Work Text:
Subspace sat in her office, her rot aching and burning. Her body always hurt like hell during work, but it seemed like the pain had recently worsened for no apparent reason. Even the sensation of clothing on her skin made her feel as if she were being burned alive. She gazed at the bottled chemicals on her desk, not having the energy to start today’s experiment. She could even feel herself slowly drifting off to sleep, her eyelids becoming heavier and heavier.
She felt sick.
The sound of a keycard being swiped interrupted her train of thought. Mustering up the strength to turn and see who had entered, she caught sight of a man standing in the doorway. She didn’t know him well enough to know his name, but she knew he was one of her higher-ranking colleagues. His expression was mostly neutral, but there was a bit of happiness and even relief laced in his eyes and mouth, an unusual countenance for a Blackrockian employee. The constant stress and tension of the job meant that everybody usually held nothing but disdain for their life in their eyes. Even the slightest joy in one’s face usually meant something good had happened. Subspace tried to rack her brain to remember anything in the past week warranting this, but came up blank.
Her coworker spoke up. “Subspace, have you heard the news?”
She shook her head. “What news? This week’s been slow as hell.”
He smiled, leaning against the wall as he spoke. “Y’know Medkit, that traitor you fought with? She was just killed. Funnily enough, we weren’t the ones who did it; that creepy Lost Temple church was the one who finally killed the bitch. Just thought you’d want to know, since you had that whole fight with her a while back.”
Subspace turned her head back to avoid the man noticing her face filling with shock. Thoughts and guilt swarmed her head at the information, sickness pooling in her gut. Some hopeful part of her brain told her that this was some cruel prank, that he’d giggle and confess his lie. But Subspace could tell that he was telling the truth, that he was leaning on that doorway, just waiting for the pink-horned demon to give a response. Taking a few silent breaths, she spoke up, trying to control the shakes in her voice.
“Wow. Surprising.”
“I know, right? We’ve been hunting the fucker down for years, and then some so-called church just swoops in and shoots him dead. Kinda unfair, if you ask me.”
Subspace nodded, not managing to muster up anything else to say.
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It was odd how sunny a day it was during Medkit’s funeral. Subspace somehow expected stormy weather, as if the weather would embody her complex feelings. The Blackrockian had to stalk multiple people and even mildly disguise herself so as not to be recognized. It made her feel ridiculous. Sure, she wasn’t averse to committing such crimes, but it didn’t feel right to do it in such a sentimental manner. Her usual victims were unwilling test subjects, enemies of Blackrock, people whom she didn’t feel bad about putting in danger. Hunting down people who held importance to her, even if they were only important to her because of their connection to Medkit, made her feel odd and even guilty .
The funeral was ending, yet Subspace’s legs wouldn’t move. She stared at the tombstone as people began leaving, their eyes beginning to dry up and their grief still lingering in their hearts. She had caught fewer stares than expected, considering that even with her disguise on, she still looked extremely out of place among the invited guests. Everybody just seemed so wrapped up in their grief, blank stares aimed at the various walls in the funeral home. Subspace had fallen victim to this too, barely listening to the sorrowful eulogy given by a red-horned demon, whose face was coated with salty tears. The scientist regretted going through so much effort for this event, everything felt so depressing and heavy.
She continued to stare at the tombstone, tangled up in her web of thoughts. Her mind rewound to when they were first assigned to the crystal project together, where the two had a rocky start. They were polar opposites: Subspace embracing chaos and moral greyness, Medkit embracing quiet and calm. The two clashed from day one, tensions high as they experimented together. Yet as time went on, the two warmed up to each other, as if they had realized work would be hell if they continued as enemies. And as they became friends, that friendship became something more.
Subspace was so invested in her work that she hadn’t noticed how Medkit was doing. Turning to face the other woman, she noticed that Medkit seemed to be nodding off, her eyes staring blankly at the various test tubes and beakers in front of her.
“Meddy, you good? You seemed distracted.”
Medkit jumped at the sound of Subspace’s voice, her eyes widening as she snapped out of her trance. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just…tired.”
Subspace maintained eye contact with Medkit for a second. Making a split-second decision, she suddenly leaned into the other demon, grabbing her face and pressing their lips together. Shock filled Medkit’s face at the action, but she reciprocated, pressing back. As the two separated, Subspace smiled.
“Did that wake you up?”
The two dated in secret, trying to prevent their relationship from spreading throughout Blackrock. Despite the closed-book nature of the two of them, Subspace acted as if the fact that they were dating was public, constantly cuddling up to Medkit and even planting kisses on her cheek when no one was looking. Subspace liked watching the other woman get flustered over the PDA, firmly pushing Subspace away and lecturing her about keeping them a secret from their co-workers. Subspace liked seeing the usually stoic woman blush and giggle over her affection and touch. It was interesting to her.
As Subspace reminisced, she felt tears streaming down her face. Her face remained flat as she cried, her tears falling onto the grass below her. Through her quiet sobbing, she read the text on Medkit’s tombstone.
“Medkit, ████ - ████. A scientist and innovator.”
Taking a deep breath, she turned around to leave, silently loathing the tombstone for how little it captured Medkit’s life as a whole.