Well... I definitely thought I posted this chapter already.. Whoops!

Happy Odaiba Day! Here's that chapter I promised FOREVER ago.

Everything was white. Much too white; it was nauseating. Yuzuki closed her eyes and focused on the beeping of the machines. It was a slow, rhythmic beat, reminding her that she was still alive.

She heard the creak of the door open and watched, half-lidded, as a woman came in and began writing notes down while the machine beeped. Closing her eyes again, she listened to the subtle scratching of ink to paper. A few moments passed before she heard a second set of footprints join her room.

"How are her vitals?" A man asked in a hushed tone.

"They seem to be back to normal," a woman replied. "She should be waking up soon. How do you want to proceed?"

She heard the man sigh, one that spoke volumes to how truly tired he was. "Being the only next of kin, we need to be upfront about the situation. She has a lot of choices she'll have to make. Page me when she wakes. I'm grabbing a cup of coffee."

"Yes Dr. Kido," the woman replied. Yuzuki heard footsteps begin to quiet before the click of the door signaled she was alone again. The machine continued to beep, its natural rhythmic reminder that she was still alive, but at what cost?

"According to the news outlets it was a drunk driving accident, though nobody could find the mysterious driver or their vehicle. There were no witnesses despite it being in the middle of the day on the busiest road from here to Tokyo. And of course the police weren't going to believe the recently orphaned 16-year-old who was spouting off gibberish about grey worlds filled with monsters. So that was the story: A family torn apart because of a tragic accident. The public believed it and that was that." Yuzuki's voice shook as she spoke.

"I remember that," Jou piped in. "My father was a doctor at a hospital in Tokyo at the time. He came home late every night for weeks. He never really talked to me about it, but I remember him talking to my mother about how broken his heart was for this girl. I can't believe that was you."

Taichi shifted his weight to get up, but stopped when the girl shook her head. As Taichi lowered himself back down onto the blankets, she continued.

"Despite the public saying it was a car accident, I knew that wasn't the case. Not long before, Demon had managed to alter the code in my tattoo in order to talk to me. Somehow, given my status as the balancer of light and dark, he was able to use that virus to get inside my head. He told me that my true job was to join the darkness and destroy the light for good. I tried to fight back every way I could, but yelling to yourself comes off as crazy to the general public and I couldn't really control the nightmares. Eventually, he began making promises. Promises of true despair forcing me to his side. I didn't believe him until the accident. That day, I saw the world turn grey and before I could warn my parents, I had passed out. Woke up in a hospital bed completely alone."

Looking down at her hands, Yuzuki took a deep breath.

"And all those promises came true. He took my family away from me and left me to deal with a cold, uncaring world. I became very aware of how unfair this fight was against darkness, so out of sheer survival I joined his side. I've done some terrible things over the last 2 years, but as much as I knew I needed to, I couldn't bring myself to hurt you guys. "

Everyone remained silent. Miyako, still standing from her previous outburst, slowly wrapped her arm around the brunette and pulled her in.

"I'm so sorry. You've been through a lot. Not that I agree with your actions, but I understand," she whispered. Yuzuki froze at the contact, but relaxed into the taller girl's arms.

Taichi stood up and wrapped his arm around the girls. Face hardening, he began to speak.

"We couldn't be there for you then, but we're here for you now, and we will prove you wrong. Demon will not win this fight. Not with us."

"Yea!" Mimi hollered. "Demon won't know what's coming to him!"

For the first time that night, the room flourished with chatter as the chosen began planning and talking up their eventual victory over the evil digimon. Finally, Taichi cleared his throat, calling everyone to turn their attention to him.

"It's getting late, why don't we call it a night? We'll make a plan in the morning."

Following instruction, Sora stood up and began collecting cups, while Yamato walked across the room to turn the light off. Yuzuki settled next to Taichi. Before drifting off to sleep, Taichi wrapped his arm around her and whispered, "Don't you worry, I'll protect you."

She smiled at his words, but soon her lips turned downward again. If only it was that easy, killing darkness with sheer will, but Yuzuki knew better. She saw firsthand what Demon was capable of. She wasn't the one who needed protecting; she needed to protect everyone. While the room began to calm down and breaths began to even out, Yuzuki plotted her escape, planning to be gone before the sun rose.

This one was kind of short, but I PROMISE I have the next one written.. So.. I will post it at some point in the near future (not months late though).