Hello, everyone! This is the final chapter, with the epilogue coming up after this! Thank you all for taking the time to read this fanfiction, and I'm glad you all have enjoyed it as much as I did writing it! Also, stay safe during these trying times; there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I know it. We WILL recover! Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 20

"You didn't have to kill Sora, T.K.!" Matt shouted. "We could've figured this all out!" Tears burned his eyes.

"There's no point in that, Matt," the Child of Hope argued. "We're all doomed! I just did what I had to do. I saved Sora and Izzy from becoming witches, which in turn is one step closer to saving this world." T.K. shook his head, sadness clouding his expression. "I'm sorry, Matt, but it was for the best." The younger blond then regarded him with a numb expression. "Why don't you make this easy, Matt and Cody?"

The Child of Friendship and Cody stepped back fearfully. Matt stared into his brother's azure eyes, where he saw vengeance, bloodlust, and determination. The determination to kill. He totally blew his last chance. That's not even my brother anymore. That's a killer in front of me. I just can't believe my brother would be so misguided like this. Kyubey may have pulled the strings, but T.K. acted when he shouldn't have. I have to protect everyone and avenge Sora, Izzy, and Tai. Matt sighed.

"Now do you see, Matt?" Cody asked, glancing at Matt expectantly. "He killed Sora. If we let him survive, he'll kill us. And he wants to."

"I know, Cody." The Child of Friendship shook his head. "Kyubey has misguided him too much."

"Kyubey didn't misguide me, Matt." T.K. smirked. "If anything, I see clearly thanks to him. And I know I have to do this!"

"Then you leave us no choice, little brother!" Matt gripped his Soul Gem, causing a tornado of blue magic to engulf him. "If you can't see that Kyubey's the real killer and is steering you wrong, then we have to stop you!" The magic vanished to reveal his magical form.

T.K. sent Matt a threatening grin, twisted with malice. "Do you really think you'll be willing to go through with it, Matt?" The Child of Hope assumed his own magical form and readied his staff.

"We will stop you this time!" Cody vowed. He was the last one to transform. "We can't let you keep this up!"

"I knew it wouldn't be easy, the younger blond said as he fired a stream of golden light.

Matt and Cody dodged the attack, then responded with their own attacks, Matt delivering a kick to his brother's head and Cody sending a silver cascade of slashes. The Child of Friendship's kick struck T.K. head-on, sending him into a nearby tree trunk. The slashes pummeled the younger blond. The two boys approached T.K., who jerked his gaze upward with the insane grin still plastered on his face.

"Did you really think I would go down that easily?" T.K. taunted.

He's acting just like he was in the dream, Matt realized, but refused to falter in fear. It had been just a dream, after all, but he was not going to let it come true. The Child of Friendship stood his ground.

T.K. swung his staff on Matt, but the older blond blocked him with his spiked knuckles. The Child of Friendship deflected him away, then followed up with a spiked punch to the head. The Child of Hope blocked it with his staff, which glowed golden and hot and caused Matt to jump back.

"Darkness must be destroyed. All of it," growled T.K., menace dripping from his tone. "I was granted that power and will exercise it."

"That's not possible, T.K.!" Cody said, a hint of a plea in his voice.

"You're lying!" the Child of Hope screamed as he slashed the youngest DigiDestined across the chest and ripped the front of his cloak. Luckily, it only ripped a hole in the cloak and spared Cody from a nasty laceration.

"It is impossible, T.K.!" Matt repeated. "Light has to rely on a little bit of darkness!"

"Enough!" The younger blond's rage caused light to explode from his body and slam the two boys. They flew into the boughs of nearby trees.

"How are we going to stop him?" Cody wondered. "He's too powerful!" He brushed some leaves out of his hair.

"T.K.'s off his rocker now," said Matt. "Worse than that. I can hardly call him my brother now." He looked down to see T.K. approaching their pair of trees...and looking right at them!

"Which one of you would like to die first?" Another psychotic grin stretched across his face like the Cheshire Cat.

"You're not T.K.," the Child of Friendship said. "You can't be. You're a fucking monster." It's becoming more and more like my dream, and I need to change that. He regarded the equally-terrified Cody. I need Cody's help badly.

"What now, Matt?" the Child of Reliable Knowledge asked, then a stream of magic whizzed past him and struck a nearby branch. Cody scrambled back against the trunk. "And we don't have much time."

Matt remained silent for a moment, then remembered his dream, where T.K. had shattered his Soul Gem. He recalled what Kyubey had said about Soul Gems containing a person's soul and as long as it didn't break, they would recover.

The Soul Gem, Matt realized as he studied T.K. between attacks that threatened to down their perches. I just need to find it. Matt's gaze scrolled up and down T.K.'s person, looking for a sign of a glowing Gem...if it was visible. The older blond remembered that Cody's Gem was hidden, so it was probably the same deal with T.K.. The Child of Friendship glanced from the younger blond's boots, to his tan and gold tunic, to his fingerless gloves, and to his staff. No Soul Gem. Then he glanced at his box hat, where he saw the glowing brooch shaped like the Crest of Hope. Swirls of darkness resided within. That's it! It has to be! The problem is, I need a clear shot at it. The older blond dodged another blast that unfortunately struck the bough he was perched on. He plummeted to the ground at T.K.'s feet.

"Matt!" Cody slid down the trunk to help him up.

"I'm okay, Cody." Matt climbed to his feet...only to be knocked back down by the business end of T.K.'s staff.

"I'd stay down if I were you, Matt," T.K. threatened as his staff glowed in preparation for another attack.

Cody jumped between the two brothers, shield activated. It deflected T.K.'s magic.

"Cody, we have to break his Soul Gem," the older blond pointed out. "That's where our souls are in, so if we destroy T.K.'s Gem, he's dead. At the same time, we need to protect ours."

"How are we going to get a shot at it?" Cody inquired.

"Someone needs to keep him busy," said Matt. "The other can go for his Gem. If we can knock him out, that's even better." The older blond looked in Cody's direction. "You should be the distraction; you can attack from any range and have a better chance of distracting him. I'll go for the Soul Gem once you give the signal."

"Sounds like a plan," Cody agreed, then checked his own Soul Gem. "But first, we should purify our Soul Gems." Both boys used a Grief Seed to clean their Gems, then focused on the misguided T.K., who was twitching and grinning.

T.K... Matt stared at his brother, sadness lining the Child of Friendship's face. That changed quickly when the Child of Hope rushed toward them.

Cody leaped in front of Matt and parried the younger blond, silver meeting gold.

Matt watched the duel, waiting for Cody's signal as silver magic clashed with gold. They were evenly matched. At least, that was what it looked like to Matt but as time wore on, Cody seemed to be running out of breath while T.K. showed no signs of exhaustion. Not one breath was uttered from the Child of Hope. Did his stamina increase, too?

"Matt, now!" Cody urged as he managed to spurn T.K. and send him slamming into another tree trunk. The younger blond struggled to his feet.

Matt, with his blinding speed, pinned his brother to the tree, his strong grip making sure the Child of Hope wouldn't escape. He found the Soul Gem on T.K.'s box hat and knew it was going to pain him to do what he was going to do next.

"I'm sorry, little brother." The Child of Friendship pulled back his spiked fist, closing his eyes so he couldn't see his brother die. He kept reminding himself that it was the best thing for both worlds.

Unfortunately, something suddenly closed around his throat and lifted him off the ground. Matt tried to glance at his captor, but the captor's grip wouldn't allow it.

Rising to his feet, T.K. regained that maniacal grin. "I've been practicing with my astral projection, Matt." The Child of Hope moved face level to the older blond. Cody rushed in to attack...only for T.K. to stop him in his tracks with the tip of his staff. "I never knew you wanted to die first, Cody. I was going to show Matt what else my clone could do." He regarded the clone. "Show him."

No sooner had the DigiDestined of Hope issued the order, blazing light enveloped Matt. The older blond felt his body temperature rise within seconds. It was like sitting in an oven set to broil.

"Stop it!" Cody screamed.

"Why would I do that when the light is punishing the darkness?" T.K. taunted.

The joy in those words terrified Matt, which was all the more reason to break free from the prison that would bring even the sun to shame. He tried to raise his fists to punch himself free from the clone's grasp, but neither listened. The sweltering supernova magic overwhelmed him. With Cody held in his place, Matt was as good as dead.

Mom...Dad...Cody...T.K...everyone...I'm sorry. I really tried.

He felt the clone release its grip on him, the inferno ending afterward. Unfortunately, the older blond still couldn't move. Matt managed to look up at T.K. kneeling down to his level and ear.

"It's for the best," the younger blond whispered.

"T.K...you...don't...have to do this..." Matt made another attempt to reach out to him, then saw Cody charge at T.K. with his glowing staff...only to be engulfed by the light the clone had emitted to Matt earlier.

T.K.'s expression softened to that of numbness and regret. "I have no choice, Matt. I'm sorry." He raised his staff.

Matt had no time to make any more moves as he felt a jolt of pain shoot through his leg where his Soul Gem rested. It felt like literally being shot in the foot by a bullet. He felt his life gradually slipping away from him, even more when he felt his brother's staff slice his throat.

Davis... Matt remembered the loud, abrasive leader of the younger DigiDestined, namely the way he had found trouble due to his impulsive behavior. At first, he had a negative opinion of him simply due to Matt's being an older sibling, but quickly began to respect him.

Kari... He remembered how he had taken responsibility for the Child of Light's well-being when he had to protect her from Phantomon in Tai's absence during the Myotismon peril. He cared for Kari just as much as T.K. from an older sibling perspective.

Yolei... Matt had valued the bespectacled girl greatly when it came to the DigiDestined. She had even done sound mixing for the Teenage Wolves, a position for which he wished she had continued to live.

Ken... He had been one of the few willing to help Ken overcome his grief over his time as the Digimon Emperor and had been impressed by how long a way the Child of Kindness had come. That was apparent in their trip to Mexico City to help Rosa and destroy a Control Spire.

Izzy... The information-seeking member was highly valued by Matt. They had pulled out of even the worst dangers due to the curious Child of Knowledge. Izzy had even saved Matt from a witch recently. Too bad that was pointless at this point, Matt thought.

Sora... Matt had cared deeply for the redheaded Child of Love since their first adventure, even beyond close, supportive friends. He had saved her from a few scrapes, such as from the Dark Cave and during his concert in the midst of the Oikawa danger. Sora had also returned the favor, the most recent time having saved him from a witch. And that had been for nothing in the end as well. He had loved her deeply, but after she had confessed her love for Tai to the Child of Friendship, Matt had kept his feelings to himself out of respect.

Speaking of Tai... He remembered his bushy-haired leader and the arguments that had ensued over the period of their first adventure. They had entirely different points of view, with Tai's impulsiveness and Matt's preference of thinking things through. At the end of the day, those differences were the very things that made them best friends.

Now he was going to join them, making Death's arms a loving embrace. He felt relaxed, comfortable, and at peace.

I'm on my way, guys.

…

Cody screamed at the sight of Matt's now-lifeless body. Blood spilled from his throat, and the older blond's eyes stared at nothing. He had to resist the urge to vomit. Everyone was now dead, leaving only him to face T.K., who turned on the Child of Reliable Knowledge. The DigiDestined of Hope's maniacal smile still stretched across his face as he approached Cody.

I don't stand a chance against him alone, he realized. I need help; otherwise, I'll join Matt and everyone else. I need to find Joe and Mimi, but where are they? I haven't seen them since they attended the funeral. I only watched from a distance without anyone knowing and didn't tell the others. Looks like I won't get that chance. Anyway, Joe and Mimi said they were heading back to school, but they said if they were ever needed, let them know. I think I know where to look...if they're still there. Even so, how are they going to react to my being alive...or undead?

He fled the horror that used to be his DNA digivolution partner, not caring that he was gaining scrapes and bruises from the forest life. They inflicted no harm compared to what would happen to him if he continued to fight T.K., Grief Seeds or no Grief Seeds. He needed to find Joe and Mimi; lives were at stake, and if they had the potential for magic, they were also going to be targets. And Cody knew that would be putting their lives at risk if they chose to contract with Kyubey, but he had to stop T.K.. Besides, he'd find a way to undo the contracts knowing Kyubey was lying. First, he had to regroup. I'll start with with Joe; he's either at cram school or home, but I'll check cram school first. I'll message Mimi on the way.

…

"Iori... this is only the beginning of Takeru's destruction." Kyubey had been watching the battle between Iori, Yamato, and Takeru. He had witnessed Yamato's death prompting Iori's escape. "I am puzzled as to whether or not you can actually find a way to defeat Takeru? And you continue to believe there is a way to undo the contract despite knowing there is no way to do so. However, where are you going, Iori?" The Incubator started to follow Iori, curious about his plans. "I am interested in what you are planning to do and look forward to the result. However, no plan will prevent your destined fate."