Chapter Eight

Kari stared silently out the window of her bedroom, wrapping her hands around her shoulders tightly as she stood shivering in her thin chemise. She had been tossing and turning in her bed for well over an hour before finally giving up in her futile attempt to rest and allowing her mind to wander where it would.

Where are you? she demanded, bowing her head in distress and forcing her hands to her side that they not be caught fidgeting. And why haven't you called us to help? It had been too long. She didn't want this fight to happen, but waiting for it without any word from T.K. was beginning to wear heavily upon her. She did not know where he was at that moment, but she did know that, wherever it was, the boy was hurting.

Not being able to do anything about it made it that much worse. She knew that he had already helped Davis and Yolei defeat the second of the crystal Fiends back in the digital world, and Davis had told her in his e-mail that he had seen the image of the boy as the cloud of smoke drifted away from Myotismon's defeated husk. The way he had described it... it had been just as she had seen with the first one.

Two gone. That meant that there was only one of the crystal creatures remaining. Roan Kuroda, the Fiend of Hatred.

The girl shivered again, then grabbed a thick robe from her bedside and drew it forth over her shoulders. Outside the snow still fell, the white flakes illuminated by the soft orange glow of the full moon. If she tried hard enough, she could almost make herself believe that the shiver was because of the chill radiating from her bedroom window.

And then she took a single step forward and placed her palm flat against the glass of the window, a forlorn appearance in her soft brown eyes. They had been back in the real world for almost four days now and still there was no sign of Roan... and therefore, no sign of T.K. or Patamon either. The two were still chasing him, to fulfill the charge laid upon the boy by the voice of Heaven.

The girl sat back down on her bed, not once taking her eyes from the view outside. It was tearing her apart to know that there was something wrong with him and not being able to do anything about it. Even though she loathed herself for it, she almost wished that Roan would do something, even though it meant that this world would now come to know the destructive power of the crystalline Fiends. At least it meant she could finally rejoin T.K.

She should never have let him go alone. There were just too many things that could go wrong. It wasn't that she didn't believe in him; after all, she knew better than anyone the strength that beat in his heart. He was strong, more than anyone knew. And not just physically strong, though of course he was no weakling either. No. It was the great, the almost indomitable strength of his spirit which had led to his being the one chosen to fight this battle. But still...

The girl gave a quiet sigh as folded her hands in her lap. It seemed so unfair. Why did it always have to be like this?

At her back, Kari heard the soft padding of feline paws approach slowly. "Kari? You're still awake? What's wrong?"

The girl stood and turned, smiling a weary grin in Gatomon's direction. "I guess I had to fall in love with a hero, right? He couldn't just be an ordinary boy and be wonderful too. He had to be perfect... blessed... whatever it is with him."

In response the other leapt onto Kari's bed, walked around in a circle twice and lay down. The more time that she spent in the real world and around Meeko, the more cat-like she seemed to become. She had spent all day in a rather pensive mood, perhaps a reflection of her partner's emotions, and was not in the best of temperaments. "Well then, break it off," she suggested indifferently.

Kari's eyes blinked open in astonishment, at first not recognizing the casually sardonic tone of the other's words. When she finally understood the suggestion for what it was, she frowned. "You're even more heartless than an ordinary cat, you know that? I'm fishing for sympathy here."

"It's too late and I'm too tired to talk about sympathy. If you wanted to talk about fish, that'd be something else altogether, of course. If you can't take the responsibility of being in love with your holy Paragon, then go find someone ordinary and leave T.K. alone to do what he has to. But we both know you won't do that, so why are you even wasting your time complaining?"

Kari stared back at her partner incredulously, her mouth sagging open in disbelief. "Are you sure you aren't part snake? That's an awfully cold-blooded thing to say. I'm... I'm just worried about him."

Gatomon rested her head across folded paws and stared quietly at the girl. She was always so mature and so adult-like that it was easy for the feline to forget that she was really still a child, just barely into her teens. "So why didn't you stop him?"

"Huh?"

"You knew what he was doing. You heard what he was told, that he'd have to go inside those things to destroy them. So why didn't you tell him not to go?"

The human girl's lips quivered and she blushed a dark red as she stared back at the feline, trying to come to grips with an answer that would assuage the guilt that had been hounding her for days. "He... he wouldn't have listened to me. He'd have gone anyway..."

"Pshaw. That's a lie, and you know it. You've got him wrapped so tightly around your finger that he'd throw aside anything and everything that makes him who he is if you told him to."

"I... I..."

"And don't pretend that you don't know it either." Gatomon was merciless, railing against her human partner. "But you didn't, and now you can't decide whether you want to be worried about him or mad at him for being who he is or feel sorry for yourself because he's yours. Well guess what? You could have fallen in love with anyone, but he's the only one who can do this." And the little Digimon slapped a paw down on the bedspread for emphasis.

Kari looked on the edge of tears. She had expected a response like she might have received from... well, not from Sora, but maybe from Yolei or Mimi. Somebody who would agree with her words and then take her mind off of what was really happening with some silly, girlish patter. Instead... She looked down at the floor. "I'm... I'm just scared, Gatomon. I'm really, really scared for him. I don't think I've ever felt like this before. I just have the feeling that this time it's not going to turn out all right in the end."

"Well then how do you think they feel?" the other exploded back.

Kari blinked, then looked up as an awkward silence fell over the room. A quizzical expression was in her eyes. "They?"

Gatomon gasped and turned away, drawing the back of a paw across her eyes as she did so. "I... I meant he... him... he feels..." she stammered quickly. But it was too late, of course.

"You were thinking the same thing!" Kari accused with a heated whisper. "I knew it! That's why you've been sulking around and being so moody all day. You're worried about Patamon!"

If ever a cat looked guilty, it was Gatomon at that moment. And then another thought occurred to Kari. "And you've spent all day thinking to yourself those same things that you just said to me!"

Kari was obviously angry and whirled away, but after a moment had passed she turned back. A softer expression was on her face as she looked at her partner, both embarrassed and despondent as she sat by herself on the bed. Without another word the girl stepped softly over to the bed and sat down, placing a comforting arm around the other's furry shoulders. "I'm... I'm sorry, Gatomon. I guess I've just spent all day with this hurt in my heart and then spent all night trying to talk myself into feeling better. I didn't even take the time to think about how this might be affecting you... and you're right. I guess I didn't really think about what he... what they must be going through right now."

"And you feel as bad about it as I do," Gatomon returned. "All this time we've been acting like he had a choice, when really, he didn't. He got told by your God what to do and he went, even though it must have broken his heart. What was he going to say? 'No'?"

Kari gave a weak sigh. That was what it all came down to, of course. As decreed by heaven, T.K. was the last, best hope for the world to avoid what Roan would bring to it. If he wasn't enough... how many thousands, perhaps millions, would suffer? Right now she could only pray that he would be.

*****

Two angels stood over the quietly sleeping pair, the larger one with his arms crossed over his massive chest and a stern look in his sapphire-blue eyes. He was dressed in full battle regalia, from the heavy metal gauntlets covering his fists to the silvery mail arrayed upon his torso... though the sword of Ages was noticeably absent from the scabbard at his waist. He looked down at the Crest of Hope alight upon the chest of the boy at his feet, and though they acknowledged one another's presence it did not fly to his side as it might otherwise have done. It had passed into a mortal's keeping for the moment, and had a new master's hand to wield it.

But he did not require his great blade at the moment. Though the other side was certain to try to interfere in the battle that was about to commence, he could discourage their intervention through different, more subtle means. Neither Power nor Principality would sway the outcome of this battle between mortals.

At his side, his partner wore nothing save his billowing white robe and a concerned expression on his face. He, more than any of his fellows, loved the human race, and he was greatly concerned for this child who rested at their feet. Even by the standards of his own people, whose mortal lives were measured only in the dozens of years he was very young, yet what he had been commanded to do...

"He looks like you, you know," the second said to his superior, not taking his eyes from the child laying upon the verdant grass at their feet. There was something very beautiful, very noble about the boy, and creatures of this sort did not think that of very many of their Master's creation while they were still clothed in their earthly forms. "When I stood by his side as Cheyne in the world of the a'ladon, in fact, Assan briefly mistook him for you."

The other's eyes were still impossibly stern. "As did his friend, the one that I plucked from the Void to fight at his side." His voice was a deep baritone, and that voice, if not kept under strict control, could shake the mortal world with its power. "I do not see the resemblance."

The ears of the little winged mammal at the boy's side gave a brief twitch as he dreamed, hopefully a pleasant dream that would relieve some of the pain that he had experienced during the past few days. The human boy... the pair already knew that his dreams were not enjoyable. He was reliving what he had seen while wrapped in the living souls that had been born from the flaws of the human race. Twice he had fought, and twice he had won. But now he traveled to face down the ultimate human failing. Hatred.

"That is because you take the warrior's view in all things, my Captain. I, on the other hand, can see through to his righteousness and his purity. It is these things which makes others see a little bit of you in him."

"I suppose," the first replied casually. "He is Paragon, after all, albeit a young one. Strange that one who was born to be a peacekeeper finds himself swept up in so many battles, though."

"There must be a peace to be kept, first. Humans of this fashion are becoming more and more scarce as their world draws to a close." The more gentle of the two turned to his brother, a concerned look in his face and a heavy feeling in his heart. And to keep those of his race from being anything but joyful, it took a tremendous deal of concern. "Will... will he be asked to make the sacrifice for his people?"

The other turned, an eyebrow askew at his partner's words. "Is that not always the way that it is with the Paragons? They do not live for themselves, they are born to serve their people. How many, in all the recorded history of their race have lived out the whole of their mortal lives? Three? Four?" His frown deepened. "Yet this concerns you. Would you not have him pour out his mortality to shine the beacon of hope for the other humans and then sit with us at our table tonight?"

The smaller figure knelt, his fingers motioning for the boy's fist to open that he might again lay eyes upon the silvery presence concealed within. His own token, and a powerful ward against Darkness should the little human ever find the strength to weave it into the bracer that he himself had worn for so long. "At the risk of sounding selfish, I would," he answered, though both of them knew that none of their race could ever experience the human emotion of selfishness. That had not happened for some time... "But I am uncomfortable with seeing him taken away from those who feel for him here."

"What? Love? You would see him be forced to stay here simply for a mortal love?"

The other smiled. "You should spend more time among them. Their love is not so brittle as you believe, I think. And especially not for him. The love that he bears the girl..." He paused. "It is more like our love. Very pure, and very sincere."

The other looked unconvinced but could not scoff at the words of his brother. It was true that Gabriel knew the humans better than he himself did, but to believe that a human, particularly a human child, could display an angelic love... well, better to return to the original point. "I am not certain. I have not been told if he is to make the sacrifice, though I must believe that it will be so. The humans must be made to return to their focus again. They seem to lose it so easily, and so must be shocked into regaining it lest all of them be lost to the darkness."

"If that is how it must be..." Gabriel trailed off. He shook his head. "I must go. I must bring the other humans here and you, I believe, must be off to see that the other side does not interfere in this. Any more than they already have, that is."

The other nodded, clenching a mighty fist and flexing a pair of feathered wings. He was not worried, of course. Woe be to the demon that chose to challenge him. But as Gabriel took to the skies, the great warrior once again took time to look at the human child below. Yes, he was human. A human Paragon, but a human nonetheless. Yet Gabriel had said that this child had fended off several of the enemy's slaves some months ago. Little demons, to be certain, but demons nonetheless. And Gabriel was crediting him with the heart to love as the angels did. Could this child live through the trial of the Paragon? He, for one, would be interested to see.

*****

Kari stumbled, bleary-eyed into the living room following a restless night of sleep. Restless, because every moment that the girl closed her eyes she could see T.K. undergoing some torment, some sort of awful suffering that she could not bear to witness. It was horrid. And to make matters worse, she still could not seem to get a grip on her emotions. One moment she was despondent, crying out to the heavens and begging to be allowed to take his place, while the very next instant she found herself becoming almost furious with him for making her worry about him like this. It was irrational and foolish, she knew (as Gatomon had said, what was he going to say? No?) but she found it easier to be angry than to be sad. And she really had no one else that she could be angry at.

As the brown-haired girl stumbled past the television, it inexplicably flickered into life. The girl blinked open one eye, then reached down and turned it back off. She wasn't in the mood for T.V. right now... it might distract her from deciding whether she was going to throw herself headlong into T.K.'s arms when she found him or first give him a piece of her mind about the danger that he had placed himself in.

But then, just as the girl walked away from the television and towards the kitchen for a glass of water, the appliance flickered on again. Frowning, Kari once again looked back. At first she suspected that Tai had returned from his soccer team's road trip and was playing a joke on her. And then she thought the same of Gatomon... but no. As the girl looked back, the little white feline was still napping comfortably upon the bed. And so Kari stopped and watched as the picture slowly came into focus.

"The rioting in the streets of downtown Iwaka has taken an even more ugly turn this morning," a reporter from the television station was saying as a camera panned down from the helicopter in which he flew. "After ten hours of this chaos, police in riot gear were called in to stop the vandalism and looting which have turned this once peaceful city into something of a war zone. But now it seems that the same madness which has gripped the populace of this town had fallen upon the police as well, and our cameras have caught on film several dreadful scenes of unprovoked violence by the officers."

Kari's eyes shot wide open at the words, and she turned her full attention to the words of the reporter. "No one knows what started this outbreak of what is being called mass hysteria, but for now it seems to be isolated in this one area of town. More details will be forthcoming as they become available."

The sound of the phone ringing loudly caught Kari's attention, snapping the girl awake from the reverie in which she had sat. Quickly she fumbled for the little cordless which had sat on the table beside her, her fingers tripping over one another in their anxiousness to answer the call.

"Hello?"

"Kari?" It was Rio, calling from Matt's house by the noise in the background. "Are you watching this?"

"Is it... him?" the younger girl asked by way of response, not wanting to mention the name of Rio's sick and twisted brother. Matt had told her of the pain that the boy had caused her, the terror that still gripped her in his presence.

"It has to be. Iwaka was where we lived when we were younger. Back when Roan was normal."

Kari remembered what she had told Davis when they had been back in the Void; what had been revealed to her at the time. Roan no longer controlled his hatred, as he had in the past. If he had, he might have waited for months or maybe years to act, taking the time to plot and plan and prepare. But now, instead, the emotion was controlling the dark teen, causing him to lash out at the first possible moment.

"I'll be right there," Kari said, fumbling to get her shoes on. "It may be tough for Nefertimon to carry all three of us at once, but we'll make it work somehow."

"We'll be ready," Rio answered.

*****

T.K. stood in front of Pegasusmon and laid a single palm against his partner's forehead. "I... I want you to leave now, buddy," the boy said, a downhearted, stricken quality to his voice. The two of them had just landed on the outskirts of the town of Iwaka, where their pursuit of Roan had finally come to an end.

"I thought we'd been over this," the winged stallion replied sternly, stamping a forefoot for emphasis. "I'm not leaving. Don't be so stubborn as to think that you can win this fight without me. Even together, we just barely survived the last two."

The boy gave his best imitation of a smile, but it might have been for the best if he hadn't. The terror-filled look in the blue eyes of the young human as he struggled to keep the grin on his face gave his equine partner the most awful feeling that he had ever had. "That's... that's the point, Pata. I won't survive this. They've already told me what's going to happen."

The other looked blatantly unconvinced. "That's silly. How could you have--"

"It was an angel," the boy interrupted. "It wasn't Gabriel, but it looked kind of like him. He came to me when I was asleep, explained to me why this has to happen." And then a sound broke from his lips, something that sounded like an abnormal cross between a sob and a chuckle. "As if I could understand any of it. But as far as I can tell, it has already been decided. Somebody has to die to stop him, to be a willing sacrifice for humanity... and that somebody is me."

And then Pegasusmon again became Patamon, the power of evolution torn from him as T.K.'s hope of all good things fled. Tears streamed down the furry cheeks of the little creature as he stared at his friend... the best, and really the only friend that he had ever had. Or wanted. "I'm... I'm still coming with you," he piped insistently.

"Pata, you can't do any good. I'm going to die, one way or another. Don't make me go with the knowledge that I took you in there to be killed too. I... I couldn't stand that. Besides, I have a job for you."

The weakness of despair gripped Patamon's wings and forced him from the air, the weight of his acute sadness bearing him down. "What?" he managed to choke out in a sob. "I'll... do... anything."

T.K. smiled as he took out his D-Terminal. "Take this to Kari and to Matt. I... I hadn't planned on things turning out like this, so I guess that I left without telling them some things that I really should have. But you might want to stay out of Kari's way when she reads it. She'll probably still be mad at me."

After laying the device at his partner's feet, the boy turned to go. But after only two steps he came to a halt, balling his fists. Then he turned back as the little winged mammal continued his feverish whimpering upon the ground. It was only another two steps back to Patamon's side, and the boy gathered his partner up in his arms and held him close. "I guess I didn't have time to say goodbye to the others," he said, tears falling freely from his eyes, "but I'm not going to make the same mistake with you, Pata."

The little creature's lips were quivering rapidly as he stared at the human boy. "Can't... can't we just leave? I mean, you won't die if you don't go to fight, right? Let's just leave and go to get the others. We'll come up with a plan of some kind, just like we always do."

But the entire time that his partner had been speaking the boy had been shaking his head in response. "I can't, Pata. He's spreading his hatred through that city as we speak, and we both know that hatred only spawns more hatred. He's getting stronger and stronger with every passing second. You're right, we did just barely beat the other two. If we wait a month or a week or even a day, his power will have grown exponentially and he really will be unstoppable."

"But... but I don't want you to go!" the other insisted.

And then T.K. smiled. It was, for a moment, the strong, genuine smile that make him naturally attractive to almost everyone. "And I didn't want you to fight Devimon, remember? But you knew what you had to do, and what would happen when you did, right?"

Sobs were racking the little mammal's body fiercely. "That's not the same!" he protested in a despondent voice. "I'm a Digimon. If I got killed, I was going to be reconfigured as a Digitama anyway. If you die... if you die then you're gonna be dead!"

The blond-haired boy held the other closely, feeling the sobs rebound in his own chest. Strangely, his partner's hysteria seemed to make him somewhat more calm while he focused on the Digimon's sorrow more than his own. "Just remember me, Pata. Okay? I promise that I won't ever forget you. You've... you've been the best friend that I've ever had or could have ever asked for. I'm going to miss a lot of things, buddy, but I promise that there isn't anything that I'll miss more than you."

Now Patamon stopped his crying and looked up at the other, a quizzical expression in his eyes that masked the pain. "We've known each other for so long, T.K. How come now it doesn't seem like it's been long enough? We never had the time to do any of the things that I thought we should have."

T.K. gave one last smile, a strong, yet strangely gentle smile. "Do them without me, Pata. Do them all, and the next time you see me, tell me about them, okay?"

And then Patamon became strong as well. To honor his partner, the one who would willingly sacrifice everything for what he believed, he would cry no more. He nodded once, his lilting voice once again steady. "I promise."

*****

Roan paced through the ruins of the broken and crumbled buildings, the smoke drifting upwards from them filling his crystalline nostrils with the delicious odor of hatred. What he had sown in this once peaceful town was bearing fruit even more quickly than he had suspected, and it continued to permeate his being with more and more power.

A cruel smile split his inhuman visage. Hatred was so very easy to cultivate among humans. All of them had known hatred at one time or another, it lurked beneath the outer facade of each of them just waiting to be brought to the surface by someone as he. And once released it continued to multiply like a virus, spawning countless and recurrent scions of its own nature within others.

The monster, no longer a mortal, reveled as he felt the power of human revulsion coarse through his body. Soon, very soon, he would have enough strength to do as he had been instructed, and then...

"Roan."

The massive crystalline creature brought himself up short, turning about in response to the clear, steady human voice at his back. He had been warned that this one was coming, and had likewise been warned that the other two of his ilk had been sundered by Him. Yet still Roan did not fear, for he had an ally on his side... an ally which had been carefully preparing him for this meeting. "Hello, boy," the other said mildly, his voice grating like a shard of glass carved against a windowpane. "I've been expecting you."

T.K. stepped forward, his breath visible in the cold morning air of the city as a gentle breeze blew his blond hair forward and into his eyes. The silence was eerie as the two stared one another down, and the only noise that the boy could hear was the wind wafting its way throughout the ruined buildings. "I can't let you do this. You're ruining people's lives for your own amusement and for God knows what other reasons. I have been empowered by a stronger hand than yours to stop you, Roan Kuroda... and now I will."

The blond-haired boy could still see a trace of humanity within the dark eyes of the crimson automaton, but it was just a fleeting glimpse. Roan had never been all that human to begin with. And then, strangely and with a leering expression in those same eyes, the creature spread his arms in a seeming invitation for T.K. to invade his crystalline body and sunder the Heart of Hatred. But the young Paragon now paused in confusion. This was not what he had expected. Until this point, the Other Side had done everything in its power to keep him away from the bodies of those creatures. Why would Roan now invite him to fight?

The silence was now bordering on oppressive. The rioters and their assorted fracases had moved on to another area of the city, leaving this one almost entirely deserted. Nevertheless, the proof of their hatred had already been left in their passing. Many of the once proud buildings that had stood here had been ransacked, and most of them had been set ablaze as well. "Well, boy?" the other said impatiently, tapping his fist against his chest. "Shall we begin?"

T.K. closed his eyes. He had a terrible feeling, as he considered the other's words, that this was a trap... something he was overlooking about this situation made it different than the others. But whatever it was, it was not immediately clear to him and as he had told Patamon earlier... this was something that could not be forestalled.

The boy likewise clenched the fist that contained the Crest of Hope, then brought it to his heart. There was a momentary experience of sharp pain while the holy relic rewove his existence into a spirit form that could encompass his mortal flesh... a formless one to which crystal was no barrier and which could bring to battle the awesome power that had caused the Fiends to live. During his instruction from Heaven, Gabriel had shown him how. It was a painful transition for a mortal, but thankfully a quick one, and with a flash of golden, holy light, the blond-haired hero's soul enveloped his body, and together they penetrated the sturdy flesh of the last deadly beast.

*****

"No!"

The outraged voice in Kari's head struck her like a physical blow and for a moment she reeled from it, almost tumbling from Nefertimon's back before Matt grabbed her waist tightly. "Kari?" he demanded anxiously, pulling the girl back against his chest.

Rio peered over the boy's shoulder, her black hair whipping about wildly behind her with the speed of their flight. "Matt?" she shouted over the chilling gale. "Matt! What's wrong with her? What happened?"

Matt sniffled, the cold wind stinging his eyes. "I don't know!" he shouted so that she could hear him. "She... she just cried out and then went limp!" And then Nefertimon began to spiral downwards. They were still miles short of the city of Iwaka, but of course they had to see to Kari before they could go on. As the Angel of Light landed heavily, her feline claws digging tightly into the ground, Matt tumbled off the side with Kari in his arms. Nefertimon very nearly collapsed, as the weight of the three that she had been carrying was far too much for her alone.

Though it was cold fortunately there was no snow upon the ground, and so it was there that they laid the younger girl. Beside Rio, Wizardmon shimmered into existence. Outside of the Void he had no body, of course, and so was once again truly a ghost, but he would not be kept away from the group. Matt looked to the little Digimon for an answer, but none was forthcoming. "I... I don't know," he said helplessly, his hands raised to emphasize the point. "She looks fine to me."

And then Kari sat upright like a bolt, her eyes open so wide it looked as though they would fly from her sockets and her mouth open in astonishment. "Ch... Ch... Cheyne?" she asked, her breathing fast and short.

Rio looked at Matt, who frowned in confusion. "As near as I can tell," he said, murmuring the explanation quietly, "Cheyne is some sort of priest or something from a place that T.K., Kari and Davis were taken to a month or so ago. But I don't understand why she would call for him here."

"Lies! He has been lied to! Betrayed by a Dark One! We had thought that the attack would come against his body. But instead it has been planted in his mind!"

"His... his mind?" Kari panted, her senses apparently being quickly overwhelmed by whatever it was that she was seeing. Matt and Wizardmon looked on helplessly.

"What does she mean, his mind?" Rio demanded of the pair, as if they would have any more idea than she what was happening. "In whose mind? Cheyne's?"

But then, suddenly, the others were able to relax for a moment as the frantic look in Kari's eyes faded and her mouth slowly closed. As if she had been through a terrible ordeal the girl slumped backwards into Matt's arms, breathing heavily and her forehead covered in sweat despite the chill of the air. After another moment or two, she spoke. "We have to hurry," she said, coughing feverishly. "It's... it's T.K. They've tricked him. We have to go to help him now!"

Matt turned anxiously to Nefertimon, who returned a stricken look. "I... I can't, Matt. My wings feel like they're hanging on by threads after that flight. I might be able to take one of you up, but not all three again. Not without a long time to rest."

The blond haired boy snarled angrily in frustration and slammed a hand down on the grass, but his anger was not directed at the Digimon. He closed his eyes, quickly working his way to a decision before blinking them open again. "Then I'm going. T.K.'s my brother, and my responsibility. Not to mention the fact that I've already got a score to settle with Roan... one that I've been waiting to settle for a long time now."

Kari looked up at the boy from his lap, her eyes a pool of liquid grief. "No, Matt. It has to be me. I... I know how you feel, but I have to go. He might die in this fight." She paused, swallowing deeply. "He knows how you feel, since he is your brother, but I can't let him go if he thinks that I'm still mad at him. I have to tell him that I understand now, and that... that..."

The girl broke off her insistence as pooled tears rolled from her eyes, and Matt's heart felt almost broken within his chest. "Kari... I... I..."

But then Patamon came tearing towards them just as fast as his little wings would carry him, T.K.'s D-Terminal clenched tightly in his forepaws. "Kari! Matt!" the little creature called, fluttering unsteadily beneath the weight of the object.

Matt looked up, confused. "Patamon? Where's T.K.?" And then a horrid thought struck him. Patamon... here... alone. "T.K.'s not... he's not..."

The lips of the little creature started to quiver, but he would not cry again. To honor T.K... he would not cry. "He left, Matt. He sent me away. He knows what's going to happen, and didn't want me to come with him in case I might get hurt in the fight. He... wanted me to bring this to the two of you."

Matt caught the device and clicked it open as Patamon settled by Kari's side, the pair looking up anxiously at him. The blond-haired boy scanned down through the text that was inside awaiting him, the look on his face becoming more and more troubled as he read. Then, when he had finished, the boy looked up at the others with tears streaming unchecked down his cheeks. "Go, Kari," he said, his voice husky and sounding as if he were choking on the emotion caught in his throat.

Rio took Matt's hand, squeezing it tightly. "Matt? What... what's wrong?"

"Kari, go!" the boy repeated urgently, motioning towards Nefertimon. "Rio and Patamon and I will follow as quickly as we can. Just get to him!"

The tone of the boy's voice struck a cord in the younger girl's heart, and without a word she moved to the sphinx-like creature's back and vaulted on, stumbling a bit as she did so. "As fast as you can, Nefertimon," the girl said, clinging tightly to the other's neck.

Together the three that remained watched as the pair rose quickly into the sky, then Rio raised one hand in farewell as they rushed headlong into the winter wind towards the ruined city of Iwaka. In another moment they were no more than a tiny speck upon the horizon, a horizon which soon seemed to swallow them up entirely.

And then, slowly, the dark-haired girl allowed her hand to fall to her side. She turned quietly to Matt, down whose face tears continued to roll as he clutched his little brother's D-Terminal so tightly that she was afraid the device might shatter. Looking down at that hand, the girl appeared concerned. "Matt? What did he say?"

The blond-haired boy had no answer, only a bowed head and a choked sob to accentuate to the girl the terrible power of what he had read.

*****

Roan watched quietly as the madness of hatred continued to consume the city, every once in a while smiling as he felt the sources of life within his crystalline body react and grow with each new curse that was spoken, each new act of violence perpetuated by neighbor upon neighbor.

Yet the teen's joy was not complete, for interspersed with the elation of more power was pain, as T.K. continued to destroy the crystal shards lodged deep within his torso which provided life to this body. Yet still he chuckled. How much despair, how much anguish did the young child experience when he discovered the countless multitudes of hearts powering this body? Before, with the other Fiends, he would have had to only destroy one Heart. But since the one called Davis had shattered the crystalline shard of Hatred, he had unwittingly given the teen the means necessary to separate the sources of life among an infinite number of the gems. And with the hatred that was flowing out of these people because of his presence, the gems were growing much faster than the child could hope to destroy them.

He smiled. All was going according to plan. Soon, very soon, the boy would lose the will to fight and would be cast out of his body by the demons that dwelt within. Dead or alive, it mattered very little to Roan... though of course dead was far more likely. And as soon as he had built up enough power, enough strength within his body he would do as his dark master had ordered him to, and finally emerge as the most powerful creation upon the face of the earth.

Nearby, one of the policemen which had been sent in to quell his riot had taken to savagely beating an elderly man with his metal baton for some imagined wrong. That was the beauty of hatred. All that was required to bring it bubbling to the surface was just an instant of suspicion or prejudice and then nature could be allowed to take its course. And Roan's presence and the anger that he emanated was proving to be more than enough for that.

But then the teen's crystalline facade showed an ugly curling of lips, and without warning he formed a ball of dark fire within his hands and hurled it at the pair. Both the policeman and the older man burst into flames instantly, both crying out in agony as the fire quickly consumed them. Then... more rage built up in the boy, who started to spin more of the balls of black fire out of the thin air and hurled them randomly about the city, striking buildings, people, even wildlife. Anything... anything that he could do to bring pain, to bring agony to these people.

A maddening roar burst from Roan's mouth as he continued to raze the city. By God, he would make others feel pain. The same pain that he had felt all of his life. The suffering would be on a grand scale...

But then the teen clutched at his chest, and soon thereafter the limp form of T.K. was thrown savagely from his torso. The smaller boy was bleeding profusely from the mouth, with one of his blue eyes swollen shut and some savage-looking cuts across his chest... cuts which looked to have come from the feral claws of some sort of beast. His shirt had been torn to tatters and there was an ugly, blackened burn just below his ribs.

Roan grinned. That scene in and of itself was almost enough to make this entire venture worthwhile. But still the pain continued to grow within his chest, signaling to him that it was time for this all to be completed. And so with a quick wave of his hand the teen once again called up the dark fire, only this time directing it upon himself. There was a strange feeling, not really pain, as the flames licked over his crystalline shell, and then the fire itself began to coagulate until it finally hardened around him as a large, red cocoon.

And then the people in the city stopped their mad rampage, many of them dropping stones from their hands just as they had been prepared to strike at one another with them. Many of the group looked down, horrified at the wet blood and soot covering their bodies, while others only stoically took in the destruction around them. What hatred had done to their once lovely city.

"I... I failed," T.K. gasped in pain and confusion and to no one in particular as he clenched at his ribs with his one good arm. It hurt even to breathe, and the boy was forced to literally drag himself away from the massive red chrysalis and into the shadow of a nearby building. He had been told that he was going to die... he had not expected to fail as well.

It had seemed so easy, at first. The horrors and the temptations of the Heart of Hatred were fewer and weaker than those of Terror and Brutality. But just as the boy had vanquished the tiny red gem, another two had appeared in its place. Those two also had fallen easily, but then the boy had become aware of another half-dozen scattered throughout nearby locations within the Fiend's torso. And with each one that he'd destroyed, the next became seemingly larger and the horrors that it struck at him with more terrifying.

Is this what it feels like to die? T.K. wondered silently to himself. He could hear his heart pounding weakly in his ears and could feel the stinging wetness of the blood as it poured freely from the claw marks upon his chest. The burn below that was even to hideous for him to look at, though he knew that it was probably the worst of his injuries.

The boy leaned back, feeling his eyes beginning to close. He was tired... so very, very tired. All that he wanted to do was rest. He had done what he could. He had stopped two of the Fiends and weakened the third. He had spoken his peace with Patamon, and sent his love to Matt and to his parents. And to Kari... well, he had spoken of his dreams unfulfilled, a passion that he would never know brought to its ultimate conclusion. He had regrets, yes, but he would live with them... or die with them, as the case would be.

The boy sank deeper and deeper into his coma, into depths of which he could not extract himself. At least he could no longer feel the pain. He was just dimly aware of the massive cocoon into which Roan had spun himself slowly beginning to quiver, as if some massive butterfly were about to emerge from its crimson embrace. But it didn't really matter to him any longer. All that he wanted to do now was to sleep.

"T.K.!"

"... T.K.!"

The boy blinked open his eyes, the bright blueness now restored to them as he looked around. Strangely, things were no longer as blurry as they had been. Apparently whatever damage had been done to his right eye had healed itself. But no longer was he laying in a dirty, crumpled heap in the center of a ruined city. Now all around him was a glorious white radiance, empty of furnishings but strangely full for all of that.

But then the boy could see the speaker who was calling him. A man stood before him. A simple man, clothed all in white as he himself now was. He had blond hair and blue eyes as did the boy, and the hair hung down in a long braid on the side of the man's head. At his back he wore a massive sword, a weapon which should have seemed out of place when considering the man's peaceful attire... but somehow did not.

"Well done, T.K." the man said with a beatific smile and a nod, a look that filled the boy with warmth all over his body. Then he looked down. The scars, the burn... all of the injuries that he had suffered had vanished. "Now feel free to join the others, Holy Paragon. Join them, and know the companionship and fellowship of all of your kind."

And with that the man opened his arms, and behind him the blond-haired boy could see a large gathering of people, perhaps a hundred of them. Their faces were not familiar, but somehow, he was certain that he knew each and every one of them. And he could feel the tangible love that they all felt for him encompass him as he stepped forward into their midst. Each of them called out his name in a welcome, and the boy knew that each of them understood what he had been through and what he had done for his people. It was a true and utter bliss.

And then a lovely young woman came over to him and placed a gentle hand upon his arm. "Come with me, Takeru. It is time for us all to feast, and then we will go and sit at the feet of the Most Holy, and listen to his words."

T.K. was confused. "So am I... really dead?"

The girl giggled once, and it was a lovely, beautiful sound. "Of course. It is the nature of we Paragons to die. We are the living sacrifices, the price for the continued existence of mankind. You have touched your share of lives, and have poured out your mortal spirit for them until there was nothing left. Ours are the most noble lives, lived for others instead of ourselves." And strangely, though she was speaking of herself as well, the girl did not sound as if she were boasting.

But then, as she lead him along, the boy stopped. A slow frown appeared on his face as he perked up his ears, listening to something far beyond the place where he was now. It was if some memory, some distant recollection were calling at him from the bottom of a deep well. And as he looked back he turned away from the others... his ultimate family, his true friends. He wanted badly, oh so badly to go with them and to feast at their table and to have fellowship with them as they listened to the Most Holy.

But still there was that voice. Yes! A voice. Not a memory alone, but a voice calling out to him. A voice that suffused him with love and with adoration and a deep and abiding friendship that he had known... seemingly forever. The boy's ears perked up, and his eyes shown with a glorious, heavenly glow. He could not leave yet. He was still bound to her, and still had a promise to be fulfilled. Back. He had to go back, even if it meant tearing himself away from these others with whom he could so easily find peace. T.K. turned reluctantly, ready to leave, when he felt a pair of eyes upon him.

With yet another smile and a sanctioning nod, the first being who had welcomed him here, the one with the massive sword, threw a tiny object to the boy. T.K. deftly snatched it from the air, then looked at the angel quizzically with a blush on his pale cheeks. The other nodded. "So it appears that Gabriel was right and Michael wrong in this instance. That being the case, you will one day soon need to make use of that."

T.K. blinked open his eyes as he heard the calls in the distance.

"Cat's Eye Beam!"

"Hand of Fate!"

"T.K.! T.K., please! Help!"

And then the boy was once again on his feet. He was no longer injured, no longer weak. He was strong, he was whole, and he was at peace. All of the pain and the doubt that he had been subject to while vanquishing the Fiends of Terror and Brutality was gone, taken from him by his brief sojourn with the other Paragons of days gone by. In his right hand the boy held the golden crest of Hope. In the other, Kari's crest of Light... as well as that which the angel had given to him to present to the girl. When he was ready, of course.

The boy looked askance at what had burst from the crystalline shell at his feet. No longer was Roan clothed in the guise of his large, bipedal form. Now, towering over the city, his gem-like body had been crafted into the form of a massive, winged dragon. Not a lithe, agile dragon as he had seen in the picture books when he had been still younger, but a colossal, broad-chested horror whose wings spread over the city, blotting out the sun with their crimson translucence. Nefertimon and Angemon were there fighting, but they looked to be little more than annoying gnats to the immense creature.

And then the creature reared back and spewed a mouthful of dark flames from his horrendous maw. It was not regular fire. Ignoring the color (or rather the absence of), it did not act as fire did. Clearly it was just as deadly, as evidenced by the fact that every building, vehicle or structure caught in its wake was instantly turned into a dark, crumbling ash. But regular fire consumed its fuel and returned both light and heat, beneficial qualities under the right conditions. This fire, on the other hand, was completely without merit and existed only to destroy. It took and burned whatever would be its fuel while giving nothing in return.

As T.K. watched, the attacks from the two angel Digimon again burst upon the creature's skin and simply vanished. They were fighting a hopeless battle, and evidently they knew it, but still they would not stop for fear of allowing the beast free reign over the city... and soon thereafter the world.

T.K. closed his eyes in a prayer, bowing his head as he begged for help from the One who had set him on this path. And as he did he could feel the power clenched within his fists spring forth to life, then watched as the golden fire from his own crest and the silvery light from Kari's shimmered within his hands and started to slowly creep up his arms. In a moment he was completely engulfed in the flames, both gold and silver, and as he raised his face skywards he felt a change begin to take place.

He had seen it before. In the last, desperate battle in the world of the a'ladon, T'Kai had been clothed in holy light as he had met the charge of the demon Assan. Now that same light suffused and permeated the boy Paragon, arraying him in the dazzling white armor of a divine warrior... not unlike that which the angels wore. Now he was one of the Great. The boy opened his eyes, looking at Angemon. "Partner... I need you," he sent to the other, and though no words were spoken the thought traveled to where the other battled and drew him forward instantly.

As Angemon came he changed, in a single flash of dazzling light becoming Pegasusmon. There had been no de-evolution back to Patamon even for an instant. The change simply occurred at T.K.'s need.

A joyful reunion would have taken place when the pair had met, had it not been for the urgency of their meeting. As it was there were no words spoken and the child, dressed in his holy finery, leapt upon his partner's back. As T.K. leaned forward over the head of his mount the equine creature spread his wings and darted skyward, the armor surrounding him beginning to shimmer with the same dazzling glow that encompassed the boy.

"Kari... get away," came the words from T.K.'s soul, and as she heard them the girl did indeed fall away from the battle... though she did pause for one moment to see the living miracle that soared into battle with the crimson monster.

"Aggh! Child! How many times shall I kill you?" the dragon screamed, his booming voice echoing throughout the city.

"Once," the boy replied, his voice steady and unwavering. "And once only. And that one time is what I must return to you."

The dragon trembled in fury and, for a moment, T.K. could still see Roan's eyes behind the creature's crimson mask... as well as the eyes of another. The angel. He who had come to the boy in his sleep and promised him his death. Not a true angel, but a fallen one. A liar... indeed, the prince of lies. And both of these beings of hatred seethed at his very existence. "Anger Flame!" the dragon roared, spewing out a massive wave of his dark fire, engulfing both of the great heroes.

But Pegasusmon did not alter his course, and flew right into the black wave. Almost instantly and like a bolt of lighting splitting the heavens in half on a dark night did the two carve through the fires of Hatred, straight towards the dragon's heart.

Kari, Matt and Rio watched from nearby, the boy with his arm around Rio's waist. Each of them understood a part of what was happening, but none of them came close to knowing the whole. And as the holy pair cut through the darkness, a weapon appeared in each of T.K.'s hands... weapons formed from the power of the crests and from his own life and sanctity. Matt, of course, had seen these weapons before. Indeed, one of them had struck him a time long ago. They were the arrows of Hope and of Light.

But then T.K. raised both hands high above his head and then brought the weapons together, weaving the power of Hope and the grace of Light into one. And after a blinding flash, when all of them could see again, the two had indeed become a single, shining beacon in the hands of the boy. Hope and Light had been united, and in their place existed great Faith.

Roan was still blinded by his hatred, and despite the fact that his dark fire was clearly having no effect upon the two soldiers of righteousness continued to spew the black surge towards them. The demons that lived inside the dragon's shell continued to whisper their maddening song into his ears, so that the teen gave no thought to the danger that the pair represented. Their Lord, however, the One who had sought to destroy T.K. with his promise of death, recognized the danger and departed at once, leaving Roan and his underlings to their fate. There would always be another day for him.

T.K. raised the spear, the arrow of Faith in his right hand as Pegasusmon continued to split the darkness that the dragon exuded and, a moment later, the boy cast the shimmering weapon at the chest of the beast.

There was the great sound of a ripping of cloth as the bolt of lightning that the spear had become ripped the dark fire apart, and a moment later the sound of shattering glass echoed throughout the city as the golden weapon exploded through the massive chest of the winged beast. A bellowing gust of wind blew Pegasusmon back a bit, and when the two heroes could look again, this is what they saw.

A great hole had been cut through the center of the dragon's torso, and with a dumb, unbelieving expression in its dark eyes the creature peered down at it. The sound of a thousand squealing voices, those of the demons that had been caught within, could be heard gibbering in pain from that hole. And with his life seeping away, the dragon that had once been the dark teen Roan turned his eyes from the cavity in his chest and peered across the city at the three who stood atop one of the last buildings that still stood. And at that last moment, T.K. could once again see a glimpse of sanity in those eyes as Roan finally met his end.

The dragon's body quickly started to crumble to dust now. First the feet and the legs and continuing upwards along the massive creature's torso, until finally the head disintegrated into the reddish dust as well. And as the winter wind blew away the tiny flakes of crystal-dust that remained, T.K. thought that he could hear the final words of the insane teen like a poignant farewell.

"Goodbye... sister..."