-----Gossamer Wings and Sweet Tasting Things-----


---A Trigun Fanfiction---

 


-----DISCLAIMER-----


...
Don't sue.



 


-----AUTHOR'S NOTES-----

Lynda:  Oh, hush, Ms. Cymberleah ma'am. **smiles embarrassedly** Maybe one day my fingers'll slow down for my brain. And for those that were wondering, sorry bloke and blokettes, this tain't the last chapter. But it's close.
Hokay. Let's get this done... I warned you it would be big.

Kuroneko: Mya. **purrs and cuddles up to K. Mama**

 


-----*+*-----

 

There was a room; enormous, forgotten, empty... 
It seemed the perfect type of place for unhealthy amounts of dust, but not even dust had breached from the outside world in. Dormant computer consoles skirted the entire perimeter of the secret room, the dull, weak light from the monitors and buttons casting mingled and eerie glows across the metal ground and a walls. 
The ceiling was too high to see through the gloom. The only exit to this secret little eden of silence was one large and welded-shut door, perched atop a small set of industrial grate steps that led down to the spotless floor.
Time, having not touched the sacred area for a very, very long time, had filled the gap of it's absense with tranquility.
It was very peaceful in the old Command room.

Until, that is, the single, sealed door to the metallic tomb was blown from it's frame and sent hurtling into the opposite computer system. In an explosion of sparks and twisted metal, the heavy door and the consol crumpled around each other as smoke from the implosion swirled and billowed through the newly available opening.

'@#$% THAT FELT GOOD!!' Black Jack declared blissfully as he sauntered through the haze of the now very open doorway. He then paused at the top of the stair way, knitted his fingers together and stretched his arms languously above his head, grinning happily to himself. Content with the forced relaxation of muscles, the black clad man dropped the resplendent position and lightly made his way down the rest of the stairs with the graceful skip of a boxer, silly grin fixed permanently on his face.
Coughing could be heard behind him.

'Th-That's the fourteenth door your destroyed!' Rem wheezed incredulously, flapping her free hand desperately in a bid to clear the smoke.

'And I'm just getting started!' Black Jack replied cheerily, eagerly casting his citrus eyes about for something else to demolish.

'Thank you for coming along... But you're making my attempts at stealth a little bit on the impossible side.' the Manager of Heaven pointed out. 

'True.' her counterpart conceeded, shrugging. Rem shook her head in quiet exasperation then readjusted her grip on the guitar case, carefully making her way down the stairs.

Upon landing her feet firmly on the command room's floor, the Manager of Heaven carefully dropped the case on the ground with a hefty "thud", then straightened. She pushed back some errant strands of black hair from her eyes and she monitored the room carefully.

'We're here.' she announced.

'Which brings me to my next question.' Black Jack said simply, turning. 'How the @#$% did you find out about this place?'
Rem blushed instanteneaously.

'Ah. I, um... Well I...' she stuttered, sweating slightly under the very scrutinizing gaze of her companion. She coughed genteely. 'You do realize that the Angelina's were in possession of the key. I was curious as to where they got it, so I simply... Had a look through the files on Lina's laptop. When... They weren't... There...'

A slow and evil grin spread across the Manager of Hell's face.

'Hacking into confidential files when no one's looking. I'm a bad influence on you.' he pointed out, grinning.

'I know.' Rem admitted, looking, as opposed to her counterpart, not so proud of the fact. Sadness then swept her features. 'They knew. They knew what the key was and who it belonged to... I can't believe they didn't tell me.' she whispered. The clouds that drifted across her perpetually warm, ochre eyes could almost be bitterness.
It was enough to drop the grin off of Black Jack's face in surprise.

'Tell you what?' he asked after a pause.

The silence stretched on for far too long.

'Never mind.' Rem hastily amended, shaking free the expression with a short toss of her hair. 'Let's just find the activation switch.' She stepped over the guitar case by her feet and headed over to the many consoles that skirted the room, determination writ on every feature.
Black Jack rubbed the back of his neck, apprehension tugging at his brow.

'Uhh... Sure. Sure, whatever.' he finally managed, walking over to the nearest computer.

'I really hope you didn't blow up the button we need.' Rem said aloud, tone all together too maternal for comfort.

'I @#$%ing hope so too.' was the reply, albiet that this tone was more worried about the retribution than the consequence. There was a pause. "What are we looking for?'

'A button.' Rem replied.

'Hate to break it to you, Saverem, but there's 50 million @#$%ing buttons in here.' Black Jack pointed out.

'We're looking for one that is a... It's a...' Rem stuttered, staring at the console desperately in case it gave her a clue.
Silence reigned.

'Holy @#$%. We're screwed.' Black breathed.

'I heard that.' Rem said simply over her shoulder. She bit her lip in contemplatively.  'I suppose... By the rules of narrative... It'll be the Big Red button.'

'...Rules of Narrative?'

'Yes.'

'Big Red button?'

'Yes.'

'Holy @#$%. We're screwed.'

'Well I don't hear you giving any ideas!' Rem replied shortly, turning around and placing her hands on her hips.

'What am I supposed to do?!' Black Jack snapped back, following suit so that he could face her.

'Hopefully something useful!'

'Oh? So I'm not useful am I?! Just a big, fat, @#$%ing burden am I?!?'

'I-I didn't say that and you know it!'

'Hah! You were thinking it!'

'You're the Manager of Hell! Be resourceful!' Rem proclaimed.

'I don't do "Resourceful",' the man in question snapped, 'I do "Malevolent"!'

'Then use some of that malicious cunning I know you've got up in that head of yours!' the orhre eyed woman replied promptly.

'I'm not a @#$%ing miracle worker-!' Black Jack shouted in his ire, throwing his hands up in the air and leaning back on the console as if being forcefully casual would make the world a better place. Under his newly applied weight, a small button went "beep".
And to their left, the entire back section of the room shuddered once, jolted twice, then began trundling out of the way.

'-But I do have impossibly good luck.' Black Jack finished smoothly, barely missing a beat. 
It wasn't until the section of computers began moving that it was apparent that it was sliding seamlessly into an slot on the adjoining wall.

'This is it!!' Rem all but squeaked, bounding over to her counterpart and tugging excitedly on his arm. 'We're here! Quickly, grab the key! Hurry!' 
And with that, the Manager of Heaven spun and hurriedly made her way into the newly available section of the room, face alight with excitement and what could only be described as trepedation.
Rolling his eyes, the black clad man walked over to the guitar case and lifted it easily, swinging it over one shoulder. He sauntered after her with one hand buried in his pocket.

The secret room was really no secret at all. It was exactly like the section before, all computer consoles and stillness, the only exception being that the back wall was shrouded in shadows. Rem was found standing before the darkness, squinting futilely into it in a bid to see. Her companion walked up to her, dropped the guitar case by her feet and then glared intently into the gloom. Shrugging, he then turned and walked calmly back from where he came.

'It helps if you turn the light on.' Black Jack said sardonically, then flipped the switch.

With a hearty and disconcerning thunk, light flooded the room blindingly, pushing back the gloom and revealing the ceiling.
Which, as it turns out, was a long, long way up.

'Wow.' the Manager of Hell managed, blinking.

'What..?' Rem whispered, bringing his attention back down to ground level. She was staring at the back wall and, evidently, the reason why the ceilings were so high.

Propped up against the back of the wall was a Plant bulb. It was full production scale, a size only used for the largest of ships and for the biggest and most populated of the planet's cities. The glass curved smoothly from somewhere distant above and gracefully bowed around again in what seemed a perfect bubble. The multiple lights that circumferenced the wall of the room glinted off it's shiny surface and spotted the weak luminance that already resided within the Plant.
It thrummed feebly.

'I... Don't understand...' Rem stuttered, turning around on the spot in her search. 'The Angelinas' files said he'd be here. But there's no one... It's just a...'

'Who were you expecting?' Black Jack asked after sufficient pause. Rem shook her head, eyes wide in confusion and disappointment. She was most obviously upset.

'He's supposed to be here!' she blurted, turning. 'But there's nothing! I-I don't know what to do!'

'Ease up.' the Manager of Hell consoled, holding up a hand. 'You're missing something. Who is it that we're looking for?' 

'You wouldn't believe me.' Rem sniffled, and one could see tears welling in her eyes. This, of course, caused her counterpart to mildly panic. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

'I'm not here to believe you.' Black Jack pointed out. 'I'm here to blow stuff up. Anyway... We're looking for the one that key belongs to, right? Shouldn't be too hard.'
Rem nodded, rubbing at her watery eyes with the backs of one hand.

'Yes.' she replied weakly. 'I-... I was upset because the Angelinas didn't tell me. I had a right to know! After all, he's-' 
Rem Saverem of Heaven was cut short when the Plant behind her started thrumming violently, the weak light it radiated pulsating.

'What the-' Black Jack muttered, glaring suspisciously at the bulb. Then, finally seeing what was within it, his eyes widened. Rem gasped.

'No... Say it isn't...' she whispered softly, shaking her head slowly. Wide eyed, she stumbled weakly up to the glowing Plant and placed both hands on it's glass surface. By the time the first tears broke from her lashes and fell, the Plant Angel within had decended to follow her lead. It bundled at the basin of the bubble and gently put it's hands over hers. The ethereal being paused slightly, then reached foward and stroked it's long fingers against the glass that the tall woman's tears reflected on, a warm smile alighting it's features.
Rem Saverem didn't seem able to stop shaking her head in disbelief.

'I don't get it.' Black Jack admitted, scratching at his hairline and walking forward, one eyebrow cynically raised. 'That's not a real Plant, and it's not connected to the system. It's just floating around in there.' 
He was promptly ignored.

'How could they..?' Rem murmured piteously, tears gliding down her face. 'What did they do to you..?'

'Hey, Rem?' her Hellish counterpart interrupted. 'What's going on?' 
What he hadn't expected was for Rem to spin around and grab him by the jacket, pulling him down to face level. He attempted to stumble back slightly in shock.

'Get him out!' she pleaded when she knew she had his full attention, cheeks glistening.

'Get who o-' Black Jack stuttered, trying desperately to squirm from her grip.

'Please, Black Jack, you've got to get him out!' the black haired woman begged. 
It was enough to dumbfound her companion further into a stupor.

'I don't-' he burbled.

'I need you to! Please, just- Just get him out of there!'

'I don't unders-'
Rem clenched her teeth, lowered her head and took a deep breath.

'GET ALEX OUT OF THERE NOW!!' she shouted at the top of her lungs, grief turning the cry shrill. Black Jack jumped.

'Alex.' he repeated, eyes widening. Rem choked back a sob and weakly laid her forehead against his shoulder, her grip on his jacket slipping.

'Please...' she whispered.

Silence.

Then, slowly, two hands found her shoulders.

'Step aside, Saverem.' Black Jack said simply, steering her easily away from the Plant Bulb. Rem stumbled back obediently, anxiety causing her to swallow the lump in her throat, wipe the tears from her cheeks then to wring her hands.

The Manager of Hell rolled his shoulders slightly then stepped up to the glass of the Plant Bulb. He nodded at the Plant Angel that was watching him with interest in acknowledgment, then returned his attention to the clear, solid wall.
And reached forward to tap on it.
He then straightened up and glared at the mass of obstruction before him heatedly. Ramming his hands into the pockets of his attire, the citrus eyed man lifted one foot and tapped the toe repeatedly on the ground contemplatively.

Then in one acidically swift movement, Black Jack kicked the glass with a drive of the foot that managed to wring an almost comical bell like tone from the bulb.

Unfortunately, that was the extent of the damage. The black haired man blinked once, dropped his foot back down to join the other then raised his face to the ceiling thoughtfully. After a good, healthy pause, he then lowered his forehead to the glass of the Plant.
His shoulders rose in a brooding hunch.

'Well?' Rem blurted, biting her lower lip in a distressed manner. 'What do you think?'

'I think I broke my @#$%ING TOE!!' Black Jack shouted savagely, finally permitting himself to reach down and grab the foot in mention, hopping on the spot slightly and cussing out a steady stream of swearwords that would make anyone's whip-weilding granny blush.

'Y-You can't get Alex out?' Rem stuttered, despair flooding her features.

'Don't you @#$%ing COUNT on it...' Black Jack snarled, turning his face back up to the Plant bulb with a distressing amount of malisciousness twisting his lips back to form a carniverous grin.

The Plant Angel blinked once, then hastily retreated towards the back of the bulb.

Lime eyes blazing with malevolence, the Manager of Hell rocked back slightly, then pivotted on the ball of his good foot.

'THAT @#$%ING- @#$%ED MY @#$%ING TOE!!' he shouted, enraged, then spun around with alarming deftness to round-house kick the Plant with a decieving amount of force. There was a definite "chink" as the heel of his injured foot was slammed into the solid wall of glass, and a single, tiny slither dropped to the metal floor.
But it wasn't until Black Jack alighted easily and gracefully back into a ready stance that the cracks began darting their way across the surface of the Plant. They slithered across the glass like some terminal and extremely fleet disease, insidiously reaching unscathed areas and branching off, conquering.
Before long, the entirety of the bubble was covered in a tangled spiderweb of disjointed lines, so thick that clear glass couldn't be determined between them. 
And stillness swept in eerily.
The Plant's thrummings stuttered to a halt.

'And let that be a @#$%ing lesson.' Black Jack declared simply, reaching forward and flicking the glass with a single fingertip.

The Plant bulb collapsed in a spectacular explosion of tiny granules, the cascade of the fragments like a shimmering waterfall of diamonds. As one shifting mass of reflections, the rounded grains of glass swept the floor and flooded past the two individuals before the Plant like an avalanche.
The air twisted with stray Plant energy.

'ALEX!' Rem shouted, stepping across the glass, heedless of the crunching she was inducing and wading towards the recumbent form on the ground. Her knees folded when she was but a step away from the figure and Rem dropped to him, hands pulling the mans head hurriedly to her lap.

'Is he ok?' Black Jack asked, leaning over to get a good look. 'He wasn't connected to the Plant, so I figured it'd be alright if I-'

'He's fine.' Rem interrupted gratefully, her hands stroking some stray strands of brown hair from the Plant Angel's eyes. She took a shuddering breath, then lowered her forehead to his. 'He's fine.' she repeated.

'Let's get him out of this mess.' the Manager of Hell offered. 'The floor's still clear out in the other section.'

'Good idea.' Rem replied, then gently lifted the man in her arms. She ducked under his unresponsive arm, then shakily stood. Black Jack slung the other over his shoulder. Between the pair, Alex groaned. 'Shhh...' Rem soothed. 'I finally found you.'

The man lifted his head weakly and managed a smile.

'I kn-knew you would.' he croaked as a reply. He tried to find his feet and failed.

'Rem, I got him. You get the key.' Black Jack offered, readjusting his grip.

'O-Ok.' was the stuttering reply. And so, the three figures carefully picked their way from the demolition and out into the tranquility of the command room.

Alex was carefully laid on the floor and he had a few moments of rest alone before a teary eyed Rem Saverem flung herself across his recumbent frame. With a tiny and feeble smile, he weakly held her back. Then bit his lip and stared, enthrawled, at the hand he used to stroke her hair.

'I can touch you.' he breathed, then managed a laugh of relief.

'They didn't tell me, Alex, they simply didn't say anything!' Rem said into his chest, clutching him tightly.

'I don't imagine they would've.' he replied softly, endeavoring to pull himself into a sit so as to embrace her back.

The silence stretched long.

'This is all very sweet and such,' Black Jack suddenly said, the tone of his voice indicating that his opinion couldn't be farther from his tongue, 'but I've got two questions.'
Alex smiled at him.

'Yes?' he asked.

'Well, for one, do you realize that you've got no clothes on?' Black Jack pointed out simply, shrugging. 
At this, both Rem and the man in her arms turned an interesting shade of crimson.

'Aah...' Rem managed, averting her eyes.

'Nah, didn't think you did.' the Manager of Hell relented, unclasping his jacket, tossing it to the blue eyed man then tugging loose his turtle neck to fall casually around his waist. Alex, blushing, gratefully wrapped the small swathe of black clothe about his persons.
Rem cleared her throat.

'And the other?' she asked, looking as if she were dreading it.

'Oh yeah.' her devilish companion muttered. He pointed a finger at Alex's head. 'Why the @#$% do you have Vash's hairdo?'
Alex, the man with the brown, spikey hair blinked.

'V-Vash?' he repeated. Realization dawned in his eyes. 'Oh, as in the new Ar-'

'YOU CAN'T GO IN THERE, IT'S HIGHLY RESTRICTED!!' a weedy little voice shouted from the door way. Glancing up, the three in the command room blinking owlishly as Vash, Wolfwood, Meryl and Milly burst through the door at a sprint, shouting as they realized that stairs stole the ground from them, then began tumbling to the metallic floor as one large mass of limbs.
At the top of the stairs, a lowly little Angel glared down at the groaning intruders. 
Then jumped when he realized there were people already in there.

'Hello.' Rem said, waving. The Angel, however, seemed more preoccupied with the man in her arms. 
Stuttering, he pointed at Alex and screamed,

'ARCH ANGEL BENNETT!!'

'Please, just call me Alex.' Alex replied reproachfully. Unfortunately, the Angel he had been addressing had fled the room, shouting all the way.

'Oh, fantastic.' Rem muttered. 'That means the Angelinas will be here soon.' Black Jack blinked and lifted a hand to the newcomers.

'Yo.' he greeted.

'R-Rem!' Vash managed, lifting himself hurriedly from his friends. 'I found you! A Plant told was telling Knives that you had the key to the Apocalypse and I heard and I came all the way to Augusta and- Arch Angel Bennett?!' he blurted when his tongue caught up with his ears.

'Alex, this is Vash. Vash, meet Alex.' Rem introduced, smiling brightly. Then added in an excitable tone, 'You remember me talking about him, Vash? My emotional support? ... My angel.'
The Angel in mention waved as he was hugged again.

'Hello.' he greeted weakly. 'But "Alex" is just fi-'

'You mean the first Arch Angel? The original Heavenly One?!' Wolfwood demanded, scowling in his confusion as he brushed off his suit. Meryl and Milly cast each other a surreptitious glance then decided to hold their tongues.
Back in Rem's arms, Alex tried again.

'I'd really prefer it if you called me "Al-'

'Oh that's right.' Black Jack offered, tapping his chin with a finger. 'Arch Angel Bennett was the one all other Arch Angels were born from...'

'"Alex", if you please, is-'

'But Legato said Arch Angel Bennett was killed by Heaven!' Vash spluttered, lost.

'Is anyone listening? "ALEX" is ju-'

'Who cares?!' Wolfwood snapped. 'We're here for the key! And where the hell is that?!'

'Key? Oh you mean this.' Black Jack muttered, giving the guitar case a swift kick. It rocked slightly and was flung open when it's clasps popped open under the strain. As the case was upended, it's contents were tumbled out with a dull, metallic thud.
All eyes turned to it.

'It's my sword!' Alex and Vash blurted in unison, the switched their incredulous gaze from the Angelic sword hilt to each other.
And sure enough, fallen on the ground and completely unaware of it's importance lay the sword hilt. Whatever glowing blade it had once possessed, it was gone now and the weapon was eerily dormant.

'I don't get it.' Wolfwood admitted.

'I left that with Legato when I defeated him...' Vash said slowly, waiting for things to make sense.

'Can someone explain what's going on?' Meryl asked shortly, single eyebrow raised in ire. 'I, for one, have no idea what you're talking ab-'

'And isn't this a pretty picture?' a familiar voice asked simply to their left. Glancing up, the confused group found themselves face to face with the three identical faces of the Angelinas.
Lina smiled wolvishly. 'How marvelous,' she drawled evilly, 'all reunited like one, big, happy family.'

'How did you get here so fast?' Rem breathed, pulling Alex to his feet hurriedly.

'We got a message from a man called Millions Knives. Don't know who he is, or how he knew, but that's all kind of irrelevant, wouldn't you say?' the blonde Angelina replied evenly, examining her fingernails haughtily.

Vash shot a pointed glance at Wolfwood who scowled back. Up at the door, Geli growled.

'Haven't you @#$%ers caused enough trouble?!' she demanded. Then the blue haired Angelina then made a face that indicated, against all odds, that she was mildly embarrassed. 'And for @#$%S SAKE, Bennett, get some clothes on! We know you can, you're not fooling anyone by just sitting there!' 
Alex flinched at her voice.

'It's good to see you girls again, too.' he muttered unhappily, then waved a hand. There was a flurry of glowing white that surrounded the frame of the Angel and with a fizzling pop, the luminance faded. Replaced, evidently, with a plain white shirt and jeans. 
Everyone stared owlishly at him.
Alex held out the black jacket to the Manager of Hell. 

'Thanks.' he asserted gratefully, smiling. Black Jack stared.

'Uh... Keep it.' he replied steadily, refusing to remove his hands from his pockets.

'Materialization...' Vash breathed.

'Mr. Vash does that too! Only with sweet things!' Milly announced, her pale cerulean eyes glancing about worriedly. She seemed as lost as Meryl was. Who, evidently, was as lost as everyone else.
Up at the door way, Ange pushed her way past her two sisters and waved an excited hand.

'HEY VASHUUU!!!' she shouted, grinning. Then shrunk under her siblings glares and straightened up. 'Um. Yes... Bad Vashuu. Yes, you are all in big, big trouble.'

'Big trouble is an understatement.' Lina snapped, then added in a bark, 'Rem, Black Jack; you should know better!' 
To her surprise, however, Rem shook her head heatedly.

'I shouldn't have known better, I should've known more!' she shouted back, one arm spreading wide in gesticulation while the other refused to leave Alex's waist. 'You did this to Alex and you never told me?! He's my Guardian Angel!!'

'WAS.' Lina corrected with a snarl. 'And the rules are the rules. If you had been in our position, you'd have done the same thing.' she continued, deathly quiet and glaring. Geli nodded, then folded her arms.

'Now, before we get REALLY mad, just give the @#$%ing sword to Vash and let's get this over with!' she snapped.
Vash blinked.

'What?' he asked as all eyes leveled on him.

'That sword belongs to Alex.' Rem stated clearly, staring at the weapon in mention.
But, at this sentiment, the man in her arms slowly shook his head.

'No.. Not anymore.' he replied softly, carefully avoiding her gaze. The Manager of Heaven gazed intently at him. 
After an awkward pause, she blinked and, smiling falsely, asked weakly,

'Alex?' 
He winced at the sound of concern in her voice. 
And silence stretched long, suffocating. 

Then, bowing his sorrowful face away from view, white, sparkling light crackled and filtered from his back. And Alex sprouted his wings. 
Or, at least, what was left of them.

While Vash and Wolfwood's wings were thick, full and resplendent, the tattered limbs that hung limply from the shoulder blades of Alex Bennett were most obviously not. They had been severed brutally about six inches from where they emerged, and clumps of sad, brittle feathers protruded from the scarred over stumps at odd angles.
Horrified silence followed.

'Sorry, Rem.' Alex finally managed, gathering an apologetic smile from somewhere and raising his face. 'They clipped my wings.'
The Angelinas shuffled slightly on the spot and glanced everywhere but at the shocked gazes that were now pointing in their direction. Geli was the first to snap.

'Hey, it's our JOB!' she shouted, spluttering slightly. And still the hush slithered, ensnaring seconds in it's claws and stretching them long. 

Finally, removing his hands from his pockets, Black Jack was the first to speak.

'It seems to me that you've been holding out on us.'  he observed calmly, staring steadily up at the triplets. The only one that didn't avoid his piercing lime gaze was the blonde sister, and she glared back with just as much vehemence.

'Of course we have.' Lina replied quietly, refusing to blink.

'I don't know about me, but I'd say you certainly owe an explanation to her.' Black Jack noted, motioning with his head to Rem. 
The woman in mention had her lips pursed to stop them trembling, ochre eyes swimming with unshed tears and her full and undivided attention on Alex. And he had his head bowed, leaning heavily on the black haired woman for support. 
Content that everyone had observed the lugubriousness of that scene, Black Jack then waved a hand at Vash, Wolfwood, Meryl and Milly and added, 'And no doubt you owe them an explanation as well.'  The Manager of Hell folded his arms. 'So I suggest you start talking.'

'We don't owe anyone anything.' Geli snarled eventually, bristling with affront and looking ready to attack someone. Lina still seemed locked in the staring contest with Hell's representative but slowly her lips were pulling back from her teeth.
Ange seemed the only one undecided.

'What's happening?' Milly whispered to Wolfwood. Worry was tugging at her brow and the tall woman was found wringing her hands anxiously.

'I'm not sure.' the priest replied hopelessly, smokey blue eyes drifting between the odd group in the command room and the three at the top of the stairs.
Something nasty twisted Lina's smile.

'Geli.' she suddenly said, loudly. If the matching grin on her blue haired sister's face said anything, it was that Geli was one step ahead of her sibling.

'Yo?' she acknowledged anyway, stalking down the steps, one by one, slinking like a predator.

There was but a single second pause.

'Retrieve the sword.' the blonde ordered. Ange made a small squeak of resistance, but her reaction was somewhat ignored being that Geli had pounced at the sword hilt, snarling like the wild cat she now suddenly resembled.

It took less than a fraction of a second for Vash to snap out of his shocked stupor and to dive for it as well. And even less than that for Alex to rip out of Rem's grip, duck low, then launch himself smoothly in the same direction.
The resulting collision was a flurry of movement, but to Vash, it seemed all too slow.

The dormant sword hilt was lying there, innocently awaiting someone to pick it up. And Vash's hand had been stretched toward it, so close that his fingertips were within millimeters. 
Half his focus was on the Angelic weapon, and the other half was on Geli who was gaining distance with every shuddering heartbeat... And that was why Vash the Stampede hadn't expected Alex to slip up to him in some odd embrace, so close that their cheeks brushed, and why he hadn't seen the Angel's hand before it was, evidently, too late.
There was a brief sparking flash of white, then a disjointed click...

And Vash toppled mid reach, limbs suddenly numb and body unresponsive. His entire weight landed on a calm Alex Bennett who awaited the tumble with wide arms. But considering the Angel's current state of health, the best this did was slow down the fall.
When the full weight of the Humanoid Typhoon landed on him, both Vash and Alex collapsed around each other, tangling limbs and crumpling to a heap on the ground, the majority of the blonde's torpid heft pinning the other man beneath him.

And it was while they laid there, seconds attempting bravely to catch up with the event that Alex whispered breathlessly into Vash's ear,

'Don't touch it. Whatever happens, don't pick it up. You don't know how to use it, and you might accidently activate it... We've come too far to end it now.'

'DON'T TELL HIM THAT!' Lina shouted in frustration, glowering as Geli stumbled to a halt. Due to having half the stairs to decended, the blue haired Angelina was still a few feet away from the hilt, and at the obvious conclusion to the showdown, her journey tricked to a halt. She blinked and stomped her foot angrily.
As Vash slowly regained feeling in his limbs, he finally managed to pull himself up and off of Alex. He stared at the other Angel, then offered a hand.
Alex smiled weakly back and took it.

'They were bluffing. No one can touch that sword but you.' he clarified as he was lifted to his feet. His expression then darkened and a frown tugged at the man's handsome features as he added, 'And you're the last person who should.'

'St-Stop telling him!' Geli stuttered, flaying her arms about. Alex cast a pointed glance at Lina who was currently decending the stairs like an avenging god.

'It appears to me like you've got two options here.' he declared calmly. 'Either I tell them all that I know, or you do.'

'I suggest a new option. How about We silence you.' Lina noted coldly, face lowering slowly and silver eyes glinting.
The response was surprising.

Within seconds, Rem and Black Jack had maneuvered themselves between the suddenly malignant Angel trainer and Vash and Alex. To their right, Wolfwood, Milly and Meryl had armed themselves.
In the middle of this suddenly tense knot, the sword hilt lay smugly, glinting to itself.

Blinking at the sudden hostility, Lina paused. 
Then laughed.

It was only a few moments into this eerie giggling that the group in the middle of the command room realized just what made it so strange. 
Geli was laughing along with her. In perfect timing and in an exactly identical pitch to the extent that an echo was being formed.
The pair stopped at the exact same moment.

'Do you honestly think you can oppose Us?' Lina and Geli asked in terrible unison, drifting together without actually moving. The air rippled about them as if some intense heat had just ignited, and it wasn't until it began warping the area that Vash noticed how strange the pair were standing. Strange, because, they weren't exactly on the ground. The was a blurred inche or so between the soles of their feet and the metal floor of the command room.
The Angelinas grinned like a set of dolls.

'Who the hell are you?' Wolfwood managed, the Cross Punisher leveled somewhat undecidedly on Lina. Both sisters laughed again.

'It doesn't matter. We came here for Vash and the sword. Step aside.'

'Girls, please.' Rem implored, arms spread wide as a sheild.

'Who would've thought you could've caused so much trouble?' Geli and Lina mused as one, linking arms. 'We ask again. Move aside.'
Rem's face fell at their reply, and she took a step back. But she swallowed her quailing and plastered a determined expression on her face.

'No.' she retorted. 
The Angelinas lowered their faces again, and stepped forward, grinning.

'STOP IT!!' Ange shouted, stumbling down the stairs and throwing herself at Lina. The red-head tackled her blonde sister around the midsection and, subsequentially, toppled the girl from her floating post in the air. The pair hit the ground with a thud and a great deal of swearing.
Geli dropped the floor the second she was left alone, and she blinked, shocked, at her two siblings tousling on at her feet.

'GET OFF, ANGE!!' Lina shouted, swinging a punch. Ange pulled on the blonde's hair.

'DON'T YOU TOUCH VASHUU!!' she shrieked back, wildly kicking at random targets. Geli slapped a hand to her forehead. Then stomped her foot again and reached down.

'STOP IT!!' she shouted at both. 'You're @#$%ing EMBARRASSING me!' The blue haired Angelina held both her sistser at arms reach of each other, waiting for the struggling to cease.
The group in the middle of the control room blinked, bewildered, at the display.

'Stop interfering, Ange!' Lina snapped, wiping her nose that had suddenly sprung a red leak.

'That's what got us into this mess in the first place!' Ange wailed. She pointed a shaking finger at Alex. 'You interfered with him and now we're hurting people! Vashuu didn't do anything wrong, you did!'

'Th-That was a mistake.' the blonde stuttered, casting her mirror eyes downward. Geli let go of both, silent. Ange straightened out her grey jumpsuit, sniffling, then folded her arms.

'If you're going to be nasty about it, then I'm not going to help.' she snapped.

'Don't be stupid, you can't-' Geli finally contributed, scowling.

'I can! And I'm going to tell them everything!' Ange retorted waspishly. She glared heatedly at her sisters who, in turn, exchanged a surreptitious glance. Being verbally berated by Ange, evidently, was like being attacked by an angry and very wet tissue. The most damage it inflicted was a stunned stupor.
And what a stupor it was.

Satisfied that her siblings had been silenced, Ange nodded curtly and walked calmly up to the huddled group by the hilt.

'Do you want me to tell you everything?' she asked, smiling brightly. The assembly exchanged a look.

'Yes.' Rem finally answered, backing up slightly so she was beside Alex again. The red-headed Angelina nodded.

'Hokie Dokie.' she declared cheerfully, clapping her hands. She then sniffled slightly, plastered on a very important expression then began in an magisterial voice, 'It all started a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far awa-'

'IDIOT!' Lina snapped, then slapped her sister across the back of the head. 'If you're going to tell them, tell them properly!'

'Buut Liiinaaa...' Ange whined, clutching the offended part of her cranium and forcefully trembling her lip. Her blonde sister scowled.

'Oh, just tell 'em already, Lina.' Geli groaned, rolling her eyes and flopping down to the ground in an irate cross-legged sit. The yellow Angelina bit her lip slightly in indecision.
Then sighed.

'Fine, I'll tell you. But you have to shut up and listen, or I'm going to do something drastic.

Geli, Ange and I are the Angelina sisters, understand? And don't give me that look Wolfwood, we were around LONG before we were even given the job of Angel Trainers. Back then... We were more... Sort of like a... A... Regulator. We made sure everything was working as it should. Made sure the planet turned, people died and were born, that people kept believing in religions... We just organized things.'

'Like Angels.' Geli contributed, gestulating lazily.

'I told you not to interrupt!!' Lina snapped, sitting herself down and taking a swipe at her sister. She took a breath and continued...

'Yes, there were Angels back then too. Ones quite different from yourselves, I'll have you know. They weren't all that effective, however. Our Guardian Angels weren't graduated souls, but beings constructed to Guard the living. We built them. Yes, we built Guardian Angels with a rather primitive version of the Quadro-Atomic-Neutralization-Dissilator. That's what we did. Unfortunately, they lacked something special, that something... That drive that makes you Angels try so hard to protect your Guards. They didn't have emotion. They weren't attached to their Guards, and all they knew was that they were doing their jobs. We didn't worry too much about it, as things got a little... Well the planet was degrading by the year...'

'You're confusing them.' Alex pointed out. 'Why not tell them exactly when you're talking about?' 
Lina's eyebrow twitched.

'Thank you, for that, Arch Angel Bennett. Do be so kind as to BE QUIET WHEN I'M TELLING A STORY!!! Thank you. If you really want to know, this whole big, fat mess started back on Earth. That's right, all the way back on the original Planet. About 200 years ago to be precise, our nice little routine was suddenly endangered. Human life was pushing their existence slightly... Oh, sure they were intelligent, and yes they were accomplished, but at a cost. Earth was failing. Humans had drained the very lifeblood from their own planet, and considering the over population, it wasn't like they could just sit back and stop using up all the resources. Of course, WE didn't know it. All we knew was that things were getting over crowded on that little rock of a planet. And then, one day, He gave us a gift. A man. An Angel.
Arch Angel Bennet.'

'Arch Angel Bennett... Where have I hea- OH!' Vash blurted, striking a fist into his palm. 'Now I remember! He was in all those early text books Lina made me sit through! But...'

'I'm in a text book?' Alex asked, wide eyed. Then frowned. 'And can you please just call me Ale-'

'But all those dates you fed us were waaay before when you're talking.' Wolfwood pointed out to the blonde Angelina, interrupting the divine being of ultimate power who sighed and hung his head in defeat. 

'We lied.' Lina gritted through her teeth. 'If you'd just shut up, I'd get to that part!!

Right... Where was I? Oh yes. Arch Angel Bennett. Bennett was... Well... Unlike anything we'd ever seen before. He was completely independent and sentient. He talked to us and leant and, evidently, came with a great big sword. We didn't really know what to do with him, to be perfectly honest. So, and I use the excuse of youthful negligence, we put him through Guardian Angel training. He did well-'

'Exceptionally well, thank you very much.' Alex interrupted, grinning.

EXCEPTIONALLY well, then. He pushed our methods to the limit and even... And even created a few himself. It was around that time that we first saw Materialization. Dissilation quickly followed. Thinking back, I'm slightly ashamed to admit that I never suspected that Arch Angel Bennett knew the full extent of his powers and exactly what he was. We simply... Accepted that he existed. Unable to just watch over anyone, it was then I programmed the compatible system. A system that finds compatible souls. It doesn't necessarily mean romantic, just... Compatible.
Arch Angel Bennett was found a Guard. Sh-'

'Me.' Rem elaborated to the congregation, smiling affectionately as she held Alex's arm tightly. Lina threw her head back in frustration and mouthed a silent scream. Then, composing herself, she continued nastily,

'Yes. Rem Saverem. A little dolt of a girl who was working on some colonization plan of the kind. Bennett seemed happy enough, so we left him at it. Of course, going back to normal Angels, let me assure you, was... Well, it was dull. We had just seen the potential of the Angel race, and letting these... Machines float about trying to be effective was laughable.
So we re-programmed the Quadro-Atomic-Neutralization-Dissilator.'

'Took some @#$%ing work, too.' Geli groaned. Ange nodded slowly, eyes wide in horror filled reminiscence. Lina pointedly ignored them.

'That's when everything went wrong. That was when- yes I can SEE you making those faces Ange!! Wh-... That was when we made that mistake my sister informed you of. Yes, we mass produced... Our own Arch Angel line. But something was wrong. Arch Angel Bennett... He was intelligent. He seemed, against all our expectations, to be irrevocably human. But these things we created... They were not. The emerged deformed and strange. Each one was different. Some had feathered legs protruding from their shoulder blades, some had... Had... Well it's too grotesque for me to re-produce, so let me just tell you, they were horrid to look at. To be perfectly honest, the only success of that experiment was the power. Each of these new creatures was brimming with the power the Arch Angel Bennett possessed. Probably not as much, but still there. But there was one difference. They simply had this power... But they couldn't use it.
And there was something else...
They spoke to one another. We couldn't hear it, but our Arch Angels talked amongst themselves within their minds in a language we didn't understand.'

'I understood.' Alex offered. 'After all, they were my siblings.' he pointed out after a pause.
Ange pursed her lips.

'And then we found out...' she whispered. Lina closed her eyes.

'Yes, we found out. We found out when we were trying to understand WHY our production went wrong. When we were studying Bennett's sword.
Our Arch Angel, the one given to use... He and his sword were delivered for a very specific purpose.'

'The End of the World.' Alex muttered, blue eyes unfocused.

'The End of the World. He was a Angel of Death and we didn't even know it. The world was suffering, life was falling to pieces and we thought this amazing paladin of power was given to us for no reason. It seems He had decided to end it all, and He'd given the lock and key to us to do it. The trigger to the Apocalypse...
And we'd mass produced it.'

'Y-You're joking.' Vash stuttered instantly, wide eyed. 'That's what Arch Angels are?! That's what I am?! But that doesn't work, because Legato used the sword, so shou-'

'Legato's a demon.' Alex corrected. 'He used your power to activate it, but only an Arch Angel can act as the Trigger. You needed to do it.'
Lina nodded.

'It was a... A Bit late for us by then. We needed to start the Apocalypse like planned... But two things happened. One, our constructed Angels showed signs of rebellion. They simply weren't human enough to care of our troubles or purpose. They wanted to exist by themselves, but that kind of power CAN'T. We didn't know what to do with them. And two... The other thing that went so horribly wrong was... Bennett had... Well...
Alex had fallen in love.'

'Isn't it romantic?' Ange sighed dreamily, gazing, blushing, at an equally red Rem Saverem and Alex Bennett.

'It is NOT!' Geli snapped. 'It's downright NAUSEATING!!'

'It's very sad...' Meryl murmured quietly, eyes lowered.

'Oh, I get it.' Black Jack muttered, leaning back on his elbows. 'That'd @#$% things up royally.'
Lina grimaced and continued.

'I'm afraid so. We tried to fix things up. We... We knew we'd failed, and we were determined to make it right again. But how can you convince someone who thinks everything exists because of one woman to destroy it all? He wouldn't listen to reason. And to make matters worse, he'd jeopardized our very presence. He-'

'How?!' Alex demanded, blinking.

'Don't play dumb!' Lina snapped. 'We knew you were sneaking into Rem's dreams and talking to her!'
Silence.

'Oh yeah...' Arch Angel Bennett muttered, then beamed happily to himself. A similar smile lit up his Guards features and the pair of them grinned at each other.

'You can do that?' Vash asked, blinking.

'It's very easy.' Alex replied. 'You'd have been able to too, had someone taught you.'

'How did that endanger your presence?' Meryl asked shortly, turning back to the blonde Angelina and frowning.
Lina groaned.

'Don't you see? Oh, it was all very well and good giving away the presence of Angels and the After Life... But he was... Helping her.' she whined. Ange giggled.

'That's when we made our second big mistake.' she indulged, winking. Lina shuddered and scowled at her sister.
Then cleared her throat awkwardly.

'Oh yes. That. Ahh... Well... Back to our mass-produced Arch Angels... We... We couldn't let them wander around as seperate entities, could we? They were far too powerful and independant. We didn't want to risk them running off and forming another species of beings, and they were a danger to humans... We just didn't want anything to happen that wasn't planned by Him. 
Unfortunately, they were physically indestructable, and everything we tried to destroy them with simply failed to work. Oh, they weren't immortal, but they didn't show signs of dying as soon as we would've liked. So, we... Er... Well... We had 232 Arch Angels to lock away... And...
Well, conveniently enough, we had 232 giant light bulbs constructed by some SEEDS scientists.'

'YOU'RE JOKING!' Vash blurted, shock slackening his jaw.

'You're right, we are.' Geli drawled sarcastically. Then snapped. 'NO, WE'RE NOT!!'

'You're tellin' me,' Wolfwood interrupted, eyes wide, 'that every Plant on this goddamn planet is a failed Arch Angel experiment?!'
The Angelinas squirmed.

'Yes?' Ange offered, shrugging weakly. Alex sighed.

'Don't you see, Vash?' he suddenly said, turning to the red clad outlaw. 'Why you are an Arch Angel while no one else is? You were born of one.'

'Then what Legato said was the truth.' Vash managed. 'Heaven did destroy them all because they were too powerful.'

'In a manner of speaking.' Lina corrected sternly.

'And the reason why you girls got everyone so petrified of Arch Angels is because you didn't want any Triggers of Death wandering about unsupervised.' Wolfwood continued, tapping his chin thoughtfully.

'That's not the end of the story.' Black Jack observed, raising an eyebrow.
Lina sighed.

'You're right, it's not. We thought we'd been clever. The Angels were all trapped inside these bulbs having their power continually sapped from them. It was the perfect method of detainment... And we figured with them out of the way, if we could just get Bennett to start up that sword, everything would be the way it was. What we didn't count on was for what Alex was divulging in his little nocturnal visits to Ms. Saverem.
The dolt was helping her with the SEEDS development! Before long, the entire project was Go For Launch and we were sitting back and watching humans- humans that were supposed to die in all their apocalyptic glory- fly off into space to spread themselves about!! While their precious Earth ceased functioning!'

'You make our fight for survival sound terrible.' Rem rebuked, frowning slightly.
Lina scowled at her, rubbed her temples, took and breath then continued.

'We grounded him. Completely forbid Arch Angel Bennett from interacting with his Guard. He was adamant about it, as you can imagine, and we were STILL unable to get him to use that stupid sword. To top it all off, he was threatening to go back against our will... So we... Then... We clipped his wings. It was the only thing to do. We found him his own bulb and hoped that we could start again. We returned to the SEEDS ship to watch mankind spread. 
Then a miracle happened.
One of our Arch Angels gave birth.'

'Knives and me.' Vash supplied to the surprised audience.

'Two brand new Arch Angels in the making. The trouble was, they were walking about the Living Plane, while the sword resided in this one. We couldn't use them yet to activate it... But sometimes destructive nature runs deeper. The other one... Vash's twin... He nearly saved us. He nearly ended it.
But Alex had left a mark on Rem, and she stopped it.'

'Poor Knives...' Rem whispered, pursing her lips. Lina ignored her and took a deep breath.

'And here we are.' she declared. 'Some ships managed to fall to Gunsmoke, we set up shop here and have been wiling our days away training souls turned Angels hoping that we'd snag ourselves another Arch Angel.'

'You did.' Wolfwood pointed out.

'And they didn't teach me anything!' Vash blurted.

'Idiot!' Geli snapped. 'What were we supposed to teach you?! "Hi, young pupil, you are a tool of ultimate destruction! Go do us proud!" We figured if we left you to your own devises, you might trigger it all by accident!'

'But some stupid Demon turned Angel stole the sword from our office!' Ange huffed, folding her arms.

'Bluesummers.' Black Jack provided.

'What nearly ruined it all though...' Lina muttered, 'Was the very people that made it possible.' Geli scowled.

'That's right! Fate saw this whole thing happening so she killed Vash!'

'I think,' Ange murmured to the blonde outlaw, 'that she knew out of the two of you, Knives was more likely to actually starting the Apocalypse. So you were killed to become an Angel. And to stop him.'

Silence reigned.

'Now that we know that, we ain't lettin' Tongari touch that sword, I hope you now.' Wolfwood admitted to the three sisters. Lina threw up her hands.

'We figured that.' she snapped. 'I'm seriously contemplating writing off this whole damn Apocalyse!'

'No.'

All eyes slowly turned to Vash the Stampede.
He shook his head at them.

'Don't you see?' he asked. 'What Knives has been doing? This sword was a trump card. He'll have another plan. It'll take more work, but he always has another plan. If this one didn't work...'

'If it didn't work?' Meryl prompted.
Vash bit his lip.
Realization spread through the aquamarine of his eyes. 

Vash the Stampede, Humanoid Typhoon, 60 Billion Double Dollar Man and newly discovered Angel of Death said, slowly,

'He's got over 200 obedient Arch Angels under his command.

And he knows it.'

 


-----*+*-----

 

-----AUTHOR'S NOTES-----

Lynda: **collapses** Monolithic. Titanic. Astronomical.

BIG.

@_@