Disclaimer: I don't own digimon or the idea of an external soul. (So tired of writing this.)

Author's Note: Well, that was fast. I came home today, meaning to sleep, but ended up writing for like three hours. Oh well. It's a good chapter. I like it. Hope you guys do. The Final Law of Storytelling: "Never let the facts get in the way of a good story."

Enjoy and review. Thanx a lot again!!

Reflections

"Davis. Davis wake up." Rika shook him, being careful of his shoulder. "Davis!"

He had passed out. It wasn't surprising, by the look of what had happened to him.

"Get him away from the fight, Rika." Torey said.

She frowned and looked down at the boy, fighting the urge to gag at the smell of his burnt flesh. She took his ankle and pulled him carefully over behind Renamon. The fox was still unconscious, but Rika knew it wouldn't be for long. She sunk down next to Davis's limp form and returned her attention to the battle. Flamedramon's ultimate form held Fauvmon at bay, straining against the attempts to break free. The cougar pushed, but the other digimon held him, no matter what he tried. Renamon sat up, looking exhausted. The fox glanced over her shoulder at Rika and then turned back to the fight. Rika looked down at her digivice as data came to it.

"Hitzemon." The girl whispered to herself.

Hitzemon held Fauvmon for a long time, his brightly blazing body even making the cougar look dim in the afternoon sunlight. Suddenly, from off to the side, two giant missiles streaked toward the two digimon. Hitzemon threw his opponent into their path, and then watched as a giant cloud enveloped Fauvmon. As it subsided, the large digimon was nowhere to be seen, only his data dissolving slowly back into the digital world. Megagargomon walked onto the playground and then reverted to Henry and Terriormon. Hitzemon knelt down in exhaustion, somehow not turning back into a very tired Demiveemon.

Rika tried to stand up to go over to the giant cynodont, but her legs refused to take her weight. She was too tired, so she sat there and waited for the others to come over to her. Kazu ran over to Henry before the two boys walked over. Behind them, Jeri and Suzie followed, staring at the damage that had been done to the playground. There were trees burning and knocked down, and the equipment was horribly bent and battered. Jeri caught sight of Takato's still form and ran over to him, taking his pulse before checking Guilmon as well. Henry and Kazu came over to Rika, and the dark haired boy held a hand out to her, to help her up. She took it and he pulled her to a standing position. Hitzemon paced over and looked at Davis. The digimon's burning body extinguished itself, making him look strangely vulnerable, as he reached down and picked the boy up. Davis slumped against his partner's chest, breathing lightly.

"What are you going to do with him?" Rika asked, trying to keep her voice from squeaking with emotion.

Hitzemon blinked, and an exhausted expression crossed his face. "We'll go to the digital world. Maybe they can heal him there." There was doubt in his voice.

Rika's eyes widened as she followed his thinking. Davis might die.

"But..." She tried to form a question.

Hitzemon cut her off. "Open us a rip, Rika."

After a moment of hesitation, she stepped forward and activated her digivice. She pressed in zero for the direction, and sliced a hole in the air. Mildly, Rika heard the others murmur in amazement as she did so. But she ignored them, watching Hitzemon step through the rip, still holding Davis. He turned away and walked into the forest of the digital world. She watched his receding form for a minute before moving to close the rip up again.

Rika stood, staring into the distance, through the spot where she had just closed the anomaly. She heard nothing as the information sunk in. He'll die. If I'd seen it before, he would have been okay. He saved my life, and I couldn't save his.

She was snapped out of her daze as Jeri gently touched her shoulder. A yelp escaped her, and she pulled away from the other girl, staring at the others as they watched her. She could see confusion in their faces. They had never really seen her distraught like this before. But she didn't care at the moment. She did not want to be here.

It was totally out of character, but Rika ran. She ran from them, racing toward her house, glad that she couldn't hear the sound of footsteps following her. And as she got to the more deserted streets near her house, tears blurred her vision. She ran in the yard and slid open the door to her room. Exhausted from the fight and then the long run, Rika pulled out her bed and collapsed on top of it. Wiping tears from her eyes, she tried to relax and think, but eventually gave up and burst out in sobs. She cried herself to sleep.

She had dreams. Crazy ones. Most of them about other ways the battle could have gone. Others about totally opposite stuff, like school or her mother. But none of them had the violet overlay that indicated a vision. All of them had seemed to flow together as one dream. Now she was dreaming about some absurd funeral in the digital world. Davis's entire family was there, and he lay in the casket. Rika was crying in the dream, but she didn't feel as sad as she had in some of the earlier dreams.

The touch of a hand on her shoulder woke her. Her eyes opened slowly, and she saw Renamon leaning over her.

"You were whimpering in your sleep." The fox whispered.

Rika sighed and closed her eyes again. She had a headache and her ribs hurt, a residual injury from the fight with Fauvmon. Torey lay next to her, his body limp. Neither of them felt like getting up and doing anything. Rika swallowed and thought over what had happened.

I killed him. She said to herself. If I had seen what was going to happen, I wouldn't have let him come. I should have told him to run. I let him die.

No. It was the only thing Torey said, but the feeling of absolute denial in it made her wince.

But Torey...

No. He interrupted. We can't force the visions. You will have to get used to seeing tragedy happen. In the dreams, as well as in real life. We can't change everything.

But Torey, he didn't deserve it.

No. The lynx agreed.

"Rika, come see something." Renamon whispered.

The girl moaned, not caring to get up.

"Please."

Rika sighed and after a moment she pushed herself up. She was stiff, not having moved since she threw herself down on the bed. Glancing at her red glowing alarm clock across the room, she saw that it was ten at night. She had been asleep for eight hours.

Renamon slid open the door and Rika walked out into the cool night air. She followed her partner over to the main entrance for the house. She looked over at the fox, wondering what she was going to be shown, but all she saw was empty air where the digimon had stood. Rika opened the door and stepped inside, closing it behind her. Her grandmother was most likely sound asleep in her room, so the sound of the television on quietly was odd. She paced over until she could see the couch, and the TV behind it. The Kaiser was covering the screen, quietly taunting Davis and the others from his perch high above them.

"He never said that." Cut in a familiar voice from the couch.

Rika's eyes widened and she rushed forward to see Davis sitting on the couch, eyes on the screen. "Davis!"

He looked over his shoulder at her, startled, but then he smiled. "Hey."

She jumped over the back of the sofa and sat down next to him, staring at him. "I though you were dead."

He looked over himself, patting his arms and chest. "I don't feel like I'm dead."

Rika felt herself grinning as she lunged forward and hugged him. He yelped and pushed her away as her hand touched his shoulder.

"Hey! It's not all healed yet."

She looked at him, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry. But how are you okay so fast?"

He slipped a hand under his shirt and tentatively touched the hidden burns. "Well, we spent fifteen days in the digital world. Veemon got me to a doctor and they put some stuff on it. I couldn't move for the first few days. Hurt too much. But it got better. Eventually they told me I could leave if I wanted, as long as I was careful. So then I came here and watched your DVD's. I was gonna talk to you, but you were asleep."

Rika stared at him. He let her take it in for a moment.

"You're crying, Rika." He said after a while.

She frowned and wiped her eyes and face, not having realized that she had been.

"I thought you were dead." She repeated.

He nodded and opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off.

"I thought that if I had seen it before, I could have saved you or something." She bit her lip. "Maybe you would have been okay."

"But what would have happened to you, Rika?"

She shrugged. "You saved my life, Davis. I felt like I had betrayed you."

The Kaiser's laugh echoed quietly from the television. Davis grabbed the remote and pressed mute.

"That doesn't make sense. Either you saw it and died, or you didn't and I died."

She shrugged again, not trusting herself to put it into words.

"Rika," he turned toward her and put the remote on the floor. "I've had fifteen days to think that whole thing over, and I don't think it could have gone any differently. I'm not sure why I ran out there to get you..."

"Liar." Roxelle's invisible voice said.

Davis blushed, and then swatted at the air next to him, most likely where the gazelle had been standing.

"Okay, I do know why I did it." He looked up at her, hands fiddling with each other in his lap. "Look, I've had fifteen day to think this over. It's been nagging me ever since I felt good enough to think about anything but my shoulder." He glanced away at the door, and then turned back to look Rika in the eye. "I, um, think I..." He buried his face in his hands and then looked up at her again. "I like you, Rika."

She blinked. Did that surprise her? Maybe. But what to say?

"I feel the same way, Davis." She blurted out, confusing even herself at how readily the words had come out. But where had they come from?

"What?" He stared. "What did you say? Did I hear that right?"

Rika blushed. "Um, yeah. I guess so."

"You guess so?" He fidgeted in his seat, inching closer to her. "Rika, please be certain. You know I just got blown off by a girl who said exactly that to me."

She bit her lip, feeling guilty for putting it that way. "Fine. I know it. But this isn't gonna be some cute little relationship, Davis. I'm not Kari, and I never will be. And I never intend to change into anything remotely like her. I'm me, and if you're projecting your infatuation onto me just because I'm the first girl who would talk to you, I'm not gonna have anything to do with you anymore."

Davis swallowed at her bluntness, but he didn't seem to fazed by it. "I'm not projecting anything, Rika. I may not be over Kari yet, but that has nothing to do with you. And if I ever try to change you, please slap some sense into me." He grinned.

Rika did too, and hugged him again, more carefully this time.

Post Script: Okay, it was a kind of corny ending, but oh well. Hope that answers your question from like chapter 5's review, ApricotKisses. Yes, this is a Dairuki. THE only Dairuki on the site at this point. Take it as a challenge, guys. I'd love to read one that I didn't write.

neoKOS-MOS