CHAPTER 10: TRUSTING AND DOUBT
The history of man is progress.
The wheel. The horseless carriage. Locomotion. Flight. The splitting of the atom. Rockets. Computers. Genetics. Space travel. Holograms. Artificial Intelligence. The Internet. The cure for cancer. Solar power. Nan technology. Travel by light speed.
The plants.
The greatest human achievement and the pinnacle of our civilization.
It was also our greatest mistake and the single cause of mankind's near destruction.
Until recent events, the individuals and actions leading up to The Great Falling of the human race from their place among the stars has remained a mystery. However, people have continued relying on the plant technology, trusting it and fearing it at the same time. No one really understands what the plant is or how it creates its power. The implications of a plant as a sentient being are unnerving, so most people don't think about it. The plants have become a necessary evil and most humans simply ignore the gigantic glass bulbs hovering over their quiet little towns.
And the most powerful plant in existence has fallen from our collective memory.
The PTD, Planet Transformation Device, was created just before the great migration began from the old Earth. Its purpose was to transform the terrain of any atmospherically ideal planet into an environment similar to that of the Earth before its decline. In the PTD's core, a new program was installed which would enable the plant to pull its energy, not only from the angel within, but from surrounding plant angels as well, thus creating the vast source of power needed to fuel the nuclear and chemical reactions for the transformation. The beauty of the plant-powered device was that no living beings on the new planet's surface would be adversely affected once the reaction was set in motion.
The PTD was hailed as a miracle.
The only thing this miraculous device needed was a link.
Since it depended on simultaneous plant angel connections, the main system needed a live plant to create the links to all of its kind. Efforts had been made to extract angels from their plant cores, but such experiments had always been disastrous and the angel had always died.
Shortly before the PTD was designed, an angel was unexpectedly born that had the ability to survive outside the glass bulb. A girl, whom the scientists on board named Tessla. She was put through dozens of experimentations before she wasted away under their needles and knives, finally giving into death and dissection.
After Tessla, there were several other plant angels born outside the cores. The whereabouts of many of these specimens remains unknown, though most were believed to have perished in the great fallout one hundred and thirty years ago. A pair of twin male specimens, however, had been documented to be on the PTD ship itself just before it fell.
It is noted that several complaints were sent in by the twin plant's guardian, a woman named Rem Saverem. Her letters protested the intended use of one of the twins as the link for the PTD machine. Saverem argued that the twins were sentient beings capable of the same range of emotions and thoughts as humans. The governmental branch in charge of plant regulations dismissed her outrage as "mother hen" syndrome, saying that she had grown too attached to the specimens to be objective.
For you see, in order for the PTD to activate, the plant serving as its link is absorbed into the system itself.
In effect, the plant angel is eaten.
The small room was dark and warm. The only light came from the half opened door through which the dancing light of the plant machines fell, reaching its way across the room to the dusty box spring mattress pushed up against the far wall, and the person laying on top of it.
The rusty metal springs squeaked in protest as Meryl rolled over and opened her eyes. Lavender irises slowly adjusting to the dim light of the tiny storage room she had brought Knives to after his near death experience in the plant. She glanced to where he was lying, asleep.
After Meryl dragged the unconscious Knives down the landing and a dozen or so feet to the storage room and flung him on the old mattress, she had been so exhausted that she flopped on top of a second mattress and fell straight asleep. The room had apparently been converted into a makeshift bedroom some time ago, and Meryl wondered what had happened to those original redecorators and if they were still around somewhere. It was surprisingly comfortable and soft. Meryl stretched her sore muscles.
For once, she had not dreamed of Vash or Knives or anything stressful. Instead, Meryl had a dream about swimming in the deep blue ocean. She could clearly remembered the feel of waves caressing her skin, though oddly she had never seen an ocean much less swam in one. She remembered reading about them in picture books when she was a child.
I guess it really doesn't matter, she thought, it was just a nice dream.
A small stirring brought her back to reality and she sat up in bed. Knives grunted and shifted on his mattress in the shadows. Meryl slid off her bed and padded over to him. She was still only wearing her thin- strapped undershirt and white work skirt. Her boots, jacket, and collared shirt had been shed before she climbed into the plant to save Knives, and she had thrown her jacket and shirt over his naked body when she laid him down for a quick covering.
Standing over him, Meryl stared down at the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed steadily.
His face is so peaceful right now, she thought.
The tattered white jacket and shirt barely covered his muscular body. When she had dragged him to this side room she hadn't had time to notice he was naked, but now, as the twinkling light played across his cut chest and chiseled features, Meryl couldn't help but notice how handsome he was (when he wasn't talking, glaring, or bringing about the end of the world). The smooth skin had sealed itself while he was in the plant and she couldn't see a blemish or scar on his body.
Asleep, he had the same peaceful expression on his face as he had when she had mistaken him for Vash back at the Inn. Sitting by his side, gazing at him as she had done then gave her the sudden urge to touch him again. With a blush, Meryl felt herself wanting to kiss him. She shook herself.
Please, Meryl, she groaned, get a grip.
Still, she hovered over the sleeping man, unable to take her eyes off him.
There's so much about him, and Vash, that I still don't know. They've both been through so much pain. So many scars, and yet...I think Knives is the one who suffered more from scars on the inside.
Meryl felt sympathy for the plant fill her heart. She knelt down next to the makeshift bed and spoke softly.
"I don't know what I would do if I were you, if I watched my entire race dying at the hands of another," her hands strayed to the hair that partially covered his eyes, brushing it gently aside.
"Maybe I'd go a little crazy too..."
Meryl suddenly pulled her hand away when she realized it had traveled of its own accord down the length of his face. The skin was smooth and pale.
Hypnotic.
She felt her own skin grow warm and she bit her lower lip as she eyed the tall figure wrapped loosely in her clothes.
Dangerous? Yes.
Psychotic? Most definitely.
Handsome? Without a doubt. His broad muscular chest, which rose and fell in time with his deep breathing, tapered to his sinfully thin waist, down past his narrow hips and long legs. One arm rested behind his head and the other lay across his stomach, both slender and toned. His spiky short hair didn't have the same golden gleam as Vash, but the white blonde color gave him an older, wiser appearance.
You'd never think someone who looked this good could have been bed ridden for the past couple months, Meryl leaned on the corner of the bed lightly so not to wake him.
I wonder what he'll do when he wakes up? He said he was waiting for Vash...just like me.
Her fingers found his hair again.
Why are these two so different? Knives is nothing like Vash. Why does he hate us so much when Vash would die for us? What made Vash the way he is? What made Knives? He must be so lonely. As she mused the differences between the two plants, she was barely aware of her hand trailing down his shoulder and arm, lightly brushing the skin on his hand.
"Knives...I wish there was some way I could help you..."
In a trance, Meryl leaned her head on his arm and closed her eyes; the nearness of his body gave her an oddly comforting feeling.
She had noticed a strange trust developing between herself and this unique man, even though they started out hating each other, he had spoken and reveled more to her than he had to his own brother in recent days. Meryl came to value that trust. They had saved each other more than once, and even though he kept saying he was going to kill her, she was having a harder time believing those words. She hadn't heard him call her a stupid spider in a long time, even if he never used her real name. If only she could break through his rough exterior, maybe she could find a way to help him.
If only she could get him to really trust her, maybe she could help Vash to change his mind.
Vash...
She felt a little guilty when she realized she had been thinking about him while she was this close to Knives. But it couldn't be helped. She'd never get Vash out of her mind. He was the one she loved.
Exhaustion slowly returned to her body and she pressed her face closer to his warm skin, breathing deeply.
Perhaps she would find the answers in her dreams.
Several minutes ticked away before the man on the bed stirred. His brain felt completely muddled. He didn't remember who he was or where he was, but he soon decided he didn't care.
The first thing he was aware of was comfortable warmth, which was settled on his right arm. Something silky and smooth was leaning on him. He lifted a weak hand and touched the object. Satin soft strands met his fingertips and they slid easily across it. He cupped them in his hand, enjoying the unusual feel. He could feel another layer underneath which was warm and supple. Again the pads of his fingers caressed the surface, feeling its many curves and bumps.
There was something strangely familiar about this thing laying on him, but he didn't care, he liked its presence and decided it could stay as long as it wanted.
Moving farther down his fingers met two incredibly soft ridges, slightly moist and parted. Warm air flowed out from these ridges and he placed his fingers gently along the inside edges, feeling the moisture gather on the tips. He felt the object react to his touch and close the wet ridges over his finger as something warm and wet from inside of it brushed the penetrating pad.
A tiny thrill vibrated through his body and he stretched involuntarily, sighing at the pleasant sensations coursing in his blood. The warm object moved, pressing itself against him. He grabbed it with his other arm and pulled it to him, holding it close.
So soft.
Feeling like he had never known such peace and warmth before in his existence, he stroked whatever it was, eliciting a sound from deep within it.
Like a sigh...he listened lazily. It sighed again...
..."Vash..." it whispered.
Instantly Knives threw open his eyes. His memory came pouring back into his brain.
Vash!
He remembered, he remembered everything.
Feeling a stirring over him, he glanced down and his eyes widened in shock.
The human woman was half lying on the bed, her head and arms draped across his body, holding onto him gently. And he, to his horror, had one hand resting on the bare upper part of her back while the other one cupped the back of her head. His fingers lightly tangled in her dark hair.
From somewhere in his memory, Knives saw a flash of naked skin. Her body as it pushed against his, riding the waves of passion and need. Head flung back in a silent scream and his own hands molded to her body as if he was a sculptor and she was the clay. Slickness and heat...
She stirred again and half opened her eyes.
Knives couldn't move. He was frozen to the spot.
The warmth of her body began to burn him, as she lay unmoving on his chest. That fucking dream came back to taunt him. When she spoke, the vibrations made his fingers curl.
"What...," she said sleepily, "what are you doing?"
"..." Knives could not seem to find his voice.
In a second Meryl realized their awkward position and practically jumped off his stiff form, her face shinning red in embarrassment. Shit! She hadn't meant to fall asleep on him.
"S-sorry," she stuttered, "I was, uh, checking up on you and I, uh, must have f-fallen asleep."
Knives tore his gaze away. If they hadn't been in a darkened room, Meryl would have sworn he was blushing, but he just continued to stare at his hands on his lap.
She moved forward a little, "Are you ok?"
A muscle on his face twitched, but Knives did not respond.
Meryl could feel the embarrassment settle through her body. She decided to change the subject as quickly as possible, shuffling her foot against a crack in the floor.
"Um...you're really lucky, you know. A few more minutes in that plant and you'd have been a goner. I checked the readouts before I brought you down here. It looks like one of the power couplings malfunctioned and caused a system breakdown. It's not surprising, I mean, these things are over a hundred years old. It's amazing any of them are still up and running."
Still no response.
Meryl sat down on the edge of her mattress, arms crossed.
What was wrong with him? Why was he being so sulky? He should at least look at me when I'm talking to him. I just saved his life for crying out loud! Shit, that really pisses me off! she thought, her embarrassment making her testy.
Ungrateful bastard.
"That's ok, Knives," she said sarcastically, "no need to thank me for saving you and dragging your sorry butt down a flight of stairs, you only weigh a couple hundred pounds after all."
Nothing.
What's the matter with him, she thought, he should be screaming at me right now, threatening to kill me slowly and painfully or something like that. Is he still hurt? Did the machine do something to him? Worry crept into her mind.
"Um...are you all right?" she ventured, reaching out to touch his shoulder.
When she did he jumped as if her fingers burned him. Instantly he came back to life.
"Don't...touch...me." he hissed, slapping her hand away. His eyes snapped up, scorching fire into her as he swung his legs over the side of the mattress and sat up.
"Sorry, I was just checking to see if you were alright," Meryl frowned, inwardly relieved that he was moving and talking, even if it was only to yell at her.
Knives regarded her coldly for a moment.
"Checking?" he responded grimacing, "You, human, were doing a bit more than checking. And if you ever puts your disgusting hands on me like that again, I will rip them off!"
"Excuse me?" Meryl puffed up in anger, "I'm so sorry Knives, but as I seem to recall, you were the one with your hands all over me! So you just watch who you're pointing fingers at mister!"
"Woman! Don't think for a minute I would ever want to touch your decaying human body! You make me sick, you and ALL of YOUR KIND! I'm repulsed even being in the same room with you!"
Meryl drew herself up to her full height. How dare he! After everything she'd done for him! And here she could have simply let the out of control plant suck the life from him, but no, she'd risked her own life to save his.
She shouldn't let him get to her; after all, he was just trying to get a rise out of her.
But despite her rational brain, his words were like a knife in her heart. It was important for him to trust her, to like her somehow. But he didn't, and she hated him for it. She lashed out at him with all the strength she could muster.
"Really, Knives? Is that so? Well, I can't stand the sight of you! You're a selfish little boy with a huge chip on your shoulder. You don't care about anything or anyone!"
She was yelling at the top of her lungs and advancing on the surprised plant so aggressively that he actually backed up on the bed before he knew what was happening.
"You talk about killing the spiders to save the butterflies, and how we humans are uncaring evil creatures who take and hurt and kill! But, you, Knives! In living out your insane ideology, you've become the biggest spider of all! You're such a hypocrite! You could never be as good and pure as Vash because you don't love anyone and you won't let anyone love you!"
Knives back hit the wall behind him, but he hardly noticed. Something about what she was saying made it difficult for him to think of a come back.
"I could never love someone like you! You're a mean, angry, violent, lonely old man, Knives, and I don't care what you do as long as you LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!"
Somewhere, out in the hot dry desert dunes, Vash the Stampede felt his heart clench. He tipped his round glasses up farther on his nose and stared across the sands to the ancient space ship in the distance. The pain in his heart told him nothing about what was happening inside the old wreck, just that his brother was hurting. Hurting badly. But this time, the pain felt more internal than external. Like despair...but...
"What's happening, Meryl?" he mouthed.
Almost there, Vash increased his pace, worried about what was happening between the two people inside.
"Just leave me the hell alone!"
Her voice echoed in his ears.
Knives was about to open his mouth for a comeback, but a sudden squeezing in his chest stopped him. He forced his head down, so she wouldn't see him. It felt like his heart was having trouble pumping the blood through his body. Each pound left a hollow constricting ache that made his head spin and his eyes sting.
What had she done to him? Had she slipped something into his food?
No. She wouldn't have done that, he decided, so what...
A memory of when he and Vash were children came back. Vash had been so distraught over the thought of losing that human woman that somehow, his pain over the image made hot liquid come out of Vash's eyes. Both brothers had been shocked at this physiological response. Rem had called them tears, and she said people did things like that when they were sad.
Was this the kind of emotion she'd talked about?
Knives could feel the clench in his chest release slightly.
What does it mean? he felt slightly panicked. This strange emotion scared him. It felt too much like it had when Vash had shot him and then abandoned him in the desert. But she hadn't shot him, just yelled at him. It didn't make sense! She'd yelled at him before and it hadn't hurt. Why now? What had changed?
Why did it have to be her?
Knives head was down, his eyes focused on the ground.
Meryl backed away and turned to face the doorway. Time ticked by unnoticed as the small town insurance girl and the tall ageless plant sat in quiet contemplation. Each of them trying to figure out the other one and not making any headway.
Soon, the woman sighed and muttered softly, "Why won't you let me help you?"
Silence sat heavily in the air. Each of them facing opposite sides of the tiny room, refusing to look at each other.
Not expecting a response, Meryl was surprised when he spoke.
"Why would you want to help me?" He asked, barely audible.
Meryl half smiled, "I don't know, I just do."
"Because you're trying to trick me?" He questioned.
"No." She came back quickly.
"Because you want something?"
"No."
"Because it's what my brother would do?"
"NO."
"Then why?" He asked, unable to fathom any other reason, still feeling the ache in his chest.
"Because I want to, " she said simply and honestly.
Her voice still rang in his head from earlier, when she had pulled him from the plant...
("Why"... he had asked...)
("I wanted to..." she had said...)
"Why..." he asked again. Somehow, she understood what he was asking.
"I think it's because I understand how you feel, even if you think I don't." Meryl said quietly.
Knives was baffled. For some reason, he felt the hard iron walls around his soul buckle just a little.
Doubt plagued him.
For once, Knives afforded himself a moment of calm consideration.
He never had anyone to talk to about anything. Yet, talking to her was having a strange effect on him. For the first time in a long time, Knives felt like he could talk. A silly sentimental idea, but still... He stared at the long cracks running through the wall in front of him, trying to wrap his brain around the foreign concept of this woman helping him with no underlying selfish motive. He'd never shown her anything but contempt. He'd kidnapped her for Christ's sake! She should rejoice in the prospect of his death. And yet, she wanted to help him. And he didn't think it had anything to do with his brother. Why? Sympathy?
"I don't want your pity." He spat at the wall. He wasn't ready to let her see his defenses completely down.
"I didn't say that, Knives! I just said I think I understand the reasons behind your actions and why you feel the way you do."
Understand him? How could she understand him...when he didn't even understand himself?
"Ignorant human. I'm a plant. You could never understand me."
"Maybe not completely, but we're more similar than you think we are."
"Tch." he scoffed.
Even with his outward cover, she could tell he was opening up a little, and if she could somehow influence him long enough to either change his mind or delay him until Vash got there...Meryl pounced on the opportunity.
"Is it so hard to see? We both want the same things in the end. Peace for our kind, right? Instead of killing each other, why can't we work together to get what we want? Wouldn't that be the logical choice?"
The rational side of Knives brain couldn't help but see the logic of her statement. He had to shake his head to regain control. How was she able to do that, when all others had failed, how was she able to have that kind of effect on him?
He traced one of the cracks on the wall. It reminded him of a timeline, or a family tree. Something he had never known, something he'd given up on long ago.Why am I doubting myself now? Can I carry out my plan of using the PTD plant...if I have to use her?
"Can't you just trust me?" she pleaded quietly.
Trust.
The word ripped at his memory.
I've never trusted anyone in my life, he thought. To trust means to be eventually betrayed.
Ever since he convinced himself that Rem had betrayed him and his brother, his trust in other people had disappeared. All these years, those who served him, those whom he commanded, they had all been puppets. There had been no friendship, no trust. Even the plant angels he was able to communicate with made no real sense. They didn't understand why he lived in the stream of time and therefore didn't understand him.
He was always alone.
Part of him hated the loneliness.
And now...
Now she had offered him a chance to break the binds of his loneliness. He could still remember the soft feel of her in his arms. And for the first time in over one hundred years, he almost felt he could trust this human woman.
She helped him. She suffered for him. And most importantly, she was honest with him. No lies. She told the truth even when he might have killed her for it. She could not hurt him, but then again, it was her choice to protect him.
He didn't know if the plants and humans could live in peace, but maybe he could live in peace with one of them? She cared, she trusted, she feared, she...
"Knives?" he heard her question, and he could hear all those things in her voice.
Just for him.
As he started to turn around to face her, his hand slipped through her jacket and he felt a sharp stab in his index finger. Normally he would have paid it no mind, but as he looked at the sharp piece of metal sticking out of the collar of the shirt, his eyes narrowed.
"What is..." his fingers pinched the bit of scorched metal from her jacket collar. The top of it had popped off and the insides of the little device were visible. Knives stared at the small computer chip embedded in the button, his mind was spinning. He hadn't seen one of these since his childhood.
A blocker?
How did a blocker get here of all places? Why was this woman carrying such a valuable piece of lost technology, and why? The only uses for this thing involved blocking the excess mental energy from the larger plant systems and...
...reflecting them back on the plant...
Knives couldn't breath. The world came crashing down.
So that was how she did it. That was how she was able to resist his mental persuasion. That was why his own energy would shoot back at his brain when he tried to control her. She had the blocker the whole time.
Why didn't' she tell him? She was hiding it from him, and that meant...she didn't trust him. Suspicion clouded his judgment. She had a blocker to trick him, to make a fool out of him.
And if she had a blocker, she knew what it would do to him. If she had a blocker, she must have planed this. She must have known it would hurt him and that meant...she didn't care about him.
Here she was, talking of helping him, of caring about him. And she was just like the rest of the humans. She never cared. All she wanted was to buy some time while Vash was on his way to rescue her. Knives felt his heart ice over and die.
She didn't care about the plants.
She did not care about him.
She was a monster.
Just like Rem.
He was Betrayed, again.
"You bitch! You fucking human bitch!"
He turned on her, shaking with barely controlled rage.
"Knives...what are you..." she was used to him calling her names, but she'd never heard him swear like that. No intelligence, no thought, just blind rage as he screamed.
"Shut the fuck up! You thought you could trick me, didn't you?"
"What?" What was he talking about, "I never..."
He advanced menacingly, ignoring the twisting pain in his heart.
"You were smart," he held up the burnt piece of metal to the light so she could see, "All the time I was looking for your weaknesses you were looking for mine...biding your time...and this," his eyes sparked dangerously as he focused on the little scrap metal. It began to vibrate between his fingers, "I wonder how you got your filthy human hands on a blocker?"
Utterly confused, Meryl reached out her hand for the object, trying her best to reason with the deranged plant, "Look, let me see it and I'll tell you if I know what it is, alright?"
Before she could react, Knives said evilly, "You want it back, do you?" And the little piece of metal shot like a bullet through the palm of her hand, embedding itself in the wall behind her.
Meryl screamed in agony and clutched her hand against her body. Blood was streaming out over her white skirt and down her legs as Knives slowly advanced, dropping the clothes she had covered him with on the ground. He made sure to step on them roughly as he backed her up to the cold wall.
"I have to compliment you, spider, you almost had me taken in. Almost had me believing that sentimental garbage you and my idiot brother like to spout so much."
"Stop, Knives! Think about what your saying! I don't know anything about that stopper or blocker or whatever you called it. I don't know anything about that stupid lost technology! Why won't you believe me?!"
"Believe you?" he seethed, "I'll never believe you or your kind again. You and that conniving woman and my fucking brother can rot in the hell you created for yourselves! I almost believed...I wanted to..." he trailed off, grimacing as he remembered the escape from loneliness that had been within his reach. She...she had dangled it in front of his face and then robbed him of it. Just like her. Such cruelty...
"Knives...please...trust me..."
He met her with stone cold eyes as he spoke.
"My mind is clear again."
He was too fast for her to follow.
Cutting off her breath he grabbed Meryl around the neck and slammed her up against the hard wall. Holding her by the throat, he pinned her to the wall. Meryl choked and sputtered, her feet barely touched the floor. The blood from her injured hand trickled freely down his arm. She was practically standing on tiptoes in order to keep her neck from snapping.
The world spun out of control.
She managed to gag out, "V-vash...vas..sh..."
Feeling like a blade had been twisted in his heart, Knives bristled and his eyes blazed with fury. Everyone always called on Vash, the favorite, the chosen brother, "How dare you call to him, you piece of garbage! You say you care about me and then you call on him!? I'm the one with your life in my hands! How dare you!"
He hated her, hated his brother, hated the pain of loneliness he'd never share with anyone, hated his fate and the whole fucking world. They could all just die.
Through her pain, Meryl was shocked to see hot tears streaming down his face as he choke "Go ahead, scream his name, plead for him, he doesn't save everybody, you know that don't you. He never tried to save Tessla, or our siblings! Fuck! He couldn't save his own brother, so why the hell would he save you?"
Meryl only stared at him in mute terror. He was making no sense.
"He was a lie, just like Rem, just like you, and just like everyone else! How dare you call for HIM! After you made me believe that...after you...after I..." Knives felt something in his chest shattering, "GOD DAMN YOU! YOU'RE A LIAR LIKE ALL THE REST!"
He sent a violent wave of energy toward her, making her crumple her to the ground.
She screamed as his mind ripped through hers, unchecked, tearing and shredding her subconscious apart. Not wanting to kill her right there, he let her mind go, panting for air.
"You will not stop me from fulfilling my mission. My reason for existing. I WILL wipe out the human race, and YOU will help me do it."
"K-kn-nives..."
"Get up."
She couldn't stop herself.
Knives face distorted insanely as he bared his teeth at her, watching her try to fight him and fail. This frail little human had brought so much doubt and trouble to his mind; he would play with her a little before the end. Repay her for her "kindness".
She had caused him to feel emotion. Pain. He would make her pay for that.
Like a cat toys with a mouse before he devours it.
Meryl's eyes widened in horror as he leaned in, placing his arms on either side of her head, trapping her against the wall. Her throbbing head dimly remembered the fact that he was still naked.
He's really gone crazy, she thought.
"One man's insanity is another man's reality," he chuckled, hearing her thoughts, "You wanted to play with me before, didn't you spider, while I was sleeping? So, go ahead...play."
He trailed a finger lightly down her cheek and tipped her chin up to his. Meryl could feel his moist breath on her face as his fingers drew a line down her neck and across her collarbone.
"Or maybe I'll just play with you?" He hissed.
As if giant strings were attached to her arms and legs, Meryl began operating like a marionette. No matter how hard she tried, she found that she couldn't control her own body anymore.
Nothing she did could stop her hands from moving down his chest, her fingers splayed out against his tight skin, sliding over the contours of his abdomen. And they weren't stopping! Meryl held her breath and gasped. But before they reached all the way down, her hands jumped back up his sides, coming around his back and sensuously rubbing him. The heat coming from his body was intense. As her hands unwillingly caressed up and down his back, she could feel Knives breathing heavily. They were so close, every time he inhaled his chest brushed up against her breasts. She could feel his hot breath against her neck.
ILLUSTRATION: TESTING YOU (http:ation in his eyes and she pleaded with him mentally to stop all this madness.
A heartbeat, and the moment was gone, and Knives was coldly glaring at her once again as he spoke.
"It's time. Move."
Next Time on Edge: Chapter 11 Choose and Pain of the Past
The history of man is progress.
The wheel. The horseless carriage. Locomotion. Flight. The splitting of the atom. Rockets. Computers. Genetics. Space travel. Holograms. Artificial Intelligence. The Internet. The cure for cancer. Solar power. Nan technology. Travel by light speed.
The plants.
The greatest human achievement and the pinnacle of our civilization.
It was also our greatest mistake and the single cause of mankind's near destruction.
Until recent events, the individuals and actions leading up to The Great Falling of the human race from their place among the stars has remained a mystery. However, people have continued relying on the plant technology, trusting it and fearing it at the same time. No one really understands what the plant is or how it creates its power. The implications of a plant as a sentient being are unnerving, so most people don't think about it. The plants have become a necessary evil and most humans simply ignore the gigantic glass bulbs hovering over their quiet little towns.
And the most powerful plant in existence has fallen from our collective memory.
The PTD, Planet Transformation Device, was created just before the great migration began from the old Earth. Its purpose was to transform the terrain of any atmospherically ideal planet into an environment similar to that of the Earth before its decline. In the PTD's core, a new program was installed which would enable the plant to pull its energy, not only from the angel within, but from surrounding plant angels as well, thus creating the vast source of power needed to fuel the nuclear and chemical reactions for the transformation. The beauty of the plant-powered device was that no living beings on the new planet's surface would be adversely affected once the reaction was set in motion.
The PTD was hailed as a miracle.
The only thing this miraculous device needed was a link.
Since it depended on simultaneous plant angel connections, the main system needed a live plant to create the links to all of its kind. Efforts had been made to extract angels from their plant cores, but such experiments had always been disastrous and the angel had always died.
Shortly before the PTD was designed, an angel was unexpectedly born that had the ability to survive outside the glass bulb. A girl, whom the scientists on board named Tessla. She was put through dozens of experimentations before she wasted away under their needles and knives, finally giving into death and dissection.
After Tessla, there were several other plant angels born outside the cores. The whereabouts of many of these specimens remains unknown, though most were believed to have perished in the great fallout one hundred and thirty years ago. A pair of twin male specimens, however, had been documented to be on the PTD ship itself just before it fell.
It is noted that several complaints were sent in by the twin plant's guardian, a woman named Rem Saverem. Her letters protested the intended use of one of the twins as the link for the PTD machine. Saverem argued that the twins were sentient beings capable of the same range of emotions and thoughts as humans. The governmental branch in charge of plant regulations dismissed her outrage as "mother hen" syndrome, saying that she had grown too attached to the specimens to be objective.
For you see, in order for the PTD to activate, the plant serving as its link is absorbed into the system itself.
In effect, the plant angel is eaten.
The small room was dark and warm. The only light came from the half opened door through which the dancing light of the plant machines fell, reaching its way across the room to the dusty box spring mattress pushed up against the far wall, and the person laying on top of it.
The rusty metal springs squeaked in protest as Meryl rolled over and opened her eyes. Lavender irises slowly adjusting to the dim light of the tiny storage room she had brought Knives to after his near death experience in the plant. She glanced to where he was lying, asleep.
After Meryl dragged the unconscious Knives down the landing and a dozen or so feet to the storage room and flung him on the old mattress, she had been so exhausted that she flopped on top of a second mattress and fell straight asleep. The room had apparently been converted into a makeshift bedroom some time ago, and Meryl wondered what had happened to those original redecorators and if they were still around somewhere. It was surprisingly comfortable and soft. Meryl stretched her sore muscles.
For once, she had not dreamed of Vash or Knives or anything stressful. Instead, Meryl had a dream about swimming in the deep blue ocean. She could clearly remembered the feel of waves caressing her skin, though oddly she had never seen an ocean much less swam in one. She remembered reading about them in picture books when she was a child.
I guess it really doesn't matter, she thought, it was just a nice dream.
A small stirring brought her back to reality and she sat up in bed. Knives grunted and shifted on his mattress in the shadows. Meryl slid off her bed and padded over to him. She was still only wearing her thin- strapped undershirt and white work skirt. Her boots, jacket, and collared shirt had been shed before she climbed into the plant to save Knives, and she had thrown her jacket and shirt over his naked body when she laid him down for a quick covering.
Standing over him, Meryl stared down at the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed steadily.
His face is so peaceful right now, she thought.
The tattered white jacket and shirt barely covered his muscular body. When she had dragged him to this side room she hadn't had time to notice he was naked, but now, as the twinkling light played across his cut chest and chiseled features, Meryl couldn't help but notice how handsome he was (when he wasn't talking, glaring, or bringing about the end of the world). The smooth skin had sealed itself while he was in the plant and she couldn't see a blemish or scar on his body.
Asleep, he had the same peaceful expression on his face as he had when she had mistaken him for Vash back at the Inn. Sitting by his side, gazing at him as she had done then gave her the sudden urge to touch him again. With a blush, Meryl felt herself wanting to kiss him. She shook herself.
Please, Meryl, she groaned, get a grip.
Still, she hovered over the sleeping man, unable to take her eyes off him.
There's so much about him, and Vash, that I still don't know. They've both been through so much pain. So many scars, and yet...I think Knives is the one who suffered more from scars on the inside.
Meryl felt sympathy for the plant fill her heart. She knelt down next to the makeshift bed and spoke softly.
"I don't know what I would do if I were you, if I watched my entire race dying at the hands of another," her hands strayed to the hair that partially covered his eyes, brushing it gently aside.
"Maybe I'd go a little crazy too..."
Meryl suddenly pulled her hand away when she realized it had traveled of its own accord down the length of his face. The skin was smooth and pale.
Hypnotic.
She felt her own skin grow warm and she bit her lower lip as she eyed the tall figure wrapped loosely in her clothes.
Dangerous? Yes.
Psychotic? Most definitely.
Handsome? Without a doubt. His broad muscular chest, which rose and fell in time with his deep breathing, tapered to his sinfully thin waist, down past his narrow hips and long legs. One arm rested behind his head and the other lay across his stomach, both slender and toned. His spiky short hair didn't have the same golden gleam as Vash, but the white blonde color gave him an older, wiser appearance.
You'd never think someone who looked this good could have been bed ridden for the past couple months, Meryl leaned on the corner of the bed lightly so not to wake him.
I wonder what he'll do when he wakes up? He said he was waiting for Vash...just like me.
Her fingers found his hair again.
Why are these two so different? Knives is nothing like Vash. Why does he hate us so much when Vash would die for us? What made Vash the way he is? What made Knives? He must be so lonely. As she mused the differences between the two plants, she was barely aware of her hand trailing down his shoulder and arm, lightly brushing the skin on his hand.
"Knives...I wish there was some way I could help you..."
In a trance, Meryl leaned her head on his arm and closed her eyes; the nearness of his body gave her an oddly comforting feeling.
She had noticed a strange trust developing between herself and this unique man, even though they started out hating each other, he had spoken and reveled more to her than he had to his own brother in recent days. Meryl came to value that trust. They had saved each other more than once, and even though he kept saying he was going to kill her, she was having a harder time believing those words. She hadn't heard him call her a stupid spider in a long time, even if he never used her real name. If only she could break through his rough exterior, maybe she could find a way to help him.
If only she could get him to really trust her, maybe she could help Vash to change his mind.
Vash...
She felt a little guilty when she realized she had been thinking about him while she was this close to Knives. But it couldn't be helped. She'd never get Vash out of her mind. He was the one she loved.
Exhaustion slowly returned to her body and she pressed her face closer to his warm skin, breathing deeply.
Perhaps she would find the answers in her dreams.
Several minutes ticked away before the man on the bed stirred. His brain felt completely muddled. He didn't remember who he was or where he was, but he soon decided he didn't care.
The first thing he was aware of was comfortable warmth, which was settled on his right arm. Something silky and smooth was leaning on him. He lifted a weak hand and touched the object. Satin soft strands met his fingertips and they slid easily across it. He cupped them in his hand, enjoying the unusual feel. He could feel another layer underneath which was warm and supple. Again the pads of his fingers caressed the surface, feeling its many curves and bumps.
There was something strangely familiar about this thing laying on him, but he didn't care, he liked its presence and decided it could stay as long as it wanted.
Moving farther down his fingers met two incredibly soft ridges, slightly moist and parted. Warm air flowed out from these ridges and he placed his fingers gently along the inside edges, feeling the moisture gather on the tips. He felt the object react to his touch and close the wet ridges over his finger as something warm and wet from inside of it brushed the penetrating pad.
A tiny thrill vibrated through his body and he stretched involuntarily, sighing at the pleasant sensations coursing in his blood. The warm object moved, pressing itself against him. He grabbed it with his other arm and pulled it to him, holding it close.
So soft.
Feeling like he had never known such peace and warmth before in his existence, he stroked whatever it was, eliciting a sound from deep within it.
Like a sigh...he listened lazily. It sighed again...
..."Vash..." it whispered.
Instantly Knives threw open his eyes. His memory came pouring back into his brain.
Vash!
He remembered, he remembered everything.
Feeling a stirring over him, he glanced down and his eyes widened in shock.
The human woman was half lying on the bed, her head and arms draped across his body, holding onto him gently. And he, to his horror, had one hand resting on the bare upper part of her back while the other one cupped the back of her head. His fingers lightly tangled in her dark hair.
From somewhere in his memory, Knives saw a flash of naked skin. Her body as it pushed against his, riding the waves of passion and need. Head flung back in a silent scream and his own hands molded to her body as if he was a sculptor and she was the clay. Slickness and heat...
She stirred again and half opened her eyes.
Knives couldn't move. He was frozen to the spot.
The warmth of her body began to burn him, as she lay unmoving on his chest. That fucking dream came back to taunt him. When she spoke, the vibrations made his fingers curl.
"What...," she said sleepily, "what are you doing?"
"..." Knives could not seem to find his voice.
In a second Meryl realized their awkward position and practically jumped off his stiff form, her face shinning red in embarrassment. Shit! She hadn't meant to fall asleep on him.
"S-sorry," she stuttered, "I was, uh, checking up on you and I, uh, must have f-fallen asleep."
Knives tore his gaze away. If they hadn't been in a darkened room, Meryl would have sworn he was blushing, but he just continued to stare at his hands on his lap.
She moved forward a little, "Are you ok?"
A muscle on his face twitched, but Knives did not respond.
Meryl could feel the embarrassment settle through her body. She decided to change the subject as quickly as possible, shuffling her foot against a crack in the floor.
"Um...you're really lucky, you know. A few more minutes in that plant and you'd have been a goner. I checked the readouts before I brought you down here. It looks like one of the power couplings malfunctioned and caused a system breakdown. It's not surprising, I mean, these things are over a hundred years old. It's amazing any of them are still up and running."
Still no response.
Meryl sat down on the edge of her mattress, arms crossed.
What was wrong with him? Why was he being so sulky? He should at least look at me when I'm talking to him. I just saved his life for crying out loud! Shit, that really pisses me off! she thought, her embarrassment making her testy.
Ungrateful bastard.
"That's ok, Knives," she said sarcastically, "no need to thank me for saving you and dragging your sorry butt down a flight of stairs, you only weigh a couple hundred pounds after all."
Nothing.
What's the matter with him, she thought, he should be screaming at me right now, threatening to kill me slowly and painfully or something like that. Is he still hurt? Did the machine do something to him? Worry crept into her mind.
"Um...are you all right?" she ventured, reaching out to touch his shoulder.
When she did he jumped as if her fingers burned him. Instantly he came back to life.
"Don't...touch...me." he hissed, slapping her hand away. His eyes snapped up, scorching fire into her as he swung his legs over the side of the mattress and sat up.
"Sorry, I was just checking to see if you were alright," Meryl frowned, inwardly relieved that he was moving and talking, even if it was only to yell at her.
Knives regarded her coldly for a moment.
"Checking?" he responded grimacing, "You, human, were doing a bit more than checking. And if you ever puts your disgusting hands on me like that again, I will rip them off!"
"Excuse me?" Meryl puffed up in anger, "I'm so sorry Knives, but as I seem to recall, you were the one with your hands all over me! So you just watch who you're pointing fingers at mister!"
"Woman! Don't think for a minute I would ever want to touch your decaying human body! You make me sick, you and ALL of YOUR KIND! I'm repulsed even being in the same room with you!"
Meryl drew herself up to her full height. How dare he! After everything she'd done for him! And here she could have simply let the out of control plant suck the life from him, but no, she'd risked her own life to save his.
She shouldn't let him get to her; after all, he was just trying to get a rise out of her.
But despite her rational brain, his words were like a knife in her heart. It was important for him to trust her, to like her somehow. But he didn't, and she hated him for it. She lashed out at him with all the strength she could muster.
"Really, Knives? Is that so? Well, I can't stand the sight of you! You're a selfish little boy with a huge chip on your shoulder. You don't care about anything or anyone!"
She was yelling at the top of her lungs and advancing on the surprised plant so aggressively that he actually backed up on the bed before he knew what was happening.
"You talk about killing the spiders to save the butterflies, and how we humans are uncaring evil creatures who take and hurt and kill! But, you, Knives! In living out your insane ideology, you've become the biggest spider of all! You're such a hypocrite! You could never be as good and pure as Vash because you don't love anyone and you won't let anyone love you!"
Knives back hit the wall behind him, but he hardly noticed. Something about what she was saying made it difficult for him to think of a come back.
"I could never love someone like you! You're a mean, angry, violent, lonely old man, Knives, and I don't care what you do as long as you LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!"
Somewhere, out in the hot dry desert dunes, Vash the Stampede felt his heart clench. He tipped his round glasses up farther on his nose and stared across the sands to the ancient space ship in the distance. The pain in his heart told him nothing about what was happening inside the old wreck, just that his brother was hurting. Hurting badly. But this time, the pain felt more internal than external. Like despair...but...
"What's happening, Meryl?" he mouthed.
Almost there, Vash increased his pace, worried about what was happening between the two people inside.
"Just leave me the hell alone!"
Her voice echoed in his ears.
Knives was about to open his mouth for a comeback, but a sudden squeezing in his chest stopped him. He forced his head down, so she wouldn't see him. It felt like his heart was having trouble pumping the blood through his body. Each pound left a hollow constricting ache that made his head spin and his eyes sting.
What had she done to him? Had she slipped something into his food?
No. She wouldn't have done that, he decided, so what...
A memory of when he and Vash were children came back. Vash had been so distraught over the thought of losing that human woman that somehow, his pain over the image made hot liquid come out of Vash's eyes. Both brothers had been shocked at this physiological response. Rem had called them tears, and she said people did things like that when they were sad.
Was this the kind of emotion she'd talked about?
Knives could feel the clench in his chest release slightly.
What does it mean? he felt slightly panicked. This strange emotion scared him. It felt too much like it had when Vash had shot him and then abandoned him in the desert. But she hadn't shot him, just yelled at him. It didn't make sense! She'd yelled at him before and it hadn't hurt. Why now? What had changed?
Why did it have to be her?
Knives head was down, his eyes focused on the ground.
Meryl backed away and turned to face the doorway. Time ticked by unnoticed as the small town insurance girl and the tall ageless plant sat in quiet contemplation. Each of them trying to figure out the other one and not making any headway.
Soon, the woman sighed and muttered softly, "Why won't you let me help you?"
Silence sat heavily in the air. Each of them facing opposite sides of the tiny room, refusing to look at each other.
Not expecting a response, Meryl was surprised when he spoke.
"Why would you want to help me?" He asked, barely audible.
Meryl half smiled, "I don't know, I just do."
"Because you're trying to trick me?" He questioned.
"No." She came back quickly.
"Because you want something?"
"No."
"Because it's what my brother would do?"
"NO."
"Then why?" He asked, unable to fathom any other reason, still feeling the ache in his chest.
"Because I want to, " she said simply and honestly.
Her voice still rang in his head from earlier, when she had pulled him from the plant...
("Why"... he had asked...)
("I wanted to..." she had said...)
"Why..." he asked again. Somehow, she understood what he was asking.
"I think it's because I understand how you feel, even if you think I don't." Meryl said quietly.
Knives was baffled. For some reason, he felt the hard iron walls around his soul buckle just a little.
Doubt plagued him.
For once, Knives afforded himself a moment of calm consideration.
He never had anyone to talk to about anything. Yet, talking to her was having a strange effect on him. For the first time in a long time, Knives felt like he could talk. A silly sentimental idea, but still... He stared at the long cracks running through the wall in front of him, trying to wrap his brain around the foreign concept of this woman helping him with no underlying selfish motive. He'd never shown her anything but contempt. He'd kidnapped her for Christ's sake! She should rejoice in the prospect of his death. And yet, she wanted to help him. And he didn't think it had anything to do with his brother. Why? Sympathy?
"I don't want your pity." He spat at the wall. He wasn't ready to let her see his defenses completely down.
"I didn't say that, Knives! I just said I think I understand the reasons behind your actions and why you feel the way you do."
Understand him? How could she understand him...when he didn't even understand himself?
"Ignorant human. I'm a plant. You could never understand me."
"Maybe not completely, but we're more similar than you think we are."
"Tch." he scoffed.
Even with his outward cover, she could tell he was opening up a little, and if she could somehow influence him long enough to either change his mind or delay him until Vash got there...Meryl pounced on the opportunity.
"Is it so hard to see? We both want the same things in the end. Peace for our kind, right? Instead of killing each other, why can't we work together to get what we want? Wouldn't that be the logical choice?"
The rational side of Knives brain couldn't help but see the logic of her statement. He had to shake his head to regain control. How was she able to do that, when all others had failed, how was she able to have that kind of effect on him?
He traced one of the cracks on the wall. It reminded him of a timeline, or a family tree. Something he had never known, something he'd given up on long ago.Why am I doubting myself now? Can I carry out my plan of using the PTD plant...if I have to use her?
"Can't you just trust me?" she pleaded quietly.
Trust.
The word ripped at his memory.
I've never trusted anyone in my life, he thought. To trust means to be eventually betrayed.
Ever since he convinced himself that Rem had betrayed him and his brother, his trust in other people had disappeared. All these years, those who served him, those whom he commanded, they had all been puppets. There had been no friendship, no trust. Even the plant angels he was able to communicate with made no real sense. They didn't understand why he lived in the stream of time and therefore didn't understand him.
He was always alone.
Part of him hated the loneliness.
And now...
Now she had offered him a chance to break the binds of his loneliness. He could still remember the soft feel of her in his arms. And for the first time in over one hundred years, he almost felt he could trust this human woman.
She helped him. She suffered for him. And most importantly, she was honest with him. No lies. She told the truth even when he might have killed her for it. She could not hurt him, but then again, it was her choice to protect him.
He didn't know if the plants and humans could live in peace, but maybe he could live in peace with one of them? She cared, she trusted, she feared, she...
"Knives?" he heard her question, and he could hear all those things in her voice.
Just for him.
As he started to turn around to face her, his hand slipped through her jacket and he felt a sharp stab in his index finger. Normally he would have paid it no mind, but as he looked at the sharp piece of metal sticking out of the collar of the shirt, his eyes narrowed.
"What is..." his fingers pinched the bit of scorched metal from her jacket collar. The top of it had popped off and the insides of the little device were visible. Knives stared at the small computer chip embedded in the button, his mind was spinning. He hadn't seen one of these since his childhood.
A blocker?
How did a blocker get here of all places? Why was this woman carrying such a valuable piece of lost technology, and why? The only uses for this thing involved blocking the excess mental energy from the larger plant systems and...
...reflecting them back on the plant...
Knives couldn't breath. The world came crashing down.
So that was how she did it. That was how she was able to resist his mental persuasion. That was why his own energy would shoot back at his brain when he tried to control her. She had the blocker the whole time.
Why didn't' she tell him? She was hiding it from him, and that meant...she didn't trust him. Suspicion clouded his judgment. She had a blocker to trick him, to make a fool out of him.
And if she had a blocker, she knew what it would do to him. If she had a blocker, she must have planed this. She must have known it would hurt him and that meant...she didn't care about him.
Here she was, talking of helping him, of caring about him. And she was just like the rest of the humans. She never cared. All she wanted was to buy some time while Vash was on his way to rescue her. Knives felt his heart ice over and die.
She didn't care about the plants.
She did not care about him.
She was a monster.
Just like Rem.
He was Betrayed, again.
"You bitch! You fucking human bitch!"
He turned on her, shaking with barely controlled rage.
"Knives...what are you..." she was used to him calling her names, but she'd never heard him swear like that. No intelligence, no thought, just blind rage as he screamed.
"Shut the fuck up! You thought you could trick me, didn't you?"
"What?" What was he talking about, "I never..."
He advanced menacingly, ignoring the twisting pain in his heart.
"You were smart," he held up the burnt piece of metal to the light so she could see, "All the time I was looking for your weaknesses you were looking for mine...biding your time...and this," his eyes sparked dangerously as he focused on the little scrap metal. It began to vibrate between his fingers, "I wonder how you got your filthy human hands on a blocker?"
Utterly confused, Meryl reached out her hand for the object, trying her best to reason with the deranged plant, "Look, let me see it and I'll tell you if I know what it is, alright?"
Before she could react, Knives said evilly, "You want it back, do you?" And the little piece of metal shot like a bullet through the palm of her hand, embedding itself in the wall behind her.
Meryl screamed in agony and clutched her hand against her body. Blood was streaming out over her white skirt and down her legs as Knives slowly advanced, dropping the clothes she had covered him with on the ground. He made sure to step on them roughly as he backed her up to the cold wall.
"I have to compliment you, spider, you almost had me taken in. Almost had me believing that sentimental garbage you and my idiot brother like to spout so much."
"Stop, Knives! Think about what your saying! I don't know anything about that stopper or blocker or whatever you called it. I don't know anything about that stupid lost technology! Why won't you believe me?!"
"Believe you?" he seethed, "I'll never believe you or your kind again. You and that conniving woman and my fucking brother can rot in the hell you created for yourselves! I almost believed...I wanted to..." he trailed off, grimacing as he remembered the escape from loneliness that had been within his reach. She...she had dangled it in front of his face and then robbed him of it. Just like her. Such cruelty...
"Knives...please...trust me..."
He met her with stone cold eyes as he spoke.
"My mind is clear again."
He was too fast for her to follow.
Cutting off her breath he grabbed Meryl around the neck and slammed her up against the hard wall. Holding her by the throat, he pinned her to the wall. Meryl choked and sputtered, her feet barely touched the floor. The blood from her injured hand trickled freely down his arm. She was practically standing on tiptoes in order to keep her neck from snapping.
The world spun out of control.
She managed to gag out, "V-vash...vas..sh..."
Feeling like a blade had been twisted in his heart, Knives bristled and his eyes blazed with fury. Everyone always called on Vash, the favorite, the chosen brother, "How dare you call to him, you piece of garbage! You say you care about me and then you call on him!? I'm the one with your life in my hands! How dare you!"
He hated her, hated his brother, hated the pain of loneliness he'd never share with anyone, hated his fate and the whole fucking world. They could all just die.
Through her pain, Meryl was shocked to see hot tears streaming down his face as he choke "Go ahead, scream his name, plead for him, he doesn't save everybody, you know that don't you. He never tried to save Tessla, or our siblings! Fuck! He couldn't save his own brother, so why the hell would he save you?"
Meryl only stared at him in mute terror. He was making no sense.
"He was a lie, just like Rem, just like you, and just like everyone else! How dare you call for HIM! After you made me believe that...after you...after I..." Knives felt something in his chest shattering, "GOD DAMN YOU! YOU'RE A LIAR LIKE ALL THE REST!"
He sent a violent wave of energy toward her, making her crumple her to the ground.
She screamed as his mind ripped through hers, unchecked, tearing and shredding her subconscious apart. Not wanting to kill her right there, he let her mind go, panting for air.
"You will not stop me from fulfilling my mission. My reason for existing. I WILL wipe out the human race, and YOU will help me do it."
"K-kn-nives..."
"Get up."
She couldn't stop herself.
Knives face distorted insanely as he bared his teeth at her, watching her try to fight him and fail. This frail little human had brought so much doubt and trouble to his mind; he would play with her a little before the end. Repay her for her "kindness".
She had caused him to feel emotion. Pain. He would make her pay for that.
Like a cat toys with a mouse before he devours it.
Meryl's eyes widened in horror as he leaned in, placing his arms on either side of her head, trapping her against the wall. Her throbbing head dimly remembered the fact that he was still naked.
He's really gone crazy, she thought.
"One man's insanity is another man's reality," he chuckled, hearing her thoughts, "You wanted to play with me before, didn't you spider, while I was sleeping? So, go ahead...play."
He trailed a finger lightly down her cheek and tipped her chin up to his. Meryl could feel his moist breath on her face as his fingers drew a line down her neck and across her collarbone.
"Or maybe I'll just play with you?" He hissed.
As if giant strings were attached to her arms and legs, Meryl began operating like a marionette. No matter how hard she tried, she found that she couldn't control her own body anymore.
Nothing she did could stop her hands from moving down his chest, her fingers splayed out against his tight skin, sliding over the contours of his abdomen. And they weren't stopping! Meryl held her breath and gasped. But before they reached all the way down, her hands jumped back up his sides, coming around his back and sensuously rubbing him. The heat coming from his body was intense. As her hands unwillingly caressed up and down his back, she could feel Knives breathing heavily. They were so close, every time he inhaled his chest brushed up against her breasts. She could feel his hot breath against her neck.
ILLUSTRATION: TESTING YOU (http:ation in his eyes and she pleaded with him mentally to stop all this madness.
A heartbeat, and the moment was gone, and Knives was coldly glaring at her once again as he spoke.
"It's time. Move."
Next Time on Edge: Chapter 11 Choose and Pain of the Past