Cater hums thoughtfully, leaning forward to plant his lips on Idia's forehead. "It's okay, really, it happens. I'm not going to be out of commission over one night of little sleep--and besides, I've pulled all-nighters before for worse reasons."
Back in his partying days, that was. Not that they were really all that long ago, but it feels like it was. He's so over all of that noise. "You wouldn't mind? I don't want to throw you off more if you're focusing, but I'm not really hungry, anyway."
"You won't throw me off. I can focus better if I know you're resting, since you'll recharge a bit." Cater's presence nearby but without him hovering curiously really will help Idia work, as long as he doesn't give in to the temptation to say screw the project in favor of cuddling up for a nap himself. The feeling of that kiss lingers on his forehead, giving him an unexpected clarity. He has to do this, even if he hates it. "How long do you need to wake up to get back to class? Ten? Fifteen?"
Cater pulls one arm away to fish his phone from his pocket and check the time.
"Yeah, I can do twenty." That said, though, the only thing more appealing than sleep is being so close to his boyfriend, and as such he has to ask, "sure you can't join me? I won't even pester you to eat, if you do."
Gods, Cater had to ask. Idia can't say no to him. "... okay. I'll set my alarm. Big spoon, little spoon, or face to face?"
It's a question they've asked each other so many times since they started napping or sleeping in the same bed. No matter what they do, the cuddling usually lets them both sleep much better, except for last night. At least a nap won't let Idia sink so deep into REM that he risks another nightmare.
"Ahhh, always such a hard choice!" Even if he's not wearing his mask, it's hard not to be a little goofy. Talking like this with Idia still fills him with little butterflies, making him feel more elated than he's able to feel when he's on his own. "But I've missed your face all morning--I want to look at you."
He's about ready to pull Idia up out of the chair himself as he slides out of his shoes.
He doesn't have to. Idia sets an alarm on his phone before he finally gets up on his own, stretching without being too obvious. He's been hunched over his computer all day, barely getting up except for bathroom breaks. He hasn't even showered, still smelling faintly of stale sweat. Tucking himself back into his bed, he holds out his arms for Cater.
"Don't look too long. Sleep." He'd pout playfully if he had the energy for it. Hopefully Cater won't end up too rumpled from this. If Riddle gives him a hard time, Idia might actually emerge from his room long enough to smack the diminutive Housewarden upside his rose-red head.
The second that he's horizontal in Idia's arms he presses their lips together. Idia tastes faintly of salt, his breath is a little stagnant, but none of it matters. "I won't," he murmurs against his boyfriend's lips, "I promise."
And with another, soft brush his lips, his tired eyes peering into Idia's...there's a moment where it seems like he might be looking more deeply, analyzing those microexpressions and uncovering Idia's inner fears. Cater's too tired to see into the rabbit hole, though, and snuggles in so his forehead is against Idia's collarbone.
The ginger's out almost immediately, his breathing evening out as his limbs go lax.
Idia feels Cater give in to sleep and holds back a quiet hitching breath. He doesn't want to lose this, but it's not his choice. Cater has to know, it's not right to keep Idia's sins from him. It's not self-sabotage, it's honesty. He holds Cater close and closes his eyes, though this time it's his turn to fail at finding rest.
The alarm goes off exactly when Idia set it, but it's still far too soon. He gives Cater an extra two minutes, though it's just as much about letting himself have that time. "Cay? Gotta get up, it's time. I'm sorry." He doesn't let go just yet, though.
He's not asleep long enough to dream, but he sleeps greedily, sinking deep into a warm, black blanket. Usually, Cater has a hair trigger reacting to any kind of phone alert, but for once it's only Idia's gentle prodding that rouses him. When he looks up into his boyfriend's face, there's a second of clear disorientation as his brain tries to remember what time it is.
His eyelids struggle to stay open and Cater groans. "I've never hated school so much before."
It would be so easy to send a message that Cater has fallen ill, to give him an excuse to stay here for a long rest. But it would raise too many questions, why he's not in his own dorm, why Idia is the one notifying the teachers. Still, it's Cater's choice. It always has been. Idia can work around him regardless.
"I can ping your next class, tell them you're sick. They'll believe it with how you looked earlier."
He doesn't hold back from pressing a kiss to his boyfriend's forehead, a token of a love that won't fade even if they're separated. Idia will love Cater until the day he dies, whether or not they're still together tomorrow.
Cater groans and then sighs. One of the arms he has wrapped around Idia dislodges so he can cup the other boy's cheek. "So, so tempting...but we should be good. It's just a few more hours, and then I'll be back to crash out hard. Deal?"
Besides, Idia had his deadline, too, and who knows how much those 20 minutes set him back.
Idia nods, nuzzling into Cater's hand. He leans in to touch one more kiss to the corner of his boyfriend's mouth and then lets him go. If he didn't, they'd both give in to the urge to stay curled up together. He feels so guilty for what he has to do. Cater's exhausted, and who knows if he'll get any rest after he sees Idia's project. Maybe he should wait for tomorrow, steal one more day of happiness....
So selfish. It's why he Overblotted, because he wanted to fix his mistake even if it cost the entire world.
"I'll be waiting," he whispers. Gods, he wants to sink into the bed and disappear.
Idia's kiss is met with a sleepy sort of smile before Cater crawls reluctantly out of bed and slips back into his shoes. He's going to have to book it not to be late to class, but that's hardly on his mind. "Be back before you know it," he promises, waving over his shoulder as he heads out. "And make sure you eat what I brought you!"
Cater uses his camera app as a mirror to fix his hair as he jogs to class. By the time he's slipping into his seat, he feels a renewed sense of energy. That power nap isn't going to last all day, but it'll get him through classes and keep off of Crewel's naughty list, at least. He's daydreaming about Idia's gangly embrace through the last hour, ready to choose something indulgent for dinner and go full coma.
Yawning his way back to Ignihyde, Cater has no idea what's waiting for him.
Idia knows he's coming. He knows what time classes are over, he can see Cater through the security feeds. If his boyfriend arrives in his room, there won't be any way Idia will have the heart to ask him to go, because he can't bear the thought of watching Cater play the game.
Cater's phone chimes with a message from Idia. The subject line, when he checks it, says: "URGENT. Read entire message before opening attachment."
The body of the message: "Please go somewhere private before starting the attached app. You may not enter Ignihyde dorm for this purpose. Do not reply before completion. Do not stop before completion. Do not share. App will run to completion one time before self-deleting. You may pause as necessary for your comfort. Notification will be sent to developer upon completion."
At the end of the message is the app download link, titled simply: TRUTH.EXE
When the word URGET pops up as a push notification, Cater stops walking, frowning as he swipes the message open. He reads the message several times as he stands in the mirror chamber, other students passing by into their own dorms. A couple hesitate as if wanting to talk to him, but see how absorbed he is in his phone and (likely assuming he's on Magicam) keep walking.
Confused, he starts typing several times. The "..." appears and disappears before he finally just erases his half-formed thought, putting his phone away and rubbing his face. Idia, what are you thinking?
Cater feels like he's been blind all day. He knows it isn't his fault, he's just tired and off his game, but he should've noticed red flags, shouldn't he? Should've picked up more on Idia's mood. The way he said he needed to finish what he was working on before Cater was done with class. He stares hard at the Ignihyde mirror for far longer than he should, half-tempted to storm in.
But, no, that ominous app title...he needs to do what was asked of him, for better or worse. But what kind of truth should he be preparing himself for? Just what was Idia having a nightmare about, last night?
Cater pivots and goes to Heartslabyul, getting to his room with minimal interruptions. As a third year, he has a private room, and only Trey gives him a somewhat questioning look when he announces he has a crazy amount of homework to do. Once he's alone, Cater sits on the edge of his bed and takes a deep breath. It feels like he stares at the download link for ages, a snake of dread coiling up in his stomach.
The app opens as soon as it downloads, taking Cater to a window with a black screen and a gray START button. Touching the button brings him into a familiar digital setting: the first-person dungeon crawler he'd seen Idia toy with briefly before they got together. Apparently it's his own design, remade for a singular purpose.
The unseen avatar marches forward through the silent, gloomy corridor, down winding staircases, where the light grows more and more sickly green. At the bottom is a stone floor, with a huge, circular stone gate. A wavy gap splits the gate's cover in two, that green light spilling through.
Chibis of Riddle and Azul appear. They talk through text boxes, speaking of Idia and Ortho, of fighting phantoms. They talk of the brothers trying to reset the world and what it means. They carry a huge golden spear between them.
Cater's phone speakers echo with the cries of the damned, and the Shroud brothers appear: Ortho's massive, dark form, and Idia's twisted cyber-armor. He has spared no detail in their repulsive shapes. Riddle and Azul light up the spear and blast Ortho with a bright flash and a loud crack of thunder.
Idia's Overblotted form burns, a raging orange inferno. Hate flashes in his eyes.
Riddle and Azul are chased off. Jamil and Leona take their place. Another piercing shot of thunder and lighting, another fit of rage from Idia at Ortho's pained cry. Then again from Vil, Rook, and Epel. Ortho falls. Idia, freed of his Overblot, lets himself fall with his brother. Vil's actions spare the elder's life, leaving Idia to spell out everything. He remembers the words spoken, they're engraved into his memory forever. Programming all the dialogue took only time, nothing else, nothing else at all.
How his selfish wish cost Ortho his future. How he wanted to reset the world by bringing the current one to an end, regardless of what it cost everyone else. How he became a monster long, long before he Overblotted. He tells the story of what happened that night in STYX, the culmination of so many years of agony, and shows Cater what it twisted him into.
And then the screen goes dark, with a short message: TRUTH: ENDING.
It fades out, and a new message appears: SECRET ENDING: NIGHTMARE. CONTINUE?
It's all incredibly difficult to take in. Cater's brow remains in a permanent ridge as he watches, barely blinking. He's too tired to read and understand, but at the same time he can't stop. The text said he could pause, and he knows he probably should on more than one occasion, but his own mind grips him in place, cementing his feet to the floor and his fingers to the sides of his phone.
CONTINUE?
The word makes him go cold. Up until this point, it was a lot of shocking clarity, but he'd heard some of it already: Ortho's death, Idia's guilt, his near death. What had been a set of major plot points is now a detailed outline dripping with painful exposition.
So what's next? What's waiting for him here, in this terrible world that Idia's subconscious has birthed? Cater doesn't want to find out.
Knows he has to; there's no choice. This is Idia's misery and he's here to share it. Cater steels himself and pushes on like the good soldier he is.
Darkness, and then a return to the final battle. Only this time, after the third thunderclap? Ortho doesn't fall. Idia's rage swells, his scream a metallic scrape, and blot rushes from the two of them in a torrent. The inky blackness engulfs the gathered students, their cries mingling with Idia's monstrous ire.
The camera draws back, revealing the previously unseen avatar: Cater himself, though he hadn't been present for the actual fight. No, in Idia's nightmares, things can always be worse. The blot crashes over his digital self, seizing his flesh, his soul. A phantom rises over him, a tangle of six arms, fused torsos, madly laughing identical heads. Four hands wield chains of diamond-shaped links, the ends sunk deep into Cater's arms and legs. The other two tangle into his hair, yanking his head back. Split card is no longer at his command, now it commands him, steering him like a puppet.
Red and black crawl up his body, form-fitted to conceal nothing and slashed to reveal pale, bleeding skin. The world has taken pounds of flesh from him, too, after all. The right side of his face is swallowed by a crimson metal plate, diamond-shaped and mirror-polished and welded into his face like a grotesque half-mask. The eye itself has become a camera lens, pushing outward, distorting formerly handsome features. More lenses and flashbulbs are fixed to the ends of his fingers, jutting out of his shoulders, tearing through his stomach.
The Overblotted Cater screams with laughter through jagged shark's teeth as he turns toward the camera, his remaining green eye burning with loathing as he lunges, those flashing, shutter-snapping fingers outstretched.
The screen cuts to black, and the app closes before deleting itself.
Although Cater keeps himself at arm's distance from everyone in his life (aside from Idia, now), his heart still hammers watching the depiction of his schoolfriends being swallowed up by Idia's wrath. He couldn't have anticipated how much worse it was going to get.
It's him...a monster. Consumed by his obsessive need for positive attention, by his own farcical self. For what it all is, it's so graphic. As the app gives its final surprise, Cater cries out in fright, the phone dropping from his hand as he jumps backward, crawling onto his bed and away from the glowing screen on the floor. No wonder Idia had woken up in such a state of pure panic.
And for Idia, it had been so much more than just a nightmare. It was a memory bastardized into something worse. So, so much worse. Like a worst-possible-case bad end. In that nightmare, it wasn't just that Cater had overblotted. It was how it had happened. There isn't an ounce of him that for a second fears this nightmare becoming a reality, and in the back of his brain he completely understands how Idia could feel so hung up on the possibility.
After all, he'd already lived this, once. He'd almost...almost made a world of phantoms.
Cater shudders. He doesn't have nearly enough bandwidth to work through all of it. That would've been a tall order if he wasn't already running on empty. A knock on the door and Trey's voice asking if he's okay is all that shakes him out of his rattled state. Cater manages something about how he just dropped something and startled himself. Try sounds obviously in disbelief, but doesn't press. Once his footsteps retreat, Cater buries his face in his hands.
What was he supposed to do with all of this, anyway?
He sees himself behind his eyelids, twisted and laughing and angry. Angry at the world, angry at everyone and everything. They'd made him become a shell of a person, hollow, a tool. They wouldn't look at him, really look and see who he was, how he was hurting. So he'd make them hurt. Make an immortalized scrapbook of misery.
Even though Cater's felt so much happier, those feelings haven't totally left him. It would take a lot longer heal those scars, correct his bad habits. Maybe he'd never fully let go of that hatred. Feeling that darkness still inside of him makes him shudder. It's way too close, too real.
Unable to stand looking at that image of himself, he opens his eyes again, stares at his phone on the ground. It's put itself to sleep, sitting dark. To Cater, it looks like a bad omen. Still, he slowly slides down to the ground, reaches over and pulls it across the carpet. Opening Idia's message happens automatically, but he stares at it for a long time at a complete loss for words.
Idia was notified as soon as the app disappeared. He must be beside himself, waiting for whatever was going to come next. Cater wished he knew what the right thing to say was. Obviously, they can't talk about this over text. Putting anything to words right now, though, feels impossible.
Straight to the point, then.
Do you want me to come over now or wait until tomorrow?
The alert of the app deletion makes Idia startle, then sag with a sense of finality. So... it's done, then. Cater has seen the whole truth, the driving force behind Idia's suffering. For as much as the ginger boy has helped him start to heal, Idia had to put this weight on his shoulders because he's a damaged, selfish fool. He needed one person, just one, to understand fully no matter how much it hurt them. He's horrible, he knows that. If Cater hates him after this, then he deserves it. He sits in dim lights and blue monitor-glow, in silence broken only by the faint hum of fans and electricity, and waits. In truth, he'll be shocked if Cater has the fortitude to message him after that heavy blow to the brain.
His message alert has him blinking. It couldn't be... but it is. It's Cater. Oh Seven, he's not ready for this. He's not ready to lose what he'd gained. He's so selfish.
... huh?
Why does Cater want to come over? Unless... it's to yell at Idia for putting this on him when he's exhausted (because of Idia's nightmare, now compounded by digital trauma)? Why is he giving Idia the consideration to wait until tomorrow, unless it's so he can unleash his full fury after resting? But in the end, it's not really Idia's decision, is it?
ur choice
It's always been Cater's choice, to stay or to walk away.
Cater takes a breath and pulls up his messages with Trey, sending him a brief SOS: Emergency with Idia. Cover me if you can. Won't be back tonight. Without waiting for a response, he tucks his phone away and heads out the window. It's not curfew so he doesn't need to hurry or be incredibly stealthy, but he doesn't want any of his dormmates to know that he's not in his room studying. Ultimately, if anyone catches him he can just claim to be a split card out on errands, so he doesn't try too hard to stay out of sight.
Up until he reaches Idia's room, he tries to figure out what he's going to do...but he doesn't know. Cater struggles to play out scenarios in his head, but his exhaustion and his nerves keep him from being able to form any kind of realistic narrative. Before he knows it, he's standing at Idia's door, moving to open it on instinct.
There's no mask in place, this time. Cater's face is flatlined and serious.
It doesn't matter if Idia is sitting or standing or where he's placed himself in the room. As soon as Cater sees that lanky, emotionally strung-out teenager, all his questions and confusion and indecisiveness shuts itself out. His feet move of their own accord, bringing him up Idia, and his hands follow suit, taking him by the shoulders and pulling him into a tight embrace.
Idia's pacing when he hears the door open. The sound makes him visibly flinch, as if he's expecting to be struck. He turns, only to gasp and blink as Cater yanks him into a hug.
That's... not what he was expecting.
As they stand there, Idia feels his eyes well up. His lip trembles. Slowly he raises his arms to loosely encircle Cater, and only then does he crumble. He all but crushes his boyfriend to his chest, leaning down to sob on Cater's shoulder.
How can it be possible? He's been accepted, selfishness and all.
Cater plants himself firmly as Idia's weight falls into him, holding him even more tightly. His hands ball into fists in his boyfriend's sweater, clutching him as if he's trying to ground him firmly in reality. For a long time he just stands like that, being his anchor as Idia sobs.
In the end, regardless of the subtext, regardless of the horror, a nightmare is just a nightmare, and the past is in the past. Idia was working so, so damn hard to be better and this was just another bump in the road. What counts, what really means the most, is what he's doing now: how he's trying to atone for his sins, whether or not they're self-prescribed.
"You are not your demons, Idia Shroud," he finally murmurs into his ear. "But I love you, demons and all."
Relief. Such overwhelming, pure relief that he's still wanted, still loved, has Idia sobbing even harder. Whatever disgust Cater might feel from what he saw, it's not enough to overpower their bond. He clings even as his knees give way, pulling Cater with him to the floor.
His head hurts and he's beyond exhausted, but it's okay. He hasn't lost Cater. Now he can truly start to heal.
Although he doesn't have any smiles to offer, now isn't the time for them, anyway. An upbeat attitude isn't what this situation calls for, even if it marks an ultimately positive change for them. As they reach the floor, Cater shifts his position to cradle Idia much like he had the night before, holding him and petting him and rocking him gently.
If he wasn't sure of it before, he knows it now: he'll do anything in his power to protect his boyfriend from the horrors he's been immersed in. Idia was already climbing his way up out of the pit he'd fallen down into, but his body was tired and his mind broken. He just needed a hand to grab onto, to help him the rest of the way. Cater wanted to be that hand. Idia had suffered more than enough. More than he ever should have.
He figures it goes without saying that he's not leaving Idia's dorm tonight.
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Back in his partying days, that was. Not that they were really all that long ago, but it feels like it was. He's so over all of that noise. "You wouldn't mind? I don't want to throw you off more if you're focusing, but I'm not really hungry, anyway."
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Cater pulls one arm away to fish his phone from his pocket and check the time.
"Yeah, I can do twenty." That said, though, the only thing more appealing than sleep is being so close to his boyfriend, and as such he has to ask, "sure you can't join me? I won't even pester you to eat, if you do."
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It's a question they've asked each other so many times since they started napping or sleeping in the same bed. No matter what they do, the cuddling usually lets them both sleep much better, except for last night. At least a nap won't let Idia sink so deep into REM that he risks another nightmare.
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He's about ready to pull Idia up out of the chair himself as he slides out of his shoes.
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"Don't look too long. Sleep." He'd pout playfully if he had the energy for it. Hopefully Cater won't end up too rumpled from this. If Riddle gives him a hard time, Idia might actually emerge from his room long enough to smack the diminutive Housewarden upside his rose-red head.
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And with another, soft brush his lips, his tired eyes peering into Idia's...there's a moment where it seems like he might be looking more deeply, analyzing those microexpressions and uncovering Idia's inner fears. Cater's too tired to see into the rabbit hole, though, and snuggles in so his forehead is against Idia's collarbone.
The ginger's out almost immediately, his breathing evening out as his limbs go lax.
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The alarm goes off exactly when Idia set it, but it's still far too soon. He gives Cater an extra two minutes, though it's just as much about letting himself have that time. "Cay? Gotta get up, it's time. I'm sorry." He doesn't let go just yet, though.
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His eyelids struggle to stay open and Cater groans. "I've never hated school so much before."
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"I can ping your next class, tell them you're sick. They'll believe it with how you looked earlier."
He doesn't hold back from pressing a kiss to his boyfriend's forehead, a token of a love that won't fade even if they're separated. Idia will love Cater until the day he dies, whether or not they're still together tomorrow.
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Besides, Idia had his deadline, too, and who knows how much those 20 minutes set him back.
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So selfish. It's why he Overblotted, because he wanted to fix his mistake even if it cost the entire world.
"I'll be waiting," he whispers. Gods, he wants to sink into the bed and disappear.
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Cater uses his camera app as a mirror to fix his hair as he jogs to class. By the time he's slipping into his seat, he feels a renewed sense of energy. That power nap isn't going to last all day, but it'll get him through classes and keep off of Crewel's naughty list, at least. He's daydreaming about Idia's gangly embrace through the last hour, ready to choose something indulgent for dinner and go full coma.
Yawning his way back to Ignihyde, Cater has no idea what's waiting for him.
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Cater's phone chimes with a message from Idia. The subject line, when he checks it, says: "URGENT. Read entire message before opening attachment."
The body of the message: "Please go somewhere private before starting the attached app. You may not enter Ignihyde dorm for this purpose. Do not reply before completion. Do not stop before completion. Do not share. App will run to completion one time before self-deleting. You may pause as necessary for your comfort. Notification will be sent to developer upon completion."
At the end of the message is the app download link, titled simply: TRUTH.EXE
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Confused, he starts typing several times. The "..." appears and disappears before he finally just erases his half-formed thought, putting his phone away and rubbing his face. Idia, what are you thinking?
Cater feels like he's been blind all day. He knows it isn't his fault, he's just tired and off his game, but he should've noticed red flags, shouldn't he? Should've picked up more on Idia's mood. The way he said he needed to finish what he was working on before Cater was done with class. He stares hard at the Ignihyde mirror for far longer than he should, half-tempted to storm in.
But, no, that ominous app title...he needs to do what was asked of him, for better or worse. But what kind of truth should he be preparing himself for? Just what was Idia having a nightmare about, last night?
Cater pivots and goes to Heartslabyul, getting to his room with minimal interruptions. As a third year, he has a private room, and only Trey gives him a somewhat questioning look when he announces he has a crazy amount of homework to do. Once he's alone, Cater sits on the edge of his bed and takes a deep breath. It feels like he stares at the download link for ages, a snake of dread coiling up in his stomach.
Here goes nothing. Cater starts the download.
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The unseen avatar marches forward through the silent, gloomy corridor, down winding staircases, where the light grows more and more sickly green. At the bottom is a stone floor, with a huge, circular stone gate. A wavy gap splits the gate's cover in two, that green light spilling through.
Chibis of Riddle and Azul appear. They talk through text boxes, speaking of Idia and Ortho, of fighting phantoms. They talk of the brothers trying to reset the world and what it means. They carry a huge golden spear between them.
Cater's phone speakers echo with the cries of the damned, and the Shroud brothers appear: Ortho's massive, dark form, and Idia's twisted cyber-armor. He has spared no detail in their repulsive shapes. Riddle and Azul light up the spear and blast Ortho with a bright flash and a loud crack of thunder.
Idia's Overblotted form burns, a raging orange inferno. Hate flashes in his eyes.
Riddle and Azul are chased off. Jamil and Leona take their place. Another piercing shot of thunder and lighting, another fit of rage from Idia at Ortho's pained cry. Then again from Vil, Rook, and Epel. Ortho falls. Idia, freed of his Overblot, lets himself fall with his brother. Vil's actions spare the elder's life, leaving Idia to spell out everything. He remembers the words spoken, they're engraved into his memory forever. Programming all the dialogue took only time, nothing else, nothing else at all.
How his selfish wish cost Ortho his future. How he wanted to reset the world by bringing the current one to an end, regardless of what it cost everyone else. How he became a monster long, long before he Overblotted. He tells the story of what happened that night in STYX, the culmination of so many years of agony, and shows Cater what it twisted him into.
And then the screen goes dark, with a short message: TRUTH: ENDING.
It fades out, and a new message appears: SECRET ENDING: NIGHTMARE. CONTINUE?
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CONTINUE?
The word makes him go cold. Up until this point, it was a lot of shocking clarity, but he'd heard some of it already: Ortho's death, Idia's guilt, his near death. What had been a set of major plot points is now a detailed outline dripping with painful exposition.
So what's next? What's waiting for him here, in this terrible world that Idia's subconscious has birthed? Cater doesn't want to find out.
Knows he has to; there's no choice. This is Idia's misery and he's here to share it. Cater steels himself and pushes on like the good soldier he is.
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The camera draws back, revealing the previously unseen avatar: Cater himself, though he hadn't been present for the actual fight. No, in Idia's nightmares, things can always be worse. The blot crashes over his digital self, seizing his flesh, his soul. A phantom rises over him, a tangle of six arms, fused torsos, madly laughing identical heads. Four hands wield chains of diamond-shaped links, the ends sunk deep into Cater's arms and legs. The other two tangle into his hair, yanking his head back. Split card is no longer at his command, now it commands him, steering him like a puppet.
Red and black crawl up his body, form-fitted to conceal nothing and slashed to reveal pale, bleeding skin. The world has taken pounds of flesh from him, too, after all. The right side of his face is swallowed by a crimson metal plate, diamond-shaped and mirror-polished and welded into his face like a grotesque half-mask. The eye itself has become a camera lens, pushing outward, distorting formerly handsome features. More lenses and flashbulbs are fixed to the ends of his fingers, jutting out of his shoulders, tearing through his stomach.
The Overblotted Cater screams with laughter through jagged shark's teeth as he turns toward the camera, his remaining green eye burning with loathing as he lunges, those flashing, shutter-snapping fingers outstretched.
The screen cuts to black, and the app closes before deleting itself.
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It's him...a monster. Consumed by his obsessive need for positive attention, by his own farcical self. For what it all is, it's so graphic. As the app gives its final surprise, Cater cries out in fright, the phone dropping from his hand as he jumps backward, crawling onto his bed and away from the glowing screen on the floor. No wonder Idia had woken up in such a state of pure panic.
And for Idia, it had been so much more than just a nightmare. It was a memory bastardized into something worse. So, so much worse. Like a worst-possible-case bad end. In that nightmare, it wasn't just that Cater had overblotted. It was how it had happened. There isn't an ounce of him that for a second fears this nightmare becoming a reality, and in the back of his brain he completely understands how Idia could feel so hung up on the possibility.
After all, he'd already lived this, once. He'd almost...almost made a world of phantoms.
Cater shudders. He doesn't have nearly enough bandwidth to work through all of it. That would've been a tall order if he wasn't already running on empty. A knock on the door and Trey's voice asking if he's okay is all that shakes him out of his rattled state. Cater manages something about how he just dropped something and startled himself. Try sounds obviously in disbelief, but doesn't press. Once his footsteps retreat, Cater buries his face in his hands.
What was he supposed to do with all of this, anyway?
He sees himself behind his eyelids, twisted and laughing and angry. Angry at the world, angry at everyone and everything. They'd made him become a shell of a person, hollow, a tool. They wouldn't look at him, really look and see who he was, how he was hurting. So he'd make them hurt. Make an immortalized scrapbook of misery.
Even though Cater's felt so much happier, those feelings haven't totally left him. It would take a lot longer heal those scars, correct his bad habits. Maybe he'd never fully let go of that hatred. Feeling that darkness still inside of him makes him shudder. It's way too close, too real.
Unable to stand looking at that image of himself, he opens his eyes again, stares at his phone on the ground. It's put itself to sleep, sitting dark. To Cater, it looks like a bad omen. Still, he slowly slides down to the ground, reaches over and pulls it across the carpet. Opening Idia's message happens automatically, but he stares at it for a long time at a complete loss for words.
Idia was notified as soon as the app disappeared. He must be beside himself, waiting for whatever was going to come next. Cater wished he knew what the right thing to say was. Obviously, they can't talk about this over text. Putting anything to words right now, though, feels impossible.
Straight to the point, then.
Do you want me to come over now or wait until tomorrow?
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His message alert has him blinking. It couldn't be... but it is. It's Cater. Oh Seven, he's not ready for this. He's not ready to lose what he'd gained. He's so selfish.
... huh?
Why does Cater want to come over? Unless... it's to yell at Idia for putting this on him when he's exhausted (because of Idia's nightmare, now compounded by digital trauma)? Why is he giving Idia the consideration to wait until tomorrow, unless it's so he can unleash his full fury after resting? But in the end, it's not really Idia's decision, is it?
ur choice
It's always been Cater's choice, to stay or to walk away.
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Cater takes a breath and pulls up his messages with Trey, sending him a brief SOS: Emergency with Idia. Cover me if you can. Won't be back tonight. Without waiting for a response, he tucks his phone away and heads out the window. It's not curfew so he doesn't need to hurry or be incredibly stealthy, but he doesn't want any of his dormmates to know that he's not in his room studying. Ultimately, if anyone catches him he can just claim to be a split card out on errands, so he doesn't try too hard to stay out of sight.
Up until he reaches Idia's room, he tries to figure out what he's going to do...but he doesn't know. Cater struggles to play out scenarios in his head, but his exhaustion and his nerves keep him from being able to form any kind of realistic narrative. Before he knows it, he's standing at Idia's door, moving to open it on instinct.
There's no mask in place, this time. Cater's face is flatlined and serious.
It doesn't matter if Idia is sitting or standing or where he's placed himself in the room. As soon as Cater sees that lanky, emotionally strung-out teenager, all his questions and confusion and indecisiveness shuts itself out. His feet move of their own accord, bringing him up Idia, and his hands follow suit, taking him by the shoulders and pulling him into a tight embrace.
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That's... not what he was expecting.
As they stand there, Idia feels his eyes well up. His lip trembles. Slowly he raises his arms to loosely encircle Cater, and only then does he crumble. He all but crushes his boyfriend to his chest, leaning down to sob on Cater's shoulder.
How can it be possible? He's been accepted, selfishness and all.
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In the end, regardless of the subtext, regardless of the horror, a nightmare is just a nightmare, and the past is in the past. Idia was working so, so damn hard to be better and this was just another bump in the road. What counts, what really means the most, is what he's doing now: how he's trying to atone for his sins, whether or not they're self-prescribed.
"You are not your demons, Idia Shroud," he finally murmurs into his ear. "But I love you, demons and all."
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His head hurts and he's beyond exhausted, but it's okay. He hasn't lost Cater. Now he can truly start to heal.
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If he wasn't sure of it before, he knows it now: he'll do anything in his power to protect his boyfriend from the horrors he's been immersed in. Idia was already climbing his way up out of the pit he'd fallen down into, but his body was tired and his mind broken. He just needed a hand to grab onto, to help him the rest of the way. Cater wanted to be that hand. Idia had suffered more than enough. More than he ever should have.
He figures it goes without saying that he's not leaving Idia's dorm tonight.
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