Disclaimer: Trigun is sadly enough not mine, or there would have been way more episodes!

Sorry about any confusion, I accidently posted chapter 17 before 16 so I had to fix it. All and all, I hope everyone enjoys. Reviews are still appreciated.

Chapter 18: Knives' POV
After dinner he had helped to clean up the kitchen before Milly had left to take a shower. Once night fell, he had left the house, silently making his way through the town to the plant. There, he had quickly made his way through it, using his mind-gifts to make the spiders look right past him without seeing him. Finally, as he stood in the courtyard with the bottom of the three bulbs, he carefully reaches out with his mind.

Sisters, he greets them.

Merra and Tala materialize, floating to the bottom of their bulbs. Walking over to first Tala, and then Merra's bulbs he places his palm against it, completing their preferred greeting as he can feel them touch the glass on the other side.

Welcome Knives, Tala greets him.

A warmth embraces him as Merra chimes in, Hello brother.

The third sister says nothing, does not even acknowledge that he is there. Sighing to himself, he walks directly below her bulb. Lifting his left hand first he presses it against the glass. I owe you an apology and so much more. Do as you will, he tells her, opening his mind for her to retaliate in whatever fashion she believes is appropriate.

Time seems to stand still as a presence full of sadness envelops his mind. The pain of losing her twin sinks deep, forcing him to his knees. His arms hitting the ground to keep him from going any further to the ground as the pain arches through him. As suddenly as the pressure began it ended. Breathing hard, he finds himself groveling before her, something that he never would have allowed just a few weeks prior but now understands is deserved.

I greet you, Knives. Her soft voice is like that of a harp is it strums through his mind.

When he looks up he can see that she is on the edge of her bulb, her hand just above it. Forcing his now protesting muscles to work, he stands, placing his hand against the bulb. This time when her energy brushes him, it is gentle, welcoming, though not warm.

Hello sister, even his mind voice seems to be in pain.

A feathery touch brushes him, soft, inviting. I was angry at you, that was uncalled for. We do not strike out at those that anger us often, it is not right, particularly when I could have burned your mind, leaving you nothing but a shell in my rage.

He nods, accepting the apology for what it was, it was no less that he deserved after all for the harm he had caused her. I would say it was completely called for, far less than I probably deserved.

A small smile curves her lips as she rests against the bottom of the bulb, Perhaps. She pauses for a moment, I accept your apology, and grieve the loss of my twin, your sister. If you truly wish to balance the wrong, you will protect the little one who has her blood. I do not know how she has her blood, I just know that she does.

It seemed as if that's what the others were waiting for, the silence that had taken hold right before him broke and he could once again hear his sister, a soft murmuring song in the back of his mind. Now that the music was back, he understood how quiet it was without it.

Nodding, he accepts the task, inquiring, Will I need to find the person in question or do I already know them?

Warmth touches his mind, along with an image of the blue-eyed spider.

Startled, his head jerks back, and he raises an eyebrow. I know her, she's human, her lover was human too, though he had a very minor mind-gift.

She shrugs replying, I am not mistaken, her little one has the blood of my sister, that makes her family. That is your task to balance the wrong.

Remember brother, even though the daughter is related to us, she is not, so if you determine that you are a good match, there is nothing wrong with it. Merra's chiming voice rings in. All three sisters chuckle at the blush that graces his skin.

Despite the blush, he nods, knowing that they are just trying to pick on him. Dropping is arm, he sits down on the ground between the three and softly starts to sing. All three of his sister settle against the bottom of their bulb as they listen.

By the time he gets back to the house, he is surprised to see Vash and Meryl just returning. She has the look of someone who has been well kissed while he looks like he is almost in a daze. Neither notice him as they make their way into the house, both by pass their bedrooms and go to the last room in the hall that he had been curious about but had not checked out. Shaking his head he takes a hot shower before going to bed.

He does not want to know what they are doing. Though he can hear some of Vash's mental leakage, he blocks him out. Laying on his bed with nothing but a towel on he stares at the ceiling, thinking hard on what he had learned today.

Like every day since he had gotten to this house, there was another new lesson for him. Today had two different lessons. Accepting that his brother was going to end up with that spider, Meryl and accepting punishment really was not something he ever wanted to do again. However, he was fairly certain that she could have done the same thing even if he had not willingly opened his mind to her, she had a far more powerful grip than he expected for someone who had been dying. Of course, the dying were sometimes the most stubborn of people that was a very important lesson he had learned while he was still terrorizing the world.

So besides the pain, something which he hates more than he cares to admits, his punishment was to protect the spider who was pregnant with his dead minions child because so mentioned dead minion had plant blood. He didn't remember that particular minion being on the experiment list, they would have to visit his home for the money, and for the notes the experiments. That way he could find out how they were related.

Of course, he would have to admit to Vash that Wolfwood was his servant at that point if he had not already realized it. Possibly even tell the spiders, now that was just a frustrating idea. He hated pain and was fairly certain that the temperamental one would dole out some pain for that revelation, or possibly because it could hurt blue-eyes.

Blue-eyes? When had he gone from thinking of her as a spider, to thinking of her as a person? Not fair, just because his sisters suggested something did not mean he had to like it or even consider it. But then…giving a shake of his head he derailed that train of thoughts. I really do not need to go there, first talk with Vash, then plan for what to do next. If the leakage I am blocking is anything to go by, he is very pleased with his little spider, though why I keep getting hints of fear I haven't a clue, he thinks to himself.

Eventually the curiosity of the fear makes him lower the guard just a little but the two are either fast asleep by then with Vash surprisingly enough not dreaming or he figured out he was leaking and had raised his guards.

He fears that it was a dream that he is going to wake and be alone in bed again. Aching from a need he can never seem to fulfill. Tala's voice cuts through his thoughts, answering the question he wants to know. You have spent long enough driving him insane that he thinks that he is hallucinating, that he is going to wake up by himself, in the bed across from you, and that everything that happened between him and Meryl is a dream. His other fear is that the bounty hunters will hurt her when trying to get to him.

Knives almost sighs at the end of her explanation. It makes sense, particularly since he had set Legato to drive him insane with grief at one point even knowing how much his brother needed people. It must have hurt him badly, and it would be a long time before that hurt would fade. While it slightly frustrated him that the girls now could hear what was going on in his head, he didn't mind it for the fact that maybe things would not have gone the way they had the first time if he had already been linked.

I am to blame for it then, is there anything I can do to help him past it? he finally response.

The impression of her shaking her head comes to him, along with a warmth that he has recognized where it is at least partly his fault. There is nothing you can do, only time will heal this wound, I am not sure that his chosen's mate life span is long enough for it either. Perhaps something will need to be done to lengthen her life, I will speak with the other elders.

He nods, sending the impression to her via the link she had opened. Good night sister, I need to sleep.

I will sing to you, she replies then her voice changes, oh life, it's bigger, it's bigger than you and you are not me, the lengths that I will go to, the distance in your eyes… her voice is soft and as he listens he finds himself drifting into sleep enjoying the sound of her voice. He might be an independent plant but he still appreciated music as much as the bound ones.

AN: The song is Losing My Religion by REM, I thought that it was an appropriate considering the brothers.