The wisp of a breeze and the soft cresting of waves were the only sounds that Hana could hear as she walked along the deserted beach that bordered the silent forest. The whole world was dulled and gray, fitting for the darkness she could feel inside and around her. The darkness she knew did not belong in his world, no matter how much she had wanted to stay. He had been so nice, so accepting, and somehow just so familiar that she felt she would have been content to remain with him forever, but then she had heard them.

She had been lying in bed, thinking about all of Takeru's friends she had met in the past two days. Jyou, who she had met the previous day, had given her the impression that he was really reliable since she knew he had just dropped everything to come help her. She had really liked Mimi. The girl had been rather chatty (though Hana wondered if that was more because she herself had been so silent), but Hana could feel that she was so sincere in everything she did and said. She had selflessly helped Hana by giving her things away for her to use. She hadn't even caught the boy's name that had been there when she woke up and he had left soon after that. Takeru had seemed agitated before he left, so she wasn't sure how she felt about him.

Then she had met Takeru's brother and his friends. She had liked Yamato, who had been open and friendly enough to her, and Sora, who had rather pleasantly smothered Hana in her loving care and Hana had imagined that would be how a mother would have been like.

But the last one she had met, Taichi, had confused her. She got the impression from the others that it wasn't how he usually acted, but Hana couldn't help by notice the weird glances he kept throwing her. They hadn't been harsh or scathing, but rather more confused and wary, as if he didn't know what to make of her.

As she had been going over these thoughts in her head, she had heard the whisper of something along the tresses of her mind. She had turned to look at the door to see if it had been Takeru, but the door was closed and she was alone in the room. The whisper came again, almost like a soft breeze around her, a shallow chant that she couldn't make out. She wanted to answer, but silence still held her tongue. She didn't know if writing would help, so she answered the only other way she could think of, hoping that whatever it was would be able to hear her. She called back in her mind.

It was then that she felt the first pull.

It was like a cold hand plunging into her chest and trying to drag her to where it was. What alarmed her even more was she felt something in her answer. A darkness that she could not deny was a part of her very being. A darkness that she knew had no place in this world of light.

That led her to the thought that if she was darkness, then she too did not belong in the world of light. Her eyes flew to the door where she knew Takeru was sleeping just beyond. She didn't want to leave him, but the whispers were growing stronger every second. Whispers that were familiar to her. She knew that was where she had come from for the darkness knew it. And she had to go back to where she belonged. She could hear them calling, willing her back to their world…the Dark World, they whispered to her.

She slipped out of the covers of the bed. She had to say good-bye to him. They may have belonged to two different worlds, but he had taken care of her when there was no obligation for him to do so. As she walked to the door, her eyes fell upon the pink device lying on the dresser Takeru had insisted she kept with her. She picked it up, stared at it for a few seconds, and hooked it on. If Takeru thought it was important, she didn't want to leave it behind. It might even be a way for her to remember him, to forever keep a part of him with her.

She opened the door and opened her mouth to call his name before she remembered she couldn't speak. Then she thought she must have been able to speak at some point. She couldn't remember it, but she could try. She concentrated all her might on saying his name and opened her mouth and a rush of happiness went through her as she spoke his name.

Takeru hadn't wanted her to go, and she had expected that. But she knew she had to leave. The ones who whispered had told her that they needed her. As she felt herself slipping away, she could suddenly see the brightness within him. She thought of the word she had written under his name. Hope. It suited him. His eyes were staring down at her, imploring her to stay with him, but she didn't. She wasn't sure what made her kiss him, perhaps it was to give him something to remember her, perhaps it was the deep desire for her to stay with him, or perhaps it was the irrational feeling that it wasn't the first time they had done so.

But she had turned away then, slipping from his arms, standing in his room one minute and finding herself on a dull gray beach the next.

She had seen a building in the distance, and having not seen anything else but the forest and the water on either side of her, started walking towards it. The sand pressed in between her toes, her feet bare since she had not put anything on them before letting herself be drawn here. The building loomed ever closer becoming clearer to see and as she got closer she found it was a sort of castle-like structure. It took her a few more minutes to reach it and the doors hissed open as she approached.

Creatures that looked like they were made of shadows trickled out, chanting something that sounded like "light". She could feel the darkness resonate in her with them and knew it was these that called to her and pulled her here. "I am Hana," she told them. "I'm here to help you."

They paused their chanting and crowded around her. A few grasped her arms and there was just the briefest moment of ice-fire pain before she could feel their darkness press into her and search her mind.

"Queen…Hana," they intoned. "Welcome home…"

"…queen?" she repeated after a brief pause. "I'm your queen?"

"Yes…you've lost your memories," they said. "You are our Queen Hana…"

She swallows the sudden lump in her throat. Something deep inside her, a spark of something she didn't quite recognize, revolted against these creatures, but it was so weak that she could push it away. These creatures were her people. She was their queen. She was where she belonged now.

"Take me to my room," she instructed them. They slithered off and she followed them through the maze of the castle. They opened a door to a room and she looked around, hoping to see something familiar, something that would bring her back the memories that she had lost. But there was nothing in the room that jogged anything for her. "Thank you," she said to the creatures. "I think I will sleep now."

"As you wish, Queen Hana…"

The creatures left her in her room and she slipped beneath the blankets on the bed. As she tried to drift off to sleep, she wondered how something could feel right, but so very wrong all at the same time.

Takeru didn't know how long he stared at the spot where Hana had stood, his mind reaching for an explanation of what had just occurred. There was no way that Koushiro could have been right (though Takeru was well aware that he often was). There was no way that Hana truly belonged in the Dark World. She had been too kind, too lovely, and just too special to be a part of darkness. All his knowledge of darkness could not mold Hana into the same class as all the other evil and dark creatures they had fought over the years.

He went back to the couch, despite the fact that Hana was no longer in his bed and there was no real reason for him not to go back to sleep in it. He wrapped himself in his blankets and told himself that there was nothing he could do. He tried to rationalize that it was the middle of the night and he would do well to get his sleep so that he could try to rescue her tomorrow (though he had no real idea of how exactly he was going to get to the Dark World). But hours later, his mind was still racing, even though his body ached with fatigue and his eyes burned to be shut.

He glanced at the clock again and found it to be the eve of the morning. The sun wouldn't rise for hours since it was winter, but the night was still waning. Giving up on sleep completely, he threw his blankets off and slipped into his room, hoping to find some clue, some indication, anything that might help him get Hana back.

Suddenly, his eyes fell upon a photo album up on his shelf, one that he hadn't looked at in weeks. He wasn't sure what was driving him to do it, but he lifted a hand to pull the album off the shelf. He stared at the cover for a few seconds, wondering what he was doing, knowing it was hardly the time to take a waltz down memory lane, but something was nagging at him. Something that told him he would somehow find his answers in this very volume.

He moved to the bed and sat down on it, still staring at the closed album. He opened it and found what he knew he would on the first few pages. Pictures of him and Yamato, back when they were younger, back when their whole family had still been together. He flipped a few more pages and stopped when he came upon the group picture the Digidestined had taken, just after their return from Digital World that first time. Andromon had taken one before they left, but none of them had copies of it, so they had decided to take another one once they got back, before they all went their separate ways. His eyes trailed along the faces of his friends, all so young then.

His heart stopped as his eyes fell upon one certain individual. In the moonlight, he couldn't make it out very well, but there was an eighth child there, eight when there should have only been seven. He quickly turned to his lamp and flicked it on before returning to study the picture. There stood a girl, a child his age in a yellow shirt and pink shorts with a whistle around her neck. A girl with short brown hair and warm cinnamon eyes standing in front of Taichi and right beside himself as he stood in front of Yamato with a bright smile on her face.

His heart began to pound. It wasn't possible. It simply wasn't possible. But there it was, plain and simple, a girl that looked just like a younger version of Hana.

Frantically, he searched the rest of the album. She didn't show up again until the time of the pictures with the second group of Digidestined. She was older and had traded the whistle for a camera, but there she was. Once again, right beside him, smiling that same bright smile. She was in almost every picture with those of that group, eating ice cream with Miyako, at one of Daisuke's soccer games, and in Hong Kong with Koushiro. He remembered the world tour. He had gone to France with Taichi. They had split up that way for a reason; one D-3 and one Digivice, so that each group would have someone who could close the gate. Koushiro had gone to Hong Kong. He had to have taken someone with a D-3 with him, but there was no one else, he couldn't remember anyone else, but here she was. Hana, the mysterious girl with the pink D-3, here in the picture.

Fighting down the panic threatening to choke him, he turned the page again and found another picture, this one of Hana and Taichi. Taichi's arm was draped protectively over Hana's shoulders and now that he stared at them, side by side, there was a certain resemblance…something that made him wonder.

He hit the pages of his years in France and he passed by those quickly and finally got to the time of the past few months. Almost every picture had him and Hana together at various places. Sometimes others of their group were there, but they were most often just by themselves.

He finally reached the last picture, one that could have been taken just last week; it was so recent and new. Someone else must have captured it, a sort of candid way. It was him and Hana staring at each other and Takeru could recognize that there was nothing but love in their eyes as they looked at each other.

He spotted writing below it, handwriting he instantly recognized as Hana's, having seen it so often the last two days, but he knew she couldn't have written it in that time. The album hadn't been disturbed in weeks, he could tell by the fine layer of dust that had settled over it. But there below the picture, clearly written in Hana's neat handwriting were the words: Hope and Light forever. Together we can do anything. I love you, Takeru.

It didn't make sense. There was only one possible explanation. He didn't know how it could be true, but it was the only one that was viable.

He knew Hana.

He loved Hana.

A wave of dizziness came crashing down on him, but he fought to stay above it. He finally recognized it for what it was. The dizziness hadn't been caused by his illness at all. This was the powers of darkness attacking him, willing him to not get closer to the truth. He tried to reach back along it, so that he could access his powers like he had in France so long ago, but found no connection there. Whoever or whatever had left this trace of darkness within his mind had left no connection back.

He fought off the feeling and, holding the album tight in his grasp, tumbled out of his room and back into the living room where he knew his D-3 lay on the table. The only hope he had now was to hold on long enough to get to the Digital World where he could access his shield which might be able to eradicate the lingering darkness from his mind.

He grasped the D-3, using all his strength to hold onto his discoveries and hazily made his way to the computer. It took a few seconds to bring up the Digital World and pick a random portal, but he held up his D-3 and fought out the words, "Digi-port open!"

He wanted to relax in relief when he felt himself drawn into the other world, but didn't allow himself the luxury of it. He had to hold on long enough to reach his powers. As he felt himself land, sprawled out on the ground, he didn't even bother to stand up and waste those precious seconds that would give the darkness another chance to win. He reached into himself, where his latent powers lay and willed with all his might for the darkness to be destroyed. Golden warmth raced through him, shattering the darkness and bringing back a rush of memories. He shakily got to his feet as the realization hit.

He did know her.

He did love her.

Hikari.

Memories of the pictures crashed through his mind, but even more followed. A pretty girl, standing defiant against Myotismon. Her pale face as she fought an illness while her brother was away. Refusing to let go of his hand as Piedmon got ever closer. Seeing her smiling face as he walked into a new classroom. Finding their Digi-Eggs side by side. Going to visit Mimi in New York and inexplicably finding trouble even there. Her tears as he left her to go to the airport. His wonderment at her acceptance and forgiveness when he returned from France. A dismal forest where he told her for the first time that he loved her. And finally, the wonderful months since the summer, the time they had spent together, finally where they belonged.

The album slipped from his fingers as he recalled her first disappearance, right from beneath his fingers, just before he got sick. He should have questioned it. He should have realized that something was wrong so much sooner. He looked down at the album and saw that it had fallen on that final page of him and Hikari. He now remembered where and when it was taken. Miyako had taken it, during one of their Digidestined reunions, just last month. He remembered how Miyako had been delighted to catch them like that, how he had been playfully indignant, how Hikari had laughed at them both.

"Hikari," he breathed, falling to his knees and his hand coming to grip his now aching chest. His other hand trailed a finger down her face in the picture as he suppressed a barely cry of despair. He didn't know how he could have let her be taken. "I will get you back, Hikari. Nothing will stop me from getting you back."