⟡ bloodymary (simon / ryland grace) 🩸🦊
⟡ project hail mary & iron lung crossover
⟡ soulmate au + life on erid !!
⟡ red string of fate & soul link
⟡ wholesome fluff, slight hurt/comfort, developing relationship
⟡ https://archiveofourown.org/works/84980941
Summary ͙͘͡★
Ryland Grace lived his whole life wondering why his soulstring stretched out all the way to the sky. It took him a one-way ticket to Tau Ceti, another one-way ticket to Erid, and a special delivery in the form of a bloody submarine to finally learn the answer. It is strange, though, how his soulmate never seems to address their soul string but has a habit of staring deep into his eyes.
AKA; A soulmate AU where Simon arrives on Erid five years after Grace did. The two of them learn how to heal from the past and feel excitement for a future they never expected to have.
Preview (Chapter 1)
Grace knew he was going to stay on Erid long before Rocky asked him if he wanted to. Erid had become his new home and the Eridians had accepted him as family.
His mother always told him that home was not where someone was from, but where someone is wanted. While he knew that there were probably some people back on Earth who would like to see his return – most of those he had loved would have passed by the time he returned.
Stratt was right; Grace did not have a lot of roots back on Earth. But all that did meant was that it was easier to remember all of them. So, he decided to keep them in his heart and carry their memories onto another planet.
He told story after story about everyone he has ever loved and lost back on Earth – from his parents who he lost at a young age, to the dozens of children he taught in his career. Eridians had perfect memory, and Grace felt like this was the best way to honour the love others have poured out for him.
After five years on Erid, Rocky and Adrian have heard about almost everyone Grace has ever interacted with; even this one sweet old lady that taught him how to knit on a random park bench because Grace complimented her scarf. Rocky proceeded to gift him knitting needles the next day.
For someone as talkative and open as Grace, he always wondered if the Eridians ever noticed he kept one pretty massive secret hidden. Then again, it was pretty easy to hide the string of red tied to his finger when the Eridians could only experience the world with echolocation.
Grace looked down at the red wrapped around his pinky finger and wondered how the person on the other end was doing. Considering that the line was still vibrant and present, he was glad that his soulmate was still alive.
He wished he got the chance to meet them.
He wished he got the chance to ask them where the hell they came from because Grace’s soulstring extended to the sky.
Soulmates were one of the few unexplained phenomena back on Earth. Only 40% of the population had them, and it was difficult to study since only 10% of soulmates ever find each other. Some didn’t even believe that it was real, since only those with soulstrings could see their own soulstrings. A lot of children were bullied for it, and led to believe they were imagining things.
Lucky for Grace, his mother had her own soulstring and had explained it to him the moment she realised her son had one too. He loved listening to his mother talk about soulmates and how they were a soul split in two with their string as a physical manifestation of their bond. They were meant to connect on a deep and emotional level because of how attuned their souls were to each other. It made little Grace yearn to meet whoever was on the other end of the string.
As Grace grew older, he started to do his own research. He learnt that the general consensus about the origins of soulmates was that soulmates were an evolutionary mechanism. Experts believe that the soulmates started appearing right before the first civilization; back when humans were still in hunter-gatherer societies and that the sudden appearances of string led humans to branch out and connect with others outside of their circles. Historians even believed that over 90% of the population back then had soulstrings. However, as society continued to intertwine and grow, the evolutionary need began to decrease and the percentage of soulmates in society had plateaued at 40% for centuries.
Different cultures held different views on how those born with soulstrings should go about dating. Some cultures pushed the idea that a soulmate shouldn’t date since they’re already destined with someone, some cultures emphasized on the fact that only 10% of soulmates meet so dating is not taboo. Grace was taught the latter.
Like many others with a string, Grace’s mother didn’t let it stop her from dating. Her string wasn’t tied to his father, but it didn’t mean that they weren’t perfect for each other. Before she passed, she once told her son that love is everywhere – it’s not supposed to come from one person only. Her husband is the only man for her romantically, but that her heart is open for all types of love and that there will always be room for the other half of her soul.
Though, after that moment, Grace never gave the concept of love much thought. Grief and the foster system tended to distract a kid from thoughts of such.
Despite the trials and tribulations of being an orphan with a recorded soul string in the foster system, Grace had never developed any ill will towards his soulmate. While Grace would have loved to meet them, he accepted the fact that he would never get to do so. The odds were not in their favour, especially since his soulmate seemed to live somewhere else in the solar system. He didn’t think too much about it. He figured that he must have a malfunctioned bond, or that it was a sign that his soulmate wasn’t born yet. Again, not much was known about them. The only thing he knew is that the string would disappear when his soulmate died.
Rubbing his pinky, Grace watched as the wisps of red flickered from his touch. He chuckled at the irony that his soulstring looked like a mini Petrova line. He may not know what the other end of his string looked like, but at least he got to see the other end of the Petrova line.
“Grace Grace Grace!”
Grace jolted so bad that his bones popped in a way no Eridian had heard before. Cringing, Grace grabbed his back and painfully turned to watch Rocky clumsily make his way across the beach.
“Geez, Rock. You scared the living bejeezus out of me!” Grace groans and massages his back as best as he could. “I thought you and Adrian were busy until next month?”
Rocky and Adrian have been busy the last few weeks, with their new pebble on the way and a huge space exploration project that required all hands on deck. Grace assisted with the project, but the Eridians pretty much had it all handled. He was happy to sit on the sidelines for this one and focus on improving his lesson plans. (It was hard to teach a bunch of pebbles with perfect memory).
In the midst of his stumbling, Rocky was speaking– rambling at a speed that made his sentences sound like an orchestra. Grace was fluent in Eridian but like any non-native speaker, he just really needed Rocky to slow down. He couldn’t catch a lick of what Rocky was saying but he could tell that the guy was distressed.
“Hey, hey, hey! Take a second, Rock. Relax, I’m all ears.” Grace got up and approached Rocky, meeting him halfway. “What’s wrong? Where’s Adrian? Are they okay?”
Rocky finally stopped in front of Grace, chirping and moving erratically but finally speaking at a pace Grace could understand.
“Adrian is safe. Egg is safe. Human is not safe.”
Grace’s eyes bulged out for a moment. “What?” Grace looked around to see if there was anything off about his biodome. “Is there something wrong with the biodome? Or is it my body? Oh God– Did the results of my last health screening show something bad?” Grace started to ramble on about what could have possibly gone wrong with his lab results.
“No! No! Grace is safe!” Rocky (not-so-gently) kicked Grace’s shin, causing Grace to yelp and stop spiralling. “Grace is safe… Dramatic, but safe.”
Grace scoffed. Rocky was the last being on Erid and Earth that could call him dramatic.
“Other human is not safe.”
Grace paused.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Other human.”
Oh. So Grace did translate Rocky’s tones correctly.
“Heart is beating slower than Grace heart and does not have the same number of limbs as Grace does. Astronaut thought other human is dead until we hear heart beat. Slow, but there.” Rocky stopped pacing around and grabbed Grace’s sleeve.
“Doctors need Grace’s help saving human.”
Grace did not need to be asked twice. He took off sprinting for the biodome’s exit without realising his soulstring was no longer reaching for the sky.
I’ll also drop the lineart for if you want to color it yourself or something. Idk why you would, coloring is a pain but hey, I don’t judge- except I do and I judge you valid but it’s personally not my bag
If you found this and want to see the colored versions I’ll link below
Self indulgent AU where I save my favourite woman who has done NOTHING WRONG EVER! from imprisonment and ostracization by shooting her to space with her ambiguous dead wife, whom she killed
Grace sends this off as a "fuck you" to Stratt and unintentionally eases 40+ years of crippling guilt.
(40+ factoring in the Hail Mary mission, then the time it would take to get back to Erid and the time it would take for the message to get to Earth. Probably closer to 50+ actually).
(I do think Stratt felt bad. She did a lot of terrible things to save the planet, and obviously felt guilt for sending Grace off. I imagine the time waiting to hear back from the Hail Mary was torture for everyone, but she essentially sent three people off to their deaths, one unwillingly. Hearing that Grace made it out alive would be a huge weight off her shoulders.)
