Epilogue

Joe stopped outside the large manor, glanced once at the address written on the slip of paper in his hand, and looked up distrustfully. Someone, a girl with whom he was not familiar, had just called him away from a major biology assignment with a cryptic message that implied that Izzy was in trouble. He would not have come at all, being distrustful of strangers, but the girl's mention of Tentomon made it evident that either one of the others or Izzy himself had asked her to call.

"Joe?" a soft, almost timid voice queried from just inside the doorway of the mansion.

The boy stopped, peering at the girl. She was quite lovely, with black hair and dark brown eyes that made her pale skin seem almost unhealthily pallid. She was also quite thin, and the steps that brought her to his side were graceful. But there was something, something about her that made her seem quite sad, and the way that her head bowed beneath his inquisitive eyes made her seem almost scared of him.

Scared. Of me. Joe shook his head. According to Izzy, Joe could get as mad as he wanted and still not manage to frighten a roomful of fluffy white bunnies.

"Who are you?" Joe queried, looking at her sideways.

Rio's eyes were downcast. "I'm… a friend of Matt's. It was he who asked me to call. Please, come inside. Your friend Izzy is very, very badly hurt."

Joe still looked a bit distrustful, but an overwhelming concern for Izzy's well-being prevailed over any caution that he would have normally felt. "Where is he?"

Rio turned her eyes demurely away from the boy and led him into the manor, then up the stairs and down the hallway to the room where the others waited. She said not another word as she walked, and readily moved to the side to allow him to enter when they did arrive.

Joe's eyes went to Matt, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of a large book as his friends entered. T.K. was beside his brother, and was holding a chain with the flickering Crest of Hope over the open book like a reading lamp. "Matt?" the older boy began. "What's--"

Matt nodded once as Joe's eyes fell upon Izzy's prone form. T.K. had managed to sever all of the wires holding both he and Mimi in their seats, but had dared not do anything more until Joe arrived. Besides the obvious physical injuries, the book that he and Matt were perusing suggested violent consequences if the pair were to be removed from the barrier of light.

Joe saved his questions and moved quickly to Izzy's side, looking in confusion at the steady beam of light emanating from the body and flowing into a large gem in the center of the room. "What's this?" he asked, shifting his glasses as he knelt to examine the iridescent beam.

"It's a really, really long story," Matt muttered. "But right now, I don't think it'd be a good idea to move them."

Joe placed two fingers on Izzy's neck, just beneath his jawbone. Feeling that the boy's pulse was still strong, the older boy nodded and went about checking his friend over for broken bones… any outside of the rather obvious one in his left arm. He looked up briefly. "I could use some water. I need to get the blood cleaned up to check his face."

Matt's attention was still on the book, and obviously he needed T.K.'s assistance with it. He glanced towards the dark-haired girl, who still had not completely entered the room. "Rio? Can you find him some?"

Joe stopped his examination of Izzy as the girl's name filtered through various levels of consciousness and into the more relevant parts of his thinking. He turned and glanced over his shoulder at the blond-haired boy. "Rio? Kuroda?" he questioned, one eyebrow cocked in the air.

Matt silently cursed his tongue for saying that out loud before having discussed the matter with the other boy. "No, Joe," he said, holding up his hands even as Rio's eyes dropped again. "It's okay. She didn't have anything to do with this. She's with me now, on our side."

Rio wished that she could sink into the floor. She had never even met the other boy before, yet the very mention of her name caused him evident alarm. Earlier in her life that might have been something that she would have wished for… but then, she had grown up a lot since. "I'll go see about some water, Matt," the girl murmured sadly, still not raising her eyes to meet those of the friends. Her head remained hung as she slunk silently from the room.

Joe watched the girl uneasily, then returned to tending his patient. "T.K.? T.K., hand me that knife," he asked of the younger boy.

Matt rose to his feet and went to his friend's side, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Joe, let me explain."

"Explain? What's to explain?" the other responded, still keeping his hands busy as he pared Izzy's shirt off with the knife. "She's with you. As in with you?"

"Yes," Matt responded with a murmur.

"You do remember that she tried to kill you a few months ago?"

"A lot has happened since--"

"And that she tried to kill your brother and Kari too?" Joe stopped his tending of Izzy and looked at the two brothers, his eyebrows raised and a frown on his lips. "And… everyone is okay with this?"

"Joe, stop," said T.K., seeing the sadness that the words were starting anew in his brother. His words were soft, as always, but insistent. "Haven't you ever done anything in your life that you regretted? That you wanted a second chance at?"

"Of course. But I happen to think that trying to murder someone for no reason is usually a pretty good place to stop allowing second chances, T.K."

The room fell silent as Joe once again turned back to Izzy. He continued checking about his face and chest as best he could, making certain that the younger boy was still sound, if badly bruised. Then Joe stopped, closing his eyes. "Matt… I'm sorry. If she's got you convinced that she's different somehow… well, I guess I'll have to trust your judgment. Nobody ever listens to me anyway." He fell silent, shaking his head.

"Here's the water."

The three boys turned at the sound of her voice. Though her eyes were still on the floor, Matt was fairly confident that the girl had been crying. He wondered just how much of the conversation that she had heard. Crossing the room, she placed a champagne glass full of water into Joe's hand, then turned away again.

The older teen felt like a heel, but said nothing as he dipped Izzy's shredded shirt into the water and started to dab away at the boy's bloody face.

"Matt!" said T.K. suddenly in alarm. "Where's Roan?"

The older boy looked to the spot where they had dumped the white-haired teen, then darted out the door which led to the hallway. A moment later, all four heard the sound of the front door slamming echo throughout the cavernous entryway. Matt looked down. Most of the larger fragments of the Crest of Hate as well as the book that T.K. had found were all gone. He could only assume that Roan had gathered them up on his way out… though for just what purpose he was uncertain.

"I suppose that he's your best friend now, too, right?" Joe asked dryly.

"Joe, shut up," Matt snapped in response.

T.K. went to his brother's side. "I thought you tied him up."

Matt sighed. "I did, squirt. I guess just not well enough."

"I don't think there was anything you could've done," Rio whispered quietly, stepping to his side. "It takes a lot to hold Roan. He's wriggled his way out of the best handcuffs a few times in his life."

"Nice of you to tell them beforehand," Joe murmured under his breath.

"Joe!" Matt shouted angrily, upset with himself as much as his friend.

T.K. grabbed his brother's arm. "Matt, getting upset isn't going to help." The younger blond boy turned to Rio. "You know him better than us. Do you think he'll come back?"

The girl continued to study the floor, but shook her head briefly. "He's lost control of the situation. If he still had the crest he might have, but without it, he'll probably take a while before he figures out what to do... next." And as T.K. watched a recognition, evidently a painful one, crossed over the girl's eyes.

Joe had now finished cleaning up most of the blood on Izzy's face and body. "His arm's broken, maybe his nose too, it's tough to say, but other than that he should be okay." He paused. "Matt? Come over here. I'm gonna see if I can set this arm, and I'll need your help."

Matt did as requested, taking a tight grip on Izzy's elbow. There was a short snapping sound as Joe gave a sharp tug on the younger boy's wrist, but then the operation was done. Matt winced. "Boy, I sure as hell hope he didn't feel that. I know did."

"Hey! Where are you guys?" a voice echoed from outside the doorway.

T.K.'s blue eyes lit up as he turned toward the sound. "Kari!" he exhaled, then darted out the door, almost tripping over his own feet in his haste to reach the girl's side.

Matt placed an arm around Rio's waist as she stood at his side, allowing himself a brief sigh of fatigue. "I hope they've found some way to undo all this," the boy murmured. "That book was full of exactly what Despair did to trap them like this, but doesn't give a single clue about what to do to stop it. Not that he had any reason to try, I suppose."

"Kari!" T.K. shouted as he barreled down the stairs, almost tumbling past the girl as he finally stopped and caught her up in his arms, whirling her about once. As if needing to prove to himself that she was still alive, the boy lowered her to the ground and pulled her into his chest. He leaned his face against her hair and breathed in the delicious odor that told him that she was still well, then pushed her forehead back with his own and placed a light, lingering kiss on her lips.

The two remained locked that way for a few moments until Tai cleared his throat at the younger boy's back, causing him to release the brown-haired girl.

Kari stared at the boy in amazement for just a moment, then betrayed a rather impish smile. "I should stay away more often, if that's the welcome back that I'm going to get every time."

T.K. turned pink, then red as he realized that both Tai and Sora were both looking at him with poorly suppressed grins on their lips. "Matt and Rio are upstairs with Joe," the younger boy explained. "Roan just escaped, but we did take care of his crest."

Tai nodded with satisfaction, and held up the pendant containing the Unity of Wisdom. "The angel's gone too. I guess this is what we were after him for… at least, it did open the portal back here for us."

T.K. led the four into the room just as Joe was completing the fashioning of a makeshift sling out of what remained of Izzy's bloody shirt. "Did you get it?" Matt asked anxiously, meeting them at the door.

Tai nodded, again holding up the gem. "But what do we do with it? Break it open?"

Matt frowned, shaking his head. "I don't think so. The book that the angel was reading from instructed him not to let anything happen to that thing or both of the 'vessels' would 'expire'."

"Well, what then? We can't just leave them like this."

The seven gathered around the two still, seated forms of their two friends, watching the continued light flow from their respective bodies and into the large gem in the center of the room. T.K. and Tai both pulled the girls at their respective sides closer to them, and Joe bound Izzy's arm as best he could in the sling.

"I think I might have an idea."

Six pairs of eyes turned to Matt's girlfriend. "That... that is, " she continued, stammering under the sudden attention, "if you trust me enough to let me try."

An awkward silence suddenly filled the room, the six chosen all exchanging various glances at one another. Matt gave a smile. "Of course we--"

"Wait a minute, Matt," interrupted Tai, frowning at the pair.

"Tai!"

"Matt, stop." He paused. "Excuse us for a second," he said to Rio, his face expressionless as he motioned for the other four to join him and Sora.

Matt's eyes were brimming with thinly suppressed anger, but he did manage to subdue it long enough to follow his brother and Kari over to Tai's side. The six chosen engaged in a brief, somewhat heated discussion before they broke their little huddle and returned to the center of the room. Tai reluctantly handed over the little pendant to the girl, muttering under his breath, "Majority rules."

The words stung the dark-haired girl, but still she accepted the object and went first to Mimi's back. After pausing for a moment to make certain that her aim was true, she draped the object over the younger girl's neck, interrupting the flow of light from her body to the crystal.

*****

Izzy gave a sharp cry of loss as Mimi was abruptly torn from their shared existence, his soul suddenly feeling empty, alone and lost without her comforting presence. He shuddered once against the cold and the fear.

No… Mimi…

Then, mere moments… or perhaps an eternity later, the boy felt as if he had been flung forward at a great speed, his spirit seeming to gather momentum quickly before…

Izzy winced deeply at the pain in his left arm as he arrived back in his own body. He was almost overcome with weariness, and struggled to force his eyes even partially open. Every inch of his body ached, yet around him was the most beautiful sound that he could ever hope to hear. The voices of his friends all gathered around him, welcoming both he and Mimi back.

And then the pain became irrelevant to the boy as he felt a pair of warm, pleasant lips press against his own and a pair of gentle hands grab the back of his head and pull him forward, further into the kiss. Izzy raised his right arm and placed it about the girl's slender waist, enjoying immensely the soft feel of her lips… and also their delightful taste.

Strawberry. I should have known.

*****

Rio slipped quietly out of the bed that she was sharing with Matt. The nine were gathered together at Matt's apartment, since he and T.K.'s father was once again out of town on a business trip. They had all stayed up exceptionally late that night, again celebrating a seemingly impossible victory against overwhelming odds.

The dark-haired girl glanced down at the sleeping boy, and brushed the hair away from his face as she moved from the room. Though they shared the same bed they had done nothing inappropriate that night. There was a part of the girl that almost wished they would have, though it would have cheapened terribly the real, honest love that she'd finally found with him. She gave a sad smile. But it would have been nice… just once…

The others had tried to be polite to her that night, and little T.K. had gone out of his way to include her in whatever it was that they were all doing. She loved him for the effort, starting to see just what Matt had in him to make him that special kind of brother. But at the end of the night she could tell that, whatever they were feeling for one another, she was on the outside looking in. Not really one of them.

And then there was Roan. The girl who knew him better than anyone in the world was well aware that he would not allow her to have peace. Or happiness. It might well have been that he was the most spiteful person in the world, and sooner or later he would get over his defeat and come looking for her. And if that should happen while she was still with Matt… well, there was really no question about where he would strike.

There was only one way out, though it was one that she would have given almost anything not to take. But she had turned it over enough times in her mind as she lay there beside Matt to know that she must. The old Rio would have placed happiness first... but she was no longer the old Rio. And so the girl quietly grabbed a pen from the kitchen counter, sat down at a nearby pad of paper and started to write:

Dearest Matt,

I don't know exactly how to say this… I've never had to say goodbye to someone that I cared about before. Please understand and believe me when I say that it had to be this way. The weeks that I was with you gave me a joy that was almost unspeakable and introduced me to emotions that I don't deserve to feel. But now I must give that up… give it up for the greater joy of knowing that my leaving will keep you and those you love safe.

It's hard to for me to write this now, Matt, and I can hardly see though the tears as I do. And pain... oh, the pain that I feel from biting my tongue to keep from crying like a child so that none of you will hear me. It hurts, but it is nothing to the torture that I feel as my heart is torn to pieces while still inside my chest.

I know that I will be empty and forever incomplete without you. I had no notion about how empty was my soul until that night when you came to me and filled it with your compassion. Yes, I have known joy unspeakable for the past weeks, but now my soul will die anew every morning that I must see without you.

You have redeemed me from Hell, Matt, and given me my first view of Heaven. And now, by my own actions, I am condemning myself to Purgatory, neither here nor there.

I almost wish that you would hate me for what I am doing, though it would crush me if you did. But I would willingly suffer that pain if I could be assured that you would forget me and go on with your life. You have exceptional, wonderful friends, Matt. Let their love see you through whatever pain my leaving will cause. My loss I must suffer alone, and in silence. I beg you not to do the same, lest I wake every night with an aching in my heart that tells me that you are unhappy.

But then, perhaps I am not so alone. Because of what you have shared with me, I may never be forsaken again…

--Forever my Love,

--Rio