[FRAG] Grieve in Blood

"Am I going too far?"

Morning Star's voice was soft. Whispered, quiet. Scared, he'd say, but he didn't want to admit it. Fear felt like he acknowledged everything that could go wrong about his plan and everything that was wrong with it. He wasn't sure if he was brave enough to look at the mistakes and admit to them. It clammed up in his chest.

Sterling laid on the grass next to him, although twisted in a different direction. Their heads were next to each other, but bodies tilted away, staring up at the overcast sky. It'd probably rain soon, rusting everything in the Junkyard further. All this decrepit junk... he could figure out what it was all here for if he took over the Coalition. That made him feel better, in a small, tiny way.

"I don't know," Sterling finally spoke. His tone was equally as subdued. "I mean. Fuck the Coalition. They've...."

Morning Star blinked up at the sky as Sterling trailed off. He half-wanted to pry. To ask for Sterling's history, his past. To add fuel to the fire. 

"What did they do to you?" Morning Star asked.

Sterling was silent for a few more seconds. The clouds overhead rumbled in the distance.

"I mean," he began, slowly, "I never really - I. Um. Sorry, this is... I mean, it'll probably be disjointed -"

Morning Star's hand slid up to take hold of one of Sterling's. "It's okay," he said, softly, as the other's voice lowered again.

Sterling squeezed. Morning Star reciprocated. Sterling took a deep, stilling breath.

"Okay. Okay... okay. I formed, like... I don't know how long ago. But it wasn't in the Coalition. It was in a Timeline... uh, I don't know which one."

"It's okay. You don't have to worry about the details."

Sterling took another breath, although it wavered. "Right, yeah, you're right. I don't... I was awake for... a little while, at first. Like, just wandering around. Everything sort of hurt and it was really hard to like, exist - but I didn't hurt anyone! Eventually the Fragment of that Timeline found me... they brought me to the Coalition. They just thought I was a normal Fragment at first.

"They asked me a lot of questions... said it wasn't unheard of for new Fragments to pop up, really, depending on the Timeline. They were so nice to me. They were gonna get me, like, a home... a job. Stuff like that. They just thought I was made of Magninium, you know? So they treated me fine. Then... they were gonna do a test on my magic. Just see my capabilities. I didn't know what they were talking about, but I followed their instructions anyways.

"I could like, see the entire stream of it all. Like, all the Magninium in the air. It was all glowy and buzzy. I tried to move it, but I just couldn't... it wasn't working. No matter how I tried to move it like they said I could, it wouldn't work. I felt like an idiot, like I was failing the easiest test of all. I got frustrated... I sort of just threw myself at the Magninium. Like, the sensation of just tossing myself in head first.

"And I moved it! But I did it wrong. My magic... like. In that moment, I knew it wasn't normal. It was sort of like a fire, I think... it ate the Magninium in the air. Sort of. It ate it and warped it. And I 'passed' the test... I teleported what they wanted me to. But it was all wrong. And I could see it on their faces. I think they thought I attacked them or something, 'cause one of them hit me with their magic. And it really, really hurt.

"They put cuffs on me, they said they were magic-dampening, but they didn't do anything, since I wasn't made out of Magninium. They put me in a cell that had teleportation wards, but I could see exactly how to break them. But I didn't. I was scared and didn't know what was going on, and they'd been nice to me up until that point. They were talking, asking... like, what they were supposed to do with me. They called me it. Said it was unprecedented. Stuff like that. I heard all of it, they were sitting in front of my cell.

"They were going to kill me. I heard them talk about it. They said they didn't want to cause panic. It wasn't worth scaring other Fragments, that gold-based life was possible. It wasn't worth the panic, I wasn't worth the panic. I didn't say anything or fight them when they led me out. They got stuck. They didn't know how to kill me. Like... you guys... you use gold to kill each other. But I was made out of it. And their magic hurt, but it didn't rip out my gold like gold does to Magninium. So they didn't know what to do.

"We sat there. It was horrible. They wanted to kill me and I knew they did, and I was too scared to stop them. But they didn't know how to kill me, so we just sat there. They were still talking about it, like I wasn't there. It was stupid. It was cartoonishly evil. I hated every second... looking back, I wish I punched Jubilee in the face and just ran. But I didn't. 

"It took forever, but they finally decided they'd just toss me into a corner and bomb it with... I don't even remember, some other element. Sorry, it's foggy. I didn't stop them when they led me to the cage-thing, but I wanted to. One of them did speak up. Said I was docile enough, that I wouldn't cause issues if they just gave me a pocket Timeline and let me be. Jubilee told him he was stupid. But I really... I wanted to do that. So I agreed. I said I wouldn't fight them, but just please don't kill me.

"Another Overseer - I don't know which one - said that this at least proved I was alive, because I was self-preserving. That it meant I was cognitive and could be t... trained. To listen to them." 

Morning Star squeezed Sterling's hand. 

"I didn't know what to do. So I attacked Jubilee... I wasn't very good at it, though. I hurt him, but not enough to stop him, and he hit back with twice as much Magninium. It hurt so bad. He yelled at me, said I was nothing, that I was a mistake. That gold wasn't supposed to be alive, that they'd kill me easily. That nobody would know that I even was alive. Someone else calmed him down, took him out of the room. 

"Someone else told me to stand up, that they wouldn't touch me. I was bleeding gold everywhere, but I listened to them a-and stood. They said they'd decide what to do with me once Jubilee calmed down. I... I didn't want to wait, though. I ran away. I just kept running and running until I couldn't anymore. And they followed me. Not Jubilee, but the others - I don't know their names. They said I could stay where I collapsed. If I wanted, make a house. I just couldn't leave. And I didn't know I could leave if a Fragment came with me until you said so... so I just stayed there and made things.

"And, like, a lot of the time, Fragments would show up. Some of them knew what I was, others didn't. They were always asking for favors... it always sort of scared me. I was always really scared that they'd hurt me like the Overseers did, so I just got - tense and snappy. If they left, it was easier." Sterling trailed off briefly, closing his eyes. "I know it's... not as bad as some people. But I couldn't stop thinking about what the Overseers said to me, and-"

"-You shouldn't compare it," Morning Star insisted, tilting his head to face Sterling. "You were hurt for no reason. It's still awful, it's still bad. Maybe it's not as 'bad' as someone else's but you can't compare them. Suffering doesn't work that way."

Sterling fell quiet, briefly, before muttering, "You're right."

The other's story... it was fuel. It was gasoline to a fire. It was another reason to fight back, to tear apart the Coalition. 

"I think I'm doing the right thing," Morning Star whispered. "All things considered."

After a pause, Sterling rolled over, holding Morning Star's cheeks gently. "Whatever you do, I'll support you. I'll be there with you. If you wanna storm the Coalition, I'll be there with you. If you don't, I'll be there all the same."

"Thank you." Morning Star's hand slid up, slowly, fitting over Sterling's. It was nice. Intimate. "I... we can at least prepare first. Then we'll figure it out. We'll hash out the details and figure out what door we have to take."

Sterling nodded.

"I know where we can get weapons."