[FRAG] Keep A Secret

Magnotris shuffled through his notecards, reading over his scribbled penwork once more. Damnit. He should've asked Morning Star to write these out for him. Uuuugh, now he was thinking about Morning Star again.

He still hadn't managed to shake the illness churning in his stomach. In silence, he folded down his tie awkwardly, trying to rub the wrinkles out. How did Morning Star wear one of these all the time? Maybe he shouldn't have bothered. Did he really need to look formal for this? Agh! Why was he so nervous!

Breathe, breathe, Magnotris reminded himself, glancing at the door. He shuffled through his notecards again. Any second, Jubilee would pop in through the door and let him know the presentation room was ready. And then he'd go in front of the Overseers - his new coworkers - and talk about his cure for Corruption. And then he'd get to go home and stare at the ceiling and panic about how Morning Star was doing on his first Overseer assignment.

His first assignment to the goddamn Haven of all places. To 'build relations', whatever the fuck that meant. Off Morning Star went, to do into the heart of enemy territory and plead for peace, to end the war between two of the factions, and here Magnotris was, worrying about whether or not his tie was wrinkled so he could make a dumb presentation about a cure. He didn't normally feel worthless or incompetent, but those feelings were overwhelming him at the moment.

Everything he worked for just seemed to pale in comparison to Morning Star, who just... showed up, decided to take matters into his own hands, stage a goddamn fucking coup, and then get Blessed out of it. By Pyatiugolnik, of all the Magnitude Fragments. And now he was off to the Haven. Because fuck Magnotris, he guessed.

Ugh. He didn't mean to be so pessimistic. He still loved Morning Star and everything. But after sleeping on his admission, letting the thoughts fester... he couldn't shake the taste of blood from his mouth. What was he, a douche who was jealous of his boyfriend? Urgh, no, don't answer that. 

But if he entertained the thought, he knew it was real. Inexplicitly, he was jealous of Morning Star. It wasn't fair. He'd worked his ass off day and night to add up to his cure for Corruption, and even now he felt overshadowed and trampled over in favor of Morning Star, rising out of nowhere to steal his spotlight. Their dynamic had changed on the flip of a coin that he hadn't even known was tossed, and now Magnotris was here, feeling forgotten and miserable, about to stand in a meeting room and answer questions about a medication while his boyfriend ended wars. 

Morning Star had accomplished so much more in a week than Magnotris had in his life. It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair, it wasn't fair. Magnotris smacked his forehead with the base of his palms, groaning. He knew he shouldn't be thinking such negative thoughts about his partner, but he didn't exactly have anywhere else to turn to. Pretty? Hell no. Not after all of this mess. He didn't need someone gloating or trying to flirt with him.

Uuuuuuuugh.

There was a knock at the door, and Magnotris sat up, brushing his hair back with a hand. In hindsight, he shouldn't have laid down on the desk. Now he looked frumpled again. 

Profound peeked his head in, voice as droning as always, "Are you ready?"

"Uh, I think so," he mumbled, fumbling with his notecards. "I thought Jubilee-?"

"Jubilee is taking a nap."

What. Since when did Jubilee nap. "Oh, well then. Alright." 

"If you're ready we're ready."

"Yeah, I am. I'll be out in a second."

Profound nodded and pulled the door closed. Magnotris stood up, taking a deep, slow breath. He ran a hand through his hair and steeled his shoulders. He'd do this. He'd do this. He could do this. It'd be okay.

Magnotris opened the door, glancing down both sides of the hallway. Nobody was there. He took another breath and headed across the hall, opening the door to the presentation room and letting himself in quietly. 

It was quaint and small - no long, shiny-wood table taking up the entire center. Just a small, circular table, with three people seated around it, and a laptop next to a whiteboard. A small plant near the door was the only real splash of color, a tiny fern perched in a large pot. Magnotris flashed a faint smile to the assembled Overseers - Profound, Valentine, and Crvendach. Crvendach smiled back. 

Focus on the presentation.

He stumbled to the laptop, setting down his notecards. He tried to ignore how stressed he felt as he brought up the network and logged in. He'd done plenty of presentations in front of Overseers before; it shouldn't be weighing on him this much. Was he really feeling that incompetent next to Morning Star? Shit, fuck, stop thinking about that.

He wasn't even scared of public speaking. This just wasn't fair. Magnotris swallowed as he brought up the presentation slides, which flickered onto the whiteboard. Staring at the minimalist print, he couldn't help but feel utterly stupid and young in the room.

"Good morning," he managed, reaching for his notecards again. 

Profound nodded, staring at the opening slide rather than Magnotris' anxious smile. His gaze was as blankly intense as normal, but there was some edge hidden under it. He'd seemed a little more stressed lately; Magnotris couldn't quite pin on why. Crvendach at least had a bright smile. Magnotris couldn't recall much about the other's personality; the chipper grin remained slightly unsettling. Valentine just smirked. Typical.

"Today I'm - I'm giving a presentation about a potential cure for Corruption that I found," Magnotris began, shuffling his cards and glancing to them. His pen writing had smudged slightly. 

He tapped the arrow key on the laptop. The next slide appeared - a handful of diagrams and a few bullet points. "I'm sure you three already know what Corruption is, but in case there's any confusion, I wanted to go over it briefly. Corruption occurs when a Fragment - or any being, but primarily Fragments - comes into contact for too long with the space between Timelines, or an individual who is already Corrupted."

His voice sounded better the more he talked. Public speaking always stilled some worrying part of him. "Corruption primarily manifests as a crystalline parasite that latches into a Fragment's magic and overtakes their core. Attempts to heal the Fragment only result in further growth of the parasite, which can begin appearing on the skin... eventually immobilizing the Fragment and trapping them in... a body no longer under their control."

Magnotris glanced up. Profound still stared at his slides, although the other two were looking at him now. Crvendach met his eyes and gave another smile. Magnotris breathed in slowly and flipped to the next slide. "Attempts to destroy the crystals typically do not work, as they are shatter-resistant and consume magic used against them. However... I believe I have found a way to purge the crystals entirely."

Click. Next slide: a picture of a vial of Morning Star's magic. "I began my studies on two Corrupted Fragments that I held in my lab - I figured -" Magnotris tensed, and breathed. "I applied foreign magic directly into their cores in order to test if there was a - a specific wavelength of Magninium that reacted favorably with the crystals."

"What made you come up with this hypothesis?" Profound interrupted. His hands were linked in front of his chin, a pen sticking out from between two fingers. 

Magnotris glanced up at him, "Oh, I - some years ago, when Cysawd published his thesis on Magninium colors being important for healing magic and then Kitschie published a rebuttal. I took interest in their research and its practical applications."

"Where is this lab?"

"Er - a pocket Universe. Unidentified and outside of Timelines. I sustained it with my own magic."

Profound wrote something down and nodded.

Magnotris swallowed and clicked to the next slide. "After approximately three hundred-and-twelve trials, I found a specific color of Magninium that successfully recuperated the two Corrupted Fragments that I had been taking care of. This color was a light, mildly-saturated green - specifically I used a sample from Morning Star. Two doses applied directly to the Fragments' core, at about eight-hundred milliliters a dosage resulted in complete retraction of the crystals."

Click, next slide. This one had pictures of Ventria and Purivea, smiling on their beds. "No further dosages required - in a month, they showed no signs of remission, were able to identify themselves, and reintegrated into Coalition lifestyle with ease. I've done a few more checkups since then and they've shown no signs of Corruption since." Magnotris glanced back up at the other Overseers, and breathed. "Thanks for your time - any, uh, questions?"

Profound stared intently at the photos of the duo. His eyes flicked to Magnotris after a second. "Have you checked if the Blessing affects the cure?"

"Not yet, but I am confident it is related to wavelength and not necessarily Morning Star. I compiled a comparison on Cysawd's work and the cure and I think I can say with confidence you'd just have to color-match... as difficult as that may be."

"How similar would the color need to be?"

"I don't know yet. I haven't done any of those tests."

Profound hummed, glancing back down. Valentine raised an eyebrow, leaning forwards, "I'm not sure how useful this is if you can't replicate it any longer."

Magnotris stared, something red forming on his cheeks. "It's still been discovered. What are the numerical odds that someone out there doesn't have a similar color to Morning Star's magic?"

"What, a mortal? Oh, yes, very high chance. But does a mortal's magic even work? Can we extract enough without killing them?" Valentine stared right back.

"Further studies can be made. We - we could grow samples in vitro."

"Wow!" Crvendach cut in, slamming his hands on the table. The other two Overseers startled away. "Well, I think this was a great presentation and I think your cure is very insightful, Magnotris. It's a step in the direction nobody's taken before."

Valentine narrowed his eyes, but let his easy smile remain on his face as he leaned back. "Alright, Crvendach."

Crven smiled right back, his suge slowly poking its head out from his shawl collar. "I don't have any questions, though, unfortunately. I'm bad with coming up with those."

Magnotris stiffly nodded. Profound finished writing something and pushed it across the table.

"Thank you for the information, Magnotris," he stated. "I'd like a copy of your research, the comparisons, any samples you have remaining, and your presentation. I'll carry this to Rescue and Recover, see if we can get our own trials going. Unless you have anything else to share, you're dismissed."

"No, that's all," Magnotris said, voice somewhat hoarse. He reached forwards to pluck the paper from the table.

It was a series of scrawled notes in Profound's handwriting, expressing some level of gratitude for his work and hosting a gentle warning to not keep it such a secret next time. Magnotris bit his lip, eyes scanning the notes. He'd really assumed that the Overseers would've restricted his research in some fashion, but maybe he'd been wrong about that. Maybe with a bigger lab or more test subjects, he could've found out the cure faster...?

No, stop. Accept what he'd done and how to move forwards from that. Magnotris breathed in. He'd still found the cure. He'd done the impossible. They were going to start trials to try to hand it out. 

Chairs scraped against the floor as the Overseers stood. Magnotris remained focused on the paper, feeling something churn inside of him. Pride, almost, was forming, but there was a subdued sadness as well - even now, despite everything, he still felt woefully incompetent next to Morning Star. He almost wanted to scream - it wasn't fair that he was still feeling so bad about everything. And he didn't like being jealous, anyways. 

What was he even going to do after this? Go home and mope, sit in his house and feel sorry for himself? Try to find someone with similar colors to Morning Star's magic? It wasn't like he had any current Overseer missions, and he couldn't think of anything else to really do. Suddenly having the weight of the cure lifted off his shoulders was warming, but it also left him reeling, wondering just what he was supposed to do now. The routine was gone, and he couldn't quite think of a proper replacement. Yet?

"Hey, Magnotris," Crvendach started, taking his arm gently. Magnotris glanced down at the other's hand. His fur was so bright and red. "Me and a couple other Overseers, we're gonna go out for drinks and go Timeline-crawling later. Wanna come with?"

He glanced back at the rest of the room. Profound had already disappeared, Valentine was on his way out. 

He turned back to Crvendach, "Who all is coming?"

"Me, Surprise, and Cupid. I invited Saudade, but he said he might not be able to make it."

Hmm. It beated sitting in his house and moping about being alone. "Yeah, sure. Where are we meeting up?"

"Right outside HQ! I'm glad you're coming, I'll see you there!"

"Yeah-huh."

Crvendach gave him another flash of a smile before waving and heading out the door himself, leaving Magnotris with his notecards. He glanced down at them, feeling his face tinge red slightly. That had gone well. And now he had something to do tonight. Maybe he needed to stop thinking of things in such... absolutes. Morning Star wasn't stealing his spotlight. He just had his own now.

And yeah, that'd take some getting used to, but Magnotris wasn't a quitter by any means.

------------------------

Magnotris jammed his hands in his jacket pockets. The air was just cold enough that it was making his hands a little clammy - not enough to start hurting, but it only needed to drop a few more degrees til then. Honestly, he was just glad to be out of his formalwear. Ties? Psht. Morning Star was a champ for wearing one all the time. 

The wind was pulling at the fringes of his clothes gently. The weather was never too bad around the COR headquarters, but sometimes it got a little unruly. They'd send somebody by to clean it up in a few, for sure. But he and his crew would have rolled out of this trash dump long before then.

It was funny, really. He didn't consider the Overseers his friends - he'd always had almost a sour opinion of them, in a sense. They'd always seemed like a bunch of stuck-up loons. But the invitation to hang out with them felt genuine... like they were genuine people. Which, well, they were, but it felt like Magnotris had trouble remembering that most of the time. Ergh. He was one of them now, he couldn't shittalk so easily. Whatever. This still felt nice, going out with people again. It was nice to not have to worry about covering his illegal tracks later.

Wait, was this illegal?

"Magnotris!" 

He glanced up. Crvendach waved at him, trotting right over with a beaming smile. He'd never really bothered to befriend or learn about Crven before. The extent of his knowledge was that the guy liked his pet suge. Magnotris lifted a hand and a weary smile as the other Overseer headed over, flanked by Cupid and Surprise.

"Saudade didn't come?" he asked, letting his arm drop.

"Guess not," Crven wistfully mumbling, tapping his chin as he glanced at the sidewalk. "It's alright, he'll probably come next time. You ever been Timeline-crawling?"

"Is it like bar hopping?"

"Yeah basically! Maybe with less alcohol." Crven laughed. "I don't trust mortal stock."

"Yeah, that's fair," Magnotris shrugged. He couldn't keep the sides of his mouth from turning up. Wow, he was smiling at that? It wasn't even funny. 

Surprise offered his hand, "I don't think we ever really met. I'm Surprise." 

Magnotris shook. "Yeah, I don't think so either. Where do you work?"

"Research. Part of the actual Research division, hehe. I mess with the artifacts they bring back, stuff like that."

"Oh, neat. Find anything weird recently?"

Surprise beamed, "Oh, yeah, we gots this weird thing yesterday. It's shaped like a pencil but if you write with it it starts carving things into the walls. Doesn't matter whatcha write, it carves the same thing over and over. Got some of my best guys trying to trace the enchantment on that thing."

"Ah, hm," Magnotris raised an eyebrow. "That sounds... fairly below your pay grade."

"Yah, you'd think. But it's got some weird shit that drives people nuts whenever the carving happens. So we took care of it, so no mortals didn't need to."

"Ooh, okay." 

"We gonna head out?" Cupid cut in, although he didn't sound annoyed. "Got an early morning tomorrow, so if we could get a move on before it gets too late...."

"Sounds fine to me!" Crven clasped his hands together, "C'mon, I've already got a place in mind for us to start: BA-994. Y'all ever been there?"

Crven headed off towards the teleportation pads, the others falling in a group behind him. Magnotris leaned back slightly, hands still in his pockets. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

Surprise was closest to Crven, giving a small shrug, "Can't say I have. Sounds vaguely familiar, though, is it a parties kinda place?"

"Oh, you'll see," Crven replied, grinning at the others as he stepped onto the teleport pad. 

Magnotris narrowed his eyes. He wasn't the best at recalling Timeline information just by names alone, Morning Star was far better... if he remembered just right, the BAs' designation was due to some swapping around of wars. Some war happened earlier among the Gladar or something. Ergh, if Morning Star was here, he'd know. Honestly, he really should've known that designation... he had to keep himself from rolling his eyes.

In the midst of Magnotris sighing into his arm, the group teleported, gone in a pop and a flash of light. Magnotris blinked out the spots in his eyes as the world came back into focus.

Darkness.

Magnotris blinked rapidly, squinting. He could feel Surprise's hand take his wrist and gently tug; he stumbled along behind the other Overseer in the complete void. This wasn't a prank, was it? If this was a prank he'd break all of their noses and then bend their spines backwards. Okay, maybe that was too gruesome.

Crven's voice echoed, "Just lemme find-"

There was a loud click, and then the whirr of some ancient sort of industry several floors below them. Magnotris tensed a second before his vision was flooded with light, yelping and covering his eyes. After a frenzied half-second of cringing from the sudden brightness, he lowered his arms.

Crvendach, of course, was wearing sunglasses and beaming like the moron he was. Surprise and Cupid looked as similarly startled as Magnotris, though.

"Ta-da!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms out. "Sorry about the lights, the mechanics of this part of the machine are weird sometimes."

"You couldn't have warned us?" Magnotris muttered.

"I did!"

"More than that."

"Maybe next time!"

He huffed, but acquiesced, slipping his hands back into his pocket. Surprise was busy glancing around, while Cupid had relaxed again. Had he been here before? Wait, where was here anyways?

Crven started off down the hallway, turning a few times until they came across a small door. A few individuals stood in front of it - they didn't look to be any Fragments that Magnotris recognized. Mortals? Or just strangers? He was beginning to wonder if this was an elaborate attempt to mug him. He wasn't carrying anything valuable on him, right?

Oh, for fuck's sake, these were Overseers. His fellow Overseers. They wouldn't mug him. Magnotris breathed in slowly, trying to untense his shoulders. Unless this was a weird hazing - no stop being paranoid!

The group was ushered into the room, Crvendach still at its head. As the doors opened, Magnotris' ears swivelled forwards, suddenly aware of music. Deep music. And a very poignant smell - oh my stars Crven took them to a bar. They weren't supposed to be drinking mortal stock! He still bit his lip despite his internal protests, following along behind Surprise as Cupid split off to go talk to some random person near the dancefloor.

"I thought," Magnotris began, voice a low whisper. Crven paused, turning around, but gestured to his ears. Magnotris employed telepathy instead: 'I thought there wasn't going to be alcohol.'

'You don't have to have any if you don't want, but this is a Fragment-run establishment.'

Magnotris huffed, but nodded. Fine. He'd have something to drink.

The trio sat at the bar, Magnotris between Surprise and Crvendach. The bartender slid over a few seconds later, a warm, familiar smile directed to Crven. Magnotris watched with a keen stare as Crven mouthed "the usual". He'd never taken the Overseers to be the type to drink so often, really.

Well, he was an Overseer, so maybe it wasn't too strange.

'What do they serve?' he inquired to Crven, who pointed past the bartender. The far wall was full of scribbles and various brands of drink. Oops. 

Magnotris squinted at them, leaning forwards in his chair. The bartender moved away accordingly, amusedly shaking their head slightly. After a few seconds, Magnotris slumped back onto the stool. "Do you have anything normal?"

Crven doubled over in giggles while the bartender shrugged, "Depends on what you're asking, specifically. But probably."

"Uh, just a beer is fine."

"Any preference for brand or flavor?"

"Just something normal," Magnotris muttered, watching Crvendach laugh out of the corners of his eyes.

The bartender nodded and gestured to Surprise. The other Overseer slammed a hand on the counter, "A shot, and something strong."

As the bartender walked off, Crven leaned onto the counter to grin past Magnotris at Surprise. "Oh, you're getting wasted?"

"I need a damn break," Surprise muttered, cupping his chin in his hands. 

Magnotris awkwardly stared forwards.

"Fair enough!" Crven chirped. "Is Cupid off with Laxie? Think he'll stay all night?"

"Oh, you know him."

Crven shook his head. "Both of you are droppin' out on me! Gonna leave Magnotris and I all alone?"

Surprise barked a laugh. "Gotta get him warmed up somehow!"

"I'm sitting right here," Magnotris grumbled. He grunted as Surprise patted his back roughly. 

"Gotta loosen up a bit, y'know," he replied, leaning forwards on his elbows. "Gonna break if you're so immobile."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Magnotris muttered, staring at the other. 

"Lighten up. If you're doom and gloom all the time you're gonna end up breaking under the weight of everything." Surprise smiled as his shot was slid in front of him, picking it up and holding it in front of himself. "Learn to laugh a little!"

"I know how to laugh!" Magnotris indignantly snapped, picking up his own drink as it was placed in front of him.

"Oh yeah?"

Crven watched the two, eyes flicking between them.

Magnotris narrowed his own, "Yeah."

"Chug it."

"What?"

"Chug it," Surprise gestured to the beer in his hands. "Just fucking chug it down, man."

Magnotris blinked, then stared down at the bottle. He had no idea how much alcohol was in the container, nor how strong it was. Relatively weak, right? Was this a mortal or Frag bar?

Well, he was never one to turn down a challenge. Magnotris braced his shoulders, lifted the bottle, and threw his head back.

"Oh holy fuck he's actually doing it!" Surprise squawked. 

Something akin to vindicated pride welled in Magnotris. Of course he was doing it. He wasn't a pansy. If he could grin without spilling his drink on himself, he would.

"Magnotris this isn't a mortal bar," Crven squeaked, "Magnotris that's like, eighty-percent alcohol-"

Magnotris ignored both Crven's warning and the sensation of burning in his throat. He wasn't used to alcohol this strong or chugging it without water or taking breaks - not that drinking extremely-high content alcohol was weird, but it just wasn't what he normally went for. He'd asked for something normal!

But he was never one to back down, and by hell he was going to prove that.

With a glass-cracking smash, Magnotris slammed the empty bottle onto the counter. His panting subsided in seconds as he glanced between Surprise (grinning wildly) and Crvendach (mouth agape).

"I said I'd do it."

"No you didn't!" Crven threw his hands up.

"Oh. Well. I just did it."

The bartender picked up the half-broken glass, sweeping the shards into a bin. "Do you want another of these?"

Magnotris stared intently at the bottle for a few seconds before giving a firm nod, "Yeah, same thing." they nodded and headed off.

"Holy shit, Magnotris." Surprise downed his shot and then leaned forwards, grin stretching ear to ear. "That was awesome."

"I'm loosened up," he proudly replied, patting his chest.

Crven snickered again, picking up his own drink. The ice in the glass tumbler clinked around as he swished before taking a sip. 

"You're not a bad drinking buddy, y'know," Surprise slapped his back again just as another shot and beer were slid over. 

Magnotris picked up his drink, taking a sip of this one. "Yeah. Yeah I ain't!"

"Do you normally go drinkin' like this?"

Magnotris shook his head. "Don't drink that often."

"You gonna black out?" Surprise leaned forwards.

"What?" he grumbled, "I ain't that lightweight."

"Don't needle him so much, Surprise," Crven cut in as the bartender mixed him another drink. Magnotris blinked; when'd he drink all his? "This is a fun outing! I wanna hit up CC-12 next."

"CC-12's on lockdown," the bartender cut in.

The trio's heads snapped to them. "Huh?" Crven managed.

"Rendgen nabbed it yesterday." they passed the drink over.

"Wait, really?" Crven frowned, picking it up. "I thought he just got triple hundred...."

They shrugged, "That's what everyone thought 'til all the Frags from CC stopped communicating. They sent out a drone; Shards magic all over the place."

"Fuck," Crven breathed.

Magnotris stared at his beer.

"That's a tomorrow problem," Surprise announced. "Tonight I'm gonna get fucking wasted."

"Yeah," Magnotris barked, "easy for you to fuckin' say."

"What's that?"

"I said easy for you to say."

Surprise narrowed his eyes.

Magnotris gestured, waving the bottle in the air, "You're in Research, none of that shit involves you. You just gotta sit back while the front line has to-"

"-Hey now," Crvendach cut in, "let's not do that."

"I'm just telling the truth!" Magnotris barked, downing the rest of his drink.

"You aren't on the front lines either," Surprise countered.

"Well-" Magnotris huffed. "I could be."

"Don't go throwing stones in glass houses, man. We're all having fun tonight. It's a time to chill out."

Magnotris grumbled under his breath, picking up the fresh drink offered. He could totally ask Jubilee to put him on the front lines. He wasn't - no, wait, no he couldn't. He was supposed to be that secret in to the black markets and stuff... not... ugh.

It shouldn't feel so constricting, being an Overseer, but it was. It was exactly what he'd feared. And why had he done this? So Morning Star wouldn't be alone. Magnotris' fingers curled harder around the cool glass, a stark contrast from his warm, anxious hand. How much else would he throw away for Morning Star? How many more nooses could he tie around his neck?

No, stop. Resentment was bad. They'd communicate and learn together. They had to. That was a good relationship, communicating and lifting each other up. They were both Overseers... even if Morning Star was an Overseer because he was now a hyper-powerful being and ambassador and Magnotris was just a living muzzle for illegal activity.

It wasn't fucking fair.

The stool scraped against the ground as Surprise stood. Magnotris blinked blearily up at him.

"Gonna go dance," he gruffly replied, grinning sloppily. "You two do whatever."

Crvendach smiled as Surprise hobbled off. Magnotris slumped back against the counter. It was hard to muster the care to lift his head up at the moment. It wasn't quiet in the bar - there was music, talking, dancing, clinking of bottles, but around him, it all felt quiet. Everything melded into the same background noise, some background beat of life that he wasn't allowed to be part of. 

"You like talking, Magnotris?"

He blinked and tilted his head onto its side so he could face Crven. "What."

"Y'know - talking," Crven mumbled, averting his eyes, although a small smile rested on his face. "About the world, about life. Stuff like that. You seem pretty - like, smart."

"Oh." Magnotris tapped a finger on the counter. "I guess so. Why?"

"I just like thinking about that sort of thing."

"Like what sort of thing?"

Crven wiped his mouth, "Like, why's the sun come up in every Universe every morning. That's crazy to think about."

"Mmm?"

"Like, nothing tells the sun to come up. It just does. Y'know? Some external law out there, way out there, dictates its, like, movement and stuff. It just drives itself. That's - I think that's beautiful."

Magnotris stared at the label on his bottle.

"What if there was a Magnitude Fragment of the sun moving," Crven muttered, then snorted into a laugh.

"What would their name even be."

"I don't know! That's the funny part!"

Magnotris smiled softly. It wasn't particularly funny, but Crven half-bent over the counter and giggling like mad made him feel warm inside.

"Like," Crven continued, wiping a few tears, "like, all the Mag Frags' names are like, the intention, like, the noise of what they are, y'know? Like how dumb would it be if their name was just 'Sun' or something. That's just the word! It's not the intention!"

"That doesn't even make sense."

Crven squealed, with a laugh, "I'm drunk!"

"Shit, man," Magnotris reached for the tumbler, "what have you been drinking?"

Crven willingly passed it over. Magnotris took a sniff. "I get this every time I come. Gets me, like, tipsy in no time. I love it. You wanna try some?"

"Yeah, sure," Magnotris replied, lifting it to his lips. It burned much, much harder than his beer, and he sputtered out, "what is this?!"

"I don't know, that's the great part!" came the enthused chirp. 

Magnotris coughed into an arm as he slid it back over, "Yeah, I'll stick with my normal drinks."

With a small laugh, Crven beamed, taking a sip and closing his eyes briefly. Magnotris let a smile form on his face, too. He wasn't usually particularly empathetic; people smiling didn't make him smile. But there was something so genuine about Crvendach's grin, and the alcohol had loosened him enough to appreciate that genuinity. 

He'd always thought of the Overseers as being stiff suits who sneered down at the lowly other Frags, but here he was, drinking away with one of them. One he hadn't known particularly well, at that. And it was... fun? 

"Hey, Magnotris."

"Mm, yeah?"

"Y'know Profound picked me and Valentine at random?"

"Huh?"

"To listen to your presentation."

"Oh! Oh, no, I didn't know that." Magnotris sipped his beer. "Shit, he always picks Valentine."

Crven snorted, "Okay, well, I know I was randomly picked, at least. Isn't that cool to think about?"

"Mmm, yeah."

"Like maybe you wouldn't have even come with me tonight if I hadn't been there."

Magnotris stared at the beer label before lifting his head, finally, and taking a more respectable swig. "Well, I guess things happen for a reason."

The smile on Crvendach's face instantly wiped away. Magnotris blinked at his expression for a few seconds, suddenly feeling rather cold. 

"Crvendach?"

"Hey," he said, suddenly, although he still looked spooked, "hey, let's go to the balcony."

"There's a balcony?" Magnotris blinked rapidly as Crvendach took his hand and pulled them from the counter.

"Yeah, come on."

They elbowed their way through throes of people, towards a set of large doors on the east wall. Surprise and Cupid had long since blended into the other bar goers, lost somewhere in the crowds. Magnotris' mind was just clouded enough that he couldn't have recognized them if they'd passed.

Wide, bright windows sat on the doors, letting in some natural sunlight. Magnotris blinked rapidly; that was the first sun he'd seen in this Universe all day. Crvendach pushed the doors open easily, stepping onto a huge balcony on the side of some large skyscraper. An entire city of gear-clogged buildings spread out below them, whirring as industrial noise filled Magnotris' head. 

He clamped his hands over his ears for a second, but Crvendach's tugging brought his hands back down. They both trotted to the edge of the balcony, Crven leaning on the railing, Magnotris staring at the sun. It didn't burn, but it certainly was heading for the horizon, casting the entire city in hues of orange and pink. Night would fall soon.

A long silence stretched between them. 

Magnotris rubbed his arm. Had he said something wrong? Was Crvendach upset with him? He hadn't meant - for once he hadn't meant to snap at the other. He - he liked Crvendach. Something about the other being so genuine... it made Magnotris feel safe talking to him, even if they barely knew each other.

And he knew that sort of safety was dangerous, but there was no question if Crvendach was going to use it for nefarious purposes. It seemed so totally out of character for him, and Magnotris considered himself a good reader of others.

So they stood in silence, staring off into the city, until finally, in a low voice, Crvendach spoke up.

"I don't think anything happens for a reason," Crven continued, leaning forwards onto the railing. The small tumbler in his hand was empty. "It would be really really nice if everything worked out all the time and the most logical, rational stuff happened. But it like, never does. Like... people get emotional, and people get angry, and stuff changes."

Magnotris lifted his beer. He kept his gaze forwards, trained on the sun. Crven stared intently at his expression before shaking his head.

"Shit, I don't even know what I'm saying," Crven continued, wiping his mouth off. "But, like, I dunno man. Sometimes you just do stuff 'cause you feel it, right?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I do."

"And then - I don't know - people get mad. Cause it was about the feelings, not the logics. And I guess it's hard not to judge someone for - for being irrational. I think everyone wants there to be this, this great big plan behind everything, and everyone thinks they're some chessmaster, but we're all just - just dumbasses. Doing dumbass things, but they're good dumbass things a lot of the time."

Magnotris stared out into the sunset. The industry that laid below them was immense and spiralling, gears turning, steam leaking. It was all part of something. "Reality's ugly," he said, after the silence stretched on. "And it sucks."

"Yeah, but that's why we have to try."

"Try to do what?"

"Try to-" Crvendach took another drink, "try to make it a good reality. Everything's just hurtling towards like, bad stuff, but we can keep trying to make it good. And like... I dunno. I like, I look at Jubilee, and he's just so jaded. Like the way he looks at people, it's so jaded. It's miserable and it's sad, and I think he feels miserable and sad all the time. But I don't wanna be that way. There's gotta be something better, that we can reach for, right?"

How funny. Crven was reminding him of Morning Star. "Yeah, I think so."

There was a long silence.

"I don't mean to be dumping this on you," Crven admitted. "You're no therapist - at least I don't think. I'm probably not even making sense."

"It's okay."

"Is it?"

Magnotris shifted. "I mean, you said it yourself. We're trying to make reality better. So it is okay. I'm probably not making sense either but I do think about this sorta thing sometimes." he took a small drink. "One time, when I was younger, I remember I was real angry. At the whole world. I thought it was unfair that the big three would ever make a world where so much suffering went on. But, I mean, the legend of how reality was made was all about suffering, y'know? It started with being miserable and maybe it'll end in misery. Maybe we can't change those parts.

"But... but I think, at least, we can make that journey better. The destination might still suck, but maybe we'll make everyone happy on our way to that destination, and that's all we'll remember in the end, right? I guess... Morning Star really made me think that way. I mean, I had the beginnings of that philosophy worked out before meeting him. I wanted to help people, I knew that. I was tired of being a jerk. But he really just - solidified that. He cared so much about so many people and he really made it feel like we could make a difference, just by making people happy and promoting... I dunno, good vibes."

Crvendach was silent, staring out into the Universe as well.

Magnotris rubbed his forehead before continuing. "I've felt so fucking awful about myself lately. Like, I thought I'd be the one going out and changing everything. Making a real difference, atoning for all the shitty stuff I did before. And like, out of nowhere Morning Star ends up doing crazy shit, getting rewarded for it, and now he's off like... doing stuff I could only dream of. And I'm still sitting here, watching him prance off into the abyss."

"What do you mean? You totally made a real difference!" Crven turned to face him.

Magnotris mumbled under his breath and took another swig of beer.

"No, really, you found a cure for Corruption! Nobody's found that out yet. You ran over three hundred trials and you didn't even know if there'd be an answer at the end of that! That's fucking awesome, Magnotris!"

"And if I hadn't found a cure? Morning Star would've still gone off and tried to take over the Coalition and get Blessed by the fucking primordial gods," Magnotris muttered.

"So?" Crven countered, gesturing. "We aren't Timelines, we don't have alternate realities - and even if we did, we're not aware of them! The only reality that means anything is the one we're in right now. The only thing that matters is right now! Who cares if there was a chance you hadn't found a cure? You did, that's what matters!" 

"What did finding the fucking cure change?" he challenged, frustration bubbling to the surface.

"Those two Frags you helped! You totally altered the course of their lives and made it better! And every single Frag who's ever known someone Corrupted - you've changed their lives, forever! They had to live their entire lives thinking that they or their loved ones were forever sick, given up on ever fixing them, just having to watch their partner or best friend rot away into nothing and you just gave them hope."

"Does that hope matter? What if we can't replicate the cure?"

Crven stared incredulously. "You of all people are gonna ask what hope matters? After that whole spiel about it not mattering if - if it goes bad at the end? Isn't that what hope is?"

Magnotris shook his head. "Hope's wanting to change the outcome. And that's useless."

"Well, I disagree."

"Okay."

"I think hope is - hope is wanting things to get better. At all, in any way they can. Hope is passion and determination and trying to make a real difference to make the world a better place. And you gave those people a lot of hope, Magnotris. They were all out of hope but it's - it's not a extinct resource for them anymore."

Silence.

Magnotris stared at the sun. It lowered beyond the horizon, invisible to his eye, but it was still there, of course. It was just sunk out of view, obscured for the night until it'd rise up against his back the next day. It kept moving. It didn't care about hope, inevitability, dreams, struggle. It just did, and it just existed. So much of the world just moved, just existed, and didn't care about whether or not it'd watch its own death.

Inexplicably, tears welled up in his eyes.

"Magnotris?"

"Why are we even here," he spluttered. "Why are we even fucking alive? Why do we have to live and know everything that's going to go wrong? It's not fair, it's - it's so fucking cruel. Nothing else has to survive knowing that reality could die at any second, not the sun, not the stars, not the ground. And - and us Frags, we have the worst of it. We get to know every possible thing that could die, and watch Timelines die, and try and fail to stop it from dying. We can't even really do anything. A Mag Frag can put a Timeline back together. A Frag just has to watch as their home, their life's work, disintegrates because of fucking idiots. How can you say there's hope when we're the fucking embodiments of meaninglessness?"

Crvendach searched his face for a few seconds, then let his shoulders fall. "I don't know. I just want to think that there's something better. I - I ran away."

Magnotris paused, then turned towards the other. "Huh?"

"My - I ran away from my TImeline." Crven leaned against the railing again, holding up a hand to block Magnotris' view of his expression. 

"You-"

"It was just me and Rozales, we were the only Frags to it. And when the Coalition came knocking, asking if we wanted to join, I just left Rozales there. I was scared, I guess, I don't even know anymore. I've questioned what I did so many times. I just ignored my Timeline and I wanted to pretend like it didn't matter, because it mattered to me and I didn't want to admit that. Admitting that meant that I was scared of losing it. And - and what you said, about losing it, I knew that I could barely stop it from dying if something went wrong. So I tried to ignore it.

"And then I ended up an Overseer. For a stupid reason. They offered the position to me after I took down some Shards members single-handedly. It's such a stupid fucking reason. Anyone can do that. I mean, fuck, it's Archise's daily job." Crven let out a small, depreciating choke of a laugh. "Like, you got the position because you're talented at everything you touch, and you were some cool chessmaster setting up so much neat stuff and we wanted in on it. And I got the position because they just wanted more Overseers and I had a good excuse. And Rozales was still stuck in our Timeline while I pretended like I was doing anything meaningful."

He covered the top of his head with his hands. Magnotris stared quietly, eyes drifting over the other's hunched back and shaking shoulders. He wanted to say something, anything, but words would fail him, he knew. He wasn't eloquent like Morning Star.

"I missed Rozales so bad, so I - I had a request to put in to move him to the Sanctum. And he was so upset. He kept saying he wanted to go back, that the Coalition was my thing, that he didn't wanna do this, that the Timeline was his thing. And I ignored that and pretended it was okay because I didn't want him to be sad if we lost the Timeline or anything. I'm a horrible partner and I - I know I was. And I'm a horrible Overseer and I'm not good at anything."

"I- you're good at something, you have to be," Magnotris offered weakly.

"No, I don't. That's what I was talking about earlier," he admitted. "Everyone thinks they're some chessmaster, that they're some logical planner setting up this great big beautiful plan that'll save the world or something. I know, because I've met enough people. Jubilee, Sundae, fuck, probably you, even. Everyone wants to pretend they're, like, above those emotional reactions and illogical stuff. But we aren't. Or, at least, I'm not. And-" his voice was tiny, "and we don't have to be special, either."

Magnotris was silent.

"Everyone wants to think they're special, that they have some power or something that makes them unique and strong and important. But we don't. We're all just dumbasses hurtling forwards, doing dumbass things, pretending we know what we're doing 'cause we're all too scared to admit we don't know to each other. And I have to wake up every morning and look at people like Jubilee, people who are planning things, doing these great big world-saving things, and know the whole reason I'm sitting next to Jubilee is because I was too scared to admit I didn't want to get attached to something I could lose. Of course there's nothing special about me. I'm not Blessed, I'm not super strong, I'm not super smart. I'm just an average idiot who was in the right place at the right time."

Magnotris shifted uncomfortably. "I guess I don't... think about things like that a lot."

"Of course not," Crvendach muttered, "you're cool. You literally just came up with a cure for a previously-incurable disease and now you're telling me that you think everything is hopeless. I wish I could feel meaningless after doing the impossible."

"I... I don't know what to say. I'm sorry."

"I - you don't have to say anything. I didn't mean to open my dumb mouth o-or dump any of this on you, I s-swear." Crven opened his mouth to speak, but was abruptly cut off by a hiccuped sob.

"A- are you crying?"

"No," came a whimper.

Magnotris blinked rapidly as Crvendach burst into tears, face buried in his hands. He had scrunched up into a small ball, hair messed, legs pulled tightly together. His crying was quiet, but just audible enough for it to tug at Magnotris' chest, at the soft parts of him that he liked to pretend didn't exist. The glass tumbler lay on the ground, empty and shattered, but he hadn't noticed when it'd broke.

"Well," he began, awkwardly, over Crven's soft sobbing, "I'm not scared to admit I don't know."

There was no response.

Magnotris bit his lip, then put a hand on Crvendach's upper back. "And what I mean by that is... like... I don't really know. I just don't. I don't know the meaning of the world or what it means to be important or anything like that. I'm just... I'm just a dumbass doing his best to make it a better place. And... and tonight mattered to me, a lot."

Crven hadn't stopped crying, but he'd tilted to indicate that he was listening.

"I was feeling so fucked up earlier. Like my entire life didn't matter, because I was comparing myself to Morning Star all the time. Like, maybe I'm cool, but he'd gone off and done something truly incredible, gotten Blessed by Pyatiugolnik. He's out there changing the world and I just felt so... useless next to him. And I guess that's... how you feel all of the time."

The other wiped at his eyes, voice still choked, "Y-yeah."

Magnotris breathed in slowly. Crvendach stared at the floor for a few more minutes before lifting his head to hold Magnotris' gaze steadily. Neither spoke for a long seconds, faint industrial noise permeating from the world around them.

"...Why did you invite me out on this trip?" Magnotris exhaled.

"I-" Crven glanced aside, blushing slightly, "I just - I thought you were cool and that you didn't - I mean, you're pretty reclusive so I didn't think you had anything to do after the presentation, and you always seemed... uh, lonely I guess?"

Magnotris stared for a long few seconds.

Crvendach hid his face again. "I'm - I'm sor-"

"No," he interrupted, squeezing the other's shoulder. "No, you're right. I am lonely."

Crven peeped at him from between his fingers.

"I have, like, nothing going on outside of Morning Star. Before I met him, I was just powered by fucking spite, y'know? Like that's what I was running on. And then I ran on him. And... and now I don't have anything to run on anymore, and I don't know what to do with myself." Magnotris pulled Crvendach closer. "But... but I... this meant a lot to me. More than I knew when you invited me, I guess."

Crvendach sniffled out, "Really?"

"Yeah. Like, yeah, I'm - I'm reclusive and paranoid. I always, like, think about the bad parts of people. I expect everyone to be working against me. I'm always on edge." Magnotris glanced at his beer bottle before tossing it over the balcony. "But all night you've just been nice to me. None of my paranoia about you was founded. You were just nice. You... you cared, you opened up to me even though you didn't have to. There's - something really honest about you, Crven."

Silence, but Crvendach didn't pull away. Magnotris shifted to let the other's head rest against his chest.

"And I guess," he continued, "that meant a lot to me. Just feeling genuine. You didn't care who I was, you didn't treat me any different than you did the others. You just wanted to hang out with me... because I was me. And you didn't have any ulterior motives or bad - you were just... nice and genuine. And I - I think we'd be - good friends. And I want to be friends."

Crven shifted in Magnotris' arm, slung around his shoulder, but then grinned up at him. "I think I'd like being friends, too."

Magnotris smiled down at him, feeling something like comfort wash over all of his body. "Yeah. Yeah, me too."

"Hey," came a third voice. They turned around. Cupid glanced between the two, but didn't look remotely surprised or confused. "You guys wanna hit up the next Timeline, or are we gonna call this a night?"

"Oh!" Crven stood up. "Oh, I guess it's not really Timeline-hopping if we only went to one, huh?"

"Yeah, but you heard about CC, and well...."

"I'm fine with going home," Magnotris replied, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Getting pretty tired anyways."

Cupid shrugged, "Yeah, me too. I have an early morning."

"We can head home then!" Crven smiled, "where's Surprise?"

"He's off screwing someone tonight, I already found him and asked. Let's just bail."

Crven nodded, darting forwards to wrap up Cupid in a hug. The other Overseer blinked rapidly before sliding his arms around the other. 

"I'll see you tomorrow, then, Cupid!" Crven chirped, squeezing before letting go. 

"Yeah," Cupid mumbled, although he was smiling, "cya."

Crvendach stepped back as Cupid teleported. He turned on his heel to face Magnotris, a massive grin on his face. Magnotris blinked twice before his brain caught up. Oh no. Oh no.

He tried to backpedal in time, but Crvendach crashed into him in a tight, warm hug. Magnotris tensed at first, feeling the other's body pressed up against him, but there was a certain pleasantness wrapped up in the gesture. His shoulders fell as he hugged Crven back, slowly, resting his chin on top of Crvendach's head. They stood there for a bit too long, sitting in warmth and comfort, listening to each other breathing.

"Thanks for coming out tonight, Magnotris," Crven said, although his voice was muffled by Magnotris' chest.

"Thanks for... inviting me."

Crvendach finally pulled away. Magnotris let his hands sit on the other's arms until he pulled back too far to keep a grip on. They stood there until Crven smiled and Magnotris smiled back.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" Crven offered.

"Y-yeah," Magnotris perked up, letting a more confident smile take over his face. "Yeah. I'd like that."

And with that, he teleported.