Ace finished up the last leg of the drive back to Knives' ship. The night was over halfway finished when she finally parked the car, the soft ticking of the cooling engine the only sounds in the quiet night. The stars seemed dimmer here then they had on the majority of the trip; the lights from the ship taking over the glory of the skies. The moons stretched across the sky like a belt, bisecting the atmosphere. It was very pretty, and she took a moment to appreciate the sight.
She didn't bother to wake Meryl, but slowly unbuckled her seatbelt and straightened up, stretching as she opened the door and climbed down from the car. Her hands reached towards the sky, arms flung back and back arched as she worked the stress of night driving from her spine. She rolled her shoulders, then dropped her right arm. Her left stayed high in the air, and with a bored air, she made a grabbing motion, and as she pulled her hand down, said, "Girls rule."
She could feel nothing different, but the barrier seemed to be gone. That almost sensed energy wave that had tickled at the back of her mind for so many years was finally dispersed. She hoped.
She yawned and walked towards the door. Palming it open, she accidentally woke Vash. He had been sleeping all curled up on a chair, obviously waiting for them to return. From the looks of him, he had waited there a while, the dark circles under his eyes dulling the normal piercing green of his gaze.. His eyes focused on her blearily as his mind rose from unconsciousness. "Ace?"
"Meryl's in the car. Barrier is gone."
"N' Kiley?"
Ace kept walking and pretended she didn't hear the last question. Vash looked after her, then shrugged and went to collect his wife.
She headed towards Knives' room, her legs taking her there without her mind having to direct them. She yawned a few times on the way, the drive having taken much out of her. It was hard to go slow when she finally had the key that would unlock the cage that bitch had put around them, but it was impossible to drive too fast after the suns had set. The lights on the car only illuminated so much, and as good as her reflexes might be, she knew that hitting a rock or taking out the undercarriage would be much more time consuming then driving slower.
But she still had to force herself to drive slowly.
Upon reaching his room, she pressed the door chime. And waited. After a couple minutes, the door slid open and she walked through.
"Knives, it's just me." She sat down at the foot of his bed.
He dropped the pretense of reading. "Is she here?"
"No. She decided not to come back."
"But you found her?"
"Yeah."
"And the barrier?"
"Is down."
He slumped in his chair. "Oh, thank goodness. What were we missing?"
"A catch phrase."
"Keyword activated? Oh, I can see… I can see where that would be the case. Did you have a good trip? Find her easily?"
"No. We were wandering around December when Meryl and I were attacked. Jumped, as we were leaving our hotel room."
"Why?"
"It was those… humans… who had me when I was younger. I can only assume that they wanted to pick up where they had left off."
"The same humans? That indicates a more coherent organization than we had presumed existed."
"I know. Kiley works for them."
His eyes widened. "What do you mean?"
"I mean, she came to the cell and the people who worked there knew her. Oh, and she's Anne, now. And she's fat."
"Really. She came to where you were confined? What did she say?"
"Not much. She did get us out of there, though. Nothing spectacular, just got the doors open and sent us on our way."
Knives stood up and moved to sit by her on the bed, draping one arm over her shoulders and holding her close. "Are you going to be okay?"
"I… I don't know." Her voice quavered. "It was… I thought I was past that. But they stuck me in that room again, and all I could see was what they did to me before, the needles and the pain and the terror. Even having Meryl there didn't really help, but it was all that kept me from exploding."
"You know how to take care of yourself now. They shouldn't have been able to keep you."
"I know, I know. But they caught us unaware, knocked us out before I knew to fight, then when I woke up in that room… I lost it. I forgot everything, was just wrapped up in fear. I was worthless."
"But you're all right now." He dropped a kiss on her forehead, then a more lingering one on her lips as she lifted her chin.
Anything more was interrupted by his brother's entrance, Meryl close behind.
"Did you hear what happened to them?" He seemed outraged and upset, agitated and jumpy.
"Ace told me."
"Did you hear about Kiley? We have to go rescue her!"
"What?" He straightened up a bit. "Why?"
"Because she stayed behind! She was the diversion!"
"What diversion?" He dropped his arm from Ace's shoulder and looked at her.
"Oh. Well, they didn't let us go that easily."
"They were shooting at us, Ace," said Meryl. "That's one of the definitions of a not easy situation."
"Nothing spectacular?" he shot at Ace. She colored. He directed his next statement to Meryl again. "And she stayed behind? Why?"
"To make sure we got clear. Even though she knew they would capture her. I tried to get her to come with us, but we didn't really have time to argue. And she can be stubborn."
"She stayed behind? Knowing what sort of trouble she'd get into?" Knives asked Meryl.
"Well, yeah, I guess."
"Then why should we care what happens to her?"
Vash looked at his brother, very puzzled. "Did Ace… not tell you that she's a plant?