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Guided Steps	By : ctsama Category: +S to Z > Trigun Views: 4840 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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For simplicity�s sake, I�m just gonna refer to Elendira as
�she.�� Aaaaand�� We�re off!

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In the end, it hadn�t taken long for Meryl and Milly to find
out which way Wolfwood was headed.� It
had been nearly impossible for Vash to convince Meryl to stay behind while he
went after Wolfwood.� He�d almost
resorted to the priest�s method of sneaking out while her back was turned, but
Milly had saved him again.� She dragged
Meryl away from him and proceeded to hold an entire conversation with her
consisting entirely of dueling glares, raised and lowered eyebrows, and several
pointed looks.� After that, Meryl
gave up the fight.

The bus the girls had found him dropped Vash off a few iles from
the orphanage where Wolfwood spent whatever childhood he�d had.� He tried to get the driver to take him a
little further, but the man explained that there had been a major fight in the
area a couple of nights ago that could be seen from iles away, and he was
afraid to bring his passengers any closer.�
It could only have been Wolfwood.�
And so, Vash was left to guess at the outcome of the fight, walking the
rest of the way with his heart in his throat.

The orphanage had just come into sight when the wind picked
up out of nowhere, but he was well protected.�
He ignored the biting, sandy gale that swirled around him as he
approached the building.� Part of him
felt like he was intruding.� This was
where Wolfwood grew up, after all.� It
was the place and the people he cherished.

He stopped short before he got too close, sensing something
wrong.� A moment later, the toe of his
boot caught on something and he nearly tripped.� He bent down to uncover whatever it was, and his heart dropped
like a stone.

It was the shattered remnants of a gun.� A very large, very familiar one.� The sand was still obscuring it for the most
part, but its components were unmistakable.

He was too late.�
He�d never see Wolfwood again.�
It was all for nothing.

Vash would have fallen to his knees, but over a century of
fighting for his life had his body dropping into a defensive stance out of
sheer reflex; an automatic response to a serious threat.� His hand closed around the grip of his gun
just in time to see a cloaked and hooded figure appear almost out of nowhere.

The wind blew the hood back, and Vash could see jagged
tattoos radiating out from the man�s left eye, and for a brief moment, it
seemed that that eye flashed maniacally.�
But it must have just been a trick of shadow and light because when the
stranger blinked, it was gone.� He
looked to be in his late teens, but there was nothing remotely youthful about
his muscular build or the hostile intent he projected.� This was a highly trained, experienced
killer.� There was a cross-shaped
machine gun clutched tightly in each of his hands, leaving no doubt that this
was one of the ones Wolfwood had taken on for his sake.

And lost his life to, apparently.

Vash felt no sadness; even anger was curiously absent.� Only emptiness remained.� He whipped his revolver out and made ready
to release the other from its place in his cybernetic arm.� He would make sure.� And then��
�Where is Wolfwood!� Did you kill
him?!�

A puzzled expression flitted across the man�s face before he
brightened into a grin.� �You�re Vash,
right?� he yelled back over the roaring of the wind.

The great emptiness was forced to yield to confusion at the
man�s change in attitude, Vash just nodded.�
His grip on the machine guns in his hands relaxed.� �I knew it!�
Come inside.� It�s too hard to
talk out here!�

Vash pulled a broken chunk of the Punisher out of the sand
and held it aloft for this stranger to see.�
�Wolfwood,� he demanded simply.

�Oh, that thing.�
It�s one of mine, kind of.�
Nicholas blew it up when we fought.�
Now come on!� There�s some stuff
you should know, and I�m getting sand up my nose standing around out
here!�� The stranger released the
triggers on his guns in a show of good faith and they reverted to two innocuous-looking,
if large, crosses on each wrist.

Vash looked him over for a moment, considering.� None of that killing intent he sensed
earlier was present any longer.� Now he
exuded nothing but good will.� With a
sigh, Vash holstered his gun and let the man lead him to the orphanage.

�I�m Livio, by the way.�
Nice to meet you!�

Vash cocked an eyebrow at him.� �Gung-Ho Gun, I presume?�

Livio flinched and ran a hand through his close-cropped
blond hair uncomfortably.� �And Eye of
Michael.� But not anymore.� �Livio held the door open just long enough for
them both to squeeze through, and they both heaved a sigh of relief to be out
of the roaring wind.� As soon as they
walked into the building, Vash could feel many sets of curious eyes on
them.� �C�mon out,� Livio called.� �It�s safe.�
This is Vash.� He�s been
traveling with Nicholas.�

To his surprise, kids started running into the room from
everywhere, pulling on Vash�s coat in an attempt to get his attention.� They fired questions at him in rapid
succession; he could barely keep up with who wanted to know what.� �You�re Nico-nii�s friend?� Where is he?� He brought Livio home ta keep us safe!� Is nii-chan coming back soon?�
We miss him!�

Vash laughed in spite of his own worry and did his best to
answer them all.� When one of the older
boys puzzled him by asking if Nicholas looked old enough to score them some
beer, a short, no-nonsense woman with a kind face bustled into the room.� She scolded all the children and herded them
off amid whiny protests.� Despite her
gruff behavior, amusement sparkled in her eyes.� The children grumbled and complained, but did what she told
them.� She shot Vash a grin and winked
at him before following the kids out of the room.

The place was by no means wealthy, but it looked like they
had everything they needed to survive.�
It was comfortable, and it felt like home.� Every child he�d seen seemed to be thriving, knowing that they
were loved and they would always have a place here.

It was no wonder Wolfwood had been willing to risk his life
to protect this place, these people.� In
all his long years, Vash had never seen any place quite like it before.

Livio shrugged his cloak off and dropped himself into one of
the chairs at a long table.� Vash sat
down across from him, past ready to find out just what the hell was going
on.� �I need answers.�

Livio nodded, seeming to understand his need to get down to
business.� �I�ve been in the area for a
month or so, keeping an eye on the orphanage in case Nicholas showed up against
orders.� I was to take everyone here
hostage and start executing the kids until he fell back in line.� I was so messed up I would have done it,
too.� Knives thought Nicholas might get
too close to you and rebel.�� He shot a
grin across at Vash.� �Looks like he was
right to worry.�

Vash grimaced.� �I
wish I could take credit for it, but I don�t think he ever listened to me.� If he had, he would have let me help him
instead of trying to do everything alone.�
After all the times he�s gotten into trouble trying to save me, I would
have been happy to do something for him.�

�Don�t take it personal.�
If he gave a crap about himself, every man, woman and child in this
orphanage would be dead at least twice over by now.� In any case, he didn�t think you�d come after him.� But since you did, I guess he�d want me to
tell you to stop wasting time and go settle things with Knives.� He definitely would not want me to
tell you that he went after the last Gung-Ho Gun, a couple hundred iles on the
other side of December City.� Whoops,�
he added with a smirk.

Vash asked the only question on his mind.� �Can he win?�� Or will I lose him to Knives, too?�

He was disheartened when Livio hesitated before speaking
again.� �Her name is Elendira the
Crimsonnail; supposed to be the strongest Gun.�
Fast like you wouldn�t believe.�
You�ve seen her before, right?�

�Yeah.�� His memory
from that time was a little hazy, but he remembered that she�d fired multiple
nails from her crossbow in the time it would have taken anyone else to fire one
shot.� Not to mention� �She shot me
through the arm with a metal spike.�
Hurt like hell, but at least it stopped me from going out of control.�

Livio paused at the grim look on Vash�s face, wanting to
reassure him as much as possible without getting his hopes up unrealistically.� �Vash, my regeneration technology is a lot
more advanced than Wolfwood�s; he shouldn�t have been able to beat me,
but he did.� And I don�t know if you�ve
ever seen him seriously go all out in a fight, but it�s wicked scary
stuff.� He wants to beat her, so he
will, there�s no question of that.� But
I�m not gonna bullshit you.� He was in
bad shape when he left here.� He�s
pretty much running on determination and willpower.� If he does survive, it probably won�t be for long.� So take these with you.� I don�t really need them.�

Livio reached into a shirt pocket and held out two vials of
liquid.� �Nicholas used up some of his
fighting me.� He�s only got a couple
left, and that�s not enough to live through a fight with Elendira.� Just don�t give him more than one at a time;
it�ll eat him alive.�

Vash took them, wrinkling his nose at the noxious-looking
liquid before pocketing the vials.�
�What is this stuff?�

�You�ve been around him awhile, Vash.� Don�t tell me you never wondered how
Wolfwood fights so well, catches things normal people miss.� The Eye of Michael�� They operated on us, �modified� us to
increase our regenerative capabilities, among other things.� The bastards even sped up our metabolisms so
we�d heal from stuff faster.� But there
are some things not even we can heal from, so we get that stuff for
life-threatening injuries.� It�s a drug
that boosts our ability to heal even faster than usual.�

�And the price?�

Livio�s lips twisted into a humorless smile.� �Ask Nicholas how old he is sometime.� I�ll bet he won�t tell you.�

Something just wasn�t adding up.� The Wolfwood he knew accepted killing as a necessary evil
when he had to do it, and he set out specifically to wipe out the last of
Knives� assassins.� If he had an enemy
down for the count, he wouldn�t hesitate to pull the trigger.� So why��
�Why didn�t he kill you?�� What
makes you so special to him?� his inner voice asked, but he tried to ignore
it.� �Don�t get me wrong,� he spluttered
apologetically at a glare from Livio.�
�I�m really glad he didn�t.� But
it doesn�t seem like him.�

Livio gave him a wry smile.�
�That�s kinda hard to explain.�
See, he did kill me, or at least part of me.� Two of the Gung-Ho Guns were� well, they
were both me.� You see?�

He was relieved when Vash only nodded instead of freaking
out on him.� �Split personality.� I read about it a long time ago.�

�Yeah.� Nicholas and
I were here together, years ago.� He
always looked out for me then.� After I�
after I figured out something was really wrong with me� I got scared and ran
away.� He said he always felt guilty for
not protecting me better.� He had me
down Vash, dead to rights.� Could�ve
finished me off, but he just kept beating on me � the other me � until he got
weak enough for the real me to get in control again.� Our teacher always told me Nicholas was weak for not letting go
of his family, and I believed him up until we fought.� You should have seen him, Vash.�
He was� amazing!� It made me
realize protecting something makes you stronger, not weaker.�

Vash nodded, hoping the relief he felt at Livio�s fairly
obvious hero worship didn�t show too much.�
So that�s all it was.� �Can
Knives reach you here?� You may not be
safe.�

Livio just shrugged, unconcerned.� �He doesn�t care about me; he never even met me.� I got my marching orders from Legato.� But Nicholas is a different story.� Far as I know, he�s one of the three Guns
that reported directly to Knives, and that guy doesn�t seem to take open
defiance too well.� I don�t know, maybe
you�ve noticed?�� Vash rolled his eyes,
and they both chuckled.

�That�s one of the reasons Nicholas wanted me to stay here;
he knows there�s a chance Knives will send someone after this place just to
hurt him.� Look, if by some miracle he
manages to survive Elendira, he�s going to have to deal with Knives.� Not to mention Legato.� There�s something between those two I can�t
figure out.� I mean, I know they hate
each other for some reason, but it�s more than that.� It�s like Legato�s obsessed with him or something.� You should have heard the little �We Hate
Nicholas� party he and our old master had��
Alarm bells went off in Vash�s head at that for some reason, so he filed
the information away to be examined when he had more time.

�The bad news is that you�re about three days behind
him.� The good news is, it�ll take him a
while to find her, and,� he paused to chuck a set of keys at Vash.� �He left me his bike, but he never said I
had to keep it.� That oughta make things
easier, right?�

It was too early to get his hopes up, but it was a better
situation than he had a right to expect.�
�Yeah, I guess it will.� Thanks, Livio.�

�Any time!� Happy to
help.� I�d come with you, but Nicholas
was right, this place really is in danger.� I can�t leave yet� but I just wish there was something else I
could do right now!�

�You�re looking after your family Livio,� Melanie said,
coming into the room.� She stopped
behind Livio to ruffle his hair.�
�That�s the most important thing in the world.�� He beamed up at her with the innocent smile
of a happy child, making Vash wonder just how old he really was.� �Could you go check on the kids for me?� I need to talk to Vash for a minute.�

�Yeah, just one more thing.�� Livio placed four broken coin pieces on the table before
Vash.� �My two, Rai-dei�s, and
Wolfwood�s.� Just� I hope you can get to
him in time, Vash.� Come back here when
you find him.� I need to know, either
way.�� Livio hesitated for a second,
looking puzzled.� �He said� he said you
needed a devil around so you wouldn�t forget how to be a saint, but I don�t
really know what that means.�

Vash�s jaw clenched tightly at that.� It was true.� He and Wolfwood clashed at almost every turn, but their
confrontations always left him more certain of his own decisions.� Dammit, it was true.� They hadn�t really known each other that
long.� How the hell could Wolfwood have
seen that in him so quickly?

Livio shook his head and continued talking, missing the
reaction.� But Melanie didn�t.� �Anyway, he told me what you�re trying to
do, and that you shouldn�t be doing it alone.�
When things calm down here, I�ll come with you, if� if Nico-nii is��

He bit his lip, not able to give voice to the possibility
that Vash might not find him in time.�
Before Vash could say anything, Melanie whipped out a ladle and bashed
Livio squarely over the head with it.�
�You�re staying put young man!�
Nicholas will be fine, you hear me?�
Now off with you!�

�Yes, ma�am,� he muttered with a parting grin at Vash.

When he left, Melanie took the seat Livio had just vacated
with a weary sigh.� She let her stoic
attitude falter, giving Vash a glimpse of someone deeply troubled.� It was the same look he�d seen on countless
mothers worried for their children.� She
and Vash looked up at the sound of giggling to watch some of the children
running down the hallway.

�Makes me wonder what kind of child Wolfwood was,� Vash
mused aloud, trying to draw her out.

Melanie smiled after the children sadly.� �He was never a child.� By the time the kids come here, many of them
have seen so much they�ve forgotten what it�s like to just be a child.� They all remember after a while though, once
they realize they�re safe here.� But not
Nicholas.� In all my years here I�ve
never seen such old eyes in such a young boy.�
He couldn�t remember how to be a child because I don�t think he ever
knew to begin with.�

She fixed Vash with an intense gaze.� �I tried.�
I really tried to teach Nicholas that we were here for him when he
needed us, but the lesson never stuck.�
Even now he still can�t trust anyone, and I don�t blame him one bit
after all that�s happened to him.� He�s
gone through hell and had to do some awful things to protect us, and he never
once came home for help.� A lot of it
was my own fault.�

�You can�t blame yourself,� Vash offered gently.� �You had no way of knowing what was
happening.�

�Well, maybe not, but I certainly didn�t help matters.� I depended on him so much around here, and
he never really complained because he saw it as his God-given duty to protect
the rest of the children from all the things that hurt him.� Then I handed him over to those� those monsters,
and they hurt him, made him grow up too fast.�
They even tried to brainwash him like they did Livio.� No, I failed him Vash, no doubt about
it.� But it looks like you�ve managed to
do better by him than I have.� So, I
have to ask, what is he to you?�

Vash blinked widely at her, taken aback by the bluntness of
the question.� �He�s�� What?�
My friend?� The only reason I
need to keep fighting?� The only person
in my entire life to be this close to me since Rem?� Yes, but he�s��

Vash stumbled over many answers before finally settling on
one.� �My guide.� Without him, I�ll lose my way again and
forget what I�m fighting for.��
�Everyone will die, and I won�t even care.�

Melanie nodded, accepting.�
�Then you may be the only one who can teach him what I couldn�t.� Teach him so he learns.�

Vash smiled to himself.�
It was easy to see why this woman was the heart and soul of this
place.� �All I can do is try.� If I�m not too late already,� he added
darkly.

Mere seconds later, Vash was grabbing his head and yowling
in pain.� He never even saw her move,
but Melanie was standing over him menacingly brandishing that ladle in her hand
again.

Apparently the heart and soul doubled for the claws and
fangs as well.� �I won�t hear that kind
of talk, young man!� Now get out there
and bring my Nicholas home!�

�Yes, ma�am,� Vash whined, rubbing his head.

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Vash slammed the bike into high gear when he heard the
distinctive sound of the Punisher�s rocket launcher followed immediately by a
single gunshot and a huge explosion.� It
sounded close.� Vash cursed the rolling
sand under his breath; if it weren�t for all the dunes, he�d probably be able
to see them already�

There!� He topped the
rise and looked out on a bloody war zone.�
Nails littered the sandy landscape, stuck deep in the sand with the
force of Elendira�s crossbow.� Many of
them were sticky with drying blood.� He
pulled the bike to a halt just in time to see Elendira falling to her knees
with a look of utter disbelief on her face.�
�How� did this happen�?� she cried.�
There would be no saving herself; bullets and that last explosion had
mangled her body.� But for once, Vash
couldn�t even bring himself to feel sorrow about her impending death.

Another figure twenty or so yarz away from her held his
attention.� The black-clad man leaning
heavily on his Punisher and puffing shallowly on a cigarette was completely run
through by six� no, seven nails, as big around as a man�s arm and almost twice as
long.� �Told ya to� take me seriously,�
he huffed.� �Didn�t even� get yer armor
off, stupid bitch.�

�Wolfwood,� Vash sighed quietly.� Seemingly in response, the priest smiled a little around the
cigarette.� Confused, Vash looked back
to Elendira, and saw her shakily raising her crossbow, aiming it directly at
Wolfwood�s head.� He wasn�t even trying
to get out of the way.

�Die,� she growled desperately.� �Pave� my way� to hell!�

The bike hit the sand and Vash was running, arm outstretched
even though he knew he was too far away to make it in time.

�Don�t give up now,� he moaned.

Elendira�s desperate eyes fixed on her target, and the
strength that the dying can sometimes conjure steadied her hand.� Wolfwood�s eyes drifted shut.

Vash kept running, silver-white tendrils beginning to curl
from his arm.� �Please.�

She took one final breath and her finger spasmed on the
trigger even as her body fell backward.�
The nail flew toward its target with incredible speed.

Still, Wolfwood stood, serenely accepting what had to be.

�NO!!!!�

**********

I tried to bring myself to hate Livio/Razlo, but I couldn�t
do it.� Livio�s just too infuriatingly�
likeable.

Did I fail to mention I�m fond of cliffhangers?� ::runs away::

To Bek: Thank you!�
I�m right there with ya.� I liked
the anime, so I started reading TriMax and totally got blown away.� I hope to keep you entertained!

To Robin: I�m so glad you enjoyed it!� Those two have such an heartbreaking
relationship; I always wanted to see more of them interacting, so I just
decided to write it myself.� ^-^;;
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Guided Steps