"Hold on Midas I'm coming. Where are you being held?"

"The castle outside the abducted factory. H-Hurry!"

"Hang tight buddy, I'll be there soon!"

Jones picks up the pace as he runs to the location Midas gave him. He sounded like he was beaten and out of breath, and he only wanted to get there in time before his boyfriend gets hurt even more.

As Jones pauses to catch his breath he notices something glitter in the corner of his eye. It looked like...a rift butterfly?

"Huh, not every day you see these lil guys." He chuckles.

Jones points out a finger, beckoning it to come over. It flutters towards him, but instead lands on his nose, making him snicker.

"I suppose perching on my nose works too, haha."

It begins teleporting him elsewhere. But conveniently enough he lands outside the ruined castle. He runs inside and finds two aliens pointing their weapons at Midas, who was lying on the floor, scars over his body.

"Hey! Get away from him!"

He punches the nearest one away, snatching the weapon it had as well. It stands up, facing him, but it has no time to react as Jones shoots it through the head. He lowers the weapon slightly, looking at the alien as it falls in front of his feets. His brain was thinking back to how Janice died...

And how he killed that alien the same way...

He remains frozen in place, giving the other alien a chance to open fire on him.

However, he doesn't get that chance as Midas, weak as he was, stretches out a hand and turns it to gold. Jones notices and goes to help him up.

"Midas! Oh god are you alright?!"

"Y-Yes. I am fine. Thank you for the assistance...uh..."

He pauses. Jones looks at him, confused.

"Jonesy..? C'mon dude, you know my name."

"Oh, r-right. Sorry, my memory is... a bit fuzzy at the moment." He mutters, a hand on his head.

"What happened? What were you doing here?"

"I...was investigating something. It's no concern of yours. But those aliens ambushed me..." He explains as Jones puts Midas' arm over his shoulder. "My mind is... blurry. They must have probed my memory..."

"Why would they do that? What do they want from you?"

"I...do not know. They never said anything."

Jones hums, looking to the sceptre in the stone nearby.

"I... do remember something though. Something... very worrisome."

"What is it?"

"I'll... I'll explain when we get back..."

"Alright. C'mon."

The rift butterfly from earlier seemed to have disappeared, so Jones had to carry Midas a long way to get back home, and to Jules.

Needless to say, she probably wasn't going to be too happy...

Midas looks up at Jones, smirking at him. However, he was too focused on getting home to notice.

He stumbles with his footing, and Jones tries to keep him standing. He was beginning to feel quite lightheaded.

"I...I don't feel so good..."

Without a second to process his words Midas falls unconscious in Jones' arms, only barely catching him.

"Oh god. We gotta get you home."

Picking him up and holding him close Jones begins making the long journey home.

----------

A couple hours later...

After a while, the boys arrive at Pleasant Park. It was getting dark out and Jones, holding Midas with his strong right arm, didn't want to be out for too much longer. So he rings the doorbell, hoping his boyfriend's sister would respond.

"Jules I know you hate me but can you please answer the door? It's kinda urgent."

No response.

"...I have Midas with me, and he's not looking so great."

Footsteps make their way to the door.

"Alright John what's wrong with- Oh my god!!"

Jules pulls Jones inside and picks Midas up in her arms. Her face shows genuine concern.

"What happened to him?"

"Some aliens attacked and I went to rescue him."

"Well you did a shit job at it. Look at him!"

"I at least tried. Can I-"

"No. Let ME look after him for once like family should. You've done enough."

Jules carries Midas into his room, closing the door. Jones sighs, lying on the couch and looking up at the ceiling his eyes threatening to close.

Jules quickly comes back out though, closing the door again.

"Well?"

"Okay. I've put him in bed. He'll probably wake up by tomorrow morning."

Jules turns to her bedroom before looking back at Jones and saying;

"...I think you'll survive one night without someone else in bed with you."

And leaves him to his thoughts. He lies back down again and closes his eyes, praying that for once his fears would leave him alone just for tonight.

____

A car pulls up outside the owner's house, and the driver steps out. The driver being Cabbie, one of Jones' old snapshots.

"Another successful day. Not too shabby Cabbie." He mutters.

Footsteps become audible as he approaches his front door, and he turns around.

"Hm? Who's there?"

Using a flashlight that wasn't the brightest attached to his keys he points it straight ahead and notices a golden hand in the dim light.

"Oh, it's just you. Midas right?"

...

"Hey, you good man?"

. . .

"Midas? What..."

. . .

"Hey, hang on a sec!"

. . .

"Wait, sto-"

. . .

----------

Even more hours later...

...

......

.........

The man responds to the others voice eventually, groaning in discomfort.

"Ugh, my head... what happened?"

Trying to use his gold hands to push himself up, Midas grunts. He felt so weak. With next to no strength left, he collapses back onto the floor.

"Who's there? Where am I?"

His vision was blurry as all hell, but Midas could make out what looked like a pale purple hand with black nails wearing a glove. He stretches out a hand, taking ahold of the others.

"T-Thank you. It's nice to... huh?"

He looks up at the person and the first thing he notices is a pair of gleaming purple eyes staring at him, plus glowing white scars going down their face, over the eyes, and down their arms.

Midas retracts his hand, backing into the wall and standing up with a wobble. Summoning his power gold begins spreading from his arms, illuminating the place.

"Listen. I don't know if I can trust you. You give off a dark aura. But I'll fix that in a hurry, then get out of here."

Before either can say anything else, a sharp electrocuting pain surges through Midas' body from his back. He lets out a pained yell, and the gold quickly drains back to his wrists.

He falls back onto the ground, gripping his hands. Taking in a proper look at his surroundings he realises he's in a prison cell containing nothing but a single bed with a mattress and an old worn out pillow of some kind.

The person mutters, kneeling in front of him.

Midas flinches, looking up at the person to get a better look at their facial features, and his eyes widen in shock;

Apart from the black hair with touches of purple on top, his face was the exact same as Jones!!

His clothing was just like Jonesy The First's outfit except a lot darker and his scarf and baggy trousers had strange purple runes all over them.

"Jonesy? Is that you? Or am I talking to another one of his snapshots?"

His eyes also widen.

"So you're one of John Jones' snapshots, right?"

"So what's your name?"

---------