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The cycle is almost over.
The first droplets of rain hit the ground, curling and running along the cracks in the stone and pooling into small puddles. NSH can feel the chill at his back where the rain is beginning to dampen his cloak.
LTTM is ahead, the fastest of the four next to FP, but as of late he’d been.. slowing down. NSH tried not to dwell on it too much.
Before his Rot had worsened, the four had been making excellent pace. But as more cycles passed and FP’s condition .. grew in severity — well, they weren’t going as fast as they used to.
He could occasionally hears bits of conversation passed between SRS and LTTM, discussing whether or not it was really worth it to have FP continue traveling with them. Rot was inevitable after all — there was nothing they could do to help FP beyond accompany him in his last cycles.
FP seemed completely and entirely unaware of the conversations the two were having, rather preferring to admire the scenery or silently trail behind NSH. He’d been speaking less, too — “It’s a sign of the Rot spreading to his mind, Suns,” LTTM had said once.
Sig kicks a rock aside, hands lingering idly at his sides as he walks. Moon is still at the front, but now Suns had caught up with her to talk. Sig could only guess what it was about.
Faintly, bits and pieces float within range .. “.. he’s a liability …” “but what can we do with him.. ?” …
“You know,” Sig calls, lifting his head and watching as Moon and Suns glance back, “I can hear you guys, right? Just because — just because Pebbles doesn’t seem to understand anymore doesn’t mean you get to —”
Moon’s breath catches, and her hands raise to her face, eyes wide. Suns expression was mixed and indecipherable. Fear spiked through Sig’s systems.
“What?”
“Hara..” Moon started, and Sig’s hands shook.
Faintly, a sound behind him, where Pebbles was: “..Sig…”
He spins on his heel without hesitation, and there he is. Pebbles is sprawled on the ground, trying to pull himself forward with his hands, but needless to say he isn’t making much progress. His eyes are wide and pained.
Without wasting another second Sig is at his side, kneeling down and letting Pebbles pull his torso onto Sig’s lap. He wished he could do something, anything, to help him.
He’d thought he had more time.
Many cycles had passed since they’d all left their cans and, in turn, their structures. Sig had been overjoyed to see Pebbles in person, even if his time was limited by the Rot. The spread couldn’t be prevented, even with the separation of facility and puppet, and Sig knew this.
Yet it feels as if hardly any time at all has passed since then.
“Sig,” Pebbles’ voice is shaking and weak, voicebox sputtering and barely able to utter a sound. The Rot must have cut off the connection to his legs, somehow —
He suddenly becomes aware again of the rain at his back, beginning to run down the sides of his face and drenching both him and Pebbles. He knows they don’t have much time.
“Hara, we need to go!” Moon’s voice is urgent, pleading, and her voicebox cracks.
Broken hands grasp at Sig’s sleeves, pulling and clinging with the desperation of a dying Ancient. He doesn’t look down. He doesn’t want to see .. see what he failed to prevent.
“Sig,” Pebbles sobs, audio distorted and completely unlike him, “Please don’t leave me! I’m okay, please, please, don’t leave me here don’t leav me her.. don’...t….”
Sig takes a shaky breath.
Sig’s head dips, systems wrenching in misery as he sees what is left of Pebbles — there isn’t much there at all, anymore.
His face is still somewhat whole, sparkling white eyes wide and cracked, brimming with artificial tears. One of his antenna had been ripped clean off, and his body.. his body…
The Rot covers parts of his torso and arms, digging into his pink outer shell, tentacles curling between the cracks of the plating, strangling his throat and eating away at him piece by piece.
“Plea..se…” Pebbles sniffles, unable to even lift himself off the ground. Rainwater runs down the side of his face. Sig wishes he could tell him how beautiful he is, but he fears he’ll never get the chance.
A hand grasps at his shoulder, giving him a firm tug — Suns voice interrupts Sig’s thoughts to call, “We need to leave now!”
The rain is getting heavier. There’s a den not far, they can make it if they rush, but Sig.. He’d have to leave Pebbles. Abandon him in the rain to either be crushed or swept away — and which fate is worse, then? To be eaten alive by the Rot, or to be pummeled into shards by the rain of his own facility?
Sig begins to rise to his feet, and Pebbles just clings harder, fingers digging into Sig’s arms and causing sharp spikes of pain to shoot up his systems.
“No!” Pebbles cries out, trying to pull himself off the ground to no avail — his legs were too mangled from the Rot. “Si..g, please, no!!”
Sig lets out a strangled, muted sob. Suns tugs on his shoulder more forcefully — Moon is already over the ridge, calling for them to hurry.
He doesn’t look at Pebbles when he rips his hands from his arms, doesn’t look back no matter how badly he wants to as Suns pulls him along. He can hear Pebbles crying out for him, sobbing as best he can, and he wants to turn back he wants to turn back he has to turn back, but —
“Just keep moving, Hara, there’s no time!” Suns grasps Sig’s wrist in their hand, but the force of it is nothing compared to how Pebbles had been holding onto him mere moments before.
He already longs for his touch, and with a sinking realization he knows he’ll never feel it again.
The rain comes down.