A/N: Konnichi-wa minasan! Kawatta kota wa arimasen ka? (What's new?) I'm in
a mood to write today so that's exactly what I'm going to do! Especially
since my sister has already beaten me for amount of stories written, and
that just can't happen! She's younger, it's not right!!! lol! Anyways, if
you like the story; review, if you didn't; review and tell me what you
thought sucked! Personally I liked writing Ken angst, I think it was needed
in the plot that he would be more then a little disturbed by the Dark Ocean
and all, ne? Oh, and the title of this chapter is based of a riddle, if
you know the answer, be sure to leave it in a review and you'll get special
mentioning next chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or any other anime! Of course, if you're willing to give me the rights to an anime I'm certainly not one to object!
A Reflection of Darkness
Chapter 7. What Falls And Never Breaks?
'It's what's keeping me here, the fear that it will consume me. I think I'm going mad, no one's come to find me, absolutely no one.'
Ken read over the lines again and again, trying in vain to piece together the mystery of Kari's disappearance. He was having no luck trying to solve the riddle though, for every time a piece of information came up, even more questions followed.
'I can't even remember how long I've been here, I don't think that even matters anymore. It really doesn't seem to mind, yet the voids in my memory are starting to scare me. How did I even get here in the first place?'
He stopped reading and sat back in thought. From the sounds of both entries on the wall it seemed like she had been gone a lot longer then she actually was, much longer.
'How is that possible though?' Ken thought scratching the side of his head in frustrated confusion.
Weirder still was the entries in a different language, nothing like Japanese, or even English for that matter. And stranger yet was the fact that it appeared to be in Kari's writing.
Ken stood up and started to pace around the small cave. Back and forth he walked stopping to mumble to himself every few steps.
Finally he got sick of the small area to walk around and went out onto the beach.
The dark waves of the ocean were washing up along the sand quietly, in an almost soothing way as Ken started out along the beach. The light that was cast from the sky created ghostly shadows in the sand and played grim tricks on the imagination.
Ken kicked out in front of him at a small rock in his way, easing some of his mounting frustration. He watched it roll away, trailing a snake like path along the sand a few feet and then coming to a rest only to be kicked by him again.
On and on he kicked the rock, just glad to be able to concentrate on the task at hand. So mesmerized by it in fact, that he didn't even realize until too late that he wasn't alone.
It caught the corner of his eye, someone standing off in the distance.
Then it was gone, almost as soon as it came. It seemed to just disappear out of thin air. Ken cast his gaze in the direction it had been in wonderment. 'That had been a girl, I'm sure of it!' He pondered, and then continued to walk in hopes of seeing it again.
'Okay, strange writing from Kari, next some girl is watching me and then vanishes without a trace! Am I losing it or something here? I mean. What the hell!!!' Ken stopped his mental tirade mid thought, because staring right at him from a distance up on a cliff was the girl who had been watching him earlier.
He couldn't see her really well from where he was, but his mind was screaming to him that he had finally found Kari.
From what he could see at that distance was a girl with shoulder length black hair and pale skin, wearing something of a black outfit, but he couldn't tell.
"Hello?!" He yelled out towards the cliff. The girl's gaze never left him, but she didn't make any attempt at answering either.
Slowly she turned around and started to walk away from him, out of his sight.
"Stop! Who are you?" He shouted, but it was no use. She had vanished from his sight.
"No! Noooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He screamed in agony holding his head in his hands.
'I'm never going to find her! And I'm not going to be able to leave this place! I'm stuck here!'
Ken was now dropped to his knees, and tears slowly started to stream down his face.
"Finally come to a realization, haven't we now?" Someone said, right beside his ear.
Ken snapped his head around, but nobody was there. "Who the hell are you?" He asked in a deadly whisper right before he broke down in hysterics and cried like he never had in his life.
A figure stood watching from the across the beach, a small smile lighting up the features of it's face. "Little do you know how much we control you and your actions Ken."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Night Fall~
Ken awoke with a start, in the middle of the beach. Up above him the moon shone down dark light around the terrain, giving him just enough light to begin searching again.
'Why? Why don't I just give up?' He thought to himself. 'Because it's Kari, that's why!' Another voice in his head piped up. Ken didn't mind this voice, it was his own, just pointing out the not so surprising fact. he liked Kari.
He sighed inwardly. 'Like is an understatement, don't you mean more like love?'
"Yeah, that's what I mean." Ken stated out loud before starting on a desolate path up the side of a hill.
Walking, and walking, he went on for hours and hours, finding nothing. Absolutely nothing to give him any clue as to the right course of action to take. He was about to give up to until he saw it, the lighthouse.
And standing right beside it, the girl, waving him on.
Ken ran, what he'd swear later to be the fastest he had ever ran in his life. And quite sooner then he expected he was there, standing in front of her. Positive she was Kari, yet at the same time completely sure she was not.
They stood, gazes focused on another as if daring the other one to blink first. Ken did. Then his questions seemed to all spill out at once.
"Who are you? You can't be Kari. Why are you here and how did you even get here in the first place?!!" He asked all at once and then stopped to take a breath.
She just looked at him distantly, and then she turned around and stared at the lighthouse. "I'm here, because I want to be here."
Ken was speechless. "How could you want to be here?" He asked her quietly.
"It is my place, mine." She then started to walk towards the lighthouse door.
Ken walked after her and followed her up to the front door, which opened on it's own accord. She casually entered, like doors opening on their own was a normal part of life; he followed her in, casting an uneasy glance at the door.
The room was plain. A dark wooden floor and a staircase leading up was all that seemed to occupy the first floor. She started for the stairs and Ken followed behind.
At the top of the stair case there was a door leading off to the left, which she entered and slammed shut in Ken's face.
Ken stood on the other side of the door silently considering his options. 'I could try and break down the door, or I could knock, or scream for that matter!' After much debate with the issue Ken decided to go with the knock idea. It didn't work so he tried to open the door only to find it locked conveniently enough.
"Okay, this isn't funny anymore! You showed me the way up here so let me in!"
Not a sound could be heard from the other side of the door and Ken figured she wasn't going to open the door in this lifetime. "If you don't open up I'll break the door down!"
A snotty giggle was heard from inside the room. "You, break down a door? You're funny, you must realize that while you're inside my house you will play by my rules."
"Oh, so this is your house! Last time I checked a lighthouse didn't count as domestic living! Open up will you!" Ken yelled the last part especially loud.
"Fine. You didn't have to make such a fuse about it, I was only playing." With that said, the door creaked open, reveling its only occupant sprawled out on a chair.
The room had walls that were painted a dark gray and a floor that was a deep shade of red in color, the type of color one would expect to see on the floor of an authentic log home or nicely modeled ski chalet. The only window in the room faced out over the ocean itself. It wasn't a very big window either, but it was eye catching nonetheless, being about the only escape from the dullness of the room. In the middle of the room there was a bed, the bedspread was gray of course, with black pillows and the chair that she (whoever she was) was sitting on was a very surprising baby blue color.
"You want to know who I am, don't you?" It wasn't really a question she asked, merely a knowing remark.
"Well, yeah, I would like to know. You certainly can't be Kari, I mean you look a bit like her, but that's about it!" As Ken said this, he yet again did a quick assessment of her attributes and appearance. She had black hair, in the same cut and style that Kari had, but she also had a sickly look about her. Like she was slowly dieing; pale skin, with a gray tinge and eyes that were and odd color of gray and black. Then there was the personality; Ken didn't even want to go there! Dark and disturbed seemed to summarize it in his mind. 'Yes, definitely disturbed, kinda like one of those freaky sadistic kids in a horror movie.' He thought.
"Noooooo NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" Ken snapped out of his train of thought at hearing her screams. She was clutching at her chair like it was the very essence of her being, and then he realized why! The chair was slowly changing color from its baby blue, to a deep black shade.
She stopped screaming when the chair finished changing, and instead sighed in what seemed to be defeat.
"Why did it do that?" Ken asked, sitting down at the end of the bed.
"Everything does that, nothing keeps itself." She explained simply, looking down at her hands, which were presently folded in her lap.
"What do you mean by, 'nothing keeps itself'?"
Lifting a finger, she pointed directly at Ken, confusing him even more. "Go look in the mirror," she added, turning her head in the direction of one of the walls.
Ken got up off the bed, and made his way over to the mirror, dread starting to slowly sink in. It was a full length mirror with a black frame around it, quite interesting, if it hadn't come from the Dark Ocean he may have wanted something of its likes in his room.
"What? I don't see anything wro." Ken started, but finally found something, his eyes, they were black. "Oh! My eyes have changed. Why?"
"My, you do ask a lot of questions, don't you? Do you know anything?!" She snapped, her bitchy and superior attitude back. "Well let me inform you that you can't beat it! Nobody can, so just forget that notion. I'm sure you've at least realized by now that you have slowly started to become part of this place."
"I guess," Ken started, "but I don't believe it can't be beat."
"Believe what you want, but for now you are at my mercy. and by tomorrow you will be at my beck and call!" She got up off the chair and started walking towards the door. "Now I've got business to attend to, have a nice night!" And with that said, she left out the door, slamming it shut.
Ken didn't make a move to get off the bed; it would have been pointless, after all, the door was locked. He didn't need to check it to know it. Much like how he didn't need prove to believe that whatever was, used to be someone he knew, someone he wanted to get to know better for that matter.
"Kari, what's happened to you?"
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or any other anime! Of course, if you're willing to give me the rights to an anime I'm certainly not one to object!
A Reflection of Darkness
Chapter 7. What Falls And Never Breaks?
'It's what's keeping me here, the fear that it will consume me. I think I'm going mad, no one's come to find me, absolutely no one.'
Ken read over the lines again and again, trying in vain to piece together the mystery of Kari's disappearance. He was having no luck trying to solve the riddle though, for every time a piece of information came up, even more questions followed.
'I can't even remember how long I've been here, I don't think that even matters anymore. It really doesn't seem to mind, yet the voids in my memory are starting to scare me. How did I even get here in the first place?'
He stopped reading and sat back in thought. From the sounds of both entries on the wall it seemed like she had been gone a lot longer then she actually was, much longer.
'How is that possible though?' Ken thought scratching the side of his head in frustrated confusion.
Weirder still was the entries in a different language, nothing like Japanese, or even English for that matter. And stranger yet was the fact that it appeared to be in Kari's writing.
Ken stood up and started to pace around the small cave. Back and forth he walked stopping to mumble to himself every few steps.
Finally he got sick of the small area to walk around and went out onto the beach.
The dark waves of the ocean were washing up along the sand quietly, in an almost soothing way as Ken started out along the beach. The light that was cast from the sky created ghostly shadows in the sand and played grim tricks on the imagination.
Ken kicked out in front of him at a small rock in his way, easing some of his mounting frustration. He watched it roll away, trailing a snake like path along the sand a few feet and then coming to a rest only to be kicked by him again.
On and on he kicked the rock, just glad to be able to concentrate on the task at hand. So mesmerized by it in fact, that he didn't even realize until too late that he wasn't alone.
It caught the corner of his eye, someone standing off in the distance.
Then it was gone, almost as soon as it came. It seemed to just disappear out of thin air. Ken cast his gaze in the direction it had been in wonderment. 'That had been a girl, I'm sure of it!' He pondered, and then continued to walk in hopes of seeing it again.
'Okay, strange writing from Kari, next some girl is watching me and then vanishes without a trace! Am I losing it or something here? I mean. What the hell!!!' Ken stopped his mental tirade mid thought, because staring right at him from a distance up on a cliff was the girl who had been watching him earlier.
He couldn't see her really well from where he was, but his mind was screaming to him that he had finally found Kari.
From what he could see at that distance was a girl with shoulder length black hair and pale skin, wearing something of a black outfit, but he couldn't tell.
"Hello?!" He yelled out towards the cliff. The girl's gaze never left him, but she didn't make any attempt at answering either.
Slowly she turned around and started to walk away from him, out of his sight.
"Stop! Who are you?" He shouted, but it was no use. She had vanished from his sight.
"No! Noooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He screamed in agony holding his head in his hands.
'I'm never going to find her! And I'm not going to be able to leave this place! I'm stuck here!'
Ken was now dropped to his knees, and tears slowly started to stream down his face.
"Finally come to a realization, haven't we now?" Someone said, right beside his ear.
Ken snapped his head around, but nobody was there. "Who the hell are you?" He asked in a deadly whisper right before he broke down in hysterics and cried like he never had in his life.
A figure stood watching from the across the beach, a small smile lighting up the features of it's face. "Little do you know how much we control you and your actions Ken."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~Night Fall~
Ken awoke with a start, in the middle of the beach. Up above him the moon shone down dark light around the terrain, giving him just enough light to begin searching again.
'Why? Why don't I just give up?' He thought to himself. 'Because it's Kari, that's why!' Another voice in his head piped up. Ken didn't mind this voice, it was his own, just pointing out the not so surprising fact. he liked Kari.
He sighed inwardly. 'Like is an understatement, don't you mean more like love?'
"Yeah, that's what I mean." Ken stated out loud before starting on a desolate path up the side of a hill.
Walking, and walking, he went on for hours and hours, finding nothing. Absolutely nothing to give him any clue as to the right course of action to take. He was about to give up to until he saw it, the lighthouse.
And standing right beside it, the girl, waving him on.
Ken ran, what he'd swear later to be the fastest he had ever ran in his life. And quite sooner then he expected he was there, standing in front of her. Positive she was Kari, yet at the same time completely sure she was not.
They stood, gazes focused on another as if daring the other one to blink first. Ken did. Then his questions seemed to all spill out at once.
"Who are you? You can't be Kari. Why are you here and how did you even get here in the first place?!!" He asked all at once and then stopped to take a breath.
She just looked at him distantly, and then she turned around and stared at the lighthouse. "I'm here, because I want to be here."
Ken was speechless. "How could you want to be here?" He asked her quietly.
"It is my place, mine." She then started to walk towards the lighthouse door.
Ken walked after her and followed her up to the front door, which opened on it's own accord. She casually entered, like doors opening on their own was a normal part of life; he followed her in, casting an uneasy glance at the door.
The room was plain. A dark wooden floor and a staircase leading up was all that seemed to occupy the first floor. She started for the stairs and Ken followed behind.
At the top of the stair case there was a door leading off to the left, which she entered and slammed shut in Ken's face.
Ken stood on the other side of the door silently considering his options. 'I could try and break down the door, or I could knock, or scream for that matter!' After much debate with the issue Ken decided to go with the knock idea. It didn't work so he tried to open the door only to find it locked conveniently enough.
"Okay, this isn't funny anymore! You showed me the way up here so let me in!"
Not a sound could be heard from the other side of the door and Ken figured she wasn't going to open the door in this lifetime. "If you don't open up I'll break the door down!"
A snotty giggle was heard from inside the room. "You, break down a door? You're funny, you must realize that while you're inside my house you will play by my rules."
"Oh, so this is your house! Last time I checked a lighthouse didn't count as domestic living! Open up will you!" Ken yelled the last part especially loud.
"Fine. You didn't have to make such a fuse about it, I was only playing." With that said, the door creaked open, reveling its only occupant sprawled out on a chair.
The room had walls that were painted a dark gray and a floor that was a deep shade of red in color, the type of color one would expect to see on the floor of an authentic log home or nicely modeled ski chalet. The only window in the room faced out over the ocean itself. It wasn't a very big window either, but it was eye catching nonetheless, being about the only escape from the dullness of the room. In the middle of the room there was a bed, the bedspread was gray of course, with black pillows and the chair that she (whoever she was) was sitting on was a very surprising baby blue color.
"You want to know who I am, don't you?" It wasn't really a question she asked, merely a knowing remark.
"Well, yeah, I would like to know. You certainly can't be Kari, I mean you look a bit like her, but that's about it!" As Ken said this, he yet again did a quick assessment of her attributes and appearance. She had black hair, in the same cut and style that Kari had, but she also had a sickly look about her. Like she was slowly dieing; pale skin, with a gray tinge and eyes that were and odd color of gray and black. Then there was the personality; Ken didn't even want to go there! Dark and disturbed seemed to summarize it in his mind. 'Yes, definitely disturbed, kinda like one of those freaky sadistic kids in a horror movie.' He thought.
"Noooooo NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!" Ken snapped out of his train of thought at hearing her screams. She was clutching at her chair like it was the very essence of her being, and then he realized why! The chair was slowly changing color from its baby blue, to a deep black shade.
She stopped screaming when the chair finished changing, and instead sighed in what seemed to be defeat.
"Why did it do that?" Ken asked, sitting down at the end of the bed.
"Everything does that, nothing keeps itself." She explained simply, looking down at her hands, which were presently folded in her lap.
"What do you mean by, 'nothing keeps itself'?"
Lifting a finger, she pointed directly at Ken, confusing him even more. "Go look in the mirror," she added, turning her head in the direction of one of the walls.
Ken got up off the bed, and made his way over to the mirror, dread starting to slowly sink in. It was a full length mirror with a black frame around it, quite interesting, if it hadn't come from the Dark Ocean he may have wanted something of its likes in his room.
"What? I don't see anything wro." Ken started, but finally found something, his eyes, they were black. "Oh! My eyes have changed. Why?"
"My, you do ask a lot of questions, don't you? Do you know anything?!" She snapped, her bitchy and superior attitude back. "Well let me inform you that you can't beat it! Nobody can, so just forget that notion. I'm sure you've at least realized by now that you have slowly started to become part of this place."
"I guess," Ken started, "but I don't believe it can't be beat."
"Believe what you want, but for now you are at my mercy. and by tomorrow you will be at my beck and call!" She got up off the chair and started walking towards the door. "Now I've got business to attend to, have a nice night!" And with that said, she left out the door, slamming it shut.
Ken didn't make a move to get off the bed; it would have been pointless, after all, the door was locked. He didn't need to check it to know it. Much like how he didn't need prove to believe that whatever was, used to be someone he knew, someone he wanted to get to know better for that matter.
"Kari, what's happened to you?"