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Simon didn’t know when it had started. All those weeks ago, when Grace caught his unintentional distress signal and pulled him out of that blood filled death trap, he'd taken Simon in with nothing but love and mercy. Even when he'd broken a beaker and tried to use it as an impromptu knife, fighting Grace every step of the way of his recovery process, he'd never kicked him out, never shunned him, never even gave him a look of distaste. He only helped Simon through this, through his worst days, through the memories that tore through him at a moment’s notice, and Simon slowly came to realize that he could trust this beautiful stranger.
But over the course of their time together, he’d been noticing things coming from the scientist that he couldn’t really explain. Nothing bad, just…strange. Things that would make someone’s head tilt in confusion but not really pay attention to it. Sometimes, when Grace would enter a room, there would be a light that accompanied him as he did. Simon had checked for a rogue light fixture in every room of the Hail Mary, but there was not a single one out of place.
Another night, when Simon was wandering the ship to try to get himself to sleep, he heard humming coming from another room. He followed the sound to the viewing room where Grace was looking out the window and singing softly to himself. The song was something he'd never heard before, the language coming from Grace’s mouth being something he'd never even known existed. But at the same time, it was comforting, like a hug from a parent after a long day. Simon stood and listened for a while longer, before his mind finally registered his need for sleep and walked him to the dorms, Grace’s ethereal song still flowing throughout the ship and soothing him to sleep.
But other days, when Simon would see Grace around the ship or in their projection room, he would look…off. His smile would be too wide, his eyes too focused or round, sometimes Simon could swear his voice sounded different, like there was someone else repeating his words. While sleeping together, Simon would lay awake, thinking about these strange observations and traits he’d picked up, chalking it all up to his broken mind seeing things that weren’t really there. This thought calmed him, letting his mind clear as he lay on Grace’s chest and drifted to sleep.
Unfortunately, his dreams were nothing but calm. He woke in the same place he met with the Eye, waves of blood swirling around his legs as he got up, the warm viscous feeling immediately making him gag. The Eye looked down on him in indifference, but also with a hunger in its eyes, as if wanting him back for its collection. Voices from past missions screamed out below, begging for Simon to join them in bliss, hands reaching out to grab Simon by the ankles, dragging him deeper and deeper until he was with them, his mutations resurfacing and taking over his body until he was a monster just like the rest of them.
He didn’t know when he’d woken up, but Grace was there, wrapping his arms around Simon in an all-encompassing embrace. He buried his head in Grace’s neck as if he was always meant to be there, melting into it as he shook with silent tears. Grace held him as he cried, humming the song Simon heard all that time ago, the ancient language giving way to harmony, seemingly overlapping with itself, except it was being sung by only one person. “Where did you learn that?” Simon asked, pulling away from Grace’s shoulder. “Learn what?” Grace replied, the song echoing slightly in the ship. “That song. I hear you sing it to yourself sometimes, what does it mean?” Grace paused, a hesitant look appearing on his face before speaking. “Oh, just a little something I learned back home. Nothing special,” he explains quickly, as if there was a deeper story. Simon accepted this, dropping the subject and moving the conversation to the plants aboard the ship, which Grace responded to with relief in his voice.
The dream had been mostly forgotten after the prior conversation, but over the course of the next few days, the Eel continued to haunt him. Blood that only Simon could see appeared in distinct rooms of the ship, the mutated version of himself he saw in the Lung appeared in the pilot’s chair, and the voices of previous pilots continued to echo in his mind, begging him to join their twisted family in the blood, tormenting him as they did so. He could feel their hands on his shoulders and arm, grabbing, pulling him down with them. It was becoming just like the sub all over again.
But one day, everything changed. They were on their normal route to Erid when Mary detected something in space relative to the ship. Simon didn’t need to look outside, he already knew what it was. The voices were the loudest they’d ever been, now screaming for resolve and rage at their situation, believing that Simon was the one that could help them due to them seeing his perseverance during the Iron Lung incident, telling him that today was the day they’d take him for good and make him part of their family.
Grace looked outside of the many windows of the ship, only to see a massive, horrific looking Eel staring directly back at him. He rushed to their shared room, only to find Simon in a heap on the floor, shaking with fear, muttering responses to conversations Grace couldn’t hear. “I’ll fix it,” Grace whispered, giving Simon a kiss on the forehead before running out of the room to another portion of the ship.
Simon didn’t know what to expect, but he didn’t expect to be near-blinded by a light emanating from space. But unlike the light from the Ocean, associated with only taking new victims, this light was almost comforting in a way, like a visit from an old friend, but conveyed itself to be powerful enough that Simon felt he wasn’t supposed to see it.
His ears were then filled with what could only be described as harmonic cacophony, thousands of voices singing together in tandem with instruments he could not hear. The sound ratted him to his core, shaking the entire frame of the ship with it. Simon grabbed a rung from the ladder for support, just in case the sound came back louder this time. He was in both awe and terror at the music, it felt like there was a powerful force behind it, something he wasn’t allowed to hear and be this close to.
When the music cleared, Simon stood up from his post on the ladder looking outside the window only to stare in disbelief and wonder. Outside of the ship, staring down the Eel, stood a looming figure, towering above the ship and casting a shadow so absolute Simon moved to another room to get a better look. Its body was encased in the same light from earlier, only this time it felt different. Warmer somehow, protective of something.
3 pairs of massive flaming wings encircled the figure, with the topmost pair covering its eyes like a mask, and the bottommost pair used to cover its feet, like clothing it didn’t need but still felt like using. Only the middle pair was used for flight, flapping ever so slightly to keep it upright as it continued its staredown of the Eel. Every time the wings moved, they sent out clouds of warm air and light, bathing Simon in its holy being. He continued to stare in awe, wondering how Grace wasn’t witnessing this with him. He would have been as amazed as Simon was.
Rows of eyes also decorated the outermost feathers of the wings, looking in all directions before a few settled on Simon, gazing deep into his soul, judging him for every action he had done in his life. But Simon found something odd. A short style of blond hair that still stuck out, a scar on the right arm that bore a striking resemblance to an all too familiar alien, even the body shape itself and how the angel (?) carried itself. It all lead back to one person.
“Grace?” Simon whispered, a few pairs of eyes locking onto him upon hearing their name. But the main figure stood where it was before it spoke to the Eel head on. “How come you still torment this poor soul?” It began, multiple voices ringing out through the void of space. “He has repeatedly assured he does not want to be a part of your twisted interpretation of a family. He has been tormented by you for weeks now, and only wants reprieve. So you either leave this place and finish your torture of this poor soul, or I will get other friends of mine involved. What do you say?” The angel concluded, uncovering their topmost pair of wings revealing a pair of piercing blue eyes. The Eel, understandably shaken, floated back to the Blood Moon it came from, away from the angel that threatened its demise.
Satisfied with the threat, the angel returned to its previous form before coming back into the ship where Simon was waiting. “Oh, hey Simon. What’s up?” He asked. “What are you, really?’ Simon asked back, immediately addressing the main topic at hand. Grace sighed, as if expecting this conversation to happen before sitting him and Simon down. “Remember when you asked me if I was an angel when you first woke up?” “Of course I do, why?” Simon asked. “Well, turns out that’s actually true, I’m an angel, a seraph specifically. I don’t remember when, but I was sent down here to your world to do…something? I’m still not really sure. But I found a human disguise, got a doctorate, became a teacher, you know all of this. And when I woke up from my coma, the only thing I remembered was the mission, I only found out about the whole angel thing later on.”
Simon sat in silence before speaking. “What were those songs, then?” “Mostly ancient hymns from home,” Grace answered. “The language has been dead for millenia now, only angels know it now.” Simon thought about it for a moment before coming to an easy decision. “Sing one to me? I hear you sometimes at night. It’s nice.”
Grace stared in shock for a moment before flashing a bright smile. “I’d love to! I haven’t had someone to sing to in a few days, so this’ll be a nice way to get back in the routine.” Simon smiled back, sitting next to his angel as he began the hymn, the warbling tones making Simon lean on his shoulder. The lyrics once again made no sense, but Simon understood the meaning of the tune now. Two souls once apart, now brought back together by fate, never letting each other go again. Simon added his own lower bars, copying the original harmony as they lay together, alone in the dark, but to them, it was Heaven.