Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. Oh, but wouldn't it be cool if I secretly did?
Author's Note: Another round of Happy Holidays for everybody who celebrates! Thank you to the Thinker who has been giving me constructive criticism, and I hope I'm getting better at the things you have mentioned. This is not exactly the happiest chapter for the holidays, but anybody who is used to having family over this time of year knows that "happy" doesn't always describe the holidays, right? So, I guess this chapter is the other side of things. Haha.
Enjoy!
Chapter Twelve
Nancy Takaishi and Hiroaki Ishida walked into the Ishida apartment several hours later and were instantly worried by the silence. Nancy would have thought that Matt may have left, unable to take it anymore, only to be followed by his exhausted friends all within a few minutes while she and her ex-husband were away getting coffee if it weren't for a nurse's comment about a blonde haired teen's near breakdown. She took it as a good sign that he hadn't left alone (as the empty waiting room told her), but the idea that Matt had simply gone home and to bed seemed farfetched. With his stubborn refusal to sleep since his brother's accident, the mother of two simply knew better. She had wanted to send Hiroaki to his apartment to check on Matt immediately, but the single father had talked her out of it. He probably needs some time alone, he had said. Now, Nancy was regretting listening to her oldest son's guardian.
She didn't think Matt would do any harm to himself; at least, she hoped he wouldn't. He would, however, get that little monster friend of his to go off and do something stupid. That was why the unnatural silence of the apartment worried Nancy so much. Then there was the worry that in the state Matt was in, he might have tried to get home alone and been easy pickings for a mugging, or for more of those monsters to attack, or for anyone to take advantage of his current vulnerability. She left Hiroaki standing in the doorway, leaving the man to follow behind her, as she moved toward the door to Matt's bedroom. Maybe Tai had finally managed to coax him to sleep, after all.
Nancy placed a hand on the doorknob of Matt's room. She leaned in close, listening to see if she could hear anybody inside, and raised a hand to knock lightly when there was a loud BANG! as the front door was thrown open. Nancy startled and spun around just in time to see Matt barrel into the apartment with Tsunomon in one arm.
The young man barely missed running into his father by mere inches as he stumbled into the living room. His hair was in disarray; his clothes, especially his jacket, were hanging off of his body in an unkempt and unwashed manner; and his eyes were wide, glassy, and alert.
"Oh. My. God."
Matt went straight to the coffee table where he set his partner down and started to throw all of the mail to the floor as he rummaged through the contents, obviously looking for something. "Where are they? Where are they…?" It was like he wasn't even aware that someone else was in the room.
"Yamato Ishida, are you drunk?" Nancy asked, aghast.
"No, I'm not drunk," he said with an obvious eye roll, only glancing toward her for a moment before moving over to the desk and starting to give it the same treatment as he continued his search.
"Then what in the world are you doing?" she asked, letting loose a small sigh as he answered in the negative.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" he asked, accidentally tipping over a cup with at least a dozen pens in it, sending them all scattering to the ground. But like the papers, he made no move to pick them back up. He just started to go through the drawers next. His parents continued to stand in the same spots they had been since he came in, staring as he proceeded to single handedly destroy the living room. He ignored them as he left the desk and moved to the coat rack, shoving his hand into each and every pocket, pulling out whatever he found and just dropping it right where he stood. Tsunomon stayed dutifully silent; though he winced each time a new item hit the floor.
Nancy glared at him. "It looks like you're destroying your father's living room, young man."
Matt made a noncommittal sound as he left the coat rack and began to look through everything sitting out on the counter. He checked the overhead cabinets before abandoning the kitchen and heading toward the dining table. Nancy started across the apartment toward him, her blue eyes filled with concern.
"C'mon… where are they…?"
Nancy grabbed Matt's hand before he grabbed the car keys from behind the dining table centerpiece and shook her head at him. The last thing she wanted was her oldest son driving in this state, drunk or not. The nineteen-year-old's jaw tightened.
"Mom, I need my keys. I need to go."
Nancy pulled his hand away from the table and gently took the keys so that she was holding onto them instead. "No, Matt. You're going to hurt yourself. Or someone else. Possibly both with the state you're in. It is time you calm it down."
Matt angrily jerked his hand out of his mother's grip and glared past her towards his dad. "She can't take those! They're my keys; it's my car!"
Hiroaki looked between mother and son before stepping forward and speaking lowly, "Your mother's right, son. You're in no state to be driving." Matt growled in frustration and muttered something that sounded like, "I don't have time for this," before Hiroaki continued, "Where do you need to get to so badly?"
"Highton View Terrace."
Both Nancy and Hiroaki stared in confusion as those words left his mouth. They glanced toward each other soundlessly before Nancy managed to get out, "What? Why?"
Matt looked between the two of them for a moment before taking a deep breath. "I talked to TK—"
"He woke up?" Nancy gasped.
"No, but just listen! I talked to him, while I was sleeping, in this Dream World. He needs help! He needs me to get to him through a gateway that might be in Highton View Terrace, and that's why I have to go there!"
"Son, you were dreaming," Hiroaki said gently as he moved to join his ex-wife and child, soothingly resting a hand upon Matt's arm.
Matt let out a cry of frustration as he spun around, turning his back on both of his parents. "You aren't listening to me!" His hand caught a nearby vase and sent it crashing to the ground, shattering, and sending porcelain shards across the floor. He winced and rubbed his hands over his tired eyes. Nancy and Hiroaki exchanged worried glances.
"I think you should go to bed, Matt," Nancy said, resting a hand on her son's back. "You're exhausted, and you have class in the morning."
Matt turned to stare at his mother with his mouth hanging open. "You can't be serious. I'm not going. You cannot possibly expect me to go to class after this! I… TK needs me! He's in danger! He's in some kind of Dream Realm where there's this digimon keeping him there! Tell them, Tsunomon! He's—"
"That is ENOUGH, Matt!" Nancy snapped, silencing both her son and the digimon before he could even attempt to speak. "I know that you want to be able to do something for your brother, but making up imaginary Dream Realms and digimon that are keeping him there is not the way to go about it. I am not going to discuss this anymore. You are going to go to bed, and you are going to go to your class tomorrow, and then you can go to the hospital to see your brother again. But you are going to stop this nonsense right now."
Hiroaki didn't say anything, but he was a silent supporter of his ex-wife.
"MOM!" Matt exclaimed angrily. "He's in a coma because of a digimon!"
Nancy pointed her finger towards his bedroom door, her face stormy. "Yamato Ishida, go to your room, and go to bed. Digimon are not responsible for this as much as you might be wishing it were so that you could do something about it. Quit this before you hurt yourself. I cannot handle both of my sons being in the hospital. Have I made myself clear?"
Matt's eyes narrowed as he turned his gaze onto his father who offered no form of support. He turned, grabbed Tsunomon, and stormed into his room. "Crystal."
A second later, the door to Matt's room slammed shut. The worried mother lifted her hands to her temples and blew out a breath, squeezing her eyes closed to block out the tears. She had just lost her temper with her oldest son, the one that she was typically so cautious around because of their tumultuous relationship, and had yelled at him for trying to do something that he thought would be constructive in helping his brother. Hiroaki let out a small sigh as he placed a comforting hand on her arm before he started to pick up the mess around the room.
"He doesn't have to go to class tomorrow," Nancy whispered softly as she wrapped her arms around herself, looking at the door he had just stormed through. "I don't know what made me say that. He's so upset; it would be horrible of me to make him go to class and suffer through that with TK in the hospital. I should go talk to him and apologize… He probably hates me."
"Let him cool off, Nancy," Hiroaki said gruffly as he began to pick up the remnants of the broken vase. He looked at his ex-wife. "Matt doesn't hate you."
"He needed me to be supportive, and I just pulled the rug out from under him, Hiroaki. What kind of mother does that?"
"One who is exhausted, stressed, and worried about both of her children," Hiroaki said in his usual quiet demeanor. "Come on, let's take the advice you gave to Matt and get some sleep. I'll finish cleaning this mess in the morning. Why don't you take my bed? I'll take the couch tonight."
x X x
The soft keening wails that had come from the light-haired teen had finally stopped, dissolved into tearful hiccups and impossible intakes of breath. TK was trembling as he clung desperately to his brother's corpse. At first, when he'd wrapped his arms around his brother, Matt had still been warm. Now, his body was cold and lifeless. He had tried, helplessly, to will his brother to wake up, for the magic of the Dream Realm to work its life-giving healing on his brother as it did on ExVeemon all those years ago.
The dead can't be healed, TK, even if the World of Dreams could heal humans…
TK was numb, his eyes squeezed tightly shut as he rocked back and forth holding his brother. He didn't even care that he was now covered in the Child of Friendship's blood. TK's head was bowed forward as he sucked in one hitching breath after another. He just couldn't fill his lungs no matter how much air he tried to draw into them.
"…Matt… come on, Matt… you can't be dead, Matt…" the teen urged desperately.
He had cried until he couldn't cry anymore. He didn't have any tears left, so now the inconsolable teenager's shoulders just shook silently with the heartbreaking loss. If… if Matt hadn't come here to help him, if he hadn't asked him to come back… if… if… if… That horrible two letter word was filled with more self-blame than it had ever been. TK readjusted his arms around his brother's shoulders, clutching the lifeless form to him. If Matt was gone, then a part of TK was gone too.
"…I need you…" he whispered hoarsely into Matt's shoulder.
Calumon laid stomach down on the ground, the dirt and leaves sticking to his little body from where he had been dropped when TK had first caught sight of the horrific scene. He was watching the heart-breaking picture in front of him in a sort of zombie-like trance. His hot tears were silent where TK's had been wails of despair and agony. The fact that TK was quiet now worried him. The little digimon caught sight of the digidestined's trembling shoulders as he held the lifeless body and shrank back further. The nightmares were doing it again. Had done it again. There was another life on Nocnitmon's hands, and soon there would be two. He was going to have to sit there and watch the much more powerful being as she did what she planned with TK.
Nocnitmon glided from the shadows in front of them, emerging as if from the trees themselves, and looked toward Calumon with a chilling smile. Calumon shrunk back from her, then locked his jaw and opened his mouth to say some warning to TK. Nocnitmon twitched a finger, and Calumon's mouth closed like his lips had been glued together. Even if he had spoken, the words would likely have fallen on deaf ears.
TK didn't see her because he wasn't looking at anything. His eyes were squeezed tightly shut, and he didn't care if Devimon reappeared behind him and stabbed him through the back. He really just didn't care. TK trembled, sucking in breaths that felt like they burned in his lungs, agonizing to him as he clung to Matt. Each breath he took was one more that Matt would never take again. Nocnitmon's appearance rippled, morphing into that of the boy's best friend and unrequited love.
Oh, she wasn't done with him yet.
x X x
Nancy had fallen asleep to the intoxicating silence of the empty bedroom, and the scent that was uniquely and completely Hiroaki filling her senses. She'd felt comforted in a way, but even with that small bit of comfort, she had fallen asleep with a heavy heart and worried over her children in her mind. She couldn't have been asleep more than an hour or two when the sound of the phone ringing woke her with a start. She jerked awake, groggy eyes staring blurrily into the darkened room.
The phone continued to ring, and Nancy squinted her eyes at the glowing numerals on the alarm clock. 12:07 AM. Her heart was in her throat instantly as she picked up the receiver, not caring that she wasn't in her own home. The overhead light suddenly flipped on as Hiroaki stepped into the room, having been woken up by the phone as well.
"Hello?" Nancy asked with sleep still clouding her vocal chords. She cleared her throat and repeated herself, "Hello?"
"May I speak with Mr Ishida, please?" a man's voice said on the other end. Nancy could already hear the tone in the voice that was speaking to her. It was the tone of someone who had the unfortunate job of relaying bad news.
"Is this the hospital? This is Ms Takaishi speaking. What's going on?" Nancy said, moistening her lips as she slid her legs from under the covers and sat on the edge of the bed. The mattress dipped slightly as Hiroaki joined her, watching her closely while she spoke on the phone.
"This is Dr Kinjo from the hospital. It's about your son," the man on the other end said.
Nancy reached next to her for her ex-husband's hand, but Hiroaki was already reaching for her to supply it. He couldn't hear what the person Nancy was speaking to said, but he wanted to give Nancy whatever support she might need. From the look on her face, he knew she needed it. It couldn't be good news. Unless…
"Did he wake up?" Nancy asked, sounding hopeful yet doubtful in the same four words.
"I wish that I could say that was what I was calling for, ma'am," the doctor said gently, "but no. In fact, the reason that I'm calling is because I'm worried that he may not last the night."
Nancy dropped the phone. It fell to the floor like it was falling in slow motion, and she just watched it hit the carpet and bounce. Hiroaki moved to the pick the phone up, reading his ex-wife's body language and feeling his stomach twist into an uncomfortable knot. He pressed the phone against his ear and laid a hand on his ex-wife's shoulder.
"This is TK's father," Hiroaki said. "What's the matter with our son?"
"About thirty minutes ago, your son's heart rate took a sudden and rapid elevation. It's well over 100 beats per minute and still rising. It should be around 70 or so as a resting heart rate, but just now, when I left his room to call you, it was around 135. We haven't yet determined the cause or been able to get his pulse back down to a more normal and safe level," the doctor said.
Hiroaki rubbed slow circles on his ex-wife's back as he listened.
"If it weren't so elevated and continuing to rise, there wouldn't be cause for concern. The heart can beat at an elevated rate for short periods of time to cope with stress. Under normal circumstances, it is a perfectly standard physiological response to stress. I believe it's due to an increased sympathetic stimulation, a psychological stress of some sort, with the result being the raise in his heart rate. It's like he has taken the fight-or-flight response and is unable to turn it off," Dr Kinjo explained.
Hiroaki cleared his throat, disbelieving at how incredibly calm he was taking his news. His son was dying. He should have dropped the phone like Nancy had. He felt like he had been punched in the gut, yet somehow he still managed to speak. It was just like he had shut down part of his mind and somehow another part turned on so he could manage to calmly ask a question, "What about giving him some sort of medication to calm it down?"
"We've attempted several different means of intervention," the doctor said, "but none of them are working. Now, I can explain the rest to you over the phone, or it can wait until you arrive at the hospital, but if we aren't able to bring your son's heart rate down soon, it's unlikely that he's going to the last the night. I thought you would like the opportunity to say goodbye."
"We'll be there soon," Hiroaki said, numbly hanging up the phone. Nancy was staring at him with haunted eyes, and he quickly enveloped her in a hug. "Get dressed. We need to go to the hospital. I'll go get Matt."
x X x
"TK… what have you done?"
TK lifted his teary eyes to look blurrily towards the voice. It was the girl he'd fallen in love with when he had been merely eight-years-old. His face dissolved into tears again as he saw her. When he saw the accusation on her face, TK opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. He just ended up choking on them and lowering his head. He'd thought that he didn't have any more tears left, and he couldn't have been more wrong. They started leaking hotly down his cheeks again.
"What have you done, Takeru?" Kari asked again.
TK's lower lip quivered and he lifted his eyes to look at his best friend again. He was still holding onto handfuls of Matt's shirt, trembling. "…I…" He didn't know what to say. There was nothing he could say. He couldn't say it wasn't his fault. He felt like it was. Matt had come back to help him. Matt had tried to protect him, and it had gotten the older digidestined killed. "…K…Kari…"
Calumon's eyes were shut tightly against the scene. Unable to assist, not wanting to watch, but still being forced to listen.
Tears brimmed in TK's blue-green eyes and rolled down his cheeks. "…He was trying to help me… he… he was just…" TK hiccupped, choked on the words, and squeezed his eyes shut again. "…I didn't mean for…" Another hitching breath made his words all but incoherent. "…I didn't mean for this to happen. Matt…"
Kari was walking toward him, and TK wiped his tear stained cheeks on his shoulders, not wanting to release his hands from where he had clutched his brother's shirt so tightly. He expected her to come, hug him, dry his tears… cry with him over Matt. When she stopped in front of Matt's body and kicked TK hard in the chest, he sucked in a pained breath and yelped. He was so startled that he let go of Matt as he lost balance and fell back into the grass. Matt's body slumped limply back to the ground, while Kari stepped over him to put herself between the boy and his dead brother.
"You killed him," Kari accused.
TK's jaw dropped, but he didn't even try to defend himself against the accusation. Kari stepped in closer, an unforgiving and angered look on her face, causing TK to backup slightly. He wiped at his cheeks with his fingers and looked up at his best friend in sorrow. This couldn't be real. Matt couldn't be dead… yet the evidence of it was there in TK's blood stained hands and clothes. But Kari… TK pressed himself against the tree behind him and pulled his knees to his chest as he looked up at her in wounded astonishment.
"…I didn't mean for it to… happen…"
Kari loomed over him. For such a short girl, she loomed. "Your brother is still dead, Takeru. And his blood is on your hands."
TK looked at his brother's corpse again and something within the boy crumbled even further. With his face still blotchy from tears, his heart still thundering away, and his breaths still coming in painful gasps, he looked up at his best friend for seven years, searching for forgiveness. It wasn't there. Instead, TK saw something smoldering behind her eyes now. Some feverish light that spoke of glee rather than devastation and heartbreak that should have been present over losing a good friend. A pleasure at seeing TK broken and in so much pain over it.
"You're not Kari…" TK muttered as the realization hit him.
Something inside the Child of Hope snapped. TK's eyes narrowed, and his teeth ground together, biting the insides of his mouth. His fists balled up at his sides and with a primal yell, he leapt at the imposter that was wearing his best friend's face.
"MURDERER!"
Calumon's eyes shot open, and he looked with shock as TK tackled the imposter to the ground with a large thump. Calumon's surprise could not even come close to Nocnitmon's, whose outward appearance rippled before reverting to its true form as she hit the ground. Kari was here before, TK realized as he stared down at the possible digimon. What if she came back…? Fear gripped him like nothing before, but instead of paralyzing him, it possessed him like a madman as he gripped the front of her cloak in his fists.
"Where is she!?"
Nocnitmon said nothing as she suddenly vanished out from beneath him and appeared at the other end of the clearing. TK caught himself as she disappeared and pushed himself to his feet. His eyes darkened now with righteous fury.
"If you've hurt her… you'll have wished you had killed me first," he swore.
Nocnitmon, visibly shocked though she was at his resilience, smiled. The ground beneath TK's feet began to sink and dissolve like quicksand. It was doing the same under Matt's body, causing the form of the golden-haired youth to sink into the ground. Nocnitmon calmly folded her hands in front of herself. "Patience, dear child. I was getting to that. But death isn't your destiny… I just need you to break."
The words washed over TK who was looking over toward Matt's disappearing body, hardly seeming to notice that he himself was now ankle deep and sinking faster into the ground. "NO!"
As if something out there were listening to his command, light suddenly exploded around them. For a moment, TK was blinded by the white hot light that was encompassing the entire area. He was the source of the light, he realized, but it wasn't like before. Before the light had been comforting, a cradle of hope, and this time the light was filled with the anger and thirst for vengeance. Ignoring the small voice in the back of his head that sounded remarkably like Kari and was telling him that this was not right, he forced his eyes open as he held onto the light.
He was no longer sinking, but his feet were now encased in the ground to the point that he lost his balance. His arms wind milled, and he fell backwards on his rear. He stared down at his glowing hands for just a moment before he was looking toward Matt and felt a sigh leave his lips as he saw him no longer sinking either.
Nocnitmon took several moments to recover, blinded by the light worse than TK, but once she did, her jaw dropped. TK had actually managed to stop what she was doing; this was obviously not something that she had foreseen. TK didn't think about any of that, though. He was just focused on how he wasn't about to let that happen to Matt. Hadn't she already done enough to his brother? TK jerked his legs to free them and, amazingly enough, they pulled free from the ground like they had never been trapped at all. Still shining and his skin starting to feel hot against his own body, TK looked at the woman in front of him.
"Tell me where she is. Now."
x X x
Matt Ishida was furious. He laid on his back in his bed on top of the mattress that he had spent the last few hours punching in frustration every couple of minutes. His teeth were grinding together so hard that it was audible. Tsunomon had long since abandoned the bed, probably afraid of being in the line of fire of Matt's anger. The teenager had heard his partner leave the room earlier for a bit before returning, and he hadn't bothered to ask what he had done. He was too angry and scared to care. Why wouldn't his parents listen to him? Out of all of the digidestineds' parents, he had always considered his mom and dad to be the most understanding out of all of them when it came to the Digital World. And now, when he needed to them really understand, they had failed him.
He felt betrayed and like they were betraying TK by not believing him. After everything that their family had been through and experienced, he would have thought they wouldn't have even hesitated in believing him. Or, at least, taken the second to sit down and listen to him. And worse yet, his mother actually expected him to go to class tomorrow? He was waiting now, giving his parents time to go to sleep, so that he could sneak out and head back to Joe's. He wouldn't be able to complete the personal mission he had given himself, but it was better than laying here and doing nothing.
He had wanted to go to Highton View Terracen and simply try to go to the Digital World. With BlackWarGreymon's protection in place, he figured something weird would have to happen if he tried.
"But," as Tsunomon had reminded him several times on the walk over, "there's no guarantee that a gate will even open, let alone if it will actually lead to the World of Dreams. You could get stuck in another dimension with no way to get back or help TK!"
But at least that would have been doing something. Not… this.
I won't let you down, TK.
Sighing in frustration, Matt sat up and ran his hands through his hair. He was determined to help his little brother. He glanced at his clock. It was a few minutes past midnight now; his parents ought to be asleep.
"Let's get out of here, Tsunomon," he whispered as he gathered his little legless friend into his arms.
"Alright," the digimon responded.
Matt was just about to head to his bedroom door when he heard the main house line ring. It was way too late for a social call even from worried family members. Unless it's Grandpa in France, and he got the time difference wrong… he thought hopefully. The phone rang again, and he heard it stop, indicating that his parents must have picked it up. A little tendril of worry gnawed at his insides. He hoped he wasn't too late.
Hang on, TK. I'm coming back; I promise.
Matt stared at his door in the darkness.
"Matt?" Tsunomon asked, but Matt couldn't find it in him to respond.
Several minutes passed before Hiroaki stuck his head into the room, looking somewhat lost. He stepped in as soon as he spotted Matt sitting there. "I should have known you'd be awake."
"Hrn," was the sharp response Matt gave, unable to muster anymore of a reply that wouldn't be filled with aggravation and resentment.
"That was the hospital," Hiroaki said, sitting down on the bed next to Matt. There was sadness in his father's eyes, and Matt's heart missed a few beats. "They called because TK is—"
"No!" Matt said harshly, jumping up out of bed. He was holding Tsunomon so tightly that he knew he had to be hurting him, but the fear was clenching around his heart making it hard for him to see straight. "Don't you say it. Don't you dare say it, Dad. I am not losing my little brother!"
Hiroaki rested his hands in his lap and lowered his head, unable to look at the intensity in Matt's eyes. He sighed heavily, weary shoulders sinking forward. "Matt… we're going to the hospital, because the doctors don't think TK is going to make it through the ni—"
"He's not going to die, Dad! I can help him! I know you don't believe me, but I can help him!" Matt exclaimed, nearly hysterical. "I'm not going to watch TK die! I'm not going to sit there and watch him when I can do something about it! And instead of letting me try to help him, you've kept me here, because you don't believe me!"
Hiroaki flinched, putting a hand to his chest. Matt's words had hit him hard somewhere, but he could tell just from watching him that he still didn't believe him. He had on that face of cold sympathy as he looked at his son with an expression that told him how worried he was for his sanity. Tsunomon looked up at Matt before wiggling out of his arms, knowing that he couldn't get between this father and son problem.
"Matt, we should be there in case we have to say goodbye."
"No! NO! I'm NOT telling my little brother goodbye," Matt practically growled. He pointed toward the door, shaking all over. He couldn't believe his father could be that stupid and insensitive and… "Get out!" Matt snapped vehemently.
"Matt, you should really come with—"
"GET. OUT."
"Son—"
The nineteen-year-old grabbed his father roughly by the shirt and jerked him off of the bed. "I said get out. So GET OUT!"
He actually gave Hiroaki a hard shove toward the door, blue eyes burning with anger and tears that he was forcefully holding at bay. Hiroaki watched his eldest son for a long moment before closing his eyes and letting out a sad breath. With a defeated nod, he turned and walked out of the room. Matt stalked up to the door and slammed it with enough force to rock the apartment's foundation before he turned and fell back against it as the shock of the news slowly fell over him. Finally, his legs gave way, and his head fell into his hands as the sobs began to wrack his body.
