A/N: Um....
WARNING!!
WARNING!!
This is a very angsty drabble. If you would like to stay in the realm of humor, please skip this drabble.
And this is what happens when you work on a certain other dramatic piece and are in the mood for emotional stuff. I'm really in a writing mood today.
I'm writing these more for the sake of writing and enjoying it than anything else, and some of these drabble scenes have been in my head for a while, so please forgive me for being so sporadic and probably writing these often...
Background: This takes place roughly a month after the official end of a war deemed "The Crystal Wars". I doubt I will ever write up a story detailing this war unless someone absolutely begs me.
He was back there again, in those rooms, where all he could see was malicious faces, the flashes of blades and spikes, the chains, the blood, her eyes dull and blank...
Trapped. He was helpless, confined, powerless, he could hear her screaming, his own vocal cords were raw with his own cries, then there was pain, humiliation, evil laughter, more pain, and he realized he had never left, he was still there, only she was gone, and he was alone, he was afraid, he knew they would never relent until he revealed the information but wouldn't, he couldn't, not when she was there next to him, after all they had done to her...
There was red, the red of that room, the gray of that cell, the stone of the place where she had been, where they had forced him to watch, all he could hear was those screams... and there was just pain, the splintering of bones, the metallic lash, and suddenly he could see her eyes, bright for one last moment as the spike came stabbing down into her chest –
"Wake up! It's not real!"
Tai sat up straight, covers and a pillow thrown over to the side as he gasped for air, suddenly aware that he had been yelling. Agumon was right in front of him, concerned and sad.
It took a moment for him to register everything around him. Desk, soccer ball, dresser, clothes – all the signs of him being in his room, safe and close to the others.
"Did I wake you up?" he asked softly, gazing at his partner.
Agumon gingerly stepped forward and embraced him. "Don't worry about it," he replied. "I'm here for you. You're home, surrounded by everyone who cares about you, and we're all here to help you."
Tai gave a hollow laugh. "Yeah... damn, I hope I didn't wake anyone else up."
"I think they'd rather you did, so they could come and be with you."
"Yeah, I guess."
The feeling of guilt welled up in him. It was still there, fresh from what had been real only weeks earlier, revived almost nightly in his nightmares.
But she's gone. She's gone, it's all my fault, and nothing will bring her back.
"It's okay Tai. The war's over."
No it's not. Maybe it is for everyone else, but it's not for me.