Ok, it's slightly shorter than usual, but I started writing after midnight. Gomen ne, k?
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Knives switched out driving duties with Meryl after she awoke. He crawled into the backseat and curled up next to his brother, taking a nap while she traversed the desert. Both he and Vash slept as much as they could, as both anticipated a long night ahead. The two blonde heads rested on each other, nodding slightly as the suspension was stressed by the rigors of the road. Only she and Ace were awake, and the girl was incredibly incommunicative, sulking and staring out the window. Alex might have been awake or asleep, but he made no noise from the bed of the vehicle. The car ride was a long and slightly strained one, as both were wrapped up in personal thoughts of doom and gloom. Ace was very displeased with the reason for the journey, and felt no need to be pleasant. Instead, she sulked like the teenager she still slightly resembled, and sighed heavily every few minutes.
It wasn't the happy family trip that everyone had hoped for and it was disconcerting to have such a looked forward to event be so somber.
Meryl fretted over her husband's imminent departure from her side and into harm. She was sure that there was soon going to be massive property damage to the plant, perhaps even enough to impede function. With a small smile she reveled in the luxury of no longer having to write the post-disaster reports. While Vash might try very hard to keep people alive, not even her best efforts had been enough to increase his level of concern for the innocent infrastructure. While the thought of some of those people getting their just desserts didn't trouble her conscience too much, the chance that innocent lives could suffer as a result angered her. Her hands gripped the steering wheel tightly, knuckles white against the black plastic. No one had the right to hurt another. Or gas them and kidnap them. Or jail them and torture them. Or kill them.
She found herself worrying over what had happened to Kiley. She wished that she had been able to convince her to leave with them, but the woman was being stubborn and there just hadn't been enough time. She had been around enough strong-willed individuals to know when arguing wasn't going to get her anywhere, which was why she had left so quickly, but she still wished she could have found the argument that would have convinced her to leave with them. There was something about her, some fey air, where she seemed almost to not care about what could happen to her. She had listened to Knives' stories and knew that the woman had already lived through a great deal of pain, but she still shouldn't be so casual about what might happen to her. Other people cared about her, worried that she might get hurt. If not for her own sake, she should keep herself safe for them. Her absence had hurt Knives and Ace dearly, and in a smaller way Vash, Alex, and herself. She shuddered to think what pain her death might bring.
She glanced at Knives in the rear view mirror. Never a man given to voluble discourse, he had barely spoken at all since he heard the news. She wondered what he was thinking, how he was reacting to the news that she was a plant. He must care, but what did that mean? Would he be mad that she hadn't told him sooner, sadder that she had run form him and not returned, glad that she was his kind? His sleeping face, calm in repose, gave her no clue, and she reluctantly shifted her gaze to the road ahead, but her mind stayed on the subject a while longer.
He had better not hurt her. She scowled again. That woman pretended to be strong, to be tough, to be able to take everything that happened to her, but there was a fragility to her soul that Meryl sensed. Something in her expression, in the way she had looked at her friend after the angel arm incident, the hope that just fell from her face to be replaced with… To be replaced with nothing at all. Not sadness, not anger, not a mask to hide her true feelings, but nothing at all. It was as if that glimpse, that look of horror went straight to her bared soul and stole it away. It was a total lack of hope, not despair, but a deep and abiding emptiness where hope should be. Almost an apathy, an acceptance of whatever fate may bring, that what happened was deserved and that pain was nothing to be avoided.
She glanced back at Knives again and hoped that he would be gentle. Gentleness was not a large portion of his nature, but she hoped that he would try to find some, for her sake. Kiley obviously had some sort of problem with being a plant, or why else keep it from everyone? She might be totally wrong about how Kiley felt, about her reaction to her secret being spilled, but she doubted it. It was as if… it was as if she was too used to being in pain. She had one reprieve, one time where she was accepted as a fellow human being, on her merits alone, and then it was stolen from her. What was left for her wasn't even enough to be considered ashes, but was the cold of a shadow after the luxury of a sunbeam.
Meryl sniffed. Just let her at that woman. Plant or no, it wasn't important. She needed a friend, and she would have one. She only hoped that one friend would be enough.