![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
Sixth.
NIGHTMARE. Riley has been largely absent for the past day; he's needed the time, he's said, to try to sort out what should be done about Darkrai and Cresselia. Whether they can be contacted from a safe distance; whether there's something he can do to ensure that there's no risk to the rest of you. You fall asleep on Friday night. You don't remember deciding to fall asleep on Friday night; perhaps you were in the middle of doing something. Perhaps you were keeping watch over the rest of the group, perhaps you were talking to someone, perhaps you were unable to drift off and sitting up poring over notes or books by flashlight. Perhaps you were already well asleep by the time it happens. Either way, Friday night begins to slip into what's technically Saturday, and that's when you drop off. And you are, quite literally, falling. The sensation is a strong one, somehing that disorients you almost immediately, the sort of thing that happens in dreams only to be accompanied by a hypnic jerk that wakes you up safely in your bed, only that moment of awakening never comes. The landing isn't a hard one, however, wherever you've ended up; it's one you're aware of, but not one that hurts you in any way, there's no physical pain. There's only you, and the ground, and the absolute darkness surrounding you. You should get up. Get your bearings. The darkness won't last long, but what it reveals to you when it breaks might not be as welcome as you might think it is... |
no subject
There's a niggling buzz in the back of Rin's head; the fuzzy sensation of purposefully walking into a room to fetch something, only to forget what you were looking for the moment you cross the threshold.
There's no wayward item out of place here, however. Happy housewife that he is, Shirou's living room is clean and tidy much like always. The simple table that ties the room together is spotless, and—oh, perhaps that's what's out of place.]
Shirou, will there be anyone besides Fujimura-sensei joining us for dinner? I'll set the table.
[It's close to dinner time, after all. Shirou will be in the kitchen cooking for everyone; Saber is no doubt there as well, to curiously observe and no doubt nobly volunteer herself for taste testing. Smiling to herself, Rin makes to join them in the kitchen as well to fetch the plates and silverware they'll need.
Enough for four people... Maybe five, if she can be hopeful?]
no subject
People who are cooking...they usually make noise, don't they?]
no subject
...Shirou?
[Her voice is a little more cautious now. Wary. She can see into the room (it's an open kitchen), but something feels off.]
no subject
no subject
Why this is happening now makes no sense, none of this makes sense, but that's not something she can worry about in the moment. She needs to figure out what's happening quickly, and break them out of it. It's with that in mind then that Rin steps into the kitchen, intending to touch them, look at them...
She can't cast spells anymore; with the Grail gone, these days, all of her magical energy is devoted to keeping Saber anchored to this world. But all of her training is still intact, sharp as even, and she can sense magic. She knows these two like the back of her hand; if there's something wrong or twisted up about their mana, she's sure she'll be able to tell the difference.]
no subject
It's with that realization that Saber abruptly drops to the floor, much in the way of a marionette with its strings cut.]
no subject
Saber!
[Rin cries after her, not having even time to think before Saber is collapsing at her feet. The young mage drops to her knees after her, so heavily that they're sure to bruise. She's breathless with urgency, fingers flitting over her familiar even as one hand reaches for her pockets.]
That's impossible. It doesn't make sense...!
[She gives Saber everything—as much mana as she can spare and them some. Everything she has, save for what mana Rin needs to survive and keep her own strength up. She's the pride of the Tohsaka lineage, though; she has a lot of mana to spare, and Shirou even fills the gap to compensate. What could suddenly cut off the flow between them like this?
(and there's that niggling though in the back of her head again; a worry that feels older than it should, out of place and out of reach)
She has to stabilize Saber, before she disappears. The jewels she always keeps on hand should have enough mana stored in them to do it and buy her the time she needs. Quickly, Rin searches her pockets for them.]
no subject
The more she looks, the more concern fills the air, the darker the room seems to become; there's an abrupt dimming of the lights, dimming of the room, there doesn't seem to be any streaming in from outside and it isn't long before Shirou likewise drops heavily to the ground a short distance away.]
no subject
When what? The thought aborts as Shirou, too, falls beside her and Rin cries out in alarm. One hand fisted in Saber's skirt, she skooches on her knees to check on her boyfriend, touching his face and his throat. What happened to him?]
no subject
The room continues to darken as this goes on; there's no real explanation for this, and without an explanation, how do you plan on fixing it?]
no subject
[Her hands are shaking, and she can't stop them. Rin is well-known for her ability to keep a cool head in a crisis, but perhaps only the boy in front of her knows better than herself that there's exceptions to this. It's easy to catch her off-guard in this way; when someone in front of her is badly hurt, it's like all of her cleverness goes out the window, and she doesn't know how to react. The same thing happened that time Shinji attacked the school, leaving all of her classmates lifelessly strewn about, near dead.
Shirou was the one to react quickest back then, moving right away to help them all while she'd fought against the nausea, unable to get past the doorway.
It's a normal reaction, but she has to get past it. There's something she can do here—there has to be! She promised. She promised she would look after him and they would be happy, so there has to be something she can do. A critical detail she's missed, or something she hasn't thought of yet!
Her first thought is to start CPR, or look for her gems. Speaking of critical details though, it's now she notices the darkness encroaching on the room. Something tells her it's the real threat. Right. So she has to stop it first.
But how?]
no subject
The darkness continues to spread throughout the room, gathering in intensity the more the panic and despair rises; as soon as the threat is realized as a coherent thought it becomes absolute, encompassing everything in oppressive pitch black nothingness, and the lifeless bodies of Shirou and Saber are the last to go, leaving you alone and with the lingering thought that you should have done something more.
But you aren't completely alone, in the end; it seems the others have located each other, more or less - Kayneth and Kiryu, Rey and Zelda, they're here with you as well. They all look like they've seen better days, granted, but they're trying to get themselves sorted, it seems.]
no subject
But difficult certainly isn't the same as impossible, so checking herself would have been her next move. It seems just the thought of it was enough to break the nightmare, however, so while her breath hitches as Shirou's kitchen disappears into pitch black, she's somehow... Of course. Of course it was something like this.
Shirou and Saber's bodies linger just a little longer than the rest of the home they've made, and that mental image is going to linger with her for a long time after this. This happened because you weren't here, they seem to say and she knows it's true. It's her fault.
This is an illusion that—for all she knows—might be reality. Saber disappearing and Shirou following (albeit in a more self-destructive style) has been Rin's very real fear for months.
Some of the others are here too, she notices now. Zelda and Kiryu, Rey and Kayneth... The latter two look like messes in particular, Jesus. Someone get Kayneth some eye drops and a stress ball. The squishy kind.
Rin herself is still upset, however, the anxiety the nightmare induced in her still lingering like her heart hasn't caught up with her head yet. Her chest aches with a sob she refuses to let out, unsure if it's relief or something else, so... She'll just remain quiet for now, trying to calm down and piece together what's going on.]