Disclaimer in previous chapters. Please see Author's Notes at the end.
-x-
Meryl was indescribably glad that the only one in the kitchen was Carter. He looked much better. In fact, he was sitting at the kitchen table. They had one, with four chairs. There were glasses on it, containing either water or that weird tea, surrounding a large round plate of what looked quite a bit like meat and cheese.
And, in her first stroke of luck since coming to this god-forsaken place, no sign of Elizabeth. Or Vash.
He raised his eyebrows at the sight of her, but made no move to stand, and she pressed her lips into something like a smile and tentatively took the chair opposite him. It was plain, silver aluminum, very light, and held her weight no problem. It was also chilly, as the air had been every morning before, and she huddled up, folding her arms over the table and sinking her face into them.
If it were warm enough, she would have preferred to melt right through the floor, and continue on to the planet's core.
Aaron let her hide for a while, then she heard motion. He popped something into his mouth, and her stomach rumbled rebelliously.
"You were out a while," Aaron observed. "You look rough."
Meryl groaned into her arms. As if the slug hadn't been bad enough, she was probably covered in dirt and leaves. She probably needed a shower more than Elizabeth did. But that would have to wait; she could hear the water running in their miniscule bathroom. And she was way too cold.
Stupid. Stupid.
"You okay?"
No. No, she was definitely not. "I got chased by plants and yelled at by a dead man." She picked up her head, because suddenly it was important that he understand. "I mean, an actual dead guy. He's been dead for a while," her mouth added helpfully, while her brain slapped a hand over its face.
Meryl rolled her eyes again and let her head drop. "Nevermind. I'm fine."
Carter finished chewing whatever actual food he was eating, then looked at the plate pointedly, and she dragged herself into a proper sitting position. It really was meat and cheese, and she was famished. She selected a finger-food sized chunk of something that was a color other than white, and ate it as delicately as she could.
It was delicious.
"How're you?" she asked, around a piece of cheese she didn't remember picking up.
Carter looked relatively amused. "I'll live," he confirmed. "Back is killing me. Doc was probably right about what happened." He selected his own piece of cheese. "So, chased by Plants and seeing ghosts. You sure you're all right?"
"God no," she admitted, a little surprised at herself, and primly wolfed down another wedge of cheese. "I ran into Vash, by where Millie's grave used to be. It's gone, by the way. Completely vanished." Vash hadn't offered much in the way of explanation, either, come to think of it. Which she didn't want to do. Meryl groaned again. "I said such stupid stuff to him." Stupid!
Carter adopted the look all men got when women said something like that, and Meryl was once again glad that Elizabeth wasn't there. She would have handled everything with aplomb. "Did he come back this way?"
Carter shook his head, and they both turned their heads as the sounds of running water cut off. Meryl took the opportunity to snag another piece of meat, surprised to see that the plate was now half empty. She redirected her fingers to an available glass of water and drank greedily to avoid speaking.
Aaron didn't seem to mind. "Did you happen to see Doc while you were out?"
She shook her head, then took a breath to speak and choked a bit on the water. He withstood her coughing fit with dignity.
"So what's the deal with you and Vash?"
Meryl choked again, on air this time, and started coughing all over again. Carter just watched her, sitting in his own chair with more than a shadow of his previous presence. Whatever their jailer had done, it had improved him quite a bit. He looked like he could actually do something useful if he needed to.
The corner of his mouth turned up, and then he pushed the plate a little closer to her.
Meryl averted her eyes at once, sure she was blushing furiously. Yes, he was definitely feeling better, or at least he was more alert. "Nothing to tell."
"Don't misunderstand. I need to know if you can leave him here."
Her embarrassment evaporated; probably the same thing she'd done to Vash not half an hour ago. Meryl licked her lips, and suddenly the cheese was sticking in her throat. "What do you mean?"
"Exactly what I said."
If he got them all off the hook with Knives, there was no way Knives would let him leave again.
Meryl toyed with the glass. "I just . . . I just told him that I expected him to do the impossible." Why had she said it? Why had she told him not to give up? What on Gunsmoke did she think he could confront Knives with? His fist? His idiotic behavior?
"Why?"
Because his dead best friend told me to? Meryl closed her eyes. "I don't know."
Aaron grunted, then raised his eyes to some point over her head. Meryl refused to turn, stealing a last piece of meat, and Elizabeth apparently crossed the room behind her to take the seat on her right. Long, graceful fingers helped herself to some breakfast, and she arched an eyebrow at Meryl.
"Where have you been?"
She told herself that bristling was just what the engineer wanted. "Taking a moonlit stroll." She tried to sound as civil as possible.
Elizabeth gave her a strange look, then leaned in closer, studying her eyes intently. Meryl found herself leaning away self-consciously, her brows furrowed. So what if she had a smudge of dirt on her face -
That elegant hand caught her wrist, turning it over before Meryl thought to resist. Without a word, Elizabeth tugged her jacket sleeve up, and studied the pale skin there. There was a series of small white blisters, lined up like wandering yarn, that came up from her inner forearm and stopped before they reached her palm.
Meryl stared at them, eyes wide, and Elizabeth's expression became quite a bit more serious. "You interacted with the Plants again."
Meryl yanked her arm away, reacting instantly to the accusatory tone. "They interacted with me," she protested. "They chased me half an ile and-"
And then she didn't really know.
"Meryl, this is serious." The engineer leaned forward, but then she hesitated, and Meryl realized she'd withdrawn to the opposite edge of her chair. "This isn't like last time," and this time Elizabeth modulated her tone. "The radiation exposure was much higher, it was to your blood. That wouldn't happen unless . . . " She trailed off, apparently in thought. "What happened after they chased you?"
Meryl stood, surprised when it was so painful, her muscles still so stiff. "Nothing. I don't know. I passed out and had a dream."
"Of a dead guy," Carter elaborated. "And you were out for hours."
"What do you mean, it wouldn't happen 'unless'? What aren't you telling me?" She refused to be put off by a sudden look of understanding from the engineer, who sank back into her own seat.
"That's all you remember? Did they touch you?"
"Answer me," Meryl grated.
Elizabeth took her time in selecting a piece of cheese, suddenly no longer interested. "I'm not really sure how it would happen," she said airily. "After all, anyone who had had that level of exposure would be dead, or at the very least missing a limb, like Doc." Meryl received another once-over. "Clearly the Plants are interested in avoiding unnecessary damage to you."
She's jealous, Meryl realized suddenly. It was the second time they had touched her, and though it had knocked her unconscious both times, she was still alive. They were fascinated in her for some reason. And now that she knew the blisters were there, she could feel they weren't cold so much as numb. They didn't hurt.
In fact, this body-gripping chill could simply be numbness. There was no telling how far the blisters had spread.
Meryl schooled her features as best she could. "Well, that's more than I can say for their brother."
Elizabeth allowed the change in topic. "On that note, you might want to grab a shower before Knives realizes that Librett gave us towels."
Giving her a graceful out to check on the damage? Still, she had a point – a towel would be a lovely thing indeed. It took a long time to air dry their clothes after they washed them in the shower, and there wasn't an unlimited amount of soap. Not having to slip back into a dirty pair of pants after finally getting clean would be a relief.
"Good idea," she heard herself mutter, and without another word she turned and left the room. She felt someone's eyes on her as she headed straight for the bathroom, but it was hard to say who. Probably Aaron, wondering if she was more injured than she seemed. If he was still thinking of leaving Vash behind, then he was still thinking about escape.
Which was a hell of a lot smarter than telling Vash that she believed in him to get them out of this. Meryl swept into the bathroom, closing the door behind her with difficulty before leaning back against it. How could she be so selfish. . . .?
The back of her eyelids had no answers, and Meryl eventually opened her eyes and forced herself to face the facts, forced her fingers to unzip the New Kennedy uniform jacket.
The bathroom truly was utilitarian; the room was triangularly shaped, with the door opening inside. You had to almost straddle the toilet to get the door closed, and once it was, you had access to the sink. The point of the triangle was the shower, which was nothing more than a spigot for water and a drain, and anytime you used it, you got the rest of the room soaking wet. Which didn't matter much, because previously there had been no mirror or towels to worry about.
But now the small rack above the toilet made sense, because there was still a fluffy white towel, neatly folded and waiting.
More to the point, it seemed at least ten degrees warmer in there than the hallway outside, and there was condensation on the sink hardware.
Was that from . . . steam?
Her stinky clothes were off in a flash, confirming her worst fears about the amount of forest material she had brought back with her. Grass and dirt littered the floor as she shucked everything, almost afraid to look at herself.
The tiny blisters followed her veins, just like Elizabeth had said, through her elbow and halfway up her upper arm. But they stopped before they went any higher, like someone had grabbed her arm to keep her steady. Meryl looked lower, around her stomach, where Wolfwood had picked her up-
A belt of pale white blisters, that didn't seem to move up or down her torso.
So it hadn't been Wolfwood after all. It had been the Plants.
She delicately touched the blisters, but like the ones on her right arm, they didn't hurt at all. The skin wasn't red around them; it was actually more pale than the rest of her, and just as numb. She wasn't sure if that was good or bad, but there was nothing to be done about it other way. She was almost glad there was still no mirror in the room; she wondered what it was Elizabeth had seen in her eyes that had given it away.
How bad could it be, if the broom-head hadn't noticed?
But then, he probably hadn't really been looking at her. Hard to see through tears. She'd had a recent reminder of that herself.
Meryl dropped her hand, approaching the shower spigot. Her naked skin had confirmed that it did indeed feel warmer here than the kitchen, and she hesitantly grabbed the knob on the right, that had previously done nothing at all.
She turned it, and scaldingly hot water splashed down on her from above.
Meryl contained her yelp as best she could, flinching back into the sink and trying to get to the cold water faucet . In a few short seconds she was standing under a fountain of pure, perfectly heated bliss. She fished something spiny and hard out of her hair – thankfully not a bug – and then she got to scrubbing as fast as she could, before the hot water was all gone. Before she got warm and her skin could start to hurt.
Why had she said those things?
"Would it matter if she was?"
Meryl growled, no longer sure she was actually standing on her feet. She couldn't feel anything else touching her.
"Would you really want the tall girl to see you like this?"
Meryl couldn't help an stab a hurt, followed quickly by defensiveness. "That's none of your business!"
How awful did she look . . . ? Were the Plants really touching her?
"I know things look bad. Real bad. This is probably the worst it could get" He paused to take a drag. "At times like this, all you can do is have faith."
She almost opened her eyes. Almost. How the hell could he say that? "What do you mean?" Surely he wasn't telling her to pray their problems away?
"Faith is belief in something bigger than you are." Another drag on the cigarette, that she could smell, she would swear she could really smell it. "Everyone of faith believes in something. So believe already."
Meryl couldn't help herself. "That is the most useless piece of advice you could possibly have given me, isn't it."
A snort. "Like you'd take my advice anyway." It almost sounded sad.
Meryl hesitated. "If I opened my eyes . . . would I see you?"
It was quiet for a long time. "I already told you. You're just going to have to try it and find out."
There was a gust of cold air on her back.
Meryl whipped around and this time she didn't keep her yelp to herself, and Elizabeth gave her a look. Given how tiny the bathroom was, the other woman was practically on top of her, and probably getting wet from the spray. "It's just me-"
"Hey! Get out of here! What the hell is wrong with you!?" Meryl tried to cover up as best she could, and the engineer frowned but didn't touch her, looking at her critically from her forehead down. She stopped when she got to her stomach, and Meryl bit back her annoyance and promised herself it was alright to deck the other woman if she so much as looked like she was going to touch her.
"That's not as bad as I would have thought," the engineer murmured to herself. "Turn around."
"I'm fine-"
"Turn. Around."
Meryl huffed but did as she was told – as well as she could in the confined space – and craned her neck around, just to make sure the other woman kept her hands to herself. Elizabeth gave her a cursory look, then gestured with her chin. "Pull up your hair, would you?"
"He didn't touch my neck-"
"Who?" Her voice was sharp.
The dead priest. "The – the Plants. I dreamt they were someone else. They didn't touch my neck."
"Just do it." It sounded like it was being forced between clenched teeth.
Meryl released her breasts and flicked up the back of her hair, being sure to send as much water as possible splashing out. If Elizabeth objected, she didn't say anything about it, and Meryl turned half around after a few seconds, trying to get a read on the engineer.
It didn't feel like there were any blisters, and Elizabeth confirmed it with a shake of her head. "Just to be sure, we should let Doc check you out. Did you see him yesterday?"
Meryl released her hair and kept her back to the engineer. "No. Can you please leave now?"
"I'm surprised a woman like you would be so prudish," came her smooth reply. "You shouldn't be so embarrassed by your body."
Meryl grit her teeth. "You're letting in cold air."
The engineer simply laughed, but she did back out into the hall, and in the next second the door was firmly closed. "Take all the time you need," she called through the door, and Meryl kicked it in reply.
Towels were well and good, but a lock would have been perfect.
-x-
It was late afternoon before the door opened, without a knock, and she was not at all surprised to see that it was Vash.
"Time for our daily chat?" she said lightly, by way of greeting, and he had the good grace to grimace.
"I'm sorry, there was something I needed to take care of." He entered the kitchen, giving Aaron a nod. He didn't look any worse for wear, dressed in the same basic clothes he'd worn yesterday. His eyes were tired and searching, and Elizabeth let him look as much as he wanted.
What's going on in that head of yours, Vash?
"Is th- is Meryl here?"
"Napping." She'd chosen to wash her clothes as well as herself, and had curled up in her towel in their 'bedroom' while she was waiting for the uniform to dry. The twin suns had baked the clothing long ago, and Aaron had brought them back in after he did his mid-morning exercises. He didn't seem happy, but she was betting that had more to do with the results of his physical tests and less to do with the fact that he was handling someone else's laundry.
Vash simply nodded. "She had a rough night."
"Said she was talking to ghosts."
His lips curved up in a strange little smile. "Wolfwood," he said, after a pause. "Nicholas D. Wolfwood, priest and gunman. He was . . . he was my best friend."
Elizabeth let her eyebrows twitch. That was an odd combination for a best friend. "Maybe he should have been talking to you."
His eyes looked hurt, though she couldn't figure out quite how he could have taken it as an attack. "I hear a lot of ghosts. Not sure he can cut through the crowd."
Of course. Vash was feeling very aggressively sorry for himself again today. "Not much of a friend then," she observed. "What can we do?"
The change in topic seemed to rouse him from his thoughts; when next he looked at her, he was really looking. He had the beginnings of a fine blond beard, and his hair was now so long that his bangs drooped lower than his eyebrows. But his eyes were clear and present.
"I was hoping I could get your opinion on something," he ventured. "Would you take a walk with me?"
That was a loaded question. "Of course," she replied immediately, and unwound her long legs, standing from the table. Carter had been leaning in the corner, simply listening, but when he stepped forward as well, Vash looked at him directly.
"Can I ask you to stay and keep an eye on Meryl?"
His eyes cut to her, and she gave him a subtle nod. Vash obviously wanted to talk about the project, or any way he could use it to convince Knives. There was no more danger here than anywhere else, and they weren't exactly friends.
Aaron could run his plan by Vash when they got back.
Carter inclined his head, leaning back against the wall with a wave of his hand. "You want her to stay inside?"
"If at all possible." Vash hesitated. "Our sisters seem to be very curious about her, but . . . they don't intact directly with many humans. She needs a chance to rest."
Aaron's look hardened, just enough that she thought she might have imagined it. Vash didn't seem to notice. "If you get an opening, take them and run. Your vehicles are in the depot on the north side, and most of your supplies are still in them. I'll make sure Knives won't follow."
Elizabeth felt herself straighten in surprise, but Vash didn't look her way, eyes still locked with Carter. He was unfazed by this sudden announcement.
"What about Doc?"
"He'll be staying with us," was all Vash said, then turned back to her, and offered the crook of his arm. "Shall we?"
Elizabeth schooled her features and accepted his gesture, and they exited the kitchen into the bright light of Gunsmoke. Vash didn't seem to be in a particular hurry, nor did he seem to have a particular destination in mind. He turned left, following the foot trail that she had initially followed in her first search of Knives, and she was content to let him think.
After a few minutes, the silence was getting to be a little much. "So, you want to tell me the plan?"
She watched his cheekbones rise in a smile, but he didn't look her way. "Not really a plan," he admitted. "You know they're not my strong point."
She snorted indelicately. That was an understatement. "Well, there are no children or bars in Eden, Spot, so your typical coping pursuits are out."
"There is a bar," he objected. "Knives installed one in the house for me."
"Let me guess. He doesn't drink."
Vash sighed. "There's really not much point. Our metabolisms are so fast getting drunk takes significant effort . . . " Then he trailed off. "Probably not for me anymore," he added quietly. "Guess I should have tried that, huh."
Elizabeth patted his arm. "I'm surprised it wasn't your first thought. How did your fight with Knives go?"
Vash shook his head, choosing a branch in the trail that led to nowhere in particular. "We didn't. Not yet."
So he was going to stage the fight and have them escape in the diversion. "Vash, where's Doc?"
He looked away, watching the rim of the valley. "They found something in the research Knives didn't like. He's in a coma, in a laboratory none of you have access to enter."
Elizabeth felt her stomach grow cooler. So it didn't have to do with the project. It had to do with him. "Are you dying?"
Vash's head cocked, like he hadn't thought of it. "I guess that depends on your definition of life."
She brought them both to a stop, using his arm to pull him around to face her. "Answer my question. What do you need, Vash?"
In response, he apologetically removed his arm from her grasp, and put his hand in his pocket. He came back up with a sleek silver syringe. "I have to ask you to do something for me, Elizabeth."
She glanced at the syringe, but it was opaque metal, clearly Lost Technology. She'd seen like equipment on the New Kennedy, which was doubtlessly where that came from. There was no telling the contents. "You've got a hand. Give yourself your own shot," she said bluntly. "What's in it?"
"Stimulant," he replied, his voice slightly tighter.
She stared at him, speechless. He slipped it back into his pocket, obviously not intending to use it right then, but it didn't matter when - "Are you out of your mind?"
It wasn't caffeine he was talking about. It was Plant stimulant. It was the chemical that they fed to Plants in bulbs when they were not producing optimally. It was only to be used when a Plant was healthy enough to be forced, and even then in strict moderation. If that syringe was even half full, then it was twice the dose she'd recommend for a Plant-
For a Plant his size.
And he wasn't a Plant, not really, not anymore. He was as close to human as he could be. That much stimulant would kill a human, plain and simple.
He shrugged, trying for a lopsided grin. "Maybe?"
"Vash, don't be an idiot. Doc told us your Gate is suppressed. Even if it actually worked, do you have any idea what could happen if it was uncontrollably unsuppressed?"
He rubbed the back of his neck with one of his high-pitched giggles. "Yes, well now that you mention it, that's why I was thinking it would be a good idea if I tried it when I was in a bulb, you know? That way the risk to everyone else is minimized. But it's not as easy as you'd think to install yourself, ha ha! So I thought I'd ask my favorite Plant engineer-"
She slapped him. Hard. "I will not help you commit suicide," she growled at him.
The slap had turned his face, and he stared out at Eden, his jaw muscles prominent. "You've already tried to blow Knives up once this week. I thought you'd leap at a second chance."
Elizabeth reeled, taking a step back in shock. "How dare you use that, Vash. How dare you."
"Elizabeth, I'm not human." He turned to face her. "I am a Plant. You know that better than most. My body cannot continue to function like this. I am a walking bomb, and July will happen across a third of the planet when I go off. The longer we wait, the more certain that threat. It may already be too late, and I can't risk waiting any longer." He took a step closer to her, closing the distance. "I can handle it. Believe in me."
She stared at him in shock. Did he truly realize what he was saying? "Vash, if you succeed in manifesting, and you can't control your Gate, it'll be a Last Run. It will kill you."
He nodded. "It might."
"And what do you think will happen to the rest of us when you're gone?"
"The same thing that will happen to you if I stay like this," he replied, his voice steady. "Elizabeth, as I am now, there is nothing I can do to change Knives' mind. There is nothing I can do to protect you, or to stop him. As far as he's concerned, I'm already as good as dead." Vash's adam's apple bobbed. "This might be our only chance."
God damn that man. "No. This? This is a coward's way out." She turned on her heels, already marching back to the house, trembling with rage. He could not ask her to do this. He could not.
A hand closed on her shoulder, much firmer than she expected, and she lashed out with a backhand. He'd anticipated, dodging by a fraction of an inch, and he caught her wrist as she came back for another swing.
"I am not installing you in a bulb, Vash! You don't belong in one!" She knew she was shouting, she tried to free her wrist but he held it tight, and the fracture flared in protest. "You don't know what you looked like! You couldn't even float, Vash! I am not going to watch you die in one! I won't!"
She was never going to look at a monitor and see that pathetic mound of distressed feathers ever again. She was never going to stand there like she couldn't tell that he was turning himself inside out trying to find relief.
She was not going to watch him die like that.
Vash's eyes were locked to hers, clearly seeking something, and she yanked at her trapped wrist. "Let me go."
He smiled then, brilliantly, the smile he showed when it hurt the most. ". . . I am." It never faltered. "I don't know what else to do, Elizabeth. Please."
She couldn't stop the tears, but after another tug she was free, and then he had embraced her. She pounded against his chest, but the strikes were short and compressed, and it had been so long since anyone had held her like they never wanted to let her go.
-x-
It was late afternoon when she opened her eyes.
Meryl blinked blearily, trying to get her bearings. The sunlight was streaming through her bedroom window, warming her legs, and she shifted the towel down as she stretched with a jaw-cracking yawn.
The . . towel . . .?
Meryl eeped, snatching the terrycloth back to her body and sitting bolt upright in her cot. Thank god the towel had stayed on, it didn't look like she'd shifted much in her sleep, otherwise Carter or Peeping Liz would have gotten more of a show than she'd already put on-
She heard fabric hit the floor with a soft plop, and she curiously stuck her head over the side of the cot. Her uniform, which had been neatly folded presumably at her feet, was still mostly in a pile, looking a little lopsidedly forlorn. She was alone in the room, and there was no sound of voices at all.
Meryl took the opportunity to get dressed, any stray drowsiness long gone, and as she pulled on her boots, it occurred to her that she hadn't bothered to ask Vash if he'd mailed her letter. The pocket where she had been keeping the photograph felt strangely empty.
He would have liked to have seen that photograph.
A little unnerved at the silence, she padded as carefully as possible in her boots into the men's room – but it was empty. No sign of Doc or Aaron. She passed the darkened bathroom on her way to the kitchen, and she was a little relieved to find Aaron Carter there, staring out the window. The light made his hair look almost blond, and in profile, his face looked hard. There was no sign of anyone else.
Her unnerved feeling intensified. "Aaron?"
He pulled back from the windowsill, giving her the same once-over she'd given him over breakfast. "You up for a walk?"
She'd recognize the undercurrent of his tone anywhere. "What happened?"
"Hasn't yet," came the reply. Carter was already headed to the door, and she followed, having to take almost two strides to his every one. "Vash took Elizabeth. I think he's going to create a diversion."
They were leaving. They were leaving? "What about Doc-"
Carter kept walking, obviously with a destination in mind. "Not coming."
Her strides faltered, watching his back shrink as he never slowed. Not coming could mean a lot of things, but it most likely meant-
"Keep up," he barked over his shoulder, and she was jogging after him before she even thought about it.
"What happened?" she demanded again, and he turned his head enough for her to catch the corner of his left eye.
"Didn't ask," he replied. "Our vehicles are on the north side of the valley. If anything happens, I will handle Librett and Wright. You take Miss Elizabeth and you leave me here, you copy?"
Again, Meryl balked. No. No, that was not okay. They had arrived as a party, she wasn't just going to leave him to be killed-
Don't misunderstand. I need to know if you can leave him here.
She wouldn't just be leaving Aaron. Vash was the diversion.
Vash was the diversion meant to save them. To give them a head start.
"I'll keep her safe," Meryl said softly. There was no condition she could put on Aaron. Come back alive? I don't want to lose anyone else? Bring Vash with you?
She'd asked for enough. She'd asked for far, far too much. It was time to give back.
Carter grunted, but it didn't sound quite as militant as his tone had previously, and she half jogged after him as he swiftly followed a well-worn trail that wound haphazardly down into the valley. They passed by several small white sheds before Carter stopped, sizing one up.
It did not appear to have a door. Not that that meant anything.
Meryl, however, was a little more worried about the size of the shed. "Uh, did you inquire as the nature of this, erm, diversion they were creating?"
He gave her a droll look, then stepped up to the wall until he was nearly nosing it. Nothing happened, though he glared pretty fiercely, and he sighed, taking a step back and re-evaluating.
Soundlessly, a rectangular black hole opened.
Carter stepped inside without pause, though she couldn't tell if there was even a floor, or it was just an abyss.
"Stryfe, move!"
She held back another eep and followed, hopping over the threshold just as the door hissed shut. She felt it brush her backside as it closed, and for a split second she was alone in a black as night shed the size of a closet with Aaron Carter.
Then strips of soft blue lighting flickered to life along the walls, and she had the feeling of movement.
It was an elevator. And it was going down.
She accidentally brushed the front of Aaron's uniform as she caught her balance, and he steadied her with a firm hand. "You okay?"
She nodded. "Yes sir," she added, just a little sarcastically, and he actually grinned.
"I'm glad you dragged in during my shift, Miss Insurance Agent."
"Likewise." It was silent for a moment, save the low hum of the elevator moving. "Do you know where we're going?"
"No clue. You ready?"
For the unexpected? "Why not," she murmured, and then they slid smoothly to a stop, and the hissing sound came from behind Aaron, rather than behind her.
He had already spun, and was out the door before she realized that the place they had arrived was as poorly lit as the place they had just occupied. There was the impression of a vast space, a dankness to the air that told her of air that didn't circulate often. As she stepped out, she found the floor was rock, not quite smooth, and to her immediate right was something enormous and familiar.
It was a bulb. A Plant bulb.
Meryl blinked in surprise, letting her eyes get adjusted to the dim, and then she was clear of the elevator totally, and stepping beneath the bulb.
There were dozens. It was an enormous underground cave, and it was full of Plant bulbs.
Some of them had occupants.
Meryl stopped where she was, just staring. The bulb beside her was empty, but the one beside it was ever so gently buzzing. A Plant sister was inside, floating just like every Plant she'd personally viewed and signed for on the Bernardelli forms for insuring the reactor project. In fact, that one in particular reminded her of –
Of Hondelic. She was the Plant from Hondelic. She had that one tiny leg coming out of her left side, like a baby had started to grow inside of her and kicked one of its feet right out of her body. She paid Meryl no attention, and seemed to be raptly staring across the cave.
Meryl followed her gaze, but the bulb there was dark. The monitor beside it was lit, but it was hard to tell, all she could really see was the slight halo of a figure-
A figure in a New Kennedy uniform.
Aaron had already come to the same conclusion – but then, he must have seen her come down here, Meryl realized abruptly. That was why he'd been standing at the window, and that was why he'd chosen that shed-elevator. She hurried across the cave floor, noting that there were at least two glowing bulbs to her left as well.
So Knives had been reinstalling the Plants after all.
But what kind of diversion were they going to use the Plants to create . . ?
She didn't seem to have heard them approach, because when Carter touched her shoulder, Elizabeth jumped. With her eyes adjusting slowly to the darkness, Meryl made out something at Elizabeth's feet, about the size of a cat, and then Aaron's deep voice rumbled through the air.
"You what?"
The engineer gave a breathy snort – or maybe a laugh? – and then she turned, and backlit against the monitor, Meryl could see that Elizabeth was crying.
"I told you to stay where you were," she snapped, and her voice was the arch, commanding tone Elizabeth Boulaise was famous for. "You don't follow orders very well."
"I quit, remember?" Carter glanced up at the dark bulb. "Whose idea was this?"
Elizabeth kept her back to the bulb, and Meryl suddenly realized that it wasn't a cat by Elizabeth's feet. It was a small pile of clothes, slightly lopsided and forlorn.
When it all clicked, she felt strangely calm. She stared into the dark bulb, willing her eyes to focus, and there was a flicker of motion in the depths.
"It's what he wanted," Elizabeth said quietly, in response to Aaron's question.
"Vash is in there," Meryl said, and she realized it wasn't a question. "You . . . you put Vash . . . in a bulb."
"Vash put himself in the bulb," the engineer shot back. "All I did was - make sure he couldn't get out." Her voice caught only once.
So not only was he in a bulb, he was in a bulb he couldn't escape. But that was every bulb; that was kind of the point of them.
"Vash programmed it," she added, and Meryl glanced at the engineer uncertainly before she realized she was still talking to Aaron. "It can't be controlled through the network anymore."
Which mean it couldn't be shut off.
But Vash's gate was inert, wasn't it? Wasn't that the whole problem? So what was the point-
You're more than a gunman, Vash. You're more than a stupid Plant. You're a force of nature.
Meryl closed her eyes.
Of course Vash would come to that conclusion. Of course he would. If he'd lost his Plant powers, and he needed them to deal with Knives, he'd just get them back. Simple.
"Will he survive?"
There was a soft sigh, and Meryl glanced again at Elizabeth, surprised her eyes had adjusted so quickly in such a short span of time. She could clearly see the engineer, and Aaron, who was looking up at the bulb and had positioned himself between it and Elizabeth, which was silly, it wasn't like Vash could suddenly hop out –
That sigh was familiar.
Meryl slowly followed Aaron's gaze, up to the top of the bulb, where a Plant was draped over the curve of the glass like melted candle wax. She seemed perplexed; she pressed against the bulb gently, as if she expected it to give.
Elizabeth had said she had made it so Vash couldn't get back out.
There was motion, to her right, and Meryl turned in time to see the Plant from Hondelic finish drifting through the front of her own bulb. There was no sound, no shattering of glass; the Plant passed through it like it was a soap bubble, nothing but thin rubber, and it wobbled in her light for a moment as it reformed, as good as new.
With a flap of her wings the Plant crossed the twelve or so yarz to Vash's bulb, and Meryl gave her a wide berth. The Plant settled at the very end of the bulb, staring at the dark interior curiously, and then she butted it with her chest like a dog seeking attention.
The glass didn't give. She couldn't move through it.
The Plant pondered this problem, and with the light they cast, it was easier to see that Vash was in the bulb. He was lying in the bottom, on his back, but she couldn't tell much besides his shifting every now and then. His hair was only a very dull yellow. She couldn't make out his expression at all.
"Don't look," Elizabeth commanded sharply. "Meryl, just trust me."
Meryl glanced between the engineer and the bulb. "Is he going to survive this?" she repeated, a little more forcefully, and Elizabeth wrapped her arms around her chest and said nothing else.
Behind her, the monitor began to flash orange. The Plant from Hondelic had given up attacking the front of the bulb and had now sunk beneath it, as if perhaps she could get in that way. She brought up her wings, glowing a little more brightly, and then the bulb was fully illuminated.
Vash was not reclining on the bottom of the bulb. He was wedged against the curve, his bare toes splayed against the glass and his back arched. His arm was rigidly extended, fingers clawing into the glass as if to crumple it, and his mouth was stretched wide.
Meryl was unable to look away, and his hand clawed frantically at the glass in front of her face. There was no sound. She watched his chest heave in a breath, every cord on his neck standing out as he screamed, and there wasn't even a whisper.
Behind him, through the glass, Meryl could see another Plant approach, and she too spread her wings, wrapping them around the bulb.
It was only soundless to the humans.
"Meryl, turn around. He wouldn't want you to watch-"
"Get him out of there." Her voice wasn't as rock-steady as Elizabeth's. "Get him out of there right now!"
"I can't." It was impatient. "No one can. Vash locked out the system."
"Get him out! There has to be a way!" Meryl didn't even hesitate, she pressed her hands against the glass, where his was trying so frantically to claw through. The bulb was cool; even as she watched Vash struggle, she couldn't feel so much as a vibration. She pounded a fist against it – and she couldn't even hear her own strike. There was nothing she had on her person that would shatter that glass.
The Plant beneath the bulb copied her, laying a hand on the glass, and then, as Meryl watched, she took her other dominant hand, and put it on the glass as well. Just like she'd seen Vash do, so many times, the Plant closed her eyes, and laid her forehead against the glass.
And in the bulb, Vash responded. He rolled painfully onto his side, his eyes screwed shut but looking straight at Meryl. His hand fisted, then fell from Meryl's, sought out the lowest part of the bulb, right atop the Plant's. His fingers slowly spread, matching the Plant sister's, and he shook, shrieking into the glass.
The two other Plant sisters adopted the same pose, hands against the glass, foreheads pressed between them.
Vash curled up around his hand in fetal position, directly above his sister Plant, digging his forehead into the glass, and for a moment, it seemed like he was holding his breath. That moment stretched on into another, and then another, and Meryl realized that he wasn't moving. At all. No breath. Not so much as a twitch.
The monitor behind Elizabeth began to flash red, the glare reflecting off the clear glass.
And then the bulb gave a soft buzz.
-x-
Author's Notes: Yes, I know, cliffhanger. Sorry. (that sounded really sincere, didn't it.) I nearly broke this into two chapters, but I think we can get away with one long one in this case. It should help explain Meryl's pseudo OOC speech in the previous chapter. She's a moving target for me, probably because I let this story go so long and got out of her head. She's mad and doesn't want to let me back in. Luckily, so many of you read the other parts so long ago I'm not sure you would have noticed if I hadn't just pointed it out. ; )
So . . . I wonder what Knives will make of Vash's decision?