The Thin Line Between Truth and Trust
-Chapter 8-
one step closer
All he needed now was the final card.
The tanned hand slipped carefully into the pocket of his jacket, folding over a card. He was feeling extremely confident. There was a way to override that blasted code, after all. And he had it all along.
Imagine that.
"Agumon, old pal. You were upset that you couldn't get us back home that time, but you proved useful in the end, anyway. Thank you, Koushiro."
He fingered the card, his eyes closed for a brief moment as the memory had begun to pull him back, justifying his fight even more.
A slow grin crept across his face as he then swiped the card, and waited.
And watched.
On the screen the bright dots representing the planets slowly lined up diagonally. A straight line formed, connecting the dots, and the screen flashed brightly. Outside, there was a sudden lull in the storm as the clouds blew apart with a large gust of wind.
A grim smile now replaced the bright grin that had only been there seconds before, yet it was triumphant. It was time.
: -: -: -: -: -:
"He's doing it now, Angel. He's opening the portal." Jyou's voice was low amidst the sudden strange beeping emitting from the laptop. Immediately he took the cigarette from his mouth and stamped it out, concentrating solely on the laptop, an expletive falling from his lips.
"What?!"
The light flickered, but did not go out.
"Now?!" The cigarette slipped from Sora's fingers as she jumped up from her crate. "So much for Plan A. The bastard works fast, doesn't he."
Takeru, upon hearing the noise, immediately turned back to the window, grimacing as he felt his heart plunge deep into his chest. The window, despite the state of the place, was one of the main reasons that particular hideaway had been chosen.
"Dammit." Takeru muttered. The space left by the clouds was widening, and it was obvious that the wind had grown stronger. It now sent a chill through the already frigid room, though perhaps warmer due to the tension.
He clenched his hands into fists, storming over to the laptop.
"We all knew it was a possibility," Hikari said, as she and Mimi had also gotten to their feet, staring at the screen. It was still beeping incoherently, the sound growing louder and the beeps longer and more consistent. "It's time."
Jyou was typing furiously, but the screen suddenly glowed so brightly that he had to shield his eyes.
"This thing can blow any second. It can't take all of this energy."
Takeru nodded, staring at the laptop.
"What happens when it does?" Hikari was concerned. "We knew that Koushiro's laptop could handle this kind of energy, but we hadn't taken into consideration what we would do if he suddenly became unavailable.."
Mimi shot her a glare. "Do you have to talk about him with such remove?"
"He's dead," Hikari said impassively. "How else do you want me to talk about him?"
"Damn it!" Takeru refrained from tossing a couple of the crates across the room. Inwardly he was seething, but he knew that right now, it was important that they remained focused.
"He took us by surprise.." Jyou muttered, typing furiously. The light seemed to be expanding even further from the screen. "I'm going for the countermove."
"The countermove?" Takeru and Hikari gasped.
"We knew it would come to that, one way or another." Sora said huskily.
"But can this laptop handle it, is the question.."
"To countermove or not to countermove, that is the question.." Sora drawled.
"What are you talking about?" Mimi was staring at the screen, then back and forth from Jyou and Takeru in horror. "What are you going to do?"
"They couldn't thwart Tai," Sora said dryly, kneeling down to look for her lost cigarette, "So they are going to try and go within. Dangerous technique, but it's the only way to put an end to this.."
A heel came down on the cigarette before she could reach it. "That was out of my hard earned cash!"
Hikari laughed harshly. "We'll worry about your priorities later. As of now, we have a mission to complete. Are you still in?"
Sora grunted, getting to her feet. "Why else would I be here, when I could otherwise be underground?"
"What is the countermove?" Mimi demanded, as all of them crowded Jyou around the laptop. His tongue was pressed between his lips in sheer concentration. At his temples, small beads of sweat began to form.
"Simple. The portal is being opened now. We're merely trying to find a way to shut it before Tai finds his way through completely. Though who knows if it's too late for that already," Hikari finally answered her, sounding a bit annoyed. "The countermove was more of a theory, put across to us by Koushiro."
"How is it dangerous?"
A bright flash of light emitted from the screen, and everyone shielded his or her eyes instinctively to avoid being blinded.
"I need space!" Jyou barked suddenly, catching everyone off guard. "This is extremely critical."
The women stepped back, slowly. Takeru rushed over to the window.
"That answer your question?" Hikari gave Mimi a pointed look.
Mimi closed her eyes. "Can Jyou handle it? He seems really.. stressed."
"It would have been preferable had we had Koushiro," Sora said, already reaching into her purse for another cigarette but then stopping when she remembered that Jyou was the only one with a lighter and that he was quite busy. "But we made sure that one or more of us were able to handle the situation if it came up. Something, which I have NEVER DOUBTED."
The last two words were said loudly and on purpose, with a nod in Takeru's direction.
"You seem to be singing a different tune from before, Sora.." Hikari said airily, moving away from them with irritation to join Takeru at the window.
"But there IS another back up plan, isn't there? What if Jyou breaks under pressure? What if the laptop breaks under pressure? Has there been anything ELSE that I should probably be informed of?"
"This is the first time we've had the chance to deal with it hands on. Jyou is NOT likely to break under pressure-he's a damn Doctor, upstanding and all that. Right now, anything that we could have been prepared for is nil. Just keep your mouth shut and be ready for instructions." The aggravation in Sora's tone was very apparent.
Takeru rested his fingertips on the glass. "Damn it."
Hikari put her hand on his shoulder. "Jyou will take care of it."
"Even if the counter program works, we don't have the security to keep the gates closed or know what else Tai could have to block us. It is only in theory, after all. All of our information is, despite this text. He has us in a check, now. It's up to Jyou whether we can get out of it and make the next move."
The light flickered again, and went out, plunging the room into complete darkness with the only light now provided by the eerie glow of the laptop.
Mimi muttered an expletive under her breath, her eyes traveling to the window. The scattered clouds were lit up with lightening bolts, zapping to one another along the starless sky. To those who didn't understand it, most likely it would seem beautiful, or they would explain it as something else.
"Well, we should have expected this. He always wins." Sora tucked an errant wisp of red behind her ear and groaned heavily.
"He will NOT win!" Takeru said abruptly, and all of them, except for Jyou, looked at him.
"Angel, get over here." Jyou demanded suddenly, and Takeru quickly rushed to his side. "Get to Izzy's house. See if he made any additional notes, then call me immediately. With the opening of the portal, and the amount of power that is being generated by the alignment, there might be another lead. I need that, now."
Takeru nodded. "I should have done that immediately. See you in two shakes." He quickly started for the door.
Mimi started to follow but Hikari held her back. "Let him go. He has to concentrate."
"But what can –we- do, besides standing around being useless?"
"See, that's why it was better when you were out of this." Sora grumbled, stepping over to the window as the sound of Takeru's mustang zoomed off.
Hikari went over to Jyou, massaging his shoulders. "Have you gotten anything?"
"Not yet," The doctor muttered. "He has it blocked at every turn. I was so sure that we had him this time. He must have had something-some tool, perhaps- that allowed him to bypass most of Koushiro's code. We don't know how much information he got from him, if any. Perhaps it could have been a cover.." He was still typing, and Hikari dabbed at the sweat with a hankie.
"Izzy was crucial. Without him, it's practically a lost battle." Sora folded her arms crossly.
"Not entirely. We do know that Tai was interrupted. With any luck, Koushiro's computer might be connected to the network and he could have received something after his death."
"Unless Tai went back there to retrieve it, knowing we'd be gone." Mimi muttered.
"Whatever the case, we must continue the fight for the cause," Hikari sighed, glancing up at the ceiling. "Or die trying."
"If it comes to that." Jyou said, squinting into the blinding light provided by the laptop. "By the time all this is over, we would either have avoided any more bloodshed, or Koushiro's death was the marking of the beginning."
"Which in itself isn't entirely heartwarming." Sora replied, blandly.
"More death?" Mimi sank weakly onto the couch.
"Something you'll have to get used to."
"We're hoping to avoid it," Hikari said matter-of-factly. "But we always knew that there is always the possibility. Tai would do anything to get what he wants. You saw that quite clearly."
"Tai or whoever is ordering him," Mimi snapped. "Did any of you ever consider –that- possibility?"
Sora laughed harshly. "Do you mean 'they', the 'they' that he refers to ever so fondly of? I'm sure that's just a cover. There really isn't much more of a 'they' as there is an 'us'. They're in it to be rebels and teach the world a lesson for shunning us. We just want to maintain order. It doesn't matter WHO is behind it. We just know where we stand."
Hikari raised an eyebrow. "And did you receive this news from Taichi himself?"
"Just because I knew him, or thought I knew him, hardly matters right now." Sora rolled her eyes. "That is not our purpose now, and nor does it need to be discussed. Didn't we already say that?"
"It is just as important to know who and what we're dealing with." Mimi pulled her hair back into a ponytail and tied it back with a spare rubber band. "So let's not bicker." She sniffed the air suddenly. "What is that smell.. it smells like smoke.."
"Jyou and I were smoking. Don't you think you've been smelling THAT this whole time?" Sora said blandly from her position at the window.
"It's not that, it's different."
The strange beeping noise started up again, this time louder than before, stopping the banter, which left Jyou muttering a string of expletives that left most of them stunned. Hikari tried her best to massage his shoulders and keep him calm, but the sweat was pouring out of his forehead as he leaned in closer, typing more furiously.
"Well, we always knew of the possibility that the countermove would fail." Sora replied, though her back was to them as she was peering out of the window.
"It is –not- going to fail." Jyou said through gritted teeth.
"Doc, lay off that thing. It's gonna implode or something, and then we wouldn't have much of a choice, would we?" Sora turned around, arching a heavily painted eyebrow.
"If they stop us now, they win." Hikari snapped. "Unless you're ready for the other backup plan, Sky, which I highly doubt you're willing.."
Sora laughed darkly. "My willingness hardly matters now, does it?"
"Well, you have a choice here. You can abandon the cause, now, go underground somewhere, and try to keep living your life."
"You'd actually do that?" Mimi said in disbelief. "You'd –leave-, even though you've been in this from the beginning?"
"Shut up Mimi. You hardly have a say." Sora snapped, then looked back to Hikari. "No, Light. As I see it, there really wouldn't be much of a life outside of this, anyway. The other plan hadn't been well laid out at all; I'm surprised you'd even think of it. What are you going to be doing, while I'm out saving society?"
Hikari leveled her gaze with Sora, and then smirked. "You should know full well of my priorities. We all still have our meager hands to play."
"Then why are we sitting here talking in code when we could be –doing- something?" Mimi demanded. "Do we just sit and wait for him to attack us?"
Hikari sighed. "It is called the waiting game. It's act or react. Right now, we are reacting. We can't make a move until we have a sign that something can be done."
"And we still need Angel to call." Sora added blandly, turning back to look out of the window.
"What if someone stopped him?"
"We can't afford what-if's now, Mimi. We deal with it when it happens, alright?"
Mimi opened her mouth as if she were going to say something, but the sudden ringing of Jyou's cell phone halted all train of thought.
"Finally," He muttered, quickly taking his black phone out and putting it to his ear, keeping his eyes trained as he eased it onto his neck.
"What's your status?"
Hikari craned in to listen, wiping the sweat again from Jyou's forehead.
"Something's happening.." Sora murmured, staring out the window. Mimi seemed torn, wanting to move over to the screen but instead looking back in Sora's direction and joining her.
A silence fell over them, save Jyou on the phone. "Damn. Is there anything else?"
The lightening was becoming more frequent, and for one moment the view seemed to morph and completely alter so that instead of looking across at the parking lots and the bay, there was a stretch of foliage, in many rich shades of green, and stone, yet an undeterminable darkness within it; both Sora and Mimi gasped before the scene changed back to normal.
"What is it?" Hikari asked, glancing over at them.
"Doc better hurry up. Some strange things are appearing, and I know it just isn't hallucinations." Sora rolled her eyes. "Though naturally, everyone will come to regard it as such, even though they won't be able to explain away."
"Sure they will. Your opium."
Sora laughed.
A few more minutes of this continued, when Jyou suddenly shut off the phone and resumed typing furiously.
"What did he say?" Mimi asked, but was cut off by a warning look from Kari.
A sudden crackling sound gathered the attention of the women, who all glanced towards the window as the screen of the laptop flashed a brilliant white, blinding them as a strange wind began moving about the room.
: -: -: -: -: -:
Takeru had raced his mustang as quickly as he could to Koushiro's apartment, his heart throbbing wildly in his chest, mostly speeding, save for that large traffic pileup as the apparent struggle between Taichi and Jyou became more apparent.
He had been attempting to consider the many thoughts in his mind while driving, his radio blaring the news and, naturally, the mystifying things that had everyone confused and wondering.
"Only I know how to open the gate," Koushiro's voice flashed across his mind. "For all of our sakes, lets hope it stays that way."
"If they get this information somehow.." Takeru's eyes closed tightly.
It was a warm night, some few months ago, after the pact had been made, and Jyou still not returning from wherever he had gone. In the privacy of one of the abandoned buildings that Takeru used for a safe house, he had a private meeting with Koushiro. The air was dingy and dusty, yet that didn't seem to have much affect on their conversation.
"They won't. They /can't/, TK. This is the reason why we split up in the first place. Our mission was once to protect the world; we have to protect it from each other."
"And what about the prophecy?" He had demanded, his eyes opening and flashing. "You said that you had gotten some information, yet nothing to share with the group."
"I can't divulge information about that either," Koushiro murmured, his eyes looking upwards at the mangy ceiling and the skylights on the attic roof. "Only when I am no longer able to maintain my position will that become known. You'll know."
"Did ..he.. know?"
Koushiro sighed. "Matt and I were the ones who discovered it, though now I need to decipher the rest. While then we could only decipher one part, I have made progress, but there are things which block me still."
"Matt mentioned my destiny. Do you know it too?"
Koushiro frowned. "The prophecy plays a small role. The more you do to prevent it will make it come true; the more you try to fulfill it, the more difficult it becomes. Which is why you're better not knowing."
"That doesn't make any sense. Why do /you/ know?"
Koushiro closed his eyes. "I cannot explain that now. Sorry."
"He wanted to prevent ..something." Takeru said slowly.
Koushiro pushed a hand back through his auburn spikes. "The situation is not pleasant, nor can it be avoided. We need more solid facts. We need to find more outlets for the others. They seem very close to the core, and the rest are floating, waiting to be snapped up by Them or Us. We can't have anyone else at risk, Takeru."
Takeru bit his lip. "Perhaps 'they' got wind of it, and that's why they are acting out?"
"It would explain a great deal. We have got to start small, though. We can't rally each and every one of the original group; of course, there is the probability that /they/ will get to the others first. We have to be very careful."
"And what if we fail?"
Koushiro looked him in the eye. "Some of us are guardians, Takeru. We cannot afford to fail."
Takeru closed his eyes tightly for a moment, his hands clenched into fists before he returned to his task at hand: finding any mislaid documentations by Koushiro and probing deep into the heart of the matter. He had yet to pick up the phone and call the others: he had thought it over in his mind, and was going to delay it.
He called him Takeru. Not Angel. Takeru. Somehow Takeru wished it had stayed that way. Koushiro hadn't adapted to the nicknames until about a month or so before. Yet he never really had one besides Izzy.
Names were like keys..
After all, the brunt was still on his shoulders, though the amount of what he understood was still on a very small scale.
'First Matt, then you Izzy. What the hell were you trying to tell me?"
-Chapter 8-
one step closer
All he needed now was the final card.
The tanned hand slipped carefully into the pocket of his jacket, folding over a card. He was feeling extremely confident. There was a way to override that blasted code, after all. And he had it all along.
Imagine that.
"Agumon, old pal. You were upset that you couldn't get us back home that time, but you proved useful in the end, anyway. Thank you, Koushiro."
He fingered the card, his eyes closed for a brief moment as the memory had begun to pull him back, justifying his fight even more.
A slow grin crept across his face as he then swiped the card, and waited.
And watched.
On the screen the bright dots representing the planets slowly lined up diagonally. A straight line formed, connecting the dots, and the screen flashed brightly. Outside, there was a sudden lull in the storm as the clouds blew apart with a large gust of wind.
A grim smile now replaced the bright grin that had only been there seconds before, yet it was triumphant. It was time.
: -: -: -: -: -:
"He's doing it now, Angel. He's opening the portal." Jyou's voice was low amidst the sudden strange beeping emitting from the laptop. Immediately he took the cigarette from his mouth and stamped it out, concentrating solely on the laptop, an expletive falling from his lips.
"What?!"
The light flickered, but did not go out.
"Now?!" The cigarette slipped from Sora's fingers as she jumped up from her crate. "So much for Plan A. The bastard works fast, doesn't he."
Takeru, upon hearing the noise, immediately turned back to the window, grimacing as he felt his heart plunge deep into his chest. The window, despite the state of the place, was one of the main reasons that particular hideaway had been chosen.
"Dammit." Takeru muttered. The space left by the clouds was widening, and it was obvious that the wind had grown stronger. It now sent a chill through the already frigid room, though perhaps warmer due to the tension.
He clenched his hands into fists, storming over to the laptop.
"We all knew it was a possibility," Hikari said, as she and Mimi had also gotten to their feet, staring at the screen. It was still beeping incoherently, the sound growing louder and the beeps longer and more consistent. "It's time."
Jyou was typing furiously, but the screen suddenly glowed so brightly that he had to shield his eyes.
"This thing can blow any second. It can't take all of this energy."
Takeru nodded, staring at the laptop.
"What happens when it does?" Hikari was concerned. "We knew that Koushiro's laptop could handle this kind of energy, but we hadn't taken into consideration what we would do if he suddenly became unavailable.."
Mimi shot her a glare. "Do you have to talk about him with such remove?"
"He's dead," Hikari said impassively. "How else do you want me to talk about him?"
"Damn it!" Takeru refrained from tossing a couple of the crates across the room. Inwardly he was seething, but he knew that right now, it was important that they remained focused.
"He took us by surprise.." Jyou muttered, typing furiously. The light seemed to be expanding even further from the screen. "I'm going for the countermove."
"The countermove?" Takeru and Hikari gasped.
"We knew it would come to that, one way or another." Sora said huskily.
"But can this laptop handle it, is the question.."
"To countermove or not to countermove, that is the question.." Sora drawled.
"What are you talking about?" Mimi was staring at the screen, then back and forth from Jyou and Takeru in horror. "What are you going to do?"
"They couldn't thwart Tai," Sora said dryly, kneeling down to look for her lost cigarette, "So they are going to try and go within. Dangerous technique, but it's the only way to put an end to this.."
A heel came down on the cigarette before she could reach it. "That was out of my hard earned cash!"
Hikari laughed harshly. "We'll worry about your priorities later. As of now, we have a mission to complete. Are you still in?"
Sora grunted, getting to her feet. "Why else would I be here, when I could otherwise be underground?"
"What is the countermove?" Mimi demanded, as all of them crowded Jyou around the laptop. His tongue was pressed between his lips in sheer concentration. At his temples, small beads of sweat began to form.
"Simple. The portal is being opened now. We're merely trying to find a way to shut it before Tai finds his way through completely. Though who knows if it's too late for that already," Hikari finally answered her, sounding a bit annoyed. "The countermove was more of a theory, put across to us by Koushiro."
"How is it dangerous?"
A bright flash of light emitted from the screen, and everyone shielded his or her eyes instinctively to avoid being blinded.
"I need space!" Jyou barked suddenly, catching everyone off guard. "This is extremely critical."
The women stepped back, slowly. Takeru rushed over to the window.
"That answer your question?" Hikari gave Mimi a pointed look.
Mimi closed her eyes. "Can Jyou handle it? He seems really.. stressed."
"It would have been preferable had we had Koushiro," Sora said, already reaching into her purse for another cigarette but then stopping when she remembered that Jyou was the only one with a lighter and that he was quite busy. "But we made sure that one or more of us were able to handle the situation if it came up. Something, which I have NEVER DOUBTED."
The last two words were said loudly and on purpose, with a nod in Takeru's direction.
"You seem to be singing a different tune from before, Sora.." Hikari said airily, moving away from them with irritation to join Takeru at the window.
"But there IS another back up plan, isn't there? What if Jyou breaks under pressure? What if the laptop breaks under pressure? Has there been anything ELSE that I should probably be informed of?"
"This is the first time we've had the chance to deal with it hands on. Jyou is NOT likely to break under pressure-he's a damn Doctor, upstanding and all that. Right now, anything that we could have been prepared for is nil. Just keep your mouth shut and be ready for instructions." The aggravation in Sora's tone was very apparent.
Takeru rested his fingertips on the glass. "Damn it."
Hikari put her hand on his shoulder. "Jyou will take care of it."
"Even if the counter program works, we don't have the security to keep the gates closed or know what else Tai could have to block us. It is only in theory, after all. All of our information is, despite this text. He has us in a check, now. It's up to Jyou whether we can get out of it and make the next move."
The light flickered again, and went out, plunging the room into complete darkness with the only light now provided by the eerie glow of the laptop.
Mimi muttered an expletive under her breath, her eyes traveling to the window. The scattered clouds were lit up with lightening bolts, zapping to one another along the starless sky. To those who didn't understand it, most likely it would seem beautiful, or they would explain it as something else.
"Well, we should have expected this. He always wins." Sora tucked an errant wisp of red behind her ear and groaned heavily.
"He will NOT win!" Takeru said abruptly, and all of them, except for Jyou, looked at him.
"Angel, get over here." Jyou demanded suddenly, and Takeru quickly rushed to his side. "Get to Izzy's house. See if he made any additional notes, then call me immediately. With the opening of the portal, and the amount of power that is being generated by the alignment, there might be another lead. I need that, now."
Takeru nodded. "I should have done that immediately. See you in two shakes." He quickly started for the door.
Mimi started to follow but Hikari held her back. "Let him go. He has to concentrate."
"But what can –we- do, besides standing around being useless?"
"See, that's why it was better when you were out of this." Sora grumbled, stepping over to the window as the sound of Takeru's mustang zoomed off.
Hikari went over to Jyou, massaging his shoulders. "Have you gotten anything?"
"Not yet," The doctor muttered. "He has it blocked at every turn. I was so sure that we had him this time. He must have had something-some tool, perhaps- that allowed him to bypass most of Koushiro's code. We don't know how much information he got from him, if any. Perhaps it could have been a cover.." He was still typing, and Hikari dabbed at the sweat with a hankie.
"Izzy was crucial. Without him, it's practically a lost battle." Sora folded her arms crossly.
"Not entirely. We do know that Tai was interrupted. With any luck, Koushiro's computer might be connected to the network and he could have received something after his death."
"Unless Tai went back there to retrieve it, knowing we'd be gone." Mimi muttered.
"Whatever the case, we must continue the fight for the cause," Hikari sighed, glancing up at the ceiling. "Or die trying."
"If it comes to that." Jyou said, squinting into the blinding light provided by the laptop. "By the time all this is over, we would either have avoided any more bloodshed, or Koushiro's death was the marking of the beginning."
"Which in itself isn't entirely heartwarming." Sora replied, blandly.
"More death?" Mimi sank weakly onto the couch.
"Something you'll have to get used to."
"We're hoping to avoid it," Hikari said matter-of-factly. "But we always knew that there is always the possibility. Tai would do anything to get what he wants. You saw that quite clearly."
"Tai or whoever is ordering him," Mimi snapped. "Did any of you ever consider –that- possibility?"
Sora laughed harshly. "Do you mean 'they', the 'they' that he refers to ever so fondly of? I'm sure that's just a cover. There really isn't much more of a 'they' as there is an 'us'. They're in it to be rebels and teach the world a lesson for shunning us. We just want to maintain order. It doesn't matter WHO is behind it. We just know where we stand."
Hikari raised an eyebrow. "And did you receive this news from Taichi himself?"
"Just because I knew him, or thought I knew him, hardly matters right now." Sora rolled her eyes. "That is not our purpose now, and nor does it need to be discussed. Didn't we already say that?"
"It is just as important to know who and what we're dealing with." Mimi pulled her hair back into a ponytail and tied it back with a spare rubber band. "So let's not bicker." She sniffed the air suddenly. "What is that smell.. it smells like smoke.."
"Jyou and I were smoking. Don't you think you've been smelling THAT this whole time?" Sora said blandly from her position at the window.
"It's not that, it's different."
The strange beeping noise started up again, this time louder than before, stopping the banter, which left Jyou muttering a string of expletives that left most of them stunned. Hikari tried her best to massage his shoulders and keep him calm, but the sweat was pouring out of his forehead as he leaned in closer, typing more furiously.
"Well, we always knew of the possibility that the countermove would fail." Sora replied, though her back was to them as she was peering out of the window.
"It is –not- going to fail." Jyou said through gritted teeth.
"Doc, lay off that thing. It's gonna implode or something, and then we wouldn't have much of a choice, would we?" Sora turned around, arching a heavily painted eyebrow.
"If they stop us now, they win." Hikari snapped. "Unless you're ready for the other backup plan, Sky, which I highly doubt you're willing.."
Sora laughed darkly. "My willingness hardly matters now, does it?"
"Well, you have a choice here. You can abandon the cause, now, go underground somewhere, and try to keep living your life."
"You'd actually do that?" Mimi said in disbelief. "You'd –leave-, even though you've been in this from the beginning?"
"Shut up Mimi. You hardly have a say." Sora snapped, then looked back to Hikari. "No, Light. As I see it, there really wouldn't be much of a life outside of this, anyway. The other plan hadn't been well laid out at all; I'm surprised you'd even think of it. What are you going to be doing, while I'm out saving society?"
Hikari leveled her gaze with Sora, and then smirked. "You should know full well of my priorities. We all still have our meager hands to play."
"Then why are we sitting here talking in code when we could be –doing- something?" Mimi demanded. "Do we just sit and wait for him to attack us?"
Hikari sighed. "It is called the waiting game. It's act or react. Right now, we are reacting. We can't make a move until we have a sign that something can be done."
"And we still need Angel to call." Sora added blandly, turning back to look out of the window.
"What if someone stopped him?"
"We can't afford what-if's now, Mimi. We deal with it when it happens, alright?"
Mimi opened her mouth as if she were going to say something, but the sudden ringing of Jyou's cell phone halted all train of thought.
"Finally," He muttered, quickly taking his black phone out and putting it to his ear, keeping his eyes trained as he eased it onto his neck.
"What's your status?"
Hikari craned in to listen, wiping the sweat again from Jyou's forehead.
"Something's happening.." Sora murmured, staring out the window. Mimi seemed torn, wanting to move over to the screen but instead looking back in Sora's direction and joining her.
A silence fell over them, save Jyou on the phone. "Damn. Is there anything else?"
The lightening was becoming more frequent, and for one moment the view seemed to morph and completely alter so that instead of looking across at the parking lots and the bay, there was a stretch of foliage, in many rich shades of green, and stone, yet an undeterminable darkness within it; both Sora and Mimi gasped before the scene changed back to normal.
"What is it?" Hikari asked, glancing over at them.
"Doc better hurry up. Some strange things are appearing, and I know it just isn't hallucinations." Sora rolled her eyes. "Though naturally, everyone will come to regard it as such, even though they won't be able to explain away."
"Sure they will. Your opium."
Sora laughed.
A few more minutes of this continued, when Jyou suddenly shut off the phone and resumed typing furiously.
"What did he say?" Mimi asked, but was cut off by a warning look from Kari.
A sudden crackling sound gathered the attention of the women, who all glanced towards the window as the screen of the laptop flashed a brilliant white, blinding them as a strange wind began moving about the room.
: -: -: -: -: -:
Takeru had raced his mustang as quickly as he could to Koushiro's apartment, his heart throbbing wildly in his chest, mostly speeding, save for that large traffic pileup as the apparent struggle between Taichi and Jyou became more apparent.
He had been attempting to consider the many thoughts in his mind while driving, his radio blaring the news and, naturally, the mystifying things that had everyone confused and wondering.
"Only I know how to open the gate," Koushiro's voice flashed across his mind. "For all of our sakes, lets hope it stays that way."
"If they get this information somehow.." Takeru's eyes closed tightly.
It was a warm night, some few months ago, after the pact had been made, and Jyou still not returning from wherever he had gone. In the privacy of one of the abandoned buildings that Takeru used for a safe house, he had a private meeting with Koushiro. The air was dingy and dusty, yet that didn't seem to have much affect on their conversation.
"They won't. They /can't/, TK. This is the reason why we split up in the first place. Our mission was once to protect the world; we have to protect it from each other."
"And what about the prophecy?" He had demanded, his eyes opening and flashing. "You said that you had gotten some information, yet nothing to share with the group."
"I can't divulge information about that either," Koushiro murmured, his eyes looking upwards at the mangy ceiling and the skylights on the attic roof. "Only when I am no longer able to maintain my position will that become known. You'll know."
"Did ..he.. know?"
Koushiro sighed. "Matt and I were the ones who discovered it, though now I need to decipher the rest. While then we could only decipher one part, I have made progress, but there are things which block me still."
"Matt mentioned my destiny. Do you know it too?"
Koushiro frowned. "The prophecy plays a small role. The more you do to prevent it will make it come true; the more you try to fulfill it, the more difficult it becomes. Which is why you're better not knowing."
"That doesn't make any sense. Why do /you/ know?"
Koushiro closed his eyes. "I cannot explain that now. Sorry."
"He wanted to prevent ..something." Takeru said slowly.
Koushiro pushed a hand back through his auburn spikes. "The situation is not pleasant, nor can it be avoided. We need more solid facts. We need to find more outlets for the others. They seem very close to the core, and the rest are floating, waiting to be snapped up by Them or Us. We can't have anyone else at risk, Takeru."
Takeru bit his lip. "Perhaps 'they' got wind of it, and that's why they are acting out?"
"It would explain a great deal. We have got to start small, though. We can't rally each and every one of the original group; of course, there is the probability that /they/ will get to the others first. We have to be very careful."
"And what if we fail?"
Koushiro looked him in the eye. "Some of us are guardians, Takeru. We cannot afford to fail."
Takeru closed his eyes tightly for a moment, his hands clenched into fists before he returned to his task at hand: finding any mislaid documentations by Koushiro and probing deep into the heart of the matter. He had yet to pick up the phone and call the others: he had thought it over in his mind, and was going to delay it.
He called him Takeru. Not Angel. Takeru. Somehow Takeru wished it had stayed that way. Koushiro hadn't adapted to the nicknames until about a month or so before. Yet he never really had one besides Izzy.
Names were like keys..
After all, the brunt was still on his shoulders, though the amount of what he understood was still on a very small scale.
'First Matt, then you Izzy. What the hell were you trying to tell me?"