Disclaimer: Yadayada, Digimon aren't mine, yadayada, you know the drill.
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~*~ More than Two Worlds Apart ~*~
By Lizeth
http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/loft1050/
CHAPTER 2 - Further awakenings
T.K. moaned. Someone was calling his name, although he couldn't quite grasp
who. His head felt like it'd been picked apart.
"T.K.!! Wake up!"
"Five more minutes, mom," he mumbled, "I'm not feeling good today."
Kari blinked. Brow furrowing, she took a deep breath.
"T.K.!!! WAKE UP NOW!!!!"
"Aaawww!!! I'm up!! I'm up!!" T.K. blinked. "Kari?" he asked bewilderedly,
wriggling a finger in his ear.
"Oh, thank goodness," Kari said with relief, "I thought you were never going
to wake up."
T.K. looked around groggily.
"Where are we?"
"I don't know."
"Matt?" he called.
"We're the only ones here," Kari told him quietly. She hugged herself,
looking distinctly worried.
Watching her, T.K. felt his heart constrict. He had always been the baby
of their little group of seven, but now that there were eight, he had someone
to look out for. T.K. cracked a smile and reached over to take her hand.
"C'mon Kari, I bet they're close by. All we have to do is look. Hey! Maybe
we can even use the digivices!" he added hopefully.
"They don't work!" Kari cried despairingly.
T.K. blinked again, he still felt as if his mind was shrouded in fog.
"They don't?" he repeated, pulling out his digivice and staring at the dead,
black screen.
Staring up at the hole in the ceiling up the cave, T.K. noticed a distinct
difference. There were two moons. Shaking his head, he tried to clear it.
"C'mon Kari..." he urged, "Let's find a way out of this cave and then we'll
figure out what to do."
Squeezing her hand reassuringly, T.K. helped the eighth digi-destined stand.
She stared at him, her eyes slighly moist with tears refused to flow.
Reaching up to brush his bangs out of his eyes, T.K. realized something else.
"My hat's gone!" he uttered with surprise.
Kari nodded.
"It was gone when I woke up. I guess you must have lost it when..." she
trailed off, staring blankly at the wall. She bit her lip.
T.K. shook slightly. His mom'd bought him that hat. Before she and dad
split up...
Gotta be brave for Kari he repeated to himself mentally, unconsciously
brushing his hair back in a manner he had seen Matt do countless times
before.
When he looked back at her, she was smiling tentatively.
"You can always get a new one when we get home," she whispered softly.
He swallowed.
"Yeah, just wait 'til we get home..." he smiled back.
Hand in hand, they started to walk, taking comfort in each other's presence.
After all, hope was what they were all about.
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"Are they still here?!" asked Biyomon incredulously. "How can that be?"
"Don't tell me you don't feel them pulling us?" Agumon shot back.
She winced. "I do! And I shouldn't be! They're supposed to be back home."
"I'm glad," Palmon croaked out, face buried between her arms as she held her
knees to her chest.
"Palmon!" Biyomon scolded, shocked.
"Well I am... sorta. I was afraid Mimi'd forget about me," she mumbled,
"It's like... I wasn't needed anymore. I know it's selfish, but I glad
they're still around!"
She raised her head and looked directly at Biyomon.
"You can't tell me that you aren't glad Sora's still here, 'cause I won't
believe it."
Biyomon opened her mouth to say something but promptly closed it again.
She bowed her head.
"I miss T.K." Patamon confessed softly.
"I won't complain," Gomamon added quietly, "but I know Joe will. They
really wanted to get home... they wouldn't want to be stuck here forever..."
"We can't worry about that now. They're in trouble and they're going to need
us to protect them," Agumon stated firmly.
"Just how are we supposed to find them?" Gatomon asked as she fingered the
whistle Kari gave her, tail swooshing back and forward nervously.
"Izzy would know what to do," Tentomon responded with a hint of wistfulness.
"Izzy isn't here and we have to find them," Agumon sighed. Standing up, he
looked back at them. "Let's go see if we can find Gennai."
The others nodded in silent agreement and they were on their way as first
light came.
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"Matt?!" Tai hissed worriedly, "Matt, wake up, man!!"
They'd made it back far enough to see better and now the former shadows had
shape. They stood in the surrounding woods and blocked either direction of
the path.
And they were coming closer.
"Times like this, I really wish I had a stunt double," Tai muttered half
wryly, half nervously. He propped up Matt's prone form against him, holding
him up with an arm. His rival's shoulder was at a distinctly odd angle and
parts of his arm was scraped raw. He surveyed the enemy critically.
Tai muttered a muted curse. "Oh well, so much for running."
Reflexively, he reached and gripped his digivice, but it lay cold and
unresponsive in his palm.
Slowly, he stood, pulling Matt up with him and hooking his unwounded arm
around his neck. He cracked a smile.
"Ummmm... hi!" he addressed the shapes in general, with forced cheerfulness.
He laughed nervously. "Well, see..." he began, "we'd really love to stay
for...err... breakfast... umm... but, we really should be going, alright?
So... Bye!"
He took a step forward and the creature growled louder.
Tai stumbled back.
"Okay, well, I didn't really want to go that way anyway..."
Matt moaned and shivered but stayed unconscious.
Tai frowned at his friend with concern. He didn't know anything about fixing
shoulders. In soccer, it was more likely that they'd twist an ankle or pull
a muscle.
He shook his head. First line of business was to escape. And hell, after all
their time in the digital world, none of them had ever gotten severely
physically injured. Their digimon had always prevented that. Sure, they
almost got erased a few times, and had themselves picked apart, pixel by
pixel, but that had been solved without any physical side affects or long
lasting bodily scars.
What a way to break a perfect record...
Suddenly one of the creatures shot forward with a bark, landing not far in
front of them as it bared it's teeth menacingly.
Tai yelped in surprise and stepped backwards, tripping. Somehow, he still
managed to cushion Matt's fall as he found himself back on the ground.
He grunted. Matt could loose some weight.
The creature was definitely dog-like. Its fur was of earth-ish tones,
blending well with its surroundings. Light reflected from its eyes,
making them seem to glow with yellowish light.
It seemed to Tai that it had a rather big mouth to go with its rather big
body. And rather big teeth to go with its rather big mouth.
He swallowed.
"Nice doggie?"
Somewhere, a twig broke and Tai snapped his head around, searching for the
source. He strained his eyes in the dim light of early morning, trying to
distinguish one shape from another.
Suddenly, a bright light was shone at them, forcing Tai to squint. He
brought his arm up to protect his eyes, looking back at the source of the
light. Gritting his teeth, he repositioned Matt to allow for easier movement.
"They're only children!" cried a voice incredulously.
Tai gaped.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Great, of all the people, I get stuck with Mr. Computer Nerd again..."
Mimi groaned.
They'd been walking randomly ever since they'd woken up and found
themselves by a clear pond. A little too clear, actually. There had been
no life in the waters at all. And that probably meant the water was
undrinkable.
"Mimi..." Izzy said tiredly.
"No! I wanna go home!! I wanna soak in a nice hot bubble bath and drink
soda and eat caviar!!"
Izzy blinked. "You like fish eggs?"
"Well no," Mimi confessed, "But wouldn't you eat caviar too if it meant
getting home?"
Izzy rolled his eyes.
"We will get home, alright? Just hold off the waterworks. We still have to
find the others." Izzy looked at his digivice. "Strange... why won't it
work?"
"Well maybe, genius, we aren't in the digital land anymore."
"Then where do you propose we are?" Izzy shot back a bit briskly, "I don't
recall any place we're familiar with that had two moons," he gestured to
the brightening morning sky.
"So unless some wandering aliens decided to pick us up and randomly drop us
on another planet outside our solar system, I'd say the some other part of
the digital land is our best guess!"
That set Mimi off again.
"But I'm too young and beautiful to be experimented on by little green men!!
It can't be good for my complexion."
Izzy grunted and smiled the first real smile he'd performed since
awakening. He shook his head wistfully, listening to Mimi rant with half an
ear. It still seemed amazing that no matter how ditzy Mimi might seem on the
outside, she had a very strange gift for defusing the seriousness of a
situation. He blinked as a thought entered his over average IQ of a mind.
What if Mimi complained and whined on purpose? To take people's minds off
their own problems?
The concept was mind-boggling...
"Hey, Mr. Brainiac, are you done spacing out now?" Mimi asked him.
"Huh?" he said intelligently.
"Yeah, earth... umm... unknown planet to Izzy! You back now? You like,
totally zoned out," she sniffed, fussing with her hat.
Izzy turned to look at her and smiled wryly as he rubbed the back of his
neck.
"Gray."
"What?"
"The little men are gray, not green."
Mimi gaped. Suddenly, she shook her head a laughed.
Izzy shouldered his backpack with renewed vigor once more and headed off
to find the others, Mimi, still giggling, not far behind. For some reason,
it didn't matter that the digivices weren't working and that they were lost,
because somehow, the digi-destined were meant to be together, and that meant
that sooner or later, they'd find each other again.
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Author's note:
Okay, so you didn't exactly find out where they kids are, did you? But
Izzy's right, the digital land is still their best guess. No cliff hanger,
this time... sorta... hehehe...
**laughs sheepishly**
Only Sora and Joe to go! Next time!
Ja ne.
Comments and criticism welcome at Lizeth_Hal@hotmail.com
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Disclaimer: Please don't sue me. I don't own Digimon and I don't like to
make trouble. You can have m'bro tho'... :P **runs as her martial-artist-
wanna-be of a brother comes after her** AAAAHHH!!! MOOOMMMM!!!!
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~*~ More than Two Worlds Apart ~*~
By Lizeth
http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/loft1050/
CHAPTER 3- Friend or Foe?
Tai raised his head in defiance. Or at least, as defiantly as he possibly
could when on the ground with an unconscious digi-destined leaning on him.
"Great, wonderful, peachy," he muttered to himself in an oddly Matt-like
manner. Why me?
"Who's out there?" he asked clearly, "Show yourself."
Somewhere in the back of his mind a voice asked, Are you crazy?!
The mysterious voice laughed. It was obviously male, deep and resonant, that
much was obvious, but he was still trying to decide whether is it menacing
or not when the light shut off abruptly.
"Well this interesting. We go out hunting and we find children..." it
paused, "What do you propose we do?" it wondered aloud. The sound of the...
dogs... filled woods for a full minute before it was broken.
"Here's an idea, how 'bout you leave us alone?" Tai offered, edging back
slightly. He had to get Matt out of here. Parts of his arm was raw and
bleeding and though it didn't look deep in the dawn light, it could still
get infected.
"Alone?" the voice replied wonderingly, "Well, we can't possibly do that..."
"Why not- HEY!!!"
Suddenly, Tai felt Matt's weight lifted off him.
"Now what will they think, when I bring this present to them..." it mused.
Oh God Tai felt panic rise within him as he watched the cloaked and hooded
shape loomed over him. It seemed incredibly tall and none of it's facial
features were visible within the shadows of the hood. Matt!
"No!! Leave him alone! Let him go!"
I refuse to loose anyone now!
He'd never felt so helpless in him life. Matt seemed so small in the arms
of... it... and Tai was even shorter than Matt. Ever since they'd taken the
little... detour, during camp, the digimon had always been with them. Evil
digimon they could fight, but this... thing... seemed different somehow,
although Tai couldn't place his finger on it. And their digimon where no
longer with them.
Bouncing up, he ran towards the figure and started pulling at its cloak,
giving some well placed kicks against it's leg. Still, the towering figure
seemed unaffected, other than the fact that it had stopped and turned back
to face him.
"I said, leave him alone! You don't want him! He's hurt!"
Tai ground his teeth together and tugged hopelessly.
"Please! Please! I can't loose anyone else now!" he blurted before he
realized what he'd said. Still he pulled desperately.
The hooded figure seemed to convey a look of disapproval and annoyance,
even with its entire facial features hidden.
Something picked him up from behind, immobilizing his arms. He let out a
cry and struggled violently, legs flailing. Tai froze for a moment with
horror as he realized that the creature had said "we" earlier, but he'd
thought it'd meant the dogs...
Stupid, stupid, STUPID move, Kamiya!
He scrapped his heel down his captor's shin, trying to get loose.
"Stop that, child, before you hurt yourself," a soft voice whispered in
his ear before he felt a brief flash of pain on his back and the side of
his chest and darkness reached down to engulfed him.
His digimon's name was the last thing on his lips.
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Tai felt himself being carried and his brow creased slightly, trying to
remember what was going on. Distantly, he heard voices. He wanted to open
his eyes, but they seemed impossibly heavy. In fact, he felt heavy in
general. Moving seemed like a great effort. One that he was unwilling to
put his energy into at the moment.
He also felt oddly... safe... maybe...
"Agumon?" he murmured quietly before his brain realized that Agumon would
never be able to carry him like this. His loyal digimon friend was far to
small. Of course, it MIGHT be Greymon or Wargreymon but...
Whatever was carrying him had stopped moving and now the voices were louder.
Blurring into a jumbled hum in Tai's fuzzy consciousness.
Someone moaned not too far away, and Tai's ears found the sound incredibly
sharp. Tai's heart froze for an instant. He recognized that...
"Matt!!" he called frantically as his eyes snapped open. He twisted,
searching for the source of the sound, but strong arms held him firm.
Why did he feel so weak?
"Stop that now, your friend is being taken care of."
Stopping automatically at the commanding voice, Tai blinked as his eyes
finally focused. He felt shock run through him like a freight train.
"You're HUMAN!"
The man smiled wryly. "What were you expecting?"
"You're OLD."
The man, who didn't seem any more than 35, frowned with surprise.
A couple of armoured men at the door of the tent snickered quietly.
"I wouldn't say that..." said Tai's captor indignantly, glaring at the
guards.
Tai opened his mouth both closed it again as he spotted Matt. He was lying
on a makeshift cot of some sort and partially covered with a rough brown
blanket. His upper arm was bound crudely in bandages but the shoulder
still looked wrong.
He looks so pale... Tai thought despairingly.
Wriggling, Tai tried to get down and the man let him.
The youth promptly stumbled, knees wobbling.
Strong arms gripped him again, keeping him upright when he should have
fallen.
Slightly more steady on his feet, Tai frowned as he turned and faced the
larger man, face filled with suspicion.
"Why are you helping me? What do you want?" he inquired stiffly, rubbing
his back.
The man just gazed at him oddly, as if wondering what he was.
"God, Tai, you're starting to sound like me..." whispered a weak voice,
barely audible.
"Matt?!" Tai whirled around so fast he almost stumbled again. He caught
two half closed, gray-blue eyes looking back at him and almost sighed with
relief.
"Yes, my name is Matt. And I do believe you're Tai. Any other questions,
genius?" came the mumbled retort.
Tai resisted the urge to grin like a maniac. Matt was insulting him! This
was a good thing!!
Heeeeey…wait…
"Matt! You're alright!!"
"That would depend on your definition of the word… but I think I'm still
breathing. You want me to check?"
Tai swallowed, suddenly grave. "I told you not to joke about that, Ishida."
"Why Tai, I'm touched that you care."
Tai growled, a familiar frustration fueling his body.
"Of course I do, baka! You know perfectly well I'd die for any one of you!"
softly he continued, "I couldn't stand to be last…"
"To bad there's only two of us now, huh?"
"Yamato, don't make me punch you while you're down."
"Sure thing leader-boy," he muttered sarcastically.
The man moved forward suddenly, perhaps sensing an imminent argument,
stepping around Tai and kneeling by the cot.
Placing one calloused had on Matt's upper arm, he prodding the shoulder with
the other.
Matt hissed sharply and grimaced, twitching slightly as he tried to escape
the man's grip.
"HEY!" Tai snapped, but someone held him back. He would've tried to break
loose if the man hadn't spoken.
"Stop that, boy. I'm trying to help," he said with a frown.
"You're hurting him!" Tai objected.
"He dislocated his shoulder. It's got to be set," he replied, picking
something up from the ground. He proceeded to unwrap the rough bandages
around it.
"And whose fault is that!?" accused Tai.
The man sighed resignedly. "I apologize for that little misunderstanding."
Tai glared at him dubiously.
His captor shook his head and turned his attention back to the boy on the cot.
"Bite down," he ordered, holding the cloth wrapped stick to Matt's mouth. Tai
watched as Matt's blue eyes widened slightly, tinged with apprehension, even
as he bit down on the stick.
Needing no orders, the man holding Tai let go and moved to the other side of
the cot, holding Matt down with large hands.
Tai clenched his fist.
Not knowing what else to do, he moved over and gripped Matt's hand. Blue
eyes met brown.
Their captor jerked, hard and for the second time, Tai heard a popping crack.
He could almost see the twig between Matt's teeth quiver under the strain even
as his hand was squeezed painfully.
Binding the shoulder tight in a makeshift bandage, the man removed the twig
before placing Matt's arm in a sling.
Matt's breathing was ragged and uneven and his face seemed even paler than before.
"Well, that was fun." He murmured unsteadily.
"Dammit Matt…" Tai growled in exasperation, "Just… shut up and get some rest,
Mr. Cool," he ended resignedly, "You look like you need it."
Matt smirked slightly even as his eyes drooped shut. It looked odd. A
smirk on that pale and ash stained face. Vaguely, Tai wondered how much
better he looked in comparison.
"Are you implying that I look bad, hair-for-brains? Because of you are,
I'm afraid I'll have to kill you as soon as I manage t-to... get.. up..."
Matt trailed off as eyes slipped totally shut. Not long after, a feverish
sleep overtook him once again.
Taichi Kamiya sighed.
His friendship with Yamato Ishida was certainly a strange one. More than
half the time they were usually trying to force their fists down each
other's throats.
How they'd actually come about to calling each other friends was still
something of a mystery. But friends they were, and when it came right down
to it, he knew that they'd both give up their lives for one another and for
any of the other digi-destined. That was how it worked. They were family.
You mess with one digi-destined and you'd better be ready to face up to the
other seven. Not to mention eight probably very, very, VERY pissed off
digimon protectors.
Gabumon would probably be fussing over Matt like an over-protective
mother hen on steroids right now... If he were here... Tai thought with
some wistfulness as his mind turned to his own digital companion.
Agumon, wish you were here, buddy.
A voice interrupted his reverie.
Right, y'know, this is really getting on my nerves. he thought with
annoyance.
"We're all set to go, Alan. We'll leave as soon as you give word."
"You have it. Move out now. And put him in the back of Kiren's wagon.
Don't bump him too much either. Dislocated his shoulder."
Having been brought back to the present, Tai turned his attention back
to his captor, watching worriedly out of the corner of his eye as Matt
lifted and carried off, cot and all.
"What are you going to do with us... with him?"
"I bring you back to Xerriah," the man replied bluntly.
"Who?" Tai asked distractedly. He frowned even as he even moved to follow
after his friend. He'll be damned if he left Matt alone while he was
unconscious.
Vaguely, Tai caught his captor arching a scarred eyebrow in bewilderment.
"Not 'who'... it's 'where'."
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Sora examined her surroundings with an odd expression on her face. She had
washed up with a basin that had been provided for her and the burns on her
forearms had been cleaned and bound with salve. They itched already. Rather
painfully, actually.
Humans here! her mind screamed No digimon!
The woman before her coughed politely, trying to get her attention once
more.
Sora blushed slightly.
"I'm sorry," she muttered, "I guess my mind was elsewhere."
"I could tell," the woman smiled gently. She was dressed in clothes that
reminded Sora of medieval pictures... but not quite matching them. They
certainly weren't 20th century, that was for sure. Plus, she couldn't place
them in any other time frame either.
Embarrassed, Sora just nodded.
"Mind telling me your name, young one? Or will I have to call you
'young lady' forever?"
"Oh!" Sora exclaimed, "Sorry, my name is Sora. Sora Takenouchi."
To her host's surprise, Sora got up and bowed politely. She nodded back.
"And your friend? The one with..." she brought her hands to her face,
mimicking the shape of spectacles over her eyes.
"Glasses? Oh, his name is Jyou Kido. We call him Joe."
The woman cocked her head to the side. "We?" she inquired.
Sora's heart constricted in fear.
"We..." she stuttered, "Yes. My friends and I... was there..." she blinked.
Her eyes stung all of a sudden and her heart pounded rapidly in her chest.
"My dear," the woman told her in a soothing tone of voice, obviously
noticing Sora's distress, "This 'Joe' and you were the only ones we found.
There were no others."
"No others...?" Sora repeated dumbly. No, no, no, no, no... her mind
repeated endlessly.
She started to shake.
"No, dear. No one at all. Only you and your friend," her host continued
worriedly.
Sora broke then, rubbing furiously at the wet trails down her cheeks.
She cried for her friends. She cried for the digi-destined. With only 2,
they weren't complete anymore.
It just wasn't right! Wasn't fair... wasn't fair at all!
They were the digi-destined! They were supposed to be invincible!
She cried until she thought she could drown out Megaseadramon's River of
Power, and even then, she didn't stop.
"How could... they leave?" she asked no one in particular in a small,
strangled voice, eyes unfocused. "I would have felt something- I should
have.. felt something..."
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.... she repeated silently over and over again.
Tai, Mimi, T.K., Kari, Matt, Izzy...TAI!
They were kids. She was a kid. They weren't supposed to die. None of them
where supposed to DIE!!!
Ryanne felt her heart go out to the girl as she watched her latest charge
cry as if the world was crashing down around her ears.
Whoever those friends of hers were, she mused sadly, they must have
been incredibly close.
Wrapping her arms around the Guardian of Love, she rocked the young girl
gently back and forth, offering what little comfort she could.
Sora cried.
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Ryanne closed the door behind her softly.
"Well?" her employer asked nonchalantly.
Ryanne shivered suddenly, the room temperature seemed to drop all of a sudden.
Her eyes darted towards a corner of the dimly lit room.
"Her name is Sora, lady. The boy is called Joe," she told her nervously.
"Are they the ones?"
"I… don't know my lady. But she mentioned others."
"Did she wear a crest?"
"No, lady… not that I could see."
"No matter," her employer shrugged, "The crests are but symbols."
Her employer eyed her once more and nodded with satisfaction. Ryanne resisted
the urge to sigh with relief.
"That will do for now. You will find out more later."
"Ye-es, lady."
Curtseying hastily, she backed up towards the door. Her hands shook as it
gripped the doorknob.
"Ryanne?"
She froze.
"Yes, lady?"
"You'd better get a shawl," she smiled sweetly, perfect white teeth flashing
in the dim light, but it did nothing to comfort the servant maid. "We can't
have you falling ill, now can we?"
"Yes, lady- I mean no, lady." She stuttered and with one last bob she was out
of the room.
Daemon's smile turned into a sneer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joe woke up to look upon fuzzy reddish-brown eyes and frowned. Searching for
his glasses, he found them on the intricate wooden stand to his right and
slipped them on.
As the world came into focus he looked back at a girl he
knew to be Sora, and almost reeled back in shock. Her eyes... they weren't
the natural, happy and shining eyes of the Sora he knew. These eyes looked
almost... haunted.
She's been crying! he thought with surprise as he examined her. She
seemed drained and pale and just... lifeless.
Dread overtook his senses.
The streetcar... the fire... where...?
Frantically, his eyes searched the room he was in. It was big, and well
furnished. But it only had one bed, and he was lying on it. Where were the
others?
"Sora?" he asked tentatively, afraid of the answer he might get.
She shook her head.
"They aren't here," she whispered, the voice cracking at the end. "We're the
only ones left."
Joe blinked as his mind tried to process the information it was receiving.
"They went home without us?" he asked dumbly, somehow knowing...
"No, Joe... It's not that... the digivices don't work..."
He stiffened instantly like a deer caught in the headlights of a MACK truck.
Then to Sora's utter astonishment, he began punching the bedpost.
Repeatedly.
"Joe!" she cried, holding one of his arms back, away from the hard wood.
His knuckles had already turned red.
"They're NOT dead!!" he yelled suddenly, voice full of denial.
"Joe..." she began, eyes wide.
"They're NOT. I refuse to believe it!!" he roared in a very un-Joe-like
manner. "We've been dropped down countess pits, been inside a whale, been
chased throughout the digiworld by insane and powerful evil digimon. We've
faced them all and won. We've been almost blown up, drowned, burned and
turned into KEY CHAINS. We've been picked apart, pixel by pixel and we
SURVIVED. They are NOT dead. There is NO WAY they can be dead!!!!!!!!!"
He stopped abruptly, trying to control his breathing. The sound of his
heartbeat was loud in his own ears.
"Joe..." Sora mumbled, an odd note in her voice.
"WHAT?!" he snapped.
"You're right."
"I...... What?"
"You're right!" she exclaimed and for the first time since she'd woken
up, she laughed. "They can't be dead. I'm sure I would have felt
something..." she said breathlessly, hoping against all hope. She fingered
the place where her crest used to rest against her skin.
Suddenly, the old Joe was back. He fiddled nervously with his glasses.
"You think so, huh?" he grinned sheepishly.
"Yes," she smiled. The old Sora was back too.
"Right then, what are we sitting around here for?" he asked enthusiastically.
"We gotta get out and look for them," he ordered in his "leader voice". He
paused half-way out of the covers.
"Umm...."
"What, Joe?" Sora asked, looking back.
"Could we find the rest of my clothes first?" he asked as he turned a
very bright shade of red at being caught only in his boxers. If his
brother ever found out, he'd never, EVER hear the end if it.
Sora couldn't help herself.
She tired to, really. It was a valiant effort, but in the end, she broke
down laughing, rolling like a maniac on the floor as she listened to Joe
whine something about immature digi-destined and allergies.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's note:
Notice the chapters getting' longer, huhhuhuhuh?!
Okies, me stop now…
Oh well, thanks to David Eddings for inspiration. If you have never read any of
his books, go read his Belgariad series NOW (just be sure to come back and read my
pitiful fic too, 'kay? **sniff**). First book is called "Pawn of Prophesy". You'll
probably see more of influence by his works later. ^_~
Plus, I'm not quite sure how the pairings will end up. Votes?
Please, please e-mail me at Lizeth_Hal@hotmail.com or post a review (please please?)!
Arigato!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
~*~ More than Two Worlds Apart ~*~
By Lizeth
http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/loft1050/
CHAPTER 2 - Further awakenings
T.K. moaned. Someone was calling his name, although he couldn't quite grasp
who. His head felt like it'd been picked apart.
"T.K.!! Wake up!"
"Five more minutes, mom," he mumbled, "I'm not feeling good today."
Kari blinked. Brow furrowing, she took a deep breath.
"T.K.!!! WAKE UP NOW!!!!"
"Aaawww!!! I'm up!! I'm up!!" T.K. blinked. "Kari?" he asked bewilderedly,
wriggling a finger in his ear.
"Oh, thank goodness," Kari said with relief, "I thought you were never going
to wake up."
T.K. looked around groggily.
"Where are we?"
"I don't know."
"Matt?" he called.
"We're the only ones here," Kari told him quietly. She hugged herself,
looking distinctly worried.
Watching her, T.K. felt his heart constrict. He had always been the baby
of their little group of seven, but now that there were eight, he had someone
to look out for. T.K. cracked a smile and reached over to take her hand.
"C'mon Kari, I bet they're close by. All we have to do is look. Hey! Maybe
we can even use the digivices!" he added hopefully.
"They don't work!" Kari cried despairingly.
T.K. blinked again, he still felt as if his mind was shrouded in fog.
"They don't?" he repeated, pulling out his digivice and staring at the dead,
black screen.
Staring up at the hole in the ceiling up the cave, T.K. noticed a distinct
difference. There were two moons. Shaking his head, he tried to clear it.
"C'mon Kari..." he urged, "Let's find a way out of this cave and then we'll
figure out what to do."
Squeezing her hand reassuringly, T.K. helped the eighth digi-destined stand.
She stared at him, her eyes slighly moist with tears refused to flow.
Reaching up to brush his bangs out of his eyes, T.K. realized something else.
"My hat's gone!" he uttered with surprise.
Kari nodded.
"It was gone when I woke up. I guess you must have lost it when..." she
trailed off, staring blankly at the wall. She bit her lip.
T.K. shook slightly. His mom'd bought him that hat. Before she and dad
split up...
Gotta be brave for Kari he repeated to himself mentally, unconsciously
brushing his hair back in a manner he had seen Matt do countless times
before.
When he looked back at her, she was smiling tentatively.
"You can always get a new one when we get home," she whispered softly.
He swallowed.
"Yeah, just wait 'til we get home..." he smiled back.
Hand in hand, they started to walk, taking comfort in each other's presence.
After all, hope was what they were all about.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Are they still here?!" asked Biyomon incredulously. "How can that be?"
"Don't tell me you don't feel them pulling us?" Agumon shot back.
She winced. "I do! And I shouldn't be! They're supposed to be back home."
"I'm glad," Palmon croaked out, face buried between her arms as she held her
knees to her chest.
"Palmon!" Biyomon scolded, shocked.
"Well I am... sorta. I was afraid Mimi'd forget about me," she mumbled,
"It's like... I wasn't needed anymore. I know it's selfish, but I glad
they're still around!"
She raised her head and looked directly at Biyomon.
"You can't tell me that you aren't glad Sora's still here, 'cause I won't
believe it."
Biyomon opened her mouth to say something but promptly closed it again.
She bowed her head.
"I miss T.K." Patamon confessed softly.
"I won't complain," Gomamon added quietly, "but I know Joe will. They
really wanted to get home... they wouldn't want to be stuck here forever..."
"We can't worry about that now. They're in trouble and they're going to need
us to protect them," Agumon stated firmly.
"Just how are we supposed to find them?" Gatomon asked as she fingered the
whistle Kari gave her, tail swooshing back and forward nervously.
"Izzy would know what to do," Tentomon responded with a hint of wistfulness.
"Izzy isn't here and we have to find them," Agumon sighed. Standing up, he
looked back at them. "Let's go see if we can find Gennai."
The others nodded in silent agreement and they were on their way as first
light came.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Matt?!" Tai hissed worriedly, "Matt, wake up, man!!"
They'd made it back far enough to see better and now the former shadows had
shape. They stood in the surrounding woods and blocked either direction of
the path.
And they were coming closer.
"Times like this, I really wish I had a stunt double," Tai muttered half
wryly, half nervously. He propped up Matt's prone form against him, holding
him up with an arm. His rival's shoulder was at a distinctly odd angle and
parts of his arm was scraped raw. He surveyed the enemy critically.
Tai muttered a muted curse. "Oh well, so much for running."
Reflexively, he reached and gripped his digivice, but it lay cold and
unresponsive in his palm.
Slowly, he stood, pulling Matt up with him and hooking his unwounded arm
around his neck. He cracked a smile.
"Ummmm... hi!" he addressed the shapes in general, with forced cheerfulness.
He laughed nervously. "Well, see..." he began, "we'd really love to stay
for...err... breakfast... umm... but, we really should be going, alright?
So... Bye!"
He took a step forward and the creature growled louder.
Tai stumbled back.
"Okay, well, I didn't really want to go that way anyway..."
Matt moaned and shivered but stayed unconscious.
Tai frowned at his friend with concern. He didn't know anything about fixing
shoulders. In soccer, it was more likely that they'd twist an ankle or pull
a muscle.
He shook his head. First line of business was to escape. And hell, after all
their time in the digital world, none of them had ever gotten severely
physically injured. Their digimon had always prevented that. Sure, they
almost got erased a few times, and had themselves picked apart, pixel by
pixel, but that had been solved without any physical side affects or long
lasting bodily scars.
What a way to break a perfect record...
Suddenly one of the creatures shot forward with a bark, landing not far in
front of them as it bared it's teeth menacingly.
Tai yelped in surprise and stepped backwards, tripping. Somehow, he still
managed to cushion Matt's fall as he found himself back on the ground.
He grunted. Matt could loose some weight.
The creature was definitely dog-like. Its fur was of earth-ish tones,
blending well with its surroundings. Light reflected from its eyes,
making them seem to glow with yellowish light.
It seemed to Tai that it had a rather big mouth to go with its rather big
body. And rather big teeth to go with its rather big mouth.
He swallowed.
"Nice doggie?"
Somewhere, a twig broke and Tai snapped his head around, searching for the
source. He strained his eyes in the dim light of early morning, trying to
distinguish one shape from another.
Suddenly, a bright light was shone at them, forcing Tai to squint. He
brought his arm up to protect his eyes, looking back at the source of the
light. Gritting his teeth, he repositioned Matt to allow for easier movement.
"They're only children!" cried a voice incredulously.
Tai gaped.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Great, of all the people, I get stuck with Mr. Computer Nerd again..."
Mimi groaned.
They'd been walking randomly ever since they'd woken up and found
themselves by a clear pond. A little too clear, actually. There had been
no life in the waters at all. And that probably meant the water was
undrinkable.
"Mimi..." Izzy said tiredly.
"No! I wanna go home!! I wanna soak in a nice hot bubble bath and drink
soda and eat caviar!!"
Izzy blinked. "You like fish eggs?"
"Well no," Mimi confessed, "But wouldn't you eat caviar too if it meant
getting home?"
Izzy rolled his eyes.
"We will get home, alright? Just hold off the waterworks. We still have to
find the others." Izzy looked at his digivice. "Strange... why won't it
work?"
"Well maybe, genius, we aren't in the digital land anymore."
"Then where do you propose we are?" Izzy shot back a bit briskly, "I don't
recall any place we're familiar with that had two moons," he gestured to
the brightening morning sky.
"So unless some wandering aliens decided to pick us up and randomly drop us
on another planet outside our solar system, I'd say the some other part of
the digital land is our best guess!"
That set Mimi off again.
"But I'm too young and beautiful to be experimented on by little green men!!
It can't be good for my complexion."
Izzy grunted and smiled the first real smile he'd performed since
awakening. He shook his head wistfully, listening to Mimi rant with half an
ear. It still seemed amazing that no matter how ditzy Mimi might seem on the
outside, she had a very strange gift for defusing the seriousness of a
situation. He blinked as a thought entered his over average IQ of a mind.
What if Mimi complained and whined on purpose? To take people's minds off
their own problems?
The concept was mind-boggling...
"Hey, Mr. Brainiac, are you done spacing out now?" Mimi asked him.
"Huh?" he said intelligently.
"Yeah, earth... umm... unknown planet to Izzy! You back now? You like,
totally zoned out," she sniffed, fussing with her hat.
Izzy turned to look at her and smiled wryly as he rubbed the back of his
neck.
"Gray."
"What?"
"The little men are gray, not green."
Mimi gaped. Suddenly, she shook her head a laughed.
Izzy shouldered his backpack with renewed vigor once more and headed off
to find the others, Mimi, still giggling, not far behind. For some reason,
it didn't matter that the digivices weren't working and that they were lost,
because somehow, the digi-destined were meant to be together, and that meant
that sooner or later, they'd find each other again.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's note:
Okay, so you didn't exactly find out where they kids are, did you? But
Izzy's right, the digital land is still their best guess. No cliff hanger,
this time... sorta... hehehe...
**laughs sheepishly**
Only Sora and Joe to go! Next time!
Ja ne.
Comments and criticism welcome at Lizeth_Hal@hotmail.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: Please don't sue me. I don't own Digimon and I don't like to
make trouble. You can have m'bro tho'... :P **runs as her martial-artist-
wanna-be of a brother comes after her** AAAAHHH!!! MOOOMMMM!!!!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
~*~ More than Two Worlds Apart ~*~
By Lizeth
http://www.angelfire.com/anime2/loft1050/
CHAPTER 3- Friend or Foe?
Tai raised his head in defiance. Or at least, as defiantly as he possibly
could when on the ground with an unconscious digi-destined leaning on him.
"Great, wonderful, peachy," he muttered to himself in an oddly Matt-like
manner. Why me?
"Who's out there?" he asked clearly, "Show yourself."
Somewhere in the back of his mind a voice asked, Are you crazy?!
The mysterious voice laughed. It was obviously male, deep and resonant, that
much was obvious, but he was still trying to decide whether is it menacing
or not when the light shut off abruptly.
"Well this interesting. We go out hunting and we find children..." it
paused, "What do you propose we do?" it wondered aloud. The sound of the...
dogs... filled woods for a full minute before it was broken.
"Here's an idea, how 'bout you leave us alone?" Tai offered, edging back
slightly. He had to get Matt out of here. Parts of his arm was raw and
bleeding and though it didn't look deep in the dawn light, it could still
get infected.
"Alone?" the voice replied wonderingly, "Well, we can't possibly do that..."
"Why not- HEY!!!"
Suddenly, Tai felt Matt's weight lifted off him.
"Now what will they think, when I bring this present to them..." it mused.
Oh God Tai felt panic rise within him as he watched the cloaked and hooded
shape loomed over him. It seemed incredibly tall and none of it's facial
features were visible within the shadows of the hood. Matt!
"No!! Leave him alone! Let him go!"
I refuse to loose anyone now!
He'd never felt so helpless in him life. Matt seemed so small in the arms
of... it... and Tai was even shorter than Matt. Ever since they'd taken the
little... detour, during camp, the digimon had always been with them. Evil
digimon they could fight, but this... thing... seemed different somehow,
although Tai couldn't place his finger on it. And their digimon where no
longer with them.
Bouncing up, he ran towards the figure and started pulling at its cloak,
giving some well placed kicks against it's leg. Still, the towering figure
seemed unaffected, other than the fact that it had stopped and turned back
to face him.
"I said, leave him alone! You don't want him! He's hurt!"
Tai ground his teeth together and tugged hopelessly.
"Please! Please! I can't loose anyone else now!" he blurted before he
realized what he'd said. Still he pulled desperately.
The hooded figure seemed to convey a look of disapproval and annoyance,
even with its entire facial features hidden.
Something picked him up from behind, immobilizing his arms. He let out a
cry and struggled violently, legs flailing. Tai froze for a moment with
horror as he realized that the creature had said "we" earlier, but he'd
thought it'd meant the dogs...
Stupid, stupid, STUPID move, Kamiya!
He scrapped his heel down his captor's shin, trying to get loose.
"Stop that, child, before you hurt yourself," a soft voice whispered in
his ear before he felt a brief flash of pain on his back and the side of
his chest and darkness reached down to engulfed him.
His digimon's name was the last thing on his lips.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tai felt himself being carried and his brow creased slightly, trying to
remember what was going on. Distantly, he heard voices. He wanted to open
his eyes, but they seemed impossibly heavy. In fact, he felt heavy in
general. Moving seemed like a great effort. One that he was unwilling to
put his energy into at the moment.
He also felt oddly... safe... maybe...
"Agumon?" he murmured quietly before his brain realized that Agumon would
never be able to carry him like this. His loyal digimon friend was far to
small. Of course, it MIGHT be Greymon or Wargreymon but...
Whatever was carrying him had stopped moving and now the voices were louder.
Blurring into a jumbled hum in Tai's fuzzy consciousness.
Someone moaned not too far away, and Tai's ears found the sound incredibly
sharp. Tai's heart froze for an instant. He recognized that...
"Matt!!" he called frantically as his eyes snapped open. He twisted,
searching for the source of the sound, but strong arms held him firm.
Why did he feel so weak?
"Stop that now, your friend is being taken care of."
Stopping automatically at the commanding voice, Tai blinked as his eyes
finally focused. He felt shock run through him like a freight train.
"You're HUMAN!"
The man smiled wryly. "What were you expecting?"
"You're OLD."
The man, who didn't seem any more than 35, frowned with surprise.
A couple of armoured men at the door of the tent snickered quietly.
"I wouldn't say that..." said Tai's captor indignantly, glaring at the
guards.
Tai opened his mouth both closed it again as he spotted Matt. He was lying
on a makeshift cot of some sort and partially covered with a rough brown
blanket. His upper arm was bound crudely in bandages but the shoulder
still looked wrong.
He looks so pale... Tai thought despairingly.
Wriggling, Tai tried to get down and the man let him.
The youth promptly stumbled, knees wobbling.
Strong arms gripped him again, keeping him upright when he should have
fallen.
Slightly more steady on his feet, Tai frowned as he turned and faced the
larger man, face filled with suspicion.
"Why are you helping me? What do you want?" he inquired stiffly, rubbing
his back.
The man just gazed at him oddly, as if wondering what he was.
"God, Tai, you're starting to sound like me..." whispered a weak voice,
barely audible.
"Matt?!" Tai whirled around so fast he almost stumbled again. He caught
two half closed, gray-blue eyes looking back at him and almost sighed with
relief.
"Yes, my name is Matt. And I do believe you're Tai. Any other questions,
genius?" came the mumbled retort.
Tai resisted the urge to grin like a maniac. Matt was insulting him! This
was a good thing!!
Heeeeey…wait…
"Matt! You're alright!!"
"That would depend on your definition of the word… but I think I'm still
breathing. You want me to check?"
Tai swallowed, suddenly grave. "I told you not to joke about that, Ishida."
"Why Tai, I'm touched that you care."
Tai growled, a familiar frustration fueling his body.
"Of course I do, baka! You know perfectly well I'd die for any one of you!"
softly he continued, "I couldn't stand to be last…"
"To bad there's only two of us now, huh?"
"Yamato, don't make me punch you while you're down."
"Sure thing leader-boy," he muttered sarcastically.
The man moved forward suddenly, perhaps sensing an imminent argument,
stepping around Tai and kneeling by the cot.
Placing one calloused had on Matt's upper arm, he prodding the shoulder with
the other.
Matt hissed sharply and grimaced, twitching slightly as he tried to escape
the man's grip.
"HEY!" Tai snapped, but someone held him back. He would've tried to break
loose if the man hadn't spoken.
"Stop that, boy. I'm trying to help," he said with a frown.
"You're hurting him!" Tai objected.
"He dislocated his shoulder. It's got to be set," he replied, picking
something up from the ground. He proceeded to unwrap the rough bandages
around it.
"And whose fault is that!?" accused Tai.
The man sighed resignedly. "I apologize for that little misunderstanding."
Tai glared at him dubiously.
His captor shook his head and turned his attention back to the boy on the cot.
"Bite down," he ordered, holding the cloth wrapped stick to Matt's mouth. Tai
watched as Matt's blue eyes widened slightly, tinged with apprehension, even
as he bit down on the stick.
Needing no orders, the man holding Tai let go and moved to the other side of
the cot, holding Matt down with large hands.
Tai clenched his fist.
Not knowing what else to do, he moved over and gripped Matt's hand. Blue
eyes met brown.
Their captor jerked, hard and for the second time, Tai heard a popping crack.
He could almost see the twig between Matt's teeth quiver under the strain even
as his hand was squeezed painfully.
Binding the shoulder tight in a makeshift bandage, the man removed the twig
before placing Matt's arm in a sling.
Matt's breathing was ragged and uneven and his face seemed even paler than before.
"Well, that was fun." He murmured unsteadily.
"Dammit Matt…" Tai growled in exasperation, "Just… shut up and get some rest,
Mr. Cool," he ended resignedly, "You look like you need it."
Matt smirked slightly even as his eyes drooped shut. It looked odd. A
smirk on that pale and ash stained face. Vaguely, Tai wondered how much
better he looked in comparison.
"Are you implying that I look bad, hair-for-brains? Because of you are,
I'm afraid I'll have to kill you as soon as I manage t-to... get.. up..."
Matt trailed off as eyes slipped totally shut. Not long after, a feverish
sleep overtook him once again.
Taichi Kamiya sighed.
His friendship with Yamato Ishida was certainly a strange one. More than
half the time they were usually trying to force their fists down each
other's throats.
How they'd actually come about to calling each other friends was still
something of a mystery. But friends they were, and when it came right down
to it, he knew that they'd both give up their lives for one another and for
any of the other digi-destined. That was how it worked. They were family.
You mess with one digi-destined and you'd better be ready to face up to the
other seven. Not to mention eight probably very, very, VERY pissed off
digimon protectors.
Gabumon would probably be fussing over Matt like an over-protective
mother hen on steroids right now... If he were here... Tai thought with
some wistfulness as his mind turned to his own digital companion.
Agumon, wish you were here, buddy.
A voice interrupted his reverie.
Right, y'know, this is really getting on my nerves. he thought with
annoyance.
"We're all set to go, Alan. We'll leave as soon as you give word."
"You have it. Move out now. And put him in the back of Kiren's wagon.
Don't bump him too much either. Dislocated his shoulder."
Having been brought back to the present, Tai turned his attention back
to his captor, watching worriedly out of the corner of his eye as Matt
lifted and carried off, cot and all.
"What are you going to do with us... with him?"
"I bring you back to Xerriah," the man replied bluntly.
"Who?" Tai asked distractedly. He frowned even as he even moved to follow
after his friend. He'll be damned if he left Matt alone while he was
unconscious.
Vaguely, Tai caught his captor arching a scarred eyebrow in bewilderment.
"Not 'who'... it's 'where'."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sora examined her surroundings with an odd expression on her face. She had
washed up with a basin that had been provided for her and the burns on her
forearms had been cleaned and bound with salve. They itched already. Rather
painfully, actually.
Humans here! her mind screamed No digimon!
The woman before her coughed politely, trying to get her attention once
more.
Sora blushed slightly.
"I'm sorry," she muttered, "I guess my mind was elsewhere."
"I could tell," the woman smiled gently. She was dressed in clothes that
reminded Sora of medieval pictures... but not quite matching them. They
certainly weren't 20th century, that was for sure. Plus, she couldn't place
them in any other time frame either.
Embarrassed, Sora just nodded.
"Mind telling me your name, young one? Or will I have to call you
'young lady' forever?"
"Oh!" Sora exclaimed, "Sorry, my name is Sora. Sora Takenouchi."
To her host's surprise, Sora got up and bowed politely. She nodded back.
"And your friend? The one with..." she brought her hands to her face,
mimicking the shape of spectacles over her eyes.
"Glasses? Oh, his name is Jyou Kido. We call him Joe."
The woman cocked her head to the side. "We?" she inquired.
Sora's heart constricted in fear.
"We..." she stuttered, "Yes. My friends and I... was there..." she blinked.
Her eyes stung all of a sudden and her heart pounded rapidly in her chest.
"My dear," the woman told her in a soothing tone of voice, obviously
noticing Sora's distress, "This 'Joe' and you were the only ones we found.
There were no others."
"No others...?" Sora repeated dumbly. No, no, no, no, no... her mind
repeated endlessly.
She started to shake.
"No, dear. No one at all. Only you and your friend," her host continued
worriedly.
Sora broke then, rubbing furiously at the wet trails down her cheeks.
She cried for her friends. She cried for the digi-destined. With only 2,
they weren't complete anymore.
It just wasn't right! Wasn't fair... wasn't fair at all!
They were the digi-destined! They were supposed to be invincible!
She cried until she thought she could drown out Megaseadramon's River of
Power, and even then, she didn't stop.
"How could... they leave?" she asked no one in particular in a small,
strangled voice, eyes unfocused. "I would have felt something- I should
have.. felt something..."
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.... she repeated silently over and over again.
Tai, Mimi, T.K., Kari, Matt, Izzy...TAI!
They were kids. She was a kid. They weren't supposed to die. None of them
where supposed to DIE!!!
Ryanne felt her heart go out to the girl as she watched her latest charge
cry as if the world was crashing down around her ears.
Whoever those friends of hers were, she mused sadly, they must have
been incredibly close.
Wrapping her arms around the Guardian of Love, she rocked the young girl
gently back and forth, offering what little comfort she could.
Sora cried.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ryanne closed the door behind her softly.
"Well?" her employer asked nonchalantly.
Ryanne shivered suddenly, the room temperature seemed to drop all of a sudden.
Her eyes darted towards a corner of the dimly lit room.
"Her name is Sora, lady. The boy is called Joe," she told her nervously.
"Are they the ones?"
"I… don't know my lady. But she mentioned others."
"Did she wear a crest?"
"No, lady… not that I could see."
"No matter," her employer shrugged, "The crests are but symbols."
Her employer eyed her once more and nodded with satisfaction. Ryanne resisted
the urge to sigh with relief.
"That will do for now. You will find out more later."
"Ye-es, lady."
Curtseying hastily, she backed up towards the door. Her hands shook as it
gripped the doorknob.
"Ryanne?"
She froze.
"Yes, lady?"
"You'd better get a shawl," she smiled sweetly, perfect white teeth flashing
in the dim light, but it did nothing to comfort the servant maid. "We can't
have you falling ill, now can we?"
"Yes, lady- I mean no, lady." She stuttered and with one last bob she was out
of the room.
Daemon's smile turned into a sneer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Joe woke up to look upon fuzzy reddish-brown eyes and frowned. Searching for
his glasses, he found them on the intricate wooden stand to his right and
slipped them on.
As the world came into focus he looked back at a girl he
knew to be Sora, and almost reeled back in shock. Her eyes... they weren't
the natural, happy and shining eyes of the Sora he knew. These eyes looked
almost... haunted.
She's been crying! he thought with surprise as he examined her. She
seemed drained and pale and just... lifeless.
Dread overtook his senses.
The streetcar... the fire... where...?
Frantically, his eyes searched the room he was in. It was big, and well
furnished. But it only had one bed, and he was lying on it. Where were the
others?
"Sora?" he asked tentatively, afraid of the answer he might get.
She shook her head.
"They aren't here," she whispered, the voice cracking at the end. "We're the
only ones left."
Joe blinked as his mind tried to process the information it was receiving.
"They went home without us?" he asked dumbly, somehow knowing...
"No, Joe... It's not that... the digivices don't work..."
He stiffened instantly like a deer caught in the headlights of a MACK truck.
Then to Sora's utter astonishment, he began punching the bedpost.
Repeatedly.
"Joe!" she cried, holding one of his arms back, away from the hard wood.
His knuckles had already turned red.
"They're NOT dead!!" he yelled suddenly, voice full of denial.
"Joe..." she began, eyes wide.
"They're NOT. I refuse to believe it!!" he roared in a very un-Joe-like
manner. "We've been dropped down countess pits, been inside a whale, been
chased throughout the digiworld by insane and powerful evil digimon. We've
faced them all and won. We've been almost blown up, drowned, burned and
turned into KEY CHAINS. We've been picked apart, pixel by pixel and we
SURVIVED. They are NOT dead. There is NO WAY they can be dead!!!!!!!!!"
He stopped abruptly, trying to control his breathing. The sound of his
heartbeat was loud in his own ears.
"Joe..." Sora mumbled, an odd note in her voice.
"WHAT?!" he snapped.
"You're right."
"I...... What?"
"You're right!" she exclaimed and for the first time since she'd woken
up, she laughed. "They can't be dead. I'm sure I would have felt
something..." she said breathlessly, hoping against all hope. She fingered
the place where her crest used to rest against her skin.
Suddenly, the old Joe was back. He fiddled nervously with his glasses.
"You think so, huh?" he grinned sheepishly.
"Yes," she smiled. The old Sora was back too.
"Right then, what are we sitting around here for?" he asked enthusiastically.
"We gotta get out and look for them," he ordered in his "leader voice". He
paused half-way out of the covers.
"Umm...."
"What, Joe?" Sora asked, looking back.
"Could we find the rest of my clothes first?" he asked as he turned a
very bright shade of red at being caught only in his boxers. If his
brother ever found out, he'd never, EVER hear the end if it.
Sora couldn't help herself.
She tired to, really. It was a valiant effort, but in the end, she broke
down laughing, rolling like a maniac on the floor as she listened to Joe
whine something about immature digi-destined and allergies.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Author's note:
Notice the chapters getting' longer, huhhuhuhuh?!
Okies, me stop now…
Oh well, thanks to David Eddings for inspiration. If you have never read any of
his books, go read his Belgariad series NOW (just be sure to come back and read my
pitiful fic too, 'kay? **sniff**). First book is called "Pawn of Prophesy". You'll
probably see more of influence by his works later. ^_~
Plus, I'm not quite sure how the pairings will end up. Votes?
Please, please e-mail me at Lizeth_Hal@hotmail.com or post a review (please please?)!
Arigato!