Into Darkness Shall I Fall
Part 2 - Wandering Ghosts
by Meimi

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Standard disclaimers apply.

SPOILER WARNING: Spoilers for 02 (that's season 2 for the uninitiated) up to and including the episodes involving the first appearance of the Crest of Kindness.

SHONEN AI WARNING: This is a shonen ai fic and contains within it romantic themes and hints of an intimate relationship between two male characters. If this disturbs you in any way PLEASE do not continue reading. And yes, I am sick and twisted, thanks for asking.

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"So what did you dream about last night?"

Ken froze in the middle of solving an algorithm, the tip of his pencil breaking off abruptly as his body tensed up. This again, and with Takeru being over to 'study' with him, he'd have to deal with Takeru's concern as well. He was almost certain she had deliberately maneuvered him into a position where he would have little room to dodge the question. The rage at her prying was back, but he easily pushed it to the side. He did not want to bother Takeru by pitching a fit over such an innocuous query, even if he did want to wring a certain little ferret's neck at the moment.

Takeru looked up from the English textbook he had barely been paying attention to. He had an interest in words, but English wasn't exactly the easiest language to fathom. Besides, daydreaming about his, well, boyfriend had been a much better task to put his mind to. Frowning as Ken and Koimon seemed to get into a glaring contest, Takeru rolled over onto his back and studied the other boy. Ken was incredibly tense by the look of it. But why? Never taking his eyes off of his boyfriend, Takeru asked, "What's wrong?"

Digging his fingernails into the palm of his hand, Ken's eyes strayed from Koimon and over towards Takeru. He didn't want to talk about his nightmares. There was really nothing to talk about. But Takeru would want an answer, he just didn't know what answer to give. He knew it was futile to try to avoid a discussion at this point, but he tried anyway. "Nothing. Really, it's nothing-"

"He's been having nightmares," Koimon sniffed delicately as she instantly cut Ken off. Ignoring his rather heated glare in response, she explained further, "Every night, like clockwork, he's been waking up too frightened to even scream."

"It's not the beach again, is it?" Takeru asked, his brows crinkling together in mounting worry. It wasn't happening again, was it? His stomach instantly knotted up at the very thought. He didn't want to lose Ken like that ever again.

"No! No, it's not the beach. I would remember that quite clearly," Ken answered quickly. No, it wasn't the beach. Or to be more precise, it wasn't on the beach any longer. The sea was always gray in his dreams though, always. "Besides," he added tonelessly as he drew his knees up to his chest, "It's not as if I don't deserve whatever nightmares come my way."

"Ken~" Takeru trailed off as he sat up. He really didn't like it when Ken did this, but hollow words of comfort would easily be brushed aside. Sighing, he hugged his knees in an almost mirror image of Ken and tried, "I'm not going to lie and say you're an angel, but beating yourself up about it isn't going to solve anything either. No one can change the past. It's what you do from now on that's important." At a loss for what else to say, he looked over at Ken expectantly for a reaction of some sort.

"I guess," Ken murmured as he stared down at the floor, not sounding very convinced at all. He knew Takeru was right on many levels, he just didn't want to believe it. Guilt had never been quite so simple.

Shaking his head in defeat, Takeru scooted over and laid his head down on Ken's shoulder. Words would never be enough, they both knew this. All he could do was hope that one day Ken would actually listen. He was good at hope after all. Until then, he would be there as much as he was able. What else could he do?

Ken smiled gently as he reached over and ruffled Takeru's hair. He appreciated the fact that Takeru didn't pry too much or force him to believe something when he just wasn't ready to. Maybe it wasn't the best way to 'fix' his problems, but he felt more comfortable around Takeru because of it. Besides, they were his problems. It was up to him to deal with them, one way or another. Nobody else could do it for him, nor would he want them to.

Koimon twitched her nose, having silently watched the entire exchange. Things hadn't turned out exactly as she had wanted them to but at least the little bearer of Hope knew there was a problem now. Humans were quite odd. Sometimes she could almost say they acted like digimon, and then other times she couldn't tell what they were going to do. But she rather begrudgingly liked the human she had attached herself to and she didn't like the idea that something was haunting him. She didn't know just what it was, but it was more than a simple matter of ghosts.

~*~

A wasteland. That had been his first impression of the digital world: a barren, dusty wasteland that appeared to be incapable of sustaining life. The wind had been full of dried, dead dirt that had felt like sandpaper to his bare skin. The ground had been riddled with cracks that had seemed to go on forever. The sky, the sky had been wide and open, so incredibly blue... and completely empty of anything but the sun which baked everything.

He would have died if his companions hadn't been there with him. If they hadn't been there to help him he would have withered away into nothing and no one would have known or cared about what had happened to him.

They had been his friends, very, very dear friends. But no matter how hard he had tried before, he simply could not remember them. And even now he couldn't remember a single thing except that there had been two people with him, his best friends. Why would he forget the two people who had been more important to him than anything else? Surely he hadn't forgotten them on purpose, had he?

Ken sighed in frustration, resting his chin on his knee while his other leg dangled off of the ledge. He was sitting high up on a cliff that seemed to be part of a large plateau, and from his vantage point he looked out over a vast plain of absolutely nothing. It was a wasteland, obviously the digital world. How he had gotten there he didn't know, nor did he particularly care at the moment.

Once upon a time he had had an older brother. Osamu had overshadowed him a great deal, but had loved Ken in his own way. Once upon a time he had had friends. His friends had been friends of his brother as well but they had never ignored him like most others. Once upon a time he had had a partner. Wormmon may have sucked royally in battle but he had always been a loyal and unwavering friend.

Once upon a time... Perhaps he shouldn't use that phrase when referring to his faulty memories of the past. It made what he did remember almost seem unreal. But it had been real, just as real as the digital world. What had made him think so stupidly that the digital world wasn't real? It had been and always would be real, too real. Something... Something had happened before, something that made it all too real. What was it?

Ken scowled and concentrated, willing himself to remember this one thing. It had been something incredibly important, something that had happened in the digital world. He could almost see it now, shining the clear blue of glittering ice in the back of his mind. It was beyond his reach, but maybe if he just tried hard enough he could at least touch it.

And then the terror came, rushing up into his mind and covering everything in dark drapes of fear. It throttled his logic, shrieking at him to leave well enough alone before it was too late. But it was too late. The blue ice of that forgotten memory shattered like glass, slicing deeply into his emotions and opening new, gaping wounds atop the old.

She had died here. She had been poisoned by the world she had tried to protect, mortally wounded by a single man's fanaticism to reach a world denied him and... something else. His other friend, whom he still couldn't remember, had rescued her; but it had been too late to save her.

He remembered how it had been there at the end now, the sickly yellow tinge her pale skin had taken, the dark bruising of the skin around her eyes. And he remembered how her lips had cracked when she had smiled at him in a failed effort to reassure him that everything would be all right. But worst of all, he remembered the dark stain in her white hair, the stain that had originated at the back of her neck.

Kageko. She had been there for him ever since he had first stumbled into the digital world. She had protected him, encouraged him. She had only been a few years older than him, his brother's age really, but she had been more of a mother to him than his own.

She had had a black tailmon with her, one she had named after a zodiac sign. What was it? Libra? Yes, that was it. Libra had never been very talkative but she had always kept an eye out for him. Perhaps some of Kageko's maternal concern had bled over into her viral partner.

He couldn't quite remember what had happened to Libra, but Kageko's fate was quite clear now. Her life had faded away right before his very eyes, leaving behind only her body and his broken memories. And there had been absolutely nothing he could have done to stop it.

Oh yes, the digital world was very real.

As if his remembrance had summoned them, Ken heard the soft crunch of someone walking across sandblasted rocks. It was a sound he had gotten used to as a child, the sound of someone's footsteps in this digital hell. There was someone here with him. He turned to look behind him and froze, his breath catching in his throat at what he saw.

She stood there, a few feet behind him, looking down at him quizzically as the wind drifted through her hair. She appeared as he remembered her, before... her hair, hung in its usual ponytail, was the color of freshly fallen snow. Her eyes were the color of blue ice and her skin was almost as pale as her hair.

Leaning over, she gripped her knees lightly and smiled at him. A moment of silence slowly passed between them, almost as if reality realized how surreal it was being. And then, she spoke, "We should get going soon, Ken. You know staying in one place here isn't really healthy. And besides, we're expected."

"Oh, of course," Ken responded instantly, his mind shifting back through the years as somebody he loved asked something rather simple of him. He hastily scrambled to his feet and trotted after her as she turned to head off.

It took several minutes of walking for his mind to start questioning just exactly the why of his mindless reaction. Usually, he had never questioned her. Well, not about things she had asked him to do. She had always been concerned about him, had his best interest in mind. But he wasn't little Ken anymore, and she wasn't... alive anymore.

She took a few more steps before she realized he had stopped. Twirling around, she smiled brightly and asked, "What is it Ken? See something interesting?" Looking down, she studied the ground between them and continued, "See a seedling or something? It's amazing the things that can thrive out here off of practically nothing."

"Kageko?" He asked quietly, "Why are you here?"

Tilting her head to the side in curiosity, she asked in return, "Where else would I be?" Smiling again, she twirled back around and gazed out into the distance. "Besides, how will you find the others without somebody to guide you to them?"

"Kageko, you're dead," he whispered, his voice wavering over the horrible words.

"Oh," she said, as if not concerned at all by his painful statement. Her hairtie snapped then, causing her hair to cascade down across her shoulder in platinum waves; but the color changed as it settled over her neck, turning the reddish-brown of dried blood. She looked back at him and he could see it wasn't the only thing that had changed. Her skin was an unhealthy shade of pale yellow, and her eyes had deep bruises surrounding them. Her lips cracked as she smiled at him and asked, "What's so bad about that? Being dead, that is."

"You shouldn't be here," Ken said sadly as he slowly backed away from her. He was almost surprised he wasn't screaming in horror, but realized that most of his mind was numb at this point and his body was basically on auto-pilot.

"How else are you going to find your way to the others, Ken? You don't remember how to get there," she explained as she fully turned around and gazed at him expressionlessly. Offering her hand, she continued, "You can hold my hand just like old times. We have to join the others soon though. They're waiting for us."

Ken shook his head and stepped away from her. "I don't understand. Who are they?" he asked. He was still numb, and not running from this apparition probably wasn't a good thing. But he didn't think he would have been frightened of her in any case, horrified, yes, frightened, no. It was Kageko in one sense or another, even if she had been dead and gone for several years now.

"You won't accept my help then." It was more of a statement than a question. Sighing, she looked down at her extended hand and the crystal that hadn't been there a second ago. The facets glittered a dusky red in the bright, desert sun. It was a familiar color to Ken, but he wasn't quite sure why. "Maybe he can convince you," she said mysteriously, stepping forward and offering it to him.

Ken knew she wouldn't take no for an answer this time. He knew that the gesture was more of a demand than a simple offer. No matter how much he didn't want it, she would make him accept it. Wishing to avoid any further unpleasantness, Ken did what was expected of him. He took it. He briefly wondered what this one would bring before his reality receded into darkness again.

~*~

Ken was happy, better than happy. He wouldn't be the useless little kid anymore. He had a partner now, a real digimon partner: Wormmon. Once they got used to each other, he was sure that together they'd be able to help the others stop Millenniumon. He wouldn't ever have to be left behind for his own good again.

With Wormmon's help, Ken had managed to find all the pieces of the Digimental of Kindness like Gennai had asked him to. Now he just needed to find the way out of this creepy pyramid and back to the village. He wasn't quite sure which corridor to take to get out though; and Wormmon couldn't remember the way they had come in either. Ken was starting to get a little worried. They were lost.

Turning around slowly, Ken studied the walls in hopes that they would somehow tell him the way out. Maybe they did, but he couldn't read the soft-glowing glyphs that seemed to cover every inch of them. The others could probably have read them, or at least vaguely understood what they were saying. He, on the other hand, couldn't read them at all. He didn't want to have to depend on the others so much. He wanted to help them, not be the one they had to help all the time. Now that he had a partner he would be able to do that, wouldn't he?

Sighing mournfully, Ken's shoulders slumped as he gazed down at Wormmon. Maybe it wasn't going to be as easy as he had thought it would be. He did want to be helpful though. He had Wormmon now, things shouldn't be so hard to do. Maybe he wasn't doing something right. Why did things have to be so difficult?

Wormmon's antennae drooped down across his carapace as he gave Ken a quick glance. Oh dear, he had so wanted to make a good first impression but here they were lost and for the life of him he couldn't remember the way out. He knew he wasn't all that great at battle. In fact, he had yet to meet a digimon that wasn't slower than him where attack was concerned. Ken liked him though, surely there was something he could do to help out his new human partner. There had to be something he was good at.

Shaking his head decisively, Ken looked up and said, "One hall is as good as another. Come on Wormmon, let's go." Waiting only for an affirmative reply from his partner, Ken set off down the hallway at a brisk pace. The sooner they found their way out, the sooner they could get back to Gennai's house. Hopefully, Kageko hadn't noticed he was gone yet.

"Ken! Ken are you in here?!"

Ken winced as the call echoed down the hallway they had taken. Well, so much for that little hope. Kageko had noticed he was gone and had gotten Gennai to tell her where he had gone. He hoped she wasn't too mad at him for going off on him own. He did have Wormmon with him now for protection after all.

"I'm down here!" Ken called back as he quickened his pace. It wouldn't do any good to keep her waiting and he really did want to get out of this place. It had been fine when he had been looking for the pieces of the digimental, but now that he had all of them the place felt kinda creepy. After all, he'd never really liked all the places they'd had to go into in the digital world that were underground. And wasn't a giant pyramid just like a cave? It was just a ton of rocks held up by more rocks that could come tumbling down at the most unlikeliest of moments.

Ken didn't realize he was almost running now as he hurried down the old, dusty hallway. Kageko would know the way out. The sooner he found her the sooner he wouldn't have to be underneath so many rocks.

As it was wont to do when he was feeling something akin to panic, Ken's mind dug up a memory of something slightly related to the cause of that feeling. It involved Osamu this time, then again, it usually did. There was very little in his life that his brother wasn't a part of. They had been discussing why he didn't like going down into the nearby train station.

"You're not claustrophobic Ken," Osamu said flatly as he walked into their bedroom. "I would have noticed that a long time ago."

Ken followed dutifully behind his brother. It was how they always walked together if Osamu wasn't holding his hand like he usually did at the crosswalks. "What does claus... claus- claustrophobic mean?" Ken asked, his tongue stumbling over the unfamiliar word.

"Someone who is claustrophobic has claustrophobia and is afraid of being in enclosed spaces," Osamu explained as he walked over to the desk, turned around and leaned back against it.

Oh," Ken answered hesitantly, feeling kinda dumb since he didn't quite know what that meant either. "I'm not... I guess."

"You're not," Osamu told Ken as he crossed his arms. "So why do you not like going down into the train station so much?"

"I don't know," Ken muttered as he scuffed his foot along the carpet. He had seen that weird man again in the train station. The man had been watching him, not Osamu, him. He didn't like it. But if he told Osamu or anybody about it they'd tell him he was being silly because the man never talked to him, just watched, that was all. "I just don't."

Osamu sighed and reached up to rub the bridge of his nose in obvious exasperation. "That's not a very good reason Ken," he said, ending the discussion.

Ever since then, whenever Ken was underground or felt like he was underground, he always had this feeling that something or someone was watching him. He didn't like it and he somehow knew it didn't like him either, but it wanted something from him. He just didn't know what that something was and that's what really frightened him. What if he didn't have what it wanted when it finally decided it was tired of watching him?

Ken skidded to a halt, a frightened scream choking in his throat, as something small and black darted out of a side hallway. His heart hammered painfully against his ribs and Wormmon finally scuttled up beside him as he wondered what would happen to him now. Maybe going out on him own hadn't been such a good idea. The relief he felt was staggering when familiar tufted ears twitched and glowing golden eyes turned towards him. It was Libra.

"There you are," she murmured, her eyes checking Ken for any obvious injuries before turning her attention to Wormmon. Her ears flattened ever so slowly as she studied him. He was only a child virus, but he was right beside Ken and if he even made a hint of wanting to hurt Ken she would slice him to pieces before he even knew it.

Wormmon's antennae were flat against his back and a minute shiver visibly ran through his body as her eyes raked over him. He knew certain death when it looked at him, but he would be brave for Ken. He could do that at least, surely. The way she was looking at him was pretty scary though.

Ken, noticing that Libra was preparing to attack his partner, put a foot in front of Wormmon and held his hands up in an attempt to ward her off. "It's okay, Wormmon's with me," he explained quickly, hoping that would be enough to quell her suspicions. However, she didn't look all that convinced.

Thankfully, the situation was defused by the girl who came skidding out from the hallway Libra had come from. Kageko blew out an audible breath as she looked around quickly, getting her bearings, before she pounced on Ken. "Ken! I've been out of mind with worry looking for you," she admonished as she hugged him tightly. After a few moments she pushed him back and looked him over very carefully. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Ken said cheerfully. Now that Kageko was here, he didn't have to worry about their digimon getting into a fight, or something weird watching him. He looked down at his partner and smiled brightly before he continued, "Wormmon took care of me."

"Wormmon?" Kageko mimicked as she finally noticed the digimon that was huddled up next to Ken's leg. A Wormmon... with Ken? Oh, that didn't bode well. She vaguely recalled Gennai saying something about Ken having protection, but from what she remembered wormmons weren't even good at protecting themselves. They did have some potential when they evolved, but it was so hard to get them to that stage. Most tamers just wrote them off as worthless. Who had the time in such a vicious world to guide a wormmon to the point of evolution when there were so many datas and vaccines that were stronger and easier to tame?

Ken looked up at Kageko and frowned at the look of consternation on her face as she looked down at Wormmon. He knew that look, he'd seen it several times when she'd been hovering over her plants and had found some sort of fungus that was going to be difficult to get rid of. She didn't like the fact that Wormmon was with him. "You don't like him do you?" He asked, his bottom lip sticking out in an unconscious pout, something he would have been mortified to know he was doing.

Kageko mentally winced at the question. Oh, she didn't dislike the little fellow, but Ken needed a bit more protection than that. And well, a wormmon wasn't exactly the best choice of digimon for a little boy. "It's not that I don't like him Ken," she said as she squatted down in front of Ken, "It's just... wormmons are hard to train. They take a lot of work to get them to where they'll evolve."

"And you don't think I can do that," Ken muttered sadly as he looked away. He knew he was just a little kid, but he really wanted to help them out. He should have been able to do that with Wormmon's help, but apparently not.

"That's not it at all," Kageko said fiercely as she reached up and turned Ken's head back to face her. "I just don't think you should have to work so hard. You're not an inconvenience to us Ken. I hope you know that."

Ken smiled radiantly down at her as butterflies fluttered around in his stomach. He had the best friends in the world. "Don't worry about Wormmon, I'll take good care of him," he told her cheerfully. Everything was going to be just fine from now on.

"I'm sure you will," Kageko sighed as she climbed to her feet. This was going to be... interesting, to say the least. Well, she and Libra would just have to keep a closer eye on Ken from now on. And just thinking of how Ryo might react to the news was already giving her a headache.

~*~

The wind was still howling, but it was starting to die down. The source was moving away. Libra and Kageko were forcing it away. Ken rolled over and coughed on the sand he had breathed in when it had been blown up from the surprise attack. His entire body ached, but the pain wasn't too awful bad, so he should be okay. Shaky, but okay.

Ken carefully opened his eyes, being sure to keep it at a squint so he wouldn't get any sand in them. There wasn't much to see, just lots of sand. He could barely make out a green lump huddled in the sand a few feet away from him. The relief he felt at knowing that Wormmon was still with him and hadn't gotten deleted in the attack was short lived. Further beyond Wormmon Ken saw the sprawled and unmoving form of his best friend.

Unmindful of his own injuries, Ken struggled to his feet and staggered over to his friend. He looked peaceful, almost as if he had just fallen asleep in the sand, but that tended to not be a good thing with them. Peaceful and not moving was definitely not a good thing. Ken couldn't tell if he was still breathing or not. Fighting down panic, Ken pressed shaky fingers against his friend's throat and prayed.

Ken nearly collapsed in utter relief as he felt a pulse. Ryo was still alive! He looked like he was still in one piece too, but Ken couldn't be sure. Kageko had far better knowledge of first aid than he did. He could only hope that Ryo really was okay.

With that out of the way, Ken's mind turned to Ryo's most recent partner. Where was V-mon? Looking around, Ken couldn't see much of anything but sand. But wait, was that a bit of blue sticking out of that drift over there? Yes, yes it was. So V-mon could still be counted among the living as well. That was good.

And he had no idea what to do next. The sound of running footsteps in the sand saved him from having to try and figure that out though. Looking behind him, Ken saw Kageko running towards them and Libra following just behind her. Kageko looked worried. If he looked as bad as he felt he couldn't really blame her for it.

"Are you okay?" She asked breathlessly as she fell to her knees beside him. She looked really tired.

"I think so. I just hurt all over," he murmured as she brushed her fingers through his hair. It was a soothingly familiar gesture. "I'm all right though, it's more like a bruise than anything else," he added hastily at her worried gaze.

"Okay, but you tell me if it starts hurting worse," she informed him sternly before turning her attention to their still unconscious friend. "What about him?"

"He's still alive," Ken said hopefully, then frowned as he continued, "I don't know what else is wrong with him though."

"He obviously got knocked out. He might have a concussion~" Kageko trailed off as she started checking Ryo over for anything serious. "I can't believe one of Millenniumon's goons got so lucky. How could the slime even hit so hard? Libra took him out easy without even having to evolve."

Ken started to tune her out as she grumbled over the circumstances of the attack. He was feeling a bit lightheaded now. It felt almost as if he were going to pass out, but he tried his best not to. Kageko had her hands full with Ryo. She certainly didn't need his baggage added onto the burden. It was so hard to stay awake though. The sun was so hot and he ached so much, maybe if he just lay down for awhile he would be okay. Just for a little while.

~*~

He was tired, so very tired. He wished he could just sleep and never wake again. No dreams, nothing. As much as he wished for it though, it wouldn't come. Something was keeping him awake. Something kept jostling him every time he felt like he was slipping away. It felt like someone was carrying him. Who was it? His eyes were closed so he couldn't see who it was; and he didn't have the energy left to open them. He just wanted to sleep... eternal sleep.

"Don't worry Ken, I'll take very good care of you."

The voice was strange. He didn't recognize it. It sounded much older than what he was used to, what he expected. Did this person save him? He didn't want to be saved. He wanted to die. He had to die. He had almost succeeded. The muted agony that burned across his forearms told him that much. Someone had stolen that peace from him. How dare they! Didn't they understand?

He had had to abandon Wormmon for this. He had hated doing it but it had been necessary. Wormmon would have stopped him from doing what he had to do. He couldn't afford any interference, but somebody obviously had interfered. Why couldn't they just let him die? It would have been better that way, better for everyone.

"I'll have you fixed up in no time, then you can go home. You'll never have to worry about anything ever again."

Ken shuddered violently as he was laid down on what felt like a bed. The words were kind, but the voice made them sound more like a soul chilling threat than anything else. The person who had 'saved' him seemed to be doing a lot of things around him, he could hear them moving around. They seemed quite adamant to keep him alive no matter how much he wanted to die. Why? He would have thought more on it, but a needle pierced the skin on the back of his right hand, distracting him. The wound stung a great deal, nothing compared to his arms, but numbness came with it and then more darkness.

In the darkness he could hear Millenniumon's voice. It was far away and muffled, he could barely make it out. The evil god was saying something about Kageko and then Ryo. He couldn't make it out though. And then true Darkness surrounded him and it didn't matter anymore.

Good and evil had no meaning here. The Holy Beasts didn't exist here. Millenniumon didn't exist here. Here there was only the Darkness and the Light. The Light was very, very far away, but the Darkness would keep him warm until he could reach it. It didn't really matter whether he reached it or not though, he'd always be welcome here in the dark.

~*~

Ken felt a tug at his hair. It wasn't very gentle, in fact, it hurt. Groaning at whatever it was that was messing with his hair, Ken rolled over. He was half awake, somehow he knew this, but he really wanted to go back to sleep. The dream was calling him. He wanted to see the rest of it.

The tug came again, this time it was much harder. Ken was almost certain a good chunk of his hair had been yanked out. He was waking up now. The dream was gone. That was disappointing.

Rolling back over, Ken sighed and opened his eyes. A pair of glowing red eyes greeted his gaze. They were far too close to his face for comfort, but he couldn't seem to call up enough concern to care. If she wanted to kill him by yanking his hair out and him bleeding to death from the scalp wounds, then by all means.

Seeing that he was finally awake, Koimon spat out the bit of hair that she had been using to wake Ken up. Somehow, it was still miraculously attached to his head. Sitting back on her haunches, she simply said, "You were dreaming."

"No," Ken murmured as he rolled over to stare up at the ceiling. It hadn't been a dream. "I was remembering."

"Oh, so they're returning then?" She asked as she padded up onto his pillow and curled up next to his right ear.

"So it would seem," he sighed as he studied the ceiling. He could see the little cracks of age here and there. He really shouldn't be able to see this well in the dark, but the darkness wasn't absolute here so it wasn't that much of a surprise. Sighing again, Ken closed his eyes and wondered just how far away from the Light he was now.

_____________________________________________________________________

Yes, I actually finished it. Finally. Anyway, I hope it wasn't too fragmented, but I need Ken's memories to be not all that cohesive yet. Kageko is pleased that I finally wrote her. She's a rather demanding muse... though she didn't want to behave for this fic.

So yes, Kageko and Libra are actually my creations. A friend of mine is using them in her epic, but they're really mine. If you want to borrow them, be smart, ask for my permission first. That's all I ask.