what if either grace or rocky did die up there in space and the other one was devastated and broke into their component parts... only to notice that the ship was acting strangely? yep. turns out it's haunted.
whoever is left behind thinks they're going crazy at first. that the grief has driven them mad. but hey, even if they're crazy, isn't that better than being alone? (they're not. alone, that is.)
or: ghost!grace haunting rocky | ghost!rocky haunting grace.
planning to write ghost!grace, myself.
ghost!grace who can phase through walls being like: "haha now you don't have any privacy. how's it feel?" and rocky being like: "please never leave." and grace replying: "...oh. not sure i can, buddy. where you go, i go. spirit's bound to you, it seems."
ghost!grace smiling to himself when rocky lands back on erid and is embraced by adrian and his family and friends. feeling lonely because he can't hug rocky anymore. not that they could actually touch before, not really. but now... now, he can't even feel rocky's xenonite suit. not that rocky's worn one in years, since grace passed. no need to accommodate a body that no longer exists.
how strange, and how sad, that death removed the one barrier between them only to become another, itself.
grace decides it's probably time to move on. but he can't--some force always pulls him back, the phantom sensation of a chord not around him but running all the way through him--so he just fades from rocky's senses instead, thinking it's better for rocky, healthier for rocky to live a full life with his living friends and family. surely, even if grace can't move on, rocky can. he's so busy these days. he'll be fine.
but rocky loses it. full-on mental breakdown. "grace promise. grace promise to stay." he's inconsolable. nobody can help: not adrian; not rocky's parents; not his friends and colleagues; nobody.
except grace, who phases back into rocky's life, heart so heavy it's almost like he's alive. surely he's not supposed to feel so much anymore.
he never tries to leave again.
anyway, happy ending with with ghost!grace teaching baby eridians?? no need for a specialist environment for grace's physical survival, but rocky works on a close approximation for grace to enjoy anyway.
grace who, as a ghost, can travel to earth anytime. at least for a short while, as long as the chord pulling him back to rocky allows. but while it would be entertaining to haunt eva for a bit--she deserves it--grace has responsibilities, now. a home. a family. the kids he teaches.
at least he found a home eventually, he reasons. even if it came after his death. a forever home.
forever, forever, forever.
(centuries later, when rocky dies, rocky just joins grace like “'sup”. and then for the rest of erid's existence the eridians have two patron saints, two guardian spirits: grace and rocky, who once saved stars.)
