Magma held Dactyle high on the wall.

His grip on their neck became tighter and tighter. Tears ran down their face. They kicked their legs and they pushed at his arm. He didn't budge at their every attempt to resist and escape. His vision was filled with red.

"Please… Stop…!" They struggled to speak.

All their words were choked and hoarse. They started hitting his arm in hopes to set themself free. The attempts were futile as he only tightened his grip as hard as he could. Their neck became bruised. Their breaths got more shaky and hoarse. Tears covered their cheeks. Nothing snapped him out of his rage.

"Mag- Magma… I beg- beg of-"

Snap.

Their arms fell to their side. Their legs no longer moved and their lenses became blank. That was the thing that snapped Magma out of it. He dropped them faster than anyone could blink.

His heart and stomach dropped so far down. Magma's fur went dark, not a single part of his red fur was bright. His gaze at their motionless body was unfocused. He threw himself down to the ground and at their body. He put his fingers up against their neck for a minute. Not a single pulse. He then moved it to their chest. Nothing there either.

He took their lenses off to look at them in their eyes. They were empty, glassy, soulless. He grabbed their shoulders and shook them. Tears formed in his eyes and his throat became sore.

"Dactyle, please, wake up! Wake up! Hermodactyloides Rose Fukuzawa!" He hiccuped. "I won't forgive you if- if you don't wake up, I'm- I'm never- never gonna forgive you!"

Magma might've said that, but it was only to get Dactyle to react. If anything, he wouldn't forgive himselffor what just happened. When they didn't move, he broke. He buried his face into his hands. This was the last thing he'd ever wanted to do. Sure, they were annoying, but he still loved and cared about them regardless. He wouldn't mean to hurt any of his siblings, no matter the reason, yet here they lied.

They died because of him choking them, him snapping their neck.

How was he gonna explain this to everyone? They wouldn't forgive him for what he did. They would disown him.

Wait, how was Kaminarigoing to react? Not only would she be devastated, but she was too young for this. She wouldn't truly understand what happened and she couldn't deal with this. Peridot and Emerald would follow suit in terms of devastation.

Magma panicked, he didn't know what to do.

Before he could do anything else, their neck snapped towards his direction. Their corpse sat up and Magma fell back. He could only stare in fear and shock.

Dactyle's limbs became longer, stringy even, to the point of looking boney and stretched out. Their hands transformed into sharp animalistic claws. Their eyes grew wide and turned black like he was looking inside of a black hole. Dactyle's mouth stretched monstrously wide, every tooth sharp and long. There were multiple rows of teeth in their mouth. Their fur grayed out until not even a drop of color was left. The helmet fell off, exposing their decomposing brain. A bone stuck out their neck with blood oozing through.

Magma backed up as fast as he could despite his trembling body. His heart jumped to his throat. He breathed fast and heavy, almost hyperventilating. When he hit a wall, he froze up. What remained of Hermo crawled up to them until their face covered Magma's vision. They grabbed his face with simply the index finger and thumb. They felt so pointy, so thin.

Magma felt blood poke out his cheeks. He trembled and sweated.

"ごめんなさい、 ヘルモダクチロイデス! I never meant to hurt you!"

"'I'm sorry'?" Their voice grew very deep and it echoed. "'I'm SORRY'?! ขอโทษ จะไม่เคย นำมา ฉัน กลับ !"

They pulled their claws away from his face. They moved their arm as far back as they could. Right before they swung it, Magma closed his eyes shut.

He prepared himself for the impact.


Magma shot up and gasped for air.

His fur was frizzy and sweaty. He grabbed his lenses and put them on. The first thing he did after that was look at Hermodactyloides in their bed. They seemed to be peacefully asleep, but he had to be sure since their lenses were still on and they were always blank when someone slept. He jumped off his part of the bunk bed silently and went to them. Two of his fingers went to their neck; their pulse there was just fine. Their breathing seemed to be normal as well. A couple seconds after having his fingers there, they started to giggle quietly.

Magma quickly moved his hand. His eyes widened. He prepared himself to start running back to his bed. They simply moved onto their side.

"That's nice…" They muttered in their sleep.

Magma sighed in relief.

After that incident a few weeks ago, he'd been having nightmares about it. About six times overall to be exact, including this night's nightmare. It was a little different each time, but it was the same general idea. He accidentally killed Dactyle, he regretted it instantly, and then they would become a twisted version of what they used to be.

It was horrible and the guilt of nearly choking them was eating him up. There was no way it couldn't. He could've severely hurt them, made them unconscious, or worse. They told him to do it harder, and he didn't know if they genuinely enjoyed it or if he was hurting them so badly that was just what came out. In all honesty, he wasn't too sure which was worse, and he didn't know if he genuinely wanted to know.

The guilt and the awkwardness combined was why he avoided them for a couple weeks. He could've kept avoiding them, but he couldn't make it seem like something was seriously wrong. How he felt didn't fade though, no matter how hard he tried to act normal. Whenever he was around them, he felt scared and awkward. Of course he was getting better at controlling his anger, but it didn't quench the fear of accidentally hurting them again.

Magma didn't know if they noticed, since they acted fine after a while, but he didn't want to find out. They might've felt the same way and he hated it.

He gently kissed their forehead. He caressed their cheek with his thumb. His lips pressed together.

"ごめんなさい、 Hermo," he whispered.

After that, he went back to his bed. He took his lenses back off and put them to the side. He laid down, but he kept his body facing Dactyle. Even if he knew they would be alright, he had to make sure that if something happened, he'd be able to see it right away. It was times like this that he swore his anxiety wouldn't dare let him slip back to sleep. He kept his eyes on them the whole time.

In the end, Magma always fell back to sleep, this time being no exception.


Marino noticed how Hermodactyloides and Magma weren't their usual selves.

They avoided each other for a couple weeks, Hermodactyloides and Magma being a blushing mess and glowing shameful disaster respectively, even now their interactions felt awkward and stiff. Hermo still messed around with him like usual, but their words had a feeling of emptiness behind them. Magma still got angry and he yelled at them, but he didn't raise his fists once even with some help from Father Antauri and Mom, not to mention there was a hint of regret and fear in his eyes.

It made Marino worry, in all honesty. It was obvious that something happened, but he didn't know what. Whenever he asked, they denied anything happening. 'Oh nothing happened, Marino,' Hermo said calmly. 'I- I don't know what you're talking about!' Magma had told him with most of his body being a bright red. He only asked them twice, but it was clear he wasn't getting anywhere anytime soon. Whatever the problem was, he couldn't stand aside and let it build up like this.

Marino then felt a hand touch his shoulder. He looked to his left to see Diamond leaning over. Her eyes locked into his.

"Curious about Hermodactyloides and Magma's situation?" She asked.

He nodded. "Perceptive as always, Diamond."

"I don't know anything for certain myself," Diamond started, "however I'm able to make an educated guess. That educated guess would be they had a fight like usual, however this time Magma started choking them and stopped before things got bad."

Marino's eyes widened and his eyebrows raised. "How do you figure that?"

"Easy." She held her hand out, gesturing towards Dactyle. "Their neck was slightly darker for the first couple days and they keep putting their hand up to their neck like they still feel it. They especially do it when they see him or anyone brings him up. It's never long though so it's a blink and you'll miss it detail. The way they smile and blush also suggests there was some enjoyment in it, however they're definitely feeling mixed emotions considering there's also a hint of confusion in their eyes when they do it."

She then gestured to Magma, who was speaking to Soma.

"Magma isn't as obvious, but I'm sure you already noticed some of it. Shameful, afraid, how he clenches his fists but never raises them, it's clear he doesn't wasn't a repeat of whatever happened. You can also catch him looking at their throat like he's remembering what happened and it's especially in those moments that you can see how ashamed and terrified he is. Those signs are always there, no matter how much they try to hide it. Possibly some underlying sexual frustrations too.

With all of that combined, they're bound to be awkward with one another."

"That makes sense- Wait," one eyebrow dropped while the other raised higher, "did you say they enjoyed it?"

"From everything I've noticed, that seems to be the case." Diamond answered.

Marino put his hand to his mouth. "I see. Have you brought it up with either of them?"

"I haven't, though it's probably best if you did. After all, there's no way he would open up to me like he would with you." She said.

He stared at the two.

"...You just don't want to get hit with how angry he gets and you know Dactyle would either dance around it or say something in a language you cannot understand, thus having me do it instead. I know how you work there."

" Maybe ." She simply smirked.

Marino quietly sighed. He swore that one of these days, his siblings getting under each other's skin was going to be the death of him some day. He might as well bring it up with him to confirm such speculations. She was usually correct, but she had her moments as well, so he'd rather be safe than sorry. He simply patted Diamond's head and walked away. Marino could tell she kept her eyes on him without looking back.

Soma walked away from Magma and they told each other 'see you later'. Perfect timing, he was available now. Marino placed his hand on Magma's shoulder. It caused him to jump and quickly turn around.

"Fucking damn it, MO, don't scare me like that!" He almost yelled.

"My apologies, that was not my intention."

Magma groaned and crossed his arms. "Whaddya want, Marino?"

He opened his mouth, though he closed almost right afterwards. This wasn't the place for such conversation, anyone could overhear and he couldn't have any trouble breaking out. Marino moved his hand down to his wrist and he swiftly moved to a more private area. Magma grunted in surprise from the sudden movement.

It took only moments for them to be somewhere private. When they were finally alone and they stopped moving, Magma ripped his arm away from Marino. His upper body turned brighter.

"What the hell was that about?!" He snapped.

Marino quickly but gently put his hand over Magma's mouth.

"Not too loud now." Marino responded. "I do not think you want anyone to hear about this."

Magma raised an eyebrow. Marino removed his hands.

"I have heard from Diamond that you nearly choked Hermodactyloides out at one point?"

Magma's face turned extremely red. Within seconds, most of his body was a bright red with only the bottom party of his legs were a dark red. His fist clenched up and he raised it. He lifted Marino up by his clothes. Marino didn't flinch once; his calm demeanor remained.

" What on Shuggazoom did Diamond tell you?! " He growled.

"She simply told me how something happened between you two, a fight being her guess, it led to that happening, how Hermo seemed to have enjoyed it and felt confused, and sexual frustrations on your end."

"She what?! " Magma started. "That's some bullshit, okay? I never had my hand around their neck! Fucking Shuggazoom, I'm going to kill her!"

He tried to get past Marino, but he stopped him. Marino gently pushed Magma back in front of him.

"Magma, remember to take deep breaths and count to three on each inhale and exhale." He told him.

Magma's lips pressed together and closed his eyes. He did what Marino said to do. His body turned back to his usual dark red coloring with only his head being bright. He looked away as he crossed his arms.

"...Okay, maybe I did do that, but it was purely accidental! I never meant to-"

"Magma, it's okay. I know you wouldn't mean to do that." He soothed. "If you feel what she said was inaccurate, please, enlighten me on what really happened."

Magma looked at him for a few seconds before he sighed.

"...Most of what she said was true." He started explaining. "They kept talking in a language I didn't understand, I accidentally choked them a little, they told me to do it harder, and we agreed to never talk about it again. My frustrations weren't like that ."

Marino closed his eyes and nodded in acknowledgment. "So it's true they liked it then."

"There's- There's no way they did! They were confused, what I did fucked them up some, and that was just something that came out. Even they couldn't believe they said it. I don't get why they would like that! I could've killed them!"

"Kinks can be weird, something about it could have been enjoyable to them." Marino replied. "I would not know, I'm not into it myself, so it's something that you would have to know from them. In fact, talking about the situation would be good for you both, but that is your choice."

"That would make everything more awkward, they might hate me, and-" Magma paused and his face became brighter. "Wa-Wait, you think they… they could have a choking kink?"

"From what I know, it sounds like it. However, that is simply a guess." Marino answered.

Magma's mouth simply hung open. His tail dropped to the floor. He covered his mouth; he looked away. His eyes were widened and his irises shook. His breathing became erratic. He started pacing, walking back and forth. His tail was dragged through the floor. It took him a couple moments to process it and Marino simply stood there. He watched him pace.

"If- If it's a kink for them, then- then how do I know they're not messing with me on purpose?" He kept pacing. There was panic in his voice. "What- What if them messing with me was just- was just a setup to get me to do that?"

Marino grabbed his shoulders. He stopped his movement. It caused Magma's tail to shoot up. He could tell his heart jumped to his throat.

"Take it easy, Magma." He calmly said. "You can say the same for the opposite. How do you know that was not the first time it ever happened and this is how they found out? They did not seem to have known this would happen, much less plan for it, so they might feel the same as you. Embarrassed, ashamed, confused."

"..I'm starting to understand a little bit…" Magma sighed as he kept his gaze away from him. "You got any advice on how to bring this up to Dactyle?"

Marino smiled. "Get them alone where you're unlikely to be interrupted. If you have not apologized to them yet, start with that. If you already did, then ask them if they remember the incident." He answered.

Magma pulled him into a hug. Marino's face was buried into his chest and collar bone. His hold on him was firm.

"Thanks, Marino. I'll… I'll do that." Magma rested his chin on his helmet. "I… I just hope they don't hate me for it…"

Marino rubbed his back. "I doubt they do. We know you never mean to hurt anyone, and since Dactyle is okay, this shouldn't be too much different."

He hugged him a little tighter. Marino could hear his heart pound harder than ever before.

"...Are- Are you sure? I… The last thing I want is for them to hate me because of this…" Magma's voice began to crack and shake.

Marino nodded his head slightly. "It's better to tie up whatever loose ends there are rather than avoid it, is it not?"

Magma pulled away and took a deep breath. His hands were still a little shaky, but Marino knew he couldn't help the anxiety in him.

"You're- You're right… I'll- I'll go talk to them now. Thanks."

"Of course, and I apologize for bringing it up like that. I simply wanted to know what was going on."

"It's okay, you- you ended up helping in the end."

He nervously smiled at him. He then walked away. Marino watched him leave as he trembled. He only hoped that everything would go well.

It was all up to Magma and Hermo to fix things up now.


Magma looked in every room to find them.

He either found one or more of the others instead or an empty room. He really didn't want to do this and he didn't feel ready, but he knew he had to. Everything within him told him that he would only make things worse, create another incident like the one they had weeks prior, but he knew if he left it be then nothing would get better. Besides, he needed to give Diamond a piece of his mind after this was over.

Every time he saw anyone in a room, he quickly looked away and walked off. He couldn't have anyone ask him what he was doing. They couldn't know what was going on, more than Diamond, Marino, Antauri, and Nova anyways. It was embarrassing and shameful enough. He couldn't bear it if everyone else knew about it, especially with all the details. He shuddered thinking about Kaminari knowing; she would ask so many questions.

Magma ended up finding Dactyle alone in a room. They were on a device and they had sticky notes out. Their finger glided across the device's screen as they typed something out. What he could guess was some language learning thing. He rolled his eyes, of course that was what they were doing. He took another deep breath before he walked up to them. When they didn't notice his presence, he tapped on something to get their attention.

Hermodactyloides jumped at the sudden sound. They tapped their antenna twice before finishing the current part of what they were doing up. An upbeat sound came through it when they pressed continue. Dactyle put the device down and looked at him. Their tail moved back and forth. He cleared his throat, trying to gather the needed courage for this.

"Hey, uh… Dactyle, I need to talk to you for a, um, moment. Can… Can we do that?" He asked as he looked away.

Shuggazoom, he felt so embarrassed right now.

Dactyle raised an eyebrow at his question. They seemed to be off put by how embarrassed he was. He couldn't blame him, it wasn't often that he was embarrassed by anyone or anything.

"もちろん、 マグマ。 Is something the matter?" They asked.

He took another deep breath.

"W-Well… I wanna talk about… that incident…" Magma forced out. "Do… Do you know what I'm talking about? I know we agreed to not talk about it, but…"

A blush covered their face. They turned their head, but they couldn't remove their eyes from him. Their hand went up to their neck, almost like either the sensation came back to them or he just did it again. If this was how Diamond knew about some of the details, then he could see how. It was a little weird to see them blush about it though.

"I do. It's kinda hard to forget about it, if I'm honest."

They lightly chuckled and he joined almost immediately. He was still nervous, but Magma felt a little relieved that they didn't seem to be mad about it or hated him. He sat down next to them.

"I… was really stupid…" He put his head in his hands. "I shouldn't have acted so recklessly, so pissed off… I could've killed you there…"

He sighed and moved his hands to the sides of his head. Dactyle leaned closer to him.

"...So I just wanted to know what you felt during that, how you really felt… Why- Why didn't you tell me to stop?" He awkwardly looked at them.

Every little bit of their lighthearted demeanor, their teasing nature, all of it vanished. Their smile faded away and their blush deepened. They rubbed their neck. Magma's heart raced and his body felt heavy.

"...Yeah, that's- that's a fair question to ask. I'm a little surprised myself that I didn't resist out of instinct."

Their tail slowed in its swaying. He was a little surprised they started like that.

"I was surprised you even did that. I figured maybe a punch, maybe some rough grabbing with my arm, but being picked up by my neck like that? I just didn't expect it. After a second, I... I just got into it, as weird as that sounds. I don't know why, but the way your hold was firm, how your hand felt around my neck..."

They chuckled again, this time a lot more nervously.

"I don't know, all I could do was ask you to do it harder without a second thought. If you're wondering why I didn't say anything about it after that, then... I don't know. I guess I thought it'd be weird and awkward to bring it up after realizing how I entirely felt about it, because how does one even do that?"

Magma looked away. "Yeah, I- I can't blame you there. I… don't know what to say, I never thought you actually liked it… I thought I fucked you up so bad that it just came out."

He felt so much heat in his face that it was unbelievable. Anymore and he thought he would burn up in flames. Magma wouldn't doubt that most of his body was a bright red at this moment. He didn't bother to look at any part of himself. Then he heard Dactyle chuckle happily.

He immediately looked at them to see they were staring at his body. Their smile was bright and wide.

"And I never thought you could glow like this. That's certainly new. Not that I can complain though, du är så stilig som det."

They leaned onto their palm and winked at him. Magma raised an eyebrow while the other furrowed. He looked at his body to understand what they were talking about and his eyebrows shot high up. His fur was glowing, like a glow stick in the dark. His heart pounded and he became flustered, he was at a complete loss for words. Becoming flustered caused his body to glow brighter.

Like Dactyle said, it was something new. Not once did he recall his body ever doing that, not to this extent.

"What in the…?" That was all he could muster. He then snapped his attention back to what they said. "Hold the fuck up, what did you say? Was that… Swedish? And why are you looking at me like that, you cretin?"

They laughed. "So you are able to differentiate what language I'm speaking now! I was wondering if you were gonna be able to do that sooner or later."

He scoffed. "Yeah I'm learning your little tricks now! Still don't know what you said though."

"I'll give you this, Maggie," they put their hand on his face, "I basically complimented you. You'll never know what I said exactly though."

They winked at him.

" You son of a bitch ." He glared at them. "At least it's a compliment this time."

They raised an eyebrow at Magma. "Bitte, you think I've been insulting you this whole time? Ω, εσύ καημένος!"

Magma frowned. Of course they went back to being annoying.

"Oh shut up." They giggled in response. "Still, I'm… a little shocked. You never really complimented me, at least not in a way that I knew it was a compliment. It's… a bit of a confidence booster, not gonna lie."

Half his body was red like an apple at this point. His face might've been redder than it ever had been before. He swore that he would catch on fire any moment now. Magma had a huge smile on his face. It was actually nice getting a compliment from them for a change, and how apparently he wasn't being insulted at any point. Hermo could be messing with him, but it was still a nice feeling.

They chuckled, clearly loving his reaction like that.

"If this is how you react to me complimenting you, maybe I should compliment you in English and Japanese a lot more. If you burst into flames, I'm afraid I'll have to call you hot like a volcano erupting." Dactyle teased.

"You'd be partially to blame for that, y'know that, Dactyle?" He jested.

His fur started to die down. The glow faded away and his fur color returned back to normal. Magma was still surprised but glad they weren't upset about the incident. He rubbed the back of his neck and he chuckled.

He looked at them with a smile. "I'm… I'm glad you're not upset by that, by the way. It makes me feel relieved in a way."

"That's good." They smiled back. "Honestly, I'm glad myself. I... I know we don't always get along, but I was kinda afraid that you might've hated yourself. I know how you get when any of us get hurt, especially if you accidentally hurt us, so..."

"I wouldn't say I hated myself, but I was definitely annoyed by my own issues and stupidity. It's probably one of the worst things I've done…" He paused for a moment, simply staring at his sibling. "...the fact you don't blame me for it is pretty comforting. You're really forgiving, and I forgot that."

"I don't really hold a grudge, ya know this. Now if we want someone who would, look at Diamond , there's no way that grump doesn't hold at least one." Dactyle laughed for a moment before they continued. "Though if anyone were to be blamed, It's probably me. I know you've had anger issues since we were born, yet I'm over here messing with you and provoking you. I know siblings tend to pick on each other, but I don't have to do it as badly as I do."

Magma laughed with them. He knew how true that part was about Diamond holding a grudge. Though it did remind him that he needed to give her a little visit.

"You're right on that." He started. He felt much calmer now. "I suppose you could be blamed a little for it, but it's mainly my fault. I let myself act rash, angry, and I let my emotions get the better of me. I should've been more careful and had a better control of everything. You did remind me that I have to kick Diamond's ass though."

They raised an eyebrow. "Is she what started this? Surprised you didn't do it already."

"Would've, but she didn't tell me directly. I wish I knew how she knew though. Nah, Marino told me and… he suggested going to you."

He then felt Dactyle's tail wrapping around his own. He looked down to confirm it. It slightly surprised him, but he supposed it had been a while since the two did that. It had been a while since they got along period . He let their tails intertwine with each other.

"He always knows how to make everything better." They softly said.

They put their arms around him and held him close. Dactyle rested their head on him. He almost jumped, but it was nice.

"...You know, I'm glad we can close like this. It's… nice, y'know?"

"It... It really is. I forgot how nice these moments can be." They closed their eyes as they relaxed.

Magma relaxed as well. He wrapped his arms around them and kept them close. He looked at the device behind them. It was on the last portion of the practice. He didn't pay much attention to it before, but it seemed like they were keeping themself good with one of the languages they knew. It got him to ponder if he should mess with that app and do some language learning himself.

He decided to think about it for a while.


Everyone heard laughter getting louder.

They all looked up to see where it was coming from. Hermodactyloides and Magma came into view as they walked by the doorway. Magma was smiling and laughing at whatever they said. Some of them had a double take when they saw the sight. Marino and Soma smiled seeing them get along. The two walked in the room.

"Also sagte ich-"

"Something I can understand." Magma raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, my apologies." Dactyle cleared their throat. "So I said, 'be careful, darling, you're gonna trip', and guess what they did?"

"Tripped and fell on their face?" He answered.

"Exactly!"

They laughed together. Jasper squinted her eyes.

"Thith ith… unnatural. Dia, ith the univerthe imploding? I feel like it'th imploding ath we thpeak."

"It's not, but I do agree that them suddenly getting along is jarring." Diamond responded.

"Well, I think it's a good thing." Marino said.

Soma nodded at his statement. Kami's tail wagged.

"I like seeing them like this! They're actually happy!" She added.

Peridot and Emerald nodded in agreement. Aero looked at Astral with a confused look on his face. Astral simply shrugged in response.

Magma threw his arm around their shoulders. "Well, you'll hafta get used to this, because we'll be like this for a while! …Just a while though, it's not gonna last forever."

"He's right, you know! Love it while you can." Dactyle winked.

Marino simply chuckled at their responses to everyone's reactions. It was quite true of what Magma said, though.

It wasn't gonna last forever, so it was best to enjoy it.


A/N: Not gonna lie, I never thought of doing a sequel to the "Accident" chapter, but here we are it seems! I heavily blame messing around with here (I made bots of the fankids, decided to torture Magma some, and uh. Ended up getting to hurt/comfort and sweet territory), I ended up thinking this could be a good idea for a chapter, and I even used some dialogue from the bot stuff for this, albeit with some changes for some parts but still.

Plus there's at least some more Dactyle and Magma interactions so hey there's that XD and Marino with Diamond and Magma interactions, because why not?

Translations for a lot of stuff here-

"ごめんなさい、 ヘルモダクチロイデス" should be obvious with the next line of dialogue making this clear, but just to be safe, but Japanese for "I'm sorry, Hermodactyloides!"

"ขอโทษ จะไม่เคย นำมา ฉัน กลับ!" Thai for "Sorry. Will never. Bring. Me. Back!"

"もちろん、 マグマ。" Japanese for "Sure, Magma."

"Du är så stilig som det." Swedish for "You're so handsome like that."

"Ω, εσύ καημένος!" Greek for "Oh, you poor thing!"