Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

My name is Iori Hida. Five years ago, my friends disappeared. Five years ago, I lost hope. Five years ago, Wallace returned that hope to me. These past five years, I've kept that hope, diminished as it is, within me.

Now, five years later…

I…

I don't think I have any hope left.

Chosen Empire:
The Resolving Memories

"Rise and shine."

Something heavy pressed into my lap and I groggily opened my eyes. "Wha…?"

"Breakfast," Shuichi said, sitting down beside me, a roll in his hand. "Eat."

I stared gloomily down at the food arranged on the stone plate on my legs. "I'm not hungry."

"Eat," Shuichi insisted.

"Or I won't, dagya," Armadimon yawned and sat up, eyeing a sandwich hungrily. That look made me give in and pick up a piece of bread and chew on it half-heartedly. As I ate, Armadimon, as he glanced towards Wallace's partners, asked, "So, have you asked how Wallace…?"

"No. Not yet." Shuichi focused on the cave ceiling. "They'll tell us when they're ready. In the meantime…" He finished off his roll in three more bites, dusted his hands, and stood up. "We're finishing off the coffin."

The slice of bread dropped from my fingers and I jumped to my feet. "What?"

Shuichi didn't try to avoid my gaze—instead, he looked at me full in the face. "Would you rather have his body rot here?"

Shame rose in me.

"You said it was here."

There was no hate in my voice. Only utter blankness.

"I thought it was!" Wallace protested, inspecting the map repeatedly. "The map…"

"I'm leaving."

"WHAT?" Terriermon turned on me. "Listen, you—Daisuke and Takeru and V-mon, they're ourfriends too, and we want to find them just as much as you! How do you think wefeel? Don't walk away. Answer me!"

"This is the fifth time it's happened." My voice barely rose above a whisper. "I don't think…" I choked up. "I don't think…I can take any more disappointment. I'm sorry…but I have to go."

It would have been selfish to say…but it felt too final to put Wallace to rest, even though it was the right thing to do. It was like sealing him away forever. And then my throat swelled up, and I couldn't speak and sat down instead.

"MEGATON PRESS!"

Ankylomon slammed into the opposing Digimon, squashing him flat inches away from Wallace. I hurried up. "Wallace, are you okay?"

"I think I broke my ankle," Wallace admitted. "But what are you doing here? I thought…you'd left for good."

"If you've come here to beg for forgiveness…" Terriermon began

I was careful to hide my face as I started bandaging Wallace's ankle. "Well…it's just as you said, isn't it?"

"What is?"

"There's always going to be disappointment. You just have to find the hope to continue on."

"And like I'vealways said," Terriermon interrupted with a grin on his face, "that is one of the silliest things I've ever heard."

"Are you okay, dagya?"

"I'm fine," I mumbled through the tears that were once again falling.

"Is this…?"

"Only one way to find out," said Wallace evenly. He stepped up to the door of the dilapidated cottage and knocked three times—one loud, two soft—and retreated just as quickly.

"What if this is a trap, dagya?" Armadimon asked worriedly.

"Let's not think about that," Lopmon shuddered.

Then, without warning, the door swung open, and a dark-haired, tanned boy stepped out. "Yes?" he said abruptly.

"Crush the forces," Wallace replied.

The boy's eyes widened as he took in Wallace, Terriermon, and Lopmon. "Split the skies," he agreed. His piecing gaze swept to me. "And what about—?" He broke off.

"Why would I want to join the Empire?" I said, keeping my voice low. "They took my friends away from me. Crush the forces."

"Crush the forces, dagya."

"We'll tell you what happened."

All of us sat up straight and swung our gazes to Terriermon and Lopmon. Their eyes were sad, but their mouths were set.

"You don't have to…" Dracomon began, shooting Shuichi a look I didn't understand.

"We want to," Lopmon said tiredly. "I don't want….Well, Wallace…" He broke off, shook his head. "The thing is…we were being tracked."

"The Empire found us while we were trying to get more information on the Sectors," Terriermon said, "and they recognized Wallace because of…" He gestured wordlessly at Wallace's body.

"What, dagya?"

However, Kaia stood up and crossed over to Wallace. She knelt down and threw back the cloak—

Wallace had only one arm.

"They're back, dagya!" Armadimon's face suddenly fell. "Something…isn't right, dagya."

"What?" I rushed to the entrance, saw the body. "WALLACE!"

The dark-haired, tanned boy rushed in. "Shut up, calm down!" he ordered, looking frantically around the room. "Miyuki—find something to stop the blood flow; Feng Hua—find Wallace's fake ID, fast. Get mine as well. Everyone else—GIVE US SOME ROOM."

"Satsumi—" I was ignoring his orders, trying to get closer. All I could see was Wallace's pale face. "Satsumi—what happened?"

"Back off!" he snapped, shoving me away. "Right—Mitsuru, Longwei, help me get Wallace to the hospital." They moved obediently forward. "Feng Hua—where are the IDs?"

"Here!" A Chinese girl rushed forward, threw the IDs. "Mitsuru's and Longwei's are in there too," she added hastily as Satsumi opened his mouth again. "Now hurry up and go!"

They were already moving. As they passed through the door, I saw what the issue was—Wallace had no right arm; blood poured from a stump in his shoulder, splashing the floor. Just as the door shut, Satsumi yelled, "Cover our tracks!"

Immediately Miyuki and Kazuki rushed for the door, cloths under their bulky coats. Armadimon and I turned desperately to Terriermon and Lopmon. "What happened, dagya?"

It was Shinji, someone who had gone on the raid with them, who answered. "Got stuck. Booby traps. Sharp blades. Bad place." He ran a hand through his hair. "It won't be any consolation to you, but we're now in control of the Digital World. The Digimon there are our allies now."

He was right.

It didn't help calm me down one bit.

I stared down at the familiar stump. Beside me, Armadimon swallowed noisily. Patamon gave a whimper of horror. Takeru simply looked thunderstruck.

"They saved it," Wallace said happily. "My arm's gone, but at least I'm not dead, eh?"

I wasn't laughing. "I thought you said you'd be more careful!"

Wallace caught on and his smile faded. "Sorry."

"You knew?" My voice was barely a whisper.

Kaia frowned at me. "What?"

"You knew?" I looked up and stared straight at her. "You knew he had only one arm? Since when?"

"We caught sight of him when he stole some of our plans," Kaia said. "It's not like it matters any more—he's dead." She stared down at his body in something that border lined disgust, and gave a small sniff. "Worthless lump."

The way she said it, so matter-of-factly, caused Takeru and Patamon too look up in outrage, Armadimon to jump to his feet, and me to explode.

"SHUT UP!"

Kaia drew herself up, her mouth twisted in a snarl. "What did you say?"

"Don't talk about him like that! You never knew him, you don't know what he did, how many lives he saved! Everyone I knew, everyone he knew cared for him, and compared to you that number is—"

I broke off, suddenly afraid of myself. I slid back down to the floor, having jumped up, and buried my face in my hands; Takeru placed a shaking hand on my shoulder. The seconds trickled by as I tried to calm myself down. I could feel everyone's eyes. Finally, Shuichi said, "Er…continue, please."

And Lopmon, to my intense relief, did. "Well, the Scouters caught up with us, see, and it got into a big fight. You met them, I'm guessing? Anyway, we were horribly outnumbered but they wouldn't stop fighting us, and we didn't want to give up—"

"—we still had a lot of research to do," Terriermon said. He started speaking faster and faster. "We only got the basics about the Sectors—but not who they were working for. The point is, there was a lot of confusion happening, we couldn't see clearly—"

"—and before we knew it," Lopmon lamented, "Wallace just toppled over, holding his side. Look, you see, the wound's right there—"

I looked up from my hands to see Kaia pull back Wallace's grimy shirt to reveal a deep, bloody wound. My stomach churned and I nearly threw up.

"There was an Andromon," Terriermon explained. "Couldn't aim well—"

"But fired off attacks every few seconds—"

"But his aim was so bad, he kept on missing—"

"Didn't miss the trees though—"

"—and Wallace was just unlucky enough to have gotten hit," Terriermon said. "So we dragged him into the cave before the Scouters realized we were gone, and then they figured out we were in the cave. If they had known Wallace was injured…"

"…they would have been on us in seconds," Lopmon said. "But as it was, they thought that Wallace was calling for reinforcements, and tried to bribe him to turn himself in, and hand in all the information he had over."

"A few of them wanted to storm the cave," said Terriermon, "but I stood in the entrance and held them off—"

"—while I tried to help Wallace," Lopmon said. "But then you bunch came…"

"…and the Scouters got distracted." Terriermon took a deep, shaky breath. "So I turned back to see what I could do." He was speaking slowly now. "I couldn't do…anything…" His voice broke, and Lopmon took over.

"So then," he said, his eyes starting to fill with tears, "Wallace told us…to give…the information we had…at all costs." He gave a huge sniff. "And we were still telling him it was okay, he was going to live…but then you entered, Iori…"

"…and we figured," Terriermon said, shaking, "That if anyone…deserved to hear his last words…it would be…you two."

"Wallace hadn't seen you in so long…and we see…—saw him everyday…" Lopmon couldn't finish. Neither could Terriermon. But no one needed them to. Their muffled sobs joined with my own.

That afternoon, Shuichon arrived.

Takeru had dragged me outside to get fresh air, but all I did was sit on the ground, unable to cope. But then Takeru said, "Huh. He looks familiar…" and I looked up. And for one brief second, all my troubles melted away as Shuichon entered the clearing. But the next second they were back.

"Who?" I said, trying to find some reason to look at Shuichon.

"Him." And Takeru gestured towards a blue-haired guy who had his arm wrapped around Shuichon. Something inside me flared.

Patamon landed beside us. "You know," he said thoughtfully, "you're right. I think I remember him too."

"He's wearing the same cloak as you," said Dracomon peevishly from behind us. "He's a Hunter too, idiots."

But I didn't bother to listen—Shuichon had just spotted us and had given a feeble wave.

"What's the matter with her?" I muttered to Armadimon.

"Dunno, dagya." And he sighed and began moping once more.

"We should greet them," I mumbled, getting to my feet. "Can't count on them to…" I spared a glance for Hákon, Wizarmon, Kaia, and Drimogemon. True to what I had expected, none of them were moving, but I thought I saw Wizarmon touch the brim of his hat and Hákon give half a nod at the new company.

I turned back around, only to see Masahiro of all people emerging from the trees, following by Rapidmon, Makoto, Impmon, Lopmon, and…another Terriermon?

By that time, I had reached them, Takeru and Patamon accompanying me. Armadimon stayed behind, occasionally exchanging a word with Dracomon. Shuichon saw me approaching and gave me a small smile. "Hi."

"Hi." I cleared my throat, feeling a little self-conscious. "Um, this is Takeru Takaishi and Patamon. Takeru and Patamon, this is Shuichon Lee and that's Lopmon, Makoto Aoki and Impmon, and…Masahiro…Saitou and…Rapidmon." I forced the last two names out, and both Rapidmon and Masahiro gave me identical unpleasant smiles.

I ignored them and turned to the blue-haired teen whose arm was around Shuichon. "I'm sorry. You are…?"

"Jenrya Lee," he said. "This is Terriermon. Nice to meet you." But his expression, strained into a smile, didn't look happy at all. Was it something I had done?

"My brother," said Shuichon quietly. "The one who…you know, disappeared."

"And the reason why she joined the Empire for a short period of time," Masahiro smirked, and I knew he was watching for my reaction.

I kept my face straight and ignored him. "Why is he with you?"

"Rokuro," Makoto said simply, and with that word, reality crashed around me once more.

"His name is Wallace!" I snapped without thinking. Makoto looked taken aback. "Sorry," I muttered. "I…have to go."

Takeru grabbed my arm. "No you don't," he said. "Wallace's funeral, remember?"

"Funeral?" Impmon echoed.

But at that moment, Shuichi entered the clearing with Hákon, both of them supporting Wallace's still body, now freshly scrubbed and dressed with his now-clean clothes. Shuichon took one look and froze. "Wallace…from New York?"

Takeru's face became suspicious. "How do you know that?"

"We'll tell you later," Makoto said hastily. "Hey. Shuichi!"

Shuichi glanced up, did a double take. "Masahiro?"

"Hi."

Unspoken relief flowed from the two of them. Masahiro gestured at Wallace. "Is that the spy?"

Shuichi gave a brief nod and turned to me. "We'll be burying him now," he said.

My throat closed up but I bowed my head all the same. Together, we followed Shuichi, Hákon, and watched as they lowered Wallace into a rough coffin made of wood. Kaia appeared out of nowhere, carefully avoiding eye contact with me, and placed several flowers on his chest before sliding back out of the crowd.

"Well…" Shuichi hesitated. "Any last words?"

"Me." Takeru stepped forward, and we drew back to give him privacy. After a string of words, Takeru left, his eyes misty. Patamon took his place, then Armadimon. And finally, me.

I swallowed hard. "You were a great friend, Wallace."

"Stop it, Iori!"

"But I can't doanything!" I shouted, pounding the wall in frustration. "I can't find Daisuke, I can't find V-mon, I can't find Takeru, I can't find anyone! I can't even help on RAIDS!"

"STOP IT!" Wallace caught my wrists, spun me around. His eyes were blazing. "You've uncovered more information than any of us combined! You call that nothing?"

"Well—"

"You—aren't—worthless! If anyone is worthless, it'll be me!" And Wallace ripped of his cloak and yanked up his sleeve. His stump of a shoulder hung there, useless.

"You're not worthless—"

"And neither are you."

"You…helped brighten everyone's day….When you were around, it…was hard to be sad."

"Tiptoe, dagya," Armadimon whispered.

I nodded grimly. Word had arrived that Feng Hua's brother had been captured for trying to raise support for us in China. It took little to set her off lately. But as we snuck by her door, laughter burst out.

Armadimon and I froze. We looked at each other. We looked back at the door. And we peeked through the crack in the door.

There were Wallace, Terriermon, and Lopmon, performing what would later become their infamous circus show that was guaranteed to cheer anyone up.

Exchanging grins, Armadimon and I set off for lunch—at a run.

I took a deep, controlling breath. "You stuck by your friends…always."

"You! Iori Hida!"

I turned around. "Yes?"

Something smashed into my face and I reeled back, cracking my head against the wall. Armadimon roared and a yelp of pain followed. Even so, that didn't stop the yelling: "Where the heck are your friends, huh? Why haven't you found them yet?"

I struggled to get up; everything still spun in circles. "What…?"

"Don't play dumb! You're holding back, aren't you, you know where the rest of your Odaiba buddies are, so why don't you tell us?"

"I don't—"

"Friends always know where their friends are, right? RIGHT?"

He was ripped off me. Another crack sounded off to the side, and suddenly Wallace was hovering over me. "Well he may be unconscious now," he said satisfactorily, "but when he wakes up he'll have one heck of a headache."

"I've got one now," I moaned. That and a feeling of—

"You're not feeling guilty, are you, dagya?"

"Because you're trying harder than anyone else here," added Lopmon.

Against my will, hot tears flowed once more and I gripped the edges of the wooden coffin so hard it splintered. I ignored the jabbing pain in my palms. "Wallace…you were one of the best friends…I could have ever asked for…and I just wanted to say…"

I took a deep breath, stopped the tears. "I'll never forget you. I'll make sure you'll be remembered…forever."

And I watched mutely as the crude coffin cover slid over Wallace, and as he was buried in the ground. A tombstone, badly chiseled, read:

R.I.P.

WALLACE CONNELL
1991-2007

A FRIEND
A DREAMER
LET HIM LIVE ON IN OUR HEARTS
Anything is possible, as long as you have hope

I turned and walked, walked away from the last shred of hope I had in the world.

Because subconsciously, I'd always thought that once I'd found Wallace, everything would be alright again.

Ignorance was bliss.

The truth hurt like hell.

I didn't speak for the rest of the day and instead withdrew into the cave. The afternoon wore on. Armadimon stayed by my side the entire time, adding guilt to my stupid emotions. He didn't budge, even when I tried to force him outside for fresh air. Finally, I gave up, and welcomed sleep.

But even sleep didn't have its reprieve—the dead body of Wallace loomed in front of me, haunting me everywhere I turned. There was no escape, I was about to explode—

—and woke up to a cool night air.

Outside quiet footsteps sounded. Shuichi joined Shuichon and Masahiro in front of the cave entrance. I hurriedly closed my eyes, desperately trying to find the sound of the wind, not wanting to eavsdrop. Even so, I heard Shuichi speak:

"Is something wrong?"

"Nothing," said Shuichon stubbornly, and I quit listening for the wind.

Masahiro scoffed. "Liar."

So he knew? Why? Was he the reason why Shuichon seemed so distant?

"Wallace? What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

I caught up with him. "Look, I knowyou, Wallace, just as well as you know me, and I know something's wrong. What is it?"

"You won't want to hear it."

"I don't want to talk about it, okay?" I could hear the scowl in her voice, and almost smiled at the thought of the expression I knew was on her face.

"It's better to let it out than keep it in," Shuichi said reasonably.

I cracked open my eyes to see Shuichon look away. "…you won't like it."

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong, or not?" I demanded, trying to catch Wallace's eye. "C'mon, answer me, will you? I want to help!"

"I'm not sure you can."

"Wallace…"

"What do you mean?"

Shuichon took a deep breath, scratched her head. "Well…you know my older brother, the one…who was pushed off the roof of a bookstore?"

I could hear the frown in Shuichi's voice. "Yeah…"

There was a long silence. Shuichon twirled her cap in her hands. "Nasagi…was the one who pushed him."

A cold atmosphere settled over the cave entrance, stretching out to me.

What?

When Shuichi spoke, his voice was cold and controlled. "You're sure?"

"…I…yeah."

"How do you know he wasn't just messing with you?"

I couldn't believe it—why was Shuichi defending Nasagi of all people at a time like this? Could their friendship really extend to this?

Shuichon hesitated, then said quietly, "He wasn't lying."

"What?"

"He wasn't lying." Shuichon looked away. "I don't want to believe him anymore than you do…but he wasn't lying."

"How do you know?" Shuichi asked abruptly.

"He flick his hand." Shuichon turned away now and faced the cave wall. "You know…that weird gesture of his he did when he was joking." There was a long pause. "I kept waiting…for him to do it…but he never did."

Shuichi's body looked frozen. "You're…sure?"

"I'm sure." Shuichon hesitated. "And then…when I started screaming at him…he still didn't. I waited as long as I could, but he never did. You know Nasagi...he knows when he goes too far, and he'll always, always does it to tell us he was only kidding. But not this time. Even…even when he saw me…crying."

"…Maybe he did it after you turned away."

I scowled; Nasagi wasn't the same person that Shuichi once knew—why did he have to keep defending him? But I already knew the answer. It was the same reason why I never stopped looking for Wallace.

Shuichon's voice was harsh. "Why do you keep protecting him?"

Shuichi snapped, just as sharply, "Why do you keep attacking him?"

"Let go of the past."

"What?"

"You're holding on to the child Nasagi that you knew. Let it go."

Shuichi's reply was as hard as flint. "Why should I? He never changed."

Shuichon stood up. "I never—…yes, he did, Shuichi. Nasagi changed more than you know."

"No!" Shuichi was shaking. "No. I won't believe it. I can't believe it. Nasagi never hurt anyone if he could help it. Why…why would he kill someone?"

"Don't," Masahiro said suddenly, speaking for the first time. "Don't. He…didn't kill. My brother does not kill."

"No, he doesn't," Shuichon said quietly. "But that doesn't explain why he told me he did." She rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Nasagi's changed, Shuichi. I don't want to believe that as much as you do, but he's changed—"

"No." Shuichi stood up too. "No. People don't change. Their actions do." And he stormed off. After what seemed like eternity, Shuichon followed.

The seconds passed endlessly by.

Masahiro didn't move.

"Let go."

I had to let go.

I had to.

I had to move on.

I had to accept the fact that Wallace would no longer breathe.

"Wallace…" I whispered. "You're really…dead, aren't you?"

The next morning I rose before anyone else, woke Armadimon up, and together we visited Wallace's grave. I laid down the only flowers I could find, and for the next few minutes, Armadimon and I stood there in silence. Shortly afterward, Terriermon and Lopmon joined us.

"You know," Terriermon said at length. "We still have the information on all the Sectors. It'd be useful to you."

"The Sectors?"

Lopmon nodded. "The only thing we didn't find out was who they were working for."

"That's fine," I said fiercely. "Any information at all is good."

"It's back in the cave," Terriermon said. "Do you want to…?"

"Definitely, dagya," Armadimon said. "The sooner the better, dagya."

"Iori!"

I jerked around, squinting. "Yes?"

"They've arrived!"

I frowned. "Who?"

Makoto sounded impatient. "Who else? My sister, her boyfriend, Romainu, Tailmon, Drimogemon, and Alaois!"

"Oh." I turned back to the notes and studied them for a few seconds more, and then stood up. The eyes of Armadimon, Terriermon, and Lopmon followed me. "C'mon, let's not keep everyone waiting."

We turned and walked out of the entrance, to everyone, including Hákon and Wizarmon, and Kaia and Drimogemon, waiting in the clearing beyond. Every step I took was for Wallace. Every action I did for now on would be for Wallace.

"Just tellme already!"

Wallace sighed. "Look—"

"Wallace, dagya."

"Fine." He sat down, rubbed his face with his only arm. "Look…I've been assigned Assignment Alpha."

My heart thumped painfully in my chest.

Assignment Alpha.

The Assignment to find my friends from Odaiba.

The Assignment that no one ever returned from.

Everyone looked up expectantly when we reached them. "Look," I said loudly, and I was glad that my voice didn't crack. "I know that Ryuu told us all to be on the lookout for Nasagi, and as members of the A.F., we should stick by that, but…"

"I promise I'll come back."

I didn't say anything.

"Have I ever broken a promise before?"

"No, dagya."

"Well, then I promise—"

"How do you know you can keep that promise?" I burst out.

"I don't."

"Then—"

"Do you trust me, Iori?"

I met his gaze defiantly. "Yes."

"Then trust me to keep my promise."

I relented. "Fine. But if you don't—"

"Don't worry about that." Wallace laughed, swinging his cloak over his shoulders. "We'll be the first team to ever come back, you wait and see—"

"—and we'll bring back V-mon and Daisuke and everyone else too," Terriermon finished.

"So wait for us, won't you?" Lopmon said earnestly.

"Because when we return…" Wallace grinned. "We'll bring down the Chosen Empire. We'll end this war."

"…I have a new assignment for all of us."

Every eye was trained on me. I held up a dark blue notebook. "This is what Wallace died trying to finish, and I'm not going to let his efforts be in vain. Everything in here contains information not only on the Sectors, but everything related to the Empire and its headquarters here in the Digital World.

"And I'm going to finish what Wallace started."

"…which is?" Masahiro raised his eyebrows mockingly.

"We'll end this war."

"Crush the Chosen Empire once and for all," I said firmly.