Author's Note: Hey, does anyone want to go give Destiny one more review? That's been driving me crazy for years... Also enjoy!
Beowulfmon followed their retreat with the tip of his blade, all to conscious of his brother's trembling form in his other hand. In no more than a few seconds the Royal Knights were just dots of the horizon and Koji reemerged from a whirl of periwinkle light. One arm encircled Koichi, clutching him to his chest, and the other was feeling around his back, checking for any damage the dark tendrils might've caused.
"Is he…" Izumi probed gently, landing close by and shifting back into human form.
"There's something…" Koji answered, a frown creasing his brow. Silently, he signaled Izumi to come in closer. She kneeled, taking Koichi's shoulders and turning him so Koji could more thoroughly assess the damage. Licking his lips, Koji's hands tugged up the bottom of Koichi's shirt, exposing the pale flesh underneath. Two bruises were already forming where the tendrils had pierced him, veiny-blue, each about the size of an orange. Koichi jerked away when Koji's fingers attempted to explore the area, causing Izumi to wince.
"He's ice cold," she whispered, her jade orbs locking with Koji's for an instant as Koichi's weight was transferred back to his brother. The other three advanced, curious, and Izumi jumped back to her feet to stop them, pressing a hand to Takuya's shoulder.
"Give him some air, guys."
"Does he need air?" Takuya sounded endearingly concerned and confused, his question generating a slight tug at the edges of Izumi's lips. She was about to elaborate when a sharp, gasping sound cut the air. Koichi was awake. Both fists curled in Koji's jacket as he tried to pull himself up, straining against his twin. The task seemed to defeat him and he collapsed back, panting through his nose. His wide eyes darted from face to face before finally settling on Koji.
"Koichi! Nii-san, are you alright?" He received a confused, wild look that sent rocks into his stomach. Koji bit his lip and tried again, softer this time. "Do you know who I am?"
"Koji…" his twin said after a long pause, blinking for the first time, though his grip on Koji's jacket did not lessen. "How… did I get here?"
"The Royal Knights took you," offered Izumi, stepping just a little closer for support. For a moment she thought about kneeling again, then, not wanting to crowd Koji, decided against it. "You and Koji left the campfire to talk and…" She trailed off, noting Koichi's frown.
"Campfire," he repeated, pushing off of Koji and taking back his weight. One hand reached up to cradle his head, fingers entangling in his bangs as he pressed his palm to his brow. "What time is it?"
"It's the middle of the night," said Koji, a frown of his own descending like a storm cloud. He didn't mean to show it, but it really worried him that the older twin felt the need to ask. Three full moons shone brightly above them, bathing the world in distinctive, silvery light. Koichi buried how much that upset him immediately, closing his eyes and nodding solemnly. "How are you?"
Silence.
"Hey buddy, you doing okay," Takuya rephrased, shifting awkwardly and moving his head around, as if to get a better look at the dark twin.
"I'm fine," he brushed off their concerns with a smile, inclining his head up towards their worried friends. "I've had worse."
"Worse than being impaled," Junpei let slip, incredulous. All eyes slid to him and he blushed under the varying degrees of shock and disapproval. Koichi's eyes widened briefly, a shadow of fear crossing his face as he processed that little nugget. Koji looked like he wanted to hit him, but was distracted when his brother got to his feet. Brushing dust casually from his pants and actively pretending he hadn't heard Junpei's comment, he glanced around at his friends with a soft smile.
"Well, if it's all the same to you all, I'd rather not be here anymore."
"Right, of course!" Izumi gave a small headshake, as if to scold herself for not considering that he might not be comfortable lingering here. "We left Bokomon, Patamon, and Neemon behind anyway. They must be worried."
"I hope they're alright; it's dangerous to be alone. We shouldn't have just left them like that…" mumbled Tomoki, more to himself than anything, burrowing one toe into the dirt as he waited for everyone to reorient and start heading back.
"They're fine," reassured Takuya with a grin. "Probably right on our tails. We'll run into them on the way back and make camp wherever. I don't know about you guys, but I'm exhausted!"
"Yeah, it's a bit too much excitement for me," yawned Junpei, stretching and falling into step behind Takuya and Tomoki. Izumi hesitated, then joined the group. The twins hung back a little longer.
"You're sure you're okay," asked Koji, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder as he tried, and failed, to catch his eye. The dark twin pursed his lips, staring intently at the ground as one hand found its way to his chest, fingers curling in the fabric of his own shirt.
"Yeah," he said with a single nod. "Yeah, I'm just… a little cold."
Koichi couldn't sleep. He did try. He lay there, curled up next to his brother, for what seemed like an eternity. It wasn't a lack of fatigue; his whole being felt exhausted, like when sleep finally did come it would last for days. Yet his mind buzzed, half formed thoughts flicking in and out of his consciousness like specks of light at the edge of his vision: too faint to make out and too bright to ignore.
They whispered to him, taunting him, prodding him, taking fistfuls of his gut and twisting them into anxious balls. Then there was the cold. Yes, the night was chilly, but he seemed to experience it with an intensity none of the others understood. Goosebumps pricked his flesh in waves and, regardless of how close he was to the flames of their campfire or how tightly Koji's jacket was wrapped around him, the cold persisted.
Sleep evaded him. The buzz became whispers and the whispers became voices. And the cold concentrated in his blood, dulling his resistance and turning his limbs to stone. It was almost like it had nothing to do with the night at all, like it was coming from somewhere deep inside him, but Koichi knew that was impossible.
Despite what the whispers said, he knew that had to be impossible.
He couldn't remember what had happened to him while he was with the Royal Knights and sometimes that worried him. Junpei had mentioned he'd been… impaled… and sometimes that worried him too. Something was wrong, but between the voices and the frost he couldn't put a name to what that might be.
There was a moment where the fear got so bad, he considered waking Koji. But he didn't. The night passed and with each restless hour his mind changed. Over and over, the voices told him what was happening and then the cold took that knowledge from his memory. The longer they spoke, the more convinced Koichi became that they were within yet separate from him. The more convinced he became, the less worrisome it seemed.
By morning it Koichi understood that nothing was wrong. There was nothing to tell Koji or the others and nothing to be done about the cold within. The voices weren't his, but they had his best interests in mind, and they had something to tell him. Something that, eventually, whether he wanted to or not, he would have to accept.