Chapter Text
The moment Simon opened his eyes, he could tell something was off. He was somewhere different, no longer stuck inside the SM-13. He didn't know where he was, but there was a bright light around him. Was he dead? The last thing he remembered was the creature biting into his sub, and seeing that bright light. Was this light the same?
Realizing he was lying down, he tried to sit up. That was when he noticed his arm, or lack thereof. His left arm was gone. That's right… he lost it in his final moments in that sub. He still wasn't sure if he was dead or not. Everything almost felt numb, so it was hard to tell. Glancing around, he noticed how out of place everything looked. He was on what seemed like a cot, and sure it wasn't the most comfortable, but Simon wasn't exactly used to comfort.
He still couldn't tell where he was. How had he been pulled out of the SM-13? Had the C.O.I. actually kept their promise and brought him to safety?
That was when something moved. Simon's eyes snapped down toward the movement, his eyes narrowing as he saw…
A rock. Thing.
Coming toward him.
Yep, he was definitely dead.
The thing drew closer, and he tried to back away. Except, he couldn't go far because his back hit the wall. The thing made a noise that sounded like a musical note, and Simon glared at it. "Don't come any closer!" He snapped, his voice a lot less intimidating than he intended due to lack of use for however long.
The rock creature stopped immediately, to Simon's surprise and relief, and seemed to back away slightly. It slowly lifted two of its five limbs, almost like it was… trying to show it meant no harm. But that wasn't possible. This thing wasn't human, and sure, Simon had encountered alien life before, but… that one before tried to kill him. How did he know this thing wasn't just trying to get him to let his guard down? To get him to calm down so that it could strike? Simon wasn't taking any chances. Hell, this could all be some big hallucination, and Simon was still stuck in the blood ocean. Or worse, he actually was dead. It was hard to rule that out.
"What do you want from me?" He asked, eyes narrowed suspiciously. The creature made another musical note like sound, and Simon figured that might be its language. He just didn't understand it. The creature hadn't moved any closer, and while it was weird… it didn't seem to pose any threat. Yet. Simon would keep his guard up.
Neither of them moved, and Simon took this opportunity to look over his captor. Captor? Savior? Fellow prisoner? Hallucination? He didn't know.
The rock thing wasn't small by any means. In fact, it seemed to be taller than him. By quite a bit. It had a slightly pointed, almost jagged top with five legs holding it up. Its color was a dusty turquoise with small bits of a dusty brown on its carapace. It had a prominent brown circle on its leg, which Simon thought was interesting. He wondered what that meant. The creature had a clear, jagged suit around its entire being, which also piqued Simon's curiosity. What was that? Was it keeping something in? The only ideas Simon had was that maybe this creature didn't breathe the same air as him. Or it was a protective suit to keep itself safe from Simon. Which, remembering how the blood reacted on his skin, kind of made sense. His skin was still covered in dried blood, and his clothes were still heavy in places from where the blood had coagulated.
He also wondered if it was alone here, or if there were more like it. Not to mention… where was here?
"Where am I?" He asked, though as soon as he heard the musical notes again, he realized there was no use trying to ask. This thing seemed to maybe understand him, but he didn't understand it.
This would take a while for Simon to understand what was going on.
—
It had been a few days since Simon woke up in this strange place with this strange rock creature, and while it hadn't done anything to try and harm him, Simon was still on edge. It had introduced food to him, and he had been hesitant to try it despite not remembering the last time he ate something. This thing was a rock, if it even ate, it likely ate things not meant for humans.
Or whatever Simon was now. He was still human, right? Just with some… added features. He remembered feeling the sharp teeth on the left side of his face, and how the skin around it felt… different. Almost leathery in texture. Not like human skin. He didn't have any way to check his reflection, so he couldn't really get a good look at his face now.
The rock thing kept trying to get him to eat, though it would back off each time Simon glared at it or flinched. That was what was happening now. The creature held a container of… something. It looked like sludge. Simon had moved from the cot to exploring the room how he could when he was alone, and he currently stood a few feet from the cot as the thing stood in the entryway. It wasn't really a doorway; there was no door. Simon hadn't yet explored outside of this room, but he had noticed there was a barrier similar to the suit thing that the creature wore not far from the entryway. So they were keeping him in here. Were they confining him like a prisoner, or was it for his or their safety? He couldn't tell.
The rock carefully placed the container of sludge on the ground and gently pushed it toward Simon, made a musical noise, and left.
Simon stared at the sludge, his brows furrowed and eyes narrowed. Were they trying to poison him with whatever this was? Did they put sedatives in it to keep him calm and to stop him from constantly pacing the room?
Once he was sure he was alone, Simon slowly approached the sludge. Despite how unappealing it looked, Simon's stomach grumbled, and it didn't actually have a horrible smell. He wasn't sure what the smell was, but it certainly didn't belong to something that looked like this. He eyed the sludge warily, staring at it as if he expected it to jump at him. It didn't, luckily.
He knelt in front of the container, slowly reaching his hand out to poke at the sludge. He immediately recoiled, the temperature of the sludge getting to him more than anything. God damn, it was hot. He knew about heating up food before consumption, but this was excessive.
He glared at the sludge like it had personally offended him, scrunching up his nose as he stood up once more. He backed away from the container, deciding he didn't need to eat as much as his body said otherwise.
He glanced at it once more before shaking his head and going toward the entryway. "Hey," he called, glancing around. He saw the edge of the glass looking barrier, but he couldn't see beyond that. Why was it so dark?
"Hey!" He called again, still receiving no response. "Fine. Yeah. Good." He muttered, shaking his head and heading back into his room. It looked like he was alone.