Patience
By Canis "Bad Habits" Black
"You want me to what?"
The exclamation was made by a man-like beast with a light violet fur and a foxes tale, dressed in the robes of an onmyouji. Said being was currently staring at its visitor, a human male whose most distinctive feature was the large bush of hair atop his head, in shock and just a touch of horror.
"I want you to cut my red thread," the human said again, it's voice steady and even.
The being, more properly known as Doumon, rested its head in its hand-like paws and groaned. "I thought you'd said that."
It looked up and met the human's gaze before allowing its vision to slip out of the material and into the ethereal for just a moment. Looking to see what sort of human might wish to have such a thing done to them. It didn't find what it was looking for. While the human's spirit carried scars and even a few weeping wounds that was nothing unusual for life left its marks on all who lived. And he could see nothing in such a cursory examination that would lead this human to desire such a drastic action.
So Doumon, letting his vision return to normal did the sensible thing and asked. "Why do you want me to do something so...drastic."
The human's composure cracked, just a bit, and for a moment Doumon could see pain on its face.
"She chose someone else," he said, "She chose someone else and yet I can't let go. I can't move on. I'm being strangled by the thread connecting me to her and I...I can't go on like this any longer. Something has to be done, but I'm not a coward to take my own life and I'm not so far gone as to even contemplate taking hers as an acceptable course of action."
"So you have come to me," Doumon mused, "I...have knowledge of how to do such a thing for all that it is considered Black Knowledge. For the knowledge of how to sunder bonds such as that of the red thread can be applied to all manner of similar bonds. Even those between a human and their fated Digimon."
Doumon paused to take in the human once more and found that he had the male's full attention and so continued. "What you ask is also not without its price. And as I am loathe to pay such a price myself it will come from you."
The human had gotten a conflicted look upon his face when talk of a price was brought up but it was obviously not enough to dissuade him completely as he asked, "What would this price be? My connection to my partner?"
"No," Doumon shook his head. "The price of cutting your red string is that you will never be able to form such a connection with another. Never again shall you know love like that."
"But I will be free of her?" he asked.
"You will," Doumon answered.
"And I will still be able to love my friends and family as friends and family?" the human questioned.
"Indeed you will," Doumon answered with a sinking feeling. This continued questioning...Doumon felt the other was becoming more certain of his course, not less.
"Then please, cut it," the human asked.
With a sigh, Doumon accepted that this human would not be dissuaded and pulled a blank piece of paper and a small brush from the sleeves of his robes and painted the spell onto the paper. Blowing on the ink to dry it more quickly he then took the paper and wrapped it around the human's wrist and muttered a few words activating the spell. There were no flashy or loud effects to show that it had worked simply a shift in the color of the ink and the appearance of a red thread wrapped around and stretching away from the human's pinky finger.
"You're absolutely certain this is what you wish?" Doumon asked one last time. The human merely nodded and Doumon saw nothing but resolve in his eyes. "Very well."
Reaching over with his paw he pinched the thread where it was wrapped around the human's finger and with a gathering of will and spoken word he shredded the thread, forever cutting the connection.
Sora went from sleeping to fully awake in an instant. So quickly in fact that she was momentarily disoriented as she was not expecting to be in bed.
"Oh," she whispered aloud, "It was just a dream."
And what a strange dream it had been. She'd watched as her best friend had come to her, or rather to Doumon whom she'd dreamt she was, and had his red string of fate severed. And at such a cost.
With a sigh she levered herself up and looked at the clock. It was far too early to be getting up, yet the dream had left her feeling far to awake to simply turn over and go back to sleep. Something about it had left her profoundly uncomfortable so she got up and turned the light on. Looking around the room for some form of distraction her eyes landed on the calendar where the date had been circled in red.
"I guess I'm not going to be able to distract myself then," she muttered with a wince. The date was the December 24, when she'd decided she would ask Yamato out. But this dream was bothering her, making her doubt her decision.
As a child she'd loved stories about the red string of fate and had, in the privacy of her own mind, often imagined that she and Taichi were bound with that very red string. Over time she'd stopped imagining herself and Taichi that way. Not because she'd stopped wanting to be. No, if anything she wanted it more than when she'd imagined it as a child. She had simply started doubting that he even could view her that way, never mind would.
So when Yamato had started to gently flirt with her earlier that year she had been surprised, flattered, and a bit pleased. Yamato was a friend so she knew he wouldn't flirt with her as a joke and while he wasn't the one she wanted, well being acknowledged like that as a girl was something she found she liked. She'd started flirting back and she'd slowly started to wonder if maybe she should take a chance on him. While she still wanted Taichi she was becoming more and more convinced that he didn't, wouldn't, view her the way she wanted him to. So she'd resolved to give Yamato a chance. Only it didn't seem to be that simple.
"Maybe...maybe that's why I was dreaming myself as Doumon?" The digimon in her dream, the one she'd been in the dream, had been hesitant to cut the red string. It had still done so though. But what would all that about prices and Tai being in distress be about then?
"Am I really that petty?" she wondered, while thinking of the way Tai seemed so hung up on her while she was with somebody else. But when she truly thought of that...her heart ached for her friend. Even if it was with somebody else she wanted nothing more than for him to be happy. So why then was he so hung up on her in the dream? And why had she dreamed up such a horrible price for cutting the thread connecting the two of them?
"Unless...it wasn't about him," she mused aloud. And wouldn't that make more sense? She'd gone to bed last night nervous and uncertain despite her determination. She'd made up her mind hadn't she? Yes, she had, but it seemed her heart wasn't cooperating. Wasn't ready to let go yet.
"What should I do?" she wondered to herself.
While she'd been flirting with Yamato for a while her heart had never truly been in it. It had made her feel good about herself and she'd had fun with it. Some of the things she'd said had been pretty cringe-worthy in retrospect and the way Yamato gently teased her about those times had made them more funny than embarrassing, but at the end of the day she only saw Yamato as a friend.
"And that's it isn't it," she muttered to herself. She only saw Yamato as a friend. Even as she was preparing to ask him out herself she only saw him as a friend. Not as something more. Not the way she saw Tai.
Only...that unsettled feeling in her heart wasn't abating. She was missing something else. Something important but what?
She sat back down on her bed, then leaned back, almost falling onto her back as she thought back over everything. The dream and everything else. And then it came to her.
"Stupid Sora," she muttered to herself as she shut her eyes. She was just like Doumon. She was doing something she didn't truly want to do. She was severing that bond she so wanted to exist. And why? Because she thought he didn't see her as a girl. Something she'd never actually tried to show him.
She grimaced as a memory of a gift given years ago surfaced. Then a few more similar incidents bubbled up from the depths of her memory and she glumly admitted that she might have actually discouraged him from looking at her like that.
And...there was one last thing. She'd never said anything to him. Here she was about to approach Yamato about dating and she'd never once spoken to the guy she actually wanted to date about the subject. Perhaps...perhaps she should just scrap her plans.
She's only in eighth grade. Being patient and waiting a bit longer for Taichi wasn't going to hurt. As she felt the heart settle, she smiled to herself. Yes, that was definitely the right choice. With her turmoil quelled Sora then fell back to sleep, never noticing the faint red glow that had shone from her chest for a few moments.
Author's Notes:
Originally written for Taiora Week 2022 I finished this on the same day they changed the prompts. The prompt was "Red Thread"
