Chapter Text
Simon felt his body rip to pieces. Simon felt his body fuse together. Simon felt his body become roots and trunk and leaves; Simon felt weightless. Simon felt himself die and die and die and…
Live.
The next moment Simon was conscious happened immediately and forever after.
“Eye movement detected,” Simon has a tube pulled from his throat, and the sedatives coursing through his system are barely enough to prevent him from ripping the arm of the robot off as he reaches up and grabs it. “What is two plus two?”
“The fuck?”
“Incorrect.” The arm reached to remove the IV in his arm, but as it reached over he caught the machine to prevent it from moving. He went to take it out himself but no arm reached over. He looked to his side and saw a dizzying absence. He still couldn’t grip the robot very tightly, and knew that he must have had enough tranquilizers and painkillers to bowl over a horse, but he just couldn’t let himself submit to the care of the med bay.
“Get away from me” Simon said weekly, but with growing strength. As his grip slipped for a moment the arm removed the IV, and he took that moment of wirelessness to pull himself off the table and fall to the floor heavily. At the same time he heard the sound of a sliding door open.
“Oh my God he’s awake! Hold still, I know it’s-” the man before him was cut off as Simon staggered to his feet and swung his fist heavily, slightly off balancing himself.
“YOU LEFT ME THERE!” Simon roars, suddenly feeling something like electricity pulse through his face, “LYING BASTARDS!! IT SAW ME AND KILLED ME AND YOU LEFT ME TO DIE!!!” Simon felt his fury heat his face, concentrating in his teeth. His mouth felt too wide, his teeth too sharp, and this unfamiliarity with his body left him careening and angrier.
The man who had come in was tall, and blonde, and Simon was ready for a fight, so when the other man turned tail to run, Simon hesitated a moment too long before pursuing.
“Rocky! Shut the door!!” cried the man, as he dove past the door right as it closed in front of Simon’s fist.
“Coward! You Fucking bastard!” Simon hisses at the door. His face momentarily stops feeling like its splitting open as the man behind the door turns and faces him. His face doesn’t look vicious, it looks scared, and… concerned? Why the fuck would the COI be worried about him?
“Please” the man begs, “don’t move so much, I don’t even understand how your body is supporting you right now but you need to be careful!”
“Spare human crazy, statement” a second voice chirps from somewhere out of side on the other side of the door.
Simon slows down for a moment, stepping away from the door. He looks around the room. It’s possibly the cleanest thing he has seen since the Quiet Rapture happened.
“How… how am I alive?” Simon asks, carefully. The burning in his face, and the electric feeling twitching in his eye start to fade.
Two voices answer him at once. One from behind the door, one he doesn’t even register, and one from the back of his head.
“Because you asked, and I saw”.
Simon’s body breaks out instantly in a cold sweat. He swings to look behind him. He can barely breath for a few moments before looking back at the man, seemingly expectantly waiting for an answer. Simon looks down at his own body again, mind now significantly more clear of the drugs that were failing to keep him still and calm. He sees that a quarter of the left side of his body is covered in root-like scars. His arm barely even has a stump left to bandage over, much of the bandage secured across his torso. His teeth still feel too sharp. And he knows. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knows.
“Because I remade you.”
The blonde man finally seems to lose his patient and blurts out, “I’m sorry, but now that you’re awake I have to ask… What is going ON? Did Stratt send you? Eva Stratt? Did they rush another ship? What did they DO to you?” Simon stares at him for a moment, refusing to answer. The other man pushes forward. “What’s your name?”
Simon is still surprised by the tears that prick his eyes. “After all this… After all that and you still don’t know my Fucking name. After all I did and you still don’t know.” This time it’s the other man’s turn to be silently confused. Suddenly Simon remembers “The black box!!! Did you find it??”
“No… we didn’t see a black box. Your ship is still in a hanger of sorts in Rocky’s ship, so we can check later if you want us to.”
Simon looks at him with a puzzled and almost disgusted expression. “Why wasn’t that the first thing you looked for? Wasn’t that the whole point of me…” Simon pressed his eyes together tightly. “Wasn’t that the whole point of this? To replicate stuff or whatever from the SM-8?”
“Look man, the only thing I recognize from what you’re saying is about a black box.”
“Rocky not know what black box is. Is box that is black? Question.”
Shush Rock.”
“Who are you?” Simon finally asks.
“I’m Grace, Ryland Grace, and my friend here is Rocky. I’ll introduce him later. You're on the Hail Mary”.
“Are you from Eden?”
“Oh, uhm… I’m from Earth? I guess kinda Garden of Eden-ish… but uhh, no I’m from California. And Rocky is from Erid, which is where we are headed.”
“Don’t Bullshit me. Earth is Dead.” Simon growls out.
Grace goes pale and immediately reaches forward to steady himself on the door frame. It only holds him long enough for his knees to buckle under him. His next words come out in a whisper.
“What do you mean the Earth is dead?”
Simon pinches his eyebrows together, frustrated. Why does this man seem to know nothing? “What do you mean ‘what do I mean?’ It’s been gone for over 20 years.”
Grace clenches the hand he still has held on the door frame. “Time and relativity might get a little weird, but I’ve only been gone for maybe 15 years. We weren’t dead yet, so I’m going to need you to be more specific.” Anger is starting to creep into Grace’s voice now.
“What in the hell are you talking about?” Now Simon is feeling his temperature raise again, “Do you have amnesia or something?”
“I don’t anymore!” Grace barks out, “Alright this isn’t getting us anywhere. Let’s calm down. One question at a time. We’ll take turns. What was going on on Earth when you left that makes you think it died?”
“When I left? I never even went to Earth, I was born outside of a Mars Colony. And I think the Earth is gone, because it fucking disappeared, along with all the stars and every other God Forsaken planet in the Quiet Fucking Rapture.” Simon throws up his arms in frustration. “Are you with the COI?”
Grace looks so, so confused. But his color is returning as he seems to begin doubting Simon’s story. “I’m not with the COI, I don’t even know what that means. Rocky. Did astrophage start eating planets? I’m pretty sure it can’t do that.”
“Astrophage not eating planets, statement.”
“Cool, cool. Alright Buddy, I’m not sure what’s going on in your head, or what they did to you, but we found you in really rough shape. We found you orbiting Tau Ceti, so I’m guessing you were here for the same reason as us, but the stars are fine. We saved them. And as far as I know no planets are missing anywhere.”
Simon just stares.
“Why am I in space?” Simon asks, quiet now.
“Wowzers, been there, done that!" Grace chuckles, much to Simon's confusion, "But listen, I still don’t know your name. How about you tell me that, then we can move the door and check your injuries, and then maybe get some food?” Grace offers, trying to summon a smile.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Doing what?”
“Helping me. What are you getting out of this?”
“Oh. Uhm, I suppose… I just want to know another human is alive.”
Rocky pipes up, and finally moves into view from beside the door. “Rocky want Friend Grace to have more human. Is good for him. Statement.”
“And WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?”