"Daisuke? Daisuke, wake up. C'mon, Daisuke!"
The boy stirred, his vermilion eyes fluttering open. The morning blinded him.
"That's right, get up. I don't care if it's Sunday."
Whose voice was that? No one else was in the room—was he dreaming?
Suddenly Daisuke bolted upright, looking around frantically for the source of the voice. A scowl took hold of his features when he heard it laugh.
"You idiot, it hasn't been that long. I know you didn't forget me."
Daisuke stopped breathing. His heart threatened to explode. His lungs were going to burst forth from his chest if he didn't let the air out soon.
The voice laughed again. Smugly, it said, "I knew you couldn't forget me."
"D-D-D-Dark! Dark, is that really you?" The poor boy could hardly believe it. It was too good to be true. Far too good.
"Are you okay? Your pulse is going crazy."
Daisuke laughed a grand, sparkling laugh, the kind he thought he'd lost. "I'm fine. I'm perfectly fine." His words were inadequate, but at the same time, it was all he could say. It was like seeing an older brother again after watching him die three years before. Daisuke was speechless, but at the same time, he had so much to say.
Just then, in fact, he came to a realization. He made a face and brought accusation into his voice, and he asked, "Wait a minute, Dark. If you were just going to come back, why did you use the seal? It seems like all of that struggling back then was pointless."
"Hey," Dark began in jest, "if you don't want me around, you can say it. Not like we could do anything about it, but—"
"No, you know it's not like that," Daisuke interrupted him hurriedly. The last thing he wanted was for the thief to disappear again. "I just don't understand what's going on."
Suddenly Dark's voice grew very serious. "You know you don't love her."
Daisuke blinked. "What?"
"You know it's true. You don't love her anymore."
"Who? Do you mean Riku? Dark, what are you talking about?"
"I'm here because your DNA is reacting again. Didn't you notice?"
This was more than frustrating. "Notice what, Dark?"
"No need to be so feisty," the phantom teased. "I'm trying to tell you that I didn't leave you until the minute Riku kissed you. That seal was meant for something entirely different."
"Different?"
"You don't love her."
Daisuke frowned. He hadn't been able to admit this to himself; it was painful.
"Your feelings of love are unrequited once again."
"Wait—but I don't love anyone—"
Suddenly a pair of pale arms snaked around Daisuke's waist. Somehow, he was unable to move… He could feel the soft tracing of lips against his ear as a voice much smoother and darker than any he could remember hearing came to whisper, "I'm not so sure."
In a flurry of feathers of black, white, and red, Daisuke felt himself surge forward; suddenly the morning brilliance of the room had faded to black night. The feathers were gone, though they had seemed to vanish while he wasn't looking. Now he realized he was sitting up in his bed, clutching the front of his shirt and gasping for air.
He hated dreams.