Chapter Text
Red. Only red. It was all that filled his vision. The deep crimson blur that surrounded his body.
His lungs burned. He couldn’t breathe. Every attempt left him choking on globs of coagulated blood. This is it, he thought. The end I deserve.
Then a voice echoed through the haze. Distorted, but clearly panicked. He tried to move, but his body was heavy. Who…? Fuck… I’m hallucinating, aren’t I…? He couldn’t open his eyes. Fog rolled over his mind, and he slipped away.
☆☆☆☆☆
Holy moly. Grace scrambled towards the water, nearly tripping over himself. “Ah- crud, please be alive!”
There was a man floating in the artificial ocean.
And he was surrounded by a deep red stain.
Grace called out for Rocky, his arms plunging into the water in an attempt to drag the man out— Holy mackerel, he’s heavy— and check his vitals. He had a pulse, thank the stars; faint and fast, as if caught in some horror story in his mind.
“Grace! What happen? Why new human here, question?”
Grace looked up at his friend, breathing a sigh of relief. “I-I don’t know- he- gah! Just help me carry him!”
The pair lifted the strange man from the simulated sea, Grace using the surprising strength of his Eridian friend to support the weight.
Crud crud crud I just found a man covered in literal blood and missing an entire arm what do I do— Armando!
They rushed the blood-caked man to Grace’s house. Every step echoed please please please through Grace’s head.
Grace burst through the door, trying his best (and failing) not to panic. “Armando, new patient! Crud- help him!”
Grace laid the stranger on the bed, wincing at the crimson blooming across the sheets. The robot whirred to life, scanning the patient, pointing out a frankly concerning amount of ailments.
Grace stood outside the room, pacing. Rocky looked about as concerned as something without a face could. “New human okay, question?”
Grace let out a shuddering sigh. “I-I don’t know, bud… he looks… gosh… h-he looks in pretty bad shape…”
“Is human shape.”
“That’s… not what I meant, Rocky.”