Thoughts spiralled through Taiga's mind throughout the night, drenching him in sweat. Panting heavily, he drew the glass of water resting on his bedside table to his mouth, a few drops missing his mouth entirely. He threw off his duvet and made his way out of the house, where he began his jaunt.
'Where would I be right now if Silver hadn't saved me? I can be mad at her all I want, but the fact remains that I'd have a gaping hole through my chest if she didn't intervene. How much longer can I cling to these feelings of hatred? If they're going to dissipate eventually anyway, why not get rid of them now? It'd make things a lot less awkward, at least. Plus, forgiving her isn't the same as taking her back.'
As Taiga was rummaging through his thoughts, he realised that he had no clue where he was. Looking up, all he could see was a crowd of trees. It appeared as if he was in some sort of forest on the outskirts of town. He reached into his pockets to try and find his phone, only to be met by the depressing metallic feel of the loose change bouncing around. Checking his watch, he noted the time as 3:21 a.m. before throwing himself onto the dry earth beneath him, his body outstretched like a snowflake.
'Finally, I can get some shut-eye,' he said aloud.
BZZZRP
Taiga jolted up and jerked his head in all directions, searching for the source of the loud beeping sound. Taiga's search was quickly concluded as he saw five light-blue walls box him into the dark forest. The walls seemed to have spawned on the outline of the forest, as Taiga could only faintly make them out hundreds of metres away from him. Staring into the sky, Taiga was met with another barrier, this time a curved, dome-shaped lid that prevented a clear view of the waning moon.
Taiga made his way to the nearest wall, which was on his left, and made some observations. As he got closer, the sound of flowing electricity grew louder, with frequent popping sounds being heard.
'It's like the sound those electric fly swatters make,' he thought to himself as he brought his eyes closer and closer to the blockade.
'I still remember when Shin mistook one of those swatters for a badminton racket and sent Shig into shock. The stupid guy swung it full force, only to accidentally let go and smack Shig bang in the face. I'm pretty sure Shig buzzed in place like a cartoon character for at least five minutes,' Taiga laughed to himself.
Taiga's laughter was interrupted by the sound of a twig snapping behind him.
'EEEEK!'
Taiga jumped in fear and landed face-first into the wall in front of him.
BZZZZZ!
A jarring, invisible current coursed through his body, locking his muscles into a frenzied spasm. A blinding yellow flash of static illuminated the poor boy before he was thrown a couple of feet away. Letting out a choked gasp, Taiga clung to the very few air molecules that were slowly entering his throat before raising his head to see what had startled him.
In front of him sat a small white rabbit relieving itself on one of the two shoes that had been struck off Taiga during the electrocution.
'Thanks for that,' Taiga said before momentarily passing out.
'Ugly-ass human,' the rabbit replied to the unresponsive Taiga.
While unconscious, Taiga's mind began to dream, much to his dismay.
Slice
The sight of Robert Freeman's arms falling towards the pristine white supermarket floor replayed through Taiga's mind.
Whoosh
The sound of the neighbouring crate bursting from the man's punch etched itself into Taiga's memory. The feeling of his heart halting and his body freezing agglomerated inside him to form a state of fear that would forever reside within him.
AHHHH!
The feeling of the ricocheting bullet lodging itself inside his thigh caused his brain to contract and grimace. The muffled scream he had kept inside him at the time finally burst free and echoed through his body. When he finally thought he had calmed down, the screams of the security guards who were shot down and the customer whose body was sliced in half ran rampant within him.
Then an image of Noctis flashed through his mind before he finally woke up.
Hours had passed, but Taiga was more focused on the violent pulsations suddenly coursing through his body. After a few moments, his body finally calmed down. Taiga slowly rose, one leg at a time, and stared at his surroundings.
The light-blue wall had disappeared, or so it seemed.
Not wanting to be electrocuted again, Taiga kicked a stone in the direction of where the wall had been, only to see the momentary reappearance of the barrier as the stone was electrocuted and repelled.
'Seems like the wall is still there. It's just not constantly visible. Great.'
Brainstorming possible escape routes, Taiga came to the conclusion that he should at least check out the other four barriers first.
'Well, worst-case scenario, I'll be stuck in here until morning,' Taiga said as he was about to check his watch. 'There's no way anyone can ignore this massive blue box in broad daylight. This is Berry Town, after all. A massive blue box spawning out of nowhere is probably the biggest news this town's gotten in years. At least it would have been if it weren't for that convenience store psycho the other day.'
Checking his watch, he noted the time as 3:21 a.m. before continuing towards the other side of the forest.
'What?! I could have sworn it was 3:21 when I first entered here. Sure, I don't know how much time has passed, but I do know it was more than sixty seconds! Don't tell me time is paused in this stupid electric crate.'
He dropped to his knees dramatically.
In the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of the white rabbit from earlier.
'Well, if I'm stuck here for a while, I'm gonna need some grub,' he said, licking his lips before pouncing after the defenceless creature.
The rabbit's eyes widened with fear for an instant before it made the wise decision to run.
The chase scene, straight out of a '90s cartoon, was cut off by the sound of a familiar voice calling for Taiga.
"What'd I miss?" said Shin.
"Huh?" Taiga asked aloud while turning around to find his brother. "What are you doing here, Shin?"
"What'd I miss?" he repeated.
Shin walked out from behind one of the many trees littering the forest. He had a faint handprint on his face, as if he had just been palmed forcefully.
"Don't you remember, bro?" Shin asked. "Right after the Don left, I woke up and asked you what I missed when I was knocked out. I couldn't remember anything past the Don grabbing our faces. Now fill me in. What did I miss?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, Shin. I told you then and there; the Don said we were incompatible and threw us to the side. Then he stormed off into his car—a Rolls-Royce."
"No. No. No," said Shin.
"Taiga, you and I both know that's not true. Now go on. Tell me the truth. I don't bite."
"Shin, I promise you I'm telling the tru—"
Taiga was interrupted by a clean right hook that sent him flying backwards, making him land awkwardly on a rogue log whose bark pierced the back of his shirt.
"What a brother you are," Shin said.
Taiga's vision became blurred with tears, so he frantically wiped his face with the sleeves of his black linen shirt in order to see what was in front of him.
Expecting his brother, Taiga was instead met by deafening silence and a profound lack of his twin anywhere nearby.
He got up and searched for his brother to no avail.
"SHIN!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.
"Taiga!" responded another familiar voice.
To his left, Taiga saw Robert Freeman, frowning eerily from ear to ear.
Taiga's heart nearly burst out of his chest.
"Hey, Taiga," he said while waving like a schoolgirl.
"I was just tryna save my family, but you just had to stop me. You didn't even need that map. The Don's coming personally to pick you up in four days anyway. Selfish little bastard."
Taiga instinctively took a step back.
"Your family's dead. No one kidnapped them. They're not alive. I didn't stop anything."
"You make a good point, boy. Sure, the Don doesn't have my family in his possession, but he very well could have been the person who killed them. Or maybe Lucan was lying to you. I mean, you must have heard the rumours of some sort of immoral testing facility in the police headquarters at least once, right? Everyone in this town has. Do you think someone who's capable of that couldn't lie to you to save face?"
He stepped closer.
"Maybe I killed them. Maybe the Don did. Maybe you'll never know."
He stepped even closer.
"Does it matter?"
Taiga was taken aback, physically taking many steps away from the man and mentally questioning his response to yesterday's events. Before he could form a rebuttal, his body unconsciously walked backwards into a palm that clasped his throat and threw him against a sycamore tree.
As the sycamore leaves cascaded downward, Taiga saw Noctis Vale in front of him—his face full of the same unnerving disgust Taiga had glimpsed during their first encounter.
The Don was lifting Shin by his face as he had done three days before. This time, however, Shin wasn't unconscious. His legs fluttered in the air, writhing in pain. His helpless body stretched out its arms, clawing at the Don in a desperate attempt to break free.
Unlike before, the Don did not simply throw the boy aside. Instead, he curled his other hand into a fist and punched a hole through Shin's stomach, hurling him hundreds of feet through the forest.
Taiga screamed in fear as blood rained on top of him.
His hair had been dyed crimson while his eyes had been bleached white at the sight of the murder. The lingering smell of copper emanated from the blood, while the sensation of every individual drop landing on his head drove Taiga to madness.
Noctis calmly removed his now-red glove and made his way towards Taiga.
"I believe I made myself clear when we first met, Taiga. Not only did I make sure you saw my face full of disgust at the sight of your brother, but I also made it clear that I only wanted to see you by the end of this week."
Taiga's vision was blurred through a combination of blood and tears escaping his eyes, so he aimlessly threw a kick out in front of him.
Despite only feeling the air, Taiga still made a run for it, not daring to look back.
He ran and ran and ran.
Tripping over logs and branches.
Stumbling past trees and birds' nests.
Eventually, he caught sight of the rabbit from earlier.
Out of options and completely broken, he began following the animal as it bounced in a zigzag pattern towards something—or someone.
After following it for a few hundred metres, Taiga ran into an all-too-familiar figure.
He looked down to see Silver standing in front of him.
Not the Silver of today.
The Silver from before.
The Silver from when they were together.
She was smaller in stature, and her fashion sense was far less defined, but Taiga couldn't have cared less.
Not noticing that the blood drenching him moments ago had disappeared, Taiga engulfed Silver in a hug and squeezed her tightly.
Silver attempted to speak, but her vocal cords were effectively silenced by the sheer force of Taiga's embrace.
Pulling herself free, she sat down amongst the scattered twigs and branches before gesturing for Taiga to lie down beside her.
Taiga obliged and carefully sat down next to her.
"Not there, you dumbass," she said, her face full of embarrassment.
"Huh?" replied Taiga before his head was forcibly thrown onto her lap.
"Just this once," she said while avoiding eye contact.
Taiga couldn't help but laugh.
The rabbit from earlier sat on a root, cleaning its face. It looked at him. It did not run.
"Something's troubling you, isn't it?" said Silver. "I may not be able to help you, but I'd like to try."
Taiga hesitated.
Then he let loose and began bawling.