Day 11 | Opulence
Gt July Prompt List
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When stranded on an uncharted underwater planet, alone and surrounded by hostile lifeforms, there are only two possible outcomes: adapt and survive, or die trying.
Spoilers: For the game Subnautica
Content Warnings: Mentions of death and violence. Mentions of threats and the intent to kill. Mentions of drowning and suffocation. Near death experience. Referring to someone as 'it'. Mentions of dehumanization, experimenting on people, being held against someone's will. Peril.
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The thing about ghost leviathans is the fact they're naturally independent and territorial of their space.
The thing about Vincent is how loyal and protective he is above all else.
Can you see where there might be a contradiction somewhere?
Now don’t get him wrong, he genuinely enjoys having his own space. There’s a reason why he’s the only ghost and leviathan who has claimed the blood kelp island as their territory. The biome that’s purposefully the farthest away from a certain leviathan he couldn’t handle getting a visit from almost every single day.
That doesn’t mean he doesn’t genuinely enjoy the presence of others. He makes semi-frequent trips around the crater to see how the guppy’s he’s watched grow up are doing. Gives surprise visits to remind everyone who the strongest is and make sure no one’s stupid enough to challenge someone to the death, and that happens more often than you’d think, much to his disappointment.
It’s quite a balancing act, however. Because on one hand, Vincent is content to swim deeper than the sunlight can reach without worrying about someone bugging him. On the other, he slowly starts loosing his mind not knowing if he’s missing something important. Creatures from the sky start a mass extinction once and it’s all he worries about for the rest of his life.
However, it has been a while since he’s made his rounds. Left the opulence of his little corner. Patrolled to see if any of the glowing green buildings activated. Annoyed a few leviathans that are always entertaining.
Found a burning ship symbolizing it was going to start all over again.
Vincent stops breathing when he realizes what exactly he’s looking at. That he wasn’t mistaken the water is murkier than the last time he visited. The dunes always tend to be sparse, but not so much there’s not a single coral in sight. And metal isn’t supposed to be the first thing he sees.
Panic erupts as he darts forward to try and find a reaper. Wanting to headbutt each and every one of them not telling him while also hoping they’re all okay. Especially when it becomes apparent just how massive the entire thing is. There’s no telling who it could’ve killed purely on accident, and what it has in store for those who are purposefully hunted down.
After taking a survey of when this happened to what’s been encountered, and rams into a few reapers in the attempt to knock some sense into them after they claim it’s ‘not a big deal’, Vincent’s terror turns into relief. Because nothing out of the ordinary has been seen except for the parts scattered along the seafloor. And after careful examination, it looks like the ship crashed rather then landed, leaving a majority of the weapons unusable.
That is, until he does a headcount. Out of the 10 reapers that have claimed these destroyed dunes, only 9 are accounted for.
His entire body down to the tip of his tail tenses at the realization someone’s missing. It’s been 30 days, the ship nothing but a pile of metal, and someone has already been taken. And there’s no telling what their fate might be. It could’ve been a merciful death where they didn’t know what was happening. They could be trapped in a cell much too small and much too warm.
They could be getting tortured, needles piercing their skin as their body is permanently altered, experiencing the most excruciating pain they could’ve ever imagined.
“Who?” Vincent pleads before anger starts to take over as he visibly begins to tremble. ”Who is missing?”
David.
With a roar that sends everyone scattering, he whips around toward the self-centered reaper’s territory with one thought, and one thought only. That being to find whatever did this and rip it to shreds.
He doesn’t know what he’s looking for, but he doesn’t need to. The one thing he can always rely on is finding something that doesn’t belong and start from there. Where there’s something artificial, the creator won’t be far away.
It’s a long process of meticulously combing every inch of the trench, he swims closer to the surface to continue searching the shallows, hatred spurring him on even as his limbs grow tired and his energy wanes. He won’t eat or rest until he’s guaranteed everyone’s safety. If he stops at any point, that’s more time to let those monsters take another leviathan.
His diligence pays off. After slowly but steadily getting closer to the surface as the seafloor gradually slopped upwards, he spots a shadow cast by the afternoon sun that clearly doesn’t belong. Looks up to see something floating on the water. And beneath it sits a fully functional ship, albeit smaller than the one that destroyed the dunes, but size doesn’t mean it isn’t capable of killing or sedating its target.
He found it.
Vincent carefully approaches the two metal objects, not daring to touch them in case they activate. Instead he looks around to see if there’s any structures built into the ground, or a vent leading to something underground. When he doesn’t see anything, not even the remains of a reaper, he carefully swims deeper into the shallows.
Come out, come out wherever you are.
It’s almost eerily silent as he glides through the water. Not even the peepers squeak when he gets too close to one. As if they know he’s here to take care of a disease.
And then he sees something as bright as blood kelp moving among the rocks. Slowly turns as he keeps the extensions on his back from bumping into coral. Watches the color disappear before reappearing as it swims out into the open.
It’s a human. Which means it is happening again, and David was the first victim.
He was too late.
Vincent roars as he coils up. Sees the expression of pure terror as he lunges himself toward it.
He misses a fatal bite. But with it being so close to the rock, he rams directly into it, sending debris showering down. If it didn’t get squashed by him, it might’ve gotten crushed by its own shelter.
A high-pitched shriek tells him otherwise. Vincent pushes himself away in order to circle around and ram into the rock again with a roar. Watches as coral falls to the seabed, fish scatter in all directions, dust bellowing as everything begins to crumble.
“Wait, please!”
Rage rises up like a tide at a plea its victim would’ve screamed as well. One he knows wasn’t listened to, and he won’t either. Vincent roars again as he dives down at an angle, the extensions on his back digging into the rock as he passes.
The sound of a mechanical hum tells him it escaped the collapsing spire of rock. And when he turns, he sees it completely out in the open, swimming as quickly as it can as close to the seafloor as possible.
Unhinging his jaw, Vincent dives after it.
“David!”
Vincent reacts like he’s been electrocuted, stopping himself short despite having a clear shot to kill it. Unable to do anything except stare in disbelief as it darts into another opening in a rock that will be much harder to destroy.
It doesn’t matter it’s escaped. What matters is that there is no possible way the human just spoke leviathan. And not just any leviathan, the name of the one who’s missing. The one it killed.
“David?” Vincent demands.
As if on que, the roar of a reaper is heard in the distance. He might not be able to spot them, but he knows they can see him. And when they finally get close enough for him to get a good look, all he can do is stare as David races toward him.
“Don’t eat him!”
“Him!” Vincent snaps, pissed at that being the first thing said. “What are you doing with a human!”
“None of your business!”
The ghost leviathan roars as he launches himself at David, unable to appreciate the genuine fear in the reaper’s eyes, just glad a side-effect were the mandibles snapping back so he has the perfect opportunity to headbutt barely gentle enough to not be fatal.
“It is my business when I thought you were dead!” Vincent shouts as the other leviathan gasps in pain, hands massaging his forehead. “What the fuck were you thinking!”
David hisses through his teeth in a plea to be given a moment. And as Vincent’s own adrenalin begins to fade, he gives the reaper some space. Glares to state he will be given answers but he’ll be patient.
“Did you really need to headbutt me?”
“I did. Considering you thought it’d be a great idea to befriend a human.”
“I’m watching him,” David grumbles. With one last ginger touch on his head, the reaper gives a glare of his own. “And I’ll have you know I tried to kill him several times. But he survived every one, so now I keep an eye on him to make sure he’s not going to start killing leviathans.”
Vincent stares. “Do I mean nothing to you?”
“Absolutely nothing,” David smirks. “Besides, he’s too stupid for his own good. He’s basically harmless.”
The ghost leviathan is unable to fully process what is being said. Because the word human and harmless can’t exist in the same sentence. And there’s the sheer audacity of someone saying something like that to his face. Someone who’s entire body is a deep purple, even the parts of his tail meant to be translucent have the distinct hue due to experiencing firsthand the cruelty humans possess.
He should’ve let David get eaten by a stalker when he was a guppy.
The reaper suddenly gestures toward something behind him. It’s the look of amusement that has Vincent slowly turning rather than attempting to dodge an attack.
The human stares up at them with a distinct expression of concern. But the thing that has all 12 of his eyes widen is the fact it swam closer, even though it left them completely vulnerable. A coral tube that can easily be smashed being used for cover.
“Are you okay?” it squeaks, and Vincent sends a look when he hears the human speak not only its own language, but leviathan as well.
David waves him off. “I’m fine, ‘Fritz’.”
As upset as he is about the fact David is acting so flippant about the countless lives at stake, never did he think someone like the reaper would ever speak human. Forgetting the fact there wouldn’t be a reason to, he thought pride would be the biggest hurdle. The second would be the fact it’s painful to mimic.
Vincent would know. He thought pleas for mercy using words they understand would’ve worked far better than incomprehensible wails.
He had been wrong.
“You’re not killing him.”
David stares at him intently. And with it being a statement rather than a question, it’s a guarantee the reaper will fight him in order to protect the miniscule creature.
A smile stretches across Vincent’s face at the realization David’s attached. “I’m assuming ‘Fritz’ is his name.”
The reaper sputters. “How did you get it on the first try!”
“It’s almost like I’ve met one before,” the ghost deadpans. He ignores the growl to look back down at the human seeming to be absolutely ecstatic. Becomes excited when it’s realized Vincent’s watching.
Proceeds to gesture toward himself, David, and then Vincent. “Fritz, David...”
Now he’s starting to see why the reaper adopted him. “Vincent.”
Fritz’s eyes grow wide. Starts to quietly murmur. “In...Inen...Vin...Vinen?”
Alright, he can stay for now. The ghost will be watching for a bit, though. Make sure David isn’t being an idiot and missing the fact a weapon or cell is secretly getting built.
Slowly as to not spook David, he coils himself up as he sinks down to the seabed, sneering when the reaper is unable to lie close to him. Not with the wings on his back posing a risk of hitting a vulnerable head with a well placed turn.
“Vin-cent,” he repeats slowly.
“Vincent!”
“Great, he got your name,” David growls. “Time for you to go.”
The ghost hums. “No, I think I’ll stay.”
“You are not-”
The protest is cut off by Fritz disappearing into the coral, swimming back into view with a peeper, boomerang, and a piece of quartz in hand. The human looks hopeful as he tosses the rock toward David, followed by the peeper. The second fish is offered to Vincent.
It takes a moment to understand what he’s seeing. When he does, the ghost leviathan laughs. “Have you been living in luxury this entire time?”
“Shut up.”
“Oh I am definitely staying. Need to make sure he’s not bribing you with peepers and rocks,” Vincent grins, surprised with himself for not automatically assuming the worse. He’s simply enjoying the fact he has numerous things to hold over David’s head whenever to use for whatever he wants.
He doesn’t fully trust the human. But he will take advantage of this rare opportunity until it’s proven this is all a rouse.
“I don't keep the rocks!”
