Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Under the Five Moons ❯ Sins of the Father ( Chapter 17 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun, I don't own the characters… who really reads these summaries anyway? It's not like people are bothering to read this. I could really put anything in here and no one would notice. Maybe in the next chapter I'll put a cookie recipe instead of a disclaimer.

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Ophelia's trained hands skimmed through the deck. Cutting, sifting, shuffling, she pulled six cards at random and threw them out in front of her. They landed, face down, in the shape of a cross, four cards long with one card to each side of the third card. Languidly, she started flipping them over, starting with the bottom.

Joseph walked into the small kitchen Ophelia was sitting in and opened a cupboard. He searched around for something, but when he failed to find it, he pulled out a chair opposite Ophelia.

"Anything new? What does the future bring for the Flock? Will His work be done?"

Ophelia put her elbow on the table and rested her head in her hand. "No," she projected. "Just the same things I've been seeing for weeks now. This is an uncertain future, so the cards are reluctant to say anything. But have faith. We are doing the Lord's work, and therefore have His blessing."

Joseph shrugged, then turned to look out the window, staring at the landscape as it flashed by. Sand, sand, and just for a change of pace, more sand. Occasionally rocky outcropping and cliffs would roll by them, breaking up the otherwise monotonous landscape.

Ophelia gasped. "Well this is interesting."

Joseph turned his attention back to Ophelia's Tarot spread. It was the usual spread Ophelia had been pulling for days. Nothing special, nothing helpful, nothing new. Except the center card, where the four arms of the cross intersected. In Ophelia's cross spread, this place indicated the definite future. A hint at what was to happen.

Right now, Ophelia was holding said card in her hand, facing away from Joseph. She flipped it in her fingers.

"The Judgment card? That is interesting."

Joseph leaned back in his chair. "One way or another. It's going to end. This war. It's going to end soon."

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Wolfwood patted his pockets for his matches. He always ran out of matches before he ran out of cigarettes. "I should just get a damn lighter," he grumbled.

Vash held a lit match in front of Wolfwood's face. Wolfwood nodded then lit his cigarette. Vash shook the match out.

"Since when do you carry matches around with you?" Wolfwood asked.

"Since you came back to life and needed to smoke every three minutes." Vash responded.

Wolfwood dragged on his cigarette and nodded. "And why are we heading to the Sky City crash site."

Vash held up two fingers. "Two reasons. Both having to do with the fact that I have friends that live there."

"Oh you mean that girl on the flying ship…. Damn, what was her name?" gritted his teeth in annoyance.

"Jessica. Yes, her and Lina. Remember her? The one I lived with for two years before you dragged me out of there?"

"I remember her. I also remember you stripping buck naked and running around barking like a dog."

Vash didn't respond, he just twisted around in the bus seat and stared out the window.

"Awww, what's a matter? Did I embarrass you again?"

Vash growled. "I've done some humiliating things in my life, but that may have been by far the worst." He shook his head. "Especially because you were there. Did you really have to tell Meryl and Millie about it?"

Wolfwood chuckled. "It was funny. I loved how for a brief second Meryl looked disappointed. Almost as if she was thinking 'Damn, I missed it!'"

Vash frowned. "You have got to be the dirtiest priest in the history of the clergy."

"Oh really? Obviously they didn't tell you much about the history of religion while you were on the ship."

The bus rolled to a stop in the middle of the town. The pair levered themselves off the bus seat and stumbled off the bus.

"Hey Padre!" the bus driver called out.

Wolfwood waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it, I can get my luggage myself." He climbed up the ladder and untied his cross from the bus. "Hey Vash! Catch!"

Vash moved back and held his arms out. "Ready!"

Wolfwood lofted the cross down to Vash, who caught it with a grunt. He stumbled back a bit and almost fell over. "I always forget how damn heavy this thing is."

"Oh really? You said you used against Knives?" Wolfwood said, climbing down from the bus.

"Well yeah," Vash said, handing the Cross Punisher to Wolfwood and picking up his own bag. "But I just barely lifted it up. I don't think I could wield the thing one handed like you do."

"Ah, Mr. Superior Being can't lift something a human can lift? 'It isn't worth lifting if it can only be used by a pathetic spider!'"

Vash laughed out loud. "Damn, you sound exactly like him! How much of that did you have to deal with?"

Wolfwood shook his head. "You have no idea. He just loved to use Legato as a mouthpiece to explain how worthless we were. 'Course, I was able to ignore it. I grew up with crazy ranting. Eventually you build a tolerance to it. Say, what were the two reasons that we're stopping here?"

"What? Oh yeah. Well first, Lina and Jessica usually keep their ears to the ground for me in the area of Knives' actions. The second is that one of the two usually gives me a free meal and a bed to sleep in for the night."

Wolfwood raised his eyebrows as he slipped on his dark sunglasses. "Good deal."

"Especially because we've spent all the bounty money."

"Yeah, on your doughnuts."

"No, on your cigarettes."

"Doughnuts."

"Cigarettes."

"Why don't you act your age?"

"Sure, find another man in his hundred and fifties who isn't related to me and I'll act just like him."

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The Gung-ho Gun Lorand the Gearhead could get very involved in his work. Very, very involved. Given a machine and a box of tools, it would take a gunshot to bring him back to reality. Of course, his reaction would be to kill the distraction then get back to work on his project.

"Lorand. Lorand. LORAND! YOU STUPID INFERIOR PIECE OF GARBAGE! PAY ATTENTION TO ME! DO YOU REALIZE WHO IS TALKING TO YOU?"

Knives shook his head. Why did he even bother anymore? He pulled his black Long Colt from its holster and aimed it at Lorand's right arm.

BLAM!

CLANG!

The bullet ricocheted off of Lornad's mechanical arm and embedded itself in the wall. Lorand blurred around, a small gun popping from his forearm. Before Lorand could make a quarter of a turn, before the gun could even begin to come out of his arm, Knives had shoved the Long Colt into Lorand's mouth.

"Lorand, please. Try not to be such a hopelessly inferior creature, yes? At least look at me when I shout in your ear."

Lorand stared straight down the nasty looking barrel and nodded. Knives slowly removed the gun and dried the saliva on Lorand's vest. "Yes sir. I'm very very sorry sir. You're right sir, I should be more attentive sir. It's just that I was trying to fix the Teraformer and, and, and…"

"And…?"

"And it needs one more component to work. Don't worry though, boss. I can make it myself pretty quickly, so we don't need to go hunting for anything else."

Knives nodded. "I assume that there is a component like this out there?"

Lorand nodded. "I think so… but it's in the possession of the Feds. Some sort of Lost Technology research project, I dunno."

"I doubt the government has even half of an idea of the treasure trove they sit on. Pathetic, only humans could sit on a pile of diamonds, then claim that they're worthless simply because they need polishing. They make no sense."

Lorand shrugged. He would have killed to get his cybernetic hands on government-held Lost Technology.

"At least I won't have to live with their false superiority for much longer."

"What did you say sir?"

"Nothing Lorand. Nothing I feel like simplifying down to your level. Genius you may be at machines, you share your species inability to truly understand what is going on." Knives pulled a vial of blood

Lorand pointed at a vial Knives held in his left hand. "Is that Johnny's blood sample?"

Knives held up the small vial. "This? No, but I got it from his blood. This is… a vaccine. A vaccine for the planet itself."

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Wolfwood sat bolt upright, throwing the black cat that was sleeping on him to the ground. As his eyes slowly grew accustomed to the dark, he tried to remember where he was.

[Stupid wake up amnesia. Okay Nicholas, get a grip on yourself. You're in… star. Something with a star… sheriff's star. Sheriff… Sheriff Lina! Right, that girl Vash stayed with, Lina. She's the sheriff here now. I'm in her guest room; Vash is in Jessica's guest room. Now why the hell did I wake up?]

Automatic gunfire rang through the streets, followed by a small explosion.

[The fighting noises. Right.]

He struggled out of bed and pulled a shirt on, not bothering to button it up. He opened the door and crept down the stairs. He found Lina in the kitchen, tugging on a pair of boots.

"Go back to bed Father. This doesn't concern you."

Wolfwood sat down at the table. "Please don't call me Father, I may be both a priest and a father, but I'll never get used to being called that. What's going on?"

Lina finished pulling on her boots and reached for her gun belt. "Some sort of gunfight by the Sky City crash ruins. A deputy just came up with the news."

Wolfwood lit a cigarette. "Who'd attack the ruins? I thought they were stripped of everything?"

"Almost everything, it's kind of like a museum now. Anyway, all my deputy said was that they were wearing all black."

Wolfwood's eyes narrowed. "All black? Were they using strange weapons?"

Lina stopped loading her gun. "…Yes, some sort of rifle that didn't shoot bullets, how did you know that?"

Wolfwood grounded his cigarette into a nearby ashtray and stood up. He walked over to where he had leaned his Cross Punisher earlier. "This does concern me. Much more than it concerns you." He hefted the Cross Punisher on his back and headed towards the door. "Stay here, protect your family. I'll take care of this."

"But-"

"You don't know what's out there. I do. Please, let me handle this."

Lina ran up to Wolfwood and grabbed his shoulder. "No way you're going without me. I'm the freaking sheriff! It's my job to go with you!"

Click.

Lina felt the cold touch of steel against her chin. Wolfwood had grabbed the gun from her holster and was now pulling the hammer back. "I'm sure you're a great sheriff, but believe me, you won't serve your town by dying. That's exactly what's going to happen if you go out into the night right now. I've got enough blood on my hands, I don't want yours on my conscious as well."

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Wolfwood raised his fist to pound on the door. Before he could hit it, the door opened to reveal Vash, still in his pj's, his gun belt strapped around his waist.

"Funny, I thought you were the one who didn't like to get involved in other people's problems?" he said.

"It's not someone else's problem. It's mine. You want to see the people who hate you even more than you're brother?"

Vash nodded, the turned behind him. "Jessica? You might want to take your family and head over to Mark and Lina's. It's gonna get messy."

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A pair of Flock members were patrolling the west side of the ship ruins when they noticed a figure slip towards the ship.

"Hey buddy! There's nasty work afoot. Why don't you just go home like a good Christian?"

The figure raised his hands and slowly walked towards them. "Like a good Christian? Are you guys the definition of good Christians? In that case, I'm acting exactly like a good Christian."

The pair raised their laser rifles toward the figure. "Go home. Otherwise, you'll just end up in the afterlife much sooner."

The figure came even closer, revealing a red-haired man with a poncho and a black Stetson. "Nice guns. Mind if I take a look?" His hands shot out and grabbed the long metal barrels. The brethren grunted and pulled the triggers.

Click.

A surprised look came over the red head's face. "Now how did that happen?"

The brethren stared in disbelief as their gun barrels turned to liquid and slid up the man's hands. He pulled back as the liquid metal resolved itself into a knife between each finger on both hands.

Johnny's hands flew out, and the brethren crumpled to the ground. Johnny stepped over their corpses and raced towards the ship.

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Wolfwood flipped a clasp and threw off the covering on the Cross Punisher. He balanced it under the crook of his arm and leaned out towards the street. He grabbed a quick peep of the guards around the ship, then pulled back. Across the street, Vash was doing the same as he loaded a clip into his Long Colt.

Wolfwood held up two fingers and pointed to the left. Vash nodded, held up three fingers and pointed to the right.

Vash did a mental count. [One, two, three, NOW!] He dove out and fired three quick shots into the night. He heard Wolfwood's machine gun blaze, but trusted the reformed priest not to kill them. The pair rushed up and pointed their guns at the fallen brethren. Wolfwood held his finger up to his lips.

"Ch-Chapel?"

Wolfwood slowly nodded, then hit the man in the head.

Vash quickly pistol-whipped the other four. "Any serious wounds?"

"One graze. He'll live."

Vash nodded, and they slipped forward to the ship.

"He called you Chapel, I thought your teacher was called Chapel?" Vash whispered eventually.

"Chapel is a title among the Flock, it refers to their point man. My teacher was Chapel the Evergreen, I was called Chapel the Peacemaker, you get the idea. I have no idea how he would have known me though, that kid looked way too young to even have been out of diapers by the time I left the Flock with my teacher."

"He was staring at your cross when he said it. Maybe the new guy has one as well?"

Wolfwood shrugged. "It would make sense, my teacher had a Cross Punisher. Maybe the new guy has no originality."

They had reached the ship. Wolfwood and Vash pressed themselves up against the walls surrounding one of the doors. "I wonder what the new Chapel is called," Wolfwood said quietly to himself.

"Chapel the Born-Again. And you'd be proud, Nicholas, he does honor to your name."

Vash and Wolfwood's heads swiveled around, looking for the source of the voice.

"I gave up the title of Chapel a long time ago!" Wolfwood shouted.

"I didn't mean that. I meant he did honor to the name of Wolfwood." In the darkness behind them, a pair of glowing eyes could be seen. No warmth in this light, just a piercing gaze that saw everything.

"Danil. Father Danil."

Danil stepped further out of the blackness and smiled. "Yes Nicholas. I'm ever so glad to see you in the land of mortals again. Did you have fun in the afterlife? A nice little trip Knives sent you on. But your bloodline still live on, eh? Jeremiah did fine to your name under me. Chapel the Born-Again. He wasn't as good as you, I must admit, but I don't think we've ever had one as good as you."

Danil started pacing around Vash and Wolfwood. "Oh don't get me wrong, he's strong enough. The Cross Punisher he carries is huge. And I won't say that he isn't fast, he's just not as fast as you. Also, he lacks something. Killer instinct, dumb luck, Providence, he just doesn't seem to have it like you do. Then again, I was never the teacher that Chapel the Evergreen was."

Wolfwood's breathing grew short. "No… he couldn't have. He couldn't have walked down my path. Millie wouldn't have let him. He couldn't…"

"Oh, but he did. Excuse me a second, would you?" Danil pulled what looked like a pen from his pocket and spoke into it. "Sister Amy, Sister Mary, would you please head over to the East perimeter, I believe that we have an unwanted guest."

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Johnny stopped in mid stride. A quick gesture with his hand, and a knife formed between his index and middle fingers. He slowly brought his foot back behind him and glanced backwards.

[Where are you? You're not like the other ones,] he thought. [No… I can tell that there's something different about you. You're like me…]

Still looking behind him, his hand shot out and the knife went flying. A small grunt was all the reward he got. "Yep. You're jes like me, aren't you? Men, but not of men?"

Two black clad figures walked towards Johnny. Identical save for their eyes, both of which were two colored. Green and brown, and brown and green.

"Now what exactly-"

"-Do you mean by that?"

They split apart and started circling Johnny.

"We may not be of men-"

"-But we certainly aren't men."

Johnny tipped his hat. "Beg your pardon ladies. Now, what exactly are your names?"

"Sister Amy."

"Sister Mary."

As the pair circled, they left copies behind them. Soon, Johnny was surrounded by dozens of copies of the sisters.

"You waste your time, we already have what we came for."

"And we already took it away. The Father merely wished to speak with his prodigal 'son'".

Johnny silently cursed. Failure was not accepted very well among the Gung-Ho Guns, and he certainly didn't want to end up like Julius the Necromancer.

"We outnumber you cowboy."

"Why don't you just run?"

Johnny pulled his hat down in front of his eyes and laughed. "Oh really ladies? I think not." His eyes flashed. "I've seen this trick before!"

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Vash's grip on his Long Colt increased. "Bullshit," he said.

"Ahh, the Plant speaks. Homo seraphimis. What information do you have to give us now? Where, exactly, is the lie in my gospel?"

Vash glared at Danil. "From what I can tell, your gospel has many lies, but the one I was referring to was Jeremiah. I know that kid, I helped raise that kid. He would never turn to your side, never! He has too much good from his mother and father in him to believe in you!"

Danil chuckled. "Oh really? Can you really say that with any certainty, Stampede? When was the last time you saw Jeremiah? How do you know what type of man he grew into? For that matter, when was the last time you saw your abomination of a daughter? Five, six years ago? For a day?" Danil ceased his pacing and walked up to Vash, staring at him eye-to-eye. "When was the last time you saw your family, Vash? Any of them? Your daughter? Your almost-son? Your friend? That nice girl who you perverted to your worthless side? Why are you running, Stampede, why?"

Vash opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, then seemed ready to speak, but Danil held his finger to his lips. "No, no, no. You don't need to answer now. In fact, I expect that you even know the answer now. Besides, it is hardly my place to mess with your emotions. I leave that to your brother." Danil turned on his heel to face Wolfwood.

Wolfwood ran a hand through his hair and stared at Danil. "What now, Father? What other tantalizing pieces of information do you have for me? I know you don't lie, it ain't in your nature. What now? A detailed list of who my son has killed? That he's decided that I am worthless human being for betraying the Flock and not being alive to raise him? Have you gone to kill Millie's family!? What now, Danil?"

Danil began retreating into the darkness. "No need to worry Nicholas, I would never harm the lovely Mille, or her family. She is an innocent in this war, and we are low on innocents these days. Oh, and Vash?"

Vash looked up, still shaken. "What?"

"I have a question that I have been rolling around in my mind lately about you and your brother. Who is worse, the unknown Plant who would destroy all of humanity, or the world-renowned world-feared outlaw, who would have the arrogance to claim himself the race's savior?"

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Johnny had run the sister's ragged. They were still intact, but panting heavily. They effort of dodging too many of the crazy Gung-Ho Guns flying blades was tiring.

"Why don't you kill us?"

"Why string it out so long?"

Johnny laughed. "Why? Because it's fun! Why else?"

The twins cocked their head to the side, and raised their hands to their earrings.

Sister Mary nodded. "The conversation is finished, we can leave now."

"It's been, fun, Johnny the Bladestorm."

The copies of the twins rushed towards Johnny. Copy after copy flooded his vision, until he couldn't see anything but black. When his vision cleared, he was standing alone in the desert with only the ruins of a crashed ship to keep him company.

"Damn it, damn it! I knew we had a traitor! I'll kill those sons of bitches!" Fear of his assured death at Knives' hands had vanished, only his anger remained. "Meeting point fifteen. We're supposed to show up at meeting point fifteen, and they always arrive early."

Metal flowed down from the inside of Johnny's poncho along his arms and into his hands, forming a knife in each hand. "I'm sure we can survive with two less Gung-Ho Guns."

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Knives flipped the small vial through the fingers of his right hand and stared at the sea of frozen humans in front of him. He had long ago fiddled with the cold sleep functions to ensure that they could never wake up, but he hadn't killed them. Not yet. He would kill them last. Personally.

He turned his attention back to the vial he was flipping in his hand.

"What are you thinking about sir?" a deep voice said. Martinez walked around and leaned on the railing above the cold sleep store. "The virus, perhaps?"

Knives tossed the vial into the air and caught it with his right hand. "No Martinez, I was thinking about my last fight with my brother, you remember that?"

Martinez nodded. "Yes, I remember you sent me packing with Julius because you didn't trust the little weasel to carry out the back up plan on his own."

"Yes. I was just thinking about the advantages my brother had over me in that fight, and how to correct that advantage."

Martinez shrugged. "Oh, something else. Schneider called in. Vash and Wolfwood recently met with Father Danil outside of the Sky City crash ruins."

"Then Johnny failed to stop the Teraformer from being taken?"

"Did you honestly expect him to? No offense meant to Johnny, but he couldn't take down a group of the brethren and Father Danil. Hell, it's doubtful that he could take down Father Danil."

"True. It doesn't really matter. In fact, on some deep hidden level I was probably hoping it wouldn't end like that. I wanted to meet Danil myself. This irrational human who wants to kill all of my kind, little realizing that this would mean the death of his species. And that, Martinez, really embodies all that I hate about humans and their illogical and destructive irrationality."

Martinez laughed. "I'm sure he says the same thing about you sir."

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Nikki: What happens when you see a friend you haven't seen in a while? Sometimes they've changed, sometimes they haven't. Often that change is superficial: a new hairstyle, an extra inch or so in height, or a new outfit. Other times that change can be huge, something that changes them deep inside. A wedding, a death, a birth, all things can bring about these changes. But sometimes, the person you see again is just the same as they were the last time you saw them. And sometimes that one you once thought was your friend, is now your greatest enemy. Next Chapter: Black Engine.