Monday, 5:30pm
It was turning into a long evening. Daisuke drummed his fingers on the table, wondering when his parents were going to show up so that he could head back to the digital world and trade places with Iori. Why did everyone have to keep making things more complicated? Jumping in and out of the digital world wasn't hard; he'd be better off staying there where he could do something, and then pop back once his dad finished work and they made it to the Yagami apartment.
The addition of Mimi's mother to the gathering was not helping, either. She'd done nothing but fuss and cry since arriving, and she'd screamed for a full minute when she'd realised that Palmon was alive. Chibimon and Poromon had hidden in Hikari's bedroom to wait for her to leave. Of course, it was becoming obvious that she had no intention of leaving all the while Mimi was still there. All the more reason to get out as quickly as he could.
"But I don't understand why!" Mrs Tachikawa wailed, dabbing at her eyes with her handkerchief—again. Daisuke was pretty sure she was on her third by now. "My poor baby! She needs to go home to bed and rest, not stay up all night! Look at her arms! And her poor face."
"Satoe," Mrs Takaishi said, "We've been over this. None of us want our children to be in danger, but I'm afraid it's not something anyone can change. We just have to trust them."
"Honestly Mama, I'll be fine," Mimi said. Her arms were still firmly around Palmon—she hadn't let go of her partner since they'd been reunited.
Daisuke sighed, and turned back to Miyako.
"Anything new yet?" he asked.
She shook her head. "Just that the new world is actually an old one or something. Older than the Digital world, at any rate. And it confirms what Hikari thought—the others basically have to save this new world. Or…old world? Well, it's new to us, anyway. I don't really care how long it's actually been around. And I think that what it's saying is, when things went wrong in the digital world, they went wrong it a lot of other places too, so now they have to fix that as well? It's all just so vague, though."
"So how come it's just the others?" Daisuke asked, leaning over to look at the laptop. "I mean, we were right there saving the Digital world too, weren't we? How come it left us out this time?"
Miyako frowned. "Well, that's the thing which is worrying me a bit. So far, this just says 'Chosen Children'. I know the people in that other world knew about the crests, but there's nothing here which says it's just the nine of them. Honestly, it's so completely unspecific that you could even read it and assume that everyone with a partner digimon is meant to help—although I really don't think that's likely to happen. But there's nothing about the crests here that I can see. And I'm not an expert on old digicode the way Koushiro or Gennai are, but I'm sure that if there was a list of all the crests, they would have noticed that straight away."
Now that was a development Daisuke could get behind. "So you think we're maybe involved too? That's good, right? I mean, the more of us there, the stronger we'll be as a group. And you, me, and Iori aren't injured or all that tired, so we could help the rest of them."
"No!" Miyako cried, looking horrified. "We really don't want to get caught up in this! I mean, even aside from the fact we don't know how long it's going to take everyone to get back, what happens to the Digital world if we're not there? As it is, all three of us are going to be stretched to keep things in check there. If we're not around, the distortions and those weird creatures coming out of them might spread out of control and end up in the real world, and there won't be anyone left to take care of them before they cause serious trouble."
Daisuke winced.
"Okay, you've got a point there," he said, leaning back onto the back legs of his seat. "But I mean, if we do get pulled in, we're not really gonna have a choice about it, right? All I'm thinking is, if this is something which might actually happen, maybe Gennai should pull in some of the international Chosen now, and get them…I dunno, trained up? I mean, it might be a good idea to have more than just three of us anyway."
Miyako stared at him. "Are…are you suggesting we might not be able to manage? You?"
"Hey, hey, don't get me wrong," Daisuke said, raising his hands up defensively.
He sat up straight, making the front two chair-legs hit the ground with a thud. "We're a pretty awesome team. If it was just about protecting the Digital world, we'd be fine. But—" he glanced over at the adults and lowered his voice— "Gennai's worried, you know? It's getting worse fast, and…well. Even camped out there, we can only be in three places at once, and that's taking chances on being able to sort things alone. It's not like it was with BlackWarGreymon, where all the problems followed him. They're just popping up any old where this time."
He and Miyako looked back over at the living area, where Mrs Tachikawa had started crying again. Even Ken's mother had started to comfort her, patting her hand awkwardly.
"Man, I kinda get why Mimi didn't call her sooner," Daisuke muttered. "At least my parents aren't gonna to do this."
Miyako rubbed her forehead and sighed. "Normally I'd say you were being rude," she said out of the corner of her mouth. "But right now I'm tired enough to actually agree with you."
He had to grin at that.
Monday, 6:30pm (6:30am local time)
It was taking a while, but Ken had started to put together a mental map of the parts of the underground city he found himself in. For the most part, this consisted of the hospital area; a relatively small gathering of rooms and corridors considering that it was apparently the city's only major medical facility. He hadn't particularly wanted to venture further afield all the while that Jou was confined to a hospital bed. With no word yet from any of the others, they were each others' only familiar company in a decidedly unfamiliar world.
Wormmon was a reassuring weight in his arms as he sat on a bench in a rather comfortable waiting area just inside the hospital area. It actually had glass windows offering a view of part of the "Fastness" beyond; a large, ornate hall with a few people starting to wander around, even at what was apparently a relatively early point in the world's morning.
One of the dwarfs had offered him a tour some hours back, but he had declined, giving the excuse that he ought to stay close to Jou in case they had word from Earth. The truth was that he didn't really think he'd remember much about a tour, and the thought of wandering around for hours feeling disoriented was far from appealing at that moment.
They'd been offered space in the Fastness' guest chambers, but as the doctors had suggested that Jou ought to rest—and that he may as well stay put until the morning got started and the porters woke up—the location of these 'chambers' was still a mystery. Ken wasn't particularly worried about them in any case. What was more troubling was the fact that he still hadn't heard back from Miyako.
"Maybe she's busy?" Wormmon said, although even he sounded doubtful.
Ken shook his head, staring down at his D-Terminal glumly. "The way we vanished…they'll want to know where we are and what happened. It's been hours. We should have heard something by now. I…I don't think the messages are getting through. Which means mine probably didn't, either. And if that's true, then they don't know that we're safe. They'll all be worried."
"But Ken, if you were in danger you'd go back, wouldn't you? Just like Jou did before. They all know that."
"Yes, but Takeru and Koushiro didn't, even after they were injured. Taichi's message said they were both hurt when returning to this world, and they still haven't gone back. Miyako read that message too. And Jou's ankle was already broken when he brought us here. We should let them know that he's going to be okay. I…I think we should go back up to the surface and see if we can send a message from there."
He had forgotten that they had been assigned a guard: a large, barrel-chested man sat a little way to one side, who had already started to doze. Apparently that had been in appearance only, because at Ken's words he sat bolt upright and shook his head.
"Too dangerous. No sense in poking your nose up there on the surface these days. Nowt but Olitiau and other foul creatures roam around at night, and during the day…Well. It ain't natural."
Ken looked down at Wormmon briefly, then back up at the man. "Not natural how?"
The man shook his head. "I can't say as I've ever been up to look, myself. Not that I've anything against sunlight—I'm human enough, when you get right down to it. Not really natural for us to spend our lives in some cursed hole either, even if it is as grand as the Fastness. Plenty of us get taken by the wasting, these days, with magic for the Sun Gardens running short. But I hear tell the mountain tops themselves crumble, only to flicker and reappear as they were before just hours later. It's not right. Landslides, collapses: they're honest enough, normally. But not these ones."
"That…that sounds like what Jou got caught up in, the first time he appeared," Ken said. "He said the mountain came down on top of him, but… now that I think about it, there were no signs of a landslide when I wound up there."
"Aye. The scouts'll tell you, true enough. And I've no wish to see solid earth flicker and vanish before my eyes, as though it were made of some Fae's glamour."
Ken frowned. "But what if that's the only way?"
Wormmon shook his head. "But we're going to go to find the others, aren't we? That's what those important people said."
The man laughed. "The councillors? Aye, when they've time to assemble the men for a voyage. But nothing gets done these days. It all has to pass before the Lord, and word in the tunnels is, he sleeps more hours than he wakes, let alone works. Not to mention you'll be hard-pressed finding a full guard to go with you on such a voyage. We're short just keeping the Fastness secure these days, without sending good men off on a one-way trip to the Grand Council."
"One way?" Wormmon asked, as Ken felt his stomach lurch.
"It means he doesn't think we'd survive," he told his partner. Swallowing heavily he added: "But that's because he doesn't know us."
The man sighed, and got to his feet. Walking over, he clapped a broad hand on Ken's shoulder with enough force to make him wince.
"Listen, lad. I've no doubt there's some kind of power inside of you which the Grand Council could turn useful. I've heard tell of many a stranger thing in my life. But you'd have to get there first, and therein lies the problem. Even by the safest road, we lose too many messengers just going to the Forest City, and that's but a two or three day march. It's been so long since we heard from the Grand Council, I'm not even sure there is a road any more."
Against all reason, Ken found himself shaking his head. "We…we can't just give up," he said, meeting the man's eyes. "I have a friend—another Chosen Child—and if he were here, he'd say the same. We've done things which I thought were impossible before. And we're stronger than we look. If we really have been called here, then I'm sure we can find a way to fix things…somehow."
Wormmon nodded; he could see the movement out of the corner of his eye. But the man held him in a stare, and something about it told Ken that to look away would be a mistake.
At last, his bodyguard laughed, and those piercing brown eyes turned away from his own. Ken relaxed a little. Staring contests were far more Daisuke's field than his, usually.
"Well, you've plenty of spirit, lad, I'll grant you that. But spirit and guts alone won't save you out there."
Ken smiled, and looked down at Wormmon instead. "It's not just spirit," he said. "I have my partner—all of us have our partners. We saved the Digital World together, so I'm sure…if we all work together, I'm sure we can help this one too. But you see, that's why it's so important that I get a message to my friends. I know Jou will say the same."
The man sighed. "And that's why you want the surface, eh—you think you've some edge to gain? Did you mention this to those old cadgers?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Ah, I mean our dear, venerable advisers. You may notice that after their early morning parade down here to greet you, they all departed sharp enough. Bound for their beds once more, I've no doubt." The man sighed, getting to his feet and dusting himself off. "Well, look. I've been set to guard you. Keep you safe. And I'll not deny that they asked me to keep you out of harm's way, too. But I'm no jailer, and it seems to me that being as the Fates seem to have been right about your turning up, they could be on to something with the rest, too. I'll not take you out onto the mountainside, mind, but now that it's morning there's nothing to stop us venturing a bit closer than we are at present, and seeing if your…your little gadget there works its magic."
Ken stood and bowed so quickly that he almost dropped Wormmon and his D-Terminal. His partner squeaked a protest and clung to his arm as he straightened once more.
"Thank you," Ken said, clutching at both. "I should tell Jou where we are going, and ask if he has a message for me to send if this works, but I'll return straight away. The sooner we can let everyone know what happened to us the better, and there's always a chance they might have valuable information for us too."
In the event, the going turned out to be far slower than Ken had hoped. Jou was dozing when he returned to the hospital ward, and although Gomamon was able to wake him up by being far more insistent—and, frankly, blunt—than Ken would have dared be, rousing him also managed to attract the attention of the nurse on duty, who then insisted on checking Ken over once more.
By the time they escaped, the time on Ken's D-Terminal read closer to 7pm. What had everyone else been doing in all that time? Had Mimi returned? Had Hikari made it safely to the Forest City with Alwyn? What about Yamato and Sora? And what had his mother said, when she had arrived at the Yagamis' only to learn that he had vanished—again?
It had been downhill all the way when they'd been led into the Fastness. Now they plodded steadily upwards, step by step. His legs burned, and his arm ached from hauling on the railing which had been fastened into the side of the narrow passage to aid travellers.
The lights were dim, by the standards of the world at least. Although each bulb was surrounded by a halo of light which was bright enough to make Ken's eyes ache, it was at least restful by comparison with the lights of the rest of the city. And it was odd, really, how even the brightness of the bulbs didn't seem to fully illuminate all the corners. The tunnel had a shadowy, disused look about it that made Ken hug his partner tightly as they walked on, and on, and on.
Ahead of him, his bodyguard was muttering curses on the passageway's architect, and on stairs in general. As they wound their way up the meandering tunnel, Ken caught snatches here and there:
"…never mentioned how far up it was…catch me doing this again…should'a stayed in the mines…"
Finally, with a loud cry of: "A pox on stairs!" the man stopped, and leant against the wall, breathing heavily.
Ken sank gratefully to the floor a few stairs down, and massaged his calves to ease out the cramps. As the pain eased, he fished in his pocket for his D-Terminal. It was still resolutely silent.
He turned to look up the passageway once more. We can't be far now, he thought, getting to his feet. Surely we didn't march this long going down?
Gritting his teeth, he started up the stairs once more. His bodyguard waved him on.
"Stay in sight, lad," the man said, clutching at his side. "But I'm done in for now. Give an old man a minute to catch his breath."
Ken nodded, and held the D-Terminal aloft as he plodded on, letting Wormmon manage the stairs on his own for a while. His free hand was busy clutching at the railing to keep himself from falling down. The staircase wasn't entirely straight, but it was unrelenting. If he started falling now, he had no idea how long it would be before something brought him to a halt. He didn't want to think about what sort of a state he would be in by that point.
The curve of the walls was about to take him out of sight when his D-Terminal suddenly bleeped. He cried out in joy, letting go of the railings just long enough to almost lose his balance as he turned to celebrate with Wormmon, then clutched it again to save himself from falling.
"Fates preserve us, what was that!" the man cried from below, hurtling up the stairs as though they hadn't been marching to the point of exhaustion.
"We made it where we needed to go," Ken said, grinning despite his exhaustion. He flipped the D-Terminal open. "That was a message from my friends."
"Well I'll be. Magic?"
Ken started to shake his head, then stopped. "Well…uh…not usually, at least. It's technology. Like electricity—only I suppose I'm not entirely sure how it manages to work between this world and Earth." He frowned at the screen. The messages were what he had expected—Miyako expressing increasing amounts of concern for Jou and himself, and asking that they contact everyone. If Jou was right, they would be getting his initial message about now, just as Takeru's had been delayed. But how exactly were the D-Terminals working? It made sense in the real world, where there was a global telecomms network. It even made sense in the Digital world, which was entirely digital data. But this world was entirely different; neither computer data nor with modern technology. For that matter, they still weren't entirely sure what the nature of the place even was.
The D-Terminal bleeped again.
::Ken, you're both okay? Your message was dated quite a while ago. What's happening now? Jou's ankle is broken? Who are the people helping you? Do you know where you are? Your parents are both here now, and they're very glad to know that you were safe, but I don't think it was enough to convince them fully, although to be honest they're coping a lot better than Mrs Tachikawa. She's driving everyone nuts—even Iori, and he only just got back from the Digital World.::
"Ken?" Wormmon said, clambering onto his lap. "Is everything okay?"
He sighed, and nodded. "It's fine, Wormmon," he said, tapping out a reply. "I just need to let everyone know what's been happening and where we are, and to reassure my parents that I'm safe." Frowning, he added: "Well, safe for now."
"A regular marvel," his bodyguard said, with obvious awe. "Why, what we couldn't do with gadgets like that."
"I just wish there was a way to make them work everywhere," Ken remarked, hitting send. "I've let everyone know that I won't be able to communicate once we head back down to the Fastness, but I'm afraid I need to stay here a little longer while I catch up on the news. I'm sorry to make you wait."
The man shook his head. "Gives my poor legs time to recover before the trek back down," he said, grinning. "It's too dangerous, I know, but I'll not deny there's a part of me itching to carry on, and see the surface for myself, having come so close."
"You've really never seen it?" Ken asked. He wasn't sure that he could imagine spending a whole life trapped underground.
"Just the Sun Gardens, lad. They're…well. The Fae created them, with a bit of help. For those of us as need sunlight for our health, and the like. They're designed to make you feel like you're on the surface. Still, while I've heard they're a close substitute, I'll not deny that I'm curious. But I've no death wish, either. And it'll be my head if I let you stray close to danger."
Ken was about to ask how much danger they could really be in just by looking at the sky when his D-Terminal bleeped once again.
"Excuse me," he said, nodding as he read the message. "I…oh."
::Okay, that's good to know. At least you found a spot where you can get a message through? Hopefully it will get easier when you can travel to this Grand Council, wherever that is. I'm still waiting on Taichi to get back to me with a possible location, but if the people you're with know where the Forest City is, you might be able to link up with the others before heading there. As for what's been happening…it's mixed. Hikari made it safely, and she's linked up with the others, but apparently Takeru's still sleeping off the last few days, and we've still not had any news about Yamato or Sora. Iori and Daisuke have been in the digital world trying to hold off the distortions. The plan is now for us to "go missing" in the night, assuming Mimi's alright after the whole midnight thing. I'm going to be heading over to Gennai's house first thing in the morning. We might need to call on some of the International Chosen at this rate, because apparently things aren't getting any better. I won't be able to monitor things as well as fight, so…well, basically Mrs Takaishi's going to take care of that. I think the adults want something to do, to be honest, and Taichi reckoned that his and Takeru's mothers are level-headed enough not to panic if things go a bit…wrong. But don't worry for now. I passed on that you're doing fine to your parents, and showed them your message, and they've calmed right down. I'll make sure to keep you up to date as much as possible, but you'll have to let us know when you can receive messages, okay?::
"What's wrong?" Wormmon asked, long before Ken had finished digesting the mountain of text.
Ken shook his head and re-read it two more times. There was a lot to digest…but there was also a lot which had remained unsaid. Why was Mimi's mother so worried? Why hadn't Miyako mentioned anything about the prophecy? And what was happening in the digital world?
"Things are happening too quickly," he said, sighing. "Last time…it got serious towards the end, but it didn't spiral out of control so fast. What if we can't keep up with it all?"
Monday, 11:45pm
Natsuko frowned down at her notebook and massaged her temples. It was going to be a long night. The list of phone numbers stared back at her baldly; a nagging list to press on her thoughts. Waiting. They were all waiting—all those families—to hear what had happened to their loved ones.
But that was nothing new. It was a pressure she lived with day to day. Deadlines; demands for information which she didn't yet possess. And the stakes were always so much higher when her own children were involved, but even this… It wasn't the first time they had disappeared, after all, caught up in events far greater than most people ever faced once, let alone more than that. She just hadn't realised until much later on in the proceedings.
Beside her, Miyako nodded in a chair, in very real danger of landing on the laptop she had been using to communicate with the others since that morning. Natsuko gently moved it out of the way, and nodded over at Yuuko.
"I think you've done enough for one day," the other woman said, walking over and helping Miyako to her feet. "Come on, you can sleep in Hikari's bed tonight."
"But… I haven't…" the girl mumbled, half asleep already.
"It's fine," Nasuko said. "I can take over from here. You'll be heading to the digital world in the morning, most likely, so you should rest while you can."
She sighed as Miyako nodded tiredly, pushing her glasses back up her nose, and let herself be led out of the room. Mimi was already asleep in there, propped up against the wall with cushions, with Palmon sat beside her waiting for midnight. Her mother had finally succumbed to the generous amount of sake which Mr Tachikawa had brought with him, and lay asleep on his shoulder in the living room.
She won't be happy when she wakes up, Natsuko thought, sighing. But that was a problem for the morning. And there was no sense worrying about it when there was a chance Mimi might have come back by then.
With Miyako out of the way, Natsuko pulled the laptop across the table and opened it to read the latest messages. It was a blessing, really, that Ken had brought his own and set up their peculiar message programme on it before vanishing himself. She'd had a look at Koushiro's, briefly. No wonder Kae and Masami were proud of him. Miyako had explained how the passwords worked and she still hadn't been able to type them in before it timed her out.
Too old-fashioned, she told herself. But I'm going to have to get used to this, if I want to help. Notebooks and shorthand aren't going to be any help, that's for certain.
Miyako had left her D-Terminal on the table beside the laptop, presumably by accident rather than design. Still, by the way it bleeped every time someone sent a message, that was probably for the best. She'd looked dead on her feet, the poor thing, with eyes red and bloodshot from hours of pouring over text documents on a screen.
But so far, the picture they all had was scattered. It couldn't be helped, of course—they were children, after all, and already coped far better than Natsuko thought most adults would have. Still, it couldn't hurt to try and get a better picture of what had been going on. Tie together those loose ends and try to turn them into some sort of sense. And that was something she could do. It was what she did all the time.
"Time…time…" She looked up at the clock, and stood. "It's almost midnight—"
"Mimi!" Keisuke cried, getting to his feet. His wife dropped to the sofa with only the faintest of murmurs, too soundly asleep to stir.
"Now, you mustn't panic," Natsuko said, holding out her hands. "I'm afraid it does look rather alarming, but you must remember that this has happened before, and we've no reason to suppose she won't be— Well. She knows what she's doing."
They both looked through the open doorway, where Yuuko waited beside Mimi, speaking softly to Palmon.
"I don't understand," Keisuke said. "You say she's going to disappear at midnight, but she's just sleeping."
Natsuko glanced down at her watch. Three…two…one…
"Any moment now," she murmured, then grabbed onto Mr Tachikawa's shirt sleeve as the clouds billowed out and enveloped the girl in darkness.
Palmon clung to her and was swallowed up as well. By the time her watch read just over a minute past the hour, it was all over.
"That time was faster, don't you think?" Yuuko said, getting to her feet. She was doing her best to smile, but there was no disguising the unease in her voice.
Natsuko nodded. "It was. I timed her, this time and the last. It sped up by about fifteen seconds or so."
"My…Mimi…"
Keisuke staggered, and Natsuko lurched trying to offer him support. For a moment it seemed that she'd be dragged down with him, but he recovered enough to stand by bracing himself on the sofa.
"Now we wait," Natsuko said, letting go so she could return to the laptop. "We wait to hear their news. All we can do is trust them to keep each other safe."
"But—but Mimi hasn't anyone with her!"
Yuuko shook her head. "She has her partner. Palmon would lay down her life to protect Mimi, just as any of the other digimon would protect our children. And—" She looked briefly at Natsuko before continuing: "And there's a chance that Mimi could find Sora and Yamato, and then they would all be able to keep each other safe."
Yamato.
It was like a blow, striking in her gut. She felt sick. Sick with worry, and fear, and visions of doom which whirled through her mind. Both her sons gone, and one of them without a trace. If anything happened to them…
No, she thought. I can't afford to do this.
Natsuko closed her eyes, and clenched the fingers of her left hand so tightly that the nails bit into her palm. "We have to trust them," she said, speaking shortly. If she let herself dwell on things she'd end up like Satoe, and that wouldn't help anyone. "Trust them, and do what we can at this end to make it possible for them to settle back into their lives when it's all over. And it will be over at some point. We'll get them back."
She turned to face the others, and added: "All of them."
A.N.: Whew! I'm glad to get this update out. I've been deliberating for a while on whether or not to give a parents' perspective in all of this, and I think now's about the time. Obviously there's a bit more headcanoning required to write the parents, thanks to the absense of real characterisation for most of them in the actual series, but hopefully I'm drawing on what we do have in a way that feels believable.
I won't be giving a huge focus to the parents in this story (frankly, Hope's Fire has already spiralled into this wildly large and unwieldy fic just as it is!), but I didn't want to entirely skip out on the real world, and it should be obvious by this point that without at least one parent to narrate things, that won't be possible soon. We're getting closer to Arc Two now, and I really can't wait to write some of the upcoming plot-points.
And of course, it goes without saying that I am intensely grateful for all the positive feedback I've had so far with HF. It really does mean a lot to know that people are following or enjoying this story, so I hope I can keep entertaining you with each update!