Work Text:
When Savior Grace died, there was much discussion on how best to honor the hero. Thrums were held and arguments had, all the while, Eridians around the planet created memorials of their own. Most of these were impromptu and temporary, ways to express grief and come together in mourning.
Eventually, more permanent memorials were planned. Most commonly, statues. In the Eridian style, carved from local stone or fabricated with xenonite and other materials. Communities debated over every part of the process, from how to pose the statues to what to engrave on the plaques. Where they should be located and how big the statues should be. In the end, no single decision was made. Each community came to their own conclusion and the artists did their best to bring their vision to life in statue form.Afterall, Grace had saved all of Erid, not just those he'd personally met. It wasn't fair to govern how everyone else should mourn. If it brought comfort to have a statue of him near every settlement, than that's what would happen.
Savior Rocky argued that it was too much. That Friend Grace would not like this much fuss to be made over him. That's he'd want something simple, if anything at all. The large, looming were so outrageously antithetical to Grace's personality that it was almost laughable. But not even Rocky would prohibit them, not if the thrums decided on them.
Adrian knew, even if Rocky never said it, that it wasn't the size of the statues or the slight uncanniness of their appearance. No. It was the constant reminders. Rocky would never be able to travel across Erid without the constant reminder of what he'd lost.
When it came to planning the memorial near the Earth-dome, where Grace had lived the rest of his life, where Adrian and Rocky had stayed for most of the last decades as well, the choice was easy. No one would go against Rocky's wishes, and Adrian led the project anyways.
A statue would be made, but not the larger-than-life model of Savior Grace and the ship that had brought salvation to Erid. Something so grand was not the best way to honor him, at least not here.
Adrian came up with the idea. A short platform, small enough for all but the youngest pebbles to climb on. A plaque in the front reading simply "Savior Grace". And the statue itself?
Grace sitting cross legged, hands on his knees, looking down. Hair messy, glasses askew, wearing his favorite sweater. All lovingly recreated by the best artists Erid had to offer, led by Adrian.
By itself, the statue may have looked odd. It was certainly different than most of the statues Adrian had found on the Earth thinking machine. Most of those were figures standing up or on four legged creatures Grace called "horses". Heroic poses. Proud.
Savior Grace was a hero, but he was too humble to ever want to be depicted like that.
This was much better.
The unveiling was private. Just Adrian and the second lead artist and Rocky. It took a lot of effort to get Rocky to leave his vigil over Grace's final resting spot. He'd hardly strayed from it in the weeks since Grace's death. Only the need for food and Adrian's promise to watch him sleep could get him to come home, if only briefly.
Adrian didn't mention the statue to Rocky. It would only distress him more. He'd made his feelings clear early on, ranting about how Grace would despise the many, many memorials. Especially the extravagent ones. All while he tried and failed to hide the ever present, unending grief in the undertones of his voice.
His sorrow-song echoed and thrummed through every Eridian in hearing distance until they too joined in. Until the very planet was mourning Rocky's best friend. No one could come to help, because no one could bring Grace back to them. So the song went on, far longer than any sorrow-song in Adrian's living memory.
Even now, Adrian could still hear the song on the wind, even when Rocky slept.
Rocky followed behind Adrian, his steps uneven. The low keening of his sorrow-song impossible to ignore. It reverberated in Adrian, and in the artist already waiting by the statue.
Adrian knew the exact moment Rocky sensed the statue. The way his footsteps clacked to a stop. His song softened. A few clicks proved he was taking in the statue, hearing all its details, its familiar shape.
A long, low, layered note, wordless but meaning clear. Sorrow, longing, hope, regret. Just a tinge of joy.
Slowly, Rocky stepped forward. He climbed onto the statues platform, deftly avoiding the small decorations carved into the stone. One clawed hand reached out, touching Statue Grace's hand with a gentleness only an Eridian could muster.
With a soft, discordant chime, Rocky climbed into the statue's lap as if to sleep. Air rushed through Adrian's vents, just as quiet and mournful. Adrian knew that Rocky could hear it — it was nearly impossible to hide such things from other Eridians, especially those as attuned as mates were. Rocky did not respond, though Adrian was not hurt. Rocky's pain was so great that it was hard for him to echo others'.
Rocky went still. The position, cradled as he was in Statue Grace's hold, had been impossible during the Grace's life. The difference in weight was too much. Their atmospheres too different to truly touch, not without the xenonite barriers between them.
The irony was not lost on Adrian, that the closest the two could physically get was only when all that was left of Grace was the statue.
Rocky stayed still. If Adrian didn't know that Rocky hadn't just eaten, it would have been easy to imagine that Rocky was asleep. The utter stillness, the way he was draped over the statue's lap. Only the barest whisper as air went through his vents, no attempt at any vocalization, unconscious or not. The very image of sleep. Of rest.
Before Grace had appeared in their lives, Eridians did not have the concept of dreams, nor of restless sleep. They either slept and were completely unconscious to the world and vulnerable to danger, or they were awake and alert. To sleep was only a choice in so far as eating was a choice — one could only delay it, eventually to their own detriment. Hunger would always win over except in the most dire of cases, and the temporary void of sleep would always follow.
And yet, ever since Grace was no longer there to watch Rocky sleep, something about his rest was, well, more restless.
Of course, Eridian biology meant that he was still completely shut down during sleep. There was none of the twitching, tossing, or turning that had disturbed Grace's rest during the many years he'd called Erid home. Nor anything akin to his barely discernible sleep-mumblings.
Yet, each time Rocky awoke, it was as if he'd barely slept at all. For hours after waking, he was less coherent, more prone to stumbling into things. The tones of his voice more dissonant than normal. In many ways, he acted like Grace had after just waking up, especially during the early years on Erid when he was still getting used to life without "caffeine".
What might have been considered normal for a sleep deprived human was terrifying for an Eridian. Especially one still in the prime years of their life. Adrian had watched as older Eridians went through similar changes, as their limbs started to freeze and their vents started to calcify. Their insides cooled until they could no longer power their movement, and eventually, they went silent, into the sleep that no Eridian woke up from.
Rocky's body wasn't going through those changes. Adrian had checked, many times. Which meant it was all mental, emotional. As if that was any relief, to know that there was no physical symptom to address.
Adrian supposed that's what it was like to grieve. Grace's life was so short compared to an Eridian's, and from what their world's scientists had learned from Grace's thinking machine, he'd never been exactly healthy. Not since his world had sent him to die in space. And especially not since landing on a planet that he was not built to survive.
It was clear that Rocky was content to stay where he was, asleep or not. It was not Adrian's place to tell Rocky how to grieve or for how long, but Adrian could be there for him as much as he would allow. He didn't need to be asleep for Adrian to watch over him.
Adrian settled in front of the statue, keeping Rocky in sight. Savior Grace looking down at him, a soft smile on his face. Watching, just as he had in life.
In the years and decades that followed, dozens, perhaps hundreds, of statues were built all over Erid. Many were larger than life, showing him as the hero he was, regardless of what his thoughts on those depictions of him would have been. Many of those featured Savior Rocky at his side, equal partners in their mission to save two stars and two worlds.
Many, many more were modeled after the statue Adrian designed. Perhaps a bit larger than Grace, enough to accommodate a wider variety of Eridians. Almost always crosslegged. Looking down with a gentle, welcoming smile.
No Eridian would ever have to sleep without someone watching over them again.