100 REVIEWS! YAY!

Jackie: 'pulls out the wine and fancy crackers with all kinds of strange spreads on them' I have to look classy, I'm about to do a shameless plug for another author who KICKS A. "Forever Mine" by Aine of Knockaine, is a great story, so go read it, CAUSE I'LL STOP WRITING IF YOU DON'T.

Hope-is-4ever is writing a GREAT story too… if she'd ever UPDATE! Perhaps it is one of the best stories I have read in quite a while.

'drains the bottle of wine, straight from the bottle' now back to the story. Over the coming chapters; Meryl to shine, twists to get twistier, and a surprise ending!

So sorry it's been a while. Lots-o-school work dragging me under.

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Chapter 34;

Nick and Meryl shoved their ears against the door. Meryl looked at the preacher in black and asked, "I don't hear anything, do you?"

"No," Nick said, "Do you think we should—"

"STAND BACK EVERYBODY!" Millie shouted, and lifted up her stun gun.

Meryl and Wolfwood eeped and leapt out of the way just as Millie shot the door. The door flew inward smacking against the chair where Knives had previously sat, and rolling across the floor at the console. It hit the console with a metallic ring, and fell to its side.

Meryl peeked into the chamber and saw what Millie could have damaged. She turned around and barked, "Think before you do those things! If that console had been damaged we have no idea what it would have done to Vash!"

"Oh gee! I'm Sorry," Millie cheeped.

"Oh no," Wolfwood whispered, looking in to the left of the door.

Wolfwood was through the door in an instant. He crouched down beside Knives and Mira. Once Meryl realized what was wrong she was there as well. Wolfwood propped Knives up and tried to wake him. Meryl knelt down by Mira and checked for a pulse. She had one, but it was very weak.

Knives slowly came to, and looked up at Millie and Wolfwood. In his mind, reality and the visions of the bulb had completely separated. Everything that had happened in the bulb seemed like nothing more than a bad dream. At the end of those dreams there were new memories of the single day he'd spent as Knives Millions.

He had an empty feeling in the pit of his stomach. His eyes flung open and he said, "Mira. Where is Mira?"

Just as Knives spoke, Meryl lifted Mira's dust cloak and gasped. The left side of Mira's white shirt and jeans were completely soaked in blood. Knives shoved Nick and Millie off of him and pushed Meryl roughly out of the way. He tore Mira's shirt open and stopped. His hands shook with the torn shirt in his hands. What had been a bullet hole in her shoulder had torn open and the flesh of her deltoid had pealed back. The white gleam of her collar bone was only half as haunting as the blood spurting in fits from the wound.

Knives remembered her holding her guns up at his head, and the broken look in her eyes. His head twisted unnaturally toward the door and he saw the pool of blood where she had stood. His eyes twisted along the trail of blood from one place to another. He replayed the vicious beating he had given her all across the room. It's all my fault…

"It's all… all my fault," Knives breathed and sat back, releasing Mira's shirt, "I can't escape it. I destroy everything I touch."

"Look!" Meryl snapped and grabbed him by the shoulders, "We DO NOT have time for a melt down! She has a pulse, she's still alive! We can worry about blame later. For now we need to get her and Vash out of here!"

Wolfwood closed Mira's shirt and pushed down on the wound to stop the bleeding. He looked and Knives and said, "She's right; this is no time to fall apart. If you want to save your wife or your brother we have got to get out of here before trouble shows up."

They were right, what was he doing? He felt all fuzzy and disconnected from himself. Knives's deep blue eyes went slowly from Mira and Wolfwood up to Meryl's lavender eyes and he said, "Defaults… Reset the defaults by pressing the yellow button on the left of the console, otherwise—"

"So, it's true," Monique said, stepping through the doorway, "You have joined up with these, insects. Oh well, I guess it doesn't matter."

Knives instantly tried to reach out with his mind and stop her, but his head still hurt too much to concentrate. Monique noticed him wincing and holding his head. She smiled and said, "Headache, love? Now don't anyone be foolish."

She held out a small bomb and said, "My trigger finger feels all… itchy."

"What does she mean, love?" Meryl asked Knives.

"It was part of the brainwashing," Knives hissed, "She made me believe she was my… My mate."

"And a fine mate you were," Mira laughed.

"You didn't!" Meryl said and looked at Knives.

"He did," Monique purred, "Right after dealing with the alarm you guys set off. He was quite… vigorous."

"Bitch," Knives growled, "I would never have done it if—"

"Is that any way to speak to the future mother of your children," Monique asked.

"You can't possibly know that!" Meryl shouted.

"100 of the women who have ever been inseminated by Knives have become pregnant," Monique said with a wicked smile, "I'd say the odds are in my favor."

Monique lowered her arm with the out-stretched bomb and said, "When you left us… It all fell apart, but I put it back together again by myself. I caught you, and your brother, by myself. I did everything, BY MYSELF. Which leaves me wondering… Now that I have your seed… What do I need you for?"

Monique noted the change in Vash's brainwaves. Two sets of brainwaves? Interesting… The top wave was like nothing she'd ever seen, and the bottom was unmistakable as the brainwaves of a blood-thirsty killer. She smiled morbidly.

"So what are you going to do," Meryl said and stood up, "Kill him, kill us? You can't be sure that bomb will get us all unless you stay and die yourself!"

"I don't need this bomb to kill you," Monique said, "I have HIM!"

Monique hurled a small spare detonator and hand bomb at the console, and it hit its mark. The release button clicked, and console exploded. A huge flash of light filled the room, and they were all thrown back against the wall. When the light dimmed and the dust settled Monique was gone, and Vash was lying on the ground in front of the machine.

"Vash!" Meryl yelled and ran to his side.

"NO!" Knives shouted, "Don't he's—"

"I'm what?" Vash said and rolled over, looking up at his short girl.

"But, you shouldn't even be awake yet," Knives said, "It's not possible."

"Well, I—" Vash started.

Meryl lifted her hand and motioned for him to stop.

"He can explain later," Meryl said, "Right now, we have to get out of here. We'll need to break into the supply room first to get food and water. Knives, take us to the supply room."

…………………….

Jackie: Was it worth waiting for? More to come; Lots of fluff, particularly between Vash and Meryl, and a surprise ending.