Everything simply happened as normal that day.
Dactyle took their bath of the day, and they were getting out. They dried themself up with their towel. Their hair was a fuzzy mess with how they dried it. Dactyle could brush and fix it when they got back to their room. They reached for their optic lenses, which were next to their helmet…
…or at least, they should've been.
They knew they were right there. Dactyle figured they fell down somewhere. It happened with their siblings sometimes, so they didn't think it was too weird. They got on their knees to look around. They moved their hands along to make sure they didn't miss anything.
Their eyesight wasn't the best, everything they saw was somewhat blurry, but it wasn't as bad as Diamond, who couldn't see at all without her optic lenses. Some of them needed their lenses a lot more than the rest, Dactyle included, so they needed to find them.
No matter how much Dactyle looked or felt around, they weren't finding it. Not on the floor, not on the toilet or sink, not in the cabinets, nowhere in the bathroom. Now they thought it was weird. If the optic lenses weren't there, then where were they? Dactyle tried to think of where else they might be as they put their helmet back on. They hummed, deep in thought about it.
It was possible they left it in the study room, since that was the last place they were in before they went to bathe. They didn't remember taking them off there, but it wouldn't hurt to check. Dactyle decided to make their way back there. They put their hand on the wall as they walked to the room. It didn't do much in terms of helping them know what was there, but it made sure they were close to the wall so they didn't bump into anyone.
After a few minutes, they ended up in what seemed like the study room. Dactyle went to the chair close to the bookshelves. If the lenses were to be in there, they would be close to where they sat. When they felt the chair and how different it felt compared to what they sat in earlier, they realized that they weren't in the right room. Dactyle cursed themself out for not verifying the room before they went in. They needed to get out and walk further down the hall for it.
When they got up, they went too fast and bumped their head. Having their helmet on only made their head hurt worse. They grunted and groaned in pain. Dactyle bumped into something when they tried to get up and on their feet. They looked to the side and, when they noticed something in their peripheral vision, looked upwards.
The next thing they knew, something hit their face and their left eye, alongside the area around it, started burning. They immediately closed that eye. Dactyle's eyes watered from how much it hurt and tears ran down their face. It stung so much that they trembled. All they could do was tilt their head to the side and screech at the top of their lungs.
「助けて!私を助けて!」They screamed.
It hurt so much, and they couldn't see a thing.
Most of the family relaxed in the main room.
Nova, Sprx, Astral, Kaminari, and Soma were out in the city. Everyone else did whatever they wanted to do in the room. Gibson and Antauri played chess, Chiro and Otto played video games with Peridot, Aero, and Magma, while Emerald, Diamond, Jasper, and Marino watched. Emerald had her head on Peridot's lap. Diamond was reading her books while occasionally looking up. Marino kept an eye on his siblings to make sure nothing happened.
Jasper tried to mess with Magma with a fake spider to get a laugh out of him and the others. There were stifled laughs, but Magma just destroyed the fake spider without looking at her. Jasper simply backed away after that and didn't try again. Marino sighed, uncertain what he was expecting from that attempt. He patted something close to him and Jasper sat down next to him.
Magma won that round and he cheered. Chiro chuckled as he rested his chin on his hand.
"Good job, Magma." Chiro playfully elbowed him.
Magma noticed how he acted after Chiro did that. He blushed as he rubbed the back of his neck. His body lightly glowed. He handed the controller to Peridot.
Right after that, they all heard it.
「助けて!私を助けて!」
The ones who got up at Dactyle's cries for help were Magma, Marino, Chiro, and Gibson. They immediately ran to them. Everyone else quickly looked at each other, wondering what happened, before they followed suit. Gibson and Magma were the first ones to find Hermodactyloides in their state.
They were trembling, not a single part of them was steady. Tears stained their face, but it wasn't as bad as the chemical burns on their eye. It was burned and melted and the fur around it was gone. The skin underneath where the fur lied was damaged to the point of no return. Their other eye was fine, not a single drop of harmful chemicals on it. Dactyle still had their head tilted to the side. Their lips quivered as they mouthed those simple words.
It hurts, help me.
Gibson ran to them to help them out while Magma stood at the door so nobody else would see the same sight they did. Gibson helped them up as he soothed them.
"It's okay, I'll do what I can. Keep your head tilted." Gibson caressed their cheek with his thumb; he looked at the door. "Clear the way immediately! Clean the mess when we're out of the room!"
Everyone moved out the way when Gibson came out with Dactyle. Magma stayed by their sides while the three hurried to med bay. Diamond and Antauri cleaned everything up while everyone stayed away from it.
When Gibson got to med bay with Dactyle, he did everything he could to tend to their injury. He put tons of water on that area to get rid of whatever chemicals were on their face. Every bit of water mixed with their tears. They still trembled as their unfocused gaze aimed straight ahead. He didn't move away at any point as he looked them in the eye. Gibson couldn't tell how much pain they were in, but he knew it was torturing them and it hurt him to see it.
"Hey, it's going to be okay, Dactyle. Can you try to stay calm enough for me to get it clean and assess how bad it is?" He calmly and soothingly asked them.
It took Dactyle a moment before they whimpered and signed a 'yes'. They tried to take deep breaths. Gibson kept going and made sure everything was cleaned and treated properly. Magma looked over, feeling worried about them with his tail laying on the floor and his fur being mostly dark red.
Everyone around Dactyle could only hope the damage wasn't too horrific.
It took nearly an hour and a half, but Gibson did what he could.
He carefully put the patch on Dactyle's eye; they hardly reacted. Their face was stained with tears, each one from earlier. They lowered their head after he was done putting it on their face. Gibson sighed, afraid of breaking the news to them. He ran some tests to see how bad the injury was, and it was worse than he originally thought. He looked to the side and Magma happened to look at him at the same time.
Magma nodded, silently telling him that he'd give the two privacy. He walked out the room and closed the door. Gibson faced Dactyle and took a deep breath. He quietly gulped.
"Dactyle, there's something you need to know…"
"I'll never be able to see out of that eye again, will I?"
Gibson's eyes slightly widened. He didn't anticipate that they would know, but then again they might've figured the worst case scenario and they accepted it. He held their hand.
"I'm afraid so." Gibson confirmed. "Your eyelids are melted together, so you can't open that eye again. Even if you could, your eyeball has been damaged so you wouldn't be able to see from it. I can adjust your lenses, but…"
A few tears fell down from Dactyle's right eye. They landed on the floor. Their lips quivered heavily.
"I- I knew it…" Their voice cracked and broke. "How could this happen to me?"
They started crying hysterically. Dactyle hugged Gibson tightly. It made Gibson jump from how fast they did it. He hugged them back and rubbed their back in attempts to soothe them.
"It was an accident, it wasn't your fault. You didn't know this would happen."
"But- But if I had just let everyone know that- that I couldn't find my lenses, I'd- I'd be fine!"
Gibson hushed them. "Don't blame yourself for this. There was no way you could've known and prevented it."
The responsibility fell into him, if anything. Gibson should've made sure there wasn't anything left lying around that could've tremendously hurt anyone, especially his kids. Had he done that, one of his own wouldn't blame themself for losing an eye like this. They wouldn't be hurt at all.
What kind of father was he, besides an awful one?
In the meantime, Magma moved his head away from the door. He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. Magma knew it was bad from looking at their eye, but he didn't think it was that bad. At least he and Gibson were the only ones to see it. Unless that patch was taken off, nobody else would be able to see it. He only wished he could've done something to prevent it.
After a moment, Dactyle came out the room. Their movement was sluggish and unfocused. They hung their head as they walked away. Magma tried to put his hand on their shoulder. Dactyle barely just avoided it.
"I just want to be left alone right now."
That was all they said as they continued to walk away. Magma just withdrew his hand and let them be. Everybody came by the med bay just as they left. Magma looked behind him.
"If you're checkin' on Dactyle, they just left." He started. "They'll be okay, but they… wanna be left alone for now."
"Okay, thanks. We can check up on them later." Chiro put his hand on his shoulder.
"I suppose we can do something for them in the meantime." Marino added.
Jasper looked down at her hands. "I wath gonna give thethe back to them too…"
Magma frowned and his eyebrows lowered. He pointed to the door with his thumb.
"Give 'em to Dad Gibson for now." He said.
Jasper nodded and went inside the room. Everyone discussed what to do for Dactyle to cheer them up. Magma might join them later by baking Dactyle something.
Magma looked ahead with worry deep down inside.
Dactyle sat at the edge of the Super Robot.
All they could do was stare ahead at the impending sunset while a light breeze brushed against them. The sky was painted with oranges, yellows, pinks, blues, and the stars were sprinkled all over. Even with blurry vision, it was beautiful, but they couldn't truly enjoy it. The fact they couldn't see in their left eye now only soured what was usually enjoyable for them.
Yet, they didn't know what else to do but sit outside. It wasn't like anything would actually happen since the Super Robot would catch them if they fell. Dactyle figured this would be the best place to be, even if they weren't really alone. They just sighed about the unfortunate situation they were in.
Then they heard someone come up. They groaned as the footsteps came closer.
"I thought I said that I wanted to be alone." They didn't move their head.
"I know, but I hafta make sure you're alright, ya cretin."
Dactyle looked at Magma as he sat down next to them. They put their hands on their arms.
"Oh. Just you. Believe it or not, Magma, I'm not in the mood to mess with you or you making me feel worse." They looked away.
"Ya think I'd do that to ya while you're miserable? What do you take me for?" Magma awkwardly chuckled before sighing. "I'm sorry that happened to ya. Seriously, are you feeling okay?"
They glanced at him, every little thing they wanted to say coming forth, but they just looked away again. Magma pulled his leg closer to his chest and put his arm on there. His tail lightly swayed.
"…I'm obviously not. How can I? I won't ever be able to see out that eye again."
He pressed his lips together. He put an arm around them and pulled them closer to him. Dactyle jumped at the unexpected touch. They looked at him completely.
"Look, ya cretin," he started, "everything will be fine somehow. I know it."
Their face scrunched up. "Even if it did, look at me! Look at me, Magma!"
Their lips quivered. They looked down and pressed their face against his chest. Dactyle wrapped their arms around Magma tightly like they never wanted to let him go. He hugged back and caressed their head.
"Look at me…" Dactyle hiccuped and tried to not cry again. "My- My face looks horrible now, I- I can't let the others see it, and- and it- it means I can- I can lose something else and-"
They bursted into tears. They held onto Magma tighter, much more than they intended to. Magma wheezed from how tight they hugged. He lightly patted their back to let them know it was too tight. They lightened up; he sighed in relief.
"Dactyle, you're not ugly. You're still as beautiful as ever, losing an eye isn't gonna change that. If anyone says otherwise, ya know I'd fight 'em for sayin' something awful 'bout you. You're an absolute cretin, but you're still my sibling. Besides…"
He cupped their face and gently made them look at him. It seemed like Magma was smiling at them.
"Ya know we wouldn't let anything happen to you. We won't let ya lose anything else if you're that worried about it." He continued. "Also, stop getting your snot on me, it's fuckin' disgusting."
Dactyle snorted before they started laughing. More tears came through, but it wasn't because of their eye anymore. They playfully punched his arm.
"Jerk! For a moment, I was wondering if someone replaced you with someone less insulty towards me!" They kept laughing.
"Oh shut up, as if it's bad I can go a whole conversation without doing that!" Magma laughed with them.
After a moment, the laughter died down and Dactyle hugged him again. Their tail tapped against the surface. Even when Magma was being his usual fiery self, he was able to cheer them up like Jasper usually would. It was something they really needed, even if they didn't want to be with anyone at that moment.
"Thanks, Maggie. I really appreciate it." Dactyle softly said.
"It's nothing." Magma responded. "Do you wanna go back inside? Everyone's tryna do somethin' for ya."
"That's sweet of them, but… not yet. I wanna stay out here for a little longer."
"Kay, then that's what we'll do. If anyone comes up though, don't be surprised if I push you off."
They chuckled. "Fair enough."
The two rested there for a while. By the time they went inside, the moon was out in the dark grayish blue sky. Everyone that was inside when it happened gave them something which included desserts, accessories Peridot made, and other things. Gibson even gave them updated optic lenses that would allow them to see like the accident never happened. They would need to have it on all the time, but it wasn't like they didn't do that anyways.
When the others came home, Nova and Sprx freaked out when they saw the patch on Dactyle's eye. Otto told them, Astral, Soma, and Kaminari what happened. The first thing Kami did after hearing that was hug them tightly. Nova and Sprx decided to make Dactyle their favorite food for dinner that night.
Everyone spent as much time with them as they could for a few days. Maybe it wasn't a lot, but it meant plenty for Dactyle.
Dactyle felt lucky to have a family like this one.
