A/N: Is it weird to reread your own story and end up crying? That's what happened to me. And Redbone18; you read my mind and knew exactly how I'd planned the opening part ;)

And I'm sorry for the long wait on this update and the short length of it, but real life goes first, right? Well, thank you for all the reviews and such, they truly speed things up for me. So, thanks!

Disclaimer: You all should know by now that the only thing I own is Nikki and the plot everything else is someone else's piece of work.

Chapter Twelve – The Things We Owe

Against the grain should be a way of life
What's worth the prize is always worth the fight
Every second counts 'cause there's no second try
So live like you'll never live it twice
Don't take the free ride in your own life

If Today Was Your Last Day – Nickelback

26th of September – The Void of Darkness

Voices. He heard voices that didn't belong to either Nikki or himself, but yet he recognized them from the distance. As they got closer and closer he was sure, the two voices belonged to his brother and Kari. But, how could he hear them here? He looked down at Nikki as she sat and braided her reddish brown hair, or tried at least. Nope, it didn't look like she'd heard them at all. So, how come he could hear them clearer and clearer for every second that went by? He still couldn't make out the words, but he was sure it was them. Them talking somewhere in the distance. Then, a single voice could be heard clearly through the darkness surrounding him. And he could make out every single word it spoke.

"Wake up soon, I love you."

Those six words stunned him. Not that he was surprised that Kari told him, or at least he thought it was to him she spoke, that she loved him. But by the fact that she told him to wake up. Did that mean that he had guessed right earlier? That he was in fact alive and in a hospital? Well, his body that is. His unconscious body. There was no way for his body to be awake while he was stuck in this place, he hadn't thought of that until now. No wonder Kari asked, or rather begged, him to wake up.

Then they got to be there now. By his body in the States. Oh, how he wished he could be there with them. To see their, hopefully, smiling faces. He knew for sure that both Kari and Matt were there now. Wait. Now he could faintly hear Sora and Tai's voices getting closer. Had they just entered the room or had he just missed them? There was no way for him to know that unless he asked them, and that he knew for sure was impossible.

The two new, or at least new for him now, voices didn't make it easier for him to make out any words. It really had been a wonder that he'd heard what Kari had said before, even minus Sora and Tai's voices. Or perhaps it just was because she was closer then the rest, what did he know? Nothing, from his place here. He knew absolutely nothing of what was going on in the Real World.

"T.K.?"

He turned around, relieved that this time he could actually face the owner of the voice that had just called his name. Nikki had stopped braiding her hair and had settled with a simple ponytail, from where she'd gotten the band tying it all together he had no clue. "Something wrong, Nic?" He asked as he saw the worried look on Nikki's young face.

"Are we ever going to get out of here? I've never really liked darkness very much…" T.K. hesitated and when the girl saw that she continued. "Don't change the subject or tell me a white lie, please. I wanna know for real this time."

T.K. was stunned. He'd thought that his actions had gone unnoticed by her, but obviously she knew that he hadn't told her the truth. He hadn't really lied, just avoided the truth. But apparently it was time to tell her what he knew, thought it wasn't much. "I really don't know, Nikki. I barely know where we are. Just that we'll be here until our actual bodies in the world filled with light are healed and ready to takes us back."

"Then it shouldn't be an awfully long time for us to wait, should it?" She looked up at him, her emerald eyes filled with a little bit of new hope. "Mommy always told me that I'm a quick healer." She continued proudly, for the first time speaking of her mother without ending up crying.

"Then you'll be back in no time." T.K. replied and ruffled her hair, completely ruining her ponytail.

She sent a glare in his direction. "Hey! I just fixed my hair." Then, as if realizing something, she smiled and looked up at him again. "You don't happen to know how to make a braid, do you?"

"Nope, never done one in my entire life." He smiled and chuckled slightly as he raised an eyebrow in question to her. "You didn't really expect me to know that, right?"

She shook her head and, still smiling, replied. "My mommy always braided my hair before I went to bed… I loved it when she did that. It felt safe and nice and… And it felt like home…" Her eyes then filled with water, but yet it was a small success for her having been able to handle more then she'd done before. T.K. then bent down to her level and put one of his arms around her small form. Somehow you could tell by just looking at Nikki that just that small motion comforted her and made her feel much better then before it.

"We'll get home soon, Nikki. Life won't be the same as before but it will still be a life for us to return to." Blue met emerald as she turned her head around to face him straight on. He gave her a small smile. She returned the gesture with some effort, but at least it was a smile. "And I promise you, it will eventually feel like home again. A little different but still like home."

She nodded and then as if some great idea hit her she smiled a genuine smile and looked pleadingly up at him. "Hey T.K.… You never finished telling me about how bravely you saved Kari from those icky creatures in that dark world. Can't you please, please continue?"

T.K. chuckled and then did just what she told her, he continued his tale of their adventures in the Digital World. Now they could both disappear into the story and forget their current situation, how they were stuck in the Void of Darkness. How they didn't know when they could escape this place that was doomed to be dark forever.

26th of September – 16.36

Kari didn't know where the time had gone. She had just been sitting there looking at her husband, still stunned by the fact that he was alive and in front of her. His slowly raising chest made her calmer then she'd been since the day before he left, and especially in comparison to the last two weeks. It had been like time hadn't existed and she had barely noticed the others in the room with her. But still, had it really gone six hours? She sighed. She just wanted him to wake up but evidentially them being there hadn't helped the way she thought it would. In her mind she'd made up the idea that once they got there T.K. would feel their presence and perhaps hear their words but no, he hadn't responded at all or nevertheless woken up.

"I wonder what's behind that curtain."

She didn't have to turn around to know that it was her brother that had asked the question. Still, she turned towards him to find out what exactly he talked about. Tai was staring curiously at a blue curtain hanging behind where Sora and Matt sat on the other side of T.K.'s bed. It was strange. She hadn't noticed the curtain at all until Tai spoke about it.

"Well, Tai. Why don't you figure that out then, go ask the doctor." Matt replied looking at his best friend, who shook his head. When Tai didn't follow his advice and instead rose and walked up to said curtain Matt rolled his eyes and continued. "Or you can simply do it your way."

"You shouldn't do that. It's none of your business, Tai." Sora said attempting to stop their friend. "Tai!" He ignored her and took a piece of the curtain and pulled it slightly to the side. Unable to see anything from their place from afar the three kept silence, but they all noticed how tense Tai got when he saw whatever was behind the blue curtain. "Tai?"

"Hey, guys…" Tai said uneasy. "I think you should see this, or rather her."

"Her?" Sora looked at her childhood friend confusedly, not understanding at all what he was talking about.

"You don't mean… Nikki?" Sora gasped at Kari's word as she'd already put two and two together. "Is she there? Tai?"

Her brother turned around and locked his eyes with Kari's. "Yes, it's Nikki, at least I think that it is her. Get over here."

Sora and Matt immediately rose, curious to see the young girl, but Kari however lingered for a moment her eyes gazing down at her husband. She'd been scared that the moment she'd let him out of sight he would disappear, leave her again. After a few seconds she rose, even though her doubts, figuring that this was the moment to at least try to find out what would happen. She released T.K.'s hand from her tight grip and let it fall gently to his side. Behind her back she crossed her fingers. She walked a few steps away from the bed, she then turned around and let out a sigh of relief as T.K. remained in the bed in front of her. Kari paced up and joined the others where they stood still before the other bed looking down at the small and fragile body of Nicole Le Roux.

Her reddish brown hair was spread out all over the white pillow and Kari felt terrified by the fact that the colour of the girl's face was not far from the one of the bedclothes. Kari slowly walked even further forward and let the other ones out of her sight. The closer she got the more stunned she became by the beauty shown in the girl's appearance, even though the wounds she'd received in the crash were clearly evident. Though, compared to T.K. her injuries were not all too severe. Apart from several bruises the only injury Kari could spot was one of her legs. It was tightly wrapped in a pink bandage, whether it was broken or not she didn't know.

"She's… so small."

Kari turned around and faced her brother, whose eyes were fixed upon Nikki. She agreed with him, the huge bed made the girl look even smaller then Kari suspected she was. She remembered from that horrifying phone call two weeks ago that Nikki was four years old, but that was the only thing she knew about the girl. She knew nothing about the girl herself or her family, other then that her mother was killed during the flight. Did she have anyone beside her, or had she lost everything that day? "I wonder why she's alone."

"What do you mean, Kar?" Her brother asked from behind her.

Kari tilted her head slightly before answering. "I mean, T.K. got us here; his family and friends, with even more coming, but she's all alone here."

"Don't worry." Sora stepped forward and rested her hand gently on Kari's arm. "We just found out a day ago. Perhaps her relatives are on their way here now, they might have to travel far to get here, just like we had to. It'll be all right, you'll see."

"Sora, we made it here from Japan in less then a day. I just got the feeling that… Well, something tells me that everything is not all right." She reached forwards and brushed the girl's bangs out of her eyes. It was unfair that someone of her age had to go through something like this, it was horrible that anyone had too but… she was just a kid, it wasn't fair. That she had to grow up with this tragedy in her life, with the memories Kari knew she would have constantly making it's way into the girl's thoughts.

The door opened suddenly and they all turned to see Dr. Johnson walk into the room. "Ah, I see that you four have met Nicole."

"Dr. Johnson!" Tai exclaimed. "I hope you don't mind that we let our …" Sora cleared her throat. "All right, I hope that you don't mind that I let my curiosity get the best of me."

"It's all right, Mr…?"

"Kamiya."

"All right, Mr Kamiya." The doctor nodded. "I suppose you want to know more about the young girl before us?"

"Yes, will she be okay?" Sora hurried to ask as she made her way over to the doctor. "I mean, she looks kind of good. She's not very injured compared to T.K., at least not from what I can tell."

"You're right. As you already know we believe that T.K. was like a shield to her protecting her from the blast and there by sparing her from getting all too many serious injuries. She should wake up in a short while, at least that is what we believe. Other then her health we don't know very much about her. Apparently she and her mother were on that plane to San Francisco to return to their home in the outskirts of the city after being in New York on vacation matters. They both were originally from France but after the death of Nicole's father a year and a half ago they moved to the States and became American citizens."

"So, neither Nikki's mother nor her father is alive?" Kari asked, her suspicions seeming to be true.

"Yes, she's an orphan now. It's sad, but that's what happens sometimes." Dr. Johnson fell silent for a minute then took a deep breath. "Well, back to her condition… Her leg got a severe sprain but fortunately nothing is broken, there were a few cracks but by now they're almost fully healed. Otherwise there's nothing serious, some first degree burn marks but they will heal in no time and as you can see she got some bruises but the same is for them." The doctor then bent over to lift up something that was out of their sight. "And something I think you'll like to see is this." He continued and held up a purple backpack.

"And why is that, doc?" Tai asked as he eyed the small, and from the looks of it rather new, bag. "Is that Nikki's backpack?"

"Yes, it's hers. But I believe that not all of the things inside of this are Nicole's. This for example…" He held up a notebook the four immediately recognized as T.K.'s. "… is way too advanced to be written by a four year old, not to mention that it's partly written in Japanese, which makes us rather sure of who it belongs to."

"T.K." Kari whispered, her lower lip trembling slightly. "What more?"

"There was a strange device…"

"What do you mean by was?" Matt asked having heard the past time tense in Dr. Johnson's sentence.

"Well, everything in this…" He held up the backpack. "… is evidence since it's the only things from the plane that was left fully intact. The investigators have already gone through and are finished with everything but this device. They simply don't know what it is, so it needs further investigation and can't be returned until they are finished with it. I hope that you can understand that." The doctor then held up the backpack for one of them to take. "I'll let you look through everything, I believe that you are the best persons to separate Takeru's personal belongings from Nicole's."

Matt took the backpack from the doctor, his hands shaking while doing so. "Thank you."

"It's nothing. Take all the time you need." The four of them nodded in response. "I will come back to check on Takeru and Nicole in about an hour, I'll see you all then. Goodbye." He left the room rather fast and a silence overtook the remaining four.

"Well, let's start." Tai said as he indicated to Matt that he should open the bag. "No need to wait, right?"

Matt nodded. "Right."

Merry Christmas!