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The day was no different to any of those that came before. Or, at least, to any other Eridian, it wasn't.
Rocky had woken from his usual slumber period feeling that something was terribly wrong. Why, however, he could not figure out. And upon finding Adrian in another room and 'staring' at a piece of jewellery they had dropped and broken, Rocky could convince himself that that was it.
(It was not.)
Rocky found himself busy on that day, unable to visit Grace before the latter's daily classes with the pebbles as he usually would. His claws were set to work, fussing over this or that by the leader Eridians. Fetching things and giving reports to other engineers (Rocky was *the* engineer now. Everyone came to him).
It was what counted as evening on Erid when he heard something. When he could finally give name to that insistent, plaguing feeling of worry that had followed him all day. The clicking of his mate's claws, the large form of Adrian now in the little 'sleep-room' they had, as Grace's space had.
Rocky found that odd. Adrian rarely clicked their claws.
That was Rocky's thing.
He waited for a moment, then two, then five. The sound of the Eridian clock said so.
And still, Adrian was fretting.
"What's wrong, question?" Rocky asked finally.
And as if Adrien did not know Rocky was home, let alone here in the room with them, they jumped. Odd.
"Rocky. You home, statement." His mate's voice was shaking faintly, yet still used the little pebble-catered speech pattern they had adopted to talk to Grace as well.
"Yes."
Adrian clicked their claws again. "Need to talk to you, statement."
Rocky didn't want to hear it. His hearts squeezed, telling him to exit this conversation. To ignore his beloved.
Yet, he hummed a note to encourage Adrian onwards.
"Heard from scholar Edridan. Grace…" They trailed off for a moment, as if deciding how best to say this. "Grace never show for class, statement."
One of Rocky's hearts stopped. Or so it felt. And then, he told it to start again, denying everything, the taps of his claws on the packed flooring stark.
Another hum; this one to say 'no'. To stop Adrian. To stop them from talking. From hinting that Friend-Grace was not okay.
Grace was not close to the humans' death age. He was studying; busy. That was all.
"I talk to Grace, statement."
Rocky said, turning to leave. He knew Adrian would understand. They always had. Even when Rocky had returned with an alien in tow he didn't want to be away from. Stars bless his darling mate.
He moved toward the station by the airlock-like structure to get into Grace's biodome.
Got into his xenonite suit and slipped through, not noticing Adrian donning their own behind him.
He stumbled on the sand, his claws sinking here and not sinking there. He didn't stop; didn't slow.
The door of the little home built lovingly came into Rocky's view, and he barely slowed before he threw himself into it.
Once, twice, five times.
Amando – who had been taught by Grace and Rocky to answer the door – opened the door, and Rocky stumbled into the house.
He called Grace's name, finding only his voice echoed back at him, off the doors and furniture.
Rocky grumbled to himself, moving back toward the door, wondering where Grace was, then. He moved to the rock outcropping, what Grace had called the 'lookout'.
And it was then he saw.
Grace laid on the beach, water lapping at his toes.
Rocky chirped in happiness, brushing past Adrien's carapace, their own giggle following him as he skipped down the stairs. As he fought across the sand again and came to Grace's side.
Only to find the man unmoving. Not even his chest moved, or so Rocky could 'see'. His giggles became screams. Screams that hurt his body to give out, as they had after Grace had lost consciousness after escaping Adrian's atmosphere.
His hearts threatened to give out again. His legs did give out.
The events became a blur to Rocky. Each moment brought a louder thumping from his carapace as his hearts raced one another to an impossible speed.
Adrian had, at some point, called a team of doctor Eridians, and they checked his best friend over, chirping to themselves, a thinking machine there too.
The next Rocky knew, he was getting apologies. The Eridians were silent, even the puffs of vents on carapaces muted. Or so they were to Rocky. Adrian was cuddling him. Pressed hard against him. And Rocky realised, with a sickening start, that his best friend was gone. That his pebble-aged alien best friend had passed.
Neither Rocky nor Adrian knew how long they had sat there. Nor did Rocky know when the feeling to rub his left leg over his right, over those little divots in his carapace started.
To fill the air of Grace's atmosphere with that beautiful little tune filling the air as it had the tunnel mere earth-months ago, when Grace was headed home. When he had asked how Rocky said goodbye back home.
Adrian watched for a moment. Let their mate have that sole moment before they copied him, adding their song to Rocky's.
The doctors slowly joined, one by one, at least 5 Erid-minutes apart.
Then an Edrian passing by outside the dome.
Then another.
And another.
And another.
And another, until it seemed all of Erid was here, elders, adults and pebbles alike. Newly-born hatchlings and those who hadn't ever really 'seen' Grace for themselves.
It went on, a song growing into a symphony of pain and agony and gratitude and well wishes for Erid's saviour. The alien who had saved the planet, and had taught the pebbles about the galaxy beyond Erid's reach. About the universe itself.
Past where the alien ship sat in low orbit, docked with the space elevator. All the way to a green-and-blue planet light years away filled with other humans who benefited from Grace's sacrifice yet likely thought he was already commended to the stars. Who would have already mourned that man.
It went on, that painful song, for Erid days, as the dome worked through the cycle of an Earth day, then a second.
It went on, Rocky noted, until his world went black.
It went on until Adrian watched the leader of the send off; their beloved mate collapse on the sand beside Grace, unmoving.
It went on until Erid had marked Grace's departure into the very make-up of the planet for those present and future to protect with their lives. To remember as Erid's adopted son.
They marked it into the Universe's memory.
And as for Rocky, whether it was sleep or death, only time would tell.