outdistanced | turbo heaven 🌼 chrono

[ hey. what. the mirrors immediately put him on edge after all the funhouse nonsense a few weeks ago, but everything else... is new. why is the sky like that? what's with the flowers? he unsuccessfully tries to wave away the smell.

the only thing here that laurence understands offhand is that that's chrono, by that messed up chair. so he carefully begins picking his way over, stepping around mirrors and gears as much as he can. ]

Chrono...? Where are we?

[ the figure of chrono flinches, but does not look up at laurence's voice. behind the chair, as he approaches, the darkness parts to reveal a broken... gate, of some kind. round, like a portal, though with the top broken so it no longer makes a complete circle. ]

I... I don't--

[ his voice is small, shaky, and even before he's able to finish whatever sentence might have formed another voice echoes through the room, stirring the petals at the edges. it sounds like a small child and an adult man at once. ]

"My Peacemaker."

[ chrono's head snaps up, and he turns to face laurence with wide, terrified eyes. ]

[ pauses to stare in absolute confusion. you can do that to portals? just break them? that's possible? just as he's opening his mouth to ask what the hell's going on, that voice calls out, startling him. he looks out at the petals and voided sky for answers they don't offer, then back at chrono. ]

What... [ what was that? who was that? why does he look so afraid? (and so young?)

worried, he takes another step forward. ]

I don't know what's going on here, but we should probably go.

[ the younger form of chrono nods, hastily, scrambling to his feet like he wants to be anywhere but here. his face is ashen, hair plastered with cold sweat, and he's a good half-foot shorter than the older teen laurence is familiar with. but before he can move beyond that, a figure appears (or maybe, was always there?) at the top of the chair-- throne? it's hard to focus on the form of it, but the child who appears is in perfect detail.

when the child speaks, it's that same echoing two-layered voice. in their hand, a white card. ]

"My Peacemaker. If I had found you first, how great we could have been."

[ chrono is frozen, halfway in motion to flee. the child reaches down, and in that chair - unclear at first, with the blackened surface - cradles the face of what appears to be a charred corpse in their small hand. ]

"Instead you suffer. All continue to suffer."

Who the hell are you?!

[ CREEPY ASS CHILD. WHY IS THERE A CORPSE NOW. HATE IT HERE.

laurence is only going to get close enough to reach chrono because this! is insane, thanks! he wants out! placing a hand on his shoulder - he's so much shorter, this is weird - and drawing him closer. ]

We are not staying here with this freak.

[ that portal doesn't really look viable, but there has to be something. ]

[ who are they indeed!!

a question especially pertinent when their form wavers, and in the shadows behind them, there's a vague vision of a four-armed demon, multiple eyes shining in green. another voice is added to the layers, pitched and painful. chrono winces in laurence's hold, hands coming up to his head. ]

N-no...

"You know why sakura blossoms bloom pink? It's because they feed on the blood of bodies buried beneath them." [ the card in the child's hand glows, and fills with an image. their silhouette glows in multicolour, and above them in the black void of sky, a dragon coalesces into existence, larger than the building. ] "How many will lie beneath yours?"

[ the dragon - the end of the world, dust - lowers one great claw and smashes through the far wall like it was never there. debris scatters, and the younger chrono curls against him, shaking.

then, a more familiar voice. ]

--Laurence!!

[ the chrono he's familiar with, taller and older, hand outstretched behind them. the door - more a hazy, indistinct circle of light - he leans through is small, barely large enough to fit him. ]

Leave him! It's okay!

[ the sight makes him jump, grip tightening on chrono's shoulder as his other hand goes to his ear in a miserable attempt to block some of the sound. very helpful when using just one hand, idiot.

he wants so bad to snap back at them, something about how plants don't work like that, because he's confused and a little scared and when that happens laurence just gets mad and doesn't necessarily think things through. for better or worse, this horrible dragon makes whatever he would have said die in his throat. debris flies, and he instinctively tries to pull chrono a little closer protectively.

...then there's another chrono calling his name? ]

Huh?

[ looking between the two of them?? on the one hand, he obviously can't do anything useful here. on the other just leaving when the bitty chrono is so freaked out also feels wrong? ]

How is that okay?! What's going on?

It's okay! I'll get him!!

[ the older one's hand is pushed even further forward, insistent. the younger one shrinks away, hands clutching his head in pain. the older one's expression is drawn, tense, and shocked. ]

Please, you need to leave, before--

"My Peacemaker. Our Singularity. You should have stayed ignorant."

[ dust's other claw lowers, cleaving through the visions of the child and demon, through the blackened chair and the burned corpse, great talon merely meters away. how the floor stays stable enough for them to remain standing is the crux of nightmare logic here, as dust's narrow snout lowers through the roof and stops before them, eyes intelligent and full of malice. ]

--shit.

[ the older chrono leaps from his shaky doorway, as from atop dust's head a figure rises, stepping down the dragon's head as if descending a mundane staircase. gyze regards laurence with a vague air, before dropping to a knee and extending its hand toward the younger chrono instead. ]

"Would you prefer the silence?"

[ well. he's unnerved, uncertain, and hesitant to let the smaller chrono go when he's so terrified, but... laurence did say he trusted him. however reluctant, he nods and pulls away. the door looks unsteady, a portal barely being held together, but he starts for it, anyway.

the other claw lowers. he flinches, ducks a little on instinct, only glancing back in time to see that figure descend. he remembers only from the memory at the party that week - a friend of chrono's. is that the kazuma he'd been telling laurence about? maybe it's not. but if that's really him, then... oh, no.

he backs away, shooting an uneasy glance at the chrono he knows. ]

Chrono...?

[ is there no way to stop it? ]

[ the younger chrono reaches for him on instinct, as he pulls away, but quickly the boy's vision seems to go glassy and distracted as dust completes its descent. almost automatic, as if practiced. this isn't the first time these events have played out in this nightmarescape.

gyze is patient, and does not press. in reality, this meeting never happened - the lonely, abandoned boy and the deity of destruction - but that was the root of this nightmare. possibilities, twisted and unkind. the temptation he might have had, once, to simply let it all go. the older chrono reaches for laurence's wrist apologetically, hearing the unspoken question, and shakes his head.

the younger one takes the offered hand, and those supernatural gold eyes narrow as the deity smiles softly.

sakura petals kick up from the sides. the smell of rotten flowers is cloying, overpowering, mingled with the scent of smoke and - as laurence now knows it (yay) - burning flesh. there's a split-second cacophony, like endless voices crying out, and then-- everything blinks to utter, utter silence.

all that's left in the black void is the two of them, and the form of the young chrono once again alone amid the nothingness. ]

[ deeply distressing how his eyes go blank like that. laurence instantly regrets pulling away, but chrono's hand on his wrist is reassuring, in a way. he knows what's happening, even if laurence could hardly start to guess.

he chokes on the smell. flowers are one thing, he's gotten used to it, but not like this - but the smell of burning flesh from that investigation still haunts him, makes him reel with nausea. no wonder chrono looked so bad after they reported back.

then, all at once, it's all gone. ]

What? [ just him and two chronos in the black of space. fantastic. utterly lost, he looks at the older one. ] What's going on?

Time to wake up.

[ he'll separate from laurence for a moment, taking soundless steps to the vision of his former self. the younger is crying, silent as the rest of the surroundings, and as chrono places his hands on those shaking shoulders he steps forward and the two... meld, almost. what's left is just the older one, hand on his chest.

there's nothing else here. except... god, laurence. why was he here? no one else needed to see this, the amalgam mess of various horrors shattered apart and reconstructed like a trauma mosaic, that always ended in this silence which woke him shuddering in cold sweat some nights. chrono seems at a loss for what to do, for a moment, eyes a little wild. ]

Sorry. I'm sorry, that must've been- [ he moves back over, hands raised as if unsure he should even be touching him again. ] You need to wake up, okay?

[ watches baby chrono be absorbed, completely uncomprehending. what the hell is happening! ]

What are you talking about? What just - what was that?

It's a nightmare, Laurence.

[ the longer they stand here, the more oppressive the blankness feels. like an inevitability, a crushing weight, a complete stop. nothing. silence without depth or end.

chrono does reach for him, gingerly, holding his upper arms. he can't be here. ]

Please, wake up.

[ he flinches, but doesn't pull away. ]

Shit. Okay. H-How do I...

[ how is he supposed to just wake up on command! fuck! he squeezes his eyes shut for a moment, thinking hard, and then just. reaches up to pinch his other arm. that's what they say to do, right? will that work? maybe? it does hurt.

when he opens his eyes again, it's to the familiar surroundings of his room. no sign of chrono or mirrors or sakura petals, just his chao and penny napping in a pile of spare blankets and pillows.

after just a moment to regain his bearings, laurence throws himself out of bed to head for the door. ]

Edited 2025-03-25 15:32 (UTC)

[ and he's gone. it's the only sense of relief chrono gets to have, knowing that it will take a little longer for this silence to bear down enough to wake him.

it feels much, much longer than the couple of minutes it actually is. he wakes with a gasp, shaking, curling in on himself for a second to calm down and not wake taair. back home, these nightmares had slowed to barely anything, but here they'd come back full force.

--shit. laurence. why had he- the fucking weekly effect. he'd seen dreams today. this had to be another aspect. okay. fuck. he's out of bed so quietly, stepping out the door so quietly, and-- well, they're only two doors down, so.

he stares at laurence in the half-dark of the hall, expression caught between shock and shame. ]

[ yeah, no, enough staring. laurence is marching right up to pull him into a hug. ]

I'm sorry.

[ for which part, he doesn't say. seeing something that private? being there in the middle of it, making chrono worry? or maybe just that he had a nightmare at all?

all of the above, maybe. ]

[ ah. he's tense with surprise for barely a moment before he melts into it, wrapping his arms around laurence's back and burying his face in his shoulder. ]

No, don't- all that stuff barely makes sense to in my own head, you shouldn't have had to see any of it.

[ he's still post-terror feverish, cold to touch but feeling like he's burning up. ]

Thanks. For- for trying, with him. With me.

I'm fine, Chrono.

[ but you clearly are not? the clammy skin, the fever... there isn't much he can think of to help but just hold him for a little bit, rubbing his back.

just a dream. it's still bad, but better than the alternative, which he absolutely does not want to think about.

still worried and a little dazed, he mumbles in reply. ] I'm always going to.

[ it helps. it really, really helps, having someone comfort him through the cooldown. his breathing evens out fairly quickly as he focuses on the feeling of being held, the hand on his back.

just a dream. specters of dark paths untrodden, that's all they were.

and, well. if that doesn't make his hands curl against laurence's back and press his face even more into his neck, what else would. ]

...you should get back to sleep.

I told you, I'm fine.

[ might be hard to get to sleep after that, anyway, which he is not going to say and give chrono something to feel worse about. he settles for shifting in three embrace, just enough to peek at the mess of red hair at his shoulder. ]

It looked pretty bad. [ softly. ] Are you going to be okay?

[ for a split second he thinks the little change in hold is finally pushing him away, but-- he knows better than that, now. so he clings a little more, selfishly, neck angling enough to meet laurence's eyes with a narrowed, drawn green one. ]

It... it was a pretty bad one.

[ often, those nightmares just picked one event of the past to focus on, brief reminders of mistakes and potential aftermaths that never happened. sometimes, of ones that did. full nightmares like the one they'd just experienced were rarer. ]

But they happen a lot. I'll be fine in a bit.

Seriously...?

[ sure, everyone gets nightmares now and then, but that often? and that bad? he breathes out a sigh. ]

Anything I can do to help?

Not usually that bad. Less. Weekend just got to me.

[ probably.

he falls quiet for a moment, just letting more of the static in his mind bleed out. he turns his face back to press into his shoulder, suddenly aware they're doing this in the hallway. ugh, stupid. it still takes him a second to actually make his request. ]

...could I sleep the rest of the night in your room? I don't wanna wake Taair if it happens again.

[ and staying close to you feels better. ]

I get it. It was way worse than usual, somehow.

[ easy enough to let him use that excuse, and not question it more. maybe later, when it's not as raw, and they're not in the middle of the hall were anyone could see or hear.

still. the request and accompanying makes his cheeks turn a little pink but he resolutely ignores that. ]

Y-Yeah. 'Course you can. You guys let me crash with you before, so it wouldn't be fair if I didn't let you, too. I've still got a bunch of extra blankets and stuff, too.

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