Digimon Adventure 08: Vaccine

by YukiraKing

Moments after the finale of 'Digimon Adventure 07: Virus' the core group of characters are faced with internal struggles of coping with the horrors they have finally escaped from. For some, the nightmare continues, and for others it is impossible to forget, but they will have to work together to move forward and face their newest and final foe.

1. Life Goes On

Y/N: I honestly am having a hard time believing that we're posting the last story. We started writing it so long ago now, that it's scary. I've been living and breathing these stories for the last year, so that we could get the entire second trilogy out in a year, and it's not going to happen in 2015, but we're starting to post it, and we should be done soon. I hope you enjoy this final round with the Digidestined, and I'm so happy that you've stuck around long enough to read this far. Happy reading!

U/N: So here we have the first chapter of 08! That's kind of exciting since it's really the end this time. It's a long story and it was hard to write, but we're pretty close to finishing so we thought it would be alright if we just went ahead and started posting it finally. What better time than on Christmas? Yay! So there's that and everything. I'm not sure every chapter will have an author's note thing this time around because they will be posted really fast, but I hope you all enjoy the story and don't get too annoyed with how many emails get sent out for the story when we post it as planned.

Title: Digimon Adventure 08: Vaccine

By: YukiraKing and UrazamayKing

Disclaimer: We don't own Digimon or its characters.

Part 1: Incomplete

Chapter 01: Life Goes On

Neo Saiba:

It was painful. Getting shot, I mean. The pain was still haunting me, though it had been numbed by a dangerous level of pain killers. I could still feel the throbbing, like my entire body knew that I had been close to death, but thankfully my mind could not make the connection. My breathing was shallow and my entire shoulder was wrapped up in thick layers of clean white bandages and whatever else the doctor had seen fit to use while I had been delirious because of the pain. I didn't ask questions, and just let them do as they knew to do.

Otherwise I was fairly content. Obviously the craving to be alone and in my own home never truly left me, but a hospital was not the worst place I could have been subjected to staying in. For example, I could be back out in the camping grounds with Kansui, listening to his incessant bantering and whining. Instead I found myself surrounded by the cleanest of surroundings, in a room all to myself with nothing aside from the distant sounds of chatter from outside the closed door. The room, however small, was rather empty, so there seemed to be room to move around if ever I could convince my body to want to. The walls were a soft crème colour and there was a grey door open just slightly that led to a small bathroom. Behind me a large window was letting in gentle rays of the sun's warmth, lighting up the comforting surroundings.

With a loud smash, something outside the window had fallen.

Instantly I had jolted up in my bed, gasping as the pain pierced through the haze my medication had left for me. My head began spinning and my shoulder was searing in pain that felt like wild animals lashing out at me with their disease infected nails.

My gasping turned into wheezing and suddenly I was unable to breathe.

All I could see was Arnold and Sora, and all I knew was that I had to move her from harm's way. I winced as something else crashed outside, and this time it was clear that it was simply a car door closing down on the streets below, but that did not stop the memories from tormenting me with violent jolts of remembrance.

I winced again as I remembered the sound of the gun, and the phantom pain—the pain that had been far worse than what I was experiencing now—joined the lingering aching feelings in my shoulder.

The door to my room was thrown open and a doctor entered the room carrying his clipboard, but moving quickly. His face seemed worried and he kept the door open which was all I wanted to focus on. I didn't want it open, I didn't think anyone needed to see me like this, really. But it was too late. They all had. Taichi, Jou, Sora, Yamato... they'd all helped me when I could no longer walk. It was true that I was not their biggest fan perhaps, but they clearly were not all that I had painted them to be in my mind.

My new company gently pushed me back to lay down and he began checking my temperature, and asking me all sorts of questions that I could hardly find enough energy to care about. "How are you feeling?" He asked as his cold hands traced along my arm. He gently moved it to a move comfortable position and pulled checked the bandages. I responded with a simple groan and a shrug, but I winced, immediately regretting that decision. I also made note of how only one half of my body seemed to be obeying me. "You might not be a talkative guy," the doctor said with a sympathetic smile that somehow came across as smug, "but maybe words would be less painful than gestures at this point." I rolled my eyes. "But I see you've found a way around that issue as well." The doctor's eyebrows shot upward and he breathed a bemused sort of laugh.

"I'm fine," I told him, my voice was cracked and I was suddenly informed by the ache in my throat that I was in desperate need of water. The doctor smirked again and held up a glass full of pristine water and offered it to me. I reached for it with my opposite arm and inhaled the water, feeling relief fill me as the water slid down my throat. When I had emptied the glass, which I had accomplished in one go, I handed the glass back to the doctor, who set it where he had found it.

He was checking over the papers attached to his clipboard and as he flipped through them he glanced up at me, "Do you feel any pain?"

"No," I said with a thick layer of sarcasm, "I'm not even sure why I was brought here honestly, my friends say I've been shot. I think they're wrong."

The doctor's eyebrows were flying upward again and he looked back down to his papers, "if you need any pain killers, I've got them right here," he patted his pocket with his free hand, "I might even share them if you ask nicely."

"Like I said, I'm fine." The two of us stared at each other for a moment, and he finally weakened his gaze and resumed his reading. We remained in the total silence for a while, with the understanding that I simply wanted nothing more than to be left alone.

He most definitely seemed aware that I did not want his company, but it was clear to me that he did not care. "Alright," he said when he finally set his papers down, "We have to talk." He looked behind him for the black chair with the silver frame and he pulled it nearer to the bed, and sat down, relaxing with one leg crossed over the other. "You've been shot. Your friends weren't lying." Again, I rolled my eyes and he smirked, "The bullet was not something we were familiar with," a jolt of panic rushed through me as I remembered Maurgim and Arnold's different weapons. What had they done to me? "It actually shattered inside you. And your bone was cracked in the process." That at least made sense. My shoulder was broken, and I would not be able to make use of it. "We were able to remove many shards of this bullet, but as you may know, it is sometimes safer to leave the bullet inside to avoid any unnecessary setbacks."

"Like what?" I asked, my mind stuck on the fact that there were pieces of this deranged bullet inside of me.

The doctor leaned forward and put on a face that clearly read 'I am caring because I am paid to care and for no other reason'. "Like damaging a nerve and rendering your arm paralyzed. Useless. As of now, we are happy with the results of your surgery, as long as you are."

"No, take them out." I said sharply. I could feel a layer of sweat coating my entire body as the realization fully set in. I would never be free of the bullet if they did not take it out now. I would forever be pacing the Earth with traces of Director Arnold inside of me, and his act of desperation and hatred would not simply leave me scarred, but would also continue to weigh me down. The doctor looked worried, like he wasn't sure how to respond next and I shook my head, "Whatever, I'll just find someone better for the job."

The doctor sighed and leaned back in his chair again, but this time when he looked to me it seemed genuine, "You were nearly killed, Neo. You almost didn't survive. You do realize that, don't you?" I nodded stiffly, "You may realize that, but do you realize just how close you were to dying?" I turned my gaze away from him and focused on how uncomfortable the pillow behind me was. And as I tried to shift myself to be more comfortable, the thin sheet that was lying over top of me moved too. And then there was a crash. I was sitting up again crying in pain as my working arm jolted toward the pain in my shoulder and the flashes of the gun returned in my mind. "Neo it's okay!" The doctor said sharply, reaching down and picking up the clipboard that I had evidentially knocked off the bed. I stared at the board in his hands for a moment and the tension in my face was building up to be too much and clearly I wasn't the only one who noticed. The doctor pulled out the pills from his pocket and showed them to me. I nodded and leaned back again.

I took the medication and downed another full glass of water and waited in a silence that was, for once, uncomfortable. Eventually the doctor told me with a kind voice, "That can sometimes happen," he waited for a response but I could think of nothing to say. "You are experiencing post-traumatic stress. A gunshot can be one of the most terrifying ways to hurt yourself."

"I didn't hurt myself," I defended sharply.

"I know," the doctor said, "I'm sorry." Then he paused, "But that brings me to my next question," he stared at me, again waiting for a response and if he hadn't realized by now that I was not going to comply with him then he soon would. "What happened to the lot of you?" Oh, he wanted to know the story. As if I was going to tell him. Why couldn't he go bother one of the more talkative members of the Digidestined. "You were shot, your friend Jou came in with a broken leg. I've known him for years and there's no way he would be subjected to something like that in his normal everyday life."

"Perhaps you should try harder in getting to know your friends," I said flatly.

The doctor sighed and relented, seeming to realize I wasn't going to give him answers, "We can help. We can ensure that whoever did this is put behind bars." I didn't care about that. I did not want to see a man as vile as that be put behind bars. I simply wanted a chance to talk to him. To understand. I myself had done many horrible things in my life, but I had always had a reason. Perhaps he did too. "There are so few of you that came in today that were not in critical condition, or at least in need of some medical assistance. One of the men that was pulled into the emergency room was coated in blood with a broken nose and cuts all over his body. He looked like he'd been living in the wild."

"I'm sorry," I said sharply, looking over to him, "I don't think you're meant to be talking about other patients with me."

The doctor looked shocked, then confused, then he finally seemed to agree, "You're right. I'm sorry." He stood sharply, and very clearly irritated, and he headed to the door, but then he stopped. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask." He said seriously as he bowed his head gently.

And then he was gone, finally. He had left the door open, which I was not particularly thankful for, but it gave me something to look at as I waited for sleep, or something better. I fantasized about the pain depleting, and about living my life in a normal way, sipping coffee in my calm and serene home. I could still clearly remember the sound of my grand piano echoing gently from the walls around my home. I could think of nothing I wanted more than to be there, and to be free from the pain that was hindering my ability to think clearly.

Every few minutes my mind was grabbed by rough and grubby hands and pulled back to the time when Arnold had shot me. I had yet to be told how long I had been asleep, or how extensive my surgery had been, and so it was entirely plausible that my shoulder had been shot today. I certainly hoped not. This was the most utterly excruciating and lengthy day I had ever had the misfortune of living through if that were the case.

With each sound from outside the small protected room came a new perspective of the very same moment. I had seen the bullet coming from Arnold's perspective, and how he would have viewed the event. I had tried to muster the amount of desperation and hatred that he must have experienced, only to find that he had shot another human. Would he have cared? Did he feel that he had done wrong? I had even looked through Sora's eyes and felt the panic she must have known all too well when the gun was pulled and someone had stepped in her way. I could still feel it stronger than ever from that moment Arkadimon took her. I remembered clearly, telling her to go, and the bubbling fear when she refused.

A knock on the door startled me and I gasped, fearing the worst.

When I looked to the doorway I found myself relieved as I stared toward a familiar face. Evelen was using one hand to hold the doorframe, and was leaning out to the side, hanging with her hand keeping her balance. She waved to me with an expression riddled with awkward. Then, by her feet a cloaked figure appeared, rushing into the room. My eyes followed the figure as it waddled across the floor and hopped into the free chair left by my doctor. "Psst!" the figure hissed, "Close the door!"

"Dracomon?"

Evelen gently closed the door as Dracomon pulled the hood down from over top of his head. "Hey!" he said, pulling his shoulders up by his head with an excited smile, like he was doing something more exciting than he could fully comprehend. It was more dangerous than anything I couldn't help but realize, but I was happy he was here anyway. "I wanted to come see ya!"

I smiled gently to him, "I'm glad," I told him, but the sound of my thinning voice seemed to worry him. "I'm fine," I assured him.

"You sure look fine," Evelen said sarcastically as she gestured to my arm. "They say you'll be fine though."

"Sure," I said nodding, irritated, "With fragments of a metal pellet designed for killing concealed under the scar tissue in my shoulder indefinitely."

Evelen stared at me with her eyebrows raised with that same condescending look the doctor had given me, and Dracomon looked horrified. Eventually Evelen relaxed her face and reached for my hand. "But you're alive," she said softly.

Just then the door snapped open again. I tightened my grip on Evelen's hand to the point where she cried out in shock. I was vaguely aware that Dracomon was pulling his hood up once more but I could only focus on the panic rising in me again.

"Yoo-hoo!" I winced again, but this time it was because Mimi Tachikawa had entered the room. She was holding a steaming Styrofoam bowl of some cheap variety of soup, and she was staring toward Evelen. Slowly her eyes travelled down to where our hands met. I instantly removed my fingers from their tangled prison and Evelen did the same, confused. Mimi noticed Dracomon and looked shocked and panicked very briefly as she stepped inside the room and kicked the door shut. She walked toward Dracomon and placed the bowl of soup on the side table where the two empty glasses of water sat. Mimi turned to Evelen and held her hand out across my pathetically limp form. "I'm Mimi Tachikawa."

Evelen looked to me, concerned, but then conceded and shook Mimi's hand, "I am Evelen." I noticed she had left out her last name, which was no surprise. She had not told me her full name for the first two years of our friendship.

"Nice to meet you," Mimi said brightly, then she gestured to the soup she had brought, "This is for you, Neo." She then shook her head, "It was actually for Koushiro, but by the time I got back he was out like a light, so I thought maybe you'd need someone to look after you. So anyway, I brought it for you instead."

"Thank you," I said stiffly, "but I'm quite alright."

"I'll take it," Dracomon offered, peering around Mimi's waist. Mimi smiled to him and nodded. He hopped off of the seat to get a good whiff of the soup. His eyes widened in pleasure and he let out a repulsive moan. "Delicious!" He decided, taking the bowl. Mimi took Dracomon's seat and then pulled him up to sit with her.

"But I see you've got someone here," Mimi said, pointing to Evelen with just a jerky head movement.

"I'm just here to bring Dracomon," Evelen denied, taking a step back to lean against the wall.

Mimi then shared a look with me as if she were in on some secret that simply did not exist. "Mhm, right." Mimi said with a small wiggle of her eyebrows.

I felt my face flushing and I blurted out, "Could someone get me a cup of coffee?"

"Oh, no," Mimi said, shaking her head fervently, "I asked them what we're allowed to give the patients and they were like 'only soup and soft foods, no liquid aside from water, blah blah blah.'"

I looked to her sharply and she threw her hands up as if to say that she were simply the messenger. "I am not sick, I have simply been shot. In my shoulder. I just want coffee."

"But it might have a negative effect to whatever medication they gave you." Mimi said, shaking her head as though she knew better than I did. Honestly she likely did, but that didn't matter. What she was overlooking was how much I desperately loved caffeine.

I looked to Evelen and the desperation embarrassingly showed, because she laughed and nodded, "I'll get some." Mimi gasped, but Evelen was gone before Mimi could object. She shook her head disapprovingly and then looked to me with a smile, and her eyebrows shot up suggestively.

I shook my head, "Absolutely not." She looked to me with a tilted head as if to say that I was keeping something from her. "How is Hideto?" I asked sharply, changing the subject drastically.

"He's doing well," Mimi admitted, "His wounds weren't as deep as Koushiro's—or yours." Her eyes nervously looked to my bandages like she thought it might be rude to look. It wasn't. I wasn't wearing any shirt, which I found to be perhaps embarrassing, but I was not in fact ashamed of my body. I spent a great deal of effort to keep healthy and in shape, and while working with the knights, I did not simply stand there. I was not frail, or chubby. I did not mind someone seeing my body, though Mimi's eyes lingered perhaps a moment too long as she viewed the bandages. "He's well." She said again, as she forced her eyes away from where they had been glued.

It was good to know that he was alright. I had been worried. Very little of that pristine world remained in my memory as I had spent most of my time with my eyes shut tight, wishing for death, but I could see, in some hazy flash of a memory, Hideto in pain. I remember seeing him and not believing that he was there. I had thought that finally we had died, and that world really had been some kind of afterlife. But the pain never stopped, and so I knew it had to be real. And if Hideto was back, then so were the others, surely. And it was true, I remember seeing Mimi, and Takeru. They had all come back.

And Mari too. "Is Mari alright?" I asked, unsure of what I was expecting for an answer.

"Fine," Mimi nodded kindly, "She sprained her ankle, but she's okay." Then, as if it were a side thought, she added, "She really shouldn't wear heels into battle." As if she would ever stop. I was glad to know that she was okay. She had spent a lot of time with me in that world, always checking to see that I was still breathing, always countering my thoughts. She did not know I wanted the pain to stop. She, and the others all wanted me to 'hold on' and 'keep going' because we were always 'almost there'. It was nonsense and yet I was glad they had been there. The pain was present now still, but it was nothing compared to what I had felt before.

"And Kiyoko?" I asked for good measure.

Mimi diverted her eyes and it was then that Evelen stepped back into the room holding a light pink mug filled with coffee. She barred her teeth nervously as she tiptoed away from the door, pushing it shut behind her. The room's silence was filled with Dracomon slurping up the rest of his soup as Evelen helped me to sit up before handing me the mug of coffee. "How much do I owe you?" I asked her as my free hand wrapped around the porcelain handle. The aroma of the coffee wafted toward me and instantly helped me to feel relaxed.

"You can pay me if you want," Evelen said, glancing to the door, "but it was free. I snuck into the employee's break room to get it. It's always better than what they sell."

Mimi gasped again, "Where do you find these people?" she asked, appalled, "I mean first you show up with Allias III who are all willing to break major laws, and then your new mysterious friend steals you a beautiful coffee mug?"

"You have a problem with that?" Evelen asked, one eyebrow raised. Mimi shook her head. Evelen laughed at Mimi's supposed intimidation. Evelen was obviously not one to fear. She was harmless.

"Is there more soup?" Dracomon asked, "I'm so hungry. I didn't eat well with you in a different world Neo. Only four meals a day. Everyone always asked me 'Are you sure you want to eat that?' I always told them 'Yes, if not for me, than for Neo'."

"How valiant," I said with another roll of my eyes. Dracomon beamed to me with his praise but I turned to Mimi. "You didn't tell me about Kiyoko, is he alright?" Once more, Mimi's eyes diverted to the floor and I knew the answer already. Perhaps not the specifics, but I knew he had not made his way to Earth with us at the very least. "What about Rei?" I forced the words from my mouth.

Mimi's eyes filled with tears immediately and she looked to me and shook her head, "I don't know, she didn't come back. I th-think maybe she w-was in the v-v-v—"

"The virus?" Evelen asked, her voice light and filled with shock.

I was impressed that she had found a way to form words. Of course I had already known that Rei was dead. She had been gone for so long. Too long. But upon seeing Hideto and Mari—I was ashamed to admit that a part of me wanted to feel hope for Rei as well. Apparently that small part of me grew, because hearing this news felt worse than coming to the realization in the first place.

"I'm so sorry, Neo," Mimi said softly, reaching for my arm where she gently stroked my skin. I wanted to pull my arm away but it would not obey. I would have to withstand Mimi's touch. Eventually she pulled away and got to her feet. "I'll take Dracomon to get some more soup, alright?"

I nodded and did not look her way, putting as much focus on my emotions as I could. I could not cry here in front of Mimi, or Evelen. But when Mimi left, I was forced to look at my only remaining company and found that Evelen, too, had tears in her eyes.

And then there was nothing I could do to stop myself from crying because Rei, my baby sister, was dead.

Hideto Fujimoto:

There were stars here. I hadn't realized I'd missed them. I hadn't really thought about them before. But there they were, shining dimly in the night sky. I wished there weren't so many street lights blocking them out. It was the moon, mostly, that I was obsessed with. It was just a sliver of its full self, but it was there. I'd spent so long staring up at a midnight blue sky that magically provided daylight to the land at all hours of the day. To have anything to look at—clouds, stars, the moon—was enough for me.

But the streetlights had their own charm as well.

I'd gone so long without modern technologies. There were torches, and that was it, in Sidhendor. I didn't know how much I'd relied on electricity until I didn't have access to it anymore. It was available to me now, it was at my fingertips. It was everywhere I turned. The neon signs in store windows that shone their bright, nearly harsh, light telling me that the store was open for business, it was in the traffic lights that flashed from green, to yellow, to red. It was coursing through the wires that hung far above my head. It was running the refrigerator that I knew was waiting for us back at the library, keeping food cold—even if it had most likely gone bad during our long absence.

I couldn't wait to have access to modern food—to familiar food . I wanted to sink my teeth into a Nashi. I missed the light, pear taste. I wanted to eat watermelon, and kiwi. I was tired of strange, colourful fruits in weird shapes and varieties. I wanted to have something other than wild game, and fish. I wanted potatoes, and crisp lettuce, and junk food. I wanted to eat the taste of home.

Sidhendor was severely lacking in terms of edibles.

Sidhendor also didn't have much by way of comfortable clothing.

I was getting more than a few curious stares as I walked down the street with my leather vest layered over my rough, wool tunic, and my trousers—I refused to refer to them as tights, no matter what Mimi or Tatum said. My knee high boots were leather as well, and I wished I still had my cloak to hide my face behind. I didn't like being the focus of so many curious eyes.

Mari was limping at my side. She'd twisted her ankle, and had it bandaged up. The shoe for that foot was in the bag with my axe, which I was going to keep, regardless of anyone else's opinion—I had defeated the beanstalk with that, and freed myself, it was sentimental, okay?—and I was swinging the bag between us as we walked. We weren't moving very quickly, because Mari couldn't, which was making it easier for the audience we'd acquired to stare at us.

Well, they might not have been staring at us.

Warg, Melga and Tapirmon were at our side. Mari was narrowing her eyes sharply at anyone who even thought to look at them funny. Melga was on Mari's side, helping her as she limped her way through the streets, while Warg held tightly to mine and Tapirmon's hands. Tapirmon needed all the support he could get at that moment, and honestly, so did I.

Alias III was in shambles.

We'd spent so long trying to recover from the loss of Lalamon, barely managing to carry Mari through the worst of it, and now we had to start at the beginning again. Only, this time it wasn't just Lalamon's loss we were feeling, it was Kiyoko and Rei as well. It was a hard blow to hear, let alone deal with. It was impossible for me to wrap my head around the concept of never seeing Kiyoko again. It was like I wasn't hearing the words correctly, when I heard what that woman—what Gaia—had to say about my boyfriend—and Willis.

She killed them.

I didn't want to believe her. I wanted to think there was no way that was true, but I'd heard the story of Gaia from Merlin. She was exactly the type of person that was capable of doing what she claimed to have done. She took Kiyoko from us, but she also took Willis from Mari—and because of that, he was taken from the rest of us too. I had someone to blame, at the very least.

But no one knew where Rei was when she died. We just knew she wasn't around anymore. She'd gone out on her own, and then the virus struck. She was caught out there and died alone, while the virus ripped her apart. And with her loss, Alias III was down to three: Neo, Mari and me.

My lips started quivering, and my eyes brimmed with tears. I took a deep breath and tried to push the thoughts from my mind. We were in the middle of a street—one that was far too crowded for the time of night. It wasn't the right place or time to let myself feel everything. I couldn't do that with this kind of audience.

That day had been so very long. I'd been in three worlds, fought against gargoyles, guards, evil witches, and man-made monsters. I'd been turned to stone and bitten into by a giant dog before getting thrown across the room—which might be another reason the people continued to stare at me: the blood, and the tears in my clothing where the teeth had torn into my skin, and the bandages that were clearly visible through them, that were covering my stitches—learned my boyfriend and one of my oldest friends were dead, and spent hours at an overcrowded hospital, while answering whatever questions the doctors sent my way with purposefully vague and confusing answers—just because they would've deemed me crazy if I'd told them the entire truth.

I just wanted to go to sleep, and hopefully when I woke up, everything would be back to normal.

I wanted Kiyoko to come home.

The library was going to feel incredibly empty without him. I didn't know how we were possibly going to be able to handle this. I didn't know how I was going to handle this—and Tapirmon had it worse. He was already blaming himself, though it couldn't possibly have been his fault. He was sure that if he'd just been there, he would've been able to save Kiyoko. And no matter how many times we told him Kiyoko wanted him to be safe, that he would've been happy to know that Tapirmon had survived, it wasn't enough to convince him. He was miserable, and felt like he'd failed his partner. And there was nothing we could do to change his mind.

I knew from experience with Mari, when it was Lalamon's loss that was fresh in our minds, that I would never be able to alter his perception—especially when it was such a recent development. We may never be able to change his mind, and we'd have to learn to live with that.

But it wasn't just him that was blaming himself.

Mari had been at the Temple when Kiyoko had left. She mentioned just once, that she could have gone with him too. But I knew that if she had, I'd just be mourning the loss of both of them, and I wouldn't survive that. Then she pointed out that she could have stopped him from leaving, if she'd known. And Mimi had cried for hours when she realized that she'd lost them in the woods, running away from the virus, and that she could've stayed with them, if she just kept up with them. They could have used her key, instead of Willis'. No matter how many times Michael or I tried to convince her that she'd done the best she could, and that Willis might actually have thanked her for saving Lopmon, she wouldn't stop crying until she'd cried herself to sleep. Palmon was just as inconsolable, because Mimi had come back for her, and Lopmon was beside herself with grief, because it was her that Palmon stopped to find.

Everyone was finding a way to blame themselves for their deaths, and I wished I could agree with any of them, and have an easier target to turn my anger and desire for revenge upon, but I couldn't, because I knew the fault lay with Gaia, and Gaia alone. They probably would've been just fine in whatever world they'd ended up in if it weren't for her. I wanted to see her pay for her actions, but I didn't understand how I'd ever be able to obtain that revenge. She was too powerful for me alone, and the world still wasn't ready for the digmon. But what I wouldn't give to have a swing at her with my trusty axe. It wouldn't accomplish anything, but it might make me feel better.

We were nearing the library, but I couldn't see the door. There was a crowd of people hanging out beside it with picket signs. I was too tired to deal with EVOLVE right then. I tightened my grip on Warg's hand, and Tapirmon floated around to my other side, letting go of Warg in the process. Melga drew closer to Mari as well as we started forcing our way through the protestors. I pulled Warg in behind me, and elbowed people out of the way, in order to clear a path for him. Tapirmon was practically clinging to me as we made our way deep into the literal throng of people.

"Watch it," one protestor said, turning around and looking at me. His eyes slid away from me though, until they landed on Tapirmon, and then he looked to Warg, and Melga—who were both the middle of a Hideto and Mari sandwich, as Mari was bringing up the rear of our little procession. The guy reached out and grabbed Warg by the hand, and pulled him away from me.

I saw red.

No one was taking anyone else from me come hell or high water.

"Remove your hands from my partner, or it won't be words we're having," I growled. His eyes widened and he dropped Warg's hand. Warg ran back to me and hugged my leg. Melga reached around and hugged Warg and my leg too. Mari came closer, and Tapirmon floated around until he was between us.

"I wasn't gonna hurt him, man," the guy said. I raised my eyebrow and gave him a look, a look that clearly stated 'I have no reason whatsoever to believe a single word you're saying, and have no desire to wait around for whatever half-hearted, lackadaisical explanation you could come up with.' He held his hand in the air, pointing to the sign he was holding. I looked quickly to the words, and back to him, this time sporting a look of pure confusion. The sign simply read 'RISE again, stronger than before'. Apparently it was meant to mean something to me, but I hadn't been on Earth for two months, and must've missed whatever news was necessary to understand his message. "We gotta rise, man, outta the ashes that EVOLVE has created in its wake. They convinced us that digimon were bad, but they're not. EVOLVE's the threat, you know?"

"We know," Mari told him. "I'm just a little foggy on how you could know that."

"Practically everyone has a TV or computer, lady," the guy said, rolling his eyes. "You're not the only one the director sent the message to. We know what EVOLVE was up to now, and we're all ashamed that we fell for their propaganda, you know? We're trying to make up for it. The world's still pretty shaken, you know, but we gotta stand up and let the digimon know that not everyone's against them anymore. We were wrong, and we know that. We're owning up to it. We get that it's not enough, but we gotta do something for them, you know?"

"It isn't enough, no," I said, rather harshly, my mind still on the loss of Kiyoko and Rei and Willis—who wouldn't have been lost at all if the general population of the whole entire freaking world hadn't been eating right out of Arnold's hand. "It's too little, too late."

"We get that," the guy said, sounding serious. He looked to Warg, then Melga and then Tapirmon. "You've all saved us, time and time again. I don't know if you specifically, or just digimon as a whole, but you've saved us, and when you needed us, we turned our backs and let EVOLVE do whatever they wanted, knowing that we were safe, and that's all that mattered. I'm sorry. I'm so, so, sorry. I can't make it up to you. I know I can't. How many of your friends, or your kind, were killed because of our inaction? I can't even begin to wrap my head around it. But it was our fault. Because you needed us, one time, and we didn't answer the call." He was crying now, and he wasn't the only one. I was barely holding on there, but Warg and Melga and Tapirmon were openly weeping. They could get away with it, because he was apologizing to them, on behalf of our species to theirs. It was kind of a lot.

"Thank you," Tapirmon told him, in a sob, before he hugged some random, crying stranger in the middle of the street. The other protestors had noticed us by then, and some were even crying along with the stranger. They all looked ashamed, and were holding up similar signs. They were supporting the digimon, and it was kind of a big moment. I wished I was able to really feel the monumental importance to this moment, but I was too busy thinking about how he was apologizing not just for the digimon's deaths, but their support of Arnold, and Moretsuna, and the deaths of Rei, Noriko, Willis and Kiyoko—which just made me think that Taprimon was forgiving this random man for his part in the death of his partner, and I was having a really hard time coming to terms with the idea of that forgiveness. I didn't want to forgive anyone. Tapirmon was just so much stronger than me. He was strong enough to cry in public, even with all these people watching, he was strong enough to forgive someone who was barely—if at all—involved in Kiyoko's death, when I was too angry to even think of it.

"Chin up, guys," a woman said, patting Warg on the head. Warg smiled up at her and she smiled at him. "You'll make it through this. We all will, together."

"We've got your back!" some man called.

"We believe in you!" a young kid added—who looked far too young to be out protesting so late at night.

"EVOLVE won't win again," another woman said. "They tricked us once, but we're wiser now. We'll stand by you this time. They won't be able to beat all of us."

We continued walking through the crowd, and it was as if our partners—and us, to a much lesser extent—were like rock stars to these desperate people that were trying to make up for past mistakes. They weren't going to stand in the shadows anymore, and it was a start, a much needed start, but it was too late to make much difference for me. I wasn't able to see the big picture passed the glaring hole Kiyoko had left behind. It was just as much these people's fault, really that we were trapped in the Digital World as it was Arnold's.

But, even as I tried to resent them, I knew they weren't the ones that sent the virus. They weren't part of EVOLVE, they were just bystanders that turned a blind eye towards the situation. It was horrible, and they weren't entirely innocent, because of it, but they weren't the ones that did anything. That was the whole point. They didn't join the hatred, but they didn't join the defense either.

"At least they're on the right side now," Mari told me, as if reading my mind, and I knew she was thinking the same thing after just looking at her face. I nodded, but it still didn't seem like enough. "I wonder why they're protesting here though. Couldn't they be protesting Arnold's headquarters, or somewhere that known EVOLVE participants are residing?"

"I don't really care," I told her honestly. "I just want to go to bed and forget, for a little while."

"It won't last," she said with a hollow voice, and the frail amount of hope I'd been clinging to left me. I wouldn't be able to forget at all. Even in sleep his loss would haunt me. I wasn't looking forward to the future at all in that moment. I wondered how long I could last dwelling entirely in the past, as Mari opened the door to the library. "It wasn't locked," she murmured, worried.

We were all worried as she opened the door. What we saw didn't exactly comfort us. The place was ransacked. All of the tall, wooden bookshelves were pushed against the wall near the door. There were books piled on them, and in boxes all over the floor. The counters that once served as the front desk for the library, when it was a library instead of a home were shoved against the shelves, and were covered with books as well. In its usual place, there was an enormous dining table, made of pure, deep mahogany, and was decorated with a long, lace runner, and three centerpieces. There were candles lit on the candelabra in the middle, and the fresh flowers in the two vases that centred the candlelight were very potent, filling the air with their fragrance. There was a large, crystal chandelier hanging down over the table that glittered as it shone light around the room. Beyond the table, there were piles of lumber, and plywood. It looked like someone was measuring out locations to build walls, in order to create standard rooms, instead of having such an open concept. There were ladders leaning against the wall, with cans of paint at their bases. The windows were outlined with painter tape, ready for the painting to begin. The bathroom was brightly lit, even though the door was closed. It was the only renovation that was actually approved by the owner: Mari. She'd contracted people to finish the washrooms before we were trapped in the Digital World before the virus hit.

I flinched, as I remembered how terrified Kiyoko had been of the unfinished bathroom—which led me to thinking about how scared he must've been when Gaia came for him. My heart was beating fast, and Warg and Melga grabbed my hands, centering me back in the present, and in reality. My mind was a dangerous place at the moment, and I didn't want to get trapped there.

"We'll be out in just a minute," a woman's voice sang from behind a large collection of cabinets. They were acting as a substitute wall for the kitchen. Mari's eye twitched at the sound of the woman's voice, and I mentally prepared myself for whatever was about to happen. I knew it was going to be messy.

"We'll wait," Mari drawled.

The woman dropped whatever she was doing in the kitchen and walked around the cabinets to see who had spoken. She was incredibly fake to look at, and was wearing a bright yellow dress. It had very short sleeves, just little caps really, to cover her shoulders. The dress tapered in at her waist, and then fell in pleats down, just passed her knees. Beneath the pleats was a yellow and white checkered pattern. It looked like she's walked right out of the fifties, but I knew she hadn't. There wasn't nearly as much plastic surgery involved on actual fifties' housewives—at least to my knowledge. Her hair was prim and proper and matched the era her dress came from.

She didn't look all that happy to see Mari—or the digimon. She didn't really seem thrilled about me either, but it was mostly the digimon and Mari that bore the brunt of her scorn.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded of Mari.

"You have no right to ask that question," Mari told her. "Me on the other hand, well, I do."

"Batsu, darling, we have pests that need dealing with!" the woman called. A man came lumbering out of the old office and narrowed his eyes on Mari. His face, which seemed irritated at best before, turned downright hostile. I tightened my grip on the bag with my axe and the shoe, contemplating which of the two would cause the most satisfying damage if, as I suspected, he decided to take that hostility out on Mari. I didn't have time for a battle of wits right then. I was feeling pretty hostile myself, after all.

"Obviously, the place is in a state of disarray," the man said, coldly. "But when my lovely wife here is done with it, it will be fabulous. Perhaps you're interested in making a purchase?"

"I don't have to buy it, it's mine," Mari told him. "The judge gave his order, and it wasn't in your favour. You've got ten seconds to get the hell out of here before I call the police, and you get arrested for trespassing."

"You weren't even using it," the woman said with a whimper—pointless really, because she gained no sympathy, even from her husband. "We're simply trying to turn a profit. Now if you'd be willing to turn over the money that is rightfully ours, then we'll get out of your hair, and there won't be any need for more pesky lawyers."

"I'm pretty sure, the police could get you out of my hair too, and it wouldn't cost me a cent," Mari told her, sharply. The woman was flustered, and the door to the bathroom opened. A young girl that I knew was Mari's sister, Aneko, stood in the doorway, looking between her parents and us, still huddled in the entryway of the library. She looked incredibly anxious. She didn't know what to do or think. She was just scared.

"Give us the money, you petulant child," Batsu shouted at his daughter—no, not his daughter, because he disowned her. "I've had enough of these games. You give us the money, or you'll never be done with us. Don't you want us to leave you alone?"

Mari ignored him in favour of dialing numbers on her phone. She held it to her ear as it rang, and her face lit up when whoever it was answered. "Iori? Hi, listen, I know you're probably busy, yeah, I get that, but I have an issue. You see my not-parents are in my library right now, and I need to know what legal actions I can take against them. Really? Okay, I'll let them know." She pulled the phone from her ear and extended it towards her father. "He wants to talk to you." Her father took the phone from her, glaring at her angrily. She didn't even bat an eye. I supposed that was a testament to how tired and upset she was about our situation, that her parents—a constant source of unease and upset in her past—weren't even a blip on her radar anymore.

"What is it?" Batsu growled. Iori said something to him, and as Iori continued talking, Batsu's flush of red anger faded from his cheeks. He started stammering, growing more and more flustered as Iori kept talking. "I see," he said finally. "I suppose we'll speak then. Rest assured, we will get what we're after." He didn't bother hanging up, choosing instead to smash it against the floor. It broke into three pieces with a loud shattering noise.

"Rude," I commented, not caring too much when his anger got directed my way. I mean, I was standing with both my partners and an axe. What was he really going to do to me?

"Don't think for a second we won't be getting what we're after," he snarled at Mari. She rolled her eyes in response.

"I'm so sure," she said sarcastically. She stood there, looking for all the world like she wanted to tap her foot, but couldn't because it was wrapped so tightly, due to the sprain, as her mother and father collected their personal items. She looked at the clock and ticked off sixty seconds before turning to them. "Get out. Anything else I find of yours will be put on the curb. You might want to keep an eye out if you think it's important, unless you want it to get taken. You're unwanted guests in my home, and your time is up."

"We'll see whose home it is," Batsue said ominously, but it had little threat behind it, because the judge had already ruled in Mari's favour once before. He probably wasn't going to like having to do the same thing a second time. Batsu and his wife stormed towards the doorway. His wife hurried passed us, flinching away from the sight of the digimon, as if touching one would give her a disease or something. Batsu, on the other hand, stormed to his daughter—the younger, and not disowned one—and grabbed her roughly by the arm. She let out a startled whimper, but let him drag her away. Mari wasn't nearly so agreeable. She slammed her father into the wall, causing him to drop his grip on Aneko.

"If you ever touch her again—" she started. But I saw that Batsu was happy by the development, and I pulled her away, covering her mouth. He glared at me angrily, but I wasn't about to give him any ammunition to use against Mari. She bit my hand, angry that I'd interrupted her, but I didn't let go until Batsu, and Aneko were outside again.

I heard the protesters start yelling, and I knew then exactly why they chose this location to make their stand. They were here to harass the Goutokujis for their part in EVOLVE. It was sort of satisfying, but it felt like it was both not enough and too much all at once. It was too much, because those jeers and angry bursts were reaching out to their daughter too, who had done nothing. But wasn't enough, could never be enough, to make up for what they did while working with EVOLVE—and even before that, what they did with their daughter. I didn't know the specifics of that, because Mari still couldn't bring herself to talk about it, but, because of that unwillingness to talk, I knew it was bad.

"What was that for?" she demanded when I let go of her.

"I don't want to deal with the repercussions," I told her. "You're going to court against them, don't give them anything to use against you."

"What about my sister?" Mari asked quietly.

"I don't know," I said, just as quiet. "But I'm sure you'll think of something. I'm going to bed though; I'm not going to think for at least three days, if not longer."

I headed up the stairs, and looked into my room, finding that it was obviously Aneko's temporary room. All my stuff was in boxes by the door. I grabbed a clean pair of clothes and methodically removed my Sidhendor garments. It was so nice to finally feel cotton against my skin again. In my t-shirt and boxers I looked to my bed for a second, before heading back to the hallway. I wasn't going to feel close to Kiyoko at all in there. Instead, I headed to his room, where Warg, Melga and Tapirmon were all curled up on the bed. I wormed my way into the middle of the bed, cuddling them all to me. Before sleep was even a possibility, the door opened again, and Mari slipped in with us. All of us were in a heap of togetherness that didn't feel like it could ever be enough, when sleep finally caught up to me, and took me.

Jou Kido:

"Jou, are you sure this is a good idea?" Gomamon asked from his place in my lap. He was right of course, with his constant worrying that he'd been voicing since we'd left the hospital. It was a bad idea. I should definitely have been staying in the hospital for at least a little longer. My leg was pounding—aching inside the thick plaster cast that was still drying on my leg. It would take at least another day for it to be completely set, but as for now it didn't matter.

"Of course it's a good idea," I confirmed. "We have to do this today, because tomorrow might be too late."

"It will?" Gomamon asked. He looked up to me from where he sat in my lap and looked nervous. I smiled at him and took in the sight of him once again. It was surreal to have him close enough to touch. I could feel his weight on my leg and even though his claws were digging into my thigh a little, I didn't mind. I was just glad that he was with me again. I'd known he was alive all week though, so it was less relief now and more happiness. Though, the happiness was not sitting alone inside my mind. There was a heavy load of strain and distress in there, taking up space.

I didn't think I would ever be over what the virus had done. This was not like anything else we'd ever encountered. Sure, Gomamon was okay and so were Momoe and Emiko—but there were those who had not made it out alive. I was aware of maybe twenty, but I was sure there had to be more. I had been talking to my dad's friend Ishi in the hospital and he was pretty sure that I was experiencing post traumatic stress disorder. I didn't like to think about that, personally but I knew it to be true.

Flashes of the virus itself had been clustering to the front of my mind, and the painful jolts in my heart as I feared the worst for all of my friends and family.

This was not something that would end whenever we won the battle. Or the war, or whatever we were calling it these days. This was something that, without proper care and patience, would plague our minds for the rest of our lives. Even with intensive care I knew I would never feel as though enough had been done to prevent this from happening. I had saved Jun, so I could have saved Noriko too. I could have gone earlier, and found it within myself to save both girls. Noriko could be alive right now if it weren't for my stress. All I had to do was think clearly, and I would not have lost my patient. My friend. With more effort we could have saved more of the digimon around the world. D'arcmon, Jackie and those Gekomon surely were not the only digimon to have perished in the virus, and it was because we did not do enough to save them. We could have put a stop to this madness, and yet we had made just enough mistakes to have everything end in the fog.

But we had saved many lives, I had to keep reminding myself that. We had not simply let everyone die, and according to Koushiro, he had received many emails from the Chosen Children across the world telling tales of their adventures as well. There were barriers on every continent of the Digital World. And within those barriers were digimon who were alone, hungry and in danger of a permanent deletion.

It was time to put an end to the thing that had caused so much strife for the past two months, and rescue those digimon from their prisons. If the trauma had to last within those who were affected, I was going to make sure that the virus itself never did.

"It might be," I clarified. Gomamon seemed to be taking everything more seriously now and he looked ahead as we wheeled down the hallway of Mimi's restaurant. Momoe was behind me, pushing my wheelchair. Our reunion had been a silent one. She caught sight of me in the hospital, wheeling my way down a hallway and she hugged me with tears in her eyes. I tried and failed to keep a level head, but I had missed her so much. She promised me that she had a way to get to the Digital World, and she swore to herself that she wouldn't go until Sora and Yamato returned.

When Sora finally did, she verified that I was on Earth and Momoe had rushed to the hospital to get me back here. She wanted to be together as a family again. I thought that was fair.

"Should we come too?" Jenna asked from where she sat with her purple haired boyfriend. He looked familiar to me, but I couldn't quite place his face. Apparently, she and Momoe had been determined to go to the Coliseum to see if everyone was okay, but Natsuni had convinced them to wait, thinking more clearly that the others were. It was true that entering the Digital World could be dangerous at the moment, but I trusted Momoe to know the coordinates of the Coliseum. Knowing coordinates was the entirety of her previous job that she had now ceased working with.

Momoe shook her head to Jenna, telling her she didn't have to come if she didn't want to, but that she could if she felt safe enough. Jenna was on her feet a second later, ready to brave the adventure, but Chi, her boyfriend, pulled her back, worried about her. She relented and sat down again, waving us along.

Natsuni waved to us, wishing us luck, and Mr Ishida gave us a look that told us he thought us brave to walk into the virus. But didn't they know we weren't leaving to our deaths? We would be back. All we had to do was enter the Digital World, delete the virus and save the entire world from danger, find our daughter, Bermon and Monmon, and go home.

And then clear out the obviously expired food from our refrigerator.

It seemed rather straight forward, but I knew there was a lot of 'ifs' in the equation. There was no proof that my anti-virus would even work. We did have proof however, that the machine we were now coming towards was able to function properly. We did not have proof that any of us actually knew how to use it.

Katsue handed the device to Momoe after giving it one last look over. Momoe grabbed it and held it tightly above my head, and then she walked out in front of me, and blocked my view. I couldn't see what she was doing but when she stepped back I heard a faint humming sound and when she reached high above her head I saw a shimmering violet knife seemed to appear out of thin air from the bottom of the machine as it sliced through the sky easily. When Momoe moved away, there was a line drawn in the air like an after image.

As we waited Katsue grabbed Monimon nervously, ready to run in case the virus came through when finally the door was to open. And then finally, it did. I let out a deep breath that I hadn't consciously kept inside as I looked into the hallways of the Coliseum. Momoe looked around the doorway triumphantly and then handed the round machine off to Katsue. "We'll be right back," she assured her before grabbing the handles of my wheelchair and guiding me inside.

It felt different, going through this rip. It wasn't like the familiar pull in my stomach as it flipped like driving over a hill quickly. This felt wrong, like every part of my body wanted to turn back as it ached in protest. My leg seared with pain and my eyes widened as I stared down toward the cast where the pain was focused.

There was a sudden yell of shock and Momoe screamed loudly, whipping my wheelchair around to face whoever it had been that had screamed.

My wheelchair lost its balance and I fell to the hard stone floor of the Coliseum with a loud groan.

"Jou, I'm so sorry!" Momoe gasped as far too many hands grabbed at my arms to pull me up. Instinctively I used my legs to help myself stand and then I was up, standing on my own two feet. Slowly I looked down to my leg and then up to Momoe again. "Right," she realized, "The Digital World heals you while inside." This was the relief that I had been expecting to feel with Gomamon and the others—the relief I had felt upon first finding out he was okay.

"Yeah, no big deal," Gomamon drawled sarcastically, "I'm fine, don't worry about me." I turned to him to see Yuuko Yagami picking him up and hugging him close, apologizing profusely for having not noticed him. "Oh hey now!" he said annoyed. "Let go of me!" Yuuko grinned and handed Gomamon off to me. I took him and he mumbled something about crazy people.

Yuuko looked down to my leg and seemed worried, "What happened to you?"

"It's a long story," I admitted, "Maybe call everyone to the living room? We have some news to share." Yuuko nodded and was off a moment later to do as I had asked. Then I turned to Momoe, "Come with me?" I offered. She nodded and took my hand. I walked with her down the hallway of the Coliseum, hobbling and limping slightly due to the cast trapping my foot. We passed Yuuko as she informed everyone where we were going to talk, and everyone seemed more worried than excited. If only they knew.

"Where are we going?" Momoe asked. I didn't answer because we were already there. I pushed open the door to the infirmary and allowed her to step inside. The first thing I noticed was that it was freezing inside the infirmary, like someone missed the numbing feeling you got from being outside in the middle of February. The next thing I knew Momoe was on the ground hugging something with a cry of delight. When Bearmon's head popped up around Momoe's shoulder I made sense of the situation.

Letting Momoe have her moment with her partner, I turned to Jose, Hogan and Illya who were sitting on four stools guarding the curtain behind them and what it was concealing. "I thought I told you not to let anyone know what was going on," I said, unimpressed.

"We have not told a soul," Jose seemed confused and maybe a little hurt that I was coming across as annoyed.

"Well you sure didn't hide it well," Gomamon said, "Ha! I bet even Agumon coulda figured out that there was something behind the curtain."

"I do not know what you mean," Hogan said monotonously, "All that is behind this curtain is our friend Benjamin practicing his soliloquy for the next play held in the arena. He is playing the lead character in a one man show, and he is very excited to share his knowledge on slugs with the audience. Surely if you go behind the curtain he will give you a sneak peak at the—"

"Okay, okay," I said, throwing one hand up in defense, "I get it, I'm sorry for doubting you." All three of them beamed from the praise and I ducked behind them and past the curtain and caught sight of a Frigimon before my eyes fell to what was surrounding him. "Whoa!" I gasped stupidly. Benjamin had taken my small make shift chemistry lab and turned it into something at least ten times better. He had recreated exactly as I had done with my machine multiple times. Instead of making one vial of the solution at a time he was now making a dozen—maybe more.

He looked to me and smiled proudly. "What do you think?" I hesitated, and he panicked, "No, I promise I did exactly as you did. I triple checked on every one of them. I promise it's the same. I just thought it would be better to make more so we could end this faster." Again, I hesitated. Benjamin's face fell, "I knew it could raise an issue so I ensured that all of your solution was kept separately, just in case. That way I wasn't hurting the process—"

"Honestly Benjamin," I cut him off, "That's genius. You did well." Benjamin breathed out sharply, wiping his brow to show how nervous he had been. "Can you collect all of the solution and bring it to the antechamber? We need it to be cold though," I said, looking to Frigimon, "Keep it cold and then heat it at the last minute. That's the plan anyway. It should turn it to gas, according to the ingredients inside at least."

Frigimon nodded, "I can do that," he assured me, "it's what I do best."

"I'll bring all that we have made," Benjamin promised, "Though I might like to keep one vial safe, just in case we are in need of more."

"Good plan," Gomamon said, elbowing me, "now why didn't you think of that?"

"Because I'm a fool," I rolled my eyes, giving Gomamon what he wanted to hear. He hummed his amusement and turned back to Benjamin who looked nervous. I was nervous too. If this didn't work, I was out of ideas. The good news though, was that we had Koushiro now. If my plan didn't work, I knew his would.

When I stepped out of the curtains I spotted Momoe holding Bearmon up in the air, hugging him tight. "I digi-missed you so much-mon!"

"Oh no," Gomamon gasped with fake dramatics, "She's doing it again!" Momoe stopped and shot a friendly glare to Gomamon who laughed again, and leapt from my arms to greet Bearmon who finally wiggled free of Momoe's tight hold. Gomamon tackled Bearmon into a hug and a smile crept its way onto my face. It was then that we bid Benjamin farewell and made our way to the living room.

Momoe ran off ahead, scanning the crowd that had accumulated. There were far too many to fit in the living room alone and so they made use of the adjoining dining hall, and the kitchen that was directly across from it. Even the hallway was packed full of digimon and humans alike. It was clear to me that Momoe was searching for Emiko, but there was no way she would find her in this mess of people.

I found Yuuko waiting at the front of the crowd by the television and I made my way to her. "Kae has just gone out to get the children, and then everyone will be here." Momoe popped up next to me as if she had heard the word 'children' and felt it was her duty as a mother to be involved in the conversation. But I knew she was just desperate to see her daughter again. I was desperate to see her again and I'd only said goodbye previously that day.

And as the crowds began parting and Kae's gentle voice made its way toward us as she led the children through the crowd Momoe's excitement had built to a breaking point. She reached toward me and grabbed my hand roughly and squeezed it tight. Kae popped up between Okotte and Fumiko and my heart lurched. Someone would have to tell her about Ken's baby. I didn't want to be the one to tell her—but could I make Momoe?

Did Momoe even know?

And then all thoughts of that were wiped from my mind because Emiko had thrown herself after Kae, wearing dirty overalls, with her hair all pulled back. She looked up and caught sight of Momoe and instantly started crying. "Mommy!" she called out as she ran, leaping over some smaller digimon with Monmon bounding behind her. Momoe released me and fell to her knees and opened her arms for Emiko to greet her before starting to cry herself. Neither seemed to care that every eye was on them at the moment, some looking fondly, some with jealousy, but no one seemed to want to interrupt their moment.

Monmon bounced around the two of them, trying to get a hug in too, because he obviously missed Momoe as well. When he couldn't squeeze himself into the hug, he spotted Gomamon and opted for him instead. Gomamon shouted in shock as Monmon tackled him but both he and Bearmon just started laughing at Monmon instead.

It wasn't until Izumi spoke up that Momoe even showed signs of letting Emiko go. "So what are we doing here? What happened?" Izumi was holding multiple digimon in her arms as she rested on the arm of the couch next to her friend Tomoki who was barely visible under his companions.

I opened my mouth to explain, but nothing came out. Where would I start? It seemed obvious to me to start with Arnold, but somehow no matter where I tried to begin nothing wanted to come out properly. But eventually I settled on a brief story of what we had done. Spring had brought us to the new land—the land of white—and we were split up. Arnold's beasts had attempted to rip us to pieces but we all made it out alive. Taichi, Mari, Kurayami, Daisuke and the digimon were not all who found this world with me though.

"Sora's okay," I told her mom, and of course she already knew that, but hearing it again had to be a relief. She clutched her chest and nodded, blinking back tears. "Palmon was right. Mimi, Hideto, Tatum, Michael and Lopmon all made it out alive. They're back on Earth now though." Satoe shrieked dramatically with delight and pleasure, throwing her arms around her husband's neck and kissing his cheek. Michael's father looked to his wife kindly and placed his arm around her. I winced, knowing that Willis did not join us. Tatum's mother actually fainted with relief and her husband caught her with the help of the digimon in the overcrowded room.

"What about H-Hikari?" Yuuko asked. I turned to her to see her holding hands with Yoshie Izumi, both looking nervous about any news of their children, fearing that perhaps they would be left with no new information.

When a soft smile formed on my face they seemed to realize it was okay to be excited too, "They're back. They're fine. And Takeru—and Ken too. They were all trapped in the Land of Dreams." I was startled to hear Kae Ichijouji actually begin whimpering as tears poured down both her and her husband's faces. Natsuko was hugged tightly by her partner Lunamon as Coronamon bounced around her, but Natsuko herself seemed to be in shock. My eyes slowly looked to Fumiko who was standing, one hand holding Meiyomon and the other clutching so tightly to Okkotte's hand that her knuckles were turning white.

"Miyako was in the Dark Ocean," a few gasps were heard throughout the crowd, and Fumiko seemed pained to hear this, but there was more information that she wanted, "she's on Earth now. Without Iori there to help her along she probably would have fell into darkness."

Okkotte was the one to seem pained this time, fearing that anyone could fall to the pain his wife had been subjected to. "Is he okay then?" Meiyomon asked sharply, "Is Iori alive too?" Slowly I nodded and Meiyomon rounded on his mother—who was also his partner—but she did not return his gaze. Instead she fell to her knees in complete shock and Meiyomon tried to get to her but no sound seemed able to reach her ears.

"There's more, isn't there?" Keisuke Tachikawa asked timidly, "More news?"

I nodded, "W-we should be able to get you all back to Earth now, if that's what you want." There was a lot of chatter rising immediately, but I couldn't make much sense of any of it. I awkwardly held my hand up for them to be quiet and eventually they did. "We came here to the Coliseum to be safe, to feel protected, and instead we have felt trapped. I understand if you want to return to your homes, but please do not forget the danger that is out there for those who run against the grain."

"What about us?" A high voice asked. I couldn't make out who had asked, but I knew it had to be a digimon, "how are we supposed to get home? Do we just stay here forever? What's the point?"

"No," I told them, shaking my head, "For you I have different news. But I don't know if you're going to like it." There was a silence now, "I think I might be able to clear the virus."

"Why wouldn't we like that?" came the general response.

"Because it might not work."

And then the room was exploding with people shouting at me to at least try it. I owed it to them to try. It hurt to hear that some of the digimon still blamed the general human population for what had happened to them. I understood of course, because that was how their minds naturally wanted to work. I would just have to try harder to prove to them that I was on their side. I had already dedicated my life to their health and wellness, so I didn't know what else I had to give, but I would try harder and do more, I would not let them fear or despise humans all because a very specific group of madmen decided to hurt them and ruin their homes.

For now, I would give them a clean world.

Or at least I would try.

I found Shuu who was standing with Jun and a sleeping baby Haruki, and asked him if I could use Meramon. He nodded and I motioned for him to follow me. The digimon cleared a path for me, and I felt powerful, like nothing was going to stop me. Even if I was hobbling around like an idiot because of my cast. The cast that would likely have to be reset after all of this walking around on it before it fully dried. Oh well.

I found Frigimon and Benjamin in the antechamber, where Babamon was instructing them on the safety of going outside. She was advising them to not go far because there were very few phones left to be used. They were ignoring her as Jose and Hogan pushed open the great iron doors.

Soon enough we were all following Frigimon outside as he carried a massive box filled with the vials out into the grassy moat that surrounded the Coliseum. I was suddenly aware of everyone standing behind us, having followed Meramon and me down the hallway, and now we were all staring up to the wall of the purple fog for hopefully the last time.

Momoe took my hand and when I turned to her I saw Emiko in her arms giving me a thumbs up. Monmon, Bearmon and Gomamon crowded around our feet and I knew I would never need any more support than this. "Meramon?" I prodded, pointing to the box in Frigimon's arms. He set the box down and everyone stepped back making way for Meramon who held his arms out nervously. He was still for a moment, apparently deciding if it was a good idea or not.

But then the fire shot quickly.

Everything was happening quickly, actually. The fire came in contact with the vials and instantly the air exploded with a gas just as dense as the virus, but instead of the dark, dreary purple, this fog was bright sea foam green.

Many screams filled the air and people moved to protect their friends and loved ones, but if all were to go well, there would be no need to protect them.

The fog rolled fast, as if it was on fast forward and it shot in every direction, pouring right out of the barrier. Emiko cried in fear, probably from all of the panicking digimon and people, and so Momoe moved closer and together we shielded her from the fog. I felt Monmon grab my pant leg and pull himself closer, afraid.

I had to admit to my own heart beat increasing with a slight tinge of panic. But I knew that if we were to die, we would have by now. The fog was so thick that I could not see Momoe or Emiko and they were right in front of me. We were safe here in this fog.

We waited, standing still for a while, and eventually the panicking crowd ceased their screaming, and soon enough the fog started to clear up. As the green met purple, both dissipated entirely, cancelling each other out.

I looked to Emiko to make sure she was okay, and through the thinning green air I could see her smiling again. Relaxed now, I took a look out to the virus itself. A wall of the green fog was making its way across the sky, fighting against all the purple death that had kept us contained for so long.

"We're going to need more," Jose noted. He was not wrong. The virus was surrounding the entire world, and surely we would not have made enough of the antivirus just yet, but soon enough we would be able to create enough to cancel the virus completely.

We hadn't won just yet, but we were on our way.

Or I thought we were, but I had no proof, and I wouldn't get that any time soon either because Iori needed me right away. He sent me an urgent text message. I had no clue what was up with him, but I knew he wouldn't lie about something like that, and I knew that my job here was done. Now I was off to help Iori with, well, something.

Taichi Yagami:

"Obviously, the main issue now is transport," Benjamin was saying. "Frigimon and Meramon can only be in one place at a time, which is slowing down progress immensely. With the rate Jou and my team have managed to produce the anti-virus, we could—should—be moving at a much quicker pace than we are."

"The answer is staring you in the face," Koushiro said dryly. Benjamin turned to him and quirked his head, interested, despite the less than impressed sound to Koushiro's voice. It was probably bitterness at how he wasn't able to produce the anti-virus—his chemistry skill seriously needed some work. He kept exploding things whenever he tried to help out. It was stressing him out, but he was such a perfectionist that he felt he needed to be able to do this. It was an endless cycle of failure at this point. He was busy with other projects that he could be dedicating his time to, but he seemed to be on the ball these days.

"Oh?" Babamon asked, seeing that Koushiro was off in another world, thinking up another project already, having given up on this one already.

"There are more Frigimon in the world," Koushiro pointed out. "And there are plenty of fire based digimon as well. Agumon here is one, so is Gabumon. He's actually preferable, because his attacks are both fire and ice based." Agumon was excited at the prospect of helping to clear the world of the virus, and Gabumon was flattered by Koushiro's praise. Koushiro didn't seem to notice either's reaction, because he was too busy leaning down to prop his head up with his good arm. His face was very pale, and there was a glimmer of sweat shining on his skin.

"Why don't you take a break," I offered him. He shot me a withered glare, and I knew my efforts were worthless. The Digital World could work wonders with paralysis and broken bones, but we'd all gotten cuts and bruises here enough times to know that it couldn't heal those. Koushiro ought to be at home, lying in bed, and resting while the stitches do their job. He shouldn't be up and moving, but after a couple of days at home, he flew the coop, so to speak, and appeared at the Temple eager to work, despite his body's opposite desires.

The Temple was a new place now. Sure, the virus was gone, which was great, and made all the difference—we were still within Kiyoko's shield though, just in case the virus started spreading again before the anti-virus could take full effect—but it had a completely different feel to it. It wasn't the thriving metropolis it once was. It felt haunted, and barren. The digimon had yet to return to the streets. The houses were empty, the wind echoed off the walls, and I swear I saw tumbleweed when we first got here. It was a ghost town. Only a handful of digimon were daring enough to make the journey, and those digimon were on the council, or members of the Knights. Not one civilian had made the trek, and I honestly didn't know when they would.

The Temple was sort of a hoity-toity spot. It was where the well-to-do digimon lived. It was a solid community, built on togetherness and loyalty, but it was still a privileged place. Only those that worked in the Temple reserved the right to put up a permanent residence here. That being said, most of them had lived fairly sheltered lives. They weren't the bravest lot of digimon I'd ever seen—they weren't cowards, they were just afraid of the unknown. And the virus was a pretty terrible first foray into danger. They were rightly frightened, but I really wanted to see the Temple feel alive again. If I had to walk past the lonely courtyard where I'd staked D'Arcmon's staff alone again, I was going to scream.

The Temple wasn't the only barren location in the Digital World these days, but it was pretty much the only community around. There were small villages—like the Yokomon's, Koromon's and Pagumon's—and even a few towns—Factorial Town, Toy Town, Overdell—but the Temple was the only metropolis. It didn't seem fair, and in reality, it wasn't practical. If the virus had targeted anywhere other than the Temple for its entrance, all the digimon could have stayed here and been perfectly safe the entire time. Thousands of digimon could live in the Temple, and be protected all at once. It was much easier than having to hunt down digimon in the woods, gathering them together into a central location.

We probably could have saved more digimon if there had been more places like the Temple.

I just didn't know how to change things. The Digital World was pretty progressive on the whole, but they developed really slowly. Getting Tinkermon's spas was an ordeal, because the others on the council didn't want that big of a change.

"Your idea has merit," Benjamin told Koushiro, and I shook my head. I could try and change the world and save the future later. I had to pay attention to the meeting at hand. It was our first since returning from the Coliseum. I couldn't daydream through it.

"It does," Koushiro said, pinching the bridge of his nose. His eyes were twitching as he tried to push through the pain of his wounds. I'd taken a couple of days to feel up to moving around myself, but I'd followed the doctor's advice. I wasn't about to cause any setbacks in my healing. He seemed to think he could recover by sheer force of will, because he wasn't going to take any breaks soon. "I have some other news to discuss," he said, taking a deep breath and reaching to a newspaper he had sitting on the table next to him. He unfolded it, and threw it into the middle of the table, where an image of a masked man looked up at us. "The police are assuming this has to do with digimon, more pertinently, the support of digimon. The article goes on to say that this masked man has been making appearances before the Artist's work started appearing around town. It has only occurred to them now that this man could perhaps have similar goals."

"Just now?" Agumon asked, shocked.

"This doesn't speak highly of human intelligence," Babamon offered. Koushiro and I both glared at her. Neo might've too, if he'd been there. He was still at home. He was recovering from a bullet wound. It was going to take awhile. He wouldn't be able to train with the Knights for months.

It wasn't the only thing he was recovering from either.

I'd been holding out hope just as much as he was that Rei would've been out there somewhere. Even till the end there, when I had heard what Gaia had said about how she'd killed Willis and Kiyoko, I couldn't keep the hope from rising. Gaia didn't boast about killing Rei. But chances weren't high that Rei had even found Kiyoko or Willis—and if she had, well, things didn't look much brighter.

Neo and I were both grieving the loss of Rei, and it was worse, I think, because I felt that I'd betrayed her. Neo had loved her throughout her entire life, and he was still a dedicated big brother. I'd loved her for three years—probably more, but I hadn't been able to see it back then—and the minute I learned that she was for sure gone, and that Willis and Kiyoko were gone too, I'd kissed Mari.

It was stupid, and to be honest, I couldn't even be sure if Mari kissed me or if it was the other way around. I was just really out of it with pain medication, and the stress of the situation had caught up with me. But my excuses didn't matter. I'd kissed Mari hours after losing all hope for my girlfriend. I loved Rei with every fiber that was in me. I still did, even though she was gone. And I'd betrayed her. I mean, technicalities aside, I did anyway.

"Gaia's still out there somewhere too," I said. I caught a few people off guard, probably because my comment didn't actually have anything to do with the masked man—but I didn't know anything about him, and I knew from past experience that we had a tendency to forget about our enemies if we didn't constantly remind ourselves of them (Dragomon, Fanglongmon, need I go on?).

"She is," Koushiro muttered. "I wish I had better access to information on her. I can't discover her strengths or weaknesses without a source of reference."

"Perhaps you could speak with a fairy," Centarumon suggested sagely. "This Gaia is their mother, is she not? They should have some information to share."

"But are they willing?" Koushiro mumbled, bitterly. I knew he'd spent two months living in the Land of Dreams—something that none of them were willing to talk about, because they'd all had such a horrible time—with Summer. The four of them all seemed to have differing opinions on Iori's self-appointed aunt. Koushiro, did not seem fond of her. I'd caught him mumbling a time or two about how pointless their stay in the Land of Dreams was, and how much he resented the little quest she'd given them. I'd managed to piece together that Koushiro hadn't been able to succeed in that quest—something about really wanting it, or whatever—and he was definitely bitter about it.

"Has anyone gotten word from Mrs Yuuko, if they've managed to solve the food issue?" MetallifeKuwagamon asked. It was still strange for me to hear them talk about my mother so casually. I hadn't had a lot of time at the Coliseum, that was true, but shouldn't I have noticed the council and my mother becoming friends? It made me feel kind of neglectful, even if I had so many other things to be doing at the time.

"I haven't heard anything, but I'm sure she's on top of that," I said. She and the other parents could have all abandoned the Digital World once we were able to provide a way home for them. But they didn't. Not one of them turned their backs on the digimon. They didn't spend all day every day in the Coliseum anymore. Most of them spent a good portion of time trying to smooth things over with their jobs, and I knew that Mom spent a lot of time with Dad, now that she was able to get to him. They'd been separated for a long time, and she still had enough room in her heart to dedicate most of her time to the digimon. Mom was awesome—and she was going a long way in making digimon feel comfortable with humans. They were still wary of humans. The digidestined seemed to be an exception—thankfully—but it wasn't enough. I was happy that Mom and all the other parents were helping the digimon heal from the betrayal that the DWD—or EVOLVE, I supposed, as they were actually known—shocked them with.

"Yoshie, too, is doing her best," Andromon added, glancing at Koushiro. Andromon was Koushiro's father's partner. Instead of listening to Andromon, or even noticing the mention of his mother, Koushiro was busy writing away on a piece of paper—lacking the use of his left arm, thanks to the injuries Behemoth bestowed upon him, and rendering him incapable of using his laptop to take prompt notes—not paying attention to the world around him. I glanced at the paper, and saw it was mostly monetary figures. He was shifting things around on a budget sheet that probably had nothing to do with the Digital World, and everything to do with his girlfriend's restaurant.

"Tinkermon will be back later today," Benjamin said. "She'll have collected information from several safety zones, and we'll know how far the effect of the anti-virus has spread. I'm sure she'll alert us to any starving digimon she meets, and we'll be able to use our resources to help rebuild the Digital World."

"It's gonna take a real long time," Agumon said morosely.

"It'd be a cinch if Kiyoko were here," Gabumon said sadly.

He was right. Kiyoko was this world's foremost—and only—architect. Now, we had an entire world to rebuild, and several metropolises that I was hoping to create, and no one that knew how to go about doing any of it. It wasn't the only reason to miss the guy—not by a long shot—but right then, it was a talent we sorely needed.

Even Koushiro couldn't ignore Gabumon's words, and he winced. He had to school his features, to keep his emotions in check, but I knew he was breaking at the seams, just like everyone else was. Kiyoko was his cousin. They were related by blood, connected in a way that neither was connected to anyone else that they knew of. Their parents—Kiyoko's only, and Koushiro's birth—were all gone, and Kiyoko had gone too. Koushiro was alone, in that regard once again. And I knew it hit him hard, even if he refused to show it. Both Kiyoko and Willis were his fellow geniuses. He had to be hurting—and not just because of the injuries he hadn't let heal yet.

"We'll manage," Centarumon said, solemnly.

"We've always managed," Babamon added, sounding exhausted at the thought.

The meeting ended on that depressing note, and I was the first out the door. I wanted to head over to the Coliseum, to see what I could do to be useful there. I was still recovering myself, but I could do something without straining myself. I could do the dishes at least, or pick some vegetables from Mari's garden. Mari wasn't doing it anymore. I didn't know what she was doing, but she wasn't ever present anywhere that I was. She was definitely avoiding me, but that was fine. I was avoiding her too, so it worked out just perfect. She was also more than a little preoccupied with her grief at that point in time. She'd gotten used to the idea that she'd lost Lalamon—and would never "get over" it—and now she had to heap on three of the people she held dearest: Rei, Willis and Kiyoko.

Needless to say, it was proving to be a little difficult for her—and the rest of Alias III, truthfully.

Upon entering the hallway, I saw Hikari seated in Sora's usual place. She looked small and tired on that bench, but she was alive, and that was really all I could ask for at this point. She was looking intently down at her phone, and I peeked over her shoulder to look at it, because I was nosey like that. She was texting with Kurayami.

"What're you up to?" I asked her, spooking her, and having fun doing it. She jumped about a foot in the air, and whirled around to look at me. She hid her phone against her chest and turned away so that she had to look over her shoulder at me.

"Nothing," she said quickly—too quickly. I rolled my eyes. If she wanted to act all suspicious just because she and Kurayami were texting, that was fine.

"Talking about me?" I guessed. She laughed nervously and shook her head jerkily. She totally was. "Good things I hope."

"About you?" she said, sounding a little more like her usual self. "Obviously."

"Seriously, what's up?" I asked. "You don't usually come to council meetings."

"This is an unusual council meeting," she countered, and she was right. It was the first meeting at the Temple after a virus had plagued the world. It was kind of strange all around. I nodded, and shrugged, waiting for her to answer my question. She sighed and looked to her toes, putting her phone in her purse. "I have something important to tell you. I just don't think you'll want to hear it."

"I'll listen anyway," I promised. She took a deep breath to steel her nerves, and turned to me. Her eyes were shining with tears that had sprung up out of nowhere. My heart was quickening, and I was starting to worry about her. I didn't know what could've possibly happened, but I would do whatever was in my power to damn well fix it for her. She was my baby sister. I'd do anything for her, just to see her smile.

"I made a mistake," she said, starting to cry. The tears spilled down her cheeks. "I held the sadness, the anger, the regret, I held all the bad stuff inside again, just like I always do, but it was different there. In the Land of Dreams the world takes your true thoughts and distorts them. They become tangible. Taichi I created a monster."

"You're not exaggerating?" I asked just to clarify.

"No," she cried, throwing her arms around my waist and burying her face in my shoulder. "It's called 'The Reaper' and she's all the evil that I created inside of me. Akumu—he's the Boogeyman—took more evil out of me, and created a sea of chaos. We left Yume and Ryou to deal with it. Cyberdramon can only protect Ryou from so much. He's just a kid, Taichi. I left a kid to clean up my mess. I don't know if he's okay or not."

"I'm sure he's fine," I said, trying to reassure her, but knew it wouldn't work. She couldn't possibly be comforted by an opinion I'd formed based on next to no information. I didn't even know who Ryou was.

"Can you help me?" she asked, softly. "It might be too late for them, but we can still save that world."

"I'll help you save all the worlds, if that's what you need, Hikari," I promised, rubbing my hand in her hair, just to get her to crinkle her nose, in the way she always did. She swatted my hand away, and I grinned at her. "But you've got to let me save my own world first."

"Your world is Earth," Hikari reminded me gently. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah," I said. "Right." She didn't get a chance to correct me, because Yamato was in the hallway, totally intruding on our moment. He looked at me like I'd grown an extra head, and I knew he agreed with Hikari. I didn't feel the need to explain myself to them. I'd dedicated the majority of my life to defending this world, I worked in this world, I practically ran this world, and I also lived in this world. Just because I was born on Earth didn't mean it was my world. I'd found a home in the Digital World, and I would do anything in my power to get it stable before I took anything else on my plate.

"Is the meeting over?" Yamato asked.

"Looks like it, yeah," I told him, rolling my eyes. Andromon and Centarumon were leaving the room as he asked, debating whether or not Leomon and Ogremon would manage to make it to the next meeting, since they were still out in the world as Tinkermon was, not having made the trek back to the Temple even once.

"I have something you could suggest maybe, for the next one," Yamato said awkwardly. Hikari was drying her tears as inconspicuously as she possibly could, not wanting Yamato to see her weakness. I mean,I knew he saw it, but he pretended he didn't, for her sake, which was pretty decent of him. I raised my eyebrow at him, and nodded for him to share his idea with me. "I think Gennai was right, and that maybe we should think about separating the worlds."

"They are separate," I pointed out.

"I mean on a more permanent basis," Yamato said, kicking the ground awkwardly.

"That's not gonna happen," I told him flatly.

"I have a list of reasons," Yamato argued.

"It's not an option," I said firmly. Hikari had pulled her phone out again, and was texting away. "Tell her about that time I juggled six small cartons of milk." That was an awesome story, that I embellished every time I told it, just to make it better. In reality, I'd tossed only two cartons in the air, and then tripped over our old cat. I'd landed on the ground just in time for the two cartons to smash into the ground and explode all over me.

In my story, I'm a pro at juggling, and gave the milk to a bunch of homeless, street cats in desperate need of nourishment, while reading to a bunch of in-training digimon. I'm basically amazing in it—and not covered in milk.

"What?" she asked, looking away from her phone, confused. Huh. It looked like she really wasn't texting about me after all. As I walked away from her—and Yamato, who was still trying to convince me of his stupid idea, but I was ignoring completely—I wondered just what she and Kurayami were texting about, and why was it so secretive?

Sora Takenouchi:

I was trying as hard as I could to pay attention. I had never been someone to fade into my thoughts before, but somehow this was different than sitting in a classroom taking a difficult exam, or listening to a lecture from my parents, even the long and boring ones that they deemed important. This was different because I had never been so nervous in my life. Or maybe I had. The feeling of relief after the nerves reached their peak had always washed the feeling away from my memory entirely, and so each new experience felt fresh, new, and horrible.

So perhaps I had been this nervous before when Arkadimon was firing his Dot Matrix directly toward me, or when Arnold had been dragging my hand toward the button to release the virus. Perhaps Datamon keeping me in the bottom of that horrible pyramid had caused my insides to churn just as they were now. Perhaps all of that was true. I just couldn't remember, and so this was worse by default.

My mind was bouncing off the walls like a hyperactive ninja who forgot what his mission was. I could hear people sniffling, or shuffling in their seats, and I could hear a soft whimper from somewhere in the seats, a constant sort of whine. The room was well lit with horrible fluorescent lights that made the room feel damper than the air already was. Damp and heavy. If the air or the moisture from the rain outside wasn't enough to make everything feel like it was pulling me directly to the floor, the emotions that were pouring from everyone else sure helped it along. Hearing the cries or the man clearing his throat in a way that clearly stated that he was desperately trying to live through the uncomfortable itch in his throat so as not to disturb anyone fed my nerves some kind of steroid and they just kept building up.

When I reached to scratch a growing itch behind my ear I realized how tense my muscles were, and how little I had been focusing on myself or what was going on in front of me.

My eyes focused on the wooden table that I was seated at and I tried to look around but I couldn't force myself to budge an inch.

'Be calm, Sora.'

My only advice had been to stay calm, and I was failing at it. I had to remain calm and cool and innocent. Because I was innocent. I hadn't done a damned thing. Well, not really. So if I was innocent, I should be calm and cool and collected and calm and calm and I wasn't calm.

Suddenly I was elbowed sharply in the side and I jumped, looking up to the man sitting in the black robes behind the massive wooden stand. I stared into his brown eyes for a moment until he leaned forward, expecting a response.

"S-sorry?" I stuttered stupidly.

The judge seemed irritated, "Would you say that statement is true, or false?"

I froze. What statement? What was he talking about? I had been so caught up in trying to pay attention that I forgot to focus on paying attention. That didn't even make sense and it was still true! With a whisper from the helpful lawyer to my left I had my answer. "True," I stated as clearly and loudly as my voice would allow.

The judge seemed to understand that I hadn't been paying attention and, although he seemed greatly annoyed to do so, he repeated his previous statement, "You feel you were wrongfully imprisoned then?"

I nodded, "Yes, of course, your honour."

He didn't seem to like me very much really, but he took one last look down at the papers he had been handed and then held them out, ready for someone to take them. My lawyer, Iori's law professor, stood sharply and moved toward the judge to take the papers. "As there has been no formal paperwork completed to attest to this woman's arrest I hereby announce her free of all charges." With a quick slam of his tiny wooden hammer my chest seemed to open up entirely.

That wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It was excruciating, and yet not so bad now, after the fact. It seemed silly now that I had ever been worried at all. I had been told countless times that I would be fine, that I would be let off with very little effort, and yet there was something pulling at me, forcing me into a sense of insecurity.

But it was going to be okay now, because I was free. It was so easy—court wasn't nearly as dramatic as it had been depicted on prime time television programs. As the nerves drained down through a hole in the bottom of my chest, clearing out all the negativity along with it, I found my muscles to be freeing up and I was able to look around. The walls were an off-white, kind of a dirty crème colour that certainly needed to be rethought because it didn't match the beautiful wooden detailing at all. I heard more shuffling as people slid their feet through the layer of dirt that had built up on the marble floor after a long day of trials.

I took a look behind me to where Mantarou was sitting, his thumbs high in the air. Next to him sat Kurayami who was holding Haruki and then Daisuke was next to her. The three of them were staying in my house for a while now that we chose to vacate the Coliseum. It just seemed fair to have some fresh air for them, and now that I was free I'd get some too. I did feel bad for the people and digimon who were forced to remain inside the Coliseum because even though the virus was clearing up in the Digital World it was just a fact that it could take a while for the skies to be fully clean. Kurayami was worried about that and about Haruki's growth and so I offered her my basement. It was particularly roomy and it gave me a solid reason to start unpacking and getting rid of a lot of my old things. Or that's what everyone told me anyway. I had simply lined the boxes around the room but Taichi, Mimi and Takeru all seemed very concerned with my well being. I kept everything that ever meant something to me. Was that so bad? I had all kinds of keepsakes from my childhood, and I wanted them. I'd find a storage locker somewhere to keep them all in. They'd all be safe.

But first I had to find a place to hide them all from the others.

Takeru, who had lived with Kurayami and Daisuke before the virus had chosen to stay at the Coliseum, but as far as I had been told, Yamato had invited him—or instructed him more likely—to stay with him instead. He had that empty room in his apartment ever since Taichi moved out three years ago, and he could finally put it to good use. I was mostly assuming that they would get along together of course, they'd never actually lived together, and I was not invited to get a closer look so I wouldn't know. Yamato was angry at me because I didn't trust him, but that was not my fault. I could not control who I trusted and who I did not.

If I wanted to trust Mantarou, which I did, then I was allowed. I felt bad for Yamato, but really we had been walking on eggshells around each other for far too long. It was time to live our lives without worrying about what the other thought about it.

Besides in total we had dated for forty-two months. The most recent break-up was six years ago. We had no reason to feel that way. We were being children.

I caught sight of Mantarou's smile and I smiled back, mostly with relief, and then someone had taken my hand and pulled me gently to my feet. I saw Iori's professor and he motioned with his head toward the door, "I think it's time we leave."

"Okay," I said, nodding stiffly, "Thank you so much." My voice was dry and somehow it felt pained.

"Don't mention it," my lawyer, whose name I did not even know, said. "Though I must say, I might have to start charging Iori's friends if they get into any more legal trouble."

I laughed nervously, silently thanking him for the gift he had given me and also praying that we never fall into any more legal trouble.

And then we were turning to the door, and Mantarou got to his feet, ready to join me. But I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard what the judge said next.

"And now the case pertaining to one Benjamin Arnold," the judge's voice was clear and there was no mistaking what he had said. But that didn't make sense. He was American, didn't that mean we could just send him back to America to be dealt with? Did he have to be here still? Couldn't Winter have thrown him in jail in Sidhendor—or whatever that land was called now—and be done with it?

Daisuke wanted me to come and he was motioning for me too, seemingly desperate to get out of the room before Arnold showed his face, but it was too late. I turned when I heard the sound of the door opening and saw him, dressed in orange and being led and followed by two strongly built police officers. The woman, who was in the front, stepped aside and allowed her male partner to lead Arnold over to the bench where a sly faced lawyer was standing. The lawyer looked to me and held up his finger, requesting that I stay a moment longer and he was immediately pushing through the wooden gate that separated the audience from the open floor.

"Sora, come along," my lawyer told me sternly, trying to lead me away from the oncoming man.

"Wait a moment, please," the lawyer requested kindly, popping up next to me. He placed his hand on my lawyers wrist and gently removed his hand from my shoulder, "I was just wondering if Sora might like to stay and answer a few questions for our case. It would help us move along more quickly."

I looked directly over his shoulder to where Arnold was sitting, looking to the side as though he knew I were standing here but was wary about actually looking toward me. I knew the others were shaking their heads, wanting me to say no. But I couldn't. I couldn't not help put this man in prison, where he would surely rot.

"I'd love to help."

"Lovely." The lawyers sweet voice faded instantly to a kind of villainous drawl and his smile was thin and wicked.

"Sora," Daisuke said, unimpressed.

The five of us, six including Haruki, sat in the front row, waiting and watching. The trial was going quickly, with the judge heavily leaning against Arnold. I didn't feel like I had to be here at all. There were people coming and going, as though they were bored and couldn't be bothered to view the entire trial. Or perhaps they were related to Arnold and they found the event too emotional. I didn't know. All I knew was that he was going to jail. To prison—hopefully for life.

And then it finally came time for me to stand up on the witness podium and swear to tell the truth. I had nothing to hide, and so telling the truth was going to come pretty easy to me. I could see in the crowd that the others all looked nervous, but I didn't feel the same. Nervousness was a feeling I hadn't felt since my own trial, like half an hour ago. It was a foreign concept again.

"Okay," the sly faced lawyer said to me as he clapped his hands, and spun around to face the crowd, "Here we have Sora Takenouchi, is that right?" He turned to ask me and I nodded, "Right, of course it is. This girl has had her fair share of time being involved with my client. Would you verify that, please Sora?"

"Of course," I nodded, as something dug at the forefront of my mind, trying to reach my consciousness. "I met Arnold a few months back—"

"You refer to him by Arnold?" The lawyer asked.

I nodded, confused, "Yes, that's why I called him 'Arnold'." The lawyer nodded for me to continue, "Okay, so I met him only a few months ago but since that time he has imprisoned me, mentally tortured me, killed my friends, and chased me with the creatures he created in the basement of his office buildings." There was a silence, one that the lawyer had to partake in as he absorbed everything I listed.

It was at that moment though, that I realized what my brain was trying to tell me. This was Arnold's lawyer. He wasn't trying to put him in prison—he was trying to keep him out. Well, I wasn't going to let him away with that one.

"The friends that you mentioned," The lawyer said when he finally caught his footing again, "Are any of them here today?"

"Yes," I said, pointing to Daisuke, Kurayami and Mantarou. "There are my new roommates and my boyfriend." Mantarou looked to me, with one eyebrow raised and I felt heat rising in my cheeks. I had just called him my boyfriend. That was something we hadn't talked about yet—we'd only been on a couple of dates. Well, I knew what my afternoon plans were now.

The lawyer looked to them and politely waved, "So they know my client as well?" I nodded, "And they would agree with the stories you are telling?"

"Obviously," I said, still confused.

"Now, I don't recognize any of these faces from the video that released by the infamous 'Digital Man'," the lawyer said, slowly turning to face me, "But I do recognize you." I swallowed thickly, "So tell me, are you familiar with an organization that has entitled themselves 'RISE'?"

"Not really," I said quietly.

"Speak up," The judge ordered firmly.

"No, not really." I repeated.

"Well is that a 'yes' or a 'no'?" The lawyer seemed confused now.

"I've heard of them, but nothing more." I clarified as simply as I could.

The lawyer began walking toward his client—Arnold—and he took a photograph from the folder he had sitting there. "So," he said, walking toward me, "you don't have any idea who the masked figure in this photograph is?" I reached out for the thick sheet of paper that the photograph had been printed on to and I stared at the figure of a man in a simple wooden mask with two eye holes. He was wearing a black cape and a well maintained bowler hat. I looked up to the lawyer, completely confused. "So that's a no?"

"Not a clue," I said honestly. "What does this have to do with Arnold?"

"Remember that I am the one in charge of asking the questions in our relationship, Miss Takenouchi," the lawyer said smugly, returning his photograph to his folder.

"The girl has a point," came the judge's firm voice.

"I assure you, Your Honour, we will arrive at my point very soon." There was a moment of silence as the lawyer looked to the judge with a wide eyed gaze, essentially pleading the judge to allow him to continue. It was disgusting. More so because the judge actually caved and allowed him to. The lawyer's face lit up and he turned toward me, "So you were involved in the videos, yet you do not know who this masked man is, nor do you have any idea what RISE is up to, correct?"

"Correct," I nodded shortly.

"And you have no idea what happened to the missing police chief, Sakana Moretsuna?" My eyes flicked over to Kurayami and her face was white as a ghost, and when I looked back to the lawyer I stared a moment too long. "Correct?"

I looked back to Kurayami and the others and saw that Iori's professor was frustrated, with his fists balled up in his lap. He was angry that nothing was being done to stop this man from asking these questions, but then a saving grace came in the opposing lawyer.

"I object," she said, rolling her eyes, "This case has nothing to do with the police chief."

"Ah, but it does," the sly faced lawyer pointed out.

"Over ruled," the judge was not on my side in this. I didn't know which lawyer he was leaning towards anymore, but I did know he wasn't on my side.

"So where were you between the date of May twenty ninth—the last day Sakana was seen alive—and today—the first day you decided to show your face?"

I looked up to the judge, and he motioned with his hand for me to answer the question. "We already talked about his earlier in my trial. I was in hiding."

"For what reason?" the lawyer asked.

"Because Arnold was trying to kill me and my friends," I snapped, slamming my fists down on the wooden railing in front of me as the anger built up too high. "He tried to feed my friend to one of his creatures, and later succeeded in taking that same friend's life. He died in the virus that he sent out!" I looked to Arnold for the first time since I'd sat up next to the judge and saw that he was smiling. What about this seemed funny to him? There was nothing that could ever make me forgive him for what he had done, and he should not ever feel satisfaction for the deeds he had caused.

The lawyer leaned closer to me now, "That's quite the temper."

"You're not asking relevant questions," I snapped back, "Ask me about Arnold and the time he chased me down the street with his precious 'Behemoth', or how he had his minions hold a gun up to my friend's heads. Ask me what he said to me before he forced me to press that button—to send the virus out. Ask me what he smelled like, or who the others were, those who were working with him. I can answer everything and I can prove that I'm not lying. That man is horrible, and he needs to be punished! You can't just—"

"Enough," the judge shouted firmly, slamming his hammer down on his desk, "That is enough. You are required to answer his questions and to be cooperative." He then turned to the lawyer, "Prove to me that the case of Sakana Moretsuna is relevant to this one, or any further questions will be denied." At least he seemed bitter toward everyone. But the shudder that was still passing through me from the intensity of his voice was something I wouldn't soon forget. Or maybe I would.

The lawyer held out a remote control and pointed it toward a television on a cart near Arnold, and Katsue's video began playing. I paid very little attention, as I'd seen it before. However, if there was anything in that video that incriminated me, I would have to have a serious talk with Katsue about her career choices. So far she'd made a documentary that alerted everyone to the digital life forms and caused wide spread hate, and now she was trying to throw me in jail?

"As you can see," the lawyer said when the video finally ended, "It is clear that Sora Takenouchi was seen several times throughout that video, and it clearly stated that Sakana was my client's underling. It is not a far stretch to assume that my client was defending himself from a woman who had taken his best employee out—"

"I object!"

"And as she was clearly involved with the media—" he was drowned out momentarily by the opposing lawyer shouting her protests and the hammer being slammed against the desk, "—the magic of cut and paste!" There was silence for a moment and then finally the judge motioned to the lawyer to speak one last time. "It is clear to me at least, that this woman was a threat to my client." He turned to me and walked closer, "is it true that your video had footage of you involved?"

He was trying to trick me into admitting to something, but I was too smart—something I hadn't thought I'd be thinking so soon after making so many major mistakes, "My video? How many things are you accusing me of?" It was clear to me that he was trying to pin Moretsuna's murder on me in a lame and desperate attempt to save Arnold.

"You previously stated you were involved."

"I'm in them," I clarified, "I didn't m-make them! I am only seen in the footage so often because, as I said, Arnold was trying to kill me, and someone thankfully saved us by giving us this footage of him in the act. You just showed enough proof to bring Arnold down."

The lawyer wasn't finished, but thankfully, the judge certainly was. It wasn't long before I was being escorted back to my seat where I sat, every part of me shaking with panic and anger as Mantarou took my hand in his and gently rubbed his thumb along the center of my palm.

Even twenty minutes later when I was watching Arnold being dragged off, having lost the case, I still didn't feel satisfied. I should have listened to the others. I should have stayed out of this mess. Arnold was going away to prison for a very, very long time and I should have been happy to see him go, but I wasn't.

And when we all made our way outside, Iori's professor took me aside for a moment and looked into my eyes seriously, "Do you understand what just happened?"

"I was accused of murder and of being the Digital Man, I think." I told him, my voice coming out even shakier than my body was.

He nodded slowly and then spoke softer, "Arnold knew he was not going to get out of this. He was smart enough to see that there was no escape route this time, but he was not done playing with you yet. He treats you like a doll, Sora. He enjoys playing games with you, and if he had to be dragged down—"

"He's going to take me with him?" I interrupted, and Iori's professor nodded. "That ambitious freak!" I shouted running my hands wildly through my hair. "What do I do?"

"I'm not sure," he said quietly, "There hasn't been any case made against you yet, so until there is I don't know what I can do aside from prepare a defense just in case."

"I-I don't have any money," I stuttered. He knew this, which was why he was doing this for free.

"We'll work something out," He said, though it seemed to pain him to say it. I nodded nervously and he put his hand affectionately on my shoulder, "I'm sorry you've had to be put through this."

"Have," I corrected, "you said 'had' and that implies that it's over. But it's not, is it?"

He slowly shook his head, "No, it is not over yet."

Miyako Ichijouji:

September 1, 2015.

It's been one month to the day since my precious Mai entered the world. She weighed just one pound, ten ounces, and she was so tiny. Each day that's passed since her birth has been incredibly difficult, and I don't know how much longer I can bear this. I spend every minute of every day in the hospital, watching over her. I keep hoping that some miracle will occur and she'll be able to come home, but it still hasn't happened.

She has good days, and bad. She gains so little weight that I fear she may never gain enough to come home. After four weeks, she's weighing in at just 30.8 ounces. She isn't even two pounds yet. She's gained almost five ounces since her birth, but it doesn't seem to make much difference. She needs to reach five pounds, before the doctors could even think of letting her go home.

I worry, constantly, that it was my fault. I worry about what Gaia told me. She gave the baby a chance, she said, but what did that mean? Did it mean my baby was lost to me before she interfered? My heart tells me she was right, but it aches to know that I couldn't support my child, that our enemy had to gift my daughter with life when I couldn't manage even that much on my own. I worry about the effects the Dark Ocean will have on her, but even still, I cannot tell the doctors of my time there. They wouldn't believe me, even if I tried. I can't bear to see the look on their faces again. They think that I'm too unprepared for my baby.

But I didn't have time to make the proper arrangements. Hideto managed to get his hands on enough supplies for Mai, so we had a stroller and a car seat (even if they were obtained through less than legal means), but the doctors were right. I wasn't ready. I wanted to have the last three months of my pregnancy to prepare myself mentally for the task of looking after my child. My body had been in shock for weeks after giving birth so early. And I took longer to recover than I should have. My body was too weak from my stay in the Dark Ocean.

It was Mai that took the most from that weakness though. She's still so small. My heart aches looking at her through the glass case she stays in. There are so many tubes, and I feel so helpless. She's too small. I'm so afraid of hurting her. Ken had to bathe her, the first time we were offered to, because I was too panicked. I was overwhelmed by how delicate she is. I've already hurt her, when I was carrying her. I was supposed to be a safe haven, a place where she could grow and develop, but I failed.

I'm a failure.

Ken found a list of suggestions, for me to handle the situation that was thrust upon us, and I try to follow the instructions. I'm giving myself permission to cry and feel overwhelmed—but I don't think that it's helping in anyway. I take such few breaks from being at Mai's side, but the moment I step into the hallway, the sadness, the fear, the panic, the regret, the anger (at the world, and myself) just overcome me, and I fall to the floor in a bundle of emotions as they rip out of me. More than once a nurse has suggested I take a break, but I couldn't do that. I was meant to be with my daughter every day, for the next three months. I was supposed to carry her with me, but obviously I hadn't managed that. This was the best way I could make up for it.

I developed a routine, as Ken's list suggested, though I don't suppose my routine was what it meant. I spent all day, and into the night with my daughter, leaving only to get a change of clothes, a shower and a few hours rest, before starting again, early the next morning. I know that I'm meant to balance my work and home lives with visiting the hospital. But my entire life revolves around her. Hawkmon is always in the Digital World anyway, in Primary Village, taking care of his own "child". He's so proud of his new offspring, and raves about him to me. I want to be happy for him, but I'm finding it difficult to not be jealous. His child is happy and healthy. Mine isn't. It's not fair. But I can't fault Hawkmon or Poromon for their health and happiness. Mai's condition is entirely my own fault.

The list suggests that I connect with other parents going through the same journey as I am, but I can't do it. I spend too much time with my own daughter. I can't be bothered to provide support for anyone else, when I can barely provide it for myself. I feel lost, like I'm just floating through the motions of my life, waiting until Mai is in the clear, waiting for the doctors to tell me that she's strong enough to come home. It's unfair of me to leave Mai to fight for her life when she was so tiny. But I prayed that she would do it. That she'd come out of this with a fighting spirit as strong as any digimon's.

I've been told—by Ken and his list—that I should keep my thoughts and fears in a journal, which I am writing in now. It's meant to be a way that I can vent my frustrations at every one of Mai's setbacks. It's a place I can write about my fears, and hopes in order to cope with Mai's time in the Neonatal Intensive-Care Unit. It's a place that I can celebrate every inch of progress she makes, so I can dare to experience the joy. I don't know if it's helping though. All it's really doing is reminding me just how much there is to be afraid of.

The final item on Ken's list, is that I should accept that he and I are reacting differently. I'm pretty sure it's his way of pointing out that I have no right to be mad at him. He went back to work the first chance he got. He spends so little time in Mai's presence, with his long hours. It's like he's afraid to get attached, and really, it's stressing me out more, which in turn is stressing out Mai, which is what the nurses say each time they ask me to leave.

But I'm trying so hard to be a good mother, to make up for my initial failure. I read books to Mai every day, and I hold a tiny cloth in my hand while I do so, so that the nurses can put it in there with her, so she can get used to my scent, in addition to my voice. I provide milk for her whenever possible, but it never feels like enough. Sometimes it gets to be too much, but I don't know what else I can do. I don't know how to help Mai recove—

"Miyako?"

I looked up from the pages of the red and white notebook Ken had handed me the night before, when I'd been sent home at the end of yet another long day. The list he'd given me was tucked inside the front cover, glued to the first page, so I could never lose it.

No matter how little it actually helped me.

"What happened?" I asked, desperately looking to my impossibly tiny daughter. She was lying still, with her breathing apparatus, and who knew how many other tubes, surrounding her. There were little sensors taped to her tiny stomach that were monitoring her heartbeat and other vitals. She looked just the same as she had before I'd started writing in my journal. I looked again, from the top of her bald head to the tips of her tiny toes. Her one foot was wrapped in a device that kept continual watch over her temperature. What was wrong? What was I missing?

"A good thing," my favourite nurse said. She was older, and held a sunny disposition. She never made me feel inadequate, despite the fact that I was, and always broke down the news into smaller, more manageable explanations. I wasn't in the right frame of mind for the bigger medical terms. I could hear even the most positive of them, and assume my daughter had caught some sort of disease, which would always send me into a panic. Kankoshi—the nurse—was very quick on the uptake, and realised from the start that I was easily terrified. She explained things in a gentle way that never sent my heart rocketing as I worried about some nonexistent disease that was "threatening" my daughter's already fragile health. "She's gained more weight," she explained with a bright, beaming smile. "A whopping ninety grams, which puts her up passed the two pound milestone. She's at 2.2 pounds now."

"Is that safe?" I asked, torn between pure joy at the idea and fear that she'd gained too much at a time.

"Very," Kankoshi told me. "She's going to lose some of it, which is to be expected of course, after such a large gain, but it's a very good sign. If she gains more than that, then we'll have to worry about her retaining water, which is not a good sign, but it doesn't look like its water that she's got in there now. She's getting bigger."

"But she's still got so much to go," I murmured mournfully.

"Well now," Kankoshi admonished me. "You've got to celebrate whatever victories you can get. She's doing a good job, gaining weight in a healthy manner. You've got to celebrate that. Don't put too much pressure on her, or on yourself. No two babies develop the same way at the same time."

"But the Kazoku family's baby keeps gaining weight so much faster, and he was born after Mai was," I pointed out. "He's up three ounces more than her. Why isn't she holding on to the weight? Why does she keep losing some of it whenever she gains any?"

"She's doing what she can," Kankoshi told me softly. "You can't rush her. She's not ready to hold onto all that weight. She's not ready to breathe without assistance either. But she will be. Don't ever lose hope. She's depending on your hope and faith and love. She's drawing strength from you too. Don't give up on her, and she'll keep doing her best. She's got to go at her own pace though. She's her own person, and she really doesn't understand what you're going through. And she doesn't have to understand."

"Because I'm the mother, and she's the baby," I sighed, knowing this speech inside out and backwards. She smiled and patted my hand.

"Exactly," she said. "Now, do you want to give her a bath now, or are we waiting for her father?"

"Ken should be here soon," I told her, still a little anxious about being left to do it without him. She squeezed my hand and held it tightly.

"You can do this," she told me. "I know you blame yourself, but sometimes it's just a baby's time to come, whether you're ready for it or not. If you had any complications, they might've played a part."

"I don't know," I whispered, admitting to her for the first time. She looked down at me, and she didn't try and feign surprise.

"I realize," she told me, using her voice to assure that she wasn't angry about it. "We've wondered, you know. There were scheduled doctor visits, but you missed them. Dr Akachan was thrown off guard when you arrived to deliver the baby. She wasn't expecting you at all. She was under the impression you'd found another doctor, and just forgot to tell her."

"I didn't," I said, feeling more confident, now that I knew Kankoshi wasn't going to judge me for my failing—for what was out of my control. "I wasn't able to get away. I was trapped."

"In the Digital World," she surmised. I looked to her with wide eyes, worried that she was afraid of the digimon, and hoped that her fear wouldn't get in the way of helping my baby. My baby needed her. I couldn't let my dedication to digimon hurt Mai's chances. But Kankoshi just laughed, and shook her head, squeezing my hand tightly again. "I don't mind them," she assured me. "I never did. I try to stay out of the conspiracy mumbo jumbo. I have a job to do, and babies to take care of. They take most of my time. I can't be bothered to dedicate my free time to hate groups."

"Good," I said in a shaking voice as I trembled with the force of my relief.

"I wondered, you know," she continued. "A group of people came in all battered and bruised at the same time you came in to deliver this precious angel. I thought, perhaps, you came with them."

"I did," I admitted. "We were all in different worlds, not just the Digital World, but we got trapped there first. The other worlds came after, when Arnold sent out the virus. I had to escape. I couldn't let the virus get my baby. I had vitamins though. I took them every day. But I was so worried. No one could check on her. I was so sure I'd done something wrong."

"You did the best you could," she told me firmly. "It wasn't your fault that you couldn't find the care you needed. If you need someone to blame for what's happened, look towards the people that trapped you. You could not have known what they would do. You could not have foreseen the outcome. You managed to beat them, and live through their actions. Mai is alive. You did that."

"I didn't, not really," I murmured, more to myself than to her. It was clear though, that she heard me, because she quirked her head curiously. "I just mean that I couldn't do what you guys have done," I told her, louder. She blushed and brushed my praise off. I couldn't take the credit she was trying to give to me. I couldn't accept it, because it was a lie. Gaia was the only reason my baby was alive, and really, it gave me very conflicting messages about her.

Winter hated her, and Sigma was afraid of her, but she saved my baby for no apparent reason.

I had every reason to like her, based on Sigma's fear and her saving of my child. And Winter not liking her wasn't even much of a point against her at this point. Winter didn't care about me. She couldn't, not if she didn't try to save my baby until Bengoshi was a threat. If she'd cared, like she said she did, then she would have brought us to Sidhendor a long time before she did. The fact that Gaia did care would have been a point in her favour if she hadn't admitted to killing Willis and Kiyoko.

If she hadn't done that, I would have trusted her completely, solely for what she did for my daughter.

There wasn't enough room in my heart to dedicate too much of it to grieving both of my lost friends. I was just stretched too thin as it was. My entire heart was dedicated to the struggles of my daughter as she fought to survive in a world she just wasn't ready to be a part of. I knew that once Mai was out of danger though, I would be struck down by the weight of the grief that was building up steadily.

Kankoshi looked to the clock and made a face. She squeezed my hand one more time, before excusing herself. I wasn't upset by her departure. This way I wouldn't have to lie to her. I wouldn't have to come up with some way of describing my living conditions during the pregnancy without flat out admitting that I'd been in the Dark Ocean. I wouldn't have to admit to killing my daughter, only for Gaia to give her life back to her.

I didn't like omitting such important pieces of my pregnancy from the doctors and nurses that were keeping Mai healthy. I didn't like the idea of clouding their eyes. I wanted them to be able to help Mai to the best of their ability, and I knew that hiding such important factors wasn't helping in the slightest—but I couldn't risk it. What if they took her away from me, just because I'd been stuck in the Dark Ocean? What if I was deemed an unfit mother, because the key I'd been given led me there?

What if whatever Gaia did was temporary though?

I looked down to my book again, and started jotting down those particular fears.

I'm afraid that Gaia's work will expire and I'll lose my daughter again. I don't want to have to say goodbye to my precious baby girl, but what if I don't have the choice? What if Mai isn't strong enough to fight through this battle she's up against? She's just a baby. She's not meant to fight. It was my job to do that fighting for her. Once again someone has to do the work for me—only this time it's not my life that needs saving. Will I ever be able to fight on my own, or will I always depend on others to do that fighting for me? My crest is honour, and I'm making an infant fight the battle I was supposed to fight.

How am I going to be able to look Mai in the face later in life knowing that I'd put so much pressure on her while she was so young?

"You'll do just fine."

I jumped in my seat and slammed a hand over my mouth before I could let out a startled yell. Ken was standing behind me, and reading over my shoulder. I closed my book hastily, and tried to find the effort to glare at him, but I couldn't. I wanted him to read it; I wanted him to be able to tell me that my fears were pointless. I wanted to know that Mai was going to be okay, and that I wasn't the worst mother in the history of the world. I'd let her gestate in hell, but there had to be some redeeming qualities to me, didn't there?

"She's not going to blame you," Ken assured me, massaging my shoulders, while I started crying. My emotions were on a permanent roller coaster ride. I hated it, because my emotions always got in the way when I needed to stay calm and relaxed for Mai's sake. "If anything, she's going to be a spitfire. She's raring to go, that's why she came into the world early. She's a go-getter. She's going to know that. She's alive, sweetheart, and that's all that matters."

"It's not all that matters," I protested. "She's so small, so fragile."

"I heard she gained ninety ounces since yesterday," Ken commented. "It sounds to me like she's finally figuring this weight thing out. She'll be five pounds before you know it. They were talking about switching out the breathing tube for a CPAP in a couple of days too. She's getting so strong, Miyako. She's going to be able to breathe on her own."

"They said that?" I asked, hearing it for the first time from Ken, and not entirely believing him. He'd been known in the past to say things just because I wanted to hear them. I didn't want him to do that about Mai. I wanted us to always be honest about Mai—no matter how sweet the lie might be.

"Just now," Ken said, nodding his head. "Kankoshi told me when I passed her in the hall. She's going to check up on the Kazoku baby, and then she's going to come back and get us set up to give Mai a bath. It's exciting, isn't it? I love bath time."

"You know, people say it's important for daddy and baby to bond too," I pointed out. "Maybe you and Mai could bond over bath time…all the time."

"Do you not want to clean our daughter?" Ken asked, sounding amused at my suggestion, seeing right through my pretense to the motivation behind it. It was unfortunate that he was such an observant person. I didn't mind that he knew how afraid I was to wash Mai. I didn't want to hurt her, after all. And he was so much more confident with her than I was. She got to smell me and hear my voice, and I'd done some skin-on-skin time more than once, so she knew how I felt. But I was too afraid to really move her around the way Kurayami had been moving Haruki from the get-go.

"I just think you two should bond, is all," I hedged, not wanting to say it out loud. He smiled, and kissed my cheek.

"I don't mind," he told me. "I kind of love the idea. I can see it now: Mai in the bathtub when she's old enough to sit by herself, splashing me with bubbles and throwing around a rubber duck. On second thought it seems kind of messy."

"Too late," I said as jokingly as I was able with the emotional strain I was under. "No take backs."

"Fine," he sighed. "I guess that leaves you with dirty diapers."

"Oh no, mister," I told him, shaking my finger at him, scolding him. "If you think I'm going to clean them all then you are mistaken. We'll share that task."

"What's your job going to be then?" he asked, sounding a tad affronted that he had the bulk of the duties so far. I rolled my eyes.

"I carried her around for nine—no, I didn't," I said, and the emotions crashed down on me again, my teasing mood fled quickly in their wake.

"Six months though," Ken said, as if it made a difference. "That's six more months than I did."

"He's right you know," Kankoshi said, slipping back into the room. "Now, it's bath time for the baby. Who's going to take charge this time?"

"Him," I said, turning to my book again. My heart ached watching him—both happy for his easy going nature with our daughter, and resentful for it—as he followed Kankoshi's directions. I picked up my pen and started writing again.

I still didn't think it would help though.

Next on Digimon Adventure 08: TK and Jenna get their first chance to narrate of the story, and we get to see how their lives are going after the crazy virus attack that happened a couple months ago now. We've finally managed to bring the characters past the dangers of Arnold and his death trap, but each character is dealing with the events in their own way, so yeah keep reading!