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Ryland has always wondered why he has three red strings on his pinkie. He's also always wondered why they point up. Then he was launched into space… and now he's found one of the people- or aliens that is connected to the other end of one of the strings.
Rocky. Ryland loves Rocky so much. Rocky and Grace have solved the Astrophage problem and are on their way to Erid. Ryland suspects that the second string is connected to Adrian due to the fact that Rocky's string is connected to Adrian as well.
Ryland wakes up one “morning” with a pain in his stomach. He doesn't feel well. He's sick. Fudge.
“Grace awake? Question.” Rocky asks softly from above Ryland.
“Mmm.” Ryland groans and curls onto his side.
“What wrong? Grace make noise of pain.”
“...My stomach hurts… I'm sick.”
“Die!? Grace die?!”
“No, Rocky… ugh… I don't have the mental capacity to explain Earth sickness to you right now. Please just go away. Humans get very VERY leaky when sick.”
“...Rocky not leave soulmate. Is not proper. Especially when not feel good. Statement.”
Ryland wants to cry. “Thanks, Rock.”
The silence drifts between them comfortably and Ryland finds himself falling back asleep. He lets his eyes fall closed and pulls the blanket up to his chin. Sleep claims him easily.
Ryland wakes up to screeching and banging. “Grace, wake up! Grace, wake up! Grace, wake up!” Rocky screams.
Ryland groans and opens his eyes. “What?”
“SHIP! SHIP OUTSIDE MARY! CONNECTS STRING! FOUND THIRD SOULMATE!” Rocky screeches, his musical notes loud and making Ryland's migraine worse.
“Third? Huh?” Despite the worsening migraine Ryland sits up abruptly, looking at his pinkie. The last string is going straight, rather than up.
“...Theres- our third.” Ryland whispers, then leans over his bed and vomits.
Rocky lets out another series of screeches. “LEAK! LEAK! GRACE LEAK!”
“Stop screaming!” Ryland shouts.
Rocky goes quiet. “Sorry Grace mate. Rocky get in ball now.”
Ryland groans and coughs. He needs to clean this up and figure out how to get to their third.
It takes him twenty minutes to walk over to the window. There's a… submarine… covered in blood. Holy shit. Ryland sprints over to the radio.
“This is Ryland Grace with The Hail Mary, do you copy?!”
There's nothing but radio static for a solid two minutes before Ryland tries again.
“Hello? Can anyone hear me?”
“WHAT!? WHAT DO YOU WANT! I CANT TAKE IT ANYMORE!” A voice screams from the other side. Ryland flinches, ignoring the throbbing spike of pain in his head.
“M-my name is Ryland Grace. I'm with The Hail Mary. Outside your ship- sub? Whatever it is… I think… I think we're soulmates.”
The voice on the other side, distinctly a man's voice, barks out a laugh. “Ha! Nice one. My soulmates are dead.”
“...I-I thought so too, until I went to space and-and now I'm on The Hail Mary and I-”
“Space? The fuck? We're on a bloodmoon, you think I'd believe you?”
“Bloodmoon? I… There is no blood bloodmoon here? We're on the outskirts of the Tau Centi solar system. We're heading to the 40 Eridani system.”
“...Who's we?”
“Oh! Sorry. Um. My companion, Rocky. He's an Eridian from the 40 Eridani System, we met when trying to save the stars from the Astrophage.”
“...The stars?” The man laughs harder, then coughs wetly, it sounds bad.
“...Yeah. We saved the stars. Um… now we're headed back to Rocky's home planet… and you're our third mate… What's your name?”
“...You… you don't know my name?”
“No? We haven't even met?”
The man laughs, but it sounds manic and wheezy. “You don't know my name. You're real. Oh god… fuck. The stars… holy shit.. I-I see them! Oh my god the stars are back! Y-you brought them back!”
“...They never left?”
“I KNEW IT!”
“...I never got your name.” Ryland says softly, ignoring the way his stomach churns while he looks at the blood and chunks of flesh on the sub.
The man coughs again. ”Simon… my name… is Simon.”
“...Nice to meet you Simon. Now, I'm going to get you out of there.”
“I don't have much oxygen left…”
“What!? I'll get you out. Don't worry.” Ryland turns off his radio for a moment. “ROCKY!”
Rocky runs over while Ryland turns on the translator. “Yes Grace mate? Get in touch with other ship? Question.”
“Yes. Rocky, this is Simon. Talk to him while I put on my EVA suit. His oxygen is low, so don't make him talk much. Just talk to him.”
Ryland turns the radio back on. “Simon, my mate… our mate, Rocky is going to talk to you while I come rescue you okay? You don't have to talk to him. He's using a translator because he can't speak our language. “
“...You guys are crazy. But okay.”
“Hello Simon mate! I am Rocky! Rocky from Erid!” Rocky starts and Ryland runs towards the suits.
Ryland does end up saving Simon. Over the next month or so he finds out that Simon is from an alternate universe where Earth is gone and everyone lived on Mars for a while until something called “the great rapture” where the stars disappeared. And then they all moved to space stations.
Over the next three years on their way to Erid Rocky and Ryland learn so much about Simon. They learn about his past as the butcher, they learned about his mother, about how he was sent to the blood moon as a sacrifice basically. How the eel let him go for some reason and sent him here with the promise of a better life.
But all of that won't matter if Ryland dies before they get to Erid. Simon doesn't need to eat to survive, but Ryland does. He ran out of real food almost a month ago and now he's starving and has scurvy.
He's been surviving on the coma slurry and taumeba. But that doesn't do much for the scurvy.
“Grace? You're falling asleep again.” Simon gently pats Ryland's leg to keep him present in the conversation.
Ryland groans. “...Im so tired. Just let me sleep.” His mouth tastes gross.
“...Rocky worried. Grace…Grace should not sleep this often. Statement.” Rocky chitters softly.
Ryland sighs. “I'm sick. I need more rest than a normal human. We established this when we first met Simon.”
“...Yes. Rocky remember. Rocky know… is still worried.”
“I know bud. I know… tell us more about Adrian. Tell us that one story about how you guys met.”
Rocky does jazz hands and starts excitedly telling the story of how Adrian and Rocky met. It was long ago, during a very important thrum. One that only happens once an Eridian year. They saw the strings connecting their claws before Rocky heard the most beautiful song he'd ever heard. They mated that very day.
“...I never get tired of that story.” Ryland smiles.
Simon nods in agreement, but when he looks at Ryland his smile falls and fear fills his eyes. “Grace… your mouth is bleeding.”
“Yeah, that's what scurvy does. Makes my gums bleed. I'll be fine. Just need some water.”
Simon stands immediately and grabs Ryland a pouch of water. Ryland takes it with a shaking hand and takes a few sips.
“Tell us the story of how you and Grace met.” Simon tells Rocky.
“Rocky was alone for many years after crewmates die. Then Rocky hear ship in distance! Was excited…then ship try to move away. Lots of times. Rocky follow. Then throw container! Grace dumb. No catch. So, Rocky throw another container, slower. Then see tiny creature that walk on two limbs! Weird. Fascinate! Fascinate! Fascinate! Then Rocky makes tunnel. Connect two ships! Meet weird dumb leaky alien. Name Grace.”
Simon snorts.
Grace laughs weakly. “You didn't name me.”
“Did.”
“Okay.”
“We are entering Planet Erid's gravitational pull.” Mary announces.
Rocky screeches and jumps around. He has a new suit actually, it's skin tight… well if he had skin. Easier for him to move around. He's excited. Ryland is excited… and exhausted.
“We're almost home!” Rocky cries, his vents huffing out smoke.
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Home. It's beautiful here. Ryland and Simon have been on Erid for ten years now, they're both well into their forties. Everything is amazing.
Adrian is Simon and Ryland's soulmate as well. Which Simon loves. Adrian talks to him about all kinds of things. Mostly earth culture and plants.
Ryland has gained a lot of weight from his original Earth weight and it's wonderful. It makes his mates happy to see him without his bones sticking out.
“Ryland?” Adrian calls from the house.
Ryland looks up from his spot on the beach? “Yes, my song?”
“It is almost dinner.”
“Okay, I'll be right there.” Ryland smiles.