iv. the desert sand blooms but i will carry it along
Mirei kicks her feet like a child. She bounces on her bed, fidgeting under the cross eyes of her cat. Her talking stuffed cat. Who is not so stuffed and is definitely alive. What is this? What's happening here?
She shouldn't be so excited. Another person, another real person responded to her, as opposed to the monsters. Monsters were mainly things she created here and did whatever she wanted however she wanted. She could be the heroine, the villain, the side character to a love story. All was in her imagination.
Well her imagination was tired. Until now, it was doing so much! She was running out of ideas and needed more books!
But, but now she might not need them. There's a person, there are other people out there in the world. There's a world beyond this malleable bedroom. There are people. There's a whole world. But how can she get there? Is she sleeping? Is she trapped? Someone put her here, that's for sure. There are no doors, nor real windows. Nothing but four walls that bent and twisted to her will.
Maybe she could draw a door?
She draws them in the context of a room, sure but, what's the difference between leaving a room she's made and leaving the prison all together?
She glances at the plushie -the monster- once more. Mirei…. Distrust wars with loneliness in her guts. She, she could have not been alone. She could have-
Gah, what could she have done?
The mysterious messenger was away and the ones from before were so old even their name wasn't in her tablet's system anymore.
It wasn't like she relied purely on her imagination thus far. The tablet had what she thought was every book and game and toy invented ever and even some that were scrapped. But eventually everyone ran out of things to do or destroy or recreate. She didn't even have to eat.
… Maybe she was dead.
No. That wasn't likely. If she was dead there'd be no one able to talk to her. She'd be making it all up, and brains didn't work that way. Not this elaborate! She knew that from books.
So she was alive. Maybe it was a dream. Maybe it was an intentional dream. THe urge to know eats at her.
"Concentrate." Meicoomon blinks her crossed-pupil eyes. "If you want to wake up and get out, you have to make it work yourself."
Mirei grits her teeth. Easy for her to say. "Give me a bit more than that!"
Meicoomon says nothing. Mirei turns away with a low sigh. She hasn't made expressions at someone in a long time, not since-
Her head pings. The tears don't fall, but warm hands and kind eyes and -
"I love you darling, stay safe."
A door forms, old like a castle's blockade. It doesn't open, the metal faded and old. Not rusted. It's nostalgic to look at.
Mirei gets from the bed and takes slow cautious steps. The purple and white bedding starts to fade as she steps closer.
Something tells her not to knock, so she eases the door open instead.
Mirei opens her eyes to darkness and the bright crossed eyes. Monitors bloom to life, white
And she remembers.
Oh. Dad. Oh.
He had saved her at the cost of the world. Now, she has to return the favor.
The sand blooms and roars, a sandstorm rattling the old steel. Digimaru says it's digizoid and steel, which is stronger, but honestly, Taiga is just glad the hangar is still standing. The messages had stopped a couple of hours ago, in line with the lack of signal. So had the pings from their underground village.
Rina had offered to run back and check on it, shouted down by all of them because "there's not enough solid sunlight for you, Rina!" among other reasons.
Still, that left them all undeniably bored until the sandstorm ended. So they slept. It was quiet like this, more peaceful than the home under the end of the world. It was almost as empty.
Then the sky yawns open. The clouds vanish, the dust and sand settle. Rina hops awake and peeks out the door. her orange-red eyes are wide as the others scramble around and about.
A green portal floats in front of them, the size of this hangar. A tear in space.
Niko gives Taiga a look. "You ready?"
Taiga swallows and pretends his heart hasn't collapsed. "Yeah," he rasps. "Yeah, let's do it."