Adult-FanFiction.org : Anime

Guided Steps	By : ctsama Category: +S to Z > Trigun Views: 4840 -:- 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
- 15
- 16
- 17
*blah* Vash�s telepathy

//blah//
Knives� telepathy

**************************************************************************************

Knives� world spun around him.

Another blast of raw energy had sent him tumbling in the
sand yet again.� He forced himself up to his
hands and knees, gasping for breath as he did so.� A show of bravado was beyond him now; shaking
muscles had a hard time supporting him.�
His body ached and exhausted didn�t even begin to cover it.� And the one who had caused his sorry state�

He looked up in bleary-eyed disbelief at his own brother,
still standing and seeming to tower over him.

It wasn�t supposed to happen this way.� Yes, Vash�s defenses were abnormally strong
but when Knives realized he was only defending himself against attacks he knew
he still had a chance.� But that was
before�

�Keep talking,
Knives.� I�m about to shove every word
right back down your throat.�

Vash had begun attacking after that, and Knives discovered
just how much power he�d run through in his earlier attacks.� He barely had any reserves left.� He refused to give up, kept on resisting and
Vash sported some painful and bloody injuries from his last-ditch attacks.

But it wasn�t enough to stop him.� It wasn�t even enough to slow him down.

�He�s won,� came Knives� stunned thought.� The few blond strands left at the peak of his
hair were the visible proof of what Knives already knew: he could no longer
afford to launch any attacks, not if he meant to survive them.� �I don�t have anything left to fight with.�

Vash�s blue eyes fixed on him with a mixture of loathing and
rage.� This� this creature kneeling before him was not the brother he�d known as a
child.� Neither one of them had the power
to erase the past, to bring back all the souls lost to this evil, but Vash could at the very least
enforce accountability.� He owed it to
Rem, to all the people of July, and most importantly he owed it to Nick.

�You�re finished, Knives.�
But because you�re my brother I�ll give you one last chance to save
yourself.�� He knelt beside Knives� prone
form and the other shot painfully backward a couple of feet in alarm before he
could stop himself.� �You merged yourself
with the other plants,� Vash said with a silent intensity.� �If you can manage that with me then� you
will have won.� I�ll have no choice but
to help you try to massacre humanity.�

Knives� brow wrinkled in clear disbelief.� �This is some kind of a trick.�

�It�s not a trick, brother.�
It�s your only chance.�� No guile
in the hard blue eyes, nor any doubt.�
�Take it, if you think you can.�

The thought of sure victory quickened Knives.� He kicked out in a flash and knocked Vash
flat on his back.� �Testing me?� What a
disappointment,� he spat.� �You think I
won�t do it?� You are a fool.�
Conrad actually tried to convince me once that you were stronger than I
thought.� He might have been right if
decades of being polluted by humans hadn�t made you so weak.�� He straddled Vash�s unresisting body and
placed his palm on Vash�s forehead.�
�This is the end for you, brother.�
A pathetic end to a pathetic
existence.�

He extended his consciousness and power outward to merge
with Vash as he had with all the other plants he�d collected, and ran into
resistance.� Frowning, he tried again,
pushing hard and feeling a give as he broke through into the flow of Vash�s
power.� For one confused moment there was
only darkness, and then a blinding light flared up around him, consuming him in
its brilliance.� He panicked, trying to
figure out what had gone wrong and a stray, impossible thought came to him.� �Is this� Vash?�

The answer was immediate and thundered through him.� *Hello, brother.*

//What�� How is this
possible?!//

*You know� Wolfwood always believed I was stronger than you
too.� Sometimes humans understand far
more than we do, Knives.� You should have
listened to Conrad.*

Knives was used to inspiring fear, not feeling it as he was
now.� He tried to fight but Vash was far
stronger than any of the other plants he�d subsumed.� He simply had no idea how to free himself
from Vash�s iron will.

*Now.� I know you
weren�t always like this, and you�re going to show me how this happened to
you.*

Knives tried to form the words �Go to hell,� but was
dismayed to find himself following Vash�s command instead.� //When we found out about what the humans had
done to Tessla, I realized that their emotions are at the root of their
parasitic nature.� It leads them to
weakness, and that weakness causes them to trample down others to boost
themselves.� All those days I spent in
that coma� I induced it myself so I could have the time I needed to cleanse
myself of all human emotion.//

*So that�s how it was.�
I�ve always wondered what you could have done to change so
completely.� Then, all I have to do is�*

Vash held Knives� consciousness prisoner while he took a
stroll through his mind, mapping out memories and searching for what he
needed.� Knives knew his brother had
found what he was looking for when pain began to lance through his head.� He felt all his work beginning to unravel,
all the emotions he�d spent days locking away came ripping back into him.� Unnoticed, his body writhed in agony.� //What are you doing?� Stop!//

*I�m making you remember how to feel.*

//No!� Stop!!!//�
Knives gathered what was left of his strength and tried to stop Vash,
but his efforts were useless.� In fact it
only seemed to anger his twin and Knives screamed as Vash started to rip those
buried emotions free even more violently.

//You�re hurting me!// he wailed, and was taken aback
to feel dark satisfaction.

*And how many times did you subject Wolfwood to this same
treatment?*

//I� I don�t know��
There were so many times�//

*Then you have no right to object to my doing it to
you.� Understand me.� I can do anything to you right now, and there
is absolutely nothing you can do to
stop me.� You are powerless and at my
mercy.� Does that make you feel
helpless?� Terrified?*

//YES!!//

*Good.� You need to feel the pain you�ve caused
others.*

Never in his life had Knives been so confused.� Vash was stronger than he�d ever thought possible,
and something along the line had made him capable of cruelty.� //You�re not like this!� What�s happened to you?//

*You happened to
me, Knives.� I have so many reasons to
hate the monster you�ve become.� But it
was finding out what you did to Wolfwood finally woke me up to the truth.*

//It wasn�t me, it was Legato that�//� A memory answered the thought, rising
unbidden to his mind and Vash�s attention snapped to it.� *What was that?� Show me!*�
Knives thought he couldn�t possibly make his brother angrier, but he was
very wrong.

�You seem troubled, Knives-sama.�

�Yes.� Beast�s last
report was disturbing.� It seems my
brother is getting overly fond of the babysitter I sent him.� I don�t like it.�

Legato�s eyes went wide at the implication.� �Then get rid of him and send me!� I would follow your orders perfectly, and I
would not disappoint you!�

Knives snorted in contempt.� �You couldn�t possibly disappoint me.� I have no expectations for you to
disappoint.�� Knives saw the pain his words
caused in Legato�s downcast eyes.�
�Pitiful,� he thought.� Such
weakness existed in all of them.�
�Besides,� he went on, �Vash would never accept you.� No, Chapel is perfectly suited to the
task.� But the problem remains.�

�That I could not keep you from being troubled by that
traitorous bastard only shows me how badly I�ve failed you, Master.�� Legato clenched his jaw in frustration and
Knives could see the direction of his thoughts without ever entering his
disgusting mind.

That the lowly ingrate Chapel might be touched by one of
the gods while he, loyal and diligent servant, was left out in the cold angered
Legato greatly.� Humans always had that
undeserved sense of entitlement.� Surely
it made no sense to Legato that Chapel should be allowed to live and to remain
at the right hand of his master�s beloved brother�� But it was his master�s prerogative to do
mysterious things which were not to be questioned.� Chapel must remain with Vash, and he could
not be killed.� �How will you try and
please me now?�

Legato�s lowered head shot up as if in answer to his
unspoken question.� �Give Chapel to me
and let me work on him, Knives-sama.� If
you will only allow me some freedom to move, I will make sure he stays away
from your brother.�

�I won�t allow you to kill him,� Knives mused.� �And you are not to damage him so badly
that it impairs his ability to complete his task either.�

�I won�t have to.�

Knives could see how strongly Legato desired to please
him, but his hatred of Chapel blazed brightly in him as well.� A smile crept onto Knives� face.� Legato�s solutions were brutally elegant in
their own way, and always interesting; that was the only reason Knives had
spared him years ago.� �Then bring him here.� I look forward to seeing your handiwork.�

Legato bowed as much as his encasement allowed.� Tears ran freely from his eyes at the trust
his master had shown him.� �It is my
honor to serve you, Knives-sama.�

*And just like that you set a sadist loose on someone I
cared about.� It was that easy for you.*

Vash�s anger thundered through his mind and Knives couldn�t
help but respond to it.� //There was no
other option!� The reports from Beast,
things I saw when I looked in his mind� I could see what was coming even if he
couldn�t.� He was meant to destroy you
with his betrayal, and instead he made you stronger, gave you someone to turn
to besides me!� I had no choice but to cripple him, why can�t
you see that?!//

He could feel Vash�s anger growing with each new revelation,
but he couldn�t stop the tide of words.�
When he finally reached the end of his tirade Vash viciously ripped into
his mind again.� *Let�s run a little
experiment, shall we?*

Knives knew what Vash would do.� He knew what was coming next.

He told himself it didn�t matter.� He was the one who�d ordered it, watched it happen
for good reason.� If Vash wanted to show
him how his evil brother had hurt his insignificant little feelings, so fucking
what.

It shouldn�t have mattered, but it did.� He didn�t want to see it, but he didn�t know
why.�

Legato yanked
viciously on Wolfwood�s hair, forcing his head back to give Knives a better
view of his face.� Only confusion showed
on Wolfwood�s face at first, probably because he was still reeling from having
his head slammed into the deck.� �For
you, master!� Legato cried in jubilation.

Thanks to Legato�s
overzealous foresight Knives was clearly able to see the moment of surprise on
Wolfwood�s face when he felt Legato�s sizeable erection at his exposed
entrance.� He couldn�t help laughing.� And as if that weren�t funny enough�

No, not funny at all�

He was also able to
see clearly the revulsion and agony, hear the pain in the screams Legato forced
out of him.� Legato had been right, this
was the perfect solution to�

//Stop this!� I don�t
want to see this again, no more!//

Vash was merciless, refusing to listen to his pleas and
Knives began to break down.� With the
interference from long-forgotten human emotion, what he�d witnessed � allowed,
facilitated, aided � didn�t seem so
justified, so amusing.� With every
passing scream, with every trickle of blood it looked more� wrong.� More hateful.�
More cruel.� Tears streamed
from his eyes unchecked and he couldn�t remember why he�d ever thought this act
was anything but despicable.

*Are you beginning to understand?*

One last gut-twisting wrench and the last of all those
discarded emotions spilled into him.� He
shuddered and seized in the sand, unable to absorb everything at once.� He tried to separate himself from them as he
once had, but this time it would not work.

*Now, are you ready for the final test of my work?*

Knives howled his rejection to the universe but no one came
to his aid.� Thoughts and memories
flooded his mind, all filled with Rem.�
With every look, with every touch the woman conveyed loss, regret, determination
and love, so much love and Knives broke when he finally understood.

�Oh god�� She didn�t
betray us� she saved us.� She loved
us.� Risked everything to protect us.�
With her as my guardian how could I have ever convinced myself� there
was nothing worthy� in any of them�?� So
many dead, so many, so many dead
because I��

*Because I was wrong!*

He sobbed uncontrollably, unable to stop the tears.� Satisfied that his work was done Vash
released him and returned control of his mind and body.� When Knives was finally able to force his
eyes open again, Vash was looking at him with a strange mixture of pity and
satisfaction.� �Welcome back to humanity,
brother,� he gasped before passing out.

**************************************************************************************

There was nothing but darkness at first.� It was nice, peaceful in a way that he sorely
needed.

Then came a steady beeping sound.� It was annoying as hell.� It was soft, but it was much louder than the
stillness he was used to and it dragged him inexorably upward into a world in
which he was swimming in pain.

Another sound intruded on him, this time the muffled hum of
fluorescent tubes.� He blinked his eyes
open slowly, stifling a moan as they sent shards of light slashing into them. �Then a steady dripping sound, then the soft
sound of breathing somewhere to his right.�
�Someone�s here with me.�

He lay there, slowly beginning to process his surroundings
as his eyes adjusted to the light.�
Monitor leads on his chest provided the beeping sound, and an IV in his
left arm supplied the slow drip.�
Something soft and warm rested in his right hand and he turned his head
slowly to see that it was a hand.�
Livio�s hand.

The kid had fallen asleep in a chair next to him, half
sprawled over his bed with Milly sprawled over him in an adjacent chair.� Wolfwood slipped his hand away only to place
it gently on Livio�s head.� He smiled to
himself when Livio sighed and mumbled something in his sleep.

The kid was good-hearted, too much so for the harsh world
they�d been born into.� But now a new
world was coming, a world where it would be safe for people like Livio and
Milly to just be themselves.

�I just wanted it for them, for the children.� I never thought I�d be alive� to see it
myself��

Slowly and with a sigh of regret he pulled his hand away and
reached out with cramped and protesting muscles to turn off the monitor.� There was no use in daydreaming; he still had
work to do and there was no guarantee he�d survive it.� The pull to stay with his family and recover
was strong, but it was eclipsed by a greater need.� He reached into his gown to pull the leads
off his chest.� Next he removed the
needle from his arm, releasing a small trickle of blood to run down to the
pristine white sheets under him.

With that done he paused to take a few steadying breaths,
trying to brace himself for the next step.�
Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself up to sit on the edge of the
gurney.� Pain, raw and fierce ripped
through him and left him gasping, robbing his already too-pale skin of its
remaining color.� Once he adjusted to the
onslaught he looked back to make sure the room�s other two occupants were still
sleeping soundly before lowering bare feet to the cold metal floor.� He allowed his legs to take his weight gradually,
but still he almost toppled over twice.

One foot in front of the other, he managed to get to the
door of the infirmary, though his vision swam dizzily by the time he reached
it.� A quick peek out into the hallway
confirmed that it was quiet, probably in the middle of the night.� If luck was on his side he could get to
Vash�s cabin unobserved.

He leaned heavily on the wall and made it down the corridor
to the lift one agonizing step at a time.�
Once inside he input the series of numbers that would take him to the
correct level and slumped against the wall to wait, trying to catch his
breath.� The doors finally opened and he
pushed himself to his feet to set out once again, one step at a time.� However, this time his body rebelled after
two steps and his knees buckled.

He braced himself for the impact but small hands came out of
nowhere to grasp his upper arms with enough strength to stop his fall.� They managed to hold him steady until the
world righted itself again.

�Vash told me you were stubborn, but this really takes the
cake,� a wry voice commented.

�Luida,� Wolfwood rasped, voice rough from disuse.� �How long was I out?�

�We found you both two days ago thanks to my insanely
brilliant foresight in sneaking transmitter tabs onto those giant guns of yours
and Livio�s.� You�d be dead now if we
hadn�t found you when we did.�

�Much appreciated.�
Two days�� Can you track Tongari
the same way?�

�I couldn�t risk it.�
The Earthers refuse to believe he had nothing to do with Knives�
slaughter and if they managed to find the signal and track him down��

Wolfwood let out an amused snort.� �Nothing�s ever easy with him.� You should know I�m not going back.� I still have one last job to do.�

To his surprise Luida didn�t try to call for help or steer
him back to the infirmary.� �I
understand.� I don�t like it mind you,
but I understand.� Can you move again?�

�Yeah, I think so.��
Wolfwood grit his teeth and straightened a bit.� Luida moved alongside and braced herself to
take a bit of his weight.� After a brief
hesitation he accepted her help and they slowly got underway.� �Talk to me, it helps.� Is the kid okay?� Meryl and Milly?�

She raised an eyebrow at this.� �Livio healed so fast there was really
nothing I could do besides let him sleep.�
Meryl is fine.� Milly had a depressed
skull fracture and a few broken ribs, all of which will heal just fine on their
own in time.� You, on the other hand, were in surgery for most of that day.� Do you have any idea how long it took me to
clean all the sand out of your wounds, let alone dig all those bullets out of
you, stuff your guts back in and sew you back together?� And I don�t even want to tell you how much
blood you lost.� You should still be
unconscious, for several days at least.�
But instead I find you here, still in your gown and wandering the
hallways in the dead of night.�

�I�m not wandering.�
I�m hobbling with a purpose and first stop is finding some damn
clothes,� he argued, mildly offended.�
�And what were you doing operating on me, anyway?� Shouldn�t you be helping to put the planet
back together?�

Luida sighed in frustration.�
�There�s not much I can do at the moment.� Knives wiped out several of the Earther�s
ships and they�re screaming for blood.�
Brad is making headway convincing them that he and Vash are both dead,
so I�m leaving it to him for now.�
Besides, I may not look it, but I�m the best surgeon on this ship.� Even if I was putting the planet back
together I still would have stopped to do what I could for you.�

A bitter smile pulled at his lips.� �You really need me to find Tongari that
badly?� You must really be worried about
him.�

Luida stopped so abruptly he stumbled.� She moved to face him and the angry look she
turned on him took him aback.� After
studying him for a moment, however, she softened at seeing his genuine dismay,
even smiled a little before helping him on his way again.� �You�re too young to be so cynical,
Wolfwood,� she chided.� �Neither you or
Livio are as old as you look, are you?�
With that juiced-up metabolism, you can�t be.� Who did that to you, anyway?� I�d shoot them right between the eyeballs for
you if you�d point them out and spot me the gun.�

�I don�t know what you�re talking about.�

�Don�t insult me.�
Your bones are strong enough to stop most bullets without so much as a
stress fracture, and by all rights you should have died hours before we found
you.� Those aren�t exactly subtle clues.�

�What makes you think� I didn�t ask for this?�

�You don�t strike me as crazy.� No one in their right mind would agree to
something like that.� The regeneration
and metabolism hikes alone are eating your life away.� Thank god it�s not as fast as it was last
time you were in here.�� Wolfwood�s brow
knitted in confusion and Luida noticed in surprise.� �You didn�t know?�

�No.� Tell me.�

�The med bay monitors we use here record a lot of
information.� I ran a comparison between
your stats from yesterday against the last time you were here and found a four
percent drop in your rate of healing.�
It�s not much, but I expect that will grow over time.� It�s not a bad thing,� she added at
Wolfwood�s look of concern.� �It only
seems to be affecting metabolism and regeneration.� Sensory enhancements and bone density seem to
be unaffected.� Hell, I don�t know how
you deal with it.�

Wolfwood smiled a little.�
�You get used to it.�� He shivered
once more at the chill of the hallway against unguarded skin and added, ��kind
of.�

�Well, get used to being less reckless too because you won�t
heal as fast as you used to.� In fact,
you won�t be entirely out of danger for another day or two, so you�d better be
very careful.� If you undo my work before
your body catches up you�re history.� But
here�s the good news: last time you were here I�d have given you five more
years, seven tops before your body burned out.�
Now though� I�d say you�ve got a shot at a pretty respectable lifespan,
provided your system keeps slowing down at about the same rate as it has
been.� So whatever you�ve been doing,
keep it up.�

They finally reached Vash�s quarters and Wolfwood was too
lost in thought to mention that he wasn�t doing anything.� He entered the lock code by rote, Luida�s
words bouncing around in his head.� To
think that his remaining life could be measured in decades instead of months
was more than he�d dared to hope for.� It
was a heady thought.

Once inside he disengaged himself from Luida�s steadying
hold and forced himself to stand on his own two feet.� �Thanks for helping me get this far.� I can take it from here.�

�I could stay and help you pack and get dressed if you
want.� Or maybe I could call Melanie for
you?� She�s been worried sick since��

�No,� Wolfwood answered too quickly.� �She can�t� see me like this.� She worries, you know?� he finished lamely.

�Do you want to talk about it?�

�Talk about what?� Wolfwood asked, looking at Luida as if he
couldn�t understand spoken language.�
Unfortunately Luida wasn�t interested in humoring him.

�The stitches I had to put in your backside, or the fact
that Legato had mashed pulp for genitalia when we found his body.� Or maybe the fact that Livio woke up out of a
deep sleep and almost killed Brad the second he tried to pull you away from
him.� Take your pick.�

�Who else�� Wolfwood said quietly after a long moment.� �Who else was on the ship when you came after
us?�

�Just Brad and me.�
One other nurse helped me operate on you once we got you back here and I
trust her not to say anything to anyone.�
No one else knows.�

A small comfort, but a comfort nonetheless.� �Thanks for that.�

�No thanks necessary.�
Like it or not, you got yourself absorbed in this little family of ours
the second Vash brought you onboard.�
Now, I repeat, would you like to talk about it?�

�I don�t even wanna think about it �til I have to, let alone
talk about it.�� Luida crossed her arms
and glowered and he sighed.� �Luida,
there�s no violence on this ship.� It�s a
peaceful place as long as the outside world stays put.� Can you understand that?�

�I wish I didn�t.��
She uncrossed her arms.� �But to
tell you the truth� I don�t know how much good I could be to you anyway.� What you�ve been through is truly out of my
depth.� Like you said, this is a peaceful
place.� The only ship-born �psychotic�
we�ve ever had to deal with was a man named Jenkins who swore beets tasted
great on a peanut butter sandwich.�� She
was gratified to see Wolfwood chuckle.�
If she couldn�t ease his burden, she could at least make him laugh.

�Well, since every minute you spend doing nothing gives you
a better chance of not keeling over dead, I want you to do as little as
possible for as long as possible.� I�m
going out to make some arrangements for you.�
I can at least find you a car, food and water and a way off the ship
without the Earthers noticing.� You are
to stay in here until I come back, understand?�

�Yes ma�am,� Wolfwood answered without thinking and Luida
smiled and reached out to ruffle his hair warmly.� �I�m glad Vash brought such a nice young man
home with him.�

Wolfwood was glad she left too quickly to see him blush.

******************

This chapter along with the next two are pretty much one giant
chapter broken into three parts, so check back in a couple of weeks for an
update �cause the next two are already being cleaned up for your viewing
pleasure.� And review and/or rate, pretty
please!� :)

To B.:� Yet another
totally kick-ass review, thank you for taking such time and detail; it really
helps me!!!� To me, Wolfwood is � hands
down � the absolute most tragic figure in mangadom.� Trying to get that same effect without
actually killing him� well, you see why I�m putting him through the wringer!� But let�s see� fluffy, smutty, happy� I�ll
see what I can do.� ;)
- 15
- 16
- 17
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Guided Steps