New year, new chapter!
Chapter 14: Decisions
Flash-back:
When Tai was eight years old, he met some people in his school's club of activities. He was always nice with everybody, what made him admired by a lot of students. One day, he saw a small redhead boy alone, sitting on a bench. He asked some kids about him.
"Oh, he?" a girl a year younger than Tai asked, "I know him. He's in my class. His name is Koushiro Izumi."
"Why isn't he playing with the other children?"
"Well... the fact is that his classmates don't like him very much. Not that he's a bad person. He's very polite and helpful. But he's a lot shy and quiet, besides being the smartest of the class. He's not what you could call a 'popular person.'"
"I see." Tai was feeling sorry for the boy. He approached him in order to start a conversation. Koushiro got a bit nervous with that.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. You're Koushiro, right?"
The little boy confirmed with his head.
"I'm Taichi Yagami, but my friends call me Tai. Some people think my last name is Kamya because of a misunderstand with school's system, but it has already been corrected." Tai said, smiling. Koushiro was just staring at him, not able to speak.
"You're very shy, aren't you? I'm sorry if I'm bothering you, I can leave if you want."
Tai was preparing himself to leave, but Koushiro muttered a thing:
"You're not bothering me. I'm sorry for making you think that."
"Oh. You don't need to worry about that!" Tai said nicely.
"Excuse me, Taichi. Why are you talking to me?"
"'Why?' I don't understand what you mean."
"People don't usually approach me. And they don't seem to like to talk to me either."
"Oh. That's probably because you're too shy and serious and people don't feel very comfortable with that. But, you know what? I think you're a very good person."
Izzy stared at the ground when Tai told him that. The older boy noticed.
"You can call me 'Tai' from now on. If you want, of course.
Izzy looked to him in surprise.
"But..." the little boy began, you said that you were called that by your friends."
Tai gave Koushiro a big smile and said a simple "I know what I said."
Izzy smiled a little, Tai liked that. "By the way," he added, "if you don't mind, could I call you 'Izzy?' Koushiro is a nice name, but I think it sounds too serious."
"S-sure." Izzy answered.
End of flash-back
In Tai's apartment, the digidestineds and their digimons were reuniting, because Kari wanted to talk an important thing. When Joe arrived, he found in the living room Tai, sitting quiet on the sofa, Ken, Yolie, Davis, TK and Cody on chairs and Kari on the middle of the living room. The digimons were next to their partners.
"What about Matt and Sora? Weren't they called?" Joe asked Yolei.
"It seems it was required that they shouldn't be informed." She answered, "It seems they're not trustful enough."
"I see." Joe wondered what would the people in that apartment do if they found out he was on Izzy's side, with Matt and Sora. Then, he realized it could be useful if he pretented to know nothing about Izzy's situation. If I get informed about Unschuld's plans, I can tell the others.
Kari decided to start talking. Everybody gave her attention, even Tai, who had been worried about Izzy since he came back home. Izzy was so sad... why do I feel so bad for what I did?
"Guys." Kari started, "Last night, I've talked to a voice... a voice that I had heard a long time ago, in the Digital World."
Everybody went pale. Tai and Joe thought the same thing.
"You mean the voice you heard while we were fighting the dark masters?" Tai asked. Kari confirmed. Tai explained to the new digidestineds what had happened that time, when a mysterious digimon possessed Kari.
"It seems that a part of that digimon never left me completely. Because of that, combined with other factors, I have a light coming from me sometimes. For what I was told, this digimon has possessed me sometimes recently." Kari told them.
Izzy was saying the truth! Tai thought. Kari continued:
"This digimon did that because she felt the danger was approaching us."
"She?" Joe asked.
"Yes." Kari answered. "You know something about her already. I'm talking about Unschuld, the lady of light."
Joe couldn't hide his shock:
"UNSCHULD IS POSSESSING YOU?" he shouted.
"And she was the one who possessed you that time?" Tailmon asked. She wasn't liking that story.
"I think it's better if I let her explain herself now." Kari said. She closed her eyes and, then, she began to talk in a different tone:
"Hello."
"What's going on here?" Tailmon asked, "I thought you were a creature without a physical body who wanted the balance in the Digital World. How can you be Unschuld?"
"All what you said is true, except the thing about the physical body. That time I didn't have the time to explain this to you. Actually I have a body, but I can't bring it to the Digital World or even Earth."
"Why not?" Tai asked.
"The thing is that the mere presence of my physical form can bring a huge instability to a regular world, being possible to destroy it."
Everybody went nervous. Unschuld continued:
"You must be wondering why I possessed Hikari without asking. I'm deeply sorry for doing that, but the situation wasn't good. In fact, the situation is even worse now."
"Don't tell me." Tai said upset, "Izzy is truly on Weisheit's side now."
Everybody was in shock. Unschuld was surprised by that line as well.
"You don't understand the situation, Taichi." she said, "Koushiro is just a victim-"
"He told me he was on Weisheit's side and that you're the enemy. More! He said that you were after him! He didn't look like someone who doesn't know about what is talking!" Tai almost shouted. Joe went pale. What the hell! When did this happen? He thought. Unschuld didn't like to hear that as well. Damn it! Why does Koushiro have always to be a good boy? That wasn't a smart move for him. At least, Taichi seems to not have believed in his story, she thought.
"Koushiro said that because he believes in that. He's not lying." She said, what made everybody surprised. She's admiting the whole thing? Joe asked himself. Unschuld continued:
"But, the thing is that Koushiro believes in that because of Weisheit's power. You don't know the dimension of his mind control. He's able to force things into a person's mind and make this person think it's his own idea. Koushiro is being manipulated and is in great danger right now. As his friends, you should be worrying about him and trying to save him, instead of doubting of him!" Unschuld said without hesitation. Joe wasn't understanding her tactic. Why is she doing this? Wouldn't it be more convenient if she just let them think that Izzy is the enemy? He was wondering.
Tai felt his heart heavy. He remembered the things he had told Izzy earlier. Izzy was innocent! Of course he was! I was so over-worried about Kari that I didn't see... the things I said to him... how could I be able to do that to him? I'm the worst friend ever!
"Excuse me." Cody said, "You told us that the situation was worse. About what were you talking?"
"It's no use to hide this from you. Traum was killed by Weisheit." Unschuld lied.
"WHAT!" They all shouted.
"That bastard!" TK was the first one to talk, "How could he do this to Traum?"
"Unforgivable!" Cody said in anger. Unschuld was satisfied with their reaction:
"I believe that Weisheit is getting more impatient with the time and decided to make a move. It's not impossible that he ends up killing Koushiro too."
Desperation was taking over the people. Tai stood up and headed for the door.
"Stop, Taichi! What are you thinking?" Unschuld asked.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to get Izzy away from that psycho." Tai was nervous. If something happens to Izzy... I'll never forgive myself! He was thinking.
"If you go right now, you'll just make things worse."
"WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO? JUST SIT AND LET IZZY BE KILLED?" Tai screamed.
"No." Unschuld spoke seriously, "I want you to wait and get prepared for our next move."
"Next move?" Joe asked, "What would it be?"
"First of all. We need someone to approach Koushiro and pretend to believe in him. This person will inform us of anything odd that happens." Unschuld said. Yolei had an idea:
"I think this person should be Joe. He lives in the same building and is the most reliable person I know."
"You're right! I agree." Cody said. Everybody seemed to agree. Joe felt kind of ashamed for being fooling his friends like that. But he knew that, in the present situation, that was the most convenient thing that could happen.
"Do you agree, Joe?"Tai asked. Joe confirmed with his head.
"Also." Unschuld continued to talk, "It's important to see what Yamato and Sora are doing. I can't tell wether they're under Weisheit's control as well or not."
TK was concerned about his older brother. He wanted more than ever defeat Weisheit and save everyone.
"Now that we've decided this, I think it's time to go. Don't be careless and wait for my instructions before acting. Any wrong decision can lead to a tragic result." she concluded.
Meanwhile, Sabine went back to Izzy's apartment, where Mrs. Izumi was waiting.
"Sabine! There you are! Where's Koushiro?" the woman asked.
Sabine seemed confused with the question, what disappointed Mrs. Izumi.
"He didn't find you, did he?" she asked.
"No. Was he looking for me? Why?"
"He went after you because you had left that way. He was worried. Did he do something that made you upset?"
Sabine stayed in silence for a moment, then spoke:
"No. In fact, he did a really good thing for me. And I need to thank him for that."
"...Now I'm more confused than I already was." Mrs. Izumi sighed. A minute later, a redhead boy opened the front door and entered.
"KOUSHIRO!" Mrs. Izumi shouted in relief. "Where have you been?"
The boy in her front gave her a large smile and said:
"I'm sorry for making you worry about me. It's everything fine."
Mrs. Izumi was very happy in seeing her son fine, but Sabine was serious. There's something different.
"Sabine!" the boy said, approaching her, "I was worried about you. Is it everything all right?"
"Yes." she answered coldly. Something is wrong.
"By the way, mom." the boy turned again to Mrs. Izumi, "Is Weisheit still on the roof?"
"Yes, I think so." The woman replied.
"I need to talk to him."
"I'll go with you." Sabine said abruptly. The boy didn't seem to like the idea, but he tried to not let her realize that.
"It's OK, Sabine! I prefer to go alone-"
"I insist!" the girl said. They exchanged some intense looks, what made Mrs. Izumi uncomfortable.
"Sabine, I think it would be better if you stayed here." The woman adviced, trying to prevent a possible argument, even not knowing what was going on. The boy took the chance and left the apartment quickly. That girl may be a problem. But I have more important things to do right now.
Weisheit was sitting on the roof, observing the city. He realized that a person was coming towards him. When the boy reached the roof, he saw Weisheit standing, looking to him.
"Hi, Weisheit. It has been a while."
"That's true."
"I need to talk to you. It's important." The redhead said while he was approaching the other. When he got close enough, the boy offered his right hand to Weisheit.
"I noticed that we didn't have time for a polite compliment until now. My parents say that a good way to show people you respect them is by a handshake. You did a lot for me, Weisheit. I could never repay. Can you accept at least this?" the boy asked in a shy way.
"That's OK!" Weisheit said nicely, offering his own hand. The moment the boy grabbed Weisheit's hand, a white light covered both of them.
"You always were naive, Weisheit!" the boy laughed. But Weisheit wasn't moving or reacting at all. His surface began to break. When the boy noticed, he was grabbing one of the other's swords.
"It's an amazing metal the black mithiryl, isn't it?" Weisheit's voice came from the boy's back, "I know I shouldn't talk so much about one of my creations, but, you have to admit it! It was a very cool clone. To be honest, this plan of yours was kind of silly. Underestimation has a limit, you know... Heart?"
Without turning to face Weisheit, the Heart asked:
"How did you realize?"
"'How?' Did you forget about my eyes?" Weisheit pointed to his own eyes.
"Oh yeah. With those eyes you're able to see what happens in a radius of 100 Km. Besides, you're also able to see inside people's bodies. You're not able to read minds, though."
"I didn't need to read your mind. Anyone would find odd when a boy falls on the ground like that all depressed and then, when he wakes up, is all better. But what really made me be sure who you were was this great flow of energy in you. Not to talk about your attitude. You remind me of her."
"Don't talk... as if you knew something about Unschuld and me!" the Heart threw the sword against Weisheit, who grabbed it in the middle of the air.
"I made this weapon! It's foolish to think it would ever hurt me."
"Tsc." the Heart was getting mad at Weisheit.
"Why are you trying to absorb my code, anyway?"
"I already have Traum's code. It was enough to stabilize me a little, but I want more."
"Why?"
"To become strong enough to oppose Unschuld."
"And strong enough to leave Koushiro's body too, right?" Weisheit was disgusted. "He's going to die if you do this."
"If you're so smart, you should have already deduced that I don't give a damn if Koushiro dies... in fact..." he turned to face Weisheit, "...it would be an extra bonus."
"Don't think that I'm going to let this happen!" Weisheit said with ferocity, the Heart laughed:
"You talk a lot! But I have an advantage against you, or don't you remember I was there when Glaube killed those two?"
Weisheit went pale. The Heart continued:
"I know you would never let Koushiro get hurt. Making promises to dead people... what a silly thing to do."
Weisheit ran towards the end of the roof and jumped to the other building. He was running away.
"That idiot thinks he can escape? What a fool!" The Heart went back to the stairs.
Sabine was at a window and saw something jumping to the building in her front. She noticed that it was someone wearing a black coat. The figure was running away.
"Excuse me, I need to go!" she told Mrs. Izumi before leaving the apartment in a hurry. The woman, who was making the lunch, was astonished. "What the hell is happening?"
When Sabine left the building, she met Charles, Aurélia, Matt, Sora, Pyiomon and Gabumon outside.
"What's the hurry, weird girl?" Grayman asked.
"I saw Weisheit running away. He jumped to the other building."
"Running away?" Matt asked, "Is there any enemy here?"
"What I know is that Koushiro went to see him a little before this happened." Sabine informed.
"Oh no! You think the enemy took Izzy and Weisheit is going after them?" Sora asked worried.
"It's unbelievable how you guys are able to always come to the wrong conclusion." Grayman said. "Look who's coming from the building."
When the Heart left the building, he saw the five teenagers and two digimons looking to him. Great! All what I needed now!
"Izzy!" Sora called, "Good to see that you're fine!"
"Oh, thank you, Sora." the boy gave her a fake smile. Out of my way, stupid human! He was thinking.
"Sabine said that she had seen Weisheit running away. Do you know what happened?" Matt asked. The boy went pale. Damn it! How am I going to explain this?
"Well, it seems that Weisheit found someone dangerous near this place." the Heart lied, "He was going to check. I was following him because it made me worried."
"Wow, such a noble person!"Grayman said with a serious face. The Heart didn't like that.
"See, Izumi." the dark-haired boy continued. "Frau Schultz left the hospital already, isn't it great?"
The boy approached them. Auri gave Grayman a mysterious look. Sabine was serious. The others didn't have any clue about what was going on.
"Auri!" the boy gave her a big and fake smile, "It's great to see that you're fine. You know, Grayman was very concerned about you."
"Oh yeah." Grayman confirmed, what made Matt and Sora very surprised, since he always denied that he had been worried about the Brazilian girl. "I totally was. Remeber when we were in the ambulance?"
"Yes! He was grabbing your hand the entire time!" The Heart said, keeping the fake smile. "Even when we entered the hospital, he didn't want to leave you."
Grayman smiled widely when he heard that. Aurélia had already understood the situation.
"That's impressive that you remember all these things." the girl said seriously. "Since you weren't there."
The Heart went pale when he heard that. The girl continued:
"You were in my inner world... or at least, Izzy was."
"Stop this game!" Grayman ordered, "I know it's you."
The smile left the boy's face, being replaced by a cold look.
"All right. It's boring to play the good boy anyway."
"Du bist..." Sabine said, approaching him, "...das Herz!" (translating: you are the Heart)
"German is a lovely language. Yes, I am. Kokoro, Coração, Herz... you can call me all these ways. But my favorite still is "'Heart.'"
The boy continued to walk. Auri said abruptly:
"You're not seriously thinking we're just going to let you be in command of Izzy's body, are you?"
"There's nothing you can do against me. Just get out of my way, I have more important things to do."
"You!" Sabine ran towards the Heart. Auri and Matt ran too. They wanted to stop him. A white light wrapped the boy's body, what made them stop.
"If you don't want to get hurt." he said, "It's better don't do any stupid thing!"
The light increased, what made them need to cover their eyes. When they opened their eyes again, the boy had already left.
While this, Joe was going to his building, with Gomamon in a bag.
"You seem apprehensive, Joe." Gomamon said.
"Of course I am! I don't like the idea of lying to my friends."
"But if you don't do this, Izzy is going to be in trouble."
"I know." Joe said, sad, "I just wanted that they believed in Izzy's version of the facts."
"Don't worry, Joe!" Gomamon tried to cheer him up, "I'm sure that this is only a temporary thing. Soon everybody will work together again."
Joe smiled and thanked Gomamon. In times like this, I wish Mimi were with me. She always made me feel better. I should write an e-mail or something... Joe's thoughts were interrupted when he saw Matt, Sora, Pyiomon, Gabumon and the association people outside the building.
"What's going on?" he asked. Meanwhile, the Heart was walking down a street. Damn it! Where is Weisheit? Even if I could approach him somehow, he would see me and move away. He must be watching right now... wait, that's it! A little far from there, Weisheit was running on a building's roof, when he saw three digimons approaching.
"Master Weisheit!" Persefonemon called. She, Chainmon and Ceresmon made Weisheit stop his run, "You don't know what happened!"
"If you're talking about the incident with that Taichi boy, I do know what happened. You're the ones who don't know what happened." Weisheit informed. He suddenly went pale and said "Oh no."
"What is it?" Ceresmon asked.
"A great amount of energy is coming from Koushiro's body. If the Heart keeps this, Koushiro will get hurt."
"The Heart?" Persefonemon asked, "The Heart is controlling Koushiro's body."
"Wow, it..." Chainmon thought for a while until find the best word to describe his opinion about the facts, "...sucks."
"It totally sucks!" Weisheit said with vehemency, "He must be doing this in order to force me to go to where he is and steal my code."
"WHAT?" The three asked at the same time.
"You can't go there, master!" Ceresmon said, "If you lose your code, you're going to die!"
"I know. I have no intention of giving him my code. But I can't abandon Koushiro." Weisheit said. He didn't know what to do. I promised I would protect Koushiro. I must keep this promise no matter what!
Suddenly, a light began to be seen in the entire neighborhood. That made Weisheit more desperate. "I must go!" he said, being followed by the digimons. He arrived at the street soon, where a lot of people were trying to run from the weird glowing light. Koushiro wasn't visible there. Some people tried to call the cops or take pictures of that, but the electronic machines weren't working. The association members and the three digidestineds, who had seen the light too, had run towards that place. Seeing Weisheit there, the Heart decreased the light.
"So you came, Weisheit! I'm glad." the boy said. He had, already, some cuts and burns on his skin.
"Stop doing this! By using your power, you're harming Izzy!" Auri said.
"You think I don't know that?" The Heart asked. Then, he turned his attention back to Weisheit, "Weisheit, listen to me! I'm really going to kill Koushiro if you don't come here right now and give me your code."
"He plans to kill Izumi anyway." Grayman said. The others stared at him, "I remember the Heart saying days ago 'I still need his body.' Right after that, he absorbed Traum's code and almost killed Izumi. If he did that, the logical conclusion is that he doesn't need his body anymore."
"I see." Aurélia said, "He didn't have enough stability before, that's why he never tried to kill Izzy or anything like that. Something bad could happen to him if he left the body back then. But now, with Traum's code, he doesn't have this concern anymore."
"You're all very smart!" The Heart commented smiling, "I think I can resist some days without a body in my present condition without losing myself. I can increase this stability with more code, Weisheit's code. I can kill Koushiro and go after you, Weisheit, in a different body. If you collaborate, I promise to not destroy this body. So, what do you say?"
Weisheit was in silence. Persefonemon said:
"You expect us to believe that you'll return to Koushiro the control of his body after this?"
"I never said that I'd do that. There's no way in hell I'd accept a pathetic and worthless low life like him as my king again!" The Heart said coldly. Grayman went pale when he said 'king.' Sora and Matt went furious:
"How dare you..." the blond said, his voice trembling of hatred, "HOW DARE YOU SAY THESE THINGS ABOUT OUR FRIEND!"
He ran towards the redhead boy. The Heart made the light increase again. Chaimon was able to stop Matt with his chains before the boy reached the energy.
"Don't be reckless." Weisheit said, "You would just hurt yourself if you enter that light."
"That light is not like the one that came from Kari in our fight against Mugendramon." Sora said, "It's a completely different thing."
"Actually, you can say that they're pretty much the same thing." the Heart afirmed, "They have the same source. They're just being used in different situations."
"What?" Joe was speechless. Same source? He means...?
Sabine walked to the Heart and stopped a few steps before the light. She took a thing from one of her pockets.
"Tell me." she said, without opening her left hand, "Am I right to think that you're keeping Koushiro captive in your inner world?"
"You can say that. In fact, he and I share the same inner world." The Heart replied.
"And, since you absorbed Mr. Dream, the rules that were applied about people stuck in his inner world are the same with you, right?" The girl asked, "But you didn't have any time to divide your conscience and put the pieces in objects, did you?"
What is this girl thinking? The Heart was trying to understand. He thought in using Traum's power, but he feared what would happen if he stopped emitting that energy in that moment. They would take the chance, without doubt! It's better if I keep this. There's nothing this girl can do now.
"So, I wonder..." Sabine said, opening her hand and showing a small ring, "...if a piece of Mr. Dream's mind was connected to this ring and if his entire code is inside you now, what happens if..."
The Heart tried to stop her, but it was too late. Sabine had put on the ring. A second later, they both collapsed and fell to the ground.
"What happened?" Matt asked. Joe ran towards Izzy to exam his wounds. Luckily they didn't look deep. Auri and Sora went towards Sabine. Weisheit examined the redhead's body with his eyes.
"Her conscience... is in his mind now." he said astonished.
"So that's her plan." Grayman said, "She went there to free Izumi. This girl is not just weird, she's insane too."
"You have no idea." Weisheit added.
"What do you mean?" Joe asked, "She's trying to help Izzy. That's good, right?"
Weisheit was with a dark face. He spoke in a deep serious tone:
"Traum's code is inside Koushiro now and Koushiro is under the Heart's power. Sabine's conscience went to a world under the Heart's control. If the Heart kills Sabine there..."
Silence. Fear was raising in their hearts. Aurélia was the one who finished the sentence:
"Sabine will die for real."
When Sabine realized, she was standing in front of a huge gate. The gate was in the middle of a big wall. The sky was black and the ground was white. Sabine heard someone behind her. She turned around and saw a familiar face.
"I have to admit it was a smart move to lock me here, girl." the Heart said, "But do you realize in what situation you put yourself?"
"I know how risky it is, but it was the only way to rescue Koushiro." Sabine replied without fear.
"What a brave girl!" the Heart mocked. "But your courage just brought you to your death.
The Heart made a sword appear from nowhere. He looked to Sabine with a mischievous face:
"Wellcome to Hell, Sabine Weiss!"
Among the deepest darkness he had ever seen, Izzy woke up suddenly. Sabine's... voice?
Sorry for keeping you waiting. My computer was broken.