-->
I know this part is WAY overdue, but bear with me, everyone, I'm an employed teenage girl who's entering her junior year of high school. I can't write ALL the time.... can I?
You all know the drill; thank you, thank you, I don't own Digimon, yadda yadda yadda, I love TK....
Solitary Dreams, part four
Izzy's fingers rapped sharply at the keyboard, typing the same message to all five people he'd been chatting with:
Come over.
Sora sat in the dim, carpeted basement of the Izumi household, once again scribbling things in a notebook. When she heard light footsteps on the wooden stair behind her she snapped the folder shut and stood up quickly. Izzy was there, with a smile on his face.
"I think I solved it!" He said jubilantly. "We can fix the problem now, everything's going to be okay!"
Sora smiled kindly. She loved to see Izzy glad, since he'd seemed so unhappy the last few months. But deep inside she couldn't feel glad, and she knew things wouldn't be okay. She kept the smile on her face, though, reminding herself that a friend is someone who smiles for others, even when her heart is dying inside.
"The others are all coming over." Izzy said. "We'll meet in my room, okay?"
"Again?"
"Is there a problem?" Izzy's eyebrows furrowed.
"We just had a meeting. I thought it was over."
Izzy shook his head. "Just the beginning. There's a long way to go before it'll be over. What's the matter Sora?"
"I'm just tired." she answered. "That's all. I'll be up in a minute."
Izzy marched back upstairs. As he shut the door connecting to the basement, the last beam of light from the kitchen disappeared with him. Sora let out a long breath and felt her way to the bottom of the duffel bag she'd brought with her. She replaced the notebook, took out some house slippers, and stepped toward the staircase.
At the railing she stopped. She sat on the lowest stair and gazed into the dark ceiling. Her head rested in her hands and she bit her tongue to keep tears from coming. She wanted to be strong for the others, but how could she be when she couldn't be enough of a friend to take care of them? If something bad should happen, and she wasn't there... she had to stop caring so much.
Sora patted her flushed cheeks, and ran back to her duffel bag for something she'd forgotten. The red light of her digivice, representing unfailing love, led her path up the black stairway.
"Mimi!" Izzy ran to the girl, who was just making her way up the sidewalk in the rain, with only a light jacket for protection. He had an old afgan, and he threw it over their heads. They stepped together to the doorway. Inside, Izzy took her jacket and her digivice. His mother gave her a cup of tea to warm her up. It turned out she had walked all the way from her district to his house. She refused to say why.
"Is it your family again?" Izzy asked after his mother had left the kitchen, and Mimi was quietly sipping the tea. He tried to speak softly; not to scare her. Mimi was a fragile girl, and he had little experience with personal matters like hers.
Mimi looked blank and shivered with the cold.
"Do you have any clothes... I can wear?" she asked timidly. "Mine are all wet."
Izzy smiled. "Sure. I think my mom has some old high school clothes in a box somewhere. They might be a little big, but they're dry." and he led her upstairs to get changed.
"I wonder where Sora is," Izzy thought out loud, once he and Mimi were dry and lounging in his room. "It shouldn't be taking her this long. And the others, too. They should all be here by now!" He checked his digital alarm clock, then gazed through the rain-drenched windowpanes at the street below. "I don't understand it. Maybe I should go check with Sora downstairs-"
"No, Izzy..." the tone of Mimi's voice stopped him in mid-path to the door. "I'm afraid... I feel like..."
"You're scared again?" Izzy guessed. "About that lady?"
"No!" Mimi cried indignantly. "No, it's not her! I don't want to talk about her anymore..."
"Then what? What is it?!?" Izzy was starting to get impatient. "Mimi, get to the point, I know you feel bad, but we don't have all day here!"
"Izzy!" Mimi yelled. "Please, try to understand. You called us here because you were sure you had it figured out and we could solve it, right?"
"Yeah."
"Well, it takes much more than that."
"What?" his voice was harsh and he stepped towards her quickly.
"Izzy, we CAN'T!!! WE CAN'T DO IT!!!!" she nearly screamed.
"What do you mean?" Izzy yelled back.
Sora was quietly slipping into the room behind them. She folded her hands behind her and stood against the far wall.
"I mean, it's not enough to fix it, like we always did. People have to get hurt, Izzy!" She looked up, eyes flooded and blurry with tears. "People will have to die. It won't end. People have to die. The bad people have to die. And we have to kill them."
Sora looked up. She felt sorry for Mimi. She wanted so much to hug her, but something kept her from it, and she remained where she was.
"Mimi," Izzy shook his head. He couldn't figure this one out. "What in the world are you talking about? Look, just stay here. Sora's here, soon the others will be, too, and I'll explain it all to you then, okay? It's all right; things will work out fine. You'll see."
Mimi did nothing but shake her head.
"No," she said silently to herself. "no, it won't be okay."
Izzy had turned away. "All right, Sora's here! Now we just wait for the others."
At that point Tai and Kari entered the room, their hair dampened by the pouring rain outside. They were followed almost immediately by Joe, Matt, and TK. Izzy asked them all to stand around his computer as he accessed a file sent to him via e-mail.
"This was given to me by Gennai." he said. "It's a file of the history of this world, or dimension, that we've been dreaming about. It's all here; everything we've thought or dreamed is in here. It's a history of a world like ours; with many different nations all battling for power and domination. With kings and queens, and presidents and governments, everything is here. And at one point or another in the history of this world, certain events occured which somehow were transfered to your memories while you were sleeping. Only strange thing is; these events in history tell nothing about us being there. But most of your dreams have revolved around our presence there. It's odd, but I believe it's only a result of these factual images being mixed with our subconcious selves. At any rate, the history of this world seems to have passed already; therefore the dreams you've experienced are nothing more than ideas passing through rips in the time-space continuoum. There's nothing to be concerned about, it's all over and done with. We have nothing more to worry about."
"That IT?!?" asked Joe. "That's all? But why have these dreams only affected us?"
"First of all, Joe, we don't KNOW that we are the only ones who've been affected. It could be all of Japan, for all we know. Secondly, even if they DO only affect us, it's not something to be concerned about. It may be because our minds are more open and aware of that sort of thing."
"But there's nothing more to worry about?" asked Tai. "The problem's over..."
"Definately. It's over, Tai."
"You're sure..."
"I find that hard to believe," Matt said, his hands anxiously entering his pockets. "It's never been 'over' for us. There's always something we've forgotten, something we've overlooked, another enemy to face. How can we be sure that we aren't needed in this other world, like we were needed in the digital world?"
"Well," Izzy admitted. "I think it's possible that we WERE needed in that world, and even possible that we, or someone like us, had been there at the time. But what I'm concerned with is the present time. That world has ended, as most worlds do after a time. There's no need for us there. These images are nothing more than figments of our imaginations."
There was silence. With the pale light, and the sound of raindrops drumming against the Izumi household, each child in the room remembered their own dream. Each one secretly doubted how such a fantasy could be either real or false. Each one was more confused than they'd ever been.
"Then," said Tai. "Is there nothing more to do besides go home?"
"Well, that's all I needed to tell you. Our worries are over; there won't be any more battles."
Matt stood up and TK rose with him. "We need to get home," was all Matt said. "See ya." he left quietly, as he had come in. Joe also got up and left, claiming he was late for dinner.
As Tai prepared to walk Kari home, Izzy spoke again, in a harsher, more worried tone than he'd used all evening.
"Hold it, Kari." she turned around, startled that Izzy had sounded so upset.
"What is it?"
"Come here. Tai and Sora, would you wait by the door, please? Mimi, stay here too." Kari stood by Izzy, and he knelt down at her level.
"Kari, I know that sometimes you do things that none of us understand, and that you have good reasons for doing them. Tell me," he reached into his pocket. "Do you recognize anything special about this?" Kari did nothing but grab the object from Izzy's open hand. She bolted for the door, but Sora and Tai were able to catch her just in time, and they carried her, kicking and screaming, to sit at the edge of Izzy's bed. Now surrounded on all sides, the young girl had the look of a hunted rabbit in her eyes. She held something clutched tightly in her hands, and seemed to silently dare the others to take it from her.
"What is that?" Tai asked, alarmed to see such a violent impulse from his quiet sister.
"It's Mimi's digivice." Izzy answered, wiping his forehead. "She's been stealing our digivices for goodness knows how long. Mine's been gone for a few days."
"That's right," gasped Tai. "Mine's been gone for a week now. I thought I'd just lost it!"
"I still have mine..." Sora said, reaching to her back pocket. She breathed in sharply. "No I don't! Kari, did you take mine, too?"
Izzy pinned Kari down, as she continued to struggle, and removed from her front pocket a deep red digivice.
"That's mine..." Sora identified.
"Yesterday Mimi and I picked up a signal from her digivice, which showed all the other digivices in one location." Izzy fought the tiny girl, and finally subdued her on the rug. He pulled out six more devices from various pockets in Kari's dress. "As we watched the signal moving, we traced it to Tai and Kari's house. So we knew that the digivices had to all be with Tai or Kari. Since the two are together so often, it was hard to tell who had the digivices. But mine hadn't disappeared until I had an encounter with Kari, and Mimi told me she had only been around Tai lately. We concluded that all the digivices had gone missing only when Kari was present, and this little girl has just confirmed my hypothesis...." Kari sat glowering.
Tai and Sora were speechless at the other side of the room.
"Kari," Sora asked, sounding almost hurt. "Why would you do that?"
She wouldn't answer.
"What's the matter with her?!?!" demanded Tai. "She's never acted like this at all!!!"
"I think," Izzy said. "That it has something to do with the visions and dreams we've been having. Perhaps in Kari's mind, she cannot differentiate between dreams and reality, and feels that she must have all the digivices to make things better."
The angry expression suddenly left Kari's face, and her head lowered in a somber, meditating state. As Izzy held the eight digivices together in his hands, they started to glow. First, their individual colors filled each corner of the room. Then the colors blended, and in a flash the room was flooded with white light.
"Shut it off! Shut it off!" somebody cried. Izzy's mind reacted quickly. "Tai, catch!" he cried, and threw Tai one of the digivices. As quickly as it had come, the light vanished.
"Well," Sora said, "That reminds me of what happened to us once in the Digital World, doesn't it Ka- where is she?!?!" Sora's voice tone expressed everyone's alarm. Kari had vanished.
Izzy hadn't moved. He was still holding seven of the digivices. "That light only comes when they're all together." he said. "At extremely close range. But they have been together before, and nothing happened. What was different this time....?"
"Snap out of it!" Tai screamed. "My little sister is gone!!!"
"And so is Mimi," Sora added, standing by the spot on the bed where Mimi had sat. "Neither of them had time to leave the room, and the door is still shut." She looked up. "Izzy, maybe that other world has more to do with us than we ever thought..."
Matt stood by TK outside of his home. He'd felt so uncertain about letting him go anywhere alone. He was becoming more overprotective than he'd ever thought he could be.
"Matt?" asked TK's sympathetic voice from around Matt's hip. "You can let go of my hand now. I can go in by myself."
He faked a smile. "I know TK." He bent down to the level of his younger sibling. "TK, if anything should happen really suddenly, that scares you, or if anything comes up where you need my help-"
"I know!" TK said, rolling his eyes. "I should call 911 if it's an emergency, or call Mommy at work, or Daddy, or you, or Aunt Becky, or Grandma, or Grandpa, or-"
Matt chuckled. "Yeah, TK, but if you need help fast..." he reached for his keychain, where he always kept his icy blue digivice. He gasped. His keys were there, just like always, but...
"My digivice is gone!" Matt cried. He got a furiously angry look on his face. His eyes became narrow and extremely angular. "I couldn't have lost it!" he took TK harshly by the shoulders. "Did you take my digivice?"
TK shook his head innocently. "No, Matt, mine's gone too. It's been gone ever since that day I was playing in the sandbox in Odaiba Park with Kari. I thought I'd dropped it, but I never could find it!"
Matt paused. The last time he was positive he'd had his... was before he left for the subway ride to Joe's house several days before. Then he was on a train with Tai and Kari... Matt stood up with resolve.
"What's the matter?!" TK cried.
"We're gonna solve this, once and for all. The Kamiyas have caused us enough problems!!"
"Oh... what're you gonna do???" TK asked, anxious about Kari. "You're not gonna hurt Tai, are you, Matt? I thought you and him were best friends..."
"Go in the house, TK." Matt said. "Tomorrow I'll call you, okay?" he faked another smile. "See ya."
"See ya," TK repeated, backing away reluctantly. He skipped up to the door and opened it, glancing back just in time to watch his big brother scribble a note on something and run off like the wind.
Tai cracked open the door to the Kamiya apartment. He noticed that no one was there, so he made a line straight for Kari's bedroom. Once there, he acted fast to create a pile of stuffed animals and pillows, which he covered with a sheet. He molded the pile into a form mildly resembling a sleeping eight-year-old girl. Then he went into his bedroom, leaving the door open so that he would know when his parents returned.
He flopped down on his bed, ten times as exhausted and downcast as before. He was so lost, he didn't know what else to do, and he lay on the bed, fighting with his tears for a very long time.
It was getting dark outside, and Tai had nearly fallen asleep, when the phone rang with a harsh trill. He pushed himself up, brushed his hair back, and went to answer it.
"Hello, Kamiya residence," Tai recited groggily.
"Tai!"
"Matt?!"
"What the hell have you been doing?!?!"
Tai's eyes widened as he heard Matt swear for the first time ever. But it wasn't even the swearing, it was the tone of Matt's voice that scared him. Even when they'd had their arguments, so long ago in the digital world, Matt had always had some sort of compassion in his voice, some hint of caring, and not wanting to fight. This time, there was none.
"Well?!?!" Matt persisted. Tai wasn't sure he knew him anymore.
"What's the matter?" He tried to reason.
"You KNOW what's the matter!" Matt practically screamed into the receiver. "You, or your sister, or both, have put us all in trouble!!"
"Matt..."
"Don't you GET it?!?! Without the digivices, we have NO way of contacting the digital world, we're helpless against anything that comes against us!! Those digivices are the keys to saving the world, now facing this new danger we're defenseless. We're open to ANY new attacks, and now TK is in danger, and I have no way to protect him!! Tai, because of YOU that nightmare is a reality!!!"
Tai's mouth hung open. His eyes glazed over. "Um, didn't you hear Izzy? He said it was over."
"Use your thick head, Tai, you know it's never over."
There was a noise down the hall of the Kamiya apartment. Tai breathed in. His parents were home.
"I've gotta go!" he called to Matt. "I'll call you back."
"Tai-" he slammed the receiver down before Matt could finish, and ran out to greet his parents.
"Why hello Tai," said his mother as she removed her long coat. "You're up very late, and looking very... perky."
Tai laughed as casually as he could, and said, "I was just... so excited to see you, Mom!!!"
His parents blinked.
"Okay, Tai." said his father. "Why don't you change into your pajamas. We're going to go see Kari, then we'll be in to say goodnight to you."
"Uh, KARI?!?" Tai stammered, blocking their view to Kari's bedroom. "Why would you want to see Kari? She's fine, I promise. Um... she asked not to be disturbed."
His parents blinked again.
"Why, that's not like her at all," commented his mother. "perhaps I'd better go see if she's okay...."
"No, Mom!!!" Tai was becoming anxious. "She's FINE, I promise!!! Please.... " he looked up through his brown eyes. "I put her to bed myself. She's fine...." he choked down rising tears of desperation and pain.
His mother looked closely at him. "All right, Tai," she said. "I know how much more responsible you've gotten lately. I trust you, I'm only going to look in on her, okay?"
Tai followed her at her heels and stood behind her, wringing his hands, as she gazed at what was meant to be a reasonable facsimile of her precious daughter.
"Good night, Kari," she whispered, shutting the door with a click. "she's sleeping like a baby. I don't know how you did it, Tai. Thank you."
"Oh," Tai laughed. "It was nothing, really."
"Goodnight, son." his father patted him on the head and the adults walked off together. Tai returned to his bedroom, and as he donned his pajamas, a wave of both guilt and relief washed over him. He sat on his bed, and buried his face in his hands.
"What've I done..." he muttered. "I've made such a mess of everything again..."
Tai looked up, out the window, where the large satellite dish that recepted television for most of Odaiba stood. His eyes dried, and narrowed with resolve.
"Matt..." was all he said, before slipping out to make a phone call.
"Good night," Izzy called down the dark basement stairs.
"Good night," returned Sora. She curled her sheets around her and fell into almost instant slumber.
Izzy knew he'd be up most of the night. He had shut off the main light of his bedroom and turned on the small lamp atop his desk. On the wooden tabletop lay seven of the eight digivices. He'd given one to Tai, just to make sure they weren't all together and nobody got zapped into who knows where again...
Izzy looked at each digivice carefully, examining them for any minor irregularities that could give him a clue to what had caused the disappearances of Mimi and Kari. Unfortunately, he'd wanted especially to examine Kari's digivice, which was the one he'd tossed to Tai in his hurry. But while going over each one, a completely new thought came to him. Overturning the digivice in his hands, he smiled. He'd discovered one very simple clue that they had overlooked all along....
It was pitch dark. Mimi didn't know if her eyes were even open or shut, but when she tried to open them, it stayed the same sickly shade of black. It always had been her least favorite color.
"Hello....?" she cried out. "Can anyone hear me? Please.... answer...?"
But there was no response, only a steady, soft hum coming from all around her.
Suddenly there was a flash, and there was now an 'up' and a 'down' to the place she was in. She stood on the hard, cold, black marble floor. Beside her were many empty chairs, richly upholstered in red velvet, and to her other side there was a tall woman, also clothed in black and red. Mimi jumped back. She recognized that lady.
"Who are you?!?!" she demanded, tears spilling from her eyes. "Where are my friends?!?!"
The lady smiled. It seemed as though she were shrinking, but in this place where nothing could be compared to anything, it was hard to tell. She walked right up to the terrified girl.
"You're not scared, are you Mimi?" she asked sweetly. "Everything's going to be all right. You're where you belong now."
TO BE CONTINUED...
la de da.... so, how did everyone like it? Good, bad? REALLY REALLY confusing? ^_^ Write me and tell me what you think!
`Easter
