Chapter 2 – The Ghost of Christmas Past

That night, Knives tucked himself into his king-size bed. The only thing glowing in his room was a single-lit candle, which was placed on his nightstand.

Knives found himself grumbling as he unfolded his blanket. "Three ghost are going to visit me…ha! Yeah right! Well, tomorrow is only going to mean one thing to me… more time to plan out my world domination. Soon, Gunsmoke will fall to my doom. Muahahahaha!" He then cleared his throat. "Well, good night!"

Knives blew out the candle and settled himself into his bed. It was not long after that he felt a gust of wind blowing into his room. He looked over and saw that one of his windows was opened. He grumbled to himself as he got himself up and shut the window. As he turned around, a bright, white light suddenly hit him.

Knives shielded himself with his forearms from the brightness. "What the…"

As soon as he was able to see more clearly a few seconds later, he looked over his arms… and his cold blue eyes met with a young woman with long black hair. She was someone Knives had not seen in many, many years.

"R… Rem?"

Rem, a woman had been a part of the earlier portion of his life, gave him a warm smile. "Hello Knives. It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

Knives pointed at her. "You… you're supposed to be dead!"

Rem nodded. "I am dead, Knives. It was all because of your selfishness and your desire for power that caused my demise. But even after that, I still forgive you…"

"What are you doing here anyways?"

Rem replied. "I am here because I am the first of the three ghosts who is to visit you tonight. You will now know me as the Ghost of Christmas Past."

"…That's nice. Now if you'll excuse me, I must get my beauty sleep."

Suddenly, all the windows in the room flew open.

"Damn it!" Knives yelled out.

Rem began to walk towards him. "Now Knives, you are coming with me…to a place where you haven't been since you were a child."

Knives shook his head. "I am not going anywhere!"

Rem quickly took Knives' hand. Before he could react, they suddenly went flying right out the window.

"What the… put me down! PUT ME DOWN!"

"Hush now."

For a while, they flew across town. As soon as they reached the end of it, they went straight up into the dark star-filled sky. They passed through a few light gray clouds. Then, to Knives' surprise, he spotted a large gray ship that spells out S.E.E.D.S on the side in bold black.

"… I thought they were all destroyed," Knives said.

"They are," Rem explained. "We just entered your past."

"… Oh."

They soon reached the ship and went right through it, much to Knives' dismay. They soon entered a room filled with many adults.

Knives realized who they were. "It's the crew…"

Rem nodded. "Yes."

Then, Knives spotted two young boys, both with long blond hair and wearing similar blue pants and blue shirts. They both had different colored eyes. One was an aqua, the other a light blue. The aqua-eyed boy seemed happy as he played with a ball. The other, however, seemed distant from him as he stared at his own ball.

Knives was aware the moment he saw the boys that they were both him and Vash as children. Still, he wasn't impressed. "Whatever. What's the point of this anyways?"

Rem answered. "What you're about to see are events that led up to what you have become today."

Knives was confused. "What do you mean?"

It was then that Knives heard laughter coming from a young girl. Knives turned his head and spotted a girl who looked to be about the same age as the boys. She had long wavy light brown hair and wore a long pink dress. Her chestnut brown eyes seemed to sparkle as she ran over to the boys.

Knives was astonished. He realized that he hadn't thought about this girl in a very long time. "R… Rai…"

Rem nodded. "You do remember her after all…secretly, you had a crush on her. She too was a plant, just like you and Vash."

Knives barely heard Rem as he watched the scene before him. He noted Rai coming up to the boys.

"Hi Vash, hi Knives!" Rai greeted cheerfully as she waved to them. "You guys want to go in the garden?"

Young Vash quickly stood up. "Sure Rai! Come on Knives, let's go!"

Young Knives shook his head. "I don't want to go…"

"Oh come on Knives," young Vash begged. "It'll be fun!"

"I said I don't want to go!"

Rai frowned a little. "All right Knives. But you'll miss out!"

Young Vash and Rai ran off and headed to the room where the optic garden was. It was then that a tall, muscular man with curly brown hair passed by Knives, a hand in one pocket, and another holding a bottle of whiskey.

The man looked down at Knives. "You're nothing but a monster…" he declared to him with a slur. "Remember that." He then walked off as though nothing happened.

As soon as the man turned his back, young Knives gave him a death-like glare.

Rem spoke once that was over. "Steve… you remember him of course… he was the one who made you believe that all humans were savages, just like he was."

"…This is nothing but a waste of my time," Knives growled. "If you don't mind, I would like to return to my sleeping quarters."

"Not yet," Rem replied. "We're not finished yet."

A sudden quick flash hit Knives. He soon found himself in a much darker room. He watched as his young self and Rai ran into the room, looking as though they were frantic to hide somewhere. They finally found a spot behind a bunch of boxes and go behind there.

"Knives, I'm scared," Rai whispered, her voice shaking. "Steve is even more drunk than ever. I hope Vash is okay too."

"Don't worry Rai, I won't let him hurt you," you Knives promised.

For a long time, the two held each other in silence. Then, they heard the door open with force before it slammed into the wall. They could hear the slow, thumping footsteps getting closer and closer to where they hid.

"Where are you little monsters?" Steve's voice was heard, sound even more slurred than young Knives remember. "You are all nothing but a burden on this ship…"

A few seconds later, the boxes were quickly knocked over. Rai screamed in fear as she is pulled away from Knives by the neck.

Young Knives looked up at the scene with horror. "No!" he begged. "Leave her alone!"

"AHHH!" Rai screamed.

Steve looked at Rai as he began to shake her violently. "You think you monsters can get away from me? I don't think so!"

Suddenly, a loud crack was heard. When Rai's eyes rolled to the back of her head and slumped over in Steve's hand, Young Knives realized what just happened. Steve had broken her neck… and now she was dead. Steve's facial expression was that of both shock and horror as he came to the realization that he had killed her in his own hands. He dropped her to the ground and she fell like a rag doll. He then took a couple of steps back, practically sobering up at that point.

"No…I, I can't believe what I just did…" Steve uttered.

"ARGH!" young Knives screamed as he charged after Steve with rage. Steve quickly saw this and stepped out of the way, sending Young Knives crashing into more boxes in the room.

Steve then went over to pick up Rai's limp body. He spoke to young Knives as he did. "Listen here you monster, if any of the crew hear about this, or that little idiotic brother of yours, you'll end up just like her. Is that clear?"

Young Knives could only glare at Steve as he threw the dead girl over his shoulder and quietly walked out of the room. Once along, Young Knives crawled into a corner, curled into a ball, then quietly sobbed.

The now-grownup Knives watched all of this in silence. It was hard to tell, but there was a hint of grim in his face.

"It was the last time you ever cried," Rem spoke. "Steve covered up the murder by telling the others that Rai had quickly decided that she had wanted to join the other sleepers so that there would be more young people in our new land. As the following days went by, rage began to consume you. Rai's death has given you 'proof' that humans were nothing but savages. It was not long after her demise that you performed your selfish deed…"

More flashes appeared in front of Knives… images of when he had slaughtered all the crew on the ship. He and Vash had escaped on a smaller ship. Rem had risked her life to find another crew member, who, unknown to her, was already killed.

"Since that day," Rem continued. "All you desired was world domination. Life meant nothing to you anymore…"

Knives turned to her as anger took over him once more. "That's enough! I've listened to you long enough! Now take me back to my quarters!"

Rem frowned as she nodded. "Very well, Knives. My duty to try to help you is complete. I may have not opened your eyes to the true meaning of life… but I am sure the other two will…"

"Ha!" Knives sneered. "I'd like to see them try!"

Then a white light once again flashed before his eyes…