Disclaimer: Trigun is sadly enough not mine, or there would have been way more episodes!
Chapter 44: Vash's POV
?$€Giving one more shake of his head, he shoves the door open, startling the tech just inside the door.
"Oh! Ummmm, the public is not allowed in the plant," the man babbles, nervousness pouring off of him.
Smiling at him he fishes the papers out of his shirt before passing them to him, replying, "I'm here to check the plant, make any repairs or upgrades needed, and confirm that all is working within it."
The guy accepts the papers, only his nervousness seems to be even worse but turns to worry as he reads them over. "Oh, ummm, alright, I'm Alexander Johnken, day technician of this plant. I just got here to relieve the night tech, Emila." He pauses, looking between us before continuing to speak, "According to this paper, you are to have access to any part of the plant you need. Though I have to warn you the second plant bulb has been clouding up a lot lately, it has been a cause for alarm and no one has gone back there since it started."
He nods, "I'm Vash, this is my brother Knives. If you don't mind, we are going to look around for a bit and get a feel for everything and will meet you in main control room." He informs the man in a soothing tone, the same tone that he uses any time he wants people to relax. It is slight use of his empathy to make people relax. Too bad it doesn't always work.
Alexander nods and wanders away, allowing the two of them to look around the plant. For almost an hour the pair of go over the plant checking everything. Once they are done, they head to the main control room where Alexander and a female he figures is Emila. They are chatting while sitting by the monitor. Worry and anxiety seem to be their primary emotions. Smiling reassuringly, this is not that easy with serious Knives beside him, he greets the pair, speaking with them for a bit before taking over the computer in order to do the programming. After the practice with the other plants, he has the system needed down pact and does it almost without paying attention. When they are done with the reprogramming, he flashes his relaxing grin at the guy before telling him he is going to go check and make sure it took.
With purpose, the two brothers walk through the plant to the bulb chamber. Both stop outside of the door and glance at the other.
Ready? Knives inquires softly on the private link.
He nods and they push the door open, almost immediately upon enter Knives grabs his head and hits his knees. Vash feels the pressure too, but it does not bother him as much. For him it feels more like a need, like sorrow. Shaking his spiky head he focuses in the on the second bulb where the plant's fog is a gray color rather than the normal golden hue.
Connect me to Dai, he requests of his twin.
Give me a minute, comes the tense reply, his tone pain-filled.
Almost a breath later, his brother's intense focus forces the pain from his mind, locking him into their sister instead. Once the link is formed, Vash queries, Can you please amplify my empathy? I am not very good with it and it is needed.
It is a moment before she answers, however he feels her power long before he hears her response. Of course, brother, though you may wish to ask Iyura to teach you, she is an empath as well.
With the power surging through him, it makes it easier to determine what is causing his twins pain. Startled, he realizes that it is the second plant. She is curled into a small ball, within her bulb, her fog a soft gray though she seemed to still be golden. Walking over to the second bulb he places his hands on it but gets lost as to what to do next.
MindHealing works best with contact, allow yourself to enter the bulb and desire to be next to your sister. He hears Kikyo inform him, her tone no nonsense.
He mentally nods, focusing on being within the bulb. It is the first time he had ever attempted to enter a bulb on his own. Seconds later he is within the bulb, drifting towards the top of it, he brings himself in line with her. Lying his gently on the side of her face, much the way his sister had when she was healing him, he focuses on her mind.
Melana, Kikyo tells him.
Melana, he mind whispers, come back to yourself. Allow the pain to be free, release it. He gently touches his mind to hers, brushing against it with warmth. Focusing on her pain, he gently brushes his mind against hers as reassuring as he can. Thinking carefully, he brushes against her mind again. Unsure what he is doing, he focuses on calming effects, not sure that it is actually working.
May I borrow your mind? Kikyo inquires, he can feel her power gathering in the back of his mind.
He mentally nods, not sure what to do.
Relax, pay attention, with the type of memory we have you will be able to do this later, it is useful for MindHealing. As you get out of your teenage years and grow into your gifts, it is something you could pursue in the future. Kikyo informs him. I must warn you though, this might submerge you in the hive.
Again he mentally nods, not sure what to do. Ummm, okay, he finally replies.
The next thing he knows the soft presence is replaced by hard resolve. He can feel her take over the control of his body, and after a small nudge of power, he relaxes enough to allow her access to his gifts as well. Despite that, he stays aware as she takes his power and smoothes the edges of Melana's power, from there she seems to shift, filtering through memories and softening edges wherever there seems to be a disturbance. Somewhere along the way he feels her break away from Dai's amplifying ability and is shocked by how much power there still seems to be available to her for use. After what seems like forever in his head, but he is pretty sure is only a matter of minutes she removes him from the bulb, carefully getting him to a sitting position before setting his power and mind loose.
Swaying, he is very happy that she released him sitting down because the power used makes him sleepy.
Knives' POV
Take your twin home and return here later with your females, I am interested in meeting them. The voice in his head is gentle but firm, familiar even. We shall discuss these events later, however both Vash and Melana need to rest.
He nods, scooping his twin up with ease before turning to leave. The plant tech sees him, and tries to stop him, badgering him with questions. Annoyed, he turns his telepathy on him, making him forget that the two brothers were there but expecting that there was to be a major plant tech coming to visit in order to make sure everything was running in peak order sometime in the next fort-eight hours. Once that is done, he returns to leaving the plant.
Vash is curled up against his chest with a trust he had not seen from him in years. He is startled by how light his twin is, and is mildly concerned that there is something physically wrong to make him thus. At the same time, he delights in the fact that his twin seems to trust him again. That was the one thing that he had sought over the course of his life after the Fall.
As he walks through the nearly deserted town, he thinks about the fact that Kikyo had said that they were teenagers, not yet fully adults. That almost confused him since they had physically matured to this point within the first few years of life and had not changed since. Perhaps she had meant mentally developmentally they were equivalent to human teenagers. For some reason that bothered him even more than he wanted to admit to. It was something he would have to ask one of the elders, perhaps Tala since she had seemed fond of him, when he was not carrying his twin in a potentially hostile environment.
Upon returning to the hotel, he uses his mind to catch the attention of one of the humans working there in order to have them open the doors, both the one to the outside and the one to his twins sleeping area. He is pretty sure that he is going to be yelled at for using his control rather than asking, but at this point he would rather just get Vash to bed to sleep off the power usage in relative safety. Once in his twin's room, he carefully lays him on the bed, debating about whether to take his boots and over shirt off or not. Frowning, he considers the fact that he prefers to be without his upon waking, so maybe so would his twin. In all the times he had seen him sleeping, he rarely slept fully dressed expect for when traveling in the desert itself.
Still frowning, he carefully disrobes his brother down to his undergarments. It is the first time in years he had actually been close enough to make out each scar and as he uncovers them his mind flashes through the reports he had received from his minions about the damage they had caused to his twin. By the time he is done, the emotional pain from doing all that damage begins to surface, making him wish he could go back and correct things. Covering Vash up with the sheet, he lays his head against the side of the bed as he sits in a chair he had pulled over and cries silently.
Damn, he thinks, I have taunted him for his beliefs and his scars. Yet he was still faster and stronger than me. With this much damage, it is no surprise he never came back to me, particularly since I was the cause of the damage. What the hell am I going to do now? I definitely owe him a debt, just how to go about repaying it? Why would he even risk trying to save me? It does not make sense. Surely he must have realized I was beyond saving, only…his thoughts trail off as he realizes that was incorrect. Wait, I wasn't beyond saving, it was just something difficult to do.
Lost in his depressed thoughts, he does not hear when the girls come back and stand watching him.
