Xander blinked, as he stared at his surroundings. His right hand drifted involuntarily to his hip, where his gun was holstered. Ever since Vash the Stampede had involuntarily possessed him, he had always kept the weapon with him. (Luckily, Snyder had never found out, otherwise he'd be cleaning toilets from here to eternity.) "This doesn't look like Kansas, Toto," he misquoted. "Heck, it doesn't even look like Sunny Hell. " "Who might you be?, "a voice eerily like his own demanded. "You'd better not be like that Willow-vamp."
He whirled to find himself looking at...
Himself.
Their features were the same, their hair was the same, the only differences were the shirts. At first glance.
"Hey, all I know is that one moment, I'm patrolling with Buff and the next I'm in the middle of some desert," Xander-V said.
The other Xander relaxed, pulling his hand out of his brightly coloured shirt (where Xander-V was sure that a weapon of some sort was hidden.) "Hi, Xander. I'm Xander."
Both of them laughed at that. "Hey, didn't Wills say something once about--" "Parallel universes?," the other one finished. "Uh... Bug-lady, Master slayage, Halloween with Barbeque, uh... " "Hang on, "Xander-V said. "Barbeque? I remember a Halloween where I was possessed, but I went as Vash the Stampede! " "There's our diff, then, "the other Xander said. "I went as Long John Silver. Lost a leg to that damn costume -- if I ever see Ethan Rayne again... " "Wow, you too?," Xander-V said. "You lost a leg?," Xander-Silver asked, confused. "No," Xander-V said. He gestured at his bare left arm, which was metal. His left hand was also metal.
"Well, I guess we'd better find what sent us here, so we can get back home," Xander-S said. "Yeah," Xander-V nodded. A grin broke out on his face as the other Xander produced a pack of Twinkies. "My saviour!"
"I've got this, two stakes, a gun with about half a box of ammo left, and... no water," Xander-S said. He frowned, pulling on Long John's knowledge of long sea journeys. "We're going to need water." "I've got... three stakes, my gun, and a box of rounds left," Xander-V said. "What caliber is your gun?" ".357 Magnum," Xander-S said. "Revolver." ".45 Long Colt revolver," Xander-V said, frowning. "We won't be able to share ammo. " "At least there's one bright spot," Xander-S said. "Yeah?" "Well, we won't get any vamps in a desert, will we?" "Hey, maybe they have vampires who're sun worshippers here," Xander-V said thoughtfully. "We could buy a great big magnifying glass, and set fire to them like ants!"
Both boys let out a whoop of joy when they saw two other people. "FOOD!," Xander-V said, breaking out into a run "HEY!," Xander-S said. "I can't run that fast -- wooden leg, remember?!" "Oh, sorry," Xander-V said. "What a stroke of luck!" "You're just saying that because I know more dirty jokes than you," Xander-S said, continueing at a steady pace.
"Hey, it isn't my fault that you were the one possessed by a pirate and I was possessed by a hundred fifty year old little kid!," Xander-V protested, managing to restrain himself to the same pace. He waved madly at the two. "Hiiii!"
As they got closer, they could make out the strangers. One was a short kid with blonde hair in a red longcoat, the other was a very tall man in a suit of armour. Both Xanders felt hot just looking at him. "Hi," Xander-S said. "I'm Xander, and this is Xander. Have you got any water at all? " "Are you two brothers?," the man in armour asked. His voice was strangely young sounding, and had a faintly echoing quality to it. "I guess so," Xander-V said. "What's your name?" "We're the Elric brothers," the shorter one said. "I'm Edward Elric, and this is my younger brother Alphonse Elric. " "Wow, tough breaks, "Xander-S said. "You kinda remind me of someone back home. " "Are you two alchemists?," the younger Elric brother asked. "Al... no," Xander-V said, confused. "What're they?"
Edward looked distinctly confused. "Then why is your arm auto-mail?"
Xander-V held his left upper arm in his right hand, arm a million miles and a couple universes away. "Another brother was an... evil man," he said softly, thinking of the man who prefered to kill the spiders to save the butterflies, rather than try and save both. "So, got any water?," Xander-S asked, changing the subject. "Sure!," Alphonse said enthusiastically.
As to the guns, Xander-Vash's gun is straight from Trigun. (All the artwork in the artbook of the gun prominently display ".45 Long Colt" stamped on the gun itself, and essays on the web say that that's the caliber of the gun.) Xander-Silver's gun is the one from Halflife. (Best bullet-type gun in the game, *IF* you're a good shot.)