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During the trip to Erid, Grace and Rocky’s relationship had only grown stronger.
For those 4 years of traveling to Erid, they had no one but each other, and that was ok.
Grace didn’t know what he would do without his Rock Spider, and Rocky didn’t know what he would do without his leaky space blob.
Safe to say, they were happy with each other’s company.
But the closer they were upon returning to Erid, Rocky was acting nervous. Which was understandable, he hadn’t been home in 40 years, he hasn’t seen his mate in decades
Grace would be nervous too if he was in Rocky’s position.
“Don’t worry Bud, Adrien is going to be so happy to see you.” Grace reassured him.
“It’s not just that. Multiple things. Many factors. Returning home alone. Crew died.” Rocky replied.
“It wasn’t your fault, the Eridian’s will understand. No one could have known about Radiation Sickness.” Grace said.
“Understand. But not just that either. Many things.“ Rocky said, before pausing for a moment. Grace could tell there was a lot on the Eridian’s mind.
“Wish I was Brave. Like Grace.” Rocky said.
Grace didn’t respond to that, he didn’t know what to say.
Grace had remembered what happened to him, what Stratt did. How Grace had ran.
Grace wasn’t Brave.
It had bothered him every time Rocky had called him that word, and Grace was sure Rocky was starting to noticed.
Because every time Grace had reacted negatively to being called brave, Rocky would just look at him, like he was trying to study what was wrong, or why Grace didn’t like to be called that.
“Sure buddy.” Grace stated, not agreeing, but not denying either.
“Why say sure? Say yes. Because Is true. Grace is brave. Statement.” Rocky said.
Grace couldn’t stand lying to him. You shouldn’t lie to your best friend.
Grace couldn’t keep living with Rocky’s false perspective of him.
Rocky deserved the truth.
“No Rocky, I’m not. I’m not Brave. I’m a coward. Our scientists died, so they asked me to take their place on the Hail Mary. I said no. They made me go anyways.” Grace explained as fast as possible. Trying to pull the bandaid off quickly, no matter how painful it was to do so.
Rocky was quiet.
Grace was sure that he was about to be reprimanded, or insulted. Because who would want to be friends with someone who would let billions upon billions of people die a cold slwo death just because he didn’t want to die on this dang ship in space?
“They force you to go? That is not right. Very wrong. Bad bad bad.” Rocky stated.
“They didn’t have any choice. It was either me or the entire planet.” Grace said.
“But you said no. They did not listen. That does not make you a coward.” Rocky replied.
“It very much does make me a coward. You’re not listening to me Rocky. I was selfish, I ran away instead of doing the right thing. I-“
“No! Not coward! You said no! No means no! You were put here without your consent. That does not make you coward. They hurt you, yet you still did the right thing. You save Earth, you save Erid. You Are Brave Brave Brave!” Rocky exclaimed.
“You overestimating my accomplishments a bit too much there, Rock. I couldn’t have done anything without you. You’re the brave one. You willingly choose to go to space, despite having a mate, because that was the right thing to do. Even after all your crew mate’s died, you never gave up hope, you completed your mission. You’re brave, Rocky, so so brave. I don’t deserve to be called that word.” Grace explained.
Rocky was quiet, lightly shaking.
Grace was confused by this, did he say the wrong thing? Even though he was right.
Rocky was Brave, Grace was nothing but a coward.
“Not true.” Rocky finally spoke.
“What?” Grace asked.
“Rocky not brave.” Rocky stated.
“That’s not true, you-“ Grace was cut off.
“Rocky is coward!” Rocky exclaimed.
“What on earth could make you possibly believe that?” Grace asked, bewildered.
“We are not on earth.” Rocky said.
“Figure of speech. Anyways, why would you say that you’re a coward? When that’s clearly not true.” Grace said.
“Is true.” Rocky said.
“Why?” Grace asked.
“Rocky only needed to help build ship. Rocky not need to go on ship. Was not asked. But Rocky asked to come, they agree and let Rocky come.” Rocky explained.
“So you weren’t expected to go, yet you still went anyways. That makes you brave.” Grace said
“No no no! That does not make Rocky brave. Rocky was running. Running away.” Rocky replied.
This surprised Grace, this was not what he expected to hear.
“You ran away? From what?” Grace asked.
Rocky did not reply.
“Were you running away from Adrien?” Grace asked.
“No.” Rocky said.
“Then what were you running away from?” Grace asked.
“Shame shame shame.” Rocky said.
“I’m not gonna judge you, Rocky. You’re my best friend, nothing is going to change that.” Grace assured him.
“But it’s bad bad bad.” Rocky said.
“You listened to my worst moment, of me being forced to go on the Hail Mary, and you somehow don’t hate me for of it. Whatever you did, I’m not gonna look down on you. We’re gonna work through it together. And we’re still going to be best friends, no matter what. I promise.” Grace explained.
Rocky took a moment to consider this.
“I was coward. I was scared. Adrien. Rocky. We . . .” Rocky took a moments pause.
Grace had never seen Rocky hesitate, never when speaking.
“We had eggs, they were close to hatching. Scared of being parent. Scared of messing up. So I ran.” Rocky admitted.
Grace was in complete shock. He had no idea what to say.
“Much regret. Hate myself for running. Left Adrien, left pebble. They would be in their 40th earth year now. I missed so much of their life. Adrien must hate me.” Rocky explained.
This was a lot to take in, and Grace felt sympathy for Grace, Adrien, and the baby Eridian.
He felt sympathy for Rocky being scared, he felt sympathy for Adrien being left alone to raise a child all by themselves, and he felt empathy for the baby.
Grace knew what it was like to grow up without parents. His mother died when he was young, and his father was absent.
His grandparents were too old to know how to properly take care of a child.
Grace had often wondered where his father was, if he was alive, if he even loved Grace.
He wondered if that’s how Rocky’s child felt.
There was a lot of conflicting emotions there.
“You made a bad decision, one that you regret. But you can try to make things right when we get back to Erid. Apologize to Adrien, do whatever you can to make it up to them and your child.” Grace suggested.
“Rocky is scared. Scared of Adrien’s anger. Scared of being told to never see them again. Scared of never being able to see pebble.” Rocky said.
“It’s going to be ok. No matter what happens, you’re not gonna have to deal with this alone. I’ll be right here with you.” Grace replied.
“You still want to be friends? After the bad bad bad things I did? Question.” Rocky asked.
“Well, I would question our friendship if you didn’t feel bad about what you did, but I can tell the guilt is eating you up alive. And besides, you’re still friends with me after learning about what I did. So yes, we’re still best friends.” Grace explained.
“We both have and will continue to grow from being cowards. We will continue to be better. We will be Brave. Statement.” Rocky stated
“We sure will. And we’ll do it together.” Grace said.
And they did. The road before them was long, but they had each other to get through it.
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