Terrors in Subnautica(Complete)

Part 5: The Creatures Midnight Dance

Seán's POV -Trigger Warning: Scars-

Riding back was a much more relaxed trip.
N/N was sitting back with her eyes closed as the moon shone down. I keep staring back at the enormous tooth sitting bloodied beside her. I can hardly believe she's still alive. I'm happy though, that she is.

I look over to the stitching she'd done on herself when I notice something. The area of skin around the fresh wound was completely covered in scars, risen up colored lines of all shapes and sizes, jagged and smooth, completely covered the area of now visible skin. I'm starting to understand what she meant by getting herself through worse.

I start to wonder what kind of awful things she must have lived through to have scars like that. What kind of shitty fucked up people might have come into her life at one point or another. Did anyone ever notice? Was she alone when these things happened to her? What must she have been feeling? A million questions started to pile up in my mind when she shifted to sit up more.

I looked up at her and she had an unreadable expression on her face. Devoid of emotion, but somehow stern. Like that of someone who's job it is to make the hardest decisions, to lead. It was obvious she had noticed I was staring.

"It's not a pretty sight, is it?" She whispered.

The sudden question startled me after such a long silence.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare."

"It's alright, it's a natural reaction pretty much everyone has. I'm used to it. I pretty much keep myself completely covered up all the time because it tends to cause a disturbance, so it's a bit odd having someone see it again."

Then I realized something.

"It isn't just that spot is it?" I quietly ask.

She just looks at me a long time, as if deciding weather or not I can handle the truth.

"No."

"So.. it's everywhere then?"

"That it is," She turned her head to look towards the waters," The only parts of me not marked are from my neck up and my hands. Even those have a few scars scattered about. I know that's probably a bit shocking to learn, but you're the kind of person who knows how to deal with the truth. The reality of what's around you, even if it isn't pleasant."

Looking closer I notice scars scattered about her face and neck I hadn't noticed before, and I could feel my stomach tying up in knots. She looks as if her mind is far away, I continue to wonder about what's happened to her but ultimately decide it's better not to push her for answers. After all, we don't even really know each other it wouldn't make sense for her to trust me with that kind of stuff. I look back to the vines to make sure we're still going the right direction, thankfully the beacon is in my vision screen.

"Thank you for being honest, that can't be an easy thing for you to talk about."

I can feel her looking at me, but I don't really have the nerve to look back at her or ask what she's thinking. I'm afraid of what I might see in her eyes.

"Anyways, thanks for saving me before. I tried to help you, but you ended up saving me instead."

Even I could hear the guilt in my own voice.
She placed her hand on my shoulder to get my attention back before speaking.

"Seán, you tried to save me even though it WAS really stupid of you to risk your own life. You did what you could, there's no shame in that. The only reason I was able to react as fast as I did is because this isn't my first brush with dea... Danger. You have no reason to feel guilty, and besides you did save me. If you hadn't pulled me out of the water when you did I'd have sunk back down and died."