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Rick had been swimming for a long time, a very, very long time. It was so deep and dark that he didn’t quite remember which way was up anymore. He was a bit afraid of trying to find the bottom to reorient himself, so he mainly naviguated by the occasional pillars rising up from the sea floor, and other strange geological elements.
And then it hits him- like a knife to the heart. He feels all his bonds start to snap. It takes less than sixty seconds, and the friendships he had shared with everyone back at the Colosseum were wrenched from him. Had they agreed, all at once, that he was no longer a friend to them? Did they feel abandoned, jealous, betrayed? What had he done, except escape for the sake of his own survival?
There were more pressing matters however, because now he could no longer breathe.
He couldn’t help gasping, choking on water. A school of fish swam by, ignorant to his distress. He wished, hysterically, that he could speak to them, beg them to save him or at least show him a way to the surface, but he was on his own.
No more immense strength, no break-neck swimming speed, no lungs adapted to the great blue.
Rick pressed on through the growing pain in his chest, steadily losing hope, until he saw the last thing he expected to see down here. An enormous, sprawling facility, nestled in what he was beginning to realise was a vast, oceanic trench. How had he gotten so lost he’d wandered into an oceanic trench?
The facility was sleek and imposing, a huge monolith beneath the inky depths, only magic could have built something like this! He was loathe to encounter more wizards, but he had to take the chance, he had no other choice.
With all the remaining strength in his body, he pushed on towards it, knowing the seconds were only ticking down the longer he deliberated.
As he got closer, he began to notice details he had missed from a distance. This fortress was not impenetrable, in fact, it looked quite penetrated. Windows shattered, letting water flood in, cables thicker than Rick’s entire torso snapped clean off and dangling astray, sending sparks into the ocean. He would give those a wide berth, no matter how desperate he was.
Then he saw it, a hallway collapsed down the middle, rubble still coming loose bit by bit and tumbling away into depths unseen. There was no guarantee the whole area wasn’t flooded, but it was currently his best chance at getting in.
He swam up into the breach, more and more black spots clouding his vision. There! A path lit by green flares! He kicked his legs one last time, trying to propel himself through the passage, before the world finally faded away.
>
There was a dead man laying half-submerged in a watery hole. That much wasn’t new. What was new was his bewildering appearance, ”was he not wearing a diving suit?” Sebastian wondered to himself.
Sigh, he’d come through here hoping to recover more supplies from the expendables, and there was an expendable, right on time! -but he’d never had to deal with waterlogged bodies before. He really hoped this one hadn’t been here for too long.
There was also the matter of the wall dweller, hunched over the corpse and preparing to chow down.
Sebastian wasn’t in the mood to wait for this thing to be done with its meal, nor did he especially care for the gorey spectacle that was sure to ensue. He never had much patience for these creatures in the first place, to be frank.
He withdrew his sawed-off from its pouch and fired it point blank at the wall dweller, hitting with a sickening crunch as its weird flesh was blasted away into the pool of water behind it. What remained of the dweller collapsed to the floor in pieces.
Sebastian approached, sweeping the viscera aside with the point of his gun to examine the deceased man.
He picked the poor expendable up by the scruff of his ugly jacket and thought, “what the hell is this guy wearing? How come he doesn’t have a diving suit on? No wonder the moron drowned.”
Although… upon closer inspection… he didn’t look quite-dead-yet. In a bad way, sure, but maybe he should check…
Yep, that was a pulse. Great , just what he had asked for, unconscious expendable babysitting duty.
Except… he wasn’t entirely sure what to do for the guy? He thought that, maybe, he attended a CPR course once in college, but the memory was distant and faded under the haze of pain, like everything else.
“Eugh” he moaned, “do not tell me I have to do mouth-to-mouth.” He reasons his face would probably dwarf this guy’s anyway, and no one wanted to wake up to cold fish lips.
Well, there was one other thing he could try.
He released the jacket collar to grip the skinny little man around the waist with two hands, and shook him up and down like a ragdoll, hoping to dislodge any water stuck in his windpipe.
It took a good few vigorous shakes, enough for Sebastian to worry that he might have to perform proper CPR after all - as well as enough to send the man’s sunglasses clattering to the floor, but after a moment, some water ejected from his mouth, and he took a shallow, ragged breath, not waking yet.
Sebastian let out a sigh of relief despite himself. It was good business to give customers a reason to like you, to keep coming back, right? Hell, maybe he could even claim this expendable owed him after this.
“You know what?” he thought, eyeing the dropped sunglasses, “he could start paying that debt back now.”
He switched the man over to hold him under one arm, and bent to pick them up, grasping the frames delicately in oversized claws. They might be a little tight on his head, but his eyes had been so sensitive since they’d done this to him. The idea of having a bit of protection from the bright lights was undeniably appealing.
He wiped the wetness on the lenses off on his shirt, and awkwardly worked them onto his face. The fit was, predictably, snug, and they tugged on his ears a bit, but the newfound dim was such a relief he was pretty sure he could ignore it.
He contemplated checking the man’s pockets, but a quick pat confirmed his suspicion that they were empty. Nothing left to do but return to the closest shop he had set up, not wanting to continue his rounds with a defenceless charge. It’s not like he was bound to run out of anything soon. The guy would eventually wake up, be on his way, and Sebastian would return to business as usual.
With that plan in mind, he slithered off through the safest path back to home base.
>
Sebastian left the man sitting in a corner, gently propped up against a wall. His drooping form had already begun to leave a growing saltwater puddle around him, dripping from his hair, clothes, and shoes. Sebastian didn’t have anything to dry him off with, because, again , most people arrived at the blacksite in waterproof diving suits .
He returned to his affairs, switching the radio on to spew its unintelligible noise.
It wasn’t long before he saw the first expendable come through, a returning customer, no doubt here to stock up before they carried on the rest of their suicide mission. He hadn’t had any bad experiences with this one, no more than he’d had any good ones. He saw them eyeing the stranger as they stood up and dusted themself off.
“Hello again,” he called to them buoyantly, clasping his hands together, “I have a fine collection for you here today, and… mind you ignore the sleeping fella in the corner, or it’ll be your head. He is a customer too, after all.”
They shrugged, turning away from that point of interest, and presented Sebastian with stacks upon stacks of documents he knew Urbanshade would just hate to lose. What a shame.
It would be enough to buy out everything he had to offer right now, and it almost made the smile on his face a little more genuine to see it. Maybe he’d develop some positive feelings for this expendable yet.
Oh, they were still going to die, again and again. So he had no interest in knowing their name, if they had a family, what they planned on doing with the money... No, it was the feeling of having a reliable regular, and that was all.
He waved goodbye as they returned through the vent, bumping their head once on the way out.
It was a moment later that Rick stirred, blinked his eyes open, and screamed.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!”
Sebastian winced, his body tensing like a wire, “right, of course,” he said slowly and sarcastically, “that doesn’t hurt my feelings at all. Never mind that I’m the person that saved you .”
The frightened man paused, inexplicably mid-weaving his hands into some arcane shape.
“You- you’re not some hostile beast beset upon me?” he questioned at a volume a touch higher than was appropriate for the small, indoor space. Sebastian felt himself twinge in irritation.
Nonetheless, he had a spiel rehearsed for this. He could just… cut and paste the bits he felt were relevant to this weird situation.
“No, I’m not gonna hurt you, despite what you may have seen, heard, and/or been told,” he punctuated his words with the most charming smile his freakish face knew to make, “I don’t think we’ve met before.”
The man let out an audible sound of relief, getting to his feet with a big bright smile, “we have not! Where are my manners? My name is-” the exuberance with which he had launched into his introduction abruptly fell away, as he cut off mid-sentence to feel at his face. His bizarre eyes, all yellow-dark and red, snapped up to the shades Sebastian was now wearing.
“Oh, these?” Sebastian tapped them, “they were yours… but just consider these my payment for dragging your ass out of the water and preventing you from becoming a wall dweller’s next snack.”
In response to Sebastian’s words, the man almost seemed to make himself smaller, quieter, looking up wide-eyed and vulnerable at the tall creature facing him down.
“B-but I can’t be Rick Shades without the Shades!” he cried, tears starting to well in his eyes.
Sebastian’s ear flicked, “-and the bozos walking around this place have a bad habit of turning the corner, seeing me , and immediately flashing me with the closest thing to a weapon they have, which isn’t only blinding, it fucking hurts. ”
“I see..” he whimpered, “that’s very reasonable!” and sure, it was all well and good to say that, but the tears had spilled over into outright crying at that point, and his voice was wobbly with it.
Sebastian groaned, turning away in discomfort from the pathetic sight, “ jeez … what a softie you are!” he complained, “take them back if it matters so much to you.”
He took the sunglasses off, tossing them back in Rick’s direction. He watched out of the corner of his eye as he clumsily caught them. Once their owner had re-donned them, and hastily wiped away a few tears, an ear-splitting showman grin returned to his features.
“Right, where were we? Oh yes, I’m Rick Shades !” he bellowed, “deep sea wizard extraordinaire!”
Sebastian thought to himself “oh, great, he’s insane,” but what he said aloud was “it’s nice to meet you, my name is Sebastian, and I am your only friend down here.”
“FRIEND, you say?” Rick’s grin somehow grew wider, “very well! let’s shake on it!” he held his hand out, practically vibrating with excitement, and if he didn’t have an almost scary intensity to him, Sebastian could have sworn he saw a tail wagging behind him.
He tried not to grimace too noticeably. He accepted the handshake.
…All of a sudden, the world exploded into brilliant black nothingness. The walls of the shop broke away like the tissue tethering them to reality had torn away. Lightning poured from Rick’s eyes and coursed down his arms, thunder following it. For some reason, the absurdity of hearing thunder so far beneath the ocean made Sebastian want to break out laughing , but he was too petrified to make any sound pass his lips. Rick had no such reservations, howling with manic laughter.
The lightning was forming… a string… a bowstring? That suddenly SHOT out in opposite directions, piercing both of them through the heart like a double-edged harpoon straight from Hell. It didn’t hurt, and Sebastian faintly wondered if that was shock; if he was already dead and his brain was waiting to catch up.
“HAHAHAHAH! YES! YESSSS” Rick shouted, “THE PACT IS SEALED!”
And just like that, it was over.
“What the hell did you just do?” Sebastian hissed, reeling from the shock and terror, “what kind of little trick was that??”
“I haven’t done anything , my dearest, newest friend! You’ve simply helped me recharge a little of my magical prowess, and gained an ally in me, Rick Shades!”
Sebastian had half a mind to shoot him for that, but his morbid curiosity was winning the battle of wills raging inside his skull.. and nothing felt wrong. He wasn’t hurt, no injury marring his scales, no sense of disturbance within his body.
“I’m gonna need more explanation than that,” he grumbled, unsure how harmless this expendable really was.
“Well, you see, I have a WORD inscribed on my SOUL that allows me to harness the strength of my friends!” Rick boasted, demonstrating a paltry flicker of black lightning. Sebastian squinted, he had called himself a wizard, but that sounded like magic bullshit. There were many unexplainable horrors in this world, but as far as he knew magic wasn’t one of them.
“Now, seeing as we’re friends, why don’t you tell me what you’re capable of- in great detail!” Rick smiled in a way he hoped was encouraging, it was not.
“I don’t think I will,” Sebastian crossed his arms, “we’re not really close friends like that, this is more a friendship of convenience .”
“YOU CAN TRUST ME! I PROMISE!” the smile frayed, sparks flickering in the pits of Rick’s eyes.
“Is that so?” Sebastian doubted, “well, regardless, those kinds of secrets are reserved for more… steadfast companions- and paying customers,” he added, gesturing towards the file laying on the table, “but I doubt you can afford it, given I didn’t see any data on you when I shook you down.”
“Ahhh, so I must earn the next level of friendship to learn of your abilities! Very well, I will work tirelessly to endear myself to you! And then we will be… best buds ” Rick’s voice dropped into a low, sinister register.
Sebastian couldn’t help the sarcasm creeping back into his tone, “yeaahh, best of buds!”
“If we are then to embark on a journey of budding camaraderie; I have to ask, do you have any food? I happen to be LITERALLY STARVING!” he said it with far too much enthusiasm, but it was becoming more and more evident how unsteady he was on his feet, lightly swaying like a dizzy man out at sea. The sunglasses had done a good job of concealing the dark circles under his eyes, and his ashy complexion couldn’t possibly be a sign of good health.
“You know, now that I get a good look at you, you do look like shit. What are they even feeding you guys?” Sebastian asked.
“Mostly gruel!” Rick responded heartily, moving to lean against the nearby desk.
“Wow, that is dire” Sebastian turned back to rummage around in his supplies, “let me see.”
He managed to produce a pack of emergency rations and a protein bar for his guest, who accepted them without hesitation, shouting “AMAZING! THANK YOU!” and going to town devouring them. Sebastian had never seen anyone eat those rations with as much zeal. They didn’t taste very good, from experience.
“Do you possibly have anything to drink, too? All I’ve had in days is saltwater!” Rick beamed.
“ Days?? How are you not dead?”
“I’m a little perplexed myself!” he laughed mirthlessly.
Sebastian returned to the stashe, pretty sure he’d seen a sports drink in there while looking for food. Rick’s eyes lit up like the stars when he produced it, belting out another equally cheerful thanks. He sat down to drink it, clearly too exhausted to pretend he wasn’t anymore.
>
It was quiet for a while. Sitting back down had made Rick painfully aware of how much energy he’d burned through in just the last few minutes. He didn’t like the silence, agonizing to fill it, but his mind had fogged over with fatigue and he couldn’t think of anything to say to his new friend.
What his mind was apparently not too tired to ruminate on, however, was the last few days. Although, every time he started to feel some way about the mortal dread of the Colosseum, his panicked flight from Ocean Country, or the fact that everyone he cared about had cut him out of their hearts as soon as he’d been gone long enough to forget, the feeling vanished into ephemeral smoke.
No, that wasn’t right, it wasn’t gone, just out of sight.
That was probably for the best, Sebastian hadn’t seemed to appreciate his tears last time.
Hey, but it felt good to have a bit of food in his stomach. He still remembered how to be grateful for the little things.
He let the fog take him for a while, until he became aware of the sound of hands and boots clambering on metal. A person in a navy blue diving suit emerged from a vent he hadn’t noticed before, a little blood smeared across their nose.
Before Rick could say “hello!” the new guest blinked in surprise at the sight of Sebastian and pulled out a strange device that produced a shockingly bright flash of light. Rick wasn’t sure of the sound he had just made, but it couldn’t have been very dignified.
Sebastian, however, looked livid in the aftermath.
The large man reared back as if to lunge at the offending suspect, but Rick had hopped back to his feet a little faster. He stepped in front of the individual, pushing the hand holding the device down to face the floor.
He remembered what Sebastian had said, then, about how much the flashes hurt.
“Woah there! That was very inconsiderate of you! You wouldn’t like it very much if someone shone a light in your eyes like that, at least, I don’t think I would!” Rick told them, hoping it was just an honest mistake. They paused, looking bewildered between Rick and Sebastian.
“Just so I’m clear, we’re talking about the… huge fish monster,” they finally said
“I’m right here”
“Yes, and that huge fish monster is my friend, Sebastian!” Rick insisted.
At that, they both gave Rick an odd look.
“Here, why don’t you apologise to him and we can ALL be friends ”
The person in the diving suit, with an expression that betrayed how sheepish they felt, apologised to Sebastian for acting rashly at the sight of him. The horrors they’d seen in the blacksite had understandably made them a little jumpy.
Sebastian didn’t sound impressed, “well, wasn’t that nice ,” he droned, “items are still full price, in fact, you’re lucky I’m not upcharging you for that little stunt.”
After a brief explanation, they settled on purchasing a new flashlight and a medkit, and as they rummaged in their bag for files, Rick did his best to make friends.
“So, what’s your name? Mine is RICK SHADES!” he shouted.
“Um…” they eyed him nervously.
“What do you say? Shall we be… friends? ” he extended his hand for a shake.
They quickly packed up their newly acquired goods and skittered back out of the shop through the vent. Rick stamped down his disappointment, that was okay, they couldn’t all say yes!
Once the shopper was truly gone, Sebastian bent down a little closer to Rick’s level, and asked, “you’re a strange little fella, you know that, right?”
“I understand why you wanted my sunglasses now,” he said instead, taking them off to offer to Sebastian, “I suppose I could let you borrow them.”
Sebastian seemed taken aback, “I thought you needed those, you’re not going to start crying on me again, are you?”
“OF COURSE NOT!” Rick held back a small tear threatening the corner of his eye.
Laughing softly, Sebastian put the shades back on, “yeah, alright.”