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Clairice led the family to a room across from Kari's, a small conference-like room with several chairs and a tall plant in the corner, along with sound proof, tinted windows adorning the wall. The nurse gestured to three chairs in the middle of the room and the family sat down, while she occupied one of the two across from them, while she held in her hands quite a thick portfolio. They guessed it was Kari's, since no one else in their family had taken that many trips to the hospital in their lives. She stared at them for awhile, as if it was difficult for her to begin, but she started nonetheless.
"All right. The call I received in the waiting room was from Ryon Fransou, a highly respected French doctor; he is also the head doctor in your daughter's case (I don't know what you'd call this sort of thing). He requested a meeting with you, so if it's all right, I'll call him in right now," She waited for their nods, and once they did, she pressed a button with a speaker beside it and spoke into it. "Dr. Fransou, you may come in now." Seconds after this, the entrance door east of them opened to reveal a mid-thirties brown-haired, brown-eyed man wearing an acknowledging, yet dead serious expression. He took the seat next to Clarice and gently took the portfolio from the nurse's hands.
"Now, you have been told that your daughter's disease is veraciously rare, and in that sense, quite dangerous?" He paused to hear their answer, and when they answered in confirmation, he went on. "That…attack of coughing you witnessed…it's…well, it's one of the first milestones to show that her condition is growing worse," Mrs. Kamiya whimpered and clutched her husband's hand strongly, who in turn squeezed back receptively, trying to cover up the fact that he was breaking up inside, if only to protect his wife. Next to them, Tai was gripping the armrests of his chair like they were his only lifeline to this world, and, in a way, they were, for he was trapped in a darkness within his own mind that he'd never known before. Dr. Fransou stared at their reactions, his face pained as much as theirs were, wishing with all his might that he didn't have to go on. Taking a deep breath, he did. "Because there have only been six cases of her disease known worldwide, there has not been much of a chance to analyze it in detail, meaning that there are no known ways of curing it. As in Kari's case, I want you to know that we will do everything possible to help her and stop the HDIRD from progressing any further than it has, but…you must understand that…the chances of her surviving are very slim to none. Even if she somehow does survive, the possibility of it coming back is very high indeed. I'm very sorry for having to give you this news. I wish I could take away the pain, all of it, but I can't. I'll have Clairice take you back to your party now." He lifted himself from the chair and walked back to the door, and was turning the doorknob to exit when Mrs. Kamiya called out,
"Wait!" The doctor turned back to her with imploring eyes. "How many of the other six have survived?" Suddenly the man's eyes shone with tears, and he unsteadily told them,
"None." Tears ran down all of the family members' faces, so much so that they didn't even hear the door click shut, and their visages were paintings of devastation at its peak. Clairice (awkwardly) comforted them as well as she could in the situation they were in, and as soon as they had calmed down (enough), she slowly led them back to their waiting friends.
"What's going on with Kari?! What did she say?!" T.K. demanded, but was hushed as Matt put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head as he frowned disapprovingly, and then turned worried eyes back to his best friend and his family. Izzy and T.K. and Matt's parents reassured the family of three, and T.K. nearly lost it from not knowing what was happening (in fact, none of them did). When they'd regained their composure enough to talk and look 'decent', he guiltily strode over and knelt in front of them, they barely peering up as he came forward. He sighed, defeated as to where to begin, what to say, as he folded, unfolded, and then refolded his hands. He looked into all three pairs of eyes, scanning them for some kind of answer that they weren't voicing, but only found more anguish than he'd ever seen in his twelve years, even more so than when they'd rescued Ken from his Digimon Emperor self and Wormmon had died. He gulped; from that anguish he feared the worst, but dared to ask the question nonetheless. "What happened? Is she all right?"
"That's an ironic question, don't you think? If she were, do you think we'd come out of the meeting like this?" Tai laughed wryly, and T.K. frowned deeply in guilt. Tai looked at him sadly. "I'm sorry, T.K. You deserve to know what's going on just as much as the rest of us. I'm just…all right, I'll tell you." It was then that Tai felt a caring hand on his shoulder, and turned his head to find his Mother gazing at him with despairing eyes.
"Let me tell him, okay? I know that you're hurting even more than we are," She gestured with her head to her husband and then stared back to her son. He nodded and smiled a bit before his Mother looked to T.K., and the rest of the room was silent to hear the news as well. "Well, according to the main doctor on Kari's case, the coughing attack we saw was one of the symptoms that occurs when a patient is worsening. H-He said that, uh…" Her voice grew quiet as she peered down at her lap and tears formed in her eyes once again. She glanced up at her husband when a firm hand enclosed over hers, and the slightly breaking man gazed at his wife lovingly as he rubbed her hand reassuringly.
"I'll tell him the rest. You just calm down, okay?" He asked gently, and she nodded as she laid her head on his strong shoulder. Now it was his turn to look at everyone in the room, all eyes glued to his face, all ears anxiously listening. "The French doctor, Mr. Fransou, told us that because there have been so few cases of Kari's disease around the world, not much is known about it. Therefore, there is no cure known to man or medicine, but they'll do all they can to help her. However," Everyone whose face had had even a little spark of hope flickered and died at that one word, no matter how small. "Her chances of living through this are devastatingly slim to none, and even if she does make it, the chances of it coming back are off the charts. As he was leaving, he also told us that out of the six that had HDIRD before Kari…none survived." The Digidestined team's eyes grew dark, and it appeared as though the room had been shrouded by an unheard darkness; the darkness they now felt in their hearts was leaking into the room with them, to eat them up if granted. Matt, Sora, T.K., and Joe noticed this, since they were the only ones who'd been through that ordeal before when they were younger. They sprang from their seats and rushed to their friends; Joe took on Cody, Yolei, Ken, and Davis; Sora got Tai, his parents, Mimi, and her own parents; T.K. handled Izzy, his parents, Joe's parents, Yolei's parents; Matt struggled with the rest of the parents, along with his own. Sora grabbed Tai's hand tightly, squeezing it with all her might, and looked at him with pleading eyes.
"Tai? It-It's me, Sora. You have to listen to me, listen to my voice. I know the doctors said Kari will most likely not survive, but that doesn't mean you can just give up! You're her brother; you know her better than all of us. You know what she's capable of handling, you know how strong-willed she is. She risked her life to save you from pain; now you've got to hold on to her with your whole heart. She needs you, Tai. She loves you, and she needs you to believe in her, otherwise she can't make it. She needs your strength to course through her veins; she needs something to hold on to, Tai, and that something is you. You must believe she can get through this…" Tears began to fall from her eyes as she watched the boy she adored so much have that unwavering black hopelessness she'd had in her heart so long ago. She hung her head as the water droplets rolled down her chin and splattered to the floor, trying not to let anyone see her break down. "Or I won't be able to either." She finished quietly, and continued to cry while the others were having similar luck.
Just then, she felt a tender hand caressing her cheek, and lifted her teary face to peer into those determined, caring eyes she loved.
"T-Tai...?" She asked, unbelieving, as the boy had just been unresponsive a few seconds earlier. She wiped her eyes and then listened as he spoke.
"You can't lose me that easily. You should know that by now." He chuckled, and she lunged at him, holding onto him tightly as he rubbed her back and told her it would be okay. She was still blubbering into his shoulder when the darkness around the area they occupied dissipated, along with the branch that held Tai. That was when Sora remembered the others and jumped from her position, pulling Tai along to help in their 'project'.
"We have to wake them up, Tai! The hopelessness from their hearts, and yours, is what made the room bleak like this. You have to give them hope, since they no longer believe in it themselves. Talk about your sister." She urged, and then pushed him towards his parents. He quickly went over to them and held his Father's shoulder with one hand, and his Mother's hand with the other. He frowned at their blank faces, but began nonetheless.
"Mom, Dad, it's your son. Sora says that it's the darkness in your hearts that is making you this way, making all of you guys this way. Somehow she, T.K., Joe, and Matt weren't affected, and they know a lot about this thing. We'll talk about that later; right now, you just need to open your hearts and hear me, all right? I know I haven't exactly been the most hopeful person in the room, but I know my little sister like I'd know your smiles or laughs anywhere in the world. We're that close, we share that type of bond, and nothing, not even some silly illness can take me away from that. But you guys…she's your daughter; if you don't have hope that Kari can survive, then no one will! It's a chain reaction, Mom, Dad…if the people that are closest to her don't believe in her, in her abilities to fight, then there is no point to the fighting! If you don't trust her enough to let her fight and win or lose her won battles, then it was useless to even start fighting in the first place! You can't give up on her now…she would hate herself even more than she already does if she saw you like this. If there ever is a last time she'll see you, you want to look happy for her, don't you? Trust that she can make it through, and she might. If you don't, she won't even try to fight anymore." Almost instantly, the darkness from around their area disappeared, and he was met with hearty squeezes from both of his parents as they shed tears as well. After explaining the situation to his parents, they were soon enough able to rouse everyone from their depressed-hearted slumber. The questions began to fly at the five that had been awake through all of it (or most of it, in Tai's case), but then Mimi asked one that grabbed all of their attention.
"How did you guys know what this…darkness was?" Tai turned to them, discovering that he himself did not know the origin of their knowledge. Matt began his part of the story.