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Magnus stared at the wall of his rooms within the tree, feeling adrift and lost, his mind blank for once, at least until a small whimper-whine snuck out from deep within his throat. “Of all the things…babies,” he said to himself, only to stop and run his hand through his hair now.
He had yet to reverse the changes the Emperor had done to him physically, but then again, he felt that doing so was not allowed. And that alone made him feel bad in his own skin for a good while, but it paled in comparison to…how he felt now.
His little sister, who had been chattering at him as she had. And how his…no, the emperor was so happy about it, and comparing her to him!
Then, with her being so happy to meet everyone, was so talkative to him, most of all!
He felt mad and yet so damned happy, sad…along with regretful, vengeful, and rejected during the whole thing.
Not to mention the smells coming off his Fath…the Emperor’s breeders…no consorts carrying his new siblings.
He knew the smell had triggered an instinctual need to protect them and his little sister…sisters and new brother, a little brother.
Hell, even before with Heron…given he didn’t realize it before the scent and smell was there, just didn’t recognize or realize it due to how faint it was.
Which, he felt less like a fool, because even Roboute also didn’t notice, just like him, despite Heron being closer to him, nearly in close contact constantly for the scent to be smelled!
“What is wrong with me?” Magnus mutters to himself out loud, then in confusion and became very, very…upset, not actually angry but close to it.
After everything he’d been through and put up with and to see, such love and care directed towards an unborn child…it had then occurred to Magnus that he was jealous of his little sister… sisters and brother…for having his…father act as if they were the most precious thing to him.
Magnus then pulled his knees to his chest, hugging them tightly, as the memories he had shoved away resurfaced in waves, of when once long ago he had the same love and care and attention directed at him before he was able to verbally talk!
Remembering it all now, and then the sensation of having all that ripped and torn from him…”Fucking liar.” Magnus said his voice was cracking, then clenched his jaw. “Fucking played me like a damned fiddle.” He gritted his teeth hard after saying this and felt a few hot tears follow, then his hands left his knees to grip the roots of his hair and tug on it a bit in frustration at seeing the truth, or maybe some of it now, and yet…it was more bitter than sweet to recall it all.
‘That Mutt may have broken my back, but…they are what finally broke it all.’ Magnus snarled and mentally kicked himself right then, but the snarl turned to a watery whimper of a sob.
Deep sorrow began to fill his chest; but it dissipated just as swiftly as it came; a fiery determination burned through him then as he thought, ‘You won’t win and have them next; I’ll make sure of it. I’m going to take back what’s mine and deny you!’ But those feelings then wilted a little, recalling his talk with his father the Emperor before he told him about his siblings.
Magnus felt lost once more then; it's not like he could talk to his father about it, not after the warning he got. And if the past had proven many times now that his father was most likely not going to listen to any of his reasons or ideas now that he knew about the babies.
But knew the best way to ensure protection for them was to regather his sons, do a major overhaul of the defences of the tree, and fortify it magic-wise.
Given the Gardener tending to the tree’s roots had that level fully secured, that much he was sure of after watching for a full week of that man’s work.
Which was terrifying for the one mortal soul keeping Nurgle at a good bit of distance from the tree with just a hoe or rake and at times a broom and spade, at least when he wasn’t on break or on their day off.
That aside, he had found so many holes to slip through while here and knew an assault would be damning; the Emperor's power aside would not be enough.
Especially if two Chaos Gods teamed up…it'd be more than enough for any demons to sneak past and break into the place where his unborn siblings were with their mothers.
Given the women had proven that yes, they were not defenceless, but still numbers can overwhelm anyone if they didn’t have a proper defensive line.
Thus the need to retrieve his sons and reverse their curse, to make the magic defensive line fully secure all the more needed!
That and he needed to take back or destroy his eye if he could not take it back, to break that contract he made oh so foolishly long ago!
But how to explain it without making it seem or sound like he was running away? ‘Roboute,’ he thought then, knowing that if Rob helped him, then he could fix things with some help this time, of course.
The idea wavered, after what he did and how he used Roboute…who’d have every right to deny him, but still Magnus had to at least try instead of writing it off as impossible.
If all else failed, he asked the others to help him if Roboute would not, and hopefully one would.
He got up then and left his rooms now in search of Roboute.
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Which it turned out that looking for Roboute took a little bit longer than he thought it would; the dang tree palace was bigger than the one on Terra somehow!
But finally he found where many had wandered off to, but it seemed many were asleep in a spot in the gardens.
Magnus felt a little hopeful that Roboute would be among the cuddle pile since his…nephew or reborn brothers were among the sleeping group.
But he wasn’t, so he carefully and quietly searched the gardens without waking the others, only to freeze when he noticed two people behind a hidden spot.
He crept forward carefully and nearly gasped out loud at what he saw, and stared for a long moment before turning and leaving as quietly as he came but also a tad faster.
He was internally reeling all over again and at how…fucking unfair and unbelievable it all was.
Once he was out of the garden, Magnus was swiftly heading to where one of the balconies was, and once again, was barely containing his rage, along with confusion.
His mind was a true roiling storm now, and it felt as if something was ripping into his lungs and hearts from inside his fused rib cage, as he inwardly fumed at what he had seen.
‘Lion! That fucker! When did he get here?’
Mugnus inwardly rages, barely holding back his psychic powers in check. ‘Did…the Emperor hide him away from them all until now, or was he the last one to know?! And Roboute, he thought him and Lion had a less-than-friendly relationship, didn't get along that much, only working with each other when forced to! But clearly he was wrong since both were curdled around each other in such a warm and tender manner!
“Magnus?” Someone said, breaking Magnus from his roiling thoughts of how badly his hands were tied and how he was the last to ever be considered still for anything that involved his skills, let alone being told another brother was back!
“Malcador,” Magnus growled and glanced towards him over his shoulder, only half wondering when he came back, and how he was let out of the Emperor’s sight after the whole Grey Knight’s reveal.
“I thought you were indisposed by the Emperor for your secret little new order, whose sole purpose is to kill him if he ascended into godhood. Along with killing anyone who saw me at any point, like that time on Fenris and most, if not all, of its population was wiped out because of that reason alone.” He finished saying with a hiss.
Malcador eyed him for a good moment before saying. “He told me what he said to you. When were you planning on running? ”
Magnus turned then, and despite being forced into a smaller stature, he still towered over Malcador easily still. “Do not assume you know me! You’ve been half dead for 10,000 years! I’m not the same person you remember!” Magnus snarled, his eye blazing with held-back power, and a low thrumming of it in his hands reaching for his psykic might unconsciously; he’d not tolerate being accused of some false assumptions of his person!
“Despite me being half dead for I’ve seen alot still in those 10000 years, boy, I’d know when someone has been messing with the magical wards here and if someone, or something, tripped them. Did you help something get inside to act as a distraction maybe?” Malcador asked; his tone was a firm demand for answers.
Magnus stared at him for a long moment before leaning back, looking offended. “Are you saying you put up a silent warning alarm in case anything got inside?”
“Of course, the best way for that is to leave a minor opening to said trap; I thought you’d realize how smart that'd be, giving an enemy the idea they found a weakness to wriggle through to get in…or out. Now answer the question.” Malcador explained and then demanded, looking at him pointedly.
Magnus glared, then snarled out in frustration. “I wasn't planning on running! Also, making that many holes in magical warding is giving an obvious impression. Fuck sake, I thought those holes were failures in properly warding; now you are telling me they are an overabundance of foolish openings to trap any that slip in?! The flaw in that is you can’t plug up those holes fast enough if you tried, god powers aside. Hell, Lion could point them out, and he’s not a Psyker!” Magnus snapped, feeling very upset and offended.
“You’ve been very quiet though, Neoth was concerned that you’d…” Malcador began to say, only for Magnus to growl out.
“I’d never hurt them! Or let anything hurt them. And that includes your pet order and yourself, Malcador. They’d willingly kill any new offspring from the now God Emperor and are a far bigger threat than any demons or Chaos Gods right now. Maybe you should focus on any that know about his condition and are possible threats than looking at just me all the fucking time!”
Malcador was quiet for a long time before slowly nodding. “So you didn’t try to let anything in or try to leave?” he questioned once more.
“I already said I’m not running! Do you think me helping someone, let alone getting something in here, is what I want when it means risking the protection of my unborn siblings?!" Magnus snapped then, not willing to be accused of something he didn’t and would never do!
Malcador paled a little at this before asking. “Where are your brothers?”
“In the garden, most of them anyway; given Roboute is curled up with Lion somewhere apart from everyone else in there too. Which thank you all for telling me about! Always the last one to know.” Magnus grumbled, but then saw Malcador shift, making him look at him again.
“Lion is actually here?” Malcador asked, looking very confused and worried.
“Yes, geez, if you like him so much go find him in the garden yourself, like I said he’s not far from Roboute.” Magnus scoffed, only for Malcador to look at him wide-eyed.
“I didn’t know he was here, Magnus…and if you didn’t trip the warding trap alarms…how the fuck did he?” Malcador said before he looked to the gardens, and so did Magnus; both then bolted to the gardens.