Disclaimer: *looks back at her previous disclaimer* Woah, did I actually say that?….who am I kidding, I'd still own Trigun any day!

Chapter Twenty-Six: Angel-Child

A/N: Yeah, the beginning of this chappy is just a recap of the last one, from Rhianne's POV, but then things get interesting….very interesting ^_^

Rhianne felt the child's small mind try to grapple with what she was going to do. She ran her hand across the little girl's forehead softly, grazing the dried blood with her fingertips and marveling at the mental waves of calmness her touch induced into the girl. She felt the warmth of her body disperse into the girl's body, and felt the child smile.

What's your name sweetie? She inquired mentally, stroking the child's hair. She had to get the child calm before sending her into a comatose state or risk loosing brain cells and rendering the child into a permanent vegetal state.

Rinoa…Came the weak mental reply. Rhianne smiled down at the child that's a beautiful name. Rinoa smiled softly as a small trickle of blood crept from her mouth down her pale cheek.

Please pretty angel, make the hurting stop… she pleaded weakly. Her hazel eyes bored into Rhianne's aqua ones, still watery and tearing. Rhianne's heart shattered into a million pieces at that moment and she placed her hands over Rinoa's forehead and focused on halting the blood flow to the little girl's brain, ignoring the tears cascading down her cheeks. She closed her eyes heard Knives move closer as Vash moved away to take out another assailant, and she moved to stop a shower of bullets from behind.

"What did you do?" He asked curiously, and she opened her eyes and smiled a little at him; he was so innocent sometimes.

"I put her into a coma. I clotted both sides of her brain and paralyzed her. It's perfectly safe, all I did was halt the blood flow to her brain and caused her to have a stroke, putting her into a comatose state so I can operate while she's conscious, because that would cause her a great deal of pain were she awake." She explained. A familiar look crossed Knives' face as he regarded Rinoa, whose face had taken on a placid look, then turned to shoot another gunman. Turning back to her, he smiled a little

"Why did you do that? It would be much more fun to watch the spider squirm and scream in agony." Rhianne sighed. She should have seen that coming. She reached over and rummaged through her pack, which was on the wooden floor next to her. Her hands roamed through her belongings until she found the object of her search. Her slender fingers wrapped around a small metal object, and she produced it triumphantly, resulting in a confused look from Knives.

"These will have to do" she sighed. Knives cocked an eyebrow "do for what?" Rhianne allowed herself to roll her eyes "well, I have to get the bullet out don't I?" Knives snorted

"No you don't" Knives stated, grabbing her wrist before she could move to dislodge the bullet "she is a spider, the vermin killing our sisters. Leave her be and help me kill off these nuisances so we can be on our way"

"Her life may be meaningless to you, but she's a child and I can't let her die like this." Rhianne shot back, then shook his hand away and proceeded to move a little bit of flesh around before attempting to remove the bullet. Her hand movements were slow, trying to pick out the small, hard dried clumps of blood that were blocking the route to the potentially fatal bullet.

This was going to be tough, she sighed as her tweezers got caught in a lump of blood. She winced and prodded it gently with her fingernail, successfully dislodging the hunk of hardened fluid. She marveled on how, had she not removed the clump of blood, Rinoa would have died because of it, blood which under any other circumstance, be vital to her life be the very cause of her death.

She bit her lip as she heard Knives' mind mull over her and Vash's opinions on the value of Rinoa's life. She struggled to stay focused on operation on the child as she felt Knives' anger build towards his brother and his pacifist ways, and couldn't help getting in her two cents.

It's not their fault Knives… she allowed herself to point out before quickly escaping form his mind before he could become enraged towards her and ruin any chance she had of saving Rinoa. If Knives proved himself true to form, then he would probably shoot the poor child in the head to get her back for her intrusion of his thoughts.

A bullet whizzed past Knives, headed towards her temple, and she barely had enough time to react, creating a barrier using the air molecules and causing the bullet to clatter to the ground with a hollow, heavy, thud. She sighed angrily as she focused on the bullet in Rinoa's throat. She moved carefully, making sure to move around yet another large hunk of blood that she thought too risky to remove. Her hands moved skillfully, armed with the knowledge learned living in a war-torn society. She moved the tweezers gently in the child's throat, and felt simultaneous waves of nausea, disgust, and relief wash over her as the metal tweezers hit the bullet. She pulled the skin of Rinoa's throat away and managed to get one side of the tweezers around the bullet, hearing the dull scrape of metal against metal and shuddering. She heard Vash move back to her and instructed him to pull a little on the other side of the wound so she could get the other side of the bullet. His gloved hand reached tenderly to her throat and pulled a little. Rhianne sighed.

"Vash, don't wimp out. You have to touch the tissue and pull it back or Rinoa is going to die." Vash shivered and moved his finger a little into the wound, pulling the flesh back gently, allowing Rhianne to attempt to get her tweezers around the bullet. He watched in fascination and disgust as she moved her finger into the soft pink flesh of the child's throat and pulled more of it back.

"…..Rinoa." He muttered quietly. "What?" Rhianne asked without looking up. Vash sighed a little.

"One of my sisters was named Rinoa. She died shortly after the Great Fall. Crashing onto the planet messed with her mechanics and she only lived a short while. But she lived a painful life. Her resources were limited because of her malfunctions, which drove the hungry humans to make her work even harder to produce. She died three years after the Great Fall, with people at her controls pushing her harder and harder. I was there with Knives when she died. She was just a small Plant Angel then. Her milky skin was gray, her opalescent hair a dull milky color as it floated listlessly around her. Her small childlike frame was battered, her stomach swollen horribly because she had been feeding the humans and not herself. Her near-lifeless eyes struck something deep within me. I knew she was suffering because of my brother, and I felt responsible for it. It was then I swore no children would suffer because of me." He paused and shook his head "but that was an empty promise, thousands of people, the majority children, have suffered because of me." He gazed at the child.

"She won't die. I swear it. Not again Rinoa….not again." He stated as Rhianne pulled the bullet from Rinoa's throat and dropped it disgustedly on the ground. He watched as she moved her hands to cover the girl's throat and close her eyes.

"Behind you"

Vash whirled to see a beefy man of about thirty duck behind a table. He whipped out his gun, but before he could shoot, a shot that sounded far too much like his rang out and a hole was drilled into the table, accompanied by the final, agonized cry of the man. Vash heard him fall back on the floorboards and watched as his limp hand fell lifelessly into view. He shuddered and turned to his twin.

"Was that really necessary? All you had to do was shoot his shoulders and he would have been-"

"It's much easier, and much more fun to kill them though, brother dear" Knives sneered and turned away and nailing another man across the street. "This is too much" the ice-eyed blonde stated. Vash sighed and turned back to Rhianne. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm healing her" the female plant stated, her eyes still closed. Vash could feel the energy pulsating from her, feel the beating of her heart, and the warmth of her blood that were present therein. He felt connected with her in every way, watching in quiet fascination as the waves of energy washed over him. He recalled Rem telling him of the oceans on Earth, and how the gravity of the moon pulled at the water and caused the tide; the receding and advancing of the water. She had told him how wonderful it had felt to stand on the beach and feel the waves wash over her ankles, and he reckoned this must have been how it had felt. To feel it wash over you, then recede, then wash over you again in a comforting rhythm. The heat of her body, the warmth of her soul were like the waves of the ocean washing over his mind, soothing him. It felt wonderful to feel such a serene power that hadn't been corrupted like that of his sisters inside the bulbs. For their power was being channeled into the city, supplying it with what it needed, and wasn't free like Rhianne's. It was serene, because his sisters were programmed to be serene. It was only when they malfunctioned that they would be ill tempered. But Rhianne's was unconfined, uncontaminated by machines, it was pure energy, and it soothed him to the very core of his soul.

Rhianne removed her hands from Rinoa's throat, ceasing the waves of energy and bringing Vash out of his reverie. His aqua orbs traveled down to the girl's throat and widened at what he saw: only a small scar remained of what had once been a fatal wound. He blinked.

"H-how did you do that?" he asked, bewildered. Rhianne smiled lightly "I stimulated the cells in her body to reconstruct themselves" her eyes traveled to his robotic arm "I'll teach you how someday" She scooped Rinoa up in her arms and stood "but not today."

"H-hey! What are you doing? Do you want to get shot!?" Vash exclaimed, reaching out and grabbing on to her arm. She looked into his eyes "Vash, Rinoa has a family and friends. If I let her stay here, amidst all this, she'll die even without the wound in her neck. It's my fault and I have to make sure she's safe."

"Knives" she beckoned. The male plant turned to her, a frustrated look smeared across his face at being taken away from killing the spiders. "What is it woman? Can't you see I'm busy saving your ungrateful hide?" Rhianne stepped up to him and kissed the tip of his nose

"I love you Knives. I want you to know that" that said, she strode out into the middle of the street, the child clutched tightly in her arms.