OPEN - And when the wave comes sweeping

[lonered]

Who: Keith & Anyone, Everyone, You?
Where: Temple hallways
When: Later stages of the plague event
Rating PG? Idk. Memories and talk of death
What: End stage plague things. Seeing things that aren't there, then not seeing anything. Fun times to be had by all.



[ Option A - end of week 2, hallucination boogaloo ]

Keith has given up any pretense of being well enough to do much besides lying in bed, curled up and shivering and trying to ignore the increasing loud voices that he knows can't possibly be real.

Or, well, he'd known that the last time he shut his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

But now, now as he wakes, he hears a voice calling for him -- nearby and frantic. It's a voice he hasn't heard, save in odd dreams, since he was a child. His eyes snap open, and all he sees is fire. Everywhere.

Keith scrambles out of bed, eyes wide and terrified -- and perhaps more jarringly to anyone who sees him, near glowing a vibrant yellow behind the usual violet iris and currently blown pupil -- and stumbles out into the hallway. His father's voice screams for him, but only Keith can hear it. Keith screams back, and his strained voice echoes through the hall, "Dad! Where... where are you? Please... no..."

The vision of fire rages and Keith stands, lost in the hallway, breath shallow and quick, terrified, near feral. He doesn't remember the last time he cried, but there are tears streaking down his ashen face from currently inhuman eyes. "Dad?!"


[ Option B - mid week 3, unseeing ]

By now the fever has broken, and there is a faint almost spark of hope in Keith that maybe this is over. It isn't though. And that becomes obvious far too soon after. The worst of the hallucinations are gone, but this time, as he stands in the doorway of the room that he shares with Shiro, he's clinging to the doorframe a bit too tightly, knuckles white.

His eyes have returned to normal, none of his Galra side choosing to show itself at the moment, but the way he's looking out at nothing isn't normal either. Noise will catch his attention, and he'll look in the general direction, gaze not quite focusing.

"Is someone there? I can't.... I can't see."

Comments

[efface]

Upon seeing Keith around the corner - eyes yellow and apparent panic written clearly across his face, Riza feels herself shift, her instincts taking over. She has to find a way to get him to calm down, to see what's happening. Hallucinations aren't a foreign concept, for her, and after Ishval she's seen her fair share of soldiers try and deal with them.

"Keith-" Her voice is firm but gentle as she takes another step towards him. "What's going on? There's no fire. You're safe."

[lonered]

He looks back towards her at the sound of his name, wild-eyed and frantic, his breath coming far too quickly still. "My dad is calling for me. He needs help. The fire... the fire's going to take him again..."

Except no. That doesn't make sense, does it?

For a moment Keith wavers and tries to focus on Riza. "Don't you hear him?"

[efface]

She holds his eye contact when he turns back to her, in a way that she's almost trying to make it hard for him to turn away from her.

"There isn't any fire." Riza takes a very slow step towards him, her arms outstretched defensively. "And the only person I've heard has been you. Why? What do you hear?"

The plan is to get close enough to get a hand on him - a hand around his wrist, a gentle grip on his arm. The few times she's dealt with hallucinations this bad, the person had needed a grounding point. She doesn't know if that will work the same when it is illness induced, but it's the only plan she has.

[lonered]

"I hear my dad..."

He answers, frowning and looking around. There isn't any fire. He shuts his eyes, breaking away from Riza's gaze, but a moment later his eyes are opening again to look around.

No fire. It's gone. IT was...

"It wasn't real." Keith takes a breath. It felt so real. He looks at Riza, gaze haunted, lost, like he's not sure what to do.

[efface]

"Your dad?"

Keith pauses, the panic in him paused just for long enough to look around. Riza takes the opportunity to take another step forward. She's still on edge, still prepared for him to bolt, but when Keith exhales Riza knows it's okay.

She does deflate a little, her own tension falling away as she closes the distance, setting her hands on Keith's elbows. "No, it wasn't." There's another pause, while Riza tilts her face a bit to make sure she has his eyes. "Are you okay?" The question is soft, gentle and concerned, as she waits for him to respond.

[lonered]

It wasn't real. He knows that. It still hurts to hear. Because even if the vision was terrifying, hearing his father's voice would've meant that maybe he could have--

No. He stops those thoughts, forces himself to take a breath, shutting his eyes for a moment before opening them, meeting and holding Riza's gaze. "I'm fine now. Sorry..." What a mess. And even now he can hear the echo of that familiar voice.

"I guess the fever must be getting worse."

[efface]

She can see the pain written across his face, and her face drops a bit. She can only guess at what he's going through, what he saw, but the pain of dealing with what is the reality of it had to be worse. She's patient with him, letting him go through his thoughts before shaking her head.

"Don't apologize, I'm just glad you're safe."

Where her hand is gently on his elbows, Riza squeezes once. "Let's get you back in bed?"

[lonered]

It's not the first time he's had to deal with visions of his father that weren't real. He's not sure if this is better or worse than the Trials in that respect. But he needs to shake the hallucination, can't give into it.

He hesitates, but manages a smile at the squeeze to his arm. Riza is a good person. He really appreciates that right now.

"Yeah... that's probably for the best."

But he freezes again and turns to look, hearing his name again. "It's... it's not impossible for him to be here. Not in this place..."