This follows fanfic "To Save Everyone" (itself a rewrite of 'you want to save them all'), but can most likely be understood without reading previous story.

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CHAPTER ONE: HELLO, FUTURE

PART ONE…Silence Falls Upon the Sand…

No human remained on Gunsmoke. All had been whisked away by rescue ships from Earth, to vacate the sandy Hell known as planet Gunsmoke.

Only the few hundreds that populated the last flying SEEDS ship knew of the rescue ships' advent; just them, two insurance girls, and three sentient plants. A heady drama played out from the time of the Earth's first successful transmission to the day of the rescue ships' arrival, a crisis in which only the five persons participated. Their troubles were completely unknown to the thousands of unaware residents of Gunsmoke, who attributed the massacres to the evil son and daughter of Vash the Stampede. Little did they know that it was not Vash's son but his brother who had caused the atrocities and that, at the time, Vash was a father to no one.

Since admission into the ships was heavily secured, a communal sigh of relief was loosed when they left the planet, assuming they'd finally rid themselves of both Vash and his accursed family.

Nevertheless, both Vash and his new family boarded. Only the most dangerous and bitter plant child remained on Gunsmoke, to tend to the now-abandoned, captive plants. This violent objector suddenly found himself without conflict, without conversation, without love.

Knives knew he was truly alone then. Ordinarily, he would think himself lucky to be rid of that wretched human race – finally being able to free his brethren from indignant slavery.

Despite this epic milestone in plant history, he cast not even a glance over his shoulder as those graceful, metallic monstrosities exited Gunsmoke's atmosphere. At the time, he was still reeling from the news.

Vash and Vanessa had created the first second-generation plant child. Vanessa said they would name it…her…Tessla.

Certainly no more than a tiny, delicate constellation of fetal tissue at the time, Tessla meant more for the future of both human and plant races alike than perhaps any individual ever. She was the key to saving both races from extinction on Gunsmoke. Had Vash and Vanessa not conceived the plant child, Knives would surely have demolished the ships midair, killing every last human in the fall, or at least he would have tried. Neither his brother nor Vanessa, the only other plant children Knives had ever known, would have been spared from Knives' deadly blades. Only one soul seemed worth sparing; for Tessla, the emigration was allowed. Thank God Knives didn't have it in his bruised heart to kill a budding plant child.

Stepping through the desert with a stoic expression, he trekked towards infinity. The infinity was only emotional, it seemed, since within actual hours he found himself in an abandoned town, a town containing three plant bulbs.

Though he came so close as to press his hands against the glass of the bulbs, attempting to gaze into the black eyes of the plant angels, they refused to greet him.

Instead, he plunged deeper into the personal isolation, keeping all thoughts to himself as he adjusted the plant levels. They would need further regulation within the next few months.

Falling to his knees in exhaustion and frustration, Knives gritted his teeth to spite the hot tears coursing down his lovely face. He could accept his fate, as the details truly sunk in and his path became clearer, but it just wasn't fair. There he was: so completely marooned, without willing company. Everyday he would travel in this harsh climate to adjust plants. Scattered everywhere, these plant angels needed his help, and he couldn't let them down, but it would be nice if they could acknowledge his work. He knew they never would, not really. And the irony of it all…That he spent his entire life hoping to be rid of humans and that more plant children be created; yet both of these wishes were granted so horribly. Vanessa rejected him and broke his heart in the way that only a female member of the species could. His twin, Vash, wanted nothing to do with him unless he could agree to a pacifistic existence. These two traitors had still more gall, such that they even coupled behind Knives' back.

He curled into a ball on the hard, concrete floor before the bank of plants, preferring to lend this moment to wallowing in self-pity. His memory replayed the events of the last night in March, as they had so many times before. Months ago, in the wee hours of the morning, he had been awakened from a deep slumber. The realization of Vash woke him, yet it wasn't angel arm related. This sensation, as Knives finally allowed himself to conclude, must've signaled the conception of a plant child. It not only confirmed that Vanessa was as pregnant as she'd claimed, it also proved her infidelity.

As though she hadn't cared for him at all, she'd so easily cast his emotions aside for that frivolous fling with the truly foolish brother. Knives couldn't decide who deserved his angst most - Vash for sleeping with his only mate, Vanessa for so blatantly lying and betraying, or himself for allowing the entire mess to occur. Once he'd realized his mistake, and taken Vanessa into the desert, it was too late. She was by that time adamant in her choice, no matter how she claimed it untrue.

Perhaps he should've kept himself from the shock of her statement. If only he'd maintained his composure, he could've done something to turn the tide in his favor, instead of sulking off and letting them board. However, Vash was so stubborn that Knives would surely have been driven to kill him in order to take Vanessa for himself.

Sobbing aloud now, Knives' thoughts led him to the most heartbreaking fact of all – that they'd taken poor, unborn Tessla with humans to the source of humans. On Earth, Tessla would live a horrible life. Maybe she wouldn't even make it to the planet, considering that on a 2-year flight, someone would have to notice the child grow from infancy to adolescence within a year. Surely those humans would learn what Tessla was; to beat her, taunt her, and demean her as they had to both Vash and Vanessa. Tessla's fate was grim, in Knives' mind, and so he fell into a troubled sleep, riding on tears meant for her.

Once he was unconscious, the plant angels descended, peering beyond bulb walls to study his pathetic form.