Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Who could've thought that such beautiful flashes of light could be the most painful thing to experience as a living being.

The waves of radiation, energy and light roll past you, a force incomparable to anything you knew or had experienced. 

Indescribable agony tore its claws through your entire body. The precious oxygen you had left in your helmet escaped through the cracks in your faceplate like water seeping through your fingers back on Timber Hearth. 

Memories of fishing together with Spinel , memories of home, of the waterfalls, of the Hearthians all going about their day, of Hal and you working together on the translator, or helping Porphy with their sap wine. Your first excursion with your jet pack and being fished out of the crater at the south pole.

And you have left them all to die. Little Tephra, Galena, Mica and Arcose, whose lives were cut so incredibly short, who would never get to pursuit their dreams.

You suddenly didn't know which was more painful. Your betrayal, or the burns and mutilations all over your body.

You try to scream to relieve at least a small portion of your grief and agony, but you were sure your lung was two- dimensional by now, as thin as a sheet of paper.

Your ears were ringing, your eyes blinded, with incredible effort you tried to cover the crack in your visor, to at least keep some of the oxygen in.

You didn't know if it worked or not, you only knew that every centimeter you moved your arm it felt like it would crack off your body and disintegrate completely. Maybe you didn't even have an arm anymore. Maybe you didn't even have a face anymore and the faceplate had completely shattered. All limbs mere burnt stubs, a face which missed all its features and looked like someone had scraped it off with sandpaper.

And a heart, shattered into millions of pieces.

You were dying. You didn't notice that until a very certain moment, when the first shock of grief passed. That spare moment where no thought occupied your mind. 

Your eyes seemed to unglue themselves and you were left staring at your palm covering your eyes. The pain, the tinnitus, the blindness, all gone. 

Slowly, terrified to see what was on the other side, expecting darkness, or a faint glow, just general remains of the Big Bang, you did not expect to see Giant's Deep. The green hued planet above you, with the cannon in orbit. 

Completely intact. It hadn't fired.

You sit up. Slowly. Anticipating the cannon to fire and at the same time hoping so badly that it wouldn't.

"Hey, you're awake! Ready to take this thing off the ground? Ship's all fueled and ready to go."

Slate was sitting by the campfire, their orange eyes fixed on the flames in front of them as they poked them with a stick.

Your heart was beating out of your chest by now, swelling with joy. You squinted your eyes at them, opened and closed them, rubbed them, did everything you could think of, trying to expose Slate's statue as a fraud, a hallucination, but they remained there, undeterred.

"You have a problem with your eyes or something?" Slate's shifts their attention from the fire onto you. "You really shouldn't be flying if you do."

Never before had you been this happy to see Slate. Their voice sounded like the most beautiful thing you had ever heard.

You suddenly had the overwhelming need to tell them how much their mere presence meant to you, but you quickly pulled yourself together, knowing that Slate was not the type of Hearthian who'd appreciate a comment like that. 

They'd definitely have you grounded for medical reasons.

Looking up to the cannon once more, you had to keep yourself from shouting out with joy. It still remained perfectly intact. 

Determined to never loose your home to a supernova ever again, you suddenly scrambled to your feet and set off for the elevator.

"Oh, hold up, you're going to want to get the launch codes from the observatory first." Slate called after you, but you had already typed in the code in an inhearthian manner (you had loads of practice doing so) and watched their perplexed face expression as you rose up onto the platform and stepped into your ship.

Blasting off, you realized that you didn't really know where to take the first step. 

Watching your dear, green home with its bright blue atmosphere rest down below your ship, you decided that safety had to come first. 

You had to check on the Ash Twin Project. 

If it worked, the sun wouldn't be able to kill you, even if it was on the brink of explosion.

You fly towards the Ash Twin and land on the sand- covered planet with ease. The column of rising sand had already formed and the two towers were already sticking out of the sand. Sitting in your ship you watched the layers of sand disappear, occasionally watching the Ember twin pass by. You wondered what Chert was doing right now.

Waiting by the warp pad for Ember Twin to align overhead, the scout set up to trigger the warp, you suddenly felt how your knees started getting a bit wobbly and your heart pounded faster and faster. You were scared, no, terrified that you'd find the warp core removed, with not enough time to retrieve it from the Vessel, even if it still was there. In one piece.

To your relief all your fear were proven wrong, as you watched core resting in the center of the project. You don't remain in there for long, the thought what you had done just a loop ago made you giddy.

After you return to the surface and leave the tower you spot the sun's healthy, reassuring yellow shine. Your giddiness evolved into a full blown dizziness, the ground below you seemed to spin around like the inside of a cyclone on Giant's Deep. 

A mixture of relief, confusion, grief (as much as everything seemed to have gone back to normal, you don't just get over resetting the universe and thinking you've lost everything and everyone you loved) and fear swept over you. 

It felt like the time you fell down from the path to the zero g cave, the waterfall tearing you down resulting in a broken leg. Just that it felt like it all played out in your chest and it made it hard to breathe.

But you had to get over it. There was still one place you wanted answers from:

The Sun Station.

Seeming it was able to tell you that the sun had reached its natural lifespan you wanted to check on it again. It would deliver information on how and when the sun would go out this time, you were sure of it.

Another source of anxiety for you.

This meant another round of waiting in your ship. You decided that it wasn't healthy to keep staring at the sun anymore, even if the visor was supposed to shield your eyes, if things were to go back to normal you'd want them to last longer.

————————

The broken bridge that used to connect the huge, ingenious chunks of architecture loomed in front of you, in their everlasting dance like motion.

You suppressed the thought, that if you slipped on your crossing this time and were to be flung out into space or thrown into the sun, you'd die.

If this really IS the end of the supernovae.

Out of all the places in your solar system, other than the inside of the dark bramble, this place felt the most surreal to you. 

Hurtling around the sun at an unbelievable speed, the heat, the brightness. And you'd have to jump across with that huge ball of plasma right beneath your feet.

You go across slowly, steadily, only lightly bumping into one of the pieces of the bridge, until you reach the other side. You immediately race over to the place where you had gotten the sun station evacuation notice the last time you were there:

Star is stable. Approaching end of life stage in approx: ERROR

More data needed to measure sun's estimated lifespan. Estimated time needed: one year to get approximate answer.

Staring at the information in your hands you felt that this time your legs really did cave in beneath you.

Pain screams into your ears as your eyelids are no more than burnt splits staring out into the vastness of a dark, new born universe. Or maybe they were completely blind?

You gasp as you writhe on the floor, back in the sun station. Your strangulated cry barely audible. Shaking, you get back to your feet, which take you to the projection pool where you're able to lean the lower half of your body against.

It takes you a while to walk over to the bench. You loose yourself staring at the sun, although you had just made a promise to your eyes that you wouldn't. But it seemed to draw you in, and anyways, the poor skeleton holding the rock disk seemed so lonely.

You tried not to wonder too much who he or she had been. 

You can't tell how much time passes. It could've been twenty two minutes, or a whole two hours, but at some point you do get a bit fed up with just staring at the sun. 

_______

After safely arriving at the Ash Twin, you decide that you were going to go visit Chert. You didn't know why, but the thought of returning to the village seemed extremely daunting to you. After being so alone for so long, you didn't like the idea of being surrounded by so many Hearthians at once, even if you missed them with all your heart. 

Because warping back and forth between the two planets took wayyy too long, and starting your ship every time and having to land it was a pain, you, at some point, decided that you were going to go planet jumping. As you had named it yourself.

With the Ember Twin in sight, you took off with your fully fueled jet pack and enjoyed the moment of zero g as you flew from one planet to the other. The first landing hadn't been too graceful, but you survived the first time, so it became a method you had used from then on. 

Pulling out your signalscope you wanted to navigate to Chert's camp, only to hear that they weren't playing. Which was fine... you knew the Ember Twin well enough to navigate on your own, but you had become so accustomed to all of your fellow astronauts always playing their instruments.

An irrational, yet nagging feeling that something was wrong swelled up in your chest once more.

You find Chert unscathed, yet upset, surrounded by tons of sheets of papers all around their camp, mumbling things to themselves.

"Goodness, it's you! Hello! I take it your first launch went well, then? Welcome to the Hourglass Twins." Chert exclaimed in surprise, so busy with their star charts that they left out their subtle sand-warning.

"Is something wrong?" You ask them worriedly.

"I- I don't know how this could've possibly happened. It must be a mistake." They look up to the sky and then back at their map, taped together grids of every single star visible in the sky. Made by themselves, of course.

"Why? What happened." 

If they say something about dying stars, I might just die myself.

"The stars! They-"

You heart sank.

"They're all wrong!"

"Like... dying?"

"No! It's like... like someone shuffled them around!" Chert exclaimed, facing their papers again.

Chapter Text

Gabbro absentmindedly set up their hammock. Something was off and it required some serious thinking.

They had died, consumed by the sun as always. No surprises there, but their memory friend seemed to have failed to replay their memories for them. Their first hypothesis was that the statue had been broken, their second that the project itself was damaged. It wouldn't be a surprise, considering how unbelievably old it was. 

At first, these two explanations were enough to satisfy them. If you did happen to come by they'd tell you about it, but they didn't feel like going through the hustle of finding you. You'd show up for sure.

So a minute went by, two and then ten. 

They spent most of the loop staring intently at the clouds, expecting your arrival. But after another ten minutes it was quite clear that you weren't going to appear.

They shrugged it off, figuring that you'd show up next loop. It was time to meditate anyways. Putting down their flute they took deep breaths and felt how their consciousness retreated from reality to rest in the void somewhere between their closed eyes and their lungs. (They were still trying to find a better way to name the location meditating transported them to).

It was only when they opened their eyes again, still laying in their hammock, that they realized something was really wrong.

Well, it was weird to consider not dying to be wrong, but after all those weeks, months or whatever timespan they had spent like this, the constraint had become a routine, a given. 

They would wake up, spend their twenty two minutes in their hammock and then die. Sometimes you would pass by and tell them about all the things you had found (though they were sure you knew more than you told them, considering how weird your behavior had become over the past few loops). 

What now?

A thought they didn't have to think about for such a long time.

The question annoyed them. It felt demanding and it frustrated them that they didn't know the answer.

They probably just didn't keep track of time correctly, but eventually so much time passed that they knew that couldn't be true.

Whatever. Something will come to mind eventually. Why rush to do anything anyways?

So they continued playing their flute, their mind wandering to their quantum statue idea. If they weren't constrained anymore, might as well make it happen.

—————

"No shuffled us the wrong word... they're not shuffled… the entire night sky has just... been switched out completely! How could this happen? I only looked away to admire our sun and then..."

Your heartbeat settled upon hearing that the stars weren't dying, that's all you needed to hear.

Oh, thank the stars.

"Maybe I could help you somehow?"

"Oh, that'd be so kind of you! I need grids so I can make a new map. Mind drawing some for me?"

"Whatever you need, I'm just happy if I can make myself helpful somehow." Seeing Chert like this was refreshingly wonderful. Doing their work which they loved so much, no pain, no fear, no grief as they yelled at you, or just asked you to leave them alone.

The stars were beautiful, weren't they? Even if our star is what ultimately killed us. I'll wait here and remember them while you gather everybody.

A sudden, sharp pain stung in your chest, this isn't what you wanted to remember right now. It was time to make new memories, and you wanted this moment to be a part of them.

"Chert?"

"Hm." They replied, concentrating on their work, their hands quickly gliding over the paper finishing their grid in a matter of seconds.

"What's something you've always wanted to do?"

"Uh... well... I don't know. Is that one finished yet?"

They pointed at your empty piece of paper.

"Uh... no. Sorry." You picked up a graphite pencil and started your work. The paper, you realized, was see through which made the job way harder.

"Why'd you make the paper see through?" You grumbled, not even half way finished with your grid.

"It's treated with chemicals to withstand the temperature." Chert replied, a small pile of finished grids to their right. "If you're going to take so long, I suggest that you get away from any sources of oxygen before your graphite pencil evaporates." 

"Right." Taking a small pile of paper you settle just right beneath their camp which was all covered in sand. After all that time (months? A year? Years maybe even?) of exploring and seeing everything you possibly could, you still hadn't ever seen the Ash Twin receiving sand from the Ember Twin. It was a strange sight to behold.

Trying to ignore it so you could be helpful to Chert, you eventually finished the grids and gave the papers to them, who was already mapping the new sky. 

"Oh, thanks so much. I'm sorry I stole so much of your time on your first excursion-"

"Don't even worry about it! If you ever need help I'd be delighted to come by."

"I really appreciate that." You could hear by Chert's voice that they were smiling under their helmet, a rare gift indeed.

You hesitated. There was still something you wanted to tell them.

"Just... you know... maybe once in a while you could... take a break and do something really fun."

"Hmm... I've always wondered about that thing orbiting the sun... haha, I mean the object that the Nomai built right there." They point to the sun station. "We're all orbiting the sun of course! I've been meaning to figure out a way to take colorful pictures with a scout so that I could launch it at that thing, maybe get some good shots... that'd be fun."

"The sun station? Oh yeah, I'd love to help with that! I could even take you there if you want." 

"Really? Wow you must be quite the pilot-"

"Oh no, there's a much easier way. Just tell me when you're free and I'll come over."

"Okay, well... off you go now! I have work to do and you have a solar system to explore."

"Right. The entire solar system to explore..." You mumble. "Well, till our paths cross again!"

"Till our paths cross again." 

——————

You land your ship on Gabbro's island, their flute playing already audible through the wind and everlasting storm.

"Gabbro." You were confused on how rapidly your mood decreased as soon as you saw them.

"Oh! I'm so glad you dropped by! Have you noticed that-"

"Yeah. It's over Gabbro."

"Huh. Well, I'm glad. It's gonna take some time to get used to, though." 

"Right."

Gabbro watched you as you looked up to the sky.

You seemed so tense lately.

They tried to think back to when this occurred, if your behavior was linked to something they had said or done. They didn't like upsetting others... unfortunately it did seem to happen quite often...

"Is something wrong?"

You look back to Gabbro, gently rocking back and forth in the wind.

Gee how to say this... I basically killed you last loop.

"Hmm I don't know Gabbro. Is something wrong? It's not like we've been dying every twenty two minutes for the past... eternity."

A sour taste lingered in your mouth and rested heavily in your stomach. 

You remember searching for them in the eye of the universe, their poem showing you the way to where they were sitting, waiting for you. Your heart cracked. Gabbro had become oh so precious to you and then... well you ruined everything then.

Who wants to spend eternity being blown up by the sun?

"Yeah... I guess, but that's over now."

I'm not being fair, it'd be better if I sat down and took a deep breath before...

"No, it's over for you, Gabbro. Because you can't bother getting up and doing anything at all. Because you're just sitting here on your little island doing nothing while I go through all the most painful experiences you could ever imagine all by myself."

... I say something really stupid. 

"Because I have two mass extinctions on my mind day and night, while you're just sitting here twiddling your thumbs."

Yikes.

Gabbro takes what you said in, you can tell. It was eerily silent then, cyclones whistling and thunder roaring, sure, but it still felt like it was dead quiet.

"Hey, you want some sap wine by any chance. I've got some down there somewhere..." they suggest after a while.

"I hate sap wine." You say in a sort of deadpan voice.

"Okay, but I don't, so, do you mind?" They stretch their hand out. 

You sigh and give them a tin can which they cracked open. Taking a straw out of their net pocket  they put the end through the tiny hole in their mask they use for playing the flute.

I tell you what, this has been really fun.  

I'm sorry for saying what I said Gabbro. I didn't  mean it, you know? Well, not all of it anyway.

And I got to help make something pretty cool, so I've got no complaints.

It's just A LOT. And I feel so extraordinarily guilty, you know?  And lookie here, everything is back to normal and you get to move on. My curiosity brought me pain and your apathy... your... gabbroness I guess... I don't even know what I'm trying to express here. You just seem so untouched.

I mean, not me, exactly, but close enough.

Jeez, do you even have to breathe? You know you can set down your drink. Are you planning on finishing the entire can?

It's the kind of thing that makes you glad you stopped and smelled the pine trees along the way, you know?

You really finished the entire can. That's... something.

"Forgive me, Hatchling." Gabbro breathed in and out, slowly, before putting the can into their pocket. "But I think very slowly, so you might want to calm down a bit. What was it you said? Two mass extinctions? Elaborate." Their voice was perfectly untouched, so, maybe what you said hadn't bothered them at all?

You weren't Gabbro, so you didn't feel their stinging guilt after all.

You shake your head. "No, it's fine. I'm sorry for what I said, it was wrong to blame you for the things I found. Don't worry about it."

"It caused you frustration. Of course I'll worry about it."

You felt how you started becoming a little flustered.

"You don't have to be. It wasn't you I was upset with in the first place."

You sit down in the sand, cross legged and watched them in their hammock, swaying in the wind.

"... okay. Well... if you change your mind, I'll be happy to talk to you about anything, anytime. Don't feel like you have to keep those two mass extinctions to yourself, y'know?"

"Right." You said before they picked up their flute again and started playing.

Contentment took over you. Listening to their flute, drifting off into meditation.

I should really thank them for showing me how to meditate. It's really useful when you're dying. Especially if you know it'll hurt.

After a while you opened your eyes again. Gabbro had stopped playing and was watching you.

"You've become quite good! Did it help?"

"Oh, yeah. All the time!" You smile at them, though you knew they couldn't see it.

"Did you even notice how we were picked up by that cyclone?"

"Uh, nope." You chuckle, realizing you were a bit further away from Gabbro than you were before, a bit too close the ghostmatter cave for your taste. "Your flute playing does help a lot though."

"That's nice, it helps me too." 

"Thanks for showing me how to do it by the way."

"My pleasure."

"I don't mean to brag" You were suddenly very eager to talk to them, now that you were sure you're forgiven. "but I do know my way around the solar system now! I can take you to down below the current, if you want!"

"Oh! You figured out the way to get down there? How'd you do it?"

"Let the Nomai solve it for me." You grinned upon hearing Gabbro laugh.

"That translator really is something."

"Nah, I used one of the projection pools!"

"Projection pools?"

"Oh stars. I'm gonna have to show you everything, just you wait, it'll blow your mind."

And I'll make sure to not tell you anything about the devastations that happened here ever again.

"The Sun station, all the Nomai settlements, the cannon, the Ash Twin Project itself! Oh and you’d LOVE the two quantum towers…"

"Right, when I'm done relaxing and done taking all this in."

"I'd even take you to the Dark Bramble if..."

Dark Bramble… oh stars.

"I have to go right now. Forgive me."

"What's wrong?" Gabbro asked, as you got up and started sprinting towards your ship.

"Timber Hearth's in danger! We need to get rid of the dark bramble seed and fast."

"Dark what?"

But you were already blasting off in your ship, leaving them to the storm and the rain on their own again.

Chapter Text

"So, we're going to want to ration the burning. Marl and I will mark the sections which we need to cut through with wooden pegs. We'll start with the roots. Arkose, are you sure you want to help Tuff dig them up? It's gonna be a lot of work." Underneath the twilight which marked the end of another rotation, Hal was giving out orders under Marl's supervision.

"Yes, of course!" Arkose nodded eagerly, but Hal sill seemed unsure if that task really was fit for a Hatchling.

They glanced at Tuff, silently asking if they were approving of this and Tuff settled the matter with a gentle nod.

"All right. But you have to do whatever Tuff says, no fooling around."

While Arkose cheerfully skipped over to Tuff, Hal continued by explaining how and where Tektite and Slate were supposed to set the plant on fire.

"We think the dark bramble seed has been in this crater for at least three weeks already. It's gonna take a lot of work to destroy completely, so we're going to try the alcohol method Porphy suggested, as it might help poisoning the plant as well."

The plan was fairly simple. Cut the plant apart, hammer a funnel into each of the sections, add pure alcohol and let the thing burn to the ground.

In case something went wrong, buckets of sand and fire blankets lay prepared. Your EVA suit lay next to them as well. After landing on the launch pad you had straight left the ship and used the jet pack to fly over to the observatory, Mica had been marveling about you flying through the village ever since then.

Hal and Hornfels, admiring the statue which had opened its eyes, were quite surprised when you appeared in full gear and told them about a seed that needed to be removed pronto, Tektite's order, especially when they arrived at the crater and Tektite hadn't recalled seeing you since yesterday

While Hal started expressing their worries about letting Mica help "blowing this pathetic seed straight out of the ground" to Slate, you watched the Dark Bramble loom above the crater overhead. A weird feeling settled in your stomach.

—————

Grabbing an ax you started work. Hal had assured you that they had everything under control and you could leave again if you wanted to, but you needed this seed permanently off your mind so you insisted that you were gonna help.

All the other Hearthians exclaimed when they cut a section of the plant and the Dark Bramble's inner gases, a white, foggy, thick gas spilled into the crater, evaporating almost instantly.

You don't think you had seen Arkose more excited than now.

In little to no time the first funnel was already in place and Mica was allowed put some roughly ten milliliters of alcohol into the plant. 

It burned extremely well. 

"It soaked up a lot of oxygen from our atmosphere. This plant is unlike anything I've ever seen!" Hal had exclaimed after they came back from the laboratory which was set up in Marl's shed.

By the end of the day the plant that stretched out with its long roots only contained wide, hollow stubs. The smell of a musky campfire rested in the crater, it's roots now a gateway to the Dark Bramble. All Hearthians surrounded it in awe, documenting and informing the rest in the crater about it. The travelers too, of course (probably forgetting about Esker).

 Arkose and Tuff were done burning the dug up roots of the plant when you started realizing that something was wrong.

A faint sound of fire, crackling and burning came from the seed.

Putting on your spacesuit (some Hearthians close by dropped their jaws whilst witnessing the lightning speed you had put it on), you prepared your scout and launched it into the seed.

"Good thinking, Hatchmate!" You heard Hal say behind you, but you barely heard, distracted by the provided images.

The Dark Bramble was on fire on the inside.

"Hal, do you think the oxygen spread through more than just the seed?"

Hal looks at you, a little stunned. "What do you mean by that?"

"Could the Dark Bramble realistically be on fire right now? Like on these pictures? Could it spread through more regions of the plant?" You pressed.

"You think this is the inside of the Dark Bramble? Whoa... that's a theory only Gabbro would come up with usually..."

You groan in frustration.

Re- launching your scout through the seed, you monitored it as it fell right into Feldspar's camp.

"I'll be back. Make sure the Hatchlings don't do what I'm about to, you know how they are." You say to Hal, not noticing how you had caught the attention of everyone gathered in the crater, eyeing you in confusion.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

You stepped into the seed, helmet over your head and then jumped into the misty void of the Dark Bramble, ignoring the protests and yells from the outside. You thought you even felt a hand trying to hold onto your suit to pull you back in. 

You'd worry about the consequences later. 

There was no time to loose. You had almost 900 meters to cover with six minutes of oxygen. That's definitely doable. If you don't crash and hurt yourself somehow.

Thank goodness Feldspar's node didn't seem to have any anglerfish.

Other than centipede larvae sometimes drifting past you, you were all alone. 

The trip was quiet. Your steady breathing, your jet pack and soft crackling of fire only in the first one hundred meters of your trip were your only company. It felt weirdly normal, like this is the way things were supposed to be. Alone, quiet and unfamiliar.

And there it was, just in time. Feldspar's harmonica. 

You landed in the anglerfish corpse with a thud. Feldspar put their harmonica down and looked up to you.

It was kinda awkward.

"Whoa! Where'd you come from?"

"Timber Hearth." You answered Feldspar, walking over to the fuel tank that rested next to their campfire. "Does your jet pack still work?"

"Yeah. No one's come here in... well, ever, actually. That makes you the second Hearthian to reach Dark Bramble- after me, of course. Well done!... Say, it's you! They made you an astronaut? And you haven't blown yourself up yet, good for you!"

"Thanks. Listen, I know you don't want to come back, I know you want peace and quiet and it's tiresome to live with people who pressure you with so many expectations and so on, but we kinda set the Dark Bramble on fire and don't know how far the fire will spread. So, I'm sorry, but time's up." 

"What? How'd you know I'd rather stay here?"

Oh stars, I should've thought this through.

"Come on! You're Feldspar. If you actually wanted to come back you would've found a way to do it on your own."

There's no way they're going to believe a word I just said.

Feldspar seemed to hesitate, before giving you a slight chuckle.

"I always knew you were on the brighter side of the village."

Right.

You watched them fill up their jet pack.

"Where's your ship?"

"I'm without a ship." You say, looking for the branches you memorized on your way here so you could orient yourself on the way back. 

Your heart sank when you realized that this might be harder than you thought, considering the little amount of oxygen you could carry.

"Without a ship?!"

"Yeah, I'm straight from Timber Hearth. You'll see once we get there."

Stuffing their Harmonica and a can of marshmallows into their pocket they walked up next to you and you both took off.

"Wait." They say and turn around, giving their camp a last good look at.

"We really don't have that much time." You grumbled, but they ignored you.

"So... everyone knew I was here all along?" Feldspar asked you quietly.

You froze.

By Hearth's name. Why didn't I think this through?!

"No! I- well I have the newest type of signaloscope you see, and it has quite a good range." 

That's actually pretty much the truth.

"I heard your harmonica playing today, but I... you know..."

"Figured I could take care of myself, huh?"

"Right." You nodded, not sure if they actually were believing your story or just playing along with it.

It kinda sounded like a Feldspar thing to do.

"... let's get out of here."

Turning around, they follow your lead as you take off towards the place you came from.

Once you got close enough you spotted the light the seed emitted, and eventually you could see the smoke of the fire coming from around the entrance.

"You go first." You tell them.

"We go together." They insist.

And so you do. Landing onto the stems of the hollow root, you both walk back onto the safe grounds of Timber Hearth.

You faced the Hearthians gathered in the crater, some anxiously, some angrily awaiting your return.

A gasp went through the crowd upon spotting Feldspar. 

And then there was a long silence. 

It was a very surreal moment, that was for sure.

Some weird exotic, void containing plant lands in their home planet's crater, you jump into it, come crawling back out alive together with an explorer who had been missing for a little over a decade, probably living off of centipedes, marshmallows, an ancient jellyfish, tree bark, sap and sap wine or whatever it was, you actually didn't want to think about it too much.

Feldspar sighed and took off their helmet. They looked quite okay, a little malnourished and a bit white, but you thought they'd be much worse.

"Well, look who's here! Glad I came back, are we?" They exclaimed, opening their arms like they were going in for a hug.

"Wow... this is... this is amazing!" Hornfels exclaimed, and that seemed to be enough to break the silence. Almost immediately everyone had surrounded Feldspar. 

Shock, awe, happiness and relief over everyone's face.

"We should gather everyone around the campfire tonight!" Gossan suggested and set off to get radio the other travelers.

 "Were you living inside the Dark Bramble?" Galena asked Feldspar quietly, in awe. 

"Right you are! Say, what's your name? I don't think I know any of you little beasties."

"Did we set your home on fire?" Tephra asked. "It was them!" They quickly pointed at Mica before Feldspar could answer.

"Don't think you're getting away with that this easily." You turn around to face Rutile. Stars knew the last time you had talked to them. Actually talked to them.

"I'm sorry." You apologized, rubbing your hands together.

You couldn't imagine how challenging this was for Feldspar. They had an incredible charisma, that was for sure. But you hadn't spent a decade in that loop and you were still having trouble talking, even to your closest kin.

It had been so long.

They shake their head and chuckle. "Launch day and you already jump headfirst into the Dark Bramble. I always knew you were a bit... spontaneous."

Reckless. You mean reckless.

"You really have the job that suits you best."

"Aww... thanks." 

Rutile gives you a slight nod, blue eyes glimmering, you thought you saw pride, before turning their attention to Feldspar.

And then you were left on your own, standing in the middle of a huge crowd (if the numbers of a crowd are in double digits, it's a huge crowd for a Hearthian).

You suddenly wished Gabbro was here.

"Hey there, time buddy." 

"Oh, stars." You jumped. "Gabbro. Find your ship now, did you?" 

You hadn't seen them without their helmet in ages.

"It came sailing by, I think it missed me." They grinned. "Looks like you brought Feldspar home."

"Yeah... we set the Dark Bramble on fire."

"You what?" Gabbro's orange eyes widened. They reminded you of the sun, right before it went supernova.

"We didn't mean to. But it happened, so I had to get them out. I had found them before, by the way. When I told ground control Hornfels immediately wanted to send Gossan to get them. Couldn't let that happen." You chuckled darkly.

"Right. Because of the anglerfish in there."

You never told Gabbro about your countless encounters with anglerfish.

"Yeah. Pity, I think you'd like it there if it weren't so deadly."

"I mean... I like Giant's Deep. Even though Moraine keeps telling me that my bones will degenerate faster."

"Well they're not wrong you know."

"I guess not."

"And a bit of excessive gravity is nothing compared to being eaten by an anglerfish."

"... how big do they get?"

"Very."

 "Hm." 

The silence that followed felt uncomfortable. 

You didn't mean to tell them about being eaten by anglerfish.

"Talking about eating, I think I smell food." Gabbro sniffed and gone they were.

It was late. You felt drowsiness taking you over and knew the day was about to end.

Hal offered to keep watch over the seed, saying they wanted to run some tests on it before everyone would gather in the morning and burn the rest.

Marl stayed with them just in case.

You weren't hungry. And after another (twenty two minutes? hour?) the rest started moving towards the crater.

They forgot to tell Esker.

Arkose, being the fastest Hatchling in the village was the first to reach the crater.

They had brought a stone with them that they had really wanted to throw into the ghost matter.

You could tell from afar that something seemed strange about the guarded area, but as all the Hearthians jumped down to the crater and soundly landed on their feet, helping their elders get back in, Arkose tossed the stone. 

And nothing happened.

That's when you noticed the lack of crystals around and inside the gate. They had vanished.

The rest of the Hatchlings had already gathered around Arkose who looked into the camera before running up to Moraine.

"Moraine! The ghost matter..."

"Not now, Arkose!" Moraine patiently tells Arkose while they and Gabbro help Gneiss back into the crater.

"Sorry, I see that you are helping someone and won't interrupt you again." Arkose quickly spurts the typical Hatchling apology sentence, turns around and runs over to you, the closest, not busy looking Hearthian, and pulls on your arm.

"Look, astronaut! Look!"

But you already guessed what had happened. Staring at the pictures taken with the camera, your expectations were proven correctly.

The ghost matter had disappeared.

Chapter Text

It couldn't have evaporated. You knew it couldn't have.

However, Arkose remembered it, the rest of the gathered Hatchlings remembered it, so it had existed.

It vanished. Just like the supernovae vanished.

Answers. You needed answers. As soon as possible.

Answers the interloper might provide.

"Tephra, if anyone asks where I've gone, tell them I'm getting Riebeck back from Brittle Hollow because they're taking so long, okay?"

"Is something wrong?" Tephra asks in an unusual, worried voice.

"No, nothing is wrong. Just keep away from the fence, you never know." You answer before your jet pack took you up into the air, towards the observatory, again, disregarding the surprised, confused and frustrated shouts as you seared through the sky, roof of the observatory and then leaped onto the launch tower.

I love my jet pack.

The Nomaian lift took you up into your ship and you take off, intuitively knowing where the interloper was.

I know the movement of our celestial objects better than I know any Hearthian in that crater.

The realization had a bitter taste to it. But you shook it off. 

Not a thought you wanted to think about right now. Or ever, actually.

Landing your ship on that special little spot where it wouldn't freeze nor be pulled into the sun you get out and take in the sight of the Dark Bramble ahead.

You had time.

Skidding along the surface of the interloper (admittedly, it was so much fun) you look around to find the Nomai shuttle frozen in place.

Yup. Still there. 

And so was the recording. 

You continued skating across the interloper until you hit one of the frozen tails and hurt yourself. 

Right. You weren't here to fool around.

Sitting on the sun side you watched Giant's Deep which started to creep behind the sun, you watched Brittle Hollow to your left, wondering if any Hearthian had seen you take off towards the interloper instead of the planet with an erratic moon. You watched the twins in their everlasting dance.

It was time to go beneath the surface.

Waiting as the layers of ice peeled away from under your boots (you had always thought it looked like the comet was taking a deep breath before continuing its travel around the solar system), you finally hit the icy floor beneath the crust.

You skid across until you reach solid ground.

The tunnels which lead down below were crystal free. You stare at them, before launching your scout down each of the tunnels.

No ghost matter whatsoever.

Still using the second tunnel from the left you slide down to the first big hole that led to the core.

No ghost matter. None. At all.

You stood there in disbelief. 

How? How could this have happened?

Carefully, slowly you fly through the hole, closing your eyes in anticipation of pain. 

Nothing. You're floating around in the hollow core. The huge crystals that transported the deadly substance: all gone.

Pye's corpse, floating in the center, still had the recorder right next to it. 

It didn't say anything it hadn't before.

No answers, then.

Watching Pye gently floating in the care of this deadly space farer, you felt a weirdly.. at peace.

It was a different kind of peace than when you sat next to Idaea's remains at the sun station, his hand holding the disk containing the message of failure, that the sun station would never make the sun explode and that their life's worth of work amounted to a huge failure.

You were still soaking in the new environment, where the sun didn't die and you had a free, wide future.

Where you had a future at all.

No this was different.

This was home. This was the feeling you used to have when you left your house in the morning and ran over to the observatory to talk to Hornfels, prying new information out of them, anything you could find.

A feeling you used to have in the cabin where you, Hal, Rutile and Tuff lived together, when everyone was soundly asleep while you counted Timber Hearth's rotations and guessed when it completed its next revolution around the sun.

When everyone gathered around the campfire in the evening once a month, talking about anything and everything that came to mind.

Now the feeling was sparked when being surrounded in confusion, surrounded by a species long gone, surrounded by no sounds but the environment's and your own breathing.

Amongst pioneers who hadn't had a chance to finish their lives. You had been one of them for so long.

You looked at Pye. The Nomai with the "lack of ethics" Idaea said. Fondness overtook you.

"What should I do?" The sudden sound actually scared you, although it was you who had produced it.

"..." Pye remained silent. You remain silent.

It stays like that for a long time (about four minutes).

"I'm sorry Pye, I better find Riebeck now, you know how they are with space."

"..."

"Yeah, take care." You take off, patting Poke on the back before leaving. "Next time I'll come talk to you, promise."

The Nomai at the top of the entrance, or what used to be the ghost matter free entrance, unsurprisingly remained silent just like her comrade in the center.

Your space suit beeped to inform you about the lack of oxygen in your suit. 

It's time to go.

————-

"You have something to do with this strange behavior, don't you?"

Gabbro turned around to face their hatchmate, Moraine, their orange eyes piercing in that demanding way.

"I'm confused as well."

"Not as much as I am. You know more than you're saying."

Gabbro tensed. They took a deep breath, in and out.

Moraine shakes their head. "I'm just worried about them Gabbro. And I'm not the only one, you know. We're not stupid. We all see that something strange is going on. I saw you talking quietly with each other, I know that they immediately left for Giant's Deep after helping Chert with their charts..."

"Okay." 

"Okay? You're usually so talkative, what happened to you?"

"..."

"What's the dirt? Just tell me."

"There's nothing to tell."

"Yes, there is."

Gabbro hated that stare.

"By Hearth's name, is this a 'you wouldn't understand, because you wouldn't be open to the possibility' situation?"

Yes.

"No."

Moraine groaned.

"You're an awful liar."

Gabbro didn't move.

I know.

——————

You landed on the Tower of Quantum Knowledge with a thud. 

The sight of a Brittle Hollow, completely intact, was mind blowing.

Making your way down to the crossroads, your heart filled with joy upon hearing Riebeck's banjo. They had helped so much with your and Hal's translator. If it hadn't been for their enthusiasm and curiosity, you don't think you would've ever found your love for the Nomaian language.

"Oh, you launched! That's great... I know what this looks like, I'm not avoiding Feldspar though! Just having trouble collecting myself and..."

"It's fine, don't worry. No one thinks you're trying to avoid anyone, I'm just here to pick you up."

"Oh, good. Ground control radioed me and told me to keep an eye out for you."

"Did you tell them that I can keep an eye on myself?"

"Uh... no? Should I have?"

"No, you're fine. Come on!" You're able to convince Riebeck to pack their stuff and soon you're on your way.

Upon getting to the gravity crystals Riebeck pauses, the thought of having to walk on such a risky path seemed too overwhelming. They had already tripped once, after all.

"There's an alternative, if you want." You suggest and bring them to gravity lifts.

Unfortunately, the idea of being dragged along above the black hole by ancient technology didn't seem to be too comforting either. 

You knew they wouldn't admit it, but you didn't want them to feel so uncomfortable.

You hesitate. You had already said too much to all the other Hearthians back home. After the stunt you pulled with the Dark Bramble seed you definitely weren't supposed to be doing what you had in mind...

"You know, I actually fell through the black hole."

"... what?" Riebeck asks you in shock.

"Yeah. You know that white hole at the end of our solar system. The one that intrigues Hornfels so much? That's where you end up. The Nomai built a warp station there to bring you back to the North Pole."

" There's no way."

"Don't believe me? We can jump together if you want. It doesn't hurt, just feels a bit weird."

"O- okay? If you think it helps?"

"I know it does."

Good old Riebeck. May be scared of space but that won't keep them from trusting their friends with all their heart.

"By three, yeah?" You take their hand. "One..." 

They hold their breath.

"Two..." You squeeze their hand.

"Three."

You enjoy the moment of falling freely before the black hole consumed you, you felt how your body turned into what felt like jelly before being spat out at the other end.

The White Hole Station and the yellow, healthy sun greeted you and Riebeck at the other end.

They were laughing, and then you noticed you were too.

"Stars that was amazing!" Riebeck laughed. "Now show me what the Nomai built."

You and Riebeck travel to the White Hole Station, get into the capsule and enter.

Riebeck gasps at the sight.

You let them borrow the translator to translate the text in the station.

"This is genius!" They exclaim and you smile in return

Taking them beneath the deck you let them be the one who activates the warp. It was then that you realized you were going to show them every single piece of Nomaian technology you had found. 

Standing on the warp pad, the two of you look up to watch the alignment before return to Brittle Hollow. Walking to the other end of the planet, they barely payed any attention to Hollow's Lantern at all, too busy marveling at the thing they had just seen, you listened with a small smile on your face.

 —————

You gasped when you saw the usual layer of clouds surrounding your home planet.

You haven't seen any clouds over Timber Hearth since... a week before your launch day all that time ago. It was the typical Hearthian weather. You hadn't expected to see it ever again. It was enough to bring tears to your eyes.

It wasn't the same as Giant Deep's green clouds. They were grayish white, reminding you of pearls and snow. (And the fog in Dark Bramble, including the empty anglerfish eyes).

You shake that thought off. 

Landing your ship was still relatively easy. The launchpad was already occupied with Riebeck's ship, so the poor grass would have to tolerate a bit of burning to.

Three other ships stood all together, like they were gathered in a little party of their own.

You keep your space suit on, planning on leaving it by the elevator (you still needed the jet pack to jump onto the launch pad) and make your way down.

You were surprised by the number of Hearthians gathered down below, considering how late it was.

  Gabbro, Rutile, Gossan, Riebeck, Hornfels, Chert, Slate, Moraine...

You scan the crowd below, most were staring intently at you, Gabbro and you locked eyes. They had worry in them. You leave the elevator.

"Uhm... hello?" Is all that you managed to say before collapsing to the floor.

White. A bright, white light. And then darkness. Blindness. And you: burnt. Had the Big Bang not consumed you yet? 

The campfire. All travelers sitting together, side by side.

The eye, one last look around and then whisked away.

The pain: unbearable. Death: inevitable.

You were still dying. 

You were still fighting.

Chapter Text

I’m rewriting this story with the addition of the Echoes of the Eye. You can find the new story in my profile.