Cie arrives at Mag’s house four songs later and slips off her headphones. She knocks on the metal security door in front of the normal door of the house and Agent B, an Indian woman with beautiful brown eyes opens the door.
“Good morning, Cie. Here to cause more trouble?” Agent B asks, quirking an eyebrow and Cie grins.
“You know it.”
Agent B sighs, opening both doors and lets Cie into the house.
“Mag is in the basement working on either a poison or medicinal research. I don’t remember which. Either way, don’t taste the substance he’s working on. The last thing we need is you to have some weird reaction to human poison or medicine.” She says and Cie frowns.
“You’re no fun.” She fake pouts, before her eyes light up.
“So, I hear Timmy doesn’t like Octagon?” She whispers, and Agent B shoos her away, towards the basement.
“You are unbelievably hyper for your age.” Agent B chuckles and Cie waves as Agent B locks and closes both doors again.
Cie heads into the basement, and finds Mag is perched on a stool, his eyes glued to a book as he distractedly pets his cat, Poison, who’s sitting in his lap. He has a beaker of hot pink liquid on the table in front of him. Timothy seems to be lost in thought as he gazes in Mag’s general direction, not directly at him, but not away from him either. Octavia is staring intently at Timothy, chattering at him, but he doesn’t respond to a word she says and is clearly not paying attention.
“Hey, Mag!” Cie beams and Mag jumps.
“Ah! You’re here!” He exclaims as Poison leaps out of his lap, darting away from him.
“That I am.” Cie says as she crouches down and runs her hand along Poison’s short orange fur while Poison purrs happily.
Mag shuts his book and takes a deep breath.
“I don’t know how many years you’re going to take off my life with the times you’ve scared me.” He sighs.
“Ah, yes, the Supernova.” Timothy says, as he comes back to focus, and Octavia shoots a glare at Cie.
“Yes, she’s very rude.”
“I’ve barely talked to you?” Cie says, her voice ending on a question.
“You were still rude!” Octavia pouts.
“Yeah, okay, maybe I was. I was just really bummed about not being able to escape from Earth.” Cie sighs as she scoops up Poison.
“So, whatchu making?” She pesters Mag, who frowns.
“It’s a poison made using some strange space rock I found.” He says.
“Can I taste it?” Cie asks and Mag jumps.
“What?! Taste it! I literally just told you it’s a poison!”
“Yeah, but isn’t that how people become immune to poisons is by taking small doses?” Cie retorts.
Mag rolls his eyes and rips off a corner of one of his book’s pages. He drops it into the hot pink liquid and it immediately dissolves.
Cie’s eyes shine as she watches the paper dissolve, and she looks at Mag.
“Can I see the space rock?”
Mag shrugs as he pushes a red rock towards her. It’s wrapped in some cloth, and Cie cautiously touches it. Nothing happens, and Cie picks up the rock.
“It’s not so scary in rock fo-“ Cie begins before she yelps and drops the rock.
It crashes on the ground and shatters, revealing a white, glowing, four-pointed star necklace was encased inside the rock. Mag grabs Cie’s hand. He inspects it for damage, while Cie stares at the necklace.
“I-I’m not hurt. It just leapt in my hand, and it scared me.” She stammers and Timothy inspects the necklace.
“It’s a Supernova necklace. They are formed whenever a Supernova goes, well, supernova. I wonder how old it is.” Timothy says as he crouches down and picks up the necklace in his hands.
Octavia peers over his shoulder at the necklace, and he stands suddenly, knocking her over. He ignores Octavia as she blinks in shock, and hands the necklace to Cie.
“It only works for Supernovae.” He says flatly and Cie frowns.
“Works? It does something besides leap in my hands?”
“If you happen to die, you’ll come back.” Timothy says and then he pauses.
“If you put a drop of your blood on it, it’ll glow green and it can revive only you then. No other Supernova can steal it from you once you’ve claimed it.”
Mag offers a hand to help Octavia up and she glares at him. She swats away his hand and pushes herself off the ground.
“I don’t need your pity.” She snarls as she storms off, stomping up the stairs out of the basement.
“So, uh, what’s your problem with Octagon? You don’t like her adoration of you?” Cie asks awkwardly as Mag rubs his hand.
“It’s not me she adores. She sees someone else in me. Someone she doesn’t have anymore.” Timothy says, his voice cool and calm as he ignores Cie’s nickname for Octavia.
“Man, she hits hard. I didn’t think she’d be so strong.” Mag whines and Cie looks at his hand.
“Wow. I think that’s going to bruise.” She remarks, surprise evident in her voice.
Timothy gently takes Mag’s swatted hand and looks down at it.
“Hmm. She is extraordinarily strong. She might be dangerous. She’s already very unstable.” He murmurs, his voice quiet.
He releases Mag‘s hand after a moment. Then he opens his mouth to speak but seems to change his mind. He shakes his head and in an instant, he opens a portal and steps through it, disappearing as the portal closes behind him. Cie’s mouth drops open and Mag glances at her.
“Oh, right. I forgot to mention, Timothy can open portals at will.”
“And you never thought to mention that?!” Cie hisses and Mag shrugs.
“The opportunity never presented itself, I suppose?” He says, scratching his neck.
Cie frowns at him.
“I brought them here trying to create a portal machine to take me away from Earth, and you never told me he can open portals with no equipment? That’s rude, Mag.”
“It’s not like that, Cie. He said he can only open portals to places he pictures in his mind in the same universe he’s currently in. He said he’s a species called a time warper. He also said he’s the only one who can go through the portals he opens.” Mag defends.
Cie crosses her arms and leans against the wall. She looks down at the white, four-pointed star necklace in her hand. It has a slight glow and feels cold to the touch, but also like it’s alive.
“Do you think it’s poisonous if I lick the necklace?” Cie asks, and Mag groans.
“Only you would ask something like that, Cie.”
“What? It’s a valid question. Whatever you did to the rock made it dissolve paper. I was wondering if it would hurt me if I-”
“I don’t know. Supernovae have different a metabolism than humans, so it might hurt you, it might not.” Mag cuts Cie off, and sighs deeply.
“Why are you like this, Cie?” Mag asks.
“Charming? Outrageously attractive?”
“No, and no. You have like, no sense of self-control. You’re impulsive, and you don’t think about how what you do affects others.” Mag says, his voice tired.
Cie falls quiet and her smile disappears.
“Are you mad at me, Mag?” She asks softly.
“I don’t know. Maybe. I mean, you just brought two people from other universes here, and you’re acting like you’ve done nothing wrong.”
“Three, actually. One of them is in the hospital.” Cie says.
“Exactly my point. You show no remorse, even though you’ve probably really messed up these people’s lives, not to mention our own!” Mag snaps and Cie looks at the ground.
“I know.” She whispers.
Mag huffs and Cie sets down Poison. The orange cat meows and winds around her legs. Cie ignores the cat for the moment, focusing on her friend.
“Listen, I know I messed up. I don’t know how to cope very well, and so I just act like my normal self, no matter how badly I feel. It’s what I did when I lived at Area 51, when I messed up a scientist’s experiment, and it’s what I do now. I laugh at my problems, not because I don’t care, but because I don’t know how else to react.” Cie says, her voice sincere.
“I know Cie, I just get frustrated sometimes. I just wish… I don’t know.” Mag mutters and Cie looks at him.
“That I was normal. I know. I used to wish that all the time. I wished I was just a normal human born in the 1910s. I wished I’d lived a boring human life, raising a family, getting old with someone. But I realized something along the way: I’m happy with my weird life that I’ve always seen as boring. But now, I’ve changed something. Something big, and that scares me. I don’t like change as much as I thought I did. I don’t like adventure as much as I thought I would.”
Mag turns to look at Cie and sighs. He outstretches his arms and Cie pulls him against her in a hug, picking him up off the ground, despite him being two inches taller than her.
“Ouch, okay.” Mag groans as Cie sets him on the ground, releasing him.
“You’re such a good friend, Mag. I don’t know what I’d do without you to guide me.”
“Probably destroy everything as we know it?” Mag jokes, although he’s not entirely joking.
Cie nods and slips her hands in her dress’s pockets. She feels the necklace in her hand and pulls her hand out of her pocket. She studies the necklace with a frown. Then she pulls it over her head. It rests lightly on her neck, and Mag nods.
“It looks nice on you.” He says and Cie smiles.
“Thanks. I don’t know if I want to activate it.” She says.
“Why not?” Mag asks, cautious curiosity in his eyes.
“I… I just feel like maybe there’s a Supernova that deserves it more than I do. Somewhere out there.” Cie replies.
“And you think you’ll find them?”
Cie looks at Mag, her piercing green eyes locking with his green eyes.
“Yes. I do. Someday, maybe a long time in the future. I think I will.”
Mag runs a hand through his black, spiky, short hair. The turquoise highlights and green tips of his hair flicker through his fingers. The Hispanic young man shakes his head and sighs. He looks down at the cat tattoo on his left wrist, running his finger along it. Then he turns his green eyes back on Cie.
“Cie, I think you are that Supernova. I don’t think you need to wait for some mystery Supernova to give the necklace to.” He says, his voice soft.
Cie purses her lips and touches the necklace. She inhales deeply and then exhales.
“I know there are more Supernovae than me out there. After all, this necklace was formed whenever a Supernova went supernova. I need to wait to give it to the right one.” She says, her voice firm.
“What if something happens to you? You have a chance to cheat death. Most people would jump at an opportunity like that.”
Cie’s eyes glint and a smirk sneaks across her mouth.
“Well, I’m not like most people. I don’t cheat at things. I’m going to take death head-on whenever it’s my time to go.”