Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Under the Five Moons ❯ Grand Finale ( Chapter 25 )

I neither own Trigun, the characters, nor the lyrics to "Any Dream Will Do", which were used in the previous chapter.

***

Knives and Danil jumped to the side as the grenade came flying from Wolfwood's Cross Punisher. It hit the walkway and exploded, knocking Calamity and Johnny off their feet up above. Wolfwood leapt up and dashed forward, Vash following behind him. Martinez pushed down from the walkway he had been standing under, shot through the fire, and landed kneeling. He suddenly shot forward towards Jeremiah, who had brought his Cross Punisher around and opened fire at the vampire.

Martinez flew backwards from the gunfire, then leapt to his feet. He rolled his neck and stared at Jeremiah. The bullet wounds were already healed. "That doesn't work on me. See, it's got to be the actual cross that touches me."

"I know," Jeremiah said, flipping switches on his Punisher. The large gun clanked as it exchanged ammo. "That was just to slow you down."

***

Nikki emptied all her bullets into Blayne as she fell back onto the catwalk behind her. Blayne flew over her and hit the ground. Nikki winced as she felt the guitar, but pushed the thought aside as she reloaded her guns. She walked down the stairs, keeping both guns trained on the body.

"Did… did I kill her?"

Blayne suddenly leapt up at Nikki, who dodged to the side and fired into Blayne's side. Blayne hit the ground and slid to a halt on all fours. She growled at Nikki.

"What the hell are you?" Nikki asked.

Werewolf. I'm a werewolf, spiderfly.

Nikki nodded, then ran off into the night. Blayne growled, fell on all fours, and tried to follow, still not used to her wolf form.

***

The Flock was taken completely by surprise. They were told that they would have to fight wolves, machines, undead. Mindless things, incapable of strategy or trickery, only dangerous for their power and numbers. They weren't told that they would be attacked from the outside, sniped from rooftops, cornered, surrounded, and out maneuvered.

Knives' forces were better off, but not by much.

"Why aren't the wolves attacking?" A sniper shouted.

"Why don't you ask them?" Colonel Winchester snapped back. She sighted a spider-like robot through her scope, held her breath, and squeezed the trigger. The force of the bullet threw the robot into a pile of rubble, sparks flying from the bullet hole.

"Maybe we killed the alpha male or something? Like if you cut off the head you kill the snake?"

"It's an alpha female, and I think she's very much alive. I think the wolves would know how to deal with their leader dying."

"Then what's wrong?"

"Let me ask you this, corporal, which is more frightening to you? A dead officer, or an officer who refuses to give any orders? DOWN!"

Colonel Winchester's sniper group grabbed their rifles and ducked behind the chimney and ramparts of the roof they were on as laser fire flew over their heads.

***

Raifen's blade flashed in the light of the few standing street lamps as it sliced upwards across Joseph's chest. Joseph met the blade with his. Sparks flew from their swords as they tried to break through the other's block. Joseph growled and quickly backstepped. Raifen's blade flew upwards as Joseph's sword moved out of its way. Before Raifen could regain control of his katana, Joseph had reversed his momentum and was rushing him with a shoulder tackle. Raifen leapt up and leapfrogged over Joseph, smacking him the back with the flat of his sword.

Joseph tripped, rolled along the ground, and came up facing Raifen. He moved his sword up at eye-level, parallel to the ground. He grinned. "Yes, this is how it should be. A symbolic battle between light and darkness. It's perfect."

"I do not fight the light, I only fight evil."

Joseph laughed. "You fight evil? Your realm is darkness. You have never seen the true light!"

Raifen dashed forward and slashed at Joseph. "Since when is the darkness inherently evil?"

"Since when has it not been? What has the darkness ever done to help humanity?" Joseph shouted, deflecting Raifen's blade and thrusting forward with his own.

Raifen dodged to the side and tried to punch Joseph in the throat. "It can protect humanity from the blinding, burning, destructive light!"

***

"You brought the Cavalry down on me, Vash? You brought humans into our duel?" Knives shouted as he dropped from the scaffolding, firing at Vash.

Vash brought up his Long Colt and fired at Knives. Knives dodged the bullet and threw himself behind some rubble, where he returned fire. Vash jumped to the left and hid behind a large stone pillar.

"Brought? They came here on there own, Knives. You can't try to destroy humanity and not expect them to have a say in the matter."

"I thought that's what I was here for?" Father Danil said. He fired at Vash from the catwalk, forcing him to hide behind the other side of the pillar.

"Incorrect Father," Wolfwood said. "You're here for the same reason that Knives is."

"That reason being?"

Wolfwood hefted his Cross Punisher and pulled the trigger, spraying bullets above Danil's head. Danil ran to the right as Wolfwood followed him, firing his Cross Punisher in three second bursts. "You're both freakin nutjobs."

***

Legato dropped down and put his legs up into Evans chest, rolling back and throwing the soldier behind him. There was a loud SNAP as the shoulder torture device broke off as Legato rolled to his feet.

Evans dropped his swords, curled his body into a ball, and tried to roll as he hit the catwalk. He came up kneeling on his right leg and dashed forward, trying to grab his swords. Legato stabbed downward, trying to impale Evans. Evans rolled to the side and kicked out against Legato's spear, knocking it to the side. With nothing to support his weight, Legato fell to the catwalk.

Evans dove for his swords and Legato snatched his spear. Both bounded to their feet and backed off slightly.

C'mon, c'mon you son of a bitch. What are you going to do? Give me something. A head nod. A blink. Anything. What are you going to do?

Legato suddenly sprung forward with a thrust to Evans chest. Evans barely managed to deflect it. It still grazed his right arm as he swung at Legato with his other sword. Legato turned the spear and deflected it with the bottom.

"Damn it, are you completely emotionless?"

"Perhaps. Perhaps I have just learned better control than you have. Not that would be especially difficult from what I've seen."

Evans chuckled. "And how much did you have to do with that, I wonder."

"Very little. I didn't force you to listen to your dead parents, though I could have. You're the only one that allows others to control you. Perhaps that's why you took a career in the military. So you could have others control you? So you wouldn't have to worry about your inability to control yourself? I've come to find that most human beings look to be controlled. They have free will, they just choose to give it away. One of their more disgusting failings."

Evans lashed out with his right saber, then at the last second turned, dodged Legato's spear, and struck him across the back. This time it was Legato that got away with a grazing cut.

Evans glanced towards the bulb for a second and wondered how Nikki was doing. "You know, you really have no right to talk about humans desiring control, ya freaking hypocrite." Evans looked out to the ground below him. Time to take control of the situation. What was it dad said? Don't like the battle ground you're fighting on? Then don't fight on it. He jumped back, sheathed his swords, then vaulted over the railing to the ground below.

Legato tilted his head to the side, then followed.

***

Johnny hit the catwalk, then flipped up and flung a small barrage of knives at Ophelia. Ophelia yanked a card from her deck, floated up from her prone position, and held it in front of her. Five pentacles peeled out from the card and floated in front of her, blocking the knives.

Johnny glanced around. "And where did our darling little sister go?"

Ophelia glanced around as well, still keeping the Five of Pentacles card held out in front of her. "No idea. She's hardly my sister anyway."

Johnny laughed mirthlessly. "Please. She may not be your blood, but she was as much your sister as she was mine."

Ophelia closed her eyes for a moment, then dropped her hand from the card, which remained floating in mid-air. She started to shuffle through her deck. "Judging by her recent reactions, I wouldn't say that she was very interested in being your sister." Her hand shot out, a card flying off into the night.

Twelve swords peeled off of the card and flew towards Johnny. They all twisted away from him and flew off in various directions. One landed in front of Johnny, who bent down, picked up the sword, and stared at Ophelia as it reshaped itself into a fan of knives. "Please," Johnny said sarcastically. He flung them at Ophelia, who remained still as they bounced off the pentacles, which shattered under the stress.

As the card burned in front of Ophelia, she looked across at Johnny. "I wonder. Was Clarissa's presence the only thing keeping us sane?"

***

Meryl and Millie raced down the street. The young Flock member hadn't noticed them cutting through their bonds, but he had noticed Millie sneaking up on him. As a result, Millie's punch, instead of taking him down for the count, merely slowed him down somewhat.

Meryl tried to take inventory of her weaponry as she raced next to her partner. The Flock had removed all the derringers from her cape's holsters, but they had passed over, or didn't care about, the two she kept up her sleeves. She took one out and tossed it to Millie.

"Meryl! I can't shoot this tiny thing! I mean, my hands are way to big to shoot it right!"

Meryl grunted. "You're right. Give it back to me. If I'm going to have a homicidal maniac chasing me, I'd rather have a gun in each hand."

Millie nodded and tossed the gun back to Meryl. She looked around. "Aren't we close to the office?" she asked.

Meryl took the time to actually take in her surroundings. "…Yeah, we are. Millie, please tell me you store an extra Stun Gun at the office."

Millie nodded. "Ever since you fired Robert and he came back with the shotgun and Vash tried to save you and-"

"That's enough. The point is that you have it."

A black clad figure emerged from the darkness to run alongside them. Meryl glanced to her right to see a Flock member beside them. "Who the hell are you?" she demanded.

"Wow, you don't look so good. Are you okay?"

"Uh… sort of. Listen, my name's Zarlina. I'm on your side, I swear. And yes, I realize how unconvincing that sounds, but I'm here with Raifen."

"The ninja guy?"

"The ninja guy."

"Fantastic," Meryl muttered. "We're headed for the Bernardelli complex. You're more than welcome to come with us if you want."

Millie glanced at Zarlina. "Aren't you carrying any weapons?"

"I am the weapon."

***

Calamity looked upwards at Johnny and Ophelia's fighting, then surveyed the city below her. The sad truth was that the Cavalry didn't stand a chance.

It didn't help that The Flock outgunned them in almost every way. It didn't help that a third of Knives' troops would get back up even if you shot them in the head, or were smaller than you average target. Or were big scary looking robot things.

"Shit shit shit. How can they pull the plug on these guys?"

Calamity stopped for a second and looked back up at Johnny. "Pull the plug? Electricity, electromagnetic… Of course!"

***

Martinez flew at Jeremiah, determined to knock him down before he could start firing. To his surprise, Jeremiah threw the Cross Punisher at him instead. Martinez's vampiric reflexes went into overdrive as he tried to twist away from the giant gun. He watched as the cross flew inches by his face, and immediately turned to renew his attack. Unfortunately, he turned right into Jeremiah's fist.

Martinez went flying, hit a nearby saloon wall, and collapsed in an unmoving heap. Jeremiah, still weary of the vampire, ran over to his Cross Punisher and scooped it up. He turned towards the saloon in time to see Martinez rise from the saloon porch, holding his jaw.

CRACK

Martinez opened and closed his mouth a few times. He winced. "Very good, Jeremiah. Very good indeed. You really are your father's son. That's exactly what Wolfwood would've done in your place. No hesitation whatsoever." He started to slowly walk down the stairs. "This might not mean much coming from an unholy creature such as myself, but I believe that you are finally ready to ring the black funeral bell.

"Are you coming on to me?"

Martinez sniggered. He suddenly jumped up to the roof. Jeremiah brought his Cross Punisher up and squeezed one of the triggers. Martinez darted around the roof, dodging Jeremiah's fire. Jeremiah suddenly stopped following Martinez's path and pulled the other trigger. Wherever these bullets hit, flames leapt up from the holes, quickly blazing a trail of fire. Martinez snarled and leapt off of the roof where he was caught in the shoulder with a bullet from Jeremiah's other barrel. He fell to the ground, clutching his shoulder. "A holy bullet?"

Jeremiah nodded. "A holy bullet."

"What happened to 'Thou shalt not kill'?"

"You're already dead, Bloodsucker. I'm just sending an old tortured soul to rest."

***

Another explosion ripped through the night. Johnny and Ophelia looked towards it reflexively. Calamity flipped out from under the catwalk and rushed Johnny, knocking him to the ground.

"What are you doing?" Johnny shouted as Calamity grabbed his head.

"Something only we can do, big brother! Or at least something we can only do this close to a Plant's radiation!"

"An EMP?" Johnny sputtered. Electricity arced between the siblings, and a crackling noise filled the air.

Ophelia's eyes widened. She pulled out two Major Arcana cards, the World and the Tower, and held them together in a cross. "Lord, grant us Your holy protection, seal these towers used for Thy holy works, so that the heathens may not disrupt their usage!"

***

Meryl, Millie, and Zarlina raced towards the door of the Bernardelli complex. Meryl reached the door first and pulled on the doors.

"God in… They're locked!"

"We could try knocking?" Zarlina suggested.

"Right, they're going to let anyone in who knocks in the middle of a battle. Standard company policy, really. Millie?"

"Yeah Meryl?"

"Break the door down."

"But… they'll take it out my pay!"

"I'll pay for the door myself, just open it!"

Millie shouldered tackled the large door, which broke off from its hinges and fell on the floor. Millie stepped over it and bent down to pick it up.

Meryl turned around. "Where did Zarlina go?" She froze for a moment, then yelled at her partner. "Millie! Get the door up!"

Meryl dived behind Millie as the larger woman brought the door in front of them like a shield, holding it by the handle. A shotgun blast rang out through the night and slammed into the large door.

Elija approached, reloading his crucifix. Zarlina struck from the shadow of the Bernardelli complex, but fire sprang up around Elija's body. Zarlina fell back, clutching her burnt hand.

"Yeah, hurts, doesn't it? You'll burn, you devil spawn. And so will the women over there, the Plant lover and her friend. You'll all burn!"

Meryl fired one of her derringers at Elija's head. Elija glanced at it casually and muttered a word in Latin. The bullet caught fire and burned up before it could come anywhere near him.

Elija shook his head. "I have God's protection, why should I fear your bullets?" He raised his shotgun and pointed it at Zarlina.

A shockwave came ripping down the street, flew over Zarlina, and slammed into Elija, knocking him into a building. His crucifix went flying away and landed a few feet away from him. Elija lifted himself, shook his head, and dived for the crucifix.

BLAM

The bullet slammed into the crucifix, knocking out of Elija's grasp. He looked up to a see a man standing in the street, dressed in Cavalry Officer's uniform. He held a sword in his right hand and was pointing a sidearm at Elija with the other arm.

Zarlina pushed herself up and raced over to the doorway, where Millie and Meryl stood.

"Get her some help," the man said. "I'll hold off this bastard for a while for a while."

"Who are you?" Elija spat.

"Just an old soldier, looking for one last fight before he dies."

Elija staggered to his feet and looked at the attacker. "General Braxler himself. I'm honored. To what do I owe this?"

"Not much, really. I just wanted to use that complex as a command center. And I wanted a worthwhile fight as well, I suppose."

Elija glanced towards the door to see Millie, Meryl, and Zarlina race inside. He glanced back towards his crucifix and shrugged. "Don't think that I'm helpless without my gun." He held up his hands, and balls fire formed above them. "After all, why should God's true agent hide behind the tools of man?"

***

Danil leapt over the railing to the ground, turned around, and started firing in Vash's direction. Vash ducked behind a pillar next to Wolfwood and returned fire.

Danil dodged Vash's bullets, only to find that Knives was firing at him as well. He dove behind a stack of spare parts crates and paused to reload his guns. He glanced up the crates and grinned. He stood up, spun around, kicked a crate towards Knives.

Knives glanced up to see the crate flying at him. He grunted and the top panels of his gun flew off.

SCHINK!

The crate split into two halves and continued their flight forwards, Knives standing safely between them, his left arm an Angel Blade. He held out his right arm and pulled the trigger on the gun arm, spraying bullets at the crates.

Suddenly, a blue field shot up around the tower.

Danil looked up at the field. "The world card...?" He put on his guns down, reached into his pocket, and pulled out his communicator. "Ophelia? What the hell are you doing?" A crackle of static, then a brief moment of speech. Danil fell silent, then glanced upwards.

"An EMP?"

"An EMP? But…" Knives turned his gaze upwards as well.

Wolfwood glanced towards Vash from their cover behind two pillars. "What's an EMP?"

Vash grinned slightly. "Electromagnetic Pulse. Basically causes a heart attack for all electronics in the area. The towers will stop operating, and they'll have to restart all of them before they can unleash the virus. Not only that, all those robots will be reduced to really expensive paper weights."

Danil chuckled. "Well, you're only half right. My and Knives' troops will take a hit, but the towers are just fine. What do you think that blue light is for?"

Knives laughed. "So you can do something right. Perhaps there's more to The Flock than a fanatical devotion to an invisible man in the sky."

"Vash, will the EMP affect bionics as well?"

"Er… yeah. No reason why it shouldn't."

Wolfwood grimaced. "Shit. JEREMIAH! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!"

Danil ignored Wolfwood and kicked another box at Knives, who dodged it easily. Danil set up to kick another box when he caught sight of Wolfwood's Cross Punisher flying at him. He jumped backwards as the giant gun slammed into the wall. Wolfwood rushed up, vaulted over the boxes, and tackled the old priest.

They came up and jumped backwards, Wolfwood trying not trip over his gun. He growled and rushed at Danil, rearing his arm back. His punch caught Danil square in the jaw. He flew backwards and slid to a halt near to Knives, whose arm had reverted and was caught in a firefight with his brother. Danil looked to the boxes Knives was hiding behind and spun kicked one towards Wolfwood.

Wolfwood reached quickly, catching the box as he flew towards him and throwing it to the side, when he suddenly found Danil rushing at him and jumping into a flying kick. Wolfwood dodged to the side as Danil flew past him. He grabbed a box and threw at Danil as the priest landed in the sand. Danil kicked at the box, breaking it into splinters.

"I'm always amazed at how well my cousin trained you," Danil said, rolling his neck.

"Yeah. Shame you really aren't the teacher he was."

Danil smirked. "Are you saying that the new Chapels aren't up to snuff? That's an insult to your son, you know."

Wolfwood shook his head. "I just said you aren't the teacher Chapel the Evergreen was. Any successes by the new Chapels are in spite of you, not because of it."

***

Blayne slid to a halt in the middle of the street. She stood up on her hind legs and wheeled around. A weapons store on one side, a bank on the other. She stopped and reminded herself that she shouldn't rely on her sight any more. She took in a deep breath through her nose and…

Mistress! We need you! They are attacking! The strange men are attacking!

Blayne growled. Not now…

Not now, my pack! Fight on without me! I have to attend to this!

But… but mistress. We need you!

I'm sorry. But the Master comes first. The Master comes first beyond all else.

Blayne's ears pricked up, hearing an attacker, but it was far too late. Nikki came out of nowhere and tackled the werewolf, pushing her to the ground. They rolled over a few times with Nikki coming out on top. She stabbed downward and pulled back. A dagger hilt protruded from Blayne's chest. Nikki grinned triumphantly.

Blayne smirked. Don't feel a thing.

Nikki grit her teeth. "But it's silver. I thought that was a werewolf's bane?"

Normal werewolves, yes. But I am no normal werewolf. I am better. Perfect even. A perfect werewolf. No mindless berserker, no weakness to silver or wolf's bane. Perfection.

"Perfect? And you called me unnatural. Damn hypocrite." Nikki reached into her shoulder holster, pulled out one of her Long Colts, and emptied the chambers into Blayne.

There was a loud crackling noise, and all the street lights winked out. The entire town was thrown into darkness, only the five moons providing illumination. The blue fields around the towers dropped, their sanctuary no longer needed.

See? Now I have the advantage. You might not be able to see me, but I can still hear you.

BLAM!

The gunshot reverberated in Blayne's ear as the bullet went flying away. "Not any more," Nikki said.

Blayne turned around, trying to follow the sound of Nikki's voice, but all she could hear was a faint whisper buried by the ringing of the gunshot. She lunged as she finally caught sight of the half-Plant in the dark.

***

Jeremiah lay in front of his father, gasping for breath. "Did I make it in time?" he asked.

"Can you see?" Wolfwood shouted back him.

"Yeah."

"Then you made it." Wolfwood said.

"Stay out of this fight, vampire," Knives said.

"Of course, sir. But I still have unfinished business with the young one."

Jeremiah's eyes started to glow again, and he grabbed his Cross Punisher and rushed out of the shadow of the tower.

Vash took aim with his Long Colt and fired.

BLAM

The bullet hit Knives' gun and knocked it out of his hand. Vash took the chance to rush across the gap between them and punch his brother. Knives ignored his dropped Long Colt and grabbed his brother by the leg and threw him into the wall. Knives tried to force Vash into a strangle hold, but his brother managed to get his left hand in front of Knives' face. It opened up and the machine gun rocketed out, barely missing Knives' eye as he let go of Vash to duck out of the way.

Knives looked to the side and saw his Long Colt. He reached for it and brought it up to point at Vash, who had also brought his Long Colt around.

BLAM

BLAM

The bullets met in mid-air and fused together, dropping to the ground. Both pulled the triggers on their Long Colts again, but were only rewarded with a faint click.

Mirror images of each other, they threw the Long Colts to the side and pounced on one another.

***

Meryl and Millie helped Zarlina into the main offices and laid her down on the couch. Meryl looked around for a doctor, finally finding one in a corner bandaging up a . She dragged him over to Zarlina. She pointed at the girl on the couch clutching her burnt hand.

"Watch her, alright?"

Millie and Meryl started to run off when Meryl stopped short, turned around, and said, "Wear gloves. That's really important."

The doctor raised his eyebrows. "I know what I'm doing," he said as he pulled on a pair of rubber gloves.

"Actually, it's probably more for your safety then for hers," Millie added. "You should probably roll down your sleeves as well."

The pair rushed off up the stairs to their offices.

***

Darkness flooded the city streets. Then, a flash of light. Joseph stood in the middle, light all around him, flowing from his eyes, his ears, his mouth. He turned growled and looked around.

"Ya know, that makes you a really good target."

The shockwave came roaring down the street, straight at Joseph. Joseph grunted and slashed upwards with his sword. The wave passed around him, leaving him unharmed.

Evans lunged out at him from the darkness, blades in both hands. Joseph stepped back, blocking both blades with his long sword. Evans stepped back, turned around, and threw up one of his sabers. It ricocheted off Legato's spear as the blue-haired man lunged from the darkness. Evans held both men at bay for a second, then rolled out of the way. Legato and Joseph lunged towards each other and started fighting, neither gaining any real ground.

Joseph smirked. "Ah, Knives' pet human. Tell me, why am I not pulling my own heart out yet?"

Legato raised an eyebrow. "And tell me, Brother Joseph, why should you be privy to that information? You haven't even reached priesthood. You're a simple monk."

"Head of the brethren, Legato. The first among equals."

Evans slipped back into the darkness. "Raifen?" he whispered.

"Right behind you," the ninja's voice said from over his shoulder.

"How long before they realize that we could attack them?"

"About three seconds."

"In that case, which one do you want?"

There was silence for a half a second, then, "Light."

Evans nodded, then raised his right saber to block Legato's spear. "All yours."

***

Johnny, Ophelia, and Calamity all lay side-by-side on the catwalk, panting for breath. The EMP and the shielding had taken way too much out of all of them.

"What was the point of that, little Calamity?" Johnny asked. "Surely you must have known that someone would've had a failsafe against that?"

"The point? The point was to decimate your armies. The lasers are defunct, the robots are broken, and everyone with bionics, which if what Jeremiah tells me is true is most of the Flock, is now either missing a limb or is completely blind. Do you really think it'll be that hard for the Cavalry to overthrow you guys?"

"It won't matter," Ophelia said. "The Father will kill Knives, Vash, and Wolfwood, and activate the Teraformer. We may be dead, but God's will, will be carried out."

Johnny laughed. "Please. You only say that because you haven't seen what Knives is capable of. He really is above all of us. We're nothing but vermin, or rather tools to be used in his plans. Soon, we'll be dying a painful death at the hands of the disease he made out of the nano-machines in my body."

"Johnny, Johnny, Johnny. Still not seeing it. Danil will win. He will play Vash, Wolfwood, and Knives against each other, walk away, and set off the virus. We'll still be standing here when all the Plants wink out of existence. At least until the Cavalry mop us up."

Calamity summoned up all her energy and pushed herself up off the catwalk. She walked slowly to the stairs and turned to face Johnny and Ophelia. Calamity looked at them and opened her mouth as if to say something, then turned around and waved her hand dismissively. "Fuck it. I'm done mourning for you."

As she started to move down the stairs, a knife formed in Johnny's hand. Ophelia reached into her deck, removed a card and closed her eyes. The card started glowing as she sent the energy into it. The two reared their hands back to toss them at Calamity when she calmly activated her last radio detonator. The explosion rocked the tower, throwing off Johnny and Ophelia's aim. The card and the knife both went flying off to the left. Calamity shook her head and slowly descended the staircase.

Johnny tried to push himself up to follow, but he didn't have the strength. He looked over at Ophelia, who was shivering. "What's up with you?"

Ophelia's voice remained silent as she slowly pointed to the console right in front of the Plant bulb. Somehow, Johnny's wild knife throw had managed to skewer the card to the console. While the knife obscured most of the picture, it was an unmistakable sight. A skeleton on a horse, a great scythe in one hand. One word was written across the bottom of the card. Death.

Almost painfully slowly, the skeleton began to peel from the card. As it stepped out into reality, the surrounding blackness swirled around it, forming a cloak. The scythe glinted in the light, winking at the pair.

Johnny laughed nervously. "Ahhhhh, that card. Right." He started to shake as well.

Ophelia glanced at him. "What are you afraid of? Surely you knew you were going to die? That was Knives' plan after all."

Johnny nodded. "Yeah… but there's a big difference between abstractly knowing you're going to die and actually looking the Grim Reaper in the face."

Ophelia nodded. She seemed to have finally lost her voice, because she didn't reply in return. Tears slowly ran down her face, and a low moan came from her mouth, her first real sound in years. Johnny reached over, grabbed her hand, and squeezed it tightly. He grinned and chuckled slightly.

"Never thought I'd go like this."

And Death approached and swung his terrible scythe.

***

Joseph bull rushed Raifen into the wall and hit him with the hilt of his long sword. Even since he had split up from Evans, the ninja had been doing much worse than he had expected. He thought that he would've had the advantaged in the dark, but Joseph's light always seemed to find him. Raifen was convinced that the light shining out of his eyes really did allow him to see in the dark.

His thoughts were cut off as Joseph grabbed his sword hand and twisted the katana away. He grabbed Raifen by his throat with his other hand and held him against the wall. Despite the numerous cuts, the crazy monk was still smiling insanely. He dropped Raifen's sword hand and put it up against Raifen's eyes.

"You've walked too long in darkness, man of shadow. Some say that you can never walk in the shadow for so long that you cannot walk in the light again, but I don't believe it. Walk too long in the shadow for too long, and your eyes grow accustomed to the darkness. When you return to the light, it's too much for you. You cannot return to the blinding splendor of the true light, so you run, like a coward, back to your shadow. Always hiding in the shadow."

"Tell me, what is so evil about shadow?" Raifen asked. "Whoever said that darkness was evil?"

Joseph sneered. "The good Lord. His light is beautiful, or haven't you read the Bible?"

Raifen nodded. "Ah yes, of course. Because you've been adhering so closely to his words. You know, thou shalt not kill, love thy neighbor, etcetera. Tell me, what are you doing to do after this is over? Kill, rape, and pillage every other city on the planet, because they are not the chosen sheep of the Lord? Because that seems to be the direction you're going on this one."

"Shut up!" Joseph yelled. Light blasted from his hand into Raifen's eyes. Burning, searing, blinding light. Raifen bit his lip and tried not to scream as his eyes were burnt out by Joseph. Finally, after what seemed like a year of torture, Joseph pulled his hand away. He leaned in close to Raifen, who whimpered slightly. "What do you see now, man of shadow?"

"All… all I see is darkness," Raifen said. He flicked his wrist slightly, and a knife slid down out of his sleeve into his palm. "But I still see more than you!" He jabbed upward with the knife up between Joseph's ribs. Joseph looked down at the protruding hilt, looked back up at Raifen, then slowly slid to the ground as the light finally faded from him.

Raifen shook off Joseph's hand, reached into a pocket, and pulled out a spare blindfold. Tying it around his eyes, he picked up his katana, cleaned it on Joseph's multi-colored coat, and ran off into the night.

***

"Sir!"

"Yes private?"

"It's the wolves!"

"What about them?"

"They're retreating!"

"What?"

"I'm serious sir. They're all bugging out!"

***

General Braxler rolled his neck slightly and tossed away his side arm. "Now what, sir? Are you going to go for that gun of yours?"

Elija glanced towards his crucifix. His magical reserves were starting to run low, any more than one fire ball and he wouldn't be able to keep up the fire shield. He looked up back at General Braxler and grinned slightly. More refugees were traveling up the street behind him, hoping to find sanctuary in the Bernardelli building. He held out his hand and spoke the chant. The fire ball appeared in his hand and he flung it off to General Braxler's left.

Braxler glanced towards his left, then turned around to see the refugees behind him. He swung his sword and sent a shockwave into the fireball, canceling it out.

While he was doing this, Elija dove for his crucifix, grabbed it, came up, and fired at General Braxler. General Braxler had enough time to bring up his sword to block some of the shot, but most if hit him, knocking him back to the ground.

Elija started laughing. "The great hero, General Braxler himself. In the end, still not worthy of God." Elija approached the General, keeping his shotgun trained on him. "But don't feel too bad, no one really is worthy." He reached the General, pulled back the pump on his shotgun, and aimed it his head. "Any last requests?"

General Braxler painfully reached into his vest and pulled out a cigar, already cut. "Last smoke?"

Elija smirked. "Fair enough. Here." He snapped his fingers and the tip started to glow.

General Braxler nodded. "Thanks." He puffed on the cigar a few times, then started to chuckle.

"What's so funny, old man?"

"You may not realize this, but I'm already dying. You hit me in some pretty vital organs, I'm actually kind of amazed you didn't get my heart. Doesn't matter really. I'll be dead within a minute or so."

Elija's eyes narrowed. "I fail to see why this is amusing."

General Braxler took one last puff, then snubbed the cigar out in the sand. "I'm a soldier. And I always said that if I died like a soldier, in a battle, I wanted to take my opponent with me. I'm just happy that I got to die the way I wanted to." He smiled, then slowly closed his eyes.

Elija snorted. "Fool. You're not bringing anyone with you." He started to reload his shotgun as he looked up to the refugees. "You aren't even going to save anyone with your death."

BLAM

BLAM

BLAM

BLAM

Four bullets flew at Elija, only to burn up half a foot from him. He glanced up and to the right to see Meryl firing her derringers at him from a second story window in the Bernardelli Complex. She turned, threw down her derringers, picked up two new ones, and continued firing.

Elija tried to ignore the bullets as they burned up inches from his face, but he kept slipping as he tried to reload the crucifix. He knew why as well. He was almost out of mana. Every bullet that hit the flame shield was sapping away at his reserves. They were taking longer and longer to burn up. Finally, he managed to ram the shells into the shotgun, but before he could close the gun, a bullet broke through the flame shield and flew over his shoulder.

"Now Millie!"

The other door of the Bernardelli Complex burst open, Millie Thompson standing behind it, stun-gun aimed firmly at Elija.

Ka-chunk

The stun-gun bolt hit Elija in the chest, knocking him a good thirty feet down the street into a crosswalk.

And right into Colonel Winchester's sights.

She took aim at the lone figure, and squeezed the trigger.

BLAM

***

Nikki dodged Blayne's claws and looked desperately for some room where she could fire her guns. Destroying Blayne's hearing had worked perfectly, until Blayne started using her sense of smell to track her down. Nikki, however, was still fighting blind without the illuminating street lights. She couldn't see the werewolf until she was right on top of her, and that was the distance Blayne had the greatest advantage at.

Nikki lashed out with the butt of her gun and connected with Blayne's muzzle, but it didn't really faze her that much, which wasn't too surprising considering that she had already taken the bullet wounds Nikki had given her pretty well.

If Blayne could have smiled, she'd be showing a rare grin now. Her Pack's whining had distracted her somewhat, but now it was all over. Only the Master mattered. Only the Master was essential. Only his orders were absolute.

You betrayed us.

Blayne growled.

You betrayed the pack.

She turned away from Nikki and peered out into the darkness.

We saved you from them. You betrayed us.

Blayne bared her teeth. That was long ago. I must obey my Master now. He is superior to you. All of you.

Punishment.

A wolf flew out of the darkness and latched on to Blayne's arm. Another came, and another, and another. Soon, Blayne was borne down with an entire pack of wolves. They dragged her, kicking, scratching, biting, into the blackness.

Nikki stared into the shadows and grunted. "A real mother never abandons her children." She staggered to her feet, picked up her guitar from where it had fallen, and ran off towards the tower Knives had been heading to.

***

Evans blocked Legato's thrust and slid backwards. Damn. This guy takes no risks, has no expressions, gives away no moves, doesn't even break a damn sweat. Is he for real?

"Why aren't you using your Demon's Eye, son of Rai-Dei? Surely with such a power you could easily defeat me. After all, I'm helpless against now that you've blocked me out."

Evans grit his teeth and slashed at Legato, who blocked the saber easily. "Or is it that you can't use it as long as you're blocking my power? And you know that without that eye to help you, all you can rely on are is your out of control swordsmanship?"

Evans grinned, he started sidestepping. Legato followed him. They circled each other, waiting for one to make the first move.

"You know what the thing is about out-of-control people?" Evans asked, still grinning.

"Enlighten me."

"They tend to be difficult to predict. And they tend to take really stupid risks."

He suddenly kicked upwards against Legato's spear, throwing Legato back slightly as his spear was forced up against his head. Evans dashed forward, threw down the saber in his left hand, grabbed the right handed saber in both hands, and slashed upwards.

Legato's spear clattered to the street as he dropped to the ground, clutching the spot where his left arm used to be. His breathing came in short gasps, but he still managed to keep his face impassionate.

"As I recall," Evans said, pointing at what was Legato's left arm, "That's not your property. And I've been informed by the owner of said arm that without it, your powers are only really good for long distance communications. You aren't the devil you once were, Legato. You're useless. A simple, normal, human.

Legato stared at his arm. "I failed him." His voiced trembled slightly. "I failed him." His mouth ticked downwards in a grimace, if only for a moment.

Evans shrugged. "It happens." He stretched out his hand towards Legato. "C'mon. Let's get you to some help."

Legato turned to Evans and shook his head. "You don't understand. I failed the Master." Suddenly he reached into Evans holster with his remaining hand, pulled out the gun, and put it under his chin.

BLAM

He slumped backwards, dead at his own desire. But this time, no smile crossed his face.

Evans stared down at Legato's corpse, not sure what to make of the bizarre scene. He shook his head and picked up his other sword. "Nikki," he muttered. He shook his head. "Nah, she's fine. Hell, she'd probably get really pissed at me if I tried to help her."

***

Jeremiah struggled to his feet and shook his head. He glanced around to see where Martinez had thrown him. Unfortunately, his Cross Punisher lay ten feet away from him. Martinez, on the other hand, was twenty feet away. However, Martinez could cover the distance to Jeremiah way before Jeremiah could even start to go for his gun.

"Time to die. Don't worry, it's not as bad an experience as most people think it is."

"Probably not. Still, I'd like to avoid it for as long as I can."

"I'm sorry Jeremiah, but you don't get that choice. Your time is up." Martinez said.

BLAM

BLAM

BLAM

BLAM

Martinez was knocked over as the bullets from Nikki's Long Colts slammed into his body. He rolled around on the ground and slowly picked himself up. "Like I keep telling you, that really freaking hurts!"

Jeremiah quickly pulled his switchblade from his pocket and flicked it open. He held out the two fingers of his left hand and sketched a cross over the blade. "If there ever was a time for true belief it's now," he muttered.

Nikki emptied the rest of bullets into Martinez, then ducked behind a pillar. Martinez grinned hungrily. "You have no idea," he said, "how sweet your blood is. The virus will probably kill me along with you. I'd like my last meal to be a good one." He bared his fangs, then looked over to see Jeremiah eyeing his Cross Punisher.

"Tsk tsk tsk. Look at me. I must be going senile in my old age. Always concentrate on the real threat."

What was it Evans said? Jeremiah thought. Sometimes you have to be like water?

Martinez rushed at Jeremiah, who grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back into a throw, jabbing the knife into him as he fell backwards, throwing the vampire behind him.

Martinez hit the wall, slid to the ground, stood up, and brushed himself off. He looked down at the knife and looked back up again at Jeremiah. "Was this supposed to do anything? I'm actually pretty fond of this coat, you know."

Jeremiah grinned. "Did I mention that I was recently ordained?"

Martinez looked down at the knife again, then grimaced in pain. He pulled out his pocket watch, flipped it open, and stared at the face. "But… no. It's not my time yet. It's not my time yet!"

He started screaming, an unearthly scream heard around the entire city. All the ghouls, regardless of whether they were raised by Julius the Necromancer or the vampire himself, stopped what they were doing and looked towards the scream, unable to turn away from the vampire's call.

Martinez fell to his knees, clutching his head, pain ripping through his entire body. He looked up to see Jeremiah's Cross Punisher pointing at him.

"Rest in peace," Jeremiah said. "And may God have mercy on your poor, tired, tortured soul." He squeezed the trigger, and the Cross spat blessed fire.

Jeremiah turned away from the pile of ash and looked towards Nikki, who stepped out of hiding. "I suppose we better go after our fathers," Jeremiah said.

Nikki nodded. "They really can't do anything right on their own, can they?"

Jeremiah grinned. "Not if what your mother says is true."

The raced off towards the final Plant.

The watch lay open in the pile of dust that was once Neron Martinez the Bloodsucker. The face of the watch quietly moved on, continuing to show the time for any who wanted to know. On the inside cover of the pocket watch, however, a faded note lay. A reminder to someone what their purpose should always be. A single word. "Chaos."

***

Danil threw Wolfwood off of him and rummaged around for his cross pistols, which had dropped during his scuffle with Wolfwood. He grabbed them, sprang up, and pointed it where he thought Knives was.

He saw Knives standing there, pointing his gun arm at him as well. Vash lay below him, his bionic arm hanging on by a few wires. He was scavenging around for one of the Long Colts, which were lying and a pile of broken boxes.

Danil and Knives stared at each, grinned, and aimed at their heads. Danil's eyes suddenly caught a figure moving behind Knives. A figure with a guitar neck sticking out over its shoulder. "The abomination…" Danil muttered. He shifted his aim slightly.

Knives' eyes narrowed as he say Jeremiah come up behind Danil. He smiled and moved his gun slightly to point at Jeremiah. He killed Martinez. The only other worthwhile being around. He deserved a better death than that.

BLAM

BLAM

Knives and Danil were among the fastest people walking on Gunsmoke. Their only competition for the titles of fastest human and fastest non-human were lying at their feet scrambling to their guns. Before the bullets had flown halfway towards their targets, both had enough time to look behind them, see who had been shot at, and move in front of the bullet's path. Without hesitation.

Knives took the shot in the shoulder, the bullet lodging firmly in his arm, but leaving it still on. Danil had taken his bullet in the forearm, the bullet also embedded there. Both men held their hand over their bullet wounds, trying to staunch the bleeding.

Danil stared at Knives. "And here I was thinking that you were too wrapped up in your superiority to actually learn to take a bullet."

Knives turned his gaze from Jeremiah back towards Danil. "I was. But apparently my skill, my power, my abilities weren't enough. My brother? He took all the pain I threw his way and kept staggering towards me, still preaching his message. I had to learn that. I had to learn that determination." he said, opening and closing his right hand. "I couldn't let him beat me again."

Knives and Danil stared at each other for a moment, and no one moved. Nikki and Jeremiah stared at each other, flabbergasted that either Knives or Danil would catch a bullet for them. Wolfwood and Vash froze for a second, then continued to search for their guns. Before they could find them, Danil and Knives shot off into the Plant.

Wolfwood and Vash abandoned their search and ran in after them, Nikki and Jeremiah close behind.

Knives and Danil raced through the hall, each trying to get to the control room first. Danil shoved Knives into the wall, where he hit his hurt shoulder. Knives flinched in pain then put on an extra burst of speed. He kicked out against Danil's leg, sending the man to the floor. He sprinted into the control room and was about to reach the control panel when Danil suddenly tackled him from behind. They rolled around the ground, punching, kicking, hitting wounds. Suddenly Dainl fell back and started coughing, finally hacking up a little blood. Knives grinned, then lunged at the control panel.

He didn't even make it a foot before he collapsed on the ground, twitching.

Vash and Wolfwood raced down the hallway and burst into the room, training their guns on the two men lying on the floor.

Danil shrugged. "Apparently we both had the same idea, treating our bullets with the virus."

Wolfwood approached Danil and kneeled down. "Yeah, pair of geniuses, you two."

Danil grinned slightly. "Did I ever tell you that you look a lot like your mother?"

Wolfwood leaned in and stared at Danil. "What, you knew my mother?"

Danil nodded. "Oh yes, she was very beautiful. After her… no woman could compare. So when I decided to take a vow of celibacy, which I noticed neither you or your son have followed, it wasn't really that much of a sacrifice."

Knives slowly turned around until he was lying on his back. "Why? Why did I do that Vash? It doesn't make any sense. Why would I save that pathetic freak?"

Vash shrugged. "Maybe you finally understand, Knives."

Knives spat blood at him, anger in his eyes. "Understand what? Are you telling me that I actually understand your… You? What do you want?" Knives was staring at a point above Vash's head.

"Is that… an angel?" Danil asked, staring at the same place.

Knives laughed mirthlessly. "Far from it."

Danil looked quizzically up at the blank space. "What? What are you saying?"

Comprehension flashed across Knives' face. "Oh. Is that how it works? Really?"

Danil's eyes slowly started to close as he sank towards the floor. "We're sorry, we just didn't… we just didn't…"

Knives laid his head back on the floor and closed his eyes. "We just didn't understand."

***

December City is named for the weather patterns around it. It is, and remains, the only populated place on Gunsmoke where it is possible for snow to fall. It's a very rare occasion, the joke among the natives is that it only happens once every twenty years. On some particularly cold nights, though, snow will begin to fall on the city.

The snowflakes drifted down on the city, a blanket of white snow. A promise of a clean, white slate by the morning.