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

Chapter37: Vash's POV
What in the hell was he thinking doing experiments like that? It's not much better than what the humans did to Telsa when they tested on her. He thinks to himself as the two of them make their way to where the girls are. A large part of him is angry on behalf of the little lizard people running around but another part of him is curious how he had pulled it off. What the trick was to make them able to live safely. Some reason he was certain that his brother had at least not created them to be in pain. He would have to think on it some more when he was not with Knives.

Knives, he had been trying so hard lately to behave for a lack of a better word. No threats about killing the humans, no insulting names to the girls. It had almost been like when they were children before the Fall, before Steve had taken to kicking the shit out of them any chance he got, before his twin had stopped talking to him. He hoped that the changes were real, that his brother was really back to being the nice guy he had been, but something told him not to count on it. At best the rage and insanity that driven him to commit the dark acts was gone, but did that mean that the taint left behind was gone as well?

As the two of them walk, he pays attention to the various rooms that they pass, surprised to see that the living areas are so close to the office area. On second thought, maybe it is not weird, however he does stop dead in his tracks when one of the doors he spots reads Stasis Chamber on it. Startled, he can just stand there and stare, why would he have left this active, there is no way he had left this active with the amount of hate he had felt towards the humans.

"Is that…" he finally brings himself to ask, not sure if he really wants the answer.

Knives reaches out and presses his palm to the door opener, allowing the door to slide silently open.

As he looks around he is surprised to see that each and every bed seems to still be active, they are all alive. The whole lot of them are healthy, just sleeping. Stopping in front of a young child he stares at it, murmuring, "How…?" For years Knives had tried to kill the humans and yet here was at least one-hundred of them, all perfectly healthy just sleeping. It was unbelievable and made him wonder if he hadn't had a touch of mercy left even then when he claimed he did not.

"Dai," Knives replies, "I shut it down, she reactivated it before any of them died. Did it again, she did it again. So I left them be after that."

The implications of it meant more than Knives probably realized. He could have still killed the humans by making it look like an accident, or even having one of his minions due it, yet he had not. He had left them live at Dai's request. It was astonishing, amazing, and all together more than his mind really felt like dealing with at this time. Shaking his head, he wanders around some more taking it all in.

Before he can say anything else, Knives comments, "We're being ordered to come visit, Dai wishes for company."

Nodding the two brothers leave the stasis room, they haven't even gone three steps when the lizaeri man is back, querying, "Ssssir?" The three of the walk done the hall, though Knives says nothing aloud, he is sure that he is giving the smaller man directions as he suddenly bows, commenting, "It issss done." Before vanishing again to wherever he had come from.

Curious, he tilts his head to the side, watching for the small creature before asking, "What was that about?"

"I am having the lizaeri bring Amber's bulb here, she can be connected in next to Dai. That should keep her from being lonely. The lizaeri will care for her, provide her with company. They often speak with Dai, I just did not take that news to well when they told me and lashed out. Since then they do not mention it." his twin answers shortly, his voice full of pent-up frustration.

Unable to think of anything else to say he responds, "Oh."

Falling into silence the two of them finish their walk to the bio-dome, when the door slides open he is amazed at how many different plants he can see without even taking a good look around. There are food plants, medicine plants, ornamental plants, and poisonous ones all within a beautiful lay out. Many of the lizaeri are working with different parts of it, grooming it and caring for it. All of them that notice them stop to bow to Knives before returning to their work. Across the dome he can see the girls speaking with one of the lizaeri as they head towards the second dome door.

When the two of them get to the insurance girls, the lizaeri nods politely to Knives before continuing to speak with Milly. He steps next to Meryl, smiling at her as she glancing around the chamber.

As the group of walks down, the hall, Meryl remarks, "Interesting staff."

Knives raises an eyebrow but says nothing, he can feel the anger radiating from him.

Well, it has certainly been an interesting day, he thinks to himself. Why would Knives make a race using human DNA that he hated but like the end result? How could he even do that type of experimenting? Wasn't the same as humans working on their sister? Giving an internal shake of his head he starts taking in the plants instead, studying the various desert flora that he can see. When a little desert mouse goes scurrying across in the sand he is surprises. Why would he have made the animals too? Oh brother, he thinks, this is getting to be frustrating, he keeps having done things I don't understand that don't match with being the bad guy.

When they get to the bulbs, the group stops directly beside the first of the two bulbs. In it, the plant unfolds herself from where she was sleeping within a golden glow.

Knives! She exclaims, joy pulsing from her as she pulls him into the bulb with her.

Smiling he watches the reunion. He can feel the pleasure from both of them which in turn makes him happy. He had known that Dai was fond of his twin, he just had not realized how fond. However the joy from their reunion was very infectious and he knew that his smile had turned to the goofy one. When she finally lets go of Knives, and he goes to greet her to be pulled in the exactly the same way.

You must be Vash, it's great to finally meet you. She comments as she hugs him, why do you metal in your body when you can heal properly? It makes no sense, did you not know? You will have to visit with me later, first I wish to finish meeting your companions. Again she hugs him before letting him out of the bulb gentler than she had Knives.

Amused, he doesn't actually have a chance to answer her before her attention turns to his insurance girls. She is something else that is for sure.

Welcome, your body would not appreciate in here so I will not hug you. You are blue-eyes, that makes you temper. I am Dai. She greets them in a rush, pressing her palm against the glass directly above their hands. The amount of joy pour off of her was almost more than he was able to cope with in a small amount of time after spending so much time around humans.

"Hello Dai, ma name is Meryl," his short girl comments as she presses her hand to the glass.

"And I'm Milly," tall girl comments as well, a happiness coming from her as well.

Amusement laces Meryl's voice as she remarks. "The only person who calls us blue-eyes and temper is Knives. Vash tends to call me short girl, and her tall girl. Everyone else calls us by our names."

For a few minutes the girls visit with each other while Vash tries to reign in his empathy, he had not had this much problems with it in years. Normally he was easily able to control it, so why was it not working? Something was off, he just couldn't figure out what it was.

Knives, why does it seem like I cannot get control of my empathy? He inquires of his twin on their private connection.

It takes a moment before he answers, Dai's gift is that she amplifies other's abilities. It was difficult to learn to control my telepathy at first too.

Oh, he responds, not sure what to do. He wants to visit with her some more but the amount of emotion pouring in is beginning to make his head spin. From Dai is pure joy. Knives is happy, yet there is an edge of sadness and anger to it. Meryl is pleased, with underlying worry. Milly is confused, happy, sad, and angry all at once. All around him there are lizaeri caring for the different parts of the ship, each one full of their own emotions from happiness to anger to annoyance to sorrow. It's overwhelming.

He is saved from trying to think of something by the lizaeri appearing next to Knives. "Zirz and ladiez, dinner haz been zerved in the dining hall, Purza thought that you might be hungry." She informs them before vanishing again.

You should go eat, I can feel Milly's hunger, please come visit me again before you leave. I would like to visit with each of you for a time if possible. Dai tells them in a general broadcast.

After everyone bids her farewell, Knives leads them out through a second door behind the bulbs. Silently the four make their way to the dining area, each lost in their own thoughts. Thankfully enough as they get farther away from Dai, the less of their emotions he can feel until he is only feeling what he is used to feeling and able to filter it as normal. When they get to the dining area, he is surprised to see that there are two of the lizaeri working on setting the table, an entire buffet of food has been laid out with a little bit of everything on it.

"Ssir, missssess, and Masster pleasse enjoy your meal. Kessssa will be available if you need anything." A slightly heavier female comments as she inclines her head to them before vanishing through a door.

Glancing at Knives he mentally queries, Did you tell them we needed food?

With a mental shake of the head he responds, No. However they are good at knowing what is needed before it is needed. A lot of them have minor thought-reading gifts, empathy, or both. They pretty much run this place without hardly any input from me.

"Oh," he mutters out loud as he looks at the wide variety of things laid out. Milly had already got herself a plate and was enjoying herself, while Meryl was considering what to get. Shrugging, Knives also gets a plate before taking a seat.

Surprisingly enough dinner goes smoothly with everyone managing to get along nicely. By the time they are done eating Hassaar appears to tell them that the sleeping rooms have been cleaned and readied for them when they are ready. Startled, he glances again at his brother who is actively not looking at anything in particular. Eventually they head to their respective rooms, only he is surprised to see that the small lizards had placed him in the same room with Meryl, though he doesn't plan on complaining. Once Milly is safely tucked in her room to sleep, he sprawls on the bed staring at the ceiling deep in thought. He had thrown his jacket on a chair, with his boots next to it.

He's not sure how much time passes before a mostly wet Meryl emerges from the bathroom, her body wrapped in a towel. "Rather than over thinking whatever is bothering you, why don't you try to talk to me about it?" she suggests as she brushes her hair.

Turning his head to face her, he sighs, "I'd never over think," he tells her.

Stretching out on her stomach on the bed next to him, she props her head on her hands chuckling, "Bull, you over think more than anyone I know besides your brother. Spill, something is bothering you, you have that same edginess that I had noticed right after Legato entered the scene."

He sighs again, wishing she could have thought of a better example but knowing there probably wasn't one. "I don't understand it, he hated what they did to Tesla, yet in experimenting to make the lizaeri and memousi he did the exact same thing didn't he? He used to hate causing pain, hated the idea of experimenting, yet that's exactly what he did."

Frustrated he watches her as she responds, startled by the slight smile she gives him, "Actually, he was nicer about his experiments than the humans who touched your sister were. At least on the non-humans he was. They were unconscious through it, and kept that way until he was sure that they were viable, if they were not, they were put to sleep a lot like an injured animal with a quick acting drug. There was three successes in his seventy three different experiments, two of the successes were true breeding, the third was not." Pausing she closes her eyes or a minute before groaning, "Merra put way more into my head than I realized at first."

Relieved by what she had said, he pulls her close so she is half lying on his chest, murmuring, "She'd do that if she thought it would be needed."

Nuzzling his shoulder she replies, "And you're still over thinking. What else is there?"

He can't help but chuckle at her, mildly startled that she knows him so well, though not sure why he is when she seems to have made a point of getting to know him even before the girls dropped his and his twin's history in her head. "There is a stasis chamber here, over one-hundred people sleeping in it, I was surprised that he hadn't killed them, or had one of his minions do it. It doesn't make sense to me, he was trying to kill the human race, why wouldn't he kill the easy ones? He told me it was because of Dai, yet that doesn't seem right somehow."

Kissing his shoulder softly, she responds, "Why not? They have a great affection for each other, perhaps that was all the reason he needed." One small hand flutters over his stomach, electing a groan from him before she continues, "No reason to kill something that is not in the way, no reason to wake up someone who is better off asleep, and no reason to actively destroy that which has not yet harmed him."

"Oh," he mutters, his thoughts derailed as she slips that hand actually under his shirt to touch his skin. While they had been traveling there had not been any private moments, so it was the first time in weeks that there had been any sort of touch more than the casual arms around her while riding or sleeping.

"Vash love," she hums against his throat.

"Yeah?" he responds slightly breathy, as his body comes awake at her touch.

"Stop thinking already, there is no reason to fret over that which you cannot change." she tells him as she tugs on his shirt.

Smiling at her, he leans up to catch her lips, "Alright," he tells her before beginning to take an active roll in her seduction. It's a long time before either of them get to sleep.