And then a hand broke the surface, extending down towards him. Without concern for where it came from, Koichi reached back, grasping, desperate. Her thin fingers curled around his wrist in a surprisingly strong grip, her skin warm and soft and human. A burst of power radiated outward from their joining like an explosion of everything the Ocean wasn't, forcing the water back. Brining the surface back to him. The water felt like hard, cold glass as he kneeled on top of it. Beneath, the Ocean still seethed, hungry, but it couldn't devour him as was Its plan. For just a moment, Koichi felt safe.
A cough burst from his chest, expelling water from his lungs. His limbs trembled in relief and his eyes struggles to refocus. Someone was by his side. She waited patiently, still holding his hand in hers. Water dripped from her honey hair and her kind face, her brown eyes catching his in what felt like a comfortable embrace.
"Ysault," he choked, panting. "You… You're…"
"There was a time when you and I both chose this," she breathed in a musical voice, smiling a small, sad smile. "But that time is now past. The Ocean is wrong; you're not broken. And neither am I. You, me, and everyone here, we may not be perfect but we are the way we are and there is nothing wrong with that. Maybe we need help, maybe we need perspective and compassion, but that's not what the Ocean is and I for one am through being its monster. Koichi, I'm sorry this happened to you and I'm sorry it took me so long to come."
"Don't be sorry," he returned, matching her smile. "I'm not innocent in all this. You would think I'd have learned, but I was arrogant. I thought I could do this myself."
"I thought the same thing," she said wryly. "And that's why we're here now."
"Not the only reason. All this, it's not our fault, but it is our responsibility. What matters is we're here now. Together we can end this, I know we can."
"Well isn't that adorable," Tache laughed as they stood, folding Its ethereal arms. "Look at you both, fighting the good fight against the tide as it floods in. Go on, play your little games and give your little speeches. Nothing has changed, you both belong to me."
"You understand so little," said Ysault, her features hardening. "Everything has changed; we have changed. Without me you have no body and without Koichi you have no mind. Neither of us will be your host any longer. You cannot enter the Human World and you can no longer hold the Digital."
"How noble you are, Ysault. Always the superior one, so virtuous and good. Yet we both know what's underneath. I made you what you longed to be. And Koichi, don't think you're exempt. It was your anger and loneliness that made me what I am. I owe my existence to you."
"Maybe I gave you a voice," admitted Koichi, feeling Ysault's fingers tighten around his. "There was some shred of me inside you, some part I didn't want. That doesn't mean you are me. I've taken back what is mine and when we leave the Dark Ocean will go back to being just a force."
"If you could do that you would've done so already," the form snarled. A powerful wind made of cold and pain burst from it, catching the Digidestined and sending them to their knees. Tearing them apart.
"Perhaps you've regained consciousness for now, but it won't last. Eventually your wills will erode and you'll submit once more. It's human nature to exchange humanity for power. It's all so paradoxical. All any of you want is to deny your own flaws and blame the world for your problems. And yet guilt consumes you, paralyzes you because your own hatred goes against your artificial morals. I am the Dark Ocean, I was created from this paradox and I am its only solution. Ours is a natural symbiosis, you both will remember that soon enough."
"People are cruel," whispered Ysault, speaking to the waves beneath her hands. Her brown eyes were hard and sad. "If you don't fit perfectly they can deny your very existence. Invalidate all your pain and work, make you feel like you're what's wrong. The paradox you're talking about is real; however it's not the only one because people are also kind and understanding. They can realize what they've done and make amends. They can be sorry, not just guilty."
"Is this the part where you tell me about friendship?"
"No. This is the part where you go back to the void."
She pushed herself up, tucking her chin to her chest and smiling. Koichi scrambled to follow her, reaching out and taking her hand again. Darkness emanated from the point of contact, amorphous and yet still distinct from the tree's shadows. The edges were defined, the body dense and seething. He could feel her strength return as something else left. What was it? Fear, maybe? Inside him the same feeling bloomed, terrifying and freeing. Neither one of them cared- could afford to care anymore. Like Ysault had said, they were what they were and there was no shame in it. Together they focused on an intention, believed that they could destroy Tache, and their darkness responded. It concentrated into a sphere before them, then shot across the water. A wake sprayed outwards in a wide V with the shadowy figure at its apex. Tache let out a howl of rage, holding out Its hand as if to block the energy. But the sphere just deformed around It, engulfing It, forcing it back. Behind them there was the sound of wood creaking.
"Ysault," Koichi said urgently, looking over his shoulder. "The tree! That thing is just another illusion meant to distract us. We need to destroy the tree!"
"Oh no you don't," screamed Tache, breaking through their attack and sending a wave of Its own.
Water exploded in a geyser from the waves, twisting in the air like a serpent before arcing towards the pair. Ysault tugged right, but had misjudged the trajectory. The Ocean swallowed her, pulling her into itself, with such force a stream of bubbles was forced from her lips. Koichi held fast, flattening himself against the glassy barrier that shielded him from the waves. Plunging his other hand into the frigid water, he grasped at Ysault, hauling her back to the surface. She coughed and gasped violently, and yet her salt burnt eyes flashed with indignant determination. Reorienting, they turned their backs on Tache and faced the dark, gnarled trunk of the tree. The real source.
"If you do this," Tache threatened, materializing between the pair and their target. "You'll never be strong again. Can you do that? Can you live the rest of your life in pathetic weakness?"
"No," said Ysault shortly. "I'll find my own strength."
"Let me free you from your despair, let me give you purpose, let the whole world bask in the power of darkness! It will happen eventually, with or without you. The Dark Ocean will find a way, it always has and it always will. Wouldn't you rather be a part of something- be something greater than what you are?"
"You're right, the Ocean does find a way," Koichi acknowledged. "But so long as there are Digidestined it will fail to spread. We will always be there to stop it. As for your offer, I also decline. I'm just going to be myself and that's enough."
"Stop it! I command you to stop!"
"You don't control us anymore," spat Ysault. "We reject you. We denounce you. And now we destroy you!"
Another sphere of darkness formed before them and burst from them. It tore through Tache, silencing its scream, and impacted the tree's trunk. Bark splintered and sprayed, cracking and, finally, dispersing into a million flecks of data that hung like a fine cloud for a moment. Then it all compressed into a black hole which sucked in the water and the roots with a powerful wind. The pair stood through the storm, hair and cloths flapping, and watched victim after victim break free from the spongy white roots and disappear with a flash of light. The girl with auburn hair, the strong boy with a square jaw, Koji. Every single one of the people Tache had enslaved escaped the Dark Ocean, until the world reformed and Ysault and Koichi were the only two left.
They stood on a grey, rocky beach, shivering in the damp with their backs to insurmountable cliffs. A lighthouse cast shadows in the distance, rotating silently. The waves were calm and quiet, almost echoing in a world that was once again empty. Smiling a little, Ysault and Koichi looked at each other one last time before they, too, disappeared.