Grian stayed by Mumbos side the entire night, falling asleep soon after the redstoner did.

He ignored the faint markings on Mumbos back visible even through his shirt, twisting around each other like lace.
He knew what it meant. Midnight was not the time to drop another bombshell on Mumbo.
That could wait, right?

The rest of the night passed by rather quickly, the flowers Mumbo summoned were retreating back into the walls, the vines twisting themselves into the roots that made up the house and come morning light, it all looked normal again.
The only remnant of the event were the red marks around Grians neck.
He pulled the collar of his sweater higher so Mumbo wouldn't have to see it.

It was nice, having Blue over again, Grian decided. It felt like the old times, wasting hours upon hours talking about meaningless nonsense and reminiscing about pranks they pulled off. Maybe he should find the tree Blue mentioned earlier.
The one that grew because an overcharged crystal exploded.

Wait.

If...if overcharged crystals were highly reactive on their own...what would happen if more than one were to explode? Or react to each other?

Grian rushed out of bed and scrambled down the ladder in a hurry, cramming seemingly random materials into his bag before scribbling a quick note to Mumbo and sprinted out the door.
If he was right- if what he thought would happen actually did happen, then he had the answer to the magic problem.

He could fix everything.

He could save everything.

"Red where are you going?" A voice called out and Grian turned around to see who it was.

"Blue! Brilliant- where's Lemur? Or is the lab set up?" The words tumbled out in one big rush, his excitement evident.

"The labs set up. Third door on the left, you know where the branch is." Blue smiled. It wasn't the first time he had seen Grian like this, flustered and excited about an idea he had, rushing to test it, get everything down on paper before it slipped his mind.

"Can you tell Dust where the lab is? I left a note in the house since he's not up yet. Give him directions, he'll be fine!" Grian shouted over his shoulder as he bounded away towards the research branch, leaving a very confused Blue in his tracks.

The lab was exactly how he remembered it.
It was slightly more industrial-looking than the rest of the court because it was harder to lose test subjects in a white and grey environment than one made of branches and leaves. The insects and small animals liked to hide a lot.

But everything that Grian needed was inside and it felt like he was coming home properly. He was in his element.
He set a few crystals from his bag down on a counter, placing one in the middle of a small circle of runes, lining the edges with some flowers.
And sure enough, the flowers died and the crystal glowed faintly with power.
Just as expected.
And like any good scientist would do, Grian wrote down the results on a piece of paper, the top half full of chicken scratched ideas on how it would all work.

He had one crystal partially powered.
But he'd need a hell of a lot more magic and energy to overcharge them.

So he made a slightly larger circle of runes and stood on the edge with the tiny crystal in the center again, and he watched as it glowed fiercer and started sparking dangerously.

Perfect.

And okay, maybe he was a little woozy, black spots dotting the corners of his vision, but he had one overcharged crystal. He'd need another. He could do this.

He needed to do this.

Grian placed another crystal in the center of the circle and once again stood on the edge, watching it as it slowly started to glow with magic.

He felt dizzy.
He should stop.

Pins and needles pricked his fingertips and he felt lightheaded, wobbling even though he was standing still.

He really needed to step off the runes.

but...

He really needed to succeed.

His stomach twisted in knots as he felt sick, head pounding- were the lights always this bright? It felt too bright suddenly, and he couldn't feel his feet and he felt unsteady- maybe he went a little too far, but it was too late.

Too late, too late, too late.

Grian felt himself lilt to one side until the world went sideways. He didn't have the energy to even catch himself, hitting the floor like a sack of bricks. He stared at the crystal as it slowly, oh so slowly started to glow brighter, black filling his vision before he could see it start to spark.

The world went quiet as Grian passed out, the runes still feeding the crystal with his own energy.