Notes: This chapter contains little parts of episode #17-Rem Saverem. I hope the lines are recognizable enough that I don't need to do anything special to point them out. I do not claim to have written these lines. They are the product of the original script writer, Yousuke Kuroda.
A dumb waiter is like a tiny elevator that was used in old hotels and old fancy houses to bring food and other things to higher floors.
Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun. Geneon and Yosuhiro Nightow do.
Love is Blind - Chapter 3
Aurora's bruise disappeared about a week and a half after the "Stephen Incident" as she called it in her mind. This was also a time of great excitement and joy on the mothership - for those who could see what it was all about, that is.
Numerous party crackers went off as the picture on the outside vision screen appeared inside the cockpit. Everyone cheered and patted each other's backs.
"That's our new planet!" Rem cried. "We'll land and make it a beautiful place to live."
Knives glanced over at Vash as he grabbed four crackers, three for himself and one for Aurora. He handed it to her and sat up again.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Ready!" Aurora replied, nodding.
"GO!"
They both pulled the strings attached to the bottom of the crackers, and confetti and tiny colored streamers flew everywhere. Aurora giggled. Knives turned to her with a disgusted look on his face.
"You can't even see the confetti and streamers, so why are you giggling?" he asked.
She just smiled. "I like the sound it makes when it pops!"
He sat back, still disgusted.
Everyone was excited to be landing soon, but especially Aurora. She couldn't wait until they had built their new world. Surely, there was someone who would be able to repair her eyes. If not, it was likely, at least in her mind, that somewhere down the road, medicine would advance enough to find a cure for her blindness.
"How did you lose your eyesight in the first place?" Vash asked one day while the two friends were alone in the rec room.
"Well," Aurora started, "a little more than a year and a half ago . . ."
An alarm sounded on the SEED mothership. Joey turned his chair to see a button flashing below a label reading "SUSPENDED ANIMATION ROOM". He hurriedly pressed it, and a camera from inside the SA1 room clicked on.
An SA machine containing a small girl was short-circuiting. It could no longer suspend her and if something was not done soon, she would die from the ice-cold temperatures inside the room.
Rem rushed in with Stephen following her.
"What's the problem, Joey?"
Joey turned to look at her for a brief moment, then back to the screen.
"The SA unit suspending that girl has short-circuited and she will die if we don't act fast."
"Then let's go get her out!" Rem cried, already halfway out the door.
The three of them rushed to the machine in temperature-resistant suits so they wouldn't die themselves. After opening the machine, which resembled a test tube, the girl almost instantly awoke.
"Don't open your eyes!" Rem cried. "There's a gas in here that will damage your eyesight!"
But it was too late. The girl had already opened her eyes out of habit, and the gas took effect. Her vision blurred, then faded until all she could see was black. She screamed and collapsed.
"Get her out of here!" Joey yelled. "Take her to the infirmary!"
Stephen who was, for once, sober, grabbed the girl and ran to the infirmary. There, the girl cried while Rem held her close.
"I'm blind!" she screamed. "I'll never be able to see anyone ever again!"
"There, there. Don't worry," Rem said, trying to soothe her. "I'll take care of you. What's your name?"
"A-Aurora..."
"I've learned to live with it," Aurora said. "But I still hope I'll get a special surgery on our new planet that will repair my eyes." Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink. "I...I really want to see you, Vash."
Vash smiled. "You'll be able to see everyone, Aurora!"
"Yes ... but I want to see you the most,"
"Huh?"
She giggled. "Never mind."
Rem arrived along with Knives to cut the boys' hair. While Vash was having his hair cut, Knives and Aurora sat in the shade of a nearby tree. She busied herself reading a Braille book while he just kept staring at her with a deep hatred in his eyes. The mouse didn't notice the cat's evil stare, so she kept on reading. Knives suddenly got up noisily and started walking out of the room.
"Knives? Where are you going?"
Knives refused to reply. She called after him again.
"Knives!"
He still wouldn't reply.
After Rem finished cutting Vash's hair, she turned to call Knives.
"Okay, now let's switch. Kni--" when she opened her eyes from her gentle smile, Knives was nowhere to be seen. "Now where did he go?"
"He left a while ago," Aurora said quietly.
"Did he say where he was going?"
"No. When I called out to him, he wouldn't answer."
"That's strange. I wonder if something's wrong."
"I'll go find him!" Vash volunteered, jumping down from the barber chair. He ran out of the room.
It turns out that Knives preferred to cut his own hair. That night, in the dining hall, everyone commented on the boys' new haircuts.
"You look like a philosopher, Knives," Mary said.
"What do I look like?" Vash asked eagerly.
"A 'Mama's Boy'," everyone else said, laughing.
A glass slammed down on the table over near the bar. Everyone at the dining table turned to see Steve getting up from the bar bench, obviously drunk.
"I don't understand how you guys can stand to eat with those monsters," he said, motioning to Vash and Knives.
"I think you've had one too many, Steve," Mary said looking a bit disgusted.
"Oh no I haven't, baby," Steve said, putting his arms around her neck. She pushed him off of her.
"Knock it off!"
Knives smirked. "A grown man acting like THAT in front of children? You ought to be ashamed."
Stephen glared at him for a moment, then started laughing maniacally and practically danced out of the room. Everyone except Aurora stared after him until he could no longer be seen nor heard.
As everyone started to leave, Knives stayed behind to wait for Aurora, who was always the last to leave. She accidentally bumped into him on her way out.
"Oh, sorry, Knives," she said cheerfully. "I thought I was the only one here."
"Hm," Knives groaned, annoyed. Then he perked up his voice. "Joey wanted me to escort you to the briefing room. He wants to speak with you."
Her face showed that of deep thought. "I wonder why..." She shrugged it off. "Oh well. Thanks a bunch, Knives. I appreciate it!" She smiled at him.
"No problem." He took her hand. Aurora blushed a little. "Now let's get there before they think we got ... lost."
They walked out of the dining hall and down numerous halls Aurora had not yet memorized. She became tense and nervous.
"Are you sure we're going the right way?"
"Of course. Don't you trust me?"
"...Yes."
"Then you have nothing to worry about."
They walked in silence for the rest of the way. Finally, Knives stopped.
"Here we are."
Aurora felt around for a doorknob. Upon not finding one, she asked, "Where's the door?"
Knives smiled menacingly. He opened a dumb waiter shaft.
"Right here."
The cat grabbed the mouse and shoved it into the trap awaiting her. She fell into the dumb waiter completely. Knives shut the shaft door and ran away.
Inside, Aurora screamed as she frantically tried to find the lever to open the door. She finally figured out where it was, then unlocked the door and opened it. When she got out, she felt the walls, trying to find some familiarity in them. They were new to her, and she couldn't figure out where to go, nor could she remember which way she had come. She was lost.
"Knives!" she called out, hoping for assistance. "Joey! Rem!"
She started sobbing now.
"...Vash..."