The Adventures of Chibi-Gun

*Vash lays half on the couch, half off, snoring loudly*

Shesta:  Went to another convention… *taps the J key on the laptop and glares at the screen*

Knives:  *engrossed in Cowboy Bebop* Spike… he isn't afraid to kill people, but he also has compassion… Interesting…

*Vash rolls off the couch, but continues to snore*

Shesta:  It was in Canada… Bought a bunch of stuff… Didn't find a Knives to glomp though…

*Cowboy Bebop ends and the ending credits play.  Knives starts singing along*

Vash:  *sleeptalking*  Donuts… Rem… Meryl... Donuts… Donuts…  Nyao….

*Shesta closes the laptop and chucks it at Vash*

Vash:  *gets hit in the head and wakes up with a start*  KUMAGORO BEAM! *leaps on Knives' shoulders*

Knives:  GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!  *runs around the room with a Vash on his shoulders*  GET IT OFF!  GET IT OFF!

Legato:  I'LL SAVE YOU KNIVES-SAMA!  *flies into the room and tackles Knives*

Knives and Vash:  x_x

Shesta:  *picks up the laptop, opens it, and continues tapping the J key*  Went to the con as Vash…  Sister broke my Knives gun…  Got picture taken a lot… Found a cute Wolfwood…

Chapter Nine:  When an Angel Dies

Knives carelessly threw Vash face down on the bed.  He wiped his blood soaked hands on the bed sheets and walked towards the window.

"Get up," Knives mumbled sternly.

Vash opened an eye.  He groaned again and rubbed a hand down his back.  He raised his head and looked at his hand.  The glove was shimmering red.  Vash sighed and laid his head back down.

Knives strode over to Vash's side.  He grasped Vash's arm and leaned down to inspect the hand.

"You're pathetic," Knives licked one of Vash's blood streamed fingers and threw his hand down, "that's why you're rotting faster than me."

Vash glared down at his hand.  He rolled to his side and locked eyes with Knives.  If Knives was going to insult him, the least he could do was make eye contact.

"What did you mean by hair blackening?"  The pain in Vash's back was lessening.  He couldn't remember exactly what Knives had done to remove the wings, but now that the pain was disappearing, he was glad the wings were gone.  He ran his hand through his hair, then, remembering the blood, cursed.

Knives smiled and began to laugh.  Vash blinked, his hair now a combination of blonde, black, and red.

"The amount of times you've used your power finally caught up to you," Knives ran a hand through his own hair, revealing a strip of black that had been hidden before, "this is our fate."

Vash sat up in the bed.  He leaned forward and stared close at the black strip, "So every time we use our power, more of our hair turns black?"  Vash leaned back, "But why didn't this happen before?  Why now?"

Knives turned away and shrugged his shoulders.  "Maybe those wings were the breaking point for you.  I know my breaking point was when I was looking for you."  Knives set a hand on Vash's head.  "That blast took a lot out of you, apparently."  Knives sat on the bed.

"You're a lot of trouble, you know that?"  Vash mumbled.

Knives placed his face close to his brother's, "When a Plant is in it's last span of life, it's hair turns black and it releases a final blast of power.  For a normal Plant, this power would be the power of the Angel Arm, but since we were allowed to mature, we can portion the power out.  However, our power is not limitless; we are just able to control it better."

"JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"  A shot rang past Knives and into the wall above his head.  Meryl stood in the doorway, two derringers drawn, one smoking, the other point at Knives.  "Mr. Knives, I'm afraid I can't sit by and do nothing when you do the things to you.  Now, step away from Vash."

Knives sat up, "You think I'm afraid of you?"  Knives smirked.

Vash sat up and flinched.  He placed a hand on his back, "Meryl, it's okay, he didn't do anything."

Meryl kept her eyes locked on Knives.

"How… How can you still care for this man?  I don't…" Meryl felt her body begin to shake.  She couldn't keep her grip on the guns and they fell from her hands.  She fell to her knees and slammed her fists into the floor, "I don't understand…"

Meryl slowly stumbled down the stairs.  Milly and Remil were waiting at the bottom for her.  She didn't understand Vash.  How could he continuously care for Knives after everything he's done?  She reached the bottom of the stairs and sighed.  Milly placed an arm around Meryl and led her to the kitchen.  They sat across from each other at the table as Remil wandered outside.

"Meryl," Milly sighed, "Mr. Knives is Mr. Vash's only family.  No matter what family does to you, they're still family.  When Mr. Vash was younger, he didn't have many to grow up with right?  Mr. Knives was the only one he could relate to.  Mr. Vash knows in his heart that deep inside Mr. Knives is the boy who played with, talked to, and comforted him when they were younger."

Meryl smiled.  Sometimes Milly said things that made her sound so smart.  She didn't understand how Milly was able to keep such a pure mind in the time that they lived in.

"We're dying, Vash," Knives finished wrapping Vash's wounds and sat on the edge of the bed, "So I'll make you a deal."

"I don't really like the sound of that," Vash pulled his black shirt on and sighed, "but what kind of deal?"

"I imagine you can use your Angel Arm once more and I can use mine two or three times more," Knives turned to face Vash, "if we work together and plan everything out that will be enough to wipe out the humans.  However, the deal is that I won't destroy your friends."

"You're kidding right?" Vash mumbled, "That isn't a very good deal.  I don't want any humans to die."

Knives sighed and let himself fall onto the bed.  He closed his eyes and began to sing.

"So, on the first evening, a pebble from somewhere out of nowhere drops upon the sleeping world…"

"So, on the second celestial evening, all the children of the pebble join hands and composed a waltz," Vash continued.

The brothers smiled at each other.  Memories of a time when life wasn't about who had the right to live and who deserved to die.

"Sound life," Vash and Knives started together, "So, on the third celestial evening, all the children of their waltz rippled across the world's face…"

"So," Knives started.

"What happened to us?" Vash's voice surprised Knives.  Knives stared at Vash, "I had a nice life for a while there."  Vash smiled.

Knives rolled closer to Vash and looked up at him.  He smiled.

"I screwed that up didn't I?" Knives closed his eyes, a content look on his face.

"Rem," Vash ran smiling to Rem's side, "where did you learn that song you sing?"

Rem smiled and placed a hand on Vash's head.

"I learned it from someone I cared very much for back on Earth," Rem looked out at the sleeping people, "and I hope that you and Knives will cherish it as much as I do."

"We do Rem," Vash looked up at her, "Knives and I sing it almost every night before we go to sleep."

Rem smiled again and removed her hand from Vash's head.

"That's good, I'm glad," she returned her gaze to the sleepers.

Vash, Rem, and Knives laid out a blanket on the grass.  They laid down on it next to each other and watched the leaves of the tree sway in the false breeze.

"Are the people you knew on Earth some of the sleepers?" Vash watched a butterfly as it flew by them.

"Some of them are, yes," Rem smiled, "but the one I loved most… he isn't a sleeper."

Knives looked over at Rem and frowned.

"S-so what was Earth like?" Vash quickly changed the subject.  He couldn't stand to see the sad smile on Rem's face.

"It was a wonderful place, at least I thought so," Rem closed her eyes, "there was so many different types of flowers.  I had a huge garden surrounding my home.  Every day I would tend to the flowers and pick some for decoration."

"If you pick flowers aren't you killing them?" Knives kept an emotionless gaze at the sky as Vash and Rem stared at him.

"I… I suppose in a way…" Rem stammered, "the flowers will die sooner in a vase than in a garden, but…"

"So even though you said no one has the right to take the life of another, you yourself took the lives of countless flowers," Knives kept his gaze at the sky.

Rem was speechless.  She remained staring at Knives as Vash stood up.

"This is ridiculous!" Vash yelled, "Just because Rem likes to pick flowers, that doesn't mean she's a hypocrite.  The flowers don't live long anyways, right?  So why not enjoy them while they're alive?"

"Neither do butterflies, or birds, or spiders.  People capture insects and view them don't they?  They don't care that the insects are in pain, so long as they can view them for a while.  Yet, it's wrong to put them out of their misery?" Knives didn't move his gaze from the sky.

Rem had tried so many times to understand what changed Knives to this manner of thinking, but she could no longer think of ways to calmly tell him that he had no right to take a creatures life.  She frowned and felt as though she might cry.

"Or maybe I'm just thinking about it too deeply," Knives turned and smiled at Rem.

Vash slowly opened his eyes.  Another long lost memory had flooded into his mind.  He seemed like Knives had so suddenly turned from admiring Rem to despising her.  He rubbed his eyes and sat up.  The light from the moons shown through a gap in the drapes.  Vash looked down and Knives lying next to him, sound asleep.  Vash yawned and maneuvered around him.  He dropped his fee the floor and stretched.  His back was already feeling better.  He stumbled towards the door and made his way to the stairs.

"Man, I could really use a drink and a couple of donuts right now," Vash mumbled.  He made his way to the kitchen just as Milly burst through the front door.

"Oh, hi Mr. Vash!" Milly smiled, she was holding Wolfwood's Cross Punisher, caked in dirt, "Meryl and I went back to the city to find stuff in the rubble and I found Mr. Wolfwood's cross so I thought I'd bring it home.  I'm going to go put it up in Remil's room, she told me her parents were religious."

"Uh… oh…" Vash blinked, "so where's Meryl?"

"Oh, she's on her way back.  There was a cart there that came from another town that had supplies.  She's helping to hand them out."

"Is that really a good idea?  They tried killing her before."

"She's in disguise," Milly winked and smilied.

Just then, the front door opened again and a person cloaked in brown rags walked in.  Meryl pulled the rags off herself and ran to Vash.

"Oh, Vash you shouldn't be walking around yet," Meryl looked up at him, a worried look on her face.

"It's okay, I'm fine.  Knives bandaged me all up and I took a nap, so I feel a lot better," he smiled his same, hallow smile.

"Well, I'm going to put this in Remil's room then go to bed.  'Night!"  Milly quickly went up the stairs, leaving Vash and Meryl alone in the moonlit room.

The Adventures of Chibi-Gun

*Vash and Knives and sitting across from each other playing Go*

Vash:  How many times do we have to play until you realize we're equally matched…?

Knives:  This is the last game.  *slams a fist down on the Go board*  Now just shut up and deal with it!  *notices the game pieces have shifted*  Aw sh—

Legato:  KNIVES-SAMA!  *tackles Knives and gets him in a death grip.*

Knives:  Geh geh GEH!

*Vash looks rejected*

Knives:  You know, technically anytime Legato is doing this, you are too.

Vash:  I don't wanna know what other things Legato's done with my former arm.

Legato:  *sticks out his freakishly long tongue and looks at his hand*  This hand has touched many interesting things, Vash the Stampede.  *licks the hand*

Vash: Ewwwww…. I'll give you a hotdog if you NOT do that again… *growls*

Legato:  Make it two hotdogs and the rights to claim Knives as mine and you've got a deal.

Vash:  Deal.

Knives:  EH?!