Chapter 4- Memories in the Meeting


Half an hour later, Tai burst back through the door of the computer lab, dressed for cold weather, a backpack slung over his shoulder.

"Ready, Izzy?"

Izzy looked up from finishing his last-minute adjustments. "Ready. Your mom bought it?"

"Hook, line, and sinker. I told her we were planning on going skiing this afternoon. She thinks you're a saint, Matt. I've been 'moping around the house for days, it's so wonderful to see me out and about again'... I think you might be getting a thank-you card in the mail in a few days, dude."

Matt grinned. "No problem...but I don't think she'll be thanking me if you get yourself killed."

"Translation?" Tai said, swinging the backpack to the floor for a minute so that he could sit down. Matt stepped forward and put a hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Be careful, man. I know you've been grooming Davis to take over for you, but...I think we'd all rather you stuck around for a while yet. And besides, I'd miss you. We all would."

"Thanks, buddy," Tai said, standing and pulling Matt into a hug. "I will. I'm not planning on passing the baton quite yet." Moving apart, Tai reached out and ruffled Davis' hair. "No offense meant, of course."

"Of course," Davis said, grinning. "None taken. Hey, watch the goggles."

"I gave you those goggles, and I'll thank you to remember that," Tai mock-scolded. Giving Kari a hug, he turned to TK. "Take care of her, you hear?"

TK blushed. "I thought you were going to be sticking around, remember?"

"Just while I'm gone. In case Mr. I'm-A-God-And-You're-Not decides to show up and mix things up a little."

"Right. Don't worry, we'll be fine."

"Yeah, we can take care of ourselves, Tai," Kari said, a slight hint in her voice.

"Sorry...you've already proved that. Call it brotherly over-protectiveness."

"Okay..." she gave him another hug, then stepped back. He turned to Yolei and Cody.

"I'm counting on you to help Izzy with that portal, Yolei. Think you can handle it?"

"Absolutely!" Yolei said, snapping him a salute. Tai grinned.

"With an attitude like that, I know I'm in good hands. Hey, Cody, keep this bunch of loonies with their feet on the ground, okay?"

"Sure, Tai," Cody said. "I'll do my best."

"That's all I'm asking. So, Izzy?"

"I'm on it. If you're done with your goodbyes?"

"Ready to roll." Tai swung his backpack up onto his shoulder, then moved to stand in front of the computer.

"See you guys in three days. Digiport, open!"

A flash of light shot out of the computer screen, enveloping Tai and pulling him into itself in one fell swoop. The remaining Digidestined stood blinking the spots out of their eyes...and maybe a few tears, as well.

"Don't worry...he'll be fine." TK was the first to break the silence.

"Yeah," Davis said, cheering up a bit. "This is Tai we're talking about, after all."

"When you put it that way...he's doomed."

"Gatomon!" Kari exclaimed.

"Sorry..."

"Hey, Tai's gotten a lot more capable since we first got dumped into the Digital world," Matt said calmly. "He'll be back before we know it."

Kari looked over at Matt. "Thanks, Matt..."

"I'll take your word for it," Yolei said, striding over to stand by Izzy. "As for us, we'd better get cracking on that strengthened portal. Right?"

"Right," Izzy agreed, and she slid into the seat of the computer terminal next to his, cracking her knuckles. Kari winced, and turned towards the door rather longingly. TK noticed.

"Well, we'll leave you techno-jocks to it, then. C'mon, you guys."

The programming-illiterate of the Digidestined moved toward the door. As they left, TK reached over under the cover of the general confusion of nine people and Digimon making their mass exit and gave Kari's hand a squeeze. She looked up in surprise, and smiled gratefully. TK smiled back, and they walked out the door together.

Nobody noticed, except one person.

Davis narrowed his eyes. Mr. Nice-Guy, huh? I'll show him...someday...



* * * * *



"Whoaaaa....Oof!"

Tai lay spread-eagled in the snow for a minute, then moved onto his hands and knees, shaking his head to clear it of dizzied stars...and snow.

"Sheesh, Izzy, you could have warned me," he muttered, but got to his feet, blowing on his hands and rubbing them together to keep them from going numb. "Well, I guess he did say he was going to drop me. I just didn't think it would be so...literal." He looked around. White, featureless snow in every direction. "Well, this would be just great, if I was in the mood to build a snowman..." He paused, thinking. "Hmm...I've got to start somewhere. What do people do when they want to find something in a snowy wasteland?"

He set down his backpack in the snow and rummaged through it, pulling out a compass. Holding it out, he squinted at it, trying to read it. The needle spun wildly.

"Oh, that's helpful. Must be that disturbance Izzy was talking about. Now what?" He took one glove off, licked his finger, then held it up, trying to figure out which way the wind was blowing. "Ow!" He quickly stuck it back in his mouth, melting the ice crystals that had begun to freeze on one side of it, then wiped it dry as fast as he could on the sleeve of his coat, shoving his hand back into the warm glove. "Man, that's cold! ...Well, I guess the wind's blowing from that direction." He glanced in the direction the ice crystals had frozen on, then scowled. "Oh, that really helps me. Now I'm just as lost, and my finger has frostbite. Okay, what now?" He stopped talking to himself, trying to think. "Aw, man, it's too cold to think out here! I-"

He froze...figuratively. Slowly, he turned to listen to something. A sort of crunching noise... Sound carried well over the featureless snow. Tai blinked.

"I think it's coming from that direction..." He pointed in the direction the wind was blowing. With a shrug, he said, "Oh, whatever. Might as well," and took off running across the snow toward the sound.

The snow was relatively packed, except for the top inch or so, which the wind occasionally picked up to whirl in little eddies across the surface. Tai plowed through one of these miniature snow-devils, blinking snowflakes out of his eyes, and glanced over his shoulder to check the line of his footprints. He was still going straight, as far as he could tell. Looking back ahead of himself, he noticed an irregularity in the texture of the snow ahead of him...

Crunch!

"Whoa!"

Tai suddenly found himself buried to his waist in snow. He struggled for a minute, but the snow around him kept crumbling, only making the hole bigger. Stopping to think for a moment, a skill he'd had to learn in his earlier days in the Digiworld, he reached out and began to pack the snow ahead of him into a harder surface. His hand brushed something that wasn't snow, and he dug a few handfuls of snow out of the wall, pawing them apart to see what he'd found.

A small metal hairclip in the shape of a sunflower lay in his gloved hand.

"Sora must have come this way..." Tucking the clip into his coat pocket, he packed faster. When he had a decent wall made, he crouched, then jumped, scrabbling up and over the edge and onto firm snow just before the wall behind him fell into the sizable hole he'd made. He stopped, breathing hard, and dusted the snow off his gloves, before checking his direction against his tracks and setting off again, one hand turning the clip over and over in his pocket...



* * * * *



Snow finished breaking the film of ice that had formed over the watering hole in the river ice with the small hand pick that she held, and leaned over to dip her buckets into the chilly water. Neatly hooking their handles onto the yoke she balanced over her shoulders, she started back for the door of the fort along the well-shoveled path, leaving the ice pick for the Gabumon helping her draw water in case he needed to clear out any of the fast-freezing ice. She passed the Gabumon on the way in; he nodded and gave her a toothy grin as she walked by. Reaching the door, she walked inside, waved through by the Frigimon on guard, and through the halls to the kitchen, where she dumped one of the buckets into the great tub of water that serviced the inhabitants of the fort.

During snowstorms they melted snow and ice for water, but the Frigimon and Gabumon insisted that snow water was sub-par to the water of the river. Snow couldn't taste a difference, but then again, she wasn't a Frigimon or a Gabumon. The fact that no one had yet figured out what she was hadn't deterred her from quickly making a place for herself at Fort Winter. The lady Frigimon loved to coo over her, calling her a 'dear, sweet little thing', and had made her a pair of soft boots to keep her feet warm when she went outside, although she preferred to run barefoot on the warm flagstones of the great hall. Her hands had healed quickly, and no longer hurt her, although her head sometimes still throbbed. She still wore her cotton tunic that she'd been found in, with the green, blue and black plaid blanket knotted around her waist, now pinned with a brooch-like pin that Bella had found for her. She presently had a second blanket draped over her head, protecting her face from the snowy cold outside.

Bella had also helped her comb her hair and pin it back with the metal hair ornament she'd been wearing when she arrived. Her surrogate mother, for that was the role the Frigimon had taken, had been unable to tell her what sort of object the clip depicted, but she had said it looked a bit like something called a Floramon. Snow couldn't remember ever seeing anything like it... But then, there are a lot of things I can't remember, she thought ruefully to herself, checking the level of water in the tank. It was nearly full; the Gabumon's two buckets should fill it for the day. Grinning and tugging off her boots, Snow picked up the other bucket and ran off to get a rag to clean the hearth.

Although Bella had told her she didn't need to help with the chores around the fort, Snow was eager to do something to take her mind off of, well, her mind. In particular, the hazy nothing therein. She had a natural feel for housekeeping, and Bella had said she'd probably done it before, in her pre-fort life. It was something to do, anyway, and it made her feel she was doing something to pay the kindly Fort Winter Digimon back for taking her in and making her part of the family, so to speak. Having gotten the rag, she ran back into the hall. The fire was roaring, but she left the blanket wrapped around her head in case the Gabumon came back inside and told her there wasn't enough water after all. Kneeling, she dipped the rag into the bucket and began to scrub the stones of the hearth.

A commotion at the door made her look up. The Frigimon on guard duty was arguing with someone outside, and she could just see her friend the Gabumon through the doorway, looking hangdog.

"I tried to stop it, Sir," it spoke up, trying to make itself heard, "but it wouldn't be stopped, Sir! It wants to know if we've seen a Zorro, whatever that is..."

"Not a Zorro! Sora!" a male voice protested. "A human girl, about my height or a little shorter, brown hair, brown eyes, probably in her pajamas. Has she been here?"

"Listen, whatever you are, I don't know what a pajama is and I don't want to," the guard Frigimon said, frowning and crossing his massive arms. "Now why don't you run along and bother some other Digimon?"

Snow frowned as well. She didn't know what a human or a pajama was, either, or how tall this unseen person was, but she did know what color her hair and eyes were, and this person sounded like he might know who she was. Standing up, she waved the guard Frigimon over.

"Excuse me," he said to the person outside, and lumbered over. "What is it, Snow? I'm a little busy here," he muttered as kindly as his stressed-out mood would allow. She smiled behind the blanket and patted his arm.

"It's okay, I understand. But...you know that guy out there?"

"Oh, were you listening to that? He'll be gone in a minute, don't worry-"

"No!" Snow exclaimed. The Frigimon looked taken aback, and she continued more gently. "I mean, could you just let the poor guy in? I want to talk to him. He sounds like he might know me."

"Yeah, well he might know you, but we don't know if he's on your side or not. Somebody dumped you out there, you know. Could be him, come to finish the job."

Snow chuckled. "I'll take my chances. He doesn't sound dangerous, just cold. If it makes you feel better, you can stand over us while we talk."

The Frigimon sighed, his barrel-like chest heaving. "I guess..." he said, and turned to go back. "Sorry, but it's part of the job to be paranoid," he called over one furry shoulder as he returned to the doorway. Snow laughed.

"All right, you," the Frigimon said, leaning out into the cold air again. "You can come in, but you owe Lady Snow a favor. She told me to let you in, so I'd better not get blamed if you turn out to be a jerk."

"I'll have to thank this Lady Snow," the voice said, sounding amused, and the Frigimon swung the door further open to let the speaker step inside.



* * * * *



"Hmmm..." Two blue eyes narrowed, and the Digimon Emperor frowned, looking at something on one of the many screens before him. Something didn't look right... Suddenly, he slammed a fist into the panel with a yell of anger. "No! This wasn't part of the plan! How..." Breaking off suddenly, he punched up a reading on the anomaly he'd discovered. His frown deepened as he read the information his scanners produced, and he turned to the little green Digimon cowering behind him. "Do you know what those Digibrats have done now, Wormon?"

"No, Master," the miserable creature said nervously. The Emperor smiled dangerously.

"Of course you don't. You're an imbecile."

"I also can't see the screen, Master," the worm Digimon meekly said, trying to defend its intellect. "You're in the way." The Emperor drew back his foot, and Wormon scurried backward out of his range, cringing. "I'm sorry..."

"As you should be," the Emperor said, frowning. "I would have thought you'd have learned not to argue with someone as many times smarter than you are as I am. But that's not important now. What is important is that those blasted Digibrats have managed to open a Digiport into that sector!"

"But, Master, how is that so dangerous? Won't they just freeze like that girl you threw in there last week?"

The Emperor's eyes narrowed, and Wormon ducked, shielding his head with his front limbs and squeezing his eyes shut...

Seconds ticked by, and no punishing kick or blow was rained on his carapace. Not even a chair was flung his way. Wormon tentatively opened one eye.

The Emperor was smiling.

Suddenly, he began to laugh. "Wormon, for once in your miserable life you're exactly right! What can they do? They won't even be able to get out again, not if they try to take the girl with them! If she's even still alive... And they're so noble, they won't think of leaving without her! They'll be trapped!" The laughter became maniacal, and Wormon cowered behind the chair. "A-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! O-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho! Ee-hee-hee-hee-hee-hee! Oh, I amuse myself immensely..."



* * * * *



Snow, sitting on the stone hearth with the scrubbing rag still clutched in her hand, was struck with a feeling of...strangeness...as the silhouette of this stubborn person came into view, looking small in the huge doorway. She let the rag drop to the floor and stood up, feeling that if this stranger held the key to her past, she'd rather face Fate on her feet. The stranger stood uncertain on the doorstep for a long moment, but hurried inside. He came to a sudden halt when he spotted her standing there.

He wasn't tall, not by the standard of the Frigimon, but he had a presence about him that made him seem to have more inches to his name than a measure could prove. His hair was a wild bird's nest, damp with snow-water, and his eyes were clear brown, and widened when he saw her.

"Sora?" he said, half unbelieving. She shook her head, quietly.

"No," she whispered, her voice muffled and distorted by the blanket. He frowned, as if a distant thought niggled at him, but pushed it away.

"Oh...I'm sorry. I thought...never mind what I thought. You must be Lady Snow, then."

"I am," Snow agreed. He blinked, disconcerted, then continued. That voice was so familiar...

"In that case, I owe you one. Thanks for standing up for me. You must be important, to be able to boss a Frigimon."

"Not important, not really," she said, smiling behind the blanket. "Just fondly doted on. The Frigimon take care of me, and I help them. What's your name?"

"Uh, Taichi...Taichi Kamiya."

"It's nice to meet you, Taichi-Taichi Kamiya," Snow said formally. He frowned, not sure if she was joking or not.

"No, no...it's just Taichi."

"Oh, all right then. What brings you to Fort Winter, Taichi?"

Tai started to answer, then stopped. Something about this Lady Snow wasn't right...but she had said she wasn't Sora, and Sora would have no reason to lie to him like that. Still... "I'm looking for someone," he answered, carefully. "Someone I lost...not that long ago."

"That's a coincidence," Snow said, deciding suddenly to trust this person. "I'm looking for something I lost, too. Only a few days ago, in fact."

"Hey, weird!" Tai grinned. "Maybe we were fated to meet, or something. What did you lose?"

"Something very precious," Snow said softly. She didn't want to elaborate until she knew more about this Taichi. A strange expression passed over his face, and he bit at his lip.

"Me too..." he whispered.

Snow blinked. This boy...she'd met him only a few minutes ago, and yet the pain on his face tugged at something inside her, something buried in the haze of gray that obscured her memories. She swallowed, hard. This is harder than I thought... Maybe it's like getting the bandages off of my hands. You just have to give it a good tug and get it over with.

She looked up suddenly. The boy, Taichi, was talking again.

"...so what kind of place is this? I mean, what's it like?"

"Well...it's a good place. A good home. The Digimon here are very kind to me. They take good care of me." She paused, surprised at how hard it was to describe the place she'd come to love. Tai picked up the pause.

"What kind of Digimon?"

"Ah...well, Frigimon and Gabumon, mostly. A couple of other snow Digimon, like the old Mojyamon that cooks for us. And...and me."

Tai glanced at the face obscured behind the blanket, trying to get a better look through the shadows. "And...what sort of Digimon are you?"

Here's your chance-just do it! It's just like pulling off your bandage. At least it'll be over and done with.

Walking up to him, she pulled the blanket from her head.

"I was hoping...that you could tell me."

______________________

Okay, peoples. Two reviews? For my year's hard work and the jewel of my heart? For my precious tribute to a beloved and terribly wronged aijou? TWO reviews? *sigh* What *is* ff.net coming to, when passing strangers can say 'Ni!' to innocent fics at will?

In other words...Please! Review! I'm drowning here! -_-* Oh, and just so you know...coming soon, Chapter 5: Regrets in the Revelation. Ciao! -Bandit O_o