#from the Plant Metal he'd shoved into his brain from before he was a teen

[fatedstrands]

Legato, what is a regret you wish you could undo?

The question from the being catches him off guard, having welcomed his Strands in for the evening sermon in the city they'd paused in, seeing each out with a warmth reserved only for them. The last to leave lingered, clearly asking from a place of pain themselves. At least, that is how the witch had seen it.

He motions for them to join him at a pew of the church, slowly settling on the smooth polished wood. The words still mulled about in his mind, mingling with memories as he touched his arm, where a small human skull rest, cut to fit perfectly on his limb.

"Well..."

Where did he even begin? What of his many failures would he undo? What would he give anything to fix, even if it cost him everything to do it?

He thought of the child, as illness and injury took their life, their pleas to travel, their begging, the soft voice pleading;

You promised I'd see the world when I was older. Please, never let me cease walking.

It was the hardest final plea he'd taken on, when they'd begged to go with him, how he'd carefully cleaned their skull, carved the front plate off and strengthened it with the aid of the God. How that youth still rests with him every day on his arm, a reminder of mortality and life after death.

Lips parted, as if to speak of this memory only for teeth to sink into his flesh as another struck him with a violent ferocity he doubled over. The pain so cruel, so foul like a beast tearing his stomach open to leave his insides bare to the world to rot away.

It was his own failure, as it always was. He'd been caught in the crossfire of pantheons warring, of Gods versus a Goddess with a violent hatred of all things homo sapien.

He'd thrown the wolf from the target of fire, eyes flashing up as pure energy roared like a dragon to his body. He couldn't move fast enough, the Punisher and it's handler having taken all his momentum, he was stuck, drained from his own fight. His threads writhing in his brain matter as blood slipped from his ears, his nose and stained even his teeth as he bared them.

A moment felt like an eternity, the blackened purple energy charging through the air, he found himself welcoming it. His life was over, but his last act was saving a dear friend, giving a chance to those around to make their move. Lips had curved, a serene smile as heat bloomed ever closer, eyes slipping shut with a soft prayer;

Let my death be the linchpin in this fight.

But Fate was a cruel Mistress to the living.

Arms found his form, ready for the end of life, cradling him close as feathers wrapped around his kneeling shape, cocooning him and protecting him from the sudden burst of plasma from beyond. Eyes snapped open, head jolting up to lock teal with gold, confusion turning to horror as he watched blond rapidly bleed black.

Thank you. For showing me that no matter what happens... Humanity has hope.

Words stained his soul, marred his flesh with vibrant cursive and warm geraniums across his heart, gouging his pulse as the memory consumed him now, the world falling away from his awareness.

He remembered the way he'd cried out, begging the other to stop, that he wasn't worth the Angel's life. The vivid memory brushed his cheek, wiping the bloodied tears that had formed, falling as he watched the Divine give everything for him.

Never change, Legato.

Angel burned away and when the energy finally ceased, the wretched scream of the horrid Goddess was nothing on the agonizing silence that soft smile left as his body turned to ash right around the human. It held nothing on the emptiness in his mind that formed as the other's consciousness faded.

It was nothing on the agony in his very soul.

Nor the burn of something powerful threading through his veins, blue lights burning over his plant scars he'd carved into flesh, only to turn a vibrant purple, the shapes morphing into something different, something new.

It held nothing to the rage as he stood, despite the blood, despite the agony of overexertion, despite it all, he stood against the Goddess, with kin alike strewn around in weakened but equally enraged states, converging with a violence unseen.

He came to the present once more, lights burning under his clothes, hidden barely by their weave, hands shaking as tears plipped against the ground whilst his gaze had been cast down between his ankles.

"I lost a... Dear friend because of my own weakness... If I could undo one thing... It'd be letting Him stand in the way of my own demise."

Without you... Where will we go? Where will we turn?

His head snaps up as he feels the faintest brush along his forehead, like a tender kiss of the angel.

To the stars and forward, Legato. Always forward.

That same serene smile found his lips, eyes falling shut in the moment as he let the Strand leave on their own terms.

"I suppose I never truly lost Him... For He will always light our way."

Eyes looked upon the statue, the angel depicted before him as he does in every Strand operated Temple. Memorialized in his sacrifice for the hope of Humanity and Plant alike;

Vash the Stampede.

[fatedstrands]

Legato and His Status as a Hybrid

Beneath the cut will be more information on how my Legato is a half plant and how he deals with the new change awakened in him upon the death of the Gold Light/Star (Vash).

Now, in the original incorrect translation of the manga Legato effectively states that he got his powers by shoving metal into his brain as a youth. But, it didn't make sense to me how that would give him powers.

What if they were 'Plant Metal'. Thin nano strands pulled from a living Plant's body, stained a glowing blue from their blood. That the Plants they'd come from are still connected.

He'd been taken from his mother at 6, watching her die as he's pulled away. He'd been abused and injected with many things, their precious exotic toy was often a brat and causing problems to make sure they focused on him and not the others in their care. So many of the strange things they've stolen they tested on Legato to see if it would be fun for them.

Around 14 he comes across the canister the traders had gotten and heard the siren of the angels. He'd heard them calling to him, not quite understanding beyond they wanted to be apart of him. Seeing as he felt them in his mind he took it to mean 'put us in there'. As Dependents don't speak English he, as a teen, made guesses.

16 is when Tesla destroys the city he's in and the twins find him in the aftermath of the fight, having protected his sisters with the power the angels gave him. Using the threads he has a limit, too far and he'll bleed from the ears, nose and even the eyes if he's pushed to his very limit. He can heal himself but it's exhausting and his body cuts him off before he can die to his power overuse. To combat this he's learnt hand to hand and uses his censor as a bludgeoning weapon.

At nearly 35, the final stand of the Gold Star took place. In this moment, Vash had known the change that had been taking place over the last decades inside the once human. The Plant DNA leeching into his brain, into the core of his being, bleeding into his veins and changing him.

He was a Dependent now. Not born into it, but changed into it. And so, with his final run rushing in on him, his final moments he presses that side of Legato, feels him begging not to leave and guides the man to initiate a merge.

Vash's last run was aborted, but with the merge the Plant within Legato was awoken, brought to the surface and ignited. He wasn't human, he wasn't Plant, he was something new.

Since then, he's gained so much more, a violent roll that's tied to his emotions, forcing him to be restrained, to lock it all down and tie himself up lest he have an Event.

During such an Event his Plant attributes come out, ripping his skin open and leaving him wounded when they recede. He's not in control, and because of this the Plant half wounds him, scorches him and tries to talk, to speak and resonate but it drive him to brinks of madness he tries to deal with inside the Altar room, a safe place he should be isolated in, if he manages to remember to lock the door.

Nai had also perished, before his final run he held Legato, initiating another merge so the twins reside within him, guardians that try to aid in his control of the other half, but there's not much they can do being barely imprints of their living consciousness, there but barely more than phantom touches and faint words when he's on the brink of an Event or within one.

Now nearly 40 he hardly looks his age, resigning himself to the probability he has the lifespan of a Plant he vows to bring Eden to the planet, that his Strands of Fate, a project from his youth, the City of Eden a project they'd started together in his early twenties, he believes he was chosen by the angels, by the brothers to be humanity's final hope. Should Telsa return a third time, he will be waiting. To end her for good.

Or die trying.

[fatedstrands]

Legato Headcannons

I Need to discuss my boy so you all have an idea of what my boy is like. Under Read More for your sake (if it works). A NSFW/Triggering one will come soon.

Appearance wise his physique is more like Tristamp but his hair and skin are that of 98 anime and his clothes is a mesh of the two (art to come).

He is often HEAVILY Obsessive Compulsive. Everything has its place, and if you move it, even slightly, he'll lose it. Trauma is a fickle thing.

Legato often has horrible nightmares and hallucinations, especially if he overextends his powers. Being the threads of metal he'd shoved into his own brain, they mess with his mind and can often times create moments of psychosis. He often treats this with prayer and thumbing at his 'rosary' as it's one of the few things to snap him out, alongside his hand crafted tome or pain.

His rosary isn't exactly what one would expect to be a 'catholic rosary'. The metal is woven like a braided chain between each carved 'bead'. The pendant isn't a cross, but rather the tree of life wrapped in an downward turned crescent moon, from the base of the tree is a tangled mass of metal holding a fang from a beast. Deer-like antlers weave up from the moon before falling to the chain and bead.

His tome cover has meticulously detailed Plant lines that match the face of His Lord marred into the leather with his own blood before it was properly cured and sealed.

This being said he's also meticulously carved across his body the perfect imagery of the Plant lines he's witnessed bar his face, over the scars on his once virgin skin so that he can find beauty in the mangled flesh of his horrid past instead.

He has mercy, can be pushed into being kind even, but like a pendulum he can swing right back into violence. He has patience and he has compassion but it is incredibly limited.

Whilst he is loyal to Nai to a fault, he will not hesitate to force the man to stop what he's doing if it will cause the Plant harm to himself. He has these gifts for a reason, and he believes it's to protect his God and enact His will.

He is incredibly gluttonous. Food is a comfort after starving most of his youth. So he eats, often, like every meal, snack and treat is his very last. Despite this, he can sometimes, when he believe to be alone or finds a favored taste, become vocal in his approval. Don't comment on that if you want to live.

He has learnt many skills over his life since being given life anew in his pre teen years by Knives, such as cooking, sewing, wood carving, sculpting, linguistics and whittling. But his three precious hobbies are perhaps charcoal painting, music (mostly the violin with an adoration for the piano) and reading (mostly botany books).

Pain for him is both a punishment and a blessing. If he feels he's done wrong and there is not an equal exchange, he will suffer in place of who he feels was meant to (Usually involving his Strands, more on the Strands thread to come)