7. Dream for the Future

"...and you'll wake up in Paradise," she finished. Her sons looked up at her from their cryo-sleep pods, the skeptic and the optimist. The latter could barely keep still in his excitement, knowing that when he awoke, his world would be filled with people other than just Rem and his brother. Millions of people, friends! He could finally learn their dreams! No more fantasies!

He was chanting, barely coherent, even has Rem lowered the hatch of the pod. Her active duty over, she sent her boys to bed just before settling herself in for a long sleep.

"Millions, millions, millions!"

8. Fall From Grace

Gnawing on his thumb, not really paying attention to it, it bled.

He smeared the blood on his face, where it mingled with tears.

He did not want them to die.

He did not want to be the one who killed them.

And yet the fact remained: they had to die.

He wasn't thinking about the sleeping people in the other room that he had left, hoping they could ever understand. He didn't bother to wonder if there was enough sorrow in him that would make them forgive his weakness. His own pain consumed him fully.

Nothing exists but him.

9. Different Hearts

Knives hadn't thought it would affect his brother like this. True, he hadn't intended for Rem to die in the Fall, but she was human and death was inevitable. Vash was going to have to live without her one way or another, so he was rather surprised to note even now, the other Plant was still opening crying for her. He tried reasoning with his brother, thinking it strange how the tides had turned. When had Vash become so fond of humanity?

Blood-shot aqua eyes saw him through tears. "You were right about humans before. Their hearts are like ours."

10. Misunderstanding

"Hey, Insurance Girl." Mid-way to a table, pad and pen in hand, the part-time waitress met Vash's eyes with irritation. He had never just sauntered in to the cafe specifically seeking her attention before, but it was his style to get in her way, so she wasn't too surprised.

"I was wondering..."

Twitch.

"I mean, only if you have a break coming up..."

A glance to the doorway betrayed the children egging him on.

"You might..."

Fidget.

"Have lunch with me?"

"You're not getting free food," Meryl replied dryly.

To her retreating form, he pouted. "That's not what I meant...!"

11. Hypocrisy

"You're a hypocrite."

Vash the Stampede blinked.

"That you're a gun-toting pacifist is bad enough," Knives refrained from mentioning who gave Vash that gun, "but as much as you teach love and peace, you've never tried to find a solution other than running and shooting."

Vash the Stampede sat, confused.

"If I were in the sort of situation you're always in, I'd at least try to talk it out once before deciding it couldn't be done. Judging from your actions, you think no one is capable of responding without violence."

Vash the Stampede said to his greatest adversary, "Let's talk."

12. And Such Was Eternity

"We should go."

The tugging hand was insistent. It betrayed more concern than the tired voice or the blue eyes that were still somehow closed from him. Every now and then they'd meet up by chance. They'd stay together usually a year, sometimes two, before separating. They loved one another as much as brothers could, but they agreed on little, got along less.

A century ago, in this nowhere town they'd somehow wandered to again, he'd grasped happiness and failed to hold on to it. His friends were dead, his memories weren't. His brother wanted to flee, he, to stay.