July 11, 2011

AN: Thanks always and forever for your reviews. I'm glad you are enjoying this story and hope I don't let you down in the future. This may be the last update for a while (but not for a year, I promise… probably just a few weeks). I'm still working on chapter 10 and have some executive decisions to make regarding the direction of the story so I'm going to slow myself down a bit before I update again. But I hope you like this!

The Ultimate Sacrifice

Chapter 7

The following day, T.K. found himself taking a train to Odaiba. He hadn't been back since he moved away all those years ago and he felt nervous doing so. He'd been so good at burying all those memories that he was afraid they'd all come back up returning to the site of it all.

He was surprised when he'd received Izzy's message; partially because he didn't think he would hear from any of the Digidestined again, but even more so because he hadn't heard that Kari was missing. He was essentially cut off from everyone in Odaiba and he didn't exactly watch the news. It had shocked him more than Izzy's phone call had.

He'd stayed up almost all night, as he usually did, thinking about what to do. Going back to Odaiba meant he would have to own up to what he'd done in the past, and he knew how badly that would hurt. But, at the same time, if he didn't go… he would be doing to Kari and Davis what he'd done to Cody; turning the other cheek and trying to pretend like it didn't happen.

T.K. swallowed painfully. If living with what he did to Cody was hard, doing the same thing to Kari would be unbearable.

It was that reasoning alone that got him on the train that morning to go into Odaiba. T.K. had lied to his mother and said he was going to visit Matt – it was the only excuse he could give that she wouldn't question. In fact, it overjoyed her.

T.K. walked robotically from the station to Izzy's house; even though it had been four years, he still knew exactly where it was. He knocked three times when he reached the door and Izzy's mother answered.

"Hello!" she said brightly. "You must be here for the group project as well!"

"Oh, um… yes," he said. She must not remember him.

"Izzy's room is right down the hallway," she said, stepping back for him to enter. He walked down the familiar hallway and opened Izzy's closed bedroom door.

When he arrived, he was surprised to see only Izzy, Ken, and Sora there. "Where's everyone else?" asked T.K. He assumed everyone would already be there; his train had arrived late.

"This is it," Izzy said. "Sora's the only one who told me she was coming. I didn't know you would be."

"Sorry," T.K. said sheepishly. "I didn't really decide until this morning."

"I called Yolei again today," said Izzy. "She hung up on me. Joe said he would think about it, but he's far away. Mimi…" he hesitated. "She's too far also. Ken spoke to Matt and Tai yesterday but they didn't want to hear it." He was frowning.

"Does anyone have a plan?"

Izzy broke out into what he and Ken had discovered and what the three of them had decided to do as a course of action before he'd arrived. Sora finished with, "Ken is going to take us to the Dark Ocean tomorrow. Today we're going to try to get the others to agree to go. But if we can't get everyone… we'll have to go without them."

Tomorrow. The Dark Ocean. T.K. nodded, his heart pounding. It was going to be so hard to go back, he knew, but he had to do it. It wouldn't make up for what they'd done four years ago, but it would be a step in the right direction. No way was he going to sit back when there was a plan to rescue Kari and Davis.

"Let's go get the others, then," T.K. said.

"We were thinking you would go to Matt," Izzy said. "Sora will talk to Tai and Ken will talk to Yolei. I'm going to call Joe and Mimi again and see if I can talk to them. We'll meet back here?"

The three of them nodded. "Let's do it."

It was hard to believe that once Sora and Tai had been such good friends. They'd never gone so much as a week without talking, so it would be strange going back after four years. Tai arguably took everything the hardest – he was a leader that felt like he failed. Naturally he would take all responsibility. She knew that he was strong enough to get through this; he just needed someone to believe in him.

It hurt how familiar everything about Tai's building was; the elevators, the hallways, his front door. She hesitated before she knocked.

His mother answered the door; she looked distressed and Sora suddenly remembered how Kari was missing.

"Sora," she breathed, staring at her.

"Hi, Mrs. Kamiya," Sora said. "I… I'm so sorry about Kari."

She blinked away tears. "Thank you. It's nice to see you. It's been a long time."

"Too long," Sora said truthfully. "Is… is Tai here?"

"Yes, he's in his room," she said, stepping back for me to step inside. "You remember where it is?"

"Of course." Sora walked past Tai's mother without looking at her; she wanted to get away from her. It broke her heart too much. She walked to Tai's bedroom door and knocked.

"I'm busy, Mom," Tai's voice floated through. It was so familiar.

"Tai, it's Sora," she said. "Can I come in?"

There was a moment's silence before the door swung open. Tai stood in the doorway, his hair messier than ever and dressed in sweats. It looked as though he just got out of bed.

"What are you doing here?" he said, in a harsher tone than she'd remembered.

"Can I please come in?" Sora repeated.

Tai looked at her for a moment before stepping back to let her enter. He then shut the door behind her.

She didn't even have time to speak before he said, "I hope you're not here to talk about what Ken called me about yesterday."

"Well…" said Sora. "Actually, that's exactly why I'm here."

"Then you can forget about it."

"You didn't even let Ken explain anything to you," Sora protested.

"I heard him say 'Digiworld' and 'Kari' in the same sentence," he snarled. When did he become so hostile? With a pang, she realized they'd missed a huge chunk of each others' lives.

"Kari's not in the Digiworld," she said.

Tai narrowed his eyes. "I know," he said. "She ran away. She's been depressed for a while."

Sora shook her head. "She's in the Dark Ocean with Davis."

That stunned him. He blinked at her a couple times before sputtering, "But – why would she be there?"

"She and Davis figured it out before anyone else," said Sora.

"Figured what out?"

"That the portal from this world to the Digiworld may be closed, but the portal from the Dark Ocean to the Digiworld might not be," she said. "She talked to Ken about it before she disappeared. He's certain that's where she is and that he can take us there." She searched his face for any clue of what he was thinking, but she couldn't tell. "We're going tomorrow."

After a few seconds, he shrugged nonchalantly. "You're wasting your time."

Sora scowled at him. "What's wrong with you?"

"Sora, we already fucked up," he spat.

"And?" she said loudly. "You're gonna sit back and let it happened again?" He was clearly taken aback by her tone, so surprised that he said nothing. "Tai, this is your sister! Are you going to sit back and do nothing? Yes, we fucked up already – and you need to stop thinking that it's all your fault!"

Tai frowned, for once not retaliating. He stared at her before saying, "I'm the leader. I was the one that people looked to for answers and I made the wrong choice."

"It wasn't just you," Sora said. "We all made the wrong choice."

"I should've agreed with Davis!" he suddenly shouted at her. "I shouldn't have gone against him! How can anyone ever take me seriously again? How can any of them trust my decision-making? Mistakes are one thing, but this wasn't just a mistake – this was so much more than that. I can't ever forgive myself for it so how can I expect anyone else to!"

Sora stood up so fast that the chair she was sitting on fell backwards with a crash and Tai jumped. "You don't think I hate myself for this, Tai?" she yelled back. "Every single day I hate myself. But this is our chance to try to make it right! You need to stop thinking so highly of ourselves – no one blames you! Everyone blames themselves! The only person that you need to forgive is yourself. And you better do it fast because it isn't just Cody that we need to go after, it's your sister and Davis now, too."

Tai glanced up at her. "Did you forgive yourself?"

The question surprised her. She picked up her chair and sat down slowly, thinking deeply. "No," she said truthfully. "Not yet. But I think I'll be able to when we start doing something about it. We've all had enough time to sit back and feel sorry for ourselves. Now it's time to do something. It's not too late."

Ken had never been to Yolei's apartment before, but he knew where her family's store was and that she lived above it. An older girl that he assumed was her sister answered the door and looked Ken up and down before leading him to Yolei's room.

"You must be here to work on homework or something," she said snidely as they walked down the hallway to her room. "There's no way this is a social call."

Ken was confused but said nothing.

"Yolei, you have a visitor," the girl called through the door before stalking away. Yolei opened the door, her hard face showing brief confusion as she opened it. She glanced at Ken and a beat later slammed the door in his face.

He jumped. A few seconds later, he knocked on the door. "Yolei, please open the door." When she didn't answer, he tried the doorknob. It was unlocked. He opened it and stepped inside; she was sitting on her bed, facing the wall.

"I knew I needed a lock," she grumbled.

"Yolei, can we talk?"

"I know what you want to talk about," she said to the wall. "And I'm not going."

"Yolei –"

She turned and sent him such a vicious look that he took a step back. "Don't you dare make me feel bad about it," she said dangerously. "You're going to make me feel guilty about not going with you guys but, I swear to God, if you do that I'm going to kill you."

Ken frowned. "I don't understand. Why won't you go?"

Yolei turned back to the wall. "I was Cody's friend," she said. "He won't ever forgive me."

"We were all Cody's friend," Ken said.

"No!" Yolei shouted, closing her eyes. "I was his friend first. I was like a big sister to him. I of all people should have been there for him."

"Everyone's blaming themselves," Ken explained to her. "But we can't think that way. It's not any one person's fault. But we can fix it now."

Yolei's eyes were still closed and she was shaking her head. Ken thought he saw a tear roll down her cheek. "I can never face him," she said quietly. "I just wouldn't be able to look at him. You guys don't need me. You can do it without me."

"We do need you, Yolei," Ken said, stepping toward her. "Believe me, we do."

"Ken," she said in a low voice. "Please leave."

"But –"

"Just… go."

T.K. felt like a failure as he walked back to Izzy's apartment. He had failed in convincing Matt to join them. Matt was taking it much harder than he'd ever realized. He lived like an animal and was high as a kite when T.K. talked to him. Matt thought it was too late for them to go back and wouldn't even consider joining them. No matter what T.K. said, he couldn't get through to him. Matt didn't even think T.K. should go, which is when T.K. had said, "I'm not going to do to Kari what we did to Cody" before storming out.

When he arrived at Izzy's, Sora and Ken had returned – with Tai.

It was such a relief to see their old leader. If Tai was here, everything would be okay. He always knew what to do. "Tai," T.K. said, beaming. "I'm so glad you're here."

Tai just nodded desolately.

"Ken wasn't able to get Yolei to come," Izzy explained. "How'd it go with Matt?"

"He thinks we're wasting our time," T.K. said. "He won't come, either."

Izzy shook his head. "This is unfortunate but, to be honest, I didn't think we would get everyone. It's just been too hard on everyone."

"What about Joe and Mimi?"

"Joe's coming," Izzy said. "He thinks we have a good plan. He's taking a train tonight and will be here in the morning. Mimi wouldn't answer. She's too far away, though, I think."

"We have everyone but Matt, Yolei, and Mimi," said Tai. "Is there anyone else that can talk to them? Get them to come?"

"I don't think they need someone else to convince them at this point," Izzy said sadly. "They need to convince themselves. They knew we're going tomorrow morning, right?" T.K. and Ken both nodded. "They'll show up if they decide to come."

The next half an hour was spent informing Tai of their plan and preparing to leave the following day. "We don't know how long it's going to take," Izzy said. "Make sure to pack a bag full of food and other supplies that we might need."

Everyone nodded.

Sora checked her watch. "It's getting late and I need to catch the train back home." T.K. and Ken stood up as well, claiming the same.

"We'll see you guys tomorrow," Sora said as the three of them left.

On their walk to the train station, though, Sora got a sudden idea. She glanced at the two boys in her company and said, "I'll see you guys tomorrow, I left something at Izzy's!" They didn't question her and waved good-bye. She began walking back to Izzy's house until Ken and T.K. were out of sight and then quickly switched directions.

She jogged over to Matt's apartment, which wasn't that far from Izzy's. It was getting late on a Saturday night so she hoped he was still home as she knocked. It took almost a full minute for him to answer, and she gasped upon seeing his appearance.

His hair was long and messy, his eyes sunken and bloodshot, his clothes wrinkled and smelly. His apartment was equally as atrocious looking, from what she would see over Matt's shoulder. Oh God… what had happened to him?

Matt was looking at her as if he'd seen a ghost. "Sora?" he said, staring at her unblinkingly.

She smiled. "Hey, Matt. Can I… come in?"

Matt stood up to let her in. The place was absolutely disgusting and she suddenly regretted not suggesting that they take a walk instead.

"This way," he said, leading her not into his room but into the study. It was a bit cleaner than the living room. "My room's kind of a mess," he said apologetically. She was thankful they weren't in his room.

She sat down on the desk chair while he sat on the couch. He wouldn't stop staring at her. Finally, he said, "As much as I wish you were here on your own accord, something tells me you want to talk about what T.K. was already here to talk about, the same thing Ken wanted to talk about yesterday."

Sora nodded. "Well, I kind of am here on my own accord. The others don't know I'm here."

Matt stared at the ground, finally tearing his eyes away from her. "How many of you are going?"

"It's me, Izzy, Ken, T.K., Joe, and Tai," she said.

"Tai's going?" he said quietly.

"Yeah," said Sora. "He's having a rough time with it but he knows he doesn't really have a choice. He wants to find Kari."

Matt glanced up, all of a sudden scowling. "I guess you're here to tell me that I'm being an ass for not going and that I'm scum on earth, right?"

"Well, maybe the first one," Sora said irritably. "Why won't you go, Matt?"

"I think it's a waste of time," said Matt. "The black orb told us we wouldn't ever have to fight evil again, and he was right, so he must be right about us not being able to get Cody back."

"We found a loophole, as I'm sure T.K. told you," said Sora. "Well, I can't really take credit for that – Kari and Davis found it first, and then Izzy and Ken."

Matt shrugged. "It'll be in vain."

Sora stared at him for a long time. She remembered the feelings she used to have for Matt and at this moment she couldn't remember how she'd ever had them. "Who are you?" she said quietly. He looked up at her sharply. "You're not the Matt I remember."

"We've all changed," he spat at her. "Don't act like you're so much better than me, Sora. You gave up, too. The only person that can rightfully say they're better than us is Davis."

"You're right," said Sora, and it hurt her to admit it. "I did give up. It pains me to say it, more than I ever could have imagined. I have the crest of love – how could I have let Cody go?" Her voice broke and Matt looked up at her again, with a softer expression. "I blame myself just as much as everyone else does, but…" She swallowed. "How can we turn the other cheek when we finally have a plan?"

Matt was frowning deeply, staring down at his hands. "You may have the crest of love," he said tiredly, "but I have the crest of friendship and I have been anything but a friend to everyone."

"You don't have to feel bad admitting that to me," she said quietly. "We're all ashamed of the last four years. But we can change it now, you know."

He was shaking his head. "There's no changing the past and I've clearly proven that I don't deserve my crest. I can't go back. My Digivice probably wouldn't let me go back."

"Stop it, Matt," Sora snapped. "You're just feeling sorry for yourself."

"Someone has to," he retorted. "No one else would."

"And why should we?" she shouted. "We're all going through the exact same thing." Matt stared at her harshly and Sora sighed, standing up and walking toward the door. "Look, Matt," she said, turning before she left. "I really think you should come with us. We could use you out there and you know that you're an important part of our team. I… I want you there with me." Sora swallowed painfully. "But I know I can't force you into anything. I hope you're able to find happiness in another way, but I know that for me I have to do this."

She walked out of Matt's apartment with a heavy heart. She'd been so confident that, since she'd been able to get Tai to join them, she'd be able to get through to Matt, too. It wasn't until she was safe on the train on her way home that she allowed herself to close her eyes and let the tears drip down her cheeks.

They had all decided to meet at Izzy's house before heading over to the beach to go to the Dark Ocean the following morning. Izzy hadn't been able to sleep well the night before, knowing that, for the first time in four years, he felt hope. They were finally leaving the world and going to save Cody. He was wrought with nerves and also somewhat excitement.

The first person to arrive was Tai, who lived the closest. He was merely a shadow of the Tai he remembered; he kept asking Izzy what to do and what the plan was. He seemed hesitant to take a leading role, which was strange of him. Izzy hoped that eventually Tai would get over it and resume being their leader because he was definitely better at it than Izzy was.

Joe was the next to arrive. He was a lot older looking, but not necessarily in a good way. It looked as though he worked himself too hard. He had a weary face and eyes with big bags underneath them. "Hi guys," he greeted, smiling wanly. "It's nice to see you again. I… I never thought we'd be doing this again." Joe had said to Izzy on the phone that he felt like a fatherly figure to everyone, since he was the oldest, and that was why he'd felt so responsible. Izzy had managed to convince him to come join them, though Joe tried to claim he had a big exam the following Monday.

"This is more important than schoolwork and you know it," Izzy had said irritably and Joe had hesitantly agreed.

Ken arrived next, followed by T.K. and then Sora. Each had a backpack full of things they thought they would need if they were going to be in the Digital World for a long period of time. They were about to leave for the beach a bit earlier than scheduled, since everyone was ready, when a knock came from Izzy's bedroom door.

All six of them were shocked to see Mimi standing there with a suitcase behind her. She looked exhausted but still managed a smile. "I got on a flight the morning after we spoke, Izzy," she said. "I just arrived. Are you guys going already?"

Sora embraced Mimi tightly. "I'm so glad you came," Sora said earnestly.

Mimi hugged her back, a few tears underneath her eyelashes. "Me too."

She stepped back and dragged her suitcase in her room. "When are we going?"

"Erm, well." Izzy glanced at his watch. "Now."

"Oh my!" Mimi gasped. She unzipped her suitcase and started rummaging around. "Let me just grab my essentials…"

She placed a few things in her bag before standing up straight again. "Where's the others? Matt and Yolei?"

"They're not coming," Izzy said dejectedly.

"I tried to talk to Yolei but she won't hear of it," Ken explained. "And T.K. talked to Matt."

Mimi looked at them all thoughtfully. "I don't know about Matt, but I think I can get Yolei to come," she said. "I'll meet you guys at the beach in a half hour, okay?" She was gone before anyone could say anything.

Yolei was not expecting Mimi Tachikawa of all people to show up at her door. Yes, she kind of expected another Digidestined to arrive to convince her, but Mimi was not one of them.

"Mimi!" Yolei gasped when she answered the door. "What're you—"

"I flew in from New York this morning," she explained. "Well, what are you waiting for? We've got a few friends to save!"

"You haven't heard?" Yolei sneered, her foul attitude back. "I'm not going."

Mimi folded her arms across her chest. "You seem proud of this fact."

Yolei stared at her. "Proud? Really? You think I'm proud?"

"I don't know what you are," said Mimi. "But you need to come with us. We're going to need you. Cody's going to need you."

Yolei glared. "No, he's not. I already let him down once."

"We all let him down," said Mimi softly. "But we're still going back."

She shook her head. "I can't go, Mimi. I can't."

"Why not?"

Yolei glanced at her, her eyes shining. "What if he doesn't forgive me?"

Mimi stared at her for a long moment and sighed. "Yolei… do you really think Cody will forgive you if you're the only one that doesn't come?"

"Everyone else is going?" Yolei asked softly.

"All but Matt, I think," said Mimi. "Cody will forgive us if we come for him. It might take time, but he will. What he won't forgive is if we don't even try."

They arrived at the beach early and waited for Mimi to return, praying that she was able to convince Yolei. No one was really talking; it was hard to believe that they were going back after so long. Once everyone had gotten together, T.K. explained how, the last time Kari went to the Dark Ocean, she'd been transported while at the beach, so they assumed that that was where the portal must be.

Sora sat on the grass on a cliff overlooking the ocean, her knees brought up to her chest. She wrapped her arms around them and rested her head on her knees. She would be glad if Yolei joined them, but it made her feel worse that Matt would then be the only one that didn't come. She had always loved Matt, first as a friend and maybe as more, but everything that happened tore them apart. Sometimes, really late at night, she thought that maybe, someday, they could find their way to each again. But this… this was unforgiveable. She would never get over Matt not coming with them.

Tai sat down next to her. "It's weird, isn't it?" he said in a far away voice. "Going back. I really never thought we would."

"It kind of hurts," Sora admitted. "Going back means owning up to everything we did wrong in the last four years."

Tai looked down. "It hurts more than I could have imagined," he said. "I thought about it last night. Even after I came with you to Izzy's yesterday, I still had doubts. But then I thought… I have the crest of courage for a reason, right? Even though I wasn't very courageous in the last couple of years, I've been courageous before. If I did it before, I can do it again."

"I'm proud of you, Tai." Sora tried to smile, but she was still thinking about Matt.

Tai seemed to be able to read her mind; they still had their best friend connection, so many years later. "I'm sorry he's not here."

"Me too."

A moment later two figures appeared in the distance. Ken spoke, "Is that Mimi? And Yolei?"

It was. The two girls were approaching them slowly, Yolei with a hard face and Mimi with a solemn one.

"Let's go before I have time to talk myself out of it," Yolei said by way of greeting.

Mimi approached Sora and whispered, "I was able to get her to agree on impulse. I feel as though she actually might leave if we wait too long."

Sora wanted to wait more but she knew that Matt would have arrived already if he'd wanted to come.

"Well, let's get going then," Izzy said. Everyone stood up and faced the ocean, gathering around Ken, who was holding his Digivice tightly in his hand. "Everyone grab on to me," he said and they all obliged. "Are we ready?" he asked.

For a moment, no one answered. "Yes," T.K. said finally. "Let's go."

Ken stared out at the ocean, thinking hard. He closed his eyes for a moment and, at the exact moment that he thrust his Digivice out at the ocean, they heard a yell.

"Wait!"

Everyone whipped around to see Matt sprinting toward them.

"Wait for me!"

But Ken had already pointed the Digivice to the ocean and they knew the plan had worked. It had lit up and he started to vibrate; a bright portal started to materialize before them.

"Matt!" Sora shouted. "Come on, Matt!"

He was sprinting as fast as he could, but the portal was forming quickly. Ken was starting to vibrate more violently and they all started to rise into the air toward it.

"Matt!" Mimi gasped.

"You can do it!" Tai shouted.

Sora, who was holding on to T.K.'s arm, stepped as far away from him as she could while still holding on to him. She stretched her hand out toward Matt, hoping to God that he would reach them in time. They were rising slowly, being pulled by Ken's Digivice.

Finally, at the last second possible, Matt reached them and jumped into the air, grabbing Sora's hand as they were pulled through the portal.