Chapter Text
A light tapping on the side of Dakota’s face is what rouses him from unconsciousness. He cracks his eyes open groggily, the world spinning around him for a moment. He breathes slowly through his nose and eventually the feeling fades, enough for him to sit up carefully. He really needs to stop falling through darkness into new places, it’s becoming a bad habit.
The world around him is tinted in blue light, the same blue that William exudes with his powers. He’s in a clearing in a forest, and there are tall, dark trees all around him, stretching high up into the sky. The ground is covered in soft moss and ferns, and a light breeze rustles through the leaves. Little lights dart in and out of the trees like fireflies.
Dakota is surprised to find that the atmosphere of this place is peaceful. Calm. Unlike any of the other places he’s been to in the spirit world so far. He feels safe here, maybe because of the familiarity of the light. It almost feels like William.
“What the fuck just happened?” Dakota asks out loud, massaging the bridge of his nose. There is, of course, no answer, but a little flash of blue light flies in front of Dakota’s face and he sees a wisp floating there.
“Oh, hey little buddy,” Dakota says. “Where am I?”
The wisp does a little flip in the air and flies a little ways away, almost like it’s gesturing for Dakota to follow it.
Dakota sighs and gets to his feet, shaking off the last lingering effects of whatever brought him here. Zero out of ten, Dakota would not recommend falling through an abyss of darkness as a means of travel.
The wisp does another flip and it lets out a tiny trill that sounds a little like a kitten’s meow.
“Alright, alright, I’m coming.” Dakota begins trailing after the little wisp. “Are you taking me to William? Because that’s kind of where I need to go. It would be really helpful.”
The wisp doesn’t answer, instead it leads him out of the little clearing and into the trees surrounding it. Dakota takes that as a yes and follows it.
As they travel through the forest, Dakota looks around curiously at the beautiful, calm scenery. Somehow he knows he won’t be attacked here, so he doesn’t feel bad at simply letting his feet follow after the little wisp.
Around them, huge coniferous trees stretch upwards, all different assortments of sizes. Some are as big and tall as skyscrapers, while some are barely more than saplings, and the rest are a million different sizes between. Dakota sees wisps dart around the trees as well, flitting through the branches above or around the ferns and roots on the ground.
Once or twice Dakota sees a fully formed spirit drift through the trees, pale blue and transparent. He almost calls out to them, but something tells him he shouldn’t disturb their peace. And indeed they look peaceful. Their faces are tranquil and at ease, and they float along past with no notice of Dakota.
Dakota thinks this is the place he wants to go when he dies.
The farther Dakota follows his wisp friend, the more wisps he sees. They seem to multiply as he walks, and Dakota gets the strange sense that they’re gathering for something.
Dakota comes to a break in the treeline, and his wisp friend stops. It does another flip, lets out another trill, and then points out to beyond the trees.
“So I’m assuming you want me to go out there?” He asks.
The wisp nods.
“Well alright, if that’s what takes me to William.” Dakota steps out from the treeline.
He finds himself standing on a cliff face, the rocky shelf extended for about twenty feet until it drops sharply off into some sort of chasm. Beyond the cliff Dakota sees only blue mist with a few tall shadows, presumably more trees.
A small, blue figure sits on the very edge of the cliff, achingly familiar.
Dakota feels his heart seize in his chest, and tears well in his eyes.
“William!” He cries out, and rushes towards his spirit-like friend.
But before he can reach him, William turns around and meets Dakota’s tear-filled gaze with a blank stare filled with unrecognition.
Dakota stops in his tracks at the hollow expression on William’s face, dread seeping in to replace the flaring relief and hope.
“Will,” he says apprehensively. “William, what's wrong?”
“Who are you?” Will asks in way of reply. His voice is dull, vacant of all emotion and everything that made him William. Dakota has to hold back a choke of pain.
“Will it’s me,” Dakota pleads through the lump in his throat. He takes a step closer. “It’s Dakota. You remember me right? We’re part of the Prime Defenders, you’re my best friend! I came to bring you home! You got stuck here and I came to save you!”
Empty eyes gaze back at Dakota, almost unhearing of his words. “I don’t know you.”
Dakota’s heard of people experiencing physical heartbreak. He’d always been skeptical of the notion, but now he thinks he understands. The way it feels like someone’s driven a knife through his chest and twisted, the way he can feel the pain as his heart splinters. Tears well in his eyes and his breathing hitches.
“Will come on,” Dakota begs, his voice catching, and moves another couple inches closer. He reaches his hand out, then slows the movement when William flinches. “You know me. We’ve gone on missions together, remember?” He laughs softly. “Remember- remember Le Frog? We defeated him so quickly while you dismantled the bomb?”
A tiny flash of recognition sparks in William’s eyes and Dakota’s hope rises again.
“I always thought you were really brave to take the bomb all by yourself,” Dakota continues. “A-and you remember Amalgam Island right? How could you forget that crazy ride! We found Bino there and, well. We lost him there too. I don’t think any of us could ever forget that.”
William stares at Dakota, eyes still mostly blank. He’s scooted closer to the edge now, and Dakota wracks his brain for any idea of how to get his friend back. The memory jogging doesn’t really seem to be working.
Oh. Memories. Dakota grimaces. Yeah, he might have one that’ll work.
Dakota takes a deep breath. This could either go really, really good, or really, really bad. He prays it's the former.
Dakota takes another slow, deliberate step forward, hand still outstretched like he’s trying to coax a wild animal out, which seems appropriate considering William cowers away everytime he moves. “Will, do you remember how you got here?”
A full body flinch comes as a response.
Hands reaching out, grasping for him, trying to reach him-
Dakota shakes the images away. He needs to focus, he can’t get lost in the panic now.
“We were fighting a really big guy,” Dakota goes on, “and you went into your Wisp form because everything started to go wrong.”
Another flinch, this time at the words ‘Wisp form.’ William’s eyes seem to spark with more familiarity. This might work, Dakota thinks dazedly between his half-baked plan and the tears almost spilling from his eyes.
“You protected me and Vyncent from the bad guy, and you even managed to defeat him!” Dakota steps forward again. William doesn’t move. “It was really fucking cool dude! But then-” Dakota bites his lip- “you started freaking out. You said something about falling, and you yelled at me to catch you.”
“Dakota I’m falling, please catch me please-!”
“I’m sorry I didn’t catch you William,” Dakota whispers, tears finally breaking free and trickling down his face. “I’m so sorry.”
He’s so close to Will he can almost touch him now. Their eyes are locked together, pain and tears in Dakota’s, confusion and something dark- anguish , in William’s.
“But I’m here now, if that counts for anything,” Dakota whispers through the tears. “I’m here now, and I promise, I promise I’ll catch you now. Just take my hand and I’ll pull you out of here.”
And suddenly the spark in William’s eyes ignites into a blaze of everything William , and Dakota has to shield his eyes as a bright blue light flashes from William and across the cliffside.
When he lowers his arms again, William - his William - stands in front of him looking down at his hands, his face clouded with confusion and something like horror.
“Where- where am I?” He mutters to himself.
“Will?” Dakota asks, reaching out his hand. “Will is that you? Really you?”
William’s eyes shoot up to meet Dakota’s, and then widen. “D-Dakota?” He gasps, mouth open in shock. Then a grin of pure relief breaks across his face. “Dakota!”
William launches himself at Dakota, completely bypassing his outstretched hand and full on tackling him into a giant hug. Dakota would normally be able to hold them both up just fine, but the combined effects of his journey and the emotionally draining events that happened just now have made his legs turn to jelly, and they both go toppling to the ground. Neither of them mind though, they just readjust themselves so they’re sitting.
Dakota returns the hug fiercely, wrapping his arms around William and holding him tight to his chest. He feels William shaking underneath him, and the spot on Dakota’s shirt where William is hiding his face in Dakota’s shoulder grows a bit damp. Dakota’s crying too though, so he barely notices.
They hold each other for a long time, sitting on the side of a cliff in the spirit world, content for a moment to just exist in each other’s arms and make sure the other is safe.
When they break apart - not fully, just enough that they can see each other’s faces - Dakota puts two hands on either side of William’s face and softly puts their foreheads together.
“Will,” he manages to gasp out between sobs. “Will you’re okay, I can’t believe you’re okay, holy fucking shit.”
“Yeah I’m okay,” Will laughs, voice equally wrecked by the tears. “At least now that you’re here.” He pulls away from the forehead touch and leans back to inspect Dakota. “How are you even here? How did you find me?”
Dakota huffs out a breathy laugh and wipes the tears from his eyes. “Oh man, it is such a long story dude. I promise I’ll tell you everything, but we need to head back home.”
“Right.” William starts to get up, and they both help each other to their feet, though they keep their hands locked together. After everything that’s happened, Dakota doesn’t think either of them are willing to separate fully anytime soon. “Where even are... we…”
William trails off as he takes in the surrounding area for the first time. His gaze scans the trees, then over to the cliff, and Dakota can visibly see William’s heart drop.
“Oh,” comes Will’s tiny voice. “I know this place.”
“You do?” Dakota asks, tightening his grip on William’s hand at his friend’s sudden distress. He can feel it shaking still. “Where from?”
“It’s- it’s how I got my powers,” William answers after a moment. “Or at least, the spirit world replica of the place where I got my powers. I uh, I fell off this cliff and I think I died? I’m not too sure about that part yet, but-”
“Hold on, hold on,” Dakota interrupts. “You’re dead?!”
“Well, like I said, we’re not too certain on that part yet. Because obviously I’m still here and not in the spirit world - well you know what I mean - and so it’s a bit complicated.”
Dakota rubs a hand down his face. “Fuck man, that’s... that’s crazy.”
William laughs bitterly. “Tell me about it.” He looks out across the cliff again. “All I know is that I got lost while camping with my friends, then I tripped and fell off this cliff. When I woke up, I had these powers.”
“Yeah that’s crazy dude,” Dakota eventually replies, unsure of exactly what to say. “I’m... sorry that you had to go through that.”
William shrugs. “It wasn’t awful. Could’ve been worse. But anyway, do you know how to get out of here? ‘Cause I for one have got nothing.”
“Honestly? Me neither.” Dakota blows out a sighing breath. “Kotori - friend of Tide’s, long story - never specified how to get back. I think the spells they use to mess with spirit shit are really vague; she didn’t even know where I’d first end up when I entered this place.”
William sighs, shakes his head, and pinches the bridge of his nose. “That’s great, yeah no that’s fantastic. We’re just stuck in the middle of the fucking spirit world with no way out and no way to figure out how to get out and-”
“Woah, slow down man!” Dakota grabs William’s shoulders as his breathing starts to pick up rapidly. “Slow down, c’mon. Deep breaths, in and out, in and out.”
Dakota helps William breathe for a few minutes to settle him down. Dakota’s no stranger to panic attacks despite popular opinion. He’s had his fair share of them, especially after her . It’s basically a given if you want to be a superhero anyway.
“Okay,” Dakota says once William’s breathing is back to normal. “Now let's think about this rationally, as you like to say. You’re the one with the big brain and the spirit powers anyway, if anyone can figure out how to get home, it’s you!”
“Your faith in me is so reassuring,” William replies sarcastically. His tiny smile betrays him though, and Dakota returns it with a large grin and another squeeze of the hand. William squeezes back, then turns out towards the cliff face again.
“I mean, I have an idea, but it’s really, really stupid,” he says after a while. “Like, really stupid. The ‘we-could-definitely-die-doing-this’ stupid.”
“Well it’s either that or stay here forever,” Dakota points out. “And we’re not really strangers to doing stupid stuff, especially me. Stupid stuff is my specialty!” He puffs out his chest.
“That is not something to be proud of,” William mutters. Then he sighs and pulls Dakota towards the edge of the cliff. They both look down and see only blue fog below them, though there must be some sort of ground.
“My only idea is that we jump off the cliff,” William says. “It’s how I got my powers, it’s sort of like my origin story, right? And nothing says ‘spirit world’ quite like a poetic jump off the same cliff I got my powers to escape the place where my powers trapped me.”
Dakota blinks for a moment, then shakes his head in disbelief. “Dude when you said stupid, I thought you meant something William style tupid. This is like, Dakota levels of stupid. I’m impressed.”
Will laughs, though it’s tinged with fear. “Yeah I know, I know. I did warn you though. This really is my only idea.”
Dakota looks down at the drop again, then shrugs. “I mean, how bad could it really be?”
William levels him with a deadpan.
“Fair,” Dakota mutters.
“Well, if we’re really set on doing this,” William says.
“It’s sort of our only option.”
“True.”
Together, Dakota and William take a bunch of steps back, all the way to the treeline. They stand there for a moment, staring out at their destination of ‘down.’
“You ready?” William asks, turning to look at Dakota.
Dakota meets his gaze, firm resolve in his bones. “Yup. You?”
Will fixes Dakota with a piercing stare, then seems to draw strength from Dakota’s courage. He takes a deep breath and nods. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
Dakota nods in return and they face the cliff once more.
Then together, hand in hand, they run at the cliff and leap off of it, plummeting down, down, down into first blue fog, then gray shadow, then complete darkness.
Dakota jolts up with a gasp, blurry images flowing across his vision and disorientating him for a second. He breathes heavily for a moment, trying to gather his bearings. He blinks away the blurriness, and with relief so strong it almost makes him faint, he realizes he’s back in Kotori’s small cabin.
Tide, Vyncent, and Kotori are all rushing around at the sudden movement from Dakota, but all he hears is low-passed humming. He frantically looks around for William’s body and finds it a moment later, in a similar upright position on the couch across from him.
Dakota scrambles up clumsily from his couch, his soul getting used to being in a body again, and reaches out for William. William looks up and sees Dakota coming, and reaches back.
Their hands connect and they grasp each other firmly, pulling into another tight hug. They’re both shaking again, crying too, but Dakota couldn’t care less.
They’re home, both of them, and they can finally put this crazy spirit world bullshit behind them, at least for now.
The slight ringing in Dakota’s ears fades and he hears Tide’s voice from behind them.
“They’re alright kid, they’re alright.”
Dakota looks up enough to see Vyncent in Tide’s arms, tears leaking down his face as he stares at Dakota and William.
Dakota meets Vyncent’s watery eyes (his are no different) and gestures for him to join them. Vyncent needs no further invitation, and he stumbles towards them, crashing into their hug. Dakota and William shift around to make room for him, and then they dissolve into a crying, shaking mess, held together by each other and the knowledge that they’re finally all safe.
They stay tangled like that for a while, - Tide joins them and wraps them all up with his huge arms at some point - simply holding each other and letting their minds settle from the entire ordeal.
Eventually they all slowly pull apart, wipe away their tears, and let out little bursts of post-adrenaline laughter here and there.
“I can’t believe you guys are okay,” Vyncent croaks. “I was so scared the entire time you were gone.”
Dakota gives him a little nudge. “We’re alright Vyncent, I got him out of there. Don’t worry.”
Vyncent nods and William grabs Dakota’s hand again, giving him a smile full of so many things- gratitude, relief, love . Dakota returns it and hopes he conveys the same message.
“I’m so proud of you all,” Tide says, eyes crinkled in a deep, relieved smile. “Dakota, you got William out of there, both of you unharmed. William, you stayed strong in the face of your troubles and stuck it out until help arrived. And Vyncent, you waited patiently for your teammates to return with a collectedness that most heroes do not have. You have all done well today.”
Dakota and the other two exchange proud grins. Tide’s praise is a treasured gift they all cherish.
“Thanks Tide,” Dakota says. “But what you taught me kept me alive in there. Your teachings helped me out, so really, you should be thanking yourself.”
Tide laughs and ruffles Dakota’s hair. “Oh Dakota, I have told you this many times. It is not the tools that make the hero, but rather how the hero uses them. You were able to harness the skills I taught you in order to complete your mission, and that is all you.”
Dakota blushes furiously and stutters out a quiet thanks. William nudges him and gives him a teasing grin.
“That being said,” Tide continues. “I would like to hear about your time inside the spirit world. It must have been quite something, and it will take time to recover from, both physically and mentally.”
Both Dakota and William look at each other and nod.
“Yeah that experience isn’t going away anytime soon,” William says.
“Definitely not,” Dakota agrees. “But!” He exclaims, shifting around so he’s pressed up against William. “I’ll tell you my part of it first.”
Dakota grins.
“Sit down, it’s a long story.”