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Chapter Thirty

Under The Sky So Blue

One day, 130 years ago, the four of us were born. There were nothing but peaceful days, and Rem was always close behind us. But our disagreeing thoughts changed our ways of life. I don't regret it. I will vow once again not to kill, not to betray… to find happiness, to talk about my dreams…because the ticket to the future is always unwritten.

The area beneath the trees was peaceful, the green leaves contrasting with the blue sky so beautifully.

The table was set for four, two already sitting there and enjoying a meal, sharing a pleasant conversation as they waited for their guests to join them. Kyri glanced at Vash for a moment as they continued to walk towards their brother and sister. Not missing a step, Vash squeezed the hand that he was holding in assurance, his face blank as he stared at the man at the table. Squeezing back, Kyri felt eyes on them and turned to see that they had been acknowledged. She had no doubt that the two od them were aware of them the moment they stepped through a certain perimeter.

Knives raised a hand in greeting as Kyra just smiled happily. Vash and Kyri came to a stop next to each other, Kyri with her eyes closed as Vash stared through his sunglasses. The silence between the four of them seemed to drag on forever, each of them mentally preparing themselves for what they knew was about to happen.

"Did you have fun living as a human?" Knives finally spoke, breaking the silence first.

Vash looked up with a bright smile. "Yeah! It was the greatest!"

"Definitely worth the time." Kyri agreed happily.

"Is that right…" Kyra smiled at her sister. "I'm pleased to hear that you had a good time."

"We both did," Vash continued to grin, pulling his gun out and pointing it at his brother.

"It's a shame that you couldn't join us," Kyri added, pulling out her Gunblade. She gave Vash's hand another squeeze before letting it go.

"I'd rather not involve myself with creatures as disgusting as humans," Kyra answered, standing from her chair and moving towards the tree they sat under. Her own Gunblade was sitting there, propped up against the trunk of it. Knives, the smile still on his face, pulled out his own gun.

"I agree with her; you did once too, Ki."

"The Bladed Siren did, this is true, but then she grew up." Kyri replied. "And so should the two of you."

And the long awaited fight began. As the brothers fired bullets at each other, the sisters exchanged blows with theirs blades. Kyri wanted nothing more than to keep an eye on Vash but she had promised him to keep her attention on her own battle. She didn't know what kind of training that her sister had been going through since the last time they met, almost thirty years, and she refused to be caught off guard in their fight.

And what a fight it was. Kyra's swings and moved were strange and swift. Kyri was impressed, yes, but she was able to keep up just fine. Back when they were young, Kyra was clearly the stronger of the two. Now it just wasn't so. For every blow that Kyra gave, Kyri returned it. It resulted in her being the first to draw actual blood from the other woman.

Kyra glanced at the cut across her left side in shock for a moment before a large grin spread across her face.

"You've been training, I see."

"But of course. Did you really expect me not to?" Kyri regripped her blade. "There's still time to stop all of this, you know."

"And there's still time for you to come back to us. With you back, Vash will surely follow. I'll even spare Legato and your new friends. What do you say?"

Kyri took a breath. "I understand your hatred, I remember everything…everything that the humans had done to me on the ship but they're not all to blame. They're not the ones that held me in that tube and ran tests on me. The ones that did so are long dead by now. You and Knives both…instead of destroying, perhaps you should be trying to heal."

Kyra shook her head, giving a scoff. "You remember and yet you still try to live with them. Vash truly has changed you. I remember when you killed humans like they were bugs. If only I had been with Knives that day in July. You never would have left and this plan…their genocide wouldn't have taken this long.''

"Then I'm glad that you weren't there," Kyri told her. "Vash…saved me. He showed me…a better way to live. I wouldn't trade what he's given me for the world, even if it means that I have to turn against you."

Her sister continued to wear that smile of hers, her eyes ice cold, though, as she reengaged in the battle.

Cut after cut rained down on their bodies, blood sinking into the grass around them as they fought with all their strength. Kyra raised a foot at the last minute and landed a blow into her sister's side, landing on a deep gash that made Kyri cry out before she shoved forward, smashing her head against the other woman, knocking her away.

A single gunshot went off after a long while of nothing but silence, and both women halted in their battle and turned to see that Knives had shot Vash in the shoulder. Vash was now sprawled out on the ground staring up at his brother. Knives gave an evil grin and his gun began to transform, merging into his arm. As the wings sprouted from his arms and shoulder, Kyri had flashbacks from the events in July and again from Augusta. If Knives were to fire off that…

In a flash, Kyri's feet flew across the ground, heading straight for Knives. Kyra took off after her, refusing to let her get away, but the younger sister was faster, able to knock her body into Knives and catch him off guard.

"Vash, now!"

At Kyri's voice, Vash jumped to his feet, his right arm transforming itself.

Kyra and Knives both looked shocked.

"He canceled me out?" Knives demanded.

"He trained himself to control it so you no longer could," Kyra frowned. "I fear that this is going to be harder than we originally though, Knives."

"That's not the problem, Kyra!" The man growled, his eyes wild. "I didn't make them to be used like that! They're practically meaningless otherwise."

Kyra closed her eyes for a moment. "I guess we can't talk sense into you, huh?"

"I'm afraid not," Kyri answered her sister.

"We've already made our decision." Vash agreed firmly.

"Were not human beings," Knives continued. "We're plants.'

"We know that." Kyri replied.

"We're a superior breed."

"Oh, really?" Vash frowned. Both their guns began to charge, the sisters standing there, glaring at the other. "You are wrong. I will not repeat my mistakes! And I won't let Kyri do it, either!"

The guns fired, each blast ramming against the other as the two men struggled to beat the other.

Kyra moved forward, to attack Vash, but Kyri parried her with her own Gunblade, turning it into a battle of strength. With a roar as the guns sounded behind her, Kyri was able to knock her sister aside, taking deep breaths as she refused to register all the blood that she was losing.

Sleeves gone, both brothers stared at the other, catching their breath. Vash fell to his knees as Knives reloaded his gun with a wicked smile. He went to shoot Vash again but Kyri stepped in the way, blocking the bullets with her blade.

"You can't take us both, Kyri," Knives grinned as Kyra stood up again.

"You'd be surprised with what I can do." The woman grunted, trying to ignore the sting in her right leg from Kyra's blade. "Why not try me?"

Not bothering to wait, Kyri pulled the trigger on her Gunblade, firing her own bullets at Knives as she dodged out of her sister's blade. Refusing to even make a pained face, she tried her hardest to keep both of their attention on her, firing bullets whenever Knives tried to turn back to Vash.

She then felt a sharp pain enter both her knees, forcing her to the ground, roaring in pain as she landed on the said joints.

Kyra gave a grin, releasing her own trigger as Knives grabbed Vash's silver revolver, complimenting Kyra on her 'nice shots'.

"Not a bad job, Ki," Kyra smiled down at her sister, trying to catch her breath. "If you had stayed with us then I have no doubt in my mind that I would have lost our little game here."

"This isn't a game, Kyra," Kyri struggled up to her feet again, wincing at the pain in her knees. She knew that standing in this condition could ruin any chance of her legs fully healing again; or would she be fine due to not being human? Only time would tell. "There are thousands of lives that are riding on this; its nowhere near being a game!"

"Once upon a time that isn't how you felt."

"Try all you want, Kyra, but you'll never change me back into what I used to be. I won't…I won't go back!"

The older woman sighed. "It's such a shame, too." She moved forward to engage in another attack. "You were so perfect, too."

Knives held Vash's gun, his smile getting even more sinister. With both guns in his hands, both arms transformed into the Angel Guns.

"Stop it! Stop it now!" Kyri's blade knocked Kyra's from her hands and she grasped it, running towards Knives. Kyra went to move after her but Vash grabbed her feet and dragged her to the ground.

"Let go of me, Vash!"

"I won't!" He growled, using all his remaining strength.

Vash had wanted to keep Kyri away from battling Knives all that he could but it seemed that he was just going to have to accept that this wasn't going to go exactly the way he pictured it in his head. He had to do all that he could to support Kyri in this battle, just like she had to do him…even if that meant taking care of Kyra while she took care of Knives.

"What are you doing, Kyri?" Knives stared at the woman, chuckling with a smile on his face. She had shoved the blades into the barrel of both the guns, halting their charge for the moment. He struggled to charge them anyway, the force of the ray trying to shove the blades out but Kyri stood her ground, using her strength to hold them back for as long as she could.

She had to think fast. She couldn't hold the charge off forever. She had to find a way to knock the guns from Knives' hands and keep them away from him.

She learned long ago the secret behind the guns that Knives had made. They were weapons created to destroy all human life. Once she had believed that her and her sister's Gunblades held some kind of transformation technique as well, but it turned out not to be so. They were just normal weapons; of you considered Gunblades to be normal.

"Trying to stop you, of course." She grunted. It was a battle of strength now and though she knew that Knives would, undoubtedly beat her, she was going to give it all she could while her brain worked out a possible way to end all of this. "What? Thought I would ask for a dance like when I was younger?"

Knives tossed his head back and laughed. "I've missed your sense of humor, you know. Won't you stop this game and come back?"

"You and Kyra just don't get it, do you?"

"Get what, Ki?"

"You forget who I am, Knives," Kyri grabbed her Gunblade, ignoring the electricity coming off of it. She felt the stinging pain shot through her body at the touch but shoved it aside to deal with later; just like the rest of her wounds. "You trained me, Knives. You trained me not to lose!" Ripping her Gunblade free, she used the handle of it to knock the man in the face and sideswiped his left hand. It transformed back into his regular arm, Vash's silver gun flying from it.

Vash moved, tossing Kyra aside, and grasped his gun again, taking aim and firing a shot through Knives' shoulder as Kyri removed the other Gunblade and sent the black gun to the side in the dirt as he fell to the ground, the two blades in her hands cutting him severely.

Breathing hard, Kyri felt her chest was on fire, her left arm barely holding onto the Gunblade there as she bled from her wounds.

"You…you!" Kyra's voice made both Kyri and Vash turn. She had picked up Knives' gun and was aiming at her sister. The gunshot sounded and Kyri tried to move but found her body wouldn't listen to her. She waited to be shot again but the bullet never came; her sister fell to the ground instead. She turned her head and found Vash had fired that single round left in his chambers.

"Kyra!" Knives' voice rang out in panic as the man tried to reach out for the fallen woman. "Did you…is she…"

With a sigh, Vash moved forward to stare at Knives. He didn't even receive a glance as Knives continued to reach out for Kyra. "No, she's not dead. I promised myself not to kill; and so I won't."

Knives' hand fell and he turned to look up at his brother. "In the end…that thinking will be the cause of your death, brother."

"I…no, we," Vash glanced at Kyri as he grinned. "Will survive." He turned back to his brother, still grinning, and fired a final shot to render his brother immobile and finally bringing this hundred-year fight to an end.

Kyri gave a breath of relief before crumbling to her knees. Forgetting that she had been shot there, the woman gave out a huge cry, followed by tears and wails as the rest of her body made known just how badly wounded she was. She would be fine after some rest, but the pain here and now was agonizing.

Vash dropped to his knees beside her, pulling her into his lap with a worried look. "You definitely got the worse of it all," He told her, careful not to touch anywhere seriously hurt. "Alexia is going to kill me!" He glanced at her face. "Where does it hurt the worst?"

"My heart," She answered, setting her head onto his shoulder, welcoming the warmth of his body. "But that will fade away eventually."

Vash gave her a smile. "We finally did it," He told her. "We stopped them."

"It took too long," She mumbled. The stinging was starting to settle down and she could already feel the smaller wounds closing up but there were many that were going to take days to heal; the knees were probably the worst ones, though. If she had been a human there was no way that she could still stand, let alone fight.

"Now that this is all over…I want a day for just the two of us," Vash told her with a smile. "Nothing but sleep, food, alcohol-"

"-And sex." Her voice cut him off and she had to glance up at him as he began to stutter and speak in that loudly, obnoxious voice of his about why she said that. "I've had to deal with you flirting with other women for the last twenty years. Mr. Stampede. Now that I know you love me, I can happily claim that I'm the first, and only, woman that gets to sleep with the Humanoid Typhoon."

Vash kissed her forehead. "One and only."

The duo sat there together for what seemed hours before the pain faded away from Kyri's body to where she could move without the worst of it bothering her so much. After patching Knives and Kyra up, Vash stripped the red, ruined jacket from his shoulders. Kyri had ripped her body suit off and changed into the shorts and tank top that Alexia had given to her. Vash looked at all the scars she held, though pleased they weren't as bad as his, and had to turn away as his face heated up at the thoughts of their night alone coming up in the front of his mind.

He was sure that his cheeks were going to hurt from the grin stretched on his face.

"So," Kyri watched as Vash tossed his brother over his right shoulder; she had to carry Kyra on her back. "What do we do now?"

Vash smiled. "I'm not sure but…I suppose what we've always done. Just, this time…we won't be alone."

Kyri smiled back. "We haven't been alone for a while, Vash. I just…I'm going to apologize beforehand."

"Apologize? For what?"

"For the children you just adopted with me." She grinned. "Eryn will refuse to let me out of her sights for a long time now that this is all over and with her comes Legato. I have a feeling they'll try to convince Sylvia and Midvalley to stay close as well, and that doesn't even add up Wolfwood and the Rush Twins, let alone the Eye of Michael members that will come looking for me every now and then."

Vash stared at her, as if in shock as she listed off all the people, before giving her a grin again. "Well, as long as they're your kids then I don't mind. Let's just make sure they don't try to kill me for the bounty on my head, okay?"

"Don't worry, Vash," Kyri began to walk away, headed back towards where they left the rest of their party. "You can't have the Siren without the Stampede."

Vash was still, watching her for a moment, before moving after her. "No, you really can't."

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