Pale blue eyes fluttered open, quickly adjusting to the darkness around them, and started to look frantically for something familiar but found nothing. Just the same dark sky overhead like every night since they had come to this strange world six days ago.
Alice noticed that her clothes were drenched with sweat. Again. But it didn't really surprise her anymore. She almost expected this to happen. Really, it was by far more surprising and extraordinary when it didn't happen. It was always the same procedure after all.
She would fall asleep, the nightmares would come and eventually she would wake up alone, afraid, and sweating all over. It had been like this for years now and she had gotten used to it as time passed. But that didn't mean that she enjoyed it. She just had accepted the fact that she could never forget her past and therefore she would never be able to escape those dreams, which plagued her almost every night.
Her grandfather had wanted her to talk to a psychologist about it but she had refused saying that it was her problem and that she would solve it on her own. Her grandfather was not too happy with her decision but knowing how stubborn she could be at times he gave up trying to convince her.
Alice was glad he didn't force her. She had to admit that she could need some help but she would never agree on seeing a doctor for that reason. She wasn't sick, neither mentally nor physically, and more importantly it was way too private than she would talk to a complete stranger about it. Maybe a friend would be better but friends were one of the things she didn't have anymore. Not since the accident and her coming to Japan to live with her grandfather. So she was on her own with her nightmares. She had told herself time and times again that she had to let them go but she still missed her parents terribly.
Thinking about them she could feel the tears gathering in her eyes and blurring her vision but she did nothing to hide them. What did it matter if Ryo saw them? Let him see. Surely he had noticed her nightmares already. How could he not have? But he hadn't asked her about them so why should he care now? It didn't really matter, did it? Nothing did anymore. After all he was just her guide, nothing more. Only one more stranger in her life.
So she curled up in a ball, closing her eyes and tried to go back to sleep, knowing fully well that her nightmares would welcome her back soon enough.
Ryo was lying a few meters away with MonoDramon curled up at his feet and his back facing her. He couldn't see the blonde girl but he still could hear her sobbing quietly. But he never turned around to face her and therefore she never saw the deep thoughtful frown on his face.
* * *
Most of their journey had been rather uneventful. They had encountered a few digimon on their way but most of them were peacefully minding their own business. Only a few had been foolish enough to mistake the two humans and the small digimon for easy pray and had paid dearly for their misjudgment. None of them was a match for CyberDramon power and aggression.
Not much had been said between the two humans since they had entered the Digi-world so MonoDramon saw it as his duty to entertain the small group. He kept babbling on about everything that came to his mind not even once looking if any of his two travel companions was actually listening. It didn't really matter to him anyway since he was mostly doing it to get some distraction for himself into that boring journey.
In fact Ryo and Alice hardly paid attention to the small digimon's rambling. Both of them had too many thoughts going through their own heads at the moment. Ryo wanted to get some more information out of the silent girl but he knew that pushing her would probably make it only worse. He couldn't help but wonder what she was hiding from him. Every time he looked at her, which he did rather often, she seemed to be deep in thoughts, almost forgetting the world around her. After their arrival in the Digi-world she had immediately asked him if he knew where they could find the Sovereigns of the Digi-world. Truthfully he had told her that he could probably bring her to them. He thought he had seen her smiling a little for a moment but he wasn't quiet sure anymore. After that she had offered no further explanation for her interest in the four Mega-level digimon. She had only asked him to lead her to them to which he had agreed. He was pretty sure she did mean no harm to the Digi-world but still there was something about her which made him nervous and it was not her appearance alone, of that he was sure now.
Again he glanced at the girl walking silently next to him like he had done so often since the beginning of their little tour through the Digi-world but this time she startled him by turning her head in his direction for the first time. She just looked at him for a moment with her piercing pale blue eyes before she spoke:
"Just ask me, ok?"
Ryo was at a loss of words for a few seconds but quickly regained his composure. He smiled a little when he began:
"You told me that you are looking for a lost friend and that you want me to take you to the four Sovereigns of the Digi-world. I understand that this is probably something very personal to you but you also have to accept that I've got some questions about this whole thing and that I would appreciate to get some answers soon. You have given me no further reason to why you want to see them and I know nothing about your intentions and I'm certainly not going to force you to tell me anything but I hope you will give me some clues to why we are here."
If the young blonde was impressed by his little speech she knew to hide it perfectly. She only regarded him thoughtfully a few more moments before she answered:
"I still think that you don't need to know why I want to see them but it's understandable that you want some answers."
Again she paused for a moment, looking up at the digital sky. Ryo had no idea what might be going on inside her head at that moment but he still hoped to get some more details about this whole thing out of her this time. Slowly she turned back to him, locking her eyes with his.
"Your guess was correct when you asked me at the park if my lost friend was a digimon. You were not present when I met the other Tamers but I guess they have told you about me or at least about Dobermon.
Dobermon is the one I'm looking for. He was sent to our world by the Sovereigns as a vessel, a messenger. He was the one who brought you the power you needed to be able to reach the mega level in our world and doing so he gave his life.
I am here now to reclaim him."
"Well, that answers quiet a lot of questions but it also brings up some new ones. For example why do you think the Sovereigns will grant you this wish? You are not Dobermons tamer, are you?"
"I really think this doesn't concern you but to answer you question, I'm not Dobermons tamer and I don't have a D-arc but I honestly don't care. After all that's my problem and you shouldn't worry about that. Just bring me to them, I'm not going to ask for anything else."
That said Alice began walking again, making it clear that this conversation was over. Ryo was far from satisfied with this answer but he was somewhat relieved by what she had told him. As far as he knew the girl had far more problems to deal with than she wanted to admit but she was at least no significant threat to the Digi-world right now which had been his main concern.
He had already seen what a single human being could do to a whole world and obviously it didn't matter how kind the person may have once been. He had failed to protect his friend and the Digi-world once but he was not going to let such a thing happen again.
They may not be friends but he still felt somewhat responsible for Alice and he would be looking after her no matter what. He would walk a part of her way with her and support her as good as possible. She could every kind of help she could get, that was for sure. As he watched the pale girl with the blonde hair and the black dress, who seemed to be so completely out of place in this bright world, slowly walking away he had made his decision.
"Hey, wait for me", he cried after her before he started running to catch up with her.
* * *
Well, you guy seem pretty sure that this is going to be an Alice/Ryo story. I'm not going to say yes but I'm not going to say no either. I've already decided who is going to get Alice in the end but I'm not going to tell yet! ^___^
Just don't be too disappointed if the pairings are not like what you would have expected them to be.
@Shiroi Taiyou: Yes, the Tamers got their digimon back (well, except for Juri since Leomon's data was absorbed by Beelzemon). That's why Ryo had MonoDramon with him in the real world but that's not very important to the story anyway.
Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I hope you'll do it again. ^__^