Morning came all too quickly, the reddish sun rising, smiling at them as if unaware of what had happened on her planet during the night. With it came the tiniest waves, which rocked the pod back and forth in a circle ever so gentle, a repetitive motion they all had grown used to over time.

Tubbo, trapped in his arms, never slept. Techno realized that the moment he came back to his senses, blinking his dry eyes against the lights of the pod. The younger still sat between his legs, leaning with his back against Techno's chest, hands laying in the folds of his sleeves. But now at least-

Techno was just fast enough to catch his arms around Tubbo's torso, before he started trying to get up, thrashing wildly around himself in a panic, attempting to at least get closer to the radio. The boy shook in his arms, as he held him tightly, holding him against himself with force. The chest of the younger heaved with each breath, threatening to become an ugly sob.

He let himself get hit a few times. A leg that kicked out and hit him in his thigh or foot, Tubbo's head knocking back and hitting him square into the jaw or again into the nose, making it feel all warm and numb, or if his hand lashed out and a finger caught on some fabric and pulled it just a little too forcefully.

As much as Techno wanted to let the kid go, let him to the panel, send out an answer, he could think logically, while the younger's thoughts were wild with panic. The message was sent out days ago. If they had a working radio or were alive, what if they were dea- if they had a working radio... What?
Techno sighed. Where did that thought go again?

With a functional radio they would've changed the attached message, or sent out a new signal, updating their current status. So it was useless to try and respond. He knew exactly that Tubbo was just yearning to push the "record emergency signal" button, but it would only come with more devastation. Standing around at the radio, waiting, awaiting nothing, and knowing exactly that.
Tubbo was already aware of it, he was a smart kid. Right now he was just shrouded with his first impulse to fight, to help, but he just had to wait before his brain cleared off the adrenaline and the younger too, would calm again.

Why are you so calm?

What?

He brushed his palms against Tubbo's shoulder as a wordless 'good morning', not yet finding his voice to greet him verbally. He received an answer as Tubbo shuddered slightly, flexing his back and sitting up straighter, taking weight off of his chest.

Looking at the younger's face, it was just so evident how Techno was right about his assumptions, with dark bags lining the underside of his blue eyes. Techno gently nudged Tubbo's leg, gaining no reaction. His leg probably fell numb already hours ago, much like how his own limbs were starting to complain. After all, the kid's form was still the same as it had been hours ago when-

Minutes, Minutes if not an hour it took for Tubbo not to lean tense with his back against Techno's chest.
With a shaky exhale the younger twisted himself, halfway pushing his side into Techno's front, moving his calm and weak legs, swinging them over Techno's thigh and rolling into a kind of ball.

He brought a hand up, brushing a thumb from the younger's nose bridge, over his cheek, to his cheekbone. With a plummeting feeling his chest sunk into itself, feeling his finger pad get slick with tears. His hand fell to Tubbo's back, pushing him just slightly closer. Tubbo's hands reached forward, little, abrupt grabbing motions lurching for his arm until coming to rest at his elbow. The fingers grabbed a handful of the folds of his sleeves, clutching at them desperately.

"We can't do anything right now, Tubbo." Instead of a direct answer, he felt the boy's jaw clench where he buried the side of his face at his chest.

Minutes, maybe an hour, maybe longer it took until Techno's vision blurred slightly, started swimming and twitching as if under stress. Staring ahead at the wall, mind feeling slowly falling, falling...somewhere. He still felt the storm inside of the younger, crying up a waterfall somewhere in his heart.

His arms ache just slightly as he unwinds them from around Tubbo, rolling his shoulders to try and get some of the stiffness from his muscles. He can't remember the last time he had been this sore... then again they had been swimming the whole day yesterday. Tubbo, noticing Techno starting to stretch, slowly climbs out of his arms, his stiff legs still unsteady beneath him. The other immediately steadies him, getting on his own unsteady knees and offers the younger to support himself on Techno's shoulders.

Gently, he pulled the younger to sit down again, although now in a more comfortable position. "Give your legs a second." Tubbo only hummed, spine making a loud popping sound as he stretched and arched his back. Techno could see how exhausted he was, how both his body and mind needed rest. It will take a little more time until he will be able to relax, with the distress call still fresh in their memories.

Speaking of which...

"I'm gonna wake Fit and tell him what happened. Just stay put, you can barely stay awake." The idea of telling their friend like this did make him nervous. Fit may be furious that they hadn't immediately jumped out and went to check on the pod. Or hadn't instantly woken him up when the message started playing. His friend was a protector... his first instinct had been to go look for and save people. Save Techno, save Tubbo...

Techno was shaking when he crawled over to where Fit was still curled up, arms still aching from being tightly curled around Tubbo for a long while. The oldest of the group was still unaware of anything that had happened or what he could've heard had he been awake. From messages and friends likewise. He had no idea how much time had passed since the message had played, but the sky was slowly starting to brighten in shades with the rising sun. The steady noises from the ocean continued like they always have, yet it seemed like the pod was filled with suffocating silence this time.

"Fit..." He nudged his shoulder, barely getting any response outside of the light snoring. He shoved a little harder. "Fit wake up..." His voice seemed as uneven as his arms and legs, breaking a little at the end. The oldest of their little group grumbled, turning from being curled up on his side to laying on his back, trying to turn away from the source of disturbance. Slowly, while Techno's heart was still slowly pacing up to nearly racing with nervous energy, brown eyes started to blink up at him, still unfocused with sleep.

"'s mornin' already?" Techno hummed a confirming noise, nervously fiddling with the fabric of his suit. Why is he so nervous? Fucking hell, this shouldn't be difficult. "Yes. Get up. We got something during the night."

Fit frowned, blinking up at the hatch to see the sky brighten as the sun rose higher over the horizon. It took him a second to slowly recognize the distress on Techno's face and the shaking in his voice, already fearing the worst. The last time he was so nervous a huge creature messed with their pod. Almost instinctively he glanced down at the bottom hatch, but there was no sign of large scales or glowing eyes peeking inside. Good... so they probably aren't in immediate danger.

He pushed himself up to sit, noting how Tubbo was staring at the wall across from him, unmoving. Staring at the radio, who's light is still steadily blinking away. His posture was slouched, almost curled in on himself. Fit's eyes locked with Techno's, brows already drawn together in worry. "What happened?"

He was handed the little PDA, where the radio message had been transcribed into text. They didn't dare play it again, for the sake of their youngest member. Not that Techno wouldn't be just as shaken about it, but Tubbo was more important right now. Fit didn't say anything for a short while, reading over the text more than once. "Shit..."

He looked at Techno, who was messing with the straps of his mask, staring aimlessly at the floor, much like the teen on the other side of the pod. "Did you recognize the voice? Anyone you know well? It's not anyone I recognize." "I... I don't know. It was quiet and static messed with it a little. It did sound familiar, but..." He couldn't match a face or name to the voice. He didn't really want to match anyone to that voice. Not when he could still hear their screams. Tubbo just gave a shake of his head when the oldest looked over at him. He didn't recognize the voice either.

Fit hums, reading over the message again, then looking at the coordinates, quickly connecting it to the little location marker in his mask. Techno didn't really understand how it worked, but he knows its able to project small symbols and short messages onto the visor of their mask.

Fit put on the mask and had to look around for a second before he spotted the marker. It was far. Further away than Tubbo's pod, that's for sure. And it had taken them most of the night to swim over to him and back to this pod. Thinking about it, it should be near the kelp forest Fit had spotted a good bit to the west. They hadn't dared go near it yet in fear of larger creatures living in the deeper waters.

They could make it if they leave now. It's early morning still and the sun seems to be taking longer to pass over the sky than back home on earth. The days feel longer at least. If they are fast... they could be back before sundown.

"Techno..."

"I know."

The straps on the mask were pulled tighter, then loosened again. A repetitive motion, one trying to keep him occupied with something other than his spiralling thoughts. He also didn't look up to meet his friend's eyes. Fit had seen him like that before, when he was repairing the radio and Techno was left to watch Tubbo while the youngest was still unconscious and healing. He also knew what Techno was going to answer, but it was worth a shot.

"It's the right thing to do."

"I can't. Not with Tubbo. Not after..." He trailed off.

"What if they are still alive?"

"Be reasonable. The only thing we will find is a rotting corpse. If the pod is still intact."

The oldest sighs, rubbing the back of his neck in an attempt to get rid of some aches that come from sleeping on the floor. They had this back and forth before and he had a feeling it will happen a few more times. While a part of him wants to be mad at Techno for being so stubborn about it, he also knows the guilt that's wrecking his heart every day. He feels it too, even if he deals with it differently than Techno seems to be doing.

Although it was difficult to keep his voice steady and calm with Techno acting like this. Again.

"You said that about Tubbo's pod too. When we heard the explosion, saw the smoke. You said there is no way someone could survive that. Now he is here and healing."

Techno huffed, turning his head just enough to glance at Fit. "I knew you would use that against me."

"Techno, I'm not doing this to spite you. But it feels wrong to have the distress call right here, have exact coordinates to the pod that needs help, and just decide not to go out and help them. Even if it ends up being a dead person, or two, I would still want to find them. Give them a proper goodbye, maybe find out their names so if we get rescued, we can give closure to their loved ones."

"I'd rather say they died in the crash than slowly starve in a tiny box at the bottom of the ocean."

Fit was about two seconds away from grabbing the other man by the collar. "Didn't we repair the radio so we could rescue people? Maybe the scans are wrong and it hasn't been a few days. Or they found other ways to find some food. We have to try Techno, or I will never forgive myself knowing that somewhere out there, someone was desperate for anyone to hear them and come rescue them, just to be ignored when their signal does reach someone."

He could see Techno chewing the inside of his cheek, could practically hear him think. Fighting with himself over what is right. What they should do.

Then, miraculously, Tubbo's voice chimed in. Just as broken as Techno's had been when he had woken up Fit. The oldest only now noticed the dark bags under the youngest' eyes.

"Fit is right. We should go and look. We can't abandon a rescue call, even if technically it is too old for them to still be alive. I waited during the night, now it's bright enough to go."

"You definitely won't go."

Techno scooted over to Tubbo's side, taking his hand. The teen flinched, glancing up at him, looking unsure. What exactly had happened during the night?

"You are far too young to see something like that. I won't take you along to retrieve a corpse and that's final. I think Fit agrees with me on that. Besides, you are far too tired to swim that far."

Blue eyes glanced over Techno's shoulder, giving a questioning look, only to receive a hard nod in return. They were on the same page on this one. Tubbo's remaining innocence should stay unharmed for as long as possible. That includes keeping him away from a potential dead body.

Surprisingly, the teen seemed okay with that, not even trying to put up a fight. Most likely realizing he already had both adults against him, not able to count on Fit to speak in his favour. "Okay..." He looked down at his hand, still squeezed in Techno's own palm. "I'll stay here if you promise to go look at the pod. I'll try and treat my burns, work with some of the minerals if you can bring some of it up for me. I'll even stay inside the pod so nothing can hurt me, okay? Just please... go check on the signal."

Techno hated how everything was always turned against him lately. But if there was one thing he knows he's weak to, it's Tubbo begging him to do something. He hardly refused any favour back on the ship.

"It's so far away..."

"We will use the ship to navigate. Plus we could mark our pod with the PDA, we are sending out a signal now. Our signal can be tracked just like the other pod is being tracked now. We'll just have to take it with us when we go look for the pod."

Techno sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. He doesn't want to go far away from the only safe place they have. Not with the creature out there. Or other large predators they haven't seen yet. "This is so dangerous."

"Please Techno... We need to check if they are okay." 'You owe it to me, after holding me back' was left unsaid, but he could clearly see it in the stare Tubbo gives him.

Techno knows he lost.

"Alright. Fine. Fit and I will go. But you have to promise you stay inside the pod. Maybe catch up on sleep. We can stay in contact until we are out of range of the transmitter in the mask. Stay away from the windows, draw no attention to the pod, try to-"

"Techno, I'll be fine. Just go."

He nodded, grabbing his jacket from the floor and wrapping it around Tubbo's shoulder. "We'll be back before you know it."

Tubbo gave him a little smile, reaching up to hug him tight. The older returned the hug, squeezing him maybe a bit to tight, feeling the younger's heart beating just as rapidly as his own. When Techno finally pulled away, Tubbo tugged on Fit's sleeve until he bent down to hug him as well. "Stay safe. Please." "We'll be fine kid. I promise."

The two adults fully geared up, with Fit handing Techno a freshly created knife he had worked on after the radio was finished. He was glad to finally have some sort of weapon, even if it was useless for large predators. As promised, they brought different materials up into the pod for Tubbo to tinker with while they gone, something to keep his mind busy if he can't sleep.

Which he probably won't.

And then they were gone.

Fit took the lead, swimming purposefully towards the location of the distress call. Techno trailed close behind, nervously looking around as they started to leave the safety of the shallows their pod is located in.

It was decided that they stick relatively close to the ground in hopes of avoiding being spotted and if they were spotted, be able to push off the ground and move a bit faster. But so far, their only companions were schools of fish and the slowly disappearing reef. Some of the larger, but peaceful, creatures with the odd glowing tails occupied a large part of the reef's edge, forcing the two humans to swim around the area in hopes of not triggering their defences.

They reminded Techno of skunks, deploying weird green spheres that explode into a gassy mass seconds later. They never hunt, only swimming away while using that defence to avoid the predator chasing them or the creature getting near them (mostly not on purpose). Tubbo asked them to maybe try and get a sample, but both adults immediately opted against it, not wanting to test the theory whether or not the gas was acidic.

The sun slowly made its way across the sky as they made steady progress towards the pod. Techno's fist clenched nervously around the knife, feeling far to exposed without the cover of the reef or other fauna. He could spot the kelp forest not too far away from them now, the first long plants already dotted around and passing them by. Contact to Tubbo broke off a while ago, but according to Fit, they were getting close now.

"Techno... if they really are dead..."

"We leave the pod be. I am not opening it if there are two corpses in there. It could attract predators."

Fit hummed, seemingly agreeing to the idea. They wouldn't know what to do with the corpses anyways. They had more than enough stuff in their own pod, so there is no reason to try and take some things from this pod.

The kelp started to grow more dense now as they entered the forest, sticking to each other's side as the water around them got a little darker, light blocked out by the plants surrounding them. They stopped talking, carefully listening for any noise that indicates danger.

After a little while, Fit nudged Techno in the side, pointing at something just ahead. Techno squinted, scanning the general area where Fit was pointing until he finally spotted it. A pod, sunken to the bottom, half buried in the sand by the sheer force of the impact. Or maybe covered over time from sand moved by the current. The hull still looked in tact and the top hatched looked like it was still sealed.

Techno almost immediately started swimming towards it as soon as he spotted it, wanting nothing more than to get this over with. That was a mistake.

A roar, screeching and loud, just to his left.

"Techno, watch out!"

The man turned, seeing a large fish speeding towards it, snout with sharp teeth open wide. He yelped, clutching his knife as he attempted to swim out of its way. Fit bolted forward, his makeshift spear held out in front of him, aiming to ram it into the creature's body.

It screeched in pain as the knife buried itself in it's flesh, promptly turning away from Techno to try and snap at Fit instead. Fit clutched his weapon tightly, bearing his teeth behind his mask, aiming for another hit. Techno, finally able to willing his body to move, jerked forward and slashed his knife at the smooth scales in front of him.

An angry snarl was the answer as it attempted to turn and bite Techno's arm, only to receive another hit from the spear. Yellow-greenish blood stained the water around them as both humans made their respective attempts to distance themselves from the creature, weapons held out in front of them, ready to strike again. The creature seemed to understand the warning, giving a frustrated growl before speeding away, picking off a fish on the way as it disappeared between the thick vines of kelp.

"Are you okay?" Fit was by Techno's side in an instant, checking if the predator had gotten a bite on him. Techno could feel his body shake from the rush of adrenaline. There was hardly any other feeling right now. "I... I think I'm fine." The older still swam a circle around him, holding him by the shoulder, until he was sure his friend wasn't injured. "Good. That's good. Fuck that thing came out of nowhere."

He looked into the direction where the creature swam, hands already closing around the spear. "Let's just get this over with and go home. I want to be back in the shallows." His friend nodded, still watching out for the creature possibly returning as they swam over to the pod.

Techno swam around the side, checking if the hull was still fully intact, while Fit swam up to the hatch, pushing some plants away from the window so he could peer inside. Surprisingly, while he did find dents and scratches, nothing seemed to have broken through the metal plating. So the inside of the pod should still be dry.

He glanced up at Fit, who had his face practically pressed against the glass so he could see something. "The lights are out. It's hard to see. I don't think they are moving." Techno swam up to join Fit, gently nudging him so he would give him some space to peer into the pod too.

With a sort of hurry and eagerness, Fit pushed himself from the metal outside of the pod, drifting to the side, allowing Techno to take a look. He took hold of one of the orange handles at the side of the hatch and pulled himself closer.

And closer.

It was dark inside there, just as Fit had said. And there were smears of someone wiping something from the glass, which Techno wasn't sure if he wanted to know what kind of dark liquid was staining the glass.

There was residue where metal met glass, just in the gap where the wall started but glass had not yet begun, wall penal covering the see-through surface, where something clumped and dirty had gathered.

Techno drifted even closer, taking hold of the second handle and nearly pushing his face, or mask, into the thick glass of the hatch. His stomach churned. His heart flipped and fell down all the way to somewhere into the bones of his hips, restless, unrelenting.

The pod seemed lifeless.

There was barely any light, but how could he have seen even that? Where it hit the surface and there weren't dark scratchy floors, there was dark red, almost black matter spilled out.

There was drying blood, gathered and nursed into a corner, but there were obvious streaks and stains all around.

Someone laid there, dead in motion, as a small curled up lump, too dark to make out where their body started and ended.

It reminded him too much of the horror movies they once used to watch. This looked like you just cracked open the upper half of an egg, peeled it away, pinched the tiny skin, and poked holes into it, ready for a feast. But instead, the egg's inside were bleeding, seeping out dirty, and you found a dried up snake sleeping, cradling the rotten yolk.

This looked like some wild creature's feast and nest.

Like Pandora's box if they opened it.

The pod seemed almost hollow. Void of anything worth saving.

Something moved in the corner of the glass as far as he could see.

Techno's heart jumped back into his throat, this time cutting off the oxygen to his lungs, expanding unevenly in his airways.

Breathe in, and they were fine. He had just imagined it. They had come to the grave of dead people.

Breathe out,

and suddenly there were naked, glassy eyes pressed against the glass, seeming nearly glowing, full of wild, maniac panic.

It sent Techno reeling away from the glass, nearly screaming.

He only heard Fit's breath catch in his throat in terror.

They were alive.