Chapter 16 - Lovers Reunited
Tai Kamiya felt a familiar warmth in his chest that he had so long feared he would never feel again. As he stood next to Sora in the ruins within which the Digimon loyalists had determined to make their stand, he looked around at all his friends, together again at last. The last few days had been some of the most terrible and uncertain in Tai's whole life, but as he watched his assembled friends hug and laugh, he began to feel as if everything might be alright. Just outside the huge stone archway that framed the entrance to the room, he could see Digitamamon busily fussing over a huge pot of stew while various Gekomon in aprons busied themselves with bowls and spoons, occasionally carrying over huge barrels of vegetables or broth to be added to the pot. "Come on you witless weevils- I've got a whole army to feed here!" Digitamamon shouted at his assistants. Indeed, a great many Digimon were forming an orderly line to receive their supper, many beginning to groan impatiently at the delay. The whole scene was faintly ridiculous, and Tai could not help but love it.
Time passed and soon the Digidestined found themselves sitting in a wide semi-circle enjoying their own bowl of stew each. Knowing better than to bother questioning the ingredients, Tai simply turned back to Digitamamon and shouted "This is delicious, thanks dude!", this pronouncement earned hoots of agreement all across the camp and Tai could not help but think that Digitamamon looked flattered, though he was not sure how that was possible for a Digimon whose body was predominantly a huge egg. Shortly thereafter, Henry and the rest of the tamers arrived from collecting their bowls of stew and sat down with the rest of the kids, completing the circle. Tai looked around, watching the firelight bounce off the faces of each of the tamers as they ate quietly. Their faces did not have the same joviality as him and his friends, and Tai bitterly knew why. "I know…" Tai started, unsure of how to continue "…I know you guys are worried about Takato, but - we're not going to rest until we get him back!". He did not know if his words would bring any comfort, but all the same he meant them. Takato had saved his life, and Tai hated the thought of him being left in the clutches of Daemon and Barbamon. "We do appreciate that Tai…" Henry replied at last, "…It's just…." At this he trailed off, casting his eyes down at his stew. "It's just that we're worried what's going to happen to him in the meantime…" Rika finished for her friend. "Yes…" Henry agreed.
Their words held a foreboding weight that even those who had not seen Takato and Guilmon transform into Megidramon felt the impact of. With a look of concern, Matt said "We get that, trust us. Tomorrow we'll talk to Ophanimon and the Sovereigns and work out the best way to find and rescue Takato. But for tonight, let's just try and enjoy being here- together." This last word seemed to find special resonance amongst the group as all were somehow quietly reminded of the bonds they shared and the love they bore for each other. Over the firelight, soft words slowly became kind and jovial banter, progressing eventually to more assured and lively conversation. They reminisced about past adventures, comrades lost, and enemies defeated, and soon the tamers began to join in and tell stories of their own. "So wait, why weren't you talking to Renamon at that point?" Kari asked Rika with complete befuddlement. "I just didn't trust Digimon at the time, I thought they were all monsters…" Rika said with a small sense of shame. "Well, she wasn't entirely wrong." Renamon said beside Rika, placing an encouraging paw on her partner's shoulder.
"I don't know, the relationship you guys have with your Digimon seems a little odd to me…" Joe said with slight shrug. "Well to be blunt- it is. We're not "destined" to be with our Digimon like you guys are…" Ryo said with a smirk. Ken raised a hand in protest "Wait Ryo, I think you might be, after all aren't you originally from our universe?". At this remark Ryo placed a hand on his head and said good-naturedly "Oh wait, you're right!" Everyone laughed at this. "All the same though, Ryo has a point- the term "Digidestined" is a little on the nose, isn't it?" Henry pointed out. "Well, it sounded cool when we were little kids." TK said with a laugh. "What are you talking about TK- Digidestined is still the coolest name ever!" Davis declared righteously. At this Kari particularly burst out laughing. Tai smiled as he watched his little sister laugh from across the campfire. To see her smile again was everything to him. As talk continued into the night, Sora yawned and shifted closer to Tai, resting her head on his shoulder as her eyelids drooped sleepily. Tai saw Matt watch this, an almost imperceptible expression of shock crossing his face before his eyes caught Tai's, and his look changed from one of faint surprise to warmth and support. No words were exchanged between them, but in that moment everything that needed to be said was said. Matt regretted he had missed his chance with Sora, but accepted it, and was happy for her and Tai. At this knowledge Tai felt grateful to have a friend as mature and empathetic as Matt.
Across the circle, TK watched this silent exchange play out with a faint unease. It made him sad to think Sora and Matt were no longer an item, as he had always felt Sora had brought out the best in his brother. The thought of Matt returning to his tour after this, without the prospect of coming home to Sora, it troubled TK. It was as his thoughts dwelled in this troubling place that he felt a hand touch his. Looking up, his eyes met Kari's, and for a moment all fear and doubt left him. "Can we talk?" she asked softly, pointing out of the room to the darkened parapet overlooking the camp. Nodding, he rose from his kneeling position and followed Kari out of the room. Nobody acknowledged their exit, either too absorbed in their own conversations or too tactful to draw attention to the young couple.
Kari sat on the crumbling grey stone of the ancient balcony edge and surveyed the darkness lit by beacons of starlight above them. The light of the moon seemed to glisten on her eyes in a way that reminded TK of the glitter of diamonds. Turning to face TK, she flashed him a smile that felt like basking in the light of the sun. No words could form in his mind for a few moments, but eventually, he managed to say "So…what did you want to talk about?". Her smile never dipping, Kari simply advanced the distance between them and pinned TK to the moss-covered wall. Her lips met his in a passionate and desperate kiss. TK's eyes felt like they might jump straight out of his head in shock as he processed what was happening. This was not their first kiss, but it was by far their most significant and intimate. Vaguely, he was aware of Kari's hands snaking up his body and onto the sides of his face. His hat was lifted slightly by the tips of fingers running through his hair, and in that moment, TK began to feel almost light-headed. Not wanting to disappoint Kari, he returned her kiss with equal passion, and for what felt like a beautiful, perfect eternity they stood locked in that position as the stars sparkled above their heads.
Soon though, TK became aware of a wet sensation trickling down his cheek. Kari was crying. Pulling back, he saw Kari's eyes were red, a steady stream of tears falling down her cheeks. Sniffling, she raised her hand and wiped her face with her sleeve, only for another more powerful sob to escape her lips and her tears to continue unimpeded. Putting his hands on her shoulders, TK draw Kari into a tight hug and felt her bury her face in his neck. And in just a few moments, TK was crying too. Small tears began to well in the corner of his eyes and trickle their way down his cheeks. Neither needed to ask the other why. Shifting seamlessly from one form of intimacy to another, they now held each other and cried openly, shedding all the terror and doubt of the last few days. After some time, their sobs turned to small idle sniffles and they broke their tight embrace, looking each other in the eyes again. TK felt an urge to speak rising within him, something he had been feeling for the last few days but had been unable to express. Now, in front of Kari, the feelings finally found language. "I…wasn't strong enough…" TK said desperately.
Indeed, all throughout this ordeal, TK had grown more and more frustrated at his limitations as a Digidestined. He had wanted nothing more than to save Kari from the clutches of their enemies, and at every turn he had been forced to rely on others to fight the battles he could not. In only four words, TK unburdened all the pain within him of not being able to rescue Kari, and she felt it. Taking his hand, Kari looked TK in the eye and said "TK- you're the strongest person I've ever known…". Though he wanted to believe those words, and he knew without a shadow of a doubt that Kari believed them, he still felt the pangs of inadequacy inside him. "Do you remember when we were running from Piedmon?" Kari asked suddenly. The question caught TK by surprise, but of course he remembered it only too well. Piedmon had turned all their friends into toy keychains, and TK and Kari as the youngest Digidestined had been left at the mercy of the twisted clown. Nodding, he waited for Kari to explain further. "Well…even then, when things were at their darkest, I only truly felt afraid when Piedmon nearly caught you- because until then I still felt like there was hope. You kept that feeling alive in me just by being there. You are my hope TK- you always have been, and you always will be."
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Izzy and Tentomon had felt a little pent-up with everything had been going on lately and had decided to go for a nice evening walk after dinner. Saying their goodbyes to the group, the pair ventured off down a dark passageway they were fairly sure led out to the woods below. To their surprise though, they found these high ruins far more expansive and intricate than they had suspected. For more than thirty minutes, Izzy and his partner walked from one high bridge of stone to another, each time finding themselves on another section of the high hill decorated with tall crumbling towers and stacks of heavy stone arranged into what must have once been temples or dwellings. "Izzy, not to be a broken record- but I do believe we may be lost!" said Tentomon at last. Though never one to give up easily or be without a solution to the problem at hand, Izzy could not help but begin to agree.
Turning to reply to Tentomon, Izzy was distracted suddenly by something moving in the corner of his vision. Focusing in on the shape in the darkness, Izzy resisted the urge to call out, or to make himself known. It was as he stared into the dim night that he was able to make out the shape of Ophanimon floating through the air roughly five hundred yards away from him. Tentomon fanned out his wings and took to the air, raising one of his appendages as Izzy could tell he was preparing to call out to Ophanimon. Following an instinct he barely understood, Izzy tackled his partner out of the air and pinned him to the floor, raising a finger to his mouth to shush him. For a moment, Ophanimon looked in their general direction, then dismissed whatever she had heard and continued onwards. "Sorry buddy, but I have a weird feeling about this. Lets follow her and see what she does!" Izzy whispered to his friend. "But Izzy- that's Gatomon in there, she wouldn't be doing anything untoward, would she?". The question hung in the air between them. Izzy shrugged and said "Maybe not, but let's be careful anyway."
Rising slowly, the two followed after Ophanimon as she navigated her way silently through the air, knowing the details of the dark space as if she had been here a hundred times before. Finally, she found her way to a crumbling old stone staircase that snaked it's way around an ancient tower topped with a wooden roof. Her feet never touching a step, she flew upwards and made her way through a door at the top, closing it behind her. Izzy and Tentomon watched this with suspicion, their eyes meeting as they silently agreed to follow her up the tower. The steps of the staircase were treacherous, at any moment threatening to collapse and give way to a sheer drop below. But all the same, the two tiptoed upwards as quietly as they could. It was as they came to within the last twenty or so steps that they became aware of a sound coming from behind the door. A melody. It sounded like a sweet and mournful little tune, coming from a small mechanical music box of some sort. Each sad little note struck with a delicacy that seemed to speak of a sadness unknowable from a time long past, and even hearing it now under these circumstances, it filled Izzy's heart with a vague sense of sorrow. Crawling up to the bottom of the door, Izzy and Tentomon satisfied their curiosity and began to peak through the crack.
The room inside was sparse and long-since fallen into ruin, cobwebs decorating what little ancient bric-a-brac remained. The far wall had collapsed, coincidentally giving a fine view of the Digital moon. It was there that Ophanimon sat, a small music box in her open palm. Izzy and Tentomon watched as she silently listened to the sad choral tune playing out, until finally the mechanism of the box came to rest, and it was silent. For a moment that silence reigned, before being punctured by Ophanimon folding the open wings that decorated the music box and clicking it shut. It was then that the same tune began to play from across the room. Ophanimon turned in surprise, rising from her seat, her body silhouette framed beautifully by the light of the moon. She seemed fixed on one spot in the inky darkness of the other side of the room, from where the mysterious music now drifted. Footsteps resounded on the mossy stone floor, and Izzy watched in mounting horror as Daemon stepped into the moonlight, an identical music box in his hand. "It's good to see you again…" his unique voice spoke at last, "…my love."
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That's Chapter 16. Sorry for the long delay in posting, life kinda got in the way. I hope people are still engaged and wanna hear more.
