I always take long o post a new chapter don't I? Well sorry, but a lot has come up lately and there is no time for anything. And to top everything off, my teacher wants me to enter a book report contest, and a best story contest, and they are both for the whole country! I would have said no, but it's not easy to say no to my teacher believe me. Thank you all for ur great reviews and im sorry but I cant answer any of ur questions cuz I don't want to spoil it. But if you really want to know, just email me and I might give you answers.

Anyway, this chapter has a song by Evanescence, which I don't own.

I wont keep u waiting so go ahead and read.

Disclaimer: I don't own digimon or the song I used.

Chapter Eight: My Immortal

You may not know,

I'm there with you,

Protecting you,

…Watching over you…


From last chapter:

Just as the sun was setting, Auron stopped, and then a sound of evil snickering was heard. "Make a circle everyone", Auron ordered so they all formed a circle with their backs facing the center.

"Well, well…, what have we here… heheh…" a man's voice croaked.


Thirty men appeared from the darkness of the woods, and quickly formed a circle around them. One of them stepped forward into a ray of light, revealing that he was the one they had forgiven in the forest on the way to Kouji's castle.

"You shouldn't have let me go, Auron. Now you will surrender the chosen one to us." he sneered.

"Hey! The chosen one has a name you know, and it's Izumi!", Izumi replied to him feeling really pissed off that this guy could just say that so simply after they had spared his life.

If she had wanted at least some attention in the last battle, she sure regretted wishing for it. There was an eerie silence as all eyes had finally fallen upon her. Some had a kind of surprised and wondering look in them that slowly turned back into the wicked look they had on before, while others merely stared. After what seemed like hours to Izumi, the silence as suddenly broken by the same croaked voice that had spoken to Auron.

"Oh, Izumi is it? I was so thinking something else. So tell me… Izumi, how long have you been here in Memo?" he said in a kind of taunting way.

Izumi opened her mouth to reply, but Auron pushed her back into the middle of the circle.

"Your business is not with the girl. Draw your sword and fight like a man!" Auron said.

"In a hurry to die Auron?" he replied, as he drew his sword.

"No my dear friend, I'm in a hurry to kill.", and with that Auron charged forwards and the fight began.

Izumi stood in the middle of the wide circle they had formed watching them all fight, and feeling pretty left out and useless.

There were five men challenging each of them. Auron didn't seem to be having any trouble at all like last time, Ryo, Yamato and

Kouji weren't doing so bad themselves, and Mimi and Rika were doing okay but with a little more trouble than the others. Izumi

watched each one just in case they needed any help. And as her eyes lay on Rika, she noticed that one of them had slashed her arm, and

was about to give his final blow. Izumi panicked at first, and then quickly pulled the bar from her pocket and expanded it, and quickly

ran towards Rika and was about to hit the man but it was all happening too fast for her. She could never have gotten there in

time since the guy had already started at her.

Rika clutched her arm as blood trickled down it. She looked to see that the man was preparing for the hit of her fate. 'I can't believe

this has all come to this. The queen is actually going as far to killing royalty just to get rid of the digimon? Now I'm going to

die before I can tell that bastard how much I hate him!' She closed her eyes tightly and turned her head waiting for the pain to

hit her, 'Oh please make it fast so there's no torture'. She stayed there for a quarter of a minute, but it never came. She looked up to

see what happened.

Izumi watched in dread as the man used all his strength lowering the sword on Rika. She couldn't do anything. Time wasn't in her favor.

But just before the blade reached the princess, another blade came into the seen and stopped it. Izumi watched in relief as Ryo lured

the man away from Rika, and finished him off. Izumi switched her eyes to the rest seeing that they were all either finishing off their last

opponent or already finished. Auron, Kouji and Yamato were finished, while Mimi was just finishing off her last opponent. The

last one she looked at was Kouji and that was when she noticed the guy who had just got off the ground and was approaching the prince

from behind. She quickly ran over to him shouting, "Watch out!" he turned around in time to see Izumi hit the guy with her bar in the

stomach. She looked back at Kouji to see if e was okay, but he wasn't there, he was standing over by Auron. 'Well he could of at

least shown that he was grateful for saving his life, and a thank you would've been nice too', she thought rather angrily She looked

back over to Rika to see if she was alright. Well she wasn't exactly alright. She was physically, for she had wrapped up her wound with

some kind of cloth, but she was sure real mad throwing all sorts and kinds of insults at Ryo who was just laughing awkwardly and

mumbling, "If this is what I get for saving a damsel in distress, then I'll never do it again…" Izumi sighed inwardly and then thought,

'Well at least I never got yelled at.'

Izumi miniaturized her bar and stuck it into her pocket and headed over to the rest of the group.

"Come on everyone, let's move. We can still make it to the top of the hill before it's totally dark if we hustle." Auron said, and before

anyone could object, he began to make his way through the semi-

dark forest once again. And so they all followed once again, but not so quietly since Rika still hadn't finished the series of insults she

had been pouring at pour Ryo who looked like he was going to pop at any minute. Izumi made a mental note to never try to help Rika

unless she wanted to get hit by Rika's chain of non-stopping thankyous as Ryo had explained them.

They walked in a straight path for a while and then bean to climb a hill. After walking up it for about half an hour, the sun had set completely.

"If we continue to go up for about fifteen minutes, I believe we will be at the top of this hill." said Auron as they all continued to walk.

And surely after another fifteen minutes the ground gradually became flat once again, only this time much higher than before. The

stopped at the very top of the tall hill, and they all looked down the other side from which they could see a very large forest down

below.

"Memo Forest…" murmured Ryo as they were all looking down at it in a rather mystified manner.

"Memo Forest? Aren't they all Memo forests?" Izumi asked to no one in particular, as she was staring at the beautiful forest herself.

"This is The Memo Forest, not a Memo forest." Yamato answered her.

"Oh," she said still marveling it, "…it's beautiful…"

"It's forbidden." said Kouji.

"Forbidden?" she asked, "Why is it forbidden?"

"It's a long story." said Mimi.

"Come, let's light a fire and we'll tell it to you while we're resting." said Ryo.

Everyone pitched in and help light a fire, and then they sat down and began to cook the meat apples that Ryo had brought with him from they're last stop. Once everyone had finished eating, Mimi began to tell Izumi about Memo Forest.

"A long time ago when Memo was still new, it wasn't called Memo. It was called something else but I don't remember, but

that's not important, so anyways, people began to explore the land. One day some guy was walking and he came to a big beautiful

forest so he decided to explore it. While he was walking through it he began to see his old friends playing only they were much

younger. He thought the forest had some kind of power that could make people young again, so he went back to his village and told

everyone. No one believed him so he made them come with him to see for themselves. So the next day everyone went with the man, but

they never saw what he saw. Instead they each saw something different. Some saw their friends and themselves as young kids

playing, some saw themselves jumping around a few years younger, and some saw themselves the same age only doing something else.

It was then that somebody noticed that what he was seeing had happened to him before. Soon others realized the same thing. They

finally reached a conclusion that the forest could reflect people's memories. The people thought that it was such a lovely gift to have

such a forest, so they decided to call this whole place Memo, and that forest was named the Memo forest."

"It can reflect people's memories! Wow! That is so cool!" Izumi exclaimed, "But why is it forbidden then?"

"I was getting there." Mimi said.

"People began to go to the forest everyday to see their memories more clearly and so they began to depend on it more than on their

own minds." Ryo took over, "Then as time went by, people began to have memory problems and then mind problems somehow, and

ended up getting themselves killed. For example they forgot which plants were poisoned or they forgot the way to some place and

ended up getting lost and then died. Well I personally that people had just been dying because of coincidence but hey, that's what they

say. Also some people would go to the forest so they could see a person that they lost which gradually made them go crazy. And now it only shows memories that are the hardest on the soul. So

anyway, the king of that time forbade everyone from going there again, and so it became known as the Forbidden Forest even though

most people still call it Memo Forest."

Izumi digested the story and thought for a brief moment before asking, "Do you choose the memory you want to see, or does it just randomly show any memory?"

"It shows the memory that has the greatest effect on the person. It could be happy or sad." answered Yamato, "and if you concentrate your mind carefully on a certain memory, I think you can see it too."

"Can you see another person's memory or only your own?" she asked.

"You can only see it if you are in the other person's memory or if they really want you to see it too." answered Mimi.

They all sat in silence as each one of them had his/her own thoughts. Finally Auron broke the silence.

"I'll be on watch first." he said firmly.

"And I'll be after you." said Ryo. And so on, until the order of who will be on watch became the following: Auron, Ryo, Mimi, Kouji, Izumi, Yamato, and finally Rika.

"Which route are we going to take?" asked Yamato.

"We will go through the forest", Auron replied.

"The forest? You mean the Memo Forest? I thought you just told me it was forbidden!" exclaimed Izumi.

"It is, but it's the fastest way to get to the princess's cemetery, and we probably wont be attacked there since the Queens guards are very keen on keeping away from that forest.", Auron replied plainly.

Izumi had both her eyebrows arched at him in question, "The princess's cemetery? You mean Princess Mia? Why are we going there?"

"To get the supreme stone, why else?" Kouji said coolly.

'The supreme stone?" Izumi asked.

"Yeah. Remember I told you that you need to get all the colored stones, which each of us has, and the supreme stone, which princess Mia has, to get the pure stone?", Mimi said.

Izumi went back in time and recalled that Mimi and indeed told her that, and then she said, "We have to get it from the old skeleton of a princess?"

"Well not exactly. You see the queen had the digimon put a spell on her body to preserve it, so she is still a whole dead body." said Yamato.

"Oh.", was all Izumi could say after all that.

"Okay now, everyone get some rest. We should really make some progress tomorrow since all these fights have slowed us down." said Auron.


It was now Kouji's turn to be on watch. He leaned against a tree as he stared down at Memo Forest and as his thoughts took over him.

(FLASHBACK)

The image of a young prince with black hair leaned against a tree as he watched all the other children playing. He didn't like being in the crowd or hearing all the loud noises but he knew his parents would never let him leave.

He closed his eyes and tried to keep all the loud noises away, and it worked, only, he heard a soft girlish voice instead.

"Are you sleeping?" asked the sweet voice.

He opened his eyes only to see a little blond girl with green eyes wearing a cute purple dress staring at him contently.

"No.", he replied slightly annoyed.

"Why are you always mad?" the blonde asked.

"I'm not." he answered simply.

"Well I've never seen you smile before." she said.

"…". Kouji shut his eyes once more.

There was a long pause and Kouji thought that the girl had run off, but to his surprise she was sitting on the ground by the side of the tree watching the other kids play happily.

"Why don't you just go and play with them?" he asked after a while.

The girl looked up at him and then replied with a bit of embarrassment, "Because I don't have any friends, and I don't know how to make any."

"All you have to do is ask one of them to be your friend. It's quite simple." he said coolly.

She looked back up at him, and then asked timidly, "Could you be my friend?"

He looked a little taken aback. Nobody ever asked him that before. "Are, are you sure?" he asked her unsurely.

"Yes. I bet we will be the best friends ever!" she said excitedly.

He thought for a moment, and then replied, "Hi, I'm Kouji."

She smiled getting the hint that he agreed and then she said, "Nice to meet you Kouji, my name is Mia."

(END FLASHBACK)

'My name is Mia…Mia…Mia…' her voice echoed in his head on and on.

"Argh!" he shook his head in anger, "Why can't you leave me alone!"

He stared down at the forest with glaring eyes, 'That stupid forest is probably bringing all of these memories back. I guess its magic is strong enough to make you remember things from a distance too.' He slammed his fist against the tree as more of his memories forcefully circled his mind.

I'm so tired of being here,

Suppressed by all my childish fears,

To his luck, he heard a noise of movement from behind him that caused all his memories to depart. He looked behind him where the others were sleeping and saw someone shifting and turning in their sleep. He got closer to see who it was, and as he did so, this person began to scream quietly in their sleep.

"No… please…, somebody help me…!"

It was Izumi. She looked really scared and troubled and just wanted to escape. Kouji looked at her in pity. He had seen that look before, and he had never wanted to see it again, but there it was: the same terrified face his best friend had on for the last time.

And if you have to leave,

I wish that you would just leave,

He decided to wake her up and save her from whatever was haunting her dreams. He slowly bent down and shook her steadily, "Wake up.", he ordered.

But she didn't wake up. Instead she began to move more violently and screamed even louder. "No…! Please help me!"

She was getting out of control, so he grabbed both her shoulders and shook her violently, "Izumi!" he yelled at her but not loud enough to wake the others. She finally woke up in surprise and tears began to swell up in her eyes.

Izumi woke up so suddenly she couldn't think straight. She didn't know where she was, who she was, and she couldn't see anything in

front of her except for a pair of dark blue eyes. She only knew that she was very scared because of something, and she could feel cold

tears slide down her cheeks. She could only cry. She felt so helpless, as if she were just a little lost kid. She stared into the blue eyes

before her and could almost here a soothing voice calling to her. And then slowly everything began to come back to her. She could

now see the complete outline of Kouji, and once he realized she was conscious he got up and walked away.

Because your presence still lingers here,

And it won't leave me alone,

Kouji made his way to where the hill looked down on Memo Forest, and stood there feeling all of his pain attack him. 'Why can't you just leave me alone and go away?'

These wounds won't seem to heal,

This pain is just too real,

He heard someone approaching him, so he turned to see Izumi. She walked up to him and followed his eyes down to the forest.

"Admiring the forest?" she asked quietly.

He remained staring at the forest with a look of hate in his eyes. She looked at him and saw the look in his eyes.

"Is something bothering you?" she asked cautiously.

He remained silent for a little longer and then finally said, "She died in that forest."

There is just too much that time can not erase,

She was about to ask who he was talking about, but then she remembered what Mimi had told her and figured he meant Princess Mia.

She wanted to ask him something but couldn't decide if she should or not, since she didn't want to hurt him. But curiosity got the best of her.

"Do you know what happened? I mean…, how she died?" she asked hesitantly, but then she quickly added feeling guilty, "You don't have to answer that."

There was another moments silence, and then he replied, "Yes, but I would rather not talk about it."

Kouji could feel tears threatening to fall but he forcefully kept them back. He just couldn't be weak he had vowed that to himself.

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears,

When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears,

As he stared at the forest, another memory made its way back into his mind.

(FLASHBACK)

Mia was sitting on a rock with her hands to her face crying.

The young version of Kouji made his way towards her.

"Are you okay?" he asked uneasily.

She looked up at him with swollen red eyes. "My dad just died…a disease killed him...he said he would always be there for me…but he's gone!" she said before bursting into tears again.

Kouji sat down beside her. They were both very young at the ages of about5 and 6. He put his arm around her shoulder and said, "Its okay, I'm sure he never wanted to leave. It was just that disease's fault."

She wiped her tears away, and put on a small smile and then said, "I hope I never get killed by a disease or anyone."

He smiled back at her and then said, "Well may dad is teaching me how to fight. When I learn how to fight well, I'll never let anyone kill you. I'll fight away all of your fears!"

She giggled a bit and then said, "Thanks Kouji. I know I can always depend on you."

And then they both began to laugh happily forgetting all of their troubles.

(END FLASHBACK)

I held your hand through all of these years,

You still have…All of me…,

"Ahhh, get out of my head!" Kouji said furiously forgetting Izumi's presence.

She looked at him curiously and asked, "Who do you want out of your head?"

He refused to meet her eyes, but then he replied, "Mia! She won't stop haunting my thoughts!"

You used to captivate me,

By your resonating light,

She looked at him thoughtfully and said, "Do you think that she would want you to be miserable?"

"Of course not! But how can I not be with all of these memories stuck in my head!"

But now I'm bound by the life you left behind,

Izumi remained silent for a little while in thought and then she finally said, "Do you really want to completely forget her? I mean would you want her to forget you?"

He turned to look at her with painful eyes and then softly replied, "No, but I think she already forgot me."

Your face it haunts my once pleasant dreams,

"I think all of those memories are a message from her to tell you to go on with your life."

Your voice it chased away all the sanity in me,

"Go on with my life? It was my fault!"

Izumi felt confused since she didn't even know how the princess died but what he just said allowed her to find the right explanation, "Well then she wants to tell you that it wasn't your fault. She wants you to stop believing that."

He took her words in painfully.

These wounds won't seem to heal,

This pain is just too real,

There's just too much that time can not erase,

"But…" he began.

"No buts, you can't change the past anyway."

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears,

When you'd scream I'd fight away all of you fears,

He turned his eyes back to the forest, and stared ahead until his eyes rested on a certain river that was evident between the trees.

(FLASHBACK)

"Come on Kouji, let's follow the river!" said an exited Mia.

"Wait Mia! That river leads to the forbidden forest." said Kouji.

"It's not a dangerous place. My father told me himself. We could use it to be our hideout! It will be like our own world since nobody ever goes there. Come on.", and she ran ahead excitedly not even letting Kouji argue any further, so he just ran after her, and joined her laughter.

(END FLASHBACK)

I held your hand through all of these years,

You still have…all of me,

"Why are you here?" he suddenly asked with a little chill in his voice.

Izumi was startled by his sudden change of subject and tone, and his question confused her a bit.

I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone,

"Well actually for two reasons," she started.

But though you're still with me,

"First of all to thank you for waking me up from that nightmare, so thank you," she said, "And second to tell you that you're shift is over."

He took one last look at the forest and then glanced a quick glance at Izumi, and then turned to leave.

I've been alone all along,

Izumi looked down at the forest as memories also entered her head. She could here Joyce's laughter again, and slowly a tear trickled down her cheek.

"Izumi?"

Izumi turned to see Kouji standing a little distance away, so she quickly wiped away her tear.

When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears,

"Yeah?" she questioned.

"Thank you."

When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears,

"Oh it was nothing; I'm usually good at giving advice."

"No, I meant for stopping that guy that I missed in the fight earlier."

I held your hand through all of these years,

Izumi smiled and then said, "Oh, I didn't really think I was going to get a thank you from you."

He gave a little smirk and then he turned around once again, and Izumi turned back to look at the forest.

He turned back one more time and glanced at her, and they he made his way to go back to sleep.

You still have…all of me…


Everyone sat down silently eating breakfast. Each one had his or her mind set on the same thought, 'The Forbidden Forest'. No one was comfortable with the idea of passing through it, but it was what they had to do.

"Okay get yourselves prepared, we have to leave now", said Auron once everyone had finished eating the last of what remained of the meat apples.

Everyone stood up and put their weapons in place, sneaking glances at the forest secretly.

They began to head down the tall hill. Izumi could see that once they reached the bottom they would be about ten feet away from the forest. She secretly was anxious to get to the forest, but she didn't show it since everyone else seemed very reluctant to even take another step forward.

Finally they reached the end of the hill. They all stared at the forest, none of them showed any emotion.

"I have never been in the forest, so it may take a while to get there." said Auron.

"I know the way." said Kouji in a cold tone.

All eyes turned to him questioning, but he didn't look like he was going to give them an explanation. He just walked ahead of them towards the forest completely ignoring the looks he was getting. They had no choice but to follow.

Izumi walked in the back so that she could admire the forest without drawing attention. The trees were so tall, green, and so full

of life. And the air in the forest seemed so fresh and even had a sweet kind of taste. She could have sworn that the forest was

playing music too, for she could hear a soft tune playing through the breeze. And there were many clearings throughout the forest

allowing her to see the sky, which seemed more pure and blue than she had ever seen in her entire life. The only way she could describe

it was 'Magnificent!'

But as the continued to walk in silence, Izumi noticed that the tune she was hearing seemed to be a very sad and miserable tune. And it also seemed to change a bit as if telling a story, for one minute it would seem soft and kind of cheerful, and then it would become kind of mad and fast, and then it would seem sad, and then it would repeat itself.

Izumi kept on marveling at the forest as they all walked on in silence when suddenly she bumped into Auron who was walking ahead of her.

"Why did you stop like that?" she asked him feeling kind of upset because her thoughts were interrupted.

He didn't reply but merely looked ahead of him towards where Yamato was standing. She noticed that they were all staring at him,

while he seemed to be looking at something in the middle of the clearance that he could only see. Then Izumi realized that he must

be watching one of his memories, and judging from his face, it was a sad memory.

He continued to stare at it for about five minutes. Then Mimi walked ahead to him and asked, "Would you like to let us see it? It might help."

He didn't say anything but then after a minute or so, an image of a young boy with blond hair and a young beautiful lady with also blond hair came into view. Izumi figured that they must be Yamato when he was younger, and his mother. Soon their voices could be heard.

'Do you understand me Yamato? No matter what happens, I always want you to be kind and honest, for that will be your key to success,' came his mother's voice.

'I understand mom. How can I forget anyway if you're going to be here to remind me about it all the time?', said Yamato.

'I will always be in your heart Yamato, but maybe not where you can see me.', said his mother.

'Huh? What's that supposed to mean?' asked Yamato.

'Don't worry about it now honey,' laughed his mother, 'you'll understand when you're older, but just promise me that you will always remember my words no matter what happens.'

'I promise', said Yamato, and then the image evaporated into the air until it looked like it had never been there.

There was another long silence, as all eyes lay on Yamato watching his sorrowful expression. Finally Yamato began to walk again, and so they moved on once again.


Trying to keep my mind ahead,

I only fail and look back to the past,

So many things I lack the knowledge of,

And so many secrets laying in the dark,

…Watching Over You…


That's all for chapter eight! So how did u all like it? I didn't really think that the song suited that much, but I like it a lot so I decided to use it. Do u guys want me to call yamato matt instead? If you do tell me cuz I might decide to change it the next chapter.

Suspense Questions: Why did the Queen's men seem to give Izumi attention after she revealed her name to them, and why was Auron bothered by their questions? Will they really be safe going through the forest, or will they face other problems there? Will the others be strong enough to keep their memories in their heads or will they be haunted by their worst memories the whole way through?