nomans_land | Tragic Ends VS Bad Ends, Trigun Flavor

Tragic Ends VS Bad Ends, Trigun Flavor

CW: mildly Plantcesty bc of canon end events but mostly toxicity, mindfuck, extreme codependency and.... co-parenting?

Somewhere in the sands is a tall person traveling on bare feet, a cloak of galaxies and roots covering their face from the sun. Vash moves slowly, not because he's tired or struggling, but because he's not really in a hurry. He doesn't get tired anymore, or hungry. Just weak, sometimes, but he's always been weak, hasn't he? That's why his brother has to protect him.

So this place couldn't be bad, because Knives would never leave him somewhere bad.

He stops briefly to collect a bleached skull left in the sand, picking it up with the roots and wisps of shadow and then holding it with the curiosity of a detached scholar rather than a compassionate man. Human, by the looks of it. Not killed by one of their brood, just unlucky in the desert.

Shrugging, Vash lets it drop into the sand again like an unwanted piece of trash and lets all those roots and glimmering energy unfold around him. He makes a little seat for himself, black flowers with shiny blue specks acting as cushions as the rest of his cloak peels away for a canopy. The dark undersuit is an echo of his brother, including the sturdiness of four perfectly fine limbs.

No memories were left, physical or otherwise. Sometimes you just have to remake your little brother to make him understand your point of view, and Vash... doesn't really know any better, anymore. It's fine, all he needs to focus on is making new Independents.

The roots continue to stretch over the sand, slithering over the area to see if they can pick up anything other than old bones of a doomed race.

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[He grimaced at the Wolfwood in front snarling out threats as if he had some sense, as if he wasn't aware of what had been done to this man to put him in the place he was in, now. Not that he was surprised, either, not if what they'd said had happened had been true. He had a very good reason to be so on edge.

Still, he wanted to avoid fighting and tension if he could, and with the worry about the babies being hurt coming back up, his voice rippled out into the back seat, not very far from Spikey.]

I promised I'd make sure your kids weren't hurt, and I meant it. We don't want to fight you, we don't want to hurt your babies. We're tryin' to get you someplace where they'll be safe.

I can tell that I'm still healing from injuries, so we obviously fought. Lying already, are you? [ Vash says to his double, and then gives Wolfwood another look, too-sharp teeth bared in a half-grin that's all predatory. ] Strange, you'd think I could make all the demands, seeing you're all trapped in a moving vehicle with me.

[ It's not like they're the ones that has him trapped, after all. Everyone's still alive only because he has babies to keep safe and another him to match in his 'delicate' situation.

Then the other Vash says one of the Nais is only a year old. Now that has his attention, frowning as he watches his double. That's the same age as the second generation was right now, the first children born from his gate rather than stressing the sisters into red.

So little. He needs to meet this baby brother.

The rest of what Vash says is a little easier to stomach, and makes the tension in the air lessen just a bit. ]

I have no real interest in anything but keeping the children safe. If there's a place with only Independents, then that works for both of us. If you keep your dogs muzzled.

[ He eyes where he heard he ghost wolf from, and then gestures a bit to his blood-matted hair. ] How diligent of you, to keep me so safe. [ Vash says bitterly. ] Without Nai here, I can't even check on them.

[ He shoots a sharp glance at Blondie when little Nai is mentioned, but bites his tongue against any verbal reply. This asshole doesn't need to know that Nai's here! He doesn't get to go anywhere near that kid! But he's not going to say anything and keep Thorns's attention on the idea that there's any version of his fucked up brother here. ]

What the fuck do you mean, you can't even check on 'em? [ There's a lot more he could say to the messed up bastard in the back seat, but that little tidbit snagged his attention and won't let go. It's not really a question he wants to ask with Blondie right there, but he needs to know. If he's going to have to kill this guy and all his unborn kids, he needs to know everything he can about how that whole situation works. ] You keeping 'em in a box somewhere, shithead?

We did not fight. [ Lightly, almost, but earnestly. ] You were run over by a car.

[ They are stuck in traffic and all that.

But it's truth.

... and no, he will not give any more details about the young one, it is a big world out here. ]

I will ask for permission for you. I do wish you and the little ones safe.

And what will happen if their time of maturing as they are ends and he is not there? Of course, there may be others who can help, where you will hopefully be.

No, the car wasn't part of the plan, trust me...[Not that he was naming names. Again, he understood. There was a reason his younger, living counterpart had done what he'd done, obviously, but Spikey didn't have to know that.

But then, the uncomfortable questions start coming out, and he cringed with every part of his existence, glancing back and forth between the two Vashes awkwardly.

He really didn't want to force Vash to have to sit through this type of questioning. It was invasive at best, and none of his damn business, frankly.

But...damnit. It was also, unfortunately, really fucking important.]

[ Vash gives all of them a raised brow, and then laughs. It's an uncomfortably Vash-like laugh, like the few moments you ever hear him do so genuinely. ]

You hit me with a car? That's a new one.

[ Usually he was strong enough to stop even speeding vehicles with his roots, so it must have been after he lost the fight with... the ghost one. He's not even sure how that ended, and it hurts his head to try to remember so he'll leave it alone for now.

The human's question, though... it's a dangerous one. If they knew the children were in an alternate dimension, what protection did he have? Killing children you won't ever see is a whole easier than killing an obviously pregnant person. Then again, he didn't exactly have an actual womb to put them in, so it was clear he wasn't 'physically' pregnant.

Vash would understand. ]

They're in my gate, of course. [ He says, as if that's obvious - more to annoy Wolfwood than anything else. ] I can't enter my own gate, so he checks on them and delivers them when it is time.

[ If he's not here when it's time? Well. That was a chilling thought. Could another plant enter his gate? ]

[ You know, when the Eye sent him on this damn mission, they really should have given him a crash course on how plants worked.

Even after the discussion with Blondie earlier, the comment about the kids being in his gate makes no kind of sense to Wolfwood -- the gate is the part of a plant where the stuff they make comes from, right? Food or water, or gravity, or whatever? Babies too, apparently? So if his gate is a part of him, then why can't he see it?

If the other Vash weren't here, he'd have so many more questions. But for once, tact takes over, and he keeps his mouth shut. ...On that topic, anyway. ]

Next time I'll use a truck. [ Thorns has been giving him toothy grins in the mirror this whole time, and so it's Wolfwood's turn to return the gesture. ] Don't want you getting bored.

... not me, I'd be more danger to myself than anyone else behind the wheel.

[ ... look.

he is being honest.

Plus, Wolfwood supports that, anyway.

The hint of levity fades down as he winces at the reply to those questions. ]

So you will very much need help. Given that I have been here for months, now, and there is no way to know who will or won't show up. You'll need to tell them about this when you get there. Please? It... probably will be hard for you, to have someone else do it.

[ But it's not difficult to know the price of not allowing it. ]

[Normally, listening to Blondie talk was just different enough from his Needle-Noggin's voice that there was a bit of a disconnect. He was much more soft-spoken, quieter and gentler, and it made the strange reality they were in not quite so unsettling.

That laugh, and the context of it, who it came from, was so familiar and so disturbing because of it that he flinched, actually recoiling a bit as one of his hands reached up to press against an ear as if he wanted to shut it out. He didn't realize the soft, unhappy humming noise that sounded out into the car afterward was himself, was too busy trying to keep his thoughts from recalling his greying old man and hearing that same laugh from his voice, and then mashing the memory of him with the traumatized, murderous person next to him.

He didn't like that, not one bit. Don't do that, thanks. Fuck.

Through the discomfort, the mentions of Spikey's "gate" managed to trigger tiny sparks of recollection, though they were fuzzy still, a familiar word in an almost-familiar context that he'd been able to mostly understand through repetition over the years, though he'd been unable to ask what it really meant, what with being dead and all. At the very least, his understanding of it was about as far from what he imagined Vash "carrying children" to mean, and the "invasive questions" were suddenly just confusing.]

The gate's like...the word for your powers, right? How Plants can do things?

[Vash hadn't been able to use his since not long after Wolfwood's death, but he'd visited enough of his siblings, and even met a few young Independents after they'd been born to No Man's Land, that the concept had come up in conversations he'd had over the years.]

A truck sounds like overcompensating. [ Vash quips back, and then rolls his eyes slightly as his other self tries to break the tension with his comment. Still, the other Vash has a point and he doesn't like the idea of some random person rooting around in his gate. Independent or not. Nobody else had the right to touch his gate, the most inner part of him. The idea felt disgusting, violating.

He needs Nai here. ]

You said there were other versions of him here. I'll just find one and have him do it.

[ His icy blue eyes turn to look in the direction of the ghost's voice, and then he (slowly, telegraphing his movements) sits up better again. ] I'm sure you would love to know details, but I'm not interested in sharing every secret. Ask him. [ Vash gestures to his copy. ] Why don't you tell the dogs how very not human we are?

Like hell you will.

[ Thorns shifting around in the back seat has all the hairs on the back of Wolfwood's neck standing straight up. None of the rest of what the messed-up bastard says lands -- he's got the biggest dick of anyone in this car, bet on it, and calling him a dog is honestly just funny -- except the part about Nai. ]

He's just a kid. You stay the fuck away from him.

[ There might be other versions of that murderous brother-obsession psycho here, but the only one Wolfwood's met - -the only one Blondie here identified -- is the little one, and there is no goddamn way Thorns here is getting anywhere close to that kid. ]

I will have to agree. Interacting with the little Nai, making him go through that when he is not ready, and I can promise you that he is not ready, will hurt him, and you will realize that sooner rather than later. I rather doubt that is what you want. Another may be better suited to assist you.

[ There are two groups of people that the other Vash would not risk harming. Nai, and their children. Himself... he suspects is a distant, distant third.

His smile twists. ]

One of them will not be surprised by anything signifying how not human we are. And I suspect the other one is getting there rather fast.

A Gate is exactly what it says. An opening, to a different dimension. That is how plants produce everything that they do - it is more like taking it from there. Mine is just, [ the fingers of his left hand twitch, then fold in a fist, ] a little more complicated.

[For a minute, his confusion had overridden his wariness, and he'd almost forgotten just who they were talking to, so when he made the little quip about the little guy overcompensating with a truck, he actually snorted, not even offended at the by-proxy insult, because ok, that was pretty fuckin' funny, and sounded a bit more like the absolute sassy asshole his Vash could be when he was in A Mood.

But then he had to go and make it creepy again, and start talking about bringing the kid into this whole debacle, and if that hadn't already gotten his hackles raised - Nai being the kid in question or not - he started sitting up, and Wolfwood immediately moved, shifting through the seat until he was hovering around him, looming and ready to lunge for control if he made the wrong move.

Honestly, compared to everything else, the implication that he wasn't intimately aware of what Vash was capable of was almost amusing. At the very least, when his voice rumbled out in reply, it was darkly smug and cocksure.]

I have watched Vash the Stampede put a hole in the Fifth Moon and grow wings tipped with feathers longer than I am tall that were able to stop bullets. Don't assume my lack of book learnin' when it comes to all the technical terms means I'm an idiot, or I don't know what you are.

[His voice settled, and he wouldn't even care enough to be offended if Spikey thought his cowing down when Vash spoke was just more proof he was like a loyal "dog." He was no Legato, there was a difference between crazed, blind devotion and respect, but he was still more than willing to stop and listen when Vash spoke, especially when it gave him an answer that both surprised him and made things make just a bit more sense, especially when he thought back on those fancy little bullets Needle-Noggin had crafted out of thin air that were able to swallow things up and make them disappear.

Though now it brought up other questions and confusing mental images about how children were involved, and he almost would have asked just how the Hell that all worked, but glancing up at Blondie told him that now was exactly the opposite of the right time, if there ever was one, so he held his tongue.]

[ He doesn't like the way they all sound like he would harm his own brother, his little big brother in any way. Vash worships Nai, he would never cause him pain. He was made for Nai, after all. Keeping him happy was his life. ]

It's funny how you all immediately thought I meant the child version when you told me there were a 'few'. [ He cocks his head to the side with a little, unsettling grin. ] Sounds like he's the only one, then.

[ Vash shrugs a bit, more amused than anything else as the dogs bark. The older wolf is watched with a cold stare as he slides closer, but he keeps what it says in mind. Blowing holes in the moon and wings that stops bullets was... new. He would have to ask Nai about all of that.

...it's so strange to be without him. It's like a piece is missing - no gentle eyes, no sweet 'my Vash'. No long chats about their Eden, their children. No weeping humans begging for salvation at his feet.

Ugh. This was stupid. ]

Do you want to see pictures?

[ Shit. Shit shit shit that backfired! Rather than getting Thorns turned off on the idea of finding little Nai, all he'd done was get him thinking about it.

Nobody else in the car's got the balls to do it, so it's up to him. They can't take this guy anywhere that isn't a cell under a mountain, or a lead-lined grave. He's too nuts like this, and too broken when he's in his right mind.

Maybe if he kicked Blondie out and drove them off a cliff? Would they resurrect if they were splattered across the bottom of a canyon? Or if they burned to a crisp?

Wolfwood doesn't respond to the taunts, Gritting his teeth, his attention is fully focused on the desert ahead, thinking hard about the best way to kill the man in the backseat. Vash will never forgive him, but some people really are too dangerous to leave alive. ]

He is not the only one. [ Between the absence of panic from Vash and him being rather bad at lying, the calm statement is unlikely to be false. ] He is the one both of them know, on the other hand, and the one who would be really hurt if he met you. But if you want to be cruel to him, try to seek him out. I make no promises that I won't try to stop you.

[ Vash's arguments earlier, about Nai needing Vash at his fullest. While not necessarily all he thought? They were also not lies. Because even as horrified as he is right now, he still loves his brother. ]

You probably do not remember, nor care, but they both would protect children no matter the cost. That is why he is the one that the focus was on.

And no, for my part, thank you. I'd rather meet the ones who will come, if you would let me.

[He was a little disconcerted about how easily Spikey zeroed in on where he was, but he had started realizing that he'd underestimated Vash's ability to sense him in general, so that might as well be happening. Not that he liked it any more because of that.

He was even less thrilled about the fact that Spikey seemed to think it was strange that they weren't exactly feeling like he was the safest person to be around, and his nose curled just a bit.]

In our defense, the rest of us are used to dealin' with Blondie over there. Unless you push him, that man is one of the gentlest, kindest people you could ever meet. And all that love and care you seem to have for all your bebitos? He shows that to everyone, whether they deserve it or not. So findin' a version of him that seems to get off on hurtin' others is just wrong. And he ain't even the first Vash I've met like that! Hell, he ain't even as ready to throw down as the old man back home is, so the fact that he's this pissed? That means you are deeply wrong. And it ain' even your fault, either, 'cause boy, we know what your brother did to make you like this, an' he's fucked you up too bad for you to even know how fucked up it is. An' we don't want that near any of our bebitos. You understand?

[He probably should have held his tongue. He was letting him get under his skin and falling back into his old fighting attitude. But he was willing to force him to stop again if he needed to. He'd take all the irritated scolding like a champ afterward, if it came to that.

He preened just a little, and when he shifted just a touch closer so he could whisper into Spikey's ear, he was back to being just a bit smug.]

He ain't lyin' about that, either. I died to keep a buncha kids safe, and you can't kill what's already dead, can you? So maybe calm your tits an' let us help you. [And suddenly, his voice was louder, he was back to keeping a small distance away, and he sounded all at once cheerful and bright, as if he hadn't just made a very serious threat.] You know, it could even work out in your favor, if you think about it! You want those kids safe, Blondie wouldn't hurt a fly unless you were a danger to someone else, an' in my time, I was a damn good assassin. Would be willin' to bet the little guy up front is just as good, too. Those babies will be safer than they ever would have been before. It's a win/win situation, if you think about it like a reasonable adult.

[ He definitely doesn't look put out by nobody wanting to see baby pictures, as if he's said that just to be a shit. (He had.) Instead Vash has now slowly, carefully maneuvered himself into sitting like a real damn person rather than lying down like a sack of potatoes.

The other Vash gets a look at the mere mention of him ever being cruel to the most important person in his life. ] I don't really care about the opinions of your dogs. [ Plus the dead one is still fucking with him, getting too close and making him want to stab him with his roots. ]

Especially since the living one died so easily... barely even fought it. Almost like he wanted to die. [ Just apologized over and over. Weirdo. ]

Not exactly sounding like my babies would be safe when I can kill him without even breaking a sweat. Speaking from a logical, reasonable adult perspective.

[ The ghost, on the other hand... something dark rolls in those cold blue eyes. Yeah, he could definitely make use of an undying assassin.

Still, Vash turns back to his other self again. ] Wait around five or so more months, then. They should be ready then... around a hundred of them or so, if none of them were harmed by hitting me with a damn car.

[ They would protect children no matter what, Blondie says, and it's like a punch in the gut. He didn't think Vash could lie... and a quick glance out of the corner of his eye at the other man confirms it. Vash doesn't think he's lying. He really thinks Wolfwood is a good man. He doesn't know a thing about what he's done, or what he's capable of, does he?

Shit.

The ghost in the backseat drops his voice, murmuring secrets in the broken Vash's ear, but Wolfwood's Eye-improved hearing picks up every word clear as day. He died protecting children, huh? So that's what happened in December, why everyone he talked to was terrified of him going there? This Wolfwood's a hero. This Wolfwood's who Blondie thinks he is.

They're all in for a surprise, aren't they? Turns out there's more than one monster in this car.

Thorns tries to mock him for his death, as though being taken apart in mere seconds was something he could have fought against. It's the argument of a cornered animal, Wolfwood knows -- Thorns could attack them with his powers, but he's using his words instead. It must be that he's afraid to fight, worried for his children being caught up as collateral damage. And he should be afraid.

The dead Wolfwood and Blondie here might not be willing to kill kids, but Wolfwood's damn good assassin training removed his ability to care about things like that.

His mind is racing. Vash's gate was in his arm -- he'd said something like that earlier, right? How Millions Knives years ago cut his arm off to stop his gate from blowing up, or something like that? What if they cut of Thorns's arm?

It's a thought he'll hold on to for later. ]

Sounds like you can't keep 'em safe either, if a dog with a car can ruin your day. [ He's tempted to continue with a quip about how disappointed Nai must be, but Blondie shouldn't have to keep hearing about that. He shouldn't have to hear any of this. ] You're all alone here, asshole, You want help for your armful of spawn or what?

Edited 2023-07-23 16:26 (UTC)

[ Vash saw what Wolfwood was like on the sand steamer. He knows that if it comes to protecting the kids from the orphanage, there is no length he wouldn't go to. And while he has only seen him with Zazzie outside of that context, he is confident. And if he knew what Wolfwood was thinking right now...

He would be sad, but not shocked. Not disappointed. Vash himself hopes that the Independents would find a way to keep the children safe from the damage that their sole present parent could, and probably would, do to them.

And the number of children is staggering. Vash's stomach is heaving, and he does his best to ignore it. ]

People are not dogs, nor any other kind of animal, just as the bulbed sisters are not, they are each their own person. [ Quiet but still firm. ] And their wills are their own. I do not command them, nor do I expect obedience. I can ask. They can choose to do or not. Or to tell me to fuck off. [ Oh, look, he said the word again. ] I'm glad that you are going to a place where you won't have a reason to think those around you inferior.

[ It'll be good for the other Vash, he thinks, whether he could recognize that or not. ]

And yes, they have agreed to take you in.

Edited 2023-07-23 17:35 (UTC)

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Tragic Ends VS Bad Ends, Trigun Flavor

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