Standard Disclaimer: Imagine if you will a place beyond space and time… and there I own Trigun. HOWEVER, as we live in this dimension, Trigun DOES NOT belong to me. I'm just borrowing it for a while. And no, I am still not making any money, either from this work or from my real life job!

Nickie twirled across the open courtyard in front of her house. Her long black cape billowed out behind her. As she whirled, snatches of her large stun gun were visible to the keen observer; however, the casual observer would probably be more enthralled with what lay beneath the voluminous material.

Nickie laughed aloud as she danced along. At sixteen, she felt so wonderfully alive. Reaching up, she tugged her hair free from the braid she usually wore it in. The midnight tresses flowed freely to the middle of her back and whipped out to the side as she moved in a swift circle. A cross pendant, similar to the one worn by her brother, swung in a slow arc around her neck. The folds of the cape covered her usual attire of a tight, short sleeved black shirt and a short inky black skirt that fell to mid thigh. Tall boots encased her long slim legs in leather, leaving just a hint of pale flesh visible between them and the skirt.

Running up the short steps, she entered the house in all her youthful enthusiasm. "Mother, I'm home… Mother?" Nickie called out to Meryl as she burst through the screen door, letting it slam behind her. She placed her gun in a corner beside the door.

"Young lady. How many times have I told you not to let the screen door slam behind you?" Meryl appeared in the room, waving a spoon in Nickie's direction.

"Sorry. I guess I forgot." Nickie's eyes crinkled in a smile as she answered. "Uncle Vash wanted me to come ask you to start supper. I think he's hungry. He said he and Nick will be along after while."

"Your Uncle Vash has a lot of nerve at times. Expecting me to cook and clean this house and help with the other orphans here… while all he does is play gunslinger with you two or play in the courtyards with the other children!" Meryl continued her angry tirade for several moments, gesticulating wildly with the wooden spoon she was holding.

"Ummm…Mother, are you angry about something?" Nickie asked in innocent, wide-eyed tones as she took several steps back from the smaller woman.

Meryl abruptly ceased as she looked at her child. She lowered the spoon to her side. Sighing loudly, she dropped into a near by chair. "I'm just so afraid for you and Nick to go chasing off after Knives. It scares me every time I think about it. Knives is not human and not like Vash… He is a terrible creature. He caused so many people pain and heartache and he's killed so many people. He caused the death of your father and he gunned down your mother in the street as a whole village looked on."

Nickie fell to her knees in front of Meryl and gathered up her hands. "Please, don’t work yourself into such a state. This is something that Nick and I promised ourselves we would do. We can’t let him go on hurting people here. We can’t let any more children lose their parents the way we did." Tears glimmered in her sky blue eyes. "Please say you can understand that much at least."

"I wish you would forget about this whole idea." Meryl brushed a stray tear from Nickie's cheek. "There was a part of the story about your mother that Vash and I deliberately left out. We felt it was too painful for you and Nick to know about when you were fourteen." Nickie looked at her with questioning eyes.

Drawing a deep breath, Meryl began cautiously, "You know that your mother was a kind and gentle soul and how she tried to see the good in everyone, even him. But, Knives had no good in him. He… forced your mother to do… things… for him." Meryl watched the horror appear in Nickie's eyes. She lowered her voice a little as she continued. "Things no man has the right to force a woman to do. Nickie, do you understand what I am trying to tell you?"

Nickie nodded slowly as bright tears began to flow down her cheeks. "But why would she do such a thing? Why didn't she ask for help? Why?"

"Vash and I don't know. We suspect he threatened the townspeople, us, and the two of you. She behaved strangely the last 2 months before her death. I can remember hearing her go down the hall to Knives' room at night and I would hear hushed angry whispers between them. I asked her about it several times, but she remained vague and told me it was her life, for me to stay out of it."

Meryl looked at the young woman before her. "Just before your mother fell in the street that day she said something to me about killing him for threatening her babies, but there was more to it than that. Knives told her he would raise you both to be killers, to work for him to kill every human on the planet. And to ensure your safety, Milly would have had to obey his every wish. He even talked of using your mother to raise more children to be his killers."

"Oh, poor, poor mamma. For her to carry such a burden alone. Nick and I are right to want to find Knives and kill him. No one has the right to treat another's life so casually." Nickie sobbed as she buried her face in Meryl's lap. Gentle hands brushed over her hair and made soothing noises as Nickie wept for her poor lost mamma.

"Mamma must have been the bravest woman in the world to have gone through that alone. She died so we could be free of that horrible man. If only pappa had lived, I'm sure he would have protected her. Nick and I have to put an end to Knives once and for all," she sobbed.

"Listen to yourself. That is just what you and Nick want to do. Take the life of another. Exactly as Knives Millions has always done, exactly opposite as you have been taught. You were not natural born killers. Nor have you learned such from anyone here."

A heavy sigh echoed through the room. Nick stood in the far doorway, having come in through the back of the house as silently as a thief. He heard what Meryl told his sister and saw her tears of anguish. "And you think we are no better than him for wanting to kill. I do not want to kill anyone, but for our father who never knew of our existence and for our mother who gave her life to free us, we will make him pay. He wanted us to be his killers..."

Nickie stood to her feet and crossed the room her hands outstretched to grasp her twin's hands. Looking into reflections of her own eyes, she stated ominously, "…then we will fulfill his wish. His killers we will be."

Meryl saw the determined glint in their eyes. It was no use arguing with them. If they were determined to go after Knives, the least she could do is make sure they had learned as much about firearms and people as they could.

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To Be Continued….

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Finally an update! Please overlook any typos and such as I am dead tired and am posting this without proofing.

Please R&R for me.

Love and Peace,

Blackhat (^_~)