[ look, it's worse for him because of the "wolf" of wolfwood.... though on a more serious note, with them clarifying what they had meant with their question, wolfwood sits with his thoughts for a while and says nothing. hope that void archives allows wolfwood to mull over what his answer would be for a question like this. especially if he's meant to be honest about it... which, funnily, might not be the hardest thing for him to answer. still, before wolfwood gives his answer to them, he'll turn to look out of the window. it's much easier to be this open about all of this while not looking at anyone. ]

Nothin'.

[ short. simple. and probably not what void archives is expecting given all things they've talked about thus far. ...or maybe they are. either way, he promised to answer completely honestly: ]

Y'know, my first thought is to go back and say that I'd change ever going with the people who led me down the path I've walked but that's a coward's answer. If I got the chance to change one thing then it'd be nothin'. If I say somethin' as self-servin' as goin' back on all of the times I've fucked up then it just means that someone else is gonna go carryin' my burden.

[ that's why wolfwood was always ready to play the role of villain—be the devil that everyone could hate. no matter how dirty his hands got, it meant that he would be sparing someone else from experiencing the same. (or, at least, that is the lie that he told himself.) ]

And if I pulled the trigger that day and shot Knives instead of playin' right into his hands, would that have solved everythin'? Would Needle-Noggin' really be able to forgive humanity if they killed his only brother?

[ for all of the compassion that vash had for humanity, he was the first person to say that there were limits, and wolfwood doesn't even need to dig very deep to think about what he'd do if someone killed livio. he wouldn't waste a single moment on whether he would kill the person responsible for it. so, for something like that to happen to vash could only end in so many ways. none of them being in ones that he'd want to live with. wolfwood had asked vash to kill knives but only after they've walked side-by-side and seen some of the worst of humanity together.

speaking of— ]

Then if I decide to change up 'n say that I didn't walk Blondie into his brother's trap, that's to assume that he wasn't already plannin' on it himself.

[ the smile on vash's face and how he told wolfwood to take care of himself before walking off to see knives haunts him more than he would ever admit to. the way he thanked him for everything... wolfwood takes a long drag before he's able to finish his answer. his eyes fixed on nothing in particular. ]

...sayin' something as selfish as to change how I feel about Vash doesn't do a damn thing for him. [ other than give vash even more heartache. if vash's feelings remained the same as they were and for only wolfwood's feelings to have changed? sure, he could have expanded it to include changing vash's feelings as well but, as wolfwood thinks more on it, the dice seem to keep falling only one way for the two of them. ] 'sides, there's no promise of that stickin'.

[ which might be the most romantic thing that wolfwood's ever said about him and vash. because in every way that things fall for the two of them, wolfwood sees himself hopeless for the humanoid typhoon. ]