for Dorian (makingmyway)

[bigmoonlittlemoon]

Dark Orym AU




[The world has changed significantly in the months since the Apogee Solstice. The ceremony, the plans of Ludinus Da'leth had not gone exactly as expected. But they had, in the end, been successful enough. Predathos itself had not been fully released, not physically, but the very essence of it had been called down from Ruidus, broken out of its chains and left with only one choice of where to go.

Orym had been in the wrong place at the wrong time -- or perhaps the right -- an attempt at dislodging the obsidian-like orb that had been the Raven Queen's Champion, the Tempest's Lover. The machine had fired anyway, and for the halfling who had been caught straight in that beam, everything was pain and red.

When he woke, he hadn't been himself. Not entirely. He remembered everything, knew who he was, but he was something more now, something that hungered for so much more than Orym had ever desired. His own desires remained, though they'd been turned to near desperate obsessions. He would not lose anyone else that he loved in this absurd struggle; he would not allow it. It was that reflexive need brought on the bright and blinding flash of light that sent Bell's Hells and their allies scattering to the winds, teleported far enough away to be safe in a very broad sense of the word.

As the lights faded and the smoke cleared, as Ludinus and the rest realized what had happened, Orym had felt this new power course through him. And soon everyone came to know it. He'd killed Da'leth and Thull with little more than a glance. A swift death was more than they deserved for what they had been responsible for, what they'd done to Will and Derrig, what they'd tried to do to Laudna. From there, well, Paragon's Call and the Ruby Vanguard answered to him now. Orym, formerly of the Air Ashari, now of the Red Moon. Soon the world would answer to him, and this ridiculous play of gods and monsters would be over.

At his command, his forces have been trying to locate and bring back the rest of his friends. If he can keep them close, he can keep them safe. By now though, he knows that his friends have banded together to fight him. It stings, of course it stings, but he knows that they just don't understand. It doesn't change that he cares for them, and his people have been given strict instructions that while Bell's Hells and the Crown Keepers are to be fended off, they are not be irreparably harmed. They are dear and precious to Orym, and his anger while still quiet and subdued is lethal these days.

He misses his friends. Most nights he holds the sending stone and calls out to Dorian, just wanting to hear his voice, to know that he is safe. But there never seems to be an answer. It doesn't stop him, and most nights the words are simple. 'I hope you're okay, Dorian. I just want to hear your voice again. I miss it. I miss you.'

Today the skirmish that has broken out has been a violent one. Sometime during the fighting, Dorian seems to have been separated off, and the bard has taken a significant amount of damage. Maybe that's what has brought Orym actually out to the battlefield. He so seldom joins the fight these days, but this.

This requires his presence.

Dorian is here. Of everyone that he's wanted to see, the Air Genasi is the one who has had his heart aching the most, the feelings that he'd done so much to try to hide for Dorian's sake, no longer feeling that need to be hidden. Who else could protect him better than Orym? No one. He can give Dorian the world if he wants it, anything.

So when Orym slips in on the edges of the fray, when he sees one of his mages level a spell that sends Dorian sprawling to the ground, the halfling's voice rings out, stern and unyielding.]

Enough.

[He punctuates the words with a gesture towards the Paragon's Call member who had made the attack. A crimson hand appears and wraps itself around their throat, squeezing the life out of the solider slowly.]

You will not hurt him.

Comments

[makingmyway]

[ He shivers a little at the kiss, even as he stiffens at Orym’s words. Finally he opens his eyes again, an expression of worry on his face as he glances up at him. ]

It’s just…none of this feels right, Orym.

[ He doesn’t apologize, because deep down he isn’t sorry. But he can’t help still feeling just a bit anxious about what would happen now. ]

[bigmoonlittlemoon]

I know.

[Orym leans back enough to look at him, quiet for a moment as his eyes roam over Dorian's face. Somewhere, what part of Orym is left that is untwisted, untainted by the entity that has taken him over, wants to plead with Dorian to end this, to end him. He can't be worth this.

But the greater part of him, well, that part is convinced still of his decisions, of what he is doing to reshape this world.

He brushes the back of his knuckles along Dorian's cheek.]

You wouldn't be you if you didn't feel that, would you? [Another sigh.] I know you, Dorian Storm. I love you.

[Even this stubbornly resistant part of him.]

Do you want to leave me?

[makingmyway]

[ He watches Orym quietly, wondering what he’s thinking at the moment. There was a time when he could so easily tell, or at least could make a pretty good guess, what was on the halfling’s mind. But it’s been much more difficult to read him these days.

And he misses those days, when he felt like he knew who Orym was.

Even so, he can’t help leaning into Orym’s touch, and the question has him shaking his head. ]

No…I couldn’t leave you, Orym. I love you too much.

[bigmoonlittlemoon]

[There is a visible wave of relief that rushes through Orym at that, an easing of a tension in him. He's not entirely certain he could let Dorian go. He wants to believe that he could, but he wonders if he's fooling himself.]

I love you too. I need you with me.

[His touch lingers, eyes roaming over his face.]

It's okay if you if you try to stop me. I am going to make sure no one dares touch you again.

[A flash of red in his eyes, there and gone like perhaps it was just a trick of the light.]

And I'm going to do everything I can to make you see that what I'm doing is really for the best.

[makingmyway]

[ He does see that, at least, the way tension seems to melt from his face. Slowly he reaches up, gently stroking Orym’s brow in hopes to soothe him more

He isn’t sure what to really say about that, though. He certainly won’t stop trying to throw wrenches into Orym’s plans, but even if Paragon’s Call and the Ruby Vanguard don’t physically harm him, it doesn’t mean there aren’t other things they won’t do to him. But that’s something he’ll have to worry about in the future.

Instead he can’t help a deep frown, wondering if he was seeing things, like the slight flash of Orym’s eyes. He doesn’t have time to dwell on it, though, as Orym’s words once again fill him with doubt. ]

How can you be so sure? With so many people getting hurt…with all that suffering. Is this really the best way?

[bigmoonlittlemoon]

[Orym is far too weak to that touch, and his eyes drop mostly shut. He can accept Dorian actively working against him and his goals, even if it hurts, and even if it unsettles the part of him that is fully within Predathos' grasp.

But that doesn't mean he doesn't let the magic that tethers them together pulse slightly, growing stronger in the assurance that everything is fine, everything will be exactly as it should.]

People were suffering before, getting hurt before. Look what happened with Opal. Do you think Lolth was going to be content allowing her to live her life? She was going to take everything from her, and she wouldn't stop there. None of them would. They treated this world as their playground, used mortals as toys and fuel.

[makingmyway]

[ He continues to soothe his fingers over Orym’s brow, before trailing down to caress his cheek. The gentle touch of that magic wraps itself around his mind, but a part of him manages to resist, at least for the moment. ]

Maybe…but you’d received a blessing from the Wildmother yourself, hadn’t you? And Fy’ra and Dariax both have connections to gods as well. Gods who are looking out for them…for us.

And even if it’s true that the gods see us as little more than fuel for them, is more suffering really going to fix all that? How many people will have to die for this?

[ He hesitates a moment, because he knows his next words are pretty low. But it’s still something he has to point out. ]

Isn’t all this…what Will had died for? Because of these plans that others were trying to set in motion? Was that really worth it?

[bigmoonlittlemoon]

She gave me a tool to fight against something she feared. An encouragement to throw myself in the way of Da'leth and his plans. All of us were allowed to do that. Where were the gods if they wanted to stop this? Why didn't they act?

[He visible flinches at the mention of Will, and the overwhelming grief tries to surface in him. Tears rise in his eyes, the reminder of how badly he'd failed that day to protect the ones he loved. He would never fail that way again. That was what this was about.]

That was Thull's doing. Da'leth's doing. They've paid for their mistakes. What I'm doing... I am not seeking to hurt anyone, to kill anyone. We fight against those who oppose us and only those forces.

[And then quieter.]

And for a world where I... where no one has to lose anyone that way ever again.

[makingmyway]

[ Dorian frowns, but it’s hard for him to argue much about that. He hasn’t been there when Orym received the blessing on his sword, had missed so much of their adventures until just a few months ago. This is so much out of his depth.

But the way Fearne had described it…it hadn’t sounded like that. It just sounded like the Wildmother had given him a gift. And Fy’ra Rai and Dariax’s connections to the Wildmother and the Observer didn’t seem to have had anything to do with Da’leth, or any of this.

And Dorian can’t be entirely sure, since he doesn’t have much stake in the gods himself. But if the gods had decided to actually do something against Ludinus to prevent all this…wouldn’t that just have given his influence more credence? Wouldn’t it have just made a martyr out of him, and people even more likely to try and enact his plans?

But he holds his tongue, not feeling confident enough to voice these thoughts. Instead he reaches up his other hand to cradle Orym’s face, his thumbs brushing the tears from his eyes before they can fall. ]

He died because this is what Thull and Da’leth were trying to do, trying to free Predathos. It all led to this.

[ He hates this, hates having to remind Orym of that day when he lost so much. But he has to try to make him see what he’s doing. ]

And you’re not actively trying to hurt or kill anyone…but people are getting hurt. People are dying, suffering. Even as careful as you are, that can’t be helped with something like this.

But families are still being torn apart, Orym. And it’s not fair to them, any more than it was fair to you.

[bigmoonlittlemoon]

And they won. Everything we did, everything we tried, everything we lost and they still won.

[Orym's eyes shine with the gathering tears, and they fall, and keep falling. For the moment there's no hint of the other in his gaze, eyes clear and green and so full of sorrow it looks like the halfling might just drown in it.]

Predathos is free. [Free and pulsing through his veins, wrapped around his mind, roots sunk deep into every last inch of him.]

What would you have me do, Dorian? This shouldn't be our war, shouldn't be anyone's war, but it is. It isn't fair. None of it is fair. But I will end it as swiftly as I can. And once it's over, a new world can begin.

[makingmyway]

[ Something clutches his heart tightly, the sight of Orym in so much pain making him regret having said anything. Still brushing the tears away with thumbs, he presses a gentle kiss to Orym’s forehead. ]

Not entirely. We haven’t completely lost just yet.

[ The fact that Orym is still there at all is proof of that. They still have a chance to end this without anyone else getting hurt. There’s still some hope there.

He just needs time to figure out how to separate Predathos from Orym, so they can try to lock the god-eater away again.

But how can he do that on his own, surrounded by people who want to free him while he’s inhabiting Orym’s body?

For the first in a long while, he does feel truly alone. ]

[bigmoonlittlemoon]

[Orym's eyes fall shut at the touch of those lips to his forehead. And maybe there is some hopeful piece of this, that he can still weep over Will, over Derrig, can still feel the pain of those losses. He can still feel the comfort of Dorian's presence, of his touch, that ever-present nagging fear of losing him.]

We haven't?

[And maybe there's a flicker of hope there, what remains of Orym crying out for there to be something that can be done.]

[makingmyway]

[ There’s absolutely hope in all of it, in everything that Dorian can still see in Orym. Knowing that he still feels those loses, that he can still try to look out and take care of others…it means that Orym, the true Orym, is still there. That Predathos hasn’t taken over him entirely. ]

We haven’t. There’s still a chance.

[ But he can’t say much about it, not without giving too much away. Predathos is still listening, and he doesn’t want to risk angering him…can’t risk something happening and losing Orym entirely.

All he can do right now, as he still caresses Orym’s face in his hands, is sing a gentle song, letting the melody drift over the halfling and hope that it will be enough to reach Orym - the real Orym - and inspire him to hold on, to keep fighting and stay strong.

Even though he knows his magic is nowhere near as powerful as Predathos’, he hopes that maybe perhaps his love for Orym could be. ]

[bigmoonlittlemoon]

[The sound of Dorian's voice, the sweetness of the melody draws another sheen of tears to Orym's eyes. Predathos can't possibly understand it, couldn't possibly guess at how powerful something so simple could be. But Orym can feel it, a fragile, fleeting tether to Dorian, to his own self -- or at least what's left of it.

The timeless, ancient entity bristles in its confusion, but Orym follows the notes of that song long enough to surface, to take a free and clear breath. He moves forward, winding his arms around Dorian tightly, a trembling in the way his arms hold to him.]

I'm sorry, Dorian. I'm so sorry.

[makingmyway]

[ He feels it somehow, the change in Orym’s presence without the god-eater’s hold on him. Releasing a breath of relief, he wraps his arms around the halfling in turn, holding him just as tight, one hand gently cupping the back of his head. ]

Shhh…it’s all right, Orym, don’t apologize. You’re doing everything you can. I know it’s been difficult, but you are so incredibly strong.

[bigmoonlittlemoon]

[Orym holds onto Dorian like he's the last lifeline that he has, still shaking as Dorian's arms come around him. He wants to hold onto this clarity as long as he can before he sinks down into the twisted confusion that is sharing his body with Predathos.]

You should go. You should run as far as you can. I'm not strong, Dorian... I can't... [He doesn't know how long there will be any of him left.]

I love you so much. I should have told you so many times. [But he wants to say it now before this clarity shatters. He wants Dorian to know that those words are true, those words are him.]

[makingmyway]

[ He feels as if his heart is about to beat from his chest, hearing those words once again. A part of him had known - that even with the part of Orym twisted up in Predathos, he’d known the words and feelings were true.

But hearing them now, with Orym clearheaded and real and truly himself, means that he can feel the sincerity - the love - in them too.

Which is why he tightens his embrace, almost as stubborn as it is tender as he shakes his head. ]

I love you too, Orym. I love you so much, and for so long…that’s why I can’t leave you. I’m not letting you do this alone.

I’m here for you.

[ And if he can bring moments like this - moments of clarity for Orym to come back to himself - then he is more than willing to risk his own life just to be here. ]

[bigmoonlittlemoon]

[Orym wants to argue with him that that is exactly why he has to go. Orym will never forgive himself if something happens to Dorian for his sake, for staying by his side. But he's not strong enough to argue; he's scared of how far he's fallen, of how he can feel so much of himself slipping away. He doesn't want to be alone.

He wants to wrap himself in those words, in that love, to wear it like armor against the thing inside him.]

I'm scared, Dorian.

[Not for himself so much, though that's frightening too. He's frightened of what he'll do when he starts to slip away completely, scared of hurting the people he loves.]

[makingmyway]

[ He nods in understanding. He can’t blame Orym for that at all. Who wouldn’t be scared? But that’s exactly why he won’t leave.

How could he possibly let Orym deal with something this frightening on his own?

He draws back just a bit, just enough to once again cradle Orym’s face in both his hands, capturing his lips and pouring all the love he can into that kiss. ]

I know…It’s okay to be scared. But I’m here, all right? I’ll do whatever I can to help.

[ He’ll find a way to keep Orym here, even if it’s just a small part of him. As long as he can make sure that he won’t lose Orym entirely. ]

I have you, love.

[bigmoonlittlemoon]

[Orym's breath hitches as those hands cradle so tenderly at his face, only just managing not to come apart at the kiss that follows. He can feel the love in it, tries to convey his own love in return, wants Dorian to know without a doubt that he is everything to him.]

Dorian...

[Just his name because how does he put into words how grateful he is? So instead he kisses Dorian again, clinging as long as he can to this clarity. And for the time being he manages it, or perhaps Predathos allows it.]

Just don't let me hurt you.

[makingmyway]

[ Dorian tilts his head, slotting their lips together for a deeper kiss. Then he rests his forehead against Orym’s, his shaky breaths washing over his face. ]

I would endure anything if it means keeping you here…if it means keeping you with me…

[ If he can guarantee keeping a part of Orym, he is more than willing to take any amount of pain. ]

[bigmoonlittlemoon]

[Orym answers that kiss, his own lips parting, kissing Dorian like he's the lifeline keeping Orym attached to this world.

But his eyes widen at those words and he shakes his head.]

No. You can't... Please.

[Could he live with himself if he hurt Dorian? If he couldn't stop Predathos from hurting him?]

[makingmyway]

[ Dorian smiles, a gentle but almost bittersweet expression as he reaches up one hand to cup Orym’s cheek. ]

It’s all right, Orym. I’ll be all right. I’ll bear any pain, take whatever may come…because nothing that happens could ever hurt worse than losing you.

[bigmoonlittlemoon]

[Orym starts to shake his head but that hand at his cheek stills him. He wants to argue, wants to shout that Dorian should run now and never look back. But he'd said it before. He's too weak to give up this last connection.

His arms wrap around Dorian's neck once more and he captures those lips in a kiss, apology and plea all in one. He needs Dorian with him. He needs to feel him, wants him.]

[makingmyway]

[ A little surprised by the sudden kiss, Dorian is more than willing to return it anyway, wrapping his arms around Orym’s waist to hold him closer.

Dorian knows he’s being selfish about this too. As much as he knows Orym doesn’t want him getting hurt, even knowing how difficult it might be for him if something were to happen, Dorian can’t bring himself to leave. He’s desperate enough to endure any kind of pain just for the chance to stay with Orym, even if it means both of them in a way might suffer for it.

But he needs this too…needs Orym too.

After another moment, he draws back from the kiss, just enough to form the words against Orym’s lips. ]

I’m here for you, Orym. In any and every way you need me.