"Two Faces, One Mask"

2. 'Something missing'

"I don't fall how you fall,

I won't hold on,

You can't let go.

When it's pain that I feared

I made you take it slow.

I don't cry how you cry,

There's nothing left in me.

You keep changing my life, every day.

If it burns, I'll keep fueling the same dream,

If you fall, I'll remember to save game,

I don't want your remedy!"

'Remedy' Cold

The dark woman looked at Daemon and then at her fellow Dark Masters. She closed her eyes briefly and when she opened them again, she grinned. "They are asleep."

Daemon looked up sharply and if his face were not concealed they would have seen that he was frowning. "That's a little convenient don't you think? Maybe it's a trap."

The younger male laughed lightly at Daemon; "You are paranoid. Mae and Ken are connected on many levels. Though they are far away from each other, they still feel what the other feels, even though they are not very aware of it. When he is tired, she is tired and so therefore, it is not uncommon to find them sleeping at the same time."

"I see." Daemon growled happily.

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Ken opened his eyes and found he was no longer lying on his bed, but in a dark strange, familiar land. His stomach sank instantly as he realized where he was. He had not seen it for years, but he would recognize it anywhere. The gray world of the Dark Ocean.

"No." he whispered to himself. "Not again."

Something on the distant horizon caught his attention. It was a woman. She was looking out with her back to him but he would recognize the long flowing wavy hair and the emerald dress (though faded like everything else in the Dark world) anywhere. It was Mae, his Crest Guardian. But what was she doing here? She was in New York. He wanted to make his way to her, but felt someone's eyes on him. He turned and frowned at the figure staring at him. She was quite lovely, but the look in her black eyes told him that she was untrustworthy. She flicked her long black hair away from her face and smiled with her crimson lips as she lifted her hand to Ken's face. Her soft palm rested on his check for a moment, before he jumped back. Again, she grinned at him and stepped forward.

"What do you want?" Ken asked through clenched teeth.

"For you to relax, this will be over in a moment…"

"What will…?" but she didn't answer him; instead she dived forward and knocked him to the ground. He struggled to get her off him, but she grabbed his throat with one hand and with the other, she brought her fingers close to his eyes. He yelled out for her to stop, but before his mind could register what she was doing, or before it could register the pain, she had shoved two of her long, slender fingers into his eyes. When she slowly removed them from his sockets, a glowing orb of deep blue, like a gas flame, followed her fingers. Ken blinked several times, and when his vision came back into focus he saw this and frowned.

"What have you done?"

She tore her eyes away from the orb to look down into his blue eyes, now very bruised around the edges. "Taking half your soul."

It took a while for Ken to register what she was saying, "How…what…why…?"

"No time for questions." And she scooped up the orb into the palm of her hand and disappeared before his eyes.

He slowly got to his feet and darted his gaze everywhere in search of Mae, but she too was gone. Surprisingly shaky, Ken fell to his knees and felt the world around him fade to black.

When he awoke again, he was in his apartment on his bed. He sat bolt upright, panting; he brought his hands to his eyes and felt them. Then he darted to a mirror in the bathroom. His eyes were perfectly normal. There was no bruising or marks whatsoever. He sighed, relieved, "Just a dream."

"Ken?" he looked down at Wormmon, "Are you alright?"

"Ah, yeah, buddy, it was just a dream." The twenty-year-old looked around, his face had a clear look of concentration upon it, "Did I remember to turn off the stove this morning?"

Wormmon looked up at him with a frown, "Um, I think so." He replied, rather taken aback by the odd question.

------

On the other side of the world, Mae too, sat bolt upright in her bed, startling Gennai next to her. He put a hand on her shoulder and gently asked her, "What's wrong?"

Her breath was shallow and uneven, "The Dark Masters…they've taken…no, it's not possible…"

Gennai frowned and forced her to look him in the eyes, "Mae, what happened?"

She swallowed, "They…they've taken…they've split our souls."

"What do you mean?"

"They've separated the Light half from the Dark."

Gennai's mouth fell open and a look of total shock came over him as he digested this information and what it could mean. "That means…" He stared at her and his eyes widened, "We have to get to Japan right now."

"No…I mean, you should go to the Digital world to keep an eye on it, I'll go to Japan."

She hopped out of bed, and began to get dressed. Gennai followed suit but he did his dressing with his power to materialize his thoughts. He looked at her, "You don't…I mean?"

She glanced at her hand; "No I haven't used them in a long time." Then she held it out next to her, "But I'm sure I could still open a portal." With all her might, she tried, but nothing happened. And shock came over her features; "They've stripped my powers."

Gennai felt the bottom of his stomach fall away, but tried not to let his worry show on his face. He needed to be strong for her.

He put a reassuring hand on her cheek and opened a portal for her; "We'll get to the bottom of this Mae, I promise you that."

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"Kari, you know I can't do that…" Ken chuckled and took a sip of his coffee.

"Aww just a tiny clue." She giggled and snuggled closer to TK.

Yolei, smiling, rolled her eyes at Kari, "See I told you, no clues on the test from the teacher."

"Oh, Ken," Davis began as he re-joined the group of Digidestined sitting in their favorite booth at the coffee shop, "How's your leg?"

"Oh, it's fine Davis, don't worry about it." Ken waved it away.

"I'm really sorry though." He took a closer look at his best friend, "You okay buddy?"

Ken looked at him and frowned slightly, "Yeah, why?"

"You just look kinda tired."

Yolei took a closer look at her boy friend's eyes, "Yeah, they do seem to have heavy shadows under them. Ken, are you sure you're getting enough sleep? I told you not to work on that…"

"Um, will you excuse me a moment? I'll be right back." And before Ken could hear anymore of Yolei's lecture, he got up and headed for the bathroom. He pushed the door open and studied his face in the mirror. He did indeed have heavy blue shadows under his eyes, but at closer inspection, he saw that they were bruises. His hands shaking, he splashed some cold water on his face and spoke to his reflection. Panic was suddenly coursing through him. "That can't have been real. It was just a nightmare. That's all." Seemingly happy with that futile attempt to assure him self, he left the bathroom and sat back down with his friends. Though, try as he might, he could not focus his attention on any of the conversations.

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Mae looked down at the small piece of paper; she had scribbled Ken's address down on it. She wandered down the hallway and finally found the door that had the number '34' on it in brass. She rapped on the door several times before anxiously looking around. When no answer came, she ran her fingers through her shoulder length, wavy brown hair and placed her left hand in her back pocket of her blue jeans. She knocked again, but still no answer. She sighed deeply and sat down on the floor, with her back leaning against the white door. If she had to she would wait all night there for him.

Suddenly the door opened and she fell backwards. Wormmon and Poromon looked curiously at her and she picked herself up and thanked both of them for letting her in.

"What's wrong Mae?" Wormmon asked, terrified of what the answer might be.

"I should wait till Ken gets back. Where is he?"

Hawkmon looked up at her from where he stood on the couch; "They all went out to movies and coffee. But they should be back very soon." He added when he noticed her edge towards the door again.

Outside the door, Ken and Yolei were making their way to their apartment.

"I told you twice tonight Ken, I turned off the iron, I promise."

"Sorry Yolei, it's just I've had this odd feeling all day that I've forgotten to do something. Or something's missing. I don't know, it's just strange."

Yolei looked thoughtful for a moment, "Well, if it makes you feel any better, I help you check the apartment."

He gave her a weak smile, "Thanks. I'm sure it's nothing."

They pushed the key into the lock, but discovered that the door was open. They glanced at each other quizzically and cautiously entered the apartment. They stopped in the doorway at the site of Mae standing in front of their couch.

The expression on her face was so dramatic that it made Ken's stomach sink and Yolei gasp.

"Ken." Mae breathed.

He remained silent. Yolei slowly closed the door behind her and walked over to Poromon.

"Ken, I…" But Mae never finished because Ken walked from the door to the bedroom where he closed the door behind him. He sat down on the edge of the bed and put his head in his hands. No, he could not go through something like the Ebonwumon saga again. That almost killed him, mentally, physically, anyway you looked at it. He was so tired of all the pain, all the fighting. No, enough was enough.

Mae looked to Yolei.

"What is it now Mae?" Yolei asked, "Now who wants him dead? Because quite frankly…" Yolei trailed off when she noticed Mae's eyes. Usually a bright emerald, they were dull and tired looking, with heavy shadows under them, much like Ken's. "What happened?"

Mae swallowed and held back tears. Yolei was almost startled by this. Only once had she seen Mae act this way and that was when Ken was in grave danger. Mae was a powerful woman, a Crest Guardian of the Digital world and strong. Never, in all they had been through had Yolei seen Mae falter or almost cry, not like this anyway. "I have to speak to Ken." Mae choked, "It's critical Yolei."

"What is it?" Wormmon urged.

The sound of a door opening drew their attentions and the tall indigo haired young man stepped into the room. His eyes, Yolei noticed were even worse than they were just a few minutes ago. Now she saw that they were not shadows, but bruises. She gasped and yelled, "What's going on?"

"I'm not going back there." Ken said finally.

Mae frowned deeply, "Ken you must! There are…"

"NO!" he yelled, "I told you that I was never going back to the Digital world and there is no way…"

"You're dying!" Mae screamed.

Silence. Shock.

Then she whispered, "You're dying."

Yolei's hand flew to her mouth and she shook her head. Wormmon had tears falling freely. And Ken stood staring at his Crest Guardian.

"What?"

"Sit down Ken." Mae offered.

"I'm fine standing." He snapped back.

She took a deep breath, "For some reason the Dark Masters, that being the opposite of the Light Masters, have stolen half your soul, and mine. They stripped my powers in the process. You had a dream in the Dark Ocean?"

Ken nodded wordlessly.

"It was no dream. What happened there was real."

"How can someone take half my soul? Why would they do that?"
"The Dark Masters are capable of anything. As for the reason for why they would do it, I have no idea. But Ken, no one can live with only half a soul. One half cannot live without the other. Light must have dark and dark must have…"

"Dark? They took the dark side?" Ken asked a mixture of happiness and worry in his tone.

"Yes."

"That means the Emperor in me is gone?"

"Yes, but Ken that is not necessarily a good thing…"

"Like hell it's not a good thing! I've been wanting him gone for years and now I finally have my wish! No fighting with him, no guilt, no worrying!"

"No Ken!" Mae urged, "You don't understand. You may be all good now, but there is another half of you out there, the Emperor and he's all evil. Just as is the case with the Sorceress and me. Gennai told me they are in the digital world. You have to come with me to join back together with him."

"NO! I told you I'm never going back there!"

"Ken, do you honestly think I want to go there and face my worst fear? Remember I told you that I have never come face to face with her and never want to. Well I still don't, but I have to. You'll die without that other half Ken."

"So be it." He growled.

"Ken!" Yolei cried, frowning at him with tears in her eyes.

He looked down at her and Wormmon on the couch with a soft look on his face, "I'm sorry, but I can't do this again." And walked to the front door.

"Can't or won't?" Mae asked.

"Won't." he finally voiced as he stepped out the apartment.

Mae looked up and closed her eyes, but when Yolei sobbed she sat next to her, "Is he really going to die?"

"If we don't bring the two together, yes." She looked to the door and back at Yolei again, "Can you and the others get to the digital world, while I hunt down Ken and talk some sense into him?"

Yolei sniffed and nodded, "Aren't you going to the Digital world?"

"I will, once I have Ken."

Yolei got up and went to the phone to let the others know what was going on. Mae turned back to her before she left, "I'm sorry you know. I don't believe I ever did really apologize."

Yolei looked at her, "Apologize for what?"

"For what the Sorceress did to, well…Ken." Her gaze went to the floor in shame.

Yolei smiled weakly, "She did those things to the Emperor. But for what it's worth…I forgive you."

Mae nodded and left closing the door behind her.

------

Daemon smiled as he looked at the destruction going on in the digital world. The Emperor and Sorceress had only been there for a few hours and already they had claimed so much of it and cast fear into thousands of Digimon. He noted their ruthlessness and coldness for anything living. They cared only for their goals and for themselves. Ambition was their drug and they took it in large doses.

He was just waiting for what he knew would come next. The Digidestined would come and that would mean Ken would come, with the Dark Spore and his ideas for causing immense suffering on the young man. "Soon…soon I will have my revenge."

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(A/N)

My muses have asked me if I'm going to let Ken die. Now why, I'd tell them this I don't know. Thing is, it has crossed my mind several times.

As I look to the muses, their mouths have dropped open and Ken is throwing pens at me. Anyway, it did take me a while to write this chapter for some reason, but that was two years ago. Wow, I really took my time on this one.

Thanks for the reviews guys. To answer a question I got, those three as you can see from this chapter are the 'Dark Masters'. I used my poetic license and used that title for my own creation. I've used them before in 'The End of the End' one of my first Fanfics. (Don't bother reading it).

I'm going to try and get a chapter of this story out every Sunday. I'm going to be busy in the months to come…exams, so bear with me if I am late to deliver a chapter. Till next time…read and review!