A/N: Apologies for the delay. This chapter just would not behave. Here we are again!
6. Who Was Left Behind?
They had failed.
Gennai watched the dot disappear from his monitor in slowly dawning horror. He wasn't sure who to mourn first; the dead child or his dying world. The eighth was necessary, so important to the cause. The crests had originated from the one, they and their oppositions had come from the eighth and they had the power necessary to not only destroy Vamdemon, but what came after. Because all eight were necessary.
Harmony created peace. Discord allowed for despair. They all had known this, since the decree of Homeostasis. That was the way the world had survived from the first. Unite or die.
With one of their own gone, could the Chosen even consider that? They had to try, certainly.
He looked at the map once more. Should he contact them? Would they even know? There needed to be a backup plan. There were prophecies, hundreds of them, true or untrue. He needed to give them something, anything to hope for.
The screen started to beep and Gennai lifted his head, rubbing what remained of his hair. His eyes opened wide.
The dot had returned. It was faint, but the red light resonated softly.
How was this possible?
Well, regardless…
He pulled up a window and began to type. If there was some chance, any chance, it couldn't be wasted.
Koushiro closed out the window on his laptop screen and put his head in his hands. He wasn't sure which message was worse: Taichi-san's or Gennai's.
Hikari had been found killed, murdered. Taichi had seen claw marks, thicker than their cat's. And Gennai had said… said that the eighth was killed. There was only one creature who could have killed her like that.
Their comrade had been right under their nose the entire time, and now they had lost her.
However, Gennai mentioned a signal, warped, faint. The question was if it was real or fake, and if they should respond to it regardless.
He had to tell the others anyway. It was likely that Taichi-san hadn't told them and they needed to know, to regroup and think of a new plan to-
To what, exactly? Find the signal and go on another wild goose chase?
Tentomon gave a worried buzz from his bed and Koushiro shook himself. He couldn't think like this. Realistic thought was one thing; pessimism was something else. If there was a faint signal, then something of Hikari-san could still exist. A ghost? He wasn't a fan of believing in ghosts. But sentimental feelings had given them power. He had nothing to lose by wondering.
Koushiro took a deep breath and went to his phone. "Tentomon," he said softly. "Can you stay here for a bit?"
His partner nodded. Even lacking a mouth, Koushiro could see the concern. "Koushiro-han..."
"I think I must be in shock right now," he heard himself say, and it was so different, his voice so far away. Maybe he was. "I'll be better in the morning." He didn't want to tell his partner he could be worse, but he guessed Tentomon could know that anyway.
Outside of his window, the fog rolled in, heavy as soup and full of cold. Just as the light had been ripped away, so too was the morning going to be pulled from the sky.
Another girl dropped to the concrete from a stranger's hands. Except this one was dead.
