Someone had been shouting at him. He remembered that. Or was it just that someone was shouting at him now? His head hurt too much to be sure. His eyes opened a crack, and then closed firmly again. It was too bright.
Something dug into his back in several places. His arms stung like anything too. And the shouting hadn't stopped. If anything it had gotten louder. Groaning, he rolled over. The act of moving seemed to shift everything into focus.
"...be so stupid! You knew what we were doing! What the hell were you thinking, Takeru!"
"Yamato? Is that you?" He coughed. For some reason it felt as though he had inhaled a bag of flour.
"Of course it's me, you, you... idiot!"
Everything hurt. His arms and face more so, but the rest of him ached, like he did after over-exerting himself. He hadn't felt this sore since the time he'd gone straight from a basketball game to the Digital world, whereupon he'd ended up running for his life and almost falling off a cliff. Yamato had been pretty mad at him on that occasion, too. There seemed to be something of a theme to his brother's angry outbursts.
He risked opening his eyes again. The brightness was still somewhat painful, but he could at least manage to see a little this time. He was in a room of some sort, lit with a stark white light. The floor was covered in dust and debris. Yamato was sat in front of him, with his back against the wall and his legs drawn up in front of him, arms draped over his knees. His eyes seemed to catch the light. Wait. Were those... tears?
"Where are we?" Takeru asked, struggling to sit up.
"Where do you think we are?" his brother said bitterly, looking away. "We both got sucked into this stupid world. I woke up hearing you call my name, and then you appeared out of thin air and fell to the ground beside me. I'm guessing there is a suitably stupid reason for that. The idea was that you didn't come along too, you know."
Takeru tried to blink the glare away, and looked around. The room was about the size of the living area in his apartment, with a rusted bedframe in one corner, and for some reason a pile of broken dining chairs in another. There was little else in terms of furniture that he could recognise, although fragments of what might have been cabinets were strewn along one wall, and a shelf hung lopsidedly on another, one of the brackets dangling uselessly.
A window revealed that it was dark outside – the light came from a fixture in the ceiling. What little colour there was came from partly rusted tins, and a few scraps of material around the bedframe. There was no door in the doorframe. The light spilled out into a hallway of some sort, but didn't reach far enough for Takeru to see where it went from there.
"So, this is where you've been waking up?"
Yamato nodded. "Normally it's daytime. I suppose it makes a stupid kind of sense for it to be the middle of the night here now, seeing as I went to sleep in the morning."
Takeru frowned. "It must have been almost exactly midday when it happened," he said. I remember seeing that it was almost twelve, and then talking to Taichi for a couple of minutes. Then Koushiro stood up suddenly. It was... it was like you were getting shadowy. We decided it was time to wake you up, but when I touched you, everything went dark."
Yamato groaned. "So it didn't occur to either of you to actually follow through with the plan and watch, instead of leaping in? Now we're both stuck here. How has that helped anything?"
Takeru shrugged. "It could be worse. At least it's not raining." When Yamato just stared at him blankly, he added: "Compared to where I was waking up, this place doesn't seem so bad."
"Yet," his brother said darkly. "It might not rain, but the locals aren't exactly friendly. We should probably turn the light out to avoid attention. Although there's already a chance it's too late for that."
"Wait. Locals? I thought this place was abandoned?"
Yamato's gaze flickered to the doorway. "The part above the ground is. But, you know how this place works. You said it yourself. Do you really think that just an empty building is the stuff of nightmares?"
Takeru gingerly got to his feet. "Maybe it will be different this time? I mean, I wasn't even asleep when I got sucked here." He walked over to the ruined cupboards and lifted a piece of wood. It snapped off in his hand, releasing a cloud of dust.
Coughing, he stepped back. Yamato hadn't moved. He seemed to be staring off into space.
"Are you going to sit there all day? I mean, night? Or, whatever it is here. That's not going to get us anywhere. We have to find a way home again."
The older boy didn't answer. Takeru was starting to get worried. He knew that his brother took things too seriously sometimes, but he couldn't remember the last time he'd seen him look so... hopeless. It was as though he'd given up. But why?
"Yamato. You have to get up," he said, crouching in front of his brother and putting a hand on his shoulder. "We can't stay here. Yamato!"
Nothing. Takeru found himself unexpectedly thinking of the Digital world. Gabumon had let slip once that Yamato had struggled with what sounded a lot like depression at one point during their initial adventures, although he had refused to elaborate. Was this what he had meant?
He was torn. He couldn't leave his brother – especially not in the state he was in – but at the same time, if he was going to find any help, he couldn't do it from inside this room. Who knew how long they could be stuck here? Koushiro had been convinced that they could only leave by being scared. Well, there was nothing to scare them in an empty room. Nor was there any clue to an alternative route home. They had to move, darkness or not.
There was no glass in the window. The light picked up the edge of a shutter, hanging at an angle on the outside of the opening, but beyond that was pitch darkness. Was that just because the room was so bright? If he went into a darker room, would there be more to see? The prospect wasn't particularly appealing, but what alternative did he have?
"Yamato, I'm going to take a look around," he said, half to himself. Hearing it out loud made it sound less of a stupid idea.
He made it halfway to the door before he heard movement. Turning, he saw his brother leap to his feet. Yamato darted over and grabbed him by the upper arm, towing him away from the opening.
"No. Don't go anywhere. You don't know what's out there." Yamato's voice was barely more than a growl. There was an angry glint in his expression which brooked no argument.
"What- what's gotten into you?" Takeru said, trying in vain to pull out of his brother's grip. He was pinned against the wall. Yamato was looking warily at the doorway. The light switch was on the side nearest them.
"I'm going to turn this light off," Yamato said, otherwise ignoring him. "We're drawing too much attention. It'll be safer when the morning here comes."
"Yamato, you're starting to scare me."
"Good. Maybe then you'll get back home. Which is where you should be." Yamato met his eyes, and faltered. "You shouldn't be here. Not with... them." The anger had gone. Now he just looked haunted. What had he seen, in all those nightmares?
Takeru rubbed his arm in the dark, gripping the chair leg tightly. Yamato had insisted they get themselves some form of weapon – no matter how crude – before he had turned off the light and plunged them into near darkness.
The doorway was like a black void now. Faint light made its way into the room from the window – Takeru could see stars of a sort, although they too were so saturated that they seemed to draw a pale veil over the entire night sky. It was light enough to make out the silhouette of his brother, who sat motionless, watching the door.
He still hadn't told Takeru what might come through it. Takeru had a feeling this was intentional – that his brother was trying to scare him enough that he got pulled back to the real world. The trouble was that, knowing this, it was difficult to feel anything other than irritation. Yamato's protectiveness could be smothering at times.
It was silent. Takeru hadn't bothered trying to talk after being hushed the first few times. For long minutes his impatience grew; there was no need for this.
Tap tap. Tap tap. Faint enough that he might have imagined it, except that his brother stiffened too. Tap tap. Tap tap. Were those footsteps?
The sound grew louder. He was more sure of it now. Something was moving out there, on feet which struck the ground with a sharp, crisp sound. It was like listening to heels on pavement. Tap tap. Tap tap. Louder still, until there was movement in the inky pool of the doorway. Takeru held his breath, all too aware of how deafening his heartbeat sounded. Would it be better or worse if he could see whatever it was that moved around in the dark?
Something rustled, like dry rice grains pouring into a bowl. The tapping had stopped, and Takeru could make out the faint outline of something in the doorway, standing at waist height. It turned, and two pale eyes peered into the room, seeming to glow from their borrowed starlight. Fear bubbled and simmered in his chest, snatching at his air. But not enough to send them home.
The eyes slowly swept the room, and then fell upon the two brothers. They blinked once, and narrowed. Yamato shifted slightly; positioning himself between the thing and Takeru as it started to growl, softly and menacingly. Takeru tightened his grip on the chair leg. If he'd been able to see them, he was sure his knuckles would have been white.
After a long moment, the growling stopped. The thing looked away, at something on the far side of the wall they crouched again, then returned its gaze to the pair of them. It cocked an indistinct head, as though puzzled, and then vanished. Rapid tapping marked its retreat.
Takeru counted three short breaths of silence before the rumbling started. Faintly at first, and then stronger.
"Yamato, we have to go," he whispered, as loudly as he dared. "It's an earthquake – we have to get outside!"
Yamato was already standing. He turned to help Takeru to his feet. The shelf above them rattled on the wall, and the rubble strewn everywhere seemed to dance in the faint light.
"Stick close," he said to Takeru. "I know the way out of here, but I've only done it during daylight."
Takeru nodded, and followed his brother. Right out of the door, and along a corridor so black that he could hardly tell if his eyes were open or closed. Both he and Yamato tripped more than once before reaching a wall.
"Now turn left," came Yamato's voice. "When it opens up, turn right and run straight ahead. We're almost at the door."
There were curious obstacles in their path now. Obstructions which made Yamato curse, as well as Takeru. How long had it been? Thirty seconds now? It felt like years.
There was light enough when he had taken a few more steps that he could see Yamato in front of him. Lumps of masonry had fallen, exposing the stars through walls and part of the missing roof. The shaking was stronger now, and he could see deep, thick cracks in the wall in front of him.
He picked up his pace, as best he could. It was a mad scramble for the pale rectangle he could see in front of him which marked safety. Yamato was almost out – he saw his brother's silhouette in the doorway, and then the starlight on his pale hair. Nearly there. The doorway loomed ahead of him – and he tripped.
Yamato had turned. He saw the look of horror on his face briefly before he looked down to regain his footing. There was a deafening creak, somewhere above him. Six feet between him and the door. He bunched his feet beneath him, hearing Yamato scream his name. Chunks of the wall landed next to him, spraying him with dust and shrapnel. His arms, already painful, burned anew.
He looked up in time to see Yamato, running frantically for the doorway, flicker and disappear. His feet found purchase on the floor, and he thrust forward, launching himself towards the doorway with every last scrap of energy. He hit the ground again just a few feet short of safety, and rolled, landing on his back. The ceiling was caving in, right on top of him. There was no time to do anything but throw his hands over his head in desperation. Everything went black.
A.N.: I had altogether too much fun writing this chapter. I am clearly a terrible person. You should probably not expect many characters to make it out of this story without at least a few minor injuries.
This is also the first point at which I have a huuuge urge to write an alternative PoV section about what was happening in the real world during all this. What do people think? And if I do, whose headspace should we be in? Let me know what you think. I'll probably write something either way, but I'd like to know if people think it should be part of the main story, or just a little one-shot that I'll write on the side later on.