Blue light shone in my face, and I sighed, disappointed. I turned on my heel, and flipped the off switch to the incubator, and stared at my latest attempt. The clones never came out quite right; this one at least resembled Vash, but was utterly incapable of thought, essentially brain dead. I looked at it, narrowing my eyes, watching as a thread of drool slid down its chin. Well, at least it smiled like Vash.

"I will call you sixteen," I was trying to maintain composure, but my words fell on deaf ears, it could no better comprehend me than reply. I threw a beaker into the wall, relishing in the sound of shattering glass. Squeezing my fists tight, I decided it was not all a waste, I was making progress, this one at least looked right. Unfortunately, I would have to euthanise it as well, but I was certain I was on the right track.

Sixteen smiled at me blankly, eyes wide and aqua, innocent looking, as Vash had always been. I felt a flutter at the bottom of my abdomen, and I was struck by an idea.

The clone smiled only wider as I caressed it, unknowing, unthinking. Its flesh was soft, still a little wet from its recent birth, but I felt rushed, strangely hurried. I pressed my lips against it, showered it in kisses, but it was completely vacant, less than an automaton, nothing. I ran my hands over it, gently trailing my fingers down the left arm, the arm Vash no longer possessed, the arm a copy of the one that had borne my attempts.

I was salivating, pulsing warmly. Sixteen was non-responsive, a shell that smiled and breathed evenly, unaware of me, unaware of its own existence. I ran my fingers through its hair, short like mine, and began sucking at its throat. "Oh Vash… I've waited so long. It could always be like this, always…"

I pressed my body against Sixteen, forcing it to lay back on the table, my erection thrumming in my pants. Excitement forced me on, I had no desire to stop, no concept of morality. I deftly loosened my pants, pushing them from my hips, and lightly bit at the clone's nipples. Small sounds escaped it, but they were less than communicative, less than instinctual, reinforcing the blankness, the nothingness present in the thing beneath me. I didn't care. This would be my effigy.

"Vash… We don't have to fight anymore, I forgive you, I took your arm, you shot me twice, but we can forget that all. We can be happy, we can do what we are meant to…" I whispered into Sixteen's ear, nibbling on the lobe.

I pushed myself into it, gently, for the first time attempting dominance. The empowerment was strange, but not unwelcome. I felt clumsy, unsure of what to do next having never in my long life been in this position. Sixteen did not move beneath me, only lay there as I slowly pumped myself within its body. "See what we've missed Vash, all these years? Do you feel my love?" I ground into the clone, but nothing, just that empty smile answered my lust.

My will snapped, nearly audible, and I bit Sixteen's ear, ripping with my teeth.

"You never loved me! You shot me! You chose the humans over me, you don't care about me!" I gripped its head, and smashed it against the table, until its eyes rolled back. I was thrusting now, harder than before, screaming in agony that my twin was unwilling to alleviate, would never soothe. The blood excited me, and I felt myself growing more ridged, more urgent, pleasure like I'd never felt before building inside me.

I only observed as my thumbs found the clone's eyes, and pressed into them, rupturing, replacing aquamarine with crimson. My rage-induced tears splattered against the face so like my brother's, and I went blind suddenly, white hot as my seed that went screaming from me to the broken and dying thing beneath me. Now threads of drool escaped my lips, mingling with the blood on Sixteen's face. My pulse slowed as its stopped, and I could only reel at what I'd done, and how much I had loved it.

"Someday, Vash, you'll answer to me. You will accept me, and know what must be done. You will love me. Until then, I will hurt you, as you have me. I will make you know pain, because you have given me little but." Sixteen was cooling beneath me, vacant and broken; nothing, less than an automaton.