Crash and Burn continued again…

By Matt's Angels

Hi, us again. Well, me. Just Steph. (sigh) I'm in a writing mood today, and I'm writing stuff on the sly without Allie knowing. Also, I'm not at school because my bus didn't turn up. Yippeeeeeeeee! I can type more fabby stuff! I've also got to tell you something: I'm a secret Taito fan. Not lemons or hentai or anything, just some cool stuff I read. It's kinda funny cos I was a die-hard yaoi basher, but then I found this site called The Lost Temple of Ishida: It uses my favourite word, which is bitchslap. Also covers the subject of crotching. You should go there even if you're not a Taito fan; it's a good site for all fangirls of Matt. And the captions for the pictures are a scream! Anyways, commercial ranting is off now. Read this, enjoy!

Mimi emerged from consciousness with her body raging from intense pain and nothing in front of her eyes but a blur. A roaring sound in her ears like the crashing of great waves masked out all other sounds, but she thought she could hear someone calling her name.

"Mimi? Mimi Tachikawa? Oh my god, get over here now, guys!"

The fog in her eyes subsided, and she was staring into the face of a paramedic, a paramedic with red, spiky hair and deep black eyes…

"Izzy?"

Then once again, she slipped into oblivion.

Mimi awoke to a white place. She could feel softness around her, yet her body was in immense pain. Am I in heaven? But there was a faint smell of antiseptic, and a faraway voice singing along to a radio. Then it hit her. The accident. Tai. She tried to scream out, but all she could manage was a faint cry. The singing stopped, and an English voice called out.

"Oh, you're awake!" Over Mimi's bed appeared a nurse, a young one with light brown hair flying out from a bun. She looked familiar, somehow. "I knew you'd make it. I told him, you know. But he kept saying no, it's only a 1:10 chance…"

Mimi finally found the ability to speak. "Who? And where am I?" She was surprised to hear her voice come out as a croak.

The nurse smiled. "You're in Odaiba Hospital. And "he" is the doctor, of course. Doctor Kido."

"Kido?" Mimi's ravaged voice raised to a mere squeak.

"Oh, yes. A brilliant doctor, and only twenty! Well, I should know, I'm engaged to him."

Then it hit Mimi exactly why the nurse seemed so familiar.

"Sora?" she whispered.

"I was wondering when you'd recognise me! It's nice to see you awake, Mimi." Sora smiled at her former best friend, and then she went red, a deep flush rising up from her neck. "And I'm engaged to Joe."

Mimi tried to smile, but a sharp pain coursed through her head, and she was reminded of the accident…

"Hey, try not to move, Mimi. You're lucky to be alive."

Suddenly, a terrible, sharp pain split Mimi like a knife.

"Where's Tai? Is he okay?"

Sora's happy, smiling face broke up into tears. "Oh, Mimi. I hate to tell you this…" Sora took a few minutes to get a hold of herself. "Tai died in the accident. And… there were traces of both alcohol and heroin in his blood."

"Heroin…" whispered Mimi, trying in a futile effort to keep hold of the edge of sanity, until she let go, and fell into the deep, dark pit of delirium…

She awoke slowly, to no pain at all. Everything swam in front of her eyes for a minute, then focused to two faces bending over her, and a voice she vaguely recognised, a worried, sort of reliable voice.

"Stand back, she's coming to, this may get ugly…"

Mimi stared at the familiar face, with blue hair and glasses, and then recognition came upon her.

"Joe!" Her voice was steady again, and at its normal tone. Joe Kido smiled at her.

"Hi, Mimi. I was hoping you'd come to."

"What happened, Joe? I remember Sora telling me about…" Mimi's voice faltered, and she bit back tears. Inside, she felt an inner pain, hateful and twisted, and it reared up, threatening to strangle her. Joe looked at her, concerned.

"You went delirious. Sora had to call for me to sedate you, and you've been asleep for hours. But, look, " said the doctor, and his tone cheered considerably. "I brought someone to see you."

Mimi focused behind Joe, to a figure that had been hanging back for a while. Now, it waved, and pulled a chair forward to sit nearer. It was Izzy.

"Hi, Mimi."

"Izzy! It was you who saved me!"

Izzy grinned. "It's my job. I'm a paramedic, now."

"I never would have thought… how does that job involve computers?"

"It doesn't. I'm just unusually good at reckless driving."

Joe looked on as Mimi laughed. Those two seemed to be enjoying themselves. Maybe he'd leave them to it.

"I gotta go now, guys. I'll see you later. Don't be too long, Mimi needs to rest."

For a long time, Mimi and Izzy chatted about all kinds of things, and slowly Mimi felt the pain inside her subside and die down.

"You know, I never really noticed you in the DigiWorld. You were just a guy behind a laptop."

"Really? And you were just this whiny little girl. But you have changed."

"So have you. "

For a moment, there was a happy silence, until Izzy looked at his watch.

"Damn, I promised Doctor Tajiri I'd be back by ten! I better go."

"Yeah, you better," agreed Mimi, but her heart sank. Talking to Izzy had helped her forget Tai, if only for a little while. Izzy seemed to hesitate for a second, but then he kissed Mimi on the forehead.

"Bye Mimi. I'll be back."

Mimi was so astonished she could barely answer, but she managed a whisper. "Bye, Izzy."

That night, Mimi dreamt again of the accident, of the flash of lightning illuminating Tai's features, and of the back of the lorry speeding towards them… then nothing. She sat up and awakened with a scream, and someone sitting beside her bed gasped.

"Mimi, are you alright?"

Mimi looked into the face of Izzy, who was examining her with concern.

"Izzy…" started Mimi shakily. "What are you doing here?"

The redhead looked down for a second, embarrassed. "I was just checking on you. What happened, was it a bad dream?"

Mimi shivered, remembering the crash, the dream…

"It's okay, you can tell me, Mimi," whispered Izzy softly.

"It…it was awful… I dreamt about the crash, and when Tai looked at me, and it was like he didn't know me… like he hated me…and then we crashed, and afterwards…nothing…" Mimi choked on her words. The tears that had been threatening to escape finally spilled out in great bursts and the concealed pain rose up inside her, lashing out and smothering everything in tears. The next thing she knew, two warm arms had encircled her, and she was crying onto Izzy's shoulder. Izzy rocked her gently.

"Don't worry, Mimi. Everything will be alright."

Well, that's me done for today. Damn, this story is going in the wrong direction. My fingers are possessed. I haven't drunk any coffee for about an hour. And I'm bored stiff. This wasn't meant to be a youmi! WTF, screw it. I'll write more, certainly. But it's gonna involve Matt in some way. I love you, Matt!!!!!!!!

Steph Ishida