Note: Here's the second chapter. I would love any constructive criticism as I don't have a beta reader and am a little nervous without feedback. Please let me know if you think my characterizations are off-base or if the plot meanders too much. There may be too much plot for one story. I also have a recommended track listening for each chapter. Music is important to me as I am a musician, and I am find the different twists and turns of my story come to me while listening to music. I didn't include one for the first chapter because, come on, it's a poem by William Butler Yeats, it's practically music and reading it aloud puts a beat in your words and a cadence in your mouth. I do recommend looking at the lyrics for a song if you're unfamiliar with it or if it's in a different language. I choose the songs for both the melody and the lyrics pertaining to the main character in each chapter.
Recommended tracks: Yoko Kanno/Seatbelts – Fe; Cornelius – Sensuous
Daisuke woke slowly, keeping his eyes closed because of a dull ache behind them. He didn't dare move, sure that any motion would cause his headache to flare up. Instead, he listened to the sound of tinkling chimes someone had put in the window. That was odd… or was it? For some reason, his memory jogged as though he had heard these sounds before. They felt familiar and welcome. As difficult as it was to open his eyes and move his head, it was even harder to think. Memory slipped away from him. "No use worrying about it," Daisuke mumbled thickly. Perhaps the teen would be more worried if he didn't feel an overwhelming sense of familiarity, of safety. Wherever he was, it was warm, the light streaming in was bright, and he was covered in thick, soft comforters. He raised an arm with some effort to rub his head, raking through the reddish hair only to realize his googles were missing. Sighing, Daisuke dropped his arm onto the mass of blankets onto a form next to him. Well, why would he expect to find his goggles? He kept them at home most of the time, afraid to break them as they had gotten older and more worn.
Wait, this was mysterious. A form next to him? How could there be a body in his bed? Daisuke's mother would murder him before letting him invite anyone to sleep over in his bed at his age. Jun, out of a righteous desire for propriety and not at all motivated by fairness or the strict rules imposed on her in high school, had made sure of that. It was too big to be Chibimon or V-mon. Perhaps Fladramon but why would he have digivolved unless they were in the Digital World? Perhaps he had been seriously hurt and Fladramon was protecting him? Something must have finally gotten through his thick skull.
Smiling a little, Daisuke listened for more clues, but it was too hard to focus. He thought he could hear the whirring and beeping of electronic equipment but he wasn't sure. Despite his aching head and general discomfort, he felt some kind of interior happiness. It made it hard to care about much of anything. His intuition, which he relied on more than reason, told him he was right where he should be. That thought made him frown. Why was he so sure everything was ok? When had it ever been ok to wake up in an unknown room in the Digital World? A voice interrupted his thoughts, "Daisuke, Daisuke, don't look so concerned. Open your eyes if you're wondering where we are. I know you've been awake for some time."
Daisuke knew that he should have been disturbed by this unknown person speaking so close by when he felt so strange, but he still couldn't bring himself to worry about it. To satisfy curiosity, he cracked open an eye. The room he was in was quite dark with only a few shafts of light entering from sunlights overhead. To his right, two piercing violet eyes in a thin, pale face gazed at him. His head throbbed and Daisuke groaned, pulling his head down into his arms. "Ken? Where, what are we doing here?"
"Oh Daisuke, we're at my base right where we're supposed to be…" Daisuke snapped his eyes open; this was all too familiar. He sat up, looking down to see he had no shirt on. Next to him, though it was hard to see with aching eyes in the dim light, Ken sat up, also without a shirt. The teen's head spun and his stomach twisted while he racked his brain for what had happened. Ken's hair was looking odd; it was styled almost like…
Daisuke gasped and backed away from his best friend, hitting the wall. "K-Ken, what are you doing? You look like the Digimon Kaiser! And why are we at your bas-" he cut off abruptly taking shallow breaths as nausea threated to overwhelm him. Ken laughed, a strange but familiar chuckle. He hadn't laughed like that in a long time. He hadn't looked like that in a long time. But there he was, no child Kaiser, but a seventeen-year-old Ichijouji Ken, in his old base, dressed like his old self, from the waist down, anyway. "Don't be ridiculous Daisuke. I'm not Ken; I'm nothing like that pathetic fool. And we're here because this is our home." The red-headed youth forced himself to look up and meet Ken's gaze, "This is not my home! We live on earth, you live in Tamachi, and you're dating Miyako! Ken, have you gone insane?"
Ken, or the Digimon Kaiser, drew closer, no longer smiling, spoke with an icy tone, "No, but you are beginning to anger me. I wouldn't want to have to teach you a lesson. I thought we were past all of that, pet." He grabbed the redhead with some force and drew him onto his own lap, resting his mouth on Daisuke's throat. For one moment, Daisuke stopped resisting. This was what felt right. After all, despite Ken's gentle rejection at the beginning of high school, he had still carried a flame for the blue-haired Chosen Child for a few years longer. Maybe whatever had happened had messed with his memory? Shouldn't he stop fighting this and bask in Ken's precious affection? Wasn't this what he wanted ages ago? He felt his eyelids drift shut as his friend wrapped him in a stronger embrace.
Ken graced Daisuke's throat with gentle kisses and nudges, as if sensing Daisuke's uncertainty. He smirked, chuckling again, and said, "Besides, if this wasn't your home, why would you be wearing my jewelry, Motomiya?" The redhead felt his heart in his throat, reaching up to feel what he knew was around his neck: an evil ring.
Daisuke wrenched open his eyes and leapt up, despite the fact that his head still throbbed and his stomach was cramping dangerously. Harsh fluorescent lights greeted him and he fell to his knees on a rigid bed. "Daisuke-kun! Calm down, it's just a dream! Are you all right?" He turned his head towards the voice to see Hikari sitting and clutching his school bag in her arms. This place… it was… the infirmary at school? He glanced down at himself and felt relief at seeing his uniform. Takeru stood at the foot of the bed, his clear blue eyes confused and worried. "You collapsed during study hall. What's wrong? Are you sick?"
Remembering what he had just seen and done, Daisuke grabbed at his neck quickly, feeling slightly better when he felt nothing but his own skin. Had he been dreaming? Had that…. whatever it was with Ken… had that happened before? It had felt so real… Feeling his heart race and stomach lurch, he pointed at the trashcan, which Hikari held out just in time. Takeru came over with a cup of cold water and spoke up, "You should go home. You look really pale. And you never get sick!" Hikari nodded, concern for her friend practically oozing out of her every pore. "You should, Daisuke. I was so worried. You just fell out of your chair like you'd had a seizure or something. You wouldn't wake up and your forehead felt so hot. Nurse Endo thinks you have the flu." Takeru helped Daisuke sit back before taking the trashcan away. He frowned a moment before continuing, "Were you dreaming? You were taking in your sleep. Just fragments really. But you seemed upset."
Daisuke took the cup of water shakily and sipped at it. He breathed for a long minute, hoping that the throbbing pain would disappear. Takeru and Hikari exchanged a look. Daisuke usually wore his emotions on his sleeve. Anyone who looked into his warm, brown eyes could read him in a second. Now he looked worried and scared about something. Finally he spoke, voice a bit gravelly, "It wasn't a dream. Please, just, find Ken."
