~* Darkness Rising, Silence Falls *~
A Digimon 02 Fanfic by Bandit, ©2000
Chapter 5- Darkness Rears Its Ugly Head, Loved Ones and Lost Souls
~*~*~*~
"Hey, Sats!"
Coming into the skate park just before closing time, Joe found it empty except for himself and the luminously orange-haired figure standing with her back to him by the drinking fountain. When he got no response to his hail and wave, he frowned and called again.
"Satsuma?"
She still didn't answer, or even look up. Concerned, Joe hurried across the hall to her.
"Sats, is something wrong?"
A sound like a choked sob escaped her. Joe swallowed hard, realizing that this was serious, and put a hand on her shoulder.
"What is it? Are you going to be okay?" Still no answer. "Sats, you can tell me. I'm your friend. I care about you."
That tipped the balance. Satsuma burst into tears, turning and burying her face in the front of his jacket.
"It's my cousin!" she wailed. Joe was at a loss as to what he was supposed to do here; he awkwardly patted her head.
"Which one?" he asked, not sure if that was the right thing to say, but willing to wing it. He'd never seen Satsuma like this before, not even the time that she'd broken her leg falling off of the monkey bars in seventh grade. And he'd never, ever expected to see her cry like this. Sats was a trooper; she bit back. You just didn't picture her crying, it was like picturing a flying kumquat.
"Aika," Satsuma said miserably.
"Shoujo? Isn't she in one of Sora's classes?" Joe asked.
"Uh-huh," Satsuma hiccupped. "Home Ec. She's...she's sick..."
Joe sighed. "Well, she'll get better soon, won't she?"
He instantly wished he hadn't asked. Satsuma dissolved into fresh waves of tears. His jacket was beginning to look like he'd spilled a glass of water down the front of it.
"They...don't...know!" she choked. Joe blinked.
"What?"
"The doctors..." Satsuma took a deep breath and calmed down enough to speak. "They say they've never seen anything like it! She's not hurt anywhere, they say, she's just...not moving. Unconscious, you know? Out of it. They can't wake her up. They're keeping her at the hospital just to make sure..." Satsuma was beginning to shake again, and Joe hugged her.
"Well, they are doctors, you know. I'm sure they'll take care of it, and your cousin will be back at school by the time it starts again. Now hush, before you flood the skate park." The sensible, plain words were softened by the gentleness in his voice: a combination that he'd learned to use with Mimi when they'd been traveling around the Digital world in their own little group, years before. She'd always been having these little sob-fests about how she didn't want to fight anymore, and he'd always had to calm her down.
Of course, Mimi had never sobbed into his shirt, so this was a relatively new experience...
Satsuma looked up at him and began to cry again.
"What? What is it?" he asked, trying not to let any impatience creep into his tone.
"It-it's been such an aw-awful d-day," she hiccupped, beginning to run out of energy for crying. She was exhausted; he could see that now. "And now you're being s-so n-nice to me..."
"Not nice," Joe corrected, fishing for his handkerchief. "Supportive. Impressed. You're getting my shirt wet."
Satsuma accepted the proffered handkerchief with a watery smile. "Impressed?" she asked, wiping her eyes and sniffing.
"You're handling this pretty well. This is the first time you've cried about it, isn't it?"
She nodded. "How...how'd you know?"
"The first time's always the worst," Joe said reassuringly. "It's pretty impressive that you didn't completely fall apart."
"Did they teach you how to deal with weepy families in your doctoring classes?" Satsuma said with a rueful smile, handing the kerchief back. Joe stuck it in his pocket.
"You'd better believe it," he said, and gave her hand a squeeze. "She'll be all right. And so will you, unless you drown yourself with all this crying."
"If you ever tell anyone I cried, I'll have you mourning a limb before you can sneeze," Satsuma joked. "Your choice of limb."
"Always the gracious lady," Joe said with a grin. Now I know she'll be all right. She's started threatening people again.
"C'mon, Blue-boy," Satsuma said, heading off toward the door out. "Let's go home."
"Can you believe it?" Sora said for the tenth time. "Of all people, too. Who on earth would want to hurt Aika Shoujo?"
Mimi shrugged. She was in no mood to speculate on the mysterious fate of Aika. She'd had an almost identical nightmare the night before, and it had included even more pain and fear than last time. Worse, it hadn't ended right after the explosion of pain like the last time; it had dragged on for an eternity of lying helpless and full of agony in the dust.
Her headache had grown worse, and every time she closed her eyes she saw little flickers of brown and green light dancing across the inside of her eyelids. She'd hoped that getting out of the house might wake her up a little, but now that they were at the mall-her favorite place in the world!-all she could think about was going home and getting an ice pack on her poor aching head.
What is wrong with me? she wondered, glancing around the Dairy Duchess booth and then back down at the hot fudge sundae pooling in a puddle of nearly untouched meltage in the bottom of its dish. Picking up her spoon, she stirred it around a few times, lifted a spoonful and let it drizzle back into the dish. She just couldn't work up an appetite, even for chocolate. Sora gave her a by-now-familiar suspicious look over the top of her raspberry sherbet parfait.
"Mimi, are you okay? You've hardly eaten anything in days!" She frowned, obviously gathering up her nerve for something. "Mimi..."
Mimi looked up, suddenly on edge. "What?"
"I'm worried about you. You don't look healthy. Are you..." Sora paused, then barreled on. "Mimi, do you have anorexia?"
Mimi stared at her for a second, and then burst out laughing. "Anorexia? Sora, of course I'm not anorexic. I love eating, remember? I don't think I could be anorexic if I tried!" She grinned. "If I was going to have an eating disorder, I'd be bulimic, trust me."
Sora scowled at her. "That isn't funny."
"You're right." Mimi sighed. "I know I haven't been eating well lately, but I think I just picked up a bug somewhere. I've been really tired, and I have this headache that won't go away. I've tried aspirin, and it doesn't help. I just don't feel much like eating. You know, like when you have the flu. I bet that's all it is."
Sora looked closely at her, but nodded and sighed. "You do look a little green around the gills. Want to go home? You can take a nap."
Mimi's spirits soared at the suggestion of going home, and then plummeted at the mention of sleep. "Uh...I'm not really tired. Just achy. But yes, I would like to go home. If that's all right with you."
"Would I have suggested it if it wasn't?" Sora said genially. "Let's go. And you probably should at least try to sleep. It's good to get lots of rest when you're sick, you know."
"You sound like Joe," Mimi said teasingly, trying to distract Sora before she got off on one of her crusades, to make her take a nap. She never found out if it worked or not, because as they stood up to leave they ran into an even better distraction: Tai and Izzy, coming into the Dairy Duchess.
"Hey, Sora!" Tai called, waving. The girls hurried over, Mimi debating whether this was good or bad. Sora was distracted all right, but this could mean an extension of the wait to go home.
"Hi, Tai! What are you doing here? Hey, Izzy," Sora added as an afterthought. Izzy took the uneven division of interest as good-naturedly as ever, turning to Mimi as Tai and Sora talked.
"Hello, Mimi. You're not exactly glowing with fitness today, are you?" he observed bluntly. Mimi sighed and shook her head.
"You could say that. I think I've got the flu, or something. We were just headed home, in fact."
"Really? That's a raw deal. I hope you feel better by this Friday," Izzy said sympathetically. Mimi blinked.
"This...Friday?"
"Yeah, you know, the lock-in? You are coming, aren't you?"
"Oh, the lock-in!" Mimi said, remembering. The high school was holding a lock-in sleepover for the students who weren't on vacation. "I'm not sure. It depends on how I'm feeling by then, I guess."
"In that case, get better as fast as you can. We never get to see you anymore, now that you're an American girl."
"I'll always be Japanese, Izzy," Mimi said with a smile. She felt better somehow, at least mentally, after Sora and Izzy's friendly concern. Her head still throbbed, but she felt more up to the day now...and maybe even to a nap. After all, Sora was right. Dreams weren't real, and they certainly couldn't hurt you. Her headache was a coincidence, and that was all it was.
They don't even know that they are doing her more harm than good, he gloated, already almost tasting the night air. A 'sleepover'...that means many children gathered together, all filled with life: exactly what I need. But for now, it will be best to lie low and come out only as we did last night. I need only so many, and the number left to gather will grow one less with each passing night... This 'lock-in' will provide me all that I will require. He chuckled darkly. Until the lock-in, then, sweet Mimi.
The jewels of the necklace gleamed maliciously, but all four children were distracted with talk and plans for the weeks ahead, and once again, didn't see the one thing that might have saved them, had they only noticed it in time.
~*~*~*~
A Digimon 02 Fanfic by Bandit, ©2000
Chapter 5- Darkness Rears Its Ugly Head, Loved Ones and Lost Souls
~*~*~*~
"Hey, Sats!"
Coming into the skate park just before closing time, Joe found it empty except for himself and the luminously orange-haired figure standing with her back to him by the drinking fountain. When he got no response to his hail and wave, he frowned and called again.
"Satsuma?"
She still didn't answer, or even look up. Concerned, Joe hurried across the hall to her.
"Sats, is something wrong?"
A sound like a choked sob escaped her. Joe swallowed hard, realizing that this was serious, and put a hand on her shoulder.
"What is it? Are you going to be okay?" Still no answer. "Sats, you can tell me. I'm your friend. I care about you."
That tipped the balance. Satsuma burst into tears, turning and burying her face in the front of his jacket.
"It's my cousin!" she wailed. Joe was at a loss as to what he was supposed to do here; he awkwardly patted her head.
"Which one?" he asked, not sure if that was the right thing to say, but willing to wing it. He'd never seen Satsuma like this before, not even the time that she'd broken her leg falling off of the monkey bars in seventh grade. And he'd never, ever expected to see her cry like this. Sats was a trooper; she bit back. You just didn't picture her crying, it was like picturing a flying kumquat.
"Aika," Satsuma said miserably.
"Shoujo? Isn't she in one of Sora's classes?" Joe asked.
"Uh-huh," Satsuma hiccupped. "Home Ec. She's...she's sick..."
Joe sighed. "Well, she'll get better soon, won't she?"
He instantly wished he hadn't asked. Satsuma dissolved into fresh waves of tears. His jacket was beginning to look like he'd spilled a glass of water down the front of it.
"They...don't...know!" she choked. Joe blinked.
"What?"
"The doctors..." Satsuma took a deep breath and calmed down enough to speak. "They say they've never seen anything like it! She's not hurt anywhere, they say, she's just...not moving. Unconscious, you know? Out of it. They can't wake her up. They're keeping her at the hospital just to make sure..." Satsuma was beginning to shake again, and Joe hugged her.
"Well, they are doctors, you know. I'm sure they'll take care of it, and your cousin will be back at school by the time it starts again. Now hush, before you flood the skate park." The sensible, plain words were softened by the gentleness in his voice: a combination that he'd learned to use with Mimi when they'd been traveling around the Digital world in their own little group, years before. She'd always been having these little sob-fests about how she didn't want to fight anymore, and he'd always had to calm her down.
Of course, Mimi had never sobbed into his shirt, so this was a relatively new experience...
Satsuma looked up at him and began to cry again.
"What? What is it?" he asked, trying not to let any impatience creep into his tone.
"It-it's been such an aw-awful d-day," she hiccupped, beginning to run out of energy for crying. She was exhausted; he could see that now. "And now you're being s-so n-nice to me..."
"Not nice," Joe corrected, fishing for his handkerchief. "Supportive. Impressed. You're getting my shirt wet."
Satsuma accepted the proffered handkerchief with a watery smile. "Impressed?" she asked, wiping her eyes and sniffing.
"You're handling this pretty well. This is the first time you've cried about it, isn't it?"
She nodded. "How...how'd you know?"
"The first time's always the worst," Joe said reassuringly. "It's pretty impressive that you didn't completely fall apart."
"Did they teach you how to deal with weepy families in your doctoring classes?" Satsuma said with a rueful smile, handing the kerchief back. Joe stuck it in his pocket.
"You'd better believe it," he said, and gave her hand a squeeze. "She'll be all right. And so will you, unless you drown yourself with all this crying."
"If you ever tell anyone I cried, I'll have you mourning a limb before you can sneeze," Satsuma joked. "Your choice of limb."
"Always the gracious lady," Joe said with a grin. Now I know she'll be all right. She's started threatening people again.
"C'mon, Blue-boy," Satsuma said, heading off toward the door out. "Let's go home."
"Can you believe it?" Sora said for the tenth time. "Of all people, too. Who on earth would want to hurt Aika Shoujo?"
Mimi shrugged. She was in no mood to speculate on the mysterious fate of Aika. She'd had an almost identical nightmare the night before, and it had included even more pain and fear than last time. Worse, it hadn't ended right after the explosion of pain like the last time; it had dragged on for an eternity of lying helpless and full of agony in the dust.
Her headache had grown worse, and every time she closed her eyes she saw little flickers of brown and green light dancing across the inside of her eyelids. She'd hoped that getting out of the house might wake her up a little, but now that they were at the mall-her favorite place in the world!-all she could think about was going home and getting an ice pack on her poor aching head.
What is wrong with me? she wondered, glancing around the Dairy Duchess booth and then back down at the hot fudge sundae pooling in a puddle of nearly untouched meltage in the bottom of its dish. Picking up her spoon, she stirred it around a few times, lifted a spoonful and let it drizzle back into the dish. She just couldn't work up an appetite, even for chocolate. Sora gave her a by-now-familiar suspicious look over the top of her raspberry sherbet parfait.
"Mimi, are you okay? You've hardly eaten anything in days!" She frowned, obviously gathering up her nerve for something. "Mimi..."
Mimi looked up, suddenly on edge. "What?"
"I'm worried about you. You don't look healthy. Are you..." Sora paused, then barreled on. "Mimi, do you have anorexia?"
Mimi stared at her for a second, and then burst out laughing. "Anorexia? Sora, of course I'm not anorexic. I love eating, remember? I don't think I could be anorexic if I tried!" She grinned. "If I was going to have an eating disorder, I'd be bulimic, trust me."
Sora scowled at her. "That isn't funny."
"You're right." Mimi sighed. "I know I haven't been eating well lately, but I think I just picked up a bug somewhere. I've been really tired, and I have this headache that won't go away. I've tried aspirin, and it doesn't help. I just don't feel much like eating. You know, like when you have the flu. I bet that's all it is."
Sora looked closely at her, but nodded and sighed. "You do look a little green around the gills. Want to go home? You can take a nap."
Mimi's spirits soared at the suggestion of going home, and then plummeted at the mention of sleep. "Uh...I'm not really tired. Just achy. But yes, I would like to go home. If that's all right with you."
"Would I have suggested it if it wasn't?" Sora said genially. "Let's go. And you probably should at least try to sleep. It's good to get lots of rest when you're sick, you know."
"You sound like Joe," Mimi said teasingly, trying to distract Sora before she got off on one of her crusades, to make her take a nap. She never found out if it worked or not, because as they stood up to leave they ran into an even better distraction: Tai and Izzy, coming into the Dairy Duchess.
"Hey, Sora!" Tai called, waving. The girls hurried over, Mimi debating whether this was good or bad. Sora was distracted all right, but this could mean an extension of the wait to go home.
"Hi, Tai! What are you doing here? Hey, Izzy," Sora added as an afterthought. Izzy took the uneven division of interest as good-naturedly as ever, turning to Mimi as Tai and Sora talked.
"Hello, Mimi. You're not exactly glowing with fitness today, are you?" he observed bluntly. Mimi sighed and shook her head.
"You could say that. I think I've got the flu, or something. We were just headed home, in fact."
"Really? That's a raw deal. I hope you feel better by this Friday," Izzy said sympathetically. Mimi blinked.
"This...Friday?"
"Yeah, you know, the lock-in? You are coming, aren't you?"
"Oh, the lock-in!" Mimi said, remembering. The high school was holding a lock-in sleepover for the students who weren't on vacation. "I'm not sure. It depends on how I'm feeling by then, I guess."
"In that case, get better as fast as you can. We never get to see you anymore, now that you're an American girl."
"I'll always be Japanese, Izzy," Mimi said with a smile. She felt better somehow, at least mentally, after Sora and Izzy's friendly concern. Her head still throbbed, but she felt more up to the day now...and maybe even to a nap. After all, Sora was right. Dreams weren't real, and they certainly couldn't hurt you. Her headache was a coincidence, and that was all it was.
They don't even know that they are doing her more harm than good, he gloated, already almost tasting the night air. A 'sleepover'...that means many children gathered together, all filled with life: exactly what I need. But for now, it will be best to lie low and come out only as we did last night. I need only so many, and the number left to gather will grow one less with each passing night... This 'lock-in' will provide me all that I will require. He chuckled darkly. Until the lock-in, then, sweet Mimi.
The jewels of the necklace gleamed maliciously, but all four children were distracted with talk and plans for the weeks ahead, and once again, didn't see the one thing that might have saved them, had they only noticed it in time.
~*~*~*~