I'll be the watcher of the eternal flame, I'll be the guard dog of all your fever dreams [W4, Wed]

[zerotohiro]

[Waking up in a room with everyone wasn't exactly how he expected Wednesday to go. A quick headcount assures him they're all there and it's then his eyes come into focus that there are doors with everyone's names.

Naturally, he stands in front of his door for a while debating what he's doing. It's a door. He knows it's a trap, he knows this can't be anything good but as he watches others enter their rooms he draws in a breath and his curiosity gets the better of him.

The door opens and the roar of the flame flares in front of his face. Above the sound of the crackling of the fire, he can barely hear it. Screaming. A noise he hadn't heard before, a noise he's familiar with and would recognize and he knows it's a trick…

…but what if it isn't?

Without thinking he gives into the impulse he had weeks ago, rushing straight into the fire and finding himself engulfed by the flames. The heat's more intense than he pictured and it's real, isn't it? That means he's here, that means he has a chance to make this right as he navigates to the center and bites his lip hard to keep from shrieking inside the room.

And like that, the fire dies down beside him and he collapses onto the floor, putting out the rest of the flames. Stop, drop, roll. That's what they've always taught him and even with the heat pulsating off of his limbs that's secondary.

This was a bad idea. He hadn't been awake when they kicked Joshua's corpse down the volcano but he's wide awake for this staring at Tadashi's form not far from the center of the room. The stupid blazer, the stupid mint-green converse, the lack of his stupid hat…everything that Hiro knows found its final resting place in the exhibition hall on the SFIT campus. But now he's here.

Hours go by and he doesn't move. The door's partly closed but he can hear and see figures outside as everyone on the island enters and exits their rooms. Hours go by and eventually he realizes nothing will change. Tadashi's gone, this is another problem with the island, and his burns are starting to really hurt.

Eventually, he pulls himself up and exits the room, eyes half-focused even as his legs immediately start to head straight toward Raven. He won't make eye contact with anyone else, but he reaches her side and slides to the floor, taking the opportunity to lean against a space in the room without a door and try to hide behind her legs. Hi Raven.]

Comments

[hydrazine]

[Since she left her room, she's been focused on others; it's easier than thinking about what she saw, a painful reminder of what's past. Her hands might be covered in blood, as well as streaks of the same on her face and clothes, but more than anything... She just looks tired. Everything from last week to this one has been incredibly tiring.

That exhaustion fades quickly to alarm as soon as she sees him come out, and it increases as he moves to sit behind her legs. Carefully, she moves turns around and bends down towards the floor so she's more on his level, eyes full of concern. It's clear what she's wondering, even if she doesn't voice it - what's wrong?]

[zerotohiro]

[Now that he's out of the room and focused he's aware that this was stupid and it hurts. The blistering skin, the trapped heat, it's painful now that he's forced to think about it, but he doesn't think about it. Instead he looks up at her and there's a shake of his head.]

How do you think they make some things real and other things...not? [He frowns lightly.] Are you bleeding? [Or is that someone else's blood?]

[hydrazine]

[Carefully, she looks over his injuries quickly. She hasn't inspected the medical kit they received a while ago, so she doesn't know if they have anything that can treat burns... But she hopes so now, for his sake.

At his question, though, she shakes her head. It's someone else's blood. After that, she takes her paper in hand, unsure how to communicate what she wants to say next in a look.]

What did you see?

[zerotohiro]

[At least there's that. He relaxes a little because it's good it's not her blood, good she's not as hurt as she could be but he shifts again as he reads the words on the paper.]

...I think...I just wanted to be able to save him this time even knowing that it probably wasn't real. It sounded real. And he looked real after the flames subsided. But it's still just a fake room with fake illusions.

[hydrazine]

[Almost instinctively, she reaches for him, but stops herself. First, she wipes some stray blood off on her pants, then carefully rests a hand on his shoulder. She thinks that contact is more important than anything she could write right now; just letting him know she's here is her goal in this moment.]

[zerotohiro]

[He's attempting to curl into himself and he bites down on his lip, skin hot to the touch and blistering even under his charred clothes. He doesn't quite look at her either.]

Just be honest with me. Was it stupid to run in even when I knew he probably wasn't really here?

[hydrazine]

[She shakes her head, sincerity in her expression as she gestures to the blood on her clothing. Even though she knew it was pointless all the time, she still tried to save the man she saw in the room. She might not be injured because of it, but she would never call it stupid for Hiro to run into his room.]

[zerotohiro]

[There's a sniff because at the end of it all, the mental and emotional damage is what takes its toll rather than the physical. He draws in a breath and shakily exhales before he nods.]

...I don't even know where we are. This room wasn't on the island before. [But he's looking at her again.] ...can I ask what happened? In yours, I mean.

[hydrazine]

[She nods, even if she's still concerned about him. Reaching for her notepad, she writes something down.]

I saw someone I care about being killed.

[zerotohiro]

[He's concerned about her. Raven has heard so much about him and he has to wonder about her anyway.]

...were you able to stop it this time?

[hydrazine]

No. I don't think that's the point of these illusions.

[Even if she did stop it, she knows it has no bearing on the reality: who she saw in that room is gone.]

[zerotohiro]

So the point is just to distract us again. [He knows that wasn't the point, but at the same time he's accepted that most things here aren't real no matter how real they seem.] Then how are we supposed to get out of here? What are we even supposed to do with these?

[...] I'm sorry, Raven. That you had to see it again, I mean.

[hydrazine]

Maybe we just wait for them to end, like we did when we had those hallucinations.

[There's a pause, as if what he's said is surprising to her.]

None of us deserve to be seeing any of this, but I'll live.

[zerotohiro]

The hallucinations lasted all night. That means these will probably last for a while, too.

And I know, but. [...] Every time I learn a little more about where you and Bellamy are from it just sounds really, really bleak. That's all. [So to have that repeat here is really rude, essentially.]

[hydrazine]

Sounds about right. Can't keep things too easy for us, can they?

[She gives a smirk, though it's unhappy.]

Bleak is a good word for it. What did he tell you?

[zerotohiro]

Not much. Bellamy and I have never really talked about that kind of stuff, but it's the general impression I got from stuff you've told me. And I know you guys are from the same place. That's all.