[ His other self took his offered hand so lightly that Vash at first didn't even notice the contact, his mind still overwhelmed with the images and emotions that the other had shared... and by the obvious grief that had taken hold of his older self.

Plants weren't meant to be alone. That had been one of his very first lessons, when learning about himself, and his brother, and their strange, dream-like sisters. The text had gone on into mind-numbing detail about feedback loops and resonance echoes, scientific explanations for something that he'd always understood on a much more emotional level. When a plant was alone, it didn't work as well as when it was paired with another, and plants in a long sequence were even more stable and productive. the book talked about capacitance versus voltage, but Vash knew it was simpler than that: plants got lonely.

The other's grip was so gentle that Vash feared he'd slip away. He tightened his own grip, holding on securely, and even laid his prosthetic hand over their joined ones. A solid connection, grounding, something to hold his future self together. ]

I'm here. I'm here, I've got you.

[ He wasn't entirely sure that was the answer to the question... or if there had even been a question. ]

It's okay. [ It wasn't okay. But it would be. ] It's better that I know what's coming. What I have to do.

[ But deep in his heart, something protested that acceptance. There had to be a way for the future he'd seen to unfold that spared his brother's life. There had to be a path where Knives lived! And, if that wasn't possible, then... then maybe there was a path where neither of them survived. Where neither of them had to be alone.

Where neither of them had to end up as broken as the man whose hand he was clinging to for dear life. ]

You've been through so much. I'm sorry.