Kindred Pairs
by milesprower06
'How could you?'
The barely restrained voice echoed around Takato in the expanse of blackness, as waves of heat washed over him. Feeling like he was standing in front of an open oven, he brought his arms up to protect his face from the brunt of the heat.
'How could you... do this horrible thing?'
The voice pounded in his head like a migraine, as he unsteadily shuffled forward on the blood red marble ground, stumbling through the waves of heat. His forward progress halted when the ground began to rumble. He looked around, and the shimmering red marble surface began to crack as more heat rushed up from below.
'I'll make you hurt... I'll make you pay!'
Takato brought his hands up to his ears in an effort to shut out a shrill buzzing, moments before the newest rush of heat overwhelmed him and dropped him to his hands and knees. Walls of flame erupted out of the fissures, and his breathing instinctively quickened, feeling like he was about to be cooked alive. The ground felt nearly hot enough to burn his skin, and when he looked up, his heart crept up to his throat when he thought he saw his friends through the flames, motionless on the ground all around him.
'Finish him, do it! Tear him apart!'
Takato's arms shook, struggling to support himself as he struggled and failed to get to his feet.
"No... Don't..."
Mie Matsuki's eyes slowly opened and the ceiling of her bedroom came into view, as her ears picked up the muffled sounds of distress coming through the walls. Gently removing the sheet so as to not disturb her husband, she got up from her futon, and slid the door open, going out into the hall, turning the ceiling light on. Confirming her worries, the distressed voice got clearer as she closed in on her son's bedroom. She slid his door open as quietly as she could, and stepped inside, her only light coming from the hallway and the street light outside.
She stepped up to his bed, seeing his chest rise and fall rapidly.
"No... Please don't..." He mumbled in his sleep.
'You cannot lose, I won't allow it!'
Takato managed to push himself to his feet, and heard... Something... Moving overhead above the plumes of rising smoke, as he struggled to breath in the rising heat. There were enraged roars, sickening snarls, and deafening blasts from a gun. He continued looking up, but couldn't see anything through the smoke. There was a pair of metallic clanks right behind him, making him jump forward in fear. Turning around to look, he saw that a pair of sawed off double-barreled shotguns had fallen to the ground right behind him. The frightened boy looked up just in time to jump back again, as a leather-clad figure dropped through the smoke and landed with a thud next to the weapons, motionless.
Before he could step forward to see if the figure was alive, there was another burning gust of air and another roar, and something came down through the layer of smoke.
A massive winged dragon made of crimson metal and pale white bone swooped down and dove straight at him with a growl. It veered off just before hitting him, but the very end of it's tail slammed into the boy, and coiled around him before he could hit the ground, nearly crushing him, as the dragon arched back up towards the sky, pulling him through the smoke.
There, the creature hovered, eyeing its captured prey with glowing red eyes.
"No, it's me boy. It's Takato."
The dragon's split tongue twitched in anticipation of its next meal. Flexing it's tail lightly, it uncoiled precisely as it pushed the boy forward, tumbling in midair towards its open, waiting maw.
"No, stop! Guilmon!" Takato screamed, attempting futilely to roll away in midair.
After a bit of squirming and more incoherent mumbling, Takato's sleeping form suddenly lurched to the right onto his side and continuing towards the edge of his bunk where his mother stood, and Mie's instinctual reflexes were the only thing to raise her arms in time to place both hands squarely on her son's chest and keep him from rolling off of his bunk, pushing him back.
When he rolled back onto his back, he bolted up.
"Guilmon!" He shouted, taking in a gasping breath afterwards.
"Takato, it's okay. It's alright, you're safe." Mie immediately reassured him.
Takato continued to take in deep breaths, looking around and confirming where he was. The first thing he realized was his pajamas were damp with sweat. The second thing was that his mom was standing next to the bunk, a look of concern over her face.
"Mom..." He said after catching his breath enough to speak.
"I heard you from down the hall. You almost went over the railing, sweetheart. Are you alright?"
The sweat-soaked boy took another deep breath, then nodded slowly.
"I think so, thanks. That probably wouldn't have been pretty."
"Stay here, I'll get you a glass of water." Mie told him, turning and exiting back out to the hallway. She made her way downstairs to their personal kitchen, switching the light on and grabbing a glass from the cabinet, and poured ice cold water from the pitcher in the fridge. When she returned up to the second floor hallway, she found Takato's bedroom light on. Stepping through the doorway, she saw his perspired pajamas on the floor at the foot of his ladder, and turned to see that he had turned the exterior light on and stepped out onto his small patio, having changed into a dry, dark blue bathrobe. When she was halfway across the floor, her gaze was drawn to a framed picture on the shelf just below his bunk.
Walking over to it and picking it up, she saw it was a picture of Gallantmon, the towering knight that Takato and Guilmon combined into. In the photo, he was riding the dragon platform the Monster Makers provided. Through the mount's engine wash, was dozens of small square blades, giving chase just meters behind.
She had remembered when Yamaki had given him this after pulling it from one of the countless news websites covering the D-Reaper crisis. She hadn't realized he had framed it and put it on display.
Keeping a hold on the picture frame, she stepped out onto the patio, where Takato stood leaning against the balcony railing.
"Here you go, sweetheart." Mie said, handing him the glass of water. He accepted it and immediately took a gulp before setting the glass on the railing.
"Thanks, mom. Don't let me keep you up." He replied.
"Nonsense, Takato. I've actually been meaning to ask... How does it feel? When you and Guilmon combine into..." She trailed off, forgetting the knight's name.
"Gallantmon..." Takato finished, looking over at the picture his mom held. He gently took it from her and looked down at it, the patio light letting him see his reflection imposed over the impressive shot of the pearl-armored mega. "It's like... I don't know if I can accurately describe it. It's one of the warmest, most energetic feelings of... Completeness, that I've ever experienced. Every thought, every emotion, every action... As one."
"How did you figure out you could do something like that?" Mie asked him.
"That..." Takato began, handing the picture frame back to his mom. "I'm not so proud of."
Takato paused a moment, picking up the glass of water and took another gulp.
"As our Digimon grow, their strength becomes more intertwined with our emotions. Dad asked Guilmon to take care of me, and that's exactly what he did. But... In a pivotal moment... I didn't take care of him. We were so close to getting Calumon. But Beelzemon, someone who had traded friendships for power, stood in our way. He started tossing our partners around like ragdolls. I saw Jeri's partner get murdered in cold blood and I... Just snapped."
Mie gently placed a hand on her son's shoulder as tears spilled over his eyelids and ran down his cheeks.
"I wanted him to hurt. I wanted to tear him limb from limb, and make him suffer slowly for what he had done. All that rage and hatred fed right into Guilmon, and... And turned him into something that looked like had crawled right out of hell. I stood there, frozen, for... I don't even know how long. Even worse, Beelzemon found a way to fight back... All the others he killed and absorbed to overpower him. Eventually I shook myself out of it, and stepped up to Megidramon, no matter how hideous he was, ready to put it all on the line alongside him, wishing to fight with him. The next thing I knew, we were standing there as Gallantmon."
He took a moment to wipe his eyes.
"It was still a hard fight from there. He would have gotten me if it wasn't for Kazu. When I had him on his knees... I would have taken my lance and run him through, if Jeri hadn't asked me to spare him."
As his mom squeezed his shoulder, he looked back at the photo she held.
"On that day, I think he truly paid for what he had done. He gave everything he had to try and get Jeri out of the D-Reaper's core, absolutely every ounce of his being... And still failed. It would have cost him his life if it wasn't for Grani. Then, when it was over... Jeri forgave him, face to face, moments before they all got pulled back through that portal that morning."
Takato sniffled, and finished the glass of water, while his mom glanced down at the photo again.
"Did we ever tell you what your father did before you were born?" She asked, with Takato shaking his head in response. "He was a marketing manager for a big business firm downtown. We had been married for about a year, and he made good money, but he was increasingly unhappy with how little time he had to spend with me. We had always talked about owning a business of our own, and when we found out I was pregnant with you, he put in his letter of resignation the very next day, and we bought this bakery one month later; he was absolutely determined to make the time to be a father. But it wasn't an overnight success, and as I came closer to term, I had to help less and less with the day-to-day operations. Seeing the bakery struggle as we got it on its feet, unsure if we were going to make it, along with the inevitability of being a mother... That's the most scared I've ever been... Until you told us that you were going after Calumon in the digital world. I know everyone eventually goes off on their own, going where their parents can't follow, but for me it honestly was six or seven years too early. The ten minutes I spent standing in the park, waiting to see if that ark was going to bring you home... That was the longest ten minutes of my life. I know I'll never completely wrap my head around this taming stuff, but its helped you grow up so fast, honestly faster than I'd like you to. It's given you perspectives that a lot of people don't get until well into their adulthood, if they get them at all. I know you can't put into words how much you miss Guilmon, because you love him the way that I love you, Takato."
Takato turned and wrapped his arms around his mom, and she rubbed his back.
"Thanks, mom." He said, pulling away. "I think I'm gonna get a bath before I try getting back to sleep."
"Alright, let me know if you need anything." Mie said, taking the empty glass from him, before he went back into his room. She followed him out into the hall, continuing back downstairs to rinse out the glass, while Takato went into the bathroom and began running the bath water.
"Be strong, sweetheart." She whispered to herself before shutting off the hallway light and returning to her bedroom.