Chapter Text
Sig still remembers the cycle the communications lockdown lifted. He had barely noticed, busy fussing over the strange happenings of the sibling iterators' rain pattern. But the excitement from Innocences' sudden broadcast spam alerted everyone. The lockdown had lifted and it wasn't Pebbles' doing, but Moons. She was alive, functional, and she was talking to them. The group senior they had all missed so dearly.
Void, he would have collapsed then and there from the shock if he could. She was there, although short lived due to the rain.
The rain was much lighter than it had been a couple cycles ago. He has been observing Pebbles' can going from excessive output to almost none. It made sense with Moon explaining how she was given a rarefaction cell from- him. Sig was overjoyed though, his latest messenger, who Moon had named Ruffles, was able to help out better than anticipated.
He had just equipped them with a highly condensed superstructure blueprint to send to Moon, a hopeful attempt at helping her, even if the slugcat just kept her company. This was more than he could have hoped for!
Moon was contacting the local group, his aquatic messenger fulfilled their purpose and more, even his Hunter was doing well! With Hunter's sudden development of...the rot...he was certain she wouldn't make a return from her mission...but she did. Miraculously, despite every calculation Sig ran before and after she turned, she came crawling back. He did everything he could to make sure she would be able to live without pain, and it took a long time.
The rot. Five Pebbles had it too. He had doomed himself, Sig had come to see that after the many cycles of observation. The others' high water consumption never truly stopped until recently, desperate attempts to flush the rot out of his systems and fix himself. Now that it had stopped, it was almost none. It was concerning. Even if Pebbles had given up one of his rarefaction cells, wouldn't he still have some backups?
With some reluctance and the impatience of waiting for the rain to recede so he could talk to Moon, he sent his overseers to look over Pebbles' structure. He needed to know if Pebbles' can, now lacking one of it's cells, would affect Moon. Or perhaps it was a mix of morbid curiosity and worry.
The moment the overseers set their eyes on Five Pebbles...any joy he had from Moon's contact was washed away. All he could see was rot and it filled him with dread.
Sig had always disliked Pebbles to an extent. He was arrogant and always so set on finding a 'solution.' If only he had realised sooner what that 'solution' meant. After Moon's collapse he tried to ignore Pebbles as best as he could. Ignore the hate. Ignore the pain.
Seeing him like this, being eaten out by something so...horrific...for so long. Pebbles gave his last rarefaction cell to Moon and resigned to his fate. Something about that made him feel...guilt? That he couldn't do anything to help him?! That he didn't try harder to talk to him in the past?? He brought this on himself! He deserved this.
Sig wanted to believe that, but every second spent looking through the collapsing Iterator made him feel otherwise. He felt sick. Like it was there crawling through his own systems as well, a disgusting phantom sensation he did his best to wash out.
Pebbles' puppet was not well either, with rot growing on the chamber walls and climbing up his umbilical. He just...lied there. Lied there limp surrounded by his scattered pearls, neurons fluttering mindlessly about and then getting consumed by the walls. His eyes where dim, a stark contrast to the bright white eyes of the stubborn iterator he once knew...reduced to this.
That was the final push he needed to start a little project of his. He would get out of his own decaying can and give others the ability to do so too. The ability to be free and without pain. Sig had been researching this for a while, albeit subconsciously, filing away important information whenever he came across something mildly interesting or of use. He no longer cared for how every taboo within him screamed that this was just wrong, wrong, wrong! He would do this, for himself, for Moon, for everyone! ...maybe even Pebbles if he survived this.
Though time didn't wait for him. Soon after he watched as the can of his distant neighbour collapsed, splitting into many pieces, a vile parasite clawing out of each crack. It looked like it hurt. It sounded as such too, pained screams echoed throughout the structure that made his insides twist. The way the dying iterator begged to his overseer for anything that wasn't this, the last surge of energy from the collapsing superstructure doing all it can to stay standing. He couldn't bear to listen, so he ordered his overseers to leave.
He was there for Moon when she mourned, as the local group settled into grief. Grief for someone who never truly got to live. But he planned, never stopping for too long for the emotions to catch up. He worked tirelessly and eventually-
No Significant Harassment succeeded.
And that's how he got to where he is now, standing in the crumbling and rotted remains of what once was an Iterator chamber.
It looked horrible, much of the structure did, and Sig would not leave Pebbles here to suffer until his consciousness gave out. Iterators don't die easily. He'd extensively scoured the wreckage with his overseers in preparation for this trek. He had seen how the puppet moved. It was a horrific realisation when he found out that a lot of the time the movement was one of the rot within his puppet, curling around his wires and metallic frame, eating him out like it did with his structure. Pebbles would move though, gestures too precise and calculated, although strained, to be done by the rot.
It broke him to see the Iterator in such a state, desperately scratching at the ground with the little strength he had, anything to get away from the hurt. Trapped in his own mistakes and quite literally being eaten alive. That kind of fate is not something anyone should have, not even Pebbles. Maybe if he wasn't so reluctant to start this project he could have prevented this suffering-
He couldn't dwell on that now.
Sig was very careful with his steps around the chamber, making his way to the puppet partially obscured by debris. Rot gave the room a very dark appearance so it was difficult to make out much, but once you saw him it was unmistakable. The pink puppet lay motionless on it's side, blank eyes staring at nothing. Rot covered the panels and debris around him and tendrils sprouted out and wrapped tightly around the blue stained puppet, forcing itself into the seams of the body. Most of the rot seemed to focus on the umbilical connection and right shoulder of the puppet, ugly blue cysts clinging to the metal.
So it was a bit surprising when Pebbles' head seemed to shift to look directly at him. Dark eyes staring right at him, and he saw it, a flicker. Faint and barely there, but alive. Static mumbles came from him as well, though he couldn't make out words it sounded pleading and strained, silent and barely audible.
Sig couldn't let his emotions take hold, especially not now. Not when he had a mission to get this idiot out of this mess. But he let it, just for a moment, he stood there and considered the frail puppet, still alive despite everything. The tiny spark of hope within the dull eyes, hidden behind cracked lenses and dust. Just as the moment settled, it passed. He wasn't going to leave him here for any longer.
The plan was almost frustratingly simple: cut Pebbles free from the remainder of his umbilical and the rot then drag him to the nearest safe shelter without getting into too much contact. He'll deal with what's left of the rot inside Pebbles later.
Despite the threat the rot usually poses, it couldn't harm him all that much. The rot here was quite thoroughly bonded to Pebbles, feeding off of him. There was always a risk though. Sig had designed a chemical quite effective at eradicating the rot for Hunter, so he could easily dispose of it if he got infected by just a little. There was one massive flaw to it which made it impractical to use on the scale of superstructures: it was highly corrosive. He had done his best to lessen the effects but in the end it wasn't all that much. But it works.
He had coated his spear in a thin layer of the corrosive chemical in preparation on the trek here, so all that was left was to cut Pebbles free. So after his brief moment of observation, he stepped forward with determination, trying his best to ignore how the ground squished beneath his feet.
The chemical worked as intended, practically disintegrating any rot it came into contact with. It was not without reaction. It writhed and tightened over its prey, a bug caught in its web. This clearly affected the Iterator below but he didn't stop, couldn't afford to now.
He worked quickly, slicing through the slimy material while the other tried his best to struggle, writhing while what remained of the rot tightened around him. When it came to the mechanical arm attached to his back it took a bit more force to pry it off. He tried to be as gentle as one could be in these circumstances, shoving the tip of the spear into the solid connections repeatedly until the umbilical arm was loose enough to rip off easily. The arm fell to the side in a trail of blue, a barely heard cry before the puppet went slack.
Sig was grateful for the other no longer being conscious to experience this hell, all but shoving the panicked voice in his mind saying that he had killed him down into the depths of his thoughts. He couldn't die. Not when they were this close.
He used a long strip of fabric he brought along, loosely tying it around the others' chest to drag him without getting into too much contact. The remaining rot snapped away and the limp puppet, the brother of one of his best friends, trailed behind. He was worryingly light as well. Despite Pebbles having a relatively small puppet he should be nowhere near this lightweight, and once the rot was removed he'd be even less. At least he would not be difficult to carry if he could not walk.
The trip to the nearest shelter was a lot more difficult than the one he had made to get up here. Lots of unstable debris one had to clamber over while dragging the other behind him. It wasn't exactly ideal having the sharp ground agitating the umbilical wound even more, leaving a light blue trail of liquid following them. It was already starting to snow as well. He really wanted to get to a shelter so he could stop adding to the damage.
He picked up his pace, running against the unforgiving wind tearing away at his heat and making it near impossible to see. Not that much further now. A particularly rushed jump left him landing near a stray piece of rebar, leaving a nasty gash up his shin. Sig winced, forcing onwards with desperation as pain shot up his leg and threatened to make him stumble with any step.
He practically threw himself into the shelter once he was close enough, collapsing onto the ground. Shelter doors grinded shut behind them soon after and he was left with the cold room, distant wind, and the unconscious Iterator he had dragged all the way here.