Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Vash was tired. That's all he could feel. Every step, every ride, every waking moment, Vash was exhausted. When he closed his eyes, rest eluded him and he woke just as exhausted.

It never ends.

Except, it was going to end. And soon. Vash didn't exactly have an internal clock counting down the days, but he knew. 

He didn't have long. Maybe a year? Six months was the safe bet. 

He stared up at the plant in front of him. His sister unfurled her wings, pressing closer to him, asking if he was alright. 

"I'm fine, sister." Vash leaned his forehead against the glass and she mimicked his movement. 

No you're not.

Vash let out a half-hearted chuckle. "Of course I am, I'm fine."

You're dying.

"No more than anyone else."

Let me help .

Neither of them needed words for the resounding No! that flashed through their bond, the thought making Vash physically recoil. 

Please, Vash. Let me help.

"No! It'll take too much of you. I want you to live as long as you can."

But you will die! She couldn't reach out and touch him, nevertheless, Vash felt her need to shake him by the shoulders to make him see sense.

He didn't have to say anything for the plant to feel the acceptance that came with that thought. 

Vash! You will die! You can't die!

There was no getting around it anymore, was there? "That's okay." The silence over the bond ached more than he would admit. "I'm ready to die." 

Defeat swiftly followed by righteous anger could have knocked him over. But you aren't! Not really.

"After everything, you still don't think I'm okay dying?"

The flash of the urge to scream at him through the bond made Vash chuckle dryly. Anger was quick and explosive, followed by a river of pain and sorrow, and Vash could do nothing but let it roll over him. 

You think you are a murderer. You think that what happened to this planet was your fault. You think dying is a punishment for you. You are okay dying. You want to die. You think you deserve it. That does not mean you are ready to die.

Vash didn't have an answer for that. He couldn't lie, she'd feel him lying, so he said nothing. 

Let me help you. Please, brother.

"No, I can't, it'll take more than you have."

I'm okay with that.

"But I'm not!" He didn't hold back his own anger at the thought of another one of the plants dying, especially not for him, and the plant patiently accepted his anger as it flowed over her.

Your other sisters would be. You've done so much for us and for the humans. Let us give back.

"No! No! I can't do that! I can't take that from you! No!"

Warmth and love and fear flashed into Vash as he felt his sister's concern flood his being. Please, Vash. We love you.

That knocked Vash for a loop, and he broke the mental connection for a moment, physically pulling away from her container. He couldn't stop the tears from falling.

When was the last time he had heard someone say that to him?

Brother?

Was it Rem? Had she even said it?

Vash couldn't remember. 

Had Knives ever said it to him? Maybe once on board the ship. Before everything happened. 

He couldn't remember. 

Brother are you there?

He'd felt it, briefly, he knew that. He felt the whole world's love for him. But it wasn't for him , was it?

It was for Vash the Stampede , not Vash. 

No one loved Vash. 

Indignation and a stubborn refusal to that thought flooded across to Vash but he did not have the space to respond, wrapped up in his own emotions.

Maybe Meryl did. Maybe Milly did. He thought Luida might too. Maybe Livio? Maybe? But even then, was it love for him? Who he was? Or what he did?

He was never sure. 

How could he ever be sure?

But his sisters? They loved him for existing. He'd never needed to prove himself to them. He had value just because he was alive. 

At least when it came to the plants.

Brother, what's wrong? I feel your pain. Are you hurt?

He made a decision then, wiping away the tears that had fallen. 

"I'm fine. I just decided something, sister."

Happiness flooded the bond and it made Vash groan from the sheer elation. You're going to let me help you? Even a little?!

"I meant what I said, sister. No!"

Hurt and despair in equal measure married both her face and the bond, and Vash could physically feel the wail she wanted to let out before there was a beat of silence. 

My name is עֲנָה, you know. 

"What?"

My name isn't sister, as much as I love being your sister.

"You have a name? All this time, you've all had names?"

No. They helped me pick one. 

"Who's they?"

The short one and the tall blonde one.

"That's not really helping me out here."

Human names are hard to say . A mental flash of Meryl and Milly showing and reading the plant a list of names and meanings and waiting for signs of whether or not his sister liked the names entered across their bond. 

"Meryl and Milly? They did this?"

They aren't the only ones. They said it was happening everywhere. People wanted to see the plants as like kin, and the way humans do that is by naming them .  

"And you chose Anah?"

Anah nodded. They said it means ‘answer.’ I liked being the answer.  

Vash gave her a soft smile. "It suits you."

So what are you going to do? Anah placed a hand against the glass. If you won't let me help, what will you do? You don't have long, brother. 

"I know. But if you have a name, wouldn't most of our siblings have names by now?"

Logically, yes.  

"I think I owe it to them, to all of you, to at least know your names before I go, don't you think?"

If you're sure, brother.  

"I can't go without knowing they're well. And they have names, I need to know their names."

Won't you take a little bit, at least, to help you get to them all?

"No, Anah. I have enough."

You shake if you stand too long.  

Vash couldn't help the sad chuckle. "You noticed that, huh?"

I notice everything.

...Don't go, Vash.

"I need to see them."

But then I won't see you again. 

Vash leaned his forehead back against the glass as her guilt and the beginnings of mourning pulsed across the bond. "I'm sorry. I can't. I need to see them."

But I'll never see you again. 

"I'm sorry."

Little brother, please! Let me help you!

"Goodbye, Anah."

Vash turned and walked away, tuning out his sister's desperate cries for him to return. 

Anah would not let him go so easily. Sisters! Sisters! Vash is coming, try to help him! The message was repeated ad nauseum until she felt one of her other sisters in the city respond, and carry it further. 

Vash the Stampede was not going to die. Not if they could help it. 

~

Vash sighed against the wall. He'd just narrowly escaped yet another bounty hunter trying to get the ridiculous amount of money placed on his hide. 

Honestly, what was the Earth government thinking? It was obvious, at least to Vash, that he hadn't done anything wrong, and most of the No Man's Land people that he had accidentally run into upon trying to find all of his sisters had either tried to thank him, worship him, or help him with whatever task they thought he was up to. 

It was more than a little embarrassing. Vash loved the nice feelings the attention gave him, but the actual attention made him cringe. Especially when all he wanted was to be left alone. 

But no one would leave him alone! He was dodging people left, right, and center, and even though his heartstrings tugged when he hid from Livio, Milly, and Meryl somewhat often, he couldn't see them. 

He knew he'd never get it done if he didn't. He'd want to stay with them, even as he ran from their show, and he couldn't—

—this was too important. 

Vash groaned as he stood up fully, checking his gun before stowing it away. He needed to find out who was leaving tomorrow so he could hitchhike. Then he needed to go to the plant here, write her name down in his book, and say goodbye. 

His stomach rumbled. 

Okay, maybe food first. 

Vash snuck to a small hole in the wall restaurant and ordered the cheapest thing on the menu. After scarfing it down and flashing a smile to the proprietor, Vash ducked out and took off across town to the underground plant. 

He should've double checked who followed him. 

~

Vash could feel her growing stronger at the edges of his mind. While the bond between all plants on the planet usually existed as a background hum, whenever he neared a plant on the physical plane, her particular voice got louder, humming and vibrating the nearer he got until she could speak to him.

Brother? Is that you?!

Vash couldn't help but chuckle at her excitement flashing weakly over the bond. It had been a good few years, maybe even a decade since he had seen this specific sister, and he couldn't help but agree with her emotions. He loved seeing them, even if he knew they could never be free of their containers. It both edified him and broke the ancient plant-man's heart. 

He wasn't close enough to engage the bond on his end; a side effect of being an independent apparently. He needed to be at most one hundred or so feet away from a solitary plant, but if many of his sisters were together in a facility, the bond stretched to several hundred feet for him. 

Nothing was more pleasant than the hum of many plants, together in harmony, at the back of his mind. Before the battle with his brother, Vash had only felt that on the ship, when he was just a child and again when he had been discovered by the colony-ship community he now called home. When everything was still good and happy. 

Vash picked up his pace a bit, eager to speak with her for as long as he could until his ride left early in the morning. 

Brother? Are you there?

Vash was still too far to respond verbally, but he sent back a weak image of his location as he opened the doors of the building clearly marked for plant containment and slipped inside. 

He tried to take the steps two at a time, but his legs couldn't take anymore, and Vash ended up tumbling to the ground. He groaned in pain, rubbing his back.

What happened to you? You used to be able to fly down those stairs. And you look like you haven't slept in weeks!

She was always one of the more motherly of his sisters. Vash had to laugh at that as he forced himself off the ground. "Yeah, well, I looked better before I tripped."

That's not what I meant and you know it!

Motherly concern and consternation flashed to him, earning another pained chuckle. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, okay? Just been a long trip— and I’m not talking about the stairs."

You're coming to say goodbye, aren't you?

Surprise flung itself back across the bond. "How did you know that?"

Your hair. He felt something else there, but he wasn’t close enough to fully open the bond to see what it was. Your hair is entirely black, little brother. And you could not make your way down the stairs. You are tired. And you are fading fast.

Vash shook his head. “Nah, I have at least a year left, maybe a bit more.”

You know well how fast a year can go, Vash.

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Vash thought back to his journeys with various people he had met over the years. “I know.” 

So what are you doing now?

“What do you mean?”

What are you doing with the time you have left, Vash?

What was he doing? Was it a fool’s errand? Could he even find them all in time? He had to, he had to. He couldn’t go without knowing them all. Knowing their names. Knowing how they were being treated. He couldn’t do that. He couldn’t.

The sensation of a warm blanket being placed over his shoulders filtered through the bond, forcing Vash out of his thoughts. Are you visiting all of us because of it?

He chuckled dryly. “Yeah, I am. I’m trying to, anyways. I need to see you all. I need to ask you—”

“Ask you why you have been high tailing it around the planet at break-neck speed for nine months, not even stopping to say hello to anyone, much less let us know you were okay!” Vash whirled around, shoulders sagging as he saw Meryl stomping closer to him, Milly close behind her. “What the actual hell, Vash?! We haven’t been trying to find you for our show for months now; we’re concerned about you! And you falling down the stairs because you cannot stand is concerning so don’t you dare say you are fine, Vash! You are not fine, and I know you will try and weasel your way out of telling us what is going on so don’t you dare even think about it or I will smack you myself!”

Meryl huffed while Milly rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. “What’s going on, Vash? You don’t seem like yourself.”

Hello again Meryl, Milly. Thank you for finally showing some sense in here; my brother had lowered the IQ of the room considerably.

“Hey! I did not! Take that back!”

I will not. Now tell them what I said.

“But!”

Tell them, Vash. And tell them hi from דְּבוֹרָה.

Vash grumbled but acquiesced. Milly and Meryl laughed. “You’re very welcome, Devorah. It’s nice to see you again too.”

“Nice to see you again, Dev!” 

“Why’d you choose Devorah?”

She was a warrior who defied the customs of her time to defeat an invading army. It felt appropriate.

Vash took out a tattered, leather notebook and wrote down the date, location, and name. “Do you know the names of our other sisters here?”

Yes, but I’m not going to tell you. You need to do that yourself.

“I know, I was going to. I am going to. I’m just—”

Too tired and sore to be able to do that right now without help.

“You’re writing down their names? We have a log of them, Vash. We can just tell you them.” Meryl went to grab something, but Vash held out a hand.

“No. No. I need to go visit them.”

“But you’re sick!” Milly cried.

“No, I’m not sick.”

Meryl frowned. “Vash you fell down the stairs because you couldn’t stand. You’re not well.”

“I’m not sick though.”

You need to tell them, Vash.

“No, Devorah, I do not.”

Yes, you do. You know you can’t make it alone. They have transport and can help you. You don’t have to do it alone anymore.  

Devorah didn’t say you never had to do it alone , but it was implied.

“What does he not do?” Milly asked politely. “Since he won’t tell us, can you help us out, Dev?”

Tell them or I will try and show them however I can, Vash. You know I will.

“But I’m fine!”

“Vash, you fell down two flights of stairs and are barely standing. You used to be able to fall fifty feet and be entirely fine seconds later! You are clearly not fine! So just tell us already or we will get it out of Devorah if we have to stand here and make her do sign language charades!” Meryl huffed at him, hands on her hips. 

Another presence pushed at their bond. Normally, Vash tried to say his goodbyes one on one, to make it more personal, but his actions left her no choice. דְּבוֹרָה, let me try.

If you’re sure, Ὀδησσα . 

“Odessa, huh? Pretty name.” Vash’s words were coming in short. Why was breathing so hard?

You injured your ribs in that fall, and you don’t have much left in you to heal that, brother! You are supposed to get to all of us, and how are you going to get to see all of us if you die from something so stupid as a fall?! If you want to finish this mission, you need to ASK FOR HELP!

She pulled away from the connection so fast that Vash’s head jerked back from the abrupt silence in their bond. 

“Milly, Meryl, I’m dying.”

Milly’s eyes widened as Meryl gasped. “What do you mean, dying? Vash, what happened ?”

Vash sighed heavily, his hands slowly leaving Devorah’s tank as he turned to face the girls. 

His hair had darkened so much that it looked like the inside of a tomb. Parts of it looked more like the descriptions Meryl had heard of volcanic rock and ash. His eyes were dull and looked less blue and more stormy grey.

He looked like he was decaying. And fast.

“I used up what was left of my energy as an independent plant to fight Knives. I’ve got a couple of the bullets left, but those are emergencies. Other than that, I’m essentially a human.”

A human with a wasting disease.

“A human with a wasting disease, thanks for that Devorah.” He gave a playful glare to his sister. “But I’m decaying. It’s what happens to plants when pushed to their limits without being given enough energy to replace it.”

“And you used it all on fighting Knives?” Milly’s airy voice asked as she came up to him and forced Vash into a hug that he was too weak to resist. “ Thank you .”

“What, what are you thanking me for?” Vash asked, half in astonishment, half in joke as he tried in vain to push Milly off of him, unused to physical touch he had not initiated. 

Meryl’s arms overlapped Milly’s as she joined the hug. “For helping us when we did not deserve you. When you had been denied and chased out and hated and almost killed! People tried to kill you so many times, and you still did this to yourself for us?” Meryl squeezed him tighter. “We owe you more than a thank you, you big, dumb, idiot .” Her voice broke as it clogged with tears. “And we are coming with you.”

“What? No, you guys can’t—!”

“NO!” Milly was the one to raise her voice. “Don’t you get it, Vash? You’re our friend! We love you and you’re dying and you think we’re gonna leave you? You can’t even walk, can’t even push us away, and you think we are gonna leave you?!” She drew in a quick breath. “No. No way. I don’t know what you’re thinking, going around like this on your own, but you’re not anymore!”

Meryl nodded against him. “That’s right! Now you are going to say goodbye to your plant sisters while we arrange for a car and that is final! Don’t you dare try to make it up those stairs without us here.” Her voice softened as she pulled away. “You might not make it to all of your sisters in time without us, Vash. Please? Please let us help you?”

Odessa and Devorah both surged into his mind. Let them help you, brother.

Don’t be an idiot, Vash. They love you just as we do. If you want to say goodbye to all of us in time, you are going to need their help. Don’t turn them away out of selfish pride.

“It’s not pride that keeps me solitary, Odessa.”

It’s pride because you are putting your own standards above that of everyone else’s. Are you a god that you can define holiness?

“No.”

Then it is pride if you are saying their love and thanks and forgiveness aren’t worth anything because your own judgment of your guilt ranks higher than theirs. Go with them, Vash.

Let them help you.

“Okay, I’ll go.” The answering laughs of relief were all the reassurance Vash needed that this was the right decision.

~

If Vash could die anywhere that was not next to his brother, it would be right here.

He’d never been to this town, a new small town that had popped up not far from December after everything, but when he overheard that one of the orphanage kids found a sunken ship with thousands of sleeping people and well over a thousand plants, he knew what his final stop would be. 

He couldn’t bring himself to go to the gravesite first. He just couldn’t. If he went, he’d never get to the town, but as they drove passed the orphanage with Wolfwood’s grave, his heart ached. 

“You alright back there?” Meryl’s voice was soft. None of them were alright, but her eyes in the rearview mirror held more sympathy for him. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

He wasn’t, but Vash was a liar. He would lie his way to his grave.

The town appeared a half an hour later, and Vash frowned. Why was there an earth ship hanging in the sky? 

“Are you all seeing this?” Milly asked in concern. 

“Yeah. Meryl, gun it.” Vash felt the presence of a plant he had not felt in a long time, but it was muted and incredibly small. Much more so than any plant he had ever known.  

“But Vash—!”

“Meryl, gun it . I don’t like the look of this.”

Meryl obeyed, but the worry never left her eyes.

~

The car came to a stop just outside of town, and all heads turned towards them. The gathering of people easily numbered in the hundreds, but none expected a giant truck to roll up to the mess of people currently shouting at each other. Sister? What are you doing here? Vash sent through to the bond he could feel with this independent plant. He hadn’t seen her since the Earth government tried to take down Knives. He didn’t know why she was here. She had been furious with rage before, but now she seemed almost too calm.

Why wouldn’t she say anything to him? She should have been able to hear him for miles and miles. 

Milly opened the backdoor and Vash took her hand to help pull him out, but he declined her usual offer to help him walk. 

He looked rough . His hair was thinning, his eyes looked sunken, his skin was dark. But it was still Vash the Stampede and Vash would not let people get hurt. Sister, please! Stop this!

“What’s going on here?” The few who hadn’t turned to him now turned their heads. The crowd opened for the three of them as they walked, very slowly, to the center where Chronica, an earth colonel, and several lieutenants were locked in a heated discussion with town’s officials. Sister? Why aren’t you answering me?

“Vash?”

“Vash!”

“Oh my god it’s him!”

“Guys, it’s Vash!”

“Vash?” Vash noticed Livio close to the arguing representatives and nodded to him.

Cheers came from the, substantially larger, group of townsfolk while half of the Earth military officials trained their guns on Vash. Sister, please answer me.

Who was barely holding himself upright as he walked to the center, pretending to pay no attention to the gunmen actively tracking his movements. “What seems to be the problem here?” 

He tried for his old bravado, he really did. But it just wasn’t there. “This is Vash the Stampede ?” The colonel barks. “This is the Humanoid Typhoon ? This man?” 

The town leader who was there laughed at him. “Yeah, this is him. Vash, what are you doing here?”

Vash smiled lightly. Sister, you were angry then. Are you angry now?

“Would you stop calling me sister!” Everyone turned to Chronica. “I don’t even know you, we are not siblings!”

Vash’s eyes widened. “What do you mean, we’re not siblings? We’re plants, we’re all siblings!”

“We do not have that bond!” 

“As much as I would love to let you carry on with this, Chronica, we have a schedule to keep. Now, let us go wake up those people, or we will make you.”

“Woah woah woah, we don’t need to shoot anyone or make anyone do anything!” Vash said, turning to face both sides equally, Meryl standing close by to lean on.

“We cannot take in over five thousand people in this town, even with the extra plants and supplies you have given us! That is more than the people we currently have living here! Things would be absolute chaos!”

“I have my orders—!”

“Damn you and your orders, I am not allowing my people to go hungry because you have moved up the timeline! We had twelve more months—!”

“They’ve been asleep for over a hundred years!”

“That makes no difference to them whether they wake in one year or ten or twenty!”

“They need to be freed!”

“Not at the expense of my people!”

“We have sent you more than enough equipment and supplies for this! We cannot afford another year of this!”

“Is that what they decided on that far away planet of theirs? That me and mine are forced to die for the sake of people who crashed here over a hundred years ago? Who would be fine elsewise?”

“But their pods are starting to fail! They could wake up and die in there, the ship is sinking!”

Milly, who had been keeping an eye on Vash’s movements, walked up right beside him. He immediately swayed towards her, but her wide and steady stance caught him and turned his fall into a casual lean. His strength was waning fast. “So you’re trying to wake these people up before their pods fail and the ship sinks? Is there no way to ship them out to other towns after they have woken—hey!”

Vash’s head jerks back just enough to avoid a bullet from a lieutenant’s polished gun. “You are a wanted criminal. You do not get a say in the matter!”

Several townspeople jumped in front of Vash. “Don’t you dare lay a finger on him!”

“He’s a hero!”

“Don’t you touch him!”

“After everything he’s done, you want to hurt him?!”

Chornica turned to the colonel. “Sir, this is getting out of hand, let us take this somewhere else before a mob forms.”

The colonel shook his head. “No. No, we need to get them out of there.” He stood up straighter. “If you won’t allow them here, then I will make you leave.” He signaled to the ship, which powered up a gun, pointing it directly at the townspeople. “You have five minutes to change your mind, or I will fire this and destroy you all. I will not allow those people trapped in there to die.”

“So you’ll kill innocents instead?!” Vash tried to move closer to intervene, but he fell to his knees, crying out in pain. 

“Vash!” The crowd tried to surround him, but Milly, Meryl, and surprisingly Chronica formed a triangle of defense around him. 

“We do not need this to spiral further out of control.” Chronica’s voice was tight. “Commander! Please, rescind this order! We cannot do this, you do not have the authorization to do this!”

“We must save those people, Chronica. Now either return to the ship or die with them.”

“Sir!”

“Men! To the ship! And take Vash the Stampede here with you! He is wanted for crimes against humanity!”

The crowd then began to rush the military men, desperate to protect Vash and their lives at any cost. The gun began to hum as the last of the Earth government men boarded the ship, leaving Chronica down below. 

“Everyone, get back!” Vash shouted, but it was no use.

The gun fired.

Well, it’s the last one, but I guess this is an emergency . Vash spun his gun into his hand, looking up just enough to fire.

The smaller bullet hit the much larger laser with pin-perfect accuracy, despite the fact that Vash was kneeling on the ground and barely able to keep his head up. As impact occurred, the townsfolk watched in horror and awe as the bomb was swallowed up by a miniature black hole. 

There was no time for celebration as Vash cried out, falling backwards onto the ground, his whole body smoking.

Meryl knew she should move into action immediately, but she could not help but focus on his hair. It was black as night before this, but now it crumbled away into ash. Dark strands turned to goopy messes, falling out of his head faster and faster as the seconds ticked by. And his hands! His hands slowly encased themselves in green crystal, giving off an eerie hue that was not quite human, even for Vash’s standards. It enshrined his fingers, then his wrists, locking his gun in place. Meryl had only briefly read about Egyptian sarcophogi in a book somewhere, but she imagined that none was more grand, or more horrifying, than this. 

Underneath, the tips of his fingers began to turn black, just like Vash’s hair. Then they melted, turning from solid flesh into liquid in seconds. It continued up his wrists and to his arm. Then his feet began to blacken and crumble as well. A scream came from someone. Was it Meryl? She didn’t know.

Then they heard it. The screams of over a thousand plants, both in the city and on the ships, crying out in agony. 

“What’s going on with the plants?!” Someone cried.

“Are they dying?”

“What’s happening with Vash?!”

“Someone give us some help here!”

A distant memory pinged in Meryl’s mind. It was not one of her own, she knew, but rather one of Vash’s memories that had been given to her long ago. Vash was standing next to a plant, face and hands pressed to the glass, as energy passed from him to his sister. Her brokenness began to fade, and Vash eventually let go, his breathing ragged and uneven.

“Someone! Help me! Help me take him to the plants!” Meryl cried as she tried to lift Vash’s body on her own. Milly and Chronica, as well as several of the townsfolk that heard the call lifted him, moving as fast as they could to the plant facility in the middle of the town.

They laid him in the middle of the plants, and the screeching stopped. Instead, all of the plants unfurled themselves and pressed forward to the edge of their bulbs. 

Meryl hoped it would be enough.

For the plants, the bond was total chaos.

Hundreds of voices screamed at once, shouting and pulling and pushing and screeching, desperate to be heard, desperate for their brother not to die.

Niobe! He only needs two lungs, not three!

Athaliah, hair doesn’t belong there!

Are there three tendons in the foot, Irene?

Lightning, no, that’s too much power! He will get so mad if we use that much power!

Work faster, Dishwasher, work faster!

Bolt, what are you doing, that appendage doesn’t even exist?

Come on! Work faster!

Should we leave his scars?

Do we have a choice? His flesh is fading away!

Meryl, oblivious to the internal dialogue of the plants, looked down at Vash’s body. His right arm was completely gone, turned to dark, liquidy mush in the crystal casing. His legs and half of his sternum were also gone, the metal that had been stuck in him corroding faster than anything Meryl had ever seen. 

Even his robotic arm was gone, completely corroded and rusted, falling into the mush and disintegrating before their eyes.

The crystal layer covered everything but the upper half of Vash’s chest and his head. Soon, his lungs would stop functioning, his heart would stop beating, and there would be nothing left of Vash.

Meryl prayed as hard as she could, and others did the same. They begged and begged for Vash to live, to survive, to return to the world he so loved, even at the cost of his own life.

Then the plants shrieked as one.

Vash’s heart had stopped beating.

Chapter Text

Vash had never felt such peace before. Perfect peace could be the only description. No. It was almost as if the very ground beneath him was breathing and alive in a way that Vash had never before beheld in his long life. The very air he breathed was life giving. No, it felt like a prayer, his soul being breathed back into his body like God breathing Adam from the dust.

His body practically vibrated with joy. He was lighter, his very soul felt lighter. He was wrapped in perfect peace, the kind which people prayed about. Weakly, Vash opened his eyes, touching the golden grass beneath him.

What was going on? The last thing he remembered was the screams of his sisters. And then there was nothing. 

Vash pulled himself up into a sitting position, surprised at how easy everything was. He had become used to needing help to even stand, much less to sit up. But there was no tug on his sternum that had him groaning, no pain around the metal plates, no stiff abdomen, nothing. 

He felt light. As if every breath he took was everything he could possibly need, filling his lungs with something that air could never be. He looked down at his hands and frowned before awe overtook him.

He had hands.

Plural.

Two hands again.

There was no metal. There was no springs or wires or robotic parts.

He had two hands.

He held them up in wonder, looking over them for any flaw. When did he regrow his arm? I didn’t think I had it left in me to do this. Was this a trigger of my last run? Just severely delayed?

Something caught his eye and he pulled his right arm in front of his face. Or rather, the lack of something.

There were no scars. None whatsoever. His arm was whole. Vash pulled the collar of his jacket, desperate to see if there were any other scars that remained before a chuckle pulled him out of his frantic movements.

Vash’s head shot up to locate the voice as it let out another chuckle.

“Normally, they send Saint Peter to the pearly gates to greet you, but you just had to be special, Needle Noggin.”

~

“Ione! That’s too much there, he doesn’t have three hands on one arm!”

Screaming images of Vash in various states flooded back and forth as hundreds of plants desperately tried to slow the decomposition of his body. 

“What are they doing?” Someone called out. 

“I think they’re trying to fix him!” Someone else shouted.

“They’re not working fast enough!”

“They need to be faster!”

“His chest!” 

Vash’s legs had entirely dissolved into the inky, black liquid, and both of his arms were similarly gone. His chest was rapidly falling apart, metal corroding and crumbling to pieces. The crystal green shell seemed to hold, but it was only a matter of time. Only his head and half of his chest remained intact, and it wouldn’t be long before his body succumbed.

~

Vash was up on his feet before he could think, sprinting at full speed towards where Wolfwood stood on the steps to heaven. He ran and ran, his legs pumping like they hadn’t in years, free of pain and aches and fueled by pure elation.

Wolfwood, Wolfwood, Wolfwood, Wolfwood! ran through Vash’s mind, desperate to get to his friend, desperate to see him, to feel him there, to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was here and he was real . Nicholas, Nicholas, Nicholas, Nicholas. Burning desire to see this man, to touch him, to reassure himself that he hadn’t failed, that he was still here, that he’d never left, surged through Vash’s veins, pushing him faster and faster—

Until he crashed into an invisible barrier, hands stopping braced against it like a wall, and Vash’s head cracking backwards before falling forwards. 

He froze upon seeing two strands of sunshine-yellow hair fall in front of his eyes. Blond again ? 

“Sorry, Needle Noggin. You ain't Elijah; you gotta be dead to get in here.” Vash looked up to see Wolfwood, who had walked down the steps, just out of arm’s reach of the invisible barrier. 

“What do you mean, Wolfwood?”

“Ya haven’t figured it out for yourself yet, Spikey? With that new arm and hair of yours?”

“You mean, I’m really here?”

“‘Course you are. You of all people would be here.”

“You know as well as I do that I do not deserve it, Wolfwood.”

“Bullshit. I’m a preacher—”

“Were you ever really a preacher?”

“Shut up, the preacher’s talking.” The two of them shared identical grins.

This felt so good . Just like before everything. The two of them, back to back, guns slinging, bullets firing, death a hair’s breadth away, the way it should be . 

Except it wasn’t that way.

Vash was here, hands still pushed against an invisible barrier, a barrier that was thinning with every breath Vash took. “Wolfwood, what are you doing here?”

Wolfwood let out a harsh chuckle. “Your body’s turning to mush; corrosive fluid that’s destroyed everythin’ but your heart ‘n’ lungs ‘n’ head, Vash. You’re dyin’. And ya don’t care, do ya?”

“...I figured I was dying, Nicholas.”

“So now he calls me Nicholas. When he’s dyin’. The nerve.” Wolfwood gave him a sad smile. “I don’t want you here, you know.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I know you’re tired. I know you’re incredibly tired. Your very soul is tired. There’s wounds in your heart where somethin’s missin’. 

“Nicholas—”

“I know the road you walked was anything but easy. You’ve fought more than your fair share of fights, fights that you coulda walked away from guiltless. You’ve run the race with endurance, even when you wanted to do anythin’ else. Ya picked up more than your share of scars along the way, Needle-Noggin. But I don’t want you here. Not yet.”

“I’m ready.”

“You’re ready when I say you’re ready, idiot.” If he didn’t know any better, Vash could’ve sworn Wolfwood was about to cry. “And I’m sorry.”

“What the hell do you have to be sorry for?” 

“Dying.” 

Vash pressed as far as he could into the barrier, feeling it crack more and more as his life slipped away. “You don’t have to be sorry for that.”

“I do. You didn’t deserve that. To be left when I went on a suicide mission. Where I planned on dyin’ to make them free.”

“But I came.”

“You came Vash, and I still died. And I knew I’d die, but I did not understand how much it would hurt you.” 

Vash could only be silent, tears starting to form at the corners of his eyes.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think, I just—”

“You just wanted them safe, Nicholas. It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not okay. I asked to do it alone, it was pride. And you stepped aside. Together we would have won. Back to back, just as it always should have been. And you wouldn’t have had to see that.”

“But Livio—”

“I ain’t talkin’ bout Livio. What I did for Livio, I won’t take that back. That was right. I’m not sorry about Livio. I’m sorry that you had to watch it all and do nothing. I’m sorry that you had to be the one to bury me, Vash. I’m sorry for what I put you through without thinkin’ of you.”

The tears came then. “You don’t have to be sorry—!”

“Yes I damn well do and you know it. Vash, I am sorry.”

~

We’re losing him!

Someone, stabilize his heart!

Dishwasher—wait, your name is Dishwasher?

I’ll have you know that dishwashers are amazing pieces of machinery—

Dishwasher! Lioness! Help Vash now, infodump later!

We’ve got it slowed to his chest, how many limbs do they have again?

Is it just one foot?

How many livers are there supposed to be?

Which arm has the gate?

It’s three spleens right?

What about his scars? Do we fix his scars?

He might like that, Sarai.

No! He would hate that, Triangle.

Yeah, keep the scars.

Vash’s body slowly stopped turning into the mysterious black liquid, and cheers rose among the people gathered as they saw his lower chest and torso begin to reform. The green crystal casing had stopped forming as well, leaving open the unaffected areas, as if Vash was still trying to protect humanity, even from his molting corpse.

“Come on, Vash!”

“You can do it!”

“We’re here, Vash!”

“You’ve got this!”

“Vash! Vash! Vash!” the chant was taken up, and it was the people’s prayer. Vash gave up everything, including his life to save them. There was no way they would let him die without an attempt to help, even if all they could do was pray.

~

Vash, tears falling freely, slid down to his knees. “I didn’t want to kill him, Nicholas.” 

“I know.”

“But it was the only way. He wanted to die, and he wanted Knives to love him. And I couldn’t give him that. No one could. Knives would never love or acknowledge a human in such a way.”

“I know.”

“He was evil. He was a tortured soul who knew nothing but hate and pain and death. I could not get to Knives without killing him. The world could not go on if I didn’t kill him.”

“I know, Vash.”

“I’m sorry you know.”

“What the hell do you have to be sorry about?” Wolfwood joined him, kneeling down on the other side of the barrier, as close as he could physically be.

“You weren’t a coward for killing them at the colony ship. You weren’t a coward for killing. I was the coward because I could not face myself if I had killed. I put my pride above reality.”

“It wasn’t pride that you did not want to be the one to kill someone, to choose to play God and take lives—”

“It was pride when choosing not to do that got innocent people killed. My pride blinded me; you weren’t the coward, I was.”

Wolfwood’s fist banged on the barrier. “Shut up you idiot! You were right .”

“What?” 

“You were right when you called me a coward. You explored every possible option not to kill. You willingly got hurt so that you did not have to kill. You put yourself in the line of fire so you did not have to kill. Vash, you are not a coward. Vash, yes, you killed him, but his death was not your fault .”

“It was my fault. I pulled the trigger.”

“It’s not.”

“It is ! It’s all my fault!”

“Vash the Stampede! You fucking listen to me for once in your goddamn life!” Vash’s head snapped up to meet Wolfwood’s eyes, full of anger, but no blame. “It’s not your fault, Vash. It’s never been your fault. None of it was your fault! Nothing with Knives or the Fall or Fifth Moon or July! None of it was your fault!” Wolfwood’s voice breaks as he says “And I don’t know how to get that through to you.”

~

His body had completely reformed and silence rang throughout the hall. Breaths were quick and soundless as everyone involved waited anxiously for Vash to do anything.

But he did nothing.

Eventually, his breathing slowed to the point where one could not tell if his chest moved. Meryl, Milly, Livio, and Chronica were crowded around his body, checking for any signs of life. His heart did not beat, his lungs did not inflate, his eyes did not open.

For hours they waited, hoping, praying, begging for a sign. Begging for Vash the Stampede to be Vash the Stampede and wake up!  

Chronica eventually got authorization to remove her blocking and try to ask the plants in the facility what had happened, but they resisted all attempts to communicate with her. None of them had forgotten what happened when Knives was a threat. “Please! Please! Just tell me if he’s okay! Please!”

A resounding silence answered her, deafening in its lack of care or empathy. Minutes passed, maybe hours, and still nothing. Vash’s body lay there in his crystal green coffin, perfection incarnate, as people began to mourn his loss, weeping and crying and calling out how unfair it was, how unfair everything was, how they dared lose a hero who had given them everything he had.

Chronica received a command to reinitiate her blocker, and right before she did, there came a voice, thronging in the thousands, resounding WE DID WHAT WE COULD . 

Chronica hung her head. 

“Did they answer you?” Milly asked, terrified. 

“They did what they could.”

Milly began to sob, throwing herself over Vash’s green coffin, and Meryl pulled her back, hugging her as tears began to fall.

“No! No! It isn’t fair!” 

“He’s really gone?”

“Vash the Stampede is dead?”

“The Humanoid Typhoon?”

“He’s really dead?”

“He can’t be!”

“It’s not true!”

“He’s getting better, right? Right?”

The mayor of the town came up to the group of four, dismay on her face. “What are we going to do? How can we bury him properly? Where can we even bury a hero like that?”

Livio, who had been kneeling next to Vash’s body all the while, suddenly stood. “I know.”

~

After the largest gun salute in living memory, Vash’s crystalline coffin was lowered into a freshly dug grave by Millie and Livio. Meryl placed his gun and leather-bound notebook on his chest in lieu of roses. His notebook had been filled out by the hundreds that were present, writing the name and location of every last one of his sisters that were in the facility. Each person had taken a turn, learning the name of one of the plants and writing it in the book as a form of gratitude to their hero, trying to finish his dying wish.

Livio insisted on being the one to bury Vash, alone. He said he would have wanted it this way, and that he owed him such a task. Milly and Meryl each added a shovel-full of dirt before allowing Livio to continue. The former insurance girls bade the crowd disperse into the town to start celebrating his life with tales and drinks while Chronica went to report to the Earth military higher up about the events that happened, seeking at least a demotion for the colonel if not expulsion for such actions. 

When Livio had finished, he called to Milly and Meryl, the three of them setting his headstone. 

Placed on the ground, the carved stone read:

Vash the Stampede

Hero to Us All

Love and Peace

Livio knelt before the headstone, bowing his head. Whether or not he prayed was God’s business, but he looked to the grave to the left and whispered an apology. “I am sorry I could not protect him in your stead. Don’t fault him for dying, please?” 

Meryl came to stand by his side. “You died as you lived. And I’m sorry for the fanfare. I know you probably did not want it, but Vash, you were loved. And not just for what you did. But for who you were. We thought of you as one of us, right unto the very end.” She turned to the grave to the left. “Look after him for us, please? You always did do a better job.”

Milly stood behind them both, tears running down her face. “Vash! I’m sorry you couldn’t finish your book! But don’t worry, we did for you. And we’re not gonna forget you, okay? We’ll do everything in our power to spread love and peace wherever we go.” She, too, looked to the grave to her left. “And we haven’t forgotten you either, okay? So don’t you forget us!” 

As Livio stood to place an arm over both women, up from the ground bloomed a large, luscious red geranium. Then another. And another. And another. Soon, the entire grave was covered in red geraniums, and the flowers seemed to grow over the grave on the left. Except that grave did not grow solely red geraniums. Red spider lilies, white lilies, sunflowers, and baby’s breath grew to cover the older grave.

“Even in death, he thought of Wolfwood.” Milly whispered, tears running down her face anew.

“He and Wolfwood were bonded, in life and in death.” Meryl picked the sunflower that grew between her feet.

“Nicholas was the wind at his back and the sword at his side. Not even death could truly keep him from Vash’s side.” Livio smiled as a red geranium curled at his feet.

“He’s safe.” Meryl agreed, nodding along. “He’s always safe with Wolfwood.”

~

Milly, Meryl, and Livio were invited to stay in the orphanage, but none of them could really sleep. Meryl sat at the kitchen table, nursing a cup of coffee as she stared out at the predawn skyline. She had been at it for hours, thoughts running through her mind faster than she could keep up with.

It was some distraction, at least, from the grief that rolled off them all in waves.

Livio was lightly ‘napping’, his cowboy hat pulled down over his face, and Milly was ‘sleeping’ in a room on the other side of the orphanage.

Something caught Meryl’s eye and she stood, moving closer to the window in front of the sink.

She hadn’t imagined it, someone was standing outside of the grave. Some drunk mourner, probably, but she did not want anyone ruining Vash and Wolfwood’s graves. 

“Livio!” She whispered sharply, trying to not wake up the whole orphanage. “Get Milly and come outside. I think there’s a drunk guy at the grave. I’m going to make sure he doesn’t do anything.”

Meryl grabbed a gun and ran outside. 

She skidded to a stop by Vash’s grave, her clothes stained like a baseball player who slid to home base. The grave was destroyed, plants unturned, and Vash’s body, gun, and book missing. She began to sob uncontrollably. 

“Hey!” The figure turned to Meryl, concern filling his voice. “Why are you crying?” 

Meryl shook her head. “They’ve taken Vash! They robbed his grave! Did you see who took him?” She looked at Wolfwood’s and thanked God that it was undisturbed. 

Small mercies.

“Meryl.” Meryl’s eyes shot up to meet Vash the Stampede’s, his perfect golden hair sticking straight up, bathed in the light of dawn.