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It hadn’t even been ten minutes since they’d rolled into the bustling town before Vash knew someone was watching him. He already was accustomed to the ever present feeling of Wolfwood’s watchful eyes, which meant this was someone else entirely. This gaze was cold, heavy and not friendly in the slightest, but also not something Vash was a stranger to either. A quick glance around revealed nothing out of the ordinary, just a busy marketplace with people milling about their day. It was the weekly market day in this mid-sized town too, with a couple of caravans and migrating traders in the area. The traveling cars of goods and drifters that hitched rides with them often meant there were more people than usual, along with some seedy looking folks sprinkled in here and there. No one in that category that Vash spotted seemed to be giving him a look that equated to the gaze he’d felt. Sure, some looked on par with mangy dogs looking for scraps of meat to scavenge, but their eyes were hungry and tired, not cold and heavy.
“Oi, Spikey. You coming or not?” Wolfwood called from a few steps ahead, Vash giving a halfhearted reply as he kept moving. “You see something you liked?” the priest pressed with mild interest as they wound through the crowded area.
“Nah, thought I felt something, guess I was wrong,” Vash replied, smiling at a couple of kids that ran by, giggling about something with a piece of candy.
“Felt something?” Wolfwood repeated with heavy skepticism. “What are you, a psychic or something?”
“Yeah, I get visions of the future and see ghosts,” Vash joked as he put a couple fingers to his temples and wiggled his eyebrows, causing Wolfwood to roll his eyes.
“Well, if you actually see or hear anything real, call it out,” Wolfwood said with a casual demeanor.
“Yeah, yeah, I’ll do that. Didn’t we need to get something at this market or did I say that so I could try and find donuts?” Vash wondered aloud, Wolfwood frowning as he rubbed his eyes under his sunglasses.
“We did actually need to find something, Spikey. But since you haven’t been looking very hard, we could split up. Meet at the far end of the market in fifteen,” Wolfwood sighed in irritation, grumbling as he realized he was out of cigarettes.
“We can do that, sure,” Vash nodded with a shrug, not really looking at Wolfwood, eyes still scanning the crowd.
As Wolfwood split off, Vash felt that presence again. He spun around looking for the source, again seeing no one obviously staring at him. There were some curious glances from people running their stalls nearby where he was standing as he practically spun in circles, and a couple of passersby looked at him. But nothing besides that, no one with that sort of heavy, palpable gaze that he knew only people who wanted to do him harm carried. He moved a bit more and saw just the faintest glimpse of dark blue fabric whisking away behind a corner down an alleyway. A quick look down said alley revealed nothing but a dark dead end. A black cat lazily looked up at him from behind a trash can and yawned before getting up and walking away.
He kept walking further, deciding to duck away from the market to a less densely populated area to draw whoever it was out, hoping to deal with it all peacefully. The presence got closer and Vash turned over his shoulder just to see the unmistakable glint of a rifle in the sun before it fired. He sidestepped the shot and realized instantly based on the indentation in the ground that it wasn’t a bullet but a small shot of heavily concentrated laser energy. No shooting bullets out of the air this time, which meant more footwork for him. The sniper started firing more rapidly and he weaved around their path without any problem, flailing around in a comical manner before diving behind a short stone wall.
“Hey, mind at least explaining yourself before shooting me?!” Vash yelled as he confirmed his Colt had ammunition. There was no response and a quick peek from behind his cover confirmed the sniper had moved.
“You could’ve easily shot me earlier y’know, I had a really hard time pinpointing where you were in the crowd. And yet you waited until I was alone and could hear you better. Wonder why that is,” Vash observed aloud as he heard a gun click and ducked around a corner just as another few shots hit the ground where he was just standing.
“There were kids. They don’t need to see the ugly business deals of adults,” a female voice rang out, her voice feminine and light despite the harshness of her tone.
Vash squinted and shaded his eyes from the two suns and spotted her on the roof of a nearby building. The shock of bright pink hair that went just past her shoulders was a stark contrast against her soft blue dress, a nurse’s cross adorning her sleeves. A darker blue cape accompanied her as it draped behind her, fluttering ever so slightly in the hot desert wind. Some off white stockings poked out from above her brown boots but they stopped mid-thigh. A black eyepatch with a distinctive red pink heart on it covered her right eye, however it was clearly slid up onto her forehead now, revealing what was underneath. Her right eye didn’t match her ocean blue left one, rather it was foreign, unnaturally dark where the white of the eye should be. The pupil and iris glowed a soft, light minty green and Vash could tell instantly it was made of the same tech that comprised her grey and black sniper rifle.
She narrowed her eyes as her artificial eye scanned him, looking for any signs of weakness or openings. She cursed under her breath as it revealed…nothing. No openings it could detect, no weaknesses in his dodging, no sloppy gunplay…nothing she could work with.
“How are you so strong and look like such an idiot?! You’re a fool that toys with people’s hearts only to leave and never come back!” she called down to him, the anger in her voice reminiscent of an angry hawk’s cries.
“Rude! You’re the one shooting at me!” Vash retorted, yelping and jumping away as the girl shot at him again. “Why can’t we just resolve this peacefully and stop shooting at me, huh?”
“I can’t be at peace with you, Vash the Stampede,” she started, Vash’s face dropping a little since she clearly knew who he was which meant this was going to be more trouble than he thought. “You filled my grandpa’s head with lies about your loyalty and good morals and other nonsense. He died because of you! All of them did! Those damn bandits arrived at our doorstep because of YOU!” she continued, her words spilling out like a broken dam, unable to stop them now.
Vash could see her hands shaking ever so slightly as she pointed the rifle at him. His expression was somber and he looked down at the ground. She couldn’t see his eyes super clearly but if she could, she’d see that he was fighting back guilt ridden tears. The tears of one who has the weight of the entire human race on his back, the one who has seen it all come and go…the one who knows all too well of the harm he’s caused for years and years. But she couldn’t see that. Not just because of where she was standing, but because she wouldn’t let herself see, nor would he allow anyone close enough to even glimpse the magnitude of his sorrows. He didn’t let a single tear come to the surface and looked back up at her, his apologetic gaze making her hesitate greatly.
“I’m sorry for what happened. I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” Vash replied simply, the girl’s grip on her gun loosening just a little. “I’m a flawed guy and I’m sorry my name got your family killed.”
There was a pause before she inhaled deeply and jumped down at him with a roar, clearly aiming to try and club him with her rifle. He managed to tuck and roll out of the way but she swiftly recovered her footing. She growled a little as she gripped her gun differently and it suddenly shifted shape into that of a sword, the edge of the blade glowing that same green as her eye.
“Woah, where’d you get a weapon like that, I want one!” Vash called out over his shoulder as he started to try and dash further away.
She pursued with a yell and he yelped as he ducked to avoid a slash that would’ve hit him in the neck. He could feel the residual heat coming off the glowing edge and he realized he knew what she was working with. “Wait, is that a solar blade?! I haven’t seen one of those in ages!”
“Lucky guess. Yeah, this thing runs on power gathered by the suns. Lot cheaper than bullets,” she spat as she swung at him again, Vash jumping into an open window and running through a house. She gritted her teeth and ran a different way to cut him off. She managed to get in front of him and yelled angrily as she swung at him, charging her sword into a more powerful strike. “STOP RUNNING FROM ME!” she shouted loudly, crashing her sword into the side of the building and taking out a fair sized chunk of the wall with it.
Vash was hidden around the corner from where she broke part of the wall, making a small shocked squeak at this. He did mangage to conceal his presence until after she stepped inside. As soon as he could he restrained her, knocking her weapon out of her hands and kicking it away. She fought to get her arms away from him and in a panic he restrained her by pinning her arms to her sides in a hug. The move made her pause and freeze in place, he felt kinda awkward. In the tussel, she’d dropped the brown bag that’d been slung over her shoulder and some candy with paper wrappers on them had tumbled out. Vash’s eyes glistened a little as he spotted that and immediately went to go grab one, letting go of the girl.
“Ah, wait you-“ she started to say but Vash ignored her and popped a brown candy in his mouth. There was a short pause before his face went completely red and he started sweating profusely.
“GAH! SO SPICY!” Vash yelled as he fanned his face and looked around for water, almost running in circles as he reacted loudly.
She eyed her weapon a little and inched towards it as Vash did his little charade when a third person ran around a corner, stopping in his tracks as he took in this scene. The girl froze and stood like a statue as she recognized who it was immediately, an irritated frown on both her face and his as they made eye contact.
“WOOWOO, SPICY MOUF!!!” Vash yelled in a whiny voice as he flopped on the ground, his face drenched in sweat and snot and tears now.
“Nurse,” Wolfwood spat, glaring at the girl from under his sunglasses.
“Chapel,” she shot back with the same tone.
“Don’t you dare call me that,” he warned with cold venom.
“Aww, did the traitor’s feelings get hurt?” she taunted as she crossed her arms with a mean spirited smirk.
“Nah, but that’s rich coming from you, seeing as you’re a bigger traitor than me. You defected and ran away.”
“You shot that old bastard and didn’t have the spine to kill him,” she said, taking a step closer to him.
“I was apprehended before I could finish,” he growled.
“Peh, I bet that’s not the only thing you can’t finish,” she grinned maliciously, his brow furrowing more.
“Girl, I could easily kill you,” he warned, both of them now standing face to face.
“And I could kill you. But we both know he won’t allow that, will he?” she smirked wider, pointing to Vash. “Look, call me by my name and I’ll call you by yours, deal?”
“Ugh, fine. Vash, this is Rosemary. We both have some…shared history,” Wolfwood groaned while rubbing his eyes with one hand.
“You guys dated?” Vash asked as he wiped his face a little, sitting up now.
“Absolutely not.”
“Ew gross, no.”
Both of them answered in unison, looking at Vash before they shared a look at each other. Seeing them standing so close together and acting like this, Vash paused, looked between them and internally smirked really wide. Externally he just put up his hands in defense and apologized.
“So, I take it you’re trying to kill my friend here?” Wolfwood said after a moment.
“Yeah, I was,” Rosemary replied calmly as she sheathed her weapon and went to go clean up her spilled bag, Wolfwood raising an eyebrow at the small knife he definitely saw hidden on her thigh.
“You still gonna try?” Vash asked as he stood up and brushed some dust off his coat.
“Nah, don’t feel like it’s actually the right thing to do anymore. Plus well…he apologized for the thing I was mad at him about,” she replied as she stood up, adjusting the bag on her shoulder, sticking a light green lollipop in her mouth. “Want one? I make ‘em myself,” she offered.
Vash hesitated a little. “You gonna give me a spicy one again?” he asked tentatively, Rosemary smirked a little and shook her head.
“I already messed with you enough, if you want a good one you can have it,” she replied much more warmly.
Vash carefully inspected the red colored lollipop before sticking it in his mouth. His face immediately lit up and was happily glowing at the realization that it was a sweet cherry candy. Vash mumbled a thank you with his mouth full as he started to walk away. Wolfwood and Rosemary fell into step behind him, a conversation easily starting up after a moment.
“You have spicy ones? How spicy are we talking?” Wolfwood asked with an interested eyebrow raise, a toothy, devious grin appearing on Rosemary’s face at that.
“It’s got extra spicy Tabasco and three different kinds of hot chilés mixed in. You’ll have more luck not having taste buds than trying to eat one whole. I have those for when people are really pissing me off,” she replied with a little mischievous glint in her eye. “Comes in handy when you’ll get in trouble for killin’ but still wanna ruin someone’s day.”
“Ho-ly shit, you are evil and I love that. I’ll be sure to hit you up if I’m real irritated at someone and feel like messing with ‘em,” he said, clearly into this idea and a little impressed.
“Oh, you don’t even know about the other ones,” she snickered devilishly.
“There’s MORE?!” Wolfwood grinned wide, leaning in eagerly.
“Let’s just say…be glad Vash didn’t accidently get the stomach bomb or the one that’s filled with laxatives,” she smirked with a wink. Wolfwood pressed a hand to his forehead and pushed a little bit of his hair in disbelief, a huge grin on his face.
“Are you trying to make me fall in love with you because WOW, that’s…absolutely amazing. You evil genuis, I’m gonna end up with a stash of your sinister sweets on my person if we hang out enough,” he laughed, his comment making her snicker a little.
“Oh, I like that idea!” Vash interjected, stopping to chat with them now. “Feel like being my personal sweet lady?”
“…You better rephrase that, Vashie,” Rosemary shot back with a look that made it clear she was weirded out, Vash pausing before blushing as he realized how bad that sounded.
“ACK! No, not like that! I meant to ask if you wanna tag along with us? And give me candy more often,” Vash corrected dramatically, a sheepish, embarrassed grin on his face.
“Sure…not like I got much else going on or to live for anyway,” she replied very quietly as she glanced away. Both guys heard this and looked at each other with some varying levels of concern.
“Hey…don’t say that, I think you’re really fun already, and you were trying to kill me not that long ago,” Vash replied softly, eyes a lot kinder than she’d seen on a person in…a long time, longer than she wanted to really consider.
“How do you know I’m not gonna try it again?” she muttered, rubbing her arm and moving the candy in her mouth so it clattered against her teeth like anxious hooves on pavement.
“‘Cause you got similar eyes as Wolfwood. You’re too kind and sweet to be a full time contract killer. I mean, you offered me something nice and forgave me that quickly for something you’ve probably been upset about for…I don’t even know how long. Most people out here can’t do that, not in my experience,” Vash replied, his cerulean eyes reflecting just how much he meant what he was saying.
There was a pause as she considered his words and was clearly taking them seriously. Wolfwood made a slight face at Vash comparing him and Rosemary but he couldn’t deny the similarities either. Vash dug into her bag while she was thinking and started to pop another candy into his mouth. Wolfwood raised an eyebrow at how brazen Vash was being but…then again, Vash didn’t seem to care what anyone thought of his constant search for snacks.
“DON’T EAT THAT ONE!” Rosemary yelled in a panic as she scrambled like a frantic animal to get the purple candy away from Vash. Both men looked bewildered at her sudden outburst as she sighed with relief upon getting the purple treat back.
“Wh-what’s wrong with that one?” Vash asked nervously.
“Is it another one that’ll make him explode with stomach pain?” Wolfwood guessed with a devilish grin.
“Guys. This is made of concentrated worm-horse venom. The purple color is what the venom looks like when extracted from the stinger,” she explained, looking extremely glad that she stopped Vash in time.
“What does…that do again?” Vash asked with a lot of hesitation.
“It sends you into anaphylactic shock, slowly closes your throat, and makes your insides burn like hell. I uhm…it’s for super rare occasions. I don’t like to use it usually,” she replied, not looking at them for a moment.
“H-how…the actual hell did you get your hands on that?” Wolfwood asked with a bewildered, almost afraid look on his face.
Rosemary tucked it away securely before smirking. She held up one finger to shush them before cupping her hands over her mouth. She proceeded to produce a strange sounding noise that was reminiscent of a whistle but with more of an odd buzzing sound to it. There was a bit of a pause before a different, much more terrifying sound called in response. The sound of something running up through the side streets came up, fast. The steps of the beast sounding too light to be whatever produced such a horrid noise. Vash and Wolfwood turned just in time to see a horse burst into the small square they were standing in. Well, something like a horse to be specific.
The creature was more insect-like than anything, dusty brown plating with scattered dark spotting covering its entire body, its exoskeleton bumpy and rough to the touch. The main thing that drew the attention of those present was the large, bright red scorpion-like stinger at the end of a prehensile, segmented tail. The animal slowed down to a stop in front of Rosemary and nudged its head against her, which made her giggle and pat the side of his face. The saddle and packs on its back accompanied with the halter and reins made it clear this was one of the few that’d been domesticated by humans, which was a rare feat but not impossible. A patient hand and proper training of both animal and rider were what was truly required at the end of the day.
“Woah!! An actual worm-horse?!” Vash gaped with excitement, eyes sparkling as he took in the sight of the animal.
“Yup! This is Cosmic Crisp, but I call him Cosmo,” Rosemary grinned as she stroked Cosmo’s snout. Vash took a bit too much of a quick step forward and Cosmo tensed up, his tail flexing just a little. “Easy there chico, cálmate,” Rosemary soothed, holding Cosmo’s reins in her hand.
“Lo siento, Cosmo. Soy un amigo,” Vash said softer while extending an open palm, Rosemary’s eyes widening as he did this. Cosmo responded well to this and sniffed Vash a little before nudging his hand looking for food or something.
“You…you know worm-horse talk?” Rosemary gaped, completely not expecting this from Vash.
“It’s just another language, it’s not magic,” Vash laughed as Cosmo sniffed Vash’s hair and rubbed up against him in a friendly manner.
“Sounds like gibberish to me,” Wolfwood grumbled as he exhaled some smoke, Cosmo snorting and Rosemary rolling her eyes with a shake of her head.
“Keep talking like that and I’ll make sure your tombstone says something like ‘Here lies Wolfwood. He was an asshole with a cute face,” Rosemary snarked back, Wolfwood shooting her a look, Vash getting a glint in his eye at that but saying nothing.
“I’ll have to make sure your tombstone calls you a smart ass,” Wolfwood grumbled, Rosemary giggling and shaking her head.
“If you put anything besides ‘Rosemary Valentine’ and something at least cordial on my grave, I’ll come back and haunt you for the rest of your life,” she teased back.
Wolfwood froze in place after hearing her full name. “What…where did you get that last name?” he blurted out, his voice thick with emotion.
“Uh…my dad?” Rosemary replied with a confused head tilt and mild concern.
“You…were you a nurse as a kid in the Eye of Michael? Was your hair more…reddish at one point? Did you go by Nurse Valentine?!” Wolfwood asked, the intensity of his questions and the desperate need to know throwing her off completely. The mention of the largest religious organization on Gunsmoke often brought up a number of reactions in folks. Anger, fear, belief, piety, devotion, desperation…it was both the most well kept secret cult and yet the only organized religion people felt they could turn to in their time of desperation.
“Y-yes…how did you…” she started before both of them shared a look of recognition and disbelief. “You…did I leave that much of an impression on you?”
“You were the only one who had gentle hands the entire time I was in that hell hole,” he breathed, running a hand through his hair as memories flooded back and he looked completely dumbfounded by this revelation. “Sad you don’t remember me though, Rosie.”
“I vaguely do…I think you were a lot more bitter and shut down. And to be fair, I saw to a lot of people, a lot of faces left and never came back. I didn’t want to remember everyone’s faces because when I did, they’d often be dead or an unholy, unrecognizable monster the next week,” she sighed, rubbing her arm a little, fingers tracing some of the scattered, dark scars on her forearms.
Wolfwood continued to process this information, glancing at nothing specific as his eyes shifted around. He’d written off the girl with the big blue eyes and the soft hands years ago, figuring that she’d died among the countless others the Eye of Michael had snuffed out. Vash observed quietly as this exchange was happening between his close friend and their newfound buddy, caressing Cosmo’s nose at the same time.
“I think this is gonna turn out to be something real special, Cosmo,” Vash said quietly, the worm-horse nickering in response.