-----DISCLAIMER-----

I don't own it.
Don't sue me.

-----AUTHOR'S NOTES-----

Lynda: Let's see if I can make up for the last chapter.

Kuroneko: Mya, mya. =^-_-^=

Lynda: Don't take pity! I've just, most obviously, been in a blech mood lately! I feel moderately better now... Could it be because GWSTT is reaching scenes I've had in my head since I started this thing? Could be!
And howdy Silver Swan! Thanks for joining me! **grins** Wow, you chugged through my story pretty quick, I hope it was at least some interest. And as for the question, I'm afraid I'll be shipping more chapters than the series had of episodes. If I only had 26 chapters, that would mean I'd have to tie up all my loose ends now and I have a couple of other plot twists up my sleeve.... **grins evilly**

-----*+*-----

Of all the questions demanding attention within the select stratum that was Vash the Stampede's mind, one dominated.
Where to start?
The angel, wincing as someone elbowed him painfully in the ribs, was simply at a loss. The Meta-Kard is his hand was blank and quiet. A rarity in itself, but the sentiment was much appreciated.

Flitting through poor options like a card dealer, Vash used his lack of decision to step forward, carefully weaving his way through the crowd in random directions. His tentative attitude about the restless navigation did not save him, however, from being roughly pushed back and forth. The people committing the jostling seemed just about everyone with limbs to do so. The guilty ranged from little old ladies to 6 year olds, brusque men to sensible looking housewives. The incivility was disconcerting, even to someone who had weathered the worst such a dry and desolate planet had to offer.
Confused, the 60 Billion Double Dollar Man paused in his aimless wandering to glance around him into the throngs. To add to the hostile expressions, everyone was pale. Everyone painted some squalid hue of ill grey, each somehow hazy around the edges.

Vash felt extremely out of place in his geranium red long coat; a tall poppy amongst the grass. But despite the retina assaulting splash of colour amongst the monochromatics, the bewildered gunman found that no one even spared a glance his way.
But he had to start somwhere.

Shaking himself out of his helpless stupor, Vash caught the next person to shoulder past, his firm grip bringing their rough journey to a sudden halt. The selected individual turned out to the a large and thick bearded man with eyebrows that appeared to be seperate entities of their own. The man blinked, scowled, then turned his hard, black gaze on the suddenly apprehensive Angel. Afore mentioned Winger plunged on regardless.

'Excuse me, but I'm looking for a girl.' Vash announced, ignoring the jumps in his voice as numerous passers-by elbowed him in the process. 'Short, black hair, wears white, clear grey eyes. Have you seen her?' The man scowled some more.

'What, you think this is a guns and ammo convention? How the hell should I know who you're talkin' about?!' he snapped, pulling his shoulder roughly from the grasp it was in. Without another word, he slipped back into motion with the crowd. Wincing, Vash turned, eyes hopelessly flitting across faces in a bid to find benevolence. He found none.

''S-'scuse me ma'am!' he tried again, this time bounding the few steps to catch the arm of an elderly woman who was towing a small child behind her.

'What is it?!' she snarled in a cracking voice.

'I'm looking for a girl-' Vash began again, but trailed off when the pair exchanged a glance and simply walked away. Panicking, but not to be detered, the tall gunman followed. 'Would you please just listen? She's wearing white. A short girl, y'know? Have you seen he-...'

Again the sentence died slowly as Vash found himself in thicker crowds, the congregation suddenly cramped beyond comfort. As the knot of people tightened, voices filtered through the din of shuffling feet.

'You can't keep us here, we're human beings!' a voice cried out in horror.

'We don't want to be in this dump, let us go!' another shouted.

'I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do.' another, much calmer and deeper voice declared. Using his advantage of extra altitude, from over all the grey heads Vash managed to see that this latest speaker was an Angel. Wings and Halo included. He was surrounded and grossly outnumbered by the angry crowd, but the presence of buffed up armour and spear managed to keep the wary throng at bay. The Angel seemed rather agitated at all the attention, but his slouch indicated that he was willing to argue for a long, long time.

'Why are we here? Is THIS what comes after death?' a female shouted angrily from somewhere to the left. Casually, the Angel reached up and dislodged some sleep from his eye, examining the granule before flicking it away.

'I've told you this.' he sighed in a bored manner. 'The Managers of Heaven and Hell are currently missing. We can't sort you lot out until they come back. You're just going to have to stay.'

'Missing?!'

'What if they don't come back?!'

'We'll be stuck here forever?!'

'I have a wife and kids back on that planet!'

'This is imprisonment!'

'Let us out!!'

Vash bit his lower lip and frowned, pushing his way towards the calm at the center of the storm.

'You're perfectly safe here, I don't know what you're complaining about.' the Angel noted simply, fingers tapping a beatless tune against his spear.

'Get us out of here! I can't stand it! I'm going to suffocate in this crowd!' a young teen cried out from beside of Vash.

'Then you had best stop shouting then, hadn't you?' the nameless sentry noted disdainfully. He stretched with his spear still in his hands. Smiling, he watched the ring of souls expand from his proximity hurriedly.

'SIR!!' a voice suddenly screamed. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to the voice, warden dropping from his languorous stretch instantaneously. A brown haired Angel tumbled through a small gap in the throngs to stand panting besides the him, hands on knees and gasping. The first Angel grinned, eyes flaring in delight.

'Phil! I haven't seen you in a couple of millenia! How are things at the Con-' he began.

'TROUBLE!' Phil shouted in his comrade's face, spittle flecking the other's front like rain. 'Re-Re-Re- Rem and Black Jack have commandeered the Control Room!' he continued in a mad rush, chest heaving. The other Angel ran a hand over his damp face, then frowned.

'What? Make sense man! Why would they do that?!'

'I th-th-th-think they're gonna shut it all down!!' Phil stuttered, white as a sheet.

'That's... Ludicrous. They would never...' the other breathed.

'Why else would they be there?! They're gonna shut the system down! The planes will all merge!!'

'They would never put so many people in jeopardy! People might cease to exist!'

A wave of noise suddenly swept the crowd around the pair, the pitch of voice raising until people were screaming in panic. Vash himself was wondering in a mild daze what the Control Room was. And why two disappeared Managers of the After Life suddenly appeared there. Curious, more than a little uneasy and armed with this new information, the Humanoid Typhoon decided that now might be the right time to gain some attention.

''Scuse me? I need some help finding someone.' he declared to the ward hurriedly, stepping up and prodding the man on the shoulder rather harshly in his urgency. The Angel in mention jumped from the sudden contact and spun. Vash watched as both Phil and the warden's eyes widened.

'You!' the sentry stuttered, pointing a finger. 'Guardian Angels are NOT permitted within these halls! Strict orders! This is a huge breach of command! What are you doing here, Winger?!' he continued, wings ruffling with indignation. Vash froze. How he was recognized was a mystery.

'Uh...' he managed guiltily. Then shrunk slightly as murmurs drifted up around him.

'Did you hear that?'

'Guardian Angel!'

'Maybe he can get us out of here!'

'I had one of those, they know everything!'

'If he got in, he can get out!'

'We're bustin' outta here!!'
The sentry's voice rode high over the sudden din, clear as a bell.

'Come with me, Angel, you're under arrest!' he snapped, spear suddenly looking more like a weapon and less like a stick to lean against. Vash hurriedly backed up.

'You've made a mistake!' he blurted, hands raised as a shield. His retreat was brought to a halt when he backed straight into the waiting crowd.

'Save us!!' someone cried out piteously, hands grasping his coat and pulling. Vash tried to squirm out of the grip. Only to have more sets of hands clutch at him desperately.

'Get us out of here!'

'You're an Angel, do something!'

'I can't really-' Vash attempted, eyes darting to the advancing sentry. The warden, however, cried out in indignation as the hungry crowd closed in on the panicking blonde, the bee-line he was making severed by the multitudes. More hands clawed. More clasping fistfulls of red coat dragging downwards.

'I don't have ti-' Vash stuttered again, swatting outstretched hands away as the Warden squeezed his way closer still. A swift spin and duck had the Humanoid Typhoon under and outside the confused knot of souls, only for more to grab a hold.

'Use your powers!' a woman pleaded, both arms wrapped around one of his, tear stained face raised.

'I can't-'

'We need your help!' another shouted. Clawing fingers popped several of the buttons down the Winger's front.

'I'm sorr-'

'HEY!! What's he got in his hand?!'

It wasn't until this shout reached his ears that Vash remembered the dormant Meta-Kard still enclosed in his fist. He immediatey tightened his grip. Tense digits pried against his own as countless souls clawed after the small metal card. Panicking as his gloved fingers were being inexorably levered apart, the blonde ripped his semi-open hand from plucking digits. And it wasn't until he had done this that he realized his mistake.

The Kard, which had been balancing precariously between his middle and ring finger, was thrown clear and sent arching over the the crowd by the motion, spinning on a tight axis and plummetting into the suddenly tumulus fray. The section of the throng it fell into immediately sunk in a flurry of movement as every individual within a meter's radius fell to the ground and scrambled after the object.

'KARD!!' Vash shouted in dismay, fighting against the few still clutching him to follow the small rectangle, his efforts occasionally raising him right off the ground while the shoulders of the gathering kept him stationary. From his altitudinous perch, the 60 Billion Double Dollar Man watched on in horror as Phil the Angel was pointing about 5 more of his kind in the general direction of the gunman, his comrade the Warden too close for comfort.

The sentry wore a scowl on his face, the spear he held poised to be thrust, quite obviously, in Vash's direction. The intimidating effect was ruined, unfortunately, when a black cat with bright and surreal lime eyes landed pointedly on the sentry's head. It paused to blink at the blonde opposite; once, twice, then launched itself away again. As a black streak of feline omniscience, the creature pounced headlong into the knee level brawl. A few seconds later and it was up and out of the chaos, springing from cranium to cranium with the small metal card between it's grinning jaws. Vash found, not for the first time, that he failed to understand even the very existence of the mysterious creature. He then realized in a haze that it probably wasn't his place to understand it.

Setting aside his anxiety for his tiny comrade, Vash returned his line of vision to the ever gaining Warden. The Angel had now been joined by his 5 other colleagues, each pushing against the tightening crowd to reach their goal.
The Humanoid Typhoon decided not to give them the chance.

With a huge heave, the blonde pushed away from the people he was still supported on, rolled over them and onto the souls behind. Up stretched hands bore him further still, and Vash managed crowd-surf a few feet. The crowd in mention realized they were aiding the Angel's escape and thereafter dropped him heavily to the ground. Mildly winded but by no means debilitated, Vash pulled himself to his feet again and dove through the clambering gang, dodging limbs like a fish through reeds. A few quick and random direction changes later and the gunman found himself away from the grasping souls and admist the confused ones at the edge of the turmoil.

He used the lack of pursuit to stop pushing and to start weaving. Again, as soon as he was a tolerable distance away, he turned, pointed, then shouted with whatever air was left in his lungs,

'HEY, THEY FOUND AN EXIT OVER THERE!!'

The result was as to be expected. In a mad rush of screaming people, the majority of the crowd began stampeding in the direction Vash's finger was indicating to. The few select that had managed to keep up with him in pursuit was swept away, shouts lost in the din.

Jogging on the spot and momentarily satisfied with his freedom to search, Vash turned, breathless, and squinted into the sparser crowd.
And caught a glimpse of white.

A sudden burst of adrenaline kicked his already thumping heart into a skipping stumble and Vash near swallowed his tongue. He pushed pass the thinner but still dense crowd. A few steps closer and the white turned out to be a mantle. A few more and narrowed eyes supplied short, ebony hair to the peripheral vision.
There was no doubt.

'Insurance Girl!!' Vash shouted, managing to push aside a straggler of the rush. His lack of attention nearly toppled him when a few more souls battled past in a mad dash, shoulders knocking the wind from the outlaw. Gulping what breath he could back into his abused lungs, Vash stumbled a few more steps forward. Meryl had her back turned, and to make matters worse, she was walking away.

'INSURANCE GIRL!!' he attempted again, volume surprisingly raising a couple of decibels. No response. And more people, more pushings backwards that was carrying him further, not closer.
Breath and energy was being rapidly lost. Shouts of pursuers filtered through the din with alarming clarity. Distance stretched.

Desperation pinched Vash's eyes closed, filled his lungs with air then battered his voice box into submission to thrust the breath past it, screaming,

'MERYL!!!'

She froze, glanced from left to right, then turned.

Confusion met Desperation.
Then mutual comprehension greeted both parts.

With renewed alacrity, Vash pushed himself forward, past the raging crowd and towards the small woman now only a few yarzs away. When those yarzs turned into feeles, the blonde fell forward, allowing his legs the momentary satisfaction of inactivity. A small startled sound escaped the throat of Meryl Stryfe as a fully grown man near fell on her, but she amazingly kept her feet under the dead weight. Her hands raised to push the heft away, but Vash cut the motion off when he wrapped both arms around the small frame he was leaning against, tightening and pressing her limbs back down against her body.
Finally, a friend saved.

Relief never felt so good.

It wasn't until his own panting had subsided a little that Vash realized that Meryl's breathing was also irregular. In fact, he might go so far as to say she was wheezing.
Jumping back in realization, the blonde released the near crushed and suffocated woman and backed up a step or two. Breathless as he was and not quite willing to test his voice again, Vash tried conveying an apologetic demeanor for the constrictive embrace. But, unfortunately, he somehow couldn't force it past the huge and geniune grin his relief birthed.

'You.' Meryl croaked, glaring for all it was worth. Using the break to rest his hands on his knees and puff slightly, Vash nodded. Let her berate away. 'You- Wh- No-' Meryl collected herself and started again, hair and clothes slightly disheveled from the enthusiastic bear hug she had just recieved. 'Guardian Angel, huh?! Just what KIND of Guardian Angel are you, then?! And just WHERE the hell were you?!'

In another time or place, Vash knew he shoud've wondered about the familarity both were displaying toward the other. An estactic embrace was fair enough for him, as this woman's life had been his job for the past 4 months; her death his anguish. But Meryl had but seen him once, and even then only for a brief handful of minutes. Confirmation of his existence through touch from an even shorter span of seconds. And here she stood, shouting as if he were an annoying child she'd been burdened with for years.
In another time or place, Vash would've wondered. Instead, he smiled.

Anger never sounded so good.

'Sorry Insurance Girl,' Vash managed, still grinning from ear to ear. 'I was momentarily distracted from my duty.'

'Distracted?!' she demanded in affront, eyebrow twitching.

'Yeah, sorry. Hey, I came back to get you though, didn't I?' he continued, straightening and motioning around at the obscure hall. Meryl deflated slightly, but Vash could still see the battle behind her eyes as she fought for an excuse to hit him. Her fight was short lived, however, as voices rose up over the general noise of a mass brawl.

'Over there! I can see him! In the red!!'

'Uh-oh.' the 60 Billion Double Dollar Man muttered, turning and counting the gathering Angels weilding the spears. 'Um, sorry to cut this short, but we really need to get out of here.' he continued, turning back and grabbing ahold of the small wrist of his Guard. Compared to the fending off of desperate hordes, dragging one irate Insurance Investigator into motion turned out to be easier than expected. It was the lack of direction afterwards that became in issue.

Meryl noticed the standstill.

'I suppose you didn't think past the 'break in causing mass property damage' part, did you?' she noted in a slightly sarcastic manner, eyebrow raised.

'Well.' Vash replied steadily, grimacing slightly. To admit that he hadn't was asking to be thumped.

'Then just how did you get here in the first place?' she asked in irritated interest.

'I had a Meta-Kard and it led me here. Only I wasn't paying attention and I lost my Kard. But a black cat carried it away. I was kinda relying on it to get me out, so I didn't think past the whole rescuing thing.' he replied. Then winced as the sentence returned to him, flaunting it's idiocy like a medal. Meryl in turn muttered something under her breath. So, instead of defending himself and possibly making the situation worse, Vash thought about a way to get out.

And eventually settled on an idea.

'Follow me.' he said simply, tugging the Guard behind him into motion again. After a few moments, the Guard in question made a small sound of surprise when she noticed that they were flowing with the crowd towards the fray, instead of away from it. Ducking to keep his beakon bright coat from view, Vash listed his course slightly to the right. It wasn't too long before the party of avenging Angels simply passed them by, unaware.

'What are you doing?!' Meryl hissed, subconsciously ducking along with her partner despite her height. Vash froze slightly as he waited for the current of the throng to flow the way he liked it to.

'I'm going to follow the only guy that seems to know the way out.' he returned. Then, under his breath he added, 'And is stupid enough to lead us there.'

Some more twists and turns, a great deal of travelling later and amidst the din of the frantic mob a high pitched squealing could be heard.

'I can't let you out! Please let go of me!!' Phil screeched, near drowning in the clambering souls.

'There's our man.' Vash introduced quietly, tugging the small woman closer. Either that or have them seperated in the dangerous tides of angry souls.

'EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!' Phil shrieked, throwing his arms up almost comically in the air as he was pounced upon.

'He's going to get us out?' Meryl asked suspisciously.

'Well, he wasn't here when I came in, so he must know the exit. And really, all I need is a door. If he can lead us to one, we're outta here.'

'A door.' More doubt. 'In any case, I don't think this mob is going to let him go anytime soon.'

'...We'll see...' Vash murmured, then frowned. Then smiled grimly. Ducking down even further, but without taking his gaze off the brown haired Angel, Vash held out a hand. With a pop, a donut fell plumply into the palm. Tossing it up and down a few times as if to test the weight, the gunman gently lobed it over the crowd and onto the poor unfortunate head of Phil.
Everyone stopped and stared at it. Phil reached up prodded it.

'Oh, I say. A donut. Where did this come from? I was under the impression that food was forbidden in the Waiting Roo-AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGG!!' Phil, the hapless sap that he was, was promptly mugged by hundreds of souls that just remembered that they were starving. With a girlish squeal, he snatched the donut from his head and hurled it as far away from himself as was possible. The crowd dove after it.

'This is a Insurance employee's nightmare.' Meryl moaned in lament as she watched the congregation turn into brawl. Unfortunately, she hadn't time to complete her complaint as she was tugged firmly into motion directly afterwards. The reason for this being that Phil had made a break for it the moment he realized that he was standing alone in a giant Waiting Room of acrimonious souls.
Vash and his Guard followed closely.

The brown haired Angel didn't seem aware that he should be more cautious, because Phil made an obvious bee-line for the exit. The double doors in which Vash had busted through originally were suddenly visible through the throngs, and getting closer.

'Well that's a door.' Meryl huffed slightly, glaring in annoyance at the situation.

'No good.' Vash replied, wincing. 'We need a key hole, and I kinda blew it off to get in here.' Silence.

'Don't you think anything through?!' was the eventual snappish retort. Well, there wasn't all that much to reply with.

In any case, a few yarz later and Phil was at the doors, puffing and wheezing in a rather unfit manner. After he had caught sufficient breath, he paused and stared blankly at the missing lock, key hole and splintered wood. Then stared just as blankly at the forlorn hinges, creaking in mangled pain. Shaking himself, he ignored the vandalism and resolutely threw the doors open. As soon as he shuffled through, he turned to close them. Then screamed when he realized he was being followed. With a flurry of panicked motion, the brown haired Angel tried to heave the doors closed again, puffing and tugging on the heavy wood.
When he was close enough, Vash jammed a foot between the closing doors. With a shoulder, the gunman threw the doors open again, Phil sent stumbling back by the force to land ungracefully on the floor.

'Wh-wh-what do you want, Winger?!' the panicking Angel stuttered from his sprawl on the floor. Dropping Meryl's wrist, Vash took the few steps distance and hauled the him to his feet.

'A door. Just take us in the direction of a door.' the Humanoid Typhoon demanded simply. Phil swallowed heavily, then shifted his skittish eyes to Meryl.

'Y-You can't remove souls from the Waiting Room! That's unheard of!' he managed in shock. 'Anyway,' he hissed in a conspiracy laden whisper, 'you can't take her all the way back to the Living world! The further you go, the more the soul loses of itself! You'll never get her to her body in time! She'll fade first!' The silence after this was deafening. Regardless,

'A door?' Vash reminded patiently, shooting a nervous look over his shoulder at Meryl to see if she had heard. If she had, she didn't show it. In fact she seemed a little dazed, her logic and common sense struggling to file all the new events away coherently. It was obviously harder than she initially thought. Vash turned his gaze back. In the blonde's iron grip, Phil shook slightly, speechless. He seemed to be weighing his options, and taking his time doing so. In the slow process of coming to a conclusion, Vash found himself squinting at the pale man he held firmly. Then, out of pure curiosity, dared to ask,

'What happened to your nose?' Phil blushed crimson, the sudden flush turning his already bruised and dripping nose a deeper shade of purple.

'Black Jack.' the poor man replied, somewhat sheepishly. A little sniffle disturbed the dried trail of blood that had escaped one bruised nostril.

'Oh, I see.' was the understanding return. Then, after some companiable silence, Vash found he had to prompt, 'Door?'
And again, with a start, Phil immersed himself in the age old conundrum of 'to help' or 'not to help'. And again it seemed hours passed. After the scales for his options had been set aside and decisions had been reached, it still seemed an eternity before he finally managed to speak.

'U-Um... F-F-Follow me.' Phil croaked, easing out of Vash's grip and stumbling slowly down the corridor, occasionally shooting worried glances back at the strange pair. Without a word, Vash and Meryl followed.

After about the third false turn, Vash began to have huge misgivings. But, true to his repetitive reassurance, Phil finally led them to a small door, dusty with misuse and cobwebby beyond decency.

'T-This is as far as I can take you.' he admitted, fidgetting slightly.

'This is fine, thanks.' Vash replied. The bruised and shaking Angel shot Meryl one last despairing look before turning his back on both of them and shuffling away. The 60 Billion Double Dollar Man found himself disliking the pessimism within the glance. But, resolved as he was, he fished in his pockets for the key loop, found it, then picked the familiar one out.

'Silver Dunes here we come.' he muttered, but couldn't help but feel the apprehension Phil the Angel had sowed deep within his heart. As he inserted the key and turned it, the Humanoid Typhoon took a breath and pulled his Guard through the door after him, desperate to quell the sudden anxiety that seeped cold and deep.
He really hoped this wasn't a mistake.

-----*+*-----

-----AUTHOR'S NOTES-----

Lynda: Hmm... **rolls shoulders** Gee, I dunno... Rule number one about Lynda's ideas. If she has the scene in her head, then it usually comes out, all written up, LONG. The whole rescue scene was supposed to take 1 chapter. Not 3. But there you have it. I hope people aren't getting frustrated with the length.

Kuroneko: Mya?

Lynda: Come to think of it... You lot have been mentioning it a bit... Is it too long? Do you want me to hurry up and end it? **shrugs** Just curious.

Kuroneko: Myaaaa... =^T_T^=