Disclaimer: If I owned it, why would I be writing a disclaimer? Huh? Answer me that!
AN: Keyword for this chapter: Takari. Yup, you heard me; I know all you Takari fans have been waiting for the takari action actually start. So here you go.
BTW, this chapter is dedicated to Darklight, who was tremendously helpful to me, and who heartily deserves it.
It is not a word spoken,
Few words are said;
Nor even a look of the eyes
Nor a bend of the head,
But only a hush of the heart
That has too much to keep,
Only memories waking
That sleep so light a sleep.
"It is Not a Word Spoken"
Sarah Teasdale
The silence stretched between the two teenagers for a long moment, pulling out between the two who unknowingly had so much in common. However, they had been long parted by a deep ocean of anger and time, and so what had once been a friendship was now something else, something less, something cold.
Not to mention the fact that he had caught her going through his underwear drawer, which was really no way to strike up a conversation about old times. Yamato stopped staring at her at last, to her eternal relief, turning his attention to the Crest in her hand. He didn't say anything to her; he simply reached his hand out, waiting for her to hand it over. The implication was clear: he would forget this if she handed it over and left… he obviously felt he had argued with enough Kamiyas for one lifetime.
However, he was about to find out he had never argued with the truly stubborn Kamiya. Gatomon, standing slightly defensively at her partner's side, stifled a groan as she watched Kari set her chin and shake her head to Yamato's silent request. Her eyes were flat and dark and she was gripping the Crest so hard it was beginning to cut into her skin.
Yamato met her eyes, his voice cold. "What do you think you're doing here?"
Kari, who had been so ready to fight a moment before, found her voice had fled, and stumbled slightly, grimacing at her frightened, trembling tone. "I… I want to use it to find him. We can't wait anymore, Ishida-san! Haven't we waited long enough?"
She didn't have to say who 'he' was. Yamato's eyes narrowed, and his voice became very, very quiet, and as he began to speak, Kari heard Gabumon gasp slightly behind her.
"Haven't I mourned long enough, don't you mean? Why can't anyone let me move on? The Crests don't work; it's just over! He's dead, and I miss him, but I can't worry and wait anymore. I refuse to live like that! Let me move on, Kamiya Hikari, so just take your little friends and get out of my house—and my life!"
Kari gasped slightly as Yamato, his eyes hard, reached out and grabbed her arm in a bruising grip, dragging her down the hallway. Her arm went numb where he gripped it and it was only though force of spirit that she didn't drop the Crest she'd worked so hard to acquire. As she stumbled against her will into the spacious living area of the apartment, she heard a hiss behind her as Gatomon leapt from her shocked stupor to her mistress's defense, jumping at Yamato with claws outstretched and fury in her eyes.
Before Yamato could turn or Kari could gasp so much as a protest or warning, a blur and white blur rammed into Gatomon mid-leap, sending both tumbling to the polished floor. Gabumon and Gatomon stumbled together fiercely, both overcome by the instinct to protect their destined. Kari and Yamato watched the two in silent shock, unable to move or speak as the former allies scratched and bit each other with a ruthlessness both destined had thought could only be directed at dark digimon.
It wasn't until an orange and white form swooped down between the two, effectively stopping the battle before it got truly out of hand, that the two roused form their astonishment. Patamon hovered between the combatants, the fierce look on his face disconcerting on such a small digimon.
Forcefully yanking her arm from Yamato's grip, Kari pulled Gatomon into her arms, effectively turning the digimon's anger into concern for her partner. Kari fussed a bit over the slight injuries her digimon had sustained, allowing reassurance to flow down through the subtle bond she maintained with her partner. Yamato remained stock-still; staring at Patamon is shock, obviously not having seen him earlier in his fury at Kari.
Trying to control her smugness, Kari answered the question he was about to ask, "His name is Patamon. He's your brother's digimon, which proves that TK's still alive. Please don't give up, yet, Ishi—Matt! We're so close!"
Blue eyes not leaving the strange digimon before him, Matt scoffed, his words filled with scorn. "Close? Close to what? What can this digimon do fro my brother that he couldn't—or wouldn't—do for him twelve years ago? What do you hope to achieve by this, Kari?"
A strange tone in the last of his words caused Kari to pause before replying, her eyes softening slightly. As her eyes ran over his face, his darkened gaze and the grim set of his jaw, she suddenly saw the weight of the years of waiting and hoping, and how far they had bent his spirit. For a brief second, the now familiar flickering of her sight occurred, and Matt's figure was draped in darkness before her. He appeared to her eyes as if all color and life had been stripped from him, and he was awash in a gray shadow that reminded her of something… something she had seen before…
The Crest of Hope turned to fire in her hand as the connection snapped into place in her mind. The shadow, the loss of color… the Dark Ocean was reaching for Matt as it had for her so often in her dreams. She had thought that the Dark Ocean was antithesis of her Crest, a place of darkness and shadow, but as the power of Hope burned her palm, she realized that the grim gray world did not oppose her Crest at all.
The Dark Ocean was despair, and so was darkened because where there is no Hope, neither can there be Light. TK's Crest had been protecting her from hopelessness for all these years, as it struck out at her to get to him, but it was no longer protecting Yamato, he had finally given up. As Matt's eyes moved to the glowing Crest, Kari knew decisively that all things had come to a head now, today, because there was only one thing that could save Matt from the Dark Ocean.
The older consciousness inside her stirred to life as the truth broke over the girl like the tide… She was the living Light, and so wielded her Crest against darkness, but only the Crest of Hope in the hands of the living Hope could destroy the bleak ocean of despair. That was why the Dark Ocean was so interested in her, because as Hope, TK was forever beyond the reach of despair. But destroy Light… and Hope would eventually fall on his own.
The Crest was still protecting her, but only TK himself could save Matt now.
Still holding Gatomon securely in her arms, Kari stood gracefully, walking calmly past Matt to the door of the apartment. He gaped at her, and she paused in the now open doorway, looking back at him with a strangely familiar expression on her face. He struggled for a minute before a memory rose up in him, a memory of a night he had almost completely forgotten, despite the fact that he thought of the horrible day that followed it at least once every hour.
TK had awoken him from slumber, and together they had watched a fierce battle of what he now knew were digimon. TK had given him the same look that Kari was giving him now, a look of combined youth and ancient wisdom, of innocence and resolve.
Almost unaware that he was speaking aloud, Matt whispered the words that TK had said to him that night, the last night he had spent with his beloved brother… "We're not ready… it's not time yet…"
Kari smiled benevolently at the older boy, looking at him as though she was years older and he just a child who had erred in some harmless way but none-the-less needed to be corrected gently. The golden power of the Crest of Hope, and the softer pink glow of the Crest of Light around her neck seemed to expand to fill the room, simultaneously banishing all shadows and doubts.
"We are ready, Yamato… we are ready, and it's more than time… some things are long overdue, but that will end soon. We know it seems impossible, but you must hang on to your faith. Would he have given up on you?"
Matt watched in awed silence as she disappeared through the door, leaving it open behind her. Patamon fluttered after her distractedly, muttering apologetically as he did so.
"Ummmm… yeah, so… uh… have a nice day!"
With that, the flustered digimon was gone, leaving Matt and Gabumon to stare at the open doorway and wonder what exactly had happened in those last few moments as the blazing brilliance of Hope and Light died away in the room.
"No," Matt said finally, and Gabumon jumped slightly at the sound of his voice. "No, TK would never have given up on me…"
Gabumon remained silent.
There was nothing more to say.
I heard a cry in the night,
A thousand miles it came,
Sharp as a flash of light,
My name, my name!
It was your voice I heard,
You waked and loved me so—
I send you back this word,
I know, I know!
"Message"
Sarah Teasdale
Wearing the Crest of Hope around her neck, Kari found it hard to fall asleep that night, especially since the strange events of the afternoon wouldn't leave her. Eventually, though, the tired girl managed to drift off, and soon found herself in a dark place…
She shivered in an icy wind, but her eyes could make out nothing in the solid shadow surrounding her. She instinctively reached for her Crest, but her hand froze over her chest when she felt the foreign power hanging there… she wasn't wearing the Crest of Light…
Suddenly she understood, and she straightened her shoulders. " I know you're here!" She cried out in challenge, daring the Crest of Hope to reply to her.
As if accepting her challenge, a golden light appeared before her, more raw and defiant than her own soft pink power. She recognized it—Hope… the part of TK that had separated itself to protect him… and her. It spoke, and it had TK's voice, the older voice, the voice perhaps only she would ever recognize…
"You want to wake him."
It wasn't a question.
"Matt's in danger… we need him now. It's time, it has to be."
Hope was silent for a moment, considering her words, before speaking again. "He has been deeply hurt by the Darkness. He will seem strong, but his memories will haunt him. We have protected him from this, sent him to a place where he could grow and be needed until he was ready to face them again. There will be no easy healing for him. Do you have the strength to help him?"
Kari lowered her eyes, her thoughts turned inwards. She knew this was the test, and if she answered incorrectly, she would have to find another way to get to TK. That would take too long, but she didn't know what had happened to TK… the bloody hat said so much more than she wanted to think about, but…
Finally, she looked up, her gaze steady and resolved.
"I can only try."
Takeru knew there was something different about the dream from the moment it began. He was standing in the valley of St. Joseph's, the valley that had given him his pro-tem last name, standing with the sweep of verdant forests on every side, and in the east, the rise of sharp mountains, white and blue against the sky. He could even smell the fresh scent of the summer forest spiced faintly with a slight crispness, a combination of pine needles and snow from the not-so-distant mountains. The intense azure sky was cloudless, and the sun blazed directly over his head—noon.
Something was waiting, waiting to happen. The air was charged with anticipation of it, like the feeling of electricity in the air before a storm.
A breeze whipped through the field around him, sending up a cloud of bright pollen from the golden arctic poppies, filling the air with yellow light and the rustle of leaves.
And then she called his name.
"TK."
He turned, and she was there. Standing among the poppies and berry brambles, with the sunlight radiating off her, creating a sort of halo around her in the fresh air and pollen. She was less than a foot away from him, and he could feel it… feel the difference, something familiar…
Moving gradually, he raised his hand, allowing it to hover directly over her heart… the difference was centered there… she was wearing something, and it was calling him, it was part of him… her deep brown eyes met his, and she nodded slowly, a soft but brilliant smile on her face.
She reached up and pulled a chain from around her neck, little by little drawing a charm from beneath her plain white blouse. Holding it in her right hand, she reached out with her left and turned the hand he was holding over her heart, cupping it. Slowly, as though she wasn't sure if what she was doing was right, she placed the golden charm in his hand and closed his fingers over it.
For a moment, nothing seemed to happen, and she gazed up into his eyes with a quiet kind of desperation on her face, searching them for any change. Then he felt it, like a joint popping into place, and in an instant he knew. It happened so quickly and totally that he couldn't believe he'd ever forgotten, as though the last twelve years of his life had been a strange dream of the sort that vanishes so quickly upon awakening, one barely remembers that they even had a dream.
All of it came back to him… his life before… Matt… the life he should have led with the others… Patamon, Angemon, Devimon, and then… Light and Hope… he remembered them, both of them together in lives before this, bound by fate and time to two worlds and to each other.
"Kari…"
He whispered her name, but it hit her with such force she was sure he'd shouted it, and he raised his free hand to her cheek, trailing his fingers lightly down her face. She looked in his eyes and saw the light there, the glow of Hope that had been present but dimmed; now radiating full force from his soul to hers. Her eyes filled with tears, but she said nothing, simply bringing his hand—that still held the Crest—to her heart, holding it there softly.
The stood that way for a long time, Light and Hope, until the distant sound of a church bell drifted through the clear air around them, causing TK to jerk his head around towards the convent that sat on the secluded side of the valley. He turned back to her, his blue eyes serious.
"Is it very bad?"
Reluctantly dropping his hands, Kari sighed softly, rubbing her temple as though to dispel a headache. She knew what he meant… was it very different than how it should have been, the alternate truth that they alone had seen. It was strange, in a way, they had just met, but they both had seen themselves also become the best of friends… and of course, they'd always talked through the nights… the dark times when they would look forward to sleeping to comfort each other, sustain each other.
She answered truthfully. "It's… fixable. We need to act now, though… the Dark Ocean is coming for Matt."
He stiffened, his gaze darkening. "That's believable, considering… God, this is so weird… I remember things that never happened, like when the Dark Ocean came for you…" He trailed off, as though the memory caused him pain. "You're right… I don't know how soon I can get home—I mean, to Japan… Ugh, this is so confusing! I'm going to need major therapy when this is all over."
She didn't know what to reply to that until she saw his lips twitch into a quirky smile. Laughter burst from her, born of relief and a strange, giddy sort of joy, and he laughed with her. It felt right, the two of them laughing together in the warm sunlight.
Feeling the sunlight on her face, Kari tore her eyes from TK to glance around at her surroundings. "Speaking of coming home," she said, taking in the distant mountains, "Where are we?"
TK scratched the back of his head in an abashed manner, and Kari noted absently that he wasn't wearing a hat. "Actually, we're in Alaska. St. Joseph's Parish, Alaska… this is where I've been."
Her jaw dropped, and she glanced around her again with greater interest. "Alaska? As in, Alaska, in the United States?" He nodded, and she whistled softly. "You know, I thought you had a bit of an accent… geez, we never would have found you the old fashioned way. The Crest picked a great place to hide you."
His eyes dropped from her quickly, and her voice grew soft. "How—how did it happen?"
TK's eyes did not meet hers, and for a long moment she thought he wasn't going to answer. But then he spoke, his voice flat and unemotional, as if he had divorced himself from any expression or feeling. "There—there was a shadow, and a cold wind, and then the park was just gone and I was in a dark place I'd never seen before. But I knew… I knew what had happened. There just wasn't anything I could do about it."
She wanted desperately to understand, to help, but the way his face turned away from her, the way he held the pain back from her, stayed her from asking anything further. So instead she reached out to him, placing a soft hand on his shoulder, the touch intimate and yet hesitant. He placed his hand over hers gratefully, and for the two of them it was enough.
His eyes moved back to her hand, and then towards her face, but they arrested on her arm, and his features went from blank to concerned in a heartbeat. Touching her as though she were glass, he gently turned her arm, exposing an ugly purple bruise to both their eyes. He frowned, turning her arm back and forth to see the full extent of her injury.
Raising his eyes to hers, TK pinned her with a worried stare, his blue eyes deep with emotion. "Who did this to you?"
Kari attempted to tug her arm from his grip, but he gently held firm, and she blushed. "It was an accident—I bumped into the wall, that's all."
Disappointment filled his features, and she knew at once he hadn't fallen for the lie, that he could still read her like a book… but she was desperate not to make trouble between him and his brother when they had so much to rebuild. He scoffed slightly, turning her arm again so she could better see the evidence.
"A wall left a handprint on your arm?"
Not meeting his eyes, she squirmed slightly. "He—he didn't mean to do it, he had every right to be angry—"
TK cut her off, suppressed anger seeping through his tone, and she couldn't look at him even though she knew the anger wasn't—could never be—directed at her. "No one has a right to hurt you, Kari! Why are you protecting some…one…?"
His voice trailed off as realization filled it, as he guessed the one person whom she would protect for him, and he placed his hand over the bruise, a chill traveling down his spine as he saw how closely the size of the bruise matched the size of his hand… or his brother's hand.
He dropped her arm and turned her face towards his so he could look her into her eyes. "How bad is it there, really?"
Suddenly the landscape around her dimmed, and she could feel the dream fading, ending. Looking into his eyes, she answered the question as they were drawn reluctantly apart.
"Come home soon, TK… Come home soon."
If I ran away,
I'd never have the strength
To go very far…
How would they hear
The beating of my heart?
Will it grow cold?
The secret that I hide?
Will I grow old?
How will they hear?
When will they learn?
How will they know?
The truth is never far behind…
"Live to Tell"
Madonna
Kari lay in bed for a long time that morning, assimilating all that had happened to her. Her hand was laying over her heart where the Crest of Hope no longer sat… it was gone now.
She had returned it to him.
The two digimon perched on the end of her bed, Gatomon with a puzzled expression, but Patamon with a small smile. He knew she had succeeded. All three of them jumped when her personal phone, on her bedside table, rang suddenly.
It rang twice more before her trembling hand reached out to pick it up.
"Moshi moshi?"
"…"
"…"
"TK?!?"
"I can't believe it! How did you get my number? … … The international operator? You're a very strange young man, I hope you realize… … hang on, there's someone here who wants to say hi."
With a tremendous smile on her face, Kari placed the phone beside Patamon, positioning it so he could speak and hear easily. Looking at his wide eyes, she smiled even more broadly.
"It's for you."
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