The first step, she'd said. Juggernaut felt like it was much further along in this procedure, but it was no strategist. It gladly outsourced the thinking.

He remembered, dimly, the circumstances of his own birth. He knew instinctively that his was odd, a rare blessing in the caves. Perhaps even within greater existence. Mother had given him this gift first, and now it was his turn to give it to someone else - someone who'd proved himself more than worthy of it.

With a pulse of energy, the clearstone at its centre began to split, cleaving a part of itself that clattered down its great shape. It took great precision to balance it on the curved blade of a stinger, but it managed, plunging both objects into the hard membrane slowly developing. (Quickly, lest the venom kill the Gembound twice.)

Juggernaut considered the idea of this future - where he and this Gembound became family. Mother hummed her approval, closer now, her gravity drawing all discomfort with the idea out and away. This was the only way he could truly understand. And maybe after this, he'd forgive him.

Forgiveness. Juggernaut sought it desperately.

He didn't understand why.

Juggernaut watched the crystalline blue grow, develop and harden, cloaking the battered shape within. The shape of his own shard blurred, becoming nothing more than a dark smudge on the outer edges. His work was done, and now all he had to do was-

Wait.

He tested his legs, injured one included, and was immediately met with torrential waves of pain as the soft tissue grazed the rough earth, dirt clinging to the wound. His injury during the siege had been similar, but this was obviously more of an issue. He wasn't even sure if he could walk.

He began to drag himself across the earth, barely suppressing the urge to scream as the floor ground against his stump. It was slow, it was painful, and it was clearly unsustainable. He managed to leave the immediate area before collapsing, waiting in agony for mom to come pick him up.

She would.

Eventually.

exit