Chapter Text
Meouch’s mane blew in the wind as he stared up at the stars in the midnight sky. He traced the constellation Leo with a claw, wistfully thinking of the times he spent on his home planet. Learning to play bass with my dad... those were the times, man. Meouch rubbed up against the scratching post on the open rec area, trying to scratch an itch. Almost, almost... Fuck, that’s the spot! I’ve been trying to get it for days! He let out a low purr, enjoying his well-deserved alone time. Satisfied, he went back to basking in the starlight. Meouch was so relaxed that he almost dozed off right there, under the peaceful sky. But of course, it just wasn’t to be. His ears twitched as they picked up a sound he hadn’t heard since his military days. A low sizzling noise, like someone was using an arc welder on the fabric of reality. He almost dismissed it as just being his imagination, but then he felt that telltale ripple in space and time. His eyes shot open, and he knew. Alyx. He’s here.
Meouch was immediately ecstatic. After all, he’d be able to give his old military bud and Sung a hug as they walked in the door. He had no doubts that both of them had made it back in one piece. Come on, this was the man that had saved his life on multiple occasions.
His tail was held high, and the tip twitched ever so slightly as he sauntered through the halls and made his way towards the entrance. He made sure his claws were retracted so he wouldn’t hurt them on accident when he hugged them. That’d be a real downer. Wait... why aren’t they in here by now? I took my time to get here because I’m in a good mood, and I don’t think I missed the sound of the door opening. Maybe they’re trying to surprise me? Alyx should know by now that I can tell when he arrives using his ability, it’s not exactly very inconspicuous. Whatever, I appreciate the effort.
Meouch stood in front of the door, listening for any sounds that might coming from the other side. It was dead silent out there. Doc usually gets a bit antsy when he’s trying to surprise someone, it’s weird that I can’t hear him drumming is fingers or pacing out there. Is something wrong out there? Fuck, I hope not.
He opened the door and looked out. Surprisingly, nobody was standing out there. Are they around the corner or— Meouch glanced around and his gaze landed on the crumpled figures on the ramp. His eyes began to adjust to the darkness, and he looked closer. Alyx was holding Sung who... “HOLY SHIT WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED, ALYX?!” There was no response. He was unconscious. What the hell did this to them? Alyx is one tough motherfucker, so what kinda monster did they face off against that they’re in this bad of condition?
Meouch sprinted as fast as he could to the emergency call button. There was no time to grab the hammer, he just slammed his paw through the glass, gritting his teeth at the pain of the shards cutting into him. Sung’s prerecorded message blared over the intercoms. “ATTENTION: THIS IS AN EMERGENCY. STAND BY FOR FURTHER INFORMATION.” Meouch shouted frantically into the microphone. “WE HAVE TWO GRAVELY INJURED OUT HERE ON THE ENTRANCE RAMP, GET HERE AS FAST AS YOU CAN!”
He ran back to Sung and Alyx, and knelt down on the ground next to them. Alyx opened his eyes, and it took him a few seconds to recognize Meouch. A weak smile spread across his face. “Hey, Meouch. Hate to bother you, but we uh... we ran into something pretty nasty. That demon... I killed it, but not before it almost killed Sung. I’m so sorry I couldn’t do more.”
Havve woke up from sleep mode to the sound of the alarm. Fuck, what now? He listened to the message repeating on the intercom, and his eyes shifted to purple. Two gravely injured... SHIT, that’s probably Sung and Alyx! He ran to the medical bay, hurriedly threw on his scrubs, and grabbed two stretchers. As he raced towards the entrance, he tapped into the camera system. I can see Meouch crouching over them, but not much else. He slowed to a halt as he got to the ramp. Meouch moved to the side, and that's when it happened.
Alyx noticed Havve and held more tightly onto Sung, who yelped out in pain, still unconscious. He shakily raised his knife and pointed it at Havve. "You. You did this to him." Havve and Meouch looked at him in confusion. Meouch cocked his head and asked, "Alyx, what are you talking about? Havve's been here this whole time, and he’d never hurt Sung— at least, not on purpose.”
"Even if that’s the case, there’s no way I’m letting him near Sung. Not after what I fucking saw back there.”
He took a few shaky breaths, eyes wide with fear.
“I’m going to... protect him... no matter wha—“
Alyx went limp as he slipped back into unconsciousness. Meouch reached over and gently pulled the blade from Alyx's grasp.
"Alright, how should we move them? Well, better question, what condition are they in?"
"I did a quick scan on them when I got out here, and Sung is in pretty bad shape. His ribs are broken, and his ankle looks like it got crushed by something disturbingly similar to my hand. Alyx looks mostly fine, but I do see some fractures in his arms. Let’s get Sung first, since he’s the most injured.”
“Alright, Havve. How do you want to do this?”
“You grab his legs, I’ll try to lift him from his shoulders.”
They gently lifted Sung out of Alyx’s arms, and carried him to one of the stretchers waiting in the entryway. He whimpered as they set him down, but still appeared to be out cold.
Next was Alyx. They picked him up in much the same way, and once they got him into the bed, it was time to go.
“Meouch, you take Alyx, I’ll get Sung.”
They ran as fast as they could down the hall, being careful not to jostle their patients too much. They’d be cutting it close, for sure.
They reached the medical bay, and once they got the two unconscious men all hooked up to the equipment, they breathed a sigh of relief. Havve looked down at Sung, and noticed something with a start. Sung’s core was cracked— no, nearly shattered. I don’t know the specifics of his core, but... I know that shit is strong. When I asked him about it, he said it’s similar to polycarbonate. Whatever the case may be, I do know that his core is like a vital organ for him, he’d die if it was damaged beyond repair. I’ll have to take my chances and try to fix it. He turned his head slightly towards Meouch. “The medical bay has a copy of the up-to-date disaster files, right? You were the one who pushed for us to make those plans for worst-case scenarios.”
“Uhhh... Yeah, that’s what I was doing before the Sung stuff went down. I got interrupted, so not all of the files are there.”
Havve winced. “When you say ‘not all of the files are there...’”
“Don’t worry, Sung’s are all there. I think it’s just a couple of yours, actually.”
The tension in Havve’s shoulders began to ease up a bit. “Alright, I’ll go grab them. In the meantime, you sit down and, if you can manage it on your own, please wrap your paw up. I don’t think I could handle taking care of all three of you by myself.”
Meouch nodded and pulled the drawer open with his good paw. He grabbed some bandages and antibiotic gel, and got to work.
Havve walked down the hall, plagued by his worries about Sung and Alyx. Alyx... his reaction to seeing me... why did he have that look in his eyes? He saw me as a threat— no, a monster. What the fuck happened to them? Sung’s foot... the outline of the boot pressed into his chest... Alyx’s hostility towards me... I don’t like where these facts point. It’s almost like... no. There’s no way they... I thought Meouch said Alyx only had teleportation abilities, but… there’s really no denying what I felt. I keep tabs on the dangerous versions of myself from different timelines, just to make sure they don’t escape, or do anything to damage other timelines. I definitely felt one of them die while I was in sleep mode. It was the version of me that caused the apocalypse: XK-9. If that’s what they ran into… Sung might be in much worse condition than I originally thought. Shit, this is a lot to take in.
Havve leaned up next to the filing cabinet, and took a deep breath. I can’t let this shit get to me like this. I need to focus on helping Sung and Alyx. I can have my mental breakdown later. Right now I have to set this shit aside and do my job as a doctor.
He opened Sung’s drawer, and pulled out the file for his core. It had to have been at least two hundred pages long, but it had a table of contents. The sections were: Damages and Repairs, Moderate to Extreme Troubleshooting, and a sealed section simply labeled “[REMOVAL]” in red. He flipped to the first section, and found what he was looking for. As he got to the end of the section, he sucked in a breath. This was bad. Very bad.
”If core glass is shattered, Sung will have about four hours left until he dies. To keep this from happening, the glass must be replaced. Regular glass may be used, but it is not recommended, as it will only last about 8 hours before needing to be replaced again. Suggested replacement materials (ordered from most to least suitable) include: polycarbonate, diamond, sapphire, acrylic, and laminated tempered glass. Warning: If the core glass is removed in order to be replace it, Sung’s survival time will be cut roughly in half. For this reason, it is strongly recommended that the glass be removed only immediately before surgery, and no earlier.”