Sanskrit (Knives/Vash, PG-13)
Title: Sanskrit
Paring: Knives/Vash
Fandom: Trigun
Rating: PG-13/Angry Green Wombat
Disclaimer: Not mine. Just borrowing.
Notes: Just a little idea that stuck in my head. The title is there because I wrote this in Myth class, and we were talking about Sanskrit. *is not original* (Although, I had this brilliant idea to pass it off as this huge metaphor for the beginnings of civilization---what with written language and all---but it made me feel all dirty inside. XD)
First posted on 23 October 2005.
When the children of Earth came to their new planet, their first mission was to survive. Men, women and children fought against each other for food and water -- two of the most precious and rarest things on this alien home. In the beginning, it seemed that this would continue to be the norm of things, but there were leaders who rose from the chaos to quell the desperation and fear, to begin what would one day be the birth of cities.
June, July, August... they would be cities named after the old calendar, cities bearing the identities of the months which went by unrecorded in those first frantic years, and the weight of the seasons which would never exist on this world.
*
Knives starts slipping away from his twin in the night, often for hours at a time. Sometimes he doesn’t come back for days and Vash is left alone to stare out into the desert and let the sand crust underneath his fingernails. He doesn’t care anymore, not about his brother’s secret trips into the human camps, not about the heat that dries his throat out. All he thinks about is her and how much he wishes both he and his twin had never been born.
When his brother finally returns, he smells of blood and Vash cries until the heat eats all the tears inside of him, leaving his body as desiccated and empty as it feels.
There is nothing else he can do.
Rem, Rem…, he cries, but he knows there will be no answer.
*
After the great cities had come to their peak, trade began. They set up ways to communicate and travel between their sister capitals, using the ancient technology left behind by their ancestors to make electricity for their new devices. The greatest minds and tradesmen drifted from one place to another, using their skills and knowledge of the old machinery to help the towns quicken further still. Soon humanity was networked and the great cities became home to hundreds.
*
Humans aren’t afraid anymore, Knives says. If they were afraid, they’d learn their place.
Vash doesn’t even hear his voice anymore -- the desert wind is too strong.
*
Money came out much quicker than some hoped, and sooner than most people expected. The more desirable method of bartering food, water and livestock fell to the power of currency, as it had done in Earth’s ancient history. Within a matter of months, the cities became flooded with bills and coins.
Greed followed shortly after.
*
What are you thinking about?, Knives asks, studying his twin with a great deal of curiosity as he sits unmoving in the sand. Vash says nothing and clenches his fists so that the grain of the world is pressed so tightly into his palm that it leaves markings. He wishes the wounds would bleed. Just a little.
*
Poverty began to surface in some of the smaller settlements only a year after the double-dollar currency was issued by the capital cities. For the first time since the very beginning, people started to become desperate again.
*
He tells Knives, Leave me alone.
But his brother smiles in that relaxed way and rests his head on the palm of his hand like a great philosopher.
I can’t leave you alone, he confesses. Because I love you.
*
There were rumors of settlements that resorted to murdering their own children in order to save money on food. People didn’t believe the talk -- they were comfortable in their great cities and they could not accept, or be bothered by, the idea of suffering.
Out of sight out of mind, after all.
*
The first time his brother kisses him, it’s desperate. He uses more teeth than tongue and Vash is sure he can taste blood by the end of it, but for some reason he can accept this. Punishment, he tells himself. And lets his brother’s fingers have their freedom.
His brother chants, I love you, I love you.
The words and thrusts cancel each other out.
*
The towns begin to grown more and more elite. People are denied entry, classes develop within the city walls, food and water begin to fall under private ownership. People are apathetic to the suffering of their own species. There is poverty at the doorstep now, and suffering leaking in through the alleyways like a virus spreading through the veins of the city.
There is no effort made to find a cure.
*
He tells Knives, My body’s made of sand.
Knives says nothing.
*
People are left without homes, without food, and these people -- who had once had everything -- are desperate for the first time. They kill, rape, and steal from their fellow man, forgetting the idea of friendship and family in the heat of their needs and desires.
All this happens the day the third city of July vanishes from the planet’s surface.
*
Although he isn’t invited, Knives lies down beside his brother in the sand. He doesn’t like the way it feels but he wants to be close to his twin and this is the easiest way to do it. Vash allows it only because he’s too afraid to be alone, and even though he knows his brother is guilty -- You killed her! You bastard! You killed Rem! -- he’s unable to let him go.
Perhaps, in the end, this would be his greatest mistake.
*
The legend of Vash the Stampede is repeated a hundred times over. Children, their parents, their grandparents… everyone has heard the story of the Legendary outlaw, the demon who destroyed July...
... and for the first time in a long time, the world is afraid.
Paring: Knives/Vash
Fandom: Trigun
Rating: PG-13/Angry Green Wombat
Disclaimer: Not mine. Just borrowing.
Notes: Just a little idea that stuck in my head. The title is there because I wrote this in Myth class, and we were talking about Sanskrit. *is not original* (Although, I had this brilliant idea to pass it off as this huge metaphor for the beginnings of civilization---what with written language and all---but it made me feel all dirty inside. XD)
First posted on 23 October 2005.
When the children of Earth came to their new planet, their first mission was to survive. Men, women and children fought against each other for food and water -- two of the most precious and rarest things on this alien home. In the beginning, it seemed that this would continue to be the norm of things, but there were leaders who rose from the chaos to quell the desperation and fear, to begin what would one day be the birth of cities.
June, July, August... they would be cities named after the old calendar, cities bearing the identities of the months which went by unrecorded in those first frantic years, and the weight of the seasons which would never exist on this world.
*
Knives starts slipping away from his twin in the night, often for hours at a time. Sometimes he doesn’t come back for days and Vash is left alone to stare out into the desert and let the sand crust underneath his fingernails. He doesn’t care anymore, not about his brother’s secret trips into the human camps, not about the heat that dries his throat out. All he thinks about is her and how much he wishes both he and his twin had never been born.
When his brother finally returns, he smells of blood and Vash cries until the heat eats all the tears inside of him, leaving his body as desiccated and empty as it feels.
There is nothing else he can do.
Rem, Rem…, he cries, but he knows there will be no answer.
*
After the great cities had come to their peak, trade began. They set up ways to communicate and travel between their sister capitals, using the ancient technology left behind by their ancestors to make electricity for their new devices. The greatest minds and tradesmen drifted from one place to another, using their skills and knowledge of the old machinery to help the towns quicken further still. Soon humanity was networked and the great cities became home to hundreds.
*
Humans aren’t afraid anymore, Knives says. If they were afraid, they’d learn their place.
Vash doesn’t even hear his voice anymore -- the desert wind is too strong.
*
Money came out much quicker than some hoped, and sooner than most people expected. The more desirable method of bartering food, water and livestock fell to the power of currency, as it had done in Earth’s ancient history. Within a matter of months, the cities became flooded with bills and coins.
Greed followed shortly after.
*
What are you thinking about?, Knives asks, studying his twin with a great deal of curiosity as he sits unmoving in the sand. Vash says nothing and clenches his fists so that the grain of the world is pressed so tightly into his palm that it leaves markings. He wishes the wounds would bleed. Just a little.
*
Poverty began to surface in some of the smaller settlements only a year after the double-dollar currency was issued by the capital cities. For the first time since the very beginning, people started to become desperate again.
*
He tells Knives, Leave me alone.
But his brother smiles in that relaxed way and rests his head on the palm of his hand like a great philosopher.
I can’t leave you alone, he confesses. Because I love you.
*
There were rumors of settlements that resorted to murdering their own children in order to save money on food. People didn’t believe the talk -- they were comfortable in their great cities and they could not accept, or be bothered by, the idea of suffering.
Out of sight out of mind, after all.
*
The first time his brother kisses him, it’s desperate. He uses more teeth than tongue and Vash is sure he can taste blood by the end of it, but for some reason he can accept this. Punishment, he tells himself. And lets his brother’s fingers have their freedom.
His brother chants, I love you, I love you.
The words and thrusts cancel each other out.
*
The towns begin to grown more and more elite. People are denied entry, classes develop within the city walls, food and water begin to fall under private ownership. People are apathetic to the suffering of their own species. There is poverty at the doorstep now, and suffering leaking in through the alleyways like a virus spreading through the veins of the city.
There is no effort made to find a cure.
*
He tells Knives, My body’s made of sand.
Knives says nothing.
*
People are left without homes, without food, and these people -- who had once had everything -- are desperate for the first time. They kill, rape, and steal from their fellow man, forgetting the idea of friendship and family in the heat of their needs and desires.
All this happens the day the third city of July vanishes from the planet’s surface.
*
Although he isn’t invited, Knives lies down beside his brother in the sand. He doesn’t like the way it feels but he wants to be close to his twin and this is the easiest way to do it. Vash allows it only because he’s too afraid to be alone, and even though he knows his brother is guilty -- You killed her! You bastard! You killed Rem! -- he’s unable to let him go.
Perhaps, in the end, this would be his greatest mistake.
*
The legend of Vash the Stampede is repeated a hundred times over. Children, their parents, their grandparents… everyone has heard the story of the Legendary outlaw, the demon who destroyed July...
... and for the first time in a long time, the world is afraid.