photophobic | [IC CONTACT]

[ Everything has returned to the status quo. It's quiet again.

Kylo has been quiet as well. Too quiet. Haru debated going straight to the Meadows, but opted not to intrude if he isn't having visitors at the time. ]

Kylo?

[Ronan's been gone for over a week, and with the threat of a blending reality neutralised, everyone else seems to have forgotten he ever existed. No-one has asked after him, despite the public call for his execution. Perhaps they want to enjoy the return to normality without being forced to consider the price at which it was bought. Perhaps they prefer ignorance, not wanting to feel the weight of his death on their consciences. Kylo hates them for it, but it isn't surprising.

When Haru sends her message, there's enough of a delay that it seems like Kylo's not going to respond. But perhaps because he suspects a lack of response will prompt a visit in person, he does eventually type something back.]

Yes. I'm still here.

[ She might have left it longer unintentionally, but now that she's over her surprise with Akira's reappearance and allowing him to settle back into this world, she can focus on her other friends.

Kylo's said nothing on the network and she hasn't seen anything from anyone named Ronan either. Jadus' post from the previous week has her fearing the worst. ]

I wanted to see how you were doing.
The dreams... they stopped a week ago.

[Of course, part of the reason people haven't been contacting Kylo is that he's pretty good at giving the impression he doesn't want to be contacted. He is at least a little aware of this, though it doesn't do much to lighten his mood.

The dreams stopped a week ago.

He knows.]

They did. He's dead.

[ It really is as she feared. She had hoped things wouldn't have taken such a dark turn. ]

I know it may not bring much comfort, but I am truly sorry.

[ What else do you even say to this? ]

It shouldn't have ended like that.

No. It shouldn't have.

[Though... if it had to end, Kylo supposes Ronan would have wanted it to end like that. A pact. A sacrifice.

It's very little comfort, thinking of Ronan's desire to redress some kind of balance and trying, as much as he can, to think of himself as a part of its fulfillment— but with comfort being a commodity he's desperately short on, he'll take it.]

But he wouldn't have wanted to exist like that. At that cost.

I don't imagine most would, but still... I wish there had been a better way to help him and everyone else.

[ Adults often made cruel decisions and this seemed no different. ]

He'll return, Kylo. We are imPorts after all.

We are imPorted here by a being called Lachesis. Ronan was changed after he touched something that calls itself Atropos.

Names are important, Haru. Lachesis measures the thread. Atropos cuts it. There's no coming back from that.

The Fate that destroyed the other world imPorts came from?

[ A harrowing thought. ]

We can't be so certain, can we? Atropos may be powerful, but the nanites in our bodies have always brought us back. It can't fail this time.

The same. Yes.

[It's... kind of her, he thinks, to try and lift his spirits. But he was in the room when Ronan started coming apart. It hadn't been anything physical.]

I'm not so certain the nanites can help him this time. But I'll tell you. If he comes back.

I will continue to hope so.

[ It's too cruel a fate for someone, she thinks. ]

Are you okay?

[ She fully expects a no, given the circumstances. ]

[He doesn't know how to answer that. He'd experienced something of wholeness, something he'd never believed possible... only to lose it.

In the end, he can't answer her question. Not directly.]

I don't dream, without Ronan. I'd forgotten.

What sort of dreams do you have with him?

They were all different. We could go anywhere. Do anything. I made an entire world, once. From nothing. And then we took one of the stars I had made back with us.

I don't know where Ronan put it.

That sounds wonderful. Freeing, really.
Maybe he put it somewhere for safekeeping? Like in an antique box?

[ She thinks very literally at times. ]

[Literal is just fine, in this instance. There are so many things taken from dreams here at the Meadows. Maybe everything except Kylo himself and his scattered belongings is a dream Ronan had once.

Kylo feels sure Ronan would have kept that star, though— he'd asked him to hold it for him, after all. Later, he'll go hunting for it... and likely leave destruction in his wake when he can't find it. He's broken a lot of things since Ronan's death.]

Maybe. We should have kept it in a jar. On the dresser.

[There's a pause, and then a second message:]

Thank you.

I'm sure you'll find it! If you look where you least expect it, I bet it will appear.

[ Oh, gratitude? That confounds her somehow. ]

What for?

[Look, he... doesn't know, okay, he doesn't practice gratitude often, it's a mysterious symptom of a condition he doesn't understand.]

Asking. Caring.

Everything.

[ There's a delay before she responds. ]

You do not have to thank me, but you are welcome, Kylo.
I only wish I had been able to do something to help.

You listened when it was difficult. Most people can't.
I won't forget it.

Sometimes, people simply can't understand. Sometimes, it's not entirely their fault when it's beyond their comprehension, I believe.

[ Sometimes. ]

You are my friend. [ And she has her suspicions she doesn't know everything about Kylo Ren. The violence and anger she's seen, possibly only glimpses of his true power and capability to do much worse.

But as far as she's seen here, he hasn't. And he's been awfully kind with her, but most importantly, honest. People have used her in the past and lied to her face, so honesty is something she values tremendously. ] I will always lend an ear if you need it.

[He doesn't quite know how to respond to that, which is why there's a fairly long pause before the response.]

You're a good friend. I won't forget that, either.

[IC CONTACT]

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