Chapter Eight
Hikari hadn’t been surprised to find out that Severus was a digidestined, although the man was stubbornly tightlipped about his former teammates. He had refused to answer her questions and had relayed very little in terms of what he had known. His Pawnchessmon, however, had been all too loose-lipped.
Much to Severus’ chagrin.
At least, Hikari had a start of sorts-she would email Izzy later on to see what he knew about this Astamon and to find out about the Knights of Azulongmon as well. She bidded Severus a goodnight, but the man had only responded with a terse ‘Five points from Gryffindor.’ Hikari smiled smugly, until she’d heard a very subtle, ‘ Five from Ravenclaw as well.’
‘’Damn! So close too!’’
Fearing any additional loss of house points, Hikari quickly raced back to the tower.
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Luna sat up in bed, almost as soon as she heard the door open, ‘’Hello Hikari, have the wrackspruts kept you up?’’
Hikari blinked, unsure of her answer, but gave Luna a soft smile, before shaking her head, making her way towards the bed.
‘’It’s alright you know,’’ Luna spoke softly, just higher enough for only Hikari to hear, ‘’The Darkness is no longer interested in you. It’s after him now.’’
Hikari stiffened, suddenly much more alert than she had been before. She stared at Luna for several long moments-that voice, she’d heard that voice once before.
Luna glowed- a digital glow, almost reminiscent of how Hikari had glowed several times in the digital world-it unnerved her. She’d recalled how Tai had told her that she became void-her eyes dulled and her voice was both monotonous and mysterious, a call from the past to avoid the mistakes of the future.
‘’Who-Who are you?’’
‘’Presently, I am no one and nothing, but I am everything and everywhere. I am the core of the digital world-’’
‘’Gato-’’
‘’No, Hikari Kamiya, you and I are outside of the field of time. Your partner is unaware you have left at all and no one outside of this field is aware that anything is amiss. Do you understand?’’
Hikari exhaled slowly, her body trembled as she felt herself fill with fear and uncertainty. ‘’Calm yourself, Hikari Kamiya, I can not maintain this form for long. You have discovered the one called Astamon, have you not?’’
‘’On..Only his name,’’
‘’Astamon is an ancient enemy of the digital world. He is a virus, unable to be contained for long, if at all. He seeks destruction of the world around him. He is, like I am. Do you understand, Hikari Kamiya?’’
Not trusting her own voice, Hikari shook her head.
‘’I am outside the field of time, unhinged in this world and in the digital world as well.’’
‘’So Astamon is outside the digital world as well?’’
‘’And this one as well, he can not gain entrance here for long, only minutes at a time and not without a great exertion of energy.’’
‘’How is he here then?’’ Hikari shot back. She’d understood what the other digidestined meant when she’d gone under-this thing spoke in riddles!
‘’You are to blame for Astamon’s escape!’’
Hikari fell back from the force of the voice, even though it hadn’t raised a single octave in their entire conversation. Quick as a flash, she stood, angry and ready to defend herself and her team, but Luna held her hand up.
‘’When the child known as Taichi Kamiya resorted to using the ancient powers of digivolution for the second time, the restraints of Astamon’s prison were weakened further.’’
‘’Further? What do you mean?’’
‘’Taichi Kamiya and Harry Potter-the use of ancient digivolution combined with magick are what broke the seal. It is the fault of the digidestined and it is the digidestined who must destroy Astamon.’’
‘’We didn’t know! We couldn’t have known that would’ve happened!’’ she cried, feeling heavier than before. They were children!
‘’You must destroy Astamon before he claims his partner. A master of Darkness attracts another and in their power, they will destroy the keys.’’
Hikari felt as if she couldn’t breath, her limbs shook with the weight of such a horrid truth. She looked at the thing that had taken over her friend-it was void and empty and bored as it waited for Hikari to regain her composure.
‘’What are the keys?’’
‘’The keys are not a product, it is them.’’
Before Hikari could ask anything further, Luna’s body began to sway and she rushed to catch her before she became injured. Catching her just in time, Hiakri breathed a sigh of relief and suddenly, she realized she could hear the sounds of the night around them. The gentle sway of the breeze through the trees, the creaking of the large boat on the water and further down in the common room, she could hear the closing of a large book and the trudge of heavy sleep ladened footsteps coming up to bed. Thankfully, Luna wasn’t much heavier than herself and was able to put the sleeping girl back into her bed before crawling into bed herself.
Gatomon stirred but did not wake and Hikari was grateful for that. She didn’t know if she could answer her partner’s questions. Pulling the covers over her shoulders, Hikari closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep.
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Tai had practically leapt to his feet when he’d realized how late he’d slept, only to practically slam into Matt. The blonde looked agitated, ‘’Dude, I was coming to get you!’’
‘’Sorry Matt, no time! I’m already late!’’
‘’Tai, watch the-’’
A sudden yelp made the other male wince; there was no doubt in his mind that Tai had slipped down the stairs of the tower in his attempt to exit the common room. Matt sighed, not surprised to find his best friend scrambling to gather his rolls of parchment and texts. Matt bent down to help him, ‘’I can’t believe you actually do your homework here,’’ he jest elbowed Tai in the ribs for good measure.
‘’Yea, well I don’t want Harry to see me as lazy,’’ he remarked, still distracted by his task.
Matt grinned, intending on making another joke, especially since he was distracted and this was one of the few times, he’d catch him off guard, before he remembered why he’d come up to fetch Tai in the first place.
‘’Tai, Harry’s not there with you?’’
‘’No! I bet anything that Agumon ate my alarm clock again! Harry’s probably in class right now-’’
‘’No, Tai, Harry hasn’t been to class all morning and Viktor can’t find Marcus either.’’
Tai dropped a half dozen parchments, his mind going wild with possibilities, when something caught his eye over Matt’s shoulder. Posted on the board was a calendar with the date circled in red-
SECOND TASK.
Today was the date of the second task. Harry was missing. Marcus was missing. Before he could even speak, a shrill almost bird-like cry filled the air.
‘’GABRIELLE! WHERE IZ MY SIZTER!”