Chapter Text
Tangled Flesh
Chapter 1
Aftermath
He couldn’t remember, all he knew was that there was a lot of pain, and there was a bright flash, and…him?
Rocky opened his eyes and it hurt. Opened his eyes? Thats not right, nothing felt right either. It was like everything was touching him at one time and he couldn’t register nor ping anything. But oh there was one thing he knew perfectly well over all else he was tired…so so tired.
He closed his eyes again and fell asleep hoping beyond hope that someone was watching him. He hurt so much…
He fell into another deep sleep.
(0)
He opened his eyes again and he saw something unusual: a soft pink color, which was weird because he didn’t have eyes, and he didn’t know what color was. This was odd, and he didn’t like it…was that…he saw something for a moment there, something beyond the soft pink color that surrounded him.
He tried to reach out, tried to touch that something, but he couldn’t move at all. It seemed to take a lot of energy out of him to do any of it. He closed his eyes as he panted softly.
“I’m here buddy…” The voice was soft, but not unwelcome or unknown. Rocky’s mind wrapped around those three words. Someone was watching him sleep…he was safe…Grace was here.
(0)
“What do you mean his body isn’t going to recover…you told me he’d be fine, we’d put him in this body and you’d fix his old one…” Grace was angry, Grace never got angry, he got frustrated yes, but never angry. But he was alright. Rocky was fine…what would they do if…” Rocky looked down at his hand and realized that it was a soft tanned color and there were five fingers. This wasn’t normal…
The instruments along the walls began to beep. He was panicking. This wasn’t him, who was this…and why was he where that person was…where was his body and…he stopped panicking when he heard three taps on the window…soft light taps that made him look up. He knew what Grace looked like, but this was the first time he saw his face…really really saw it. He wanted to say his name, ask if he was okay…
“Rocky, you’re alright…I’m going to do everything I can to fix your body…I promise.” He said. Fix…what happened to it…what happened to his body? Why was Grace so blurry? Was it because he was so…tired?
Rocky’s eyes closed on their own even if he wanted to stay awake. He was sure there was a bit of a plastic flavor to it…plastic flavor…what was that?
(0)
He opened his eyes, he was warm, something soft was wrapped around him, and something fitted over his mouth, but he wasn’t in that pink hue anymore. Guh the light was bright. He closed his eyes and turned away from it.
“Sorry, Rocky…here…” the light turned off and the curtain was pushed to the side. The light wasn’t so bright. He knew that face, he knew that voice. He looked on at the man before him. A cane in one hand and his usual odd shirt under his sweater. What did he call that animal again? A box? Fix…no a fox…
“Grace…?” His throat felt raw…throat…why did he have throat? Why did he have a mouth… he began to move his lips in a different way. Trying to look down at the lips but couldn’t see them. He could see his nose…sort of. He stuck out his tongue and looked at it. He touched it, and then looked at his hands. “What happen Grace, Question?” He asked looking up at Grace. “And why are you blurry, Question? Do all humans need clear stones over their eyes to see better?” He asked
“No…not really no…but you weren’t supposed to have bad eyes…but they used my me.DNA, and your algorithms and made you a body while your body was fixed.” He said as he motioned to the ball. His body lay within curled up like he had been put in a Rocky sized hospital bed covered in a blanket which was Graces idea, he just looked too cold to him.
“Bod…Body still alive, question?” He asked, looking at Grace. Grace nodded as he touched the ball.
“Yes bud…you’re still alive, but after the explosion there's a lot of you that was hurt. It's going to take some time for you to be fixed.
“How long in this body, question?” He asked Grace. Grace looked at Rocky and shook his head.
“I donno, bud…I…I donno if you will get put back.” He said as he looked at Rocky who looked at him.
“What about…Adrian, question?” He asked touching the spot on his arm realizing his tattoos, and his mate mark weren’t on the flesh. He’d have to have them replaced. Grace nodded taking his hand. Rocky gasped as he pulled back.
“Sorry…I didn’t mean to scare you.” Grace said. Rocky looked up, shaking his head as he lay back looking up at the ceiling.
“What about Adrian?” He asked flatly, no question.
“Oh she’s fine, she’s managing the pebbles till I can get back to the class room.” He said as he looked at him. In other words Adrian can’t look at him this way. He was…different. This was slightly degrading, but something he can’t do anything about right now.
There was a light knock on the door and a soft tan Eridian walked in with a tray on their back. “Alright, let's try to eat.” He said as he picked up the tray. “Thank you, Tia.” He said as he watched the Eridian leave again.
Grace looked at Rocky as he looked at the ‘me burger’ and began to cut them into smaller pieces. “Alright Rocky…all you gotta do is grind this into a pulp with your teeth and then swallow it.” He said as he held out a spoon with a small amount onto it.
“Am no pebble, statement.” He said as Grace tapped his nose.
“I’m not treating you like a pebble…I am concerned…you’ve been down for a month.” He told Rocky.
“MONTH!!!” Rocky yelled