Renamon: (materializes out of nowhere) You called?
Read this!
Renamon: (reads chapter) Tim, did you actually write this? I didn't expect that.
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Raven stared at Robin. "Ta...Takeru?"
She compleatly forgot that she was holding a plate. It fell from her hands and landed on the floor, sending soy sauce all over the floor.
Robin raised an eyebrow at theis reaction. "Are you okay? Who is this Takeru anyway?"
"I'm fine." Raven said. "TK's and old friend of mine. He's the little brother I never had."
Robin nodded. "Right, but listen, go easy on him. I think he's in shock over something."
"Shock?" Raven was considering cleaning up before she left, but after hearing this, she bolted out the door.
Robin blinked. He hadn't expected this reaction. 'Maybe she's not the emotionless witch everyone thinks she is.' he thought. He shrugged, closed the door, and went to the kitchen.
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Raven dashed as fast as she could to the front door of Titan's Tower. Something was wrong, she could feel it. TK was the happy type. He wouldn't be in shock for no good reason.
She opened the door and found a blonde boy about twelve years old gazing out to sea. A brown-haired girl wearing pink was beside him, whispering words of comfort to him.
Raven ran up to them. "TK."
He looked at her with empty eyes. "Raven?"
"TK, what happened?" Raven asked, looking him over. His blonde hair was still a wild mane, but his style had changed. He now wore hunter green, from the shirt he was wearing to the shoes on his feet. In his arms was Patamon, the "stuffed toy" he had when she first saved him from that vampire.
TK's ocean blue eyes, which had once sparkled with joy, innocence, and hope, were now empty of all emotion, even life. If he hadn't been standing and breathing, Raven would have said he was dead.
She quickly took off her cloak and wraped it around him. She took Patamon and gave him to the other girl, who had a cat in her arms. She guided TK into the tower, the girl following.
Once in the main lobby, Raven hit a intercomm button.
"Cyborg, get a cup of tea ready, and take it to the living room. Now, no questions." She said and took them to the elevator.
They made it to the living room, where the other Titans were waiting. Raven made TK sit on the couch and take the cup of tea. He slowly drank it.
While Raven was trying to get TK to tell her what happened,the others turned to the girl.
"What happened to him?" Robin asked. "Who are you?"
"My name is Kari." the girl answered. "TK's my best friend."
She gazed at TK. "This started about a month ago, when he, his brother Matt, and his parents were held hostage."
Raven turned sharply. "That was him?" she asked. "Oh, my..." All eyes were on Kari, though Ravens kept flicking hers back to TK.
"The group wanted Japan so sever their ties with America, and even attack America" Kari said. "They thought TK's family were related to the Prime Minister, so they took them. All I know is that they were held for a month. But then the government said they would not risk open war with America. They were at the terrorists mercy."
"What about the Digimon?" Raven asked, gesturing to Patamon and the cat. "Couldn't they have helped?"
"They wern't there." Kari said sadly. "They were locked in the Digiworld. Our friends Izzy and Ken tried their hardest to open the gate, but it took them a month to do so."
"And your government comdemmed them." Robin said slowly.
"Yes." Kari said, tears filling her eyes. "It's kind of like a omen. The original eight of us, TK and Matt included, had crests of a certain emotion. Matt is Friendship. TK is Hope. You can see where I'm going."
Surprizingly, it was Beast Boy who figured it out first. "Dude, your country betrayed Hope and Friendship. It is like a omen!"
Kari nodded. "the day after the anouncements, two things happened. The first is that Izzy and Ken opened the digi-gate and freed the digimon. The second is that TK appeared at the door of my apartment."
That startled them. "How'd that happen?" Cyborg asked.
"Beats me." Kari said. " But he's been like that ever since, and that can't be good. Then I remembered Raven, how she used to visit TK a lot when he was younger. Izzy found you guys and I brought him here."
"What about the hostage situation?" Robin asked.
"It's over, but only the government know what happened." Kari said. "I was hoping you could help."
Raven turned to TK and pressed her fingertips against his temples. "I'm sorry, TK, but it's for your own good. Azerath metrion zinthos!"
Images flashed by Raven's eyes. Pain flooded her body, but she went on, finding her friend's main source of pain.
Finally, she releaced her hold and floated back to reality, not believing what she saw. She stood up, but collapsed. Robin immediately jumped up and caught her. He put her on the couch next to TK. "Raven, are you okay?"
"No." Raven answered. "Oh, TK..."
She looked at the others, especialy Kari. "Japan betrayed Hope and Friendship. Because of this, Friendship is dead."
Beside her, TK flinched. He gazed at Raven, knowing she had to tell the others for him. Kari clasped a hand to her mouth. "Matt..." She whispered.
"Once the government had condemmed them," Raven continued, in a uncharateristically sad and angry voice, "The terrorists decided that the hostages were expendable. The first was his father. They beheaded him with the others watching.
"Next was his brother. They...they cut his throat and he bled to death.
"Then came Nancy. Her's was the worst. They...they...oh, no..."
Raven retched and ran into the kitchen. the others waited, trying to absorb the information handed to them. TK's wide staring eyes had tears flowing down. Everyone winced at the sound of Raven being violantly sick in the kitchen.
Raven came back a few minutes later, her normally pale skin had a green tint to it.
"Nancy," She tried again, "They...they raped her, in front of her son. But they wern't finished there. They tied her to a pole and...and..." The last part came out a whisper: "Burned her alive."
Raven ran into the kitchen again, followed by Starfire and Kari. The boys were staring at TK in horror. It was bad enough hearing about it secondhand, but he had lived through it.
Patamon and the cat came up to TK. He burst into tears as the two nuzzled up to him.
The other three boys looked at the crying boy, then at each other, asking themselves the same silent question:
"How on earth are we going to help him?
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I still can't believe I worte this! I never written anything this sad before.
Renamon: Get over it. It's not that sad.
Well...maybe not. This may not be on a tearjerker level, but this is the saddest I ever written.
Renamon: Sometimes I wonder why we are partners. We are nothing alike.
Does that matter? Anyway, like Renamon said, R&R, with no flames, or I'll get very angry, and we don't want that to happen, right Renamon.
Renamon: Right.