Mistakes
by Laura Kamida
Rated PG-13 for Violence and Language
by Laura Kamida
Rated PG-13 for Violence and Language
Her mind was desperate to be free. The warmth deep in her heart pushed forward, and she opened her eyes. Her head flooded with all the senses she had recovered. Taking deep breaths, her chest heaved up and down as she lay horizontal. Her eyes blinked rapidly as she tried to take in the unfamiliar surroundings.
"Where -- where am I?"
~*~
Two ocean blue eyes opened to the new day. Curiously, the young boy jumped up and looked out the window. He furrowed his eyebrows. Nothing new. Still the same old blue sky. Still the same old placid forest. Takeru watched as a tiny Buttermon flew by, flapping its colorful wings. Same old thing everyday... Takeru wanted adventure. And there was only one person that he could find adventure with. His best friend.
"Takeru!" a familiar voice called. "Takeeeeeeeruuuuuuuu!"
Takeru grinned and grabbed his jeans. Pulling them up, he ran out of his hut. "See ya Matt!" he yelled. Matt grumbled and turned over in his bed.
"Be careful, TK..."
Takeru rolled his eyes and darted out the door. Only Matt could get away with calling him that anymore. "Hey Kari," he said. She was visibly shaken, she looked as if she was scared. "What's wrong?"
"I -- I just had a strange dream, that's all. Let's go," she replied.
He smiled and called, "Race ya to the pond!"
Kari smiled weakly as they both took off.
She was no match for him speedwise, but she had her agility to the advantage. She jumped and climbed a tree and leapt from branch to branch and finally came down about a yard ahead of him. Unfortunately, as sometimes happened, her foot landed in a bad spot, and she struggled for a moment to regain her balance. This gave Takeru enough of an opportunity to catch up.
"Ha ha!" he laughed, taking a flying leap into the pond.
Kari grinned. He usually beat her, and this was no different. She had shrugged off her worries, and she laughed heartily with her friend. Her dream had to be wrong... or maybe she had just seen it wrong.
But as she ran up the giant rock next to the pond and dove off gracefully, she knew in the back of her mind that she was wrong -- that dream was true. The crack in the Crest. The blood. The woman. So very, very real.
~*~
"So, she's back," Tai said bitterly, slamming his fist against the tree. His fury and his hate was released into the bark of the tree, which crumbled and fell to the ground. "How is it possible!? We killed her!" He faced the giant tree and pummeled it angrily.
"Tai, calm down," Sora said softly, placing her hands on his shoulders. He stopped his abuse on the tree and turned back to her. His frown slowly turned to a crooked smile from one side of his lips.
"You're right," Tai replied, nodding. He pulled her close. As close as I can get to her with her stomach sticking out... Oh, but it's worth it... Oh, please, God, let our kid live this time... It would tear her up... Please, God... It would tear me up too...
She tilted her head up so they could look each other in the face, and he gently put his head down and kissed her.
"I love you," she murmured, releasing her lips from his.
"I love you too," he replied.
She turned her head and rested it on his chest. He put his face into her auburn hair and kissed her gently.
"Honey, we do have to think about this, you know," Tai said.
"We should be happy!" Sora said, not surprised by Tai's reaction to Kari's dream. "I mean, Mimi is back, and Izzy is back, and he'll be able to take us all home! How can this be a bad thing?"
"You seem to forget a few things," Tai started.
"I know, I know..." Sora replied, her mind shifting again to the child that was growing within her.
"First of all, we've all aged, except for one of us. It's evident that Izzy went back to the real world while we were all here, right? That's how he stayed the same age. How can we explain this to our parents? Second of all, do you not remember what Mimi tried to do to you? And I still think she..." he drifted off, not wanting to finish his accusation.
Sora pulled back, her hazel eyes fiery with anger. "She wouldn't do that, Tai. She wouldn't have done that to me. We were friends. I don't care if she went crazy. I don't think she would kill..." Through her whole statement tears started to flow from her eyes.
"I'm sorry," he said quickly. "You're right, you're right... Shhhhh..." he said, hugging her tightly again.
"And... and... the baby," Sora finally said, for the first time confessing her worries to Tai about their unborn baby. "Babies... And us... My mother... she'll hate me for this. She'll think that I'm some sort of --"
"No, Sora!" Tai exclaimed. "I can't believe you would even think that! Your mother loves you. She'll understand, I'm sure of it!"
"You don't know my mother..." Sora said.
"Well, I guess I'm lucky," Tai joked. "Most boyfriends have to meet their girl's mom --"
"Oh, Tai," Sora sighed, rolling her eyes.
"Come on, Sora... Laugh." She looked at him with a small smirk on her face. "I'm going to make you laugh, you know."
Sora smiled, and patted him on the chest with her hand. "We have to go back to Odaiba and tell the others about Kari's dream," she said with a tone of finality. "They can help us formulate a plan of how we're going to deal with her." She took Tai's hand and started to walk.
Tai spun around suspiciously as he heard a rustling in the bushes. And he could have sworn he saw a flash of red. Sora turned toward him.
"Tai, what is it!?"
"Shhh! I heard something in the forest," he said, narrowing his eyes. "Something's out there." He stood for a moment, watching the forest, scanning over all the trees with his eyes and listening intently.
Sora shivered in the silence. "Tai, there's nothing out there," she finally said after the long pause. "Not anymore. It was probably just some Digimon. Come on, let's get back to town." She looked him in the eyes, holding his arm and trying to lead him off. But he was still looking into the forest.
Tai shook his head to clear his thoughts. "You're right," he said. He put his arm around her shoulders and they walked slowly to Odaiba.
~*~
Kari surfaced, splashing the water from the lake everywhere. She tossed her soaked hair back, her wet ponytail splattering Takeru with water. They both laughed. When they were together, they had the best times. They could have stayed and lounged all day in the water, or on the beach, but there was work that had to be done. Takeru reluctantly swam out of the water and perched on the giant rock that sat along the banks of the water with a fishing rod. It gave him time to think.
Kari preferred the direct, and quick, approach. Her quick, lively brown eyes scanned the surface of the water for any disturbance. Takeru loved to watch her as she looked in deep concentration, the muscles near her eyes twitching as they moved along. She suddenly dove under the water, and grabbed a silvery fish with her hands. She gave the signal to Takeru by waving her left hand above the water, and he stood up, ready.
Suddenly the fish flew out of the water and Takeru grabbed it. "Whoa!!!!" he yelled, trying to hold onto the fish, but losing his balance. "Uuuh... Uhhh... AAH!" he yelled as he fell in the water. Just as Kari resurfaced, the wave that Takeru had caused knocked her back down. They both came back up sputtering and spitting water.
Takeru was empty handed. "Nice one, Takeru," Kari said dryly.
Takeru blushed a little bit. "Well, it was slippery..." He started to continue, but he noticed she wasn't listening. She was looking in the water again. She probably saw that fish that Takeru had let go. She dove below the water, as she usually did, and Takeru swam desperately to get to the rock so he could catch the fish this time.
He saw a flash of red in the forest and heard the trees rustling.
"Huh? What's that?" He stood alert, ready for any impending danger. His mind raced with the possibilities.
And he got his danger, much more than he imagined, floating out from behind the cover of the forest. Takeru's eyes widened, and his heart raced. Instinctively, he pulled out the pocketknife he always carried and held the blade out in his defense.
Kari's head poked above the surface of the water. "Darn, I --"
"KARI, GET DOWN!" Takeru yelled desperately, diving into the lake. Kari spun around to see what Takeru was yelling about. He reluctantly surfaced to pull her down with him, and she threw her arms around him for protection... but it was too late.
"NOOOOO!" Kari shrieked as they were both pulled in by pure red energy.
~*~ "Izzy!" Motimon cried, running toward Izzy. "I knew you were back when I digivolved from Pabumon coming into town! Oh, Izzy, I'm so glad to see you!" The tiny pink Digimon jumped into Izzy's arms. "But, Izzy... you look exactly the same! Everyone else looks so different..."
"It's because I was actually taken back to the real world... and everyone else was kept here. And since time passes by faster here, they aged and I didn't," Izzy explained.
"Oh," Motimon said, not fully understanding. "How did you get back to the real world?"
"I don't know," Izzy admitted. "I really don't know." He thought about it for a moment, a silence taking over the reunion. They heard a rustling in the forest and they all turned.
Tai and Sora came walking out of the forest into town. Agumon and Biyomon came running and ended up at their feet.
"Hey, guys," Tai said, bending over and scratching Agumon's head. Biyomon flew up to Sora since she couldn't bend down. Sora held out some berries that she had picked in the forest. Biyomon gratefully gobbled them up.
Izzy threw a knowing glance at Joe. Joe nodded slowly.
"Everyone!" Tai called. "We have to go to the dining room to discuss something."
"Oh boy," Matt said sarcastically under his breath. "Town meeting led by our Mayor, Tai Kamiya." Gabumon looked up at him curiously. Matt shook his head in a gesture of "Don't worry about it."
Once they had all huddled at the table of the dining hut, Tai began, "Kari had a dream last night." Joe and Izzy looked at each other. Matt lifted an eyebrow. "It involved... Mimi. Kari says that Mimi is alive."
"Impossible," Matt said quickly. "Garudamon killed Mimi. Why should we believe in some fourteen-year-old's dreams, anyway?"
"Her dreams have been right in the past," Tai reminded him. "I mean, she did dream that Mimi attacked Sora in the kitchen, and she did. That dream was perfectly exact. I think we should trust her dreams, don't you?"
Matt shrugged dismissively. "I don't know. I don't exactly believe in that 'psychic' stuff."
Suddenly, they heard the soft buzzing of wings, and saw a fairy shape flying in the sky out of the window. Soon after, Lillymon flew gracefully through the door and hovered in front of it.
"Lillymon!" Matt exclaimed incredulously.
"So it's true," Tai growled. "She's alive. Just like Kari said. Palmon couldn't have digivolved into Togemon, and Togemon couldn't have digivolved into Lillymon without Mimi being alive." He looked smugly at Matt. Matt pretended not to notice.
"Lillymon," Sora said softly, walking over to the Digimon. "You... you've seen Mimi."
"Yes..." Lillymon admitted. "I have."
"Is she still...?" Sora drifted off. It was a painful subject, with one of Mimi's closest friends. Lillymon bitterly remembered the flicker of evil across Mimi's face as she explained to everyone how almost killing "her little Palmon" was an accident.
"She is... She's worse," Lillymon whispered. "She's so much worse. She's coming... Coming for you all. I came to warn you."
"How could she possibly be alive!?" Tai demanded, roughly pushing Lillymon back. As he unintentionally pushed Sora with his shoulder, anger crept up the back of Matt's neck.
"Calm down, Tai!" Matt shouted, jumping out of his chair and restraining Tai.
"I don't know," Lillymon said, shaking her head slowly. "I only know that Mimi is even more dangerous. She has -- her own power now. She thinks that I am her ally, so she did not attack me, luckily... But... She is coming after you all."
"So you're betraying Mimi, you're very best friend?" Tai said, doubt clear in his voice.. "How do we know that you're not leading us into some kind of trap? Leading us to Mimi?" If he had not been held by Matt, he... he didn't know exactly what he would be doing to Lillymon. He had always been more of a "take action now, ask questions later" type of guy.
"No, I promise you, I would never --"
Tai heard the familiar shriek of his precious little sister. "NOOOOO!"
"KARI!" Tai yelled instinctively.
"TK!" Matt yelled, knowing Takeru was with Kari.
Everyone ran out of the building and sprinted down to the lake, Digimon digivolving as fast as they could to ward off any danger that threatened Kari and Takeru.
Tai glared at Lillymon. A tear was sliding down her face.
~*~
Kari. Must protect Kari. Where is she? Hair... Shoulder... Arm... Kari. Must save Kari. "Kari," Takeru said desperately. "Kari!"
"I'm here, Takeru!" she yelled back to him. The energy had kicked up winds and the water swirled around them. As it became more intense, he yelled out for her again... but he heard nothing. The sound wouldn't carry.
Red. That's all he could see. Pure red. Shadows danced across his vision and occasionally he was splashed with water. He reached out and felt Kari's arm. His hand clasped around her shoulder and he pulled her back beside him.
He suddenly found himself unable to breathe. Kari turned slowly toward him and hugged him tightly. He heard her muffled gasps for breath as well.
Matt. Patamon. Odaiba. Save me. Help me. Please.
As he lost consciousness, feeling his lungs ache for oxygen, black splotches overpowering his vision... His mind reached out and his arms grasped tighter.
Kari.