Trailing by Stardust: Jjba x reader

3 - Waking Up

Somewhere in the back of your mind, you always knew your lack of attention would let you wander to far off places, but you never imagined it would take you this far.

Wandering is quite different from traveling. When you travel, you have a clear path and destination in mind, but wandering lacked both. For as long as you cared to remember, all you did was wander. There was no drive or thrill leading you from one place to another. Your feet just walked, and your body followed.

Long ago you abandoned seeking any purpose in this existence. Those you once knew made it very clear you had none. You even attempted to rid yourself from the world on many an occasion, but that familiar presence always seemed to prevent your end. As much as you craved release, she always strived to preserve you. She caught you whenever you fell, found you sustenance when you felt feint, and held you when you felt truly alone. And that was enough to let you believe that maybe, just maybe, a purpose would eventually find you.

You were rarely aware of the passage of time, and never truly registered the distances you've crossed. You have spotted memories of meandering: visions of pushing past crowded cities, hiding in the depths of various boats, and gazing at the vastness of the world around you. They all blurred together in the recesses of you mind, not one place standing out over the other, but this place. This place was something truly bizarre.

The first thing you noticed was that you were sitting on a large piece of sandstone. It was coarse and broken at the edges, but held you a good meter and a half off the ground. And the ground was more sandstone...no... actual sand. It spread out as far as your eyes could see in every direction, softly billowing in the distance as if guiding the surrounding air. There was little else around you aside from the occasional ruin of stone or toppled pillar.

For the first time in ages, you cared to question yourself, 'Where the hell am I?' The words escaped your mouth, startling the silence you've become so accustomed to.

It looks like I'm in some sort of desert. Hm. It figures I'd wind up in some desolate shit hole eventually. I wonder how I got here to begin with...

Your mind ached with attempt to bring up memories of this journey. In fact, any time you tried to recall the past, your mind spiraled in pain. After all, it's best to never remember.

You sat for a while longer, breathing, soaking in how the wind howled past you as it rippled over the dunes, beckoning your mind to ease back into a dulled rhythm. That dullness spread, allowing you to focus on the rest of your body. You could feel a prickling sensation from your exposed skin as the wind sprinkled you with sand, and you felt a hollowness in the pit of your stomach...

~~GROWWWLLL~~

Well, fuck. Now I guess I'm gonna have to feed you... Is there even anywhere nearby that I can get food from? You whipped your head around to scan the horizon only to find nothing. I better actually get up to look.

Shifting from your perch, you angled your legs over the rock and hopped off. Upon landing, you stumbled for a step or two, but fortunately your companion grabbed a hold of you. Your eyes met her face long enough for you to gift her an empathetic smile before she aided in propping you upright once more. Her hand moved to envelope yours, grabbing it tightly as if afraid you might fall again.

She started to lead you through the ruins until you were met with the open desert. You watched her as she seemed to scan the desolate wasteland before becoming affixed on a particular direction. She started to pull you again, and you followed. This was often how the two of you wandered. At first it seemed as if your spirit-like friend was simply leading you at random, but eventually you came to learn that she was guided by some distant light, and not in the metaphorical sense. She was actually capable of seeing a broad range of spectrum, so she was able to seek out the heat signatures of distant towns or cities.

Sometime later you came upon a cobbled trail, clearly weathered from the years of passing travelers. Realizing that you would soon be approaching civilization, the two of you switched to your typical 'traveling' mode. The light rippled around the body of your friend, and she released your hand from hers taking a step closer to your side as opposed to her previous leading stance. You watched in awe, as always, as her body shifted from that mesmerizing starry tone to something more human. Her body appeared to grow in both height and girth, the light continuing in a chaotic mesh until it finally settled. You were now walking next to some burly, masculine form. 'His' appearance was fairly generic, crafted in such a way as to not stand out what so ever. You knew it was merely an illusion, but to any passerby the two of you would appear just as some man walking with his daughter. There were obvious dangers associated with appearing as a woman travelling alone. Although you were never truly by yourself, no one else could see your companion in her base form, so your friend always acted to accommodate.

Sliding back into a steady pace, the two of you continued on your trek, but not before a sudden hysterical shriek tore your from typical air of nonchalance. "AHHH! A DEMON!"

On most occasions you would pass by the noise of all the surrounding rabble with feigned ignorance. On most occasions no one would care to direct noise at you. However, this day just had to be different. Regretfully, both you and Supernova slowly turned around, facing the source of the disturbance, only to be shmucked with a hefty amount of gritty earth. Whoever they were, they kept screaming, chanting some sort of superstitious omen. Seriously, where had you ended up that the people were this... spiritual? Regardless, this degree of attention was beginning to unease you. Sensing that, your disguised companion offered the stranger a warm smile, phasing them slightly, before whisking you away further down the road.

Looking into the eyes of your ever constant savior you bemused: Heh, I have many demons, but she... she is not one of them.