Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon so please refrain from suing me for writing fan fiction. Thanks and enjoy!
Within Dreams—Chapter 11
Joe ran as fast as his legs could carry him toward the building that the Ishida's lived in. Not only was he worried for his friends, he was afraid that Nocuous would figure out he wasn't asleep and come after him again. And this time he knew there would be no way to escape.
Every corner he passed he half expected the huge, muscular man to jump out of the shadows and into his path, holding the knife poised and ready to attack. There were a few people out on the streets and they were all giving him funny looks as he raced past them, but Joe didn't care much about what the people thought of him. He was more worried about reaching the apartment building safely.
After what seemed like an eternity of running, the huge, looming building was in his sight. His legs burned and his lungs were screaming for a good breath of air, but he didn't dare stop running in case Nocuous found him. He was terrified that he would be able to start running again if he stopped, that the urge to stay still and regain his breath would be too strong for him to resist.
Finally, he was inside the building. He ran across the lobby and punched the up button on the elevator then leaned against the wall for support. After a couple of seconds, the elevator doors opened with the usual quiet dinging sound.
Joe stepped into the elevator, pushed the button for the eighth floor and collapsed on the floor. His legs felt like rubber and sweat was running down his back and face freely. The cuts on his cheek stung and he carefully touched one of them. His hand came away splotched with blood. The heat of the apartment building plus the amount of physical exertion he'd gone through had caused the wounds to open up again. He noticed with some uneasiness that blood was dripping onto the floor of the elevator and put his hand back up, under the cuts to catch any more blood before it could stain the carpet.
The elevator ride ended far too soon for Joe. He wished it could go on forever so he could catch his breath and regain feeling in his aching legs. It took every bit of his willpower to force himself to get back up to his feet and stumble out of the elevator and into the hallway.
Which one does Matt live in? Joe wondered. It's 174H or J or something like that. All I know is that it's on the eighth floor.
Luckily, all the doors were
labeled with an H on that floor, making it easy for him to find the correct
door.
Please be home, he
thought, knocking on the door then leaning against it as he took deep breaths
to calm his frazzled nerves. There was
no answer. I am going to get in there whether it's the last thing I do, he decided.
But unfortunately, there appeared to be no key to the room just lying around and he certainly wasn't about to try and break down the door. That was when he got an idea. It was crazy, a one-in-a-million chance, but it could work, he reminded himself.
Quickly, he got back on the elevator and returned to the lobby. He took a deep breath, hoping he didn't look as bad as he felt and walked to the front desk. A teenager who looked to be little older than eighteen was sitting at the registration desk, reading a romance novel and snapping her gum like kindling in a fire.
"Um…excuse me?" Joe uncertainly inquired. The girl did not look up from the book and Joe said a little louder: "miss? Excuse me?" Still the girl did not look up from her book. Now Joe was beginning to get just the teensiest bit annoyed. "Hello?" he shouted.
The girl jumped and dropped the book then looked at Joe in disgust. "Yeah? Whaddaya want?" she demanded, eyes narrowed.
"I am Yamato Ishida's cousin and I'm going to be spending the weekend with him and Mr. Ishida, but they're not home right now. Would you please be so kind as to lend me a key to their apartment?"
The girl looked at him, eyes very narrow, but said: "which apartment?"
"174-H."
She turned away from him and to a rack of keys hanging on the wall behind her, muttering "174-H…174-H…." After a couple of minutes of searching, she found it and handed the key to Joe.
"Thanks," he said, but the girl was already absorbed in the book again.
I never thought they would be that liberal in handing out apartment keys, Joe thought as he rode the elevator back up to the eighth floor. Once again, he was back up on the eighth floor and he raced to the Ishida's apartment door before opening it with the key.
It was dark in the apartment. That was the first thing Joe noticed. It was very dark and it made him uncomfortable. He flicked on a light switch and blinked as the room was bathed in light. It was then that he realized just how cold it was in the room. He shivered and glanced at the thermostat. His eyes widened in disbelief. 34 degrees? How did it get so cold in here? He wondered.
His musings were cut short when he caught sight of Matt and TK, both lying with closed eyes on the couch and covered with several blankets. His first reaction was to think them dead, but that wasn't right. They were still breathing.
Joe took the blankets off of the two brothers and noted there didn't appear to be any blood, meaning they most likely weren't injured in any way. He noticed that TK shivered slightly when he took the blankets off, but his eyes did not open. In all actuality, they both appeared to be sleeping.
"Hey, wake up," he half-whispered, feeling just the slightest bit foolish. Neither Matt nor TK opened their eyes. "Wake up!" he shouted, giving first Matt then TK a shake that would wake anybody. But neither woke up. Now Joe was getting worried. "Come on, wake up!" he shouted, a little louder than before. And still neither of them woke up.
This doesn't make any sense, he thought. They both appear to be sleeping normally but they won't wake up. If somebody is sleeping normally they should be able to be woken up. Something must be wrong.
He had no idea what to do now except telephone the hospital. Quickly, he picked up the telephone and dialed 911. After explaining the current situation to the operator, and giving the address, he was assured an ambulance would be sent to the Ishida apartment.
After making the telephone call, Joe ran to the bathroom to examine the cuts on his cheek. They still stung and he wanted to check them out. When he looked into the mirror, he saw that the entire left side of his face was covered with blood. The cuts were still bleeding a little and he turned the water faucet on before splashing some warm water onto the cuts. The water made the cuts sting even worse, but when he was finished his face was clean again, except for the deep slashes.
Then he heard the sound of somebody running down the hallway and entering the apartment. Assuming it was the paramedics, he walked out of the bathroom to meet them—and stopped dead in his tracks. No paramedics met his eyes—but Nocuous had entered the room.
He looked at Nocuous and Nocuous looked at him. Then Nocuous ran down the hall after him. Joe ducked back into the bathroom and locked the door. The moment the door was locked, Nocuous began pounding on it, kicking it and barreling into it as though to break it down. Joe sat down on the linoleum floor and shivered, fearful that Nocuous would succeed.
And then, quite abruptly, the attack on the door ended. Tentatively, Joe opened the door and poked his head out. He noticed with a sense of relief that the paramedics had arrived. One of them looked up and saw him.
"Are you the kid that made the call?" the paramedic questioned.
"Yeah," Joe answered, walking out into the room.
The paramedic looked at him, taking in the deep slash marks on his cheek and said: "hey, Barry, we're taking this one, too."
Joe was horrified at the idea. He couldn't go to the hospital! He had to make sure his other friends were all right. He was just about to protest when he saw Nocuous out of the corner of his eye, hiding underneath the sofa and allowed himself to be ushered out the door.
As he stepped out into the hall, he turned back to look at
Nocuous once more. He smiled smugly and
Nocuous mouthed: "next time" and drew one finger across his throat.
~*~
Rea had run about a half-mile
away from the children. She didn't want
them around when she did what she was about to do. She figured it couldn't hurt to speak with Vitriol, but she
didn't want any of them knowing that Vitriol was also Nema, her sister. And she didn't want them to watch her
perform the procedure to call her sister to her. She was afraid it would frighten them.
She took a tiny gold thimble
and a long, sharp gold needle out of her pocket. As long as we're
still blood sisters this has to work, she thought. This is going to hurt….
She pricked her right thumb with
the needle and muttered an incantation as her blood dripped into the
needle. Leaves that were lying on the
ground whipped up into a mini-hurricane and she replaced the needle to her
pocket. Then she poured the blood in
the thimble into the shape of a circle. The instant the blood hit the ground, it fanned out and created a second
interlocking circle of blood. Rea
smiled. It was working. She quickly recited the rest of the
incantation and the whirlwind grew stronger. The two rings of blood glowed brightly and Vitriol appeared in the
clearing.
"Why did you bother
calling me?" Vitriol demanded. She
noticed she was still holding the broom she'd been using to sweep out Malign's
castle and tossed it away.
"We have to talk."
"Why? What's the point in talk? Talk is cheap."
"Vitriol, why are you
staying with Malign? You're going to
end up getting yourself killed. You
know how he is. I'm surprised he let you
live when you spared me."
"Yeah? Well get over it. The next time we meet you won't be so lucky. Now if you'll excuse me, I really should be
going."
Rea couldn't believe her
sister was leaving already. "Nema,
wait!" she shouted, then covered her mouth. She hadn't meant to say Nema. The
name had just slipped out before she could help herself.
Vitriol froze and slowly
turned to face Rea. "What did you call
me?" she icily demanded.
"I called you by your
real name, Nema."
"My name is not Nema
anymore. It's Vitriol. You know that."
"No matter how much
you deny it, Nema is who you are."
Vitriol was beginning to get
angry. She hated being called by her
old name, the name that represented her weaker self.
"Look, Rea. I used to be Nema. But that was a long time ago. I'm Vitriol now and that's who I'll always be. We're on different sides of this war and I am a faithful servant
to Malign. Not to the past, like you." She turned and began to storm away.
"Then my sister truly
is dead," Rea whispered.
Vitriol paused, then
vanished, eyes hard as ever, anger returning to her to once again make her a
slave to Malign.
~*~
Mrs. Kamiya glared murder at
the doctor that stood before her.
"And how did you allow this to happen?" she viscously demanded of the tall, wiry
man.
"Mrs. Kamiya, I assure
you there is no possible way anybody could have broken into your children's
room."
"Then how in the hell did Taichi get burned?" she shrieked. In the past 24 hours she'd been told her children were in critical condition, she'd been forced to wait outside their room instead of inside, with them and now she was being informed that her son had been very seriously burned, that he was now in the ICU and she could not go see him.
"Please understand—"
"Understand what? That this hospital knows absolutely nothing?" She pushed past the doctor.
"Ma'am, where are you going?" the doctor called after her.
"To see my son."
"No, I've already told you that you cannot visit either of your children at this point in time. Ma'am, come back here!"
Mrs. Kamiya continued to walk and nearly screamed in rage when the doctor caught her by the arm.
"Please understand that anybody going to see the patients in the Intensive Care Unit could be dangerous to their health!"
"I'm going to see my son, dammit!" Mrs. Kamiya shrieked. "I'm sick of waiting here and getting no news. I swear to high heavens that if you don't let me see my children I will file a lawsuit against this hospital for unjust accusation!"
"For what?"
"You accused me of harming my son and being a potential danger to my daughter as well! And I swear I will do it."
"Calm down, please," the doctor said. "Here, sit down," he added, offering her a chair.
"I'm not sitting anywhere. Not until I see both of my children."
"You have to understand that allowing you into the Intensive Care Unit could bring infection to those patients. An infection is the last thing that anybody in there needs. Please understand."
"Then at least let me see my daughter. Please."
The doctor was about to protest, but noticed that Mrs. Kamiya's eyes were filled with tears. He nodded and said: "all right. Right this way, ma'am" as he led her back to Kari's room.