Many Roads To Home
By Danii (DeBrabant)
WARNING: SPOILERS FOR THE END OF THE SERIES. IF YOU HAVENT SEEN IT AND DON'T WISH TO BE SPOILED, DON'T READ ON.
Summary: After their confrontation, Vash takes Knives to a special place to mend his brother's ways and the relationship between them. However, when Vash finds a baby and decides to raise it, the world will never be the same.
Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun, the world of Trigun, or any of the original characters from it. Vash, Millie, Knives, Meryl, Wolfwood, etc. Evie, Vincent, Stephen, and the Quads ARE mine though, so please ask if you wish to use them...
Distribution: You want? Take. Just put my name on it and tell me where it is...I have to know that so I can brag...:)
Feedback: Is a must! I'm no blackmailing you, I'm just telling you that if she isn't fed, my muse throws a pissy-fit and strikes, which results in sucky chapters...So, in the most polite way I can say it, please, if you like the story or feel the need to give me creative criticism, PLEASE DO!
Dedication: To Tori, without whom I never would have discovered Vash and his friends (and enemies). And to Liz...just because...
Note: This is my first work in this fandom, so if I get any characters wrong, or a little OOC, don't chop me up with a chainsaw. But as said above, constructive criticism is welcome! Also, if there is something in here that doesn't jive with the anime (which isn't all that likely since I saw the whole thing and it takes place after) or the manga (which is likely, since I haven't seen any of that) please let me know and I'll try to fix it.

And now:

In the middle of an oasis over 200 iles from the city of December, a man stopped walking. Then, with careful deliberation, the man took a look around the lush green garden that was so unlike the sandy area surrounding it, and dropped the large bundle that he'd been carrying on his shoulder for some time.

The bundle made a grunting noise as it hit the ground.

"Knives, you can get up now..." said the man, his lips curved into a satisfied smile as he continued to survey the oasis.

There was some movement from within the bundle, and then more, followed by muffled words that told the man that his passenger was not in a particularly happy mood.

"Come on out, Knives..." the man repeated with a broad grin, "Come out and see our new home..."

And then the one called Knives finally found his way out from the burlap of the bundle, his white-blonde hair sticking out like some sort of desert plant at first, followed by a head, and a heavily bandaged body. From what the man could see, his passenger wasn't too badly hampered in his movements by the injuries, or by the bandages over them. Knives was jerking his head around enough to make that point well enough.

"Vash?" Knives asked, rather dazed and more then a little confused. He wasn't quite sure what had happened at the moment...why he was in a sack, why he had several wounds, why he was with his brother, or why he was in THIS oasis, which was rather different then the one he'd been in before going unconscious. "Vash, where are we?"

The man called Vash smiled, then raised an eyebrow at his brother and did a sweeping gesture with his arm to encompass the entirety of the forest-like area around them.

"We're home."

Now it was Knives' turn to raise an eyebrow. "Home?"

"Home." Vash replied with an explicit nod as he approached his brother, "This is going to be our new home. And just like Rem said, I'm going to take care of you..."

Immediately, Knives' muscles began to stiffen at the mention of the brothers' childhood caretaker, but as they did, the white-blonde man was struck with an amazing amount of pain. He was no stranger to pain, but the several different sources of it striking at once made him nearly fall over. His brother noticed and was supporting him before he could tumble to the ground.

"Whoa now..." Vash said soothingly, his green eyes staring into his brother's with nothing but care and concern, "Steady...steady...don't get yourself worked up..."

"Why not?" Knives exclaimed hatefully as he turned away from Vash's gaze, "You won. You and your non-sensible ideals...your humans...the humans you love...always more then me..."

Hurt and alarm filled those sea green eyes now, and while Knives could no longer see it, he could hear it in Vash's voice.

"Why do you have to make it exclusive? Why can't I love them and you at the same time?"

"Because they're filth!" Knives cried angrily. As he said it, he tried to pull away from Vash. He didn't want to touch his brother, didn't want to be around him when he was speaking such nonsense. But unfortunately, the pain struck him again, and instead of running away, he simply fell hard onto the ground.

"Knives!"

"They're horrible." He screamed from the ground, his white-blonde hair getting dirty in the wet earth, "They waste and destroy! They use our kind-"

"Will you try?" Vash asked, suddenly interrupting his brother's rant.

Knives stopped, the confusion cooling his rage, and looked at Vash. "What?"

"Will you try to make this our home?" the blonde repeated, his eyes filled with an amazing need to be understood, "Will you just forget about exterminating what you see as lower beings and just live here, with me? Just the two of us, like you always said you wanted. You and I...here...in our own personal Eden?"

The other was struck at the simple desire in his brother's voice. Truly, that was all Vash wanted. For the moment only, perhaps, but that was Vash's only wish. And truth be told, it had always been his wish. To be with his brother without the interference of all those horrible humans...to have Eden.

There was silence between the two for a moment, and then slowly, painfully, Knives pushed himself up until he was standing beside Vash. He gave the blonde a hard, searching look, and then embraced him suddenly as if his brother might disappear any second. Vash was surprised at this, but almost immediately squeezed Knives back, assuring him. It felt so much like the time before the butterfly and the spider. Before the crash. Before they'd become so different.

It felt right.

Then Vash felt the bandages and winced slightly at the pain he had caused his brother. It was necessary pain, he knew, but it still hurt him to know that he'd shot Knives.

"Come on..." Vash said finally, "We have a lot of work to do. We have to build a house, we have to set up a little area to farm food from, we have to-"

The bandages scrapped against his suit and Knives grunted softly.

"Well, I have a lot of work to do, and you have a lot of healing to do."

To this, Knives nodded and let go of his brother, sliding slowly to the ground to lie down on the burlap. It wasn't the most comfortable of beds, but it did its job. Vash smiled at him, then turned around to begin making some sort of lodging from surrounding brush and wood.

Just for them, the two in Eden.