Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ Incompatible ❯ Chapter 0020 ( Chapter 20 )

Trigun Fanfic

Trigun © Yasuhiro Nightow * Shonen Gaho-sha * Tokuma Shoten * JVC * Pioneer Entertainment (USA) Inc.

The following fanfiction was written by me (Chiruken) and is intended for the sole purpose of shared entertainment and not intended for publication or sale.

--Incompatible-

Trigun Fanfic Featuring Knives and Meryl. Knives hates all humans. Meryl just hates Knives. It's a match ideal for the promise of Eden.

By Chiruken

Chapter 20

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Knives pondered what he'd discovered as he walked steadily over the shifting sands, topping one dune only to see another just ahead and chewed thoughtfully on the chunk of dried jerky in his hand. Humans were frail creatures, not unlike the spider's he'd compared them to in his youth. They were easily crushed, ground into the sandy soil beneath them with hardly any effort at all. Their hopes and dreams were just as easily crushed, though not nearly so easily broken as their bodies. He'd learned that no matter how abused their flesh was, how bowed their backs became from the strain, they would continue to toil until their fingers bled and their faces wrinkled, their lives seeping out of them to be absorbed by the sandy soil they were tending, urging withered and grotesque vegetation to grow. Their bodies died, but their dreams lived on, their offspring continuing in their labors and quest for survival.

It was like the spider he'd watched during his time of recovery. Against all odds the tiny creature would make its way across the cracked and peeling ceiling, pause to rest and then continue on undaunted by the monumental task of merely getting from one point to another. Then, despite fatigue, it would spin and spin and continue spinning, creating a beautiful tapestry of silken strands that made up its web. Dust would gather, weigh it down, but still the spider continued to build it, reinforcing it until it could withstand the weight of the added dust on the glittering threads. On and on it went, spinning its web, creating its home, striving for survival. It never stopped, never seemed to give up hope completely no matter how often fate would tear down sections of that web and force it to backtrack and rebuild.

Humans, he decided, were just like spiders after all. His lips curved upwards into a smile as he purposely sent the thought to his twin. **Did you hear that, brother? Humans ARE just like spiders!** He broke the connection immediately. Let Vash puzzle it out on his own. Knives was busy. He needed to get to the next town before sundown so he could find an inn and get himself a room. He felt like indulging a little and pampering himself with a bath, a soft bed with clean sheets, and a warm meal. "Maybe some wine…" He murmured and bit into the jerky again.

He'd been traveling for so long, many months beneath the blistering suns, existing only to find the answers to the questions tumbling around in his mind, that now that he was closing in on a breakthrough of understanding, he wasn't quite sure how to deal with it. Humans and spiders both possessed the will to survive. He had witnessed that will countless times in the towns and cities he'd passed through during his journey, but he had also seen how it had become twisted and turned into something grotesque, like a bloated spider just waiting to inject its poison into an unsuspecting victim. He shuddered and stuck the remainder of his jerky back in the pack strapped around his waist before reaching for his canteen. Sipping the water sparingly he pondered that train of thought. Just like the industrious spider, there were varieties that were poisonous and not to be trusted amongst the humans as well. Those were the ones who preyed on the weak and took without a thought to those they left behind. They were the humans that reminded him bitterly of Steve and he hated them with every fiber of his being. They were the ones that he longed to crush, just like that spider he'd killed over a century before in the recreation room with Vash and Rem watching. They were ugly and filled with hate, just waiting to exploit the weakness they found in others.

Then there were humans like Meryl. She wasn't ugly at all. She was like the industrious spider, spinning a web of beauty in an otherwise ugly world. Millie, too. Her innocence hadn't been tainted by the ugliness surrounding her and she remained blissfully ignorant of the shadows around her, choosing instead to only see the light and beauty. She was interesting in that respect. At first he'd taken her innocence to be blatant stupidity, but now he could see it for what it was. It was a strange and beautiful gift that she possessed in her ability to see the goodness around her and remain untainted by the evil that rested beside it. Meryl, on the other hand, saw it all. Yet, despite that, she didn't allow the shadows to touch her. She remained radiant and full of hope and the bright light of freedom still shone in her eyes. At least it had the last time he'd seen her before he left for his journey of self-discovery.

He thought he was beginning to see what his brother had been trying to tell him for a hundred and thirty years. Vash had tried to show him the way, but he'd refused to be led. Now he was regretting his decision to remain isolated and harbor his hatred towards humanity. If he would've listened to his brother, he could have learned all of this long before now. He still wasn't completely convinced that Vash had been right about everything, but he was willing to admit that neither had he. He'd been wrong about many things and he could admit, even if it was only to himself, that his actions were wrong. Humans didn't need to be eliminated to bring out the beauty of Eden. If only they could be convinced to stop exploiting the captive Plants and set them free. If the humans would do that, then Knives could lay his past plans for their destruction to rest. He would gladly live peacefully with the humans he'd once hated and work with them to create the Eden Rem had told him of. However, this would only come to be once his brethren were free as well. Until then, he couldn't see a possibility for the future his brother wanted. It just wouldn't work if there weren't freedom and equality for all, not just a few.