[FRAG] Grieve in Blood

There was a knock on the wall next to the door. Magnotris shifted and turned, glancing back. Morning Star stood in the entranceway, one hand on the wall, the other shoved deep into his pockets. With a smile, Magnotris gestured for him to come in.

"Hey," he offered, pulling out a chair for Morning Star.

The other sat, nervously shooting a smile. He didn't free his hands. "Hi. How's it going?"

Magnotris half-glanced to his desk, littered in papers and half-empty pens. "It's been alright. The two Fragments - they're making a pretty steady recovery. Not quite good enough to show the work to the Overseers yet, but - they're getting there. We can probably start drafting a presentation later this week and probably submit an audience request at the end of the week." he turned back to Morning Star. "How's work?"

"Uh, it's been okayish." Morning Star stared at the floor. "Nothing particularly exc- oh, that's a lie."

Magnotris frowned slightly, reaching out to put a hand on the other's shoulder.

"Magnotris, do you know a Fragment named - uh, Cy?"

Morning Star glanced up, expression melting nothing but worry and anxiety. He was greeted by Magnotris slowly blinking, eyes slightly widened.

"Why?" came the too-quick demand.

Morning Star pulled his hand out of his pocket, offering a small, platinum coin to Magnotris. "He came into my office yesterday to ask me things, and - he gave me this. I don't know what it is but I keep - finding it in my hands. Ravine said I was just getting compulsions but you know I don't! I'm not compulsive!"

His voice died down. Magnotris hadn't moved his eyes from the coin, blinking slowly, but keeping his gaze ever-present on it. Almost reverently, he reached forwards, taking the small metal into his hand and lifting it up to the light. Neither spoke, staring together at the coin, which glinted in the fluorescent brightness. 

"You said Cy gave this to you?" he asked, voice quiet, subdued.

"Y-yeah. Do you know him?" hope poured from Morning Star's tone.

Magnotris pocketed the coin. "I do. What else did he say or do?"

"Uh... he was reporting a potential collapse... corruption-related. He said he subdued the Fragment, and he was right - when me and a team got there - oh! And Arco Iris came too, but when we got there, the Fragment was in some sort of like. Trap? Some weird mechanism. They were mostly unconscious and didn't resist capture, and we took them in to Rescue and Recover. They're there now, but I don't know under whose care."

Magnotris leaned back in his chair, staring at his desk once more. Morning Star leaned forward, hands clasped in his lap, slightly tensed. He knew better than to interrupt Magnotris when the other was deep in concentration, but there was something deeply unnerving about his posture and expression. It was unsettling. Unfamiliar.

"Magnotris?" he spoke up.

"Bastard son of a bitch," Magnotris muttered under his breath, standing. "Do you know where he went?"

"Cy? Er, no idea. He didn't stick around after handing over the coin."

Magnotris opened a drawer and procured his keycard. He slipped the lanyard over his neck. "How much have you been touching the coin?"

"Um... not a lot, I don't think. Why?"

"Good. Because if you'd been touching it constantly we'd have to take you in to Ixtab again."

Morning Star slowly stood. "Why?" he pressed again, even as Magnotris slid an arm around his shoulders.

He didn't actually know. He'd apparently been flipping it without noticing. There was no real way to tell how much he'd actually had his hands on it... and he'd even started walking around with his hands in his pockets, around the coin, just to stop himself from flipping the coin randomly. This was all starting to make his stomach churn.

"I'll tell you on the way to the Junkyard. We've got to get rid of this first, though."

"Magnotris?"

The other paused, glancing to Morning Star. 

His voice cracked. "Do you know Cy?"

Magnotris glanced away. "Like I said. I'll tell you when we get there."

"That's not-"

Magnotris teleported them.

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

In complete and utter silence, Magnotris swiped his keycard. Morning Star lingered near the gates, staring into the piles of junk and garbage. They weren't really going to throw the coin away, right? Sure, it was weird and - he'd been flipping it, but like Ravine said, it wasn't enchanted. It wasn't evil or anything, right?

The doors beeped and cracked open. He wordlessly opened them, Magnotris gliding past calmly. The other fished the coin out of his pocket, glancing at it for a second before heading deeper into the Junkyard.

Morning Star followed at a distance. Magnotris had promised to tell him things, but the other wasn't speaking. Maybe once they threw away the coin... but he really didn't want to do that. The coin wasn't all that bad, right? It wasn't hurting anyone or anything. He was just... stressed out, yeah, and compulsively developed a tic. That was normal. He just needed to destress.

Magnotris paused in front of a particularly large pile of garbage, most of it warped and twisted metal. Morning Star trotted up to his side, hugging himself quietly. The coin sat in Magnotris' hand, the sunlight glinting off of it.

They didn't need to throw it away....

Magnotris drew his hand back, clearly intending to throw the coin into the pile. It'd probably bounce off and land somewhere Morning Star couldn't even see. He could spend weeks scouring the Junkyard, even with Sterling's help, and he'd never find the coin again.

Anxiety welled in his throat.

Magnotris yelped as Morning Star's hand clamped around his arm, tightly, squeezing almost painfully. His head whipped around to stare at Morning Star fearfully as the other leaned closer, nearly stumbling as he tried to reach for the coin. Magnotris tugged himself away, holding it just barely out of Morning Star's reach.

"What are you doing!?"

His fingers tightened around Magnotris' wrist. "We don't have to throw it into the Junkyard! We can just - keep it, in my office or something!" his voice cracked desperately as he stared up at Magnotris, eyes wide and tearing up.

"I- stars-fucking damnit Morning Star, how many times have you touched the coin?!" Magnotris wrenched his arm away, but his tightly-gritted teeth and wide eyes gave away his panic.

Morning Star clasped his hands together pleadingly, "Not a lot, I swear! Just a little! Please give me the coin back!"

"Fucking -" Magnotris took off running.

Morning Star blinked. Before his mind even processed what had happened, his legs were already moving, following after Magnotris desperately. The other bobbed and weaved between several piles, but Morning Star followed close enough that he could always at least see the tip of Magnotris' tail.

"Wait!" he called pleadingly, "Please stop, Magnotris!"

The other didn't respond, hand lighting with magic. He fired off a bolt into a stack of metal nearby, which groaned. A large steel bar fell over the path and Morning Star skidded to a halt, even though his heartbeat pounded in his chest.

No! The coin!

He vaulted over the bar, but the time lost was already gone: Magnotris was no longer in sight. He glanced around wildly, hands shaking slightly. Where had he gone? He was surely throwing it away, now, and it'd never-

"Looking for this?"

Morning Star glanced up. Cy grinned down at him, perched on top of a precarious stack of ceramics. Between two fingers lay a platinum coin.

Morning Star's expression broke out into relief. "Yes!" he reached up for it pleadingly.

Cy hopped down, striding up to Morning Star. The other's hands twitched, eyes wide, staring at the coin. Cy pressed it, slowly, into his hands, grinning as he closed Morning Star's fingers around it. 

"Don't tell Magnotris about this one, alright?" his voice was smooth as butter.

"Okay," Morning Star whispered, staring reverently at his hands.

Magic blasted into both of their skulls.

Morning Star screeched, hitting the ground and scrambling back. It stung and burnt like no pain he'd felt before; it was intrinsically alien and unfamiliar. He clutched his head as his ears rang loudly, the coin temporarily forgotten. Cy hadn't fared much better, curling up as his face bled profusely. That... that wasn't normal magic-

-Sterling stomped down hard, on a patch of dirt between the two. Cy let out an agonized screech in response. Morning Star blinked as his vision spun and slowly refocused. In silence, he watched as Sterling lifted his foot in order to crouch down and pluck the coin from the ground he'd been crushing. 

The... the coin. Oh god, no-

Sterling stood up straight and vaulted the coin as hard as he could. Morning Star scrambled to his hands and knees, but by the time he woozily managed to stand, the coin was long gone. He swayed in place, staring off into the distance briefly, eyes clouded. 

Hands wrapped around him. Familiar hands. He blinked and glanced down. Sterling was hugging him and talking. Morning Star reached up to rub his ears for a second.

"-I'm sorry, I just panicked and I thought you were being hurt so I just - fired aimlessly," the other blabbered, holding Morning Star tightly, "I kept coming to the Junkyard without you after I copied the keycard because I - oh, Morning Star, are you okay?"

"...Maybe?" he rubbed his forehead. Some blood came away.

Sterling winced, reaching tenderly before stopping himself from touching the open wound. "Oh, I shouldn't have shot at you so wildly, I know what my - magic does, I'm sorry!"

"No, it's... you're okay," Morning Star mumbled quietly, blinking slowly. His mind felt significantly less foggy. What had he been doing here, anyway-

Cy groaned loudly as he rolled to his knees, holding his stomach. Both Sterling and Morning Star's heads snapped towards him, and Sterling snarled, pushing Morning Star further away from the red Fragment. Cy didn't react, blood seeping from several cuts on his face and mouth. Apparently he'd taken the brunt of the hit. 

Wait a second. "The coin!" Morning Star exclaimed. "You - you threw it away?"

"What coin?" Sterling scoffed, glancing back to him. "All there was was a weird little piece of-" he gestured rudely to Cy. 

Morning Star blinked, slowly. Oh. Oh. Not enchanted. Of course a piece of another Fragment wasn't enchanted. No wonder Ravine hadn't - he didn't work in organic materials!

"Morning Star, are you okay?"

"What?" he glanced to Sterling, whose expression was pleading. "Oh! Yes, I'm fine."

"Where's your friend? You came in here with someone."

Morning Star blinked, letting his gaze sweep over the area. Magnotris was nowhere in sight. He must've run off, scared Morning Star was going to do something drastic. The only things around were the piles upon piles of materials the COR had lost here, and Cy.

Speaking of which.

He gestured to Cy, who still hadn't recovered. "Bind him up. We'll wait for Magnotris' return. We... we're gonna get answers."