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esp_dragonv2Fandom: Trigun Stampede
Summary: Vash could hear the piano on the wind sometimes.
Rating: G
Genre: General
Word count: 638
Status: Complete
Vash could hear the piano on the wind sometimes. It was to the east. Sometimes it would ring in his ears every time he turned his head in that direction, but no-one else paid the tune any mind.
Sometimes Vash only heard the desert wind, and he would wonder if Nai had finally stopped. Had finally...
Hours would stretch into days, days into weeks.
But then the familiar tune would start again, each note precise and perfect, telling him where Nai was. That he still there.
Waiting for Vash.
Waiting for Vash to fill the void they could both hear, to play his part.
The tune gave Vash a direction to avoid instead, to keep as far away as possible.
* * *
"Vash, you play?" Vash barely registered Rosa slapping his back, but he looked up at her voice.
"Huh?"
"You play?" Rosa repeated, nodding towards the piano in the corner of the saloon. "You've been staring at it since you came in."
"Oh, I don't - ah, it wasn't there before?" The piano seemed to take up so much space, reflecting the light that came in from the window. He glanced down at his water, but he had to turn his body towards the table again. Had he really been that distracted?
Rosa beamed. "Got it from Angela - her Joanna got a job at the sand steamer and they needed to shift some of their stuff while they were moving out. Neither of them knew how to play it anyway." She leaned back against the table, looking at him. "So? Do you have any other surprising talents hidden in that head of yours?"
"I just know a few things!" Vash protested with a laugh, waving his hands in the air.
"And those 'few things' have saved our hides more than once!" The call was from another table, followed by laughter.
All around the saloon, eyes were on him expectantly, and Vash sighed, getting up. They weren't going to let him out without trying to play now.
"It's been years since I played anything," Vash said as he sat down, sending a small cloud of dust into the air. Decades, even. Or...a century? When was the last time he'd touched a piano? On the ship?
He hadn't played since losing his arm, that much was obvious when he lay his fingers across the keys. His prosthesis was good, giving him enough feedback to know how much pressure to use without crushing anything in his grip, but he didn't feel the same coolness of the keys he expected. He played a few notes, the keys sticky. It hadn't been cleaned a while, probably needed sand cleaned out of its parts.
His fingers started moving, and even after all this time, his body remembered what notes to play, even if he couldn't remember what the notes were called.
Though that didn't matter, not really. He never played exactly what was on the sheet, going along with the song in his heart instead, even if that made Nai glare at him from the corner of his eyes, lips pursed. They matched up at the chorus and-
And-
He was playing with Nai right then, the tune on the wind matching his every step. Just like it used to.
Vash jerked back, almost toppling the chair over as he stood up.
Applause and cheers surrounded him, but all he could hear was Nai playing coming from the window next to him.
It kept going as Vash exited the saloon, faster than it had before. Had Nai heard him? Did Nai know where he was now?
Or did Nai just want to keep playing together?
The song didn't fade from Vash's ears for hours afterwards.
He would stay here for now. Just to make sure nothing would happen.
But he wouldn't touch the piano again.
Summary: Vash could hear the piano on the wind sometimes.
Rating: G
Genre: General
Word count: 638
Status: Complete
Vash could hear the piano on the wind sometimes. It was to the east. Sometimes it would ring in his ears every time he turned his head in that direction, but no-one else paid the tune any mind.
Sometimes Vash only heard the desert wind, and he would wonder if Nai had finally stopped. Had finally...
Hours would stretch into days, days into weeks.
But then the familiar tune would start again, each note precise and perfect, telling him where Nai was. That he still there.
Waiting for Vash.
Waiting for Vash to fill the void they could both hear, to play his part.
The tune gave Vash a direction to avoid instead, to keep as far away as possible.
"Vash, you play?" Vash barely registered Rosa slapping his back, but he looked up at her voice.
"Huh?"
"You play?" Rosa repeated, nodding towards the piano in the corner of the saloon. "You've been staring at it since you came in."
"Oh, I don't - ah, it wasn't there before?" The piano seemed to take up so much space, reflecting the light that came in from the window. He glanced down at his water, but he had to turn his body towards the table again. Had he really been that distracted?
Rosa beamed. "Got it from Angela - her Joanna got a job at the sand steamer and they needed to shift some of their stuff while they were moving out. Neither of them knew how to play it anyway." She leaned back against the table, looking at him. "So? Do you have any other surprising talents hidden in that head of yours?"
"I just know a few things!" Vash protested with a laugh, waving his hands in the air.
"And those 'few things' have saved our hides more than once!" The call was from another table, followed by laughter.
All around the saloon, eyes were on him expectantly, and Vash sighed, getting up. They weren't going to let him out without trying to play now.
"It's been years since I played anything," Vash said as he sat down, sending a small cloud of dust into the air. Decades, even. Or...a century? When was the last time he'd touched a piano? On the ship?
He hadn't played since losing his arm, that much was obvious when he lay his fingers across the keys. His prosthesis was good, giving him enough feedback to know how much pressure to use without crushing anything in his grip, but he didn't feel the same coolness of the keys he expected. He played a few notes, the keys sticky. It hadn't been cleaned a while, probably needed sand cleaned out of its parts.
His fingers started moving, and even after all this time, his body remembered what notes to play, even if he couldn't remember what the notes were called.
Though that didn't matter, not really. He never played exactly what was on the sheet, going along with the song in his heart instead, even if that made Nai glare at him from the corner of his eyes, lips pursed. They matched up at the chorus and-
And-
He was playing with Nai right then, the tune on the wind matching his every step. Just like it used to.
Vash jerked back, almost toppling the chair over as he stood up.
Applause and cheers surrounded him, but all he could hear was Nai playing coming from the window next to him.
It kept going as Vash exited the saloon, faster than it had before. Had Nai heard him? Did Nai know where he was now?
Or did Nai just want to keep playing together?
The song didn't fade from Vash's ears for hours afterwards.
He would stay here for now. Just to make sure nothing would happen.
But he wouldn't touch the piano again.