unexpected, but it would serve.
“Umm, my friend here gets sick from being in the sun too long. One of those low tolerance types you know? He’ll be fine if we get him out of the sun. Could we come in a little while?”
The guard would have thought it was all a ploy to get inside, but no one could fake going that pale. Could they? No, he thought, that was impossible.
“Well… alright. Just for a few minutes.”
“Thank you sir,” Wolfwood said cheerfully, “you a good soul.”
The guard tried to hide his blush and helped the priest support his companion through the door.
*************
The guard escorted them to some sort of lounge and left to get Vash a glass of water.
Vash was loath to admit it, but he did feel a little clearer out of the sun. Wolfwood could tell his friend was a little more alert now.
“Well, I got us in,” Wolfwood declared.
Vash simply gave the priest a look that said ‘it was luck that had got them through the door.’
“Hey your illness might have helped, but I did the talking.”
Vash gave the priest another ‘look.’
“Feel up to looking around?” Wolfwood asked ignoring the blonde.
“Yea, but that guard will be back soon.”
“No problem, just look sick when he comes back and he’ll probably leave us hear for a while.”
“Wolfwood!”
“What? You’re the one who wanted to take a look in hear. I’m just helping out remember?”
“I know, but I’m not going to lie to the guy.”
“Then don’t say anything, just leave it up to me. You don’t even have to do anything. Just sit there and don’t talk/”
Wolfwood’s hunch was right. When the guard came back he told him that his friend was feeling better and that he would be ready to travel shortly. The guard seemed relieved he did not have a sick man to deal with and told them he would be back in a few minutes.
“What I tell ya?”
“Whatever happened to Thou shall not tell a lie?” Vash asked the priest.
“We have a very different view on what a lie is Vash. I told him you were feeling better and you are. Should I have announced that we intend to roam around without him knowing?”
“I suppose not,” Vash said.
He was too tired to fight it out with the stubborn priest.
“Let’s just go. He’ll probably be back soon,” Wolfwood suggested.
Vash nodded to the man in black and the two crept silently out the door and down the hall.
***************
“Do you think Mr. Vash and Mr. Wolfwood are going to be mad we followed them?” Millie asked Meryl.
“They should have thought of that before they left without telling us. Besides our job is always more difficult when Mr. Wolfwood is around and I have no intention of letting those two out of my sight around something as expensive as a plant! They are NOT going to destroy something that important. Also, Vash is sick and he needs someone more responsible than Wolfwood to look after him.”
“I guess you’re right, but I hope they won’t get mad,” Millie thought out loud.
Ch.1 / Ch.2 / back / Ch.5 / Ch.6