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A body growing cold beneath you as your hands desperately push on their wounds to stop the blood from flowing out where it's not supposed to be. You know in your heart that it’s useless, and with each second that passes only proves that the thought was true.
You didn’t have any medkits or those healing syringes. There won’t be any time left to go and find any of those. They would have already bled to death by the time you spotted one.
Think, think, dammit! In all of your runs, you’ve only ever come across decaying corpses, not those on the verge of death!
What’s worse is that the two of you decided to team up just a few rooms ago. You can’t lose them just yet, this was the fastest run you had!
But it was too late for options, none would work. Your hands are stained with red and it's seeping into your clothes, while the other person is growing more and more pale. Their whole being is shaking and struggling to breathe properly, but you find that they had one more thing to do before they died.
They reached for something in their pockets, barely having the strength to get it out and lend it to you. You quickly grab it, letting their arm go limp to their sides right after.
Staring at the item now with spots of blood, it was a letter addressed to no one. You didn’t know whether or not to open it.
“Hey… cou–could you bring th–this to so–someone…?” They staggered and tried to speak.
“Alright,” An empty promise, most likely. “I will. Who is it?”
“You– you’re close to him right? That Seb–Sebastian?”
Huh? “What? How do you know about him?” The two of you weren’t even close to his shop, and as far as you know, Sebastian never lets himself be seen by expendables outside his usual room. Except for when stealing documents, of course, you were still bitter about that.
So how could they have known?
“I’ve met him, be–before… multiple times. I just d–don’t have the skills to keep going to his room… So It’s been awhile since I’ve seen him.”
That explains it. They are just like you. Trapped in the same situation. It’s probably why they were such a good teammate. It does feel quite cruel to make them explain it while they suffer trying to speak. They don’t seem like they want to stop yet though.
“I thin–think it would be quite a long while before I do see him again.” There’s a fondness in their words that doesn’t reach their eyes. You feel a little unsettled by it.
You inspect the letter more. There’s a heart right in the middle, like a typical schoolgirl’s way of sending a note to meet someone under a blossoming cherry tree. Just what was their intention?
“Hey. Is this a love letter?” You asked, not so casually while trying hard to control your face. It won’t be wise to look judgemental. Like, really, there’s plenty more fish in the sea that are way better than the fish in the shop.
You would have questioned their taste in men way more critically, but they were literally dying right now.
“You caught me,” Unfortunately. Their face was probably flushed with embarrassment, but the lack of blood in their body made it hard to do so. “Please– do it for me?”
You didn’t know them long enough for that last phrase to gain any weight, but you’ll do it anyway.
“Okay, I’ll make sure this letter reaches him.” You said, desperately holding back a laugh for their sake. It’s not because of the letter itself, no, but because of how funny it is to think about what kind of reaction Sebastian would have.
“Thank you.” They said their last words before the life in their eyes fades as their eyes closed.
Well at least you got free research out of this. You probably won’t see them again anyway, so no hard feelings.
The letter sits menacingly on your hands, and a sinister smile spreads on your face. Who knew that fish had admirers?
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Finally, you see the usual vent being blown open and the ring of his voice resonating throughout the room. You wonder if he ever gets tired doing that for every expendable.
You crawled inside the room as you always do.
“Special delivery for Sebastian Solace!” You said as loud as you possibly could. Call that a grand entrance.
Sebastian, not appreciating that entrance, gave you a warning. Not a verbal one, but with a gun ready in his hand.
“Okay, message received. I won’t do that again,” Then, with a whisper, “probably.”
“I heard that.”
“No, you didn’t– Wait, we’re getting off-track here.” You rummage through your things until you find that letter. It was a good thing you didn’t have to go through flooded rooms, it only got wrinkled a little.
You presented the letter with open palms, putting your hands up in the air for him to see.
Sebastian notices, but doesn’t make a move to grab it. You feel your arms growing numb. Why wasn’t he doing anything?
You angled your head to see his face more clear. He looked… awkward? The letter was decorated with hearts and all, but it wasn’t so tacky. Hold on, what was he thinking–
His tail noticeably swishes from left to right. With a frown and a slight waver in his voice like he doesn’t know how to respond, he said, “Well, I’m flattered, but–”
“It’s from another expendable.” You deadpanned. No use having a big misunderstanding, it’s not like this is a soap opera.
“Oh.” Sebastian said, finally picking the letter up from your hands. “That’s a relief. That would have been… weird.”
“Of course, our relationship is strictly for business. Just very professional.” You said, sounding proud of yourself for being the only expendable to be this close to him.
Sebastian pointed a claw towards you. “And good business partners don’t keep their tab piling up.”
“I’ll pay for it, I swear! Just give me… a few more runs!” You tensed up and scrambled to find an excuse. Why was he bringing that up now?
His look says that he doesn’t believe you at all. “Are you planning to complete your mission so you won’t have to pay me back?”
“...no.” You say, hiding your nervousness behind a clear veil. “I wouldn’t do that to my good partner!”
“I’m going to add an interest rate.” Sebastian said with no hesitation.
“Please don’t?”
“Then pay up.”
“Fine, I’ll pay half of it first.” Sensing Sebastian’s glare on you, you quickly added, “I’ll pay for the other half next run, I promise.”
He doesn’t respond, but instead busies himself with starting a small fire. It is chilly here down in the ocean, though with his fish genetics, wouldn’t he be alright with it?
Maybe he just likes the warmth.
You, on the other hand, gathered enough notes and tapes to give to him. There were documents and tape rolls you couldn’t either decipher or use, so they weren’t valuable for your own little research.
You snuck in a glance to the growing fire in the room. You saw him using the letter to feed it, burning it to ashes.
You suddenly feel sympathetic to the expendable’s feelings being burned down, hell, Sebastian never even took the time to open the thing and read it.
It’s not like he’s obligated to read it, and you were only tasked to deliver it to him, so it’s no longer your problem with what he does to it.
Still, you took the opportunity to tease him about it. “Not even a peek to see all the heartfelt words your secret admirer has for you? How cruel, how heartless!”
“I have no interest in what a lovestruck idiot wants from me.”
“Fair enough.” And that was the end of it.
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Apparently you’ve been promoted into a postal worker.
Run after run, you’ve come across not one, but several expendables asking you to deliver so many letters and packages all addressed to the one and only shopkeeper.
The only reason you’re doing this is that they give something in exchange for your delivery services. That something is, of course, research! That debt you're piling up on Sebastian is not going to pay itself.
But you didn’t know that there were so many expendables who were in some Sebastian fanclub. That fish may be charming, but that’s only to get people to buy more stuff from him! You are not falling for that trick.
You come across so many expendables this run, it’s like they’ve all been waiting for you. And each one, without fail, asked you if you could deliver something to Sebastian.
“Could you… bring these flowers to him?” How did you even get those??
And another,
“I have a letter for you to deliver. Will five hundred research be enough?” Straight to the point! But why does this feel like a shady deal?
One more joins in,
“Surely this time he’ll answer me!” You don’t have the heart to tell the truth…
Last, and you hope so, as this must be the 20th time this run. A group of expendables came up to you. “Hey, can you get this package for him?”
Without even answering, one of them pushed the box right into your hands. It was actually pretty heavy. You had the curiosity to ask them, “What’s in this?”
“Oh, nothing much,” she said, twirling her hair. “Just a bunch of Sebby’s favourite things!”
Cringing at the nickname aside, you wonder how she knows all that.
“We all gathered it for him!” A member of the supposed group, maybe even fanclub, said.
They started to list all the things included in the package.
And they were oh, so, dreadfully wrong. None of it was remotely close to what Sebastian likes. It was probably just some random trinkets they found in rooms. “Is there something like, I don’t know, valuable research in here?”
“What?” One laughs.
“Why would we put that in? We need those.” He explained like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
You know, you have time, and it would be funny to pick a fight with them for having to listen to their ramblings of very inaccurate stuff. You cannot just stand there while misinformation spreads!
“You really don’t know anything about Sebastian.” You said with a sigh of disappointment.
Noises of offended gasps and shouts filled the room.
“What do you mean we don’t know him?!”
“What makes you think you’re so special?”
“YOU’RE the one who doesn’t know anything!”
Jeez, are these people really death-row inmates? Why are they behaving like this? Though, it is pretty funny to watch.
“Guys, get them.”
Not so fun anymore. Time to bolt.
More angry profanities and the like followed you for several rooms, all while dodging so many monsters. You could call this a speedrun if you wanted to. The size of the group slowly depletes as more and more monsters catch them off guard, until it was you, the supposed leader of the fanclub, an approaching Angler, and one singular locker left.
You saw the lights flicker and hear the sounds of wailing in the distance. The leader caught it too, since the both of you ran as fast as the two of you could towards the only locker in the room.
The packages and notes in your bag were weighing you down, putting you at a disadvantage.
An idea popped in your head. You quickly held the package the leader wanted to deliver, and threw it at her directly. It hit her straight in the head, causing her to fall to the ground. It gave enough leeway for you to reach the locker in time before she and the angler could get close.
The locker is shut, and the lights break as the Angler passes through so fast.
You opened to a dark room. Grabbing your flashlight, it was time to collect your free loot. You didn’t feel so guilty when you knew they could live again like you could.
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You arrived at the shop with dozens of letters and things littering your inventory, to the point it was actually a pain to carry.
Sebastian saw you struggling and snickered. “Not so fun being the one delivering packages, huh?”
“Shut it or I’ll keep buying every run.” You threatened him.
“Not with that debt of yours.”
He’s way too quick at making comebacks. You got to know how to get on his level.
“I’m literally doing this delivery thing just to clear that!” With a laugh, you continued, “And also because it annoys you getting all this fanmail.”
“Just throw it in the fire already.”
“Fine, I was getting cold anyway.” But then you had a really good idea. You see that he never even tried to read those letters of his, so maybe you could take a quick peek.
You got several letters down to the floor and opened one. You began reading the note. “Ahem, To my dear Sebastian,”
“Expendable. What are you doing?” Sebastian quickly focused on you and your nonsense.
You didn’t bother answering the question. “I am scared as hell to want you, but here I am, wanting you anyway.”
“What the fuck–”
You picked up another note. “Do you have a Medkit? Because I scraped my knee falling for you. Okay, that was cheesy.”
“It was. So stop that.”
“Do you believe in love at first sight, or should I walk by again?” You responded by reading another letter. “That one wasn’t that bad.”
Sebastian wasn’t making an effort to stop you. He was just rooted in his place, listening, and scrunching his face from cringe. You, on the other hand, tried your best not to laugh at his expression to keep reading.
“Will you… be the jar to my pickles?” You said in a very confused tone.
“What does that even mean?” He was as puzzled as you are.
You shrugged before getting another.
“You’re my favorite human to annoy for the rest of my life.”
“That sounds a lot like you.” He said, half-heartedly exasperated.
You shushed him as you collected one more paper.
“Wait, this one’s a poem!” You steeled yourself to deliver this one the best you can, dramatics and all.
Sebastian looked uninterested, but it did not deter you.
“I have something to give you,
It is not research nor notes,
But a heart– mine and true,
And you better keep it close ♥.”
Sebastian grabbed the notes from your hands and tossed it over the fire. “Alright, that’s enough. You’re getting distracted. You still owe me research.”
“But it’s fun reading those!”
Before Sebastian could say anything else, the both of you heard a gasp right where the vent was.
A voice, not from anywhere you know, yelled, "You burned my letter?!”
“Not my fault.” You said quickly.
You hear the expendable exiting out the vent so fast, clearly running away in tears.
“See what you did to that poor expendable?” You faced back to Sebastian to taunt him.
“Good, that should let them know I don’t appreciate getting letters.”
“Always so cold with you, best to keep that fire going then.” You joked while putting the rest of the letters to the fire so that you could finally get more space in your inventory.
You didn’t mention how he huddled closer to the fire with you, curled around and hogging all the heat. He let you settle your back against his tail. It was cold as usual, but it was gradually warming up. A little rest after carrying all those packages didn’t sound like a bad idea. You still didn’t fully trust him yet, but sleep was slowly taking over your senses.
“I told you to get more research.” He said in a whisper, a little too soft than you realized.
Maybe you should join the fanclub, just to mess with him and nothing else. You do kind of get the appeal now.