Chapter Text
Enjin and the others had been stuck in No Man’s Land for almost two full days waiting for backup.
At first it was manageable.
Then the exhaustion started setting in.
The air out there was horrible on a good day, terribly thick in a way that sat heavy in your lungs no matter how much you cough it up. They’d already gone through most of the clean oxygen tanks hours ago, forcing everyone to start rationing what little they had left while occasionally breathing in the bad air just to preserve the rest.
Nobody was taking it well.
Rudo had long since stopped talking as much, curled up near the side of the vehicle with his mask pressed tightly against his face. Amo looked pale. Zanka was visibly irritated by everything, which honestly wasn’t unusual, but now it had the added edge of somebody running on almost no sleep.
Even Enjin’s own thoughts were starting to feel sluggish.
So maybe that was why he almost didn’t question it at first when he spotted someone familiar standing just outside the vehicle.
Gris.
Enjin blinked slowly.
Gris had stayed home when they left for this mission. Enjin remembered that clearly. Stomach bug. Could barely stand upright without complaining about dying.
So why was he here?
For one dangerous second relief actually hit him.
Was Gris really here to save them?
“Don’t you miss me?”
Gris smiled lazily from outside the car, leaning down slightly toward Enjin’s window.
Enjin let out a tired sigh, resting his head against the door.
“More than you know.”
His voice sounded rough.
Exhausted.
But then something started feeling… off.
Enjin’s eyes slowly narrowed.
“Then take off your mask and kiss me!”
Gris grinned afterward like the suggestion was funny. Except. Gris wasn’t wearing a mask. At all.
The realization hit Enjin almost immediately after.
There was no way anybody could survive out there without one for this long.
Not possible.
A cold feeling crawled up Enjin’s spine despite the exhaustion dragging at his thoughts.
Warning signs.
One after another.
Something pretending to be Gris stood outside the vehicle smiling at him. Enjin stayed quiet for a second. Then suddenly laughed softly under his breath like he was embarrassed.
“Gris,” he started carefully, rubbing the back of his neck. “I’ve told you this before…”
He forced an awkward smile onto his face.
“You know I’m scared of public affection.”
Normally Gris would’ve immediately laughed at him for saying something that stupid. Would’ve teased him. Made fun of him. Instead the thing outside the window froze for half a second.
Its smile twitched slightly.
Something ugly flashed across its face before it quickly smoothed back into a grin again.
“Oh,” it answered lightly. “Right.”
Enjin’s stomach dropped.
Because Gris would’ve never forgotten that joke.
“I’ll make sure that you are safe and sound!” Gris said cheerfully.
The thing wearing Gris’s face smiled wide enough to make Enjin’s stomach twist.
“Come play with me and our daughter, and let’s watch our love leave the ground!”
It ducked behind one of the large rocks nearby before reappearing a second later holding Follo in its arms. Enjin felt his blood run cold underneath the exhaustion fogging up his head. Yeah. That confirmed it. This thing was absolutely not Gris.
Gris would never call Follo their daughter. Ever. Follo was practically their son at this point and Gris got weirdly defensive anytime somebody said otherwise.
Which meant whatever this thing was, it only knew surface level information.
It copied.
But it didn’t actually understand.
Enjin forced himself to stay relaxed despite every alarm in his body screaming at him to either run or put his umbreaker through whatever was standing outside the car right now.
He needed information.
Panicking wouldn’t help.
“Oh, I would!” Enjin answered dramatically, leaning halfway out the car window. “But I’d be suffering trying to keep up with you the whole time!”
He even added an exaggerated pout for good measure.
The fake Gris only smiled wider.
“I would take the suffering from you!” it said happily.
Its voice sounded just slightly too excited, very fucking eager.
“Oh, as good as that sounds,” Enjin replied with very obvious sarcasm, “I’m actually pretty comfortable right here.”
“I can take the suffering from you!”
The response came faster this time.
More insistent.
Enjin’s smile strained slightly beneath his mask.
“You know I prefer keeping my mask on my face,” he laughed nervously, trying to sound playful instead of pissed. “You’d never ask me to take it off in public, sweetheart.”
“I will take the suffering from you.”
There was irritation underneath the words now. Small. But noticeable. The thing’s smile twitched. Enjin could practically feel the tension building in the air around it.
Okay.
So this back and forth was definitely not going to last much longer.
“Fine,” Enjin sighed dramatically like he was finally giving in. “But only if you answer a question or two first.”
For a second he went still.
Then the fake Gris perked right back up again.
“Of course!”
Enjin’s eyes narrowed slightly behind his mask while his mind raced trying to figure out exactly what kind of thing he was dealing with.
“Okay, so let’s say hypothetically,” Enjin started carefully, resting his arms against the car window, “I was on the run. Or hiding. From, I don’t know… some huge fucking trash mutation.”
The fake Gris tilted its head slightly.
“And let’s say this mutation blocked the path home with giant smoke clouds and storms and all that dramatic bullshit,” he continued.
“Oh no,” it replied flatly. Enjin ignored the obvious lack of concern and kept talking anyway.
“How exactly am I supposed to evade that? How do I get home? Which route should I take? Where am I supposed to go?”
He deliberately kept piling questions on top of each other, speaking fast enough to sound frantic while secretly watching the thing’s reactions carefully.
The fake Gris looked almost bored now. Like it barely cared.
“They will chase you high and low,” it answered slowly. “So find a place they’d never go.”
Its smile widened again.
“The one way you’ll get home… is sailing where he’s too scared to roam.”
A pause.
Then:
“Oh.”
“It’s through the Sphere.”
Silence immediately filled the car afterward.
Enjin’s joking expression slipped for the first time.
“No.”
And for the first time since this conversation started, he actually sounded nervous.
The fake Gris nodded eagerly.
“This is your only way home,” it repeated. “The Sphere.”
Enjin’s thoughts immediately started spiraling.
The Sphere had a cost.
Everyone knew that.
Even if they somehow reached it, going through the border wasn't exactly something people just casually survived. And honestly, he didn’t even know how they’d get up there in the first place.
His head hurt trying to think through it.
“Well,” the fake Gris suddenly chirped again, “you asked and now you know.”
Its smile sharpened slightly.
“Now take off your mask!”
The agitation underneath its voice was impossible to miss now.
Enjin immediately forced himself back into character before the thing noticed the shift in his expression.
“Gris, why?” he whined. “You know I’m way too shy and terrified for that.”
He even laughed softly afterward like he was flirting.
Trying to smooth the tension back down.
“I would take the suffering from you.”
The response came instantly now.
Repeated.
Like the thing only knew how to say certain phrases for comfort.
“Oh, for you I would die,” Enjin sighed wistfully, “but can’t you let me stay dry?”
“I can take the suffering from you.”
“You should come into the car instead,” Enjin offered sweetly. “We’ll take ours off together.”
Even though the thing pretending to be Gris wasn’t wearing one at all.
He just needed it closer.
The fake Gris stared at him for a long moment.
Then smiled again with too many teeth.
“I will take the suffering from you.”
“Ah,” Enjin sighed dramatically while leaning back in his seat. “The things I do for you.”