"A human? Don't be disgusting." Knives shook his head, unwilling to even dwell on the thought. Vash was too damn perceptive sometimes. The last thing he needed was his brother meddling in whatever was going on between him and that woman. It was bad enough that he and his woman had shown up, rubbing his face in what that certain perversion might bring him.
He dropped his head so he appeared to be looking at Ace, but instead of watching her he looked at the two of them through his lashes. Meryl stood behind Vash, using him as a shield, but her hand stayed possessively on his shoulder. Vash still had one hand on Kiley, and the other supporting his weight, but he was leaning against her legs. They looked sickeningly cute together.
He had never expected that their relationship would last this long. With his brother's fear of intimacy, and that woman's stubborn nature, he was sure that their time together would have ended in under five years. But… he hadn't reckoned on what would happen after his brother was no longer chased out of every city he ever entered. With his incarceration in the ship and with that woman looking out for him, his brother was no longer quite as prone to find trouble as he had been. The number of bounty hunters after him had decreased, and Meryl had helped contrive to hide him just by staying near him. After all, a little thing like her wouldn't tag around with the famous outlaw, would she?
And after a decade of only sporadic Stampede sightings, common knowledge held that he was dead. No one would have thought to find the Stampede living quietly on a tree farm iles and iles outside December. No one would think that the happy couple that traveled to see Millie every few years was comprised of her companions from those tumultuous years of traveling the world and destroying much of it.
People had enough trouble convincing themselves that his brother could be even potentially dangerous even after watching him in action. The polite-mannered man with the goofy posture who loved kids… that persona served him well.
And Meryl. Much as he hated that woman, he had a certain grudging respect for her. Anyone who could convince his brother that running away from everything wasn't the way to fix a problem was a near miracle worker. The stubbornness he loathed about her was probably the only virtue that helped her keep his brother near. She had decided that he was the one for her, and that she would do anything to keep him. Even… after… what he had done to her and that other, tall one, she still stuck by his brother. Even knowing that a day like this one would come, one where she had to face him again.
He hated seeing such strength in a vermin. Every time they showed a brief glimpse of being more than they normally were, it added fuel to his brother's arguments that they could be saved. Trained, or taught, or whatever his brother thought might make them different from the capricious creatures that raped and destroyed worlds and peoples. He seemed to think that the rare person like his woman was indicative of the race, rather than superlative. If that word could be applied to a vermin.
No, he knew the true nature of humans. Take and take and take, and when thwarted from their desire to acquire, they turned to violence to get what they wanted. Even this Meryl showed some of the same traits, with her desire to keep his brother near, as if his brother was a commodity that could be kept. The thought made the old, familiar anger rise again, and he lifted his gaze so the woman could see it in his eyes.
He liked seeing her flinch, to see her cringe away slightly. Weak, like all humans. His brother would thank him if he got rid of her, surely. With that thought he allowed a cruel little smile curl around his lips. It was so much fun to tease the humans.
"Stop it, Knives." Vash's voice was harsh.
Knives turned his gaze on his brother, eyes turned innocent in a blink.
"What? Am I not allowed to look at her?"
"Stop trying to scare her."
"I don't think I'm trying to. I think I am," he said, grinning at his brother, dropping the pretense of innocence.
"Stop it anyway. You've done enough to her, and I'm not going to let you hurt her anymore."
"Not even a little bit? For old times sake?" Knives teased.
"No. She's a human being, not a toy for your amusement."
"Only yours?"
"Stop that." Vash sighed, and his voice changed from commanding to pensive. "I guess it's too much to hope that hanging around with a human would teach you that they aren't all as bad as you would like to think." His finger tapped Kiley's leg.
"Please. She's just another vermin. If she didn't know such fun tricks, I'd have killed her months ago. As soon as I have what I want from her, she will die." He ignored Ace's stiffening in his lap. A lesser being might have worried that she would try to stop him when the time to kill the woman came. He knew that she would have learned by then that all vermin must die. Even the pretty ones.
That thought was quickly quashed.
"You can't just go around killing people. I'm not going to let you. Everyone deserves a chance to change their ways, even her."
Knives interrupted. "Blank ticket to the future? You forget, I heard that pap as well. I just saw it for the drivel it was. You don't coddle a problem and hope it goes away. You take care of it, rid yourself of it. Humans are the problem. Her, your pet, and that tall one, all of them are part of the problem. To rid ourselves of them, well… you never did like solving problems, did you? Just running away from them and hoping they solve themselves without you ever having to make hard choices."
