A/N: Yes, I know the last chapter was strange, but I tried to be as original with Cherub as I possibly could. I've given away almost every important piece of info about Cherub there is, except for a few interesting, and odd, things. Most of which are shown in this chapter, but one important one won't come until later.
Oh, and little note about Cherub's new clothing. I think I kinda forgot to mention in one of the last chapters, or I did and it was way too vague (I do that a lot ^_^;;), but he stole the trench coat from Inepril when he stole the weapons, since his Plant-space suit thingy couldn't hold them. So…yeah, if there's anything else that needs explaining cuz of my vagueness on certain details, just ask in a review.
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Along Came A SpiderChapter Eight: CRUEL RUIN
The fluid still poured from the wound on Vash's mechanical arm as the man watched the last Gung-Ho Gun fly above the ruins of Augusta towards the city's surviving Plant.
Using the hand of the unwounded arm, he tore a long section of material from the bottom of his coat and, clumsily, tied it over the wound so that it would absorb the fluid. Vash stood and wobbled a bit; he was coming down from the adrenaline rush the battle had caused.
"Well, at least it's been interesting," Vash commented. Looking away from the night sky, his eyes lingered on his left hand. With all his willpower, he commanded it to move, but it would not. It was useless.
Cherub's last offer echoed in Vash's skull. A skull, which at the moment, hurt. A lot. Rubbing his temples with his good hand, Vash thought of what his next action was to be. By the way the boy spoke, he would be willing to kill Vash unless he tossed away his pacifistic and loving attitude towards humans. Going to the Plant with the intent of changing Cherub was obvious suicide and would undoubtedly lead to Vash's permanent defeat.
Then again, that line of thinking never stopped Vash before.
Beneath the rainbow lights of the Gunsmoke moons, Vash the Stampede stood with silent determination, his gaze pointing in the direction of his destination, the Plant of Augusta. The man gently walked across the sandy streets, past the ruins that had once been hundreds and hundreds of homes for thousands of people, cut down to useless rubble by the man who now stood in their presence.
The power of the Angel Arm was one to be feared. It was nothing more than a weapon of mass destruction. It was a bringer of death and poverty.
It was also a part of Vash. There was nothing he could do to deny that. All death, fear, hatred that came out of the Angel Arm was his fault. He was to blame, his cowardice for delaying his battle with Knives, his unwillingness to face his brother with all his might, if it were not for these, Augusta and July would still stand.
But now, his gun was lighter, not only from the physical loss of the dark matter that was the trigger, the stimuli that caused the transformation of his natural arm into a tool of annihilation, but also, the burden of carrying such a weapon was lost.
That thought, though, did nothing to quell the fiery sense of concern fear that burned inside of him. There was a reason, beyond a new hair style and wings, for Cherub's hunger for the energy from the inside of Vash's gun.
Vash's last thought, as he lifted the cross punisher over his shoulder, was the hope that the concern inside burned without purpose, for otherwise, if his thoughts of the Seraphim's motives were correct, then he had much more to worry about than his own death.
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I watched them intently; Meryl continuing her report to her superiors on the danger my brother currently posed and Millie continuing her silent sulking on the couch. It was a curious thing to behold, indeed, but much of it was strange to me. The violent, then suddenly numb reaction to the mention of my hand in the death of the priest Millie had was unusual; it was as if an old wound, one that was being hidden and ignored for the sake of the pain, had suddenly been reopened.
I thought of that for many minutes, and the logic that she felt this pain because of the man's death confused me. I had always thought that humans felt their pain alone, but she appeared to be hurting for the priest, to be hurting because of him, to be grieving for him.
But what would she earn or gain for this? Millie obviously did not enjoy the pain, so it was not something she brought upon herself willingly. Could it be that the loss of the man alone brought this upon her? It was to be considered, but to hurt, to grieve for someone, for no gain, is the exact opposite of the definition of selfish, and that would mean she was not the same as I had thought humans to be.
I shook my head. I was thinking much too deeply about that human, so I turned to the other.
Only to sense the same feeling of hurt for another. But Meryl's appeared to caused by…was it fear I saw in her? In her eyes? In the shallow glimpse of her mind that I was able to sense? I would have once said that that fear was caused by my presence, but the brash and—I would slightly admit—brave attitude she had towards me hours before then more than disproved that idea.
Did she speak the truth from before? Was this fear and pain that she felt, this worry and anguish, this sorrow and aggravation caused by, as she had claimed, Vash's current state? If it were, then Meryl was another example of compa—no, I would not think that of a human, I told myself.
But, to not admit that they did not appear to feel compassion towards another, out of unselfish reasons, would be ignorant.
Were they as I had claimed all humans to be? Or, were they different, apart from the egotistical, squabbling race that humans were meant to be? Or, was I wrong in my observations of the two women?
Only time would tell, and I until then, the confusion in me would only build and other unanswerable questions would surface because of the actions of these two.
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Inside the dark corridors of the plant, Vash stumbled, cross punisher still along his back, and the two revolvers at hand, resting in his coat's pockets. The fluid had finally stopped flowing from his wounded arm, but it was still immobile. Luckily it was jammed so that it rested along his side, instead of being in a more awkward or annoying angle.
From the moment he stepped into the vast remains of the ship, Vash had heard a voice in his mind from the last remaining Plant. Apparently only one survived the blast of the Angel Arm and the months following the incident. It did not seem to be doing well, since the voice was pained and was calling to Vash for help. He decided to see what he could do to help his sister, and then after find the wayward Plant child.
As he found his way to the Plant room, the mind of the Humanoid Typhoon drifted to what he had left back at Inepril. Meryl, Millie…he hoped that he would be able to return to them. It was obvious that Cherub was hell-bent on destroying humans, just as Knives was and defeating Cherub, in one way or another, whether he lost his life in the process or not, would be good, for it would protect the girls.
Inside the large, almost empty room, was an eerie silence, made even more so by the injured voice in his mind. At the far end of the room, was the large glass vessel that held the hurt Plant. Even from the vast distance that separated them, Vash could see the faint glow of the being inside.
Once he made it to the capsule, Vash realized that the Plant had left cocoon-like pod that they normally rested in, and was floating aimlessly in the glass bulb. The wing-like projections looked sickly and the being was apparently molting, which was not natural. The glow that they normally gave off was faint compared to what it should have been and its eyes stared off into nowhere.
A pang of hurt hit Vash in his heart, and his eyes watered as he, after setting the cross down, placed his palm onto the glass of the container. He had done this, to one of his own. She was, as the all were, siblings to him, and it hurt him deeply to think he had caused them this much pain. "I'll find a way to help you, Sister…"
"Don't you think you've done enough for her?" A voice called down from the darkness above Vash. He looked up, but the ceiling was in shadows, except for the few places where moonlight flowed through holes.
"Where are you, Kid?" Vash yelled up to the ceiling.
He was answered with a laugh and a question, "You think I'm the child here?" after a few moments, the voice spoke again, but it came from behind Vash this time. "In your 130 years of life, you've been nothing but a child. Sensitive, ignorant, attached to your pacifistic ways taught to you by that woman. You cling to her memory like a small boy would to the hand of his mother."
"I've learned a lot in my time here! In 130 years I've been on this planet, I've seen a lot."
The voice echoed down, this time it came from the original place. "In the three months I have lived here, I have been met with nothing but hate and selfishness, pain and arrogance."
Three months?! This kid is only three months old! How was he able to grow to the size he is, and with this much power? When we were a year old, we looked like ten year old humans, but this boy resembles a teenager, and he has only been around for a short time, Vash thought to himself, …Of course, he realized, Knives must have done something to quicken his development rate.
"You are surrounded by what you create. You've been doing the same things during your time here."
"Only because I have done what I could to clean up the viruses as I searched for you and Father." The voice was now coming from Vash's left. "Enough of this. By coming here, you have chosen to join me and Father, correct?"
"Um…nope. Sorry to burst your bubble, but that's not going to happen." There was no response for many moments. Thinking he heard something, Vash jumped around with gun in hand, but all he saw were three shining feathers falling to the ground.
A few seconds later, the voice returned, "That woman is going to die if you don't join us!"
In a heat of anger, Vash roared, "You really shouldn't talk that loud!" he pointed his gun seemingly in a random direction and fired. The gunshot was followed by a shriek of pain.
"Nice shot, Vash, I must admit to that." The voice was now solely in Vash's mind now, so as to prevent another accurate attack. "But why do you do this? I still don't understand…"
"Why do you kill them? What have they done to you?" Vash called out into the night.
"But they…they have hurt and killed our siblings…"
"Does that not make you the same when you hurt them? And haven't you hurt our siblings?"
"Th-that was only to help in the long run! I did what I had to so as to protect our entire race!" His voice was pleading; it seemed that Vash was getting to him.
"See? Our siblings don't want us to hurt people. We need to protect—"
"SHUT UP!" the voice screamed from the dark, "I have chosen my path, I do not need a reason for it, nor do I need to explain myself to you, Vash!
"Have you chosen? If you are not with us, you are against us! Choose now, the Plants or the humans, what will it be?"
Vash took a deep breath and his heart seemed to shatter. His hopes of turning such a stubborn creature were for naught; it was pointless to go on. "I will not condone, much less help with the butchering of innocent people!"
"…then, you have chosen."
From the pitch black, Cherub flew at Vash, slamming his fist into the gunman's jaw. Vash stumbled back and blocked the next blow with his good arm. After the block, he jabbed and hit the boy squarely in the chest. Not slowing even a fraction, Cherub continued his assault, punch after punch, most of which were blocked by the man, and returned with his own strikes.
One of Vash's blows connected with the shoulder bullet wound he had given Cherub previously, making the boy yelp in pain, but also increasing the ferocity of the barrage of punches.
With his ability to fly, Cherub was at an advantage, but the wounded Vash was holding his own, despite the fact. The Seraphim spun in the air, bringing his leg up to connect with the Stampede's skull, but Vash foresaw it and dodged it easily, jumping for the cross punisher afterwards. He grabbed onto the strap, and spun, pulling the weapon with him and swinging it like an ancient ball and chain weapon.
Cherub rushed at Vash again, only to be hit by the cross in mid-flight. He was knocked into the bulb of the Plant, causing cracks in the side to appear as he fell to the ground. The boy stood dazed but seemingly unharmed. He stared at his opponent for a moment, then jumped into the air, flying back into the darkness of the ceiling.
Standing still so as not to make a noise, Vash listened for the next attack. Instead of another strafing run by the winged boy, he heard a strange sound. It sounded like snapping metal. "What in the…" Vash's eyes widened in understanding, giving him enough pretense to avoid the falling iron beam.
He kept moving so that the other heavy metal objects that Cherub released, one way or another, from the structure of the ship would hit nothing but the floor. After a few minutes of this, the beams stopped falling. He must have used all the loose ones…
Awaiting the next attack, whatever it would be, Vash kept the cross punisher in hand to use as a bludgeon weapon; he was still unwilling to choose to kill the boy.
The wait was short-lived, as Cherub fell from the darkness, his silver wings glittering in the moonlight and blonde-blue hair waving. In his right hand was a long piece of steel, about five inches wide and four feet long. Vash waited anxiously, and curiously for the next attack.
Again, it was a short wait. The boy slashed at Vash with the steel shard as a makeshift sword. The fake blade came at Vash vertically, which he ducked to avoid, and the next strike, a horizontal down-ward slash was easily blocked, using the cross punisher as a shield. Cherub pulled back and thrusted the sword in an attempt to stab the man in the gut.
Using the cross punisher to block again, Vash was safe. It was an awkward use for the weapon, but it worked. He still did not want to risk killing Cherub by using either of the cross's two weapons.
Cherub thrusted again and again in an attempt to stab or skewer Vash, but the Humanoid Typhoon continued to block and parry with his unwieldy shield. One of the thrusts stabbed into the center of the cross punisher, getting lodged in the hole that contained the grip and trigger. As he tried to pull back, Cherub lost his grip on the jammed weapon.
With a smirk on his face, Vash thought he had won this round, with Cherub now unarmed, but he was wrong. Cherub front-flipped, at the end of which, he brought his heel down upon the grip of his weapon with great force, which turned the metal shard from a sword into a catapult. The force of the strike forced the cross punisher to come out of Vash's hands, the strap burning his palm with friction as it left his grip.
The flip had left Cherub on his back, but he rolled slightly backwards, lifted his legs, and pushed off the ground, slamming his outstretched feet into Vash's chest. The gunman stumbled from the blow, but not losing a beat, swung his arm, hitting the now standing Seraphim in the face with the back of his fist.
The boy held back his grunt of pain, and instead fell to the ground, turning as he did so. He outstretched his leg in a sweep of the ground, a tactic that was meant to trip Vash. Instead, Vash jumped easily over the attack. Cherub twisted at the end of his sweep, and jabbed with his fist, aiming for his opponent's chest.
Vash grabbed the boy's fist, preventing the jab from connecting, and raised his knee, striking Cherub under the jaw. He stumbled back, staring at Vash as the two collected their breath. Cherub jumped up again, returning to the shadows near the ceiling.
Still attempting to breath, Vash stared into the darkness, looking for any sign of Cherub. From the far end of the large room, Cherub flew like a falcon diving for prey; the boy flew at an incredible speed, only to keep coming faster as he neared Vash. Vash prepared to jump out of the way of the insane attack, but it was no use.
Cherub, using the energy built up by his flight to strike with an unblockable uppercut to Vash's chest, knocking the wind out of the man, and making him cough blood. The force sent Vash into the air, where Cherub continued his attack, landing punch after punch into the man, all the while keeping him in the air with the force of the barrage.
Ending the volley of strikes, Cherub grabbed onto Vash's collar and carried him into the air. After flying out of the room through one of the many holes on the ceiling, he released Vash, dropping him onto the top of the crashed SEEDS ship. The Typhoon rolled helpless off the domed area, but managed to grab onto the edge of a platform that ran the circumference of the structure.
After pulling himself up, Vash was able to see Cherub as the boy returned into the Plant room. The cold night air that Vash was now, once again, returned to would have normally chilled him to the bone, had it not been for the numbing effects of adrenaline and pain. Using his sleeve, he wiped blood from his mouth.
As he stood, Vash winced in pain. The platform he stood on was about four feet wide and disappeared around the edge of the ship in both directions. It was the highest one on the entire ship, easily two hundred feet above the ground. From here, the ruined city of Augusta was in clear view; the moons gave enough light for Vash to see the entire area.
More than two thirds of the entire city was nothing more than rubble; the surviving areas were in ruins. Only a small handful of homes and other buildings stood with their own power, nevertheless they were useless. The guilt of all the lives and homes he had destroyed weighed heavily on Vash's spirit, but for once he could not mourn, nor could he feel sorrow. Pushing his usual feelings aside, he turned his face grimly towards the top of the ship, where Cherub had entered.
After a few moments, the form of the Leader of the Gung-Ho Guns appeared, flying out of the ship and stopping to hover above it. In the darkness, the only prominent features that could be seen were the giant, shining silver wings and the pale blonde-blue hair; it gave the boy, the Gung-Ho Gun a ghastly appearance in the night.
Vash's eyes caught a glint of steel in the boy's hands, and he instantly recognized the weapon of his friend, Nicholas D. Wolfwood. He reloaded his revolver as Cherub turned, pointing his stolen weapon at Vash.
Staring down the barrel of the cross punisher, despite his distance from it, chilled him and made him remember his last confrontation with Wolfwood, the last day he had seen the man alive. The fact that the angelic demon now wielded the weapon of the priest was some sort of perverse irony.
A round of bullets shot from the cross punisher, hitting the general area of where Vash stood. He ran from the volley, shooting at the boy as he did so. His first shot missed, but the next three hit the cross punisher, throwing off Cherub's aim a great deal. The next bullet missed, but the last hit him in the shoulder, but not of the arm that wielded the cross.
Cherub's chilling shriek filled the air and blood poured from the two wounds on his left shoulder. His eyes glared hatred at Vash, but it seemed not to be vengeful hatred of a person, but the angry mad lust for blood of a beaten animal. He flew down to the platform and landed, aiming the weapon at the fleeing Vash as he did so.
Glancing over his shoulder as he ran, Vash watched for Cherub to make even the slightest movement, and when the boy did, Vash dropped onto his stomach so the bullets flew harmlessly overhead. He quickly reloaded his gun, and then rolled onto his stomach, firing three bullets at, not Cherub, but the cross punisher. One bullet miss its mark, ricocheting off the main section of the weapon, but the other two their intentional target, the end of the gun barrel itself.
The barrel dented only slightly from the two bullets, but it was more than enough. The next time Cherub pulled the trigger, the ammunition did not fire out of the barrel, due to the dents inside of it at the end of the chamber. The chamber of the gun smoked and sparks shot from the end of the barrel from the many clogged bullets.
Returning to the air, Cherub reversed his grip on the cross punisher, pointing the shorter end of the weapon at Vash. Eyes wide, Vash scrambled to his feet and ran. The boy squeezed the second trigger. The kick from firing the rocket sent him flying back. The projectile flew, slamming into a section of the platform that Vash had been on only seconds before.
Cherub regained his composure, and chased his uncle, firing a missile at the man every chance he got, each time sending him tumbling back. The explosions continued to eat away at the platform, but failed to find their intended target.
Running from the explosions he heard behind him, Vash shot over his shoulder without looking, but heard no reaction from his pursuer, leaving Vash only to guess that he had missed.
One rocket, the last in the arsenal of the cross punisher, hit the area behind Vash, tearing the platform out from under him. His gun slid out of his hand, landing in front of him. Tumbling backwards, he almost fell to the ground two hundred feet below, but managed to get a grip on the railing of the platform. He dangled there, trying to pull himself up.
Vash looked below him, to the ground far below. His eyes grew wider, and he flailed his legs as he pulled himself up. He fell onto his side gasping for breath as he heard a loud crash the resembled a great deal of shattering glass. Soon after the sound, Cherub settled onto the section of platform directly in front of Vash.
Noticing the lack off the cross punisher in Cherub's hands, Vash realized the boy has tossed it back into the ship, which accounted for the crash. He must have hit the Plant's bulb…why would he break a hole in the top of it? Vash thought for a moment, It would be like a fish bowl, the only exit at the top, making it so that the contents could not escape…He quickly realized that was exactly why Cherub had made a hole in the top of the bulb.
"It would have been pointless to defeat you with the weapon of a human, for it is more suitable to defeat you with my own power, the power we alone posses!" Cherub grabbed onto Vash's coat and flew above the ship, directly over the hole in the ceiling and the hole of the Plant's container.
Cherub latched onto the struggling man's limp arm, and managed to move so that Vash's back was to him. He spun, twisting the mechanical limb as he did so, weakening it in the area the had been skewered earlier. Cherub moved nimbly, despite his position and his wings, so that his feet were against Vash's back. He kicked off with all his might, still grasping the wounded arm.
The limb tore off, making Vash scream. Cherub threw the defeated man into the hole, tossing the useless robotic arm in with him.
Flying further up into the air, Cherub made sure that there was at least three hundred feet between himself and the top of the ship. "REMEMBER!!" Cherub shouted with at the top of his lungs, "By coming here you placed your head into the noose! It is not be my fault for giving you the final push off the gallows!"
Cherub pointed his arm at the ship below him, and his eyes glowed a hellish blue, the eyes of the Diablo. Energy flowed out of his pours, his hair flew in every direction. His right arm, the one aimed at the place where Vash the Stampede was trapped, began grow.
The skin of that arm turned silver, and his veins glowed a bright blue. Feathers and wing-like projections grew out of the back of his shoulder and his fingers formed into a circle. The entire arm grew out and lost the shape of the original limb. A ball of energy appeared in its center and a ring of light surrounded it.
Cherub the Seraphim wielded his newly grown Angel Arm so that it still aimed at the SEEDS ship. He released the energy in the form of a gigantic laser-like blast, pounding into the ship and tearing up the earth around it. The city was soon eclipsed in the dreadful light, obliterating the remaining homes and ruins.
Once the last burst of energy was released and dispelled, Cherub looked down upon what he had done. The sturdy metallic ship was in shambles and there was nothing but piles of rubble to show that a city ever existed here.
Smiling and turning to leave, Cherub cackled, "I have defeated the undefeatable! I have vanquished the destroyer of July and Augusta, the Slayer of the Gung-Ho Guns!
"I have defeated Vash the Stampede!"
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A/N: -blink- um…heh. Well, now there's an, uh, interesting ending…I think…
Well, now there's only one more thing that I can think of that you don't know about Cherub, and that'll be coming soon.
Um…review?