Dum spiro, spero
as long as I breathe, I hope
Immense thanks to my mentor, friend, and beta read
Randir
A slim girl trudged through a darkened street, overcast by tall buildings. Cars passed by, throwing up geysers of runoff upon the sidewalk and its occupants. The girl picked her way through nameless black coated figures, keeping her head hidden beneath the hood of her coat. She stopped, tilting her head skyward, gazing through the chain link fence as the grey raindrops fell from an even blacker sky. From somewhere within her a small voice made its way out, Takato, Where are you? it pleaded,
But no answer came.
A loud sharp blast of compressed air atop a truck slammed her back to the world below. This was her home now, this dirty city. This abandoned world, shredded and tattered, lost between control and anarchy. She flowed along with the rest of the traffic, drifting in-between abandoned buildings, evading her stalkers.
The voice cried out again. She lifted a hand to her lips, moving it across them, remembering how it had felt to be loved, to be cared for, to have someone there. To have him there. She forced the thought back down, that had been her old life, her happy life, her dead life.
Takato opened his eyes and sat up slowly. He felt strange, like something horrible had happened because of him. It was a mix of guilt, disappointment, anguish, and loss. His eyes began to water and silent tears traced their way down his face, falling to the covers below. Takato sat there unmoving, until suddenly, it all went away, all the sorrow, anguish, guilt, all of it just gone. He stripped out of his night clothes and pulled some clean ones on from the pile of clean clothes on the floor.
She moved across the same footbridge, the same as before, the same as all the two hundred and seventy four times before, once each way, twice each day. Her eyes caught on the stain on the concrete, the stain of blood. Her blood, from her first day in this horrid place. In all that time it had not been cleaned. Not that it mattered, she told herself, it's not as if they care what happens here.
She slid a skinny hand, thin from near starvation, up, pulling her hood down farther over her face. Now only a few strands of her once radiant golden red hair danced in the slight breeze, catching the spray of the rain, blackened by its fall through the layers of smog that encompassed the city. As she traveled, many of her fellow travelers on the sidewalks disappeared off, into their luxurious homes or shops of some kind. The girl trudged on. She was the only one left on the barren street. A long cascade of water fell from the skyscrapers above onto the middle of the street. She did not bother looking up, on a clear day you could just about make out the enormous buildings through the haze, a sullen reminder of them above.
She made her way towards a burned out building, its concrete frame blacked from the heat. Welcome home, she thought to herself.
Atop an adjacent building, a cloaked figure watched as the girl entered the building. Just like before it thought, just like all the others before, and all the others that will follow.
Takato pushed his way through the crowded streets, heading for school. Guilmon had slept at his house, for once, and Takato was sure he was going to be on time to school, for once.
"HEY, TAKATO!" called a kid from the other side of the street.
"Hey!" he called back as the kid dashed between traffic. "How's it going Ryo?"
"Alright," he replied, "It's nice to have people to talk to, living alone in a world with no humans can get boring."
The two good friends talked for a while about the normal stuff, school, grades, girls, then Takato groaned in agony, "Ah, we've got a math test today!" The two boys started arguing about who was going to fail worse, each trying to outdo the other.
"Well, I was up till 3 AM," said Ryo, thinking he had won.
Takato's deviously boyish grin crept up along his face, "Well, I'll be gazing at Ruki," he said, smiling.
Ryo stopped and cocked his head sideways, "Who?" he asked
Takato opened his mouth to reply. 'What a stupid question!' he thought….then he closed his mouth. A feeling came over him like he had been hit by a truck, directly in the heart. Who WAS Ruki…….The name sounded so familiar, yet…….he couldn't remember. "I……." he stammered, "I……… don't know………."
Ryo was still looking at him oddly. "Ok then…." he said, "Come on, we're going to be late for class." Takato followed him, still thinking. Ruki. The name was so familiar!'
From across the street, a cloaked figure observed the boys, it moved along the opposite side of the street, parallel to them, watching, observing, waiting.
After school, Takato walked up to his teacher. "Um... Ms Asagi?"
"Yes, what is it Takato?" she asked without looking up from what she was doing.
"Have we ever had a student named Ruki?" he asked.
She looked up, her eyes meeting his for a fraction of a second, then returning to her previous work. "Not that I can remember," she said, then added almost as an afterthought, "Why?"
"Oh nothing… I was just wondering," he said casually, bowing. "Thank you."
As he left the room, his teacher called out to him, in an odd tone, "Just stay away from high places." Takato hurried on home, wondering what that was supposed to mean.
Footsteps.
The girl awoke on impulse, clutching the lead pipe lying next to her. Her eyes snapped open, scanning the room. She waited in silence for five minutes, then, from outside the window, she heard a rustling noise. She smiled to herself, they had made their first mistake. She picked up a piece of debris and threw it through the far window. Shards of glass rained from four stories down onto the ground, and whatever else might be in its way. Screams of pain and random gunfire filled the air as the girl slipped away into the depths of the city.
A small knock on the door brought Takato back to reality. "Meh?" he called out. The door swung open.
"Oh," said Takato, "Hi Juri." Takato looked around the room, it was piled with books, and on his bed was a pile of yearbooks.
"Am I interrupting something?" she asked.
"No, not really, I was looking through my old yearbooks…." He trailed away.
"Oh, ok," she replied, "I was wondering if you wanted to go out for some ice cream?" she asked, moving her hand up his leg.
"No thanks," said Takato, standing up, apparently not noticing her obvious advance. "I'm rather busy actually."
Takato thumbed through last year's yearbook. The paper felt new and crisp, he had only opened it a few times. Takato placed his hand on the next page, maneuvering his index finger underneath the page. Something felt different about the page, something about it. It felt special, like it had power to it.
Takato shook with excitement and anxiety, this was it, this page contained what he was looking for, the image of Ruki must be here. He slowly turned the page over, intently scanning it.
Nothing.
Another yearbook page stared back at him. Takato slowly put down the book, all the excitement that had filled him was gone. He lay back on his bed, letting the soft fabric mold to him. Juri silently got up, moving out the door. An hour later he realized she had left.
The girl wandered the streets, looking for a place to sleep. 'They've found me,' she kept repeating to herself, knowing what it meant.
Takato? The voice called out again, Where are you? Have you forgotten about me?
From somewhere within a faint voice answered, Yes.
The same figure as before followed the girl, tracking her movements. She had almost been caught, but due to its intervention, the girl continued to live.
Takato awoke the following morning drenched in cold sweat, breathing deeply. The thoughts of his dream slowly re-emerged from his mind.
Dark lightning flashed through the darkening sky overhead, illuminating the street ahead. Tall buildings lined ether side, too high to see the tops of. The low rumble of thunder echoed through the streets, strangely muffled by the light rain. The silhouette of a girl crumpled on the ground shone black, her legs folded under her, hands propping her up. An almost silent whimper of pain, anguish and longing hung in the air around her.
Yet Takato could not see her, only the black silhouette.
Another flash of lightning cut through the darkness, accompanied by a terrific blast of thunder. The girl whimpered again, clutching two round objects linked together tightly to her chest.
Takato shivered deeply, sending goose bumps over his entire body. It had been a dream, nothing more...He began to dress for school, yet at the back of his mind, the dream remained.
Jen lay on the floor, the side of his head flattened against the rough carpet. The room was in a state of total chaos, the couch was pulled back several feet from the wall. His school books lay scattered about the floor. He lazily rolled over onto his back, staring up at the blank ceiling. He closed his eyes, stretching his arms and legs out, flapping them in the air. He emitted a soft groan as his neck made a small crack.
"That's what you get for sleeping on the floor," Suzie remarked, stepping over him.
Jen muttered an inaudible 'go away' noise.
"What were you doing last night anyway?" she inquired eyeing the mess.
"Finishing homework," he replied.
Suzie eyed him suspiciously. "Sure..."
"Hey, Mom!" Takato called, "Have you seen my goggles?" he called down the stairs.
"No, I haven't," she replied, from downstairs.
"Alright..." he said to himself. "I probably left them at school again."
Warmth.
A warm light shone from above casting a radiant aurora on the green park. A boy stood on a patch of grass atop a hill, smiling at her. She approached him, smiling back at him. A whirlwind of cherry blossoms flew through the air around them, as the sun caught the droplets of water, refracting a golden pink light.
The boy moved to her, sliding a hand around her slender waist, pulling her into him. She slowly slid her arms around his neck, gazing into those star-dazzling eyes of his. A clumsy sort of boyish grin spread across his face. He leaned over her shoulder, resting his chin there. She stood there in total bliss, savoring the soft feel of his face against hers, his hot breath along the side of her face. Hidden in it lay words of joy, only she could not hear them. Slowly, as if frozen in time, his hot lips met hers.
The kiss lasted only a second, but it carried a lifetime of words and meaning.
A soft voice whispered in her ear, "Ruki..." it said in the softest, most delicate and loving tone.
"Takato..." she replied the same way.
A dark column descended over the park. Ruki's vision began to blur.
Pain.
Along her arms dark flames leapt up, burning away at her mind. She flung herself away from Takato, catching his goggles with her finger, twisting in agony. Her foot caught on something cold as she collapsed to the ground. A cold vapor surrounded her, pressing its way into her mind. The world of grass around her began to shift to a blackened street. With a tremendous noise, the world shifted to that of green light she had been residing in.
Again. Another thunderous boom snapped her back to the dark street. Again, again. The combination of noise and pain overwhelmed her, bombarding her mind. She clutched the pair of goggles tightly, quiet tears streaming down her face...
Ruki awoke crying softly to herself.
Juri pushed her way through the crowd of kids hurrying their way across the overpass. She scanned the bubbling river of people hurrying by, each lost in their own little world. Through the crowd she spotted Takato' unmistakably messy hair. Her high pitched voice rang through the air, calling out his name.
Jen blindly plodded along the street, scratching his head. He spotted Takato plodding along across the street. His head hung down in front of him, staring blankly at the ground. He opened his mouth, ready to call over to him. A small figure caught his attention, dashing along the sidewalk. Jen swallowed back his call, waiting to see who it was.
Takato moved along, his mind buzzing with thoughts of his mysterious dream girl. A pair of swift footsteps interrupted his thinking, a hand landed atop his shoulder, pulling him back slightly.
"Hi Takato," came the energetic voice of Jeri alongside him. He ignored her, pushing her hand away.
She stood, shocked, then hurried to catch him. "Takato, what's wrong?"
"Nothing," he replied monotonously.
"Takato!" she replied, slightly annoyed.
"Just leave me alone!" he shouted back, his voice full of emotion.
But she wouldn't, she couldn't, because she cared. "What do you mean? Don't you remember, you and Jen and Ryo risked your lives to save me, just the three of you, all alone," she pleaded. "That meant something to me, are you saying it didn't to you?"
The figure across the street, huddled under a dark brown trench coat with a hood the same color chuckled as the situation unfolded, thoughts of similar events reemerging.
Takato turned around, his eyes filled with anger. "JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" he shouted back at her, tears streaming down his face, his voice tight with surprised anxiety and fear. His whole body shook in an un-natural way, his eyes a bloodshot red. "I don't know anymore! I'm not sure about anything..." He paused, allowing his tears to run free. "It's just....something is wrong."
Juri stood still, unable to move, hundreds of thoughts raced through her mind, things to say, things to do, yet none seemed adequate. She felt a kind hand on her shoulder, the fingers lightly squeezed it, just as they had done last night, then let go. Jen stared into her eyes, filled with understanding, sympathy, and love. Simultaneously, a small smile spread across their faces. Takato curiously watched as Juri moved towards Jen.
A low rumbling noise shook the city. Earthquake was Takato's first thought, but it was a different kind of noise. A long crack appeared in the ground, shooting up the side of a building. He looked towards the direction of the rumble. A wave of hot shimmering air rushing by Takato, blasting him backwards several feet. Above the city, a large black armored digimon hovered. Its head was hidden beneath an armored helmet, one hand held a shield, the other was a huge energy gun.
"Virus Omnimon, Mega level," called Jen from behind him in an awing yet frightful voice. Takato looked up at the huge biomechanical digimon, a spark lit from within, slowly but surely, the fire engulfed him, filling his body with adrenalin. Takato swiftly spun around, then bolted back to his house.
"Where are you going?" cried the anxious voice of Juri.
"To find Guilmon!" he called back, still sprinting.
Above his head, another explosion shook the city, but this one had a different pitch to it. Looking over his shoulder, he spotted Justimon and SaintGargomon in a heated battle.
"Takato!" called Guilmon as he ran down the road. Takato smiled at his partner, in all this time, Guilmon was as excited as ever to see him.
"Ready?"
MATRIX EVOLUTION!
The bright white angelic wings beat heavily as the digimon now containing Takato rose into the sky. The wings beat harder as he gathered speed, charging the virus type. Brandishing a sword, he swung it towards the target. Faster than Takato could respond, Omnimon's sword slashed out with tremendous force. Dukemon CM was thrown back. A bright white light erupted from his hand, simultaneously, a golden red light blast erupted from the end of Virus Omnimon's cannon.
QUO VA-
A blinding flash of light engulfed the city as the orange bolt hit the massive amount of power Dukemon was charging for their attack. As the dust cleared, two small objects fell from the dust cloud.
Takato's limp body plummeted from the sky. The combined force of the energy and the explosion of Dukemon's attack had overpowered him, de-digivolving them.
Falling.
The air rushed by Takato as his barely conscious mind tried to figure out what was happening. The ground approached quickly. 'This is it.....this is the end....Goodbye, Ruki'
Takato's small body impacted on the asphalt with the dull cracking noise of bone on asphalt. As the base of his neck impacted, it forced his chest upward. His head was snapped backwards, as a thin stream of blood and spit was thrown out of his mouth. From somewhere under him, blood leaked out in a pool around him. His eyes stared frozen into the air, wide in terror. The pain was unimaginable, his body filled with a burning sensation as all of his nerves fired signals of pain. He felt something wet and hot against his back. His blood. The crumpled figure of Takato lay in the center of the street, unmoving. His vision faded away, along with the pain. And as they faded, so did Takato.
Guilmon lay a few meters away from Takato, his tough hide had lessened the impact. But only slightly. The impact sent data fragments scattering across the area, he lay there for a few seconds, but a fall from 120 ft was too much. The data that used to contain Takato's partner hung in a cloud over Takato, as if trying to find him. It inched its way down towards him, as small red particles drifted away.
Juri ran towards Takato, her eyes and heart filled with tears and grief. She flung herself at his limp body, hugging it aggressively. "No, you can't be dead....you can't die!" she wailed into his chest, clutching him tightly.
A small piece of white data exited through Takato's forehead. It hung a few inches above him, then began a rapid ascent. The data that used to be Guilmon swarmed towards it, meeting it a high above where Takato's body lay.
Above the street, a blinding flash cut through the darkness. Ruki looked up, puzzled. The light seemed to draw Ruki upwards, up, up out of the horrible hell she had inhabited for so long.
But it was only her imagination. A beam dropped down from above, too bright to see through. On the other side, she saw herself, standing in a grove, cherry trees surrounding her. The soft warm wind whipped up blossoms, swirling them around in a low swirling torrent of light pink. A bright sun shone overhead, its light cast to pink as it shone through the blossoms. But Ruki saw none of this, her eyes fixed completely on the figure besides her. Takato.
Takato bent over and whispered something to the Ruki in the grove, she smiled back over at him, throwing her arms around him.
The cloaked figure, a hundred meters behind her, removed her hood, dull golden red emerged, blackened by the smog of the city. The woman smiled to herself as she watched Ruki, wishing she was in her place.
Suddenly, Ruki felt her whole body leap towards the beam of light, she ran at a full sprint, throwing herself into the light, and the awaiting Takato. A blast of light hit her, engulfing her, she saw herself and Takato standing before her, then it all began to slip away. It was as if someone was rotating a camera to a different set on a movie, however instead of the camera turning, the world turned for it. Ruki slipped away from the scene of herself and Takato, her arms desperately reached out, clawing at the image moving away from her, her entire being crying out for it to say.
The cloaked figure moved towards the fallen figure of Takato, blood surrounding him. The figure knelt down beside him, a soft tear falling from its eye, it extended a slender hand out from under the cloak. It hovered above Takato's eyes, then slowly, pushed the eyelids down, closing his eyes.
An image of a town drifted into focus, downtown Tokyo. Her foot impacted on the ground, the light vanishing behind her. She found herself standing along her old street, the same buildings lined the edges, her heart became overjoyed as she ran through the familiar streets, twisting around corners. She rounded the street, crossing main street, headed for Takato's house. Only once she reached the other side did she notice that there were no neon signs along the road, no flashing lights telling her to buy something, no huge TVs high above her head. The skyline of the city had changed as well, fewer skyscrapers towered above the city. She stood for a minute, puzzled.
The cloaked figure choked back tears of grief as she muttered softly, "No….not again…" she whimpered softly, stroking the boy's hair gently, "I've lost him twice before, not again…"
Fear began to build up within her as she scanned the foreign sky of Tokyo, looking for something she remembered. A small girl walked past, maybe 10 or 11, clutching her mother's hand. As they moved past, Ruki's ears caught parts of their conversation.
"Seiko? Can we get sushi for dinner?"
"No, Rumiko," the woman replied. "Dad is coming home and he doesn't like sushi."
Ruki froze in the center of the sidewalk, shaking out of pure terror and confusion.
Juri slapped the hand away. "GET AWAY!" she shrieked in anger, love, and madness, "HE'S MINE!"
Slowly, the woman removed her hood, her eyes intently fixed on Juri. Her eyes shone with a fiery passion, her golden red hair shining in the sun.
Juri stood aghast. "M…….Ms. Asagi!" she exclaimed in shock.
"No," the woman replied slowly. " It's not Asagi." She paused. "It's Makino." From above them, a bright light shone for a second before it engulfed the entire city in a blinding flash of light…
Ms. Makino stepped out into a bleak, dirty world. She was surrounded by rain clouds and tall dark skyscrapers. She sighed as large black raindrops fell on her head, she knew she would end up here sooner or later, she just wished she hadn't had to. She pulled her cloak over her head, preparing to set into her new lifestyle, that would no doubt repeat itself…
Ruki found herself standing in front of her school, clutching her backpack to her chest. A girl waked past, talking to another. "Did you hear, Ms Asagi has gone missing!" She heard a familiar voice from behind her, it was soft, comforting and laughing. She slowly turned around to see Takato and Ryo coming towards her.
Takato groaned in agony. "Ah, we've got a math test today!" The two boys started arguing about who was going to fail worse, each trying to outdo the other.
"Well, I was up till 3 AM," said Ryo thinking he had won.
Takato's deviously boyish grin crept up along his face, "Well, I'll be-" He was interrupted as Ruki threw herself at him, throwing her arms around him, hugging him close to her. Takato, thinking he was under attack, attempted to block with his arms, landing them behind Ruki on her lower back. She gazed deep into his eyes as she tenderly kissed his hot lips. Takato stood in shock and awe, then a grin spread across his face as his eyes began to sparkle. He leaned over, whispering softly into her ear, "I had no idea..." Ruki kissed him again, passionately, saying more in that second than she could have in hours, her head slid down, resting on Takato's shoulder, she lay there feeling his hot breath against her hair, and his arms around her.
"I think I'll leave you two alone…." sweatdropped Ryo, continuing to class.
Ruki clung to Takato, after all those months trapped in that barren world, she had found him again, her Takato. She vowed to never let him go.
Owari
Author's note: This fic started out as a simple Rukato story, however, as I began to write, it took on a second life of its own. My original idea was to have Ruki slip out of the timeline and Takato go crazy, because there was something he was remembering (Ruki) that he couldn't, and everyone else thought he was going insane because they forgot about him. But after I began, I thought, "What if Ruki gets back to her world, only early….." Takato's teacher had always been a neglected character in anything other than lemon fics. So I decided to give her some background and explore her character more.
In this fic, there are actually 5 copies of Ruki simultaneously existing in different time lines. There are two in the "real" world, two in the "other" world, and one in the "old real" world.
Something Randir pointed out is that in the end, Takato says "I never knew" however, I did write the cherry blossom scene. This works because that was the "start" of the paradox, so the event never existed, while at the same time, existing.
P.S. Next Fic is gona be a Dark unhappy Takari, but it could take a month for me to write it
Anyway, hope you liked it!!