Chapter Text
A scream ripped from its throat, tears overflowing and falling down its cheeks. Red balls of light escaped its mouth uncontrollably, a testament to its anguish. Benry began to sob, choking on its own air as it struggled to breathe. It continued to wail and sob, curling into itself to protect it from the outside world. It felt like the world was ending, like nothing was ever going to be okay again. How could it have let this happen? Why did it even plan this? It wanted to keep Gordon from completing the game, but now he was gone. It had expected the soldiers to lock him up or something, but not this.
The worst part of it all was it had frozen in place and just watched it happen. It just stared at Gordon in shock and half coherently babbled something, though it couldn't remember what. The world was spinning, causing Benry to collapse to the ground. Its chest burned and screamed for air as it gasped desperately between its cries. The room was glowing red from the amount of sweet voice that flowed from its mouth.
It was on its knees, arms clutched to its chest, still sobbing but its throat was too sore to keep making sound. The soldiers had cut Gordon’s arm off and dragged him off somewhere. Benry couldn't find him, did that mean Gordon was gone forever? It didn't know, it couldn't think properly. Suddenly it retched as it threw up from sobbing too hard, the taste of bile lingering in its mouth. There wasn't much content in its stomach, so it quickly became dry heaving. It flopped to the side away from its sick and laid there trying to catch its breath, staring at the red lights it had filled the room with.
Slowly it started to physically calm down, even though its mind raced. This was all its fault. Gordon was gone and it was all its fault. It wiped the vomit and snot from its face with its sleeve. Benry didn't particularly care about the mess right now, it would clean up later. It lay on its back, staring up at the ceiling blankly. Its body began to feel like it wasn't real, the alien’s brain felt like static and everything around it seemed to be fake.
A small whimper escaped its lips as its chest heaved. It took all Benry’s strength to not start dry heaving again, the alien just staring up without blinking much. It could do much else at that moment, its limbs felt like lead and its body wouldn't move no matter how hard it tried. Its breathing eventually evened out, and Benry couldn't really understand why it was upset anymore. Not that it took the feeling away. No, it only seemed to make it stronger.
Gunshots rang in its ears, though it only continued to blankly stare at the ceiling. It could hear someone shouting, but the alien couldn't really understand what was being said. Suddenly it was lifted to a sitting position against a nearby wall. It blinked then tried to look up, the person moving closer for it to see better. It was a familiar face, Benry would know it anywhere. Before him kneeled Tommy, who had a worried look on his face. It blinked at him some more, working its way up to trying to speak.
Tommy grabbed its hands, squeezing them gently in his own, soft, somewhat boney, long fingered hands, the action pulling Benry a little closer to reality. “I’ve got- I’ve got you Benrey.” He said, rubbing his thumbs soothingly over the tops of its knuckles. “Take your time.”
Benry listened to Tommy speak, unable to reply to him yet. The man stroked its hair and Benry briefly wondered when its helmet had been taken off. It decided it didn't matter, leaning into the dark haired man’s touch. It closed its eyes and just laid its head in Tommy’s lap for a while, the world slowly feeling more and more real. Tommy’s gentle touches seemed to calm its mind very effectively, bringing it back to reality.
Its eyes flickered open, its gaze focused on Tommy's face from where it lay. Tommy had a look of concentration and worry on his face. Benry thought it was a little cute, though was confused as to why he helped it after it had betrayed Gordon. Tommy seemed to notice its gaze and smiled down at it. Benry just stared at him, unsure what to do.
“You- Are you feeling any, uh, better?” He asked, still running his fingers through its hair.
“Mmph,” nodding, Benry sat up and turned to face him, its voice hoarse and raw. “Better.”
Tommy smiled at it brightly. He had a smile that never failed to light up a room, Benry liked that about him. “That's good.” He opened his arms for a hug, in which Benry obliged. “I was very worried about you, Benrey.”
Benry gave him a small grin. “Nah, ole Benny boy’s just, uhhhhh, fine and dandy, bro.” It said, slowly getting to its feet and offering Tommy a hand up.
Tommy took its hand and was pulled up by the alien surprisingly easily. It almost caused them both to fall over, making Tommy laugh. “Careful!” He smiled at Benry, its heart melting at the sight. “We should get going and find the others.”
A shock of fear was sent through its body but it forced its face to remain neutral. “Uh nah, you go on. I have uh, sum to do, yo.” It said, feigning a yawn and letting go of Tommy. “I’ll meet up later though, Tommy.”
Tommy seemed a bit disappointed but nodded. “Okay, just- just be careful.” There was that worried look again. “Please?”
Benry gave him a reassuring smile and saluted. “Sir yes sir!” It said, giving him a hug before turning to go. “You’ll find the others. If anyone can do it, you can, bro.” With that, it put its helmet on then left, climbing into a ventilation shaft and disappearing from Tommy’s sight.
It had to keep looking for Gordon, now that it wasn't actively dying. It quickly made its way through the vents, peeking down every vent hole it found. Gordon HAD to be somewhere. He was strong and resourceful and pretty and smart and- well it knew he could get away cuz Gordon was witty. Shaking its head to clear its thoughts, Benry HAD to keep focused.
Just as it had the thought of focus, it slipped down a vent pipe and ended up falling through one of the vent covers. It landed hard on concrete with a loud grunt and a whine. “Owwwwwuhhhhhh” it griped to no one in particular.
That had hurt, though the fall hadn't injured Benry at all. Sulking for a moment before getting up, it rubbed its sore ass and looked around. It looked like it had landed in another laboratory, the lights were flickering from being damaged, and there was research scattered everywhere. Stepping around the bodies that littered the area, Benry made its way through to see if Gordon had wandered in somehow.
It held its gun ready as it walked around with a blank expression, its eyes darting around for any movement. It didn't want to accidentally shoot Gordon, as funny as it would be, so it forced itself to focus. It was an alien on a mission and it wouldn't be stopped. Find Gordon, save Gordon, get Gordon and Tommy to stay with it forever and get free PlayStation Plus. That was really all it wanted at the end of the day, was that really too much to ask?
Benry looked around, picking up anything that piqued its interest as well as supplies. Once it had deemed the area all clear, it headed towards the exit. This pattern continued on for several more rooms, not finding much of interest. It was getting increasingly frustrated and upset the longer it took, but the alien was exhausted. This was taking forever, Gordon could be anywhere in the labyrinth that was Black Mesa.
Benry’s eyes narrowed as it caught movement from across the room. A slight growl escaped its lips as it readied its gun. “Come out,” it demanded, its eyes scanning the area. “Slowly, or I will shoot, bro.”
A man stepped into view, another familiar face, one Benry wasn't all too happy to see. The man grinned, putting his hands up in a gesture of peace. “Come on Benrey,” he said, taking another step towards it. “You wouldn't shoot an old friend, would you?”
Another growl escaped its throat, eyes narrowing further. “You must not know me very well then.” It drawled, face blank despite everything. “I love shooting old friends. What do you want, Forzen?”
The man fixed his hat, putting his hands in his pockets and watching the alien with amusement. “Ow, hostile much?” Forzen feigned a hurt look, though Benry could tell he was faking. “I’m just here to thank you, bro.”
Benry felt a jolt of alarm and confusion pass through its body. “Wha?” The world seemed to spin again.
“Yeah,” he began, smiling at the alien in an unnerving manner. “We never would have been able to kill Gordon Freeman without your help, after all.”
It froze, staring at the man with a look of horror in its eyes, its face somehow remaining expressionless otherwise. “Huh?” Nothing seemed to be processing, the alien feeling as if someone had shot it in the chest. “Gordon’s dead?”
“Yep! Thanks to you, we don't have to worry about him anymore.” Forzen started to approach Benry faster, closing the distance between them quickly.
Benry pulled the trigger, just narrowly missing the human’s head on purpose. “Leave.” It demanded, growling louder for emphasis, feeling anger rising in its chest. “Now.”
“I just wanted to thank you in my own way.” He frowned, rubbing his ear as it rang from the gunshot. “I do miss you, you know.”
Benry’s expression wavered for a moment before it steeled its resolve. “And I won’t miss my next shot, Forzen.” It reinforced its threat, desperately wanting the man far away from it.
Forzen sighed, hands back up in defeat, and relented. “Fine,” he said, huffing a bit. “I’ll just have to thank you properly later. Goodbye Benrey. I hope you got what you wanted. I know I did.”
Benry watched as Forzen left, feeling nauseous again. Once it was sure he had left, it slid down the wall, hugging its knees. Forzen had said Gordon was dead. He couldn't be dead, he couldn't be. Its limbs felt like lead again, it buried its face in its knees, Benry’s eyes barely visible above them. It watched for any more movement, keeping its guard up even while resting. Its gun was still gripped in one hand, ready for anything that might attack it.
Benry struggled to focus. Everything around it began to feel unreal again, its thoughts drifting slowly into nothingness. What had it been so upset about? Benry couldn't remember; it could barely grasp what was happening around it. Everything felt fuzzy as the alien closed its eyes. The hand holding its gun slowly slid to the side, resting just beside it.
“Resting them,” It mumbled to the empty room, voice still quite hoarse. ”Not uh, fallin asleep, yo.” Yet even as Benry spoke, everything faded to black. Exhaustion finally taking hold, Benry succumbed to sleep, the aftermath of today’s events catching up with it at last.