Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or any of its characters. All I own is my own original character Lain Auska X and some of the plot.

Digimon

XII: It All Begins Now

Saga: The Child of Darkness

Matt stopped in front of the door to his house breathing heavily. He had Lain cradled in his arms. She was still passed out form the earlier events that had just taken place.

They had only been walking! Why had something this odd just burst out of nowhere, and especially when Lain was starting to be a little more normal and not so distant from everyone. She had recited a strange prophecy to him and Tai.

Courage will become silent. Light will fade away. Hope will start to falter. Sincerity will cry. Love will become confused. Knowledge will suffer. Reliability will take a stand. Kindness will return to the Darkness. Destiny will make a wrong decision. Creed will take its rightful place. Harmony will lose herself. Friendship will die. Darkness will come to power.

What is that all supposed to mean!?

He spun his head around looking for Tai to finally get over in his direction, towards the door. Tai's puffy brown hair came into view from the direction of the steeps. He was breathing more heavily than he was when he made it over to the door.

"Finally…" Matt muttered a little frustrated.

Tai threw the door open and Matt rushed inside. He watched Matt rush over to the couch and then lie Lain down. Sighing he followed him inside. Something strange had happened to her, and he wanted to know what the hell was going on now.

"Is she alright?" Tai asked walking over to the couch. He stopped at Matt's side and starred down at the sleeping Lain. "I mean to the fact is she showing any signs of waking up?"

"No," Matt said curtly to him. "She's still passed out…"

"What do you make of to what just happened?"

"I don't know…"

Tai just looked at Matt as he faced turned to an extremely worried look. He put his hand on his friends shoulder and then patted it a few times before moving away. "I'm going to go and find TK and Kari and fill them in to what happened…"

Matt nodded his head and then turned his full attention back over to Lain.

"Wake up… Please Lain. I want to make sure you're all right…"

"Kari?" Tai asked pushing open the door to Matt's room. He walked in, the lights were out and only Matt's computer was on. Giving out an eerie glow as a solid figure stood in front of it. "Kari?"

The figure spun around and faced Tai. Tears running down his face. It was TK.

"TAI!" TK screamed out in a panicked voice. "It's Kari! She's gone! We were just in here and all of a sudden the computer flips on and Kari's just gone! I don't know what happened! We have to go and get her back! She's in the Digital World! She's alone Tai! We have to save her!"

"WHAT!?" Tai screamed out scared. He was now shaking. His little sister had just been taken away by some strange force, from what he had finally now just put into actual thoughts. His little sister was gone. "What do you mean!?" You could hear utter fear in his voice.

"It's Kari! She's gone! We have to save her!" TK screamed out even more panicked than Tai was. "SHE'S GONE TAI! WE HAVE TO SAVE HER!"

Tai starred at TK with huge eyes and then took a step backwards. He didn't want to believe this. He didn't want to believe that his only little sister was gone. How could this have happened!? It then snapped. This was the second strange accordance that had happened that night. The first dealing with Lain and now it was Kari. This was some how all Lain's fault. His little sister was missing because of Lain. He was sure of it now; it had to be in connection with Lain now…

"It was Lain. She must have done it," Tai hissed out angrily as his hands turned into fists. He turned around and faced the door; he walked out of the room. Leaving TK to his own self-pity as to what had just happened to Kari.

Matt turned his attention up to his friend as he walked in the room. A horrible look was on his face. A look of terror and anger.

"Tai? What's wrong?" Matt asked getting up to his feet from his crouching possession. "What happened? Are you alright?" He looked around. "Where are TK and Kari at?"

"She took Kari away," Tai hissed out looking at Lain with pure disgust. "Kari's because of Lain. SHE TOOK HER AWAY!" He lunged forward and then grabbed Lain around the shoulders and shook her. "GIVE MY SISTER BACK!"

"TAI STOP IT NOW!" Matt screamed out shoving his friend off of Lain. "What the hell are you talking about?! Lain couldn't have done it! She's been with us and sleeping right here the whole time! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?"

"Shut-up Matt! I don't want to hear anything from you! You're just protecting you're stupid girlfriend! She's taken Kari away from me! Make her wake up now! Make her tell me where my sister is! NOW!!"

"The Dark Ocean…" the words rang in the air. Causing Tai and Matt to stop fighting.

Lain sat up on the couch. Her eyes full of tears she looked at Matt and then to Tai full of concern.

Tai looked at her with utter terror as his face begun to twitch. "What was that?"

"She's gone to the Dark Ocean…" Lain repeated.

Quite footsteps entered the room along with a sudden deep breathing. It was TK.

"NO…. She can't have gone back there… How do you, how do you know this for sure Lain!?" TK screamed out getting more panicked at what she had just said. "How do we know that you're telling the truth?! How do you know it's the truth?!"

"I thought her and Ken destroyed it…" Tai hissed out. "I thought they said it would no longer bother them anymore! That they wouldn't go after Kari again! How can you be saying this!?"

She sunk back further into the couch in an upright position with her knee's drawn up to her face. Arms wrapped around her legs she answered. "Can't you fell that horrible presence? Like something evil is looming around this place? After all have you ever been to the Dark Ocean before? Have you any clue as to what it feels like?"

"I don't feel anything, I don't feel anything at all!" Tai shouted out glaring at her. "I don't want to believe she's back there!"

"Then don't. It's as simple as that. Believe what you want, but I know she's there… And that's not going to change anything at all…"

"Where the hell is my sister!?" Tai screamed out lunging himself at Lain. He grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and flung her upwards. She was now hanging in the air, level with his eyes. "And she called you her friend? But yet you don't seem to be giving a shit as to what happens to her. I'll ask you one more time. Where is my sister?"

Her eyes narrowed and a wicked smile spread across her face. "What is this? You claim to care for you sister… But yet you are not willing to believe me? Taichi Yagami the holder of Courage? Bullshit, where is your Courage now? You don't have any now. Why is it that you are not courageous enough to believe that I am telling the truth that your sister is in the realm of the Dark Ocean? Get it through your thick skull. Your sister is no longer on Earth."

"SHUT-UP!" Tai screamed out throwing Lain back down on the couch angrily. "Just shut-up!" He collapsed to his knee's holding his hands over his face, sobbing into them. "How can you be so selfless Lain!?"

"Selfless? I'm just telling you what's happened," Lain replied standing up as she straightened her shirt out. "It's your own damn fault if you don't believe me…"

"Lain?" Matt said finally speaking up. "What's wrong with you? You don't sound like yourself…"

"What do you mean?" she asked moving her hair behind her ear with her left hand, today it was not held back in it's usual red rubber band. "I am myself, I am Lain."

Matt frowned at what she was saying and then took a step back, now at his brother's side. "You're just like the first Lain I met. You sound so cold, not like yourself. Not like you do now. You're not the Lain I know."

"How is that so?" Lain asked laughing at what he had just said to her. "After all? How could I not be this Lain you are telling me I am not? I look like her don't I?"

"You may look like her, but your personality… It's just; I can't put words for it. It's just not you Lain!" Matt yelled out looking frustrated.

"Like she's someone else?" a voice asked.

Everyone in the room jumped beside Lain, who looked as cool and calm as ever.

"Who are you!?" Matt screamed out before anyone could ask the question first.

"Who do you think?" Lain snapped back at him a little angry at his sudden rudeness. "Arkmon."

"Get out," Matt spat out angrily. His eyes were already full of anger as he swung his pointed hand in the direction of the door. "Leave now. I don't want you in here."

"What are you being so rude to my friends?" Lain asked cocking her head to the side as she starred at him confused. "I mean your friend just a minute ago tried to hurt me severely… But you didn't say or do anything about it… You're preaching to me that I'm not myself, when you in fact do not appear to be your own self. Yamato Ishida."

"Lain… You've never used our full names before," TK said, his voice ringing through the air causing everyone to turn to face him. "You've always just used our nicknames and such. It's just weird, cause you were like this the first time we met you. You didn't refer to us as your friends, just people, and just some people's names that you knew. But now that you've progressed this far, you've become our friends and we care about you, just as you did before. Matt's right, you're not acting like yourself. If anything you're going back to how we first met you… But I want to know why Lain? Why now when you and everyone else needs us most?

"So what if I'm going back to my old self?" Lain spat out at him a little angry as she put one of her hands on her hips. "Does it really matter? What if I like myself better like this?"

"What was wrong with the old Lain?" TK asked now starring down at his hands dully. "What was wrong with her that you didn't like so much that you changed? We liked her, we accepted her for who she was."

"That Lain was weak," she replied brushing her hand in the air, as to push the subject away. "She was weak and depended on the help of others more than her own. She was pathetic."

"Well I liked that pathetic girl you're talking about," TK answered moving his hands to his side and then looked up at her, showing all of the pain in his face. "Right now she's the one that we need most. We don't need you, we never wanted you. Just bring the old Lain back to us. She the one we want! She's the one we need!"

"That's a nice little speech you've been giving," Arkmon said rolling his eyes at him. "But right now we don't really care for what you need. At this moment I need Lain, so we'll be leaving now if you don't mind…"

"But I do mind," Matt said looking at Arkmon blankly. "I do mind if you take Lain away from us."

"Shut-up, this makes no difference between you're goals. We both want the destruction of the Dark Empire, I have more need of her than you ever will," Arkmon said glaring at her. "Come Lain, we will be leaving now."

"Yeah, whatever," Lain replied turning her back to the others behind her. "See you all then." Waving her hand weakly at them from behind she followed Arkmon into what seemed to be a black hole opening up in the wall in front of them.

Matt bit his lip angrily and then shot forward, grabbing Lain's hand before she could move any further towards the hole. "Lain, stop this right now. I want you to stop this right this instant!"

"Let go of me," Lain said calmly to him. "I want to go, now."

"I'm not going to allow it!" Matt screamed out flipping her around so she was facing him. His grip on her arm was getting a little tighter as he spoke out to her. "I'm not going to let you go again Lain! I'm not going to let you leave me!"

"I said let me go!" she shouted out angrily as she tried to wretch herself from his grip. "I want to go!" She gave one final pull away from him and frowned angrily as she did not succeed once again to get away from him.

"I'm not going to let you go again," Matt whispered to her as he pulled her forward into a tight embrace. Resting his head on her shoulder he whispered into her ear only words the two of them could hear. "Lain… I'm not going to let you go again. I'm not going to let you get hurt anymore. I care for you too much to let anything bad happen to you. I'm in love with you Lain, well… at least the old Lain… So please if she can hear me now, let her out. Let her come back to me…"

He felt the Lain in his arms squirm and then finally stop, resting her head on his shoulder calmly. His shoulder was slowly getting soaked in her tears as they ran down her face.

A smile now on his face he let go of her and then starred at her straight in the eyes. "Hey, I thought you promised not to cry anymore…"

"I can't help it," Lain answered sniffing a little. "I'm sorry Matt… I don't know exactly what happened, but I apologize for it with all of my heart. I'm sorry for fighting with you today… I don't know what's been going on with me lately… But I can take it! It's all to much!"

"That's why I'm here for you," Matt answered smiling at her. He looked over her shoulder and saw the darkness gone, Arkmon along with it.

He grabbed her hand and then slowly dragged her over to the couch and sat her down. "Lain… Kari's gone. You said she's disappeared to the Dark Ocean."

Tai made no notion to interject with what was happening, while TK leaned back against the couch and then slowly sank down into a sitting position.

"Lain… Help me get my sister back," Tai said speaking to her, his eyes narrowed at the ground bellow him. "I want her back Lain, and I won't forgive you if she gets hurt."

"I know," Lain answered giving him a soft smile. "I want Kari back too, it's not just you who misses her. She was all of our friends, she meant a lot to us too… But right now… We need to gather all of the Digidestinds together. We need them all here, right now…"

"I'll go and call them all," Tai said walking over in the direction of the phone. "She is my sister after all…"

An hour latter all of the Digidestinds were assembled in Matt's living room, each of them starring at Lain intensely. Everyone was silent; it was as if they were all afraid to talk.

"Lain's said a very interesting prophecy not to long ago," Matt said finally breaking the silence. "One that seems to be coming true. As you know, Kari's disappeared. She's gone back to the realm which the Dark Ocean resides."

"What!?" Ken screamed out, all they could hear was fear in his voice. "She can't have! We both locked it up! It wasn't to bother her of me any longer!"

"But yet she has gone there," Lain answered. "Weather you are willing to believe it or not… Kari's gone there. And you'll be going next…"

Ken jumped up at the sudden word of next. "What the hell are you saying!? That I'm going back there! No! I can't! I'm not going their Lain! Stop talking this nonsense and tell us were Kari is! Stop lying to us! I'm not going to allow it any longer!"

"Courage will become silent. Light will fade away. Hope will start to falter. Sincerity will cry. Love will become confused. Knowledge will suffer. Reliability will take a stand. Kindness will return to the Darkness. Destiny will make a wrong decision. Creed will take its rightful place. Harmony will lose herself. Friendship will die. Darkness will come to power…" Lain recited for them. They all seemed to be starring at her in a gape, as she mentioned all of their crests.  Even the new one's she mentioned struck the new Digidestinds, as if they knew which crest was their own, though having not received or been told that it was theirs.

"Light has already faded away, she's left us to the Dark Ocean. TK's losing all Hope that we will ever find her again. Courage is gone, leaving Tai alone, silent," Lain finished up starring at everyone around her. "This ominous feeling of Darkness has not left. This feeling of the Dark Ocean still resides. You can feel it Ken… Can't you? That's why you look so fearful. Because you don't want to return, because you're scared of this Darkness that hasn't been sealed up yet."

Ken starred at Lain horrified. As if what she had just said to him was his death sentence. His face was pale and he looked as though he had lost all hope to live, to move forward.

"Leave him alone!" Joe screamed out at her angrily. "You don't know anything! Whatever the hell you're thinking then spit it out right now! We're wasting time just sitting her listening to you! What we need to do is go and find Kari! Right now!"

"Reliability is already taking a stand," Lain said as a smile spread across her face. "The only way to reach Kari now… Is if Ken is willing to help."

"W-what do you mean?" Ken stammered out looking at her. "What do I have to do?"

"Open your heart to the Darkness," Lain replied. "Only then will the Dark Ocean call for you, that is the only way we can get her back."

"I… I don't want to do this alone! I'm not doing this alone!" Ken screamed out with fear and anger written all over his face.

"But you're not going to do this alone…" Lain answered. "If you've forgotten already… I am the Child of Darkness. I control it; I'll be by your side when you enter the realm of the Dark Ocean, and then when you leave it with Kari and I. You're not going to be alone Ken. I'm not going to betray you…"

Ken looked into Lain's eyes, scared, he was always going to be scared until this Ocean was finally sealed up. Until it was no longer going to threaten him.

"I-I'll do it…" Ken answered standing up. "Just tell me how."

Lain smiled at him kindly and got up from the couch. "Unfortunately the rest of you can't come with us… You've got nothing to do with the Darkness, no ties with it…"

"I'm trusting you with this one Lain," Tai told her meekly. "If you don't get my sister back…"

"Stop saying that," Lain told him a little angry as she started walking in the direction of Matt's room, towards his computer. "Or else it isn't going to come true."

Ken followed behind her and then stopped as he saw her hold up her own Digivice in front of the computer. A portal opened, it was completely black, a never ending pitch black…

"I don't know if I can go through with this," Ken answered; he was begging to lose all hope in himself. I would never be able to save Kari. He was just too weak.

"Of course you can," Lain replied. "Because you've got me at your side. Just hold up your Digivice. That's all you have to do. Then the hard parts over… Everything will be easy from there. I promise."

Reaching inside of his pocket he grabbed his Digivice and held it up to the computer gravely. His fate had been sealed. He was returning to the Dark Ocean weather he liked it or not.

They both stood on the dark empty shore, an endless black ocean before them. The only thing seeming to give off any form of light was the lighthouse in front of them. Though the light was not white, it was instead a blood red. As if telling them of the deaths that were before them.

End of Chapter Eleven. Now the end will be approaching.