Author’s Note: Everything in the first person is from Mimi’s point of view.
***
I quietly closed the door to my room and turned the lock with a soft click. I looked around my room quickly before walking over to a large window on the wall opposite me. Once there, I pushed aside my venitian blind to reveal the window behind it.
There were thousands of tiny water droplets covering the smooth glass surface of the window and thousands more fell from the sky through the air. The room was silent except for the pitter-patter of rain on my window.
It was raining, and the sky was filled with dark rainclouds. There was no sign of the sun, but still, I knew that it was there, hidden behind the clouds.
I moved over and sat on my large, majestic bed that occupied only a small part of my doubly large room, the soft, pink linen crumpling under me.
My heart clenched. Here I was, an international singing sensation, multi-millionaire; I had everything anyone could want, yet I was missing the most important thing in the world. I had people waiting on me hand and foot, obeying my every command, just like the Gekomon in that castle, yet I would give it all up for one thing.
When I was younger, this was my life’s dream, to be in charge, and I have achieved it, but there is still one thing I am missing. I never would have dreamt that to achieve my dream, I would have to make the ultimate sacrifice.
I stared sadly out the window, the tears falling down my cheeks like the raindrops on the glass. I hated rainy days, for it was on a dark, rainy day like this, that my true love left me forever. It has been five, long, lonely years since I last saw him, and ten years since we returned from the Digiworld.
Each and everyone of my friends have told me to move on with my life, to forget him, but I can’t. There are thousands of people who would die for my love, but I don’t care I still love him even though he doesn’t love me anymore. My heart belongs to him, now and forever.
There is absolutely no way that I can ever forget him, not after what we’ve been through… together. There is just no way.
I will always remember him for I feel like I’ve always known him. I feel like I’ve known him from my birth, and I’ll know him till my death.
I still can’t belive he left me. We were so happy. I guess that in the long run, it was my fault. I resisted him. He loved me, but I was afraid to love him back. Then, on that fateful day, the day he left me, we were going to a movie together. I’ll never forget that day, no matter how hard I try. It was April 5, 1995. It was on that day, five years ago, that my life was changed forever.
***
Flashback…
I stepped out from the quiet of my house right into the hustle and the bustle of the city. I stepped onto the first of the first step of the four small stone steps that led up to my door, and stared into my love’s waiting face. It was raining cats and dogs, but I didn’t notice that. I was too busy taking in my love’s appearance, memorizing it in my heart so that no matter how hard I tried, I could never forget him. He was carrying a large black umbrella to shelter him, and me, from the on going downpour. He was wearing a plain red shirt, long black jeans, and black shoes. Ontop of it all, he was wearing a long, black trenchcoat. His blond hair, right now, looked as it always had, like a bird’s nest; his large blue eyes shone with adoration.
My appearance, like his, hadn’t changed much over the years. I had grown about a foot in height, though that was about all that was different, at that time. My long chestnut hair was hanging loosely over my shoulders, my large brown eyes filled with love for him.
I was wearing a pink shirt with a pink jacket over it; I also wore a short pink skirt. Pink was my favorite color always had been, always will be, no matter what. That’s one of the few things in my life that hadn’t changed when he left.
When he saw that I was ready to go, he ran up the stairs to talk to me, and when he got there, he handed me a boquet of pink roses.
“ Are you ready to go, Mimi-chan?” he asked as he moved the umbrella so that it was now covering both our heads.
“ I’m ready to go, Yama-chan.” I said.
“ All right then,” he said as he helped me
down the steep stone steps, “let’s get going.”
***
In spite of the rain, we walked to the theater, drawing strange looks from all of the few passerbys we encountered. I felt like I was walking in one of those old impressionistic paintings, very romantic. The city, right now , was covered in a blanket of rain. There was steam rising from the gutters, reasons unknown, but that didn’t bother me, it just added to the feeling. The street would have been completely dark if not for the many streetlights that lined the street. It was romantic.
I closed my eyes and absorbed everything about this walk. I could hear people talking, and an occasional yell rang out. The air was warm and humid, but not unpleasant. I listened to my love’s steady breathing, and everynow and again, I thought I could hear his heart beat.
When I opened my eyes again, I found that he had put his arm around my waist, to guide me and to keep me from bumping into anyone. I also found that I had at some point, drawn nearer to him, my head resting on his shoulder.
I felt ashamed for a minute, but that feeling soon melted into a feeling of contentment, and we kept walking.
***
About two hours later, we had arrived at the movie theater, gone in, seen the movie and come back out. The rain had stopped and we were on our way back to my house. This, is when all the trouble began. We had just left the immediate vicinity of the movie theater, and that was the beginning. On our way back, we passed a tall blond woman with sly blue eyes. She was wearing full body black leather that was a little too tight if you ask me. She had a certain look about her, one that I didn’t like. When she passed, it felt something snap inside of me. It left me with a bad feeling.
She walked past us, I noticed that she drew Matt’s attention, but only for a little while, so I didn’t worry too much. Little did I know that a storm was about to hit, a storm that would tear through my life taking away the one I loved the most.
***
About fifteen minutes later, we were back at my house, infront of my front door.
“ Thanks for everything, Yama-chan,” I said to him.
“ You’re welcome,” he said, “ it was my pleasure.”
We both stood there for a moment, neither one of us sure what to do. Suddenly, he leaned over to give me a kiss, but he stopped when I gently pushed him away.
“ What’s wrong?” he asked quietly.
“ Nothing,” I said, “ it’s just…please don’t.” I felt like that one kiss was going to commit me to something that I wasn’t ready to handle. He’d known that the entire five years we’d been going out.
“ I see,” he said as he turned and walked away. He was at the bottom of the steps when he called of his shoulder,” Goodnight, Mimi.”
As I watched him walk away into the darkness, I wanted with all my heart to call out, but I didn’t. When he was out of sight, I opened the door to my house, and walked in slowly and sadly.
***
I don’t know how long after that incident that It happened. All I know is that it was once again raining cats and dogs on that day. I assume it was about a week later though.
When Matt knocked on my door that fateful day, I assumed that he was there to say, Hi, but little did I know that he came bearing a somber message.
“ Can I come in?” he asked quietly as he stared at the floor, rubbing his foot on the carpet. “ Sure,” I said as I moved aside to let him in. After he walked in and dropped his umbrella by the door, I closed the door and followed him.
I found him in the living room; he was looking at one of the many framed photos of us that I had in that room. When he saw that I was there, he quickly put it down and said to me, “ We have to talk.” “ Sure thing, Yama-chan,” I said as I sat on a nearby chair.
“ Please,” he said as he waved his hand at me, “ don’t call me that anymore.”
“ Why not?” I asked.
“ Because,” he said. He paused for a long moment.
I had a nasty feeling that I wasn’t going to like what he was going to tell me.
“ Why?” I asked again.
“ Because…I’m… it’s…it’s over, Mimi.”
“ What!?” I asked as I bolted up from my chair. “ What do you mean it’s over?”
“ Just what I said, It’s over.”
I was shocked. “ Why?” I asked.
“ Because… I love you, but I’m not sure if you love me. In the five years that we’ve been going out, you haven’t proved to me that you love me. I always belived you did, but now I’m not so sure.”
“ You know I do, Yama-chan. You know I love you, I always have and I always will.”
“ Don’t call me that!” he yelled at me. He quieted down after a little bit. “ Now listen, it’s over, and that’s it. No questions.” He began to walk out of the room, but I grabbed onto his arm.
“ Wait,” I said, “ there is someone else you can go to right?”
“ Why would you care?” he asked.
I was shocked by this remark, but I managed to speak. “ I just want to make sure that someone will love you if I can’t. I just want to know that you’ll be happy.”
“ Trust me,” he said, “ I will be.” He then pulled his hand free of my grip and walked back to the front door, only pausing to pick up his umbrella, and to say, “ See you around, Mimi.”
He then walked outside into the downpour, and I followed him outside, not caring whether or not I got wet. He walked away, never looking back, just walking away from me. Just before he was out of sight, I whispered to myself, “ Goodbye, Matt.”
I stood out there for quite a while, just staring in the direction in which he had walked. My long chestnut hair got soaked as did my pink dress. My vision was clouded with tears.
I drew many a strange look from the passerbys, but I didn’t care. All I knew, all I felt was the pain. That was the only thing I knew. My world was narrowed to that pain.
It took a few minutes for it to sink in. * He’s gone. I don’t believe it. He was gone.*
When that sunk in, my heart shattered into a million pieces. I quickly ran back inside and grabbed my keys and my pink jacket. I locked the door, and just ran.
I really didn’t care where I ended up. I just wanted to get as far away from everything that I’d ever known.
***
I ran for what seemed to be an hour before I finally stopped to rest. When I looked around through the downpour, I found myself in front of a night club. Having finally decided to seek shelter from the rain, I opened the door and stepped inside. The inside of the club was dark and smelled of smoke and alcohol. There were a few people playing pool at one of the nearby tables and there was a young, handsome, well dressed man having a conversation with the bartender.
I found a table by the door just in case it was necessary to make a hasty exit. I really didn’t want to be noticed in my present state, but, I didn’t want to trap myself in a corner either. It wasn’t that I cared what happened to me right now, but I just didn’t want to be caught in the middle of anything.
I hated places like this, but I felt a need to come here, like something had drawn me to this run down night club.
From where I was sitting, I could hear the man’s conversation with the bartender.
“ I don’t need a drink,” he was saying, “ what I need is a singer, and a good one, on the double.”
“ Sorry, bud,” said the bar tender, “ I can’t help you there.”
“ Yeah,” said the man, “ well, if I’m going to find a singer, I’d better get going.”
He got up to leave, but I walked over to him. “ I hear you need a singer,” I said.
“ Do you know someone who could help me?” he asked excitedly.
“ Well,” I said, “ I can sing. I just don’t know how good a singer you want. I just want to know if I can help.”
“ Of course you can help, you probably just saved my job,” he said.
“ How’s that?” I asked.
“ Well,” he said, “ my boss said that I had to have someone to audition by tomorrow, and I’ve been searching the city, and I still haven’t found anyone.” He pulled a business card from his pocket. “ Meet me at this address tomorrow.”
“ Don’t you want to hear me sing first?” I asked.
“ You don’t have to. Something tells me that you’ll be the one. Will you come tomorrow?”
I nodded.
“ Good,” he said. “ See ya there tomorrow.” Then, he turned around and took another look at me, and saw that I was soaking wet from head to toe.
“ Do you need a ride?” he asked.
“ That would be great,” I said as I followed him out to his car.
***
True to his word, I told hi where to go, and he dropped me home. I had only met him today, but I already trusted him as much as I had Matt, but I didn’t love him.
Anyway, to make a long story short, I auduitioned, and I was a success. That man I had met at the night club, became my manager. Because of that fight, I became an international singing sensation, but as I said before, I never dreamt that I would have to give up Matt. I still think about him, escpecially on rainy days like this one…
…End flashback.
***
A soft voice brought my wandering mind back to the present.
“ Mimi,” said the small voice, “ you’re not still thinking about him are you?”
“ No Palmon,” I said.
“ Why don’t I believe you?” she asked. “ Maybe because I’m lying,” I said as I smiled my first true smile since Matt left me.
“ Mimi,” said Palmon, “ you’ve got to forget about him. If not for your own good, do it for me. I hate to see you so sad.”
“ How can I ever forget him after what he did for me? From what Palmon told me,he saved my life.” ***
Flashback…
A ragged group consisting of three people walked along a steep mountain ridge in the DigiWorld, hardly ever stopping to rest. In the lead was Matt, a tall blond boy with blue eyes. He was wearing a green shirt and blue jeans, next to him, Gabumon, a small dog-like digimon with a large horn on its head. Next in line was T.K., a short blond boy with blue eyes. He was wearing a green shirt and brown pants, he also had a green hat. Next to him was Patamon, a small brown creature with brown bat wings for ears. I was last in line. At this time, I was wearing my trademark pink dress and pink cowgirl hat. Next to me was Palmon, a short plant-like digimon with a pink flower on her head.
***
( Author’s note: For this flashback only, everything from Mimi’s P.O.V will be written in the third person. Example, instead of saying, I said, it will now say, Mimi said. Note! This is for this flashback only!) ***
“ Matt, how much longer do we have to walk?” Mimi whined. “ My feet are killing me!”
“ Yeah ,Matt,” said Palmon, “ we’re tired. We all need a break. Right T.K.?”
T.K. sank to the ground. “ Yeah, Matt. We need a break. I’m so tired, I think I need a nap. Good night,” he said as he fell asleep.
Matt leaned against a nearby rock and stuck his hands in his pockets. “ It looks like we’re taking a break,” he said.
They rested for about ten minutes before setting off again. Then, about fifteen minutes later… ***
“ Owww!”
Matt, T.K., Gabumon, Patamon, and Palmon turned around to see what had happened. It was Mimi. She had tripped over an upraised piece of rock and had falled flat on her face.
“ Mimi! Mimi!” Palmon cried as she ran over, “ are you okay?!”
“ Not really,” Mimi said still face first in the dirt.
“ Oh here,” said Palmon, “ let me help you up.” Palmon tried to help Mimi up, but she wasn’t strong enough. “ Hey you guys!” Palmon called to Matt and Gabumon, “ I need some help here!”
T.K. and Patamon both just stayed put because they both knew that they weren’t strong enough. That left Matt and Gabumon. Since Matt just stood there glaring angrily, Gabumon went over to help Mimi up. Once Mimi was back on her feet, she tried to walk, but she fell again. She gingerly rubbed her ankle.
“ What’s wrong, Mimi?” Palmon asked.
“ My ankle…” she sobbed, “ I think I sprained it. I don’t think I can walk. I need to sit and rest.” She closed her eyes and leaned against a nearby rock. Suddenly, her eyes snapped open. She was being hauled up roughly by none other than Matt.
“ We don’t have time to rest again!” he said angrily, “ we’ve got to keep moving. If Myotismon catches us, then we’ll all suffer.” T.K. and the digimon looked on at this scene suprisedly.
“ But, I can’t walk,” she said.
“ I know you can,” he said as he exteneded his hand to help her up. She took it, and he helped her up, but once she was standing, he shoved her down the slope. “ Keep walking!” he yelled.
Mimi did so, as the tears began to form in her eyes.
“ Now don’t give me that look, just keep walking.”
Mimi complied as best as she could, but she had to limp because of her ankle. Even though she was doing the best she could, without any help, I might add, Matt still glared at her ocassionally.
*Why me?* she asked herself silently. * Why does all this bad stuff have to happen to me?*
They walked for several hours straight, never stopping to rest. Finally, Matt agreed that they should rest because even he was collapsing from sheer exhaustion. They set up as small camp near a lake, and everyone except T.K. and Patamon took turns standing watch.
About 2 A.M….
***
Matt, T.K., Gabumon and Patamon were sleeping soundly while Mimi and Palmon stood watch, by the light of the small campfire that Gabumon had made. The night was silent, there were no birds, or anything else for that matter to make amy noise, so right now, all Palmon heard was the soft crackling of the campfire. Mimi, on the other hand, heard anything but silence. She replayed the day’s events in her head, over and over again. No matter how hard she tried to, she couldn’t stop the replay. It felt like she had no control over her mind. She could see everything. She saw when she sprained her ankle, she saw when Matt had yelled at her, she felt, the sheer exhaustion that came from having walked all day.
Suddenly, something happened. Images that made no sense came flooding into her mind. She saw herself alone in a large forest, similar to the one they were near right now. She saw a huge plant-like creature that she assumed was a digimon, but it wasn’t one she was familiar with. It was tall, and covered in spikes, but it wasn’t Togemon. This creature looked like it was made out of wood, and it was covered in large poisoned spikes, like mentioned before. It didn’t have any hands, but in place of hands, it had two long vines.
*What is this?* Mimi asked herself. * Is this a digimon?*
The images continued coming to her. She saw that the creature had something caught in one of its vines, but she couldn’t make out what it was. Then, from out of nowhere, a voice whispered to her, “ Camamon…”
*Camamon, is that its name?* She didn’t need an answer, because an unknown knowledge came flowing into her. It answered everyone of her questions before she could even ask them.
Then, the picture changed. It showed Matt glaring angrily at something, or someone, but she couldn’t see who or what. That’s when the pain started. This was no ordinary pain, but rather a crushing one. She felt as though she was trapped in one of Camamon’s vines, but she knew she wasn’t. The pain lasted for a minute, but that minute was unbearable for Mimi. She opened her mouth to cry out, but she heard nothing. She tried screaming again, but the results were the same. Just before she was ready to give up, the images grew blurry. The picture with Matt glaring angrily, moved to show what he was giving the death look, but she couldn’t see what it was. The image had grown too blurry She felt her mind collapse into a dark void from which no light escaped. She felt like she was dying. She fell down into the pit. Every second she fell, the pit grew darker. There seemed to be no end to this pit. She felt her mind start to slip away from her, and her breath started to leave her. Her mind had almost completely slipped away, when…
***
Mimi bolted upright so fast that she almost fell face first into the fire, but Palmon managed to catch her. Mimi looked around quickly, trying to get her bearings. When she was sure that she was safe back at the small campsite, she leaned back against a rock that she had been sleeping on.
“ Mimi, are you all right?” asked Palmon. “ You were screaming in your sleep.”
Mimi considered her answer carefully before saying, “ Yeah, I was just having a nightmare, that’s all. Why’d you let me sleep?”
“ You looked exhausted, so I thought I’d let you get some sleep while I stood watch. Besides, there’s nothing to watch out here besides a bunch of trees.”
“ Thanks Palmon,” said Mimi as she gave Palmon a quick hug, “ you’re the greatest.”
Mimi considered her dream for a while. * Funny,* she thought, * that crushing pain I felt was nothing compared to the pain of having Matt angry at me. I just wish that I could have seen what he was glaring at. Oh well. No use complaining now.*
“You want to know something, Palmon?” Mimi asked.
“ What?” was the reply.
“ I really think that Matt hates me. I’m really starting to think that he doesn’t want as part of the group. He hates me, I just know it.”
“ Mimi!” Palmon scolded, “ you know that that’s not true. Matt does not hate you. He’s just under a lot of stress right now. When the group split up, and Tai and the others left, Matt was charged with the safety of you and T.K.. If anything ever happened to either of you, he’d never forgive himself.”
“ No!” Mimi screamed, “ you’re wrong Palmon! I know he hates me!” She then broke down and sobbed uncontrollably.
“ Shh, Mimi,” said Palmon soothingly, “ it’ll be okay.”
Mimi eventually quieted down, and they sat in silence for the rest of their watch.
***
Unbeknownst to anyone, Matt ahd awoken at about 1 A.M. and had been walking around aimlessly for that past hour.
*Gee,* he thought, * I feel really bad about they way I treated Mimi today. I don’t what came over me. It was like I wasn’t myself. She probably hates me now.* His heart sank. * Wait!* His heart jumped back up. * I know, I’ll apologize in the morning. I’ll say that I’m really really sorry and that I’ll never do anything like that again. Oh! She’s on guard duty now! I’ll go and apologize right now!* He immediately turned and ran back to the campsite.
***
He was almost back at the campsite, when he heard Mimi scream twice. Thoughts flew through his mind. *They’re probably being attacked by some evil digimon. I’d better get back there on the double!*
He quickened his pace back to the campsite, but he was careful not to make any noise. He would need every edge.
When he finally arrived back at the campsite, he was shocked. There was no evil digimon attacking Mimi and Palmon. Right now, they were talking.
He hid behind a tree that was close enough so that he could hear what they saying, but no so close that they could possibly see him. He listened to the whole exchange.
Once Mimi had quieted down, he became lost in his own thoughts. * She thinks I hate her,* he thought, * if only she knew…* Now he felt doubly guilty. He wanted to go out there and apologize to her right away, but he didn’t feel ready to, so he stayed there, until he had gathered his thoughts. Once he did, he tiptoed back around to the place where he was supposed to have been sleeping, then, he came out and walked up to Mimi and Palmon, trying hard to pretend that he hadn’t heard anything. He wouldn’t have had to have heard anthing to know that something was wrong though.
Her eyes were all red and puffy and her face was still wet with tears, but he pretended not to notice anything.
“ I’ll take over from here,” he said as he sat by the campfire. “ You two go and get some sleep.”
Mimi got up and Palmon helped her find a place to sleep.
When they were gone, Matt leaned against the rock that Mimi and Palmon had been leaning on only moments before and stared up into the starless sky. Something told him that it was going to be a long night.
About an hour later…
***
Images came flooding into Matt’s head. Images of a huge plant-like digimon with two long vines for hands, and with that image came a name, Camamon. From where Matt was standing in his dream, he could see Camamon clearly. He could also see that it had something in one of its vines, but the was near the top of his vision where it was blurry. He moved a step back to see what it was, but no matter where he moved or what he did, he still could see what Camamon had in its vines.
Then, the image switched. It switched to show Mimi glaring defiantly at something, or someone, but he couldn’t see who or what it was. Sudenly, he was overwhelmed by an intense feeling of grief and loss. He felt as though he had lost the most important thing in the world.
His mind raced. * T.K.* he thought, * it’s got to be T.K. Something probably happens to him. I’ve got to protect him!* The sense of grief continued to overwhelm him, until he felt as though it would smother him. He felt like he was dying, but he wasn’t. *Nooooo!* his mind screamed. The images faded from his mind, and he awoke with a start, only to find himself back at the campsite. He looked around quickly before wiping the beads of sweat from his forehead.
“ That was some dream,” he whispered to himself, before going back on watch.
Back at the campsite where Mimi, T.K., Gabumon, Palmon, and Patamon are…
***
T.K. had no idea what was going on. One minute he was dreaming that he was in a land where everything was made out of cotton candy, and the next, he was facing a huge digimon that for some unknown reason, he knew was called Camamon . From where he was standing, he could see Camamon clearly, except for one of its vines. T.K. knew that something was caught in it, but he couldn’t tell what it was. Then, the scene switched to show his brother’s face. Matt’s eyes were red from crying his eyes out.His face was comtorted with grief. T.K. didn’t know what was going on, but he wanted to help his brother in anyway he could. Then, came the voice. Celeste… it said. T.K. didn’t know what it meant, but he guessed that it was important, so he made a point of remembering it. Once he had meorized it, he found himself back in cotton candy land.
***
Mimi watched T.K. sleep, and listened to Palmon’s rythmical breathing. She had nothing else to do. She had no idea how Palmon could fall asleep so easily, but she wished that she did. The images that she had seen earlier swirled around in her head. There was no way that she was going back to sleep tonight. *Well,* she thought, * since there’s no way that I’m getting any sleep tonight, I guess I’ll go for a long walk. One so long that I’ll never come back. Palmon’s wrong. Matt does hate me, and with him as the leader of the group, I’d probably be better off on my own. Oh, I’d better get going before anyone wakes up.*
With that, she quietly tiptoed out into the forest. * Goodbye…* she thought as she vanished into the darkness.
***
The next morning…
***
Matt awoke to find T.K., Patamon, Gabumon, and Palmon staring into his face worriedly.
*I must have fallen asleep on watch* he thought. He looked around. It was morning. He gave himself a minute to let the fog clear from his head. “ How’d everyone sleep?” he asked with a yawn.
“ We slept pretty well,” said Palmon, “ but we have a bigger problem. We can’t find Mimi anywhere!” Matt bolted upright as thoughts of how he had acted yesterday flew through his head at 100 miles per hour. “ What!” he exclaimed. “ Mimi’s missing?!”
“ That’s right,” said Palmon. “ She was with me when we went to sleep last night, but when I woke up this morning, she was nowhere to be seen.”
“ Matt stood up. That dream he had had last night swirled around in his head. “ We had better go and find her now!” he said. “ There’s just no telling what kind of trouble she might get into. Let’s go!” he said. Then they headed off into the forest.
***
15 minutes later
***
“ Mimi!” yelled Palmon, “ where are you?” “ Mimi! Where are you?” yelled Matt a “ Mimi!” yelled Gabumon. More cries of her name echoed throughout the forest, but no response was heard.
***
Mimi had been walking for hours through the forest. She didn’t want to admit it, but she was lost. “ I wish Palmon was here,” she said to herself. Suddenly, she had a feeling of déjà vu. She felt like she had been through this already, but she didn’t know when. She heard Palmon yelling her name, but she decided not to answer. She was trying to figure out where she remembered this from, when a tall wood-like digimon covered in poison spikes with two vines for hands.
“ Oh no,” she whispered to herself as memories of last night’s dream came flooding back to her. “ Camamon!”
***
15 minutes later…
***
“ Helllp!”
“Where’d that come from?” asked Matt. “ I don’t know,” was Gabumon’s reply. “ Oh,” said Patamon as his ears perked up. “ What’s that?”
“ What’s wrong, Patamon?” asked T.K. “ I think I heard something over there,” said Patamon as he turned to his left. Then, from the very direction that Patamon had indicated, came another scream.
“ Help me! Someone!”
“ It’s Mimi!” Matt exclaimed as he ran off in the direction from which the scream had come. “ Wait up Matt!” yelled T.K. as he and the digimon ran after Matt.
***
5 minutes later…
***
“Oh no!” said Matt. “ It can’t be! It can’t!” Matt was overwhelmed by a feeling of déjà vu. He was standing in front of Camamon, just like in his dream, except this time, he could see what Camamon had in its vine. It had Mimi. It was obvious that Camamon was trying to crush her to death. She had her eyes closed and her teeth gritted against the pain. When she opened her eyes, she saw Matt, T.K. and the digimon standing there. She now fully remembered the dream that she had had, and she knew that no matter what happened, she was going to die, and this time, there was no waking up. Nonetheless, she struggled desperately.
“Matt!” she cried, “ please help me!” Camamon then squeezed her even tighter, but it stopped when a rock made contact with its head. It looked down and saw Matt tossing and catching another rock, which he then tossed at its head. Camamon howled and squeezed Mimi even tighter.
Matt turned to Gabumon and said, “ Gabumon, digivolve!”
Gabumon nodded and yelled, “ Gabumon digivolve to…Garurumon!” Gabumon was replaced by a much larger wolf-like creature. Garurumon imediately attacked Camamon. Camamon howled madly with pain each time Garurumon attacked.
“ I think I’ll join in on the battle,” said Palmon. Then she shouted, “Palmon digivolve to Togemon!” Palmon was replaced by a larger cactus with boxing gloves. Togemon helped Garurumon attack Camamon. “ All right!” yelled Camamon, “ if you want her so bad, you can have her!”
He raised the vine with Mimi in it and threw her towards the ground. Matt, in turn, tried to catch her, but in doing so, he fell backwards. In the few seconds that Matt was down, Camamon grabbed both Mimi and T.K. When Matt got up and saw what was happening he couldn’t believe it.
“ No!” he cried, “ I’ve lost them both! I can’t win this without them!” Suddenly, his crest of friendship began to glow and Garurmon digivolved to WereGarurumon, a bigger form of Garurumon that looked a lot like a werewolf. WereGarurumon attacked Camamon, and made him drop T.K., whom Matt, caught, but Camamon still had Mimi.
“Break away, Mimi!” Matt yelled.
“ No!” she yelled back through clenched teeth. “ You guys get away! I’ll stop him from following you! “
“ I can’t let you die!” he yelled back.
“ I can’t let you die either! I won’t let you die!” she screamed. That’s when her crest of sincerity began to glow.
Togemon shouted, “ Togemon digivolve to…Lillymon!” Togemon was replaced by a fairy-like creature that was dressed in pink flowers, and she had a pink flower on her head.
“ Whoa!” said Matt, “ what is that?”
“ That is Lillymon,” said Patamon, “ she is Togemon’s digivolved form. Her attack is Flower Cannon.”
Lillymon’s hands then became one giant orange flower which opened to reveal a cannon. She backed away from Camamon and yelled “Flower Cannon.” She then shot some green disks at Camamon. The disks exploded into minature petals when it hit. The result of the attack was that Camamon dropped Mimi, who Matt caught, and Camamon was shot far away, thanks to WereGarurumon.
***
“ I’m so glad that that’s finally over,” said Matt as he breathed a sigh of relief. Now it was time to take care of Mimi and T.K. T.K. was okay, but Mimi wasn’t. She had been almost completely crushed by Camamon. From what Matt could tell, most of her bones were broken. He guessed that several of her internal organs were ruptured, and there was probably a lot of internal bleeding. There was just no way that she would make it, even with immediate medical attention. He gathered her limp form up in his arms and cradled her to his chest. Once again, he was filled with that incomparable feeling of loss. He would have rather lost his life, than to have her die. He loved her more than life itself. Sudennly, she stirred in his arms. She was concious, but even that news didn’t cheer him up. He knew that she was going to die.
“ Is she going to die, Matt?” asked T.K. quietly.
Matt thought carefully before giving his solemn answer. “Yes,” he said.
T.K. , Patamon, and Tsunomon were so shocked that they couldn’t even react, whereas, Tanemon was crying her heart out, and Matt wept bitterly.
“ Matt, what’s wrong?” Mimi asked quietly, all the while coughing. Each cough shook her frail body violently.
* What should I do?* he asked himself. * I shouldn’t tell her that she’s dying. It will scare her. What should I do?* He was busy trying to come up with something to tell her, when she spoke.
“ I’m going to die. Am I right?” she asked quietly. He was shocked, but he answered with a nod, then asked equally quietly, “ How do you know? Did you have a dream?”
“ Yes,” she said weakly. She then grew paler, and her breathing got softer and slower. “Matt,” she said, “ I have to tell you something really important.”
“ What?” he asked as tears began to form in his eyes.
“ I…I…I love you.” She then breathed her last, and her brown eyes closed forever.
He was shocked by her confession, but that only added to his indescribable grief.
“ Mimi,” he cried, “ wake up, please wake up!” There was no response from her still form. He drew her even closer to him. The tears began to flow down his cheeks like a small river.
He raised his head and shouted at the top of his lungs, “ Mimi! Don’t die! Please don’t die! I…I love you! I love you so much! Please don’t die!”
After yelling that, he hung his head, and wept so much that he felt like his eyes were on fire, but that didn’t even lessen the pain at all. It was as though his heart had been wrenched out from his body while he was still alive. That was only a small portion of the pain that he felt. He kept crying until, it eventually died down to a series of soft sobs.
T.K. could only watch as his brother and Tanemon cried their hearts out. He felt so useless. He wished there was something he could do, but what? What could bring Mimi back? Nothing he knew. Nothing could bring Mimi back. Nothing that he knew of.
Suddenly, memories of the dream he had had last night came flooding back to him. The picture before him was exactly as it had been in the dream. There was a voice, he remembered. What had the voice told him? He couldn’t have remembered it if his life depended on it.
“ Come on, come on!” he whispered to himself. “ Think!” In an instant, his mind snagged a wisp of memory. The voice had said Cel something. *All right, that’s a start.* he thought, * Cel..Cell? No. Cellar? No. Cellene? No. Celeste? Yes! That was it! The voice had said Celeste. Now, what am I supposed to do with it?* he asked himself. That’s when the voice touched his mind again. Call out my name… said the voice. “ All right,” T.K. said to himself. “ Here goes.”
T.K. yelled at the top of his lungs, “ Celeste!”
***
Somewhere, no one knew where, a being of purity stirred. She was being called forth. It seemed that her dream inducement had worked. The bearer of Hope was calling her forth.
She rose majestically, a large pair of white, feathery wings unfolding behind her. It was time to get to work. She gracefully raised her right hand, and she vanished, leaving behind a single white feather.
***
T.K.’s yell had startled the greiving Matt, and Tanemon, and it had gotten Tsunomon’s and Patamon’s attention.
“ What are you doing T.K.?” asked Gabumon.
“ Following my instructions,” replied T.K.
Matt was going to turn back to grieving, when he was interrupted by a blinding glow that was like the light of a thousand suns.. He shielded his eyes, and when the glow faded, he found an angel-like woman standing in front of him.
“ Who are you?” he asked.
“ The one who can help you,” she replied.
“ Can you bring Mimi back?” he asked.
“ I can if you tell me two things,” she said. “ I’ll tell you anything, just bring her back, please!”
“ First, do you really love her?”
“ Yes, with all my heart.”
“ Secondly, do you realize that you brought this upon her, that you are responsible for her being dead?”
Matt hung his head before he replied. “ Yes,” he said solemnly.
“ Then I can save her,” she said. She raised her hands above her head, and yelled, “ Crest of Sincerity, Crest of Friendship, unite!”
The symbols from Mimi’s and Matt’s crest shot out and floated in midair, then merged to form one symbol, the Crest of Sincere Friendship.
Matt could feel some of his strength being drained away,a nd instcintively knew that Mimi was getting stronger.. The symbols then separated and returned to their respective crests. The angel-like being then vanished in a flash of light.
Matt was blinded for a little while, but when he could see again, he found himself, and the others, back at the campsite, He saw T.K., Patamon, Tanemon, and Tsunomon sleeping by the campfire, which for some unknown reason, was still burning.
He got up and walked over to her still form, wondering if the transfer worked. She was alive, and for that, he was extremely grateful.
That’s when he began to sob. The words of the angel-being were fresh in his mind. You brought this upon her. You are responsible for her being dead. That’s when the angel-being’s voice touched his mind again, this time with a different message. You must tell her the truth. Tell her what you told me… After hearing that voice released his mind.
That’s when he noticed that Mimi had awakened and was staring up at him. She noticed that he had been crying. “ What’s wrong, Matt?” she asked.
He stared at her as though he couldn’t believe her. He then pulled her up and wrapped her in a tight hug.
“ You’re alive!” he said as he began to cry tears of joy.
She surprised at the statement and the hug, that she didn’t know what to do. Then her mind was touched by a voice. Tell him, said the voice as it faded away. “ Yes, I’m alive,” she said. “ You saved me.”
“ No, Mimi,” he said as he gently pushed her away. “ I, in a sense actually brought your death upon you.”
“ I remember what happened, and I don’t blame you. I choose to thank you for giving me back my life.” He was surprised at this, but he was happy. “ Listen, Mimi, I’ve got something to tell you.”
“ Yeah,” she said, “ I’ve got something to tell you too.”
“ Shh,” he said as he gently placed a finger over her lips. “ Me first.” *This is it* he thought. * It’s now or never.* “ I love you Mimi. I always have and I always will. There is no way that I’d ever hurt you . The only reason that I snapped at you earlier, was that I was concerned about everyone’s safety. I didn’t want anything to happen to any of you. I love you.”
Mimi was understandably shocked at that revelation, but she accepted it gratefully. “ That was exactly what I was going to tell you. I love you so much that words can’t even say. I couldn’t live with the idea that you hated me. I thought that it was best that I just leave. I’m sorry I worried you so much.”
“ It’s okay. Just promise me one thing.”
“ What?”
“ That you’ll never do that again. I was worried almost to death.”
“ I’m sorry.”
“ It’s okay,” he said as he put his arms on her shoulders, “you don’t need to apologize.”
“ Sorry,” she said before catching herself. “ Shh,” he said as he drew her close to him and rested her head on his shoulder. “ I’ll love you now and for always…”
End Flashback…
( Author’s note: Now everything from Mimi’s P.O.V. is now in the 1st person. Example: instead of saying Mimi said, it’ll now say I said.)
*He had said that he would love me always. Then how come he ran off with that girl we passed on the way to the movies? I don’t know why he did, but I still love him. I always will.*
“ Oh look, Mimi,” said Palmon, “ it’s stopped raining. Let’s go to the garden.”
“ Oh, sure,” I said as I snapped out of my thoughts.
***
A few minutes later, Palmon and I were walking through a small garden that was located on the grounds of the large mansion that I lived in…alone. There were rows upon rows of flowers of all varieties and colors. There was a row of bright red crysanthemums to my right and there was a row of purple orchids to my left. There was even a small pond, filled with goldfish located in the center of the garden. It was so peaceful here. It was a place for me to get away from my life. It was one of the only places that the media didn’t know about. I loved it here, and so did Palmon. It seemed that we both had a certain affinity for plants and flowers. I guess that’s what drove me to design this huge garden.
Both of us kept walking, until we came to the part of the garden that was dedicated solely to roses.There was dozens of yellow, red, and white roses to behold, but I paid little attention to those. What I paid attention to was a huge bush of pink roses. I walked over to the bush and fingered one of the roses gently. These were exactly the same as the ones that Matt had given to me on our last date. As I fingered the rose, a single tear slipped down my cheek. I still wished that he hadn’t left. I still loved him with all my heart.
Palmon noticed what was happening and gently took hold of my arm. “ Come on, Mimi,” she said. “ Why don’t you go and do some shopping?”
“ Oh, okay,” I said as I brightened somewhat. I still loved shopping. That was another one of the few things that hadn’t changed when he left. I turned to walk back into the mansion, but before I did, I turned and stared back wistfully at the bush of roses. Once again, Palmon, noticed what was happening, and she firmly, but gently pushed me back towards the mansion.
***
Once I was back inside, I walked over to a tall, spiral stair case and made my way up it. I walked slowly, and I considered what I was going to wear and where I was going to go. I decided to keep the disguise as simple as possible. That greatly narrowed the field.
About a minute later, I was once again upstairs in my room. This time, instead of walking over to the large window, I walked over to a small, mirrored door that was nearby. The door was small, but I knew that here, looks were deceiving. I gently opened the door to reveal a closet that was almost as large as my bedroom. Despite its size, it was incredilbly neat.
Having decided to wear a simple disguise, I walked down to the very end of the closet and pulled out a short blue dress. I also pulled out a blond wig and a hat from the shelf above me. *This will do* I thought to myself. Not too complicated, but not too simple. It was perfect.
I dressed quickly, did my makeup, and grabbed my purse and a pair of shoes from the closet before heading out the door.
I got into one of my cars and drove to the nearest mall. I could have gone to my own mall, but I wanted to be as normal as possible.
I was enjoying the peace and quiet of the ride, when something struck me. I had neglected to invite Palmon to come with me. She loved shopping as much as I did. Maybe I should go back and get her. Then I thought, * I really want to go on my own. So, I guess that I won’t go back and get her. I’ll bring her along next time. Oh well…*
***
It took me only a little while to get to the mall, and when I did, I got out of the car, and gently closed the door. I glanced in one of the car’s mirrors to make sure that my makeup, my hat and my wig were okay, and I headed towards the mall’s entrance.
Then, it happened. Once again, just like that fateful night in the DigiWorld, images that made no sense came flooding into my head. This time, there wasn’t just images, but instead there were feelings and sounds and a mind splitting migraine. I collapsed to the hot asphalt of the parking lot, and clutched at my head trying desperately to think of someway to stop this headache.
Instead of different images flowing into my mind, I saw the same images and felt the same feelings over and over again.
I saw an alley dead end into a brick wall, and I felt an intense fear which grew and grew until it grew into complete and utter terror. Then, all that subsided into a slight fear, and then completely dissappeared into relief. This cycle reapeated several times, over and over again.
Finally, the images stopped, and I guess that I passed out.
***
Meanwhile…
Not very far away from where I was, a very familiar person tossed and turned in his sleep. He was going through the exact same thing that I had gone through just moments before. He awoke with a start, blue eyes snapping open quickly, dressed quickly, and walked out the door.
***
I awoke with a start and bolted up so fast that I startled the person who had been leaning over me, so badly that he fell back, knocking his head hard on the concrete. I looked around to see where I was and I checked for any restraints. It turned out that I was laying on a park bench.
Once I was sure that I was okay and that I wasn’t being held captive, I turned to look and see who had been leaning over me.
He was about my age, brown hair that was semi-messy, well dressed, and rather handsome. He had brown eyes that were now staring at me intently. His face looked somewhat familiar.
There was a shuffle of cloth from somewhere, and a slam of a car door, then a woman’s voice that also seemed familiar.
“ Is she awake yet, dear?” asked the woman. “ Yes,” said the man as he gingerly rubbed his head where he had hit it.
A woman, also about my age, appeared from somewhere to my left. She had long red hair that was now tied in a loose ponytail. Her large brown eyes were staring at me intently. Then, she turned her attention to the man whom she had called dear. I presumed that he was her husband. “ What happened to you?” she asked.
“ Oh, nothing,” replied the man, who was still sitting on the concrete in front of us.
The woman sat down next to me to make sure that I was okay. She was carrying a cup of water, which she handed to me. I drank the water and thanked her.
“ You’re welcome,” she said. The, a slight gust of wind came up and blew my hat off of my head. It landed at my feet. I bent over to get it, but the woman stopped me.
“ I’ll get it,” she said. She then bent over and grabbed the hat, but as she did so, her necklace slipped out from inside her shirt. I gasped when I saw it.
It was a big brownish pendant that had a piece of red stone with something engraved on it in the middle.
She handed me the hat, but I sat there staring at the pendant. She followed my gaze to see what I was staring at. When she saw that her pendant had slipped out, she moved to quickly stuff it back inside her shirt, but I said, “ Please wait. May I see that?” “ What? This old thing?” she asked.
I nodded.
“ Well, there’s nothing special about it,” she said, “ but you can see it.” She handed it to me, somewhat apprehensively as though she was committing a cardinal sin. I took it out of her hand, and when I did, she stared down at her lap. I held the pendant in my hand, and stared at it as though to make sure that it was real. The pendant I found myself staring at, had a heart with 2 circles in the upper right hand corner, engraved on it.
“ I don’t believe it.” I whispered. “ It’s the Crest of Love!”
When the woman and the man heard that, they jerked her head up with disbelief. I guess that they were surprised that I knew what it was and what it meant. “ How do you know that?” the woman asked.
I didn’t answer her question, but rather, I continued on with my own train of thought. I said to myself, “ The only person who I’ve seen with the Crest of Love, was…” I looked directly at her. “ Sora? Is that you Sora?” I asked, my voice belaying my shock and surprise.
She too was shocked. “ Yes,” she answered quietly. “ My name is Sora. How do you know that?”
“ Don’t you recognize me Sora?” I asked. I mean, here I was, Mimi Tachikawa, powder puff girl. The bearer of the Crest of Sincerity. *How come they don’t recognize me?* I asked myself. * I haven’t changed that much. My eyes are still brown, my hair is still the same…* That’s when it struck me. I was wearing a wig! I reached up and gently pulled the wig off my head and placed it in my lap along with the hat. Then, I let down my real hair. I also pulled my Crest of Sincerity out from inside my dress and handed it to her.
Suddenly, Sora’s face lit up with understanding. “ Mimi!” she cried, “ it’s you! I can’t believe it!” She turned to the man who was still sitting on the ground. “ Did you hear that dear?” she asked. “ It’s Mimi!”
“ Mimi!” he exclaimed as he got up.
“ Yes, dear,” said Sora. “ It’s Mimi!” She turned back to me. “ I believe you know my husband too. If you know me, then you should know him.”
I took another look at the man. He looked somewhat familiar, but I couldn’t match the face to a name. He had an, I don’t belive you don’t recognize me yet, look on his face. Then, he had an inspiration. He reached inside his shirt and pulled out a tag and crest. His crest was orange and it had a picture of the sun engraved on it. I stared at it for a minute before the realization dawned on me. The crest was the Crest of Courage!
“ I don’t believe it!” I exclaimed. “ Tai Kamiya?!” In response to that, the man nodded.
“ That’s me!” he said happily. “ The one and only Tai Kamiya!”
I was filled with a joy greater than any that I had felt since Matt had left. I still couldn’t believe it! Three of the DigiDestined were reunited. *If only the others and Matt were here. Then, it would be perfect.* We sat down and began to talk about our lives.
***
I really don’t know how long we had sat there, but I guess that it was about an hour. We had talked about what we had done since we had returned from the Digiworld.
Tai, true to his word, wrote a book about the group’s adventures in Digiworld. That book had become a bestseller. Also, he had played soccer professionally for a while, but gave it up so that he could write his book.
Then, it was Sora’s turn. As soon as she had gotten back from the Digiworld, she began to study medicine. She had felt that it was her duty, as the bearer of the Crest of Love, to take care of others. Thanks to that sense of duty, she became one of the top doctors in the hospital she worked at. She also worked part time for a missing persons agency. Due to her compassion for others and the power of her crest, she reciveed visions that helped the police locate missing people.
Eventually, we got around to talking about my life. I told as much as I could, and I left Matt out of most of it. I hated not mentioning him, but I felt as if I mentioned his name, I would break down crying. I talked about my singing career and both Tai and Sora knew about me, and they had tried to get in contact, but they were always told, that I was busy. Eventually, they gave up though. They had attended several of my concerts, and had tried to talk to me afterwards, but the mob of fans was too great for them to fight.
We talked about a lot of stuff. For example, we talked about Tai and Sora’s wedding, and they talked about the other DigiDestined.
Izzy had opened a large computer company, and Joe, worked as a lawyer. Kari was just about ready for her graduation from college, and T.K. wasn’t far behind. They both were majoring in Psychology. Eventually, we got around to talking about Matt. Tai said that he and Sora had kept in contact with Matt for a little while, mainly because of T.K. and Kari, but, about 10 years after we returned from DigiWorld, he dropped out of sight and they hadn’t seen him since.
They had asked me if I knew anything about him. I fought an internal struggle for a while before answering. “ No,” I had said. “ I haven’t seen him since we had left the Digiworld.”
When I had said that, Sora had looked at me with the, I know you’re lying,so don’t try to trick me, look. For a second, I had feared that she was going to say something, but that did not happen, thankfully. Shortly after, we parted ways. Right now, I was driving back home. * Wow!* I thought excitedly, * Wait ‘till Palmon hears this! Now I’m really sorry that I didn’t bring her along. Oh well…* I turned my thoughts back to driving and what I was going to do this afternoon. That’s when I realized that I had nothing special planned. * Well,* I thought, * I guess I’ll relax for a change. It will be nice to have some peace and quiet.* I then turned my thoughts completely to driving.
***
It took me only a short while to get home, and I was so relieved when I did. I decided that I was going to go and relax in the jacuzzi for about an hour.
I slowly walked up the winding path to my front door, taking in the beautiful landscaping. I saw a bush of red roses near my front door, and I decided to pick one. I searched for a pretty one with relatively few thorns. As I did so, I suddenly had the nagging feeling that I was being watched. I quickly stood upright. In one of the nearby windows, I saw someone peek through the curtains, then dissappear as soon as I saw them. * Who would be in there?* I asked myself. * Burglars? Could be.* Now that made me angry. * How dare they?! How dare they intrude onto my property? Well, if they think they can do that and get away without being hurt, they’ve got another thing coming to them!*
I pulled my Crest of Sincerity out from inside my dress, and I grabbed my long disused digivice from my purse. I might need Palmon’s help for this one. I quietly crept up to the front door and prepared myself for a fight. I quietly put my key in the lock and turned it. The door unlocked with a soft click. I gently placed a shaking hand on the doorknob, turned it, swung the door open and…
I nearly jumped out of my skin when a large group of people jumped out from various places and unanimously yelled, “ Surprise!” I was so shocked that I nearly collapsed, but I recovered before that could happen. I took a quick look around to see who was there. I started from my right and went to my left. On my right, closest to me was Tai and Augumon. Next to him was Sora and Biyomon. Next to Sora was a tall man with dark red hair. He was dressed in a business suit. At first I didn’t recognize him, but then I spotted a small red bettle standing next to him. * Oh my gosh!* I thought, * that’s Izzy and Tentomon! Wow! He’s grown!* Next to Izzy was a tall man with blue hair and glasses. He too was wearing a suit. I didn’t recognize him either, but then I saw a small seal-like creature standing next to him. * Oh! That’s Joe and Gomamon!* Next to Joe, was a man of about 20. He had blond hair and blue eyes, just like Matt’s but it wasn’t him. I then spotted a small brown digimon next to him. * Hey! That’s T.K. and Patamon!* Then, standing next to T.K. was a woman a little taller than T.K. She looked to be about 22. Next to her was a small white cat creature. It was Kari and Gatomon! Then, standing next to Kari, was Palmon, who was smiling mischieveously. And last, but not least, there was another woman there. She looked to be about my age. She had long blond hair, and deep blue eyes. She was dressed in a casual dress. Next to her, was a small digimon with 2 long, pure white feathers for wings. * Hey! It’s Celeste and Celemon! Man, I haven’t seen them in a long time!*
When I finally recovered from my shock, I walked over to Palmon and said sweetly, “ Palmon, what’s going on here? Hmmm?”
“ Well,” said Sora, “ I can explain. Despite what I said earlier, I did keep in touch with you, in a way. I kept in touch with Palmon. She told me everything that happened. She toldme what large effects the break up with Matt was having on you, so I decided to throw a DigiDestined Reunion.”
“ Thank you so much,” I said to her, “ it’s perfect except for the fact that you’re missing a DigiDestined.”
“ I know,” said Sora, “ I wasn’t lying when I said that we had lost contact with Matt. We really did. Even T.K. That’s when Celeste came and told me that you were going to the mall near here. She touched your mind with those visions giving Tai and I some time to catch up with you. Albiet, she khad to knock you unconcious, but she came and stood guard until we got there.”
“ So,” I said, “ those visions I had, were fake. They’re not like the ones that I had back in the Digiworld?”
“ Oh they’re real,” said Celeste. “ I just used them because, I needed something to touch your mind with. Do not dismiss those visions though. They are just as real as I am.”
“ Okay,” said Tai. “ Enough talking. Let’s get this party started!”
***
About 3 hours later…
Brrring! Brrring! One of the many phones I had in the house was ringing off the hook, more so than normal. I left the noise and raucus of the party and found the nearest phone, picked it up and puched in a number. That took me to an automated menu which told me which phone was ringing. I then punched in that phone’s number and I answered it.
“Hello,” I said. I turned around and saw that Palmon had followed me.
“ Yes,” said the voice on the other end. “ Could I please speak to Mimi Tachikawa?”
“ This is she,” I answered.
“ Okay,” said the man somewhat nervously. He cleared his throat before beginning. “ Ms. Tachikawa,” he said, “ I am Dectective Morrison from the Tokyo Police. I must ask you, are you sitting down?”
“ I am now,” I replied as I pulled out a nearby chair and sat on it.
“ Ms. Tachikawa,” Dectective Moyori began. “ I have called to inform you…do you know a Yamato Ishida?” “ Yes,” I said somewhat impatiently. * This guy is really staring to bug me!* I thought.
“ Ms. Tachikawa, I have called to inform you that, Yamato Ishida… I’m afraid he’s dead.”
I managed to stifle a gasp, and tried in vain to keep tears from welling up in my eyes when I heard those words. I felt as though I was dead, devoid of all life and emotion. I felt like an empty shell with no mind, heart or soul, inside it. My entire body went numb, but I somehow managed to hang onto the phone. I wanted to get up and just run out of the house, but I regained some of my composure and managed to ask, “When?” It took the detective a few minutes to answer my question. It seemed as though he fought some kind of internal struggle over whether or not to tell me what I wanted to know. Finally, after about 3 minutes of silence, he decided to answer me. “Did you see the news yesterday?” he asked me. For a brief moment, my grief was overcome by curiosity. *What on earth does that have to do with anything?* I asked myself. * The man I love just died and this..this baka is asking me if I watched the news yesterday!* “ Yes,” I said. “ I saw some of it. Why?” “ Well, “ he said. “ Do you remember hearing a report at 3:30 about a hit and run accident at the intersection of Ryu Boulevard and Shinju Street?” I searched my memory before saying, “ Yes, I remember hearing it and thinking, ‘what a shame’. That’s about it though. Oh wait, I remember hearing that the pedestrian who was hit, died shortly after at the Odaiba Regional Hospital, and that the driver of the car has yet to be caught. That’s all. Why?” There was a small sound at the other end of the telephone that I couldn’t make out. Then the detective said, “ The pedestrian who had died, was Yamato Ishida. As soon as the med. teams arrived at the scene of the accident, we sent him directly to Odaiba Regional Hospital. The sad part is, is that at first, he didn’t seem to be injured all that badly, as we expected from a hit and run victim. We should have know that that was too good to be true. As it turned out, the doctors later found that he had suffered massive internal hemorrhaging and there was absolutely no way that he could’ve hoped to survive. The doctors told him that he had at most a half an hour to live. He died at 4:15 PM at Odaiba Regional Hospital, the cause of death, massive internal hemorrhaging. I’m sorry, Ms. Tahchikawa. We had said that we wouldn’t release the name of the victim until we notified his family. We couldn’t notify his parents because his mother is very ill, and we fear that if we tell her this, that there’ll be some complications. I don’t know if her heart could take it.” “ What about his father?” I asked. “ I’m afraid he’s dead too. He died about 3 years ago. He lost a battle with lung disease. We are aware that he has a younger half-brother, Takeru Takaishi. We are going to have to notify him next. Do you have any idea where we can contact him?” Now it was my turn to fight an internal struggle. It took me a while before I said,“ No, how did you know to contact me?” “ A friend of his came and told us that you were one of his close friends.” “ Who told you that?” “ I can’t say, all I can tell you is that she was with him at the time of the accident. That’s all.” “ Well,” I said sadly, “ I…I’ve got to go. I don’t think my heart can take anymore of this.” I heard the Detective start to say something else, but I hung up the phone without even caring what he was saying. It took a while before that statement actually hit me, but when it did, it hit with a vengeance. My gut clenched and my heart felt as though it was ripped out from inside me while I was still alive. I wanted to just cry my heart out, but I knew that this was not the place for that, not here, not in front of all the others. What could I possibly do? Suddenly, it came to me. I knew what to do. I needed to get away for a while to rest and recover. I wanted to get out as soon as possible, so I took the most direct route to the front door. That route just so happened to take me directly through the party room. I didn’t care though, I just wanted to get out of here. I walked into the party room. The music was blaring loudly, but I didn’t hear a note of it. All I was aware of was the pain and sadness welling up inside of me. I was so lost in my own thoughts that I wasn’t paying any attention at all to where I was going. Because of that, I walked smack-dab into Tai. “Oh, sorry,” I said absentmindedly as I continued walking, not even giving him a chance to reply. “ Sure,” he said to my back as I walked away, “ no problem.” He must have picked up on something because he ran up in front of me and asked, “ Mimi, what’s wrong?” “ Oh nothing,” I said, my voice belaying a hint of sadness every now and again. That was a particularly large lie, and I knew it. So did my Crest of Sincerity. It turned ice cold, and it lost some of it’s luster. I flinched unwillingly at the ice cold stone against my warm flesh, but I guess that Tai didn’t notice that, because he walked away, leaving me free to go. t took me a few minutes to get to the door, mainly because I kept bumping into people along the way. Once I was at the door, I grabbed my pink jacket and a spare set of keys before opening the door and stepping outside. Once outside, I took a minute to look around, before walking down to two large metal gates at the end of the walkway. Once there, I punched in a special code, the gates opened and I walked outside. I waved to the guard at the gate, who asked where I was going. I told him that I was going for a quick walk, and that I’d be back shortly. He asked if he should send a bodyguard with me, but I said that I’d be okay and not to worry. He then nodded at me, and said that he hoped I’d have a nice walk. He then turned back to whatever he had been doing before we talked. I then walked out as calmly as I could. Once I was a good distance away from the mansion, I broke out into an all out run, as I began to cry uncontrollably. As I ran, my tears flew out behind me like a string of miniature crystals, each one containing an equally small portion of the grief I felt. Once again, I felt the same as I did on April 5, 1995. Everything was exactly the same, except for the fact that at this time, it wasn’t raining. Everything else was the same. On April 5,1995, he left me for another woman, and this time, he had left me again, but this time, he had left me forever. I just wanted to run away from everyone and everything that I knew. As I ran, I was crying. No, not just crying. What I was doing was more like grieving or mourning. I still couldn’t believe it. The only one I had ever loved was gone, taken away from me by some careless driver who hadn’t even stopped to help Matt. I was so deeply hurt, so deeply upset, because Matt had died, but at the same time, I was angry, I was looking for someone to blame. I could blame the driver of the car that had hit and killed him, but I knew that that wouldn’t get me anywhere. All that would do was make me angrier. Even if they did catch him, all they could do was jail him and maybe put a couple of deep scars on his driving record. That wouldn’t be enough though. My heart was scarred too. It was scarred so deeply that it felt as though it had been completely cut in half. I could blame the doctors, but that too would have been useless. They did what they could to save him. I couldn’t blame them. I could think of no one else to blame except myself. Unless I could somehow pin the whole thing on Matt. If only I hadn’t been so stubborn. If only on that night, 10 years ago, or anytime before that, if only I had told him that I love him. I don’t know why he thought that I didn’t love him. I had no idea. Did he think that I thought that he wasn’t good enough? Did he think that there was someone else? No. He knew that he was my one and only. I loved him more than anyone else in the world. I thought he knew that. I just wish that I had the chance to tell him. If I had been there with him at the time of the accident, I might have been able to do something. If I had known that he was hurt, I would have run to his bedside no matter where he was. I just wish that I had had the courage to tell him that I loved him face to face once again. I just wondered what made him decided to leave me. Something must have happened between the time that we got home and the time that he left. Something must have happened, something that made him decided to leave me. ’s all. I had this nagging feeling that some time, a little bit of time had passed. All I had to do, was remember what had happened. Why couldn’t I remember? I stopped running, and took a moment to regain my bearings. It turned out that I had ended up at a park, not too far from my house. I found a nearby park bench, sat down and began to think. *Why can’t I remember?!* I yelled at myself. * Why oh why can’t I remember what happened?!* I was so frustrated that I clutched at my head and began to cry wildly. “ Why can’t I remember?!” I sobbed. “ Why…?!” I sat and cried like that until my head began to start spinning again, just like the time that I had those visions in the parking lot. I knew that I was getting an answer to my question, but I wasn’t sure that I was going to like it. *** The next thing I was aware of was that I was in a place that was completely empty except for some white fog that swirled around me, and wrapped me in a blanket. I was shocked at first, but I quickly adjusted to my new surroundings. I found that I was sitting on what I supposed was the ground. I stood up, then something drew my attention. Gone, where the long pink dress and pink jacket that I had bee wearing. I was now dressed in some kind of silver bodysuit with the symbol of the Crest of Sincerity printed on one side. “ Where am I?” I shouted aloud, no knowing whether some one would hear me. I listened to my voice echo through what I presumed was a vastly large area. I was getting fed up with this. “ Is anyone here?” I shouted. Once again, I listened to my voice echo, but this time, I heard something else. I heard a sound other than the echo. I heard something that sounded like someone walking around in that fog. Now that I knew that someone was here, it was time to move onto the next step. “ Who’s there?” I shouted. This time something weird happened. Unlike the first two times, my voice didn’t echo, and this time, a human woman’s voice answered me back. “ You are here,” she said. “ Where is here?” I asked. “ That is irrelelvant,” she said. “If that is irrelevant,” I said, “ then what is relevant?” “ I will tell you what is,” she said as she stepped out from behind a wall of fog. “ What is important, is what you want to know.” I gasped when I saw her. She was about my height. With blue eyes, and long blond hair that cascaded down and around her shoulders in long curls. As I took in her appearance, I couldn’t help but feel that she looked somewhat familiar. She was wearing another silver bodysuit with a symbol resembling a crab on it. on it. I racked my brain trying to figure out if and when I had seen her before. I stood there for a minute, staring, when suddenly, it came to me. “It was you!” I yelled at her. “ you were the one who me and Matt saw on our way back from the theater. I remember now. You were the one that he ran off with! You stole him from me! Palmon was the one who came and told me that she had seen you two together!” I was furious now. “ You were the one with him at the time of the accident, weren’t you?! You could have saved him! But you didn’t do anything did you?! You just stood there and let him die, didn’t you?!” As I stood there, accusing the woman of all this stuff, she stood there, giving me this puzzled look. She shook her head dubiously with each of the accusations that I threw at her. After I accused her of letting Matt die, she stood and held her hands out to silence me. “ Now wait a minute,” she said calmly. “ I am not the person that you are thinking of!” I was shocked for a moment. I stood and stared blankly at her for a moment before saying, “ Then who are you?” “ My name is Sabrina. I am also known as Cancer.” “ Are you one of Celeste’s friends? Why are you here?” “ Yes,” she said, “ I am one of Celeste’s allies. As for why I’m here, you were wishing that you could remember what caused Matt to leave you. I am here to show you why he left.” “ How can you?” I asked. “ I am Cancer. My elements are time and space. I can arrange little trips into the past, and with you consent, we’ll take a little trip into your past to see why Matt left you. Do I have your consent?” “ Yes,” I said, “ you have my consent.” “ All right then,” she said. “ Here goes!” She pointed at me and I felt myself blackout yet again. This time when I woke up, I found myself watching myself walk up four small stone steps with Matt, and stand under the overhang. It was raining cats and dogs again. This time frame was familiar to me. It was during the time that I lived in the city, the time before I was discovered. That could only mean one thing. I quickly turned to Sabrina. “ This is a flashback, isn’t it? This was the night that Matt left me, isn’t it?” Cancer nodded in return. Then she said simply, “ Watch.” I followed her instruction and stood and watched carefully. I saw a past version of myself, a younger more naïve version, walk up to the door with Matt. We stood there, protected from the rain by the overhang . Matt braced the umbrella against the door. Then, things started to seem unfamiliar. A car passed. It sounded like it was running without a muffler;it was so noisy. Then, the streetlights flickered slightly, and the past me gasped. ( All right, this is getting hard! To save myself what little energy I have left, I’m going to change everything until further notice, to the third person. Instead of having the present Mimi, actually watch this and us watching it from her P.O.V. I’m just going to have it as though we are the only ones seeing it, k? Well, back to writing. When I say Mimi now, it’s the past Mimi.) There was an ocassional pedestrian passing by, and there was a few cars too. Matt and Mimi just stood staring out at the street. The fog swirled around them, wrapping them in a cloud. Everything was just as it had been when they had left for the movies. It was a little bit cold, but between her pink jacket, and Matt, she was as warm as ever. They stood underneath the overhang, just staring out at the street, for a couple of minutes. Actually, only Matt was staring out at the street, whereas Mimi, was wondering what on earth he was staring at. There was nothing new about the street, it was still that same. No new buildings had sprung up suddenly, and no one was outside in the downpour except for them. It was unsually quiet though, but that was all that was unsual. She was about to tap Matt on the shoulder and asked him what he was looking at, when, almost as if on cue, he turned to her. He moved closer to her so that he could see into her eyes. He was just slightly taller than she was, but that didn’t bother her. It was almost comforting. He gently lifted her chin, just to make sure that he could see into her eyes clearly. They stood like that, staring into the other’s eyes, for a couple of minutes. During that time, Matt seemed like he was wrestling with some kind of internal decision, whereas Mimi was staring back at him, her eyes filled with love and admiration. Mimi guessed, that if he was wrestling with a decision, that it must be a really important decision because he was taking so long. It seemed like they stood there forever without saying a word. Mimi was just about to ask him if he wanted to go inside and have a drink, and maybe have something to eat, when, he looked away from her, his head turned back to the street. Mimi’s curiosity was peaked by this, so she decided to talk to him. “ What’s wrong Matt?” she asked. He turned back to her, and he seemed to have had made an important decision. “ Nothing at all, Mimi,” he said as he smiled at her. “ Nothing at all.” Then, something unexpected happened. Matt reached in the pocket of his trenchcoat and pulled out a small, black, velvet covered box, and got down on his knees. Mimi gasped. She knew what was coming. He opened the box to reveal a ring with a heart shaped diamond on it. The diamond glowed and sparkled in the dim illumination of the streetlights. Then he spoke. “ I love you with all my heart, all my mind and all my soul,” he said. “ There is not one person in my life more important than you. I would give my life and my freedom for you. I love you so much. I will love you now and forever. Please accpet this ring as a symbol of my everlasting love for you.” He paused, then said, “ Mimi, will you marry me?” *** Mimi was shocked at this. She stood stock still, staring at him, wanting to look away, but she knew she couldn’t. She was scared. Now, that was stupid. This was exactly what she had been waiting for. Since she had first met him, she had loved him, ever since she had first laid eyes on him. She loved everything about him. She loved the way he had been so protective of everyone, especially his younger brother. She loved the way his eyes lit up when he laughed, and she loved the way his hair always looked like a bird’s nest even at the best of times. Most of all, she loved the way he loved her. She had been waiting five long years for this moment, but that still didn’t calm her irrational, inexplicable fear. She didn’t feel as though she was ready for this. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to make such a commitment. She was scared. She stood there and stared blankly at him, but on the inside, she was fighting a battle between love and fear. They stood there for a long time, Matt kneeling and waiting for her answer, and Mimi, fighting a battle. Both were there, neither one moving. Eventually, Mimi spoke. She turned back to Matt and said, “ I’m honored,” she said. She paused. Then, she made a mistake that she would regret for the rest of her life. She continued speaking. “ But, I’m afraid I can’t marry you. I’m just not sure that I’m ready to make that big a commitment. I’m sorry, Matt.” He was just plain shocked. He just kept staring at her as though he couldn’t believe what she had just said. He had an, I can’t believe you just said that, look on his face. He sat on the cold stone step for a moment and stared at her, trying to figure out what he was going to do. Meanwhile, Mimi just stood there staring at him staring at her, staring sadly. She wished that she hadn’t had to have told him that, but that left only one other option, to say yes, but she just wasn’t sure that she was ready for marriage. She hated herself for doing this to him, but it had to be said, she couldn’t have remained silent. Staying silent, would have thrust her into marriage, which, at this point, was all too possible. They remained like that for quite a while, until Matt broke the silence and stood up with a smile on his face. “ It’s okay,” he said as he tucked the box containing the ring back in his jacket pocket. “ I understand.” “ You do?” she asked excitedly as her face brightened greatly. “ Yes,” he said. “ I understand about you not being ready for marriage. Now that I think of it, I’m not sure that I was ready either. I don’t want to rush you into anything that you’re not ready to handle. I was really hoping that you would become my wife, but I‘m willing to settle for you to be my girlfriend.” “ I’m so glad you understand,” she said. “ I was so scared that you wouldn’t. I really don’t want this relationship to end.” She tried to stifle a yawn, but she failed. “ I see that you’re tired,” he said. “ Maybe you should go and get some sleep. I think that I’ll go home and do the same.” “ That would be great,” she said. “ Goodnight,” she said as she stifled another yawn. He then moved over to kiss her, but she pushed him away. ( All right, everything is now back in the 1st person. Instead of saying Mimi said…well, you know the drill.) I knew what was going to happen next. The rest was engraved in my memory, never to be forgotten. Then, Cancer turned to me and said, “ We will now return to the present.” Then, I felt myself black out yet again, and this time, when I awoke, I found myself back in the park where I had stopped to rest after taking off from the mansion. I looked around for a second to get my bearings. I found, that in the actual time that I had been blacked out in this park, I had fallen off the bench, and onto the ground. The strange thing was that with all the people that usually walked through this park at this time of day, no one had even noticed that I was unconcious. Well, no one that I knew of. It seemed that I had been taken somewhere and sent back here. *What on earth happened?* I asked myself. *Where was I? Was that real?* My mind was full of a thousand and one questions, each one crazier than the next, but I managed to block out those questions long enough to get myself back onto the park bench. I sat there, somewhat stunned, until a woman dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, who looked eerily like Cancer, came walking up to me. Mimi was shocked at this. She stood stock still, staring at him, wanting to look away, but she knew she couldn’t. She was scared. Now, that was stupid. This was exactly what she had been waiting for. Since she had first met him, she had loved him, ever since she had first laid eyes on him. She loved everything about him. She loved the way he had been so protective of everyone, especially his younger brother. She loved the way his eyes lit up when he laughed, and she loved the way his hair always looked like a bird’s nest even at the best of times. Most of all, she loved the way he loved her. She had been waiting five long years for this moment, but that still didn’t calm her irrational, inexplicable fear. She didn’t feel as though she was ready for this. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to make such a commitment. She was scared. She stood there and stared blankly at him, but on the inside, she was fighting a battle between love and fear. They stood there for a long time, Matt kneeling and waiting for her answer, and Mimi, fighting a battle. Both were there, neither one moving. Eventually, Mimi spoke. She turned back to Matt and said, “ I’m honored,” she said. She paused. Then, she made a mistake that she would regret for the rest of her life. She continued speaking. “ But, I’m afraid I can’t marry you. I’m just not sure that I’m ready to make that big a commitment. I’m sorry, Matt.” He was just plain shocked. He just kept staring at her as though he couldn’t believe what she had just said. He had an, I can’t believe you just said that, look on his face. He sat on the cold stone step for a moment and stared at her, trying to figure out what he was going to do. Meanwhile, Mimi just stood there staring at him staring at her, staring sadly. She wished that she hadn’t had to have told him that, but that left only one other option, to say yes, but she just wasn’t sure that she was ready for marriage. She hated herself for doing this to him, but it had to be said, she couldn’t have remained silent. Staying silent, would have thrust her into marriage, which, at this point, was all too possible. They remained like that for quite a while, until Matt broke the silence and stood up with a smile on his face. “ It’s okay,” he said as he tucked the box containing the ring back in his jacket pocket. “ I understand.” “ You do?” she asked excitedly as her face brightened greatly. “ Yes,” he said. “ I understand about you not being ready for marriage. Now that I think of it, I’m not sure that I was ready either. I don’t want to rush you into anything that you’re not ready to handle. I was really hoping that you would become my wife, but I‘m willing to settle for you to be my girlfriend.” “ I’m so glad you understand,” she said. “ I was so scared that you wouldn’t. I really don’t want this relationship to end.” She tried to stifle a yawn, but she failed. “ I see that you’re tired,” he said. “ Maybe you should go and get some sleep. I think that I’ll go home and do the same.” “ That would be great,” she said. “ Goodnight,” she said as she stifled another yawn. He then moved over to kiss her, but she pushed him away. ( All right, everything is now back in the 1st person. Instead of saying Mimi said…well, you know the drill.) I knew what was going to happen next. The rest was engraved in my memory, never to be forgotten. Then, Cancer turned to me and said, “ We will now return to the present.” Then, I felt myself black out yet again, and this time, when I awoke, I found myself back in the park where I had stopped to rest after taking off from the mansion. I looked around for a second to get my bearings. I found, that in the actual time that I had been blacked out in this park, I had fallen off the bench, and onto the ground. The strange thing was that with all the people that usually walked through this park at this time of day, no one had even noticed that I was unconcious. Well, no one that I knew of. It seemed that I had been taken somewhere and sent back here. *What on earth happened?* I asked myself. *Where was I? Was that real?* My mind was full of a thousand and one questions, each one crazier than the next, but I managed to block out those questions long enough to get myself back onto the park bench. I sat there, somewhat stunned, until a woman dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, who looked eerily like Cancer, came walking up to me. “ Hello, Mimi,” she said. I was somewhat shocked that she knew my name, but I wasn’t surprised. With the kind of day that I’d been having, nothing, nothing at all, could have surprised me. “ Is that you Cancer?” I asked cautiously. “ Yes,” she said as she waved a hand at me, “ but please, call me Sabrina. After all, we are now in your world. It would be almost inappropriate to call me Cancer since that could bring misfortune upon me.” “ How’s that?” I asked. “ That is…” she began. “ I know, I know,” I said, “ that is irrelevant. Forgive me for asking,” I said somewhat irritatedly. “ Anyway, why are you here?” “ To make sure that nothing happened to you during the time that you where unconcious.” “ How long was I?” I asked. “ Not long, but long enough. Anyway, my job is complete now. I must be going. I have other obligations,” she said as she turned to walk away gracefully. “ Wait!” I called out. She stopped walking and turned to face me. “ Please. Thank you.” I said. “ Thank you for showing me what really happened that day.” “ You’re welcome,” she said as she turned again to walk away. “ I really must be going now. Goodbye, Mimi.” “ Bye Sabrina!” I called as she walked back down the path that I had run down a while ago. As she vanished around a bend in the road, I still sat on the park bench, lost in my thoughts. * I can’t believe I said that!* I screamed at myself. *What an idiot I was! I thought that if I knew the reason why he left me in the first place, it might ease the pain caused by his death, but it didn’t!* I pounded my hand helplessly, and frustratedly on the bench. * It didn’t make it easier at all! It just made it harder! All the more harder! What an idiot I was! I had had the oppurtunity to marry the man I loved, but being the idiot that I was, I turned it down!* I sat there, and was internally screaming at myself, when, I suddenly felt a cold wet thing drop on my nose. I was surprised by it, but it wasn’t the same when another cold wet drop landed on my cheek. I looked up, skywards, and saw that the once sunny sky, had been covered in large foreboding storm clouds. As I looked up, yet another raindrop fell right into my eyes. I blinked, and rubbed at my eyes before looking up again. As I sat there, I watched many more raindrops fall from the sky, until the infrequent drops turned into a light shower, then into a full fledged downpour. Usually, I would have run for the nearest shelter, but in the condition I was in, I truly didn’t care. So, I just sat there on the park bench, in the rain, and thought. About a minute or so after the storm had started, I was soaked from head to toe, but I didn’t care. All I wanted to do, was sit there and cry, which is what I did. I don’t know how long I sat there, and simply cried my heart out, but I guess that I wasn’t long, because, what seemed like fifteen minutes after I had started crying, someone, I don’t know who, stopped running through the rain, and said to me, “Are you okay, miss?” the man who had stopped asked. I looked up at him when he said that. He looked about my age and height. He had blondish hair. He had blue eyes, that looked as though they could see my very soul. He looked a lot like Matt, but I knew that it couldn’t be him, since he was dead. The man had a somewhat worried and concerned expression on his face. “ Uh, yes,” I said shakily. “ I’m fine.” “ Well,” he said as eyed me, “ you probably won’t be if you stay out in this downpour. Come on,” he said as he moved the umbrella so that it was covering both our heads. “ We should both get out of this rain.” “ Sure. Thanks,” I said as I got up and stood next to him. We then walked out of the park together. *** ( Okay, P.O.V.’s switched back to 3rd person because, this little section takes place back at the mansion where Mimi’s not there to see what’s going on so… on with the story.) Meanwhile *** Brring! Brring! All of the phones in the house were ringing off the hook, but this time, there was no loud music to block out the sound. The party that had been taking place a little while ago, had completely ceased due to the fact that the guest of honor, had run off. Tai had been a little suspicious that something was wrong with Mimi because she seemed out of it, more so than he remembered was normal. He had watched her walk away, and wondered if he should go after her, but he decided not to. She had walked out the door, and she had left the grounds of the mansion, he knew, but still he had no idea where she was. After that two minute encounter with Mimi, shortly after she walked out the door, Palmon had come running in frantically screaming that something was really wrong with Mimi. Kari had asked what was wrong, and Palmon had said that she didn’t know. All she knew was that Mimi had received a phone call, and that shortly after she had hung up, she had run out of the house. The party had stopped immediately. The music was shut off, and everyone sat down and discussed what they were going to do next. Well, everyone except Sora, who was busy trying to get a reading from her crest. Izzy had suggested that all of us split up into a standard search pattern and use our digivices to try and get a lock on Mimi’s digivice, but we all knew that that wouldn’t work. Our digivices hadn’t reacted in years, so it was doubtful that they would react now. Everyone except Sora had sat and thought, until the phone had rung. It seemd that they might get the missing piece to this puzzle, unless, it was a telemarketer. T.K. got up to run and answer the phone, but Celeste held up a hand to stop him. “ Let me get it,” she said. T.K. sat back down without saying a word, and none of the others made even the slightest move to oppose Celeste. She got up and walked over to the nearest phone which just happened to be in the kitchen. She walked in, her shoes making a click-clack sound on the white marble tiles. She found the phone, picked it up, and cupped her hand around the mouthpiece. “ Hello,” she said. “ Yes,” said a male voice on the other end. “ This is Detective Moyori from the Tokyo Police. Is this Mimi Tachikawa?” “ No,” said Celeste. “ She’s not here right now. Can I take a message?” “ Yes,” said the detective frantically. “ You must tell her that I called. She knows who I am.” He paused. “ Are you ready to take down the message?” he asked. “ Yes,” Celeste lied. In reality, she already knew what was going to be said, and she knew that she mustn’t tell anyone. Not even Mimi, especially not Mimi. “ Hello,” said the Detective, “ are you still there?” “ Yes,” said Celeste. “ Okay, here’s the message. Are you ready?” “ Yes,” she said again. “ All right,” he said. “ You must tell Mimi Tachikawa, that there’s been a terrible mistake, and it turns out that…” Celeste knew what he was going to say, and she knew what an impact it would have if Mimi knew. She also knew that the others would tell Mimi, no matter what she told them to do. So…Celeste quickly hung up the phone, all the time aware that the Detective was still talking, and she quietly smiled to herself. It had taken five years, but phase 2 was finally underway. (All right, everything’s now back to Mimi’s P.O.V. You know, Mimi said=I said now.) *** I and the man I had met, had been walking for what had seemed to be over and hour, but I knew that it had been about only ten minutes. During that ten minutes, we had talked a lot. One of the first questions he had asked was, ‘ What are you doing out here in the rain all by youself, and unprotected?’ “ Well,” I said in answer, “ I was just out for a quick walk when it started raining, but I once it started raining, I just didn’t feel like going back to my home. I just wanted to sit out here and mourn.” “ Why?” he asked. I took a couple of seconds before answering. “ Because,” I said, “ the man I love…well.. I just…I just…I just found out that he died yesterday.” Tears welled up in my eyes, and my heart began to ache when I said that. Then, I turned back to my friend’s face, it was filled with compassion and sympathy. “ Gee,” he said, “ I’m…I’m sorry.” “ Oh, it’s okay…I guess,” I said sadly, “ I just wish that this didn’t have to happen.” I bowed my head and stared at my feet as I walked. Suddenly, I felt an arm around my shoulder, and that arm pulled me to one side. I looked up to see that my new friend, had just saved me from walking straight into a lightpole, which I hadn’t seen. I looked up at him, “ Thank you,” I said. “ You’re welcome…uhh. I just realized that I don’t know your name,” he said. “ My name is Mimi,” I said. “ Mimi Tachikawa.” “ That’s a beautiful name,” he said thoughtfully. “ My name is Michael. Michael Myon.” “ That’s a nice name,” I said as we continued walking through the rain. *** ( All right, the P.O.V. has changed again, but Mimi’s not there to see what’s going on.) *** Somewhere in the district of Obaida, a lone figure walked down a deserted street. I was raining, and the person liked and hated this kind of weather. It was relaxing, but at the same time, discomforting. The person was a man about 25 years old. He was walking down the street, thinking. He couldn’t believe it. He had gotten up and walked out of his apartment, and as soon as he got out the door, his wallet had been stolen! He had been angry about that, but he had decided that what had passed had passed, so he wasn’t angry anymore. He was glad that he was out here alone. All he wanted to do was think. The rain pounded on the umbrella above his head, in a steady rhythm. It was calming. For a long while, that was the only sound he was aware of. He had been walking for quite awile, and he hadn’t run into anyone else since he ran into that person who stole his wallet, but he was happy that he was alone. This is what he deserved after what he did to one of his closest friends. He was happy in misery. All was silent except for the pitter-patter of the raindrops on his umbrella. Then, a stray sound caught his attention. From somewhere, he heard the sound of music, of some woman singing. He stopped to listen to it. This is what he heard… Pitter-patter on the glass My tears are falling like rain Oh how I wish this storm would pass My heart I cannot tame… I wish that you were still here But now that isn’t so, I wish that you you were still near, Why did you have to go? For every single raindrop that falls, I cry a single tear, I wish that I could forget it all, But my heart still holds you dear. This is too much for me to bear, Why’d you do this to me? I look outside and the rain I hear, But there’s something else I see… Our two Rainy Day Hearts, Have been driven far apart, I really wish that we could go, Back to the very start With our two Rainy Day Hearts. Raindrops Heartache Teardrops Heartbreak Our two hearts, Have been driven far apart, I really wish that we could go Back to the very start With our two Rainy Day Hearts. Every time it rains, I look outside and hope That some day, You’ll come back to me Our two hearts Have been driven far apart, But I hope, That that won’t be so anymore, And I wish for that, From the bottom of my Rainy Day Heart. *** Then, the song stopped and the announcer came on. “ And that,” he said, “ was Rainy Day Hearts written, composed and sung by the one and only Mimi Tachikawa. She once said in an interview, that that song was dedicated to the man she loved, whom she refused to name. She said that the reason she wrote that song, was because the one she loved, left her on a rainy day.” The man stiffened when he heard that. “It’s a beautiful song folks, and we can only hope that her wish will come true. Now, for the traffic report…” The man was aware that the announcer was still talking, but he paid no heed to what he said. Instead, the man took off running down the street. There was a dream he had to fulfill. *** It didn’t take him long to get into the busier part of town. Now, he was no longer alone on the street, but rather, he was surrounded by more than a few people, each one running to get to where they were going as opposed to he, who was walking slowly, and unprotected in the rain. The people he passed stared at him with the, you must be crazy, look on quite a few of their faces, but he didn’t care. He was too busy to worry about getting wet. He was searching, searching for the one, he knew he loved. That was all he cared about now, finding her was the most important thing in the world to him. It seemed to be next to impossible to find her though, that was, if she was even in this city. In reality, he had absolutely no idea where she was, but a part of him knew that she was in this city. At this point, he was relying fully on intuition. He was following his heart to find his true love; it was the only available option. So, he continued walking and searching. *** He didn’t know how long he had walked for, but it seemed to be long enough to him. He guessed that he had been walking for about only an hour, but it felt like he had been walking for three. His feet ached, and he felt like he was going to come down with a serious case of the chills. He felt even more miserable than he had an hour before. No matter how determined he had been before, right now, he was all but ready to give up hope completely. The rain had died down to a light drizzle, so he decided that it was time for a rest. In an hour, he had covered most, but still not all, of the city, and there was still not even the slightest indication of the one he loved. Still, he knew, well, he thinks that she is here in Odaiba. He found an unnoccupied bench that sat on the curb of the street that he was walking down. He fell back onto it with a long sigh. This was what he needed right now. He leaned back and put his arms behind his head so that he could use them as a temporary pillow. He sat there for a couple of minutes, taking in the sounds around him. Now that the rain had died down, there was only the occasional sound of a drop making contact with something. The more common sounds now, were those of people talking and those of car engines. During the time that he sat there, a passenger bus stopped right in front of him. He knew that he wasn’t sitting at a bus stop, so why did the bus stop right where he was. He loked up and saw that there was a traffic light at a nearby intesection. That’s when he saw her walking on the other side of the street. It had been about five years since he last saw her, but he would have recognized her face anywhere. She had long chestnut hair, most of which was restrained in a ponytail, except for two long strands which framed her face. She was wearing, what he knew was her favorite color, pink. She was about his age and height. She was walking along the street, and it looked like she was walking with someone, but he couldn’t see who. The bus was blocking the rest of his view. Then, the light changed, and the bus moved out of his way. He gasped with shock. He realized that it was definitely Mimi, but that wasn’t what made him gasp. He was that she was walking with another man, and that man had his arm around her shoulders. He couldn’t believe it. There she was, the one he loved, but with another. He knew that he had brought this upon himself. He knew that he had brought this loss upon himself. He had lost her once, and he had lost her again. Both times, the loss was caused by him and his ignorance and stubborness. Still, he wasn’t going to give up. He got up immediately and started walking in the same direction the were going, but he stayed on the side he was on. He followed them for a couple of blocks, trying very hard to keep an eye on them, while at the same time, trying to blend in with the crowd. The rain had stopped, and for that he was grateful. There went one more distraction. He kept following them. Then, they stopped walking, and the man whispered something to Mimi. They then proceeded to turn into an alley. The man wanted to dash across the street,but he couldn’t do so without getting run over, but if he waited, he would risk losing sight of them. Luckily, the decision was made for him. The light changed allowing him and several others to cross over to the opposite side of the street. Once there, he proceeded to walk down the same alley that they had turned into only moments before. Little did he know what that alley would lead to. *** ( Okay, this is just a note. No, the P.O.V.’s haven’t changed. I just have to say that now, what’s taking place, only Biyomon, Palmon, Celemon, and Patamon are able to see what’s going on. This is until further notice.) Biyomon flew high above the district of Odaiba. The rain had soaked her pink and blue feathers completely, and that was making it difficult to fly, but she couldn’t give up. She was extrememly tired. Her pink wings were beginning to ache and her large blue eyes wanted so badly to close, but she knew that she couln’t let herself fall asleep. The recon mission she was on was too important. She had to find Mimi. No one had any idea where she could be. Everyone of the DigiDestined, not including Celeste, had done what Izzy had suggested and had split up in a standard search pattern, and were, at this time, covering the city. Meanwhile, Biyomon, Patamon, Celelmon and Palmon, who was being carried by Celemon, were searching the city by air, in hopes of speeding up the search. So far, their efforts had been useless. They hadn’t found a trace of Mimi, let alone Mimi herself. It seemed that she was hiding from them, trying to evade them, but that seemed to be impossible. Mimi probably didn’t even know that they were looking for her. She probably thought that they didn’t even know that she was missing, but that was only a possibility. She took a quick look back at the others, and saw that they were in as bad a shape as she was. They were all completely soaked from head to toe, and they were all tired, but Biyomon felt especially sorry for Celemon. Poor Celemon, though she was the strongest of the three, between carrying Palmon and having flown for hours, even she looked tired. Wheras, Palmon wasn’t tired at all. Rather, she was worried sick. She was constantly on alert. Many times, she thought that she might have spotted Mimi, but so far, it always turned out to be someone completely different. Next, Biyomon turned her attention to Patamon. Patamon too, was soaked, and he was probably the weakest of the three rookies. ( Celemon isn’t a rookie. She’s a Champion Digimon.) Albiet, he wasn’t weak in his champion stage, but his rookie stage wasn’t usually his first choice. Biyomon knew that Patamon wished that he could digivolve into Angemon, and search in that form, but she also knew that none of them, except Palmon, had any strength left to digivolve. Biyomon knew that if Palmon digivolved all the way up to Lillymon, that that would make things easier on Celemon, but they might need Lillymon for later. Palmon had wanted to digivolve, but she couldn’t. The main reason was that she was too far away from Mimi to digivolve. Then Biyomon realized that she wasn’t concentrating on searching anymore. She broke the train of thought that she had been on, and turned her attention back to searching. *I can’t let my thoughts wander!* Biyomon screamed at herself. *I’ve got to concentrate in finding Mimi!* They had to find her as soon as possible. Izzy mentioned, that because of her high status, she might become the target of evil intentions. That was just one of the many reasons that they had to find her, A..S.A.P. After about two hours of searching, there was still no sign of her anywhere. Biyomon didn’t know what to do, except to keep searching. *** ( All right, the P.O.V.’s finally back to Mimi’s. About time too.^_^! Hey, have you figured out who , “The Man,” is yet?) *** Michael and I kept walking, even though there was no need for us to. We were both contented and the weather was almost perfect for a walk. The rain had all but died down, and we could have gone our separate ways. Neither of us had any idea where we were going, but we kept walking anyway. Then, when I finally became worried about where I was and how long it would take me to get back home, I found myself in a very uncomfortable spot. I looked up, and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw where Iwas. I found that somehow, Michael and I had ended up at the intersection of Ryu Boulevard and Shinju Street. Once again, my heart clenched. The intersection had been all but blocked off by police cars, and a small section was surrounded by the unmistakable yellow police tape. Somehow, my curiosity got the best of me, and I managed to peer into the center of the area that was surrounded by the yellow tape. In the center, I saw the white, chalk outline of a body. *No,* I thought, *please not here. Please, no.* I guess that what upsetted me the most, was the fact that here was the actual proof that Matt was dead. I couldn’t believe it. I guess that some part of me still clung to the hope that there might have been some kind of terrible mistake, or that this was some kind of practical joke, but here was the proof. If I hadn’t stopped walking, undoubtedly, Michael would have kept walking. Instead, he stopped, and turned to face me. “ What’s wrong?” he asked. “Th..this is..it,” I stammered. “ This is what?” he asked. I gulped and tried to not start crying. “Th..this…is…wh…where…where it happened.” I said, my voice shaking and body trembling with each word I spoke. “ What happened?” Michael asked, still puzzled. I stood there for a second, and tried to regain some composure before I spoke. “ This is where the accident happened. This…this is where…where Matt died!” With those last few words, I broke down and once again, began crying hysterically. “ Shh,” he said soothingly to me. “ It’ll be alright. Don’t worry.” “ No!” I screamed. “ It’ll never be alright! Don’t ever say that! Matt’s dead and it’s all my fault!” He looked at me with this, I’m hurt, look on his face. That look melted through my anger, my guilt, and dampened my sadness slightly. “ I’m sorry,” I said softly as I stared at my feet. Then, I felt a hand gently lift my chin. I found myself staring directly into Michael’s unusual blue eyes. “ No,” he said softly, “ there’s no need to apologize. I know that you’re still upset over the death of your friend, but you must realize. It’s not your fault. There is no one to blame in this tragic accident. So, don’t go blaming yourself. Please.” “ Okay,” I said. “ I won’t. But, can we just get off this street. Please, I really don’t want to be here.” “ All right, we’ll take another street. Follow me,” he said as he indicated to a dark alley. “ This is a shortcut that I know. It’ll take us around this intersection.” “ All right,” I said somberly as I moved to follow him. “ Let’s go then,” I said as we walked into the dark alleyway. *** “It’s dark in here,” I said to Michael as we walked down the alley. “ Are you sure you’re going the right way?” “ Yes,” he said, “ I know that this is the right way. Just keep walking.” I don’t know what it was, but something in his voice, activated this part of my brain, that told me to, be afraid, to be very afraid. I looked up at the two tall buildings that were on either side of the alleyway. They completely lined the alley, and there was no door that could be seen. Then, it occurred to me, that there was only two ways out of this alley, if anything attacked. That, scared me. “ Maybe we should go back, Michael,” I said, my voice belaying a hint of fright. “ No,” he said sharply, “ we’re almost there. Only a couple more minutes and we’ll be outta here.” I considered that statement for a moment then said, “ All right. Let’s keep going.” We kept walking, and sure enough, a couple more minutes of walking, brought us to the end of the alley, but, it wasn’t the end that I was expecting. Instead of coming to the exit to another street, but rather, it brought us to a dead end. Then, from out of nowhere, three ghostly figures with beady black eyes, and large, scary teeth, emerged from the three walls that surrounded us. I would have known those creatures anywhere. “ Oh no!” I said. “ Bakemon! Michael, we have to get out of here now!” Michael turned to me. “ What makes you think that you’re going anywhere?” He asked coldly. I stifled a gasp as the realization of what had been happening, came to me. “ you’re not human are you?” I asked Michael. “ You’re…you’re…a digimon, aren’t you?” “ So glad you finally figured it out!” he said. “ I was sick of all your human weaknesses, and emotions!” “ That voice…” I began. “ Love, kindess, compassion…” “ An ememy…” “ …who needs them? Soon, I will have all I ever needed or will need, once I have your Crest of Sincerity. Prepare to face my wrath!” Michael was surrounded by a cloud of tiny bats whose mouths were laced shut. The cloud grew to 1 and a half times Michael’s size, then dissappeared to reveal a tall, blond vampire who was wearing a red mask over his face, and was clad in blue. “…Myotismon!” My heart and gut clenched, yet again, but this time from fear rather than from sadness, but still, my curiosity came to the fore. “ How…how can this be?” I asked him. “ We destroyed you twice! How can it be you!?” He laughed then answered. “ It’s because you never destroyed me!” I gasped. “ Why so shocked, missy? You actually thought that you and your weakling digimon actually stood a chance against me? How wrong you were! You see, there is only one way to truly destroy me, and that’s by using your crests! So, to prevent that from ever happening, I plan to steal your crests . Do you plan to give up your crest quietly, or will I have to use force?” he asked as he signaled the three Bakemon. “ I’ll never give up my crest!” I shouted at him. “ You should know that! I’d die first!” “ Well,” he said, “ since we can’t do this the civilized way, I guess we’ll have to do this my way!” He turned to the Bakemon. “ She’s all yours. You can do what ever you want with her. Just make sure you get me the crest.” “ Sure thing boss,” said Bakemon number one. “ you can count on us.” “ Let’s hope so, for your sake,” said Myotismon as he turned to walk away. “ Hold it right there, mister!” shouted a voice that stopped Myotismon in his tracks. “ Who says you’re going anywhere?” said another. “ Yeah,” said two more voices in unision. “ Who’s there?” Myotismon asked. I gasped with relief as Biyomon, Celemon, Patamon and Palmon emerged from the shadows of the alley. “ Oh,” said Myotismon nonchalantly. “ It’s just the weaklings.” “ Oh yeah,” said Biyomon. “ We’ll show you just how weak we are! Spiral Twister!” She shouted as she shot a green spiral of fire at Myotismon. Myotismon simply dodged it and watched as it hit the Bakemon that had been floating to my left. The Bakemon dissolved into DigiDust. “ Is that the best you’ve got?” challeneged Myotismon. “ No!” said Celemon. “ Pure Hearts Attack!” She yelled as she shot a heart-shaped ball of energy at Myotismon. Once again, he simply dodged it, and everyone, including myself, watched as it hit one of the two Bakemon to my right. He too dissolved into DigiDust. “ Now it’s my turn!” said Patamon. “ Boom Bubble!” he screamed as he shot a bubble at the last Bakemon. The bubble hit, and sent that Bakemon flying into a nearby wall. The Bakemon hit so hard that it caused a pile of crates to fall ontop of him. The last that was seen of the Bakemon, was a cloud of DigiDust being blown away in the wind. “ All right,” said Palmon. “ Now it’s my turn. You’re gonna pay for threatening Mimi!” She then shouted, “ Palmon digivolve to…Togemon!” Palmon was replaced by a larger cactus creature. Togemon stood there for a few seconds, then shouted, Togemon…digivolve to….Lillymon!” Togemon was replaced by a smaller creature dressed in pink lily flowers. “ Ha, you think you stand even the slightest chance against me, flower girl?” he sneered. “ You’re an easy target!” “ Not anymore!” she yelled as she yelled, “ Flower Cannon!” She shot a green ball of energy at Myotismon, and that ball exploded into thousands of tiny flower petals when it hit. Those thousands of tiny petals, created a cloud. “Okay, that’s done,” said Lillymon as she landed gracefully on the ground. She had stood there no more that a couple seconds, when she suddenly flew backwards. “ Oh no,” said Patamon as Myotismon stepped from inside the cloud. Everyone except Lillymon stood gaping. “ Uh, you guys,” she said, “ why don’t you, digivolve and HELP ME!?” “ We can’t,” said Biyomon, “ we’re all too tired, and besides, everyone of us, except for you, is separated from our friend.” “ You’re right,” said Lillymon thoughtfully. “I guess that it’s up to me then.” “ You don’t stand a chance!” declared Myotismon. “ I know I don’t,” said Lillymon, “ but I’ll do whatever I can to protect Mimi!” “ Ha!” said Myotismon, “ a noble effort, but that will not save you!” He prepared to unleash his attack. “ Grisly…” From out of the corner of my eye, I saw the glow of a blue crest, and seemingly, from out of nowhere, WereGarurumon appeared and used his powerful, Garurukick, to send Myotismon flying back into a nearby brick wall. For a second, everyone including Lillymon, sat and stared, until WereGarurumon said, “ Well, are you all just going to sit there, or are you going to fight?!” “We’re going to fight!” said Lillymon as she stood up. “ Come on everyone, give us a hand!” “ Sure thing!” said Biyomon. “ Spiral Twister!” “ Pure Hearts Attack!” yelled Celemon. “ Boom Bubble!” yelled Patamon. “ Wolf Claw!” yelled Were-Garurumon. “ Flower Cannon!” yelled Lillymon. They all launched their attacks at the now still Myotismon, and all the attacks hit, but it wasn’t enough. Albeit, it weakened him greatly, but it failed to destroy him. (Author’s note: If you’re wondering why they’re beating Myotismon so easily now, there’s two reasons. 1: They’re Digimon are a lot stronger now than they were when they first fought Myotismon. 2: When he was “destroyed” the first time, it sent him all the way back to his in-training stage. He has just recently digivolved back to his ultimate stage, Myotismon. That’s why he’s weak now.) “ It didn’t work!” I yelled. “ We can see that,” Lillymon said back to me. “ What should we do, Mimi?” “ I don’t know.” I said. “ I really don’t know.” I stood there and I had to think for a couple minutes before the answer came to me. When I figured out what to do, I yelled, “ Hey! I’ve got it!” “ Got what?” asked Patamon. “ I’ve figured out how to destroy Myotismon!” “ How?” asked Lillymon. “ It’s something that he had said earlier. He had said that probably the only way for us to destroy him once and for all was to use our crests. So, I’m going to try that.” “ He could be lying Mimi,” said Celemon. “ I know,” I said, “ but do any of you have a better idea?” They all shook their heads. “ Then, fine then. Here goes!” I held my hands out in front of me, and my Crest of Sincerity began to glow green, a bright spot of illumination in the darkness of the alley. Then, the crest rose until it was positioned directly inbetween my two outreached hands. Then, I shouted, “ Crest of Sincerity, destroy!” My crest began to glow even brighter when I had said that. It glowed so brightly, that it illuminated the entire alley. Once it had reached its peak brightness, it shot a glowing green beam out at Myotismon, who awoke just in time to see the beam racing his way. “ Nooooo!” he screamed as he desperately tried to think of some way to get out of this mess, but he knew that this time, there was no escaping his fate. The beam hit, and with a tremendous explosion of light, destroyed Myotismon. Well, it destroyed him rather slowly. He stood in front of Mimi; he was disintergrating slowly, just like Devimon so many years ago. “ Ha,” he said. “ You may have destroyed me, but in the long run, I still won.” “ Ha yourself,” said Lillymon. “ Anyway, you’re the one being destroyed, so how can you even say you won?” “ I can say that,” he said, “ because I caused her a wound that will never heal! I took away the one that she loves…well, I should say loved, the most! I killed Yamato Ishida! The so called bearer of the Crest of Friendship! He didn’t die in a car accident! I killed him with my own two hands! I put the spell of Eternal Sleep on him, and there is no way, absolutely no way, that you can ever hope to bring him back! The spell I cast on him, not even Celeste can break! I was always the better of the two DigiMasters! I should have reigned supreme, but no, little miss angel-face, had to steal my rule from me! Well, now, she’s lost! I’m the only one who can break that spell! In destroying me, you’ve lost your only hope of reviving your friend! Haaaa!” When he finished saying that, he was gone, having disintergrated into a pile of DigiDust that was carried away in a slight wind. Everyone stood in silence for a moment, taking in what Myotismon had just said. Then, it hit us all. I was probably the hardest hit by it. I fell limply to my knees, buried my face in my hands, and started crying hysterically once again. “ No!” I screamed, “ no! It can’t be! It can’t!” All the hope that I had held before, no matter how large or small, all the hopes that Matt was still alive, were dashed into millions of pieces, as was my heart. The rain had stopped comepletely, but my many tears and the tears of my friends took the rain’s place. I don’t know why, but for some reason, I could partially accept the fact that he had died in a car accident, but I couldn’t handle the fact that Myotismon had killed him. I just couldn’t understand it! How could Myotismon have been able to put that spell on him? Wouldn’t Matt have fought back? Where was Gabumon during all this? Surely Gabumon wouldn’t have let Myotismon hurt Matt. Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. Were-Garurumon had come and had helped us during the battle . Also, I remebered that I had caught a glimpse of the glow of a blue crest. My spirits lifted. Could that mean that Matt was still alive? I sat in the dark alley and pondered that question for a while. Then a thought crossed my mind. * Seeing Were-Garurumon, and seeing the glow of a blue crest, could mean that Matt’s still alive, but then again it could also mean, that Celeste or one of her allies had taken that form to help us.* That thought depressed me. Then, to keep myself from crying again, I thought, *No! I’ve got to remain positive! It’s a long shot, but it just might be, it just could be, that Matt was still alive!* I sat there and smiled a small smile to myself. I decided not to tell anyone what I thought because they’d probably tell me that I was supporting a lost cause in believing that he was still alive. So, I dried my eyes, and regained some of my composure, before walking over to the others. “ Maybe we should get out of here,” I said sadly. “ Yeah,” said Lillymon who too had been crying. “ Sure,” sobbed Biyomon. “ Okay,” sniffed Patamon. “ Why not,” cried Celemon. For some reason, I thought that I should expect another voice, but I didn’t know whose voice to expect. That’s when yet another thought occurred to me. Where was Were-Garurumon? Had he dissappeared before the fight was over, or had he even been here to begin with? I decided to scratch the part about him not being here in the first place because all the others, and myself, had seen him. That gave me one more reason to hope that Matt was still alive. “ Come on,” said Celemon as she choked back a sob, “ I’ll teleport everyone back to the mansion.” We all nodded sadly and gathered around Celemon in a circle. “ Here goes,” she said, “ Teleport!” We all blacked out. *** The next thing I was aware of, was the soft and freshly mowed grass of my lawn. I would have recognized that scent anywhere. It was an odor that was completely unique to my lawn. It had this sweetish smell, but at the same time it was spicy, and smelled like woodchips. “ Oh,” I said softly as I sat up. “ I’m home.” “ Yes,” said Celemon solemnly. “ Let’s go inside. The others are waiting for us.” We each nodded sadly before we walked up the remainder of the long path that led up to my front door. Once there, we stepped onto the porch, I unlocked the door, and we walked inside slowly and solemnly. Inside the living area, we found that the others had returned from there searches, and were now sitting down, and pondering what they were going to do, when we walked in. Everyone sat and stared at us blankly for a moment. Sora was the first to actually react. “ Oh it’s you Mimi!” she yelled with delight as she got up to give me a hug. “ Oh you’re safe! We were so worried!” “ Yeah,” I said softly, “ I’m fine.” Sora must have picked up something in my voice because she immediately said, “ Well, you don’t sound all right. Why don’t you tell us what happened?” “ Okay,” I said as I sat down on a nearby chair and began to tell them what had happened to me. *** About Half an Hour Later… In half an hour, even having broken down and cried through most of the story, I somehow managed to get the whole story out. Once I was finished with my somber story, everyone, even the usually happy no matter what the circumstances, T.K. was sitting there, staring at me with the, I can’t believe that that just happened, look on his face. Everyone who wasn’t there at the battle was shocked. Sora had moved over to Tai,who was offering her a shoulder to lean in. Kari was trying in vain to get some kind of response out of T.K., whereas Joe and Izzy were just to shocked to even react. Besides me, T.K. was probably the hardest hit by this news. I hated to have to tell him something like that, but he said that we had no right to keep any secrets from him, no matter what they were about. So, he was there when I told my story. No one was speaking, and no one was reacting. Everything was silent, deadly silent, except for a slight, pitter-patter sound, which I immediately recognized as rain. It was raining, yet again, and this was a cross between a light spring shower and a typhoon. It was raining hard at times, then died down to a light drizzle, only to spring up again. I sat and watched the rain fall, until Sora finally broke the silence. “ So, “ she said. “ All our suffering, all your suffering was brought on by Myotismon?” I nodded sadly. “ Oh!” she screamed angrily, “ how I wish I could get my hands on that…that baka! Oh! I’d teach him a thing or two!” “ I’d do the same, Dear,” said Tai, “ but there’s nothing we can do now. Myotismon’s finally been defeated for good, but in the process, we lost Matt and Gabumon. That was too high a price to pay if you ask me.” “You’re right, big brother,” said Kari. “ Yes,” said Tai in response as we all sunk back into silence. *** I really don’t know how long we sat there in silence, but it didn’t seem to be a long time to me though, probably because I was wrapped up in my own thoughts. There wasn’t a sound in the room except for the pitter-patter of rain, and the occasional outburst of soft sobs. It was so quiet. I knew, that the minute that another sound came into play, we’d jump out of our skins, and that, was exactly what happened. Out of the blue, the intercom system activated with a loud chime that could be heard throughout the house. Once we all recovered from our intial shock, Sora suggested that I go and answer it. I argued with her for a minute before giving in. “ Yes,” I said tiredly as I held to talk button down. “ Uh, Ms. Tachikawa,” said the guard at the gate. “ Is that you?” “ Yes,” I said again. “ Well, I have been asked to inform you that there’s a man waiting out here to see you. He claims to know you, but his name’s not listed in the authorized visitor’s book.” “ Well,” I said, “ tell me his name, and I’ll see if I know him.” “ That’s sort of a problem, miss,” said the guard. “ How so?” I asked. “ Well,” said the guard, “ he says that he wants his identity to be kept a secret until you get out here. He has no I.D. either. Do you want me to send him away?” I thought carefully about that for a moment before answering, “ No, don’t send him away. Bring him up to the house. I’ll come out and meet him.” “ As you wish, ma’am,” said the guard as he shut of the intercom. “ What was that all about?” asked Sora softly. “ There’s someone who claims that he knows me, waiting outside. I asked the guard to escort him up to the house. I said that I’d meet him outside.” “ Are you sure that’s wise?” asked Kari. “ Truly,” I said, “ I’m too depressed to care. I feel like I could handle anything at this point.” I walked over to the nearby fireplace, and occupied myself with observing the many knickknacks that I had lined up there. There were several porcelain flowers of all shapes, colors and sizes. There was an antique clock, and quite a few photo frames, but one in particular caught my eye. It was small, but it was beautiful even thought it was hidden away at the very back, I could tell what it was made of. The frame was made of a rose-quartz like stone, and it had little pink rhinestones scattered over the surface. Curious to see what picture I had in there, I lifted out the frame, and saw the reason for its being hidden at the back. In the frame, was a picture of Matt and me, a couple of days before we split up. It was taken on a sunny day at the nearby park. We had taken Palmon and a camera along with us, just incase we felt like taking pictures, which we did. In the picture, I was sitting on a park bench, smiling , and Matt was leaning over the back of the bench. From what I could tell, it looked like he was trying to get me mad at him, by putting some leaves in my hair, but, Palmon had snapped the picture before he could, and he was caught with a handful of leaves that he had been ready to dump on me. That one photo brought back some of the best meories that we had together, and we did have a lot, but that’s all I had now, memories, and here I was, without a chance to make anymore. I stood there, and was ready to start crying again, when Celeste spoke to me. “ Hey, Mimi,” she said, her voice belaying more than a hint of shock, “ the man and the guard are here, and I think that you’ll want to meet this, unidentified man.” “ Really?” I asked sadly. “ Really,” she said. “ All right,” I said as I walked to the door. I was completely aware that it was still raining, but I didn’t grab an umbrella. I wanted to be miserable. Once I got rid of that persistent pest that the guard had brought in, I planned to just go and barricade myself in my room. I opened the door, and stepped onto my porch, all the while, keeping my eyes on my feet. I then proceeded to walk down the stairs and onto the red brick that made up the path up to my door. I stood there for a while, not speaking, not looking up. I felt the guard’s presence to my right, and I felt the presence of the man standing in front of me. I felt like he was staring at me. It felt like his gaze was boring through my skull. I opened my mouth to yell at him, and to tell him to leave me alone, that this was not the time to talk to me. If he did want to talk, to make an appointment with my agent. I lifted my head and opened my mouth to speak, but when I did, I couldn’t believe who I found myself staring at. It was almost as if I was staring at a figure from one of my dreams. That’s how unreal this felt. My heart knew this person well, as did my head. When I saw him, I felt like my broken and bruised heart had been mended completely. My heart thudded loudly in my ears, then my body tensed completely. I felt better than I had in years when I saw who it was.The person I found myself staring at, was about my age and height. He was dressed completely in black. In his hand, he held a boquet of pink roses. He had deep, caring blue eyes, and the hair…the hair he had, I would have recognized anywhere. Even with it’s being soaking wet, it still looked, like it always had, like a bird’s nest. We stood there, in the downpour, staring at each other, him staring and smiling at me, whereas, I was gaping at him. By this time, both of us where soaking wet, but that didn’t phase us. When I finally recovered from my shock, I managed to whisper, “ Matt.” “ Mimi,” he said as he handed me the boquet of roses he had been carrying. I took the roses, and for a second, I stood there and just stared. Then, I cried with utter joy and happiness, “ Matt!” I ran up to him, and gave him a long hug, that I wished would never end. In that instant, all the grief and sadness that had been building up inside me for the past five years, turned to pure joy and rapture. I could tell that Matt was shocked at first, but he adjusted quickly, and said to me, “ Shh, it’s all right. It’ll be okay,” he said as he rubbed my head and back gently. “ Yes it is,” I said, “ now everything will be all right.” For a second, I wondered if this was actually real, or if this was another trick, but I soon determinded that this Matt was indeed real. Where Celeste was involved, anything was possible, anything at all. I didn’t care how he got back here. All that mattered to me right now, was that he was here. We both stood like that for a couple of minutes, and during that time, I was aware that all the others were now standing on the porch watching us. We stood there, I crying in his arms, while he stood there, trying to comfort me. “ Oh, Matt,” I said as I began to cry again. “ I never thought I’d see you again. I thought you were dead.” He gently pushed me away, but just enough so that he could see my face. “ Dead?” he asked. “ Where did you hear that?” “ It’s a long story,” I said, “ a really long story. Could we just skip that for now?” “ Sure,” he said. He paused. “ Listen, Mimi,” he began, “ I’m so, so, sorry for what I…” “ Shh,” I said, “ there’s no reason to apologize. It was my fault too. Please, don’t blame youself. That’ll just make me feel bad.” “ Sure,” he said. “ I just want to tell you one thing.” “ What?” I asked. “ I want to tell you, that I’ll love you forever, and this time I really mean it. I’ll do everything in my power to prove it to you.” “Matt,” I said, “ you don’t have to prove your love to me. Your word is good enough. I’ve never stopped loving you. I never have stopped, and I never will. I’ll love you from here till the end of time.” He tilted my head up so that once again I could see directly into his eyes and vice-versa. We didn’t speak another word. This time, he moved to kiss me, and this time, I didn’t stop him. We shared our first ever kiss, and I guessed, that that one kiss, would probably be one of the most memorable in my life. There, in the rain, the same rain that had brought me sadness and heartbreak five years ago, and up till today, had brought me back to my love, and had helped me find happiness, of such a kind, I knew, that I would probably never find again. There, on that day, in the middle of a downpour, two wandering hearts found each other again. There, on that day, a new chapter in my life, was begun. The End To be Continued~
