Can you imagine Knives finding out about you? You, who travels with his brother, and dare taint him with your presence? How dare you even consider yourself worthy to walk with Vash.
He watches you from a distance. Through Zazie. Through Legato. Through word of mouth as his fumbling little brother chases ghosts across the wastes. You trail him, feed Vash your lies, your pity. And what a pity his brother is, truly. But the white hot rage that blooms in him like a crackling flower takes place when he finds out you're an item. A pair. Lovers. He could tolerate your comradery with Vash, but only Knives can love his brother - humanity is too dirty with greed and pride to make room for love.
So Knives takes you.
He isn't sure why he doesn't kill you when his minions drag you kicking and screaming to JuLai. For all the racket you cause, he should have. More than a few henchmen come back with blackened eyes and missing teeth from trying to feed you. But something in him - the dark, twisted part that is so consuming - enjoys the idea of toying with you.
He wants you to see what you're messing with. Who he is, why Vash is so afraid of you being in his clutches. But there's also a part of him, small and never acknowledged, that wonders what draws his brother to you, out of all the millions of humans that have been and are on the planet - why you?
You become something of a pet to him. A metaphorical chain and leash to your neck, as he strings you along with promises of more freedom if you behave. You follow him around, rather than his brother. Watch as he brings in more and more dying Plants and revive them through his own DNA. And you ask questions. Lots of them. Knives finds he enjoys answering them, unintelligent and mindnumbing as they are.
He would never admit to enjoying your company. But he plays the piano for you. Watches you watch him. The intelligence in your eyes he will never acknowledge. Slowly, he comes to understand why Vash keeps you around. The way you walk. The lilt in your voice as you ponder his grand plan. How your lips move. And the first time you smile at him - genuinely? - he makes a hasty exit as his heart beats faster and his face flushes. He tries to get you to smile more often, but it is hard - you are still only a pet, after all.
Eventually, you make an escape. The perfect timing, the perfect moves, everything. And Knives finds himself going near mental at your disappearance. You cannot go back to his brother - you just can't. You are his now, his pet, his human. But despite his best efforts, you are gone like the wind. Not even tracking his brother brings up anything. You learned your lesson, and are not putting Vash in any danger...for now.
But Knives knows humans. And you will return to Vash in time. And when you do, he'll be ready to take you again.
i think when it comes to the F+C finale it's important to see where the writers were coming from. And it's easy to do that, the lesson/moral they gave simon is fairly clear: Simon needs to appreciate his life because Betty sacrificed so much to get him here. alright, cool, that's good on paper.
I do Also think that the execution was poor.
up until this point, the crown has represented/could be viewed as many things. Alzheimer's, substance abuse, and anything else people have called it. In this series, a newer interpretation has arose: Suicide. And I'm certain the writers were aware of this. Depression and suicidal ideation are such strong themes in this series that they can't NOT be purposeful.
So their attempt at teaching Simon to appreciate Betty's sacrifice can ALSO be read as: Simon, the suicidal, on the verge of a relapse-man, gets put into a body of a child, (and that is very powerful imagery that does not help, actually) and is told nearly expressly that he fucked up in his relationship with the love of his life. He is told he should have sacrificed more for betty. And he says to himself: "Maybe i wouldn't have even found the crown". Basically it's simon pinning the blame on himself for his 1000 year curse on his mistakes with Betty. Which of course can be read as Simon's self loathing but the show does nothing to refute his statement, which i also have issue with. Simon putting on the crown was stated to be a Mistake. it was an accident. No matter what, the crown cursing him Was Not His Fault. Ever. It's not Betty's fault, it's not Simon's, it. was. a. Mistake.
regardless on if they should or should not have introduced these new flaws into simon's character, having simon learn his mistakes like This feels. icky. to me.
R.I.P. Astrud Gilberto, March 29, 1940 - June 5, 2023. Seen here, performing "The Girl from Ipanema" in 1964 with Stan Getz on tenor sax, Gary Burton on vibraphone, Gene Cherico on bass, and Joe Hunt on drums.