[FRAG] Grieve in Blood

"I bet getting you a replacement hourglass would cheer you up!"

Morning Star dully glanced up at Magnotris. He'd been trying to pay attention to the other's rant about the medicine, but the incident with his siblings was still a bit too fresh. Which, honestly, was somewhat concerning. He could normally brush them off like it was nothing... but for some reason it was like glue this time. All he'd been able to do after he'd stopped crying was sit in a chair in the lab and feel sorry for himself.

He hated it. He hated moping.

Magnotris smiled at him, hands clasped together. He was trying so hard to make Morning Star smile. It almost made him sick. He didn't deserve so much time and energy wasted on him.

"Opalescent didn't have mine?" he croaked out, voice cracking slightly. His throat was still sore from crying.

"Not that we know of... it wasn't on them when I arrested them and their house hasn't been searched yet." Magnotris gave a sympathetic smile. "Besides, wouldn't you want a new one, anyways? It would have better memories in it!"

Morning Star stared at his hands. He would, in fact, like another hourglass. "I'm not sure if it'd be worth the effort."

Magnotris scooted forward, placing both hands on his shoulder. "Morrrrninnngggg Staaaarrrrr don't talk about yourself that way."

"I meant getting the ho-"

"-I know. But you mean it about yourself, too. If I had said 'I want an hourglass, let's go get one' you would've come along." Magnotris placed a finger over Morning Star's mouth when he opened it to protest. "So hush. Let's go get you a new one, and I'll do all the talking and negotiating, okay?"

Morning Star stared at Magnotris, into his pretty, gorgeous eyes. There was such care and worry in them. "Okay," he mumbled, blinking, trying not to let fresh tears mess his face. "Where are we going to get the gold?"

"Well...." Magnotris' hands dropped from Morning Star as he turned away, striding over to a set of cabinets in the far end of the lab. "I've been keeping a little bit around here."

Morning Star sat up. "What? This close to the patients-?"

"They were fine, it was in a proper container! You didn't feel anything, did you?"

Silence. He, in fact, had not felt any effects of gold in the room. Usually being in the presence of the cursed metal induced vomiting, migraines, violent shaking, and seizures. Absolutely none of those had ever been an issue in the laboratory.

Magnotris dug through several cabinets before procuring a small, black box. Ah, that made sense. Wrap the damned thing in talc and have it be over with. That box had to be thick, though; especially if it had been keeping out the gold's effects for so long. Magnotris offered it to Morning Star, but he scooted away and held up a hand.

The last thing he wanted to do was come into possession of the one thing that could kill him.

Magnotris smiled, softly, tucking the box under an arm and offering his other hand to Morning Star. He stared for a second before accepting it and standing on wobbly feet. Exhaustion still bit at his ankles, a nasty reminder of how sour the entire day had been. But Magnotris was right. Maybe this'd be good for him?

He... he needed to trust Magnotris more.

"Remember," his voice whispered in Morning Star's ear, gently, "I'll do all the talking. Don't stress about a thing, okay?"

"I'll try not to." he squeezed Magnotris' hand, and closed his eyes.

They teleported.

Morning Star opened his eyes again. They stood on the lawn of Sterling's mansion, which had been redecorated since the last time he'd been here: the nice flower fields that had wowed Morning Star so much were now rolling pits of lava. 

He flinched away from them, clinging to Magnotris desperately. The other pulled him closer, wrapping a wing around protectively. Lava, it had to be lava. Morning Star buried his face in Magnotris' shoulder, legs shaking slightly. Why lava? Why?

"It's okay," Magnotris whispered, reaching an arm down to scoop up Morning Star. He blinked as he was hefted off the ground, Magnotris' arm supporting him by the rear. When'd he get so strong? "I've got you, shh. Don't worry."

Morning Star buried his face back into the other's shoulder. Whatever. It wasn't important to worry about right now. Just focus on Magnotris' shirt, the way his breathing moved his shoulders and chest, the soft up-and-down of every footstep. Focus on that. Tangible, good. Not the lava. Focus on Magnotris. Magnotris, Magnotris, Magnotris.

The doors creaked open, startling Morning Star into glancing up again. The house was dark and empty. The main doors led into an unlit hallway that extended without fanfare until it opened up into a far larger room. Faintly, they could both see something yellow and bright in the far room.

Morning Star could feel his boyfriend's legs nearly give out. Magnotris caught himself in time, took a steeled breath, and marched in.

"Magnotris," he whispered, squirming even as the other pulled him closer. "This was a bad idea, let's go home."

"We are going to get you a new hourglass."

"Sterling probably hates us. Or maybe he'll eat us," Morning Star whimpered into his shoulder. "Let's go home, please, this was stupid. I don't need an hourglass."

Magnotris tilted his head to peck Morning Star's cheek. "We'll be fine. Just let me do the talking."

Light from the far room cast their faces in a yellowish glow. As they became closer, detail in the piles became more obvious and individual pieces of gold were able to be picked out. They were massive, incredible mountains of gold: coins, nuggets, bars, Sterling did not discriminate. The air itself was choked, so low in Magninium content that it was difficult to breathe. The gold had, of course, eaten it all.

"I can SMELL you!" the shrill voice announced, from somewhere within the mansion. 

Magnotris stopped in his tracks, pulling Morning Star closer. He glanced warily around, but Morning Star didn't look up. He didn't want to see, didn't want to be here. Focus on the smell of his boyfriend. That was much better. Warm, soft, home.

Gold clanged as Sterling surfaced, poking his head out of a pile of the poison. He gasped for air briefly before whipping around to glare at the duo, expression contorted in a scowl. With momentous effort, he pulled himself free of the gold, hefting his body out of it with his arms. A second, nearly-useless pair dangled underneath the first, blackened and covered in open wounds. They leaked molten gold onto the pile, which cooled with a sizzle.

"Hello, sir," Magnotris spoke, evenly, staring without fear. Morning Star didn't know how he managed.

Sterling settled himself before sneering at him. "Oh, another precious little Fragment. Magninium, of course. What do you want?" 

"I humbly request an hourglass, sir."

"An hourglass... well, you know the rules." Sterling gestured at his own chest, wiping off some of the gold that had accumulated on his shirt. "You better have something for me. I don't make them for shits and giggles. No matter what your stupid... overlookers or whatever think."

"I have brought you something."

A pause. "You're not giving me that, are you?" Sterling recoiled, eyes narrowed at Morning Star. Several gold coins clinked as they bounced off the pile. "It has a Blessing. I don't want one of you horrible Magninium-based creatures with even more of that stupid chemical than the rest of you."

Magnotris gently put Morning Star down, but sidestepped half-in-front of him. "No, I brought something else." he procured the box from under his arm, displaying it to Sterling.

His expression soured further. "Really?"

Magnotris reached forwards, prying open the lid. As soon as it cracked open, his arms trembled slightly. Morning Star would've tried to support him or hold his elbows, but the amount of gold in the room was nearly making his knees buckle. It was all he could do to hold onto Magnotris in a hug and try not to fall over.

"Oooooh." Sterling smiled, although it was honestly more of a smirk to Morning Star. "Clever boy, clever boy. That looks pure. Is it pure?"

"I didn't check." Magnotris' voice was hoarse.

"Ah, well. Dump it out onto the floor. I'll add it to the collection later."

Magnotris did as promised. A sizeable, misshapen gold nugget fell onto the immaculate floor, clattering. Sterling lifted a hand dripping with gold, and the nugget glittered, pulled towards the rest of the piles through some horrible warped magic. 

"What is it that you wanted? An hourglass?"

"Yes, please."

Sterling muttered something, disappearing behind a pile of coins and rummaging around. Morning Star squeezed his eyes shut, pushing his face further into Magnotris' shoulder. It earned him some comforting strokes on the back of his head, a warm, lovely thing in a sea of immaculate fear and danger.

"Aha!" Sterling resurfaced, clutching an hourglass by its chain. "Here, you little magicsacks."

It was tossed, and Magnotris reached forward, catching it with both hands. 

"Next time, bring more gold. You only got away with it because nobody's brought me any in a while." Sterling pointed accusingly at them. "Understand?"

"Of course, sir," Magnotris spoke, smiling, even though it was strained.

There was an awkward pause. Sterling stared at Morning Star, eyes boring in. He could feel the intensity of the other's glare. 

Magnotris coughed, awkwardly. "Sir?"

"That one." Sterling pointed at Morning Star. "Yes, you. Look at me!"

Morning Star pushed his face in for a second longer before glancing up, slowly.

"I gave you an hourglass before, didn't I?"

"Y-yes."

"What happened to it?"

Morning Star lowered his gaze meekly. "It was stolen."

Sterling's face contorted in disgust. "Of course a Magninium would lose such a precious object. Of course! Awful, useless creatures... no respect at all. Fucking shoo, get your Magninium OUT of my house!"

Morning Star was scooped, bridal-style, and hauled out as quickly as Magnotris could powerwalk. As soon as they were out of the protective wards, Magnotris teleported them back into the laboratory. He let out a grand sigh, gently dropping Morning Star into a chair and handing over the hourglass.

It took several blinks before Morning Star's mind registered the fact that he was no longer surrounded by magic-sucking, disgusting gold. He breathed in, slowly, feeling the air fill his lungs, no longer poison. 

"That was terrifying," he whispered, voice cracking.

Magnotris' voice was comforting. "There's not going to be anyone else like him."

"Why else do you think he collects so much gold?" Morning Star's voice was little more than a whimper. "You know he's just trying to make another... whatever he is."

"He was a fluke. A random shot in the dark. He'll never gather enough gold in one place to make another sentient being out of it, no matter if he wants to or not."

Silence from Morning Star. Then, quietly: "Maybe. But it sounds so lonely."

"You aren't seriously going to argue that Sterling has the right to create more sentient gold-based beings, are you?" Magnotris kept his tone amused and affectionate.

Morning Star hung his head as his cheeks twinged pink. That wasn't what he intended, but he knew it did sort of come across that way. It just seemed really lonely, to be one of the only things in existence, and to be a creature of antithesis to the rest of the world, at that.

It took a few seconds before he realized Magnotris was petting his cheek affectionately. 

He looked up. Magnotris' expression dripped nothing but affection, even though he'd gone through hell and back just a second ago. His thumb rubbed over Morning Star's cheek, brushing through his fur the wrong way and then petting it back into place. Eventually, it dropped back to Magnotris' side, and Morning Star looked down to the hourglass.

He turned it over and over in his hands. It was different from his original: the sand was black and fine, and the chain was made out of a greenish silver instead of gold. But there was something deeply comforting about it. 

"There." Magnotris slumped into his office chair, smiling softly at Morning Star. He could see the exhaustion in the other's shaking ankles. "Now you're going to fill that up with good memories, yeah?"

Morning Star stared at it. This was a present. A gift, from Magnotris. He'd gone through immense effort for it. Who could say what that gold was actually being saved for? How could one quantify Magnotris protecting Morning Star from one of his phobias? How to thank him for dealing with Sterling so flawlessly and perfectly?

"Morning Star?"

He stood, striding over to Magnotris as he slipped the hourglass around his neck. The other blinked rapidly as Morning Star leaned down, putting both hands on Magnotris' shoulders as he pulled the other into a soft kiss.

Magnotris twitched before grabbing Morning Star's head roughly, fingers lost in his hair as he greedily drew the other in closer. Morning Star let him, enjoying the sensation of his boyfriend's passion. Magnotris loved him. Magnotris loved him, loved him, loved him. It was exhilarating. And this was the best way to share it.

He slowly pulled away, even though Magnotris whined and clung for a second longer before letting go. His beautiful, bright, multicolored eyes were focused on Morning Star, staring, waiting.

"There's the first good memory," Morning Star whispered, smiling.