Oh my…cliffhanger, ne? Well, don't worry. She's not dead. Honest.
Predestined
Chapter Thirteen: Return to the Land of the Living
"Kinaka's…dead?"
Matt's face was grey and drawn as he spoke the two hardest words he'd ever had to say in his life. He looked as though he'd aged twenty years in a matter of seconds.
Angel let out a choked cry and clutched her husband's arm. "Matt, it's not true," she said fervently. "It can't be! She's not dead!"
Lauren looked up, her face pale and blotched from, crying. "It's true, Mrs. Ishida," she said quietly. "She drowned. Lee tried to save her, but…" And she began to sob again. Auroramon was cradled in her arms, whimpering. The Digimon's bright eyes were clouded over with unshed tears.
Angel swayed. "Kina…" she said softly, before slumping over onto her husband into a dead faint.
Matt set his wife down gently, tears trickling down his face. "Did you…find her?" he asked, shaking.
"We're having the Fiannamon drain the lake right now. When we find her…body…" Leon choked out, "…we'll send it through the Port."
Kari collapsed into tears and sat heavily onto the sofa. TK put his arm around her and tried to soothe her.
"Mama, don't cry," Tania said suddenly, pressing her little hand to the screen. "Kina is fine. She's safe right now, I just know it."
Kari raised her head, and saw her little girl's eyes blazing in her tired face. Tania knew something…but what?
"I don't know where we are," Julian admits. He runs to Kinaka and throws his arms around her middle. "I thought you were gonna die!"
"I might have, if it weren't for you. How did you save me, anyway? —Wait. I don't think I want to know just yet." Kinaka stares in awe at the sheer beauty of this dimension. "Have you been here all this time?"
"Yes," he avers. Seeing the shocked look on her face, he hastens to add, "And I don't know how I got here either."
Someone clearing their throat cuts their little reunion short. Julian lets go of his sister and motions to the tiny ball of fuzz hanging suspended in the air next to him. "Oh, this is Chicamon," he says. "He's my partner."
Kinaka holds out her hand, although it's clear that Chicamon doesn't have any hands to shake with. "Um…it's a pleasure to meet you."
Chicamon lunges for Kinaka's hand and bites it with his tiny sharp teeth. She gives a furious shriek and shakes him off her. "What the hell did you do that for?" she asks angrily when his teeth are disengaged from her skin. She puts her bleeding fingers into her mouth.
"He thinks you're edible!" Julian says in a whispered hush.
"I wanted to see if you bleed, witch. Let me see the wound," Chicamon demands her.
Taken aback from a command by a little thing no bigger than her fist, Kinaka hesitantly complies. Chicamon watches as a single drop of blood slowly oozes out of her finger and floats upward. On its way up, it touches one of the musical orbs and lights it up. It seems to spin faster and shine even more radiantly before it slowly descends right into Kinaka's outstretched hand.
Fascinated, she peers closer at the orb—and is shocked by what she sees. She is gazing upon a pair of frantic Fiannamon draining the lake; her parents, half-wild with sorrow; her friends, encircled by candles; her Auroramon's face, with silvery tears glistening on her eyelashes; and Tania's face illuminated by firelight…her eyes closed, seeking out her cousin, for she knows that Kinaka is not dead.
"They—" Kinaka could barely find the words. "They think I'm dead. Drowned…am I dead? Is this Heaven? Oh my God, does that mean that you're dead too, Julian?"
Julian's eyes go wide. "I hope not! I don't wanna be dead!"
"Can you take the red-eye flight?" Yolei pleaded her daughter. "I wouldn't be asking you if it wasn't important."
"What happened, Mom?" Cleo asked fearfully. "Something went wrong?"
Yolei struggled against the torrent of tears that were building up behind her eyes and choked out, "Kinaka's dead. She…she drowned, right after the first battle."
"Drowned? During a battle?" Cleo's voice was filled with apprehension.
"The woman in charge of the opposition created a whirlpool in a lake…oh, it's hard to explain. But your friends are going to need help now, more than ever," Ken said on the other line. "Please, sweetheart, you've got to come back home. And don't tell us you need to finish your exams first!"
"Oh, Dad…" Cleo dabbed her eyes and blew her nose loudly into the receiver. "My exams are over. And you know I'm coming. There's no way I'm leaving my friends in the lurch. Is Dee coming too?"
"We've already called. She's taking the first flight out. Listen, honey…pack everything you think you'll need for being in the field. First aid kit, warm clothes, water bottles, anything useful. We don't want…anything to happen to you." Yolei was really starting to cry now. "Just come home, OK?"
"All right, Mom," Cleo promised. "I'll leave right now. Bye."
"Bye, honey."
Cleo hung up, thoroughly rattled. Lena, her roommate, looked over at the girl and stared. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"I—I have to go back home," she stuttered. "One of my friends just died."
Angel lay curled up into the fetal position, with her husband's arms around her. "Oh, God, Matt," she wept. "When I think of all that I made her endure…giving her up…cutting her out of my life…treating her so horribly when she came to live with me…I just can't face tomorrow, I can't! If I had known…that she was going to die so young…I would have…" Here she gave up and just cried into his chest.
Matt soothed her the best he could, saying, "It wasn't your fault. You didn't know."
"I just can't believe she's…gone. Forever. My baby girl…"
"Our only girl…" Matt's tears spilled over. "I'll miss her so much!"
The two anguished adults felt nothing but bitter pain that night. Nor could they sleep from their grief and suffering, and it was a long, sorrowful night for the two of them as they mourned the loss of their eldest child.
The Digidestined were also awake all night in their vigil for Kinaka. As the two Fiannamon who had volunteered to drain the lake worked fervently through the evening, they placed a wide circle of candles around the lake and comforted eachother all night.
Lauren and Auroramon were, understandably, inconsolable. Usaiamon attempted to calm her partner and her best friend, but to no avail.
Some time in the middle of the night, around two in the morning, the Fiannamon approached the group. "We didn't find her body," they said, looking tired and sad. "Do you want us to make a further search?"
"Do anything you can," Rachael told them firmly. "We need to be able to find her, for her family's sake."
Lee looked in shock and surprise at the eleven-year-old girl who had taken her place as leader. She could barely believe that Rachael was able to stay calm in this time of sorrow, when Lee herself was hardly able to keep from crying every time she thought about her cousin and the fact that she was now missing from her life.
Sometime later, they all managed to fall asleep. They all slept deeply, with their partners cuddled against them. Leon and Jenna, however, were told to stay up in case Cleo and Deanna contacted them or arrived out of the blue.
Leon poked the dying embers of the fire and looked across the fire pit at Jenna. "I still can't believe she's gone," he sighed.
Jenna came up next to him and sat on her heels. "I don't think any of us can."
"You know, I just keep thinking—what if I had been nearer to her when she fell? I could have caught her."
"I keep thinking, if only you hadn't pushed me out of the way…" She put one hand on his shoulder and sighed. "I know we can't blame ourselves. It was Lady Kazuma who killed her. Not us."
"I know." He put his head in his hands. "What are we gonna do without her?" he said, and his voice was thick.
She cautiously touched his hand. "Leon? Are you gonna be okay?"
She didn't get an answer; he was crying into his hands. Jenna wrapped her arms around him tightly and held him to her as he finally let himself grieve for his cousin. Unknown to her, tears were also pouring down her face.
When he was done, he lifted his head and sighed deeply. "I still love you, Jenna," he said. "You know that. I just have to say it again, because—" he swallowed hard "—if you end up dying in these battles too, and you don't hear me say it again…"
"Oh!" A choked cry was torn out of Jenna's throat as his hand reached for hers and held it.
"I love you too, Leon. I guess you know that too." She bowed her head, and he caught her chin and kissed her gravely on the forehead. They wrapped their arms around eachother and sat there, watching as the second moon waxed full in the sky.
"It's terrible, you know, that it takes a death to bring us back together," she said, gently touching his unshaven cheek that was still wet with tears. "It shouldn't have come to this."
"But it did. Don't worry, Jenna. We will avenge her, even if we die too."
"You're not dead!" Chicamon says sharply. "This is just a gateway suspended between the Digital World and Earth. Your father crossed through it, numerous times. I can't say the same for your mother, unfortunately."
"Yeah, OK. So we're not dead?"
"What did I just tell you? Don't you believe me?"
Kinaka crosses her arms over her chest. "Actually, no. I mean, you somehow dragged me in here, and not to mention my baby brother as well! Now my friends think I'm dead—hell, I don't even know if I'm alive or not—and you just bit me, you little ball of fluff, just so you could see me bleed and so I could have a vision…as though you think I haven't been having them all my life! Let's not forget the fact that you're Julian's partner, and you seem to be way older than he is, though you're a Hatchling…"
"Kina, be quiet!" Julian says to her.
She raises her fists. "I'm not done yelling at him yet!" she says hotly.
"No, I mean listen. I hear someone coming."
The moment the words leave his lips, two figures go by, obviously on their way through the Port. Both have blonde hair (though one has a much shorter hairstyle). Both are definitely female. Both are Digidestined.
Kinaka stares as they go on by. She knows who they are; after all, she spent nearly a month with them four years before. "Cleo! Deanna!" she calls out joyfully, latching onto Cleo's wrist. Cleo looks behind her, and is shocked to see Kinaka being pulled after her.
"Kinaka…? But…you're dead!" she cries out.
Julian speeds up behind them, Chicamon tucked under one arm. "Kina, take me with you!" he cried. He grabs a fistful of her hair, and suddenly…
…Everything exploded into light. When the light cleared, the four of them were standing on the shore of the refilled lake. Their friends stood nearby, all goggling with open mouths and bulging eyes at the sight of their supposedly dead comrade.
Kinaka gently disentangled her brother's small hands from her hair. She gave everyone gathered a little wave and said, "Hi, guys. I'm back from the dead."
"KINA!!!!!!!!!!!" Lauren screamed, throwing herself at Kinaka. At first Kinaka thought that her DNA partner was going to hug her, so she opened her arms. But Lauren just simply charged up to her and shoved her backwards into the lake.
"WE THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD! THANKS SO MUCH FOR SCARING US, BITCH!" Lauren yelled down at her.
Kinaka's eyes glittered fiercely, and she reached up and grabbed Lauren's ankle. The other girl fell, shrieking and cursing, into the water. She came up spluttering. "Where the hell were you? Wait…I don't care, I'm just glad you're back!" Treading water, she pulled her friend into a hug and wept into her shoulder. "You're alive, that's all that counts!"
A third splash sounded out. Auroramon had leaped into the water, and had her arms around Kinaka's neck. "You scared me so bad!" she sobbed. "Never do that to me again!"
"Uh…Auroramon? YOU'RE CHOKING ME!" Kinaka gurgled. Auroramon didn't seem to hear and almost forced her head under. "You'll drown me—for real this time!"
Auroramon gave a startled shriek and jumped off of her.
Tania approached the water's edge, holding Kanejamon in her hands. "We knew you weren't gone," she said simply, in a low voice that only Kinaka heard.
Kinaka stood in front of the screen of the laptop, her head bowed. "Sorry I gave you such a scare, Mom and Dad," she said, feeling much chastened by the harrowing experience.
Angel shrieked in surprise and almost fainted again. "Kinaka Rei Darcey Ishida!" she hollered. "Do you know what you put your father and I through in the last twenty-four hours? Where the hell were you? You scared the shit out of us, do you know that? You are in deep trouble, young lady!"
"Hi, Momma," little Julian suddenly piped up from behind his big sister. He gave his mom a big smile, and this time, she really did fall over from shock.
Matt stared in surprise at his youngest child. "Kinaka, are you and your brother purposely trying to give us premature grey hairs? Not to mention heart attacks!" In truth, Matt only had a few silver hairs at his sideburns and Angel had none, although she had never dyed her hair.
Kinaka shrugged. "If you wanted to stay young forever, why did you have kids?" she asked glibly.
Julian giggled. "Daddy's getting old," he grinned.
"Forty-five is NOT old, young man!"
For three weeks, they battled every day without a single incident. Every battle won, every trench taken, seemed to fortify the Fiannamon and make them stronger. Despite the strain they were under, and even though they were up against fresh troops every day, they and the Digidestined were working hard to keep Lady Kazuma out of Starlight Plains for good.
That was why it was such a shock when they lost three battles in a row, as well as sixteen Fiannamon.
"Cheer up. We've got one week left before the big night," Rachael said to the despondent troops.
"Cheer up?!" Lucas squawked. "Our Digimon are still stuck as Champions, and Tania and Julian's partners are just a Rookie and a Hatchling! What makes you think we're gonna win this if we can't even contribute?"
"Hey!" Tania cried. She hugged Kanejamon to her chest and glared at Lucas. "You're really mean, did anyone ever tell you that?"
"Calm down, sis," Kiko said, putting a hand on Tania's shoulder. He faced Rachael and said, "I think it would probably be better for us if our Digimon could all go to the Mega level. Ours have before…and there's absolutely nothing stopping your partners from digivolving any higher."
Rachael stopped for a moment and thought hard. "Hmm…" she said finally after much deliberation. "And you're sure they can do it?"
Lee shrugged. "They did it once before, but we were on a big, huge power surge. I'm thinking that maybe we have to be battling hard enough for it to happen."
"Like we haven't been! Listen, Lee, I like Kiko's plan, and I think we should try to execute it. What say, troops?" Rachael turned and faced them all, her face aglow with anticipation. "Maybe those of us whose Digimon can't digivolve any higher will be able to if we try!"
The plan was met with seventeen other heads nodding fervently.
"Sounds good to me."
"So long as nobody gets killed, and for real this time, I'm all for it."
"If we can get the power…sure. Why the hell not?"
"Then it's settled!" Rachael cried brightly. "See, I'm not so bad at this Digidestined stuff as you thought I'd be, big sister!"
Deanna groaned and shook her head. "Why did I have to be stuck in a family of Digidestined…"