Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon so please refrain from suing me for writing fan fiction. Thanks and enjoy!
Fate--Chapter 14
Hikari felt faint and lightheaded. Lights were dancing in front of her eyes and blurring her vision. She felt like she was running a high fever. From far away, she heard Mimi say: "where's Nea?"
"She was here just a second ago," Takeru answered, although, his voice was also strangely distant.
Hikari brought a hand up to her forehead and closed her eyes, hoping to alleviate the sick feeling. It didn't help. If anything, it made the feeling worse.
Had she been able to see properly, she would have noticed that her hand was glowing with a faint pink radiance. And it wasn't only her hand; her entire body was shining with the light.
Yamato was saying: "you guys don't think she could've been against us the whole time?" when Hikari suddenly pitched forward onto the ground.
"Hikari!" Taichi cried. He knelt next to his sister, then gasped in alarm and pain as the pink light radiating from her body became a blinding white that stung his eyes.
All of the eleven other Digidestined's shielded their eyes against the bright light. Daisuke stepped blindly forward and took Hikari's hand, then quickly pulled his hand away and cursed loudly. Either the powerful light or Hikari herself had burned his hand.
"What's happening?" Sora fearfully shouted.
But nobody got a chance to answer because at that moment the first sounds of the battle were heard and the light became even stronger.
~*~
The enormous
black crystal was glowing, like Hikari, and cracking apart. And it was no longer black. It was now a pure white….
~*~
Nea pushed her way forward, through a clump of ferns and stopped suddenly. There, in front of her, was Braul. He looked disappointed and angry and when he laid eyes on her he gasped in surprise and rage.
"Get out of here, Droglidite!" he hissed.
She ignored the way he spit the word Droglidite as though it was to be meant as the worst insult possible and replied: "I knew he'd send you here."
"He? He who?"
"Our father. Corth."
A look of utter hatred and pure rage came into Braul's eyes as he replied: "get away from here before I do something you'll regret!"
"Oh, come now, is that any way to speak to a member of the family? More specifically, your sister."
Nea's last comment drove Braul over the edge. He charged toward her in a blind hatred and lashed out, hitting her forcefully across the face.
She reeled back from the blow and her black hair flew. And then, she straightened and brought her hand to the place where Braul had hit her, just under her left eye. A thin trickle of blood dripped through her fingers. "If I'm not your sister, then you do you explain this?" she queried, taking her hand away to expose the deep gash under her eye.
~*~
The light ever so slowly dimmed, enough for the Digidestined to open their eyes without being blinded. Takeru was the first to open his eyes and he saw Hikari slowly sit up. She was still glowing and her face looked strange, as though she had forgotten how to express her feelings through facial features.
"Hikari?" he tentatively questioned.
The girl looked toward him, but her eyes remained expressionless. And then, in a voice not her own, she responded: "no."
The seven other original Digidestined immediately recognized the voice; it was the voice of the light force that had taken control of Hikari's body when they had been trying to defeat the Dark Masters.
Hikari continued: "I am sorry to have to take control of Hikari's body once again, but there are certain things you must be made aware of and she is the only one I can communicate with all of you through."
"Where are the Digimon? Do you know?" Miyako demanded.
"They have been sealed away ever since Rothena and Corth came into being. Their being alive misbalanced the light and dark force tremendously. So, to restore the balance, a dark crystal was created. It is inside of that crystal that your Digimon live now. But fear not for them, as this is the final battle between the Droglidites and Ghoulinthians. When Rothena and Corth no longer exist, the crystal shall also be destroyed. Your Digimon will be free."
"But--what about Nea? And her brother?" Ken asked. "If Rothena and Corth's existence caused a disturbance in the balance of dark and light won't theirs do the same if the crystal doesn't counter-act it?"
"You are right. Nea and her brother are a danger to both worlds. She knows this, while he does not. But you need not worry about them. Nea is taking care of it as we speak.
"I must go now, young Digidestined. Watch the battle, for you are safe from harm."
With that, the bodiless entity left Hikari's body and the girl fell to the ground.
~*~
Rothena laughed maniacally in the heat of the battle. Droglidites were breaking through Ghoulinthian defenses, breaking through to their hateful leader, Corth. And soon that evil, horrible Corth would be no more.
But then something happened…something Rothena could not explain. There came a pull on her heart and suddenly it was as though a veil had been whipped from in front of her eyes. In reality, a veil had been removed from in front of her eyes, a veil of hate that shrouded her senses. A deep sense of guilt washed over her and she gasped.
And the next sight she saw made her scream because it broke her newly born heart to pieces. Corth was shot. A look of shock came across his features and he dropped down to his knees, then to the ground. He touched the viscous wound with a shaking hand and she saw him wince.
She ran through the battle, the only thought in her mind to reach Corth. Tears were flooding from her eyes, blurring her vision, but she didn't need to see to know where Corth was.
When she reached his side she quickly dropped down to her knees and sobbed: "I was stupid! Corth, I was so stupid! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
Corth barely lifted his head to look at her, although he made the slightest effort to smile. "Hello, Rothena," he rasped.
~*~
"I demand an explanation!" Braul bellowed.
"And I will gladly present one to you," Nea answered, the faintest hint of a smile playing across her lips. "It shall take quite some time to tell you all you need to know. And time is something I have very little of at the moment."
"You're right. You don't have any time at all," he replied, curling his hand into a fist and advancing on her.
"On the contrary, I have an eternity," she coolly said, whipping out the pistol and pointing it at Braul. "You will have that explanation soon. Forgive me, dear brother."
With that, she pulled the trigger. The bullet soared true and hit its mark, right between Braul's eyes. A look of shock was on his face, and then he disappeared completely.
There was one bullet left, and Nea had planned it that way. With a deep, shuddering sigh, she turned the gun on herself. She could see the hole in the barrel less than an inch away from her face. And then, with a sound like a mini-explosion, she pulled the trigger. For a billionth of a second she saw the round ball of steel that would end her life and then it buried itself in her head. She dropped the gun as she fell and then she disappeared, leaving the clearing empty, save for the now ammunition-free gun.
~*~
"Hikari, are you all right?" Taichi gently inquired of his sister as she opened her eyes.
"Of course I'm OK. Why wouldn't I be?" she answered.
As quickly as possible, her friends filled her in on what they had heard while the light force was using her body.
"So that's where Gatomon and the others were," she exclaimed when they had finished. "That's been bugging me ever since we got here."
"I suggest we watch the battle, as the light force instructed us to," Koushiro said.
All agreed and raced off to watch the final events of the battle unfold.
~*~
"Corth you're going to be all right," Rothena whimpered, laying her hand atop the ugly wound below his ribs.
"Rothena, don't," he whispered. He knew what she was going to try and do and he couldn't stand the thought.
"I have to. You have to live because--because…I love you," Rothena unsteadily replied. A golden radiance surrounded them and she felt her life flowing into him and his flowing into her. Their hearts were beating at the same pace; their blood was flowing at the same speed. She was going to sacrifice herself for him and she knew it.
"I love you, too, Rothena," he whispered. He closed his eyes. He knew the only thing keeping him alive was the energy that Rothena was transferring to him. And soon she would have no energy left to give him.
Slowly, he opened his eyes--to see a Ghoulinthian racing toward Rothena, wielding a sword. "Rothena, look out," he shouted.
But he was too late. He watched as the sword pierced through her body and she fell forward on top of him with a slight gurgling noise.
The Ghoulinthian withdrew the sword and saluted to Corth before he and all the other Droglidites disappeared.
"Goodbye, Corth," Rothena said in a voice so weak he could barely hear her. "I love you."
"I love you, too," he whispered back. And then, their blood stopped flowing, their hearts stopped beating and they died together.
~*~
The black
crystal shattered in a burst of golden light. The twelve Digimon were surprised, yet happy to be free once again….
~*~
There was an explosion of bright gold light that forced the Digidestined to shield their eyes to avoid being blinded.
"What was that?" Iori wondered aloud after the light faded.
Before anyone could offer a speculation to what the light could have been, Jyou shouted: "it's over!"
"What? What do you mean it's over?" Daisuke demanded.
Yamato replied: "take a look at the meadow. Empty. Totally empty. It's over."
"Poor Nea," Mimi sniffled, wiping away a tear for their lost friend.
"So now what? We just go home and forget this whole thing ever happened?" Sora questioned.
Hikari shook her head and answered: "no. I'll never forget this. I think…I think that this happened for a reason. We've got remember."
THE END
(A/N: #1: I can't believe this story is finished! Thanks to everyone who reviewed or read this. Well, I've gotten a few other ideas for a story, so I'll be putting something new out soon.
#2: Does anyone remember the character "Ruki" in my story "New Threats?" At the time I was writing the story I knew nothing about season 03. I thought I was making the name up. Well, one of the new characters in Digimon 03 has the name Ruki! Scary, ne?
#3: Um…there is no three. So that means you can stop listening to my mindless babble! J)