74

Interval

"Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,

Doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before"

– Edgar Allan Poe, "The Raven"

Sometime before the dawn of the previous day, BlackTailmon had returned to her new home after another night of exploring the human city. She still found this world fascinating – it was about as different as a place could be from Arkham and its shadowy woods. Things had turned out well for her. Besides having been spared whatever the head human had done with the last Witchmon, she'd been put on what amounted so far to an exhilarating vacation. No one had required her to do anything yet. She didn't know or care what the end goal was for this mysterious group of which she was a part, and for all she knew there would be no business on this trip that might interrupt pleasure.

The first sign that this would not be the case came when she stepped off the elevator to find the human called Hiraga waiting for her in the basement's central computer room.

"Oh, it's you," he said. "That other Digimon wanted to see you."

"Which one?" she asked. Her tone and the look she gave him was casual, but she couldn't help being a little suspicious. It wasn't that she was afraid of the Digimon that had entered this world with her, but she knew too much about their power and personalities to be fully at ease when dealing with them.

"The only one that's left," Hiraga answered. "Lilithmon, I think?"

"What does she want?"

"I'm not sure, but she has a job for you. I think she's in the subbasement."

BlackTailmon looked at the door he indicated, but didn't move towards it. Instead she asked: "What do you mean Lilithmon is the only one left?"

"I don't know the details, but I guess that the others were killed by the kids' Digimon."

"Did Lilithmon finish them off?"

"No," he said.

"Why not?" BlackTailmon asked when it became clear that Hiraga wasn't going to explain further.

"You'll have to ask her yourself," he answered. "I don't know."

"Not very useful, are you?" she said, before heading for the door.

She just caught his muttered reply of, "Not these days," and then she was through the door and making her way down to the subbasement. It was a part of the building that she hadn't been to before. She preferred the outdoors, and hadn't cared to mingle with Lilithmon's demons, none of whom she had met until the day she first entered the human world. Past the door that Hiraga had pointed out, she didn't know what path to take, but it was pretty easy to identify the rooms that had housed the demonic Digimon – dimmer than the rest, and occasionally bloodier.

Eventually she found the stairs leading down. The subbasement was darker still, but posed no challenge for her eyesight. Darkness usually didn't. So it came as a surprise when she reached the foot of the stairs, rounded a corner, and found herself staring into pitch blackness. As she stood there squinting at it, a pale hand emerged, the visible part of it sharply cut off where it touched the wall of black, like a drowned corpse rising from a lake at night. It turned over with a flourish, and the black veil melted away to reveal Lilithmon.

The expression on her face was a blend of malevolent smile and smoldering rage, and BlackTailmon's muscles tensed as she prepared to be attacked. Instead, Lilithmon relaxed immediately, apparently seeing her small visitor for the first time. Her smile returned to its usual air of calm superiority.

"There you are," Lilithmon said with incongruous sweetness. "Just in time. I'm almost finished getting ready, and it's about time to close this place off." She slowly bent forward to scratch lightly at the top of BlackTailmon's furry head with her left hand. "So, little kitty, what do you think?"

BlackTailmon looked past Lilithmon, but could only see more blackness. She didn't pull back from the hand petting her, but its presence was irritating. BlackTailmon had no use for displays of affection, and she knew that Lilithmon was just pretending anyway. Lilithmon might look like a young woman, and act like a girl, but at heart she was a Demon Lord – inhuman, and evil to her core. "You wanted me for something?" BlackTailmon asked.

"I did," Lilithmon said, straightening. "I had a little setback last night thanks to those Chosen Children, so I'd like them to come over tonight."

"So… what are you doing down here?" BlackTailmon asked, her reserve overcome by her curiosity.

"I'm redecorating for the party," Lilithmon answered. "This place was too small for what I have in mind, so I expanded it a little." The other Digimon must have looked doubtful, for she went on to explain, "It's easy for me to get things done when I'm under stress. Rage can open up many doors for me. Hope I didn't startle you too much."

"I still don't see what you want me to do," BlackTailmon said.

"I want you to go invite the Chosen Children and their Digimon, of course."

BlackTailmon gave Lilithmon a questioning look, unsure if she was being serious. Lilithmon smiled back.

"I don't think they'll be very happy to see me," BlackTailmon said at last. "Didn't they destroy the others last night?"

"They did," Lilithmon said, still smiling. "But they won't hurt you. They want to find me just as much as I want them to come. You'll be their best chance of hunting me down."

It occurred to BlackTailmon for the first time that that unchanging smile was unsettling. Lilithmon seemed mellow, but studiously so, and it was easy to see that her true face was the one BlackTailmon had first seen: she was angry, and thrilled by the idea of her coming revenge. And with that little realization came the feeling that it wouldn't be a good idea to argue the point any further.

"Alright," she said. "Where can I find them?"

The sun hadn't reached the horizon before four of the Chosen Children stood or sat with their partners on the plaza bordered by the Searea apartment buildings. It had sunk behind the taller buildings, providing the illusion of twilight, but true night was still over an hour off when Taichi, Yamato, Sora, Mimi, Agumon, Gabumon, Piyomon, and Palmon gathered outside to await Lilithmon or her messenger. Taichi had ordered Koshiro and Jou to stay at Odaiba Mansion, on the off chance that the invitation would be sent there instead. They hadn't objected – it seemed like a sufficiently logical plan.

When the eight at the Searea apartments could think of something to say, they talked. Other times they just stood around or, as was often the case with Taichi, paced aimlessly. The knowledge of an upcoming battle had steeled them somewhat. To an extent, they'd set their concerns for the missing Chosen aside. Worry had been converted into anger, and with it came a consuming impatience.

Eventually Agumon had stopped trying to keep up with Taichi. There didn't seem to be anything he could say to improve the situation, so he plodded over to where his fellow Digimon were talking.

"How's Taichi doing?" Gabumon asked as he saw his friend approach.

"Not good. He's been real worried and angry all day. I try to cheer him up, but I think he just wants to be left alone."

"Maybe if we had brothers or sisters we could understand better," Gabumon said.

"But we do have friends," Piyomon said. "And I'm sure worried about Patamon and the others."

"Mimi cried a little, earlier," Palmon said. After a little embarrassed pause she added, "Well, I mean, I did too. It was hard not to, then." She looked over to where her partner sat on a nearby bench, but for the moment the only emotion in Mimi's face was tiredness as she stared ahead at nothing. Earlier Palmon had offered to listen to what the girl had dreamed about, but Mimi didn't want to talk about it.

"I wish Lilithmon would hurry up and get here!" Agumon said. "WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon could finish her off no problem."

"She'll be tough," Palmon said. "Last night when I was Lilimon my attacks couldn't even reach her."

"And she can make us lose our form," Piyomon added.

"Yeah," Agumon said, "but we'll beat her.

"We have to if we want everyone to come home safely," Gabumon said. He looked to Yamato and Sora, who stood together, talking to each other in voices too low to be made out from where the Digimon stood. When he had made his last statement, Gabumon's expression had been one of anger, but his eyes softened as he looked at his partner. "This is hard for Yamato and the rest. If Digimon die they can be reborn, but if they lose their human friends, they can't get them back."

The group was silent for a moment after that, trying to wrap their heads around such a terrible concept. They thought of what it might mean to never see Takeru or Hikari again, or any of the other missing children. They thought about losing their own partners, the ones they had waited an eternity for on File Island, and their minds shrank back in horror.

Nearby, Yamato and Sora's discussion continued.

"Last year," Yamato was saying, "I was glad when I found out that Takeru was moving to Odaiba. I didn't say so, but I was."

Sora nodded without replying, waiting for Yamato to come around to the heart of what he wanted to say. Even now it was sometimes difficult for him to share his emotions outright. But she didn't mind. It reminded her of her own tendency to internalize her insecurities. The thought had occurred to her the previous year, during the months when she had been sorting out her feelings regarding Yamato and Taichi.

"Things were good," Yamato continued. "The band was getting popular, I was seeing Gabumon every once in a while, and my little brother was nearby without me having to worry about him all the time like in 1999." He cleared his throat. Under more normal circumstances he would have filled in the pause with a smile, but he couldn't smile today. "It didn't last, of course. The Digimon Kaiser appeared around that time."

"It always starts up so suddenly," Sora said. "Then…and now."

Yamato nodded. "But I wasn't filled with worry like before. I knew Takeru could take care of himself. He was the same age I had been on our first adventure. And – and he was okay! But now this…" Sora saw his features tighten, and knew he was fighting back tears. "And they tell us that Lilithmon has them, but we don't know that." He drew in a deep breath and let out a shuddering sigh. "Maybe you were right. About what you said last night. The closer our group is, the easier it is for the enemy to get at us."

"No," Sora said, and again, louder, "No, I was wrong." Yamato looked at her, startled by the trace of irritation in her voice. "I mean, it's sort of true," she explained in a softer tone, "But that closeness is also where our strength comes from. I was scared, and I said something I shouldn't have. All of us need to be there for each other just as much as we always have."

"I guess you're right," he said. "That was the old Yamato talking. Sorry." He still couldn't manage a smile, but she could tell from his voice that he meant it when he said, "I'm glad I have you here."

That's when they heard Taichi's cry of "Hey!" and turned to see what he, Mimi, and the Digimon were already looking at. The messenger had arrived.