Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Sinner ❯ The Final Confrentation ( Chapter 6 )

Ch 6 - The Final Confrontation

It was late night or early morning, Vash really didn't know which. The blue of the twin moons peeked into the room caressing the angle that lay in the bed. Seraphine was fast asleep, curled about a space that Vash had occupied moments before.

He looked down at her; a sad smile caressed his face as he looked down to her with an emotion he couldn't name. Not yet. She would probably kick his ass later for leaving her behind but he just couldn't risk it. Knives had already taken Rem from him and he didn't want him to take Seraphine too, not just as he found her.

He left a note on the pillow beside and quietly took the Punisher cross from beside the door, he hesitated at the door and took one look to her and smiled affectionately at her.

"I'll see you soon, angel." He whispered softly as he slipped out the door.

He walked out of the town before anyone else was up, it wasn't much further to Kives and he found his brother in an oasis. He stood up from the table, that mirror image of Vash with blue eyes and silver hair.

"So Vash, did you have a nice time with the humans?" He asked his voice filled with a false curiosity.

Vash thought about the previous night, in the arms of his angle and smiled up at Knives. "Best thing that ever happened to me." He said

"Damn you Vash!" Seraphine snarled as she threw down the letter and began throwing on her clothes.

Dear Seraphine,

I know I don't have the right to ask this of you, but please don't follow me. Knives took someone very dear to me a long time ago and I'm afraid the he'll take you away from me as well. I promise I'll come back soon and then I'll say the words I couldn't bring myself to say to you last night.

I hope you'll be able to forgive me, and you can kiss my ass later! ^_~

Forever yours,

Vash

"You absolute jerk!" She snarled as she finished dressing and grabbed the note as she ran out of the motel. "When I find you kicking your ass is going to be the LEAST of your worries!" She growled.

She stopped a moment as she heard what sounded like an explosion in the distance, wonder what that could've been from! She smirked as she took off running that way.

:You inconsiderate idiot!: She snarled as she ran tears blinding her eyes. :If you get yourself kill I'll never forgive you! You hear me!: Another torrent of curses and threats blew through her mind then finally.

:Just please, be alive!: Was her final agonized plea

This looked REALLY bad, Vash was flat on his back as he looked two his brother with his two angel arms pointed directly at Vash. He had been shot and now he was weaponless due to the fact that his brother had his gun and had blown off the other one attached to his artificial arm.

Knives looked at him with an unholy light outlining his eyes. "It's over, Vash." He snarled, as Vash gritted his teeth unable to do anything else.

"KNIVES!" A voice shouted out, startling the brothers.

"What?!" Knives growled as a shot rang out, and suddenly pain surged through Knives shoulder, then another shot as another hit to his other shoulder caused the angle arms the vanish and Knives go down to his knees holding the two weapons. He panted as he looked up, "Who dares…?!" He demanded

"I dare!" A voice rang out as Vash's heart constricted as he rolled to his side as a familer shadow took from in the dust.

"No…." He whispered as that familer figure came into view.

"It's you!" Knives seethed.

"Seraphine!" Vash cried out, "But…."

"It's not nice to leave girls hanging like that, Vash." She scolded her hair unconfined and blowing wildly in the wind as she trained her weapon at Knives, her eyes hidden behind dark glasses.

"You ungrateful…." Knives began, as Seraphine shot right next to him.

"I've heard enough out of you." She snapped angrily as she walked over to him as he tried to reach for one weapon, only to have her foot come down hard a top his wrist as he cried out in agony as she shoved her gun into his temple. "How's it feel, Knives?" She hissed, her voice devoid of emotions as he looked to her in anger and fear. "To not be in control, to know that you could be within one hair's breath away from dying." She smirked a bit, "To know that you were beaten, buy a mere….what was that you called me?" She mused for a moment, "Oh yes, a mere `spider'."

"Seraphine, no!" Vash called out to her desperately.

"It's what he deserves, Vash!" She snarled as she gripped the front of his suit, she felt Knives tremble as he eyes looked to her in defiance and fear. She smile grimly, "Yes, you know I'm capable of pulling the trigger, Knives." She hissed, "I've done it many times already and you know because you made me this way!"

"Please….Seraphine…" Vash called out o her his voice pained, "I'm begging you, don't kill him!"

"Everything…." She hissed, "Everything is his fault! Milly's pain, Myrel's pain….and you….." Her eyes hardened behind the sunglasses. "If I kill him, it'll all be over, you won't have to run anymore."

"That's not the point!" Vash pleaded, "Seraphine, you said so yourself it's wrong to take the life of another!"

"And yet I've taken them." She said, her voice flat as Vash gasped, his eyes widened her eyes cold. "One more won't matter…." She snarled as she pulled back the hammer.

"No!" Knives cried out wildly, his eyes panicked. She was right, he knew she would pull the trigger. "Vash! Help me! I don't want to die!"

"How man people pleaded for their lives form you in the same way?!" Seraphine demanded as she shook his collar. "How many?!"

"Please, please….I'm sorry!" He whimpered tears in his eyes.

"You're not sorry." She hissed, "A monster like you couldn't ever feel remorse!" Her lips curled back in a snarl, "You always say that humans are inferior to you, that their feelings are meaningless! Know what I think?" She demanded as she whimpered and shook his head a bit. "I think you're just not good enough to feel human emotions, Knives." She said as she threw him back and ripped off her sun glasses as she glared down at him in disgust. "You're just not good enough."

Vash pulled himself up and gently walked over to her, looking at her anxiously. She smirked a bit, "Don't worry Vash. I won't kill him." She said as she continued to look at him, "If I did, then I'd be exactly like him and I'd rather die then to become something so disgusting."

Vash smiled a bit, "You had me worried for a moment there." He said as she looked up at him, narrowing her eyes a bit.

"You should still be, I'm not completely happy with you right now." She said but her eyes betrayed her relief that he was still alive.

He laughed, "You can kick my ass later." He said.

"Fools!" Knives hissed drawing their attention back to him. "You think you've won!" He sat up suddenly, "You're wrong!" In his hand was some kind of devise and immediately he depressed the button…that's when all hell broke loose. The winds picked up as the ground began to tremble.

"What the hell….?!" Seraphine cried out and suddenly a pillar of lost technology erupted from the ground. She and Vash stumbled back a bit as the two erupted from the sands around them circulating and crackling energy about it as Knives laughed wildly.

"Now is time for all to die!" He said with insanity behind his eyes. "All the humans will die! This planet will be purified!" He laughed madly,

"You deranged lunatic!" Seraphine shouted above the whirl of the wind surrounding the thing as she launched herself at Knives and punched him soundly in the jaw knocking him out cold. She straightened and cracked her knuckle grinning, "God, that felt GOOD!"

"Great! Now what the hell do we do with that?!" Vash pointed as she looked over, "God, what the hell is that thing?!" Seraphine demanded.

Vash looked at it as he saw the clouds above the machine start to turn darker. "God, it's a weather main!"

"A what?!" Seraphine demanded as Vash ran over to it, searching around it desperately.

"It's lost technology, used to control the weather!" He called over the roar of the winds, "Knives must've found the technology and rebuilt it!"

"Well, what the hell is it going to do?!" She demanded as he searched and found a console, his fingers flew across the board as his eyes widened. "My God…" He whispered.

"What?!" She demanded as she shoved him aside and read the screen.

Preprogram: activated

Typhoon program: initiated

Target: Gunsmoke

End Results: Eradication of all Human life forms

Time till Program onset: Less than 10 minutes

"That demented son of a bitch!" Seraphine swore as she read the screen.

"We've got to find the power source!" Vash said as his fingers flew over another consol beside the door. "If we can kill the power source, then the main won't have enough power to create that typhoon!"

"Vash, if this is lost technology, than that power source would be…"

"I know." He said grimly, "It would have to be a plant."

"What are you going to do?" She asked

"If I can communicate with it, make it understand that what its doing will cost millions of live maybe I can get it to shut down." He said desperately. As he finally accessed the door.

"Access Granted." An automatic voice stated.

Both Seraphine and Vash looked inside and saw electricity pouring out from everywhere and focused on a small orb and inside that orb was a plant. Vash tried to enter but was immediately seized by electricity. He cried out as he was propelled back.

"You can't go in there!" Seraphine cried as she caught him, "Espically with all metal in your body. You'd be one huge conductor!"

"I can't…." He panted, "I just can let this thing go off!" He said determinedly as he grits his teeth, "I can let anymore die because of my mistake!"

"Knives wasn't your mistake!" Seraphine said as she gripped his shoulders her eyes bore into his, "You're punishing yourself for every action that Knives ever did and none of it was your fault! You weren't the one that made him turn out like he is!"

"But he…." Vash began

"Vash, you're an idiot!" Seraphine snarled and then suddenly threw a punch that connected right under his rib cage knocking all the air out of his lungs.

Vash gave a strangled gasp out as he collapsed to his knees, Seraphine grabbed the two guns that he had collected and desperately wrenched his head back. Before he could say anything she kissed him deeply.

"I love you, Vash." She said as his eyes widened then she pulled away as he reached out for her.

"No….!" He crooked out his eyes in agony.

Seraphine paused at the door, turned and smiled. "Vash, take care of Kinves. `K?" She asked sweetly her eyes looking to him with unconcealed love.

Vash gasped out, and that scean, so close to the one so many years ago made him move. "NO!" He cried out as she stepped into the tower the door sealing behind her. He reached it…too late.

"Damnit!" He pounded against the door, "Serpahine, no! Don't do it!"

Seraphine stood at the side of the door. She didn't have much in the way of metal on, so the electricity only jolted her occasionally. Both guns should be enough to knock out the plant…should this fail.

:Please don't let me fail.: She prayed silently as she walked up in front of the plant. The smooth sphere glowed with energy.

"Hey there." She whispered, her eyes smiling. "Let's take this nice and slow….okay?" She whispered as she holstered her guns, and removed her gloves and gently pressed her forehead against the pulsating orb.

:Can you hear me?: She sent to the plant. :Can you hear my thoughts? I know you can hear me because I sense you consciousness. Please, you have to stop this. Millions of lives will be lost if you continue.: She closed her eyes. :Please, feel the ones that surround you…and know what will be lost if you continue.:

The silence….in the back of her mind she heart a soft heart beat…then another….then another….then suddenly there were more…hundreds…thousands… millions. All the heart beats of every single living being on Gunsmoke suddenly combined into one through her.

Bu bum…bu bum…bu bum…bu bum…bu bum…bu bum…

Suddenly there was a flash a bright light then her eyes flashed open as she saw the plant looking down to her with unreadable eyes. His hands pressed against the glass, as an image of a little girl with long golden blond hair and bright blue eyes flashed between the two…

"No!" Seraphine gasped as the plant cried.

Systems overloaded as the whirling sounds around them failed. The plant was loosing power and the mechanical devices couldn't slow down enough to prevent the tower from destroying it's self!

"Seraphine!" Vash cried out agonized as a blinding flash of light surrounded the tower then suddenly it exploded.

"Vash? Vash!" A voice called to him somewhere beyond the darkness of nothingness. "C'mon Vash! Wake up!"

That voice, Vash knew he knew that voice. Vash's consciousness came to slowly for a moment he was confused, an eerie blue light seemed to in front of him, then suddenly his eyes widened as he remembered. He gasped and immediately sat up….only to be struck in awe. A pair of familiar blue eyes looked down at him in a kind of shocked awe, as Vash scrambled up to his knees.

"N…Nicolas?!" He gasped a bit, unable to believe that he was seeing his old friend again. Suddenly his hand snagged out to grip Nick by the shoulder, afraid that he would disappear before his very eyes. "Oh God!" He said as he pulled his friend into a tight embrace. "You're really here!" He said his heart elated……then he pulled back "How…?"

Nicholas' eyes looked sad for a moment, "I think you need to see this." He said softly as he turned his eyes. Not comprehending Vash turned to see…and gasped.

Standing before them with an still unconscious Knives between them, was Seraphine. Only it wasn't Seraphine anymore. Blue silver energy swirled around her as she held a little blue orb in her hand. She looked out to them, her eyes seeing and unseeing all at the same time.

"Who….?" Vash whispered as he stood up.

The being before them looked down, "Wake up, Knives." Her voice echoed beyond space and time.

Immediately Knives' eyes flashed opened as he looked up….and gasped, scrambling to his knees. "You…." He whispered in fear.

"I am all of creation, and destruction." She said looking to the three before her, "I am order, and chaos. I am life….and death. I am the forces of nature to which the being known as Seraphine called upon. My power is my mind, and my mind my power. When uncorrupted by other factors, my mind becomes my purest form of my power."

"What…..what's going on here?" Vash turned to Nicholas.

Nicholas looked to Vash helplessly, "I'm not quite sure, Vash." He said but he looked to the Being in Seraphine's body and nodded. "I'm not sure if it's God or not, but for a lack of something better to call her…she's a force of the universe." He looked saddened a moment, "She brought me back….so I could be with Milly." He whispered softly, "No matter how unworthy I am…."

"But…where's Seraphine?!" Vash demanded. "What's happened to Seraphine?!"

"She's gone." Knives said bitterly as the being inside Seraphine's body looked down at him. He looked helpless, defeated tears rolling down his face.

"I…I don't believe you!" Vash snapped, "You're lying!"

"The being known as Seraphine called upon power to grant her one true wish." She said as everyone looked up at her, her finger rising up. "That wish was to save the life of that man." Her finger pointed directly ahead. "She wanted to save the being known as Vash, and make him happy. She offered her passionate desire, her pure heart, her body and her soul so that you would survive."

"This….this can't be." He whispered his legs growing weak. "You mean….."

"No one can control the powers of nature, it's uncontrollable." Knives said, "But she did it." He laughed a bit, "The little bitch actually pulled it off."

"Shatup!" Vash flared as he punched his brother, "Don't ever say that about Seraphine! EVER!" Tears poured down his face as he looked up at the being. "I want her back! Do you hear me!" He flared as he picked up one of her forgotten gun and aimed it off at the being. "Bring her back right now!"

The being looked at Vash dispassionately as Nicholas gripped his shoulder, "Vash! There's nothing we can do!" He said.

"Those that call upon the forces of nature are exposed to order and chaos. You cannot have one without the other, and those forces from Chaos eventually have to return to the void. Such is the order of the universe." She said

"She was no creature I created." Knives spat bitterly as he looked up to the being. "You planted her here, didn't you?!" He challenged.

"The being known as Seraphine was alive long before you ever were, Knives. Just like you and all living things she was energy, until that energy took a form where it could interact with others like it. Choose it's own destiny, and create it's own future."

"What are you saying?!" Knives demanded, "That I'm like those pathetic humans?!"

"All life comes from energy, and that energy comes from the same fountain." She replied calmly as she held out her hand, "Look and see the folly of your hatred." She said as the Sphere moved forward as Knives tried to back away. Suddenly the sphere enveloped him as he cried out as Vash and Nicholas looked on helpless. After a moment, Knives' body slumped over, trembling a bit.

"I see…." He whispered softly, as a sob escaped his lips. "I…..see….."

"My God…" Nicholas whispered, surely a miracle had occurred for Knives was crying.

Seraphine's body turned a bit as Vash cried out, "Wait!" He said still pointing his weapon at her, "Bring her back!"

"She is beyond this reality." She said.

"I don't believe that for a minuet!" He said tears streaming down his face. "God, Damnit Seraphine! What's the use of saving everyone if you're not here?!"

"He's right!" Nicholas chimed up, "Take me instead, she doesn't deserve to die!"

"Seraphine wanted to repent for her sin she committed all for the sake of the one she loved." The being said as her eyes softened. "She passed on…..content."

"No!" Vash cried out as he lunged forward and grasped onto her arms, "Don't you dare!" He shouted, "Don't you dare leave me like this, Seraphine!" The being simply looked at him, "Don't leave me please! You're stronger than this! Stronger than anyone I know!" Desperately he pulled her into his arms, "Please…..I need you!" He begged as he cried.

The glow around her began to fade…..as her eyes closed. Once the glow was gone, her body slumped limp in his arms.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" The word was ripped from his voice, as his heart shattered and his soul splintered. He slumped to the ground holding her body, rocking her gently tears streaming down his face, his body racked with horrible sobbs.

Nicholas knelt down next to him fighting his own tears, suddenly there was light surrounding them and a little girl called out.

"What's wrong?" Her child like voice penetrated through Vash's grief.

"She's….she's gone." He sobbed into Seraphine's hair. "Just when I found her, she's gone….I….I never even told her I loved her!"

"No, she's asleep!" the child giggled happily.

Opening his eyes Vash looked up and saw a young girl with long blond hair the color of his own and familiar blue eyes. She was holding a stuffed teddy bear and a helo of white light surrounded her.

"Wha……what did you say?" He asked.

"Don't cry. She's just asleep." The little girl smiled, "She's had a tough time, but she'll get better you'll see! Just don't give up on her, okay?!" The little girl winked as she turned and started running away. "I'll see you soon, `K?" She waved a bit.

"Wait!" Vash called out then suddenly the vision was gone. He blinked a bit his eyes raw with tears he looked to Nicholas. "Did you just…."

"I saw it." He said in awe. "But I'll be damned if I know exactly what it was that I saw." He whispered

Suddenly he felt movement in his arms immediately he looked down and saw Seraphine….she was breathing! "Seraphine!" He cried out….slowly her eyes opened, and his heart crumbled. He was met with a blank stare….he saw nothing in her eyes.

"Her mind's been closed off." Knives said as he looked up to his brother and down at Seraphine. "I saw the vision as well." He said, "One can't be expected to handle those kinds of powers and not have some…..after effect."

"You call this an after effect?!" Vash demanded.

"Vash, remember what the girl said. Seraphine's sleeping, and that she'll get better." He placed a hand on his friends shoulder, and grinned a little. "Hey, she was able to bring me back from the dead. Who knows what else she's capable of doing, right?" He smiled a bit, "Just don't give up on her yet, okay?"

Vash suddenly remember about her care of him, after he had killed Legato…how she wouldn't let him give up. Now it was his turn, carefully he gathered her into his arm. Strangely she still had the two weapons, but somehow he felt as if they should be left there for now, like she was the sleeping keeper of those weapons of destruction, or salvation.

Nicholas walked over to Knives, and held out his hand. Knives looked up at him as Nicholas smirked a bit. "Willing to accept a helping hand from a `spider'?" He asked.

"No." He said softly as he took his hand, "But I will from you."

Nicholas smiled, "That's a start." HE said giving him a `thumbs-up' as he hoisted Knives up, draping one arm over his shoulder.

Vash looked over at the sigh, and smiled a little. He looked down to the dormant form in his arms. "Don't worry, Seraphine." He whispered holding her a little more closely to him. "This time, it's my turn to protect you."