[Everything was screaming and pain and horror until suddenly he felt the body around him gasp and go still, and while the pain didn't fully cease, there was an ebbing to it that made him gasp, the action strange, distorted, and he realized that he had done it immediately after Vash had, and there was no more room in those lungs to fill. He forced himself to remember how breathing worked, and then how to let the body take over and control that for itself, and he rolled over, pushing himself to hands and knees, taking it slowly so that he could remember what it felt like to have physical form.

It was while he was reorienting himself that he heard that final, plaintive plea, and he wasn't sure if it was emotional bleedover from Vash or from his own bleeding heart, but even with the horror of what he was talking about, just the thought of it hurt.]

Vash, buddy-...[Oh, that sounded so weird - his vocal cadence coming out of Vash's vocal cords.] I don't wanna hurt your kids. I don't care what that fucker did to you, they're just kids. I just wanna help, I promise. Whatever...whatever form that takes.

[He waited a few more minutes to really settle into the limbs and get used to the weight before dragging himself to Vash's feet, grimacing at the feeling of what could only be described as electricity rippling unpleasantly through the entire body.

And then he was off, shuffling through the desert and back in the direction of Rem's home, only...not quite. More southerly. He knew the best chance of finding one of the Vashes within a walkable distance would be there, but he absolutely did not want to show this one where to find Mom.]