Koichi's expression didn't change in the slightest as Koji spoke. He didn't flinch or frown when Dorian's stunt with the door/ Faraday cage was recounted. Didn't so much as bat an eye when Koji described how he'd… reacted in the moment. The whole time he kept his features composed, a mask of passive interest in the tale of his own failings. Koji didn't know how he felt about that; it either meant his twin was handling the news extremely well, or not at all. Neither scenario was particularly comforting.

"You got up and you followed me home, but it was like you were sleep-walking. Like you hadn't woken up at all. Then you just curled up in here like nothing had happened. I put some blankets on you and started packing. Wasn't sure you were going to wake up at all, but I wanted to be prepared."

"Prepared," Koichi repeated, his eyes betraying a deep sadness that could never be expressed in words. "For when I did wake up?"

"For when you decided whether or not you wanted to stay with Dorian," Koji said incredulously. "He's got those rooms that can keep you safe, but after what happened, I-"

He reached out to grab the older twin's hand or knee or something, to comfort and support him in whatever awkward way he could. But Koichi pulled back, recoiling as if Koji's hand was made of fire.

"Don't touch me," he whispered, eyes flicking down, up to Koji's face, and down again. "Please. Just… I just can't right now."

"I get it," said Koji with a shrug, withdrawing his hand. He wanted to smile a little, force his lips into a somewhat more comforting orientation, but they wouldn't cooperate. Not that a smile would've done any good anyway. Koichi looked him straight in the eye, his own stare remote and incomprehensible. Then he stood up, moving to the window and leaning his head against the glass, arms folded.

"No you don't. You can't. Because I can't. I can't "get"… any of this. Things are changing inside me, some… horrible remnant of Duskmon is emerging, I know that. But I don't feel different. I don't feel out of control or crazy or evil or-"

"Hey," Koji murmured, coming around to the window, trying to catch his brother's eye. His hands he kept stiffly at his sides, focusing on keeping them in check. "You are the strongest person I have ever met; stronger than anyone could even imagine. You're going to get through this."

"I know. But who will I be when it's over?"

"My brother." His voice was so simple, so sincere, almost child-like. Koichi turned and met his gaze, a small, sad smile clouding his face, warding off the orange streetlight.

"Koji," his whispered, trusting a little more of his weight to the windowpane. "You can't protect me from what's already inside. You can't do the fighting for me this time."

His face hardened, jaw setting in stubborn defiance like only Koji could do. Control lost to the winds, his arms wrapped themselves around Koichi's rigid form, pulling him close, tucking him tightly and securely against his chest. For a moment, time stopped and he could feel the fear lift from his twin's soul. Pressing his fingertips and chin into Koichi's back, Koji spoke in a fierce, canine growl:

"Yes I can."

"Shit!"

Bahar always had the most delicate way of putting things. Ysault smiled at the thought, folding her arms across her knees and propping her chin on the bar they formed. The two had been out looking for food, firewood, a better campsite, and anything else they might find generally useful. Dorian hung back at their current set up, taking his turn at guarding their little Pyomon friend while the women ventured forth. Division of labor: kind of difficult when your party consists of three humans and their Digimon partners. Add in a nonnegotiable buddy system and things got complicated fast.

It was Ysault's fault, really. She'd stepped forward when Bahar had said to hold back, put too much weight on the brittle cave ceiling. Thankfully, Huckmon and Floramon had been more nimble, avoiding the cave-in by a hair and remaining at the surface. That was the good news. The bad news was the walls were too smooth/ crumbly to climb, Floramon's vines were too short, and Huckmon, though strong enough to pull them up, had nothing he could use as a rope. So the Digimon had called down to them, reaffirmed their health, then announced that they would be back soon with something long enough to reach the cave floor and strong enough to support their weight. Ysault had no doubt they'd come through, though she worried for their safety. Without their partners, they'd be unable to Digivolve in an emergency. Bahar hated relying on anyone or anything.

"Son of a bitch!" She reached up, grasped a handhold, then swore as it crumbled between her fingers. Striking the wall with an open palm, she turned and threw herself down next to Ysault, fuming. Ysault gave her a conciliatory grin, wiggling her weight back and forth. Nothing to do but wait; they both knew it. Bahar, not yet pacified, bit her lip, slipping her fingers up her right sleeve and picking at an already open sore. Ysault watched her draw her hand back out after a moment, nails stained red with blood and scab, then move on to a spot on her chin.

"Why do you do that?" She hadn't meant to actually voice the question, and blushed when Bahar's black eyes slid to her balled form. For a moment the dark woman considered, face cryptic, fingers frozen. With a great effort, Bahar forced her hands down, propping her forearms on splayed knees so they hung limply between her legs and sighing through her nose. "I'm sorry-"

"It's called dermatillomania," Bahar said, voice flat, gaze falling over Ysault's shoulder to the cave wall. "Compulsive skin picking. Self diagnosed, but I read about it on the internet and it makes sense."

Ysault frowned, perplexed, which caused Bahar to grin wryly. She extended one hand towards the Destined of Charity, and for the first time Ysault noticed the cuticles of her pointer and thumb. They were… raw, the skin peeled back to the first knuckle in places, on the edge of bleeding in others. As if she'd been tearing at the flesh for some time, worrying it away in strips. Gently, Ysault took Bahar's hand, bringing it closer to her face for inspection.

"Does it hurt," she asked, chocolate eyes innocently concerned.

"Sometimes," Bahar replied with a small shrug. "Mostly it kind of itches or burns, which is annoying and distracting. So I pick." She paused for a moment, considering. Her dark eyes stared forward, into a universe Ysault couldn't sense, perceiving things beyond her understanding. "I don't know… I like to think I'm in control of my mind and body, but this… just happens."

"I've… never heard of anything like that before…" Ysault returned Bahar's hand, unsure of how to proceed. Once again, the Chosen of Justice smiled, looking up to the right and shaking her head a little, as if to commiserate with an invisible entity thereabout.

"The world is much bigger than what any of us have heard of."

"Well yes. Of course it is." Ysault returned the smile, something Bahar couldn't name glinting in her face. Sometimes she seemed just a child, pure and unspoiled by the horrors of reality. Blind to cruelty and immune to suffering. Now, though, in the darkness, there was an otherworldly quality to her frame.

"I believe we all interact with the world based on the premise that everyone in it is more or less like ourselves. That they are made happy by the same things that make us happy and pained by whatever gives us pain; on the basis of empathy. But that is not always the case because individuals can be so astoundingly different to begin with, so dynamic, and I don't think anyone truly knows themselves. Not entirely." As she spoke, Ysault's eyes slipped to the floor, her lids heavy, arms wrapped around her knees. "The only things we hear are words, but there's so little that has a name. How can one ever hope to comprehend even one single existence, let alone the entire world?"

"Do you want to know a secret," Bahar asked suddenly. Her voice was low and rushed, gaze hard, like some kind of test. Ysault looked up, their eyes locking. "Something only a few people know."

"Do you want to tell me?" Short. Simple. Infinitely complex.

"Yeah." Bahar gave a terse nod, her lips twitching upwards. "I would like to tell you, Ysault. I want to trust you."

Ysault reached over and laid a warm hand on Bahar's forearm, smiling reassuringly. Bahar took a steadying breath through her nose.

"I'm polysexual and gender queer."

"I don't know what that means."

"It means… well… I'm not a boy or a girl. Maybe more of a girl, I'm cool with "she" pronouns, but it doesn't feel right to call myself one. Biologically, my sex is female, but that doesn't dictate my gender. I pass for a woman, but I'm not. I'm something; it's just not binary. And same goes for the people I'm attracted to."

She paused for a moment, waiting for Ysault's rejection. When none came, more words started pouring from Bahar's mouth. More secrets seeking light and comfort. Ysault listened, never releasing the Chosen of Justice's arm, never moving her chocolate gaze. Her presence was like an embrace: warm, supportive, compassionate. Her silence told Bahar that she was listening in the purest sense of the verb, and Bahar's pain flowed into that silence like water from a cracked dam.

"My partner was agendered. Ze was… not very kind towards me, especially when we fought, which was often, or in public. It was all very subtle, very innocent at first. Ze would get insanely jealous if I tried to spend any time with other people, accusing me of cheating, insisting we never be apart, until I just stopped trying and let zir isolate me. Looking back, this was emotional abuse, but I just… ze never hit me…

"Then one day we were talking about university and ze threatened to kill themself when I mentioned applying. I told zir I was done, that ze needed help that I just couldn't provide, that I needed to live my own life. Ze said they'd out me if I left them. My family loves me, but… they didn't know- still don't know. We never talked about this sort of thing and I… I sure as hell wasn't staying with that abusive ass hole, but if ze did tell my family, or anyone in my community- I couldn't take the risk.

"So I ran. I lived on the street, keeping my head low. Some people are nice, but if you don't have a place in the pack then you can just forget about it. And men expect payment for anything given to a lone pair of breasts. The things you see, the injustice of it all, makes me sick just thinking about it. And lets just say it's not a safe place for a brown person with boobs."

"Sounds horrible."

"It wasn't all bad. There are a lot of good people, who don't deserve to be there, on the streets. Sick people, broken people, disowned and abandoned people. People like me, trying to take the third way out of a bad relationship. Actually, I really discovered myself out there. No one knew who I was and they didn't care, so there were no consequences for just being the way I am, openly. Well... different, more obvious consequences at least. That's where I started really using polysexual and gender queer to describe myself. There's a certain kind of power in having a word for what you are, and in knowing that there are other people like you out there.

"Still, it was hard. I barely lasted a week before I wanted to give up. Go back to Romane and beg zir to take back whatever ze had said to my family. Tell them we'd had a big fight or some shit. They'd always assumed we were really good friends, so they would've bought it. There were so many kids like me who didn't have families to go back to, and there I was, just trying to avoid my problems. That's when the light appeared. I went through, woke up here."

She looked at Ysault and sort of smiled, shrugging in a halfhearted sort of way. As if to say 'and that's all folks' and switch the subject before anything else came out. Ysault stared back, the corners of her mouth reaching ever so slightly upwards, her gaze soft and understanding. Gently, she gave Bahar's arm a squeeze as hot tears started to make her eyes shine brightly in the darkness.

"When we get back to the human world," she said, her musical tone leaving no room for discussion or argument. "I'm going to come and find you. I didn't know you before, but now that we're friends I'm going to be there. Whatever you need, whenever you need it."

"I didn't tell you all that for your pity." There was a defensive sharpness to Bahar's tone that she hadn't quite intended. Nevertheless, the closeness was starting to feel uncomfortable and she pulled away, removing herself from Ysault's range of contact. The Chosen of Charity didn't falter or pursue. She licked her lips and held Bahar's stare.

"I don't pity you," Ysault murmured, her voice just above a whisper. "I admire you. You're so strong, Bahar, and so brave. It takes a lot of courage to be who you are, especially when you're not what the world thinks you should be. It takes a lot of integrity to say: "Here I am, take me or leave me," knowing that so many will choose to leave. I just want you to know I'm not one of them; you can rely on me."

Bahar didn't know what to say to that, or really how to respond at all. For a long time she just stared at the blond, scrutinizing her the way one might the shimmer of water on a desert horizon. Real or not real? True or false? Time waits for no decision. It progresses on schedule, bringing events into the present exactly on time, regardless of context or convenience.

At that moment the earth rumbled beneath them, gagging and gurgling as if sick, causing the two to spring to their feet and press palms and backs to the stone wall. From somewhere deeper inside the cave the sound of water floated up and, as they watched, a black wave with a white foam crest rushed into their field of vision. It stopped several meters away and receded, the emissary of a greater flood deeper in the stone. Cautiously, Bahar peeled herself from the wall and stepped forward, investigating.

"This is it," she breathed, excitement tingeing her voice as all thought of their previous conversation was drowned out by the revelation. "This is it! This must be the Dark Spring all those possessed Digimon keep going on about! Or one of them at least."

"Bahar, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm gonna go check it out. From what we've heard, this thing's a powerhouse. If we could harness it, we could beat Tache in no time! We could be home by tomorrow!"

"I don't think that's a good idea." Ysault's voice was edged with fear, her brown eyes wide, arms wrapped around her torso as if cold. "The Dark Springs are evil. They drive Digimon insane and we have no idea what they'll do to a human."

"Power is power, Ysault," admonished Bahar, looking back over her shoulder and making a face she hoped was reassuring. "This thing is just a tool."

"Bahar I am begging you! Don't touch the water!"

…

"Why not?"

Content: Language