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Over and over, you die in brutal ways. You never got used to the pain; only got sick of it.
You never knew why you kept going back to the submarine. How you never truly, permanently died. Was it something to do with the crystal? This whole facility? The entire research that the company had been working on?
You were disposable, only ever just expendable. You would never have an answer for any of this. None of the classified files or drives told you anything. All of it was unintelligible in your eyes, only leaving you with more questions than answers.
You always wonder how the facility’s rooms and areas are never the same. Maybe it moves by itself or something. There was always something new with each door you open, there were always assets waiting to be collected, even if there were numerous other prisoners who had gone before you.
All you know is that you’re tired.
Sometimes you didn’t want to return to the submarine. You just wanted to lie down, bloodied, resting on the floor. It would be a pathetic sight, but do you really care about that when you’re about to die?
That shopkeeper also doesn’t help with raising your spirits up.
He only makes things worse, except if you had data.You could say he was still pretty useful with the items he sold and the information about the monsters he provided. That won’t stop you from thinking that he was an asshole. A jerk through and through.
Although, you may have seen a side of him that no one else on this site had.
You found him humming to himself as he poured water from a tiny basin onto a young sapling. You were nowhere near the rooms where his shop was normally stationed. On the contrary, you were at the area where those fields of grass with suspiciously human shaped foliage and massive trees.
You weren’t expecting to find him here, and judging from his calm demeanor, he didn't anticipate anyone to barge in; or at least, without him noticing.
Ah, it would be awkward to be caught just staring at him. All you got to do was to sneak behind him and pass through the next door.
That plan collapsed as soon as you took a step too heavy on the ground. Dammit, did those scientists also modify his hearing sensitivity? You wouldn’t put it past them to do that in all honesty.
His ears? Fins? twitched at the sound you had made and turned himself around to face you.
“Oh. It’s just you.” Sebastian sighed to himself, his shoulders slumped.
You wave nervously at him in response. Walking over to him, you eye the small plant he was taking care of. “So, how’re you doing?”
“Do you really have all the time in the world for idle small talk?”
Your expression darkened. “Technically, I do. I don’t know how, but I wish I didn’t.”
“Ugh, you’re beginning to sound like those expendables who’d later become walldwellers.”
“Excuse me, what?”
“Don’t tell me you’ll want to ‘lay down on the floor forever’, ‘cause this facility is more than welcome to grant your wishes. It has undesirable side effects like becoming part of a hivemind of wall dwellers and eternal hunger for flesh, but you can do whatever you want with your life I suppose.”
You were left speechless for a moment. “I’ll… not do that, thanks.”
“Wise decision.” he spoke with no genuine emotion.
You redirected your attention to the nearby sapling. “What kind of plant is this?”
“I don’t know either. Some sort of tree I’m guessing? An expendable had these on their corpse.” Sebastian shrugged. You weren’t really expecting him to indulge you with an answer, he’d normally try his hardest to make every one continue along the mission to not bother him.
You weren’t complaining at the sudden change of heart.
The two of you chatted the time away, talking about each other’s experiences on this site or stories from the surface.
Things felt a little less lonely after that. It was surely a rare moment that you might never come across ever again. You wonder if he’d be like this if some other prisoner stumbled into him instead of you.
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Several runs later, you found that plant again, a little bit bigger than what you have remembered. You guess that time really passes by even as you die and restart.
Speaking of dying, you were running dangerously low on health.
You plopped down next to the sapling to rest, collecting your breath and cooling down the rushing adrenaline in your veins after getting shot by turrets. The bullets thankfully only grazed your skin and not pierce into your body, but it still hurt like hell.
You were clutching at the several still bleeding wounds you had when a claw poked at your cheek. You would’ve jumped in surprise if you had any energy left.
“D’you need this? Not for free of course.” Sebastian suddenly appeared, waving the medkit on his left hand as his third arm reached for your bag.
“Thanks..” You let him take the assets you had collected from your inventory while you graciously accepted the medkit.
“Don’t think I’ll be as generous next time. I just don’t want you bleeding over my plant.”
“So I should keep coming back here at the brink of death, then?” You joked.
“As if you’re lucky enough to find this place again without a tracker.”
You conceded. “Okay, that’s true. That won’t stop me from still doing that though.”
Sebastian laughed. “I’d love to see you try.”
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Sebastian was right when he said you won’t be able to find it again.
And that’s why you’re here, at his shop, asking him to take you to that room.
“You really want to see it that badly?” Sebastian said in disbelief.
“Yes,” you said enthusiastically. “It’s the only thing that’s striving here anyways.”
“If you stop being so broody, I’ll lead you there.”
You extended an arm towards him. “That’s a deal then, Solace.”
He looked down at you and your hand and scoffed, not taking it. “Solace sounds too formal, just call me Sebastian.”
Your smile stiffened and you slowly lowered your hand down. “Alright, fine, Seb.”
“Okay, now that’s too close.”
“Too late, I want to call you Seb from now on.”
Sebastian tsk’ed half-heartedly. “That’s enough. Let’s go and not waste anymore time. You’re not the only customer here y’know.”
“Awww, are you going to spend all of your precious time with me?"
Sebastian snorted. “Don’t get used to it.”
He grabbed something from the table. “Hop on, or do I need to carry you like a baby?” He gestured to his tail, now devoid of any items.
“Jeez, wait a second.” You climbed, using the leashes for support. You clutched onto it so you wouldn't fall off.
Once you were secured, Sebastian wasted no chance to absolutely catch you completely off guard by speeding through the rooms, almost making you let go of the leash.
You loudly cursed at him, but he ignored you in favour of paying attention to a certain device on his hand.
From a distance, you didn't understand any of it. It looked like squares, rectangles, and other shapes just shifting into different places at random intervals.
There was a red marker from what you assume is the room the plant is in.
You watched as Sebastian took twists and turns from going from room to room, never really understanding the pathing he took. The tracker did help with it, even if it was also confusing to follow.
The familiar Oxygen Gardens came into full view, and you knew you two were close to your destination.
But, to your horror, the garden in which the plant was situated was burning.
You instantly drop to the ground and make a run towards it; Sebastian has already followed suit with the same dread and alarm as you.
You were already used to avoiding the fires from your previous runs, and you assumed Sebastian had survived here long enough to know how to not get injured by the flames.
You pull a drawer all the way out on your way, shocked at how you managed to break the hinge.
But that wasn't important right now as you saw Sebastian already tending to the sapling. With his claws, he helped dig out the soil with the roots intact.
You both managed to put the plant in the drawer, which served as a makeshift pot, and scramble out of the burning place.
You coughed while your lungs begged for air after inhaling so much smoke.
It was a good thing that the place had an abundance of oxygen for you to breathe in as the door from the previous room closed on you and Sebastian.
You heaved, voice raspy, “haha.. my timing was surely great, wasn't it?”
Sebastian snicked, holding the drawer close. “You actually did something useful for once, Expendable.”
“Hey, I do a lot of useful stuff! Just not to you.” You said, nudging his shoulder playfully.
“Maybe I'll see the extent of your usefulness if you stuck around a bit more.”
“Are you saying.. you want to keep in touch with me?!” You said dramatically.
“Believe that if you will. Who knows, maybe you'll get to take care of this sapling more often.” Sebastian grinned.
“Now you have me convinced. I'll take that as an invitation to keep visiting you!”
His face showed softness that you never imagined you'd ever see.
“I'll be expecting you then, Expendable.”