Vash opened the door to his brother's holding room. Knives lay on the large slab
concrete. Large metal cuffs were bolted into the concrete and circled the man's
ankles. His wrists were held by similar looking cuffs but these had a thin layer
of copper on the inside right next to the unconscious man's skin. Knives lay on
a blanket that Vash had dug up from somewhere but Vash doubted his brother would
appreciate it. Twisted pieces of metal lay around the concrete slab in shiny
multicolored heaps. Vash had been able to bend these kinds of metal too easily.
They never would've been able to hold his brother down, even without his power.
Vash put his hand on his brother's forehead. He needed to do this now. It would
be too cruel if it happened while his brother was alone. Vash tapped his
brother's cheek with the back of one finger.
"Knives, wake up," he whispered.
Knives stirred. Vash tapped him again. Knives opened his eyes and looked up at
his brother. Vash took a step back as his brother sat up. Knives looked at his
ankles, wrists, arms, Vash, and the room with its collection of mangled metal
and the small cabinet on the far side of the room. He turned back to his
brother.
"What the hell did you do to my arms, Vash. I don't enjoy stabbing pain in my
appendages. You should know that."
Vash didn't reply.
"What did you do, Vash? Do you think you've caught me, Vash?"
Vash didn't respond.
"Are you mute, you idiot? Does this help?" Knives telepathically talked to his
brother.
"I'd thought you'd prefer talking with grunts like the humans do."
Knives tugged against one of his wrist cuffs.
"You've actually spent some time on this haven't you? Still trying to protect
your gut flora from the fact that their entire existence is based on the slow
murder of our kind? You're even wearing their clothes now ... Vash you really
disappoint me. I think that's a woman's shirt. "
Knives tugged harder on his wrist cuffs. Vash took another step back.
"I hope I didn't make you're scars much worse when I shot you. I couldn't do
much more damage than what the humans had already done."
Vash didn't reply.
"Do you have a tongue any more or did they shoot that off as well? Are any cells
working in that derelict head of yours?"
Knives was getting angry.
"Vash, talk to me. "
No response.
"TALK TO ME NOW!" he screamed out loud.
The angel arm effect appeared only for a fraction of a second before purple and
black rays of energy erupted outwards from Knives' arms. Yellow sparks spewed
out from the copper bands as the rays looped back on themselves and were sucked
back into the bands. The air crackled and hissed as the raw energy rays were reabsorbed.
The seething rays heated the copper and fused the ends of the bands together
sealing them in perfect circles around Knives' arms. Knives cried out with
screams of hot white rage and agony as his angel arm energy traveled through the
silvery metal coils, down the spike and into his bone. The metal fused with the
bone as the energy spread out through his entire body. Knives face contorted in
tortured arrays as every neuron in his body was lacerated from the concentrated
blast of his own energy. He fainted. The sparking fizzled out as the
energy was slowly reabsorbed. Vash watched the entire
sequence with hardened sad eyes. He walked up to his brother and put his hand on
his brother's forehead.
"You'll live, Knives, but you won't be killing anyone any more," he said sadly.
"There isn't any other way."
Vash leaned down, kissed his brother's forehead, and started to cry. Someone
started banging loudly on the door. More banging was added as Vash dropped to
the floor sobbing. He heard Milly's voice.
"Vash, it's us. What's going on? Are you okay? We heard screaming."
"Get away from here," he yelled with tears falling from his eyes to the floor.
"I don't need you now. Go away. Go back to your room."
His voice trailed off to a soft sad whisper.
"Damn these doors," Meryl muttered. "Milly, get your stun gun."
The banging stopped as the big agent walked back to her room.
"Vash, please tell us if you're okay? Are you hurt? Is Knives okay? You told us
to protect Knives."
Meryl waited for a response and then ran away down the corridor. Vash didn't
know what to say.
"Of course he was hurt. Yes, his brother was hurt and no, he definitely was not
okay and it was his fault. All of it. Damn it.
"Why did I bring these two here?" he thought.
There was silence for a few moments.
"Vash, we just want to know if you're hurt," said Meryl as she returned outside
the door. "We want to help you."
No response.
"All right. Milly. Fire at the door."
"Right on!"
"Stop it!" Vash yelled. "Don't fire. I'll open the door."
He crawled to the console by the side of the door and pressed a few buttons. The
door opened. The first thing the agents saw were the piles of twisted metal.
Milly, dressed in pajamas, carrying her stun gun, entered the room, but didn't see Vash sitting off to the side on the floor of the room. She ran forward to Knives. Despite
the agony he had been through, Knives' hospital gown had only been singed in a
few places, but other than that there was no sign of any injury.
"Mr. Knives, are you okay?"
No response. Meryl had her cape on over her pajamas. She looked around the room
and spotted Vash lying beside a hunk of metal.
"Vash!" she cried out as she saw him on the floor, wiping tears from his eyes.
She rushed over to him and sat down beside him. Vash turned his face away from
her.
"Vash, what's wrong?" she asked as she put her hand on his arm and tried to turn
him towards her.
Vash flicked her hand away.
"I'm fine. I'll be okay," he said, trying to stop his tears.
"What happened? Something happened in here."
"Mr. Knives looks a little singed, but he seems alive," said Milly as she walked
over to Vash, her stun gun in hand.
"He tried to use his angel arms," said Vash, unsuccessfully blocking the sound
of tears from his voice. "The dampeners took the energy and forced it back through his body. It hurts him when that happens."
The girls presence did calm him down. He turned around to face them. They
immediately scrutinized him for any signs of injury.
"You weren't hurt then?" asked Meryl in disbelief.
She kicked at a piece of twisted metal for emphasis.
"No. I wasn't hurt. I ... didn't like seeing that happen to him."
Milly gave him a gentle pat on the back.
"We want you to be okay too, Mr. Vash," she said cheerfully.
Vash smiled.
"What happened to all this metal?" asked Meryl, still doubtful if Vash was
uninjured.
"You don't need to worry. That was just me," Vash said lightly as he got up off
the floor.
He looked back at his comatose brother.
"I really wish I didn't have to make anybody suffer," he thought. He walked out
of the room,his two chaperones trailing after him.
"You look like you haven't slept at all, Vash. Did you get any rest last night?"
Meryl gently asked.
"No. I'll be staying with Knives now. I think it'll be better that way. He needs
me right now, and he needs to know what happened."
Vash stopped outside the agent's room.
"No guns allowed at breakfast, ladies," he said poking at Meryl's cape. "You'll
have to put them away."
Meryl harumphed at him as she and Milly went into their room and started to
detach their weaponry. Vash spied Meryl's suitcase lying open on the table. He
took out the spare dampener, the last remaining item in the suitcase.
"What are you going to do with that?" asked Meryl quickly.
"You don't need to be so critical, " said Vash putting on his biggest fake grin.
"I'm just going to lock it away in Knive's room."
"No you're not," said Meryl as she chucked her cloak on her bed and tried to
grab the dampener away from Vash.
The tall man held the dampener above his head as Meryl pathetically grabbed at
it. She realized her flailing was getting her no where. She stopped and sat down
on one of chairs positioned around the table.
"Can I go back to the room with you at least?"
"Not if you're still wearing your pajamas." Vash said slyly.
Meryl glared at him, grabbed her day cloths, and went in the bathroom to change.
Vash shouted loudly in the direction of the bathroom, "Even though your pajamas
are much nicer than Meryl's, you'll have to change too, Milly."
"Okay, Mr. Vash" said Milly just as loudly.
"Shut up, you two," barked Meryl. "You're still in Milly's clothing, Vash. I
wouldn't complain."
"Okay, okay, I'll change before we go to breakfast."
Vash's shirt a was grubby, sweat stained, tear stained mess. He had a
spare outfit here on the ship. He'd have to go back to his room and get it now.
"Sorry about this, Milly," said Vash, apologetically. "I can make up for it
though. Would you like some ship clothing to wear?"
"Oh, wow! Can I get a pretty dress?" squealed Milly.
"Maybe."
Meryl, dressed in her day cloths, stepped out of the bathroom and hauled Vash
out of the room. They walked down to Knives' room.
"Vash, can you fix the door so Milly and I can get in?"
"Not yet," he said firmly. "It's too dangerous for you to be alone with him."
Vash's hand print opened the door and he and Meryl walked inside. Vash went over
to the cabinet, opened a drawer, placed the dampener inside, and locked the
drawer. Taking a key out of his pocket Vash said, "When he stops shocking himself, I'll
let you both come in here and I'll give you this, then."
Vash didn't say that he'd most likely be dead if she ever needed to use it. They
exited and met a freshly dressed Milly back at the girls' room. They walked to
the elevators. Vash stopped before one of the huge windows.
"We'll have to watch the suns rise tomorrow. It's beautiful to see from
the sky."
"I'd like that a lot," said Meryl starring out the window.
Milly smiled at her little partner and promised herself that she'd sleep in
extra late tomorrow morning. They took the elevator down to the twenty-first
floor, the level right above where that plants were kept.
"Wait here," Vash said as they got off the elevator. "My room hasn't been used
for a long time. I don't want you two to see what 20 years of dust looks like."
Vash took off down the corridor while Milly held Meryl in place.
"Now Meryl, he's just going to his room. Let's let him keep his dignity. He
might have left out a few underwear. My brothers were always doing that ..."
Vash reminded himself to get Milly whatever dress she wanted from the ship's
tailors. He rounded a corner and stopped at the entrance to his room. The
control panel outside the room had gathered dust. Vash wiped it off with the
corner of his decrepit shirt. He set his hand down on the panel and the door
opened.