CHAPTER TWO: PLANT CHILDREN (continued2)

About a century ago – she didn't know for certain - she had been born in a plant, but not removed until a year had passed, and her body had grown deformed. Her ears elongated, and her teeth were pointed, she explained. When the people of the town eventually extracted her, they assumed her an animal and not a rational creature. They kept her, weak as she was, in a hospital-like area of the plant building. She recalled the scientists examining and speaking over her as she lay there, studying their speech and mannerisms. She taught herself to read the medical manuals they left in her room, and learned all she could about the intricate workings of the body. Sometimes there were picture books of amazing things she could hardly imagine. But when the doctors spoke of a dissection, she had escaped and wandered until she could find a surgeon to cure her deformities. He had done some work, but then called forth a posse to drag her away. She said she was often discovered to be abnormal and attacked, although she did not elaborate on how many times and how severely this occurred.

"I've mainly kept in seclusion, but the loneliness gets to me and I go to towns here and there, taking whatever work I can get, until someone sees me for what I am," she explained enigmatically, tracing the grain of the wooden table with her fingertip. "One second they're be nice to me; the next they hate me. The terror in their eyes…they said I'm a demon…"

Vash's smile disappeared. "You hate them back?" he asked.

Vanessa shook her head. "I try to, but I can't…I've delivered their babies before, and I've seen the goodness they can emulate. And I understand why they would be so afraid of me. I keep forgiving them."

"Oh, good," Vash said, relieved. "You should tell Knives, maybe he'll listen to you."

Vanessa looked confused. "What? Tell him what, he won't take my word for it, he hates me."

Vash grinned. "No! He only hated you because he thought you were human! Now he knows, and you're very important to him. He even has things in mind for …" Vash trailed off. He didn't want to go into that. "I have to show him not to hate them, or I can't die honorably. I think your word will be more effective than mine."

"How funny this is, that the humans hate me for being this, and he hated me for being human. Damned if you do, damned if you don't…" Vanessa thought. "Vash, I've lived too long. My life so far has been so meaningless and awful…"

"Yeah, mine too. I mean, if I let it bring me down, I wouldn't be able to get out of bed in the morning," he agreed. "But please, help me? Me and Knives are dangerous when we use our angel arms, but you've been able to help mankind without harming, right?"

"Well…there's the nursing I've done…but…I've never…I can't make those 'angel arm' things, I don't think…" she replied, only half answering his question.

Vash asked her to lift her hair in the back, and he inspected her roots. Then he asked if she bleached her hair or not.

She looked at him oddly, "Why on earth do you ask? Of course not!"

Vash smiled happily. "That means you've haven't used up your power, I mean your energy! See mine?" he asked, pointing at his own darker hairs at the base of his neck and behind his ears. "This is the 'hair-darkening effect.' Like the plants, when we use up our energy, our hair darkens, and when it's all black we die."

"We can die?" Vanessa asked, amazed and relieved.

"Yeah, and Knives and me, were already showing the signs," Vash replied. "Our energy was used up each time we preformed a huge demolition. But maybe you can teach us to use up the rest to help the people, to make up for our sins."

Vanessa was astonished. "I don't know how to do all that…I really don't know anything about this stuff, I don't even know…"

They heard Knives begin to yell again, and rolled their eyes.

Knives looked up from his book to see Vash and Vanessa. Vanessa's hair was down, and her ears were indeed like the plant angels'. He smiled deviously. "Sit! Sit!" he offered her, motioning to the stool. "My dear Vanessa!"

They sat and offered him his meal. As he ate, Knives continued to grin at her, making her deeply uncomfortable. "So," he asked clinically, "what other deformities were present?"

Vash grumbled that it was none of his damn business, but Vanessa replied regardless.

She cleared her throat. "Pointed teeth, and a lump on my back. And my eyes couldn't focus in sunlight."

"Were they congenital or acquired?"

Vanessa glanced around the room uneasily. "I was normal. They removed me from the bulb after a year, and in that time I developed the…"

"Okay, and," he interrupted, taking another forkful, "The lump was in mimic of the angels' structures? What did it consist of? What did it look like? Did you ever connect to the core?"

Vanessa frowned. "You're nosy."

"I have every right to be nosy," he replied. "All these years Vash has been wasting away amongst the parasites, I've devoted my energies to the study of plant theory. So you see my interests."

She sighed. "The lump was just a lump, of skin and fat and bone and muscle, and I think it tried to form some other organs, but it was just a useless thing. And I was never like the angel, I was just deformed." She crossed her arms.

Knives cleared his throat and moved on to the subject that interested him most. "Well, you know, the humans have forgotten how to generate new plants," he began to explain to her. "And we don't know how to either. Even if we discovered the process for plant fabrication, we are too few in number to accomplish any real breakthrough. So…when the plants die from the exploitation, all that would remain would be ourselves and the humans, and they would perish from their own ignorance soon after. So, Vanessa, how do we solve this dilemma?" he asked.

"We have no right to kill the human race," Vash interjected. "We have to help them survive."

"And what of us?" Knives asked. "We are scarce creatures. We are endangered. Our race is exceptional and we have such a fragile chance to survive. We as a species are doomed, am I wrong?"

Vash's face reddened. "Knives don't get like that – don't say it…" he whispered anxiously.

Knives smiled and interrupted again. "Vanessa, we are the only existing plant children. God reportedly told Adam and Eve to 'go forth and multiply;' and as the Adam and Eve of this planet, so should we."

Vanessa felt herself blush. "You've got a filthy mind, don't you? What made you think I would go along with something so offensive?"

Knives began to speak again and Vanessa stopped him. "Don't say another word, you pervert."

"You can't just use everyone like this," Vash shouted, "And treat us like crap when you're done! We've got to stick together, but we need to respect each other, too!"

Knives lifted his hand to caress Vanessa's ear. "Don't you want to serve your race?"

Vanessa slapped away his hand and left, infuriated.

Knives frowned at her solemnly, addressing Vash, "Stubborn and foolish as you, dear brother."

Vash held back his frustration, and followed Vanessa out. Deeply embarrassed by his brother's comments, Vash apologized to Vanessa extensively

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