I just want to thank you all for your patience! It's been a long wait for this one and I apologize because life had been crazy! I have most of the chapters to come all mapped out and since I'm almost on Summer Break, I can get them to you without too much wait in between! :D This was a scary, daunting chapter to write because it's such a huge turning point in the story and I had to nail it, so hopefully I did for you guys! Thank you to everyone who has read up to this point! To those who have been here since the beginning and to those who have just found this fic and everyone in between, welcome and I hope to hear your thoughts on chapter 35 and the story so far! ENJOY! :D

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Opening her eyes made no difference. The darkness had not lifted even though her eyelids did. The pitch black surrounding her in every direction was the same, eyes open or closed. Hikari cleared her throat to be sure some of her senses were working, and sure enough the ahem bounded off the walls around her, like a ball zig-zagging down the hall. Where was she? The thoughts in her head were fuzzy. What was the last thing she remembered?

Ken.

The realization wrapped its bony fingers around her heart and yanked it down to her stomach, triggering a drowning panic. What happened? Where was he? Where did he go?

Where was she?

Twitching each finger and then haphazardly moving her hand around her body, inch by inch, slowly illustrating some kind of idea of her surroundings. Was she in the cave still? Hikari's palm landed on a cold stony wall, slightly less than arms-reach in front of her. She pivoted and reached around. It was an inlet, no bigger than her small closet at home but deeper. She tensed her back and could feel it was just inches in front of the wall behind her. Three walls around her, only one way to go. Hikari lifted her arms above her, waving them about like an over-enthusiastic sleepwalker. Slowly and unsteadily raising to her feet, Hikari stumbled. Her limbs were unstable, as if she'd been sitting on them for so long that they'd lost feeling.

The height of the inlet allowed her to stand, as long as her neck was slightly craned and her back hunched. Haze from her mind was slowly lifting and thoughts, memories were rematerializing. She had seen Ken disappear. No matter how she tried to incorporate a sense of logic, Hikari Yagami knew better than most that disappearing into thin air was not something in logic's realm, but it was more than possible. Although to others around them it may look like a disappearing act… whenever Hikari had been the person who vanished, it had been to relocate her. When she and the others had faced Apocalymon they dissolved into where they were merely data and then when she had, as Gatomon had described, fuzzed out like static on a TV screen, she'd gone to the dark ocean.

Hikari continued to spread her arms wide, in a swimming motion, to make sure she didn't run into anything… or anyone. If she was still in the Dark Ocean she'd figure out what to do when it wasn't so… dark.

But there was no doubt Ken disappeared. Smoke… or something enveloped him and then he was gone. And that was the last thing Hikari could remember. Had she passed out? Had the smoke reached her and taken them both somewhere? The trouble was that not knowing and still being in the Dark Ocean, no closer to Taichi and the others were equally troublesome.

Something moved.

It was clicking, echoing down the tight cavern in front of her. Had she kicked a pebble and sent it bounding ahead? Hikari let her foot do a quick sweep of the ground beneath her, it was completely smooth and solid. As far as she could tell, there wasn't even a crack. And not only that, but it had been much too far ahead to have been created from her.

"Is anyone else here?" Hikari called, her voice was weak and cracked. "Hello?" She tried again, pushing her voice to be stronger, despite being hopeful that no one would answer.

She continued to move forward, still feeling ahead when something flickered. She stopped. It was still pitch black all around her until again, a quick burst of light. Tiny, no bigger than that of a singular birthday candle and no less than twenty feet ahead of her, but it was undeniably light.

Her pace quickened as her intent to use her arms as safety measures disintegrated. Hikari was almost running through the cramped stone corridors towards the light. Hikari, after all, was the child of Light and although she'd had her share of trouble, surely this could mean a way out. If not a way to Ken, or Taichi, at least a way home.

Before she reached the approximate location to where she thought she saw the flickering light, Hikari crashed into the polished stone face of the cavern.

"That's a wall, darlin'." A strange accented voice filtered through the air and Hikari jumped. Her alarm from hearing him and disorientation from practically running into a wall sent Hikari flying back onto her backside. She was not the kind of girl to face-plant into a wall, but was silently grateful that she hadn't been running full force. Her embarrassment was pushed aside and curiosity took over as she turned around to see that the owner of the voice, who looked as alarmed as she did, was joined with a dozen or so other people. Wall-sconces held torches, the light reflecting off the polished stone walls-the cause of the firefly-like light that had given her momentary hope.

She was definitely not home, and definitely not in the Dark Ocean any longer. The stone that she thought was the makings of a cave was certainly done by human measures. The stones were polished and more like giant sheets of stone, rather than cavern walls or even bricks held together with mortar.

"I don't mean to be rude, miss, but how the heck did you get here?" The old man spoke again, and Hikari was overwhelmed. How did she get here? Where was here?

Questions pooled in her head, none so far that she could answer. "Where is here?" She asked him.

"You're in Orenda, of course. The castle's dungeon if you want specifics."

Orenda? Castle? Dungeon? This simple statement was information overload, and Hikari didn't have the means to fathom enough questions to get these questions all answered. She assumed the man was moments away from pressing her for more information, but she wasn't ready to give any. Even in this state of confusion and shock, Hikari was aware enough to know this man and his company would not accept a girl coming out of nowhere, making such an embarrassing and abrupt entry.

At the mention of the old man's company, Hikari began to look down the row of prisoners. There were no cells, just a straight wooden bench on each side of the long gymnasium sized stone room. At the opposite side, illuminated by the flickering torches, she could see a trap-door exit on the ceiling. Strong wood, it looked like, and steel enforced. Maybe there was another exit behind her where she came from? Hikari turned around to see the corridor, what must have been a dead-end hallway, perhaps an unfinished extension to the dungeon…

It was gone.

There was nothing there but a flat wall, proving the room to be perfectly rectangular with no fixtures save for the benches, wall sconces, trapdoor and a primitive looking outhouse.

"Wh-Where did it go?" Hikari's breath was gone. Nothing made sense and she just felt like crawling into bed and falling asleep for about a week. Of course, that wasn't possible at the moment.

"The only thing that's changed around here over the past couple days, darlin', is you poppin' from thin air and crashing into that wall."

Hikari stood still, as if she had been struck from behind and was in shock. Well, she was in shock. She had definitely not "popped" out of nowhere, and there was no way she had imagined the hallway she had walked, well, hunched through. But here she was.

The man was still staring at her, as if awaiting an explanation and she didn't know what to say, or even where to begin.

"Oh, Sein, leave the poor girl alone." This voice was female and soothing. It sounded like something her mother would say in a similar tone. Hikari felt a pang in her chest, she hadn't been homesick until that moment.

The woman who spoke was sitting across from the man, called Sein, on the opposite bench. Hikari turned to see her and was taken aback. Impossible! "Dr. Hisami?"

It was undeniably the school psychologist. Hikari had been in her office once when a girl in her class had died and it was mandatory for every student in the grade to go to grief counselling. Hikari hadn't known the student personally, but had been relieved by Dr. Hisami's words of condolence and even though she hadn't known the student, felt better by attending. More recently, Hikari herself had been the reason Taichi was now seeing Dr. Hisami. Hikari instinctively reached for her wrist, the faded bruise the least of her present concerns.

"I'm Ari." Dr. Hisami spoke. "You must be disorientated. Come, sit down."

Hikari followed instruction and sat on the wooden bench beside Dr. Hisami. But… something was off. Besides the obvious claim that her name was Ari, which could be passed off as a shortened form of Arisa, Dr. Hisami's first name, Her demeanour was inexplicably happier, despite being in a dungeon. She even seemed more youthful, although Hikari could not put her finger on why.

"Those are very strange clothes." A young man, maybe Taichi's age spoke with a slight chuckle. He was handsome, tanned with brown age and had almost translucently fair hair. "You're definitely not from around here."

That was one this Hikari could be certain of.

She looked down the line from Sein, Ari and the fair haired boy, seeing a small, equally fair haired girl and two well-built men who appeared almost identical. The group appeared to be together, with similar looking simple canvas clothing, all looking like weathered, but overall pleasant people. Why were they in a dungeon? Again, probably the last question she should be wondering.

With an evident separation from this first group was a bunch of men, perhaps twenty or so, who fit the dungeon type better. They were all rugged, gruff looking… almost brutish. But instead of just looking disempowered and hopeless like Ari, Sein and their comrades, this latter group looked to be in total mourning. Morning for whom?

Again, not her primary concern.

"Do you remember anything of how you got here, hon?" Ari asked as she placed a comforting hand on Hikari's shoulder. "I don't mean to pry, but Baldy is right. You are not dressed like anyone I've ever seen before, and I don't mean to sound pretentious but I am the world expert on people."

"She is." Sein assented.

How could someone who was a world expert of anything be in a dungeon? They all looked rather scholarly, the first group at least. She appraised her clothes, compared to these people, all dressed in what looked like costumes from a crossover Nativity and Shakespeare play. Boots, jeans and her peacoat, Ken's blazer still over top probably didn't look like something they'd see every day. Hikari didn't know how much information to release. They looked trustworthy, and it wasn't like some prison guard was going to do roll call and find her, give her the benefit of the doubt and send her on an inter-galactic ride back to Japan.

"My name is Hikari." That seemed like a safe place to start. "A few days ago, my brother and some of our friends went missing. I don't how to explain everything, but I'm from… a different world." She paused. Waiting for threats or laugher or something. Any reaction.

The one she got wasn't like any she expected.

"Just wait a moment, dear." Ari leaned forward, looking around the mourning men, "Amunet, your expertise may be required!"

Am-u-nay… Hikari sounded it out in her head. What a beautiful name. The girl who rose from the farthest corner of the bench fit the beauty of the name. Pale skin, black hair… she looked like a porcelain doll. Amunet joined the group, and from up close Hikari's jaw dropped. It was Amy! She was a new girl at school, a couple years older than her. Hikari had seen her around and it was unmistakably her. What was going on?

"This is Hikari." Ari explained to Amy/ Amunet, as the younger girl sat crossed legged on the ground in between the two benches. "I think you might want to hear her story."

Hikari didn't know whether to start where she had left off, where she had begun before or on another tangent altogether. Why are people from her world appearing in this one with no recollection of her?

"I know I'm from another world." Hikari stated bluntly, her self-reassurance masquerading as confidence. "My brother and our friends disappeared, and we've had… experience between worlds before. Saving them, kind of. But somehow I am here." She paused, but not long enough to allow her audience to voice anything. "Have you seen Ken? Ken, he's my age… a bit taller, hair like mine but like this," she illustrated with her hands, "Dark hair, dark eyes, pale skin. He was wearing… oh gosh, what was he wearing?, Um, a tie and a dress shirt and a sweater… or something. He was with me when we were in, the Dark Ocean… another world, not this one- I don't think- or my own, and then he disappeared. And now I'm looking for him and my brother and our friends and I have no idea if they're in this world or another one entirely." She paused, caught her breath and waited to see what reaction her outburst received.

Silence for the most part.

"And, this is going to sound really strange, but I know you," She pointed to Amunet, "But your name is Amy and you go to my school and you are Dr. Hisami, who work there… you're a psychologist and you've been having sessions with my brother, Taichi."

Unexpectedly, one of the brutish men next to them rose with a violent abrupt movement. "Did you say, Taichi?" It was unclear if it was just an overenthusiastic inquiry or a threat. "Girly, you better not be making this up because we are not in the mood for jokes." He motioned towards his group. "Explain, now."

"Taichi… Yagami Taichi. He's about six feet tall, too much hair, it's brown like mine. Like his eyes. They're brown too. He is almost always in a good mood. He'd do anything to protect his friends. He doesn't take anything seriously except… he's a leader. He's my brother. He's-" Hikari's voice broke. "He's my big brother. And he's gone. I woke up and he wasn't at home and my parents didn't even remember him and every trace of him was completely gone. It's like he only exists in my memory and I thought maybe he was moved to another world, so I started to look. And my friend, Ken… he's the only other person I knew who had been to the Dark Ocean on his own before and now he's gone too." Hikari had gone through a lot of emotions since Taichi had disappeared, but she had yet to cry. Behind her eyes stung, the trembling in her chin had begun and she looked at her lap with her fists clenching the fabric of her coat. "I don't know what to do, where to go, I-"

She stopped, the brutish men mustn't have been listening to over half her spillage of words as they were talking gruffly under their breaths to one another. She heard her brother's name mentioned over and over but her head was pounding and she couldn't make out anything else. Hikari lifted her arms to wipe her tears with her sleeve.

Ari stroked her hair much like Hikari's mother would whenever her daughter was distraught. This threatened to send more tears but didn't, as Amy… or Amunet, who had been silent for the entirety of the conversation finally spoke. "You said that you know Ari and I from your own world, are you sure?"

Hikari cleared her throat. "Yes… well, it's not you exactly, like you look exactly the same and your voices are the same but… there's just little things that are, different, I guess."

"Would you… go as far to say perhaps we would be dopplegangers of these… versions of ourselves from your world?"

Hikari nodded slowly. "I guess so."

Amunet sighed.

"What is it?" Sein spoke up, clearly not enjoying the fact that he was not involved in this conversation.

Amunet looked up and appraised Hikari before turning to face Sein, "It's just that, I think Koushiro was trying to ask if the existence of dopplegangers were possible. The same night we were taken."

Hikari, not fully aware that she had done so, abruptly stood up. "Koushiro!"

Ari nodded. "Yes, he is a comrade of ours. He's worked alongside with Professor Sein for years."

There was silence aside from murmuring from the group of men.

"Koushiro is one of my friends that disappeared along with my brother." Hikari spoke so softly, she wondered if she'd have to repeat herself so everyone could hear.

She didn't.

"I have a theory." Amunet spoke, equally softly. It was if they were talking about a deceased loved one at a funeral and had to monitor their words to be as respectful as possible. "It's farfetched, but I've been looking to prove it for years and years. I have always believed that a person is only a soul. A soul has a body for that body's lifetime and then moves on and is reborn. This can encompass many things, like a soul can be attached to a certain name, certain physical appearances or even other souls." She paused. "I was telling this to Koushiro. This is just… so strange. Well, my theory I've been working on the past few years is that if a soul has greater purpose, it may extend to more than one world. It is unquestionable to me that there are infinite other worlds out there, Orenda and your world are just two individual drops in the ocean. But if someone was special, truly gifted and important, their soul could be replicated in two, three, maybe dozens or hundreds of worlds if they were potentially needed in that world. If what you say is true… my soul, as well as Ari's are replicated in your world. The same physical appearance, similar names but different life experiences to form different people." She stopped, in awe of what she had just vocalized.

"And Hikari, you said you've been to other worlds, many other ones?" Ari spoke, giving Amunet a moment to reconvene.

Nodding, Hikari responded. "Yes. My own, Earth, The Digital World, The Dark Ocean, and this one."

Amunet, now more eager than ever, pressed on. "And you have physically travelled to each of these? Not just in your mind?"

Hikari nodded. "Physically, yes. Nothing like what happened to my brother and our friends, we were not forgotten the other times. But, um, if it counts, in the Digital World time passed differently. What seemed like weeks there was only a few hours back home."

Amunet nodded, enthralled. "Of course! The properties of each linear connection between each and every world is different, temperate. Time differences like that would only be the beginning. But you're saying that nobody except you and your friend had any recollection of your brother and the others who disappeared?"

"Only those of us who went to the Digital World."

"It marked you!" Amunet exclaimed. Hikari was not taken aback by the girl's enthusiasm, she was getting closer to answers. More answers to any questions she'd ever had. "You travelled together and were marked, your souls forever linked and intertwined. Maybe my original theory wasn't entirely correct, your soul doesn't have to exist in a world to travel there, you just have to be needed and the world will forge a link to your world and bring you there, either physically or through extreme means such as those behind your brother's disappearance."

"Why would such extensive measures be taken?" Ari asked the same question that Hikari wondered.

Amunet thought for a moment, and then replied, "In case they were never to come back." These words were heavy and Hikari shuddered at the thought, but she didn't need the dark haired girl's expertise to know why she and the others remembered… they were a lifeline. They were the ones meant to bring them back. Hikari suddenly didn't feel so bad about bringing Ken into the whole situation. They were needed. Their specific experiences in the Dark Ocean brought them there, and her here where she needed to be. And if she knew Takeru at all, which she definitely did, he wasn't sitting back and waiting. The others were working hard to find Taichi, her, and everyone else. The puzzle pieces were falling together, there were just the key ones missing. The edge pieces that were needed to fit everything perfectly. Everyone. She didn't know where anyone really was. Sure, she was closer than ever before. But she was still stuck in a dungeon with no evident way out.

"Girly," The man who had spoken of Taichi before stood and approached her with an awkward reverence. "If what these people are saying is true… I think we could help explain. I think, anyway."

Everyone turned, intrigued, to the tall and well-built man speaking, wringing his hands as if he was a first grader speaking to the teacher. "We're pirates, you see. The best. Or worst, I guess… depends who you ask." This allotted for a weak chuckle from his company. "Our captain, the best man I have served under in all my life, truly, is named Taichi. He is, as you explained, all those things. Young guy, but strong, and fair. But fearless." He gave a weak smile of admiration and Hikari's heart burst, was this who they were mourning? Their dead captain? Her brother?

"Is he okay?" She squeaked her hands rushing to cover her trembling lips.

The pirate nodded hesitantly. "If there's anyone in this whole land and the sea that goes with it who can take care of his own, it's our Captain. But, the last few days he was with us… he was acting sure strange. Like most of him was right, his nature and all. But just strange things. He brought a girl on board. Made us scour the whole shore and cities to find her and her lady, he did. He's never been one to insist upon… you know, uh, female company so this was just, you know, real… unusual. We bring her on board and there's a whole lotta whispering, I gotta tell you, lady, we pirates aren't exactly the whispering kind. We bellow, we shout and snarl and holler. You know, pirate talk. But there was a whole lotta whispering him and the… his first mate. They were always side by side, them two, but no whispering before this. And, even weirdly… he started calling the First Mate by a strange name. Uhh…"

"Willis, Gern! You're doing good." Another pirate provided.

Gern grunted. "Thanks. Yeah, uh, Willis he called him. And his name's not Willis, I know his mama called him William. Knew him before joining the captain, I did. William for sure."

Amunet interrupted, something Hikari wouldn't have dared to do against the towering Gern. "Could this be another doppelganger? Do you know anyone named Willis?"

"Small guy, I tell you," Gern started, trying to aid Hikari's memory. "Young, like the Captain but more… like a boy and not a man. Blonde, bright, scary bright blue eyes. Like the sky."

Hikari made the connection. "Wallace!" It was totally something Taichi would do, combine William and Wallace to form Willis. If Taichi had stumbled upon the doppelganger of the American Digidestined, he wouldn't have been willing to accept him as being someone else. He'd force some sense of his own will into it. Willis.

Gern continued. "After we'd gotten the girl, our ship was seized by soldiers. The prince's soldiers and those who weren't slain or escaped were brought here. Captain escaped with the girl and… oh! The siren! And the lad from the beach. Just so much that's not like our captain... but the First Mate, Willis… or, eh, whatever you want to call him was slain. He stayed behind to protect the captain and let him escape and the soldiers were mad. Something about the prince missing and we lost a lotta good men there. And if whatever you folk are talking about with souls and stuff, I hope the souls of all my fellow men are in a good place. Another one of your worlds maybe. They were my brothers. They still are."

Hikari placed a hand on Gern's shoulder. "I'm sure they are." She spoke reassuringly, no longer afraid of the big man big strangely connected to him, not just by her brother. She remembered Wizardmon's ghost appearing to her, Gatomon, and the others. While it was heartbreaking, it gave her closure. Like he was still there with them all along, watching over them.

Amunet resumed her speech, "If you and your friends who went to this… Digital World, perhaps your souls are more linked with other worlds than others are. If Orenda is so troubled they required these friends of yours to come and for their souls to temporarily inhabit the bodies of their dopplegangers, you must have some knowledge and insight that the Orendian souls of yours do not."

Hikari nodded. This was a lot of information, but it was reassuring. Overwhelming, but still, reassuring. Even so, something that seemed to be a small detail was drilling into Hikari's mind, so she couldn't refrain from asking.

"Gern, who was the girl Taichi went to find?"

There was some movement, noise from the far corner of the dungeon where Amunet had first come from.

"Are you okay?" Amunet called.

No reply, but instead someone stood up. A girl, haggard from emotion and pain stepped closer and Hikari was again, taken aback.

Catherine!

Part of Hikari wanted to yell at her, bring up something about Takeru. Some insignificant fight that meant nothing now. This, the rest of her, knew was not Catherine. Not the girl from France who texted Takeru constantly. Who Hikari had never personally met but had gone over the potential future event of them meeting in her head so many times. She'd meet Catherine, and the French girl would be so overcome with jealousy that she'd try to fight for Takeru, making a fool of herself and Takeru would realize he'd been wasting time with even texting the French girl when he truly belonged with Hikari. This irrelevant fantasy was now entirely obsolete as she stood in front of nothing but a shell of the girl she secretly loathed, someone who was entwined in this story. This fantastic, crazy, unfathomable story and Hikari was going to need her side too.

"I fell in love with a man and watched him be slain. I lost my one true friend the same day. I am alone. No, I am not okay." Catherine's doppleganger spoke, the same French accent laced to her words. But was that true, or was it just Hikari's mind? "Her name was Sora. The girl your Pirate Captain searched for. I know nothing of this doppleganger or soul business. I just know that I've lost everything in days. If you, Hikari, or whatever your name is, can make it back to normal I will do anything within my power to assist you in any way."

Sora, Taichi and Kosuhiro. All accounted for. She nodded a thank you to Catherine and felt every set of eyes resting on her. She was to give them answers, somehow. She let out a breath and turned to walk back towards the wall where she had entered from. Or through. However it happened.

Finely outlined, barely noticeable was a tile cut out of the polished stone wall. Hikari wedged her nail in the small groove, maybe it was shielding a button? A magic trigger that lead to an escape?

The tile came out and smashed when it hit the ground, revealing that what lay behind it was nor a door, a trigger or a button.

It was the crest of Kindness etched into the wall.

Hikari slowly lifted her hand to touch it, to trace it with her fingers. It was neither a question, nor an answer. But it was something.

Even as her finger grazed upon it, Hikari hastily withdrew it without thought, as if she'd placed her finger on a hot stove. The symbol glowed, and as it grew brighter Hikari screamed, her whole body was burning, searing with incomparable pain. The pain only grew, stronger and stronger until Gern tackled her and ripped of Ken's blazer.

The pain stopped.

"Sorry, it was glowing and I think it's what was hurting you."

Something was triggered. Ken's crest glowing, burning her like Ken's blazer?

Amunet gasped. "It can't be!"

Hikari turned to her. Surely, after everything they had discussed there couldn't be anything that couldn't be.

"They confiscated my work. I had it… This is… Oh no." She placed her hands on her temples, massaging. "It's a prophecy. One I'd read about in my first year in Eutalia. It's one of the many related to the Six Powers, but it comes up over and over throughout history. It's never been interpreted properly, only theories but… this is it. This is the prophecy. It's begun."

There was silence. Everyone was waiting. Ken's jacket stopped glowing on the ground only to disintegrate into dust.

"Six is balance until evil tips the scale. Seven brings chaos and darkness without fail. Eight is hope for those who will come to be. A miracle arises, brings forth destiny: ceasing the fight. With this, the ninth will unfold, and this is light."

Hikari was silent. The last prophecy she was in involved Angewomon shooting Taichi. But her digimon partner wasn't here and neither was her brother. What could she do on her own? She was powerless.

"What does this mean?" Catherine whispered, her trembling arms clutching at the fabric of her dress.

"It means, this is the Seventh Power. We've unleashed chaos. We've unleashed darkness upon Orenda."

Hikari mentally replayed, one seemingly insignificant moment from three years ago. Them, herself and Takeru with Daisuke, Miyako and Iori sitting in front of a computer screen illustrating coloured lines to represent the different worlds. Line after line, different colours, all different worlds.

Until they warped and combined to leave the screen black. Completely black. Gatomon's voice echoed in Hikari's mind:

"And in the end every world might be covered in darkness."