Chapter Text
Flora swept her eyes over the man that stood before her. She frowned unsure if she even knew who he was. The female gunslinger had met many people in her years of traveling no man's land and always remembered a face but this guy did not look familiar to her. Either way, he is swearing he knows her. He might be either confusing her for someone else or he really needed to get his head checked from being hit by a car. The mysterious man let out a snort enjoying her confused look. "You don't remember me do you?" He asks adjusting his shades some with a grin. He sighs deeply almost sounding disappointed. He shrugs rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess I can't blame you it's been years and surprisingly you still look the same, not a wrinkle in sight."
"Years?" Flora repeats under her breath. She was beginning to feel some uneasiness. This man knew her but she didn't know who he was. She narrowed her eyes at him. "Who are you and how do you know me?" she whispers not wanting the others to hear.
"Hey, easy there girlie. No need to get defensive." the brunette man says but pauses and steps back some. Flora looks over and sees Vash and Roberto, holding the bodies, wrapped in tarps. "Hey, Flora, we got the bodies and we are going to go ahead and give these people a proper burial..." Vash pauses noticing the man is up and well.
"Oh, you look like you're doing better!" Vash says and the man nods. "Yeah, now that i've wiped all the blood off my face. I heard you needed help with a burial?" he asks turning away from Flora with a knowing look that left Flora feeling even more uneasy about the man.
Who is this guy and where does he know her from? She thought her lips forming a small frown watching him walking over to Vash and Roberto and offering to help. She crosses her arms, this guy was giving her some odd vibes and she couldn't put a finger on it. Flora debated on using her abilities on him to tap into this guy's mind but that would require her to have some type of prolonged physical contact with him since she's never met the man. Flora didn't want to alert anyone let alone this mysterious man. For now, she would need to keep an eye on him. Flora pauses when she hears soft sniffles and looks over at the boy who was standing next to her looking down hands tightening into fists.
Flora offers him a sympathetic smile and kneels. "Come let's wait in the van while they do that ok?" she offers taking the boy's hand and guiding him away from the sight of his parents being buried.
After the men bury the bodies everyone stands in silence offering their respects to the boy's deceased parents. Flora hears some grumbling when everyone sees the mysterious man walk up with a giant cross and plant it between the freshly made graves. Flora glares at him. "What is he doing?" she asks mainly mumbling to herself but watching as the man crouches down before the cross and brings his hands together in prayer. He sighs and begins reciting a prayer.
"Ok..oh heavenly father" he pauses and pulls out a bottle of water and takes a couple of sips from it before pouring some on his hand and sprinkling it on the graves. "Forgive us our sins as we forgive our neighbors. May you accept our fallen brethren and welcome the departed to your..." he pauses.
"This guy is a priest?" Flora thinks to herself blinking in realization as she watches the man offer a prayer to the departed. Not at all what she was expecting this man to be. "What was it? Dinner? No, that's not right it's not a meal." he scolds himself.
He tries again." Deliver them onto your design?" He frowns to himself. "Nobody talks about fashion." He grumbles to himself not noticing the crossing slowly leaning to the side almost falling. Everyone around the said "priest" gives him an unsure look as he struggled to continue the prayer. They watch him catch his cross and clear his throat to continue his prayer. "Ahem, uh give a drive? No! He's not a chauffeur idiot!" he yells to himself.
Flora walks up to the man with her arms crossed. "Are sure you're a priest? The tall woman asks with a raised eyebrow. " I'm not religious but I'm pretty sure that's not how that prayer goes," Flora says.
The man stands up with a frown on his face. "Well for your information, I'm not a priest I'm an undertaker," he says. He flicks his hand at Flora shooing her away. "Now, if you don't mind I'm trying to do a service."
Flora frowns glaring at him."Thought you said you weren't a priest.." Nick grins "I can be whatever you like, girlie." he winks making Flora physically cringe. "Yeah, pass."
Meryl walks up as the two argue and turns her gaze to the giant cross. "Anyways, undertaker" Meryl interjects " what's with the huge cross? It's way too big." Flora nods in agreement." She's right! That thing is twice her size!" Meryl looks at the giant cross and tries to reach for it. "I'm sure, heavy too."
The girls watch as the man quickly snatches the cross out of Meryl's reach with a frown. "Hey! Keep your mitts off! Hasn't anyone told you not to go around touching other people's stuff?"
Meryl pointed at him. "How come you were being sweet and flirty with Flora and rude and obnoxious with me?"The man rolls his eyes. "Not interested in little missies let alone loud ones."
Meryl stiffens and glares at the tall brunette. "Why you.."
"Hey, guys!" Vash raises his voice at them causing them to stop and look at the spiky-haired blond. Vash gives them a scolding glare as he nods his head over to the boy who stood silently nearby. He was gazing down at his parent's grave a sad look on his face. Flora paused and realized what Vash was trying to get at and frowned. "Right..sorry." She mumbles looking down remembering that it wasn't the time to antagonize the undertaker. Meryl also frowns and apologizes.
The undertaker also sees the sad boy and lets out a deep sigh. Almost annoyedly he plants his cross back into the sand before walking over to the boy. "Hey, what are you doing?" Flora asks watching as the man searches through his suit jacket for something. He pulls out a lollipop and puts it in his mouth. He squats in front of the boy and pulls another lollipop for the boy as well. "Here. You're hungry, right? It's good." the undertaker offers.
"I think it's best to leave him alone-" Meryl starts but sees the boy take the candy and put it into his mouth. "I lost my parents too, I grew up in an orphanage." The brunette man says smiling as he watches the boy turn to listen to him. "Good right?" he chuckles as the boy nods.
He's an orphan?" Flora thought a small frown formed on her face as a feeling of familiarity was hitting her. She knew someone that was an orphan right?" She watched as the man continued to comfort the child.
"No matter how heavy a cross you carry, you still deserve to eat. You still deserve to laugh."The undertaker says as he brings his fingers to his mouth to form a smile. The three adults watching paused and for a moment Flora looked over at Vash. It was like those words were meant for him. She knew that he had been beating himself up for what had happened back at Jeanora Rock and everything that had happened. She could see the words hit him as he looks down letting the words sink in. She hoped that Vash believed that. She knew he would always blame himself for what happened but he's trying to right his wrongs even when it might not seem that way to others. Flora looks over to the undertaker and smiles softly, maybe he wasn't as bad of a guy as she thought he was.
The undertaker smiles as he sees the boy continue to eat the candy as tears begin to form in his blue eyes. The man chuckles and pats his head as he stands up leaving the boy be. Everyone smiles and watches as he makes his way over to Vash and the girls. He silently hands him a piece of paper before walking away. Vash looks very confused but then his face drops when he looks at the paper. Flora blinks. "Vash, what's wrong?" Flora asks as she watches him shakenly show them the paper causing their eyes to almost pop out of their heads when they see the digits on the paper.
What the man had given Vash was an invoice for 20,000 double dollars. "TWENTY THOUSAND?!" they scream in unison. What a rip-off!" Meryl yelled. "Who are you telling!" Flora says as they all looked at the brunette man standing idly as he sucked on his lollipop.
The undertaker smirks at them. "You should've asked my rates before asking me to do work, dolts" Meryl points at him accusingly. "What are you talking about? You volunteered yourself remember!" They watched as the man shook his head. "Did not."
Flora gave him a confused look. "You did! You did it yourself before anyone asked! Or did you forget?" The undertaker hums playing with the lollipop in his mouth. "Ah, now that you mention it I don't remember." He walks up to her and leans up to her with a smirk. "But~ I can discount a few thousand for a special exception." He winks. "What do you say, girlie?"
Flora narrowed her eyes at him feeling a huge urge to punch him. "You're dogged you know that?" She says as clenches her hand into a fist but before she could do anything else Vash pulls her away and smiles at the man. "I would appreciate it if you wouldn't tease my partner."
The undertaker cocks his head to the side seeing the man step in and move Flora away. He frowns. "Partner?" He repeats with a confused scowl. "You two are a thing? Or just work buddies?"
Before Vash could answer Roberto walks up to them with an annoyed look. "Are we done yet?" He asks."What's with all the yelling I thought funerals were typically silent or at least quieter than this." Vash hands him the invoice and Roberto lets out a scoff. "Wait, what's this ridiculous price?" the elder reporter asks looking at the tall brunette.
"It's for his services," Meryl says mockingly with her arms crossed. The undertaker rolls his eyes. "Pay up and stop nagging! A service is a service and I did just that."
Roberto raises a brow at the young man. "By the way, aren't you hurt? You got hit by a car but you look fine." The young undertaker chuckles and offers a smirk. "Yeah, I'm tough. It's my saving grace." He says.
Suddenly there was a ringing sound that stung Flora's ears. She flinches at the high-pitched ringing when all of a sudden the ground under them begins to shake. "An earthquake?" Flora yelled trying to hold her footing as the earth shook.
"No." The undertaker yells with wide eyes looking at them when they see the sand begin to sink under them and 4 large tusks emerge around the gas station. "What the hell is that!" Meryl yelled seeing the tusks surround them.
The undertaker hurries and grabs onto his cross as the sand begins to disappear beneath them. "IT'S A GRAND WORM!"
Everyone screams as they feel the ground disappear under their feet and begin to fall into the mouth of the giant creature. Meryl reaches for the child and clings to him for dear life as they fall into the belly of the beast. Vash grabbed a hold of Flora once he realized the sand was vanishing under them. The couple screamed in unison as they fell watching as the gas station and everything else fall along inside the beast's mouth. Flora looked over and saw the undertaker holding on for dear life to his cross and Roberto following after.
Flora sees the bottom of what she believed was the worm's belly and braces herself for impact. Vash holds her tightly as they land hard with him on his back and her on top. Flora groaned looking down at Vash as she slowly gets up. "Thanks, Vash." She says with a smile. Vash smiles back at her. "No problem." They look around to check on everyone else. "Is everyone ok?" Flora calls out as she tries to get up.
Meryl coughs waving the sand from her face. "Just peachy." she says "How about you?". She asks the boy that was with her. The boy was about to answer the petite woman when they feel some sand falling on them. They look up to see their van along with everything else falling after them. Meryl freezes with wide eyes when she sees the van coming towards them. Both Flora and Vash swoop in towards them and push them out of the way moments before getting crushed by their van.
"Are you ok?" Vash asks Meryl as he helped her up. The petite woman nods. "Yes, thanks, guys." Flora nods as she puts down the boy. "No problem." She pats the boy's head and grins. "We got your back."
From a distance, the undertaker watched them with a small scowl on his face. His eyes were particularly focused on Vash. Roberto stood nearby seeing this and gave the young man a questioning look as they both made their way to the rest of the group. The white-haired woman looks around and sighs. "Well, I've seen a lot of things and been almost everywhere but this definitely makes the top of my list of weirdest places I've been."
Meryl makes a face and tries to cover her nose. "Ew, it's so damp in here and it doesn't smell too nice either," she says as she tries to walk through the rather dim lit stomach of the giant worm.
"Watch your step." the brunette male says. Meryl pauses and looks down to see a human skull with a glowing dragonfly-like worm crawling out of the eye socket. Meryl lets out a scream and almost falls back from fright but Flora manages to catch her. "It's ok Meryl it's just a worm."
Meryl lets out a groan and presses her face into her stomach. "Of all the places I had to wind up it had to be inside the stomach of a giant bug," she whines into Flora's jacket. Flora pats the petite woman's head, comforting her. "Hey look!" Vash says pointing at the glowing bug that was flying through the dark. Everyone watched the insect and noticed what Vash was pointing out.
"So, it's true that Worms really are interconnected," Meryl states, noticing how the insect was calm and not at all alarmed inside the large beast's stomach. "That's their detached electron network." Roberto explains watching as other worms join the one that flew from the skull.
"Worms are interconnected like a giant network the bigger the worm the more detached electrons it holds." "Which means?" Meryl asks. Roberto gives his rookie a look. "I'm guessing this Grand worm must be the boss around these parts."
The boy that was with them watched the flying worm in awe smiling as it flew above them. The smile grows even wider as he starts running after the flying insect chasing it. The boy ran away from the rest of the group as he climbed along the steep walls and tried to catch the worm as it lead the child into a clearing where four tunnels were.
"Hey, wait!" Meryl called after the boy causing the rest of the group to notice too. They tried to catch up to him but the boy proved to be much faster than the adults that were with him. Once they arrived at the clearing where the tunnels were they came to a stumbling stop. They didn't get to see which tunnel the boy went into. "Which one did he take?" Vash asks as he tries to figure out which way to go.
"Kids, these days are so fast and quick on their feet I envy that." the undertaker says as he struggles to pull himself up over the ledge with his large cross. Roberto rolls his eyes. "Might be easier if you know you dropped that giant cross of yours." The brunette lets out a dry chuckle as he manages to get himself up. "It's a tool of my trade. How would I make a living if I left it behind?"
Flora looks at the tunnels and frowns. "We need to hurry. The longer we wait the less likely we'll find him," she says worried that the boy would wind up hurting himself or worse.
The undertaker clears his throat and walks to them. "Alright, so the kid ran into one of those tunnels so the best way we can find him is to split up." He says. He points at Vash. "Needle noggin you take the farthest one, little missy and girlie take the next one, and Uncle Downer takes the third and I will take the final tunnel." He says lighting a cigarette with a smile. "Any objections? No, ok let's go."
Vash made a face at the man's nickname that he had apparently given him. "Needle noggin?" he repeats. " My name is Meryl Stryfer." The petite reporter frowned with crossed arms. "Yeah, and I am not letting you call me girlie," Flora says giving him a disgusted look. Roberto unimpressed pulls a cigarette out for himself. "I'm Uncle Downer, huh?"
The mysterious man frowns and rolls his eyes, "So, besides the nicknames any other objections? Flora spoke up again. "Yeah, who made you in charge?" she started but soon was cut off. "Hey girlie, I thought you said you were in a hurry." he said making his way to the tunnel and leaving the rest behind.
Flora glared at the brunette's back but decided to let it be as everyone started heading to their assigned tunnels. Flora looks at Vash. " Please. Be careful." She says telepathically to Vash who turns to her and smiles. He nods. "Don't worry."
Flora raises a brow at him as he smiles at her. "It's you how can I not worry." she teases earning a half-hearted pout from the blond male.
Flora looks at Meryl who is already shaking, some of her knuckles turning white from how tightly she was holding the flashlight. "Do you want me to go first?" she asks seeing her petite friend nod. "If you don't mind?" She asks. Flora nods and takes the flashlight from her. "It's alright, Meryl! Just stay close and we'll be ok."
Meryl swallows and nods. "O-ok" pressing herself against the back of the tall woman. Flora slowly walks into the dark tunnel and starts calling for the boy. " Hey, kiddo! Where are you?"
"I don't get it.." Meryl started as she peeked from behind Flora. "Why split up, no telling what could happen." Flora nodded. "I know what you mean but..as much as I hate admitting it this is the only way we can find the kid quickly. Checking each tunnel one at a time would take too long." Meryl frowns "I know but still." Suddenly the sound of heavy breathing could be heard from behind them in the pitch-dark tunnel.
They freeze and Meryl pins herself harder against the taller woman. "W-what was that?" Flora also feels a bit uneasy. "I don't know but let me turn and see." The petite woman nods as she watches Flora turn and flash the light behind them to see nothing there.
"Nobody's there right?" Meryl calls nervously. Once they both see that no one or nothing was behind them they both sigh in relief. They turn back forward with the light flashing in front of them. Meryl sees a body on the ground soon realizing it's the boy. "It's him!" she cries and hurries past Flora to the boy that was passed out unconscious. "Are you all right?"
Flora calls out to Meryl. "Meryl wait!" as she tries to catch her. When Meryl arrives at the boy she sees that he's still somewhat conscious groaning. "Oh, thank goodness."The petite woman says as she sighs in relief. Meryl looks up and sees something approach her but she's not fast enough to let out a scream, only a faint gasp comes out as she disappears.
Flora finally catches up and looks all around for Meryl and the boy that she had clearly seen. "Meryl?" she calls but doesn't get a response. She starts running through the tunnel calling for the female reporter. "Meryl where are you! Meryl! Meryl!"
Flora was leaning against the wall staring blankly at the ground while the undertaker across from her was lighting 8th cigarette. Once she returned from searching the whole tunnel she was in she let the others know what happened. Both Vash and Roberto climbed out of their tunnels again with a frown. "No luck, I can't find them anywhere," Vash says as he walks up to them. "Me neither," Roberto says as well.
The brunette male frowns at them. "Well, we should stop looking for them. What you should be doing is finding a way out unless you want to die too."
"I just don't understand they were right there and they just disappeared! We can't just leave them!" Flora argues upset at the idea of having to leave her friend and the boy behind. Vash walks over to the white-haired girl and squeezes her hand. "Hey, we are not leaving them. I'm sure they're both fine. We'll find and help them." Vash says offering a gentle and reassuring smile. Flora looks at him and nods returning the smile.
The brunette chuckles and lets out a puff of smoke. "So, you'd risk your life for theirs?" He asks Vash. "Self-sacrifice on self-sacrifice... You're a weird one." Both Flora and Vash give the Undertaker a questioning look. The brunette catches one of the flying worms and bites off its head before continuing to eat the rest of the insect. "You only get one life. You have to fight for it, no matter who you hurt in the process." He catches another worm and throws it to Vash, who manages to catch it. "There's no other way to survive."
Both Flora and Vash eye the insect in Vash's hand as it struggles to move from his grasp. It was like that guy wanted him to try to eat it. Flora thought as they stared at the bug and back at the brunette. "Watch out Vash," Roberto speaks up walking up to them his eyes fixed on their mysterious friend. "They take the first bite to get your guard down, then lace their pass to get their target with poison. It's standard stuff for assassins." the elder reporter says eyeing the brunette who frowned at him.
"Huh?" The undertaker fixes his shades cocking his head to the side. "What are you trying to get at Uncle Downer?" the man asks his lips forming a thin scowl. Roberto puts his hands in his pockets and sighs. "Our news agency isn't too much to be proud of but one thing we do have is a good intel network." He cocks his head over in the man's direction. "I've heard about humans who can control worms."
Both Vash and Flora's eyes widen when they hear this information. Humans that can control worms? Flora thought looking at the man that stood next to the cross. Roberto was suspicious that it might be him. The undertaker scoffs taking a drag of his cig, "who me?" he asks. "That makes no sense, idiot. I'm stuck in here with you, too!" He says with a smirk.
Roberto continues to press on still not convinced. "In that case, let me see that precious cross of yours." The brunette's smug smirk vanishes and is replaced with his usual frown. "This isn't funny anymore," he says.
Roberto pulls out his gun. "From the look of it, it's too heavy to be a mere cross. So, why don't you give me a peek inside? If you have nothing to hide" The man glared at him and pressed a hand on his cross. "Why don't you make me?"
Flora was starting to feel the tension rise between them when Vash tries to calm the two men down. "Come on you two, cut it out!" He says waving his hands and offering a weak smile. She could tell that Vash was not about to have these two try to fight.
Roberto turns to the blond man. "Vash, this is a man who can kill with a smile on his face." Flora nods." Yeah, I don't know about trusting him..he seems off." Vash shakes his head. "I don't think so." Both Flora and Roberto give him a confused look. "Why do you say that?" Roberto asks.
Vash looks over at the man standing next to him and smiles. "Even with him being a little off, I can see it in his eyes." Both Flora and the undertaker give Vash a surprised look not expecting him to say that. Flora looked at the man before her and studied him. "His eyes huh?"
The brunette man lets out a chuckle and shakes his head. "You really are messing with me." He says looking away from them. Vash grins in triumph. "See?" Flora looks over but realizes that Roberto was gone. "Um, he disappeared?" she says confused looking around. "Where did he go?"
"Meryl! Roberto!" Both Flora and Vash yell as the now three were searching for the three missing people from their group. Flora sighed as they seemed to have not been able to find any of them. "No luck.." The brunette lets out an exasperated sigh as he follows behind the pair. "It's pointless! They've probably all been digested" he says. Flora shoots a disgusted look at the brunette, clearly irritated by his negative comments."That's not funny."
Vash looks over at the said undertaker." This place is covered in skeletons so the Worms can't have digested that much." He looks at Flora. "Besides, I haven't seen a single one of their bones if that were the case." Which means?" The man asks with a raised brow. Vash grins at them. " It's too early to give up."
"That's right." Flora smiles and looks over at the undertaker."So, stop being negative for once!" The man rolls his eyes and shrugs." Ok. Whatever but just one thing. How long do you two want to keep wandering in circles?" He asks stopping for a moment. Both Vash and Flora realize that they were back to the same clearing that they had passed moments ago. The brunette stares at them unimpressed."Maybe we're the lost ones, not them?"
Vash lets out a nervous chuckle. "C-come on. Stop trying to scare us. Flora frowns. "You know if you knew we were going in circles why didn't you say something!" she snaps. The man grins. "Thought you two seemed to have it all figured out." Flora grits her teeth feeling she really wants to punch this guy.
Then they hear a sound coming from the large worm and a force pulling them. Suddenly the Grand Worm shoots them out into the air. The three scream as they fall and land on the desert sand. "So, we were in its nose.." the undertaker says slowly pushing himself up from the ground. Flora slowly sat up groaning. "Wonderful.." Vash sneezes loudly smacking his head as he tries to get sand out of his ear.
They hear some men yelling at them and warning them to run as the Grand Worm was back coming for them. Both Vash and Flora get up a determined look on their faces. "You have that look on your face and I have a feeling I'm going to regret it." Flora says smiling as Vash nods at her.
Their companion sees this and hurriedly gets up. "Hey, hey! We just lucked out and you're going to throw it all away?" he asks watching them turn toward the incoming worm. He reaches for both Vash and Flora trying to pull them back but both of them shove him away making him fall back onto the ground. The undertaker pushes himself up as he continues to try to convince them to not go through with their crazy plan. "There's no guarantee you'll get lucky again!"
"You should run." They both say. The brunette growls standing up to join them. "You're both fools."The two gunslingers chuckle and looked at each other. "Doesn't matter if I get to be with him." Flora thought as they get swallowed again by the giant worm.
Once inside both gunslingers slowly get up and Vash offers a hand to Flora as she looks around. "We made it," She says and Vash nods in agreement. "Look!" she points and sees the child standing ahead of them looking around almost as if he was lost. "Kid!" she calls out causing the boy to turn and run over to them. He leaps into Vash's arms and hugs him. "Thank goodness you're safe." Vash says smiling down at the boy. "You're alright now."
Both gunslingers freeze when they hear someone moving behind them. "A little too careless, aren't we? You know for someone who swears that they don't know me..you sure have let me out of your sights way too many times, girlie." Both Flora and Vash turn glaring at him. Vash gazes over to Flora.
"You know him?" He asks. Flora shakes her head. "I don't but he keeps saying that we met somewhere.." she frowns eyes fixed on the brunette. Vash hums. "Yet, he has had every opportunity to shoot either of us and hasn't done so." The brunette narrows his eyes at him.
Vash pushes the boy away and he jumps back away from them. The familiar ringing comes back making Flora flinch. "It's that sound again.." she hisses. Vash nods pressing a finger to his ear. " That unique mosquito sound.." Vash looks up at the boy. " So, you're the one controlling the worms with that unique sound."
Flora looks up and sees the boy gazing down at them with a small smirk. "Well, that's really weird. It should be inaudible to regular humans. Good job seeing through my disguise." Flora frowns at the boy."You killed that couple too then?" She watches as the boy shrugs nonchalantly. " Humans always assume it's a family when they see a group of adults and children. Kind of dumb of them to assume."
Vash frowns glaring at the boy. " Where are Meryl and Roberto?" The boy cocks his head. " You came back for them?" He chuckles grabbing his hat and removing it revealing his face and a different appearance. "I simply don't understand. Didn't you realize returning for them would get you killed?" The walls of the worm's inside begin to move as clear slime starts to ooze down from above them. Both guns slingers step back trying not to lose their footing and to avoid the sticky substance from getting on them. Flora grits her teeth." Give them back!" she yelled.
The boy laughed and started moving away from them. "If you must know what happened to them, then make me talk." "Oh, I'll make you talk alright" Flora gritted as she tried to move forward but noticed her feet were stuck in the ground. "Shit!" "Flora!" He tries to move as well but also realizes he's stuck as well. "Damn it."
"You keep leaving yourselves wide open." The gunslingers hear the undertaker say causing them to look behind them. They watched as the brunette uncovers his large cross revealing a giant machine gun that he aims at both Flora and Vash. "Eat this.." He starts shooting at their feet freeing them and then at the boy who manages to move out of range. Though the bullets managed to hit the giant worm and make a large hole in it.
"That cross was a fucking gun!" Flora screams looking at the man that just freed them. "I knew you were full of shit, holy man!" Vash also turns to him with a confused look. " Who are you?" The man just shrugs. " I told you two, I'm just an undertaker."
The boy waves from the hole the undertaker made. " I'll be seeing you! That is..assuming you get out alive." He laughs before pulling on a mask that forms wings and flies the boy away.
"Wait!" Vash yells but watches the boy leave with the rest of the flying worms. " You're not getting away, worm." The undertaker chuckles as he re-transforms his weapon. "I'm a tough nut to crack." A laser beam shoots out of his weapon and he spins it in 360 motion, cutting the Grand Worm in half and killing it.
"Fresh meat is definitely the best!" The undertaker says as they sit around the fire with the group of men from earlier. The men happily ate the worm meat that just came off the fire. Flora was also enjoying the meat never being the one to pass on a chance for a free meal.
Meryl sat amongst them with a sick look on her face as she watched them eat. The undertaker looks over at her and cocks his head. "What, you still feeling sick?" He asks the petite woman.
Flora watches as Meryl shakes her head. "No, I'm fine thanks to you... I appreciate you saving me-" Meryl is cut off as the brunette offers her his chunk of meat. " Here, eat." Meryl makes a face at the piece of meat. She covers her mouth shielding it from the meat. " Uh, no thanks."
The undertaker gives her a teasing smirk. " You're not going to survive like that." He wraps his arm around her and forces her to try to eat the meat. "Come on! Eat up!" Meryl yells. "Hey! What do you think you're doing! You can't force me to eat something I don't want!"
Flora can't help but hold back a laugh watching the fight. From afar Vash and Roberto were watching. " I see now. The cross is actually a machine gun. No wonder it's so heavy." Roberto says as he blows smoke out of his mouth. " I told you he's bad news."
"Yeah? Well, we made it through thanks to him and he seems to know Flora." Roberto raises a questioning brow at the blond man, " So, he kept his weapon a secret and he's ok because he briefly knew Flora during her travels." The elder reporter shakes his head, "Your priorities need some adjusting." Vash shrugs. " I get that a lot." He smiles walking over to the rest of the group. "Then fix them."
"Just eat up already." the undertaker glares at Meryl who has her arms crossed. "I told you I'm fine!"
"You know you can't be picky with your food!" the brunette argues back. "That's not the case!" Meryl yells.
Flora shakes her head watching them argue and looks up at Vash. "Hey, you finally joining us?" she asks smiling at the spikey hard man. Vash nods and takes one of the meat pieces from the fire and takes a bite. Flora's eyes widen and she smiles. "Vash! You're eating!" she reaches for him and hugs him. Vash smiles at her and then at the undertaker. " I still deserve to eat and laugh, right?"
Flora smiles and looks over at the brunette who was smiling at them. Flora stands up dusting herself off. "I guess if Vash doesn't find a problem with you... then you're ok in my books holy man."
The undertaker rolls his eyes and offers a hand to Flora. "I guess I should introduce myself properly then instead of just being called an undertaker." Flora looks up and takes his hand. Her eyes widen when for a split second the memory of a familiar small boy flashes in her mind. A boy with tan skin, shaggy black hair, and brown eyes.
Flora knelt down in front of the shaggy-haired boy and smiled. "Take care kid and don't be doing any more stealing!" Nicholas rolled his eyes and nodded. "Yeah. Yeah." Flora pulls the child for a hug and smiles. "Brat."
"Will you visit?" He asks. Flora pulls away and smiles. " I promise once I find my friend, I try to see if I can."
The child frowns while Flora pets his head. "Hey, now! Life can take us in different directions, who knows, we might meet again when you're older!" she smiles. Nicholas nods and pulls away to go back to his orphanage. "Don't be so naive, Flora! It's going to get you killed!" he yells.
Flora shakes her head and waves. "It doesn't hurt to be a little naive!" she yelled back walking away.
Flora spoke as the undertaker said his name. "The name's-" the undertaker started. "Nicholas D. Wolfwood." Flora finishes with wide eyes. Nick's eyes also widen briefly but slowly soften. "Took you long enough, idiot." placing a hand on her head.
"Nick?!" she smiles "Holy shit it is really you brat!" She smiles leaning forward to hug him. Nick huffs at the name. "Hey, who are you calling brat? He frowns " I'm not a kid anymore you know!"
"Oh yeah, that's right!" Flora smiles before punching him hard in the gut. "What the hell do you think you were doing trying to weasel us with that ridiculous charge? I see you haven't changed a bit!"
"Hey, I thought you'd be happy to see me.." he wheezed, holding his stomach. " I am but that shit you pulled was not cool," she says with a frown. Nick chuckles, stands up and offers a hand to Vash. Vash sees this and shakes it. " Nicholas D. Wolfwood." Nick says with a smile. "Vash the" Vash starts but gets cut off by Nick. "Needle noggin." He smirks. "Heard a lot about you from Flora. "
Vash blinks at the name. "Excuse me?" Nick turns to the white-haired woman. " I see you found your special friend, is that him?" He asks pointing his head in Vash's direction. Flora pauses and feels her face redden. Vash looks at Flora when Nick mentions that she was looking for a special friend not wanting to correct Nick. The last thing she needed was Vash getting upset that the special friend was actually Nai. He raises a brow at her. "Special, huh?" He smiles. Flora narrows her eyes at the blond man before shoving him playfully, "Oh, hush. Stop it."
Nick makes a face. "Ew, I hope I won't be expecting to see you guys acting like that around each other it's gross." Flora shoots a glare at Nick but it drops once processing what he said. "Wait, what do you mean by that?"
Nick smirks at the female gunslinger." You know since I've decided to tag along with you." Meryl frowns looking at him "Hold on. Who said we were ok with taking you with us?" Nicholas shrugs taking his gun with him and starts walking to their van. " You know you guys will need someone like me and I promise I won't be too expensive." He grins. " I'll even offer a discount because you all are Flora's friends." He smirks.
"We are not paying you shit!" Meryl argues chasing after Nick. Vash smiles and places a hand on Flora's shoulder. "Think it was necessary to punch him, Flora?" The white-haired woman looks over at Nicholas arguing with Meryl and snagging a cig from Roberto. She rolls her eyes. "He was always a pain in my ass when I met him back when he was a kid and had a mouth on him too, so yeah he deserves it."
Vash shakes his head and looks up. "Hey, everyone, look at the sky!"
Everyone looks up to see the sky looking like a sea of glowing stars. Flora's eyes widened in awe. "It's beautiful." She says Meryl nods smiling. "Absolutely breathtaking!" "These are worms." Roberto says making Meryl frown." and like that, it was ruined.."
As Flora watches the glowing Worms fly over them she feels a hand take hers and she looks over to see Vash holding hers. She smiles and stares at Vash for a moment who smiles back. It's not ruined." she says. "It's perfect."