Author's Note:

This story is already written and I will be uploading a new chapter every weekend (probably Friday evenings). The finished story is at roughly 60k words, and is 22 chapters long.

Enjoy!

CHAPTER 1

An Unpleasant Morning

Welcome to the NLBC Evening News. I'm Meryl Stryfe.

In today's news, there was an attempted robbery in Augusta City. The man tried to rob a gun store, however, when he made his intentions clear, all of the employees and most of the customers reached into the display cases and pointed guns at the robber. He then surrendered to store employees, and it wasn't until after the authorities had been called and he had been handcuffed that he remembered that the guns in the display cases are left unloaded.

In other news, there was an explosion outside Inepril yesterday evening. The culprits were a pair of bounty hunters who had procured explosives which they planned to use in their attempts to capture their bounties. While looking over their new explosives, one was accidentally detonated. Both men were injured and are currently hospitalized, but should recover quickly. Unauthorized use of explosives is illegal, and authorities are still determining where the men acquired them. When asked for comment, one of the two men said it was his partner's fault, but added that he was glad his partner was still alive, because, quote, "When we get out of the hospital, I'm going to punch him in the face."

Also in the news today, the outlaw Max Stetson who escaped from prison and has been on the run for three weeks, was captured today in the December City area. This is the third major criminal apprehended in the area in the past several months. The local sheriff says that there's a bounty hunter in the area who wishes to remain anonymous. He did add, however, that the bounty hunter donates the reward money to an orphanage located outside of December City.

In a follow up of a previous story, the Earth Federation Peace Force has stated that while Vash will remain on the planet's Most Wanted list with a reward for his capture, they will no longer be actively pursuing him. Instead they will focus their efforts on the capture of Knives, and have stated that they will be instituting special methods to find and arrest him. The one year anniversary of Knives's defeat in Octovern City happened last month, and neither Knives nor Vash have been seen since the event. Some of you may recall that a few months after the conflict in Octovern a letter was submitted to the NLBC news station claiming to be from Knives. It stated that Vash had died from using the last of his plant energy while fleeing the city with Knives. While plant scientists have confirmed that it is a possible cause of death for a plant, the letter cannot be proven to be from Knives and may be a prank. However, extensive searches by authorities and by Vash's acquaintances have failed to find either of the brothers.

And, finally, our major headline of the night: protests continue in the Northwest region of the country as people take to the streets to condemn the Earth Federation government; however, today, these protests became violent as gunfire broke out between the protestors and the riot police on the scene. Several were killed and many more injured. As you may know, these protests have been occurring for some time, but recently grew in numbers when a rally was held a month ago on the one year anniversary of Knives's defeat. Protests have been daily since then, and there have been rumors of local militia being formed and of a strong desire by many in the area to secede from the Earth Federation.

More on that story later. But first, we go to Doug for our business news report.

Millions Knives stepped out of a coffee shop with a cup in one hand and a sausage biscuit in the other. His eyes fell on a pair of policemen talking together across the street, and he turned on his heal and went inside the coffee shop again.

"I need a lid for my coffee," he said. "And a bag for the biscuit." He had meant to have his breakfast as he walked, but if running was in his near future, he needed his breakfast to be easier to carry.

As the employee provided his needs, Knives realized there was a small boy who had been staring at the selection of donuts and was now staring at Knives. When the two made eye contact, the boy jumped slightly.

Whispering, the boy said, "You look like the bad guy on the wanted posters."

Knives narrowed his eyes. He, too, whispered. "If you say anything else, I will kill you."

The boy gasped, going wide-eyed. Then he ran from the donut shop. Knives's expression remained unchanged on the outside. He was smiling on the inside.

Knives took his breakfast back and went for the door again. He paused before going out to see if the police were still there. They were. And the boy was talking to them.

"Damnit," Knives whispered.

Log Entry:

I hate the police. Not long ago, when justice was in the hands of the local sheriff and a bunch of meat-headed bounty hunters, you could get away with murder. Literally. But now the Earth Federation has these stupid policemen all over the place. It's a nuisance. Being an outlaw is a nuisance. I wonder if Vash had problems like this.

And you know what else I hate? Children. I hate children. There are so many reasons to hate children. (I wonder what Vash thought of children. He probably liked them, since they both have the same amount of maturity.)

Knives slipped out of the door and walked quickly toward the nearby alleyway.

From behind him, he heard a voice call, "Sir? Sir!"

Knives pretended not to hear and rounded the corner. As soon as he did so, he ran for it.

Knives found himself running on occasion, but he was never running from humans. Not really. He was running from the hassle of causing a scene and blowing his cover while an outlaw. If anyone had suggested he was running from the humans themselves, Knives probably would have risked it and killed them. Or perhaps just punched them repeatedly. It was funny how, in the past, Knives preferred a quick, clean kill, but ever since he had begun living among humans, he found himself envisioning things more along the lines of slowly throttling people.

He could hear the policemen giving chase, and gave an extra push in his speed to round the next corner. When he did, he ducked into the nearest door he could. It was a small clothing shop. He ducked into the nearest corner and squatted there.

Knives wasn't completely sure, but he thought he heard footsteps stopping outside. Then he heard muffled voices.

The was a pause in which Knives assumed the police were wondering which business he had slipped into. Then the door opened and the policemen stepped inside. Knives realized there was a bell on the door and that they would hear him leaving, and see him if they turned around. But at the moment, they began scanning the room as they moved forward into the store.

It would be either life-saving, or embarrassingly stupid, but Knives impulsively decided to risk it. Crouching, he made for the door while it was still open, slipping by behind the backs of the policemen. He made it out before the door closed.

And then he ran for his life.

A few minutes later, Knives burst into the front door of a computer repair shop. He stopped to rest his hands on his knees and pant for breath.

"Kevin?" one of the employees said, "Did you, uh... Did you run the whole way here?"

"Yes," Knives answered breathlessly.

"Why?"

"Uh... alarm clock didn't go off this morning... thought I was going to be late."

The other laughed. "Well, you're fine, so don't worry. Hey, Jeff called in sick today, so can you take his calls? He was supposed to head out to an office this morning."

Knives straitened and headed wearily for his desk. Yes, working two people's jobs is the perfect way to top off this morning. "That's fine," he grumbled.

While computers were once machines found only within the remains of SEEDS ships and understood only by plant engineers, they had experienced a boom in production and popularity since the arrival of the rescue fleet. In fact, technology boomed in a variety of ways, and people with technological know-how were in high demand. Knives, or Kevin as he was known by those in town, was generally held in reserve for the toughest problems, the ones that left the other computer repairmen scratching their heads. Partly, this was because his coworkers believed that there was no problem Kevin couldn't eventually find a solution to, but also because he was a bit antisocial. "Grumpy" was a word that frequently came to the minds of his coworkers. It was usually better to send the friendlier technicians out first, and save Kevin for anything they couldn't work out a solution to.

But before starting in on his day's work, Knives took a moment to eat his breakfast.

Log Entry:

I've gotten ahead of myself. I needed to get the police and child rant out of my system. This is a new log book, and so I should give an introduction in case the logs are misplaced and separated in the future.

It has been over a year since the utter catastrophe that took place at Octovern City. I have been left with nothing. No purpose, no servants, and no family. My failure has resulted in a burned bridge between myself and my sisters. And as for Vash...

I'll get to Vash in a moment.

But despite my failure, I won't regret the path I chose. I did what I felt was right at the time, based on the situation I saw and the knowledge I had. That is nothing to be ashamed of. It's true that those from Earth do treat plants with greater respect, as they should, but it seems to me that those who originated on this particular planet are cursed with incurable ignorance and stupidity. I did nothing wrong in trying to eliminate them. Any and all regret or shame comes from failure, and the consequences of that failure.

Mostly, it comes from failing to be a brother to Vash.

He is dead now. It's a blur in my mind, but I have the knowledge, despite the lack of clear memory, that we landed somewhere outside of Octovern and that his body disintegrated. It happened very quickly. I don't understand why it happened. The only thing I remember well is the sight of his red coat laying in my lap. That, and his gun were all that was left of him.

The guilt and grief consumed me. Of all that was wrong in the world, this was the greatest, and it was my own fault. I was involved in so much of his energy use, that there's no doubt he wouldn't have died if we had been allies rather than enemies. I should have acted differently. I should have tried different tactics to win him over. I shouldn't have pushed him to use his power. I shouldn't have confronted him that one last time. I should have done a lot of things.

As I struggled with all of this, it came to my mind more and more often that he had died before we could reconcile. I always assumed that sooner or later I would find a way to make him understand the world the way I saw it, and then everything would be fine. I never tried to understand him. He was wrong, and that was all I needed to know. Now I question if it was right for me to think that way. Perhaps if I had tried to understand him, then I would have known how to speak to him in a way that would get him to understand me. Or perhaps, if we each saw the other's point of view, we might have negotiated somehow. Or perhaps even (and this shows how much my mind was altered by grief), if I could see things from his point of view, I would see in humans what he saw in them. I felt that I would rather be wrong and have my brother alive than to be right with Vash gone forever.

During this time, I had no reason to live, but reason enough to hate myself, and I became very low and very desperate. In an effort to cope, I hit on a plan, a new mission to occupy myself with, now that my life's work had been thwarted. I'm going to understand Vash. It's belated, perhaps. But I feel somehow that if I could understand him, if I could connect with him in some way, if I could reconcile with him despite his absence, it will do me some kind of good.

Thus far, I have done the following: I have taken measures to ensure that I will not use my angel arm. Vash was against the death of humans, and I know I have a habit of bad-tempered angel arm use. Also, Vash's death has driven home the dangers of a plant using up their power. I have kept Vash's gun and will use it as a weapon in place of my angel arm. I have also been living among humans for several months now. (Yes, several months among humans without killing anyone! I hope you're happy Vash! You have no idea what this is putting me through!)

I am also an outlaw, a trait I now share with Vash, although not by choice.

I am keeping these logs to record the experiences that I have, and hopefully, to record anything that I learn about Vash through these experiences.

(A note on a past experience, while I am at it. I have a vague notion of Vash having a love for donuts. I've visited a donut shop for breakfast several mornings now. I've learned the following: donuts make a terrible breakfast. They're far too sweet, especially for early morning. And all the sugar causes them to wear off quickly, and I'm hungry again before lunch time. However, the shop does have sausage biscuits, which I find to be an adequate breakfast. If Vash were alive, I hope he would find this compromise acceptable.)

After work on most evenings, Knives would get something to eat and then go to the shooting range. He practiced diligently with Vash's gun, seeking the assurance that he would be able to use it well if it ever came to it. In a short time, he had come to be a fairly quick draw and good shot. Inwardly, he hated the thing. An angel arm was... smooth. Intuitive. Silent. Convenient. Guns were obnoxiously loud. And they kicked, which Knives initially found very jarring until he had gotten used to it. And they needed reloaded, and needed a holster. Knives felt like someone who had grown up as a swift runner, suddenly reduced to doing all travel via crab-walk. This was definitely a step backwards, and Knives was not appreciative.

But tonight he had other plans. Due to all of the protests and violence that had been happening in the northwest, the president was going to give an address that evening. Knives knew that people and newspapers alike would put their own spin on the speech afterward, and Knives wanted to hear it himself to form his own opinions. He didn't care very much about whether they killed themselves over there or not, but would watch the address anyway. Perhaps it was because of his recent interest in humans in general. (After all, Vash would likely watch the address, since he cared about humans. He'd probably cry himself to sleep over the violent protests.) But Knives felt that it was really more of a morbid curiosity. Humans were currently acting very... human. And he thought it would be interesting to see where all of this was going.

So Knives went home from work that day and ate a simple dinner. Then, since he had no television himself to watch the broadcast on, he set out again in the dimming evening light.