Almost Too Little, Almost Too Late

Jedediah knew luck could eventually run out, he just didn't expect his to run out so, soon.

He knew he was trapped in the hourglass, anyone with common sense could tell you that, he just wanted to hold on to that sliver of hope that maybe-just maybe-Octavius would be back in time to save him.

That maybe Octavius would find a way to get him out and he could finally confess his love for him, that they would walk out of here and go back home.

But luck had it in for him now.

Jedediah snapped out of his stupor and looked at all the sand gathering around him, felt the sand raining down on top of him onto his hat, felt it in the way he could not longer move his legs below the knee.

He knew this was the end for him, knew that this was the end of long nights spent with Octavius, knew this was the end of longing glances, of simple touches with so much more meaning behind them than words could say, he knew it was the end for, them.

Jedediah looked, again, at the room around him. He felt a wetness sting at the back of his eyes, felt it pool at the corners and then stream down his face.

He felt no need to hide that he was crying, it was the end of his world after all.

The sand was up to Jedediah's mid-thigh now, he could hardly move his legs. The calmness of the room wasn't right, it didn't fit the setting to him. He screamed, he sobbed and screamed at Kahmunrah for trapping him, assuring him Ocatvius and Gigantor would save him-they would save him, right?

What if he was completely and utterly alone now, what if something had happened to the two people he was relying on? Jedediah looked to his hands with wide eyes, tears still glistening in his eyes.

He gripped his sides with trembling hands, the sand now up to his hips. This was the most agonizingly slow hour he had ever endured and to make it worse, he was alone save for his thoughts.

He looked up to the sound of voices, all too familliar voices. He saw Larry, his Gigantor yelling at Kahmunrah, trying his hardest to get kahmunrah to give him Jedediah-he wouldn't give in.

Infact, Kahmunrah came closer to Jedediah, "Let's speed this up, shall we?" He spoke before picking up the hourglass and slightly shaking it to get more sand into the bottom. Jedediah gasped as he was thrown off of his feet, knocking into the wall. He grunted as he got back up, now covered even further in sand, but thankfully now on top of it.

He was dizzy now, there was so much going on around Jedediah that he couldn't quite process it all. There were mobsters, bird-men, Larry, and others he couldn't name.

He looked as far as his eyes would focus, as far as his encased body would allow yet still, no sign of the man he loved.

He panicked, maybe something truly had happened to Octavius. What if he was injured all because of Jedediah? What if he was dead?

Jedediah tried to calm himself, feeling even more encased than he already was. He could hardly breathe, the sand encasing him up to his jaw. He tried to move, but he couldn't and-oh, he's hurtling to the floor.

He groans, getting tossed around the hourglass as he falls until it finaly stops dropping. He opens his eyes and immediately regrets it as sand comes pouring into his eyes.

Jedediah panicked, he couldn't move, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't see. The sand was completely encasing him, covering him in his entirety. He felt the weight against his chest, felt in the way it was in his eyes, felt it in the way he couldn't breathe, couldn't move-he felt it in the way it was filling his mouth, his throat, his nose. He felt the sand in the way it filled him, holding him as if he were in a horrible hug, slowly tearing him further from the surface like a terrible ocean.

He cried, it seemed the only thing he was good at in the moment. With each sob-filled cry more sand would fill his throat, his airways, to the point it was all he could taste, all he could feel. It was as if he himself were turning into sand, slowly crumbling and breaking.

He wanted his Octavius, he wanted to hold him and never let him go, wanted to morph into him so there would never be a chance of seperation again.

Jedediah couldn't even hear the fight raging on around him there was so much sand, he couldn't hear the fact that his world, his Octavius had found him.

Octavius was scanning the room with wide eyes, searching for the hourglass that held his dearest friend. He ran and searched for him, his Jedediah, his world. He looked to the ground further from him and his heart dropped, for there was the hourglass that cotained Jedediah-only the bottom was full, and only jedediah's hat could be seen.

Octavius ran faster than he had ever run in his life, dashing under people's feet, between their legs, and finally to his friend. He looked worriedly at the hourglass, fear clear on all of his features and at the tears that were streaming down his face.

He panicked, he had no way to get Jedediah out of the hourglass, no way to save the only person to have mattered in his life, the person who had chaged his everything.

Suddenly, as if given to him by the gods, he had an idea. Rapidly he undid the straps that held his helmet to his head and began to break the glass. He smiled as the glass broke, reaching in to grab Jedediah and pull him out.

Jedediah had given up, he was certain no one was coming for him, what with him being buried in sand. He was so dizzy, his head was reeling from this reality and he couldn't breathe. He was so very close to passing out, teetering on the very brink of consciousness.

All he could do was cry as he clamped his eyes shut even tighter, the sand weighing on him like stones. He thought to the very moment he and Octavius had met, how they had immediately begun to fight. He thought about how they had grown closer, so close infact that he had grown to love the man. A choked sound escaped him, somewhere between a laugh and a sob.

He was close to finally teetering to unconsciousness, close to just letting all of his stress go... That was until he felt the sand shift.

Jedediah sat up and gasped, eyes snapping open to the scene around him. He didn't even absorb the scene before his eyes locked with his loves, his Octavius'. He jumped to his feet and pulled Octavius into a hug, holding him so tight that there was virtually no space between them. He sobbed into Octavius' shoulder, and him the same to Jedediah. They swayed side-to-side, refusing to let go for as long as possible.

Before it had time to register to either men they had kissed eachother, rough lips slotting against torn and bleeding and noses bashing together. Both men melted together, Jedediah's hands cupped Octavius', and Octavius' gripping Jedediah's hips.

Jedediah was the first to break the kiss, putting his forehead against his now lover's, looking into his eyes while both laughing and sobbing. Blue eyes like the ocean and brown eyes like leather stared into eachother, smiles looking like grimaces from crying but smiles none the less.

The longer they held eachother the more the world around them ceased to exist. The only reason it came back into their reality was because Larry had come to get them, to take them home. With one last longing look into eachother's eyes, Jedediah parted to get his hat, brushing the sand off of it and putting it back on.

As Larry took all of them home, Jedediah and Octavius never once let go of eachother. The two lovers were determined to stay together, to never go through something like that again, always be there and love eachother.