Chapter Text
Grace was sitting in the lab, listening to Rocky work from behind the xenonite wall. He couldn't quite tell what Rocky was making but no matter how many times Grace asked, Rocky kept replying ‘Surprise.’ so Grace was left in the dark. Literally. Rocky had tried to fix one of the lights in the lab that kept flickering but instead managed to cause the entire lighting system to go offline, he had the faint glow from the monitor screens in the cockpit but Rocky had informed Grace it would take a while to fix the lights, he didn't want to spend too long in the cockpit with nothing to do so he found himself right here, listening to Rocky work, completely blind. Rocky skitters to another room, using the tunnels, silence fills the room, Grace cant even hear Rocky in the other room, he cant see, he feels heavy. Was the gravity always so high on the ship? His mind flicks back to his last day on earth, the feeling of the grass pricking against his face, the hands holding him down, the pressure, the prick in the back of his neck, the burn as the syringe is injected, the darkness that envelopes him as his limbs grow heavy and weak, the darkness from that day feels the same as the darkness now. His chest tightens and his breathing hitches.
He doesn't want to go. He doesn't want to go. He doesn't want to go. He isn't brave. Ryland Grace is a coward, even light years away from home, he is still weak, pathetic. Earth’s last hope is a coward, and he knows it. Tears streak down his face and his breaths become raspy, each inhale feels impossible and each exhale is like letting the air escape, he wants to hold on, he doesn't want it to leave him too. Grace feels a building pressure in his skull as his eyes snap open, when did they close? it doesn't matter, the dark means there is no difference weather his eyes are open or closed. Rocky wobbles back in, audibly settling back down at what Grace assumes to be his desk. Grace attempts to speak but his voice sounds scratchy and broken, each word needing more effort to say then he would like to admit. “Hey Rock? I think I’m going to go to sleep, I’m feeling a bit tired.” He could hear Rocky pause his work as the room settled back into that sickening silence, but only for a moment before Rocky spoke.
“Grace sleep now, question? Not Grace usual sleep time. Grace ok, question?” Rocky’s notes sound confused and tired, he has been up longer then Grace has seen in a while actually. Grace shifted his position nervously, trying to keep his voice calm and leveled.
“Yeah, I’m feeling pretty exhausted, its a human thing when its dark.” That was kind of true, humans do get tired when in the dark sometimes. He managed to keep his words smooth, only pausing for a second before the last part. Rocky just made a sort of humming noise in acceptance, with that, Grace stands up and heads towards where the beds are, sort of fumbling around and bumping into things, quietly muttering ‘fudge-’ when he knocks over a bin of supplies. Rocky taps the floor to check if Grace is ok but doesn't comment. Grace makes it to the room with his bed and just collapses onto what he thinks is his bed, but he misses, instead he falls and hits the side of it with a thud. “eugh ow..” He groans as he sits up, lifting himself onto the bed. He is wearing a t-shirt, one of his science pun ones. Grace stares down at his wrists and pauses, he could.. no, Rocky is in the other room. Maybe Rocky wouldn't mind..? No. No he cant. That's too much of a ‘what if’ for Grace to take that risk.
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— on Erid —
It has been almost a year since Grace and Rocky got back to Erid, Grace is almost fully back to health and has been doing much better, granted his joints still ache some days and there will be certain times he still throws up his food no matter what he is eating, but still way better then when they first arrived! Ryland is sitting in his room, in his own house, in a biodome is wonderful best friend and their wonderful mate made him, and the rest of the team whom he loves dearly. Speaking of Adrian and Rocky, Grace hasn't seen them in a while..? They have been spending more and more time away from the biodome since Grace has become healthier, it hurt a bit but he understands they are probably very busy. Besides, Rocky promised he and Adrian would visit later! Adrian had reminded Rocky a while back that humans don't need to be watched while they sleep and that Grace had an entire team nearby at all times, Rocky was hesitant but stopped watching him sleep every night, slowly but eventually it stopped almost completely. It hurt but Adrian was right, humans don't need to be watched as they sleep, humans don't need contact as much as Eridians, humans can manage on their own, humans can be independent, Grace can be independent. A knock on the door snaps him out of his thoughts and sends him scrambling to open it, Rocky was standing outside the door, shifting his weight around as he waited. As soon as Grace opened the door he tackled him to the ground, making sure not to put all of his weight on him. “oof Rock- careful bud, you might break a rib-” Grace’s voice was filled with pure joy, he was so happy to see Rocky again.
“No no no. Rocky careful, Rocky smartttt. Rocky no hurt Grace, statement.” Rocky made a sound that mimicked a humans laughter and Grace laughed right alongside him. Grace used his very limited strength to push Rocky, who thankfully didn't resist, off of him.
He sighed and stood up brushing himself off. “Alright then! Movie night?- oh wait, where is Adrian? I thought you said they were coming with you?” He cocked his head to the side in confusion and watched as Rocky shifted, the movement made something worrying settle in his chest. “Rocky..”
“Adrian not coming.” Rocky blurted out, his notes sounding distressed, as if he had been holding it in. “Rocky cant stay either, Adrian convinced Rocky go on what humans call ‘date night’. Needed to check if ok with Grace first..” Rocky lightly tapped the floor, an anxious habit Ryland has grown to notice.
“Oh. Oh uh yeah of course that's ok with me Rock! I love that you and Adrian have been hanging out again, you’ve been away from a long time.” Grace smiled softly at Rocky, trying to mask the undertone of pain that might have seeped into his voice. Luckily Rocky didn't notice and was just happily chirping, doing his happy jazz hands. ”Ok, do you have a bit of time to stay and chat before your *date?”* Hopefully Rocky picks up on the hopefulness in his words, he doesn't want to force Rocky to stay but he really did hope he had the time.
“Yes yes, Rocky have small bit of time before date, statement!” Rocky trilled as he walked further into Grace’s house, it was practically his own at this point, plus he built it. Although that label was slipping away the less time he spent here, the small giveaways that Rocky was basically living here were slowly becoming less and less. There wasn't as much of his stuff scattered around anymore, the space in his room he had set up for Rocky and Adrian to sleep had not been used in a while, and even the stocks of Eridian food was practically gone, no need to restock when there was no one to restock for.
“Awe perfect!” Grace grinned, a real smile this time, and playfully tapped Rocky’s carapace through the xenonite suit. Rocky made a mock offended note and teasingly poked Grace in the arm. “Gasp! How dare you poke me! My squishy exterior is no match for the harsh rock of your carapace!” He said dramatically, emphasizing his words before he couldn't hold back and burst out laughing. Rocky laughed along with him as they settled down on the nearby couch, even if they couldn't watch a movie together like he promised, they could finish the episode of they show they were watching that they never got to finish last time! Grace sat in comfortable silence, leaning on Rocky as he watched.
Eventually the episode ended and Rocky had to leave. “Apology apology Grace, Rocky and Adrian will make it up to you. Rocky promises!” Grace chuckled quietly and rested a hand on top of Rocky while they both stood by the door.
“Ok Rock, I believe you, now get going! You wouldn't want to leave Adrian waiting would you?” Rocky ‘nodded’ and ran out the door, clearly excited. After Rocky is out of sight, Grace allows himself to shake, slowly wobbling over to the kitchen and preparing himself a me-burger. He sighs and begins to eat, trying to distract himself from the sick feeling in his stomach. There is another knock on the door later, his food was basically done so he quickly ate the rest and made his way back to the door. Had Rocky changed his mind? Did something happen? By the time he got to the door, there was already an Eridian in his house, oh, seems they let themselves in…
Kind of rude but he understands not all Eridians fully understand humans house rules. “Hello savior Grace! I have come for a checkup. Grace ok with checkup?” The Eridian is speaking oddly slowly, close to the way he hears others speak to pebbles.
Grace shifts uncomfortably on his feet. “Uhm yeah sure I don't mind a checkup! No need to speak to me in pebble speak, I can understand Eridian mostly fluidly at this point, I will ask you to slow down if I need, I promise.” The pebble speak makes his stomach turn, he feels infantilized.
The Eridian hums dismissively before speaking again, still the same as before but more careful. “Ok. Grace come sit.” They skitter over to the couch and tap it, gesturing for him to sit. Ryland sits down carefully, a little hesitant, he feels something is wrong. The Eridian begins to do the normal checkup, at one point they grab something from a bag they brought. It looks like a think ring of metal with a kind of clip on it.
“What is that?” The curiosity was eating at him, the cons of being a scientist.. He watched it carefully, taking in each detail to try and make out what it could possibly be. It looked kind of like an Earth dog collar but it couldn't be, the Eridians wouldn't do that to him.
“Oh. Team used human thinking machine to help make human collar. Want to take Grace out of biodome to go meet rest of team and talk science, but after Grace last panic, Eridians worry Grace might panic again and get dangerous, collar solution to problem.” The Eridian let out a kind of hum as they moved closer.
Ryland went completely still, staring at the collar in horror. “Woah woah woah there. I don't need a collar! I'm not an animal??” He moves as far back into the couch as he can, trying to get away from the contraption. It has wires and things he cant figure out, it doesn't look like a normal collar.
“Grace need. Grace almost hurt Rocky last time panic, cant have happen to biodome team. Grace is animal, alien.” They move scarily fast, clipping it around Grace’s neck with some force.
It is tight, almost cutting off air as he scrambles away. “Gosh you cant just do that- Please take it off, Its really tight-” He winces as he moves, the metal digging into his skin. “I- I’ll behave I swear!” His voice rose as he began getting frantic, panicking slightly. He started trying to push the Eridian away, failing since the rock weighed over 400 pounds. The Eridian backed away for a moment to Grace’s relief, but only for a moment. There was something in one of their ‘hands’ that they clicked as soon as they were a few steps away.
Ryland felt a shock wrack his body, it felt like everything was on fire. He gasped in pain as his body fell the the floor and convulsed before he heard another click at the shock stopped. His entire body ached, the aftershock lingering. “Grace listen now, question?” There was a threatening tone to the notes, Grace just nodded, his body still in agony, despite his nod, he tried to move away from the Eridian, tried to run. They let out a sort of sigh and grabbed something from their bag again, the action gave Ryland time to get a small head start but not much. Ryland had not even made it to the door before the Eridian could be heard close behind him. His panic began to grow as the sound of steps became louder. The Eridian caught up to him, tackling him to the floor, and holding him down with four of their legs, holding a strange syringe in the remaining one.
Ryland was unable to see anything as they were pressed into the floor but he still felt a prick in his neck. There was a burning sensation as the substance was injected, memories flooded back as he sobbed and pleaded for them to let him go. “Please! Stop stop! You’re murdering me!” His voice cracked, past and present blurring together as his movements started to slow, the drug kicking in. The Eridian didn't lessen their hold even as his struggle almost completely stopped. His limbs felt heavy as he continued to sob, his begging getting quieter as he slipped out of consciousness.
“Rest well, Savior Grace.” The Eridian sounded pleased with themself as they carried Grace to the airlock, putting him in a suit but also putting him in a ball like Rocky’s old one for easier transportation. And with that, they left. The biodome was silent, the normal heartbeat and sound of Grace’s breathing that filled the dome was no where to be found, yet there was no one here to notice the absence.