Chapter Text
Its sounded like the patter of rain on a rooftop.
Small peices of debris hitting the ships hull at random intervals.
Chosen found the sound rather soothing.
The burn gel Rocky had given him worked wonders.
It largely soothed the aching sting of his wounds.
He looked up as he heard the serious tone in Green’s voice.
Green was pointing at a large asteroid dead ahead of them.
At this rate it looked like it was going to blow the ship to smitherins.
Chosen started foward shoving the burn gel deep into his pocket.
He quickly pushed past Rocky and into the cramped room.
“Let me out there. I can get rid of it.”
Chosen spoke while stareing Vic down.
“What do you mean get rid of it!?” Grace asked his voice tense.
His glasses had at some point departed his head and were now slowly floating away.
Chosen waited and Vic nodded curtly.
Wasting not another second Chosen spun himself around and headed toward the airlock.
Vic floated closely behind followed by everyone except Green.
Chosen stood by the airlock ignoring the space suits strapped to the wall.
Putting one on would just take too long.
“Are you sure you will be ok without a space suit?” Grace looked skeptical and nervous, his voice wavering with uncertainty.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”
“At least tie this around you juat incase you loose velocity. We can use it to pull you back in so you hopefully don’t get lost in space.” Grace handed him a safety rope.
Chosen tied it tightly around his waist, looping the rope through some of the belt loops of his pants.
Chosen shuddered as Vic came up behind him placing a cold hand on his shoulder.
“You know how excruciating it will be out there? The air ripped from your lungs, the very water in your cells boiling in the vacuum of space.” Vic whispered in a melodic yet nasty voice.
Chosen frustratedly shrugged the cold hand away instead focusing on the exhilarating rush of strength which now flowed through him.
His powers were back.
“Don’t screw this up.” Vic said loud enough for everyone to hear as he crossed his arms.
“Chosen do your best and please try not to die.” Ryland encouraged with a tight smile.
“Please be careful!” Sec yelled as the airlock door seperating them finally closed shut.
Chosen cherished his last breath as the air was slowly sucked out of the small room with a hiss.
Vic was right, space did not feel very nice.
His lungs were completely devoid of air begging to be filled.
His body was swollen and tight.
His skin felt icy cold.
But honestly excruciating was an overstatement, he had had worse.
As soon as the hatch opened wide enough he propelled himself forward with his fire and swiftly moved toward the front of the ship.
The temperature was actually inconsequential since he could simply adjust his own internal body temperature.
But the effects of the vaccum were what made it slightly agonizing.
Chosen stood on the very front of the ship facing the huge rock head on.
It really was massive.
It was at least the size of a large building.
He activated his lazer eyes.
The two beams of red bore into the rock.
It wasn’t working fast enough.
The asteroid had drawn even closer, it’s velocity unchanged.
Chosen then gathered and focused all of his energy into his hands shooting out a blindingly bright beam of energy.
The beam flashed radiant blues and yellows as the asteroid began to fracture and break apart.
Chosen continued to destroy it by blasting all of the larger sections into dust.
He felt joy bubble up in his chest.
It just felt so good, so right to use his powers.
He noticed there was still one decent sized chunk of debris left.
Chosen accelerated forward skillfully landing on the boulder.
He then instantly pulverized it with an energized punch from his fist.
As the rock crumbled away into dust, a large shadow passed over him. He looked up and that’s when he realized he was no longer attached to the Hail Mary.
The line had broken.
He instantly activated his fire, shooting forth in pursuit.
The distance only grew larger and larger.
Panic raced through Chosen as he willed himself to go faster.
No this couldn’t be happening, he would catch up, he just needed to try a little harder!
He put all of his strength into accelerating.
It was no use.
He was going to be left behind!
Darkness engulfed him on every side.
The only point of reference was the rapidly receding ship.
His lungs ached fiercely.
If he could breathe he would probably be hyperventilating by now.
He felt trapped by the emptiness that enclosed him.
Though he knew he was surrounded by an endless amount of space, it still felt claustrophobic.
Was he going to die out here?
Was he going to starve to death?
Could he starve to death?
He probably wouldn’t be dieing from lack of oxygen.
Had that oxygen from the airlock earlier been his last breath of air?
The ship was even smaller now, just a distant speck in a sea of nothing.
The terror of his situation threatened to overwhelm him.
Would he end up dieing here all alone, a prisoner to his own personal hell?
His last glimmer of hope was extinguished as the blurry blinking lights of the Hail Mary disappeared into the vast vapid void.
Mabye he should just give up, and finally accept the inevitable.
His fire started to sputter as the reality of his fate hit him like an un kissed brick to the face.
There was nothing, literally nothing in every and all directions.
He could continue the same way that the Hail Mary had been going, but his velocity was already much slower.
What would take the Hail Mary a couple weeks to traverse would take him years.
There was no way he was going to catch up with his speed.
Chosen ceased his fire, his body continuing it’s velocity as he stared at his trembling hands.
He couldn’t see them.
It was so dark.
A quiet dread settled in the pit of his stomach, and his heart felt heavy like a stone cast into mud.
Mabye this wasn’t real, this couldn’t be happening.
They wouldn’t leave him.
He cringed as pain flared through him in constant waves.
It wasn’t too bad, but he could feel the countless cells in his body breaking, dieing, before regenerating.
He reignited a small flame in his palm.
The warm light was somewhat comforting.
Wait a second, if fire was burning that meant there must be oxygen.
Chosen spent the next few minutes expirementing and trying to produce oxygen without fire.
After a while he eventually gave up.
What was the point anyway.
A tiny gulp of air wouldn’t make much difference.
He closed his eyes. The silence was starting to get to him now.
He could hear his heart beating rapidly in his chest. The sound of his lungs consticting, his stomach growling.
There were so many sounds he had never noticed his body made until now.
What if he didn’t die?
What if he just lived here forever floating through space. What if he was bound to experience each and every agonizing second, minute, hour, year in this prison of absolute nothingness.
It would be better to starve.
It would be better to die a horrible death at the hands of Victim.
He hugged himself tightly, his mind whirling as he contemplated his current circumstance.
Why did they leave him!
Didn’t they notice when he didn’t return?
He should have checked that stupid rope better, he had been such an idiot!
Tears attempted to eacape his eyes, but they quickly boiled away into space leaving behind only searing pain.
His chest was so tight.
Mabye they could turn around and come get him?
Mabye they could fly back and rescue him.
He had lost sight of the ship a while ago.
How would they know where his is?
How would they know where to find him?
The darkness felt like it was pressed close around him the abyss enveloping him like pitch.
Please someone save him!
Chosen’s body shook. He was trapped out here with no way to escape on his own.
Mabye this was all a dream, mabye he hit his head and was having one of his nightmares.
He lit his hand on fire and brought it to his arm.
He watched in morbid fascination as the top layer of skin instantly bubbled and burned away the blood beneath boiling as the raw flesh quickly reformed.
It kinda looked like when you cook a marshmallow for too long.
His now burnt arm twinged and throbbed much worse than he had expected.
Nope definitely not a dream.
Was this it.
Was this how his stupid pointless life would end?
He was named The Chosen One yet he had never lived up to the title of a hero.
The Chosen One? What a joke.
Simon’s words from the med bay resurfaced in his mind.
“Chosen? Chosen for what?”
Chosen to suffer?
Chosen to die?
Chosen to fail?
Honestly he didn’t deserve a name like The Chosen One.
A name like No One would have suited him much better.
He sure felt like No One right now.
Surrounded by the eternal abyss Chosen struggled to feel like he existed at all.
How long had it been now?
Minutes, hours, days?
He shut his eyes surrendering himself to his fate.
+=======+
Dark felt the whole ship reverberating with each powerful blast.
It took Cho less than 2 minutes to completely desimate the asteroid.
Though impressed Dark figured he could definitely do it faster.
Grace moved around anxiously as they waited for Chosen to return.
A minute passed then another.
Where was he?
Was he just out there taking his time fooling around?
What if the rope snapped?
“Im going to check the windows!” Second decided after he had waited long enough. He scrambled away followed closely by Blue and Yellow.
Dark waited aperhensily.
“The rope broke!”
Grace pushed past him his face grim.
Dark trailed behind his mind running blank.
Was Cho gone?
Grace raced back a minute later.
“Green is slowing the ship to a stop, Rocky we need to get ready to board the shuttle.”
“Can I come too?” The question escaped Dark’s mouth before he had a chance to think.
“Fine but that’s it. Everyone else stays here!” Grace threw Dark a space suit as he rapidly donned his own.
Dark figured he could probably survive out there without one, but he decided to be safer than sorry so he quickly put on the space suit.
After they were suited up they sent Second to check if the Hail Mary had stopped.
It took another agonizingly slow 30 minutes for the ship to come to a complete stop.
After the ship stopped moving Grace, Dark and Rocky entered the airlock.
They were soon outside of the ship carefully climbing to the shuttle.
The Eridian craft was securely mounted to the outside of the Hail Mary thankfully not far from the entrance to the airlock.
The air lock was much smaller on the shuttle, but with a little squeezing they all made it inside.
Once in the ship Rocky prepared to embark on their rescue mission.
“I just hope he didn’t start going off on a different axis, we probably won’t be able to find him if he wandered to far.”
The shuttle, though speedy was not anything close to how fast the Hail Mary had been going.
The trip was probably going to take at least a couple of hours.
After a while Dark started getting very sleepy he just wanted to take a quick nap for a minute. He did need to catch up on some sleep anyway.
He was awoken by a loud thud on the shuttle window.
The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was Chosen smacked against the front window like a bug on a windshield.
He was grinning ear to ear like a fool.
Dark snickerd. He looked utterly ridiculous.
Chosen was soon in the shuttle.
Dark was surprised and slightly annoyed as the first thing Chosen did was hug Dark tightly.
“What the heck Cho!”
Dark tried to push the clingy boy away.
Chosen’s breathing was choppy and full of sobs.
Dark tentatively rested a hand on Chosen’s head trying to sooth him.
Chosen didn’t deserve his care, he was a traitor!
But he was upset, and he clearly trusted Dark.
He didn’t want his worthless trust!
He shouldn’t be showing a traitor any mercy.
But wait..
If Cho trusts him again, he could take advantage of that.
Let Chosen believe all has been forgiven let him think everything is going to be ok, then show him what it feels like to be let down.
To make him regret ever turning on him.
He couldn’t wait to see the utter look of betrayal and despair.
“I- I thought I was going to die out there.” Chosen choked out as he tried to steady himself.
“Really? I mean its not like we would actually leave you behind.” Dark replied nonchalantly.
“Are you injured at all?” Grace asked his face an interesting mix of emotions. He looked exhausted.
“-No, though some water would be great.” Chosen finally broke away from Dark standing awkwardly, hands clasped nervously.
Grace rifled around while Rocky silently began piloting the shuttle back towards the Hail Mary.
“What was it like, being in space?” Dark qeuired. He was genuinely curious.
“Cold, very cold, and werid. Kinda like what I would imagine it would feel like to be a water balloon.”
Chosen explained as he carefully melted away some of the frost that had formed on his sweater sleeves.
“It was painful, but not unbearable. I would say a little less painful then being stabbed through the stomach.”
“Ok, so not that bad.” Dark nodded his head in understanding.
Mabye next time he would try suitless space walking.
“The heck do you mean not that bad! Have you guys been stabbed before!” Grace had returned with a bag of water his glasses hanging on by an ear.
“Yeah, I mean it’s actually a pretty common experience for a stick figure.” Dark replied with a shrug.
Ryland pinched the bridge of his nose muttering. “Who hasn’t been stabbed at this point.”
“Rocky not stabbed.” Rocky chirped helpfully. Dark and Chosen shared a longways glance.
“I think all of us that came from the computer have been stabbed at least a couple times..” Chosen replied shuffling his feet slightly.
“Even the skittle children?”
“Um yeah,…”
“Pfht, Second got stabbed at least a hundred times I would know.” Dark chuckled darkly.
Chosen punched him in the shoulder glaring at him.
Dark stifled a laugh, it was just so funny to annoy Chosen. He got so frustrated over the littlest things.
“We will all talking about all of this when we get back.” Grace declared as he paced the small craft clearly somewhat upset at the news of their frequent stabbings.
The trip back was uneventful, mostly filled with the bickering of the two teens.
Dark’s plan was going perfectly.
He would pretend to be friends with Chosen again and then eventually stab him in the back.
Chosen had no clue!
“Remember that time we were in Minecraft? I think we should go there again sometime!” Chosen said excitedly, he had been talking a lot more than expected.
“You mean so you can build another stupid house? No thanks.”
“It wasn’t stupid, your stupid. All you did was fight things.”
“It was stupid, it didn’t even look like a house!”
“Ok, well mabye it could have used a little bit more cobblestone.”
“This is why I built our house.”
Chosen crossed his arms and scowled as Dark laughed.
“Rocky built own house too.”
“Ok, houses aside we are about to reconnect to the Hail Mary, could everyone please secure their space suits?” Grace said tiredly.
They soon made their way back to the airlock.
Dark was relieved to be back.
The airlock hissed filling with oxygen.
Dark carefully removed his helmet with a click.
The internal door opened like the massive jaws of a predatory fish.
Yellow was pacing in front of the door. Dark didn’t really mind Yellow they both had very similar interests.
“You’re here! Come quick, it’s Simon something has gone wrong.”