A/N: Muahahaha! Did you think the gothic part of the story was over? Or that Yamato would be the only one to suffer?
(I have not typed muahahah in the notes of a fanfic since, like, 2002. Lol)
Prompt: Confrontation. I may have taken this prompt a bit … metaphorically.
Taichi knew the second Yamato caught sight of the stray Bakemon, because he cursed vividly and tried to stand up.
The security bar was still down. Taichi and Yamato strained against it, pushing with their combined strengths. It didn't move.
There was only one other option.
"Agumon!" Taichi yelled. "Agumon! I need you!"
Yamato caught on instantly. "Gabumon! Over here!"
The carriage ahead of them was enveloped in a blast of orange, then blue. Then Agumon and Gabumon were racing toward them along the ride's track.
"Taichi! What's wrong?" Agumon cried.
"Yamato! Are you all right?"
"We're fine," Taichi said, "really. But we need to get out of this damned contraption. Now."
The Digimon nodded. With a quick one-two succession of Pepper Breath and Blue Blaster, the bar heated and cooled so rapidly that it snapped cleanly in half.
Taichi dropped Yamato's hand and stood up. "Okay. After that Bakemon!"
Yamato signaled to Gabumon, and within seconds Garurumon stood before them. He was nearly too big to fit between the stair banister and the wall. Yamato climbed up on his back and then reached his hand down to Taichi. "Come on."
Taichi didn't hesitate. He grabbed Yamato's hand and swung up behind him. Then he reached back down to help Agumon up. Once they were all in place Taichi caught his balance by digging one hand in Garurumon's soft fur and wrapping the other round Yamato's thin torso. Then Garurumon soared over the rail, dodged an enormous piece of glass hanging right below the balcony, and dropped gently down to the level below.
At this angle the ride's ghost illusions were ruined. Instead of flickering phantoms Taichi just saw light beams emanating from carefully-placed projectors, unrealistic animatronics in elaborate costumes moving robotically along prelaid tracks.
The door that the Bakemon had gone through was an actual door, though. Taichi squinted but he couldn't see anything beyond, just darkness.
"Through there," Yamato urged Garurumon. The fear had gone from his voice. Instead he was confident, strong, determined.
Taichi smiled into Yamato's hair. He was glad Yamato was feeling better.
He knew what it was to be afraid. He knew the relentless irrationality of it, the paralysis it induced. He also knew what it took to push that fear away in a time of crisis. He'd done it before himself, a million times.
It wasn't easy. But you did what you had to do.
And Taichi could always count on Yamato to do what had to be done.
What Taichi had to do right now was get hold of Koushiro. He let go of Garurumon's fur and dug in his pocket with one hand.
"Taichi?" Koushiro picked up right away. His voice was tinny through the cell phone. "What's going on? Aren't you still on the ride?"
"We've got a problem, Koushiro," he replied. "Can you check on your laptop for anything strange happening nearby?"
Taichi had no doubt Koushiro'd managed to sneak his laptop on the ride. And he was right. Within seconds he heard furious typing coming through the line.
Garurumon ducked through the hole in the enormous door. On the other side was a narrow corridor, cheap-looking black walls lit by fluorescent bulbs. They were backstage.
"Hey!" A man in a teal Imagineer shirt shouted after them. "You can't be back here!"
At the other end of the hall the white of the Bakemon's robe rounded the corner and disappeared. Garurumon bounded after it, ignoring the imagineer.
"I've got something," Koushiro's voice said in his ear. "A distortion."
"You've gotta be kidding," Taichi groaned. "I thought the distortions all stopped, after."
After what he still couldn't bring himself to say. Taichi didn't know if he'd ever fully reconcile himself with the decisions he'd had to make lately. He knew Hikari wouldn't. She'd told him as much. And she'd barely spoken a word to him since.
Yamato's body tensed at the word distortion. In response Taichi tightened his grip on Yamato's side. He wasn't sure why. He no longer needed to hold on to Yamato for balance, and his friend's fear had long dissipated. He was probably just using the physical contact as a comfort, a soporific. A shield against this new Bakemon-filled reality.
He was definitely going to have to stop.
"It's not Meicoomon," Koushiro was saying. "This distortion is different. It's something else."
"That's reassuring," Taichi said dryly. "Can you tell what?"
Garurumon reached the end of the hall. It terminated in another enormous doorway, this one ornately decorated despite being hidden somewhere no guests could see.
The Bakemon was nowhere in sight.
"Umm," said Koushiro.
Taichi had known Koushiro a long time. Never before had he heard his friend start or end a sentence with umm.
Garurumon swiped one enormous paw at the brass door pulls. The pulls, carved with twin screaming faces, bent downwards with a creak. The great door swung open.
"Come on, Koushiro." Taichi didn't have time to waste on Koushiro's waffling. "Spit it out, whatever it is."
Koushiro's words came in a rush. "Umm, well. The thing is. Well. It looks like it might be my code."
"It might be your code?" Taichi raised an eyebrow. It was unlike Koushiro to be so unsure of something this serious.
Garurumon pushed past the enormous door into the space beyond. It was darker inside, so dark that Taichi had to blink away the blackness, let his eyes adjust.
"Well, okay. It is my code. I know it is. I mean, I wrote it. It's the code I wrote so the Digimon could come visit us. Only … only there's something wrong with it."
Koushiro's voice was growing distant. As if the cell phone signal was fading.
"What's wrong with it, Koushiro?" Taichi looked around, trying to get his bearings, but the darkness was still spread thick around him. He couldn't make out a thing.
"I'm … not sure. Have to … more calculations." Koushiro's voice wavered in and out, and then was gone.
Taichi looked down at his phone.
Koushiro had hung up on him.
How odd.
"Taichi." Yamato was in front of him. He stood staring straight ahead, strangely dead-eyed. "I'm going to leave now."
Taichi blinked. "What? Where are you going?"
Yamato didn't respond. He just turned and trudged away. His gait was slow and steady.
He didn't look back.
Taichi felt like he was missing something.
When had Yamato gotten down from Garurumon's back?
Where was Garurumon?
Where was Agumon, for that matter?
His eyes were finally beginning to adjust.
Why in the world was there a cave in the middle of a haunted house?
That seemed like an important question. He should probably try to figure that out.
"Taichi?"
Ah. There was Agumon. His little yellow claw was pressing insistently against Taichi's hand. "Taichi. Come on. Let's go."
They had to go. Taichi knew that, he did. He was just so tired.
He was just going to sit down for a moment. He just needed a moment. That was all.
He sat, ignoring Agumon's protests. Once he was on the ground, he didn't want to get back up.
"It always was so hard to get you up." It was Hikari. She loomed above him. Her narrowed eyes dripped disdain. "So selfish. You never did think of others. Did you, big brother?"
"I never did think of others," Taichi mumbled. "Selfish."
Meiko was there. Why hadn't Taichi noticed her before? She was right there, in the corner. She was crying, her long black hair pulled shut like curtains drawn over her face.
She wouldn't look at Taichi.
Then the mother from the park line was standing between them. She glared at Taichi as she raised her arms up around Meiko like a shield.
He smelled smoke. Fire. He heard the sick crack of glass breaking, the rumble of buildings falling.
He knew this was all his fault.
"My fault," he mumbled. "All my fault."
Yamato got down on the cold, hard-packed earth next to Taichi. "Taichi? Can you hear me?"
Taichi sat curled in on himself, face hidden behind his knees, saying something over and over in a voice so faint Yamato had to lean in close to hear. "My fault. My fault. My … fault."
The screen of Taichi's digivice lit up, flickered, then went out.
"What do we do?" Agumon was panicking.
Yamato pushed Taichi's bangs from his forehead. "What's your fault, Taichi? Please tell me."
Yamato's digivice lit up. This time the light didn't waver. "Yamato? Yamato, are you there?" The voice was far away, but it was unmistakably Koushiro.
Gabumon, ever-faithful and reliable, rushed to answer for him. "We're here, Koushiro. What is it?"
"I'm afraid the four of you have found some kind of portal to the Digiworld," Koushiro said. "Be careful. I'm going to try to figure out what's going on."
Yamato looked into Taichi's sorrow-stricken face. He stared deep into Taichi's blank, unseeing eyes. The narrow walls of the cave pressed in on them.
Yamato didn't need Koushiro to tell him. He knew exactly where they were.