It was a long time before anyone moved or so much as breathed, as if they were all encased in glass and the slightest disturbance would shatter time itself and carve them up into a million blaspheming pieces. Izumi hovered by the door, tears burning in her eyes, gaze fixed on the dark twin's still form. How… how had it come to this? Takuya had backed away and was frozen several paces to the chair's right. Koichi's blood was smeared across his arms and shirt and face. On his hands. On his hands. And if this… horror, if it wasn't enough, would Shinya's blood join his friend's? His brown orbs moved hesitantly to Izumi's ghostly form, but she wouldn't look at him. Neither wanted to see what he'd become. Consequences would come later; right now there were more horrors to be committed. This had to be worth it. This had to be necessary.

"Nii-san," whispered Koji, raw, unabashed terror lacing his breath. If it had been anyone else the world would've fractured, but some how Koji's voice fit. He was the only one allowed to speak. "Nii-san!"

"I'm here, Koji." The sound was like a static shock, causing them all to start and shiver. Koichi's voice was oddly flat, as if he was either unaware of being tied to a chair or he just didn't care. And wrong; it sounded all wrong. Koji pushed past Dorian and knelt before his twin, taking his hands in his own and frowning in concern. Responding to the contact, the older brother lifted his head lethargically, struggling to get it balanced on his spinal chord. His eyelids lifted, revealing matted black pupils and irises in a sea of bright red. "I'm everywhere."

"Are you alright," Koji asked urgently, trying to hide how deeply these sudden changes in his twin affected him. He wiped the blood from his nose, leaving a shining red stripe from his right pointer finger along his forearm to his elbow, then cupped his brother's cut palm, feeling the warm, sticky, wetness coat his hands. Apply pressure, stop the bleeding. It was something he could do. "Are you… you?"

"It hurts," Koichi laughed, a manic smile twisting his lips as he stared through Koji. "Like when you ripped it out of me. Like when you cracked open my ribs and tore out my heart, only this time they're putting something back in. I am me… but I'm also more. I know things, Koji. I see…"

"I'm getting you out of this."

"You will not." The two looked at each other and Koji didn't recognize the person he perceived in his brother's skin. It was his voice, his face, and yet not. Koichi's reflection in a distorted mirror. "If you remove these restraints I will hurt you. And I want to, Koji. I've already decided how." He closed his eyes, the slightest of frowns creasing his brow as he took a steadying breath. "Don't give me the chance. Please."

Koji had no words. His jaw slackened, eyes widening as his body perceived the threat his mind simply couldn't comprehend. The conflict paralyzed him, making his breath shallow and his heart race. Still, he understood, could recognize the wisps of Duskmon in his brother's mannerisms. This was real. It was actually happening.

"Come now, Onii-san, don't act so surprised. You knew this was coming. Somewhere inside here, you always knew."

"Koji, get a hold of yourself," chided Dorian, coming up behind him. "This is a drug induced dissociative state. It will pass."

"Will it?" Koichi moved his muted gaze upwards, demon eyes fixing on the eldest Digidestined. "You would know, wouldn't you. You always know just how things will play out, just what to do to direct the course of events. How very convenient."

"Yes, it is," said Dorian mildly, his own ice blue gaze unflinching. "Now, are you connected to Tache's network?"

"That's not my name."

"Can you see where the base of operations is located? What are they planning and how do we fight it?"

"Fight it?" He let a low, sinister chuckle hiss through his teeth. "There is no fighting it. Darkness is coming and it cannot be stopped. The night is inevitable."

"Focus. Where is Kanbara Shinya? How can we rescue him?"

"Shinya?"

Koichi's voice cracked, his wild eyes blinking as his smirk faltered. For a moment a fog lifted from his being and he looked around, eyes scanning Koji, then Izumi, and coming to rest on Takuya. The Warrior of Flame fought the urge to wince away, his jaw tightening and his arms folding as if that could disguise how uncomfortable he felt.

"He looks like your mother, laughing over a cake with white frosting and strawberries. Streamers pop in the air. Seven lights?"

"Shinya's birthday," murmured Takuya, nodding a little as he struggled to hold that piercing, haunting gaze. Tried to look into those overcast pupils instead of focusing on the bloody whites. Koichi nodded with him. "The day we went to the Digital World."

"You were both happy then. Not now. You're afraid. Afraid of what I'm going to do to him. You should be."

"Koichi-"

"That's not my name," the dark twin snarled, his form tensing once more. Koji shot Takuya a warning glance as his own grip tightened on his brother, but the goggle head did not get the message.

"Where is he?!" Acid laced his words as Koichi's stare pressed into his gut, forcing his body to contract. He bent forward, fists clenching, lips pulled back. Hackles raised.

"He doesn't know. He's not afraid though; he doesn't know me like you do. You never told him about me, about how I tried to kill you. About how I broke you."

"Damn it Koichi!" Takuya's self restraint snapped and he advanced, shoving Koji aside and gripping the armrests just in front of Koichi's hands. The right one was slick with blood. "Tell me where my little brother is!"

"Back off!" Koji pushed back, pressing one hand to Takuya's chest and sending him stumbling off balance. His fingers left red-black streaks on the brunette's shirt.

"Stop it! Both of you!"

"Did you think I would tell you what you wished to know? Did you believe you could just wake me up after all this time and I would comply? That I wouldn't remember who tore me apart in the first place?"

"Koichi, what are you-"

"That's not my name! Call me what I am or nothing at all."

Silence.

"I know what you are," Izumi voiced what they were all too stunned to say.

She stared across the room, stone faced, just taking it all in. Koji on the left, Takuya on the right, and Koichi, strapped to a chair in the middle. All three battered, covered in blood which clotted on their skin and glistened in the white light of the fiber optic ceiling. How easy it had been to turn them against each other. How easy it continued to be to pull them like puppets across a stage. Well, she for one wasn't going without a fight. She was going to strain against her strings, to do what needed to be done because no one else could.

"Or at least, what you think you are. What this drug has reduced you to."

"Izumi," Takuya cautioned, turning and grasping her shoulders as she advanced. He had a wild look of his own, communicating his urgency through a grip that was too tight. "Don't get near him."

"I can handle myself, Takuya."

Her voice was sharp and formal. A coldness emanated from her being, signaling that she'd neither blamed nor exonerated him for his role in bringing about their current situation. It stung. For a moment he could see himself as she saw him: a monster born of grief and wrath. And it was a hideous, sad sight that sapped the will from his fingers and forced his hands back to his sides. He broke eye contact, nodding his submission. Steeling herself, Izumi pressed forward, but not too close.

"Duskmon," she whispered, meeting his eye with her own fear inspiring intensity.

"Yes," he answered after a long, tight pause, calm once more.

"We destroyed you."

"In a manner. But then you brought me back, allowed me control over this body once more. It was a foolish decision."

"You understand why you're here, then."

Izumi kept the conversation on the matter at hand, focusing on her objective and allowing everything else, every subtle insult to herself, her friends, and Koichi, to pass. This was all a shit-storm, no doubt about it, but she was good with storms. Getting both Shinya and Koichi back, that was all that mattered and, unlike the men, she would not allow this figment to derail her.

"To give you information about my other self."

"Are you going to?"

"It lingers in another body, trapped, pressing to be made whole. My goals align with It, not you."

"I don't think that's true."

"Do not allow these restraints to deceive you; you cannot keep me here. I will be made whole and then I will cover this world in darkness."

"No," Izumi said, shaking her head and holding eye contact. "You won't."

"If I may-"

"Not now Dorian."

Izumi held out her palm behind her in Dorian's general direction, her focus remaining fixed on it's subject. There was a pause where the two stared each other down, a battle of wills to see who could wait out the other while the whole room held its breath. Finally, the dark one cracked.

"What do you know of my goals? What do you know of me," he sneered, leaning towards her as much as his restraints would allow.

She didn't smile back, didn't blink or budge. Slowly, her hand moved around her back to her side, still out stretched, fingers curling blindly in Koji's shirt.

"You know who this is, don't you?"

"The Warrior of Light," he answered without looking.

"That's not all," Izumi whispered the words from Koji's aching mind, pulling him closer so that he stood before his twin.

Had she moved her gaze as well, she would've seen the innocently hurt, confused look on his face. But there was no way she could've perceived what passed when Duskmon looked into that face. She couldn't have. She wasn't his brother.

"You know who this is."

"Koji?" And suddenly, like a switch, it was Koichi again. "Koji I- I don't understand."

"It's okay," the younger twin soothed, nudging Izumi to the side and kneeling once more, gripping Koichi's forearms. "We're going to get through this. You're going to be fine."

"They have Shinya. They're going to hurt him if they don't get what they want." Takuya tightened, but Izumi was by him before he could do much more, strong hands around his, jade gaze paralyzing. That gaze then flicked to Koji, urging him onward. He swallowed, nodding.

"Can you see where?"

"No. They can see me, but I can't see them. I'm connected, but separate still, inside but isolated. There's a message here… It tells me what but not where… I don't know where! I don't know where they have him! I can't-"

"Shh," Koji grabbed his face gently, forcing his brother to meet his eye. Refocusing his attention. "It's okay. It's fine."

"It's my fault." His voice cracked as tears began to glisten in those black and bloody eyes. "They took him to get to me, so that I would understand. Shizuka warned me, but I didn't listen. I should've gone with her…"

The white light in the fiber optic cables started to flicker, casting strobe shadows around them. Dorian darted to the computer, wiggling the mouse and igniting the screen. It illuminated his concerned features.

"It's fluctuating. Merde!" His palm smacked the tabletop in frustration, expression livid. "We're loosing the connection."

"I should've gone with her! I should've just given them what they wanted!"

"What does that mean?! Dorian, we still don't know where Shinya is!"

"Tais-toi! I need to think. Koji, calm him down!"

"Nii-san, please! Stay with me! Focus on my voice!"

"I can see them. Oh god, there's so many! The Ocean fuels their anguish- feeds on it, growing spreading, spilling. Their pain…"

"Did you think to build a signal tracking system into this monstrosity? Can you see where it originates? Use that to find Shinya?"

"It's not a linear system! Every person infused with Tache's particles receives and transmits Its signal; it's impossible to trace back to the source!"

"My head… My head! Koji, it hurts! I can feel their pain, but I can't-"

Koichi screamed, howling as dark liquid glinted in his ears and nostrils. The lights continued to flash, erratic, illuminating the glistening scarlet which stained the room and its occupants before casting them back into shadows.

"Turn it off! Turn it off now!"

"But we don't know where they have Shinya! He said they were going to hurt him!"

"I don't care! Turn it off!"

"I don't understand this… it… it's reversed. He's not receiving Tache's signal anymore; he's producing it."

"It's power! Their pain gives me power… I remember this; I know what comes next. I will become the darkness! I will command it and them and help the Ocean spread! I can't stop!"

Reality began to crack around him, like static or the distortion of overlapped images and sounds, his own form suddenly immune from the electronic light. At first it was subtle, the faint sound of water, salt in the air. Then the slivers opened wider and a damp cold washed over them. An ocean, black as pitch and surging with inhuman hunger, lurked just past the tears Koichi created, responding to his call like a hunting dog to its master. Or perhaps the Ocean was the master. It controlled him, using the dark twin as a door into the human world, filling the Digidestined with a nameless dread.

"Damn it Dorian, you heard Koji! Turn it off!"

"But Shinya!"

"I don't have a choice, Takuya. He's overloading the system. I'm shutting it down."

The portals paid no heed, blinking like a dozen eyes as Koichi continued to ignite the fiber optics, independent of any external stimuli. Electricity charged the room, crackling and snapping in short arcs of purple lightning in the air around the Chosen of Darkness, keeping his expressionless face lit. Stunned, all four of them just stared, unable to comprehend what, exactly, was happening. Unable to move forward and adapt to their complete and total loss of control. Once again, it was Koji that broke the spell, pressing towards his brother, wincing as the sparks bit at his skin. Wordlessly, he ripped the helmet from his twin's scalp and undid the straps binding his chest and lap with frantic yet decisive hands. Removing him from all contact with the conductive gel which electrified his body and poisoned his mind. Koichi retched as the connection was severed, spattering Koji's chest with water and stomach slime and throwing the room into inky blackness. Then he just… collapsed into his brother's arms