𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘳

Chapter 11. End of the Line

There's not much to be seen as we wait out mother nature in a caravan site, the desert sand spews. I'm just trying my hardest to find Vash.

I come to a stop before a tent, seeing his coat. I go to walk in but am barred by two burly men. "Alright, guess I won't. My friend's in there, that's all. No harm done."

The moment Vash comes out, he refuses to speak to me. He gets in a car. Then Meryl followed, and they were gone. On top of Millie and Wolfwood also missing. Ha ha very funny, not like I don't actually hate every single one of them. Great.

"Okay then." So everyone has left me. Great.

Just great.

I'm leaning against my bike when the group comes back from... whatever they did. They don't tell me anything, as some sort of joke, then Wolfwood says he was taking off. For good. That is the only highlight of my day.

"I give up on you guys! I'm going on a job hunt, because you've been mooching off my money for all these travel expenses!" I shout, getting on my bike. "Have fun in whatever city you're heading to. Who knew that my job was really my vacation!"

I told the client where Vash was headed, and he gave me some cash for it. This could be the worst job I've taken yet, spanning half of the year. But there's some things a woman can't let go. She'll remember every bad thing that happened to her.

And when there's a bigger threat, I've gotta save my own skin.

"The sky is ridiculously blue... I wish I could show it to you, Rem," Vash says, clearly not hearing me approach him.

"Who?" I lean over top of him, peering into his face. He's sitting on a bench, cloud gazing. I raise a brow as he slowly recognizes me. Then a ball hits me in the back of the head, and I fall, knocking him and the bench over. What an awkward position, I'm laying on him.

I get up quickly, dusting off sand. "Uh, sorry. I'm back, unfortunately for you."

"Hey... it's not very nice to hit girls with a ball." Vash stands up, lifting the ball and walking over to the kids. He joins in on their game of... whatever they were playing.

Meryl and Millie approach. "Hey, welcome back, Revy," Meryl says.

"Hi, insurance girls. You're still hard at work, I see. I hope your boss rewards you with some time off, or sends someone else to take over, since this is a pretty long shift..." I reply. Doesn't sound suspicious at all.

"Hey, Meryl, can you get seven ice-creams?" Vash hands her coins, and when she looks confused he point to the girl huddled by the fountain.

Meryl comes back, with us each getting ice cream. She offers one to the little girl. "Hey, want to play with us? We have a ball."

The girl looks hesitant, then runs away. Was it too strange?

I look over at my shoulder. Looks like the client found us after all... I guess it's today.

Vash freezes, and I know he was being spoken to. By Legato Bluesummers. No, Bluesummers is not my client, not even close. He is a pawn, a messenger. The dude is crazy, and crazy loyal but if it came between me and him, he's as much as a buzzing fly. His boss was my client, Bluesummers gave me info. Told me what to do. I listen, because I've got a hell of a lot of questions and business to do before I die.

I watch him sit down, being blatantly obvious of where my eyes were following. I watch him eat a hotdog, and pull another one out to give to the girl earlier. For a split second, he looks like he's going to crush her skull but retreats.

Then a woman comes running out of a store, crying about her husband.

You should hand him in.