Before I begin, I wanted to express my utmost gratitude to the anonymous "Guest" reviewer who left that extensively detailed and extremely generous commentary. I can't even begin to tell you, whoever you are, how my heart swelled just reading it.

In fact, both flattered and humbled, I decided to show my appreciation by...switching around the order of a few things. Chapter Six was originally meant to focus entirely on the Dark Chosen and Mimi/Koushiro/Hikari/Takeru's predicament. The Village of Beginnings journey wasn't meant to show up until Chapter Seven, and would have played out slightly differently due to the longer duration of time passing. However, because the reviewer had specifically inquired about the missing digimon, as well as the not so subtle request for more Taichi and Yamato...I was more than happy to oblige.

Lucky for me, these scenes were somewhat interchangeable.

Besides that, this is probably one of my better Chapters, even though it's almost as dialogue-heavy as the last. It's also pretty Dark—if you'll forgive the slight pun—and features...one of the more depressing cliffhangers of the entire story. So...yeah...you may or may not want to brace yourselves. Especially because I said more. Not most. After all, you know what they say about it being darkest before dawn. And it's not dawn yet.


PANDORA'S BOX
(Episode Six - "Tartarus")


Mimi awoke to darkness. And pain

During those first moments in which her mind struggled to distinguish between her dreams and consciousness, she could barely move. A single, sharp inhale of breath filled her lungs with ice, and she turned her head to one side in order to cough. Her limbs felt like lead. So heavy, they were nearly paralyzed. Every muscle ached. As did her head. A dull grogginess clouded her senses, like she had slept for far too long. Even when she finally managed to summon the strength to open her eyes and sit up-

Regret. So, so much regret. One of her ears rang in the aftermath of the explosion, throwing off her inner equilibrium. She felt nauseous. The room around her spun. If she'd had anything left in her stomach, she would have thrown it all up. Part of her wished she had. Maybe it would have eased the pain some.

There was a wall. To her right. Not far. Less than a meter back. She just barely made out the rough edges of rock. Only, when she shifted towards it, the sound of metal scraping against dirt made it to her good ear. Along with the feeling of cold steel pulling at her ankle.

A prison. She was in a prison.

The air that escaped her lips with that realization formed clouds. Similarly, the rocky wall felt like ice against her back. A weak whimper made it out as she struggled to find a position that allowed her some semblance of comfort. The rock was rougher than she thought, and she could feel it scraping against her skin, even though the fabric of her pajamas. Thin as it was, it offered her almost no protection from the chill already seeping through.

Only then did she see them. Silhouettes at first, against a single, weak beam of light that shone down from somewhere too high up for her to see. The closest one was only a couple meters from where she sat. Unmoving. Short, spiky auburn hair sticking out in all directions. Clothing, rumpled and torn. A chest that rose and fell in ragged, labored breaths—though, right then, she was grateful that he was breathing at all. Breathing meant he was still alive. In what condition, she couldn't tell just yet...but Koushiro was still alive. And within reach, once she found the energy to move again.

Unlike the other two figures in the room, who—now that Mimi could take the time to focus on them—were actually sitting in that same beam of light. As if it were deliberately pointed at them. For this reason, Mimi soon realized that Hikari was in the best shape of all of them. Disheveled...some dust and dirt...but, otherwise, there didn't appear to be a single wound on her. Not a scratch. Not even a visible bruise. Takeru, on the other hand, wasn't so fortunate, with hair caked in mud and streaked with red, along with a nasty gash across his nose and left cheek. The blood had trickled down his face and dripped onto his chest and since dried. His shirt and pants were torn in a few spots, revealing scrapes and bruises. All superficial. Maybe.

Mimi's heart sank further as the memories slowly returned, and she recalled the younger boy throwing himself over her in the heat of the moment, taking the worst of the damage. Thinking back, it was of little surprise. Hikari had already been in Taichi's arms at the time, no doubt, so Takeru hadn't needed to worry about her. Her brother would keep her safe. Especially with the difference in their heights. So he'd reached for the next person in need of protecting. And, honestly? Mimi was too grateful to him to bother feeling upset about being a second choice.

Time passed. An hour. A day. Somewhere in between. All the while, that strange beam of light never changed. Never brightened nor dimmed, nor did it shift in any direction. Mimi lost track of the number of times she'd opened and closed her eyes while staring at it. Whether or not she ever fell asleep again. Maybe she did. If so, it was a sleep without dreams. Fortunate, for two reasons: one, because she couldn't bear to face whatever further horrors still lingered in her subconscious...and, two, because when she finally heard the younger Chosen stir, she knew at once it was real.

Takeru was the first. Wincing, followed by a sudden, deep intake of air, only to sneeze as the dust caught his throat. The noise was enough to elicit a small whimper from the girl beside him, which in turn, drew his attention. He turned her way, eyes blinking open, and the first thing they saw was Hikari's sleeping face.

"Hikari-chan..." Mimi heard him calling hoarsely, voice laced with both sleep and worry. He slid his body in spite of the pain it caused him until he was close enough for their shoulders to touch. From there, he lifted a hand and gently shook her, to no avail. He tried again.

The young girl stirred, lips parting as she let out a slow breath of her own, but still did not awaken.

His hand rose higher, coming to rest upon her forehead. Letting it rest there for a full five seconds. Relief washed over him, and it showed on his face. His whole body relaxed. No fever. All things considered, she wasn't even that cold; the same hand pulled away, but not before the tips of his fingers brushed ever so slightly against her skin. Brushing the hair away from her eyes. As he tucked it behind her ear, he leaned in and whispered something far too soft for Mimi to hear.

(Just as well; somehow, the moment felt almost too private for her to be witnessing. Though that didn't stop her from continuing to watch.)

Hikari's eyelids fluttered open. Her head tilted upward until her eyes met with Takeru's. Blinking twice before she slowly turned to take in their current surroundings. Processing what was happening, and why exactly she was waking up next to her best friend.

Metal clinked loudly, drawing all their attentions to the far side of the room. A second light source appeared. Wood creaking against rusted hinges as the door opened, revealing a pair of silhouetted figures.

Out of the corner of her eye, Mimi saw Takeru and Hikari share a knowing glance before falling limp. Him slumping against the wall behind them, with her head on his shoulder. Feigning sleep. Their hands clasped tightly in between them.

Realizing what they were doing, Mimi too tightly shut her eyes and hoped her rapidly pounding heartbeat wouldn't give her away.

Footsteps approached. Judging from the echo, there were two sets in all. They stopped maybe three or four meters shy of where Mimi sat, and after a very tense few seconds' pause, she heard something being placed on the ground at her feet. Something wooden. From there, they retreated just far enough for her to tell they'd gone to Takeru and Hikari.

"...did Nike do this?" one of them hissed. She couldn't identify the voice beyond the fact that it was male. "That bitch has a lot of nerve pulling-"

"Calm down." A second voice. Also male, but younger. Raspy, like that of the boy who'd set off the detonator back at the castle. He sounded both exasperated and bored at the same time. "She hasn't even been in here since we first chained them up. None of us have."

"Then how do you explain-"

"Honest? I really...really don't care. And you shouldn't either...remember?"

Mutterings followed. Something that vaguely sounded to Mimi like a mocking echo of what the younger one said. She had no idea what either of them were referring to. Part of her didn't want to know. The other part was tempted to peek one eye open and see for herself. Then, a second object hit the ground. Harder and louder than the one in front of Mimi, and this time, in front of Hikari and Takeru.

Shoftly after, the footsteps retreated. The door was shut behind them.

Twenty seconds passed. Thirty. Forty-five. More than a minute, to be sure they weren't immediately coming back, before Mimi risked opening her eyes to see what had been left for them.

Much to her surprise...it was a tray of food.

o*0*o

Clever...

Ken sat back in his chair, pausing long enough in his vigil to rub at his eyes with one hand. Hours upon hours of staring at the surveillance console had left them dry, and they stung in the bitter cold air.

Three of the monitors were devoted to the dungeons, which had allowed him a perfect view of the Chosen's little act. Pretending to be unconscious meant not having to interact with their captors. For better or worse. Only Knowledge was still out for real, although Purity had seen to it she'd retreated as far back into the shadows as was physically possible. Even with the infrared setting, he'd barely made out the glow of her eyes whenever they were open. Hope and Light had been far more obvious, though of course Daisuke had been too pissed upon finding them 'sleeping' side by side to suspect otherwise. Ken could just feel a dull headache coming on at the thought of how he'd be whining for hours to come.

Cranking his neck to one side, he felt the muscles crack. Stiff.

Movement in the far right bottom corner told him that two of the Dark Digimon were still wandering the halls. Seemingly aimlessly, though he knew they were patrolling the grounds for signs of an oncoming attack. Around them, corrupted Guardians either paid them little heed or stood off to the side in an attempt to stay out of their way. Just as well; one of them had earlier learned the hard way what happened if they didn't move fast enough. Ken almost felt sorry for the pour soul. Almost, but not quite.

The screen next to that showed a room similar to the one he currently sat in, only in place of the chair was a long, metal table. And, instead of a wall of monitors, there was only a single, large one. It showed a seemingly endless scroll of code that, on occasion, flickered a black and white static of corruption. Until Daisuke and Iori returned to perform their scheduled maintenance. A few deliberate keystrokes, and the corruption faded back into a flawless stream. For now.

"All work and no play as always, huh?"

...he'd almost started to wonder where Miyako had gotten herself to. Of course.

"Somebody has to keep an eye on things." He called back without bothering to turn around.

"They're in chains. Where are they going to go?" Heels clicking softly against solid ground. A moment later, she appeared at his side. "You worry too much. Besides, we can't even do anything until Purity acts and who even knows how long that's going to take?"

Admittedly? She had a point. He hated it when she had a point. It made it so much harder to refute.

"All the more reason to keep watch. The sooner we know how long she takes, the sooner we can get to work."

"True."

That was...easy.

Almost too easy. She never gave into their arguments that easily. Not if it vindicated his choice to continue not doing whatever shenanigans she no doubt had planned. Most of the time, he was able to just ignore her until she got bored and mored onto one of the others. Even the last few weeks, when that seemed to take longer and longer, there was always something that came up. The fact that there was nothing to come up...something was up.

He was prove half right a short time later, when the girl took it upon herself to join him in his watch. More specifically, she too it upon herself to seat herself down directly in his lap before twisting her body into a more comfortable position. Legs crossing over his, hanging off the side of the seat. Head coming to rest against his chest, at a level where he could smell the faint scent of salt water still lingering in her hair. Her ear pressed against his beating heart.

For his part, Ken neither welcomed nor protested her actions, and simply let the girl be. She wasn't nearly as heavy as she seemed, especially when her weight was spread out like that, and once she settled in, he had to admit that it felt comfortable having her pressed against him like that.

A hand reached up to brush back some of her long hair, inadvertently weaving his fingers through the area just above her hairline.

"Feels good," she hummed softly into his chest.

He nearly pulled away in response, not wanting to risk encouraging her further. But then he realized something: her tone was neither teasing, nor that low, sultry type she brought out whenever she was trying to get a rise out of him. She'd sounded like she really meant it. Like, for once, she was relaxed enough to admit a personal thought.

Every fiber of his being was screaming against it, but...instead of shoving her off his lap right then and there...he returned his hand to her scalp and continued the impromptu massage.

There was a spot just above her temple. He'd seen her rubbing at it more than half a dozen times in the last day alone. To have brought it up sooner would have risked incurring her wrath, but right then, he had the perfect excuse. Two fingers applying just the right amount of pressure, moving in a counterclockwise motion. As he suspected, the muscles in her face relaxed as it began to ease the very pain she was still hiding. Even moreso as he weaved his way around to the base of her skull, taking great care to avoid the spot he remembered being tender.

It bothered him far more than it should have. That she was in so much pain. That he didn't know why. That she seemed to be doing everything in her power to hide it from them all. But, most of all...it bothered him that it bothered him so much. That he was still thinking of her as that cheerful, smiling girl from his dreams, rather than the person he knew she really was.

Not a single word came from the girl in his lap in all that time. Only the occasional sigh or hum of approval. It was as if she'd drifted into some sort of trance. As the minutes ticked passed, he suspected she might have fallen asleep. At one point, his chin found its way to the top of her head, continuing his watch of the monitors.

"You know..." she spoke up, drawing him from his internal musings. He glanced down and saw her staring u p at him through a half-lidded gaze. "This is the first time you've ever paid so much attention to me. If I'd known it was this easy, I would've pulled this ages ao-"

"Don't," he cut her off. Sharply.

"Don't what?" She stuck out her lower lip.

"You know what."

Silence. Her weight shifted against him, but it was just awkward enough to be honest movement. No subtle caresses or gentle touches. If anything, she pressed a little too strongly against his chest as she sat up properly, twisting her body so that she could face him directly. From that angle, she was looking down on him now—and him, up at her. His expression betrayed nothing, while hers betrayed everything.

"No. I really don't." Lacking her usual confidence and knowing control over any given situation, she sounded unusually frustrated. Lost. "Why do you always have to be like this? We were having fun. You were enjoying it as much as I was. And you can't tell me you don't like me."

"I don't like you."

"Liar."

He didn't immediately counter, and that was when she knew she had him. That she was right.

"Come on, Cratus." Hints of a smile appeared. "It's just you and me right now. No one else." He steeled himself as her head tilted to one side, hair falling in such a manner that it completely blocked his view of the entire console, forcing him to look directly at her. And what he saw... "Tell me. You know I can keep a secret."

Now who's the Liar? He bit his tongue as the thought, instead telling her: "You're not serious."

"No, really! Just because I talk a lot doesn't mean I can't-"

"That's not what I meant," he cut her off, shaking his head. When she fell silent, he knew she was listening and continued. "I meant you're not serious." Deliberately emphasizing the words to highlight his point. "I know you're not. You want to joke and tease? Fine. Go ahead and do it somewhere else. I'm not here to be made a mockery of."

Nor my feelings.

Not that he would admit that part aloud. Not to her.

Though he hated to give her the satisfaction, Ken maintained eye contact all the while. Watching her as he spoke. The subtle changes in her expression. A slight gaze in her eye as she struggled to interpret his words. Or maybe twist them around to something she liked better. Realization when their only meaning was made apparent. A furrowing of her brows, followed by a parting of the lips. He thought she would deny it. Make some excuse. Or just tell him he was being melodramatic. Anything to twist the moment back into her favor.

And then...her expression went neutral. Blank. Intense. She stared at him like she were seeing him for the first time, and wasn't sure what to make of the sight.

"You...really believe that, don't you?"

"I'm not stupid, Nike." He averted his gaze then, deliberately leaning back and away from her and her long hair. "We've been...whatever the equivalent of allies might pass for in your mind long enough. I know you well enough by now to know what's true and what's a lie."

He felt her tense at that. Then a shift in weight as she slid off his lap. Cold air hit his legs where she'd been sitting, and he did his absolte best to ignore it. Just as he tried to ignore her slowly retreating presence. Those heels of hers slowly retreating out of the room. Not a single word of protest. Either he'd finally insulted her to the point where she was going to leave him alone for good, or else she'd grown bored of trying to get him to play along.

Except, just before she reached the doorway, her footsteps paused. And he heard her call back:

"Maybe you don't know me as well as you think, Ken-kun."

Ken's eyes widened at the sound of his name—his real name—spoken by her voice. Almost like—

He sat up with a start, and turned to look back after her...but she was already gone.

o*0*o

Three times. Before the light returned to the skies (what once would have been referred to as sunrise, back when there was still a sun), they'd had to stop three separate times in their travels. Once for Taichi. Once for Sora. The third time was also for Sora, who had yet to fully recover from the first two times. A fact which further frustrated her, which in turn exhausted her all the more. To the point where, on that third time, Jou had to physically sit her down at the tree's base and insist she rest.

"It happened to the others too," he reminded her gently, offering a small canteen of water. "Invoking our Crests must take a lot of power from us. And you did use yours to search pretty far."

Sora smiled faintly at his attempts at consoling her, leaning forward to accept a few more sips from the canteen. The dark circles beneath her eyes said far more than any words of protest she could have mustered, and so she didn't bother. Her eyelids soon fluttered shut, and within a few minutes' time, she was fast asleep.

To Jou's right, Taichi gave a deep frown. "That was awfully fast." He eyed the older boy with suspicion. "What did you put in that thing?"

"Hey, hey!" Jou held his hands up defensively. "It's just water! I swear! Even if I wanted to give her something, it's not like there was anything laying around the castle..." His voice trailed off when he realized Taichi's eyes had only narrowed further. Sighing, he held up the canteen and made a show of pouring the clear liquid into his outstretched hand, bring it to his lips and taking a healthy sip. Then swallowing. "See? Water. The reason she passed out so quickly was because she was that tired. That's all."

More staring. He didn't seem convinced. Jou smiled sheepishly back.

Eventually, the younger boy gave up and heaved a sigh. He stood, legs slightly wobbly from having remained in such a position for so long. Shaking them out to get the blood flowing once more, he folded his arms across his chest and surveyed their latest surroundings. It looked...exactly like every other patch of forest they'd ever traveled through. Maybe some variation in the flowers. A few less shrubs. A few more trees. Decent cover. Not to mention, well supplied with dry tinder for the fire Yamato was setting up.

Taichi frowned. He'd seen Yamato like this before, and it usually ended up with him earning a couple new bruises for his troubles. At least, this time—for once—he had a strong suspicion as to what was wrong. Something that was bothering him too. And while he could understand why it would bother Yamato more, that still didn't excuse the fact that he had yet to once so much as look Sora's way to make sure she was alright.

"I can guess what you're thinking," he called to the other boy as he approached.

"No. You can't."

Harsh. "Hey, I didn't say I could guess accurately." He tried joking, albeit lamely.

Yamato didn't even look up.

Mouth twisting into some semblance of a frown, Taichi sighed as he took a seat on the nearby ground, leaning back and supporting most of his upper body weight with his hands. He looked to the skies, taking note of the deep bluish-purple hue. If he were to wager an estimate, he'd have put the time somewhere between 5 and 6 o'clock in the morning, based on when daylight broke back in Tokyo.

"We know why they want Hikari." The humor was gone now, and even Yamato knew better than to suggest otherwise. Taichi never joked when he spoke of his sister. "We could probably think of a reason why they might want Koushiro and Mimi. But Takeru..." He trailed off when Yamato visibly flinched. A sure sign he was on the right track. "One of us has to say it, Yamato."

"Why?" The stoking grew more and more forceful as his eyes darkened. "What difference would it make? Is it going to change anything? Is my little brother going to be in any less danger if we say it?"

"Is he going to be if we don't?"

Yamato opened his mouth to comment back...then realized he couldn't. He closed his mouth. Then opened it again. Once more, he was without a retort, and eventually slumped in defeat. Taichi could have sworn, at one point, he heard the boy muttering something, but couldn't quite make out the words.

Not that I can blame him, Taichi thought to himself. If our positions were reversed...

...then they'd be in exactly the same position they were in now. Only Takeru would be the one the enemy needed most. Who Dagomon would have already tried multiple times to pull away to that world of darkness. Whose life would be safe, if only because he had something they wanted and was more valuable to the Dark Digimon alive than dead. And it would be Hikari standing in his way. The sole presence keeping him from getting what he wanted most.

Taichi shivered violently just thinking about it. Unthinkable as that scenario was, the reality wasn't much better. Takeru was just as much his friend as any of the Chosen. Yet there was already a chance it might be too late.

Or there would have been, except the skies above continued to brighten. Morning had broken once more. Light still existed in the Digital World. For that reason alone, Taichi knew they couldn't give up Hope.

o*0*o

Jou wanted to be surprised. He really did. He wanted to have expected things to be as they should have been, with digieggs scattered about lush, green fields spanning further than the human eye could see. Elecmon would stand ever vigil as the faithful keeper of those young souls just waiting to be reborn. Bright colors and warmth. If there were any place left in the entire Digital World they should have been able to find either of those things, it would be the Village of Beginnings.

Instead, what greeted them over that last hill was a desolate, barren land devoid of any and all signs of life. Silent as a grave.

"I can't believe...this is what the Village has become," Sora murmured, holding her bag that much closer to her chest. It contained what little she had been able to gather of Hikari and Mimi's belongings before they'd left the Guardians castle. Jou was carrying a similar bag full of the boys' things as well. Along with Koushiro's laptop. "Everything's so...so..."

"Dark."

All eyes turned to Jou, who was staring out into the distance. Unsurprised. If only because it was all a sight he'd seen before.

Memories of that time overlapped his vision, and he wasn't sure which hurt worse: the fact that the Village was in almost as bad a condition now as before...or the fact that Mim had been with him then. Along with Ogremon and Leomon and the other Digimon allies they'd managed to gather together.

Yamato knelt down beside one of the digieggs, running his fingers over its cold, rough surface. The egg wasn't broken, but... "Stone. It's been turned to stone."

"How can that even be possible?" Sora wondered.

Taichi reached up to run a hand through his hair, scratching at the base of his skull. They'd all known it was a long shot in the first place, but it was still a huge blow to have traveled all that way—wasting almost a full day—only to find nothing at all. No Digimon. Not even a single baby. He tried not to think about the poor souls that may or may not have been trapped inside those stone eggs and found the thought caused his heart to ache even more. His hands fell to his sides, where they clenched tightly into fists.

No Village of Beginnings. No Elecmon. Were there truly none left anywhere in the Digital World, save for the creatures fighting for the Dark Chosen? What about their partners? Agumon. Biyomon. Gabumon. Gomamon. Tentomon. Palmon. Patamon. Tailmon. By now, he would have thought at least one of them would have found the group. The Digital World might have been large, but they'd all found one another before. Several times. Unless...unless they had reverted back to egg form as well, leaving them just as trapped as every other creature in the Village.

The last time they'd been here, after Apocalymon, Hikari had hatched an egg. He remembered the moment so vividly. It had been just before they'd all taken that picture together. Takeru had been so excited to see all the eggs raining from the skies that he'd run straight into the field, urging Hikari to come play with him. And she had, watching as he'd shown her how to rub them gently. A Botamon. That had been the Digimon she'd hatched. That tiny, black creature she'd smiled and nuzzled against her cheek, so happy to have witnessed the moment of his (re)birth.

On a whim, Taichi bent down and picked up one of the eggs. He tried not to wince at how cold it felt, instead cradling it in one arm while he used the other to rub at its surface. Feeling the roughness of stone, just as Yamato said. But maybe...just maybe...

"GET AWAY FROM THAT EGG!"

A familiar voice screamed at Taichi from behind, startling him so badly that he nearly dropped it. Stumbling over himself, he just barely managed to regain both his composure and dignity long enough to clutch the egg to his chest, then turned to find- "Tailmon?"

The feline Digimon in question still had her claws out, though previously narrowed eyes widened at the sound of her name. And the voice that had spoken it. Not to mention, the face that went with it...and the hair...but it was the goggles that cinched it for her: "Taichi?" Blinking twice, she looked around and noticed the others standing off to one side. Yamato. Sora. Jou. Alternating her gaze between the three of them, she turned back to Taichi. "Is it...really you?"

She sounded hesitant. Unsure. Suspicious.

Taichi tried not to take it too personally.

"It's us." In hindsight, though, he could understand why Tailmon might have been wary. Given the illusion tricks the Dark Chosen had played on them more than once already, it was no great leap of logic to assume they'd pulled similar stunts elsewhere. "Well...some of us."

"What about the rest? Is Hikari with you?"

He should have anticipated the question. Tailmon was Hikari's Digimon, after all. The two shared a bond that had broken through even the hardest conditioning Vamdemon had put the little feline through. How long had it taken for them to finally find one another, after so many years of separation? With hurdle after hurdle keeping them apart. First, Tailmon's digiegg having been dropped during Gennai's escape. Then Hikari's illness keeping her from summer camp. And now, during a time when they should have been together once more, yet one more thing separated them.

He wanted to tell Tailmon, but in the end, he didn't need to. Whether it was the look in his eye or the way he hesitated to answer her question, realization soon sunk in. Tailmon's eyes widened before she turned her head away, shutting her eyes tight to keep the tears at bay.

"We'll get her back, Tailmon." Sora approached, bending down. "That's why we're here. When you and the others never showed up after we came back...well, we came here hoping we would be able to find you. Or any Digimon at all."

"What did happen to them?" Yamato spoke up, still kneeling on the ground in the same spot as before. "You're the first we've seen."

"Aside from the Dark Chosen's partner's," Jou pointed out.

At the mentioning of the Dark Chosen, Tailmon's whole body tensed. Fur standing on end. If she had been a typical cat, one might have expected a hiss or even low screech to accompany the look on her face. Taichi almost pulled Sora back with him, worried they would be unintentionally caught in the middle of a wild, lashing outburst. But the feline Digimon kept her restraint, instead channeling that seething anger into a fierce glare. One that made Taichi grateful, and not for the first time, that she was on their side these days.

"Dagomon." A name they hadn't realized Tailmon knew, and yet she spoke it with all certainty. "He's going to pay for this. All of this."

"You know about Dagomon?" Taichi asked, even though it seemed a rhetorical question by then.

Still, Tailmon nodded all the same. "The Dark Chosen...one of them spoke his name while they were stealing digieggs." Some of the fight left her as she stared out as the field of grey. Eyes softening as she came upon piles of certain designs, no doubt recognizing them for the type of Digimon they once carried inside them. "I...tried to stop them, but they weren't interested in a fight. Before I realized what it was they were really after, they'd vanished."

"With four digieggs," Sora guessed.

Tailmon nodded, unsurprised that she'd known the exact number. If Hikari and the others had been taken...then of course they'd been outnumbered and out-powered.

"What about Elecmon?" Jou wanted to know. "Where was he? Why wasn't he here to help you?"

"Because...he's gone." Tailmon's shoulders slumped with the weight of her words. Like this was the first time she'd spoken them aloud, thus having to acknowledge reality. "Corrupted. Just like all the others."

"Others?" Jou echoed.

Sora's face paled. "You mean...Biyomon...and Palmon...Patamon..." Her voice quivered as she spoke the names of their lost friends, having to swallow thrice before she could even continue. "Them too?"

"How come they haven't corrupted you?" Yamato asked, earning a sharp look from Sora that he promptly ignored. Insensitive as it might have been right then, in his mind, it was a fair question. Even Taichi and Jou seemed more interested in the answer than offended.

Tailmon didn't answer right away. Her eyes glazed over. Collecting her thoughts. Waging an inner battle that warranted both reliving memories past and contemplating words and actions yet to be. Weighing her options. She didn't have many.

"No." She turned to Sora first, in response to the girl's earlier question. "They're safe. For now." She pulled her tail around so that it was held up directly in front of her, drawing everyone's attention to the item glinting on its end. "For precisely the same reason Dagmon hasn't been able to touch me. My Holy Ring. It's the strongest power we few remaining Digimon have left against the Darkness."

Adjusting his glasses, Jou leaned in for a closer look. Tailmon's ring was hardly a secret, but until then, he'd never given much thought to the talisman. It was small. It had to be, to fit comfortably on her tail. Which made its design all the more intricate. Almost impossible to discern at certain angles, but if he tilted his head in such a way that what passed for light left in the world reflected off its surface, then a distinct pattern emerged. Symbols.

A code he recognized, but didn't know how to translate. The written language of the Digital World itself. And one he had almost certainly seen on another Digimon:

"Patamon!"

Three pairs of human eyes turned towards his sudden exclamation.

"Or, rather, Angemon." He amended, a bit sheepish at his own volume. "That's where I've seen this before. Angemon wears a bracelet that looks just like this, doesn't he?"

Less surprised at his revelation, Tailmon merely nodded in affirmation. "All we Holy Digimon do. Myself and Angemon, along with most of our evolutions." Most. Not all. "Parrotmon's been patrolling from above, though I haven't hear from him in more than a week's time. Tapirmon and Lucemon have also sent word, but they're too far away for us to be able to regroup anytime soon. There are others too. Digimon I once thought to be the stuff of legends only. Though, now, it seems as if we're little more than band-aids." A few seconds passed, and her head lowered. "Patamon...shouldn't have been able to access his Holy Ring without evolving, but then..."

Her voice faded into the air above, followed by a heavy silence. For nearly half a minute.

"Then what?" Taichi finally asked.

Tailmon's whiskers twitched, feline brows furrowing in confusion. "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't been there to see it for myself. The other Chosen Digimon weren't protected as I, but they were still some of the last to fall. Like something was protecting them. Something in their code." That part, she would believe. It made sense for the Guardians of old to have programmed a failsafe into their digieggs in the event of something like this. "Rather than succumb to the corruption, however, they simply fell into a deep sleep. One by one. Until it was just me and Patamon left. We spent months looking over our friends, until...yesterday..." Another pause. If her own memories could be trusted, then what she was about to describe was nothing short of a miracle: "He evolved. Out of nowhere. All on his own."

The Chosen Children's eyebrows all rose in near perfect unison.

"He can do that?" Yamato's mouth was left unabashedly agape.

Time and again, his brother's Digimon had surprised them all. From the moment he first evolved into Angemon while protecting Takeru from Devimon, sacrificing himself in order to defeat the evil Virus, to the arrow he'd shot Yamato with as part of the prophecy, helping to trigger Gabumon's evolution to Mega. He would have thought the little guy was out of surprises by now.

"Apparently." Tailmon could only shrug. "You have no idea how much I wish I could explain what happened. We were alone, watching over the others, and then...this sudden wash of energy swept over the both of us. The next thing I knew, Angemon was standing before me, looking as surprised to see himself as I was."

Sora and Taichi shared a bewildered look. Jou's eyes closed, a hand rising to his chin as he stroked it habitually, trying to process everything he'd just heard. Or remember if he'd heard of such a thing ever happening in the past. Natural evolution was a part of the Digital World, sure, but it was a grueling process that shouldn't have happened while they were at their weakest. He thought. Unless everything he thought he knew about evolution was completely wrong. It wouldn't have been the first time.

Yamato, on the other hand, had a hunch forming, and was the first to speak up:

"What time yesterday?"

The others turned to him first, then back to Tailmon.

"I'm not sure. Without a sun in the sky, it's almost impossible to keep track of the time."

Yamato remained undeterred by the lack of answer. "Was it during the light hours, or after dark?"

Jou was the next to realize where the younger boy was going with his line of questioning, and shot him a questioning look. Their eyes met for less than a second before Yamato gave a curt nod. Jou's mouth was left slightly agape, a faint huh making it out. He...hadn't even considered the possibility. Then again, judging from the still questioning looks coming from both Sora and Taichi, neither had they.

"Maybe...no, it was definitely dark when it happened," came Tailmon's reply. Hesitant at first, but the longer she thought about it, the more certain her tone grew. "A few hours after what might have once been sunset, at most."

A few hours after sunset...

Sora gasped: "The balcony!"

Yamato turned to her. "Hikari-chan told you, then?"

She nodded.

"Told her what?" Judging from the look on Taichi's face, he was still the remaining one left in the dark (so to speak). He stood up straight, hands on his hips as he looked between the other three. Trying so very hard not to pout. "If you three've figure something out, I'd love to hear it."

"So would I," Tailmon chimed in.

"Think back, Taichi-san." Jou stepped forward. "Do you remember what Takeru-kun told us last night? Something happened between him and Hikari."

Yamato let out a low, hacking cough at that, until Sora came up to him and delivered a harsh elbow to his ribs.

Taichi shot them a weird look, until it hit him: "Their Crests! Takeru said his Crest had activated. That must've been what caused Angemon to evolve!"

"But from all the way back at the Castle?" Yamato still seemed less than convinced, even though it had been his line of thinking from the very start. It didn't make sense, and yet, at this point, it was the only thing that came close to making any sense at all.

"Because he didn't do it by himself." Sora realized. "He and Hikari together. Think about it: they both said his Crest was the first to activate, right?" She chose her words carefully, purposely remaining vague about some of the more personal details Hikari had divulged regarding the incident. Without knowing how much Takeru shared with the boys in turn, she didn't want to risk betraying too much of the younger girl's confidence. "And Hikari's activated soon after, sending all the energy she thought she was taking right back into him." Pausing for emphasis, she waited for any signs that the boys were getting her point. "What's happened almost every time she'd ever done something like that?"

...okay, the situation didn't exactly parallel the other times she was thinking of, but it was close enough to warrant comparison. Including the time a huge burst of Light had emerged from her at the sight of the Numamon's noble sacrifice against Mugendramon. A Light that had been so powerful as to trigger an involuntary evolution in Agumon, all the way to his higher form, when he wasn't even her Digimon partner.

"That's...unbelievable," Taichi stated weakly.

"Honestly?" Yamato gave an inaudible sigh. "These days, when it comes to your sister, Taichi...there's less and less I'm willing to not believe."

Sora and Jou nodded their agreement. Taichi was forced to admit they all had a point.

"Where is Angemon now?" Jou asked. The very image of a young man who was trying to keep his priorities straight while still being visibly shaken by everything he'd just heard.

"Watching over the others still. We've been patrolling the Village in shifts ever since. Just in case"

"Can you take us there?" Sora bend down, looking the most hopeful she had since before the attack on the Guardians' Castle. "Is it far?"

Tailmon shook her head, then immediately turned to head North. "They're at the very edge of the Village. Come on; it's less than an hour's walk from here." As she began walking, however, she looked back over her shoulder. "I have to warn you, though, you...might not like what you see."

"Little late for that," Yamato muttered as the group moved to follow.

o*0*o

Echoes of water droplets startled Hikari awake, and for a split second, she knew only fear.

A presence beside her registered. She looked down to find her hand still tightly clasped in another's. Following the attached arm slowly upward, she saw Takeru's sleeping face. And remembered.

The gash on his eye was still noticeable, but better. Some of the water they'd been given with their last meal had been used to clean it. Takeru had protested, of course, but she'd insisted. She didn't have a scratch on her, and his face was partially covered in blood. He'd finally allowed it if only because it would get her to stop arguing with him. She'd poured some of the surprisingly lukewarm liquid into her hands, using the sleeves of her pajamas to gently wash away as much of the dirt and grime as she could. It had left her clothes stained, but his face vastly improved. Even the bruises forming beneath his eyes and chill to her skin weren't as bad as she recalled. Food and sleep had seen to them in her absence.

Only a short time after she'd awoken, he too opened his eyes...and his first reaction was the smile lazily down at her.

"Morning," he muttered groggily, and Hikari had to resist the urge to giggle at the look on his face. Somehow, for reasons she could only attribute to Takeru being Takeru, he seemed so...at ease. "'least, I think it's morning. Kind of hard to tell in here."

"How long has it been?"

Takeru shrugged. "Day. Maybe two."

Frowning, she shifted her weight just enough to remain as physically close to him as possible without actually climbing into his lap. Both their knees and shoulders touched, along with their hands, and her weight still partially rested against his. She would have moved away if she thought it caused him any pain, but he barely reacted.

Maybe he was thinking the same thing she was. That it was only a matter of time before they were separated. The fact that it hadn't happened already...did their abductors know he could bring her back from the Darkness with a single touch? Did Dagomon know? He must have. Each time, his pull had been stronger and stronger. She could feel his presence. It stood to reason that he would have been able to feel Takeru's as well. That single, bright glimmer of Hope.

Subconsciously, she squeezed at Takeru's hand. He didn't question the gesture, but offered a squeeze of his own in return.

A pebble fell to the ground just beyond the shadows, causing her to jump. Takeru's free hand was on her shoulder instantly, looking more amused by her reaction than startled.

"It's alright, Hikari-chan. Mimi-san and Koushiro-san are still in here with us."

She blinked. "Mimi...san?"

Her eyes took a moment to adapt to looking past the light, out into the shadows. There. Two figures. She wondered why she hadn't noticed them until now. Long, brown hair. Pink pajamas. The same ones she'd last seen Mimi wearing. Before. The older girl was sitting up under her own power, though her eyes were turned downward. It was difficult to tell at that distance, but she seemed most unhurt. Unlike the boy laying in her lap, whose hair she was gently stroking. Her hands trembling all the while.

"Has he woken up yet?" Takeru asked.

Mimi shook her head, and when her head lifted, Hikari thought she saw hints of tears in her eyes. "Not once. I...tried to get him to drink some water earlier. Otherwise, he's been like this the entire time."

Hikari squinted in attempt to get a better look at the boy's condition, and felt her breath catch in her throat at the sight.

Koushiro had bruises everywhere. His legs. His arms. His chest. His chin, cheek, and forehead. Most than half of them were covered in scratches. His clothes were torn. Splotches of wet indicated Mimi had tried tending to his wounds, just as Hikari had for Takeru, but with a lot less success. There was just too much blood. Not only had it seeped into the fabric of his pajamas, but Hikari could make out dried patches of it along the ground where he lay. When she stilled long enough to listen, she could hear his breath coming out in shallow, painted gasps.

Mimi's response to the sound was instinctive, leaning down to continue her earlier attempts at soothing him. Whispering words of comfort in his ear. Hikari could hear the quiver in her voice, like she was trying hard not to cry.

Wait...cry.

An idea came to her.

"You can help him, Mimi-san," she told the older girl. Surprising even herself at how calm and sure she sounded. "Your Crest. You're a healer. You've healed before."

Mimi barely reacted, indicating the thought had already occurred to her. "I tried." She sounded completely defeated, though. "Believe me, I tried. But...I don't know how. I don't even remember healing Jou-kun, and it's not like I was awake when I healed myself."

"But you were awake when you healed Jou-san," Hikari reminded her.

"Which means you must remember something," Takeru chimed in. He looked to Hikari, and a moment of understanding passed between them. "Something...something in your heart must have triggered it. Something you were feeling at the time."

They thought of the balcony. His Crest activating out of concern for her. Hers activating out of concern for him. Involuntary responses on both their parts. Neither making a conscious decision to do so, nor able to stop the process once it had begun, because they couldn't control how much they cared. And who else, among the Chosen, had more care and concern for her friends than most of the rest of them combined?

"That was different," Mimi insisted, though her voice came out unusually demure.

"Maybe in some ways." Hikari resisted the urge to smile, suspecting what Mimi was referring to but realizing now wasn't the time. Later. Maybe If there still was a later for them. "But you're still worried about Koushiro-san, right? Because he's your friend. Because that's the kind of person you are. You worried for all of us, just as much as you were worried for Jou-san."

"...y...es?"

It was the most hesitant yes Mimi had ever given.

"She's right," Takeru agreed. Hikari turned back to look at him, and he met the younger girl's gaze directly. "Focus on how much you care. How much it hurts to think he might be in pain. How...how you wish you could do anything to make that pain go away, even for a moment."

Hikari smiled softly up at him. Message received.

Me too, Takeru-kun.

At some point during their collaborative pep talk, it dawned on Mimi that what she should have felt right then was put out at receiving advice from two people younger than her. With Koushiro out cold, and Sora and the others who knows where, she was the oldest. She should have been the one encouraging them. Taking charge. Offering words of comfort and protection. Not the other way around.

Then again...maybe that was what they meant. Ironically enough, the fact that she wanted to be the consoler just further proved their point. She couldn't help herself. It was pure instinct.

So she tried to draw on that instinct. That desire to protect. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath.

What had been running through her mind at the time just before Jou had stabilized. Aside from...the obvious. Guilt? No, that wasn't it—well, that had been it, but she was pretty sure that wasn't the feeling they were talking about. Healing someone out of guilt was too selfish. Sadness? Well, it was a start, but still too her-oriented. Mimi had spent the better part of her childhood acting like a spoiled, oblivious brat. It was her adventures in the Digital World that had opened her eyes to everything, allowing her to feel the pain of others she once had been able to block out. She empathized. Took in their pain as her own.

Sometimes, it was too much. That pain. All she could do was up and walk away. There were times when walking away might have been able to save lives. Then there were those battles that would have cost even more if she did. Those were the battles she had to stay and fight. Not for herself, but for those who needed her most.

Like Jou had needed her. Like Koushiro needed her now.

A lump begin to form in her throat. That was what it came down to. The pressure of being needed. It weighed heavily on her chest until she felt like she couldn't breathe. Until she thought she would walk away yet again. Only she couldn't. She wouldn't be that selfish. Not now, and not ever again. And it was that thought that gave her strength. She felt her shoulders relaxing as the answer finally presented itself. Why she hadn't been able to heal him before. Because she'd focused too hard on how much she'd wanted to heal him. Not not how much he needed her to. Because this wasn't about her. Healing was never about her.

"It's working!" she heard Takeru gasp.

Slowly, she opened her eyes. Her vision blurred with tears. And a greenish haze. She looked down just in time to see a single, green teardrop fall from her cheek, hitting Koushiro on the forehead.

Then he too started to glow.

It spread all across his body like a rippling effect. His clothes remained unchanged, and the dried blood still stained skin and fabric alike, but the wounds began to close. Until they were nothing more than angry red lines marring his pale skin. The kind that would later heal of their own accord. All they would need was time.

Not long after, his breathing evened out. His chest rose dramatically as he took a sudden, deep breath. His eyes opened.

"Koushiro-san!" The glow around them both faded as she smiled through her remaining tears. Though now they were tears of happiness. "You're okay!"

"I...am?" Confused and glassy-eyed, the boy slowly stood up. There was no pain with the movement, though he still rose a hand to scratch at the back of his head. Wincing not at any tenderness back there, but by how much dirt and matted hair he felt. Of all the people to wake up in front of in this condition, it just had to be Mimi, didn't it? "I don't suppose you know what ha—GAH!"

His words trailed off in an undignified squawk as a very enthusiastic, openly sobbing Mimi threw herself over him, wrapping her arms around his neck so tightly he had difficulty breathing.

I definitely missed something. He looked to Takeru and Hikari for answers, but found the pair openly laughing. Offering neither answers nor help as he struggled to determine whether it was safer to risk hugging Mimi back, or keep his hands at a safe distance until she chose to let him go on her own.

A slow clap echoed from the prison doorway.

"Not. Bad."

The girl who went by Nike entered the room, deliberately over-pronouncing her words for emphasis. Her heels echoed on the hard surface of the dungeon floor as she approached. Eyes squinting behind her round rimmed glasses in order to see properly past that thin beam of light. A crack in the ceiling structure. Annoying at times like these, but not enough for any of them to want to do anything about it. She stopped in her tracks a few steps away from Mimi and Koushiro, placing a hand on her hip as she stared down at them.

"I have to admit, Purity, I'm actually kind of impressed. Maybe it was a good thing I kissed the wrong Chosen after all." A pause, in which she tilted her head to one side as she gave the girl a good once-over. "Then again..."

"Save it, Nike. We have work to do," A second figure emerged from behind her. The youngest. Bia.

Takeru instinctively put himself in between the Dark Chosen and Hikari, shooting them all dangerous glares. Similarly, Koushiro's first thought was to reposition himself in such a way that they would have to get through him to get to Mimi. Not that it stopped Mimi from holding onto him by both shoulders, peering up and over his side in order to send a scathing look of her own.

"What is it you want from us?" Takeru asked.

Nike shrugged. "You? Nothing. Yet. We're here for Knowledge."

"Well, you can't have him!" Mimi pushed down on Koushiro's shoulders, albeit it a little too hard; the movement caused him to nearly lose his balance as he was shoved downward in an effort for the girl to make herself seem more imposing. "So you might as well go right back to wherever you came from and leave us alone."

Nike raised a single eyebrow at that. "Careful, Purity. You don't want Reliability getting jealous, do you?"

Nearly everyone in the room felt the temperature in the room drop by several degrees. Even Bia, who normally remained apathetically oblivious to that sort of thing, gave an involuntary shudder; if looks alone could kill, then Nike would have dropped to the ground in one last heartbeat.

Not that she seemed to pay the nonverbal threat much heed. Placing her other hand on her hip as well, she nonchalantly shifted her weight to one side and gave a sharp jerk of her head. Bia took that as his cue, circling around the long way until he disappeared somewhere behind Mimi and Koushiro. Around a corner to their left they hadn't even known was there. They followed him just long enough with their eyes until he was completely out of sight, then turned back to Nike.

She still wasn't alone. One of the other boys was standing with her now. Somewhat. Though positioned on her left, his eyes were focused so hard on Hikari that it was a wonder he noticed there was anyone else in the room. He looked angry—no, hurt at the mere sight of her. His gaze drifted down to where she was still gripping Takeru's hands, now with both of hers, and his whole body tensed.

"Daisuke-kun..." Hikari called to him.

Her voice was barely above a whisper, and yet the way he visibly recoiled back, she may as well have shouted it. Her brows furrowed.

"How...?" He started to ask, then shook his head. "No. Never mind. I'm not falling for any of yours tricks, Light."

"Says the guy who's holding us in chains," Takeru scoffed.

Mimi was suddenly in fierce competition as the boy sent Takeru a look that caused his blood to run cold. He moved to dart forward with a raised fist, but was stopped by Nike's hand on his shoulder. He turned back, and she shook her head before tilting her head upward and calling out:

"Bia! What the hell's taking you so long? Just do it already!"

Not a moment later, Mimi went flying backwards, dragged several meters across the rough floor by the chains at her ankles. Painful cries echoed into the air as she felt her skin scratch against the rocks and stones, especially around her knees and palms. Even after the dragging stopped, she didn't get up. Just continued to lay there, groaning loudly.

All the one, Nike and the one Hikari once knew as Daisuke dashed forward, the former grabbing at Koushiro's wrists while the latter quickly undid the locks on his chains. Koushiro tried to struggle, but even after Mimi's healing, he was still weak from his prior injuries and a lack of nutrition. And the Dark Chosen was strong. Very strong. Her ability to hold Daisuke back hadn't been a symbolic gesture or fluke. She twisted his arms behind his back, holding them both at the wrist while her other arm came up and around his neck. Squeezing both of them so tightly as to make seeing ahead and breathing a challenge.

"Koushrio-san!" Takeru called out, instinctively leaping forward. His own chains were the only things holding him back.

"Mimi-san..." Hikari looked to the other girl in concern.

"Don't wo—oh, will you stop struggling already?" Nike cut herself off to give her captive a sharp tug. Koushiro stilled soon after, and she jerked her head to toss a few stray locks of hair out of her face before letting out a satisfied breath. Then continued. "Like I was saying: don't worry. We're not going to hurt him. So long as he behaves." The last part, she added through gritted teeth, directed right in the boy's ear. "We just need to...pick his brain a little. I promise to return him in roughly the same condition you see now. You know, give or take."

She turned and began guiding Koushiro out of the dungeon, unfazed by his awkward stumbling and further attempt at writhing out of her grip. Bia appeared out of the shadows just long enough to follower her out the door. Daisuke, meanwhile, sent Hikari one last look before he, too, turned and left without so much as a parting word. Deliberately slamming the door shut behind them so loudly it caused both her and Takeru to jump.

In the immediate silence that followed, the two youngest Chosen looked to one another. Each hoping the other had an answer. When none came, then turned their attention to where Mimi was still laying face-down on the ground. She was still conscious at least, a fact which they could only be certain of because they could hear her sobbing into the dirt.