"Well?" Vash turned on his brother, "Talk!"

Knives sighed, "Isn't it interesting how unemotional she is?" He laughed ruefully, "She makes me look like you!"

Vash frowned, "But that look she gave me when she was talking about Meryl…I could've sworn that for a split-second, she looked incredibly sad."

Knives shook his head, "No, no, no. You misunderstand me. She feels emotion all right; she just chooses to ignore them, that's all…and would you believe it? It all stems from a tragic incident in which we were both involved…"

Vash's eyes widened, "Lost July?"

Knives laughed, "Think much farther back than that…I'll give you a hint: she's almost as old as we are…"

The 'humanoid typhoon' staggered, then sat down on a nearby rock, "You're kidding me."

His brother sighed, "No kidding. Evidently Rem," (he grimaced as he mentioned her name) "failed to tell us about her brother, who resided on another ship, along with another hybrid like us: a girl called Onyx. Unlike us, she began to develop strange powers at a (relatively) early age, such as shape shifting. However, like us, she carries within her the ultimate weapon, which we once believed only we had."

Vash winced, "She has Angel Arms?"

Knives nodded, "Two of them to be exact. One in each arm; like me." He waved his right arm toward where she had disappeared, "What's more, she has more control over them than we do. She can not only use them in any given form, she can also have them appear in smaller versions through her fingertips."

Vash tilted his head in thought, "So that tiny beam of light was…"

Knives smiled crookedly, "Yep, that was an Angel Arm. You're lucky she's such a good shot; if she'd missed you wouldn't be here right now." He shook his head, "But that's beside the point. Back to the story. Anyway, Rem" (once again he winced as he mentioned her) "failed to tell us of her brother, Felix, who resided on another ship with Onyx. At this point, Onyx was almost a perfect mix of the two of us…on one hand she was generally mistreated and ignored by the crew; as was I…but on the other hand, she formed a very deep bond with Felix; very similar to you and Rem. Yet again, like me, she was mad at the world, but unlike me, she managed to keep it all bottled up until one fateful night."

Vash looked up, rage apparent in his verdant green eyes, "The night you murdered Rem?"

Knives shot his brother a look of almost profound sorrow, "Yes. That night, just as Rem left us, Felix received word of the fatal situation. Eager to help his sister save the fleet, he took Onyx aside. 'Look,' he told her, 'Do you remember me telling you about my sister, Rem?' When she nodded, he continued, 'Well, there's a desperate situation, and I have to go help her fix it. Until I get back, I need you to pilot the ship; alright?'

"She narrowed her eyes, 'And what if you do not return? I'm the only one on the ship who can survive such a crash. I'll be the only one alive.'

"Shocked by her blatant pessimism, and by the fact that she was right, Felix blinked. 'Well…if all else fails, you won't be alone. There are two others who have been traveling with Rem. Their names are Knives and Vash, and they're identical twins…you'll know them when you see them.' And with that, he disappeared."

Vash blinked, "That's it?" He shook his head, "That doesn't explain much."

Knives turned, glaring daggers at his twin, "I haven't finished yet! Besides, you jump to conclusions too quickly." He sighed and rolled his twilight colored eyes irritably, "Anyway; sensing Felix's urgency, Onyx immediately seized control of the ship, but she couldn't save it. By the time Rem and Felix had fixed the computer, it was already too late for them, and the same could be said of Onyx's ship. The ship was by then, so far off course that the mother ship's command signal couldn't reach it. Seeing what was happening, Onyx did everything she could, but it was no use. The ship suddenly began plummeting towards the planet's surface. As the ship entered the atmosphere, the sudden pressure changes were too much for the crew, and they died a most painful and bloody death by implosion. So Onyx found herself surrounded by mutilated bodies and covered head to foot in blood from the unfortunate crew. At this point, Onyx, being Onyx, was horribly worried that she wouldn't be able to land the ship safely. Again and again she attempted to correct its course, and every time she failed, but came a little closer. However, when she was finally able to override the system, it was too late, and under what must have been enormous strain, she blacked out only moments before impact."

Vash tilted his head quizzically, "Then what?"

Knives sighed, and sitting down on a rock, he continued, "When Onyx awoke, it was to utter carnage. There were bodies everywhere, and even Onyx herself was in pretty horrible condition. As she walked cautiously through the wreckage, it suddenly occurred to her that Felix was not coming back. Enraged at her apparent abandonment, she finally unleashed all the fury she had pent up over the years in the only way possible to her."

Vash's mouth dropped open, "Oh my God…Angel Arms?"

Knives nodded grimly, "Yes. She had no idea what they really were at the time, just that she'd been told about them for as far back as she could remember, so when they activated, she was taken completely by surprise and instead of imposing her will upon them, as you have seen her do; she simply let them do whatever they would, lashing out at anything and everything in her path. Thus, through her unmatched fury was formed the very landmark on which we stand."

The 'humanoid typhoon' gasped, "Jeneora Rock?!" When Knives nodded, Vash bent down to scrape away at a loose patch of muddy soil to reveal a name: SEEDS 009. "Oh my God," Vash up, "Knives, this is one of the missing ships!"

Knives nodded weakly and gestured toward the large, iridescent globes at Jeneora's peak, "Perhaps that's why the plants love it so…still, I doubt you believe it."

"No." Vash lowered his eyes and dropped his voice to a hoarse whisper, "I believe you…I saw it in her eyes. Diablo: her true nature revealed…"