Hello ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, dragons of all ages. This time I bring something dark for Halloween. This is a crossover of sorts, although I don't think that many people would find it I labeled it as such since literally no other crossover stories exist for these two franchises together.

I will give forewarning that things do get dark, disturbing, and there is character death so this may not be for the faint of heart.

The first thing he felt was the cold granular feeling of sand against his skin. Then his mind acknowledged the sound of waves rolling over themselves and onto the shore. He wearily opened his eyes to the grayed vision of sand before his eyes, the dark brown color of a cliff rising above him. His body felt heavy as he pushed himself to his feet. He jerked his hand up quickly as he felt a small crab move beneath his palm in the sand.

He looked around him as he tried to remember where he was and how he had gotten here. The first thing he saw was the crashed car to the side of the road just beyond the beach. His gaze followed the smoke that rose from beneath the car's hood. As the smoke dissipated higher in the air the side of a large cliff stood above him, as his eyes continued to trace it upward he could see a small flock of seagulls flying above him. He turned around to look at the lake behind him. The waves were so dark that they appeared black as they lapped the shore. The innermost part of the lake was obscured by a dense fog as dark grey clouds loomed overhead. Something flashed to his left and he turned to see a lighthouse attempting to break through the fog. A small town behind the lighthouse appeared to be the only sign of civilization around.

He raised a hand to his head as it began to ache, feeling a pair of goggles on his forehead. His face scrunched up in confusion as he realized he couldn't remember what he was wearing. He looked down at his body to see it adorned by a blue hoodie and khaki cargo pants. A pair of green sneakers protected his feet from the cold of the sand beneath him. He was suddenly aware of a light weight hanging from his neck and an oddly shaped device pressing against the center of his chest. He raised a hand and lifted it out from beneath his hoodie, revealing it to be a D-Ark with gold and red markings. He tried to turn it on, but it only projected a holographic screen of pale grey static. He looked at his hands, for some reason expecting to see a pair of yellow wristbands, but instead saw only a gold marriage band on his ring finger and a teal hair scrunchie on his right wrist.

"Rika!"

Takato stared at his wrist as memories returned to his mind. Rika was gone, but he couldn't remember how or why. Several weeks ago he received an email from her, saying she was in some town in… Where was he? He couldn't even remember arriving here. Looking to the car, he pieced together that he must have crashed while driving.

With nothing else to do he urged his legs to move in the direction of the town, following the road alongside the cliffs. He was oblivious to the glow of red eyes peering through the fog at him as his back was turned. As he got closer he could start to make out more details about the buildings in the town. Most of them looked old and abandoned, the lighthouse being the only source of luminescence in the area. He wondered if there was anyone there who could help him.

An hour and a half later, he could finally see the entrance into the town. The fog had only grown denser as he approached. The damp air around him made his skin feel clammy as water droplets began to form on the tips of his shaggy hair. This must have not been a well kept road as potholes riddled the street and the markings on the road had worn away from rain and age. The first buildings he saw had their outsides covered in dark green vines and ivy. All of their windows were broken, with shards of glass sticking out from the sides at odd angles, giving the appearance of teeth within a square shaped maw. As he passed by a sign, he took a moment to stare at it, recognizing the town's name as the one Rika had mentioned in her email. He was so stunned by this that he didn't even realize that the sign was written in English.

The sign read… Welcome to Silent Hill.

Digimon Tamers: Realm of Nightmares

He soon turned away from the sign and stared down the road before him. Hidden behind the curtain of gray mist were the answers that he had come here searching for. Where was Rika? What happened to her? Was she alright? Why did she come here? These were the quandaries that would go unresolved, unless he had the courage to face whatever lied before him.

He glances down at the scrunchie on his wrist. A strangled screech echoed through the mist behind him and he jumped around, his eyes darting back and forth across the fog to try and find something within. As the silence persisted, he hesitantly turned back towards the town. Whatever that noise was had greatly unnerved him, but he took a step forward regardless.

After all, somewhere in this decrepit ghost town was his wife. The thought of her being stuck in this place and the curiosity to find out what she was even doing here in the first place outweighed his fear. He had never abandoned her before, and he wasn't going to start now.

As he entered Silent Hill, he could vaguely make out the silhouette of cars along the side of the road. Their shapes became more defined and solid as he approached. As he walked by he could even make out the little color that remained as rust continued its slow process of consuming the vehicle. He followed the car with his eyes as he walked, watching it fall back into the dense gray fog behind him.

He turned his eyes forward as he tried to make out anything that could give him some direction to Rika. He could see the outline of traffic lights as he approached an intersection. As he got closer he squinted up at the street sign to find out where he was.

Crash!

He spun around at the sound of glass breaking from a diner on the street corner. He slowly approached the entrance and placed a hand on the handle. He tentatively pushed the door open and peered around inside, the bell above the door giving a light ring. Dust covered the tables and the foul smell of rotten food drifted from the kitchen in the back. Several of the stools at the bar were ripped open, exposing the stuffing that had turned dark shades of green and brown as mold had grown inside over the years.

Takato stepped inside to investigate, pulling the collar of his hoodie over his nose to make the smell more tolerable. Hanging on the back side of a booth was a bunch of maps to the town. He picked one up and slid it into his back pocket. There was a squeak as a rat dashed out from under a table and pattered away into the kitchen. He shooed away some flies that were buzzing around his head as he moved to inspect the tables. There were a few plates with rotten food sitting on them. He heard something knock against some pans in the kitchen.

Picking up a discarded steak knife, Takato made his way to the kitchen doors. He slowly pushed them open and stepped inside. His nose was almost overwhelmed by the odor of rotten meat, decaying and molding bread, causing him to reel back in disgust. After taking a second to hold the contents of his stomach down, he proceeded into the kitchen.

As he walks further in, his ears begin to detect the sound of static. The noise gets louder as he approaches the kitchen sink. Looking into the basin, he sees nothing except a cockroach crawling out of the drain. He lowers his ear to the metal surface and finds the source of the static. It was coming from inside the drain.

He jumped and looked around in alarm as a strange siren began to ring through the air. The mechanical wail echoed off the building walls, making his head feel as if his skull was vibrating inside. Soon the siren slowly died off into silence, like a harbinger passing through to spread his message before slipping away into the night.

Unaware of the siren's meaning, Takato turned his attention back to the sink, the static having once again become the only source of noise. The gogglehead flexed his free hand nervously before lowering it slowly into the drain. He almost reels back as he brushed his hand against the side and felt some sort of slime lining the pipes. He continues to lower his hand before touching something solid. He feels the smooth surface of plastic and articulates his fingers to grab the object before slowly pulling it out of the drain.

He rolls his hand over to find a small portable radio as the source of the noise. He inspected it inquisitively as his mind tried to figure out how it got in the sink pipes. He stared at it for a few seconds as the static started to get louder. His ears twitched as heard something slap against the ground behind him.

He turned around and immediately backpedaled into the sink, sliding the radio into his pocket. Before him stood some warped representation of a diner waitress. Her dress was white and light blue while her feet were bare, a knife held menacingly in her hand. Her movements were stiff and erratic, twitching and jutting out in various directions at random. Most disturbing of all though, where her face should have been was mutilated and distorted flesh.

The creature started to move towards him, a sickening creak resonated from its neck as it twisted its head ninety degrees to the side. The hand holding the knife was suddenly in the air as the waitress' feet slapped against the floor. Takato's eyes darted around to look for a better weapon, careful to not keep his gaze off the monster for too long. His eyes locked onto a large frying pan and he quickly reached for it. He swung the pan up, just as the creature swung its knife down, knocking the blade out of the hand. The creature recoils its arm while readying its other arm to swing at him. Before it can though, Takato swings the pan at its head. The strike stuns the monster, causing to reel back.

Seeing an opportunity to escape, Takato darts between the monster and the grill, dropping the frying pan in the process. He sprints out of the kitchen, leaving the monster behind. His foot slips on some old discarded food but he catches himself and keeps going. He slams the diner's door open and runs out of the restaurant.

He runs through several intersections before stopping to catch his breath. His breathing was heavy and ragged as his heart pounded inside his chest. He felt something small and light land on the base of his neck. He reaches up to feel his neck and pulls it away to reveal a small dark grey smudge in the center of his hand. Straightening up, he looks around to see grey specks floating down from the sky.

His eyebrows scrunch together as he wonders why ashes would be falling from the sky. He is disturbed from his thoughts by the faint sound of clicking echoing through the streets. The sound of static started to grow louder from inside his pocket. He quickly looked around as he tried to figure out what was causing the static to grow louder.

His breathing quickened as he begun to see shadows drifting through the fog. He sees a street that is absent of shadows and quickly runs towards it. He makes his way down the street, turning his head to look behind him every so often. The static began to die down until he couldn't hear it over the sound of his feet hitting the ground. With his vision distracted, he almost missed the traffic cones and roadblock signs in front of him. He skidded to a halt at the edge of the street, a few pebbles getting kicked away and promptly falling over the edge.

In front of him the street just…ended. The side was jagged as if an earthquake had torn through it. The other side of the chasm was undoubtedly obscured by the fog, making it impossible to jump across. Takato looked up and down the visible length of the crevice. While he couldn't see far, there wasn't any sign that the split in the earth ended.

The static started to grow louder again and Takato turned around to try and locate whatever was coming. He saw a dark figure stumbling through the mist. As it became clearer he could make out bipedal legs balancing a large mass above them. It had no head or arms, but instead had two spikes coming out of its back and some unidentifiable growth protruding from the center of its body. Its skin was pale and flakey, red cracks scattered across its form like dried out skin.

He looked to his right and grabbed the wooden plank of a road barrier. Once the monster stepped into range, he swung the plank with both arms and hit it in the side of the growth he assumed to be its head. The monster took a step back in recoil to the attack. Not willing to give it a chance to recover, Takato stepped forward and swung for the crown of the monster's "head." The monster let out an inhuman cry as it toppled over and went limp.

Takato ran around the monster's body and back into the fog, still carrying the plank of wood in his hand. His eyes desperately darted around as the eerie sounds continue to penetrate the fog around him. As he ran past another intersection, the fog lightened up to reveal the blurred forms of houses behind a small park.

There was a small set of monkey bars sitting next to a pair of slides. A broken swingset stood off to the side, the broken chains gently swaying from the brief breathes of wind. A light giggle brought his attention to the six foot square sandbox in the center of the park where a little girl was playing.

She had a dark red t-shirt and blue jeans with white sneakers adorning her feet. Her back was turned to him, with her face concealed by dark red hair that stuck up in random places haphazardly. A small pail was sitting next to her and she appeared to be shoveling sand into it.

"Hey," he called out to her. "What are you doing in a place like this?"

The girl seemed to freeze up as his voice reached her ears. She set her shovel down in the sand and stood with her back to him. They stood there in silence for a few seconds before she broke the silence with a sad, innocent voice that echoed through the air.

"Why did you leave?"

Takato raised an eyebrow in confusion and surprise at the girl's words. As far as he knew he had never met this girl before. And what did she mean by 'leave'?

His thoughts were disrupted by the wailing of a siren ringing through the air. He turned in panic, half expecting another monster to appear right behind him. Seeing nothing in the immediate vicinity, he turned back to the playground to get the little girl to safety. When he looked at the sandbox though, the park was empty and there wasn't any sign of the little girl having ever been there.

The static on the radio grew louder and he could hear the clicking begin to echo through the mist. He could see shadows trying to emerge from the fog and quickly attempted to dash for the neighborhood behind the park. He tripped on the edge of the sandbox though and fell into the smooth, granular sediment. Dropping the wooden plank from his grip he pushed himself off the ground and restarted his run.

He ran down one of the neighborhood streets before skidding to a halt. Barely visible through the fog was a small horde of creatures stumbling through the mist. He slowly backed up whilst lowering the volume on his radio to try and avoid detection. He looked around to find some sort of escape route, only finding houses flanking him on either side.

He quickly dashed to his left and ran up the wooden stairs of the nearest house's porch. He grabbed the front door's handle and twisted it, but it refused to turn. He slammed his shoulder into the door to try and force it open, but it refused to budge.

His hands began to tremble in panic as he ran away from the door and down the porch steps. He dashed across the lawn and up to the next house's door, hoping to find security from the dangers that were lurking with him in the fog. He grasped the handle and turned it while slamming his shoulder against the body of the door. To his shock the door swung open easily, causing him to trip and fall inside. He quickly scrambled to his feet and shut the door before locking it.

The blinds to the windows were all closed, casting the house around him in darkness. He pulled out his D-Ark and turned it on, the grey static acting as his only viable source of light. The entrance hall he currently stood in was covered in dust, giving the wood floor beneath him a faint gray color. The drywall was cracked, making him wonder how it was still staying up. There was an entrance to the living room to his left and he suspected the kitchen was just up ahead. On the wall to his right were several pictures that had become distorted by dust, grime, and age. Spotting a light switch to his left and flicked it to "on," but nothing happened.

He carefully proceeded down the hall, his ears on high alert for anything that dared to break the deathly silence. He felt his foot press down on something soft and looked down to see a small stuffed bear lying on the floor. He removed his foot and crouched down to get a better look at it. The bear's right arm was falling off with some of the stuffing poking out of the tear at its shoulder. Its fur had almost turned black from all the dust and grime it had collected. He wondered who it had belonged to, if it had been a boy or a girl. What happened to them?

He left the bear where it was and proceeded into the kitchen. It wasn't very big, but it would have suited the needs of a small family. Cabinets lined the wall opposite him above a countertop on one side of the room with an oven in the center. A door leading to the back yard was to the far left side of the wall. A refrigerator stood against the adjacent wall and was flanked by cupboards beneath a counter that held some fixtures for holding cooking utensils and spices. Half way down the wall, the countertop angled into the center of the room. On the other side of the counter was a small table with some letters sitting on it. The wall to his left when straight on and was covered in small photos all of which were too dirty and faded to make out their contents. In the center of the wall was a white door that opened to a pantry. The smell of molded fruit permeated the air. In the dim light he could see a few of the cupboard doors hanging off their hinges.

He walked over to the table and picked up one of the letters. The writing was faded to the point on the envelope that the only letter he could read was a barely readable "N." He set the letter back down and was about to turn away when he noticed a dark red spot stained on the wood. He moved the light of his D-Arc around until he saw the main source of the stain. The corner of the table that was facing the doorway he had entered through was covered in the deep red stain. Due to the color and the shape of the stain, Takato had a pretty good idea of what it was.

All sense of security the house had once given was lost and Takato felt the need to empty his stomach. He quickly made for the back door and stumbled through it before collapsing to his knees and dry heaving onto the back lawn. He thought that he had seen worse and more gruesome things as a Tamer, but something about the dried stain mixed with the foul smell and knowledge that a child had lived here was too much for him. His intestines twisted and convulsed as they tried to expel food that wasn't there.

Once the sickness had passed and the twisting feeling in his stomach had settled, Takato got up from his knees and looked around the backyard. The grass was overgrown and matted down from the damp air. The ground was softened by the moisture and a little water seeped up from beneath with every step. He nearly tripped on a mound of dirt that had been hidden by the long grass and noticed that several of these mounds were barely visible upon closer inspection of the yard. The outskirts of the yard was covered by various kinds of withered flowers. Rika had, surprisingly, been the more knowledgeable of the two when it came to gardening. Her grandmother had personally attended their garden when she was growing up, and had attempted to get Rika into it early on. The redhead hadn't taken a strong liking to it, but was willing to listen to her elder's teachings on the subject.

Not wanting to go through the house again, Takato walked around the outside of the house and passed through the gate to the front yard. He looked down at his shaking hands and flexed them to try and stop the trembling. Lifting his gaze he noticed that the fog seemed less dense than before, allowing him to see the faint shadows of the other houses on the street. He also became aware of the silence. A deathly silence that lay over the street like a blanket, the only noise he could make out was the faint beating of his heart against his ribcage.

He was actually beginning to wish the monsters would come back.

He didn't know how long he had been walking when he came across the playground. From a distance the playset's silhouette was daunting, upon closer inspection though the tire swing's chain was broken, the metal was rusted, and there were bird droppings everywhere. The faint sound of screeching metal cut through the air as a young woman pushed herself back and forth on the swings, her small brown pony tail faintly swishing through the air.

She didn't seem to notice Takato as his shoes ground against the gravel. He was stunned to see his childhood friend and former crush on the swingset. He should have been surprised to find her in this place, but he wasn't. In a weird way, it felt natural to find her here.

"Jeri?"

The brunette slowed to a stop on the swings as she lifted her eyes to meet his with a bored, almost dead stare. A pang of fear and familiarity hit Takato in the gut as he looked into her eyes. Their color was dulled and lifeless, like they had been glassed over. His gaze shifted nervously to the scar on her left wrist, knowing its twin resided on the opposite. As the silence carried on between them, Takato ventured to take a step forward and join her on the swings. He looped his arms around the chain holding the swing and brought his hands together in front of him. He unconsciously started spinning the wedding band on his ring finger.

"What are you doing here," he asked her. His was starting to become suspect of how two people he knew had ended up in this town.

"I could ask you the same thing," she replied, her voice was sad but interested. Once more Takato was reminded of the D-Reaper clone, but the emotion in her voice reassured him that this was the real Jeri. He released a breath he didn't know he was holding, thankful that he wouldn't have to deal with the D-Reaper again.

"Rika is somewhere in this- nightmare." He felt a sense of dread as he thought what Rika must have had to encounter in this place. Rika was tough though, he was confident she could survive this place. "I just can't understand why she would come here in the first place. I don't even know what this place is."

"This place has a way of attracting people with…dark secrets."

"Dark secrets?"

She nodded to him as she turned her gaze to the ground in front of her feet. "Things about yourself or from your past that will haunt you forever. This town… it's alive. It draws you in through your trauma, and then it feeds off of your negative emotions. Misery is its lifeblood."

"That's- How can this be real?" Takato glanced around in fear. Just when he thought this town couldn't get any creepier, Jeri was now telling him it was alive. The fog suddenly seemed much more claustrophobic, and he imagined the ground suddenly opening up and swallowing him whole.

"I don't know. How can the Digital World be real? Sometimes things don't have an explanation."

"That still doesn't explain why Rika would come here?"

"What do you know about Rika's past, or rather was there anything about Rika's past that might draw her here?"

"No. I mean, her father left when she was young, but she's been over that for years."

Jeri seemed to mull that over in her mind before she vocalized a possibility.

"There are some things you never truly get over," she said remorsefully. She paused for second before continuing hesitantly. "Or perhaps…there's something more to it."

"…What do you mean," he questioned, suddenly uneasy about where this was going.

"At the age she was, it's not uncommon for kids to suppress traumatic events and alter their memories into a less horrifying story." Jeri turned to him and saw the horrified look on his face as his mind connected the dots of what she was implying.

"What are you saying Jeri?" In truth he already knew what she was implying, he was just too scared and sickened to accept it.

"I'm saying… there might be a reason she was drawn her after all," she explained to him. She didn't outright say what she suspected, knowing he had come to the same suspicion and she herself being too sickened to say it aloud.

Before either could say anything else, the eerie siren Takato had heard earlier reverberated through the air. Both occupants of the playground got up from their respective swings and looked around, searching for shapes that could be shifting through the fog. When she deemed the immediate area clear, Jeri began to walk off to find a place she could hold up in.

"Jeri, where are you going," he called out to her.

She paused and partially turned back to face him.

"We need to find shelter before the monsters arrive."

"The monsters," Takato muttered to himself. A question then brought itself to the front of his mind. "Jeri, why are you in this place?"

Jeri just stared at him before reaching into her pocket and pulled out a D-Arc with yellow detailing. She looked down at it as she turned on the screen which showed nothing but static. She then slowly turned her head to face him before sorrowfully telling him, "There is some trauma you can never get over."

With that she walked off and her form disappeared into the fog. After a second Takato's gaze lowered to the ground she had been standing on and his eyes widened in terror. The gravel she had been standing on had changed into an almost gelatinous red ooze. His heartbeat quickened as his legs darted forward and he sprinted after her, calling her name out desperately as he ran. He ran for almost five minutes before he stopped, if she had been nearby he should have found her by now.

"JERI!" he called out. His head swiveled around as he tried to locate his friend, suddenly regretting letting her walk off. Now it was like she had disappeared without a trace, like she had become one with the fog itself. He looked down and realized that even the ground had turned back into black asphalt.

Then the static on his radio grew louder.

Fear gripped him once more as his ears strained to pick up the sound of the monsters around him. Panicking as the adrenaline continued to pump through his veins and his potential doom got closer. He chose a random direction and ran, hoping to find a landmark that could help orient him with the use of the map he had grabbed at the diner.

He stopped as the daunting form of a broken down hospital loomed over him. He was about to pull out the map when he heard something down the road to his left. It sounded like a large steel object being dragged across the pavement. Soon after the sound of ringing metal began to slice through the air, it was accompanied by the dull thud of heavy footsteps

Fear gripped his heart as his imaginative mind scrambled to form a picture of creature would emerge from the fog next. As the footsteps and grinding grew louder, Takato decided he didn't too meet their creator and ran for the hospital. He dashed up the concrete steps and slammed his shoulder into the front doors. They both gave way and he stumbled inside before scrambling to close them. He looked around in search of something to act as a barricade. He spotted some cushioned benches sitting against the wall of the reception desk behind him and ran over to them. He grabbed the corners of one end and pulled, but they were bolted down.

He panicked for a moment before spotting a seemingly unsecured wooden bench in the corner of the hall to the left of the entrance way. He quickly ran over to it and grabbed one end to drag it. The metal legs of the bench screeched against the tile floor as he pulled it over to the entrance. As he rounded the corner he kept his eyes on the doors. He relocated the bench so that it blocked both doors to the outside and stepped back, his heart beating furiously against his ribcage.

After a few moments of silence, his pulse slowed down and he breathed a sigh of relief. He turned back around to try and get a better observation the building that housed him. The black and white floor tiles were covered in a thin layer and the walls were a depressing gray, with some strange scratch marks in random locations. He walked up to the reception desk and looked at the faded sign-in sheet.

Brookhaven Hospital

He pulled out his map and used the added light of his D-Arc's static to try and locate his position. He found the hospital's location and then started looking for any landmarks that he could use to search for Rika. If this town was alive and drew people in like Jeri had said, then perhaps special locations bore an extra attraction for visitors. Unlikely as it may be that Rika would be there, it was the best hope he currently had.

Deciding that he would make the lighthouse his final destination for now, he started mapping out what locations he could visit along the way without straying too far. After choosing which stops Rika might be the most likely to be hiding in he reached over the desk to grab a pen. As he was drawing his arm back, he noticed a name on the sign in sheet he had neglected earlier. Picking it up he looked at the last name that had been added to the list.

Nonaka : Dr. Kido

Rika had been here, or at least someone most likely related to Rika had been here. After all, why would Rika feel the need to sign in here? This place would have been abandoned long before she left. If it had ever been staffed at all that is.

Curiosity getting the better of him, Takato decided to search the doctor's office for any files he could find. Perhaps somewhere inside was the reason Rika had been drawn to this nightmare. If he could discover that, then maybe he could narrow down where he could find her.

He cautiously wandered the halls until he found a door with the doctor's name on it. The handle squeaked slightly as he turned it and he slowly opened the door. Inside, the office floor was covered in discarded file sleeves and papers. A chair was lying on its side and an old fashioned inkwell had been spilled all over the desk, a fountain pen stabbed in the center of it. Takato stepped inside and stepped around the chair to the file cabinets. Looking under "N" he opened the file drawer and started fingering through the files. Finding one titled "Nonaka" he pulled it out and set it on the desk covered in dry ink. Leaning over the tan cover he opened the file and began reading the first page, some of the words were obscured from either scratches or the fading of old age.

Patient: Nonaka, -k-.

Admitted: 5/26/2016

Patient is showing signs of Selective Memory Repression probably caused by Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.The patient most likely suppressed - memories to cope with the guilt of -.Can't say I blame -.I'd have a hard time liv- with those memories as well.

6/13/2016:

Patient isn't show-g signs of improv-nt. If anything the symptom- are ge- worse.I've sent in the transfer paperw-.Perhaps a more skilled doctor - have fortune where I have not.

Finding little more than some legal stamps on the page, Takato flipped it over to find the rest of the pages blank. He placed a hand to his head as a migraine began to settle in. For the first time he wondered how long he had been awake. He could check the clock on his digivice, but without a reference to when he woke up on the beach it was pointless.

Leaving the file on the desk, he walked around the chair once more and stepped through the office door. He kept his eyes on the ground as he turned to leave the hospital. He was mid-step when the sharp sound of metal scraping against tile prickled his ears and sent a shiver down his spine. Freezing on the spot with his hand still to his head, he turned around to see the monster behind him. His eyes widened and his pupils dilated to pinpricks. Not out of fear, but because what stood there was no ordinary monster.

Grey armor with dark blue markings adorned its entire body. The black mark of the Digital Hazard stamped on its chest and an indigo cape fell from its shoulders and behind its back to the floor. On its left arm it carried a massive black and silver shield adorned with a circle that was surrounded by triangular markings. In its right hand it wielded a massive lance that dragged against the floor. A menacing helm covered its head, but did nothing to obscure the violent red eyes that glowed beneath it.

The shield dissipated as ChaosGallantmon's raised its left arm and sent it rocketing into Takato's face.

Takato's vision was blurred as he stirred from his unconscious state. As the images came into focus he could make out his hands sitting on wooden armrests to either side of him. The room around him was dark, and the smell of iron and rust assaulted his nose. A single lightbulb hung from the ceiling by a string, providing the only light in the room. Before him stood a simple three foot square table with a revolver lying on top of it and beyond that was a familiar redheaded figure standing before a window with her head tilted down, allowing her bangs to cover her eyes.

Rika's form shifted to black as a bolt of lightning flash right in front of the window. The thunderclap that immediately followed shook the room and rattled his head. Takato blinked his eyes as the after image of the flash distorted his vision.

He moved to get up but hesitated as he felt a rough grip on his ankles. He looked down to find his feet bound to the chair legs by thick rope. He tugged at his ankles to try and free himself but his bindings were secured tightly. He turned his gaze back to Rika, about to ask what was going on. She spoke before he could air his question, her voice cold and distant.

"Why did you do it?"

The words sent a shiver up his spine and caused a tingle in his brain. The room suddenly felt ten degrees colder than it already was. His mind was reaching for memories of what her words could mean. Rika raised her arms from her side and wrapped them around herself, like she was trying to protect herself from the world. She spoke again and this time he could hear the choking in her throat as she tried to suppress the sobs.

"I thought you loved me."

"What are you talking about Rika," he nearly shouted at her as an unknown fear began to grip his heart. He wasn't sure why she was in this state, but felt certain it had something to do with this town. For as long as she had been here, it must have done something to distort her mind.

"Rika I do love you. It's this town. I don't know what you've seen here, what's happened to you here, but I will get you out of this, I promise. We can go home and leave this nightmare behind."

"We can never leave it behind. There is no escape. You say that you promise, but you promised that you loved me and that was a lie."

"We can leave! I'll find a way to get us out of here, I always have. I love you Rika. You're just…sick."

It pained him to see her in such a depressed state. She hadn't even been this bad during or after the Icedevimon attack. He hated having to describe her as sick, but it was the only word he could think of that might help her rationalize the situation. Her next words however, sent a chill into his bones.

"How can one be sick when they're dead?"

…

Drip.

Drip.

The soft noise drawing his attention, he slowly lowered his gaze to floor around Rika's feet. Barely visible in the low light was the beginning of a small dark puddle just behind the space between Rika's feet. Anxiety started to build as he stared at it, his fears seemingly confirmed as another drop of the dark liquid joined its already fallen brethren, making the puddle grow ever larger.

"And how are you going to escape what's inside your own head?"

His gaze shifted back up to meet Rika's eyes, but they weren't the lovely shade of lavender that he knew. The color of her irises was paled and muted. An almost white glossy sheen covered them as she stared back at him. The room seemed to drop another ten degrees as his fingers started to go numb. A twisting feeling started to grow in his gut as if someone had stabbed him with a knife and was twisting it deeper into him.

As Rika turned her head to the side, Takato eyes widened, his jaw fell open, and he couldn't breathe as his throat clenched itself shut. Outlined by the dim light outside, a large chunk was missing from the back of Rika's head just below her signature ponytail. No, it wasn't missing. It had been bashed in. Her hair was stained a dark maroon that trailed further down her head before condensing and dripping to the floor. He thought he could even see a piece of her skull poking through her hair.

Takato trembled at the sight of what happened to the girl he loved. He was terrified of the specter that was standing before him. The pain in his gut doubled and his heart felt heavy with grief. Except it wasn't just grief…

It was guilt.

He stomped into the kitchen and threw the mail down onto the table. Takato dropped his elbows on the countertop and rested his head in his hands. He let out a heavy sigh as he tried to let out some of his frustration. The past few weeks had been extremely heavy on him. Despite having saved the world once, the world had seemed to have forgotten about them. Their adventures fading into bedtime stories as everyone moved on with their lives. His art career had hit a rough patch, with he and Rika only barely scraping enough together to pay their bills.

He could hear her footsteps before she stepped into the kitchen, carrying something in her hand unbeknownst to him. They had gotten into a fight the night before which had carried into the following morning, causing him to be grumpier than usual. He still was letting off steam from their fight when he received a letter in the mail telling him his artwork had been rejected once more.

"Did you get the flour?"

He let out an angry sigh as he internally berated himself for his forgetfulness. The most aggravating thing though was that he knew Rika was going to chew him out for this regardless. He shifted his head so he could look from behind his hand and could already see the scowl setting on her face.

"Takato, I needed that flour for dinner tonight. We can't afford to keep ordering out every time we run out of something."

"Rika," he groaned into his hands, not bothering to try and hide the frustration in his voice. "I've had a long day, and now is not the time for this."

"Not the time for what?" she spoke back angrily. She'd been extremely grumpy as of late and today was no exception. "I asked you to do one thing on your way home. You walk right by the store every day. Was it so hard to remem-."

He slammed both fists on the counter and turned to glare at her before barking.

"I said not now Rika!"

She took a step back in hesitation and dropped the object in her hand to the floor. Her face had turned to worry before contorting back into anger. Takato tried to excuse himself from the room to defuse the situation, but Rika wasn't going to have it. As he passed by her she followed after him with fists clenched at her side.

"Yes, now! Takato, I'm sorry that things aren't going well at work, but it won't be long before I can't work, so if we're going to get by you need to get a grip and focus!"

"You think I'm not trying!" He turned back to her with a furious glare as his anger took hold. "I know what position we're in. What position we'll most likely be in. I wish I could give you a better life, but I'm working with what I have. So back off!"

Before he knew it, both of his arms were in front of him and pushing Rika. He didn't remember pushing her that hard, and in truth he hadn't. His anger had caused him to push just hard enough to force her a few steps back. The first step landed on an object lying on the ground and caused her leg to slip out from under her. As her leg slipped forward, momentum caused her to fall back. All anger disappeared from both of their faces as she fell. There eyes met one last time, panic and fear being the last thing they saw right before Takato's ears were alerted to the sickening crack of Rika's head hitting the corner of the table.

Takato stood there, frozen for a few seconds as he stared at the limp form of his wife. Her eyes were still open, staring blankly at the ceiling as the pool of blood continued to grow around her head. His mind broke down as it failed to comprehend what had just happened. What he had just done.

The police arrived in a matter of minutes along with several Hypnos agents accompanied by Yamaki. While the Digimon threat was over, he still kept a careful watch over the Tamers as they had grown up. He was an expert at concealing his emotions, but his face was frozen in a state of shock at the sight that met him inside the house. Paramedics rushed to the kitchen were a scared stiff Takato was kneeling beside his wife. A phone lying next to him on the ground as he continuously practiced CPR to try and revive Rika. His eyes were wide with dilated pupils and he was continually muttering something too quiet for him to hear.

Yamaki stepped in and grabbed Takato's shoulders to force him away while the paramedics assessed Rika, though he knew there was no point. Judging by the amount of blood as well as the splatter on the corner of the table, he guessed she had died instantly. Takato tried to fight him as he forced him into the back yard, continually muttering the words he couldn't hear before.

"Please don't be dead, please don't be dead, please don't be dead."

Finally outside, Yamaki forced the younger man to look him in the eyes, pulling off his sunglasses to do so.

"Takato listen to me. I need you to tell me what happened."

The words seemed to have no affect on the brown haired man as his red eyes continued to stare through Yamaki. Gritting his teeth and growling in frustration, he raised a hand and slapped the ex-Tamer. Takato's head jerked to the left as his eyes redilated back to a slightly more normal state. He raised a hand to his cheek as tears began to cloud his vision.

"Takato. What happened in there?"

Takato choked back a sob before replying.

"I-I didn't mean to. I just- All she wanted was for me to get some flour from the store and…" His eyes became dilated once more as his mind desperately tried to cope, to find some way to escape the nightmare that had become his reality. He spoke only once more, his voice a cold faded echo. "What have I done?"

Enough of the pieces had been laid out for Yamaki to piece together what had happened. He felt sick at the thought that Takato had accidentally killed Rika. He couldn't imagine how the young man in front of him felt. He was interrupted by his thoughts as two police officers stepped into the backyard. They both had grim looks on their faces as they approached the two men. Yamaki gave a slight nod to the officers as they approached.

"How is he," one officer asked Yamaki. The head of Hypnos could already sense what was coming next, no doubt regardless whether Takato was fine or not. He himself wasn't truly sure. In all his years, with all the things they had faced, he had never seen the young man before him so out of it, so traumatized.

"He didn't mean for this to happen," he responded, not taking his eyes off of the ex-Tamer. "It was an accident."

"I'm afraid we have to take him in either way."

Yamki let out a sad sigh, "Of course."

"Right this way Mr. Nonaka," one of the officers told Takato sympathetically as he and Yamaki led Takato around the outside of the house to the front yard. They stepped across the front lawn just as Yamaki looked to see the paramedics loading Rika's body bag into the back of the ambulance. They approached one of the police cruisers as one of the officers opened the door to the back. As per procedure the officer addressed Takato as he lifelessly ducked into the back of the cruiser.

A voice called out to Yamaki just as the cruiser door closed behind Takato. The head of Hypnos turned around to see Henry Wong running down the street towards him. The blonde haired man tried to think of the best way to break the news to Henry. The blue haired man stopped and eyed his best friend sitting in the back of the car before turning to Yamaki.

"What happened? Where is Rika? Please tell me she is alright!"

Normally Yamaki would have raised an eyebrow at the young man's interest in Rika. He discarded it though with the thought that perhaps Henry had learned it was Takato who had made the call, thus assuming Rika was the one in trouble. He just stared down at the young man with a grim look on his face, one that spawned an uncomfortable feeling in Henry's stomach. He finally decided that just the plain truth was the best path.

"I'm sorry Henry, but Rika's dead." It pained the older man to see the mixture of hurt, shock, and sadness on Henry's face. "It was an accident. Takato seems to have briefly lost his temper and pushed her. The back of her head hit the corner of the table. I'm guessing it happened instantly."

Henry couldn't believe his ears as he stumbled back in shock. He leaned over and braced himself on his knees as he stared at the toes of his shoes. All he and his friends had been through, all they had survived, and now Rika was gone along with-

Yamaki turned to look at the young man sitting in the cruiser next to him, unaware that the ex-Tamer could hear their conversation.

"Takato…was a mess. It seemed that he couldn't comprehend that Rika was dead at first. Knowing him, he must feel terrible about himself. I can't imagine what he's going through right now."

"Even if you could imagine, it's worse."

"What do you mean," Yamaki asked, getting the feeling there was something he didn't know.

Henry turned to look at the sullen form of his friend in the police cruiser, thinking about the small stuffed bear he had gotten them as a congratulations gift.

"Rika was pregnant."

Neither man noticed as tears began to fall down Takato's cheeks.

Takato returned from flashback of the long forgotten memory to find the ghost of Rika accompanied by another figure. This one was much smaller and had dark red hair that stuck up in random places. She stood next to Rika in a red shirt that had the Digital Hazard sign printed in its center, while her eyes were concealed by shadow. He realized that this was the girl he had seen in the park earlier. No, it was his unborn daughter that he had seen in the park earlier.

"Why did you do it daddy," the girl questioned him in a sweet innocent voice. Every syllable felt like a punch straight to his heart. "Didn't you love us?"

"Of course I loved you," he told her as his eyes began to water.

"Then why did you kill us," Rika asked, or rather accused him, her voice changing from hurt to angry.

"I didn't mean to kill you. It was an accident," he pleaded. "Rika, you have to know I would never intentionally hurt you, much less our child."

"But you did."

"I DIDN'T MEAN TO!" His shouting seemed to silence the two ghosts for a moment.

"I didn't know that you would slip," he croaked out, as he lowered his head in shame and sorrow. "I didn't know that you would hit your head on the table. I never meant for any of this to happen."

"…That's not good enough."

He looked up to see only Rika standing there, but something was wrong. The white of her eyes had turned black and her mouth grown larger, revealing a row of sharp fangs. Her limbs grew longer and her skin stretched until it tore at some parts. Her fingers sharpened into deadly claws.

Terror filled him as the Demonic Rika snarled at him. He glanced to the pistol that lay on the table before him. As soon as he looked back up, the monster lunged at him.