Disclaimer: Trigun is sadly enough not mine, or there would have been way more episodes!
Chapter 39: Meryl's POV
His narrows at her, and she can just about feel the anger radiating from him. Causally, with the same deliberation she would put into fighting with Ethan, she steps back into a loose fighting stance. This is long overdue between them.
Why would you trust me not to use my gifts? He inquires, watching her.
Her lips curl in a smirk as she replies with a small shrugs, Because your physically faster and stronger, so there is no reason to waste the energy. Past that, you'll probably feel better if you get the pent up violence out of your system.
What makes you think this will help any? He asks after a moment's pause.
Beside her she can feel Vash tense, out of the corner of her eye she watches as Milly pulls him back and mutter something to him. He relaxes a little but still keeps a sharp eye on the two of us. Thankfully Milly has been around her long enough to know, it also helps that she comes from a big family where talking is not always the answer.
Its stress relieving, is her soft answer.
He barely nods, before taking a quick swing at her that she had been expecting. Narrowing her own eyes, she side steps and watches. He's not going as fast as he can, she thinks as she moves out of the second punch's way. For the next few minutes there is a delicate balance between the two of them, mostly though she is just staying out of reach, using her smallness as an advantage.
Eventually when she feels that the anger level is evening out she comments, "Slow today or not trying?"
Apparently that was the right thing to say, because he redoubles his attacking, actually getting her twice before she adjusts to the new speed. Yes, indeed, he is far faster than her, the only advantage is hand to hand does not seem to be his strong suit because he seems to be stuck in a pattern.
Damn you, he snarls at her as she side steps again, I just want my brother back but I don't think that's going to happen. There is too much between us. Then there's you.
A snort escapes her as she side steps once more, this time following it up with a hard punch to his stomach that connects because he is not expecting it. You're an idiot. She informs him going on the offensive, try talking with him, it does wonders. Think of it this way, you two have a mostly long and painful history, you both over think everything, the only difference is he is an optimist hoping everything will work out while you're a pessimist thinking everything will fail. I know he is angry about the experiments, I know he is confused about the stasis chamber, and he is frustrated because he does not know what to think about you. He wants you back just as much, maybe more because I get the impression that it hurt him more than you. He's an empath for god's sakes!
Her idea that he is not a fighter is confirmed when she switches to attacking, he puts on a burst of speed but it does not stop her from connecting with several different strikes. He's expecting a pattern and that's not how she fights. Past that, his telepathy doesn't help him because she doesn't think her next motion, she merely does it.
Focusing on him, she thinks, Did you realize that those two are the best of us? We are fighters, we scrap, we get angry, we cause pain. Them? They try to avoid all of that, they would rather deal with things peacefully, they keep us balanced.
I… he starts but seems to be at a loss for words.
Yes? She demands just as her small fist connects with his jaw. You what?
That hurts, he whines, voice high pitch in her head and reminding her of Vash when he is over exaggerating. Your not trying to take him from me? There is a plea in his voice, a terror, a fear of loneliness.
Rolling her eyes she knocks his legs out from under him, responding as he hits the ground, "You're an idiot. A complete idiot for such an intelligent person. Were you paying attention to nothing?"
He glares at her for all he's worth as he gets back to his feet. However that anger she had felt earlier is subdued, most of it having been worked out in the physical violence as planned. I really don't like you. He mutters in his head, you remind me of me.
A sharp bark of laughter escapes her, You like me just fine, you just don't like the fact that I actually controlled my temper and you did not. Do you want to learn to properly fight? It's good stress relief.
"Are they done?" she hears Vash mutter to Milly in a worried tone while they stand there with him glaring and her smirking.
"I think it's pretty close to done," her tall friend replies, "she's got that look like there is either going to be one more painful attack or time to relax."
"You're serious?" Knives questions as he lets go of what's left of the anger watching her.
Rolling her eyes, she nods once, "Wouldn't have offered otherwise. I'm not as fast as I used to be, a bit out of practice, you might have won had you known what you were doing." She informs him rolling her shoulders a bit. "Are we going to be repeating this conversation again?"
He shakes his head, looking like a lost boy as his questioning glance flickers to his brother. She just gives him a pointed look. Before turning away and walking over to where the other two are standing.
"Let's go say hi to the girls Milly," she suggests softly, deciding to give the brothers a chance to talk. Smiling at Vash, she gives him a quick hug, whispering, "Everything will work out."
Milly nods, glancing between them before the two of them take off.
Vash's POV
What in the hell! He thinks to himself as he watches Meryl upper cut his brother right in the jaw, why would she do that? He knows that she has a temper, but even for her this seems off somehow. More extreme then she normally does. Why? When she intentionally tells him to pick a fight, he is flabbergasted and terrified that Knives will kill her. Why isn't she afraid? Is this a continuation of the conversation they had at the house about Milly or is this something else?
He's startled at the way she moves, he had never seen her do that before, move like a fighter, yet that's exactly what she does. Each motion is well measured and sure, instinctual. Somehow she is staying out of Knives range to hit though he doesn't understand it. Focusing on his empathy he can feel the anger and fear in his brother, but from Meryl there is nothing, she feels like a piece of glass all shiny but clear. It's the first time in his long life he had ever felt that, even Wolfwood who had been great at controlling his emotions gave off more feeling.
Finally after what seems like hours to the worried plant, she knocks his brother's legs out from under him even as she rolls her eyes, her tone is soft as she comments, "You're an idiot. A complete idiot for such an intelligent person. Were you paying attention to nothing?" She's poised balanced on the balls of her feet, but slowly shifts her positioning, dropping back down.
"Are they done?" he worriedly asks Milly as he feels for their emotions, Knives are calmer now, the fear and anger almost completely gone. Meryl's are slowly returning, even keeled and none of the worry of the previous day.
As Knives gets to his feet glaring at her, Meryl's lips curve in a smirk, it doesn't take having telepathy to know that they are conversing more than just aloud.
"I think it's pretty close to done," tall girl answers him, a simple happiness coloring her tone, "she's got that look like there is either going to be one more painful attack or time to relax."
As the rest of his emotions release, and he slides into relief, Knives queries, "You're serious?" his eyes never leave her face.
Rolling her eyes, she nods once, "Wouldn't have offered otherwise. I'm not as fast as I used to be, a bit out of practice, you might have won had you known what you were doing." She informs him rolling her shoulders a bit. "Are we going to be repeating this conversation again?"
Knives gives a shake of his head, glancing towards him, his eyes questioning. A new emotion seems to emerge, worry.
Meryl on the other hand, gives Knives that look that Vash knows so well, the did-you-really-just-say-something-stupid look before coming over to where he is standing with Milly. "Let's go say hi to the girls Milly," she suggests softly. Smiling at Vash, she gives him a quick hug which he returns, whispering, "Everything will work out."
He smiles, kissing the top of her head before the two girls head towards the other end of the bio-dome and where the bulbs for their sisters are resting.
"So what was that about?" he asks his twin as he feels the nervousness get worse. Suppressing the empathy he waits for an answer.
Rubbing his jaw, Knives replies, "We were discussing you. Apparently your little temper thought that violence would be the best tactic to do so." Sighing, he mutters, "She was right, damn it."
A confused look crosses his face, "Me?" he mutters, trying to understand how that conversation needed violence.
Nodding, Knives responds, "You, she was dead on to. For someone without empathy, she does a decent job figuring out emotional motives." He pauses glancing away before saying, "Ironically she gave me the same advice I gave you a few weeks ago."
Blinking he tries to think of what advice that was, the only thing he can remember was him telling him to try talking with her. Talk with her? No, that can't be it. "What?"
Smirking, Knives shrugs, "Try talking," there is dry humor in his tone, "Listen, why don't you tell me what's bothering you. Then I won't have to worry about getting my head bashed in by someone almost half our size again."
Shaking his head, he can't help but chuckle at the image in his head. Some reason he can easily see his short girl doing just that. Eventually, he sits in the grass looking around, before muttering, "I'm worried this is all going to just end, that we're going to be back in that oasis shooting each other up."
Dropping down next to him, Knives settles in almost the exact same position as he had the day before beside Amber's bulb, the difference being he is looking at his twin. It's not you know, not just because I have a really loud sister in the back of my head either. I am surprised to say that I like what's happening here. We haven't been this close since we were on the ship long before the Fall. There is too much between us, and there are times I think you're just going to give up. I might hate the spiders with a passion, but I find that I like our girls. Your temper made a really good point, you really are the best part of us.
He pauses looking around for a few minutes, watching the various lizaeri he can see. They were the forty-second combination I tried, I was actually surprised when it worked. I had not thought it would work because the differences in the genes. The first of their kind was a little female who I called Dream, she was an amusing little thing, her scales not quite as refined as those of the one's you see here and as red as your retired duster, plus she was extremely short, barely over three feet tall. She made up for the height with personality. It took three more tries to create her a mate, apparently the DNA I had selected for the male just would not work for me, but I eventually got it. She called him Vision, which was ironic in that he was blind. They produced children, and I created another set of mates for their children. The whole lot of them served me, without force I might add. The third generation are the ones who approached me about turning the second bio-dome into something, because at that time only this dome had anything in it, and even that was nothing more than some grass, one or two trees, and a few patches of perennial flowers. I accepted, and taught Gear, Dream's oldest granddaughter how to use the lab in order to create plant seeds. It was also Gear's idea to install the bulbs in their dome, giving them the ability to access them as needed. At that point Dai was mostly sleeping, and the other one, Rena refused to acknowledge my presence. So I helped them install the bulbs into the second dome.
He smiles, shaking his head for a moment before continuing to speak, The memousi came about because the lizaeri did not like leaving the ship. My dislike of humans had spread to them, and thus they wanted nothing to do with the outside world, they were happy where they were and what they were doing. So back to the drawing board I went, it was on the eleventh try, the fifty-third experiment, that I got their DNA to work, only in their case it was a male first. He was called Blue, because of his fur. On the next try I got the female, Mouse, and the two of them produced offspring in much as the same way as the lizaeri. By their second generation, they had already determined that they liked to be outside of the ship, though not far from it, so they set up a home outside of it. They make sure that I don't get too many visitors and keep the sandworms away, mostly by ganging up on them and killing them any time they get to close.
Again his brother pauses, this time resting his head on his knee and shutting his eyes. For a time the two of them sit there in silence, Vash enjoying viewing all the plants as he considers what his brother is telling him. He is actually amazed that he is being so forthright about it. Though he is not going to complain, it is helping him to feel somewhat better listening to Knives tell him about his experiments.
There was a third race that I made, my last experiment, they were sterile however, and I had no desire to harm them, they were bird-human and rather beautiful, maybe someday I will try again, but not now. Their bodies could not survive this world as it is. Those experiments took me nearly thirty years in total. Then I took time to teach the various lizaeri who wanted to learn, how to use the different parts of the ship. Before all was said and done, they could run it better than me. For the years leading up to the July incedent, I spent a lot of time here, with the lizaeri. Occasionally, I would leave to cause havoc, or even to just fix a plant because I could feel the pain, though I never could speak to any of them no matter how hard I tried. While I hated spiders, I wanted our sisters healthy, which meant occasionally helping them. Of course, I balanced this out by killing off any annoying ones I came across, though you should be happy to know that by annoying it meant evil ones. It was during one of these forays that I came across a teenage boy with blue hair and mind gifts, he had been badly beaten, and otherwise abused. Intrigued by his mind gifts I killed his abuser and brought him back here.
Shaking his head, Knives sighs, Sometimes I think that was a bad choice. The lizaeri couldn't stand him and spent the first week terrorizing him until I killed one of them in anger, it was the first time I had harmed one so you can imagine the shock of it, though it wasn't the last time. After that they stopped, but the boy was reactive, he had a temper worse than me, and made the mistake of trying to use his gifts on me. As the more powerful telepath, not to mention having far more practice, I won that fight for dominance. After that he worshiped me as a god, his personal savior, anything I wanted he was more than willing to do, but he had a dark taint to his soul and I can honestly say that my anger turned to rage after he arrived because it was fuelled by his. He hated normal spiders for their treatment of him. Not to long later the events of July occurred. He had been with me that day, was actually the one who killed him. I just sat back and watched. When you nearly killed me, it was him who managed to get me back here and to the bulb with Dai in it. Why he picked that bulb when there were other bulbs closer, I'll never know. What I do know was afterwards his mind splinted into a thousand little pieces. Upon saving me, the lizaeri decided to be more cordial towards him, but they still refused to allow him his way in almost everything. While I was recovering he collected the original members of the Gung-oh Guns, and under my direction started the experiments on them, along with collecting a group of children from orphanages that he experimented on to.
Knives pauses to look at him, blue eyes worried as they glance at his face, About three and half years ago I decided it was time. You needed to come back to me but the spiders were in the way, so if I could not get you to return to me, I wanted you dead. Shrugging, he sighs, frustration almost pouring off of him. I assigned the guns a task, to their leader the purpose to kill you, to the only one with morals in the group the purpose to protect you, to the insane one who served me first the purpose to drive you insane. The rest of it you know.
"I…" he starts, unsure what to say. Giving a shake of his blonde head, he smiles at his twin, a look of pure pleasure, "Thank you, I'm a pain I know, but…" he trails off again, shrugging.
Chuckling, Knives leans over and gives him a one armed hug, "I have been recently told that we over think, and you know, temper might actually be right but let's not tell her. Is there anything else you want to discuss or can be go see what they are doing? I would guess that it is close to dinner time since I noticed that the lizaeri have vanished from sight."
Still smiling, he gets to his feet. Once his twin is standing, he grabs him in a bear hug, muttering, "Thank you."