Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Echo ❯ Chapter VI ( Chapter 6 )

Chapter Six

The dusty sands of the surface slowly faded into darkness as Knives lead the way to a lift down into the ground, the light of the sun vanishing to make way to a muggy void. It surprised Vash that no one seemed to notice this place, right outside of the town of Dimitri, but it was here and, from the looks of things, had been here for quite some time. Dust shot up as they stepped, being seen by a dim glow coming from across a bridge they were traveling on. As they came to a door, Knives dusted off a control panel, punching in a few numbers and the door sliding open loudly before revealing a blue light down another hall.

Knives had seemed oddly silent for quite some time on this trip. Vash thought he might have made wise cracks about the human race or about some of the stupid things they did a long, long time ago before they even arrived on this planet, but no. He remained contently silent. Although he had gotten a few peeks at his gaze, he could never really see what his attitude might be, if he were thinking funny thoughts or angry ones. But as they made their way down, the artificial blue light becoming brighter, Knives began to speak his mind.

"Vash, I've been thinking," he said, Vash perking his energy to his hearing rather than his now grumbling stomach.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"We've been traveling for like, what, six weeks now? And it's been two since we came across those humans? Well, for some odd reason...I keep thinking of that child's eyes, the ones that stared up at me with a smile while her mother spoke to you. She just stared with this look that...that made me feel something. Happiness--yes, that was it, happiness towards what I did, towards the fact that I had saved her." Vash looked at him in question as Knives began to laugh. "I know that sounds really stupid coming from me, but it's true, I kid you not!"

Vash smiled slightly. "Maybe you're finally starting to come around."

Knives's eyes narrowed in thought. "Yeah...as much as I don't want to admit it...maybe I am."

It was all Vash could hope for. All he wanted was tranquility between the two of them, for Knives to finally accept humans for their kind and gentle sides that most had. For the longest time he wondered if Knives would ever admit that he had done wrong, that humans weren't so bad after all, that the spider and the butterfly could live together peacefully! Well, he wouldn't go as far as saying that, but at that time he began to regain trust that Knives was beginning to accept this truth. It was all he could ask for, and he just hoped it was finally coming true, that Knives was finally coming around.

As they were coming to the end, Vash couldn't help but look up as they entered a large room filled with glowing blue capsules from the floor that sank beneath them to the ceiling high above. Although they seemed serene the filaments inside some of them were sparking, a buzzing ringing through his ears as he watched Knives keep walking to the end. Knives stood there for a moment, tapping his foot twice and another control panel, this time on a podium that shot up from the floor, appeared in front of him at waist level. After pressing a few buttons, another panel slid out from the end of the walkway, a blank, black screen being seen. Vash gazed over Knives shoulder, watching as he popped in a disk that was already lying at the top of the podium with several others. In this he pressed a few more buttons to access something and images began to circulate across the screen.

Vash stared for a moment, recognizing Legato immediately. Though, there was a problem with this Legato being shown in mirrors and in bottles. Every so often he would smile, and this smile would not be a cynical one, but rather of joy.

"Knives, is this what I think it is?" Vash asked.

"If you think it's memories, then yes, it is what you think it is," he replied with a grin.

He glanced in puzzlement. "But how, exactly, did you get them into this form? It's not like you can just yank someone's thoughts out of their head!" He laughed at the idea, but hesitated when his brother did nothing. "Can you...?"

"Actually, Vash, it's not so much yanking but more of transmitting," he said, Vash raising an eyebrow. "You see, memories are stored in the brain as waves and if you can get to the nerves that can transmit those waves then you can reroute them and store them in anything that can store electric impulses. Example...hmm, let's say a video recorder."

"So...then...how can you see them if they're just electric impulses?"

"How can you see something when it's recorded and then fed back into a screen? Remember the planets we saw on the bridge? Those weren't really the planets but rather the recorded images of them."

"Yeah but these are memories, not something that's right there and can be recorded."

"Again, it's all a matter of brain waves and technology."

Vash stopped for a moment, knowing this wasn't getting anywhere. Instead, he thought of the matter of getting to them. "So how exactly do you get to a nerve in the brain?"

"Well, there's two ways," he said, continuing to sort through the information. "One, you can go through the spinal cord, but with that method you run the risk of paralyzing them. Two, however, is much better, although you'll lose it afterwards."

"Lose what?" he was afraid to ask.

Knives grinned, turning and pointing to the left side of his face. "The eye, Vash. After you transmit everything, the eye is useless, and so you have to implant one."

Vash's eyes widened in realization. "So Legato..."

"Have you ever noticed that his hair covers that side? That's because I made it that way, so that no one would know to tell him and so he would never notice."

"Wait, what do you mean he never noticed?"

"That eye of his sends a counter impulse that makes him forget to look behind it. If anyone were to tell him then the impulse would be counter by his memory of that someone saying it, thus the trigger shutting itself down. In fact the same thing happened with the recorder in his eye, but that just happened because it burned out. If I had done anything more to it, though, the seeing part wouldn't have worked. But all this time he never knew and I still don't think he knows."

A moment of pause slipped by, Vash staring at the screen in thought. But an image past by that made him gasp, stepping closer as it lingered for a few more seconds. He didn't quite get a good look before it changed but he was sure he saw someone familiar.

"Wait, Knives! Go back!" he yelled in a fuss, Knives looking up in surprise.

"Sorry, Vash, I can't. The images is already loaded onto the disk. Why, did you see something?"

"Yeah! I thought I saw..." he hesitated, finding his statement irrational since they were probably on different sides of the planet at the time.

"You thought you saw what?" he inquired.

"...It's nothing..."

Knives blinked slowly once, but shrugged it off and continued on with his work. When he was finished, Knives snatched up the disk that was as big as the tip of his pinky and walking out. The podium lowered as well as the screen, Vash quickly following as they would once again emerge into the sunlight.

The ruins of July were only a heartbeat away in his eyes, appearing over the horizon like a unbelievable mirage that just couldn't be true. But it was there, as real as day, and in it the people there would be real. Though, as the sand settled and all that could be heard was the slamming of shutters, they questioned whether or not there was anyone here. But, as if out of nowhere appeared a platform up against a crumbling brick wall, two forms standing there. A heat wave stood between them and these people, but there was no mistaking the narrow amber eye which stared menacingly at their approaching presence.

'Don't move. Just let them approach and look as concerned as you can. No matter what happens, do not show any worry for me,' he thought, the woman standing in front of him hearing it.

'That won't be too hard,' she thought sarcastically, smiling slightly. She straightened out, though, and continued. 'But you promised not to use me as a hostage for real, remember?'

'I remember, and I remember promising not to hurt you, too.' He grinned. 'In truth, I never intended to kill you. I just thought you might like to know that.'

'I know. But thanks anyways,' she chuckled, mimicking him from earlier. They both turned serious, though, as they came close enough to see their expressions.

Vash and Knives came about ten feet from the platform before they stopped, giving a stare down upon Legato and he doing the same upon them. It was an uneasy moment of silence, but at least it was silent with peace.

"Well, it seems you've managed to come here on your own. I sent out bandits to come and find you but apparently they failed to do their job in bringing you here. However, they did succeed in liberating your weapons," Legato finally spoke after the long minute of silence.

Although Knives remained inexplicably calm, Vash had an undying itch underneath his chest that made his heart race in anxiety. To see the condition she was in, with her hands being held behind her back and Legato's arm around her neck with a gun in his hand, made him angry but a bit queasy all at the same time. What made it worse was that Legato had Ivory in that hand, his gun, and if he used it against any innocent person, including her...it would make him feel all the more shoddier for being so irresponsible to let that gun fall into the wrong hands.

"We have what you asked for. Now give her back," Vash said, balling his fists.

"And the guns," Knives spoke suddenly, Vash adverting his gaze in question.

"Fine. But first you hand me what I asked for."

They glared at each other a moment more, Knives reaching into his pocket as he spoke. "Very well. You hand the girl the guns and walk her over as Vash goes and hands you this."

Katyenka looked up in the corner of her eye at Legato, seeing his glare drip with distain. She wondered under that calm, collected expression how much he wanted to lash out at the man who stood only feet away. Of course, she would have gladly held him down for him, but it was no time to blow their cover.

"A disk?" Legato inquired as Knives held it up. "How am I suppose to see them when you give me only a disk?"

Knives grinned. "Well, you didn't exactly specify in what format."

Legato didn't flinch in expression, but he did arm the gun and aim it at her temple. Katyenka's eyes widened in terror, questioning now whether he was a man to keep his promises or not. She supposed it didn't matter, for he would've done it with or without any promises. But she didn't struggle, though, for the words he spoke a moment later put her soul at ease.

'I promised, Katyenka Buskus, and I will keep that promise, so help me. But you must trust me.'

Before she had time to think of a reply, he continued. "If you want to play it that way then fine, it's blood on your hands." He slowly smiled, gazing at Vash. "Well, Vash the Stampede, are you ready to have another life gone, this time because of your carelessness in letting this gun of yours fall into the wrong hands? You know I could kill her with my very thought, but to what purpose would that serve? This seems much more significant, wouldn't you say?"

Vash's gaze remained firm for a time, defiantly staring on as a twinge of noise began to knock on his eardrum. After a time it was hard to ignore, sounding like someone struggling to the right of him. He finally looked over to see what disturbed the ill quietness, his firm gaze melting away and freezing into a horrified one.

From a distance, Meryl and Milly were being pushed along and finally landing face first ten feet away from the platforms right. Katyenka turned her head to see what was happening, but Legato continued to smile scathingly at Vash, joy filling him to how much an advantage this could be.

"Hey, boss, we gots ya two more workers," one of the men who had pushed the girls along said, not even seeming to notice Vash or Knives.

Legato chuckled at the irony, beginning to laugh whole heartedly as he shook his head. "My, my, isn't this familiar, Vash the Stampede? Do you remember the screams, the cries of these two as the villagers leaned in for the kill? It seems like only yesterday..."

Meryl looked up at Vash's tearing eyes, hearing a gun being arms behind her and one of the men hoisting her to her feet. It was heart wrenching to see him to upset, appearing so helpless as if he were stuck between a rock and a hard place that were closing in on him. And it was all her fault--it was her fault for him shattering into two, knowing that the option of deciding which should die was now on the table. She had become the hard place for being so arrogant to not trust him on his own, and now it made her cry to see him so terrified of what was to happen in the next few moments.

"So, Millions Knives and Vash the Stampede, how do you propose to give me my memories? I will receive them today and, if not, one of these pairs will die." He force Katyenka closer to him, pushing the gun to her head as he grinned widely. "What will it be, Vash the Stampede? It is your call. Will it be your dearest of friends, your companions? Or will you lose the last link to your beloved Rem Saverem?"