When she came to she was laying in a field of periwinkle flowers, which was weird because, though she lived in the Northern French countryside and was thus no stranger to flowers or fields, she'd never seen anything like this. She hadn't the foggiest idea how she'd gotten outside or why she'd fallen asleep there. The back corner of her mind told her that should be concerning, yet at the same time some powerful sense of intuition was emanating calm. It was too beautiful a place to be bad. Blinking, Ysault pushed herself up onto her knees, tucking a lock of honey hair that had escaped her braid behind one ear. The flowers swayed in a soft breeze and, though she distinctly remembered it being nighttime, the sun gazed down from high noon.
"Hello," said a soft voice behind her. "I'm glad you're awake."
"Am I?" Ysault turned to look over her shoulder, her brown eyes settling on what was best described as a talking plant-flower-toddler thing. It had green, tree root legs, purple orchid hands, and a frill of red petals. Her face (Ysault knew it was a she) was pointy, fleshy yellow, with a red petal helmet and big baby blue eyes. Her green, thorny tail flicked a little and she smiled in amusement at Ysault's reaction.
"Yes, you are indeed awake, but I guess I understand the confusion. My name is Floramon and I'm your Digimon!"
"I see…" Ysault looked around, bemused. Then her gaze fell back to the flower creature and she asked: "What's a Digimon?"
"That's sort of like asking what's a human. There are lots of us, but I'm special. I'm your partner, Ysault." Ysault leaned forward, squinting at Floramon and wiggling her fingers in the earth.
"Am I high?"
"Not unless we're all having the same hallucinatory experience." Ysault jumped at this new and definitely male voice, twisting around to locate its source. A boy about her age was standing a few meters away, dark, coffee brown hair artfully disheveled, piercing eyes the color of centuries old ice focused intently on her. A small, seal like creature with purple stripes moved through the grass around his feet, orange-red mane fanning straight up in the air like a Mohawk.
"I already told you," it said in a nasal, female voice, pawing at his leg with huge claws. "I'm not a hallucination, I'm your new best friend!"
"Hey," the boy greeted, ignoring what she could only assume was his 'partner' and advancing on her. "So, you went through the portal too?"
"Portal," she repeated inquisitively. He grinned a little, extending a hand to help her to her feet. She accepted, pleasantly surprised by the gentleness in his touch. Only hard on the outside, huh. "You mean the light? I was walking home from the bus stop and then-"
"It just appeared in front of you and, overcome by an inexplicable sensation of destiny, you walked right into it. Woke up here." They both started at the third voice, two sets of eyes turning towards the newcomer. She was brown skinned, shorter than both of them, but not by too much, and her limbs were thick and strong. Her hair was black and looked like she'd cut it short herself with a pair of scissors and no mirror, her dark eyes hard and somehow more knowing. Like she'd seen things. A four-legged dragon with a bright red cape was at her side, his back approximately navel-level. He appeared to be wearing a full set of steel armor, which glinted almost as brightly as his amber eyes in the sunlight.
"I saw the same thing in a back alley of Paris," she said, placing a hand on the 'Digimon's' head. "Name's Bahar. And this is Huckmon."
"Ysault," the blond haired girl said, removing her hand from the boy's grasp to turn more fully towards Bahar, smiling kindly. "And I suppose my partner here is… Floramon?"
"That's right!" All eyes turned to the boy, but it was his seal that answered.
"I'm Gomamon! Tall, dark, and broody here's Dorian." He sighed, shooting the girls a sort of 'why me' look. Ysault's smile widened at that and she squatted down, taking one of Gomamon's claws and giving it a soft shake.
"Pleasure to meet all of you," she said, her voice like a chime on the breeze.
"You're handling this well," commented Bahar, looking bemused. "Took Huckmon a solid ten minutes to calm me down."
"It took ten minutes just to get you to stop throwing things at me," the dragon said in a gruff voice, his head tilting up to scrutinize her. She chuckled, as if proud that that had been her first response to the situation. "Then another ten before you were actually calm."
"Likewise," added Gomamon, giving Dorian's leg an affectionate hip-bump. He shot her a disgruntled glare, running his tongue over his front teeth in annoyance.
"I did not throw things."
Ysault laughed, standing up again and brushing the dirt from her knees.
"All things considered I think that's the more appropriate response. I mean, this clearly isn't home and I don't know any of you," she started. Then her eyes found Floramon's and her smile brightened, wrinkling her eyes and nose as she shrugged. "But still, I'm not even worried. Somehow, I just feel like I trust you all."
Bahar and Dorian exchanged concerned looks, which only made Ysault laugh harder. She reached out and grabbed Dorian's hand again, pulling him over to Bahar. The fingers of her other hand brushed Bahar's arm lightly and, in that moment, the three of them felt a lifetime of understanding pass through her, linking them in an intimacy none had ever shared with another human before. Ysault smiled knowingly, her brown eyes moving from one to the other, then sweeping over the Digimon.
"I just know there's no reason to be afraid."
Koichi stirred, his face tensing as he once again became aware of his body. Fatigue laced his limbs and a headache was blooming behind his eyes, though he couldn't remember what the cause of either might be. Nor did he remember going to bed in the first place, but obviously he had at some point, because there was no mistaking the soft warmness that surrounded him. Sighing through his nose, he pushed himself into an upright position and looked around, the first tingles of worry starting in his stomach. His room at their dad's greeted him innocently, every detail exactly as he'd left it that morning, yellow streetlight peeking through the window. This was a safe place… he just didn't know how he'd come back to it. What had he been doing earlier that day?
Somewhere along this line of thought it occurred to him that he might be dreaming again. That he couldn't recall returning to their dad's because he wasn't actually at their dad's. But that wasn't right either… The girl with honey hair and chocolate eyes, she had been the dream. This was reality. Now that he was truly awake, that much was exceedingly obvious. Besides, there was no way his head could ache so badly if he was asleep. The dull thudding pounded against his retinas in a constant reminder: he needed an aspirin…. He was palming his forehead when the door opened and more questions walked in.
"Hey," Koji greeted gently, closing the door and settling himself on the edge of Koichi's bed. "How are you feeling?"
"Got any Tylenol," he asked jokingly, shooting his twin a tired look. Koji snorted half heartedly, giving his head a shake.
"Not on me."
"Too bad."
The two sat in silence for a long moment, as if each expected the other to unleash a stream of secrets. Koichi could feel his brother's nerves twisting in his gut, his expectant eyes watching, and it made him very uncomfortable. Worst of all, there in the back corners of his mind, in his center of instinct, Koji was… wary of him… Waiting for him to do… something, yet hoping he wouldn't. God, that made him nervous. The longer they sat the more anxious he became, until he couldn't hold it in anymore.
"Koji," he started tentatively, leaning towards his twin. "What is it?" Koji pursed his lips, navy eyes hard and unblinking as he carefully selected his next words.
"What do you remember?"
"Well, I don't remember coming back here. But I guess some memory loss is to be expected after what happened," Koichi answered with a sort of half-hearted laugh, vainly trying to lighten the mood just a little. His twin was not amused. If anything he looked alarmed, his breath catching and his pupils dilating oh so slightly. Nothing anyone else would have noticed. Koichi spoke quickly, his words running together: "After what happened with Shizuka. Koji, what's the matter? Why are you asking me this?"
"So," Koji surmised, his brow wrinkling as he ignored his brother's questions. "You don't remember going to Dorian's?"
"Yes I remember going to Dorian's. I just don't remember leaving. But I'm sure it was late and I was tired and…" His heart was racing now, his mind working even faster, trying to piece together his memories of that afternoon and isolate when, exactly, his brain had stopped recording. Digging to find whatever it was that had led to his amnesia, whatever event had made his own brother fear him. "And… I must've fallen asleep… Right?"
Koji opened his mouth like he was going to answer, but nothing came out and he quickly closed it again, licking his lips. Nervously. Koichi could sense the truth, feel it lurking in on the tip of his tongue like some cryogenic material, emanating cold. But then he forced a smile like taught wire, looking past his twin at something just over his left shoulder.
"Right," Koji said with a sharp nod, as if trying to convince himself as much as his brother. "Yeah. It's been a long day; you should get back to sleep. Sorry to bug you, I just wanted to check in." He made a move to get up, but Koichi intervened, catching his wrist and giving him a sad, piercing look.
"You're a really bad liar."
Koji looked away in shame, making no attempt to deny it. Koichi felt a pain in his chest, just inside his rib cage, adding to the cacophony of ache that was still resonating throughout his body. A part of him wanted desperately to leave it there, to continue pretending that, at least for that day, they were done. Pretending Tache would give them the night. He didn't want to know what horrible thing had transpired in the black of his memory, didn't want Koji to relive it.
At the same time the void in his mind ate at him, reminding him that ignorance of the truth does not change it. The uncharacteristic and disturbing dishonesty in his twin only confirmed what he already knew: something had happened- something had happened to him. He shifted in his bed for a moment, then surrendered to the inevitable. Pushing off the blankets entirely, he stood up, walked over to his desk, and grabbed his chair. Turned it to face his brother and sat down. Putting them on equal footing.
"What aren't you telling me," he said in a low, hard voice. It wasn't a question, not really. Koji looked back at the door, clearly uncomfortable.
"Nii-san," he tried, allowing a plaintive note to slip into his voice. Koichi persisted, staring his brother down. He had to know.
"I remember going to Dorian's and telling Izumi and Takuya about what happened with Shizuka," he started, unblinking and unyielding.
"Do we have to do this tonight?"
"I remember the back room and Dorian's chair. I remember Dorian and I argued about it. Then what?"
"Then…" Koji breathed heavily through his nose, painstakingly deciding how best to phrase what had to come next. Koichi waited, patient but insistent. Finally, after what seemed like minutes, he met his brother's gaze, defeated. "Then it wasn't you anymore."