Chapter Text
Grace could've sworn he was on Erid when he went to sleep.
...So why is he not? Why is he in this weirdly packed space?
Okay, don't freak out. Except that doesn't work because he's restrained. And there's a man watching him. A horrifyingly intimidating man.
Don't fricking panic. Except it reeks of iron in here and the walls are wet. What. Good lord why are the walls wet? Grace is sitting against a wall. The wall is slick yet sticky. The wet is thick and smells like iron. Now what does that suggest?
Don't. Panic.
..Grace does, in fact, begin to panic.
He shrieks and squirms around, trying to find a way out of his restraints. What is he even restrained by? That doesn't matter, he's still touching the wet. What even is the wet? "Mother fudger that's blood! Oh my god I'm touching blood. THERE'S BLOOD ON ME!" He continues to thrashing, spouting not-quite-curses and an unending stream of questions. "Why am I here? Where is here? Why is here? Blood??? Why so much blood?! Why blood?!"
The man had gotten up the second Grace had started screaming and spouting nonsense. The man had grabbed a fire extinguisher. He was holding it improperly. Not to fight fires. Just to fight. Grace was aware, but was still talking to try and make sense of his situation. "Who are you? Why are we here? And what is here---" Grace didn't have time to keep talking, because the man had hefted the fire extinguisher up and was rearing up to smash him with it. He immediately snapped his mouth shut, staring at the man. The man took a step forward and he squirmed. He laughed sheepishly.
"Um... Please don't?" Grace offered helpfully, his voice a nervous squeak. With all that was happening, he really didn't need a concussion on top of it. The man did stop though, so he was hoping to find a way to talk himself out of it. "Yes, thanks for not hitting me. I'm Ryland Grace. Um... who are---" The man lunged forward suddenly and cracked Grace across the side of his face. He was distantly aware of sharp pain in his jaw, then another hit to his head made him lose consciousness.
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Okay, so maybe Simon panicked. You would too! He was supposed to be alone in this fuckasss submarine. He was welded into it! So how the actual fuck is there a random guy in here? And why does he talk so much? That damn... Whatever the hell is out there is playing tricks on him. It has to be. But then why is the dude tangible?
...Also, is the guy still alive? Maybe Simon should have asked some questions before genuinely fucking decking him with a fire extinguisher. He doesn't think the guy's bleeding. Or maybe it's just mixed with the blood from the walls and he can't tell the difference. Regardless, the man is, in fact, at least out cold. But the real question is whether he is still alive as well. Simon doesn't want to touch him. What if the thing outside is just trying to trick him into touching the guy so it can get him? He frowns and uses the hose on the extinguisher to poke the man then jumped back a step.
Nothing happens. Okay.
Simon steps forward again and this time used his foot to nudge at the man's side. Still nothing. That's good. Maybe. It means the guy isn't a threat. But it also doesn't confirm if he's alive. He frowned and started at the guy. He considered, then touched the guy's wrist to check for a pulse.
Confirmed, he's alive. Great. That's either good or very bad. Simon has yet to determine which of those is true.
...But if the guy has a pulse, he has to be real. But that doesn't make sense, because how would he have gotten in? The sub is welded shut. So he has to be a hallucination. But also hallucinations don't have a heartbeat. But the guy does. That has to be wrong. He checks the pulse again. Still there, still the same rhythm.
What? No, that doesn't make sense. It has to be wrong. Confirmed, he's going fucking nuts. He's hallucinating a random man. There's no way he's getting out of this bullshittery alive. The thing outside is gonna eat him and it's just trying to make him more compliant by giving him fake company. Well he's not gonna do that. He frowns and checks the guy's pulse again. Yup, still hallucinating it. Great.
He goes back to the controls and decides to continue on like nothing happened. Cause nothing did. There's no guy. He's just making it up. He has a job to do. Then he gets to be free. Yeah. Just keep on working. Nothing happened. Mhm. He's just fucking crazy. Yup. Just in his head. Nothing there.
And that worked. Simon forgot all about the hallucination while he worked. Fantastic. Confirmed, it was just in his head. Good. At least the thing has decided to give up on that particular plan. It didn't work for a second! Hell yeah, he knew better. He was getting better at pretending he didn't believe it. Because he didn't. Obviously. Mhm. That's right. This is great!
That lasted all of an hour. Because the guy is groaning. He's supposed to be gone! Simon literally just told himself he was done believing it! And yet, the dude is making sounds. Shit. But he's meant to be gone! This has been a really long hallucination. Simon glanced over at the man. Yup, still the same guy. He does look pretty real. The thing outside is getting more convincing. That's never good. He gets up and stares at the man. Eventually the man comes to, but instead of taunting Simon like usual, the hallucination just yelps and keeps squirming, spouting excuses on why he shouldn't get hit again. Hm. Usually they don't care.
...Shit.