Daisuke frowned slightly. "What's up with him?" He asked before he could stop himself. Miyako hit his arm annoyed, while the other four were giving him not-so-subtle glares. 'Ouch' was his only answer.

Takuya frowned as well, and so did his friends, human and Digimon. "Oh, I'm sorry; he just witnessed how his twin brother died for the second time this week." Takuya replied, trying not to be so loud. He hoped Kouji couldn't hear.

This shocked the other team. "Second time? How is that even possible?" Takeru asked, being the first one to recover from the revelation.

"A week ago, we were called by Ophanimon to help save the Digital World." Takuya explained. "While we spent months here, in our world just a few minutes had passed. In one of our final battles, Kouichi sacrificed himself to save us, and as a result he also gave us the key to defeat Lucemon."

"When we came back to the human world, we found him at the hospital." Junpei continued, noticing that Takuya was tired. He didn't blame him. "He had been in the Digital World just as a spirit, since he had fallen downstairs and hit his head. Kouichi was apparently dead, and a miracle was needed to bring him back. That was last Sunday."

"Kouji has been worried all the week about him, since he couldn't see him. At least until Friday. That's when Kouji finally met his mother." This time Izumi continued. "On Saturday we were called again, and we figured that it wouldn't take us much longer than last time. Just a few minutes, and we would be back before Kouichi's mother returned home from work."

"And before his father arrived." Tomoki commented. "Didn't Kouji-san say that Kouichi-san would meet their father?"

Takuya nodded, and then Daisuke interrupted. "What do you mean? They didn't know their parents?"

"They divorced when they were too little." Takuya said. "Kouji was living with his father and Kouichi with his mother. They hadn't met before coming to the Digital World, though Kouichi knew about Kouji."

"That's why Kouji is behaving like that." Junpei said in his friend's defense. "He not only lost his twin. He already lost him twice in the same week, and couldn't get him to meet his father."

After a moment of silence, Ken spoke up. "Wait, you said that you left on Saturday?"

The Warriors nodded.

"It's already Sunday in our world. We went back for the night, and that's why we arrived late to Forest Terminal."

Takuya's team looked at each other, with a mix of shock and worry on their faces. "Then… Kimura-san…" Izumi muttered.


Kouji had left the common room in such a hurry because he couldn't hold back the tears anymore. It had been hard to do so all day long, but it was like if all his self control had gone away. He sat on the edge of one of the beds, just letting the tears flow. He had heard everything that was being discussed on the other side of the wall, but he didn't care. He couldn't care less about that other team.

But when he heard what that other boy, Ken, had said, he suddenly stopped crying. The time in the human world was flowing normally. It meant that they had been disappeared for a complete day now. His mother was aware of their absence. His father too. His father…

More tears ran down his face, this time out of despair. Not only was Kouichi dead now; his parents were aware of their sudden disappearance and he wouldn't be able to stay in the Digital World just to escape from that. He couldn't be such a coward. But what was he going to do? How would he tell them that his brother had died? He wished that he would have stayed back with him. He shouldn't have gone to the Digital World. He would be safe with his twin.

In the midst of his sorrow, he didn't realize when Takuya walked in the room and sat by his side until he put a hand on his shoulder and startled him.

"Sorry, Kouji." He apologized. "Did you hear what they told us?"

Kouji nodded. He didn't have the strength to talk.

"Should we go back tomorrow and head to Cherubimon's castle later? Or..."

"Aren't you supposed to be the one taking the decisions?" Kouji muttered, trying to make a joke of it but he clearly wasn't feeling good enough for that.

"Maybe, but…" He sighed. "I thought that you probably wanted to see them."

Kouji let out a shaky breath. "I do, but at the same time, I'm afraid." He confessed, trying to not let more tears run down his face. "First of all we'll have to tell them about all of this mess. And then what do you think they'll think of me? I'm a disappointment. I should have stayed back with Kouichi. I should have—"

Takuya shook him slightly to keep him from talking. "Now, don't talk like that Kouji. All of those 'I should have' aren't going to get you anywhere. They won't bring Kouichi back."

"I know, but…" Kouji started, but the tears didn't let him continue. Takuya felt his heart break. It was a sad thing to see.

"No 'buts', Kouji."

Kouji looked at Takuya with wide eyes. Kouichi had said the exact same thing to him just before they left his house. It brought more tears to his eyes, but Takuya had had enough of it. He would normally not do it, and afterwards it would be awkward as hell, but Kouji needed support and so he pulled him into a tight hug. After a short moment, Kouji hugged back. They stayed like that for a moment, and then Kouji pulled away, a bit embarrassed but grateful at his friend.

"Thank you." He muttered, still embarrassed.

"I'm not the only one who's here for you, Kouji. Izumi, Junpei, Tomoki, Bokomon and Neemon are here too."

"I know. Next time, leave the hugging to Izumi. It's not as awkward with her, you fool." He said, a small smile appearing on his face.

"Sorry, but as much as this hurts us, you in particular, I can't let you or the others break apart. Not when we have a mission to accomplish. You still have your mother and father. You can't let yourself break apart, for their sake. You know Kouichi wouldn't want you to lose yourself."

Kouji sighed deeply and nodded. Takuya was right.

"I know. It was so sudden, it happened so fast."

Takuya placed a hand on his friend's shoulder and smiled a little. "You should take a shower and rest. Apparently the girls will be in the other room and the guys in this one since Izumi insists on taking a bath herself, though at first we wanted to keep the teams separated. The others will come soon." Takuya stood up, and started making his way out.

"Takuya."

He looked back. "Yes?"

"You know… You're not only my best friend. You're like a brother too. Thank you."

"No problem, buddy." Takuya said smiling before leaving the room.

Kouji remained on his place for a couple of minutes more before standing up and going to the bathroom to take a shower. It made him relax a little, and he felt better once that all the dirt from fighting and having slept on the ground was off his body. Apparently Seraphimon had really been waiting for them, as Sorcerymon had prepared even some spare clothes for them to sleep in. It was nothing fancy, but it served its purpose. He went back to the bed he had been sitting on, and fell asleep.


Kouji was already asleep when the rest of the boys entered the room. They had been talking for a while and apparently most of the animosity between the teams had dissipated. However, in the talk the Legendary Warriors had managed to avoid the topic of their elements, as the Chosen Children hadn't mentioned which Digimental or Crest they had.

While the male Warriors took a shower to get rid of the dirt from the previous night, the male Chosen Children —who had slept on their own beds and had spent the day on a Trailmon— prepared themselves to go to bed. Takuya had already told them that they would use the three beds beside Kouji's, who had chosen the one next to the left wall, so they decided to use the other four to the right, leaving a single one in the middle.

Ken and Iori looked at the sleeping Kouji with sympathy for a moment, while Takeru was more worried about Hikari, who had spent the day lost in thought. Daisuke was trying to understand the situation of the other team. Not that he was stupid, but… it was a lot. How could they cope with it? He had felt horrible when Oikawa had died, and he had been a bad guy most of the time! What if he lost someone from his own team? What if he lost Jun? They might not get along, but he still loved his sister.

Minutes later, Takuya, Tomoki and Junpei got out of the bathroom wearing the spare clothes. Takuya laid down on the bed next to Kouji's, Tomoki chose the next and Junpei the next one, beside the spare bed who kept him away from the one Daisuke had chosen. He had gotten a bad impression of the guy, but he knew that the kid probably wasn't as bad. He was just confused, he supposed.

Bokomon climbed on Tomoki's bed and Neemon did the same, taking advantage of the space that the small kid didn't use even though there was still a spare bed. They just didn't feel well when they thought that Kouichi would be the one using that bed. Soon, most of them were asleep except for Takuya, who was looking at Kouji.

There was nothing in particular in his mind. He was just laying there, finally in a moment of peace. But he knew that it wouldn't last long. And he knew that it wasn't absolute peace. Not for them, at least. He closed his eyes, trying to stop thinking about the burden he had willingly taken upon himself to avoid letting his team fall apart. After a while, he finally fell asleep.

On the girls' side, Hikari and Miyako were already getting in bed, while Izumi decided to take her time with her bath. Miyako was looking at Hikari a bit worried; she had noticed her strange attitude too. Hikari was in silence, looking at the bed sheets. Tailmon was curled up next to the pillow, already asleep.

"Hikari-chan?"

Hikari didn't answer, and Miyako was about to call her again when the girl looked at her. "What is it?"

"Is something wrong? You have been acting a bit weird all day long. Takeru is worried about you."

The brunette looked at her Jogress evolution partner, and decided that she would tell her. It was related to darkness after all, right? Wasn't that the reason they had finally understood each other and made the Jogress between her partners possible?

"It's… a dream I had. I was in a dark place, but it wasn't like other kinds of darkness. It was… soothing, peaceful even. But it was sad too. Then I saw the shadow of a person, and started chasing it until it stopped. Then a bright light made the shadow disappear, but before it did, I could see his blue eyes. They were sad but hopeful at the same time." She told her, remembering the dream.

"Hopeful blue eyes? Are you sure they weren't Takeru's?" Miyako asked with a smile, teasingly.

Hikari shook her head. "No. I had never seen these eyes before." She answered, ignoring the teasing undertones.

In the bathroom, Izumi had finished her shower and was about to come out when she heard Hikari's description of her dream. It was the same as Kouji. And Kouji knew those had been Kouichi's eyes. She felt like she should say something, but what? She decided to leave it alone for the moment and talk with her friends about it in the morning. Finally she came out and chose the bed next to Hikari. The female Warrior hadn't talked as much with the other two, but she didn't know if it had been because the other team had been rather closed to them. Probably it was. And apparently they still didn't trust them completely. Though it wasn't as if the Warriors trusted them much either.

The three girls remained in silence and soon the two friends fell asleep with her partners. Izumi remained awake, thinking about the recent events and what she had just heard. As far as they remembered, Kouichi hadn't shown his Digicode, and he hadn't been scanned, and now not only Kouji had a dream, but this girl too? Was there any chance of Kouichi being still alive?

She was tired, so she decided to sleep and she would tell Takuya what had happened in the morning.


Takuya was the first to wake up, or so he thought. He was now looking at Tomoki, with Bokomon and Neemon at his feet. Everyone else was still asleep, so he wondered if Kouji was sleep too. However he didn't have to turn around to find out, since Kouji walked out of the bathroom wearing his own clothes, which apparently had been washed by the castle's staff —which would be awesome at playing hide and seek, since no one had ever seen a Digimon other than Sorcerymon. Takuya figured that they had entered to the bathroom trough the mysterious door that no one cared to open.

Kouji smiled a little at his friend. "Morning."

"Morning." He said too as he sat up on the bed. "I'd say that you look better, but you look like hell." Takuya joked, hoping that his friend would take it as a joke too.

Kouji sighed. He was too tired to be mad at Takuya for his attempt at keeping a light mood, so he smiled a little again. "I know. Can't help it when I have been crying for a day and a half." He said, sitting on his friend's bed. However the smile soon disappeared and Takuya put a hand on his shoulder. "Kouichi wouldn't like that. He would like you to move forward, as hard as it is."

"I still need time."

"I know."

Takuya smiled slightly at his friend before jumping out of bed and going to the bathroom to change his clothes. Before he came out, Tomoki started waking up and so did Iori, who apparently was the early-riser of his team despite being the youngest. His partner, however, was the opposite. Armadimon was still snoring even though the others around him were starting to wake up.

When Takuya finally came out, Tomoki and Iori had already gone in, and V-mon started jumping on the bed to wake his partner. The commotion made Ken and Wormmon wake up, and not a minute later Takeru was waking up too. Junpei was the last one to wake up, when the others had already changed his clothes, though Armadimon, Patamon and Neemon were still sleeping. The last one didn't last asleep for much longer, since Bokomon snapped his pants to wake him up.

The group of boys finally left their room, only to find the girls already eating breakfast. The last one to wake up was Miyako, and she was up before Tomoki. The boys sat down to eat their own breakfast, and everyone stayed in silence for a while, at least until Izumi and Takuya finished eating and she dragged him out of the common room and to the hallway.

"I need to tell you something."

"I guessed as much, why else would you drag me out like that?" Takuya said, frowning a little.

"Well, I made an important discovering last night, so listen." She said, pouting. "Remember the dream Kouji had?"

"How could I forget?" He replied, having calmed down a bit.

"Well, it turns out that that girl, Hikari, had the same dream. He told the other girl last night while I was in the bathroom. Apparently she had been thinking about it all day long."

"Really? Did you say something?"

"No." She sighed. "I wanted to tell you first. I mean, we are almost sure that Kouichi's Digicode didn't appear, and now not only Kouji had that dream, but that girl who has never met him had the same dream."

"Actually, yesterday I talked to Sorcerymon." Takuya confessed.

"During your 'walk', right?"

"Yes, I asked him about Kouichi's Digicode not appearing."

Izumi stayed in silence for a moment before asking. "What did he say?" She sounded more cautious than before. Her voice was a bit softer and Takuya could notice a hint of sadness and hope in it.

"He said that if his Digicode didn't appear that maybe his data had been transported and stored somewhere else. But that if that was the case, then he wasn't sure about what would happen with his actual body. He might end up like the first time we came here." Takuya finished explaining, sounding a bit sorrowful by the end.

Izumi sighed. That was not a good option, but it was obviously better than their current situation. "Why is it always him? The poor Kouichi just doesn't seem to catch a break."

"Neither does Kouji. He might be alive, but… maybe that's worse." He said, looking at the doors behind which the others were eating. "He's been having a rough time."

"I can imagine."

"Oh by the way… yesterday Kouji was feeling pretty bad, and… well, he just told me to leave the hugs to you, so you should better do that the next time he's feeling down." He said trying to sound non-chalant to try to hide his embarrassment.

Izumi's smile became a smirk and just as she was about to ask him if he had actually hugged Kouji, he made his escape saying that he would see if the others had finished yet.


"Are you leaving now?"

Takuya looked at Sorcerymon while the others prepared for the trip to Cherubimon's castle.

"I'm afraid that we are. We need to get to Cherubimon's castle as soon as possible." He smiled. "Thank you for everything, Sorcerymon. It was nice to spend the night here."

"It's a pleasure to have you here, Legendary Warriors." He said before adding, in a low voice so that Takuya was the only one hearing. "And I hope you find the Warrior of Darkness."

Takuya smiled at the Digimon and nodded. After a while, everyone was ready to leave, and Sorcerymon escorted them down the path to Forest Terminal. The Trailmon that had taken the Warriors to the terminal was still there, willing to take them all the way to Cherubimon's castle. Turns out that he and the Trailmon that the Chosen Children had been riding so far had been personally appointed by Seraphimon to take them from place to place. Takuya could only roll his eyes. Maybe not all the Trailmon had gone back to be as efficient.

With one last good bye, the kids departed from Forest Terminal.

The Warriors had occupied one of the cars while the Chosen Children stayed in another. The first minutes of the trip had been rather silent on both teams, until someone decided to speak.

"I had another dream."

Takuya got a bit startled. He looked a bit confused at Kouji, wanting him to explain further. The other team had also heard and tried to be discreet about listening; especially Hikari. She had had another dream, too.

"I was in a darker place than before, it was pitch-black. However I knew that there was someone else with me. I knew it was Kouichi. He was really close, but there was something between us that didn't let me reach him. Then I looked at him, and he was showing his Digicode. It was so strange, because I don't think I saw his Digicode…"

Takuya looked at Izumi. They both knew that it was a confirmation of what they weren't sure about. There had been no Digicode.

Suddenly, Hikari stood up from her place, and walked until she was in front of Kouji. It took a moment for Kouji to react and look at her, and when he did, she spoke softly.

"I had a dream too… What does the Digicode look like?"

Kouji stared at her for a moment before standing up and showing her a ring of his own Digicode in his hand.

"This is the Digicode."

Hikari stared at the ring for a moment. "Then, it was the same dream." The girl then looked at Kouji in the eyes. "Then the one I saw in the dream was your brother?"

Kouji was standing still, a bit surprised by the fact, but after a moment, he nodded.

"Then I have a question for you." She seemed to become a bit wary. "Wh… What's his relationship with Darkness…?"

Kouji and the girl where looking at each other in the eyes. That made her friends —Takeru in particular— a bit uncomfortable.

"And also, where is Cherubimon's castle?" She asked again.

'This girl is full of questions…' Takuya thought.