"Wanting to see you but not being able to,
Ending like that is kind of sad
Because being able to finally
See you and the kindness
That I received from you is still in my heart
And I'll give it to anyone
That's the important thing 'Goodbye' brought to me."
Juri Katou—"Sayonara dake ga Shitteta"
(Translated by Riah-chan)

With Broken Wings
Chapter Fifteen: "Sayonara dake ga Shitteta"

The Elecmon fired his Sparkling Thunder attack, causing it to circle around the Kaiser. Next, the Unimon fired his attack, and the Gotsumon his. Though he could not hear them, much less see them due to the vicious attacks, he was still conscious via the pain that coursed through him. The Digimon had taken it upon themselves to decide his fate. This desert was their courtroom, and his guilt was obvious. This pole was his method of execution. There was no death row for him to wait on. The Digimon had turned the tables. They were now judge, jury, and executioner.

There was a brief pause in attacks, allowing the Kaiser to see a familiar brown-haired boy on the ground. His cerulean eyes were in vast contrast to his darkly tanned skin, and they sparkled even in the overshadowed desert.

"Akiyama-san," the Kaiser whispered. "Ryo niisan!" But his cries for help went unheeded as the fifteen-year-old Tamer turned and walked away, cuing several new spectators to join in the battle.

Each new attack lit up their faces, but to the Kaiser, they were no more than a blur. They were just faceless blurs releasing beams of gold, purple, green, yellow, orange, and red to murder him. But wait… There was something familiar about all of them…

But before he could even see who they were, his data exploded and scattered to the wind.

Kouichi sat up in bed, gasping for air. He'd had that nightmare for about three months straight now, ever since that encounter with the hooded person in the Digital World. His voice… His voice was so familiar… But why? What tie did he have to him? To anyone?

He got out of his red silk-sheeted bed and opened his window. The cool autumn breeze met up, along with the scent of salt and sea. Around him, bright lights illuminated a city that was his to spare or crush. Where had he thought that before? On the beach in Japan. How long had it been since he'd sifted through that sand, had that feeling of sovereignty?

He stroked the black feathers of a raven he had in a cage beside the window. The bird could look out and see freedom, but it could never attain it himself.

In Jewish tradition, there was a ritual to forgive sins. The community would choose a live goat and symbiotically place upon it the sins and guilt of the people before releasing it. The word "scapegoat" had originated from there, and the feelings of hate and guilt had long since been placed on people rather than animals.

Kouichi opened the cage and let the blackbird perch on his finger. It was nearly eclipsed against the ebony shade of his nightclothes. Ignoring all else, Kouichi checked its clipped wings and saw that they were not fit for flying. He removed his black-and-gray digivice and switched to the stolen Spirits of Light. Immediately, he could feel his D-scanner burning in his hands with a white-hot light (Hadn't someone once spread a rumor of a burning white light that would kill whomever saw Kouji? Kouichi wondered), but he could not choose his own to use. The Spirits of Light had the power to heal; Darkness could only bring destruction and death.

With short exposure to the shining power, the raven's wings healed. It wasted no time in spreading those new wings and flying out the window, flying away to freedom.

As Kouichi stared at the blackbird flying to the city, he wondered how the ancient Jews had felt at the repent of their sins. Did they feel relieved or guilty? As for him, he felt only mild disgust.

He would have to wait until he had Kouji before he could taunt an animal with unattainable freedom.

Martinez landed on a deserted ice field. Rather than turning the jet off, he opened the door and turned to the others.

"Zachary, Kouji, you're on your own," he explained. "If you need help, contact me or track me down. I'm going to be in the jet." He shivered underneath his fur-lined coat. "Too cold for my taste."

Kouji exited the jet, followed by Zachary Wallace, his partner on this mission. Both wore white down parkas and pants with off-white scarves, backpacks, boots, hats, and gloves so as to blend in with their icy surroundings. The only dark color they donned were the black goggles that shielded their eyes from the intense white splendor.

"Hey, wait up!" Zachary called. He didn't run, but walked quickly to reach him. When he finally caught up, he observed all the ice around them. "I've never seen this much ice and snow since…" The memory of his friends took that opportunity to enter his mind. "Since before the fighting began." A chilled wind blew at them.

"How did the fighting begin?" Kouji asked quietly.

"It all began when the Chosen and a bunch of other kids defeated BelialVamdemon."

"Ki mentioned some other kids—Keiko, Noriko, Hiroshi, and Takashi?"

"That's them, along with a bunch of others just like them. The battle was hard fought and ended in a bittersweet victory. Sure, the world was saved from the Darkness that was shrouding it, but more was lost than gained. Electricity had run out due to the Darkness, and many people on life support died in the Real World. True, now there were a whole lot of new Chosen, but we lost Iori."

"How?"

"He was trying to help a man named Oikawa get out of a portal that was closing, but Oikawa died as he was helping him." Tears were evident in his eyes, despite his dark goggles. "It wasn't fair. Iori was only nine! He shouldn't have faced that! He was practically carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, and we let him down! We didn't help him.

"After that death, Iori completely lost his mind. He spent a whole year in the hospital, in the psych ward, trying to deal with what had happened. In a way, I envy him. He didn't have to see his friends break apart.

"Hikari began having strange dreams around February, and she blamed them on Ken. In them, she saw a young man dying at the hands of someone who looked exactly like Ken, dressed in the Kaiser's outfit too." Kouji stared back in silent shock. "I don't want you to feel guilty over what happened next because you had nothing really to do with it. Hikari has a power far stronger than any I've ever seen. She could sense your pain from worlds away, and you never knew she could. Her gift is far stronger than Kouichi's or yours is. Because of these dreams, Hikari got in a fight with Ken, and Takeru soon joined in. Meanwhile, Wallace had just broken up with Miyako, who was bitter with everyone. The older Chosen couldn't handle it, and it was certainly proven true in a battle with Demon."

"And what about Daisuke?" Kouji questioned. He was still in shock over his role in all of this, but he had to know exactly what had happened.

"Daisuke officially gave up on everyone in February, just before Taichi, Yamato, and Sora began a trial run of the portal to this world. Taichi said that giving up was his biggest mistake, and I agree with him on that, but after seeing what happened to his Digimon, Chibimon… Daisuke eventually began working with Wallace, Koushiro, and Gennai on contacting Ryo and monitoring this world. It was up to them and Taichi to tell Ryo that the Chosen Children were no more. The look on his face and that haunted look in his eyes are something I'll never forget. One event had claimed Iori, and another had claimed not only the Chosen, but this world too." He let out a breath of misty warm air. "You were in Cell 24, right?" He received a nod. "I heard it was harsh." Another nod. "And cold." Yet another nod. "Which is colder: here or there?"

For a long time, Kouji was silent, only now not because he was still in shock over Zachary's revelation. He examined the landscape with a pair of binoculars and continued breathing through the scarf wrapped around him. In the distance, waves could be heard breaking across stone beaches, where penguins would be nesting and seals would be feeding. The freighter would be somewhere near there, and he knew they'd have to explore it and interrogate the crew and passengers.

The cold Antarctic wind bit into him again, chilling him through his thick clothes. Though it was summer in the Southern Hemisphere, Antarctica would continue to be cold, harsh, and inhospitable. But there was a strange beauty in its barren landscape and cruel kindness, magnified by the luminescent aurora austrialis above them. As he looked at the iridescent Southern Lights, he felt a sense of calm, a sense of purpose…a sense of closeness to those he would soon return to. This was something he'd never felt before, and it ended the alienated and ostracized feelings he'd had since he was old enough to understand that "goodbye" was eternal.

"There."

Just like any other day, Sundays were very busy in Hong Kong. People strayed around the city, either with nothing to do, or in the process of finding something to do. But in the midst of it all, a blonde Italian-Japanese girl was walking with a small brunette Japanese girl, just wandering down Bird Street. From time to time, the small girl would stop and gaze at the caged feathered creatures. It was anyone's guess what was on her mind, but she would always continue walking beside the older girl, her brown pigtails bobbing up and down. While the older girl wore a forest green hooded T-shirt with black jeans and a midnight blue cotton jacket, the younger wore a pale lavender qipao decorated with pink sakura petals.

"Izumi," called a familiar masculine voice. The older girl turned to see a boy her age in a denim jacket decorated with flames, black T-shirt, and black-and-gray athletic pants. Atop his head was a white fisherman's hat, concealing his hair and part of his face. Save for the hat and jacket, he was dressed to disappear quickly in the shadows.

"Ki," she recognized.

"Nice to see you again," he replied, bowing carefully enough not to cause his hat to fall off. "And who is this?"

"This is Kouri," Izumi introduced. "She's Kouji's sister."

"Hello," he greeted. "It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," she answered. "But is your name really Ki? That's a funny name."

"No," he replied. "That's what your brother, Izumi, and all of their friends call me."

"What is your real name?" she questioned. He knelt down and whispered it in her ear.

"But you can't tell anyone," he added. "Kouichi would find us all too easily."

"Okay," she whispered back.

Izumi watched them nervously, remembering Takuya's words from the previous Tuesday. Just how much was Ki keeping from them anyway? And why was he keeping it? They were all on the same side, so no one should have been keeping secrets.

He stood up and began walking with them down the narrow streets lined with shops, people, and caged birds. "I've come to hate seeing anything in a cage. I'd hate to have to look out and see everyone else basking in the glow of freedom while I'm locked away in the shadow of detainment."

For some reason, the topic dealt a hard blow to Izumi. She could only think of Kouji's past in Kouichi's base, and the slaves that were left behind. "I haven't been able to contact Kouji for two days now," she informed. "I keep getting a dead signal."

"Don't worry," he assured. "He's just in an area where there's no phone service."

"Where is he?" Kouri asked. "Is it far?"

"Yes it is," he answered. "But don't worry. He's just going to scout a suspicious ship, and then he'll come home. My agents said Kouichi would have to be crazy to set up base in a place as cold as that."

"Where could they possibly be where it would be that cold?" Izumi questioned.

"Down south."

"Well, there's the ship," Zachary observed, seeing it upon the stony shores. "I guess we'd better go in and investigate." He started to head toward it when he noticed Kouji wasn't following. "What's wrong?"

"Why would the captain beech his freighter like that?" he asked. "It makes no sense."

"The only way to find out is to go in and stake it out," Zachary decided, but Kouji still didn't move. "Now what's wrong?"

"Have you ever felt like you've just approached your own grave?" His partner shook his head. "Never mind then. Just a bad feeling I have."

"Maybe we should just head back to Martinez," Zachary suggested. "If you don't feel comfortable with this, we won't look."

"No. I promised that I'd help, so I'm not going to back out now." Zachary laughed. "What?"

"Nothing. You just reminded me of Iori, that's all. He always says that, never giving up on a mission, even if he can't take it. The two of you are exactly the same."

He carefully removed a grappling iron from his pack and hooked it to a lifeboat. Then he meticulously brought the boat down, allowing him and Kouji to climb in and use the pulleys to work it as a primitive elevator. Once they were on deck, they began to look around.

All of the cabins were vacant and too spick-and-span to have housed anyone in recent times. The galley was fully stocked with enough food for all legs of the journey, and appeared as though the two explorers were the first to set foot in it in months. Becoming even more wary, Kouji headed for the bridge, where it was obvious that no one had manned the helm. All the navigator's maps were neatly locked away, and nothing had been touched until he'd walked in. The ship was as barren as the continent itself.

"Let's leave," he decided. "This is a trap."

A red bird suddenly landed on deck, freezing them in their tracks. The only birds that could survive this cold were penguins, puffins, and few other seabirds. It was followed by another bird, and then another, until the whole sky was no more than a spread of beaks and red feathers. The winged creatures created a giant red circle around them. In an instant, their intentions were clear to Kouji, and a wave of panic swept over his normally calm persona.

"Run!" he ordered.

Zachary raced toward the lifeboat elevator, motioning for Kouji to join him, but the birds refused to let him exit their ring, and proved so by spreading their wings so the tips would connect. Each bird spontaneously burst into flame, creating a blood-colored ring of fire from which a dome of shadows emerged. And Kouji knew it was futile to try and escape a Zone Deleter and expect to come out unscathed.

"Just run!" he shouted to his friend in the lifeboat. "I'll find another way out!"

This Zone Deleter was just the same as the one Velgmon had continually used during his time as Cherubimon's pawn. When the dome was fully closed, it would detonate, showering everything inside with a type of red antimatter that would delete everything in its path. Fortunately, it had a certain range, and could not obliterate anything below a certain amount of meters. As he dashed down the stairs separating the decks of the ship, Kouji hoped he would reach that frontier before the dome closed.

A large explosion was audible above him. He dared to glance up and see every deck above disintegrating from the red antimatter. The same would happen to him if he didn't do something right then and there. Quickly, he rolled off the walled banister and freefell several decks before grabbing hold of another wall. He pulled himself up and tumbled down the stairs a little bit before reaching level ground near a door. Remembering every safety tip he'd learned in kindergarten, he broke down the door and stood in the doorway as the entire stairwell, and indeed the whole ship, collapsed on top of him.

Without any warning, Kouri looked up at the sky over Bird Street, a terrified look in her sparkling blue eyes.

"What is it?" Izumi questioned.

"Something happened to Kouji," she alerted.

"What?" Ki asked.

"She has a strange sixth sense," Izumi explained. "She knows what Kouji thinks, how he feels, and the emotions he's hiding. He and Kouichi have it too, but neither shows it has strongly."

"Hikari Yagami has the same thing," Ki informed with a grave tone. "Her Digimon didn't, her brother Taichi didn't, but she did. She could always sense the powers of Darkness and Light, even better than the Digimon, and boundaries between worlds didn't hold her back. The other Chosen couldn't feel it from a distance the way she could, so she acted as an alert system of sorts, letting them all know when the World of Darkness was opening its gates. If not for her, we would never have known of the Kaiser's exodus to this world." A tear left one of his regret-stained eyes, but he ignored it and continued. "This gift is extremely rare, and is as much of a curse as it is a blessing. We always assumed the gift was associated with the power of Light, but if Kouri has it stronger than Kouji does, then it must depend on Darkness as well. Koushiro would understand it—he could explain it better than I can. Basically, because of her gift, Kouri will be in danger. Don't let her out of your sight even for a minute, understand?"

"Yes, but what could happen?"

"Do I really need to tell you?" Izumi shook her head. Satisfied, he knelt down next to Kouri again and handed her what appeared to be a piece of glass. "Hold onto this all the time for me, okay?"

"Okay."

"Good. Izumi, what time is it?"

"Just after noon, why?"

"If you want to know more about the gift, ask Hikari. She'll be here in a few hours, but she'll be waiting for the other Chosen to get here, so she won't get to meet you right away. But she'll tell you." At this point, Izumi didn't know if she wanted to hear what Hikari had to say. But before she could speak her mind, Ki changed the subject. "You two must be hungry. I'll buy you lunch."

They located a vender and Ki paid for three fried dough snacks to hold them over until he finally found a place to buy steamed dumplings. After finding a low wall to sit on, the trio ate a very quiet lunch.

"Why do you look so sad all the time?" Kouri asked, catching both by surprise. "I mean Ki. You're like Kouji. You look sad a lot."

Momentarily, Ki marveled at how quickly Kouri had picked that up. It would have taken Hikari more than a first meeting to determine that, but Kouri was also younger, and used to that regret in her brother. And it was odd that she'd compared him to Kouji. That was not the person he'd have compared himself to.

"I lost a lot of friends," he answered simply.

"How?"

"Most I lost in a fight, but one I lost before that. He had to go to the hospital for a very long time."

"Why? Was he sick?"

"No. He just saw some things that he should never have faced."

It was nearly midnight in Hong Kong, and in the Tenshis' small apartment, the only illumination came from the glow of Kage's computer screen as he continued typing. The soft light reflected off Cyberdramon's silver helmet and shone in BlackWarGreymon's golden eyes. Nearby, Taiyou leaned against the wall, her arms crossed and her face half-concealed by the night.

"I don't see why you bother to help him," she commented.

"I help because I have to," Kage replied, typing away. This had to be the fourth time this week they'd had that argument, it sometimes breaking into a fistfight. Every time, it was always the same. "BlackWarGreymon, what were their locations?"

"They were approaching from the harbor, but we were able to stop them in time."

"Imperials?" Taiyou guessed. Her brother nodded. "Here?"

"I think they may have been on leave, but we still have to be careful. Cyberdramon and BlackWarGreymon are enough to keep any strays at bay for a while, but not for long. The only way to stop this is to help Kouji."

She grunted her disapproval. "I hate it when you're right." Kage grinned. "So where's the little halfling now?"

"The South Pole, according to Ki. This is the last mission before we take down the Kaiser. Ki's got other Chosen coming in from all the corners of the world. This is it." He turned from his computer and looked up at his older sister. "This time, we can get the guy who's really responsible for Dad's death."

Taiyou considered arguing with him, informing him that Kouji was still involved in the assassination and therefore liable to punishment, but Cyberdramon's hand on her shoulder made her think otherwise. Though he rarely chose to show it, Kage was in his own kind of mourning, where emotions were pushed aside for personal duty. He was doing this for his father, just as Taiyou did in her way.

"Himi called," she informed. "He wanted to know whether the Chosen or the Tamers were leading the fight. Apparently, he and Tomoki fought over it."

"Well, we have to show that we new Tamers can fight just as well as the ones in the other world, and just as well as the Chosen," Kage decided with a laugh. "But it wouldn't be fair to leave them out. BlackWarGreymon, do you mind sharing the fight?"

"It makes no difference to me."

"And Cyberdramon?" Taiyou added.

"If I must." His reluctance made the siblings laugh.

"All right then," Kage answered. "We wait for Ki and his team to arrive, so we'll have to be ready in case the Kaiser makes the first move." Taiyou and BlackWarGreymon gathered closer while Cyberdramon listened to them read off the battle plan.

Izumi lay half-asleep in bed, trying to get her mind off that morning. Kouri's sense and Ki's warning haunted her, making her wonder what Kouichi's next move would be. She turned to her side and closed her eyes, only to feel two small hands shaking her awake.

"'Zumi?" More shaking. "'Zumi?"

"Kouri, what's wrong?" she asked, sitting up. Tears were spilling over from the small girl's deep blue eyes.

"Something's wrong with Kouji," she replied, crying. "I keep seeing someone hurting him."

"Who? Who's hurting him?"

"A no-faced man."

Izumi pulled her covers back a little bit. "Do you want to sleep in my room tonight?" Kouri nodded before climbing in. She sat in Izumi's lap, clearly scared by her dreams. Izumi held her close. "My mother used to sing this when I couldn't sleep. Do you want to hear it?" Kouri nodded.

As she sang and held the little girl, in her mind's eye, an image formed. Kouji was trekking a long journey across a barren wasteland. He had a scrape across his forehead, but he was all right. He seemed to have aged a few more years emotionally, but the taxation never showed on him. And he had changed in so many ways—she could feel it.

Now she saw that he was not in fact alone. A friend was walking beside him, and in his heart, he held both old friends and new. The photos from their picnic all those four years ago appeared in phantasmic images, followed by the images of the changed Chosen Children; of Sakiko, Kotemon, and Koemon; of Ki; of a blonde boy and a brunette girl; of a girl in a straw hat and a boy with a kendo sword; of the Resistance; and yes, even of Taiyou. They were all with him, even though he couldn't see them or they couldn't see him.

Soon, the beautiful images became ugly as she saw Kouji running for his life in a black-and-white city. A battle between the Resistance and Imperial Guard commenced, seeming to provide no hope for the long night to end. Soon, she saw him drowning in a sea of his own blood, while an anonymous figure laughed in the distant shadows.

A black raven flew away, leaving behind several feathers from its wings.

A fierce battle ignited on the beach between two people: one glowing, and one shadowed. The one who was glowing was obviously Kouji, but the shadowed person was faceless. There was no way to tell who the faceless man was, but he fought with everything Kouji had, and more so. Was it Ki? But why would Ki be fighting Kouji? It didn't make any sense.

Waves swept across their feet throughout the battle, cold water against burning emotions. There would be no true victor in this battle.

It was as if the entire world knew of this battle. People Izumi had never met before were in her mind, cheering on Kouji as the seemingly endless battle spiraled downward. Though emotions were fierce, Izumi could detect no hatred or anger in him. Rather, there was a passion he'd never showed before. He was fighting for the ones he loved.

Suddenly, Kouji collapsed in the sand, much as he'd done three years ago. Izumi gasped in surprise and felt a shiver of fear from Kouri. The feeling they experienced was exactly as Kouji had three years ago described his sense of Kouichi's fall in the Shibuya station: a void of thinking.

The doorbell rang, waking up everyone in the apartment. Izumi and Kouri were the first to reach the door, however, and Izumi gasped in surprise when she looked through the peephole. She hurriedly unlocked the door to reveal Kouji, who, despite a scrape on his forehead, was unharmed in any way. He was still tightly bundled in a thick coat and gloves, so everyone helped him in to avoid the autumn cold outside.

"Are you all right?" Izumi checked.

"Yeah," he answered, peeling his gloves off to reveal his bandaged hands. "I'm a little bruised, but I'm okay. My guide and I got caught in an accident. We were lucky our pilot tracked us down, or we might have frozen."

While a warm reception continued indoors, Zachary Wallace placed a pair of goggles atop his reddish-brown hair. Behind him stood Ki.

"You headed off again?" Zachary asked.

"Yeah. There's something I want to check out."

Zachary offered his hand. "Good luck."

Ki shook it, surprised. Though they were both mission commanders, and therefore obligated to work together, he was surprised that he was still offered fortune and friendship after all this. "Thanks. I'll see you all later."

And then he turned, not really needing to say goodbye.

-san: a rather respectful suffix

Qipao: a Chinese dress

Sakura: cherry blossoms

The raven came from Raven in Zoids. Also, I should have mentioned this to Raven Nightstrider before, but yes, I do write some of the Digimon episode summaries for Anime Admirers, just trying to help Julie out. And before anyone asks, yes, Ki's jacket is Daisuke's when he goes to the Digital World.And, to let people know, the great Ken's luver (Nic) got up her epic "Doppelgangland," the story this was inspired by. She and I bounced ideas off each other for both "Doppel" and "Broken Wings." If you like this, you'll most likely like her story. I won't necessarily say it's the Kenyako version of mine, but the stories are very similar. Basically, it's a 02 meets 02 fic, in which our Ken ends up in another world where Osamu is alive and the Kaiser—just as Kouichi is in this. Ken must join the Resistance (originally not named, but Nic put it in when I wrote this. Like she always says when I do something she did: Great minds think alike) in order to stop him, but he must also remember that Osamu is not the same one he knows.