and I'm here to remind you, what's lost is never gone

X

Dan's senses feel shot to all hell and for a moment he doesn't fully realise what's happening; the world around him is blurred and soft, the colouring of it all not really there yet, and he almost feels like he's submerged in water. He can hear voices, someone laughing, but it isn't coming to him just yet and his head hurts as he slowly tries to understand what's going on.

It takes him a moment but as his vision sharpens he realises that he's having another vision. He almost forgot about finding and picking up the amiibo, and as his hearing comes back to him, starting with a slow ringing that clears into understandable sounds, the throbbing in his head reminds him that he fell to the floor and possibly hit his head when he went down. He knows that's not going to be fun to wake up to, but he tries to ignore all of that for the moment as Arin comes into focus in front of him.

Arin turns his head to look over towards Dan and he's grinning, teeth on display and eyes bright with joy. By looking around quickly, Dan can see that they've just finished filming the promotion video for the Shovel Knight amiibo, with the little figurine itself being held in Arin's grasp. Ross talking to Suzy and Barry, all of them laughing together as Arin makes his way over to Dan and holds up the little figurine in front of Dan's face.

"Look at how cool this thing is," he says, spinning the small statue around by its base where he's holding it between his pinched fingers. Although Arin is watching the small figure turn in his hold, Dan can't help but watch Arin's excited face instead, smiling to himself at the childlike glee dancing across his features. When Arin glances up towards Dan he's grinning with excitement and Dan wishes he could cup Arin's face and kiss Arin's grinning face until Dan's grinning with him.

Of course he doesn't, because he never does act on his impulses to kiss his friend or do anything romantic with him that isn't them joking around. Dan wouldn't risk their friendship like that and he wouldn't want to disgrace Suzy and Arin's marriage either. He holds both of them too closely to ever even try and come between them because of his own selfish desires.

"It's so awesome we got to make a promo video for this," Arin continues, looking down at the figurine again. Already Dan is beginning to see the black tendrils creeping in along his vision and he knows that this memory won't last much longer. He almost feels like crying because of it; he misses Arin so much and he's right in front of him, barely a breath away, and yet Dan can't touch him, can't feel him, can barely sense him beyond what his own mind can remember of the day this event took place. He curses himself for not paying closer attention and soaking in more of the scene, for not paying attention to how Arin smelt that day or how his skin felt beneath Dan's fingers. He wishes he could remember those things but he barely can.

He's thankful when Arin looks back up at him, his beaming face a beautiful sight before Dan's vision is completely taken over by the darkness.

-

Everything feels confusing when he begins to come back to himself. Coming out of the memory feels like being pulled away from something safe and when he begins to regain consciousness, all he can hear in the distance is muffled, panicked voices. He thinks they're calling his name and as his sense return to him, he can feel that he's being shaken urgently, the persons grip strong where it holds his shoulder.

Head lolling to the side, he hisses as a spark of pain makes itself known in his cranium as well as a dull pain throbbing in his nose. He reaches up to touch his nose and someone calls his name, sounding frantic. He decides then to try and open his eyes and he does blearily, his sight not yet in focus. He blinks a few times in the hopes that everything will begin to focus and after a moment everything does, and he winces at the sight before him.