Hikari smiled at me yesterday when I told them that Patamon and I wouldn't be able to go to the Digital World today. It wasn't one of her normal smiles, full of mischief and light, but rather one of those smiles that you give someone when you're not quite sure what they're up to but you hope that they have fun anyway.

Daisuke, of course, got a bit angry at this until he realised that it meant that he would be in the Digiworld with Hikari and without me. Then he proclaimed that they would miss us and whacked me on the back hard enough to nearly dislodge Patamon off my head.

Iori and Miyako looked puzzled, but followed the other two's example in refraining from asking where were going and wished us a good time. Patamon and I smiled back and thanked them before heading home. We weren't quite out of earshot before Daisuke asked Hikari where we were going. 

Hikari doesn't have a clue where. Nor do any of the others. All she knows is that every so often I disappear for a day or two then return without saying why. If she was curious last night, which considering her Digipartner is a cat-type makes it more than likely, she might have tried asking Taichi if either he or Yamato know. 

Of course, Yamato doesn't know, and neither does Taichi. The only who might know is Okasan, and that's if she remembers.

I love 'Kaasan dearly, but once she starts working she completely forgets about everything else. Thank goodness for notes on the refrigerator or we'd never know where each other are.

Patamon makes a happy sound from his hiding place in my backpack, a sort of muffled giggle. We're nearly to our destination. I think he looks forward to these trips as much as I do. 

If anyone asked us where we went, I'd tell them. But for right now, it's a lot of fun having it as our secret. 

But then it's not much of a secret. 

I dream of flight. 

I think everyone at some point in time has dreamt of flying. You know, that one where you're running and running then the grass disappears from under your feet and you're still running but now there's nothing between you and the sky from reaching out and touching it and there's no boundaries you're flying free?

I used to dream like that, a long time ago. When I was little, before my first trip to the Digital World. Before Patamon. 

My dreams changed the first couple of nights there in the Digital World. I still dreamt of flying, but it had changed. Instead of running and running, I just... jumped. Like there was nothing there that could ever keep me on the ground, away from the sky. 

I dreamt I had wings. Wings that could take me high into the sky, without ever getting tired, without stopping. Just go higher and farther than I had ever been before.

Then I saw the picture in Devimon's imaginary mansion the night we got split up for the first time. There was someone else with wings there too, and it surprised me. I thought I was the only one who dreamed of wings.

It was called an angel. 

Patamon stared at the picture longer than I did, like he too reconsied it. It wasn't until later that I found out why. 

Patamon is an angel too. It's right there in his name when he Digivolves. Angemon. And Gatomon Digivolves into Angewomon. 

I once asked Hikari if she ever dreamed of flying before, a long time ago. She got quiet for a moment, a thought full look on her face, then shook her head. 

She said that she dreamt of light.

I wonder if that's anything like my dreams. 

The sensei calls a halt, we're here. It's time to start un-packing. Patamon quickly slips out of my pack and hides in the trees. We're so high up in the mountains that we can see for miles in every direction without seeing any signs of civilization. It's breathtaking. Although I'm not quite sure if that's because of how far we just finished hiking and I need to catch my breath or if it's actually the view.

It'll be even more breathtaking once I finish unpacking.

I remember the first time we ever went flying. Patamon is so small that he rests comfortably on my head, even when I was small. It used to make me happy, I was finally bigger than *someone*, even if he was my Digimon. It didn't help that the other's Digimon were my height. But Angemon... I was back to being tiny again.

Next to him, everyone else feels tiny too. 

But feeling tiny next to Angemon is okay, even now that I've grown so I can comfortably carry Patamon instead of holding him like an overstuffed teddy bear. There's a sense of security around Angemon, like everything is going to be okay. 

There's also the feeling of flight when he's around, even if I'm on the ground. Just watching Patamon or Angemon flying, it's like... It's like I'm right there beside him, catching the breeze to soar ever higher next to him.

It's hard to describe. It was the first time he carried me into the sky, and it's still hard now. 

But after that first trip into the sky, I promised myself I would do so again, but under my own power. With my own wings.

When the portal originally sealed behind us, I had first thought it would be impossible to fly again, unless I became a pilot, but that will still be years from now. I've working hard to get good grades in English and Math so that possibility remains open, but I'm not sure if that's quite what I want to do in life. 

In the meantime, I do this.

Patamon has two wings, if you can call his ears that. Pegasmon has 4 wings. Angemon has 6 and Mangangemon has 10 wings all total. And now I've got my own set of wings, sythnetic they may be. 

Everything is set, and I nod to Sensei. He nods back, as eager to go as I am. He nods, giving the all clear and I'm off. With a quick leap and a muffled grunt, I jump off the cliff we've been standing on. There's a feeling of falling, then the wind catches the hang glider and I'm suddenly falling upwards, above the forest of cypress and bamboo.

There's a lot of really nice take off places around here. The hard part is finding a good flat area to land. But I'm not concerned about that for the moment. Right now, I'm in the air again, and that's all that matters.

Patamon lands on top of the glider, laughing. I join in, catching a breeze to go even higher up the mountain, the landscape dropping down into a green and black blur.

Today, it's my turn to carry Patamon as we soar.

Fin.