A.N.: Whew! A few days later than I'd planned, but here it is. I can thank a seizure for this chapter, because my brain was fried enough that I couldn't face my NaNo novel for a while, leading me to write this. My brain seemed to want to write present tense for a while. Not sure when I'll be updating next - life as an ML is very busy in my region - but I am still pottering away at my fics here and there alongside my NaNoing. And of course, feedback is always very welcome, positive or negative!
Takeru is surprised when the girl immediately gets to her feet and announces that they should leave. He doesn't complain - the fresh air seems to help his headache, and the mansion is dark and creepy compared to the bright forest. Still. She hasn't answered his question, and although he can't explain how, he's sure that she could if she wanted to.
It's annoying, too, how all of a sudden she and Poyomon are talking quietly to each other, letting him follow behind as they make their way out along the path and towards the treeline. His head still hurts, after all, and he feels a little dizzy and sick, and now his companion is poyoing to the girl - and no one will tell him who Devimon is or why that name makes his head hurt so badly. It's just too much.
They stop a little way into the trees, and the girl sits down. Takeru folds his arms and frowns at her.
"Why do you keep talking to Poyomon, and not me?" he asks, feeling all the little niggly grumbles bubble up to the top of his thoughts and spill out. "You can't even understand what Poyomon says, and he's my friend, and you didn't answer my question, and…and… and I don't think you're a very nice friend anyway. All you do is make me walk and walk, and we're both lost, and there's not much food, and now my head hurts and I just want to know what's going on!"
The girl stares at him, open-mouthed.
"Takeru, I…" She stops, and hangs her head. "I'm sorry. It's just very, very complicated. I don't think I know how to explain everything. Not without making things worse, at least."
"Poyo poyo." The voice is solemn and soft, and Takeru turns to his companion, who is looking between him and the girl, and nodding slowly. "Poyo. Poyo poyo."
The girl sighs. "You want me to tell him anyway?" she says, looking at the little white blob. Poyomon tilts his head to one side, making a sort of half-nodding movement.
This is almost too much for Takeru. Even Poyomon knows what's going on? It's not fair. It's not fair that he's the only one who doesn't know things, and now there's a dark, scary figure staring out at him from the back of his mind and he can't think of any reason why. He's about to yell at them both that he doesn't even need friends, and storm off on his own - and then the girl tells him to sit down. Something about the way she says it makes Takeru listen.
"Takeru, Devimon is - was - bad," she says, her voice quiet. "He hurt Poyomon. But he's gone now, okay?"
"But how could he hurt Poyomon?" Takeru says. Something about her words sits uneasily in his stomach. "Poyomon is always with me, and I never saw him get hurt. Well, maybe the time he fell off the tree, but that wasn't so bad."
He finds himself reaching out for Poyomon as he speaks. Just the thought of someone hurting his companion makes his chest go all tight. Poyomon is… Poyomon's always there. He's the one thing which never changes in Takeru's life. Even here, having left the cottage and gotten lost in the world, Poyomon is still by Takeru's side. He can't imagine things being any other way.
And yet.
He only has to look at Poyomon once to know that what the girl says is true. He's not sure how - it certainly doesn't make any sense. But there's no denying the serious look on Poyomon's face; the sadness in his eyes as he looks up at Takeru and slowly nods.
"I think we should get moving," the girl says. "We need to find the boy, and he won't be here."
Takeru frowns. "How do you know that?"
She sighs. "Because this place has nothing to do with him. That's not why it's here."
Takeru isn't sure that really makes any sense, but he doesn't want to stay anywhere near the mansion either. So instead of complaining, he cuddles Poyomon tightly, and follows the girl into the trees. He's sure of one thing though. Next time Poyomon warns him about a place, he's going to stay away.
By the time night falls once more they've reached the end of the forest. Sandy dunes stretch out ahead of them. The girl stares at them uneasily, as if she's thinking about the mansion, although Poyomon doesn't seem worried.
Takeru is worried, but not just because of the sand. They've been walking all day, and he's tired and hungry and there isn't even much fruit left in his backpack. He can't be sure, of course, but it doesn't seem like a place which is all sandy like that will have lots of food.
"We should go around this," the girl says, looking at him and sighing. "Although I don't know how far it goes on for."
"Will there be food if we go around?" Takeru asks, looking out across the sand. The starlight makes it look all pale and silvery. It's kinda pretty really.
"Well you don't normally find food in a desert, you know. Food grows on plants."
Takeru frowns. Her answer jars him. It's not quite right, after all.
"Or there's fish," he says, thinking. He's not entirely certain what fish are, but he's sure they're food, and that he's eaten them. "And something else, but I don't know what it is."
Poyomon hops up and down excitedly. "Poyo! Poyo! Poyo!"
Takeru smiles. It's hard not to, when Poyomon gets excited about something. His small companion always looks so funny. Looking up, he realises that the girl is staring at him with another odd look on her face. It's hard to work this one out though, although part of him thinks she's waiting for something.
"Do you think you can describe it?" she says at last. "It might help you re- I mean, I might be able to help you work it out."
Takeru is about to argue that she doesn't make any sense, and that anyway, he doesn't want to talk about food when they hardly have any left. But even has he takes a breath to say so, he stops. His hunger pangs have come back from talking about food, but alongside them is the strangest feeling that he's been to this place before.
The sand is familiar, and before he really knows what he's doing, he's on his feet once more and running across it, ignoring the girl's cries for him to stop. He has to see what's out here, because something is, and he doesn't know why he knows that, but he does. It's hard to run on the sand, and he stumbles a few times, almost falling flat on his face. But it's worth it, it really is, because before long he can see something up ahead.
He stops a moment to catch his breath, and hears the girl and Poyomon behind him, calling and poyoing for him to wait, or go back to where they are. He can't do that though. He has to find out what that thing is in the distance; the dark shadow on the horizon. Before they catch up he's off again, running and running until his legs ache and his heat beats so fast he can hear it. Until his sides ache so much that he can't go on any more. He's close enough to see it now, a giant thing in the sand, like a triangle with two points in the sky, and the third one sticking into the ground. He knows there's a name for it - it's dancing just out of reach in his head, and part of him feels sure that if he could just think of that word then everything would be okay.
But it's not there. It's as if his head has run out of words completely.
He's still stood staring at it when the girl catches up with him, breathing heavily from the race through the sand. She drops Poyomon and the bag onto the sand and clutches her side, scowling at him.
"Takeru, what were you thinking?" she says at last, through gasps for breath. "Why did you run off like that?"
He turns to face them, dropping to his knees to scoop up Poyomon in his hands. The little blob presses itself against him, poyoing furiously in a low voice.
"I just knew I had to come here," he mumbles. It's starting to seem like a really silly thing to do now. "I thought… I thought I'd been here before."
The girl looks past him at the strange, giant thing in the sand some way ahead of them, her eyes going wide.
"I think you have," she says, slowly turning to look at Poyomon, who nods once.
"But I don't remember anything like that!" he says. "I don't even know what that thing is."
The girl smiles. "You still knew it was here though," she says, reaching down to pick up the bag. "It's a start."