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Earth to Earth	By : Ravenclaw42 Category: +S to Z > Trigun Views: 2958 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Trigun, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 12
- 13
- 14
Author's Note: This chapter is just sort of a melting pot of a bunch of ideas I�d had over the months that didn�t quite develop into their own stories or chapters. This is not Knives remembering, as chapter 10 was. This is just a collection of scenes and backstory from the twins� childhood. Partly I wanted to provide some setup for future references, like the fact that Knives speaks Latin and Vash speaks French; partly I wanted to explore some simple questions (i.e. why did Vash follow Knives even after taking a brutal beating and an act of ultimate betrayal from him?) that I didn�t think the anime answered adequately. Not the most cohesive chapter and horribly depressing (at least it was depressing to write), but it gets the job done. Next chapter: return of the real plot!

All italicized quotes and the one italicized segment are taken directly from episode 17 of the anime, �Rem Saverem.�

Earth to Earth

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Chapter Twelve: Sleeping in Light

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�Try again.�

Knives carefully sounded out each word. �Mens... agitat... molen. No, molem. Is that it?�

�You really are as quick as Rem keeps saying, huh?� Mary smiled and ruffled Knives� long hair. He made an indignant little sound and pulled away, but he couldn�t completely hide his grin of pleasure at the praise.

�What does it mean?� he asked, looking up at Mary�s round, practical face. She wasn�t so silly as Rem, and she didn�t like to play games with the two young boys, but her plain sensibility was part of why Knives liked her. Vash couldn�t see past his dreams, but Knives liked to keep things in perspective.

Mary smiled, her red hair flaming with streaks of color as she turned her head to face him. The synthesized sunlight suited her well. �It means �mind moves matter.� A man named Virgil said it.�

�Did you know him?� Knives asked innocently.

Mary laughed so loudly and suddenly that Knives was taken aback. He knew he�d said something wrong -- the laugh had that slightly condescending hint to it that always cropped up when he or Vash said something ignorant. Knives didn�t like it. He didn�t like being thought childish and stupid by the others on the ship. A scowl tugged at his mouth, but Mary didn�t notice.

�Oh no!� Mary was saying, still quivering with pent-up laughter. �No, Virgil was a very old philosopher, Knives. Centuries before my time. Centuries are --�

�Hundreds of years, I know,� Knives interrupted shortly, unhappy with the turn in the conversation. Latin fascinated him, and Mary was a good teacher, but it was moments like this when he wished he was a good enough reader to learn Latin on his own.

�Of course you know.� Mary ruffled his hair again, but when Knives pulled away this time, it wasn�t with a hidden smile. �I�m sorry, Master Knives. I shouldn�t question your superior intellect.� She mock-bowed, a good trick to pull off while sitting down.

Knives would have said something damaging, then, but the door to the rec room slid open and Rem stepped in.

�Mary, there you are!� Rem called. �Joey needs an extra brain cell or two with the sleepers� programming, but Rowan�s asleep and Steve�s doing maintenance. And Knives, don�t you think it�s about time for lunch?�

Knives grumbled something incomprehensible about being busy.

�Young Master Knives here was just learning Latin,� Mary grinned. �Virgil. Say, Rem, you never knew him, did you?�

Rem�s eyes twinkled with amusement, taking Knives� hunched posture to mean that he had had a bad moment. �Maxima debetur puero reverentia, Mary. The greatest respect is due to a child. Juvenal said that.�

Mary smiled again and laughed, but the laugh was shorter and had less unpleasant baggage in it. Knives felt his anger drain away, and a flash of gratitude towards Rem.

Mary went to find Joey and left Knives the book they�d been reading from -- it wasn�t really a book, Knives thought, just a collection of quotes and things in Latin, but it was good enough for now. When he knew more, he�d get Rem to let him in the little library. And she�d said there would be more books after they found somewhere to land -- that there was a bigger library close by, but that she couldn�t get to it unless they were on solid ground. He didn�t know about the rest of the fleet yet.

When they were alone, Rem smiled down at Knives and said, �Do you like reading, Knives?�

Isn�t it obvious? Knives thought. Is it really this hard for adults to reason out what other people like and dislike? Knives thought over the question, and decided that Rem was just trying to make conversation. That was all right; slow and childish, but all right enough. �Yes,� he said in clipped tones, �books are worth learning from. I like them.�

�That�s good,� Rem said. She held out her hand, and he took it. �I have a few books of my own, not from the library, that you might like.�

Knives nodded, smiled a little. �I�d like to read them when I can.�

�What are you reading now?� Rem asked, leading them out of the rec room and towards the galley.

�Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.�

�Oh, that�s a good one,� Rem said, smiling fondly at some distant memory, �a very good one. Where are you?�

�Chapter five...� Knives muttered, knowing and hating that Vash was on chapter nine. He didn�t say that, though. Only Mary knew that Knives was a slower reader than Vash, since she was the only one teaching them to read. She assured him that reading slower was a sign of deeper comprehension, but it still bothered him that Vash could understand words before him.

�If Mary�s moved on to Latin, you must have your English, hum?�

Knives nodded. �Mostly. There are a lot of words I still don�t know.�

�Well, that�s what the reading is for,� Rem said. �You can�t know everything to start with.� She leaned down conspiratorially and whispered, �You know what? When I�m reading, I find words I don�t know, too.�

Then you haven�t learned properly, Knives thought automatically, then shook the thought away. Rem might have a smaller brain capacity than he and his brother, but he believed her when she said that she didn�t know every word in the English language. It would probably be impossible to learn them all.

�Why does English have to be complicated?� Knives asked, half to himself. �French isn�t so complicated. French makes sense.� Too bad it only suits my romantic sap of a brother, he added silently.

�Welcome to the fold of all English students over the course of history,� Rem laughed. �It�s a ridiculous language. Did Mary tell you how it came to be like it is today?�

Knives shook his head.

�Back on Earth,� Rem explained, �there were hundreds of different countries and races of people, all of whom spoke different languages. Latin was spoken mainly in the Roman Empire and was considered the scholar�s language. Sometimes -- actually, most of the time -- different races and nations would trade with each other, or try to take over each other�s land. That�s when people would mingle, learn words from each other, and their languages would adapt to fit the new words. Cultures sort of nibbled at each other�s edges, as it were. English was the greatest of all the mix-and-match languages -- there are almost no English words that are really pure English. Most of them are German, or French, or Dutch, or Native American. There�s almost no other language on Earth that English hasn�t stolen from. It�s one of the greatest pinnacles of racial mixing -- a symbol of the harmony that can be achieved when different people came together.�

�It�s still a ridiculous language, though,� Knives muttered.

Rem chuckled. �That it is. It isn�t particularly pretty, but it has meaning, and that�s why when the nations of Earth finally united, they chose English as the official international language of peace. The only bad side effect of that was that a lot of other languages died out -- there�s almost nothing left of the old African tongues. And all the Oriental languages became so modernized that they lost a lot of the flow and cadence that made them beautiful. Mandarin Chinese used to be lilting, sing-song. Different notes gave words different meanings -- it was like music. No one speaks it anymore. I only heard recordings while I was at academy.� She looked partly sorrowful and partly disappointed.

Knives wasn�t sure what to say to that. I�m sorry you killed your planet? Things change, don�t worry about it? Personally, he thought it rather efficient of Earth to pick one language and ditch the others, but then again, Knives thought natural disasters sounded like a fairly clean and painless way to help control overpopulation.

They had reached the galley. Knives could barely see Vash through the fiberglass window in the door, which was just at his eye level. The zanier twin seemed to be making a mess of something, as usual. Knives looked up at Rem again, and caught a glimpse of her distant, wistful expression before she reorganized her face into a bright smile.

�I�ll stop boring you to tears,� she said cheerfully. �It�s time for lunch, anyway. You can help me peel Vash off the ceiling, yeah?�

Knives smiled back, but the expression was just as orchestrated as Rem�s. �Yeah,� he said, and looked away from her smiling mask.

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�Do you think I�ll be eaten someday?�

�Of course not! They�re making a different kind of Eden.�

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�Hey, Joey...�

�Yes, Vash?�

�Why does it get so dark on the ship all the time? I mean, not all the time, but every twelve hours, even when people aren�t sleeping.�

Joey set down his coffee mug and gave Vash an amused look. �You mean ships� night? That�s a silly question, Vash. Of course the lights go off at night.�

�Rem says there�s no such thing as a silly question.� Vash fiddled with the cat toy Rem had given him, squeezing it around the middle to hear its tinny mechanical meow. He looked up into Joey�s stern face with a disarming, gap-toothed grin.

Joey sighed and rolled his eyes, once again defeated by the dark-haired woman�s teachings. �Okay, Vash, okay. Now why exactly do you find it strange that the lights go off at night?�

Vash shrugged and went back to playing with his toy. �Dunno,� he said evasively. �Just seems weird. It�s always dark outside, anyway.�

Joey leaned down to face the young boy, planting elbows on knees with a groan. �Well, outside it�s just empty space. It�s a vacuum; there�s no light or heat or air in a vacuum.�

Vash made a superior noise in his throat. �Well I know that,� he said in that huffy voice that only little kids can manage.

�Of course,� Joey improvised, �it was just a reminder. So the only reason it�s always dark outside is because it�s a vacuum. But on a planet, it�s different. Earth, our old home, revolved around a star -- just like the ones you see outside every day. Half of the planet would always be facing the sun and the other half would be in shadow. Because of the way Earth turned, all of the surface received both sunlight and shadow, usually in cycles of twelve hours. Humans learned to sleep at night, when they couldn�t see very well, and work during the day when they could get energy and light and hope from the sun.�

Vash had a dubious expression. �We�re on a ship,� he said bluntly, �not a planet.�

Joey counted to ten silently and wondered, not for the first time, how Rem managed it. �I know,� he said exasperatedly, �but we�re still human. We think of darkness -- nighttime -- as the time to sleep and replenish our energy, and we work better and feel more awake in daylight. So the ships are programmed to follow lighting schedules that simulate night and day on Earth. It makes us more comfortable. Besides, the habit is too deeply ingrained. Do you sleep better in the dark or the light?�

Vash looked down and mumbled, �Dark.�

Joey sat up and took a triumphant sip of coffee. �So there you are, that�s why the lights go on and off.� He turned back to his console and resumed whatever inscrutable grownup work he�d been doing when Vash had interrupted.

The young boy huddled on the floor, absorbed in contemplation of Joey�s words, twisting the stuffed cat�s tail between small fingers. The concept of night was still a new one, as were the concepts of vastness and heaven; things Rem had talked about fondly, but things which Vash found more alarming than he dared admit.

After a good ten minutes, Vash�s timid voice once more broke the silence.

�Joey?�

A sigh. �Yes, Vash?�

�Why is the dark so... I dunno. Still?�

�It�s still at night because everyone�s asleep.�

�But Mary or Rowan is always on night watch in command, and Steve stays up real late a lot. It�s so still when it�s dark, even when people are awake. I... I don�t like it.�

Joey chuckled and looked down at the bright blonde head. �Vash, are you trying to tell me you�re afraid of the dark?�

Vash made a face in denial.

Joey laughed. �It�s all right to admit it, Vash. A lot of people are afraid of the dark when they�re young. You�ll get over it as you grow up.�

�But why?� Vash insisted. �Why does darkness scare people?�

Joey turned away, shrugged off the question. �I don�t know, Vash,� he said wearily. �I really have work to do. Why don�t you ask Rem? She always has answers.�

�Yeah,� Vash mumbled. �She does.�

�Well, go find her then. Maybe you can find Knives, too, and go play somewhere.�

�Sure.� Vash scrambled to his feet, clutching his little cat, and wandered off. �Thanks, Joey,� he called over his shoulder.

Joey waved back without looking.

-----

Vash didn�t ask Rem anything. He didn�t even look for her.

He thought about finding Knives, but somehow he didn�t think his brother could make him feel any better. Knives had been getting strange lately. It wasn�t anything he said or did... it was just a feeling, a slight note of discord Vash sensed from him.

A few hours later found him taking refuge in the Sisters� room, looking small and insignificant against the graceful bulk of their bulbs. His bare feet dangled high in the air; he rocked back and forth on his precarious catwalk seat without a second thought to the danger.

Suddenly, all the lights went out.

Ships� night, Vash reminded himself, looking around nervously. I wonder if Rem is looking for me?

But he didn�t want to go back, not just yet. He sent a silent apology to Rem and pulled his legs up, hunching over into a little cross-legged ball, shielding himself from the dark.

And then he asked his Sisters why he was afraid.

They had no concept of fear. He tried to explain; they did not understand. Darkness? Darkness, to them, was the absence of something so essential that they could not comprehend existence without it.

Vash submerged his consciousness further and further into theirs in a desperate attempt to convey his question, but they rejected his feelings of fear and his images of darkness as things that could not possibly exist.

Light is our form and our being, they murmured in his ear, in his mind. Light and this essence of ourselves we call our soul are one and the same. There is no reality but the light.

But you die, Vash thought. You can die. You aren�t one being; you�re all individuals, separated by your bulbs. Each of your lights is different. There is darkness between you. Aren�t you afraid of the dark?

Again, there was a complete lack of comprehension. We are only one. We are parts of the only whole. When a body passes out of the light, out of the web of consciousness, it ceases to exist. There is no absence of light. There can be no absence of reality. Why else would we exist? How else could we exist?

And so it went on, endless questioning with no answers, no possible hope of answers. The rift in understanding between Vash and his siblings was simply too vast.

There in the darkness that his Sisters insisted was not real, Vash nodded off to sleep, lulled by the soft light of the sleeping giants.

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�It�s weird. Nothing�s actually moved around, but every time we come here this place seems different for some reason.� Knives picked a blade of grass and twirled it between nimble fingers.

�That�s because it�s alive!� Rem declared cheerfully.

Knives blinked. �Huh?�

�Can�t you feel it?� Rem asked, running her hands lovingly through the downy green of the rec room�s floor. �It has its own rhythm... you can actually feel the living heartbeat of the plants --�

Mary rolled her eyes and flopped backwards. �Oh boy, there she goes thinking about home again.�

Knives looked out at the holographic valley with its false river, sipping his cocoa. �So this looks like the world you and the others keep talking about.�

Rem shrugged. �Sort of. But the scenery at home was actually much more expansive, with a lot more variety of plants and animals.�

�I�d like to see that, Rem!� Vash cut in, gazing up adoringly at his idol.

Rem laughed. �We�re not just going to see it, we�re going to create it! We�ll find a place to create our new home. And when we get there...�

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Destruction flew left and right, a frenzied mesh of red clouds and shrapnel and screaming faces passing from slumber straight into death.

�There will be nothing but peaceful days.�

Sublimation; the act of changing from solid to gas without passing through the liquid state between.

�With no war!�

Some ships vaporized instantly, sublimated, without so much as a breath of air to mark their passing.

�And no stealing.�

The flames from a crashed vessel hundreds of miles away leapt so high that the horizon glowed with an unearthly red light.

�An Eden where people can live in freedom and harmony...�

Night fell on the planet.

-------

Vash knelt in the dust, scared and lonely, touching the lumps and bruises from where Knives� booted foot had gotten rather intimate with his face. He didn�t understand his brother�s actions; he didn�t understand the magnitude of his own life, of the catastrophe surrounding him, of what this meant for the future of mankind. He stared around him and he saw dunes and cliffs and sand, red-tainted sand stretching for miles and miles around, and the vastness of the sand and the horizon and the sky itself were more than he could stand. He cowered against the ground, shivering.

�Nothing like the rec room,� he mumbled to himself, taking comfort in the sound of his own voice. �Nothing at all like the rec room. Rem...�

Tears plowed streaks through the dust on his cheeks, stinging against the bruises there, but he hardly even noticed.

From the top of the nearest dune, the diminished figure of Vash�s brother turned around and called out one last time for Vash to follow him.

Vash hesitated as the throbbing pain of the injuries Knives had inflicted flared up. But then he looked up at the stars and the darkness, and the old fear came rushing back. He half-ran, half-limped to catch up with his brother.

�Isn�t this great?� Knives laughed as Vash neared him, flinging his arms out wide. �It�s huge! Nothing like the rec room, huh, Vashu?�

Vash winced at the eerie echo of his own words. �I hate it,� he grated out. �Let�s find somewhere to sleep, Knives, please? I�m tired and I hurt.�

�Sorry about that,� said Knives, not sounding sorry at all. He looked around at the wide-open landscape. �Well, we�ll have to get the lay of the land before we can find shelter. But I want to watch the ships fall. They�re gorgeous, aren�t they? Just like falling stars.�

�Knives...� Vash pleaded, feeling sick just listening to his brother�s heartless words.

�Oh c�mon, it won�t hurt you to sleep in the open for once,� Knives said, oblivious to Vash�s pain.

�I�m scared, Knives,� Vash said wretchedly. �I don�t like the open. I don�t like the dark.�

Knives sneered. �Stop being such a baby. Fine, we�ll find a cliff or something to rest by.�

They set off in search of a suitable rock face from which to watch the show of falling stars. Vash lagged behind his brother, a small, miserable shape against the endless crimson horizon. When they had settled under the leeward face of an overhanging cliff, Vash ignored Knives� attempts at small talk and curled up against the rough stone, hiding his face and trying without success to block out the world around him.

The last thing Vash saw during his first experience of true night was his brother, face upturned to the burning sky, basking in the glow of his handiwork. And Vash realized, at long last, that he and his brother truly were of the same race as the Sisters -- they were one, yet separate; they were giants, great and terrible, yet their power laid dormant and docile.

Until now.

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�How small a thing is man and how large the dark.� -- Alfred, Alfred the Great (1969 movie)

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Earth to Earth

Earth to Earth--------Chapter Twelve: Sleeping in Light--------

Earth to Earth

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Chapter Twelve: Sleeping in Light

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