Truth be told, if he hadn't been so deep in his own head as the vehicles drove by, he would have noticed Nico's face on that bus, and it would have derailed him just as hard as finding JuLai on the horizon had. It was always in the back of his mind, trying to find the other Him, the doppleganger he'd unwittingly begun seeing as an annoying little brother after two years on the road with him.
But he was too lost in his own thoughts to notice him, and it wasn't until some small glimmer of recognition caught his eye when that second bus rolled by with another Little Brother riding on top that he managed to begin to take notice of the comings and goings of the vehicles around him. Not fast enough to fully register Livio on that bus, no, but it was enough that when that ramshackle truck sped by, the glimpse he caught of the woman in the passenger seat was enough to trigger flashbacks to the memories that had been shoved into his head when Vash had panicked, days ago. That was what made him slam on the brakes of the bike, dragging her to a sudden stop in the sand as he looked back in obvious, confused shock.
It was disorienting, though, trying to make sense of those memories, some over a century old, seen from maybe one but also possibly both of the other men (though it was difficult to tell,) and others much newer and laced with such intense emotion that, even though he hadn't gotten a proper glimpse of that same woman in Vash's mind's-eye, he just knew. Even though it left him struggling to decide what to do, worried that he was mistaken and that following that truck was the wrong choice to make.
But the risk that it was her was bad enough that finally, he couldn't ignore the possibility, and with a cut off snarl of a curse, he spun Angelina back around and began racing after the truck as fast as he could go.
"Rem! Wait, Rem! Stop!" Borrowing a name he'd formerly only ever heard when Vash was trapped in a nightmare in the middle of the night, hoping despite knowing it was probably a futile effort with the way the driver of the truck was speeding off at such a reckless speed, he did his best to pull up beside the truck's passenger door, only to watch it disappear into the city before he had a chance to catch up.
That was fine. The truck may have been too far ahead to reach it before it entered the city, but the motorcycle would be far more maneuverable on the narrow city streets. He had no intention of slowing down before he was blasting past the armed barricades keeping watch at the edges of the city's entrance. He'd busted down the Ark's doors with her; a few light barriers weren't going to be any problem for Angelina II.
no subject
But he was too lost in his own thoughts to notice him, and it wasn't until some small glimmer of recognition caught his eye when that second bus rolled by with another Little Brother riding on top that he managed to begin to take notice of the comings and goings of the vehicles around him. Not fast enough to fully register Livio on that bus, no, but it was enough that when that ramshackle truck sped by, the glimpse he caught of the woman in the passenger seat was enough to trigger flashbacks to the memories that had been shoved into his head when Vash had panicked, days ago. That was what made him slam on the brakes of the bike, dragging her to a sudden stop in the sand as he looked back in obvious, confused shock.
It was disorienting, though, trying to make sense of those memories, some over a century old, seen from maybe one but also possibly both of the other men (though it was difficult to tell,) and others much newer and laced with such intense emotion that, even though he hadn't gotten a proper glimpse of that same woman in Vash's mind's-eye, he just knew. Even though it left him struggling to decide what to do, worried that he was mistaken and that following that truck was the wrong choice to make.
But the risk that it was her was bad enough that finally, he couldn't ignore the possibility, and with a cut off snarl of a curse, he spun Angelina back around and began racing after the truck as fast as he could go.
"Rem! Wait, Rem! Stop!" Borrowing a name he'd formerly only ever heard when Vash was trapped in a nightmare in the middle of the night, hoping despite knowing it was probably a futile effort with the way the driver of the truck was speeding off at such a reckless speed, he did his best to pull up beside the truck's passenger door, only to watch it disappear into the city before he had a chance to catch up.
That was fine. The truck may have been too far ahead to reach it before it entered the city, but the motorcycle would be far more maneuverable on the narrow city streets. He had no intention of slowing down before he was blasting past the armed barricades keeping watch at the edges of the city's entrance. He'd busted down the Ark's doors with her; a few light barriers weren't going to be any problem for Angelina II.