83

The Next Long Night

"To declare that we were not nervous on that rainy night of watching would be an exaggeration both gross and ridiculous." – H. P. Lovecraft, "The Shunned House"

It was night now, utterly night. Lilithmon was gone, but rather than leaving the Chosen Children with a sense of victory, the battle's outcome only underscored their sense of defeat. With their hopes of finding the others dashed, the night seemed more total somehow, more absolute. It settled thickly around them as they thought of their friends, and of what awaited them in their dreams.

Not wanting to be detained for questioning, they had not personally greeted the police, though they had stayed in the vicinity long enough to make sure that there was no further trouble. No battle had erupted, and eventually they had determined where they were in the city and made their way home via the subway. If the police found anything, Koshiro could learn what it was later. Of course, what they hoped to hear more than anything was that six children had been found unharmed among the building's dead.

Little was said on the journey home. For the most part, each of them brooded over their own thoughts, not discussing them with the others because they knew they all felt the same way. The Yurikamome train was quiet as it made its way along Rainbow Bridge. There was no one on board besides the teens and their partners. Collectively the group had had money enough for the fare. Most of the Digimon were already asleep – the battle had left them tired and hungry.

It wasn't a long ride, but it gave the Chosen Children some time to rest and gather their thoughts. Sora and Yamato were seated beside each other, while their partners sat across the aisle, dozing. The couple had hardly spoken since leaving the scene of the battle, either to each other or to anyone else. To Sora, Yamato seemed distant. She couldn't really blame him – great as her own worry and disappointment were, she knew that his was greater. She wanted to ask him about those long minutes before they had found him, but for now she respected his silence.

He must have noticed her stealing a glance at him, because he stirred in his seat and muttered, "Sorry."

"No, it's okay," she said quietly.

There was another moment of silence, but eventually Yamato decided to break it. Partly it was because he felt that he owed her some kind of conversation, and partly because there was something he wanted to get off his chest. In recent times, Sora had increasingly become for him an emotional outlet, someone he could share his thoughts and feelings with as he had never done in the past.

"Do you remember from four years ago, on Spiral Mountain?" he asked.

"You mean that cave," she said, "When I came looking for you."

He nodded. They had both been thinking about it, but hadn't brought it up until now. He didn't know whether to be relieved or unsettled by the idea.

"Sometimes it feels like that, in the dreams," he said. "And it was like that when Lilithmon was trying to…control me, but…different."

"I know," Sora said. "About the dreams, I mean. Mine are the same way."

Just last night she had had a nightmare that reminded her of the pitch black that had swallowed her up in Piemon's realm. This time it had been a vast pit out of which she was trying to climb. She could see nothing – only feel the smooth, sloping wall of rock that she was trying desperately to ascend. She couldn't go down, didn't dare fall, because there was something below waiting to catch her. Maybe it was only water, rising inexorably up the surface that gave her so much trouble, but it terrified her. She couldn't touch it, not knowing what might be lurking beneath the surface. If it enveloped her, she would lose her mind.

"They feel so real now," Yamato said, breaking in on her thoughts. "Like they aren't even dreams anymore. Sometimes I feel…" He didn't finish the sentence: Sometimes I feel like I may not wake up.

Nearer the front of the train, Taichi stared out the window, catching glimpses of the lights of Odaiba across the darkness of the bay, not really seeing them. He kept wondering what he would do once he got back to the apartment. He imagined hearing a knock on the door, and opening it to find a policeman waiting outside. Would his little sister be standing there as well? Or would the officer be bringing bad news, with a terrifying professional sympathy in his eyes? Again Taichi felt the need to hit something, and again he had to restrain himself, simply clenching his fists atop his thighs as tightly as he could.

They were well over the water now. They couldn't see it from the train, but they could sense it, sliding blackly beneath them. Dark water… it reminded Taichi of what little he had heard from Hikari and Takeru about that other place they had been to. They hadn't talked much about it at the time, or later. It upset Hikari for one thing. He suspected that she hadn't told the full story of what had happened, but he didn't push her. Should he have?

That Dark Ocean had something to do with what was happening now, and none of them knew anything about it. All they had were theories and guesses. Taichi's thoughts were beginning to mirror Koshiro's. Both had realized that there was a possibility that the missing Chosen Children weren't in the human world at all, but had been spirited away to that ocean. Only the younger Chosen Children had ever been there. Hikari and Takeru, Ken and Miyako. And now they were gone.

What was it that Hikari had told him? Things that looked like Digimon, but weren't. A god they worshipped. Or were they afraid of it? He couldn't remember the details, but he felt like they were important. He'd seen a gray ocean in several of his dreams, all of them involving his sister.

He could hear Yamato and Sora talking in low voices, seated somewhere behind him on the other side of the aisle. He hadn't bothered to ask what had happened to Yamato after Lilithmon dropped him through the floor, and it was only now, when he was looking for something to take his mind off his apprehension, that he thought to wonder how Yamato had reunited with the others. Maybe that's what they were talking about now, but he wouldn't ask. He didn't want to talk. He wanted to do something productive, but there was nothing to be done.

He looked out the window again. They had almost reached Odaiba. Before long the Yurikamome would be pulling into the station right across the street from the Searea apartments. Thinking about home made him think about that black Tailmon. If she was smart, she wouldn't have lingered. Angry as he had been at Lilithmon's messenger when they met earlier in the evening, his mood had only gotten worse.

Suddenly he wanted to be home very badly. He wanted this ride to be over, so that Koshiro could find out what the police had uncovered. So that he would be free to pace again, and be able to make sure that his parents were safe. That is, if he could face them. For he had failed. Failed as a brother, and failed as a leader. He could direct his anger at Lilithmon, or BlackTailmon, or the people behind them, but the person he was most angry with was himself.

Hiraga had been relieved to learn that Sato's group was prepared for an investigation by the authorities. He'd thought that that was probably the case, but had been ready to make a quick disappearance, all the same. The lower levels had to be cleaned up manually, and work began on that right away, but the computer systems could be backed up and wiped very quickly. It was equally simple to import enough data from outside the system to make it look like the organization was running a legitimate business. Sato's compatriots knew their way around computers. Hiraga hadn't thought that something so thorough could be done so quickly, but he couldn't argue with the results.

Possibly the ploy wouldn't have stood up to careful scrutiny. But whatever the kids had said when they contacted the cops, it didn't cause the whole police department to descend on the building. A couple officers had arrived, looking nervous, but were soon put at ease by what seemed to be a perfectly legal setup. They came and went without discovering any of the bodies, which had been locked into a concealed vault, and would later be disposed of.

Hiraga was left feeling impressed – even a little awed. If it weren't for the fact that the group's plans were being constantly derailed by a bunch of children, they would be the perfect example of how a clandestine operation should be run.

Not that the impression convinced Hiraga to change his intention to make an emergency exit for himself. In fact, he had decided that he had stayed the night in his employer's base of operations for the last time. Once the police had gone he excused himself and headed for his safe house. If Sato Katsu ever decided to finally contact him again, he could call.

Odaiba was new territory for BlackTailmon. The past couple nights there had been no convenient way for her to get there, and she was expected to avoid it because of the likelihood of her encountering the Chosen Children and being recognized as a Digimon. This evening she had gotten there using one of Lilithmon's black portals. She'd expected the children's battle with Lilithmon to have ended quickly in the demon lord's favor, after which Lilithmon could open another portal and retrieve her messenger.

But now over an hour had passed, the sun had set, and she was essentially marooned on the island. She didn't know the reason for it. The most likely explanation was that Lilithmon had simply forgotten about her, or abandoned her there as a cruel prank. The other explanation – one which she didn't find at all likely – was that Lilithmon had been defeated, and she was now on her own.

So she was left sitting in the darkness of the trees, brooding. She'd been given no orders dictating what to do in a situation like this. She thought about reverting to her usual tourism. Maybe someone had left their little pet outside for her to stalk and kill. But this was where the other Tailmon lived – people would be more likely to recognize her here for what she was, especially if they were related to the Chosen Children. BlackTailmon's perception of the human family unit was that it mainly functioned as a means of dealing with external threats more efficiently, and an external threat was exactly what she was.

But she had to do something to pass the time. Having slept all day, she was ready to play in the darkness for a while. Getting back to headquarters could wait. If morning came around and it was clear that she wasn't being transported back, then she could worry about how to leave the island. Once back on the mainland, she could… well, she could try to make her way back to the base. Assuming she recognized where she was.

She made a sour expression. It hadn't occurred to her before that she might get lost in this alien world. Until tonight she'd been in no danger of it, with her innate sense of direction. But it couldn't help her now that she was through Lilithmon's portal. Bitch, she thought. Even if she's dead now, she should have thought of a way to get me out of here.

BlackTailmon's mood did not improve when the first raindrops began to fall.

"Are they dreaming?" Sato asked the Dark Man, watching the screen on which he could see the Chosen Children in their isolated cells, handcuffed and still unconscious. "Can they dream after what you've done to them?"

"No, probably not," the Dark Man answered. "You wanted them out of it; I put them out of it. Does seem to be a shame, though, with them this close to the source of nightmare. I suppose you want me to put them back into play."

"If possible, yes," Sato said. "So that they can awake from one nightmare into another." His eyes lingered a while longer on the screen before he turned away. "I should get to sleep as well. I have a busy night ahead of me."

The Dark Man remained where he was as Sato left the room. Alone in the darkness, he chuckled.

"Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure…"