"Mistakes"
Mistakes
by Laura Kamida
Rated PG-13 for Violence and Language

Chapter 1 - The Mistake...

All their hearts raced. This was it. The end of it all. The Dark Masters of the digital world had been destroyed. The eight Digidestined had finally been released and they were being sent back to their homes in Odaiba. Izzy had created a portal that would take them back to the real world.

"We can't go with you this time," Biyomon said softly. "You'll be gone for good, and we --" she choked up a little bit, "we have to stay here and guard this world forever..."

"Oh, Bi, I'll miss you so much," Sora said, wiping back tears. She hugged her small friend tightly.

Agumon tried to stand tall and brave, but Tai spied a little tear accumulating in the corner of his eye. "Hey, buddy," he said very quietly. "Everything's gonna be OK." Tai patted him on the back gently.

"Matt, I will miss your company," Gabumon said.

Matt could not speak. His eyebrows were furrowed, his jaw firmly set. "Goodbye, Gabumon," he finally said.

"Oh, Palmon! I don't want to go! But I do want to get home to my nice comfy bed and my nice comfy shopping mall and... OH!" Mimi started to sob.

Palmon delicately wrapped her vines around Mimi. "It's OK, Mimi..."

"You'll email me, right Izzy?" Tentomon inquired.

Izzy smiled weakly. "You bet."

"Aw, Joe," Gomamon said. "Don't be sad. The upside is, ya met me. Don't be sad that you're leaving!"

"You're right, Gomamon," Joe said. They both laughed a little. "Goodbye, Gomamon."

"Oh, Gatomon... We had fun, didn't we?"

"Uh-huh..." Gatomon replied quietly. "You showed me what I could really be, and I'll always thank you for that..." The small cat Digimon jumped into Kari's arms and they hugged each other.

"Aw, TK..."

"Aw, Patamon..."

The two hugged each other fiercely, Patamon burying his head in TK's shoulder. "I'll miss you, TK. I love you!"

"Aw, I love you too, Patamon! I'll never forget you. Not in a million bazillion years!"

"All right, guys, let's go... Home! Here we come!" Tai shouted in triumph. They all clasped hands and prepared to leap into the portal that they had created. Home was just a jump away.

Tai grabbed Sora's hand.

Sora grabbed Mimi's hand.

Mimi grabbed Izzy's hand.

Izzy grabbed Joe's hand.

Joe grabbed Matt's hand.

Matt grabbed TK's hand.

TK grabbed Kari's hand.

Kari grabbed Tai's hand.

"One, two, three... JUMP!!!"

Izzy's mind raced with the speed of a computer. Digital portal... program... did he make the right connection... would the portal take them home or would it delete their data... how could he be sure... he made the wrong...

"No, WAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIT!" Izzy screamed, realizing the mistake he had made, but it was too late. The eight digidestined were going through the portal.

Izzy's scream echoed across the digital world as he was thrown back into the real world.

~*~

Izzy woke up some time later in his bed with a sharp gasp. He bolted straight up in his bed. What had he done? He jumped out of bed and ran into the kitchen.

"Hi Mom," he said hurriedly, picking up the phone and desperately dialing the Kamiya number. "Is Tai there?"

"No, I'm sorry," Mrs. Kamiya replied. "He left three days ago. I'm not sure when he'll be back..." she said softly.

Tai wasn't home... so his suspicions were correct. Tai and the others were still in the digital world. How had he gotten home...? Three days ago!? They had been in the digital world far longer than three days...

"...Hello?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs. Kamiya," Izzy said quickly.

"I said, can I take a message?"

"Umm..." Izzy stammered. He couldn't say his name, because then Mrs. Kamiya would worry about Tai... at least now she thought that they were all together and that they would be back soon. If she found out that one of them was home... all of the parents would worry about their children. "No message. I'll call him back later."

"OK, bye-."

Click. Izzy hung up the phone. He shuffled across the kitchen and flopped down into his chair at the table. It was all his fault that they were all trapped there. He let his head fall to the table and his forehead landed on the hard wood. "Mom," he said. "Please don't tell anyone that I'm home." It was summer, so he didn't have to go to school, if he didn't want to leave the house, he didn't have to. "I have to get back to the digital world to get all of my friends back."

His mother stared at him. "But Izzy, you just came back! I won't allow you to leave again."

"Mom, I have to go back. It's all my fault that the others are still there. It was my mistake and I will fix it. I have to go back... I just don't know how..." He stared at his mother with determination. Her face was stern, but her expression softened.

"All right," she said. "For the other children, and their parents... Oh, my, how I would feel if one of the other children had a way to save you and their mother wouldn't let them go..."

"Thanks, Mom," Izzy said with a slight nod of his head. He trudged off to go to his computer. He was still depressed. He was supposed to be some kind of computer genius... but he had gotten his friends stuck in this mess... who knows where they were? He had been lucky enough to get home... what if they had gotten... **gulp** dele --

No, Izzy thought to himself. Don't think that way. Thinking that way will only hinder you. Try to be an optimist for once. Think of the good things. Think of what will happen when you free them. Tai, and Matt, and Sora, and Joe, and TK, and Kari...

And Mimi.
"Gennai..." Izzy said to himself, turning on his computer. Gennai had access to his email address, he had to have e-mailed him a way to get back to the digital world. He continually chastised himself for letting himself get into this situation. Connect to the internet... I need a faster modem. Come on... hurry up. Email... NO NEW EMAIL!!!

Izzy stood up like a flash, his chair tipping over and falling behind him. "No!" he yelled, fuming.

The digivice. That was his way back to the digital world. That was the way that he could make it back to save his friends. That was the way. He examined the small square to see if there was any port on it that would make it capable for him to plug it into the computer. None. Well, there was that one that plugged into his laptop... but that was only a Digimon Analyzer. Izzy had long before tried to see if he could find anything out about the digivice or the Digiworld itself from that port... nothing had worked.

"Gennai!" Izzy yelled.

Izzy propped his chair back up and flopped down in it, feeling utterly defeated. For one of the only times in his life, he had no idea what to do.

~~THREE WEEKS LATER~~

"Digivice, please take me back to the digital world. Please!" Over the past three weeks, Izzy had tried every possible method he could think of to get back to his friends. Now he was just pleading, blinking back tears of stress, fatigue, and despair.

"Izzy..." The digivice spoke, pulsating with light on every spoken syllable. The voice -- so familiar, so hauntingly familiar. It was the voice that had spoken to them through in the forest when they were trying to defeat the Dark Masters, when Tai and Matt clashed. The voice that had showed them the past. Izzy knew in his heart that this was that same voice. "You must find the way back to our world in your own heart, your own soul. No one can help you. Not the digidestined, not Tentomon, not Gennai, and not us... you must find it within the fibers that make up your very being."

"I don't understand --"

"Koushiro."

Izzy fell silent.

"Find it in yourself. Only you know the way back. The only way to find within yourself it is to look." The digivice ceased to pulsate and it fell back to its own color.

"Find it in myself..." he murmured. "Find it in myself. The only way I've ever been able to do anything is by investigation... but this command -- it's too vague, it's too..." he drifted off. Looking down at the digivice, he took a deep breath.

"I have to get back. We're a team. It was my fault that they're gone, and it's my responsibility to get them home... and... I love them all. They are all my friends. I don't know what I would do without them... -- " The digivice began to glow, a brilliant white, filling the whole room with an intensity that Izzy didn't want to sheild himself against. His eyes widened. Was this it? Was he going to make it back? "Yes!" he cried out loud. "Yes! I'm going to make it back!"

But he still wasn't sure why.

There was a sudden, overwhelmingly bright flash of all the colors in the spectrum, and Izzy disappeared from his bedroom.

Mrs. Izumi ran into the room. "Izzy!?" she cried. "I guess... -- I guess he made it."

~*~

A 19-year-old girl with long, auburn hair bolted straight up in the bed. She stared out the window and watched as a sparkling, beautiful shooting star fell to the ground with every color she knew... and every color she didn't... sparkling in it's trail.

She smiled, her hazel eyes closing as she lay back down. She put her arms around the shoulders of the man she loved. It was a good omen. Her mind sifted through the clouds of her semi-conscious and her mind sparkled with one last thought before she drifted back into slumber.

This means that it will live...

~*~

Another girl stared out of her chamber's window. Her eyes, dull, cold, and flat, stared straight ahead frigidly, expressionlessly.

Suddenly, the shooting star came into her vision. Her brown eyes glowed, a light, a warmth, a love coming from her face. She smiled, inhaling the night air. Tears came to her eyes and she held her hands forward. "You've come... for me," she whispered.

Just as suddenly as it -- this warmth, this love that she felt so strangely for this shooting star -- had appeared, the star dissipated as it fell to the ground. The warmth disappeared, the golden brown eyes drifted back to their previous state, and the girl turned away from the darkness of the night. The prophecy. The warning. It would all come true.

This means that I will die...

~~THE NEXT DAY~~

Izzy had walked through the forest all day. He hadn't eaten since the previous morning and was ready to collapse. He saw the outskirts of the forest.

He stumbled out of the forest. He, in exhaustion, fell to the feet of a bare-chested boy who looked to be about 14. Izzy's eyes moved up from the cutoff jeans to see his face. His eyes were stunning blue, with a profound merriment in them. His wild blonde hair spiked out everywhere. His face was cheerful, with a wide grin.

"Izzy! It's great to see you again!" he laughed.

"Matt? Could that be you?" It seemed to be Matt, but he was burtsting at the seams with cheerful energy. Matt was always calm and moody.

"No!" he chuckled. "I wish! It's just me, Takeru," the boy said, smiling.

"TK!? But -- but, I'm older than you!" Izzy sputtered, stunned.

Takeru stared at him. "You were gone for a long time, Izzy," he replied, seeming to be a little sad. "...Everyone thought you had died." His face shined weakly, pride intermixing with the sad memories. "But I knew you made it home. And it was you who said that time passed by a lot faster here. We've been here for over six years... and you were only gone for... how long?"

"Only three weeks!"

"But, without you, no one had any idea how to get home... and no one knew exactly what to do... Matt and Tai fought a lot about what to do with everyone..."

"Just like always," Izzy added.

"Just like always."

They both gave a weak laugh. Forced. It had been so long, and yet, it had not been a long time at all. But still, they hardly knew each other anymore.

"Come back to town with me," Takeru said finally.

"Town?"

He paused. Apparently this was a sore subject. "We got used to the fact that we would be here forever... So we built houses for ourselves and made a town. We called it Odaiba."

"Odaiba..." Izzy repeated softly. Where he had been while his friends had passed him by. He nodded, saying, "Let's go, TK. Lead the way." Takeru took off.

"And it's Takeru," he said, resurrecting the grin that Izzy had first seen.

Takeru was quick on his feet, had strong young muscles which carried him with agility. Izzy did the math in his mind as they walked through the field. If six years had passed by in this world, Takeru was in fact 14, and so was Kari. Sora, Tai, and Matt were 19, Mimi was 18, and Joe was 20. And he would have been 17.

"Prodigious!" Izzy said upon seeing the dwellings which they had made.

"Hey everyone!" Takeru yelled. "You'll never guess who I found!"

Izzy called out to all the people he saw outside. "Tai! Sora! Matt! Joe! Kari!" He ran to them. Everyone turned. Jaws dropped and Izzy heard gasps.

"Izzy! You're alive!" Tai cried. Much of the same came from everyone else. Hugs and kisses attacked him. He looked at everyone. Everyone had changed so much!

Taichi Kamiya... Tai. His hair was still as crazy as it ever was, big brown spikes jutting out making his coif even bigger than his head. He had lost the trademark goggles, though... probably grown out of them, or they had broken. His brown eyes were still wide with curiosity. He had grown much taller (though Matt was taller still, Izzy noted), and more muscular... probably from all the work that they had to do building the town and keeping themselves alive.

Yamato Ishida.... Matt. His blonde hair was still wild, although a bit toned down. Still gelled to a perfect style. Still untouchable, most likely. His eyes, still that piercing blue, still holding that melancholy quality to them, lit up slightly now that Izzy had returned. He smiled, but Izzy could still see some nagging conflict within that caused him anguish. Izzy wondered if it was still TK -- Takeru. Doubtful. Takeru had grown well -- Matt had done his job. They thought that they were never going to get home -- he probably didn't think about his parents and what would happen to him and T -- Takeru being split up. Izzy tried to get himself to remember to call him Takeru.

Jyou Kido... Joe. He was probably the most improved of the group. He had gotten taller -- he was the tallest of the group in fact, and more muscular than he had been before. Still didn't compare to Matt or Tai, but Joe had certainly gotten handsome. And probably gotten Mimi... Izzy thought to himself. He had acquired a certain ruggedness he had never had before... they all seemed to have gained this quality.

Hikari Kamiya... Kari. She had let her light brown hair grow out... It was in a high ponytail on her head. Izzy couldn't help his thoughts going back to Mimi. She even looks a little like Mimi now... But she was different too... there was some quality about her that Mimi would never have, not even living out on the land like they had been. Mimi Tachikawa would always be... not snobbish... just... proper. Izzy nodded mentally. Proper.

Finally, Sora Takenouchi. She was ravishing. Beautiful. Her long, reddish brown hair and the loss of her helmet made her look much more mature than her cropped off look had. Her hazel eyes sparked as she smiled. Izzy could feel love and warmth coming from her face; so glad to see that her friend was alive... that was her way... She had her arm around Tai's waist. Izzy wasn't surprised... He had always seen that coming. She was as slim and slender as before... except...

"Sora?" Izzy questioned, stepping back. He looked at her bulging stomach.

Sora blushed and Tai gently put his arms around her shoulders. Izzy grinned knowingly. Digital Procreation. What a concept.

He looked around. "Where's Mimi?" he asked.

Everyone averted their eyes, and faces dropped, as if they were ashamed of something. "Iz..." Tai said softly. "She's gone."

"What!?" he exclaimed. He added, much more softly, "She's... dead...?"

Sora wiped a tear from her eye and inhaled deeply. "Come with me, Izzy," she said, taking his hand. Izzy looked down at their linked hands... Hers was so much bigger than his now... He looked back up at her, but she was looking ahead. She led him to a small part of the forest which bordered the small town from the south. There was a small place cleared out where the sun filtered through the foliage, exposing three crosses in the ground.

Izzy read the names softly to himself, "Izzy... Mimi... Izzy... Two for me?"

"No," Sora replied. "This one was for you, and this one is for..." she stopped. "I'm sorry," she said, choking up from tears. Izzy made a small gesture by shaking his head telling her it was all right. She knelt down beside the cross and put her hands on it, gently caressing it as if it were a person. "That one is for Isabelle, my baby girl..." She drifted off, and a slow, soft sob came from her.

"I'm sorry," Izzy said softly, taking a place beside her.

"She was a beautiful baby girl... eyes and hair just like Tai... when she came a month and a half early... no one really expected her to live. Joe said when he examined her there was always a possibility..." she drifted off, wetting her lips and swallowing. "I knew the chances for her were slim, but I loved her anyway... she was so small when I held her in my arms... and... I hoped beyond hope, beyond all reason, that she would make it... but Mimi came in one morning and broke the news to me: that she died while I was sleeping..." She bit her lip and tried to hold back the tears that wouldn't be held.

Izzy heard rustling behind them. Tai rushed toward them and knelt down to Sora's side. Sora fell into his embrace and he lovingly stroked her hair. Izzy heard her muffled sobs against her lover's chest. Tai was looking into Izzy's eyes. There was sorrow, a deep regret and pain within the wide brown eyes. It was all Izzy could do to keep his own tears inside. He felt sorry for Sora and Tai, of course... but also... there was another nagging feeling in his chest... he could even put a name on it:

Mimi.

He knew this wasn't the time, not now, when Tai and Sora were so distraught over the memories of their lost child... but he had to find out everything -- how did she die? How old was she? Why couldn't they save her? What would he tell the Tachikawas? How would he deal with it himself...? He tried to push the thoughts of his own feelings for Mimi out of his mind. He should think about this methodically... How would they deal with this situation when they got home? That was the first question. Next, he would have to investigate her death. How old was she, how did she die, et cetera, et cetera... everything orderly, everything perfect...

Except that love wasn't so systematic.

"I'll leave you two alone..." Izzy murmured, fidgeting uncomfortably. Tai slowly nodded in agreement and gratitude. Izzy walked out of the small grove in the forest and slowly back to Odaiba.

"You must be starving," Kari said. "Come with me." She led the way for him to come in a larger hut in the middle of the town. Izzy glanced around and saw Takeru running to catch up with the two of them. Izzy grinned at him. Takeru pretended like he didn't know what he was grinning about and shrugged. But Izzy could see redness creeping up his face.

"This is where we all come to eat," Kari explained. "We thought it would be more practical for one of us to cook for everyone else... plus none of the guys can cook worth a Numemon sludge..." Izzy smiled a little. "Sora usually cooks, but I'm trying to learn the culinary art myself. I'll never be as good as she is." Kari giggled a little.

"Do you need help in the kitchen, Kari?" Takeru asked.

"Nah," Kari said. "But thanks for asking!" She darted off into the other segment of the building.

Takeru watched her walk away, and slowly turned his head to see Izzy staring him right in the face.

His face turned red as a beet. "Uh... I'm going to go outside and pick some Digifruit. Yeah -- that's it." He darted off and Izzy chuckled to himself.

~*~

"Bedtime, children," Sora said sternly, with a hint of sweetness still lingering in her voice.

Takeru and Kari halted in their tracks. "Children?" Kari echoed. "We're only six years younger than you, Sora. And your not my mother. You're just my brother's girlfriend!"

The remark seemed to sting Sora. She was always the matriarch of the group... but that wasn't it. She was pregnant with Tai's second child and she was only his "girlfriend." Sure, there was no way to make it legal here in the Digiworld... but she still wondered what her mother would say if she knew.

"You might have to worry about that soon," Matt said quietly. Sora jumped. She had not heard him coming and wondered how he knew what she was thinking.

"Matt? How did -- I mean, worry about what?"

"Izzy will be taking us back to Japan any time now... And you're wondering what your mother will think of you. But... even though you have lived here for a long time, you were raised right, and with moral standards. If you were at home, you know you and Tai would have been married before Isabelle was even a twinkle in your eye."

"Isabelle," she whispered.

"I'm sorry, I -- I didn't mean to bring up a sore subject..."

"No no, you're right about what you said. You made me feel a lot better." She looked for a short moment into his eyes. But he wasn't convinced. She spun around and walked toward the two fourteen-year-olds again. "Shoo, you two. You had better get in your rooms right now!"

Takeru reluctantly walked to the hut that he shared with Matt, and Kari to the one that she used to share with Mimi. Sora smiled a little and began to walk to the house where Tai was already getting ready for bed.

"Good night, Sora," Matt called, walking to his dwelling, hands shoved deep in his pockets.

She turned, her hair making a graceful landing along her shoulders. She smiled, her eyes twinkling. "Good night, Matt," she replied.

~*~

"You can sleep in the floor in here if you want to. I stay here alone. No one wants me," the tall man joked, chuckling. "Or you can go in the dining room. There's a fireplace in there... but that place is too big. It always gives me the creeps." Joe flicked a lit match into the fireplace of his home.

"I guess I'll sleep in the floor here. I want to ask you about... what's been happening here," Izzy replied, curiosity almost overtaking him.

Joe took off his glasses and placed them on the stand by his bed.

"What does everyone do during the day? Where are the Digimon? What made you decide to build the town here? What do you do for food? Why --"

"Hold on!" Joe chuckled, cutting him off. "I can't answer that many questions at the same time! As far as what we do during the day, that relates to the food issue. We farm and harvest different foods that we have found native to the digital world. Most of them are very similar to the foods we eat at home." Izzy noted to himself that he still called the real world home after six years. "And we catch fish in the pond that is up to the northwest. When we're not working, we all have our little hobbies we like to do. I like to go out into the woods to search for different plants and herbs that I can find. You see, I finally became a doctor. Whenever someone gets sick in Odaiba, I help them. You could say that I'm the best doctor in town..." he laughed. He had certainly gained a sense of humor out here and lost all his fears and insecurities.

"What does everyone else do?"

"Well... Sora and Matt like to stick around town most of the time. Sora makes all the clothes for everyone and cooks for everyone... she's like the mother-type for the town... and Matt likes to stick around and keep a watch and protection. Tai likes to explore. Sora gets worried about him, but he does all right. He's gotten very far before, but he always comes back -- every night before dinner. Takeru and Kari always have to stick together, according to Sora's rule. But the two of them go off together a lot too."

"As far as building the town here," he continued, not noticing the grin on Izzy's face, "we just picked the place we were when the idea hatched. We had been traveling for so long, that everyone (well, mainly Mimi) decided that we just had to stop and build the town."

"...And the digimon?"

"They're around. They were chosen to be the Guardians of the digital world, and aren't always here in town. Also, they like to help around the town when they get the chance. The sad thing is... except for Takeru and Kari, we're all adults, and although we all love our Digimon friends dearly... we've all matured. They," he said, gesturing to the direction of all the other huts, "don't realize it yet, but we see them all as pets, really. Talking pets."

Izzy thought about it for a moment. "That does make sense... I couldn't see any adult treating the little creatures like we do."

"Well, I've answered all your questions," Joe said.

"Not exactly all of them..." Izzy began.

"You want to know about Mimi," Joe said flatly.

"Well," Izzy admitted. "Yes, I want to know how she died."

Joe stared at the ground, looking like he was staring into far off space. "We... killed her."

"What!? Why!?" Izzy demanded.

Joe held his hands up in defense. "Hold on, before you go crazy. We didn't want to do it. We didn't even do it on purpose. I know that you liked her a lot, Izzy, but it couldn't be helped..." he drifted off. "She went crazy, Izzy. She started doing horrible things. It was small at first. She started fights. She 'misunderstood' things. But it got serious. She almost killed Palmon. She swore it was an accident... and some of us believed her. Mainly me. Because... because I love -- d... her."

"Were you two... together? Like Tai and Sora?"

"At times... mainly we were just kindred spirits. Soulmates. You wouldn't think it... but she did soften a little out here. Her roughness was soothed slightly. Maybe she was just growing up... but she stopped acting like a princess and therein became my princess... There were times when we would just sit, look at the stars, hold hands, and talk...But there were times when... Uh... nevermind..."

Izzy was only mildly surprised. He had figured, with Sora and Tai together, that Mimi had run to Joe.

"...Sora believed her too. That's just Sora's way. But the Kamiyas never trusted her when this whole thing started to blow up... Kari is like the clairvoyant, our "psychic" of the society. She somehow knew something was amiss... She warned us with her dreams and her visions... and you know how Tai is. He is trusting to a point, but enough was enough."

Izzy slowly nodded.

"And finally, enough was enough for everyone. It was the straw that broke the camel's back... Sora was in the kitchen, and Mimi was helping her clean up after dinner. Everyone had gone back to their respective huts, and suddenly we heard Kari scream. We all (or so we thought) ran to her hut and she explained to us a dream where one woman attacked another in one of our huts and it burst into flames. Suddenly we heard another scream and the dining house went up in flames..."

"We ran out of Kari's hut and Mimi had just emerged from the dining house. She ran to my arms, and cried that Sora was still in there... and I believed she was sincere in her worry for Sora. Tai and Matt both bolted into the hut and pulled Sora out. While they were in there, Mimi told us that something had caught on fire and she grabbed Sora's hand to run out, but a ring that Tai had made for Sora was in there somewhere and they couldn't find it. Finally they agreed that they both had to get out of there, but Sora stayed behind to keep looking without Mimi knowing. I believed her, but Kari stood there with a cold look of contempt on her face. Finally, Matt ran out and Tai came out behind him carrying Sora's unconscious body. She had her ring on... We all thought it was a little funny how she had found her ring and then collapsed, not even having a chance to run out. But when she was in here, and I was healing her, I noticed the mark... of blunt force -- on the back of her head."

Izzy winced.

"Even I couldn't believe her anymore... I wanted to, God help me I wanted to. I loved her so much... I couldn't bear to think that she had gone off the deep end. But Tai wanted her gone. So we banished her from the community. But she wouldn't leave. That's when we really knew that something wasn't right in her head. She went psycho, and tried to attack Sora. But Garudamon showed up just in time and blocked Mimi's attack..."

"By killing her," Izzy said softly.

"Izzy, I wish there had been a different way to do it, but there wasn't. I'm just disappointed that the way I remember Mimi, and will always remember Mimi, is with that cold look in her eyes. It looked... purely evil. And it scared me. It really did."

"That's enough," he said softly. "I don't need to hear anymore..."

"All right," Joe said. "You get some sleep." He sat on his bed and pulled the covers up over his head. "Good night, Izzy."

"Good night, Joe..." Izzy said softly, pulling the blanket up over himself.

~*~

Kari slipped off into a deep sleep. She was haunted by images. A strong woman who's face she couldn't see, holding down a man who's face she couldn't see. Blood. A tag and crest, who's symbol was obscured, with a large crack running through it, fell from the man's body as he disappeared.

The woman turned came closer to Kari's point of view. Kari could see nothing. Not her face. Not her hair. Everything was blurred. But she could see one thing as plain as day. Those eyes. Cold, stone, brown eyes.

She desperately swam through the blackness of her dream-like state and came to her consciousness.

"SHE'S ALIVE!" she shrieked.