Title: A Cry Amongst Silence
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
Pairings: T.K/Kari, Tai and Kari sibling bonding, Matt and T.K sibling bonding.
Summary: Set after the final battle of Season 2. After everything seems to be back to normal for the digidestined, Kari feels a pull from the dark ocean again. But this time, Tai is there to help her overcome it.
Notes: This story will feature sibling bonding, family dynamics, and adventure. The adventure will be a slow build. This story also explores the capabilities of sensing emotions and feelings.
*This chapter has been revised to correct timeline and grammatical errors.*
Kari stood and went to her desk where a single pink book lay. Tai recognized it immediately as her journal, but there was something different about it somehow. He could almost feel a dark aura emitting from it. The feeling only got stronger when she brought it to the bed and opened it to a specific passage. There was no title; only a date and a time.
"I started these entries a few days ago when it first started to happen." She started as she sat back in her seat on her bed.
"I would start having nightmares. First they would be about the dark ocean and the scubamon, and then they would get worse...darker."
Her eyes nearly clouded over from reliving her feelings from her time in the dark ocean. It was like she was drawn to the darkness sometimes. She couldn't explain it. It had nothing to do with her light energy. Sometimes, she felt as if her light didn't exist at all during her nightmares. That was the part that frightened her the most.
Tai noticed her expression and a dark look made its way to his face as well. This darkness had been around ever since the very beginning. Tai had personally traced it back to the first time he and Matt had an argument, but he knew it had been around much longer then he could even imagine. The gang had noticed, of course, but most of them never experienced the true extent of darkness until after Owikawa and Myotismon's final form were taken care of. That was almost a year ago, but no one could deny that the darkness was still around, lurking in the shadows.
Tai took Kari's hand in his, urging her to continue. This had to be very difficult, considering she had kept it a secret for longer than she was giving credit for. She squeezed his hand and took a deep breath as she broke contact and began speaking again.
"If you remember me telling you before, the scubamon called me to the dark ocean to be their queen." She recapped, and he nodded.
He always got a terrible feeling in his stomach any time he thought of what she went through back then. He hadn't been there; he hadn't even known there was something he had to be there for. Though they had a connection, there were times where they couldn't unite. He wondered on more than one occasion why that particular time was different.
Kari continued. "In the nightmares...the ocean would turn pitch black and the scubamon would morph into terribly ugly creatures, like they did last time. They don't want me to be their queen anymore, though. They want me to be their..."
She paused and took another deep breath. Even after the conversation they'd just had, she still felt hesitant about telling him this. It wasn't because she was afraid of how he would react. On the contrary, she knew exactly how he would react. He'd be furious. Be that as it may, he had to know if anything would be done about the problem.
"They want you to be their what?" He asked, mentally preparing himself for the inevitable anger he'd feel.
"Their sacrifice." She whispered as she avoided eye contact and became stiff.
It took Tai a while to get his anger controlled before he could speak again. It was more fear than anything else, the more he thought of it. His digital world crest of courage leadership began to kick in, and he silently knew another adventure was about to begin.
He released his hand from her now very tight grip and stood to walk to the other side of their bedroom.
"I'm calling all of the digi-destined, both old and new. I know that you thought I could handle this by myself, but I would be lying if I said I could."
She stared up at him, her face portraying a look nothing short of pure shock. Never in her life had she remembered hearing her brother tell her that he could not do something by himself. He noticed her look and put his hand up in front of him in a motion for her not to say a word.
"Kari...I am a total wreck right now. I'm not only angry and scared, but I'm not stable at the moment. If you or anyone else were to ask me what we should do right now, I would go to the digital world myself and make a deal with whatever devil Digimon is out there in order to take your place.
"You're my little sister, the Keeper of Light. I can't damage what chances we have in defeating this evil or risk putting you in anymore danger. That would be the result if I chose to act alone. We need help."
Kari still looked at him, eyes wide. She was mainly concerned with T.K finding out. He was the one who saved her from the dark ocean when she first encountered it. If this was breaking Tai, T.K would definitely be feeling similar effects. She hated seeing the two guys she cared about most being this hurt because of her. She also knew that what he said was completely dead on; they had no choice but to ask for help. They needed the people they loved and trusted. They needed Sora, Matt, and Ken; those who had first hand experiences with the darkness. They needed Yolie, Cody, T.K, Joe, Izzy, Mimi, and Davis; those who, even though haven't had as much experience, knew enough to be able to think without painful memories resurfacing and clouding judgments.
"You're right, Tai. We do need all of them." She gave him a smile and stood.
"All I ask is that we not call them right now. I don't know if I can handle repeating everything to a room full of people tonight. Can this wait until tomorrow?"
"Sure Kari." He said as she walked toward him and enveloped him in a tight hug. "We can do it whenever you are ready."