Chapter 2
Knives awoke again to the unfamiliar ceiling. He was in less pain now, his injuries healing, but at a delayed rate due to his depleted energy. He turned his head, expecting to see Vash still hovering over him, but he was alone in the room.
On the nightstand next to his bed was a glass of water. Knives realised that he was incredibly thirsty, he couldn't remember the last time he had drunk anything.
His right arm was encased in a plaster cast, but his left was only bandaged. He reached out for the glass, his arm feeling like it was made out of lead. He gasped at the exertion, his muscles aching, but refused to give up. As his fingertips touched the side of the glass, his arm spasmed, knocking it. The glass wobbled precariously on the edge of the table, and then fell to the floor and smashed.
Knives cursed. He couldn't do anything with his body like this.
The door opened and a short, black-haired woman rushed in. She saw the broken glass and displayed a look of relief, as if she had been expecting something worse. Knives stared at her, for a second he though he was seeing a hallucination. The girl was almost the exact image of Rem, the woman who had raised him and Vash.
"I'll get you another," She said, and hurried out of the room. A moment later she came back, carrying a new glass of water.
Knives' initial surprise was replaced with disgust. "I don't need… your help… human…"
The girl frowned. "You're not in any condition to refuse." She sat down next to him and held the glass to his mouth, her expression softening. "Go on, drink it."
Knives drank a few sips, but his body demanded more. He ended up gulping down the entire glassful. He choked on the last mouthful and went into a coughing fit, which sent new pain exploding through his body.
When he recovered, he saw that the girl was looking at him worriedly. "Don't waste…" He found he could talk a bit better now. "Don't waste your pity on me, human."
She frowned again. "My name's Meryl. Stop calling me 'human' like there's something wrong with that."
Meryl had suspected that Vash wasn't human for quite a while, so Knives' words didn't come as a surprise, though she was a little saddened that Vash hadn't told her himself.
She then set about replacing some of Knives' bandages. Knives remained silent and turned his head away, refusing to acknowledge what she was doing.
Meryl saw that his wounds were considerably less serious that when Vash had first brought him in. She thought of the scars that Vash had on his body, and wondered why he didn't heal them in the same way.
"Why do you help me?" Knives asked when she was finished. "I hate your species, I'd destroy you all if I could. You should just let me die."
Meryl softly shook her head. "Vash wants to save you, so that's enough reason for me."
"Why?" Knives pressed. "I don't understand."
"Because I care about him, and he'd be sad if you died." She didn't speak further for a few moments. "He wouldn't tell me much about what you did to him in the past, but he says he's forgiven you for it."
"Forgiven me…?" Knives was speechless. Conflicting emotions seemed to flash across his face, but suddenly they were replaced with a mask of fury.
"Forgiven me?!" He snarled, "I don't want his forgiveness! I'd do everything again. Everything!" Meryl was taken aback by the ferocity of his words. "This world was meant to be a paradise for me and him, but he wouldn't accept it! He chose the spiders over the butterflies!" As Knives pointed an accusing finger at her, Meryl could see the madness in his eyes. "It's all your fault, Rem! Your fault!"
Meryl stepped back from the bed, scared and confused by Knives' outburst. Knives blinked, suddenly as confused as she was. Why had he gotten so angry? Emotions were a human trait, he had spent years conditioning himself not to let them affect his judgement. And why had he called this girl Rem? Rem was long dead, and while this human had similarities to her, she certainly wasn't the same person.
For a second, he felt the impulse to apologise, but he dispelled it. The thought of apologising to a human was ridiculous. Instead, he closed his eyes, sinking into his pillow. "Leave me," He said quietly.
Meryl hesitated for a moment, but then did as he said and left. Alone in the room, Knives drifted into sleep.
Meryl found Vash sitting on a bench in the town square. He was slouched back in the seat, looking up at the sky. Meryl simply watched him for a while, thinking how peaceful he looked.
"Why don't you come sit down?" The brush-haired man asked, without averting his eyes from the sky. Meryl blushed, realising that he had known she was watching him all along. "Doughnut?" He offered, indicating the paper bag by his side as she sat down.
"I don't really like them, to be honest," Meryl answered apologetically.
Vash shrugged. "Your loss." He took one from the bag and stuffed it into his mouth. "Mmnn, mmnn! These are great!" He said through a mouthful of crumbs. He reached into the bag and pulled out another.
"Vash, your brother…" Meryl started. The doughnut paused on its way to the man's mouth. "There's something wrong with him, isn't there? It's not just his injuries, it's something in his head."
Vash put his doughnut back in the bag, he lowered his eyes from the sky to look at the insurance girl. "It's my fault, partly," He stated, a sad look in his eyes. "I should have noticed it when we were growing up. There were hints, but I never recognised them until it was too late."
"He called me Rem," Meryl told him. "Who is that?"
Vash looked surprised to hear that name. He leaned back again and smiled. "Rem was the woman who raised us."
Meryl was intrigued. Vash had never spoken about this side of his past before. "What was she like?" She asked him.
Vash closed his eyes, recalling fond memories. "She was kind and smart and beautiful." He hummed a few bars of a certain tune, then turned back to her. "She was a lot like you, actually."
Meryl blushed again. Vash pretended not to notice.
"She was the closest thing I had to a mother," He continued. "She taught me how wonderful life really is. I owe everything to her."
He started humming the tune again. Meryl recognised the song. It was very old, having been around for even longer than humans had lived on this world. She realised she knew the lyrics, even though she couldn't remember learning them.
Very quietly, she began to sing. "So… On the first night, a pebble falls to the earth from somewhere…"
To her surprise, Vash began to sing as well, and they sung the second verse together. "So… On the second night, the pebble's children hold hands and sketch a waltz. Sound life…"
Knives was dreaming. In his dream, he was a black spider, waiting at the centre of a web. A yellow butterfly became entangled in the web, and he creeped towards it. He held no malice towards the butterfly, it was simply a case of survival. As he got closer, a dark shadow loomed over him and he was suddenly afraid. He looked up and saw a younger version of himself reaching down to crush him. He tried to escape, but the giant hands closed around. He felt a weight crushing down on his chest, making it difficult to breathe.
He awoke with a heaving gasp, and found himself looking into a pair of yellow eyes. "Miao!" Declared Kuroneko-sama, sitting on his chest.
Knives stared at the cat, unsure of what it wanted. Tired of waiting, the animal clawed his nose and scampered away, running between the feet of someone standing in the doorway. Knives looked up from the feet to see a tall, brown-haired woman, carrying a tray with a bowl on it.
"Sorry, she does that sometimes," The tall girl said, referring to the cat. "Mr Vash seems to be the only one who can understand her."
Having only just gotten his breath back, Knives said nothing.
"Anyway," She smiled, "Meryl-senpai and Mr Vash seemed to having such a nice time, and I didn't want to disturb them, so I brought you some food." She sat down next to the bed and placed the tray on the nightstand.
"I'm not hungry," Knives said indifferently, but he could smell aroma coming from the bowl, and it was making his mouth water. A noisy rumbling exposed his lie.
"Your stomach says differently," The girl laughed. "I'm Milly Thompson. Pleased to meet you."
This human was different to the first. Meryl had seemed nervous around him, she probably had an idea of what he was capable of, but this woman was completely unworried, which Knives found somewhat disarming.
Milly took a spoonful of the soup that was in the bowl and held it up to Knives' mouth.
"What are you doing?" He asked in surprise. "I can do that myself!" But as he tried to move his arm, he found that his muscles had cramped. He tried again, physically straining to move it, not wanting to become any more dependant on humans than he already was, but aside from a few twitches, his arm was unresponsive.
He sighed and resigned himself to being spoon-fed. As revoltingly pathetic as it was, he couldn't refuse it if he wanted to survive.
The soup was surprisingly delicious, Knives couldn't remember the last time he had eaten food this good. The human noticed his reaction to it.
"Do you like it?" Milly asked. "I made it myself."
Knives realised he'd have to make a positive comment if he wanted her to keep feeding him. "It's very good," He said, somewhat woodenly. Complimenting people wasn't something he was used to. Nevertheless, the girl beamed at his words.
"I'm glad you like it," She smiled.
Knives decided that he would endure these humans for as long as he had to. They were still his enemy, and as soon as he recovered, he would destroy them all. This time, he wouldn't let his brother to stop him.
But for now, this soup really was very good.
To be continued…
