It's fine, bb~ *an old cathedral, by the waymarreddreamsOctober 22 2010, 06:57:18 UTC
[Perhaps the reason why you can't remember that you are supposed to be in control of this place is because you aren't in control. Would you bring this upon yourself, Allen? Darkness, and desolate fields, and music, and voices, and shadows that you've tried to keep hidden away~?]
[The silhouette is chuckling again, humming, somehow singing lyrics without murmuring any words at all. The voice echoes and dances along the walls of the foyer.]
♪~... the silver eyes were tremblng~♪
[It seems to crescendo, even as he dives through the RABBIT door, to deafening decibels. Until the door closes, at least, and it comes to an immediate silence.]
[Perhaps, in some ways, this silence is even more deafening than the music.]
[The RABBIT door has led him into a hallway. It's unmistakably that of a hospital; long, straight, narrow, and lined with what feels like an impossible number of doors. Most (all?) are open - the doors either swung fully open, off their hinges, or gone completely - allowing a golden light to fill the hall. Just like the field of wildflowers, the light is perhaps too vibrant, too detailed. Nearly blinding.]
[Something shifts from three (four?) doors ahead; a figure in a black cloak steps out into the hall. His footsteps are near silent - too quiet to be human, and you should be well aware of what that means - save for the slight scuff against the floor as he turns in Allen's direction. There's only one person that smells this strongly of cedar, cloves, and sandalwood (the scent has started to drift in Allen's direction, and it isn't from the flower in his pocket) and there's only one person whose eye glints like the end of a lit cigarette like that.]
♪~The ever-passing times return prayers back down to earth~♪
<3 I figured it might've been something like that, actually!selfdeludedOctober 22 2010, 07:27:25 UTC
[Even Allen isn't sure of that one. His mind has been turning on him since he was a child - unexplained migraines, dreams of a life that he never even came close to living, seeing things that shouldn't exist, making the rest of the world believe he was insane (which he wasn't, absolutely not--) and making him wonder, every so often if he really was...
No. Allen has no idea if he'd bring this on himself. But he wouldn't be surprised if he did, either.
As soon as the door has been safely slammed shut behind him, Allen leans back and slides down it, placing his hands over his ears and taking a moment to breathe. Calm what should've been a racing heart against his ribcage, and was instead just adrenaline and fear.
He doesn't actually look up to survey his new surroundings until he hears that scuff against the ground of someone moving closer, and his head snaps up immediately to stare at the person down the hall. And while orange isn't quite the color he associates with this particular person, nor is the sunflower something attached to him, he'd wanted safety. Not happiness.
This person, for all the hell he put him through, was always safety to Allen.
Almost immediately he scrambles to his feet, the flower slipping from his pocket as Allen practically jumps that gap between them to wrap his arms around the other vampire.]
I swear I know how to brain tonight ><marreddreamsOctober 22 2010, 07:43:45 UTC
[As soon as he is within reach, Lavi's hands come up to rest on Allen's cheeks, and he turns the boy's head in his hands, to and fro (as if inspecting to make sure Allen was really there) before leaning his forehead against the other's.
Even for Lavi his face is paler than usual - or perhaps he's always this pale, and it's just the way he looks in real sunlight.]
You shouldn't be here, Allen. It's not safe.
[There's a significant lack of an accent in his tone. Something's off. Something is horribly, horribly off. He glances up at the door at the same time - if not very slightly before, as if he had expected it - that something bangs against it. Hard.]
[Lavi's eye flickers in a funny way (knowing?) and nods his head in the direction of the hall.]
We have to keep moving.
[And he's taking off the moment the last word leaves his mouth down the sunlit corridor, cloak billowing behind him. You're going to have to run to catch up.]
It's all good man, I never know how to brain. >:selfdeludedOctober 22 2010, 08:00:03 UTC
[All Allen can do while Lavi inspects him is give the other a confused, helpless sort of look - and when he's done looking him over his own hands come up to rest on Lavi's cheeks as well, pressing the tips of their noses together. You look so pale. He never noticed that before, you know. Not to this degree.
No accent, again, and it makes his heart sink. But at least he was acting like Lavi and not... well, he wasn't sure what else, really. But he was acting like Lavi.]
But it should be safe, shouldn't it? It's my-- [What, exactly? He'd barely recognized half the settings he'd been through up until now, and this setting is only now starting to feel even a little bit familiar to him. But that realization hits him like a ton of bricks, and it's surprising enough that he doesn't react when that something bangs against the door.
It's enough that Lavi slips out of his grasp, too, before he can realize it.]
No-- [And he's taking off after Lavi, glancing warily in every door that he passes; though that just makes his eyes burn, and he looks away, instead intent on keeping Lavi where he can see him.(Slow down, please, don't leave me so far behind in here, not this place, please, Lavi?)]
[Lavi was always supposed to slip out of his reach, always supposed to be two steps ahead. It's like that in the waking world, most days, isn't that?]
Do you think anyone is safe within their own minds? [He doesn't stop to say this, instead just offers it over his shoulder in a dismissive sort of way, and turns a corner.]
The worse foes lie within the self...
[All of the doors in the first section of hallway were empty. Just broken down hospital rooms filled with golden afternoon sunlight. But as soon as they turn the corner, the hall starts to immediately darken - it's as if the sun is setting on fast-forward.]
[This stretch of hall looks far, far longer than the other one. Twice as long, actually. Three times. And at the very end of the dimming corridor, there are two figures. One taller, and one with light hair. Lavi glances back down the sunlit hallway one last time (with yet another expectant look - should he really look as though he's expecting something?) as the sound of another bang crashes through the hall.]
[Rather than take Allen's hand, he just makes off down the dusky corridor without warning. Just like in the previous hallway, the doors are either completely open, blown off their hinges, or non-existent. Unlike the previous hallway, however, they aren't empty. There are people here, most of them unfamiliar, but staring. Accusing?]
[If Lavi notices them, he doesn't show it. He just continues on. It seems as though the hallway isn't as long as it initially looked, perhaps because there is another mirror here, one that runs from the floor to the ceiling, from wall to wall.]
[And those figures at the end of the hall? They actually are reflections in that mirror. Or maybe they aren't. After all, reflections have already proven to be funny things in this place.]
[Exactly like one, and the thought scares him. Lavi wasn't warm at all when Allen touched him. But he wasn't cold, either. It was like touching paper, cardboard, a can, or...
...or it was like touching glass.
It's very much like that, and no matter how Allen tries, he can't possible catch up with Lavi. And he does try. He tries his damnedest, but Lavi always slips away from him.]
I-- I wouldn't know... [Sane people, maybe? No, no, no, he wasn't insane, he wasn't Regardless of the train of thought, Allen's just doing his best to try and keep up. To not let Lavi slip away like he always does.
But he notices the expectant look this time around, faltering in his steps and glancing down the hall, back the way he'd come. All Allen can make out is darkness, slowly moving up the hall and blotting out the light coming from the open doorways. All light, in fact, swallowing everything along the way.
He runs again, darting down the hall after Lavi, and though he doesn't actually stop to look in the rooms he can see the people out of the corner of his eye, accusing and hatred and disgust in all of their own. In the same way that Lavi seems to ignore them, they ignore Lavi. But of course, not all of them stay in their rooms. If one were to look, they'd notice that as soon as Allen runs past the rooms the people within them are already at the door and peering out the doorway, still with that same look on their faces.
Allen only skids to a halt again when he reaches the end of that hallway, stopping barely five away from the mirror. Two new reflections..?]
[Lavi is already standing in front of the mirror when Allen finally manages to stop next to him, head cocked to the side as if listening to something.]
♪~Give a kiss to his hands you hold~♪
[The reflections, for now, seem relatively normal. Allen is slightly taller and more gangly, Lavi's hood is drawn and eye a softly-glinting ember. Both look scared, and at the end of the line.]
[Trapped. Like rats.]
[At least until Lavi's reflection starts to smirk. There's another funny transition here; one moment there is one soft golden glint in the darkness of his hood, and the next there's two: one green, and one blue. The vampire's reflection reaches up and pushes his hood back, revealing distinctly mis-matched eyes, and he grins; his teeth are normal; human.]
[Lavi's reflection turns toward his mirror-companion, pulling him close and burying a nose into his hair. It's a lover's embrace, almost possessive. The only thing visible is the impossibly blue eye. He presses a kiss to mirror-Allen's neck, and then reaches up with one hand in a beckoning gesture.]
[No way to go but forward.]
[It would probably make sense to offer Allen some kind of confused response to all this, but Lavi is almost completely unperturbed. If anything, it's almost as though he knows just what to do.]
♪~And then the boy fell into a deep sleep~♪
[Despite all logic, Lavi reaches up to touch his fingertips over the mirror. It is a sensation that looks and feels like it would if the mirror were made of water, the way that his hand passes through.]
[And without much warning, he just steps forward and disappears into the mirror.]
[It could be worse, he'd like to think. Trapped with Lavi-- and though it's not something that's good, not something he'd ever wish for, the idea of... whatever was going to happen when that darkness and noise caught up with, it was more bearable with Lavi there. But he doesn't want the other to slip away from him again, so Allen reaches up taking the hand closest to his own and grabbing hold of it.
Don't run off again, okay? Even if this is a dead end. Please don't.
Simply because Allen doesn't look in mirrors often (for obvious reasons) he doesn't notice the slight differences in his own reflection; but the shift in Lavi's is obvious enough. So Allen stares, transfixed, as one light becomes two, changes colors, an eye where Allen knew for a fact there was an empty socket.
Was this... supposed to be Lavi as a human? Before-- everything that had happened to him? (Before he'd bound himself to someone that wasn't Allen, instead another redhead, with a smiling little baby girl?) Allen couldn't possibly know, and he wasn't sure he wanted to.
He still can't look away, then, when the reflection of Lavi pulls his own reflection closer-- as the reflection of himself tips his head back at the kiss to his neck, smirking even as his arms wind around his companion in the mirror. He doesn't beckon the way that his companion does, instead watching the two vampires still on the other side of the mirror.
While Allen's eyes are still gold, his reflection's eyes are a deep crimson. (Though it doesn't mean Allen's face isn't a bit red from watching that little scene. What was something like that doing in his head--?)
But of course, the hand he's holding onto is the one that Lavi uses to reach towards the mirror, so Allen has to let go; he glances away, down the hall, back at all the patients looking out at them. The minute Lavi steps into the mirror, (He sees it out of the corner of his eye, too late to stop him.) each and every one of them starts shrieking, screaming, blood pouring from their eyes. Akuma, and the coming darkness doesn't swallow them up, instead further disfiguring the souls until they're barely recognizable as people.
Allen claps his hands over his ears again, and dives through the mirror before he has a chance to look at it.
He doesn't see the warped grins the reflections are now wearing before he does.]
[Contrary to the chaos erupting on the other side of the mirror, this side is very, very quiet. Perhaps too quiet. Too calm. Too peaceful. Drowsy.]
[Not right.]
[It looks like another wing of the hospital. The hall continues on up ahead, before hitting a T-junction at least, and the rooms along the hall are wide open; there's a wheelchair sitting along the wall. To the left is the receptionist's desk, with papers in neat stacks on the counter, a jacket slung over the back of a chair, and even a steaming mug of coffee resting beside a keyboard (the computers have blank white screens)]
[It's completely deserted, as though everyone here has just... left (disappeared?) It also looks faintly blue, though, should anyone care to notice, it's only because the sunlight is pouring into the hall through tinted windows.]
[Lavi is gone - at least, it appears that way, as there isn't anyone immediately visible once Allen steps through the mirror - though there is that distinct feeling of eyes. Someone is here, watching, waiting. The only thing announcing that someone's presence is a flash of red hair before a pair of arms slip his arms around Allen's waist. The red hair is indicative of really only one person - there's only been one real tangible person in this dream, who else would it be? - except the smokey clove scent doesn't accompany him; there isn't hardly any scent on him at all, not really, save for maybe the very, very faint hint of oranges.]
[A nose brushes at Allen's throat, and there's a low, quiet growl. The needful kind; Allen's probably hurt it in the back of Lavi's throat a few times.]
[Whenever Allen turned around to face the mirror - did he even turn? Or did the mirror move? Not that it matter, physics hardly make sense in this place as it is - there's a blue eye peeking at his reflection.]
[It nearly feels like the air has been medicated-- And though that's usually something Allen welcomes with open arms, this time it just puts him on edge, eyes flying around the hall frantically.
Even though he can feel something watching him, feel eyes boring into the back of his skull (his skin, everything no escape--) there's no one in sight. No doctor to accompany that coffee, no nurses bustling about to take car of the patients that should have been in their rooms. There aren't even lingering scents of the people that should have been around.
There's no scent at all in this place, actually. Not even from the steaming cup of coffee barely twenty feet away, and even a human would have been able to smell that. No medicine or cleaning chemicals, no death, just... nothingness.]
Lavi..? [Except... Lavi was gone, too. He would have caught his scent if he weren't, wouldn't he? He would have, absolutely. He knew Lavi's scent and he knew it well.
Then he was alone?
Allen's on the verge of panic when he feels those arms around his waist, sees the flash of red, and the reaction is almost immediate; instant relief, despite the slight shiver at the brush against his neck, and the growl just makes it that much worse. Of course he's heard it before. They had that kind of luck when it came to each other, after all; unfortunate attractions in the worst kinds of places.
It's difficult to tell if he misses the movement of the mirror or if he just ignores it in favor of twisting in those arms to grab Lavi by the hair. He presses a kiss to his lips, his cheek, and buries his nose in that red hair, wrapping his arms around the others neck.]
Stop moving ahead without me, please--
[But that's when he notices it. Still, no scent. Certainly not Lavi's scent, at least. There's barely even the smell of oranges, and even then that smell doesn't belong on Lavi at all.]
[The redhead in Allen's arms - because that can't be Lavi, not with that scent and certainly not with that eye - slowly shifts out of his hold and prowls in a circle. There's a spark in his eye - eyes, there's two - that's both dangerous and playful. It's as if he's asking the other if he'd like to play a game.]
[And without warning, he reaches out to take Allen's shoulders and turns him around to face the mirror, and one of his hands slips over his eyes. He presses close to Allen's back, and plants a kiss just behind his ear.]
♪~One, then two~♪ [It's a quiet murmur, a soft hum.] ♪~One, then two~♪
[The hand slips away from Allen's eyes. And for a moment, the reflection looks like there are two Allens in the mirror. At least until the new one - new? or perhaps he'd always been there, and had once had red hair - smirks in a way that doesn't look entirely right.]
[All Allen can manage to to when "Lavi" slips away from him is give the other a sort of desperate look. He is not this weak, and he knows it, but what else was he supposed to do when he was stuck in his own mind (in a nightmare of a dream) and it was turning on him again?
He lets out something close to a startled noise when he's spun around, but he doesn't make any move to get out of the grip on his shoulders, instead standing perfectly still - even managing to ignore the kiss for the most part despite stupid, oversensitive vampire nerves.]
Lavi. [Please, please. Just be Lavi again. That's all he wants. Because this isn't Lavi, and he knows that, but he so desperately wants it to be him.
When he can see again, though, Allen blinks. No red hair. Just... himself? No-- two of him-- but how much sense did that make. Still, that tone... maybe...] Fourteenth? [That stupid ferret.]
[Once again, Allen is spun around to face the other-self, and a pair of hands rest on his cheeks, pulling him in for a kiss.]
[How much sense does any of this is making any sense at all, really? Fields of wildflowers, silos that open up into city streets, breathing televisions, music coming from no where, voices inside your head, seeing things that other (normal?) people can't, reflections that aren't quite reflections at all...]
[... stepping through mirrors? Does a sane person really dream about things like this?]
[The transition is so seamless, between the moment that he's kissed and the next moment, that it's almost impossible to find it jarring. Rather than staring into the face of his double, he's looking into the face of a young(er?) girl. Gray-skinned and golden-eyed, and looking decidedly wicked and satisfied.]
[This is the way it's supposed to be, Allen~ Don't question it.]
[She drapes her arms around him again, hooking her hands behind his neck and presses close.]
There's a little something that you and I need to talk to you about ♥
[You'll... have to forgive him for not reacting to that kiss at all. Because while he sincerely hopes that isn't how his mind thinks that ferret is supposed to act, (he sincerely hopes that Fourteenth doesn't act that way and he's not being delusional about it, too.) that completely floored him.
No. No, no, no. He knows that this - all of this - is crazy. He damn well knows that, but he's not insane. He'd tried too hard over the years not to seem insane so people would stop saying that about him, avoided other people, and did his best not to get close enough so--
...so what? (So they wouldn't realize how truly wrong he was?)
He tries not to linger on the thought, and he certainly doesn't notice what his reflection might be up to behind him, too preoccupied with the girl suddenly in front of him. Young, younger, whatever it was she definitely looked smaller than he did. What had even been the purpose of that kiss?
He doesn't move to shove her away immediately, only leaning away slightly when Road presses against him, and brings a hand to one of her shoulders.]
...What is it? [Even though that sentence. Really didn't make much sense.]
[So they wouldn't realize how different he was? Seeing things, hearing things that aren't there... no one hides like that unless they were truly terrified of something. Just what is it that you're terrified of, Allen~?]
Papa has always encouraged me to share, he says it builds chara~acter~♪
[And no, Allen (Walker), you will not be forgiven for not reacting to that kiss. Very few people get such gestures from Road - even Tyki doesn't - and so you should consider yourself (fortunate) special that she did it. For that, her eyes narrow, and she jabs a finger into his chest.]
But you've been hogging something of mine for too long.
[Do you know the kinds of things they do to people like him, Road? The awful things they tell you in history; psychiatric torture, padded rooms, burning? Just because they were a little bit different, they either died or were made miserable for the rest of their lives. But if he kept them away, if he avoided them, then they couldn't do that to him. If he kept them away, then they wouldn't have any reason to lock him up. He wouldn't have to worry about how different he was, because no one else would ever realize it.
If he just kept his distance, he wouldn't have to be afraid of his own mind.
He wouldn't have to be terrified of being locked up for the rest of his life.
(He wouldn't have to be terrified of himself.)
But the poke against his chest just earns Road something of a confused look, and Allen nearly frowns. It's obvious enough from the expression on his face that he doesn't know what she's talking about, or really even have any clue.]
But we've... never met, have we? How could I have something of yours?
[The silhouette is chuckling again, humming, somehow singing lyrics without murmuring any words at all. The voice echoes and dances along the walls of the foyer.]
♪~... the silver eyes were tremblng~♪
[It seems to crescendo, even as he dives through the RABBIT door, to deafening decibels. Until the door closes, at least, and it comes to an immediate silence.]
[Perhaps, in some ways, this silence is even more deafening than the music.]
[The RABBIT door has led him into a hallway. It's unmistakably that of a hospital; long, straight, narrow, and lined with what feels like an impossible number of doors. Most (all?) are open - the doors either swung fully open, off their hinges, or gone completely - allowing a golden light to fill the hall. Just like the field of wildflowers, the light is perhaps too vibrant, too detailed. Nearly blinding.]
[Something shifts from three (four?) doors ahead; a figure in a black cloak steps out into the hall. His footsteps are near silent - too quiet to be human, and you should be well aware of what that means - save for the slight scuff against the floor as he turns in Allen's direction. There's only one person that smells this strongly of cedar, cloves, and sandalwood (the scent has started to drift in Allen's direction, and it isn't from the flower in his pocket) and there's only one person whose eye glints like the end of a lit cigarette like that.]
♪~The ever-passing times return prayers back down to earth~♪
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No. Allen has no idea if he'd bring this on himself. But he wouldn't be surprised if he did, either.
As soon as the door has been safely slammed shut behind him, Allen leans back and slides down it, placing his hands over his ears and taking a moment to breathe. Calm what should've been a racing heart against his ribcage, and was instead just adrenaline and fear.
He doesn't actually look up to survey his new surroundings until he hears that scuff against the ground of someone moving closer, and his head snaps up immediately to stare at the person down the hall. And while orange isn't quite the color he associates with this particular person, nor is the sunflower something attached to him, he'd wanted safety. Not happiness.
This person, for all the hell he put him through, was always safety to Allen.
Almost immediately he scrambles to his feet, the flower slipping from his pocket as Allen practically jumps that gap between them to wrap his arms around the other vampire.]
Lavi--!
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Even for Lavi his face is paler than usual - or perhaps he's always this pale, and it's just the way he looks in real sunlight.]
You shouldn't be here, Allen. It's not safe.
[There's a significant lack of an accent in his tone. Something's off. Something is horribly, horribly off. He glances up at the door at the same time - if not very slightly before, as if he had expected it - that something bangs against it. Hard.]
[Lavi's eye flickers in a funny way (knowing?) and nods his head in the direction of the hall.]
We have to keep moving.
[And he's taking off the moment the last word leaves his mouth down the sunlit corridor, cloak billowing behind him. You're going to have to run to catch up.]
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No accent, again, and it makes his heart sink. But at least he was acting like Lavi and not... well, he wasn't sure what else, really. But he was acting like Lavi.]
But it should be safe, shouldn't it? It's my-- [What, exactly? He'd barely recognized half the settings he'd been through up until now, and this setting is only now starting to feel even a little bit familiar to him. But that realization hits him like a ton of bricks, and it's surprising enough that he doesn't react when that something bangs against the door.
It's enough that Lavi slips out of his grasp, too, before he can realize it.]
No-- [And he's taking off after Lavi, glancing warily in every door that he passes; though that just makes his eyes burn, and he looks away, instead intent on keeping Lavi where he can see him.(Slow down, please, don't leave me so far behind in here, not this place, please, Lavi?)]
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[Lavi was always supposed to slip out of his reach, always supposed to be two steps ahead. It's like that in the waking world, most days, isn't that?]
Do you think anyone is safe within their own minds? [He doesn't stop to say this, instead just offers it over his shoulder in a dismissive sort of way, and turns a corner.]
The worse foes lie within the self...
[All of the doors in the first section of hallway were empty. Just broken down hospital rooms filled with golden afternoon sunlight. But as soon as they turn the corner, the hall starts to immediately darken - it's as if the sun is setting on fast-forward.]
[This stretch of hall looks far, far longer than the other one. Twice as long, actually. Three times. And at the very end of the dimming corridor, there are two figures. One taller, and one with light hair. Lavi glances back down the sunlit hallway one last time (with yet another expectant look - should he really look as though he's expecting something?) as the sound of another bang crashes through the hall.]
[Rather than take Allen's hand, he just makes off down the dusky corridor without warning. Just like in the previous hallway, the doors are either completely open, blown off their hinges, or non-existent. Unlike the previous hallway, however, they aren't empty. There are people here, most of them unfamiliar, but staring. Accusing?]
[If Lavi notices them, he doesn't show it. He just continues on. It seems as though the hallway isn't as long as it initially looked, perhaps because there is another mirror here, one that runs from the floor to the ceiling, from wall to wall.]
[And those figures at the end of the hall? They actually are reflections in that mirror. Or maybe they aren't. After all, reflections have already proven to be funny things in this place.]
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...or it was like touching glass.
It's very much like that, and no matter how Allen tries, he can't possible catch up with Lavi. And he does try. He tries his damnedest, but Lavi always slips away from him.]
I-- I wouldn't know... [Sane people, maybe? No, no, no, he wasn't insane, he wasn't Regardless of the train of thought, Allen's just doing his best to try and keep up. To not let Lavi slip away like he always does.
But he notices the expectant look this time around, faltering in his steps and glancing down the hall, back the way he'd come. All Allen can make out is darkness, slowly moving up the hall and blotting out the light coming from the open doorways. All light, in fact, swallowing everything along the way.
He runs again, darting down the hall after Lavi, and though he doesn't actually stop to look in the rooms he can see the people out of the corner of his eye, accusing and hatred and disgust in all of their own. In the same way that Lavi seems to ignore them, they ignore Lavi. But of course, not all of them stay in their rooms. If one were to look, they'd notice that as soon as Allen runs past the rooms the people within them are already at the door and peering out the doorway, still with that same look on their faces.
Allen only skids to a halt again when he reaches the end of that hallway, stopping barely five away from the mirror. Two new reflections..?]
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♪~Give a kiss to his hands you hold~♪
[The reflections, for now, seem relatively normal. Allen is slightly taller and more gangly, Lavi's hood is drawn and eye a softly-glinting ember. Both look scared, and at the end of the line.]
[Trapped. Like rats.]
[At least until Lavi's reflection starts to smirk. There's another funny transition here; one moment there is one soft golden glint in the darkness of his hood, and the next there's two: one green, and one blue. The vampire's reflection reaches up and pushes his hood back, revealing distinctly mis-matched eyes, and he grins; his teeth are normal; human.]
[Lavi's reflection turns toward his mirror-companion, pulling him close and burying a nose into his hair. It's a lover's embrace, almost possessive. The only thing visible is the impossibly blue eye. He presses a kiss to mirror-Allen's neck, and then reaches up with one hand in a beckoning gesture.]
[No way to go but forward.]
[It would probably make sense to offer Allen some kind of confused response to all this, but Lavi is almost completely unperturbed. If anything, it's almost as though he knows just what to do.]
♪~And then the boy fell into a deep sleep~♪
[Despite all logic, Lavi reaches up to touch his fingertips over the mirror. It is a sensation that looks and feels like it would if the mirror were made of water, the way that his hand passes through.]
[And without much warning, he just steps forward and disappears into the mirror.]
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Don't run off again, okay? Even if this is a dead end. Please don't.
Simply because Allen doesn't look in mirrors often (for obvious reasons) he doesn't notice the slight differences in his own reflection; but the shift in Lavi's is obvious enough. So Allen stares, transfixed, as one light becomes two, changes colors, an eye where Allen knew for a fact there was an empty socket.
Was this... supposed to be Lavi as a human? Before-- everything that had happened to him? (Before he'd bound himself to someone that wasn't Allen, instead another redhead, with a smiling little baby girl?) Allen couldn't possibly know, and he wasn't sure he wanted to.
He still can't look away, then, when the reflection of Lavi pulls his own reflection closer-- as the reflection of himself tips his head back at the kiss to his neck, smirking even as his arms wind around his companion in the mirror. He doesn't beckon the way that his companion does, instead watching the two vampires still on the other side of the mirror.
While Allen's eyes are still gold, his reflection's eyes are a deep crimson. (Though it doesn't mean Allen's face isn't a bit red from watching that little scene. What was something like that doing in his head--?)
But of course, the hand he's holding onto is the one that Lavi uses to reach towards the mirror, so Allen has to let go; he glances away, down the hall, back at all the patients looking out at them. The minute Lavi steps into the mirror, (He sees it out of the corner of his eye, too late to stop him.) each and every one of them starts shrieking, screaming, blood pouring from their eyes. Akuma, and the coming darkness doesn't swallow them up, instead further disfiguring the souls until they're barely recognizable as people.
Allen claps his hands over his ears again, and dives through the mirror before he has a chance to look at it.
He doesn't see the warped grins the reflections are now wearing before he does.]
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[Not right.]
[It looks like another wing of the hospital. The hall continues on up ahead, before hitting a T-junction at least, and the rooms along the hall are wide open; there's a wheelchair sitting along the wall. To the left is the receptionist's desk, with papers in neat stacks on the counter, a jacket slung over the back of a chair, and even a steaming mug of coffee resting beside a keyboard (the computers have blank white screens)]
[It's completely deserted, as though everyone here has just... left (disappeared?) It also looks faintly blue, though, should anyone care to notice, it's only because the sunlight is pouring into the hall through tinted windows.]
[Lavi is gone - at least, it appears that way, as there isn't anyone immediately visible once Allen steps through the mirror - though there is that distinct feeling of eyes. Someone is here, watching, waiting. The only thing announcing that someone's presence is a flash of red hair before a pair of arms slip his arms around Allen's waist. The red hair is indicative of really only one person - there's only been one real tangible person in this dream, who else would it be? - except the smokey clove scent doesn't accompany him; there isn't hardly any scent on him at all, not really, save for maybe the very, very faint hint of oranges.]
[A nose brushes at Allen's throat, and there's a low, quiet growl. The needful kind; Allen's probably hurt it in the back of Lavi's throat a few times.]
[Whenever Allen turned around to face the mirror - did he even turn? Or did the mirror move? Not that it matter, physics hardly make sense in this place as it is - there's a blue eye peeking at his reflection.]
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Even though he can feel something watching him, feel eyes boring into the back of his skull (his skin, everything no escape--) there's no one in sight. No doctor to accompany that coffee, no nurses bustling about to take car of the patients that should have been in their rooms. There aren't even lingering scents of the people that should have been around.
There's no scent at all in this place, actually. Not even from the steaming cup of coffee barely twenty feet away, and even a human would have been able to smell that. No medicine or cleaning chemicals, no death, just... nothingness.]
Lavi..? [Except... Lavi was gone, too. He would have caught his scent if he weren't, wouldn't he? He would have, absolutely. He knew Lavi's scent and he knew it well.
Then he was alone?
Allen's on the verge of panic when he feels those arms around his waist, sees the flash of red, and the reaction is almost immediate; instant relief, despite the slight shiver at the brush against his neck, and the growl just makes it that much worse. Of course he's heard it before. They had that kind of luck when it came to each other, after all; unfortunate attractions in the worst kinds of places.
It's difficult to tell if he misses the movement of the mirror or if he just ignores it in favor of twisting in those arms to grab Lavi by the hair. He presses a kiss to his lips, his cheek, and buries his nose in that red hair, wrapping his arms around the others neck.]
Stop moving ahead without me, please--
[But that's when he notices it. Still, no scent. Certainly not Lavi's scent, at least. There's barely even the smell of oranges, and even then that smell doesn't belong on Lavi at all.]
...Lavi?
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[And without warning, he reaches out to take Allen's shoulders and turns him around to face the mirror, and one of his hands slips over his eyes. He presses close to Allen's back, and plants a kiss just behind his ear.]
♪~One, then two~♪ [It's a quiet murmur, a soft hum.] ♪~One, then two~♪
[The hand slips away from Allen's eyes. And for a moment, the reflection looks like there are two Allens in the mirror. At least until the new one - new? or perhaps he'd always been there, and had once had red hair - smirks in a way that doesn't look entirely right.]
I've found you, Allen~♪
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He lets out something close to a startled noise when he's spun around, but he doesn't make any move to get out of the grip on his shoulders, instead standing perfectly still - even managing to ignore the kiss for the most part despite stupid, oversensitive vampire nerves.]
Lavi. [Please, please. Just be Lavi again. That's all he wants. Because this isn't Lavi, and he knows that, but he so desperately wants it to be him.
When he can see again, though, Allen blinks. No red hair. Just... himself? No-- two of him-- but how much sense did that make. Still, that tone... maybe...] Fourteenth? [That stupid ferret.]
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[How much sense does any of this is making any sense at all, really? Fields of wildflowers, silos that open up into city streets, breathing televisions, music coming from no where, voices inside your head, seeing things that other (normal?) people can't, reflections that aren't quite reflections at all...]
[... stepping through mirrors? Does a sane person really dream about things like this?]
[The transition is so seamless, between the moment that he's kissed and the next moment, that it's almost impossible to find it jarring. Rather than staring into the face of his double, he's looking into the face of a young(er?) girl. Gray-skinned and golden-eyed, and looking decidedly wicked and satisfied.]
[This is the way it's supposed to be, Allen~ Don't question it.]
[She drapes her arms around him again, hooking her hands behind his neck and presses close.]
There's a little something that you and I need to talk to you about ♥
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No. No, no, no. He knows that this - all of this - is crazy. He damn well knows that, but he's not insane. He'd tried too hard over the years not to seem insane so people would stop saying that about him, avoided other people, and did his best not to get close enough so--
...so what? (So they wouldn't realize how truly wrong he was?)
He tries not to linger on the thought, and he certainly doesn't notice what his reflection might be up to behind him, too preoccupied with the girl suddenly in front of him. Young, younger, whatever it was she definitely looked smaller than he did. What had even been the purpose of that kiss?
He doesn't move to shove her away immediately, only leaning away slightly when Road presses against him, and brings a hand to one of her shoulders.]
...What is it? [Even though that sentence. Really didn't make much sense.]
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Papa has always encouraged me to share, he says it builds chara~acter~♪
[And no, Allen (Walker), you will not be forgiven for not reacting to that kiss. Very few people get such gestures from Road - even Tyki doesn't - and so you should consider yourself (fortunate) special that she did it. For that, her eyes narrow, and she jabs a finger into his chest.]
But you've been hogging something of mine for too long.
And I want it back.
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If he just kept his distance, he wouldn't have to be afraid of his own mind.
He wouldn't have to be terrified of being locked up for the rest of his life.
(He wouldn't have to be terrified of himself.)
But the poke against his chest just earns Road something of a confused look, and Allen nearly frowns. It's obvious enough from the expression on his face that he doesn't know what she's talking about, or really even have any clue.]
But we've... never met, have we? How could I have something of yours?
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