The burning dream is different, this time. Before the rush of heat and pain, he hears voices. They seem familiar, even though he can't remember ever having heard them before. It's hard to make out what they're saying amid the haze of the dream, but they don't seem to agree with one another. One is harsh, and hard. Cruel. The other is thin and weedy; the voice of someone who doesn't really expect to be listened to. Plaintively, the weedy voice protests something. Takeru hears him say that it isn't necessary. Whatever "it" is.
The cruel voice laughs. Someone approaches, and Takeru struggles against the bonds he suddenly realises are holding him in place. He can't move - bands of metal are wrapped around wrists and ankles which seem oddly far-off, as though his arms and legs have been stretched. He's pinned to a table and there are bright lights shining down from somewhere. A figure leans over him, dark hair jutting out in wild, impossible spikes. It smiles cruelly, showing its teeth.
"You lost, Takeru," the figure says, in the cruel voice from before. "And now you're going to help me clear this world of all the vermin."
He protests - of course he protests, he doesn't want this figure to do whatever it is that is being planned. Somehow, without being sure why, he knows what comes next. But when he yells at the figure to stop his voice is all wrong - and for a reason he can't explain, that seems even more frightening than the burning he's waiting for. This dream is worse than the crying boy - it seems so real and yet it doesn't make any sense. Takeru has never met the spiky-haired, cruel boy who laughs at him. Who reaches over with something cold and metallic which he presses against the base of his neck.
Takeru screams. He's burning; a rush of heat and pain that starts in his neck and billows outwards, engulfing his head and racing down his body until he feels like every inch of him is on fire. He barely hears the figure cry out in surprise, or the shift in vocal tone which accompanies the now confused demands to know what's happening. All the while, Takeru is screaming, his body twitching and jerking as the pain in his head goes on and on. Behind tightly closed eyes his vision is awash with sparks and swirls of muddy, unpleasant colours. He feels something seep into his skin, and the burning fades to a numb darkness. Somehow, this is worse. He's sure that if the darkness takes over completely something bad will happen. He has to fight it. Can't let that darkness win. Can't give up - something. Something's missing. Part of him isn't there. And without it, he can't fight back. He's lost. He's going to die.
He wakes up to Poyomon's frantic, plaintive cries, and the sound of his own terrified screams. His heart races as he clutches Poyomon close to him and sobs. It's over. The dream is over and he's here, safe with the friend who never leaves him.
They've been sat for some time, letting his hiccoughing sobs die down to sniffles, when Poyomon fidgets. Takeru loosens his grip, and watches as his friend wiggles free, then hops down onto the floor and across it to the doorway.
"Poyo poyo!"
Takeru wipes the last of the tears away on his sleeve and gets up. The dream is over now, after all, and he's safe again. Besides, when Poyomon leads him to the door that early in the morning, it's usually because there's a friend to play with.
"I'm coming Poyomon!" he says, grabbing his hat as the little white blob who is his one faithful companion disappears out into the entrance hall of the cottage. The burning dream is already fading from his mind as he walks outside.
It's a fairly clear morning, with only a thin mist clinging to the walls and trees around the cottage. Watery sunlight peeps through, lighting everything with a warm glow. A boy is sitting on the bench by the pond. His hair is dark - darker even than the boy with glasses who sometimes visits, and seems to worry about everything. Takeru is sure this is the first time he's visited.
Then the boy turns around, and Takeru is surprised again, because even though he knows - knows - he's never met this friend before, there's something very familiar about him. It's not the shy smile the boy gives him, or the nervous look in his blue eyes. It's something else, and for a moment Takeru wonders if it's got anything to do with his dream. After all, that was new, and now here's a brand new friend.
But the boy who watches him nervously is nothing like the figure from his dream, and Takeru shakes his head and smiles. Dreams aren't real, after all, and he doesn't want to waste any time thinking about it when he has a new friend to play with.
"Poyo. Poyo poyo!"
The introduction is made, and Takeru bows. He's not sure why, exactly, but it seems the right thing to do when you meet someone. As though he's seen people do that before. Maybe his other friends bowed to him the first time they visited? He can't remember now - memories don't really stick around so well, after all.
The boy smiles, but only a little. It's like he's scared. This is definitely different to all his other friends - they're happy to see him when they visit. Sometimes they even hug him before they go off and play together. He's not sure what to do about a friend like this.
"Hello. I'm Takeru," he says eventually. The boy nods, as though he already knows this. Takeru decides that new friends are much harder work than the regular kind. "Did you want to play?"
The boy looks surprised, but nods once more - barely, but the movement is there. He doesn't move from the bench though, so Takeru reaches out and takes his hand, leading him to one of his favourite parts of the garden. It's filled with crumbling walls and low, slanting trees to climb, and a few of the higher branches have swings hanging from them. A perfect playground.
It takes the boy a while - as though he's never tried climbing trees before - but eventually they are both racing around the garden, playing and laughing. It's always fun when friends visit. But when the light starts to change, and takes on the orange tinge which heralds the end of the day, Takeru sighs. For some reason, none of his friends ever stay past sunset.
He watches the boy, waiting for him to realise what time it is and wave goodbye, but the boy keeps on playing. Eventually, he seems to notice Takeru standing there, and walks over. This time it's the boy who holds out his hand, and gestures to the wall which they've wordlessly agreed is their fort for the day.
Takeru shakes his head. "It's going to be dark soon," he says. "Aren't you going to leave, like the others?"
The boy blinks, and for a moment Takeru thinks that this strange new friend is going to say something. A friend who talks? Then the boy sighs, and looks up at the sky, and just nods instead.
"Well, I'll see you next time," Takeru says, and smiles. "Come on Poyomon. Let's go find something to eat!"
He waves to the boy as he walks back inside, and the boy waves back. It doesn't even seem strange that, instead of walking off into the mist like his friends normally do, the boy simply stands there. Watching Takeru until the door closes, leaving him outside - alone.
A.N.: Aaaand, there's Chapter Two!
The intention for this chapter is to give enough information to more or less work out what's happened - or at least to make a pretty good guess. I think I've managed to do that, but I've been wrong before in judging what people can and can't work out from the information given, so if you're still completely in the dark, please feel free to hit me up with a question or two!
There is a "what's going on" vibe in this story to an extent, but I don't want to write something completely obfuscating, because that really isn't so much fun to read. There's a fine line between knowing so much that the suspense is ruined, and knowing so little that it's just confusing and off-putting, and I am open to any and all feedback if (when!) I fall either side of that line!