Ysault opened her eyes for the first time in an eternity. It took almost as long for her to recall why she'd done so. Why? What had driven her to once again become aware of the painful cold and biting damp? For so long she'd slept, not content but not hurting either. Perhaps like being dead. She'd felt nothing. Why stop now?
Her chocolate eyes scanned lethargically, trying to locate the source of her sudden revival. The Ocean was vast and black, stretching in all directions to a grey horizon. That was different. She'd thought for sure there had been a lighthouse on the beach. There had been a beach, made of small stones instead of sand, with cliffs ending any hope of escape before it could start. Ysault was sure there had been a lighthouse; its circling beam had certainly haunted her dreams long enough for her to know. Since just after the Poyomon, growing closer and closer as her friends pushed her further and further into isolation.
They hadn't meant to; really, she understood that. She didn't blame them, not in the last corner of her waterlogged heart. Still… they did it. Dorian watched her every move, treated her like something made of glass and gold, something to be worshiped rather than respected. He'd looked at her with a desire she couldn't return, staring and not seeing. Never listening.
And Bahar had left. One day there and gone the next. She hadn't the patience for Dorian or the time for Ysault. Of course she had been happy to unburden her soul to the "Chosen of Charity," and yet when the time came for her to return the gesture she'd been gone. Between the two of them fighting there was simply no room for Ysault and when they split apart she'd died in the void.
The worst part was… they thought they were helping. Honestly believed they were protecting her by making her feel broken and alone. Like a singular, deformed entity that should never have existed. Like something that couldn't exist at all. But she did exist and she couldn't change that. She couldn't change what she was. She couldn't lie and pretend she didn't want them all to just be friends.
How desperately she wanted to just be! Wasn't it enough to be kind and gentle and compassionate? Couldn't a person expect to share burdens with friends rather than taking them all on alone? Why did everything always come back to the one thing she didn't feel? There was so much else to her! How could it be this one perceived deficiency had become her definition? Their team had been so wonderful and then so terrible. Broken. Bitter. Guilty. The beach had expanded beneath her feet, the tide sneaking in and before she knew it the waves were lapping at her. And there was no denying it.
How long ago had that been? When had this tree grown up around her? When had her emotions, once so enflamed, gone cold? Ysault lifted her head, blinking at the bark that encased her, burying her arms and legs and waist in wood. This growth had taken a long time… When had all the others arrived? All around her there were people wrapped in pale roots. Parasitic growths burrowed into their necks. Black mist encased in fungal like nodules. With an echo of horror, Ysault realized she was at the center of it all. How had this happened? True, she'd yearned for a release and accepted the price, but she hadn't wanted this.
Why was she awake now?
As if to answer the question, a light flickered just in front of her. Right at the base of the tree. Her gaze traveled to it, expecting the lighthouse from her memory. Instead she found only a boy, a little younger than her, with long dark hair tied back and navy eyes. He looked back at her, hard, defiant, and once again the air around him repelled the darkness. Something clicked in her mind and Ysault knew him. This was Koji, Chosen of Light. He was Digidestined, like her, and like her he'd fallen. Yet he was fighting it, pushing back against the Ocean, trying to back out of an unbreakable deal.
He wouldn't succeed. The Ocean offers a contract with no fine print, and yet after signing all the corrupted conditions you never agreed to still apply. Before she'd fallen asleep she'd fought too, raging against the cold with a regret that only fueled its power. It never made a difference. Her body was a host and nothing more. Her mind was a troublesome thing that didn't know it was dead. How long since she accepted that? When had she yielded and become nothing but a vessel?
Koji was still new, though. He still resisted, pulling against the roots and snarling at the bleak world. All in vain. The roots tightened, secreting their poison into the air. There was no choice but to breathe it, no other option than to accept subjugation. The sooner he stopped fighting the sooner his pain would end. All would fade into nothing.
Slowly he did stop. His eyes became a matted black and his muscles slackened. The roots held fast, supporting his body as the cold drained his will. There was never a chance for him- for any of them. Only the hopeless come here, those in more pain than reality could accommodate. It wasn't nice here, but it was better. Ysault believed it was better. No more struggle, no more reality, no more self. Just the Ocean spreading outwards into a never-ending horizon. Still, as she watched the light fade again and go dark, Ysault felt sad.