Day 364
The next few days are a new lifetime. It is as if he has been born anew, yet with the weight of the world upon his shoulders.
At first things are awkward, dancing around subjects with his brother, long, uncomfortable silences, muttered apologies. Then there come the small arguments, pitiful, playful insults, tiny jibes and little tasks done for one another.
At last, like a dam breaking, things shift into a more comfortable manner. They are brothers again, dysfunctional, squabbling brothers, but brothers none the less.
Knives leaves the house a few times and goes into town, buying supplies and talking to the humans. He makes no friends immediately, he even makes a few enemies, but he returns with clean hands and clean conscience, sometimes he can even remember the names of the people he's talked to and does not feel overly repulsed by them. Occasionally he even wonders what else they do at night, if they have any family, if they will surmount the difficulties they face in their small, antlike lives.
Two days after their long talk, Vash and Knives are invited to Pete's funeral, which they both attend.
It is a strange experience, standing over the pitiful remains of such a man, surrounded by his relatives. Knives finds that he is not entirely changed, for he cannot weep for Pete though he feels a keen sadness in his soul. He does, however, set some flowers upon his grave, red geraniums of course, (Vash's choice,) and spends an hour or two in contemplation there. This is surely far more honour than he's ever given any other human.
Now, from the porch he watches Vash play with the children of Angle's Rest, or rather watches as they attempt to beat him into a bloody pulp.
He does not think he'll ever act like that, he has lost almost all his hatred and much of his pride, but he retains enough that he will not stoop quite that low. Still, their antics are amusing to watch and he will admit some fascination with the children, who always seem to hold both the best and worse qualities of their kind.
Something soft brushes against Knives' leg, he looks down into the two, large, green eyes of a cat, a midnight black cat. He allows himself a small smile and gently pets the animal. He's always been fond of cats, their innocent playfulness as kittens, and their graceful predatorily as fully grown animals. He finds irony in the way they live, being petted and coddled by humans in return for food. In truth, Knives thinks, it is more like the cats own the humans than the other way round.
The shadows lengthen upon the sand as the twin suns complete their fall towards the horizon, the dying crimson light gleams against the transparent chamber of the Plant.
Vash hasn't been working there lately, deciding instead to spend more time with Knives. Knives himself has a feeling there's more too it than that, but he presses no questions, yet.
'Vash!' he calls out, 'are you coming in for dinner?'
'Sure!' replies Vash, wishing the children a good nights sleep before returning to Knives and the house.
Dinner is a simple affair that night, with Knives doing the cooking. Vash is unusually quiet; a change from recent times when he'd made a point to playfully criticize Knives' rather dull culinary skills. This night, however, he eats up the rice and stew quietly, if swiftly, before waiting for Knives to finish his dinner at a more sedate pace.
For afters it is, of course, coffee and doughnuts, both supplied by Vash.
Knives has one, large cup of coffee and two doughnuts, Vash has a rather smaller cup and four doughnuts. It is, for the people involved, a very fair distribution.
'Knives?' says Vash after a bit, finishing off his last doughnut.
'Mmm?' mutters Knives, sipping his coffee.
'Are you glad you came here? Glad of all of this?'
Knives stops to consider, another deep silence takes hold of the room, as if a cloud has passed by the semi superficial bubble of homeliness they've created.
'I don't know,' he says eventually, 'I can't be glad of it, it was too painful but… but I think it was better it turned out like this.'
Vash grins inanely and perhaps the love in it is a little deeper than before.
'Not that you should take that as an excuse to shoot me full of bullets every time we disagree,' added Knives half playfully, his voice ringing with quiet amusement. He yawns and stretches, for some reason he feels very tired.
He finishes off his coffee and says as much to Vash.
'You should get an early night,' his brother suggests.
'But I… I don't… don't wanna…' mutters Knives, yawning between almost every word. His eyelids are heavy, as are his limbs. He slumps at his chair, his eyelids drooping pathetically.
Some part of his brain is protesting, telling him he's acting like a little kid, but the rest of his mind is far to tired to care.
'I'll get you to bed,' says Vash, helping Knives up and leading him to his bedroom.
Through his sleep fogged mind Knives registers Vash's attempts to set him to bed. Again some part screams that something isn't right, that he shouldn't be so tired that he can't even get undressed by himself. Again he ignores it, or attempts to.
The worry bothers him until, even in bed and in his sleep cloths, he cannot close his eyes. His brother is looking at him strangely, intensely, as if something important is about to happen, or has happened.
'Vash?' mutters Knives, for some reason feeling dimly afraid, 'are you alright?'
'I'm just fine.'
He hears something, a song. Vash is singing that tune Rem always used to hum to them. What was it called? Ah yes, Sound Life.
Again he has a niggling feeling of worry, of premonition, but Vash's gentle singing seems to drown it out until the song ends and he hears his brother move towards the door.
'Vash?' whispers Knives again sleepily, his lips barely strong enough to form the words.
'Don't worry Knives,' says Vash gently, 'I'm here if you need me, I'm always here.'
Knives falls silent at that, and rolls over onto his back. He always sleeps upon his back unlike Vash who, for some reason, prefers to rest upon his stomach. It's another strange quirk which has always set the twins apart.
He hears the door softly closing and knows that, once more, his is alone in the room.
It does not bother him much anymore though; he's only ever as alone as he wants to be, after all.
The room is noiseless now; the only thing echoing in his ears is the Rem's song.
It is a silly thing, he thinks dully, sleep almost upon him now, sentimental, fake, almost patronising in its way. A children's song.
Yet it does have its charm, its gentle innocence, it is a comforting thing to keep in the head, if not a good thing to live by.
Perhaps it isn't quite so bad after all.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Sorry so little happened in that chapter, it's more of a filler than anything to tell the truth. But things are going to be better in the next one. The next chapter with is the penultimate chapter in this fic! Yep, it's just that one and an epilogue to go. So keep up reviewing people!
Readers Replies:
SanoGirl: Au Contraire, I don't think that this picture of Vash is neccesaraly true, it's merely the way I view him. Though I thank you for the kind words, really Vash is such a complex character he can be viewed in many ways, it's one of his charms. I'm glad you didn't find it too mushy too,
ATO: Don't worry, there'll be no Mary sues here nor any twincest. Well, not like that anyway. Thanks for befriending me on my live journal! Keep your eye out for more stories on it. Oh, and as to your comments on 'chess,' don't worry, I'm going to be posting Trigun stories for a long time yet!
Ron the Future Weasel: Thanks again for reading my story, I hope you see the connection though maybe it was a bit slender… I never pretended to be perfect, far, far from it! But thanks for your continued support :hugs:
Communist Penguin: It isn't quite the end… though it is nearly. I just want to wrap up a couple more issues, make a few things clearer, then it'll be the end. I hope you can bare with me for just a little longer…
TeaRoses: I'm glad someone shares the Vash view. I think it was either Lady Shadowcat or ATO that said that one of the most compelling Trigun pairings is Vash/no one. Because, honestly, with the exception of Rem, I doubt he's capable of loving anyone any more. If he loves he has to make choices and… well, like I said before. It's why I always feel a little uncomfortable writing Vash/Meryl, because in the long term I don't think it could work, sadly enough… I do hope you write that fic, you're a pretty good author! I really need to read more of your work. And don't be intimidated, if for no other reason than this saying: From little acorns, mighty oaks grow!
Oh yes, and I feel touched that my story has affected you so much that you!
Angelstryke: Yes, Vash did deserve a bit of an explanation, didn't he! Heh, again with the crying! I swear, the next fic I post on FFN is gonna have to be a humour fic! Just to cheer you guys up! And no, I'm not trying to kill you, because then you wouldn't finish your fic! I hope that's going OK, by the way, best of luck.
The old fart: I'm so happy you're reading and enjoying this fic, I know I like yours! Oy, guys, check out this dude's drabbles and stuff, they rock!
Magnet-Rose: Your Nova fic is pretty darn good, and the character (who's name I've forgotten, sorry!) isn't too Mary sueish, which is good. Wolfwood's return bothers me a little, but I'm picky. The over all plot has some merit though, and I'm eagerly anticipating how it's going to turn out. But yeah, thanks for the review!
Aoi: Very true. I think you're right, though in some ways Vash is too selfless, which is why I think he would have troubles loving Knives, or anyone else save Rem, totally and completely. They either a) betray him. b) die, or c) force him to make choices between them and a life or something. Not good. I think Vash and Knives do love each other, always will, they can't help it. But the question is do they allow other things to overrule that love? Knives defiantly will, but Vash?...
Zolac no Miko: Yep, pivotal time alright! I'm happy the emotion thing happened again. And yes, with that one sentence you've just summed up a lot of the ending of this story, but you'll pick that up as you finish it… hehehehe!
LeDiz: Thanks again for the praise… I'm not entirely sure what to say… but I think you liked it, right? Heh, it's always hard to tell whether I'm being true to the characters or just going off on my own somewhere… but from what people are saying I'm doing OK. And yeah, my Live Journal's fun, my life is fun, with tests and revision and coursework and money problems and…. (just kidding!) Yeah, life's been peaceful now. Please, LeDiz, feel free to pop onto my journal at any time, you're always welcome!
Rar: Ooo, constructive criticism, cool! Thanks! Sorry about the spelling, it is a problem I have and, without a beta reader, I've no real way of fixing it. But thanks anyway. Yes, Knives is very mushy in that chapter, it's one of the things I don't like about it. But to be fair he's just been through a VERY traumatic time, so he's aloud a bit of emotion I think. But don't worry, he'll harden up later and return to his old ways somewhat. I'll check out that fic too, it sounds cool!
Sess101: I'm happy this chapter worked for you! Heh, does this mean I might be on your favourites list soon? I wonder how many favourites list this story is on? Mmm…
But yeah, please keep reviewing!
Wow, that was a lot of reviews… and I'm over the 200 mark! GO ME! Sorry if my replies were so short. The next chapter will be better I promise!
NEXT TIME: The penultimate chapter! Knives awakes to find that things are… different. Now he must face an entirely new world… but wait… is it the world that is new… or him?