Author's Note: I do not own Digimon.
A Different Destiny, Chapter 7
"Look, there's a castle over there, and Tai's digivice signal seems to be coming from inside it!" Izzy pointed to a huge castle that seemed to be shrouded in an aura of darkness. The other children looked at the castle and shuddered. They had been flying for most of the day, after camping by a small stream the night before. Sora knew that both Birdramon and Kabuterimon were getting tired and she was glad that they had almost reached their destination, but she didn't like the look of the castle that they were approaching. It seemed to give off an extremely evil feeling; a feeling that things were not right.
"I don't like that place. The darkness is scaring me, it's too dark," Kari was shaking in fear. The darkness attacked her more than the others because she had the crest of light. Salamon and T.K both tried to comfort the poor girl, but it seemed that nothing was going to make Kari calm down, "I don't like the place, but if Tai's inside then I have to help him! He lied about a lot of things to protect me and now I have to repay him for that." Kari told them bravely, staring at the castle ahead determinedly, still shaking but seeming to have more confidence, "I won't let this stupid darkness frighten me, light always defeats darkness and so I know that the darkness will be defeated by light, no matter what." As she finished speaking Kari's crest began to glow and sparkles of pink light flew everywhere and seemed to form a protective barrier around the digidestined as they flew towards the castle.
"Wow, what is Kari's crest doing?" Mimi asked, looking around at the pink aura, fascinated by the shield that it was forming, "It looks like it is trying to protect us from the darkness!" The destined children, including Kari, were staring at the rays of pink light in awe. They landed next to the castle safely and Birdramon quickly de-digivolved back to Biyomon, exhausted from the flight. Kabuterimon also de-digivolved when he landed, going back to his rookie form Tentomon again. Although they were no longer flying, the shield of light still protected the children and their digimon partners and the darkness of the castle seemed to lessen just a bit.
"Where's the entrance to this castle? I can't see a door anywhere," Joe stated, peering at the building intently through his large lenses, searching for any sign of an opening in the solid walls of darkness. The other children looked too, but they didn't find anything either.
"It must be on the other side, it's simple. If the opening isn't on the side we're on, then it must be elsewhere in the castle walls. We should just walk around the castle and then I'm sure that we'll find the entrance," Matt told them, taking over the place of leader in the group for the moment. He knew that Tai would become the leader again once they found him, but for now he was going to be the leader. After all, he did have some ideas of what to do.
"I agree with Matt, there has to be an entrance to this place somewhere along the walls of it, and if we walk around then we're bound to find it. We have to get inside there quickly so that Tai isn't hurt anymore than he has been already," Sora agreed, pointing to her left, "We should go this way. Something tells me that the door to get us where we want to go is this way." The others just shrugged and began walking in the direction that Sora had pointed, keeping close together in a group so the light shield didn't have to stretch itself too far to protect them.
"I hope we find Tai and get out of here soon," T.K whispered quietly to himself so that no one else could hear him, "Because if we don't then I know something bad is going to happen. I just hope that everything turns out okay and something else tells me that it will, if we just keep our hopes up." They walked around the building in silence, each person concentrating too hard on finding a door to start up a conversation. They were on the third side of the castle and feeling a bit disheartened when Sora just suddenly collapsed to the ground, holding her head in pain.
"Sora, what's wrong?" Mimi exclaimed, rushing over to her. Sora didn't reply, she just sat on the ground, holding her head with an expression of pain on her face. Joe crouched in front of the girl and waved his hand in front of her eyes, but she didn't seem to notice. She didn't even blink and he couldn't get her to respond to anything. It was like she was in a trance or something.
"Joe, do you have any idea what is wrong with Sora?" Matt asked the reliable boy, hoping that he would have an answer so that they didn't have to worry. But Joe just shook his head, unable to tell if Sora was ill or not.
"She doesn't respond to anything . . . it's almost as if she's in a trance or something. We're not going to be able to move until she snaps out of it because of the barrier of light. If we all leave then Sora ill be unprotected, but if one of us leaves then they won't be protected. To make sure that everyone will be okay, then we have to stay here until Sora is okay. That's really the only thing that we can do," Joe told him quietly, watching Sora out of the corner of his eye to make sure that he knew if she was okay or not.
"I guess that we have no other choice then, we'll have to stay here until she snaps out of it," Matt sighed, hating the thought of having to sit still near the castle made of shadows. He said his decision out loud so that everyone could hear him and the children soon sat down in little groups, waiting for Sora.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Sora had been walking along with the others when something seemed to slam itself into her thoughts as she passed a small notch in the wall. She could only really feel the pain and she collapsed into a sitting position, holding her head as if it could stop it from hurting.
"I'm sorry that I hurt you, Child of Love, but I have to tell you something important. You know that the Child of Courage is sick, but what you don't know is that his illness is not natural," a kind voice spoke into Sora's mind and she found that she could only concentrate on the voice; she couldn't even move, "The one that you call Gennai is only a minion to the real evil that is behind all of this. To find a way to cure the illness that plagues the young Prince, you will have to look inside your heart and listen to what it has to say. Only when he is healed will you be able to defeat the evil in this place. You have to warn the others too, you have to tell them to listen to what is going on inside them and to tell all of the secrets that they find. This is the only way to defeat the evil and restore peace to this world." Sora digested this information quickly and then saw her chance to ask a question.
"Who are you? I know that you tell the truth, for you have love on your side, but I want to know who you are to be telling me this and how you do it, if I may that is?" Sora just sent this out as a thought and she knew that the other being heard her questions.
"Who I am, I cannot tell you now, but you will know one day. As for how I am doing this, well, you just did it then. You just talked to me through my mind, as I am talking to you through yours. You just need a little more practice and then you'll be perfect at it. Now, your friends are worrying about you, so I'd better leave you. Remember what I told you as it is imperative that you follow my advice . . ." the voice trailed off and Sora abruptly found that she was able to move again. She saw the worried looks on the faces of her friends and realised that she must have been in some sort of trance or something. She shook her head as if to dismiss the pain that she had felt before and Joe stood up and came over to her, determined to find out what was wrong with her.
"Are you okay Sora? You just collapsed before and you seemed to be in some sort of trance or something. Does your head still hurt?" the others had formed a circle around them, wanting to know what was wrong with her quickly. Sora just smiled a little and stood up.
"I'm fine, I just had a talk with somebody that I don't know in my head, that's all," she said brightly, watching the reactions of her friends as they looked at her in disbelief.
"Sora, have you gone crazy? You can't talk to people in their heads, it just isn't possible!" Mimi exclaimed, exchanging glances with Joe, "You can't just-"
{Yes you can, it just happened to me and I'm doing this to prove it,} Sora concentrated on talking to Mimi in Mimi's mind and found that it worked as Mimi was briefly cut off. Mimi didn't collapse in pain though and Sora knew that she was better at using her skill than the person who had spoken to her, or that person had been a very long way away. It was easy talking to Mimi as she was standing right next to Sora and so the distance wasn't very long. Mimi gasped in shock as she heard Sora's voice inside her head.
"What-I mean how-how did you do that?" the others were just looking from Sora to Mimi, hoping that they would get an explanation from them soon as to what was going on.
"I don't really know I just can do it. I managed to answer this mysterious person that started talking to me a minute ago by using it and I guess it's just a natural skill," Sora told the girl and she earned herself a few more odd looks from the others, who were confused with what was going on.
"Please, will one of you tell us what is going on?" Matt demanded, looking from one girl to the other, confusion showing plainly on his face, "It isn't making any sense to the rest of us and I have a feeling that we need to know what is going on, so tell us!"
"Sora can speak into people's minds," Mimi told him promptly, still looking a bit shook up from Sora's telepathic speech, "She just did that to me a minute ago and that's why you guys were confused." Everyone instantly turned their gaze to Sora who merely shrugged and continued on with her story.
"Anyway, as I was saying before, this voice started speaking to me inside my head and gave me instructions to pass onto you guys. She told me that we all have to examine our hearts and find all of the secrets that we find in there and we have to tell them to whoever we need to. She mentioned that this was the only way that we would be able to defeat the evil that lives in this castle. Also, the real evil that we have to fight is not Gennai as he is only a minion of the horrible being that we will have to fight," Sora paused, unsure if she should tell them about Tai's illness being unnatural, but then she figured that if she told them that then they may lose all of the hope that they had, "And that's basically all the voice told me . . . and now we're on our own. I believe that I know where the entrance to the castle is, but before we go in there we're going to have to do what the voice instructed us and tell the people we need to tell the secrets that we are hiding inside. I suggest that we each go apart from everyone else and think this over. We can't go too far, unless we want to forgo the protection from the barrier for the time that this will take. I personally want to go far from everyone else because I need to be able to think. I'll be back soon and we'll all meet here when we are done, okay?"
"That sounds like a good plan and although I don't necessarily like the thought of being out there without a barrier against the darkness, I want to go away from here to think as well. Let's say that we will all meet back here once we have finished. Everyone agree? The people that want to stay here can, and hose that want to go can go away to think. Good luck!" Kari told them before she walked from the barrier that was enclosing them. The barrier, although connected to Kari's crest, stayed where it was as the small girl made her way away from the others. Sora left as well, heading in a different direction to the Child of Light. The others followed until only Matt and Izzy were left inside the shield.
"I might as well stay here, I don't really need to be alone to think," Matt told Izzy as the two of them leant against a couple of rocks that were a little distance away from each other, "And I'll need to stay here in case any of the others are away for too long."
"I agree; I might as well stay here too. I doubt that I have anything that is too distracting to think about, so I will probably be finished soon with this 'self examination' process," Izzy sat back and the two friends fell silent, each trying to find out what secrets lay in their hearts.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Sora knew where she wanted to go. On the way to find Tai they had passed over a small lake that wasn't very far from the meeting place. It reminded her of the lake where she and Tai had first met, which was now a very special place to her. She knew that she would be the only person heading for the lake and so she didn't quicken her pace, but she didn't slow down either. When the lake came into view Sora found a smooth rock that was shaped roughly into the shape of a heart. She smiled at the irony of that and watched as Biyomon stood a little bit away from her, so that she would be able to think.
'I'm supposed to find the secrets that I hide in my heart and I have to tell them to the people that I need to tell. But I don't know of any secrets that I have . . . maybe that's why the voice came to me; to tell me that I had to try to find the secret that I'm hiding from myself. I have no idea what it could be, but I have to find it, otherwise Tai will die and so will I, and evil will take over everything,' Sora bowed her head and tried to find what the voice had been going on about, but she couldn't find anything. After an hour she was frustrated with herself.
'I can't give up now; Tai is counting on me! If I can't find what I'm hiding then he'll die and I don't know what I'd do if that happened. Tai is the only person that understands me, the only one that I care really deeply about and . . . Wait a minute, that's it! The secret that I've kept locked up inside my heart, the one that I've been afraid of for years; I've finally figured it out! I. . . I love Tai; I'm in love with him. I hid it from myself because. . . Because I was afraid that he didn't like me; afraid that I would ruin our friendship and everything that we had built up over the years. I fell in love with him when I met him, but I didn't understand and then when I realised what it was I hid it inside myself because I was too afraid. I-Now it may be too late . . . He is close to dying and I have to tell him how I feel, but I can't talk to him because he is locked up somewhere inside a castle made from darkness itself. Why couldn't I have gotten up the courage to tell him before, why couldn't I have admitted this to myself?' Her crest of Love was glowing a brilliant red colour, but Sora didn't see it. She was upset with herself for not realising her love for Tai before he was taken away from her.
"Sora? Why are you upset? Your crest is glowing and everything, so why aren't you happy?" Biyomon had come to stand next to her partner and she felt sad at Sora's depression.
"It's just that I've missed my chance to tell Tai something and now. . . Now it seems like I'll never get the chance to tell him and I. . . I know that he'll suffer because I didn't tell him. I only wish that there was some way that I could speak to him right now, so that I could tell him the secret that I kept locked away in my heart," tears came to Sora's eyes as she told her digimon partner these emotion-filled words and she put her head down on her knees and let the tears flow down her cheeks. Biyomon put one of her wings on Sora's shoulder and the girl looked up, her eyes red.
"There is a way that you can talk to him Sora! Remember that you have that ability to talk to people in their minds, so maybe you could talk to Tai that way," she suggested before walking back to her post a few meters away, knowing that Sora needed to be left alone. The girl looked at her digimon partner and smiled, relieved that Biyomon had brought it up.
"Thanks Bi," she whispered under her breath. Now all she had to do was figure out how she was going to tell Tai what had been in her hear for the last six years. . .
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Joe walked towards a dilapidated grey house that stood near the dark castle. Although he knew that it wasn't his house from when he was a child, it reminded him of it. Strangely it also reminded him of a young girl of approximately two years of age. He didn't really remember much about her, other than the fact that he had known her as a very small child. Images of her were the only thing that he remembered, but then again, he knew that he had only been very young at the time.
"I'll stay here and keep a watch while you do this 'finding your heart' thing Joe," Gomamon told him, stopping outside the door of the small cottage, "I wish you the very best of luck. I know that you can find what you are supposed to, so just remember that and don't give up!" Joe smiled back at the water digimon.
"Thanks Gomamon, you are a real pal," Joe replied and he made his way into the house and sat down in a corner of what seemed to have been the living room. More images of the girl appeared out of nowhere as Joe stared at the fireplace, memories of the girl crying.
'Why was she crying? I remember that I was crying too, but why? I don't even know this girl; I only know images of her. The feelings that I get when I have these flashbacks are the same feelings that I get when I'm around Mimi, but this little girl cannot be Mimi, can she? I'm so confused! I thought that this 'finding the secrets of the heart' thing was going to clear some things up, not make things even more difficult to understand,' Joe thought and he closed his eyes, hoping that that would help him to concentrate.
'Now, what do I feel when I get these images of the girl? Well, I feel. . . I feel happy, like everything is the way it's supposed to be. I feel. . . well, I feel as if I would travel the whole way around the world and back just to pick up a leaf for her if she wanted it. Why do I feel this way with this little girl? That's exactly the same way that I feel about Mimi . . . is it possible that the little girl that I remember is Mimi? But then again, why do I feel this way for both of them? I don't even know what this feeling is, it's just a sense of wholeness, like I've found what I've been missing in my life. Wait a minute. . . Isn't that the feeling that people describe when they have found the person that they love? Does this mean that I love Mimi? I don't know. . .' Joe was getting even more confused as time passed, muddling himself up and repeating thoughts until he couldn't think straight anymore.
"What's up Joe? I know that you feel like you have to make a responsible decision and that is what is holding you back, but you have to learn that sometimes you have to make decisions based on what you feel and not just because you feel that it's the most responsible thing to do. I believe that you will find the answer Joe, I know that you will. You just have to rely on your feelings to get you through and you'll find the answer," as quickly as he had come, Gomamon disappeared out of the cottage again, leaving Joe to ponder on his words.
'You're right; I do have to rely on my feelings. I've been trying to hide the fact that I'm in love with Mimi because I thought that everybody would call me irresponsible for loving her. My crest is of Reliability and I know now that I have to rely on my feelings and my instincts as well as my thoughts. Now I just have to find Mimi and tell her what I've been hiding in my heart. . . If I can gather up the courage that is. . .' Joe stood, his crest glowing a bright silver and walked out of the cottage, ready to tell the girl of his dreams what he felt about her. . .
End of Chapter 7
Well, sorry if this chapter was really bad, but I stayed up all of last night at my friend's house, so yeah. I'm kind of dead at the minute. I added Jomi and Taiora to this chapter, well, 1 side to both of those love thingies. I will update again tomorrow as I am starting to get back into this fic after coming up with another idea for another digimon fic, which is Taiora of course! I won't write that fic though until I have finished this one, which will probably be in a couple of days. Please review and tell me what you think about this fic, I really appreciate reviews and people's opinions!! I really do cherish them! Please review!
A Different Destiny, Chapter 7
"Look, there's a castle over there, and Tai's digivice signal seems to be coming from inside it!" Izzy pointed to a huge castle that seemed to be shrouded in an aura of darkness. The other children looked at the castle and shuddered. They had been flying for most of the day, after camping by a small stream the night before. Sora knew that both Birdramon and Kabuterimon were getting tired and she was glad that they had almost reached their destination, but she didn't like the look of the castle that they were approaching. It seemed to give off an extremely evil feeling; a feeling that things were not right.
"I don't like that place. The darkness is scaring me, it's too dark," Kari was shaking in fear. The darkness attacked her more than the others because she had the crest of light. Salamon and T.K both tried to comfort the poor girl, but it seemed that nothing was going to make Kari calm down, "I don't like the place, but if Tai's inside then I have to help him! He lied about a lot of things to protect me and now I have to repay him for that." Kari told them bravely, staring at the castle ahead determinedly, still shaking but seeming to have more confidence, "I won't let this stupid darkness frighten me, light always defeats darkness and so I know that the darkness will be defeated by light, no matter what." As she finished speaking Kari's crest began to glow and sparkles of pink light flew everywhere and seemed to form a protective barrier around the digidestined as they flew towards the castle.
"Wow, what is Kari's crest doing?" Mimi asked, looking around at the pink aura, fascinated by the shield that it was forming, "It looks like it is trying to protect us from the darkness!" The destined children, including Kari, were staring at the rays of pink light in awe. They landed next to the castle safely and Birdramon quickly de-digivolved back to Biyomon, exhausted from the flight. Kabuterimon also de-digivolved when he landed, going back to his rookie form Tentomon again. Although they were no longer flying, the shield of light still protected the children and their digimon partners and the darkness of the castle seemed to lessen just a bit.
"Where's the entrance to this castle? I can't see a door anywhere," Joe stated, peering at the building intently through his large lenses, searching for any sign of an opening in the solid walls of darkness. The other children looked too, but they didn't find anything either.
"It must be on the other side, it's simple. If the opening isn't on the side we're on, then it must be elsewhere in the castle walls. We should just walk around the castle and then I'm sure that we'll find the entrance," Matt told them, taking over the place of leader in the group for the moment. He knew that Tai would become the leader again once they found him, but for now he was going to be the leader. After all, he did have some ideas of what to do.
"I agree with Matt, there has to be an entrance to this place somewhere along the walls of it, and if we walk around then we're bound to find it. We have to get inside there quickly so that Tai isn't hurt anymore than he has been already," Sora agreed, pointing to her left, "We should go this way. Something tells me that the door to get us where we want to go is this way." The others just shrugged and began walking in the direction that Sora had pointed, keeping close together in a group so the light shield didn't have to stretch itself too far to protect them.
"I hope we find Tai and get out of here soon," T.K whispered quietly to himself so that no one else could hear him, "Because if we don't then I know something bad is going to happen. I just hope that everything turns out okay and something else tells me that it will, if we just keep our hopes up." They walked around the building in silence, each person concentrating too hard on finding a door to start up a conversation. They were on the third side of the castle and feeling a bit disheartened when Sora just suddenly collapsed to the ground, holding her head in pain.
"Sora, what's wrong?" Mimi exclaimed, rushing over to her. Sora didn't reply, she just sat on the ground, holding her head with an expression of pain on her face. Joe crouched in front of the girl and waved his hand in front of her eyes, but she didn't seem to notice. She didn't even blink and he couldn't get her to respond to anything. It was like she was in a trance or something.
"Joe, do you have any idea what is wrong with Sora?" Matt asked the reliable boy, hoping that he would have an answer so that they didn't have to worry. But Joe just shook his head, unable to tell if Sora was ill or not.
"She doesn't respond to anything . . . it's almost as if she's in a trance or something. We're not going to be able to move until she snaps out of it because of the barrier of light. If we all leave then Sora ill be unprotected, but if one of us leaves then they won't be protected. To make sure that everyone will be okay, then we have to stay here until Sora is okay. That's really the only thing that we can do," Joe told him quietly, watching Sora out of the corner of his eye to make sure that he knew if she was okay or not.
"I guess that we have no other choice then, we'll have to stay here until she snaps out of it," Matt sighed, hating the thought of having to sit still near the castle made of shadows. He said his decision out loud so that everyone could hear him and the children soon sat down in little groups, waiting for Sora.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Sora had been walking along with the others when something seemed to slam itself into her thoughts as she passed a small notch in the wall. She could only really feel the pain and she collapsed into a sitting position, holding her head as if it could stop it from hurting.
"I'm sorry that I hurt you, Child of Love, but I have to tell you something important. You know that the Child of Courage is sick, but what you don't know is that his illness is not natural," a kind voice spoke into Sora's mind and she found that she could only concentrate on the voice; she couldn't even move, "The one that you call Gennai is only a minion to the real evil that is behind all of this. To find a way to cure the illness that plagues the young Prince, you will have to look inside your heart and listen to what it has to say. Only when he is healed will you be able to defeat the evil in this place. You have to warn the others too, you have to tell them to listen to what is going on inside them and to tell all of the secrets that they find. This is the only way to defeat the evil and restore peace to this world." Sora digested this information quickly and then saw her chance to ask a question.
"Who are you? I know that you tell the truth, for you have love on your side, but I want to know who you are to be telling me this and how you do it, if I may that is?" Sora just sent this out as a thought and she knew that the other being heard her questions.
"Who I am, I cannot tell you now, but you will know one day. As for how I am doing this, well, you just did it then. You just talked to me through my mind, as I am talking to you through yours. You just need a little more practice and then you'll be perfect at it. Now, your friends are worrying about you, so I'd better leave you. Remember what I told you as it is imperative that you follow my advice . . ." the voice trailed off and Sora abruptly found that she was able to move again. She saw the worried looks on the faces of her friends and realised that she must have been in some sort of trance or something. She shook her head as if to dismiss the pain that she had felt before and Joe stood up and came over to her, determined to find out what was wrong with her.
"Are you okay Sora? You just collapsed before and you seemed to be in some sort of trance or something. Does your head still hurt?" the others had formed a circle around them, wanting to know what was wrong with her quickly. Sora just smiled a little and stood up.
"I'm fine, I just had a talk with somebody that I don't know in my head, that's all," she said brightly, watching the reactions of her friends as they looked at her in disbelief.
"Sora, have you gone crazy? You can't talk to people in their heads, it just isn't possible!" Mimi exclaimed, exchanging glances with Joe, "You can't just-"
{Yes you can, it just happened to me and I'm doing this to prove it,} Sora concentrated on talking to Mimi in Mimi's mind and found that it worked as Mimi was briefly cut off. Mimi didn't collapse in pain though and Sora knew that she was better at using her skill than the person who had spoken to her, or that person had been a very long way away. It was easy talking to Mimi as she was standing right next to Sora and so the distance wasn't very long. Mimi gasped in shock as she heard Sora's voice inside her head.
"What-I mean how-how did you do that?" the others were just looking from Sora to Mimi, hoping that they would get an explanation from them soon as to what was going on.
"I don't really know I just can do it. I managed to answer this mysterious person that started talking to me a minute ago by using it and I guess it's just a natural skill," Sora told the girl and she earned herself a few more odd looks from the others, who were confused with what was going on.
"Please, will one of you tell us what is going on?" Matt demanded, looking from one girl to the other, confusion showing plainly on his face, "It isn't making any sense to the rest of us and I have a feeling that we need to know what is going on, so tell us!"
"Sora can speak into people's minds," Mimi told him promptly, still looking a bit shook up from Sora's telepathic speech, "She just did that to me a minute ago and that's why you guys were confused." Everyone instantly turned their gaze to Sora who merely shrugged and continued on with her story.
"Anyway, as I was saying before, this voice started speaking to me inside my head and gave me instructions to pass onto you guys. She told me that we all have to examine our hearts and find all of the secrets that we find in there and we have to tell them to whoever we need to. She mentioned that this was the only way that we would be able to defeat the evil that lives in this castle. Also, the real evil that we have to fight is not Gennai as he is only a minion of the horrible being that we will have to fight," Sora paused, unsure if she should tell them about Tai's illness being unnatural, but then she figured that if she told them that then they may lose all of the hope that they had, "And that's basically all the voice told me . . . and now we're on our own. I believe that I know where the entrance to the castle is, but before we go in there we're going to have to do what the voice instructed us and tell the people we need to tell the secrets that we are hiding inside. I suggest that we each go apart from everyone else and think this over. We can't go too far, unless we want to forgo the protection from the barrier for the time that this will take. I personally want to go far from everyone else because I need to be able to think. I'll be back soon and we'll all meet here when we are done, okay?"
"That sounds like a good plan and although I don't necessarily like the thought of being out there without a barrier against the darkness, I want to go away from here to think as well. Let's say that we will all meet back here once we have finished. Everyone agree? The people that want to stay here can, and hose that want to go can go away to think. Good luck!" Kari told them before she walked from the barrier that was enclosing them. The barrier, although connected to Kari's crest, stayed where it was as the small girl made her way away from the others. Sora left as well, heading in a different direction to the Child of Light. The others followed until only Matt and Izzy were left inside the shield.
"I might as well stay here, I don't really need to be alone to think," Matt told Izzy as the two of them leant against a couple of rocks that were a little distance away from each other, "And I'll need to stay here in case any of the others are away for too long."
"I agree; I might as well stay here too. I doubt that I have anything that is too distracting to think about, so I will probably be finished soon with this 'self examination' process," Izzy sat back and the two friends fell silent, each trying to find out what secrets lay in their hearts.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Sora knew where she wanted to go. On the way to find Tai they had passed over a small lake that wasn't very far from the meeting place. It reminded her of the lake where she and Tai had first met, which was now a very special place to her. She knew that she would be the only person heading for the lake and so she didn't quicken her pace, but she didn't slow down either. When the lake came into view Sora found a smooth rock that was shaped roughly into the shape of a heart. She smiled at the irony of that and watched as Biyomon stood a little bit away from her, so that she would be able to think.
'I'm supposed to find the secrets that I hide in my heart and I have to tell them to the people that I need to tell. But I don't know of any secrets that I have . . . maybe that's why the voice came to me; to tell me that I had to try to find the secret that I'm hiding from myself. I have no idea what it could be, but I have to find it, otherwise Tai will die and so will I, and evil will take over everything,' Sora bowed her head and tried to find what the voice had been going on about, but she couldn't find anything. After an hour she was frustrated with herself.
'I can't give up now; Tai is counting on me! If I can't find what I'm hiding then he'll die and I don't know what I'd do if that happened. Tai is the only person that understands me, the only one that I care really deeply about and . . . Wait a minute, that's it! The secret that I've kept locked up inside my heart, the one that I've been afraid of for years; I've finally figured it out! I. . . I love Tai; I'm in love with him. I hid it from myself because. . . Because I was afraid that he didn't like me; afraid that I would ruin our friendship and everything that we had built up over the years. I fell in love with him when I met him, but I didn't understand and then when I realised what it was I hid it inside myself because I was too afraid. I-Now it may be too late . . . He is close to dying and I have to tell him how I feel, but I can't talk to him because he is locked up somewhere inside a castle made from darkness itself. Why couldn't I have gotten up the courage to tell him before, why couldn't I have admitted this to myself?' Her crest of Love was glowing a brilliant red colour, but Sora didn't see it. She was upset with herself for not realising her love for Tai before he was taken away from her.
"Sora? Why are you upset? Your crest is glowing and everything, so why aren't you happy?" Biyomon had come to stand next to her partner and she felt sad at Sora's depression.
"It's just that I've missed my chance to tell Tai something and now. . . Now it seems like I'll never get the chance to tell him and I. . . I know that he'll suffer because I didn't tell him. I only wish that there was some way that I could speak to him right now, so that I could tell him the secret that I kept locked away in my heart," tears came to Sora's eyes as she told her digimon partner these emotion-filled words and she put her head down on her knees and let the tears flow down her cheeks. Biyomon put one of her wings on Sora's shoulder and the girl looked up, her eyes red.
"There is a way that you can talk to him Sora! Remember that you have that ability to talk to people in their minds, so maybe you could talk to Tai that way," she suggested before walking back to her post a few meters away, knowing that Sora needed to be left alone. The girl looked at her digimon partner and smiled, relieved that Biyomon had brought it up.
"Thanks Bi," she whispered under her breath. Now all she had to do was figure out how she was going to tell Tai what had been in her hear for the last six years. . .
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Joe walked towards a dilapidated grey house that stood near the dark castle. Although he knew that it wasn't his house from when he was a child, it reminded him of it. Strangely it also reminded him of a young girl of approximately two years of age. He didn't really remember much about her, other than the fact that he had known her as a very small child. Images of her were the only thing that he remembered, but then again, he knew that he had only been very young at the time.
"I'll stay here and keep a watch while you do this 'finding your heart' thing Joe," Gomamon told him, stopping outside the door of the small cottage, "I wish you the very best of luck. I know that you can find what you are supposed to, so just remember that and don't give up!" Joe smiled back at the water digimon.
"Thanks Gomamon, you are a real pal," Joe replied and he made his way into the house and sat down in a corner of what seemed to have been the living room. More images of the girl appeared out of nowhere as Joe stared at the fireplace, memories of the girl crying.
'Why was she crying? I remember that I was crying too, but why? I don't even know this girl; I only know images of her. The feelings that I get when I have these flashbacks are the same feelings that I get when I'm around Mimi, but this little girl cannot be Mimi, can she? I'm so confused! I thought that this 'finding the secrets of the heart' thing was going to clear some things up, not make things even more difficult to understand,' Joe thought and he closed his eyes, hoping that that would help him to concentrate.
'Now, what do I feel when I get these images of the girl? Well, I feel. . . I feel happy, like everything is the way it's supposed to be. I feel. . . well, I feel as if I would travel the whole way around the world and back just to pick up a leaf for her if she wanted it. Why do I feel this way with this little girl? That's exactly the same way that I feel about Mimi . . . is it possible that the little girl that I remember is Mimi? But then again, why do I feel this way for both of them? I don't even know what this feeling is, it's just a sense of wholeness, like I've found what I've been missing in my life. Wait a minute. . . Isn't that the feeling that people describe when they have found the person that they love? Does this mean that I love Mimi? I don't know. . .' Joe was getting even more confused as time passed, muddling himself up and repeating thoughts until he couldn't think straight anymore.
"What's up Joe? I know that you feel like you have to make a responsible decision and that is what is holding you back, but you have to learn that sometimes you have to make decisions based on what you feel and not just because you feel that it's the most responsible thing to do. I believe that you will find the answer Joe, I know that you will. You just have to rely on your feelings to get you through and you'll find the answer," as quickly as he had come, Gomamon disappeared out of the cottage again, leaving Joe to ponder on his words.
'You're right; I do have to rely on my feelings. I've been trying to hide the fact that I'm in love with Mimi because I thought that everybody would call me irresponsible for loving her. My crest is of Reliability and I know now that I have to rely on my feelings and my instincts as well as my thoughts. Now I just have to find Mimi and tell her what I've been hiding in my heart. . . If I can gather up the courage that is. . .' Joe stood, his crest glowing a bright silver and walked out of the cottage, ready to tell the girl of his dreams what he felt about her. . .
End of Chapter 7
Well, sorry if this chapter was really bad, but I stayed up all of last night at my friend's house, so yeah. I'm kind of dead at the minute. I added Jomi and Taiora to this chapter, well, 1 side to both of those love thingies. I will update again tomorrow as I am starting to get back into this fic after coming up with another idea for another digimon fic, which is Taiora of course! I won't write that fic though until I have finished this one, which will probably be in a couple of days. Please review and tell me what you think about this fic, I really appreciate reviews and people's opinions!! I really do cherish them! Please review!