The Ancient Curse

Part Ten: Connections

Standard Disclaimer Thingie: Digimon, all related characters, etc, does not belong to me. Plot, however, does. In short, don't steal, don't sue, don't forget to moo.

Moo.

"She's using magic?" Takeru questioned. "I didn't think that was possible…she's too weak!"

"It's not supposed to be possible," Miyako replied. "It'll probably only weaken her more. Whatever it is she wants to show him must be important."

"I doubt she's had a vision of something unimportant," Ken noted solemnly.

Before anyone could agree with this statement, a quiet thud sounded. Hikari had apparently finished whatever she had been doing, and now fell back onto the pillows. She shut her eyes once more, apparently ready to return to sleep.

Daisuke, meanwhile, had returned to normal. His eyes returned to their usual size, and then they focused once more upon the reality around him.

"What did you see?" Miyako questioned.

He was quiet a long moment, frowning as though in thought. Then, he took a deep breath and turned his eyes toward the others. "I need a favor," he said.

"What sort of favor?" Takeru wanted to know.

Once more, Daisuke was quiet for a moment before he spoke, and then he sighed heavily. "I need someone to go to Motomiya," he replied. "I think my sister is in danger."

"Your sister?" Miyako echoed. "What sort of danger?"

He frowned more severely and turned his eyes toward Hikari for a moment. "I don't know," he answered. "All I know is that if I don't do something, she's going to die."

A stunned silence followed this remark, but no one questioned the accuracy of the prediction.

"Somehow," Ken said thoughtfully, "the two things are connected."

"Connected?" Takeru echoed. "You mean the same person that kidnapped the princess is going to kill Jun? Why?"

"The best connection between the two is Daisuke," Patamon pointed out helpfully. "Is it possible that someone doesn't like Daisuke very much?"

Once more everyone considered this for a few moments. "That's a distinct possibility," Daisuke replied, and sat back in his chair.

"Is it possible that someone doesn't like him enough to put the princess in danger because of it?" Wormmon clarified.

All eyes present turned briefly toward Hikari, who had returned completely to sleep and was now dozing peacefully.

"That's a harder question to answer," Daisuke admitted.

"Well," Takeru said after another moment of silent thought. "I'm not really much use here…I suppose I could go."

"No," Ken disagreed. "I'll go."

"I agree," Miyako said, nodding. "No offense intended, Takeru, but Ken could probably…." She struggled for the right words for a few moments, and glanced helplessly toward Daisuke and Ken.

Takeru only shrugged slightly and sat down once more on the window seat. "Yeah," he said, and shrugged again.

"That's not what I meant," Miyako said, and took a step forward. "I'm sure you could do a great job of it, it's only…well…."

"It's only that I did such a fabulous job of protecting Hikari that it's time someone else had a chance at it, right?" His voice dripped of sarcasm and perhaps a bit of self blame. "No," he said, and shrugged. "It's fine. I'll stay here and watch her die instead."

There was a silence that followed this remark that could best be described as stunned. Miyako glanced helplessly toward Ken, who looked back with a helpless shrug.

"Blaming yourself won't help matters," Daisuke said after a moment or two had passed. He was looking at Hikari as he spoke, perhaps remembering a past conversation. "What's happened has happened. The one to blame is the one who did this, not you."

Takeru said nothing. The rain fell steadily on outside the windows. Thunder rumbled, and a bit of lightning flashed.

"If whoever's doing all of this really is doing it because they've got some sort of…grudge against you," Miyako said then, "do you suppose the rest of us are in some sort of danger?"

"Maybe," Daisuke admitted. He sighed and ran his hands through his still-damp hair. "I don't know."

"It's a possibility," Hawkmon commented rationally, looking up from where he had been napping on the back of an overstuffed armchair. "The culprit does seem to be targeting people who are close to him, and it can be said that all of the Chosen are close."

"Exactly how close do you need to be, though?" she wondered. "I mean, obviously Hikari and his sister…but what about friends? What about acquaintances?"

"Are you worried for your own safety?" her partner questioned. "Or someone else's?"

"A bit of both," she confessed, and sat down in the armchair he'd been perching on. Noting that all eyes in the room were now upon her, following her line of thinking, she went on. "I don't think, not that I would know, but I don't think that if I was searching for people to harm in order to get to Daisuke, that I would go after me. To be honest, I don't know if my being kidnapped would really trouble him."

"It might not," Daisuke mumbled dryly, apparently in a bit of a better mood.

"Thanks for your concern," Miyako replied. "I see I'm safe from future dangers. Others, however…." Here she glanced sidelong at Ken, who was the only one in the room still standing, apparently deep in his own thoughts.

All eyes now turned toward Ken, who shrugged, seemingly unconcerned about his own safety. "I believe I can defend myself," he replied with a shrug.

"If not, I believe I certainly can," Wormmon added defensively.

"I believe," Takeru said quietly, "that Tailmon would have said the same thing."

No one wished to insult either digimon's ability to protect his or her partner, and so a brief moment of silence passed.

"Still, it's a good point," Takeru went on. "Exactly who might be a future target and who might not? Maybe we should warn the other Chosen, at least, of what's going on."

"Speaking of the others," Hawkmon said thoughtfully, "has anyone sent word to Taichi?"

Silence once more filled the room, this time with a bit of a fearful tinge.

"In my defense, I would like to say that I was a bit busy," Daisuke said.

All eyes present turned toward him, apparently eager to have the sentence finished with what it was he had been busy with, but he said nothing more.

"I suppose that we should have thought of that sooner…," Takeru agreed. His eyes had gone a bit wide, and he now grimaced as though in expectant pain, and put one hand on his forehead. "Oh, that's not good."

Miyako sighed and shook her head. "Luckily for both of you, Hikari's mother thought of it. I helped her to compose such a notice in the most tactful way possible yesterday."

Takeru and Daisuke both heaved visible sighs of relief. "Well," Daisuke said then. "I suppose we have a few hours before he's here."

The skies above Hida were clear and crisp, with only a few white fluffy clouds floating cheerfully along. The temperature was still rather cold for springtime, as was common in the northern reaches of the kingdom.

Iori, fairly recently made Lord of Hida, had only recently begun to readapt to the harsh, bitter winters. Though he had been born in Hida, he had left at a fairly young age and had not greatly missed the harsh snowstorms and short summers of the north. Now, though all the snow had thankfully faded away, a bit of chill was still in the air and thus he dressed warmly when he awoke in the morning.

Springtime was a season filled with changes, and this was true even in Hida, though the changes were thus far mostly unnoticeable. Pulling on a pair of thick socks and warm boots, Iori made his way down from the higher levels where his bedroom was located, and headed for the warmth of the kitchen ovens.

Though it was ordinarily customary for the Lords of other places to take meals either in their rooms or in grand, stately dining rooms (of which Hida had several), Iori preferred to eat breakfast in the warm and crowded kitchen, especially in the winter. He descended several long flights of stairs and rounded a few corridors before he reached the large kitchen.

As always, the crowd of diners was thin this early in the morning, with only a few other people sitting upon long benches set beside long tables. During the winter, when the snows were harsh, a good portion of the village population spent its days in the large manor house, which was sturdy and warm. After the thaw, however, the breakfast tables only housed a few of the servants who were awake in the early hours and had the time to spend leisurely enjoying their meal.

A large kettle of hot tea was set in the middle of the table and a few mugs scattered around it. Iori poured himself a bit and held it in his hands, toasting his fingers. Though his room was not overly large and a fire had been lit, it was still cold in the morning, and he sipped the hot liquid gratefully.

The few other people in the room were either engaged in conversation or hungrily devouring their meals, so Iori took a seat alone near the middle of the long table and sipped his tea. After a few moments, one of the cooks set a bowl of hot porridge in front of him, and he devoured it eagerly.

There came the sound of footprints in the hall, and a young boy appeared in the doorway. His coat was unbuttoned and the laces of his boots were half undone. He carried in his hand a roll of paper with a small ribbon around it, obviously a message delivered by Piyomon that morning. He paused in the doorway for a few moments, catching his breath, and then his eyes met Iori.

"Sir," he said, holding up the paper in his hand. "Message."

"I see that," Iori said, swallowing his most recent spoonful of breakfast. "I suppose it's something important, and that's why you ran down here at the risk of tripping over your own feet?" He gestured toward the boy's shoes as he spoke.

"I suppose so, yes, sir," the boy answered. "It came from the palace, and the Piyomon said it should be read right away."

Iori had eaten another spoonful during the explanation, and now he set down his spoon and wiped his hands briefly upon a napkin before he took the paper from the boy and opened it.

He read it, absorbed what he had read, and then read it again. Then he sighed, pushed aside his bowl of porridge, took one last gulp of hot tea, and got to his feet.

"Are you sure going is the best idea?" Mimi questioned. "Sora…."

"I can manage fine, Mimi," Sora interrupted before she could be used as fuel for an argument. "I'm hardly an invalid, and it's not as though I'm going to give birth tomorrow."

"All the same, to be away…," Mimi protested.

"I won't be gone for long," Taichi replied, pulling on his jacket as he spoke. "No more than a few days, I'm sure."

"Why do you say that?" Jyou questioned with a nervous frown. "Is it because you think Hikari will be fine in a few days, or because you think she'll be…."

"Jyou!" Mimi scolded. "Don't say such things!"

"Neither," Taichi answered, shaking his head. "I think something else entirely." He was fiddling with the buttons on the collar of his shirt for a few moments, trying to decide whether or not he should button the last one. Finally, he gave up.

"Are you sure you don't want Jyou to go along?" Mimi persisted. "He's the best doctor in the kingdom, I'm sure he could do something…."

"I don't know about that," Jyou replied modestly.

"I'm sure he couldn't," Taichi stated. "Sorry, Jyou," he apologized, "but the letter clearly states that it's entirely a magical problem. Unless you've learned any spells in the last few days…."

"I haven't," the doctor replied immediately. "I'm fairly certain that I can't."

"So you won't be much help," he finished. "I leave everything in Sora's capable hands, and I leave Sora in the capable hands of the best doctor in the kingdom."

"I don't know about that," Jyou said once more, frowning toward Mimi.

"Well, perhaps I should go with you?" Mimi questioned. "If something's happened to Hikari, it's not inconceivable to think that you might be in danger as well."

In truth, there were few people that Taichi would have less wanted to travel with than Mimi, but she did have a point. It wasn't wise for him to travel alone, and there wasn't anyone else to bring along. Yamato had gone to Motomiya, Sora and Jyou were staying out of necessity, Iori and Koushiro were in Hida, and the other Chosen were all with Hikari.

"I don't think that's a bad idea," Sora admitted, and so he sighed in reluctant agreement.

"I'll be no more than ten minutes," Mimi promised, and hurried out of the room before anything further could be said.

"I would rather risk going alone," Taichi mumbled grumpily when the door had shut behind her.

Sora took a step forward and took both his hands in her own. "I would rather you didn't," she replied.

Koushiro was unsurprisingly nose deep in a rather thick book filled with magical formulae. In the corner of the room he had made his own in Hida, a fire blazed in a large hearth. A cauldron was filled with some unknown liquid, which was beginning to boil as the flames danced beneath the pot. The wizard himself was seated at a small table a short distance from the flames. The table was covered with books and a number of glass beakers, each of which was filled with a different color bubbling liquid.

The door was opened slightly, and so Iori had slipped inside, entirely unnoticed. He had planned to begin to speak immediately, but the sight of a dozen different colored bubbling liquids on the table made him pause and stare.

"So then add the Airdramon scales to the boiling water…," Koushiro mumbled to himself, and took the first liquid from the table before him. It was slightly bluish in color, and was bubbling slightly. The wizard then carried the beaker to the fire and poured it slowly into the boiling cauldron of water. The bubbling increased in intensity for a few moments, and there was a small popping noise, but nothing further happened.

"Hmm," the wizard noted. "Not quite what I was expecting."

"Not all combinations result in explosions," Tentomon commented from his perch on the back of a nearby chair. "Sometimes that's desirable."

"I suppose," Koushiro replied with a shrug. He turned back toward the book. "If I then add the Piyomon feathers…."

"What," Iori interrupted before anything further could happen (like a large explosion he didn't want to be caught in), "are you trying to make?"

"A flying potion," Koushiro replied absently, not looking up from the book. "Yes, here it is. Piyomon feathers, slowly, while stirring." He took another beaker, this one filled with a bubbling pink liquid, and carried it back to the fire.

Slowly, he poured this liquid into the concoction, stirring with a large wooden spoon as he did so. Again, there was no explosion, but a bit of purple-colored steam began to rise from the pot and fill the room.

"Did the book say anything about smoke?" Tentomon questioned. He took to the air and made his way toward the window on the far wall, which he then opened wide. It soon became rather difficult to see, or to breathe.

"I don't believe it mentioned it," Koushiro replied with a disappointed sigh. "Another failure, perhaps."

"Perhaps," the digimon replied. "You haven't tried drinking it yet."

"True, true," the wizard conceded.

After a moment, a strong gust of wind blew through the room, and all the purple fog vanished. Koushiro sighed, rubbing his hands together, and studied the potion in the pot. He sniffed at it for a moment. "It smells a bit like fruit pie," he noted, and shrugged. "I'll wait until it cools before I try it out."

With an absent wave of his hand, the fire extinguished itself, and the wizard turned away from the cauldron once more to finally notice that Iori was standing at the doorway.

"Ah, Iori," he greeted. "How can I help you? I hope not with a flying potion, because I don't believe that one was a success."

Iori debated questioning the wizard on his reasons for creating a flying potion, but decided against it, because it was likely to be a long discussion. "A letter came this morning from the King," he replied instead, and held out the paper. "I think you might want to read it."

The rain had thankfully abated slightly as the journey had progressed, and so by the time that Taichi and Mimi arrived at the coast, a small bit of sun was peeking through the clouds in time to create a brilliant sunset over the water. The grass was still covered with rainwater, however, and the smell of dampness hung in the air.

"Finally," Palmon mumbled sleepily as she climbed down from the cart, yawning wide. "I thought we'd never get here."

It hadn't been a particularly long journey, but it had been a stressful one. Taichi had not been in the mood for conversation (which was understandable, given the situation), but Mimi rarely felt that way. She had instead kept up a steady stream of chatter through nearly the entire trip, upon every subject imaginable; Sora's pregnancy, rumors she had heard floating about the palace, the weather, the state of the economy, her recent sighting of one who might have been the dark bandit, and every other subject she could think of except Hikari's well-being. She had been hoping to distract him from the problem at hand, but had mostly succeeded in giving him a massive headache and not much more.

Even now, he was rubbing the bridge of his nose with two fingers, hoping to somehow expel the aching in his skull. The doors to the house opened at almost the same time as the carriage doors, and now a small crowd of servants surrounded them, taking the few bags they had brought with them.

An man with grayish white hair had followed the small crowd of servants, and now he paused a short distance from the carriage and bowed slowly. "Welcome, your majesty, milady," he said. "Your arrival is expected. You wish to see the princess immediately?"

"Yes," Taichi replied before Mimi could say anything further (as it was looking as though she might). "How is she?"

"Things are not as they should be," the man replied, turning to head back into the house, "and yet they are better than they were."

"So she improves?" Mimi concluded. "Well, that's a relief."

"Perhaps," he replied. "Perhaps not."

Taichi responded to this cryptic statement with a frown of concern. He said nothing further until they had reached the top of the steps. "My mother is here?" he asked then.

"She is," the man replied, passing through the doors, which were held open by a pair of servants on either side. "Do you wish to see her first?"

He shook his head. "No," he answered immediately. "I want to see my sister."

The man nodded. "Understood, sir," he answered.

They passed through the foyer, under the ornate chandelier, and down a hall to the left before stopping in front of a wooden door. The man turned the handle and opened the door.

"No," Miyako was saying, in a rather stern tone of voice. "Absolutely not."

"Why not?" Takeru was asking, and as the door opened wider they could easily see that he was standing in front of the window at the opposite side of the room. He was the first to notice that the door was opening, and so he stopped whatever else he might have said before this and fell silent, eyes opening slightly wider.

"Because it's ridiculous, reckless, and stupid, and…," Miyako began, and then noticed the expression on his face and stopped. She turned to see what he was looking at and saw that the door had opened.

Daisuke, looking up at her sudden pause in speaking, noticed first the silence, then their expressions, and then the direction in which they were both looking. He quickly got to his feet, nearly knocking over the chair he'd been sitting in.

Taichi stepped into the room. His gaze passed briefly over those assembled and then fell upon Hikari, who was, as always, sleeping peacefully in the bed. He took a deep breath, and then crossed the room. Daisuke stepped back from the chair and watched as Taichi sat down in it.

The man who had led them there now shut the door with a quiet click and vanished. Mimi took a few steps forward and sighed.

I have to confess that the only reason that Jyou was in that scene was because I feel guilty about not having every character appear at least once in each story. Jyou doesn't ever have much to do, so I throw him in when it's possible. Similarly, the scene with Koushiro was written not so much to advance the story but because I thought it was amusing.

This is the first fanfic I've written where I outlined a Plan beforehand. Interestingly enough, I'm detouring slightly away from the Plan, but I think it's making things better. Hope you're enjoying.