Taigai Hardluck

Simon was dead. 

He was dead and he was in fucking hell. 

The last thing he remembered was the sub exploding. Or maybe imploding. It wasn't like he could see what happened, so he had to assume it was exploding. 

Every orifice was clogged with thick, oozing blood. His ears, his mouth, his nose. His eyes were squeezed shut, and he knew if he opened them he'd probably only see red.  Every wheezing, aching breath tasted of iron, and he swore he was sucking in more blood than air. He practically choked on it, but never seemed to be drowning. 

That's how he knew he was dead. He was somewhere deep at the bottom of the blood ocean, his corpse mutating into something unrecognizable. He was more relieved than anything to be dead and in hell than alive and cognizant of whatever religious bullshit he'd been dealing with before. At least he hadn't succumbed to that…that hive mind shit. 

He was floating, too. Which was a pretty damn good indicator of being dead. People didn't float. He was sure fucked up blood mutations didn't float either. 

His clogged senses were something of a blessing. He couldn't hear the taunting of voices or the gurgles of unknown creatures lurking. Just his muffled heartbeat. 

His heartbeat? 

Simon was pretty certain that he shouldn't have that. Since he was dead and all. 

He hastily reached up to wipe at the blood and muck obscuring his eyes and nearly slipped off of whatever he'd been clinging to. One of his arms - right, there had been that whole fucked up thing where he's pretty sure it got ripped off. Definitely don't think too hard about that, Simon. 

He managed to tug himself a bit further onto the makeshift raft he was on, attempting again to clean his face and eyes of blood. It was caked on so thick it made no difference. No light peeked through, but if he had to guess that had more to do with this fucked up moon than the blood itself. He could feel thick rivulets of the stuff running down his face, quickly squeezing his eyes shut to avoid blinding himself further. 

So he was….alive. For the most part. Now that the fact of it was settling in, Simon realized how much his body fucking ached. 

His head, his face, every bare surface of skin. He ached and burned all over, the pain only dulled by it having been so constant. His arm - the one he wasn’t supposed to be thinking about at all - ached in a way that he was pretty certain meant it was no longer functioning. Or there. Which, yeah, that ….that made sense. 

The thought had him gagging, but he swallowed back what he could, shaking his head a little. 

“Fuckin’ - don' fuckin’ puke…..Don' puke. Puking ‘s gonna make this a thousan’ times worse”  he muttered, the blood so thick in his ears that his voice sounded muffled even to himself. Speaking felt like trying to get his mouth around a bite full of jelly, his tongue clumsy with the sheer amount of blood on it. 

God, he hoped he hadn’t swallowed too much already. Simon didn't exactly wanna end up becoming a religious-freak-monster if he could help it. Though, if he kept floating around like this for long enough he was sure he would.  

He was beginning to resign himself to floating in blood for eternity when something big splashed into the blood next to him. 

The waves it caused washed over him, sending him tumbling and choking into the blood, his grip on his makeshift life raft failing and slipping. He fought against the torrent of disturbed blood, barely managing to get his head above this surface, every limb fighting to keep him afloat. He sucked in a choked, gasping breath, desperately writhing in an attempt to not immediately begin sinking again. 

Somehow, between the bloody waves and the lack of enough limbs to fight the force of the current, Simon managed to keep himself afloat for long enough to realise what was happening.

He was being rescued. 

They had come back for him. They had come back for him and were trying to save him. 

Fuck trying to save humanity, he wanted out. He wanted to live. 

They were rescuing him and he'd be damned if he missed this opportunity. He managed to flail his way to the object that had splashed down, his fingers scrambling against the smooth surface for a moment before catching on what felt like some sort of opening. It hissed and fell open, Simon scrambling to climb inside. It was tiny and cramped, and he somehow felt like it wasn't meant to fit a whole person. 

Maybe it wasn't a rescue, then, but a retrieval. 

He tried not to think too hard about what they’d be retrieving. 

Blood nearly filled the small space, Simon only just able to keep his head, mouth and nose above the surface of the thick liquid, his shuddering, painful breaths filling the small space. If not for the blood in his ears, the echoing of it might have driven him crazy. 

The opening he'd crawled through suddenly closed, the little light he'd been using to navigate suddenly cut off as it sealed shut. 

Rescue or not, Simon had made his choice. 

Not even a second later, he was being lifted. 

Blood sloshed inside the small space, Simon gasping and coughing as he was forced to hold his breath, attempting to stabilize himself with his remaining arm as he was jostled. 

His head hit one of the walls, sending exploding pain throughout his entire skull. One more concussion couldn't hurt, surely. 

He gritted his teeth against the pain, spitting blood and viscera from his mouth, trying his damndest to just breathe and hold on. 

He was being rescued, whether they liked it or not. He was alive. And they wouldn't be pulling a damn corpse out of this thing. 

And that was the last thought he had before his head slammed into the wall again and he was out like a light. 

–-----

When he came to, his skull was thrumming with pain, wave after wave of blinding ache making his stomach rolled with nausea. 

His sense were still fucked - his ears and nose clogged with blood, his mouth tasting of the thick, foul substance. His eyes were caked in it, but when he peeked them open a little, he could see light. A lot of light. 

More than he’d had in the sub, even. 

It almost was like- 

Something blocked the light out a bit, a presence just in front of him. He jolted back, scrambling backward until his back was pressed against some sort of wall. 

There was sound, muffled and garbled. Simon shook his head in an attempt to clear the blood from his ears, wiping at his eyes. 

It was still mostly just light, his eyes filled with blood and unable to focus. 

Bright, white light made him squint, the red film over his eyes doing little to subdue it. Like it had some sort of supernatural source. 

Whatever had blocked the light out before did so once more, a figure taking shape, their head haloed perfectly by the light. 

His ears were still clogged, but he managed to pick out the garbled words. 

“....Hail Mary….fjej…Grace…”

The words made his blood run cold. Of fucking course this was some religious fucking bullshit again. 

Simon scrambled for something-anything to defend himself with. 

At best, it wouldn't even be real. A hallucination in his final moments. At worse, it was another fucking religious freak trying  to get him to do God-knows-what. 

His hands managed to close around something sharp and metallic on the floor next to him, fingers slipping a bit in the thin film of blood that coated it. 

He managed to get his feet under him and launched himself at his assailant, ignoring the muffled protests against him. 

He thrust the sharp object forward, shockingly connecting with something soft and squishy. 

So it was real, and was likely a religious freak to boot. 

He and his assailant tumbled to the ground, a muffled cry of pain escaping their lips, Simon’s hand slipping on the sharp object when he tried to pull it out. It clattered to the ground beneath them, Simon reeling back to punch instead. 

There was a muffled cry of pain when he managed to land one, and he swore he picked up what sounded like a plea to not hurt them. 

He stopped fighting for just a moment, the garbled plea making his breath catch. Religious freak or not, he shouldn't be- he wasn't- 

Something huge and heavy slammed into his side, sending him tumbling to the floor again. 

It jostled his aching head, his ribs cracking painfully upon landing. 

More muffled sounds, more garbled pleas, and something like music. 

Fuck, maybe he was dead. 

Simon didn't move for fear of whatever had slammed into him hitting him again, his breaths coming out wheezing and aching, his head throbbing. He shouldn't have done that - it wasn't a hallucination, he was supposed to be better than that. He wasn't violent. He didn't mean to. He wasn't the butcher. 

He sucked in a sharp, painful breath when something touched him. A hand- it felt like. 

It gently squeezed his arm, a garbled voice calling out to him again, hardly clearer than before. 

“...okay!...just….’s alright!...cky- ….understand?”

Simon sucked in another painful lungful, shaking his head a bit, barely opening his eyes to see the figure. 

Still blurry and fuzzy. Still haloed by light. 

The figure kept talking, seemingly turning its head away for a moment before turning back to him. 

Simon managed to sit up a bit, wiping at his face again in an attempt to clear the blood from his eyes. 

He blinked away what he could, and though there was still a watery red film over everything, he could see just a little better. He squinted at the figure, features slowly taking shape. 

Eyes, nose, glasses. A very normal, not at all freakish human face. 

A man, maybe. 

He raked his eyes over the figure for a long moment, before realizing the growing splotch of blood on their abdomen. 

Simon sucked in a sharp breath with realization. He’d stabbed them. 

“ ‘m sorry…’m sorry, I didn't mean- ‘m sorry, I thought-” he choked out, unsure what to say. Just that he was sorry, he was sorry, he was so sorry. 

His head throbbed, Simon squeezing his eyes shut against the pain and just hoping in earnest that this was a hallucination, if only to keep him from being the cause of yet another death. 

He mumbled another apology, breathing shakily through his nose, curling in on himself in an attempt to stop the nausea that roiled in his gut. 

The person touched his arm again, so gently that Simon was positive that they were a ghost. They squeezed a little more firmly when he didn't respond, and through the ringing in his ears, Simon managed to make out their voice again. 

“.....okay…n't have to move…..Um- just.… here. .I-…..ken care of…. we-…do about….blood….cky’s….-urt you…. not…hurt you…we’ll- figure…..don't move.” 

The figure let go of his arm, and through the ringing in his ears, Simon could make out that strange music again and a robotic voice somewhere nearby, far different than the figure that had been speaking to him before. 

Fuck, he really was still down there, wasn't he? He'd lost too much oxygen and the alarms were what he was hearing. That was it. The person was just another thing he was hearing and seeing. Just another hallucination. 

Simon didn't know how long he sat there. His fuzzy mind drifted in and out of awareness, sounds on the edge of his senses that he tried very hard to ignore. He tried to focus on breathing, on conserving what little oxygen he could. His mind zeroed in on his own panting breaths, trying to slow his racing heart. 

The bad part about trying not to focus on his senses meant there was plenty of time to focus on thoughts. Memories. Plenty of time to rewatch a gag reel of Simon's Greatest Mistakes on loop. 

His throbbing head and body made it all sort of blend together, at least. Nothing terribly solid, just a crawling feeling of guilt and a yearning to have just one thing go right for him… 

He didn't know how much time had passed, how much oxygen he even had left. He hadn't heard the beep, though he’d surmised before that whatever was keeping him alive down here had somehow been supplying him with it. 

A touch on his arm made him jump, sucking in a sharp breath. Awareness came back sharp and painful, fumbling for his knife in his disoriented state- only to remember he didn't have it. 

He backed away from the touch, only to hit a cool wall, the back of his head thumping against it and jostling his already thoroughly shaken brain. 

Simon chanced a glance at what had touched him, the same figure from…from minutes or maybe even hours ago standing before him again. 

Eyes. Nose. Glasses. 

Simon’s eyes refocused a little, and he hastily wiped at them, blinking away the remnants of blood. The figure was a man. A very normal looking man. 

His mouth was moving, but Simon could only hear that ringing and incredibly garbled speech. 

“..-an ..-stand…me? …aybe…-n't…hear…?” 

Simon tried to piece it together, but his brain was all mush from being jostled one too many times. He shook his head a little and hoped the answer sufficed. 

This wasn't Eden. And it certainly wasn't the COI…. Far too…sterile. Clean. 

The man frowned faintly, glancing off to the side. As if speaking to someone. 

Simon followed his gaze to what looked like a weird, fucked up rock inside some kind of…glass ball-thing. 

All of this being an elaborate hallucination was definitely not off the table. 

And then the thing moved, and Simon’s chest seized with fear, hand automatically going to the knife that wasn't there again. 

Not weird alien shit again. He couldn't do that again. He had to get the fuck out of here. 

[ TBC after I decide if Ryland Grace knows any ASL. Simon definitely won’t but it'd be a start to them communicating ig

He glanced around for some sort of exit, but it was all bright lights and buttons - not a door in sight.

No door - no exit. 

Just like that fucking sub. 

The thought had his head spinning - maybe he really was in hell. Or heaven? No, he'd never possibly be able to get into heaven. 

*

Maybe some aliens had scooped him out of the blood and were fucking with him for shits and giggles. Didn't really explain the supposed human man he stabbed, though. Because he was….he was pretty certain that had happened. 

He could think about the logistics of it later. Right now he had to get the hell out of here. 

Simon scrambled to his feet, boots sliding dangerously on the smooth floor beneath him, spreading blood and viscera in his wake. Standing helped - even if his vision did swim dangerously when he did so, the room warbling this way and that. 

He could vaguely hear the man and the alien-rock-creature calling out to him, but he was determined to make his escape. 

He spotted a doorway with another section beyond it - that was his chance. It wasn't an exit, but maybe he could barricade it or-or something. 

Simon took off running, using what remained of his little energy to boost himself forward, years of pushing himself to the brink allowing for one last burst of desperate adrenaline- 

His boots slipped on the too-smooth floor, sliding across it and sending him straight to the floor, a loud CRACK! resounding as his face made contact with the floor and everything went black. 

°°°

( forgive me if Grace POV isn't great yet and also Rocky's speech patterns aren't right, I haven't fully downloaded them into my brain year if you know what I mean) 

“ I'm willing to bet this concussion he's got has something to do with why he can't understand me, he was speaking English and all,” Ryland rambled, pacing back and forth across the dormitory - or what space was left of it. 

♫Do not care. Hurt Grace.♪

“ I wonder if I could do something similar with the computer to help translate - could easily rig up some kind of speech to text, but that won't matter if he can't read it…” 

♪Other human hurt Grace. Rocky do not care about communicating, statement.♩ 

Ryland sighed, running a hand down his face at the words.

He had gotten stabbed and it had hurt so bad, but….

♩♫Grace listening, question?♩ 

He was probably just scared! That made sense. If Ryland had woken up on a strange space ship- 

Well, he had, hadn't he? And if his memory was correct, he too had been fighting - just that it was against Armando rather than another human. 

So, yeah, probably just scared. 

Plus, he'd apologized! Ryland could barely hear him, given that he was panicking a little, but he'd still apologized! 

He couldn't imagine this supposed human had had an easy go of it. For one, he'd shown up in their probe covered in blood and viscera. And he'd been missing an arm. And if Armando was to be believed, he had pretty severe injuries - not ones that Ryland would think were gotten just from being submerged in a blood ocean, anyway. 

Ryland suddenly stumbled as something knocked into his legs, only barely managing to catch himself on the wall. 

“Hey-” 

Rocky had rolled over and knocked into his legs, gesturing as if he'd been trying to get Ryland's attention. 

♬Grace not listening! Other human dangerous! Scary! Put other human back on moon!♩

The very idea of it made him nauseous,

 “ What!? I'm not going to-”

♩ Fine. Rocky do it. To keep Grace safe. ♬

“Wait-!”

Rocky was tumbling away before Ryland could stop him, presumably to prepare a probe to shoot the unknown man back down to the moon they were orbiting. 

“ Rocky, wait-wait wait wait wait!” Ryland hurried to stand in front of him - even if he know Rocky could bowl him over quite easily if he wanted to, “ we can't send him back down there - he just! He was probably just scared, okay?”

Rocky kept trying to roll past Ryland, fidgeting restlessly even as he spoke. 

♪ Other Human hurt Grace! Must go back. Danger danger danger danger ♩

He repeated the word endlessly, Ryland let out a groan of frustration, continuously moving over the gaps to keep Rocky in place, “ No, no, we're not- quit moving! We're not sending him back, Rock!” 

[TBC]

He pulled his hands away, trusting that Rocky was listening and wasn't going to immediately try and roll past him again, “ That's why we stopped here in the first place, right? We just…happened to find a potential new companion, too” 

Rocky seemed to consider the point for a moment. 

♩ Rocky trust Grace. Rocky will make sure Other Human won’t hurt Grace again.♬

The sentiment made Ryland smile, huffing a laugh, “Thanks, bud. I'm glad you have my back.” 

°°°

Simon groaned as awareness slowly came back, his head aching with constant, throbbing pressure. His ears rang and he grit his teeth against the piercing, never ending sound, the action only making the pressure in his head worse. 

He was somewhere lit, at least, not nearly as dark as the sub. Even if the light hurt his eyes, he opened them a little, squinting against it. 

“Eye….-ve-nt….texted…go-....-ing…cr-..ate” 

Simon gasped at the seemingly disembodied voice, sitting up far too quickly, his chest seizing with fear. He squinted against the bright room, groaning at the pain it caused. But he had to know there was another person here - he couldn't be hearing shit again! 

Something in his face restricted his movement, and when he reached up he discovered it was a mask. He ripped it off his face and tossed it to the side, panting a little with the exertion of even something as simple as that. 

He tried to look around, but his eyes couldn't focus. He just knew it was bright. And there didn't seem to be another person around. 

“ …-dy….-ment….detected- ….-ave…vere…concus-....-ultiple…-nifi-nt injur-...pl-...-ack…the…-dical…-latform.” 

“YO-YOU'RE NOT REAL! GET- UGH- GET THE FUCK OUTTA MY HEAD!” He stumbled off of whatever he'd been lying on, nearly face-planting onto the floor in the process. Fuck, his head ached. His body ached too, though it was far duller than his head. It didn't matter either way, he had to get the fuck out of here.  

He didn't know how he got here, or where here was, but if they had followed him to this place…well, it couldn't be good. 

Through the static in his head he could hear the voice again, but he just groaned and tried not to listen. 

At least he couldn't hear the voice well past the ringing, a small blessing. Even voices in his head could be silenced by a little blunt trauma, who knew. 

Something moved in the corner of his vision, Simon whipping around unsteadily to face it - certain that it was another hallucination. 

He squinted against the lights, his vision fuzzy. Something spindly and white, like a long, bony arm, was coming towards him - hand outstretched as if to grab him. He stumbled backwards, nearly falling through a doorway into a slightly dimmer corridor. 

The voices called out to him again as he turned and hurried down the dark corridor, the lack of bright light helping his head just a bit. It didn't really help the overwhelming dizziness and the slowly encroaching nausea, but that was a problem for when he was safe. 

Anywhere that Simon's clumsy feet went, the voices followed, his hands coming up to cover his ears in an attempt to be rid of them - even if he knew they were in his head. 

He stumbled down another dimly lit corridor, flinching when lights seemed to come on as he passed. If he could just…could just get his head on straight and get his bearings- 

“FUCK-” Simon let out a yelp as he tripped over god-knows-what in his path, sending him sprawled across the floor. 

The impact made every bit of him ache all over again, the adrenaline only helping so much as he struggled to get back up. 

The sight when he stood up sent a chill down his spine, his breath seizing for a moment. 

Stars. Thousands of them. 

Even through his blurry vision, the light they gave off- this couldn't be real. This could not be real. 

He sucked in a sharp breath, suddenly aware that he wasn't getting enough air. That must have been it. Lack of oxygen. 

“ this isn't real…hah….can't run from something that isn't real, Simon, you know that…” He panted, letting out an incredulous laugh. His breaths came shallower and shallower, each one not nearly enough. He was going to suffocate here, but at least he got to hallucinate the stars. It was a nice thought, to die delusional at the bottom of that damn ocean. 

Until something touched his shoulder. 

He flinched back automatically, a soft murmur following, even if he couldn't hear it past his quick, shallow breathing and pounding heart. 

“Fu-...y-...-ky? -cky- St…th…,” 

Simon groaned, thinking for a moment that the voices were back, but the sound seemed to come from in front of him. And something was touching his shoulder. 

He chanced a glance up, squinting against the light. 

This seemed awfully familiar by now. 

A figure. Haloed in white light. Asking him questions- 

Simon tried to focus on the figure, having a sudden sense of deja vu - 

Eyes. Nose. Glasses. 

The figure came into focus, the same man from before. So that….that must have been real. Maybe. 

The man was still talking, whether it was to him or not, Simon wasn’t sure. He couldn't make out what he was saying, still contending with the lack of oxygen, his throbbing head and the ringing in his ears. 

The man at least seemed to notice that Simon was watching him, his mouth moving as if speaking. It was all too garbled for Simon to even begin to make out. 

“Can’t-” Simon gasped, trying to catch his breath and failing, “ need- fu-fuck- need air-”

The man seemed lost for a moment, nervously glancing around before turning his attention back to Simon. He said something, but Simon couldn't make it out, the words all garbled and strange. 

He didn't seem at all perturbed that there wasn't enough oxygen - in fact he began to take deep, slow breaths, almost performatively.

He pointed at Simon. 

Oh. He wanted Simon to copy. 

“But- fuck- the-the oxygen…” He sputtered, still not entirely convinced that this man wasn't just a hallucination trying to get him to die faster. 

He coughed out as much, shaking his head, “ no-no y-you're not- not real- just getting me to-fuck- to die quicker!” 

The hallucination - man - whatever the fuck that thing was, reached out and grabbed Simon's hand. He flinched back, but the man kept his grip, placing Simon's hand on his chest. 

A heartbeat. Rabbit-quick, but still a very…human heartbeat. A very real heartbeat. 

“nononono this isn't-” 

The man began taking the deep, practiced breaths again, though he seemed to tremble slightly on the inhale - like he was nervous. Or scared. 

Right. If he was real. Then that meant Simon stabbing him had….had also been real. 

Simon began to mimic his breathing, just trusting his own touch for a moment. He could touch this man. He could feel the very heartbeat and breaths of this living person. 

So for a moment, maybe he could trust that it was real. 

He began to take shuddering, deep breaths, trying his best to follow along with the man's breathing, his oxygen-starved lungs burning a little still. 

He glanced up at the man again. The lights were still bright and still made his head ache, but… this was just a man. Not some otherworldly being determined to kill him. 

His eyes trailed down to where he had stabbed the man before. Sure enough, his shirt had a tear in it, and a dark bloodstain. He could just barely see the bandages beyond.

He immediately felt bad. 

“I’m….I'm sorry about…about before,” He murmured, frowning faintly. His head throbbed, and he squeezed his eyes shut against the pain.  He wanted to grab his head to soothe the ache, but he couldn't bring himself to pull away from the first kind human touch he'd had in a while. 

“-’ts -kay!....-ot…-but…-st'-...sc-” 

Simon could feel the vibrations in the man's chest as he spoke, but his head was too full of fuzzy, painful static to decipher it. 

“I can’t…I don’t understand,” He muttered, squeezing his eyes shut against the light, the pain in his head and body starting to become overwhelming now that he wasn't running for his life. 

He could feel the man speaking again, and then he began to pull away. Simon grabbed at the man's shirt, trying to keep him there. He needed to know that it was real. That he wasn't just talking to a ghost. 

“...to- …-et…” The man seemed to stop himself, before he placed a hand over Simon's, giving it a couple of light taps.

Simon didn't know what that meant.  He hoped it wasn't…bad. 

There was suddenly an arm around his shoulders, Simon jumping at the touch, the rumble beneath his hand indicating that it was probably just the man. Damn, he needed to figure out this guy's name. He can't just keep calling him ‘the man'. That was lame as fuck. 

The man said something, and gently removed Simon's hand from his chest. Simon only let him because the man was now pressed against his side, and he could still faintly feel his heartbeat. 

This was real, this was real, this was real.

[TBC]

Side note: should I try and just post this in parts like I did with the 50au for turtles cause this post is getting huge LMAO

Writing my book: