DUNGEON - BELLMARE ENCLAVE (BELLMARE MOUNTAINS, PT 2)

[phantasmods]

The shadows are starting to grow very long as you crest his particular ridge - it's not night yet, but it will be soon. In the shadows of the afternoon, with a tall mountain already blocking the sun, lies a snow-covered valley that is different from the ones you've come across thus far in your investigation.

This valley is home to a town, and unlike all the settlements you've seen so far - Incendia, the Telovia mining town, and the manor - it's very much active. There are actual people in the streets, visible from above, going through their days on snow-free streets, bundled up against the cold.

Those of you who asked were told of the handful of people who didn't go into the slumber of stasis as the Fissure conditions of the world grew worse and worse, instead isolating themselves and trying to continue living their lives as they could. Now, it seems, you've found exactly such a group.

Welcome to the Bellmare Enclave, and enjoy your stay.

[[OOC: Welcome to part 2 of the dungeon! For the most part, interaction with the town's NPCs can be handwaved as described on the main information post. Worth noting are the following major things: The Bellmare Enclave isn't expecting visitors, though the people are generally friendly to the new arrivals. They don't know about the time dilation effect of their Fissure - to them, it's only been about eighteen years since the Slumber Plan was put in place and they withdrew from the world. And finally, by a similar token, they have no idea how far the Fissures outside of their own have grown - while it's not uncommon for them to find odd objects from time to time, they'll assume that the characters are just arrivals from other places within their own world, rather than outsiders, until told otherwise.]]

Comments

[byanyother_name]

[Kurama hums with pleasure at Minato's response, hands shifting to support more of the smaller boy's weight. Some of that self-restraint starts to slip away-

Until the sound of an explosion has him jerking back, eyes wide and startled and almost fearful. His head turns towards the sound almost against his will; on the wall, his home is shown, a shattered, smoking ruin.

His cry overlaps with his other self's.]

No!

[Karasu is dragging the other Kurama along into the destroyed house. The redhead has a collar locked around his throat, with scratch marks livid at the sides.

There are bodies in the house. An older woman and man, and a younger teen boy, bloody and burned. The collared Kurama's scream is rage and agony and the sound of someone breaking beyond repair.

"Mother!"]

[biddentodance]

[Explosion. The sound alone doesn't do anything to him, but he's too slow and too short anyway to reach to cover Kurama's eyes, or to keep his head from turning. Minato looks at it too....the ruin, the freshly exploded house - a different scene begins to overtake his vision. He's shaking.

He hates the sight of the position the other Kurama is in.

But then there are bodies on the floor, and it's too familiar. Too similar. Bodies and blood and fire, the unmistakable stench of burning skin and hair, the shriek of tearing metal, the jagged edge of broken glass, the pale hand hanging limp - and he in the middle of it all, only a child, utterly helpless.

Someone shouts mother and it isn't him. It doesn't break his flashback, but it's enough to remind him there's someone else here, there was someone with him. It's dangerous here. Blindly, Minato searches for the other person's hand, his grip firm and gentle and insistent all at once. Have to leave here. Have to go. Can't lose anyone else.

He tugs Kurama away from where the vision played out, navigating obstacles that aren't really there because this isn't the bridge. There's one problem, though, one he doesn't even notice until his knees are hitting the floor.

One of us needs to breathe.]

[byanyother_name]

[Kurama doesn't resist being tugged away by the hand. Doesn't really question the weaving path they take around imaginary obstacles. He's only barely holding together, he almost feels like one wrong word, one wrong move, will shatter him apart.

The scent of panic on Minato doesn't really help.

He's desperately, painfully reminding himself that it's just one of the subfissure's visions. This isn't something that happened to him. Isn't something that can happen to him, because Karasu is dead. He's dead and he's never coming back and even if he did, if he tried, Kurama would rend him apart.

It's Minato going down that drags him out of his own inner struggle. He's quick to catch the smaller boy and draw him close. Soft white wings block out the view of the cavern around them for now.]

Minato, you need to breathe. You're with me, you're safe. It's alright. Please, beloved...

[biddentodance]

[White overtakes his vision, and he's either passing out or...or something else. Feathers? Roaring flames and distant gunshots are still in his ears, the flashback isn't fading yet.

But he breathes. It's a sharp gasp, a struggle to continue, shaking and uneven. He doesn't want to be "safe". His fingers dig into Kurama's shirt as he presses closer, almost painfully close, searching for a heartbeat that, logically, he knows he won't find. Won't hear, can't hear, will never hear. It only makes it harder to calm down.

Minato tries not to think about it. About the fact two of the people he loves are already dead and were well before he met them. About how he never even had a chance to help them.

The way they always protect him. Even now, when Kurama is the one who's seen something so horrible. He shouldn't be focusing on Minato right now - this is nothing he hasn't dealt with before. He doesn't want to be "safe", not when everyone else is hurting.]

Didn't happen. Wasn't real. [Kurama needs this more than he does. Minato never wanted anyone he cares about to see something like that. His voice is tight with stress and determination.] Won't let anything like it happen to you.

[He refuses to believe such an awful thing happened to any version of Kurama. Rejects that with all his heart.]

[byanyother_name]

Listen to my breathing. Try to match it if you can.

[It's a good method of helping someone through panic attacks and flashbacks, and something that, unlike his absent heartbeat, won't remind Minato that Kurama is dead. So Kurama paces his breathing for a bit, slow and even.

Though the rhythm stutters when Minato speaks.

He's not wrong? It's something Kurama has been telling himself. Trying to tell himself. He shudders as he holds Minato a little tighter. The words come out without thinking.]

It didn't. It can't, it won't ever, I killed him at that damn tournament!

[biddentodance]

[Minato tries. He tries hard. It's....not super effective, his breathing is still shaky and hitches frequently, but trying to match Kurama's rhythm does help his even out.

But those words make him go totally still. The trembling stops, but he holds his breath again, too. Killed him. Kurama killed. Logically, he should realize Kurama has blood on his hands, but he didn't need to think about it. Killed him. The words circle in his mind.

With what Minato has seen here in this cave, and what happened in Aiden's Palace, he can't....blame him, can he? He can't. There's no room for anger or upset - and he couldn't, anyway, not at Kurama.

So what's left is sadness.

He breathes, slow and calm, head resting against the taller boy. Tired. Tears run down his face slowly.]

I'm sorry.