Nightmares Tinged With Love
Hi everyone. This is the outcome of my entry for Kal-El Fornia's "A Novel Idea" writing challenge on The Forest of Irrelevant Road Signs forum, which we set up together. The characters were selected from a randomised list and I ended up with Izzy (Koushiro) and Jun. The prompt I received was a quote from Life of Pi and goes "Dare I say I miss him? I do. I miss him. I still see him in my dreams. They are nightmares mostly, but nightmares tinged with love. Such is the strangeness of the human heart."
For those of you interesting in the challenge or if you just want to talk about Digimon in general, the fanfiction link to the forum is: /forum/The-Forest-of-Irrelevant-Road-Signs/141504/
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or any other copyrighted things that I mention in this one-shot. Consider ownership of those said things disclaimed by myself.
Summary: Izzy is enjoying himself on a night out when he bumps into Jun. They end up having a conversation that brings back bad memories of a dark day for both of them. Minor Koumi. One-shot.
Izzy sighed as he concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other to make sure that he didn't fall over. The spiky red-haired nineteen year old refused to use the walls to balance himself in case one of the bouncers thought that he was too drunk to remain in the club. Getting thrown out would definitely upset Mimi, his childhood friend turned girlfriend. She had been looking forward to this night out for weeks because it signalled the being of their summer break from their university lectures. He would never hear the end of it if he ruined her night. Reminding him about it would be something that she could easily do given that they were living together.
The fear of his girlfriend teasing him about his inability to hold his liquor was what made him decide that now was a good time to get some fresh air. Izzy had been drinking and trying to keep up with Mimi all night, which had resulted in his rather intoxicated state. The couple had been out for hours and during that time the red-haired genius drank a lot more than he should have done. He now realised that it was an uncharacteristically stupid idea to try and keep pace with his girlfriend because it now left him feeling rather sick.
The young man continued down the corridor to a balcony that overhung the entrance to the club that he was in. He knew this was the perfect place to relax for a few minutes and settle his stomach. Izzy could still hear the bass of the music even though the rest of club's noises were slowly quietening as he made his way towards the cool refreshing air. He knew this club well because it was one of Mimi's favourites. He didn't know how many nights that he had shared with Mimi that were similar to this one where they would spend several drunken hours on the dance floor together.
The fresh air hit Izzy as he stepped out into the open. He took a deep breath before glancing around to see who else was out here. It was then that he spotted a familiar figure by herself, leaning on the railings of the balcony. She was staring up at the moon, gazing at it as if she was in deep thought. The young woman was wearing a red dress that hugged the curves of her hips and large breasts. It stopped halfway down her thighs, allowing her long smooth legs to be showed to the world. Her figure combined with her wild chestnut-brown hair suggested that she could be no other than Jun Motomiya.
Izzy watched as Jun placed her cigarette to her pink lips and drew in a breath. She waited for a few seconds before exhaling the smoke into the night air. Jun watched it as it rose upwards and corkscrewed around. She took another drag and watched the smoke again as it spiralled towards the moon.
Jun had become friends with the Digidestined a couple of years after the defeat of Malomyotismon when she had received a Digimon partner of her own. It was around that time when she began to calm down and stopped be such a mad fan girl all of the time. She was the one of the first people to begin receiving Digimon partners, something that was now common throughout the world. Almost everyone had a Digimon partner these days and seeing drunken Digimon next to their drunken human partners was something that Izzy once thought that he would never see.
That brought back a bad memory that he had been trying to put to the back of his mind all night long. It would be only two weeks before a rather dark and sad anniversary for the Digidestined. It was something that marked what could go wrong if people didn't keep their Digimon under control. Jun was involved with it and she commemorated the event every year with the main Digidestined. It was something that she, Izzy and the others could never forget.
Izzy sighed again and pushed the memory of that incident to the back of his mind. He decided that he had better go and speak to Jun. After all, it had been a while since they had last spoken. The red-haired younger man made his way over to the wild-haired woman, being careful to not show that he was as drunk as he actually was.
"Hi Jun," Izzy announced his presence as he rested both of his elbows on the railing that Jun was leaning against. He glanced up at the Tokyo night sky and noticed that it was nearly a full moon. It was like a large silver coin hanging in the black night sky. Izzy knew that there were stars out there but the glow of Tokyo stopped them from being spotted.
"Oh, hi Izzy," Jun replied somewhat enthusiastically as her gaze left the moon and landed on her friend. She offered him a warm smile. "It's good to see you. How are you?"
Izzy glanced to his left and smiled. He watched as Jun took another drag from her cigarette before she flicked some of the ash away. "I'm good thanks. The summer break has just begun and Mimi has dragged me away from my computer to celebrate."
"So she should," Jun chuckled as she pointed her cigarette at him. "You spend way too much time on that computer of yours, Mr. Izumi. It will do you good to get away from it for awhile."
The red-haired teen chuckled and scratched the back of his neck. If only he could get 10 Yen for every time that he heard that. "Mimi tells me the same thing, but I have to use my computer for my studies."
Jun placed her cigarette to her lips once more as she thought about her reply. "Well if both Mimi and I are saying it then it must be true. You need to get away from those screens or you'll end up with square eyes. Thinking of Mimi, is she around? I haven't spoken to her in a while."
"Yeah," Izzy glanced back into the club. The doorway he had just come out of was wide open and had people passing through it almost constantly. His gaze wandered around the rest of the balcony. He noted that there were a lot of people on their phones, others smoking like Jun and the rest were like him, trying to get some fresh air. "She's on the dance floor with some of her friends from her course at the moment."
"Ok, I think I'll catch up with her in a bit then," Jun smiled as she glanced inside. "I was just enjoying the night air."
A silence fell as Jun took another drag before flicking the ash onto floor of the balcony. Her gaze returned to the moon as that thoughtful expression reappeared on her face. Izzy took the opportunity to gaze out over the street, noticing the all of students who had come out to party just like he had. Somewhere out there enjoying a night of partying were Tai and Sora too.
"How's the new job?" Izzy decided to break the silence when he remembered that Jun had recently began working as a reporter for a big newspaper.
"It's great but tiring," Jun pursed her lips before laughing. "Whoever would have thought that sweet little TK's mother was such a slave driver? Miss Takaishi has had me interviewing five different bands this week and she is expecting individual articles on them all by the end of the month. No wonder TK is so well mannered. She'd probably have him doing chores all year if he stepped out of line."
"Is she really that difficult?" Izzy asked as his eyebrows rose in surprise. "It could just be that those artists were only available for interviews this week."
"Nope, I've got another three to do next week," the young woman shook her head in response. "And I will have to write articles for those too."
"Geez and I thought my lecturers were bad," Izzy sighed and offered his friend a sympathetic smile.
"Nah, university was easy compared to this. But at least I get to meet all of these top musicians, so it's not all bad," Jun finished excitedly because she was getting to live her dream. She was actually getting paid to follow stars around and keep up to date with their lives. There was really nobody more dedicated to it than her.
The friends drifted into another silence as Jun's gaze found its way to the moon once more. Izzy returned to watching the people in the streets below, wondering where they were going. He did his best to contain his laughter as he watched various drunken students stumble around, trying their best not to fall or throw up everywhere. The thought cross the genius' mind that he could be in a similar state by the end of the night if Mimi got her way.
Jun took a final drag from her cigarette before dropping the remains on the ground. She stomped out the dying embers before she let the smoke out of her lungs as a sigh. Her lips were pursed as a depressed frown formed on her face. Izzy was going to ask what was on her mind but she spoke before he had the chance.
"The moon always reminds me of Matt for some reason," the young woman spoke as her eyes returned to the giant silver coin hanging on the black background. The saddened tone to her words couldn't be missed. "I don't know why, it just does."
That brought all of the memories of that day flooding back straightaway. They were the images and thoughts that Izzy had being trying to forget all night. They were of that incident that they would be commemorating in two weeks time. Those memories were of a pointless loss of life that could have and should have been avoided so easily. They were of the day the Matt died.
Izzy let his head drop as he thought about that day nearly three years ago. He was hanging out with Mimi, Tai, Matt, Sora and Jun at the mall when an argument broke out between two people. Both of the men were in their early twenties and both had Digimon partners who digivolved to their champion levels and began fighting as well. Chaos ensued and they began trashing the mall.
Before any of the Digidestined knew what was going on, the fight was right on top of them. The Kuwagamon managed to get the better of the Tyrannomon as the giant red dinosaur struggled to get a solid footing on the marble mall floor. The giant bug sent the Tyrannomon skidding across the corridor towards the Digidestined. They all did their best to get out of the way, but Jun wasn't going to make it. That was when Matt turned and reached back for Jun. He used all of his strength to throw her to safety, but that didn't give him enough time to escape.
The Tyrannomon just missed Jun and smashed into Matt, collecting him and four other people. They were crushed instantly as the giant dinosaur crashed into the wall that the Digidestined were just leaning against. It was such a meaningless loss of life and it hurt all of the Digidestined. They had survived those dangerous battles against the Dark Masters and Myotismon and this little fight between two men and their Digimon was what had killed one of them. It still made Izzy sick.
The repercussions from the incident were felt worldwide. There were huge debates over whether Digimon should be allowed to live on Earth and, if so, who would be allowed to have them. There were even debates about whether Digimon should be treated as equals or as pets. Fortunately common sense prevailed and it was recognised that the humans were the start of the problem. However, that still didn't make it any better for the Digidestined. It took them a long time to recover and the memories still hurt them to that very day.
"Do you miss him?" Jun asked as her eyes remained locked on the night sky.
"Yeah," Izzy nodded as he closed his eyes. He wished that he had Tentomon with him that day so he could have done something to save his friend instead of letting that happen. He said his next question even though he already knew the answer. "Do you?"
"Dare I say I miss him?" Jun asked herself before taking a deep breath. Tears began to form in the corners of her eyes as she continued. "I do. I miss him. I still see him in my dreams. They are nightmares of that day mostly, but nightmares tinged with love. Such is the strangeness of the human heart."
Izzy glanced to his left and watched as the first tear escaped from Jun's eye and rolled down her cheek. It was followed by another then another. She began sobbing and placed her face in her palms. Izzy placed his left hand on her shoulder in a gesture of support and began thinking of words that could help his friend in the current situation.
"Izzy, there you are," Mimi yelled out across the balcony. He words were as bubbly and joyous as ever. However, that changed when she noticed Jun and made her way over to them. Concern became the dominate emotion in her tone as she arrived by their sides. "Jun, what's the matter? Are you alright?"
Izzy was so glad his girlfriend was there to help him at that moment because his drunken mind was definitely not thinking straight. He couldn't think of anything to help Jun or to make her feel any better. In all honesty, he felt like joining Jun and mourning the loss of one of his closest friends. Izzy felt that familiar pain grown in his heart in that hole that was left there. The hole that formed when his friend's life was senselessly taken from him.
I'll be honest and say that receiving Izzy and Jun along with the prompt I had made this story rather difficult to write. I had the option of writing a comical story or this one, a serious story. Hopefully I made the right choice and that you guys enjoyed reading it. Please let me know by leaving a review. And also don't forget to check out the forum if you haven't already and take a challenge yourself. The link is in my author's notes at the top. Thanks for reading :D