open //

[cambium]

Who: Keigo, et al.
What: gestures broadly
When: end of may
Where: gestures broadly again
Warnings: none yet

[ Keigo opens their eyes to find themselves standing in the mirror room, staring at their own tired reflection a large mirror — with a pounding headache and the last vestiges of vertigo before the world rights itself again. Thinking back, the last thing they remember is being warm and comfortable under the covers on a cool winter night, the taste of hot chocolate still on their lips, the sound of a movie still playing in the background growing more distant and the lights dimming as their consciousness fades. Their joints are stiff and their mouth dry, their wrist sore from the extra tally mark now etched into it.


...


They spend a long time in that mirror room, sinking down onto the floor at rubbing at their wrist as they stare at the mirrors around them, gaze lingering on dense forest and wooden floorboards, flicking this way and that around halls of the school as if trying to find something— someone. It still feels like winter with how cold it is despite long sleeves and pants, breath fogging the glass even with them sitting an arm's length away, red ribbon loosened then removed from around their neck to replace the empty space around their left ankle.

Muddled memories aside, they're certain they've never been down here before, neither the mirror room nor any of these other rooms in the basement once they finally tear themselves away from the mirrors, letting out a terrified scream when something grabs at them when they try to leave and possibly shattering a mirror or four in the process of getting away, but if they don't turn around and look to confirm then it didn't happen and they don't get bad luck, they decided this rule just now.

Not even going to look inside the bloody summoning room, why is there a summoning room.

The hidden entrances and exits are still hidden to them, but hallways only have two ends: one looks like a shaft they're certain they don't have the upper body strength to climb up more than several meters without handholds, and the other leads out to the forest where they're going to walk out into and get hopelessly lost and eventually make their way back to campus maybe if they're lucky.

Then they'll be around wherever and whenever convenient. ]

Comments

[cambium]

Mm.

[ A long long time ago, Chiaki said love felt like dying, and she's right. The inability to breathe, the way your heart feels like it'll burst out of your chest, the sheer immobilizing terror— the only difference between the two, as far as they can tell, is that you die alone. But with love, you love another, and that makes a world of difference. ]

...What are other things I need to know? All I can recall was being absorbed in my own problems...

[ Something about their brother, something about existential crises, something about an escape room puzzle they're not sure they ever actually solved no matter how many times they'd revisited that dream. ]

[decrypter]

That depends on what you want to know.

[drawing back just a little, she smiles for them, the traces of her tears drying on her cheeks.]

There's a lot to know, and someone's gone and made a guide for those less used to the situation, but you have your dreams to guide you. And from there, I can help fill in the gaps.

[cambium]

[ What do they want to know? Everything... is what they want to say, but even they're aware that some things are better left unasked. Their dreams were self-centered dreams, precious memories amongst horrors and darkness they're sure they were shielded from because there would be no way they would forget.

Besides, their dreams are of the past, and what they're curious about, what they're allowed to be curious about now, is the future. ]

Where... do I go from here? Is it okay to just keep living as if everything were okay?

[ Like, they remember lots of darkness. They remember not being able to move or breathe or hear or see. They remember yellow eyes and the sensation of falling and falling and falling and falling.

Is everything really okay? ]

...I don't want to be left in the dark again.

[decrypter]

...You won't be. I can't say it won't be dark at times, but you will not be alone. I'll be with you, and if I'm not right there, I'm searching everywhere for you, keeping you in my heart.

[it's an easy thing to promise, considering the past and what she's already done. what she already promised them, the feeling of their arms as they were freed back into the light, holding on as they fell asleep so they knew utterly certainly that they weren't back there.]

We might not know where we're going - certainly I don't right now - but we can at least puzzle it out together.

[and that said, on impulse, she draws them back to make it a proper hug again.]

...I'm just so happy to see you.

[cambium]

[ The hug takes them by surprise, but it's far from unwelcome, and Keigo easily settles back in her arms, giving her a tight squeeze before relaxing into something more comfortable. There's that feeling again, of "everything will be okay, as long as we're together," which always left them in a lurch whenever they woke up and found themselves alone.

But they aren't anymore, won't ever be. Maybe they never had to be, if they had just been a little braver, and instead of hiding from the world, had ventured out into it to see what it had in store for them. ]

...I'm happy to see you too. I still can't believe this is real... like a dream I'm on the verge of waking up from. But if that happens, I'll come find you, again and again and again and again.

[decrypter]

[it makes her heart feel so full with joy, even if things aren't perfect, even if she wished they hadn't died at all - but she'll never know the maybe, and instead can live in the current.]

It's said you should pinch yourself, if you need to make sure it's not a dream.

[she won't pinch them, though. this is far too comfortable a position.]

[cambium]

[ They don't pinch themselves either, because if it is a dream, it's one they don't want to ever wake from. ]