Knives enjoys his brother's delusions. The softness that is Vash covers only a sharp edge, one even more piercing than his own. It's amusing, to watch him deny it and plead with him, saying that he, poor evil Knives, is the one who cuts past the bone.

As they crouch behind this wall of rubble, a fallen pillar of the grotesque spiders that make up this world, the sound of more explosions makes the earth tremble and the pebbles scatter. He watches his brother's concerned face, examines the focus that is obvious there in its sickening and purest form.

"West is a good way to go, we can avoid them that way if we're careful."

He nods his approval, even though it doesn't matter anyway. He doesn't say anything as he struggles to stand on his injured legs, and grips Vash's right arm like it is his lifeline.

They start to walk, and stop immediately as another explosion shakes the ground below them, right in the direction they are facing. He stares straight ahead, knowing that his brother is looking all over for another way to go, with that same damn concerned and focused look on his face.

Vash pulls him South, and they start to walk. "Let's try this direction. Maybe we can avoid the humans over here."

Knives keeps up as well as he can, leaning heavily on his twin. The bombs and shots and crackling fire are still around them, some sounds louder than others in other directions than the one they are walking. He thinks that maybe his brother has finally found a way to get them out of there, the bastard.

And then they turn a corner -- around the large marble statue, broken in half -- and there are more pathetic spiders, all crouched in a circle around a campfire and looking weary and ill. They look at them like startled rabbits, but insect like as well, fingers twitching and knees shaking.

He opens his mouth to say what he thinks of the scene, but Vash stops the words by darting in front of him and holding his arms out in a defending gesture. "Don't hurt them! We just need to pass through, don't hurt them!"

He closes his mouth slowly, and smiles instead of saying anything. The humans shiver around their campfire, and look for something to be used as weapons.

And Vash says that he is the cruel one.