I don't own Digimon. Thought I'd say that first. I decided to finish this anyway even though it is not on my high priority list, though my sister threatens to stand over me and force me to write it when she gets home from college. The only reason why I'm writing on is because (1) I asked to use the Empress of the Eclipse's band and it would be pointless to go through the trouble of asking her and then not finish the fic. (2) I'm afraid my sister will do something just to get back at me. And she would. So for anyone who might actually care, be sure to thank her for scaring me into finishing. And don't forget to REVIEW!
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Matt ran his fingers through the short blades of grass. He sighed and looked around the open field. There wasn't much there, but it was so peaceful. People had always described the ocean to him. They described the vastness of it, and the way it seemed to stretch forever in every direction. That was what the field looked like: beautiful green in every direction. The blades of grass leaned in the wind and appeared to roll over the hills.
Something interrupted the scene though. The black hole in the middle of the sky. Matt stared at it and frowned. That was how he was supposed to get home. He'd fought forever to come this far. Yet now there was a new task at hand. Did he want to go home or not? Did he actually want to wake up and leave this dream world forever? It meant he'd have to face life again. It meant he'd have to deal with problems again. It also meant he could see his real friends again…
Frustrated, the blonde ripped blades of grass from the ground. One part of him was screaming, "GO BACK YOU BAKA! So what if you don't get everything you ever wanted! Life isn't easy!" but the other half was countering with, "Think of it: freedom forever. No school. No bossy parents. No growing up. You can sleep forever and never be disturbed…"
Normally we would think this would be an easy decision, but being in a comma for months on end ruins your ability to think straight. Matt had long lost that knack and his mind was tired, almost like it would be if he had had a lot to drink. He was more like a puppet now to his own deepness than the puppeteer. He couldn't control what was going on inside him.
Tai walked up and sat beside him. They both stared at the hole for a little while before TK walked up too. Matt enjoyed being in his brother and friend's presence. They always made him feel warm. They were the only two that he actually felt sane near, mainly because in his mind they were insane.
Matt had the chance for a month in the real world's time to leave the dream world. It had only been a few days in the dream world. The black hole had been there, waiting for him. In spite of that, the decision was hard to make. Every time he came near to finally deciding what to do, something else would happen and distract him.
"Matt, you know you must go," Tai said at last.
"Why though? Is that what I really want?" Matt replied.
"You already know the answer to that, Matt. We are you. Whatever your mind commands, we do," TK responded. He turned his now chocolate eyes to Matt. "Are we even the same anymore? Or what you have commanded?"
"We are slipping from your mind. You don't even remember us correctly…" Tai whispered. Matt glanced at him to see that his hair was no longer the color it had been, but now a reddish color. The more Matt thought about it, the more he couldn't seem to remember what color Tai's hair had been. It was fading from his mind so quickly.
"How long has it been since I got here?" Matt wondered aloud. He groaned and fell back into the grass. "What should I do Tai?"
"Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer, but wish we didn't," Tai answered.
Matt blinked at the response and sighed again. He knew that the person whom he was calling Tai was right. The person that was himself, too. He was right if Tai was right since Tai was him. Things like this confused him so and he often wondered how his mind could make up so many characters and yet still be itself. Though, was he still himself? How could he tell if he hadn't changed?
Sitting up, Matt gazed at the black hole once more. 'I have to get out of here, before I go crazy. What's to say that I haven't already? And how will I know when I'm really out of this world and in the real one?' he thought and got to his feet. Now all he had to do was get to the black hole that was so high in the sky. Stepping forward, Matt reached towards the hole in the sky and breathed in deeply. He closed his eyes as he felt his body turn into air…
Tai, TK, and the band were in Matt's hospital room. Istu and Gendo were speaking quietly speaking in the corner, Toshiki was sitting in a chair with his clasped together in front of him and obviously in deep concentration, Akemi was flirting with the nurses as they passed the room, TK was sitting in another chair reading a book, and Tai was by Matt's bedside, staring at the blonde intently.
The doctors had told them that Matt had been mumbling and stirring in his comma quite often that week. They said it was almost like he was having a bad dream. Thinking about they're words, Tai took Matt's pale hand in his own and rubbed the back of it gently with his thumb.
"Don't worry. I'm here for you and I will always be," Tai whispered. He glanced up to see Toshiki looking in his way, but the guitar player only turned his head to the side and continued to think. Tai gazed back at Matt and with his other hand he began to smooth the locks of faded gold. "I will never leave you, Matt."
The blonde breathed a soft note and murmured, "I know Tai…"
"Matt?" Tai said loudly, getting everyone's attention. "Matt? Can you hear me? Matt?"
By the third 'Matt' everyone was beside his bed. Even Akemi, who almost had a dark haired nurse wrapped around his finger and was convincing her to meet him after she got off her shift.
"The sex I give up for Matt," he muttered and pushed Gendo out of his way to see if anything was actually happened.
"What happened?" Istu asked.
"He responded to something I said," Tai said. He gasped softly as he felt Matt squeeze his hand. Blue eyes slowly opened and closed, trying to adjust to the bright light. Matt reached up with his pale hand to shield his eyes and let the blurry objects around him slowly come into place.
"Ohhhh…"
"Matt! You're awake!" Istu cried happily. He grabbed the blonde and pulled him into a tight hug. "You're finally awake!!"
As soon as Matt's eyes adjusted he felt something grab him. He cried out as the thing squeezed him and attempted to push it away. He saw then that it was another person and that there were several other people and they were all staring at him ecstatically. They were all reaching for him, trying to hug him. The weird part about it, however, was that Matt didn't know any of them.
"Who are you? Get away from me!" he screamed and shoved them all away. Their thrilled faces all immediately went to fear. Matt felt his heart beat get faster at being surrounded by strange people. Then another thing struck him and he started to get even more frantic.
He didn't know who he was.
"He is suffering from mild amnesia…"
"MILD AMNESIA? He can't even remember his own name! How is that mild?" Mr. Ishida screeched at the doctor. A nurse behind the counter looked up in shock and a police officer by the door shifted warningly. The young, new doctor stuttered and fixed his glasses, obviously not used to having to put up with such harshness.
"I-It's called m-mild amnesia because h-he can remember s-simple t-things like m-math but h-he c-can't remember any previous m-memories or anything about h-himself," the doctor tried to explain.
"So he has what? Selective amnesia? Frith! Is that possible?" Mr. Ishida groaned and rubbed his temples in attempt to soften his growing headache. The doctor gulped and stood where he was in fear that if he moved the larger, angry man would beat him senseless. Mr. Ishida glared at the doctor. "What can be done to help him?"
The doctor relaxed a little at the softened tone. "Well…"
Matt stared at the two people outside of his room. He couldn't hear what they were saying but got the feeling it was about him. He felt so confused. People had been filing in and out of his room all afternoon, trying to hug him, and it had driven him crazy at first, although, after a while of this he got used to it. It was embarrassing because he didn't know their names, but eventually they started coming in with nametags, which helped him out greatly. They talked to him and brought of things from his 'past' in an effort to get him to remember not only them, but himself also.
He heard the doorknob clink as it turned and sighed. It wasn't that he didn't want to remember, but he was so tired and worn out. Couldn't they give him a few days to rest? It was mind numbing, really.
Three people walked into Matt's room quietly. He recognized the three from earlier that morning. He was quite happy he could remember back that far. 'Tai, Gendo, and Istu.' He thought, reading their nametags. The three smiled at him and he faked a smile back. Istu and Gendo stepped up to the bedside, but Tai lingered behind them, eyeing the blonde. Matt felt a stir of feelings mix inside of him under the brunette's stare.
"So Matt, my dear gorgeous one, how are you and your wonderful self feeling?" Istu asked.
Matt looked at him uneasily. "Excuse me?"
"Istu stop messing with his feeble mind!" Gendo said. He turned back to Matt and smiled. "Remember anything?"
"No," Matt said warily. He lay back onto his bed and tried to relax. It was already hard enough to stay awake and now he got the weird feeling that if he fell asleep the other three in the room might do something mischievous. He glanced back at Tai, who shifted awkwardly and instantly directed his attention away from Matt. Yawning, Matt closed his eyes. "I'm really tired."
Istu snorted. "How can you be tired? You just slept for seven months! Do you have any idea how much school you've missed?"
"Technically when you are in a comma you aren't really sleeping, but fighting for your life," Tai said softly. Matt glanced at him again and raised an eyebrow as Tai once more looked elsewhere in the room nervously.
"Uh, yeah. I'm just glad you're awake!" Istu grinned playfully. "Now we can have-"
Gendo promptly stomped on his foot to shut him up. He gave Istu another warning look before going back to the puzzled blonde once more. "Ignore him. If you're tired we can leave."
"That would be nice," Matt blurted without thinking and quickly blushed afterwards. He saw Tai grin with amusement out of the corner of his eye. "I didn't mean it like that. I just… I'm still getting used to… all this."
"We'll leave then," Tai said. He motioned for Gendo and Istu to follow him and the three left. Istu looked quite upset at leaving so soon but Gendo grabbed him and dragged him out of the room.
For some reason, once they were gone, Matt had this unbearable feeling of loneliness sweep over him. But it quickly dissolved into sleep and he faded from reality.
He scooped the leaves in his hand and sighed. The fall was always a pretty season. The trees always looked so beautiful. The person in front of him thought so, too, because they were standing on the hill pointing at the big orange-leafed tree. Matt smiled and continued to through handfuls of yellow leaves in the air. The person said something to him, but he didn't hear them through his happy state. After a while, he got up and walked to where the person was standing. On their shirt he noticed a nametag.
"Tai," he read aloud.
The person nodded and then disappeared with the rest of the dream.
"Matt, are you ready for the tests?"
"No."
Matt stared at the nurse with a frown. He really didn't want to have to take these tests. Yes he needed to remember more things about himself. Yes he was drifting back and forth between dream world and reality a lot. Yes to even the fact that he might have something wrong with him. But he really, extremely, tremendously, enormously did not want to take these blasted tests.
"Dear, we can find out what is wrong with you and make you feel better," the nurse said politely.
"I know," Matt muttered with a sigh. He added under his breath where the nurse couldn't hear, "Excuse me for not wanting to be poked with needles and scanned with lasers."
The nurse was already leaving to get him a wheelchair (which he didn't understand the point of since he felt he could walk just fine) when some people came into the room. He recognized them from previous visits: the one who claimed to be his father, Tai, Sora, and TK. He liked TK. For a little brother, he seemed more of a best friend. Tai was pretty cool, too. Sora was cute, but she was very serious about everything. Though, she had a right to be since Matt just woke up from a seven-month comma.
"Hey Matt, how ya feeling?" Mr. Ishida said and patted his son on the back.
"Fine," Matt muttered. He stared at Mr. Ishida with pleading eyes. "Do I really have to take these tests? I don't want to…"
"It's good for you. We don't want you falling into another comma," Sora said quickly. "No hush up and be good. I don't want to hear about you giving the doctors a problem, all right?"
"Frith Sora, you're not his mother," Tai chuckled, getting a humorous snort from TK behind him and a glare from Sora.
She rolled her eyes and smiled at Matt. "I just came by for a quick visit to tell you good luck! I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"
"Okay. Bye," Matt replied. He watched Sora go, frowning a bit. His father had started to say something to him, but he wasn't paying attention and interrupted. "Am I dating her or something? She's always so… I don't know, but I think it would be good if I knew we were together."
Tai and TK looked at each other before cracking up laughter. Through his giggles, TK managed to say, "You and Sora? No, no, no, no, no, no!"
"Okay?" Matt looked at the two worriedly. "What? Did I say something wrong?"
Mr. Ishida tried to conceal his smile and gave TK and Tai cautionary glares. "You two stop that."
Before anything else could be said the nurse walked backed into the room pushing a wheel chair. Matt groaned and flopped down in his bed, pulling the blankets over his eyes. The nurse pushed the wheelchair beside his bed and ripped the blankets off of him. "Now, now. That is no way to behave."
"Fine," he muttered in reply and slid off the bed. It was the first time he noticed that there wasn't a back to his outfit and it was a bit drafty. He blushed and pulled the back of his outfit together to conceal himself.
"You shouldn't hide such a cute tushie!" the nurse giggled and pinched his butt.
Matt yelped in surprise and leapt away. "Hey!"
TK and Tai exploded into laughter again. They each clung to the other to keep from falling to the ground in hysteria. Mr. Ishida began to chuckle, making it sound as if he was clearing his throat when Matt shot him a dirty look, and then hit Tai and TK, sending them an amused glare.
"Come now! Sit down!" the nurse bubbled happily. She shoved Matt down into the wheel chair. "These tests wont take but a short while."
Matt sighed and slumped in the chair. "I can't wait."
"And now we're home. The bathroom is on the left and your room is on the right."
Matt shot his dad an annoyed glare. "I know that."
"Just making sure. They said your memory wasn't back a full 100% yet," Mr. Ishida replied. He couldn't help feeling protective over his son and trying to make sure everything was going all right. The more he strived to win his son's affection, the farther they drifted apart. And the whole comma/loss of memory thing hadn't helped him out at all. Now Matt was more irritable than before.
"My memory is fine," Matt grumbled under his breath. He went into his room and slammed the door behind him. As soon as he heard his dad pass, he leaned against the door and slid down it with a sigh.
Okay, truthfully he was happy his dad pointed out which room was where. He'd been struggling to remember the entire way up the stairs (they couldn't use the elevator because the doctor's said it would be better if he got exercise, which annoyed him greatly). The reason he snapped at his dad was because he was tired of being hovered over. Everyone treated him like a child; like he couldn't do anything for himself. He had memory loss, not a disease that was going to kill him in three days.
Actually the memories were coming back strong. He remembered a lot about the digital world, including tearing Tai to pieces, and a lot about his band. The band… well… they were… scary. That is, scary to a certain degree. He tried to understand once while he was at the hospital how he had friends that ranged from Izzy and Tai, who were friendly and affectionate, to friends like Akemi and Istu, who were utterly fanatical and uncontrollable. Then there were his friends like Toshiki… Matt hadn't quite figured out Toshiki yet and he wondered how Toshiki could stand being in the band. After a few minutes of thinking on this, Matt's head got fuzzy and he started to feel sick. So he decided then that it was best he didn't try to figure things out.
A knock on his bedroom door made Matt jump. He hadn't heard anyone approach, but then he'd been thinking again, to which he noticed his head felt a little dizzy. He muttered something and got slowly to his feet, having learned going quickly only makes you collapse from nausea. Matt swung the door open, expecting to see his father, although instead he found a smiling Tai.
"Hey Matt. I thought I'd just come over and see how you were doing your first day out of the hospital," Tai said cheerfully. Matt noticed the slight nervousness he had in his voice, something he noticed Tai always seemed to have. He noted to pay more attention to Tai and flashed the brunette a smile.
"I suppose you don't think I can get around either?" Matt asked, playfully trying to sound somewhat putout.
"Well…" Tai started to back away, the smile spreading wider on his face. "If you don't want me around…"
Matt's eyes twinkled. "That would be nice."
He immediately regretted his words because sadness flickered in Tai's features. Matt wasn't sure he'd seen it at first since Tai was smiling again. "I'll let you be then."
"No Tai. I was joking. I'd rather have someone to talk to," Matt said softly. He grabbed the brunette's arm and dragged him inside the room. After he closed the door, Matt jumped on his bed and leaned back to relax. Tai sat down on the end.
"So… Does it feel better to be at home?" Tai asked.
Matt shrugged. "Yeah. I suppose. I've been home for a full five minutes now."
"Oh. I'm sorry. I thought you got back earlier today." Tai sighed. "I wouldn't have come over so quickly if I had known…"
"Nonsense. I like having you around. Besides, I'd rather have you flocking over me than my dad," Matt snorted.
"He's just trying to look out for you," Tai replied softly and smiled at the blonde. "You still act tough even after you've nearly died."
Matt raised his eyebrows at the new statement. He knew Tai hadn't meant to say because as soon as the words were out in the open there was a look of horror on Tai's face. Matt turned his head to one side and stared at the brunette. "What do you mean 'nearly died'?"
"I didn't mean it like that!" Tai said quickly, his voice jumping up three octaves. "What I meant was… I was… worried about you! It almost seemed like you were dead because you were in that comma for so long… That's what I meant. Not that you actually nearly died."
Matt sighed. "Tai, I don't have my full memory back, but I know enough about you to tell that you're lying. Don't lie to me, Tai. If I can't trust you, then I can't trust anybody."
"Um… I might get in trouble for telling you this, so if anyone asks, you didn't hear from me…" Tai said uncertainly. He shifted awkwardly on the bed and stared out the floor to avoid Matt's concentrated eyes. "But, uh… well… The day of or after you went into your comma, I can't remember, the doctor's said you had some drug-like stuff in your blood stream. Something they use to contain people, but if you get too much of it in your blood stream it could kill you. That's why you went into the comma. I was even arrested because they thought I'd given it to you since the institution has it and that's where I work."
Matt stared at Tai. The new information brought a few memories back to him. The police officers coming to visit him at the hospital and asking him questions like, 'Is there any reason why anyone would want to hurt you?' made a little more sense now. Thinking, Matt remembered the night he'd drifted off and he scanned Tai carefully.
"You came to visit me that night…" Matt said firmly. Tai's head snapped in his direction, his eyes wide and a look of horror and nervousness mixed in his features.
"No… no, Matt… I didn't…" Tai whispered. His voiced faltered and he appeared to be getting even more nervous by the minutes. "I wasn't in here. You didn't see me."
It frustrated Matt that Tai was denying what they both knew was true. Matt sat up and glared furiously at Tai. "You were there, but you… you weren't acting right."
"Matt," Tai murmured, "you're only beginning to remember things from long ago. I don't think you can remember something that happened the night you went into a comma. Not yet."
"Damn it Tai! I know good and well what I saw! You walked into my room through that door!" Matt shouted and pointed at his bedroom door. "I know I saw you! Stop denying it!"
Tai jumped off the bed and backed away, wild-eyed like a frightened mouse. His brown eyes sparkled with tears. "No. No. No. I wasn't here. I wasn't."
Matt opened his mouth but his words were muffled by the sound of his father swinging the bedroom door open and catching Tai by the shirt collar. Tai yelped as Mr. Ishida began to drag him out of the room. Matt jumped to his feet, swaying a little at the blood rush, and ran after his father and Tai. He stepped in the hallway to find that Tai was struggling to get away from the older man's tight grip. He finally managed to twist free and dashed to the front door to escape out of the apartment before he could get captured again. Mr. Ishida ran to the open door, screaming something after Tai, and then slammed it shut. He spun around to look at his shocked son.
"Dad, why did you do that?" Matt murmured. His father stepped forward and tightly wrapped an arm around him.
"I came to tell you something but when I heard you mention that he was here the night before you went into that comma, I decided to eavesdrop. But when he kept denying that he wasn't here, it was just too much for me to ignore," his dad answered, hugging him tighter. "Nobody is going to mess with my son and get away with it."
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And I didn't finish. But I already know what I want to do with this yet I'm not going to continue until I get some more reviews. I'm going to go ahead and start the next chapter, but don't expect to see it posted for a while because I demand reviews. I'm a brat aren't I? Yeah, well, I need to go work on my other fic now (you think it took me a long time to post this chapter? HA! I haven't even started the next chapter in my kensuke in forever!) so REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!
