Chapter Text
Takeru stood in front of the ocean shore, eyes wide, clutching at his sides. It had been dark before: grey and washed out. The very image of despair and hopelessness, muted and dead and cold. Even the short while he’d spent there had sapped his strength away to almost nothing.
Now it was different. The same beach—in that moment he was sure it had to be the same, although the lighthouse and the town behind it had disappeared—but instead of being colourless, this time there was too much colour. Like an over-saturated photograph, painful on the eyes and far too rich to be real. And yet that same aching despair filled the air. That same fear and dread, the like of which he had never experienced anywhere else.
Since when had this been his nightmare? This was the sort of thing Ken and Hikari talked about, not him. He'd only even seen the Dark Ocean because he'd followed Hikari there, desperate to bring her back. Desperate to keep that promise he'd made to Sora, all those years ago. He would never have made it there on his own—wasn’t his Crest meant to be the exact opposite? Shouldn’t that have made it impossible?
Still, impossible or not, now it was haunting him, and not Hikari. Paradoxically the same and yet completely different, disturbing his sleep night after night for well over a week now. For the first time he could remember, he was glad that he only lived with his mother – who worked hard enough that she slept through his terrified cries every time he woke. The thought of telling anyone else almost made him feel worse than the nightmares themselves. What were they going to do? Family and friends would just fret and fuss, and no one else would understand. It wasn’t as if he could explain it to a doctor, even if he wanted to. He’d have to talk about too many things they either wouldn’t believe, or shouldn’t know.
No, it was best to just keep it to himself. It wasn’t as if anyone else was having problems, or the digital world needed him to be at his best. They’d almost given up patrolling; it was so peaceful now. And besides,when he got right down to things, it was just nightmares. Really, really annoying nightmares, given that he had studying to do, and the broken nights' sleep were starting to catch up on him, but nightmares in and of themselves were hardly a new feature in his life. Honestly, the only thing that was unusual was the fact he had the same one every night, without any let up in which he could sleep off his exhaustion.
In fact, the chief reason he’d even thought about doctors enough to dismiss the idea was that his lack of sleep had turned school into something of a trial of endurance. He’d gone from feeling just a little off-kilter, to scraping through solely thanks to the bitter canned coffee he’d taken to swiping from the cupboard each morning. If that was coping, it was only barely. And it seemed he’d started to doze off in Mathematics at least, because in flicking through his notes as he walked home, he realised he didn't really understand anything he’d written. Still. That was what friends—and weekends—were for, right? He could catch up. It was fine.
“Takeru, are you okay?”
Hikari's question caught him so off-guard that he almost tripped over his own feet. His notes definitely took a hit too, pages almost tearing out of the book as his hands spasmed. Now they were useless and creased. Great.
Takeru shoved the book back in his bag and rubbed his forehead, cursing himself for his optimism. Of course Hikari would notice that something was off. They'd been walking for a good five minutes now, and he'd spent the whole time either staring off into the distance like some sort of zombie, or flicking absently through schoolwork.
“Ahh... yeah. Course I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?”
Even through his exhaustion he could tell he sounded stilted and awkward. But it wasn’t the first time that he’d had to improvise when faced with a slightly too-personal question. There was always the chance he sounded like his usual flustered self, instead of this new kind. For once he actually hoped so.
“It's just you've been awfully quiet today. It’s not like you at all, Takeru. I... You know you can always tell me if something’s going on, right?”
Her eyes bored into him. Normally, this was the part where he would feel himself either turning red and quickly looking away, or making a joke so he had an excuse to change the topic. But he felt frozen to the spot.
All he could think of was how Hikari was the best but also categorically the last person he could talk to about these particular nightmares. He knew firsthand the way some bad memories never left. It just wasn’t right to burden her with this, after everything she’d been through in the past. And he was too just too tired to think of anything else to say. It had been how long…a week, maybe two, since he’d had a decent night’s sleep?
Forcing himself to blink hard and wake his eyes up, he rubbed his head again. He made sure to avoid that knowing gaze as he replied:
“I'm just a bit tired, is all. Stayed up too late last night.” With any luck, mixing in a bit of honesty would make her believe him.
“Hmm.”
Takeru didn't risk a look in her direction. He knew that tone of voice. She hadn't bought it, not remotely.
“Listen, I'm gonna skip on the park today,” he said eventually, hating himself for ducking out of the one day a week they had the afternoon together. Normally it was the thing he looked forward to the most. “I should probably get back home and have an early night.”
He forced a smile to his face before walking quickly away, trying not to worry about what Hikari would think. This was a terrible idea if he wanted her to think he was fine, but what else could he do? There was no way he could keep up a façade for as long as he would need to if he wanted to actually convince her he was fine.
The rest of his walk home blurred, as if he were half asleep on his feet until his front door closed behind him with a click. He was already yawning as he kicked off his shoes, and made his way to his room. Dumping his bag by his bed, he heard his phone start to buzz. Naturally, by the time he had fumbled his way to finding it, he'd missed the call. Hikari. Damn it.
Groaning, Takeru flopped back onto his bed and stared blankly up at the ceiling. Now what? If he called her back, she would have him cornered and she would know for certain something was up. If he didn't call...
He closed his eyes. What did it matter? He'd already told her he was going home to sleep—he could just explain in the morning that he'd already nodded off when she rang. The nightmares always seemed to wake him at the same time—another unnerving clue that they could be connected to that place—so if he slept now perhaps he would actually get enough rest in first to help him feel better. Hopefully, that would leave him awake enough to do a more convincing job of patching things over in the morning.
The phone dropped to the floor with a quiet thunk. He was asleep moments later.
Takeru stood looking out over the ocean again. It was too bright, and he squinted as he looked around. Was he somewhere different this time? It felt the same, but also…not.
Water lapped around his ankles. So far, so familiar. The shore was a short way off, just behind him. Ahead and to the left, across the water, there was a line of distant but still-bright green. Takeru frowned. That was new.
The water was cold, and he splashed his way to the shore, wincing as he walked up the short beach. Pebbles poked at the soles of his feet, and he belatedly realised he had no shoes on. Odd. Normally in dreams, you were fully dressed for wherever it was that you ended up, right? And if you weren't, it was usually the focus, not a side-note.
Takeru looked down at his clothes. He was still wearing his school uniform, exactly as he’d fallen asleep. The only part missing was the blazer he’d taken off at his bedroom door. He'd never noticed a detail like that before, too busy walking along the shore instead of up it. Lost in a dreamlike-trance which always seemed to fall over him until it was too late.
The wind picked up. It was eerie. Trees he could only just see beyond a steep bank after the beach began to rustle. Countless leaves all sighing in unison.
The sun went in.
Takeru clenched his teeth, watching as the thick grey clouds billowed up out of nowhere and painted over the vibrant blue sky. Without the sun, the too-bright colours around him took on a different tone. No less rich, but darker. Menacing.
Tree branches started to creak and groan. Takeru put his hands up over his ears, pulling his hat down firmly on his head. The howling would start any moment now. He had to get away from the water.
Ignoring the pain from sharper pebbles, which poked mercilessly at the soles of his feet, he forced himself up the bank. The wind was rapidly strengthening now, and the long grasses where the beach turned to brief dunes were bent low. Behind him, the ocean had begun to whip itself into a frenzy.
Takeru reached the crest of the dunes, and looked out over the landscape beyond. There was a stretch of hillocky grass running parallel to the shoreline, with trees a short way ahead of him. What was it about them? Why didn’t they make sense?
It hit him as he staggered forward into the true grass. This was different. Every other night he’d walked along a stormy seashore, shin-deep in the water, until the wind reached a howling crescendo and he turned to see a massive wave headed straight for him. The shock had woken him every night for over a week. Now, it was the same place as always, but unlike any other nightmare he’d ever had, he could clearly remember those other nights, well enough that he’d fled the sea almost without a single thought.
The wind began to roar in his ears, as the sky grew ever darker. This far from the seawater, there were bright wildflowers in the grass, rich and vibrant in the gloom. They almost seemed blurry at the edges, so rich was their colour. Even as Takeru stared at one, the petals were torn away by the wind, and lost beyond the tree-line.
He crouched down, hunching his shoulders and pulling hard enough on his hat that he half wondered if he would rip the brim. The wind was buffeting him so hard that it would have been nearly impossible to stay standing. What kind of storm came out of nowhere like this, strong enough that it could almost be a typhoon? Even as he wondered, he heard a massive wave crash loudly on the shore behind him. It sent up billowing clouds of spray which rained down and drenched his head and back, despite how far from the water he’d come. If he’d still been stood in the water—
Something hissed beside him, and he looked around sharply. There beside him on the ground was a small blackened spot, visible despite the wind buffeting the grass it had burned clear through. Takeru swore, lurching away and almost falling over backwards as he struggled to keep his hat on and maintain his balance at the same time. What was that? Was someone there?
He yelped in pain as something scalding hot dropped onto his hand, and yanked his arm back down to look. Sure enough, it had left a red, circular mark on his skin, one which hurt every bit as much as a real burn.
“What the—”
Another hiss from the grass, and another. More black spots appeared in their wake, scattered at random across the field. Almost like…
Takeru cried out as more of whatever it was hit him, this time on his arm. Looking around, he began to panic. What was going on?
It took just a few more burning, agonising drops for him to realise. It was rain. Rain which somehow burned everything it touched.