DIGITAL RECOVERY

Chapter 10

System Collapse

-Hikari-

collapse (v.): to suddenly lose force, significance, effectiveness, or worth

Yagami Hikari woke up with a scream.

She sat up from her pillow, terrified, lunging forward as her cries deafened her own ears. Her eyes remained shut tight in her darkened bedroom, only letting the tears escape from them.

"Kari!" she heard Taichi yell, but she only threw her face onto her pillow, sobbing loudly into it. She heard him yell her name just moments ago in a colder, darker scene… A cold, fiendish laugh resounded from behind her, coming from the monster that held her above ground by the collar of her shirt.

"Look at me, Kari," came Taichi's gentle, though urgent voice, but she was too afraid to open her eyes after watching him try to break out from the shackles a few yards away, hearing him plead with the monster to let her go. She called her brother's name helplessly, her legs swinging above the ground when she attempted to struggle free.

"You children never know when to give up," came the monster's chilling voice. "Coming back to the Digital World to save it was a grave mistake, you poor, naïve DigiDestined. Look at all of you now…"

Hikari sobbed as she looked around at the others once again as they lay scattered on the ground, unmoving. In her head, she wished, hoped, begged for them to wake up…

What she got instead was malicious laughter, continuing to fill the air around her.

"Your efforts up until now have been worthless! It's too bad, after all of this is over, none of you will remember a thing."

"Let her go!" cried Taichi through his struggle. The monster's laughter only increased in volume, and Hikari gasped as it pushed something cold, hard, and metallic against the side of her neck.

"Farewell, Child of Light," it whispered into her ear. "May darkness be the only thing you'll ever see—"

"Kari, I'm here."

Hikari finally opened her eyes. The lamp in her bedroom was on, and Taichi stared back at her anxiously, holding her shoulders as he sat in bed with her.

"Tai…" she said in her cautious breath, blinking tears from her eyes. Her hands ran over his cheeks, then along his arms up to his wrists that were free of cuffs. Realizing they were both out of danger, she threw her hands around him and held him tightly, crying freely into his shirt. "Oh, Tai…"

"Shh," he said, cradling her in his arms. "It's alright now."

It's alright now.

It was never alright, no matter how many times Taichi told her. He said it earlier that day, when she gained consciousness from fainting on the floor of Kido-san's book shop. She remembered him saying it as far back as the day she woke up at summer camp, not even remembering how she even got there. Not even Taichi recalled, but their parents were adamant that she begged them to take her after she got over her illness.

She wanted to believe Taichi, every time he told her since then, whenever she became too feverish to go to school. She saw doctor after doctor, none who could figure out her illness that never worsened, but never improved. He still kept telling her, even when her parents decided to home school her, after missing too many days, and then, when Taichi was old enough to move out, and took her in to alleviate the strain on her parents. It tortured her, having to rely on her older brother all the time. She could never keep a steady job in her condition, not with her constant fever and fainting spells that always got in the way.

"It's alright now," he said again soothingly, and she continued to sob as he held the back of her head. He held her close, in her bedroom with the light on from the lamp, but nothing could take away the despair that remained.

Throughout the years, she couldn't help but feel that it was this despair within her that led her to this illness, to those nightmares she started having once in a blue moon, but recently, more often than she ever wanted to. They only became increasingly vivid, tonight's being the most vivid of all.

It's alright now. She couldn't imagine where she would be if Taichi never said it at all.

"Gatomon…" she said suddenly, muffled through his tear-soaked shirt.

"Gatomon?" Taichi repeated.

Hikari pulled apart from him, looking down at her pillow that fell between them, wondering how she came to say that. The thought disappeared as fast as it came to her, as though it was taken away from her, just like…

She felt a cold, numbing chill at the side of her neck, where she put her hand to rub it. Taichi put his palm to her forehead as though to check for a fever, and it was then that Hikari noticed—she took his palm from her head and held it in front of her, feeling its clamminess.

"Tai…" she said in her fearful curiosity, feeling dampness of the back of his hair, the uneven streams of tears on either side of his face, and it became clearer to her. "You were dreaming it, too, weren't you?" She felt his wrist again, and saw that his hand clenched tightly into a fist.

"I feel so trapped, every time…" he said through his gritted teeth. "Watching everyone fall, one by one, including you… I'm so sorry, Kari…"

Her eyes widened, seeing his head lower with his shoulders trembling in front of her. She was always at a loss at what to do, seeing him fall apart when she was the broken one. As she held his hand, she looked to the glass of milk on her bedside table, as well as the stack of books next to her glowing lamp. Takeru…

Among the group of strangers in her nightmares—visions?—Takeru seemed to be by her side every time. Questions bubbled up inside her each time she saw Takeru at the book shop, but each time, she hesitated, and smiled instead, giving him something she thought he needed to brighten his day.

She confided this to Taichi, and he shared his own daily encounters with her in return. He played it cool after encountered Kido-san when he first discovered her sanctuary in his book shop, and then, when he started seeing Koushiro at his bar, as well as Mimi singing on stage.

And just the night before, he entered the apartment slumped over at the front door. Hikari wondered, at first, what would have brought him to drink so much to come home that way? But as she approached him to help him up, he got up just fine—although, with a look of distress as he uttered Yamato's name, and eventually, Sora's.

Hikari knew, as well as Taichi, that the others must have been dealing with the same thing they were; however, she had to wonder if Taichi was like her when it came to asking Takeru. Maybe Taichi was just as afraid of talking to everyone else, if not, even more than she was.

All she could do was curl up against him now, her head resting just above his shoulder. As his arms encased her, she felt a little more at ease, especially seeing he wasn't imprisoned before her.

"I'm afraid of falling asleep, Tai," she said, keeping her eyes open and looking onto the lamp shade.

"Don't be, Kari," he said. "I'll stay with you as long as you need me to."

"But, you have work tomorrow. You can't just not go."

"I'll call out. They'll understand."

"You can't do that, Tai…"

"I'm not going to leave you alone, Kari. Not like this. You need me right now—"

"I wish I didn't!" she yelled, tears rolling down her cheeks again, and Taichi looked at her, taken aback. "Why do you have to keep saving me, Tai?"

"Kari…"

She closed her eyes, her hands clinging at his shirt. "Why is it so dark… all the time…"

"Kari!"

The same, mirthless laughter rang in her ears as a new face appeared before her; furry and white, with her purple-tipped ears up and alert, and her bright blue eyes wide with terror. She held out her yellow-gloved paws, reaching out to her as she was rapidly being pulled away, only revealing the face of a devil, his soulless eyes matching his sharp fangs bared as he cackled and went straight for her—

"No…No!"

Hikari gasped and opened her eyes, still holding onto Taichi.

"Kari—" she heard Taichi said as breathed. "Kari, it's okay—"

It terrified her, having only closed her eyes for just a few moments.

"Kari, say something! Kari…"

"Daemon…" she said in a low quiver, sitting up in front of him again as she tried to regain composure. "You know that name, don't you?"

Taichi froze, as though he knew it. But he still stared at her.

"Daemon…?"

"I think that's his name, Tai. The monster in my nightmares. In yours, too. He did something… He took something from me…"

"What did he take?"

"I…I don't know…"

She saw him continue to watch her, as though he waited for her to figure it out. As though her answer would help him answer questions he had of his own.

"I…" she closed her eyes, rubbing her neck again, but opened her eyes just as quickly as distorted images flashed before her. "I'm sorry, Tai. I really don't know."

Taichi's shoulders lowered, his face still with grave concern.

"You should get some rest, now, Kari," he said, running his hand on her hair. "I'll keep the light on. I'll stay with you for as long as it takes."

Hikari's eyes watered.

"Every time I close my eyes, Tai…"

"Maybe you just need to relax for now. You always seem to be okay when you read. Let's try that."

He gave her the glass of milk, in which she took a few sips. The warmth of it as it moved down her throat did provide some comfort.

And when she took the book on top of the stack, Taichi moved to lay next to her, on the side away from the bedside table for her to be closest to it. She lay back, propped up on her pillow, reading for a few minutes before she noticed Taichi already laying still, his breathing low and steady.

Hikari continued to read through a couple of chapters, letting herself get entranced in the story of a group of adventurers searching for their treasure that was stolen from them after a night of fun. She realized, as she turned the last pages of the book, she had calmed down enough to yawn a few times.

Her eyelids drooped just as the gang of characters rushed into the main point of the map, about to face the infamous culprit. She set the book back onto the bedside table, and, as the sight of the brightly glowing lamp dimmed as her eyelids lowered, Hikari yearned to find out what these dreams meant, and what exactly had been taken from her.

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Author Note: To answer a review from last chapter – The other 02 kids will not appear in this story, or at least will not be a major focus.
I've been working on how to structure the next part of the story, so this might take a while (I know-I said that last week..) but I can't wait to share. Thank you for reading up until this point! Much love! [insert hugs and kisses]