Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Incompatible ❯ Chapter 0022 ( Chapter 22 )

Trigun Fanfic

Trigun © Yasuhiro Nightow * Shonen Gaho-sha * Tokuma Shoten * JVC * Pioneer Entertainment (USA) Inc.

The following fanfiction was written by me (Chiruken) and is intended for the sole purpose of shared entertainment and not intended for publication or sale.

--Incompatible-

Trigun Fanfic Featuring Knives and Meryl. Knives hates all humans. Meryl just hates Knives. It's a match ideal for the promise of Eden.

By Chiruken

Chapter 22

**~**

"Emily?" Knives called out in exasperation. He'd decided to give his sister a name and since she didn't seem to have a preference he'd deemed 'Emily' to be sufficient. That had been the name of the child he'd saved from the sandstorm. It hadn't taken Emily long to master the power of speech, but her curiosity in her surroundings was a constant source of frustration for him. It was difficult to remember that she was the elder of the two when she wandered around like a child delighting in a new toy. "Emily, where are you?" He called again as he stood, intending to search in the direction he'd last seen her wandering.

"Knives-brother!" She appeared suddenly and smiled brightly, smoky blue eyes twinkling happily as the wind blew locks of her platinum blond hair across her ageless face. "Why are there no humans here?"

He sighed and shook his head. "The humans have their own settlements far from here. When we are finished our task, we will go see them. I've told you this, Emily." She wrinkled her nose and turned away with a flounce. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. If one were to judge by her, it could easily be forgotten that they were beings of superior intellect and strength. If he had to choose an actual term for her behavior, he'd have to say she was displaying an alarming tendency towards being a Plant equivalent of a human airhead. "Probably get along great with Vash and Millie." He muttered under his breath before running his fingers through his hair in frustration. "Emily…" He began and sighed when he saw her crouched down and staring intently at the ground. "What are you doing?"

"Watching the ants." She responded immediately as she tilted her head to the side. "They're so small…and busy…and…"

"Yes, Emily." He sighed and slowly counted back from ten to regain his hold on his patience. "They're busy. Ants are always busy. They build and they gather food and they keep building…"

"Just like humans?" She looked up and smiled. "Humans are like ants. Interesting."

"Uh…" He turned away to stare out over the endless iles of sand stretching towards the horizon. He was going to have to take her to a human settlement soon so she could see for herself what they were like.

She looked down at the ants marching single file again. Reaching down, she picked one up between two fingers and squinted at it before squishing it. She blinked in surprise and stared at the smear of ant on her fingers for a moment before tears filled her eyes and glittered on her lashes before slowly trickling down her pale cheeks. "Are humans as easily squashed, Knives-brother?"

He blinked and shook his head sharply. "Emily, we've been through this. You can't squash all the humans." He sighed and scowled. "I can't believe I'm actually saying this…" He muttered and shook his head again before turning back to her.

"I know…" She looked up at him and sniffled loudly. "I'm sorry, Knives-brother."

Knives knelt in the sand beside her. "Emily? What's wrong? Why are you crying?" He hated to see his sister so sad. It was like looking at a small puppy that just got kicked and somehow he felt as if he had been the one doing the kicking.

"I-I…" She whimpered softly and sniffled again. "I squished the ant!" She wailed and threw herself at him.

The air whooshed out of him at the impact and he fell heavily to his backside in the sand. "It's okay, sister. It was an accident, right?" He placed his arms around her awkwardly and patted her back soothingly. He grunted when her grip tightened and felt his ribs creak from the pressure. "Emily…" He was finding it difficult to draw in a breath with the way she was squeezing him so tightly. "Emily-sister…you're holding too tight."

She released him immediately. "Oops…I forgot. Sorry!" She grinned at him and moved away to stand. "Let's finish the rest of the solar panels, okay? I want to sleep in the ship tonight."

He shook his head in wonder at the rapid change in her mood. "You're just like Vash." He smiled and stood to follow her back to the reflective panels they'd been assembling before she'd gotten sidetracked.

"When will I get to meet Vash-brother? He sounds nice. Is he like you? Where is he?" She knelt and began to deftly move the large panels close so he could finish welding them together. "Do you think he'll like me?" She looked up with a worried frown.

"Of course he will. Vash likes everyone." He snorted and moved the wand with its small flame over the metal. "Look away, Emily." He reminded her gently as the sparks flew around them.

"Oh…yeah. I forgot." She smiled sheepishly and lifted the finished product to set it aside and moved more panels into its place, seemingly unaffected by the weight of the solar receptors. "Are we almost finished, Knives-brother?"

He paused in his task and shook his head. "Yes, Emily. Exercise some patience, please."

"But I want to be done **now**! It's hot out here and my skin feels all tingly and the suns hurt my eyes and I'm hungry and thirsty and…"

He held up his hand. "Ten minutes, Emily. It'll only be another ten minutes if you stop chattering and get busy."

"Okay. No problem. Leave it to me!"

He sighed and shook his head slowly. The project shouldn't have taken much more than a day or two, yet with Emily's seeming inability to keep her mind on one thing at a time, the work had stretched out into four days. He couldn't really fault his sister since this was her first time out of the bulb she'd been trapped in for her entire life, but still…it was frustrating. He was finding it increasingly difficult to remember that she was older than he was, by at least fifty years if the data he'd read before extracting her had been accurate. He was reminded suddenly of Millie Thompson. He smiled and turned his attention back to the solar panels he was joining together. Emily was innocent like her, untainted by the ugliness of the world around her. He hoped she could stay the way she was. It was irritating at times, but he'd rather put up with her childish antics that have to deal with her tears of grief and betrayal. He never wanted his sister to have to endure what he'd gone through.

"Knives-brother…" He looked up at her hesitant tone and tilted his head to the side to show that he was paying attention. "Will we be able to free the other Plants?"

"I hope so. If this works…" He indicated the solar receptors they had already completed. "Then there shouldn't be a problem."

"Then we'll be able to create Eden and everyone will be happy, right?"

"Yeah…that's the idea…" He frowned, still plagued by doubts. Truthfully, he wasn't certain the humans would be receptive to the idea of giving up their only source of energy for another one. Humans were funny that way, he'd discovered. They much preferred to stay with what they knew, even if they didn't fully understand it, rather than embrace something different and unknown. He only hoped that he could convince them otherwise. With a different source of power, the solar panels, they would no longer need to drain the Plants to sustain their lives. That way, the Plants could be freed and no longer have to suffer.

"Knives-brother…" He shook himself from his thoughts and looked up at her again. "We could also harness the energy of the wind, you know." He tilted his head to the side in consideration before nodding slowly. "Wind power combined with solar power would more than compensate for the loss of Plant power, don't you think?"

"Absolutely, Emily." He grinned and turned back to his task. There was so much to do and he found himself becoming filled with excitement. The future was beginning to look brighter and better with each passing moment. He was glad he'd stumbled across the abandoned ship and his sister. Without her, he'd still be clueless as to how to free the Plants without killing all the humans. "Thank you, Emily."

"For what?"

"For renewing my hope."

"Oh. You're welcome."