Chapter Text
It was cold.
He had expected his temperature sensors would adjust at some point - become numb, or at least used to the constant freezing outside.
But they didn't.
It was one of the only sensory inputs he could still process, his vision and hearing failing and crackling, the white blankness encroaching on everything. But how unfortunate it was that it was such an uncomfortable feeling! Why couldn’t he just… the thought became lost.
Dimly he was aware of his pearl repeating its broken song cycle, and he was oh so grateful that it still worked. It skipped a beat, glitching on a few notes, but Five Pebbles stared unerringly straight forward, to where he knew his pearl was floating. He had long since lost the ability to properly see the small dully coloured object, but thought he could still make out a little splotch against the monotone white background that had become his world since his final collapse.
The skipping tones of the hymn continued to fill the air, and Five Pebbles continued to use all his remaining processing power on listening. Sometimes he couldn't be sure whether the crackle came from the pearl or from his weathered antenna messing up signal interpretation.
He was…
Waiting for that too to fail.
How long until he would be trapped in a failing puppet, not even able to hear the familiar - and, truthfully, comforting - tune?
…How long would he be like that?
...
Was this how Moon had felt?
... who was that again ...
Sister...
What… guilt…
...
His train of thought derailed until it finally disappeared, replaced by white.
His attention returned to the hymn.
...all he had left...
His visual processors noticed movement. Another lizard?
With great reluctance and difficulty, Five Pebbles stopped the pearl’s projection and turned his head towards the splotch of colour slowly approaching. It wasn't attacking...
Just a splotch of green, standing right in front of him. He didn’t have enough processing power to recognise what it was. Not a danger?
"Little... green thing... Hello...?" he greeted tentatively. The blob came closer. A fluffy body pressed itself against his chassis. Warm... A rough tongue licked his face. He let out a staticky sigh. Perhaps he had judged it too soon – had it too come to try to eat him…
“Nothing… left…”
A little warm sphere was pressed into his barely functioning hands, and he unwittingly clenched his fingers against it. A lantern...?
The furry body started to rumble.
"Thank you... friend..."
Five Pebbles started the pearl’s recording back up.
Carefully, slowly, he raised the arm that was not weighed down with a lantern. It spasmed, but he didn’t let that deter him from… plonking his hand onto the creature’s fuzzy body. The rumbling got louder.
The howling wind was picking up. It was interrupting his song… Five Pebbles got ready to brace himself for the coming storm. Then he remembered the creature. He looked down. The rumbling stopped.
The warm body left him. Five Pebbles wanted to reach out, bring it back -!
…but his hand, exhausted from stroking the creature, fell limply into the spot the creature had vacated. Five Pebbles stared at his hand in his lap.
But this was good.
The blizzard was picking up.
The little thing had to leave. It had to find shelter. He raised his head again, was going to strain his optics to see the green splotch skurry away - but he noticed that it hadn’t moved particularly far.
Oh no. Please.
With all of his remaining energy, Five Pebbles tried to tell the creature to go, go get warm, please, but the green blob didn't move away, only... up? A soft glow filled his mind.
"...?"
What was-
He was-
But-
He hadn’t yet---!
...
..
.