NightfuryObsessed

Eden believes that all shifters powers come from The Last Tree. The Tree has memories of all animals that once lived on Earth, and in turn, every single inhabited, or previously inhabited, planet.

"Shifters are blessed with powers, they are given by The Last Tree," Eden taught. "You must return your coats and for those without coats you must sleep by The Tree. You must eat and Feed The Last Tree."

Simon flinched when they asked for his coat, his instincts saying it wasn't right. He shouldn't let go of his precious coat. But he was just a child who didn't know better.

So the boy gave away half of his soul and his voice.

He watched as the Elders hung the cloaks in The Tree's branches, surrounding them and protecting them.

The Children may only receive their coats when it was time to Hunt, Feast, or Save Others. Any other time, especially in Eden itself, no one had their coats.

No one had voices here.

When the Children are given their coats they were told to not break any branches of The Tree. Some Children don't listen and break a branch.

That week there's less food. The Hunters couldn't find enough food.

A kid shakes it off as just coincidence. They break another branch. A kid gets hurt. They get so hurt they couldn't remember what happened.

Everyone became extremely careful with The Tree after that. They didn't want to hurt each other. They were the last few shape shifters after all.

_________

One day, Simon hears someone talk about the Fae.

They were mischievous creatures that stole children from their families, broke all technology, and stole everything they found interesting or fun. No one knew where the children were taken, or if they would ever come back.

To protect themselves, all Soldiers, even Children who were training, were given silver chains that are put around their wrists as 'fancy bracelets'. They have to keep it on them at all times.

After Filament station, Simon is captured and frisked and they discover the silver. Captain Ava walks up to the selkie and he can see her clearer. She has a scar over her eye and is missing a wing. The one wing she does have looks more like wire, thin and messy, connected in strange places and laid flat against her back.

Simon instinctively backs away from the Captain, lowering his head as a low growl leaves his throat.

The COI take this as a threat so Ava orders him to be stripped of his coat, not knowing that she was making things worse for themselves and Simon. They thought it would just make Simon upset and could be used as a bargaining chip.

'Do what we say and you can get it back.'

They don't understand that Simon is mute now.

No convict has a voice in prison.

They try to ask questions, to understand what Eden's goal was for destroying Filament Station.

Simon tries to tell them. To say that the explosion was an accident. No one was meant to die.

But he couldn't speak. He could only make whistling and grumbling noises. He tries so hard to make noises similar to any form of speech but he just can't.

So the COI start abusing him. He was speaking just fine before, he had shouted about it not being his fault. He was speaking! Why won't he speak anymore?! He must be hiding something.

They just have to pry it from him.

Eventually, after much frustration, Simon is given a small keyboard that eventually makes sentences. It's laggy, missing some keys, and the voice is annoying, which adds to Simon's frustration and grates his nerves.

This means that Simon has more lash outs, frustration with Filament, the stupid little sound board, no food he can properly eat, the cell is cold and dark, and he's so alone. He can feel that his coat was somewhere on the station, if he could just get to it.

He just needs his coat.

After three months Simon had started to severely dissociate, mind really only on his coat and swimming. He could feel that he was close to something he could swim in, some kind of 'ocean'. He wanted to be there.

To live and be free.

The COI believe that Simon has been subdued and decide to put him in the Iron Lung. He was a convict who was volatile, violent one moment, oddly silent the next. They couldn't risk putting him anywhere else.

At this point they had forgotten his coat. It was locked away somewhere safe. No one remembered.

Any time Simon is in radio range, he'll hold his speaking keyboard up to the speaker, asking about his coat and when he would be free.

After enough asking, they get fed up and shout, 'yes you will get your stupid coat and freedom if you just shut up and get this job done!'

Easier said than done.

Even though its not a real ocean it still has the same effect for selkies. Simon wants to swim and be free, to have his coat and just swim. He hasn't swam since he was a kid on Mars. The call gets stronger the longer he's in the ocean, but especially strong when he's deeper below.

At one point, after being deep below and searching for the points of interest, Ava gets back in contact with Simon. He asks her about the silver, if it really hurt her or if it was just lies he was fed his whole life.

That's when Ava starts to feel something. Maybe not full sympathy yet, but a pang of regret. This man was lost, lost in the ocean but also all these lies from Eden...and now the COI.

Finally she asks.

"What is the coat? Why is it so important to you?"

The rest of the crew had stepped out, some needing food, others decided they had to pee, and one just so tired they needed to sleep. It was a moment that was just between Ava and Simon.

It's quiet for a while, every so often there will be clicking or growls but it was mostly just very soft clicks of keys.

[I don't know what exactly it is], the robotic voice says after a time. [I've had it since before I can remember. It's warmth. It's comfort. It's the comforting hold of family. It's part of who I am, I don't know exactly where it is but I can feel it. It's above me, it's safe but it's out of reach. I don't care what happens to me, I can be locked up, isolated and forgotten about. Just please, give me back my coat.]

Ava is quiet, her hands tremble but she curls her fingers and makes a fist. Then there's a bit more from the convict.

[Without the coat selkies go mad. We can't go home, we can't eat the same foods humans do. We can't shift to heal, the children can't play. Without our coats we're just half of ourselves. We need to be whole.]

Ava takes a shaky breathe turning away from the speaker as she thinks about what she can do to help. She did this. She gave the order to strip him of his coat, to send him into the blood ocean. But she had orders. She couldn't bring him back up.

Ava couldn't get Simon his coat.

She can't free him.

"When I was younger," she started, startling the selkie below. He stared up at the speaker, confused about what was happening, what she was talking about. "I fell in love with a human. He said that he loved me, that he wouldn't leave me behind or hurt me."

Ava took in a breathe, hand shaking as she thought about her first love. The one who tried to kill her.

"He lied. He got silver, something that burns Fae, in ancient times it was the only thing that could kill us. He used it to bind me, my arms were tied to my body, a blindfold was on my eyes and...he stole my wing. Fae wings could be sold for an enormous price. It burned so badly, I could feel the silver eat away at my soul. I couldn't stop bleeding. I couldn't let him take my other wing, so I fought."

Ava was crying, it was gentle and hard to hear. It sounded like both sobbing and gentle weeping, cries of anger, and cries of agony.

"The silver burned by eye and chest, I can't see very well and I sometimes have trouble breathing...but I'm at least alive."

Simon listened to the story, heart heavy and feeling a connection to the story. They both had a piece of them stolen from them, but at least they were alive. For now.

Simon blinked and took steady, deep breathes. He looked around and behind him, trying to understand where he was. He saw a storm above him and what seemed like roots in the slightly transparent blood below his feet.

He turned forward again and noticed a giant eye, then heard a voice.

'Join us,' it called, speaking in a language he didn't know, but instinctively understood. 'Join us and be free of pain and suffering. Come Child of the Sea, shed your human form and swim with your Brothers.'

Simon opened his mouth, tears coming to his eyes as his coat, a familiar black and grey fur coat floated towards him. A cloak made of seal fur, large and warm, just for Simon.

The selkie reached out, nearly touching the fur when his instincts started screaming at him.

'This isn't our coat,' they screamed. This wasn't Simon's other half. Then he looked down at his right arm, at the pendant that floated just below the blood.

This wasn't real.

This coat isn't his coat.

Simon wakes up in the SM-13, more determined to live and get back to his coat and be free.

When Ava comes down she's panicked but tells Simon that she has his coat.

"Simon, you have to keep going! I have your coat," she screamed, drawing the selkie's attention and making him more determined than ever to get to the Fae. "I have it right here next to me! Get out of there and I'll give it and your freedom!"

They almost make it, Ava's sub is gone but Simon can feel that he's getting closer to his coat, he's getting higher and the black box is secured in the life vest.

Simon tries to somehow get out of the submersible, trying to get out the port hole, but of course he can't. He's just a human right now.