Hey folks, long time no post. I did say at the outset this would take a while, but life being what it is I'm going slower than what I had predicted. All I can say is this story is still ongoing and I will continue working on it. For those willing to follow along, thanks for your patience.

Thanks to CassandraOT5 for the review, follow, favourite trifecta!

"Well it has to be something, because it's obviously not nothing."

"Look, can you just drop it; I don't wanna talk about it at the moment."

T.K. sighed, leaving his eyes closed during a blink for a few seconds as he leant against his brother's bedroom door frame. Matt could be seen on the other end of the room, bent over his bed where he was arranging clothes and other items in preparation for the journey to the Digital World. Since T.K. had arrived ten minutes ago, not long after eleven in the morning, the older teenager had hardly looked him in the eye more than once or twice, and each time had been for less than a second. Moreover, the Takaishi boy could hear clear as day that his older sibling was more than a little agitated.

"C'mon bro, you can talk to me," the younger blond implored, staring worriedly at Matt's white t-shirt clad back, "you can tell me anything; you know that, right?"

Matt's shoulders raised and lowered as he took in then released a deep, long breath. Slowly, he turned on his heel toward his little brother before lower himself to sit on his bed. He moved lethargically, as if fatigued, and his body slumped as soon as he made contact with the mattress.

"Is it really that big of a deal? Why d'you care so much about this?" he groaned, still not looking T.K. in the face.

The younger boy pushed gently off the door frame with his shoulder and stood square in the doorway. He felt the skin on his cheeks and around his mouth tighten, and sensed something similar from his chest.

"I'm your brother – do I really need to explain it?" he retorted, raising both his arms to the horizontal, emphasising his point.

"No… I s'pose not…" Matt sighed, pinching his downcast brow, just above the nose like he had a headache.

Finally, the elder of the pair raised his head to face the other. While certainly short of anger or melancholy, T.K. thought his brother's expression certainly qualified as sullen. He could see that Matt's normally cerulean eyes were darker that morning than they usually were; two blue oceans that had clouded overnight. Added to this were dark rings encircling those same eyes and a mouth sagging into a drooping frown.

"You didn't get much sleep last night, did you?" T.K. posed, though both understood the question was rhetorical.

"No kidding, Sherlock," Matt quipped sarcastically, but not without showing a playful, if tired, smirk to his brother.

T.K. frowned, unsatisfied. He placed his hands on his hips and eyeballed the older blond, fixing him with a stern gaze. He thought that this was hardly helpful when they were supposed to be saving the Digital World, especially as they had not even left Earth yet.

"I'm trying to help you out here, bro," he said firmly, shaking his head.

"I know, I know, just trying to have a bit of fun, alright," Matt replied a little defensively, though he still had not lost the smirk on his lips.

"Fine, but can you please at least tell me what's bothering you?" the Takaishi boy pressed after a short exhalation.

The older Digidestined mumbled something but it was too quiet for T.K. to make it out. Still, sensing he was about to hear what he had been asking for, the boy held his tongue and waited expectantly for a proper answer.

"I know we've been so set on getting to the Digital World since Gennai showed up, and, y'know, that's probably how we should be acting…" Matt began saying, his tone sounding surprisingly anxious to T.K., "But… I mean I dunno about you, but how much do you think we're all having to give up for this?"

T.K. raised an eyebrow at his brother's words. Giving up? What was that supposed to mean, he wondered. Stumped, he stared at his brother.

Matt looked agitated, unable to fix his gaze on any one spot, his eyes constantly shifting focus. Leaning forward, the teenager wore a grimace on his face and his brow was furrowed. While his left arm rested by the elbow on his left knee, the right was left hanging down by his leg, his right fist clenching and unclenching every few seconds.

"You're not sure what I'm talking about, are you?" he queried, though much like T.K.'s earlier question it was clearly rhetorical.

Matt shifted on the bed a little and straightened his back, bringing his right arm up to rest it on his knee, just like its left counterpart.

"I dunno, this is probably pretty selfish, but…" the Ishida boy mused, more to himself than to T.K., his eyes flitting away from his brother.

"What is?" T.K. pressed curiously.

All he got at first was a sigh. But, after a moment, Matt rose to his feet and moved over to his desk where he grabbed a piece of paper, which looked a bit like a flyer from where T.K. stood. Turning around, Matt approached him and thrust the page out toward him. Taking this to mean he should read it, T.K. accepted the sheet and perused it briefly. His eyes widened when he saw the name 'Tokyo Wolves' and what was written below. Slowly, he looked up at his brother.

"I had no idea your band actually managed to get that gig… and the date is…" T.K. murmured but failed to finish his sentence, instead choosing to gape at his sibling.

"Yeah. I told Hayashi that I had to bail on it last night and I swear he sounded like he wanted to punch my lights out right through the phone. The place only got back to us a couple of days before Gennai turned up," Matt recounted dejectedly from his bed where he had resumed his seat, "And it's not just that I won't get to play. The others either have to find another bassist or they're screwed!"

T.K. frowned, pursed his lips and briefly looked away. If he was honest with himself, he really had not given any of this much thought. All his holiday would have involved was laying about and spending time with his friends. He was sure he would be missed, but at the same time there were no long standing plans or commitments that he would be missing. Knowing that the Digital World was at war had been too much of a distraction.

A part of him wanted to console his brother, but as he went to open his mouth to speak he felt the words catch in his throat and the breath that would have carried them bulged at the top of his oesophagus. He really had no idea what to say, and everything that came to mind on the subject just sounded stupid. In the end, he settled on a question instead.

"Have you… told the others as well?" he asked, looking back at his brother out of the corner of his eye.

Matt scoffed at the question, leaning back where he sat and chuckling bitterly at the ceiling.

"Of course I've let the others know… or, mostly anyway. After Hayashi I got yelled at over the phone by Sam for about half an hour," he recounted sardonically, "I haven't heard anything from Jiro – he won't pick up his phone – but I know that he must've been told by the other two by now, so he can't be happy with me at the moment."

Osamu, Sam for short, was the drummer in Matt's band. As for Hayashi, he was the lead guitarist, while Jiro went with rhythm guitar and shared vocals with Matt, who was the bassist. T.K. had met all of them several times, mostly when he went to watch his brother practice but they had also been at Matt's last couple of birthday parties and some other social gatherings. Not once had he seen any of them lose their temper, or even raise their voice for any reason other than to be heard over playing instruments, so he found himself wracking his brain trying to picture just what three angry band mates might look like; none of those images were encouraging in the slightest.

Refocusing on his brother, he could see the older blond was reliving the night before. It was fairly obvious why he had been unable to sleep well. Returning to his senses, T.K. thought it would be a good idea to at least try to cheer Matt up, even if he was clueless as to what Matt needed to hear.

"Hey, I'm sure that-" he tried to say, but the other blond apparently had another story.

"And don't get me started on Naomi…" the Ishida boy moaned irritably.

T.K. baulked when he heard the name. Naomi was his brother's girlfriend of four months. He never really had that much to do with her, but he knew that she was with Matt more or less all the time he spent away from his band, his family and the Digidestined. He would not go so far as to call her clingy, but he was fairly positive an extended absence would probably kill the relationship. Judging from Matt's expression, the older boy seemed like he would probably agree with that assessment.

"Um…" T.K. mumbled, scratching his neck.

"Before you ask, she knows too," Matt informed him with a scowl.

"Er, how… how did she take the news?" T.K. asked carefully, wincing at his brother's foul looking expression.

"Urgh, she pretty much dumped me on the spot," Matt growled, but he quickly, if only slightly, softened as he added, "But at least she wasn't super pissed like the guys were."

"She wasn't?" T.K. probed.

"No, she was really matter-of-fact about it. She was pretty quick to get off the phone though, so I don't think we'll be talking for a bit, even after we get back," Matt replied, now sounding more glum than irate, "I can't blame her though, to be honest; I dunno how I'd take it…"

T.K. perked up at this.

"You'd understand, there's no way you'd just leave someone on the spot like that!" he insisted, eying his brother sympathetically.

While he saw a smirk on Matt's face, it was accompanied by a rather sarcastic, scoffing chuckle. He frowned, confused at the other blond's reaction.

"It's not really that simple, bro," Matt told him, hanging his head to the side and shaking it slightly, "You'll probably know what I mean in a couple of years."

T.K. grimaced and glanced to the side. He had heard variations of 'you're too young to understand' almost all his life, and they had long begun to wear on him. Sure he was only barely thirteen, but he'd seen more than a lot of people his age, and plenty of things that no one but he and the Digidestined had ever seen, he told himself. And, of all people, he had hoped to at least avoid getting it from his own brother, who knew exactly that.

"I'm not trying to treat you like a baby, if that's what you're thinking."

T.K. looked back to find Matt staring knowingly at him.

"There're some things you just need to live through, is all. I can't really put it into words that'll make sense if you haven't," the older teen explained evenly.

His expression and demeanour had improved, T.K. noticed. Playing the older brother seemed to have distracted him for the moment.

Sighing, T.K. just nodded. Arguing would just be stupid at that point, and besides he had better things to do than get into a 'girl talk' with his brother.

"Look, enough about me anyway, how'd everything shape up with Mum after the other day?" Matt questioned casually, shimmying backwards on his bed to rest his back up against the wall.

T.K. flinched at the mention of their mother, and he was quick to avert his eyes as he felt the blood drain from his face. He could feel a sense of dread in the pit of his stomach as he was reminded of his own life outside that bedroom.

"I'm not really…" T.K. murmured, but Matt was quick to interject.

"Oh c'mon, man. I just spilled my guts about how my band and my now ex-girlfriend don't want anything to do with me. The least you can do is tell me what our own mother thinks about something we're both doing." He complained, folding his arms and staring expectantly back at T.K.

The younger blond groaned. He had hoped that coming over to see Matt at their father's place would mean he could avoid thinking about their mother for a few hours. But, there was nothing he could think of that would justify him staying silent now. So, with a roll of his eyes, he plodded heavily over to his brother's desk, pulled out the computer chair and dropped himself heavily into it, spinning around a couple of times just for a extra couple of seconds of silence. Eventually, though, he started talking.

"I can't remember the last time she was this angry… at least I think she's mad… I dunno," T.K. tried to explain, his tone quickly growing lethargic as he started to slowly spin around on the chair again.

"Wait, what d'you mean you don't know if she's mad?" Matt quizzed him disbelievingly, "Knowing her, it'd be obvious if she is or she isn't."

"That's what I thought…" T.K. mused glumly as he continued spinning in circles. He vaguely noticed that he was starting to feel a little dizzy as his vision began to blur and tilt. He was brought to a swift halt, however, as his brother grabbed a hold of the side of the backrest and held the seat in place.

"C'mon T.K., explain," he pressed, his expression neutral but his tone carrying a worried edge.

Unwilling to look him in the eye, T.K. averted his gaze down to his shorts. Grimacing and squeezing his eyelids closed, he declined to speak at first. He had no idea why he felt like he could not talk about this. All he knew was that there was a welling of dread inside him every time he turned his mind to the subject. An inner, almost spiritual pressure pushed outwards, but his own skin felt like it was holding everything back. This was nothing, he knew that. What about this was so bad he could not share, he asked himself.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Matt questioned, losing some of the cool edge to his voice as he grabbed T.K. by the arm, "It's not… that bad, is it? Has something happened?"

"N-nothing's happened…" T.K. murmured bleakly, adding at a much lower volume, "I guess that's kinda the point."

"Hmm?" his brother hummed, perking up at the second sentence which he had clearly been unable to hear.

T.K.'s mouth twitched. At that point, his first wish was simply to have the topic dropped, but he was all too aware that Matt was not about to let it lie without some kind of answer. Not confident in his own ability to lie, or at least give a half truth, the younger blond nonetheless decided there was nothing else for it and put his mind to weaselling out of the interrogation.

"She's just confusing y'know…" he tried, sheepishly looking up to meet Matt's eyes.

"I do, but I also don't," was the older teen's response, "You're gonna have to be more specific."

Sighing, T.K. kept his mouth moving, hoping whatever words came out would work in his favour.

"It's just, y'know-" he started.

"You keep saying that," Matt quipped with a half smile, perhaps trying to lighten the mood. Either way, it made T.K. feel no better. Seeing that, Matt shut his mouth.

"Well it's like she was angry at first when she heard about it, but then she's acting calm and everything and… stuff. She just doesn't…" T.K. babbled, trying his best to remove any moroseness from his demeanour. He had spoken fast and wondered if Matt would pick up on that.

"So it's a consistency thing? She's not mad or calm all the time?" the elder of the two inquired, leaning back and raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Yes," T.K. spat out as soon as the final word left his brother's mouth.

The older blond's eyes narrowed and he scrunched his mouth to the right. T.K. could only see disbelief in the face opposite him and his heart sunk at the thought of more questions.

"Well, sometimes people do that. Not sure why that seems to be bugging you so much, but don't worry it's no big deal," Matt replied as he tilted his head marginally to the side.

T.K. expected more, but all that followed from his brother was a shrug and a pat on the shoulder. The boy blinked and momentarily lost track of everything but his sudden success. It took a slap on the forearm to pull him out of the moment and he noticed Matt's now more casual expression.

"We're leaving tomorrow anyway. Just forget about it for now and by the time we leave tomorrow Mum'll be giving the both of us a sappy goodbye, just like we were going to camp or whatever," he told T.K. coolly, "Now can you see if you can dig my duffel out of the cupboard. That'd be a big help."

The Takaishi boy nodded dumbly and did as he was asked. Nothing else was said about any of that for the rest of the time T.K. was there. The two brothers managed to keep conversation on the Digital World and theories they both had, as well as spending a good hour reminiscing about their last adventure.

Leaving on that rush of nostalgia, which warmed him like an invisible blanket, T.K. left his father and brother's apartment with a smile and a wave, both of which were returned. Still, as the door closed he could have sworn that, behind the carefree look on Matt's face, there was something in his eyes, something the younger brother had seen many times before.

"So you're all set?"

"I have everything packed, I've just been rechecking everything a couple of times to make sure I haven't forgotten anything major," Joe's reply came from the other end of the line.

Tai nodded to himself as he heard the eldest Digidestined give his response, smirking just a little at the rechecking part. Joe was the last person on his list to call; he had been preceded by Matt, Izzy and Sora, though T.K. had been left to Kari as they would usually call or message each other in the evenings anyway. Mimi had already sent her assurances via email to save them the trouble of an international call. It had seemed from all the phone calls he had made that all his compatriots were ready to go, and all seemed to have the consent of their families, on the matter, though it was only T.K. and Matt's mother who seemed to have been still opposed to the mission at the end of the meeting. He would have to ask Kari how that was going after she had talked to the younger of the brothers, he thought to himself.

"Hey Tai, I've been meaning to ask you something." Joe said.

"Mmm? What is it?" Tai responded, leaning against the wall to which the phone was attached.

"How exactly is Mimi going to get to the Digital World if she's on the other side of the planet?" came Joe's somewhat exasperated question, like he had only just recently thought about it. It sounded like it had been bothering him.

Tai had wondered that very same thing up until his conversation with Izzy twenty minutes beforehand. But it seemed as though the computer whiz and their digital ally had that problem all sorted.

"I talked to Izzy about that just before. He said that Gennai has a program you run on a computer which'll act like a gate for us or something," Tai recounted, "I didn't get all the technical stuff Izzy was saying, I mean who does, but apparently she just needs to put her digivice to the screen at the same arranged time as us and it'll all work out. We'll be going in through the same program, so that's why we're meeting at my place – we've gotta use our computer."

"Why don't we just use Izzy's laptop?" Joe questioned bluntly.

"Because we need to take it with us. We can't do that and use it as a gate," Tai replied, gesticulating even though he was responding over the phone.

"Oh, ok. That makes sense I guess." Joe said lightly, sounding satisfied with what he had been told.

"So are we all good for tomorrow?" Tai posed.

"Yeah, I'm all fine now," Joe answered contentedly, "Thanks for calling to check, Tai."

"Hey man, that's fine, don't sweat it," Tai said cheerily back, happy that his job was over for the night now, "I'll see you at six over at my place then."

"Definitely," the older teen answered quickly.

The two exchanged a few more pleasantries before they gave their final goodbyes and hung up. After placing the phone back on the receiver, the Kamiya boy let out a long sigh. Izzy's call had dragged on for some time, with so much technical talk from the redhead it felt like a computer club meeting. Luckily, they had had some time for more casual talk, which was a welcome change.

For the most part, though, the calls had been brief, Sora's especially now thinking back on it. She had said she was busy doing some last minute administrative work for her mother's flower shop before they all left, which made sense, Tai supposed. Still he felt some scepticism as to why she would be doing it on the night before their departure. He would be lying if he did not admit to himself that he had wondered whether she was trying to avoid speaking to him, though why that would be he had no idea. He had tried to dismiss it, but it kept reappearing, like a bug he thought he had swatted only to find it had returned to bother him.

Shaking his head, Tai marched over to the computer room and found Kari typing away at the keyboard. She was so engrossed that she did not seem to notice him enter the room; her entire body remained still, fixed in position at the monitor. Peering over her shoulder, he noticed a small icon of a hamster with wings crudely drawn in the 'paint' program on it. T.K.'s profile image for the messenger webpage was a familiar sight, as was Kari's; a photo Miko, their cat. The two thumbnails sat alternating in a column that stretched well off the page. Tai could tell they had been conversing for some time.

Seeing that she had still not noticed his presence, he leaned forward so that his mouth was just a few inches away behind his sister's right ear.

"So what does T.K. have to say?" he asked conversationally, his expression deadpan.

Kari jumped in her chair and whipped her head around violently, the ends of hair batting his face as she spun.

"Jeez, don't do that!" she admonished as she slowly regained her composure.

Tai just smirked at her, happy to have a little fun for the moment.

"I do that so often, I'd have thought you'd be used to it by now," he teased.

Kari scoffed.

"Some things you never get used to," she retorted calmly, turning back to face the computer screen.

From there a silence befell the room, with Tai's question floating unanswered in the increasingly uncomfortable air. Kari remained with her eyes glued to the screen, but he could see she had minimised the chat box and was staring unflinchingly at the pale blue desktop background. Worried, Tai moved from behind her and lowered himself to a kneeling position to her side. Even then, as he pointedly looked her in the face, she made no reply. He could sense her straining to maintain a straight face, but she was unable to hide the smallest of twitches here and there, as if she were trying to hold back a sneeze.

"Something's wrong." Tai stated, but going no further than that obvious point.

"It's…" Kari began but quickly lost her voice, casting her eyes searchingly down at the keyboard.

"Kari?" Tai pressed, inwardly itching for a proper response.

All she gave at first was a sigh. Next was a fluster of syllables, each a failed attempt to begin a sentence. In a few moments more, she managed a simple answer.

"I don't know!" she breathed exasperatedly, squeezing at her temples with her right hand, "He keeps trying to tell me, but I don't even think he knows what's going on."

"With his mother?" Tai asked, perplexed.

Kari nodded.

She was upset, that much he could see. Even as she spoke she refused to take her eyes off the computer screen, and he could tell, as her fingers stretched and flitted in the direction of the keyboard that she was longing to jump back in to talk to her best friend.

"I don't know what it is, but he's really bothered by this," she mused worriedly.

"Is she trying to stop him from going?" Tai queried, thinking ahead to their departure.

"He doesn't know! She hasn't stopped him from packing or anything, but T.K. says she almost hasn't done anything at all since the meeting," Kari explained, her tone suggesting that she too was trying to make sense of it.

"Huh?" was all he could manage in return.

Kari just shook her head. For the first time since he startled her, she turned her head away from the computer and looked him in the eye. Hers shimmered with worry, and he could tell almost immediately that she would get little sleep that night.

"Tai… I… I don't know what I should say… what I should tell him," she confessed just a little shakily. Her unsteadiness was difficult to detect, but it was there.

Tai just gazed back at his little sister. For the moment he had drawn a blank, and his head was cloudy. But still, her eyes were begging for a response, and he felt his mouth move before the clouds even began to thin.

"I… maybe just… I dunno, keep talking to him, and… find out as much as you can, I guess," he rifled off clumsily, grimacing himself at how unhelpful it all sounded.

From his sister, he heard a near imperceptible groan, while her eyes returned to the screen.

"Okay," was all she offered in reply.

The girl's shoulders had slumped and she had leant forward to rest her elbows on the desk. Resting her jaw on her palms she sighed discontentedly. Tai stared blankly at her, wondering at first why she was just sitting there not doing anything. After a few seconds though, he figured she was waiting, impatiently at that, for him to leave so she could resume conversing with T.K.

Tai clenched his jaw, holding himself back from saying much more to her.

"Sorry, sis," he mumbled before swiftly withdrawing from the room.

Closing the door behind him, he ran both hands through his thick, bushy hair. At that moment he was uncertain who he was more annoyed at; his sister or himself. He knew she was stressed and just looking for answers, but there was still a part of him that hated being dismissed like that. He had tried to help, after all.

Casting his mind to that 'help', though, he knew how useless his advice had been. Like having cold water poured slowly over his head, he gradually felt his irritation abate itself. He felt like an idiot. What good was he if he were to lose his temper over something like that? Holding his hands at the back of his head he plodded over to the couch in the living area and let himself fall onto it face first. Groaning to himself, he rolled fully onto his back.

"Urgh, I hope the Digital World is easier than this stuff."

The room bustled with a nervous, and in some ways apprehensive, excitement. It was mid-afternoon, close to six o'clock and the Digidestined had all arrived with their families, prepared to set off on their next adventure. Each one of them had packed modestly and they were dressed with living rough in mind.

Kari Kamiya surveyed her friends and noted all their appearances. Her brother had chosen a navy blue tracksuit and his favourite blue, white and yellow sneakers, though he had kept the jacket in his backpack, so for now he was simply clad in the pants and a plain light grey t-shirt. To his left, Matt was clothed similarly, though he had preferred a pair of black, full length trekking pants, brown hiking shoes and a white t-shirt, though he was also currently wearing a thin, midnight blue sleeveless fleece jacket, so she was unable to see if there was any pattern on the shirt. On Tai's right there was Sora. She had chosen a pair of old jeans, which despite their age had mostly retained their denim blue colour and loose but fitting form. She also wore a t-shirt and sneakers, both crimson with the shirt having a small white and yellow pattern on the front which, from where Kari stood, looked to be little more than some assorted shapes with tiny writing below, likely a brand name. Sora also sported a canary yellow hooded jumper, though this she had slung over her right shoulder, the young woman clearly conscious of the summer heat.

Across the room, Kari surveyed two other Digidestined and their own choices of attire. Izzy wore a brown khaki pair of shorts, with blue striped charcoal coloured trainers and a white t-shirt, though Kari had thought she had seen that the sleeves on it were grey. They were obscured by a green button-up which for the moment was undone and hung open. Joe had preferred a light ash coloured pair of trousers with white and black sneakers, while being the only one of them to choose a polo shirt, his a shade of pale blue with black and red stripes on the collar, though it could be mistaken for being white at a distance. Kari guessed both of these boys had packed clothing for colder climates as well, as she had herself.

For her part, Kari wore carmine coloured shorts and a pale violet t-shirt sporting a pattern of three white diamonds in an inverted triangular arrangement. She was also wearing an older, faded blue jacket, though it was so thin it might as well have just been another shirt. Other than that, she simply had on her usual white sneakers. Rocking back and forth in her shoes made her look over to her mother, who had been grimacing every so often at the footwear being worn in their living area. She had reluctantly agreed to forgo regular household custom just this once after they had explained they could not land in the Digital World without shoes on, though she was none too pleased about it and looked as though she was readying herself to grab the mop as soon as they were gone.

However, the Kamiya living room was absent one person, or two people really, but Kari was only concerned for the one. T.K. and his mother had stepped outside to the balcony a few minutes prior, exactly why they had not indicated. If she had not been picking her best friend's brain ever since the last meeting she would not have been terribly concerned, but after their conversation the night before she could not help but worriedly avert her gaze toward the glass sliding doors every few moments.

All the others were caught up for the moment, either saying final goodbyes to their families or talking amongst themselves while they waited for their predetermined time of departure, six on the dot to be exact. Her own parents were preoccupied with a speech they seemed to be giving Tai. Sighing, she figured they were impressing upon him how important it was for him to look after his little sister; like he needed to be told that, she scoffed mentally. Her heart momentarily warmed at this thought, though it was tempered by the feeling of repression. It was difficult for her to remember, but her earliest memories involved Tai doting on her, looking after her and doing whatever he could to keep her safe. She appreciated it, more than she could ever express, but after so many years it was beginning to touch a nerve. For her, as she got older, it was becoming something of a pressure point. She always kept her cool, and she could not see herself ever losing her temper, even momentarily, but she still had to bite her tongue every now and again.

Shaking this off, Kari returned her focus to the sight of T.K. and his mother through the glass. Mouths moved, but from behind the door, on top of the noise in the room in which she stood, Kari could hear none of their words. Nancy Takaishi had her back to the inside of the apartment, so it was impossible to see her expression. T.K., on the other hand, looked upset. She wished in that moment she could give him a hug, or at least stand by his side in support of him, but she knew better than to intrude. Nevertheless, she noticed that the balcony doors had been left just barely ajar, and she felt herself almost unconsciously float over in their direction.

It was less a feeling of being pushed than being pulled towards them, towards him. She had always hated to see sadness in others, most of all him, her oldest, closest friend. There was nothing she could really do at that point in time, she was aware of that. Yet still there was an unnameable compulsion to at least hear what was being said; perhaps she would be better able to comfort him later when they had a moment of peace.

Ever so gradually, Kari approached the door. She did not appear to have been noticed, the mother and son pair apparently too absorbed in their exchange. Pressing herself into the inside wall slightly to the right of the door, just where the opening was, she leaned her ear just close enough to understand them.

"-at do you want me to do, Mum?" she heard T.K. plead through the gap.

His voice was higher than normal, and he sounded desperate, like he was making his final attempt before giving up. Considering where they would be headed in mere minutes, there probably would not be another chance at reconciliation for some time.

"T.K., do you have any idea how this makes me feel?" Nancy asked him soberly. There was no trace of anger or frustration in her voice, merely a sense of exhaustion which caught Kari off guard. She wanted to be mad with the woman, but hearing her now wiped that compulsion from her mind. Instead, she continued to listen intently.

"I-" was all the boy could manage, choking back any more words than that.

"I don't need to give you a speech about it; you heard all that stuff when we were over at the Takenouchis' place," Nancy continued steadily, "All I can say is that it hurts me. It hurts me that you're going away to goodness knows where to do lord knows what."

"M-mum…" T.K. spluttered.

Kari could not see him from her where she stood just inside the doorway, but she had heard that tone of his enough times to know he was feeling trapped, without any idea of what to say or do. It was rare for him to turn into the indecisive mess she could hear now, but she had seen it; seen it and hated every moment of it, as the experience clawed at her heart every time.

"But it only hurts this much because I love you so much," Nancy cut in, her voice becoming more strained as she persisted, "I know I've been distant these last couple of days, but that's only because it's been so painful coming to terms with this…"

There was a loud sigh to be heard before the mother of two picked up again.

"I can't sleep easy until I know you're safe, T.K., so please – please, please, please be safe," she told him heavily, seemingly running out of breath.

All Kari heard after that was a rustle of clothes. She guessed that they were sharing a hug, which elated her for a small second, as a cooling wave of relief coursed through her. She was given quite the shock then as Nancy Takaishi strode through the sliding door after pulling it the full way open.

It had barely been five seconds since she had finished talking, and Kari had hardly had a chance to process it. The woman breathed heavily, though she passed by the girl too quickly for her to get a good look at the mother's expression. Nancy apparently had failed to notice Kari there, just inside the door, so there were no questions forthcoming about her whereabouts.

The sound of a footstep to her side drew Kari's attention away from Nancy Takaishi and back to the doorway. There stood T.K., and he for one did not overlook the brunette girl standing to his right. She opened her mouth to say something to him, but instead felt a blush rising on her cheeks as she realised she had been caught out eavesdropping. Kari turned her eyes down, but she would not allow herself to fully lose sight of him, and so she strained to keep him just within the bounds of her vision.

Thankfully, though it hardly surprised her, T.K. merely gave her a smile, weak though it was. This formality was all she needed to throw off that cloak of shame. Closing the small gap between them, she made to offer both her curiosity and her support, eyeing her best friend earnestly, but he had sensed that from her already. Simply holding up his hand, T.K. forestalled the intended conversation, which was just as well seeing as the attention of the entire room had been called by Tai. It was time.

It had all been simpler than she was expecting. The program opened with a click of her mouse and pulled her in once her digivice was raised to the screen. A brief, but thoroughly uncomfortable ride followed. A ripple had passed through her body, an all encompassing wave above, below and within the skin, as if every bodily cell burst and reformed, somehow different than before. It had not been painful; that would not have been an accurate description. But, as Mimi raised her head, her eyes travelling up from the cuffs of her black pants and her navy blue boots to see the horizon before her, she thanked her lucky stars it was over.

Though she had kept her eyes clenched shut all throughout the journey, her eyelids had still been pierced and her retinas bombarded by dancing lights of all the colours she had ever known, as well as one or two she could not even begin to recognise. What replaced those violent bursts was the soft, fading sunshine of the late afternoon cascading over the waves of a vast, vaguely familiar ocean. When she had just been looking down at her feet, Mimi was under the impression she had landed somewhere in the desert. She was now relieved to find herself on a warm, surprisingly tranquil beach. The serenity was not to last, but she was hardly minded to complain about what replaced it.

"Mimi!" came a chorus of yells from somewhere behind her. Without even needing to look first, she knew who it was and immediately shouted her delight. Within seconds she was mobbed by seven other teenagers who she had not seen in the flesh for years. It was so strange, but yet nothing felt out of place here, with them. They were all so swept up in the reunion that they barely noticed the ninth and final traveller from the real world had approached them, and he was not alone. As they all turned to see what was happening, another reunion came to replace the one it had interrupted, though this unfortunately lacked its predecessor's charm.

"Children, it is good to see you have returned! Though I don't think it is right to call you that anymore."

"Indeed, but our time is short, I fear. We have much to discuss."

Standing there with Gennai were the two speakers, Leomon and Centauromon respectively. The excitement the Digidestined all felt at seeing their old friends, the great bipedal lion man and the helmeted centaur again was dampened when they saw the state the two were in. The pair had always carried scars but this time they seemed to be sporting more than their fair share, plus, in the dull light of the setting sun, Mimi dreaded that she could only see the largest of them. And these would be nothing compared to the ones yet to be suffered.