A/N: Okay, I think I lied. I ended up not sleeping tonight so here is a big bunch of updates. :D Maybe one more super long one besides the oneshots. I do doubt it though. I is sorry about that.
thanks for the review Xros-Hero. Glad you enjoyed it!
On with the next one! The next update will probably be the 16th or 17th. See you then!
VIII. Sand
"Everything slips from my hands."
For a long time, they all sat in the small cave. Zenjirou watched the sand whirl by in the wind. It was getting too dark to see. However, he would keep looking. When they had looked away the last time, they had lost Taiki to something. Even if Kiriha was like a rival to him, he wouldn't let him disappear either. He was the strongest person they had now. He gave the inside of the room a glance. Yuu dozed on his sister's lap, young face tight with anxiety. Akari, after her own outburst, was very quiet, and very still. He would have thought she were sleeping too, if not for the way Cutemon continued to whisper in her ear.
Zenjirou wondered what they were talking about. He wondered if Akari was crying. For her sake, he hoped she was crying.
"Zenjirou-kun?"
Reflexively, he stiffened at the sound of Nene's voice. He couldn't help it. "Y-Yes, Nene-san?"
She was silent, gathering thoughts seemingly from the air. "… Thank you… for protecting Yuu. I…" I wanted to be there. She did not tell him this. She didn't have to. "Taiki-kun… what was he like?"
Zenjirou hesitated to answer, even as Akari's amber eyes fixed briefly on him. He didn't know how to explain it, how to explain his feelings, or anything. Yuu spoke instead, his voice slightly muffled. "He… he was still Taiki-san, but he wasn't either." Yuu rubbed his visible eye. "He was… really calm, determined. He acted just like Taiki-san would normally, but… but…"
"It was wrong somehow," Zenjirou finished. "It wasn't evil, however… I don't think my rival, I don't think Kudo Taiki would consider the situation the way he did. He would… he would never willingly think we betrayed him." Akari's silent nod from her place made him mentally sigh. "Also, when he attacked me… it was this red blast… it reminded me of the DigiXros… I felt something from it. I thought I heard a voice, a lot of voices, all of them whispering. None of them… not a single one made any sense."
Nene frowned in contemplation. Her fingers threaded through Yuu's blond hair. "Possession…" she murmured. "Like Kiriha-kun in Dust Zone?" She frowned. "Or perhaps it isn't possession at all but…"
"But what?"
Nene shook her head. "I don't know. The answer… I think I have it, however… it's probably still not right. There's too much we don't understand. Eternal Darkmare knocked us into the gap between dimensions… and then we ended up here only a few moments later. Then…"
"Taiki tried to kill us," Akari said quietly. "There's so much here... so much that we can't grasp."
She lifted a fistful of grit from the floor and watched it fall.