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"Blip-A detected," Mary's cold and calculated voice rang out throughout the ship, echoing on the empty walls of metal and xenonite that only housed a single life anymore. At least it was only a single life for now.
Grace could have cried in relief at seeing Rocky's ship again, that vast black void against a wall of bright stars. After six weeks of non-stop searching, condemning himself to death with each step he took, without the guarantee that he'd ever see this ship again, ever see his friend again, Grace couldn't help the few tears that spilled from his eyes, framing the lines of his smile on his cheeks. He was here. Finally. He was going to be with Rocky again.
Throwing on his EVA suit and double checking it, Grace ensured that the Mary was as close to the Blip-A as he could be before pushing himself with the full force of his legs, shooting across the inky black depths of space and nothingness to the one person in the universe that mattered most to him - a leap of faith towards his friend.
I'm here, buddy, Grace thought to himself, grabbing onto the hull of the ship where he and Rocky had first met in that tunnel so many months ago. Just hang on.
Grasping the largest wrench he could find on the ship and winding his arm back, Grace smacked the xenonite layer over and over. Loud thudding bangs echoing mildly on the inside of the ship as Grace yelled.
"Rocky!" He screamed. "Rocky, I'm here! I'm here! Use the radio! Same channel as before, buddy!"
Turning his comms up all the way, the static nearly deafened him. That is not what he wanted to hear. It shouldn't have been static, it should have been Rocky's stupid little voice of concern about why the hell Grace had come back.
"Rocky!" He called again, using his whole body to slam the wrench against the hull again and again, ignoring the burn that was beginning to settle in his muscles. "Rocky!"
Grace wasn't going anywhere until Rocky came to him. He was far to stubborn to leave his friend behind or to accept that the worst might have come to pass. This was Rocky. He'd lived out here by himself since before Grace was born. He wouldn't go down so easily. He didn't survive 46 years alone for 6 weeks to be the thing that took him out.
"Rocky! Come on, buddy! Answer me," he pleaded into the void, hoping that Rocky could hear him from somewhere, anywhere, in the ship and respond to his cries.
"Come on," he whispered, letting his head hit against the barrier for a moment before winding up his arm again, refusing to give up so easily. Refusing to give up at all.
~~~
Shit shit shit. This wasn't good. This was really really not good.
Rocky chittered and huffed in rage as he skittered around his ship, his carapace and legs plastered in dead astrophage from the taumoeba that had leaked through his engines. Nothing was working to contain them, it didn't matter how many engines he cleaned or jettisoned to get rid of the spread - taumoeba had infested his ship and his life support was on its final leg, wheezing as it tried to cycle ammonia. After everything, all the shit he had endured and lived through even when he didn't want to live anymore, the fucking taumoeba cure was the thing that was going to do him in.
Rocky would have found it ironic, almost funny, if it wasn't for the impending doom of him, his planet, and Grace. Oh, poor Grace. The taumoeba would have taken out the fuel that Rocky had given him, ripped his clan member's hope to go home from him once again.
Rocky cursed the taumoeba with all of his claws, praying to whatever higher beings that Grace would solve his own issue and keep going home. He could only hope that at least one of them would get to go back home after all this was done.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Rocky stiffened at the echoing resonance through the ship. With the life support down and failing, it was only a matter of time until the whole ship began to fail. This was likely the beginning stages of it. It was the end for Rocky and there wasn't a damn thing he could engineer to fix it.
"Fuck!" He screamed out, slamming a leg against the floor of the ship. "Damn it!"
Hundreds of years away from Adrian, so many years spent alone with only their memory as his guiding song and now, now he wouldn't even get to see them again. Tell them he loved them again. Hold them in his arms again for one final time.
Damn it all to hell.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The sound continued, coming from one specific point on the ship that made Rocky give pause, freezing in place as his mind worked. It was from the tunnel, where he and Grace had first met and connected their ships.
That didn't make any sense. That point of the ship was reinforced over and over from the original xenonite and his own tunnel he'd built there. There was no reason for that area to break down first as opposed to the other walls that had been stripped for xenonite or hit by space debris over the years.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Rocky's hearts fluttered without his own volition as his mind dared to hope that maybe, just maybe, he'd see Grace again. See Adrian again. See Erid again.
Picking up a partially filled ammonia tank, the last available one on the ship, and carrying it with him, Rocky made his way to the tunnel, following the pattern of clangs that matched his own beating hearts in excitement, with hope that he might see his best friend again.
"Rocky!" He heard a call, a familiar voice he had missed so much over the past few human weeks - always human time since he'd met Grace.
"Grace!" He shouted, grabbing onto the wall in front of him, begging himself to echolocate and hear Grace better, to see Grace again. "Is… Is you! You here! Miss miss miss you!"
"It's okay, buddy," Grace promised, setting his helmet against the xenonite. "I'm here."
"Grace, taumoeba 82.5-"
"Goes through xenonite," Grace concluded for him. "I know, buddy. I got the taumoeba packed up on my ship so it's safe and I have enough astrophage. Come on, I'm taking you back to Erid."
Rocky chirped happily, excited and cheering in tones way out of human hearing ranges before he realized what it would mean for Grace.
"No," Rocky argued. "No no no. Grace no go Erid. Grace need go Earth. Grace die if go Erid, no have enough food. Grace go home, Rocky wait for Erid send ship."
Rocky knew he wouldn't last that long. Hell, he'd call himself lucky if he lasted another human hour with the way that the ship was failing right now, but he didn't care. Grace's lifespan was already so short and so much had been taken from him. He wouldn't ask Grace to sacrifice himself for Rocky and Erid too.
"Rock," Grace began, his voice soft and resigned. "Erid won't send another ship. Not after all this time. My life is not worth the life of your whole planet, the life of Adrian."
"No no no," Rocky continued to chirp, mind racing for someway to help Grace.
"It's okay, I've actually made peace with it this time."
"Rocky have food," he offered, needing someway to make this work. "Rocky have food. Grace eat, Grace live."
"Your food isn't good for me."
"No no no. Have taumoeba. Grace try."
Grace paused for a moment, thinking it over. It could work. It was insane, but hey, the only difference between something being insane and absolutely brilliant was the plan working.
"We can try," Grace agreed, even if it was only to appease Rocky. "Now, connect your tunnel and I'll get you on the Mary."
"Go back to airlock first, unless you want see tunnel from outside of ship," Rocky demanded as Grace chuckled in embarrassment - his clan member was always so forgetful.
Grabbing only the basics of what he would need - food, a few mementos from his crew, and other small supplies - Rocky prepared himself to get back onto the Mary, back to living with Grace as his vents labored with his movements, even with the ammonia tank working right beside him.
The tank had been low to start with and now, there wasn't even enough ammonia on the ship to support him without a struggle, no longer cycling as the life support completely failed.
Moving as fast as he could, Rocky dragged his bags into the airlock, pulling himself into a ball of the remainder of his ammonia that he hadn't left with Grace, a few tanks he didn't care enough to drag back with him onto his ship, before he collapsed against the xenonite below him, heaving in breaths of fresh ammonia roughly.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Rocky!" Grace yelled, coming onto his knees right beside Rocky, placing a hand on the top of the ball, like he could comfort Rocky by doing so. "Speak to me, buddy. What's wrong, Rock?"
"Am okay. Be okay," Rocky wheezed out. "Need moment. Replenish ammonia. No enough before. Enough now."
"You didn't have enough ammonia? Was there not enough on the Blip-A?"
"No. Blip-A life support bad bad bad. Fail without astrophage power. Ammonia go low. Rocky be okay," he promised, weak and heaving for breath as his vent flared with the effort it took to take in a full breath.
"So all that about trying to get me to leave you and that another ship would come, you knew that you would die if I did?"
Grace was upset - he was pissed to be more accurate - Rocky could tell that much from his tone and body language, the way his heart beat faster and blood whirred in anger at the mere idea of Rocky dying and being okay with that.
"Not about Rocky," he waved it off, shakily standing and pushing his ball forward. "Need Grace live."
"Well, I need you to live too, Rocky," Grace snapped. "You're all I've got, while you have Adrian and a whole planet waiting for you. You have people who need you, Rocky."
"Is no different than Grace lie," Rocky argued, still weak. "Grace no tell Rocky that Grace would die. Had find out by accident. Grace lie to no worry Rocky and let go home, Rocky lie to no worry Grace and let go home. No different."
"It is different," Grace attempted to argue, but Rocky wouldn't hear it.
"Is no different. Grace important to Rocky," he admitted, pressing against the top of his ball to be as close to Grace's touch as he could be. "Important as Erid and Adrian. Grace clan member."
"I know, I'm your friend," Grace accepted, "but I need you to care about yourself too, okay? Think about yourself too, please?"
"Fine," Rocky resigned, humming in agreement. "Will think about Rocky too if Grace promise think about Grace too."
He agreed simply because it was over with and it would appease Grace. Grace was his focus now and he'd do everything he could to make sure that his family lived, even if he had to withhold the taumoeba from Erid to make it happen. They had plenty of time, but Grace wouldn't when they got to Erid. He wasn't above a hostage situation like in the Earth movies to save his family.
"Deal," Grace nodded in agreement. "Now, what to do want to do first?"
"Watch movie! Watch movie!" Rocky cheered, throwing his legs up in the air as he spoke. "Want watch more Rocky movie!"
"You know that's not where I got my name for you from, right?"
"Is is is. Grace stupid. Grace forget. Rocky know real reason for Rocky name and is movie. Rocky like strong fighter!"
"Sure, buddy. Sure."