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"It's NOT that bad"
Grace was on bed rest, as he got older every single injury he brushed off when he was younger kicked him in the butt with the force of a semi truck.
"Stop minimizing your pain, statement"
He had started using mobility aids pretty early into his new life on Erid, today the pain was…
intense.
So much so that when he was getting up from bed that morning he felt a throbbing pain in his legs, he knows he had been reckless in the past with his injuries but he wasn't taking any chances this time, with that he decided to stay in today, luckily for him, he didn't need to teach that day so didn't have to cancel any classes.
"Rocky don't worry, I would tell you if it was ba-"
"It getting worse."
Grace wasn't as young as he used to be, he knows that, it had been more than 40 years since he got there, for human standards he has lived a very long life, but Rocky didn't deter.
"You are sick, you can't get up anymore"
"Oh you know its just for today buddy! Tomorrow I'll be up and fine, I just need to rest that's all" Grace laughed.
"…"
"Buddy…?"
Grace knew he couldn't keep lying to Rocky, after all he was the sole creature in the entire universe who understood him better.
"Grace hasn't felt well in a long time" he shimmies
"Look…it's normal, as humans age they get weaker and slower, it's just part of how things work"
"NO" he was restless by this point
"It's ok really-" Grace tried to calm him down but got interrupted
"No" Rocky visibility tried to steady himself
"No… no…. Rocky can't watch Grace die without doing something"
"…"
"without helping…"
Grace was worried, of course he knew how Rocky would handle the concept of death, especially with all that happened, he was scared of dying too, yes he had lived a long and pretty awesome life, but not being able to stay just a bit longer with Rocky made him feel… uneasy…to say the least.
"Rocky…" Grace got closer to his Eridian friend and hugged him
"Grace would be a huge loss for all of Erid, for Adrian…"
"…For me"
Grace started crying, how couldn't he? He would end up hurting his friend and he didn't really know how to console him.
"There has to be a way" Rocky wobbled back and forth, deep in thought.
Grace on the other hand took the chance to take off his glasses and clean his tears with the sleeve of his cardigan.
Suddenly Rocky shot up, startling Grace, then proceeded to skitter away while shouting "I'll be back! Don't move".
Grace was left confused, what was that?! Before he could even think about it for more than two seconds Armando gave him a cup of tea.
After a while tired of waiting he decided that a nap would help take his mind off said conversation.
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Grace got awoken abruptly, he didn't have his glasses on but he could recognize the silhouette of the two Eridians at the end of his bed.
"Adrian, Rocky, good morning to you too" he said as he put on his glasses an then glanced at the eridian clock on his nightstand, he had slept for about 4 hours, just a nap, yeah sure…
Rocky and Adrian got closer and just kind of faced each other for a second as if they needed a little push from the other to gain the courage to say something, Adrian shook their carapace a bit and said "Rocky, The science team and I have a proposal for you"
Grace looked a bit puzzled but motioned them to continue.
They continued with "but you don't have to Agree if you don't want to, we'll accept and support any decision you make, so don't feel pressured"
"Ok.??"
"So we think…" they looked at Rocky for reassurance, "we could extend your lifespan"
Grace mouth fell agape "but not the way you think and certainly not right now!"
Grace was speechless, What the what, How?!?
Rocky got the courage to speak "it could work by transferring your mind onto a new body" he paused "an Eridian body"
In all these years Grace as lived he had never been so… out of words and… loved, don't get him wrong he didn't take for granted the many years he had spent with his eridian friends, not even counting the many many years he had been a teacher to his absurd amount of students.
He was loved enough to be SO important to beings that when they came to an understanding that he would not be able to stay with them for the of their existence went "Nah, let's defy death itself"
"Grace?!" Both said in unison
He didn't realize when he had started sobbing but still he smiled so wide and hugged his friends
"…"
"So what do you think, question"
Without a doubt in his mind Grace shouted "YES!" but he had a LOT of questions
"So what do you mean an eridian body and why wait?"
Adrian was happy to answer "well by an eridian body we mean transferring your mind onto an already existing body or an artificial one, your choice really, and the wait is needed cause we need to have time to be able to start working our plan out!"
"Yeah makes sense" Grace was extremely grateful to have found friends like this, he loved them dearly.
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The day finally came, it had passed around 7 years, at this point in time Grace was strictly put on bed rest, he did still teach from his bed recording lessons to his students, nobody could ever take away that from him.
The Eridian scientist were able to make everything possible to make sure Grace had a safe operation, they were all ready.
They had prepared everything they'd ever need, in doing so they'd temporarily transformed his home into an operating room, which was a bit jarring for Grace but they promised they would put everything back together for when he awakened.
As Grace was given anesthesia he held both Rocky's and Adrian's hands tightly, while they were singing a reassuring tune for him.
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Grace woke up a bit shaken, he felt weird, he couldn't really understand what was going on.
he felt an huge influx of sounds coming from everywhere, which led him to being unable to really focus on anything, as he tried to soothe his pain by massaging his head he saw his hands claws, holy cow it worked!! He was an Eridian!
"Huh…what??" He thought
His echolocation was weird, weren't Eridian not able to experience color in any way shape or form?? Then why was he able to see that his carapace was yello-
"GRACE!" He heard two distinct voices melodies say.
At last he was able to focus…it was them!
All three ran towards each other without a care in the world, they had hugged each other for the first time ever! Grace climbed with all his might, he could finally touch them, he missed touch another living being really bad.
They spent the rest of their day just acclimating to this new reality, which held a lot of surprises for them.
By the end of said day both Rocky and Adrian were really tired, apparently he had been out for 6 days making the both of them restless, now that they were sure Grace was fine, they asked if he could watch them sleep, he enthusiastically said yes, and would be extremely happy to do it for the rest of their lives together.