[ it's been a few weeks since the final fight between the plants -- where knives and vash went missing. still at large. some wondered if either of them were alive at all. livio knows vash is, at the very least -- he's too stubborn to die like that. but the last time livio had seen either of them with his own eyes, it was to (politely?) threaten the plant from earth -- welcoming her to no man's land, while pointing nicholas's gun at her head and telling her not to interfere. ]
[ since then, nothing. livio himself had returned to the orphanage with the punisher, just to make sure they were safe. imagine his surprise when melanie and the kids had actually accepted him back with no questions asked, no grudges held. this is your home. melanie had said, and he'd started openly weeping (until the kids made fun of him) for it. ]
[ since then, it's been just falling into a routine. at the very least, he swore he'd never let anything happen to these kids or melanie ever again. he'd learned (clumsily), how to cook, sow, and was slowly filling nicholas's shoes. they were all very patient with him, all things considered. ]
[ right now he's out on a supply run. they'd needed some of their food restocked, he was going out of his way to bring them back something special. he's riding by tomas to the nearest town, when something in the distance catches his attention ]
[in his final moments, knives had finally found peace. all his life, from that first year onward, he'd been searching for something to ease the raging storms that battered his heart and soul, only growing in ferocity as time unspooled itself before him. years turning to decades and that fire never dimmed, flames endlessly burning away until all he could taste was smoke and ash. he had burned himself to the quick, but deep down he knew this is how it would have ended. at some point along the way as his thoughts and actions became tainted with the mania that drove him to first send the ships crashing down, there would be no happy ending for him. he had created a monster out of his own fears and nightmares and when he looked at his reflection he could see the hideous beast looking back at him.
it wasn't his intention to survive after offering vash and the doctor with his young son his parting gift, and at first he was certain it really was his ending. time held no meaning and finally, finally, the aching inside him had quelled leaving him to blissful silence. it was a dream he didn't want to wake from, but of course like all good dreams, he was bound to wake from it.
the first sensation that returns to him is the heat of the suns above, cutting through the haze of what should have been an eternal slumber. soon after everything begins to follow suit, a twitch in his fingers, the dull and deep aching fatigue in his limbs, and the shifting sands that brush against exposed skin. still, he fights consciousness with a familiar stubbornness, innately hoping that if he refuses long enough the elements will take hold and drag him back down to the death he so desperately wants.
but his luck ran out a long time ago, and whatever he wants now is so far beyond his grasp there's no hope of reaching it. when he lifts his arm to shield his face from the sun, the limb is laden with cement. knives groans, twitching fingers digging into soft sands.]
[ livio disembarks the tomas, halting it with a pat to its head as he approaches the figure. at first, he almost mistakes this man for vash -- the black hair draws his eyes, even streaked by sand as it is -- and frankly, livio wouldn't have been surprised to see vash facedown in the sand. ]
[ but no. while he's never truly met knives in person, being in the eye of michael for more than half of his life has the visage ingrained into his brain. his footsteps still. some dark part of him -- maybe even the remnants of razlo -- considers just leaving him there. he looks to be in horrible shape. nothing like the image of knives that had been burned into him, tall and regal, eyes always burning with a hatred for humanity and the injustice over what's been done to the plants. here he is now, barely clinging onto life. if livio walked away, he could die, even. ]
[ ... but that's not what vash would want. and the fight is over. ]
[ he crouches down, grabbing that shielding arm by the hand, firmly, but... probably as gently as he could manage. ]
[his perception of time is skewed horribly, unable to tell just how long it'd been since he first woke here. alive, somehow, some awful joke played at his expense no doubt. closing his eyes again, it feels as if only a few moments have passed when suddenly he feels the presence of another. a hand grasping at his arm, knives' eyes snap open wide and with unfiltered surprise. at first the suns' blinding light casts the stranger in shadow, their features momentarily hidden, but there is something familiar there--]
You-...
[his voice is rough with disuse and desert heat, but there's no need to finish when recognition catches up soon after. livio - doublefang - pulls him up onto unsteady legs, exhaustion nearly causing him to fall back to his knees. he knows he must make a pathetic sight, but he has little reason to care now.]
[ it's almost comical, the way livio just plucks him straight out of the sand. sets him on his feet, gently -- but keeps a supportive hand on his shoulder, to brace him if knives's legs are too weak to support him. livio's likely most of the force keeping knives from falling to his knees. ]
[ he's silent for a second, in regards to the question. why indeed. he's not sure he has a good answer. he just saw knives, likely about to die of exposure, and some part of him just couldn't let that happen. ]
It....
It's what Vash would do.
[ vash gave him a chance, after everything. made him a friend. depended on him. after what livio did to him, to his own brother. so. ]
[ maybe he's paying it forward. or maybe knives, crumpled and defeated as he is, reminds livio a bit of himself, after wolfwood had literally beaten the brainwashing out of him. it's hard to say ]
... Let's get out of the suns.
[ he decides on that, in the end. and it seems like he's willing to carry knives there if his legs can't keep him up anymore ]
[strength bled from a stone rises up in him, just enough to push away livio's support and take a few steady steps back. the sands shift beneath his feet, everything hurts. knives stands his ground, despite how much he wants to sink beneath these dunes. he has to chase away the dog first.]
No.
[his head lifts, cropped hair ink black and dusted by red sand. knives regards livio wearily, scowling.]
Taking after my brother will lead you to your own death far quicker than most your kind. [he had left vash with an apology unbefitting his actions, but now at the end of his mortal rope it wouldn't matter any longer. knives looks away from livio, gaze drifting over the desolate landscape around them.] Either kill me or leave me be.
[ the dog's not so easy to chase off. he could fight back if needed to -- at even a fraction of his full strength, livio's certain he would lose to knives, but as he is now... he seems exhausted, almost weak ]
I ain't gonna kill ya. And I ain't gonna leave ya here to die, either. Sorry, m--- [ he catches himself from saying "master", just on instinct. ] mister Knives.
Vash gave me a chance when no one else would. [ "us", really, but he doesn't need to go into that. knives will know, anyway. if he even remembers the trip of death. or him ] And I ain't exactly like most my kind, anyway.
[ he's already dying faster than any normal human. and, well, he's got far too much blood on his hands to be anything but a monster ]
[annoying, if he had the energy to feel anything but the heaviness of a lifetime of choices made in vain. when he looked back, it was all he could see now. a paradise lost, but he'd been so close. it made his teeth ache and his chest tight in that way that reminded him of childhood.
knives says nothing, regarding livio with distant consideration until his attention drifts. no rest for the wicked, after all.
he turns to walk around livio's hulking frame, back into the suns' unforgiving heat.]
[ of course he doesn't answer. livio huffs a little sigh of mild annoyance. ]
I will.
[ do as he pleases, after all. he regards the other man, briefly considering tucking him under an arm.... or flipping him over his shoulder, but then again, knives seems perfectly capable of walking on his own. ]
[ so what he does do, is take knives's shoulder -- steers him towards where livio's going, to a distant hotel that would give them both shelter from the weather. it's barely visible to a normal person, but livio, as established, is anything but ]
[ his grip on knives's shoulder is firm, and ready to support him if he gives way, ready to outright carry him if he collapses ]
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[ since then, nothing. livio himself had returned to the orphanage with the punisher, just to make sure they were safe. imagine his surprise when melanie and the kids had actually accepted him back with no questions asked, no grudges held. this is your home. melanie had said, and he'd started openly weeping (until the kids made fun of him) for it. ]
[ since then, it's been just falling into a routine. at the very least, he swore he'd never let anything happen to these kids or melanie ever again. he'd learned (clumsily), how to cook, sow, and was slowly filling nicholas's shoes. they were all very patient with him, all things considered. ]
[ right now he's out on a supply run. they'd needed some of their food restocked, he was going out of his way to bring them back something special. he's riding by tomas to the nearest town, when something in the distance catches his attention ]
[ a... body? and a familiar one at that? ]
no subject
it wasn't his intention to survive after offering vash and the doctor with his young son his parting gift, and at first he was certain it really was his ending. time held no meaning and finally, finally, the aching inside him had quelled leaving him to blissful silence. it was a dream he didn't want to wake from, but of course like all good dreams, he was bound to wake from it.
the first sensation that returns to him is the heat of the suns above, cutting through the haze of what should have been an eternal slumber. soon after everything begins to follow suit, a twitch in his fingers, the dull and deep aching fatigue in his limbs, and the shifting sands that brush against exposed skin. still, he fights consciousness with a familiar stubbornness, innately hoping that if he refuses long enough the elements will take hold and drag him back down to the death he so desperately wants.
but his luck ran out a long time ago, and whatever he wants now is so far beyond his grasp there's no hope of reaching it. when he lifts his arm to shield his face from the sun, the limb is laden with cement. knives groans, twitching fingers digging into soft sands.]
sorry for the delay!!
[ but no. while he's never truly met knives in person, being in the eye of michael for more than half of his life has the visage ingrained into his brain. his footsteps still. some dark part of him -- maybe even the remnants of razlo -- considers just leaving him there. he looks to be in horrible shape. nothing like the image of knives that had been burned into him, tall and regal, eyes always burning with a hatred for humanity and the injustice over what's been done to the plants. here he is now, barely clinging onto life. if livio walked away, he could die, even. ]
[ ... but that's not what vash would want. and the fight is over. ]
[ he crouches down, grabbing that shielding arm by the hand, firmly, but... probably as gently as he could manage. ]
.... I've got ya. Hold on.
[ he'll just pull him straight out of the sand. ]
no subject
You-...
[his voice is rough with disuse and desert heat, but there's no need to finish when recognition catches up soon after. livio - doublefang - pulls him up onto unsteady legs, exhaustion nearly causing him to fall back to his knees. he knows he must make a pathetic sight, but he has little reason to care now.]
... Why?
oh my god it's almost been a year i'm so sorry
[ he's silent for a second, in regards to the question. why indeed. he's not sure he has a good answer. he just saw knives, likely about to die of exposure, and some part of him just couldn't let that happen. ]
It....
It's what Vash would do.
[ vash gave him a chance, after everything. made him a friend. depended on him. after what livio did to him, to his own brother. so. ]
[ maybe he's paying it forward. or maybe knives, crumpled and defeated as he is, reminds livio a bit of himself, after wolfwood had literally beaten the brainwashing out of him. it's hard to say ]
... Let's get out of the suns.
[ he decides on that, in the end. and it seems like he's willing to carry knives there if his legs can't keep him up anymore ]
shakes your hand in solidarity...
No.
[his head lifts, cropped hair ink black and dusted by red sand. knives regards livio wearily, scowling.]
Taking after my brother will lead you to your own death far quicker than most your kind. [he had left vash with an apology unbefitting his actions, but now at the end of his mortal rope it wouldn't matter any longer. knives looks away from livio, gaze drifting over the desolate landscape around them.] Either kill me or leave me be.
holds ur hand
I ain't gonna kill ya. And I ain't gonna leave ya here to die, either. Sorry, m--- [ he catches himself from saying "master", just on instinct. ] mister Knives.
Vash gave me a chance when no one else would. [ "us", really, but he doesn't need to go into that. knives will know, anyway. if he even remembers the trip of death. or him ] And I ain't exactly like most my kind, anyway.
[ he's already dying faster than any normal human. and, well, he's got far too much blood on his hands to be anything but a monster ]
Why do you wanna die so badly?
no subject
knives says nothing, regarding livio with distant consideration until his attention drifts. no rest for the wicked, after all.
he turns to walk around livio's hulking frame, back into the suns' unforgiving heat.]
Do as you please.
no subject
I will.
[ do as he pleases, after all. he regards the other man, briefly considering tucking him under an arm.... or flipping him over his shoulder, but then again, knives seems perfectly capable of walking on his own. ]
[ so what he does do, is take knives's shoulder -- steers him towards where livio's going, to a distant hotel that would give them both shelter from the weather. it's barely visible to a normal person, but livio, as established, is anything but ]
[ his grip on knives's shoulder is firm, and ready to support him if he gives way, ready to outright carry him if he collapses ]
This way.
[ no yield ]