"Dan, look out!" Arin yelled as another forced shard fusion lunged towards Dan, arms and legs flailing wildly. Dan whipped around in a half-circle and was met with a swift hit to his stomach. There were at least two others after Arin already, and Brian was still off and away fighting his own battle. Dan made a quick run for it through the kindergarden, desperate to lead the fusion out of harm's way and maybe hope to poof it quickly.
Dan, carefully, raised his sword, Excalibur, and swung at an arm, which quickly poofed itself and a red shard fell to the ground. With determination, Dan concentrated as he swung again and again, taking out arms and legs one by one. He could hear Arin in the distance, yelling as he fought his own fusion enemy.
Dan looked down at the shards in front of his feet.
But...
No.
He couldn't, not right now, not when he needed to go help Arin and find Brian, not when he had to work to save his friends.
But it was just...too tempting.
"Just one," Dan said quietly as he leaned to pick up a red shard, putting into his mouth and biting down.
He told himself that this was Homeworld habits. He'd get over them soon enough.
He ate another one, green. A purple, another red, two blues and a pink.
He was eating them all. He could feel the shards in him try to force their way through his skin already, but it was too late to stop now. He only had a few shards left, just a few more.
Two more.
One.
"...Dan?" a voice said as Dan had the last shard poised in front of his mouth. Dan didn't dare look up because he knew that it was Arin, and Arin wasn't ever supposed to know.
"Arin, I...," he tried, but no words could really escape his throat. His skin tingled and already he could spot from the corner of his eye a shard forcing its way through his arm.
"This is... Why are you eating shards?" Arin asked softly. Dan dropping the shard he held and felt himself fall forward into a fetal position, slowly curling in on himself, trying not to cry in front of Arin. "Hey, Dan, it's okay."
"It's not, though," Dan said quietly. "I'm like a monster." Arin set a hand on his shoulder, but quickly pulled away when a shard poked through and touched his hand.
"You're not a monster."
"I am."
"Dan, please, just... Why are you eating the gem shards?" Dan didn't speak for a few moments.
"It's what they taught us to do on Homeworld," Dan finally said. "I can't help it."
"It's not your fault-" Arin tried again, but Dan shot up with tears in his eyes and a heated expression.
"But it is!" he yelled. "I should never have listened to them, Brian and I should have never listened! They taught us to eat our enemies, to eat our own kind! We crushed gems under our feet and devoured them like... Like cannibals!" Gems were starting to crown from his face now as he spoke. "You should go," he said, his voice becoming soft as he looked down.
"No," Arin forced out through a cracking voice. "I'm not going to leave you here."
"You should." Arin shook his head and hugged Dan despite the shards that poked at him.
"Can you get the shards to stop coming through?" Arin asked.
"Through meditation," Dan said, "with Brian." They both heard footsteps behind them, and pulled away to see Brian, standing with an almost apologetic look in his eyes, though it was hard to tell through the mask.
"You too?" Dan asked. Brian nodded as he looked to his wrist to see shards already trying to rip through his suit. Dan sighed and closed his eyes. "I guess we both messed up pretty bad today, huh?" Brian shook his head and put a reassuring hand on Dan's shoulder.
"Are you guys going to be okay?" Arin asked hesitantly. Dan nodded solemnly.
"We need to meditate so the shards will retreat," Dan explained. "I suppose that's best done back at home, though, yeah?"
"Everyone's at home, they'll see you," Arin said. Brian looked at Dan.
"No, Brian's right," Dan said, standing up. "We should tell them." Arin bit his lip before he took Dan's hand in his.
"I'll be there with you," Arin assured as they walked back to the warp pad. "Promise."
