Falling Inside the Black
Summary: Yamato, Hikari, and Ken find themselves being drawn back to the world of Darkness. There, they must traverse the Digital World's Hell to take down the Demon Lords and Dagomon while overcoming their personal dilemmas.
Warnings: Heavy violence, mentions of abuse, incest, and rape.
Pairings: Taishirou, ex-Sorato/ex-Jyoumato, hinted Takari, hinted Kenyako. Also DaemonxLilithmon.
A/N: This is part of the headcanon, but can be read as a stand-alone. The Chosen's Digimon will likely not make an appearance (the Digital World was cut off in 2004).
2 – The Lure of Evil
"Hikari-chan?"
The caramel haired girl raised a hand to her forehead. There was a wet cloth. She was on her back and staring up at the criss-cross of florescent lights. Was the voice her mother?
"You passed out," said the same voice, now recognizable as the school nurse.
"Hikari..." whispered a male voice from her side.
"Takeru...?"
"She just needs rest. Looks like this incident was the result of stress. Have you been sleeping, Hikari?"
"Yes, ma'am," Hikari said. She sat up slowly. As a girl who found herself sick often, she was used to rising at pace to avoid dizziness. The towel peeled from her head and landed in her lap. Half-lidded, she looked over to Takeru once more.
"...you scared me," he whispered.
"I'm fine, Takeru," Hikari snapped. Maybe passing out made her irritable, or maybe she was just tired of Takeru not giving her the time of day unless she was hurt. She could handle herself. "May I go back to class now?"
"Is that a good idea, Hikar-" Takeru was cut off by the nurse. Bless the woman, she could sense Hikari's urgency as the girl tapped her fingers at her side. She took the cloth from Hikari's lap and set it in the sink.
"If you want to, Hikari. I think you need some rest, though."
Hikari hopped from the tiny exam table and started for the door, Takeru trailing behind her. He mimicked her gesture that morning, tapping her on the shoulder. "Hikari—Hika- Wait up."
Hikari marched forward. She had heard the ocean waves, just like before. However, she wasn't pulled completely into the Dark Ocean this time. What could that mean? Was the nurse right? Was she exhausted? She tossed her head.
"Hikari," insisted Takeru again. "Talk to me."
"I-I'm sorry, Takeru. I can't right now. School's almost out anyway. I think I'll just head home early."
Takeru watched as she changed direction, heading for the lockers. He was about to follow her when he realized she had left her backpack in class. He would have to stay and finish- he had told the teacher he went to the restroom –but he could bring her the bag later. With a sigh he hurried back to class as Hikari started for the exit without another word.
Takeru wondered if he should call Taichi- Hikari was acting distant. Then again, that was probably the reason why. Takeru couldn't remember how many times he attempted to convince her that Taichi being kicked out wasn't her fault.
Hikari couldn't stop feeling cold. She hugged her shoulders as she headed out the door. That was when she saw Ken, walking alone. He had changed to their middle school to be closer to the rest of the group a year ago. She couldn't help but feel he had wanted to escape the ridicule of his old classmates since denoucning the Kaizer, but she wasn't sure if he was making progress here, either. Drawn, to perhaps another lonely soul, she met up with him near the gates.
"Ken!"
The boy turned. He smiled, but she had seen the frown on his face. He noticed her shivering and raised an eyebrow, "Hikari. Are you alright?"
"I'm a little tired," she admitted. "How are you Ken? Don't you have that study hall?"
"Ah... that... here's the thing," Ken started. Hikari felt a smile cross her lips as the boy blushed. She mentally urged him to tell her. "None of them feel challenged anymore."
"Oh?" Hikari wondered with a frown. She did notice that a few students- slackers, even –seemed to be excelling lately. Could this be connected to how she was feeling? No. She was imagining it. The Digital World was a thing of the past now; she had to stop hanging onto it.
"...I feel so useless," Ken whispered.
"Don't say that, Ken," Hikari said. The two began walking together. "Although, things have been so quiet since the Digital World..."
"Mimi's party was just riveting," Ken grinned.
Was that a joke? Hikari wondered. He made a chuckle, after all. "I'm sorry, Ken," she said once they reached the end of the block. "I haven't been feeling myself lately. Actually, I..." Hikari trailed off. Ken wouldn't press her if she didn't want to talk, and Hikari wasn't even sure she wanted to talk. Why should she drag Ken into her problems? He seemed to be having enough of his own.
Ken shuffled his feet as they waited for the light to change. An old soccer habit, maybe, although he reduced that to an extracurricular hobby. Hikari was always one to hold things back, but Ken couldn't imagine her worries what with Taichi being kicked out. Everyone knew. Besides, he couldn't shake the strange feeling he got when he thought of the children. They were growing smarter, meaner, just like the... "The spore children."
Hikari didn't hear him over the sound of the waves across the street- like the pleading screams of the Scubamon-beings. The pair crossed to the other side. Hikari held back a moment as Ken started for Odaiba Mansions, watching the water. She could feel sweat beading on her skin. The humidity?
Ken licked his lips as he tried to put everything together. "N-Nothing. My imagination." He needed more proof that this was the Digital World's handwork. He couldn't worry an already distraught Hikari otherwise. Then he noticed Hikari straggling. He called out to her, but she stared over at the beach.
Ken followed her gaze to the waves. Even he had never been able to shake memories of the Dark Whirlpool and the Dark Ocean. Was she remembering, too? Perhaps the cloudy skies mimicking that day were getting to her already exhausted mind. Then he saw someone stumbling across the sand. That's Yamato. I haven't seen him since Mimi's party last year. Was he what Hikari was looking at, not the waves? Am I just being paranoid?
"Hey, Yamato!" Ken called.
The blonde looked up with a glare, then sighed. He looked around as if contemplating ignoring them, then started towards the two. Ken met back with Hikari, but she still seemed lost in the sloshing waves. "Hikari...? Hey, Hikari."
"Huh?" she asked, whipping her head around.
"I saw Yamato over on the beach. We should go say Hi."
"Oh, right..." Hikari whispered. "Takeru... doesn't talk about him... or anything anymore."
"Sibling fights? I know how those go."
"No, nothing like that. Maybe I could fix something like that.." Hikari said, hugging her shoulders again.
"Are you cold, Hikari?" Yamato asked, hopping over the rail. He nearly stumbled into her as he caught himself with one palm against the sidewalk. He laughed it off.
"What brings you to the beach, Yamato?" Ken asked.
Yamato put his trenchcoat around Hikari's shoulders, then shoved his hands in his pockets. Ken wrinkled his nose at the scent of alcohol and smoke. "I was... just meeting someone. What's with Hikari?"
"She's not feeling well," Ken replied.
Yamato stared into the girl's eyes as the lids started to droop. "She's gonna fall-!"
Ken reached out to catch her. "We should take her to the hospital."
"No..." came her voice. She stirred in Ken's arms. "I'm fine. It's just... the ocean... The Dark Ocean."
"...Dark Ocean; what the Hell is that?" Yamato breathed.
Ken helped Hikari balance against his shoulder, "Let's go back to my place. I want to discuss this. Maybe you, as one of the older Chosen, can be of some insight."
"Whatever. Just make sure Hikari's alright. Taichi would kill us if anything happened to her."
"Takeru, too."
"Don't remind me."
Yamato took Ken's computer chair, one leg over one knee and a cup of coffee in his hands. Hikari was on the bed and Ken in another nearby chair. Ken's Mom doted on the young girl and was busy calling her parents to let them know what was going on.
"It's a good thing you were with her," Yamato said. I... I wouldn't have cared.
"I wouldn't have been if my class was still together," Ken sighed.
"What?"
"My study group. All of the kids officially dropped out. Saying they're too smart. Being disrespectful. I didn't want to bring this up with Hikari and worry her-"
"By all means, worry me. I really don't care," Yamato mused with a grin. He took out a cigarette and lit it.
"-but I couldn't help but notice how much like the spore children they are. What if they start going missing?"
"...like three years ago?"
"Now, Hikari mentioned the Dark Ocean. There has to be a connection. I wanted to believe it was all my imagination..."
"Yeah, what is that?" Yamato demanded, setting down the coffee cup. He tapped ash into it. Then he crossed his arms and waited for an explanation.
"...Takeru never told you?" Ken wondered, his eyes darting about. He leaned over into himself.
Hikari turned in her sleep, still cloaked in Yamato's jacket. Ken missed the way Wormmon would curl under the covers next to him.
Yamato tried to keep his mind from the shitstorm that would happen between him and Takeru if he even dared that bed as he watched the girl rest. "Takeru doesn't speak to me. He doesn't agree with my 'life choices'."
"I won't judge you, Yamato... not that I condone what I've heard about you." Yamato shrugged and took a drag. Ken continued. "But the Dark Ocean. It's one of many parelell worlds to ours, the Digital World. The other kids and myself were drawn to it many times, especially when I was the Kaizer. Hikari somehow was pulled there on her own once and the strange beings disguised as Digimon demanded her as their Queen... among other things." Ken watched as the blonde's eyes grew more wide with each word. Then he clenched the arms of the office chair.
"Describe it to me."
"Which pa-" Ken started, but Yamato gripped Ken by his scarf.
"Fucking describe it to me," he insisted, shaking the boy. "Why the Hell... would none of you have told me this?"
"What's the matter?" Ken wondered, bewildered.
"Stop," Hikari whispered. The two boys looked over to her. Yamato let Ken go. Hikari blinked and began to speak again. "The Dark Ocean... it's exactly like it sounds. A beach... dark... I was in a cave..."
"A cave? Are you serious?" Yamato snapped. "Takeru knew... bastard."
"I don't understand," Hikari said.
"During the Dark Masters, Taichi sent Sora and Takeru to come find me. I was in a place not unlike what you described, Hikari. If I had known..."
"The Dark Ocean has been around that long?" Ken whispered.
"The Dark Spores are connected to it. How?" Yamato pressed, remembering what Ken said about his students.
"It doesn't make sense. BelialVamdemon harvested all their power. The spores are inactive and these are new children..."
"They're rising up again..." Hikari shivered, pulling Ken's comforter over her shoulders (and Yamato's coat). "The darkness wants something... what if BlackWarGreymon's seal is broken?"
"That's unlikely," Ken noted. "Koushiro would have told us something. He monitors it in his spare time. I ask him sometimes... I want to make sure nothing like this happens."
"I'm curious about those creatures. They needed help, but there was nothing I could do," Hikari said.
Yamato laughed, drawing both of their attention. "Hikari, you wanna help some crazy monsters that wanted to bone you? And Ken, you want to stop all the darkness? That's impossible. We can't even get to the Digital World."
"No one is saying you have to go," Ken snapped.
"I don't want to worry anyone," Hikari said, thinking how Taichi would react. Probably not unlike Yamato. "But we wouldn't be experiencing these things without reason. What if our Digimon-"
"The Digimon are gone," Yamato intervened. "We don't owe them anything."
"How can you say that?" Hikari barked. "What if Gabumon needs you like you needed him? Hell, like you do need him."
The blonde scoffed.
Ken stood. "She's right. We can't let them get away with this." Before Yamato could protest, Ken continued, "I know darkness can never be eliminated. However, remember that the balance of the Digital World is still recovering through the Seeds of Light. We need to defend it until then."
"You two do what you want," Yamato breathed. He stood and snatched his jacket from Hikari's back, then slipped it over him. "I'm going back to the beach."
"Why?"
"I told you. I was meeting someone," Yamato replied.
"Don't you want to rid your heart of everything you've been carrying around?" Hikari asked him. Yamato stood at Ken's door, wondering if he should really leave.
"I can do that myself. I've done it before." He opened the door and started to close it. "I don't need a damn shrink appointment."
"Wait!" Ken demanded. "We could use your help, Yamato. You know this in a way Hikari and I don't. Please."
"I'm not gallavanting around because of destiny or any of that bullshit."
"...for me? Yamato?" Hikari asked. "...what if we can't win without you?"
"Tell the others."
"We're the only ones that can do it. You saw how spread out we were at Mimi's party and people who aren't suspectible have a hard time entering the Dark Ocean- we saw that with Miyako-chan. We also can't waste any time," Ken insisted.
"What about Takeru?" Hikari sniffled. She stared at her knees. "What if this darkness gets to him, too? Don't you care? You didn't see him before... he was so angry..."
"Yeah, remind me I owe him a punch to the face," Ken joked.
"Takeru..." Yamato whispered. He stepped back inside and shut the door. "Fine. I'll do this for him. Just one problem, how do we even get back to the 'Dark Ocean'?"
"Alright," Hikari said. The three of them returned to the beach where Hikari had originally crossed over into the Dark Ocean city of Innsmouth, figuring it was the weakest point between the worlds. The winter air burned their skin as they waited. "Ken?"
Yamato watched the two of them curiously from his side of their triangle. Ken reached to his waist and pulled out his D-3. "What are you gonna do with that?"
"We banished Daemon, the one who I suspect is really behind all this, to the Dark Ocean by opening a portal with my dark D-3."
"That took all of us last time," Hikari reminded, "But I think we can do it."
"It's worth a try," Ken said. He held the D-3 in the air and waited. He tried to think about all the things he had pushed down over the last three years. How he was responsible for Osamu's death. How he twisted the Digital World with darkness. How he could never forgive himself. He was so useless now in the real world... this had to be his calling.
Hikari reached out her hand and placed it over Ken's. The device began to glow, but nothing eminated from it. She looked to Yamato, standing idly. She wished she could scream what was on her mind. He needed to get his act together. She also wished her brother was there, not because she needed him, but because he could get through to Yamato better than anyone. She wanted Takeru to listen to her worries, to share in her pain without hiding behind the all-knowing voice of God. Hikari just wanted to live a normal life again!
"Yamato, come on," Ken cringed, clutching his chest.
Hikari bit her lip as she looked between them.
Yamato rolled his eyes. The entire thing just seemed stupid to him, but in the back of his mind rang Hikari's words. Takeru... he was so angry... Fear in her voice. Yamato had too many reasons to hate himself as he ached for the company of the two beside him. They were trusting him and he couldn't give them the time of day. How could he trust them if he couldn't trust himself not to turn on them, like he had with Sora? However, drawing on the negative emotions alongside the others, he felt the anger he had bottled up growing worse. He felt Ken's shame and Hikari's fear. In turn, the two younger kids could feel the older's anger.
Then the sky began to break down and black hole formed above them.
Somehow, it was working.
Ken screamed as the Kaizer's laugh filled his thoughts. He wasn't going to be able to hold it any longer. Hikari was shaking, but she managed to help Ken lower his arm as the portal twisted in front of them. Yamato, numb, wandered ahead first and stepped through.
Then, the others followed and were swallowed up by the dark.