Digimon Story: Rainbow Traverse -- Chp 19

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A steady pulse. A gentle sound. Warm was the darkness that blanketed everything, yet all the same did Kukuimon stir. The pulse became a hum as the piglet cracked open his eyes, the darkness fading. He could see light, a campfire? The piglet could see no smoke nor smell it in the air.

"Where… am I?" he thought aloud. He felt pressure to one side of him, and realized he was laying on the ground. As he blinked away the sleep from his eyes, he saw the light was shaped like a funnel pointing upward. At times he could make out transparent pixels rise then sink back into the light, guiding his attention towards the summit several feet above him. There, an object hung motionless. An effigy whose features the Digimon couldn't make out, though in the glow, the faintest hints of green painted an otherwise dull grey crystal.

"Who are you?" asked Kukuimon, before the oblivion of sleep overcame him once more.

…

Renamon sat on the bed, her back against the headboard. Arm resting on an upturned knee. Her eyes were downcast as Alemana entered the room.

"I lost control," she said.

Al would enter the bedroom and close the door behind him. As he turned around to talk to her, he would raise an eyebrow. Crawling up onto the bed, he would slide up next to his partner and gently draped an arm over her shoulder. “What’s that, babe?”

The vulpine clenched her paw into a fist, "I near beat a man to an inch of his life," she said. "One minute everything's fine, the next you're gone and the agent's moving towards the arcade. After that, I..." she shook her head. "It's all a red haze."

Al was quiet for several seconds when Renamon spoke, his mouth moving for a moment as he tried to find his voice. “What..?” He quietly asked, his arm on her shoulder becoming more rigid. She attacked Sunglasses? She nearly beat him to death? This took him by complete shock. “You didn’t.. you didn’t attack him as Renee or yourself.. did you?”

"No," she said. "Thank the 'Akua. I already had a disguise in mind if I had to confront him. I know I asked him questions, and I know I forced him to give me answers. I broke the earpiece he was wearing, and made sure a couple passing by found him before I left the scene. He should be in a hospital by now. I took money out of his wallet to make it look like a mugging, but left it on the ground somewhere. Didn't feel right keeping it."

“Okay.. okay,” Al said as he would then gently cup her face so she would look at him. “I’m glad that you didn’t use a face that could be tracked back to us.. that’s some smart thinking. But.. did he threaten you at least before you hurt him? Pull a weapon on you?” He asked.. and she could feel his anxiety as he talked.. a very sick anxiousness as he pondered what her answer would be. He said that he was glad.. but she could feel that he wasn’t being fully sincere. There was a fear there.. uncertainty.

Renamon said nothing. Through their shared connection, Al's emotions was reflected back at him, his partner's anguish, her shame. She took his hand into her paw, holding it as she lay her forehead against his.

("What's happening to me?") she thought. ("Why am I shaking?")

Al would gently squeeze her paw as he rest his forehead against hers.. and he felt himself shaking as well. (“I don’t know.. but it’s okay, I know it will-“) be even as he was saying this, images flashed in his mind, and an old fear Welled up inside him that he couldn’t hide. He didn’t mean to do this, hadn’t thought of these memories for years.. but both He and Renamon could see flashes of flailing, stained, whip-like tails.. and a mangled Myomaromon getting beaten into a horrific, broken pulp…

Worst of all? Renamon could feel Alemana unconsciously connect these gruesome memories to a mental image he had regarding what she said she did to the agent, how she lost herself and beat him within an inch of his life… along with a quick, lightning flash of a lurid, sadistic and too-wide smile. Was that what he saw? He saw Renamon in that same light..?

This wasn’t lost on him, and he quickly would take hold of her shoulders.

“Renamon..  baby look at me. No, no that’s not what I think..!”

There was truth there.. but the fear was still in his mind that tainted it with unintentional uncertainty.

The vulpine was looking at him. Her eyes wide and unblinking as they stared back. Mental static flooded Al's mind, scratching, tapping at the inside of his skull. And all throughout, there was silence - stunned silence - between them. Renamon motioned to speak, but the words died in her throat. Over and over again.

Al felt a great pain in both his head and his heart, and his eyes began to tear up as he hugged her “Renamon.. I love you. None of this is your fault…” he said.. and he repeated, her face in his hands “You aren’t her baby.. you’re you, and I love you so.. so much..!”

Trembling paws rose up, embracing the teen. "Stop," she said, her voice growing hoarse. "I-I can't... I can't stand seeing you cry, Al...!"

“I don’t want you to think that I- I’m scared of you Rena..!” He said as he hugged her back, his tears now flowing down his cheeks as he hid his face in her chest.

"But you are," she said, struggling to keep her composure. "If not of me then for me. It hasn't even been a week yet, and the stress of it all is mounting up."

Those words cut deep, deeper than he expected. He was afraid.. but it was.. not as clear cut as what she was saying. His grip on her tightened as he looked up at her, eyes blurry. “I- I’m scared… but I’m scared that you’ll run away like Kukuimon.. or something worse happening!” He said, hugging her even more tightly. “It feels like .. it feels like something is wrong with us..”

"Shhh," whispered Renamon, stroking the back of Al's head. "Sh-shhh..."