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They have been in several fights, standing side by side, knowing when to turn and how to dodge, which direction the other will go, how to move so they cover the other’s blind spot. They haven’t practised this, never had the need to, their way of fighting naturally complemented the other.
However, “Hey!”
Lately things haven’t been as smooth.
“Watch it, Spikey!”
The edge of the Punisher collided with Vash’s shoulder, making him miss his target, for the first time in a while, while also knocking Wolfwood’s bullets off course.
It is not certain which one of them was responsible for this mishap, but they should really get their shit together.
“I wasn’t even moving!” He might have moved, Vash never paid attention to where he was standing, since he rarely had to while Wolfwood was with him.
“You walked straight inta me!” He was already switching to his pistols, using the Punisher as a bulwark between them and the bullets.
“You swing that thing around too much!”
“Shut! Up!”
The bandits that were surrounding them started to close in, fire became more intensive, and shouting from all sides was louder.
They had to act fast, to counter them, to move from where they were and find cover, maybe they could even manage to escape. The sooner they acted the better. Luckily, both of them were aware of this, so their reaction was prompt.
“What the…!” Vash tried to move, run in the direction they knew there was a place they could use to escape, but he did not manage to follow his will. Something yanked him back, stopped him in his tracks, and made him fall face first into the hot sand.
“The… hell!” Wolfwood had the same idea, and he met a very similar fate. Something pulled the ground right under his foot, making him lose balance and stumble back, falling on his back.
“For fuck…You and your damn coat!”
“ You should watch where you are stepping!”
Before they started properly arguing, the imminent danger reminded them that they were not alone. The bullet that rushed between them made them stop glaring at each other and jump back to their feet.
“Maybe we should do this later!” Vash was already running towards that confusing building that had too many walls and exits.
“That’s the first smart thing you said today!”
Even though they were close to the safety of the building’s walls, it was still some distance before they would manage to find refuge there.
Wolfwood was the one that created cover for them; one quick rocket into the sand makes for a great cover.
Even though the bullets were still coming from the veil that separated them from the bandits, none of them came close to hitting either one of them. By the time they reached safety, the sand was still somewhat obstructing the view, with a few bandits brave enough to run through the little storm Wolfwood managed to create. Luckily, no one caught on to their location.
They hid in one of the narrow streets, using a pile of boxes and barrels as an improvised shelter. They didn’t speak, opting to stay quiet until the situation with the pursuers quieted down.
It took them a good 20 or something minutes to stop running up and down the street, yelling obscenities, cursing at their poor luck, threatening each other, and shooting random things in hopes their targets would magically emerge from hiding.
“Where did you leave Angelina?”
“What do ya think!” Wolfwood didn’t feel like it was necessary to point out the obvious. Of course his beautiful Angelina was left somewhere in the sands after they were attacked. He just hoped no one would damage her.
“You don’t need to yell…”
“I wasn’t…” stopping himself once he noticed that the tone was close to what he had been accused of, “I wasn’t yellin’.” His voice was, maybe not calmer, but quieter.
“C’mon. Think they’re all gone.” Wolfwood stood up, carefully scouting the street. Just as he suspected, no one was there.
Even though the coast seemed clear, they could not afford to keep their guard down. There was a possibility that those bandits would come back at any moment to catch them in a wide open area, once again.
“Ya know, you don’t hafta go with me. I can just go get her all by myself.” Wolfwood offered Vash a chance to stay within the town while he went out to get his bike back.
Vash didn’t want to argue, but he also didn’t want to leave Wolfood to do this all by himself. What if something happened and he wasn’t there to help. Then again, neither of them seemed to be helping the other during that fight, so who knows what could happen even if he goes with him.
The silence lasted for a bit too long for Wolfwood, “Fine, guess you comin’.”
Not much was said after that. Wolfwood was leading the way, knowing more or less where his precious bike was left; hoping that there wouldn’t be bullets that he could not pay to get fixed. Vash silently followed, thinking about everything, not paying much attention to where they were going.
“Ah, right where I left ya.” Wolfwood’s demeanour slightly changed as he started to clear the sand off of Angelina. He was happy to find no new bullet holes.
Vash only observed, seeing as this vehicle meant more to Wolfwood than certain other things. He said nothing, only stood there, waiting for Wolfwood to be done.
“You stayin’ here?” The sound of the engine, and the question, brought Vash out of his distant thoughts. “Where are we going, Spikey?”
They had two choices. First one was staying in this town. It was right there, they could easily find accommodation, and have more down time to just rest. Or at least try to. The second option was to drive to the next closest settlement. This would put them slightly further away from the bandits, but it also meant they would need to travel under scorching suns.
Considering everything, one option seemed like a better choice than the other. “We are going to the next town over.”
Wolfwood only gave a nod and started their trip there.
There was not much talk on their way there; each of them keeping to himself. Wolfwood spent most of his time making sure they didn’t drive over dangerous ground, as well as keeping the correct direction.
Vash, however, was thinking about the last argument they had. Did it even mean that much to Wolfwood? He didn’t seem too bothered about it. Maybe Vash did overreact. Maybe he put too much thought into the whole thing. But why was it still influencing them? The last fight was the worst one they had been in so far. Too many close calls, and they almost got captured by bandits. The best course of action would be to talk this over with Wolfwood; they can’t keep just dancing around the subject. It will have to wait until they get a room; discussing this now would probably not do anyone any favours.
It took them several hours to reach the next town. Wolfwood proceeded to find a good spot to hide Angelina, while also keeping her close enough in case of an emergency.
In the meantime, Vash decided to take a little stroll around the place, see if all the things were the same as they had been, or if something changed.
It seemed like there were a few new buildings around, some were repaired and got a new look, and there were a few new shops. It was always interesting to see how humans adjusted the environment to accommodate themselves.
Soon he reached the little shop he was looking for–a bakery with tasty fresh donuts. He had to get a pack of them.
Wolfwood found Vash enjoying his little meal while leaning against a wall in the shade. “Any good places ta stay at?”
“There’s one two streets over.”
“Lesgo.” Wolfwood started going in the direction Vash was pointing at.
Vash followed him, remaining behind him. There were still thoughts lingering in his mind. Maybe he truly was overreacting; he should bring the topic up once he calms down a bit more. Maybe after he finished those donuts. Better take his sweet time with them, it would give him more time to come up with how to even start the conversation.
“This the place?” Wolfwood was standing in front of a building with a hotel sign on it.
“That’s the place.” Vash was already walking towards the entrance, not waiting to see if Wolfwood would follow him.
The man at the check-in desk was a man who was obviously too tired for anything, and his voice was as polite as someone who was missing a week's worth of sleep could muster.
Before Wolfwood made any snide comment, Vash smiled and booked them a room, tipping the man with a donut.
The man was not impressed.
“Ya know, I coulda gotten us a room.”
Vash only smiled and hummed back at him. There was no need to discuss this, either of them was able to do it, the fact Vash was the one to do it shouldn’t mean anything.
The elevator they were waiting for announced its presence with a ding, and they both walked inside. Vash stood next to the wall with all the floor numbers, and waited for Wolfwood to step inside before selecting their floor.
“You seem weird. Everything okay, Spikey?” He leaned on the far end of the small box, still holding onto the Punisher.
Vash only shrugged and took another donut from his pile of ever disappearing fresh donuts. It was true that he has been feeling a bit off for a while now, but he didn’t want to start any discussion about it. At least not yet.
Both of them were a bit surprised that the elevator stopped so suddenly. It wasn’t too unexpected, they were in a hotel after all, but still, neither of them expected to stop so soon.
After the door opened, there was no one on the other side waiting to enter the elevator.
No matter, they just waited for the door to close once again so they could continue on their way.
However, the same thing happened on the second floor; the door opened, and no one was there.
“You think a kid is prankin’ us?”
“Maybe. It’s harmless tho.” Vash didn’t give it much thought.
Once they reached the third floor, they expected the same thing. And they were met with the same occurrence. There was once again a ding, and the door opened only to reveal a bunch of bandits waiting on the other side of it.
“Found ya.”
“Oh shit.” Wolfwood recognised a few of them, they were the same ones from before. It did not help that all of them were decisively pointing their weapons at them.
The reflexes that he honed kicked in, and he pulled the Punisher, making it land in front of him, serving as a shield. He expected Vash to rush to hide behind it as well, but he was still just munching on his donuts, like nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Okay, maybe being faced with a bunch of guns was not something they were new to, but he should still make some sort of a reaction. Before he was able to say anything, the bandits opened fire.
The sounds of bullets firing echoed through the floor as Wolfwood tried his best to fit his form behind the only thing between him and danger. The bullets clanged off the heavy cross Wolfwood was holding, some of them managed to pass through and put holes and cuts into parts of Wolfwood’s clothes that were unfortunate enough to be caught outside the barrier of protection, and a lot of them ended up embedded in the wall of the elevator behind him.
All this time, Vash was still standing in his little corner, donut in one hand, half empty bag in the other, watching as the bullets drew a picture of the punisher on the metal wall. They must have not noticed him standing there or they wouldn't have allowed him to just be.
The sounds would soon stop as the bandits emptied their guns, not succeeding in shooting Wolfwood, but very much managing to almost ruin the elevator.
While they were preparing their weapons for another round, Wolfwood reached for a gun as he shouted at Vash, “Why are you just standing there?”
At this point, the people that had every intention to either heavily wound Wolfwood or…do something more sinister, stopped reloading their guns to look at the corner and finally notice the man in the red.
Vash smiled and waved at them, “Hello.” And then proceeded to press one of the buttons, “And bye.” He said as the door began to shut.
No one did anything to stop them, all of the bandits seemingly too stupefied to know how to even react to that.
Wolfwood had a frown as he picked the punisher back up, “Ya could have done that before they shot me!”
“Too risky.” The elevator stopped at the next floor, and Vash immediately grabbed Wolfwood, “Time to go.”
Wolfwood didn’t protest and started to follow Vash, running with him to the stairs that were just a bit further away from where they were.
He half expected them to start going downstairs, to meet the bandits and either best them in a fair fight, which would probably damage the hotel even more, or surprise them and run past them. Going up was a surprise. They weren’t going to jump off a roof again, were they?
As they stepped on the fifth floor, they heard arguing and yelling from the floor below them, all of the sounds indicating that they had every intention of following them upstairs.
“Come on!” Vash was already at the room they rented, door unlocked and open, waiting for Wolfwood to follow him inside.
As soon as he did, Vash left a Do not disturb sign on the knob, as well as that awful tie he somehow always had on him, and closed the door, locking them as he did.
Even though Wolfwood was not too happy about having bandits on their tail, he had to admit–that was fun. There was a smile on his face that he was unaware of, and his face relaxed a bit.
Vash was sitting on his bed, leaning back and smiling wide, “Knew you would find it funny.”
“Shut it, Blondie.” There was no malice in his voice, it was just a response said in an amused tone. “So what, we just wait till they go away?”
“Isn’t that what we usually do?”
“Guess so.”
He carefully let the Punisher rest against the wall, making sure there was no sound to be heard, and proceeded towards the window. The curtains helped with not allowing anyone from the outside to see into the room, but Wolfwood had a visual of the outside situation. Several bandits were scattered all over the area, frantically looking for them. He also heard a few of them shouting from the roof of the building, signalling to the rest that no one was there, and they had to be hiding somewhere in the narrow streets.
After he made sure that all, or at least most of them had left the hotel, Wolfwood walked over to his bed, cigarette already ready to be lit, “You s’pose we will have to pay for the damages? Again.”
Vash was lying comfortably before Wolfwood asked that question, “Not like we were the ones to ruin the elevator. And we don’t have the money to reimburse them even if they asked.” Vash simply shrugged, it was a problem they might deal with tomorrow, but he was pretty confident they would not be to blame.
“I am surprised you care about the damages.”
This took Wolfwood by surprise, “What is that s’posed to mean?”
“No, nothing. Forget it.” He let himself fall back onto the bed. No reason to start this argument.
“Whatever.” He needed a drink. There were a few glasses that came with the room, no doubt the hotel wanted them to get a few items from the mini-fridge, but they did not have the extra money for that. And besides; Wolfwood had a flask with something.
Vash observed as Wolfwood poured himself a glass of cheap booze, the leftovers from their night out a few days back. He watched as Wolfwood took the glass and carelessly set in on the old desk.
“Why do you do that?”
“What? Drink? Hell, Needles, didn’t think I would need to explain this one to ya.”
“Not that.” Vash was already walking to sit opposite him, “Why do you just set your glass on the table like that?”
“Like what?”
After he asked the question, Wolfwood looked at the table, the place Vash was pointing at. There were several rings that ruined the coat of the table, making it lose its shine and leave an unpleasant mark on it. At least if you focused enough to look at it. “What do you expect me to do ‘bout those? I didn’t leave them.”
“Not the point,” Vash said as he reached for one of the coasters, “Your actions have consequences. You should at least try to not leave a mark on something that isn’t yours.”
“It’s just a table.”
“It’s something that took effort to make. Just because you don’t value it, doesn’t mean someone else thinks the same as you.”
Wolfwood never saw things like that; for him, it was just a table, an object made precisely for this purpose. It took him some thinking to process what Vash was saying. Or at least trying to.
“‘S not that I don’t value it, but that’s its purpose, right? It’s made to hold things.”
“Yes.” For the most part, Wolfwood was correct–it was made to hold things. But did that mean it had to be treated in such way.
“So do you think we should just use things as they are without any regard to them?”
“What are we even talkin’ about?”
“No, nothing. Forget it.”
“You started this conversation, might as well finish it.”
Vash took a moment to breathe before he attempted to explain his side, “I know that this is just an object, but it reflects something I noticed in the past.”
He knew what he wanted to say, but how does he tell that to Wolfwood without accusing him of anything? And then he noticed it, the way to try to explain.
Vash took two coasters; one that was almost intact, and the other that had dents, scratches and parts of it missing.
“What are ya doing?”
“Choose.”
“Choose what?”
“Between these two coasters. If you had to throw one out, which one would it be?”
It wasn’t a hard choice to make, “This one.” Wolfwood chose the one that had clearly been through more than a few situations.
“Why?”
“Well the other one is obviously newer, so it makes sense to throw the old one out.”
“And what if I told you they were both made on the exact same day?”
This gave Wolfwood a pause. Now, that shouldn’t change his answer, one is still more damaged than the other, but if they were made on the same day, the difference is striking.
“I…I would still choose that one.” He only paused a moment before saying, “What’s your point?”
“These are two of the same thing. Created in the same way. Yet, one looks almost brand new, even though, if you look carefully, you could see it has been used. And the other was clearly used in a very different way. Do you think they could have both looked as good as this one?”
“What, you trying to say people should just take extra care of things that were meant to be expendable?”
“No, I am trying to tell you that with care, things can last longer than if you take them for granted.”
Wolfwood was sure that this was not really about the coasters, and that Vash was trying to explain something deep and profound to him. However, he would need some time to connect all the dots that Vash had so graciously provided.
He focused on the coasters and the table again, looking at all the marks of passage of time on them. He never gave it that much thought, never had to; things get damaged and you either fix them or throw them out. Everything was replaceable, and only a rare few things were meant to last.
They both sat there in silence; Vash giving Wolfwood time to process, and Wolfwood doing his best to understand what Vash was trying to say.
No matter how hard he tried, he didn’t seem to understand the coaster part. It was just a flimsy piece of some kind of paper that was doomed to get used and thrown out. The table was a bit easier to focus on. And eventually, he slowly started to see the faded paint as scars, put there by others, damage that was done without a care or second thought. Maybe they were made deliberately, what did he know, he wasn’t there when they happened.
He stared at them for a good long while before he glanced over at Vash. He also had scars, too many to count, left there by others.
“Vash…” He spoke before knowing what he even wanted to say.
“Yes?”
The next few words took too long to be spoken, and Wolfwood had to look away before doing so, “I never took you for granted.”
“I know,” Vash said with a clear smile.
For the rest of the day, they remained silent, just enjoying each other’s presence. The drinks were poured without any unnecessary words, and thanks were offered in a way of smiles and nods. They did not need to waste any more words, they were both too tired from the whole day of not understanding each other.
The next day came both quickly and languidly.
Their trip continued without any hiccups; neither of them was mad at the other, or generally distracted by the random thoughts that were ever present for the past few days, and there were no bandits that were after them.
All the provisions they could need, and were able to buy, were gathered without any incident. There was no one that was standing in their way of recovering Wolfwood’s precious bike either. Even putting all the provisions in different compartments to keep them safe during the journey was done without any sign of trouble, that is, if they exclude Wolfwood’s slight irritation with a few things not fitting the compartments he wanted to put them in.
It was a pleasant ride; Wolfwood keeping his eyes on the road, and Vash sitting in his little trailer, humming something, looking around at the endless sand, and occasionally munching something that was also offered to Wolfwood and was accepted happily.
There were a few stops along the way, just a little time out spots when they managed to find some shade. Both of them welcomed a bit of calm and quiet after the sound of nothing but the bike. Of course there was a bit of banter as well, their usually little jokes and quips. It was more than welcomed after the tension that followed them before.
The first signs of trouble happened when they were approaching the next settlement; both of them sensed it.
“Vash.”
“I know.”
It would be a bad idea to bring chaos to the settlement they were hoping to have a peaceful time in. Wolfwood opted to drive a bit away, to a place off to the side, where there was a bit of rocks, a small ravine. There was no one there, and in case they would need it, there were a few places they would be able to find cover.
There was enough time before they saw dust of the approaching trouble for them to put the bike out of the line of possible fire.
Both Vash and Wolfwood were standing at ready, weapons prepared to return fire; non lethal, of course. The only question was–would they still be out of sync?
The first shots were fired, hitting the rocks behind them. They were nowhere near hitting them. Seems like they were correct; the trouble found them.
They waited for the vehicles to get closer, but they already knew who it was. The proximity only confirmed their suspicions; the same bandits that were chasing them before. The only difference now was the number of them. Seems like they split to search for them because only a fraction was coming their way. It didn’t matter, they had weapons, and they were coming for them.
“You take the ones on the left. I’ll get the ones on the right.” Wolfwood already aimed the Punisher at them, ready to take a shot.
“Deal.” Vash still hadn’t taken aim, waiting to see how the situation developed.
“Please…no casualties.” He knew Wolfwood would be careful, but he still wanted to point it out.
“Ye, ye, I know.”
The situation developed rapidly, even though both of them were prepared for what was to come.
The shots were getting ever more precise, almost hitting them a few times, and Wolfwood answered a few of them, making a few vehicles swerve at unexpected hits. Vash still hadn’t fired a single shot.
The first that came too close to them were a few bandits on bikes, no doubt hoping they could finish things quickly.
Unfortunately for them, Vash was precise enough to fire a few warning shots their way. That made them slow down a bit, but not change their direction completely. Before Wolfwood was granted the opportunity, Vash shot another set of bullets, perfectly hitting the tires, making all the drivers tumble into the sand.
“Hey, those were on my side.” After all, they did agree on who gets which side.
“Sorry, sorry, got carried away.” It really was a force of habit.
There was a loud sound in the distance, coming from one of the cars. Both of them turned at the same time to see a rocket being shot at them.
It might have been a bit too extreme, but Vash was wanted dead or alive, and it appeared that dead Vash would be less trouble.
“Hey!” This time, Vash was the one to protest as bullets from the Punisher intercepted the rocket, “My side!”
“Sorry, Spikey, you started this.” Wolfwood only jested as a response, a big grin stretching across his face.
It was nice to work with Wolfwood like this again, Vash almost forgot they were supposed to be fighting with the bandits. He was reminded of the fact promptly as a bullet almost grazed his arm.
“Careful there. They are getting close.”
Almost immediately after Wolfwood said this, the bandits were at their location; out of three cars, only one stopped while the other two were driving straight for them.
Vash rushed to hide behind a boulder, while Wolfwood took a different approach.
He wasn’t about to cower behind a rock, it was far too simple to just persuade the car to go a different direction by firing at it. A few bullets and he was no longer in danger of being run over. He still decided to step to the side, just to be safe.
The car he shot at changed its trajectory; instead of Wolfwood, it was on a path to collide with the car that was going for Vash. The driver corrected it enough to just push the sides of the cars together, only knocking the other towards rocks a bit, not causing a crash, but it was close.
“Hey! I said no casualties!” Vash was yelling from behind the rock that was being shot at by the bandits that rushed towards him from the third car.
“They are fine!” Wolfwood was using the Punisher as a shield as he continued to fire using one of the guns at the cars that were now attempting to stop without any additional damage. He was now reconsidering hiding behind one of the rocks, but had another idea before he did so.
Vash was now in the line of fire from two sides; and hiding, or dodging, was getting more and more complicated by the second.
Wolfwood picked up the Punisher, using it to fire several rounds at both sides, giving Vash a bit of time to reposition, and then ran to him, “Need help there, Needle Noggin’?”
“Could use some, ye. Thanks.”
“Think ya could do some of your weird thing and get rid of them?”
“Could try.”
Wolfwood being there offered Vash a few moments to scan the area to see what was the best course of action with minimal damage. They were in a small canyon, and some of those rocks and cliffs seemed awfully delicate. It would be possible to cut off the bandits and leave him and Wolfwood enough space to exit the scene. “Okay, ready to dance?”
Not even a moment passed before Wolfwood simply answered, “Always.”
Vash had already reloaded his guns, ready to start with the plan, “Okay, let’s go.”
He stepped in front of Wolfwood, firing one shot straight for the cliff that was above the two cars.
Wolfwood followed his movements, waiting for him to stop before taking a step to match his. Two quick shots were fired at the lone car, hitting the rocks that were covered in sand, making the bandits that were there reposition to regain vision. The Punisher was always following him, moving to shield Vash from any stray bullets.
Another step and Vash aimed for the other side from the place he shot at, aiming at rocks that were already slowly falling under all the commotion under them. It was easy to make them start cascading downwards, moving to cut the bandits off.
More quick steps to move and reposition the Punisher. Two shots fired at the lone car that no longer had any bandits near it. Both shots hit the mark, making the car go up in flames. No one was seemingly hurt, but they would not be using that car to go anywhere.
On the other side, both cars were stuck under huge boulders; it was going to take the bandits some time to free them. It was questionable if they would be able to drive them.
The dust was still up in the air, not giving Vash a clear picture of the situation. The bandits were probably blocked off, but he was not sure if they truly were or not. He was taking a few steps, repositioning to take a better look, the guns still trained in their direction. Unfortunately, he stumbled, not aware of a few rocks in his path.
There was a good chance he would have stumbled and fell, but that didn’t happen.
Wolfwood moved just in time to catch him mid fall, holding him there with a grin on his face, “Slippin’ up on the job there, Spikey?”
Vash only smiled, “Heh, might have stumbled a bit.”
Wolfwood was awfully close though, and that was another distraction he might not necessarily need during combat. It really did do a very good job in distracting him though; he paid no attention to the surroundings.
“Spikey?” Leaning in more was not a good idea, but Wolfwood was doing it anyway.
Everything stopped once Wolfwood was forced to move the Punisher in the way of a few bullets coming their way. He only glared at the two bandits insolent enough to try to shoot at them.
Vash immediately returned fire, making them run for cover.
Since the moment was over, he regained his ability to think, so he quickly moved out of Wolfwood’s hold, took his hand and dragged him as he started to run towards the bike, “Time for us to leave.”
“Fine.” He followed, even though he was not happy about it.
However, before they were out in the clear, Wolfwood decided to shoot a rocket in the direction of the bandits that refused to leave them alone.
“That was a bit much, don’t you think?”
“They shot one first!” And also, now they had a safer path to the bike.