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Meryl heard the bottle slam down on the wooden table behind her, followed by raspy laughter. The stench of sweat and alcohol tickled her nostrils and made her head hurt, the wooden chair dug into her thighs, and her back and neck ached from sitting up straight in one position, but she wasn’t about to let herself fold under the gazes of this type of scum.
They weren’t anything she hadn't seen before. Regular bandit types, going from town to town, stealing, murdering, leaving behind smoking buildings and fatherless children who will then grow up to be just like them. These people were abundant on No Man’s Land, and at this point they were almost a part of its ecosystem. Ruined, miserable humans, who may have been better in another kind of world.
She did not wish death on them.
But she knew he was coming anyway.
“It’s best if you let me go,” she said again, maybe for the fifth or sixth time now, her voice calm and steady.
“And lose our bounty?” Their leader bent down, his face inches away from hers. “Why the fuck would I do that, huh, missy?”
“Because he’s coming for me,” she stated matter-of-factly, not breaking eye contact.
“That’s the point, you dumb bitch,” another gangoon shouted. “Stampede’s gonna come for ya and we’re gonna snatch him up, grab the cash, boom done .”
Meryl clasped her fingers tighter, biting her tongue. These guys aren’t above firing a round in her skull, and if that happened, he would wipe out humanity for sure this time. She needed to choose her words carefully.
“You’re mistaken,” she said, careful to keep her voice even. “By the time Vash the Stampede arrives, this place will be reduced to rubble and carnage.” she tilted her head to the side, looking the leader before her in the eye. “It would be best for all of us if you just let me go and try a different method.” Or maybe find honest jobs, she added to herself.
The leader barked out a laugh. “This one thinks we’re stupid!” he announced to his men, the saloon exploding into a cacophony of laughter.
She did not, not really. She knew for a fact that he was already on his way long before Vash and the others even noticed she was missing. There’s no way Vash can catch up to him now, no way he can stop him, convince him not to take these rotten lives.
She couldn’t see or hear him, but she could feel his presence. Gentle and shocking, like ice-cold silk.
The leader pointed a finger at her, just barely not touching her nose.
“Yer not goin’ anywhere , missy.” his laugh turned into a snarl.
She couldn’t mistake that feeling for anything else.
“Then I hope you smeared the lamb’s blood on your doors,” she said coldly, as a giant blade sealed the bandit’s face in a shocked grimace.
She could hear the screams of people outside, muffled as they witnessed heavenly terror, then louder as a shockwave blew the roof clean off.
The bandits turned, their expressions turning from shock to animal fear to madness, staring at the being above them, as he looked down without a hint of emotion, his glowing eyes blank as the wings unfurled from around his face, as if he was just here to clean out a rats’ nest, to take a precious gem from filthy vermin.
Millions Knives.
Meryl couldn’t help but look.
Knives was always something that could only be described as “divine punishment” with his personality alone, but if his rage was to cross a certain threshold, he became a creature straight out of Armageddon, an amalgamation of wings and limbs and what was almost certainly giant maws, his right arm morphed entirely into a curved blade, a scythe, a grim reaper’s scythe , a sickly silver reflecting the sleepy scarlet rays of the rising suns.
He didn’t bother to descend, slicing off the bandit’s heads, arms, legs, bodies in half, in eights, in tiny pieces, one by one, as the others couldn’t help but scream and watch, frozen in place, knowing they’re next, hoping their hearts stop from fear before the blade touches their skin.
Meryl closed her eyes tight, willing the ropes on her wrists to disappear so she could cover her ears, curl up into a ball, and pretend none of this is real, pretend she’s still at home, that she just imagined all this, that everything was Okay, Really, Truly Fine, and that Knives’ promise to wipe out all who wrong her is nothing but that. But then, really, would it be Knives? Or just the version of him she sometimes liked to imagine, on warm nights when he slept next to her, his face soft and tranquil, when the world didn’t seem to be so bad after all?
You have to take the honey with the bees.
“Meryl.”
She looked up at him, his feathers gone, his blue-gray eyes reflecting the morning air, his expression calm, the top of his blonde and black hair gently ruffled by the wind.
“Let me see that.” he reached out to her, genuine affection in his voice. Was this really the same man from mere moments ago?
Meryl let him take her tied up wrists and watched him fumble with the ropes, long fingers delicately undoing the twists and knots, careful not to hurt her.
She said nothing as the ropes fell into the dust at her feet and she felt Knives’ hands on her shoulders, sliding around her back, pulling her to him.
A car stopped outside, heavy footsteps approaching the saloon rapidly before the engine even shut off.
“Meryl!” she heard Vash’s panicked voice call out. “Meryl! M-”
He cut off as she buried her face in her angel’s chest.