After everything, Wolfwood deserved better, much better than fake reassurances, empty platitudes, and outright lies. He couldn't tell him that things could go back to how they had been. Because in an hour, or a day, or perhaps a week, Wolfwood would remember his word, and the pain of the obvious lie would sink in like poison. And he was already hurting enough.

So he had to wait, and to give him honesty, as much as he could.

But the words that came made him cough a little in surprise.

"Wolfwood, you might not be good at people, but I know nobody who is better at Vash than you." The faint trace of amusment faded with the last hiss, and he breathed out a soft sigh. "I guess if you put it that way, we both are. Just in different ways." His hand came up to card through Wolfwood's hair, soothing. "Yours and his match, and you both know it, in a way. Now you are out of synch, because what happened scarred both of you, but... you can adjust. Just so long as you don't push yourself into breaking yourself further." A small smile curved his lips, though it did not reach his eyes, which were still too... worried, for that. "And I'm here to help with that."

He had more work to do with the grave - a lot more - but the living Wolfwood was higher priority. The other one could wait a little more.

"I know you sometimes think me too optimistic, but... I ask that you trust me a little about not everything being the darkest color that you can imagine. I promise I'll not go off talking or planning for the best possible scenario."

They were here, at the grave, because Wolfwood had dug his mind into the worst possible one. Or one of the worst. Vash thought that they needed to find a middle ground that did not involve, well, this kind of pain. Seeing him...

Seeing both of them like this.

... Vash very deliberately turned his thoughts away from himself. They couldn't both break, not right now, and Wolfwood had far more cause... need? of it.

"Ready for a little water?"