A/N: There we go. Now it's back to Kouji, and then Ch 16 will be the first of the Tomoki chapters. We're not going to have too many more for Kouichi in this fic as a consequence, though there's at least two more so no tears yet!

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Wish Journeys 1.1
Three Brothers

Chapter 14/Takuya

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He all but fell through the doorway two Angemon had carried them to. He'd hoped they'd been a little more gentle with Kouichi, considering he was unconscious and all.

He pulled himself to his feet and looked around. They were back on the hospital roof. The sun was hanging low in the sky. About midday, or thereabouts he supposed. And Kouichi was face-down on the floor, still unmoving, his black cloak and tunic gone and replaced with something white and red and brown.

A hospital gown, drenched in both old and new blood.

And other little bits of the jigsaw fit themselves neatly together.

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'Thank you so much,' a woman said breathlessly and tearfully, holding him so tight he could barely breathe. She looked like Kouichi, except her hair was longer and her eyes were a different colour. Kouichi's mother, Takuya supposed.

Well, he'd had no idea the kid who'd vanished from the ICU was Kouichi. He certainly hadn't looked like a kid in ICU.

Until he was unconscious, his mind reminded him. Then the similarity to Shinya was all too visible.

The story slowly unfolded. He'd collapsed on the road and been hit by a car that hadn't been able to break or swerve in time. Fallen first, then been hit. What had made him fall was still up in the air, but a cold, shivering, corner of Takuya's mind wondered if that rabbit monster had had a hand in this as well.

It was a scary thought, to think those demons had gotten into this world as well.

Angewomon, the female angel who'd tended to him, had told the story. Three great angels who'd been the best of friends until responsibilities had torn them apart. Cherubimon, the rabbit angel, had wanted to save all the pitiful, voiceless creatures as well. Seraphimon and Ofanimon had given them up for lost once their voices and sense had been snatched. What they agreed on was that neither of them wanted those creatures to suffer. They just chose different paths.

And then the virus, whatever it was, reached Cherubimon's castle: the castle called Venus Rose. The rose of love. And Cherubimon refused to kill his servants, his friends. They drove him mad, and the virus struck him as well.

The other two angels were afraid, because the virus made the creatures stronger and Cherubimon was one of the most powerful creatures in their world already. And they were right to fear. Cherubimon swallowed everything he could. His servants, infected by the virus. All the life in his land. To stop them suffering, to stop the still pure ones from killing them to save themselves. He swallowed them all, and the virus grew inside of him.

So, Ofanimon and Seraphimon sent their angels to save the few who remained unaffected and to seal away the Venus Rose. They'd known there was an orb in there; they each had one. It was the shield that protected their castles. So they poured their emotions and fears into it and it changed. It became black. The shield turned inwards, as they'd hoped. Cherubimon became trapped in their castle and, though it was agony to think about, at least the rampage had stopped.

Until the Gate opened. And a Lopmon – Cherubimon who'd managed to rip off a part of himself with what remained of his sanity – reached through the Gate and found a Chosen with a similar wish and a wounded soul. That part was Takuya's edit, because Ofanimon had thought the first meeting was in that world. It didn't sound like it, though. Why would a normally healthy boy just collapse out of the blue otherwise?

He sounded like he'd been reaching for something.

Kouichi's mother said the driver of the car had described that.

Reaching for a dream, or a hand…

It made him wonder what Kouichi's dream really was.

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Masks, tubes, needles and machines. It was Shinya with a few slight differences. There was a neck brace, for one. Precautionary for all motor-vehicle accidents. There was a tube down the other's throat. Shinya had graduated to a mask. There were blood. Shinya's wounds had stopped bleeding. And the heart monitor and the other fuzzy line machine were both slightly erratic.

Ofanimon said it wasn't quite a coma and that confirmed it.

He only hovered a little, and then he left. He noticed the staff leaning against the wall and wondered how it got there.

And then he forgot again as he looked as his little brother's pale face.

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Tomoki was sitting in the waiting room when Takuya came out of the ICU. 'I've already been,' he said, when Takuya held the door open. He sounded tired, and defeated.

Takuya knew that Tomoki visited Shinya every day, like Takuya did. He was also reasonably certain that the treats he didn't put at his little brother's bedside were from Tomoki. Kid must have copied his idea. Not that he minded. Shinya would appreciate the sweets more than the flowers. And they lasted longer too.

'Hey,' he said on a whim. 'Can you do me a favour?'

Tomoki almost jumped off his seat, and Takuya wondered whether Tomoki would have become a Chosen as well. But he's glad Tomoki wasn't one. It was a dangerous world.

'There's another kid in the ICU,' Takuya explained. 'Close to my age.' He'd never asked how old…and, by the looks of things, Kouichi wouldn't have been able to answer without a reminder from Lopmon. Luckily, it didn't look like there were too many personal bits that needed verifying. He even had a full name now: Kimura Kouichi. And a family situation he probably shouldn't know but he did anyway because it'd slipped out with the other woman's tears.

No wonder she'd been distraught when he'd disappeared, especially after an accident like that. All they had left were each other. Takuya wondered if Kouichi had heard those tears.

Tomoki's eyes flickered to the door. Takuya finished explaining. 'Could you visit him sometimes?'

Tomoki nodded. He didn't ask why, or why it was important enough for Takuya to ask.

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Takuya returned through the Gate the next day. There wasn't much point making a trip in the night, so he went home. And got a stronger cover-story sorted out while he was at it. The sleeping over at someone's house one. And the friend in question didn't ask why he needed a cover. Probably thought he was out for revenge or something. He might have been, but that would have been a never-ending circle. He'd already pounded them once. So they'd picked on his little brother and his little brother had, instead of coming to him, tried to pound them himself.

But a fifth grader trying to pound a fourth and sixth grader into the dust had much better odds than a second grader.

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His leg bumped into something.

He was on the roof again. About to return to that other world. He bent down to pick it up.

It was a sphere, swirling white in colour.

A light sphere…

He wondered of Ofanimon had given the one from her castle to him. She'd said each of the castles had one, so maybe…

He fitted it into the hilt of his sword that appeared before him. That was three.

Just two more.

He smiled. It wouldn't be much longer.

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'Takuya!'

Bokomon and Neemon leapt on him almost as soon as he appeared.

Takuya let a small grin spread. But a lot of things had happened.

'How's Kouichi?' Neemon asked.

For some reason, Neemon was absolutely comfortable around the mage. He never lay in Takuya's lap. And Takuya supposed it was that comment about the waistband that made Bokomon uncomfortable. And him a little uncomfortable as well.

'Hospital.' Takuya shrugged. He couldn't really say more than that.

Bokomon at least understood. Neemon just looked lost.

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They had a fire sphere, an earth sphere and a light sphere. Bokomon and Neemon oohed and aahed over that little stud in the centre space on his hilt. That left two more. They knew the one in the ocean was already gone so they'd need to find another place. And there was also the wind sphere.

'We passed Windy Village along the way,' Bokomon said thoughtfully.

'I didn't feel anything though,' said Takuya. Which meant it might be a waste going back. Better as a last resort.

Bokomon spread the map out. There were circles, crosses and question marks all over.

'We could try River Theta,' Bokomon said thoughtfully. 'Or Dark Ocean.'

'Dark Ocean?'

'It comes and goes.' Bokomon flipped through his book. 'There's not much known about it, and some think it's on a separate plane from this one.'

That sounded suspect to him.

'There's also Digi-Altantis –'

'An underwater city?' Takuya asked.

'It also moves.'

Takuya groaned.

'The Otamamon flock there at full moons,' Bokomon read. 'That might work, actually. There's a full moon tonight –' Not in the real world, but Takuya could work with that. 'And there's a lot of Otamamon at the Gekomon Castle.'

'Another castle?' Considering what had happened with the last one, Takuya was a little reluctant.

'It should be okay.' Bokomon looked up. 'Gekomon are music lovers and quite weak. It's also at the top of a mountain, so we may find the wind sphere there.'

Well, one could hope. It would be awfully convenient if they could. By tomorrow night, he'd have his five spheres.