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Magnus isn’t sure that his heart has left his throat ever since Taako first vomited blood.
He’s at Taako’s side as quickly as he can be, putting one reassuring hand on his back and the other on his shoulder as Taako shudders, spitting on the ground to try and clear his mouth. Magnus can barely focus on the incantation Merle is reciting—he watches anxiously as some of Taako’s wounds close up, not nearly enough for his liking. There’s a tense moment of silence, and then just like that the healing saps back out of him, and Magnus has to catch Taako before he collapses to the ground.
“Hey, I gotcha, it’s okay,” Magnus murmurs, careful not to exacerbate any of Taako’s injuries.
Taako coughs wetly, his fingers digging into Magnus’ arms. “I just need to sit down for a sec,” he manages, but Magnus doesn’t let him go. He reaches one hand to his side and grabs the Pocket Workshop, fumbling it open and dropping it on the floor in front of them all. “Team huddle,” he says, and Merle opens the door (while holding Cam’s head) so that Magnus can move Taako in too.
“Mags, it’s fine,” Taako protests as Magnus carefully sets him on a stool. “The sooner we get out of here, the sooner I can get healed back up.”
Magnus shakes his head, rustling through his bag some more for the medical gauze he keeps in there. He knows Merle is their healer, but you don’t participate in guerrilla warfare without learning to carry gauze with you at all times. He tears off a strip and kneels, carefully starting to wrap Taako’s shins to staunch some bleeding. “It’s not fine, you can barely walk. This is something I can do to help. Might be the only thing, since magic isn’t allowed.”
Merle is caught up in a conversation with Cam, so Magnus focuses all his attention on Taako, which means he catches the small sigh that escapes him. Magnus glances up to see an alarmingly delicate expression cross his face—Taako looks pained and scared as he stares off into the distance, two emotions he almost never displays, and it makes Magnus’ breath catch. He’s so worried that he forgets everything else about their mission for a moment, zeroing in on gently removing Taako’s right boot so he can splint and wrap his ankle, forcing himself to look away from his face so Taako doesn’t catch him staring.
He feels Taako’s fingers brush his shoulder when he’s done, and when he looks up he sees the smile Taako’s clearly putting on, just for him.
“My hero,” Taako says, trying for lighthearted but landing somewhere much too sincere.
Magnus stands, getting his arm around Taako’s shoulders to help him up. “Like I said, it’s the only thing I can do. Is this better?”
Taako takes a few steps, leaning hard on the Umbrastaff for support, but managing to stay upright. Magnus glances around his workshop and his eyes catch on a cylindrical piece of wood that’s already thin enough to be a walking stick—he hurries over to it, sawing a few inches off the base before bringing it back to Taako.
“Here,” Magnus says, “try this in your other hand.”
Taako rolls his eyes but can clearly move easier now that he has additional support for both legs. Magnus doesn’t think he could out-run a threat, but he can stand, which is better than before.
“Thanks, Magnus,” Taako says, his voice still quiet, pitched low so only Magnus can hear him.
“Any time,” Magnus replies, matching Taako’s tone. They share a look that feels private somehow, despite two other people being in the workshop; something earnest and vulnerable, and Magnus feels debilitated by the realization that Taako is probably the best friend he’s ever had, and that he’s so terrified of losing him in here.
Taako’s firm voice breaks him out of his near-panicked stupor: “We’re gonna get out of this. It’d be no fun for the liches if I beefed it after 20 minutes in here, so I won’t. I actually literally think they won’t let me.”
Magnus nods, because he has no choice but to believe Taako. He raises his volume so that Merle and Cam can hear him too when he says “The only way to win a rigged game is to change the game. So let’s fucking break some rules.”
———
The three of them step down from the podiums of the Healing Game, and Magnus grabs Taako’s elbow before they all pass through the doorway to the next room, pulling him aside.
“Hey,” he says under his breath, catching Merle’s eye from over Taako’s shoulder and nodding at him to hold up a second. He nods back, leaning against the wall to wait. Magnus continues, “how are you holding up?”
Taako certainly looks a little better—his breath doesn’t wheeze every time he exhales, and he’s walking a little more confidently, as though he’s in less pain. He still has dark circles under his eyes though, and there’s a frailty to him that Magnus swears wasn’t there this morning.
“Well, I think the internal bleeding probably stopped, so pretty damn good,” Taako quips, but then chews on his lip as he leans in a little closer to Magnus. He raises an eyebrow as he switches to Elvish; “ Anything, like, helpful that you’ve caught sight of? Hope I didn’t blow a sixth-level spell for nothin’. ”
Magnus nods, glancing over to where the Red Robe is hovering behind Merle. He is continually siphoning off little wisps of black smog from the room, and he looks up to nod at Magnus as he senses his gaze on him. To Taako, Magnus replies in kind, muttering “ Yeah, lots of stuff. Not sure how it’s gonna work out, but we’re getting really close, Taako. I promise. ”
Taako sighs, still leaning against the Umbrastaff, but not as desperately as before. “If you say so, old man.”
“Hey,” Magnus rebukes, straightening up a little. “I still think I’m younger than you.”
That gets a smirk to grace Taako’s expression, even if the mirth doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Well, you’ve got me there. Egg on my face and all that.”
Merle hollers over to them then, “we probably ought’a get moving,” and it snaps Taako’s expression back to one of poorly-concealed dread. Magnus selfishly wishes they had just another moment in the bubble of their conversation, but he sets his shoulders and nods, waving his hand to usher Merle through the door with the two of them behind him.
As they cross through the doorway to the next room, if Magnus gently squeezes Taako’s shoulder in his hand, the only act of reassurance he can think of to offer, then that’s nobody’s business but his own. And if Taako looks up at him with wide eyes, a little surprised and a little unsure, and reaches to hold Magnus’ hand as they walk up to the Wheel of Sacrifice, well. Magnus doesn’t care how many liches notice.
———
Magnus drops the flask Barry had handed him, head pounding as 100 years of memories return to him in an instant. It’s jarring, and he staggers three steps forward, to where Taako and Merle are both kneeling on the ground, so he can be by their side. As strange as it is, Magnus has already gone through this once, when he was a mannequin and the void fish couldn’t reach him, so he steadies himself after a few breaths to kneel and check on his friends.
Merle has one hand on his Extreme Teen Bible and the other on his forehead, eyes squinted shut, but he’s breathing slowly and as calmly as he probably can, Magnus thinks. He looks to Taako next, and his breath nearly gets knocked out of him as he sees that Taako is weeping.
And how could he not be? Magnus remembers, now, the way that the twins had always been in each others’ orbit, how for the first decade he never saw them apart. How Lup’s absence, at the end, had cut through them all like a shard of jagged ice. How Taako then spent a decade without knowing about his missing half.
He also remembers 100 years of being at Taako’s side—overlapping flashes of Taako teaching him the animal’s language, of the two of them swimming at the beach together in the early morning. He remembers being Taako’s bodyguard as they explored new worlds. Taako punching his arm when they all re-materialized on a new cycle after Magnus had died early on the last one. Taako teasing him for being the one crew member who never bothered to learn magic. One year where Lup died and Taako didn’t leave Magnus’ side for weeks. The worlds they lost, together. Their desperation to save the world they finally chose to call home.
Magnus isn’t sure if Taako would be reassured by his presence right now, but he wraps his arms around him anyway, holding him tight as he cries. Barry’s at his other side, then, and his eyes are watery too as he puts a hand on Taako’s back.
After a moment, Taako seems to realize what’s happening, and Magnus exhales in relief when Taako only clings tighter to his shirt, curling into him. Magnus lets his eyes shut, just for a moment, steadying himself as memory after memory wash over him still. The room is silent of voices, everyone in the throes of their own memories, so Magnus hears every hitch of Taako’s breath, every quiet sob that escapes him.
Eventually, Taako shifts in Magnus’ arms and then takes a deep breath, glancing up at Magnus as he pulls back. His eyes are red, and tears are still running down his cheeks, but a chill runs through Magnus at the defeated and empty expression on Taako’s face. He tries to reach out for Taako but he stands before Magnus can grab him, using the Umbrastaff as a crutch, and then levels the arcane focus at Lucretia.
And as Taako starts counting down, Magnus wouldn’t dare veer from his side now, even though he has no idea what he could possibly do to help. So he stands, nearly shoulder-to-shoulder with Taako, and raises the Flaming Raging Poisoning Sword of Doom at her too.