[Yer a wizard, Min-Gi.

He opens the envelope with wonder and pulls out the stack of photographs from Wu and Mako's wedding, flipping through a few of them.

They're really good. They look like rock stars. Real rock stars.

And sure enough, around them in several of the pictures are glittering lights that match the landscape they're in right now. Which is amazing but he's still processing the fact he summoned photographs from Ryan's room. His hands are a little shaky, photos loose in them lest he damage the precious things.]

I can't believe this.

[They really do. Ryan's only had the pictures for a couple of days, but he's spent a lot of time marveling over them himself - not just for the mystery of the lights, but because they just...they look really good. They look professional, like they've really made it. He remembers how that night felt, and it's amazing to know that's exactly what other people saw too.]

I can.

[He puts a hand on Min's shoulder, and leans in to give him a quick little peck on the cheek.]

I told you you weren't a dud.

[The sentiment is more soft than smug. An "I told you so" that's more about how proud he is of Min than just being right.]

[Min blushes a little by virtue of how sweet the kiss is. A laugh burbles up and he closes his eyes as he lets it out, relief pulling away some of the longest resting anxieties. He isn't useless. He isn't broken.

I'm not a dud.

God, that feels so amazing.]

I have powers!

[Min holds the photos tighter and leans into Ryan before stepping back a little and gesturing around them.]

I'm doing this! I don't know how, but I am! Ryan, I was so scared we were dead meat. And now we're...somewhere...and that thing isn't!

[His good feelings are infectious (literally, for Ryan, but that isn't really a bad thing) and Ryan grins right along with him.]

You do! And you did! I dunno where this is either, but you totally saved our asses back there!

[It hits him that his own powers probably wouldn't have helped at all. Everyone in the near vicinity would have just known how freaked out he was at the time. But! He's very happy for Min!]

...Hm. I wonder what other stuff you can do?

[There's a light, playful lilt to it. They're in an empty void where there probably won't be consequences or whatever, so...where's the harm in taking a second to find out?]

[How amazing is that, a safe space where no one can judge him while he tries to work through this stuff, free of opinions or accidents that could get someone hurt.

Kind of exactly what he needs. Imagine that. A helpful power.

If he could just figure out how to do this on command. Sure would take the pressure off needing to learn how to fight, like, yesterday.

Min puts the photos back in their envelope and stows them in his pocket before setting his hands on his hips and taking a slow breath.]

I don't know where to start. Every single time I've sat down and willed something to happen, nothing does. I wish I came with an instruction book.

[That's what he really wants. But, tragically, nothing manifests this time.]

[He might be a little too new at this to manifest a whole instruction book that doesn't exist.]

Relax, man. None of us came with instructions. Besides, who reads those anyway?

[Min-Gi. Min-Gi does. But Ryan breezes by that point easily.]

You just have to try stuff. Throw spaghetti at the wall, see if it sticks. And like, you definitely know some stuff now that you've done?

[Ryan shrugs. He's trying to help, but he's also never been a darkblood.]

I mean, before you were just blindly guessing but now you've made some stuff happen. ...It's a place to start?

Hm.

[Min-Gi pushes up his sleeves (because that helps focus, obviously, the same way poking the tip of his tongue out does) and looks at his hands.]

Okay. So... I've made a wormhole when I was scared or embarrassed.. the lights when we were playing.. do you think that prom thing was me or you?

[All the while willing little dazzling neon wiggles to materialize... somehow? Please? C'mon powers, don't make him look stupid, now.]

[Ryan can't help watching Min push his sleeves up - it's really, really cute. Somewhere along the way while Ryan wasn't paying enough attention, Min got very nice arms.

Focus!!!]

I...think prom might've been you, actually? It would make more sense if it was you. This is gonna sound super weird, but I think it was you because I could see it too?

[He looks and sounds like he hasn't thought about it at all before this exact second, which is probably mostly true. He paces around a little, feeling like he needs to move around while he thinks this out.]

Like, I've made people hallucinate before, but every time it happens I can't actually see what they're seeing. ...Or hear what they're hearing, I guess. It mostly happens when I'm playing music so like, probably hearing. But that makes sense, right? I'm making them see something that isn't actually there so I can't see it because it's not real.

[He pivots, and points at Min.]

But you can make stuff real! So you put prom in the kitchen!

[It's a very good bit of detective work. Mako would probably be proud.

Min nods along, still focusing on his hands. He's got nothin', but what Ryan is saying tracks completely.]

I was thinking about Prom.

[They'd been talking about it, hadn't they? He isn't sure, actually, it all kind of blends together and his memory is a little bleedy this month on the reality/fantasy line.]

About how we were robbed and how much we could have done if we'd grown up here. I mean, I would have asked you out in middle school. And we could have saved so many bad feelings if it was safe to be honest.

[They had been talking about Prom. Ryan remembers it well. He fessed up about how his girlfriend at the time had been a total fake, and about how nice it would have been to grow up in Trench where they wouldn't have had to worry about that at all.]

Dude, I could have been kissing you since middle school?

[It's a nice thought. A world where they could have been open about who they are from the start.

Ryan thinks for a moment, and then moves to close the gap between them. He holds out his hands, without thinking at all about Min's claws.]

How about an encore? You already did it once without even trying. And we could probably fit a whole prom in here, right?

[He glances around, but he still can't really tell where this void begins and ends.]

I mean. I don't see why not. I kind of think the space could be...as big or small as I need?

[So says intuition, and according to Min-Gi, he is usually right.

Ryan offers his hands and Min gives them, wincing at the state of himself. This space is better lit than the street and shame rises up to sit on his shoulders. Ryan was right, before. The only one falling apart around here is Min.

He chickens out and draws his hands back, mood dropping through the floor. They're disgusting, blackened and sharp with spidering cracks around his wrists that work up his arms. Behind him the landscape changes, slowing and darkening but also getting...foggier? Suddenly, Min-Gi doesn't want to make prom. He just wants to go back to normal or hide. But he can't because he's corrupting, right? That's what this is? Just like Lance and Mako told him about.]

Maybe another time..

[He pulls his sleeves back down, curls his hands, and stuffs them into his jacket pockets.]

I don't really feel like it, anymore.

[And just like that, Ryan is left hanging, hands outstretched as Min pulls away.]

...Huh? Min?

[But Min's withdrawing, and the world around them is getting darker. A fog is rolling in, and it's getting legitimately harder to see. Ryan's hands go up, likke he's placating him.]

W-We don't have to do Prom! It was just an idea. We can do whatever you want! Or-- we don't have to do anything.

[Maybe he was pushing too hard? But it's more than that. It has to be more than that. This little cosmic coin purse adventure hasn't made all of their problems go away.]

Min, just talk to me!

[A beat. He won't look Ryan in the eye.]

What's there to say? I'm obviously not doing this right. Or not doing something right. Even now I'm corrupting more and more.

[Why does that hurt so much to say? Emotion prickles up. This should be the same as talking about having a cold or breaking your leg, right? It's a treatable illness. But saying it out loud, identifying and admitting that's what's happening even though it's obvious... it tastes like poison on his tongue.]

I don't even know what's wrong with me. We just figured out my powers! I should be better!

[A hard breath. There are phantoms in this fog. Every whisper of self doubt and anxiety that have been stacking in Min-Gi's throat since he washed up.]

I don't- I don't think I'm cut out to do this, Ryan. I'm not strong enough. There's no end goal, here, this is just what life is now. I don't know how to handle that.

[Ryan stays quiet and listens.

It's a lot for Min to get off his chest, and even this probably isn't all of it if he's corrupting so much that he's sprouting claws. But...it's a start. And listening is the least Ryan can do for him after Min spent all of last month taking care of him.

He wants to reach out and touch him, but Min's made it clear he doesn't want to be touched right now. But...he at least moves a little closer - a clear show that he's not going anywhere.]

Min...nobody's cut out to do this. I'm not. Neither are Wu or Mako, or Shiro, or anyone else we know. Everyone's just figuring things out as they go. You're seriously not doing anything wrong.

[He takes a deep breath, knowing the next bit will be harder to talk about. But...he needs to, for Min's sake.]

And like. I don't think your powers have anything to do with your corruption? Honestly, mine got harder to use when I was doing bad last month so you're already doing better than I did. But that doesn't matter, because it's not a competition. It's-- it's a sickness, Min. It doesn't mean you're doing something wrong, even if it probably feels like it. That's...

[...]

...it's the corruption lying to you. It does that.

[Seems like a lot of things inside of him are lying.

Or maybe he's lying to himself. Is Ryan just saying all this to try to make him feel better? Because they're inside his powers right now and it could all fall apart at any second and expose them to the robot they're currently hiding from? Because he's growing claws and very visibly breaking to pieces? Maybe, who knows, not him!

And objectively, Ryan saying this is him opening up. It's him reaching out to Min-Gi through a shared experience and that's a big, important deal.

But man, something about it just rubs right up under his hackles.

That's the corruption too, isn't it? Or is this like the art gallery car and it's all real, just unfiltered. Min told Ryan he was sick last month.. this month he's sick? That feels kinda bullshit. They both suffered last month, isn't that enough? ]

So what's causing it then?

[Min won't like his answer. He sighs.]

...I don't know. I've heard people say it's blood pollution? But that can't be all of it. If it was everyone would be corrupted like, all the time.

[That isn't the answer Min wants though, and he knows that. But he also knows there isn't a clear cut answer either, a specific thing that could have been done to avoid it.]

I mean, if I had to take a guess though...stress? Like, last month was so fucked up.

[Ryan rubs the back of his neck and glances away.]

But I don't actually know. Sometimes it's a lot of stuff all at once. ...Maybe that's part of why you're supposed to talk about it though? I can't know what's causing it if I don't know what's going on with you.

[But even then, he can only give his best guess. All he can do is try to support Min and be there for him.]

[All good information. Information Min-Gi has said to Ryan before, hunkered down in their recording studio.

But there's more to it than all that, isn't there. It's not just Ryan (unintentionally?) throwing it all back in his face. Even though it feels like that (he's doing it on purpose, Min-Gi. You're dragging him down again.)

It sounds like there's some personal experience in there. (You're holding Ryan back.)

And Ryan is right, he doesn't like the answer. It's not concrete, and what he wants is a pinpoint on the map. (Impossible, you're asking too much.)]

Yeah.. You know about this, huh?

[There's absolutely personal experience in there, more than he'd like to admit. So in a very Ryan move...he shrugs.]

...A little, yeah.

[They're talking about Min right now though. He's not going to turn around and make this all about him with some stupid sob story no one can do anything about.]

What triggered it? I don't know what to talk about, everything is pissing me off. But it can't just be-

[A vague gesture, not taking his hands from his pockets.]

-everything.

[Oh, boy. What a loaded question. Ryan isn't sure how to answer that one.]

Well-- maybe not literally everything.

[He plays with the hair by his ear, tucking it back. Stalling.

Meanwhile, the space around them flickers. Min-Gi wants to know, and so it responds accordingly.]

But...sometimes it's a lot? Or like, I dunno. Like there's so much going on that you can't just point at one thing and go "Oh, that's totally the thing making me lose my fucking mind".

[Around them, scenes start to play at rapid speed, as if someone hit fast forward on the VCR. Some moments are so small that they go by with barely a blip before the next scene appears.]

Sometimes it'll be something stupid that everyone else is handling better than you.

[Standing in front of the shittiest place he could have possibly picked to live, looking up at it tiredly. Getting absolutely shitfaced at a party and being lucky enough that the person who noticed was Shiro. Being haunted by some horrifically miserable looking version of himself that seemed to suck all his energy away. Blink-and-you'll-miss-it jump scares of that figure turning into Min himself as the scene speeds by.

Ryan doesn't seem to notice any of this happening. He stares at his hands and feels...far away as he talks about it.]

And then other times it's like, big obvious bullshit that you can't get away from that just takes over...everything.

[The scene darkens, fast forwarding through some kind of industrial complex. Ryan in a red jumpsuit, barefoot and gagging on the scent of his own blood. Looking down at his hands, not just because they're covered in blood but because there's a glowing number there. Someone addresses Ryan and it vanishes. He hides his hand.

Then they're out and Ryan in the memory is laughing, completely unhinged and warped from the fast forwarding but still probably uncomfortably familiar. He's laughing and laughing until the memory is eaten up by static.]

Even when you want to be done with it, it just hangs onto you. It makes people worry about you when you just want it to be over so you can just go back to normal already.

[He spends so long in bed that aside from the twitch of film here and there as he tosses and turns, it almost seems paused. A series of worried texts from Wu that abruptly cuts to Ryan crying on him like a child. Sitting on Wu and Mako's couch while Tomo and Zuko bully him into eating.

Ryan throws his hands in the air, frustrated with his total inability to explain anything worth a damn.]

And then! Then sometimes it's just fucking, mushrooms or whatever!

[Mushroom-faced people looking at him. A mushroom-faced man who could easily have been Min from a distance, but as he approaches the Raccoon Room's stage it becomes more and more apparent that it's actually Mako. Glowing green mushrooms in a 202 on Ryan's hand, as he desperately scratches over and over, until he's grabbed--

The video cuts out. The tape ends. The theater lights come back on, twinkling in the dark all around them. Ryan sighs.]

Sorry. This probably isn't actually helpful?

[The vignettes rise up out of the darkness like one of those new IMAX movies. They're all around, clashing and enormous and raw. A phenomenon that Min-Gi might find incredible if the feature wasn't a collection of Ryan's darkest moments.

(Look what he's gone through without me..)

Ryan doesn't seem to see them, and it occurs to Min somewhere between the body farm and mistaking Mako for him that maybe Ryan can't see that it's happening. That maybe these are playing through his powers which he's already said he can't see.

(I'm making him do this, am I forcing him? Does he know?)

If that's the case then it feels a little dirty to be privy to the replay, even if it's what he wanted. Kind of. He wanted to know, he didn't want to see. He's relived Ryan's pain intimately, experiencing it as though it were his own and it almost wrecked him. He did it to help Ryan, scared of him corrupting. This isn't that, is it? This is about him being sick, so does seeing this help or does it just make it all worse? It's voyeuristic, without knowing the word. And for that he feels guilty. Dirty.

(He doesn't.. this is so wrong, I shouldn't be spying on him. This is unfair.)

But he watches on and they summon the same feelings as before. Intense grief and forlorn sorrow which weave into the negativity already so heavy in his core. That pain begins to prickle in his eyes and cut off his lungs, and he feels, on top of everything else, more helpless than ever.

The last vision lingers in his mind, bright green numbers seared into flesh. He hears, or perhaps imagines, a familiar whirring noise from his pocket.

Right back to the start. No, no this can't be real. It isn't real because they aren't on the train, even if that thing is out there trying to take them back! This is- this is just their powers combining into something terrible, right?

(Think about prom, think about anything good, make it go away-)

But he can't. All he can think about, all he can see as he pulls out his hand, disgusting and shaky and spilling green light out from between clenched fingers, is the number he went through so much, almost died, to get rid of.

(Make it go away.

I deserve this but he doesn't.

I'm a monster for forcing him.)

He takes a breath and holds it, ignoring Ryan's words for a second. He heard them, he did, but he can't think right now. He can't think and his chest is tight and little shattering cracks work their way up his throat, neck and cheek from trying to contain it. It stings, and he flinches, but he can't stop it. He can't stop anything, not even his own fingers from forcing open to see the number on his palm.]

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Edited 2022-04-20 00:23 (UTC)

[Since Ryan is only experiencing about half of this, he has no idea what exactly he said that would make this so much worse. Min is literally cracking at the seams. Min's-- he's corrupting right in front of him, and he didn't even realize this was happening to him until now. He dragged him around all day shopping without realizing what was happening inside of him, what it was doing to him.

He thought it would be fun, that they could hang out outside the house for the first time in forever, but now? He just wishes he could take it all back, if it meant Min would be okay.

He hears that mechanical whirr and his heart drops into his stomach. It doesn't register that it's coming from Min at first - he assumes it's something he's hearing in his head, something that isn't real, and it's so fucked up that it has to happen now, when he needs to help Min. Can't he hold himself together for two seconds?

But when Min opens his hand, there's no mistaking what's there. Ryan stares, too stunned to speak.

They can both see it. Unfortunately, that passes his go-to reality test.

Ryan's hands are shaking, but he makes himself look at his own palm anyway...but, there's nothing there. Not even a zero.

His feet are carrying him toward Min before he fully processes what is happening here, and what it really means. He goes from not being able to say anything to being as forceful as a hurricane.]

Min! Min-Gi, we're not on the train! That's not-- it's there but it isn't what it looks like!

[Up close, he can really see the cracks spreading across Min's skin. How long have they been there? Did he just not notice them until now?]

I-I don't know what's happening but we'll figure it out! I'm here, Min.

[Despite his words, he feels uncertain, and even a little scared for Min. Min is literally going through what he's been through, but in a way that seems even worse somehow.

Did he do this? Is corruption contagious? Did it mutate into something worse in Min?

He shuts his eyes tight and once he opens them again he repeats himself.]

We'll figure it out!

[If it's worse it's only because Min-Gi has done it to himself. He's ignored every warning he's had about corruption, every warning he's harped on Ryan with, every book, every offer of help, every reminder that they need to be open and together to get through it.

He'd said okay and made notes and extended what he's learned, but never stopped to apply it to himself. Why? Because he's Min-Gi Park. He's solid, he can Handle It.

Turns out he can't.

And his fear of failure is a self fulfilling prophecy.

One thing after another after another, tied and lit like a string of firecrackers on a hot summer evening. And now they're exploding.

Ra-ta-ta-ta ra-ta-ta-ta!

From the corner of his tunnel vision, Min-Gi thinks Ryan is moving towards him and he takes a reflexive step back - closing his glowing fist.

He looks startled, scared, and of course he is.]

I don't want to go back to the train!

[He doesn't want to die there, or here. He doesn't want to go through endless trials, he just wants to live his life and make music. Maybe try being happy for once. Being himself, free of expectation and all this god damn pressure!

Ra-ta-ta-ta ra-ta-ta-ta!

He snuffles, hard.]

Ryan I-

(I'm scared!)

[Behind him, the flexing, infinite cosmos pulls and weaves itself into the looming shapes of home. His parent's house, Dumpty's, the imposing shadow of university. All the things he rejected to be free. All the things he rejected to be with Ryan. Starting over here is almost as scary as going back to all those things. Different but no less visceral.]

I wanna go home. I want us to go home, I don't want to do this anymore! I just want things to go back to how they were, why is that so hard!? It's too much, this is too much! I'm not ready!

I can't- fffh- [Wheeze.] I can't breathe, I can't breathe--

Min!

[Ryan stops short when Min steps away from him though, afraid pushing too hard will just make him run, and who knows how far this void goes?.]

I promise, we're not going back to the train! Min? Min, look at me!

[If he does, he'll see that Ryan is holding up both hands...and neither of his hands have a number.]

If it's real, I'd have one too! But I don't! I don't even have a zero! You wouldn't have a number alone, no way.

[They were synced together, numbers often moving at the same time. It doesn't make sense for it to not be like that now, but Ryan is admittedly grasping at straws a little.

He reaches out with those hands, and tries desperately not to think of the reminders of home behind Min. Does he really want to go back that much?]

Min...it's gonna be okay. I'm here.

[He wiggles his fingers, gesturing for Min to come closer. Let him hold you. Let him be there for you.]

It's scary, but I'm not gonna let anything happen to you, okay? ...Come here?

[Please? Please let him help?]

[He looks up, even though he's ashamed. Ryan's hands are clean.

And he needs them to be clean. He needs this to be fake.

He needs Ryan.

Who beckons to him and what else can Min-Gi do but come.

He's weak, he needs this, he can't hold this all inside anymore. He can't act tough anymore.]

I'm sorry, I-

[He can't breathe, hand to his chest, body moving into Ryan's arms.]

I don't know what's happening, I don't- I can't think- Is this beasthood? am I done for? Am I dying?

[Irrational, but is it? Because he feels like he's suffocating inside himself as the pressure tries to work it's way out alongside tears and anguish. It could be anything.]

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