Daybreak Drabbles

Fishbot: The Ocean is Vast

Finley coughed and trashed in the water. The oil was disgustingly thick and he could barely breath. He was quite far from shore too, so he didn't know how he was going to get back. 

In his weak desperation he called out for someone, anyone, to rescue him. 

Voices in the back of his mind reminded him that there was no one nearby that could hear his cries. He was alone. 

He was done for. 

He closed his eyes and relaxed himself, ready to give in to his fate. 

He wheezed painfully because of the suffocating oil, and called the name of the person he so badly wanted to see right now. 

"Peng......." 

...................................................................................

He came to in a small log cabin. He realized it was the Ranaoke Woods cabin,, and he was tucked in nicely in a bed. 

He checked himself. He wasn't covered in oil anymore, and the only oil source was his condition. He grabbed a soft towel from the side table and hacked out some oil, grimacing at the sensation. 

"Attention: Partner has awoken." 

FInley snapped his head to look at the source of the sound. "Peng?" 

"Affirmative." the robot marched over and stopped by the fish man's bed. "Scanning for any injuries or illnesses." 

"I'm okay Peng- It's just the oil cough I always have." he blew some out of his nose and sighed. It really was not a good feeling. 

Peng sat down at the edge and pulled the fish man into a gentle hug. "Why were you in an ocean coated with oil?" 

Finley shook his head. "It wasn't coated in oil when I came there. It just suddenly happened. Maybe I accidentally polluted it when I went swimming." 

Peng cupped his scaly cheek, turning Finley's head so they could lock eyes. 

"W-what are you doing Peng?" Finley blinked in alarm. 

The robot didn't respond, and just looked at him quietly. Finley started fidgeting his fingers out of nervousness and awkwardness. 

"You're not useless." 

"W-what?" Finley shifted, but kept looking at Peng. "I don't-" 

"That's what you're feeling right now, affirmative?" Peng looked like he was scanning the very mind of Finley. 

"N-no-" Finley averted his gaze from the robot. "....no..." 

Peng narrowed his passive eye, and brushed some hair out of Finley's face. "You're not useless." 

"...how can you prove that...?" Finley sniffled and more oil dribbled down his face. Whenever Finley cried the oil doubled in intensity. It was really a moment of suffering for him. 

Peng just kept a hand pressed against the fish man's face. "I'll show you." he stood up and carefully gathered Finley into his arms. 

"Peng?! S-stop hey! Put me down!" Peng trudged out of the cabin with Finley in his arms, and Finley wrapped his arms around Peng's neck to avoid falling. "Where are we even going?!" 

"It will be revealed in due time." Peng looked straight ahead.

............................................................

Finley's eyes widened in awe as he saw a large tree at the back end of the camp, in a corner where the survivors never went. 

"You told me once that I were patient and took care of the sapling, it would grow into a large tree." 

Finley nodded in utter surprise at how large the tree was. "You really took good care of it." 

"Anything can thrive with proper care, you told me this." Peng locked eyes with him once more.

"Y-yeah, I did. But I don't understand-" he squeaked when Peng pressed their foreheads together. 

"It's time that you began thriving too, Finley Marai." Peng announced, the implication of that sentence making Finley freak out. 

He wasn't something worth taking care of! He was just some stupid fish man who made so many wrong choices: killing the wrong people out of anger, letting his village get covered in the oil, fell in love with a survivor when he was killer... he did a lot of stupid things and- 

"Hush those intrusive thoughts." Peng's voice cut through the insults and the suffocating guilt. 

He looked up at the robot once more. 

"You are safe. Welcome to the present. Nothing can harm you now. Your choices before are irrelevant here. What is relevant are the choices that you make now and that you will make in the future." 

Finley looked down, unsure what to think. Deep down, he knew Peng had a point. 

Peng pressed his cool, steely lips to Finley's forehead, smiling at little for him. 

Finley in turned sighed with a smile of his own. 

The ocean is vast, but he just so happened to have found his match on land.