outdistanced | turbo heaven 🌼 chrono

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.

[ he just makes a noise of acknowledgement, not wanting to go down that spiral of overthinking the events of the weekend. confusing! bad!

maybe one day he'll stop being surprised by his requests being acquiesced to, but today is not that day. with a sigh, he draws back, running both hands through his hair as if to make sure his head's still on straight. he's too frazzled to even catch the embarrassment. ]

Thanks. Know it's kind of askin' a bit after that, but...

[ it's fine he doesn't have to pick up on that part! in fact, please don't! ]

Chrono... [ god. he sighs and lets his arms fall back to his sides. ] Whatever that nightmare was supposed to be, I'd sleep better knowing you're feeling better, anyway. So shut up and just come with me already.

[ he says, patiently waiting for chrono. ]

[ ah. well then.

he glances to the side, a grateful smile mixed in with the hesitation, but does as instructed. shuts up and follows.]

[ well. good. luckily they are just two doors away, so it's not like it's a long trek. the door is already ajar, with penny poking her fingers out to check on him, so he just scoops her up on the way in to deposit her on yves' bed.

what does their room even look like now most of the collectibles were from yves... there are still a lot of blankets and pillows, for some reason, currently in a large pile on the floor where his chao's been snoozing. his gun is here, leaning against a wall with a few of polaroid pictures strung up for display. there are still a few flowers left over from last week scattered around the room, and way more fish food than anyone would ever need for a two month time span set aside for puffy. he really needs to mail that stuff to yves. ]

Make yourself at home.

[ penny, bless her heart(?), gets a little wave as he makes his way in. he's seen the room before, but much more packed than this - it does seem a little lonely, without all of yves's affects scattered around. the sight of the gun does make his mouth twist with concern, but at this point the sight was less of a surprise.

he's fully prepared to just pile up a blanket nest on the floor and bury himself in it, but the sight of the chao snoozing gives him pause. ]

Can I... move this guy, or...?

[ penny waves back! she's always happy to see chrono even if she is a little confused by him being here at this hour. ]

Yeah, you can just move him over by Penny. Guarantee he'll fall back asleep in, like, three seconds.

[ that said. he is pulling out a red blanket from his own bed to offer. ]

This is the warmest one. Charlie sent it last week.

[ with a nod, he'll gently scoop the dozing chao up with the topmost blanket, popping over on yves's bed. penny gets a little tap on the hand of thanks as well.

when he turns back to see laurence taking one of his own blankets off his bed, the sound of protest he makes dies quickly in his throat. there's no point arguing this, really - he just takes it with a nod and drapes it over his shoulders right away. trust charlie to be on top of things. ]

Thanks. You'll be alright without it?

[ he leans down to pull the blanket pile into a less-chao more-human-appropriate arrangement, taking a seat against some propped-up pillows for now. it'll take a bit before he can actually sleep again, but this is. better. ]

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