Calmer of the Storm: -looks around-

Cody: -roles eyes-

Calmer of the Storm: Uh….here's my next chappy! I'm sooooooooo sorry for taking so long again! I really am! We just started exams, and I've been so busy lately…

Cody: No you haven't, you've just been procrastinating.

Calmer of the Storm: -glomps Cody- Uh…on with the show! I mean…chapter…yeah, that's it…

Takeru shifted in the bushes. They were outside the castle; it was almost time. Hikari, of course, had no idea what was going on, but they were running out of time. The girl was locked in her room, and the light was on. So far, it seemed that she was alone. The guard watch was just as good as it had been the day before when the younger boy had given her a visit; basically nonexistent. However, this time, he would have to appear in her room; no rocks. He prayed that he would come in at the right time…he was aware of the number of things that could go wrong.

Yamato sat just to the right of his brother, and he was just as restless. Yamato, as well of the others, were well aware of what would happen were this plan to fail. The others were stationed around the perimeter of the castle grounds, mostly for surveillance purposes.

Time ticked slowly by, and it seemed an eternity before it was finally dark enough for the boy to make his move.

Deciding that they had waited long enough, and that the coast was clear, Yamato sent his brother off. The boys shared a curt goodbye, and Takeru headed into the open.

The older Ishida was quite surprised with his brother's actions; he had never seen him determined to do something in such a manner before. Takeru moved across the courtyard quite easily, and began clambering up the wall. Yamato whispered a quiet prayer as he watched his brother go. A number of things could go wrong at this point, but it was futile to dwell on the negatives. What would happen would happen, and there was nothing no one could do about it.

Hikari sat on the edge of her bed. Yolei was to meet her soon; what was causing the delay? She hoped with everything she had that nothing had gone wrong. Had they been found out? She knew that it would cost the Inoue girl her life.

Movement at the window caught her attention. As she looked, she noticed a blonde head of hair peering over the side. Overcome with joy, she burst through the balcony doors and flung herself at the boy. First, though, she helped him over it.

A wave of relief flooded over Matt as he watched the events unfold. Now the two just needed to talk.

"Takeru! You have no idea how happy I am!" she felt a little sheepish; it was not the first among things to say to the boy, but that's what came out.

He gave a small smile. "I can imagine…" he said. He looked at her, his azure eyes locking with her ruby ones. For a moment, he forgot the whole reason as to why he was here. As his mind wandered, it eventually made its way back to where he needed it. Shaking his head, be broke from the trance that had been placed over the two of them.

"Sorry, Hika, but I can't stay long. The others are all outside waiting. I've only come to give you a message." He felt a pang of remorse as disappointment set in the girl's eyes.

"Oh…" she said, dropping her gaze to the floor.

"But I also came to see you." he added, quickly, hoping that he had made amends.

She lifted her eyes to meet his. "Really? Or are you just saying that to make me happy?" her voice was soft; almost inaudible.

Takeru took a step towards her. He smiled softly. "There are other ways of conveying a message than to give it in person, but I insisted that this was the best way."

A light smile found its way across her lips. "Alright, then."

Silence enveloped the two of them for a short moment, and Takeru shook his head to get back into focus.

Hikari stifled a giggle; it would seem that he had momentarily forgotten the reasoning for his coming.

"Uh, oh yeah, the message…" The boy's face flushed red. "The rest of the group is stationed outside around the perimeter of the castle grounds." He stopped short, as there was a knock at the door. Hikari immediately stood, and the boy dashed for the closet.

Slowly, Kari opened the door. A wave of relief swept over her as she saw who it was. "Yolei, come in quickly…" she said as the lavender haired girl hurried into the room.

Her face was red, and she looked a little flustered; she seemed to have just gotten off doing some work. "I'm sorry that I took so long…That stupid man made me do even more work! I swear…if we ever get out of this place…"

The younger girl smiled. "Well, I think that this is perfect timing, actually…" she turned. "Takeru, you can come out…it's only Yolei."

Carefully, the closet door opened, and he stepped out. He gave a small smile as he did so, and stood just in front of the door.

Yolei raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And just how long has he been here, and what have the two of you been up to?"

It took a moment for Hikari to realize just what it was that was being implied. During that small revelation period, her face darkened a few shades of crimson. "N-no! N-nothing happened! Takeru is here to tell us a message, that's all! And besides, he's only been here a few minutes…he was just in the middle of telling me just what it is that we are to be doing…"

Yolei only nodded her head. She bit her lip and made no other comments.

Takeru, through the duration of the moment, had turned his attention out the window and was also blushing profusely. Only when he heard the sound of Hikari clearing her throat did he realize that the conversation was finished.

"Oh, uh…yeah. So, as I was telling Kari before, the others are all around the castle. We've found them all, and you two are the only ones that we need to get back. Then, we can figure out just what it is that we need to be fixing."

The two girls nodded. "So, I've just pretty much come here to tell you that. Also, we're going to get you out of here. The others are also staking out the area, getting the guard patterns and such. We'll be back tomorrow night to get you. It would be nice if the two of you could be somewhere on ground level, preferably together. If not, then here would be good. If the two of you are in the room, leave the light on in here, and the window open. If down below, then the opposite. However, if anything is wrong, then leave the light on and the window closed…got it?"

Hikari nodded. "We'll do our best. I'll try to convince Sir Guy that Yolei and I need to take a late walk in the garden…so that's where I'll be if all goes well."

Takeru though a moment, the nodded back. "Okay, that should work. I'll see you then…"

The girls watched as he disappeared over the balcony.

Hikari let out a sigh. "This could be a little harder than we've made it out to be…" she lamented.

Yolei smiled. "But love will find a way, right?"

She then moved to dodge the pillow that Kari had thrown at her head.

…….

Very carefully, Takeru made his way back to where his brother had been waiting. It did not take him too long, for the guard watch was not all that heavy at this point. He placed himself beside Matt.

"So?" the older Ishida brother waited for Takeru's response.

"They've been told. Yolei was conveniently meeting Hikari about the same time I got there, so I saw the two of them. They're both fine, but I think that there's a sense that we need to get things done quickly. Hopefully they won't run into any problems…"

Yamato nodded. "Yes, I hope so too…" A wave of silence came over them, then the signal was seen.

"That would be Taichi…I guess that we're all clear to leave, now." said Matt. With that, the two boys stood quietly, and left.

…….

It took a little while for the whole group to reassemble, for a few of them ran into some obstacles. But, after about an hour or so, they were all back. Takeru and Yamato were the last to appear.

"So?" said Tai, with an expectant look on his face.

Takeru had to let out a small smile. It seemed that he was just as worried as he was. For a second, he let his gaze fall on Ken, and he was rather quiet and pensive. Then again, he was never one to express his emotions all that elaborately to the world around him. Although, TK could see the worried expression in his eyes, even though he did not seem to be listening.

"They know what's going on, and the signals too. Now, if everything goes right…we should be okay."

The group went into a lapse of silence. Due to passed experiences, each of them knew that there was much truth to the old saying 'if it can go wrong, it will'. However, one had to always try. Their very lives hung in the balance here, not in the sense that they would be dead (not all of them, at least), but that they would be stuck in this fairy tale world for the rest of their lives. No more families, friends…they would not even see their digimon partners again. It was a very sobering thought, and a series of questions burned on each of their minds. What happens if it all goes wrong? What will become of the digital world? The real one? What about he others that co-existed along side? It would be utter chaos…there was no doubt about it.

"Well, I suppose that we should get some sleep, instead of moping around here all night…"

Heads snapped up to look at the speaker. It was Daisuke.

"What?" he asked, completely (or seemingly) oblivious to the severity of the impending dangers around him.

Mimi sighed, and shook her head. She thought that it was amazing that even she understood what was going on. (1) "It's nothing, Davis. But you're right…I'm tired."

With that, she placed her head on Yamato, who was conveniently sitting beside her. In an instant, she had dropped off to sleep. Yamato shook his head. "They never cease to amaze me…"

One by one, the others began to drift off to sleep. The stone floor of the chapel was hard and cold, but at least they had shelter from the blazing winds outside. It whistled through the place, making an eerie sound as it did. But it was disregarded quite quickly, and seen as something rather normal, as though this were not the first time.

However, there was one that could not sleep. Ken ichijouji sat in the same spot that he had before, and let his mind wander. He was worried, yes, but it was not the thing that kept him awake. He knew that Yolei was strong, and that she and Hikari could pull through all of this. It was something…he could not put a finger on it. There was a feeling in the pit of his stomach that something was going to go terribly wrong.

Sighing, he disregarded it. He was usually wrong about it anyways, right? What good would it do now to put more pressure on the others? Perhaps it was only his emotions getting in the way this time…perhaps he was not as immune to them as he thought. Finally laying down, he attempted to sleep.

…….

The next day, things were rather quiet. There was a solemn atmosphere about the place, only broken once when Davis had so gracefully fallen out of a tree. He was fine though, and even proceeded to go back up the same one. The rest of them later found out that he and Takeru had both been up there, and in a desperate attempt to amuse themselves, had started a bet to see who could go the furthest out on their limb without it breaking.

Besides that small incident, the day dragged on slowly. There was an irritability in the air, and people generally kept to themselves. Even Sora and Mimi had separated themselves and were doing things on their own.

Finally, it was time to head out. They went in the same groups that they had the night before, and were in the same positions and everything. They had gotten in without much trouble, and things seemed to be going well. They were each in a place where they could either see one another, or Hikari's window, for that would be the deciding factor in what plan they would have to execute.

Takeru took a deep breath, and waited. There seemed to be no activity in the room, but the light was on. Though, only one of the doors was open, so he suspected that Kari had not yet had a chance to get everything sorted out just yet.

As they sat there, Takeru watched with wide eyes at what happened next. He watched a figure, presumably Hikari, run and quickly shut the door.

"Shoot…" was all he said.

………………………………...

(1) This is just for all you Mimi fans, lol…don't get me wrong, I really like her, but I didn't mean to make her sound like a total ditz here. She is a bit of one, so that's part of the reason why I made that reference. So please…don't flame me on that! She is a strong character, and I will recognize that in the story….somehow…

And that's it for now! Partly because I've been working on this chapter for so long, and it's been a while since I've updated, and I just can't really think of what to do next! So if any of you guys have suggestions, it might get the next one out sooner! hint hint nudge nudge

Lol…so yeah. See y'all later!