With his chest aching painfully, Ryan couldn't stop himself from groaning and flinching as he sat up. He was laying in a hospital bed, but from the large aquarium right in front of him, and all those weird fish swimming through it, he figured he was still inside of that hidden base in Lakeview.

Glancing down at himself, Ryan was only wearing his trousers. For a moment, he was confused, but then he remembered what happened before he fell unconscious. He had completely ripped apart his shirt by himself. At least it was already pretty old, so he didn't care too much.

However, as he looked down, there were two things that caught his eye more than the fact he was shirtless. First, there was the large, ugly scar covering his chest. As Ryan touched it, it still felt sore, so it would probably fade a lot, but he doubted it would go away completely. One more scar wouldn't really make a difference at this point anyway.

But then, there was something else that was bordering the scar. Toward the edge of the left side of his chest, as well as his whole left shoulder and arm, were covered in blood-red patterns intricately flowing over his skin. At first glance they looked like a complex sleeve-tattoo, but of course that wasn't the case. This was the symbiote that Ryan had bonded with. As if they realized that Ryan was looking at them, the symbiote's patterns reacted to him, slightly shaking. Looking down at the back of his hand, a small, familiar symbol appeared.

" :D "

Ryan scoffed in surprise, unable to stop himself from laughing, "Really? That's what you're going with?"

Quickly, the symbol was replaced, " :) "

"You can't write other things? Do you have a name?"

" :( "

"I'm guessing that's a 'no'. Do you want me to help you come up with one?"

Immediately, two symbols started rapidly replacing each other on the back of Ryan's hand, " :D ! :D ! :D ! :D ! "

With a laugh, Ryan threw his legs over the edge of the bed, "And I'm guessing that's a 'yes'."

As he said so, Ryan carefully stood up, when the door opened up, and Silvia's voice was quickly heard, "Hm, no, that one tastes kind of gross."

"Really? I kind of like it," Modak replied, clearly chewing on something. He looked into the room, seeing that Ryan was up, "Oh, perfect! Ryan, have you tried those orange flavoured droplet candies?"

"I think so? Are those the sour ones?"

"Mhm, exactly," Silvia replied as she threw one over to him. Ryan quickly caught the small package and groaned.

"Ew, individually wrapped candy..."

"That's what I said!" Modak threw up his hands, "But it's vending-machine stuff, so you can't really be picky, I guess."

As Ryan fiddled with the edge of the small candy wrapper, Runar stood in the doorway, staring at the three in disbelief, "Are you... are you seriously talking about candy when Ryan just woke up?"

The three looked at each other for a moment, and then turned back to Runar, as Silvia spoke for them all, "Honestly? Getting worked up about stuff is starting to be kind of exhausting."

"Yeah, plus you did warn us beforehand that this might happen," Modak pointed added, and Runar shook his head in disbelief.

"Kids these days," Runar sighed as he walked up to Ryan, "Come on, let me take a look."

Ryan quickly turned his shoulder toward his uncle, holding his arm forward, "They're a 'Ruby Symbiote', by the way. According to the system, at least."

"Ah, alright, I figured they were a subspecies. But 'Ruby Symbiote', huh? Haven't heard that one before," Runar curiously looked at Ryan's arm, as Modak and Silvia also took a closer look.

"Is there a difference?" Silvia wondered, and Runar seemed hesitant to answer with certainty.

"Well... yes? There's pretty strong individual differences between symbiotes anyway. You know, every person is different, and every symbiote is different as well, so their specific bond will be very different. Like in any other type of relationship. Just because they're a subspecies doesn't mean they have any special qualities, but it also doesn't mean they don't. It's kind of a case-by-case thing, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens."

Runar eyes slowly wandered down to the back of Ryan's hand, where the Ruby Symbiote's smile was being proudly displayed, " :D "

"That is... interesting. I'm not sure if that counts as a 'special quality', but I don't remember emoticons being usual patterns."

" ? :( ? " the two symbols flashed on Ryan's hand, and Runar's eyes widened.

"And that is definitely not usual. Can you say anything else?"

" :( "

Quickly, Ryan translated, "That one means 'no'."

"Thanks. Couldn't have figured that one out without 'cha," Runar rolled his eyes, before looking away from Ryan's arm and onto his chest instead, "That one looks pretty nasty... are you okay with that?"

Ryan shrugged, though that motion itself kind of hurt, "I mean, I can't really change it anymore, now can I?"

"I mean, we could hire a really good healer to prevent as much of a scar as possible," Runar suggested.

Ryan thought about it for a moment, but in the end just shook his head, "It's fine. To be honest, I'm just glad I'm rid of that thing. It's fully gone, right? I don't have any of it on me anymore?"

"No, no, you're fine. I triple-checked," Runar assured him, and then quickly handed Ryan what he had been holding this whole time, "Here, a new shirt."

"Oh, thanks. Getting kinda breezy," Ryan awkwardly pointed out as he unfolded it. He quickly pulled it over his head, and only then noticed that it had something written on the front. The shirt showed a small, translucent blob, with text underneath that read 'I bonded with a symbiote and all I got was this t-shirt'.

"I... can I... can I wear this outside? Why do these exist?"

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Runar shook his head, "Don't ask me, Ryan, I have no idea. I think it was some inside joke between the people that work here, and someone had a couple of them made at some point. But... yeah, honestly, who cares? Most people don't know about symbiotes anyway, so it doesn't matter."

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"I guess so..." Ryan still wasn't convinced, but he figured it was better than running around shirtless. He looked at the back of his hand, "What do you think?"

" ! ! ! :D ! :D ! ! "

"You like it, huh? Fair enough," Ryan responded with a chuckle, "So... can we leave now? I am so exhausted."

"Yeah, sure, let's go, it is getting a little late," Runar agreed, "Yamada is waiting by the car. We'll drop you two off at your places on the way back, but let's grab something to eat first."

"Oh thanks the gods, I could really eat something right now..." Modak grumbled, "Something more than candy, I mean."

"Perfect, then let's go."

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Exhausted, Ryan stepped into his room. He dropped forward onto his bed, groaning loudly because he forgot that his chest was still in immense pain, "Ouch..."

He pulled his face away from the pillow, glancing at his hand.

" :( "

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. I don't think I thanked you for getting that thing out of me yet, by the way. So... thank you."

" :D "

"Though... I guess I should properly introduce you to someone. Uh... can you see just through my palm? Or can you see what I can see?"

" :( ! :( "

"So... no to both?"

" :) "

Ryan thought about it for a moment, trying to figure out what seemed to make the most sense. Thinking back, to begin with, the symbiotes didn't have any eyes or any other sensory organs. So maybe they just sensed things differently in the first place, "Do you just sort of see everything around you? Even if I don't?"

" :D "

"That makes things easier," Ryan yawned, though he realised something else very quickly, "Oh, but you're probably also going to be sleeping while I am, right?"

The symbiote quickly changed the pattern on the back of Ryan's hand, " :) "

With a tired sigh, Ryan propped himself up, using the pillows to support his back. Maximus was already good to go, so the spirit simply appeared on the blanket in front of Ryan, who quickly faced the back of his hand toward the small knight.

"Maximus, this is... my bonded symbiote, and for-now-nameless-symbiote, this is Maximus. He's a spirit, and you two will be seeing each other a lot."

Maximus bowed forward to greet the symbiote, and Ryan noticed the sensation of their pattern changing very rapidly on the back of his hand. It was like a slight tickle. Taking a closer look, he soon saw a flurry of symbols that showed clear excitement.

" :D ! :) C: ! ! ! :D :O ! :D "

"You okay?" Ryan asked with a slight smile, and the symbiote seemed to hesitate for a moment, as their last symbol very slowly and deliberately turned into a new one that Ryan hadn't seen from them yet.

" -> "

Ryan raised his brow, slowly moving his hand around. The arrow shifted, always pointing in a specific direction; the shelf on the other side of the room. Slowly, Ryan stood up and walked over toward it, picking Maximus up as he did.

"Are you interested in the models?" Ryan asked, smiling lightly, "Runar told me you'd try and make small models of the people and animals you meet from what you found in the tank, right?"

" :D :O !!! :D "

"I can show them to you tomorrow, if you want. Today I'm a bit tired, alright?"

" :D ! "

With a yawn, Ryan walked back over to his bed, glancing at his desk as he did so, "Oh, and Maximus. Do you want to go back to the domain, or stay up and read? I can turn the computer on for you, if you'd like."

Maximus looked up at Ryan for a moment, thinking about it for a moment. From Ryan's perspective, Maximus' mood had clearly improved vastly once he realised that they now basically had an arrow pointing right at Gaia's last fragment. Plus, he could enter and exit his domain whenever he wanted, whether or not Ryan was awake, so he could rest and let the spirit do his own thing.

Carefully, Maximus pointed at the computer monitor, and Ryan quickly nodded. He turned on his computer, propping up the books for the spirit the way he liked it. When the computer turned on, he navigated to the site that Maximus was reading comics on last time, and quickly left the spirit to do his own thing, "Don't stay up too late. I know you don't really need sleep, but reading all night can still be pretty exhausting."

Ryan quickly turned off the lights, letting the room only be illuminated by the monitor, though it didn't matter much for Ryan. He was too tired to care, anyway.

"Goodnight, you two," Ryan said quietly, as he slowly dozed off into sleep.

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Modak turned the key around in the lock, pushing the door open in front of him. As he stepped inside, the smell of cigarette smoke practically assaulted him, "Urgh, dad, come on... Why are you smoking inside?"

After he stepped into the adjacent living-room, Modak's father let out a slight grumble, "Pah! I can smoke whenever I want!"

The young orc sighed, walking across the room to open the window, "I didn't say you can't, but I thought mom told you not to smoke inside."

"Your mother's not here, so who cares?"

Modak raised his brow, confused, "What do you mean, she's not here?"

With the cigarette in his mouth, the ash dropping onto his dirty shirt and getting caught in his beard, Modak's father continued grumbling, "With that friend of hers... Mala was her name, was it?"

"I think so," Modak replied, walking over to the kitchen. He briefly pulled open the fridge and freezer, and let out a quiet sigh or relief. There wasn't any prepped food, so that meant his mom would be coming home tonight. But at the same time, that meant Modak would have to get his dad to stop smoking, or else this would start a fight when his mom got home.

Though, frankly, it wasn't particularly hard. Modak walked up to his father, standing between him and the TV, "Dad?"

"... What?"

Without saying another word, Modak simply stared at his father for a few moments. Growing nervous, Brog groaned and reached over, pressing the half-smoked cigarette into the ashtray, "Happy?"

"Yup," Modak replied, grabbing the ashtray to empty it out in the trash. Looking at his son's back, Brog seemed to get curious.

"So, what did you do today? Ya had work?"

Modak quickly shook his head, "No, I was at Ryan's place."

"Hm... are you sure you're not-"

"Yes, dad, I am positive that Ryan and I are not dating."

"I wouldn't mind you were, you know?" Brog pointed out, staring at his son. With a slight laugh, Modak shook his head.

"Again, we're not. I am kind of talking to someone, though. I might bring her over sometime."

"Is it that Silvia?"

"No, it's not Silvia either, dad. Her name is Yanna, and she's very, very nice."

Brog turned back to the television, "Can't blame me for thinkin' you've got somethin' going on with one of those two. You spend all your time with them!"

Though the young orc wanted to deny that, Modak quickly stopped himself. That part was true; the three did spend a ton of time together. But even so, "I promise you, I am not dating either Ryan nor Silvia. Technically I'm also not dating Yanna yet, but... we're getting somewhere, I guess."

"Good! I wanna meet my grandkids someday! The gods know your older brother ain't givin' us any!" Brog laughed loudly, and Modak's smile quickly dropped.

"Sister, dad. Older sister. Not brother," he explained, once again, and Brog nervously sat up straight.

"Oh, I'm... I'm sorry, son... I try, you know?"

Modak sighed lightly, trying to force his smile back up, "I know. Just... keep trying, alright? Anyway, I'm pretty tired, so I'll head to bed now. Goodnight, dad. And please, don't start smoking again. And close the window before you go to bed."

"Yes, yes, I'm not a child!" Brog laughed, and Modak smiled as he made his way into the hallway.

"Night, dad."

"Goodnight, son!"

A bit annoyed at his father for taking everything as lightly as he always did, Modak shut his bedroom door behind him. And he really did not want to see his father's face when he realized that Yanna was a minotaur, so even if they wanted to, the two would never be able to have kids together. Not that it mattered to Modak much anyway, but his father always kept going on and on about grandkids for some reason.

Modak let out a long groan as he dropped his bag on the ground, quickly getting undressed. He already laid down in bed, when he realized he hadn't brushed his teeth yet. After a contemplating whether it was worth it to get up again now that he was already in bed, Modak groaned and forced himself up. He wouldn't be able to fall asleep otherwise anyway.