Double Helix

chapter eleven
~ observation ~

Wings shined orange in the sunlight of the setting suns as it perched on her wrist. Steady violet eyes focused on the wasp as it ambled over one stitched. Then another.

She blinked and it paused, both regarded each other for long seconds with faint curiosity.

In a sudden flurry of motion, the wasp was airborne and moving away from her. Meryl watched it mindfully as it made its trek across the room to hover before a young woman. A teenager with long blond hair and pretty blue-violet eyes. The insect and girl gazed at each other for a span of several breaths before the girl finally lifted her hand to her face, gently pulled back the delicate skin near her eyeball and allowed the wasp to fly in.

With three quick blinks, the girl finally turned to look at Meryl, a slight smile gracing her features. "Nice try," she said.

Tired and emotionally drained eyes stared back at the girl before dropping their gaze to look at the stitches once more. Meryl could feel the girl's annoyed expression fall heavily upon her, but maintained her silent vigil over her wounded wrist.

"Next time you try to kill yourself, go for the jugular."

• • •

Conrad watched the plant out of the corners of his eyes as he paced the room in agitated silence. Sighing deeply, Knives ran his hand through his hair and turned his attention toward the world beyond his window. Just peeking above the horizon was the first moon, marking the end of a very long and stressful thirty-six hours since Meryl cut herself.

"I can't read her thoughts anymore," Knives said quietly, "Even now."

The doctor's eyebrows lifted slightly at the confession. That would explain Knives' tantrum upon finding the young woman the day before. The doctor couldn't say he was entirely surprised by Meryl's rash behavior. Humans were known for acting irrationally when their stress levels went beyond their ability to cope. If anything, Conrad was impressed that she was able to think clearly enough to cut herself the way she had.

She very nearly died, and Knives knew it.

Clearing his throat, Conrad stepped forward, "Since when have you not been able to read her mind?"

Knives placed both hands on the windowsill and leaned forward until his forehead rested against the glass. "I don't know for how long. I usually ignore her. Her thoughts are so... loud. Obtrusive." The plant clenched his jaw. "I heard her so clearly when she was planning to abort it, I knew what she was going to do before she even attempted it."

"But you didn't hear her this time," Conrad said.

Knives glanced back at the doctor in annoyance. "No, I did not." He paused as he turned something over in his mind, "It's changing her somehow."

The doctor smiled a bit, "I don't know about that. I haven't noticed any abnormal changes in her physically since it took root. Her body is reacting to it as it would to a human fetus. It shouldn't be affecting her like that."

"I know that," the plant turned to face the doctor fully, crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm telling you, it's changing her somehow."

Dr. Conrad sighed and opened a file. He thumbed through a few pages and clicked his pen. "That nurse I told you about this morning should be arriving tomorrow." Blue ink wove its way across a blank page as Conrad took notes. "With her help," he continued, stabbing the page as he dotting an 'I', "I should be able to run an EEG on her in addition to her normal battery of tests. If I see anything suspicious, we'll look into it."

Knives chewed on his lip absently, a nervous habit the doctor recognized from when he was young. He nodded once at the doctor and began to exit the room before pausing in the doorway, "You will run an unltrasound, correct?"

"Of course."

"Good." Knives glanced back over his shoulder at the doctor, "I want to observe."

• • •

Still felt deeply troubled over his own suspicions, Knives felt frustration pooling in his gut, making his insides feel like thick and tense. The doctor did nothing to alleviate his anxiety. Not surprising, Conrad only volunteered his services out of pure scientific curiosity, he cared little about the seedling or the welfare of his sisters in general. Normally this didn't bother him, but the events of the day before had him on edge. Finding Meryl kneeling in a pool of her own blood with a gaping wound from wrist to elbow terrified him. He'd only experienced terror like that once before.

His first desire was to finish the job she started. How dare she betray him like that. How dare she try to undermine his plans, his goals!

He was angry with her. That was an obvious understatement. More than that, he was worried she would make another attempt. Without the ability to read her thoughts, she was a loose cannon. She would be more difficult to control. Someone would always have to be with her, watching over her. Zazie was already serving in that function and she would remain with Meryl until the very end.

Knives absolutely would not allow her another chance to finish what she started.

Fortunately, the seedling was fine. It appeared to have suffered no ill effects from its surrogate undergoing a massive loss of blood. In fact, it seemed to have suffered no ill effects at all. Had it been a human baby, Knives was certain it would have miscarried.

Glancing up, Knives realized he was steadily making his way toward Meryl's room. He spent most of the night and part of the day sitting in the chair beside her bed watching her sleep. He was convinced she would awaken and rip her own stitches out. Conrad assured him that even if she did wake she probably wouldn't have the strength to do such a thing. After all, she lost nearly half her blood volume. Even so, Knives knew different. Meryl wasn't like most humans. He'd seen enough of her inner-most mind to know that for a fact.

Meryl was stubborn and had a deeply ingrained sense of right a wrong. She saw the world more often in black and white than in shades of gray. Knives was like that, too. He was certain that had it been him in her place, he would rip his stitches out without a second thought. The only thing that would prevent him would be the resulting pain, but Meryl probably wasn't as sensitive to discomfort as he was. To ease his concern for the welfare of the seedling, he felt compelled to stay by her side. He watched her as she slept, probing her mind as often as he could, each attempt yielding failure.

Zazie was sitting quietly on the floor with her back against the wall when Knives entered the room. Brushing aside a beetle, she stood.

"Sir?" she asked.

Knives gave the girl a dismissive gesture as he stepped toward the comatose human. Her chest rose and fell in a relaxed slumber as a fresh IV bag dripped fluids into her body. She hadn't moved at all since Knives last saw her and her coloring was still to pale for his liking.

"Has she regained consciousness at all?" Knives asked, fingering the plastic IV bag.

Zazie glanced over at Meryl, "She did for a while not too long ago. At least, her eyes opened. She didn't seem to be very awake and she didn't say anything. After that, she went back to sleep again."

Relief fluttered through Knives' consciousness. She was showing signs of improvement. Finally. Perhaps he could enter her mind now? Knives brushed a lock of her hair aside as he placed his hand on her forehead. He pressed his consciousness gently against her own, seeking an entrance. Then pressed harder.

Nothing.

Fingers twitched as the free born plant tried to shake the distressed feeling that was settling in his heart. Being locked out of her consciousness was a hindrance to his plan. It was an unanticipated variable. How many more such variables would spring up over the coming months? And more importantly, would they hinder his goals in any way?

All at once, Meryl's eyes shot open and she peered at him, through him. The way she held him in her eyes bothered him on a subconscious level and he felt the urge to snap his hand away from her forehead and apologize like a reprimanded child. Knives carefully gave in to the urge and slowly pulled his hand from her face, watching her watch him. Seconds crawled by as neither being seemed willing to be the first to blink.

With careful movements, Knives settled himself into the chair beside her bed, not once breaking eye contact with her. Then as quickly as the moment came, it ended and Meryl's eyes drifted shut once more.

AN: Before anyone emails me or leaves a review about Zazie being female, let me remind you that this is set to occur around Vol. 6 of Trigun Maximum (in an AU universe, of course). Since I have Knives suffering from the Hair Darkening Effect (which occurs in Vol. 6), I figured it would only make sense to have Zazie be female. After all, in Vol. 5 we see him appear as a her for the first time... so for this fic, Zazie will be female, like she is in Vol. 5.

If I discover later that Zazie has gone back to being male again, I may change this fic to reflect that, but for now Zazie is a blond, teenage girl.

Sorry for any confusion.