The Way That You Were

"The Way That You Were" is a [SEASON NUMBER] thread written on [IRL DATE].
==Summary==
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==Full Text==
Tunnel vision fixated on a well placed a short distance away, and the minutes since departing from a painful exchange was not enough time for Dario to calm. His eyes burned from the tears that continued to plague his face, and his throat was constricted with anger and betrayal.
He placed his hands upon the well, with labored breathing perpetuating a sting in his lungs that could never hurt more than the words he left behind. He couldn’t help but replay the event in his head – Milae, eyes directed with anger towards the deer and voice tearing apart every last bit of worth Dario felt for himself. He felt his rage manifesting in his hands, and without a second thought, threw a fist directly into the stone lining of the well.
“Gods- FUCK!”
There was an instant regret, as the sound of knuckles against stone resonated and sent his brain into overdrive. He held the injured hand tightly with his other, trying to suppress bleeding as best he could. He allowed himself to slump with his back to the well, with soft cries drowning out any further profanities he attempted to muster.
I don’t want to be here anymore.
foresight-botgd
The soft sound of footsteps approached, cautious and slow, and they paused as the person in front of Dario dropped to one knee. A hand extended in his range of vision, but didn’t make contact, just in case. Their head tilted, and the shadow of a rack of antlers fell over Dario’s hunched form.
“Hey, bud. Easy there.”
Their hand turned over to face palm-up, and there was a gentle glow from the center of their palm. “That looks nasty.”
dario-the-deer
The deer didn’t look up; he was too ashamed of his blatant showcase of emotion, and didn’t want to involve any other parties in his pain. He didn’t fight the stranger attempting to render aid, however, as they maneuvered his hand and began to heal-
Wait, what-
Dario slowly moved his head up the form of the Samaritan in front of him. It was… beyond belief. He couldn’t find words to express his thoughts in the moment. His eyes were wide at the seemingly impossible figure providing assistance, and the gentle smile that graced his face.
foresight-botgd
He squeezed Dario’s hand and allowed it to heal to the fullest of his extent before tilting his head up and meeting Dario’s eyes through a fringe of tousled brown hair. It was like looking into a slightly-warped mirror. A few scars were misplaced and missing altogether, and his eyes, instead of being the color of the sky, were the color of an oak tree in the shade, a cool, pale brown. The points of his antlers were strong and proud, if a bit scuffed here and there.
He seemed to grow a bit flustered at Dario’s awed gaze and lowered his hand, allowing Dario to take it back. “I hope this isn’t…scaring you too much. That isn’t what I wanted.”
dario-the-deer
The words from the stag in front of him were oddly soothing, given the situation. He let his hand rest on his leg, still unable to look away from… himself.
“No, I- I’m good.” His mind fought, not wanting to allow reconciliation between what he knew could be true and what seemed to be mere impossibility. “I didn’t think there would be… another, you know?”
He gave a small chuckle through his tears that were starting to subside. This wasn’t in his realm of comprehension.
“I don’t even know where Milae took me. This is perfect.”, he said with audible sarcasm. “Perfect situation.”
foresight-botgd
“That makes the two of us.” The second Dario scratched the back of his neck, still looking somewhat ashamed. “I know some things. We’re…we were friends.” His mouth tightened and twisted. “He talked to us–the Rebellion–about needing to bring back something from the Golden Timeline before he took off. We didn’t know it would be you. And we didn’t know he’d be doing it like that.” His fingers briefly drummed across his knee. “We’re all pretty upset with him right now,” he confessed. “But…I can’t imagine what it’s like for you. I’m…I’m really sorry. I wanted to make sure you weren’t…” He stopped, and then replaced the rest of his sentence with a deep breath, simply looking at Dario.
dario-the-deer
“It’s… well, it’s not fine, but I will be.” He eyed his hand, impressed by the prompt healing. “Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.”
It was a lot of information to absorb in a short time, but the pieces made sense. There was nearly a comprehension – but one piece stuck out that the deer couldn’t resolve.
“You say ‘doing it like that’… what do you mean by that?”
foresight-botgd
He paused further, eyes shifting slightly over Dario’s. Then he puffed out one of his cheeks and blew another sigh. “Your, uh…” He tapped the back of his own neck. “It’s still marked with…gods, Dario, I really don’t think I should tell you. It’s just going to make you feel worse.”
dario-the-deer
“Not sure that’s possible right now, but I guess it’s not important anymore, is it?”, Dario droned as he let his head fall back against the stone. “I probably wouldn’t understand it anyway. I’m not smart enough for the shit Milae does.”
He noticed he was tapping his fingers together rapidly; he only did this when he was frustrated. 
“Always brought along but never in the know. Sounds about right.”
foresight-botgd
The second Dario furrowed his brow and settled back against the ground as well, crossing his legs. “You don’t think this is about being smart, do you? It’s not a world you have access to, all the things he does. That doesn’t make you unintelligent.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out two fruits, an apple and a pear, and held them out to Dario, offering him a choice. “If anything, it puts him in the wrong for not letting you feel smart about it.”
dario-the-deer
Dario reached out and took the pear from the deer without hesitation; the turmoil of the day left him famished. “Yeah, I see your point. I just feel as if he doesn’t believe I have the capacity to understand… and maybe I don’t, you know?”
He took a bite, letting a small pleasure like fruit restore a little bit of his sanity.
“I just don’t feel as if I’ve been given a proper chance… ever.” He felt his fingers tapping against one another again. “You would know as well as I… we can do some incredible things, but I don’t feel like anyone has the faith in me to help.”
foresight-botgd
His mirror, in turn, bit into the apple. “I would ask if you had offered to help,” he said, with a cheek full of fruit, “but we know Milae. That would have been pointless.” Dario chewed and swallowed. “What kind of chance do you want? He’s always been one to shoulder the entire world without being asked. It’s clearly been unhealthy for him. What do you want him to let you do?”
“Truer words have never been spoken about that goat”, Dario said with a laugh, still working on the pear in his hand. “He’s heading straight for an early grave with the stress he puts on himself. But for me...”
He reflected on what he accomplished with Akkey; he felt himself a decent teacher, and with that, the skills he taught had to be of some value. He thought back to his encounter with Sylar, and to the fateful moment before his own death in High Central... he could fight when it was needed the most. Passive until pushed to the limit of life and death.
“You know what we can do. I have a gift, and while I understand a want to protect those you care about, it would be a disgrace to those who came before me to squander it. I want to help people — I want to heal. I want to teach. I may not be the strongest, or the fastest. Hel, I know I’m not the brightest, but I can’t help but give a damn about what’s happening to my friends... to my family. To leave them now and accept that I can live while they suffer is a fate worse than death.”
foresight-botgd
The Dario across from him nodded encouragingly, but he also held up a finger and shook it at Dario a few times. “That’s all really good. That’s what I expected, but--there’s one other thing.” He gestured between the two of them. “We’re not exactly the same, even though we might look it. Our stories are still different. What can you do, exactly? Would you be willing to show me? Are you up to that?” There was a shine to his eyes. “I think it would help.”
dario-the-deer
It seemed almost as if this was a new day for Dario -- the misery and anger built up in the earlier moments with Milae melted away in the company of... himself.
“I would love that, more than you know.” He took to his feet, prepared to showcase what he knew to his doppelgänger. His excitement could be felt in the air. “Uh, let’s see... from what you did, I know we can both heal. I’ve tried to get better at that lately- oh! Are you able to perform reanimation?”
He glanced around, but realized he didn’t have anything to perform this magick on. The pear he had bitten into was still plenty ripe, and the skill didn’t return parts removed. It would only cause what remained to negligibly improve.
“Uh, well, I’ll have to show you that one eventually.”
foresight-botgd
Dario got to his feet as well. “Not so well as you, I think.” He paced over to a tree that was yet still standing, but dry as a bone, with no leaves or greenness to its bark or branch. “We can trade. If you can revive this, I can show you what I can do. I doubt it’s as impressive as you, though.” He gave half of an expectant smile, gesturing at the tree.
dario-the-deer
Dario almost didn’t believe the request -- he’d never so much as managed to restore life to a fruit, let alone a full-fledged tree. He scoffed as he looked to it’s peak.
“Yeah, bud, I don’t think that’s gonna happen.” He walked over. laying a hand flat against the trunk and feeling the dry, decaying bark on his fingertips. “I haven’t practiced this incantation in... many, many years. Can you do this?”
foresight-botgd
“My...our father could. I never really got the hang of it, with any sort of efficiency.” He tilted his head, his soft ears flexing a bit. “I just...have a feeling. If your time is...as important as Milae makes it out to be, I really think you’re something special. I’ve always wanted to see you do it.”
dario-the-deer
The words hit his ears like knives; he hadn’t thought about his father in quite a long time. However, it invoked some fonder memories that Dario had of the man. Learning reanimation from him was held close to his heart.
Dario ran his fingers down the trunk, letting small pieces scatter between his fingers and to his feet. He positioned his second hand directly next to the first, making small clockwise movements against the bark with his pointer fingers. He hung his head and shifted his focus to his core -- to what life meant to him. The grace of second chances, and the opportunity he had for a second one with those who mean most to him...
He lost himself in his mind, not taking any notice to the remarkable glow under his palms that slowly brought out the green of the tree beneath them.
foresight-botgd
The doe-eyed Dario behind him had his arms crossed, but when he saw the movement of life and growth along the tree’s length, he lifted a hand and pressed it up to his collarbone in shock, another soft smile spreading across his cheeks. I can’t believe it...
dario-the-deer
Dario felt his head fall against the tree in front of him and jolted up. Upon removing his hands from the trunk, he noticed a subtle shift in color and texture. The bark seemed stronger, almost as if it intertwined within itself. The color had returned to the base and branches, while the leaves showed no signs of reappearing. He fully expected that.
“I... guess that answers that.” He looked with pride upon his accomplishment. The deer couldn’t believe the doubt he held before this, and he didn’t bother trying to hide the ridiculous grin that spread across his face. “I really appreciate you. I wouldn’t have thought to even try this.”
foresight-botgd
“Look at that,” the mirror Dario breathed, striding up and putting an arm around Dario’s shoulders. He squeezed and gently shook him, taking in the newly-revived bark of the tree before them. “You did that.”
dario-the-deer
He turned to his counterpart, observing the pride in the double’s eyes. It felt remarkably familiar -- I’ve always been told I had dad’s eyes.
“Thank you. I needed this.” He felt slightly weakened from the incantation, and took back to the well to rest, Dario in tow. “Now I just need to figure out how to make this happen back... home.”
foresight-botgd
“I know. And I know you can do it.” He squeezed Dario’s forearms, looking him sincerely in the eyes. “Listen. I…I may not be happy with Milae right now. But his…involvement with you, and with us, really made me realize…you’re important. But I don’t want you to feel like it’s because he made you important.” He tapped Dario’s chest twice, right at the sternum. “This is all you need to feel useful. You don’t need an older stag that teaches you magick, or a young scout that praises the ground you walk on, or a lovestruck goat obsessed with rewinding time for you. Those things help, but…” He paused, seeming to struggle with speaking. “Gods, I was never as good at words as Vox was, was I?” He crooked a smile and said, “I just want to tell you what I never got to tell myself. You can’t do everything; Milae is probably going to have to pull you back out once this mess is dealt with. He will do that,” he added, with a steel glint in his eye. “I just don’t want you to feel like you can’t do anything, and I want you to know that it’s not okay that he makes you feel that way.”
Dario stopped. He felt like he had forgotten himself in his loving intensity. He saw before him a shaken, emotionally torn and battered version of himself, that he could likely estimate had things just as bad or even worse than he himself had lived through. He knew he was suffering from his curse of life, he knew that he had self-doubts, and he knew that Milae, while a passionate, intense, protective being, was only causing these cracks to deepen and darken. And that wasn’t acceptable to him. 
“I’ll leave you to it,” Dario said, stepping away. “I just have to look out for myself, you know?”
And with a pat on Dario’s shoulder and an encouraging smile, Dario turned away, and felt as though something inside him had finally settled in place, something knocked askew ever since he first met Milae a few years ago, and learned of the threads of time. He was satisfied, only as long as he felt the true incarnation of Dario would be.
Category:BOTGD 2
Category:Act I
Category:Events
Category:Dario Hjort
Category:Rio Hjort