Chapter 11: Choose: Part I (Pain of the Past)
Vash stood in front of the fallen spacecraft with the decaying word SEEDS written along its outer hull in chipped red.
The wreckage of the tall ship loomed over his head, like some gigantic beast rising from the dead. Its rusty double doors yawned open like a gapping mouth, ready to swallow him alive. Inside the belly of this monster whale was something he had been avoiding for the past hundred years, and it had finally caught up to him.
"Damn it, Knives," he whispered, "you knew I'd have no choice. You know I can't let you do it...especially not to her. That's why you took her, isn't it?"
The thought of Meryl inside this monster was almost too much. She'd done nothing to deserve this. If anything, he should be the one in there instead of her. He had to get her out of there alive, if only to finally tell her that he...
He grimly pulled out his old gun, the determination etched into his features.
"You always caught onto things quicker than I did, Knives. You were always one step ahead of me so I didn't figured it out until it was too late. Well, this time I'm going to be two steps ahead of you and...I WILL do what I have to do."
Vash eyed the plant ship ominously for a moment before raising his gun and cocking it. He closed his eyes and thought,
I'm here, Knives, and I'm not afraid.
There was no reply, but somehow he knew his brother heard it.
Vash stood on the edge of a blade, eyes fixed on the door. Memories filled his mind as he bravely stepped towards the black mouth of the ship and reached out to touch the hull. This was the ship he had grown up on, the ship that Rem had died on, the ship that held prisoner the only human woman besides Rem he had ever cared about, and the ship that might mark the end of his own life. It all began and ended in this one place.
"No regrets," he said with conviction, and walked in.
It took his eyes a while to adjust to the dim green glow from the plant buds, but soon he could make out the long twisting corridor ahead. Regretfully, he knew exactly where he was, and visions of his childhood came back uninvited as he began to hurry through the ship.
The room to the left had been the study where he'd spent countless hours reading and learning about the humans and Earth, their old world.
The next room on the right was the dining hall. Vash's legs carried him faster and the rooms passed by in a blur.
The common room, the living quarters, the rec room, the navigation room, the food storage, and...
...the laboratory.
Vash halted as soon as he saw it.
He knew he shouldn't stop but something pulled in.
It was something out of a horror story. The remains of an earlier plant angel were still floating in the green liquid tubes as the room hummed with energy.
He should be hurrying to the main plant room, but he couldn't help it. This was where it happened. Where he and his twin had finally separated. Vash reached out to touch the cold thick plastic of the nearest tube. Inside, a rotting ancient eye stared unblinkingly back at him.
The memories came suddenly, pulling him back through time.
Thirty years after The Big Fall, the brothers had taken to living in the SEEDS main plant ship. They had been there for almost two years now. Vash disliked it, but Knives seemed to be enthralled by it.
The twins were in the laboratory, surrounded by the green glow from the bud lights and the specimen tubes. Vash looked over his shoulder nervously at the tubes. Parts of Tessla still floated serenely in the gelatinous liquid, although most of it was beginning to decompose due to air leaks in the tubing. It was an eerie room that Vash had always hated. But Knives had been spending allot of time in here recently. It housed the main computer for the plant room down the hall.
In fact, Knives had been in here fiddling with the main control system when Vash walked in.
"Damn thing has been deactivated for so long, at this rate it'll take years to recharge," he scowled, flipping the switches on. A gentle hum resonated from the pipes above telling him that power was now on its way to the plant room again.
Vash tore his gaze away from the grotesque tubes and looked to where Knives had redirected the ships auxiliary power.
His eyes widened as he saw the neon letters P.T.D. light up on the panel.
"Knives! We talked about this! You can't!" a thirty-year-old Vash pounded his fist onto the dusty table.
Knives looked at him with barely concealed disgust.
"Tch." He spat. "You talked about it, I never agreed to anything. You were always so soft with these human pests. This is for our own good! All we need to do is wait for it to recharge itself."
"But, if you use it that way all of them will die! This planet will die!"
"You think I don't know that?" Knives bristled, glaring dangerously at his brother, "The death is only temporary, the planet will return to life after the humans are wiped out."
He returned his gaze to the monitor and his eyes softened a little as he touched the glowing screen.
"I know this machine," he said quietly, "almost like...I can feel it. It's part of my destiny, I know it is. I'm the one who will save this world and countless others. I will save the plants!"
"No one has the right to take the life of another, Knives. Don't you remember what Rem said?"
Knives whipped around, his face instantly contorted in rage.
"Screw that self-righteous bitch and her lies! She was going to kill us! Kill me!"
"She wouldn't do that." Vash said stepping toward his brother, in defense of his mentor.
"I saw the log! How can you deny the truth?" Knives countered until they were almost nose-to-nose.
"Because I trust her."
"You've always been a fool, Vash. Of course YOU trusted her, YOU were her favorite!" Knives shoved Vash back against the rickety lab table. Mechanical instruments clattered to the floor as he ranted. "A little dog following at her heels, it was disgusting! Of course she wouldn't have had YOU destroyed!"
"You're wrong about this, Knives." Vash replied sadly.
The pain and frustration had been building ever since he discovered that damn log and it weighed down on his brain. Nearly twenty-eight years of mental torment. Everyone who ever said they cared about him had all been lying, they had all betrayed him.
And Vash, his brother, didn't seem to care. Knives felt the anger grow within him, rising to a dangerous new level.
Vash took a step towards him.
"Knives...?"
Suddenly Knives lashed out, causing Vash to skid back across the room and slam into the solid steel wall. He would have heard his siblings bones crack if he hadn't been screaming himself.
"YOU weren't the one they were going to kill, because YOUR name wasn't in the log book, only MINE! I was the one she wanted to kill, not you! I was the one she wanted to stick in that murder machine! It was MY name on the charts!"
The room rumbled with the sound of vibrating metal, as the horrid green tubes bubbled and the electrical outlets sparked and hissed. Vash was slumped against the wall as the dust from his impact began to settle over him. He weakly opened his eyes.
Knives was crouched down on the ground, a hurt expression on his face.
"How could you understand how I felt?" He said sadly. "She always loved you the best. Everyone did..." He collapsed against the console, shoulders shaking with rage and barely contained emotion.
Vash grunted as he tried to pick himself up, his bones screamed in pain. He managed to choke out an answer.
"That's not true, Knives, Rem loved you, and she told you so."
But Knives had already turned his back to him, his arms clutched around his body and his head turned to the ground.
"Vash." he whispered, barely audible. "How can you not understand? You're my brother! How can you defend her...over me?"
"I'm not! I just don't want you to kill anyone!" Vash pleaded.
"There's an easy way to stop me." Knives looked coldly at his brother. "Just get in the machine yourself. Be the link and save the precious spiders you love so much."
"Knives..."
"Or maybe you'd rather see me in there?" Knives rose, anger flooding his features again. "Do you want to see ME absorbed into that machine?"
"No! I don't want that either!"
"Then stay out of my way. I WILL fulfill my purpose on this cursed ball of dust!"
Knives shot a wave of directed energy at the power console causing the monitor to blow out in a blinding flash. Vash's arms shot up to shield his eyes, but all he heard was his brother's maniacal laughter.
"Stop it!" Vash screamed into the echoing room.
The console monitor lay broken and dead on the floor, covered in years of dust and dirt.
Vash blinked once. His hand was still pressed to the Tessla's tube and the room had returned to normal. He felt anger rise up into his chest.
With inhuman strength, Vash the Stampede heaved the heavy LCL filled tube onto the floor, smashing it and it's contents into tiny particles.
It wasn't right.
Nothing mattered anymore except getting to Meryl. Vash looked once more at the mess of glass and organic material.
That's all that will be left of her if I don't hurry, He thought as he sprinted out of the room and down the corridor. He remembered the one thing Knives had told him that day before their fight.
If a plant were put into the PTD the planet would be restored, reborn. A new world.
Eden.
But, if a human were to be inside the link the energy would not flow properly, but would reverse itself. It would spill out over the world like a viscous cancer, killing everything in its path that didn't have the power to shield itself.
Instead of a rebirth, it would cause complete destruction.
The death of whoever was inside the machine...
...and the end of the world.
Meryl struggled against the bonds that held her arms and legs in place. She was strapped to the central column in that huge blue plant she'd seen earlier, and was trying desperately to get loose. Knives had released his grip on her mind after he was sure she couldn't move and had gone to punch up the control panel.
"Knives! Knives! You don't want to do this Knives!" She vehemently argued with him. "Vash will be here anytime! You just got healed, you don't want to get shot full of holes again, do you?"
"This time, I will not be the one who ends up full of holes," he replied darkly.
"What will this accomplish, Knives? I'm just one human. Is this just to get back at Vash?"
Knives leaned in menacingly making Meryl's breath stop and her heart pound in fear.
"Once I activate the machine," he drawled slowly, "it will kill you."
Meryl started as she felt his hand trace the damp skin of her collarbone while he talked, "It will try to fill your fragile body with power, but you won't be able to handle it." He teased up and down her bare arm. "The energy will start to break apart your bones, and then your muscles will disintegrate." His fingers caressed her face gently. "Finally your skin will crack and fall apart until there's nothing left of you. It will be a most agonizing death."
She couldn't help but cringe at the way Knives colorfully described the gruesome death in store for her, but she knew she had to stall for time. He obviously thought she no longer posed a threat. She forced herself to keep talking and keep him distracted as long as she could.
"And it's all to get back at Vash?" She finally managed. "You put yourself through so much just to kill me in the worst way possible?"
"Not just you, spider. Once the energy tears you to shreds it will continue to build. However, without a proper conduit to redirect the flow it's power will increase exponentially. One living being is needed as a link. Without one it would just explode, so you see, I do need you, but not in the way you think. Getting back at my brother will simply be an added bonus. He will see you die and it will finally break him. But he won't just see your death. The freed energy will cover this planet and in the process wipe out every living thing on it!"
Meryl stared in disbelief. "You...you're crazy!"
The tall plant swung himself down across the central column until he was hanging in front of her. He grabbed the metal supports on either side of her head and leaned in until his body was almost flush against hers. The heat from his long form burned intensely.
"I have waited so long for this day I will not stand down." He hissed into her face.
"But...but you'll die too." Meryl pleaded. "When the plant is activated you will die in the blast with the rest of us!"
"No, I won't," he continued, moving closer so his lips nearly touched her ear. "You see I have the power to redirect the flow of energy. I will survive and create the true Eden."
Meryl shivered at the unexpected brush of lips, but just as quickly pulled back, not allowing him to play with her anymore.
His eyes flinched slightly as she meet them coldly.
"Eden?" She said sternly, "You'll be an Eden of one, Knives. No one will be around to share your Eden. It's going to be your Hell instead."
Knives pressed his lips together and pulled away, watching her with an unreadable expression.
"Doesn't matter." He said quietly. "I'm used to being alone. Eden or Hell...what's the difference?"
Meryl found she couldn't answer. Her heart was filled with so much fear and pity at the same time; she didn't know what to think.
"And Vash?" She asked in a shaky voice.
"Vash will have to choose his own path. He can choose to survive or to die. It matters little to me."
"I don't believe that Knives!" Meryl said forcefully.
"Shut up," he snapped at her, eyes blaring.
"He's your brother, you must love him!"
"I said shut up!" He barked louder.
"It's true, otherwise you would have already killed him! It's YOU who's afraid! You don't want to be alone DO YOU?"
"SHUT UP!"
In a flash his hand shot out, smashing into her face and knocking her head against the hard support behind her. Meryl saw stars as she reeled from the blow. Still, she managed to slowly turn back to the killer plant. She had to keep trying.
"He loves you, I know he does. And I know that somewhere deep in your heart, you care about him as well."
Knives felt his defenses buckle, too shocked by this woman's illogical thinking to remember what he had been doing. She knew next to nothing about him, and yet she was able to find his darkest fear and lay it out in front of him for all to see.
What she said about him was true. He was afraid, afraid of the time spent alone. To be left completely alone would be the only Hell he knew, and he'd lived it for so long.
Vash had chosen to leave him in that Hell to go and play protector to the humans. His brother chose those humans over him, just as Rem had chosen Vash over him. In Knives mind, those were wrongs that could never be righted, even if he had to endure the Hell he would create.
"Too late..." he breathed, feeling the finality of what he was about to do.
"Why don't you let him help you?" Meryl searched his face.
Knives bent his head so she couldn't see his eyes.
"I don't know why we have to always be at odds with each other." He spoke slowly. "Why can't he understand? This is my destiny. It could be...I don't want this fate...maybe I...have my doubts...but..."
He lifted his eyes to her face one last time and opened them enough for her to see his confusion and despair. The endless years of self-torture and hate spilled out, and Meryl had to bite her lip to keep from crying.
"...but...I...I have...no...choice."
In another second he was gone, climbing up the scaffolding on the inside of the plant toward the control unit just outside.
"Knives!" Meryl screamed, struggling with all her might against her restraints as Knives calmly climbed the ladder to the landing down above.
He punched the control panel and liquid LCL immediately began to fill the enormous plant bulb.
Meryl's eyes darted around her prison, searching for someway to save herself. The only thing without restricted movement was her head. She craned it to the side. From the corner of her eyes she could see Knives, numbly flipping switches.
He's forcing himself, she thought.
A coiled object caught her eye as she squirmed in her bonds. Several thin black cables curved around the main column and were hooked into the metal grids that held her shoulders in place. The cables looked like simple power uplinks and they were just within the reach of her head.
There's no other way... she grimaced. Saying a quick prayer and bracing herself, Meryl strained her neck forwards and latched onto the cables with her teeth. She jerked her head once and heard the outlets sizzle but hold firm. Vash, give me strength. Taking a deep breath, Meryl yanked with all her might and felt the cables pull apart from their jacks.
Instantly, her body was filled with sharp pain as the electrical sparks zapped out across the expanse of the PTD bulb. For a second she felt like a kid again, rubbing her little red balloon across some shaggy carpet to feel the tingling static electricity it created. But this time, her entire body vibrated with the force of the shockwaves. Her teeth bit down deeply into the heavy plastic of the cord.
Before she passed out from the jolt she thought, I can't die before I see him one last time...
Knives jerked his head away from the console and stared at the veins of electric bolts that ran crisscross patterns across the half-full bulb. He stopped the calibration of the plant and ran over to the landing.
The woman had somehow managed to pull out the connecting power cables. Not only could she have killed herself in the process, but also without those power cables the flow of energy would not reach the link. The energy would not convert and the resulting explosion could take out the whole ship.
"That damn brainless woman!" He growled.
I hope she isn't hurt.
Knives' expression froze from the sudden thought that betrayed him.
But for some reason, when he saw the tiny human woman teetering between life and death inside the massive plant, he had an undeniable urge to save her. And he realized that his first thought at the landing had been hope. Hope that she hadn't been hurt. Hope she was still alive.
"Why...?" he hissed.
What kind of hold did she have on him? Why was there still a nagging doubt in his mind?
Doubt.
The doubt was being to eat away at him. His self-confidence in the plan was wavering more than ever. He faltered, turning away to hide the confusion etched on his face. It was all going too fast now, these feelings in his heart threatened to tear him up from the inside. And worst of all was the fear that was now beginning to grow. What if he was wrong? What if Vash had been right all along? And Rem...that would make her right too. And that would make him, a murderer.
"No! I am right. I have to be! It's what I was born to do!"
The console blinked on...10:00:00...and counting down.
The activation process had already begun and he had less than ten minutes to reconnect the power cables. With doubt still heavy on his mind, Knives quickly shinned down the side of the plant to the opening on the side and climbed inside.
Meanwhile, Vash rounded the corner to the ships main plant room. He skidded to a halt just outside and leaned against the doorframe, gun in hand. He tried to slow is breathing even though he knew his brother could find him without the telltale sound. He had already suppressed his mental ability.
Shimmering multicolored lights twinkled off his guns reflective surface as he listened for activity from within.
Nothing. The only sound was the increasing hum of the plants.
Holding his breath, he slipped around the corner and into the room.
The plant room was just as he remembered it. Beautiful. It was Rem's flower garden from so long ago. A place of life.
Vash dashed as quietly as he could behind the nearest plant. The PTD was out of his range of sight at the moment, but he decided to get as close to it as possible before making a move. He would not risk Meryl's life on a hasty rescue attempt.
He made a dash for the next plant and hid once more. Still there was no discernable sound or movement from the direction of the main plant. But Vash could now make out the top of the monster machine, and could clearly see the activation light on top of it.
Damn it, Knives, you really did start it! he thought bitterly.
He was just about to make another run when...
"Knives!"
The voice was high and defiantly female. That angry tone and piercing frequency were unmistakable.
"Meryl!" He gasped, and lost all sense of stealth, rushing forward blindly.
Within seconds the massive PTD was in view, its base rapidly filling with blue LCL and it's power converters humming with incredible waves of energy. The control landing was on the opposite side and still out of his line of sight. Vash hid along the thick base of the plant and began inching around it.
Zzzzaaapp!
He was nearly in sight of the landing when the PTD above him gave out a tremendous zap! Thin ribbons of electricity shot out from the cables behind him. Vash leapt away from the base as hundreds of little lightening bolts sparked and cracked through the air, rolling safely out of range but smacking his head roughly on the hard floor.
After shaking his head to clear it, Vash realized that he was now lying directly on the floor beneath the metal control landing. Bright vibrant snakes of energy were still shooting out across the giant bulb above him. Vash saw movement on the landing.
There was his brother, holding on to the railing and staring intently at the plant core. Almost instantly Vash could tell there was something different about his brother. He looked so...afraid. What was he looking at?
Vash followed his siblings gaze to the center of the plant and the tiny human woman stuck to the smoldering central column.
Meryl! His brain screamed.
Quickly, he made a dash for cover, almost certain that Knives had heard his mind. But on second glance, he saw Knives climbing into the plant himself. It didn't seem like he'd heard anything at all.
That's odd, thought Vash, he must be too distracted to notice me.
Fast as a gunshot, Vash raced halfway up the iron stairway. He clearly saw Knives descend to the walkway that spanned the bulb. Meryl was hanging limply from the restraints that bound her to the main reactor.
God, she looked beautiful and fragile. An overwhelming sense of wanting to protect her filled him. Her delicate hair framed her face, wet from the gushing liquid around her. A trickle of blood ran down her cheek where Knvies had struck her and he could tell her hand had been injured. Vash thought she looked too pale, but he could tell she was still alive.
Please, Meryl, don't die on me. He prayed.
The LCL was still rushing into the plant. Vash knew that once it got to capacity, it would be operational. He had to stop it from filling. Above him he could see the blinking neon number sequence counting down already counting down.
Vash took a step up the stairs, not noticing the rusted hollow look of the staircase.
CRACK!
With a loud snap, the support under the step fell away in a shower of metal splinters and rust. Vash grabbed onto the upper railing to keep from falling, but the sound echoed through the room with a rounding clatter.
"Shit!" Vash jumped up to the next level and faced the plant again.
Knives was staring straight back at him.
The two brothers held each other's steady gaze for a heartbeat.
Knives glared at his brother, wondering how he had gotten so far in without picking up on his presence. How dare he show up now, when everything was going wrong!
The fear and doubt grew.
Knives had to keep him out until the system was hooked back up. Turning to the hatch on the plant, he focused his mind and the door shut with a crash. He just needed a few more minutes to complete his mission.
He's neglected his powers, he won't be able to open that door.
Throwing a narrowed look back, Knives began to climb the central column.
"Knives!" Vash shouted, racing up the rest of the stairs to the landing. A quick check of the controls told him there was no way to stop the countdown.
He tugged at the hatch on the side of the plant, but it wouldn't budge. Meryl was still unconscious, and Knives was almost on top of her. Panic griped the humanoid typhoon.
"Stop it, Knives!" He pounded roughly on the glass, "Let her go, now!"
Knives ignored his brother's plea.
"I'm warning you, brother!" Vash trained his gun at his siblings head through the glass.
Knives reached for the cables at Meryl's neck.
With a bang, Vash fired, blasting a hole through the thick glass of the plant and sending a shower of splintered glass down. Knives stopped, throwing his eyes toward the landing. Was Vash actually trying to shoot him? Quickly he leapt back to the walkway ten feet below.
"That was a mistake, dear brother," he barked. Knives narrowed his eyes and focused on the metal landing under Vash's feet. The iron vibrated and groaned and suddenly wretched lose from the side of the plant.
Two more shots rang out before the stairway collapsed with a monstrous crash sending dust and debris everywhere.
Knives stepped foreword to see if Vash was still there, but as soon as he did the walkway gave a tremendous moan and tattered dangerously. He lost his balance and grabbed onto the side of the structure for support.
Those two shots!
"Damn him, he shot the supports down!" Knives shouted before the whole walkway fell with a grinding crash into the sea of liquid below.
He plunged headfirst into the cool blue liquid that was steadily filling the plant.
For a few moments all Knives saw was the rush of cascading bubbles and LCL. The heavy steel walkway snagged him by the arm and had pulled him down to the base of the plant. Knives struggled madly with the twisted metal, finally blasting it away with his mind.
He forced himself to focus on processing the LCL into oxygen for his burning lungs. After a couple seconds, he was able to take a deep breath.
There's only eight minutes left, his heart beat frantically, if I don't reconnect the cables...
Knives felt panic grip him. He could survive a blast from the explosion of the PTD easily, but not the tons of burning scrap that would fall on him if the ship were destroyed.
In slow motion his feet hit the bottom of the bulb and he was able to look up.
All he saw was blue.
A great expanse of foggy rippling blue and a...a light...a light at the top that seemed miles far away.
There was something mesmerizing about that light, and the longer he stared the stronger the sensation became that he had been here before. Something about this was familiar.
Knives pushed his body up, one stroke, and two...
His brain screamed at him to move, to swim to the top, to swim up to the surface...to get...to...the...edge...
Knives felt his world fall away.
The dream...
He was in the dream again. But how? Had he been knocked out in the fall?
Somehow, something told him that this was no dream.
Vash pulled himself out of the mess of metal. His leg burned in pain when he moved and he could tell it had been scraped up pretty bad. Quickly tying it up with a scrap of material from his long black coat, the outlaw staggered over to the plant.
Meryl was still out, pinned tightly to the column. The entire bottom of the plant was submerged in thick LCL, too thick to see through. The countdown was seven minutes now.
Where are you Knives? he scanned the murky waters.
There.
Vash saw what looked like two feet on the right bottom side of the bulb. In a flash the feet were gone. He was still in there.
"Shit!" the landing was too high to jump up to, and there was no way he could get the plant to stop filling.
"If only I could get into the bulb, then I could disable the...wait a minute..."
Vash's eyes lit up with a plan and he dashed over to the base of the huge plant. It was dangerous, but it just might buy him the time he needed.
He pulled out his gun and aimed it directly at the glass base of the Planet Transformation Device.
Next Time: Chapter 12: Choose and Attonment
Vash stood in front of the fallen spacecraft with the decaying word SEEDS written along its outer hull in chipped red.
The wreckage of the tall ship loomed over his head, like some gigantic beast rising from the dead. Its rusty double doors yawned open like a gapping mouth, ready to swallow him alive. Inside the belly of this monster whale was something he had been avoiding for the past hundred years, and it had finally caught up to him.
"Damn it, Knives," he whispered, "you knew I'd have no choice. You know I can't let you do it...especially not to her. That's why you took her, isn't it?"
The thought of Meryl inside this monster was almost too much. She'd done nothing to deserve this. If anything, he should be the one in there instead of her. He had to get her out of there alive, if only to finally tell her that he...
He grimly pulled out his old gun, the determination etched into his features.
"You always caught onto things quicker than I did, Knives. You were always one step ahead of me so I didn't figured it out until it was too late. Well, this time I'm going to be two steps ahead of you and...I WILL do what I have to do."
Vash eyed the plant ship ominously for a moment before raising his gun and cocking it. He closed his eyes and thought,
I'm here, Knives, and I'm not afraid.
There was no reply, but somehow he knew his brother heard it.
Vash stood on the edge of a blade, eyes fixed on the door. Memories filled his mind as he bravely stepped towards the black mouth of the ship and reached out to touch the hull. This was the ship he had grown up on, the ship that Rem had died on, the ship that held prisoner the only human woman besides Rem he had ever cared about, and the ship that might mark the end of his own life. It all began and ended in this one place.
"No regrets," he said with conviction, and walked in.
It took his eyes a while to adjust to the dim green glow from the plant buds, but soon he could make out the long twisting corridor ahead. Regretfully, he knew exactly where he was, and visions of his childhood came back uninvited as he began to hurry through the ship.
The room to the left had been the study where he'd spent countless hours reading and learning about the humans and Earth, their old world.
The next room on the right was the dining hall. Vash's legs carried him faster and the rooms passed by in a blur.
The common room, the living quarters, the rec room, the navigation room, the food storage, and...
...the laboratory.
Vash halted as soon as he saw it.
He knew he shouldn't stop but something pulled in.
It was something out of a horror story. The remains of an earlier plant angel were still floating in the green liquid tubes as the room hummed with energy.
He should be hurrying to the main plant room, but he couldn't help it. This was where it happened. Where he and his twin had finally separated. Vash reached out to touch the cold thick plastic of the nearest tube. Inside, a rotting ancient eye stared unblinkingly back at him.
The memories came suddenly, pulling him back through time.
Thirty years after The Big Fall, the brothers had taken to living in the SEEDS main plant ship. They had been there for almost two years now. Vash disliked it, but Knives seemed to be enthralled by it.
The twins were in the laboratory, surrounded by the green glow from the bud lights and the specimen tubes. Vash looked over his shoulder nervously at the tubes. Parts of Tessla still floated serenely in the gelatinous liquid, although most of it was beginning to decompose due to air leaks in the tubing. It was an eerie room that Vash had always hated. But Knives had been spending allot of time in here recently. It housed the main computer for the plant room down the hall.
In fact, Knives had been in here fiddling with the main control system when Vash walked in.
"Damn thing has been deactivated for so long, at this rate it'll take years to recharge," he scowled, flipping the switches on. A gentle hum resonated from the pipes above telling him that power was now on its way to the plant room again.
Vash tore his gaze away from the grotesque tubes and looked to where Knives had redirected the ships auxiliary power.
His eyes widened as he saw the neon letters P.T.D. light up on the panel.
"Knives! We talked about this! You can't!" a thirty-year-old Vash pounded his fist onto the dusty table.
Knives looked at him with barely concealed disgust.
"Tch." He spat. "You talked about it, I never agreed to anything. You were always so soft with these human pests. This is for our own good! All we need to do is wait for it to recharge itself."
"But, if you use it that way all of them will die! This planet will die!"
"You think I don't know that?" Knives bristled, glaring dangerously at his brother, "The death is only temporary, the planet will return to life after the humans are wiped out."
He returned his gaze to the monitor and his eyes softened a little as he touched the glowing screen.
"I know this machine," he said quietly, "almost like...I can feel it. It's part of my destiny, I know it is. I'm the one who will save this world and countless others. I will save the plants!"
"No one has the right to take the life of another, Knives. Don't you remember what Rem said?"
Knives whipped around, his face instantly contorted in rage.
"Screw that self-righteous bitch and her lies! She was going to kill us! Kill me!"
"She wouldn't do that." Vash said stepping toward his brother, in defense of his mentor.
"I saw the log! How can you deny the truth?" Knives countered until they were almost nose-to-nose.
"Because I trust her."
"You've always been a fool, Vash. Of course YOU trusted her, YOU were her favorite!" Knives shoved Vash back against the rickety lab table. Mechanical instruments clattered to the floor as he ranted. "A little dog following at her heels, it was disgusting! Of course she wouldn't have had YOU destroyed!"
"You're wrong about this, Knives." Vash replied sadly.
The pain and frustration had been building ever since he discovered that damn log and it weighed down on his brain. Nearly twenty-eight years of mental torment. Everyone who ever said they cared about him had all been lying, they had all betrayed him.
And Vash, his brother, didn't seem to care. Knives felt the anger grow within him, rising to a dangerous new level.
Vash took a step towards him.
"Knives...?"
Suddenly Knives lashed out, causing Vash to skid back across the room and slam into the solid steel wall. He would have heard his siblings bones crack if he hadn't been screaming himself.
"YOU weren't the one they were going to kill, because YOUR name wasn't in the log book, only MINE! I was the one she wanted to kill, not you! I was the one she wanted to stick in that murder machine! It was MY name on the charts!"
The room rumbled with the sound of vibrating metal, as the horrid green tubes bubbled and the electrical outlets sparked and hissed. Vash was slumped against the wall as the dust from his impact began to settle over him. He weakly opened his eyes.
Knives was crouched down on the ground, a hurt expression on his face.
"How could you understand how I felt?" He said sadly. "She always loved you the best. Everyone did..." He collapsed against the console, shoulders shaking with rage and barely contained emotion.
Vash grunted as he tried to pick himself up, his bones screamed in pain. He managed to choke out an answer.
"That's not true, Knives, Rem loved you, and she told you so."
But Knives had already turned his back to him, his arms clutched around his body and his head turned to the ground.
"Vash." he whispered, barely audible. "How can you not understand? You're my brother! How can you defend her...over me?"
"I'm not! I just don't want you to kill anyone!" Vash pleaded.
"There's an easy way to stop me." Knives looked coldly at his brother. "Just get in the machine yourself. Be the link and save the precious spiders you love so much."
"Knives..."
"Or maybe you'd rather see me in there?" Knives rose, anger flooding his features again. "Do you want to see ME absorbed into that machine?"
"No! I don't want that either!"
"Then stay out of my way. I WILL fulfill my purpose on this cursed ball of dust!"
Knives shot a wave of directed energy at the power console causing the monitor to blow out in a blinding flash. Vash's arms shot up to shield his eyes, but all he heard was his brother's maniacal laughter.
"Stop it!" Vash screamed into the echoing room.
The console monitor lay broken and dead on the floor, covered in years of dust and dirt.
Vash blinked once. His hand was still pressed to the Tessla's tube and the room had returned to normal. He felt anger rise up into his chest.
With inhuman strength, Vash the Stampede heaved the heavy LCL filled tube onto the floor, smashing it and it's contents into tiny particles.
It wasn't right.
Nothing mattered anymore except getting to Meryl. Vash looked once more at the mess of glass and organic material.
That's all that will be left of her if I don't hurry, He thought as he sprinted out of the room and down the corridor. He remembered the one thing Knives had told him that day before their fight.
If a plant were put into the PTD the planet would be restored, reborn. A new world.
Eden.
But, if a human were to be inside the link the energy would not flow properly, but would reverse itself. It would spill out over the world like a viscous cancer, killing everything in its path that didn't have the power to shield itself.
Instead of a rebirth, it would cause complete destruction.
The death of whoever was inside the machine...
...and the end of the world.
Meryl struggled against the bonds that held her arms and legs in place. She was strapped to the central column in that huge blue plant she'd seen earlier, and was trying desperately to get loose. Knives had released his grip on her mind after he was sure she couldn't move and had gone to punch up the control panel.
"Knives! Knives! You don't want to do this Knives!" She vehemently argued with him. "Vash will be here anytime! You just got healed, you don't want to get shot full of holes again, do you?"
"This time, I will not be the one who ends up full of holes," he replied darkly.
"What will this accomplish, Knives? I'm just one human. Is this just to get back at Vash?"
Knives leaned in menacingly making Meryl's breath stop and her heart pound in fear.
"Once I activate the machine," he drawled slowly, "it will kill you."
Meryl started as she felt his hand trace the damp skin of her collarbone while he talked, "It will try to fill your fragile body with power, but you won't be able to handle it." He teased up and down her bare arm. "The energy will start to break apart your bones, and then your muscles will disintegrate." His fingers caressed her face gently. "Finally your skin will crack and fall apart until there's nothing left of you. It will be a most agonizing death."
She couldn't help but cringe at the way Knives colorfully described the gruesome death in store for her, but she knew she had to stall for time. He obviously thought she no longer posed a threat. She forced herself to keep talking and keep him distracted as long as she could.
"And it's all to get back at Vash?" She finally managed. "You put yourself through so much just to kill me in the worst way possible?"
"Not just you, spider. Once the energy tears you to shreds it will continue to build. However, without a proper conduit to redirect the flow it's power will increase exponentially. One living being is needed as a link. Without one it would just explode, so you see, I do need you, but not in the way you think. Getting back at my brother will simply be an added bonus. He will see you die and it will finally break him. But he won't just see your death. The freed energy will cover this planet and in the process wipe out every living thing on it!"
Meryl stared in disbelief. "You...you're crazy!"
The tall plant swung himself down across the central column until he was hanging in front of her. He grabbed the metal supports on either side of her head and leaned in until his body was almost flush against hers. The heat from his long form burned intensely.
"I have waited so long for this day I will not stand down." He hissed into her face.
"But...but you'll die too." Meryl pleaded. "When the plant is activated you will die in the blast with the rest of us!"
"No, I won't," he continued, moving closer so his lips nearly touched her ear. "You see I have the power to redirect the flow of energy. I will survive and create the true Eden."
Meryl shivered at the unexpected brush of lips, but just as quickly pulled back, not allowing him to play with her anymore.
His eyes flinched slightly as she meet them coldly.
"Eden?" She said sternly, "You'll be an Eden of one, Knives. No one will be around to share your Eden. It's going to be your Hell instead."
Knives pressed his lips together and pulled away, watching her with an unreadable expression.
"Doesn't matter." He said quietly. "I'm used to being alone. Eden or Hell...what's the difference?"
Meryl found she couldn't answer. Her heart was filled with so much fear and pity at the same time; she didn't know what to think.
"And Vash?" She asked in a shaky voice.
"Vash will have to choose his own path. He can choose to survive or to die. It matters little to me."
"I don't believe that Knives!" Meryl said forcefully.
"Shut up," he snapped at her, eyes blaring.
"He's your brother, you must love him!"
"I said shut up!" He barked louder.
"It's true, otherwise you would have already killed him! It's YOU who's afraid! You don't want to be alone DO YOU?"
"SHUT UP!"
In a flash his hand shot out, smashing into her face and knocking her head against the hard support behind her. Meryl saw stars as she reeled from the blow. Still, she managed to slowly turn back to the killer plant. She had to keep trying.
"He loves you, I know he does. And I know that somewhere deep in your heart, you care about him as well."
Knives felt his defenses buckle, too shocked by this woman's illogical thinking to remember what he had been doing. She knew next to nothing about him, and yet she was able to find his darkest fear and lay it out in front of him for all to see.
What she said about him was true. He was afraid, afraid of the time spent alone. To be left completely alone would be the only Hell he knew, and he'd lived it for so long.
Vash had chosen to leave him in that Hell to go and play protector to the humans. His brother chose those humans over him, just as Rem had chosen Vash over him. In Knives mind, those were wrongs that could never be righted, even if he had to endure the Hell he would create.
"Too late..." he breathed, feeling the finality of what he was about to do.
"Why don't you let him help you?" Meryl searched his face.
Knives bent his head so she couldn't see his eyes.
"I don't know why we have to always be at odds with each other." He spoke slowly. "Why can't he understand? This is my destiny. It could be...I don't want this fate...maybe I...have my doubts...but..."
He lifted his eyes to her face one last time and opened them enough for her to see his confusion and despair. The endless years of self-torture and hate spilled out, and Meryl had to bite her lip to keep from crying.
"...but...I...I have...no...choice."
In another second he was gone, climbing up the scaffolding on the inside of the plant toward the control unit just outside.
"Knives!" Meryl screamed, struggling with all her might against her restraints as Knives calmly climbed the ladder to the landing down above.
He punched the control panel and liquid LCL immediately began to fill the enormous plant bulb.
Meryl's eyes darted around her prison, searching for someway to save herself. The only thing without restricted movement was her head. She craned it to the side. From the corner of her eyes she could see Knives, numbly flipping switches.
He's forcing himself, she thought.
A coiled object caught her eye as she squirmed in her bonds. Several thin black cables curved around the main column and were hooked into the metal grids that held her shoulders in place. The cables looked like simple power uplinks and they were just within the reach of her head.
There's no other way... she grimaced. Saying a quick prayer and bracing herself, Meryl strained her neck forwards and latched onto the cables with her teeth. She jerked her head once and heard the outlets sizzle but hold firm. Vash, give me strength. Taking a deep breath, Meryl yanked with all her might and felt the cables pull apart from their jacks.
Instantly, her body was filled with sharp pain as the electrical sparks zapped out across the expanse of the PTD bulb. For a second she felt like a kid again, rubbing her little red balloon across some shaggy carpet to feel the tingling static electricity it created. But this time, her entire body vibrated with the force of the shockwaves. Her teeth bit down deeply into the heavy plastic of the cord.
Before she passed out from the jolt she thought, I can't die before I see him one last time...
Knives jerked his head away from the console and stared at the veins of electric bolts that ran crisscross patterns across the half-full bulb. He stopped the calibration of the plant and ran over to the landing.
The woman had somehow managed to pull out the connecting power cables. Not only could she have killed herself in the process, but also without those power cables the flow of energy would not reach the link. The energy would not convert and the resulting explosion could take out the whole ship.
"That damn brainless woman!" He growled.
I hope she isn't hurt.
Knives' expression froze from the sudden thought that betrayed him.
But for some reason, when he saw the tiny human woman teetering between life and death inside the massive plant, he had an undeniable urge to save her. And he realized that his first thought at the landing had been hope. Hope that she hadn't been hurt. Hope she was still alive.
"Why...?" he hissed.
What kind of hold did she have on him? Why was there still a nagging doubt in his mind?
Doubt.
The doubt was being to eat away at him. His self-confidence in the plan was wavering more than ever. He faltered, turning away to hide the confusion etched on his face. It was all going too fast now, these feelings in his heart threatened to tear him up from the inside. And worst of all was the fear that was now beginning to grow. What if he was wrong? What if Vash had been right all along? And Rem...that would make her right too. And that would make him, a murderer.
"No! I am right. I have to be! It's what I was born to do!"
The console blinked on...10:00:00...and counting down.
The activation process had already begun and he had less than ten minutes to reconnect the power cables. With doubt still heavy on his mind, Knives quickly shinned down the side of the plant to the opening on the side and climbed inside.
Meanwhile, Vash rounded the corner to the ships main plant room. He skidded to a halt just outside and leaned against the doorframe, gun in hand. He tried to slow is breathing even though he knew his brother could find him without the telltale sound. He had already suppressed his mental ability.
Shimmering multicolored lights twinkled off his guns reflective surface as he listened for activity from within.
Nothing. The only sound was the increasing hum of the plants.
Holding his breath, he slipped around the corner and into the room.
The plant room was just as he remembered it. Beautiful. It was Rem's flower garden from so long ago. A place of life.
Vash dashed as quietly as he could behind the nearest plant. The PTD was out of his range of sight at the moment, but he decided to get as close to it as possible before making a move. He would not risk Meryl's life on a hasty rescue attempt.
He made a dash for the next plant and hid once more. Still there was no discernable sound or movement from the direction of the main plant. But Vash could now make out the top of the monster machine, and could clearly see the activation light on top of it.
Damn it, Knives, you really did start it! he thought bitterly.
He was just about to make another run when...
"Knives!"
The voice was high and defiantly female. That angry tone and piercing frequency were unmistakable.
"Meryl!" He gasped, and lost all sense of stealth, rushing forward blindly.
Within seconds the massive PTD was in view, its base rapidly filling with blue LCL and it's power converters humming with incredible waves of energy. The control landing was on the opposite side and still out of his line of sight. Vash hid along the thick base of the plant and began inching around it.
Zzzzaaapp!
He was nearly in sight of the landing when the PTD above him gave out a tremendous zap! Thin ribbons of electricity shot out from the cables behind him. Vash leapt away from the base as hundreds of little lightening bolts sparked and cracked through the air, rolling safely out of range but smacking his head roughly on the hard floor.
After shaking his head to clear it, Vash realized that he was now lying directly on the floor beneath the metal control landing. Bright vibrant snakes of energy were still shooting out across the giant bulb above him. Vash saw movement on the landing.
There was his brother, holding on to the railing and staring intently at the plant core. Almost instantly Vash could tell there was something different about his brother. He looked so...afraid. What was he looking at?
Vash followed his siblings gaze to the center of the plant and the tiny human woman stuck to the smoldering central column.
Meryl! His brain screamed.
Quickly, he made a dash for cover, almost certain that Knives had heard his mind. But on second glance, he saw Knives climbing into the plant himself. It didn't seem like he'd heard anything at all.
That's odd, thought Vash, he must be too distracted to notice me.
Fast as a gunshot, Vash raced halfway up the iron stairway. He clearly saw Knives descend to the walkway that spanned the bulb. Meryl was hanging limply from the restraints that bound her to the main reactor.
God, she looked beautiful and fragile. An overwhelming sense of wanting to protect her filled him. Her delicate hair framed her face, wet from the gushing liquid around her. A trickle of blood ran down her cheek where Knvies had struck her and he could tell her hand had been injured. Vash thought she looked too pale, but he could tell she was still alive.
Please, Meryl, don't die on me. He prayed.
The LCL was still rushing into the plant. Vash knew that once it got to capacity, it would be operational. He had to stop it from filling. Above him he could see the blinking neon number sequence counting down already counting down.
Vash took a step up the stairs, not noticing the rusted hollow look of the staircase.
CRACK!
With a loud snap, the support under the step fell away in a shower of metal splinters and rust. Vash grabbed onto the upper railing to keep from falling, but the sound echoed through the room with a rounding clatter.
"Shit!" Vash jumped up to the next level and faced the plant again.
Knives was staring straight back at him.
The two brothers held each other's steady gaze for a heartbeat.
Knives glared at his brother, wondering how he had gotten so far in without picking up on his presence. How dare he show up now, when everything was going wrong!
The fear and doubt grew.
Knives had to keep him out until the system was hooked back up. Turning to the hatch on the plant, he focused his mind and the door shut with a crash. He just needed a few more minutes to complete his mission.
He's neglected his powers, he won't be able to open that door.
Throwing a narrowed look back, Knives began to climb the central column.
"Knives!" Vash shouted, racing up the rest of the stairs to the landing. A quick check of the controls told him there was no way to stop the countdown.
He tugged at the hatch on the side of the plant, but it wouldn't budge. Meryl was still unconscious, and Knives was almost on top of her. Panic griped the humanoid typhoon.
"Stop it, Knives!" He pounded roughly on the glass, "Let her go, now!"
Knives ignored his brother's plea.
"I'm warning you, brother!" Vash trained his gun at his siblings head through the glass.
Knives reached for the cables at Meryl's neck.
With a bang, Vash fired, blasting a hole through the thick glass of the plant and sending a shower of splintered glass down. Knives stopped, throwing his eyes toward the landing. Was Vash actually trying to shoot him? Quickly he leapt back to the walkway ten feet below.
"That was a mistake, dear brother," he barked. Knives narrowed his eyes and focused on the metal landing under Vash's feet. The iron vibrated and groaned and suddenly wretched lose from the side of the plant.
Two more shots rang out before the stairway collapsed with a monstrous crash sending dust and debris everywhere.
Knives stepped foreword to see if Vash was still there, but as soon as he did the walkway gave a tremendous moan and tattered dangerously. He lost his balance and grabbed onto the side of the structure for support.
Those two shots!
"Damn him, he shot the supports down!" Knives shouted before the whole walkway fell with a grinding crash into the sea of liquid below.
He plunged headfirst into the cool blue liquid that was steadily filling the plant.
For a few moments all Knives saw was the rush of cascading bubbles and LCL. The heavy steel walkway snagged him by the arm and had pulled him down to the base of the plant. Knives struggled madly with the twisted metal, finally blasting it away with his mind.
He forced himself to focus on processing the LCL into oxygen for his burning lungs. After a couple seconds, he was able to take a deep breath.
There's only eight minutes left, his heart beat frantically, if I don't reconnect the cables...
Knives felt panic grip him. He could survive a blast from the explosion of the PTD easily, but not the tons of burning scrap that would fall on him if the ship were destroyed.
In slow motion his feet hit the bottom of the bulb and he was able to look up.
All he saw was blue.
A great expanse of foggy rippling blue and a...a light...a light at the top that seemed miles far away.
There was something mesmerizing about that light, and the longer he stared the stronger the sensation became that he had been here before. Something about this was familiar.
Knives pushed his body up, one stroke, and two...
His brain screamed at him to move, to swim to the top, to swim up to the surface...to get...to...the...edge...
Knives felt his world fall away.
The dream...
He was in the dream again. But how? Had he been knocked out in the fall?
Somehow, something told him that this was no dream.
Vash pulled himself out of the mess of metal. His leg burned in pain when he moved and he could tell it had been scraped up pretty bad. Quickly tying it up with a scrap of material from his long black coat, the outlaw staggered over to the plant.
Meryl was still out, pinned tightly to the column. The entire bottom of the plant was submerged in thick LCL, too thick to see through. The countdown was seven minutes now.
Where are you Knives? he scanned the murky waters.
There.
Vash saw what looked like two feet on the right bottom side of the bulb. In a flash the feet were gone. He was still in there.
"Shit!" the landing was too high to jump up to, and there was no way he could get the plant to stop filling.
"If only I could get into the bulb, then I could disable the...wait a minute..."
Vash's eyes lit up with a plan and he dashed over to the base of the huge plant. It was dangerous, but it just might buy him the time he needed.
He pulled out his gun and aimed it directly at the glass base of the Planet Transformation Device.
Next Time: Chapter 12: Choose and Attonment