A/N: Longest chapter yet. Hope everyone likes it!
Conspiracy
Fortunately for Vash, he'd been able to hide from his sadistic sibling's vengeance. He'd emerged from under the kitchen sink around dinner time and, much to his relief, had found that Knives had returned to his usual level of insanity. Dinner was ready and on the table, steaming hot and smelling delicious. However, regardless of the food, the blond gunman had come out of hiding at a bad time.
Erica and Knives were eating at the table, she having made dinner during the siblings' 'game' of tag. Now the two were talking in the kitchen even as Vash slunk out of the cabinet, having a heated discussion about the responsibility of caring for the three. Knives, the naive plant he was, had ordered the female to cook for them during her stay. However, the girl had adamantly refused, leading to an exchange of glares and words.
"Drink water, eat food, and let the woman do all the work, just like a man" Erica argued angrily through mouthfuls even as Vash sat quietly in his chair.
Knives' head, previously busy digging into the filth's food eagerly, snapped back and he nearly choked on his food. He fixed his stare on Erica, shaking with anger at her comparing him to a human.
"I am not a man" he growled, realizing too late his mistake.
Erica smirked evilly, leaning forward toward the plant. Knives had walked right into her trap.
"So you're not a man" Erica asked, her eyes full of mischief. "Then are you a coward?"
"That's not what I meant and you know that!" Knives exclaimed, angry that she'd mocked him once more.
As Erica and Knives continued to fight, Vash watched them with a hidden smile. He was reminded of an old married couple as the two squabbled, the girl shaking her fork at his sibling while Knives growled in frustration. Sadly, Erica appeared to be winning while the other plant was now grumbling quite sullenly into what remained of his food.
However, Vash was bothered by something as he watched the two bicker, a small frown appearing on his face. There had been no improvement in their relationship since he'd arrived, and the blond gunman knew he hadn't helped. So far he'd only been able to bungle any further plans by interrupting the two, especially when they had the interesting outcome for their wrestling argument in the hallway. He had to figure out how to he get them alone together, at least for a while.
Then a sudden idea struck him, one which couldn't fail if carried out correctly.
A look so devilish crossed Vash's face that Erica and Knives stopped their arguing to stare at him for a moment. Noticing their shocked expressions, Vash smiled goofily. He'd have to be careful about how he acted or they may grow suspicious, ruining his fool-proof plan. Also, he would need some help...
A few days later found the three sitting among the trees in the arboretum, all enjoying the beauty. Suddenly, Vash brought up the subject of the ship's size and the possibility of Erica getting lost in the vast interior. Vash mentioned that maybe Knives could take her for a tour, seeing as how the girl had only yesterday become lost while looking for the storage of food.
Erica for her part thought the idea was great, but Knives was less than thrilled. Actually, he absolutely refused the idea, asking Vash if he had any intelligent thought left in his head. The blond pretended not to notice the question and focused on persuading his brother to take her.
"Come on Knives, what's the harm in you showing her the ship?" Vash coaxed, poking his brother affectionately. "I mean, we wouldn't want anyone to get lost, especially Erica. And the angels would be very upset if we couldn't find her" he added, knowing his brother dreaded a confrontation with their sisters.
For a moment Knives merely glared at his brother, slightly vexed at the truth Vash spoke. Finally he inwardly sighed, condemning himself to the demeaning and annoying job.
"Fine" Knives finally muttered, rising to his feet. "But I have some ground rules for the spider" he added, turning toward Erica. "If you wish to know what the rooms are for, read the labels next to the doors. If you fall behind, you are on your own. And finally, no questions!"
"Fine" Erica responded agreeably, expecting this type of childish behavior from Knives. She was just happy to now avoid becoming lost again, eagerly standing up and following the plant out of the room.
Erica followed Knives silently through the corridors, pausing only long enough to read some of the door labels. After several hours of touring they finally reached the farthest depths of the ship, which suited Erica just fine since her feet were now paining her. Passing by a door which looked like the others, Erica suddenly forgot her discomfort as she noticed a noise coming from behind the door.
"Um, Knives? I think I hear some crackling in this room." Erica said hesitantly as she pointed toward the room, not sure if her hearing was correct.
"I said no questions!" Knives hissed, perturbed at the unnecessary delay. He turned to look back and saw with annoyance that she had stopped in front of one of the doors.
"That wasn't a question, it was a statement!" she yelled back, crossing her arms over her chest in a perfect parody of Knives. "And there's still something wrong in that room."
Knives, if merely to humor the abomination's foolishness, listened for a moment and suddenly heard what she'd been talking about. There was a crackling noise, like an electrical wire had snapped. If so, the wire may send sparks onto any nearby equipment if not taken care of, possibly causing a fire.
"Step back, spider" Knives ordered, shoving her aside and pressing the entry code numbers into the side panel. The door flung open and he entered, Erica following close behind. Taking a quick look around, he recognized the room as a storage area. Knives quickly searched for the source of the noise, not wanting the delay to last very long.
Entering the room, Erica looked around curiously at all the large boxes, wondering what they held. She walked over to one of them, looking for any markings which would tell her what was inside. Finding nothing to tell her, she cautiously opened the lid and was surprised to see food covered by a blanket.
Meanwhile, Knives had found what he'd expected behind one of the storage boxes. One of the electrical panels had opened and a wire was flopping noisily on the ground. He was about to disconnect the power when the lights suddenly flickered and faded out, his head snapping up in irritation. The electrical coil stopped moving and he could see the other wires in the panel darken. The entire room had lost power.
What did she touch! Knives thought angrily. What did that idiot do! Erica grumbled to herself as she shut the lid.
With the lights now extinguished, both turned to each other angrily while the near total darkness at first prevented the two from finding each other. However, their eyes quickly became accustomed to the dim light, with assistance from the life support system signals dotting the room's ceiling. The accusing faces showed plainly that they were both blaming the other for having caused the sudden loss of power.
In reality the situation was Vash's doing. Bringing the angels into the conspiracy, he had managed, with their help, to shut down power to that portion of the ship. Only life support and the monitoring system were still connected, meaning the ventilation system was still working and he could still watch them from the control room. However, the doors were locked shut, and Vash knew even Knives couldn't force them open.
Seeing each other's faces as their eyes adapted completely, or as best as they could to the light, both realized the other was as shocked as they were.
"Knives, what just happened?" Erica asked quietly, taking a step toward him as she looked at the shadows surrounding them.
"All electricity has somehow been cut off" Knives stated calmly, walking over to the entrance. "With the power gone, the doors won't respond to my code" he commented, not noticing the horror stricken look on Erica's face. "They have been specifically programmed to lock when the power shuts down. The idea was to trap intruders who had boarded the ship, not us."
"Can't you use your higher plant intelligence to figure something out?" Erica said more sarcastically then she meant to. She was beginning to feel panic with being trapped in the darkened room with the only exit sealed.
"Listen, spider" Knives growled, turning his back on her. "There is nothing we can do from inside this room. We can only wait until the power comes back or Vash finds us. Now be quiet" he commanded as he walked to a corner of the room and sat on top of a box.
Erica pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation as she walked to another box and seated herself on the container. She turned her back away from the sullen plant, huffing to herself about his uncaring attitude.
Vash, watching them by way of the cameras, was dismayed that his plan wasn't working. The two were now sitting as far away from each other as possible, and both apparently refused to discuss their differences. He would have to resort to plan B to encourage their 'bonding'. He began to adjust the climate control, causing the air temperature to steadily drop.
"Stupid plant boy" Erica muttered, bringing her knees against her chest. "All that ego and not one lick of brains. Even humans aren't as egotistic as he is."
Unfortunately, she'd spoken too loud and Knives was able to hear her.
"Don't insult me, spider!" he yelled from the other side of the room. "Both human genders are alike, feeding off each other and my sisters. Humans are nothing more than weeds, multiplying without care."
"But I'm not human anymore either" she said quietly, her tone and words snapping Knives out of his anger. "I don't know what I am, and I'll probably never find out."
"I doubt that, spider" Knives said slowly, taken off guard by her sudden sadness. Even he had to grudgingly admit she was now an angel, whether he liked the idea or not. "Your life-span has been lengthened quite a bit. Sooner or later the truth will be discovered" he stated, though he silently hoped it would be sooner rather than later. "I myself am one hundred and fifty years old."
"You're joking!" Erica exclaimed, her head snapping up and turning to Knives. "No one can live that long!"
Suddenly Erica shivered, rubbing her arms. She wondered why the air was becoming so cold all of a sudden.
Knives noticed the spider's sudden change in comfort and saw her breath when she breathed. He stood up and looked around quickly, walking over to one of the walls. The moisture along the walls was freezing, becoming icicles before his eyes. The temperature was dropping steadily, and there was no way they could stop it. Erica, meanwhile, remembering the blanket she had noticed in the container, quickly jumped off her box and retrieved the cloth.
"Are there any other blankets in the boxes, spider?" Knives asked, his tone just below that of an order.
"No" Erica said, horror written upon her face as she stared at the single blanket within her arms.
Vash chuckled as he watched their reactions in the comfortable control room, leaning back and waiting for his sibling to come to the obvious conclusion. Mentally he patted himself on the back for having been thorough in leaving only one blanket for between the two of them.
Knives ran their options through his brain, coming to only one horrible, inescapable conclusion.
"We must use our combined body heat to keep alive."
"What?" Erica asked, hoping she'd heard incorrectly. If her ears were working fine, she didn't like where his words were leading.
"It's the only way we'll survive" he said through chattering teeth. The prospect of being in contact with her was revolting to him, but the temperature was continuing to drop. Even their plant bodies, which were capable of surviving extreme weather conditions, were starting to freeze. His hands had become blue with the lack of heat and he could see that Erica was in the same situation.
"The thought of touching you is as degrading to you as it is to me" Knives stated through gritting teeth, both because of his words and the continuing drop in temperature. "However, we have no other choice."
Erica sighed in defeat and walked over to Knives, cautiously sitting down next to him. She handed the plant half of the blanket while she took the other, being careful not to touch him unnecessarily. Unfortunately for the two, they found that the blanket was too small to cover both of them and they looked at each other in horror.
A sudden idea struck Erica, though she inwardly shivered at the thought.
"Um, I could sit in your lap" Erica suggested hesitantly, knowing Knives would object.
Her thoughts were well founded as she watched Knives cringe slightly. However, to her surprise he didn't argue against her plan. Instead, Erica watched stunned as he situated himself on one of the boxes.
"Come on, do not merely stand there" Knives said curtly, gesturing for her to climb into his lap.
"You're serious?" she asked, still hesitant about his sincerity.
"As I have said before, we have no other choice" Knives spoke in an annoyed tone. "Now move quickly before I change my mind and take the blanket from you."
Erica carefully climbed into his lap, careful not to touch him more than was necessary. When they had both gotten into relatively comfortable positions, considering the situation, Knives glared down at Erica.
"Never tell this to anyone, spider, or you will regret not holding your tongue."
"Agreed" Erica muttered, feeling too drowsy to argue. The sudden warmth of their bodies was making her sleepy, and she could barely keep her eyes open.
Knives suddenly felt as the spider's head rested on his chest and looked down to yell at her. However, his outburst was stopped by the fact that she was asleep. Bold little spider he thought, closing his eyes and feeling himself also fall into sleep.
After Vash was sure they had both fallen asleep, he decided now was the perfect time to slowly bring back the power and return the room temperature to normal. His plan had worked out perfectly, and maybe, just maybe, they would be friendlier toward each other. Hopefully now the two would never figure out who had really caused the blackout, or his health would be seriously compromised.