Chapter Text
Before, Simon had no one. Not a soul but the hallucinations. Till the talking rocks found him. He remembers feeling the blood pour into his lungs, his arm, or lack thereof, throbbing in pain.
Then.
The submarine being dragged slowly into orbit. Clanking outside, his mind going fuzzy, music... The sound of metal on metal, light seeping in through the cracks that were made. More musical chirping. He remembers feeling his limb body being picked up and brought into the dark, then, nothing else.
He woke up to pitch black, or was he dead, he had to be dead. He slowly tried to get up, but something moved in the darkness. Closer and closer.
What the fuck.
Something touched his arm and he screamed, reached out frantically for anything to defend himself with. His hand was met with nothing but air. Simon found the wall and pressed himself into it, still screaming. He can't remember what. The thing could be anywhere. It seemed to be doing something. It had backed up and he could hear it messing with something. Then, a light turned on.
The thing was a giant blue rock, taller than him. That only served to freak him out more but it didn't seem to want to hurt him. It had an array of items laid out before it. It's hand reached to turn off the light.
"Wait!" He cried out desperately. He could never go into the darkness again. Never. "Please. Keep it on." The creature didn't seem to understand but it got the message alright. Simon tried to reach out his dominant hand towards the rock, only to find thst he didn't have a left hand. "What the fuck!?" He started freaking out.
The rock, sensing his distress, walks over slowly and gently rests one of its many limbs on Simon's shoulder. The hand was warm. But the rock was in some sort of glass suit. It chirped something, Simon understood it was trying to speak to him but he couldn't understand what it was trying to say. The melody is quite nice to listen to though.
Even though they couldn't understand each other's languages, they could understand each other's body language.
A few weeks later, they could both tell that something resembling a bond was forming between them. The rock, who Simon calls his rock, is quite protective over Simon, and Simon will only hang out with his rock. His rock had lights on the hallways so Simon wouldn't be in the dark.
The bond only got stronger has Simon started to understand their language. Simon still hadn't given his rock a human name yet, but he had determined that it was a he. It just made things easier. From the few words that he knew and the puppet show that his rock put on, he gathered that his rock was waiting for his partner to get home from space. Also the stars are alive? Or their dying. That part wasn't really clear.
But his Rock had a lover, he was basically alone. Like Simon.
One day, he and his Rock where messing around in his biodome when another rock came in and started chirping excitedly. Simon could pick up the words "ship" and "Orbit" but that was about it, they were talking to fast. His Rock stood up to fast you'd think the world was about to explode. And those two words gave him the good idea that the ship that these rocks have been waiting for, has finally returned.
He saw less and less of his Rock has the days went by. One night in his biodome, he was looking at the sky and he saw though the see through panels that the Rocks were fishing something out of the sky, but that didn't look like something they would build. It looks...human.
Oh no. Oh no no no no. He can't face another human, what if their from the C.O.I!? What if they have come here to in prison him!? Kill him!?
He couldn't focus on anything, not when his doom was looking over his shoulder.
Simon was pulled out of his thoughts by the sound of a distant door. His Rock must have come back. He opened the door into the hallway only to see what looks like 8 rocks rushing something to the medical room they had built for him. That something looked awfully...
Human...
It was a human. Oh god. He's gonna die. The C.O.I finally found him. And they sent someone to take him back.
He looks to the door and sees his Rock embracing what seems to be a smaller rock. Oh my fucking god, that's his partner. That was the shop his partner was on! His Rock notices him and so does the smaller one. The smaller one seems ecstatic to see Simon. It rushed forward with a small box and a thick sheet of metal. Simon backs up into his biodome and the two rocks follow after.
The smaller rock fiddles with the box and sheet before it opens the sheet and connects the black box. A voice rings out through the dome.
"My name Rocky! What human name, question?"
It knows how to speak to him. Holy shit.
"Uh. Simon..." He hesitates before answering.
"Amaze amaze amaze! Rocky has not seen another human other than Grace. Mate Adrian has told me about you in past 600 seconds!" Adrian? Oh! That's his Rocks name!
Adrian. Has a nice ring to it. Simple but, classy.
"Simon meet Grace when Grace not sick!"
So this other human, Grace, was sick. But something isn't adding up. If anyone from the C.O.I met this rock- Rocky, he wouldn't have survived. They would likely kill him and use his body. He needed to see this human. And if this human was with the C.O.I then his Ro- Adrian would be able to crush him.
"I want to see him this human." To that Rocky chirped happily. He carried the box and sheet on his back.
"Grace very very sick, we put barrier to keep Simon save!"
Okay?
Simon entered the room to see a robot and working on a man. This man looked nothing like the people from Eden. Not dirty dirty blonde hair but just blonde hair, he had a bit of a stubble that the robot cleaned up. He was thin, clearly malnutrition. Now there's no way this dude is from Eden.
"How long has he been like this."
"Last year of getting to Erid! Grace sick, bad bad bad. Grace always say Grace is fine but Grace lie, statement!" Simon knew he needed to do something.
"Take away the barrier....please." The two rocks took the sheet away. Simon immediately put his hand to the other man's forehead. Fever. Fuck. And it's bad. "Solid food."
"But Simon eat food hour ago." Adrian chirps.
"Not for me, for him." Simon couldn't take his eyes away from the man's face. He looked...almost...cute. No. That's just his isolation talking.
The man stayed asleep like that for three weeks. His body was certainly getting better. He wasn't as malnourished anymore. But he was still sick, when he woke up he would most likely be delirious. That was the part Simon didn't want to be around for. But wouldn't you know it, he was there when the man woke up.
Simon was asleep in the chair close enough to the bed he could get there if something went wrong but not close enough for anything to touch him. He didn't know if he could trust Grace yet. His dreams were interrupted by the noise of bed sheets and the bed creaking. He rubbed his eyes as they adjusted to the light. He saw that Grace was awake.
Shit.
Grace was pressed against the wall, his face a mask of pure fear.
"Woah. Hey, calm down." Simon didn't know how to comfort someone. He could barely even comfort himself. He stood up slowly but Grace was terrified.
"Stay away! Don't make me go! I can't do it!" There it is, the delirious part was in full swing. And what was he begging for? Simon noticed out he had ripped the IV drip out of his arm. Great.
"I'm not gonna hurt you."
"How do I know that?! You could be working for her! Trying to drug me and put me on that blasted ship for all I know!" God, what the hell happened to this dude. Even though he hated the thought of it, he had to get Grace to calm down some how. Simon took a step forward. Grace pressed himself tighter against the wall. Eyes darting around and locked on the exit. "Where am I! Another waiting cell?!"
Okay, something is definitely fucked up with this man.
"Your delirious! No one here is gonna hurt you!" The look of fear slowly mixed with sadness. Grace started to cry. He curled up on the bed and hugged his knees to his chest, trying to make himself smaller.
"Please...don't do it... don't make me forget...don't murder me...please..." What? Seems like Grace isn't gonna be a threat at the moment. But does he remember his name or anything else, Simon needed to make sure that Grace was his actual name and not something Rocky made up.
"What's your name?"
"Ryland... Ryland Grace."
So the rock wasn't lying. Slowly, he stopped crying. He seemed to finally be exiting the delirious mind set.
"Who are you?" His voice was soft, you could've missed it if the room wasn't silent.
"You can just call me S."
"Sorry for freaking out...I-"
"Just...don't do it again.." Simon isn't gonna lie, that freaked him out. What do you mean that this man was terrified of being sent somewhere. "You uh, ripped the drip outta your arm."
"Shoot. Sorry. I just, don't like needles." Okay, getting somewhere. Some phobia he guesses. None of Simon's business.
Over the next few days, Ryland doesn't speak much except to Rocky, he seems to have somewhat mastered their language. Simon finds that the rocks are called Eridans, this planet is Erid. Theres something about the name that is strangely beautiful. Also, he found out that the ship Rylands was on is called the "Hail Mary". Funny, Hail Mary full of Grace. Who sent him must've had a sense of humor.
Grace is from Earth, something Simon never knew was possible. Turns out, he's from a different reality. Grace's theory was wormholes, but he talked too fast and too much for Simon to really understand much of anything.
He wasn't alone with his thoughts anymore.