Shadowed Hearts

by Alucard

Millie shuddered involuntarily against the slight chill that had crept across the moonlit desert. She huddled closer behind Wolfwood, grasping her hands in the dark material on his back. He slowed down his strolling gait and passed a glance over his shoulder at Millie, his smile warming her up. She smiled back and gave him a nudge between his shoulder blades, telling him to keep walking at his previous pace.

The couple continued in a brisk walk until Wolfwood rounded a corner and brought them in sight of the wooden hospital. It was white, as was its interior, standing tall and imposing against its backdrop of stars.

The priest stopped a moment, casting his gaze to the right and left before looking over his shoulder again, giving Millie the okay to continue. She grinned and skittered along behind him.

When they reached the hospital steps, they found the visitor's doors locked, sealed off for the night. Rushing to the side of the building, they slipped through the E.R entrance, easily side-tracking the dozing nurse that served as a sentry.

"Well, that was easier than expected."

Wolfwood casually remarked as he walked beside Millie, noting how nervous she seemed now that they were actually inside the hospital.

"Something wrong, big girl?"

"Huh? Oh! N-Nothing! I just... I had a bad dream before I woke up... It's still bothering me..."

The insurance girl glanced to the side, avoiding his gaze momentarily. He decided not to push the subject further right now, but she would definitely have to tell him about her dream later. There weren't a lot of things that bothered Millie Thompson.

"Let's go get Vash first. He can carry Shortie if she doesn't wake up."

Stepping up to Vash's door, Wolfwood had his fist an inch from the wood when Meryl's door down the hallway slowly creaked open. Millie immediately began walking that way, leaving the priest standing there, his hand frozen before he too left to go and see if Meryl was up and about.

The pair were surprised to see Vash's blonde head pop out of the frame first, followed shortly by the rest of his body. Meryl was in front of him, shivering and gnawing on her bottom lip as if she were in another place, her eyes more than a little distant.

Millie noticed the problem first and dropped to her knees so she was face to face with the shorter insurance girl. Placing her hands on the other's shoulders, Millie gently shook her.

"Meryl? Meryl, are you all right? What happened? Why are you shaking? Meryl?"

"She had a nightmare involving me and my brother, I think. She was terrified of me for a little while in there."

The brown haired girl looked up to Vash, whose face looked angry, tired, and sad at the same time. Millie was slightly taken aback at how old he looked, but before she could comment, he massaged the back of his neck and nudged past the two insurance girls. Meryl woke up out of her stupor as he left her and immediately grabbed onto his arm, her fingernails digging into his skin as she followed him.

"I'm... fine, Millie."

She spoke quietly, her head obviously filled with thoughts other than the worried insurance girl beside her.

"What... Meryl?"

The larger insurance girl was not convinced of Meryl's safety. She and the priest followed the couple in front of them back towards Vash's room. Once everyone was inside, Vash half-way buttoned up a white shirt over his bandages and sat down to put on his boots, not caring about his hair.

"So, we're all leaving, just like that?"

Wolfwood was leaning against the closed door behind him, crossing his arms and staring at Vash with an intensity everyone could feel.

"Well, you and Millie didn't come here to visit, did you? Visitors hours were over hours ago."

The blonde briefly turned his attention away from his boots and stared Wolfwood down, examining him with a hard gaze.The priest huffed and shifted his weight, meeting that piercing stare with his own.

"We came over here because we both saw things that had to do with.... your brother. I was coming over to tell you because I was concerned for our safety."

He glanced to Millie, seeing that she was still a bit shaken up. She smiled weakly at him as she walked over to lean against the wall next to him. He wrapped a hand around her waist, the pair watching Vash finish lacing up his boots. The blonde had stiffened and seemed a bit surprised that the couple had seen visions of his brother, but he wasn't near as shocked as he should have been. He stood up and began packing random things into his large bag.

"Millie, were you dreaming, or were you awake?"

"I was asleep, Mr. Vash."

"What'd you dream about?"

"I was... in a very nice field and I thought there were children behind a big tree I was leaning against. But when I got up to go see the children, it was your brother there. And he ... He grabbed my collar after I touched the tree and said 'Don't you dare touch a plant, Spider.' After that, he was looking off to the side and said 'Your human plaything is going to die, brother.' "

She looked to Vash, staring at him with wide, concerned eyes. He had his back turned to her, but he seemed to feel her gaze and turned around.

"What does it mean, Mr. Vash? Who's going to die? Are you going to be alright? Is your brother going to do something soon? Are.... What...."

Vash looked to Wolfwood, who nodded and pulled Millie closer into his embrace. She sniffled and rubbed a hand across her face, trying to rid herself of oncoming tears. Vash looked concerned for a moment before turning back and pulling his bag shut.

/Millie's been under a lot of stress lately... So has Meryl. Hope this doesn't haven any long-term affect on them./

Checking on his insurance girl, the blonde shot a glance to the side, seeing Meryl standing there and twisting her hands in the white shirt she was still wearing. She had slipped on a pair of dark pants that she never seemed to wear. She stared at the floor for a while before feeling Vash's eyes on her. Glancing up, she smiled weakly.

He gave her one of his best smiles, making her feel warm all over. Gazing at her for a few more minutes, Meryl noticed that his green eyes seemed to cloud over a bit, his smile no longer reaching his stare. The happiness had started to fade and he was turning back to button up the rest of his shirt.

Swinging his bag over his shoulder, he turned to Wolfwood, running a hand through his messy hair.

"Do you two have your things packed?"

"No, but it won't take long... We still have the car, so we have transportation."

"That's good. I think it's time to leave."

The smaller insurance girl watched him turn back to her and take a couple of steps so he faced her.

"Are you feeling well enough to walk and go to the car across town?"

She still felt weak for some reason, but she nodded her head slowly, reassuring Vash, if not herself. The blonde smirked momentarily and grabbed her hand, leading her towards the door. Before she knew it, she was out in the road, dust kicking up after her shoes. Thinking back to her room, she stopped, causing Vash to look back at her sudden pause.

"What about my stuff?"

Millie rushed up to her, her concern still evident. Crouching down, she grinned at her superior.

"It's okay, Meryl. Whenever you went into the hospital, I kept your things that you had in the car."

"My derringers?"

Millie nodded.

"My bag?"

Again, the girl nodded.

"My--"

"We got everything, Meryl. Don't worry about it."

Wolfwood had spoken and Meryl blinked at the use of her name. Nodding herself, she glanced at the ground. The brown haired girl stood up, pulling the shorter one along with her.

"O-Okay."

Meryl stopped staring at Millie's hands entwined with hers and saw the small hotel she and Wolfwood had been sharing. Wooden and nothing special, the group climbed its stairs and up towards the rooms, taking care to be as silent as possible.

Upon reaching Millie and Wolfwood's room, everyone entered, the priest and his insurance girl going first. Meryl followed Millie and Vash followed her in, ushering the smaller insurance girl to the chair where Wolfwood had sat earlier. She complied, folding her hands in her lap and watching blankly as Wolfwood gathered up all of his stuff. She briefly wondered where Millie was going as the girl walked out the door, muttering some excuse about needing to go to the bathroom. Meryl let her gaze shift to the restroom door in the hotel room and wondered why her partner needed to go out into the hall bathroom...

Millie had been out in the hallway before, in a restroom down the corridor where she had found out about her child. She giggled as she walked back towards the bathroom, grabbing a her comb and toothbrush out of the place before scurrying back to her and Wolfwood's room. The girl stopped a moment, wondering about how she was going to tell the exciting news to her partner and how well the short woman would take it. The tall insurance girl smiled, knowing that Meryl would take it just fine... but not right now... There was far too much stuff going on for her to bother the other girl with.

When she returned, everyone was ready to go. Vash was leaning against the door, watching Wolfwood straighten out his rather wrinkled suit. She grinned widely and went towards him automatically, brushing past Vash unintentionally. He smiled at her happiness and picked up her slightly heavy bag, handing it to her once he had her attention.

"Is everything ready to go?"

"Yeah."

Millie nodded as Wolfwood spoke, turning to glance at Meryl who was looked like she was finally recovering from her recent events.

"Are you, Meryl?"

She smiled briefly, nodding her head as she stood up, going to her place beside Vash. The blonde outlaw walked of the room first, Meryl following him closely as Millie and Wolfwood closed up the rear. Placing their key on the desk, the priest headed out of the door, reassuring his insurance girl that they had paid in advance. She bit her lip and nodded, not noticing a pair of violet eyes watching her group closely. Neither did any of the others see them, too involved in placing their belongings in their car.

"I think it's time we pay them a visit, Longshot."

There was no reply.

^-^v

Sunlight had come and gone, leaving the dusty group in darkness again, all of them thankful for the bright moons overhead, showing them their non- existent path in the desert. Wolfwood was leaning back on his seat, one hand on the wheel, one hand wrapped around Millie's waist as she snoozed on his shoulder, breathing lightly while her cinnamon hair blew back from her face.

Meryl was still awake, staring blankly out at the sand while Vash slept beside her, not exactly leaning on her, but close enough to let her hear him breathing. He was slouching on the ripped leather seat, his head lying on the headrest behind him, while his too long legs stretched up ontop of the next seat, relaxing where Millie's head would have been if she wasn't leaning to the side on her lover.

The dark haired insurance girl averted her gaze back to the blonde beside her, the sand not seeming even half as interesting as it had been moments ago. His hair was now even more unruly than it normally was, the spikes long gone from his locks and blowing all around his face and neck. She smiled and brushed away some of it from his face, staring at how handsome he was.

/You bitch!! You're going to die for stealing my brother away from me!!/

She winced uncomfortably, her nightmare coming back to her full fledged as she thought about Vash. He shifted on the seat, the arm away from her falling to his side. Meryl glared long and hard at the blonde's face, trying to envision as well as she could remember (which was quite well) the hate she had seen on him before, the utter loathing he had directed at her.

She... couldn't see. It just wasn't possible for that face to hold so much hate for her.... She absently fell sideways, falling onto Vash's side. He must not have been sleeping very hard, for his arm immediately swooped down from its position on the headrest to her waist, pulling her to him tightly. She tightened her muscles for a moment, relaxing after she remembered there was nothing to be afraid of.

Vash purred his contentment and shifted even closer to her, his hand snaking and resting on her hip instead. Meryl noticed the move, and leaned further over onto the blonde, enjoying the attention he was giving her.

The purr turned to a growl as Vash slid his long arm behind her, reaching for her ass. Meryl yelped in surprise and jumped forward, a flush staining her cheeks as she turned her head to the glare at Vash, who was now snoring loudly and pretending to be asleep. She crossed her arms and leaned back, setting back to her original position.

"You're a horrible actor, Mr. Stampede."

He snored loudly, and snuffled as if he was choking on the air. He leaned forward and coughed over-dramatically, beating his chest with a fisted hand, the other grabbing onto the ripped leather seat behind him. His eyes were watering when he turned to her, rubbing his nose furiously.

"Meeeeeeeee~ryl!! I got sand up my nose!!"

She glared some more and turned her head back to stare at the sand, reaching a hand up to hide her smile.

He wailed and moaned unhappily, tugging at her sleeve and nuzzling her arm with his hair. She enjoyed it, but she wouldn't tell that to anyone. The blonde was about to burst out into another set of whiny complains, but Wolfwood actually let go of the steering wheel to reach back an long arm and whap him on the face. Vash sat there, pouting and rubbing his red cheek unhappily.

"No one loves me...."

+-+

The group had stopped for the evening, everyone piling out of the car and into the sand, scrabbling together anything that would burn. Once their fire had been started, the girls went almost immediately to sleep, curling up against the men they loved and snoring softly.

Wolfwood laid Millie out in her sleeping bag a few paces back from the fire, near the front of the car everyone had been leaning against. Vash proceeded to do the same, making Meryl as comfortable as possible in her bag and then stretching her out at the other end of the car. The two men came back and leaned on the car in front of the fire, both of them sighing, Wolfwood running a dark, dirty hand through his ruffled hair. Vash rolled his shoulders and twisted his neck side to side as he got more comfortable resting against the middle of the vehicle.

No words were spoken at first, the silence engulfing the two travelers like a thick blanket. There was mutual curiosity between them, both wondering what the other was thinking, what he was going to say to the man beside him. Wolfwood shifted and spoke, his voice sounding rather muffled in the intense silence.

"So... What do you think about it?"

The priest didn't have to state the obvious, allowing Vash enough time to plan how he wanted to answer. The blonde sighed again, taking a deep breath before turning his head towards the heaven's, staring at the distant stars pricking the sky.

"I.... I don't know what to... think... But I know I have to find Knives again... stop him before someone gets hurt."

He twisted his head to look at Meryl first, before turning and staring straight at Wolfwood. The priest had never seen so much emotion twisting and writhing in any one person's eyes before. The blonde was in anguish, all his unstated fears and worries raging a devastating war on his insides.

"Wolfwood.... I'm going to have to kill him. I know it. I'm going to have to shoot him and watch him die. But I...."

His voice wavered as he retreated back to the safety of his own arms, pulling his knees up before encircling himself in this own embrace. Wolfwood said nothing, staring at Vash for another moment or two before looking up at the stars, grasping for something encouraging or at least comforting to say.

He was turning back to say something when he saw Vash straighten rigidly, his entire body stiff as he held up one hand, motioning Wolfwood to be silent. The priest complied, reaching slowly for the gun he kept near him.

Suddenly Vash turned to the man, scaring him momentarily before shoving the priest to the side as hard as he could, sending the man straight into the dust. Wolfwood had no time to think as a huge bullet hole appeared directly where his head had been only seconds before. Vash immediately stood up, reaching into the backseat to grab his gun from the floor.

Wolfwood ran and ducked behind the other side of the car, his dark eyes scanning the black horizon. The moons weren't offering much help at all, their light casting strange shadows on rocks and dunes in the desert.

"Dammit. We're never going to find who shot that."

He turned to the blonde, wondering what the look of intense concentration was for.

"What is it?"

"It's Caine."