Fleeting Hope

Chapter 7

"Finally, little Hope, it is almost time."

Takeru woke with a start, panting as if he had just run a mile. He placed a hand to his forehead, checking for a fever, but his temperature felt normal. He sighed as his breathing pattern returned to normal. He detangled from his blanket, noting they looked as though he had been wrestling someone on top of them. Takeru stood up and stumbled his way to the bathroom, drowsily knocking into things the entire way there.

"Wake up," he muttered as he splashed water into his face and aggressively rubbed at his eyes. With his vision still a little bleary, he was able to decipher the numbers on the digital clock as 3:32.

Great.

He was fully aware he wouldn't be able to convince his mom to let him miss any more school, not without telling her about all this Digital World mess. He had enough people coddling him and she was already aware that something was wrong, just not exactly what it was. As he reentered his room, he mustered a small smile at the sight of Patamon sleeping peacefully next to his pillow. It was a mystery how Takeru's thrashing about hadn't woken him.

Takeru ran a pet down the peaceful Digimon's back, "what did I do to deserve you?"

"All you had to do was be yourself," Patamon's eyes popped open, and he flashed Takeru a comforting smile before turning at a better angle to start flying up to be eye level with his partner.

Takeru grabbed hold of the Digimon and held him tightly to his chest, "sometimes I wonder if myself is enough..." His voice was so quiet he wasn't sure if he had even said it aloud or if it was just a thought bouncing around in his head, unspoken, but overwhelmingly familiar.

Patamon glared at him, albeit in a loving manner, before wiggling out of his arms, "I don't want to hear you talk about yourself like that Takeru. Those bad thoughts aren't true!"

His head hung, he wanted to encourage his partner and say he didn't truly believe these things, but if he wanted to be completely honest with himself and the Digimon, all Takeru was going to do was disappoint them both even further. Patamon stared him down intensely, waiting for some kind of response, anything, but before he could coerce anything out of the boy, the loud ring of Takeru's phone jolted them both back into reality.

Takeru turned his head slowly to the phone, for some reason his skin was crawling with anxiety, wondering if the evil was finally calling him, literally. He released the breath he hadn't realized he was holding, noticing the caller ID was Hikari's, "H-hello?" He cringed at the shakiness of his own voice.

"Thank goodness," Hikari sighed into the phone as if a deep fear of hers had been released with the sound of Takeru's voice.

Takeru readjusted the phone in his hand to be more comfortable, "Do you know what time it is? Is everything ok?"

She sighed, "I had a nightmare... about you and... that place." Takeru could hear her fidgeting through the call.

"I'm ok," He smiled, a genuine one he hadn't realized he could still muster, "I promise."

Takeru sighed, closing his eyes, waiting for the girl's response, but it never came, "Hikari-?"

He lost any word that might've come out of his mouth next as he opened his eyes to reveal he was back in the last place he wanted to be. So much for promises, Takeru mentally cursed the universe and its outrageous humor.

"Come out!" Takeru yelled into the silence, "What do you want from me?"

The wind tickled his ear with a giggle, "You've already given me what I want."

"Then why am I still here?" He whipped his head around continuously, hoping to find someone or something to blame for his distress, but he was still met with the same empty beach.

"Think of this as... reparations," the disembodied voice hissed before laughing once more, "the worse you feel, the better I do, make sense?"

Takeru shuddered, pausing his movements in order to focus on keeping his breathing study. He couldn't go into a panic, not here, not now. The wind rushed wildly towards him, forming a tall shadow looming above him. There were no features on this shadow, yet Takeru could feel as it stared down at him, humored and excited. A long, slender, limb reached out from the shadowy mass and moved towards him, cupping his face, "I barely had to do any work, you gave up so easily and your friends don't even know."

"I... I haven't given up," Takeru tried to adjust his posture to boost his words with confidence. The shadow seemed to ponder this for a moment before roughly releasing his face, "Well if you truly haven't, shouldn't be hard to encourage it."

Takeru gasped as his vision went white and the shadow was gone, leaving him alone on the empty beach. Alone. He felt his eyes begin to sting with pressure before turning around. He almost wished he hadn't. He covered his mouth in an attempt to stop the bile rushing up his throat. "M-Matt?" He screeched rushing forward to his brother who was laying lifelessly on the rock.

"NO! Not you too," He cried out into the air, the tears he had tried so hard to hold in flowing down his cheeks freely. He sobbed relentlessly into the unmoving chest of his brother. A quiet, "you were right, you're useless," flowed into his ear, whether it was his own thought or the distant voice, he didn't know. "Matt... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry."

Takeru cried until he couldn't anymore, and he eventually fell asleep, writhing in emotional pain.

When he awoke, he was laying on the bathroom floor, the sound of his name being called out coming through his phone lying on the ground next to him. He picked it up, slowly, carefully, as if this reality would break easily. The clock on his phone read 3:35.

"Hikari...?" He whispered, almost regretting cutting off her worried voice, wondering if it was even real.

The noise on the other end came to a sudden hault, "Takeru? You're back!" She cried out, "I thought... I heard you fall. And then there was silence, I almost ran there."

"I'm not ok, I lied," Takeru whispered into the phone, the image of his brother haunting him.

Hikari sniffled, shuffling a bit, "Takeru there's something you should know." He braced himself for what she might say next, "I think my crest is fading."

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Oh my gosh it has been forever, so much for spending my summer writing. Classes start in less than a week :,) So I really can't make any promises, but I do want to finish this story no matter what! Sorry for the long wait