Disclaimer- I do not own Digimon or the idea of Digimon I only own the characters I make up and this storyline. Digimon is copyrighted to Bandai, Toei, and of course it's Original Creator and anyone else who might hold the copyright for it.

A/N -There is an Author's Note at the end of this chapter I want you guys to read please

Chapter Twenty-Six What Once Was

It Kitsumon did happen to find him while he slept then Takeru would just have to deal with it at that time. For now he wasn't going to worry about it because he already had enough to worry about as it was. Like would he really escape alive if he did trade himself for Botamon? Or if he was going to come through this entire ordeal in one piece and he meant mentally just as much as he did physically. Yes, there was a lot more to worry about right now and most of it he couldn't do anything about which made it that much more worse as far as he was concerned.

Despite his worries Takeru didn't have too hard of a time falling asleep that night. He didn't dream of Aderes nor did he happen to encounter Kitsumon either. For once he had normal, everyday dreams though he didn't recall them once he had awoken the next day

Takeru was a bit surprised when Hikari showed up the next morning with Kohana and their two Digimon. "I thought you were going to Aiden's apartment today?" Takeru asked as he let them in. The two teenage girls stopped in the entrance way to switch their shoes for slippers while their Digimon walked past them. Takeru was pleased to see both of the Digimon had evolved since the last time he had seen them now they were at their Child Stage.

"We are but I thought it would probably be best to bring you along since he is a boy after all," Hikari told him as she followed him into the living room. Takeru realized she had a point, but he doubted Aiden would have given her the key if there was something there he didn't want her to see. "Besides we may need more help carrying things," she added grinning slightly. Takeru shook his head knowing he wasn't going to be a whole lot of help with his bruised ribs.

"A lot of help I'm going to be," Takeru mumbled and Hikari just shrugged.

"He did tell us there was nothing we needed to worry about, but we just wanted to be safe," Kohana said as she followed both of them proving Takeru had been right about his assumption. It had actually been Kohana that had brought it to Hikari's attention that it would be best to bring one of their guy friends along with them just in case. Since the two of them where trying their best to distract Takeru from thinking to hard about what was going on lately he was the obvious choice for the two of them. Even if he couldn't really help them carry things.

"Did you guys happen to bring anything with you to carry his things in?" Takeru asked them as he walked into his room to grab his keys and things. Patamon was in the living room with Tokamon and his mother. After the two girls had greeted her they followed after Takeru while their Digimon stayed in the living room.

"I grabbed some old tote bags my mom uses when she goes shopping," Kohana told him showing him one tote bag that had more stuffed inside. "Aiden said that he didn't have much there so we didn't see a need for anything else." Takeru nodded then slid his closet door open and pulled out an old duffle bag he used to use when he was on the basketball team then slid the door close.

"I'll bring this along just in case," Takeru told her and she nodded. Takeru then went into the living room. "Mom is it alright if I go and help Hikari and Kohana-chan move Aiden's things out of his apartment since they don't want to go alone?" Takeru asked her as he leaned against the back of the couch.

"It's alright Takeru I'm glad that you are going with them," Natsuko told him smiling. "Can you pick up a few things for me on your way back?" she asked mainly looking at Hikari and Kohana wanting to make sure it was alright with them.

"Sure!" Hikari told her and she took the shopping list from her. They then walked towards the door their Digimon following after them.

"Have a safe trip!" Natsuko called after them.

"We will!"

-X-

Hikari used the key Aiden gave her to unlock the door and walked inside. Tsumon rushed past her and the others while they were taking their shoes off. There weren't any slippers which really didn't surprise any of them so they just walked in with their socks on doing best not to slip on the few steps of hardwood before they reached the tatami mats. "Whoa he wasn't kidding when he said he didn't have a lot..." Tsumon commented as he looked around the room.

"You're not supposed to in these types of rooms Tsumon. That room, the kitchen, bathroom and balcony are it. There isn't room for a lot," Kohana commented as she was checking through the cupboards in the small kitchen to see if there was anything inside. "It's mainly meant for people who can't afford much rent any ways which means they wouldn't own a lot to fill it up with in the first place."

"Yes which is why college students and even some high school students use them because they can afford it on what they make from their part time jobs," Hikari added while she was taking items off the collapsible table so she could fold it up. Takeru decided to check the closet and slid one of the doors open. He almost instantly found the two black boxes Aiden had told Hikari he wanted the most sitting on the floor of the closet. Takeru knelt down to pull them out noting they had a bit of weight to them.

"Good thing I did come along. I don't think either one of you would be willing or able to carry these two for very long," Takeru said as he set the boxes down near Hikari. Kohana walked over to them to add three bowels, three cups and three sets of personal chopsticks so Hikari could pack them. She then went back to get more stuff.

"Ha ha very funny. If they're that heavy a Digimon can carry them because you certainly are not," Hikari told him as she looked at him and Takeru grinned.

"Aw you do care about me," he said as he walked back to the closet to see what else was inside.

"Like a brother... One of those annoying little ones that you always have to take care of," Hikari said causing Kohana to laugh. "Anyway good thing we thought to bring old newspaper with us," Hikari commented as she pulled the tote bags out that where in the one then some newspaper and began wrapping the cups and bowels up into it. Takeru just shook his head slightly at Hikari's comment turning his focus onto the closet.

There were two futons in there which Takeru realized probably wouldn't fit in the tote bags, but he pulled them out and set them near the table that was now leaning against a wall in the corner of the room. After that it was mainly clothing, a few books and some odds and ends in the closet. All of these were set near Hikari who now had the rest of the dinning items as well as cookware and Takeru noted a few cups of instant ramen as well.

Tsumon had decided to tackle the bathroom and came back with a few personal care products out of there as well as some other things. As for Tailmon and Patamon, they had decided to check the balcony finding laundry that had been left there to dry and between the two of them they had been able to bring it in to be packed. The last thing Hikari packed was Aiden's school uniform that had been hung up on the closet doors. She then made a quick check to make sure that they hadn't missed anything while Takeru fought to get one of the futons into the duffel bag while Kohana tried to get one into a tote bag. She only succeeded once she had separated the blanket from the actual futon and Takeru followed her plan handing over the blanket so it could be packed with the other one.

Both of the futons stuck of the bags awkwardly but it would do for now. "Well that seems to be everything," Hikari said as she walked over to pick up the table and a bag. Kohana picked up the a few while Tsumon took hold of the two black boxes. That left Takeru with the duffel bag which he tightened the strap so it wouldn't move around on him and the last two tote bags. Takeru had a feeling they happened to be the lightest ones.

"Will you be able to carry those all the way back to the hotel?" Takeru asked him knowing they weren't light at all.

Tsumon nodded his head. "Yep!"

"Do you think the hotel will get mad at us for bringing this stuff to Aiden?" Hikari asked Kohana and Takeru.

"I think they will only if it gets left behind when the Star siblings check out..." Kohana said as they walked towards the door. "If they do before then we can at least store the futons and table at my home until Aiden decides just what he is going to do now."

"Without Kitsumon its either he has to go back home now or stay here and get a job while attending high school. I know which one he would prefer between the two, but whether or not he can pull off a job and school with his trouble reading Japanese remains to be seen," Takeru told them as they walked out. The six ended up giving the key to one of Aiden's neighbors to be returned to the landowner before they began the walk towards the hotel where the Star Siblings were staying in.

"Maybe he can stay with one of us for cheaper rent? I mean then he'd only have to worry about his share of the bills and food really or maybe not at all," Hikari suggested.

"The only ones with the room are those with their own apartments or have older siblings that have moved out. You and I don't fit that rule because me for obvious reasons and you because your father turned Taichi's old room back into his office once he moved out. Which would leave either Daisuke or Miyako or as I said one with their own apartment."

"I might be able to convince my brother. It wouldn't harm his reputation any to put up a foreign exchange student..."

"As long as they don't somehow find out just how foreign he really is," Takeru pointed out.

"That would be fun to explain," Kohana said as she thought it over then she grimaced. "I can also see it causing a lot of trouble. I mean the governments didn't react kindly to the Digital World..."

"Yeah they would probably panic at the idea of other worlds and might even try to start a war with some of them. Maybe my brother isn't the best choice after all," Hikari said not at all liking the idea now. Anyone that currently opposed his views where trying their hardest to discredit Taichi in any way they could. With how young he was it really wasn't going that well for them at all and it didn't help that Taichi just didn't cause much trouble for anything, but the right reasons.

"It would probably be best to let the others think of it for themselves if they do. If not then maybe I'll try bringing it up with my brother..." Takeru said and the other two nodded. As they walked Takeru was noticing they were getting a few odd looks and most likely the table was at fault, but Takeru did his best to ignore them. It probably wouldn't have been such a strange sight if it was closer to the start of a semester for a school or something. This time of year it was a bit out of place.

It took them a bit longer to get to the hotel then it normally would have because Takeru needed to take a few breaks even with how little he was carrying. The girls had made sure to actually take the heavier of the tote bags leaving him with the two lightest ones like he had thought. He wasn't the only one needing them since the boxes Tsumon was carrying weren't exactly light. In all honesty though he need half as many as Takeru needed.

When they did arrive Tailmon ran ahead of them to push the elevator button so by the time they reached it she had one waiting for them. When they had arrived on the floor the rooms where on they noticed Trace was sitting in the hallway on a chair from one of the rooms a handheld game system in hand. Rascmon was laying down beside him sound asleep. "Is something wrong?" Hikari asked him as they walked up to him wondering just why he would be out in the hallway like this.

Trace paused his game before he looked up at them. "Not really... I just wanted some time alone and this is as far as I can get without upsetting Luna," he said with a shrug. "Aiden's in there with Ken and Koushiro now. Ken is scanning the rest of the papers you managed to translate so far, Kohana, to send them to Sora's father. As for Koushiro, he is looking through the computer with Aiden's help to see if there might be anything hidden on it. From what I could understand of what he was saying it seems to be of a similar make to the laptops in this world."

"Well I hope they find something useful about the virus especially if Kitsumon was able to make more of it," Takeru said as Tailmon walked up to the door and knocked on it. Aiden must have felt better because he was the one that opened the door with Punimon sitting on top of his head. Though Takeru did note he had one of those stick on ice packs on his forehead.

"We got your things," Tailmon told him as he stepped aside to let them in. They ended up setting down the bags and boxes on the bed while leaning the table against the wall in a place it would hopefully be out of the way.

"I also gave the key to the neighbor like you asked me to," Hikari told him as Aiden pulled out a change of clothes from one of the bags. He was really tired of walking around in pajamas

"Thanks for getting my stuff for me," Aiden told them before he went into the bathroom to change. When he came out again he looked carefully at the boxes before moving the lower one to the top of the pile. There must have been some way to tell the two of them apart though Takeru had no clue how. Aiden opened the one he had pulled to the top up and while Takeru couldn't see what was inside of it, but he could tell that the walls of the box had to be at least six centimeters thick. No wonder they had been so heavy! Aiden took something of it then closed the box. Whatever it was Aiden tossed it at Takeru, who, not expecting something to be thrown at him barely caught it before it hit the floor.

"What is it?" Takeru asked before he even looked at it. When he did it at first appeared to be nothing more than a flat stone. Then he realized that it was a crest! He really should have recognized the once very familiar shape of it, but there was no real color to it. The crest was just gray like the stone Takeru had first mistaken it for. To Takeru's shock he soon realized that it was actually the Crest of Hope!

"I told you that I found the Crest back on my own world," he reminded Takeru causing Kohana and Hikari to walk over to Takeru to look at it as well. "They all seemed to turn to stone after their owners died," he added as he sat down on the bed. "The crests are fine for you guys to look at but I wouldn't chance the Armor eggs if I were you. I don't know if they'll do anything to the ones you own."

"What about the Crest of Kindness?" Ken asked since his crest was still very much active and unlike the others he still had his. He was on the other bed currently with his laptop and a scanner hooked up to it. When one paper was scanned he would pull it out and put in a file then start on another one. Kohana sat down with her back against a wall and began to work translating more of the papers into Japanese that Aiden had translated into English. They still weren't sure what they should do with the English ones once she was done with them. Ken had suggested just putting them all in a folder together and at some point mail it out to Sora's father. The others weren't too sure about it. They were afraid something might happen to it while being mailed.

"Is it on you?" Aiden asked looking at him. He certainly hoped that it wasn't. It hadn't even occurred to him that Ken might have his crest with him.

"No I don't usually carry it with me. I keep it at home in my room," Ken told him then asked, "Are you just afraid something will happen if they come in contact with one another?"

Aiden nodded. "Yep, I could care less if Taichi or Yamato looked at the Armor Eggs without any of the rest of you in the room that carried them, but that box remains closed as long as one of you are near it," Aiden told them as he opened the box back up as Takeru handed him the Crest of Hope back. Like the one the rest where all gray stones with the symbols still showing on them. Some of them where even in pieces but all of them where in the case. Takeru had to admit he had mixed feelings seeing the crests like this even if they didn't belong to him and his friends.

"How come they weren't given back to the Digital World like ours were?" Koushirou asked him taking a break from working on the laptop. So far he hadn't found anything special on it. Aiden had managed to switch the language to English so Koushirou could read it, but it was slow work for him since he didn't know the system well enough yet. The content of the documents and things where still in the other language so Aiden did have to help out every once in awhile.

"Don't know. I can barely remember what most of them look like without the help of the photo's my grandmother left me. Things must have developed differently for them than it did you guys at some point or another. All I know is I found them scattered all over the place in cities, towns, or out in the middle of nowhere. I found the last one not all that long ago even... Then again there might be more they might have ended up with more then you guys got," he answered them as he starred at the open box. He wasn't the only one starring either. All of the Chosen Children in the room where and each one had mixed feelings about the contents of the box.

Aiden didn't really think there were more Chosen on his world compared to this one. The pictures he had didn't show more than the same number of Chosen on this one, but that didn't mean someone else on his world hadn't ended up with one. If they had it really didn't matter to him as only these ones where connected to his parents. "I'd return them to my Digital World if I could get into it but like I said it's sealed and I can't. Since they obviously don't want them they're mine now."

Takeru starred at the box for a moment longer a shiver running down his spine before he looked at Aiden. "Do you happen to know if Kitsumon is from your world or not?" Takeru asked him trying to change subjects for now while also wondering just what else he was now willing to answer since he seemed open to talking. Aiden didn't show much expression when talking about a group of people that included his parents and Takeru noticed he acted like they weren't really related to him at all. He talked about them as a group not as separate people. It made him feel a bit uneasy the way he talked about them. Almost as if he really didn't care about the fact that they were dead.

Aiden looked at Takeru for a moment before he closed the box. Takeru had a feeling Aiden knew why he had changed the subject, but if he did Aiden didn't say anything about it. "In all honesty? I really don't know. He showed up one day in front of me as Kitsumon and claimed to have known the Chosen from my world before they had died. At first he was sickeningly sweet to me trying to win me over. Still I was weary of him since he was the first Digimon besides my own that I had seen in awhile, but then he began to tell me about your world. The idea of a world where Digimon where still freely wandering between a Digital World and a Human World where they were still friends of those humans was very appealing... It was like he was offering me a chance to see how things once where before the virus was ever released on my home world. Hell he almost won me over with that alone," Aiden told them chuckling slightly though it was obvious by the tone of his voice that Aiden really did long for a world like that, but he had to make do with this one. What he really wanted he could not have which was his own world without the virus ever existing.

"Anyway at first I didn't really understand why he wanted me to learn Japanese since I knew from things he had told me my language or English, as it's called here, was used on this world. Then he began to tell me stories about you guys. At the time I thought he wanted me to meet up with you guys. Maybe even warn you about what had occurred on my world and thus the reason I had to learn Japanese. He left out the part that you guys could actually speak English..."

"When did you begin to realize things weren't just what they seemed to be?" Ken asked him wondering what had happened to make Kitsumon turn into the entity known as Red who would poses Shiatanmon before going back to Kitsumon. He couldn't help but wonder just how he had managed to do it as well.

"Not long before my grandmother died. He was trying ridiculously hard to get me to leave with him while her health was failing. I wasn't exactly sure why and still not completely sure, but there was one time he actually freaked out on me. It was bad enough that it caused Black Gabumon and Black Agumon to evolve at the same time because they feared for my safety... It was actually the first time they evolved now that I think on it... After that he left me alone for awhile and I started to hear rumors of how one of the military bases had been attacked that was part of the investigation as to why the Digimon had gone berserk. Apparently not everyone knew the truth behind the virus not even what was left of the military.

"To tell you the truth I think the main reason Kitsumon might have been interested in me was because I could speak my grandmother's native tongue. I don't really know how he knew I could I only spoke it at home and my grandmother hardly left home by the time he started showing up, but he did somehow know the papers and other things related to the virus where written in it. He wanted me to teach it to him in exchange for learning Japanese. I went along with it because at that time I thought it was only fair. Seeing these papers now though I really wish I hadn't..."

"There wasn't any way you could have known why he wanted to learn it," Takeru told him as he sat down on the edge of one of the beds ignoring the fact that was the same thing he had been telling himself about Botamon.

"Yeah but I should have figured something was going on when another Digimon suddenly appears out of nowhere when from what I knew of mine where the only two Digimon left in my world. More so when he didn't want me to tell my grandmother about him or where I was getting the books from. Still I was just too happy to see another Digimon and was hoping he was somehow connected to a human. I remember I was depressed for nearly a week after he told me he was a Digimon unattached to a human..." Aiden said causing Punimon to make a noise. Aiden picked him up off his head and smiled at him. "Doesn't really matter now anyways. Even if he was somehow connected to a human I doubt I would have wanted to meet whatever person was crazy enough to have that type of Digimon as their partner."

"Ugh I really don't want to think of what type of partner he'd have to have if he had one..." Hikari said shivering slightly. "He'd probably be a lot worse than Kitsumon.

"Or someone to scared of his own Digimon that he wouldn't do anything to stop him," Kohana said as she looked up from what she was working on and Hikari nodded in agreement. "I've seen a couple of Digimon like that where I used to live. It didn't last very long though because most of the time another Digimon would get tired of it and remind them that there was always someone stronger than them so picking on their own human who could help make them strong just wasn't very wise."

"Except in the case of Kitsumon no one would have been able to teach him that," Tsumon said and Kohana nodded in agreement.

"Not unless they managed to catch him while he was in his child stage. Kitsumon couldn't have always been an Ultimate level Digimon," Patamon pointed out to Tsumon who nodded in agreement.

"Well it's something we don't have to worry about. If he had a human partnered with him I doubt he would have kept them hidden for so long. Knowing him he probably would have used him in some type of plot to throw us for a loop or something by now," Koushirou said as he turned his attention back to the laptop.

"Well if we suddenly do have someone come up asking for help we'll learn from Trace and not go off on our own only to find out that it's a trap when it's too late," Takeru said recalling what Trace had told them about how he had lost his key in the first place.

Since there was really nothing Takeru could really do to help the others for the moment he didn't stay in the room for very long. Hikari stayed to talk to Aiden while Kohana continued to work on translating the papers into Japanese. Takeru walked out into the hall to find Trace was still out there. Rascmon had woken up and had moved to where he could see what Trace was playing now. "What exactly are you playing?" Takeru asked him not recognizing the game system at all now that he was actually looking at it.

"Something that's from my home world... It's an open world fantasy role playing game. One of the few types I don't get bored of very easily," Trace answered him as he paused it so he could talk without dying in the game. "Learn anything useful?"

"Not anything about Kitsumon that I didn't already know. I did learn some new things about Aiden though," Takeru said as he leaned back against the wall near Trace. Trace had said earlier that he wanted alone time and if he said it again Takeru would leave him alone, but Trace didn't seem to mind him being here. "He's now more willing to answer questions though I can't think of any at the moment that I really want to ask him now," Takeru added.

"Isn't that how it always is?" Trace said smiling slightly. "I remember how my sister Krista wouldn't talk to Lee about our parents because it caused her too much pain at the time to do so. Then one day Krista sat him down and told him to ask away because it was better to get it all over at once then to have him keep asking her questions all the time like he was. He ended up asking maybe three questions before he went blank on her. In the end she told him to just write his questions down as they came to him then ask her later."

"I might have to do that," Takeru said and Trace nodded.

"Any more dreams with Aderes?" Trace asked him and Takeru shook his head.

"No, but I did sleep last night. I did dream, but they were normal every day dreams from what little I can remember of them."

"A lot better than finding yourself face to face with Kitsumon," Trace commented and Takeru nodded in agreement. "Be careful though, Takeru. I don't mean of her since she had enough chances to hurt you if she was going to do so, but of whomever it was that attacked you."

"Don't worry I will be. She won't tell me who it was, but she seems to think that it won't happen again," Takeru told him. He had seen the bruises on his own neck from the attack last night after he had bathed. It had made him shiver and he had worn a shirt with no sleeves with a long neck in order to hide them. He really didn't want to try and answer questions about the bruises if someone should ask him.

Takeru didn't want to stay at the hotel for very long since there was nothing he could do to help at the moment and he didn't want to impose on the Star siblings too much. The problem was he knew if he tried to leave without Hikari he'd hear it from more than one person later on. Right now he was in enough trouble with his brother for volunteering to help Aiden. He really didn't want to give him more reason to be mad at him.

Since the conversation had lagged Trace went back to playing his game not at all upset that Takeru stayed there to watch him play with Rascmon. The screen was a lot better quality then Takeru's DS Lite so he had no trouble seeing what was going on during the game. It wasn't long, however, before Hikari came out of the room followed by Tailmon. "Kohana is going to stay behind to translate as many of the papers as she can," Hikari told him. "Is there anything you where wanting to do besides picking up the things your mom wanted?" Hikari asked him holding up the list she had gotten from Natsuko.

Takeru took it from her and was about to answer her when he spotted a child level Digimon walking through the hallway heading straight for them. He passed Hikari and Tailmon and walked up to Takeru. "Are you Takeru?" he asked and Takeru nodded as Patamon hopped of his head standing beside Takeru in case this Digimon somehow meant trouble. The Digimon handed Takeru an envelope then took off running before Takeru could ask him anything about it. Takeru looked at the envelope and saw that his name was written on the front of it in English using red ink. Seeing his name in English made him a bit suspicious of it. Takeru didn't know anyone that would write to him in English besides maybe Aiden.

Still in case it was something important Takeru carefully opened it up. Inside of it was a piece of white paper which Takeru pulled out. It was obviously a letter written in English with the same red ink that his name had been written in. Takeru was able to read it easily enough as it had been written in common English not some slang form or complicated words. "Whose it from?" Hikari asked him after he stuffed it back into the envelope none to gently.

He starred at the envelope for a moment before looking at Hikari. "It's from Kitsumon," Takeru told her as he walked towards the door she had come out of not that long ago. "It's his terms on how to get Botamon back from him." Most likely Aiden was the true reason the letter had been written in English not because Kitsumon couldn't write in Japanese. He wanted to make sure Aiden understood the terms clearly without making any mistakes. While common English had been used in order for Takeru to understand it. Takeru opened the door and walked over to Aiden holding the envelope out to the red headed teen. "You are going to want to read this."

To Be Continued

A/N - Okay I am going to explain something and I can only hope you can understand what I am trying to say. I am going to write an Epilogue for Endanger Hope mark it complete then move onto the third part and the final part of the story called Burning Hope. The reason I am ending it here is because the story has become a race to the finish meaning the quality of the chapters had dropped and it has become a bit of a mental strain on me. I am hoping that by ending it here and continuing with it late October early November (because I have to rewrite the chapters I have already) this will change.

Part of what I am going to do is approach the story in a different way. Change up my writing style a bit in hopes to fix the issues I saw even if someone else didn't. I have thought several times that I should have split the story before now as well. The first time that the thought appeared was when Aiden first showed up then later on when Aiden was saved but something stopped me then. I wish I would have split it when Takeru and the others had saved Aiden. It would have been a better spot then here. As to why it says To be continued instead of the end it's because technically it isn't an end? It is just spliting it in two for my benifint and maybe the benefit of those who only read stories after they are marked complete. I am going to work on the Epliogue after I post this up so give me an hour or so to rework the chapter to turn it into an Epilogue then I'll post it up as well.

Remember the continuation will be called Burning Hope. Take it to mean what you want I wanted to name it something else but it would be spoilers so nope xD