songerein | [open] 🔶 more nightmares? that's just life

Who: Ferran, his dreamscape & you!
Which: interactive dream
What: Ferran dreams of his last moments before arriving in Reverein.
Warnings: blood, unhealthy relationships?? (I'll match format!)

A penthouse balcony looks over a lit city late at night, the roar of the freezing wind almost drowning out the distant sound of traffic. But any observers would only have a brief moment to appreciate it before the sudden appearance of two figures in a flash of glittering light: a dark man in a cape, and a teenager in a torn costume with apparent shackles, bleeding heavily from injuries to his shoulder and side. The former, already holding the latter in a tight grip, places a clawed gauntlet over one of the wounds where a faint light begins to glow.

After a few moments, the young man's expression seems to relax from his grimacing, orange eyes staring dully at the night sky as the bleeding slows and eventually stops.

"Why," the man hisses at his ward, his expression tight and brow furrowed deeply behind his eye mask as he continues his healing. Ferran lets out a weak chuckle, apparently unmoved by the sharp tone and look.

"It's funny," he responds with hardly more than a whisper. "I should hate you. I even fantasized about... taking you with me, once."

There's a faint smile on his face, despite the lingering pain and the gravity of his words. The dark markings on his jaw spread further out onto his face, as if to mirror some underlying fracture as he speaks.

"I can't anymore. The thought of you being hurt... I can't stand it..."

He turns his gaze to Onyx, whose expression has changed in an almost unreadible way—but behind the intensity of the clear displeasure, there's shock in the slight widening of his golden eyes.

"I guess you're upset, though. Sorr—"

With a loud crack, Ferran suddenly slumps in his guardian's arms with his eyes open, and his fantastical costume disappears, returning him to his normal appearance in a pair of bloodstained pajamas anyone who met him when he first came to Reverein might recognize.

Still carrying the young man, Onyx gets to his feet, apparently unbothered by any dreamwalkers who may have appeared nearby. When his glowing gaze turns to them, it's barely an acknowledgement.

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The explanation sheds an entire new light on the situation, one that makes Lio feel suddenly very... reckless. On one hand, he initially viewed Onyx as a threat. But the way he's been acting is very not-that. Regardless--- it's hard to trust him, but he can't NOT trust him. There's a lot that Lio still doesn't know and he isn't sure if he'll ever get the real story... or if he'll ever want to hear it.

But it sounds familiar.

"What is his power?"

And the question that leaves Lio dreading something fierce...

"And... what was he using it for?"

"He was chosen to receive a gem that grants him the ability to fight far beyond human limits," the man explains, his irreverence for said choice clear in his tone, "among other helpful abilities."

The shift of the metal plates on his boots and gauntlets as the man moves is far clearer in the silence of the apartment. The only light aside from the illumination of the city that manages to pass through the glass is the yellow glow from Onyx's eyes.

"I assume he was picked in order to stop me—but I have persuaded him instead to acquire the gems of his friends for me."

Foolish, wasn't it? For someone already connected to Onyx, who he could easily manipulate, to be given a magical gem. What was that spirit thinking—Ferran wonders.

"Though it's allowed him to enhance his powers and become more versatile... there is only so much that can be done with magic before it begins to wear one's entire being down."

Well. That certainly explains a lot. The context is clear and Lio's initial read was correct. Then again, there's nothing quite good about Onyx to begin with. Nothing is good about using anyone and Lio fights the urge to ball his fists and lunge for the man before he gets a chance to react. He's pretty sure he could dodge Ferran and land one solid blow...

...

He really, really wishes that he could go through with it.

"So you're saying," Lio mutters through gritted teeth, "that he can't overexert himself. And that's it? That'll keep him well?"

"It will keep his spirit from shattering."

Onyx continues to apparently not consider Lio a threat; his back is turned as he advances towards the sofa, placing the catatonic young man there and kneeling next to him. He holds a hand over Ferran's face for a moment with apparent purpose, as if sensing something deeper.

"But nothing will keep him well any longer. It's only a matter of how quickly he deteriorates."

"Then... I won't let him."

Lio grits his teeth. Clenches his fists again, even tighter than before. He doesn't believe there isn't a way to somehow reverse whatever process has affected Ferran. There's always a method. Always a cure or heal or a fix or just... he can't accept someone just disappearing. Turning into ash. He's seen plenty of Burnish go that way.

"I won't let him go."

There's a dismissive look in the golden eyes that turn to Lio, even before that tone comes through in his voice.

"You think you'll make any difference?"

There's a levity to the words, although there's no humor in the man's expression as his hand moves from over his ward's face to the garnet pendant. He'd probably mock Ferran for clinging so much to the idea of living in Reverein...

"Whatever effect anyone may have on him in a dream world means nothing for the reality."

"Of course I do."

In fact, he's pissed as hell that this man would challenge him. There's nothing Lio can't try to do... he would put his entire heart into it even if the chances were infinitesimally low.

"And you don't know that. What do you know? You're not here."

With a gesture towards the city through the glass doors, Onyx dismisses the claim.

"And you're not there—in the world he truly is."

He retrieves Ferran's necklace, sliding it over his head with a purposeful movement, before closing the young man's unblinking eyes and getting to his feet.

"I'm more qualified to judge the matter than you. After all, his time in Geardagas meant nothing in his home. It changed nothing, and he remembered nothing. Why would your dream world be any different?"

"Because if I don't try, then I might as well be hurting him too."

Simple as that. No good person would willingly let things come to some awful end. No person with some kind of strength or power or the desire to change an outcome would just sit there and do nothing.

"You don't know how this place or Geardagas might've changed things. Neither of us do. But if you think I'm going to sit on my ass and do nothing... you're stupid! You and your not-dream-self!"

Onyx lets out a laugh that almost sounds and looks like genuine amusement.

"Ah, you're not listening," the man says as if in realization, more than any sort of reprimand. After all, what would he care if someone other than those he's using pays no attention to his words? Let them believe what they will.

"That's the sort you are, then. Clinging so blindly to your own hopes that you'll trip over every warning and failure without looking until you finally fall into your grave. Ignorance truly is bliss, isn't it?"

"I won't trip over anything if I burn everything in my path first."

He can feel the heat in his nostrils, the hot air billowing deep within his chest. He hates the man's laughter, hates how he's more or less correct---

"I'll show you. Even if you won't actually know, I'll show you."

With narrowed eyes, Lio looks around for an actual way out. That when he finds it, he won't give Onyx another thought--- save for the most important things that he's learned about Ferran. Those? He'll keep them close to his heart.

[open] 🔶 more nightmares? that's just life

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