Chapter Text
“I’ve never met a Lion-Man before.”
Sung immediately regretted the words that had tumbled out of his mouth. Granted he didn’t consider himself the most eloquent being in the universe, but that was no excuse for the botched attempt at small talk. He had only known this Lion-Man, as he oh-so-gracefully dubbed him, for a few days. Havve and him had basically crashed into Lion-Man and the still unconscious Blue Boy (yet another brilliant name from Sung) as they were literally tearing each other apart. The planet they were now in orbit over was scarred and quiet, with only the two he found left alive. Havve had scanned the entire surface from their ship, confirming that every sentient creature had been murdered by something .
Lion-Man had to be forcefully carried on-board by Havve and later sedated while Sung tried to stop as much of the Blue Boy’s bleeding as he could before Havve had dashed back out of the ship to carry him on-board. Sung wasn’t entirely sure what had happened there, but he knew at least two people who might. The only problem was that one of them was unconscious and the other one hadn’t spoken at all.
Sung pushed himself off of the door frame and stepped fully into one of the many spare rooms Lion-Man was staying in.
“So, Lion-Man, where are you from?”
The Lion-Man’s purple flaked eyes looked away from Sung.
“Alright, how about what happened on the planet we found you on?”
He completely turned away from Sung.
“Listen, Lion-Man, I’m trying to understand what’s going on here to try and help you.”
More silence. Sung let out a light sigh and turned away, intending to see if Blue Boy was awake, when the Lion-Man finally spoke.
“Meouch.”
It was a low voice, raspy and barely above a whisper, but the words were definitely in Universal. Sung spun back around, “What was that?”
“My name. It’s Meouch.”
Lion-Man, or Meouch now, had turned around to face Sung. He was still curled in on himself, but at least he was talking.
“It’s nice to meet you, Meouch. My name’s Sung.” He held out his hand, which Meouch hesitantly shook. Sung felt Meouch slowly unwind, his empathic nature clinging onto it without hesitation.
Progress, I’m making progress.
“If you don’t mind me asking, what species are you?”
“Felinal. You?”
“Monolum. We’re, um, few and far between.”
“You’re the first one I’ve ever heard of.”
“Can’t say the same for you. I’ve heard about plenty of Felinals and passed by them on other worlds, but never spoken with one.”
“Heh, you’re not missing much. We’re just a bunch of tall guys with a lotta hair.”
He laughed. He actually laughed . Sung smiled at that, bright and genuine, while Meouch’s look changed quickly to vague curiosity and hesitance.
“Hey, what’s going on with your eye? It went all yellow and orange.”
“Oh yeah… It kind of does that.”
“You guys really must be rare. I’ve never met anyone else with an eye like that.”
“It’s pretty cool, but people almost always freak out on me.”
“Sung, he’s awake.” Havve’s message rang straight through Sung’s head, annihilating his current train of thought.
“Well, I’ve got to go, Meouch. It was good talking to you. Pick it up later?” He was already halfway out the door.
“Yeah, later Doc.”
Doc? Why would he call me Doc? I’m not a Doctor.
Sung quickly shook the odd comment off and practically sprinted to the small Medical Bay.
“Havve! Havve, how is he?”
The person in question was currently curled up on the cot, all four eyes studying the floor.
“Not good, I’d argue.” Havve was standing against a wall near the door, arms crossed, clearly agitated, and using his human voice to quietly speak with Sung. Just loud enough for them, but quiet enough so the Blue Boy couldn't hear it. “He hasn’t spoken at all.”
“Why do you have your outer shell on?" Sung, on the other hand, was unapologetically loud as he gestured toward Havve’s jagged armor.
Red eyes cut through Sung as Havve’s voice rang in his head. “ Don’t know them yet.”
“Whatever makes you feel better.” Sung stepped over to the cot, oblivious to Havve’s apprehension. “Hey, buddy, I’m Sung and this is my friend Havve. How are you feeling?”
The only response Sung got was a fearful glance at Havve. Even without his empathic abilities, Sung could tell Havve was scaring the Blue Boy. He shot a look at Havve and a quick message. “ You gotta go. He’s spooked.”
Havve hesitated, but eventually nodded, responding back as he walked out. “ Call me if you need me.”
Sung waited until he couldn’t hear Havve’s footsteps before turning back to the Blue Boy. The being in question had relaxed. Not much, but enough to let Sung know he was doing the right thing.
I hope I’m helping, at least.
“Alright, it’s just you and me. How about you tell me your name?”
No response.
“Okay, maybe I should go first. I found you on that planet bleeding out and brought you here to patch you up. You’ve been out for two or three days, I kind of lost track because the first day or two I spent here fixing you. Let’s just say you weren’t in the best of shape. Claw marks, mostly, but the most concerning things were the two gashes on your back. I… I’m sorry, but there was no way I could reattach them. I didn’t have all the pieces and the damage was too severe. I could only close off the wounds.”
Sung’s mind was met with a wave of pain and loss. The Blue Boy was screaming, crying, pleading for all of this to be just a nightmare. Sung knew first hand this was all too real. That realization crashed down on him when he held them in his hands, feet away from where they were supposed to be, the blood still warm and fresh.
Sung tamped down on the Blue Boy’s inner turmoil, trying to push it into some corner of his mind. However, that same being in front of him sighed, light and airy, almost like he expected this complete loss.
“Are you sure you can’t talk, because I would really like to learn your name.”
He furrowed his brow and thought for a moment, but the Blue Boy soon closed his eyes and sighed again, like he knew this, too, was inevitable. He motioned for the pen and paper sitting on a nearby desk, which Sung passed to him. He then carefully wrote out a quick word.
Phobos
“Is that your name?”
He nodded.
"Welcome to my ship, Phobos. We--"
He stopped when Phobos pulled the pen across the paper. First a word Sung didn't recognize, leading to it being delicately crossed out. Phobos pulled the pen across the paper again, this time the word was thankfully in Universal. Lord.
"Lord? Were you a Lord on your planet?"
Phobos nodded and seemed to straighten up, like he still had something to be proud of even though he was a King without a castle.
Even if it was a title with no weight.
"My apologies, I wasn't aware of your rank."
He wrote more. That's alright.
"Is there anything you want to talk about? Any questions?"
Phobos already had ink running across the paper halfway through Sung's first question. Where is he?
Sung had a feeling he knew who Lord Phobos was talking about, but he had to be sure. “Who do you mean?”
He wrote a hasty reply. That Felinal.
"I thought you might ask that…"
Phobos underlined where .
"He is on the ship with us."
All four of Lord Phobos's black eyes widened and the small white pupils shrunk, but he turned back to the page. Is he still alive?
"Yes--," something clicked for Sung, cutting off his answer as he felt a sickening pleasure rise in Phobos. "What do you mean by still?"
Lord Phobos's eyes narrowed as he wrote out his reply. Don't worry about it. He won't be a problem for much longer. He'll pay for what he's done where he’s going.
Now Sung was worried. "Lord Phobos, I'm not entirely sure what happened on that planet. I want to be clear about that. Havve and I found you two tearing each other apart, but it looked like there was already bloodshed. A lot of bloodshed. There will be no more, and not on my ship. Do you understand me?"
Lord Phobos nodded, albeit curtly, and returned to the paper. I have no control over it. You said it has been three days, so it should be taking effect.
"Yes, it's been three, but I don't understand what this--” It all fell into place. “Poison…"
Lord Phobos's glare hardened and he nodded. Sung’s eye widened in response, swirling with oranges and grays.
"It's a slow acting poison." Sung leapt out of his seat and sprinted through the halls, following his mental link to Havve.
"Havve I need you to watch Lord Phobos--err, the Blue Boy! Watch him! He doesn't leave that room!"
And Sung was gone from the doorframe, sprinting back down the hall to where Meouch was.
"What's wrong?"
Havve was ringing through his head. "Meouch--the Lion-Man--has been poisoned. I don't know what it is, but it's apparently slow acting. That doesn't mean we have time."
"I have eyes on the blue one. He's not going anywhere."
"He will only talk through writing."
"I won't be talking at all."
Sung swore he could hear Havve's eyes narrow through their link, but he couldn’t worry about his abrasiveness now. He had to find--
He turned the last corner and ran right into Meouch. Both boys hit the floor, stunned for the moment.
Meouch was the first to spring back to his feet. “Sorry, Doc, shoulda been more careful.”
Sung sat up. “No, no, that was on me,” he stood up, “but Meouch, we might have a problem.”
His mane bristled. “What is it?”
“You… how do I put this?” Blunt, just be blunt. “Well, you appear to have been poisoned, and it should be taking effect soon.”
Meouch appeared to calm down, his eyelids drooping into relief. “And I thought it was something serious,” he breathed out and everything about him relaxed. “I was actually goin’ to come find you about this sudden tiredness I’ve got. Came outta nowhere n’ hit me like a starship. Th’n everythin’ felt like i’twas on fire, so I thought tha’ migh’ be bad.”
Meouch was slurring his words, a lot . “Glad I found you before it got worse, huh?”
“Sur’ am, Doc.” Meouch’s eyes drifted closed and he fell. Thankfully, Sung was there to catch Meouch’s body with his as both boys hit the floor again.
“Meouch? You still with me?”
No answer, just shallow breaths. Sung pushed Meouch off of him and rolled out from under him. He then grabbed Meouch, who turned out to be much taller than Sung, the best he could and hauled him to the Med Bay.
Havve didn’t like this. He didn’t like any of this.
Sung repairing him and bringing him back to life? He liked that.
Helping repair Sung’s ship to bring them into the far future? He liked that.
Flying across the cosmos with Sung? He liked that.
Running across a planet with only two beings left on it who were trying to kill each other? That he didn’t like. Something about the entire situation was wrong, which made Havve uneasy. He didn’t like being uneasy. He liked order and predictability. Granted, that was all within reason considering who he lived with.
He watched the blue one-- Lord Phobos, Sung said --with his glowing red eyes and full robotic armor on. He hadn’t taken his outer shell off since these two strange beings entered their lives. He didn’t like them, he didn’t trust them, and he definitely wasn’t going to let them know what he was. As long as they thought he was an intimidating and potentially lethal machine, he could keep them in line.
Which was why merely looking at Lord Phobos kept him on the cot. Which was why the entire room was silent.
Until Sung ran in, half dragging the cat. "Havve! Help me get him on the other bed."
Havve sprung into action, picking up the cat entirely and placing him on the cot. Sung pulled out wires and machines, Havve and him moving in perfect tandem to connect them all to Meouch.
The vitals weren't good, to put it kindly. Blood pressure and oxygen slowly dropping, temperature rising, Sung's worry growing.
"Alright, alright, I need ice."
Havve grabbed some of the quick freeze packs out of a cabinet, smacked them, and placed them on the cat. His rising temperature started to slow and plateau once they activated, but it was still worryingly high.
"I need to, um, run blood tests."
I think that’s right. It feels right, Havve caught from Sung through their link.
Havve passed Sung the necessary tools. A vial of blood was soon placed in the scanner.
“He needs a,” Sung dropped below the table and sprang back up holding a rebreather. “He needs this!” He hooked it up to Meouch’s face.
Havve watched as Sung looked from the cat, to the scanner, and back again. His eye, betraying his worry, swirled with oranges and grays.
Havve didn’t like that.
Havve turned around to the blue one, who was angrily staring down the unconscious cat until a pair of glowing red eyes were zeroed in on him. He looked away, fearful of the towering android. Havve stepped towards the blue one, each movement robotic and measured.
“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?” He used his voice box, and the monotone words filled the room.
The blue one wrote out a hasty reply. I did nothing.
“THEN WHO?”
At first he wrote nothing, didn’t even move, but Havve leaned in closer. He brightened his eyes. He balled his gloved hands into fists. That got the blue one to write.
Eris.
A simple word, a name, but the way Lord Phobos wrote it spoke volumes. It was delicate and purposeful, practiced and yet untouched. It was loved.
Havve, however, didn’t have time for sentimentality or deeper meanings. “WHAT DID ERIS DO?”
Lord Phobos visibly cringed at Havve’s voice box butchering the name, but wrote anyway. Poison arrow. Lethal if untreated. No known cure except amputation.
“Are you getting all this, Sung?”
Sung, who had been fretting over Meouch, suddenly looked up. “Yeah, yeah I hear you. We need to look for the entrance wound.”
Havve turned his eyes back on the blue one as Sung started to pull the cat’s shirt off for the second time this week. “VISUAL SIGNS?”
Lord Phobos dragged the pen across the paper. Dark discoloration. Obvious.
“THAT IS ALL. STAY.”
Havve moved back to Sung’s side, eyes scanning over the cat’s chest. Some of the fur seemed odd, to say the least. Compared to his limbs, a portion of the fur on his torso was significantly darker--almost black.
“I cleaned up a small wound here, which looks like the source of… this.” Sung waved his hand over the discoloration.
“Yes, the blue one said that’s what it would look like.”
“I just don’t understand how to fix it! I don’t even know what it is!”
Just then the scanner let out a long beep, gaining everyone’s attention. Sung spun around and read out the results. “Everything’s reading as normal, except for high amounts of arsenic and silver in the blood,” he turned back to Havve. “Silver would explain the discoloration and arsenic explains his physical symptoms!”
“What now?”
“I need to completely flush his system and perform a blood transfusion. It’s the safest way and should be one of the few methods that will work at this point since it’s been in him so long.”
“We don’t have blood, Sung.”
“Ah… right, I see. Then we’ll just have to go to the nearest hospital and--”
Meouch, who had been floating in and out of consciousness, latched onto Sung’s words. His hand shot up and clasped around Sung’s arm. “No!” he rasped out around the rebreather. “No hospitals! Too dangerous! They’ll know! They’ll find me!” He panted, eyes glassy. “Just… let me die. S’what I deserve.” His hand dropped from Sung’s arm and he fell back to the pillow.
“Meouch?” Sung felt his panic rising. “I am not going to let you die! I am going to keep you right here! Do you hear me!? Meouch?!”
He was out again. Sung tore his now yellow-orange-gray eye away from the unconscious lion, and instead started looking through cabinets and drawers and anything that could open.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m looking for blood,” he shut another cabinet. “This ship was once used as an emergency medical ship. It didn’t only treat wounded, but also delivered supplies. That’s why we have most of this stuff in the first place.”
“That doesn’t guarantee--”
“If it doesn’t work then I’ll give him some of mine.” Sung spun around to face Havve after closing yet another drawer. “You know what it can do.”
Havve went quiet. Yes, he knew first hand most of Sung’s strange abilities and confounding physiology. That doesn’t mean it will work every time. Sung took a chance on Havve, and it happened to work.
Havve also knew Sung wasn’t going to stop until he saved the cat or the cat died, and there was no way in Hell Havve would let Sung take Meouch to a hospital. If what the cat had said held any weight, then they had to keep a low profile. Havve sighed under the mask, closing his one organic eye for a moment to try and center himself. Damn you, Sung, he thought to himself and only himself.
He opened his eye to Sung expectantly watching him. “Check the lower level. I think there’s a walk-in freezer room down there that might have blood. Maybe. I’ll stay here,” he shot across their link.
Sung’s face melted into a grateful look before bounding out of the room. Havve instantly turned his attention to the blue one. He had a few questions he needed answered, and it wasn’t like the cat was going to talk anytime soon.