"Mister Vash?" Milly questioned as the flickering image paused, apparently cycling through its programming.
"Hm?" he replied, denoting that he was curious to hear her observation.
"Don't you think he looks a little like Sempai?"
Vash frowned as he scrutinized the image, and realized with a start that Milly was onto something (as usual). It wasn't immediately noticeable, but there was something around the shape of his eyes and the slight wave in his hair that did indeed remind him strongly of Meryl, if thse features were made more masculine.
"Think they're related?" he noted back to her.
"I dunno," Milly said. "Sempai doesn't talk much about her family, only that it's a little troublesome to keep in touch with them like I do."
"Hey, I think it's going to say something else."
"I am Michael Stryfe, and this is my story," the image said gravely.
Milly and Vash exchanged another look, the names couldn't just be a coincidence.
"My ancestry is a puzzle that I don't have all of the peices to, nevertheless I've always strove to understand the purpose that my kind were born into this world for. Myself, my father, my father's father, and his father before him, and his before him, all the way back to the original inhabitants of Project SEEDs were born with a very unique and special gift, and with it a very important duty. I was born Human, and upon the threshold of adolescense I became something... other."
The image of the man telling his story faded and was replaced by an image of an ordinary strand of dioxiribonucleic Acid, or DNA, twirling slowly like a twisted ladder. Suddenly, the usual double-helix he was accustomed to seeing was joined by another strand. The genome bonds unzipped and reformed onto the new half-strand, creating a triple-helix.
"In my blood, and in my fathers blood lies a latent strand of synthetic DNA, it is not an organic compound, but rather it appears to be some sort of... man-made compound. As far as I can guess it must be some kind of ancient lost technology, perhaps nano-tech and it enables any of my bloodline to do unusual things. We can tap into energy and channel it, use it to reshape the substance of matter into whatever we desire. We can recombine molecules into different substances, we can even change molecules into other molecules by resonating with their energy vibrations and altering them, bypassing all of that atomic fusion and frission energy-release. Not only this, is has also been discovered that my kind can stabilize and exponentially increase the power of a Psi-wave by resonance."
Vash's eyes widened. He suddenly had a chilling image of what Legato might have been like had his own psychic powers been so increased. The man had already been powerful enough to easily take control of not just an entire town but Vash's own Psi-wave by resonance. It had been a chilling and horrifying experience to find himself suddenly no longer in control of his body or his powers.
"This ability leaves us exceedingly vulnerable to attack by a ruthless Psi, or rather a person with psychic or telepathic abilities, so it was the considered opinion of my ancestor that his decedents would be safer hidden in the wood-work of normal society. We have lived, generation to generation, passing down what little knowledge we have been able to recall or scrape together orally from son to son. Much of the knowledge of the purpose we were originally created, or adapted, for has been lost over time... until now."
The picture of the man telling his story had replaced the triple-helix some time ago and was at that moment replaced by another picture, Vash was surprised to recognize it, just a little. Intricate web-like spirals with periodic round nodes with complex mathematic-like sigils on them lined up like beads of dew on a spider-web spiraled out from a central node. Then another web-like grid layered over-top of it, the nodes of which connected to others in the previous grid and shrunk down in to fit inside the main grid's nodes, spiraling into their own individual patterns inside the node. It reminded him a little of pictures of the milk-way galaxy, with a glowing central nebula and the arms of the wheeling stars spiraling out from it, each star had a solar system to it and that solar system had a set number of planets that orbited at their own rates with their own individual moons and such.
The picture of the grid moved off to one side and another picture joined it, a scientific model of a collection of Hydrogen and Oxygen atoms floating around in space by themselves. The quiescent grid was connected by a small strand to the glowing blot in the center and the strand that connected all of the nodes in the grid began to light up, like someone lighting a fuse on a powder keg. The first node flashed "awake" blossoming like a little flower and the molecules shown in the side of the picture froze up instead of drifting aimlessly, then suddenly attracted to each other. Electron bonds formed and Vash quickly and easily recognized the compound by its polarity; two hydrogens and an oxygen... water. The grid on the left hand side of the screen kept going through whatever program was written for it and on the right hand side more molecules clustered together and replicated. Soon the picture zoomed out to show a faint mist, which coalesced into droplets of water which in turn pooled together into enough for a healthy drink.
"I had dreams... such dreams," the man said sadly, and with real regret. "Perhaps my brother was right when he said that some forces were better left alone. May my daughter forgive me for what I have done."
Milly and Vash exchanged another long, speaking look of puzzlement. What was so bad about making water? It seemed like a good thing to them.
"After the death of my Bonded Source, my beloved, the heart and center of my world... after Sarah's death, my emptiness consumed me. Not even my daughter's love could reach me, may she find it in her heart to forgive me. The only thing that kept me going was the promise I had made to my Bonded.
In the days when she was alive, we had dreamed of a world without hunger or thirst where there was enough in plenty to go around. We had dreamed of using my powers for the benefit of mankind, to create the world we saw in our dreams. But we overreached ourselves; the power necessary to create that world was far, far greater than could be generated by even an enhanced Psi-wave. Though I discovered that no matter how great the power after I had transitioned from fully human into Resonant, I was more than a match for it so long as I could resonate with my Bonded's Psi-wave. Using power "fresh off the tap" as I called it, meaning raw energy that was not produced by organic means, stings quite a bit and there is only so much that can be handled before the pain becomes to great to bear. After her death all that mattered to me was the mission. I couldn't bring her back to me, but I could fulfill her dream. To my everlasting shame... I--"
The image of the man looked so weary and torn with guilt. He took a deep, shaky breath and resumed his narrative a moment later.
"I had discovered a stone with the crystallized form of a new element, one which could store Psi-power, or the energy of a Psi-wave, and use that power to create even more energy. I called it energist."
Here Vash definitely started. It was all coming together, this guy was--
"And I used my own channels and the energist to physically create an array, a device, that could tap into and amplify Psychic energy. Even a normal human produces a very small, almost undetectable, Psi-wave, usually at a point-zero-zero-zero-zero-zero-one amplitude, not even large enough to register on most devices. But I figured that if I could get enough Psi to "kick start" the device, the energist crystal I grew and the array I had created would amplify the energy enough to where it could make real impact on the physical world. I could use all of that energy to write new grids and create all of the things we were lacking in this world, just as my bonded and I had planned."
Where would he get that much Psi? Vash thought to himself with a feeling of foreboding.
"This device could turn human will into energy, and I would use that energy to reshape the world as I saw fit. But first I needed enough Psi-energy. I reasoned that since the device was ultimately going to benefit them they wouldn't mind putting in the power that they don't use anyway. But I was impatient, my grief and pain blinded me to the immoral ruthlessness I had developed."
He looked so terribly sad and so ashamed. His eyes begged them both to try to understand, to try to forgive him for what he had done.
"I used the device to amplify the Psi-talent of a small, young telepath-boy I had found, an orphan with no family. I ordered him to call the rest of the town from what they were doing. I called them to the grounds where I had my device set up and I... hooked them into the array. Every man, every woman, even the children. I was only going to take a little, just enough to start the device, and once I had it going I was going to use it to save every one."
He was nearly sobbing in anguish now.
"But the device... it needed more. More than I had calculated it would. The variables that I had set up in my grid were all dependent variables, dependent on the amount of energy it took to activate the first Function Node on the Primary Grid. Once I had set it in motion, I discovered that there was no stopping it until the first function was complete. I watched on in horror as it drained the people of even the energy that it took to keep them alive. I watched them die, helplessly, one by one; first the children, and then the weaker more frail of the women and elderly, then at last the healthy. It drained them all; men and women that I had known for most of my life and I was powerless to stop the monster I had created. To this day I thank god that my daughter possess a latent strain of the Resonant Strand, she produces no psi-wave and thus would not have been attracted to the device. She, at least, was safe. but the rest, everyone of the entire village... all dead, and all my fault."
There were true tears of remorse streaming down his cheeks by then.
"I knew that such a device must never be allowed to fall into the hands of another for there are, as I well know, people who are ruthless enough to use whatever comes to hand so long as another pays the price for it and they are the ones to benefit. I dismantled the device and collected all of my journals and notes, and buried them along with the bodies of my poor, unwitting test subjects. Then I sealed away my daughters memories of what she is and how to use her powers so that she will never fall into the same trap I did. My brother will take good care of her, raise her like his own, and he has never approved of our otherness so she'll just be a normal woman. That's the way it should be. Better that my sins should die with me."
The last about his daughter was muttered, almost to himself. He continued his narrative
"As I was about to end my own life deep in the cave where I first found energist however, there came a soft heavenly voice, the most beautiful voice. It was like a thousand perfect voices all blended into one, and though I couldn't actually hear the words They spoke to me, my heart and soul understood Them. They told me to stay the hand that would have taken my own life. They offered me a chance at redemption if I would serve as Their vessel. I've cast aside my arrogance and erased my Self to serve a cause greater than me. To whomever finds this... there is hope. Hope for a better world, hope for a future. I will strive to the last iota of my power to serve as Their medium here in the world and to create the device my ancestors were bred for... the Gaea Device."
With that, the image faded, replaced by an image of the planet Gunsmoke as seen from space, silvery ribbons and lines of light spiraled out over the surface of the dry barren planet, centering on great nodes and lesser nodes. And then the "screen" went blank.
Vash suddenly had to sit down to absorb the impact. Could it possibly be saying what it sounded like it was saying? A small, precious speck of real, true hope blossomed into his chest. It was possible, maybe, maybe, maybe just possible that there was a way to have the world that humanity had dreamed of so long ago. He didn't know what a Gaea Device was or what it did exactly, but the indications in the man's lecture seemed to be obliquely pointing at the idea that... the device would be used to reshape matter and terraform the surface of their barren, inhospitable world into a garden.
Vash had always sort of wondered why in the world Rem and the captain would have wasted their time stopping by a planet that, while earth-sized and with a breathable atmosphere, had not enough of the right resources to truly support human life on its surface. It had been something that had puzzled him ever since he and Knives had crash-landed on Gunsmoke and gotten to know the place in all of its dry, dusty, hot, hellish glory.
But looking at this world as a possibility for colonization would make sense if you were looking at it from the point of view of having about the right-sized template to use as a blank slate for your own ends, he thought.
Rem must have been looking at it with an eye to terraformation! That's why she'd been so busy when they'd come across the planet and parked the flag-ship in orbit around it. Little bits and pieces of memory from around that time came floating back, things that, as a child and with the self-centeredness of childhood, he hadn't paid any notice to at the time. They way Rem had spent hours and hours cooped up in the computer room going through the database on plant samples, the way she'd maundered on about certain gradients of soil and temperature zones, the way she and the captain had gone on and on about model eco-systems. They'd been planning all along to change this world to meet their own ends before actually landing people on it!
But then Knives beat them to the punch with his "kill the spiders and save the butterflies" craziness and it all went down hill from there, Vash thought glumly.
He perked up a little as another thought occurred to him. The Plants that powered the city via the machinery and ancient technology still left over from their ships also created geo-plants to support plant life. Maybe this guy, Michael Stryfe, had found a way to fuse together what ever it was that he could do with the sorts of things that his bulb-siblings could do and make it work. Then if he followed that thought... then maybe! Maybe some form of terraformation (however limited it might be) that was capable of truly being able to support life and be self-sustaining at the same time could be found. If there was even the smallest seed of hope, he had no doubt that people would band together to protect and nurture it until it could grow into a mighty oak that would shelter them all. This could be the beginning of a real future!
Vash had images of Rem's promised eden dancing before his eyes and a feeling of hope swelling in his chest. It was possible, the world they'd dreamed of was possible. He looked over at his traveling companion Milly to see if she'd had the same thought he'd had and her face did indeed though thoughtful. She opened her mouth to say something and Vash exulted in the idea that he actually had a friend to share this discovery with...
"He really did look a lot like Sempai, didn't he Mister Vash?" she noted innocently. Vash face-vaulted into the sand.
The discovery of not just one, but several lifetimes, and she's concentrating on trivialities, he thought to himself.
Ah well, that was Milly he supposed. She was as she was.
"I guess," Vash said in reply, shrugging a little. "Well it looks like we've seen what Knives sent us here to see. Maybe now we can go and get Mer- Uh, Short Girl."
Vash had to start mentally distancing her from him again, otherwise he might not have the necessary perspective to do what was best when the time came. And Vash knew after this last debacle that it was best that Meryl, and Milly, should go home and leave him to sort things out with Knives.
"Vash the Stampede..." a voice from around the sands said to him.
It was an unfamiliar voice and Vash got that sinking feeling in his gut, the one that told him that his brother had generously sent more party-favors his way.
He looked around frantically, shoving Milly behind him in order to better protect her.
"Who's there, and where are you?!" he demanded of the hot desert air in general.
Knives didn't send his men out on a whim, Vash was already caught up in whatever game Knives had planned for him this time and he had better learn the rules fast. Meryl's life depended on it.
A soft rustle of cloth to his right and a man of just above average height and dark black hair cut long to his waist and braided into a hundred tiny braids stepped out of the shadow of a nearby building. His eyes had contacts in them that made them look like they were all entirely black, like birds eyes and he was wearing a costume of black leather cut to look like the feathers of a bird. His nose protruded, beak-like, from his face and the human skin that showed wherever his costume wasn't had been tatooed to look like stylized black feathers.
It's a wonder he doesn't get heat-stroke, Vash thought, partly hoping he would, just so Vash wouldn't have to put up with his brothers games any more.
"I am the ninth of the secondary-squad of the Gung-Ho Guns," he announced proudly with a small twisted smile.
Great, there's more of them. Oi.
This one couldn't make the cut to the original squad, so beating him shouldn't be a problem. Vash suddenly found the happy image of himself having pounded the guy into the dust, forcing him to tell him where Meryl was so that he could cut the crap and get her back. Not a bad idea.
"I am Strell the Carrion Crow," he pronounced with relish.
I'll bet in real life he had a dorky name, like Algernon, Vash thought, waiting for him to finish his opening speech and tell him what Knives wanted so Vash could get down to business. Namely, kicking the crap out of him. Knives had used up all of his best on Vash already so it stood to reason that what he was using for servants now were the rejects and leftovers of his first attempts.
"The Master has sent me to give you a little present... Vash the Stampede."
From out of his leather-feather cloak, Strell the Carrion Crow pulled a box-like object and tossed it casually to Vash. Vash caught it one-handed and in that momentary distraction the Ninth secondary Gung-ho asshole disappeared back into the shadows again. That was fine for now, Vash was sure that he would find him later.
Milly looked over his shoulder as he examined the object. It was shaped like a hexagonal teardrop with a pointed top and the base flattened off. It was about three inches in diameter at the base with a height of about four or five inches, it was slightly translucent and dull-pewter-grey in color. Vash twisted the small knob at the tip and the six sides of the top opened like a blossoming flower petal, letting out a small hiss and some kind of cold vapor from its midst. As the top blossomed downward a small stand inside the box raised up and displayed its prize proudly. Vash gasped and instinctively flung the box from him on the apprehension of what the object inside the box was. The box landed base-down on the dirt road and flung its contents to the dust at their feet, almost as if taunting them.
It was a severed finger.
Milly gasped in horror, apparently recognizing as well the severed digit that had been carefully stored in a cryogenic container and presented to him. Her hands had always been amazingly tiny for someone her age, it had always sort of amused him. Of course she was stuck using derringers; they were the only sorts of gun that could fit comfortably in hands that were that small. Her pinky digit was almost child-sized, but by the delicate taper of the end and the well-manicured nails, it was definitely the finger of a grown woman. It was Meryl's pinky finger.
Pure undiluted rage welled up inside him again, trying to spread out from his core and seize control. Vash clenched his hands so hard that he could hear the metal of his prosthetic start to creak in protest at the pressure. His body shook with fine tremors, maintaining control of his temper by the barest of threads. Any little push one way or another could undo him... and perhaps god would have mercy of the person who got in his way but Crimson would not. Vash struggled, trying to calm himself of the anger that pushed against his defenses, and slowly, slowly managed to stuff it back down into the box that his brother had so carefully unlocked.
The present that his brother had given him was more than just a severed finger. A moment later as Vash had just barely managed to gather the shredded remains of his temper back into a semblance of control again, the little box lit up and a tiny doll-sized holographic projection of his brother Knives, alive, well, and apparently in full control of his facilities once more, lit up in the air above the box. Vash nearly lost it again by just having to look at him, knowing full well that he was the one responsible for the severed finger no longer being attached to his Short Girl.
"Greetings, dear brother," the image said, having the affront to look displeased with him. "As you can see I have declined to enjoy your so-called hospitality. But I'll be taking a souvenir with me to commemorate our time together Vash. Since it would be remiss of me not to offer to share with my only twin brother, I decided that I'd be happy to send a portion of it your way."
"You're generosity itself," he growled at the urbane and composed image of his brother.
"I am of course, more than willing to share more such portions with my twin--"
"I'll just bet," he gritted, his teeth clenched firmly against the rage welling up inside of him.
"But it shouldn't be necessary to do so, unless of course my brother should prove uncooperative with this tiny, minor, insignificant but ever so crucial little favor I would ask of him."
Favor?
Vash was brought up short by that. To his knowledge Knives was a do-it-yourself kind of psychopath, even those Gung-ho Guns he'd sent to harrass Vash had been nothing more than tools to his mind. It was unusual to say the least that Knives would send his brother on an autonomous mission for him without any oversight. But of course, the man did have Meryl, so Knives was probably pretty confident that Vash would do as was "requested" of him.
"A number of years ago I sensed a strange surge in power in this area," Knives' image continued, oblivious to Vash's internal thoughts.
"Shortly thereafter another power rippled softly through our siblings. I sent my servant out to investigate, naturally, but he in his incompetence could not find the source. I investigated of course through my own means and was able to discover that there now exists a strange latent network of ley-lines, but they are locked and sealed away inside a hidden place that cannot be breached by force. One must go to the sites individually and solve the trials placed there to keep the unworthy from reaching the prize. The prize inside each site is a part of a keystone. This keystone, once assembled will prove to be the key to unlocking the gates of eden. I wish for you, dear brother, the only other who is like me, to visit each of these sites, gain access to the prizes hidden therein, and assemble them for me. Once you return to me with proof of their unbinding, you may have the souvenir I took returned to you unharmed... or relatively so, anyway."
Vash scowled at the calm, unruffled, supremely confident visage of his brother, acting like he was king of the fucking world and sending Vash out on a wild goose chase like he was some lackey. And not to mention that he'd stolen Meryl away.
I never thought I'd have reason to be slightly thankful that Knives despises humans so much, Vash thought ruefully, already knowing that for the sake of Meryls safety he was going to do exactly as his brother had ordered him to.
At least I know he won't get any funny ideas about her.
Most brothers would worry in a situation like that... strong, handsome confident male kidnaps pretty, helpless, defenseless female and takes her away to his fortress in the middle of nowhere to be held completely at his mercy. It seemed like a recipe for trouble, but since Knives would probably rather cut off his own arm than have to touch her, he knew that Meryl would remain safe from molestation. Vash only hoped that Knives remembered to feed and water her regularly.
Much as he hated the thought of leaving Meryl alone and helpless in the untender care of his twin, Knives had promised to return her unharmed and so far as Vash knew, when Knives said he'd do something he did it. So... that meant finding and gathering these "keystones" Knives was interested in.
His hand unconsciously strayed back up to the little necklace of Meryl's that she had given him for safekeeping. He promised himself that he'd find those damned sites, get those keystones, and get Meryl back well and unharmed.
"The first of the sites is located somewhere in the canyons near the dead village of Styfe. Good hunting, Brother."
And with that the image of Knives cut out.
Vash looked over at Milly, who looked back at him with a determined "let's do it" sort of expression.
"Mister Vash!" she said firmly. "Let's go find it and get sempai back!"
He nodded once in confirmation as his thumb rubbed along the side of the stone Meryl had given him. He was helpless to do anything else right then, but he'd do what he could so that he could bring her back safely. She'd just have to wait for him to find her, just for a little while.
Ah, now we're getting somewhere! Thank's so much for all the wonderful reveiws I've been getting for this and sorry it's late. I was playing Final Fantasy 13 yesterday until my eyes bled. T_T Yay! Please leave a note in the box to tell me what you thought of this chapter.