Day 344
If it were not for Vash, this town would be ashes by now.
He concentrates on the anger as it is the clearest of emotions he feels now, it is the emotion he knows the best, the emotion that has fuelled him for much of his life. He recognises that now, though he is still unsure about whether it is an entirely bad thing.
Still, it is what he knows and he knows it well, it holds other, more painful emotions at bay.
Had it not been for Vash's pleading, and the cold voice inside of him which points out that this entire situation might be a good lesson in the truth of humanity for his naive brother, he would have given into the rage.
As it is, two days after the murder of Pete, he stands at the back of the Angel's Rest court room, an aura of palpable rage radiating from him, keeping the watching spiders away.
Vash has already taken the witness stand, Knives watches with a bitter smirk on his face as he placed one hand, his organic hand, upon the bible and made oaths of truth to the human god.
Knives thinks that ironic for, even if such a superior being exists, he has long abandoned Gunsmoke.
He and his brother are the closest things to Gods that any in this room shall ever encounter.
Vash cries through his testimony of course, but speaks eloquently enough towards the end, begging (predictably) for a just but merciful punishment upon the accused.
Others take the witness stand; prosecution and defence make their cases a story emerges. A story of a teenage boy, his home destroyed by bandits, starving upon the streets with only a gun to make his living by. A boy desperate for food, who fumbled his gun and killed a man. A good man.
Pete had lived on his own, he'd not taken a wife nor had he any older relives left upon this world. He did, however, have a younger sister who lived away from him, with her own family.
She is the last to take up the witness stand and Knives is shocked to see that he recognises her, for she is the woman who sings whilst putting up the laundry, his next door neighbour whom he has seen whilst upon the porch. Odd how such things can happen, such links of blood and lives can be made without him even noticing.
She tells the courtroom of Pete, of the good he did, of the man whom he is. It is sugar coated, of course, but Knives had expected nothing less. Despite this it moves him a little, which he had certainly not expected and part of him wishes he could take the stand also, to give some testimony of the man whom he was so close to.
At the end of her speech she is asked a question by the judge in light of Vash's own pleading. She is asked what she believes the boy's punishment should be; if he is pronounced guilty.
She asks for mercy.
The jury leaves the court room and makes a decision, not a process which takes a terribly long time.
He is declared guilty of murder by accident, but not design.
The judge pronounces sentence, taking the situation into account and the pleading of the witnesses. He is condemned to three years jail, followed by a further year in community service. (1)
Knives is sweating with white hot fury at the end, his hands are clenched at his side and shaking, the nails digging into his palm so deep they draw blood.
He grabs Pete's sister as she moves past him, holding her tight, allowing his cold blue eyes to bore into her.
'Why?' he hisses, 'why did you plead for that filth! He deserves the same fate as Pete, he deserves death!'
'Perhaps,' she replies, 'and that is what part of me wishes, but I don't have the power to say what he deserves. Will his death bring Pete back? It won't, it will just mean more blood spilt upon the ground and that is not what we need. It is not what Pete would have wanted. I won't live my life in anger and shame, I won't kill to appease by own thirst for blood, that boy once had family as well, after all.'
He releases her with these words, his fingers suddenly numb.
She moves on, drifting past him in darkened dress and veil and is lost to the crowds.
He feels another presence besides him, he knows without looking it is Vash.
'It's not fair,' he says weakly.
'No,' replies Vash, 'it isn't.'
'I should be able to do something,' he says, he wraps his arms around himself, 'I should be able to make it better, to stop it happening.'
'You can't do anything,' says Vash, putting his own arm round his brother, 'no one can. Not without committing a still greater crime. We're not Gods, Knives, no matter how much we wish we were. We do what we can and hope that it is enough.'
'But we should be able to, we should be strong!'
'No, Knives, we shouldn't.'
He tightens his grip upon himself, trying to wrap his tattered cloak of rage and pride still closet, holding the shattered pieces of his emotional armour together around the hollow, aching hole of his soul.
'Knives,' whispers Vash again, 'please, you don't need to be strong for me any more.'
Harder, so hard it hurts, so hard his eyes close tight shut, his teeth dig into his bottom lip, drawing tangy blood.
'Please, be weak for me.'
Harder, harder and harder until everything is a tight speck around a pinprick of searing light, so hard the emptiness hurts inside, so hard he feels like he's dying because it's too painful to live.
'You can cry now Knives, please… cry for me?'
At last he lets go and his tears, a century and more old, fall from his blue eyes onto the parched soil of Gunsmoke, finally fertilising it.
(1) Not sure if this is an entirely appropriate punishment, but it felt right when I wrote it.
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Sorry this took to long to post, I've been really busy lately still, better late than never!
Reader's Replies…
Ron the Future Weasel: Aw, sorry I made you cry. Still, it's nice to know I can do emotive writing! It's very sad for all involved, but necessary for the plot. A lot of people seemed to like the Chess ending, which I'm very, very happy about. I'm rather proud of that idea myself, :grin:.
I hope the 'lesson' in this was alright…
TheDreamsoftheDead: So happy you're loving this! I love having you as a reviewer. Sorry about Pete's death but he really had to go… besides, you know what they say about the good… they die young… (Though Vash kinda disproves that… maybe…)
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Magnet-Rose: Aaand it's another 'aw' for Pete. I never guessed the poor guy would be so popular! That's a first for an OC! Better? Well… that's one word for it… and thanks for the wording comment, I feel so happy!
Sesshomarus-Girl101: Augh, as much as I love you for reviewing, I do wish you had an easier name to spell! Anyway, so… you root for the 'dark side' then? Good for you! I'm actually planning to write a short Legato fic soon… fingers crossed. Yay for spastic reviews! It's all good! I know what you mean about many Knives fics. I'm certainly sick of the 'Knives finds love and everything gets better!' approach. It's alright to a degree, but it's so clichéd only a fevery few authors, like Antelstryke, can pull if off any more. On that topic, Angelstryke's Knives fic is rather good, I can recommend you that fic. And, if you're willing to go in for the long haul, check out Gloria Stone's CHECKMATE: A spider's bounty. Neather fics are finished yet, but they're both rather good.
SanoGirl: Thanks for the comments, and as you can see this does have an effect on Knives' progress… good or bad will be fully revealed later. And I'm going with Knives' rather than Knives's, but it can be done either way, I think.
Angelstryke: Hello again! Aw, another person crying! Sorry. Heh, you've got the conflict in a nutshell, poor guy… still don't worry, he'll be resolving some things soon. And no, DO NOT KILL OF LOKE!
Ok? Please? Don't or… or… or… I'LL KILL KNIVES IN THIS FIC!' :breath in and out: there, threat over with!
Oh, and hurry up with more of your fic, please? I do so love it!
Aoi: Hello! And the tears keep rolling in… Still feel the mugger's stupid? It was just some poor kid, he's not a murderer really… it was just one mucked up tragedy. And it brought a lot of suffering to everyone, including Vash as, once again, his pacifism has cost someone their life… Thanks for the reviews.
AnonymousTrigunOtaku: Thanks for reviewing again! It's good to hear from you. Aw… now there are some other good authors around, like Angelstryke and Sailor Lilith. Please keep reviewing!
Communist Penguin: Ach, I'm drowning in tears over here! It's great! Oh yeah, you're right, it is a big turning point. Sorry about the shortness of that chapter, and this chapter, but they just turn out how they turn out you know? My god, I'm actually making people feel emotion? I didn't know I could really do that, excellent. I hope this chapter lives up to expectations.
TerribleT: Hehehe, I am evil, aren't I? And yeah, you've got my effects in one there, he can't grieve yet but still… What is it with the censors here? Why change that little aspect of your review? Why? Thanks for spotting the error, like I said they just don't always show up, curse them! Well done, BTW, you caught up with me! Don't worry, it won't happen again :evil face:.
Thanks for all the reviews guys, I love you all! PLEASE keep it up!
Next Time: Alone with his thoughts Knives muses on his life thus far, his choices and recent events. He will come to some remarkable conclusions…