arc one: it's somewhere in the pains and aches

chapter one

Maybe things would have gone easier if the accident hadn't been on purpose.

Maybe if he had done his job right, everything would have happened much more smoothly.

But the agent can make mistakes and the world can keep on turning like so.

The problem was that they, the Dark Masters, attacked.

Again.

He didn't understand the again, but Gennai did understand the concept of loss and breakage and other things, many other stupid things that did not and would never, make sense. He was gifted humanity during his creation due to being the creation from a human. It allowed fallacies, failures, things to go wrong when they should go correctly.

Didn't quite act as sane as was probably right either. Damn

Because of that, the egg was falling down, down, down. Where it would land, he had no idea because being at the very least humanoid required him to have the worst eyesight. What if it drowned? Nothing in his data bank talked about drowning babies and wet devices and he couldn't ask the one who had decided this for help because it was a gods damned toddler-

If Yggdrasil hadn't been overthrown he wouldn't be having these thoughts.

But he was having them and he'd rather have them when not carrying the so-called saviors of the known universe.

Gennai thought of a blankly crying face, a little girl's stare drenched in rainbow light, and wondered. About what, he could not be certain, but he wondered all the same.

Too small, so small. Young children with the power of gods at their fingertips, the power of gods and all the promises that go wrong with it. All of that in an adult's hands was much more terrible because they understood it and would do as they wished with it and because they didn't truly understand it it would ruin everything.

So yes, children were better. Children were malleable, adaptable. They would find answers an adult would be too small minded to see, including him-

Mechanorimon spun to dodge a sword meant for them both and the eggs and their devices rattled on their wires. The sword flew on and on until it disintegrated, almost like ash on the wind.

That's us. Gennai gave the levers a rough jerk, spinning again. The eggs shook on the clenched claws, as if trying to wriggle free. And yet he keeps flying, beyond where he used to have been. Beyond his friends. His destination is only half an hour away.

Hah. He could die in less than ten minutes.

But he gave the engine another rough shove, regardless, because dying wasn't on his schedule anytime soon.

The seven chosen would have to be enough. The old ones were past their time, in the end.

At the age of eight years old, Takaishi Takeru, while not the toughest, was certainly a determined little boy. He was also very aware that dangling from a rock while close to water was quite possibly the most terrifying position for him to be in right now. He also had no idea how to get out of it, what with Patamon still trying to put his stuff down to save him. He kind of wanted to tell Patamon to drop it but he had spare clothes in there what if he needed those? And considering he was about to plunge into icy water, he probably did.

His fingers hurt. He wanted to cry at the pain but he couldn't. He would waste energy crying, he had found that out the last time they had plunged into the water. So. So-

Something shook nearby greenery and his big eyes shot to follow it. Unfortunately he wasn't fast enough as whatever made the bushes shake knocked him flying out of the air. He screamed, as children do, and Patamon raced for his open hands. Good try little guy.

When the two of them opened their eyes again, they were on solid ground. Someone's red eyes stared down at his bright blues, incomprehensible for his young mind. His savior leaned on the wall to look at him. Then she turned to catch a small cat in her arms, depositing his blue bag in one swoop.

Then, without a word, she made to walk away.

Takeru, a deep-set fan of JRPGs, waited for the puff of smoke that would never come, waited for her to disappear into the mist. When she didn't, he ran after her- "Wai-"

And faceplanted into the dirt. This wasn't even dirt. It was rock. Therefore his face became a mass of cuts and a bloody nose.

Takeru, like most children would after that, not to mention nearly dying barely an hour before, started to cry.

"Better?"

The girl, the savior, had a nice voice. Takeru figured that out after he finally managed to stop crying. Patamon was sniffling too, but it wasn't nearly as bad even though he didn't seem to want to leave Takeru's head. Like that was a safe zone.

"That's a relief." She smiled, a faint little thing about as thick as one strand of her hair. "I didn't know a person could cry that much. You must have been through a lot."

For a moment, Takeru squirmed with discomfort. He didn't want to think about it. The way she said that reminded him of the way everyone looked at his mother alone holding his hand as they crossed the street, the way she took documents elsewhere before he got to read them. However, her eyes were nothing like theirs. They held only vague interest.

"You're the first new human I've seen in a while," she finally said, eyebrows going high as if she understood something new and it had surprised her. "I can't imagine how you got here."

Takeru stared at her, and he couldn't quite put his finger on why he couldn't look away. Was he looking for proof that she was safe? Or was it…?

"Yes," she finally said. She smiled. "I'm a human. Just like you."

Takeru couldn't help the sob that escaped him once again. Or the next, or the next.

Takashi Takeru had been to all sorts of events during the summers since he had started school. With a mother who constantly worked, and only so many friends, it was inevitable that he would not be allowed the normal summer excursions of most children. Not to mention the worried stare of his brother was inevitably tattooed into his mind. That made it very difficult to want to do much of anything without a supervisor.

But now, this. This couldn't possibly go wrong. This was the power of a school sanctioned event. And it wasn't even his school!

Of course, this was making his big brother twitch, but he relaxed once the tents were put up.

"Onii-chan!" Takeru had called, his hat clinging to his head as he crawled in the dirt. "Come look at these leaves! What are they?"

"In a sec, Takeru." His brother's voice was halfway across the yard and pointed away from him. Takeru couldn't help but pout. Spoilsport. He noted the leaves and went back to looking. Honestly, he was hoping he could find a really nice rock for his mom to put on her desk. His big brother could help him polish it and it would be a gift from all of them! Then he could get something from papa too. A pine cone? Maybe use needles to make a sweet-smelling thing to hang on the drawer by his computer? He wasn't sure yet. All he had ever made for his parents was cards. They always insisted not to, especially his father. That seeing his smile was good enough.

Hmph. None of them understood. Not even Onii-chan, and he liked the gifts Takeru got for him with his allowance. At least, he hoped that he did.

Takeru continued to crawl along, his backpack and the top of his hat the only things visible over the taller grass. A beetle scuttled past, just going about its business. Takeru's eyes went wide. It was huge!

As he watched it, something white fell to the ground and sank into the dirt. Takeru raised his head and another fell on his cheek. Then another.

Snow was falling. And it was soon falling very fast.

"A blizzard in August."

She didn't sound too surprised. The stranger girl sat back on her spot,stoking the fire and the food cooking beside it.

Takeru tried to ignore the excited gurgling sounds of his stomach and nodded eagerly. "Yeah! It was so weird! And then there was this pretty rainbow light! I think Koushiro-san called it an "aurorea!'"

"Aurora," she corrected, smiling a little once more. It seemed familiar. It really did! He couldn't explain why but this felt very nostalgic. The cat in her lap yawned again. "Right over the shrine!"

"Uh-huh. And then these devices flew out of the sky and when we picked them up, a huge wave-" He spread his arms to indicate just how big it was- "hit us and then we fell somehow and then I woke up in a forest. And Tokomon was there!"

Patamon jumped at being mentioned, but nodded all too eagerly. "It was so great! We'd been waiting so long!"

"We?" The girl repeated. Takeru squinted. Now that he looked, she really looked about as old as Jou-san. Had she always lived here? The creased frown on her forehead smoothed out and she smiled one last time. "I see."

See what?

Takeru didn't ask this though. It would be rude to interrogate the person who saved him and was looking to give him real food. Instead, he asked, "Who are you?"

The girl looked at him with a tilted head. "Kari," she replied after a moment.

"Were you born here, Kari-san?" Like all children, seeing the crack of an open door, he couldn't help but pursue it.

Kari reached for the cooking fish. "Pretty much." She handed him a stick. "Here. Give it a second."

"Mm!" Takeru paused, watching her take hers and cut it with a strange, white knife. It almost seemed like bone. "Is it lonely here?"

Kari paused, dangling a morsel for her cat. "Sometimes." She patted her yellow pants. "I'm going to get you back to your friends tomorrow."

His blue eyes went wide. "Wow! You're so nice! Thank you!"

She giggled, a strange weak blowing sound. It still made Takeru pout. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing really." She giggled again. "Nothing at all. So, what else happened?"

Takeru, being eight years old, and having someone who was giving him their full attention for the first time in a long time, happily did so.

Within the hour, she had left him there, dozing under leaves and with his Patamon curled beside him. She watched the little boy sleep and frowned.

"I should have asked him what year it was."

But she had a guess. It definitely wasn't 1995. And she definitely wasn't eight years old anymore.

Hikari sighed. "Well. This is difficult."

"You've said that a lot lately, Hikari." Tailmon continued her careful perusal for ticks and fleas that she would never get. "You don't want that to be your catchphrase, do you?"

Hikari smiled. "Course not. I'm more positive than that."

For a moment, a cloud washed over the moon. Hikari didn't even shift, not even as the red eyes tried to pierce her cheek.

"You don't have to worry," she said, folding her arms. "I'm not going to get in your master's way. I doubt I'll need to anyway."

"Impudence," whispered the eyes.

"Confidence," Hikari countered. "Go on. There's no harm in letting me wander, right? It's all I intend to do."

"See that you do."

Hikari watched the moon appear once more. "As if you all can stop me."

They had failed every time so far. Hikari did not intend to grow complacent. Especially, she thought as she looked at the sleeping Takeru, not in this moment.

She went to put out the fire. Her weapon never left her wrist.

A/N: How's that for some setup? This fic idea is for Odaiba Memorial Day (I say day, but we're gonna have an Odaiba Memorial Month of me posting new things due to the very close nature of the poll I put up last month so get ready folks.) and is courtesy of tumblr user quietlykeen who showed me some fanart and some description and I ran wild. This one and one other will be up relatively soon. Also, I'm going to bring up On the Other Side of the River, which will start back up... probably in October or November once I get a few more things off the List of Doom. But anyway, here we go ya'll.

Also I have not forgotten darwin's law. That's a birthday release.

So anyway, put your feelings down in the box please because I love you and this is fun. Back to Starless Night! Bye!