There's a slight referrence to my other fic, Gatomon's Hero in here so if one part doesn't really make any since to you and you haven't read it, that's why. It's only slight though.
Disclaimer: The only things I own Digimon related are a plushie, a few cards and a video game. If I did, Wizardmon wouldn't have died, or he at least would've come back.
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Another typically Saturday afternoon. The new digidestined were caught up in a friendly game of, you guessed it, soccer. Although they usually played humans vs. digimon, they had to change team arrangements today due to the absence of two members of the digital team. Since Gatomon had chosen to sit this one out, Wormmon seized the opportunity to watch from the sidelines as well. Unlike his partner, he wasn't too fond of of playing soccer. Because of his lack of speed, size, and power, he spent the game avoiding being trampled or run over by the ball. Gatomon had different reasons.
She usually loved playing soccer with the kids, but something had been bothering her lately. Something that just wouldn't go away.
"Nightmares," she breathed out from her branch, high above the soccer field, and nightmares they were. Nightmares of a bad memory, horribly disfigured. She had had them before, but never like this, never as horrifying. She ran a claw over the tree trunk she'd been leaning against, leaving a slight indention, then traced over the slash with her tail ring. Gatomon shut her eyes, trying to keep the horrible dreams from seeping into her consciousness, but it was futile. She gasped as the images flooded into her mind, blending with reality...
...Gatomon reopened her eyes. She was on the TV station where Matt and T.K.'s father worked. Behind her she could hear Kari's short, terrified breathes, and before her. Before her was the cause of every nightmare she's ever had, Myotismon. Hovering behind him was Angemon, staff clutched tightly in his hands as he awaited retaliation from the vampire, but of course, he never did. Instead, he decided to turn around and launched his Grizzly Wing at her and Kari.
Here it comes, Gatomon thought sadly, not referring to being hit to with the attack. No, she was referring to someone else being hit. Out of nowhere, Wizardmon stepped in and blocked the attack. How many times must I relive this moment? Tears in her eyes, she and Kari rushed to his side, completely ignoring Myotismon's remark.
"Wizardmon, you're going to be alright, please don't leave," Kari sobbed. He turned his head slightly to look at Gatomon.
"Are you alright...Gatomon?" he wheezed.
"You saved me, I'm sorry," Gatomon replied.
"You should be!" he suddenly hissed, his gentle emerald eyes turning a piercing blood red. The whole world went black. Gatomon found herself standing in total nothingness that seemed to stretch on forever, everyone else gone. Wizardmon appeared again, but in ghost form. His eyes were still an unfriendly crimson. "It's your fault I'm dead, all yours!" he accused.
Gatomon stepped back in fear, gloves pressed firmly against her purple tufted ears. "No, no! This isn't real!" she screamed. "Your not the real Wizardmon!" Although a ghost, he still grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her up into the air.
"Admit it, IT'S YOUR FAULT!"
"No!" She jerked herself free and ran away, but what was once solid ground under her paws turned to empty space. Gatomon felt her self falling. As she screamed, her only response was an evil chuckle and the specter reappeared, hovering by her falling figure.
"Now you shall suffer my fate."
"No!" she screamed again, falling further and further into the darkness. She grew dizzy and felt everything fading away, but the evil chuckling continued to ring in her ears. Then, like everything else, her vision began to go black...
"Gatomon! Are you alright?"
She stirred at the sound of Kari's voice, and opened her eyes to find she was being cradled in Kari's arms, the other five digidestined peering down anxiously.
"Fine," Gatomon said, pushing herself to the ground, then staring up at the branch she had been perched on only moments ago.
"Are you sure? You fell from an awfully high up," T.K. said.
"Yeah, good thing Kari noticed and caught you," Yolei added. The feline digimon nodded absentmindedly, still staring upwards.
"You okay?" Patamon squeaked. She jerked back to reality.
"Yeah, I just need some time to think," she answered, walking away.
"I'll come with you!" Veemon chimed in, tagging along after her.
"Alone!" Gatomon snapped as she spun around on her heels, her face merely inches away from his. The blue lizard stood, stunned, and Gatomon took this time to leave.
She kept running till she reached a rather empty part of the park and lied down on the hard wooden bench.
Not as comfortable as a tree branch, she thought, but she didn't need to be worrying about falling again. She wrapped her tail around the bench's leg, like a purple and white striped snake, but recoiled it after a few minutes. Gatomon sighed, trying to drive the nightmares out of her mind. Wizardmon's death has always haunted her, but it's never been this bad. Turning over on her back, she closed her eyes, remembering the good times she had had with him. There had always been the day she found him on that mission. An unconventional meeting, but one that had changed her life forever. She remembered the strange feelings she had had that day when talking to him, the feelings that made her tell him, a complete stranger, the secrets she hadn't even told Myotismon. Gatomon remembered all the tricks they had played on Demidevimon, the times they'd snuck out of the castle without anyone knowing, and all the nights they'd spent just watching the stars. She chuckled to herself, wiping a lone tear from her eye. It was one of those nights she'd finally figured out what those strange feelings were, but how do you tell your best friend you're in love with him? She sighed, she never could tell him.
"No, happy memories," Gatomon told herself. She thought back to the night he told her she was the eighth digimon. That had been one of the happiest moments of her life, and he had made it possible. Then when Wizardmon came back and attacked Myotismon, after she had assumed he drowned. She'd been so happy to know he was alright then. She quickly flashed her mind forward, past his death. Another moment that stood out in her mind was seeing his ghost and knowing that he's still watching over her. Then she thought of a few months ago when she had seen his ghost again, spoke with him, sang with him. It was so out of character that Gatomon had tried to convince herself a thousand times it was only a dream, but no, it actually happened.
Gatomon smiled. These were the memories that kept the nightmares from taking over. As long as the good overweighed the bad, she couldn't be taken over by darkness. Slowly, she reopened her eyes, surprised at the maroon hue of twilight that greeted her vision. Had she really been lying there that long? Sitting up and stretching, Gatomon decided to head home, hoping Kari wasn't too worried about her being out so late. She quietly made her way through the park, first checking back on the soccer field, incase the kids were still playing, or waiting for her return.
No one.
"Must've gone home," Gatomon whispered. She looked to the horizon, the sun retreating farther under it's borders till it was out of sight. Night fell, a little too fast for comfort, and without the illumination of the moon and stars, just darkness. "Not another nightmare," she rasped. Then the laughter came. It wasn't the chuckling of Wizardmon that had been haunting her the past couple of weeks, no it was someone else. The bone-chilling laugh of someone she used to know. Someone she wanted to forget.
"No, my dear. You only wish this was a nightmare," the voice told her. There was a flash and everything suddenly went cold. Gatomon cried out, her consciousness faded fast and her body began to fall back.
She was out before she hit the ground.
