Chapter Text
Rescuing Lina wasn’t all that hard, considering they were facing a whole gang versus two guys with very limited ammo but a lot of determination and great shooting skills.
On that note, Vash was to Wolfwood’s surprise, an exceptional gunman. All of his shots were done with surgical precision, speaking volumes of his expertise with the weapon. None of his bullets wounded anyone to death, only disabling them to fight back at that moment…and perhaps even disabled some for the rest of their days. But well, that was on them for terrorizing people and kidnapping a defenseless girl.
Vash had specifically requested to not kill anybody so Wolfwood complied, not before complaining about it for a bit and thinking how maybe killing them would have been a better mercy than destroying their kneecaps for life.
The Vash doppelganger was very fond of his role and made a whole show just to be spectacularly humiliated by receiving six quick shots from the real deal. For a very brief moment, Wolfwood was extremely grateful to be on Vash’s side and not the other one; things really could have gone very differently had he not left the Eye of Michael on time. Only God knew what would’ve been of him had he not made dust out of the old man.
Lina jumped into Vash’s arms as soon as she was able to, only quiet sobs and hiccups were all Wolfwood could hear, her small body trembling in “Eriks’” embrace.
It was a heartwarming scene, it nearly made Wolfwood not want to bring up what he had come to do again.
If that whole circus show was not enough, it got even funnier when the bald pig of a guy who had a cannon for an arm came to Sheryl’s and Lina’s house to threaten Vash, again. Things happened way too fast to process, first Vash danced, and then he taunted the guy, after that he just kicked? The small canon ball? Not only that but he just spinned backwards and shot the arm of the bald guy just to knock out his partner. It was fucking stupid. Vash differed.
Before all of that though, things were not as chaotic. They had picked up on their conversation from the hospital as they were having a meal.
“We want you back, ‘s all I’m gonna say.” Wolfwood insisted once more, Vash still looking pretty much reluctant to go with him.
“And all I’m gonna say is, me going there won’t be of any help to anybody.” Vash punctuated by stabbing a piece of sausage with his fork.
“Ya still have pending business to deal with?” Wolfwood remembered Vash's words from earlier, something about him doing an unforgivable and unsalvageable thing.
Vash kept silent for a few seconds before answering, a time Wolfwood was privy to flashing through his eyes in an instant “...Who knows.”
Against all forecasts, Wolfwood insisted all on his own “Then what’s the big issue? I’m going to keep stressing the fact that all of this is not about deserving happiness or any other bullshit you want to come up with.”
Vash didn’t say anything to that, deciding to keep silent. Wolfwood had let him know he would give him time to think it over, three days. That's when chaos ensued and after that they parted ways, their eyes meeting once as the proposal lingered in the air.
Seeing Vash again was a whole other deal. He had drowned all sorts of thoughts about any funny feelings related to Vash and had hidden the evidence deep in a dark, dusty closet deep in his head, or so he thought. Standing in front of him and just the mere concept of him being alive and as well as he could be, was a big relief. Being able to talk to him and being so close again made him feel all kinds of fuzzy and warm sensations, unexpected things he didn't know he still had in him after so long. All of these complicated things made him crave the only poison that could mildly numb this: hard alcohol straight from the bottle in the middle of a nowhere bar. That’s how he had been spending his morning with no judgement from the bartender, possibly used to that kind of pathetic display.
“I don't really like you sir” the voice of the young girl he had helped save interrupted the noise in his head. She was sitting on the stool beside him. Lina gestured with her hand to the bartender, asking for a glass of cold milk “You seem to be very mean towards…Eriks” she winced as she said the name, confusion clear on every wrinkle of her frown.
“I don't know which part of what I’m doing you think is mean, little miss” he chugged the rest of the alcohol he had left, putting it down with a satisfied groan and a few double dollars on the side.
Lina followed him as he walked out, the bartender yelling something about her milk debts piling up "You just come outta nowhere and ask for him to leave his home, how’s that not mean?”
Wolfwood snorted as he looked down at her under his sunglasses “So you're the kind to eavesdrop on conversations? That's rude”
Lina's ears felt hot for a moment turning a bright pink, but she paid no mind to his comment “You weren't exactly quiet. You can't just tell him to do whatever you want just ‘cause ya can!” she stood in front of him, effectively stopping him on his tracks “You know nothing about mister Eriks, so how is that not mean!”
“His name is not Eriks, first of all” Lina only snared at him at that “Second, I'm not gonna take him away, but he's the kinda guy where you have to bargain as if you were. You should know that.” He went around her and kept on his way.
Lina stood there, looking at the ground while clenching her fists. She was a fighter at heart “I'm telling ya, you won't take him away.” She left running towards her house, refusing to look back. Wolfwood knew this because he couldn't help but turn around to make sure she wouldn't kick someone in the face again.
On the second day, he got to see Lina again by coincidence. She was buying a few things at a small shop as he got in to look around. As soon as her eyes fell on him she looked as if his presence was a sour candy on her mouth, she quickly resolved to pick up what she needed and pay, stomping by his side only confirming her irritation. If he were to keep bumping into her it would surely make her nerves flare up, so Wolfwood of course did just that.
She was looking around the stalls of a few vendors who were selling things like dried thoma meat and eggs. “Scuse me, how much is that?” He asked from behind her, winning him a high pitched squeal. She looked at him offended, clutching at the bag of eggs she almost dropped because of the scare. He bought a beef jerky and asked to also be charged with the girls' groceries. She wanted to protest but Wolfwood gave her no time as he turned around to keep wandering around town.
Lina ran behind him, and this time it was her who planted herself in front of him “What's the big idea you old hag?!” She pointed at him accusingly.
Wolfwood feigned being hurt at the title “Mind you, I'm the picture of youth, you will want to look like I do when you're my age I bet” this winned him a scan from Lina, looking him up and down with disgust as she very quietly said ‘ew’.
Well, that one kind of stung a little.
She decidedly ignored him and insisted “First you come here to take Eriks away without even asking him what he wants, and then you follow me around town and keep bothering me, what's all that about?” Wolfwood would give it to her, she seemed as someone with a very strong attitude and a temper as short as her. No wonder she managed to piss off a big time gang of idiots, she had more balls than them.
He simply shrugged and kept walking, ignoring her shouts and complaints. She was a good kid, no wonder Vash cared for her so much.
With that thought in his head, he went back to where he was staying at and remained inside his room all day.
—
Frankly, she didn't try to stop him, not even once. She didn't even bring the topic up at all, thinking that if she pretended she was ignorant to it, Eriks would forget about it.
“Lina” he asked from his chair, looking at the small cup of tea she had made for him. His favorite flavor was warm in the nursing of his hands, just the way she had learned he liked “What would you think, if I were to leave?” His tone was quiet, only loud enough for her to barely catch.
Just like she was doing the last two days, she wanted to pretend she didn't hear, that she didn't know what he was talking about. It was too hard “I don't know, I'd probably put a bounty on you maybe” shrugging, she kept watching over the stove, hearing the water starting to simmer.
When she had found him he was no better than a carcass, devoid of life and much more beaten up than an old forgotten rag in the trash. At first, he wouldn't talk or move, she barely managed to quite literally drag him to her house after insisting for hours on end. Honestly, she doesn't know why she was so determined to help him so much. He looked like any other person who lived on the streets, she wouldn't have done so much for anybody else. But him…it felt so wrong just leaving him there. His eyes were so devoid of life, if it weren’t from the up and down of his breathing chest she would have thought he was dead.
The first few months she and her grandma had to take care of him as if he was a baby, feeding him on the mouth, changing him in and out of his clothes, washing him with a cloth as he sat motionless on a chair. Lina saw it every day, an emptiness she would never be able to fully describe. One of the things she could barely relate it to was the look of those folks in funerals, after an unfortunate loss of a son or a mother, their eyes would sometimes look characteristically dim, much brighter than the eyes Eriks had all the time. That didn't ever deter her however, as she kept talking to him every day about anything that happened: the arguments she would get into with some adults, the great quality of the milk from the closest bar, how her boot got stuck on the sand and how she managed to not fall face first. At some point, she started to run out of stories, so she talked about her very short lived life. About her parents who were no longer there, how much she loved her grandma, how grateful she was for the people in town who would care for her. Eventually, she ran out of those too.
“I wonder…what your name is, you know” she wondered out loud, sitting beside him and looking outside the window. The sky was beautifully starry, the many moons hanging on the sky “We’ve taken care of you for, what? Ten months now? And we don't even know that. For all we know you might be a terrible killer who ran away from a faraway town” she turned to look at him, his eyes still lost on a past she knew nothing about “But I don't think you would be capable of that, I don't think a killer would have the kindness you have in your eyes”. She smiled at him, already used to him almost doubling like an imaginary friend she talked out loud to and would get no answer in return.
Looking up at the sky she sighed “Well, you take your time, only you know what kind of loss you carry in your soul. I would like to at least know your favorite color or something, I don't know”. She enjoyed the quiet of the night, counting the stars and wondering about how that big crater on the moon was made.
“Eriks” the sudden voice cut sharply through the stillness of the house, Lina's neck almost snapping in half from how fast she turned around again to look at him, thinking maybe she was starting to hallucinate answers “My name…is Eriks” No, it was no hallucination. His mouth was positively moving, his voice–though painfully hoarse–was dripping out from it. “And my favorite color…is red.”
Lina didn't know what to do with herself, but her eyes worked on their own as the tears began to spill without an end. Sniffling, she said with a wobbly voice “That's a very pretty name, Eriks. I think red is a pretty color too” even if her favorite color was purple since she was six.
She held his words as if they were water found in the middle of the desert, a precious treasure that could run out at any moment. She didn't push for much, only asking things it would take him no more than three words to answer to. He answered each one, slowly but steadily. Against her wishes, her eyes got heavier and heavier as the hours went by. She fell asleep on Eriks’ shoulder as she sat by his side, him staying as still as a statue to not disturb her sleep. It was only when her head started to slide down when he moved on his own, pushing her up again many times throughout the night.
Lina watched every day as he started to look more and more alive, clumsily trying to regain his ability to move like a person again. At one point, he would follow Lina around town to accompany her in whatever she did and stop her from getting in too much trouble. It almost appeared as if the carcass of a man she once saw had never existed at all. He was like a brother to her, older by age but she felt as if she had seen a little sibling grow up as well. It was a weird thing that only she could understand.
Distinctively, his eyes had regained some light too. When he got lost in his thoughts, she could see that pain he was drowning in for months come up like something stuck on the bottom of a pot, then he would come back and those eyes would brighten up again if only just a little.
The days went by, not many eventful things happening until the day she was taken away and the priest appeared.
She could not deny the warmth that appeared in Eriks’...no, Vash's eyes, the moment she saw them talking over food. She could tell when he was thinking about their deal, he would look so painfully conflicted, but something yearned in his eyes. A yearning she painfully realized she would not be able to compare herself to. This thought wouldn’t have occurred to her, if she hadn’t seen his eyes at his brightest when looking at the priest’s back as he walked away from their home.
She felt a hand rest on her left shoulder. Another hand was over the knob at the stove, turning it off as the boiling water had almost evaporated entirely. It was Eriks, quietly standing behind her, his hand never leaving her one moment. He slowly turned Lina around, crouching to look into her eyes. He had a pitiful look in his gaze, the rims red and tears gathering up. They looked so heavy, how were they able to not fall down?
“Why…do you look so sad?” She asked, choked up and desperate to not fall apart.
Vash smiled softly at her, as if the emptiness in his eyes were the background for the stars, like she was the biggest one of them all “Because if I were to leave, I would miss you too much”.
She was strong-headed, stubborn and had a very firm character.
She was a child, too.
The sobs escaped her and she was not planning on stopping them at all, it was Eriks’ fault so he would have to deal with it. He slowly pulled her into a hug, falling down on his knees along with her. Lina curled up into a ball, Eriks covering her with his arms like a blanket protecting her from all the evils of the world. Even if he was the cause of her sorrows, she would not leave his side until she ran out of…whatever ran out first.
—
On the third day Wolfwood came by Lina’s home. Sheryl was sitting outside, washing their clothes under the shadow of their porch.
He approached the front and greeted her with all the politeness he could muster up “Good afternoon miss, is Eriks home?”
“No, he went out to buy groceries” she kept doing her chore diligently, not sparing him one single glance.
Wolfwood nodded slowly, clearing his throat unsure on how to act. She kind of reminded him of Miss Melanie “I see. Is it a problem if I wait for him here, miss?” he asked sheepishly, not really sure what to do with himself anymore. He had already bought all the provisions he needed until his next stop to get back home. He had also sent a letter back to the Bernadelli headquarters to the girls, letting them know about his findings about the doppelganger and nothing about him finding the real deal. So really, there was nothing else he could do but wait for Vash’s answer, whatever that might be.
“Calling me miss won't give you any brownie points. Just sit there and wait if you're willing.” She pointed at the chair that was on the other end of the entrance. He complied and sat down.
After a few moments of the sound of water being splashed around as she washed, she stopped for a moment, wiping the sweat on her temples with her forearm. Sitting back for a moment, she turned to Wolfwood, a fond smile on her face. “I think I already told you this once, but I truly am very grateful for your help saving my Lina and keeping our home safe. Thank you.”
Wolfwood felt a tad bashful hearing her thanks. She had thanked him sometime before, so hearing it again was not something he found all that necessary and made him a little embarrassed. “No need to thank me again, I only did what was right.”
She chuckled and kept scrubbing the laundry as she inquired “Why did he leave?” Well. Lina had to learn somewhere how to be that straightforward. She didn’t need to elaborate on her question for him to know it was about Vash’s past.
Of course he would try to dodge giving an answer only saying “Private matters.”
“Private matters” She hummed again “Those private matters have much to do with you, I bet.”
He couldn't help the snort he let out, how foolish of him to think he could go under the radar of such a jaded woman “Sharp as a knife ain't ya ma'am.”
“It's ma'am now hm?” she laughed, starting to squeeze the water out from each piece of clothing. “You know, our boy Eriks is very soft hearted. He always cares for others and does everything he can to help around. Such a sweet boy.” She stood up from where she was leaning over and stretched her back, a groan leaving her as her muscles pulled. “He wasn't always like that though, you've got no idea how we found him.”
Wolfwood was fighting back the strong urge to light his cigarette and take a long drag “He's known for being found in the most unfavorable conditions one can imagine.”
“Lina brought him as a carcass of a man, I seriously thought he was dead. The poor girl dragged him all on her own, ignoring all warnings. Honestly, I don't know how nobody even bothered to follow her as she was pulling such a big man through town.” Sheryl kept wringing out the clothes, putting them on a basket as she went through them. “Well who am I to talk when I allowed him to stay. Took him ten months to even peep a word, scared me out of my pants the day I heard him talk for the first time.” She smiled warmly as she recounted all this, like a very distant memory “Now lookie him, going around and causing troubles of his own, bringing a priest to my doorstep.”
She began hanging the clothes around for them to dry out, Wolfwood only being quiet company. Sheryl gave him that information probably to make a point. She had the motherly way of saying things much like Miss Melanie. They would probably get along just fine, even when Miss Sheryl was clearly much older.
She didn't say anything more.
After half an hour, the small silhouette of Lina appeared on the horizon along with the much broader one of Vash. They seemed to be talking as they walked, becoming quiet the closer they got. Sheryl, without even waiting for them to actually arrive at the house, shouted for Lina to go inside. She seemed displeased with this, but Sheryl didn't let her bicker at all. Right at the frame of the door, she shot a dirty look to Wolfwood, one he answered with a teasing smile. She huffed and walked inside, shutting the door loudly. Wolfwood noted Lina’s puffy eyes as none of his business.
Vash stood in front of the house, not even stepping onto the porch. Wolfwood didn't rush him either, assuming he would not get any closer.
The heavy silence between them was too much for Wolfwood to bear, with Sheryl gone he finally lit his cigarette and took that sweet bitter drag off it. A big, white cloud came out of his mouth, the wam feeling as good as ever with the first hit.
After a few more minutes and more than half of his cigarette gone, Vash finally spoke up “I'm sorry.”
“Nah, it's fine. I figured you wouldn't come with from the start anyways.” Wolfwood stood up, the sound of the old chair and the old wooden floor creaking as he moved. He walked towards Vash, standing right in front of him as he dragged again and let out another puff of smoke, standing on one foot and extinguishing the butt of his cigarette on the sole of his shoe “I came prepared knowing full well that this was a possibility. There's nothing to be sorry for.”
Vash seemed to disagree as he pursed his lips and clenched his fists, almost like he was holding back all that he had inside him. He remembered Sheryl's words, his eyes didn't shine as they used to. Admittedly though, they still kept that same kindness he had the first day Wolfwood had met him when he knocked both him and his brother out of love for the kids. That was the beauty he had always seen in them. Something in that admission made his stomach flip around again. As usual he didn't think too much of it, only funneling all his energy into accepting Vash had made up his mind.
Wolfwood patted him on his shoulder, not daring to touch him even a second more than necessary “I better get going now, I've been out for too long. Oh, there's a pair of reporters from Bernadelli that are looking for you, keep an eye out. Thanks to them I was able to find you, knowing how stubborn they are I don't doubt they'll come here themselves. Just be careful with them, I don't know how willing they are to let you live on the low. Uh what else, I feel like I'm forgetting something.” Vash stood there, staring a hole in Wolfwood’s face, prompting him to keep talking out of discomfort. It was very hard to focus on his thoughts when he had Vash in front of him. When he saw him again he thought he would explode, this time it was not too different in spite of it being three days already, in which he had seen Vash for less than three hours if he pushed it.
The envelope.
Ah, fuck. The clear image of the envelope Livio had given him before leaving was eating him up. He forgot about it in his motorcycle, right at the bottom of all his things where he put it to keep it safe. If he didn’t deliver it he would take all of that regret with him to the grave.
“Hold that thought” Wolfwood said with Vash having yet to say a single word to him again “I got something for you from Livio, but it's on my bike, let me go for it and I'll be back with it aight?”
“I'll go with you.” Vash said, earning him a surprised look from Wolfwood “It's of no use if you come all the way back here again if you're leaving right after. It's better if I just walk with you there.”
Of course that's what he meant “Suit yourself.” Wolfwood started his way without checking if Vash followed, though the sound of the sand alone was enough of a sign.
Neither of them said a single thing all the way back to the small place Wolfwood was staying at, however there was this distinct feeling of something floating in the air, as if there were many strings of words waiting to be spilled out. Going to the side of the building, there was Angelina parked in place just as he had left her. Under all of his belongings, there was the sealed envelope laying at the bottom. He pulled it up, dusting off the signs of time and traveling on it. Livio had made a good decision when he used what he was positive was a whole roll of tape to seal it off. Right beside it, was his own. He had almost forgotten about it. He stashed it in the pocket of his pants, much like he had the day he acquired its contents.
He extended the crumpled package towards Vash, only for him to stare at it puzzled “Don't ask me, this is how it was given to me so I know as much about it as you do.” Vash hesitantly took it, the tape making a crackling noise as he gripped on it.
“This is from Livio you say?” Vash examined it, rotating it only to be met with layers and layers of mystery, the yellow barely visible through all the sticky material. A smile sneaked on his lips, a sweet gesture Wolfwood hadn't noticed how much he had missed until now “I wonder what's inside, he sure put a lot of effort into sealing this.”
Wolfwood shrugged, musing out loud “Could be a bomb for all we know.”
Vash let out a small chuckle, finally satisfied with his quick inspection “I will have to find out then.”
All of Wolfwood's luggage was already on Angelina's sidecar, it only consisted of a few changes of clothes and food for the trip. The silence that once again had creeped between them was deeply soaked in what felt like a forever goodbye. Admittedly, after over two years of following cold leads and rumors of the humanoid typhoon being all fake news, his hope was getting slowly chipped away; it wasn't a lie when Wolfwood thought he was happy that Vash was alive and as well as he could be, it was all he had hoped for. It would be a lie though if he said that a small part of him hadn’t hoped for Vash to come back with him. It made sense that he wouldn't, but still.
Without anything else he was willing to say he went to mount his motorcycle, putting on his goggles and sliding them down over his forehead. For one last time, he looked back at Vash, trying to not feel too afraid of meeting eye to eye. He thought of those nights they would laugh together over a cup of coffee, them playing around with the kids and Livio bothering him while doing the laundry. He thought about the time when the quietness between them didn't feel heavy and guilt ridden, instead feeling warm and familiar. Even when he looked so different now, having a whole new name altogether to keep living, Wolfwood couldn't help to foolishly think he was still the same person he cares for. Livio was right, the consequences of his actions did come to bite him hard on the ass. Those days were beautiful. Days that like any other would never come back.
He turned the ignition on, Angelina purring loudly in response “Well then. Guess this is the goodbye.”
Vash didn't look away, somehow still managing to keep looking into Wolfwood's eyes, barely blinking at all “Guess so.”
“Geez, how dry.”
“Since when do you care about that?” Vash smiled. Surprisingly, his eyes did too.
Wolfwood answered back with a smile of his own “You have a nice little family with you now, take care of ‘em and don't worry them more than they have to. Sheryl still has fight in her but she's still an old woman, don't give her a heart attack got it?” his playful warning was received with a light laugh. That was all Wolfwood needed to hear one last time.
“Take care.” Wolfwood said, gripping the handles ready to go.
Vash nodded “You too take care, Wolfwood.”
With that he was ready to leave, accelerating and gaining speed. Though the pocket in his pants fell too heavy for him to sleep in peace. “Blondie!” He shouted, pulling the breaks just enough to slow down. Vash was still standing in place, startled at the sudden call. Wolfwood took the small package out, throwing it with enough strength to reach the other man “A gift!”
Vash stumbled as he tried to catch it, juggling both that and the other envelope trying to not let any of the two fall on the sand. Once Wolfwood saw it was safe in his hands, he accelerated once again.
It was going to be a very, very long trip.
—
“I did get your letter.” The barely contained anger in Meryl's voice was palpable through the line, Wolfwood could perfectly picture her tense shoulders and a vein popping up on her forehead.
“Then I don't know what else you want me to tell you miss.” He was staying at a motel in Lowland, far away from Rostrum and much closer to his home at December.
A sharp inhale “You are telling me, that you traveled for two. Whole. Years. And suddenly, after Rostrum you are dropping your search? Something is not adding up.”
Wolfwood sighed heavily, as usual they've been at this back and forth longer than needed, though this time he didn’t do anything to poke at her crest in good conscience "I don't care if it adds up to you or not, I told you from the beginning this was a personal search. I got tired of not finding anything, especially so after I got involved in all that disaster with that group of bastards. Enough is enough and I know when to give up.”
“That's exactly what's not adding up to me. You don't strike me as a person who just gives up like that. So you are either hiding something or you are being very honest about this, so honest that is hard to believe” Meryl had always been painfully sharp in her arguments, cornering him to a place where it was really hard to lie without her being able to pick up on something that didn't sound right. It was not impossible though.
“Miss, with all due respect, most of our contact has been through phone calls and letters. I appreciate all of what you've done for me, I really do. Even if it was just for your own benefit, you did more than anyone else would be willing to do. But I have a family back home that I miss and need my help. I can't keep being out here for another two years in hopes of finding such a slithering man.” The best way to hide a lie is amongst the truth. Wolfwood did miss his family and they might actually need him, maybe Meryl's heart might show some sympathy for that argument than something else.
He was not so off the mark, hearing how her response had less bite than the rest of their conversation “I get that. Your family must miss you as well, I bet it's been hard to be away for so long. Still, I feel like you are not telling me the whole truth and that's what's bugging me.”
Insistent as she was, the fight in her was clearly faltering. One more push and she might drop it “I don't blame you for it, I'll repay for everything with time and if you need anything around December I'll lend you a hand with it. But for that to happen, I need to stop putting myself in situations where I might die at every turn of the corner.”
“That's…” Bullseye. “Well. Fine. I don't need you to repay me, consider all the expenses as something that the company paid for your investigation services, putting your life on the line for information is no small matter. Thank you for everything mister Wolfwood, don't be a stranger alright. Take care of your family.” That…was surprisingly easy.
“Thanks, you too little lady, send my regards to the big girl alright.” After Meryl had agreed one last time, he hung the phone up, finally cutting off the last loose tie he had to take care of to go back home.