Author's Notes

You know, after over 100,000 words in total (combining the word count from Butterflies' Flight of course) I'm kind of disappointed in the way it ends. Too many plot holes left behind I guess, but a good lesson for future stories…and here's an instance where planning didn't work so well. The plot holes snuck in regardless! I wonder how many of you remembered the computer references from Butterflies' Flight; not many I imagine, since they were obscure.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this long-awaited epilogue, and here's to another story and series finally complete. Thank you to everyone who's stuck with these fics.

Achilles' Heel

Sequel to Butterflies' Flight. It is a fatal weakness in humankind, an enemy they themselves created and fuelled with each step towards defeating evil. Because evil always exists; it cannot be defeated, as does much else...a broken balance needing repair.

Takuya K & Kouichi K

Genre/s: Drama/Friendship

Rating: T

Epilogue

'You know, I still don't understand why Hitotsumon believed us so easily,' Takuya mused, biting the top off his ice cream cone. Shibuya Park blew a few stray leaves in their direction, but only the rain-smell carried to the six on the picnic bench. 'Hmm, heaven.'

The others laughed at him.

'Come on! We were grounded for forever!'

'It was one month.' Kouji crossed his arms. 'And there was school.'

'And who's we?' Izumi asked, still sprouting her grin even while the others had faded in licking some more of the sweet vanilla. 'Kouichi got lucky.'

'I told my parents I was disappearing,' the elder twin pointed out.

'The rest of us didn't have time,' Kouji shot right back. 'Face it; you got lucky.'

Kouichi just shrugged, nibbling a little more of his ice cream.

Tomoki meanwhile started on the cone. 'What were you saying about Hitotsumon?' he asked Takuya.

'Uhh…' The goggle-wearing brunet had to think a little to answer that. 'Oh, I was wondering why we got off so easily with Hitotsumon. I mean, in the end all we did was ask for a chance to prove ourselves.'

The others frowned a little, pondering the sentiment.

'You should know,' Junpei finally said, looking over at Kouji as he spoke. 'You were the one who asked him after all.'

'Hmm…' The younger twin twirled his ponytail. 'I remember thinking that it was pretty sad to not believe in anything.' He shrugged a little helplessly thereafter. 'There's really nothing else I can think of.'

'What's the point in living if you don't believe in anything enough to strive for it?' Kouichi asked rhetorically.

Izumi's frown became more pronounced. 'That's a very macabre thing to say, Kouichi.'

'You get used to it,' Takuya said with a grin, clapping his old school friend on the back. 'After a while, you tend to filter out the dark stuff and keep the endearing bits.'

Kouji rolled his eyes at the pun. 'As long as both worlds are safe, does it really matter?'

'It matters.' Their only blonde finished her cone and wiped her fingers on the napkin that came with it. 'I don't know about you guys, but I don't like having not seen what happened to the Digital World before we wound up back.'

They were silent, processing that. 'Yeah,' Tomoki said finally. 'I hope they're okay; I mean, there's no reason why they shouldn't be, but still…'

Mumbled agreements rolled over each other, and the remaining ice creams seeped through the bottom of their cones. Kouji wiped his fingers off; Kouichi laughed and finished the ice cream with the cone. Izumi, Tomoki, and Junpei, all already finished with theirs, looked up towards the peaceful sky.

'It feels weird being back outside in the human world.' Izumi closed her eyes, feeling the wind on her face. 'Sometimes, I still think I can fly…up there.'

'I wonder how Chakkmon would have done with wings,' the warrior of ice murmured, squinting at the clouds. 'Kind of like Keroberos, you know?'

None of them recognised the name, and Takuya said as much.

'Well, he's a – ' Tomoki stopped, blinking up at the sky. 'Is that – ' He squealed suddenly, causing everyone to jump up on alarm.

'What is it?' The question, the same from all of them, tumbled over its clones.

Tomoki was pointing at the sky. 'Look! It's Angler!'

They looked, and indeed the blue-coated Trailmon was speeding towards them from the clouds.

None of them thought how it could ride through the sky as though the laws of gravity didn't exist; they'd seen pretty crazy things after all. What mattered more was they'd be able to return, to see the welfare of that other world and the friends they'd left behind without a farewell…

'Hey, we should really call our parents this time. I don't want to get grounded again.'

But before they could take out their cell phones, each – even the one the twins' father had told Kouichi to keep – shrilled with the same toneless tune.

They looked at each other, then at the Angler still coming towards their table, now blowing his horn.

'Same old.' Kouji shook his head with a smile.

They answered the call together, and the familiar voice echoed all around. To one of them, it sounded no different than before; to the others, they wondered how they had fallen so easily for the fake.

But it was the real Ophanimon now, and they smiled at her world.

'Children, will you return?'

'Of course!'

And Angler was upon them, catching himself from landing on the picnic table and instead choosing a grassy patch nearby.

'All aboard!' he tooted. 'This is a two-way express to the Digital World, all expenses paid and return trip's all ready for ya'll.' He winked, a large blue lid slipping down and then up. 'No-one'll even know you've gone.'

'Now that's music to my ears,' Takuya grinned. 'Let's go guys.'