Chapter Text
She woke up on a bed. A rather comfortable bed, too.
Her whole body was throbbing. Ugh.
…What happened to her? Better question, how the hell was she alive?
The last thing she remembered was the SM-13. The blood that engulfed her, sucked her in, pulled her further into its depths.
How she had drowned or was eaten or… something. The details were fuzzy and it made her head pound if she thought about it too hard.
She tried to open her eyes, look around to see what was going on, but her muscles weren’t cooperating.
What the hell?
Opening her eyes should’ve been fairly simple, she thought. She tried to mumble, clear her throat, anything that required movement, but none of it worked. Her frustration was quick to build.
She tried to think of some reasonable explanation for this, but she couldn't remember a single thing from before what she had thought was her untimely death.
Maybe she was dead, and that’s why her body wasn’t working and neither was her memory. That could’ve been a possibility, right?
Her frustration was replaced with melancholy. If she was dead, that would… well, suck. Pretty damn bad.
It was that moment she managed to flutter her eyelids. Movement! Fuck yeah!
A jolt of fear ran through her as she heard a robotic voice say, “Eye movement detected” from right above her.
…What the fuck was that.
She didn’t let it deter her. She was more motivated to get up and moving than ever before.
She squeezed her eyes shut tighter and repeated the movement a few times before she tried opening them again.
This time, it worked! She opened her eyes with some difficulty and stared straight up.
“What’s two plus two?”
There was a robot. That’s what had been speaking to her. She tried to let out a startled yelp, but her voice came out as more of a short whimper.
Oh, right. Because why would she expect anything to function normally.
“No response. What is two plus two?”
Annoyance made her eyebrows twitch together. She already didn’t like this place.
Her eyelids felt insanely heavy. She was tempted to just close them again and fall back asleep, but now she wanted to see her surroundings.
She tried to sit up, which didn’t work. Obviously.
She tried to wiggle her fingers. She wiggled her right hand no problem, but her left was another story.
A memory from the sub flashed through her mind. The feeling and sound of her flesh and muscles tearing apart.
Oh, yeah. No wonder that hand wasn’t moving.
A wave of nausea swept over her from the memory and she shuddered. She didn’t want to think about that right now.
“Hand movement detected.”
Shut up.
She managed to rotate her forearm a few times, mild pain following and something in her arm agitating her skin. She didn’t appreciate that much.
She spent the next several hours trying to move. It felt like hours, at least. She didn’t know how long it actually had been, and frankly she didn’t care.
Unfortunately, forearm rotation and slight head movement was all that she had managed. Weariness was slowing her down. Her eyelids only grew heavier and heavier, to the point she couldn’t bring herself to fight it much longer.
Right when she found herself on the brink of relenting, she heard footsteps. She barely noticed, but once she had, she decided she had to find the source. Make sure it wasn’t some COI agent that trapped her in this hellhole or some bullshit like that.
She angled her head toward the noise, and a few seconds later she saw the source.
A woman, approaching her. She had short, messy blonde hair and stunning blue eyes. She wore glasses that sat crooked on her nose and a shocked expression. The blinding light behind her head made her look heavenly.
Was she dead?
Was that an angel?
“Anghh…?”
She had tried to vocalize her thoughts, but it didn’t work, much to her frustration. She saw the woman’s lips move and heard a soft voice, but she already felt her consciousness escaping her. The cool liquid she felt run through her remaining arm certainly didn’t help keep her awake, either.
She was awake again. This time, her eyes sprung open without hesitation.
Disorientation clouded her thoughts. Where was she again? How long was she asleep? Was any of that even real?
She saw that devilish robot as soon as her eyes adjusted to the now-low light in the room.
Yeah, that was real.
So… was that woman real, too?
Suddenly she felt much more motivated to try and get herself up.
Her body still ached and felt insanely heavy, but she still wanted to try. With some grunts and pants from the exertion, she managed to sit halfway up. Her arm kept her propped while she focused on trying to keep her head up.
Ugh. This sucked. Maybe she would rather be dead.
No, that was melodramatic. She’d been through much worse and been fine, which she remembered despite her brain seemingly being against her.
“Major body movement detected.”
She groaned, lolling her head to the side for dramatic effect.
To her dismay, the robot separated down the middle and exposed a bunch of tools before going straight for her face. She gave her head a halfhearted shake and pulled herself away.
“Nooooo…” She moaned, leaning as far back as she could manage.
The robot actually stopped and retracted their arms.
She let out a grunt of surprise, adjusting her position to a more comfortable one. That was neat.
With a heave of effort, she sat up straight. Maybe straight wasn’t the right word…
She shifted her weight off of her arm and hunched inward. That was more accurate.
She looked around the room. It was rather nice, actually. It looked homey.
Random crap was scattered everywhere, with warm tones lighting everything up and a blinding overhead light. It was off right now, but she remembered it from her last episode of consciousness.
Actually, the whole room was rather dim right now. Guess it was night, or at least evening.
It wasn’t until now that she realized her left eye was barely giving her any sensory input. Great, as if she didn’t have enough issues.
She let out an annoyed huff. She sat there for a few minutes, not quite sure what to do next. Standing didn't seem like a safe option. Hm.
Luckily, someone was there to tear her out of her own head.
She perked up at the sound of footsteps and looked over at the door to see a woman swing it open and step forward.
Ooooh, okay.
This was the angel from before.
She looked the same as before, ruffled and shocked, her glasses hanging off of her chin.
She was wearing a t-shirt that said Ah! The element of surprise. across her chest and loose jeans, with mismatched orange and pink socks on her feet. Her arms were pretty toned too, and her left arm was ragged with what looked like the result of a severe burn.
She could live with this.
The angel adjusted her glasses and pushed them onto her nose. Her face broke out into a wide smile and she stepped forward.
“Hey, there! My name’s Rylie Grace! You can just call me Grace, though,”
Grace was far too excited. It was a little off-putting.
“What’s your name? You remember it, right? You should. Or, uh, is your throat too rough still? Should I get you some water? I’ll go do that—“
Wow, she talked a lot.
“…Simone.”
She spoke so quietly, she didn’t even hear own voice. But apparently Grace did, because she froze and shut up to stare at her.
“Uh, what was that?” Grace asked softly, taking a step closer and giving a shy smile.
Simone coughed before speaking. Her throat felt like sandpaper. Maybe she would take up Grace’s offer of water.
“My name’s Simone.”