azume | 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...

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[...

OKAY CAN HE USE HEALING MAGIC HE'S GOING GOT TRY HEALING MAGIC]

[You can try.

The more you attempt to do it, though, the less light you have to work with; the visible light in the room will abruptly dim down every time something is attempted, and she doesn't seem to be waking up any.]

[He should probably have gotten the memo that something about this situation is off by that point, but... nope, he’s too busy freaking out and trying to at least get Sola to breathe again, because he is a genius, one of the brightest minds of his era with nine generations of circuits backing him up, surely he can accomplish some simple healing-]

Damnit, why won’t it work?! Why won’t it work?

[why is it so dark, where is the phone— if he can’t fix it, then-

[There doesn't seem to be anything in this room that can help you.

The darkness continues to encroach, as does the feeling you're already experiencing - this is your fault somehow, isn't it?]

[oh, buddy, you know it. I mean, maybe this is something that just happened-some congenital heart defect, some allergic reaction... or maybe there was some sort of assassination while he was off screwing around with Pokemon... but either way, he should be able to fix it now. He should, but he can't.

Just like all the other timelines, apparently. Despite all the praise and accolades he'd received, when things get serious and actually matter, he's totally useless. Completely useless. Even with that encroaching into his mind, he keeps trying, any attempts to actually say anything disintegrating into incoherent sobbing.]

[And as you disintegrate into sobbing, the room disintegrates into darkness; you aren't alone, however - it may take you a while to realize this, given the...everything, but Kiryu is also here, seeming just as aware of the darkness and the people in it as you. So is Rey, but she's acting bizarrely in that she's off crying in whatever counts for a corner around here and apologizing to empty space... Meanwhile, Zelda is walking somewhere like a very rattled woman on a mission, and Rin is doing a somewhat unsettling job of checking the vitals on someone that isn't there.]

[....I mean it’s gonna take him a while to compose himself, but once he does he’s going to...

...have... a realization........

...

He just kind of kneels down in embarrassment and shoves his face in his hands because oh god people probably saw that.]

[Kiryu only saw the very end of that. He approaches, having chosen Kayneth as the first person to try to reach]

Kayneth! You hear me?!

[He's not sure if they're all figments of his imagination or what]

[he’s not going to remove his hands from his face, so he’ll sound a bit muffled when he responds.]

Only if you didn’t see any of that. Otherwise I’ve gone temporarily deaf.

I have no idea what you're talking about. [He lies, and approaches Kayneth] Come on, stand up. Are you real? Are you...really here?

[He's not sure if he'll like the answer. If Kayneth is just his imagination, then that means what he saw in Haruka's room is reality? Did he just snap and start hallucinating out of despair?]

No, I’m here.

[he rubs his eyes a bit and stands up, looking Kiryu over...]

Ah... you haven’t keeled over yet. That’s... that’s good.

Sixth.

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