Enter The Light

Part Six: A Little Help

Standard Disclaimer Thingie: Digimon, all related characters, merchandise, and money, is not mine. Plot is. Mostly. Don't steal, don't sue, don't forget to moo.

Moo.

For a few moments, Takeru could see and hear nothing. There was white light all around, him, and it was far less painful for him to shut his eyes instead. His mind wandered; he felt questions returning. Where was he? Where was he going? How was he getting there?

Then, the light faded, and he found himself somewhere that he had never been before.

It was a room filled with furniture – mostly ancient, used furniture – covered with sheets and half broken. Takeru was standing in the middle of the room. A dull gray armchair with the stuffing spilling out of a slice on the arm was directly in front of him. Behind him was a tall grandfather clock that somehow was still loudly ticking in his ear despite the fact that it could easily have been more than a hundred years old. A massive table was in front of him, with a dozen or more chairs piled on top of it.

"Where are we?" Patamon questioned, and his voice echoed off the high ceiling. Takeru had not even a guess.

There was a window not far away – it would have been no more than a few steps had those few steps not been blocked by a pile of three armchairs and what looked like it might be the disassembled frame of a rather large bed – and some light was drifting through between tattered, ancient curtains. A thick layer of dust made the light hazy, though enough to see by. Wherever Takeru had landed, it was still daytime here. Briefly, he wondered how long his journey had taken, but he pushed that from his mind in favor of his more immediate concerns.

With some difficulty, he climbed over the antique armchair on to the table. When it did not break under his weight, Takeru pushed his way through the chairs piled atop it and made his way across the table. He then climbed off the table and over another three armchairs (maneuvering carefully around the bed frame) to reach the window.

Unfortunately, the view was of no use to him, even after he had wiped off a significant amount of dust and pushed aside the moth-eaten curtains. Below, he could see a wide field with farmers busily plowing and planting and tending a multitude of grains. Wherever he was, it was not Takaishi, for he could see no rice amidst the fields.

The window was easily three or four stories up, but Takeru could not be certain of exactly how high. As the tiny and cluttered room had no further windows, he decided it would be best to leave by way of the door.

"I hope I haven't landed in the middle of someone's house…I don't want them to think that I am an intruder…," he thought aloud as he began to climb over the furniture toward the door on the other side of the room.

"Or a ghost," Patamon added, giggling mischievously at the thought of secretly haunting a house.

"Well, wherever we are, it's where I'm supposed to be, right? So, maybe I'm expected."

As Miyako had been immersed in books and studies when Taichi and Sora returned, she had not been immediately aware of the chaos that had been taking place above stairs. Thus, she was rather surprised when she emerged from Koushiro's basement laboratory to find that the palace's residents were in a state of mildly confused panic.

It was not too difficult to find Mimi, who, strangely enough, seemed to have become something of a beacon of sanity. She was sitting, calmly, in one of the ground floor's multiple sunrooms, steadily working on a bit of embroidery while Yamato, seated in an overstuffed couch nearby, was immersed in a pile of papers resting on the floor in front of him. The pile nearly obscured him from view, and he was mumbling to himself as he rummaged through them, occasionally tossing one of them aside, where it floated gently to the ground.

"Miyako! There you are! I was hoping you'd emerge before sundown. I think Sora will benefit greatly from your presence," Mimi greeted, setting aside the fabric she had been stitching

"Benefit?" Miyako echoed, by this time very much aware that she had missed something of great importance. Before she had a chance to further inquire about whatever she had missed, however, Mimi had gotten to her feet and taken the young mage's hand, pulling her from the room.

"Where are you going?" Yamato questioned, looking up from his papers in time to notice them depart, but Mimi had already left and not heard his question.

It had taken some time, but Takeru had managed to climb over furniture and open the door of the small, cramped room. He had then emerged into an empty hallway. There was no furniture there, but plenty of dust, and the wallpaper and paint were both peeling.

"This place, wherever it is, is old," Takeru observed, running a finger along the wall. A significant amount of dust blackened his hand when he pulled it away. "I wonder if anyone lives here at all."

"If they do, they don't clean often," Patamon answered, sneezing in the dust.

They continued down the hallway for some time until they reached a staircase, which was also lined with a significant amount of dust. After descending at least four stories, Takeru found himself in a large empty foyer. Along one wall was a massive fireplace, which looked as though it had been used recently, and blankets and other items covered the floor, as though a large group of people had been camping out in the foyer some time very recently before they had all left.

"Do you hear that?" Patamon questioned before Takeru could comment on the state of the foyer. "I think it's coming from that way. Sounds like voices."

When he listened intently, Takeru found that he, too, could hear the noises. It seemed to be coming from the outside of the building. Walking carefully to avoid the blankets and other objects that littered the floor, Takeru crossed the grand entrance hall and found the two massive doors that led to the outside. They were propped open with two heavy stones, allowing bright sunlight to stream inside the otherwise gloomy house. Beyond, large stone steps led down to the ground some distance below.

A small crowd of people was gathered on the steps, and a much larger crowd was below, peering up at those on the steps as though waiting for an announcement of some sort. Takeru leaned against the doorway of the house, not wanting to interrupt whatever was going on.

At some unspoken signal, the crowd below quieted their hums of conversation. A tall man with a long, white beard nodded to the crowd, acknowledging their attention. "People of Hida," he said then in a clear, loud voice that carried over the crowd. "We have received word from the King about the state of our homes."

There was a moment of silence following this announcement, as the old man paused to give the crowd time to absorb his words. A hum of conversation rose and then died, as the people waited to see what would next be said.

"Hida will not be given to another Lord. We will not be forced to leave our homes or to bow to the authority of another holding," the old man told them, and this received a largely favorable response from the crowd below. Some of them burst into applause, and a few shouts of agreement could be heard.

"Who then?" called a voice from the crowd.

"Who will lead us?" shouted another.

The crowd almost immediately quieted then, awaiting the answer to this very important question. Takeru looked around the edge of the doorframe so he could see more clearly and was surprised to see someone that he recognized step forward.

"I will," said the voice, quiet though clear, authoritative in a solemn voice – a voice that Takeru recognized – a voice that could provide a calm, reasonable center in the midst of insanity.

"I will," said Iori. "If you will have me."

"No," Sora said before Miyako could finish the sentence she had begun. She was looking much paler and weaker than the young mage had ever seen her look before, but the word was spoken with a strength of voice she would not have been guessed to have. "No," she said again, shaking her head.

"Sora…," Miyako interrupted, but she only shook her head harder. "I think…."

"No," she answered again, getting to her feet. "The last time you were there…the last time anyone was there, we were all nearly killed. Daisuke was wise to go without telling anyone…there's no way he would have been allowed."

"And you want to let him die, then?" Miyako retorted despite herself. "He took Shijo with him, Sora…they're probably halfway across the desert by now. It's one thing if he gets himself in danger, but an innocent boy?"

"No one said he is not foolish, too," Sora conceded. "I should hope you'd have more sense."

"I have sense!" she returned.

Sora opened her mouth to disagree at the same time that Miyako tried to defend herself. A loud argument would certainly have broken out then if Taichi had not intervened, sitting up slowly from the pillows behind him.

"Sora," he said, quietly, and shook his head slowly, almost imperceptibly. She looked at him, briefly, sighed heavily, and sat down in the chair she had recently vacated, an exhausted sort of expression on her face.

"I think that the Daisuke is traveling further East for a reason," Miyako said then in a much calmer voice. "The book of dark magic was found in the basement of the Kaiser's fortress…."

"Which was destroyed," Sora reminded her in a weary voice. "What could be there to find?"

"I don't know. Something, maybe. What I do know," she continued before Sora could interrupt again, "is that if we're going to find a clue to what the crystals are used for…to what Mummymon and that sorceress want them for…we're going need to find either a book of dark magic or someone who knows something about dark magic."

"One or possibly both could be found in the East," Taichi concluded. He paused, briefly. "Do you really think Ken might be there?"

"I don't know," Miyako said again, shrugging. "I haven't any clue as to where he might be now. I have some theories as to where he has been, but now?" She shrugged again, shaking her head. "Daisuke once might have been able to answer that, but now, I don't know. That's another reason to go after him."

"You had a book of dark magic before," Sora spoke up, eyes on the floor, voice tired-sounding. "You couldn't touch it, remember? What good would another book do?"

"I couldn't," the young mage agreed. "Daisuke could. If I could find him…could find a book…."

"I still don't like it," Sora said after a long silence had passed. "It's risky."

There was another silence. Taichi yawned into the silence, tired even after having spent the afternoon and early evening unconscious. "You're right," he said when he'd finally finished. "Both of you," he added quickly before an argument could commence.

"Go, if you really think it will do much good," he finally said to Miyako, "but I think it might be wise to wait a few days."

"Wait?" she echoed. "For what?"

"I don't know," he answered, shrugging lightly. "Wait and find out."

"Iori - ?" Takeru said aloud, in a voice only barely loud enough to be heard by his partner atop his head.

"People coming," Patamon noted, and Takeru saw that a small but significant crowd of people was indeed heading toward the entrance to the building – toward Takeru.

"No need to go alarming people," Takeru decided, glancing down to see that he was still dressed in his night clothes, a robe thrown on hastily. There was soot and dust and dirt splotched over him from head to toe, and a few blood stains on his robe from the cut in his hand. Quickly, he hurried across the empty entrance hall and down an empty corridor.

"So we're in Hida then?" the small digimon questioned, flying behind his partner's head. "That was where Iori and Koushiro went, wasn't it?"

"Koushiro!" he gasped, pausing briefly in his steps. He turned to face his partner. "If Koushiro's here, he might be able to figure out how I got here…what this crystal is!"

"How do we find him, though?" Patamon questioned.

"Well…," Takeru began, and then hesitated, glancing down at his wardrobe. "Good question." He turned away and continued his walk down the empty corridor.

Only a short distance down the hallway a door was ajar slightly. Fearing the presence of other people, Takeru paused before it and listened for sounds of someone beyond the door. There was no sound but distant voices of people and digimon outside the house and in the entrance hall. Cautiously, curiously, Takeru peered around the door.

The room was small but cluttered. Tall, mostly empty bookcases rose from floor to ceiling behind an ancient, dust-covered desk. A few books lay open on the desk as well as a few empty mugs and glasses that had recently been emptied of drink. There were no chairs, but a few wooden crates and boxes that stood in the small space between the door and the desk, some of which had become home to glass bottles with odd-colored liquids.

"If this isn't a wizard's space, I don't know what is," Takeru decided. He entered the room and crossed to the desk to look at the books that lay open there. He saw that the first page was filled with a nearly indecipherable mess of numbers and words that he instantly recognized as magical formulae – though he had no idea whatsoever what they meant.

"Should we wait here for him, then?"

"It is not Koushiro's style to spend much time away from his books," he answered, feeling pleased with himself. "We'll wait here. It won't be long before he returns." With that, Takeru seated himself on the wooden crate behind the desk. It was far from comfortable, but it was useful. He leaned back against the rickety bookshelf behind him and rested his feet on the desk. Before long, he was asleep despite the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements.

"Wait," Miyako mumbled to herself rather crossly. "Wait for what?"

She was pacing her bedroom – a space she had not occupied often in the last week – her mind too agitated to return to study in the wizard's laboratory.

"You'll find out when it happens," Hawkmon answered, infuriatingly calm. He was already curled peacefully into a ball at the foot of her bed, preparing to sleep. He yawned widely and shut his eyes.

Miyako muttered a not-too-polite response to this under her breath and pushed open the door to the balcony beyond her room rather than cause undue harm to her sleeping and innocent partner.

Had it been required of her to cast a spell at that moment, the young mage would have found it rather difficult – especially if it was something that required concentration – for her mind was nowhere near calm. She paced the balcony for a few moments and then sighed deeply, tired from her agitation, and leaned against the railing.

"Nothing makes any damned sense anymore," she muttered, peering down at the gardens below. A few guards were patrolling the paths below. She could distinctly see, even in the darkness, that two of them nodded briefly to each other as they crossed paths.

"How could so much change in a year?" she wondered aloud, turning her gaze to the sky. "Not even a year. Maybe I ought to simply go home."

"You couldn't," another voice contradicted from somewhere behind her, and she sighed again.

"I know," she admitted. "I'd be bored to tears within a few days, and want to leave. Once you have left that, you can't go back."

There was no response to this, and then, suddenly, she became aware of the presence of another, and turned sharply back to face the inside. "Who…?" she questioned sharply.

"You were looking for me, weren't you?" questioned the same voice as before, and when Miyako looked upwards, toward the sound of it, she saw that someone was seated on the roof directly above her room, watching her. "Even when I told you that wasn't a good idea?"

"Ken…!" Her voice was little more than a sharp intake of breath, a gasp of surprise. "Why…? How?"

He was quiet, saying nothing, and then he moved, quickly enough that she could barely track his movements, and jumped to the balcony so that he was standing only a few steps from her. "Whatever happened…," he began hesitantly, and then looked away, out toward the star-filled sky beyond the grounds. "…back there, in Motomiya…whatever that was…."

"Some sort of merge," she put in. "At least, that's what I think. It's hard to say…and Koushiro's not here…doesn't even know about it yet, I don't think."

"Something like that," he agreed. His head was still turned toward the stars, but now his eyes slowly tracked back to her. "Whatever it was, it helped with some of my…memories."

"Memories," Miyako echoed. "As though you…."

"At first, I thought that the merge…that somehow his memories had become mine…but that's not the case. None of them feels odd or out of place to me."

She nodded slowly. "Maybe what happened was that the memories that were restored were memories you shared."

He turned back fully to her now. "Shared?" he echoed.

"I don't know what you do or don't remember. I wasn't there for most of it. I do know, though, that you and Daisuke knew each other before…before all this started…before I met you, before we became Chosen. I know you were close. I'm sure there's lots of memories that you both share. Maybe this merge helped to restore the memories that you both had."

Ken was silent for a long while, considering this. He turned back to the stars and looked at the night sky for some time. "It's possible," he conceded.

Miyako watched him while he was silent, waiting to see what he would do, trying to muster her courage to say things. "If Daisuke were here," she said aloud, and shook her head. Ken seemed to pay no attention to these words.

"Why were you looking for me?" he asked instead, not turning away from the sky.

"I…m-many reasons," she answered, vaguely, suddenly finding her shoes to be rather interesting. He had turned to face her again, this time full-on, and she could feel his eyes.

"Name some," he said, not even a hint of amusement in his voice.

"I…well," Miyako began, stumbling over her words. She turned away from him so that she might not feel his presence so acutely. "I…wanted to know what had happened to you…if you were all right. I wanted…to know…I suppose I was worried."

"Hmm," he answered passively. She could feel his attention waning, wondered if he was going to leave. He had always had a habit of leaving abruptly so that she went on speaking to nothing and no one. She turned back quickly to him and saw that he had not moved save to turn his gaze again toward the stars.

"Ken," she said, her words coming out in a hurried rush before she lost her nerve to say them at all. Yet again, she wished Daisuke were here, that he could blurt them out without hesitation. "The crystals…Mummymon…I need your help, please."

He sighed. "Answers?" he said. "I haven't got any answers."

"You…she…spoke about justice for the vanquished. You said they were vanquished for a reason."

"They were sent to the shadow world," he replied. His eyes were distant, as Daisuke's had been when he'd spoken about the past he didn't remember – as though there were memories too painful to be recovered. "They were sent there because they brought about the deaths of thousands."

"Who were they?" Miyako questioned. "Why would that sorceress want to bring them here? How – ?"

He sighed again, heavily, frowning, and turned away from her, walking a few steps to the railing behind him, which he leaned back against, folding his arms. "Hundreds of years ago," he began, "the world was filled with darkness, evil. The vanquished she wants to free once roamed this world, terrorizing humans and digimon alike."

His eyes were dark, his expression grave and closed, as though he were intensely aware that he had, in another life perhaps, done the same thing. Miyako fought down the urge to speak up and try to comfort him in some way, forcing herself to listen to the rest of the story.

"The first Chosen, I think, were the ones who vanquished them, sending them through portals to the shadow world. The portals were sealed with powerful magic and then that magic was locked into crystals and scattered across Yagami. The sorceress you have met, she is neither human nor digimon, but a combination of the two."

"Her, too, then?" Miyako said. "Mummymon is the same way. The book says that he was made from the essence of a human soul and the digital material of a digimon. I suppose that explains why he can appear human."

"As can she," Ken said, nodding. "Arachnemon."

"The spider woman," she said, remembering what Koushiro and Jyou had seen in Kido. "The book says they were created…by who? From what human's soul?"

He only shook his head. "I don't know. A dark wizard of immense power, I would assume, but I know of none in Yagami."

Miyako fell silent, absorbing this new information. Ken waited a few moments before he went on.

"The crystals," he continued, "contain the magic that, if darkened, would open the portal. So long as they are in the hands of the Chosen, they are benevolent; the portal is closed."

She nodded. "It's not dark, but not good, either, easily manipulated by whoever controls it," she said, speaking more to herself than to him. "It gains power when power is nearby…but wait. In Motomiya, only Daisuke could touch the crystal. Does that not make it safe from Arachnemon and Mummymon – from darkness?"

"Darkness would only overpower the barrier," he replied.

Miyako shivered briefly, and then another question came to mind. "How many…?"

"Five," Ken answered before she had finished. "Five crystals. North, south, east, west, and one in the center of Yagami, near here. I believe that they must all be in the same place in order for the portal to be opened, but I'm not certain about that."

"For now, then, we're safe. Daisuke has one, and he's gone east." She paused, thinking. "One, here. One in Motomiya, that must have been west. Kido must have been North. There's still east and south to find….Takaishi!"

"He's gone east?" Ken echoed, having apparently not heard much more than the first part of her words. "What the hell for?"

Miyako stared at him, startled by the emotion in his voice – the first she had heard him express. For a moment, she could not speak, and then she answered, almost stumbling over her words. "I – I don't know. He left without saying…."

"Damn it," he muttered, lowering his voice only slightly. Miyako could see that there was a great purpose in his eyes now, a hint of a violent and powerful sort of anger beneath the surface, barely enough for her to be frightened of, for she knew what it was capable of. "I'm going," he told her, and then was gone.

Miyako watched him go, climbing to the roof and then away, beyond the rafters. A cool breeze danced through the previously warm night, and she shivered once more.

I have to say that I agree with the people that left reviews saying that they want more Ken. I don't think he appears nearly often enough. Unfortunately, since he was evil and then recovered, I don't think he's been in a socializing mood. Hopefully, I'll manage to break him out of that now. I plan to let him see some more action in the next few chapters, and, (if this didn't hint at it enough) I might actually work more on the whole him and Miyako thing.

Till next time, thanks for reading, reviewing.