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usagiarchive · 1 year ago

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as long as you love me — 03 — SEEDS Ship 06

vash the stampede (tristamp) x f!reader

"as long as you love me, we could be starving, we could be homeless, we could be broke,"

⌒⊹˚୨୧ prev / masterlist / next / wattpad / ao3 ୨୧˚⊹⌒

⌒⊹˚୨୧ INTRODUCTION: 03 — SEEDS Ship 06 WORDCOUNT: 3.5k words CHAPTER SUMMARY: the very first mission.

You knew the desert was hot, but you didn’t actually think it would be this hot!

It was only the first few hours into your amazing new journey and already, you were starting to dread it. Vash was a few steps in front of you riding his own Thoma, you were riding your own.

“What is that?!” you asked, perturbed, seeing the creature in front of you, “What, a Thoma?” Vash had answered as he loaded his and your stuff on the creatures.

“That’s what those dodo-looking lizard things are called?” you asked again and the blond only laughed at your question.

Now, it seemed funny to you that Vash was ahead of you, considering only a few hours ago, you were the one most excited about this.

“I’ll be fine Xanther, stop worrying!” you remembered telling your friends when they told you you could still back out of it and you swatting their hands away as they doted on you like a child.

In a way, you were their child, even back at the academy. You weren’t incapable, yes, but you found that your friends often did things for you, even something as simple as opening your water bottle for you or feeding you spoons of food while you studied.

They always took care of you…

Luida told you events of what happened while you were asleep, too. She told you how Xanther and Ynez blamed themselves for what happened, “I should’ve dragged her to her room,” was what Ynez said, and “I never should’ve left her alone,” was Xanther’s.

It was neither their fault. They both knew that.

But human emotion was a terribly amazing poison to the rational mind. And no one can escape it.

“The two were on a long slump for a long while,” Luida had said, “Ynez requested to be frozen until you were awake, but Brad and I disapproved,” her lips pursing, “It always hurt me when we saw the look in her eyes after every annual PLANT check-up, the way she always bolts to the medbay and comes back looking so empty,”

Your heart felt tight against your chest as Luida continued to tell you stories of how Xanther and Ynez and the crew you were close with coped with your sudden disappearance.

The real reason Xanther grew out his hair, the way Ethan always visits you even though he really doesn’t like the antiseptic smell of the medbay just to always leave flowers on your side table, the way Niña always made sure to move your body on time, never missing her rounds, even when she got sick, which led her to be frozen for some time until she passed.

(a/n: no, they did not kill Niña with the cryo chamber, she died because her body couldn’t handle the stress of everything, remember Niña was a nurse so she was the one who took care of all the survivors Brad and Luida found, she overworked herself to the point of getting sick and burning out, and then she worried about not being able to do her job right and possibly failing as a nurse, so her body gave out and she requested to be frozen to give her body time to rest, a sub taking her place until the next annual PLANT checkup, unfortunately, her body did not survive during it, rip Niña.)

“Ynez may not show it, but I knew she was the one who took it the hardest, she always strived to be the one who does the most, I think she did it so you wouldn’t worry about your own work when you came back,”

After Luida left, you found your eyes stinging, you couldn’t breathe properly and you kept taking short gasps of breath as you willed your voice not to make a sound.

You know you shouldn’t cry over spilled milk, but you can’t help it.

Human emotion is a terribly amazing poison to the rational mind. And no one can escape it. Not even you.

You willed yourself to be stronger, to do more, to be more, so that all of Ynez’s efforts won’t go in vain, so that Xanther wouldn’t have to constantly worry over you anymore, so that Luida and Brad and all of the crew members you loved wouldn’t have to think of caring for a single person like you and put their own wellbeings aside.

So you can make your parents proud.

The stinging of your eyes reminded you of where you are, right, I’m in the desert, I shouldn’t cry, it’s a waste of body fluids and water, I could get dehydrated, you thought as you shook your head and wiped your eyes with the sleeves of your jacket.

You then notice Vash looking back at you and you tilted your head, “Is something wrong, Vash?” you asked as you caught up with him, the two of you now riding your Thomas side-by-side.

He looked like he was going to say as he opened his mouth, but then he shook his head, “No, it’s nothing,”

Neither of you bothered to fill the growing uncomfortable silence. Only the wind and trudging of the Thoma’s hooves against the hot sand were heard.

This was the first time it had been like this with Vash, he was usually very chatty, talking about anything and everything, this was the first time he had been so pensive and quiet, you wonder if you’d done something wrong.

You decided that maybe he was just scared of what was out here, maybe he, too, was unsure.

But deep down, something was telling you that wasn’t it.

Shrugging the thoughts away, you decided to give him a few hours or so to sort things out maybe he was also going through some internal conflict just like you were, earlier. But when three hours have passed and you didn’t get even a single word out of him, you decided to poke the bee’s hive.

You sped your own Thoma up and blocked his, he looked surprised, confused, even, “Hey, what are you do-”

“What’s wrong?”

“Huh?”

“Don’t play coy with me, Vash, you’ve been quiet for hours, you keep looking over your shoulder to look at me, and every time you do, there’s this look on your face I can’t quite explain! You keep opening your mouth to say something, but you never do, so now I’m asking you, what’s wrong?” you finished with a huff.

The blond looked down, fisting the Thoma’s reigns in his hands as he pursed his lips.

“It’s nothing…”

You groaned, “Oh, come on, Vash! If it’s bothering you this much, tell me! You can’t ask me to come with you on a potentially life-threatening mission and not communicate with me when you think something is wrong! Come on, where’s the guy who talked about everything with me back on the ship?”

He stayed silent, you didn’t know if he was thinking of an answer to your question or if he was just plain out ignoring it.

Wait-

“Is it me?” you asked quietly, worry seeping into the cracks of your voice.

Quickly, Vash moved his arms a lot, “No! No! It’s not bad- I mean, it is about you, but it isn’t anything bad! I just- I think it’s unfair for you because you have your friends to come home to, and they obviously don’t want you to leave and I made you come with me on this stupid mission-” he rambled.

You were about to cut him off and answer about how 1. It wasn’t unfair to you because you agreed, 2. He also has friends to come home to on the ship, Luida and Brad are practically his parents, too, and 3. This mission wasn’t stupid.

But none of that happened anyway when you heard a ringing noise in your ear, it made your head hurt with how loud it was, it felt like whatever was ringing was physically inside your ears, it made you clutch your head and shut your eyes to try and alleviate the pain.

“…. we’re only a … miles away from… -me, … -ould… go back… sure your… -iss you, … -eally, i’m so… -ryy… never…thought… okay… don’t have to… really,”

You could still hear Vash rambling but it seemed so far away, the ringing sound screaming into your eardrums, you felt like you were gonna go deaf.

When it quieted down a bit, you opened your eyes only to find Vash’s face in disarray, looking somewhere at the sea of sand before you.

“Are you okay, Vash? What’s wrong?” you found yourself asking him even though your head was still hurting.

Slowly, he tore away his gaze from the sand and looked at you.

“It’s the PLANT, I can hear it, and it’s in danger,”

The two of you raced to where the PLANT was or where Vash was leading the two of you, the second he told you what was wrong, he kept mumbling that he got to go and went running off, looking as if he was in pain.

You followed suit, not wanting to be left alone in the sweltering desert, but also not wanting to leave Vash alone.

The Thoma thumped against the sand for a quarter of an hour before you saw something in the distance, and at that point, the ringing got louder. You sucked in a breath at the pain. It was like you got shot in the head with how intense the pain got.

As you got even closer, you could finally see what was written on the outside of the ship, SEEDS 06. It was a ship’s PLANT, you realized.

“Vash!” you yelled, and he looked back, his Thoma still going as fast as it could, you urged yours to catch up to his and it did, the two of you squinting so that none of the sand particles would get into your eyes.

“It’s the PLANT!” he yelled as you both got closer to the ship, gradually slowing down to not crash into the docked ship.

Thankfully, the stationed guards already saw the two of you from afar and were ready to meet you at the ramp. They were going to apprehend both of you at first (understandably, because they were uninvited guests tbh), but proceeded to give you access to the ship once they saw yours and Vash’s jackets.

The reflective fabric of the patches on your right sleeves, one that showed that both of you were from a SEEDS ship, too.

“I’m a Military PLANT Engineer,” you explained, “So is he,” you jabbed a finger in Vash’s direction as he smiled nervously when the guards asked what you were here for.

They let you both in and you wanted to lay on the cold floor of the ship, the temperature helping alleviate your headache, even though the ringing became more amplified.

Vash bolted, though, so you followed after him once more, knowing wherever he’ll go, that’s where the PLANT’ll be. He took multiple turns, left, right, right, left, right. And at the end of it all, you found Ship 06’s PLANT deck.

It had been exactly like your experience, all the engineers gathered around, not knowing what to do, everyone murmuring and talking about what to do amongst themselves as the lights glowed red over the PLANT.

Vash got over his panting quickly and was shoving people out of the way to get to the PLANT console when he was stopped.

“Hey, who are you and how did you get into the ship?” A man asked, hand on Vash’s chest to prevent him from coming any closer.

You quickly made your way to the front, snatching your ID out of your shirt and showing it to the man.

“I’m Y/n L/n from Ship 03, Military PLANT Engineer, this is Vash, he’s also a PLANT Engineer, we’ve come to assist this ship’s PLANT,”

The man took your ID and his eyes widened, hand on Vash’s chest loosening and falling to his side, “You’re L/n? The kid who fell into the PLANT tank?” he asked and whispers sprouted once more around the PLANT deck.

It was the same scenario all over again and it made your head throb even more, the ringing switched to your left ear only now and it was incessant.

You nodded and he held his hand out, “Welcome to Ship 06, I’m Gerard Lim, Doctor L/n, we are grateful for you and Doctor Vash’s assistance, how may we help?”

Vash wanted to correct the man but you shook your head at him and he nodded, “Let Vash have access to the console, hand me the reports from the last five annual reports and the last three weekly reports on the PLANT’s biodata,”

The PLANT engineers stepped aside to let Vash do his job and you stepped to the console as you reviewed the reports given to you. You winced as another wave of pulsing in your head and a loud shrill ringing noise passed through you.

There was definitely something wrong with you. No one else in the room seemed to notice it or hear it, too.

You looked up for a moment when the room erupted into gasps and you saw the unfurled PLANT coming closer to the glass where Vash has his forehead pressed with his eyes closed.

Your knees weaken and you grip the handrail, keeping yourself upright as you shut your eyes again, gripping the files in your hand to make sure they don’t fall, as you wait for the ringing to calm down.

When it did, you open your eyes to see Vash running to you, “It’s not her, it’s the tank,” he said as soon as he was close enough that only the two of you can hear, you look back and the PLANT is already furling around itself, returning to its usual form.

You nod at him, “Let’s get to work, then,” and he looks to the side as he sheepishly rubs his neck, “I’m, tank management isn’t my specialty,” he admitted and you could only nod, surprised.

“Ah, well, I’ll get to work, then,” you smiled, but you could feel it forming into a slight wince, one that Vash caught on to.

“Hey, you, alright?” he asked, very concerned, and you could only nod, this was turning into a migraine and you were about to puke your guts out any minute now.

“I’m fine, just a migraine,” you told him and you swear if he had ears it would’ve already been flat against his head.

You waved him off, “I’ll be fine, Vash, really, it’ll be quick fixing the tank,”

It was not ‘quick’ fixing the tank.

It took a total of more than two hours to return the PLANT to its normal state. Apparently, the programming and wiring of the tank was wrong and you spent the better first hour and a half of it trying to find the error, God, you hated coding.

The mistake in question was a mismatched and misplaced code in the flow of tank fluid going in and out of the tank, a mistake on the ship’s engineers’ part. You had to reprogram it and fix the wiring on the tank.

It was times like these when you missed your team, it seemed like on Ship 06, there was a bit of chaos and no one knew how to help, all of them in a panic.

Throughout the whole process, you felt like you were going to pass out any second, but you couldn’t, you couldn’t let yourself not finish the job.

Vash watched you as you worked the whole time, he was constantly asking if you were okay, to which you always replied ‘I’m fine, Vash,’, not that he was convinced, but he did try to help and was learning only from watching you.

When the light finally switched back to their blue color, the blond thanked you profusely and you shook him off, telling him it was your job and it was the right thing to do.

“I owe you two favors now!” he insisted and you could only laugh at him.

The engineers of the ship thank you and again, you brush them off, saying it was nothing. “I now see why you graduated Valedictorian from your class!” one of them said and you could only smile sheepishly.

That’s when you notice the ringing was gone and so was your migraine.

Weird, you thought.

“Excuse me, can I see your ship’s doctor?” you asked one of the women, Nancy, whom you’ve befriended just minutes ago.

“Oh, of course! I’ll come with,” she said and led the way.

A hand grabbed yours.

Vash.

“Where are you going?”

“Medbay,”

“Are you okay?”

You nodded, “I am, Vash, I just want to see the doctor for some pain relievers, maybe even a CT scan, now that I think about it,”

Vash put a hand on your back and started walking, “I’ll come with,”

“I did promise Doctor Trinh and Doctor Durand, after all,”

The CT scan turned out okay, so did all your tests, you were perfectly normal. The doctor had guessed that maybe it was some kind of response to the temperature or that your body was adjusting and this was only a side effect, something that worried Vash, but the doctor assured him that it was perfectly normal for humans.

He seemed less stressed after that.

The ship offered the two of you sleeping chambers for the night, to which you both gratefully accepted. Both of you set to leave the morning after, the post-success excitement and joy hitting only now.

“Of course! We can’t let our saviors leave without a good night’s rest, especially you, Doctor L/n! I mean, excuse my language, but holy shit! Getting to meet someone like you? One of the best PLANT engineers? This is an incredible dream!” A young woman, Claudine, fawned over you.

You could only blush, “Thanks, it’s nothing,” you brushed off again.

She left shortly, a very energetic person, you noted.

And then, it was just you and Vash.

The two of you sat in the cafeteria, eating your meals, when he broke the silence, “Sooo… what’s this about being the best?” he started.

You tilted your head, “Huh?”

“You know!” he motioned to you, “I’ve been hearing it since we got on the PLANT deck, everyone was whispering about you! Not that they were good at whispering though,” he laughed a little at the end.

“Ah, that’s nothing,” you shrugged and swallowed your water down.

“Nothing? But you’re all everyone talks about, come onnn, I wanna know the context!” he whined and you laughed again.

“I’ll tell you when you’re older,” you snickered behind your bowl of soup and he pouted and pointed a finger at you, “Hey, I’m older than you!”

An eyebrow raised at his claim, “Excuse you? I’m older than you, kiddo, you may look all grown up, but you’re quite literally only in your early 60’s,” you slapped his finger away, “I, on the other hand, while I may look like someone in her mid-20’s, I am literally 80 years old,”

“So that,” you pointed your spoon at him, “makes me older than you by 20-ish years, give or take,” you concluded.

The pout he had grew even bigger, it was adorable, really. “Aw, man, I can’t fight you on this, you’re too smart for me,” he sulked.

You flicked a rice grain at him, “Cheer up, pretty boy, at least you’ll live far longer, I’m only human after all,” you shrugged and he whined, his ears red.

“First of all don’t call me that! It makes me feel tingly, stop it!” He pointed a finger, again, “And second, don’t remind me how short human life is! I’m really gonna cry,”

You snorted at his reaction, “First of all, it’s rude to point fingers,” you slapped his hand away, again, “And second, why not accept reality, it’s not like we can change something inevitable,”

The two of you fell into silence after that, but a comfortable silence, the type where you know Vash is thinking about what you just said. You continued to finish your food as you waited for him to pick up the conversation again.

Vash had already finished his food, so he was just waiting for you.

When you had drank the last of your water and put your utensils back onto the tray neatly, Vash took both your trays and stood up, you do the same as you both walked to the dish deposit.

The blond still hasn’t replied but it wasn’t uncomfortable anymore, and the two of you walked back to the designated room given to you by the ship’s captain, MJ, in complete silence and you strangely didn’t feel an ounce of worry.

When you were about to close the door to your room, Vash spoke up.

“Reality is something we can’t change,” you turned to him as he spoke, “And I know we have to accept it whether we like it or not, but it doesn’t mean that I can’t ignore it for even just a moment,”

You could only smile at him and his words. You know the feeling. Knowing that everyone will leave someday, even if it isn’t by death, is a hard pill to swallow, but it is the truth.

“Goodnight, Vash,” you said softly.

He met your eyes with a sad smile.

“Goodnight, Doctor L/n,”

usagi's note: thank you for waiting on this chapter! took me a while to post because i had to study for our 2 hour tests TT, all i hope is i pass, honestly... anyway, enjoy reading!! in the part where vash is talking and it comes out in '-ere' its because the ringing overtakes and is very loud to the point where reader can't make much sense of what he's saying. that's all! see you next week!

taglist is open! send an ask or just comment below!

@onixsn @sharkalina666

©usagiarchive 2023. do not copy or paraphrase, repost to other platforms, and translate without permission, thank you.

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usagiarchive · 1 year ago

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as long as you love me — 02 — a favor for a favor

vash the stampede (tristamp) x f!reader

"as long as you love me, we could be starving, we could be homeless, we could be broke,"

⌒⊹˚୨୧ prev / masterlist / next / wattpad / ao3 ୨୧˚⊹⌒

⌒⊹˚୨୧ INTRODUCTION: 02 — a favor for a favor WORDCOUNT: 3.3k words CHAPTER SUMMARY: catching up in the current time.

2507, 3:14 PM.

Your eyebrows were knitted together as you tried to comprehend the information given to you just mere seconds ago. You looked at Ynez and all she could do was give you a sad smile.

“So... what you’re saying is… I’ve been asleep? This whole time?” you asked in confusion.

Luida nodded, “Yes, you’ve been in what we call a PLANT-induced coma for 60 years,” she told you.

“What about the PLANT? Is she okay?” you asked again, more questions forming in your mind. “Yes, the PLANT is okay, the same night you fell into the tank, Vash healed her,”

And so even more questions formed.

“Vash? Who is Vash? How did he heal the PLANT? Is he a PLANT Engineer?”

“Woah, slow down, girl, all that thinking might make your brain pop,” Ynez responded with a chuckle, “Vash is an Independent our team saved shortly after The Fall, he wasn’t made known to anyone yet because we weren’t sure how our ship would treat him,” Luida supplied.

“But after he healed the PLANT, he officially became a part of SEEDS 03, and we awarded him the role of being a PLANT engineer, too, since he can somehow communicate with his sisters,”

The door then opened and the first thing you saw was Xanther, he ran to your side and hugged you real tight, you rested your chin on his shoulder as you hugged him back, he had filled out while you were asleep, and his hair was longer.

That’s when you noticed a certain blonde in a red jacket (not that he was unnoticeable, red isn’t exactly a subtle color, you know?), he stared with warmth in his eyes and a soft smile on his face as he watched your interaction with Xanther.

When said person pulled away, that’s when you asked another question.

“So, who’s that?” you said as you pointed to the guy in the doorway.

“Oh, Vash!” Ynez greeted as she went to embrace him, “We were just talking about you,” she said which made Xanther laugh.

“So that’s why he was sneezing a whole lot,” he said, “Vash, come in here!”

Vash tentatively stepped into the room, he looked like he didn’t know if he was supposed to be there or not, he felt like he was intruding on such an intimate, private moment between you all.

He awkwardly walked beside Xanther who was also sitting on your bed, “Hi, I’m Vash,” he said and looked down, playing with his fingers which you noticed was different, he had a prosthetic arm on his right.

You smiled warmly and took his hands in yours, “Hello, Vash, I’m (Name), thank you for healing the PLANT,” you told him.

A light blush formed on the tip of Vash’s ears as he stuttered out what sounded like a “it was nothing,” but also a, “no, thank you!”. It was weird but you could only chuckle at the sight.

The blond excused himself shortly, saying something about meeting Brad and PLANTs.

As soon as the door of the medbay closed, Xanther shook his head at you and sighed, “You really haven’t changed, even when you just woke up from a coma, you’re still such a charmer,”

“What?! I’ve barely talked to the guy!?” you defended, very offended.

You heard Ynez stifle a laugh and you threw your pillow at her along with a nasty look and she dodged the pillow and laughed harder. Luida could only smile fondly (old lady things) at the three of you.

“No, because seriously, I am willing to bet three weeks' worth of yogurt that somehow you two will have sex or whatever,” Ynez claimed and your face turned red, “What!? No, Ynez, no! I do not mess around that much and not just with anybody you know!”

Xanther coughed, “That’s not what third-year records say,”

“I hate you both,” you said as you buried your face into your hands.

Luida then chuckled, “Alright, that’s enough you two, (Name), eat up and meet Harvey in Physical Therapy at 9 AM tomorrow,”

The two then gave you hugs and told you they’ll accompany you there tomorrow and you thanked them with a kiss on the cheek. (a/n: completely platonic, i’m serious, there will not be any love triangles here)

As you now lay in your bed alone, you tried to process all your thoughts, everything you’ve been told in the last almost two hours, the fact that you’ve slept for 60 years, and your friends that were now physically older than you.

What happened that night at the tank only formed more questions for you, why did the PLANT do that? What actually happened when you pressed your forehead to hers? Why was she trying to envelop you with her petals? What was she trying to do? And more importantly, what did she do to you that made your body fall into a coma?

You tried to organize your thoughts but it only made your head ache. You sighed and closed your eyes, a lot of things happened and you could no longer change them, but one thing was for sure.

It was now the year 2507 and you had a lot of catching up on work to do.

The next few weeks were uneventful, to say the least, everyday Ynez and Xanther would come to get you, assist you to the physical therapy room, and then eat lunch with you as you all caught up with each other to make up for the past few years.

“We weren’t actually like, awake the whole time you know? Like mentally I’m abouuut… in my mid-thirties? Or maybe my early forties,” Ynez told you in between chewing bites of her lunch.

“Huh, makes sense,” you said as you pointed your spoon, “But you know what doesn’t? That!” you pointed your spoon at Xanther’s hair, “like whatever happened to chic and classy, why is your hair so long now?”

The guy could only laugh, it was true. Xanther’s hair had grown from his neck to his shoulders (think Miyamura from Horimiya) and usually wore it in a half-bun. “I guess after a while, the wanting to charming thing becomes old,”

You three all laughed, and you smiled fondly. You had missed them, sure they were practically a bit different from the friends you knew back then, but they were still your friends.

The routine continued, sometimes Ynez couldn’t go because she had something to do, or sometimes Xanther had to do extra work on the PLANTs, but you’ve always had at least one of them by your side.

While you were preparing for the physical therapy scheduled that day, your door suddenly opened, you knew it was one of your friends so you already started chatting away.

“Hey, hold on, lemme just brush my hair,” you said, back still turned towards the door as you reached for your brush on the side table, “I wonder what they’re serving for lunch today- Vash?”

And there he stood in the doorway once again.

“H-hey, Xanther said Ynez wouldn’t be available and he was supposed to take you today, but then he got caught up in some new work assigned to him so he told me to accompany you instead,” he said sheepishly.

You didn’t expect that the day they would both be absent because they were caught up in their own work, they’d send a replacement.

“Oh, no, no it’s okay, Vash, I can get there on my own, really, Ynez and Xanther accompanying me was just us catching up,” you waved him off, “It’s okay, I’m sure you’re busy with your own work,”

His hands flailed around in protest, “No! No! I’m not busy! I want to come with you!” he said and you smiled a little.

“Okay, well then, shall we?” you said, holding out your hand and he suddenly stood up straight and saluted, “Yes, ma’am!”

Much to your surprise, you and Vash clicked, he was a pretty funny guy and he was also very caring, he made sure you were always holding onto him when you guys walked even though you assured him that you could walk fine on your own and that “all of this is just for protocol, anyway,”.

He only waved you off and insisted because it was his “duty”. You didn’t protest further.

He was very persistent, that, you figured out quickly, especially when he refused to call you by your name because “You have more experience than I do, I didn’t go to any academy to learn, it would be disrespectful to you and your achievements and efforts to not call you 'Doctor L/n'!” his words, not yours.

The two of you had lunch together as when you checked in with Ynez and Xanther they were both busy, so Vash took it upon himself to accompany you to lunch, too.

“Hey, I just remembered, I never asked you how you healed the PLANT,” you brought up once you were both sat down in the cafeteria with your trays of food.

The blond perked up, “Oh, um, about that,” he rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous habit, you noticed, “I’m actually a, uh, an Independent,” he murmured.

“Oh, yeah, I already knew that, actually,” you said and waited for him to continue.

“Wait, you do?”

“Yup, Ynez or I think Luida? Was the one who told me,” You took a bite of your food.

Vash looked pensive for a moment before nodding slowly, “A-anyway, I’m not really like other PLANTs, I don’t produce anything, but that night at the PLANT deck was the first time it happened,”

“I don’t actually know what happened the first time, it was just that I could, hear? Yeah, I could hear them and all I knew was that I needed to get to the PLANT,”

His eyes then lit up like he had sort of realization, “Oh, and the PLANT, I remember now, she said something about you,”

“She did? How?”

“I can talk to my sisters,” he said, “She said something about thank you for trying and that she gave you a gift, and that she was sorry you fell into the tank,”

You stared in awe, “Wow,” you couldn’t believe it, Vash could very well be the break every PLANT Engineer was looking for, “do you know what kind of gift she gave me?”

He shook his head, “Sadly, no, or maybe she did, I can’t really remember, I’m sorry,”

You gave him a smile, “It’s okay, I was just curious, that’s all, don’t worry about it,” He smiled back, and you two resumed talking about whatever topics he opened.

As he was walking you back to your room, you remembered something again, “The favor!” you said out loud with a gasp.

Vash looked at you incredulously, “The favor?” he repeated, and you nodded, “Yes, the favor, I still need to pay you back for saving the PLANT, also for today,” you explained.

“Ah, no, it’s okay, really!” he shook his head, “It was nothing!”

You shook your head, too, “No! I want to pay you back, I can’t just not thank you back, y’know?”

The two of you had a slight staring contest before he caved in.

“Fine, I’ve been thinking of this for a while and Luida and Brad did already give me permission, although I do need to get you permission, too, now,” he trailed off and deep in his thoughts.

“Permission for what, Vash?” you asked, curious as to what he was talking about.

“Doctor L/n, our jobs as PLANT engineers are to save PLANTs, right?” you nodded, “Well, I brought up the idea of venturing out of the ship to save other ship’s PLANTs or the new civilization’s PLANTs, rather,”

You only nodded, Xanther had told you that humanity’s persistence to adapt and evolve proved true once more as within the past 60 years, humans have built cities and towns once more to settle into the new planet called Gunsmoke or No Man’s Land as it was dubbed.

“As much as I do want to do this alone, I can’t think of anything else you could help me with,” he said seriously.

And then he went back to normal, “I- I mean, that is if you want to! I can see now that it was very rude of me to just ask you such a big favor when-”

“I’ll do it,”

“I know you just woke up from your PLANT-induced coma, wait, what?”

You laughed at him, “I said, I’ll do it, Vash,”

His face lit up, “Really?! But I really think it’s a bit too much for just a simple favor, hm… how about a favor for a favor?”

Your head tilted, “A favor for a favor?”

“Yes, you’re doing this because you said you owe me, even though you really don’t,” you give him a look and he smiles nervously as if to say ‘sorry,’ “And you doing this with me seems like too big of a favor for the favor you’re paying back, so,” he held his hand out.

“In favor of you paying back your favor to me, and me asking for this adventure that doesn’t equal to the favor you’re paying back, I therefore owe you, Doctor L/n, a favor,” he announced and you quirked an eyebrow.

“Are you always this dramatic?” you asked and he laughed, “Only sometimes,”

A smile formed on your lips as you shook your hand, “In favor of me paying you a favor and you having a favor you feel is too big, you, Vash Saverem, now owe me a favor,”

Someone clearing their throat made you two turn around and there stood Brad and Xanther.

“So, barely talked to the guy, huh?” Xanther teased with a shit-eating grin.

“You talking up the ladies in ‘ere, now, Vash?” Brad questioned with a knowing smile.

Vash turned red in the face, stuttering something like a ‘no, it’s not what it looks like!’ and you only flashed your Cheshire grin back at Xanther, “Considering you sent him to accompany me, I’d think you were trying something out, Xan, better be careful before I catch on your antics,”

You let Vash’s hand go as you stepped into your room, leaving the three men outside, “Well, gentlemen, it’s been a lovely afternoon, unfortunately, I have papers to look over and study to make up for the time I’ve been asleep, so I’ll see you at dinner, bye,” you said as your door finally slid shut.

While you haven’t actually shown up to the PLANT deck since you woke up, Ynez and Luida have been supplying you with the annual PLANT biodata reports over the past 60 years, leaving you with more than enough time and knowledge to catch up to wherever the ship’s knowledge of the PLANTs have gotten.

Later that afternoon, Luida dropped in to drop some files on you, one was the approval for your release on the physical therapy, one was your fit-for-work certificate, and the last was the information for you and Vash’s voyage.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Your captain had asked and never in your life had you been more unsure.

You had always been a rational thinker, always thinking two steps ahead, always looking at where things could go wrong, and what can be improved. But this time, you weren’t sure.

It was a new world, at least for you, you’ve never actually experienced it for yourself, you haven’t seen it for yourself, and you’ve only read updates from the outside team, which don’t provide much since they don’t really interact with the humans in town.

But this could be good for you, you think, it would be a good and new experience and you could also catch up on what you’ve missed while you were asleep and do more than just what you were assigned to on the ship.

You could do more.

Luida had noticed you thinking for a while now and put a hand on your shoulder, “You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, I know you want to help Vash or from what I’ve heard, pay him back for saving the PLANT that night, but you don’t have to,”

Your eyes snapped to hers and she smiled warmly, as she always does.

“It’s not your fault we couldn’t save the PLANT on our own that night, we all know that, it was something beyond what any of the staff we have onboard could do,” she said softly, “We were really lucky that we had Vash that night, because as hard as we try, it was something only an Independent can do,”

You were silent.

You understood, you really did, but human emotions were petulant and persistent.

You met Luida’s eyes once more and nodded.

“I want to go with Vash,” you declared and her eyes showed mirth.

“Very well, I’ll let Vash know and you’ll leave in a week,” she said as she brushed over your hair.

Luida had always been a mother figure to you, especially when you were just starting to train for the onboarding on the SEEDS Ship. You had met her when you got lost in the halls of the training facility.

And just like the motherly figure she is, she guided you like a shepherd back to your respective training floor. Ever since then, you had always seen her as a second mother figure (second to your own mother, of course).

Imagine her giddiness when you were assigned to the ship she was made captain of.

As soon as she left the room, you sighed and lay on your bed.

Today was overwhelming, too many things to be done, too many things to do, too many things you wanted to do, but you wouldn’t ever regret any of it. You loved your work, and you loved the people you worked with… well, most of them.

You were about to take a nap when your door slid open once more. You really had to learn to lock your door.

You sat up and you saw Ynez at the door, “You’re leaving?!” Xanther then showed up behind her, his hands on his knees, breathless, “Luida… told us…” he informed.

Swinging your legs over the bed, you sat down properly, “Well, not forever,” you said.

Ynez looked distressed, “Why? We literally just got you back, why do you want to leave again?” she asked in a small voice.

Xanther rubbed her back, “We just wanna know, N/n, we just want to understand,”

You sighed, “Well, you guys already know about my expectations for myself,” and both of them sighed, engulfing you in a hug.

“It’s okay, I’m sorry if I made you feel bad in any way, It was just really overwhelming to hear from someone else instead of you,”

You laughed, “Maybe because Luida was literally just in my room moments before and I just made the decision?”

Ynez gave you a laugh, “Sorry, I just, I just really missed you and we don’t wanna lose you again,” you hugged her again and she sighed into your embrace.

The rest of the afternoon flew by just like that, the three of you very well aware that this might just be the last time you all hung out in a while, with you out and about in the desert and with them being sent to cryosleep the week after you left, not to wake until the next year.

It was hard to leave them, but nobody grew up by just staying in the same place.

There were still a ton of things you didn’t know or understood, a ton of things you had still yet to experience, to see for yourself, to feel for yourself. You still had a lot to do, so many things to do, so many things you wished you’d done and so many things you wanted to do.

But in this wreckage of unsureness, there was one thing you were sure of.

It was now the year 2507 and you had a lot of catching up on work to do.

usagi's note: i spent so long thinking if their meeting was realistic and then i gave up (lol), your reasons behind the voyage will be explained soon dw, i know it seems like it was an irrational decision, but all will be explained soon !!

taglist is open! send an ask or just comment below! @onixsn @sharkalina666

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