nomans_land | On The First Day

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On The First Day

It had been months.

Months of terror, of families ripped apart, refugees racing against the Ark in the sky, against the Plants that had once been their only source of survival on the world and had now been turned against them, raining lightning and death down on them like the hand of a vengeful God. Humanity pushed to the brink, fleeing their homes and communities, waves of refugees fleeing across the sands as more and more towns and cities fell to the reign of destruction that had been biting at their heels every step of the way.

And then, as the last descendants of the survivors of the Big Fall clustered in the city of Octovern, spiilling out into the streets, every available, livable space filled to capacity and beyond, what felt like the final days of humanity began. The sounds of artillery fire filled the air, the sight of the Ark and its grotesque ruler loomed overhead, and in the distant sky high above, the previously-inconceivable reinforcement ships from Earth took up orbit around No Man's Land. Throughout the night, explosions lit up the sky, thundering with deafening reports through the air, and yet the civilians below had settled into a still, terrified, anticipatory silence. They couldn't see, from their perspective, the figures atop the ruins of the Earth's space destroyers that had already fallen to the ground, locked in battle for the future of the people far below. But the sight of Millions Knives high above, terrifying and grotesque with the power of the Plants he had absorbed, was omnipresent, a never-ending threat, the harbinger of doom, biding his time until he could make good on his promise to wipe every last one of them off the face of existence.

And then something had changed.

Electrical currents rippled through the air above the downed ship, carrying screams on the wind. To the people below, Millions Knives' massive form had shifted, writhing, bellowing with unholy rage and pain and despair. And then it begun to unmake itself, shredding, crumbling, tearing itself apart at the seams and floating to the ground in tiny, shining, white particles. Tiny, white feathers drifted on the wind, closer and closer before, one by one, they began to settle to the roofs of the buildings, to the tops of cars and to the streets, and to the heads and faces of the humans staring up from below.

The instant that contact was made between feather and skin, a connection was made; between Human and Plant, between each person standing side by side, minds thrown open in bursts of light and expanding consciousness, and through the doors sprang multitudes of memories spanning hundreds of years. Suffering, laughter, pain, sorrow, joy, enslavement, death, pride, love. The Plants had made the connection to their creators - their keepers - that they had been silently pleading for since their first containment, and with it every man, woman, and child on the surface of the world began to see and feel and hear their stories and their cries for help. They did not want this war, they did not want this destruction. They had seen the promises of vengeance and a paradise for their kind atop the bones of humanity offered by Millions Knives and they had felt the hopes and dreams carried by Vash the Stampede of a kinder, more loving world, and they had made their choice.

Of course, but...what would he do at a time like this?

I wonder if he'll laugh again

I wonder if he'll follow his ideals again.

I see. You all know him as well. That young man with a gentle smile.

Little Red Brother.

Let there be love and peace in this world.

In the chaos that followed, as the bodies of the Plants began tumbling to the ground in a writhing mass and the screams of shock and confusion began to rise from the sea of humanity below, something rippled in the air, a last gasp of those silent voices before the connection was lost.

Help Us. Help him. Please.

This was...different. New. As if reality had taken the distraction caused by the calamity below to shift itself sharply to the left, and then snapped. It started at the core of the mass of angelic bodies as men and women began to rush to their aid, a shockwave in the fabric of creation that rumbled silently in the atoms of the world and ricocheted outward, along the ground, through the air, until it had enveloped the entire planet. Time froze for an instant, and to the eyes of all who had the capacity for sight, that leftward shift became manifest, the world doubling on itself as the ground shook beneath their feet.

Wails of confusion and fear rose into the night sky, and for a brief moment, it felt as if the world were about to unmake itself on the molecular level. But then, just as suddenly as it had come, the distortion snapped back into place with a loud, ear-splitting CRACK, and in the stunned silence that followed, only one thing could be certain; things were not the same as they had been mere moments ago, as if everything and yet nothing at all had changed, all at once.

The world of No Man's Land was as it should be, but all across the surface of the planet, pockets of reality had split open, sending the inhabitants of mirrored existences tumbling through wide, unseen rifts. People and places outside of time and space found themselves staggering to their feet in a world that was both foreign and familiar at the same time, found themselves face to face with their own reflection made flesh, tossed about by the pleas of a race reaching across the fabric of creation for aid in putting a stop to a war that had been fought time and time again, across reality after reality, without fail.

Thus began the new chapter in the history of No Man's Land.

[Wherever your character was, whatever they were doing, when the rifts in reality opened, they will have found themselves rocked by a massive earthquake that lastes a few short seconds before settling with a loud crack, like thunder. While no damage will be left in its wake, the characters themselves will realize that though the planet appears to be the same, it will quickly become evident that they are in an alternate reality of the place they call home. Are they standing in the rubble of a once-destroyed city now remade whole? Is the bar they had been taking refuge in suddenly gone, leaving them tumbling to the sand with nothing but their drink in their hand? And what of the friends that had been standing by their side seconds before? This is where your stories begin.]

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[ already he feels wrung out, battered down by emotions that simply won't stop crashing into him. even his book feels heavier now.

when vash suddenly stops, touching nai's face, his response lags. at once he releases his lower lip from his canine, the sting of pain setting in as some of the fog of disassociation starts to lift. ]

I didn't... [ without thinking, his tongue darts out to dab at the fresh cut and visibly flinches when it hurts. ] ... it's just a cut, that's all.

You've been chewing on it?

[ If there's one thing Vash knows, it's injuries... not that it takes a great detective to tell the source of a hurt when he could see Knives chewing on it.

Surely it's just stress, right? He only just discovered T-- discovered her, he's been brought into this strange parallel future again, and the brother he thought he could rely on is preoccupied with other matters. Surely it's just stress. ]

That looks painful. Here... [ He's got a bottle of water in a pocket that he digs out and offers to Knives. ] To get the taste out of your mouth. I'll hold your book.

[ nai exhales a sigh through his nose and hands his book to vash to hold as he takes the water bottle. there are pages dog-ear'd where nai wanted to return to later after he'd finished marring the otherwise pristine book. before nai had plucked it from the library, it seemed no one else had any interest in reading about old religion. yet nai could see it for what it was - a warning. a call to action.

he takes a small swig of the water bottle, only enough to swish in his mouth. he pauses, looking ready to spit it out onto the dirt road before reconsidering with scrunched brows and swallows. he holds the bottle back out to vash. his lip had stopped bleeding, leaving an unsightly gash behind. ]

... Thank you.

[ He'd been a little worried that his brother would reject the offer of water, and he's clearly relieved when Knives takes it and washes his mouth out.

The book is a real beast! His brother's always been smart so Vash isn't surprised that he'd be working his way through something so hefty, but when he turns it over he is surprised at the title. Is it for class, maybe? ]

I can carry this for you for now. It's pretty big!

[ And his brother seems to be carrying enough right now. ]

It's my responsibility, so I should carry it.

[ stubborn to the very end, he can't simply let vash carry his burdens for himself. he doesn't know how long they have to walk to get to wherever vash needs to be, but nai is firmly determined to carry it all the way there. ]

[ It's more than ten miles to December. They're going to be walking for several hours. ]

If you like. [ He hands the massive book back, but his attention is on Knives's torn lip still, and the trouble he can see written all over his brother's face.

Although his heart isn't in it, Vash fixes his smile even brighter, and chirps: ]

Does that mean I should carry you?

[ ugh

it says something that nai doesn't immediately answer no. not for the first time, he wishes he could be older faster. at least then he could keep up with vash's long strides.

irrationally, he feels fear that vash could leave him behind. if he can't keep up, dragging him down, he could leave him somewhere with the promise to return, but what if he didn't? the maw of fear chews through him without regard for reason, and terribly, he can feel his eyes burning yet again. maybe he should be left behind. he knows he'd leave himself behind for behaving so terribly weak. it was shameful.

he turns his head away from vash and gives a short nod. ]

It-... It'll be faster, right? I don't have freakishly long legs like you do.

[ His brother looks upset at the suggestion -- more so than Vash would have expected. If he were small too, he'd break his brother's bad mood with a joke, or a hug, or a punch, or all three in some order or another. But like this, with him so old and his brother still so very young, he can't help but see it: they're not who they used to be to one another. They're not equals anymore, two halves of a whole. They're a mismatched set, pretending to be a pair.

That ball of grief in his chest threatens to rise up again, but Vash just smiles all the more broadly and lets the pain pass over him. ]

I didn't mean it like that. [ They have to find a new way to relate, then, or he has to find a new way. Too bad he wouldn't have the first clue how to go about that on his best day, which today is most decidedly not. ] It is a long way, and it is urgent, but you're more important than anything else. If you want to walk, then we'll walk. I'm just glad to have the company.

[ the road ahead is winding and rocky, but if they walk together hand in hand then surely they can overcome any obstacle. ]

I want you to carry me.

[ he levels vash with an obstinate frown. ]

If it's important to you, then it's important to me that we get there soon as quickly as possible. That's what I want.

Edited 2023-05-05 20:09 (UTC)

[ What he wouldn't give for a car right about now. Or a motorcycle. ]

All right. ...Thank you.

[ Still kneeling, he half turns, so Knives can climb onto his back. Piggyback is probably the best choice here, if the book won't get in the way? ]

In that case, you can be my co-pilot. Tell me if you see anything in the sky, okay? Anything that looks like a ship? That's what I'm looking for.

Hmm...?

[ book tucked between his chest and vash's back, nai climbs aboard. he hooks his arm around his neck and his legs around his chest, propping his chin on vash's shoulder. ]

Why are you looking for a ship?

[ all he can see when he looks out is desert sands and blue skies. ]

[ And hopefully that's all he'll see for the whole trip. Holding on okay? Then Vash will take off! He'll keep it to a jog at first, to make sure Knives is secure and comfortable, then speed up once they're both set. ]

There's somebody taking all the plants.

[ It's a fine line, the border between honestly and stupidity. How could he possibly tell his little brother that he's got the world in a panic, and that Vash is the only one who can stop him? A century and a half of mistrust, of violence, of loneliness... he won't do it.

And since he can't take the blame this time, he'll simply invent someone to point the finger at. With any luck, Knives will find a way back home before things go too far. ]

These towns, they depends on our sisters for everything. Water, food, everything's made by plants. Without them, these towns are dying. These people are dying.

[ he keeps his eyes towards the sky, quiet as he listens. his arm tenses a little when vash brings up the humans and their sufferings. something bitter and cruel swirls inside his chest, but he pushes it down for now. today was already a terrible whirlwind of emotions he couldn't yet describe, just an ugly wound refusing to heal. ]

Why would someone take them?

[ a small part of him had always been a little envious of the way vash had with their sisters, a connection nai lacked for reasons unknown to him now. he wonders if it was the same for this vash now. ]

[ Their sisters don't speak much to him either. They aren't in this world enough to care about it overmuch -- they instead sing to each other in a way that Vash can only sometimes hear, only sometimes understand. He isn't connected to them they way they're connected to each other, because he's an independent. A separate plant, more human than their sisters.

The plants who have joined with Knives, though, whose voices are filtered through him? Those he can hear, when he's close enough... as much as sometimes he wished he couldn't. ]

He wants everyone to die.

[ Knives -- adult Knives -- might have started off making grand speeches about liberating the plants, but Vash spent half a year imprisoned on the ship with their sisters, and he can say with certainly that Knives's aim is no longer about freedom from human oppression. He's amassing power for power's sake, and for revenge against the species who he feels has wronged him unforgivably. ]

Everyone was supposed to die when the ships crashed. This guy thinks he's just finishing what that accident started.

[ It's some of the truth, at least. A partial truth. ]

[ nai is silent for a long moment then. there are pieces to the puzzle laid out around him, but he hesitates putting them together. maybe he fears the truth that would come with the realization, a point of no return. while he never shied away from learning uncomfortable truths, this was... different.

maybe it was the look in vash's eyes when he looked at nai, how his smiles never seemed to reach his gaze more times that it did. his brother was in pain, even now. nai realizes he is afraid of being the one to cause him that pain.

so instead he holds on tighter to vash, brushing his face against his shoulder. the red fabric of his coat is worn, but sturdy against his cheek. ]

Tell me about your friends. You said you had a lot of them, yeah?

[ a change in topic. ]

[ If he'd realized the way it would sound, he would have phrased that differently, but he's not at his best today.

They run in silence for awhile, and Vash can feel his brother thinking hard. It's a lot to take in! How to reconcile the needs -- and the actions -- of humans with the needs of plants is something even Vash struggles with sometimes, and he's had so many more years that his brother to think about it. Of course it's not right to sacrifice one group for the other. That's no solution. But then where does the answer lie? Humans need plants to survive, and their sisters can't survive without their bulbs. Both species rely on the other, but it's not a relationship of equals -- Knives has always been right about that. It's a rare human who sees a plant as anything other than tool, something to be used for their benefit. A rare human who sees a plant as a person.

A rare human who could see a plant as a friend.

Tell me about your friends, Knives asks suddenly, as though he could read Vash's mind, and Vash nearly stumbles. He laughs it off -- just a loose stone, whoops! -- and starts chattering a mile a minute about everyone he'd ever met in December. ]

...and Valinez, she owns a book store, you'd love her! It's so crowded in there you can barely turn around, books piled right up to the ceiling! And she's married to Franti, who's a teacher at the primary school, and he makes the best spaghetti you've ever had in your life! I can't wait for you to try it! And next door to them are the Chuns, and they're all mechanics, the whole family! Last time I was there, they...

[ His voice trails off. Last time he was there was years ago, long before Knives stole the plants from the city and condemned all the residents to slow starvation. Chances are, none of those people are in December now. Chances are, none of those people are still alive.

If he'd been stronger half a year ago, if he'd been able to fight back, none of this would have happened. ]

...it's, um. It's been awhile, though. The city might look different now.

Hmm... [ nai hums along in response as he watches the skies dutifully. still, with nothing to note his attention stays with vash and his rambling stories of people nai can't even start to imagine. he wonders if he'll ever actually meet them, or if they'll simply stay as stories forever. ]

We live a long time, don't we? [ humans who only live for a hundred years or so must seem like a drop in the bucket for their kind. still, for someone like nai who has only been alive for a year, the road ahead seems to stretch on into infinity. ]

Maybe if you live long enough, you could become a myth or legend that humans talk about. I read a book about that. Myths, Legends, and Folk Tales of America... Did you know that was a country?

America?

[ How much longer would he have to live before people stopped believing he was even real? Another fifty years? Another hundred? Long enough for everyone he's met to die, and for those stories to pass into fiction.

That sounds so lonely he can't bear it. ]

That was one of the world powers, right? [ They're making good time, he notes. There's still miles and miles to go, but even as tired -- and hungry -- as he is, he can still run for hours yet. It won't be more than an hour, he figures, before they'll be able to see December. ] I mostly skipped those chapters. [ Why read about politics on a world you'll never see when you can read about animals? ] What kind of myths did they have? Anything good?

[ vash can't see, but surely through nai's tone he can hear him rolling his eyes. ] That's no surprise. [ even if there isn't a point to learning about old history, doesn't make it any less fascinating! and now with a new perspective on humans, reading about their strife and politics is even more interesting.

but thankfully the topic isn't on old human politics, but rather on something nai considers one of his favorite interests. it's hard to keep the smile off his face as he talks, picking over some of the topics he remembers reading in the book. among them being the native americans and their creation myths and deities and tricksters prevalent in old religions that stray far from the singular one in the book he held with him now. ]

My favorite parts are about the Wild West, but Vash never liked hearing about that sort of stuff. [ one of the many things they squabbled over. bringing up his name, nai goes quiet. then, ] Do you think... What if something happens when I'm not there with him?

[ his mind whirs with terrible thoughts, kicking up like a dust storm. ]

[ It's not his fault history is boring! It's just names and dates and wars and kings, and none of that can compete with videos about things that live in deep water, sorry.

He never much cared for that cowboy stuff either, come to think of it. It was just a lot of shooting and fighting, and only rarely did anybody burst into song in the middle of town. If there had been more singing he might have liked it better!

But before he can argue on behalf of musicals over westerns, Knives gets serious again. ]

Rem is there, isn't she? She won't let anything happen to him. To either of you.

[ unfortunately, nai is already ready to get serious at the drop of a hat.

but that's far from the satisfactory answer nai wants to hear. even with the worst of the dark clouds lifted from his mood for now, his feelings regarding rem are still uncertain at best. he doesn't know how to feel yet. maybe he can trust that she really will look out for vash, but she isn't all-powerful nor her defenses indestructible. anything could happen, and it's that line of destructive, intrusive thoughts that coil around nai's heart unrelentingly. ]

I promised him... [ but saying it out loud feels like excuses. ] What will happen if I don't know how to go back? [ after all, there isn't a gate for him to return through this time, at least not one he's aware of. ]

[ He wants to offer assurances, promises. Of course Knives can go home! Of course Vash will be fine until then! But nothing is certain, is it? If it really was his gate malfunctioning that brought Knives here, then maybe -- maybe -- he can return the same way, but Vash doesn't have the first clue how to go about something like that. And if Vash isn't the reason Knives is here, if he was brought into this future by some other method, then... then he might be trapped here. He might never be able to return.

Vash lays a hand over Knives', at his shoulder. ]

Rem will take care of him, until we can find a way to send you back. And I've got you.

[ At least, until the fighting starts again. What will happen to Knives here, if Vash falls fighting his older self? Where can he go, who will look after him?

But soon as the question occurs to him, he knows the answer. ]

Did I ever tell you about my friend Luida?

[ vash's hand envelops nai's so easily and even through the skin tight fabric covering his hands, the weight of it is comforting. ]

Not yet, but I have a feeling you're going to.

[ did vash really expect him to remember every person he mentions through all the stories he tells? of course, nai will because he prides himself on his memory skills, but still! ]

[ He sbould remember this one. ]

She lives on a ship. [ His grip on Knives's hand tightens – this is important. ] The only ship left that still works.

[ Which might not be true anymore, with the arrival of the ships from Earth, but he doesn't have the first idea where those might be, or how to get in touch with them. ]

The only sure way to get in contact with her is by radio. Any house out by itself will have one, and in any town big enough to have a bar, there'll be one there. Her name is Luida, on the three gigahertz band, channel eighteen. Luida three eighteen. Tell her who you are and she'll come get you.

[ Just in case. In case they get separated, or... or something happens. ]

I trust her with my life.

[ his gut sinks as a terrible feeling washes over him. but he listens, silent as he commits the details to memory. he's sure even if he didn't make an effort he'd still remember, but for vash's sake he does. ]

... I understand.

[ he brushes his cheek against vash's hand, still covering his own. why did he feel this overwhelming sense of dread? ] ... Are you going to leave me?

[ the question cuts his throat as he speaks it, that familiar maw of fear creeping up again. nai's jaw clenches. ]

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