AN: Accidentally deleted it while I was making some edits. Re-posting after adding a few things.
I know I this is hardly the place to complain but this chapter was re-written so many times I can barely look at it now. I apologise for the delay; it took me two whole weeks but at least a lot happens here (like, a lot, a lot). Please let me know if something isn't clear in the story – I've re-read it and re-written it so many times, I don't think I can spot inconsistencies anymore.
I am aware that I jump from one character's head to another without warning, but I think I make the changes clear enough for them not to be confusing. Still, let me know if I need to go back and refine something.
In chess, a pin is a situation brought on by an attacking piece in which a defending piece cannot move without exposing a more valuable defending piece on its other side to capture by the attacking piece. An absolute pin is one where the piece shielded by the pinned piece is the king.
Jyou's hand was burning where he had gripped the Digi-Egg of Reliability. The thing was safely away in a pocket inside his rucksack, though he had yet to tend to the nasty burns left. His left cheek was swollen and bruising under his eye and above his cheekbone, but he was not complaining about that or any of his other injuries. Jyou was too busy tending to Hikari, who commanded the most attention just then. It was no secret that Jyou was studying to be a doctor but what many of his friends sometimes forgot was that it didn't necessarily make him competent to attend all sorts of medical emergencies. What he knew about dressing wounds and offering medication was mainly due to his First Aid courses and Early Medical Practices, something that he had enrolled in after their first adventure in the Digital World. They had come in pretty handy, though he regretted to say that it was because they were so often in trouble.
He looked at Hikari's shoulder, assuring her in a short, clipped voice that she'd be okay. Sora rushed to bring the medical supplies that Gennai had given them and Jyou thanked her without looking at her. "I don't think it's broken," he finally said. "Hikari-chan," he continued, as gently as he could, "I'm going to need you to trust me, okay?" He had identified the injury as a sternoclavicular dislocation, which was small enough for him not to faint at the moment but troublesome enough to make him nervous. With some effort, he thought, he'd be able to help her.
Behind him, someone made a "tch" sound, but he only pressed his lips tighter. Hikari nodded; her face was streaked with tears and she was hiccupping lightly. Jyou took her wrist and placed his other hand on her shoulder, where her bones protruded out grotesquely from under her skin. He took a small breath, counting one, then two … at three, he expertly pulled on her arm. Hikari's scream was terrible, but Jyou did not pause and just as quickly, he had tapped her collarbone with the heel of his hand, jamming the bones back into place. The whole process was over in less than a minute, and though Hikari had paled and her lips had turned blue for a moment, she was steadily regaining her colour, and the tears were also ceasing.
"How are you feeling?" he asked gently, running his gaze over the purpling skin he had just assaulted.
Hikari hiccupped, then chanced a small smile. "I-I feel a lot better. I think I can – ouch!" she winced, having tried to raise her shoulder and finding it extremely painful again.
"It was just a partial luxation," Jyou told her, "But you shouldn't move it around just yet. It'll take a couple of weeks to heal." He pulled out a small package that contained a dark blue sling that he adjusted her arm in, then tied it firmly above her injured shoulder. Hikari smiled at him again, but before he could return it, Taichi was already moving him aside with much more force than necessary, and rushing to hug his little sister.
"Hikari …" he said, burying his face in her neck, "I'm sorry, I couldn't protect you, I'm sorry…"
Jyou was stunned for a moment, but he removed himself from the scene, going over to Mimi, whose face was bloody and dirty. She had been pretty banged up but she was trying to smile as he approached her, shaking her head softly as he opened his mouth to apologise. "Don't worry so much, Senpai," Mimi told him, "I'm sure it looks worse than it was." Jyou could see the girl's eyes welling up with tears, and his stomach lurched.
He wished that he could say the same. Mimi's cut was deep, QueenChessmon had pierced through several layers of skin and cut into her flesh. Jyou carefully cleaned her wound, silent through Mimi's tears and complaints about the alcohol burning her skin, then dressed her cheek with some foul-smelling ointment and told her not to dress it with any gauze just yet, to avoid risk of festering. At which the girl yelped and almost dissolved in tears again, thinking that half her face was going to rot.
It took him a moment to calm her down and assure her that her face would be just fine and that he'd make sure his wound healed cleanly, but Mimi's eyes were already swollen and red by the time she accepted it. His fingers brushed her good cheek, and he felt an iron grip on his heart as he saw how swollen her whole face was, and how much beauty the injury stole from her. It was all his fault … God, he hoped that wouldn't leave a scar.
Mimi, on the other hand, gasped as she saw his hand. "Jyou-senpai! You're injured too," she exclaimed. She washed her hands and quickly got to clean his wounds as gently as he had done hers.
"I can't believe you didn't take care of this first," she reproached him.
"I had to tend to Hikari," he said patiently, "And to you."
She flushed, pursing her lips without looking into his eyes and muttering how silly he was. She took care of his cuts and scratches, and the wound below his eye, examining his wounded torso against his protests. He didn't talk much, just helped Mimi choose the right medicine and gave clear instructions on how to clean his wounds. The burns in his hand, which he had ignored all this time, he cleaned himself, and then bandaged lightly after applying enough ointment to ensure his bits of skin would not stick to the gauze. When he was done he looked up to find Mimi staring at him, her brow furrowed.
"Jyou..." she began, "None of this was your fault."
He smiled, pushing his glasses further up his nose and looking away from her.
"I know that," he sighed.
But it was.
The rest of the group had escaped the worst injuries, with some small scratches here and there. They tended to their own and their Digimon's injuries and left as quickly as they could and set up camp an hour away, too tired and upset to keep walking. Jyou was tired and sore and wanted nothing more than sleep through the rest of the day, but too much had happened and he knew it was inevitable to face the others. Still, he felt a tiny fraction better when Hikari came up to him and hugged him, one-armed as it was, giving him her most sincere thanks for the way he'd pulled her arm back into place.
Taichi hadn't spoken to him again, and Jyou did not expect him to. He knew the boy was too stubborn and prideful for his own good, and quite frankly, Jyou felt a little afraid of what he might have to say. He sat down before the fireplace, a little away from them but Sora sat on his right and he had nothing to say that would make her go away. Taichi sat next to Hikari and Mimi, who still looked a little shaken up but was in otherwise good spirits; his lips were pursed and he refused to look in Jyou's and Sora's direction.
Sensing this, Yamato was the first to speak.
"Stop being a brat Taichi," he said coolly, "We have bigger problems than your attitude right now."
Taichi tensed and normally would have tried to turn Yamato into pulp, but he only clicked his tongue loudly and crossed his arms over his chest. "Fine," he spat, turning his hard brown eyes to Jyou. "What the hell was that about?"
Jyou tensed up too, then sighed when he felt Sora's hand on his back, lending him a bit of support. At least not everyone hated him.
"I don't know," he answered honestly, raising his hands, "I heard a voice a couple of days ago, telling me not to bring you with me. I never saw who it was. It wasn't QueenChessmon though, I can tell you that."
"Why didn't you tell us?" Yamato asked, one eyebrow raised.
Jyou seemed uncomfortable for a moment but then sighed once again. "You were all busy," he said vaguely, not meeting their eyes.
"Busy? Jyou," Taichi said, with obvious strain, "We couldn't have been that busy, you should've gone to us – you – "
He was interrupted by Jyou again, whose mouth was curled downwards.
"You were busy with Mimi, Yamato was somewhere with Sora, and Hikari and Takeru were discussing things I had neither the time nor the disposition to understand, with Koushiro," he spat, a little harsher than was necessary. The group shifted awkwardly, and he could even see the heat rise to their cheeks as he spoke. Somehow, that made him feel even worse. "I thought it was a trap, okay?" Jyou clenched his jaw. "I thought someone wanted us to separate so that they could hurt us."
Taichi opened his mouth, but Jyou cut him down with a look. "Look, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't tell you and I am truly, infinitely sorry you got hurt," he was looking at Hikari and Mimi, and a knot rose to his throat, "But this is not my fault. I don't know more than what she told us, I don't even – I don't even know what to do with that stupid Digi-Egg."
Koushiro was frowning, unsure of whether or not he should speak. "I don't think that's our biggest problem," he said, and then, when he saw the look upon Taichi's face, added, "Of course it matters Taichi, three of us were hurt, including your sister. But the most important thing here is that we were attacked. Directly. Physically assaulted by Digimon who did not stop to consider we had no means of defense save our own Digimon, who were overpowered without a chance of even Digivolving." He looked defiant. "I think that's a bigger problem, don't you think?"
"She said she'd crush us next time," Hikari said softly. Taichi looked at her, holding her hand in his own.
"That won't happen," he said, and his sister smiled a little but couldn't quite buy the tone of his voice.
Yamato looked at them, then raised his gaze to the sky. It was dark already, and getting a little colder. "Perhaps, but that doesn't mean they won't try." His gaze rested fleetingly on Mimi, and then on Taichi. "We have to be prepared next time we meet."
"You think QueenChessmon was the one who brought us here?" Sora asked.
Koushiro shook his head, biting back a rough reply. "No, but we're closer to finding who did."
It wasn't a complete truth, but it wasn't a lie either. Koushiro had been working tirelessly to figure out what was going on, but neither he nor Gennai were making any real, measurable progress. Every time they seemed to get somewhere, they'd hit a dead end. They knew no one who had come upon QueenChessmon or any other suspicious character and the only lead they had, which was the Tanemon's account of a Leomon visiting their village, had gone cold.
Slowly, Koushiro drew back into his work, always anxious and afraid of being asked questions to which he had no answers. He swallowed hard as his fingered danced away on his keyboard, trying once more to break the barriers that were resisting his intrusion. The truth was that if he didn't figure this out soon … he didn't know what he would do.
-x-
Another two days passed before they made any real progress. Though Hikari insisted she was fit to travel, Taichi equally insisted she needed to rest, and both Yagami siblings proved to be equally hard-headed and stubborn. They didn't travel so much as wander, walking in a general direction without really caring whether they arrived anywhere at all. Tensions were still high and Jyou simply refused to keep talking about the issue at hand. The rest were bothered with their own things and quite happy to leave him alone, so nightfall found him lying with Gomamon under a tree, trying to figure out how he felt about the whole ordeal.
First, there were immense amounts of guilt.
He felt terrible for leading his friends into such danger; even if he had thought that he was sparing them such a thing. Hikari-chan was like a sister to him and he felt he had let her down. And Taichi … God, Taichi. He hated him; he made no attempt to cover that fact. Taichi blamed this entirely on Jyou and he couldn't say he disagreed. He shivered as he remembered what he felt when QueenChessmon approached and slapped Mimi, his Mimi-chan…
If she couldn't count on him to protect her, then what good was he?
Which led to the other feeling currently sickening him. His friends had trusted him so much, and he had done nothing but put them in danger. He felt like an absolute failure – he'd been a clown to pretend that he was ready to face these adventures again, an idiot. He wasn't cut out for this shit – never had been.
-x-
She stared at the nasty cut for what felt like the millionth time, and she swore it was looking nastier than ever. She had tried to brush it off as a mere scratch to ease Jyou's guilt, but the truth was that Mimi had never been hit so viciously before. The cut was deep and there was some definite bruising on her cheekbone, she was sure of that. Still, she was thankful that the blow had not amounted to more and that they were rather well prepared for that kind of accident. Why, she might not even have a scar left!
"Does it hurt?"
Mimi saw Yamato's reflection on the pocket mirror in her hand, before snapping the thing shut. Her heart gave a little painful lurch. "Only when I smile," she replied, lips pursed as she turned around to face him. Over the years, she had learned to become immune to Ishida's cursed good looks. Of course, his acid attitude usually helped; but sometimes, when he was being particularly nice, she couldn't help but indulge in a little admiring.
He had grown quite tall, which made him look even more unapproachable and intimidating than before. His hair, blonde and shiny, was messy in a way that made her wonder if he did it on purpose, because the way it fell so casually into his eyes couldn't be an accident. And she would be damned if she hadn't learned to steel herself to his feline, azure gaze. Honestly, eyes like that should come with a warning; it was only fair. It wasn't surprising at all when she heard he had become a complete teen heartthrob, back in high school or that Sora, too, had fallen for his charm. Truth be told, Mimi had almost been expecting it to happen.
She stared into his grimace, sighing as she shook those thoughts out of her head. Silly Mimi. "It's a joke, you're supposed to laugh," she said.
His reply came with a raised eyebrow and cold, perfunctory silence. "It wasn't funny."
"I guess not," Mimi admitted with a shrug.
Yamato stared at the cut on Tachikawa's cheek, his jaw clenched tightly. Seeing Hikari hurt had upset him but Mimi's injury shone grotesquely and seemed to be mocking his inability to protect his friends. It had been a terrible blow not only to her but to the whole group's morale. While it was true that his brother and Hikari were the youngest in the group, Mimi had always been sort of a soft spot for everyone. Despite her childish attitude or rather because of it, Mimi was always a high priority when it came to shielding and protecting each other.
He sat down, knees open and hands clasped behind his neck. He wasn't sure why he had come here to find her of all people. And now that he was, he didn't know what to say to her that didn't sound absolutely inappropriate or strained. He couldn't even pretend not to be worried about her, and he did not know how to express that without dredging up things that were better left untouched.
But seeing Yamato so quiet and vulnerable, something in Mimi bristled. She hadn't forgotten her argument with him, but in the light of things it didn't seem all that terrible, or all that important. He had sat across from her and she enjoyed it for a moment, the look of his hair shining gold as he hung his head low. Why, if anyone looked at them they might even mistake them for a couple of friends.
"You know, Ishida-san, I …"
"You never used to call me that."
Mimi frowned as she heard him, but he had not looked up. "What do you mean?" she asked, fidgeting nervously with her mirror.
"Ishida-san? You never used to be so formal with me." Yamato raised his eyes and the way the fire was reflected on them was breathtaking, but Mimi's lips were turned down in a small frown.
There was a pause.
"That was a long time ago," Mimi said quietly. She didn't like where the conversation was heading, and did not know why he wanted to go there.
"Yeah," he whispered softly, "I guess you're right."
Once again, he couldn't bring himself to think why he was doing this, why he was bringing up something that had happened so long ago, they could legally pretend not to remember. But deep inside, he knew that seeing Mimi so close to Taichi had stirred up things that he believed long dead, and long buried. Still, the admission shamed him more than he could let her know. Yamato ran one hand down his face, then settled with a cold smile as he stood up.
"Get some rest," he said coolly, and then, almost as an afterthought; "Good night, Mi-chan."
He left without another word, without even glancing back at her. Mimi's eyes were fixed on his back, and there was a little twitch in her cheek that made her wound prickle uncomfortably. Why he – he hadn't called her that in so long, and Mimi felt, well, strange. And just a little bit angry. He had no right, she thought, to bring up things like that and then just leave. It was mean, and unfair and – and ultimately, it was what Yamato always did.
Mimi rested her forehead against her knees, hugging them close to her chest, her breathing low and controlled.
It was like this that Taichi found her.
Taichi ran his fingers through his mess of brown hair, wanting to tear the whole thing right out of his scalp. He stopped his frantic pacing when he reached the little bulk that was Mimi, calling out her name and rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously. He hadn't expected her to be there, and it struck him as odd that she'd be all by herself and looking so damp and gloomy.
The girl looked up when she heard Taichi calling her, blinking a little groggily at the sudden invasion of light. She had been focusing so hard that she figured that she had been close to falling asleep. "Yes?" she asked, rubbing what she was sure was a very red forehead as she squinted up at her friend.
Taichi looked down at her, his half-smile disappearing as her face came into view. The cut on her cheek looked swollen and painful, and he felt his stomach do that funny little thing again when her eyes rested on him. He knelt to face her, a sympathetic smile touching his lips as he reached with his hand to push a lock of hair behind her ear.
"Can I, er – help you with that?"
Mimi didn't need his help, but she nodded. It felt nice to have them watch and worry over her, even if it was only because she had been so brutally attacked. "I'd appreciate that," she replied with a sleepy smile.
They stopped near the stream, with Mimi sitting on a big rock whilst Taichi administered his care to her wounds. She allowed him to clean her cheek, all the while blushing furiously because she looked hideous and he looked so darned handsome with his eyebrows knitted together in concentration. His touch was surprisingly gentle, and Mimi thought she rather liked looking into Taichi's eyes, found his smile easy to return. Despite their differences, Taichi had been a great friend to her, and she found his presence more comforting than she'd let him know.
"I'm really sorry, Mimi-chan," Taichi said, his fingers spreading the ointment Jyou-senpai had given her to help with her scarring.
Mimi sucked air, tongue between her teeth. "That stings," she complained, the pout on her lips more reminiscing of an eleven year-old Mimi than the young woman that she now was. Taichi placed a square of clean gauze on her cheek, carefully covering her wound and using surgical tape to keep it in place. When he was finished, he wiped his hand on a napkin and put everything away.
"It's going to heal in no time," he said, obviously trying to cheer his friend up. It must be difficult, he thought, for a girl as pretty as Mimi to find herself in her situation.
She tried to smile, but ended up wincing at the sudden sting.
"I – ow! Yeah, I know," she said, her half-smile, half-pout back on her lips. She stood up, dusting the front of her clothes and when she looked up, Taichi suddenly pulled her into a gentle hug. His hands were on her arms, but slowly wrapped around her, pulling her closer to him. Mimi, unprepared for this, had her hands on his chest, unsure of whether she could or even wanted to move.
She felt his breath on her ear, his warm cheek against her uninjured one.
"I'm sorry they got to you," he told her softly, "I promise it won't happen again."
Mimi felt the warmth spread from her chest and up to her cheeks, and she smiled – ignoring the sting as she gently pushed him away from her. He seemed hurt first from her rejection, but Mimi quickly raised a hand and touched it to his face, just patting it lightly. Then she closed the distance between them with a small, sweet kiss on Taichi's cheek.
"I know," she told him, unwavering in her conviction, "You won't let it."
Taichi's heart gave a little leap to his throat as she kissed his cheek but he smiled, his hands leaving her arms and shuffling awkwardly inside his pockets. And later, when he'd be giving in to sleep, he'd remember how warm Mimi's kiss made him, and then he'd remember Sistermon Blanc's echoing inside his head: You have misled them.
And the warmth would be forgotten.
-x-
Another three days passed before anything brought them out of the haze of their encounter with QueenChessmon; time during which Taichi became fiercely protective of both Hikari and Mimi, a detail that was missed by none but that they all declined to point out. Things between him and Jyou had barely improved – Taichi still nursed a heavy grudge against their Senpai for putting them in danger, and Jyou quietly and stoically bore the weight of it by staying out of Taichi's way as much as he could. Still, the tension was enough to put everyone in a sour mood, and with Mimi and Hikari injured, it was left to their Digimon to try and cheer their human partners up.
It wasn't going well.
Gomamon, who was by far the Digimon with the best sense of humor, was feeling rather resentful of the harsh treatment Jyou had received, which made him act out against his other partners. In his case, it meant that he spent most of the day ignoring them and when he could chance it, slipping a thinly veiled insult under the door. Under normal circumstances, perhaps they wouldn't pay him any attention, or would hurry to make-up. As it was, his snide comments hit a little too close to home.
"I think we should rest a couple more days," Taichi told them over breakfast, "Hikari and Mimi need some more time to heal."
Gomamon swallowed the last of his portion before speaking.
"Sure, why not?" he said, "You're the leader, Taichi."
The Digimon left without another word, but Taichi was glaring in Jyou's direction. The older boy did his best to avoid his gaze, sighing into his food after finding he was no longer very hungry.
"I'm actually feeling a lot better," Hikari said with a bright smile, "We don't need to wait anymore, brother." While it was true that Hikari's shoulder felt much better after a couple of days of rest and proper care, it was also true that she was making a superhuman effort to make it appear as though her recovery was going at the speed of light. She did this partly because she didn't want Jyou to feel guilty anymore, and partly because she knew it made her brother feel better as well. Jyou was very well aware of this tactic, but it only made him feel worse about putting her in such a situation. Taichi, oblivious to his sister's actions, sighed in relief.
Yamato's Digivice had lead them in that direction and he, like Jyou, seemed to be dealing with a strange sort of compulsion as they drew closer to their objective. It had been decided that Yamato would travel the last trek on his own; a measure taken after the unfortunate incident with QueenChessmon. Sora had vehemently opposed it, claiming it was madness and an unnecessary risk for Yamato. The group seemed divided, but at the end, it was Yamato who decided he'd go by himself if only to get well and away from them all.
As a result, Sora was angry at Taichi, Taichi was angry at both Jyou and Yamato; Hikari was slightly resentful of Sora's anger towards her brother, and Mimi was absolutely sick of all of them, deciding to comfort Takeru and convince him not to chase after his brother in defiance of his ultimate decision. Koushiro, as usual, was too absorbed in his own research to spare them more than a couple of minutes in each argument, and usually only to perfunctorily add a comment about how it was getting them nowhere to argue.
"We can't wait forever, can we?" Hikari asked with a smile that Taichi only half returned. He couldn't answer, however, because Takeru was already speaking for him.
"Nope, we can't," Takeru said, his gaze set on Yamato's back, "Brother's getting impatient." Yamato had taken his brooding to a whole new level now that his Digi-Egg was in sight. Like Jyou,, he had become restless and had difficulty stopping even to sleep, but as they did not wish to repeat what had happened the last time, they had agreed to keep an eye out for any more warnings that came their way. So far though, whomever those strange voices were, had kept oddly quiet.
A deafening roar interrupted the conversation, and they all sprang to their feet.
"Yamato will have to wait," Taichi said darkly. "Since we're about to get picked up ourselves."
They could hear them in the distance, the disorderly movement of Digimon moving rapidly towards them. Night had already fallen and they were at disadvantage so out in the open, but Taichi did not stop to think twice about jumping into action. They hadn't been attacked since they met QueenChessmon, and Taichi had been begging for a chance to come face to face with the unfortunate creature since then. Perhaps his prayers had been heard.
"Agumon!" Taichi called, his hand jumping to his Digivice.
"One step ahead of you, Tai!" the Digimon said with a grin before commencing the Digivolution process and turning into Greymon.
"Don't worry Mimi," Palmon assured her friend rapidly, "I'm not gonna let them hurt you again!"
The rest of their friends followed, Digivolving into their adult forms and within minutes, they were confronted with two Digimon who did not wait to be ordered to attack. They were dinosaur-like creatures, huge in size and terrible in nature. One was, as far as they could see, red-skinned and with huge and sharp teeth. The other one, bigger and wilder than the first, was black as night with yellow eyes that shone maniacally in the dark. Koushiro frowned, but didn't have time to ask why such rare Digimon were out in the open, and attacking them, too.
"Pyro Blaster!" they heard, and a beam of fire shot from the first mouth, sending a wave of heat that slapped them in the face.
Palmon, now Togemon, deflected the attack with her fists, growling as she stepped in front of her human friends to defend them. They jumped to the floor, trying to escape the heat and the flames that hit Togemon, causing the smell of burnt hide and something vaguely wooden to attack their nostrils.
"Plasma Blade!"
"Kari!" Taichi yelled, "Get the hell out of here!"
"There's no time!" Hikari replied, "Don't worry about me, go after them!"
Taichi growled but did not have time to argue – Greymon and the others were closing in on the Digimon while Mimi rushed to get Kari out of harm's way. Taichi felt a surge of gratitude towards her as he rose from the earth to rush to Greymon's aid. He'd thank Mimi later.
With Hikari safely hidden behind a grove of trees, Mimi chanced to peek back into the battle. Greymon was battling the smaller Digimon, using his claws, teeth and head to damage as much of the other dinosaur as he could. The flames sent from their attacks had caught on some of the trees, giving them a terrible orange glow as they battled. She could see Birdramon up above, raining down more fire with what she assumed was Sora, holding on to her neck.
"Fire Flapping!"
On their left, Togemon and Garurumon were trying to bring down the other Digimon, punching and biting whatever they could. Kabuterimon was circling them, trying to hit their enemy with his Electro Shocker and illuminating them momentarily with rays of lightning. She was scared, but she bit back a sob as she saw how her friends were out there, exposed to all sorts of damage whilst she carried Hikari to safety. She owed that much to Taichi, and Hikari's injuries prevented her from moving so fast; but Mimi's didn't – it was the least she could do.
"Mimi," Hikari began, but Mimi turned to her with a smile. The skin around her cheek tightened, but she ignored the prickle of pain.
"Stay here, Hikari. I'll be back."
She ran, leaving Hikari standing alone and holding on to her injured arm. The battle was terrible – growls and howls, and unintelligible yells from the DigiDestined joined the clash of steel against muscle and bone as the Herculean creatures waged their war. Garurumon opened his jaw, clasping it tightly against Growmon's tail as Birdramon sent another jet of flames to engulf the dinosaur.
"We will destroy you!" the Digimon roared.
"Today, DigiDestined, you die!"
Mimi yelped as Togemon was thrown to the floor, screaming a warning at her to get out of the way. She didn't want to fight, it was true, but that was only because she didn't want to see anyone get hurt. And she was sure that if she could only get close enough, she could purify their darkness with her Digivice, which was what she would try to do with Takeru's help, once he reached him. It was worth a shot if it meant they could stop the fighting once and for all.
Of course, the deed was easier said than done.
You cannot help them.
Hikari turned, her eyes wide open. The voice sounded remarkably like the first they had heard, when they had been warned that upon meeting, they would be crushed.
"Who's there?" she demanded, "Where are you?"
They will be swallowed by darkness and not even you, Bearer of Light, can save them.
"No!" Hikari yelled, "We will find you, wherever you are. You can't win."
She turned away, shutting down the voice as she made her way back to the battlefield – as close as she dared come with Mimi's and Taichi's warning ringing in her ears. The battle had ended, or rather was ending, but things looked far from peaceful. Yamato and Taichi were on the floor, panting and wheezing. Jyou was carrying Gomamon and holding on to Takeru, who seemed to be limping slightly. Tailmon ran to her partner, nuzzling her leg as Hikari knelt to pick her up with her good arm.
"What happened, Tailmon?" Hikari asked.
Her Digimon seemed to be sad for a moment, but then looked over to where Mimi and Sora were, apparently arguing. They drew closer.
"Mimi!" Sora was yelling, "You can't go on doing that, you idiot!" There were tears in her eyes, and in Mimi's, but the brunette was not looking at Sora.
"I'm sorry," she murmured, "But can't you see they're in pain?"
"What I can see," Sora continued angrily, "Is that they were trying to kill us. And they very nearly succeeded, too! How can you defend them?" Her voice acquired a steely quality, and Hikari's eyes raced from either girl to what she now recognized as a Growmon and a BlackGrowmon who lay agonizing in the ground behind them, pinned there by MetalGreymon and Garurumon.
"Birdramon," Sora said quietly, "Finish them off."
"No! Sora, wait," Mimi implored, "Birdramon, wait – no!" She ran, trying to reach the Digimon but Taichi got to her first, grabbing her by the shoulders and holding her to him.
"Taichi, stop her – Taichi, stop!" Mimi cried, but Taichi only grabbed her more forcefully, tightening his hold on her as their Digimon drew their faces away.
"Mimi – stop," he commanded in a voice he rarely used, and which would brook no refusal. "Sora tried to get closer to them before they fell. We tried to do what you did with the DarkTyranomon – it didn't work, Mimi. There wasn't any darkness we could take out of them." Taichi was looking at her with some degree of pity, she knew, but he was being honest, and that was what hurt the most. If he was right, then there was only so much they could do for the Digimon and for all their friends.
"You mean – they were – " Mimi's eyes were wide, and Hikari too, turned away when both Digimon disintegrated into specks of data.
"There was nothing we could do for them, Mimi," Sora said again, walking away and stopping once she was close to Yamato, who set a firm hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry you don't understand that."
Yamato's hand let go of Sora, quite suddenly.
"Yama, what – " she looked confused and hurt for a moment, but a look of cold determination had settled in his face.
"It's here," he said, taking out his Digivice. "It's so close, I – " he turned to Sora, slightly apologetic, "Garurumon."
Garurumon drew closer and Yamato climbed on his back, his hands gripping the hair around his neck for support. He couldn't wait for them, couldn't stop now that he was so close to it. Not even for Sora.
During the past few days he had been anxiously searching for his Digi-Egg, aware that neither Koushiro nor Gennai had any answers for them just yet. That didn't matter though – something inside of him begged him to search, practically forced him to get up and pursue the trace of energy it left in its wake.
They rode for a while, but Yamato did not worry about his friends. He expected them to be on his pursuit already; Sora would probably insist on it. They only stopped when Garurumon suddenly spoke up, making Yamato blink and look ahead.
"Yamato," he said in a low growl, "Is this the place we've been looking for?"
The place looked like the ruins of what was once a large town. With some attention and a great deal of imagination it was possible to visualize the structure as it must have been, though it was little more than piles of ancient rubbish now. The air, cold and dry, was rank with the smell of abandon and as they padded close, his sense of unease grew. His Digivice stopped beeping, and the strange pull that had led him there disappeared without warning.
If there were places where humans and Digimon were just not meant to live, this place was one of them. He climbed down, the sounds of his footsteps and Garurumon's low growl disrupting the eerie silence. The space looked as abandoned and neglected as Yamato could imagine anything to be. It surprised him how there could be places of such waste in the Digiworld, but he thought he could recall Koushiro saying that deconstructed data could look like that sometimes. It was amazing how much he'd picked up from the kid without even trying.
"Go on," Garurumon said, "I'll stand guard."
Yamato nodded, waving a hand as he walked into the ruins on his own. It was a while before he realised his Digivice started buzzing, steadily growing warmer in his pocket. He reached for it and held it tightly in his hand as he roamed until it became too hot for him to hold it.
"Fuck," Yamato hissed, letting it drop unceremoniously, the drop echoing strangely in the hall. He took off his jacket and used it as protection against the hot apparatus. He stopped in front of a run-down column surrounded by gravel and rubble. There was a fine crack where it had split open, and Yamato only took a step closer before the crevice widened and the same strange dark energy began flowing out of it. He could see his crest glowing strangely as the rock fell apart, melting around it until it revealed a small thing no bigger than his palm. Yamato reached out to hold it, wincing loudly as it burned the skin off his fingers and palm.
"This better be worth it," he exclaimed angrily, letting it fall on his jacket and blowing the spots were it had burnt his skin. If he had been paying any attention to anything but the Digi-Egg, Yamato may have noticed that he was not alone.
"You should be more grateful. A lot has been sacrificed for that crest of yours."
His gaze travelled to his right, alighting on what seemed to be a girl or – a nun? She had a human girl figure alright, but the clothes she wore suggested that she intended to look like a nun. She wore a dress instead of a tunic, and a strange klobuk that looked sort of like a bat, atop her head. Her legs were mostly covered with tall and thick black pantyhose and she wore heels. This he confirmed when the sharp click of them reached his ears.
"Who are you?" Yamato asked in what he seemed to think was a calm voice.
"That's none of your business, Digidestined," she said calmly. When she reached a prudent distance and the moon illuminated her face enough for him to take a good look at her, he realised she must be younger than he expected. He also recognised this must be who that other strange Digimon had been looking for.
"What are you doing here?" he asked her, reaching for the Digi-Egg once again and securing it in his hand, though it still burned him. He knew fully well he couldn't start a fight with this Digimon, not without Garurumon to help him. But after what had happened to Hikari and Mimi, he guessed that if she had wanted to hurt him she already would have, so maybe she'd answer some of his questions.
"I'm looking for someone," she replied in a bored voice, "But fancy running into you – " she paused, looking at him with a curious expression, "Bearer of … Friendship, is it?" she asked after glancing at his hand.
His fingers tightened over the object. He decided not to mention that they had run into her sister, not just yet. "What's it to you?"
"Oh, nothing much," she replied, "I'm not here to fight you, Ishida Yamato." She smiled, and the second he saw that, he knew he wouldn't be happy about it. "But you … you're here to fight everyone, aren't you?"
Yamato frowned, his heart skipping a beat as she looked at him so placidly, almost as if she knew her comment had hit home. He arched an eyebrow. He was way past being surprised at Digimon knowing who they were, and what they were doing there. More often than not, this was the case. What did surprise him was how curious she seemed to be that he held the crest of Friendship, and he didn't like what her words so subtly implied.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked in cold, controlled anger.
"I'll let you figure that one on your own, Digidestined."
She turned away from him, and within moments was gone.
"Yamato!"
The young man in question looked back upon hearing Taichi's voice calling his name. He turned his back against the darkness into which the Digimon had disappeared, walking towards Taichi's voice, and where he could vaguely see his figure drawing closer to him.
"I'm here," he called out, raising a hand.
Taichi was running, but Sora was also running towards him, her face full of concern. Immediately, he felt guilty to have taken so long to retrieve the darned thing. Which brought his attention back to the Digi-Egg that he had held so tightly in his hand. It had cooled down considerably, but it was only now that he became aware of the acute burning and pain in his right hand.
Sora reached him just as he retrieved the object with his left hand, his breath hitched as his skin clung to it mercilessly. Yamato's hand was bleeding, bits of skin tearing off and exposing his pulsing pink flesh. He opened his hand wide, wincing as the air stung him, but knowing that if he closed his fist he'd feel a lot worse.
"Yama…" Sora murmured quietly, her eyes shining with tears.
"I'm fine," he said through gritted teeth, "Don't worry about it."
"Get that cleaned," Taichi told him, frowning as he stared at the grotesque shape of Yamato's hand. "We're leaving this place, it's too dangerous."
"No."
It was the first time Jyou had spoken openly and directly at Taichi since the day Hikari and Mimi got hurt, and everyone turned to look between the two of them.
"Excuse me?" Taichi asked in a low, dangerous voice. "I said, we're leaving."
"We heard what you said," Jyou said in a voice that was not calm but vaguely controlled, as if he were on the brink of losing it, "But our Digimon are tired, our friends are tired and it's too late to be wandering around this goddamn forest."
"Listen to me, you – " he had crossed the distance in two long steps, his hand reaching for Jyou's collar in one lithe movement. He'd had it with him and his insubordination, his martyr act, and his constant challenges to his authority. While it was true that Taichi was more of a default leader instead of a democratic one, he had never given his team reason not to trust his judgement; finding it being challenged so often was starting to get to his nerves.
Jyou didn't budge, but his look hardened as he looked down at Taichi. Standing only a couple of inches above him, the action itself was enough to give Taichi pause. "Just look around, Taichi. They're not fit to follow."
Taichi released Jyou roughly, his hands balling into fists. But if he had a refusal it died when Sora spoke to him in a hard voice. "Just give it a rest, Tai," she said, "It's been a long night and we all need it."
Agumon pat his leg awkwardly, trying to provide him with some comfort, but Taichi only shrugged him off. "Fine," he barked, "You stay, I'll go ahead and check if this place is safe at all."
"You won't find anyone," Yamato said evenly as Sora fussed over him with water, ointments and clean gauze. "The place is deserted."
But if Taichi heard him, he did not show it.
-x-
As they settled in for the night, Jyou ran a frustrated hand through his hair. He hadn't meant to go up against Taichi like that, but this feud was starting to wear him down. They hadn't had a proper conversation in what – a week now? Something close to that, perhaps. And every day, he failed to find a way to make it better.
"Don't beat yourself over it, Jyou," Gomamon told him. "Taichi's just being a brat."
Jyou shrugged his shoulders, looking at Gomamon with a tired smile. "Perhaps," he said, "But we chose him for a reason, Gomamon. Challenging him like that … it's not good for the group."
Gomamon looked angrily at his human partner. "Perhaps he's not so good for the group."
"Gomamon," Jyou looked sharply at him. "Stop."
"Psh, Jyou, you gotta know we're not the only ones thinking about it," the Digimon retorted, crossing his paws over his chest and looking defiantly at him.
Jyou shook his head, his hands busy packing up his rucksack. "If that's true, then … I'm no better." Taichi was looking out for the group; he only wanted what was best for everyone. Jyou did too, but perhaps his methods weren't quite as good. Or perhaps he just wasn't as brave and trustworthy as Taichi was, or as smart as Koushiro, or level-headed as Yamato could sometimes be. He wasn't nearly as patient as Sora, or as kind and trusting as Hikari – he certainly wasn't as positive as Takeru, or even as understanding and open as Mimi. Jyou was … so much simpler than his friends, and so much weaker than them.
They had trusted him too much. That had been their mistake.
"That's not true!" Gomamon exclaimed. "They just don't get it, Jyou."
He held up a hand. "Be quiet, will you? We're trying to leave without them noticing."
He knew how hard it was for Gomamon to keep his opinions to himself, and silently commended him for being able to do so. Jyou wanted to believe Gomamon, to agree with all he said and go back to his friends without so much unspoken baggage between them; but he couldn't. He'd heard her, during the battle. The voice that had warned him before, the one who told him not to involve his friends in this business. He'd failed then, but he wouldn't do it again. It was why he and Gomamon had followed her, sure that they'd find her this time.
He had, against his own wishes, abandoned his friends in the midst of what had become a dangerous battle, only to follow a voice and a shadow. He'd caught a glimpse of her, once or twice, but the sounds of the fighting were so distracting…
"You can't do anything for them, Kido Jyou. They can't follow you."
Jyou pushed his glasses further up his nose. He had a copy of the maps they had gotten with Yamato; he was thankful once again that Mimi had had the good sense to ensure they had extra copies. Other than that he had only left a brief note clipped to the tree under which they would expect him to wake up, explaining that he had left and that they shouldn't worry about him. The last part he added after some hesitance, finding himself unable to truly stomach to think they wouldn't.
"Come on Gomamon," he said quietly, heaving his rucksack upon his back. "Try to be quiet."
-x-
Yamato remained silent as Sora struggled to find the right thing to clean his wound with, but it became increasingly difficult as she kept poking him or dabbing at him with dry gauze. "Taichi's such an idiot," she kept complaining, "I mean, running off like that, in the middle of the night too … oh, sorry," she dove back into the bag. "You'd think he'd learned the lesson, but instead … he just keeps worrying all of us and … you, Yamato … you don't think he's going to get himself in trouble, do you?"
He looked caught off guard for a moment. "Taichi's an idiot," he said simply, "He just needs to cool down."
His answer didn't seem to comfort her. Sora gripped the water bottle tightly in her hand, accidentally spilling its contents on both of them. "I'm sorry," she was quick to apologise, "I'm so clumsy."
He wanted to comfort her, tell her it wasn't true, but Mimi, who had been watching the whole exchange with some disinterest, was suddenly on her feet and had approached them. Her small hand touched Sora's and she smiled; their backs were turned to him.
"Why don't you let me help with that?" she kindly asked. "You can go get Taichi."
Sora shook her head. "No, Yamato needs me."
So does Taichi, Mimi thought.
"You should go find him."
"He only listens to you, Sora," she replied, inflating her good cheek in a childish way. She took the things from Sora's hands and held them to her chest. "Go ahead, I'll help Ishida-san."
The redhead held her hand to her chest, the remnants of a blush still present on her cheeks when she turned towards Yamato with a tired, resigned smile. "I'll get Taichi before he ends up doing something stupid."
Yamato had been watching them for a moment, the pain in his hand forgotten as a strange tingling began in his chest and spread to the tips of his fingers. He nodded, his mouth slightly parted as she hurried out into the darkness. Yamato blinked, suddenly aware that he didn't tell her to be careful. His azure gaze travelled from the revolting sight of his mangled hand to Mimi, who had approached him silently; her smile was almost completely gone.
"It's going to sting a little," she warned him, "So try not to cry too much."
There was a slightly evil glint in her eye – or was that just him? Her hands were smaller than Sora's, and softer, too. For all the hours of practising tennis and soccer that Sora engaged in, her body had hardened and moulded in marvellous ways, but her hands had lost the satin quality of Mimi's skin. Yamato's teeth grinded against each other as she cleaned his hand with what smelled like hydrogen peroxide, but he couldn't say that her touch wasn't gentle.
"You look worse than Jyou-senpai did. Why didn't you let it go sooner?"
Yamato's gaze softened, and he almost smiled. "I couldn't really let it go," he said quietly, but Mimi may have been pretending not to hear him. "You didn't have to stay," he continued.
The girl only shrugged as her fingers expertly dabbed a soothing ointment on his raw flesh. "Taichi needs company," she said simply, "And Sora was making a bit of a mess with you." Her fingers slowed down, and after a few seconds she was, for all intents and purposes, just holding his hand. "You don't mind that she went?"
Yamato let out a soft sigh, looking up at the sky. "Taichi's an idiot," he said naturally, "Sora will bring him back safely." He hadn't really thought much about it, but he was surprised it hadn't been Mimi running after Taichi first. He had seen how close they were, especially in the past few weeks; it had made sense at the time to assume she'd be distraught for their poor, hot-headed friend.
When he looked up he noticed Mimi had been staring curiously at his face. Having been caught, the girl blushed and shook her head, her fingers making quick work of spreading the medicine over the affected area. Instantly, he could feel his skin cooling down and being relieved of the abrasive pain that had been burning him. He twitched his fingers slowly and painfully.
"Well," she began, wiping her fingers into a piece of disposable tissue, "That's as much as I can do for you. Make sure you keep moving your fingers and keep the wounds clean; they'll heal in a pinch! At least, that's what Jyou-senpai said."
Yamato respectfully inclined his head. Mimi had been the person closest to Jyou these past few days, if that could even be said. He knew their Senpai was very protective of Tachikawa, but he hadn't been blind to the rift that seemed to have appeared between them. Even she was shut out, though she may like to pretend otherwise.
"Where is Jyou?" he asked, looking around. Hikari, Koushiro and Takeru had been setting up camp as best they could with the help of their Digimon but it had been a while since he had seen their blue-haired companion.
"He's probably taking a walk," Mimi said, waving a careless hand, "He's been going off on his own for a while now; I think he can't sleep."
"Hm." He isn't the only one. Yamato decided not to bother Jyou tonight, but made a mental note to look for him first thing in the morning. He decided not to wait for Sora and Taichi either – the strain of the battle and his encounter with the strange Digimon-child had left him more exhausted than he had recognised and quite easily, he fell into a deep sleep.
Takeru had been observing his brother as Mimi cleaned his wounds, finding the entire exchange a strange occurrence. "Say Takeru," Hikari said, "Do you think it's strange, how your brother and Mimi act sometimes?"
The younger Ishida took a moment as he stuffed a little tin biscuit into his mouth. "Is it?" he said after swallowing, "I think they just don't know how to act around each other."
Koushiro, who had barely heard the youngest ones talking, looked up towards were Mimi and Yamato separated. He frowned. Maybe he'd missed much more than he had initially thought. "Sometimes Mimi can be a little overwhelming," he quipped, "I can see how that would make Yamato uncomfortable."
"I suppose that makes sense," Hikari conceded, but Takeru only watched them for a moment, lost in thought.
-x-
Taichi stopped walking only after a while had gone by and he could no longer hear his friends' chatter. He looked around at the derelict buildings and stone-cluttered streets, kicking a pebble in anger and frustration. He found what looked like the remains of a small house and deftly climbed the wall and up the window, finally landing himself above the roof. The place was run-down and creepy, but in Taichi's current mood, he didn't really give a damn.
He was tired, sore and hungry. And he was angry at everyone – the Digimon who attacked them, whoever it was that sent them, Jyou and Yamato and Sora – God, he was so angry at Sora. The rational part of him wanted to say that his friends were right and that they had been too tired to make the trip out of these goddamned wastelands as they were, but the irrational part of him (and he put a lot more stock into this one) told him that his friends had betrayed him by not trusting him. They chose to listen to Jyou – Jyou! He had put them in danger, not Taichi. And yet – and yet, maybe he was better fit to lead them than Taichi was.
And realising that scared him to death.
He picked up a pebble from the rubble on the roof he was on, tossing it across the empty streets to hit a broken down lamp on the other side. Taichi failed three times before he became aware that he wasn't alone. His face turned grimmer, and he refused to look directly at her.
"What are you doing here?" he all but barked.
"You've got awful aiming."
Taichi could feel his eye twitching but still refused to look at her; a last stand in a juvenile way of showing him her presence was not welcome. "Shut up, will you?"
Sora's smile faltered, but snatched a pebble from the roof and tossed it in the direction Taichi was firing. He might have pretended not to notice, but he couldn't have ignored the clear ringing sound as the stone met its mark. "Come down already, idiot," she murmured, "Your sister's worried about you."
He pressed the pebble in his hand until it hurt and then he hurled it with anger at the void. He hated when Sora did that, when she made him see how much of a child he was and it made him feel even worse about the whole damned thing. "Is Hikari okay?" he asked quietly, before Sora climbed down from the rooftop.
"You're so selfish, Taichi, leaving like that without caring about how we feel or if we're doing okay…" she shook her head. "You owe them an apology."
Taichi followed her, jumping down from the window in one lithe movement. Sora was walking ahead, her red hair a deep shade of maroon under the waning moonlight. He knew he was being selfish but she didn't know half of what Taichi felt, and he rather resented that.
"And you?" he asked.
"Me? Why would I worry about you?"
Nonetheless, Taichi smiled.
-x-
Somewhere far beyond their reach, a being was observing them. The images projected in front were of the Original Eight, the Chosen Children, the DigiDestined – all those grandiose titles, and what a poor impression they made. Disorganized, easily impressionable and weak – that was what the images were showing; that the Guardians of the Digital World were, despite their experience and age, nothing but frightened little children. Still … they should be good enough for what she needed.
"QueenChessmon." The voice was clear and high, and would have been pleasant if it did not sound so cold.
"My Lady," the Digimon said, stepping closer to her superior. The being itself was clouded in shadows, the light that permeated the room stopping before an endless void of darkness.
"Are you sure these are the Chosen?"
"Quite sure, my Lady. They match the descriptions we were given, and so do their Digimon partners."
"You have fought them, then." It was not a question.
"We met … prematurely. I only roughed them up a little before leaving them."
"I see," the voice said again, "And what of their crests? Are they too, the Bearers?"
"Yes, my Lady. But they don't seem to have figured them out just yet," QueenChessmon replied dutifully. "Not all of them, at least."
"Good, that is … good."
There was a clink of armour but QueenChessmon remained as impassive as ever, as though waiting for a command she wasn't sure would come. "What about your other mission, QueenChessmon?"
"We have a steady supply of data, my Queen. The collect is going well."
"And you are sure these children known none of it."
"Positive." There was a glint of malice in her eye, and perhaps some satisfaction showing clearly in her voice. "We've been blocking Izumi's attempts at figuring it out. By now, the child must be nearly losing his mind."
"Rise," the voice commanded. "You have done well, my brave general. Perhaps there is yet hope for you …"
QueenChessmon bristled, but otherwise pretended not to hear her master. "Your orders, my Queen?" she asked.
"Remind the others of their missions," the voice lazily replied, "And make sure those crests are unlocked and destroyed. I will take no chances, this time."
This time, nothing would stop her from fulfilling her destiny.
