Chapter One

It started with a dream.

She was standing alone in a city that Hikari recognised as her home of Odaiba, except the streets were filled with craters and rubble and half of the buildings had collapsed, and around her were the carbonised remains of her neighbours. Their skeletons were forever locked in their final positions, cowering away from whatever had killed them or embracing a loved one as the end came. Smoke still drifted from a few, a foul stench that burnt Hikari's nose as she walked past them, her feet following an unseen path through the devastation.

It was silent as she walked barring the crunch of rubble and bone beneath her feet, lacking even a gentle breeze to sweep away the smoke and fog filling the streets, furthering the sense of loneliness Hikari felt as she moved towards her destination deeper into the destruction. She didn't know where she was going, only that she needed to be there.

Her destination was somewhere ahead of her, she knew that much at least, and with every step closer her ears began to pick up on some subtle sounds that her brain quickly recognised as the dull whump of a distant explosion and the sharp clanging of metal on stone, indicative of a great battle being fought between two powerful combatants. Instinctively, Hikari knew she had to witness the battle and, more than that, her fate was directly tied to the outcome of the fight. Yet her feet never moved with any greater sense of urgency, following their chosen route through Odaiba's ruins and passing by the skeletal remains of the city's residents.

Off in the distance she could see the Rainbow Bridge, once an intact span of colour but now a broken mess hanging down into Tokyo Bay with smoke drifting from numerous points, partially hiding the ruined masterpiece of civil engineering in a thick haze. She looked at it for a little while then turned back to where the sounds of battle were coming from, louder than ever, the ground beneath her feet shaking gently and the wayward horizon lighting up slightly with every explosion.

It seemed like an eternity until she finally came across the source of the noises, Hikari taking note of the two fighters with neither fear nor surprise, feeling as though she had known who they were already. One was a humanoid not much bigger than her, clad in gunmetal grey armour and armed with cannons of some kind on its forearms and shoulders, plus powerful looking thrusters on its back, and Hikari was overcome with a maddeningly frustrating sense of familiarity regarding the figure. The way they stood, and moved, seemed so recognisable to her she was certain the humanoid was somebody she knew very well.

There were no such feelings of deep connection with the other figure standing across from the grey humanoid.

It stood taller than what few buildings still remained, a monstrous creature made up of innumerable tentacles that writhed over one another and extruded a powerful stench of rotten flesh and saltwater, a gaping maw of yellowed teeth and slobber set beneath twin eyes of crimson red that stared at the humanoid with such hatred and contempt and sadistic glee that Hikari was surprised energy didn't burst forth from them to strike the other fighter where he stood. Maybe they had and she had missed it during her slow journey here.

The fight seemed to have just about run its course, neither figure making much effort to launch another attack at their foe, but their reasons for it seemed to differ. The humanoid looked spent, its armour cracked and dented in places as it struggled to remain upright, swaying to and fro with exhaustion and remaining standing from sheer willpower alone. The tentacled beast, on the other hand, showed no signs of great pain or fatigue and looked to be revelling in the fact its opponent was nearly done, showing an almost animalistic pleasure at being able to toy with its prey.

Hikari watched as the humanoid rocketed forward on a pillar of blue flame, aiming straight for the creature's face, but a mass of tentacles came up lightning fast and swatted it out of the sky with such strength that the ground cracked from the force of the humanoid's impact, kicking up dust and chips of stone. Fear took root in her heart and she rushed towards the fallen fighter, knowing that if it was finished then so was she, and dropped to her knees beside the prone figure. It had put everything into that final attack, she knew, and there would be no more. Even so, the figure trembled and strained as it tried to move, sparks erupting from numerous rends in the armour.

Then a tentacle slammed into it without warning, grinding it into the ground and up into the air, whilst Hikari found herself blown backwards from the power of the blow and sat, dumbly, in the dirt and dust as the tentacle slammed the humanoid into building after building before throwing it back down to the ground right beside her. Stone chips tore at her skin and she shied away on reflex, recovering her wits enough to move back to the figure's side where it lay, immobile, belching acrid black smoke from the myriad of cracks in the armour. The humanoid had nothing more to give.

She placed her hands on the humanoid's arm, willing and urging it to get back up, when she looked up at the thing's face-

-and saw Daisuke looking back at her.

The suit's helmet had broken away at some point, leaving a jagged edge of metal and glass, and revealed the pilot beneath it who had changed so much since the last time Hikari had seen him. Gone was the tan he had acquired from playing football at every opportunity, replaced by a pale and waxen complexion that wouldn't have looked out of place on a corpse, his face a gaunt affair with sunken sockets surrounded by dark circles and containing almost lifeless eyes. The warmth and spirit Hikari had come to know so well was gone, replaced by despair and defeat.

And hate. For her.

'This is all your fault,' Daisuke rasped at her. 'This happened all because of you.'

Hikari recoiled in shock at his words, and his hateful expression, and sputtered out a confused, 'I'm sorry,' without really knowing what it was she was supposed to be sorry for. Daisuke might have been ready to respond but another tentacle shot past Hikari and pierced his chest, punching straight through the armour and out the other side. He didn't even scream in pain or shock at the mortal wound, coughing up a black liquid instead as the tentacle lifted him up off the ground. Some of it fell on Hikari as she stood below her friend and she caught a strong scent of saltwater.

'Your fault,' Daisuke managed to cough, bringing up more black seawater that dripped onto Hikari, her feet rooted to the spot. 'You-'

The tentacle whipped him away, a spurt of black liquid coming from his chest wound, and Daisuke disappeared into a nearby building that collapsed on top of him, burying the DigiDestined beneath tons of rubble as another tentacle wrapped itself around Hikari before she could react, ensnaring her perfectly and she found herself flying through the air to come face to face with the owner, the monster that had just killed her friend.

It smiled at her with its hideous maw, more a grimace, and revealed row upon row of yellowed fangs covered in slime and spittle that dripped onto the ground below. A laugh that sounded more like an earthquake escaped from its mouth and assailed Hikari with the stench of rotten flesh once again, not that the tentacle holding her hostage was much better, and she forced herself to look into the creature's eyes as they stared hungrily at her.

'My queen,' the beast rumbled. 'You are mine.'

Hikari screamed as the tentacle threw her forwards into the monster's mouth, her world becoming nothing more than darkness and coldness and brackish water that wormed its way into her throat and down into her lungs, choking her, in such a way that Hikari thought she was drowning.

That was when she awoke from her dream, panting and sweating with the taste of seawater fresh on her lips. She shivered and let out a plaintive cry of despair, drawing the bedcovers tight around her as if to warm herself up. Beside her Takeru slept on, blissfully unaware his girlfriend was dreaming about a ruined city they both loved, of one of their friends dying, of a gigantic monster.

Of the Dark Ocean.

She knew it could be nothing else. There wasn't anything that made her tremble in fear quite as much as that dark dimension did, and she knew that if she was dreaming about it something bad was happening. Worse, the dream had included Daisuke as well, and he had died in it. Was it an omen? Or a fear the dark denizens who lived there were preying upon? It had been quite some time since any of the DigiDestined had spoken to Daisuke in person, not since his abrupt relocation to California almost two years ago, and contact since then was sporadic at best. His texts and emails were short and laconic on the rare occasions he sent one, a far cry from the motormouth he was well known for.

Hikari couldn't even remember when it was she last heard his voice. A phone call six or seven months ago, maybe, that was dropped because of a bad connection before she could even speak to him. It worried her more than it should, even if she didn't openly admit it. The one person who was least likely to drop out of touch with anyone was Daisuke, regardless of where he was or what he was doing. He could have been on the Moon and he still would have found a way to constantly bombard her and the others with text messages or voicemails asking them about how they were doing.

But he hadn't.

The last message Hikari had gotten from Daisuke was from five months ago, in response to a text she had sent, telling her it was unlikely he'd be coming back to Japan to celebrate the winter holidays with her and the others. Moreover, he had done it with just two words.

Daisuke, do you think you'll be coming back home this winter? We're planning on having a party to celebrate the anniversary of defeating MaloMyotismon and it wouldn't be complete without the person who pulled us through it. It'd be nice to see you again and learn about what you've been up to in California. Hikari

His response simply read, Doubt it.

There wasn't even an attempt on his behalf to open a video chat on the day so everyone could see him, if only for a short while. That had pissed people off, some more than others, but it just added to the worries Hikari had for their wayward member. It was so out of character for him to be so uncommunicative with everyone, it triggered alarm bells in her head, however faint. But to then see him die in a dream involving the Dark Ocean changed that. Now the bells were ringing out loud and proud for all to see.

Hikari reached into her nightstand and pulled out her phone, flipping it open to look at the menu screen. At the top was the local time, almost three o'clock in the morning, and some quick mental calculations told her it was eleven o'clock the previous day over in California, the middle of the day, which meant Daisuke was probably awake. She thumbed her way through the menus and brought up the text function, highlighting the chain she had with Daisuke, and began typing in a new message.

Daisuke, it read. Are you okay? Is everything all right with you?

She hit send and waited for a reply, wondering how long it might be before Daisuke responded. He could be in the middle of a lecture for all she knew, his phone on silent and buried deep in the bottom of his bag and unlikely to be looked at for another hour or more. She was pleasantly surprised to see her phone light up just a few minutes later with a new message.

Everything's fine, Daisuke's reply said. Why are you texting me at such an early hour? Has something happened?

I had a dream, about the Dark Ocean. And you.

Oh.

You were fighting this big monster and lost. It killed you.

Hikari fought back some tears as she typed and sent that, recalling the shock of seeing Daisuke speared through the chest with a tentacle and getting thrown into a building. She drew her duvet tighter around her body as she waited for Daisuke to respond, almost ten minutes this time, quickly reading through the text he sent back.

Is Takeru there with you?

Yes, Hikari texted, looking down at her partner as he kept on sleeping beside her, naked but for the duvet she was slowly stealing away from him.

Then don't worry about it. Stick with him and Gatomon. They pulled you back from the Dark Ocean the last time.

I'm worried about you.

Don't be.

I can't help it. I dreamt that you died.

And I feel like you're slowly drifting away from us all, she almost added.

She paused then sent another text that read, Can we talk?

Aren't we already?

Over the phone, Daisuke. I need to hear your voice.

I'm a little busy.

It's important. The Dark Ocean might be involved. I need to hear you.

Another long wait ensued, nearing fifteen minutes this time, and Hikari envisioned Daisuke making whatever excuses he needed to make to his teachers and faculty members about leaving class to make his phone call and getting somewhere isolated, away from prying ears and the gossipy cliques that apparently infested American colleges, according to their television programmes. Hikari's thumb was poised over the green call button and pressed it the instant her phone began trilling with an incoming call, cupping it to her ear just as quickly.

There was a click and a faint hiss of static, and then a voice she hadn't heard for almost six months filled her hearing.

'Hikari?' Daisuke said.

'Hi,' she said back. 'It's been a while since I've heard your voice.'

'Yeah,' Daisuke said. 'Things… kept popping up. Otherwise I might have called more.'

'Better late than never,' Hikari said. Next to her, Takeru began stirring at the new noise filling the room, belatedly rolling over to look up at her with half-lidded eyes filled with sleep. He mumbled something out that was probably a question about who she was calling, so Hikari mouth Daisuke's name. Despite his addled state, Takeru managed to look shocked upon learning who was on the other end of the call. He opened his mouth to ask more questions but Hikari silenced him with a later gesture.

'So I died in your dream?' Daisuke asked after a brief pause.

'Yes,' Hikari said. 'You'd been fighting this monster and it beat you, throwing you to the ground, and a tentacle forced its way through your chest. Then you coughed up black saltwater, like it was your blood.'

Takeru's brows shot up in alarm at that, quickly putting things together and reaching the same conclusion Hikari had, and he sat up without hesitation to wrap an arm around her shoulders to both comfort and protect her. She leant into his embrace and carried on speaking.

'Then it threw you into a building and captured me, telling me I was its queen and that I belonged to it, and then it swallowed me whole.'

The scent and taste of saltwater came back again, making her shiver, and Hikari was thankful Takeru had finally woken up. Just having him close by helped put her at ease, his arm a welcome security blanker if there ever was one. She wondered what was going through Daisuke's head thousands of miles away, and if he felt the need to have someone wrap themselves around him for peace of mind.

'I see,' he said. 'Was it just us?'

'Yes,' Hikari said. 'Though you were wearing some kind of armour.'

'I see,' Daisuke said again. 'Is Takeru there with you? Right now?'

'He is,' Hikari said, going no further than that. She doubted Daisuke wanted to know what the two of them had been up to before now, not that he couldn't figure it out for himself.

'Then you'll be all right, Hikari,' Daisuke said. 'He got you through the last time the Dark Ocean came for you. If the same thing is happening now, he'll get you through it like before.'

'I know,' Hikari said, offering her boyfriend a faint smile which he returned.

'So don't worry about me,' Daisuke said. 'You've got everything you need right there.'

'I know,' Hikari said.

'But,' she added. 'I'd feel better if I saw you. The sooner the better, actually. Maybe you could come over this weekend?'

There was a long pause from Daisuke's end, long enough that Hikari wondered if the call had gotten dropped without her knowing, but when she heard a soft sigh coming in over the phone she knew Daisuke had just spent the time mulling over the actual logistics of getting back to Japan on short notice.

'That's a lot to organise on such a short notice,' he finally said. 'And it won't be cheap either. I don't even know if I can get the time off work, either.'

'Say it's an emergency,' Hikari said which, technically, it might be. Anything involving the Dark Ocean was never good. 'Please. I just… I really need to see you in person, to know you're really okay. And we miss you. All of us.'

'Yeah,' Daisuke said with a resigned tone. He sighed. 'Look, I'll try and make it back to Odaiba but I can't promise anything. Not right now. Maybe if you gave me a month I could work out something more definite-'

'This weekend, Daisuke,' Hikari said. 'Not a month from now, not six weeks, not next year. This weekend.'

Another resigned sigh. 'Fine.'

'Great,' Hikari said, allowing herself a smile. 'See you soon.'

'Yeah,' Daisuke said before disconnecting the call.

'You really miss him that much, huh?' Takeru said as Hikari put her phone away. 'Should I be feeling jealous?'

'No,' Hikari said, returning Takeru's embrace. 'I just miss him, is all. We've barely heard from him for two years.'

'You're worried about him,' Takeru said. 'Aren't you?'

Hikari didn't respond at first, burying her head in the crook of Takeru's neck to breathe in his scent and wash away the lingering smell of saltwater that still filled her nostrils. The truth was she was even more worried about Daisuke than she had been. Listening to his voice, she hadn't heard any of the passion or energy it normally possessed, just a deep-seated fatigue more at home in a soldier returning from battle. Something was desperately wrong with Daisuke and she needed to know what it was, force it out of him if needs be by any means necessary.

'I am,' she finally said.

'Me too,' Takeru admitted as he pulled her close. 'Me too.'

They stayed locked together like that, each ruminating on their own fears about what might have befallen their friend, for the better part of an hour until at last they broke apart and slid back beneath the covers, Hikari launching into her dream as best she could whilst Takeru listened in with rapt attention. When morning came they called up Taichi and the others to let them know of the recent developments, the elder Yagami sibling rushing straight over to check on his little sister at the first mention of the Dark Ocean. Everyone else agreed to clear their schedules for the upcoming weekend, ready for the impromptu reunion of the entire DigiDestined after so long. Everyone had something they wanted to say to Daisuke, friendly or otherwise, but they all had their worries about him and it would be good to catch up after all this time.