Yamato the Vampire Slayer
The Shadow of Death
By the Empress of the Eclipse
Disclaimer - No, I don't own Buffy, no I don't own Digimon.
Matt was woken in the early hours of the morning by the phone ringing. He heard his Dad answer it and snuggled back under the covers, making a mental note to tell his father that they needed to get a vibrating mobile phone for all these calls for a early shift in the office.
Maybe Matt ought to get a pager for Slayer duties...
"Matt."
Matt groaned. Had he gone back to sleep? Was it morning already?
"Dad, it's too early," he mumbled.
"Matt, you have to wake up."
Something in his father's voice jerked Matt awake almost instantly. He sat up and looked at his father. He'd never seen his father look like that before.
"Dad? Dad, what's happened?"
"It's TK," his father said "TK's...he's dead."
"What?" Matt said.
He knew what his father had said but somehow he didn't exactly hear it. It was like an echo in a cave or mountains. By the time the echo got to you, it was too distorted to make much sense.
"He's dead Matt," his father said, his voice trembling.
Matt slowly shook his head.
"Dad...Dad no," he said "They...they're wrong. Whoever called you, they're wrong. TK's not dead. I saw him last night. He was fine."
His father said nothing.
"Dad!" Matt said shrilly "TK's not dead! He's not dead! Dad!"
His father walked over to the bed. Sitting down, he wrapped his arms round Matt in an awkward hug.
"Matt..."
Matt pushed him away.
"No! NO! TK! TK!"
He then looked at his father, his eyes completely blank.
"It's not true and I don't believe it."
"Matt, I'm sorry."
"It's not true," Matt repeated "Now I need my sleep. I've got school in the morning."
Curling up, he pulled his blankets up around his ears. Mr Ishida looked at his son. So that was how Matt was going to deal with it. Complete denial.
"Matt," he said.
"Goodnight Dad."
"Matt, tomorrow we'll go to the hospital," Mr Ishida said.
"I have school."
"No you don't."
Mr Ishida left the room, leaving Matt quaking under the covers.
* * * *
"Dad, I don't want go in here."
Mr Ishida looked at his son. Matt obviously hadn't slept a wink. He was shaking as they stood at the doorway.
"TK's not in there!" Matt said "TK's...TK's in school! With Kari and Davis and Yolei and Iori! He's not in here! Not in a morgue with dead bodies! TK...TK doesn't like dead bodies!"
"Come along Matt," Mr Ishida said gently.
A doctor led them in and over to a body, covered by a sheet. It was a very small body.
"Dad!" Matt said "Dad I want to go!"
Mr Ishida rather wanted to go. But he wanted Matt to believe.
"Matt..."
"Daddy, please!"
Mr Ishida pulled back the sheet.
Matt stared. TK's face was grey, his blue eyes open and empty.
"TK...."
Matt slowly reached out and touched his brother's face.
"He's cold..." Matt mumbled "He never liked being cold..."
He frowned. TK looked so drained...
Matt gently turned the head to one side, revealing the two puncture marks in the neck.
Vampire.
A vampire had killed his brother.
* * * *
The day had started off pretty normally for Tai. He noticed that Matt wasn't in but this was so regular by now that nobody batted an eyelid. It was only at lunch that his day stopped being normal and became different.
He was at his locker, trying to clean it. He had suddenly been struck with this desire and was regretting it.
"A mouldy cheese sandwich? How'd THAT get there?"
"Hey, Tai!"
Tai surfaced guilty to find a group of girls staring at him. Matt had once said that they were the Gossip Shop, working in a trade of swapping rumours.
"Is it true?" one of them said eagerly.
"What true?" Tai said suspiciously.
"About Matt Ishida's brother?"
"TK? What about TK?" Tai asked warily.
The girls looked at each other.
"You mean you haven't heard?"
"No," Tai said "I haven't."
The girls looked at him.
"I heard that...that he's dead!" the leader said.
Everything Tai was holding fell out of his hands.
"What?" he said.
"Uh huh," the girl said "That's what everyone's saying anyway. That he died last night."
Bending down, Tai threw everything back into his locker and slammed it.
"I...I gotta go," he said.
"Tai, wait!"
But Tai had already fled. He ran straight into Izzy who was looking white as a sheet.
"Izzy! Is it true?"
"I don't know," Izzy said "Coming to find out?"
The two boys ran.
"Where are we going?" Tai panted.
"The younger one's school!"
"Will they know there?"
"I should think so."
They shot in at about one hundred miles an hour.
"Please!" Izzy gasped at the receptionist "Is Takaishi Takeru in please?"
The receptionist looked at them quietly.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"Izumi Koushiro, he's Yagami Taichi. Please, is he here?"
"Were...were you friends of his?"
Tai stared at her.
"You...you mean TK's..."
"Tai!"
It was Kari. She threw herself at him.
"We were about to come and find you!"
Tai hugged her, looking at the others. Yolei's face was smeared with tears. Iori looked like he'd been crying too. Davis just looked confused, as thought he didn't really understand what was going on.
"So it's true," Izzy said softly.
Davis nodded.
"It's true," he said "TK's..."
Tai buried his head in Kari's hair, fighting back the tears that were fighting to over-whelm him. TK. How could TK be dead?
"I'm going out," Davis said abruptly.
"School..." Izzy said.
"Screw school."
Davis left without a word.
"He'll have gone to find Ken," Yolei said quietly.
Tai knew that she was right. Slowly he released Kari.
"Kari, I've got to go," he said gently "Will you be okay?"
"Where are you going?" Kari asked.
"I have to find Matt," Tai said "Izzy'll take care of you."
Izzy nodded. Tai turned and left the school.
It was a hot sunny day but everything felt overcast, shadowed. Tai slowly walked along, looking out for Matt. He was almost certain that Matt would be out somewhere, in the sun, trying to get his head round things.
And Tai betted he knew where.
He was right. Matt was sitting by the stream in the park, staring into the water. He was poking at it with a stick, stirring up mud in a big murky cloud.
"Matt," Tai said.
Matt looked at him.
"What are you doing here?" he asked dully.
"Matt, I'm so sorry," Tai said.
Matt looked at him. He shook his head and gave the muddy stream bottom a vicious poke. Tai sat down next to him. They stayed like that for a while. Matt suddenly looked at Tai.
"You know what one of the last things I said to him was?"
"No," Tai said.
"I told him that he couldn't expect to be part of everything in my life," Matt said "I told him that he should accept it."
He shuddered.
"I should have been telling him how much I loved him!" he cried "I should have been telling him the truth about my life! Instead I pushed him away and he ran away! And he got killed! It's my fault! It's my fault!"
"No Matt, no," Tai said "It's not your fault."
"It is," Matt sobbed "It's all my fault Tai! I killed my brother! I killed him!"
"No!" Tai said. Reaching out he pulled Matt into his arms, holding him tightly "No, Matt. You didn't kill your brother, I swear. It's not your fault."
Matt sobbed into Tai's shoulder, clinging on tightly. Tai just held him, whispering softly, struggling not to cry himself. TK...innocent little TK, the Keeper of Hope was dead. How could they manage without him? How could the world keep on turning? TK was gone.
"Tai? Matt?"
Looking up, Tai saw Davis and Ken standing there. Davis was holding Ken's hand tightly and they both looked pale and a bit unreal.
"You two should be in school," Tai said.
"So should you," Davis said.
They sat down next to Tai and Matt, still holding each other's hands.
"Matt, I'm sorry," Ken whispered.
Matt said nothing. He pulled away from Tai and looked back into the stream. Then he suddenly spoke hollowly.
"It was a vampire."
Tai froze up. Oh boy. Even after what Spike had said and all the other stuff, he still wasn't sure...
He looked at Ken and Davis to see how they were reacting.
"A vampire?" Davis repeated. He didn't look confused or disbelieving at all. He looked shocked but it was quite clear that he thought Matt was telling the truth.
Matt gave another sob.
"You see!" he cried "I should have been able to save him and I failed! I'm the vampire Slayer, why couldn't I protect him?"
"No," Ken said "No Matt, you can't blame yourself for this."
"But I'm the vampire Slayer!"
Ken shrugged helplessly and looked at the others for help. Davis and Tai just looked back at him blankly.
"I should have protected TK and I didn't," Matt said "It was all my fault."
Tai did the only thing that he could. He pulled Matt back into his arms and held him there as Matt started to cry again. After a moment, Davis and Ken sort of wriggled in so they were cuddled up in a four-way hug. They all sat there, listening to the faint sound of cars on the road and the bitter sound of Matt's sobs.
End of Part 9
The Shadow of Death
By the Empress of the Eclipse
Disclaimer - No, I don't own Buffy, no I don't own Digimon.
Matt was woken in the early hours of the morning by the phone ringing. He heard his Dad answer it and snuggled back under the covers, making a mental note to tell his father that they needed to get a vibrating mobile phone for all these calls for a early shift in the office.
Maybe Matt ought to get a pager for Slayer duties...
"Matt."
Matt groaned. Had he gone back to sleep? Was it morning already?
"Dad, it's too early," he mumbled.
"Matt, you have to wake up."
Something in his father's voice jerked Matt awake almost instantly. He sat up and looked at his father. He'd never seen his father look like that before.
"Dad? Dad, what's happened?"
"It's TK," his father said "TK's...he's dead."
"What?" Matt said.
He knew what his father had said but somehow he didn't exactly hear it. It was like an echo in a cave or mountains. By the time the echo got to you, it was too distorted to make much sense.
"He's dead Matt," his father said, his voice trembling.
Matt slowly shook his head.
"Dad...Dad no," he said "They...they're wrong. Whoever called you, they're wrong. TK's not dead. I saw him last night. He was fine."
His father said nothing.
"Dad!" Matt said shrilly "TK's not dead! He's not dead! Dad!"
His father walked over to the bed. Sitting down, he wrapped his arms round Matt in an awkward hug.
"Matt..."
Matt pushed him away.
"No! NO! TK! TK!"
He then looked at his father, his eyes completely blank.
"It's not true and I don't believe it."
"Matt, I'm sorry."
"It's not true," Matt repeated "Now I need my sleep. I've got school in the morning."
Curling up, he pulled his blankets up around his ears. Mr Ishida looked at his son. So that was how Matt was going to deal with it. Complete denial.
"Matt," he said.
"Goodnight Dad."
"Matt, tomorrow we'll go to the hospital," Mr Ishida said.
"I have school."
"No you don't."
Mr Ishida left the room, leaving Matt quaking under the covers.
* * * *
"Dad, I don't want go in here."
Mr Ishida looked at his son. Matt obviously hadn't slept a wink. He was shaking as they stood at the doorway.
"TK's not in there!" Matt said "TK's...TK's in school! With Kari and Davis and Yolei and Iori! He's not in here! Not in a morgue with dead bodies! TK...TK doesn't like dead bodies!"
"Come along Matt," Mr Ishida said gently.
A doctor led them in and over to a body, covered by a sheet. It was a very small body.
"Dad!" Matt said "Dad I want to go!"
Mr Ishida rather wanted to go. But he wanted Matt to believe.
"Matt..."
"Daddy, please!"
Mr Ishida pulled back the sheet.
Matt stared. TK's face was grey, his blue eyes open and empty.
"TK...."
Matt slowly reached out and touched his brother's face.
"He's cold..." Matt mumbled "He never liked being cold..."
He frowned. TK looked so drained...
Matt gently turned the head to one side, revealing the two puncture marks in the neck.
Vampire.
A vampire had killed his brother.
* * * *
The day had started off pretty normally for Tai. He noticed that Matt wasn't in but this was so regular by now that nobody batted an eyelid. It was only at lunch that his day stopped being normal and became different.
He was at his locker, trying to clean it. He had suddenly been struck with this desire and was regretting it.
"A mouldy cheese sandwich? How'd THAT get there?"
"Hey, Tai!"
Tai surfaced guilty to find a group of girls staring at him. Matt had once said that they were the Gossip Shop, working in a trade of swapping rumours.
"Is it true?" one of them said eagerly.
"What true?" Tai said suspiciously.
"About Matt Ishida's brother?"
"TK? What about TK?" Tai asked warily.
The girls looked at each other.
"You mean you haven't heard?"
"No," Tai said "I haven't."
The girls looked at him.
"I heard that...that he's dead!" the leader said.
Everything Tai was holding fell out of his hands.
"What?" he said.
"Uh huh," the girl said "That's what everyone's saying anyway. That he died last night."
Bending down, Tai threw everything back into his locker and slammed it.
"I...I gotta go," he said.
"Tai, wait!"
But Tai had already fled. He ran straight into Izzy who was looking white as a sheet.
"Izzy! Is it true?"
"I don't know," Izzy said "Coming to find out?"
The two boys ran.
"Where are we going?" Tai panted.
"The younger one's school!"
"Will they know there?"
"I should think so."
They shot in at about one hundred miles an hour.
"Please!" Izzy gasped at the receptionist "Is Takaishi Takeru in please?"
The receptionist looked at them quietly.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"Izumi Koushiro, he's Yagami Taichi. Please, is he here?"
"Were...were you friends of his?"
Tai stared at her.
"You...you mean TK's..."
"Tai!"
It was Kari. She threw herself at him.
"We were about to come and find you!"
Tai hugged her, looking at the others. Yolei's face was smeared with tears. Iori looked like he'd been crying too. Davis just looked confused, as thought he didn't really understand what was going on.
"So it's true," Izzy said softly.
Davis nodded.
"It's true," he said "TK's..."
Tai buried his head in Kari's hair, fighting back the tears that were fighting to over-whelm him. TK. How could TK be dead?
"I'm going out," Davis said abruptly.
"School..." Izzy said.
"Screw school."
Davis left without a word.
"He'll have gone to find Ken," Yolei said quietly.
Tai knew that she was right. Slowly he released Kari.
"Kari, I've got to go," he said gently "Will you be okay?"
"Where are you going?" Kari asked.
"I have to find Matt," Tai said "Izzy'll take care of you."
Izzy nodded. Tai turned and left the school.
It was a hot sunny day but everything felt overcast, shadowed. Tai slowly walked along, looking out for Matt. He was almost certain that Matt would be out somewhere, in the sun, trying to get his head round things.
And Tai betted he knew where.
He was right. Matt was sitting by the stream in the park, staring into the water. He was poking at it with a stick, stirring up mud in a big murky cloud.
"Matt," Tai said.
Matt looked at him.
"What are you doing here?" he asked dully.
"Matt, I'm so sorry," Tai said.
Matt looked at him. He shook his head and gave the muddy stream bottom a vicious poke. Tai sat down next to him. They stayed like that for a while. Matt suddenly looked at Tai.
"You know what one of the last things I said to him was?"
"No," Tai said.
"I told him that he couldn't expect to be part of everything in my life," Matt said "I told him that he should accept it."
He shuddered.
"I should have been telling him how much I loved him!" he cried "I should have been telling him the truth about my life! Instead I pushed him away and he ran away! And he got killed! It's my fault! It's my fault!"
"No Matt, no," Tai said "It's not your fault."
"It is," Matt sobbed "It's all my fault Tai! I killed my brother! I killed him!"
"No!" Tai said. Reaching out he pulled Matt into his arms, holding him tightly "No, Matt. You didn't kill your brother, I swear. It's not your fault."
Matt sobbed into Tai's shoulder, clinging on tightly. Tai just held him, whispering softly, struggling not to cry himself. TK...innocent little TK, the Keeper of Hope was dead. How could they manage without him? How could the world keep on turning? TK was gone.
"Tai? Matt?"
Looking up, Tai saw Davis and Ken standing there. Davis was holding Ken's hand tightly and they both looked pale and a bit unreal.
"You two should be in school," Tai said.
"So should you," Davis said.
They sat down next to Tai and Matt, still holding each other's hands.
"Matt, I'm sorry," Ken whispered.
Matt said nothing. He pulled away from Tai and looked back into the stream. Then he suddenly spoke hollowly.
"It was a vampire."
Tai froze up. Oh boy. Even after what Spike had said and all the other stuff, he still wasn't sure...
He looked at Ken and Davis to see how they were reacting.
"A vampire?" Davis repeated. He didn't look confused or disbelieving at all. He looked shocked but it was quite clear that he thought Matt was telling the truth.
Matt gave another sob.
"You see!" he cried "I should have been able to save him and I failed! I'm the vampire Slayer, why couldn't I protect him?"
"No," Ken said "No Matt, you can't blame yourself for this."
"But I'm the vampire Slayer!"
Ken shrugged helplessly and looked at the others for help. Davis and Tai just looked back at him blankly.
"I should have protected TK and I didn't," Matt said "It was all my fault."
Tai did the only thing that he could. He pulled Matt back into his arms and held him there as Matt started to cry again. After a moment, Davis and Ken sort of wriggled in so they were cuddled up in a four-way hug. They all sat there, listening to the faint sound of cars on the road and the bitter sound of Matt's sobs.
End of Part 9