I May Have Wished on Too Many Stars As a Kid
You had wished to go into your favorite fantasy worlds for as long as you could remember. In your youth, you would escape from the harsh reality of the world by devouring books at every given opportunity. This soon evolved into fantastical shows and movie series, then to fanfiction where you could insert yourself, or a projection of who you wished to be, into the full story of your choosing. Or you could imagine soft moments with your favorite characters, or maybe them mourning your death (or the reverse, even) if you were feeling especially lonesome.
That style of escape had slipped past you when you graduated high school and subsequently started college. You began to lose the time you would spend divulging in your fantasies, instead spending all of your free time working on assignments, studying if you felt up to it, and working a part-time job to save up some money to hopefully soon get your own place and finally move out of your parent's house.
You missed it, honestly. Being so carefree and devoid of responsibilities that adults have in your day and age. Not to mention the world had gone to shit, digging itself deeper into a hole that it had desperately been trying to fill for several years.
You just wanted to feel like life was worth living.
You weren't especially remarkable, as you were always better at thinking rather than creating, but you did like to splurge into your hobbies at times. It was hard not to when not doing so made you feel like an empty shell of who you once were.
It must have been a coincidence that you decided to take the freeway that night on your way home instead of your regular side streets. It must have been a coincidence that you'd forgotten to take out your bag full of extra clothes and amenities on laundry day. It must have been a coincidence that you were already used to desert heat, having lived in the southwest your whole life. It was a coincidence that you'd known how to handle a gun since you were 8, having had an outdoorsy and gun-loving father.
It was surely by coincidence that you decided to swerve out of the way of a driver going against traffic, and they swerved the same exact way you did. Surely.
But... if it was, why were you sitting in the middle of nowhere in the blink of an eye? You don't remember there being any open plots of desert in that section of the freeway. Nor a major absence of the regular desert plant life you had been so used to.
Where the fuck were you?
You started panicking, as any sane person would have if they were in your situation.
The only familiar things to you were your bag of things and the thin black rectangle that was your phone laying next to your now sweating body.
The first thing you did after taking inventory of the things around you in an attempt to calm yourself before you went into a panic attack was grab your phone and attempt to call 911. You were just in a crash for christ's sake.
One peak at the corner of the screen when the call immediately didn't go through told you something was indeed very wrong.
"No... service?"
What? Since when could you not get cell service in the middle of the city?
You felt the anxiety in your chest grow exponentially again.
"Fuck me, fuck this, fuck off, what the fuck is happening!?" you muttered to yourself, now in full-blown panic mode.
Your head swiveled around quickly trying to find any sign of life, even if you knew it may be nothing more than a heat wave mirage.
In the distance, above the vision of a heat wave across the desert floor, you could make out the pinpricks of what looked like civilization. Desperate for any kind of help you could get to figure out what the fuck happened to you, and where the fuck you were, you gathered your things and started walking.
As you walked, you noticed that this wasn't the regular hard dirt that you were used to trekking at home. These were dunes. Sandy, sandy dunes. You silently thanked yourself for deciding to wear your boots instead of your regular shoes today. They kept most of the sand from getting into your socks and possibly having the grains jab painfully into your skin.
While the heat was sweltering, you really didn't want to take off your grandfather's old army jacket for fear you might get a sunburn. You didn't even have a hat on. The only things you really had were your signature heart-shaped mirrored sunglasses and the jacket's giant hood.
You would kill for something to drink though.
While looking through your bag for any kind of survival provisions, you did find a canteen bottle that was suspiciously new to you, but it was empty.
"Yeah, nice one universe, you couldn't have filled my water?" you angrily mumbled to yourself.
You stopped for a moment after walking probably two miles in the heat to take a short rest. Your bag was starting to hurt your shoulders. Not to mention that this heat felt much stronger than what you were used to.
Looking up at the sky to gauge the position of the sun finally made the pieces fall into place.
"Ohohoho, I must be going fucking bonkers. It's the heat, I know it. It's making me have double vision, hahaha."
There was absolutely no fucking way you just correctly saw two suns hanging in the sky. Another look around the sky made you take notice of multiple moons as well.
"I am absolutely fucked."
This was a nightmare, it had to be. You would wake up from this comatose state any moment now safe in the hospital, you had to. You had to. There was no fucking shot you were sitting in the Trigun universe right now.
While it had an excellent story, and a reboot of the series had recently launched that rekindled your love for the series, you had mentally ranked this universe as one you really didn't want to go to if you had a chance. You would die. You were book smart more than you were street smart. Not to mention you had a really hard time getting a read on people most of the time.
But... if you were in Trigun, as you had deduced from the multitude of visible celestial objects, which one were you in? You really hoped it wasn't the manga, as you'd never had the chance to read the pirated, online version you obtained only a few days ago. You could settle for the '98 anime or even the new one, but much preferred the original series since it was completed and you knew a majority of the story by memory.
Although, you wouldn't mind seeing the new Vash in real life. His look had charm, and you'd actually thought about maybe putting together a casual cosplay of his fit just because. You especially enjoyed his new glasses. They seemed more fitting to him than the tiny ones in the original series.
Or maybe, there was a chance that it was an amalgamation of all the iterations of the story?
God that would be a clusterfuck to deal with if it was true. Knowing your luck with the universe right now, you wouldn't be surprised if that were the case.
But you still hoped you were wrong about that one.
You reached the town around sunset, which was a pain in the ass. You also realized that you were essentially broke as fuck. Your bag contained your wallet, but you only had real-world money in it, and even then, it wasn't a lot; just a twenty-dollar bill and whatever change you had accrued in the center pocket. But you didn't know if anyone would take it since it was very obviously not double dollars, so you had absolutely no chance of getting a room at any inn that could be here.
That brought you to your next best idea. Breaking into a stable you saw on your brief walk around town and crashing there. You would have to wait until later in the night to do so, seeing as there were a lot of people out and about right now and figuring the person who owned the stable might be working at the moment. But man you were tired.
You took to sitting on a bench in the town square and pulling out your tattered sketchbook to draw to pass the time. Why you had it, you had no idea. You thanked the universe that you at least had something you could do to occupy yourself. You sat and sketched out some of the people you saw as best as you could, but it was weird to see that it all looked so... real as opposed to the styles you'd seen on your screens.
You thought about pulling your earbuds out of your pants pocket and listening to music, but decided against it in case something happened that would require you to more than likely flee.
In all reality, you were just trying to distract yourself from the situation you found yourself in. It was only kinda working. But of course, the universe hates you and wants you to suffer.
You watched as a group of bandits rolled into town in a tattered van that clearly had seen better days. The windows were covered with cloth, and the rest of the outside was covered in paint marks, rust, and bullet holes. Especially bullet holes. They quickly went to work robbing everyone in the square.
You had no time to think about what to do because the moment you looked up at the inkling of a commotion, you were staring down the barrel of a gun.
Your eyes cautiously wandered up to look at the owner of said gun, making eye contact with them as they shouted at you to hand over your bag and any money on your person.
Thinkthinkthinkthink-
Your next thought was either incredibly stupid or incredibly brave. Probably both.
Your sketchbook and pencil clattered to the hard dirt floor as you quickly reached into your pocket. You made a gun with your hand inside your pocket and lifted it up towards your potential robber (or killer, because jeez you really can't catch a break right now).
"Drop your weapon, my guy." You cringed at the break in your voice.
The bandit let out a scoff, "I'm the one with the barrel to your face, doll. I think you're the one who should drop your weapon."
You rolled your eyes in an attempt to keep your cool and shrugged your shoulders.
"Clearly you've never heard of me, I really must have traveled far for that to happen."
This caught his attention. His thoughts began to race with what you could possibly mean. Were you another outlaw?
Oh my god, why am I such a fucking idiot. Why did I say that?
"You don't scare me!" The bandit shouted, clearly scared. Now you were an unknown.
You know more than anyone that people hate the unknown.
"Oh really? Are you sure about that?" You didn't know where the sudden confidence came from, but by god, you hoped it didn't run out any time soon. "You seem to be shaking in your boots, dude."
You stood up slowly from your place on the bench. More of the bandits had started to stare at you and their comrade. This gave the civilians a chance to run for the hills, not sparing a second glance at your form.
"What's the hold up over here, Miles?" a new voice had joined the conversation.
You spared the new bandit a glance out of your peripherals, taking note of the rather scary-looking rifle in his arms. With how outrageous his ensemble is, you figured he was probably the leader of this group.
"She's claiming to be some well-known hotshot. Not from around these parts, boss."
So you were right, yay you. Not really. That meant that there was a new problem with the finger gun in your pocket. He might not be so easily deceived.
"Is that so?" The boss looked you up and down, not seeing anything particularly remarkable about you. "What's your name, sweetheart?"
"Wouldn't you like to know, weather boy." Jesus, you really hope this doesn't get you killed.
The bossman grit his teeth in agitation at your words, before suddenly smiling like he just won the biggest prize at a carnival game.
"Oh I get it," he chuckled. "You ain't got shit. You're nobody."
Oh fuck. You figured this wouldn't last as long with bossman now involved but you really didn't think it would be fucked over this quickly.
"What makes you say that? For all you know, I could be on par with some of the most wanted criminals. If you've never heard my description then that's on you for not being more prepared to suddenly see me around these parts."
You silently eyed the bandit still pointing his pistol at you, trying to figure out if you could nab it from him and make a break for it.
You knew you could. You had accidentally joined a junior academy-type class in high school and learned a lot of defensive tactics after deciding 'fuck it, I'll stick around', including how to take a gun from someone pointing it at your face.
"You're lying. You ain't got a gun in your pocket, missy."
"You wanna find out, mister bossman?" you mustered the sweetest smile you could. Bossman and his underling eyed each other briefly before seemingly coming to a decision.
You heard the bossman chamber a round. You held back a grimace.
This is going better than I thought it would, though, I really thought they would have shot me by now.
Your eyes narrowed before you slowly and cautiously pulled your hand back out of your pocket and above your head in a surrendering fashion. A sheepish smile made its way to your face, therefore conceding that the jig was up.
"That's what I thought. Now, hand over your shit-"
You didn't spare them another moment to speak before letting your training take over. In less than 5 seconds, you now had a pistol in your hand and were pointing it at mister bossman.
"I don't think so," you said. "Leave. And return everything you took. If you don't, you can expect hell to pay from me."
When you said you failed to read people most of the time, it was really a lie. You have been conditioned to look for any sign of hostility, in any given situation, but it's not the right time to unpack all of that.
That being said though, you wasted no time shooting just inches to the side of the bossman's face when he twitched his arm to move his rifle up to level with you.
"I know you aren't ignoring me, man, that would just be mean."
You aren't gonna live another moment in this universe, are you?
"I-"
"Shut up. Do as I say, and maybe I'll spare you and your cronies."
He hesitated to follow your orders. You fired another round.
"Do as I say," you exclaimed, firing a shot into the air.
It didn't take long for them to drop everything and run with their tails between their legs back to their shitty van.
"Oh, he forgot his gun," you mused.
Several people then ran up to you, praising your bravery and offering to get you a drink.
You laughed them off and admitted that you really were a nobody and were actually broke as fuck, but you couldn't just run away or give them what they wanted. Not when you could help the people around you.
As the townsfolk began dragging you to the local bar and offering to help you get some supplies as a thank you for running off the bandits, you couldn't help but wonder.
Was it all really a coincidence? Or was this some twisted fate?
You had skills and knowledge on how to at least survive in this world, thanks to your life experiences back home and your memory of the series. But you were also extremely out of place here. Your outfit gave that much away, but also the way you talked.
You saw a flash of red tuck behind a building and out of the square as you were dragged away. You chalked it up to nothing but nerves and heat exhaustion after glancing back where you saw it.
That couldn't have been him. You don't even know where the fuck you were, or when you were for that matter. But he couldn't have been there to witness what you did.
You would rather die.
Thanks to your wit, and surprising calmness under pressure, the innkeeper let you stay the night for free. In addition to that, some of the people who witnessed the event gave you some stuff. Your holy grail was definitely the map you received, as well as a new holster for your new gun.
After a brisk shower and a few drinks at the insistence of a few men at the bar you had been dragged to, you were finally alone to decompress from the day's events.
You spent your night at the inn grieving the life you once had, the people you had known, and the fact that you probably died in that crash on the freeway that landed you here in the first place. You cried until your eyes felt raw. That night you cried yourself to sleep.
•┈••✦ ❤ ✦••┈•
New day, new you. At least, you would like to think that. You were still trying to get your bearings. You had no idea what the fuck you were supposed to do when you had awoken in the morning to find yourself still here.
If you could find literally any of the main characters of the series, you could decipher which iteration you were living in. That was going to be the most challenging thing, however, because you had no clue how to find them.
What was the name of that insurance company again? Bernet? Bingbing? That was one small detail you couldn't remember right now. But it really didn't matter anyway. If you wanted to get out of town and search for them, you needed money. Double dollars, anyway. You still didn't know if you could convert or use your current money, or if there was such a thing as an ATM to pull out what you had in your bank account.
You need a short-term job. Desperately.
Lucky for you, after yesterday's events, the universe seemed to have taken a liking to you. There was a bakery in town that had put up a help wanted sign in the front, and it didn't look like you needed any real identification to get the job.
You had your license in your wallet, of course, but you weren't too sure that it would count. Vehicles were really scarce to have in this universe, and you highly doubted the people here even had to test if they knew how to drive if they did have one.
The bell chimed on the door when you stepped inside. An older woman was behind the counter, giving you a cheery hello when you entered.
"Uh, excuse me, ma'am," you started. "I saw the sign out front and I was wondering if I could, um, interview with you for the position?"
The woman excitedly began nodding and ushered you to the door to take a seat at one of the tables out front, seeing as there wasn't much room for seating inside.
"Sarah, take over the register for me, would you?"
"Go ahead, Ma, I got it."
'Ma' began asking you rapid fire questions as soon as she had you seated at the table. You answered all of them with ease, telling her that you awoke in the middle of the desert not too far away from town and couldn't remember who you were. It wasn't exactly a lie, but you weren't telling her the truth either. You felt bad about it, but figured it would be better this way.
"Do you have a name I can call you by, sweetie?"
You smiled, "Call me (Y/n), it's what was written on this card in my bag when I woke up."
Goddamn me, I shouldn't have said that, you thought when she asked to see the card. You hesitantly fished it out of your wallet and showed her.
"Well, that's certainly your face on there, but I don't recognize this form of identification. You must be a long way from home, sweetie," Ma said solemnly.
"I figured as much, but this was the first place I saw, and thought I might be able to find some help."
Ma smiled, offering her apologies that she couldn't be of more help. You shrugged it off. You knew you weren't going to be able to go home anyway. It was not only light years away, but it was likely in an alternate universe, or worse, farther in the past of this universe.
You didn't know what brought you here, but you sure hoped you could find a way back at some point. As much as you loved Trigun, this was a hellish planet at worst and sketchy at best.
"Well, I have one final question for you."
"Hm?
"How soon can you start?"
You beamed, "How soon will you let me?"