𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘳

Chapter 15. Generous

I grab Vash's ponytail, looking at all the hair underneath. The roots were oddly turning black. "Just like... huh."

"Stop yanking on my hair." Vash slaps my hand away, "We're eating lunch."

"Not really sorry."

There was one plate in front of us though. It was large, it sure could be divided up and be called a meal but would they settle for that? Hardly. So I took my small plate and hid it away. The boys fought until grandma yelled at them to have manners.

When all had settled down, Wolfwood speaks, "Have you heard of Carcass? It's a small little area in Southern Cornelia... something weird started happening there a year ago, though. It was sudden, one of the long time residents disappeared. Seven cups of partially warm cups of coffee on the table... no traces. No one knows what happened to him. Someone stopped hanging up laundry in the backyard. It's like everyone dropped their work and left. They couldn't find anything... but a large monument had letters scribbled in red... 'Knives'."

I look up from my plate in alarm. "He survived?"

"What kind of question is that...?" Vash asks. "Just who the hell are you people? Wolfwood-- especially you."

"I got his calling card, let's say," Wolfwood replies. "And I think I just figured out who the little lady got her nasty scar from. You've got three days to join us, later!"

Wolfwood pulls me out of the house. "And thanks, grandma! It was very delicious."

"What was that about? I didn't get to finish my pasta," I say, folding my arms.

"You'll tell me this time around how you got those wounds from back then," Wolfwood says. "C'mon, you owe me. You owe Vash a lot of things too! An apology, the story. Cause I don't know quite yet who the hell you are either, from both sides. Besides, the wounds. I patched all of them up for you, I'd like to know the story. The giant gash, the shoulder, and all the glass in your back."

"Knives, Dumb Priest. I fought Knives back in Augusta. He opened up this bullet wound and cut me with my own sword after I shot him twice. He pushed me through the stain glass on the upper story. I blew him up in a church, at least I thought, but apparently not." I put a hand to my forehead. "I don't know how he survived... I smiled at him while he was, like, in the middle of combustion."

"You must have had a hell of a lot of luck to survive Knives and destroying God's house," Wolfwood says.

"Yeah? I don't think God was there anymore." I sigh, watching Vash come out on the porch to sit. Grandma joined him, simply smiling at us.

"No need to explain a second time. I heard it already." He waves his hand. "Seriously, though. A girl like you shouldn't be trying stunts like that. Don't gamble your life."

"What kind of girl am I, specifically?"

"What's the fabled scar really look like?" He immediately changes the subject, grinning at me in hope.

"It's not something I show to guys, alright? You'd see me but not those two hot-ass prostitutes from the third town we hung at. As a matter of fact, I'm insecure." I look away, folding my arms again. "Twice now, I've died. Death is not a pretty thing."

"Well, I've decided I'm going," Vash says. Finally. "I'm thinking about you—grandma and Lina... This time you guys will be in danger, and I can't have that."

"Suit yourself. But are you going to be alright alone?" Gran asks. She's cut short by a hoof planting itself in Vash's skull.

"You're a moron, Eriks!" Lina cries, before marching off to her room.