Chapter Text
Snow crunches under Hua’s metal boot as she ducks behind the frosted metal walls of a shipping container. Each breath leaving a wisp of white fog, fogging up the glass of her helmet as she waits for the stomping of a patrolling golem to fade into the distance.
Once the stomping has stopped. Hua glances around, making sure she’s alone, and heads back to the outpost.
Coming to this planet might as well have been a death wish, but this was Hua’s only lead. This god forsaken planet in the middle of uncharted space was the last known location of the UES Contact Light… in other words, Kiana must be here.
Hua remembers when Kia took that job, working as security on that cargo ship. That was the last time she saw her.
So, when Hua heard of a ship being sent out on a rescue mission, she took that chance immediately. The journey took a few months, and then, everyone was sent planet side. The navy-grey haired woman won’t ever forget the feeling of nausea as her drop pod crashed into the earth—
As she continues, Hua hears a low tapping behind her. She spins around, catching glimpse of a purple… fore-leg, disappearing into the snow.
It takes less than a second for her to realise what’s about to happen. She curses, breaking into a sprint as the space around her ruptures.
A giant, abstract… crab appears out of thin air, one of its forelegs barely misses the woman.
Reavers are what the others called it, one of the many eldritch crustaceans that have been appearing lately. It’s definitely not native to the planet, as the other hostile fauna can at least be compared to those in Sol. Its biology doesn’t make sense, its mouthless head floating above its body, tracing the area like an automated sentry.
Making sure to get some distance between the void reaver and herself, Hua readies her rifle and—
She can’t pull the trigger. Hua’s body is locked in place, paralyzed as the reaver stares right through her. Try as she might, her body won’t move.
It starts speaking into her mind, probing around her brain like an open book. Words in an unknowable language etching into her skull, compelling her to stay put.
Getoutgetoutgetout—
Before the creature can finish its work, it hears a snarl, a purple claw digging right between its eyes. It shrieks in pain, a shrill cry that sounds like breaking glass as it throws its attacker to the ground.
Whatever spell it had over Hua breaks in an instant, her body collapsing like a puppet without its strings. She gasps for air, clawing at the manual release of her helmet. In a quick motion, she pulls it off her head, inhaling lungfuls of frigid air.
If this was any other planet, taking off her helmet would’ve been a grave mistake. Thankfully, Petrichor V’s atmosphere is hospitable to humans. Though the same can't be said for its fauna.
Hua's attention turns towards the reaver, watching it limp away, disappearing into a rift. What’s left in front of her is a body in the snow.
A vaguely human-shaped body.
Its— no, her skin is a pale white with a tinge of blue. What used to be the remnants of armour warped beyond recognition, transformed into the purple carapace of those alien crustaceans. Most of the shell covers her chest and left arm, lightly covering the front of the legs.
And... oddly enough, she has a tail, a fish-like tail. Which doesn’t make sense considering the aforementioned carapace.
Her fingers are sharp, resembling claws, and the extremities of her hands glow a bioluminescent purple. The left arm is considerably warped, plated in a shell-like material.
Hua’s heart sinks as a possibility crosses her mind, further confirmed when she notices a flash of white hair floating in the bulbous blister that encases the humanoid’s head like a helmet.
Could it be?
Hesitantly, Hua sets the body upright against the wall, and pulls her knife from its sheathe. Carefully, she lightly jabs the knife at the blister.
It pops like a water balloon in slow motion… with a texture resembling the skin of a grape. A slurry of wine-red nutrient jelly seeps out to reveal a distinctly human face.
Her teeth might be sharper than usual, and that glowing purple scar running through the right side of her face shouldn’t be there. But despite the changes, Hua knows whose face that is.
“… Kiana?”
It took a bit of convincing for the others to let Hua bring the unconscious Kiana inside the outpost, but they eventually relented, allowing her to stay.
From what the scientist told her, Kiana’s body had undergone a metamorphosis, not sure how. At this point, she’s more void creature than human. Brain scans have shown unusual patterns of activity. For the most part, its intact, ignoring any psychological impacts from being stranded on an alien planet, alone for an unspecified amount of time.
Fun.
Kiana hasn’t woken up yet, which has been a cause of unease for Fu Hua. So for the past few hours, she’s been waiting outside her room.
Hua feels a tap on her shoulder, she has barely any time to react as a gloved hand holds a bunch of… green fungus, in front of her. She looks up at the pink-haired mercenary standing in front of her.
“Hungry?” Sakura asks, “figured you skipped lunch today.”
Hua squints at her.
Sakura shakes her head, taking a seat beside Hua. “Relax, they aren’t poisonous, or hallucinogenic. They’re actually quite nutritious.”
“I’ll… pass.”
“Suit yourself.” Sakura responds, popping the mushroom in her mouth.
Alien mushroom muncher
The two of them sit there quietly for a bit.
“So, how’s your friend?” Sakura asks.
“Alive. Not sure what’ll happen when she wakes up...”
“Can only hope, I guess. Worst comes to worst; we’ll tie her up if she tries to eat someone.”
“Sakura.”
“I’m joking. She protected you, didn’t she? No one has seen those cosmic shrimp turn on each other—”
Something bangs against the walls in the room nearby.
She’s awake!
Without even thinking, Hua runs inside the room, much the mercenary’s dismay. Sakura's concern worsening when she hears Hua cry out, possibly in pain.
Sakura flicks the safety trigger off her sword, the front end of the blade glimmering with hot plasma as she prepares for a fight. When she arrives, the mercenary finds Hua pinned down on the ground, the monstrous girl’s claws inches away from her face.
Kiana tilts her head, purple and gold eyes staring at the merc, then at the sword inching out of its sheathe. She bares her teeth, growling like an animal and raising her arm as if to cover Hua. Prompting Sakura to draw her sword—
“Don’t, you’ll scare her.” Hua raises her palm, “she’s confused, agitated, and doesn’t know where she is. Let me handle this.”
The mercenary sighs, putting away her sword, though she keeps her hand firmly on the handle, watching for any sudden moves. “You better know what you’re doing.” Sakura mumbles, slowly exiting the room.
Seemingly realising that she’s not in danger, the girl pulls herself off Hua. She’s stopped growling, that seems like a good sign. Though her body is tense, defensive.
Hua sits upright from her position, catching her breath. Cautiously, she puts her hand on the girl’s shoulder, rubbing circles into it. “Hey, it’s alright. No one’s going to hurt you. Do you remember me?”
Kiana seems to relax, looking at her. Unfortunately, the only response Hua gets is a vague trilling sound. Is she able to speak? Does she even remember how to talk?
Let’s try that again. “My name is Fu Hua. We met each other in Shenzhou 5 years ago, during the festival. Do you remember that?”
The girl doesn’t react at first. “…hu…ah?” she whispers with an odd inflection. She repeats it to herself quietly, before suddenly her eyes light up with recognition.
Does that mean—
“Huwah!” Kiana parrots with excitement, if it wasn’t made abundantly clear by her tail smacking against the floor.
“Nono not like that…” Hua sighs. It’s close enough. The important part is that Kiana does… somewhat remember, even if she’s far from coherent in this state.
It quickly became apparent that Kiana was responding to things around her like a curious animal. Whatever… or whoever changed her has clearly left a mark on her psyche.
At least she didn’t eat anyone, so… no casualties.
Of course, because Hua brought the feral girl here, the others put Hua in charge of keeping an eye on her, and it is going swimmingly.
Currently, Hua has been passing the time by combing the void fiend’s hair, getting rid of what can only be described as barnacles. Angry, gross, alien barnacles.
Thankfully there is an end to the barnacles. No more critters, only silky white hair with a tinge of purple at its ends.
Though the girl hasn’t stopped fidgeting… what is she doing—
“Hey, stop doing that, you’ll hurt yourself!” Hua chides softly, trying to stop Kia from chewing on her own arm.
The girl grumbles, displeased. Aside from saying names, Kiana communicates entirely with non-verbal means. Better than nothing, Hua thinks.
“Kiana.” Hua calls, getting her attention.
She seems to recognise her own name, that’s promising…
And then the woman resumes gnawing on her own arm.
There’s a sickening ripping sound as Kiana pulls a chunk of shell off her arm with her teeth, before dropping it on the floor with a cry of pain.
Hua sighs, getting up from her spot. “I told you it would hurt. Just… stay here, can you do that for me?”
Quickly, she leaves the room, returning with a bandage in hand, only to arrive to see Kiana pulling another chunk off.
Did she not learn anything from last time? “Kiana, no. Bad.” Hua scolds, bandaging her arm.
It’s always the left one, too. Though it looks a lot more humanly proportionate with shell removed, well… as much as it can be. Her arms and fingers are slightly longer than they should be... and clawed, don't forget about the claws.
Wait… is she doing this to make it look normal? She is, isn’t she? Lucid enough to recognise that her arm isn’t supposed to look like that, so she’s stubbornly gnawing at the parts that look wrong to her.
It might be beneficial to get rid of it… properly under anesthetics and with a trained surgeon. Not with teeth, that’s just asking for an open wound waiting to be infected.
“Don’t do that again.” Hua scolds the void fiend, who responds by chittering back sadly.
Another sigh, “I’m not trying to be mean. I just… When you left on that ship, I never heard anything back from you. I was worried that something happened, that you might’ve died—” Hua suddenly feels the fiend pull her into an embrace.
Oh...
Kiana must’ve missed her dearly. Hua can only imagine the torment she must've gone through on this planet.
After a delay, Hua reciprocates, trembling. “I’ve missed you too.”