I know that with me, the review button doesn't work when I want to R&R on some one's story. If that's the same with ya'll, you can just email me, cause that's where it ends up, anyways. The question of Staccato's mom arose quite often in my RISING NUMBER OF REVIEWS!!! WHOOO! New peeps! Yay! I see the word is spreading around! The truth is...I don't really know who her mom is... I just know that who ever she was had red hair and that's where Staccato got hers from... though it is more black than red... I've got a whole mess of reviewers now! I feel so loved! You guys make my self-esteem soar through the roof! I shed a tear in thy direction! But, truly... is it as good as ya'll make it sound?
Child's Play
Call me not a puppet... I am not of your control. You have no power over me, for human both are we. My strings are pulled by the same as you, we share equality. Lay not a command upon me, for it shall remain unheard. I will not obey I'll turn away and nullify thy orders. Don't pull my strings, you won't succeed in keeping me under control. I'll break away and your rule fray and you'll know that I am free.(written by: TheCat that's me!)
"Legato's dead, how could he have taken over my body?" Knives asked as they trudged through the desert.
"Well, you and I both have higher energy levels than most humans, and he did say that he required high energy to possess a body, so that may be it," Vash explained.
"But why would he have done that?"
"To talk to some one..." Vash turned his head and looked over his shoulder. Knives followed his gaze and saw Staccato walking slowly. She had her arms folded and she was looking down at her feet.
"What did he say to her?" Knives asked, scooting in closer to Vash to keep Staccato from reading their lips.
"I don't know everything he told her. Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you. It's an invasion of her privacy," Vash shrugged.
"She's a damn human, Vash!" Knives said harshly.
"I heard a naughty word!" Milly said, perking up and turning around. She put her hands on her hips and glared at the boys. Meryl sighed. Another delay in their journey.
Knives sighed. "Sorry," he said, wanting to just get where they were going and get back so he could follow through with his plan.
"That's better. We don't want rough language around small children, now do we?" Milly asked, watching as Staccato caught up with them, but didn't notice that they were so close. Staccato merely raised her head a bit and looked around when she bumped into Vash's arm.
"Are you okay, Elizabeth?" Meryl asked, concerned. The girl made a slight noise and continued walking.
"She's worrying me... it's not good for a child to be that sad all the time. I wonder, is she missing her Thomas that was with her before that sand worm attacked?" Milly asked, still not the brightest crayon in the box.
"Well, she's defiantly missing somebody... but I doubt it would be a Thomas..." Vash nodded and blinked.
Staccato sighed to herself. In the back of her mind, she was linked with Meryl, the one with the least thoughts weighing down on her. Staccato did this only so she would have some indication as to where she was going. The rest of her mind was focused on simply one person... her beloved teacher...
Master Legato... why did you leave me again? You left once and I thought it was for good... but you came back! You came back to me! But only to torture me and fade away again...Why?
Staccato put a hand to her head, her free hand resting in the elbow of the other. Her head ached.
All this thinking of you has clouded my mind, Master. And it isn't a good cloud, either. I can't think of anything but you! It's making my head hurt...
She stopped for a moment and rubbed her temples, closing her eyes to relieve the tension. When that didn't work, she sighed and kept walking.
"Is everything okay?" Vash asked, walking up and setting a hand on her shoulder. She nodded slightly, only making her head worse.
"Are you sure? You don't look okay to me..."
"I...I am..." she assured him. Her stray hand found its self at her neck.
I'm not used to talking... now my throat is starting to hurt...
"We can always stop and let you rest if you need it," Vash offered, but all he received in an answer form was a light sigh. He blinked and walked beside her.
Several hours passed. They neither stopped to eat lunch or to rest. The two plants and two humans just kept following the psychic who seemed to be in her own world.
"Surely she's getting a little tired?" Meryl panted, her mouth dry.
"The way she's not paying attention to anything, I don't think she'll even realize when she does feel tired," Milly gasped, hunched over from fatigue.
"Then just let her go. We can stay here for a while," Knives said, stopping and standing still.
The two girls agreed right away and fell to the ground, supported by being back-to-back with each other and leaning against the other. Vash kept walking.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"To get Elizabeth," Vash replied. Knives shrugged.
"Geeze, for some one who saw great potential in a child, he sure doesn't care much for her... personally, I think he'd be happier seeing her dead... she probably would be happier that way, too..." Vash said to himself, watching the still walking white bodied, blood haired figure before him.
"Liz!" he called, running forward and trying to catch her. "Liz," he said, touching her shoulder. She jumped slightly and prepared to shoot energy waves at him, but stopped and sighed.
'I thought you were Knives at first...' she said, picking his hand off her arm.
"Yeah, uh... we sort of do look a like, huh?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood. He suddenly felt chilly. He glanced down at Staccato and found her looking directly at him. Vash avoided her crimson orbs, but smiled anyways. He blinked as she looked away. Was that a chuckle he heard?
"Why don't you come on back? We're taking a break..." Vash explained. Staccato looked out into the distance and squinted.
"What is it?" he asked.
'A mass amount of thoughts are coming from that direction. Either a tour bus or a town. I can't tell,' she reported.
Vash looked out in the direction.
"Wow, you're good!" he said, seeing just the slightest glint of sunlight off a metallic sign.
"Guess what, guys? Lizzie found a town! We can sleep in beds tonight!" Vash exclaimed, walking into sight with Staccato behind him.
'Is it necessary to call me that stupid fake name?' Staccato asked. Vash blinked.
"Um, no..." he replied. When she turned away, he figured it safe. She doesn't want to be called by her real name? Well, probably because she grew up answering to 'Staccato' and thinks that's her name...
"So, how far is this town?" Meryl asked.
"An ile, at the most..." Vash said, shrugging.
"Come on, ma'am... we can make it..." Milly said, helping Meryl up.
"Water! Lots of it!" Vash said, thumping on the bar in a saloon.
"Woo!" Milly fanned herself with a napkin.
"That was way more than an ile!" Meryl said in a fast, growling voice to Vash.
"Sorry! Depth perception ain't what it used to be!" he said, holding his hands up.
Staccato's scowl turned up in the slightest bit, but she looked down to her hands.
'What did Legato have to say to you?' Knives asked, looking over to Staccato.
'Nothing that concerned you...' she lied. Some of it did... some of it...
'No, really. What did he say?'
'He didn't say anything,' Staccato looked up slightly, being literal to get out of speaking to the plant she despised the most.
'Did he say anything about his killer?' Knives asked after a long silence break.
'Who, Vash? I don't remember...' Staccato said, turning to look out the window. She raised her head in thought, and then slowly turned it to face Knives.
'Come to think of it... you're really Legato's killer,' she glared. Her thoughts were laced with icy cold streaks.
'What are you talking about? I wish I could see into your mind... I might be able to rearrange stuff in it to some how bring out the common sense that I have doubts, but know exists,' Knives sighed and put his head in his hand as he rested his elbow on the table and looked to the side.
'No, you know right well what I'm talking about! You know you killed him! If you hadn't sent him off on your crazy plans, he would still be alive!' she glared, feeling the ice melt and steam as her thoughts flared.
'Don't be getting any ideas, now... I still have something that you loathe...' Knives glared, reaching in and moving his pocket leather aside to let the metal gleam.
'Too late to tell me that, Master Knives... too late to tell me that...'
'What do you mean?' He asked, his blue eyes almost locking with her red, but he stopped himself, blinking and looking down.
'I am already plotting against your very existence...' she warned as she was handed her water. She sipped it quietly, glaring daggers at Knives over the lip of her cup.
"Yay! A good soft bed! Mmm!" Milly smiled, running and jumping onto the hotel bed. She hugged the pillow and breathed in the feathery goodness.
"And we're out of the open range coldness!" Meryl threw her hands in the air before falling back wards onto the second of the three beds. Staccato sat on 'hers'.
"And we get to shower!" Milly jumped up and ran to the bathroom, throwing her clothes off before she even got half way to the door.
"Hurry up!" Meryl called. "And don't use all the hot water!"
'I want to talk to you after the lights go out,' Knives said. Staccato sighed.
'Don't you ever knock?' she asked.
'What do you mean?'
'I was in the middle of a good thought and you interrupted. A simple "Staccato, may I interrupt for half a second" would suffice, Master,' she looked up at the ceiling.
"Liz, you okay?" Meryl asked.
"Yes, ma'am..." she nodded and laid down, face in the pillows.
Master Legato...you led the perfect life...smiling to the very end... at least that's what the tale is. To think... the only Gung-Ho to make the Humanoid Typhoon shoot his gun, and you did it at the cost of your own life... for whom? A worthless vile creature that should be in a light bulb right about now... That smile of yours... that simply demonic grin you used every here and there... I bet that's what was plastered all over your face when you ... I won't say it...
Made me proud when the report said you went down with nothing less than a good giant fight. Always had to play with your victims like a cat with a mouse...that was defiantly you...and it always worked...you never failed at anything... an inspiration in the greatest, dear teacher... maybe that's how I should go, too...
Staccato stepped into the shower. She pulled the curtain closed behind her. She looked down at her pale skin. Once, Monev had suggested a day in the desert in nothing but a bathing suit so that she could get some color to her, but not only was it rejected by her, Legato also demanded that it would be a very immodest experience and he would not allow her to go through it.
The scorching water scattered like rain down her body, washing away the dirt and grime that came with traveling through sand storm after sand storm. She glanced down at her arms. One was more muscular and colored than the other. Legato's arm, once used to be Vash's.
'Wow...' she spoke to herself. 'I know some weird people,' she smirked slightly and bathed. When she was done, she dressed in her clothes again and lay down in the bed she claimed as hers. She laid her towel over her eyes and sighed.
'The lights have been out, Staccato, for well over an hour. You have failed to contact me...' Knives sounded angry.
'I knew that eventually you would contact me,' she explained. 'And look at that... you did... boy, am I good...'
'You are too much like your teacher for your own good... except, Legato never defied me as you do. He was loyal. He did as I said, the first time. He never thought for himself. He was a good puppet...'
Staccato sat up in the darkness and glared through the wall. Her eyes changed from golden to bright red. When she wasn't using her powers, her eyes remained a golden, much like that of her father's. Yet when she was provoked into tapping into her mental abilities, they changed into a diabolical wine-colored hue.
'What do you want?' she asked.
'Just to make sure you're still on my side. Wild animals like yourself tend to lose their training, and must be rebroken periodically.' Knives grinned to himself, the smirk detected by Staccato who glared deeper.
'You keep treating me the way you do, and you will defiantly be a broken man,' She warned, lying back down.
'Ooh, tough girl... of course, this small little friend of mine doesn't think you're as tough as you let on,' Knives fingered the metal trigger for Staccato's mind explosive.
'You'd better watch the way you threaten me, doc...'
'Why, is it going to do a trick?' he asked, amused with himself.
'Yeah... it's going to get you locked in an asylum for the rest of your forsaken life. Nice trick, huh?' She came back to his statement. Knives clicked the button on the switch just a tap, but still he could hear Staccato gasp and squirm through the wall. Staccato took in deep slow breaths to ease her pain.
'Nice trick, huh?' Knives scoffed. Staccato sighed.
'You know, for some one who's using me to do his dirty work, you sure seem to like to torture me. You act as if all of this is just making me want to obey you more and more! I have news for you, bud. It doesn't! Besides, I have my own ideas, now!'
'I should have known. You were never ready to take on an assignment... not even a half of a year in the light of the world and you already have an attitude. You weren't fully broken when I called on you. You've gone against me... halfway. You were told to make me look good a few days ago when you first met Vash, but even then I knew you had plans for my disposal. So, tell me, then... what are these ideas you have?'
'Well, if you must know, I don't think Vash is worth killing. He has done nothing to anger me, and he seems nice enough. The real enemy here, I think, is you. Technically, you were the one who killed Legato... V.T.S is just a waste of time and energy.'
'That's what you imagine, I guess...don't worry. I'll rid you of your useless mortal thoughts soon enough.' Knives said. 'But not tonight. Not with Vash this close. I don't want him interfering. Oh, and by the way- you stay away from him,' Knives closed the connection with that.
'Well... now I really want to obey you now,' Staccato rolled her eyes. 'I think Mr. Stampede and I could use a little bonding,'
Master Legato... how did you deal with this arrogant pretentious man? I don't see how it was possible to cope with him. You did it so well all those years, never complaining in the least bit... if I would have a question about his ideas, you would always be there to explain them to me and explain how he was always right in everything... Life was simple then.
Now, I don't see how you accomplished everything you did while under the iron fist of that tyrant. Since your death, I have been withdrawn and cautious about every decision I have made, wanting to rely on some one else to make it for me. But now... you're gone... and that reality has set in... and the reality that I am a human being... and I can't be locked up like some fancy tailed canary. I will not be an animal to do his work for him, and I will not be a slave to his every whim. I will, though, kill him... I swear it on the life of me and the death of thee, Master Legato... keep your eyes open for him... he might need your help in convincing the devil to give him mercy, because his last moments sure won't have any of that with in a five ile radius... mark thee my words...
End, Chapter 8
Yay! Let's all do the chicken dance to Celebrate number Eight! Ritualistic question, chika's and roosta's! Love or Shove?
My reveiwer list now consists of:
Kumi the Kitsune, Sai the Tsunami(), Ashlucard(), DragonLady4, Sophie-chan!
Now, this better not be just one person with several screen names... I shall be very sad otherwise... yeah, if you just want to email the reviews to me (those of you who can't because the button is broke or something) put a TCTF in the "subject" part so I don't delete it thinking it's some one trying to send me a virus... aparently I'm on a couple of people's 'kill her now' list... maybe their jealous of my writing skills... --''''
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