Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun, and am making no money from this.

At long last, things had calmed down enough that my parents were ready to tell Annie and me the story. Uncle watched us silently from the corner, as usual... no, he wasn't watching us. He was watching me, specifically. Aunt Milly was making us all some tea and cakes. Annie finally seemed to not be stressed about the whole thing; her body wasn't tensing anymore and she was smiling. I did notice she still seemed to be sitting closer to me than she normally did... I briefly debated devoting some brainpower to pondering the significance of that, but decided that for now I should be more worried about who my dad was... and what he was.

"Well, let's see now... where to begin? At the beginning, I suppose." His voice shifted into a different mode, that of the storyteller. Annie and I listened in wonder as he began to weave for us the tale of his life. "My true name is Vash, and my brother's true name is Knives. We were born on a ship, one of the very ones that crashed into this planet. Well, I say born but I'm not entirely sure that's an accurate word. Found might be better... you see, we're not human, as Nick has already guessed. We're plants." He paused to let us silently absorb this information. "We were found by the crew of that ship, but most of all we were found by Rem... Rem Saverem. She was like a mother to us; in many ways she was our mother, just not biologically. She taught me the value of peace. We spent a year there, and grew to the size of small boys. It was then that the ship found this planet." He paused as if to collect his thoughts.

"You see, the ship we were one was one of many. It was the ship of Project Seeds, humanity's last hope. Humans had, in their carelessness, destroyed their own planet. The ships were their desperate attempt to survive. We were going to move on and look for a planet that would be easier to live on, but..."

As he hesitated, his voice sounded painfully broken. It was then that my uncle broke his silence. "But then I happened."

"Knives..."

"No, brother, I think that your son deserves the entire truth. And if his woman wishes to hear it as well that is his business."

I blushed furiously. Why does everyone assume Annie and I are together? It's not like that at all! Not right now, anyway...

"I decided that humanity didn't deserve to live." Annie and I stared at my Uncle. I'd always known he didn't like people, but to that extent? "I felt... at the time... that humans were inferior beings unworthy of the second chance they wanted to take for themselves. I still feel that they are inferior," he added with a glare at my dad, "but your father... convinced me to try and see their value. But back then, I decided that the only recourse was to kill them all. I reprogrammed the ships to crash-land, all but mine and Vash's. I was going to let Rem live, but she sacrificed herself to undo my meddling and make sure that the ships would land safely enough for humanity to live."

Uncle one again fell silent, but his gaze never left me. I saw Annie hug herself tightly out of the corner of my eye, and I felt the urge to put my arms around her. But I fought it, thinking that this wasn't the time or place. Finally, my dad once again spoke.

"Naturally, I wasn't too happy with Knives. We fought. And in the end, I left. Ran away, really. And then, for the next hundred years or so, I was just a drifter. Until July, at least."

Annie once again couldn't seem to take it. "What? You did destroy July? How could you? Can this day get any worse? I find out my Uncle's a mass-murderer, and now my other Uncle isn't just any killer, he's Vash the Stampede, destroyer!"

"Silence, child! I will not tolerate such insolent talk!" Everyone assembled stared at Richard... no, at Knives. The look on his face was enough that I didn't doubt the accuracy of his name. "In all his life, in all his pathetic years, in all this time my brother has only killed one man. One! And I made him!"

Annie balled her fists. "I HATE YOU!" She ran from the room, crying as if the tears were endless. Aunt Milly silently left to follow her.

I swallowed, hard. "Uncle, I don't understand..."

"Don't worry son, we don't expect you to understand it all. Heck, I'm not entirely sure I do. But you can't look away from the past, not forever." Mother came and wrapped her arms around me from behind.

"So... what happened to July and Augusta?"

"I blew them up. Well, Knives made me do it, I guess."

"I forced him to use his power, against his will." My uncle chuckled ruefully. "I spent twenty years regenerating for my trouble."

There was an uncomfortable silence. My dad and mom cried a bit, and my uncle never stopped watching me. It was like he was trying to see into my very soul, see how I handled this information. Aunt Milly and Annie finally came back much later, and Annie sat right next to me, her leg touching mine, her head on my shoulder. As if I weren't confused enough! When it rains it pours!

My father, Vash the Stampede, continued his tale. He told us about how he drifted from town to town, saving people from themselves, being hunted for the bounty. When he got to meeting my mom, she and Aunt Milly joined in the storytelling too. After what seemed more like days than mere hours, they finally reached the end of the comic, tragic tale.

"... and then Meryl and I saw Mr. Vash out on the horizon carrying Mr. Knives! We nursed Mr. Knives back to health, and Mr. Vash finally proposed to Meryl!"

"And we've spent 17 years since then living in relative peace."

Annie and I had managed to absorb the significance of the tale over the hours, and were now quite calm. Annie jumped out of her seat (and off my shoulder) and jumped on Dad. "Peace? It seems like bandits attack the town at least 4 times a year! How can that be called peace?"

Dad smiled. "Well, I'm glad you're back to your old self. And if you think this is turmoil, you should have seen me in my drifter days! I was lucky if I went three weeks without being shot at!"

They continued to talk to each other, but I ceased listening. I needed to think, badly. I was half human, half plant. What did that even mean about my biology? What did it mean for me in a broader sense?

It means, Spiderfly, that you are better than almost all the beings on this pathetic planet. You have the strength you need to take your destiny in your own hands.

I won't say I was used to Uncle's voice in my head at that point, but it certainly no longer shocked me into submission. I decided to try something new this time...

Why do you call me spiderfly? I never have understood. Knives smiled, the terrifying grin of a predator. Apparently I was able to respond like I thought I'd be. Then my brain exploded.

A spider, crushed in a gloved hand.

A sad woman, who looked somewhat like Mother.

Two young boys, who I recognized as Dad and Uncle, with a butterfly flying past them.

As I regained my senses, I felt a feminine hand on my cheek. I opened my eyes to see Annie's concerned face. Then I heard dad's voice from somewhere to my left.

"Don't assault his brain like that! He isn't used to telepathic contact; you could've killed him!"

"Bah! He's stronger than that!"

Annie gazed down at me. I gazed back up at her. After a moment, she seemed to realize what she was doing and abruptly pulled her hand from my cheek. "Um... you ok?" I noticed her blushing ever so slightly.

"I think so." I sat up. "Sorry, Uncle, but that didn't really answer my question..."

"So you guys are telepaths too? What next?"

Mom spoke. "Next is it's bedtime. We've all had a long day, and hopefully we can sort this out better in the morning."

Annie asked if she could sleep over here, in the guest room. Aunt Milly decided to stay too, so Annie took the couch and Aunt Milly the guest room.

As I was brushing my teeth, I noticed Annie staring at me. I stopped, spit and rinsed, and walked over to her. "What?"

Slowly, tentatively, she poked my arm. I looked at her. "I just wanted to make sure you're still real..."

"I am. At least, I think I am. I don't feel any different..."

"Um... I still like you, ok?"

"Huh?"

"Even though you're not all human and stuff... I still like you."

"Um, thanks. I like you too."

She smiled softly and walked past me into the bathroom. Weird...

Later that night, I awoke. I heard something strange in the distance, something I didn't quite recognize. I got out of bed, and quickly dressed. My instincts screamed at me that something was wrong. I grabbed my pistol and went quietly out into the main room. I saw Annie on the couch, still sleeping. Mom was hiding by the window, peeking out while only revealing a small part of her face. She had a grim look on her face.

"Hey there Nick. Looks like those men from the bank followed you." She smiled at me. "I guess it's time to see how you live up to your parents' standards of gunmanship!"

A/N: Hee, yay angst! I promise I'll try and be more humorous in most chapters, but let's face it, even Meryl cried at Vash's story, and she wasn't related at the time!

Aine of Knockaine: As Knives would say, "They did not need my help, human."

Koronastu: Well, I could put more in each update but that would mean they were further apart. In my experience as a reader of webcomics, fanfiction, and other serialized materials, infrequent updates cause the reader (i.e. me) to get all worked up about the story, leading to disappointment when even more content is not forthcoming. So I'm trying to do smaller to medium updates more often, rather than bigger ones all at once. I do hope that as I get better at this I can put more in each chapter, but for now I hope you can be content with this!

As for Annie and Nick, I'm not saying:) Hm? Oh yes, of course I know where their relationship is going... /sweatdrops ...really...