Author's note: I can see you all…uh, had strong feelings about that last chapter. *grins happily* Good! I'm always glad to leave people stunned and/or draw out emotions through my work. It was a labor of love, the core of the idea that started me on this whole crazy adventure of a story. I'm so glad it got your attention. We're almost done- this chapter and then one more- I'm going to miss writing it. I hope you all like this. I know it's shortish- but again, Lava Cake! : ). really though, I do hope it lives up to your expectations.
Disclaimer: I don't own digimon( or, for that matter, a working pen), but I own this story. It is mine( although if you love it that much, you can put it in your personal canon, I don't mind.)
And now, without any more hesitation, I present *drumroll* … Chapter Thirteen of A Captive Light!
Ken reached for his dark Digivice, never taking his eyes off of the digimon, floating ten feet above, arrow pointing directly at him.
She spoke again, softer this time, but no less harsh. From his angle, Ken could see blue eyes half hidden under a lilac visor and dark metal helm.
"You, Ken Ichijouji, are nothing short of a monster. You have destroyed lives. You have harmed innocents. You have hurt my friends, my… my family." She was still crying, but apart from the way she'd choked on the last few words, she gave no hint of anything but righteous fury.
While the words were directed at Ken, everyone listened, hearts in throats. Everyone, that is, except Patamon, whose wails had grown weak, and Kari, who continued to cling to T.K.'s hand and rock, pleading silently for everything to not be real.
Ken said nothing. "Why does it matter, he'll have to re-spawn somewhere and that's that. If they'd played by the rules, no tricks, none of this would have happened. It's not my fault they disregarded my warnings. It's all a game anyway. Why are they so emotional about a simple game over." He glared up at the angel digimon.
Angewomon drew back her arrow, gleaming and shining with holy light, adjusted her bow, and let it fly.
"Celestial Arrow!"
No one tried to stop her.
No one would have been able to, even if they had wanted to.
Ken flinched as the arrow struck- embedding in the ground mere inches from his feet.
The spell of shock shattered almost audibly, with the force of the missile of light. Davis was the first to react, snatching up his Digivice from where one of Ken's slaves had dropped it. Yolei and Cody scrambled on the ground near the upturned box, seizing their own devices.
The voices, horse but strong, cried out in unison, "Digi-Armor Energize!"
Light swirled around the three weary rookies, standing as tall as they could.
Veemon, Armor-Digivolve to…. Flamedramon!
Armadillomon, Armor-Digivolve to… Digmon!
Hawkmon , Armor-Digivolve to…Halsemon!
The now far more powerful digimon advanced on what was left of Ken's army, a handful of digimon with eyes that still glowed a deep, brilliant shade of scarlet.
Ken whirled around, searching now or an escape. He saw none. The Spires were gone, that left only Airdramon, one of the few Digimon slaves whose ring was keyed directly to Ken's Digivice, rather than the tall( but easily destroyed) Control Spires. He lifted his black Digivice, but before he could call the serpentine digimon to come to his rescue, Angewomon spread her arms wide.
"Heaven's Charm!" she cried, her voice again not betraying the silver tears that filled half hidden eyes.
The valley- or what was left of it- was covered with a rainbow dome of lights, shifting in color, lights that froze the Airdramon in mid swoop. Ken gulped, his face still twisted in a sneer.
Before any of the Digidestined or digimon could reach him, Angewomon signaled for them to stop.
"No," she said, still hovering above everything, a floating judge, declaring her ruling. "No. This is not what we are meant for." She turned her eyes back to Ken, glaring, tears streaking her beautiful face.
"Go. Leave this place, this world, in peace. Leave the digimon alone. Leave my family alone." There was a quaver in her voice, undisguised sorrow, no longer hidden behind a calm facade. "Go, before I change my mind and sink to- to your level, human. You do not deserve this, will never deserve this. But I will not become a monster because of you. You are not worthy of that."
The rainbow of shifting, mesmerizing lights, vanished. Airdramon flew to his master's side, and Ken dove onto his back, heart racing. " I'll...I'll still win this," he thought. " But not today."
A second later, they were gone.
No one spoke. There was only the sound of grieving, and Angewomon landing beside her partner, glowing dimly and collapsing, transforming, back into Gatomon. The other digimon, those that had once been Ken's slaves went with Mimi's army, both to chase after Ken, and to give privacy to the Digidestined.
The two older brothers were the first to reach Kari. Matt threw himself to the ground beside his little brother, crying. Tai stood at Kari's side for a moment, before sliding down to his knees and wrapping his arms around her shoulders.
"Oh, Kari," he whispered. "I'm sorry. I let you down."
Kari lifted one hand from under T.K to wipe at her face. "It happened Again…I wanted to stop It. I ..I tried, I tried to stop it. Why couldn't I stop It? It wasn't supposed to happen, not ever again. I Promised. And…why couldn't I stop It, Tai?" she sounded small, younger than her eleven years. She sounded small and lost and confused. She sounded how everyone present felt.
"I dunno, Kari." It was Matt who answered, not able to look away from his brother's face- calm, eyes closed as if in sleep, still supported by a shaking Kari. "I don't know."
The others reached them, kneeling in the soft dirt, crying freely now. The digimon de-Digivolved, encircling the body of their friend. Death was not something that most digimon knew. It was something that they never experienced- deletion happened, of course, but Digimon always came back, unless their data was corrupted. The older digimon, Gabumon and Agumon, Patamon and Gatomon, knew better than that, and the younger three knew instinctively- humans did not come back from death. They were not reborn, as digimon were. And so they wept.
"I'm sorry, Teeks. I never should have let you do this, I should have snuck around instead. I'm.. I was supposed to look out for you. Protect you." Matt shook his head, unable to think. "If only…if only…"
Gatomon, tiny and dusty, curled into the space between Kari and Tai, one paw outstretched to reach Patamon. The little orange and white digimon was still pressed against T.K.'s arm in a final cuddle, his face buried in the soft yellow and teal of his partner's favorite shirt. He looked at the cat digimon sadly, fluttering one wing tip to brush her paw.
No one spoke for what seemed like an eternity, but hearts still pounded in everyone's ears, and these tears were not silent, but loud and filled with sorrow.
At last, Kari broke the not-quiet.
"Why?" she begged again, but this time she was not addressing her big brother, or the heavens.
"Why did you do that? I… Why, T.K.? It would have been better if…It was supposed to be me. I was the only one who was supposed to get hurt. I couldn't let It happen again, I…I couldn't. I, I Promised." She stopped, shaking, letting her tears fall onto her best friend's hand.
"It wasn't supposed to be one of my friends. I couldn't let it. No one was supposed to get hurt but me. Only me. Not you, T.K. not…Why did you …? Why?" The words were hard in coming, interrupted by gasping sobs and shaky breaths as Kari tried to speak. She couldn't keep the heartbreak out of her voice, nor did she try.
"T.K, I…I…" she could not finish.
She did not have to.
Because, suddenly, someone groaned softly- hardly more than a whisper, hardly more than a breath. And then…
"Be…cause. I…Promised…pro…tect…you." T.K wheezed, his eyes still closed, his chest moving so shallowly that it looked still. But it was moving.
"T.K.!" everyone cried out in sheer joy, unable to comprehend how this miracle had occurred, and not caring. T.K. was alive. That was all that mattered. Smiles of happy amazement stretched across every face (save that of Hawkmon, whose beak simply dropped in wonder.)
"But you were dead!" Patamon cried, not bothering to wipe the tears of joy pooling in his eyes. His partner was alive. He hadn't failed him. He hadn't lost him.
"You…all…ok?" T.K asked, clearly in pain. He blinked, once, wincing at the sudden light.
"We're fine, now," Matt gasped, answering for the group. "But you…are you?"
"M'head…chest…hurt. But m'ok." T.K moaned again, obviously not ok.
"What do we do?" Kari asked her wide grin starting to disappear. T.K need help, and quickly.
Still weak with wonder, Davis spoke up. "We need Joe, or Jim."
Tai nodded. "Good thinking, Davis. You and Veemon, run ahead and tell them what happened. Bring Joe and something we can use as a stretcher." Davis took off running. T.K might have been alive, but he wasn't ok, not by a long short.
"Everything's going to be fine, little brother," Matt said firmly, sagging with relief. It had to be. "Please, God, please let it be ok. Don't take him away now."
Cody could hardly breathe. "It's alright." He thought "Everything's going to be alright. No one's dead, or lost, and everything's going to wok out."
Yolei couldn't stop smiling, one gloved hand pressed over her mouth. The impossible had happened. The impossible had never felt so wonderful.
Kari was crying, this time with the overflowing sense of pure joy, her heart flooded with warmth. Nothing could compare with this feeling, nothing she'd ever experienced. She felt full of Light.
T.K. blinked again, his warm blue eyes hazy with pain, but he smiled. His eyes closed again, but the faint, shallow breathing continued.
Joe and Davis, with a full stretcher, arrived moments later.
"Davis...only said…" Joe panted, unused to the run. "That you needed…me." he slowed to a stop, seeing T.K.'s mostly still form. "What happened?" he gasped, the color draining from his face.
"He's unconscious," Matt said, still not looking away from his brother, as if afraid that if he dared, T.K. might vanish.
Joe knelt by the blond's side, next to Matt.
"Jim's better at this than me," he muttered. "But moving him could do more harm than good." He bit his lip. "What happened? Has he said anything?"
Kari spoke up. "He… he got hit by one of Airdramon's energy blasts. He said his head hurt, and his chest."
Joe nodded, then took a deep breath, blowing it out in a sigh. " We need to get him back to Earth. Help me with this stretcher."
As Joe, Matt, and Tai eased the unconscious boy onto the metal and cloth stretcher, Kari got slowly to her feet, scooping up Gatomon in the process.
"Kari, He's ok. Everything is." It was Gatomon, her clear eyes shining. "Everyone's alright, It didn't happen Again." The little cat smiled up at her partner, and Kari smiled back.
"Yes," she said simply, walking, still a bit unsteadily, towards the television-gateway home.
Something small and white caught her eye, and she bent to pick it up.
It wasn't white, but a cream color, a scrap of fabric. No, not a scrap…It was a hat. Whole, not torn or stained, it was an off-white cloth hat. T.K's hat.
The portal blazed with light, as Kari held up her Digivice, and she and her friends, carrying T.K, went home. All of them, together at last.
Say it with me now: AWWWW! How sad was that first bit? How cute and heartwarming was the end? Very? I hope so. Now, don't think this is the end! It's not! One more chapter remains. After all, T.K's not out of the woods yet. Also, someone's going to half to explain why Kari's back and where she's been, as well as why her friends vanished for most of the day. Did you like it? Love it? Cry over it? Smile so much your face might slipt over it?( I know I did all of the above.)Let me know, with a click of that handy-dandy review button. : ) please? *gives you a digital cookie and Patamon eyes.* thank you : )
~Hedgi Naysomay Aisling.
PS- Check out my other story( series of oneshots, really) called " Faces of the Siege" If you've got the time. Again, please and thank you, and have a wonderful day/night/afternoon/week/month/year/life.