Day One - Morning

Floatia is a city of mechanical renown. The labs had been built up to such ability that nothing when worked with tended to fail a second time without heavy degradation.

The keyword today was 'tended'.

Shinomiya Rina woke up that morning feeling 'off', for lack of a better word. Normally, her body temperature was kept at a constant serene, healthy, and most of all human temperature.

Today, however, nothing was registering correctly. The weather was balmy, but what passed for skin in her was boiling around her skeleton, practically bubbling. Simply put, she wanted, and needed, an ice bath, but had no idea why. And as far as she could tell, that was only a symptom, not a problem.

She made a face at the glass and then let out a heavy exhale of her own. It wasn't like she hadn't thought about it, the idea that her body could fall apart here. She had at one point left it behind to visit another world simply because she could (and leaving V.V. to have fun by himself had simply not been an option at the time), and she had no idea if however she had gotten back had affected it in some way. She hadn't been able to find a way back. If it weren't for having V.V.'s power back, it could be argued as one of the weirdest nacho cheese powdered chip fever dreams she had ever had yet. And that topped flying on top of a semi-truck.

So, since it probably had happened, it must have had some effect, like being stuck mid-rescue mission would have something to do with it. The easiest way to figure out how would be to go home and get examined. Then when she was examined, they would tell her what to do. Then… she would get repaired and then… what?

Rina splashed in the sink to start draining it and went outside. V.V was nowhere to be found. He was probably at the Colosseum, waiting on her. Well, that was rare. She had to be sick.

Rina paused and groaned. What was she gonna tell him? He wouldn't care too much, because they were together no matter what. Takuto and Shiki weren't sure what to do with her now and all the fun was over. So that wasn't the problem. The problem was the reason she had come here in the first place.

The problem was a young woman named Mikagura Mirei.

Young was a loose term though!

Rina decided to fish. It was impulsive, but it was better than thinking so much. And fish would do good for V.V. and her journey home.

Besides, Mirei was known to wander. She could be there and back before Mirei even noticed she was gone.

Rina's thoughts would have been believable if Mirei wasn't currently sneezing into her elbow where she stood.

Mameo looked up from his files, snatching his hat away from Luche's eager wandering sleep hands in the process. "Can you get sick?"

"I think I am merely falling under superstition." Her body flickered a minute and she wiped her nose. "But I will be frank and admit that possibility could occur to me. I don't know very much about myself, after all." She smiled, an expression too much like a cat for Mameo's liking. "But it's probably just someone talking about me."

"You can't be that popular," he deadpanned.

She laughed outright. "You would be surprised." Mirei opened her computer once more, just to check. The strands on screen flickered and twitched in the light and she closed it once more. "At the moment, it's not like it matters. I need to get my energy back. Until then, well, we won't be able to find out."

"And how would you regain the energy you need?"

Mameo's voice was only polite interest, which suited him. He was nothing if not a curious man. He didn't dig, which she appreciated. "I would need sources of energy equivalent to my Digimon partners, who perished against the Enforcer."

"Against Noir."

"Or some such yes," Mirei allowed. "At any rate, their death makes it quite difficult for me on a physical and emotional level. Without a body, or at least a facsimile of one, I have trouble interacting with this world or worlds in general."

Mameo regarded her under the cap of his beanie. "That's a rather pitiful, lonely existence you have got there."

Mirei shrugged, shoulders small inside her fragile sleeves. "Is that right? Well, I don't mind much. I don't have many memories of that old person I was. Besides," She perched on the raised floor. "All of you are here to talk to. And." Her smile slipped and softened at its edges. "I have a cute little Rina to keep me company. I'm incomplete, but how can I be lonely?" She reached out and brushed Luche's hair with thin fingers. The little girl didn't stir, head comfortable on her Numemon plush.

Mameo continued to watch her. Mirei ignored him, watching Luche fondly beneath the frames of her glasses. She was an example of something rare and impossible. So much like her in such a different way. A Digimon by percentage and that last, small amount was something other. Something… black and messy. Mirei was not even close. She was just a phantom of a person. Just a person continuing. Perhaps it was out of atonement. Perhaps there was no reason at all.

Perhaps it was for purely selfish reasons. Wouldn't that… be enough to continue on with?

"But to continue where? She mused to herself.

There were always parallel worlds, more danger zones. Some of them must let her interfere. One at least had to be interesting. And of course, with no body, she could easily return to them. Which was natural. And only fitting.

There was a loud sound, many of them. Then Takuto rushed in, propriety be damned.

"Rina-san," he managed. "She fell in the river."

A/N: Time for the rest of my femslash fills. Sorry for the delay these have. If any of this does not make sense, the Rina bits here are based on her concept art, which everyone needs to see for its sheer hilarity. Find it on Wikimon. XD Anyway, please read and review! It means a lot!

Challenges: Femslash week day 4: species-swap, what-if challenge, Rare Pair challenge, Novella Masterclass Story/World 10, Diversity Writing J25, write a fic during post canon.