Chapter Text
Simon recoiled as he opened his eyes, blinking several times as they adjusted to the bright overhead light. His vision blurred and head thick with a dull ache as he adjusted to being awake for the first time in what? Days, weeks?
He couldn’t remember.
The overhead light was too bright and the ceiling too white, the air smelt fresh and he breathed deeply, filling his lungs with clean oxygen for the first time in years. It made him choke a little as he greedily breathed in again.
There was a soft hum in the background; the sound of well-kept machinery operating as it should and nothing smelt like blood or smoke.
Nothing looked rusty or sounded like it was fighting to keep operating correctly. No flashing red lights or sirens warning him of a breach in the hull, no voice cackling through the intercom to torment him.
Wherever he was, it wasn’t the SM-13.
The sound of whirling machines filled the silence and a mechanical voice announced something about eye-movement before a robotic arm appeared above him, twisting almost excitedly as it opened and closed its thick metallic fingers and reached down in an attempt to grab him.
Simon flinched, feeling himself tense up defensively on instinct, his teeth clenched painfully as he tried to lift his arms to push the robot away or roll off the bed and stand.
His limbs were too heavy and his mind too uncoordinated to really manage more than a weak roll of his hips and pathetic groan. He could barely keep his eyes open, there was nothing he could do to stop it.
He braced against the table, glaring at the arm.
“Hey! No, don’t—“ someone shouted and Simon watched as a human hand reached out to push the robotic arm away, grumbling under their breath when it came straight back into view. “It’s fine, I’ve got it.” The voice added pushing the robot again.
Simon watched as the robot arm sagged and retreated.
The face that replaced the robot was much nicer to look at.
Simon felt his entire body relax as the man looked down at him. His eyes the softest blue Simon had ever seen, the light reflecting off his lob-sided glasses making them seem even brighter. His messy blonde hair catching under the bright overhead light gave off an almost halo like glow, framing his face and highlighting his warm smile.
Simon felt himself smile too; he cursed internally.
Idiot.
He should not be smiling stupidly up a man he didn’t even know.
The man laughed softly, the sound so light and airy that Simon forgot all about the damn robot and the ridiculously bright lights. His attention instead focused on the man beside him attaching a clear fluid to the back of his hand and humming as he pressed a machine set up behind where Simon was laid out.
Whatever drugs they had him on were doing a terrible job. He could barely get his thoughts together. He should have had the man pinned against the wall or the floor, demanding answers from him.
Instead he was just staring at him, smiling like an idiot completely open and at ease with a stranger pumping him full of God knows what. He needed to get it together and fast.
For all he knew this stranger could be part of the COI or another hallucination from the monster.
“My angel,” Simon croaked out, the words spilling out of his mouth in Korean before he could stop them.
“What?” the man asked, furrowing his brow. “Sorry, I don’t understand? Sugar, I should have brought the translator in.”
Simon was grateful that he hadn’t.
He groaned, swallowing down the urge to repeat himself. His mouth felt dry and his throat itched uncomfortably as he tried again. “Who are you?” He asked, the words slow and slurred but in English at least.
“Oh! You do speak English. Thank God! I’m Grace. Uh, Ryland Grace or Dr Grace— no that’s pretentious, please don’t call me that. I’m sorry, I haven’t spoken to an actual person in so long. What’s your name?”
Grace spoke too fast, Simon’s head was thick and foggy, and he puzzled over the mess of words that had just fallen out of Grace’s mouth. “Huh?”
There was sharp hum of noise at the side of him and Simon watched as Grace looked away. Whining sadly at the loss of eye contact, God he needed to get it together. His vision blurred slightly and he huffed tiredly as Grace spoke with some sort of whistle or instrument for a second and then sighed.
“Sorry,” Grace smiled. “I’m Grace, this is Armando.” He gestured towards the robotic arm that whirled happily. “And this is Rocky.” He added gesturing down to the rock that was stood by his feet waving.
What the fuck was going on?
If anything Grace’s introductions had only made his head hurt more. He chose to ignore the rock and instead rolled his head against the pillow to look at Grace.
“Am I dead?”
“I don’t think so.” Grace laughed, “you’re pretty beat up though. The Eridian’s found you floating out in space in what looked like a metal can, can’t even imagine what it must have been like in that thing. They brought you back here. You’ve been in and out of consciousness for a few days, so you probably feel a little fuzzy, but you’ll be okay.”
That was an understatement, Simon felt like he’d been whacked several times around the head. He blinked, keeping his gaze on Grace as he talked, taking a shallow breath and trying to keep up with what Grace was telling him.
Simon had so many questions, but he couldn’t get them out, his mouth was too dry and his eyes felt heavy with sleep. The last thing he remembered was the hull breach and blood pouring into the vessel. Begging for his life. The monster calling out his name. His arm—
His arm.
His eyes widened and he lifted both hands into the air suddenly, swallowing when only one came up. He felt the other move, his left shoulder rotating, lifting upwards off the table, pain coursed along the limb but only one arm remained in the air.
He’d torn his fucking arm off.
Grace’s hand quickly shot out and pressed Simon’s arm back against the bed.
Rocky made a loud noise at the side of him and Simon watched as Grace quickly fixed the IV and rolled his eyes in sync with the aliens berating tone.
“You need to relax,” he said gently and Simon watched as his eyes travelled towards his left side, Simon followed the movement, swearing when he saw the stump bandaged up, blood seeping through. “We patched you up pretty good but it’s still pretty nasty, it’ll heal eventually but we don’t want it to open up again.”
He didn’t look back at Grace, instead stared at the wound. Heart beating heavily in his chest, fear and confusion replacing the fog.
Grace had pulled him out of the sub and patched him up. He’d said he was a doctor; but why would he do that?
The pain meds, the bed, the clean bandages; he was quickly raking up a debt he couldn’t afford.
Simon closed his eyes and pressed hard against the pillow, grinding his teeth as he tried desperately to fight against the fatigue and the worry that crept into his mind.
“What happened?”
Grace didn’t say anything, instead he looked at Rocky and then back at Simon, his eyes soft and sympathetic.
“You should probably get some more rest,” Grace said and Rocky whistled in agreement, Simon looked at them both. “Get some sleep and we can talk more later.”
He wanted to talk more now but Grace only smiled at him and adjusted the pillow under his left shoulder, taking the pressure off.
Simon felt Grace’s fingers brush gently over the bandage as he pulled away. He shivered and then relaxed. His mind going blank and his heartbeat suddenly steady.
Simon blamed the medication.
He nodded reluctantly, focusing on Grace as he looked away from Simon and fiddled with the drip next to him again.
“Simon.” He whispered.
“What?”
“My name, it’s Simon.”
Grace smiled warmly. “Nice to meet you, Simon.”
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