Author's notes: This is something I decided to cook up as an I'm sorry for not updating in ages story. It goes with The Crests Within and is at the beginning of the three years that Tk and Ken have moved away.
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or the characters.
The Darkness within the Dreams.
A hand slowly brought a whip up and down again slamming into the poor digimon's back. A small cry uttered from it's mouth as the whip came down again and again.
"You will obey me! I rule here, I am superior!" The words were one of the three things to be heard in the forest, which trees seem to press in upon the two figures. The sound of the whip mingled with the digimon's cries as the teenage boy taught it's new pet what it meant to defy him.
"Will you ever disobey me again?"
"N . . no."
"I can't hear you." The violet haired boy sneered. "No s . . sir I will never dis . . . disobey you again my emperor."
"Glad to hear it." Ken Ichijouji know to most as the digimon emperor smirked at the digimon as it made a pitiful attempt to crawl away. Snorting Ken and clicked his fingers, a Tyrannomon bent down and Ken hopped on. Leaving the digimon in the deadly silent forest, Ken smiled he like the peace. It meant no lower disgusting filthy monsters running around.
~*~
Ken was standing in the middle of the desert watching as the digimon emperor was attacked again and again. Screams and threats were hurled at his old self, just like when they were fighting Malomyotismon. Then came the worst part, the digidestined appeared. Getting their own turn at throwing punches and insults at him.
"We hate you!"
"You ruined everything!"
"Who could ever care about a creature like you?" Ken screwed his eyes shut only to hear Wormmon's voice fill his head. He opened his eyes to see his blackness and his digimon, he fell suddenly. Ken cried out, diving forward to catch his friend.
"Ken why couldn't you save me?!" Wormmon's words repeated themselves over and over as he rose his head and screamed.
Ken sat bolt upright in bed, wiping the sweat from his face with a shaking hand. He leaned forward slightly, breathing deeply as he tried to get his breathing back to normal. This was the tenth nightmare he had had since he got here. Binshou's boarding school for gifted children. He snorted, he'd prefer to be back with Davis and the others. A small frown flickered across his face. He missed Davis, the loud-mouthed boy did always know how to cheer him up and he had always helped Ken out with dreams back then. It seemed so long ago when he had only been here for a month and a half. Sighing Ken pulled his blanket back and swung his legs over the bed. Standing up he walked into the kitchen and pulled a glass out the cupboard. He flicked the tap on and filled it to the brim, the cold water spilling over the edge as he wandered to the sofa. Sitting down he turned the TV on and curled up, preparing himself for a long night. There was no getting back to sleep after one of those dreams.
Ken wearily fixed his eyes on the TV, the fuzzy images not making any sense to him at all. His eyes flickered shut and he forced them open, he was too afraid to revisit the land of dreams again tonight. He was so focused on not closing his eyes that he didn't notice the other blonde youth walk across the floor to the kitchen. He didn't see him pulling a few things out the cupboard. In fact he didn't realise anyone was there until a cup of steaming hot chocolate was held in front of his face. He looked up at Tk who gave him a small smile and pushed the mug into Ken's hand and sat down with his own. Ken suddenly became aware of how cold he was just sitting there in a pair of thin pyjamas. He felt the warmth course through him as he took a sip.
"What woke you up?"
"Dream."
"I take it was a bad dream." Ken nodded and took another long sip. "I have bad dreams sometimes too. Do you know what my bad dreams are about?" Ken mentally frowned, not knowing where Tk was going with this but shook his head at the blonde anyway. "I dream of the arguments my parents used to have when me and Matt were little. We would sit hugging each other as they threw insults that I'm sure no three and six year old should have heard at each other." A sad smile flickered across Tk's face at this point but it soon vanished to be replaced by a rather blank expression, "Somehow in my conscious I would remember that Matt and me were now back together again and that he would never leave me. But since I got here I've been having them all over again." He turned to face Ken at this point offering him a sad smile, "I guess it's because I'm scared that we're going to grow apart again like we did when our parent's divorced." Ken blinked, why was Tk telling him this? In fact he was rather amazed that Tk had a fear, people described him as perfect. But then again Tk had also gone into one of those dream fantasies when facing Malomyotismon. He supposed he had always believed the boy to have a perfect life to go along with his perfect personality. By the smile flickering across Tk's lips, he guessed the blonde had read him like a book.
"Suppose you didn't see that coming. Nobody does, they believe that I'm always happy and the word upset would never be in the same sentence as my name. In fact excluding you there are only three people that know I'm not super happy all the time. Matt, Kari and Tai. I don't think I could ask for better friends. I love them for who they are including their flaws."
"Some people have bigger flaws than others though." Ken whispered turning his head away.
"Perhaps."
"And some people accept those flaws and go out of their way to perfect them."
"Mmmmmm."
"That means hurting the others around them, how can somebody accept a person if they're like that?"
"What are you afraid of Ken?" Ken started and turned to stare at Tk, what on earth was the blonde on about now?
"I think you're afraid that we're going to not accept you." Ken took in a sharp breath, he had been worried that they wouldn't accept him. And if they did accept they would forget why they accepted him in the first place if he was away for so long.
"I became evil, how could anyone accept me?"
"I hate the powers of Darkness Ken, you know that."
Ken looked down, pain lacing his heart. If Tk, the kind optimistic one of the group could despise him then the rest of them surely could.
"But I don't hate you." Tk stood up as Ken's head snapped up eyes landing on Tk's back. "You're not evil Ken. The Darkness just caught you at your weakest moment I've been there. I've seen the darkness, felt it tug at my soul and call to me to release my anger upon the world. In all honesty if someone had given me the chance I probably would have taken it. I was lucky that I had Matt and the others to help." He turned to give Ken a small smile, "Don't beat yourself up over it, everyone makes mistakes. And if we can forgive you, do you think you can forgive yourself."
"I'll try."
"That's all I wanted to hear." His smile brightened and Ken found himself thinking of something the bearer of light had once said. Whenever the darkness surrounds you look to Tk. For his smile shall fill you with Hope and guide your soul back to the light. She had shaken her head after as if in a trance and smiled up at him, but he had to agree with her. Maybe it was a slight exaggeration but Tk gave off a sense of hope that renewed your longing to keep fighting. He smiled at Tk's retreating back.
"Goodnight Ken, I know you will get better."
Yes, he would get better. He would feel at ease with himself one day. It would be a long and hard road but he knew that he would get there. How could he not with people like Tk and Davis by his side.
Just a short One Shot I cooked up, sorry again for taking so long I am now officaly back on track! MM