Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon....*sigh*....


The Magic Box



He felt his pulse quicken as he watched her pull out the ingredients she had introduced to him only yesterday. This was it. This was the beginning to the spell that would seal his popularity. He felt excited, nervous, scared, worried...all at the same time. He knew that after the spell had begun, he couldn't back out of it- thats what scared and excited him. This was the biggest thing to happen to his life since he spoke his first words and every part, every fibre of him felt that.



He quickly turned his head to the clock on the wall. It was 4 o'clock. He then turned back towards Sora to find her staring at him intently- he felt his palms go sweaty. "Nervous?" she asked. He could only nod. "Don't worry about it. I've done this spell so many times...I bet half the people living here are only married because of me."



"You really go that far? You make people love other people enough to want to marry them, even if they didn't like the person at all to begin with- just so one of the people in the relationship can be happy?" Sora just shook her head, laughing lightly. "Do you really think I'd be that mean?" she asked curiously, beginning to lift the lid to the dragon scale box that was on the table next to her- but still looking at Matt who stood before her.



"Well...no. I don't think you could be that mean. You don't strike me as that type, but isn't making people love people they normally wouldn't love considered a bit...cruel?" he talked quietly, as if regretting every word he said. He was almost certain that Sora would give him one of her 'higher-being' explanations that made him feel as if he knew nothing at all about anything.



Sora just cocked her head, amused. "Is this some kind of excuse to get out of this spell? Because you just need to say the words and you can leave and forget everything thats happened here...." She watched, smile growing, as Matt shook his head furiously.



"What I'm talking about has nothing to do with me. I don't want to make Mimi love me...Just want me for one night. There isn't anything very wrong about that...is there?" Even as he spoke the words, he knew what he was saying was just some hollow lie to make himself feel better. Sora seemed to sense it too, and decided to elaborate on it just a bit more.



"But Matt, don't you understand?" Matt sighed inwardly- this sounded like the beginning to one of her long explanations "By making someone love someone else, I'm making them happy in a way. Of course I make sure the person making the spell loves the other person enough to die for them before I do anything though, so the person being spelled won't be hurt becuase the other person's feelings have changed. It is wrong to play with people's feelings, but no one is unhappy after the spell is over"



Matt just nodded at this absently. It was easier to just let Sora talk and not listen than interrupt her. That was one of the first things he had noticed when he had met her. Sora continued, " What you're doing is much worse than that. You want to make Mimi need you for one night just so you can remain popular in everyone's eyes. Even if it means ruining the perfect relationship she already has with Joe."



Matt's voice caught in his throat. She had made him sound more guilty than he actually felt, something no one had been able to do for a long time. He looked down at the floor and his hands, that had been crossed over his chest, dropped to his sides.



"Oh come on Matt, don't act so sulky. You hear things that should make you guilty everyday, don't start acting like it now" Sora was convinced that he was just messing with her head. What could she possibly say to make Matt feel so low? But when he looked up and his eyes met hers, she knew she was wrong.



"I didn't know you -or everyone- thought so badly of me. Do you think I really should feel so guilty?" He looked pleadingly at Sora, willing her to say something nice...Something to make him feel better. But that wasn't her style.



'How did this turn into a plead for forgiveness?' Sora questionned herself, a bit annoyed at the waste of their precious time. 'But I guess Matt was bound to break down sooner or later....Its just too bad that its sooner' She looked at him curiously once more, to make sure he wasn't faking any of this for the attention, before making her way over to him and awkwardly placing her arm around his shoulders.



Her action comforted Matt more than he would have liked, but he said nothing of it. Sora led him to one of the chairs near their table and sat him down there, never once lifting her arm. They stayed in silence for the next few minutes, only because neither could find the right things to say. Sora could hear the minutes slowly ticking away, but right now she chose to ignore them.



Matt was the first to break their contact, only because he felt as if he would drown in her scent if he didn't do something soon. He noticed Sora shake her head slightly, clearing her thoughts, before asking if he were going to be alright to do the spell.



"Ya, I'm good. I guess that was just one of my 'moments of weakness'..." Matt shifted his gaze towards the boxes on the table, only to avoid Sora's penetrating eyes. He ran a hand over all of the boxes and stopped on the one with all the caterpillar legs- he could feel little vibrations coming from it. "So are you gonna explain what we have to do or what?" he asked.



"...Oh ya! Okay....I'm assuming you have something of Mimi's with you?" Matt nodded absently, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a bright pink piece of paper with a few words scribbled quickly onto it. Sora read the messy note, but made no comment. The note read, 'Matt give up already. I'm not gonna sleep with you just so you can hold onto your precious reputation. I don't care how important it is to you, I don't care about you! Just stop following me around!!!'



Matt then watched as Sora drew out a small cauldron, seemingly from nowhere, and place it on their table- the protection spell had already been disengaged. He forgot everything around him and just concentrated on the present. He was still touching the caterpillar leg box as the vibrations began to grow in strength. He suddenly started to forget the present along with the past.



Sora was oblivious to his dilenma however, she began chanting the spell that would open their link to the magic that was needed. The fire in her eyes was blazing and everything but the spell had left her mind. This lasted about another five minutes, and when she came out of her trance she was in time to see Matt's eyes roll back in his head and his knees give way for him to fall straight to the ground.



She ran towards him instantly and propped his head up on her bended knees before removing the hand that was still holding the caterpillar leg box. Matt's breath was coming out in shallow gasps and his eyes were still closed. Sora bent her head so that it was only inches from Matt's face and began frantically whispering his name. She didn't know what else to do other than pray it wasn't too late.



Matt's eyes fluttered open seconds after he heard a name for the third time and met Sora's eyes, brimming with relief. Sora was holding Matt's head firmly between both of her hands. "Never do that again!" she whispered huskily, her throat felt strangely raw at that moment.



Matt said nothing to this as his memories were flooding back to him and he really had no strength to pay attention to anything at the moment. After about 10 minutes straight of forgotten memories comming back to him though, he had enough of himself back that he could clearly remember what had happened and who was watching him worriedly from above. "How did that happen?" he asked, lifting his hand to rub his head. Sora took this as a sign and let him go reluctantly. She sat up next to him and began to explain.



"You were holding the caterpillar box. You lost all of your memories. You see, every living thing in this world is a kind of symbol that represents something in magic. If you touch something that has been concentrated magically on something, than you'll feel the effects a hundred times more than you would normally."



Matt listened to all this quietly. As much as he hated how Sora made him feel inferior while explaining things, he still wanted to know about the things she explained more. "So every living thing in this world is a symbol that represents feelings and emotions and you just have to pump it with magic to make it work for spells? Then what are the caterpillar legs representing? And why did you warn me about touching the dragon scale and not everything else?"



"Well, the dragon scale is an even more concentrated element. You just have to touch it once and just for half a second for you to be trapped forever. It takes the other things much longer to work and I just figured I'd be able to stop you before it got too serious. I guess I was wrong....Anyway, the caterpillar legs represent forgetting."



Matt considered what she had said and suddenly felt more aware of everything around him, from the spiders that were crawling all around the room to Sora, who was sitting on his left and staring at him intently. He looked at her and the first thing he noticed was the worry etched on her face. He smiled at her and placed a hand on her arm. "I'm gonna be okay. Are you that worried about me?" Sora just laughed and helped him get up.



"I can't believe I'm even getting along with you! When you first came through the door, I felt like throwing you back out after Ohayo." Matt frowned slightly at this revelation and asked her seriously, "But you don't want to throw me out now, do you? After all the trouble I've caused..."



Sora just smiled and answered him sincerely, "At first I just thought you were a stuck-up snob, but now I see you more as a friend than anything else. And you haven't caused any trouble anyway, those were just daily happenings in the life of Sora Takenouchi" Matt had to smile at this. It was the first time he could actually say that he had a girlfriend that he hadn't slept with.



"So let's get on with it. What's the next step for the spell?" he asked while clapping his hands together as a sign that he was ready to start. They both looked towards the cauldron that had been momentarily forgotten and Sora got up and walked towards it slowly. Once she was about 2 feet away, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Blazius" she whispered.



Matt watched as a purple flame shot up from inside the cauldron and sprouted into a hole group of tiny purple flames, each reaching up about half a foot. He didn't feel as surprised as you normally would have after you've seen purple fire shoot up from a cauldron, and this made him feel proud of himself. He was finally getting used to magic.



"Alright" gasped Sora, breathless "Now lets start to add the ingredients" Matt shot her a worried glance before lifting the lid of one of the boxes and handing it to Sora. "Are you alright?" he asked "You seem a bit...tired" Sora just shrugged off his question and pulled out the rabbit's ear from the box he was holding. She threw it into the fire and, to Matt's utter astonishement, the fire just held it above the cauldron, flames flickering all around it.



Sora stared at the fire, eyes beginning to fill with its flames. As she spoke, Matt handed her different ingredients and watched, silently awed, as she threw them into the fire and they floated in its flames, weightless. She spoke everytime something knew was added to the flames and everytime she did, the fire would grow as if she were feeding it wood and bright purple sparks would fly in all directions.



It seemed to take longer than Matt realized and when they had finished, Aiko moved the curtain that was used as a door and peered in. She noticed Sora and her eyes grew wider. "Sora!" she yelped, before rushing over to her friend. "I told you not to do any more spells today, you've already gone over even your capacity! Now look what you've done to yourself..."



Matt had been watching as Aiko had rushed over to Sora, obviously angry yet worried at the same time. Matt wondered what she was talking about when she said Sora had already gone over her capacity, but decided that it was best to stay quiet for the moment as the other girl seemed to be busy voicing her discontent. Sora just stood there, looking down at the floor. Matt couldn't see her eyes, but somehow he knew they would be blank and incomplete.



"...told you to save this spell for tomorrow, but no, you had to help this..." She turned her head over to Matt and looked him up and down before turning back to Sora. "....baka. Oh, Sora...Why do you have to be so stubborn!"



Aiko then moved Sora into a chair and stood before her, putting two of her fingers on Sora's forehead and breathing deeply. As she released the breath, sparks seemed to shoot from her hand to Sora. After the breath was completely released, Sora was glowing a dark purple- almost black -and Aiko herself seemed a bit drained of energy.



"Thank you Aiko. I really appreciate that." Sora got up and stretched, rejuvinated. The dark purple glow was slowly fading from her. She then turned back towards the table and spoke the word that sent the protection spell in action. Matt was still standing there, not wanting to interrupt anything but feeling more uncomfortable every second. He felt as if Aiko blamed him for making Sora loose her energy and, to tell the truth, he felt he had as well.



"Matt, its almost six-thirty, about time for you to go?" Matt nodded as Sora spoke, still feeling a bit guilty. "Oh, and you don't have to come back for another week if you don't want to. I can handle the spell now without your help but I will need to see you in exactly one week, alright? That'll be the last step and I need you to help me perform it"



Matt looked up to meet Sora's eyes, which were a bit more black than they had been last time he had seen them. He then realized what had happened: Aiko had given some of her energy to Sora, but doing so had given her some of Aiko's traits- thats why she was being so...blunt.



"I guess I'll see you around then Aiko....Sora..." said Matt as he nodded to them both and walked out of the musty smelling room to the main one and then to the door, almost crashing into Ohayo Mitsumi on the way. The man just looked down at Matt furiously and brushed past him and into the back room where Sora and Aiko were without saying anything.



Matt then heard him shout something, presumably to Sora, as he opened the door and walked out, but it closed before he had time to hear Sora's voice counter him using as much anger as Ohayo himself had spoken with.



Matt had the feeling that their eyes would be blazing with fire by now, and he hoped as well that he hadn't made Sora's only way of threatening him loose its sting because she had concentrated all of her energy to help him....



~~~~The End of Chapter #4~~~~


A/N: I didn't really like that chapter much...probably 'cause I was half asleep while I wrote it. Oh well, the next one will be better- I'm sure of it. I'm also hoping that this won't be more than 7 chapters long...but I seem to drag things out. Anyway, please review and critisize so I know what to do and not do next time and if anyone has any ideas, I wouldn't mind some of those either. Also remember to look out for the next chapter and till then - minda