After much consideration Wedge had come to the conclusion that Hoth had not improved with his absence. The old rebel base still was well below freezing, necessitating heavy-duty heaters and de-humidifier, as well as the clunky, white heated jackets that he, Leia, Izzy and Mimi now wore. For a brief moment he envied Chewbacca. The Wookiee had no need for insulation with his thick fur. Wedge could see him scuttling about on the top of the Falcon, trying to prevent the decay that occurred the last time the ship had been in this bay. Next to Chewy he could see the white mound topped with red that was Izzy.

Wedge smiled to himself. Whoever had delivered the supplies to Hoth in preparation for the group had given military surplus jackets. As the military had no children, all the jackets were sized to fit adult humans, causing Izzy, with his short stature to resemble a mound of snow wearing a wig. Wedge could only imagine what would happen with T.K, who was even shorter than Izzy.

A steaming mug appeared in front of his face, proffered by Leia.

"Here, it'll help keep you warm."

Wedge nodded his thanks and inhaled deeply the steam rising from the mug. "Thanks." He took a careful sip, not wanting to scold his mouth. "How's the com-gear look?"

Leia, gripping her own mug, made a face. "Not so good. We'll only get a little warning of incoming…" Threepio's urgent calling cut her off. "Mistress Leia! There's a ship incoming!"

Leia and Wedge hurried over to the monitoring equipment.

Wedge checked the screen, then relaxed. "It's okay Threepio. It's who we're expecting." He checked the screen again. "I see what you mean," he said to Leia. "We can barely stretch to monitoring half the planet."

"Let's hope that Matt will be trying for this half then," said Leia grimly.

"Hey guys! Miss me?" Gomamon bounded down the ramp of the Blue Ray and promptly skidded on the icy floor of the landing bay. "Hey, what's with the ice?"

"The whole planet is an ice cube," explained Doyle. He noticed Wedge and Leia crossing to meet them. "Councillor. General."

"Hey, what about us?" pouted Mimi.

"I'm sorry." Doyle knelt on one knee in front of Mimi and took her hand. "Alas fair maid, that I did not greet thee in a manner fitting to your noble lineage."

Mimi giggled.

Feona rolled her eyes. "Always the clown." She turned back towards the landing ramp. "You guys going to join us?"

"But it's so cold!" moaned Joe from the top of the ramp.

Sora joined him, pulling her heated jacket closer. "You can say that again."

"Sora!" Mimi ran to her friend and hugged her. "Are you okay? Did you find it?"

Sora hugged Mimi back. "Yeah, I found it."

"So now what?" asked Joe.

"Any one got a deck of cards?" asked Doyle.

"Sir?"

Matt opened his eyes as the pilot's voice crackled through the intercom system. He slowly stretched out his legs, working the stiffness out from them caused by the inactivity of his meditation.

"Sir?" asked the pilot again, sounding more insistent than the last time.

Matt rose and stepped over the sleeping form of Gabumon to reach the commpanel. "Yes?"

"We've arrived in the Hoth system sir."

Matt toggled off the commpanel and moved to the cockpit hatch. He slapped the door release and the door slid into the wall with a whisper. "It's here."

"Sir?" The pilot turned from his instrumentation to face Matt.

Matt smiled slightly. He's more than twice my age, yet I am greater than him. I have seen things he never will. "It sings to me Lieutenant. It sings of revenge and control." Matt's eyes unfocused. "It sings like my mother."

He's mad, thought Navel Lieutenant Pris Tolen. What the Emperor said about the Jedi was true, they're all mad with what they've seen. He shuddered.

"Cold Lieutenant?" asked Matt.

"Y-yes sir." Tolen swallowed. The Jedi… Some can read minds… Oh Sithspit…

Matt smiled coldly at the Lieutenant and nodded. "Yes Lieutenant. We can." He closed his eyes. "I do not judge you on what you think though. That is uncontrollable." As long as you obey me.

Tolen fought the urge to just run to the escape pods and jettison away from this creepy kid who was talking in his head. I'm in the Empire's service. I do what I'm ordered, and if that includes ferrying some creepy kid and his dog…

"Gabumon," corrected Matt, still smiling. His smile suddenly faded as if it had never been. "He's not here."

"Sir?"

"Never mind, never mind." Matt waved a hand at the planet slowly filling the view port. "Show me a map of the planet's surface."

Tolen obliged, setting a hologram rotating just above the control panel.

"Here." Matt jabbed a finger at a point on the surface. "Land here."

"It'll be a couple of minutes," replied Tolen, his fingers already programming in the course corrections. "You should use the time to get into your survival gear."

Matt snorted. "I have no need of it." He twitched as a frantic beeping started from one of the consoles.

Tolen swung round to check it. "There's another shuttle dropping out of hyperspace behind us. It's coming onto an intercept course and charging weapons and shields."

"Kamiya," growled Matt.

"We'll make planet fall before them… barely," interjected Tolen, checking his calculations.

"Drop me, then go on the attack," commanded Matt. "I'll signal when I'm done. Don't even land, just open the hatch both times."

"Sir?"

"Those are my orders Lieutenant. Follow them." Matt stormed off to the exit hatch.

Tai bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, as if by sheer willpower he could make the shuttle gain on the one in front. "Can't this thing go any faster?"

"We're almost burning out the engines now," responded Hobbie, fighting with the engineering panel. "If we red line the engines any more they'll explode."

"How long until we catch up?" asked Tai.

"Too long," returned Janson, checking his instruments at the pilot's chair. "They'll get there first, maybe even have time to get her into attack position themselves.

"Damn!" Tai slapped the bulkhead. "And there's nothing we can do!"

"Heads up!" called Hobbie. "The Vengeance is banking."

"She's dropping her ramp," exclaimed Janson. "She can't be planning to land at this speed!"

"She's not, look!" Tai darted forwards to stand between Janson and Hobbie. "That blue flash, that was Matt jumping out."

"Jumping?" choked Janson. "At that speed it would be suicide."

"Speaking of suicide," interjected Hobbie, "The Vengeance is powering lasers." A shrill beeping filled the cockpit. "She's got a lock!"

Janson yanked the steering round. "Going evasive!"

The shuttle lurched, sending Tai off his feet and slamming into one of the walls.

"Hang on Tetchy," added Janson as an afterthought.

Tai glared at Janson's back. "What now?"

"Now?" Janson pulled the ship into a tight loop. "Now we try not to get shot down in an aerial dogfight."

"What about Matt?" asked Tai.

Janson shook his head. "Forget it. We can't set down long enough to drop you guys."

"Then don't set down." Tai jogged to the exit hatch.

"Don't set down?" asked Janson. "Are you crazy?" He swore as the shuttle rocked again. "He's getting closer."

Hobbie nodded. "Rear deflector half strength."

Tai turned back to the cockpit. "Open the hatch!"

Janson half turned in his chair. "That's crazy! You'll freeze before you talk him round!"

"He's my friend, and he's out there without any coat on!" yelled back Tai. "If someone doesn't talk to him he's going to kill himself! Now open the damn hatch!"

"Well his friend seems to be busy trying to blast us from the sky." Janson turned back to his board as the shuttle lurched. "We can't help you."

"I can!" piped up T.K. "Matt's my brother, he's gotta listen to me!"

Tai knelt in front of T.K. and gripped the younger boy's shoulders. "Listen to me T.K. I'm not sure that's really Matt down there. When we left the temple he was acting crazy and I don't know if he'd still even see you as his brother, or just as an enemy. I want you to stay here with Patamon and Agumon, where it's safe." He raised a hand to stall Agumon's protest. "I'm going down there alone. No one else gets hurt." He turned back to Janson. "Now open the hatch before I use my lightsabre to do it for you."

Janson locked eyes with Tai briefly, and was surprised to find something in the boy's level gaze that he found in his own when he looked in the mirror. The gaze that vowed to burn down anything or anyone opposed to what he was about to do. Janson shuddered to see that look in someone so young. The world has aged him, tempered him like metal. He nodded and triggered the hatch. "Be careful. Too long out there and all the healing trances in the world won't help."

Tai approached the ramp, the air screaming past as the shuttle banked round hard. His robe slapped hard against his legs in the wind. He squinted into the flying snow, and spotted a blue speck on the perfect white.

"Good luck… Taichi," said Janson.

Tai turned back to Janson, flashing a grin of victory. He then stepped off the ramp and into freefall.

It took Tai a while to get his bearings once on the ground. While Matt was easy to spot from a height here on the ground with the snow blocking his view it was much harder. Finally he spotted a speck of blue far off and started to run, feeling the artic temperatures starting to bite into his skin. Has Matt gone so far that he doesn't even feel the cold any more? wondered Tai.

He came over the crest of a hill to see Matt digging with his bare hands into a cliff of snow. Matt seemed to stiffen and Tai knew that he must have entered Matt's 'field of view' within the Force.

"I know you're there Kamiya. You can just turn around and go away. I'm not letting you stop me." Matt kept resolutely digging.

As Tai moved closer he could see Matt was clearing away snow from a huge sheet of ice. The seal! he realised.

Very good Tai, replied Matt sarcastically. I always knew you were the brains of the outfit, not Izzy.

Tai stiffened; surprised that Matt had so casually listened in to his thoughts.

Matt laughed. "I've learnt a few new tricks now you aren't holding me back any more with your twisted morality." He stood. "Now give me back my brother. He's mine, not yours."

"He's not property Matt," spat back Tai. "He's safe, away from whatever that twisted ghost has been doing to you!"

Matt laughed again. "He's made me strong. Stronger than you can imagine."

Tai only sensed a faint tingle in the Force before the ice wall Matt had excavated exploded outwards. Tai brought his arms up to protect his face, the ice slivers biting into his arms, as sharp as glass. The cold stung across the hundreds of tiny cuts, doing little to improve his mood. "I can't let you take that lightsabre if you're going to use it for evil."

"Let me?" asked Matt. "You don't 'let me' anything Kamiya." He started towards the hole. "And now I take what is mine, starting with this sabre, and ending with my brother."

Tai sprinted across the snowfield and positioned himself between Matt and the entrance. "Matt, snap out of it! No one is keeping your brother way from you except you!" He felt the telltale tingle of Matt summoning the Force to bat him out the way. "Oh no you don't!" He lunged at Matt's stomach, knocking the other boy to the ground. "No matter what tricks he taught you, I'm still a better fighter than you."

Matt shoved Tai off. "You want to go one on one again, fine by me." He took up a balanced stance, left side leading.

Tai was confused. Matt wasn't left handed, so he was setting himself at a disadvantage. "Don't think that'll throw me." He came in with a solid punch.

Matt batted his hand out the way, and brought his elbow up, forcing Tai's jaw shut with a sharp click.

"Oh, I won't," retorted Matt. While Tai was still reeling Matt lashed you with his foot, hitting Tai squarely in the stomach.

Tai bent over and started to retch.

"Not so good now, are we?" asked Matt mockingly. He turned and entered the ice cave, finding his lightsabre resting on an ice plinth. Matt picked it up, ignoring the pain as the cold metal burnt his palm and fingers. "Now we're on an equal footing, you and I," he said to the still retching Tai. He flicked on his comlink. "I'm done here."

The lambda shuttle broke off its attack from Tai's ship and swooped down.

Matt took the opportunity to walk over to Tai and deliver another sharp kick. "Any time you want a rematch, I'll be waiting on Yavin." He paused for a moment. "And bring T.K. Don't punish him for this."

Don't punish him? wondered Tai. Why would he say that? The world fell away as the young boy slipped into unconsciousness.

Matt looked up as the shuttle hovered overhead, its ramp extended. He crouched, then jumped easily onto the ramp ten feet above him. He turned back to Tai's prone form. "See you there."

Tai became dimly aware of voices in the darkness.

"Is he gonna be okay?"

Tai wondered who it was that seemed to have this child so worried.

"Don't worry T.K, Tai's going to be fine."

The names sounded familiar to him somehow.

Suddenly it all came rushing back to him. Tai's eyes snapped open and he jerked up, only to be overcome by a wave of dizziness forcing him back down again. "Whoa."

When he cracked his eyes open again, he saw Janson leaning over him. "Take it easy Tetchy, you nearly didn't make it back."

"You were colder than Frigimon when we found you," added Agumon.

Tai realised that he'd felt a rough surface moving across his hand while he'd been fighting to regain consciousness. A movement of his head revealed Agumon rubbing a clawed hand across his own. "Sorry if I worried you bud." Tai sat up much slower this time. "I don't think I'm going to be doing that again in a hurry."

"Better not," snorted Janson. "Hoth is no place to get caught outside."

"Where's Hobbie?" asked Tai.

"Piloting the shuttle," replied Janson. "We should be joining up with the others in the base soon."

"Good." Tai gingerly got to his feet. "I take it Matt legged it back to Yavin."

"That's what it looked like on our scanners." Janson grinned. "Looks like we're going there next."

T.K. made a face. "I don't like this Tai. Matt wants us there."

Janson nodded. "Bad thing to do what the enemy wants, I know. But we don't really have a choice here."

T.K. pulled at Tai's sleeve. "Tai, was Matt acting weird down there?"

"Pretty much," nodded Tai. "Why do you ask?"

T.K. looked worried. "'Cause when that other shuttle left, I heard Matt up here." T.K. put a hand to his temple. "He was saying some really strange things and he felt funny."

"Something about freeing you?" asked Tai.

Janson started to speak, but Tai held up a hand to stall him.

"He told me that I didn't have to worry, that I'd be free soon and I wouldn't have to suffer any more de-pray-vet-ees." T.K. buried his head in Tai's side, clutching at Tai's pant leg. "Tai, Matt felt wrong. He was so cold, and he burned white and blue."

Tai patted T.K's head gently. "Don't worry T.K. Me and Patamon will get Matt back for you, I promise."

Janson watched as T.K. raced down the ramp into the waiting arms of Sora. The young boy seemed to have put his fears behind him. Janson turned to Tai. "Care to answer a few questions I have?"

Tai nodded agreeably. "Sure."

"How did you know what Matt talked to T.K. about?"

"He said something similar to me." Tai frowned. "I think he sees me keeping T.K. from him forcibly, punishing T.K. if he remains loyal to Matt." Tai shook his head. "I don't get how Matt got this twisted."

"The other thing," continued Janson, "Was what was it with T.K's descriptions? They just seemed surreal."

"Describe colour to a blind man," countered Tai. "We have to understand what we sense in a way we can interpret."

"You're right." Izzy moved over to the pair. "I've been talking with Sora and Joe. They both describe different sensations connected with the lightsabres."

"Chocolate?" asked Tai.

Izzy raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "No. Sora described it like… a mother's protection. Mimi felt a breeze. I saw it like something I couldn't quite remember. Same signal, different interpretation."

"Ice fist." Tai saw the confused looks on Janson and Izzy's faces. "T.K. saw Matt as burning blue and white, I saw him as an ice fist."

Janson shook his head. "I just don't get it Tetchy."

"Tetchy?" asked Izzy.

"What happened to Taichi?" asked Tai.

"Huh?" asked Janson, faking nonchalance. "When have I ever not called you Tetchy, Tetchy?"

"TAICHI!"

Izzy clamped a hand over his mouth to stop him from giggling. Tai had finally found someone even more obnoxious than himself.

Tai continued to fume. "Taichi! It isn't even that difficult! Tie-ee-chee!" Tai's Digivice let out an ear-splitting shriek.

"GAH!" Janson slapped his hands over his ears. "What the Sith was that?"

Izzy held out a hand. Tai dutifully handed over the offending object. After pushing a few buttons Izzy handed it back.

"Most bizarre. There appears to be nothing wrong with the device."

Janson poked a finger in his ear. "Tell that to my eardrums."

"Maybe it was what you said Tai," ventured Izzy.

Tai shook his head. "Don't think so Izzy. How many times have I said my name before?"

"But you didn't say your name," countered Izzy. "You said the syllables of your name."

"And?" asked Janson.

"Taichi is a compound of two letters," explained Izzy. "The last part of Tai's name is the number one."

"Ichi? That's the same as one?" asked Janson.

Izzy winced. "That got a bit garbled in translation, but I think the answer's yes."

"So why the squawk Izzy?" asked Tai.

Izzy looked at Janson. "Ta."

Again the digivice squealed and made Janson wince. "What'd you do that for?"

"To prove my theory." Izzy yanked Janson over to a mound of snow in the corner of the bay. Using the powdered snow he sketched out two symbols. "Ta-ichi. The translator coped with the last bit fine; it's just one word. The first bit has too many connotations, too many meanings so when said without a context…"

"It gives them all simultaneously, making that horrible sound," nodded Janson. "Many-One."

Izzy started. "Prodigious!"

"Huh?" Tai turned to Izzy. "What is it Izzy?"

"Many-One," said Izzy. "One-Who-Is-Many perhaps?"

"I'm already in the prophecy, remember?" countered Tai. " 'And take Courage in death' remember? Why would I be in there twice?"

"I don't know," said Izzy. "It doesn't seem likely that…" Izzy broke off suddenly, his face turning white. Sweat beaded across his face and his fists clenched.

Tai folded to the floor, his already abused stomach dry heaving as he tried to prop himself up.

Janson looked on confused, then heard screaming from further in the complex.

Tentomon flew up, followed closely by Agumon. Each digimon moved straight to their partnered human.

"What happened?" asked Agumon, unable to do anything but rub his hand up and down Tai's back as the boy continued to bring up his stomach contents.

"I don't know," panicked Janson. "It just happened simultaneously to both of them."

Tentomon hovered nervously in front of Izzy. "He doesn't even see me here!"

Leia, Mimi and Sora, together with their digimon had finally managed to find the stored supplies. They sat in a lose circle on the floor.

"Sounds like you really hit it off," said Sora.

Mimi nodded. "It was a lot of fun. Leia knows a lot about how people think."

"So no more chasing Izzy?" teased Sora.

"Pfft." Mimi waved her hands in a dismissive gesture. "We're so over." The group laughed.

Hobbie sauntered over. "Is all this food for you, or can anyone eat?"

Leia smiled. "Pull up a mound of snow and join in."

Hobbie grinned and picked up one of the packets of dehydrated rations. "I never thought I'd be glad to see combat-rats, but I have to say it's better than tauntun meat."

"Janson still giving Wedge a hard time about that?" asked Leia.

Hobbie shot her a look. "This is Janson we're talking about here."

"Right," nodded Leia. "Forget I asked." She took a bite from her ration pack. "You know, I'll never understand how we survived on this stuff."

"Oh, I don't know," said Sora. "I quite like it."

Leia and Hobbie just stared at her.

"Oh come on," said Sora. "It's not that bad, really."

"Not as good as a cheeseburger," countered Mimi.

"Well no," admitted Sora. "But better than leaves and berries."

To Hobbie's surprise Sora's smile faded and her eyes widened in terror. Her mouth then opened and she began to scream.

Mimi's voice joined in, her voice rising to a wail before her eyes rolled back in their sockets, and she went limp.

Hobbie turned to Leia, only to find her clutching her stomach, looking like she was about to vomit.

Another scream came from elsewhere in the hanger, one Hobbie recognised as T.K's voice before it cut off.

Sora kept screaming.

Wedge calmly held Feona as the woman thrashed by the access panel. He heard several screams start, then stop, leaving only one, mournful wail undulating across the frozen bay.

"What's going on?" he asked to no one in particular.

"Bad things."

Wedge turned as Doyle jogged up. "I need more information than that. What is affecting these kids?"

Wedge was surprised to see Doyle looking strained. "Something in the Force. That's why the kids, Leia and Feona are down."

"Is it a weapon?" asked Wedge.

"You military types. All you ever think of are weapons." Doyle shut his eyes. "It's like there's suddenly a big hole. So many things are missing… gone…"

"I'm well aware of what missing means Doyle." Wedge chanced letting go of Feona as she had stopped thrashing. Silently the woman sank to the floor.

"How do you know?" asked Wedge.

"Huh?"

"How do you know something is missing?" persisted Wedge.

Doyle shifted uncomfortably. "Well… I feel some stuff through the Force too. Something to do with how my brain is wired up." He glanced around. "If I'm feeling this, and I have no talent, imagine how it feels to them."

"I think Sora is doing a pretty good job," said Wedge, still listening to the scream. "At least, I assume it's Sora."

"Well Joe fainted clean away when it hit," countered Doyle. "T.K. screamed a bit, then did the same. I guess we're just going to have to wait this out."

"Let's try to move them together," said Wedge. "There's only five of us, plus Threepio, and there's eight of them. We should be prepared in case it's some sort of an attack."

Doyle shook his head over the judgement, but proceeded to help.

An old man walking by the sea looks up as the sky turns white…

A kindergartner stops chasing his friend as his skin starts to burn…

"No! Stop!"

A mother hears the scream of her child outside moments before she forget the child in her own agony…

Two young lovers intertwine, the heat building within, then without…

An old woman kneeling by her husband's grave, wishing they were together again, getting her wish…

"Please…" Matt choked out a sob. "Please… stop…"

A newborn child, it's life disappearing before it starts…

A young man trying to reconcile with his girlfriend before it's too late. It already is…

Matt fell to the floor as the faces, the nameless, unknown faces assaulted him.

A woman…

A man…

A girl…

Two lovers…

Husband and wife…

Fights…

Feuds…

Love…

Hate…

"STOP!" screamed Matt. "MAKE IT STOP!"

Unfulfilled…

Unfulfilled…

Unfulfilled…

"Please…"

Death…

Death…

Death…

"Brother?" asks a young man turning to the oncoming flame. "Why aren't you here to stop this?"

"No…" Matt found himself on his hands and knees, a pool of vomit beneath him and a sour taste in his mouth.

"Matt?"

Matt felt a steadying hand fall across his back, and another pushing a cup of water towards him. "Ga… Gabumon?"

Gabumon nodded sadly. "I'm here Matt. Can you sit up?"

Matt nodded, then instantly regretted it as the world spun and his stomach heaved in sympathy. He held his eyes shut until the nausea went away, then gingerly knelt back. "That was intense."

"I'll say." Gabumon passed Matt the cup of water. "You were screaming incoherently for almost fifteen minutes."

"That long?" Matt sipped the water. "It feels like a lifetime…" Hundreds of lifetimes… gone… Matt started to cry.

"Matt?" asked Gabumon. "What's wrong?"

"People… people dying… The old, the young, the good, the bad… Gabumon, it didn't matter who they were!" Matt sobbed slightly. "No rhyme or reason to his or her death, except they were in the wrong place. They were just cut down, like wheat."

Gabumon couldn't think of anything to say to that. He just put his arms around Matt.

Matt stiffened in shock, then moved closer, feeling the instinctive need to have someone near. "What was it, Gabumon? What happened to all those people?"

Gabumon hung his head. "Reports on the Imp comm-net say that the Cadrian sun went nova unexpectedly. A small ship was seen nearby just before it happened."

"Brother?" asks a young man turning to the oncoming flame. "Why aren't you here to stop this?"

Matt shook his head to remove the flash. "How could he?"

"Matt?"

"Kyp destroyed his own brother. He brought the sun crashing down like divine retribution…" Matt put his head in his hands. Is this what Kyp and I are being taught? That even our own brothers should fall to our wishes? That death is the only way for peace, even if innocents get in the way?

My God… What sort of monster have I become?…

Matt could dimly hear laughter in his head.

Authors Note: - Okay, Matt is now completely creeping me out. That is not a nice head to get inside.

Very, very sorry to do this, but there will be no updates for at least five weeks. I have my end of year finals coming up, and I don't have time to write and revise, so the writing will have to be ignored for now.

New on FFN is 'Izzy Izumi and the Hall of Shadows', the winner of the informal poll last chapter. It's only got one chapter and will stay that way until exams are over. Sorry 'bout that.

In answer to some misc comments on the reviews-

Whoever wanted to know what Matt's power is… Tough. You'll have to wait. He DOES have one, and it isn't the whole Dark Side vibe going either.

Thank you to everyone who assured me that my Sora didn't suck that badly.

Thank you to everyone to rejoiced over Gatomon and Wizardmon. They'll be back next chapter.

As always review ^_^