Chapter 2 - Disinter

??? - ???

Simon's consciousness slowly returns to his body, his vision wholly obstructed by red flashing lights. He let out a soft groan as he tried to move his body and fails before issuing a single command.

{Status Report.}

A flood of error messages continues to assault Simon's mind, accompanied by an emotionless robotic voice.

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Simon smiled softly to himself as the text scrolled across his vision. Darlin was always prepared for everything. Even her own death, it seems. The remaining fragments of the once-proud armor still surrounding his battered and broken body slowly dissolved into a viscous gray fluid, filling in his gaping wounds. He allowed the strange sensation to wash over him as his consciousness fades.

??? - [#DIV/01!] days later

A dead man's nose twitched slightly at the liquid running across their face. Simon opened his eyes slowly, only to be met with pitch-black darkness. An onslaught of pain assaults his mind. A sharp gasp resounds through the hollow chamber, followed swiftly by the heavy cough of agitated expelling mud and other foul fluids.

A loud groan escaped his lips as the mother of all headaches assaulted him.

My Head, He tried to press a hand against his throbbing temple, only to soon realize his arm won't move. Simon lightly shakes his head and breathes in deeply through his nose.

Damp. Decay. Dirt. Mold. Grave?

He tried moving only his hand this time. Success. His hand gently groped its way through the void until eventually pressing against something rugged. Simon gave the object a few solid taps with his fingers before moving his other arm in the same way. He then stretched out his foot and hit a similar surface.

Walls on the left, right, above, and below. Top and bottom. I survived only to be presumed dead and buried alive.

Simon laughed softly at the irony. His laughter ceased as the day's prior events played through his mind. No one should be alive, much less someone with enough time to bury me. How am I even breathing? There shouldn’t be an atmosphere much less liquid water. He shook his head to clear away the concerning thoughts and noticed that his head appeared to be heavier than he remembered.

Well, I won't find any answers down here.

Simon closed his eyes and honed his senses focusing in on the dripping liquid.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Tiny droplets of liquid repeatedly impacted the back of his head before gently trickling down his face.

"Ah," A hoarse voice escapes his lips as he twists his body slowly until he finally manages to face the origin of the liquid. A shaking hand brushes up against the water's source. Simon balls his left hand into a fist and strikes the box, shattering the leaking section before plunging deep into the seeping earth.

He repeats this motion several times, striking his fist against the liquified earth before eventually breaking through to the surface. A rush of chilly fresh air floods into the cavity, sending shivers down his spine. Moving carefully, He finally manages to pull himself through the opened space above by gradually widening the opening little by little.

Exhausted, he collapsed onto the wet ground with a thud, sinking a few centimeters into the soaked earth while facing the stars. Simon's tired eyes widened suddenly in astonishment.

"W-Where am I?"

Three moons sit overhead among a sky filled with unfamiliar stars.

{Artoria, Where the hell are we? I thought the Arc was destroyed?}

Simon shakes his head grimly while suppressing the tears in his eyes.

That's right, Darlin's gone.

He held up a mud-covered hand in front of his face and stares at it. No fragment of his armor remained. The only proof that it had even ever existed was the large scars covering most of his body that were an unnatural shade of silver.

Damn. So that was how it all ended. Darlin's fail-safes activated and dissolved the suit to save my life.

The large hand presses against his eyes as tears freely stream down his face.

??? - Morning

Simon awoke suddenly and shot to his feet, immediately taking a combat stance as he scans his surroundings.

Nothing?

Nothing within the eerie field moved. Even the wind refused to blow. Up above, the ever-present rain continued to fall down, soaking the earth. Beside him was the grave he had dug himself out from the night before, currently filled to the brim with water.

Suspended Animation or not, If I hadn't woken up then, I wouldn't have at all.

Simon shakes his head at that grim thought and observes the odd statues that litter the graveyard. Some are simple, while others are more detailed and had some form of writing on them that he'd never seen before. He glanced towards his own grave and spotted a familiar pair of tags dangling from what appeared to be a hastily constructed cross-like object. Simon's eyebrow rose slightly as he took the dog tags. None of the other graves had a similar style of marker. He examined his tags closely and spotted a cross stamped on the side.

Ah, Whoever found my body and dug my grave must have realized what these tags were.

Simon slid the thin metal plates between his fingers for a moment before separating the chain. He received a single gold and blue tag, kissed it softly, and embedded it gently in the cross's center before carving several letters in the wood. He offered a final salute and turned on his heel, leaving the graveyard behind.

[Here Lies Artoria, 4991 - 5572, The only one of us who was truly human. Goodbye, Darlin. You deserved so much better than me.]