DANCE 'TILL YOU DIE

Chapter Two: Porcelain Doll

Knives was shaking with excitement. It had been a week since the 'pink-room incident', as he had mentally dubbed it, and he had already told his brother about his discovery. Vash could hardly believe it. As Knives recalled, his sibling had coughed so violently that the darker blonde had succeeded in coating Rem's smiling face in stew. Rem's smile faded instantly, but the laugh didn't leave her eyes, even as she wiped them off with her napkin. Knives couldn't help but smirk broadly into his teacup. Later that day, when the two brothers were mercifully alone, they contemplated the discovery.

"Knives, are you sure?" Vash had wanted to know, eyes sparkling.

Knives had looked irritably at his sibling, "Sure of what, Vashu, sure of what?"

"Sure that...well, you know. I mean, well, you know..."

"I don't understand you, Vashu." Knives said sharply.

"I mean-" Vash struggled to find words, and his twin snapped.

"WHAT!? What do you mean, Vashu, what?!"

"Aretheyreallyjustlikeus,youknow,plantsinsideahuman'sbody?" Vash spluttered, words rippling out so quickly that even Knives, clever and sharp-witted as he was, couldn't seem to pick the words out of the sentence.

"Huh?" Knives replied intelligently.

"You heard me!" Vash insisted.

Knives considered this. He softly repeated Vash's question, slowly, "'Are they really just like us'..."

The young blonde plant pondered. He hadn't gotten a chance to 'talk' to TFO long enough to gather more information on the precious beings floating inside the tubes. "Well," he said, "They...they looked like us. They looked to be human, but...there was something ethereal about them."

"Ethereal?" Vash repeated. He sighed, rather confused - but still trying to seem intelligent and aware of the conversation. "So, they don't look like the other plants on this ship?"

"No," Knives replied instantly. Finally, a definitive answer! "Most definitely not..."

"They didn't have wings, or smaller bodies attached to the main spinal cord?" Vash wanted to know, his scientific side kicking in.

Knives was frusterated with the conversation. "Vash," he said sharply, not bothering to call his brother by the nickname 'Vashu'. He was too ticked off to consider it. "I'll show you them, sometime..."

"...Do you think Rem will mind?" Vash said, voice barely above a whisper.

The straw that broke the camel's back. Knives was sick of the conversation. Standing up, the hoverchair he sat on slid back through the air and bumped the wall behind him. Vash stood, too. The sense of urgency was overwhelming. The younger brother was clearly concerned that his mother-figure wouldn't approve of it, and the elder was disgusted by his sibling's attachment to the human. The two young plants stared each other down. Ice-blue eyes battled turquoise orbs as the two brothers simply stood and attempted to dominate each other in the most primitive way possible. The rules were simple; don't break eye contact.

Both broke eye contact. It was Rem's fault, really. The black-haired woman clattered into the room, her face inexplicably happy - as usual. Knives found his lips curling downwards in a sneer; he was horrified with himself. How could he make such faces at the woman who raised him like her own? She's only a human, though... a hesitant voice in the back of the plant's mind offered.

"Rem!" Vash greeted enthusiastically, rather glad of the escape from the battle of wills with his elder brother. "I missed you," he informed her, despite the fact he had seen her earlier that day.

"Uh, thank you, Vash," Rem chuckled appreciatively. She turned her chocolate gaze upon Knives. He felt compelled to say something, anything, and managed to croak, "'ello, Rem," in greeting.

She was satisfied; she always was. "Vash, can I talk to Knives alone?" the woman asked suddenly. She sat down in a hoverchair expectantly. Knives and Vash exchanged glances; Rem had never singled any one of them out before, and it was a completely new sensation. Vash didn't like it. Smiling uneasily, however, he complied and left the room.

Knives' heart pounded in his chest. She must have found out about his discovery. That was the only reason she would ever single him out from his brother; it couldn't be anything less. She knew; there was probably record of him entering the room from a security camera... For a desperate moment, Knives thought of lying to her.

"Knives," she said softly, eyes full of concern.

The plant flinched like he had been physically slapped. Rem didn't fail to notice. "Knives, what's wrong? Lately you've seemed so..." she paused, then muttered, "detached."

"Oh," Knives said aloud. Thank goodness. "No, Rem, I'm fine. Really."

Rem could, apparently, be satisfied with a grunted ''ello Rem', but not with an honest, 'I'm fine, Rem'. Her toothy grin slipped into a deep frown. "Knives! Please...please, don't lie to me. You've been so troubled lately, I can see it."

Knives couldn't believe her. Humans could be so silly sometimes... He decided to humor her. If he didn't agree with Rem, he knew she would just insist he stay there until she righted the non-existant wrong. "You're right, Rem," he said, slapping the business right onto the blackboard. "I have been troubled."

Rem smiled triumphantly; Knives wanted to roll his ice-blue eyes. The beautiful plant sighed and prepared for a lecture. "Thank you for being honest, Knives," Rem said softly to her boy, "Just know...Know I'm always here for you."

Puh-lease! She had probably been reading those, 'How to be a Good Mother' books again. Now she was going to say something like, 'I won't pester you about it, but I want you to tell me when you're ready'. Knives could sense it.

"Knives, I won't harass you about this subject again, but...please, tell me when you're ready." Rem's voice was gentle, as soft and mellow as syrup.

"Yes, Rem," the plant replied automatically. He didn't like the way she said his name; sharply enunciating the 'Knnn' part of his name, rather than the 'iiives' part.

"You can go now," Rem chuckled, sensing his urgent need to spring away. "Be good."

"Yes, Rem!" Knives burst, sighing in relief. This extracted another bemused chuckle from his guardian as he rushed out of the door and down the hall.

As the plant jogged past the door that lead to the pink-room, and his discovery, Knives' heart positively drummed in his chest. He always found himself excited and curious when he passed that metal door. He wondered when the opportune time to take Vash there would be. Knives slowed down and entered the room he shared with Vash.

His twin was sitting on the bed, face buried in his arms. Had he been crying? "Vashu!" Knives cried, leaping onto the bed and scrambling over to comfort his brother. "Vashu, what's the matter? Why are you crying?"

Vash murmered something incoherent. "What?"

"I said," Vash muttered, "I'm not." Sure enough, Knives saw his twin's face was dry.

"Oh..." Knives muttered, feeling stupid.

"Why won't you let me see them, Knives?" Vash demanded suddenly, eyes narrowed.

Knives looked at his sibling thoughtfully for a moment. So that was what had been bothering him. "I said I would, Vash..."

"It's been a whole week! I deserve to see them!"

"Promise me something, brother." Knives said, voice deadly and low.

Vash hesitated.

"Promise me, Vashu, that you will not tell Rem Saverem." There. He had said it. He had spoken using Rem's full title; Vash was now aware to the dreadful seriousness of the situation. His twin stared at him with wide, sparkling turquoise eyes.

He paused long enough to commit to the promise internally. "I promise." he said softly.

"Good!" Knives said. "Very good. I'll take you to see them tomorrow night."

Vash's smile could have supplied power for all of the lights on the Project: SEEDS ship.