[Fic] echoes (Iron Lung)
Information
- Fandom:Iron Lung
- Pairing: None
- Rating: Teen
- Tags: Horror
- Word-Count: 411
- Status: Complete
- First Published: Nov 2, 2026
- AO3 Mirror: N/A
Disclaimer: I do not own Iron Lung and make no profit from this fic. This is solely a hobby, with no financial compensation.
Summary
I see you.
Notes
Written for @ao3shutdown-writingchallenge on Tumblr.
OCTOBER 31, 2026 - DAY TWO PROMPTS:
Location: Graveyard, Noun: Lantern, Verb: Devour
echoes
I see you.
I see you.
I see you.
“I see you,” mutters Simon, checking the coordinates on the map and comparing it to the numbers on the screen for the thousandth time. He’s going in circles.
The blood is thick and viscous outside the submarine, tossing and turning it. It beats upon the hull with the force of a nuclear blast, endless and inescapable.
The ocean is a creature unto its own, and Simon is only one speck of rust.
I see you.
The light. The lady on the radio spoke of a light. Simon’s not seen any natural light in his entire life; nothing but ghostlight from stars long since devoured.
He, too, will one day be devoured.
I see you.
What is the light? A lantern for lost souls? A figment of their dead imagination? The heaven of a lost earth summoning their damned souls?
Simon doesn’t know. He tries not to think about it. I see you.
Just a little more, he tells himself. Just a little more and he’ll be free. I see you. Just a little more and he’ll get out of this tank, get out of the miserable mire he’s drowning in. A little more. I see you. All he needs is a tiny, little bit more and they’ll free him.
I see you.
The voices keep talking. Saying things that don’t make any sense. That make too much sense. I see you. Simon tries not to listen, but it sticks on the inside of his skull like glue.
I see you.
The light. Light, light, light. I see you. They keep talking about the light. Why does a light matter so much, anyway? They’re dead, and they still care? I see you. They’re in his head and they still care about something so impossible? I see you. Light at the bottom of a blood ocean? I see you.
It can’t be real.
I see you.
They’re just figments of his imagination.
I see you.
This is just an external manifestation of his fear.
I see you.
Simon knows this, logically.
I see you.
He does.
I see you.
He knows it.
I see you.
I see you.
I see you.
I see you.
I
see
you.
Maybe it’s a sin, after all. That after everything, he still wants to live.
I
s
e
e
“I see you,” he murmurs, and draws another line on the makeshift map.
“I see you.”
y
o
u
.