Thanks for waiting everyone... I'm sorry this took so long, but I've been a little stressed and busy, and my ideas disappeared, and then I got new ones...
Coward. Can't even go in and help the person you claim to love, can you, Tai? a voice in Tai's head mocked him, taunting him with the reality of the situation. Too bad. I wonder what new punishment Masaheru has for his little boy? Maybe you'll get to see Yama get stabbed again. Wouldn't that be fun?
Would you shut up?! Tai shot back at the voice. He'd never told anyone about the strange voice, never dared in case they thought he was insane or some shit like that. Besides, it'd gone away for a while. But now it was back, and stronger than ever before.
Why should I? You know it's true, Tai. Don't you dare try to deny it. You know that I never lie to you, Tai. And you know the chances of you winning against Masaheru are slim to none.
The voice was right. It never had spoken a false word.
One more reason for Tai to hate it. But the voice was himself too, so didn't he hate himself?
But of course.
There had been only a few times he'd not listened to the voice. The first time had been at his home, and the result had been Kari in the hospital. The second time had been in the Digital World, and the result had been Tai and all of his friends turned into tiny pieces of data.
Good reasons to listen to the voice, no matter how much it annoyed and angered Tai.
Sickening sounds of Yamato's slender frame being pummeled into a bloody pulp reached Tai's ears, and he forced himself to look up and see the torture his fallen angel was being put through.
Golden locks matted with blood streaming down a perfectly formed face gave the impression of a tortured soul, Christ at his crucifixion. Biting his lip to keep from crying out, a tear slipped down his cheek, tracing a path alongside the crimson blood, reflecting and capturing light in its embrace.
Tai's heart broke.
How could he have done this to his angel, his love, his world?
So maybe he was being melodramatic. And maybe it wasn't entirely his fault that Yamato had an abusive father who took pleasure in destroying beauty.
But knowing that didn't help any.
Slowly standing and walking to the edge of the branch, where he could almost touch the window he'd disappeared from, Taichi's mind locked into a plan. There was only one way to save his angel.
He jumped.
Jyou bit his lip. Could he really do this? Take his own life with the gun he'd bought for that purpose?
Finally, he was at home again, safe in the room he was renting. Finally, he was alone, where he could end the pain. It wasn't that hard.
C'mon, Jyou. Take out the gun, just like you showed Koushirou. It's already loaded, unlock the safety. Raise it to your head, get ready to pull the--
A knock at the door stopped his thoughts. Gently placing the gun on the bed, he rose and went to the door, opening it just a crack.
He wished he'd pulled the trigger first.
"Ohisashiburi da, Jyou-kun."
Thoughts ran rampant in Jyou's mind. What the hell are you doing here you bastard why can't you just leave me alone I was going to be fine for once without you and you just have to show up now of all times why can't you just disappear and forget about me find someone else to torture and torment no wait don't I don't want you to hurt someone else just leave me alone...
"Aren't you going to invite your cousin in?"
Never you will never come in here oh but if I don't let you in will you go and destroy someone else's life the way you've destroyed mine no I can't let you do that can't let you hurt someone else can't let you destroy someone else you'd probably go hurt Koushirou I can't let you hurt him he's so much more than you are...
"Your precious Kou-chan just called me and told me that you were in town."
How could Koushirou have done that to me it doesn't matter anymore Koushirou probably thinks he's doing what was right and besides who really cares I have the gun I have two bullets I could kill Hiroshi and me both and then what would happen who knows who cares...
"So, are we going to stand at the door, or can I come in, Jyou?"
Jyou slumped against the wall, defeated by himself. "Fine. Come in."
"Good to see you're finally back in town, Jyou." A cruel smile touched those eyes, those icy blue eyes. "I was beginning to think you'd deliberately tried to stay away from me."
"Whatever gave me away, Hiroshi?" Jyou replied, voice dripping with sarcasm as Hiroshi entered. "Was it that I never returned your calls or that I stopped writing?"
A harsh punch to his stomach was the fast reply. "You made a mistake, Jyou."
Yes, I made so many mistakes...
"And now you're going to pay."
Takeru held Hikari protectively against him, wondering what he could do. Somehow, he had to find someone who could help explain to him what was going on, why Hikari would jump from her bedroom window so late at night. She wasn't the suicidal type, and she definitely was stronger than this.
Her limp body scared him. The fact that she wouldn't respond scared him. But what scared him most of all was the Digivice clutched tightly in her hand... stained with blood.
At first the scent of the blood sickened him, and he barely wanted to hold the girl he called his friend, his love. Something overrode that instinct, the child who wanted to cower and run from the blood.
He wouldn't call it courage, he'd never been courageous. Nor would he call it any of the other crests he and his friends all held. The blood... it wasn't so bad. It calmed him in some respects, after the initial fear.
It wasn't like human blood. Human's blood was blue, and upon contact with oxygen, became red. This was black, thicker than the blood flowing through his veins. Blood might be thicker than water, but what was thicker than blood?
This.
He wasn't sure when it'd happened. He'd been trying to wake her, brushing the blood away from her face, letting her breathe, but he'd tasted some of it.
So sweet, the feel of the not quite liquid slipping over his tongue. It wasn't coppery the way some authors described it in books. It was distinctly tart, but sweet at the same time, something that couldn't be fully written in words. But oh the feeling!
It rushed through his body, and strengthened him. He who had always been the weakest, now felt himself pulsing with power. If only the others could see him now, they wouldn't think of him as the child who people had to protect, they wouldn't see him only as Tai's shadow, as Yamato's little brother, as Hikari's boyfriend. No, they'd see him as Takeru.
And that's what he wanted.
She stirred in his arms, eyes opening and finding his now metallic blue orbs with her own pulsing red windows to her soul. "Are you ready, Takaishi Takeru?"
"I am." He didn't know where the words came from, didn't know what he was ready for, but he knew it was the right answer when she stood, the blood covering her disappearing into the dark of night.
"Then we should go, Takeru."
"Yes," he agreed softly, not noticing they were both now clothed in the finest silks colored the deepest midnight. "We should go, Lady."
Now what will happen? Is Omoide lazy or what? Does this now have a plot? Oh yes...