If You Listen Close, You'll Hear the Sound / of All the Ghosts That Bring Us Down

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Who: Darin, Open to Close and Semi-Close CR!
When: This week
Where: Kauto: Region 5 Hospital
What: Darin's been comatose since his bout with his shadow and it's time to wake him up with SCIENCE
Warnings: Probable blood and physical trauma

While his condition has stabilized since the shadows were officially defeated, Darin definitely isn't in the best of shape. His wounds are taking much longer to heal than they normally should, his skin is pale, and he's showing no signs of any real mental activity. In short: he's comatose. But, there's a glimmer of light in this dark cloud. Using experimental technology, someone (or a group of someones) can reach into Darin's consciousness and maybe try and pull him out of it. The problem? This might not work at all. Or things could go from bad to worse for everyone involved.

What's the worst that could happen?

I-The Hallway-
Interestingly enough, Darin's head isn't just a massive void of empty space peppered with memories of some really great explosions. Nor is it a palace with massive golden statues proclaiming just how amazing he is. It's just...a really long hallway. Each door is unmarked and unlocked, but if you put your ears to them, you can hear muffled voices coming from within. The hallway doesn't seem to have an end though. Pick a door, who knows what you'll find?

II-The Night It All Went to Hell-
One of the doors leads to a rather quaint hillock overlooking a quiet port town. It's dark out, but there's plenty of light from the spattering of stars and the twin moons; red and white respectively, giving the scenery and almost ethereal violet hue. There's a modest home on the hillock itself...which seems to be the source of some commotion. There's the sound of a fight, then some yelling. And then, finally, the spark of a fire being started...

III-Life Goes On-
This door leads to a bustling street in the port town itself. At the end of the street is a rather large smithy, and there appears to be a full garrison of knights standing about the premises, waiting impatiently. The sea are brings the fresh smell of salt on the breeze, and some of the knights are complaining to an older, stout looking gentleman about the rust on their gear. Meanwhile, a beleaguered, blue haired youth, no more than ten years old, is doing his best to measure up an impatient knight for some new armor. Except he's gone and tripped himself up with the measuring tape and fallen into one of the large barrels of water, sending a mixture of laughs and groans rippling through the platoon.

"Why do you even keep this kid around, Acteon?! He's more trouble than he's worth!"

IV-Something's Not Quite Right-
This door leads to an even larger marketplace...not just a port side town anymore. No, this is a huge bazaar in some forgotten nation's capital. There's stalls selling any kind of wares you can imagine: exotic fruits and spices, weapons and armor, fine silks and furs, if you can dream it, it's likely being sold here! Some well armored and equally armed guards push by you quickly though and head towards what seems to be a throng of people circling up. Follow them and you'll see a large man looming over that stout smithy from the previous door, who is in turn standing in front of a gangly-armed, teenage Darin.

"What's all this about?"

"Your brat! He comes up to my stall and he...he breaks my weapons right in front of my paying customers!"

"Look, I was just showing these fine folk what inferior gear looks li--" Darin is cut off by the larger weaponsmith.

"MY GEAR IS THE BEST IN THIS REALM!! ACTEON, EITHER REEL YOUR FREAK IN, OR I'LL HAVE HIM IN CHAINS!"

Darin's smug look turns enraged, and he's already jumping over Acteon to try and throttle the man.

"WHAT'D YOU CALL ME YOU SECOND-RATE--"

The guards are already dogpiling on Darin which...doesn't necessarily slow him down. He pushes through them, and instead of attacking, just turns and runs for the nearest alleyway.

V-Chain of Command-
This door leads to...almost nothing, really. In fact, all that can be seen in this low light is what appears to be a massive steel gate. The bars reach up seemingly forever, and beyond the gate, there is nothing but blackness. The doors to the gate are pushed open slightly, but they're not fully open yet. Something appears to be keeping the doors themselves from being forced ajar completely. That something is Darin, hanging and covered in hundreds of chains, all of which are wrapped around the many massive iron bars. He appears to be hanging limp, but upon closer inspection, his arms are pulled taut, the muscles flexed and tight. As if, though unconscious, he's fighting to keep the iron gates shut.

-WILDCARD-

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Comments

[patchricide]

This is absolutely an insult against her.

She heaves a sigh behind him, because she can see now why this memory came up. And Darin must have been responsible for it, somehow. And all she can do is fold her arms and look pouty behind him.

"Maybe it's you, Darin. Maybe if you weren't so difficult and stubborn about all this, we wouldn't invest so much of our energy trying to get you to come around. By the time anyone can realize you'll never see things from our side, it's too late."

She steps away from him. "Although, in the end... that's still on us, isn't it?" She leans against what she assumes is the wall of the shop, sulking.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Darin, oblivious to Allura's overall presence, begins to panic. She wants to what?! Who the hell is this loon?!. He jerks away from her, stammering some sort of excuse, that the prophecy she's taking about is just superstition.

"Look, you've got it all wro--"

"I've never felt a presence like yours before! You can change the world, and I want to be there to see it in person! I'm gonna take part in your quest, whether you like it or not!" Iris, by this point, has crawled into the table, effectively cornering Darin.

Cornering Darin on such a delicate issue is not a smart thing to do. Speaking of things that aren't smart, Darin, already in a considerable panic, grips the table and proceeds to launch it, and Iris, through the roof of the lean-to, the force effectively exploding the entire structure from the inside.

Darin stares up at the open sky and the airborne table with its passenger.

"...Not your finest moment, Darin Altway..."

[patchricide]

"What did you do?!"

She runs forward to get under the hole in the roof so she can also gape at the person he just launched into the stratosphere. The girl had been grating on her nerves as well, admittedly, but...

"Surely, she didn't deserve that!"

And she looks at him, waiting to see what he does next. Waiting for some kind of reaction that isn't making smart remarks over his own mistakes.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

"Okay...okay...think. Think. You just launched a girl into low orbit on reflex. What do you do next."

He paces frantically. Finally, he stops and thumps his fist into his open palm.

"If she was a fortune teller, she should have seen that coming! So it's totally not my problem! Man, I was worried for nothing! She's totally got this!"

With a nod, he makes his way out of the shack, only to stop. With a sigh and a roll of his eyes, he turns back and bounds his way up the sides of the buildings, bouncing back and forth between the close buildings until he's high above them. By now, poor Iris is descending, but luckily, Darin is there to pluck her from the sky and land aways down the alley. Iris looks up at him, a little star struck...that is, until he drops her unceremoniously onto the ground, heaving a great big sigh.

Iris, rubbing her rear, counters the only way she knows how:

"You dick!"

[patchricide]

She is not wrong.

So, of the things she was expecting to do in this memoryscape, parkour was not one of them. But she's not about to be left behind, and so -- she's making her way up the side of the building too. The route she's taking is slightly different, but she seems to have no trouble with it either, jumping from one sill to kick off the opposite wall.

He must do this a lot, she notes to herself. After all, she has the benefit of being trained as Altean royalty, as the daughter of one of the first paladins. And she won't tell anyone else, but the castle has some amazing spaces to practice when the team is out and about.

Which is why she knows that it takes more than just being implausibly strong to pull off this kind of technique. Especially since he could probably leave craters in the building if he's not careful.

... wait. Did he leave craters in the side of the building?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Surprisingly, none of the buildings, save for the lean-to, are damaged in the slightest and the only thing that appears to be hurt besides Iris' rear is her pride.

"You blew apart my shop! What the hell is the matter with you?! For that matter, what the hell are you?! Why are you somehow linked to Diomuhr, the God of Destruction?! If you don't tell me the truth, I swear I'll beat it out of yo--"

"Will you cram it you loudmouth soothsayer?! Be thankful I saved you at all! For all I care, I could have let you fall and been done with you! But noooooo, I had to go and listen to my conscience! Last time I ever do that!"

"You had to listen to your conscience to remedy a problem that you caused yourself?! Don't expect a medal for exercising a little common sense!"

"And don't go lecturing me about common sense, Madame Iris, when you're shoving yourself in my business when no one wanted you to!"

"YOU CAME TO ME FOR GUIDANCE!"

"YEAH, AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS STUPID HEADACHE! NAMED 'IRIS!'"

[patchricide]

"So. What exactly are you trying to accomplish, showing me this?"

She starts asking this to the sky, as if she herself wasn't taking note of the parallels a moment ago.

"Are you trying to remind me of all the things I can't stand about you, and make me decide that you aren't worth saving? To wear out my patience until I leave of my own free will?"

She has no idea if Darin can actually hear this, but it's worth a shot.

"Because while it's a brilliant strategy, don't forget that I'm stubborn as well. There is literally nothing you can show me to decide to give this up."

[forgeabettertomorrow]

The two continue their incredibly heated argument which, a few minutes later, bring the city guard around to see what all the ruckus was about. What they find, is Iris latched to Darin's back, yanking at his hair while he screams and tries to throw her off of him.

It's quite the dignified sight.

The Captain steps forward.

"What in blue blazes is going on here?!"

Both stop, mid-screech and look at the small phalanx of guards, both with dubious expressions on their faces. Suddenly, recognition sweeps over the captain's features.

"You!" He exclaims.

"Oh crap." Iris and Darin both mutter in unison. Which causes them to look at each other and repeat, once more in unison. "Wait, what?"

The captain draws his weapon and his soldiers follow suit.

"You! You're Darin Altway! The one from the wanted posters! The one who murdered the ambassador in Alvale! Unhand the Grandduke's daughter this instant, fiend!"

Both parties look incredibly stunned!

"YOU'RE A MURDERER?!"

"YOU'RE A GRANDDUCHESS?!"

[patchricide]

Oh, now things are getting entertaining.

She probably shouldn't be grinning like this, but hey, who's going to be around to judge her? In fact, she wishes she had a bowl of... oh, what did Hunk call it? That salty crunchy snack food?

Popcorn? Yes, popcorn. She wishes she had popcorn.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

The guards close in and Darin, being of sound mind, immediately turns around and legs it as fast as his legs will carry him.

"After him! Don't let him get away! Block all roads out of the city!"

Darin sprints with Iris clinging to his back, all the while ducking through alleys and backstreets trying his damndest to find a way out of the city. This is made incredibly hard with Iris pounding her fists on the top of his head.

"Go faster, dummy! They're gonna catch us!"

"I'D LOVE TO BUT I HAVE A LITTLE EXTRA WEIGHT SLOWING ME DOWN."

"DID YOU JUST CALL ME FAT?!"

"IF IT MAKES YOU LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE, YES. I HAVE AN ENTIRE LAUNDRY LIST OF NAMES TO CALL YOU IF IT MEANS YOU WILL LITERALLY GET OFF MY BACK."

"JUST FOR THAT, IM NOT TELLING YOU THE SHORTCUT OUT OF THE CITY."

"FINE I DONT NEED IT."

"YES YOU DO, YOU NEED IT AND IM NOT GONNA GIVE IT TO YOU."

Darin's incredibly loud swear is cut off by an alarm being sounded, which makes him skid to a stop.

Iris and Darin look at each other. Finally, he sighs.

"Truce?"

She nods and points down a street. "Go down this way, then a left. I'll guide you from there."

He nods and takes off, while she keeps an eye on his flank from her perch on his back.

[patchricide]

Wait, what?

What?!

And just like that, Allura is in pursuit, and doing a much better job of tailing him than the guard. Part of it is because she does want to see where this is going. But...

"That's it?! Just like that, you drop your grudge and get along with her?!" Her parkour skills remain impressive. Even when obstacles get in her way, she bounds over them easily, and maintains her infuriated expression. "Since when have you ever been that easy-going?!"

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Darin continues his breakneck pace through back alleys and channels, occasionally taking to the rooftops to avoid patrols. More and more guards are crawling out of the woodwork, and Darin and Iris are getting dangerously close to the city walls, where all kinds of soldiers are stationed.

At Iris' direction, Darin leaps from the top of a three story building and hits the ground running, aiming for the very wall he was hoping to avoid.

"Are you sure about this?!"

"Trust me, there's a drainage duct that leads outside of the city walls! The grating on it has been broken for months, we can use that to get out without passing through the main gates!"

Darin nods and, sure enough, finds the duct just like Iris said. Quickly, he pries apart the rusted and broken metal with his bare hands, then steps in. He waits while his eyes acclimate with the darkness before he heads off. About ten minutes later, he comes to the end and kicks the grate off of the exit. He climbs out and places his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

Iris, on the other hand, pumps her arms up into the air, staying latched onto his back with her legs wrapped around his waist.

"WOOHOO!! What a rush! That was great! You were bouncing all over the place! Where the hell did you learn to move like that?! And the way you smashed through that grate?! You're definitely not normal! So, where to next?!"

Darin cranes his neck around and gives her an incredulous look.

"We?! I'm not going anywhere with some snooty grand duchess! You can turn your ass right around and march back into the city! It's thanks to you I don't have a warm bed to sleep in tonight!"

"Excuse me?! It's thanks to you that I don't have a house to sleep in!"

"YOU'RE A GRAND DUCHESS YOU DON'T NEED TO SLEEP IN A SHANTY!"

"Nope. I'm coming with you. And if you complain about it, I'm just going to pretend to be a blushing damsel in distress. After all, you just totally kidnapped the Lady Iris Galvan, only daughter of Grand Duke Roderick Galvan."

"I DID NO SUCH--"

"YOU WOULDN'T SERIOUSLY--"

It's about now that Darin is just letting fly with every conceivable curse he can think of.

[patchricide]

It's interesting, being able to move around without any worry of the people around you.

Allura's own route was different. While Darin was able to shake the guard, she was able to keep better pace; and when he went down into the drains, she was able to pass through the gate quickly, without causing any stir, and wait for him on the other side.

"I really am like a ghost, here," she murmurs to herself. If she were supposed to be part of this scene, he would see Allura approaching him from the side. But he's giving his full attention to this woman. Iris. This is a scene for the two of them.

"... are you fine with never seeing her again, either?" It's meant to draw him out and, maybe, talk sense into him. But the tone is cold, enough to surprise even herself.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

There is no answer to her question, instead, she merely gets to watch the scene continue to unfold.

"If you think for one second I'm going to tote around some pampered, spoiled, royal brat then you've got--" Darin starts.

"You're not really a murderer are you."

Iris cuts him off as she climbs off his back and Darin can do nothing but stare. The quisitive look he's giving her should explain plenty about where his mind is.

"When they revealed who I was, you could have taken me as your hostage. You allegedly murdered a diplomat from the north, right? That's why tensions are so high at the border right now. But you had another way to elevate things literally in your grasp and you've been trying to push me away this entire time." Iris continues.

"You're not a murderer. When I held your hands I 'saw' Diomuhr in a vision but I still don't know what that means yet. And I get the feeling you're not going to tell me." As she says this she marches right up to him. Darin is silent, looking from her to the ground. That is until she reaches up and takes him by the face, making him look at her.

"Which is fine. I'm just going to follow you until I get to the bottom of all of this. I know an adventure when I see one, and you, Darin Altway, might be the greatest adventure of my life!" Iris literally beams, and if Darin had anything to say about it, his bluster is instantly defused. His cheeks turn crimson briefly before he yanks away and about faces, putting his hands on his hips.

"Geez..." he huffs.

After a minute or so of silence while Iris tries to peek around back to get a look at his face, knowing full well she not only cornered him, but played him like the innocent small town guy that is (and the smug look on her features shows this plainly), he finally sighs in resignation.

"Can you fight?"

"You don't ask a lady something like that~"

"I'm not." He retorts dryly.

This is followed by a punch so strong that Darin rockets through a nearby tree, sending it toppling over.

[patchricide]

She winces in sympathy at the punch.

It should have been something satisfying to watch. In fact, it should have been a downright relief, and made her give a little more respect and sympathy for Iris. How many times had he given her grief for not acting like proper royalty? But it's difficult, and she quietly theorizes to herself, "This wouldn't be so difficult if you weren't currently in a coma."

Or maybe it's that she's only able to watch, still. One more way in which she's not actually 'in' this scene.

And yet dutifully tagging along.

"Unless that bump was enough to knock you awake, I'd rather we not visit more memories like this one."

[forgeabettertomorrow]

As if in acquiescence, the memory appears to freeze. The air grows stagnant and then there's a loud bang, as if power is being cut.

Everything around Allura turns black, as if she's hovering in a void.

There's silence and as far as she can tell, there's nothing around her. Nothing to see, nothing to watch, but there is the distant rattle of chains, and the sound of muffled talking. Two voices, distinct and yet indecipherable.

Finally, a lone door appears in front of her. It's worn and seems like it's almost about to fall off its hinges. But the voices and the chains are coming from the other side. If there was ever a sign that someone was orchestrating what she's seeing, it couldn't be louder and more obvious than this. But Darin being as emotionally closed off as he is, would he really be the one showing her these memories?

[patchricide]

I can't be sure either way, actually. Darin did say that it was Diomuhr doing all this. But is this really something that would be picked out by something so grand and evil as a so-called demon lord? It's not exactly torture. Seems more like Darin being petty.

On the other hand, the sound of chains does seem to fit something more sinister at play.

Still, she didn't get as far as she did in life by running afraid at the first sound of trouble. She steps forward to the door and pushes it open, cautious but undeterred.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

The door leads to nowhere in particular once again. Just more empty space. There's the sound of rattling chains again, only angrier. More urgent. Finally, Darin's voice booms out in the emptiness of his mindscape.

"I TOLD YOU TO LEAVE! I DON'T WANT YOU HERE!"

As if to drive the point home, a veritable cavalcade of memories bombard Allura. Every time they've fought, every time they shouted and fired off insults at one another, every time she berated him and every time he fired back with seemingly little remorse. Driving home the point that her presence was never wanted in the first place. Excerpts of less than flattering conversations play in a booming cacophony, stills from events where they've butted heads fill the void.

The moment where she stared at him incredulously when she learned Shiro had invited him to live with her and the rest of her paladins, hangs in the air, the overwhelming sense of not being welcome or belonging grips like an icy vice to the air of this space. Every lie and counter, every anger-filled retort, every distrusting and skeptical look from both sides plays on in an endless loop while the rattling of chains gets louder.

"LEAVE."

[patchricide]

This is incredibly rude. She holds up her arms to guard against the memories, out of reflex, as if they were going to physically hit her.

Unfortunately for Darin, she's actually starting to get used to being drowned in painful memories. And on the other hand, she's long since fed up with losing people.

"Then that's just too bad, isn't it?! Because I don't care what I have to put up with! I'm not going to abandon you that easily!"

[forgeabettertomorrow]

"Why? You've already seen it, haven't you? You can't make me see reason. You can't make me come around. In fact, you saw just minutes ago how much your opinion matters over someone else's."

The voice is full of arrogance and disdain.

"It hurt, didn't it. It hurt watching me with someone else, someone of noble blood working so closely with me without being stonewalled every step of the way. I saw it on your face. You have questions now but no answers, and in the end, that's why you want me to wake up, isn't it?"

"Because you want answers to those selfish questions."

[patchricide]

Is Darin saying this?

Something doesn't quite match. The voice is certainly the same, but the words aren't like anything Darin's said. But on the other hand...

... I'm not talking to him. Would his thoughts sound like this?

"You..." Her expression firms. "You can't be serious. If that were the case, do you think I would have tried to wake you up before seeing that? I wouldn't even have come here in the first place."

That's not going to be enough.

"I'm waking you up to help you. Because whether or not you realize it, this isn't the right answer."

[forgeabettertomorrow]

"I never asked you to come in. I made peace with my fate. I told Shiro as such." The voice counters.

"You came here because it's what you wanted. Not what I wanted! And here you are trying to 'save me?' And what do you think will happen if you do? Do you think I'll fawn over you? Do you think I'll see you in a different light? Do you think I'll just overlook all the times you made me feel inferior?"

The tone is almost mocking in nature.

"You're imposing what you believe to be right upon me. You, the galactic princess, the bringer of peace, are doing what's right because it's your job to protect the weak. To save them from themselves. You think you can hide it but I've seen the way you've watched my memories; the faces you've made, the disapproval you've projected."

Another muffled growl and the clanging of chains.

"You want me to wake up because you need someone to prove yourself to!"

[patchricide]

"You really must think I'm a fool, then," she replies in a soft, dismissive tone. "Fawn over me? Please, I'll be lucky if you don't find a reason to hold that against me, too."

She's going to start walking. Given the lack of scenery, there's no real telling if this is 'forward', or if there is a 'forward'. But if she can try to physically move past this, maybe the conversation will move as well.

"If you're going to accuse me of imposing anything, then at least get the details right. Because I don't know how long you plan on sleeping, Darin -- a week? A year, or maybe 10,000 years? -- but before you go learning this lesson the hard way, let me tell you that you won't gain anything from it."

"You'll have to stand and fight eventually, so you may as well do it while the people you care about are still alive, and you're not filling the void with a handful of mice."

No offense to the space mice, of course.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

The memories fade, giving way to a silhouette of Darin facing down Allura.

"Is that was this is about? You're lonely?" The silhouette accuses.

"Is that why you've latched on to me at every turn? Nagged me incessantly? Because your precious paladins won't allow you to exist outside of your ivory tower, so you find someone, anyone, who can conveniently keep you company while you whittle away the time?"

The shadow crosses its arms, looking down its nose at her.

"I have important things to do than to play pretend with a bored princess. I have my own world to worry about and my own ambitions and you know what? Neither of those things include you."

The chains grow louder.

[patchricide]

"Why are you convinced that this is for myself? Weren't you the one scolding me for not being selfish enough?"

At this point, she's reasonably convinced that this isn't actually Darin. Besides what she pointed out, that talk of 'ambitions' doesn't ring true to him. Dreams, perhaps -- but there was always that touch of melancholy when he talked about those, like he thought he would have to give them up.

Still, she's going to keep addressing him the same.

"I don't want to lose a friend. But more than that, I don't want a friend to lose everything for the sake of a duty."