Even with the help of her megaphone, speaking over the crowd seemed to be more trouble that Meryl had anticipated. Milly was lost in the mass of people enjoying the festivities, trying to encourage them to evacuate as the smoke came near. Few paid the girl any mind, assuming she was drunk, or perhaps they were too drunk themselves to listen. Meryl yelled through the speaker, pointing at the smoke while standing on a table, some laughing at the woman as if she were part of a one-woman show.

With a growl, she stepped down. "How do none of them see it?" She huffed, holding onto Milly for support on the last step to the ground. "We have to get them out of here before it's too late."

"Senpai, do you think we could use that?" She pointed up to the speakers at the church, probably meant for town announcements but currently playing festival music.

Meryl glanced up where her partner pointed. "Yes… yes Milly that's genius. Come on, we have to find the festival headquarters." She grabbed the other girl's hand, dodging through the crowd of people, towards a booth covered in flags marked "INFO" on all corners.

A teen boy sat behind the counter, eating foods from a nearby booth. "Yes?" He looked almost confused as to why anyone actually needed any help.

"There's a fire." Meryl was out of breath, she leaned on the counter with one hand, pointing toward the smoke with the other. "You have to use the intercom and evacuate the city. Everyone needs to get to safety. Now."

"Fire? Whe-" The teen stood, looking to where she pointed. The black smog had only grown thicker in the distance. Now the smell of burning wood and plaster was wafting through the air. "Fire!" He picked up a radio, calling over it to others. "Boss there's a fire in town! Evacuate the city! It's coming from the west end!"

The crowd was in chaos, pushing and shoving one another to get as far away from the smoke as they could. Meryl glanced from the rising glow and back to Vash. "We—"

"Get out of here." His voice was stern, his order strict. "I need you out of the way." He climbed on the table, looking out across the mass of people, inspecting for some kind of opening to make it around them and towards the disaster.

"Vash wait—"

"I mean it, Meryl!" He turned his head toward her then. "Get out of here!" With that he was off, jumping from table to table to avoid the stampede before disappearing past the festival area.

Meryl stood there for a long moment, watching after him before looking back towards the edge of town, considering his advice and whether to merge into the crowd. "Meryl?" The dark-haired woman turned her head to her partner. "Do you think he can still take that kind of damage? Without his power… he can't really heal up like he used to, can he?"

Meryl's eyes widened. Milly was right. His power was gone. He was…practically human. "We have to go. We have to help him."

"Meryl?"

"Let's go Milly." She was off, fighting her way through everyone running against her. She wasn't even sure if her friend was following, all she knew was who she was heading for. She had to think. How was she even going to help him? Guns can't fight fire. She shook her head. There had to be something. She just had to get there. She had to see the surroundings…

"Vash?" The smoke was almost overwhelming. Meryl covered her mouth and nose with her sleeve, trying to ignore the stinging in her eyes as she searched for the mess of black hair among the flames.

"Senpai I don't think it's safe for us to be here."

"It's not safe for him." Her voice was firm. She wasn't leaving until she found him. "Milly, you should get out of here. I'll find him and I'll bring him back. I promise." She didn't wait for a response. With that said, she was off into the flames, calling out once more.

Turning down an alley, she kneeled below the smoke best she could. Smoke rises, she remembered. To catch somewhat of a clean breath, she kneeled low, pulling her collar up over her face before standing once more. A few more yarz in, she heard it, a sign of life in the flames.

The heat was suffocating in itself. Meryl couldn't fathom how much worse this could have felt under sunlight. Under the crackling and roar of the fire, a cry rang through the air. A child, crouched down outside the burning building, covered his eyes from the smoke. Meryl kneeled beside him. "Are you okay? You need to get out of here. That way back through town. Keep going straight." She pointed, even turning the boy around towards the street in case he couldn't see.

"But that man!" He cried, sniffling. "He went back in. He went to find my cat. My cat ran off already but that man hasn't come back." Meryl looked around them, half a dozen unconscious men and women lying out of the way of falling debris. "He got us all out and went back for my cat. I'm so stupid for mentioning it."

Her eyes narrowed. Of course he went back in. He'd save anything with a heartbeat. Anything that ever had a heartbeat. "Get out of here. I'll take care of him. Okay?" Her voice was calm, but stern. She put a hand on his shoulder and looked him in the eye. "Go straight. Don't stop until you reach the others. Milly, will you—"

"I'll help carry his family." She nodded, giving her partner a thumbs up before lifting one body over each shoulder. She turned to the child, smiling brightly through the smoke. "I'll make a few trips but we'll be okay. Let's hurry now, okay?" The boy nodded, wiping his nose before standing to his feet, running back towards town.

Meryl watched them leave as a battle plan ran through her mind. The cloak would be too heavy, too easily caught on too many things, and too much gunpowder in all of those derringers to be safe to carry inside. Her fingers pulled at the strings on her neck, and it fell behind her as her feet began to move. She was running on pure adrenaline as she navigated the lower level. "Vash! Where are you?" She called out, making her way through the rubble, making mental note of the beams and walls that looked weakest, where the windows were.

He was lightheaded. Smoke burned his longs as hot as the fire that surrounded him. He almost thought he heard his name, but no. She was smarter than that…wasn't she? Perhaps he'd found the last person left in the building after all. He was certain that he'd circled back to that spot before. It was time to leave. He had to get the survivors as far from the smoke as possible and into the fresh air.

Vash stumbled toward the exit, not even a wall to lean on as he made his way out. He could still hear a voice calling out to him. At first he wondered if it was the smoke getting to him, causing the lightheadedness to finally take a toll on his awareness. Then he felt an arm around his waist, and another pulling his over a set of shoulder, much lower to the ground than his own. His eyes widened as he looked down. "Meryl?"

"We have to get out. This place is going to collapse." Her voice was hoarse and she was still covering her mouth, now with the collar of her dress as she pulled Vash through the rubble.

"Are you an idiot?" Those words, for once, fell from Vash's lips, followed by a fit of coughs as his body fell more heavily against her shoulders.

"Just shut up and help me get you out of here!" There was black on her sleeve, soot on her face, and ash in her hair. Never in all the years he'd known her, however, had she looked so determined. "We don't have time for you to insult me."

"The others…The survivors. Go help them."

"We will together. Don't fight me, Vash. Please." She was already walking, dragging him along beside her with a wince. "Cover your mouth. We're almost out."

He'd never been so happy to see darkness than when he was out of those flames. The fire had stopped at the sandstone buildings next door. He was in no shape to search for the culprit, and besides, he had other priorities.

He glanced over towards the area he'd left the people he'd pulled from the building. There were six he'd found, but only three remained. Was it possible they were able to wake up and get away?

"Senpai?"

Vash turned his head sharply to the larger woman. They had both followed him? Did they have no sense of self-preservation at all? He blinked slowly as he took in what he was seeing. Milly held an unconscious man draped across her back. "Milly… where are they? The other survivors?"

"I carried them out of the smoke. It was all I could do to help…" It was more help than she could possibly know. He didn't even know where he would find the strength to carry them all. As much as he hated the girls bringing themselves into danger, he had to admit, he was grateful for their help. They'd not only saved his life, but others as well.

"Thank you." His voice was tired. "Lets get them out of here. This place isn't safe." With a strength he wasn't even sure he had left, he lifted another body from the ground as Milly lifted a second to her other shoulder. The last three, as Meryl grabbed her cloak from the ground, following behind them as she tied her cape around her.

The walk back through town was slow and long. Clean air seemed iles away from them and each step seemed to take them nowhere near closer to it. At long last they saw the crowd of people at the city's edge, the smog cleared, and they were able to take a breath. The taller two gently laid their wards on the ground, town doctors coming to their aid, the young boy smiling through his tears and waving from his family's side. It seemed while retrieving Vash and the other survivors, a woman had woken up and was now holding the boy close.

Meryl sighed, relaxing into the safety of clear sky and fresh air. "I wonder how long until the cavalry arrives." She said, leaning gently on a bus, happy for anything that could help hold her up.

"The sooner the better. They need to start building the sand barriers to prevent it from spreading." Vash sat on the ground. His voice still sounded scratchy. With any more energy, Meryl might see him trying to build the barriers himself, but he was in the business of saving people, not buildings. She knew that from experience.

"That probably means you need to leave, though, too. Doesn't it, Mr. Vash?" Milly asked. For once, her voice was quiet as she said his name.

He nodded. "It does." He stretched. "That's the joys of being the most wanted man." He smiled, winking at the two of them as he stood back up. "It's a good thing you girls aren't in insurance anymore. I bet that'd be a ton of paperwork."

Meryl couldn't help but laugh. "I don't even want to think about it." Pushing herself off the bus gently she commented. "But we can't leave yet. That's just proof that our work isn't done here. In fact, our work has just begun. As far as I'm concerned, our target is out here in this crowd somewhere."

A frown crossed the gunman's face. "You can't possibly be saying you're still going to hunt this guy down. You could have died in there."

"I just want to ask him why. That's the only question. It's all I need." Meryl wasn't looking at him, her arms were crossed, her eyes closed, focused on her thoughts. "I feel like any answer he gave would be enough for our listeners. No one knows anything about him after all and people are interested—"

"Screw their dark interest in these murderers and sadists." His voice broke. Whether it be from anger or the smoke damage, neither he or Meryl was sure. "Screw the popularity of criminals. Stop taking on these jobs that could kill you. One day one of them will. You do realize that don't you? Nothing good can come from putting your life on the line for money."

"You did."

Blue-green eyes widened. "What?"

"You came from putting my life on the line for money. I met you. And Wolfwood. I got closer to Milly. I saw the world and just how terrible and beautiful it can be." She thought back on all the places she'd seen on those adventures. From the dirty saloons, to the geoplant of flowers she'd never seen before. She wouldn't trade those memories for anything. "I don't want to live life behind a desk. I don't want to settle down as a home maker. I don't want a normal job. I want to see the world again. I want to run. I want to live. I don't want to have regrets. Is that too much to ask?"

He shook his head gently. It wasn't. She'd made her choice and with good reason, and he couldn't fault her for that. It was the opposite actually. It was everything he loved about humanity in what she'd said. The way she found beauty and terror in the same world. The way she found excitement in life. The fight in her. It was everything he loved about her. "No it's not." He said gently. "It's just… worrying. You always have me running. I've always fought for someone else's life. I want to fight for yours too."

"You don't have to." She smiled, brightly through the soot. "Fight for your own happiness. The war is finally over. It's time you live for yourself now. So what do you want to do?"

He laughed gently. It was a simple question that he couldn't even begin to answer. The first thing on his mind however, "I want to stay with you two for a while," surprised him, as it slipped past his lips. "Is that okay?"

Meryl seemed to think it over for a moment. "Well…I don't think we can stop you. You are pretty good at chasing us down." With a glance to her friend, who stared teary eyed between the two she added, "Besides, I think Milly might never forgive me if I say no." She held a hand out to the man. "Welcome to the team, Vash."