Chapter Text
It’s a mercy when the radio finally cuts out and the screams and cries of despair could no longer be heard. They don’t want to hear what Yggdrasil, their whole world, sounds like as it dies; burns in the nuclear chaos unleashed from the Bifrost.
Even when it does finally stutter into static, then to silence, Lyf’s still curled up in a corner of the room; shaking, tears down their face, and grief wound so tightly in their chest that it hurts.
The overlapping messages they’d picked up on the radio had started shortly after leaving Hoddmimis, thinking it to be an incoming transmission from another passing ship. That was a mistake. It dug into them, dragged out their sorrow, and served to remind them that they were Lyfrassir Edda; the last of the Yggdrasil system. They had fled Midgard on this stupid ship without a second thought, without telling anyone. They had left only a report of their findings as a warning. They hadn’t even tried to tell anyone what they had seen (though who would have listened?).
They’d been reminded of all that as they had listened to Yggdrasil burn, and it was all too much.
Lyf assumed they’re out of range now that the radio has cut into silence, leaving the atmospheric hum of the ship. They don’t know how long they’ve been sitting here, but long enough for exhaustion from all their sobbing to seep into them. They were staring to feel cold.
They forced themself to their feet, their legs still shaking, and stumbled off to the singular room that served as the sleeping quarters. Tempting as it was to just stay and wallow in their own grief, they’d rather not stay on the floor to do so. Lyf practically collapsed onto the bed once they were in the room, still feeling cold and their chest still aching with sorrow.
It was a harsh reality they now found themself in; to live knowing that everything they knew, loved, cared about- it was all gone. Yggdrasil was dead; non-existent. All that culture, history, and people… Gone. Their home planet of Midgard had spent 80 years recovering and rebuilding from the revolution, and now it was gone. Lyf’s family- Oh Gods, their family.
Lisbeth, their curious sister, who had been in Svartalfheim with her wife when Lyf started investigating the Ratatosk. Their loving mothers, who had gotten a cello for them when they had first expressed an interest in music and poetry. Lyf still wore the ring one of their mothers passed onto them, a ring that was now the last piece of their family. Hel, Lyf even felt a pang of despair for their cat, Sigrid, who had been a good companion to them. All of that was gone too.
And suddenly the tears start to flow again.
What the fuck were you supposed to do when your entire world was gone and you were the only one left alive?
There is no answer, and Lyf doesn’t know how one should properly grieve for this. So they just continue to sob, and eventually, they cry themself to sleep.
Time flows on, though Lyf’s stopped paying attention to any indication of time or day. It all bleeds together after while. Sometimes they notice merely a day has gone by, sometimes they loose track completely and suddenly a week has passed. They try to maintain some sense of normalcy (they try to still celebrate Yule, for example), but that’s not possible for them anymore. Between the sorrow in their heart and the nightmares that torment them in their sleep, Lyf becomes adrift.
They try to sleep, but nightmares commonly come to them; leaving them with the feeling of being watched and with static ringing in their ears. They got enough supplies to last them a good long while, but as time went on, Lyf could barely bring themself to eat much more than what was necessary to sustain them. Their hair has grown longer but they do not braid it. They try to write, so they don’t forget anything about the world they knew, but more often than not it leaves their hands shaking.
They feel so alone.
All of that aside though, at some point it becomes apparent to Lyf that they did not escape the Bifrost (Yog-Sothoth, really, but they won't give it the satisfaction of calling it that) unscathed.
It was subtle at first, but the first thing that indicated to Lyf that something had changed within them was their eyes. They had woken one day to find that their eyes had gone silver, which shouldn’t have been possible; their eyes were supposed to be brown. But when they saw their eyes refracting rainbows, Lyf knew with cold dread what exactly was going on, but tried to tell themselves otherwise; that there was a reasonable, non-eldritch explanation.
(they knew better, deep down)
Their hair had been next. Lyf had been combing through it to try to keep it from becoming a mess, and had caught sight of rainbow threaded into it. Lyf thought they’d been hallucinating (isolation and all that), but one quick look in a mirror revealed that their hair was stained with it. The shock and realization of it, that they were changing, made them sick.
After that, they can’t deny that the Bifrost has done something to them; is doing something to them. They may have managed to get out before the complete emergence of the squamous things from between spaces, but not without the Bifrost seeping into them first, seeing as they likely carry some of it within them now. It had probably been there since the first recording Lyf had viewed in the Black Box, or maybe since the days they spent going over the footage repeatedly in a desperate search, or maybe when the truth was finally revealed to them.
(Lyf still remembers when they finally saw the uncorrupted footage; the horrible reality of it all. The images had flashed through their mind and became embedded there. They could see it all with clarity as they recalled what they were seeing. They had almost felt like they were right there on the train as they watched; a silent observer unable to change what was happening.)
And so they continue to drift, with no set course in mind; resigning themselves to the loneliness and knowledge that they are changed; that they're becoming something.
They are Lyfrassir Edda still, but at the same time they are not.
They think about those three sometimes; the prisoners. The last three people that they talked to before everything unraveled.
Raphaella La Cognitzi; the woman with the wings. Lyf had honestly been astounded when they first saw her wings, though that had quickly been replaced by irritation. A woman of science, as they had discovered, but her curiosity bordered on questionable and morbid. She had always appeared bored without anything to study, which was a bit worrying whenever the three broke out; fearing she might decide to go study someone for fun.
Ivy Alexandria; analytical and always wanting more books dropped by the cell. Sometimes her request would be granted, since it didn’t seem to cause any problems. While she was the most quiet and calm of the three, and they were aware that she was a very smart woman, but her analytical tendencies got on Lyf’s nerves. She always looked like she was scrutinizing them whenever they came by, but at least she didn’t cause as much trouble.
And Marius von Raum; a ridiculous man with an infuriating habit of making violins appearing at will. Lyf had taken so many violins from him over the years, piled in a box in their office (the violins had also become a running joke at the station as a result). Marius seemed to enjoy pushing their buttons and just being an overall nuisance. He always seemed in good spirits though, or at least whenever Lyf went to see him and the others.
(Oddly enough, it’s him that Lyf misses the most. For all his teasing, he never went too far, and their conversations always sparked something in Lyf that wasn’t just annoyance. And also- not that they would have ever admitted this to Marius aloud, but he was a very good violin player (it was just that song that pissed them off).)
It occurs to Lyf now that those three had obviously known about the train, and what was to come. They had been waiting for it to reappear, and Lyf bringing them the Black Box had been the confirmation. So they left. They had left for one final time; left Lyf and the rest of their world to that cosmic horror. It was aggravating.
And yet… Lyf wishes they could see them again; speak to them again. Maybe it’s because they’ve been out in the void for so long, loneliness tearing at their heart, that they’re desperate to see or speak to someone, anyone. That included the three bandits, as not only were they the last people Lyf had talked to before seeing the truth of the Black Box, but also a constant presence in Lyf’s life for those years they knew the three. They were the three most infuriating people Lyf had known, but they never hurt them and always cooperated with them (for the most part).
Part of them wishes that maybe they had taken Lyf with them when they fled, but what difference would It have made, really? Those three were long gone now.
They wish they could hear Raphaella talk about things she found scientifically interesting. They wished they could hear Ivy recite one of her stories from memory. They wished- Gods, they wished they could hear Marius play the violin again.
Marius...
...They really, really missed Marius the most.
Seven months have gone by, according to Lyf’s calculations.
They’re not doing okay, truth be told. They haven’t felt well as of late. Maybe it’s after being adrift for so long they’re finally starting to break down completely. Their nightmares have been getting worse, as well as their headaches. They feel cold all the time now, and just can’t seem to get warm. They feel numb; hollowed out by their grief.
Lyf has never felt more alone and helpless; starting to wonder if this ship was to be their tomb. Their supplies will not last them forever, nor will this ship.
Or maybe whatever the Bifrost did to them will kill them first.
On some random day, after checking on some systems and their supplies, a worrying assessment of such prompts Lyf to scan for any nearby ships. Hel, they’ll take whatever colony passes for civilization at this point.
But nothing comes up.
They next try to send out a distress signal, since the range was fairly decent. They send it to broadcast, and then resigning themself to waiting. With luck, someone will pick it up. Someone had to, right?
Lyf wasn’t sure where they were going anymore. They had set the autopilot in some random direction when they left Hoddmimis that would take them far from Yggdrasil, but had the hope, at first, that they would stumble onto a nearby star system. There had to be something out there… there had to be. However, their supplies were going to start dwindling eventually. They could ration things out for a little bit longer, but it wouldn’t last forever.
Or maybe they should resign themself to this fate.
Lyf’s still on this despairing line of thought when a noise of static makes them freeze. At first, Lyf thinks it’s the radio picking up on something, maybe a response to the distress signal, but the sound isn’t right. They had also turned off the radio once it could no longer pick up on anything coming from Yggdrasil. So it can’t be that. Then what is-
“The Void sings, Lyfrassir.”
Lyf turns at the sound of the voice, but it’s done too quickly and only makes their headache worse and makes rainbow spots dance in their vision. They try leaning against the console until the spots disappear, fearing they might pass out. They really must be loosing it how- they’re hearing things. That drags a sad and hysterical laugh from them at this thought, but they don’t keep it up for long as the laughs turn into coughing. They end up on their knees, a hand over their mouth. Their chest hurts with each spasm, and there’s the fleeting thought that maybe they’re dying.
In a moment when they can manage to catch their breath, they feel something wet on their hand and pull it back. To their surprise, they find a black, oily liquid on their palm. It caught the lights of the room, and it shone with rainbow, like an oil spill in the sun.
Now they do feel faint, and they try to take in breaths to steady themself, but they start coughing again when they try. They must be dying; they must be.
“Oh no, you’re not dying. You’re changing.”
That might be even worse, but Lyf can’t even think to comprehend or voice this to whatever stupid disembodied voice they’ve imagined. They keep coughing up that gunk, and they can’t get enough air into their lungs, and all they see is rainbow, and their head is pounding. They feel like they’re going to split apart.
And then something inside them snaps; sparks.
A maelstrom of color overwhelms them.
Marius dreams, though he doesn’t realize this.
In the dream, he doesn’t really know where he is, only that he is... somewhere. The surroundings vaguely look like the Aurora, and for a moment, he thinks that’s where he is, but there’s something different. There’s something off about wherever he is.
First off, the walls around him have a rainbow shine to them. Everything around him swirls with rainbow, in fact. That’s not normal, or good.
“Okay. This is weird.” He says aloud.
Maybe someone slipped something into his coffee just to mess with him. Or maybe this is some kind of side effect of a weird poison before he falls over dead, also just to mess with him. If that’s the case, he’ll have to find whoever did that and return the favor, by way of either stabbing or shooting them.
Marius notes that it’s also cold in this place- is the heating broken again?
Wait, wait. No, this… He’s already established that this isn’t the Aurora; not really. Or is this the Aurora?
And also, what was with the rainbows shimmering on… everything? They reminded Marius of something as he watched them dance slowly. They almost reminded him of-
“From within me calls
Could it be I am sleeping?”
A voice; singing. There’s someone else here with him, singing something soft and a tiny bit sad. It echoes down the corridor, growing in volume for a moment, then fading out again. The voice almost sounds like someone he knew, once upon a time. Well not terribly long ago, but it might as well have been. And maybe it’s because of that, the singing voice raising a memory of this person, that Marius picks a direction and walks. He listens for the voice again, either for where it come from or just to hear it once more.
So far, Marius hears nothing; just his own footsteps. Then the singing comes again, sounding a bit louder this time, as if he was getting closer to it.
“For a moment I stray
Then it holds me completely.”
There was the voice again. Maybe he was getting closer? Maybe if he continues to follow he’ll find the source.
The voice echoes down the twisting rainbow pathways, guiding him along. They sound sad and lost, and yet it draws him in; calls to him. It’s like somehow he’s being pulled along by a thread. Or maybe it’s because the voice sounds like the person it reminded him of; the one he once knew. There’s probably some deeper meaning to this train of thought, but he still follows to where the voice calls.
It calls to him through these halls, to a large door at the end of a corridor. It was a fancy one by the looks of it, gilded with gold and bismuth. The singing has stopped, but something tells him that he’s where he needs to be though, so he pushes the door open.
The room inside is bigger than it should be. The structure of the room is skeletal, with glass windows everywhere. Not just any windows either, but stained glass windows; casting everything in rainbows and light. Even the floor seems to reflect this, shimmering like a prism. In the center of the room there was a figure; sitting on the floor and curled into themselves as they hugged their knees to their chest. They sounded like they were crying.
But Marius just stares, not daring to hope that this person he sees before him- it cannot be…
“…Lyf?”
The instant the name leaves him, the person flinches, stills, and slowly brings their head up.
Lyfrassir Edda stares back at him with tired, silver eyes. Tears run down their face. Their lovely braids undone and messy.
“M-Marius…?” They croak, their voice sounding weak.
...He has to be dreaming. Lyf was dead; dead or worse, really, considering what happened to the Yggdrasil system.
And yet-
“Lyfrassir!” His voice comes out in a disbelieving rush as he surges forward, going to their side and kneeling down beside them. They watch him, but still with an expression of confusion and shock. They seem to be stuck like that.
Marius reaches out and cups their head in his hands, but they don’t react. They feel solid in his grasp, but they feel cold; unresponsive.
“...Are you real?” Lyf finally whispers to him. Their eyes shimmer with rainbow tears; they’re crying again.
A choked laugh escapes him as he brushes their tears away as they fall. “I don’t know, really. I could be dreaming for all I know, but if I am, then I’m gonna enjoy it while I can.”
Something changes in Lyf’s expression, unfreezing from their stupor, and they sniffle. Marius just wants to gather them into his arms and hold them for as long as this moment lasts.
“Marius.” They say again, voice still weakened, almost like in a daze.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“Marius. Marius, I’m lost.”
He looks at them, perplexed. “What? What do you mean, Lyf?”
“I’m lost.” They repeat. “I don’t- I don’t know where I am. I’m trapped.”
“Trapped? Where?”
“I said I don’t know. I don’t even know how long it’s been. All I know is these shifting colors that hold me here. I’ve been alone for so long. I don’t… Marius, I...”
“Hey, hey-” Now he does bring them forward and hugs them tight. They feel so real, even as they tremble against him. “I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s gonna be okay. It’ll be okay, Lyf.”
They slowly return the embrace, holding him just as tight as though afraid to let go, and they both stay like this for what feels like a long time. Eventually, the strange and tender moment is broken by a sudden hum of static.
“Hey, you hear that?” Marius asked.
“Hear what?” Lyf pulls back. “Marius, what are you hearing?”
“Static, I think?”
Panic flashes across Lyf’s features, but the static just gets louder. Lyf speaks, but he can’t hear them anymore. It’s replaced by the static.
“Lyf? Lyf, what are you saying?” He tries. “I can’t hear you.”
The colors around them are staring to shine brighter, and the static has grown loud enough to the point of being overhwelming. Lyf’s growing more frantic, first grabbing his hands, squeezing tight, and then taking hold of him by the arms, gently shaking him. Marius doesn’t quite understand why they’re freaking out, but something’s wrong. He can see them speaking, but they can’t hear.
Their hands come up to be placed on either side of his face, but it’s becoming harder to see beyond all the color- is it getting more and more bright?
“Lyf, I can’t hear- what’s going on?”
He winces at the brightness surrounding them, and the last thing he sees before it becomes all too bright is the silver glow of Lyf’s eyes. And he remembers that’s not right; Lyf’s eyes were brown… or they were the last time he saw them.
And over the static, something breaks through.
“Don’t leave me!”
He wakes with Lyfrassir’s name on his lips.
He’s in his darkened room, in his bed. There are no rainbow lights. No sound of static ringing in his ears. No Lyf to be found.
So it was a dream…
Marius’s slowly waking mind processes this, and when he does, he sighs, screwing his eyes shut and feeling a pang of regret in his heart.
“...Fuck.”
This wouldn’t be the first time he’s had dreams of Lyf; of when he knew them, of if he had just gone back for them like he should have before leaving Midgard ahead of the Bifrost, of what they could have been.
(And sometimes it’s that last one that really gets him.)
This one was different, had felt so much more real than any of the others, but the point remained that it had still been a dream. Of course it had been a dream, because the reality was that Lyf was dead, along with the rest of the Yggdrasil system. Ivy said she’d calculated a chance of them escaping, but Marius didn’t try and hope. He knew it was more than likely that Lyf was gone, and he was never going to see them again. Lyf just existed as a memory now, a ghost to haunt his dreams. He spent a month just wallowing around in regret after returning to the Aroura, and since then tried to push those memories and feelings aside, because he's immortal, and these types of things are a blip in the span of eternity. However, the dream's gone and dug it all up again, like all the other times he's dreamed of Lyf.
He hadn’t meant for this to happen, really; Lyf had just been someone fun to annoy (because sitting around a prison for decades waiting for a train was so boring), and maybe a tiny bit cute. Something had changed though. He doesn’t know when that had happened, but teasing had turned into flirting, and then morphed into daydreaming, and then “oh fuck I think I have feelings for you”. It hadn’t mattered in the end. Marius had known that from the moment Lyf walked in with the Black Box.
He had wanted to take them away from Midgard, before everything fell apart, but he had told himself there was no point. He was immortal; Lyf was not. There was no point, and there was no point in these feelings because either Lyf would die in the chaos of the Bifrost or die eventually somewhere down the line. So he ignored his feeelings and left, but the second he set foot on the ship, Marius knew he had made a mistake.
He should have gone back for them.
But there’s nothing he can do about that now.
Marius tries to continue on as normal come breakfast, as if he didn’t just have the most realistic dream of Lyf since leaving Midgard. He tries not to linger on these regrets and puts on a smile, but his mind keeps drifting back to Lyf. He’s pretty sure they took a piece of his heart with them when Yggdrasil fell apart in the chaos of the Bifrost, because it certainly feels like there’s something missing. It’s been that way for months and it hurts.
Leave it to Marius to go ahead and get feelings for a mortal who’s world had been doomed to a prismatic supernova. How stupid was that? It shouldn’t have even mattered because of what he was. Yet, it was Lyf that he couldn’t let go of.
After breakfast, with the dream still on his mind, he decides to go to someone who might understand or help.
“Nastya, you there?” He calls, knocking on the door to engineering. The door slides open, so he assumes it’s safe to enter.
Heat greets him as he crosses the threshold, but it was usually like this in engineering. Nastya usually could be found here, where she could be close to Aurora, and Nastya liked the heat since she tended to run cold (due to her mechanism; her quicksilver blood). He finds Nastya working on some machinery, and she looks up when she hears him approach.
“Marius.” She greets. “This is a surprise. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you down here before.”
“Yeah, well…” No, he’s never really come to engineering; he’s had no reason. But Nastya knew how to deal with feelings, right? “I wanted to ask you something.”
She looks at him skeptically, but sets down her tools. “This is highly unusual for you. What is wrong? You didn’t seem quite like yourself at breakfast.”
“Was it that easy to tell?”
“You’re just easier to read when it comes to emotions. You’re still not as dramatic as Jonny though.”
Of course she had picked up on something. She had been gone for nearly a century but was still as perceptive as ever.
“Okay, so… feel free to kill me if this is too personal.” She gives him an odd look when he says this, but continues on. “Did you ever dream of Aurora when you were… out?”
Marius expects her to shoot him or something (he knows she keeps a pistol lying around), but only the noises of various machinery echo around them.
“I did, sometimes.” She finally answers. “In between the moments of cold wakefulness.”
“Did you miss her?”
“I held a piece of her with me, but yes. Marius, why are you asking?”
He takes a breath, runs a hand through his hair, and begins. “You know that me, Ivy, and Raphaella were hanging out on Midgard before it got eaten up by a rainbow of madness?”
“Oh, yes; in the Yggdrasil system. When I came back, Jonny told me you three had been in a prison on Midgard for almost 60 years. He mentioned something about a train that had disappeared just before you showed up there.”
“Yeah; the Ratatosk Express. We were there for the story, but there’s another part to it. While we were in the prison, toward the latter half of our stay, there was someone assigned to us by the name of Lyfrassir Edda.”
“Isn’t this the person that Jonny is voicing for our new story about the Bifrost?”
“That’d be them. Anyway, Lyfrassir- we mostly just called them “Lyf”- was assigned to us, but they weren’t as boring as the other cops. They didn’t just stand there all static and dull. They were fun to rile up and tease and they had such an energy to them. I… may have flirted with them a bit too, but that’s cause they were cute, and had this adorable pout whenever they got annoyed, and were just… they were amazing. But then the train showed up, and Lyf got assigned to the case, and...”
He trails off, but Nastya gives a nod in understanding. “I see. You’re telling me you got attached this person. That would explain why you were moping about for a month after you returned. Weren't they a cop of some sort?”
“I mean, officially it was Inspector Second Class and they kinda hated their job, but that’s pretty much what happened. The short version is I spent eight years pinning after them, only to be stupid and not say anything or take them from Midgard when I had the chance, and now they’re probably gone because of the whole Bifrost bullshit. This is the worst.” He pauses to give a short, dry laugh. “I told myself when we left that it wasn’t worth it, that it wouldn’t matter because they’re mortal, but.... I should have just done it anyway; took them with us”
“That’s why you asked me about missing Aurora when I was gone. You miss Lyfrassir, don’t you?”
“Terribly. I keep dreaming of them- it happened again last night. The dream felt so real this time too, like they were right there. They said they were lost and I held them in my arms, but it was still a dream in the end. Haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. That’s why I asked the other thing too; about dreaming of Aurora. Seeing as you, you know, have your thing with her, I thought… I don’t know. I thought maybe you might have some advice?”
Nastya doesn’t say anything at first, but then steps away and retrieves a bottle of vodka. She tosses him a metal cup too, and even though it’s just the afternoon by the ship’s time, he might as well indulge a little. Time doesn’t really exist in a linear format when in space. They sit near a main console that’s part of Aurora’s interface and she starts pouring him a drink.
“I will not lie to you, there is not much I can offer.” She begins. “I have been with Aurora since before you came to us, but that does not mean I may be able to give the best advice. In these situations, words can do little to mend a hurting heart, save for time, of course. We are not used to that, I think. We assume such feelings to be beyond us because why does it matter in the face of forever?”
Marius takes the cup as she starts pouring herself a drink as well. “Well, it’s been months, and Lyf's still gone, so...”
“My point is that it’s never easy, no matter the scenario. I understand you feel regret as well- do you think I didn’t have regrets about leaving? I held her a piece of Aurora with me, pretend she was with me, but it wasn’t the same and being away from my love hurt, even if she had changed. I missed my family as well, all of you. Being adrift for so long gives you time to think.”
“Trust me, I’ve done plenty of that.”
“Regardless. Based on what you’ve told me, mortal or not, you felt something for Lyfrassir. That means something. Being as we are, we don’t view this, these feelings, the way other people might. Where most people we meet are mortal, it just doesn’t normally register to us; it's more of a fleeting and temporary thing. All we have in the end is our own company. However, you found something in Lyfrassir, and I understand this loss hurts you. You have all the time in the universe to heal from this, Marius. You will be okay. And you have these memories of them, so they are never truly gone.”
“I guess.” He says with a shrug, taking a sip of his drink.
“What makes you think they’re truly gone though?” Nastya asks next. “I’ve heard the story, and it sounded like Lyfrassir might have got out at the end. They were the one investigating the train after all. If they saw what was about to happen, you would think they would flee before the worst happened.”
“Well, that kind of knowledge is probably jarring to a mortal. Ivy did some calculations, and there is a chance, but once the Bifrost bled through to Midgard in full- I heard the transmissions, Nastya. Everything fell apart so fast there when we left, and even if Lyf managed to get out in time, who’s to say they’re alive now? Anything could of happened whether they escaped or not.”
“Fair point. Like I said though; you have those memories of them. Hold onto them and keep them in your heart.”
He takes another sip of his drink, thinking over her words. “I can try. Thanks...”
She nods again, and they finish the rest of their drinks in silence.
He ends up spending the rest of the afternoon thinking over Nastya’s words, and in the evening he finds himself at his violin, composing a song about Lyf. Everyone else wrote out their feelings through song, so why couldn’t he? It doesn’t help much, mostly it just fills him with longing, but it does feel nice to put those words on paper and try to translate them to sound.
He doesn’t dream of Lyf that night, and maybe that’s for the best.
Morning comes again, and after breakfast Marius returns to working on that song about Lyf for a bit. After a while though, he stops and decides on something else to distract him. Working on this is just bringing back memories.
That’s how he now finds himself up at the bridge with Brian, having a conversation about robotics. It’s fine; it’s a good way to take his mind off things. And that’s going all well and good, until…
“Hold that thought.” Brian says, cutting off his tangent about why giant robots are cool.
Marius frowns, watching as Brian looks over a couple consoles. “What’s up? Aurora find something out there?”
“Seems like it.” Brian looks back to him. “According to her, there’s a ship near our position.”
“Anything we need to worry about or what?”
“Not that I’m aware of. Scans indicate that it’s just floating there, but there is a faint distress signal still being broadcasted.”
“Jonny will probably just be bored with it though and say we should leave it.”
“At the very least we could evaluate it for salvage.” Brian points out. “Especially after that scuffle at that station we stopped at last week."
Brian corrects course for this lone ship and the two resume their conversation about robotics. Salvaging a ship could be fun, and since they traveled space for extended periods of time, the more supplies they had the better.
After a while Brain is able to get a clear image of the ship and addresses Marius again.
“Hey, Marius; does the design of this ship look familiar?” He asks.
“Why?”
Brian merely gestures over to the console, so Marius decides to humor him. He takes a look, sees the image of the ship they were approaching. Doesn’t look like anything special…
...Except the ship is Midgardian in design.
No… there’s no way…
“Marius?”
He blinks, takes a step back. “Damn right it’s familiar.”
He knows better than to hope, but he’s certain that ship is a Midgardian one. This can’t just be a coincidence. It’s been months, but Lyf’s final note- they said they had charted a ship to get away from Yggdrasil…
It can’t be… but what if it is?
He all but runs into the hangar bay, finding Raphaella already there with a few of her tools, and talking to Ivy.
“Raph! Great! Good to see you! Oh, Ivy’s here too.” He exclaims as he runs in. “What are you two doing here anyway? Thought some of the others would be here.”
“Jonny went to fetch Tim just before you got here. Meanwhile, Brian sent me something interesting.” Raphaella replies. “That ship out there he marked for salvage has a strange energy signal coming from it.”
“And you Ivy?”
Ivy shrugged. “Curiosity. There’s something familiar about this vessel and I am 97% sure I know what it is, so I want to confirm.”
“Oh, good. Then you can tell me I’m not going crazy!”
Raphaella tilts her head, tucking her wings close. “Should I ask why?”
“That ship we’re gonna bring in for salvage? I saw it, and surely you must have too. It’s Midgardian.”
Raphaella and Ivy share a look. “Are you suggesting what I think you are?”
“It could be!” He insists, hope overriding everything else. “Ivy, you know what their final recording said. What’s the chance this is them?”
“Yes, the last recording on the tape and the time it was recorded suggest that Edda may have escaped before the Bifrost consumed the Yggdrasil system.” Ivy explains nonchalantly, listing out her calculations and percentages. “That alone was a split 50%, given the circumstances, and that it had already been a few days since the train arrived in Midgard. With how much time has passed, though there are multiple factors to consider, the percentage had dropped to 17%. If this was any other ship, the chances of this being Edda would remain the same, possibly lower. However, I am certain that we are looking at a Midgardian ship for salvage, and we did not encounter any space craft fleeing from the Yggdrasil system as the Bifrost claimed it. Given we did not encounter any other ships from Yggdrasil, much less Midgardian, in the first month or two of leaving the system, with the addition of Edda’s final remarks, the happenstance occurring here brings the percentage to 75%.”
It’s enough for Marius. “So it could be them, right?”
This time Raphaella steps forward and Marius half expects her to say something about not getting his hopes up, or poking fun at the fact he managed to get a crush on Lyf and has done a very bad job of pretending otherwise. Instead, she pats his head and smiles.
“Let’s find out, shall we?” She says. "It would be interesting to see the dear Inspector again."
They all wait until the smaller ship is connected via the docking rig and Brian gives the okay to go ahead with the salvage. The others aren’t here yet, but Tim had said something in their group chat about feeding the octokittens first and one had jumped onto Jonny’s face, again, so it’s just Marius, Ivy, and Rpahaella for now. Marius is anxious all the while, eager to get aboard the ship at the possibility that somehow Lyf is back; they’re back in his (immortal) life. On the other hand though, he’s also anxious because if Lyf is aboard, what kind of state would he find them in?
It has been roughly seven months since the destruction of Yggdrasil, and while that isn’t much for someone like Marius, for someone like Lyf it might have been worse. Brian had said that he couldn’t get a response from the ship either and there was still that weird energy signal. If Lyf was aboard, the question became were they okay? Were they well? Was there something that prevented them from responding?
(A desperate part of Marius hoped that if Lyf was aboard, he wouldn’t find them dead.)
The three of them boarded the ship and passed through the airlock to the interior without issue. It was once they were in the ship’s interior that things started to get weird, and when Marius was hit with two very specific feelings: deja vu, and that something was very wrong.
“There’s definitely something weird going on here.” Raphaella announces, holding some device in her hands. “The energy signature Aurora picked up on is growing stronger. The source must be further inside.”
“It’s stupidly cold is what it is.” Marius grumbles. The ship’s heating must be broken.
“It might be worse than that.” Ivy says pointing towards a door.
Marius doesn’t like what he sees. One side of it has creeping cracks of rainbow coming from between the door and the wall. There’s more of this at the bottom of the door, seeping through into this room.
“Ivy… If- If Lyf is here, if they escaped in time, what’s the chance they've still been exposed to the Bifrost?” Marius asked, staring at the rainbow colors on the door.
“The Black Box was found with the train, so we can conclude that the Black Box itself was exposed to the Bifrost. If we take into account how ragged Edda looked when we last saw them, and we know they spent days reviewing the footage multiple times before they came to us, they could have had plenty of exposure. If that was the case, seeing the full truth could have made it worse. Edda’s last note is timestamped just before the Bifrost’s full emergence on Midgard. With the available data… I say 95%.”
That’s what he was afraid of, and he grimaces at her given percentage. That wasn't good.
Raphaella seems to pick up this and gently nudges him with a wing. “We don’t know what’s going on for sure. Let’s keep going.”
They exit the room into a corridor, and… the walls are covered in shimmering rainbows.
“Goodness...” Ivy whispers, looking around; cataloging the sight.
“Shit, it’s everywhere.” Raphaella adds.
Marius doesn’t say anything, because this is looking all to familiar to his dream from the other night. Whatever hope he had when he came down to the hangar bay is being drowned by worry because if Lyf is really here, somewhere in this mess…
This was bad. This was really bad.
‘Lyf, if you’re here, give me a sign.’ He thinks as a silent prayer.
For the most part, he’s quiet as they continue down the corridor. Raphaella continues to track the energy signature, which according to her is concentrated at the bridge. She doesn’t say it’s on par with readings she’s taken of the Bifrost, but he doesn’t need her to say it to know. The evidence is all around them.
Soon enough they come to what should be the door to the bridge, but it’s closed. Vines pulsing with rainbow colors are growing out of the edges and around the door.
It’s also covered in lines of gold; swirls of bismuth.
No…
“We’re in the right place.” Raphaella says. "There shouldn't be vines here either. This doesn't make sense-" She continues rambling, but he isn't paying attention. “-Marius?”
“...I’ve seen this before.” Marius’s voice comes out in a whisper. “They’re here.”
He steps forward and tries to pry the door open. Surprisingly, it doesn’t take much effort before he’s able to push it open and step forward onto the bridge.
And there, everything stops.
The room itself is... strange, to say the least. Colors paint every surface, every object in the room. Specks of golden light dance in the air. The strange rainbow vines that had been seen around the door are in here too; snaking through the walls and ceiling. Said vines lead back to the far side of the rainbow painted room, and there-
Lyfrassir is slumped down against the wall; unconscious. The wall behind them looks warped, and it seems portions of it have melted and dripped down onto and around their upper body, along with the vines that snake around them. The floor around them shines and shimmers; ripples coming from where Lyf lies, as if all this color just exploded out of them.
Marius wasn’t sure what the hell had happened here, but all that he was focused on was that Lyf was here.
“Would you look at that.” Raphaella remarked. “So they did escape.”
“But not unscathed, it would seem.” Ivy added.
Marius hears them both, but he’s already rushing forward, his footsteps sending ripples out as if the floor is water. He kneels down once he reaches Lyf, taking in the sight of them. It feels almost unreal, because he was so sure they were dead before now, but he knows this is them, not just a dream. They're wearing the same clothes as when he last saw them. Their sleeves are rolled up and he sees that tattoo of knotwork consistent with Yggdrasil's art styles around the wrist of their right hand. He spots a ring on the same hand; the ring he'd seen them wear every single day.
They're exactly as Marius remembered, and it makes him smile, just for a moment though. There’s joy at seeing them again after so long, but it’s quickly replaced by concern.
They look almost peaceful, as if asleep, and that would almost be reassuring if it wasn't for everything else he was noticing. Their hair was longer than the last time he saw them, but it’s lacking in braids, not to mention the fact there are splotches of rainbow in their hair too. Rainbows are shadowed under their eyes as well. They've definitely been touched by the Bifrost. There's also something dark staining their hands. He doesn't think it's their blood, there's no visible injuries from what he could tell, but still, it's a bit worrying. Marius is able to determine that they’re still breathing and locates a pulse; present but slow. However, they were completely unresponsive and cold to the touch.
“Lyf.” He says, taking their head in his hands. “Lyfrassir, it’s me. You remember, right? Remember all the violins you took from me? Come on now, wake up. I’ll start singing if I have to.”
No response; they remain lifeless like a ragdoll and cold in his grasp. He frowns, puzzled. He knows they’re not dead, but-
“Are they alive?” Ivy asks from beside him. He doesn’t know when she decided to approach.
“Yeah, but...” He brushes his thumb over their check. “Something’s wrong. They’re way out of it, and there’s all this rainbow junk, and they're really cold...”
“Maybe it’s this place?” Raphaella suggests. “If we take Lyf from here maybe that will help?”
“It may be wise to bring them back aboard and set them up in the medbay.” Ivy adds. “Get some use out of it for once.”
“Yeah… Yeah, that’s good. Right. Let’s do that.” Marius agrees, already trying to figure out the best way to get Lyf up and out of here.
In the end, he has to have Raphaella and Ivy help, since the vines are in the way and tangled around Lyf. There was a lot of cutting things away and careful prying as to avoid hurting them and, but they gradually got Lyf unstuck. Ivy helped situate them in Marius’s arms while Raphaella took some samples for research.
They left the ship quickly after that, none of them feeling comfortable staying here any longer.
When they were back on the Aurora, Marius stopped to check on Lyf again. Sill nothing, save for their pulse and slow breathing. They were still dreadfully cold, almost like a corpse.
“Shit.” Marius cursed. “What do you think is wrong with them?”
"You're the one always claiming to be a doctor." Ivy says.
"Okay, I may not know a lot, but even weird eldritch rainbow shit is way out of my range!"
“I want to say hypothermia, but it doesn’t add up.” Raphaella cuts in, gently touching the back of her hand to Lyf’s cheek. Ivy, meanwhile, set a hand on Marius's shoulder as an attempt at comfort. “If you don’t mind, Marius, maybe bring them up to my lab first? I can run some tests. Nothing drastic, I promise; just a blood sample and a few scans.”
He nods. If anyone knew what was going on it might be her. “Okay.”
Marius readjusts his hold on Lyf, whispering assurances that he was going to get them someplace to rest soon; he was just taking them to Raphaella’s lab first. He’ll make sure she doesn’t make you a science experiment, Lyf; don’t you worry.
Of course this is the moment when the others decide to finally show up.
“Okay, okay, we’re here.” Jonny announces as he walk in, Tim in tow. “Tim wouldn’t help get an octokitten off my face that attacked me and Ashes thought it was funny-” And now he notices what’s going on; sees the person Marius is holding. “Uh… Who the fuck is that and why do they look like someone tried to dye their hair every single color?”
“Not in the mood, Jonny.” Marius says with a glare.
“Lyfrassir Edda.” Ivy speaks up. “They were assigned to the Ratatosk investigation.”
“The guy from the recording- Wait, is this that cop you all kept messing with?”
“Yes. Turns out they’re not as dead as we though, although… I’d suggest jetting that ship into space and blowing it up. Looks like a Bifrost colored bomb went off in there. Nothing to salvage.”
“Oh! I can take care of that.” Tim volunteers. “So, uh… we keeping this fellow?”
“Hang on a minute.” Jonny protests. “Are they even safe to keep here? Clearly something from the Bifrost got to them if their ship is apparently crawling with rainbows.”
“Now, Jonny, we don’t know for sure how it’s affected them.” Raphaella retorts. “We’re going to take Lyf up to my lab, but I see no harm in letting them stay until we know more. This would be an excellent chance to gather more data on the Bifrost as well!”
He rolls his eyes. “Fine. Don’t blame me if everything starts melting into rainbow goop. Tim, mind taking care of that ship? I’m taking Ivy’s advice on this one.”
“Yeah, yeah; let me grab some explosives from the armory first.” Tim replies.
"Can I please get Lyf to a bed now?" Marius insists.
"My lab first." Raphaella reminds him.
"Oh, right."
Marius departs the hangar bay to take Lyf to her lab, not caring to stick around while Tim had fun making something explode. He doesn’t know what happened to Lyf, or how long they’d been in this state before this chance meeting, but he’ll do what he can for them now.
Is it some stupid hope that this is trying to make up for not going back for them? Maybe. Lyf is here now; not a dream. They’re here and in his arms, and he’s not going to leave them again. Everything would be fine. He had resigned himself to never seeing Lyf again and that he had to live with that, but now that they're here- the rainbows all over them is probably something to worry about, but for now, other feelings are overriding it. Relief, delight at seeing them again, everything he never told Lyf. There's so much coming to mind that he could say, but now is not the time.
‘It’s gonna be okay. It’ll be okay.’ He says silently to himself. ‘You’re safe now, Lyf.’