Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun, I'm just borrowing it for awhile. Trigun is property of Yasuhiro Nightow, Mad House, Pioneer, and whoever else was smart enough to get a piece of the action. I just know I wasn't. T_T
"..." is talking
'...' is thinking
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A Glimpse of Eden
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Chapter - 14
~
Meryl entered the room she had glumly dubbed the 'torture room', her arms filled with dirty laundry. Dumping the load on the floor near the machine that cleaned clothes all by itself, which she had decided to steal and take with her back to Spring, she knelt down next to the pile and began to separate the colors from the whites. Grabbing a pair of Locke's pants, she reached into the pocket and grimanced when her hand met something sticky. Quickly removing her hand from the pocket, she made a disgusted face when she saw that it was now covered in used bubblegum. She studied her hand grimly, and made a mental note to have a 'word' with the boy. She sighed, and began to pull at the gum with her fingers.
Getting to her feet, she left the laundry room and headed for the bathroom, hoping that a healthy scrubbing with soap and water would remove the gum. Drying her hands afterward, she glanced into the mirror above the sink and noticed a pair of dark blue eyes peering at her from around the door frame.
Meeting her eyes in the mirror, Locke stepped into the room with a smile. "Are you busy, Meryl?"
"Well... I was about to do the laundry," she answered, turning around to face him.
"Oh..." he said distractedly, before his blue eyes suddenly widened. "Um... Meryl? I think I might have left something in my pants yesterday."
"Yes..." she muttered darkly, "I found it." She sighed and leaned back against the counter. "Locke, why was there used bubblegum in your pocket?"
The boy winced and glanced down, studying his shoe before replying, "Well, last night you told me not to chew gum at the dinner table and I had to put it somewhere."
"Locke," she began with another sigh, "how many times have I told you--"
"I'm sorry, Meryl," he said quietly, his shoulders sagging.
Meryl shook her head, but moved to give the boy a hug. She never could stay angry with him for long. "Just be more careful next time, okay?"
"Okay," he agreed, his face brightening into a smile. "Are you busy right now? Can you come with me for a few minutes?"
"What for?" she asked.
"I... um, want to show you something." he mumbled and then gave her a slightly nervous grin.
Her mother's instinct was telling her something was amiss, but she chose to ignore it. "Alright, Locke. As long as it doesn't take too long."
Taking her hand, he lead her into a part of the ship she wasn't very familiar with. "Are you sure you know where you're going, Locke?" she asked, slightly uneasy when she realized she had no idea where they were, "You aren't lost, are you?"
"It's okay, Meryl," he gave her a reassuring smile, "We're almost there."
After a few more minutes of walking, Locke halted in front of a door, a happy grin on his face, and pressed a button on the panel. Still unsure as to what this entire thing was all about, Meryl stepped inside, and felt her smile fade at the sight of Knives casually leaning against a far wall. Her mouth now formed a frown as she glared at the man. She had barely spoken to him and had avoided any contact with him since their encounter outside her room over a week ago. For a brief moment she wondered if he had sent Locke to bring her there, but as she watched him straighten up from his position against the wall and his expression become annoyed, she realized that he was as surprised to see her as she was him.
"What is this, Locke? Why do you bring her here?" Knives asked, his eyes never leaving her face even though he spoke to the boy.
"My question exactly," she muttered, her eyes locking darkly with Knives', "What's this about, Locke?"
The boy stepped forward, his eyes darting between the two nervously. "Well... um, you two had a big fight or something and weren't speaking to each other, so I thought that maybe..." he trailed off and dropped his eyes to the floor.
"You thought," Knives finished for him, "that if the girl and I just 'happened' to meet, we might be able to work out our differences and everything would go back to the way it was before. Isn't that right?"
The boy glanced hopefully up toward Knives and nodded.
"Well, you can forget about it," Knives said somewhat roughly, "because I have nothing to say to her."
He headed toward the door to leave, but as he passed Meryl, she muttered something that made him stop in his tracks. "What was that?" he asked, turning his head so he could look at her.
"I said," she answered defiantly, crossing her arms and glaring at him, "that's right, run away. It's what you do best, isn't it?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.
"You're supposed to be so smart, figure it out yourself," she shot back, too angry to worry about his temper and what he might do to her if he lost it.
"Listen, I've had just about enough of your--"
"Knock it off!" Locke interjected, pushing his way between the two adults. "No more fighting! You two were getting along so great before, what happened?"
"Ask her! She's the one who called me an 'elitist' and a 'hypocrite' and then refused to talk to me!" Knives spat out.
"That's because you are! And I never would have said anything in the first place if you hadn't acted like such a jerk the night before!"
"I said I wasn't serious!" he yelled back, "And anyway, only a crazy person would ever want to keep a tempermental woman like you around!"
"Yeah..." Meryl muttered darkly, "I'd heard that rumor about you."
"What... did... you... say!?" Knives hissed.
Locke sighed and shook in head in disbelief as he watched the two continue their argument. Sometimes he just couldn't understand how immature and stubborn the two could be, especially when it came to each other. It was obvious, even to a child, that the only thing preventing the two from making up was their stubborn pride. From what he had been able to pick up in bits and pieces over the past week, their fight had started when Knives had casually mentioned that he might keep Meryl instead of sending her away when the year was up, and it had only esculated the next morning during breakfast when Meryl had lost her temper and called him some choice names. The two hadn't talked to each other in a week, and it made him nervous. Usually, their fights didn't last so long and they were never so... 'intense', and with only three months to go before Meryl was to leave they didn't have much time together left.
The boy sighed again, and then noticed that their attention wasn't on him or the door. He glanced around the room, an idea begining to take shape. The room was small, and obviously used for storage as there were a few crates laying around, but other than that it was practically empty. And if this room was like the other storage rooms he had explored, then that meant the door didn't have an inside unlocking mechanism.
He held his breath, trying to decide if he had the courage to pull it off. The forced time alone together might finally bring an end to their silly argument, if they didn't kill each other first. He released his breath, his mind set. He'd probably get it afterwards, but as long as he was punished by Knives and Meryl together, than it was certainly worth it.
"Argh! That's it! I've had enough of you! Com'on, Locke we're--" Meryl glanced around and finally noticed that the boy was no longer by her side. "Locke? Where'd you go?"
"He probably became as digusted with you as I am and left." Knives groused.
"Shove it, Knives!" Meryl barked, moving toward the exit in search of Locke. She hoped he wasn't upset with her.
"Shove it?" he repeated with a blank stare, apparently unfamilar with the term.
"Yeah," she mumbled to herself as she reached for the panel, "shove it up your a--" she frowned, and abruptly cut off the rest of her sentence when the door failed to open. "The door's broken." she grumbled, irritably continuing to mash on the button with her finger.
"Step aside, woman." Knives moved forward and pushed her hand away before she could do any damage. "Only an idiot would have trouble operating a simple door panel."
He pressed the button and frowned when the door didn't open. "Ha! What was that you said Knives? Something about an idiot?"
"Shut up." he said brusquely and with more than a hint of annoyance "This panel won't override the automatic door lock."
"What? No way. You're just not doing it right." she mumbled and reached for the panel again, only to find her wrist held by Knives.
"I said it's locked. If you keep messing with it like that you're going to break it." He released her wrist disdainfully.
"Why would it be locked..." she muttered, rubbing her wrist lightly with her other hand. He hadn't hurt her, but she wanted to erase the feel of his touch. "What kind of room has an auto-whatever lock?"
"This is a storage room. When someone closes the door from the outside panel the room automatically locks," he answered quietly. "It's a security measure."
"You mean we're stuck in here until someone releases the lock from the other side!?"
"Of course not." he replied somewhat arrogantly, "I can easily release the locking mechanism if I re-connect this panel to override the outside one."
"Will that take long?" she asked sourly.
"Not very." he answered, already begining to remove the panel's covering to gain access to the wiring, "Fifteen minutes, maybe twenty at most."
Meryl sighed with relief and moved to sit on one of the crates to wait. Twenty minutes wasn't that long. She supposed she could put up with Knives' company until then.
~
Meryl shifted her weight, growing uncomfortable from sitting too long. Knives had been working at the conrol panel for almost two hours now and he didn't seem any closer to getting the door open now than when he had started.
"Has it been twenty minutes, yet?" she asked sarcastically, and saw him visibly wince as her words hit their target. He paused in his work briefly to shoot her a dark look, then resumed his efforts with the wiring without a word.
A few minutes later, Meryl was startled from her boredom-induced attempt at counting the floor tiles, when Knives suddenly threw the panel's covering across the room in frustration. "The damn thing is impossible!" he raged.
"I thought you said it was 'easy'." she replied, getting to her feet.
He gave her another dark look, obviously not pleased at being reminded of his earlier boast. "Disabling the autolock is easy," he insisted irritably, "but the system is refusing to give me any access to the locking function at all. It's almost as if..." he trailed off, his brow knitting in thought.
"It's almost as if what?" she prodded.
He moved back to the panel and reached inside, grabbing for a new tangle of wires. After a few minutes, the small screen above the panel flashed on with the words; ACCESS DENIED: MINIMUM SECURITY LEVEL; 2
"Level 2?" Knives repeated to himself, staring at the screen in shock, his suspicion confirmed.
"What's that mean?" Meryl asked, coming forward to stare at the screen.
"It means that it's not just the auto-lock that's keeping us in here." he muttered, turning his attention from the screen to glance down at her, "It appears that someone has also told the security system to ignore this panel's commands."
She frowned, trying to understand what that meant. Then, her eyes widened and she glanced up at him in surprise. "You mean... Locke shut us in here on purpose!?"
"It would seem so." he said dryly, his hand reflexively tightening around the wires, and then swore when two of the loose wires made contact and sparked. He jerked his hand away, glaring at the wires with unrestrained menace.
"Are you okay?" Meryl asked with a note of concern, reaching for his hand and checking to make sure there was no damage. "You didn't get burned, did you?" She sighed, relieved that he hadn't been hurt, and glanced back up to ask him a question. "Why would he have locked us in here? It doesn't make sense."
"Of course it does," Knives responded, "to him anyway. He probably thinks that this will somehow get us to--" he looked down, and abrupty ended his sentence when he found himself staring into her eyes; his mind absently wondering how a human could have such beautiful eyes, and such a strange color...
"Are you sure you're alright, Knives?" she asked uncertainly. He was giving her that funny look again.
He tensed, irritated with himself for getting distracted, and over something as idiotic as the girl's eye color. "Of course I am," he replied stiffly. "I was just wondering how much longer you were going to continue to hold my hand, that's all." he finished with a look of annoyance.
Her eyes widened and she immediately released her grip on his hand, which she hadn't even realized she was still holding. "If it bothered you so much," she retorted, her face red with embarassment, "you should have said something sooner! And I don't know why I was worried about you in the first place," she continued, her anger building, "you're nothing but an egotistical, self-centered-- hey! Are you listening to me!?"
He wasn't. His attention had waivered halfway through her tirade, when he had suddenly noticed her hair being stirred by an unseen wind. He turned his back to her, ignoring her completely, while his eyes eagerly searched for the source of the breeze.
Meryl watched him take a few slow steps away from her, his eyes scanning his surroundings as if searching for something. "Um, Knives?" she asked hesistantly, slightly worried about this odd behavior. "Are you alright over there?" He didn't answer, nor give any indication that he had even heard her. His only action was to halt a small distance away and raise one of his hands toward the ceiling. In Meryl's opinion, the man must have finally gone completely bananas.
Knives moved his hand higher, closer to one of the gratings in the ceiling, and was rewarded by a cool breeze blowing across his fingers. He had found the air vent. Lowering his hand to his side, he frowned in disapointment. The vent was much too small for a normal-sized person to fit through. Too small for anyone but a child... --His eyes widened with a sudden thought and he glanced over to study Meryl, who was looking at him a bit apprehensively-- ...Yes, it was too small for anyone but a child... or a really small woman.
He turned around and gesturing for her to come forward. "Come here."
"Why?" she asked, perfectly content to remain where she was; away from him.
"Just come here!" he insisted, and when she still appeared hesistant, he sighed and pointed toward the grating above him. "There's an air vent here. I'm going to lift you up into it."
She slowly approached, her eyes focused on the grating he had indicated. "And what good will that do?"
"There's another grating out in the hall. You can crawl through the vent to gain access to it, then drop down into the hallway and unlock the door from the outside panel." he explained.
"What!?" she asked in horror, "You want me to crawl around up there!?"
"Is that a problem?"
She bit her lip, hesitant about revealing the real reason for her reluctance. "There might be mice up there." she answered instead.
A dismissive snort. "I highly doubt it."
"I don't think I can fit." she hedged.
"Move it, woman!" Knives snapped at her, his frustration building.
"Don't order me around! I'm not your property, even if you seem to think I am!" she snapped back angrily.
"For the last time, I said I wasn't serious! What more do you want from me!?"
"I want you to apologize!"
He went still, a glimmer of surprise and... something she couldn't recognize, in his eyes. "Hurry up." he said quietly after a moment, averting his eyes from hers, "I don't want to be stuck in here forever."
Fighting back tears of frustration, she moved to stand closer to him. "Fine!" she shot back, "Just make sure to watch where you put your hands."
Knives grumbled something incoherent and bent to wrap his arms around her slim waist. He lifted her toward the grating, surprised at just how little she weighed. As strong as the girl was, she was also incredibly frail and slight, and he took special care not to hurt her. "Can you reach it?" he asked, glancing up at her.
The raised her arms above her head and frowned when she barely managed to touch the grate with her fingertips. "No... lift me higher. And I said," she dropped her arms and glared down at him, "to watch your hands! And don't think for even one second that I'm through telling you what I think of you-- ow!" she exclaimed when her head made sudden contact with the grating.
"Oops," Knives said innocently, "I must have misjudged the distance."
"Yeah, I'll bet." she muttered, angrily rubbing her head. She reached back up and rattled the grating, trying to pull it off. "It's stuck."
"Try harder!" he insisted, and tightened his grip around her legs in order to give her better support.
She gritted her teeth and pulled for all she was worth, but... "It's not coming off, Knives." she sighed, and then thought of something. "Maybe if I had something to pry it loose...?"
Knives glanced around and his eyes caught sight of the panel covering he had thrown earlier. Without loosening his grip on Meryl, he managed to scoot the cover over with his foot and then get the toe of his boot under it. With relative ease, he kicked the covering straight up and into his waiting hand. "Here," he said to Meryl, "use this."
She reached down and took it, trying not to look too impressed. Raising the metal covering over her head, she smashed it against a corner of the grating. After a few tries, she had made enough headway to wedge the thin part of the covering between the grating and the ceiling, and she now used the covering to pry it loose. Dust and dirt spilled from the sides of the grating and Meryl shut her eyes and turned her head away to avoid breathing away of it in. Dropping the covering, she now used her hands to pull away the grating, which she then also dropped unceremoniously to the floor.
Meryl stared into the small, dark space above her, trying to ignore the memories of when she was four and, while playing hide-and-seek with her cousins, had hid in an old steamer trunk and then found that she couldn't open the closed lid while inside. Her mother, alerted by her cries, had found her no more than ten minutes later and let her out, but the time trapped in the trunk had affected her greatly and even now, years afterward, she still had trouble with being in dark, enclosed spaces.
"Are you alright?" Knives asked softly, after a few minutes of inactivity on her part.
She glanced down at him, all the while trying to gain control of her fear. "Is this a bad time to mention I'm slightly claustrophobic?"
He frowned. "Just how 'slightly' claustrophobic?"
"I can handle the tight space okay, but if it's too dark for me to see," she took a shaky breath before finishing, "I might start to panic."
"Great..." he sighed, and she could feel his breath against her leg. "Can you handle this?"
"I don't know... I guess I'll have to, won't I?" she said, and he could hear the determination in her voice.
"Attagirl," he whispered to himself, his respect for her growing although he'd never admit it, "there's the Meryl I know."
"How far until I reach the other grating?" she asked.
"Thirty feet, maybe less." he answered quickly, before she lost her nerve and changed her mind about going through with this. "Once you're in, just crawl straight ahead and you'll come across it soon enough."
She turned her attention back to the vent and placed a hand on either side of the opening. "Knives? Promise me that if I don't make it, you won't tell Locke I died wedged in a vent, okay?" she joked weakly, but also managed to sound dead-serious at the same time.
Knives laughed, he couldn't help it. "Ready?" he asked, and when she nodded he easily hoisted her up into the vent. "Meryl?" he called up a moment later, peering into the darkness above him. "Is everything alright?"
A cough, and then Meryl's voice called down. "When was the last time you cleaned up here? This is disgusting!"
"Nevermind that now," he smiled, before becoming more serious, "Is there enough room up there for you to move around?"
A grunt, and then her voice answered. "Yeah, I guess so. This... this isn't so bad." she said after a moment, a slight waver in her voice.
"Don't lie." he admonished her lightly. "You may have to force the grating in the hall. Just kick it out. It should be easier to open that this one was."
The smile, which had lit her face at his slight reprimand a moment before, now faded as the gravity of the situation sunk in. What the hell was she doing up here!? She couldn't even see her hand in front of her face, what if she somehow passed the grating and got lost? Or what if when she found the grating she couldn't open it? Her breathing became more rapid as the darkness seemed to close in on her, amplifying her doubts and making the vent seem even smaller than it was. She was just about ready to back up and get the hell out of there, when Knives' voice filtered up into the vent.
"It's alright, Meryl," he said calmly, "You can do this."
She closed her eyes tightly for a moment. He was right, she could do this, she just needed to focus. Her resolve firmly in place, she crawled forward through the vent, trying her best to avoid brushing her head or arms against the sides. She moved slowly and cautiously, not knowing what lay ahead of her. Once, when she felt a spiderweb touch her cheek she couldn't surpress a startled gasp, but she brushed it away and continued on. After another minute of crawling, she spotted a dim shaft of light in front of her and quickened her pace, eager to be out of the constrained space and oppressive darkness.
Arriving at the grating, she shifted her weight and managed to position herself on her backside. She gave it a firm kick with her foot, and felt a wave of panic when it didn't budge. Another swift kick, this time with both feet, and she released a gasp of joy when it partly gave way. Another kick, and the grating dropped to the floor, filling the opening with light from the hallway. She scooted forward until her legs hung down from the vent and then she gripped the edge of the opening with her hands before lowering herself out of the vent completely. She hung there momentarily, before letting go and allowing herself to drop to the floor, landing near the grating with a rather loud 'thump'.
After rubbing her sore end and brushing off the dust from her clothes, she moved toward the panel after only briefly (much to her credit) considering leaving Knives where he was. She pressed the button and was relieved when the door finally slid open, Knives hastily stepping out into the hall.
His eyes glanced her once over briefly, making sure she was alright, before he clenched his jaw and asked, "Where do you think he is?"
She tilted her head and thought it over a moment before finally answering, "Where do you think an unsupervised child would be? He's probably in the kitchen." she frowned before adding, "And ruining his dinner eating cake no doubt." She sighed. "I still can't believe he locked us in there, but he can be awfully stubborn about things and I guess when he saw his original idea wasn't going to work he had to improvise."
They started off, Knives slightly in the lead. "You do know that the boy learned that from you."
"What?" she asked, hurrying her step to match his.
"The boy has a decidedly stubborn streak, and it's obvious that he picked it up from you." he replied, and stopped walking to consider it for a moment, a thoughtful expression on his face. "The boy is quite versed in manipulation, as well."
"Which he obviously picked up from you!" Meryl interjected forcably.
"Yes..." he mused to himself thoughtfully, "and if I weren't so upset with him right now I think I'd be rather proud of that fact. It took me over a year to learn how to properly manipulate others and Locke managed it in only nine months."
"You're joking, right?" she asked, shaking her head in disbelief. Surely he couldn't be serious. He gave her a somewhat embarassed half-smile and she rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Knives," she grumbled, and resumed walking, "sometimes I worry about you."
"Do you?" he asked, easily catching up with her and matching her pace.
"Do I what?" she mumbled around a confused frown.
"Worry about me?" he asked softly, and smiled when she stopped to glare at him.
"What kind of question is that!? Of course I worry about you." she answered, and then hastied to add, "and Locke, and Vash, and Milly. I worry about all of you."
"Are still still angry with me?" he asked now, his head tilted to one side, his eyes studying her carefully.
A long moment passed, and Knives began to wonder if she was ever going to answer him. "No," she finally replied, her voice quieter than usual, "I'm not angry with you anymore. At least, not as much as I was."
He started toward the kitchen again, this time more slowly, and she kept pace alongside him. They were silent for a few minutes, each with their own thoughts, until Meryl spoke up again. "Knives?"
"Hmmm?"
"What do you think we should do about Locke? I mean, we don't want to be locked in a closet everytime we have a disagreement."
"I agree." he concured, then paused before continuing, "The boy needs to be punished."
She nodded slightly. "Yes, I suppose he does. I'll come up with something lat--."
"I'll do it." he interrupted. "If the boy is to be punished then I should be the one to decide how."
She frowned. "I really think I should do it. You're more upset by this than I am, and I don't want you to take all your anger out on Locke."
"It's really no concern of yours." he said cooly, and she realized how rude her words must have sounded.
Meryl bit her lip, angry with herself. Why couldn't she have just kept her mouth shut? Now Knives was upset with her again, and this time it was her fault. She reached out and placed her hand lightly on his arm to get his attention.
He turned and shot her an annoyed look. "What is it now!?"
"It's just...I just wanted to say..." she trailed off, unsure how to begin. He crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently against the metal floor, and although he appeared to be bored and disinterested, she knew he was curious to know what she had to say. "I just wanted to apologize." she rushed ahead, and saw surprise flicker in his eyes, "What I said was uncalled for. I know you'll be fair with Locke." At least she hoped so.
He studied her through narrowed eyes, apparently waiting for the other shoe to drop, and when she said nothing more he gave a slight shrug. "Whatever." he mumbled, and Meryl had to stiffle a grin. He was pretending to be nonchalant, but she knew he had been totally unprepared for her to apologize. 'Don't know me as well as you thought you did, huh, Knives?'
Knives frowned, a look of uncertainy crossing his features, and Meryl took a small breath before continuing. "Look, Knives... this week started off on a bad note and only managed to get worse. Why don't we forget who said what and put it all behind us? If not just for our sake, than for Locke's. This entire week has obviously been hard on him, otherwise I don't think he would have done what he did."
He glanced away from her, and she sensed he still wasn't ready to let it go just yet, so she decided to add the one thing she thought would win him over. After all, one of them had to be an adult about the whole thing. So with a light laugh she added, "And truth be told, I've kind of missed our talks about literature during breakfast."
A faint smile touched his lips, and Meryl held out her hand to him. "How about it, Knives?" she asked softly, "Truce?"
He turned back to her, his eyes studying her pro-offered hand for a moment before looking up to meet her eyes. Then, without breaking his gaze, he stepped forward and took her hand in his, his face softening slightly. "Truce." he murmured.
She smiled and then tried to pull back her hand, only to find it more firmly held in his. "K-Knives?" she gasped uncertainly. She glanced up at him, a look of confusion on her face, and then suddenly became aware of just how close she was standing to him. She met his eyes almost shyly, and was amazed to discover that he seemed just as surprised by his actions as she had been. Her eyes left his and she hesitantly studied his face before her attention came to rest on his mouth, her mind absently realizing that despite their differences in height, it would be relatively easy to brush her lips against his.
Knives' eyes widened slightly, and his fingers tightened around hers. "Meryl..." he whispered softly, a hint of urgency in his voice, "I want--"
The sound of a door opening snapped Meryl back to reality and she pratically tore her hand from his. Ignoring Knives' frustrated sigh, she pulled away from him and tried to hide her flushed cheeks, wishing that he didn't have this kind of affect on her. It was becoming harder and harder for her to ignore.
A flash of disappointment crossed his face, and he appeared to be about to say something, but he apparently changed his mind and glanced down the corridor instead. She followed his gaze and there, with a spoon stuck in his mouth, was Locke. Her eyes drifted down to the bowl he held in his hands and she noticed with a gasp of shock that he was eating HER ice cream!
"Locke!" she shouted down the hallway, and saw him jump at the sound of her voice.
He slowly turned and stared down the hallway, his eyes growing huge when he saw them both standing there. He took the spoon from his mouth, and for one brief moment Meryl had the feeling that he was considering making a break for it. Knives must have had the same thought, for he took a step forward and gestured to the boy.
"Locke! Come here!" he ordered, his voice firm.
The boy came forward slowly, and even though he knew Knives would never hurt him, Meryl could tell he was worried. Locke stopped to place his bowl on the floor before walking the rest of the way to stand in front of Knives, his head hung low and his hands clasped tightly behind his back.
"Meryl and I getting locked in that storage room wasn't an accident, was it, Locke?" Knives asked, struggling to keep his voice level.
The boy shook his head. "No." he whispered, his eyes raising to meet the older Plant's.
Knives took a breath, obviously trying to remain calm, but failing. "Just what were you thinking!?" he yelled. "Don't you know how dangerous that was!? What if something had happened or you had been injured!? Meryl and I wouldn't have been able to do a damn thing! Did you even think of that!?"
"I'm sorry." Locke whispered, his voice breaking.
"'I'm sorry' isn't good enough!" Knives shouted back, causing the boy to wince and glance down at the floor again.
Meryl stepped forward, laying one hand against Knives' back and the other on his arm in an effort to calm him. Yelling at the boy certainly wasn't going to help matters, and she sure didn't want Knives' judgement to be clouded by anger when he decided Locke's punishment. Knives didn't acknowledge her presence, but she felt the muscles in his back at first tense, then relax at her touch.
Knives closed his eyes, his lips moving silently, and Meryl got the distinct impression that he was counting to ten. He sighed, his eyes focusing once again on the small boy before him. "You're going to have to be punished. You know that, don't you, Locke?" Knives asked, his voice calm and firm once more.
Locke nodded. "I know..." he said quietly, then did his best to look pitiful; it was his best defense when he was in trouble and it had always worked on Meryl, maybe it would work on Knives, too.
Knives tapped a finger against his lips, trying to decide on the proper punishment for the boy. He didn't want to be too harsh, but then he didn't want to be too lenient, either. A minute later a small smile lit his face, as he thought of what he considered to be a fitting punishment. "Alright, Locke," he began, "Since you apparently have nothing better to do with your time than cause trouble, from now on your training will be five days a week instead of just four, and I'm also making it two hours a session instead of just one and a half."
"Aw, Knives!" Locke moaned, looking at him pleadingly, "Not more training!"
"Yes, more training." he repeated firmly. "You need the practice."
Locke looked to Meryl, but he obviously realized that he wasn't going to get any help there, so he sighed and nodded his head. "Yes, Knives."
"And Locke," Meryl added, "you'll also get no dessert for two weeks."
He raised horrified eyes to hers. "No dessert!?" What was the point of living!?
"No dessert?" Knives echoed, sounding as if he considered that a bit drastic. He knew as well as she of the boy's love of sweets.
"No dessert," she repeated firmly, "for two weeks."
For a moment, the boy looked as if he wanted to protest, but apparently thought better of it. He sure didn't need it raised to three weeks instead of just two for being impertinent. "Yes, Meryl."
"Now I want you to go wait in the library, Locke. You'll be helping me the rest of the day."
"Yes, Knives." The boy turned and started to leave, but stopped a short distance away. "Aren't you coming?" he asked, looking back over his shoulder.
"I'll be along in a minute. I need to discuss something with Meryl first." he answered, ignoring the curious look Meryl gave him. He waited until the boy was out of earshot before speaking. "About what I said last week..."
She shook her head, attempting to cut him off. "No, Knives! It's okay, really."
"No, I have to say this." he insisted, raising a hand to silence her protests. She looked uncertain, but nodded for him to go ahead. "I won't force you to stay." he began, and when she stared up at him in surprise, he added, "but I won't force you to leave, either. Whatever decision you make at the end of the year is fine. It's up to you."
She smiled. One of those smiles that not only seemed to light up the room, but also to warm the soul. "Knives, I-- thank you."
His eyes softened and he reached his hand to her hair, causing her eyes to widen and her pulse to quicken. "Knives?" she whispered.
He smiled, ever so slightly, and pulled his hand back from her hair, letting a small, gray object float to the ground. Her eyes followed it on it's path downward, her mind absently trying to comprehend... was that a--
"Dust bunny." Knives said, a trace of amusement in his voice. Then, with another brief smile, he turned and walked off down the hall.
-----------------
End chapter 14
~
Magnet-Rose: Yes, he most certainly is. But whether I mean that he's possessive or falling for her you'll have to figure out for yourself. ^_^
Arika*.D: Woah, I hope your still not up on the 'cliffs of doom'. I took so long to update this time... I was distracted. :(
angelarms: As it stands, my fic is REALLY close to ending. I solved my ending problem, though. I just hope everyone likes it. Nice review! Thanks!
LazyCat9: My hand is all better now, thanks! ^_^
SanoGirl: Thanks! Glad you liked the Locke/story part. I added that bit just before I posted and I didn't really have time to go over it so I didn't know if it was going to work or not.
Akiko: Yay! Thank you!
Yma: Ack! I'm SO sorry about taking so long! Like I said in my review for your fic (which is VERY good people, go and read it) I kinda got sidetracked. Heh, I think no matter how much Knives changes, he'll always be a bit of a B*. ^_^
Beckira: Hope you liked it! Thanks again for the reviews!
Cutlass317: Wow, lotsa reviews! Thanks!!!
Neptune Butterfly: 'It'? What exactly did you mean by 'it'? *lol* And thank you very much!
~
Next time: Um, I dunno... I haven't written it yet. I decided to try to write another 'new' chapter (when I originally began posting this fic, I had already completed the entire thing with the exception of chapter 5 {I think}, this chapter, and the very last chapter) so I should have it done in two weeks (outside guess) or less if I hurry. I have a basic idea on what the new chapter is gonna be about, but I don't want to say just in case I can't write it.
"..." is talking
'...' is thinking
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A Glimpse of Eden
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Chapter - 14
~
Meryl entered the room she had glumly dubbed the 'torture room', her arms filled with dirty laundry. Dumping the load on the floor near the machine that cleaned clothes all by itself, which she had decided to steal and take with her back to Spring, she knelt down next to the pile and began to separate the colors from the whites. Grabbing a pair of Locke's pants, she reached into the pocket and grimanced when her hand met something sticky. Quickly removing her hand from the pocket, she made a disgusted face when she saw that it was now covered in used bubblegum. She studied her hand grimly, and made a mental note to have a 'word' with the boy. She sighed, and began to pull at the gum with her fingers.
Getting to her feet, she left the laundry room and headed for the bathroom, hoping that a healthy scrubbing with soap and water would remove the gum. Drying her hands afterward, she glanced into the mirror above the sink and noticed a pair of dark blue eyes peering at her from around the door frame.
Meeting her eyes in the mirror, Locke stepped into the room with a smile. "Are you busy, Meryl?"
"Well... I was about to do the laundry," she answered, turning around to face him.
"Oh..." he said distractedly, before his blue eyes suddenly widened. "Um... Meryl? I think I might have left something in my pants yesterday."
"Yes..." she muttered darkly, "I found it." She sighed and leaned back against the counter. "Locke, why was there used bubblegum in your pocket?"
The boy winced and glanced down, studying his shoe before replying, "Well, last night you told me not to chew gum at the dinner table and I had to put it somewhere."
"Locke," she began with another sigh, "how many times have I told you--"
"I'm sorry, Meryl," he said quietly, his shoulders sagging.
Meryl shook her head, but moved to give the boy a hug. She never could stay angry with him for long. "Just be more careful next time, okay?"
"Okay," he agreed, his face brightening into a smile. "Are you busy right now? Can you come with me for a few minutes?"
"What for?" she asked.
"I... um, want to show you something." he mumbled and then gave her a slightly nervous grin.
Her mother's instinct was telling her something was amiss, but she chose to ignore it. "Alright, Locke. As long as it doesn't take too long."
Taking her hand, he lead her into a part of the ship she wasn't very familiar with. "Are you sure you know where you're going, Locke?" she asked, slightly uneasy when she realized she had no idea where they were, "You aren't lost, are you?"
"It's okay, Meryl," he gave her a reassuring smile, "We're almost there."
After a few more minutes of walking, Locke halted in front of a door, a happy grin on his face, and pressed a button on the panel. Still unsure as to what this entire thing was all about, Meryl stepped inside, and felt her smile fade at the sight of Knives casually leaning against a far wall. Her mouth now formed a frown as she glared at the man. She had barely spoken to him and had avoided any contact with him since their encounter outside her room over a week ago. For a brief moment she wondered if he had sent Locke to bring her there, but as she watched him straighten up from his position against the wall and his expression become annoyed, she realized that he was as surprised to see her as she was him.
"What is this, Locke? Why do you bring her here?" Knives asked, his eyes never leaving her face even though he spoke to the boy.
"My question exactly," she muttered, her eyes locking darkly with Knives', "What's this about, Locke?"
The boy stepped forward, his eyes darting between the two nervously. "Well... um, you two had a big fight or something and weren't speaking to each other, so I thought that maybe..." he trailed off and dropped his eyes to the floor.
"You thought," Knives finished for him, "that if the girl and I just 'happened' to meet, we might be able to work out our differences and everything would go back to the way it was before. Isn't that right?"
The boy glanced hopefully up toward Knives and nodded.
"Well, you can forget about it," Knives said somewhat roughly, "because I have nothing to say to her."
He headed toward the door to leave, but as he passed Meryl, she muttered something that made him stop in his tracks. "What was that?" he asked, turning his head so he could look at her.
"I said," she answered defiantly, crossing her arms and glaring at him, "that's right, run away. It's what you do best, isn't it?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.
"You're supposed to be so smart, figure it out yourself," she shot back, too angry to worry about his temper and what he might do to her if he lost it.
"Listen, I've had just about enough of your--"
"Knock it off!" Locke interjected, pushing his way between the two adults. "No more fighting! You two were getting along so great before, what happened?"
"Ask her! She's the one who called me an 'elitist' and a 'hypocrite' and then refused to talk to me!" Knives spat out.
"That's because you are! And I never would have said anything in the first place if you hadn't acted like such a jerk the night before!"
"I said I wasn't serious!" he yelled back, "And anyway, only a crazy person would ever want to keep a tempermental woman like you around!"
"Yeah..." Meryl muttered darkly, "I'd heard that rumor about you."
"What... did... you... say!?" Knives hissed.
Locke sighed and shook in head in disbelief as he watched the two continue their argument. Sometimes he just couldn't understand how immature and stubborn the two could be, especially when it came to each other. It was obvious, even to a child, that the only thing preventing the two from making up was their stubborn pride. From what he had been able to pick up in bits and pieces over the past week, their fight had started when Knives had casually mentioned that he might keep Meryl instead of sending her away when the year was up, and it had only esculated the next morning during breakfast when Meryl had lost her temper and called him some choice names. The two hadn't talked to each other in a week, and it made him nervous. Usually, their fights didn't last so long and they were never so... 'intense', and with only three months to go before Meryl was to leave they didn't have much time together left.
The boy sighed again, and then noticed that their attention wasn't on him or the door. He glanced around the room, an idea begining to take shape. The room was small, and obviously used for storage as there were a few crates laying around, but other than that it was practically empty. And if this room was like the other storage rooms he had explored, then that meant the door didn't have an inside unlocking mechanism.
He held his breath, trying to decide if he had the courage to pull it off. The forced time alone together might finally bring an end to their silly argument, if they didn't kill each other first. He released his breath, his mind set. He'd probably get it afterwards, but as long as he was punished by Knives and Meryl together, than it was certainly worth it.
"Argh! That's it! I've had enough of you! Com'on, Locke we're--" Meryl glanced around and finally noticed that the boy was no longer by her side. "Locke? Where'd you go?"
"He probably became as digusted with you as I am and left." Knives groused.
"Shove it, Knives!" Meryl barked, moving toward the exit in search of Locke. She hoped he wasn't upset with her.
"Shove it?" he repeated with a blank stare, apparently unfamilar with the term.
"Yeah," she mumbled to herself as she reached for the panel, "shove it up your a--" she frowned, and abruptly cut off the rest of her sentence when the door failed to open. "The door's broken." she grumbled, irritably continuing to mash on the button with her finger.
"Step aside, woman." Knives moved forward and pushed her hand away before she could do any damage. "Only an idiot would have trouble operating a simple door panel."
He pressed the button and frowned when the door didn't open. "Ha! What was that you said Knives? Something about an idiot?"
"Shut up." he said brusquely and with more than a hint of annoyance "This panel won't override the automatic door lock."
"What? No way. You're just not doing it right." she mumbled and reached for the panel again, only to find her wrist held by Knives.
"I said it's locked. If you keep messing with it like that you're going to break it." He released her wrist disdainfully.
"Why would it be locked..." she muttered, rubbing her wrist lightly with her other hand. He hadn't hurt her, but she wanted to erase the feel of his touch. "What kind of room has an auto-whatever lock?"
"This is a storage room. When someone closes the door from the outside panel the room automatically locks," he answered quietly. "It's a security measure."
"You mean we're stuck in here until someone releases the lock from the other side!?"
"Of course not." he replied somewhat arrogantly, "I can easily release the locking mechanism if I re-connect this panel to override the outside one."
"Will that take long?" she asked sourly.
"Not very." he answered, already begining to remove the panel's covering to gain access to the wiring, "Fifteen minutes, maybe twenty at most."
Meryl sighed with relief and moved to sit on one of the crates to wait. Twenty minutes wasn't that long. She supposed she could put up with Knives' company until then.
~
Meryl shifted her weight, growing uncomfortable from sitting too long. Knives had been working at the conrol panel for almost two hours now and he didn't seem any closer to getting the door open now than when he had started.
"Has it been twenty minutes, yet?" she asked sarcastically, and saw him visibly wince as her words hit their target. He paused in his work briefly to shoot her a dark look, then resumed his efforts with the wiring without a word.
A few minutes later, Meryl was startled from her boredom-induced attempt at counting the floor tiles, when Knives suddenly threw the panel's covering across the room in frustration. "The damn thing is impossible!" he raged.
"I thought you said it was 'easy'." she replied, getting to her feet.
He gave her another dark look, obviously not pleased at being reminded of his earlier boast. "Disabling the autolock is easy," he insisted irritably, "but the system is refusing to give me any access to the locking function at all. It's almost as if..." he trailed off, his brow knitting in thought.
"It's almost as if what?" she prodded.
He moved back to the panel and reached inside, grabbing for a new tangle of wires. After a few minutes, the small screen above the panel flashed on with the words; ACCESS DENIED: MINIMUM SECURITY LEVEL; 2
"Level 2?" Knives repeated to himself, staring at the screen in shock, his suspicion confirmed.
"What's that mean?" Meryl asked, coming forward to stare at the screen.
"It means that it's not just the auto-lock that's keeping us in here." he muttered, turning his attention from the screen to glance down at her, "It appears that someone has also told the security system to ignore this panel's commands."
She frowned, trying to understand what that meant. Then, her eyes widened and she glanced up at him in surprise. "You mean... Locke shut us in here on purpose!?"
"It would seem so." he said dryly, his hand reflexively tightening around the wires, and then swore when two of the loose wires made contact and sparked. He jerked his hand away, glaring at the wires with unrestrained menace.
"Are you okay?" Meryl asked with a note of concern, reaching for his hand and checking to make sure there was no damage. "You didn't get burned, did you?" She sighed, relieved that he hadn't been hurt, and glanced back up to ask him a question. "Why would he have locked us in here? It doesn't make sense."
"Of course it does," Knives responded, "to him anyway. He probably thinks that this will somehow get us to--" he looked down, and abrupty ended his sentence when he found himself staring into her eyes; his mind absently wondering how a human could have such beautiful eyes, and such a strange color...
"Are you sure you're alright, Knives?" she asked uncertainly. He was giving her that funny look again.
He tensed, irritated with himself for getting distracted, and over something as idiotic as the girl's eye color. "Of course I am," he replied stiffly. "I was just wondering how much longer you were going to continue to hold my hand, that's all." he finished with a look of annoyance.
Her eyes widened and she immediately released her grip on his hand, which she hadn't even realized she was still holding. "If it bothered you so much," she retorted, her face red with embarassment, "you should have said something sooner! And I don't know why I was worried about you in the first place," she continued, her anger building, "you're nothing but an egotistical, self-centered-- hey! Are you listening to me!?"
He wasn't. His attention had waivered halfway through her tirade, when he had suddenly noticed her hair being stirred by an unseen wind. He turned his back to her, ignoring her completely, while his eyes eagerly searched for the source of the breeze.
Meryl watched him take a few slow steps away from her, his eyes scanning his surroundings as if searching for something. "Um, Knives?" she asked hesistantly, slightly worried about this odd behavior. "Are you alright over there?" He didn't answer, nor give any indication that he had even heard her. His only action was to halt a small distance away and raise one of his hands toward the ceiling. In Meryl's opinion, the man must have finally gone completely bananas.
Knives moved his hand higher, closer to one of the gratings in the ceiling, and was rewarded by a cool breeze blowing across his fingers. He had found the air vent. Lowering his hand to his side, he frowned in disapointment. The vent was much too small for a normal-sized person to fit through. Too small for anyone but a child... --His eyes widened with a sudden thought and he glanced over to study Meryl, who was looking at him a bit apprehensively-- ...Yes, it was too small for anyone but a child... or a really small woman.
He turned around and gesturing for her to come forward. "Come here."
"Why?" she asked, perfectly content to remain where she was; away from him.
"Just come here!" he insisted, and when she still appeared hesistant, he sighed and pointed toward the grating above him. "There's an air vent here. I'm going to lift you up into it."
She slowly approached, her eyes focused on the grating he had indicated. "And what good will that do?"
"There's another grating out in the hall. You can crawl through the vent to gain access to it, then drop down into the hallway and unlock the door from the outside panel." he explained.
"What!?" she asked in horror, "You want me to crawl around up there!?"
"Is that a problem?"
She bit her lip, hesitant about revealing the real reason for her reluctance. "There might be mice up there." she answered instead.
A dismissive snort. "I highly doubt it."
"I don't think I can fit." she hedged.
"Move it, woman!" Knives snapped at her, his frustration building.
"Don't order me around! I'm not your property, even if you seem to think I am!" she snapped back angrily.
"For the last time, I said I wasn't serious! What more do you want from me!?"
"I want you to apologize!"
He went still, a glimmer of surprise and... something she couldn't recognize, in his eyes. "Hurry up." he said quietly after a moment, averting his eyes from hers, "I don't want to be stuck in here forever."
Fighting back tears of frustration, she moved to stand closer to him. "Fine!" she shot back, "Just make sure to watch where you put your hands."
Knives grumbled something incoherent and bent to wrap his arms around her slim waist. He lifted her toward the grating, surprised at just how little she weighed. As strong as the girl was, she was also incredibly frail and slight, and he took special care not to hurt her. "Can you reach it?" he asked, glancing up at her.
The raised her arms above her head and frowned when she barely managed to touch the grate with her fingertips. "No... lift me higher. And I said," she dropped her arms and glared down at him, "to watch your hands! And don't think for even one second that I'm through telling you what I think of you-- ow!" she exclaimed when her head made sudden contact with the grating.
"Oops," Knives said innocently, "I must have misjudged the distance."
"Yeah, I'll bet." she muttered, angrily rubbing her head. She reached back up and rattled the grating, trying to pull it off. "It's stuck."
"Try harder!" he insisted, and tightened his grip around her legs in order to give her better support.
She gritted her teeth and pulled for all she was worth, but... "It's not coming off, Knives." she sighed, and then thought of something. "Maybe if I had something to pry it loose...?"
Knives glanced around and his eyes caught sight of the panel covering he had thrown earlier. Without loosening his grip on Meryl, he managed to scoot the cover over with his foot and then get the toe of his boot under it. With relative ease, he kicked the covering straight up and into his waiting hand. "Here," he said to Meryl, "use this."
She reached down and took it, trying not to look too impressed. Raising the metal covering over her head, she smashed it against a corner of the grating. After a few tries, she had made enough headway to wedge the thin part of the covering between the grating and the ceiling, and she now used the covering to pry it loose. Dust and dirt spilled from the sides of the grating and Meryl shut her eyes and turned her head away to avoid breathing away of it in. Dropping the covering, she now used her hands to pull away the grating, which she then also dropped unceremoniously to the floor.
Meryl stared into the small, dark space above her, trying to ignore the memories of when she was four and, while playing hide-and-seek with her cousins, had hid in an old steamer trunk and then found that she couldn't open the closed lid while inside. Her mother, alerted by her cries, had found her no more than ten minutes later and let her out, but the time trapped in the trunk had affected her greatly and even now, years afterward, she still had trouble with being in dark, enclosed spaces.
"Are you alright?" Knives asked softly, after a few minutes of inactivity on her part.
She glanced down at him, all the while trying to gain control of her fear. "Is this a bad time to mention I'm slightly claustrophobic?"
He frowned. "Just how 'slightly' claustrophobic?"
"I can handle the tight space okay, but if it's too dark for me to see," she took a shaky breath before finishing, "I might start to panic."
"Great..." he sighed, and she could feel his breath against her leg. "Can you handle this?"
"I don't know... I guess I'll have to, won't I?" she said, and he could hear the determination in her voice.
"Attagirl," he whispered to himself, his respect for her growing although he'd never admit it, "there's the Meryl I know."
"How far until I reach the other grating?" she asked.
"Thirty feet, maybe less." he answered quickly, before she lost her nerve and changed her mind about going through with this. "Once you're in, just crawl straight ahead and you'll come across it soon enough."
She turned her attention back to the vent and placed a hand on either side of the opening. "Knives? Promise me that if I don't make it, you won't tell Locke I died wedged in a vent, okay?" she joked weakly, but also managed to sound dead-serious at the same time.
Knives laughed, he couldn't help it. "Ready?" he asked, and when she nodded he easily hoisted her up into the vent. "Meryl?" he called up a moment later, peering into the darkness above him. "Is everything alright?"
A cough, and then Meryl's voice called down. "When was the last time you cleaned up here? This is disgusting!"
"Nevermind that now," he smiled, before becoming more serious, "Is there enough room up there for you to move around?"
A grunt, and then her voice answered. "Yeah, I guess so. This... this isn't so bad." she said after a moment, a slight waver in her voice.
"Don't lie." he admonished her lightly. "You may have to force the grating in the hall. Just kick it out. It should be easier to open that this one was."
The smile, which had lit her face at his slight reprimand a moment before, now faded as the gravity of the situation sunk in. What the hell was she doing up here!? She couldn't even see her hand in front of her face, what if she somehow passed the grating and got lost? Or what if when she found the grating she couldn't open it? Her breathing became more rapid as the darkness seemed to close in on her, amplifying her doubts and making the vent seem even smaller than it was. She was just about ready to back up and get the hell out of there, when Knives' voice filtered up into the vent.
"It's alright, Meryl," he said calmly, "You can do this."
She closed her eyes tightly for a moment. He was right, she could do this, she just needed to focus. Her resolve firmly in place, she crawled forward through the vent, trying her best to avoid brushing her head or arms against the sides. She moved slowly and cautiously, not knowing what lay ahead of her. Once, when she felt a spiderweb touch her cheek she couldn't surpress a startled gasp, but she brushed it away and continued on. After another minute of crawling, she spotted a dim shaft of light in front of her and quickened her pace, eager to be out of the constrained space and oppressive darkness.
Arriving at the grating, she shifted her weight and managed to position herself on her backside. She gave it a firm kick with her foot, and felt a wave of panic when it didn't budge. Another swift kick, this time with both feet, and she released a gasp of joy when it partly gave way. Another kick, and the grating dropped to the floor, filling the opening with light from the hallway. She scooted forward until her legs hung down from the vent and then she gripped the edge of the opening with her hands before lowering herself out of the vent completely. She hung there momentarily, before letting go and allowing herself to drop to the floor, landing near the grating with a rather loud 'thump'.
After rubbing her sore end and brushing off the dust from her clothes, she moved toward the panel after only briefly (much to her credit) considering leaving Knives where he was. She pressed the button and was relieved when the door finally slid open, Knives hastily stepping out into the hall.
His eyes glanced her once over briefly, making sure she was alright, before he clenched his jaw and asked, "Where do you think he is?"
She tilted her head and thought it over a moment before finally answering, "Where do you think an unsupervised child would be? He's probably in the kitchen." she frowned before adding, "And ruining his dinner eating cake no doubt." She sighed. "I still can't believe he locked us in there, but he can be awfully stubborn about things and I guess when he saw his original idea wasn't going to work he had to improvise."
They started off, Knives slightly in the lead. "You do know that the boy learned that from you."
"What?" she asked, hurrying her step to match his.
"The boy has a decidedly stubborn streak, and it's obvious that he picked it up from you." he replied, and stopped walking to consider it for a moment, a thoughtful expression on his face. "The boy is quite versed in manipulation, as well."
"Which he obviously picked up from you!" Meryl interjected forcably.
"Yes..." he mused to himself thoughtfully, "and if I weren't so upset with him right now I think I'd be rather proud of that fact. It took me over a year to learn how to properly manipulate others and Locke managed it in only nine months."
"You're joking, right?" she asked, shaking her head in disbelief. Surely he couldn't be serious. He gave her a somewhat embarassed half-smile and she rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Knives," she grumbled, and resumed walking, "sometimes I worry about you."
"Do you?" he asked, easily catching up with her and matching her pace.
"Do I what?" she mumbled around a confused frown.
"Worry about me?" he asked softly, and smiled when she stopped to glare at him.
"What kind of question is that!? Of course I worry about you." she answered, and then hastied to add, "and Locke, and Vash, and Milly. I worry about all of you."
"Are still still angry with me?" he asked now, his head tilted to one side, his eyes studying her carefully.
A long moment passed, and Knives began to wonder if she was ever going to answer him. "No," she finally replied, her voice quieter than usual, "I'm not angry with you anymore. At least, not as much as I was."
He started toward the kitchen again, this time more slowly, and she kept pace alongside him. They were silent for a few minutes, each with their own thoughts, until Meryl spoke up again. "Knives?"
"Hmmm?"
"What do you think we should do about Locke? I mean, we don't want to be locked in a closet everytime we have a disagreement."
"I agree." he concured, then paused before continuing, "The boy needs to be punished."
She nodded slightly. "Yes, I suppose he does. I'll come up with something lat--."
"I'll do it." he interrupted. "If the boy is to be punished then I should be the one to decide how."
She frowned. "I really think I should do it. You're more upset by this than I am, and I don't want you to take all your anger out on Locke."
"It's really no concern of yours." he said cooly, and she realized how rude her words must have sounded.
Meryl bit her lip, angry with herself. Why couldn't she have just kept her mouth shut? Now Knives was upset with her again, and this time it was her fault. She reached out and placed her hand lightly on his arm to get his attention.
He turned and shot her an annoyed look. "What is it now!?"
"It's just...I just wanted to say..." she trailed off, unsure how to begin. He crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently against the metal floor, and although he appeared to be bored and disinterested, she knew he was curious to know what she had to say. "I just wanted to apologize." she rushed ahead, and saw surprise flicker in his eyes, "What I said was uncalled for. I know you'll be fair with Locke." At least she hoped so.
He studied her through narrowed eyes, apparently waiting for the other shoe to drop, and when she said nothing more he gave a slight shrug. "Whatever." he mumbled, and Meryl had to stiffle a grin. He was pretending to be nonchalant, but she knew he had been totally unprepared for her to apologize. 'Don't know me as well as you thought you did, huh, Knives?'
Knives frowned, a look of uncertainy crossing his features, and Meryl took a small breath before continuing. "Look, Knives... this week started off on a bad note and only managed to get worse. Why don't we forget who said what and put it all behind us? If not just for our sake, than for Locke's. This entire week has obviously been hard on him, otherwise I don't think he would have done what he did."
He glanced away from her, and she sensed he still wasn't ready to let it go just yet, so she decided to add the one thing she thought would win him over. After all, one of them had to be an adult about the whole thing. So with a light laugh she added, "And truth be told, I've kind of missed our talks about literature during breakfast."
A faint smile touched his lips, and Meryl held out her hand to him. "How about it, Knives?" she asked softly, "Truce?"
He turned back to her, his eyes studying her pro-offered hand for a moment before looking up to meet her eyes. Then, without breaking his gaze, he stepped forward and took her hand in his, his face softening slightly. "Truce." he murmured.
She smiled and then tried to pull back her hand, only to find it more firmly held in his. "K-Knives?" she gasped uncertainly. She glanced up at him, a look of confusion on her face, and then suddenly became aware of just how close she was standing to him. She met his eyes almost shyly, and was amazed to discover that he seemed just as surprised by his actions as she had been. Her eyes left his and she hesitantly studied his face before her attention came to rest on his mouth, her mind absently realizing that despite their differences in height, it would be relatively easy to brush her lips against his.
Knives' eyes widened slightly, and his fingers tightened around hers. "Meryl..." he whispered softly, a hint of urgency in his voice, "I want--"
The sound of a door opening snapped Meryl back to reality and she pratically tore her hand from his. Ignoring Knives' frustrated sigh, she pulled away from him and tried to hide her flushed cheeks, wishing that he didn't have this kind of affect on her. It was becoming harder and harder for her to ignore.
A flash of disappointment crossed his face, and he appeared to be about to say something, but he apparently changed his mind and glanced down the corridor instead. She followed his gaze and there, with a spoon stuck in his mouth, was Locke. Her eyes drifted down to the bowl he held in his hands and she noticed with a gasp of shock that he was eating HER ice cream!
"Locke!" she shouted down the hallway, and saw him jump at the sound of her voice.
He slowly turned and stared down the hallway, his eyes growing huge when he saw them both standing there. He took the spoon from his mouth, and for one brief moment Meryl had the feeling that he was considering making a break for it. Knives must have had the same thought, for he took a step forward and gestured to the boy.
"Locke! Come here!" he ordered, his voice firm.
The boy came forward slowly, and even though he knew Knives would never hurt him, Meryl could tell he was worried. Locke stopped to place his bowl on the floor before walking the rest of the way to stand in front of Knives, his head hung low and his hands clasped tightly behind his back.
"Meryl and I getting locked in that storage room wasn't an accident, was it, Locke?" Knives asked, struggling to keep his voice level.
The boy shook his head. "No." he whispered, his eyes raising to meet the older Plant's.
Knives took a breath, obviously trying to remain calm, but failing. "Just what were you thinking!?" he yelled. "Don't you know how dangerous that was!? What if something had happened or you had been injured!? Meryl and I wouldn't have been able to do a damn thing! Did you even think of that!?"
"I'm sorry." Locke whispered, his voice breaking.
"'I'm sorry' isn't good enough!" Knives shouted back, causing the boy to wince and glance down at the floor again.
Meryl stepped forward, laying one hand against Knives' back and the other on his arm in an effort to calm him. Yelling at the boy certainly wasn't going to help matters, and she sure didn't want Knives' judgement to be clouded by anger when he decided Locke's punishment. Knives didn't acknowledge her presence, but she felt the muscles in his back at first tense, then relax at her touch.
Knives closed his eyes, his lips moving silently, and Meryl got the distinct impression that he was counting to ten. He sighed, his eyes focusing once again on the small boy before him. "You're going to have to be punished. You know that, don't you, Locke?" Knives asked, his voice calm and firm once more.
Locke nodded. "I know..." he said quietly, then did his best to look pitiful; it was his best defense when he was in trouble and it had always worked on Meryl, maybe it would work on Knives, too.
Knives tapped a finger against his lips, trying to decide on the proper punishment for the boy. He didn't want to be too harsh, but then he didn't want to be too lenient, either. A minute later a small smile lit his face, as he thought of what he considered to be a fitting punishment. "Alright, Locke," he began, "Since you apparently have nothing better to do with your time than cause trouble, from now on your training will be five days a week instead of just four, and I'm also making it two hours a session instead of just one and a half."
"Aw, Knives!" Locke moaned, looking at him pleadingly, "Not more training!"
"Yes, more training." he repeated firmly. "You need the practice."
Locke looked to Meryl, but he obviously realized that he wasn't going to get any help there, so he sighed and nodded his head. "Yes, Knives."
"And Locke," Meryl added, "you'll also get no dessert for two weeks."
He raised horrified eyes to hers. "No dessert!?" What was the point of living!?
"No dessert?" Knives echoed, sounding as if he considered that a bit drastic. He knew as well as she of the boy's love of sweets.
"No dessert," she repeated firmly, "for two weeks."
For a moment, the boy looked as if he wanted to protest, but apparently thought better of it. He sure didn't need it raised to three weeks instead of just two for being impertinent. "Yes, Meryl."
"Now I want you to go wait in the library, Locke. You'll be helping me the rest of the day."
"Yes, Knives." The boy turned and started to leave, but stopped a short distance away. "Aren't you coming?" he asked, looking back over his shoulder.
"I'll be along in a minute. I need to discuss something with Meryl first." he answered, ignoring the curious look Meryl gave him. He waited until the boy was out of earshot before speaking. "About what I said last week..."
She shook her head, attempting to cut him off. "No, Knives! It's okay, really."
"No, I have to say this." he insisted, raising a hand to silence her protests. She looked uncertain, but nodded for him to go ahead. "I won't force you to stay." he began, and when she stared up at him in surprise, he added, "but I won't force you to leave, either. Whatever decision you make at the end of the year is fine. It's up to you."
She smiled. One of those smiles that not only seemed to light up the room, but also to warm the soul. "Knives, I-- thank you."
His eyes softened and he reached his hand to her hair, causing her eyes to widen and her pulse to quicken. "Knives?" she whispered.
He smiled, ever so slightly, and pulled his hand back from her hair, letting a small, gray object float to the ground. Her eyes followed it on it's path downward, her mind absently trying to comprehend... was that a--
"Dust bunny." Knives said, a trace of amusement in his voice. Then, with another brief smile, he turned and walked off down the hall.
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End chapter 14
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Magnet-Rose: Yes, he most certainly is. But whether I mean that he's possessive or falling for her you'll have to figure out for yourself. ^_^
Arika*.D: Woah, I hope your still not up on the 'cliffs of doom'. I took so long to update this time... I was distracted. :(
angelarms: As it stands, my fic is REALLY close to ending. I solved my ending problem, though. I just hope everyone likes it. Nice review! Thanks!
LazyCat9: My hand is all better now, thanks! ^_^
SanoGirl: Thanks! Glad you liked the Locke/story part. I added that bit just before I posted and I didn't really have time to go over it so I didn't know if it was going to work or not.
Akiko: Yay! Thank you!
Yma: Ack! I'm SO sorry about taking so long! Like I said in my review for your fic (which is VERY good people, go and read it) I kinda got sidetracked. Heh, I think no matter how much Knives changes, he'll always be a bit of a B*. ^_^
Beckira: Hope you liked it! Thanks again for the reviews!
Cutlass317: Wow, lotsa reviews! Thanks!!!
Neptune Butterfly: 'It'? What exactly did you mean by 'it'? *lol* And thank you very much!
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Next time: Um, I dunno... I haven't written it yet. I decided to try to write another 'new' chapter (when I originally began posting this fic, I had already completed the entire thing with the exception of chapter 5 {I think}, this chapter, and the very last chapter) so I should have it done in two weeks (outside guess) or less if I hurry. I have a basic idea on what the new chapter is gonna be about, but I don't want to say just in case I can't write it.