I know…ur wondering y the hell I took so damn long to update right? Well I don't really have much of an excuse. I seem to be losing my inspiration. Sad isn't it. Well I finally updated anyway, just for the sake of all u great readers, and especially all of u who have reviewed this fic.
this chapter is the longest yet, to make up for the long wait. sorry again.
Okay this chapter…umm I didn't exactly review it so don't bother me if I have weird mistakes lol. I don't know what to think of it really. good or bad? I don't really know. But anyway I'll stop blabbing on and on about nothing and let u read what I've kept away for so long.
Disclaimer:I don't own digimon or Auron.
Chapter ten : headaches, confusions, and dreams
You may not know,
I'm there with you,
Protecting you,
…Watching over you…
They continued to walk through the forest now in harmony, bravery, and happiness. Well all except for Auron and Kouji who didn't seem to show much emotion. Izumi walked happily knowing that the others were happy. But despite this happiness she still felt troubled deep inside. She didn't know why but this feeling seemed to grow more and more as they walked deeper and deeper into the forest. She also noticed something else that didn't seem right. The gentle tune in the magical forest seemed to be sad and a bit frightened now. It wasn't following the sequence it was when they first walked into the forest. She thought at first that the forest's music was reflecting their feelings, but now she wasn't so sure, for everyone looked happy now except for Auron and Kouji who didn't seem to show any emotion. Something wrong was going to happen, she just new it. She felt it. There was much more to this forest than she had ever thought. She brushed away the thought as soon as someone said the word food. She was too busy trying to understand her feelings that she almost forgot about her great hunger.
''food!" she exclaimed out loud, ''where?"
''Over here'', said Ryo, ''there's a meat apple tree here.''
Izumi sighed and then asked Kouji who was in front of her now, "Is that the only kind of food here?"
Kouji turned around and smirked at her, then he said," outside of the kingdoms you mean? Well yes.''
''Oh...well I can't wait till this is all over so I can eat something other than meat again.''
''Come on and help us you two.'', said Mimi.
''What should we do, I mean I don't think we all need to pick the apples.'' Izumi said.
''you're right, why don't you light a fire like you usually do'', said Mimi.
"Okay, fine." she replied.
They gathered dry sticks and started a fire just the others finished picking a great amount of the forest's meat apples. The all sat down and began eating hungrily.
Kouji ate his meat apple slowly and quietly. 'Why did we have to stop here from all the places we could have chosen?' he thought miserably.
He looked straight ahead of him a little distance away from where they were sitting where his eyes fell upon a certain tree that had a hole in it.
A sunray broke through a cloud and shone into the hole for a second a then was covered up again from the cloud again. During that time something sparkled within the hole.
Kouji sighed even more miserably now and set his food down... 'Why…?' he thought as the horrible memory crept back to haunt him once more.
He stared on at the tree as if hypnotized by it. He watched until the younger image of him slowly appeared running happily towards the tree.
Izumi noticed that Kouji had stopped eating and that he seemed to be staring at something in the distance. She followed his sight until her eyes found what he was staring at.
'Wait a sec. isn't that the boy I keep on seeing here? What's he doing here? It's a forbidden place, I'd better go and tell him to leave.' she thought to herself as she stood up.
Everyone looked up at her with a questioning look except Kouji who was still hypnotized in his thoughts.
"Where are you going?" asked Rika.
"Huh? Oh I'm just going to tell that ki…" she cut herself off as she saw the boy running off, "Hey stop right there!"
She ran off as fast as she could after him.
They all looked over to where she was running but didn't see anything or anyone.
"Izumi! Stop! Where are you going!" Auron called after her standing up. The others stood up as well, and grabbed their stuff and food ready to run after her.
Kouji stared at himself running off in panic. He knew where he was going. He was going to watch her die, going off to cry for his first time. There was nothing he could do. He started to move his eyes away, but something suddenly caught his sight. It was Izumi. She seemed to be running after himself. Shock filled his body. History was repeating itself, he sensed it.
He snapped back to reality and stood up quickly. "This time I can do something!" he yelled and ran off after her.
The others stopped in surprise and watched as Kouji ran past them with a strong look of determination on his face. They were all confused that it took them a few minutes to realize what was going on. Auron was the first to figure it out and he began to run after them. The others caught on right after him and quickly ran after him.
Izumi ran after the boy as fast as she could and began to gain on him. As she got closer she could hear the sound of a girl screaming. 'It must be that girl he's always with. She's probably in danger. I've got to save her and make sure they never come back here again', she thought as she ran. And soon the little girl came in sight, but so did someone else or something else…
"Did you finally get a hold of them?" asked the queen.
"I'm sorry your majesty, but they got away", answered one of the guards.
"Away? What do you mean by that?"
"They went into the forbidden forest your highness, and we can't go in there."
"What! In this case you can go there!" the queen yelled at him.
"B...But your majesty it's too dangerous to go in there. We all have families we must take care of; we can't afford to lose our l…"
"Quiet! You dare defy me!" stormed the queen.
"P…P…Please, doesn't make us go in there. For our families, f… for your d...daughter…" he begged.
The queen stared at him with dangerous eyes, as if she would kill him on the spot. She pointed a dangerous finger at him. She began to shake violently as he looked mortified, "You…you…." she began to say.
She stared on at the man with flames in her eyes, yet somewhere deep inside; they showed a sign of painful sadness.
In the place of the terrified soldier in front of her, images began to play around. The soldier suddenly took the form of her dead daughter.
First she was sitting down, laughing the sweetest little girl's laugh you could ever hear.
Next she was skipping along the riverbank smiling happily.
The last one was of her crying, tears sliding down the outline of her little fragile face.
The queen tore her eyes away from them and turned around, quietly walking over to a window.
"You're dismissed", she said finally.
The guard looked rather shocked at first, unable to believe his ears, but then he shed into tears of happiness and began thanking the queen so much, "thank you your highness, oh thank you so much for understand…"
"Just go. You have disappointed me, so leave before I change my mind", the queen cut him off in a voice that lack emotion.
"Y…Yes your highness." said the guard, and then he got to his feet and left the room.
The queen sighed as she stared out through the window at nothing in particular.
'Mia…why do you haunt me my child….? I am working my hardest to get revenge on the monsters that killed you. Just wait a bit longer… soon I'll have the chosen one and I will defeat her and the ones she is fighting for, and they you will finally rest in peace.'
"I will get her", she whispered to herself, "I will make her suffer the way she has made me and Mia suffer… Alwine!"
The door of the room opened, "Yes my queen?" replied an icy voice.
"Gather ten of your strongest men immediately. I've a mission for you."
Alwine smiled evilly to himself, "As you wish your majesty." And then he left the room silently.
The queen turned around and left the room. She walked down the corridor, down long staircase, and then down another corridor. She finally stopped as she reached a large room. She walked in and inside was a group of angry looking people.
"So did you get them yet?" asked one of them in a harsh sense.
"No, not yet. Now is that how you speak to your high queen?"
"Don't tell me how to speak! I'm a king myself, and everyone here is either a king like me or a queen."
"I am well aware of that, but as the green king that you are, I merely expected more respect."
"Your highness, please just don't harm my daughter, she's all we have. You yourself know how horrible it feels to lose your only child", pleaded the yellow queen.
The queen looked at her and then replied, 'I told you before, and I told Alwine to make sure that he doesn't harm anyone. I'm only looking for the chosen one. She's the only one I intend to harm, and I shall be doing that personally."
"But do you really believe that Alwine is trustworthy?" asked the black Queen.
"Of course I do. It was Alwine himself who made these plans the best so that we can all live a better life and forget about all of our sorrowful pasts."
"Oh, so making a sorrowful future is his idea of getting rid of a sorrowful past?" said the black king plainly but the sarcasm in his voice was very clear.
The queen glared at him while he glared back evenly. Then she directed her eyes to each and every other king and queen only to meet a series of more hateful glares. This only made her angrier than she was to begin with.
The room was filled with silence and the tension was so unbearable for the queen that she finally blurted, "Nobody understands the pain I'm going through but Alwine! I've lost all my family, I have to rule this entire world, and there are those horrible murderers trying to escape and cause more pain to me and all of the civilians here in Memo!"
That seemed to have been a mistake, for after saying that a series of responses interrupted the room.
"If by saying monsters you're referring to the digimon then I'll have to tell you that I trust them with my life and they are not monsters! If anyone here should be called a monster then it would have to be you!" hissed the yellow king.
"Not understand your pain! My wife was murdered and you took me away from my son and made him take over the kingdom all on his own! And now you have your guards that I have no trust at all in after him and the others!" yelled the green king furiously.
"And if that's not enough for you, then why don't you think of the Rika, the red princess. She's only a teenager and she's lost her mother and fath…"
"Don't you ever mention him in my presence again!" snapped the now outraged high queen, "In fact, never mention him at all! And never question me again! I know what's best for this land and I will do it all my way! The digimon will all be destroyed and I assure you that, cause if killing my daughter in such a horrible way isn't enough proof that they are murderers then I don't know what is!"
"You don't have proof that it was the digimon! And even if it was, only the one who did it should be punished, not all of them." responded the yellow queen.
"I said stop! I don't want to hear it anymore! I'm the high queen here and I will do what I wish! You can thank me later when the land is full of peace again.", and with that she turned around and stormed out of the room.
"Why I ought to…," began the yellow king, but his wife cut him off.
"Calm down honey. I believe that deep down inside she knows that what she is doing is wrong, but her sadness and grief has blinded her. I'm sure she will realize this soon herself. Or maybe that is what the chosen one's job is supposed to be."
Silence filled the room once more as they all began to drown in they're own thoughts.
Izumi stared in horror as she ran through the forest. There was little boy only a few feet away from her, and a little farther ahead of him was a cloaked figure holding what appeared to be a very sharp knife in his left hand, and then not so very far from him, well in fact only about three or four feet, was the young girl.
Izumi's eyes were focused on the cloaked figure. It looked like the outline of a very tall and large man to her. Thoughts began rushing through her mind as her eyes trailed down to his left hand.
'looks like I'm going to have to fight him if I want too help these kids', she reached her hand into her pocket and pulled out the piece of black metal which she almost instantly expanded it into its fighting size. 'This is really bad. How could I possibly fight this guy? He looks really strong and the only thing I'm good at doing is defending myself…I hope the others decided to follow me…'
As the thought came to an end, she felt her head begin to hurt and her vision began to slip away from her. She had a bad feeling about it all and wanted to stop and wait for the others whom she believed were following her. The only problem was her legs wouldn't stop. She felt that she no longer could control her body. It continued to run on its own account as her sight of the figures ahead of her slowly disappeared.
She felt sick to the stomach as her legs kept on moving. She was out of breath and scared now. She couldn't see anything anymore, it was all just blank. 'What's going on? Have I gone blind? Why can't I control myself?' More and more questions made they're way into her mind. It was all unbearable.
All of a sudden her vision began to come back. She could now see the color of green around her, but the three that were recently in front of her were gone. She decided to look back to see if the others were anywhere near her.
Big mistake. Right behind her was the cloaked figure. She looked up to see his face but couldn't see it because it was darkened by his hood. She could only see his mouth form a smirk as he continued to chase her.
She had never felt such fear grow inside her before. She gripped her bar tightly but she couldn't get rid of the feeling inside of her. She never felt so defenseless in her life. Now she was the one in control, or at least that was how it felt. She moved her legs and pushed past her limit. The only thought in her head was to run away. Far away from this guy.
She suddenly realized something. Something that made her fear increase rapidly. This was all so familiar to her. She had been in this situation before. Only not only once… the thought sickened her but she could not deny it…this was the dream she had been having all the time, or rather the nightmare…but it didn't make sense. How could it be that she was having the nightmare before it even happened?
She ran on and on not knowing where she was going. Her mind was occupied by the feeling of only terror, her thoughts had some how deserted her head. If she had realized this she probably would have said it was strange. Ahead of her, her eyes could see her path ending…
The sound of the waterfall was loud and clear. Kouji began too worry that he was going to be too late…again. But then she finally came into sight. He ran even faster now that he could see her.
He was only about 20 feet away from her when he saw her nearing the edge of the cliff. His heart was pounding with such speed that he thought it might fly out.
It was only a matter of seconds now. "I will get there, I will save her, I will, I will…" he repeatedly said to himself as he got closer and closer…
She was only ten feet away from the end of her path now. She turned around to see if she had finally escaped from that guy.
He was gone. Relief slowly washed over her as she turned her head around again and slowed down. Now in front of her was that little boy sitting at the edge of the cliff. She stopped right beside him. He was staring down at the bottom of the waterfall where many boulders and a river streamed. She reached her hand to put it on her shoulder and opened her mouth to say something, but she stopped as her hand felt so very cold.
She stared in horror and she watched her hand go right through the boy. She looked at his face and felt butterflies in her stomach. Her head was spinning as she felt her body numbly fall over. The last thing she saw before passing out was the boy's face, yet somehow it looked older…
Kouji breathed heavily as he held the unconscious body of Izumi in his arms. He smiled inwardly to himself. He had made it. He saved her this time.
He watched as his former self dissolved into the air. 'How come she could see that', he thought silently, 'could it be that Auron was right…no…I can't accept that…'
(FLASHBACK)
Izumi was sleeping calmly under a tree. Everyone else was sitting down around the fire talking in whispers carefully so that they do not wake her up.
"It does sound like something we should consider. There is a great resemblance between the two."
"Yeah I guess we all figured that part out." Matt said.
"But if what you are saying is true, then shouldn't we ask her at least?" asked Mimi.
"No, apparently it seems that she has lost her memory of everything. That will only confuse her.", Auron replied.
"Well then shouldn't we recall some of our most memorable times together and see how she responds? I mean she might remember if it's really her.", said Ryo.
"No, it might make her feel left out, since there is still the possibility that I'm wrong about this. And if I am right, then I think it's better if we wait till we get there and see what happens." he replied.
"This is just bull!" exploded Kouji surprisingly and very out of character-like, "What's with you guys? Are you saying she just disappeared for six years and then suddenly reappeared in the forest with no memory! Or are you saying that she came back from the dead! She died in front of my very two own eyes! I've had enough torture already! She never came back and she never will!" and with that he walked off furiously in a random direction.
Mimi made a motion that she would go after him, but Matt stopped her. "Let him be. He needs to cool down on his own."
"That's right. And he could be right to. That was only a mere guess, we can only wait and see, so everybody just forget about it and not mention it anymore till then.", Auron stated indifferently.
Everyone fell silent. Many questions filled their heads like, 'if it's true then how did she survive?' or, 'Where has she been all this time then? Was she really in another world as she said?'
But their questions stayed unanswered and they knew they would have to wait. But waiting was never easy for any of them. They had already prepared and waited for the appearance of the chosen one for over five years. But this wasn't ever something they would have even considered to prepare for. This journey was more than they had ever bargained for. They thought it would simply be leading the chosen one to the queen so that he/she would save the digimon and bring back peace to Memo, but apparently it was more a journey to the past, to uncover all the secrets that were left in the dark, to solve everything from the roots. Yes it did sound like the wise thing to do, the thing they should have thought of from the very beginning, or should I say the thing they should have chosen from the very beginning. But the past was a painful memory for everyone.
(END FLASHBACK)
Kouji sighed as he stood up and walked away from the edge of the cliff and lay the slender female's body down beside the nearest tree, and then sat down himself beside her waiting for the others to find them.
He studied her face for the first time and realized she was quite beautiful. Although he hated to admit it, there was indeed a great resemblance.
As much as he hated the thought of it all, some small part of him was hoping greatly that Auron was right. He shrugged away the thought as he laid himself back against the tree and stared away in a random direction.
It wasn't long till Auron showed up standing in the shade of a nearby tree.
"So, what are your thoughts about my guess now? Is it still bull to you? Or are you beginning to think I'm right?" he said in a tone with no apparent emotion.
Kouji looked up towards him with a glare and snorted, "I'll never believe in anything as crazy as that."
Auron stared him in the eyes for a bit as if looking for something, and then finally he smirked and said, "Your eyes seem to have different thoughts."
Kouji just grunted and looked away. They stayed in silence for about five minutes, until the rest arrived.
"What happened to her?" Mimi asked breathed rather rapidly while staring down at the unconscious body.
"She passed out." Kouji answered simply.
Ryo walked over and dropped himself down by Kouji breathing heavily. "What was that all about man? Phew…I don't remember ever having to run like that in my life! But I guess it could just be called hard training…"
Matt and Rika just remained silent while catching their breaths.
"Come on everyone, let's make our way to the other side and we'll rest there. Kouji you carry Izumi, now let's go." ordered Auron without any sound of pity in his tone.
They all groaned as they got up again.
Kouji picked Izumi up. She wasn't heavy but it was still going to be hard to walk with her in his arms all the way to the other side of the waterfall, especially after all that running just now. And to add to all that, he knew they were going to make him tell them what happened.
So they all began to walk again listening to what Kouji was telling them. 'If only Kouji was a better storyteller' was the thought going through all their minds. He was telling it all as if he was simply explaining how one plus one equals two. Still and all, it was better than not having a clue.
Though it hardly took half an hour, it seemed to have lasted a lifetime just to walk to the other side. The hardest part of it all, especially for Kouji who had to carry Izumi in his arms in the process, was to get across the river by jumping from rock to rock. It would have been very easy if it hadn't been for the fact that they were all very VERY tired.
When they finally reached a place that seemed to satisfy Auron they all sat down to rest their exhausted bodies. The sun was very low now, signaling that the evening had approached. Izumi was still unconscious lying down by a tree. They had a camp fire lit, and were getting ready to go to sleep. It was decided that Auron would be the first to keep watch since he was the one who made them all get so tired.
Kouji took one last look at Izumi before going to sleep. She had a disturbed look on her face. He wondered what was going on in her mind.
(Izumi's POV)
'Oww…my head….it feels like someone's banging a rock on it…' She sat up and looked around her. She saw her friends all around her sitting in different places. She felt relieved to finally see them. She frowned as she continued to look around her.
She saw a laughing Ryo running followed by a furious, but in a strange way a happy looking Rika, chasing after him with a dagger in her hand.
She spotted Mimi sitting on a swing humming to herself, and Matt sitting under a tree nearby fooling around with something she couldn't quite make out.
'This is wrong. Why do they all look so young? They look like they're five years younger at least. Maybe even six…'
She turned and saw Kouji leaning against a tree. 'But wait…isn't that the boy I was just chasing after? This is so strange…I don't understand a thing…'
Her attention was torn away from him as she heard an all so familiar laugh. 'Amaya…is that you…?'
She turned her head to face her friend. She was sitting down picking flowers happily. 'It is her! Oh no…I have to apologize for being so mean to her before…but what if she doesn't forgive me…what if she hates me now…well wasting time will only make things worse…'
She began to stand up but she felt sharp pain all through her body. She squeezed her eyes shut to ease the pain a bit, but when she opened them there were dark figures surrounding her. And right before her stood the mysterious cloaked freak that had been chasing her through the forest earlier.
'wh...Who are y...you? What d...do you w...want from me..?' her mind questioned for she couldn't speak.
She felt a smirk form on his face and then he replied as if hearing her thoughts, "to kill you of course."
She was immobilized from her fear now. She felt so defenseless…she couldn't do anything to save herself…she needed to fight but she lacked the right knowledge of it. Sure she could throw a punch or two but surely that wouldn't be of any help in a fight against a pro.
Then laughter was heard again. A little girl's laughter that was that Izumi had held in her heart.
'Ayame?' There she was in front of her. Right in front of the cloaked freak, laughing…
"Ayame!'", Izumi cried happily almost forgetting that she was in danger. But then her happiness vanished as Ayame stopped laughing and looked at her with a sad face.
"You promised you would always watch over me…you promised you wouldn't let me die…you promised you would save me!"
Izumi was taken aback surprisingly yet sadly.
"How can you save me Kouji? How? When you can't even save yourself?" She said again sadly.
'She's right…who am I trying to fool…I cant save anyone…I…I can't keep these promises I keep on making…'
"I…I don't believe in you anymore Izumi! "Screamed Ayame's sad voice and then she disappeared.
Daggers plugged into Izumi's heart as she heard this. But she didn't have anytime to react for another appeared in front of her.
"You're not my friend anymore!" shouted amaya and then she disappeared as well.
"You're not strong!" came Rika and Ryo.
"You'll never save this world!" came Mimi and Matt.
Her heart was shattering. 'Why is this happening?'
"It's because you are weak." came the voice of the cloaked figure, "Your so called friends have all lost their faith in you now, all because you are a weakling!"
'No…I…I…' she felt like crying but the tears wouldn't come out.
"Here, I'll save you from your misery!" he said as he raised his sword ready to strike.
Izumi squeezed her eyes shut waiting for the pain to come, but instead she heard a voice.
"You'll always be my best friend."
She opened her eyes and say the little boy…err the small Kouji. He smiled at her., and then disappeared. In his place came Auron.
"I will teach you how to fight. Don't be afraid." he said, and then he too disappeared.
Kouji appeared again, the present Kouji.
"You are not weak. Get up and carry out the promises you made. You can do it.", he said coldly. But though it sounded cold it felt oh so strong and encouraging.
She smiled as he disappeared, 'thank you…I will keep all of them…that is a promise…'
"Yet another promise to be broken", came the icy voice. She stared horridly as she watched the sword come down to pierce her heart…
'Ahhhhhhhhhhh….' she screamed.
She woke up breathlessly, with sweat drops all over her forehead.
"It was only a dream…thank god." she said.
She looked around her.
Everyone was soundly asleep. Her eyes searched around. There. She saw Auron sitting under a tree. He was awake. Relief washed over her. Then one thought aroused in her mind and determination took its place.
She got up and ignored all the pain that went through her body and headed towards him.
She stopped in front of him, and then slowly he looked up at her questioningly.
"Teach me how to fight."
Pain is what I am feeling,
Confusion is occupying my mind,
I try so hard to keep my promises,
And keep this journey going on,
…Watching Over You…
tbc
Okay I've decided that im gonna reply to my reviews from now on, it will make it more interesting for us all. well at least I think so…
Sparkling-Ruby-Gem well im glad u like this fic, and im so sorry I took so long to update.
Izumi Rules: thanks for the luck, and I did do good. Well I updated, I hope u like it.
KoumiLoccness: well ummm, I don't really get ur point there but thanx for the review anyway.
Eevetta: its ok that u didn't review in such a long time cuz I didn't update in a long time lol. Well im really glad u like my fic. I hope u like this chappie!
CrAzY-SiLLy-Me : ya I updated. Thanx for all ur reviews!
MaRoNcOoL:well it looks like the two of us think a bit alike since we both like the same couples.thanx a lot for ur review and I hope u enjoyed this chapter too.
Kaurama-kasuki: ya that was the shortest chapter in the world. Personally I thought it was quite stupid cuz I just rushed it. But I guess it wasn't so bad. Glad u liked it anyways. This chapter was the longest I've ever written so I hope it makes up for the last one.
Anonymouse: im glad u liked it. Well im not planning on making it an ordinary ending, but I'm not sure if u will like it or not.but it should be good according to what I have in mind. You'll have to read to find out anyway. thanx for reviewing.
Lilkagome555:ok im glad u liked it. I emailed u but im not sure if u got it or not. But anyway matt is yamato. Why did I change his name? well cuz when I asked if I should, only izumi rules answered yes so I did. Hope u liked this chappie.
RedHotPheonix: cool review lol. Well im glad u think it was cool. I hope u like this chap.
Okay now that I'm done, did anyone notice that I said glad u liked it in practically everyone? Lol. Im such a boring person when im bored.
No suspense questions this time, cuz right now I cant think of any, and im not exactly sure what im gonna write in the next chap. So bare with me all of u, and I hope ur patient, cuz even though im gonna try to update fast, I might not too. So sad… I really don't have enough time on the pc anymore waaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Well sorry again for the late update. Pls leave a review to tell me what u think:comments, opinioins advice, flames…it's all welcome. Till next time…
