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How was that last cliffhanger? I know, I know…but you knew I had to do it. --------------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER NINE: FRUITLESS DESIGNS (cont1) 'I'm glad Mr. Vash and Meryl made up,' Millie thought happily to herself. She sat alone in the backseat this afternoon, lost in her own thoughts as the other two carried on a conversation up front. 'I just wish we could get our mail. It's been so long since I've heard from my family. But Meryl said if we report to the Agency to have our mail and pay delivered, they'll know where we are and get mad at us for not looking for Mr. Vash. So I'll just have to be patient and hope everything's alright.' She stopped to listen to a snippet of what Vash was talking about. "…when the rescue ships from Earth get here…" 'Oh, those ships; I can't wait till they get here!' Millie thought, ignoring them again. 'So long as Mr. Knives doesn't mess things up, we'll all get to go to Earth and live a happy life! Oh, I wonder what Earth is like these days…mom said she heard Earth is all green and calm, and that it's only hot for a quarter of the year! What's it going to be like the rest of the time? If it's too cold, won't all the greenery die? It's confusing to think about! But the people there - I hope they're nicer than some of the people here. I hope that on Earth there are no guns and no shootings, and lots of pudding. And peaceful days. And there should be lots of birds, and even some soft, fluffy, little animals. And there's water all over the place, and I think that there are animals that live in it, too.' Millie frowned. 'But what about Mr. Vash? If the people here are so afraid of him, for being a plant, what will the Earth people think? Are they going to bully him for being different? Or maybe on Earth there are more plants, and Mr. Vash and his brother and Miss Vanessa can all find some plant friends. Maybe Mr. Knives will be happy once he's around lots more plants. But…um…Mr. Knives probably isn't coming I guess…No, I'm pretty sure he wants to tear up the ships, so that'd be a bad idea. It's too bad Mr. Knives has such a bad attitude, or everyone would be better off. And we wouldn't have to be out in the desert all the time. 'Gosh, Mr. Vash and Meryl have been real serious all morning…I wonder what they were talking about last night. It's too bad we can't joke around a little like we usually do, but maybe we need to act serious to do our job better. We've visited lots of places and talked to lots of people, but there's still a lot we could do. Maybe we're getting lazy. I hope we find Miss Vanessa and Mr. Knives soon. The way Mr. Vash talks, I think Mr. Knives may do something terrible to her. I sure hope not. She was nice. 'Yep, Mr. Vash seems awfully worried about her. She and him probably have a lot in common, because they're both all scarred up and have trouble with people because they're different. Those men that came after Miss Vanessa, after they all left - those men were really mean! They said some real nasty things to me and Meryl when we told them she was gone! I don't think Miss Vanessa did the things they talked about either. But then, I know that most of the things they accuse Mr. Vash of aren't true either. And what is true usually wasn't their fault. 'Poor Mr. Vash. Poor Miss Vanessa.' Far away, in a callous bed of sand, Vanessa gritted her teeth and prepared herself to be hurt. 'Telling a madman that he's 'not man enough' to do anything is an all around bad idea,' she decided distractedly. '…But really, maybe it's better to get it over with now, instead of fearing it all the time…I knew he'd do it eventually, so why not now…I knew this would happen, but still…' Vanessa thought bitterly. 'I don't want…Not now…' Pinning Vanessa to the ground firmly, Knives' face hovered an inch above hers. "I'd love to show you how wrong you are," he whispered softly. "But I agreed to wait. I'll keep my word, and you'll keep yours," he demanded seriously, slowly letting her go and stepping to her side. He held his hand out to her, to help her up, but she was in such a state of confusion that she didn't accept it. "You don't remember? Well, if you've so easily forgotten, I'll remind you. We agreed that you'd bear my children when they're gone." "Who? The humans?" She regained the ability to think clearly, mind spinning with a relief that melted nauseatingly into suspicion. "Define 'gone'!" "When no humans live on this planet," he answered. Vanessa struggled to her feet, panting to regain her breath. This was the first morsel of information Knives had given her to hint at his true plans, but the vagueness of it disappointed her fully. "That's a poor definition, Knives! I agreed, but I meant 'gone' as in having left peacefully on the ships without being slaughtered. It's not fair for you to fill in whatever you meant instead!" Knives sighed, reaching for her hand. "My interpretations are as valid as your own. It's not my responsibility to explain details. You agreed. Perhaps you should've thought about classifying terms BEFORE you agreed. Now, are you hurt? I don't want to injure you," he asked, looking her up and down judiciously. "You hypocrite! You've kept me in fear and submission, lowly and uninformed…At this point, I think I'd rather be beaten down physically than be psychologically ruined like this! Damn it, this is torture!" She ripped her hand from his, and tugged the hem of her skirt above her knee. She stuck out her leg awkwardly, displaying a multitude of scars on naked flesh. "See that?" Letting the cloth fall again, she quickly tugged her cloak from her shoulder and pulled the edge of her dress down a bit. More scars shown here, especially in the tender valley created by her collarbone, shoulder, and rib cage. "See this?" Noting the tiny grimace finally surfacing on his face, she pointed a finger at one particularly nasty burn scar above her right breast. "And this one? I thought THESE were torture. I thought my life was devastated when I was getting these. But they're NOTHING! Not a thing. I'd take a million more, to be rid of you. But then, if all you care about is sexual reproduction for species' sake, who cares how miserable I am, huh? Logic alone should tell you that one should be kind to one's mate, and bond with them; not treat them like crap!" She stood, body tensed and sweating profusely, and breathed noisily through gritted teeth while she glared at him. His eyebrows furrowed and created a soft, round dent above the bridge of his nose. "I've given you what you need…made no moves to harm you…Despite the wild rage you created in me, I kept myself from acting out against you! You pushed me to humiliation and psychosis such that my sheer self-control alone saved your life! I shouldn't have been so kind as I have, yet you growl like this?" Vanessa felt an immediate desire to slap him across his pristine face, but she fell to her knees in exhaustion. A nervous, slightly neurotic chuckle escaped her lips. "Knives, Knives, Knives…slicing my heart with your analytical knives, Knives, Knives…" Knives held her hair from her face as he studied her face intently. "Drink some water, Vanessa. I think you have heat stroke." He uncapped a canteen and held it gingerly to her mouth, carefully tipping her head back with his free hand as he eased water past her lips. "You've got to keep calm, for your health…" Wheezing still when he drew the canteen away, Vanessa stared up at him with groggy eyes and a sad smile. "If only someone had taught you compassion and romance…we could've fallen in love…and then, everything would be perfect and peaceful, wouldn't it?" "Romance? Like in those books?" Knives' eyes were like perfectly sterile pools of water, the pupils drawn tightly shut, to pinpoints, in the glaring sun. "The men in those stories treat the women terribly, as less than equals, and leave them helpless. And the women are flighty types that swoon and faint when pressured. That's rubbish, Vanessa. You know I want to consider you my equal…I would treat you a thousand times better than in those ridiculous novels!" He dropped to sit beside her, and wrapped his arms gently around her. "I'm perfectly willing to forgive you for the past. If you'd just come to your senses, you'd know that there's still a full possibility for genuine caring and understanding and…love…between us…" Vanessa let her head fall back. It hit his shoulder and rolled to the side a bit. At this angle, when she squinted, she could see his face. "And if you'd let it happen, things would be so much better," he continued, his voice a low, comforting tone. "Things WOULD be perfect and peaceful then. If…" His voice trailed off as he dropped his chin to his collar. Without unnatural assistance, Knives began to cry. |
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