The Labyrinth
Author's Note: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed this! I really appreciate all of your kind words and encouragement. It means a lot to me as a writer, so thank you, once again.
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, or its characters, just as much as I don't own the concept of the labyrinth, or any of the ideals I've incorporated from the sources I've already mentioned. This was written for recreational purposes only.
Her exhaustion had caught up with her. Kari blinked. Everything around her seemed shaded densely gray. Fog. She opened her eyes to a strange place, dark, and dreary. Yet it seemed familiar. There were no telltale signs of any body of water, so she was sure she wasn't in the Dark Ocean. She pivoted to look behind her, only to find that she was encased by even more gray. She felt confined. She shuddered. Everything about her was pressing in. She felt as if she were buried in a coffin of mist.
Once again, like her previous nightmares, the same wall loomed before her menacingly. She grimaced. She had no desire to touch it this time. But it seemed that her instinct was inclined otherwise. She watched in horror as her hand, on its own accord, reached out to touch the inviting surface of the wall.
"Kari!" A voice, dulled by the thickness of the fog, called out to her. She knew who it belonged to immediately.
"TK?" Her whisper was muted and weak. She tried turning away, looking towards the direction from which the word had originated from. "TK, help me!" Her voice grew bold in desperation.
"Kari!" TK's own voice had also grown in volume. She gasped, startled by it, and the vivacious, yellow light glowing from where he'd spoken. Her concentration upon the wall broke as she became consumed by the need to follow the warmth of the light. This was beauty, she thought. This was what would save her now.
The light, as it turned out, wasn't as nearly as magnificent as she had thought it to be. The bright, yellow glow radiated from the fluorescent lights of the school. She found herself in the nurse's office, surrounded by TK, Davis, and Cody. She didn't even attempt to pretend that she didn't know what was going on. TK glanced down at her with a knowing look in his eyes.
"Are you alright?" Davis looked particularly wary. His brown eyes shown sadly with sincere worry. Kari appreciated his concern.
"I've been better." She admitted, looking up into the eyes of the group around her. Cody looked extremely worried, as did Davis. TK, however, was another story. All the color had been drained from his face, giving him the appearance of an exhausted ghost. He looked positively terrified.
"It wasn't the Dark Ocean again, was it?" Her best friend asked her, staring right into her eyes. She quivered. She was never able to lie to TK. She knew now would not be a good time to start.
"No, but it's not something I want to talk about now." She stared at him meaningfully. In less than a second, he understood. They would talk about this later, in private. At the moment, she wasn't sure she was ready to let the others know what had been haunting for the past couple of weeks.
"You passed out screaming, and you don't want to talk about this now?" Davis exploded. "Kari, something's obviously wrong here. We're your friends. Let us help!" Kari edged away from the group, taken aback by her friend's sudden outburst.
" Davis, stop it." Cody, ever the voice of reason, scolded him. "She obviously doesn't want to talk about it. It's her business. Let her talk about when she's ready." He then turned to the bedridden girl. "You will tell us what's going on eventually, right?" His gaze was sad and distant.
She nodded. "I will, I promise. I'm just…exhausted right now, Cody." She smiled up at them all. "I think I need to get some rest." She hoped they would take the hint.
"Good idea." TK and Cody nodded their agreement. Davis reluctantly went along with them.
"Kari, remember, we're your friends. Please tell us if something's wrong." His voice had lost its abrasive tone, reduced to mere pleading. Kari simply looked away as the nurse ushered the group out of her office.
"That's some group of friends you have there." Nurse Hayashi smiled down at her warmly. "Now, let's take your temperature, dear. You look like you have quite the fever." Kari could only imagine how pale and worn out she looked.
Like how Gatomon looked after she lost Wizardmon. Kari thought, as the nurse stuck a thermometer under her tongue. Gatomon. It had been so long since she'd last seen the feline creature. And to think, that it was only a year ago that they had been reunited. She allowed for her thoughts to drift back to the fateful day they'd had to say goodbye.
"It's not for forever, Kari." Gatomon sounded as though she were trying to convince herself. "You heard Gennai, he said we'd meet again."
"I know, Gatomon." The adolescent girl replied despondently. "But he never said when, where, or why."
"Who cares about the specifics, so long as we're together again someday!" Her most trusted companion looked away from her. "Kari, no matter how long we have to wait to meet again, it'll be nothing compared to the time I spent first waiting for you."
Kari clenched her fists, fighting back tears. "That was a long time, huh?"
"You bet it was. And then he entered my life." The catlike creature spat at the memory of her former master. "I know I'll never have to wait for anything that long again in my life."
Kari stayed silent for awhile, taking in the last few moments with Gatomon. "I still think it's going to feel like forever." Sorrow made her voice stumble over the last few words. "Oh, Gatomon!" She scooped up the feline in her arms, as though she planned never to let go.
"Kari, I'm going to miss you too. But you've got to go soon, so would you mind putting me down?" The girl reluctantly granted her request.
"Alright." Suddenly, an idea dawned on her. "Hey, Gatomon, do you think I could take your picture?"
Kari opened her eyes to catch a glimpse of her own ceiling. Oh man. I must've passed out again. She sighed. She knew this was going too far. She had to let somebody know, as much as she didn't want to get anyone else involved with the darkness devouring her.
She looked at the clock, hoping that school would be out soon so that she could talk to her brother, and possibly call TK. The silence was driving her insane. It was then that she realized she missed Gatomon more than ever. Whenever she was around her digimon partner, no matter what the circumstances, the world around her seemed a much lighter place. She turned her head to the side, where, on her dresser, she'd placed that photograph. Big, blue eyes smiled back at her. Kari wanted to believe that somehow, in that picture, Gatomon's presence had been preserved. But the more closely she looked at it, the more distanced she felt from her close friend.
Light, her crest. The element she'd been chosen to represent. At that moment, it seemed to be fading. All her thoughts spiraled around the idea of what could possibly be drawing her to that damn wall all the time. She wished desperately that she could find some meaning in all of this, even without her digimon here to guide her.
"Kari!" The girl had to refrain from screaming. Her brother's voice had scared what little daylight she had left in her. Minutes later, her older brother entered the room. Tall, dark, and handsome, or so she'd heard many girls say, her brother, the courageous soccer player, had no problem calling attention to himself. As stubborn and as hardheaded as she herself could be at times, there was no doubting that they were siblings.
Next to him, much to her surprise, and, she admitted, strange delight, stood TK, the boy of hope. In his hands, he clutched what looked to be like the work she'd missed. His blonde hair and blue eyes looked angelic in comparison with Tai's dark traits. Kari had to suppress her quickened heartbeat. His eyes were so blue, so much like the waters of an ocean in one of her photographs. It was hard not to drown in them, she figured.
"Kari? You're staring off into space again." She jerked forward at the sound of fear in TK's voice. Now was not the time to be thinking about those types of things, she had to sternly remind herself.
"Sorry, I was daydreaming." She confessed. About you, she added silently, before reprimanding herself. She saw that both boys had equally anxious looks upon their faces. She knew now was not the time to be dwelling on anyone's eyes, no matter how pretty they looked. "I suppose I should tell what's been going on." She reluctantly met their gazes. The amount of concern she found humbled her somewhat, but it also made her anxious. She hated seeing other people upset, especially when it had something to do with her.
"Yeah, I suppose you should." Tai replied, coming over to take a seat on her bed. TK politely stayed behind, leaning casually on the doorframe for support.
"Kari, we're not going to judge you, or anything." TK started, looking straight at her. "We all care about you, and we're all really worried. But please, don't feel like you have to tell us anything. Do it because you want to, not because you have to." She smiled gratefully up at him. Wait. She squinted. Was she imagining things, or did TK look as equally as tired as she felt? She shrugged it off for the moment.
"Thanks, TK. But it's time I told someone. I need to." Her words subdued her smile. "Besides, I think this might have something to do with the Digital World."
Both Tai and TK froze. The younger boy immediately removed himself from his comfortable position as the oldest of the three of them sat up straight. Her words were as the ripples of a stone thrown into a pond, continually casting circles, drawing those she held dear into her world gone lopsided.
"The Digital World? Kari, are you sure?" Tai stared at her in disbelief. It had only been about a year since they'd last returned from the Digiworld; he could hardly believe that it would call them back so soon.
Kari looked over to TK, wanting to see his reaction to all of this. She was startled by the intensity of his gaze upon her. They pinned her to her spot upon the bed with all of the vehement emotion she found in them. It was as if he were trying to communicate with her through his eyes.
But now that she had spoken the words out loud, Kari was absolutely positive that her entire ordeal had everything to do with the Digiworld. "Yes, Tai. I'm absolutely sure." She looked away for a moment, thinking of how delicately she wanted to put this. "There's something there that's calling me back. Tai, TK." She looked at them both, intense realization burning brightly in her eyes. "I think it's time for us, all of us, to go back."
---
"Boom Bubble!" Gatomon looked overhead to find Patamon attempting to attack the wayward Dracomon chasing after her. She watched the impact of it bounce of the rookie's turquoise chest as though it were nothing. She cringed, as she resumed running as fast as her paws could carry her. She didn't understand it. How could a mere rookie be so strong?
It had only been that morning that she'd been lounging around with Patamon, Veemon, and Armadillomon. Out of nowhere, a multitude of digimon appeared, some rookie, others champion, all seemingly unified by the idea of attacking them. Gatomon didn't understand it at all. For a year now, peace and prosperity had reigned over the Digital World. That very morning, all of the work put into ridding the Digiworld of its troubles came to naught.
"Patamon, get away from there! He's too strong for you!" She shouted over her shoulder, having noticed out of the corner of her eye that her close friend had yet to make a getaway himself.
"I'll be fine!" The flying creature responded, in the midst of fighting the other digimon off. "You get out of here, I can take him!"
Like hell you can, Patamon. She sighed. Are all mon this stubborn? She refused to runaway at the sake of one her dearest friends. She quickly pivoted, prepared to fight. Surely, if they worked together, they'd be able to easily overcome that poor excuse of a dragon.
"I'm staying with you, Patamon. I've had enough of running away." With that, Gatomon furiously leapt into the air, drawing her paw back with all of the force she could muster. "Lightning Paw!" Her attack hit the Dracomon dead on, in the center of his exposed chest. The beast roared in agony. She grinned triumphantly. She had found his weak spot.
"Patamon!" She cried out to her friend, who was hovering in the sky. "Aim for his chest, that's his weak point!" But before she could say anything more, before she could strike him with another hit, Dracomon quickly recovered enough to hit her with an attack of his own.
"Baby breath!" A fiery blast of energy caught her completely off-guard. She shrieked as it scorched her fur. It was incendiary; it had even managed to singe the skin beneath it. She fell to the ground, clutching at her wound in pain. "Ah!"
"Gatomon!" Patamon called out to her, but it was of no use. She was fading fast. I wish Kari was here with me. She thought. Then I'd be able to digivolve, and I wouldn't be so useless to Patamon right now. From far away, she thought she thought she heard another cry of agony.Soon, she was aware only of the whispers of the darkness around her.
