Disclaimer: Trigun is sadly enough not mine, or there would have been way more episodes!

Chapter 11: Knives' POV
Coming awake was a slow processes for him which felt odd, however once he was awake he smiled, the free range of motion he was used to having had returned. While there was a minor ache in his shoulders, and his legs felt tender, he found he could move again without any difficulty. Sitting up, he stretched, enjoying the feel of just moving again.

Thank you, he sent to Tala, grateful for her help

It was a few minutes before she responded and her response was almost groggy sounding, Your welcome.

He is concern for her because she had been perfectly normal the previous night so he inquires, Are you alright?

A soft touch brushes his mind, like a hand gently brushing his cheek, We rest during the day, the humans are allowed to use our power then. While they use it, we regain most of it by resting, sleeping if you will. You awoke me, so I am tired. Healing takes more energy it does to run this place. So I will speak with you later, Knives, I need my rest.

I am sorry, he replies, he had not realized that it took extra power when he healed with them, he had though that the bulb itself did the healing. I did not seek to harm you.

Another gentle brush against his mind to reassure him, You have not, I just wanted you to understand and explaining it is the easiest way to do so. Rest well, brother.

When she is done speaking he feels the direct connection end, yet he can still feel a small connection in the back of his mind. While he had been in the bulb with her the previous night, she had taken his head between her hands and he had felt something change deep within himself. An awareness unlike anything he had ever felt before settled deep within his power. Now he could feel his sisters, their joys and sorrows, their power, and all he had to do was reach.

Standing up he recalls where he had seen Vash grab the towels from the previous day before heading to the shower. As he climbs in, and turns the hot water on he is overjoyed at the feel of it sliding against his skin now that there are not holes in him. Carefully running his fingers over the spots, he finds the ones on his legs had left minor scars, while those on his shoulder had not.

Well, that could have been far worse, he thinks to himself, the markings are not that bad. I have my ability to move again. Focusing he calls to his gifts, the ones besides telepathy and is happy to find that he still has them. At the same time however he feels a strong female presence in his mind observing him. As soon as he allows the power to fade, the females presence vanishes and he realizes that he has been set a watcher by his sisters.

I guess that makes sense, he thinks, I have caused a lot of problems over the years during my rage. Shaking his head he considers what he had learned the previous evening about Vash, himself, their sisters, and the humans. Some of it he never would have imagined, while other things he could now see without the haze of anger and realized that they were not rational even if at the time they had seemed completely rational to him.

As the water poured down over him, he admitted to himself that he was wrong. It was probably the hardest thing he had done in his long life. With that realization, he also found himself shocked that Vash had not killed him despite knowing his brother's dislike for violence, he was still just as capable of it, yet he tried to avoid it at all cost. Apparently, that was like their sisters, a group of almost all pacifists who hated the idea of harming others unless there was no choice. He had been the family odd ball with his blood lust. Dropping his head under the spray of the water, he allowed himself to do something he had not done since childhood, cry.

It was silent but hard, causing him to shake almost uncontrollably. When a strong arm wrapped around him, he was startled to see Vash, he more startled by the hug since Vash had not bother to take off his sleeping clothes and was getting drenched. For a time the two brothers stood there in the spray even as the water turned cold. One accepting his choices and finally letting go of the pain and anger, the other accepting it and comforting him.

"Thank you," he whispered as he stepped away, and shut the water off.

Vash shrugged, a small smile on his face, "It's what you do when someone you care about hurts," pausing he raises an eyebrow, "remember, you used to do that for me when we were kids."

He nods, clearly recalling several instances where he had done just that.

"If you get dressed, you can go in the kitchen, I am sure I smelled Meryl cooking something when I came in here." Vash tells him with a grin.

Again he nods, not sure of how things are going to be now. He had hated the spiders for years, he had hated everything that they meant to him and his brother. He had been angry at his brother for picking the spiders over him. Yet Vash had accepted him back without question as long as he was not trying to kill anyone, which was something he wasn't sure he would have done. Then there were the two spiders that lived here, both had accepted him. True the temperamental one had stayed away for the most part, and every time she was in the room, he could feel her rage at him, but that rage was because of the harm he had done his brother, not the lives he had caused to be ended. Then the blue-eyed one had cared for him and it almost seemed as if she did actually care. It was all very disconcerting.

"So are you going to join us in eating?" Vash asks, interrupting his thoughts.

He smiles, the first real non-violent smile he had in years besides the one he had given Vash when they first saw each other again. Sighing, he replies, "Let's go eat."