Chapter Text
New York City. The City That Never Sleeps.
Miyako had heard the nickname before but hadn’t understood it until now. “What time is it?” The question was muttered almost under her breath. She wasn’t expecting an answer, but she got one anyway.
“It’s almost midnight there.” Iori’s voice came through the earpiece. Miyako looked down at the cars and lights and people at the streets below. The noise. The chaos. The panic. In her mind, she couldn’t help but replace that nickname with another one.
New York City. The City That Was on Fire.
She gritted her teeth and made a frustrated noise in her throat. “Halsemon, do you see him?” Her eyes cast about searching for their target.
No sooner had she asked the question, then her partner yelled back to her. “Hold on, Miyako!”
Miyako clenched her knees and arms tighter around Halsemon. He banked to the right as a fireball flew past them. Her eyes again saw the streets below where the people were fleeing from the flames. Clenching her jaw, she wrenched her gaze away back to the task at hand. There was nothing to be done about that. She had her job. “Headquarters, I found him,” she reported.
“Stay where you are.” Iori’s voice cracked again in her ear. “I’ll send Blue Knight to your location.”
“Wasn’t planning on going anywhere,” she muttered under her breath as she turned off the comm on her end. “Halsemon, let’s set down and take him on. Blue Knight is on the way.” Halsemon landed on the road behind Meramon, and Miyako slipped off his back. In her ear, she heard Ken instructing Mimi to help evacuate the area, while Iori listed off directions to Daisuke. She had no idea where the boy was, but it was their job to contain Meramon as long as they could to mitigate the destruction until the crossover was done. Unfortunately, it had taken longer to find him than expected, so there was already a lot of damage done.
She ducked into an alley as Halsemon charged at Meramon to gain his attention. Pushing her back against the wall, she peeked around the corner to watch the battle. Halsemon leapt out of the way of Meramon’s fireball. Her eyes flicked up and down the street, and she sighed in relief. The street was empty of everyone else.
“Hey, flame breath, why don’t you buzz off?”
Daisuke’s arriving statement was punctuated by a lightning strike from Raidramon. Miyako rolled her eyes. It was truly a wonder that boy had survived as long as he had.
Meramon screamed as the lightning hit him and collapsed to one knee. Raidramon leapt down from the roof of a building, bouncing off walls and signs to land on the far side of Meramon from her and Halsemon. Now, they just had to hold on for a few minutes. Hopefully.
It had not escaped her notice that the Crossovers were getting longer each time.
Slamming a fist to the ground, cracking the road underneath, Meramon pushed himself to his feet. He lifted his arms up and roared, causing the flames of his body to flare up and flicker even faster.
“Dang it. I was hoping that would knock him out.”
Miyako jolted and looked up behind her. Daisuke descended from the fire escape on the side of the building. Raidramon must have left him on the roof before jumping down. The moment his feet hit the ground, Miyako gripped his sleeve. “Blue Knight, are you trying to get killed?”
Daisuke shrugged off her hand and moved to the entrance of the alley. “It’s fine, Red Knight. Now that we found him, Raidramon and Halsemon can hold him.”
“That’s no reason to antagonize him!” Frustration surged through her at his flippant attitude. “Meramon was their friend! Don’t you care at all?”
Daisuke froze and looked back at her. “Of course, I do!” he snapped back at her. His eyes blazed in fury and Miyako flinched, knowing she took it too far. She clashed with Daisuke frequently over a variety of things. But she should have touched upon his devotion to his friends.
She knew, as few others did, that Daisuke considered the kidnapping a personal failure.
Another explosion, close to the entrance of the alley, caused both teens to press themselves against the brick wall. After a few moments, the distant sounds of sirens and normal city hum were all the sounds that could be heard.
Halsemon appeared at the entrance of the alleyway. “He is gone.”
Miyako heaved a sigh of relief and activated her comm again. “HQ, Meramon has gone back to the D World.”
Iori’s voice came through her ear. “Copy that. Andromon is searching for a safe route back. Meet up with Sincerity and wait for further instructions.”
“Understood.” Miyako looked over at Daisuke, who had his arms folded tightly across his chest. Because he seemed the most unchanged out of everybody to their new circumstances, sometimes she forgot that Daisuke had experienced all the same things in the past few years. “Look, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that, but you know that I had a point.” She could admit that she’d been too harsh with her words, but she didn’t think that she was all wrong with what she’d said. Daisuke could be more careful. The last thing they needed was someone else injured right now.
His arms fell back to his side as he shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, whatever.”
Clamping her teeth together to stop another hasty retort from escaping, Miyako closed her eyes and took a deep breath. As much as she wanted to whack Daisuke upside the head, the rational part of her brain screamed that she had apologized to him moments before and smacking him now would hardly do any good to anyone.
No matter how much it might make her feel better.
She chose to focus on Mimi instead. “Sincerity, where are you?” she asked through the comm link. She pulled out her Digivice to see if she could find the green dot that would lead her to their friend.
“Just south of Central Park on Fifth Avenue,” Mimi responded. “HQ, there’s a bunch of retail stores. Should be an easy spot to get a Gate open.”
Miyako almost squealed. Central Park? Fifth Avenue? They were that close to them? These were places that she’d only heard about before, but she had always wanted to see them. She vaguely remembered seeing a park while she was in the air, but it hadn’t really crossed her mind when she was focused on finding Meramon.
“Looks like she’s about a kilometer from where we are,” Daisuke said, snapping Miyako from her thoughts. When she looked at him, he was putting away his Digivice and moving toward the end of the alley.
“Can’t we…” Miyako trailed off as he climbed aboard Raidramon. His Digimon partner hopped up the side of a building and disappeared across the rooftops. Her request died before it could be completed. It was ridiculous of her to ask, she knew. There was no way she could stroll Central Park and Fifth Avenue now. Walking toward the end of the alley, she climbed back onto Halsemon.
Just another dream that died with The Disappearance.
Iori slipped the headphones off his head and hung them on the hook beside the screen. His eyes glanced over to where Taichi was talking to Mimi. Daisuke and DemiVeemon were already gone. The boy was out the door the moment he hung up the uniform. Miyako and Poromon were right on his heels. She had been yelling after him about returning to the Classroom. Iori remained in his seat, rubbing the top of Upamon’s head.
“Are you finished today?”
Iori jolted and looked at Koushiro. It only took moments for him to realize what the other boy was asking. “No. I have a couple more lessons.” Koushiro nodded, and Iori found himself dropping his gaze away from that scrutinizing look.
Upamon moved under his hand and met his gaze. “What’s on your mind, Iori?” His partner’s question caused him to hunch his shoulders. He’d been mulling over this concern since Taichi had told him. It wasn’t something he wanted to voice, not to the older generation. An image flashed through his mind: livid anger and searing rage in a face where he had never seen it before. Where he hadn’t thought it was possible to be.
Though Ken had told everyone what happened between him and Takeru in his one-time base, Iori had never mentioned that he had been there. That he had seen the beginning of that anger, that rage, that consumed his friend. A friend, who up to that point, had been all smiles and friendly gestures. Iori had seen Takeru be serious in their battles, but it was never like that before.
For three years, he wrestled with these two different images of his friend, unable to settle himself about it. It wasn’t long after that event that the kidnapping happened. And Iori in no way was going to burden anyone else with his struggles when everyone had enough problems to deal with already.
Taichi bringing up Takeru’s red eyes and possession by Lucemon brought it all to the forefront of his mind again. Still though, he found himself unable to voice his thoughts. Talking to Koushiro might be better than Yamato or Taichi, but what would Koushiro think of him to have such thoughts of his friend?
Why did Takeru react in the pyramid that way?
Why was the catalyst for the kidnapping?
How did someone so enraged by evil fall into darkness?
Instead of voicing his thoughts and questions, Iori swallowed them down and shook his head. “Nothing. I’m going back to the Classroom.”
Upamon settled into his arms. “Alright, then. Let’s go.”
Iori looked up and met the eyes of Koushiro. The older boy’s mouth tightened and his head tilted to the side. For a moment, Iori thought the older boy might not believe him and question him. Dread sliced through him as the thought of trying to explain himself without outright lying. His eyes darted over to Taichi and Mimi again. Neither one had noticed yet and that was the last thing he wanted. “Good-bye,” he muttered hastily as he bowed and rushed from the room.
He tried not to look at the Infirmary door as he turned quickly toward the Classroom. Hikari was down in Tokyo right now, but he hadn’t gone to see her before they left. Guilt tugged at his chest for that, but it had never seemed like the right moment with all her family and other friends to see her first.
He should have done something. His arms clenched a little tighter around Upamon, and his eyes burned with unshed tears of frustration. He had been standing right next to her before she had run to Takeru.
Her cry of dismay.
His look of despair.
The dark shadows that swallowed them.
Feathers falling from the sky.
Iori had stood there. Useless.
Much as he felt now standing in front of the door to the Classroom. He knew Daisuke and Miyako would still be inside (as they had also missed part of morning lessons like him). But who else would he encounter? He wasn’t sure he wanted to know. His eyes looked to the right where the stairs lead to the second floor. It was mostly office space for the adults up there, in case they needed it. But there was a computer lab up there as well. That lab was really for the older kids who were in college, if they were here in Headquarters. But it wouldn’t be that hard for him to boot up a computer and finish his lessons.
“You sure you’re alright?”
Upamon’s voice brought him back to the present and where he was. “Yes,” he said, shaking his head. He would do what he always had done. Pretend everything was normal, ignore is conflicted feelings about his friend, and try not to be as completely useless around here as he felt.
Opening the Classroom door, he kept his head down. He would finish his lessons and then find the only thing that brought him any semblance of peace these days: practicing kendo his grandfather and Piximon. What else could he do?
Hiroaki Ishida dropped his bag to the floor as he slipped off his shoes. Tugging on his tie to loosen it, he grimaced as he saw two other sets of shoes in the entryway. It was late in the evening, which meant that the other two, whoever they were, were planning on staying the night. He shrugged. If the bed was taken, the couch was comfortable enough.
It was always a long rough day when there was a Crossover. News stations were flooded with information that had to be siphoned through quickly to get the pertinent news out to the public. And news had been scarce in the beginning today. Crossovers waited on no one’s convenience. Though it had been early afternoon here, it had been close to midnight there. Until people could be roused and put to work, there hadn’t been anyone to call on to get news other than amateur reports. Hiroaki would have gotten more information from one phone call to his son than what they had finally managed to pull together.
But he would never ask that of Yamato.
Back when all this started, he promised Natsuko (and himself) that he would never exploit Yamato like that. Too much insider information made people suspicious. And if he was going to do anything, he would protect the son he had left. The last thing he wanted was the higher ups to discover Yamato was one of the “Monster Hunters”.
The bedroom door opened and closed, revealing Susumu Yagami. Hiroaki blinked at him. His mind was sluggish this late into the night, so it took him a long moment to realize why he would be here. Finally, it clicked. Natsuko had told him about this.
Taichi brought Hikari back from the Digital World.
Hiroaki couldn’t help but hate the other family a little bit for that.
With no brain power left and that thought lingering in his mind, he nodded his head in acknowledgement and gave a grumble of greeting that was just a hair’s breadth on the side of politeness. He moved into the kitchen, intent on getting a drink of water, and then shucking off his house shoes before collapsing on the couch. He was slightly annoyed when Susumu followed him. Intellectually, he knew it was not their fault in the least. The kidnapping was no one’s fault beyond the ones that had taken them.
But the fact remained that Susumu and Yuuko now had their daughter back.
And Takeru was still gone.
A part of him hated himself for hating them. It wasn’t like he’d made an effort when Takeru was here. How long had it been since he’d seen his younger son before his kidnapping? Even the times that he had seen him had been because Yamato brought him over and not any effort on his part. Yeah, he wasn’t about to win any father of the year awards. What right did he have to begrudge them getting their daughter back?
He shook those thoughts aside the best he could. That was a dangerous path to go down.
Opening the fridge door, he pulled out a bottle of water. “How is she?” If he couldn't have Takeru, the least he could do was be civil to Susumu. They had become friends over the year and a half since they moved to Headquarters. And though the bond had started in their shared grief, it did go beyond that now.
Susumu shook his head. “They are still waiting on results from some tests. But Mizuki thinks that her first assessment is correct. Physically, she’ll be fine.”
He lifted and eyebrow. This was not the look of a man whose daughter was going to be fine after being missing for three years. “But?” He took a drink of his water bottle and waited for Susumu to fill in the blanks.
It wasn’t long before Susumu complied. “But they don’t know why she’s in a coma yet. That’s what they are trying to figure out.”
“So, you’re staying here?”
“Until they let us take her back to Headquarters. We want to be here to take care of her. Is that okay?”
Hiroaki shrugged. It didn’t bother him, and as far as he was concerned, Susumu didn’t even have to ask. Since they had to have a name on the lease for the apartment, he and Natsuko had been the ones to sign it. But it was understood that this apartment was owned by all of them. They kept the one apartment in the city just in case anyone needed to stay in the city overnight, for whatever reason. Hiroaki used it often, but it was the Kidos that probably used it the most. “What about Taichi?” Judging from the fact that there were only two pairs of shoes, it was clear that their son had not come into town with them. Their leader was probably still at Headquarters and had run the Crossover, like always. But he could admit he was curious what Susumu’s answer would be.
Susumu chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. It was a habit he and Taichi shared. “Taichi can take care of himself. And everyone else.”
Hiroaki was more surprised by his lack of shock at that answer than the actual answer itself. He was a journalist. It was basically his job to be observant. And he had seen plenty in these last few years. Other than that whole Myotismon fiasco, he didn’t know much of what happened during the kids’ first adventure, but he could see some things in the way they interacted with each other. The kids followed Taichi. And somewhere along the way, all of the rest of them had fallen into line behind that mindset.
What a terrible burden for such a young kid.
Hiroaki had to admit Taichi was good at it, no doubt about it. From Susumu’s words, so did his father. His journalist brain suddenly had a bunch of questions, wondering what it was like for Susumu and Yuuko to see their son like that. With a shake of his head and an exasperated sigh at himself, he pushed those questions aside. “That’s true,” he answered simply with a little chuckle. He downed the rest of the water bottle and tossed it in the recycle.
As he walked out of the kitchen, Susumu grabbed his arm. “They’ll find Takeru, too. You have to believe that.”
After the last few years, Hiroaki had some major adjustments on what he believed these days. And as long as the kids didn’t give up, neither would he. “Yeah, thanks,” he muttered, too tired to muster up much more of a reply.
“Do you think they might have found some sort of clue?”
He stopped and turned back. “What makes you say that?”
Susumu folded his arms across his chest. “I don’t know. I mean, just the way Taichi and some of the other older kids have looked at Yamato the last couple of days since Hikari was brough back makes me think…something.” He finished his statement with a shrug of his shoulders and a slight shake of his head.
Hiroaki was one of the parents that was the most often not at Headquarters, so he couldn’t dispute anything Susumu said. He hadn’t been back since before Hikari came back, after all. “Perhaps it’s because of his shoulder,” he suggested. After he found out about Yamato’s injury, he did video call his son to see how he was doing. Yamato was pretty quick to give him a glare and ground out, “I’m fine, Dad.” And it may make him a bad parent, but Hiroaki let the matter drop. Because he was actually sure he didn’t want to know because if he did, he might try something stupid, like stop the kids. And he couldn’t do that.
Like it or not, these kids were the only hope the world had.
Susumu shrugged again. “Maybe.”
To Hiroaki, it sounded like he didn’t believe that. Resolving to observe the kids the next time he was at Headquarters to see if he could pick anything up, Hiroaki shook his head. “They would tell us if they knew something.”
Susumu barked an incredulous laugh. “They would tell us exactly nothing and you know it.”
Hiroaki hung his head. It was true. He knew that all too well.