Wooyoung had had an awful fucking weekend, and as it looked, it wasn't going to get better anytime soon. Ever since that stupid hull failure had been announced, it was gradually getting worse.

Wooyoung was a simple man of simple pleasures. All he'd ever wanted was to get his coffee, get back into his lab and have a dull but peaceful day. However, mere minutes later, San had dragged him out of there. His fresh coffee was forgotten on the table when San pushed the scientist down into a life pod.

And ever since that thing had launched from the Aurora, their lives had become a living hell.

Wooyoung awoke - awoke - to a tremor shaking their life pod. He groggily sat up, unaware of his bearings at first, and simply rubbed his eyes as he looked around for San. The android had curled up next to him, his cheek mushed against his hands, and Wooyoung had to suppress a coo when he reached out to gently touch the other man's hair. San blinked his gorgeous blue eyes open then, watching Wooyoung like a curious cat that was asking to play.

It came again, that tremor, but this time it was accompanied by a horrible roar, making both of them grow rigid. The two men waited, holding their breaths and listening to it sounding closer and closer by the second.

San was up on his feet in seconds, hurrying over to the little window in their life pod to worriedly take a look outside. Wooyoung uneasily followed him and clasped hands together in an attempt to keep his nervousness at bay. His knees felt like jelly, making him even more aware of his fear.

"What is it?"

"Water. We're underwater, surrounded by radiation and unfamiliar life forms. I have no clue what happened."

"Underwater? Shouldn't this thing be floating or something?" Wooyoung knew very well that it was supposed to float. He had regularly taken part in perfecting the structure of the Aurora's life pods regarding any kind of protection against extreme conditions and physics forced upon it. This thing should never be underwater.

"Yeah, but... I can't see much, wait, let me scan. Get the diving suit ready, hm? Since we're underwater, we should be prepared in case of an emergency." San pushed his hair back, his eyes zoning out as he scanned the things around him. He wasn't aware of the next echoing cry that sounded outside, their life pod swaying slightly as if hit by a shift of pressure in the water.

Wooyoung did not hesitate to run over to the compartments and hastily pull his suit on. He also equipped the oxygen tank, not yet taking the mask up to his face.

"Are we safe inside of here? We must be, right? There's no way being outside in the water without any protection is better.", he mumbled more to himself than San, suspiciously eyeing the corners of the life pod. He imagined the walls bursting and water seeping in imagined the hatches blocked, imagined them suffering a lonely death inside of this thing in the deep dark ocean. He quickly pushed the thoughts out of his mind, anxiously fiddling with his fins.

When San returned his focus, his face looked troubled, his eyes darting around with palpable tension etched into them.

"I... How much do you want to hear?"

As much as Wooyoung adored his soft voice, his care to watch out for Wooyoung and his state of mind, this was not the right time. He needed answers right now. He impatiently gestured for San to speak, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

San sighed, then giving a quick rundown of the planet they had crashed on and how it was made up by water mainly, so even if they did go outside, finding safe land might become a hard task to accomplish. It was necessary information but nothing that Wooyoung needed at that moment. He needed to know just why the pressure of the water was jostling them at irregular intervals. He needed to know that whatever whale that was close to them did not plan to suck them into its stomach.

"I just got this: 'Caution: scans indicate the digestive tracts of nearby lifeforms contain human tissues.' And also something about a leviathan class species. I don't think it's a just passive whale."

Leviathan. Wooyoung was by far no expert in marine biology, but the creatures that the humans usually titled leviathans were less than friendly. He shivered, giving San an uneasy look again.

"So... They eat humans?"

San was quick to be at his side, slinging a protective arm around Wooyoung's middle. He hugged the smaller human close, giving a placating hum. Wooyoung shivered all over, cuddling his body close to his friend. But even San's warm embrace could not take the suffocating anxiety from Wooyoung.

"Don't worry, I got you. You know I wouldn't let anything hurt you, right? I can kick any leviathan's ass for you." His voice was soft and firm at the same time, making Wooyoung chuckle at his confidence.

"Yeah, right, thank you. I'm feeling a little bit bett-" Wooyoung's sentence ended in a scream when the whole pod suddenly tipped, making both of them crash against the wall hard. San's noise of protest got lost in another roar that sounded like it came from right above them, muffled only by the walls of the pod.

The whole construct had rolled over, and they were laying on its ceiling. The metal surrounding them was creaking dangerously, making Wooyoung put their security into question again.

"It won't break, right? Right, Sannie? We are safe inside?"

San didn't answer. He merely reached over with one hand and brusquely pressed Wooyoung's breathing mask down onto his face.

And he was no second too late.

The whole upper half of the pod was violently being ripped off, causing water to forcefully stream inside through the opening. They were submerged within a second, Wooyoung's terrified yell getting lost in the water masses seizing them and throwing them around like they were weightless.

Wooyoung was so overwhelmed by the masses of sandy water that he completely forgot they were not alone anymore for a moment.

There was still a certain something that had just ripped their whole fucking life pod apart.

And that something was still close enough for Wooyoung to see its shadow creeping through the water.

It was unfathomably huge. A giant snake-looking creature was circling around them with predatory speed. It was swimming around the two parts of the life pod that were slowly sinking deeper which seemed to be distracting the creature.

Wooyoung gaped at the creature, at the sheer length of it. He assumed it to be at least 50 meters of long, sleek body, and something with that size crossing the waters that quickly was not a good sign at all.

San came up to his side, his bright eyes wide as he stared at the four fins that made up the tail swishing past them. It was tinted gray, but the fins got darker towards the tips, ending in a dark maroon. Just one fin was already twice as big as Wooyoung's entire body, and his motivation to meet that thing eye to eye diminished very quickly.

"We have to get the hell out of here. I'm not that fond of my food trying to eat me back.", he whispered to San, hooking their arms together so San could pull him up to the surface more easily. San immediately started to powerfully kick his legs to move them away from the imminent danger.

Wooyoung supported his friend as best as he could, moving his arm and legs too, so they hopefully rose up at a faster speed.

However, when that roar came again, sounding terrifyingly disappointed, San threw a panicked glance downwards. Wooyoung didn't want to see. He forced himself to stare ahead and observed what could only be the Aurora - a giant spaceship laying on a sandy dune - growing closer to them.

"San! There's a ramp! Let's climb on it!"

"Wooyoung, the fish, it-"

Wooyoung yelped, nearly dropping from San's grip when he felt something scrape by his leg, causing a searing to pain erupt in them. San gave a warning noise himself, grabbing onto Wooyoung tighter while still pulling them upwards with desperate kicks.

And Wooyoung made the mistake of looking down.

He had wanted to check up on his legs, see what had happened, what had just hurt him like that, but what he found instead was the face of the leviathan, mere meters away from their feet.

The image had already ingrained itself in Wooyoung's head without any opportunity to ever let go of it again. The leviathan had a face that could make any person faint, and there were two mandibles on each side of its face that it extended to them. It was roaring with a force that made the water in its body push at them and every single bone in Wooyoung's frame rattle. Wooyoung was too stunned to move, to stunned to do anything as he stared down at this creature and uselessly clung on to San for dear life.

It was absolutely terrifying to look at, and Wooyoung felt his heart stop beating altogether as He found himself scream at San in panic, telling him to hurry up.

San did as Wooyoung continued to stare as if entranced by the horrible mocking grin directed at them.

It was playing with its prey.

Wooyoung caught the exact moment in which that mood changed, the leviathan charging at them for real. It tried to suck them in by reaching for them with its mandibles.

Luckily, San was faster. With a leap, he scaled the safe ramp, dragging Wooyoung behind him. Wooyoung couldn't do much to help him as his legs failed on him. Once San had managed to pull the two of them onto the ramp, Wooyoung turned around and watched as the monster crashed against the Aurora, flapping uselessly for a second before falling back into the water. They were left behind, still shaking with terror as the leviathan's muscular grey body slid back into the water to go back to hunt other unsuspecting souls.

Wooyoung stared after it, lying in San's arms as if he were boneless and unable to form words.

He would jump into any fire readily right now. At least he'd know what would expect him there.

It was like the images of that leviathan were flashing in front of his eyes. Its head had featured a red horn, tall and probably made of bone. Its face was grey and had two pairs of eyes that had a deep blackness to them that left no room for mercy or sympathy. There was a big mouth that seemed as if twisted in a cruel smirk, many sharp little teeth on display. And to top the horror off, there had been those two maroon mandibles on each side of its face, which slowly got darker and ended in black claws.

"Wooyoung, hey, can you hear me? Here, focus on my chest. I need to check your wounds, you don't need to move, alright?" San pulled Wooyoung's body up further between his legs, mimicking a regular breathing pattern for Wooyoung to copy. He did as he was told, feeling the man's sculpted chest against his back, which helped him immensely. San helped his Wooyoung's lungs find a rhythm first, gently pulling his breathing mask off then.

Wooyoung saw that at his cue to find his words again.

"Thank you for saving me. Oh God, did... did you see that thing? That was something out of nightmares.", he rambled with a hoarse voice, his eyes still fixed on the spot it had disappeared in.

The water was in too much movement to see anything past the surface, giving no clues about what hid underneath.

"I did. My scans picked up on its name. It's called a Reaper Leviathan. And it's no defensive creature. It attacked us because it wanted to." San spoke more quietly than before, carefully pulling the torn fabric of Wooyoung's swimsuit aside to take a look at the injuries Wooyoung had completely forgotten about.

Wooyoung averted his eyes. He didn't need to see the injury that now hit him with full force, making him feel as if hot lava had spilled over his thighs. He snuggled against San instead, trusting his gentle hands to take care of everything.

"It looks like it got you with those mandibles. You won't be able to walk or swim for a while. We need a medical station to patch you up with."

They had just lost that along with their life pod.

Wooyoung sighed, closing his eyes for a long, tired moment. He was glad to be out of the water and about as safe as they could get right now, just breathing calmly until whatever problem would arise next had a chance to do so. That's why he didn't even answer, just lying in San's arms contently.

"Aren't you worried? What if those get infected? It might get worse."

"Not right now. Right now, I just wanna breathe with you. We only just arrived, let me have my moment."

San accepted that readily, letting the human leaning against him rest in silence as he ran a calming hand through his wet hair.

For now, they had no choice but to wait for a miracle anyway.