Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Forever Mine ❯ Ever Changing Tides ( Chapter 27 )

 

Disclaimer: Hmmm... I own my kids (Because I made them) I own my husband, (Because the Marriage License says so) and I own a REALLY big mortgage. (Because I'm stupid and signed on the dotted line.) However I don't own Trigun. (Because if I did, I wouldn't have said mortgage.)

“blah blah” : talking

`blah blah' : thinking

“blah blah” : telepathic talking

blah blah : other misc. stuff.

 

*~*~*

 

Forever Mine

Chapter 27: Ever Changing Tides

 

 

 

McKenna rushed through the infirmary doors and noticed a hand full of children, all covered in dirt and sand with varying degrees of distress on their youthful faces.

 

“What happened,” she started as they all brought their attention from the left doorway to the redhead and the platinum blonde. Then without waiting for an answer, she briskly walked through throng and to the door that they were intently staring at just an instant before. There she saw a teenaged boy staring worriedly at the bed, while Meryl was starting an I.V. on its occupant. A little boy of about ten, who was covered in dirt and in obvious pain, lay there while small whimpering cries and troubled breaths escaped from his bleeding mouth. “Meryl, what happened,” she asked, coming up to the bed before intently assessing her young patient.

 

“Miss Mac, he ahhh… fell,” started the older boy, not looking away from the bed.

 

“How?” McKenna asked as she started to feel his limbs for broken bones.

 

“Well, they were up on the cliff south of the ship fooling around and, Tommy here, decided that he wanted to balance on the ledge…”

 

“Wait… that drop is about four stories,” she sputtered as she stopped for a moment to look at the teen. “Joshua, did you see him fall?”

 

“Yeah… I did,” Joshua muttered as a tear slipped down his face. “Tommy… ummm… fell about halfway and then rolled the rest of the way down the slope. You see… I…I was…”

 

“Go on,” Mac urged.

 

“Ummm… I was at the bottom, yelling at him to stop and when he… ahhh… lll…looked to me, he lost his… balance,” the sobbing young man whispered as he looked down to the floor.

 

“Joshua, this isn't your fault,” Meryl said as she stepped over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. While Mac pulled out a pair of scissors from a drawer and started to cut away the boy's clothing.

 

“Josh did you see… oh Christ…” the redhead exclaimed as she pulled away his shirt and saw the bruising, the abrasions, and the severe indentation traveling down Tommy's right ribcage. Then to prove her suspicions, the boy before her started coughing raggedly as blood spewed from his mouth. “Shit… they pierced his lung,” she breathed before she started snapping orders, “Meryl, get the Doc now! Josh out!”

 

As the two fled the room, McKenna started rushing around the room grabbing a bag of clear liquid from one of the drawers and attached it to the I.V. Upon setting up the drip, she then rushed back over to the drawers and pulled out a long and thin piece of lost technology that looked similar to the flat panel monitor, only free floating. She quickly held it over the boy's injury and proceeded to scan his chest cavity.

 

After the internal scan was complete, she tapped the lower side of the screen making a full color picture appear on the cool glass. `Oh fuck,' she thought as she took in the extent of the injury. Internal bleeding abound, the fall shattered the boy's three lower ribs while the rest snapped in two parallel places. One an inch from his sternum and then again approximately three inches away, while two of the now free-floating pieces imbedded themselves in his lung.

 

Knives watched the situation from just inside the doorway absorbing the interaction. He followed McKenna as she went to the boy and started checking him for injuries. He felt when the `healer' took over as she questioned the teen as to what happened. The Plant realized that she desperately wanted to help the injured boy and it hurt her knowing that he was in such pain. She wanted to relieve that pain, stop his suffering.

 

He vaguely noticed when Meryl walked up to the adolescent, his attention only on McKenna as she started to cut his partially torn shirt. Then he heard her mutter `oh Christ' once she pulled away the cotton and noticed just how dire the situation was. The next thing he knew, the two other occupants where scurrying out of the room.

 

Remaining in the corner, he entered her mind observing her, feeling her, as she frantically moved about the space preparing the boy for the Doc's arrival while hoping for the improbable that he didn't have a punctured lung. Once she had the lidocaine drip in place, she prepared to confirm her sinking suspicions as she pulled out the scanner and ran the machine.

 

He knew that the boy actually living through the ordeal was highly unlikely, especially when he saw the pictures. The chest cavity was a mess, blood and bone floating about the space, while the lung had now completely collapsed. It almost looked as if someone repeatedly hit his chest with a sledgehammer, totally decimating the area.

 

Then he heard her. The internal curse flew to him as if she had spoken it out loud. The woman knew, deep down she knew, that the child's chances were slim and it grieved her, greatly. He felt the anguish starting to peak as she breathed in deeply and again started to scurry about the room, hoping against hope that she and the Doc could save him. Save the little boy who had only begun life just a decade before. The boy who would never have the chance to experience life and in the depths of his soul it bothered him. Causing strange emotions to rise, emotions that he never thought were possible coming from him… compassion, sorrow, and fear. The combination of this and feeling her was his undoing…

 

He felt something deep inside snap.

 

With purpose in his stride, he walked up to the bed and looked down to the boy, mentally entering his prone body. He noticed that he didn't have long as he prepared himself.

 

“Knives, what the hell are you doing?” red yelled finally aware of his presence right before she watched him place his hands on the boy. As fear took over, she ran up to the Plant trying to stop him from whatever it was he was going to do.

 

“Woman, there is no time,” the blonde growled as he froze her in place with a thought. He then closed his eyes, bringing his attention back to the dying child.

 

A moment later, a warm sensation started flowing about the room, charging the air with an indescribable energy… a positive energy. It electrified the space as the currents became stronger.

 

McKenna felt his control over her lessen as the force grew and an instant later she was completely free. But, she still stayed cemented in place, because of what was happening before her. The incredible power was radiating from the Plant making his entire body shimmer as he focused that energy solely on the child. She noticed how his face furrowed in deep concentration, while his hands remained stationary over the injury.

 

Then just as quickly, the flow stopped and Knives sank to his knees, breathing raggedly from exertion.

 

“Knives,” McKenna cried as she rushed and knelt next to his drained form. She softly placed one hand on his shoulder and the other on his cheek in order to bring his slightly dazed gaze to hers. “Are you okay?”

 

He tried to focus on the woman before him, as the images of what just happened swam throughout his consciousness. He closed his eyes trying control himself, his breathing, and his mind. Also, trying to rationalize what just happened. Then it dawned on him.

 

He just saved a life…

 

A human's life.

 

The revelation hit him like a ton of bricks. With utter shock crossing his features, Knives opened his bright eyes and looked to the woman before him. Then with a menacing growl, he pushed her away and stood before sprinting from the infirmary.

 

 

 

*~*~*

 

 

 

Vash stood at the base of one of the newly formed foundations while wiping the sweat from his brow. Building new homes was quite a strenuous occupation, but at the same time, very rewarding. He loved the physical labor and working with his hands, while knowing that he was making something that would help others live a more comfortable life. He could definitely see why Milly loved working on the well so much. After all, she was basically doing the same thing. She was helping make Gunsmoke a more enjoyable place to live. With a contented sigh, he picked up his canteen and took another swig before picking up his shovel, heading over to help with another new foundation a few yarz away.

 

That's when he felt it, the raw power flowing through the air coming from the ship, from his brother. He immediately tried to contact his sibling, but to no avail. Knives wasn't responding, even though, their link was wide open. It was almost as if he couldn't, as if he had his energy focused on one point.

 

“No Knives,” he breathed as sheer panic set in. Dreading the worst, Vash did the only thing he could do at that moment… he ran. He took off toward the ship as fast as his legs could carry him, hoping that nothing was horribly wrong, hoping that he just wasn't sensing the situation properly.

 

Soon he found himself inside the ship and being lifted in the air by the main elevator. To nervous to stand still he started to pace on the platform as another thought came to mind. “Meryl,” he said out loud before he entered her mind. “Meryl, are you all right? What's happening?”

 

“Oh Vash, please hurry, we're in the infirmary!” she cried internally, instantly relieved that Vash was on his way.

 

“Knives, is he okay?”

 

“I…I don't know,” she started just above whisper. “He ran… there was an accident…and… a little boy.”

 

“What?” Vash cried as he stepped into the hallway and started running again.

 

“He saved him, Vash.”

 

“Hold on, I'm coming up to the main control room now…”

 

A few tense minutes later, Vash ran through the double doors and saw Meryl, Jessica, and a bunch of children standing about, waiting for his arrival. He immediately walked up to his petite beauty and enveloped her in a comforting embrace, causing the woman in his arms to cry out softly in relief.

 

“Shhh… its okay Angel, I'm here,” he whispered as he affectionately stroked her hair oblivious of the wide-eyed stares from the children and the unrestrained jealously arising from the other woman in the room.

 

“Ahhh… Vash,” the Doc said from the far left doorway, noticing the scene playing before him. There was Vash looking to him expectantly, while holding Meryl close as Jessica looked on, not entirely thrilled about the whole situation. Immediate separation was in order. With a sigh, he asked, “Jessica, did Joshua go and fetch Tommy's parents?”

 

“Yeah Doc,” she replied tersely, still watching the couple before her.

 

“Good! Why don't you take the children, get them some ice cream and then go play in the rec room. I'll come down shortly to retrieve you,” the older looking man suggested in a tone that meant it was an order. The woman in braids looked to her mentor with irritation apparent in her eyes. Then with a `humph' she huffily stomped out of the room, taking the children with her.

 

After his adopted daughter left, Doc rubbed his baldhead in exasperation before he brought his attention back to the remaining two in the room and saw Vash gently wiping Meryl's tears away. “Vash,” he started again, instantly bringing the outlaw's attention back to him.

 

“Doc, what happened?” Vash asked worriedly as he grabbed Meryl's hand and walked up to the smaller man, causing him to chuckle at the distressed look crossing the blonde's face.

 

“Oh, don't worry it wasn't anything bad. Actually, it was quite good, I'd say!” he happily supplied as he ushered the two into the room where the little boy was now resting comfortably.

 

“What do you mean, Doc?”

 

“Here, I want you to look at something,” the Doc advised before he picked up the scanner and turned it on. Handing it over, he asked, “What do you see?”

 

“God… what a mess,” Vash muttered, viewing image of boy's chest cavity. “Is this the boy's?” he asked as his eyes started to water.

 

“It was… Now bring up the second shot.”

 

Vash touched the screen, instantly bringing up the most recent picture and gasped. It was another picture of the boy's chest and, according to the time printed on the upper right side of the screen, it was taken seven minutes later. The cavity looked as if it had been pieced and fused back together. So well in fact, that the only way you could tell that the area once severely damaged was by the hairline fractures still lacing along the ribs.

 

“Knives did this, didn't he?” Vash whispered as looked over to Meryl and saw her watery smile while she nodded, confirming his speculation. “Oh my God…” he breathed, turning his gaze over to his friend.

 

“Mac said that your brother walked up to the bed and placed his hands on Tommy. Then the next thing she knew energy was flowing from him and into the boy. She also said that it lasted only a few minutes and then it suddenly stopped before Knives collapsed to the floor,” the Doc elaborated before supplying, “Vash, there wasn't much hope for the child and your brother most likely saved his life.”

 

“Oh my God,” he repeated in shock, while trying to digest exactly what happened. Then he realized it, what exactly did happen. His twin, the human hater, saved a human. The very same species he was only too willing to destroy just a few weeks before. Finally, the tide had completely turned and he knew that his brother was letting the bitterness and anger go. Tears of joy started to flow freely down his face as he handed the scanner back to the Doc and cupped his real hand over his mouth.

 

“Oh Vash,” Meryl whispered as she walked over to him and started wrapping her arms around his waist, until he dropped to his knees and wrapped his own arms around her. She, instead, wrapped them around his shoulders as he cried in earnest into her chest.

 

A few minutes had passed when he finally composed himself enough to pull away from the tender embrace. With a small smile, he told his short-girl thank you right before he lightly kissed her on the lips. He then rose from the kneeling position and looked back over to the Doc. “How's the boy now, Doc?”

 

“Well, he will probably be in quite a bit of pain over the next few days from all of the bruising, but that's probably about it,” the Doc answered as he lowered the blanket and showed Vash that his entire side was nothing, but black and blue. “Mac and I decided it would be best to keep him here overnight, for observation.”

 

“Speaking of red, where is she?”

 

“She went looking for Knives after telling us what happened, Vash,” Meryl supplied. “She said he seemed pretty drained from using all of that energy.”

 

“Hmmm… I tried to contact him once I felt the spike…” he started as he ran his hand through his hair. Then with a sigh, he said that he would try again before telepathically calling out to his brother, “Knives where are you? Are you okay?”

 

“Go away Vash,” Knives growled.

 

“Knives, please, talk to me!”

 

“I said go away, damn it!”

 

“Fine I'll let you go for now, just as long as you tell me you are all right.”

 

“Physically… I'm fine,” Knives internally whispered right before he closed the link.

 

Vash sighed again as he rubbed his eyes. His brother's conflicting emotions were creating a great amount of turmoil throughout his being and it troubled the younger sibling greatly, because Knives refused to let him help.

 

“Vash?” Meryl began as she temporarily brought him out of his thoughts. “Did you talk to him?”

 

“Yeah…”

 

“And?”

 

“He said that physically he was fine.”

 

“Oh…well… Could you contact McKenna and at least let her know that? She was pretty worried.”

 

“Yeah,” Vash replied before he opened his mind to locate the redhead. Once he found her, he immediately contacted her. “Hey red don't worry about Knives. I found him and he's okay.”

 

“Where is he Mr. Vash?” McKenna asked as she momentarily stopped her search.

 

“Ummm… I don't know if I should tell you.”

 

“Please Mr. Vash. Please tell me,” she pleaded, still worried about the platinum blonde's wellbeing.

 

With a deep sigh, he closed his eyes for a moment before he internally muttered, “He's in the cold sleep chamber.”

 

 

 

*~*~*

 

 

 

Knives remembered how he used to love going into the cold sleep chamber on their ship for hours at a time. Walking through the endless iles of capsules, wondering about the humans inside, wondering about their pasts, and what their futures would hold. However, that had been a very long time ago, in a sense a lifetime ago.

 

“Two lifetimes actually,” he muttered to himself as he looked through the glass and into the cavern before him, while debating if he should enter the frigid space. After all, he hadn't stepped foot in one since before the Great Fall. His hate for the species and what happened the last time he ventured in one hindered any desire for him to do so, until now.

Now, the Plant felt strangely compelled to do so. He felt the pull of the childlike curiosity take over. Something he hadn't felt since he was small, when he actually tolerated humans for the years that he and Vash lived on the ship with Rem.

 

“No I can't! This is wrong,” Knives said with resolve as he slammed his right fist up against the glass. He had hated their kind for 130 years. It just couldn't be possible for him to change his views so rapidly. But still, the incessant drive to annihilate was no longer there, nor did he feel the deep-rooted hatred. It had diminished significantly over the past weeks because of what Vash and his pets had shown him. He even saved the life of one less than an hour before.

 

However, even though he saved one, that didn't mean he was ready to embrace them like his twin had. After all, humans were worthless creatures that only strived for self-preservation. They didn't care about his brethren. They only cared about the power flowing to their webs.

 

“Wait… that isn't exactly true, either,” he whispered.

 

The platinum blonde figured that out by observing them. They didn't know about his sisters in the containment spheres. The only ones who knew were in Vash's inner circle. And hadn't they relieved the burden from his sisters on the ship by shutting power off to the unused areas. Not to mention, the Doc put his trust in him by asking for help with the plant's efficiency. That, alone, saved their output by at least twenty percent.

 

But how could they put their trust in him? It just didn't make sense, he was the real reason Vash became an outlaw and they should have shunned him for it, but they didn't. For the most part, they all treated him with respect and gave him something that he never thought would be possible coming from humans, companionship. But, how could they respect him and treat him as a friend, especially with horrendous acts of violence he had administered over the years? Including all of the brutal deaths, committed either by his very own hands or through his pawns.

 

After all, wasn't he the killer of millions?

 

`Perhaps, Steve was right. I am a monster,' he thought before realizing that he was no longer alone.

 

Once the elevator doors opened, McKenna stepped into the darkened room as her gaze scanned the area looking for the tall and probably brooding Plant. An instant later, she found him standing up against the glass, looking out into the lighted space of the chamber. His rigid form cast in shadows, while the artificial light outlined his perfect physique in incandescence. If she didn't know any better, the redhead would have sworn that he was oblivious to her presence. She simply stood at the room's entrance waiting for him to acknowledge her, to tell her to go away. But, he didn't. He just stood there without saying a word and continued to keep his gaze on the vast openness of the chamber. Building up her courage, Mac breathed out deeply and prepared to walk to the man, until he decided to break the silence.

 

“You know… when I was little, I used to go into a chamber just like this,” he told her with a hint of sadness in his voice as he continued to stare straight ahead. “I would spend hours walking through the slumbering masses, wondering about them, their lives.”

 

“Why did you stop?” McKenna wondered as she walked up to stand next to him.

 

“I realized just how disgusting your kind was,” he replied tersely. Then after a short pause, he coldly asked, “Why are you here?”

 

“I… ahhh… I came to see if you were all right,” she started before turning so she could look at his profile. “And to… thank you.”

 

“For what, woman?” he bit out.

 

“For saving Tommy, he would have died if you wouldn't have done whatever it was you did.”

 

“Don't thank me, yet. I will just end up terminating his life, anyway,” he said with a pained voice, while trying to show irritation.

 

“I don't believe you,” she quietly replied as she brought her left hand up and lightly touched his right arm.

 

“Woman, don't irritate me,” he growled as he looked down to her. “If I say I'm going to do something then I will do it!”

 

“No Knives, how can to say that? You saved that little boy's life…” she began before he cut her off.

 

“No McKenna, I'm a cold-blooded killer! I have killed literally millions of your kind,” Knives seethed as he tore her hand off of his arm and turned to hover over her. “You should be afraid of me. I am a monster…” he added maliciously as he grabbed her forearms and moved her so that she was sandwiched between the glass and his body.

 

“You're not a monster… and I…I'm not afraid of you,” she whispered as she looked up to his ice-blue eyes.

 

“Then I shall make sure that you are…” he hissed, lifting her up by the arms to bring her eye level. He then leaned into her as he brought his forehead to hers and stared into her wide eyes. `Ready to see just what kind of monster I really am,' he added telepathically before the onslaught of images was sent to her.

 

Images of his past, snippets of memories that molded him into what he was today. All beginning on a ship, similar to the one they were on now, and of the crew. Joey, Rowan, Mary, and…

 

A woman with long black hair, warm brown eyes, and twinkling laughter… Rem.

 

A large man with a short temper and a heavy hand… Steve.

 

The events came next flashing into her mind...

 

The beatings Steve would initiate and all of his malicious comments aimed toward Vash and himself.

 

Young Vash free floating and crying, while saying that Steve hated them because they weren't human. A voice, Knives' voice, telling him to be patient, meaning that they would soon be free of the wary glances and the crew's uneasiness.

 

A vision of a butterfly caught in a spider's web and Vash's hand reaching to free the captive until his hand reached out to crush the spider. The boy's fight and Rem's stirring words.

 

The time Steve caught him `trespassing' in the cold-sleep chamber and the subsequent beating. The memory clouding over as the brute stalked him while undoing his pants. The faint murmurings of how it was time to show him the dominate species as the image faded to black. Waking up in unbearable pain, bleeding, and broken.

 

His blinding hatred taking root resulting in revenge…

 

Mary accusing Steve of raping her, Joey passing judgment on the bastard, sentencing him to be cryogenically frozen, permanently, thanks to his alterations of the chamber.

 

Vash, Rem, and he finding out Rowan had gone insane and shot Mary, killing her. Rowan's ranting and accusing him of the conspiracy, before the scared man pointed the gun at his forehead. Rem stepping in front of the laser, while saying that no one had the right to take the life of another right before the storage room's doors rushed opened. Rowan, along with Mary's lifeless body, was sucked out into space.

 

Him walking up to Joey saying that he agreed with his actions right before he shot and killed him. Then when he entered the altered course into the ship's main computer, causing the Great Fall.

 

Rem telling Vash to take care of Knives before the pod doors shut.

 

Their escape in the pod and watching as their ship exploded and the other ships' thrusters kicked in.

 

Vash's hysterics.

 

The twelve years of wandering the wasteland, while disagreeing on their points of view.

 

Locating the Plant ship, the only one he meant to save. The one needed to create his Eden.

 

Creating the long colts and showing Vash their destructive secret, the angel arm.

 

Their life altering disagreement about the human's rights, their struggle, him getting shot, and their separation.

 

His years of loneliness as the anger grew as well as his skills.

 

Decades later, him entering the Third City of July, while seeking out Rem's last relative and killing him. Vash walking into the dead man's office, immediately seeing his long lost brother. Their preceding argument before Vash pulled out the colts and then a gunshot. Vash's arm being shot off before he triggered the angel arm…

 

Ultimately destroying July.

 

Acquiring Legato and replacing his left arm with Vash's severed one.

 

Legato recruiting the Gung-Ho Guns and having them go after Vash.

 

The destruction of Augusta.

 

All of the disappearances and deserted cities.

 

The death of Nicholas D. Wolfwood.

 

Ordering Legato's death by his brother's own hand.

 

Their final showdown.

 

McKenna received the timeline with a vivid clarity, almost as if she were there, watching the events unfold as an outside spectator. But, she didn't just receive his memories. She also received his feelings associated with each occurrence, the hurt, the anger, the sense of betrayal, and the loneliness.

 

All of it overwhelming her senses as she took it all in and the resulting shock blatantly apparent as her hazel orbs glazed over and her complexion became sickly. Her shallow breaths laboring through her parted mouth, barely registering that the horrific scenes were over and he that was talking inside of her head.

 

`I did all of that. I told you spider that I was a monster,' Knives vehemently whispered to her internally as he released his hold. He simply let her slide down the glass partition before she passed out, laying on the cold metal floor. With a sigh, the platinum blonde looked to her fallen form for a moment before turning and striding to the exit. He then set his cold-blue eyes on her again before entering the elevator and frowning. With another sigh, he opened the link with his twin and told him where to retrieve her.