Her head hurt.
That was the first thing she noticed upon waking up. Blood seemed to pound against her temples and she felt the urge to draw her blanket up and continue to sleep.
Her eyes shot open. Blanket? She saw a too-familiar soft yellow comforter over her.
That wasn't the only thing she was seeing that struck her odd. Everything was odd.
She took in the dimly lit room – the night light had been left on, its light cast shadows on the walls, parquet floor, the study table, the yellow-rimmed clock on the wall, and the bed she was lying on. The fan overhead was spinning at top speed, and she felt a sudden chill once the quilt was pushed off her. She was wearing a loose tank top and a pair of pajama shorts.
Liu Ying realized that she was in her bedroom. What am I doing here? I thought…Labramon! JD!
She jolted up and looked around her wildly. Labramon was not with her. JD wasn't either. She blushed at the thought, but composed herself.
The clock showed that it was approximately six thirty in the morning; the time she'd usually got up on schooldays. It was still dark outside.
What happened? She pressed her temples. It couldn't be a dream. The last thing I remember was…Doumon attacking us.
Two soft knocks, and the door opened. She saw her mother poking her head inside.
"Oh, you're already awake, Ying," she said, smiling.
Liu Ying blinked; the last time she remembered, her mother had dyed her long straight hair a shade of mahogany red. But they were jet black now, identical to hers. Her mother smiled at her warmly as she flicked the light switch on. Light poured all over the room, and she saw another difference in her mother. She remembered her mother's face, while pretty, it had hints of premature wrinkles. But those were absent now from the woman that was gazing at her now. Liu Ying thought her mother looked as young as her thirty-three years old suggested.
"Mama?" she asked absently.
"Still half-awake, I see," said her mother without missing a beat. "Well, when you're ready you can come join us for breakfast."
"What day is it?" Liu Ying asked. Her mother wouldn't be asking her to get ready so early if it was not a weekday.
Mrs. Evelyn Chang looked amused. "Why, it's Monday." She raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me because of your date yesterday, you've forgotten about today being a school day?" The woman chuckled at her; Liu Ying felt her cheeks burning. "You must tell me about it. We're eager to hear about your first date."
"Mama…" The date was yesterday? So…looks like nothing is wrong…but I didn't say that it was a date at all to Mama.
"I'll leave you to get ready." Her mother closed the door.
Liu Ying thought that it was rather odd that her mother was so chipper today. She couldn't remember when the last time her mother looked so genuinely happy like this was. No, not happy… She scrunched her face, trying to think of a perfect word. Content? Fulfilled? She shrugged. And her hair didn't look like it was colored black…that's the original color. Like mine.
It was nearly seven when she was ready to come downstairs to join her family for breakfast. She couldn't find her Digivice. Had she misplaced it somewhere? It was not there on her study table as it should be. Maybe Labramon knows…
She heard her mother talking with somebody, her grandfather, perhaps. She paid no heed for it, and went to put her schoolbag at the living room first before stepping inside the kitchen. The aroma of fried noodles crept to her nose.
A voice however stopped her cold. She had thought that it was her grandfather, but then noticed a remarkable difference. Her grandfather sounded much older; the man who was talking to her mother sounded younger. Stern, composed, and somewhat affectionate. She hadn't known that her mother had a friend over. And for breakfast, at that.
"You should've looked at her face," her mother spoke up with a laugh. "I asked her about the date, and she turned red instantly."
The man chuckled. Rustles of newspapers were heard; he must have put it down. "I'm sure it's nothing to be worried about. After all, that boy is a good one."
That voice! It couldn't be… She shivered as she slowly crept towards the kitchen, and braved herself to peer towards the dining table. A man had his back facing her. Her heart thumped nervously. Short black hair, dark blue policeman uniform…she didn't have to look even more to know who that was.
"Ah, she's here," her mother announced, placing a large bowl of fried noodles at the center of the table. The man turned to face her, and gave her a warm smile.
"Good morning, Ying. Your Mama and I have been wondering when will you be joining us for breakfast."
Liu Ying was speechless. Her eyes stung, her vision blurred. Reasons escaped her, and she flung herself towards the man.
"Papa!"
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WIRA DIGITAL
Chapter 67 – Reality Bites
xxx
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"Whoa, what's this all about?"
Her father patted her on the back once, somewhat awkwardly as she hugged him tight. Tears flowed freely; a few drops had tainted her father's crisp policeman uniform. She couldn't bring herself to care about that just yet. Confusion and happiness dominated her. How was this possible? Her father had been dead for two years. And now, he was here. Alive. And her mother didn't even seem to think that it was strange. She couldn't reply to her father's inquiry; all that came out from her was either a choke or a sob, or a choked sob.
"But I thought…" she finally managed to muster out, slowly willing herself to break the embrace. It was hard; she didn't even want to let go.
"Why is she crying?" a sleepy voice inquired. Liu Ying turned around; her five-year-old brother was looking at her strangely as he wiped sleep off his eyes. Even Liu Meng didn't think that it was strange that their father was here with them.
"I don't know myself," Mr. Chang Liu Kang answered. He frowned a little at her. "Why don't you enlighten us?"
"I hope it's not because of your date yesterday," said her mother, concerned.
Liu Ying shook her head. She was so confused. Her father was here, and her mother and brother didn't seem to think that it was odd. She looked around for her grandfather and Labramon; both didn't seem to be in sight. "Where's Grandpa?" she asked, wiping her tears. "Where's Labramon?"
"Grandpa?" Mr. Chang looked at her oddly. "Your grandpa's at his home, back at Ipoh. You asked of him as if he's here with us."
Ipoh? That was her father's hometown, thought Liu Ying.
"And who is Labramon?" Mrs. Evelyn Chang asked. "A friend of yours?"
Liu Ying blinked. What's happening here? Her father was alive. Her grandfather wasn't here. Nobody seemed to know who Labramon was. And her tears still would not stop flowing out.
"Papa?" she asked again, looking at her father. She tried to search for any flaw, any reason why she could say that this was not her father. But she couldn't. Other than a few matured lines on his forehead and some gray strands hidden in his thick black hair – a sign of age which seemed to fit him well – this was definitely her father.
Her father frowned. "I haven't seen you acting like this since that day…two years ago." He looked at her mother. "Remember it, Lyn?"
Her mother rubbed her chin as she sat down. "Oh…yes. Yes, I remember that day. Ying was exactly like this – crying after waking up from her sleep and not wanting you to go to work."
"And we all know what happened that day," said her father with an odd tone. He was gazing at her.
"What…what happened?" she asked, rubbing her tears away.
Her parents exchanged a look. "I don't know what exactly happened that day, but you wouldn't stop crying that morning. You said you dreamt of me getting myself killed if I go to work that day, and you wouldn't listen when we told you that it was just a dream," her father said. He beckoned for her to sit down, and she complied. "You were acting really weird. It was probably the most important assignment I had ever gotten that day, to escort the Deputy Prime Minister…but you wouldn't stop crying, begging me to not go."
"Then….then what happened?"
"You're sure you don't remember any of it?" asked her father, very gently. "I thought you said you'd never forget that day?"
"I…I can't remember any of it." She could feel her parents looking at her oddly, but she didn't care. Something told her that she would get her answer to this bizarre phenomenon if she heard her father out.
"Okay…I suppose we can speak about it," said her father. "Anyway, you wouldn't stop crying, but I really was about to go to work anyway. Then you sprang to your feet, took the car keys and bolted away from the house as fast as your little feet could carry you…" His face darkened. "And we heard the most horrible noise afterward. A skidding screech and your mother shrieking…she was at the garden." He looked at her solemnly. "It wasn't a serious accident but you were still hurt; it was lucky that the driver managed to stop in time. I had to call the station and asked for another policeman to be the DPM's escort, because I had to take you to the hospital…"
Her father shook his head sadly. "Later that day, we heard that the DPM was fatally shot. And the culprit…"
"Raymond Lau," she blurted out, remembering the criminal name clearly. That was the name of the man who had shot her father, who had jumped in line of the Deputy Prime Minister. No, that…didn't happen. Papa is alive…
"Yes, that's his name." Her father frowned. "How did you know that? I've never told you that."
"It…it was in the papers," she supplied hastily.
I stopped Papa from going to work that day, and it…it caused the DPM to be shot instead of Papa. She didn't even know what to feel. She was so happy that her father was alive. She was sad because the Deputy Prime Minister was dead; the man had been nothing but helpful to her family after her father's demise. And now she was confused, because everything just didn't make sense.
"Ying, do you…by any chance, I don't know…have strange dreams again?" her father asked gently, holding her hand. "You were exactly like this that day. As you can see Mama and I are worried."
Feeling her father's rough hand on hers, she couldn't bear it anymore. Instantly she launched a rapid series of explanation which consisted of how her father got shot as he jumped in to receive the bullet meant for the Deputy Prime Minister. Then the story shifted to how she became a DigiWira and being partnered with Labramon. How they managed to stop the evil attack one after another. How the killer's brother – Riley Lau – kidnapped her to demand the Deputy Prime Minister free his brother. How Riley Lau was in league with Doumon who wanted to trap her and the other DigiWira before destroying them.
"…and then we all found out how JD is cursed with a killing tattoo which will him during the next full moon, which is this Saturday….we all can't stop it from happening. And it all became even more complicated because JD asked me out yesterday on what looked like the first and last date we're going to have and I…"
"Whoa, whoa Ying, slow down…." Her father looked at her oddly. "You dreamed ALL these last night?"
"Well, no…yes…I don't know…" Honestly she didn't know. Everything was so surreal. She knew that she couldn't possibly be dreaming about her being a DigiWira. And her father's death…had it been real? Or was it a dream? She felt her father's palm on her neck and forehead for what could be signs of fever, she supposed.
"If you're not feeling well today, Ying, you might want to stay at home today?" her father suggested.
She shook her head. "I'm fine…I think."
"I don't even know that you have this imagination about….Digi-what?" her mother said. "And did you mention that you'd gone on a date with a JD? I thought you went to a date with Joshua?"
"Who?" Liu Ying asked absently.
"That Joshua Daniel Kamaruzaman boy who had actually called us to ask for our permission before taking you out yesterday…oooh….I see," her mother said, smiling widely. "JD…Joshua Daniel. I get it. Pet names. How adorable…"
Liu Ying could only wonder what she was talking about. Since when did JD go by with his full first name? She had heard Adam calling him Josh, and that, according to them, was how JD's family members addressed him at home. Nobody had ever called JD Joshua before, except the teachers at school, she supposed.
"Ying, a friend of mine once told me," said her mother, losing the airhead vibe she had been demonstrating earlier and beginning to sound like the mother she had known. "If you dreamed of a person dying, that means that they'll have a long life." She smiled at her father, and then at her. "I don't know whether it's true or not, but think of it that way. I remember you crying in your sleep when you were five, thinking that I have died when all I was sick off then was because of a mild gastritis…" The smile turned to a grin. "Obviously you cared about Papa a lot that you dreamed about him…dying…so vividly. I still get goosebumps thinking of what would happen that day if Papa did go to escort the DPM. And now you're dreaming about Josh…JD, dying."
"He sounds like a good kid," her father said. "I've had my reservations, but a boy brave enough to call us for permission to take you out; he must be a decent guy. It's a pity I didn't get to meet him yesterday."
"You should see him, he's a handsome one!" her mother chirped. "A mixed-blood. He actually has blond hair…somewhere between gray-brown and yellow. And his eyes…I can't decide whether it's green or blue. He mentioned being a quarter Malay and three-quarter Caucasian…I guess that gives him the blond hair and the eyes."
Her father gave her mother a pointed look. "Should I or Ying be jealous hearing you gushing about this boy?"
"Oh, stop that." She reached sideways and swatted her husband's arm. "I'm old enough to be his mother," she retorted. "He's only a year older than Ying."
Everything looked normal, but Liu Ying dared not believe anything yet. "What about Labramon? She's real…"
"Aren't you a bit too old for an imaginary friend?" chirped her little brother, who was the most undisturbed of them all as he ate his breakfast. She glared at him. Liu Meng shrugged.
"It's funny you should mention about 'Labramon'…" her father began, and she looked up. Perhaps she wasn't dreaming at all… "Your Mama and I were just thinking about getting us all a Labrador Retriever puppy for your upcoming birthday."
Her shoulders sagged. This wasn't what she was expecting to hear.
"Maybe Labramon is a good name for a Labrador, although it sounds a little too…" Mr. Chang shrugged. "Odd, for a name?"
"We've decided to let the kids choose the dog's name," said her mother. "No matter how odd."
"I wanna name him Lassie," said Liu Meng. Liu Ying could have sweatdropped if she wasn't so confused.
Am I even a DigiWira here? She thought. One way to find out, I have to meet the others.
"I think I'm going to school now."
"But Ying, you've barely touched your breakfast," her mother pointed out. "And you know that breakfast is…"
"The most important meal of the day," she finished. That one, she knew by heart.
"Yes, I wouldn't want my kids and husband to have to suffer that gastritis like I did, simply because I wanted to diet," her mother continued without again missing a beat.
This is odd. I swear this is all really odd… She gazed at her parents, specifically her father. She wondered whether she'd have things played out differently. She remembered Manny being transported to an alternate dimension, where the DigiWira were evil and the Darkshadow Brethren were good. This sounded like a thing that a Darkshadow could have done.
But then again…could everything that had happened really been a dream? Her father's death, her adventures as a DigiWira…they were all too real to be a dream.
"Everything is alright, right?" her father asked, gazing at her deeply.
She took a deep breath. Then she stood up and hugged her father once more. He felt so real. "Never better, Papa," she whispered, afraid and unwilling to let go. Her father returned the hug; she could feel him exchanging strange looks with her mother, but she didn't care. She really missed him, and thought that whatever was going on, it was good. It was definitely a good thing.
Thus she pushed aside her doubts for one moment, and allowed herself to genuinely feel happy.
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She walked inside the school, which was bustling with students. It was a good five minutes before the bell would ring, and she suddenly remembered that she should have been to school earlier to check her prefect duty for the week. She hastened her pace, before a hand fell on her shoulder, nearly making her jump.
"Hey, sweetie," a voice whispered.
She whirled around, and gasped out loud upon the sight that greeted her. It was JD, and he was smiling sheepishly, raising both hands in a surrendering gesture.
"Whoa...didn't mean to startle you. Sorry."
"JD! You look…" She took in his crisp appearance with mild incredulity, "different," she finished awkwardly.
Different was an understatement, for the JD before her was not the JD she had known. Or at least the one she was accustomed with.
For starters, he was neatly dressed in his school uniform – the buttons all in place, the school badge and nametag both ironed on the shirt's chest pocket. He was even wearing a tie properly – Liu Ying had never even seen JD with a tie. And that wasn't the end of the oddity; JD's hair was shorter, gelled and swept back. And he was wearing a pair of half-rimmed glasses that made him look somewhat scholarly, though from the muscle tones on his arms and athletic overall figure JD appeared to be physically active as well.
"JD?" he asked, perplexed. Then he relaxed, and smiled. "Okay, you can call me JD if you want. Like I've told you yesterday it's a name I went by when I was younger…but since we're boyfriend and girlfriend, I suppose I'll let you call me that." He winked. "Only you, though."
"Huh?" Confused, Liu Ying blinked.
JD grinned, but it wasn't the lopsided grin that Liu Ying was accustomed to see. "And how am I different today?"
The way he spoke starkly contrasted the rugged demeanor she had grown accustomed with; here he sounded polite and engaging.
"Um…nothing," she said quickly, decided that she had even more important matter at hand. "Do you think we all could meet during recess? The five of us?"
"Five of us?" JD had a blank look on his face. "Me, you, and…who?"
"Us, Adam, Gayathri and Manny." She shot him a look. "Who else?"
JD was visibly perplexed. He held up one hand. "Okay, firstly…do you even speak with Gayathri?" he asked.
"Why wouldn't I?" asked Liu Ying.
"I assume, of course, you're talking about Gayathri Nadarajah? That…" JD wrinkled his nose, as if something bad-smelling had just crossed under his nose, "snobbish daughter of that rich millionaire tycoon? She and her two friends, acting so high and mighty around the school. Three stuck-up…"
He muttered something else under his breath, and Liu Ying thought that it sounded like…dishes? Fishes? Leeches? Witches? Or something that rhymed with them. The way he made the comment however made it clear that he absolutely hated Gayathri.
"And secondly," he continued, "the only Adam I know about so far is my cousin, but he lives way up north. Yeah, the same Adam I told you about yesterday." JD smiled slightly. "But he couldn't be the one you're referring to, right?"
Up north? "I thought Adam's here with Kak Lisha?" she asked back.
JD raised his eyebrows. "Well, Kak Lisha lives with us for now until she finds her own apartment, although Mom and Jas wouldn't have that; they like having another girl in the family. Adam and Abang Zad live with their parents at Kelantan. Hmm…. I don't remember mentioning Kak Lisha to you."
Adam's parents and brother are alive? That shocked her. Not only her father was alive; Adam's family was whole too. Adam must be so happy.
JD shook his head. "Never mind. I must have told you about Kak Lisha and about my silly crush on her." He grinned slightly, Liu Ying thought he was slightly blushing, before he sobered and said, "and I don't know of any Manny."
"My classmate, Manny," Liu Ying reiterated. "Fellow DigiWira, remember?"
"DigiWira?" asked JD, amused. "What's that? A club name or something? And as far as I recall, there's no Manny in your class."
Liu Ying frowned. This is too weird. Everything is different.
"What about you? I mean, that cursed tattoo on your chest?"
"Tattoo on my chest?" JD sputtered. His eyes widened; it was as if he thought she had lost her mind. "My folks would have disowned me if I have one!"
"So you don't have one?" A rush of relief crossed her. She didn't realize that she was staring at his chest, before JD's chuckle was heard.
"Sweetie, you're making me blush," he said jokingly. He must have seen her seriousness not diminishing at his attempt to lighten up the situation. "No, I don't have any tattoo on me. It's forbidden anyway. Not that I'd want one if it's not. I won't be able to impress your father if I have one now, right?" The bell rang. He winked. "So…eat together with me during recess? If you're not on prefect duty?"
She couldn't get the nickname JD had given her out of her head. Sweetie? That was just too corny. But coming from JD, it didn't sound half as bad.
She nodded. "Ok. Recess."
JD waved goodbye at her and sauntered off to join his friends. Liu Ying smiled slightly; she didn't remember JD having those boys as friends. They, as far as she remembered, were all from the respectable crowd. Yet the JD she knew was always with the ones people considered as the bad crowd prior to his DigiWira days, and had hovered over Adam and sometimes Manny when he became a DigiWira.
Something suddenly caught her attention. It wasn't clear, but she caught faint hints of beige and pink coming from the school fountain. Her heart skipped a beat.
It was a dog. A very familiar dog.
Labramon?
She saw Labramon looking anguished. She blinked once, and rubbed her eyes to see whether she was seeing things.
Labramon fazed out of view, like a TV screen when it was being switched off. Just like that.
She stared at the fountain but there was nothing there. She was sure that she didn't imagine things.
But where did Labramon go? She couldn't have just disappeared like that.
Against her wishes, Liu Ying felt her doubts returned.
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She found out later that day that JD had been right, as she walked out of the school compound once school had let out. Manny and Adam were both not attending this school and Gayathri…
She shuddered; her encounter with the other girl had not been pleasant.
That encounter had been at the girl's toilet, two periods after recess. From her cubicle she could hear giggling outside, by the sink, and she was about to step out before she heard Gayathri's voice. She didn't sound as sweet and nurturing as Liu Ying had remembered, but somewhat supercilious and snide. She was accompanied by her two friends; apparently Bel was not dead too.
Their topic of discussion there had made her flush with anger. They were discussing JD, and several other details which Liu Ying had never thought off to be possible.
"I don't know what he sees in her," said Bel. Liu Ying knew she was referring to her, and decided to wait a little bit more before stepping out of the cubicle. "I'm much prettier than her!"
"You are hopeless," replied Gayathri, snickering. "But I do wonder about that myself. How on earth does someone as handsome as him ends up with someone as plain as her?" She giggled. "It's like a match made in hell."
She wasn't one who really cared about her looks, but hearing Gayathri said that hurt. But she continued to listen.
"To be honest, she's not that bad when it comes to the looks department," Dina reasoned. "A little more makeup would do her good."
That elicited roars of laughter from the other two girls. "Her, makeup?" Gayathri said scathingly. "She wrote our names in that stupid prefect notepad of hers because we wear makeup to school! That old hag principal had personally confiscated our make-ups because of her. Stupid school rule and stupid little miss perfect for ratting on us."
"I'm just saying," said Dina. "I got back to her real good the other day, in class."
Liu Ying didn't remember Dina ever done anything bad to her. She listened on.
"That prefect friend of mine…" Dina began, but Bel interrupted her.
"You mean, boyfriend." Bel and Gayathri crowed with laughter.
Liu Ying couldn't see it, but she could have heard Dina rolling her eyes. "Him? Please. Not my type, but he has his uses….Anyway, he tipped me off about a spot-check for the Form Twos which would be taking place after recess. So I had to get rid of that lip gloss and nail polisher that I'd brought that day. Damn it, they were both new." She chuckled darkly. "Anyway during recess I put those two inside her bag once I was alone there. You should have seen her face when another prefect confiscated those items from her bag. Miss Perfect Prefect, bringing makeup stuffs to school? It was the talk of the class for the whole day!"
"And you didn't get caught?" Gayathri asked.
"Of course not, I'm not stupid," said Dina smoothly. "Well, that so-called boyfriend of mine suspected something. Said that he knew Liu Ying wouldn't bring such items, and that he'd told only me about it so that I'd hide those stuffs someplace else. I told him I did, only that I hid it in her bag. He didn't take that too kindly."
"Ooh, what happened then?" Bel asked.
"Nothing happened. He didn't rat me out, or I'd dump him for sure."
"He was that smitten with you, huh?" Gayathri asked. "Poor guy," she said after a while; Dina must have nodded. "If he only knew what he's getting into…"
"Oh, that is so not funny!" Dina shot back. "Maybe we should hear your attempt on Joshua, huh?"
Liu Ying had learned by then that JD was known as Joshua here.
"What?!" Bel nearly shrieked. "You?"
"Oh, cool it, you! Nothing happened!" snapped Gayathri.
"What did you do to him?" Bel demanded.
Silence. Even Liu Ying wanted to know what Gayathri had done. She could hear Dina quietly snickering to herself, as Bel and Gayathri showed hints of a quarrel. As a prefect, she'd have to stop them, but she was curious to know what Gayathri had done.
"Nothing to get you so riled up. Let's just say that he would have slapped me in the face if he wasn't so gentlemanly…." Gayathri laughed loudly.
"Ooh, what did you do?" Bel pressed on; the hint of anger was replaced by curiosity.
"In his own words, I was touching him inappropriately," said Gayathri with nonchalance. "Inappropriately, my foot. I told him to stop acting so goody-goody, and you know what his response was? He just looked at me, like I'm a piece of trash, and walked away. Bloody idiot."
"Ah…" Bel then chuckled. "You little slut…"
Liu Ying frowned; she wondered whether Bel meant what she had said to Gayathri, or that she hadn't been meaning to demean her with such a derogatory comment. Gayathri wouldn't like it, she thought.
However to her surprise, Gayathri simply laughed it off. No angry retort.
"Hey, here's an idea," said Dina suddenly. "How about we make a gossip about it? Maybe it'll break Joshua and Liu Ying up. They were getting a bit too lovey-dovey to my liking."
"I like it," said Gayathri. "Well, we'll have to twist things around a bit, saying that he's the one making the move on me…"
"Oh, like people's gonna believe that! Everyone knows that Joshua is a model student!" Bel retorted. "And you…"
"Fine! I'll be the bad one, but let's say here that the feeling is…reciprocated by him," said Gayathri. "Liu Ying won't like that."
"Got it," said Dina, giggling. "Oh wow, it'll be the hottest gossip around here. The school mag's people is definitely gonna have a field day."
Liu Ying had heard enough. She turned the knob open and stepped out.
"I think you're going way too far with that, don't you?" she hissed venomously. "Trying to frame a decent guy for something he didn't do?" She shook her head. "I didn't know that you're that desperate for some extra grain of popularity." Catty, she thought, smiling inwardly as the three girls stared at her in shock. She couldn't help it. Anger and disappointment coursed through her; the girls weren't like the three sweet, pretty girls that she knew.
"Oh, look who's here," Gayathri sneered, "The girlfriend's coming to the rescue."
"And she's not alone." Another door opened, and a bigger girl – a prefect – stepped out. Liu Ying stared at her, recognizing her as a Form Three prefect Jennifer Kang. She held a tape recorder, and pressed the stop button.
"Don't you girls know that toilets are not really the most abandoned place in the world?" she asked. This time around, the three girls looked scared. "What you three just said might mean tickets for expulsion from the school, and mark my word the principal is going to hear about this." She waved the tape recorder.
"Who the hell are you?!" shouted Gayathri.
"A classmate of Joshua. My name's Jen, I sat beside him in class for the past three years." She looked at Liu Ying and offered her a smile. "I just knew that something was off with Joshua last week. He couldn't really fool me, but he wasn't really being too detailed when I coaxed him to spill out the details. And you three have been eyed by the school board for quite some time."
"What a wimp," snorted Gayathri. "Running off to tell his problem to a girl!"
"Oh, I don't think so," said Liu Ying, all of a sudden feeling protective of her sort-of-boyfriend. "If he wanted to, he could've broken those perfect teeth of yours with one slap."
"Ha-bloody-ha!" retorted Gayathri. She glared at Jen, specifically the tape recorder she was holding. Then she made a lunge for it.
Unfortunately, Jen didn't seem like one who'd take kindly to threats. With one swift movement she grabbed hold on Gayathri's wrist and yanked her away. "I don't think so. Liu Ying and I are both in Tae-Kwan-Do, while you three….are in the nail-polishing group, I suppose, if it exists. You'll make a fool of yourself if you try to fight us. Let's all get back to class now, shall we? I'll hold this piece of evidence for Joshua to decide what to do with it."
"The whole school will know about this!" threatened Gayathri, trying to pull her hand free. She was unsuccessful, but then Jen released her.
"Oh yes, go ahead. I'm sure your father will love to know about this too. Isn't he a member of the school board?" retorted Jen, triumphantly when Gayathri visibly paled. "I thought so. Move!"
The three girls sullenly walked away. Jen winked at Liu Ying. "And for the record, Joshua's asked me a lot about you. Glad to see that you two are dating."
Liu Ying smiled, but it faded as she watched the trio's retreating backs. She thought of what JD had said under his breath earlier, and couldn't – but sadly so – have agreed more. And she was so sorry to hear that these evil girls had tried to take advantage on him when he was a perfect gentleman. Perhaps JD would be better off as a tough, rugged bad-boy?
Jen stepped out, and Liu Ying was going to follow her before something caught her ears. "Ying."
She whirled around. Nobody was around. "Ying."
"Who's there?" She peered through the first of four cubicles inside the toilet – the one where she had been hiding at while hearing Gayathri and her friends' malicious gossiping. No one was there.
"Ying."
The second cubicle was also empty. She took a look inside the third, where Jen had stepped out from. Nothing.
"Ying."
The fourth cubicle had its door closed. Liu Ying placed one hand on the door, and gave it a very soft push. It was unlocked. "Hello? Anyone inside?"
Nobody answered. "I'm going to push it open…" And she did.
And she gasped loudly.
Labramon was staring at her, hovering in midair, looking absolutely worse for wear. Her eyes looked lifeless; the blue irises were a dull gray. In fact, all of her seemed somewhat dull gray though traces of colors were still evident. She was even somewhat transparent; Liu Ying could see the toilet bowl through her.
Labramon inclined her head towards her, whispering her name forlornly before a headache threatened to split her head open. She retreated towards the sink, grasping on it to maintain her balance. Labramon fazed out of view, like a television being switched off.
"Labramon?" she called. The headache was slowly subsiding. She turned to look at the mirror, and saw that she had turned so white. It was as if she had seen a ghost.
Had she?
"Hey, sweetie," greeted JD, startling her slightly by appearing from her back. "Let me get my bike and I'll walk you home, okay?"
She nodded, smiling at him. After the incident with the girls at the toilet, she had begun to feel a wave of affection for this JD. If everything that she had seen and heard about JD here was true, then JD was exactly the guy she wished that she'd have as someone special. Though, she couldn't decide whether this affection stemmed from the JD she had known previously; the one who might not have suited her taste but had attracted her all the same…or this new JD who was the perfect boyfriend to her.
JD came back, bike in tow. "Uhh…Jen told me about that toilet incident…" he began awkwardly. "I hope…"
"It's okay," she assured instantly. JD looked absolutely worried about her opinion.
"I should have told you about it," said JD glumly. "But…well, part of me was a bit ashamed for it. I must have acted like a wimp."
"A wimp? You?" Liu Ying couldn't comprehend the word when it was pinned on JD. But then again, this was a different JD; a mild-mannered, gentlemanly JD. "You're not a wimp. Far from it."
He grinned at her. "I love you for that comment."
Liu Ying blushed. Then she remembered that they were officially going out. "Oh…well…uhh…." She wasn't sure what to say. "Thanks." That seemed to satisfy JD.
She wondered why on earth that JD – or rather, Joshua, for the sake of differentiation between this boy before her and the JD she had known – was so different here. Gayathri too was alarmingly a different person; other than having the same name and physical features, she was not the Gayathri who was her friend and teammate. She felt that she really hated the Gayathri she had encountered today, as much as she had hated JD once. Perhaps even more; the Gayathri here was a very spiteful person. So were Dina and Bel; Dina's prank seemed somewhat cruel for a petty reason.
They made a turn towards a quieter alley which would lead to her house, away from the crowd of students waiting for their rides home. "This might sound rather odd…" said Liu Ying, while JD listened attentively. "But…I kinda have this…uhh…dream, about you."
"Oh?" His attentiveness turned to interest.
"You were so different there."
Joshua's shoulders sagged. "Haven't I been humiliated enough already…?"
"No, no! I mean…I have this dream, where you are this bad-boy kind of person. Smoking, having long hair, swearing a lot. You were always making life difficult for me at school."
"I am? That's…hilarious, I think," said Joshua, not really sure what to say. Liu Ying had the impression that the blond boy before her wasn't one who would do such things. "My mom would've washed my mouth with soap if she hears me swear." He chuckled nervously. "Actually, she did that once…I was experimenting, actually, and she didn't take it well…the soap was awful."
Liu Ying blinked, and then chuckled. She felt that she wanted to tell Joshua about being DigiWira. He looked like he would listen to her.
"Bad boy, eh? Is that a crazy fantasy you have about me, sweetie?" asked Joshua with a sly grin. "And that's only after our first date…"
Liu Ying flushed. "No! It wasn't like that! Now, that…the teasing, you did that too!"
Joshua smirked. "Some things never change. But I only tease the one I like, so…"
"Hmmph."
Joshua gestured towards the empty bench at the park beside the school. "Why don't we sit there and you tell me all about your dream?"
"You really want to listen?" asked Liu Ying.
"Of course," said Joshua. "What better ways to spend the day than 'wasting' it with my girlfriend?"
A chill ran down her spine. "What?" she asked softly. JD had sung a song with a line almost the same as that.
"I said…"
"No, never mind…it's just that I thought that there's a song with the same sentence."
"Oh, really?" asked Joshua. "I've never heard of it, so it must be a coincidence."
Yeah…maybe…
She must have spent half an hour at least outlining the details before she even thought of asking Joshua's opinion. She caught him looking at her, in a way that suggested that he probably wasn't even listening, only looking at her as she regaled the 'dream' to him. She huffed. "Were you even listening?"
"Sure, although I have to admit that it's too weird for it to be a dream," said Joshua. "It sounds more like a story." He scratched his head. "I still don't get it how you manage to include my cousin Adam in it, as well as that…that…slut and that stranger named Manny inside of all this." His face softened after looking somewhat miffed at the thought of Gayathri being part of Liu Ying's 'dream-team'. "And I have to admit that Adam and I aren't that close, although it would be nice if we are…I kind of liked having someone younger to look out for."
That couldn't be farther from the truth. She smiled slightly. Despite the outward differences, there were some similarities after all between JD and Joshua.
"But that cursed tattoo part on me…wow, that was creepy. It's the part that it's gonna kill me that makes it even more gruesome," said Joshua. He eyed her intently. "It must have felt so real to you, since that was one of the first things you asked me this morning."
"It still does," she said.
"Oh, poor baby." Joshua grasped her hand. "Hey, it's only a dream right? I'm not going anywhere."
Liu Ying didn't pull away her hand, although she was pretty embarrased with Joshua's affection. Instead she cast a look away from him, towards the trees…when she saw her again and let out a loud gasp.
"Labramon!" She shot up to her feet. Labramon looked even worse now than she had been when Liu Ying saw her at the school's toilet. She was completely gray now.
"Who?" Joshua followed her gaze towards the trees. Liu Ying saw him frown. "I don't see anything," he said.
"I'm telling you, she was there," she insisted, and suddenly her head throbbed.
"Ying…"
Her name was being whispered again. She grunted and pressed her temple.
"Sweetie, you okay?" Joshua shot up as she swayed, catching her in his arms. "Maybe we ought to get you home."
Liu Ying nodded, and allowed Joshua to help her home. Labramon seemed to call out for her, but the voice – Labramon's voice – was inside her mind.
"Ying…Ying…"
"Stop it," she grunted, when the throbbing intensified. The whispering continued, pleading at her. Begging.
Suddenly, flashes of random images ran through her mind with lightning speed.
Labramon, trapped inside a bubble barrier struggling to break free, but to no avail.
A bearded man in a red poncho, holding a black staff with a skull, was laughing at Labramon. She didn't recognize the bearded man, yet something told her that she should. The man then shifted into a fox in priest garments, and she recognized him. Doumon. He had two Digivices with him – red and yellow. Hers and JD's. And for a moment she thought Doumon was gazing at her, smirking victoriously.
A dark cavern, with wet floors. There was a lake nearby. JD was frantically shaking her, imploring her to wake up. She was lying down, face up, eyes closed, unconscious. She looked so deathly pale and her lips were almost blue.
Puspamon, Rosemon and Valkyrimon fighting a large armored avian with glowing purple wings. The battle seemed to be not in their favor.
"Ying…"
Labramon's whispering voice intensified inside her mind, the next whisper overlapping the previous one. The throbbing increased as the voice echoed into voices. She felt so overwhelmed; the voices would drive her crazy!
"STOOOPP!!" She whipped her head back, away from Joshua and towards the bench. And she lashed out, trying to will the voices away.
To her surprise, the bolts that held the bench firm on the ground all flew away in haphazard directions. The bench was yanked from the cemented ground and blasted against a tree, resulting in a resounding crash. The tree even shook, some leaves dropped over the ground like autumn dry leaves. She and Joshua both gasped, before she felt herself falling limp onto Joshua's arms. She saw a concerned look crossed Joshua as he lifted her with both arms, cradling her.
Everything started to spiral around her, before they dimmed to nothingness.
xxx
xxx
Voices floated in her head. She couldn't see anything, but she could hear them.
"Ying…Ying…please wake up. Please…I need you to wake up…."
"Liu Ying? Come on, don't die on me! Wake up!"
The first voice was Labramon's. The second was JD's.
"Oh no! Damn it! Liu Ying! Shit, she's not breathing!"
"Ying…Ying. Barbamon…Doumon….he's using you. If you don't wake up…he'll gain our powers and his Mega form will be permanent…"
"You can't die, Liu Ying! I'll be gone in a week. The team's down to four. You can't die too. The others need you. Damn it, please wake up…"
"Give it up. She's at a place where she wants to be. Nothing you do can make her awake. Nothing."
Her eyes fluttered open. The voices had subsided, but she now knew what was going on.
Labramon wanted her to wake up. JD wanted her to wake up. And she did. She'd woken up.
She was back in her room again. Her parents and little brother were there. Joshua was there too, leaning against the wall. Liu Ying saw that he had changed into a red T-shirt and a pair of jeans.
"You're awake," said her father, sounding absolutely relieved. "Joshua told us you've passed out at the park."
"It's so lucky that he was there with you," said her mother. She had been crying. "Why didn't you tell us that you are sick?"
"I'm not sick," Liu Ying mumbled. She was still confused. Labramon and JD wanted her to wake up, and she had woken up. There was no difference.
"Maybe it was the heat," supplied Joshua. "It was pretty hot in the afternoon. I shouldn't have kept her out for so long."
Liu Ying stared at Joshua, confused. He sounded as if he was taking the blame for her condition. And he was implying that she couldn't stand the heat, which was nonsense. But she didn't feel like arguing.
She had seen flashes of images while she was out cold. Those images, she was convinced that they were the real deal. Everything here was so strangely perfect for her; her father was not dead, JD being her ideal boyfriend. And it wasn't perfect for only her; from the sounds of it Adam hadn't lost his parents and brother. Gayathri, though she was a complete opposite of her true sweet nurturing self, hadn't lost Bel. The world here was a peaceful place to live at, not like her hometown which had been the target of the Darkshadow Brethren.
Somewhere, she was still unconscious. That chilling voice – the last voice she had heard before waking up – had said that she was at the place where she wanted to be. That she would never wake up.
Over the course of one day, she had decided that she rather liked this place, simply because her father wasn't dead. Despite its small flaws, it was far more perfect than the world she had come from. All these while, she'd wanted her father to be alive, not dead. And lately she had wanted for JD to not die because of the curse. Here, her wishes had been granted.
Here…where was here? She had the feeling that here was not where JD and Labramon had meant for her to wake up at.
Here was a place where Doumon wanted her to be.
Here was not real. Nothing was real here. A dream…My dream that come true…
"You're not real," she whispered. "All of you…are not real."
"Ying, what are you talking about?" her father asked incredulously. "Of course we are real."
"No…you're not." The throbbing in her head returned. "You…are supposed to be dead, Papa."
Her mother gasped, horrified. "What a thing to say, Ying! Apologize to your father this instant!"
"Lyn," said her father sternly towards his wife. "I think it's time to tell Ying the truth."
"The truth? What do you mean?" she asked, when her mother's face appeared solemn. So was her father's. So was Liu Meng's and so was Joshua's. All of them gazed at her, unnerving her.
"Stop thinking about your former life, Ying," said her father softly.
She shook her head. "No. You're not real." She looked at him. "Everything around here is not real."
"It doesn't matter," said her father. "It's still better than what you had there."
"What?" she whispered.
"Here, it's everything that you want," said her father, smiling at her gently. He held her hand. "I'm here. I'm not dead. We're a family again." He pulled her in an embrace. "I love you, my daughter."
She broke down completely. The warmth from her father, how she missed it so. It all felt so real. She could touch her father; feel the strength of his embrace.
"I know about your journal to me," murmured her father. "It breaks my heart when I think I'm not going to be here taking care of you, Meng and your Mama. Watching you and Meng grow, complete your studies, work, have families of your own… I have that chance here." He pulled away, and cupped her chin. "Don't take this chance away from me. I beg you."
"You will be a lot happier here," said her mother, reaching towards her before gently sorting out the long strands of her black hair. "You don't have to fight anymore. There's no such thing as Digimon. No battles. No risking your life unnecessarily. You can grow up normally. With safety, love and comfort of both your Papa and me. I promise. No more pain and fear…you don't have to worry about anything."
Liu Ying couldn't stop the tears from flowing out. She couldn't resist them. What they had said, it was what she sometimes think about. She had been so strong to herself for so long…
"Your parents are right, Liu Ying," said Joshua. He lifted his shirt up, enough to show her his unmarred chest. "See? No cursed tattoo. I won't die. You don't have to watch me die."
He lowered his shirt. "The others are happy here too. Adam is happier here than he was, with his folks and brother alive. Manny's blissfully unaware of what's going on back then, with him still all the way at Sabah. Gayathri, while different here, doesn't have to suffer the loss of a best friend. They're all better off here than back there."
His eyes then twinkled as he gazed at her. "And you're happy here, Liu Ying. Don't let it all go." He smiled at her. "I love you, Liu Ying."
Liu Ying gasped; she hadn't expected Joshua to say that. She looked at her parents; they were smiling at her approvingly. She looked at Liu Meng; Joshua was already lifting him up. His little brother seemed perfectly happy to have an older brother to look up to. Everyone looked so happy. She could be happy here.
Images that she had seen came back to her, reminding her of what was really going on. Labramon's warnings echoed in her mind again.
"But…I saw myself there. I'm going to die. Doumon…he's going to kill me. He is killing me…I will die."
"It doesn't matter anymore, Ying," said her father. "Leave it behind. Here, you'll live with us, with Joshua, until a ripe old age. It's a whole new life. It's what you've always wanted."
She wanted so much to agree with them, yet in her heart she still knew that it wasn't the right choice.
It was a selfish choice, should she choose to remain here.
And how could she be happy, when she knew now that by choosing to stay here she'd leave her friends - the real ones - suffer under the hands of the Darkshadow Brethren?
She had to go back.
Tears flowed out, realizing what she was going to miss. Back home, her father was dead. In a week's time, so would JD and there was nothing she could do about it. Trust myself to fall for a guy who's going to die, she thought, anguished.
Is it going to worth it? She asked herself. It's the right thing, but is it worth it?
JD had implored her to come back. Her teammates needed her, and JD was right. If we're losing JD soon, the others can't afford to lose me too.
Why are these things happening to me? Doumon…how cruel you are.
She took one last look of her whole family and Joshua, imprinting their images in her mind. There, her father and Joshua…JD…would live on forever.
Her mind was set. Her heart ached profoundly, but she had to do it. It's the right thing. It's worth it…it's going to worth it...
"I'm sorry!" She shoved past them and bolted out of her room. Her eyes blurred with tears, but she kept running. She made a turn for the stairs before hearing everyone chasing after her.
"YING!"
Distracted by their cries, she tripped her foot and went flying down the stairs. Her eyes widened in fear. Her heart skipped a beat. Her senses escaped her. Screams echoed in her mind as the staircases became closer and closer; she was falling so rapidly and no one could save her.
She closed her eyes.