Work Text:
Nightmares.
They were this thing that everyone has, and nobody wants, particularly if one revealed something about themselves or someone they cared about that they didn't want others to know.
Matt startled away, turning his head to look for Tai, who should have been asleep on the futon near him on their school trip, but there was part of him that wanted Tai to brush the nightmare off as having no meaning, that there was nothing wrong. Yet, the person sleeping in the futon near him wasn't Tai, nor was Tai on the school trip.
Matt sighed, the nightmare that woke him still plaguing him. He stood up, heading out of the room, pondering just how useless adults could be in the grand scheme of themes, let alone how everyone else acted as if nothing had happened when in reality, a whole lot did, in fact, happen.
With a sigh, he headed out, running a hand through his hair, deciding a trip to the bathroom was in order. He stepped out of the room, his flashlight flickering on, his mind numb, as if he still hadn't woken up from the nightmare, with the next dreadful part looming over his head. Given what the nightmare was about, one could say it was true.
He found himself swallowed by the darkness, reminding him of that place in the Digital World—the darkness that tried to swallow him and Sora, only for each of them to pull each other out of the abyss of depression created by coming from broken families, something he didn't think Tai could ever understand, yet at the moment—in the now, neither one could turn to each other, blaming themselves and everyone around them for what happened.
Or perhaps he blamed himself even more so than Sora.
"Ishida-kun?"
Matt startled, turning his head to look at the person, and then, "Jun?"
"What are you doing up this late?"
"I could ask the same."
"Bathroom. You?"
"Nightmare," he said, not thinking twice about what he said. But then he turned his head, wondering if that was the best course of action. "Ah."
"I get it. You don't want to talk about it."
"No, I just don't know how to explain it," he said. Even though her brother was Davis, a Digidestioned, Jun wasn't one and thus was an outsider.
"Does it have anything to do with why Davis and the others disappeared for some time but came back?" Jun asked. "Does it have to do with Tai disappearing around the same time they reappeared?"
"How much as Davis told you?"
"I know about Veemon," Jun said, frowning. "If that's what you're asking."
"Wait? Davis told you? About Digimon?"
"My brother is kind of an idiot," Jun said. "My parents were hoping for a better explanation from him. As for the police—there was no follow-up. The really bizarre thing, though," Jun tensed up, leaning against the wall. "I could have sworn one of the men in suits was our calligraphy teacher, Nishijima sensei, but I didn't get a good look at him."
Matt sighed, knowing quite well their calligraphy teacher could have been with the officers questioning Davis about where he'd been.
"The other funny thing is, I thought Veemon was Tai's Digimon."
Matt startled. "What? No. Veemon was always Davis' Digimon."
Jun turned, frowning at him, obviously disagreeing with him.
“Tai’s Digimon is Agumon, not Veemon.”
"So it's impossible to have more than one Digimon then?"
Matt stared, his mouth opening slightly. "Well, no."
"And I assure you, Davis' Veemon isn't Tai's Veemon."
"Hold on, what do you know," Matt stopped, shaking his head before looking at the ground. "You can't possibly know anything about this."
And then--
Then there was his nightmare.
Jun sighed. "You said you had a nightmare. Does it have anything to do with Tai disappearing?"
Matt closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The memory—the memory which was his nightmare was burned into his psyche, but part of him felt as if there might have been a better end to all of it than the one they'd gotten, of losing their partners instead of losing Tai. "I'd give anything," he said, "To go back and do it over." His eyes opened. "I was there. I was there when Tai disappeared."
"Oh," Jun leaned up against the wall, frowning. "What did happen? The adults aren't saying anything."
“A Digimon took Tai,” Matt said. "And I don't know why."
"You don't know why?" Jun said, turning her head to look at him.
"I mean, I know, I know. He's my best friend and all, but we'd kind of grown apart. No, he'd started withdrawing from us for gods knows why. But I wish I noticed, and I wished I asked," Matt said.
"It's not as if he would have told you, though," Jun said.
"What?" Matt found what she said to be a bit strange. "You don't know Tai, so how can you say something like that?"
Jun looked at him. "How well do you know the Yagami family?"
"Tai's my best friend, and my younger brother is friends with Tai's younger sister," Matt said.
"His younger sister?" Jun leaned against the wall. "I remember them talking about her back then."
"Who?" Matt said. "Who are you talking about?"
And then, "Isn't Tai's disappearance the same reason Ryo did?"
Matt stared, completely confused. "Ryo?"
"Yes. Ryo."
"How do you know about Ryo?"
"Why wouldn't I know about Ryo?" Jun said.
Matt closed his eyes, still remembering how Tai was snatched away. "You're starting to weird me out, as usual, Jun."
"I'm not sure why that bothers you when you're friends with Tai," Jun said.
"And what is that supposed to mean?" Matt said.
"I'd asked you what you knew about the Yagami family, remember? And you've never noticed anything a bit—well, you know, odd."
"Outside of Kari's ability to—I'm not sure what her ability is," Matt said. "And when we realized the Digimon were looking for someone, we thought it would be her or the new girl."
"Kari?" Jun frowned. "What does the girl my brother has a crush on got to do with Tai?"
"What has it got to do with Tai?" Matt stared at her. "Kari's his younger sister. I thought you knew that."
Jun stared.
"And it should have been Kari because she's the only one of us with special abilities."
"Isn't that your mistake, though?"
"What?" Matt stared.
"Not realizing Kari wasn't the only one with special abilities."
"And what would you know about that?"
"Because weird things always happen around Tai and Ryo," Jun said.
:" Ryo again. How is it you know about Ryo? I mean, Ryo wasn't a part of our inner circle. He was an outsider. Someone we met after we became DigiDestined. So it had absolutely," Matt paused. "no effect—no, his disappearance did have an effect on Tai. That's when he started withdrawing." Matt closed his eyes. "Ryo is kind of an off-limits subject, as we don't know what happened to him."
"Is Tai going to become an off-limits topic as well?"
"Why would he?"
"Because isn't the reason he disappeared the same reason Ryo dissipated?"
Matt tensed. "That's the second time you're saying that. None of us knew Ryo before we became Digidestioned."
"Except Tai did. I know for a fact he did. We'd all meet up at Sam's place for video games when we were younger," Jun said.
"Sam's place? As in Ken's older brother?"
"Yeah. That's the name of Sam's younger brother," Jun frowned. "I wonder, though, if what happened to Sam also ties into all of this."
"But you're saying you, Sam, Ryo, and Tai all knew each other?" Matt said. "How?"
"Our parents all work for the same company," Jun said. "And before you ask, no, I don't know what the big secret that those three knew was. I wasn't Ryo's best friend. And I also wasn't," Jun tilted her head. "Tai never told you? That he and Ryo are actually related?"
Matt felt his heart sink. "Well, no. How? How are they related?"
"I never asked. But I do know they both called this one woman their aunt. So they must have been related somehow," June said. "And also. I know that Veemon is Tai's Digimon. Or he should have been. Because Tai's the one who came up with the idea for Veemon."
"You saw it at Sam's place?"
"No. School. Before we graduated elementary school, but by that time, we'd all kind of drifted apart. And mind you, I don't know if any of this," Jun started to say.
Only Matt kissed her. It was unexpected, something he'd never thought he'd do as Matt always thought of Jun as Davis' older sister. She was a major fangirl for the band, and somehow he got it into his head that her fangirling over the band equated to her being as much of a fool as Davis—but she wasn't. "Yeah. I don't know if what you just said will help, but I'll tell Izzy."
"Don't tell Kari, though," Jun said.
"What? But," Matt frowned.
"Because I don't think Kari knows about Ryo. That he and Tai were close, that they're likely related," Jun said. "And be careful. One thing I know all three have in common—it's the company our parents work for, not just the Digimon."
"Doesn't this mean you should be worried as well, though?"
"Possibly. As I said, I didn't know what Sam did and the strange things that always happened—it always involved Tai and Ryo. But, I will be careful," Jun said.
"Yeah, thanks."