Disclaimer: Trigun is sadly enough not mine, or there would have been way more episodes!
Chapter 62: Meryl's POV
Over the next few days, things go smoothly for their group as they spend their time in the Seeds village Hope. Milly spends a lot of time at the plant visiting with the girls with Knives. Vash is reacquainting himself with many of the people of the village and playing with the children, though he mostly avoids Jessica to avoid any problems. While she has spent a lot of time on the outskirts of the village near the plant working on her earth sense.
It is during one of these times were everyone was doing their own thing when she notices a slight tremor in the information being shared with the planet. She was getting pretty good at locating different people based off the feel that they give off. According to the planet, each person had their own feel. Focusing on the different feel, she traces it to a group traveling on Thomas creature back in this direction. That alone is not unusual, what is unusual is the fact that they all seem to be on the edge of violence.
What she really notices is the fact that they will be running into the memousi and lizaeri shortly.
Can you help me reach Knives? She inquires of the planet, bringing an image of him up in her mind along with the signature feel that the planet recognizes as him.
Warmth touches her mind in response, right before she feels the jarring sensation of her mind touching another. It does not surprise her that violence seems to be his first reaction as his mind turns to the intruder. She can feel the coiled power building to strike out.
What? He snaps when he realizes it's her.
She chuckles, shaking her head before focusing and showing him what she had seen with the earth sense. A mental nod is the only reason she knows he got the message before the link is cut. Unsure what he plans to do with the information, she shifts her earth sense back to the riders quickly approaching. Surprisingly enough, the lizaeri continue to work as if nothing is happening, the memousi on the other hand, do no such thing and as the raiders reach them, she observes as the small mouse people shred them from below. Coming out of the ground and terrifying the Thomas creatures which are quickly captured when their riders are thrown. The riders are then each then injected with something and gathered up in a pile, still living if just barely.
Shaking her head, she breaks the connection to the planet, considering the implications. The memousi dislike humans almost as much as their creator. The same can be said of the lizaeri. Yet they had not killed those who would be justifiable killable. Why? It is a quandary that she wonders about as she stands to go in and talk with their creator. Only before she can go in, he comes walking out with Milly. Milly looks vastly amused by something while Knives looks annoyed.
When she raises an eyebrow at her friend, her friend giggles answering, "I think you startled Mr. Knives."
A smile curves her lips as she turns to look at the tall plant. More like annoyed, he comments glaring at her.
She shakes her head, trying not to laugh at the disgruntled picture he makes as he stands next to her merry best friend. Something tells her that he was both startled and annoyed. Finally, after a few moments of controlling herself she inquires, "Why did the memousi just knock the raiders out? That does not seem like something they normally do."
His eyes take on a cold gleam to them as he replies, Because I have decided to stay out here, thus they feel it would be prudent not to kill off the various humans they come across. Of course the drug that the lizaeri designed for memousi to use will make them wish they were dead.
Milly gives him a wide-eyed glance, muttering, "That's not very nice."
He shrugs, It's nicer than killing them.
Vash's POV
He had felt the small shift in the mood around the village even before parents started calling their children back to their homes. Something is going on. He just was not sure what it was yet. Letting his empathy roam he can feel the nervousness building from the villages residents. From the direction of the plant he can feel his sisters joy over the long visit with Knives and tall girl, Knives' frustration, tall girl's distraction and curiosity, and Meryl focus. Before long he is startled when he feels another shift, this time in the air itself it seems and Knives immediate, violent reaction is much clearer than expected. Normally he gets only the slightest hint, so why is he feeling more now?
You're within the hive link, not as deeply as he is, but still partially submerged. It is a side effect of the healing the way Dai did. The hive link is actually empathy based, not telepathy based despite the fact it does strengthen the telepathy between us. Ayako gently explains to him. As a powerful empath, you will be able feel what anyone within the link is feeling. Even your brother who is well versed in shielding is able to be felt on the empathic side. Eventually, you will also feel Milly blue-eyes and Meryl earth-daughter as well as they complete the transition from human to half-plant.
"Oh," he mutters under his breath as he turns to head towards the plant where the other three are at. Only, once turned he spots that they had left the plant and were coming towards him. Tall girl seems to be lost in thought. Knives is agitated about something. Meryl was curious with an underlying amusement. Surprisingly enough he can also feel two more presences with them, the babies. The small boy who is gently connecting to his mother and sister and is content, while his little twin seems to have a very active personality because she is curious and excited and frustrated all at once. "Two of them," he mumbles, catching on. He had known she was pregnant with twins, but some reason feeling their emotions made it much clearer than just knowing.
There were raiders approaching, the memousi have already dealt with them and will deliver their unconscious bodies when they get here later this afternoon. He hears his twin inform him. It explains why everyone seemed to have gotten so nervous.
Before he has a chance to respond one of the younger men from the community comes trotting up. "Sirs, ma'ams, the Doctor would appreciate it if you came to the great hall."
He nods at the same time as the girls, and the four of them head to the great hall. When they get in there, Doc is seated at the same table as he had on previous occasions when they had met him in the hall. With him are two women and a young man. The young man seems to be taking notes while the two ladies are alternately speaking.
"Good day Vash, ladies," Doc comments when they stop, his glance flickering to Knives before adding him as well, "Knives." He motions to the empty seats, "Do you know what happened to the raiders that the scouts noticed earlier? We were expecting the raiders ten minutes ago or so but they never showed up."
They'll show up later tonight and completely unconscious. Knives informs him as he takes a seat. The memousi and lizaeri are good at what they do.
"So they have the raiders then?" the younger man inquires, looking up from his note pad.
His twin nods, glancing at him and raising a questioning eyebrow.
I think he is Doc's nephew or grandson. He replies after considering the relationship. He is in training to take over the village, I think.
Interesting, Knives responds, looking at the young man speculatively. He can feel his twin's curiosity and cool calculation even though he cannot hear the thoughts going with them.
Authors Note: Hi folks, sorry about the cliffhanger and the long wait time, I just sort of run out of steam for this chapter and since it is going to jump a couple hours, I figured a new chapter was in order. Thanks for reading! Please review.