Evenings in Sangest City had become unconventionally quiet and lonely since the report of an attack on the neighboring town of Sooilay. Sooilay might have been over two isles away from the city, but it was rumored that Vash the Stampede had been the one who had attacked it, and the citizens of Sangest City were wary. The foreboding city waited in fearful anticipation for the day that Vash the Stampede would attack their city, a day they were certain was imminent.

The suns were passing the last of their comforting rays over Sangest City as they made their descent below the horizon. The last signs of life passed away into hiding, normally busy streets were deserted, waiting for the moment when Vash the Stampede would show up and tear it apart.

Yet even in the inert stillness of this large town something—or rather, someone—made her way down the darkened road. Her auburn hair whipped around behind her as she moved, her eyes darting to signs that had been much easier to spot in the daylight hours when she had plotted her path. She took one last turn and there it was, her destination, looming in the distance.

The Plant.

Keeping to her old pace, she headed for the entrance. As she neared it, she noticed that the sliding doors that lead inside were on the floor, smashed in from the outside. She quietly breathed out a grim sigh of relief; things were going as planned so far…

As she entered, she noticed two people, most likely plant engineers, lying unconscious on the floor. She knelt beside down beside one, feeling his neck for a pulse. He was still alive, but he had a horrible wound on his head, trickling blood down the side of his face.

He may have a concussion, she thought. Silently chiding herself for wasting time, she got up, straightened out her skirt, and made her way deeper inside.

It wasn't hard for her to find her way; all she needed to do was follow the path of broken doors and unconscious engineers. Finally, she came to a much larger door, which had apparently been pried open before she arrived. The sign above the door informed her that this was the room she was looking for. She frowned. Whoever had come through here before her hadn't been thinking about how she would get through, apparently; only a sliver of dim emergency lighting could fit between the doors. Definitely not big enough for her to fit through. She looked around the corridor and spotted a control pad beside the door. She walked over and stood in front of the panel, glaring at it. This wasn't good. She needed to figure out the password, but how? In a burst of frustration, she smashed her hand against the control pad. To her surprise, it beeped and the doors slid open. She paused a moment, reveling in her dumb luck, and then headed inside.

A large man stood within, his body tense as she entered the room. He was squinting through the dimly–lit room, trying to discern who she was. As she reached the center of the room, she heard him sigh.

"Oh, Ms. Trevisick," came his booming voice, trying desperately to be hushed. "Good to see you've made it."

At first she didn't respond; she was too busy looking around the large room she had just entered. It was circular, with a high ceiling and pipes that lined the walls and twisted up and around them like a labyrinth. A round raised platform stood near the back of the room.

"Well, you made it pretty hard to get lost, Bruce, with the nice path you made," she finally responded, throwing a sideways glance at the large man.

Another voice scoffed. "Yeah, well, he really isn't one for subtlety, now is he?"

She jumped in shock, turning around to see who had spoken. A young man was sitting on one of the pipes that paralleled the floor, his platinum blond hair falling in front of his cool green eyes.

She placed a hand on her hip. "Glad to see you've decided to show up this time, John."

The young man smirked. "Well, Tara, unlike the rest of you people, I happen to have a life outside of our little cult here."

Tara frowned at him, while Bruce grumbled, "The Commander doesn't appreciate it when you don't come, Randfield..."

Randfield stood up, readjusted the sword hanging from his belt, and walked lazily over to the two others. "Well, luckily we're all indispensable then, eh?"

Footsteps sounded faintly down the long hallway outside the double doors, and the three tensed, listening as the steps grew closer. Instinctively, Tara grabbed the small charm hanging from the bracelet on her wrist, letting it lie loosely in her hand.

Two figures appeared in the doorway. Without a word, they began to make their way across the room, one walking in front of the other. Although their faces were obscured by the dim lighting, it was possible to tell that the person walking in front was a tall man, of about middle age, and behind him walked a girl of about mid-teens, with midnight black hair. The long, black gown she was wearing billowed behind her as she walked. Her equally dark eyes scanned the room as the pair made their way across the room. Around her neck hung a silver chain, which had been tucked inside the top of her dress. Tara gripped the charm in her hand remotely tighter, as she realized that the figures were heading her way. A quick movement caught in the corner of her eye as Randfield unsheathed his sword and set it in front of the man's neck. The tall figure stopped just as the sword touched his skin. He chuckled calmly. "It's alright, John, you know me."

Tara sighed in relief, relaxing the grip on her charm, noticing that Bruce did the same. Yet Randfield stayed where he was, his sword not moving from its place at the man's neck.

"Yeah, well you could've said something sooner," he muttered, a touch of irritation in his voice.

The man chuckled again. "You may lower your sword now," he said lightly.
"And what if I don't feel like it?" Randfield returned smoothly.

Tara scowled at the tactless youth. A few more moments passed before he finally obey, replacing his sword back in its sheath.

"Now then," the man said, turning his attention to Tara. "Are we all present?"

"Not quite, my Commander," she replied. "We're still waiting for Jerry to join us."

Randfield scoffed. "Damn old man, so like him to be late. What the hell is taking him so long?"

Tara glared at him. "I didn't see you volunteering for that task."

"That's because he wasn't there," Bruce reminded her in a quiet voice that carried across the room as if he had shouted it.

Randfield frowned. "Still, I don't think you should've let him do that. I mean, he's too… emotionally involved."

Tara folded her arms across her chest. "Oh and you're not?"

"Nope," Randfield said, flashing an exuberant grin. "I'm just here for the hell of it."

"And why am I not surprised by that?"

Everyone turned to see Bransta walking toward them, his cold gray eyes fixed on Randfield. His shoulder was wrapped in a white bandage, which was stained with blood. The younger man looked ready to retort, but the Commander cut him off.

"Everything went as planned, I presume?" he asked of Bransta.

The graying man nodded. "It defiantly did what it was supposed to do this time, Commander." The Commander smiled in approval.

"But, then what happened back at Kasted City?" Bruce said. "No one there reacted to it."

Tara shrugged. "Maybe something interfered with it."

"We will worry about that later," the Commander interrupted. He turned to the girl standing silently beside him. "Are you ready to begin?" The girl looked at him, her eyes gleaming with malicious excitement.

"Well?" Randfield snipped, crossing his arms across his chest. "Aren't you going to introduce us to your little friend?"

"My name is Avara," the girl said, her dark eyes locking onto Randfield. The young man tensed visibly under her cold gaze; she smiled in cruel satisfaction.

"So, you have the Blood too?" asked Bransta.

Avara slowly moved her eyes from the uneasy Randfield to Bransta. He kept the same stoic expression as she nodded.

"Of course," the Commander said. "I would not let any of the unclean know our secret."

"They'll know it soon enough," the young woman said sinisterly, her gazed still locked on Bransta. With the same uncaring attitude, she turned back to the Commander.

"Shall I begin now?" she asked in a quiet, uncaring tone. He nodded.

Avara turned away from everyone toward the raised platform in the center of the room. Slowly, she raised her hand to the chain around her neck and took it out of her dress. She ran her hand down the chain, finally grasping the charm on the end of it. She clenched her fist around the charm, the expression on her face only pulling together slightly before becoming calm again. A faint, high-pitched sound resonated through the wide room. After a few moments of relative silence, the room was broken by a loud blaring alarm.

"Warning!" the automated voice broke in between alarm blasts. "Plant levels severely low! Evacuate the premises immediately!"

"That's it?" Randfield shouted incredulously over the loudspeaker voice. He lowered his voice and said, "I could've done that."

Bransta scoffed. "Yeah, right."

The Commander turned to Tara. "I believe we are ready to leave now," he said calmly. She nodded.

As the Commander spoke, Bransta glanced over at Avara. She hadn't moved from her spot near the center of the room. She was holding her hand up in front of her, her palm facing her. A small cut on her palm was slowly oozing blood down her wrist, and onto her forearm. A strange look of awe glistened in her eyes.

The blood red light consumed his senses again as the sirens faded away.

Silence. How he loved it when it was silent inside his head. No nagging thoughts, no obnoxious voices, nothing. It was the kind of silence that rang in his ears: his favorite. He savored it, for he knew it would not last long.

"We were told this place was full of filth... so we cleaned it."

He grunted, clasping a hand over his chest. The pain that strange man had afflicted on him still lingered in his chest, a nagging, uncomfortable feeling of which he could not rid himself. The voice reverberated in his mind and began to fade, and another entered his restless mind.

You are foolish, you know that?

He snarled: that voice. The voice he hated the most because it was not just some reoccurring memory.

It was himself.

Yes, he reluctantly responded. You've told me that plenty of times before.

And yet, you never listen...

And why the hell would I listen to you?

Because. I know how to help you.

He scoffed. I don't need your damn help.

Sure seems that way to me.

What the hell do you know?

Plenty. I know everything about you... or rather, us. And yet I still don't understand what you're trying to prove.

I'm not trying to prove anything. I'm ridding the universe of a disgusting parasite, that's all.

You think you can actually do that? Ha! You clearly underestimate them.

What are you talking about? We are superior to them! I—

How?

...How what?

How are we superior?

Don't give me that bullshit! You know everything; you could at least know that.

You just need to give them a chance...

I gave them that chance a long time ago, and they blew it.

No, he blew it. One treats you badly and you condemn them all!

You know there's more to it than that. You know that they all deserve to die!

Then why did you listen to me?

What? I thought you just said I don't listen to you.

A torrent of images flashed in his mind. It stopped suddenly, and he found himself staring into a face he had tried hard to forget. Those blue eyes, so full of grief, and confusion...

But no fear... why didn't she fear me?

She thought you were Vash, and Vash she trusted.

I had just destroyed the city around her! How could she still think to trust me?

That's the thing. She didn't know if she could trust you anymore. Luckily for her, she could.

Shut the hell up.

Why? It's the truth, even if you want to deny it. You saved her.

Finally he was able to contain his frustration and not respond to the annoyance in his head. He knew what the voice said was true, no matter how much he denied it. An uncomfortable feeling touched lightly in him, but only for a moment before he shoved it away. Silence reigned again. Aching thoughts tore at his mind, and he suddenly found himself posing questions of the one who he wanted to forget.

Why are you still here?

Why shouldn't I be? We are the same, after all.

I destroyed you.

No. You just push me away, submerging me in your sea of hate.

You are worthless. A thing of the past. You're too weak to have control over me, and you know that.

At first there was no reply. He began to wonder if maybe it was over, that he had finally given up, when the voice answer him.

You're right, I am.

He smiled. He had finally conquered it.

But that's not why I'm here.

His smile quickly inverted to a bemused frown. Another pause lingered in his mind.

I'm here to save us from you unforgivable past.

His frowned remained as the voice finally faded from his mind. He found himself again listening to the silence, and did not break it as it caved in around him.

Well I'm sure you're all reeling in your seats; I mean, hey! I updated! Woo! Only took me... oh, eight months. Yeah. Bad me. Dunno when my next update of this story will be, either. I'll have more info in my bio tomorrow (since it's late here and I wanna sleep... yaay sleep...). I'm sorry thischapter wasn't more exciting, tho there were afew things that were interesting (well, atleast for me... I hope you all could tell who the psycho personin the second halfwas... and what it was that he said that was interesting... teehee)Soo until then, make sure you review-- and that means all of you! Points at those who I know have read this story and haven't reviewed!) I heart you all!