CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: Scattered Rain

PART TWO…World Peace…

The Agency's plans worked out, with Tessla's help. World order was reestablished, and Agent Peace's work was broadcast more frequently than before. There were more legitimate requests coming in, and the public's past mistrust and doubt of Agent Peace's abilities seemed to be put to rest for the time being.

With Agency backing, Vash became a silent partner in a new string of charities and rescue groups, under the umbrella organization name 'Love & Peace,' to assist with refugee traffic, education, medical assistance and disaster sites. He was thoroughly busy every day, and between advising his daughter and planning for his group, he had little time to think. Plans were underway to transfer some of Love & Peace's leadership to other professionals, to allow Vash more leisure time. He really wanted more time to himself, and time to play with the hordes of pink-cheeked children running outside of his Kyoto apartment. Heck, he'd only even been to his new home a few days in the past four months!

Tessla was just as busy as her father, working heart and soul on the Agency's projects. She worked diligently, with plenty of sarcasm and eye-rolling. But though her attitude was crass and often immature, she proved an intense agent; remarkably calm about her work.

Vanessa visited the Agency often as time went on, especially in the past two months.

She walked with an acute limp, and still had deep grooves in her tissue around the reattachment areas of her legs. The braces had been unscrewed from her bones, but she still wore loose skirts about her waist to allow the wounds fresh air.

When she came to the Agency, she sat in on meetings between Tessla, Vash, and the main three Advisors, but rarely said a thing. After those meetings, she'd stay and speak with Tessla alone. Both women requested that Vash leave as well, and he obeyed, never learning why.

Vash often wondered about these conversations that the estranged mother and daughter held once a week, but knew not to ask. It was none of his business, he was sure.

As for himself, he rarely spoke with Vanessa, except to ask how well she was recovering. She'd been very vague about it lately, and talked about entertainment and weather instead. He tried to be ready with a new joke each time he saw her, and was usually able to get a chuckle from her.

Vash wondered when Tessla would come home with him. But he just couldn't ask Vanessa when she thought she'd be able to come back to work for good.

XXXX

"It's finished," Tessla finally confessed, a devilish little smile creeping upon her lips. "Would you like to see it?"

Vanessa felt her heart fall. She breathed deeply to calm herself. "No. Not yet – I don't want to see it until it's time."

"I think next Tuesday would be ideal. You'll need me there for the initial steps, and I really don't have much time before then."

She nodded. "And you haven't told your father a thing?"

Tessla looked hurt. "How many times do I have to tell you?" She huffed, leaning back and crossing her arms. "No, I didn't tell him anything; he doesn't know. I don't want him stepping in at the last minute, either, so I'm not telling him until it's irreversible."

"Good," Vanessa replied, nodding solemnly. "He most definitely would want to stop me."

"God knows why."

Sighing, Vanessa didn't respond. She had become accustomed to Tessla's snide comments. It was the girl's way of dealing with her abandonment issues. Sometimes it was better to ignore them than to argue with them. "So kind of you to feel that way," she murmured, faking a smile.

"No problem. You know, I don't hate you anymore. If I still hated you, I wouldn't have made it for you. I wouldn't be helping you now."

Vanessa smiled and relaxed a bit. It was good to hear. "I thought so."

"But don't think you can, like, hug me or anything," Tessla added, sticking out her tongue in disgust. "You're still not my mother."

"I know."

They sat in silence for a moment, thinking.

"Thank you," Vanessa finally admitted.

"You don't have to thank me," Tessla countered, laughing softly. "This is for the best. Both for you and for me; and for daddy. I admit I don't hate you anymore, but I also certainly don't like you enough to do you any big favors!"

Vanessa laughed. This dark sense of humor was at least genuine. "Thank you nonetheless, ok?"

Tessla nodded. "No problem."

Inwardly, Tessla's mind was buzzing. As she watched Vanessa hobble out of her office, she paused. Once she was alone, she leapt from her seat and did a little 'happy dance.' Then she sat back down and rested her head upon her arms on her desk.

Finally, she'd make things right for everyone. Whether Vanessa ended up liking what her device would do with her or not, Tessla knew would like the result. Her plan for the device's irreversibility after reaching stage 4 was impeccable. She knew that no one - neither her father nor Vanessa - could stop it after stage 4.

A sharp smirk spread across her face as she pulled up her mini screen and scanned the day's casework. She wondered what life would be like, once her plan was complete.

XXXX

Across the universe, Knives felt a chill. The fine blonde hairs at the back of his neck stood at attention. Had his brother shot off his angel arm again? He had no way of knowing.

This was a feeling he hadn't felt for many decades. More than once, he'd surmised that Vash was dead, but knowing his brother's pacifistic attitude, this was probably not the case. After all, even if the humans succeeded in killing Vash, Knives knew that Vash's angel arm would involuntarily manifest to attempt to protect him. And whenever Vash used his angel arm, Knives felt confident that he would get a hint, as he did before. Therefore, when he could not sense his brother's gate at all, it must mean Vash was safe, not needing to protect himself with the arm.

But now – was Vash fighting a war? Why was he activating his arm so frequently? They were very frequent for a month, and then tapered off into less and less common events. And then, as abruptly as it began, the chills stopped. This chill was the first in many months.

And now – was Vash in battle once more? He could scarce imagine what horrors his twin must be enduring at the hands of the humans. Or rather, he COULD imagine it.

Knives had a vivid imagination.

But the more chills he felt, the less anger he could muster at them. He began to accept it, that Vash's conflicts were his own fault, for placing himself in that situation.

His anger was less than it was a hundred years ago, but it was still present. Knives still plotted to end mankind's reign of terror over plants, no matter how few or many plants they were terrorizing presently.

Knives scratched the goose bumps at the nape of his neck and stared into the clouds above, squinting, as he rode across the desert. "Vash, you bumbling idiot," he yelled playfully.