Shadowed Hearts

by Alucard

A lilting tune drifted to Vash and Meryl's ears. It wrapped around them, embracing them in its mesmerizing melody. For a moment, neither of them moved, each listening intently to the hypnotic music. Shaking blonde spikes back and forth, Vash jerked himself away from the song and began pulling Meryl back from it as well. She seemed a bit angry at first that she had been yanked away from the comforting music, but she soon realized what it was and began reaching for her small derringers.

Her fingers collided with the bedpost they had been positioned on. She removed her gaze from the window and looked down to see that her derringers were missing. She listened as Vash's loud footsteps banged down the stairs. She lost the sound when he reached the door, but she rushed to the window, watching him slowly walk off of the wooden porch and onto the sand.

The music stopped.

But where was it coming from to begin with?

Meryl glanced around the empty space, desperate to find the source of the music. There was nothing in the desolate space before the desert took over. Empty, excluding the blonde outlaw who was strolling slowly towards the vast expanse of sand. She watched him stop and throw her cape of derringers behind himself, expertly landing them on the rail post of the porch. He didn't even turn around to see if he had made his mark. She seethed for a moment, knowing that he had taken her derringers on purpose, but she didn't think for long, hearing the music start up softly again.

Vash stopped, his head tilted slightly to the side.

Rolling to the side, the blonde dodged a huge wave of sound that smashed into the already broken down porch, shattering it into shards of wood and metal. Meryl gasped, watching as the parts that had not been hit collapsed in upon themselves. Vash stumbled to his feet, feeling the ground shudder slightly with the impact of the broken porch.

He stood, dusted off his coat and faced the desert again.

The heat waves shimmered and gleamed brightly with the heat of the newly risen suns, almost too bright to look at. But the insurance girl kept her gaze locked where Vash stared, watching with the same intensity at the glaring waves. They shimmered again, glittering and moving from side to side. In a sudden, brighter flash, Meryl blinked her eyes shut. When she opened them again, there was a man standing in the midst of the heat in a dark suit and a pink shirt.

The sun glinted harshly off of his shiny saxophone.

Meryl's breath caught. Vash had told her about this guy.

Midvalley the Hornfreak.

A very dangerous man, she had assumed and by what he had done to the porch, it was very true. She watched with rapt attention, her gaze never leaving the man as she watched him slowly saunter towards Vash, a certain swing in his hips that said he had the utmost confidence in his coming victory over the blonde.

He stopped a few feet away from Vash, reached up his hand and slowly ran his fingers through his gelled hair. He looked up at the sky, sheltering his eyes with his hand and then looked back down to Vash, a smirk sliding across his face.

"What a lovely day, eh, Vash the Stampede?"

.

"Nicholas! It's so beautiful!!"

"Only the best for you, Honey."

"But... but this must cost a fortune. You couldn't possibly get this for me."

"Who said I couldn't?"

"Nicholas... It's so pretty, but I couldn't possibly ask you to buy this for me. It's just too much."

Wolfwood leaned sideways and brushed a soft kiss against Millie's cheek. She started and removed her gaze from the simple golden ring slipped around her finger. It was a perfect fit, almost as if the band were made especially for her. There were no stones set into the ring, only the band, but Millie liked it much better than all of the glittering jewels beneath her fingertips under the glass counter of the jeweler's shop. It shone with a simple elegance that she adored and would love to wear around her finger everyday as a testament of her devotion to Wolfwood.

Smiling worriedly, Millie slipped the band off her finger and laid it back down on its pillow on the counter. She stated her thanks to the patient salesman and slid her arm through Wolfwood's, leading him slowly towards the door. Wolfwood sighed, running his free hand through his unruly hair.

"You're too good for me."

Millie giggled and scooted closer to his arm as they neared another row of rings to browse through, neither one of them really wanting to leave the cool shop for the heat of the suns outside.

^~^

Vash frowned.

"It is."

Midvalley let his chocolate eyes slide shut, heat shimmering around him. The musician began to walk towards Vash while holding his saxophone casually by his side, the brown leather strap swung loosely around his long neck. The blonde let his gaze drift to the polished instrument that the other carried. Noticing his glance, Midvalley came within a few yards of Vash and stopped, swinging the saxophone back around to his front. Vash tensed immediately, expecting an attack. The dark haired man chuckled.

"Don't worry. I was just going to show off my lovely Sophia to you. Since my beautiful Sylvia was destroyed... "

The musician swallowed visibly and his brown eyes shifted away, troubled by what had happened at his previous meeting with the Humanoid Typhoon. Vash watched the man, watched the way his expression shifted from sorrow to full malice, dark eyes hardening with a cold hatred while the sadness swiftly fell away. The blonde's own eyes widened slightly and he made one or two steps back at the wave of hatred he felt rolling off his opponent.

"Master Knives. You just had to upset him. With your ideals... your idiotic ways. You realize they will never work, don't you!?"

Vash frowned deeply.

"They've worked for me so far."

"But what do you think about all the lives you have destroyed? All of the helpless innocents that have had their lives stripped away from them by some action you did?"

Midvalley could see the bitter tears rising slowly in Vash's eyes. Meryl could feel it, too. The mournful slouch of Vash's shoulders that were continuing to slump downward a little more as Midvalley continued with his barrage of shame.

"Think of the children, Vash the Stampede! There are countless little ones who've died because of you! I couldn't even begin to count how many died because of the cities you destroyed!"

Vash straightened.

"B-But I didn't kill them!"

The musician smirked, but the smile didn't even touch his eyes.

"But you demolished their homes! They had no where to turn except on each other! They killed each other because of something you did! With you inhuman arm you destroyed an entire city! You even scarred the Fifth Moon with your mark! Monster!"

Meryl watched, speechless. What Midvalley was saying was true, but he was escaping anything good Vash had done in his long lifetime. He was only throwing the negative segments of Vash's existence at him. The insurance girl couldn't stand it. The quivering of the blonde's shoulders as he tried to ignore what had caused him such suffering in his waking hours, as well as his dreams, was hurting her so badly, she could have screamed.

*A-All of them... They -are- dead... Maybe .....He's right..... I am... a monster.....*

"YOU'RE the Monster!"

Vash and Midvalley turned their faces towards the upper window of the hotel behind them. Meryl was hanging out of the rickety window, her bangs waving in the slight breeze that was stirring the sands below her and around the two fighters.

"Telling him all of these horrible things! Vash is a good person! What about all the people he's -saved-? I know almost for a fact that he's saved more than he's killed! And compared to a bastard like you, he's an absolute saint! At least Vash tried to prevent death from happening! You're the cause of death whenever you go, snatching away precious life that is not yours to extinguish!"

She inhaled deeply. Her fisted hands banged on the window sill periodically as she continued her rousing speech.

"He's been marked with scars that he did not ask for! By the very people he has been trying to save! Yet, even when they try their damnedest to destroy him, he goes right back out in the line of fire and tries to save them again! He's not perfect, in fact he can be down right annoying sometimes, but I love him and he's triple the man you'll ever be!"

Meryl straightened and glared down at the shocked musician who had no clue anyone else had even been listening to their conversation. He shook his head and let the shock wear off his face within a few seconds before he let Sophia settle on her strap. He ran his fingers over the wrinkled spots in his suit and straightened the collar of his pink shirt as he regained his composure fully.

"So I'm the Monster now?"

His long fingers fell to his side and he wrapped them around the long, golden neck of his instrument.

"I guess I can be a little scary sometimes."

He smirked and placed his lips on his saxophone before letting out a blast of music that shattered the lovely silence before his attack. Vash dashed to the side and dodged another attack that had been aimed directly at him. Meryl marveled quickly at his speed before she disappeared from the window sill and out of her room.

The blonde gunman was carrying the battle away from the hotel where people were stirring and trying to get out of the ruined porch door. A few of the more intelligent ones had gone around to the front and were starting to drift around to the back to survey the damage. Several people felt themselves hit the ground as Vash rushed past them, shoving them away from himself.

"Get out of here now! Go back inside!"

He was shouting at the people of the small town to stay away, but apparently they were not listening.

"Hey! What's that music!? What's goi--AH!"

A blast of sand and sound whooshed past the overly-curious man who had been standing just a bit too close to the fight. He fell back, blood seeping from his eyes, nose, and every other crevice on his face. A small cloud of dust fluttered up and around him and settled before the other townspeople had sense enough to check out what had happened to the bystander.

"He's.. he's dead!"

Utter chaos broke out as the townspeople began to run away from the deadly musician and the whirling Typhoon. A few people even ran towards the battle, intent on being the hero and stopping the madness. Midvalley grinned widely and removed his instrument from his lips.

"Look familiar, Vash?"

Vash was standing in the middle of the main street, just noticing the random men who were dashing to the scene with their shotguns at the ready.

"You two there! Stop your fighting now! We will not have our town destroyed!"

"Ah... We're in a large street... victims simply falling in front of me... Only it's even better this time. They're willing to die."

Midvalley, his face still split with his smirk, raised his precious Sophia again to turn on the black heel of his shoe, facing the men who were faltering in their headlong run. They saw the shining weapon of destruction aimed towards them and not towards the shocked blonde who was making a wild dash of his own towards the musician in the dark suit.

"Stop it! NO!"

A loud, ear-shattering 'ping' splintered the air and the men were spared as Midvalley's saxophone was knocked slightly off-course, just barely missing the stunned would-be heroes. They dropped their weapons in fear and began running away haphazardly, not even caring who had thought to save their lives.

But Vash cared.

He cared about the small gunfighter more than she knew.

With a flourish of her re-attained cape, Meryl stood in the swirling wind, two derringers glinting silver in her small hands. Her dark eyebrows were furrowed in anger while her thin mouth was set firmly in a frown. But her eyes shone with a fierce determination to beat the man in front of her at all costs.

"Meryl! What're you doing here! Get away!"

"No chance, Vash. I'm helping. And nothing you can say will stop me."

Midvalley frowned at the small woman before him and then glanced to his side to see the worried expression on his enemy's face. The woman looked like she could breathe fire, he noticed. She was going to be fun.

"Well, looks like there's been another player added to the game, Vash. This'll be an even greater performance than I thought."

Before either Meryl or Vash could move, he had played a large blast towards the insurance girl, forcing her to run towards the nearest blockade, a post box near a shop. She narrowly missed getting hit, but the building behind her took the blow, the clean pane glass windows being blown backwards in a million shards. Meryl felt the blast hit the front of the metal box in front of her and she could hear the groaning metal bend inwards as it took all the strain for her.

The smooth notes of Midvalley's saxophone began playing in the other direction as Vash took action and Meryl could stand. Her ears were ringing, but she was alright. It was the people in the shop she was worried about.

"Oh my God!"

00;

*Music?*

Wolfwood's forehead furrowed in concentration as he listened intently to the coming sound of music.

It stopped.

He looked to Millie to see if she had also heard it. Apparently, she had. She wore a confused expression, staring at him with wide, blue eyes that asked him where the music was coming from. They stopped in the middle of the jewelry shop they were in and Wolfwood slowly began walking towards the pane glass window.

He knew who it was. He knew that he shouldn't go look, but he just -had- to.

Just to make sure.

The couple reached the large window and they both saw Meryl dart forth from behind a building close to them. Millie opened her mouth to say something, but she stopped when she saw what her partner shot at. A man in a dark suit, a very pretty instrument at his side, was standing in front of a worn- out Mr. Vash.

Mr. Vash said something to Meryl and apparently her partner said something back because the strange musician frowned and said some words before--

"Millie! Get down!!"

Millie's jaw was rammed into the floor as Wolfwood threw her down as hard as he could. She then had the breath knocked out of her as he quickly fell ontop of her, covering her and protecting her with his own body. But while he covered her, she could hear the music blaring loudly in her ears and the sound of shattering glass. She could feel shards from the window in front of her showering ontop of her and the priest. But the worse sound she heard was a strange gurgling from behind her when the music ceased.

"Oh my God!"

Millie slowly opened her eyes to see Meryl standing in front of the broken window, not staring at them, but at something behind them. The dark haired woman quickly raised her hand to her mouth, trying vainly to hide her terrible shock. Slowly, Millie could feel Wolfwood raise off of her back and onto his knees beside her. Strong hands reached down and grabbed her under the arms to help her stand when he stood himself. She was shaking slightly, bracing herself to turn around.

She wished she hadn't. The nice salesman who had attended to the couple earlier was sliding down the wall, a thick, crimson streak being left behind him. Splinters of glass were sticking out of random places all through his body, one rammed into his shoulder, another sticking out of his stomach, and several residing in his chest, which must have been what killed him. The pretty rings in their shining cases were in disarray, the wall behind the man cracked in a few places. The shop was in shambles, except for the door which had, amazingly, survived.

Millie watched Wolfwood look around the wrecked room one time, his grey eyes hardening severely. His expression remained calm though, an expression of neutral indifference. He moved one of his long legs over the broken window, his shoes crunching on the crystals of glass. His love reached for him, trying to follow him, but he slid his arm back to her, grabbing her hand and squeezing it once to tell her to wait. She nodded, even though he hadn't even turned around, and stared silently as he walked to the side and leaned against the door of the shop, taking out a cigarette and lighting it.

His dark eyes watched Vash nimbly dodge the attacks thrown at him. The priest nodded when he saw how Vash was vainly trying to lead the battle away from the shop where he knew his friends were. But it was to no avail. Midvalley was staying in the same spot the whole time, his feet shifting occasionally to turn directions as the blonde danced to different areas.

Meryl glanced to see Wolfwood lazily staring at the battle, his face clouded with smoke. She lifted her gun, angry that he wasn't doing anything, angry that -she- wasn't doing anything, and aimed it at the back of the musician's leg.

"He's got a good plan going. Don't shoot or you'll mess it up."

She faltered, lowering her gun a fraction.

"What do you mean?"

"He's slowly circling closer to him so he can stop him without really hurting him. I don't think Vash would be very happy if you shot the man."

The insurance girl watched as indeed, Vash began getting closer. He would move to the side to dodge an attack and run forward with a small burst of speed before dashing to the side again. She lowered her gun completely and waited.

But Midvalley stopped his music again.

Wolfwood lowered his cigarette and his face looked mildly surprised.

The musician had his profile to the priest and the insurance girls. His saxophone was still to his lips, his expression a look of angry concentration. Vash had paused as well, wondering what had broken up their fight. Midvalley turned all the way around, putting his back to the Typhoon and his face to the priest. Meryl was startled by how full of malice the man became within a few seconds.

"It's the traitor."

Midvalley practically spat at Wolfwood. The priest's grey eyes slid shut in recognition of his betrayal. Meryl looked over her shoulder to see the confused expression on Millie's face as the woman peeked from behind the corner of the broken window. The smaller insurance girl was confused herself, but she said nothing as Wolfwood slowly dropped his unfinished cigarette to the ground and whispered to the woman behind him.

"Millie, get behind the door."

His gaze quickly shifted to Meryl.

"You, too. Get inside."

"But-"

"Now."

His tone commanded obedience and normally Meryl would have barked back some bitchy response, but she didn't like the look in Wolfwood's eye and she slowly began creeping towards the window behind her.

"Do you... Do you have any idea what... what I've gone through.... what he did to me... to all of us....?"

Midvalley was shaking, staring as hard as he could at the priest in front of him. He had lowered the saxophone a small bit, but it was still poised in front of him, ready to be called into action at any moment.

"Do you know!? Do you know, you lying, cheating son of a bitch?!"

The musician reared back and blew as hard as he could on his instrument and threw a huge wave of sound in Wolfwood's direction. Meryl was not moving fast enough as the priest ran sideways, grabbed the small insurance girl around her waist and threw her inside, snatching one of the tiny derringers from her weakened grasp. He heard her flop to the floor and Millie's surprised shriek at the door that was shuddering violently in front of her. It was made of a thick wood, and was holding up, but it would not provide protection for long. Wolfwood knew this and rolled over and over to bring himself to a safer location and away from the girls.

"There was no death for me! I died, but there was no rest! I hadn't fufilled my purpose... I couldn't die! If you had just done as you were told!!"

Midvalley moved just a little too quickly for the priest and caught him as he was diving for a safe haven. Wolfwood was thrown backwards, the sound waves wracking his body harshly. He landed on the sand with a loud thump and slowly trembled to his knees, his hands clutching at the useless sand. The song had been a particularly strong wave because of Midvalley's pent-up anger and the priest could feel a trickle of blood spill out of the side of his mouth. He couldn't exactly move...

"Damn, that smarts..."

He was growling to himself as he heard footsteps few feet away from him.

"You bastard. You don't deserve to die. You don't deserve to rest."

Wolfwood looked up and saw Midvalley a short distance in front of him, glaring with the utmost hatred at his trembling form.

"But I'll kill you anyway."

The priest glanced up, his sore arms shaking from trying to support his body.

"See you in hell."

Wolfwood smiled.

A loud gunshot sounded and Midvalley flew forward, his saxophone falling from his hands. The musician stumbled and caught his balance before reaching up his large hand to grab the wound in his shoulder. Blood was spilling in-between his fingers and dripping down to the glistening sand.

The shocked musician turned and saw his forgotten enemy, the Humanoid Typhoon, staring him down. Vash lowered his gun and narrowed his eyes.

"No more."

Midvalley coughed hoarsely and stuttered something that may have been a nasty insult to the blonde, but it was unintelligible and Vash ignored it. The musician slowly got away from the two men, stumbling into the middle of the street in front of the wrecked jewelry shop.

The man was suddenly surrounded by dust, a large gust of wind stirring up the sand around him. Disappearing from sight momentarily, he came back into view with very scary man standing behind him. Said man reached out a black gloved hand to grasp Midvalley's wounded shoulder. The musician screamed in pain and tried to pull away.

A deep, dark chuckle emitted from the man as his immaculate, white shoulders shook in amusement, the skull on his arm shaking as if it too were laughing at the pain his owner was causing. He lifted his bare fingertips and stared at the crimson that tainted his hand. Pulling his hand to his mouth, he slowly licked away the blood that was staining his hand. Midvalley had shied away and was trying his hardest not to look at the man licking away his blood.

His hand slowly dropped and an insane grin emerged on his handsome face. He shifted his head lightly and his dark blue bangs slid to the side of his face, revealing one golden eye that was wild with a strange emotion at the moment. Vash frowned, disgusted by the display.