DROWNING ON DRY LAND
by kathlaida-princess
Summary: Takeru and Hikari are happy. But sometimes they need to return. Nostalgia, ild Takari.
Disclaimer: Not mine at all.
Author's Notes: Hello, dear readers! This is something quite quick and simple to celebrate summer and the immense free time granted! You can expect an update to my main story soon, but for now enjoy this small piece!
"In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die:
Ever drifting down the stream -
Lingering in the golden gleam -
Life, what is it but a dream?"
~Lewis Carroll, Through The Looking Glass
The sound of static breezes past their ears, trails of light going beyond the pixeled screen, beyond the life that has grown between them and its calling.
They proudly reach out their hands and chant the words that grant them passage.
They are swallowed by the invitation they have summoned themselves, pulled into the world of mystery and adventure that held their fantasies and dreams for years. It has been such a long time...
Their heart rushes, a smile shows.
The detached, shallow adults become the journeying, live children once more, as Takeru and Hikari's bare feet step across the impossibly green grass, into the world that for them was always so real.
Their hands are held and the woman has already left her kindergarden robes behind, while the man, fumbling with the collar of his shirt, has triumphantly released his tie.
In a few moments, the prairie is crossed, and both the adult-children playfully tumble to the emerald below, ghosts of past laughter echoing through their voices. The sky is blueishly ablaze with life, and Kari gleefully pushes herself closer to T.K., as many winged creatures, weird as dreams crossing the barrier, fly above their heads, greeting the saviours that will never be forgotten.
They rest in a moment of reverie, lost in the almost perfection, but the 'almost' isn't at all remembered as two more companions rush in, one marked with the colors of the midday and sunset sky, the other moving like a predator, both Patamon and Gatomon plunging with no regret to meet their best friends.
Now, lost in perfection, living once more as the minutes tumble by.
But it is not as if their lives outside this bubble are dull and smothering, or as if so many years of struggle weren't at all worth it in the end.
Outside this virtual world, peace is lived in the midst of love, hope and understanding, success has turned to dreams come true, relief keeps the shadows of a new nightmare at bay. There is not one Digi-destined who wishes to live otherwise, no person wanting to watch their world shatter to dead shards.
But within the monotony and certainty of peace, the adventurer heart grows restless, its feats paling in the eyes of the people who weren't there, slaying the sad ending.
How can you stop caring when you were so close to losing everything, how can you stay still where you already had to give it all to make it through another day?
Takeru and Hikari are happy outside the Digital World, yes, but they need to return as well, even if only to remember just how important their victories were, every precious lesson their souls were taught along the way...
Everyone else will forget how their whole world was in danger in years to come, despite how many books the blonde man writes about it, but not them.
They lay together as they share laughter and stories, knowing right there what is real, what is worth protecting.
The sun is sinking and soon they'll need to pick up their masks and leave, let this moment pass, like careless summer days turning to autumn.
But for now the quartet holds onto their Wonderland with devotion, drenched sensations too marvellous to word out, certain that they would have done it all again, every mistake, impasse and victory, if they were ever given the choice.
I hope you did like the emotion I tried to convey here..
The title comes from the wonderful song Scalliwag by the awesome Gaelic Storm :)
Stay well!
kathlaida-princess logging out...