Play of Spirits
Chapter 10 - Burning Lights

Takuya didn't consider himself someone who was easily startled – but when someone next to him starts screaming out of literally nowhere… Well, he thought that'd do it to a lot of people. Or should. Unless they were deaf. Or working in a torture chamber where that kind of thing was kind of the norm and he certainly didn't work in a torture chamber and he wasn't deaf either.

So the way his heart jumped into his throat was very normal and appropriate for the situation.

And once he got that under control, he could work out why Kouichi had just started screaming out of nowhere.

The train – Trailmon – they were on was still moving. It just wasn't dark anymore and his eyes were a little watery after being in the dark so long. Kouichi, in the other hand, had both hands clamped over them, as though it was far too bright.

And then there was silence and he tipped sideways.

Takuya was too slow to catch him as he fell.

And only after manoeuvring him into one of the seats instead did he realise that the other's hands were still clamped over his eyes.

And the Trailmon said absolutely nothing at all.

'Hey!' Takuya called. 'Are we stopping somewhere soon?'

'We're arriving at the Flame Terminal soon,' Dark replied.

'And… you wouldn't happen to know what that was about, would you?'

'My eyes face forward,' the Trailmon responded, which was somewhat of an answer, Takuya supposed. Cryptic-speak for no. 'Not behind.'

'Sure, thanks.' That wasn't very helpful. Maybe something flew into his eye? But that wouldn't knock a person out, surely. Or make them scream so loud from anything other than surprise.

But he looked anyway – and then shrieked himself because the whites of those eyes were red. What the hell?

.

"Soon" was relative, it turned out. Or maybe time had slowed down for Takuya now that he was with an unconscious person and an antisocial train, and mildly freaking out.

Kouichi even started waking up before the train stopped… Because, really, they were the only two measures of time Takuya really had.

'You okay?' he asked.

Kouichi immediately brought an arm up to cover his eyes.

'Yeah, they are pretty red…' Takuya trailed off. What was he supposed to say?

'Headache,' the other said, sounding a little hoarse.

Headache? Oh. Takuya dropped his voice to a whisper. 'What happened? You started screaming.'

'Feels like something stabbed me in both eyes. Or the brain.' There was a pause. 'Guess they're kind of the same thing.'

'How'd you figure that?' As soon as the question slipped out, he slapped himself on the forehead. Way to have your priorities straight. Takuya.

Luckily, the other just snorted in amusement – and then winced. 'Oww, that hurt.'

Takuya jumped to his feet. The other blindly waved a hand. The train started to slow at that point. 'Photosensitivity,' Kouichi explained. 'Usually it's on especially sunny days in winter or if I was in a dark room for a while and then went outside where it was really bright. Gives me migraines.'

'That make your eyes go red?' Takuya asked sceptically. Migraines were headaches, right? How did that turn into red eyes?

'No…' Kouichi lowered his arm a fraction, then covered his eyes with it again. 'Damn it, it's so bright without even opening my eyes.'

'Really?' Takuya blinked and stared out the window. It wasn't especially bright now and his eyes had stopped watering a while ago. Then again, he wasn't photosensitive. And didn't get random headaches sprouting, either. 'I mean, sure my eyes were a little watery when we came out of that dark place…'

'Idiosyncrasy, I guess.'

'What's that?'

'Means one of those things that's unique to a person… or just rare. Like all the weird and wonderful allergies.'

'Like bees.' Takuya made a face at that. 'I always break out in hives when I get stung – and I swear the bees know, because they keep coming back.'

Kouichi's smiled at that.

And the Trailmon stopped. 'All alight,' Dark said. He was keeping his volume in check as well.

'Come on.' Takuya grabbed the other's free hand and helped him up. 'Let's just get you off the train first and then we'll work out your eyes.'

'Planning on becoming a surgeon?' Kouichi joked.

'Nah, I think I'll be a sports guy of some description instead. Step down a tad.' It was a complete role reversal now, with Takuya being the one who could see and Kouichi who couldn't. Almost strange, how that happened. Too coincidental. Too neat. But it was what it was. 'Another step. Last one.'

They made it to flat ground without any mishaps. And then Takuya looked around properly. 'Wow, this place is weird.'

'How do you mean?'

'Uhh…' Kouichi was still shielding his eyes. So they needed some decent shade. 'Well, there's something that looks like a kettle in the centre of town – and unless we're further away than we look, the houses are kind of on the short side.'

'Which story is it where that happens?' Kouichi wondered aloud. 'A few of them…'

'Not much of a reader so can't help you there.' He shrugged his shoulders, forgetting for a moment Kouichi was clutching one, and he stumbled. 'Whoops, sorry. This is harder than it looks.'

'Sorry,' the other parroted.

'I'm not blaming you.' Takuya rolled his eyes. 'Just saying you made it feel much smoother. Done this before?'

'Had it done before,' Kouichi corrected. 'It's worse when I'm already sick and then this hits. I got a piggy-back to the infirmary once as well. Most mortifying experience of my life to date.'

'Not throwing up on someone?' Takuya teased.

'Included in the package.'

And Takuya snickered. 'Wow, I've got nothing to match that. Though my neighbour threatened to run me over when I scared her with a mask for Obon. Luckily she wasn't in the driver's seat.'

'I'm guessing from the way you said that that your – ' Kouichi paused for a moment and Takuya slowed as well. ' – neighbour's a kid.'

'Yeah, but…' Kouichi seemed to be breathing a little harder too, unless Takuya was mistaken. He put a hand to the other's forehead. 'You sure you're not sick with something? You did say it's worse when you are, right?'

Kouichi let go of Takuya's shoulder to check himself. 'Not that I know,' he replied. 'It's just… the air's heavy here.'

'Not particularly.' Takuya frowned. 'Though the sky's pretty thick with smoke. Maybe that's it. Nobody at home smokes?'

'No… It's just me and 'kaa-san anyway.'

'Oh. We've got twice as many people. Shinya and 'tou-san too.' Hang on a sec… 'Where's your father?'

Kouichi just blindly reached for Takuya's shoulder.

Right. Touchy topic. 'There's a bit of grassland before we get to town,' he said instead.

.

A little bit of grassland turned out to include some holes, which Takuya missed and stepped on, and so they fell, screaming, into the black.

But at least they found shade, Takuya thought.

Except Kouichi had curled into a ball, teeth grinding against each other and head tucked into his legs and clutched as tight as he could manage.

'It's dark down here,' Takuya whispered. 'Like, almost pitch black. I can barely see you.' He wouldn't be able to see alone if it weren't for the hole in the roof.

'Too bright,' the other croaked.

One of them was definitely wrong, standing on – or sitting at – opposite extremes. Takuya squinted into the distance but he could make out nothing –

No, wait. He could see something. A speck of something tiny coming closer. Though even when it was right in front of them, he couldn't work out what it was. A hunched over person standing on a disc and shrunken down?

It hovered above Kouichi, who cringed away from it.

Then it and Kouichi were glowing and Takuya decided he'd been the one of the pair to miss the memo.

Though Kouichi screamed in pain until he passed out again and Takuya was wishing he'd been right… Because the darkness was frightening but at least it didn't cause him any physical pain.

Seriously, how did the world expect a guy to function like that?

.

Whatever he'd said before, Kouichi was definitely burning up. Takuya was sure of that because the other had broken into a light sweat by the time Takuya found stairs and struggled up them while carrying someone roughly his height and weight.

Then again, he was sweating too – but that was because of physical exertion! Entirely different problem… Or not even a problem. Probably a good thing he didn't say that out loud, though. But if Kouichi felt hot despite that… well, that was a problem.

But the town was right there, so there had to be water. And medicine. Or a doctor. Or something to help.

Though everyone who peaked out from behind corners were… weird. There were a lot of blobs. Some had ears. Some didn't. And their eyes looked like those oogly ones they'd sew onto felt in first grade. Some looked like candle wicks. Then there were pink birds or orange dragons or grey rabbits and they were the strangest assortment of creatures he'd ever seen… Including the stuff on television.

But they weren't leaping out to attack him so hopefully that meant they'd help. 'Hi,' he said, giving them as good a wave he could manage without dropping Kouichi – which was pretty much nothing. 'Do you know if there's a doctor around? A pharmacist? Some water? Food would be good too.'

They inched away. Or inched closer. Basically rearranged the masses but nobody really answered. 'Are you a human?' asked one of the grey blobs.

'Uhh…yeah.' That's right. Dark the Trailmon said the lifeforms around here were digimon. 'And you're all digimon?'

'We're Pagumon,' the grey blob who'd spoken before huffed. 'Do you have food?'

'No. I asked if you guys had food.'

The Pagumon drifted off, looking bored and thinning the crowd out a little and the grey rabbits followed them. Then he could see a white gnome and a yellow rabbit struggling to the front – or was it the white gnome dragging the yellow rabbit. 'Oh, you are humans!'

'I already said that.' Takuya was starting to get impatient. 'Look, can I –'

'Oh, you must come with us.'

Well, he supposed that worked out.

.

Fate was a funny thing.

Those two invariably met the humans, and invariably accompanied them. It didn't matter who of them wound up at Flame Terminal at the end. They'd always meet and they'd always leave together.

It was beautiful.

It was also sad, because that made them the eternal witnesses to the tragedy.

It was good neither of them had the power of foresight like her. They would have left that path otherwise, no doubt, unable to take the sadness and failure at the end of the road.

But they were necessary. The knowledge of this world those humans lacked in each and every possibility and so they needed guides. And friends in this world they could depend on. And something to nudge them forward because otherwise they'd wander blind.

Maybe they're a weakness. But she didn't think so. The three of them were always falling apart in those other futures and the world would descend into ruin. Those children would come together in the end – they always did – regardless of how divided they began and those two as well.

Six children. Two Child digimon. And sometimes the lesser forms of the Three Angels as well.

And it still wasn't quite enough, but removing from that wasn't the solution. It was strengthening the pillars already there.

Or so she believed. So they decided.

And it was already starting to come together. Their feet were set on this path now.

Three spirits taken. Another one soon… probably soon. And two more waiting in the wings, and the two they were set aside for were on the move, slowly approaching…

Soon, stage two would in earnest begin. For some of them, it had already begun.

And they were already struggling.

But I've chosen to believe you can overcome it.

.

The white gnome was Bokomon. The yellow rabbit was Neemon. And their house was pretty small, but at least Takuya fit through the door without having to crouch. He'd had to lie Kouichi down on the floor though. The beds looked too flimsy and small.

But there was water. And weird cabbage like things they called food (and it was edible, and tasted far yummier than cabbage – but it didn't match its appearance at all). But no medicine for that fever.

Still, Bokomon was apparently a mother hen sort of digimon, and that was good because Takuya really wasn't good at looking after sick people. His mother always did it, regardless of which of them was sick. He and his brother tended to just avoid each other if the other had a cough or the sniffles.

Except Neemon was complaining about the heat as well. And Bokomon was mopping his own brow as well.

'How am I the only one not hot?' Takuya asked, exasperated.

Kouichi winced in his sleep.

No, he was waking up. An arm came up to cover his face with a hiss.

'Sorry,' Takuya whispered. 'But seriously, I thought you had a fever but these two are sweating bullets as well.'

'What an odd saying,' Bokomon said – before Takuya shushed him. 'Still too bright?'

'Yeah. Where are we?'

'Bokomon and Neemon's house,' Takuya explained. 'Bokomon's kind of a white gnome and Neemon's a yellow rabbit. They're digimon.'

'And you're a human.' Bokomon's voice was hushed now, but no less full of awe than when he'd first spoken to Takuya. 'You are Kouichi-han, correct? I am Bokomon, keeper of the book.'

'And I'm Neemon.' On the other hand, Neemon was far too loud. 'Keeper of my pants.'

'That's all fine and all,' Takuya said, in the brief quiet that followed. 'But if you two are boiling, then I take it this isn't normal? Is it the middle of summer or something?'

'No,' said Bokomon. 'This was… only a little before you two came, actually.'

'Maybe they caused it,' Neemon suggested.

'Don't be absurd, Neemon,' Bokomon snapped. 'It's probably just something wrong with the heater.'

'The heater?' Takuya repeated. The one I saw from the Flame Terminal?

'Yes, it's the source of all energy in our town.' Bokomon dropped his voice. 'It also houses a spirit.'

'Spirit?' Kouichi asked. He'd inched his arm away from his eyes a little. Maybe the digimon home, with its small windows and curtains drawn over them, was okay after all.

Nope. He might've been squinting from under his arm, but he didn't move it any further away than that.

This is going to be a problem, Takuya thought, if one of us is always stuck blind no matter where we are.

'The legendary warrior spirits. Like the spirit of light you carry.'

Neither of them knew anything about any spirits, but that discussion was put on hold in favour of checking out the heater. In other words, with a "whatever; let's just check out the heater" from Takuya, and Neemon following, and Bokomon following them.

Without Kouichi of course, because a heater was definitely going to be too bright, even if Bokomon complained they'd left the only able warrior behind.

Whatever that meant.

.

The problem with the heater turned out to be a great big dog with three heads that Bokomon called Cerberumon.

The warrior issue turned out to do with the spirits because a human and two child Digimon were no match for a green fire breathing Ultimate level dog with three heads. Dark had explained this too, but it was jumbled up in Takuya's head and basically equalled Cerberumon being far stronger than the other two.

And, as a human, he didn't even register on the scale. Until he crashed into a heater that he'd almost call cool trying to avoid one of those green fire breaths and found something blue in front of him.

Was that a human fish figure?

But it was gone before he could register, and the dog was leaping.

'Takuya-han!' Bokomon cried, from somewhere to his right. 'Use the spirit!'

Spirit? And use it how?

But it seemed the spirit had a mind of its own because it clung to him – that blue thing, he presumed – and he gasped because he suddenly couldn't breathe and everything blurred. It was like he'd been dunked in water again, except this time there was light. Useless light, really, because what good was it when water got in the way of everything. And what did it matter if he could see or not if water rushed through every open hole in his body, including his throat? And his ears and that muted the sound as well.

He wasn't in water? Of course he was. He swam frantically. Thrashed frantically. The blurs turned green, then grey. And finally he emerged, soaked and coughing and his eyes focused again and dog was twitching on the ground nearby, equally sodden. And the ground between them was puddled and charred both.

As though water and that green fire had fought each other to almost a draw.

'The spirit of water,' Bokomon said, coming over and looking a little soaked himself. 'I suppose the heater must have gone into overdrive trying to escape it when the spirit stirred.'

'Lovely,' Takuya croaked. 'It just had to be water.'

His voice sounded strange to his ears.

And he saw why when he looked at his reflection in the water.

'What does it matter? All the warriors are legend and you look magnificent.'

Bokomon and Neemon apparently didn't get the problem at all. And the good part about Kouichi barely being able to see at that point was that he couldn't laugh at the fact that he looked like a stupid water nymph.

'That's fine and all,' he grumbled. 'But how do I change back to normal?' Silence. 'You've got no idea, do you?'

And he wondered how come Kouichi didn't look any different than before if he'd acquired a spirit at some point in this wacky world.

Guess lady luck just hates me…

Especially when he tried to stand and wound up coughing more water and some bile into a puddle instead. And shook. And tried not to think about where all that water had suddenly come from and just hoped it'd stay away instead.

But it wasn't going to stay away, even if he hadn't quite put that together yet. He had the spirits of water now, and that was his weapon and his hurdle to overcome.