"Where....Kari... ouch..."

TK sat up, wincing slightly. His body was amazingly sore, his hands cut, the back of his head throbbing painfully. He put a hand through his hair and felt a bump, but no blood. He ground his teeth as he saw the gashes torn in his shirt. He looked around, but it was dark out; the ground was rocky and unsteady, which probably explained his bruises. A long way off, he thought he saw the outline of a black forest.

Eh, could be worse, he thought, shrugging a little.

"Much worse."

TK froze. The voice was deep, deadly, and bitter. A shiver went up his spine when he heard it. He struggled to his feet, despite the ache in his knees, and took out his D-3 instinctively. A few seconds after taking it from his pocket, he cursed himself. Patamon wasn't there.

"Who are you?" he yelled, his voice stretching into the yawning emptiness around him. For a few moments, he waited in a torturous silence for the voice to respond. When it did, it's tone was sarcastic.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm you, Takeru. Who else would I be?"

"You're not me, don't try that on me. You're some sort of Digimon, I know it."

"Ah, denial. I remember when you had that."

"What the hell are you talking about?" shouted the blond furiously. His heart beat wildly against his chest. He struggled with his fear, subduing it from taking over his body.

"Denial was your firs step, you know. You passed that phase after awhile...now you just blame yourself. A better decision, in my opinion."

"You don't know ANYTHING about me!" he shouted desperately. His hands were shaking. It was getting cold...so cold...

"Really?"

He gasped and stepped back. The ground at his feet sparked and turned to ice. The mountains rising behind him flashed into glaciers. The temperature dropped dramatically, and TK, shivering, searched around the frozen landscape for the owner of the voice. His rage mixed into his fear.

"Who the HELL ARE YOU? Whatever you're doing, you better cut it out -"

He paused, heard the voice laughing softly.

"I thought you liked ice."

TK's eyes widened. He was frozen, immobile. The usual blue sparkle in his eyes was gone.

"No...you can't....I stopped, it's over -"

"It's never over, Takeru," hissed the voice. TK could feel it right up to his ear, but he was too afraid to turn, to respond. "They called you the Bearer of Hope. So where has your hope gone? You're so weighed down by the guilt, Takeru... it's all there. Just pull down your neck line, roll up your sleeve..."

"NO!" TK screamed desperately. He lunged out in the direction of the voice, but there was no one; he spun, his eyes watering and wild, his breathe fast. He fell back defensively like a wild animal, hearing the voice again.

"You know it's true, Takeru. IT'S YOUR FAULT."

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" he screamed, his eyes flooding tears, his heart burning like the cuts on his body were burning, his guilt aching like the bump in the back of his head ached, his soul wrenching painfully from inside him -

"TK!"

He turned, saw her crimson eyes. The feelings evaporated as she ran towards him. He trembled, the cold flooding his veins, and collapsed to the ground.

"TK...TK...please...wake up, Takeru..."

Kari's crimson eyes were wide and bloodshot. Her lower lip was quivering as she gazed down at her friend, her best friend - the one that lay rigid against the freezing ground, his lips blue, his eyes shut softly. Her hands were shaking, numbing from the unbearably low temperature, her breathe misting in the air. A terrible fear gripped to her heart like an iron fist. As she whispered his name again, she leaned down and brushed a lock of blond hair from his face. Her body trembled as she felt how cold he was.

"Takeru, please...get up....Gatomon, have you started the fire yet?"

"Almost, Kari," Gatomon said as she blew into the smoking pile of wood. A flame flickered faintly from within the pile, shining faintly in the eternal darkness. Hawkmon, on the other side of the fire, waved his wings and the flame grew brighter as Kari pushed TK closer.

"Don't worry Kari, TK will get better after he's sat by the fire. Where is Augumon when you need him, anyway?" he said as the glare from the flames glimmered off his feathers. Kari, still feeling how cold the teenager was, pulled him half up into her lap. The blond's head fell into her shoulder and she stroked his hair.

"I hope you're right, Hawkmon..." she whispered. Her sight blurred...remember seeing TK thrashing arund in the darkness, screaming... his eyes were clouded with tears...leave me alone...

Gatomon walked up and put a paw on Kari's shoulder, shaking her from her thoughts.

"That's right, Kari. Keep hoping. It's what TK would want, right?"

Kari could not respond, but smiled gratefully at her Digimon friend.

"Right, Gatomon. And after he wakes up we can go and find the others, and then we'll figure this all out."