The sun never came out now. It was just dark and cold and silent. All the time. And it wasn't just the Digital World; the Digidestined barely spoke unless it was absolutely necessary. The darkness was inside them, worming its way between them like a parasite. Bahar had been the first to leave, abandoning them. After that it was Ysault. Not physically, but emotionally. She was distant. Her once light steps were heavy, her eyes downcast, and it had been a very long time since she'd laughed. There were still smiles on occasion, forced, frosty smiles. She drifted around like a wraith, listening to the quiet, conspiring with the shadows. The more Dorian tried to cheer her, to coax her back to herself, the further she withdrew. He'd thought if he could remind her of her own wonder, of how beautiful and perfect she was, she'd come back to him. Yet such things just made her sadder. A candle in the rain. Still he persisted, ignoring her ignoring him. Pushing and pushing. He should've known better, should've noticed earlier, but he didn't. When she finally did respond it surprised and thrilled him.

"May I sit down," she asked in a still, lyrical whisper. Their eyes did not meet.

"Of course." Her hands twisted in her lap and she watched them nervously. It was not what he had hoped for. Nothing about her spoke of reconciliation; she was dreading whatever had to happen next. Something horrible was coming; he could feel it in his gut, could hear it in her voice and see it laced through her form like an aura.

"Where's Gomamon?"

"Fishing. She said she smelled a creek close by and thought she'd give it a shot."

"You shouldn't let her go off on her own like that. It's not safe."

"Where's Floramon then?" Ysault didn't answer. She looked up into the trees, seeing something there beyond his comprehension and shivered. A stab of guilt tore into his heart like ice and he instantly regretted the snipe. "I'm sorry, I- Please, come closer to the fire. You're freezing."

"I'm fine."

"None of us are fine. Nothing's been fine since before we got here. Sitting alone in the cold can't help that. Now please, do it for me."

"Dorian…" She didn't move closer to the fire. If anything she withdrew, growing even colder, her voice loosing volume "I wanted to talk to you alone."

A jolt of butterflies and fear.

"I… I'm sorry Dorian. I am so sorry, but I can't give you what you want. And I can't keep letting you believe, if you're patient enough, if you're charming enough, eventually I will."

"What are you talking about?" He'd meant to keep his voice calm and a little defensive, blasé, but the hurt and cold understanding found their way in nonetheless. "Ysault, I just want us to save this world and get back to ours."

"Can we please just be honest? Just this once?"

"I am being honest! I don't know where this is coming from!"

"It's coming from the way you look at me!" Her voice finally broke as her brown gaze swung up to meet his, bringing a tidal wave of regret with it. "It's coming from the way you watch me and touch me and hope I'll reciprocate. Even before Bahar left you've been acting like we're- we're… I don't want to hurt you, so I- before this gets any further, I-"

She struggled to find the words to express whatever aspect of herself she was trying to convey, eyes darting back to her twisting fists as anxiety gnawed at her slim form. His heart swelled in his chest, pushing painfully against his ribs as he watched her. Whatever she was trying to say, whatever rejection she was trying to arrange, it couldn't hurt nearly as much as seeing her suffer like this. All because of him… Dorian swallowed hard, drawing on a well of affection and taking action. Just another in a long line of horrible, misguided actions. He stood, came around, and kneeled before her, taking her hands and bringing them to his lips. She shuttered, but he mistook it for a shiver.

"Ysault," he said gently. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I never meant to push or pressure you in any way. You're right, we have a job to do and we need to stay focused on that. There's no rush to be anything more than friends; just know that I'll wait for you. Whenever you're ready."

She gave him a look saturated with despair, like she wanted to say more and yet couldn't find anything else to say. Slowly, she pulled her hands from his grip, replacing them in her lap and chewing her tongue.

"I need," she started quietly, dropping her gaze and drawing away from him like a turtle into its shell. But her voice caught and she had to swallow, rephrasing. "I think we both need some space. Just for a little while. To think."

Dorian stood, the firelight flickering behind him and casting a dark silhouette from which she couldn't help but recoil. Which, of course, stung even more like salt in the wound.

"Are you asking me to leave?" His voice was low and cool, concealing every trace of warmth and pain behind a frigid façade. Ysault shrank back, wrapping her arms around herself and glancing up at him.

"I just-"

"Don't mince words. Do you want me to leave or don't you."

"Please."

A thousand thoughts rang in that word. Please understand. Please accept. Please don't make this hard. But one was louder than all the rest, echoing through the still forest. The weight of it crushed him, waves of pain blinding him to her agony as she spoke, deafening him to her suffering as she did the only thing she could do. Ysault stood up, brushing by him to return to the dark forest, where her own nightmares waited greedily to consume her. She glanced back over her shoulder once and then was lost to the shadows.

Shadows which swallowed the world and his mind. Frigid and coal black. And inside the black a voice he could just barely make out. Whispers he wasn't meant to hear.

"You must think us all horribly weak, and I suppose we are, in our way. Justice turned to vengeance, Charity to despair, and Loyalty… Loyalty was twisted and had to make a choice. We were Chosen, just like you, and we failed, just as you did. But there was no one to pull us back, no lights to hold off the darkness, and whatever collective wisdom we had was lost when we drifted apart. Too few answered the call, but that's just another excuse. Just another way I try to shift the blame away from myself and those dearest to me. Still, I would ask for your compassion. Because, ultimately, we failed because we are flawed, proud, human beings with hopes and dreams and fears that were distorted and turned against us. Our greatest failing isn't that Tache defeated us, it's that we needed help and didn't know how to ask for it. Remember that when you pass judgment? Please?"

It was a long time before Koji was once again capable of understanding who and were he was. His body was catatonic, but to say he slept would've been incorrect on basically every level. His mind wandered in a place filled with pain, wading through black water as roots whispered everything he tried not to think. Time passed irregularly and to Koji, there was both an eternity and an instant between the moment Tache had forced him to confront It and the present. He woke up in the sort of chair one might use for electrocutions, with every limb and joint held firmly to wooden boards with thick, leather straps. This included his head, which was held immobile by a thick band across his brow, such that his range of vision was strictly limited to what his eyes could gather while strained in any direction.

"Comfortable," a high, lyric voice cooed from behind, sending shivers across Koji's flesh. "I know it's a little… restricting, but the transition can be stressful and I would prefer you not hurt yourself."

"I don't give a damn about your preferences," Koji spat back, throwing up a bravado and steeling it with anger. "Let's call this what it is: you've got me tied down because you don't want me to hurt you while you torture me for Koichi's location. Which is a very valid concern because I am going to hurt you."

"Mmm, I doubt that." Tache came around so Koji could see It, reaching out to run Yasult's fingers along his forearm. Its black eyes stared through thick lashes, cold and unreadable. "I'm sure right now you would like nothing better, but give it time. You'll come around. You'll see that I really only have your best interests in mind."

"You're more delusional than I thought," he said with a snort, smirking at it defiantly.

"You want Koichi to be safe and happy and I want the same. We are natural allies; I'm a little surprised you don't sense it already."

"Our definitions of "safe" and "happy" are very, very different. It doesn't matter. I'm not going to help you get him and there's nothing you can do to change that. He defeated you once; he'll do it again."

"Did he now," It laughed. The sound echoed like wind chimes through the empty warehouse, attesting its size. "Just what do you think I am that such a task could be accomplished by a 12 year old dead boy? How pathetic do you think me?"

"I don't know what part of him you think you are, but he rejected you and everything you represent. This whole crusade is pointless."

"Oh Koji… Koji, Koji, Koji. How little you truly understand. There is some of your brother within me, true. A shadow of him, a hunger. He gave me my awareness, but I am not him, nor am I merely a dark reflection of him. I am so much more."

"Is that supposed to intimidate me," Koji spat, curling back his lips at it and straining against his bonds. "I. Don't. Care. It doesn't change anything. You're some abstract embodiment of evil; so what? You still want Koichi and you still can't have him."

Tache's smile twitched as irritation passed over Its features. Nostrils flared, neck muscles tensed, and black eyes narrowed. Then the smile was back in place and Tache slid forward, maneuvering Its legs across Koji's lap and through the holes between the armrests and the back of the chair, until It was straddling him. Its fist coiled in Koji's hair and It brought Its face very close to his. The pungent aroma of Its breath filled his nose and he fought the urge to recoil. Not that he had anywhere to go. So he met that black gaze with an icy stare of his own, defiant, daring It to contradict him.

"Koichi is mine," It hissed. "And I will have what is mine. You are going to bring it to me."

"I will not. I will never betray my brother and there is nothing you can do to force me."

"There is so much I can do. I can regulate your dopamine levels and direct your actions. I can jack up your oxytocin until you're invincible, make you less compromising, consume you with envy. I can bring out your fear of pain with a little serotonin and with a dash of anisomycin I can take away your memories and do it all again for the first time."

Koji's breath went shallow, but he gave no other indication that any of this troubled him in the slightest. He didn't need to. Tache could smell it on him, and the perfume was intoxicating. It rolled Its head back, inhaling deeply and releasing Koji's hair, Its hands coming to a rest on his shoulders. He shuddered in revulsion under Its touch, which only served to heighten the thrill.

"I am the Dark Ocean, Chosen of Light. Everything that has a digital form, everything that is or was data, is available to me in an instant. It is all within my reach, malleable, just waiting for the right… conditioning. You won't believe me, but we've been here before. There is pain inside you, Koji, and like so many others you sought me to sooth it. You wanted me to grant you power and I was going to, but your brother stopped me, do you remember?"

Koji worked his jaw, swallowing the words he so desperately wanted to throw in Tache's face. It continued to smile, causing Ysault's face to look disturbingly pretty, dropping Its black eyes to Koji's neck as Its fingers traced the tendons there.

"It was when Shizuka attempted to retrieve Koichi, when she brought him to me to see what I had already accomplished in this world. You came in after him, but you weren't there to "save" him. Not then. I know your secrets Koji, I know what you want, even if you don't. You were so eager then, so ready to embrace my power and join my army. Why are you resisting now?"

"Go to hell," he growled from between clenched teeth, not moving his lips. Tache let Its head fall to one side and cupped his face, blinking. "Doesn't matter what you do or say, I want nothing to do with you or anything you represent. You cannot turn me against my brother. You won't break me."

"Break you?" It raised its eyes up from his face and, for the first time, Koji became aware of another presence in the room. His gut tightened, pulse quickening, eyes widening when he felt the tip of a needle press to the base of his skull. The headpiece of the chair cranked forward, pressing his chin into his chest even as he did his best to resist. He knew what was coming only this time, he was completely and totally powerless to stop it.

"You're already broken. What I'm doing now… is fixing you."