Chapter 11

Through the Darkness to Light

The light seared into his mind, cutting through the blackness that had been clouding his vision. It was almost painful, a lance of brightness in a dark world. He could hear Hikari yelling for Tailmon—hear the slapping of her shoes on stone as she sped toward the source of the light. Honestly, he didn't know what had possessed him to run after her. The walking stick fell from his nerveless hand, and he didn't feel uncertain or unsteady at all charging into a blinding light amidst shadows. He heard Kouichi yelling at him. Heard Miyako yelling for Hikari. And then he heard laughter. Familiar laughter. But where from? Where?

He didn't know where he was. It was black. Everything was black. Up, down, left, right—nothing but darkness. The last clear memory was the sound of heavy metal shuddering to a halt, settling into a giant stone frame. And then the light he'd been following had been snuffed out. And he'd been thrown back into darkness.

I am getting sick of darkness. He couldn't help the bitter edge to his thoughts. He'd finally been able to see something, even if it had only been the difference between light and dark. He didn't even have his flashlight—not that a blind man with a flashlight wouldn't have been much use. He'd given it to Miyako since her weak little one wouldn't be much good. He couldn't hear Hikari anymore. Her voice had been cut off mid-shout by the slamming of the doors. Had he been too late?

But no. He'd heard the doors close behind him. And he'd lost track of the other voices too. Where ever he was, he was alone.

Is this the trial? The thought crept through his mind, unbidden. If the Trial of Courage had required Kouichi to face his fears... This was the Crest of Light. Hikari would be fine. She had both the Digimental and had been the bearer of the Crest—like Daisuke and Taichi she would likely get a free pass. He wasn't sure how he would fare in a Trial of Light, being unable to see.

Kouji groped for his D-Scanner. He may not be one of this world's chosen, but he was the Warrior of Light. The device was a reassuring weight in his jacket, and he fished it out. The curves were familiar against his palm, and he knew what to do—even if he couldn't even see his hand in front of his face.

He reached for Wolfmon, summoning the digicode with a twist of will. A chunk of his vision lightened, and Kouji imagined he could see the code, its little bits and bytes glowing, dancing—he could feel it there. It was a warmth he'd never noticed before—a hand reaching out for his, offering assistance if he'd only just ask.

He could scan it—his digivice was active, he could feel Wolfmon's power sitting just out of reach—but…he hesitated. He held the code there, the swirling digicode spiraling about his outstretched hand.

No. It didn't feel right. Slowly, he loosened his grip on the power, releasing it back to the D-Scanner. He knew this was the Trial of Light. Just like he'd known where the cards were in Hikari's hand. Just as he'd known exactly which one to pick and where to put it.

This was a Trial, and he had to pass it on his own. Otherwise…

He regretted the decision as soon as the light from the code faded away, but he'd made it. Kouji stuffed his hands into his jacket's pockets; fingers curled tightly around the curves of the digivice, and started to move.

The ground gave way beneath him; the sudden shifting and sliding almost lead him to lose his balance. It felt strange. He was on a hill. He could feel the incline with each step he took—but it was unstable, bits and pieces dislodging with each step. His steps sent his feet sinking deep into the ground, small gritty pellets wriggled their way into his socks, both irritating and enlightening at once.

Sand.

He was walking on sand.

Sand usually meant one of two things. A desert. Or a beach.

There. It was faint. Muffled, as if he was only hearing it from some great distance, but it was there.

Waves. They were the sound of waves.

As he continued down the sandy slope—a dune, probably—he began to notice a faint light in the distance. It pulsed slowly, there, and then gone. There. Then it faded. Then it came back again. A never-ending cycle. It was irritating, but it was light. He angled his path towards the only point of reference he had. This new direction had him walking along the dune, rather than stumbling down it toward the waves. What could it be? That pattern of light tickled a memory, but he couldn't recall what exactly it had been.

A beach. A light on the beach. One that he could only keep in sight if he lifted his head as he approached it. That meant it was tall, far taller than he.

A lighthouse. He'd seen them in films, mostly.

He didn't know how far it was, or how he knew—but he had reached it. He hadn't been able to see the light for some time—it was far, far above him. The door was head of him. He imagined he could almost see it. It was a decently tall door, wooden with a semicircular type top rather than a square cut one. He held that image in his mind, reaching out for the brass handle, his hand curled around cold metal, and he stiffened. That handle was the exact size and shape as he'd thought it was. Quickly he felt around the edges, estimating the size and the shape of the door itself.

An exact. Match.

"So. You do listen, occasionally."

Kouji flinched, whirling around to put his back to the door. He wished he still had his staff, but he didn't. He grabbed his D-Scanner, willing the spirits to respond.

Nothing.

There was a snort from the direction of that voice. One of amusement? Derision? "Who are you?" Kouji snapped out in irritation. Of course the trial wouldn't be that easy. Finding a light in the dark was nothing compared to what Kouichi had to deal with.

"I refuse to answer a question you know the answer to." The voice answered, the matter of fact tone only grating on Kouji's already frayed nerves. "You know me almost too well. It was hard enough to get you this far without you shoving me away."

Why walk alone?

"You-!" Kouji hissed. He'd heard it aloud many times, even if he'd only known it once. He'd been the one speaking with it, "What is going on? What are you doing here?"

"Helping." A patch of light began to grow in his vision, shyly coalescing into a humanoid figure before him. Kouji was thrown off at first—he had been expecting blue eyes and white fur, a lupine face—not…not to come face to face with himself. He didn't even understand how he could see the doppelganger—everything else was still clouded in shadow. "You've been so stubborn about it that I've needed to be subtle. We don't do subtle very well."

There were slight…very slight differences. Kouji began to notice, fixated on the doppelganger before him. The eyes were a slightly lighter shade of blue. The skin a little paler. But the largest difference was the pale hair peeking out from beneath the blue and brown bandana, which was still pulled back into Kouji's usual pony tail. A grey and blue scarf was wrapped around the other's shoulders, hiding half his face. Kouji's fists clenched, "Why do you look like that, Akemon?"

"You know that isn't my name right now." The glare being returned was steady. Identical to the one he was leveling on the digimon.

"Akemon." Kouji repeated firmly. Of course he knew that a digimon's name changed to reflect its form, but he wasn't willing to concede that.

"Hmph. Fine." Akemon folded his arms, "Don't mind the fact that you are blind. That you are lost amidst The Dark Ocean. Don't mind that I have been leading you here, to the Tower of Light, since you decided to listen to me for once and picked the damn card."

Kouji didn't believe it for a second. He had been the one to pick the card. There had been no voice. No presence. He didn't know what Akemon was trying to accomplish with this…charade. Kouji had been the one to chase after Hikari. Kouji had been the one to find the tower.

"And what, exactly, do you think my name is right now?"

Kouji snapped, "Stay out of my mind!"

"After you've been careful to lock me up in there, that's a rather counter-intuitive thing to say." The other rolled his eyes and adjusted his bandana, letting some stray strands of grey fall free. Seeing the loose hair surrounding his face unnerved Kouji, but it seemed to ease some of the tension out of Akemon's stance, "I am a digimon. I am not some dog to come when you call, and then wait patiently when you dismiss me. We change. Not just in body. You know this. You felt it in Wolfmon. In Garmmon."

"And they don't seem to be trying to take over. Not like Duskmon." Or you. Kouji added silently, although given the sudden flash of anger that broke through the cool mask Kouji had perfected, the digimon had even heard that thought too. "Don't deny it. As a digimon I can still barely keep you separate, and now apparently you are trying to influence me as a human."

"You know nothing." Akemon hissed, "You can hardly tell us apart because we are one. I become you. You become me. Wolfmon—Garmmon—all of them…they existed before you. They are dead and gone, impressions and power left behind for those who needed them. Akemon was created for you. I was created for you. There wouldn't even be an I here if you weren't being so damn stubborn about keeping us apart!"

The…other took a deep breath, exhaling noisily in a way Kouji knew better than anyway. He was trying to push away the anger. There was pain. Kouji could feel it. Anger masked the pain, but it was there, roiling and lashing against everything, buried so deep—a son lashing out against his Father, who remarried so soon, and against his step-mother, who dared to try and take her place.

His will buckled, but didn't break. Akemon shook his head, "The bitterest part out of all of this is that I understand. You think you don't need me. That you don't need anyone. You think that I am an intruder. That I am going to warp you. Change you, the way Cherubimon warped my brother."

My brother?

Either Akemon didn't hear him, or he ignored him. "Is it so bad, to enjoy my brother's comfort? Is it evil to be happy? Is it a shame to be overwhelmed by an entirely new world? Is it a crime to be tired and hurting, as I worked together with my brother to free him from Duskmon's touch?"

"I am human. Not digimon. I refuse to lose who I am." Kouji didn't know what else to say. Akemon snorted bitterly, "Of course. I really shouldn't bother. You want none of it."

The digimon made a sharp motion with his hand, and Kouji heard the door unlock behind him. Old, rusty hinges creaked as it swung open.

"Remain blind, then. Master. You shall not see me again."

x-x-x

Hikari cradled Tailmon gently in her arms, eyes shut and face buried in her fur. She didn't want to see it, even as the image remained burned into her memory. The Black Tailmon had been trying to finish what Kudamon had begun, leaving scratches and scrapes all along Tailmon's body. Where their paws had touched, splotches of blackness marred the normally pristine fur. One gloved paw was alien all together—a dark blue with angry red stripes snaking through it like veins.

"It's okay, Tailmon." She whispered, only the presence of the weight and body in her arms proof that Tailmon hadn't dissolved into a cloud of data, "I chased them off. It'll be okay."

Tailmon didn't stir. Hikari feared she had come too late. The pink light from her digivice had led her here. Here to the Dark Ocean. Here to the lighthouse that had once burned black, but was now a shining ray of light, cutting through the darkness of this dreary place. She knew it wasn't that exact beach. That exact cape, where the lighthouse had housed a Dark Spire. But when she saw the grey sand. The black water. The grey sky… it made her blood run cold.

The Black Tailmon had fled at her pink light, leaving Tailmon battered and broken on the pedestal in the center of the lighthouse. They never should have come to this wretched place. Never should have come to Vamdemon's castle. Why did Kouji have to the pick the card to open the gate? Why?

Hikari flinched as a door slammed, echoing through the round chamber. She curled protectively around Tailmon. She didn't have anything she could use as a weapon even if she'd wanted to. Her body was a shield. Her only shield, should those Black Tailmon return.

Footsteps. She counted them, slow and deliberate, moving down the hall. It was just one set. Far heavier than the Tailmon had been. She peeked her eyes open, waiting, watching. The hall wasn't long, but she wasn't angled correctly to see down it. The steps were taking a longer time than they should have needed to cross the space. A hand appeared, clutching the edge of the wall, and then it groped blindly at the empty space beyond. The blue-sleeved arm pulled back, and Hikari could hear a familiar voice cursing at his luck. She uncurled, "Kouji!"

Her voice seemed to echo unending in this round room, bouncing off one and then another. The returning "Hikari…?" Filled her with hope. She thought she'd been alone. The doors had been closing as she'd bolted for them. She'd thought for sure none of the others would be able to catch up in time.

The echoes in the room gave him pause, but the boy managed to make his way toward her, one hand trailing along the curved wall of the room to give him stability. He was alone. It felt so wrong to see him without Anyamon at his side. She almost expected the large cat to just melt out of the shadows next, brushing up against her just to see her jump.

But there was nothing. Kouji slid down to sit on the floor behind her, his head leaning back against the cold stone of the wall. He looked pale, and was even…shaking. She could see his hands trembling where he'd placed them on his lap.

She hesitantly shifted Tailmon in her arms, her heart skipping a beat at the faint groan the action elicited from the digimon. That had been the first sign of…well…anything. But it didn't last, Tailmon drifting away again.

Hikari stroked the cat's ears, before moving the hand she'd freed up to lightly touch Kouji's shaking hand. "Are you okay?"

He nearly jumped at her touch, eyes flying open and body subconsciously jerking away from her. The action drew a gasp from Hikari, her hand tightening around his.

"K-kouji."

"W-what?" He responded gruffly. He was looking in her general direction, but straight past her. She knew he'd been blinded by Kudamon's attack but…this?

"Your eyes…" She struggled to figure out how to explain it. They weren't looking at her, but she could see it. What had once been a dark blue had darkened even further. They were pitch-black now, the pupil and the iris almost seeming to blend together in one unseeing disk. Even back in Vamdemon's castle they had still been blue, if a little clouded and unfocused. Here they just looked…dead…

"I think I pissed off the one who was supposed to fix it." Kouji grunted in response, covering his eyes with his palms, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. He stayed that way for a few moments, head in his hands and just breathing. With each breath the shaking faded, until he straightened back up and jerked his head in her direction, "What about her?"

He didn't need to specify. Tailmon's ragged breathing was the only other sound in the room. Hikari gently smoothed the digimon's fur, "I chased off the Black Tailmon…but she won't wake up."

There was no need to mention to creeping black stains. No need to mention that if Hikari would check her eyes—which she wouldn't—one would be gold instead of blue.

"Probably just needs some rest. She was still weak from earlier." Kouji grunted, "Where are we? What kind of room?"

Hikari wanted to be mad. She wanted to be angry about how…dismissively he was acting about Tailmon's condition. But she couldn't bring herself to be. It wasn't like she could do more than she was—trying to make sure Tailmon was comfortable. He was right. Tailmon needed rest. And the best way to get that was to leave this place and go home. For that, they needed to figure out where they were.

And he couldn't see. She didn't have the luxury of curling up like a little girl and yelling that it wasn't fair. He was all the help Tailmon would get, and he needed her help.

"It's…round. About the size of the computer lab at school." She started, casting her eyes around the room. She hadn't bothered to explore it much, "There are pictures all along the walls. Symbols. They look like some type of writing, but I don't recognize them. There's a pedestal standing in the center, and most of the light in the room comes from above it. I'd assume it's from the lighthouse."

"Thought so." Kouji muttered, pushing himself clumsily to his feet. He teetered once, needing to lean against the wall to get his bearings, "I could feel the carvings in the wall. It's exactly the same as the room where we found the Sanctum of Courage."

He pushed away from the wall without warning, walking with as much dignity as he could muster while still needing to grope through the darkness. He was so stiff-backed and proud. Hikari grabbed his hand, wordlessly placing it down on the pedestal. He didn't thank her, instead began tracing the stone pedestal with his fingers. He found the depression and tapped on it, "Place your Digimental here, and it should activate your digivice. It should open a door somewhere along the wall. Even if it has been trashed, there will be a portal that should let us out near the castle."

"Could you…could you hold Tailmon?" She needed both her D-3 and her D-Terminal. She needed both her hands. Kouji didn't say anything, but his hands were firm, but gentle as Hikari carefully shifted her digimon off her shoulder and into his arms. He held the cat as if she were a porcelain doll, close, but not too tight. Tailmon stirred during the transfer, her tail twitching and curling around Kouji's arm tightly.

Hikari tore her eyes away and pulled out her D-Terminal first. Unlike the others, she only had one Digimental. She flicked through her email until she found Taichi's instructions. Izzy had written a program for this. He'd sent it out to all of them, the day after they'd found the first two Sanctums.

She placed the D-Terminal on the center depression, pulling up the program to manifest the Digimental. The click of a button, and it was there, floating above the open terminal in a gentle swath of pink light. Nefertimon's Digimental was just as Hikari remembered it, the cat's paws and ears peeking out from closed angel wings. She had only seen it once—the first time Tailmon had armor digivolved. The first time she'd felt herself called to join this new generation of Chosen Children, instead of a retired observer like her brother.

Her D-3 came next, and she realized it was different. It vibrated in her hand, filled with pent up energy. The screen was glowing brightly, the pink relief of the Crest of Light flashing amidst the light. She held it up, remembering Taichi's instructions.

It happened just as Kouji said it would, the light burst from the device and shattered the Digimental, revealing a hole in the wall on the far side. It all felt as if she was in a daze—as if nothing could make her wonder now. She was tired. Burnt out. She couldn't even bring herself to care that they'd found the Sanctum of Light. She only wanted to get Tailmon out of this place. Out of the Dark Ocean.

It sucked the light out of a person. She knew that. It may have been the Black Tailmon who created those marks on Tailmon, but she knew it was just this place in general that was making them spread.

"What does it look like?" Hikari suddenly realized she'd walked on ahead of Kouji. He stood by the pedestal. Frozen. Unwilling to move and risk the digimon in his arms for even the tiniest of uncertain steps.

"Stairs." She looked back, "Stairs leading up a bright hallway."

"It is lit?" He sounded startled. Hikari nodded and caught herself, realizing he wouldn't see it. Then she stopped, realizing why he looked so stunned.

When the others had used their keys, the hallways leading to the destroyed Sanctums had been dark.

They might not be too late.

x-x-x

Kouji hated this. Hated having to rely on someone else to this extent. Hikari had his hand in hers—they'd both agreed that it would be too slow to go groping up the stairs. They were going too slow as it was, for both of their liking. He let his fingertips brush the wall, giving him some idea as to the size of the stairwell. It wasn't wide enough to let them walk side by side—Hikari had taken Tailmon back, and was on the step above him. The first few stairs had been slow, but soon Kouji had figured the distance out. There was a rhythm to their footfalls, and Kouji listened to that to keep himself from going insane.

"Stop." He did so. Hikari shuffled, and Kouji quickly pulled his hand back as soon as it was released.

"The stairs level off to a landing two steps from where you are. There's a wooden door here." She began, narrating the scene for him. With his hand on the wall he carefully made those last two steps, sliding along the wall until he could feel the wooden door. "I'm going to open it, okay?"

He nodded vaguely in the direction of her voice. It was hard to tell with how echoing the stairwell was. He heard the wood crack in protest as she yanked on the door, finally giving a splintered cry as she freed the old wood from its frame. The hinges creaked in protest, and he heard Hikari gasp. She took a few steps—forward, he would guess, since she hadn't backed up into him.

"Well?"

"It's the top of the lighthouse." Hikari's voice was further away, "It's so bright…Windows run along the edge of the room, letting the light shine out over the ocean. There's a small balcony outside, a silver railing running along the edge of the ring." She sounded—awed. He followed her in as her voice faded, "Where the light touches you can see color! The blue of the sky! The blue-green water! White Clouds! The dreary grey of this place springs to life for a brief instant…"

Her words faded. Kouji didn't know what significance that had, but obviously it meant something to her. He wouldn't have known there was any lack of color here, given he'd been unable to see much of anything.

There had to be something about the light. In the Sanctum of Courage he remembered something. A large glass tube, running from floor to ceiling. Ken had been especially interested in it. A lighthouse would have something like that, right?

He hung by the door and cleared his throat "What about the lamp?"

Footsteps again. Hikari must have turned. He imagined she'd been standing by the windows, staring out over the water, given her description. "It's…really bright. I can't look at it long. It's—"

"Exactly what I've been looking for. Thank you children."

The mocking voice preceded a crash of shattered glass, and a yell from Hikari. Kouji rushed forward, catching her as she stumbled back away from the window. He held on to her shoulders firmly—distinctly not thinking about how he knew where she was, "What happened?" He hissed in her ear. The sound of the wind was roaring through the broken glass, whistling past. It tore at his hair and tugged at his bandana. He could feel the sting of the chill salt air across his face.

"A—a—pink and gold. Digimon. Shield. Floating outside."

She huddled around Tailmon as glass shards peppered them both, kicked over as the digimon strode through the shattered window, heavy armored shoes clanging against the metal floor of the lighthouse. Kouji hated it. He couldn't do anything but try to shield them both. The voice sounded familiar. He'd heard right before the gates had shut—the laughter!

"No wonder I couldn't find it! Such a clever place to hide the Essence of Light. Ensconce it away amidst the dark realms, where my servant roams free, set it to activate only when the Chosen of Light approaches. My, my, if it hadn't been for you children, I might never have found it!"

That laughter. Kouji set his teeth. He couldn't let this happen. He couldn't. The warmth was gathering—the power mustering. Tailmon was in no shape to fight.

Please let me do this.

He asked whatever it was that had stopped him from evolving, which had shocked the D-Scanner right out of his hand. They had no choice.

He felt something guiding his movements, filling in the blank spaces in the darkness. He couldn't see, but he knew where he needed to scan.

He wanted to snarl at that guide, recognizing it for what it was. But now was not the time. They both agreed on that.

"Spirit Evolution!"

x-x-x

Something warm was around her, cradling her. Supporting her. Hikari opened her eyes warily and then wide in astonishment. She was surrounded by a moving wall of light; little bits and bars and specks of blue and white all mixed together into a nearly solid sheet. Some of it snaked out of the larger mass, curling around the cat digimon in her arms. She felt like she should have been scared. She should have been worried. But she felt safe. She felt protected. She knew this force would never harm her.

The small cocoon broke apart, and Tailmon was there, blinking heavy eyes up at her. Hikari almost cried out for joy and hugged the life out of the digimon. Tailmon's fur was a pristine white again, her eyes a clear blue. There were no signs of the corruption spread by the Dark Ocean, none save for the single band of black where her Holy Ring had once been. A strand of code snaked out from the main mass again, curling into a circle around that black. It spiraled for a few moments before solidifying, becoming a solid golden ring.

"'K-kari? What's going on?" Tailmon managed to get out between Hikari's desperate hugs. She was struggling in her partner's grip, wide eyed and healed in a way Hikari hadn't seen since before they set foot in Vamdemon's castle, "Where are we? What's tha—"

Tailmon didn't get to ask her question, and Hikari wouldn't have had an answer anyway. The entire cocoon burst apart, raining down holy radiance on the tall humanoid knight who was shadowing his face with his golden shield. Strong arms solidified on Hikari's shoulders, holding her and Tailmon protectively. Kouji! What about Kouji? He'd caught her when the knight had sent her flying. She looked up, startled, into a metal wolf's mask. Shaggy blonde hair, falling out from beneath the helmet, framed a humanoid face within. But it was the eyes that caught and held her. A black sheen coated both the iris and the pupil, dead and unfocused. Deep down inside she knew they should have been blue.

"Kouji...?"

The wolf man gave her a sad smile and released her shoulders, straightening up to face the other digimon.

"You." The knight digimon was regarding the other digimon thoughtfully, lowering his shield and tapping a long, armored finger against the pink beaklike helmet, "I remember you now. Warrior of Light. How fitting for you to be here. However, you couldn't ever face me alone, and especially not as you are now. "

"I thought you were dead." The Warrior of Light declared, hands, encased by armor shaped like a wolf's claws, went to two cylinders at his side. He pulled them out, beams of white light elongating from the end, until he was holding two swords of light. He moved in front of Hikari, swords raised to the ready.

"Death is such a plebian notion." The knight flicked his hand dismissively. Golden ribbons of metal arced from his shoulder blades, and with each pass of the lighthouse's beam it would send them shining in a dazzling display. The light would also make the digimon flinch momentarily. "When you lot defeated Lord Lucemon it freed Dynasmon and myself as well. Without a Lord that lout decided to go his own way. He has no notion of a higher calling. I, however, will bring everlasting peace to this world. All I need to do it is right behind you."

"I understand now why we had to come." The wolf-warrior grumbled, to himself although Hikari managed to hear it. Then to her surprise he glanced over her shoulder, looking straight at her, even if his eyes looked just as empty as ever. "Hikari. There's an access panel near the center of the lamp, ten paces to your left. Take it. Find the portal—it should be marked—and get out. You need to get to safety."

"As nostalgic as this whole meeting is—" The pink knight really seemed to hear himself talk. "I do believe I have an appointment. I shall grind you into the dust, Warrior, and scatter your ashes for the rest to find!"

He lunged, seeming to teleport toward the warrior, driving the golden shield point first into the armored chest. The wolf reacted fast enough however, to catch the shield in his twin swords. "I say…" He panted from the exertion of holding back the blow, "We take this outside!"

A blast of light shot out of the canon mounted on his left wrist and startled the knight. It threw him off enough to let a square kick to the chest knock him back and out, shattering another of the glass windows with his passing. The wolf followed him out, leaving Hikari and Tailmon alone in stunned silence, as the beam from the lighthouse continually revolved.

"I need to help." Tailmon declared once the sounds of battle broke her out of her stupor. "Whoever he is, that—that hideously pink thing is a Mega digimon. There's no way he can handle it on his own."

The cat jumped to her paws, fighting her way out of Hikari's vicelike grip. The girl could see the access hatch the warrior had mentioned. Supposedly they could escape through there. Leave and Tailmon would be safe.

And they would leave Kouji behind.

Agonizingly slowly, Hikari let Tailmon go. The cat jumped out of her arms and looked up expectantly, blue eyes shining with strength in the light from the lighthouse. Hikari pulled out her digivice, giving Tailmon a grin of confidence she didn't really feel, "Go get 'im Tailmon."

"Armor Evolution…!"

Hikari gingerly stepped over shards of glass as Nefertimon winged away toward the battle, coming to a stop by the banged up silver railing.

She felt so helpless. Whatever…whatever Kouji had done…Those two wouldn't have much of a chance against a Mega digimon. She could hear the battle raging above her. Hear the taunts—everything. They were on the roof now—the warrior unable to fly, and Nefertimon's air support was keeping the knight out of the air. Hikari couldn't see them. She could only close her eyes and pray.

x-x-x

A/N: So. Who saw that coming?

I don't have much to say unless you'd like me to babble about "Oh geez where is the drama coming from" and "OMG 110k words!?"

Yes. The story has passed the 100k mark. I feel accomplished. FDT took me years to get that far.

There's one last full length chapter for this specific story arc, and then three more interludes—wait. Sorry. As has been pointed out to me they aren't really interludes. More like Aftermath chapters. They deal with the transitional periods between story arcs.

Anyway, I'm gonna keep this shortish and thank you for reading! I've been fangirling over my reviews to my friends every time I get one. It's funny because one of them is writing a FFVII story so we've been swapping news. I really appreciate the time you guys take to leave me a little note—or a long one!—and I really should start replying to them…I generally check while I'm at work so it's a bit difficult, but I'll try from now on!

And now I will leave you with one final word of wisdom.

Refrigerator.