[FRAG] Keep A Secret

"And my schedule is cleared, yes?"

Quota flipped through a few more sets of papers before shooting Jubilee a smile. "Seems like it. Dunno if a disaster might pop up and ruin that, though."

"Let's not tempt fate," he muttered gruffly. "If need be, you can call me. But go through Archise or Cupid first. I'll be busy."

"How long will you be? Should I write it down in your schedule?"

Jubilee's eyes flicked to the timetable on the counter. He'd never understood how Quota kept such an orderly list of everyone, considering the issues with how time worked outside of the 'lines. It was scattered with small writing in pen and some sticky notes that he couldn't read from this angle.

"A while, and do not write it down."

His assistant raised an eyebrow, but Jubilee had already spun on his heel and headed for the Sanctum's entrance. His dress swished around his ankles as he paced, head held high and arms linked behind his back. It was rude of him to leave Quota hanging, granted, but he didn't want to waste more time settling a spreadsheet. 

Thankfully, there was no one around to bother him. The Sanctum was usually quiet around this time of day, right before the sun settled fully into dusk, prior to the nightlife crawling from their homes and making a racket. It wasn't as if they were partiers or intentionally malicious - some people just preferred the moon, and happened to be noisy about it. Jubilee had tried for years to shut them up, but they only listened to him for so long.

He adjusted his jacket collar as the doors of the Sanctum opened and he stepped out. Tangent, still at the desk, glanced at his arrival and gave a polite nod. Jubilee ignored him as he paced down the hallway. The carpet was soft and clean, although felt strange after the natural floorings of the Sanctum. 

When he was out of sight of everyone, Jubilee teleported. 

The first thing that hit him was the heat. He slowly opened his eyes to an expanse of lavafields, bubbling and twisting. Dully, Jubilee glanced down. He stood on a small outcropping of dirt, only large enough to fit a small group of Fragments at best. It connected to some sort of dirt-bridge to a mansion a few yards away. The decor was new. The mansion was not.

Jubilee crouched and experimentally reached out to touch the lava. It sizzled when his hand met it, and he drew it back, staring at the new burn scars. Not an illusion, then. Alright. Had this been added since the attack, or before then? He hadn't visited in too long.

Regardless of the lava, Jubilee stood, pacing towards the mansion. He needed to stop distracting himself with aimless thoughts. Go in, settle the debt, and leave. There was plenty of night and plenty of work he needed to get through.

The atmosphere became more and more choked the closer he came to the building. Each step took slightly more effort than the last as the lack of Magninium in the air seeped into his body, his own magic leaking out to compensate. It was making his lungs sting and his headache throb, but Rendgen's Blessing held off the worst of it. His pace was still steady by the time he pushed open the great doors. 

The gold-filled air blasted him as soon as they swung open, a dry, harsh strike right into his heart. Jubilee closed his eyes for a second as he teetered slightly, but regained his balance and set his shoulders. No weakness. He'd come alone. He needed to keep himself on his toes.

The hallway was unlit, although the light from outside illuminated some of the tiled floor. He could see bits and pieces of gold glittering in the low light, scattered all over the floor. Had it always been this messy?

"Sterling?" he called, lingering in the doorframe. He wasn't scared. Probably. Just cautious. "Are you home?"

No response. Jubilee glanced around. He didn't exactly want to stride into a pit of gold completely alone, with nobody aware of where he had gone, but something about the building drew him in. He took a few steps forward, silently berating himself for not at least telling Profound or Archise. Then again, he'd wanted to come alone, and they'd surely have dragged themselves along....

Jubilee aimlessly stopped in the centre of the hallway, careful to avoid the veins of gold on the floor. He glanced around again. The light didn't extend into the furthest parts of the mansion, and it was getting harder to breathe the more he walked in. He didn't want to know exactly how much gold had been hoarded here. The mere thought was making him dizzy.

The doors creaked shut behind him.

He glanced over his shoulder at them before crossing his arms. "Really? I'm not here to play childish games."

"They aren't childish games," came the hissed reply, and the lights in the mansion flicked on, lit by some sort of warped gold-magic.

Jubilee turned himself around. Sterling stood at the doors, one hand on the wood, the other post-snap. The two stared off for a few seconds, Jubilee keeping his expression as neutral as possible. The intimidation worked, but Sterling didn't need to know that.

"You better have a good reason for coming here," he hissed, "of all people."

"I do, in fact."

Sterling slipped from the door, striding forwards. He was, of course, unaffected by the desaturated atmosphere. If anything, he held his head higher here. "Spit it out, then. You can't punish me for what I did."

"I'm not trying to. Nobody is being 'punished'."

"Then why are you here?"

Jubilee stared into his eyes. Sterling was just slightly taller than him, and he didn't exactly like having to tilt his chin up to meet the other's gaze. "To make amends."

Sterling's expression didn't change. "Oh?"

"Indeed." Jubilee let his head droop. "Many things happened yesterday, and more are surely to come. I wanted to speak with you in private and... apologize for my previous actions."

"Oh, so you're just doing this because you want to get on Morning Star's good side?"

"No. If I was, I would have brought him with me. For all I know, you could turn around and tell him that I showed up and beat your face in, and I cannot stop you. But last night, I realized that I had been callous and cruel to you. I don't ask for your forgiveness, but I did want to extend the olive branch, so to speak."

Silence. Sterling narrowed his eyes, briefly. Jubilee tilted his head up again, meeting the others' eyes. They were bright yellow, glittering, the color of pure gold. He'd never been sure if that was because of Sterling's makeup, or because that would've been what his magic was. 

"It's a good thing you aren't asking me to forgive you," he finally said, "because I don't plan to."

"That is your choice, and I respect it," Jubilee toned. 

Sterling put a hand on his hip. "Is anything changing? Am I still stuck here by your laws? You gonna have your officers chase me down if they see me in another Timeline?"

Jubilee glanced to the side. "That's not my sole choice to make. The decision would have to be made among the Overseers. But I will speak to them about it."

"Well, it's quite rude to storm into my house, act like you're sorry, but then not take ANY action to fix anything you did." 

"I came alone. I did not tell anyone I would be coming - I could not have set up anything prior."

"Why the fuck would you do that?"

Jubilee's hands curled and dug into his elbows, still linked behind his back. "I hoped it would make this more personal, and seem less like a political obligation."

Sterling's eyes were narrowed, and his mouth drawn back in a near-snarl. The hatred and frustration that had festered for years was painfully evident, and it was boring into Jubilee's skull. Regret formed in the back of his throat. He almost felt nauseous, but centuries of holding his emotions back left his face plainly impassive. This had not gone as he hoped - an understatement, really.

"Do you even remember what you said to me? The things you and your Overseers called me, chatted about like I wasn't there and listening?"

"Yes."

"And you think this makes up for it?"

"No. That isn't what I meant to imply at all."

Sterling grabbed his shoulder. Jubilee attempted to stumble back, but the other's grip was tight, "Somehow, I doubt that. I think you wanted to show up here and fucking pretend like it's all cake and candy, and walk away feeling good about yourself. I don't think you regret anything at all."

"I do!" Jubilee barked right back, grabbing Sterling's wrist, "I'm not a faceless monster! I felt guilty and I didn't say anything about it because of my own pride! But I swallowed that now and I just wanted to apologize! I fully expected you to kick me out or hurt me!"

"Oh, I'll hurt you 'cause I'm made of gold, huh? And that's all that gold does, right? Hurt you stupid little Magninium worms!" his hand curled around Jubilee's neck and hefted him up, pinning the other against the wall.

Jubilee kicked at him, but Sterling didn't even flinch when his foot dug into his stomach, "No! Because I figured you would want some sort of revenge! I promise you, I did not mean for this to offend you in any way! And for the stars' sake, you spent most of yesterday attempting to kill me - MY apologies for assuming that anger remained!"

"Morning Star spent most of yesterday trying to kill you! And you offered him an Overseer position! But I didn't get offered jack SHIT!"

"He has a Blessing! I am required to by the decisions set forth by-"

"-Shut your stupid fucking MOUTH!" 

Sterling's hand shot into Jubilee's chest, lit with glowing and sparking golden magic. Jubilee's eyes widened as abrupt agony seared through every inch of his body and blood choked up from his throat, seeping out of his mouth. He kicked feebly, but there was no strength in his limbs as Sterling's magic twisted and curled around a chunk of Jubilee's.

The Rendgen magic blitzed into defense, stabbing into the gold. Sterling screeched, ripping his hand back and stumbling backwards. Jubilee collapsed onto his hands and knees, coughing violently as his magic shuddered in his chest.

He looked up, blearily, vision blurry. Sterling stared at his bloody hand, at the clump of something yellow that he was holding. Something bright and shining, shimmering in the light.

Magic. Magninium. Jubilee's.

Starsdamnit. He was so stupid for coming alone.

Jubilee coughed again, hacking up blood onto the tiles. The pain hadn't subsided. The gold had burnt and cauterized the wound, and none of his magic could reach it to start healing. The air itself was touching his core, and the lack of Magninium was making his migraine deepen. Everything hurt. Nothing was okay.

"Oh, shit," he heard, barely. He couldn't look up, but he heard footsteps of some sort. Then a hand slid around his shoulder, and his body was dragged.

Jubilee was tossed onto the dirt in front of Sterling's mansion in a pile, shirt caked in blood and body shaking in pain still. The other stared down at him for a few seconds, other hand still gripping the magic he'd stolen.

"Don't come back," Sterling said, loftily, and slammed the door.

Jubilee slowly pulled himself to his feet. Everything hurt, but he hadn't let that stop him before. Slowly, he lifted his head. How long had he wasted his time here? Hopefully nighttime hadn't fallen in the Sanctum.

He attempted to take a step, and his body buckled again. Fucking hell. He couldn't call someone here to help him. Sterling would most likely become agitated, and the last thing he wanted was another gaping gold wound in his body.

"Pull yourself together," he hissed to himself, muzzle an inch from the dirt, "you faced Rendgen and walked away just fine. You can deal with some gold."

Jubilee pushed against the ground, settling onto his knees before slowly unbending them to stand again. He couldn't just stride into the Sanctum looking like this. Jubilee glanced down, slowly, at the torn hole in his clothes. He wiped the blood off his face while adjusting his jacket closed. It wasn't perfect, but it would hold until he got back.

There were emotions welling in him. He wanted to ignore them, compartmentalize them for later, but they lingered - guilt, embarrassment, fear. He wanted to be frustrated. He didn't feel like he deserved to walk away maimed. But here he was, and there was nothing he could do to change it. 

Except probably not visit Sterling again.

Teleporting hurt. His head throbbed like someone was beating his skull when he leaned on the counter, Tangent staring back at him with wide eyes. 

"Please let me in," he managed. 

The doors opened without ceremony, and Jubilee awkwardly stumbled in. It was better, here, with plenty of Magninium in the air, but it wouldn't be long before the gold started to sting, and then he'd pay. All he had to do was make it to his room and wipe out until the worst part was over, and then he could pick out the tiny nuggets of gold out of his chest and finally heal.

"Jubilee!"

Damnit. 

Hands grabbed him, pulled him up to his full height. He hadn't even realized he'd been slouching. It took a few more blinks before his brain registered Profound's face. Ah, not the worst savior, then.

"What happened? You look like a wreck!" huh, that was the most emotion he'd heard Profound muster in years. Also, damnit again, he hadn't fixed himself up at all. 

He swayed for a second. "Can we go... inside and talk?"

Profound wrapped his arms around him in a near-hug, teleporting. He pushed Jubilee into a chair before the latter realized that they were in his study, not Jubilee's bedroom. Wow. Rude.

Profound scanned the rafters briefly before turning back to Jubilee, crouching, "Okay, okay, what happened? Are you okay? Why-"

"I'm fine," he slurred, reaching up to pry apart his jacket. Profound's eyes widened at the hole. "Er... will be fine... soon."

"What the fuck happened?"

"I went to go talk to Sterling... I wanted to... apologize."

"And he did that?" 

Jubilee let his head rest on the back of the recliner. His neck hurt. "We... we argued before he did that, so... yeah...."

Maybe Profound had been more shaken up about everything than he thought. He seemed so tense. Emotive? It was so strange, unfamiliar. Ugh, his brain wasn't working right.

"Stay still. We'll get you fixed up. I'll get - I'll get Cupid, alright?"

"Yeahhhh, sure," Jubilee mumbled.