AN: This is the last chapter. Rather lame ending. Enjoy. All done. Bye bye.
Chapter 6
The word still echoed around the walls of the canyon, but no one noticed. For the instant Hikari had spoken, a ring of seething black energy, crackling with power, rippled out in a shockwave from the portal. The instant it hit Hikari, it latched to her body and she began shaking violently.
Koushiro, watching from below, only just managed to dodge the shockwave and watched in horror as Kabuterimon flew up the distance separating him from Hikari.
She was vibrating, so fast her features were blurred. A miniature beam of the dark light hit Hikari in her chest and her body was blasted backwards, still vibrating, leaving a luminescent white form that Koushiro later described as a "shadow copy". Even as he watched, it writhed in what seemed unbearable agony, if the tortured scream that came from its mouth was to be believed. The shadow seemed to hesitate, then was drawn more and more rapidly toward the portal. Koushiro jumped from Kabuterimon, hardly feeling the pain of his broken ankle, and reached Hikari just in time to see the shadow disappear into the portal, which then disappeared in a last outburst of light.
"No!" came the strangled voice of the boy.
Hikari's body ceased vibrating and fell to the ground on top of Koushiro. The extra weight proved to be too much, and the hastily made splint fractured, allowing the ankle to buckle. He crumpled to the ground, tears of pain and frustration mingling on his cheeks.
A short distance away, Kabuterimon landed and allowed Gatomon to hop off before de-digivolving back to his Tentomon form. One look at his life-mate's stricken face and any words died without being spoken. He wrapped one talon around Gatomon's shoulders and watched Koushiro cradle Hikari's body in his lap, rocking back and forth while the tears rained down.
********
It was as if a bucket of ice-cold water had been poured over her head.
Hikari gasped and jerked reflexively. She was in a strange place, where light glowed from everywhere. There seemed to be no bottom to the place, indeed, no sense of up or down either. It was almost as if she was back in that white place, back when Apocalymon had deleted them, and she hated it now with as much of a vengeance as she had then.
An echoing voice sounded, but she wasn't able to distinguish the words until a mist swirled and formed into a viable form in front of her.
"Takeru!" She ran forwards, but he shook his head and drifted back.
"I can't, Hikari... I need your help... I'm suffering here, I need to get on to the next plane..."
"No! Please come back, I, I can't think with you gone..." Hikari was sobbing, tears running down her cheeks as she continued murmuring, sinking into a small ball and rocking.
"Hikari..."
She raised her head.
"You know as well as I do I can't come back... It would tear the connection between the worlds, destroy the links, permit the evil from other realms to come and go as they pleased... You shouldn't be here either, Hikari... It's not your time..."
"But I'm lost without you! I have no one..."
"That's a lie... You have Koushiro..."
"Koushiro?"
"He loves you, Hikari, even if neither of you knows it... If you can permit yourself to love again, I can move on because you won't need me to fill that void in your being..."
Hikari wavered, and in that instant, Takeru saw it.
A tendril of darkness wavered just behind Hikari's ear like a strand of hair.
"Hikari! The dark... it's controlling you! It wants you to break the connection and let it roam free! You have to fight it!"
"But if I let you go, no one will love me."
"That's not true and you know it! Your family and friends love you, especially Koushiro!"
"He doesn't love me..."
"That's the dark talking! Fight it!"
Hikari wavered.
*****************
Koushiro raised Hikari's body close to his head. He whispered through his tears into her lifeless ear.
"Don't go... I love you."
*****************
"I love you."
The words echoed in the white marred by the dark. Hikari raised her head.
"Love?"
Takeru's chest began to glow with the crest of Hope. The darkness shrank a little.
"Koushiro loves... me?"
Hikari's chest began to glow as well with the crest of Light. The dark pulled back and writhed.
"He loves me."
A bolt of pure light shot from Hikari and hit the dark dead center. It shattered into a million pieces. Takeru began to fade.
"Goodbye, Hikari... Thank you... Always remember, hope gives light in the darkness... Don't forget me!"
He disappeared.
Hikari smiled.
*****************
A pure white beam shot from the sky into Hikari's body. She gasped and opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was Koushiro's astonished face. She smiled and pulled him close.
"I love you too."
Sitting there, kissing Koushiro, Hikari knew everything would be all right. She broke the kiss and whispered, "Let's go home."
FIN
AN: Finally done!! Almost a whole year to write. ::smacks self for laziness::
Feedback greatly appreciated, and sorry for the wait. To anyone who's been reading since day one: Thanks, guys!
Chapter 6
The word still echoed around the walls of the canyon, but no one noticed. For the instant Hikari had spoken, a ring of seething black energy, crackling with power, rippled out in a shockwave from the portal. The instant it hit Hikari, it latched to her body and she began shaking violently.
Koushiro, watching from below, only just managed to dodge the shockwave and watched in horror as Kabuterimon flew up the distance separating him from Hikari.
She was vibrating, so fast her features were blurred. A miniature beam of the dark light hit Hikari in her chest and her body was blasted backwards, still vibrating, leaving a luminescent white form that Koushiro later described as a "shadow copy". Even as he watched, it writhed in what seemed unbearable agony, if the tortured scream that came from its mouth was to be believed. The shadow seemed to hesitate, then was drawn more and more rapidly toward the portal. Koushiro jumped from Kabuterimon, hardly feeling the pain of his broken ankle, and reached Hikari just in time to see the shadow disappear into the portal, which then disappeared in a last outburst of light.
"No!" came the strangled voice of the boy.
Hikari's body ceased vibrating and fell to the ground on top of Koushiro. The extra weight proved to be too much, and the hastily made splint fractured, allowing the ankle to buckle. He crumpled to the ground, tears of pain and frustration mingling on his cheeks.
A short distance away, Kabuterimon landed and allowed Gatomon to hop off before de-digivolving back to his Tentomon form. One look at his life-mate's stricken face and any words died without being spoken. He wrapped one talon around Gatomon's shoulders and watched Koushiro cradle Hikari's body in his lap, rocking back and forth while the tears rained down.
********
It was as if a bucket of ice-cold water had been poured over her head.
Hikari gasped and jerked reflexively. She was in a strange place, where light glowed from everywhere. There seemed to be no bottom to the place, indeed, no sense of up or down either. It was almost as if she was back in that white place, back when Apocalymon had deleted them, and she hated it now with as much of a vengeance as she had then.
An echoing voice sounded, but she wasn't able to distinguish the words until a mist swirled and formed into a viable form in front of her.
"Takeru!" She ran forwards, but he shook his head and drifted back.
"I can't, Hikari... I need your help... I'm suffering here, I need to get on to the next plane..."
"No! Please come back, I, I can't think with you gone..." Hikari was sobbing, tears running down her cheeks as she continued murmuring, sinking into a small ball and rocking.
"Hikari..."
She raised her head.
"You know as well as I do I can't come back... It would tear the connection between the worlds, destroy the links, permit the evil from other realms to come and go as they pleased... You shouldn't be here either, Hikari... It's not your time..."
"But I'm lost without you! I have no one..."
"That's a lie... You have Koushiro..."
"Koushiro?"
"He loves you, Hikari, even if neither of you knows it... If you can permit yourself to love again, I can move on because you won't need me to fill that void in your being..."
Hikari wavered, and in that instant, Takeru saw it.
A tendril of darkness wavered just behind Hikari's ear like a strand of hair.
"Hikari! The dark... it's controlling you! It wants you to break the connection and let it roam free! You have to fight it!"
"But if I let you go, no one will love me."
"That's not true and you know it! Your family and friends love you, especially Koushiro!"
"He doesn't love me..."
"That's the dark talking! Fight it!"
Hikari wavered.
*****************
Koushiro raised Hikari's body close to his head. He whispered through his tears into her lifeless ear.
"Don't go... I love you."
*****************
"I love you."
The words echoed in the white marred by the dark. Hikari raised her head.
"Love?"
Takeru's chest began to glow with the crest of Hope. The darkness shrank a little.
"Koushiro loves... me?"
Hikari's chest began to glow as well with the crest of Light. The dark pulled back and writhed.
"He loves me."
A bolt of pure light shot from Hikari and hit the dark dead center. It shattered into a million pieces. Takeru began to fade.
"Goodbye, Hikari... Thank you... Always remember, hope gives light in the darkness... Don't forget me!"
He disappeared.
Hikari smiled.
*****************
A pure white beam shot from the sky into Hikari's body. She gasped and opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was Koushiro's astonished face. She smiled and pulled him close.
"I love you too."
Sitting there, kissing Koushiro, Hikari knew everything would be all right. She broke the kiss and whispered, "Let's go home."
FIN
AN: Finally done!! Almost a whole year to write. ::smacks self for laziness::
Feedback greatly appreciated, and sorry for the wait. To anyone who's been reading since day one: Thanks, guys!