"Jim, there's something you have to know." I look at the face across the table. A look of fear and anxiety crosses it at the sound of those words.
"Jyou, you know you can tell me anything." My brother gives me an apprehensive smile.
"You gotta promise not to tell Mom and Dad."
"...Ok, I won't."
"Alrighty then. Writing into's is probably Phoenixfire's favorite part. She can be rude, offensive, mean, and state her plans for world domination, all while slipping top secret plans right under the government's nose. KGB? NSA? Black Helicopters? Stay tuned."
"What the— Huh? So... you want to report her?"
"Umm.... duh. No. Anyway Phoenixfire owns no rights, characters, plot twists, names, or even stock to any of the Digimon subsidiaries. Something she probably should have done."
"And I care why???" My brother looks at me like I've lost my mind.
"You don't. Neither do any of the people reading this fic. It's just a thang she does to entertain."
"AHHH, my MIND! YOU SCARED IT!!!" My brother gripes his ears as if his brain might escape out them. "Fic? People? Thang? WTF??? Who the HELL are you talking to?? Have you gone NUTS??"
"Nuts to you bro. Sex isn't the only thing in this fic, but there is a male x male relationship. However there's more on adventure and bonds of brotherhood and love then people doing the hot monkey dance. This fic is part comedy, part adventure, part *sniff* romance, and pure insanity. There is a lot more character-wise, and name-wise going on here then you may first realize. This fic is loaded with literary affects. Such as: alliteration, foreshadowing, personification, repeated themes... as well as others I may have forgotten. You have been warned. Anyways, there is no reason to flame Phoenixfire over this fic, and that's pretty much all she gets for slashing these two characters. Oh well, please don't sue... her."
"Slashing? Ewww..."
"That's right, and it deserves every last part of it's PG-13 rating."
"Oh dear god." Jim says as he figures out where this is going.
"You have to understand some things first before you continue this very strange fic. It has Yamato. And me. Still want to read?"
"Um no, not really." he says getting up to leave. I grab his shoulder and make him sit back down.
"Captive audience. Great."
"Anyway back to my original thought."
"So no more about Pheonixpyres?"
Ok, it's PhOEnixfire, and as I was saying," I tried to get him back on track. "Jim, I wanted to talk to you seriously. There's something important that you should know: Do you remember Yama-- er, Matt?"
"How could I forget?" he answers me. "You guys have hung out together since before..." he trails off, wincing at the memory of my leaving for the Digiworld. He tries to hide it, but I've known him too long for it to work.
"...Yeah, um, hung out."
"What did you want to tell me?" "I... well, that is... er... How about a story?"
"...Ok?" he says unsure of what to say next.
"This won't make any sense unless you know that Yama— er, Matt and I had been friends in the real world." I say launching into my story. "Best friends in fact. We were closer then most male relationships I know. From trading black eyes to our deepest secrets we knew each other's deepest fears, anxieties and dreams. It was this trust, this bond, that kept us together even after Matt had moved out of our apartment complex. When we were reunited in the Digiworld I was surprised at the damage that the real world had done to him. It was like his eyes had seen more in the one year that we were apart then most people will see in there entire lives. Then again, he's always had the kind of life that would give him that affect. His father, a frightening man, had caused my friend more pain then he was willing to admit. Perhaps the father figure knew then what I — we — know now."
My brother looks at his watch. "Fluffy, overused clichés, redundancy, useless information... Jyou is this going to take long?"
"Long enough."
"Nooooo......."
"I heard that. Now then, in the beginning, TK had taken ill. So we stayed. It was a nice place, strange and mysterious. Open sky surrounding us and near enough to a waterfall that we could hear it as we laid ourselves down to sleep. We didn't stay there long; but it was enough time to change some of us forever. This is a story of a time long ago. A time of myth and legend. A time of warlords and kings— "
"Not to mention copyright infringement."
"Uhh... er, sorry. This... this is my story:"
In the dying firelight I could see TK and his brother. The smaller boy was laying down, a cold cloth on his forehead, as he whispered in delirium to his brother who was kneeling, TK's head in Matt's lap. Brothers, with a dedication toward each other unlike anything I've ever seen. There, in that firelight, you could see the bond that they shared. I saw it like an aurora around them, silhouetting their bodies in harsh light. ...Then again it could have just been the firelight's strange angels. Although... It was that moment that I knew that there was a magic, a fire, within Matt's soul, one that would never let his beloved brother die.
I slowly made my way towards them not wanting to take advantage of my childhood bond. Sitting next to them, I wished I could help. With that, Matt gave me a sad, apologetic smile, as if to say: He's my last life line. I need to do anything within my power to help him. I nodded, understanding that this was Matt's way of dealing with things.
"Just make sure that you also get some sleep, Matt." I whispered so as to not wake TK. He solemnly nodded as I walked away, looking for a place sleep near them.
It wasn't till late the next afternoon that TK's fever got any better. He was still sick, but of course I didn't know that until Matt told me, as twilight came, by the waterfall.
In reality I went to the waterfall for it's tranquility, and the refreshingness of the cold mountain water. And of course to get away from it all. Only a loner could truly understand and cherish solitude what that the water there provided. But the reason I always gave was cleanliness, so as to keep the others away.
The water there was deep and cold, coming from the melting snow up on the mountain top. I arrived there after some 10 minutes of wandering through the trees. I cast off my clothes and put them on the shore where they would stay dry while I swam. Soon I was watching the moonlight reflect off of the water as I lazily backstroked through it. For the longest time the only sound I could hear was the deafening waterfall. The scene was so tranquil that I would have forgotten that the others even existed had I not been thinking about TK and Matt... How is it that TK gets better simply by Matt being there? The bond they share can't simply be of brotherhood. Matt's just... different. I can sense that about him... There are some things that run thicker then water, but I'm positive that this one runs thicker then blood.
I can always tell when Matt is near me, because a feeling like iron wells up along my spine. I'm not sure why I sense him, but for whatever reason he was never able to sneak up on me. But this time my thoughts were rampaging through my mind with such a force that it wasn't until I felt a sensation of cold steel along my back, and heard a voice that I turned around.
"Getting away from it all can have dangerous affects, Jyou. Such as pruning." The voice was deep, and familiar. Hell, I could live to be a hundred and still recognize that voice. But I had been startled so much that I stopped swimming. Not the smartest thing to do in deep water.
"Matt! You're here! But your brother..." Half sentences were the most intelligent thing I could utter at the moment. My mind was still in the solitude's loneliness that had encased me moments before. Matt took a stroke towards me, his body cutting the water. In the real world I had known Matt to be strong, and powerful. Even when fully exposed to each other Matt always had a sense of power and fire. At the points when he should have been his weakest he still seemed strong. But as he swam up to me he seemed... different, even vulnerable, probably because of his brother being so ill. Like I said, there is a mystical link between those guys. I picked up on the half sentences that I had started. "Is your brother well?"
"He's out of delirium, and his fever has lowered almost to the point of normal. He'll be back on his feet, playing with Kari in no time, you'll see." Matt's eyes were trained on the water as he spoke.
"Thank the gods. I was so worried." I said as I gave a strong kick in the water, launching myself towards him.
"Oh, you know TK. Sick one minute, annoying Mom the next. You remember what that was like Jyou. It used to happen a lot at home, especially when he knew that you were coming over. That kid really likes you." Matt said, getting ready to launch into a story about the happier times in his life, off in a place where the bad parts never existed. That was just his style.
"I was also worried about you, Matt. It's like whenever TK's sick you try to give your own strength to him by willing it upon him to get better. Its almost uncanny that he gets better simply by you being there."
Matt grinned at this. "It's a thing with brothers." he said. "You stayed with him last night too. So, I'm not the only one who was scared for TK."
"...I'm always afraid that you might loose your brother..." I said flatly. Matt knew that I loved TK possibly as much as he did. I feared losing him too.
"I know. You and him are the only things that keep me bound to the Earth... and the Digiworld."
...Me? But Matt's so strong. He rarely ever needed a shoulder to cry on... save the darker parts of his life... A thousand emotions welled up inside of me. Sorrow that I couldn't always have been there for Matt. Hate for his father for giving him so much pain, and... something deeper, something I couldn't quite place. "Matt, I think that I— " I got cut off mid sentence.
It was Mimi who came swimming toward us. Having never really liked Mimi's cold distant nature, I found myself looking for some way to get out of there. As she swam towards us she managed to corner Matt.
"Matt, I'm SO glad your brother's better." Mimi's voice was silky, and she gave him a flirtatious smile. She was completely ignoring me, so I decided that would be the perfect time to hightail it out of there.
"Um.. I better go." I said as I watched Mimi, who looked like she would jump on Matt. And that was one thing that I definitely didn't want to be around for. I kicked the water hard, and headed toward waterfall. While I could have just gotten out and gone back to the campsite, there was something about the water that made it seem peaceful and soothing. Even if Mimi might just take Matt right there in the water. But by the waterfall I had control and, more importantly, I didn't have to hear, or see, Mimi.
The water there was deep, and cool. The waterfall was high enough that it was impressive, but not high enough for the current to be overpowering. Unlike most I had seen, this one dropped straight down instead of bouncing off rocks, suggesting that there was space behind it. Eventually curiosity got the best of me and I swam to the edge of it to see what, if anything, was behind it. There was about half a meter between the cascading water and the rocks. I looked up and saw a alcove in the wall about a meter up. Finding a foot-hole in the rocks I began to climb up to it.
The alcove was larger then I had originally thought it was. At about 3 meters long and about 2 meters wide with the corners rounded off, it was impressive. Unfortunately when I tried to stand up I had to stoop, but given that I'm very tall, that was expected. It was warmer then the outside air, and certainly warmer then I had expected. The only odd thing about it was the long-grass covering the entire floor of the cave. But this kept some heat in, and it was nice to lay down on, so it was welcomed. It was brighter in the cave then I would have figured, but this, like the others, was a welcomed surprise. As I sat in the back of cave where it was quieter; I thought back to the conversation with Matt before Mimi had butted in. Now, instead of talking with my best friend, I was overcome by a wave of loneliness. Feeling unexpectedly tired I laid down on the long-grass floor. Before I knew it, I was asleep on the alcove floor, naked, anguished, and lonely.
It was just after breakfast, when I had been kneeling in front of TK checking his fever and changing his cold cloth when it happened. Matt was faithfully with his brother, also tending to the small child. It began very slowly, so slow that I almost didn't notice it. But it was there, like if I closed my eyes and slowly counted to a hundred it would be brighter. An aurora of light was definitely enveloping Matt and TK... No... something told me that they were Yamato and Takeru. A voice... telling me things — in my mind, like a itch that I couldn't get. I wanted to reach into my mind and just scratch. The aurora was telling me things about Matt...Yamato, telling me that all the things that I thought I had known about my friend were untrue.
The bond you see there is not of mortal flesh.
Huh? Who are you? I demanded in my mind.
There can be another bond, one that you've also wanted. Look within yourself and him. There's an unspoken bond...
What are you talking about?? Get out of my head! Who are you?? I demanded of the voice.
You know, and you see that Yamato DOES fear. He fears losing you. You feel it too. Frightened, I started breathing faster. The voice got stronger. He wants to be closer to you, he wants to protect you like he would his brother! As I started to rock back and forth, I gripped the sides of my head and closed my eyes.
Go away! Get out of my mind! Stop trying to ruin my only friendship! Stop pretending! Look at him!
Slowly, I raised my head to look at my friend and his brother. There was a glow so bright that I could barely see them. Tai was near us, watching Takeru but seemed unaffected by the glow. And that damned voice...
You know what this means!
I started whispering to myself. "Get out of my mind. Get out of my head," the words like a lullaby. The voice only got stronger, and the light brighter. Yamato and Takeru seemed stopped in time. The voice became deafening and the light blinding.
More then just friends. More then...
"GET OUT OF MY MIND!" I began to scream as I gripped the sides of my head. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"
Reality snapped back. The voice went away, and the glowing just stopped abruptly. Yamato and Takeru were no longer stuck in time. "Jyou! What the hell was that for??" Tai shouted.
"Jyou! Are you alright?" Izzy shouted in surprise, and genuine fear leapt into his voice.
"Jyou." my faithful digimon was at my side. "Lets get some sleep. You need it."
"The light... there was a voice..." Yamato and Takeru looked at each other and I could see Mimi mouthing 'What the fuck??' to Sora. "linked... brothers... by the will of the gods... bonds... untold," I gasped out as I shook my head as if to banish the thoughts. My head was swimming. Gomamon got me to a place to sleep. I laid down and nearly passed out.
I heard whispers as I was laying down. "Linked brothers? Himself and Jim? Jyou isn't **** never***there's has****explanation." the whispers started to fade out so I didn't hear anymore of the conversation. Fortunately I passed out then.
I woke late that afternoon when the world was right again. I went to the only place that I could be alone. By the waterfall. So this time it was me who stumbled onto Yamato swimming. I told him about the alcove I had discovered the previous night. I led him to it and watched as he tried to climb up. Finally I climbed up first, and reached down to help him. He looked around in fascination at the niche behind the waterfall.
"Dude!"
"Cool, huh?"
He nodded vigorously. "But there's something that's been bothering me, Jyou."
"Oh?"
"How are you doing? This morning you were sick...?" he asked unsurely.
"I wasn't ill."
"Oh...?"
"The things I saw weren't fever induced."
"What did you see?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
"What makes you say that? We've been best friends since like forever. Whatever you have to say you can tell me no matter how bizarre."
I looked at him hard. "I thought I heard a strange voice, and a glowing light... surrounding you and Takeru."
Yamato looked like he was pondering something. He glanced up at me. "You're logical, you know what the voice said was true."
"How do you know what it said?"
"It was about me and our... friendship."
"It said that you and your brother have a bond and...Yamato, I was told that you wanted to be— no that's too stupid."
"More then... just friends." he whispered, his voice barely audible over the sound of the crashing waterfall. His eyes were closed and he took a deep slow breath. "You knew about the names... Yama..to and Takeru..." He voice came out breathy and it cracked at one point. I closed my eyes hard to see if when I opened them again this would be just an illusion. It wasn't.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"The bond Takeru and I share isn't of brotherhood. ..Its of... love. There is a bond between us because I love my brother so much that I would do anything to protect him. The glow... is... it's my lifeforce. ...I want to have the same thing with you."
"How long have you wanted... more... from our childhood friendship?" I slowly asked carefully choosing my words.
"Not long ago. After I realized that I ... loved you." he whispered. "Jyou, every time that you were looking for a relationship you overlooked me. I've long since known that what I've wanted from you has been more then just sports talks and kiss and tell. I've wanted more then just friendship. I've wanted from you the same type of love that you've shown to your crush of the day. I found it rather disturbing that you could love someone you barely know, yet only be friends with someone you've spent your whole life with."
My jaw dropped open and my eyes went wide. Of course I had over looked him. He was my friend. How was I supposed to know that he wanted... love?? My stomach felt like a three ton parcel truck's front wheels were sitting on it. The mystical voice had been right. I found that rather unsettling. Yamato's huge sapphire eyes pleaded. Look within yourself. You found it too.
I had? ...Yes, I had hadn't I? I had known it all along, didn't I? I ignored it, and I denied it, but it was there, and I had known it was from the beginning. How is it that some people slip through the cracks? Every day I looked at this boy— this man— and found a friend. But I had seen more hadn't I? Where does the line cross from friendship to love? I wanted Yamato's mind, his body, his soul to be part of my life. Friendship is logical enough to be part of the rational side of the mind. But Yamato? He was part of my irrational side too. Irrational... not only looks at the physical traits of someone. It looks at their very soul. That was what I had wanted from Yamato, wasn't it? I wanted to be part of his soul, his fire that makes him exist in a world -- two worlds-- of things made up of nothing more then physical beings and pretty sciences to explain them.
I love his huge sapphire eyes that reflect his soul and look into yours. I love his golden hair that I would have given anything to run my fingers through. I loved warmth and friendship that he directed at me. I loved him because he was a rebellious, strong and powerful. A dreamer. Sensitive. Introspective. And I loved him because he was Yamato, the protector of Takeru. I was in love with Yamato.
Revelation flooded me. I vaguely became aware of strong arms surrounding my body. "I'm sorry, Jyou." It took me a moment to realize he was crying. Tell him you idiot!!! Tell him before it's too late!! Revelation was replaced by something else. ...Hunger. I let Yamato back off my shoulder. Once again I began to see an aurea of light around him. But this time... this time Takeru wasn't part of it. The hunger began to grow. His eyes were trained on the floor. I lifted up his chin and looked at his huge blue eyes. Shimmering with tears, they betrayed his feelings. Loneliness. And pain. Both things I've known well.
"I didn't see. I didn't let myself see." I choked out. Still somewhat in shock that I had almost let the one I truly loved get away. I reached forward to hug him, like he was going to disappear the moment I took my eyes off him. But somehow, somehow, before I could tell Yamato what I had learned about my end of the friendship, my irrational side took control of my body. As I reached forward to hug the blond boy, my mouth somehow searched for his. They met in a moment of contentment, and the hunger was lessened. I once the brief moment passed I just clung on to his neck, not wanting to look him in the face. Yamato just sat stock still in total shock.
"I thought that..." he choked out.
"So did I." Damn, that voice had to be right. I still clung onto Yamato's neck. "I just killed any friendship we had."
"No. No, you didn't. Besides if anyone did, it was me. And when I did it died screaming." he said. I released my death grip from Yamato's body.
"I didn't know I loved you." I whispered. An unspoken bond. Damn voice had to be right.
End Tape One