[ He slows his pace to match Knives's, but even when he can hear his brother crying, Vash doesn't turn his attention away from distant December. If he stops, if he takes his brother in his arms and lets him cry, he's not sure he'll be able to avoid breaking down with him. He's got too far to go still to fall apart now. ]

Humans made us. They just didn't understand that something they made could be as alive as they were.

[ He can still see her when he closes his eyes, can still see what was left of her and, worse, can still recall every detail of the reports where the harm that was done to her was documented, line by line and day by day. Her death was a horror that the world should never have known, and not one day has passed since then that he hasn't remembered her. Some days, he thinks that it's her memory that drives him even more than Rem's. ]

Her death... her life, it changed Rem's mind. That's how she was able to love us the way she did. [ He glances briefly at Knives, then back at the road. ] Does. We're not just things to her. We're people. That's what understanding can do.