She almost didn't recognize him.
Same spiky blonde hair, same get up, yes. But his face… Never had Vash looked so murderous. She couldn't even see his pupils in those electric green orbs. His teeth flashed. Static seemed to spark and crackle about his entire rigid form, giving him the presence of an enraged deity. He fired, and fired and fired. No hesitation. No inner conflict.
He was going to kill his brother.
She went to cry out but her voice caught in her throat. Looking at him like this, it abruptly dawned on her how it must have looked when Vash arrived. Most of her clothes were gone, and she was still smeared in blood. Knives was still smeared in blood.
And with the way Knives had been forcing her wrists back, and caging her to the ground her a second ago…
"Vash!" she choked, stumbling to her feet. "It's not what you think!"
When he heard her voice, his eyes watered, and his fury seemed to double. More shots rang out. With as wounded and exhausted as Knives was, it was a miracle he had avoided being hit thus far, his speed just a blur to Meryl's eyes. He finally disappeared behind a wall, his labored breathing rattling in the entire chamber.
"Idiot…" he panted in low guttural tones. "I wasn't—"
"I'll kill you!" Vash shouted with intense emotion. "I'll kill you for touching her!!" He reloaded his gun and made to finish him off.
But Meryl intercepted him with her arms wide out. "Vash, listen! He wasn't hurting me!"
He took one look at her half-naked bloodied form, and the water in his eyes spilled over. Teeth still clenched, he wiped them, his face creasing in anguish. "He brainwashed you, Meryl," he choked in between trembling breaths. "Sit down. You're unaware of the damage..." a sob turned into a growl, and he jerked his chin up, and shouted. "You'll pay, Knives! For everything you've done to her!!"
Meryl grabbed his coat to stop him as he tried to step past her. "You're wrong! He didn't brainwash me!" she plead. "He can't!"
Pained sympathy interspersed the rage. Vash didn't believe her. Not by a long shot. He gently pried her fingers from his coat, his attention ahead – and it was then that Knives – in his desperation - attempted to do the very thing Vash had accused him of.
Meryl yelped as an invasive mental force slammed against the barriers of her mind, trying to control her thoughts. Her body. Trying to get her – of all things – to withdraw the small pistol from her thigh holster and shoot Vash. Her rage flared, her teeth grit, and with a mental slam that put her earlier rebounds to shame, she flung his attempt back at him with the force of an avalanche.
"Get the HELL out of my HEAD!"
With a choked grunt, Knives cried out in agony, and buckled – collapsing out of his hiding place. Instead of glaring, or reprimanding her like usual, he merely curled up in a fetal position, whimpering and clutching his scalp between trembling hands.
She'd hurt him. Bad.
Vash paused, his eyes going from murderous to disbelieving. He looked at her, and then he looked at his brother. Back to her. "You…were able to resist his mind control…" he uttered.
"I know that, you oaf! That's what I've been trying to tell you—"
Vash disappeared, or at least seemed to. Meryl spun around in a panic until she saw him materialize over Knives incapacitated form. He leaned down and grabbed his wounded brother by the neck, lifting him up until his feet were suspended in the air. Knives spasmed violently, his eyes scrunched shut as he struggled for air.
And apparently one of the shots had wounded him, Meryl realized, as fresh blood dripped from a chunk taken out of his forearm. She considered how the plant angel had almost killed Knves today with her bare hands. She considered his exhausted state after freeing that same sister from her bulb. Then he'd been punched in the eye. Shot. Mentally sandblasted. And now his only brother was dangling him in the air by his neck.
Good grief, he's had a rough day.
She watched nervously as Vash studied him, as though assessing his capacity for danger. In the midst of his trauma, Knives managed to peek open one blood-shot eye at his captor and snarl – still defiant. Still furious.
Then without warning, Vash hucked him. Pitched him straight against the metal wall. Knives' head hit with a sickening crack, and he slumped to the ground, twitching, but unconscious. Meryl winced, her instinct telling her to go care for him. But logic suggested that he'd be fine. Especially since it was obvious that Vash had decided to let him live for now.
She held her hand up. "Vash…"
He turned slowly, and faced her. After a display like that, she expected some residual rage to be etched in his face; but the moment he laid his eyes on her, all she could see was worry. Worry and grief.
He covered the distance between them in three large steps, stopping himself just before he crushed her with a hug. "Meryl…" he said, searching her face, her body for any sign of pain, "Are you hurt?"
She shook her head, her heart warming as another set of tears rolled down his cheeks. "This isn't my blood, Vash. He hasn't lifted a finger against me, except to stop me from leaving just now."
His brow knotted in the middle. "You're sure?"
Nod.
With a teary grimace, he startled her by falling to his knees, wrapping his arms around her hips, and burying his face in her belly. Bawling. Warm hiccupping breaths puffed against the material of her short dress, interspersed with pained throaty weeping.
Oh, Vash…
Her eyes watered, and she cursed herself for having done this to him. For making him worry. But this moment – knowing that he cared so much was almost too much for her heart to handle. She cradled his head, hugging him back. "Vash… I'm sorry."
With a sniffle, he wiped his face against her abs and abruptly stood, his expression having gone from relieved to angry. The edge in his voice near hysterical.
"What the hell were you thinking!? You did this of your own free will!" So totally volatile, he hugged her fiercely again, and then pulled back to yell at her some more with wet, frustrated eyes. "He's dangerous! I told you he was dangerous! How could you run off with him like that? Do you take me for that big a fool?"
"No. Of course not," she said quietly. "I believed you..."
He coughed exasperation and shook his head. "Then why…!?"
"Because I thought I could--!" she stopped, mid-yell, to glance and make sure Knives was still unconscious. Her next words trailed out in a desperate whisper. "Because I believed I could make a difference. Look," she raised both hands up and cupped his face, rubbing away his residual tears with her thumbs. "Risk prevention is my job, Vash. And Knives is a risk."
He blinked, his frown deepening.
"Besides," she continued with a more apologetic tone, "I did promise to help him heal. And when he called me on it…" she dropped her hands and looked down, "I couldn't just walk away like you wanted me to. I'm a woman of my word, Vash."
He finally sighed, rubbing his brow with his thumb and forefinger. "I know. I know you are." Now that he wasn't supported by his panic and rage, she noticed the bags under his eyes. Vash looked weary. So weary. She realized that he probably hadn't slept in the past couple days, looking for her.
"Well," he looked back at his brother, who was still laid out on the ground, "at least I found you in time." He grabbed her hand and tugged her towards the exit of the ship. "I'll deal with him later. Right now, I'm getting you out of here—"
"Vash, wait."
"No more reckless altruism, Meryl," he said with uncharacteristic firmness. "He can't change. It took me over 130 years and millions of deaths to finally realize that."
She pursed her lips. "But don't you want to hear what's happened in the past couple days? Whose blood this is? Why there were bruises and cuts all over his neck?"
He hesitated. Bowed his head. "Yes." After a moment's indecision, he marched on without looking back. "But only after I get you out of the lion's den."
She yanked her hand out of his grasp. "Just hear me out!"
He spun around. His hand opened and closed in a fist. Twice. Again he glanced over at Knives, who at the moment was just as immobile and harmless as a dead ship. His entire frame was rigid, as though every part of him yearned to carry her away from this place. His indecisive silence was her window of opportunity, so she took it. Meryl began to rattle off the entire past couple days as fast as she could.
She told him about how Knives had contacted her, and how she had helped him escape two weeks later. She told him about Tessla. She told him about their conversations, their arguments, his failed attempts to control her mind, and the whole incident with the plant angel. And most importantly, her plan to save both species. "Don't you see the logic?" she asked after she finished. "He'll be bound, Vash! He'll have to make Gunsmoke livable in order to free your siblings!"
Vash studied her face, having gone from intolerant to conflicted. He tried to hold on to his belligerence. She could see it in the way he pursed his lips, and narrowed his eyes. His fine black brows knotted in the center, and then lifted in indecision, then knotted in the center again. "But Meryl…"
She cut him off by grabbing his hand. He just needed a little more encouragement. "Come. Let's go conspire with your sisters."
.
.
Ugh… Sore…
Consciousness returned with great agony. Knives moaned and tried to shift his body. It disobeyed, as heavy as clay and just as useless. Feeling the presence of another, he blinked up at the energy source radiating over him. It was a bulb. He recognized it as one of the twelve from the lower chamber of the ship. The encased angel hovered close with her palms pressed against the glass, trying her best to heal him without the aid of touch.
Half-aware and in a great deal of pain, Knives instinctively reached up to complete the connection. Survival first. Questions later.
"Hn. I knew it wouldn't take long."
Shit. He painstakingly turned his head enough to see Vash, not five yards away – sitting down with his elbows rested on his knees, hands clasped in front. His washboard hair had started to relax down around his face, no doubt due to two days of non-stop travel.
A quick migrained glance told him that the woman wasn't there - no surprise. With as paranoid as he was, Vash probably already had her half-way to some city safe haven. Knives cursed inwardly, marveling at how quickly his plans unraveled in such a short period of time. If he was to go forward, he had to get her back.
It pained him more than a little that he'd lost her so soon.
Vash's emerald eyes were unblinking. Hard. As was his expression. This was perhaps the second occasion in almost 150 years that his annoying little brother had ever had the upper hand. He knew it, too, his voice mockingly pleasant. "I'd wait until you were finished healing, and all, but this conversation is safer for everyone involved if we have it while you're still somewhat incapacitated." A black-gloved hand waved his gun pointedly.
"Conversation?" Knives pushed through bruised vocal cords, resisting the urge to rub his crushed neck. Damn, that idiot had an iron grip.
"Yeah."
An edgy silence passed. "I have nothing to say to you," Knives finally said.
"Oh, I think you do."
Knives tightened his fist. So frustrating. He really didn't feel like getting shot again, and with Vash's knee knee-jerk reaction when it came to blowing holes in his body and all… Agh. Impulsive moron… He consigned himself to say nothing. Or at least he would have had he not really really wondered how in the hell, "You found me," he grumbled, voice sounding like churning gravel. "How?"
Vash's expression didn't waver. He had expected the question, which was even more infuriating.
When did I become so predictable?
One corner of Vash's lip turned up sans mirth, and he tapped his temple. "Sensed you."
Knives coughed surprise. "What!?" He winced as his world spun, not caring enough to stop. "I try to get you to tap into that power for…for…over a CENTURY, and suddenly one incident over a human makes you care enough to finally try!?" He slugged the glass in front of him, sending the angel sprawling back. "Your disregard for your own flesh and blood knows no limits, Vash!"
"And your disregard for human life, no different."
"Feh. The woman was unharmed."
Something dark flashed across Vash's face. Even bringing her up made him unbelievably tense. "Only because she could protect herself from your mind rape."
Three very tense seconds passed. Knives' heart beat quickened, as he remembered her necklace. That face. He'd been on a thread to some great insight before his brother showed up and started shooting. "Do you know why, Vash?" he asked, marveling out loud. "Do you know why she's impervious to my control?"
Vash said nothing.
"Your little friend was in her cyberpod for over 115 years, before they found her."
He could hear Vash's quick intake of breath. This was apparently news to him.
Knives recalled Conrad's resistance to his brainwashing, and the subsequent studies to deduce why. And it had all come down to the time in cyber sleep. The doctor had been in cyber sleep 82 years. "The human body was never built to withstand such a prolonged homeostasis. It would die, if there were not something to compensate for the failure of the flesh. Something intangible, that can't be frozen or weakened by duration, or machines ."
"What…what are you saying?"
"Augmented spiritual power," he said, shaking his head. And he'd been so distressed over her resilience, too. "Her ethereal fortitude was amplified so that it could remain attached to a near-dead body for all those years. Were it not for that, they would have discovered nothing but a corpse when they opened her pod."
He looked over, pleased to see the honest surprise in Vash's features. Knives could have expounded. He could have told Vash that she'd been on their ship, and could have even gone so far as to mention…that…
Some random pang squeezed his heart right then. Of all the billions of humans on this planet, and it had to be that girl… No. There was no way he would divulge that bit of information. He doubted Vash would remember her, anyhow.
"So she's your equal—"
"Equal?" Knives nearly sat upright, battling a wave of vertigo. "Don't insult me."
"Hmm…" Vash rubbed the stubble on his chin, studying him. "So…"
"So."
"You took her for a reason, Knives, and I doubt it was just because you needed a ride."
Knives smirked. "I took no one. She brought herself, and stayed because she wanted to. What's more, your little human wants to free our people."
"Well, now that she's discovered a way to do that without wiping out humanity in the process, so do I."
Knives' smirk straightened. He really wasn't thinking clearly. Of course she would have mentioned her ridiculous 'plan'.
"And our sisters seem to have all fallen in love with the idea."
Knives's jaw set. No. Don't do this... He looked up to see a soft smile from the angel above him, who floated down long enough to emit her vibe of approval. It was seconded by the eleven others, stationed along the large lower chamber, their bulbs fluttering with acceptance and hope.
Panic filled him. His heart was palpitating out of control. Knives struggled to lift himself up, but his wounded arm gave out, causing him to slip off the platform and crash to the floor. He grunted, and looked despite the blinding pain at his naive, mutinous siblings. Are you so easily fooled!? he shouted mentally in desperation. Do you realize what would happen if this were carried out?
Knives struggled to stay conscious, even though he felt like he was suddenly suffocating. It can't work! Humans will destroy you!
"It depends on how it's done, Knives," Vash said.
"Wrong!" he choked. "If you free them now, you'll be consigning us all to death! Humans are a poisonous species, Vash. Their greatest weapon is their disregard for all life. Including ours, and including their own!"
"You're wrong," Vash countered firmly. "You're wrong, Knives. They are no different from us, with as much capacity for good as evil." He pointed to his chest, and then made a sweeping motion across the floor. "I see it. Our sisters see it. And it's time that you see it. You can only save our kind, by saving theirs."
Knives choked, his vision turning black. Curse that woman, and her big mouth! "I'll not aid you in this!"
"Of course you will." He smiled. A measured silence passed. "Its the only way, Knives."
Knives closed his eyes and struggled for breath.
Vash continued. "The people of this planet are not going to wipe themselves into extinction. Which means in order for your methods to be realized, you'd have to kill off humanity yourself. And despite everything you say, I don't think you really want to have anymore human blood on your hands."
"If...if you're s-suggesting that I regret the lives that were lost in The Fall," cough, pant. "You're mistaken!"
"Oh? Then why didn't you finish the job you started? It's not like you haven't had the time. Or the resources."
"Vash..." he trembled.
"Help us free our sisters. It's pointless to wait for chance or circumstance, when we can stop the exploitation starting now."
His headache reeled out of control. Knives arched back, and grabbed his scalp. He was barely aware of the shuffle by the entrance.
"After what I've seen…" it was the woman's voice. Knives jerked his head, and squinted through the pain enough to focus. She strode into the chamber in cleaned attire. Her hair was in disarray, and her face tired, but there was such intensity in those eyes. She looked pointedly at him. "After what I've seen, it's the only way your angels will come willingly, Knives. By making sure mankind will survive without them."
Knives grit his teeth as he looked at her, and in his current state, he was ill-prepared to cope with her discovered identity. Everything blurred again. Now that the connection was made, she distracted him greatly. Took his mind and his heart back to the time before Tessla. When, in his greatest weakness, he'd cared about humans. A good deal. And seeing her, now, it made him feel like he'd run into an old friend, when in reality he'd simply made up her personality when he was a child – having nothing to go off of but those long-lashed lilac eyes, and that shy smile… He'd spent so many damn hours staring at her profile. Had hoped so desperately back then that when she woke up, maybe she'd accept him.
He bit the inside of his cheek. Hard. "You... You're still here."
"She wouldn't leave," Vash said, smiling at her. "She's stubborn like that."