diff --git a/src/vm/vector_functions.cpp b/src/vm/vector_functions.cpp
index 395091a..4ba7946 100644
--- a/src/vm/vector_functions.cpp
+++ b/src/vm/vector_functions.cpp
@@ -41,7 +41,6 @@
 #include <functional>
 #include <limits>
 #include <math.h>
-#include <nonstd/variant.hpp>
 
 namespace softvector {
 unsigned RFS = 32;
@@ -86,7 +85,7 @@ double vtype_t::lmul() {
 
 vreg_view read_vmask(uint8_t* V, uint8_t VLEN, uint16_t num_elem, uint8_t reg_idx) {
     uint8_t* mask_start = V + VLEN / 8 * reg_idx;
-    return {mask_start, num_elem / 8u}; // this can return size==0 as num_elem can be as low as 1, probably not wanted
+    return {mask_start, num_elem / 8u}; // this can return size==0 as num_elem can be as low as 1
 }
 uint64_t vector_load_store(void* core, std::function<bool(void*, uint64_t, uint64_t, uint8_t*)> load_store_fn, uint8_t* V, uint8_t VLEN,
                            uint8_t vd, uint64_t base_addr, uint64_t vl, uint64_t vstart, vtype_t vtype, bool vm, uint8_t elem_byte_size,
@@ -102,7 +101,7 @@ uint64_t vector_load_store(void* core, std::function<bool(void*, uint64_t, uint6
     // elements w/ index smaller than vstart are in the prestart and get skipped
     // body is from vstart to min(num_elem, vl)
     for(unsigned idx = vstart; idx < std::min(num_elem, vl); idx++) {
-        vstart = idx;
+        unsigned trap_idx = idx;
         // vm decides active body element
         uint8_t current_mask_byte = mask_view.get<uint8_t>(idx / 8);
         bool mask_active = vm ? 1 : current_mask_byte & (1 << idx % 8);
@@ -113,7 +112,7 @@ uint64_t vector_load_store(void* core, std::function<bool(void*, uint64_t, uint6
             if(mask_active) {
                 uint64_t addr = base_addr + (eew / 8) * (idx * segment_size + s_idx) * stride;
                 if(!load_store_fn(core, addr, eew / 8, dest_elem))
-                    return vstart;
+                    return trap_idx;
             } else {
                 // this only updates the first 8 bits, so eew > 8 would not work correctly
                 *dest_elem = vtype.vma() ? *dest_elem : *dest_elem;
@@ -123,7 +122,6 @@ uint64_t vector_load_store(void* core, std::function<bool(void*, uint64_t, uint6
     // elements w/ index larger than num_elem are in the tail (fractional LMUL)
     // elements w/ index larger than vl are in the tail
     for(unsigned idx = std::min(num_elem, vl); idx < VLEN / 8; idx++) {
-        vstart = idx;
         for(unsigned s_idx = 0; s_idx < segment_size; s_idx++) {
             // base + selected vd + current_elem + current_segment
             uint8_t* dest_elem = V + (vd * VLEN / 8) + (eew / 8 * idx) + (VLEN / 8 * s_idx * emul_stride);