Hana stepped through the dark hallways of the castle…her castle, she guessed as she was queen of this world. She hadn't slept long, despite how exhausted she had been. Even knowing that she had been in her room, it hadn't been as comfortable as that one night sleeping in his room. She had found the closet and drawers full of clothes that had fit her perfectly, further proof that the things in this room did indeed belong to her. After getting dressed, she went in search of something…anything that would bring anything in her memory back.

She stopped when she found herself in a circular room with a bowl on a pedestal in the center of it. A chill ran down her back as she looked around; she got the feeling that something terrible had happened in this room. She stood there frozen for a few minutes, unsure of what she should do or where she should go. She gasped and jumped in shock when a door opened. One of the dark creatures slithered into the room. "How may I serve you, Queen Hana?" it intoned to her.

"I was just looking around," Hana said hesitantly. She glanced around the room again. "What was this place used for?"

"Come." It beckoned her as it slide over to the pedestal. Hana cautiously walked over to it and wondered if she would ever feel at ease in the creatures' presence. It waved a hand over the bowl, which Hana could see was full of murky water now that she was close enough. "Our previous Master used it to view the world beyond. If you used the darkness in you, you could do that same..."

It was strange to her how they always trailed off their sentences, as if they were going to say more but never did. She took another intrigued look at the bowl. The idea that she could see other worlds, perhaps even look in on Takeru sometimes, was an interesting, perhaps even a promising, idea to her, but then she stopped that thought before it could truly form. She was better off not dwelling on what she couldn't have or where she couldn't be.

She jumped again as the doors opened once more and more creatures slinked into the room. "Queen Hana…" one chanted. "Now that you are awake, you should bring your partner here…"

"My…partner?" she asked, glancing around at them. "What do you mean?"

"A Digimon from the Digital World…"

"She belongs to you…"

"A Digimon?" she repeated. "Like Takeru's Angemon, you mean?" Takeru found her in the Digital World, as he called it. She had no idea what or where it was or how she had gotten there, as she could only assume since this was the world she belonged to, she had somehow left the Dark World and entered the Digital World. She wondered if it was really possible that she could have a partner like they said. It would certainly be nice to have someone to protect her and trust her as much as Angemon seemed to do with Takeru. "How do I find her?"

"Her name is Gatomon…"

"Look into the water…"

"Call to her…"

Her eyes fell upon the bowl of water. She delved into herself and called upon the darkness that ran so deep through her. She reached out like they told her and willed to see the Digimon that she was seeking. An image emerged across the surface of the water. The scene was of a forest that could be on any world, but two beings sat together in the glade. The smaller of the two was a white cat creature with purple tipped ears and wide blue eyes. Her front paws were covered in what looked like yellow and orange clawed gloves. Her tail was of curling white and purple with a gold ring resting at the end. Something inside her clenched when she saw her. Perhaps this was her partner, perhaps something deep down recognized that they should be together; she didn't quite know.

She looked at the other being, who looked like a small man in a yellow and red outfit covered by a purple cape completed by a pointed purple hat with the image of a skull on the top of his head. Something in her pained when she saw him. "Who are they?" she asked.

"The white one is Gatomon…"

"The other means nothing…"

If the cat was Gatomon, her partner, that would explain her reaction to her when she saw her; the deep feeling of knowing they should be together. But somehow, she didn't quite believe that the other being meant nothing. Something pained in her when she first saw him, something that she knew she shouldn't ignore. But she didn't know what else she could do. She wasn't sure how she had gotten to the Digital World in the first place, so she couldn't just go out and ask them for answers. One could draw things into this world, as the creatures had brought her, but to draw in her partner was one thing. To pull in an innocent bystander, with no knowledge of how to get them back, was something else all together. She couldn't do that to someone.

She looked away from the image to the dark creatures. "How do I bring her here?" she asked them.

In answer, two of them grabbed her arms. She once again felt a moment of ice-fire pain before she felt their darkness press in on her. She could feel them feeding on the dark power in her. Her gaze fixed on the image of the two Digimon in the water. Gatomon flickered into grayness before vanishing. She could hear the other cry out in alarm before the picture faded away. An instant later, Gatomon appeared in the room, just a few feet away from where Hana stood.

Gatomon glanced around. "Wizardmon?" she called out. When she saw them, she asked, "Who are you?"

Hana stepped forward as the dark creatures let their grasp fall away. "I am Queen Hana," she said to her.

"You're that Digidestined girl we saw a couple of days ago," Gatomon said. Her eyes narrowed and flashed with suspicion. "What do you want with me?"

"They tell me you're my partner," Hana said. "I thought that perhaps…you might have known me."

"Hardly," Gatomon said her tone harsh with contempt. "I'm not one of those Digimon, bound to some human. You must have the wrong one. I'd appreciate it if you send me back."

Hana bit her lip. She had thought that, if it was true Gatomon was her partner, the Digimon might have known who she was when no one else had. She hadn't expected for her to have no idea who she was. She opened her mouth to say that she did not know how to send Gatomon back when one of her dark creatures slide over to Gatomon and placed a hand on her head.

Gatomon hissed, but stood transfixed for the few seconds the dark creature stood there. It stepped away and when Gatomon looked at Hana again, her gaze had turned horrified and shocked. "Oh, light," she said. "What have they done to you? We have to get away from here! Where's Takeru?"

Hana was about to ask how Gatomon knew Takeru and why she wanted to get away from the Dark World, but the dark creatures pulled her forward and gathered around the cat Digimon. They grasped both her and Gatomon. She could feel them draining her darkness again and could feel it entering Gatomon. Slowly, Gatomon's white fur melded into black and her bright blue eyes shifted to an ominous yellow. The clawed gloves on her hands became blue and red striped. The gold of her tail ring darkened and dulled, not longer bright and shiny as it was moments ago.

"Digivolve…" the creatures chanted over and over, but Hana didn't know how to get her partner to Digivolve. She had seen it once when Takeru had changed Angemon to Pegasusmon; he had called something out that she couldn't quite remember. She didn't know if there was something she had to call out. She did the only thing she could think of to do and desperately willed her partner to Digivolve. She saw a black glow coming from her waist and looked down to the see the D-3 she hadn't wanted to leave giving it off. Darkness started to roll off in waves from her and went over to Gatomon. There was a purplish glow around her as her Digimon grew. She was a tall human-like creature with long white hair and red eyes wearing a tight black outfit with black wings sprouting from her back for the briefest of moments before the purplish glow covered her again.

She didn't grow again, but when the glow faded, she was no longer as she was before. Where Gatomon had been, there stood a tall beautiful woman with black hair and a golden headdress. Her outfit was still black and skin-tight, but a long purple robe with long hanging sleeves wrapped around the lower part of her body. Two sets of black wings sprung from her back. Hana looked at her in wonder. "You're a Digimon?" she asked. "Gatomon?"

"I am Lilithmon now," she said. There was a sadness in her eyes as she looked down at Hana. "If this is what you have chosen…" She trailed off and didn't finish.

Hana wanted to ask her more, but the creatures were pulling at her. "Queen Hana…come this way…"

She followed them with Lilithmon close behind. They led her to a room that could only be called a throne room as the room was large and expansive and a huge gold and black chair rested on the far end. She walked over to it and trailed a hand over one arm. Lilithmon came to stand at the side of the throne. Hana looked around her at the dark creatures assembled, chanting her name.

She sat down on the throne. As she did so, her mind flashed back to the face of a blue-eyed boy who had been kind to her. Suddenly, tears threatened to fall and she choked them back. Her life was here. It was where she belonged.

When the pounding on the door jolted Taichi awake, he took one groggy look at the time, noted that the sun hadn't even come up yet, and got ready to deck whoever dared to disturb him at this godforsaken hour. Muttering under his breath, he dragged his feet over to the door and opened it just in time to see Yamato pulling open the front door. He was surprised to see who was standing there.

"Takeru?" Yamato exclaimed in shock. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"No," Takeru replied panting slightly, and Taichi wondered if he had run the whole way to their apartment. "I have to see—Taichi!" he finished in exclamation as his eyes moved passed Yamato and landed on Taichi standing in his bedroom doorway. In a rather uncharacteristic move, Takeru pushed past his brother and raced to Taichi, where he grabbed him by the shirt and said, "Taichi, you have to help me. We have to save her!"

Taichi gripped Takeru's hands and disentangled himself from Takeru's tight grip. "Calm down, Takeru," he said, shooting a glance to Yamato whom he could tell was just as shocked by this behavior. Taichi couldn't remember ever seeing Takeru this agitated before. "Who do we have to save? Hana?"

"No!" Takeru exclaimed with vehemence, but then he hesitated and said, "Well, yes, but she isn't Hana. She's your sister, Taichi."

There was a brief pause in which Taichi processed this before he stated flatly, "I don't have a sister."

"Yes, you do," Takeru insisted. "Only you don't remember her. Well, you do, only you know her as Hana, but her real name is Hikari. She's a Digidestined and her partner is Gatomon."

"Gatomon?" Yamato jumped in, interrupting. "That cat-like Digimon who worked for Myotismon?"

"Yes," Takeru said. "She has the Crest of Light. She's lovely and wonderful and kind and I'm completely in love with her. She's been taken to the Dark World again and I intend to do everything I can to get her back."

Silence fell around them after Takeru's pronouncements. Taichi blinked at him. He seemed so sure and determined that Taichi almost believed him. Something started nagging at him that Takeru wouldn't say this if it wasn't true, but he pushed it away. It just couldn't be true, so he blurted, "You're crazy. I don't have a sister."

"Taichi." When Yamato said his name, Taichi could tell from the tone of his voice that he wanted to believe. Then again, when it came to Takeru, Taichi knew Yamato could be a little obtuse. "Didn't you say Hana looked like your mom?"

"Well, yeah," Taichi said. "But just because she looks like her doesn't mean we have to be related." He paused as he remembered how freaked out he had been when he saw the girl. It was really weird how much she had looked like his mom. It couldn't be true. But a tiny voice in his head was prodding him, telling him, asking him if there was the possibility that it could be true.

"I knew I should have brought the photo album," Takeru muttered. "But I was so worried, and I had to reach you. I had to get here." He looked straight into Taichi's eyes as he said firmly, "We have to save her, Taichi. She's been changed somehow; she thinks she's full of darkness now. She doesn't even believe that she belongs in our world anymore. She said she had to go to the Dark World because it was her world." His voice became lined with frustration as he continued, "I can't believe I let them take her! I'm her shield, her protector. I'm supposed to stop these things from happening to her." His eyes cast about wildly in thought. "I have to go to the beach."

He turned toward leave, but Yamato stood in front of him before he could make it more than a few feet. "You're not going anywhere," Yamato said. "Not until we get this straightened out. Please wait here for just a minute." Yamato walked out of the room, back into his bedroom. He came back out seconds later, holding a piece of paper in his hand. He handed it out to Takeru as he said, "I was going to ask you about this later, but now seems like a good a time as any."

Takeru's eyes lit up as he looked at the paper. "She remembers us," he said softly. "Some part of her must still be in there."

"What are you talking about?" Taichi asked.

Takeru thrust the paper at him. "This is the paper Hikari wrote on today," he explained. "Look at the bottom."

Taichi did as he asked. Shock coursed through his body as he saw his own name alongside Takeru's and Sora's with the names of their Crests right underneath them. Hana…Hikari, whoever she was, had written this. "It…could be a…coincidence," Taichi said slowly and brokenly, but he didn't even really believe that himself.

"Do you have a picture of the Digidestined?" Takeru asked.

Taichi looked up sharply at him at the abrupt change of subject. "Sure," he said. "There's one sitting by the TV. Sora put it there."

Takeru immediately walked over to the television and grasped one of the picture frames sitting beside it. There was a triumphant smile on his face as he returned to them. He held up the picture to Taichi with one hand as he pointed to one of the people in the picture. "Then how do you explain this?" he asked.

Taichi looked at the picture and his blood chilled as he got a look at the person he was pointing at. He heard Yamato's sharp intake of breath as he came to stand beside Taichi and look at the picture himself.

There was no way Taichi could brush this off as coincidence or anything else. He remembered this picture. They had taken barely a week after the battle with Daemon this past summer. And there, standing right between Takeru and himself, was the very same girl that had been at his apartment this very afternoon. A girl his mind told him he hadn't met until today, but the picture told him otherwise as he stood there beside her, a hand resting comfortably and maybe a little protectively on her shoulder. Her hand was intertwined with Takeru's in the picture and he looked up at Takeru as he suddenly remembered something Takeru just told him.

…I'm completely in love with her…

His mind trailed back to last week, as he remembered Takeru laying in a hospital bed and his own musings that he wished he had a sibling of his own. To the time the thought crossed his mind that if he had a sister, he wouldn't mind if she dated Takeru. To the time when he thought having a sister might not be so bad. Perhaps Takeru was right. Perhaps what he was saying was true. Perhaps Hikari was his sister.

A wave of dizziness flowed over him. He suddenly felt Takeru's grip on his arm and his words penetrate the fog in his mind. "It's the dizziness, isn't it?" he asked urgently. "You have to fight it, Taichi. It's the darkness. It's trying to get you to not remember. Where are your Digivices? We have to get to the Digital World. I can help you, but we have to get there before I can do anything."

Taichi did as Takeru instructed and fought off the dizziness. "It's in my room," he said through clenched teeth.

"Yamato, you have to come too," Takeru said as he pulled on Taichi's arm and pulled him into the room. He was vaguely aware of hearing Yamato walk away. "Fight it, Taichi!" Takeru encouraged as he thrust Taichi's Digivice into his hand. He then turned to the computer and pulled up the Digital World. Yamato came in a few seconds later. The three of them held out their Digivices as Takeru said, "Digi-port open!"

Taichi felt himself spiraling into the Digital World, still fighting off the dizziness the best he could. As the landed in the Digital World, he felt Takeru's hand on his shoulder. A golden warmth filled him as the dizziness was banished away and his memories of Hikari returned to him. He was only mildly aware that Takeru turned away from him to Yamato to place a hand on his brother's shoulder. He couldn't believe he had forgotten his own sister. But she was in his mind now, filling his memories with her light smile and loving gazes.

His eyes locked onto Takeru's. There was a haunted smile on the kid's face, like he was happy that Taichi remembered now, but he was still worried about Hikari. "She's in the Dark World?" he asked him, as a panic started to settle in him. He had never been to that world himself, but he had heard enough about it to know that it was probably the very last place he wanted Hikari to be. It was because of that world that she and Takeru almost died, an experience Taichi had never wanted to happen again.

Takeru nodded as his smile fell completely from his face, but his eyes flashed with determination. "I'm going to bring her back. No matter what it takes."

Taichi looked at Yamato and found his best friend gazing back at him. Yamato walked over and gripped his shoulder and then did the same to Takeru. "We'll get her back," Yamato said to both of them.

Takeru told Taichi and Yamato what he knew of the situation. Taichi was extremely upset and kept clenching his fists and gritting his teeth, which Takeru could understand since he mirrored that very same feeling, while Yamato kept glancing between the two of them warily, almost as if he was expecting one of them to explode any second. Just as he finished telling them about Hikari's disappearance the previous night, he heard someone call out, "Takeru!"

He ghosted a smile at his partner as Pegasusmon flew down from the sky. Before he had left the Digital World to go get Taichi and Yamato, he had found his Digimon and used his shield on him as well to get his partner to remember everything. He told Pegasusmon to find Gatomon, since he thought that they could probably use Hikari's partner to help. But his smile faded a little as he saw the Digimon on his partner's back wasn't Gatomon, but Wizardmon.

Pegasusmon landed and changed back into Patamon after Wizardmon jumped off. "I'm sorry, Takeru," Patamon said as he landed on Takeru's head.

He was about to ask Patamon what he meant, when Wizardmon spoke, "Hello, Digidestined. This one told me that you had information about Gatomon."

"Wizardmon," Takeru said a chill of dread icing through him. "What happened to Gatomon?"

"She disappeared," Wizardmon said. "We were standing in the forest together. She turned gray and fuzzy for just a moment before she disappeared. I searched for her, before this one found me and asked me about her. When I told him what happened to her, he said his Digidestined partner knew something and asked me to accompany him. What do you know of Gatomon?"

"They must have taken her," Takeru said softly. He supposed it made sense. Having a powerful Digimon like Gatomon on your side would certainly make it harder for someone to take Hikari back. He looked at Taichi and Yamato. "They know we'll come to get her."

"That doesn't matter," Taichi said. "We're going to get her, whether they know it or not."

Takeru nodded in agreement. He turned back to Wizardmon. "There's something I can do to help you," he said to him. He reached out a hand and asked, "May I?"

Wizardmon glared at him for a few seconds and then at his hand. "Will it help Gatomon?" he asked suspiciously.

"Yes."

Wizardmon placed his hand on Takeru's hand and Takeru called up his powers to erase the darkness from Wizardmon's memory. Wizardmon's eyes widened in clarity as he stared up at Takeru. Takeru gave him a small smile. "Remember me now?" he asked.

"Yes," Wizardmon said. "What happened to Gatomon and Hikari?"

"They were taken by dark creatures into the Dark World," Takeru explained. "We're going to get them back." An idea struck him. "Wizardmon, can you find the rest of our partners?"

"Most certainly," Wizardmon said. "I will do anything to help Gatomon."

Takeru glanced back at Yamato and Taichi. "Start with Agumon and Gabumon. Tell them to come here as quickly as possible." As Wizardmon flew off, Takeru turned to Taichi and Yamato. "You should wait here for them."

Yamato looked at him suspiciously. "What are you going to do?" he asked.

"We have to tell the others," Takeru explained. "I'll take Patamon back with me and start calling people. We can't do anything until we have our Digimon."

"Takeru, it's not even morning yet," Yamato explained calmly. He held up his finger as both Taichi and Takeru opened their mouths to say something. "Let me finish," he said. "These dark creatures aren't going to harm Hikari, right? They think she's their queen or something. For now, I think Hikari will be relatively safe. I know how much you want to rescue her, but we should let everyone sleep, not to mention we would do well to get a few more hours of sleep ourselves." His gaze turned sharp as it bore into Takeru. "How much did you sleep tonight?"

"I haven't slept at all," Takeru admitted quietly.

Yamato's eyes flashed with anger, but he didn't comment. Instead, he turned to Taichi and said, "Do you want to deal with Sora when she hears that we didn't sleep? Need I remind you what happened last time?"

Takeru looked between the two of them confused as Taichi's face paled just slightly at Yamato's words. Taichi turned to Takeru and said, "Yamato's right. I want to find Hikari just as much as you do, but we can't launch a battle if we're dead on our feet." He gripped Takeru's shoulder. "Go back to our apartment and get to sleep. Don't do anything rash."

Takeru nodded, understanding the wisdom of their words, but not really liking it. He could tell that Taichi didn't like it either, but a part of what made him such a great leader was that he listened to the advice of others. He could see the whole picture, especially if someone pushed past his sometimes single-mindedness to remind him of it. He left the two boys to wait for their Digimon and headed back through the portal to the apartment.

He tossed and turned on the couch for about an hour, just until the sun started to rise over the horizon. Taichi and Yamato hadn't returned yet; Agumon and Gabumon must have been rather far away. He couldn't sleep, not knowing Hikari was still out there. He threw off the blanket and went to the door to put on his shoes.

"What are you doing, Takeru?" Patamon asked as he flew over.

Takeru looked at his partner. "I'm going to see if I can open the portal to the Dark World," he said. His shoulders hung. "I have to try, Patamon. Do you understand?"

"I think so," Patamon said. He landed on Takeru's head. "But I'm going with you."

The crisp early morning air bit into Takeru's skin as they walked to the beach. Once they reached the cliff that Takeru had used over six years ago to open a portal, they stopped. Takeru thought back to that time, back when he was so desperate to find her, even though no one believed him that he would find her here. He didn't even think Gatomon believed him, though she had gone along. Patamon had, but he was always so eager to believe him.

He couldn't access his powers here. The only way the portal would open was if Hikari reached out to him, creating a connection where he could find his powers. But, after all they'd been through, they were tied more deeply than anyone could imagine, Takeru was sure of it. Hikari would hear him. He had to believe that.

He called out to her, yelling her name out to the empty shores. The sun was steadily rising up, almost completely visible, until finally he felt the connection; the pull that he'd come to recognize as the portal opening. Whether she heard him or whether she reached out to him of her own accord, Takeru didn't know, but he wasn't going to miss this chance. When the black hole in the sky opened up, despite Taichi's words not to do anything rash, Takeru got ready to jump through.

"Takeru, stop!"

He turned briefly and saw that Yamato and Taichi were running towards him, with Agumon and Gabumon just behind them. He looked back at the portal, which was flickering threateningly. It wasn't going to be there long, the connection was weak. Dread filled him of what that could mean. He turned back around to the men and their Digimon, who were close, but not close enough. "I have to go," he called to them quickly, with desperation. "Please understand. I can't leave her. Not there."

Before they could reach him, he turned around and took a running jump off the cliff towards the portal. He heard them calling his name and Patamon's quick words of "Takeru, wait for me!" before the world he knew disappeared.