Chapter Text
. . .
"How could you?!"
Nsh’s voice thundered through the room as he pointed a shaking finger at Pebbles, his face flushed with rage.
"I—I didn’t mean to hurt her—" Pebbles stammered.
"But you did!" Nsh barked. "Did you even visit her? Once? Even once?"
"I—"
Pebbles opened his mouth, but Nsh was already closing the distance, fury radiating off him like heat.
"Shut up!"
he snarled. "You could’ve killed her, and you know it. While she was lying there, hooked up to machines, dying. you were what? Curled up in your bed, feeling sorry for yourself?"
"No—no, that’s not—"
The slap came fast and hard, silencing him mid sentence. Pebbles reeled from the impact.
"You don’t get to talk,"
He growled, low and dangerous. "Not after everything. She might be out of the hospital now, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be consequences."
"Please—no, please—"
Pebbles whimpered, but the other shoved him with both hands. He stumbled back, hit the wall, and crumpled to the ground.
Clutching his head, Pebbles curled up tight, shaking violently. The sobs tore out of him, raw and helpless. He was a mess of fear, guilt, and pain, collapsed beneath the weight of it all.
Nsh stood over him, chest heaving. Pebbles’ sobs echoed through the room, sharp and broken, but they didn’t touch the storm raging inside the iterator above him.
"You think crying fixes this?" he spat, eyes burning. "You don’t get to cry. Not after what you did."
Pebbles didn’t answer, just kept trembling, small and hunched, arms wrapped tight around himself like he was trying to disappear.
Nsh stepped closer.
"She could’ve died," he said low and bitter. "And you? You didn’t even visit her. You just laid in bed while she fought for her life."
He grabbed Pebbles by the collar and yanked him upright.
"Say something!"
Pebbles opened his mouth, but no words came. Just a breath. A shiver.
Nsh shoved him.
It wasn’t much. Just a snap reaction. But enough.
Pebbles’ head hit the wall with a dull thud, and he crumpled to the floor.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Nsh stood over him, chest rising and falling fast, waiting for some sign. For another whimper. For anything.
But Pebbles didn’t move.
"Seriously? You're just gonna give me silent treatment?" Nsh muttered. He crouched down and grabbed Pebbles’ shoulder to shake him, and then froze.
His fingers were wet.
He looked at his hand. Dark. Red.
Blood.
His face went blank. He reached around to the back of Pebbles’ head, and felt it again. Thick. Warm. Soaking through his wires.
"Shit," he whispered.
One twitch.
Two.
Then a violent spasm shot through him, arms locking up as he collapsed to his side.
"Pebbles!" Nsh shouted, panic sharp in his voice. "Hey hey, stop!"
Pebbles’ body twisted uncontrollably, his eyes rolling back. Foam began to gather at the corners of his mouth.
Nsh grabbed at his arms, trying to hold him still, but the movements only grew stronger, more erratic.
He stumbled back, heart pounding. He scrambled for his phone, hands shaking as he unlocked it and hit emergency.
He pressed it to his audio receptors.
Saying nothing.
Just kneeling there, frozen, as Pebbles writhed. bleeding, broken.
And all he could do was watch.
. . .
The world returned in fragments.
Beeping machines. The scent of antiseptic. The sharp ache behind his eyes.
Pebbles blinked slowly, struggling to breathe, his body heavy and broken.
Then warmth.
A hand squeezing his.
He turned his head. Moon sat beside him, eyes red and tired but soft with relief.
“You’re awake,” she whispered. “You’re safe.”
Words wouldn’t come.
Then, movement behind her.
A figure near the wall.
Nsh.
Pebbles froze.
Nsh stepped forward hesitantly. “Pebbles—”
Moon glanced at him, then back at Pebbles.
“Get away from me,” Pebbles said, voice trembling.
“Pebbles—”
“Get away!” His panic rose. “Don’t come near me! Get out!”
He swung wildly, scratching Nsh’s arm, drawing blood.
“Get out!” Pebbles screamed, ripping the IV from his arm.
Moon stepped back. “Pebbles, we won't hurt you. There's nothing to worry about."
“No! No no! Get him out! Get him out!” Pebbles shrieked, pulling at the wires, tears rolling down his face, hyperventilating like crazy.
One twitch.
Two.
A violent spasm shot through him once again.
Arms locked. Back arched. Eyes rolled back.
“Pebbles!” Moon cried.
He collapsed, seizing violently.
Moon ran to the door. “Help! He’s seizing!”
Nurses rushed in seconds later.
Moon backed into the corner, trembling.
Pebbles convulsed uncontrollably, limbs thrashing, foam at his lips.
Outside, Nsh stood motionless, blood trailing down his arm.
The chaos calmed.
Moon stepped outside.
. . .
A nurse approached, her expression soft but grave.
“We’ve been running extensive tests since his admission,” she began carefully.
“The seizures, the sudden decline. They aren’t from the injury.”
Moon’s eyes stayed locked on hers, searching for what was coming next.
“We found an unusual growth in his frontal lobe,” the nurse said gently.
“A glioneuronal tumor. It’s a form of rot.”
Moon’s breath caught in her throat.
Her knees felt weak.
She didn’t know where to look.
Without thinking, she leaned into Nsh, her head resting briefly on his shoulder.
The tears came suddenly.
hot, overwhelming.
They spilled down her cheeks in silent waves.
The nurse continued, her voice low and steady.
“It’s affecting the parts of the brain that control movement and cognition.”
“That’s a reason why he’s been having seizures.”
“We’re preparing treatment options, but it’s going to be a long and difficult road.”
Moon swallowed hard, trembling as she clung to the moment.
Nsh stood silent beside her, his eyes fixed on the floor.
The weight of it all pressing down between them.
. . .
Moon’s apartment was eerily quiet when they stepped inside. The brightness of the hospital seemed a world away, but the heaviness in her chest remained, dragging at her every breath. Nsh followed silently, his footsteps hesitant on the worn floorboards.
She dropped her bag with a sharp thud, turning on him without a word. He opened his mouth, voice low and shaky. “Moon… hey, I’m sorry. I never wanted—"
She cut him off before the apology could fully land, her voice rising, sharp and fierce.
“Sorry? You think that fixes anything? That a few words make up for everything you never did?”
Her hands trembled, fingers digging into her palms to keep from shaking. “He needed someone. Pebbles needed company, support. Someone who’d stay when it got hard... Who wasn't just me.”
“But you? You ignored him. Turned your back like he was nothing.”
Moon’s eyes blazed, tears threatening as she took a shaky breath. “You hated him. You all did. Hated who he was, what he stood for.”
She took a step forward, voice cracking with the weight of what she felt. “Yes, Pebbles can be selfish, stubborn, difficult. He was wrong.”
“But he deserved better than this. Better than your cold silence.”
“He’s terrified of you,” she spat the words, voice raw with anger and sorrow.
“Did you even see it? The way he flinched? The way he shut down?”
Moon’s jaw clenched hard. “You were supposed to be his friend. His ally. Not his enemy.”
She slammed a hand against the wall, her frustration echoing in the small room, her normal self no longer there. “If you cared even a fraction, you would’ve been there when he needed you the most.”
“—Not just when it suited you. Not just when it was easy to be sorry.”
Her voice grew quieter, thick with pain. “He’s scared, so scared. Of you. Of what’s happening to him. Of losing himself.”
Moon’s eyes glistened with tears she refused to blink away. “He deserved someone who’d stand by him no matter what. Someone who’d see past the anger and pain.”
“Someone who’d love him even when it was hard.”
Nsh looked away, swallowing hard. The guilt weighed down every line on his face.
Moon’s breath trembled, but she held him with her gaze. “Tell me you understand.”
But he said nothing.
The silence between them was heavy, filled with all the things left unsaid.
Moon stood there, eyes locked on Nsh, waiting for some sign, some flicker of remorse or understanding.
But he only swallowed hard, voice barely audible. “I… I didn’t mean to hurt him.”
Her laugh was bitter, sharp, and dripping with despair. “Didn’t mean to? That’s all you have? Words?”
She stepped closer, the anger still burning but now mixed with exhaustion. “You weren’t there when he needed you. You turned your back, and now he’s lying in that hospital bed. Broken, scared, and alone.”
Her voice cracked. “You think saying sorry makes it right?”
Nsh shook his head, voice trembling. “I don’t know what else to do. I tried.”
Moon’s eyes filled with tears, but her voice hardened. “Trying isn’t enough.”
She drew in a shaky breath, trying to hold herself together. “He’s terrified of you, Sig. Do you even realize what that kind of fear does to someone?” Her voice cracked slightly. “Do you remember what he was like, what he still is, after Suns?”
Moon’s breath hitched, her chest tight with a storm of emotions. The rage and sorrow she’d been holding seemed to fracture into something quieter but no less painful. She looked at him, eyes searching, but what she really wanted was to understand, for herself, more than for him.
Her voice was barely above a whisper, fragile and uncertain.
“What did you do?”
The words trembled out, hanging in the stillness between them like a fragile thread.
Nsh’s gaze dropped, unable to meet hers. Silence stretched, thick and heavy.
Moon took a slow, shuddering breath and repeated the question, a little louder this time, voice breaking.
“What did you do?”
She felt tears sting the corners of her eyes. Her fingers clenched into fists, nails digging into her palms as if to ground herself.
“I don’t understand,” she murmured to herself, her voice barely audible. “How did it get so bad? How did it come to this?”
She paced the room slowly, mind racing, trying to grasp what had slipped so far out of control.
“we were supposed to protect him,” she said, the words trembling with betrayal and disbelief. “we were supposed to be the people who’d stand by him no matter what.”
Her voice cracked as she stopped and faced Nsh again, eyes searching his face desperately.
“But instead… what happened?”
Moon’s breath hitched again. “I need to know. I have to know.”
Her voice dropped to a broken whisper, raw with pain and pleading.
“whatever you did, I will never forgive you. Not this time.”
Nsh shifted uncomfortably, swallowing hard, but the truth stayed locked behind his silence.
Moon’s heart tightened. The space between them filled with all the things left unsaid: the secrets, the regrets, the weight of a friendship scarred and a life hanging in the balance.
She lets out a breath of disappointment.
"Leave."
And he did.