Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Midvalley's Serenade ❯ Last Call ( Chapter 45 )

Last Call

I left the church with one backward glance at Nick, his body bathed in the glow of the stained-glass window and hurried down the empty street.

My nerves were raw. I felt lost and alone, and all I knew was that I needed Silvia. I ran up the staircase to the room, threw open the door, spied the sax case on the floor, grabbed it and hurried down the steps again.

I ran all the way back to the church, threw open the door and was stunned to see Vash the Stampede kneeling by Nick's body, touching him.

A feeling of sick jealousy ran through me and was shortly augmented by rage. My fingers fumbled with the latches on the case.

"I'll kill him!"

Black thoughts of death and destruction filled my mind, sick horrors, my mother's shattered face, Legato's scars, Nick's bullet-punctured chest.

Vash the Stampede was bending over Nick's body and the air was thickening.

I walked across the sandstone pavers, with my mouth poised over Silvia's reed.

He looked up at me with stricken eyes. I loathed him.

"You, bastard," I said.

Chaos, destruction, hatred, death, all my anger gathered in mass and density, I inhaled, settled my lips on the mouthpiece but turned at the sound of rushing wind behind me. A thick veil of dust blinded me and filled my nose. I closed my eyes against the stinging grit and struggled against the power of the swirling cloud that swept me away. I couldn't breathe or see and heard only the roar of the wind. Eventually in the black my consciousness faded.

Snatches of dreams, an image…the skull…my lips on the mouthpiece, I blow through the reed. Blinded by the spotlight. I close my eyes. I know the song by heart.

"Where am I?" I hear my voice cracked and hoarse. No answer comes, but the rumble of wheels and my consciousness fades again.

Now I walk in the moonlight while a soft breeze sighs, "Midvalley."

"Nick?"

I turn and see him in the distance walking with his familiar gait. He turns and beckons to me and I start to follow.

I hurry over unfamiliar terrain , feel my foot catch as something grasps at my ankle. I stumble.

"Don't look down," says a voice. I keep my eyes on Nick's back. He is further away now.

"Nick!" I shout, but he doesn't seem to hear me and keeps on walking. I start to run.

"Nick!" I shout again. I am gaining on him. I get closer and closer and start to smile.

"Midvalley," a voice like velvet whispers.

I almost turn to see what he wants, but a small voice warns me, "Don't look back."

I hurry after Nick. With a few more steps I can touch his sleeve. Breathless, I want to tell him wait.

I reach out for his shoulder, but feel myself pulled back, dragged back.

"Nicholas!" I scream with all my strength, but the words come out a soft moan.

He can't hear me. He is leaving me behind.

Angry now, I break loose from the bonds that hold me back.

"No, wait for me!" I shout again.

Up the hill I run after him, with a stitch in my side and my lungs burning. When I crest the top, I can't see him right away. Before me lies a vast expanse of green rolling hills and sparkling blue water.

"It's so beautiful," I say.

And then I see Nick again and a feeling like coming home settles in my heart.

I watch for a moment as he picks his way down a path on the hillside. I stumble after him eagerly, but a dust storm whips up and I can't see him. I grope blindly for him and catch at his hand, but I feel it slip away….

I feel lips on mine. Hands press on my chest. Someone breathes in my mouth…

I coughed and coughed. My lungs were still irritated by the dust.

"Here, drink," he said. His voice as smooth and persuasive as ever.

He put the canteen in my hand and I raised it to my mouth and swallowed. My throat was so dry.

"Legato," I said.

"Rest," he said.

I slept.

I woke to the sound of rhythmic rumble of wheels turning. I recognized that I was lying in one of the sleeping berths of the armored car. The vehicle stopped and I heard the sound of footsteps in the sand outside. When the door opened, bright sunlight shone through as Legato stepped inside.

"Ah, you're awake at last," he said. "I didn't know if you were going to make it or not. One might almost think you had a death wish."

"Death wish?"

My head ached. I sat up swung my legs onto the floor.

"There's a bucket by your feet," said Legato.

When I stood up, I doubled over with cramps and threw up in the pail and almost fainted. My legs wouldn't hold me and I sat down heavily, my forehead dripping with sweat.

Shreds of memory gathered at the edges of my consciousness.

"Where's Nick," I asked.

"He's dead."

I remembered then and blinked my eyes, licked my lips and lapsed into a dumb silence.

He had died in my arms and after that I couldn't remember what happened. I had been going somewhere to do something. I was going to play a song---

"Where's Silvia?" I asked with a touch of panic.

"Right here," said Legato and gestured to the case on the floor by his feet.

I stepped across the aisle, picked her up, and sat back down with the case in my lap and opened it feverishly.

I took Silvia out and looked her over anxiously. I was relieved that there were no obvious dings or bends but I noticed when I looked closer that her surface was slightly pitted with grit.

"Oh, shit!" I said and upended the horn. A stream of sand poured from the bell.

"It could have been worse," said Legato.

"Oh, how so?"

"You're lucky you landed on your back."

I was checking to see if the valves were still sound, and my stomach lurched when he said that. I had seen saxes, battered and dented. It could have been much worse, but it was still going to take some time to clean her.

"Where are we headed?"

"Demethri," he responded.

Knives was in Demethri, but I didn't want to think about that just now.

"Where is Nick?" I asked suddenly.

"His body is in the church at Tonim Town.

My head was still pounding with a ferocious headache.

Legato offered me two pills and a canteen and then I remembered something and dashed the pills from his hand, "You drugged me!" I exclaimed angrily.

"Suit yourself," said Legato. "They are only pain relievers."

I vomited in the pail again, wiped the spittle from my lips and shivered with chills while the pain in my head still pounded.

He offered me two more tablets without a word. I took them this time and washed them down with the canteen he offered.

The sour stink of my sickness still hung in the air, but Legato seemed unaffected.

After a time, the pills took effect. I tried to remember but recollection was hazy. I needed to know, so I asked him, "What happened?"

"Wolfwood refused the assignment."

The assignment. Vash the Stampede.

It was starting to come back to me.

Now I recalled the tight shot pattern of 50 cal bullets in Nick's torso.

"The Evergreen killed his own son?"

"Yes, Chapel killed him."

The thought depressed me deeply and I set Silvia down.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Just about an hour from Demethri," he responded.

"Shall I drive?"

"Ordinarily, I would accept the offer, but you should make sure Silvia is in good order. There will be another mission waiting for us."

I nodded. Legato left the vehicle, closed the door behind him and the vehicle rumbled once more down the road.

I didn't want to think about Nick, but more than once as I changed the pads of Silvia's keys and checked the valves, I found my eyes brimming and had to pause to wipe the tears away. The pills had eased my headache, but did nothing for the sense of dumb grief that weighed on me. I tried to keep my mind on the task on hand, as I cleaned the dust from Silvia's bell and rechecked the firing mechanism.

When I saw Silvia's reed almost bitten clear through, I remembered how it happened. I had tried to kill Vash the Stampede when I saw him reach for Nick.

After I finished cleaning Silvia, put in a new reed, slipped on the mouthpiece, and tightened the ligature, I played a few scales to see if her voice was still true. She seemed unharmed so I packed her carefully back in her case.

My clothing was covered with Nick's blood. I rummaged in my duffel, found a dark purple sharkskin suit and a clean shirt and changed. My two-toned wingtips were blood spattered, so I slipped on a pair of desert boots, and while I was tying the laces, the vehicle stopped. We had arrived in Demethri.

Knives' dwelling was in an abandoned space ship partially covered by a rock slide. Legato pressed a hidden button near the entrance and the doors opened.

Inside the cavernous opening, we found an enclosed carriage drawn by a team of stout animals waiting for us.

As I followed Legato into the vehicle, I looked into the distance. The dim corridor appeared to stretch on indefinitely.

The vehicle took off. We traveled for perhaps a quarter of an hour and when the carriage stopped, Legato got up and left. I followed him. We had arrived at a crossroads. On the wall at the side was a console with odd blinking lights and a number of screens. I saw a view of the vehicle we had left outside the complex on one of them.

Legato pressed a couple of buttons on the console and the large metal doors slowly parted with a mechanical groan revealing a chamber within.

"Wait here," he said, and entered the room and disappeared from view and the doors closed with a muffled clang behind him.

While Legato was gone, I tried to fill in the holes in my memory, but the only image that recurred with distressing frequency was Nick's bullet-punctured chest. I was going to drive myself crazy, if I kept on in that way. Just to maintain my sanity, I pulled out Silvia and decided to play, but the first song I found myself playing was "Serenade". Nick's song.

I found myself reaching out, trying to reopen the link with Nick. My father had suggested it was possible, but as much as I tried to empty myself to let the power fill me, I felt like a sentimental fool when absolutely nothing happened, and I heard only the echoes of Silvia's voice reverberating in the empty cavern. A series of piercing shrieks from the console, and the amber panel lights began to flash on and off startled me out of my self-contempt.

Legato joined me a few moments later. His fingers moved swiftly over the keys of the console. The image of the armored vehicle on the screen was replaced by the tall figure of Chapel the Evergreen, his infra-red implants gleaming like cats eyes in the noontide sun. He was carrying the weapon he had used to kill Nick.

A hot flash of anger possessed me and I wanted to kill him.

"Control your emotions," Legato commanded me. "Master has questions for him."

Outside the Evergreen fumbled trying to find the entrance to the complex and Legato pressed more buttons and shifted levers.

"The mouse won't find the entrance to the maze without a little help," he said. He pushed one last lever into place, the outside door slid open and the Evergreen entered.

"Let's meet him, Midvalley, and make sure he doesn't wander astray."

We got into the carriage and the animals began to draw it down the road.

We had to make a few turns in the tunnel, but in a few minutes, through the carriage window, I saw the Evergreen standing on a bridge with a gate behind him.

We got out of the vehicle and Legato greeted the priest.

"I'm so glad you're here. You're just the man I wanted to see. "

The Evergreen seemed angry at the greeting.

"I know you're unhappy because I forced you to kill Nicholas D. Wolfwood," said Legato.

I was startled by his words, but had no time to reflect on them, as the Evergreen split his cross into two machine guns and would have mowed both Legato and me down, if Legato hadn't used his mind powers to bend the priest's spine into an agonizing backbend. He had no chance of attacking from that position.

"Your role has come to an end. The final act is about to begin," Legato said.

I took that as a cue from him, and I raised Silvia's reed to my lips out of habit when the door behind the priest whirred open and Knives Millions walked through it. He leaned over the priest whose body was still contorted in agony as if examining a specimen.

"Just what did you hope to gain by coming here?" he asked him.

"I had a debt to repay."

"That was just stupid," said Knives. "Most animals run when they sense danger. Your action was senseless, but I suppose that you think that your sacrifice has meaning. I assure you it does not."

"I had no where else to go," groaned the priest, his body racked with pain. "A cornered rat will attack the cat," he gasped.

"And be consumed by it," said Knives with a bemused smile. "I suspect it attacks its better out of some perverted sense that it will share in some of that superiority. But that is just an idle dream, like your notion of a heaven. Do you think you might earn paradise through suffering? Let's conduct an experiment and see."

Knives glanced at a device at the wall, made a subtle gesture and the device emitted streaks of light and soon formed a crackling energy ball which made its way to Chapel the Evergreen's body.

"I'm afraid that you have reached the crossroads between life and death. Is the next stop heaven, hell or the garbage dump?" Knives mocked him.

The Evergreen screamed in pain as the orb enveloped his body.

"This is how garbage is disposed of and that is what you are, as all humans are," he said.

I watched in horror as the black void enveloped the priest's body completely and his screams of agony diminished as the void grew smaller and smaller and finally vanished.

He turned to Legato and said, "But even garbage has its uses."

"Understood, Master. Eternal pain and suffering is your will for him and I will do your bidding."

As for me, I was still in a state of near shock from the death of the Evergreen. This might be the punishment that awaited me if I failed Knives Millions.

"That's the proper attitude of humility," he said to me. He had read my thoughts. "You should be scared."

" As for you, Legato, what need do I have for your love, when I have your fear?" he said to his servant. "That alone is enough to inspire your devotion to me. No?"

He turned to me," I understand you tried to kill my brother. For that alone, I should finish you off as I did the Evergreen just now….but 'no harm, no foul', eh? Legato saved you from your own stupidity as usual and so you're still alive, not that you have much reason for living, since Wolfwood died."

"But as I said," he continued, "even garbage serves a purpose and there's something you will do for me. You are to play a final scene with my brother. You are not to kill him, no matter how hot your blood boils. He could drive a saint to anger, I know. But your job is to get him to kill you."

He reached into a pocket of the one piece bodysuit he wore and handed me a sheet of paper.

"To that end," he said, "I've prepared some lines for you. Some braggadocio, a little bombast, a little something to wound his pride in the hope that he will overcome his scruples about killing. You don't have to learn them verbatim, just the gist should be enough. I can't guarantee that he'll kill you, but I will make a bargain. Just play your part and I'll let your what's left of your family go on living."

"My father?" I asked but he didn't answer my question.

"Just take your cue from Legato when the time comes," he said. "You're a performer, so I expect some showmanship."

"Now, Legato," said Knives with mesmerizing intensity, "it is time for you to produce some results. The price of failure? You know it well, I am aware. But success is within your grasp. If you pull out all the stops, your thirst for justice will be satisfied."

"Very good, Master," Legato replied with a deep bow as Knives began to leave the chamber.

"How do I know my father's alive?" I asked Knives again as he walked past me.

"All your questions will be answered in LR Town," he replied.

Legato was still bent over in a servile bow.

"What are you waiting for, Legato?" Knives taunted him. "A good-bye kiss?

The last sound we heard as the door slid shut, was Knives' roars of laughter.

Legato's face seemed frozen. I avoided meeting his eyes and brushed past him.

"I'll drive," I said.

On the way to LR, I tried to make sense out of what had happened, but too much had happened in too short a time. I was numb from what I had seen. I didn't want to die, but there were different ways to die. The display of Knives' power had made me realize that anything was better than the way he had killed the Evergreen.

We made LR town by a little before 6 PM.

"I will book a room at the hotel, Midvalley. Are you coming?" Legato asked me.

"I have some business to attend to," I told him.

I went to the bank and the wire office. Out of habit, I checked to see if there were any messages for me. There was a handful, mostly junk. A request for an interview from the Daily Dish, a flyer from Monk's music, some reports from the Mouth of Gabriel agents.

I leaned against a railing in the boardwalk and stared off into space with the letters in my hands.

As if they mattered. I had neither the time nor the inclination to sort through them all.

"I might be dead by this time tomorrow," I said out loud.

But then, I thought, that was always true. I might have died when that ricochet had given me the concussion, or been hanged by the lynch mob at Keybas, or disintegrated by Knives.

Yes, death was a daily possibility that in the past, I chose to ignore, but today was different.

At the graduation picnic, I remembered Nick quoting the bible. "He who lives by the sword shall perish by the sword."

We had both done it---lived by the sword--- and killed indiscriminately. The drummer and the bass player at Keybas didn't want to die and I hadn't wanted to kill them, but that's how the thing had played out. They were dead, Nick was dead, and now it was my turn.

Death is the end of life, and life is a song that ends when the singer runs out of words to say. If life was like music, with melody, rhythm and flow, maybe death was the silence that followed. I thought of Nick's body, so still and silent in my arms. My mother's voice silenced. The heart stops beating and there's an end to the music of the body. Nothingness and silence when the music ends.

Nothingness. The weight on my heart at the thought that I would never see Nick again was too much to bear.

"God help me," I prayed as I leaned on the railing and wept.

In time, the tears dried and I wiped my eyes on the cuff of my suit.

Is that why people believe in God, I wondered. To throw off this terrible feeling of despair?

When the emotional storm had blown over, I thought about death a little more and it occurred to me that without the silence between the notes, there would be no music.

Music is the notes and the spaces between them, I decided.

"And maybe Nick is resting in the silence and is just waiting to begin again." I said to myself and felt hoping rising in me once more.

Despite my brave thought that I might find Nick in the silence of death, still I was scared. I wasn't ready to give up living while I had breath in my body. I couldn't let fear paralyze me though or my final hours would be a living hell, so I had to put it aside.

"If I have to die, so be it, but I'll be damned if I spend my last hours waiting to die," I said to myself.

I tucked the mail into my pocket, picked up my sax case, squared my shoulders, and pushed through the batwing doors of the Dij bar.

At 7PM, it wasn't dead but it wasn't hopping either. The usual after-work crowd had been pouring drinks down their throats for a couple of hours and only a little the worse for it. The usual complement of drunken customers were pawing the far more agile bar girls. The shop boys were bragging about their latest romantic conquests. The lonely hopeless were half-way to stupor. I went up to the bar ordered a brandy and asked the bartender, "You have any music booked in here tonight?"

"The talent should be showing up any minute now," he answered.

I decided to finish my drink and check out the action at another bar, if the scheduled group wouldn't let me sit in, and they might not, if they recognized me.

Just a few minutes later, I heard the metallic clang of cymbals and turned to see a man push through the batwing doors, with a bulky drumset in his arms. He was carrying it high and I couldn't see his face. He staggered over to the bandstand, set his burden down, and when he turned around, I recognized the drummer I'd played with at the Bedbug.

I walked over and said, "It's Chris, isn't it?"

"You remembered. It's good to see you again, Midvalley," he said.

"Keep it down a little. Call me Player," I said.

"I heard you had more than your share of troubles, Player," he said, and his eyes shifted away for a moment.

"What have you heard? Have you seen Hot Lips around?"

"Over there," he said and he indicated the entrance with a thrust of his chin.

I looked where he pointed, and saw at once that his hair had gotten grayer since I'd seen him last and he looked older and more frail, but his eyes lit up when he saw me.

I stepped over to enfold him in a hug.

"Son," he said and I felt a pang as his arms closed around me. "I know your friend is dead, and I'm sorry for your loss. I know how you must feel."

I willed my mouth not to tremble, though I almost broke down, but I had another concern.

"Your being here can't be a coincidence," I said.

"You're right, son. Knives sent me. For good or ill, I'm Knives's man, bought and paid for and I go where he sends me, but I have my reasons."

As did I.

"Did he send Chris? And Paul?" I asked.

"No, I just thought that you might want to make some music. I know I do".

A couple of young men bustled in with guitar cases.

"How many musicians are coming?"

"I expect six plus you and me."

"Eight," I considered. "Like the Midvalley Seven and Kenny McCoy?"

"Yes, something like that. I know it's hard on short notice, but I put together the best band I could…"

"But do they know my reputation, and are they willing to play with me?"

"They're all Mouth of Gabriel, son, well all except one," he said in with an odd look. "They want to play with you. More wanted to come. You'll be among friends, tonight."

A man in a tweed suit and a touring cap walked in tentatively.

"Uh, McCoy?" he asked.

Hot Lips turned.

"The piano?" the man prompted him.

"Backstage. I called to have it tuned. Have Chris and Paul help you roll it in."

"Thanks," he said and walked off in search of Chris.

I took Silvia out of her case, checked the action of the valves, took a reed out of the reed holder and tested her tone with a few bluesy riffs.

Hot Lips stepped up on the stage, unpacked his trumpet, gave it a loving swipe with his red bandana, knotted the red silk square around his throat and blew an arpeggio of silver notes, that got the attention of everyone in the bar.

For a moment all eyes were on him, but when he heard the doors of the saloon swing and squeak on their hinges and looked to see who was coming in, my eyes followed his.

A slip of a girl walked in, carrying a small instrument case. She couldn't have been more than 17, if that. I was guessing that she must be the fiddler. She looked around a little nervously and then calmed when she glimpsed Hot Lips. When she smiled her brown eyes lit up and she waved when she saw him. The closer she came, the more I could see that she was a real beauty with lovely skin like milk and roses, and shiny brown hair, that fell like silk to either side of her high forehead.

"Sorry, I'm late," she said.

She had a lovely speaking voice.

When she was standing next to Hot Lips, I got the surprise of my life. Except for being a girl, she was the spitting image of my father.

I thought back to the women I had seen at some of our gigs, standing in line patiently to get his autograph and had to smile.

That sly old dog I thought to myself. It was good to have something to smile about.

"Valerie," he said to the girl, "this is Midvalley. I told you about him."

"Pleased to meet you," she said politely, and then turned to take her violin out of the case.

"So what do you think of her?" Hot Lips asked me.

"Well, she's gorgeous, but can she play? She's so young."

"Have a little faith in your old man. I started you on lessons when you were nine as I recall."

The piano player's fingers rippled over the keys playing the notes of an old ragtime tune, I remembered from the whorehouse. He was good, really good.

In the meantime, the girl checked her tuning against the piano, rosined the bow and played a few catchy bars of a reel with practiced power and ease. Her self-possession and musical style left me with my mouth hanging open.

"Didn't I tell you, Midvalley," said my father with a nudge of the elbow in my side.

I nodded in agreement. While the rest of us tuned up, the bar gradually filled with patrons.

"How come there are so many customers? Pretty strong turn-out for a Monday…"I commented.

"I thought it would be more fun with an audience, so I had the bartender put the word out. You ready?"

I nodded.

"Let's make it special, son," he told me.

Hot Lips called the tunes for the first set and I was content just to play the best I could. If this was going to be my last performance, I was going out with style.

Hot Lips was Hot Lips. His virtuoso playing always inspired me, and tonight was no exception. As for the other musicians, they ran the gamut from solid to great. As for the girl, she was something special, in a class by herself. She more than held her own. She knew how to lose herself in the music and find herself again. I found myself looking forward to her fiddle breaks, her improvisations were so spirited and unique. The crowd in the bar seemed to love us and the dance floor filled up, number after number.

During the first break, Legato appeared at the door and took a table in the back of the room. We exchanged a glance and then looked away.

I looked around at the musicians at the bar picking up drinks and sitting at the tables. Valerie was up on the bandstand changing a string that had broken at the end of the last song. While she was checking the tension, she turned into the light, and I was astonished to see how much she resembled Silvia in profile.

"She really is exquisite. I didn't know you had a daughter, too," I said to my father.

"I don't," he said.

My eyes narrowed in incomprehension.

"She's my grand-daughter."

"Who's the father?" I asked.

No sooner were the words out of my mouth than I knew the answer--

"You are," he confirmed it for me.

I was glad I was sitting down.

"How long have you known, dad?"

"All her life."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I just couldn't," he said. "I was under orders. She was specially bred for the talent. She has more power than either of us, but she has never had to use it, not like we had to…and I want to keep it that way as long as I can."

"And that's why you still work for Knives Millions."

"Yes."

"Does she know who I am?"

"Not yet," he replied.

"You'll tell her when I'm gone?"

He nodded and we got up to play again.

In the second set we played our best. The music was spirited and lively and the dancers kicked up their heels from the joy of living. I watched my daughter with the violin tucked under her chin. She was so fresh and innocent and played with such talent. I wondered which one of my chance encounters with women had lead to her birth and how Knives had found her. With no answers available to the question, I decided that it didn't matter. I felt a strong connection with her. When we played, our energies fed off each other. There was an undeniable bond between us that captivated me, but made me fearful for her too.

After the set during the break, I pondered the meaning of these new feelings. Was this what it had been like for Nick? Two choices and neither palatable. His choices were either to kill a friend or be killed himself.

He must have known the minute he refused to carry out the mission that he was as good as dead and yet he had done it anyway. And when it came to a question of killing his father, he couldn't do that either.

Now I faced a choice, I could die or my daughter would die. The mental image of her bloody body displayed in the town square as a warning to others as Dominique's had been, gave me a cold chill. It would be far better if I died.

What had the doctor from Mei City said? He'd called children our hope for the future, and she was mine. I hadn't known I had a daughter, so I found myself in unaccustomed territory.

In the third set, the music flowed out of me free, pure, spontaneous. While I played I felt as though I might live forever.

I don't want to die I thought. I don't want to lose this feeling that I get when I play…

I heard my daughter, Val, playing with passion and purity.

It eased the burden on my heart to think that a part of me would live on in her.

I was just as quiet during the last break as I had been on all the others. I had a lot on my mind.

"Meet me on the other side," Nick had made me promise on the last night we spent together.

Even then, he'd known he would probably not survive. Yes, even then he must have known that he would switch his loyalty from Knives to Vash the Stampede, and that puzzled me a little. I wondered why he would risk the lives of the orphans of December with his disobedience. Knives Millions wouldn't turn a hair over killing human children. It didn't make sense…. I knew what Nick valued most, and he would never gamble with the lives of the orphans unless…..

It came as a shock to me, but even as I thought it, it made sense.

Nick believed that Vash the Stampede could defeat his brother, Knives.

Everyone else thought the Stampede was a fool and a madman. When I looked at the decisions he'd made, I realized how lucky he'd been. Skillful too, there was no denying that, but there were people dead, because he refused to look at the facts and make an informed choice. There comes a time to make a choice, and sometimes the worst choice is to make no choice at all. That's what the Evergreen used to say, and he was right. Nick was dead because Vash the Stampede refused to make a choice.

If I'd known earlier that I had a choice between Vash the Stampede and Knives Millions, I would have chosen Vash. I could tell he was the better person of the two. I might even have been his friend. Nick had told me that Vash and I had more in common than I knew. But it was too late for me to trade sides. I had the future of a daughter to think of.

It was the easiest thing in the world to make my decision then. I would choose life for my daughter.

I wasn't afraid of death anymore.

"Ready for the last set, son?" Hot Lips asked.

I nodded.

"Any special ideas about what song should we start the set with?"

"Serenade," I said.

Silvia, sleek and sinuous, caressed the sliding notes. I let Nick's song fill me and the soft notes of the plaintive love ballad floated to the rafters of the saloon.

I said the words of the song in my heart as I played and was wishing that Dixie was still alive to sing them when a sweet alto voice soared with the lyrics.

"When the sky turns dark, and fireflies start to spark and I feel myself sliding into love. And inside your warm embrace, how my heart begins to race at the tenderness I feel in your kiss. Though you may travel far away, yet in my heart you'll stay, these feelings I will cherish all my days. 'Til you come back to stay, to remind me I will play this serenade…."

The quality and the feeling that she put into her singing raised every hair on my body. My heart swelled with love for her as she sang.

"'With the suns first light, imagine my delight, when I see you lying close to me so warm. And this passion that I feel, how it makes my senses reel, lying lost in love in your arms.

Though you may travel far away, yet in my heart you'll stay, these feelings I will cherish all my days. 'Til you come back to stay to remind me, I will play this serenade.'"

Couples on the dance floor moved as one with the beat, their lips tasting each others kisses.

"What song's next, Midvalley?" asked Hot Lips with a smile.

"Because of You, Under a pale moon, All Night Long Without You, You Belong to Me, Wish You Were Here, My Buddy, Silvia's Tune…."

"But those are all ballads, son…."

"That's right."

For the rest of the night we played nothing but love songs.

In the corner, I saw Legato, his head downcast and a gleam of wetness on his cheek, and when the last song was over, I saw him applauding with the rest of the audience, an ovation that went on and on while the band took its bows.

After the crowd thinned out the eight of us made music and jammed until dawn. Finally Chris said, "My stomach's growling. It's nearly six in the morning and the bakery across the street has fresh donuts. Can't you smell them? Anybody else in here hungry? I've got to get something to eat."

"Not for me," I said. "I have everything I need."

I was still high from the music.

The girl, Valerie, walked up to me. She seemed very shy and hesitant.

"Mr. Midvalley, Grandpa told me you were a wonderful musician, and he was right. I'll never forget you. The music was like heaven tonight."

"I won't forget tonight either," I said, "you played like an angel."

She blushed, said "Thank you," then turned quickly and went back to the bandstand to pack up her violin.

I was very touched by what she said, though she could not know what effect her playing , her singing, her words, her very existence had on me The saloon was nearly empty.

I sat at a table with the feeling of warmth still on me.

My father came to me.

"We don't have much time left," he said. "If there's anything I can do for you, let me know."

"As a matter of fact, there are a few things, " I said.

I took out a sheet of paper and a pen from my breast pocket. It took me only a few minutes to scribble a list, fold it and set it in his hands. What I'd written was concise and to the point. Nick would have been proud of me, I thought with a smile.

"He's coming, Midvalley," said Legato.

"I'll be ready," I said as he left the saloon and walked across the plaza just beginning to fill with the new day's activities.

I went to the bar and ordered a double shot of bourbon.

The bartender poured me the drink and said, "No charge."

I picked up Silvia and walked outside. The first rays of the rising sun blinded me after the dim light of the saloon. Hot Lips and Valerie followed me out. I pulled my father by the coat sleeve to have a word apart with him.

"Don't let her watch, dad…Don't let her see me, like I found my mother."

He nodded and after one last hug he said, "You can't know how much I'll miss you." He choked up then and couldn't say more. With a last glance of regret, he walked away with my daughter beside him.

"Who was that man, Grandpa? He looked so much like you?" I heard her say.

It made me sad that she didn't know who I was, but I knew that one day he would let her know that I was her father. I sat down at a table on the veranda facing the saloon to shade my eyes from the glare. I looked at the reflection of the town square in the window as I cradled Silvia in my lap.

I saw my face mirrored in the glass. When I saw the stubble on my unshaven face, I rubbed my hand along my jaw. Like sandpaper. I looked like hell. That was no way to meet up with Nick again. But what if I never met up with him? I started to cry with frustration. Fear was crippling me, again.

"God help me," I prayed. "I don't want to die."

In my despair, I reached out as far as I could with my link in a leap of faith and felt something. Was it him? I didn't know, but I decided that it was, and the thought comforted me.

I had to do what I was about to do, so that my daughter would have a chance to live.

I tightened my jaw and swallowed a sob.

No, I wouldn't cry.

I heard Legato's voice in my head, "He's here."

I sipped my drink and saw him reflected in the window before me, in his red coat and upswept hair, larger than life, the Humanoid Typhoon, on top of the world, crooning over fresh donuts while probably the best friend he ever had was barely cold in his grave.

He'd cried harder over Caine and Zazie than he had for Nick. The death of a friend, the death of a stranger…he seemed to give them all the same weight. The stubborn man had lessons to learn. He had forgotten how to feel and what better teacher than me. I wasn't afraid of feeling, and the first lesson I would try to teach him was pain. I would give him a just a small taste of the pain I felt, then see how much real feeling lay behind that fake smile of his.

He broke down in tears. I almost didn't think he had it in him. So maybe he had cared after all, just not enough to save Nick's life.

I heard two small boys, controlled by Legato, speak to the Humanoid Typhoon.

"You killed Wolfwood--if it hadn't been for you and your stupid ideals, he might still be alive…."

Then everyone in the plaza collapsed except for me, Legato, and Vash the Stampede. Legato was teaching the lesson his way.

"How dare you toy with other people's lives," the outlaw muttered angrily.

My whole life had been affected for the worse one way or the other by his actions and inaction. I wasn't about to let him get away with that self-deception.

"You do the same thing." I said. He was so blind and stubborn. "You alone turned the cities of July and Augusta into rubble and bored the hole in the fifth moon. You're a monster, just like your brother."

He looked up and recognized me from the church.

"Who are you?" he asked.

''The eleventh gung-ho Gun, Midvalley the Hornfreak., the best musician ever to walk the planet, or so I'm told. Would you care to hear a number, Vash the Stampede?"

I heard the murmurs in the crowd around me and saw several of the people cut and run for their lives. That was wisdom.

I raised Silvia's reed to my lips. Vash fired a bullet at me, but Silvia's wild song stopped it in mid-air and blew him back heels over head into a pile of garbage.

When he righted himself, I played a few more notes and he ran at full speed to avoid their force. He was trying to figure out my strategy. Really there was no strategy, but the power from Silvia made a whirlwind that sent him flying backwards. He landed on his back with a thud.

"Silvia's in good voice today. There's a lot of pleasure to be derived from listening to a well-played instrument. You seem to bring out the best in her. Please applaud if you appreciate the performance. It's the least you can do, since I'm playing in your honor."

"Why don't you finish me off? If you were serious, you could have killed me already."

"It's simple. The gig isn't mine to play by choice. Call it a command performance and you'd be right on the money."

"Knives?" he asked.

"Bingo! Anyone working for Knives is at his beck and call. You relinquish all rights and free thought--end of discussion."

"You're wrong. It's not like that," he said and he started towards me.

"I suppose that a superior being like yourself would know that. Pardon my ignorance. I'm only human with a human's thoughts and feelings."

"I can't control my limbs!" a man cried out in panic as he stumbled with robotic steps into my line of fire. Legato must be tiring of the game.

"Legato," yelled Vash the Stampede.

I started to play again.

Before the sound waves hit the man, Vash ran at top speed to intercept them and he was rocked by the blow.

"No, please don't kill me," begged another man, his limbs manipulated by Legato. Again, Silvia sang a song of pain and the outlaw ran to shield him.

Then another man staggered into the street and Silvia's song sought him out, but still the outlaw threw himself in front of the sonic blast.

The effort it took to put out that much power was exhausting me. Sweat poured down my face.

He lay on the ground wincing from the pain. But he still didn't understand. Legato could murder every person in that town as could I. Didn't he see how dangerous we were. He should have killed me.

I walked over and lifted his chin with the toe of my boot.

"Talk about an iron will. Always so sure, you know what's right and everyone else is wrong. God, you're stubborn."

I would have admired him if his attitude didn't exasperate me so much. He couldn't bring himself to kill to defend a town full of people, or even to save his best friend's life. I wondered if he truly cared about anyone or just about the stupid vow he'd made. Did he really think it was worth the price? I had seen the graves in the Valley of the Dead, and cradled the body of my dead lover in my arms? Was his vow worth a price like that?

He tripped the firing mechanism on his artificial arm, but I stepped on it to try to stop him from shooting.

"The show must go on," I said with a feeling of regret and I played a few more notes.

"Stop!" he cried and managed to free his arm just enough to get off a burst of gunfire.

His bullets smashed into the pavement.

"It's no use," I said to myself. I could see he was angling for a ricochet. With his skill, strength and speed, and as exhausted as I was, I knew it was only a matter of time.

With his next shot, his bullets hit a pipe and bounced back. I felt the impact when they hit Silvia and I stumbled backwards. Then Vash fired directly at my Silvia and punctured her golden bell.

I knew she was ruined, but I put my lips on the reed and tried to play a note anyway.

"My B-flat! My B-flat is gone!" I could have wept. I had hoped to play my last notes feeling the link with Nick.

"The show is over now," he said--just as smug and dogmatic as his brother.

"You were trying for a ricochet shot the whole time," I said, "but you're wrong about the show being over. I still have music for an encore."

I pressed the button that revealed the guns concealed in the metal sleeve of my sax.

Tears stung my eyes knowing that the beautiful music that Silvia and I made together was over forever. She had always been so good to me I thought with regret.

In the dust I saw his pale eyes pleading with me not to do what I had to do.

"This is the music of destruction, I must accept my fate," I said.

"You have free will, you don't have to do this. If you pull that trigger--" he didn't finish the sentence.

I knew it would explode, probably blow away my face.

He just didn't get it that I was paying for his sins of omission with my life. I was doing it to save my daughter. But who did he care about.? Did he really care about anyone but himself? I had failed as a teacher. Now it was time for Legato's lessons to begin.

With the warm morning sun on my face, I thought of the words from "Serenade"

"With the sun's first light, imagine my delight, when I see you lying close to me so warm…." I hummed the tune to myself and closed my eyes. I believed I could feel Nick with me. I could almost see his face . I pulled the trigger.