Genre: Romance/Humor/Drama/Friendship
Theme Songs: "Wedding Dress" by Matt Nathanson, "Don't Make Me Wait" by This World Fair, and "Your Guardian Angel" by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus
Author's Note: We've finally reached the climactic final chapter of Wedding Gowns! It's been a very fun story, I've very much enjoyed writing and posting it. Thank you all for sticking through it and for liking it. I'd like to especially thank The Keeper of Worlds, endlessfun, Digidestined Ninja of Sunshine, M306117, and ARCtheElite for their continued support and for reviewing, faving, and/or following the story! Thank you all for the silent readers, future commenters, and for everyone who enjoyed the story! You don't know how much it means to me. Thank you all so much!
Wedding Gowns
Chapter 4
"It's all fun and games until someone gets locked in a cage, or stabbed in the heartcage," Betsumon said, blood dotting his face as he stared deep into Davis's eyes.
"DAVIS!" screamed Lighdramon, dropping Yolei and Ken to the ground as he ran in Davis's direction. Kari's eyes widened, pupils shrinking, as Betsumon – his own expression suddenly mirroring Kari's – jerked his claws out of Davis, stunned. Davis stumbled, sighing, then collapsed in Kari's arms.
"Davis," Kari whispered, tears filling her eyes.
Davis smiled warmly at her, reaching up to brush back a bang of hair from her eye. "What can I say? The 11-year-old in me thought it'd be cool," he said.
Kari sadly smiled back. "Pretty suave, Motomiya."
"Promise?"
"I wouldn't lie to you," she whispered back, kissing his forehead. He looked stunned for a second, then the shock faded to an intense stare, as his hand reached up to brush her face.
"It'll be okay, Davis," Kari said. "Keiko..." She looked up at the girl who stood pale and shocked, tears filling her own eyes. Two women, both a part of Davis's history, staring into each other's eyes and the man they care about dying on the ground... Not far off, Nat was inside of Betsumon's soul, silently crying for her kind, warm boy who was friendly to her in a lonely world that wouldn't listen. "Pressure this pimp's wound. I'll take care of Betsumon. Besides..." The smile faded as she transferred Davis to the girl. "I'm sure he'd prefer you right now."
Keiko nodded, holding Davis's head in her lap as she removed her hoodie and used it to staunch the blood flow. Kari then stepped in Betsumon's direction, Lighdramon not far behind her.
"Davis..." Betsumon whispered. "Davis... I... no... No, this isn't what I wanted," Betsumon whispered, cradling his head in his hands. "This isn't how it was supposed to be! This is YOUR fault!" Betsumon screamed at Kari. "If you hadn't hurt him! If you hadn't rejected him, I never would have met him! I never would have known your location! I could have been left to rot! Instead I..." Betsumon sunk to his knees. "This isn't me. This isn't happening. I just wanted to be free. I just wanted someone to like me..."
"It's not over yet, Betsumon," Kari said softly. Lighdramon and Angewomon stood behind her, watching. Waiting.
"Stop this nonsense, Nat," Lighdramon whispered. "We can still save Davis. It isn't too late."
"We can free you," Angewomon added.
"No." Betsumon looked up at them. His gaze connected with Kari's, poring into hers. She saw flashes of herself in those eyes, of a person who couldn't escape the darkness no matter how hard they tried. "I'm dangerous. I can never run from my master. And neither can you."
Betsumon lurched. His claws extended, splayed to strike Kari down. Angewomon and Lighdramon readied to stop him, but Kari shouted, "No!" and they stopped— just in time to see Betsumon's claws halt mere centimeters from Kari's face.
Kari could feel the breath hitch in her lungs. Thank God I was right... A gold star for Kari Kamiya!
Betsumon's arm was quivering, his expression twisted in rage, but he couldn't move any further no matter how hard he tried. He bowed his head. "Why can't I...? You're the reason I die! Again! It's your fault! You were the one who made him sad! You are the one who takes him from me! You are the reason I exist like this!"
Kari wobbled on her knees. The fever was rising again. She felt her throat close-up, the blurriness and warmth in her eyes— but she didn't think that came from the cloudiness in her head, she thought it came from somewhere deep in her chest, past the physical forces of her body and deep into the heart of all problems. She bit her bottom lip, holding back tears.
I'm sick... she thought, trying to regain her composure. My head... it's so hot... I...
No, Kari suddenly realized. The heat did not come from any sickness. Sure, her body treated it as such, forcing her to faint or have a fever. But the heat wasn't from being sick. It had never come from being sick, not even when she was a small child staying home from summer camp.
The heat was light; the light inside of her swelling like a solar flare.
Just then, a wedding gown flopped over Betsumon's head, obstructing his sight. He flung backwards, teetering, and wrenched the dress off his face. Twisting around, he saw Babamon had used it to distract him. She snarled at him, "Don't touch the human children!"
"I'm sorry, Nat," Kari whispered, tears rolling off her chin and spilling to the ground below.
At that moment, Kari felt the burst of warmth overflow from within her, taking over her. The white light filled her pores and deluged from her body, grabbing hold of Betsumon and holding him close. Betsumon screeched, the light clouding his vision. Everyone – the digimon and the Dark Spore children and even Kari – all looked away as the light consumed Betsumon.
The darkness shot out of Betsumon, ascending above his head in the shape of a ghostly phantom. Its red eyes stared into Kari's, separate from the light, a hand reaching out for her. "I WILL HAVE THE LIGHT," the phantom screamed.
Kari knew it was the spirit of the Dark Ocean's Master, reaching out to touch the light. The heat flared inside of her, growing like a cacophony of beating drums, before she hurled all the heat, the light, the happiness straight into the phantom's chest. "YOU WON'T GET ANYTHING FROM ME," Kari roared. "NOT FROM ME... NOT FROM KEIKO... AND NOT FROM NAT!"
The Phantom shrieked as the light covered him, overriding his data and tainting it into the light. The Master of the Dark Ocean would not have them today, or any other day so long as Kari breathed— Nat would have her wish. She would be free, one way or the other.
As the darkness was submerged by the light, she could hear His voice calling out to her, just as it had all those years ago as the Dark Ocean flooded her vision. He said, "You may stop me this time, Kari Kamiya... but I will never stop searching for you... Someday, you will be my Queen."
Kari paused, thinking of the wedding gowns in Babamon's shop, of Davis's grin, of Tai's voice and TK's warmth. She then grinned, echoing Davis's own. "Bring it," she said with a laugh. "Being a queen... dealing with someone like you... ain't nobody got time for that!"
The darkness then dissipated, replaced by the light... and even when the light filtered away, they saw a vision of Nat floating on the wind, covered in blue flakes of data that flowed from her hair and coiled around her body. She was smiling at them.
"Thank you," she whispered to Kari. "Take care of him."
She then dispersed in a torrential swarm of blue-glowing fireflies that glided and fluttered and soared to the sky above, finally free.
It was over. Betsumon was defeated. Kari didn't want to kill him, God— that was the last thing she wanted to do, but that uncontrollable power just filled her up and flew towards him. Maybe... it was for the best.
In her heart, Kari knew Nat had been created by the master of the Dark Ocean. Engineered to hunt down Kari and the Dark Spore children in the real world, to exploit them and enslave them and sacrifice them, so that he could rise from the darkness and into the light. Kari just couldn't believe the Dark Ocean would take advantage of Davis's feelings for her in its evil plots.
"Kari!" cried a voice above her. She looked up to see Tai riding on Greymon's shoulder, while TK and Pegasusmon hovered in the air beside them. The both of them jumped to the ground and rushed in her direction. "God, we've been looking everywhere!" Tai said, hugging her. "We finally saw some explosions over here, but we were on the complete other side of the city. I told you to stay home! You could've died! You're sick, Kari... Are you okay?" He worriedly felt her forehead, then her cheeks, then frowned. "You... don't have a fever anymore..."
Kari, too, frowned. All this time, could the light that activated from her been in response to the Dark Ocean? That every time the Dark Ocean came close to her, the light inside of her burst, to protect her from it? The Dark Masters... they too had been close to the Dark Ocean, and before then, maybe the light had activated to protect her from the Digital World before they were on their way to summer camp. The light knew she'd be put in situations where the Dark Ocean could abduct her, and it protected her, all this time.
Kari supposed it made sense, in some morbid way.
"Don't worry about me," Kari said quietly, then pointed to Davis. "Uh, am I the only one who remembers that Davis is kind of bleeding out over there?"
"Shit, Davis!" Tai rushed to Davis's side, only glancing at a sobbing Keiko once before he bent down to check Davis's wound. He glanced up at Matt, Sora, Ken, and Yolei, surprise glazing his eyes, but he shook his head. As much as Kari was sure he wanted to run to his two best friends to check on them, priorities came first— Davis was bleeding out. "That explains why I couldn't get a hold of them. Thought they'd just gone off and eloped. Jeez. I don't know which I would have preferred... I'll get Davis to the doctor. TK, will you stay with her?"
TK nodded. Pegasusmon, Lighdramon, Angewomon, and Babamon offered to help carry the wounded to the nearest hospital, as Keiko dialed the ambulance on Tai's cellphone (it appeared Betsumon was smart enough to steal any possible communication devices, such as D-3s, digivices, cellphones, all of it...). Before long, the Destined, Dark Spore Children, and their partners slowly filed out of the area, being carried either by digimon or by ambulance to nearby hospitals. Soon, the only two people who remained were Kari and TK.
Silence. Kari said nothing as she stared at her hands. These hands helped trick Davis into letting Nat into his heart. Nat said the Master modeled her on Kari. The Dark Ocean's Master would have been smart enough to not make them look exactly alike, but to give her Kari's voice? Davis fell for Nat because she was basically Kari. And if things had gone as the Master wished, Davis would have led Nat straight to Kari, where the Master would take over her body and take Kari away from this world and the next.
Kari was used to being sought by the Dark Ocean. She never imagined it would go after someone she cared about, though.
"Are you really okay?" TK asked.
Thank you, Nat had said.
Davis should have been there. He should have been able to say goodbye. He wouldn't have wanted Nat to die. He'd be so disappointed in her...
"No," Kari choked. TK wrapped his arms around her and held her close.
After a couple minutes, TK pulled away. She was still crying, but her tears were wiped away as TK looked at her closely for the first time since she woke up. He felt her face, her hair. The back of his hand rested on her forehead. It felt nice, to be touched by someone... He frowned. "You don't have a fever anymore."
That was the first time Kari glowed since she was 11 and in the Dark Ocean. And before that, when she was 8 and in the Digital World. Kari always thought that her glowing came from the power of her Crest. Because the others' Crests represented emotions, Kari thought that she could glow because her Crest represented a force of nature rather than a force of man. If anything, this conflict with Nat confirmed that.
It'd explain why Kari got sick more often when she was young, when she was glowing on a more frequent basis. Her body was adjusting to the light in her soul, begging to be released. Maybe that light sensed Nat when she took Keiko's form and fought with Davis in the alley, and that was why she felt sick again... because the light was warning her that darkness was at foot again, and it was coming for her. It was preparing her to glow again.
And now that Nat had been defeated, she was back to normal.
"What happened?" TK asked. For the first time in Kari's life, she wasn't sure if she wanted to tell TK something... where could she even begin? Could she tell him that she spent the entire first day back home with Davis? That she'd realized how grown up he became? How could she tell him that the master tried to abduct her again? This was the only time in her entire life when TK arrived too late to save her. And as he arrived too late, she learned once again, just as she had in the Dark Ocean, that only she could save herself.
Kari didn't know how it happened. All she knew was that she started breaking down and crying in TK's arms, telling him about Nat, and Betsumon, and that her naivete had allowed Gatomon to be locked up in a cage. How guilty she felt that Davis had possibly sacrificed his life to save her from the one person who had comforted him after Kari first rejected him.
Kari didn't feel bad for rejecting Davis all those years ago. He was silly, and possessive, and mean— but all of that was just a show he used to hide who he really was, his low self-esteem, his lack of confidence. If only she'd seen it then like she did now, that Davis was really just a scared boy who just wanted someone to like him for who he was. She could see that now in 18-year-old Davis, who had grown into his ego, self-deprecating sense of humor and his passion for life and recipes. She saw it all.
"It'll be okay," TK whispered. He sighed and bent downward, showing his back to her. "C'mon."
Kari, cheeks still tearstained, raised an eyebrow. "TK, I'm not in the mood."
TK sweat-dropped. "I'm offering you a piggy-back ride, dork."
"Oh." Kari laughed awkwardly and then nodded, climbing up onto his back. TK stumbled at first, his legs shaking, and stood. Kari laughed. "I didn't think you'd make it."
"At first I didn't either," TK replied with a grin.
The two of them walked home, Kari on TK's back, as she sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. After about five minutes, Kari began feeling annoyed with herself. "I just can—can't stop... it's sooo s—sad!" she said.
"That coffee you two had didn't happen to be Irish, was it?" TK asked with a laugh.
"Oh, hush!" She blushed and kneed his ribs.
TK hacked and lost his footing, landing face-first on the stair to the apartment. Kari was surprised by the sudden thrust of weight and flipped off his back, landing on her own back on the concrete in front of him. TK winced. She blushed more fiercely and gave a nervous grin. "Hehe... sorry."
All was forgiven, though, when she got to her hands and knees and dabbed her sleeve against an open cut on his forehead. He grimaced as the blood soaked her shirt, but she didn't mind. He was doing something nice to comfort her.
"Why didn't you tell me you were in town?" TK asked curiously as the two sat on the steps of Kari's parents' apartment building.
Kari shrugged. "I wanted it to be a surprise! ...Until Davis ruined it..."
TK grinned. "Yeah, it was one heck of a surprise when Tai called me up and talked about 100 words per minute about you being unconscious. We were really worried, you know."
"I know..."
"I was worried about you," TK continued, reaching up to grab the hand soaking up his blood. Kari hesitated, looking into the eyes of her best friend. They'd been through so much together. He was the one who went through dimensions to save her from the Dark Ocean... him, and Angewomon and Angemon...
Flashes of Davis went through her mind. Holding his hand in the cafe. His sadness as he talked about Keiko. His embrace as Betsumon exploded in a ray of light. His shock at realizing Nat's betrayal... And finally, his blood caking her face.
She should have stayed in the apartment with Davis. She should have never put him through all this pain. Sure, it was his suggestion and he had every right to go with her to find Gatomon. But if only she'd waited for the others... if only she'd snuck off on her own and left him alone...
Now he was sitting in the ER without the person who caused all his problems. Instead, Kari was sitting here, on these steps.
TK had never caused the sort of problems Kari caused Davis. He had never led her to the Dark Ocean, or rejected her feelings, or gotten together with someone else, or killed one of her exes before he could get the chance to reconcile with her. He'd never been the reason one of her exes caged another one of her exes. He'd never ignored her or avoided her, or stopped talking to her for months on end. Instead, he was there for her every step of the way. He protected her. He talked to her and listened to her. He helped save her from the Dark Ocean and defended her honor and integrity. He was her best friend.
Things weren't hard with TK. She didn't feel guilty... guilty for killing someone he at one time had feelings for, guilty for rejecting him, guilty for wanting to be the girl he kissed even though all his life she'd always said "no". The two had always supported each other. They were friends. They told each other everything. They'd even had sleepovers together, just the two of them. No one – not even their siblings – knew them as well as they knew each other.
All their lives, people had always encouraged them to get together, but for some reason, they never had. Even though it made all the sense in the world, they never dated. Kari didn't know why. It made sense. She and TK had been through everything together and supported one another unconditionally.
As TK held Kari's hand in his own, Kari leaned forward. Just an inch from his lips, she could feel his breath against her, see his eyes watching her own. His fingers entwined with hers.
"Are you sure?" he asked.
She answered with a kiss.
It was warm. Wet. Soft... But there was something else, something that just didn't feel right.
But it's TK, Kari thought. Even Davis could see it. Everything has always been leading up to this moment.
And yet she'd spent the entire day with Davis. All of the events of the day were about her and Davis. Davis's old flame, Kari's old enemy... Why did spending time with Davis make her want to kiss TK so bad? Why kiss TK now in the ten years they'd known each other?
Because you're confused, she told herself. You told yourself you and TK were bound to happen someday, any day. To not rush yourself. To have fun and date around first, experience the single life, because you knew being with TK would be the end. But if you already knew he was your soulmate, why date around in the first place? Why want to get dating experience when you and TK were already so perfect for each other? It wasn't because you didn't want to rush it. It was because you knew... maybe TK... wasn't the one for you...
She broke away. TK blinked, his fingers stiffening against her own. "I'm sorry, TK," she said, smiling sadly.
Before she'd said it, TK had already known. He smiled sadly back, clasping her cheek with his hand and nodding. "It's okay, Kari."
He knew her all too well.
"Still friends?" she asked.
"Always." He paused. "You going to go get your man?"
Kari grinned. "Hell yes."
"You might want to wipe off my blood first," he said, reaching up to wipe off the blood she'd gotten on her forehead from the gash on his own. Kari gave a sheepish grin and waved at him. "Okay, you're good. Now go! I release you into the wild!"
She smiled at him. "Thank you, TK."
(-102010201-)
"The fireflies are gone..."
"So is she."
"Davis..."
"If I had become her partner..."
"Davis—"
"Because if I did—!"
"You can't!"
"Chibimon!"
"Because you're MY partner!"
The past conversation swirled in the recesses of Davis's mind as he swam in and out of consciousness. If only he hadn't given away Nat's egg back then... They'd thought they found her partner in a young boy, but apparently not. If only Davis had kept it for himself, maybe this whole thing could have been avoided... Willis was able to keep two partners, why not Davis?
No, he shouldn't blame himself. But because of him, Gatomon and Keiko could've died! Even Ken, or Yolei, or Matt or Sora— and the rest of the Dark Spore Children. And Kari... Nat almost stabbed her! Because of Davis's old infatuation with her, Davis had put all of them in danger. It was all his fault. He'd made Kari feel so guilty for how she treated him when they were kids, but after this, a part of him wondered if he'd deserved it. Because he could've been the reason she died.
Davis didn't want to wake up. If he woke up, he'd have to see her crying face. He'd have to hear her apologize to him, even though it was all his fault. He'd have to look into Keiko's face and see the horror she went through because of Nat's obsession. No, not Nat's obsession— the Dark Ocean's. But still, it was because Davis followed that damn voice all those years ago that Nat found out who he was and who he was connected to in the first place. And Gatomon... Gatomon had already endured so much. He really hoped this didn't trigger any past memories of enduring Vamdemon's abuse.
All this time, Nat was looking for him. She basically took Keiko's memories and shaped herself around Keiko in order to trick Davis. That probably meant that night, after the cafe, whatever Nat said in Keiko's body probably had at least some shred of truth to it. All Davis's life, he thought he'd failed them. He thought he failed Nat. He thought he scared Keiko away. He thought he'd lost Kari's friendship. And all over again, he failed them. Nat... Keiko... even Kari.
How could Nat, or even Keiko, still have feelings for Davis? And after this, he was sure those feelings would leave and close the door behind them. Because Davis had failed.
But sure enough, there came a time when he knew he could no longer stay asleep. He felt something warm and soft graze his lips, a hand caress his face. In his mind, he whispered Kari's name, fearing for her safety...
"Davis," said a gentle voice.
"Nat?" Davis asked.
"I'm free now," Nat said. He opened his eyes to see her smiling at him. "Thank you for everything, Davis."
"Nat..."
As the vision of her disappeared, she was instead replaced by Keiko, who was hovering over him, her hand clasping his face and tears rolling down her cheeks. Was it really Keiko who kissed him? Was Nat merely a hallucination?
"I'm so happy you're awake," Keiko said, holding his cheeks in-between her palms. "I'm so sorry, Davis." She closed her eyes and kissed him. Davis hesitated, then closed his eyes and kissed her back. When she pulled away, she was still crying. "I love you. I was just scared, Davis— scared, and silly, and stupid. I love you. I love you!"
When he thought about it, he and Keiko were practically made for each other. She baked bread, he cooked noodles. She needed to remain positive to keep the Dark Spore in check, and Davis was a very positive guy. He was cocky, she was confident. She was insecure about her intelligence and so accepted the Dark Spore to be more like Ken Ichijouji, he was insecure about his intelligence and so overcompensated for his lack of confidence by being over-confident. They were both in the same place in life, struggling to get through college and start their adult lives... They made all the sense in the world.
Yet, as he stared into Keiko's eyes, he knew they were over. All this time, he'd thought of nothing but wanting to get Keiko back, of blaming himself for making her feel rushed. He always wanted to try again and prove to her that he was a good man and an even better boyfriend. But now... now, there was something holding him back.
An image, of a little cafe. A girl's brown eyes staring into his own. Her hand brushing his, then holding it close to her heart. Then he thought about that girl in a white dress, twirling in circles. Willing to wear a tuxedo to entertain him. Walking around a store with him as her bride, and her as his groom, for shits and giggles.
Don't be stupid, he thought. You have a beautiful woman staring you in the face confessing her love. You got over "that one" years ago— and one day together makes you lose your confidence again? No. You don't have a chance with Kari, and if you keep going for her, you will lose her friendship, too. Besides, if she likes you now, it's only because you saved her life and feels obligated to be with you. Move on, Davis.
Move on with the only woman who could ever love you back... without, you know, killing you first.
"Keiko..." he whispered, reaching up to grab one of her hands.
"Davis—" said a voice from the doorway. Both Keiko and Davis looked up to see Kari, standing there, looking past Keiko and straight into Davis's eyes.
Davis found it hard to describe the way she was looking at him. With so much warmth, no longer befuddled by the confusion he saw in them in the cafe— and so much light, and kindness, and...
and love.
But seeing Keiko and Davis in such an intimate position, with Keiko leaning over him, her hands clasping his cheeks and his hands over her own, Kari hesitated. The light in her eyes dimmed, then she smiled sadly and waved a hand. "Oh, never mind. I'll... um... I'll come back later."
"Kari," Davis began, but she exited the room before he could say anything more.
Keiko looked between the two of them, then back at Davis. Her tears stopped flowing and she stood at full height. Davis slowly looked back at Keiko, staring deeply into her eyes, and held her hands in his own.
He and Keiko made sense. Keiko was just afraid to love him, which made sense since he hardly ever really opened up to her on any sort of truly deep level. But at the same time, he knew this wasn't the right way. As much as he found himself attracted to Keiko, there would always be a part of him who thought of Kari, and wondered, and who would fight to be noticed by her. And that wasn't fair to Keiko.
"I'm sorry," he whispered.
Keiko stood, stunned, then closed her eyes and sighed. Slowly pulling her hands away from his grip, she opened her eyes back up and said, "I... understand. I had my chance and... I ruined it. Goodbye, Davis..."
"Goodbye."
She left, leaving a trail of memories behind her. Davis just felt so confused. There was a time when he thought Keiko could have been the one for him. She was the first one he felt really connected to since... well, since Kari, or Nat. Nat had been so angry with him, and Kari... well, where could he even begin with Kari?
If he were to get together with Kari – that is, if she even wanted to – would he always feel bitter about all the times she rejected him as children? But they were just kids. How were they supposed to know? They were a bunch of kids fighting a war. They didn't really have time or even the maturity to think about love, or the future, or any of it.
"Kari?" Davis called out, knowing she was still out there. She peeked around the doorframe at him, blinking. Davis grinned. "You snoop."
"What?" she said. "I was just... curious..."
"Why?" he asked.
Kari remained silent. Then she asked, "Did you and Keiko uh get back together?"
"Uh, no," Davis replied with a slight smile, remembering their many "uh" jokes over the past couple days. It was strange to think this all had taken place only over a couple days. It felt so much longer than that.
Things were awkward at first, as she sat on the edge of his bed, looking over his wound. Joe did a pretty good job with it. The youngest surgeon of his peers, he was already the most impressive... Kari was glad Joe was the one who helped Davis, even if Joe typically worked on digimon instead of humans.
Davis was the first to break the silence. "You're doing that whole bottling thing again, except this time you're also shaking it."
Kari looked up at him. "And how am I doing that?"
"You want to tell me something, but you don't know how, so you're keeping it to yourself even though you know I'm waiting." He grinned a little. "Better hurry before the bottle explodes."
"I think I might..." Kari said, avoiding eye contact with him.
Davis used his index finger to brush her chin and lightly turn her face back toward him. "Might what?"
"Might have feelings for you," she said.
"Is it because of this?" He gesticulated to the wound in his ribs. "Cause I don't want a pity date... or to make you feel obligated. Cause if you hadn't noticed, I have options and you don't need to—"
"No," Kari interrupted, leaning toward him. Davis paused. Her eyes were just a couple inches from his own. "No, it's not out of pity or some messed-up form of weird gratitude. I mean, thank you for taking the hit for me. It was very gallant. But that's not why."
"Then why?" Davis asked. "Why now, Kari? Why after all these years?"
"It doesn't matter how long it took," Kari replied. She took Davis's face in her hands and leaned her forehead against his. "All that matters is that I've realized something important. I like you. A lot. I think I might even want to love you. And I definitely want to go out with you."
"But..."
"Shh," she said, the tips of their noses touching. Her eyes narrowing.
Ever since that summer, Davis had troubles letting people into his heart. He'd sabotaged his relationship with Keiko. And even though Kari didn't know how she felt then, she knew now— and maybe, this was a sign that Davis could open up again. Feel free again.
Maybe now, they could all be free.
"But..." As their lips nearly touched, Davis said, "I've already seen you in a wedding dress... Bad luck..."
Their intimate moment was disturbed by Kari's giggles. As she pulled back to laugh, Davis smirked and grabbed her by the arm. Mid-laugh, he stopped it with a kiss as one hand clasped the back of her head, fingers tangled in her hair, his other hand wrapped around her back. She stopped giggling to lean in deeper, her hands clasping his face.
At first warm and gentle, then deeper, harder— tongues touching— breath quickening— and as the kiss parted, Davis looked her in the eye, his voice low as he whispered the one thing she wanted to hear most.
"I want to love you, too."
"Davis..." she began, caressing his cheek. Then her expression was disturbed by a couple wrinkles, her smile turning into a frown. "I have something I need to tell you."
"Just don't tell me you're actually an ex-girlfriend in the body of my current girlfriend and we'll do okay."
"No, Davis, it's..." Kari paused. "Nat. It's Nat."
"Nat, I thought we talked about this," Davis said with a grin. "Stop taking the appearance of my girlfriends."
"No, no," she said, interrupting his chuckles. "I'm not..."
"I know you're not Nat," he said. "I'm being facetious. Why so serious all of a sudden? Kari, what's up?"
"I..." Kari bit her bottom lip. "Betsumon wouldn't let go of her. The Master of the Dark Ocean wouldn't release her. I... I stopped her, Davis," Kari whispered.
"Stopped her?"
"I killed her, Davis," Kari said. Tears filled her eyes. "I killed Nat."
Davis stopped. The loving light that had flooded his eyes seconds before now turned to confusion. "You... Why didn't you tell me that before...?"
Kari bowed her head. "I was afraid. I— I wanted to tell you how I felt, before you kicked me out of your life for good."
"You shouldn't have told me how you felt," Davis said, slowly pushing her hands away from him. "Not until after you told me about Nat. I... I had a feeling she died. Maybe a premonition. But I didn't think..."
"I know," Kari said. "I'm sorry, Davis." Tears continued filling her eyes. "All of this is my fault. You never would have even met Nat if it weren't for me. You wouldn't have had to suffer through all this! I did this to you... and then I killed Nat... and now I'm pretty sure I'm the reason you and Keiko aren't getting back together. I shouldn't have even..." She bit her bottom lip for a second, trying to hold back the tears, then said, "I shouldn't have put all this pressure on you. I shouldn't have..."
"Stop," he said, placing his index finger on her lips. The anger in his eyes softened, until it subsided completely. "Just stop," he continued. "You're doing it again," he said. "Placing all the blame on yourself. Bottling your anger at the Dark Ocean. And now you're afraid that I'll leave and you won't admit it."
"But— after what I did— asking you to forgive after how I acted when we were younger— I'm why you're so afraid of letting people in—"
"You didn't do anything wrong!" he said, grabbing her by the wrists and pulling her into his chest, his arms folding around her. He felt her heart beat against the wound in his ribcage, pulsing— his voice was firm as he said, "Kari, you were 11. And I was being a little twerp. You had no control over how any of this went down! Kari, you were the victim in this, not the perpetrator, not the aggressor. I care about Nat. I will always care about Nat. But there was nothing anyone could do. You don't have to bear all the guilt by yourself, Kari. I wasn't able to save her, either. You don't have to keep it all to yourself!"
Kari looked up at him, her fingers digging trenches in the chest of his hospital gown.
It was hard to comprehend, that Nat was a creation based on Kari to catch Davis's attention. That Nat was always meant to use Davis. But all of this never would have happened if Davis never had real feelings for Kari. And no matter how confusing the situation was, Davis had to learn to let people in. And maybe, this was just the opportunity. An opportunity to put away all his rage. An opportunity to seal up his sadness. An opportunity to really, truly tell someone how he felt without fearing their rejection.
"I still want you," Davis said. "I don't know if this relationship will really go anywhere serious, and I can't promise we'll be together forever. But I want to be. I want to be with you for a long, long time. And if you're interested in that, nothing else matters. Because whatever happens, we'll get through it together."
Kari's eyes widened. "Do you mean that?"
"I wouldn't lie to you," he said, holding her close. "I'll just admit it. No fear. You and I have known each other for quite some time, so yeah. You know what? I love you."
Kari smiled. All this time, they thought they were meant for other people, as though it was written in the stars. Neither of them knew that their destiny together had nothing to do with stars or other people. That Davis's silly childhood crush would one day turn into love, or the girl who thought she was supposed to be with someone else would instead turn to the silly boy who dressed up as the Digimon Emperor to impress her.
Odaiba was a place of many memories.
It was the city where she met Gatomon. It was the city they defeated Vamdemon in. It was the city where she learned of her destiny as a Chosen Child. And it was in this city that she fell in love.
"I love you," he repeated again, entangling his fingers in her hair as he lowered his face. "I love you, love you, love you."
She giggled and kissed him. It was a long kiss, tender and sweet. And when she pulled away, she gave him an Eskimo kiss and said, "Well, I love you, love you, love you, too."
"Awww, what's going on in HERE?" said a voice from the doorway.
Both Kari and Davis jumped. "Yolei?!" Kari asked. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be getting rest?"
"Eh, I rested all night and day," Yolei replied, waving a hand dismissively. "Kari, you can do soo much better! Puke!"
"Oh, shut-up, Yolei!" Davis barked.
"Are we disturbing this little love nest?" said another voice, this time coming from Sora as she peeked in a second later. She was followed by Matt, Tai, TK, Cody, and Joe, who shuffled into the tiny room. Davis waved his arms in an exaggerated way as they peeped around each other's shoulders to see the state of one another.
Ken came in a second later to see Kari sitting next to Davis. Ken grinned at Davis. "You two finally get together?" When Kari and Davis blushed, Ken chuckled. "Well, it's not like he hasn't had a crush on you for forever..."
Davis gave a flustered blush. "I hate you all."
They laughed.
The day continued on in good spirits. So much had been going on that Kari and Davis had completely forgotten that it was Christmas Eve. By the end of the night, the hospital released him on serious pain meds and told him to take it easy. They then went over to Matt and Sora's flat for Christmas celebrations, laughing and joking, and getting over the terrible events from the day before.
Davis hung an ornament on the tree for Nat, next to pictures of himself and the other Destined. Honoring her memory, that though she started as a construct of evil purpose, she rose above it and became her own person with her own agenda. Because of Nat, they saved the Dark Spore Children as well as Matt, Sora, Ken, and Yolei from the Master of the Dark Ocean.
The night continued on happily, with Davis spiking Joe's drink ("Well if I can't get drunk cause of the meds you gave me, might as well make you drunk instead!"). Joe and an intoxicated Mimi (who had connected to them on Skype) went on to drunkily sing Christmas carols. Yolei "caught" Ken under the mistletoe (if by "caught" you mean she "accidentally" shoved him under it and played innocent). Izzy sent postcards of himself, Tentomon, and Gennai in the Dino Region and surfing with Azulongmon on the Net Ocean. How they managed to get Azulongmon on a surfboard, Davis and Kari had no idea. Cody suspected Photoshop. Tai threw up in Sora's hat again, to which she was screaming "Stupid Tai!" all night, and Matt got into a verbal brawl with TK over Astronauts VS Cavemen.
By the end of the night, TK and Kari were joining Joe and Mimi in singing drunken Christmas songs as Davis tried to escape a furious Gatomon by running in circles around the Christmas tree. Veemon and Patamon had overindulged in Christmas goodies and were watching A Christmas Story in a sugar coma ("Oh, fudge," Veemon remarked. "I like fudge. Why do they keep saying fudge like that, Davish?"). Biyomon and Hawkmon were holding each other's wings as they stargazed. Agumon and Gabumon joked about beating each other – jokes that turned real when they got all up in each other's business – until Gomamon broke them up and made a phallic "who's got a bigger ego" quip. Wormmon had tried some of the human alcoholic concoctions and had taken to sitting on Ken's shoulder the whole night and nuzzling his face, occasionally clinging to it when Yolei threatened to kiss Ken (instead making it so she kissed Wormmon instead, then he'd giggle and hiccup). Armadillomon kept asking people if they could go to a bar and ride the mechanical bull, which Davis was tempted to take him up on.
On and on the night went, the Destined laughing and joking around and forgetting the trauma they'd been through for the last ten years. When they were together, none of it really mattered— because they would always have one another.
And just then, the city seemed to have one more happy memory attached to it.
THE END
Author's Note: Okay, narrative-wise it's not my best-written story. Description is pretty lax. And compared to The Lighthouse and Demon Chronicles, there is relatively no action whatsoever which is... very odd for a Glory Nizenea production. But I was listening to "Wedding Dress" by Matt Nathanson and this idea popped into my head (well, mainly I pictured Kari trying on wedding dresses, then trying to force Davis to try them on— which, c'mon, who doesn't want to see that?), so I couldn't help it. :) I hope everyone enjoyed it.
Also, Davis mentioning the girl he met in New York who turned out to be a digimon happened in an audio drama called Natsu e no Tobira. It was a major surprise that it played such a big role while writing this, because I didn't mean for it to develop the way it did, but I felt that was the natural direction to go in with the story themes.
This story came to me a couple years ago after a really nasty breakup. It was kind of therapeutic to write it, even if I didn't realize at the time that I was projecting a lot of what I was feeling onto the characters. I really sympathized with Davis, because he was feeling the same emotions I was. Funnily enough, about a year after that guy and I broke up, I got together with my own Kari (a guy I'd liked years ago, and who knew very well that I was crazy about him, but we were just friends for the longest time; we've been together for over a year now...). So the Kari/Davis/Keiko situation was my subconscious working out what was happening in my real life, and I didn't even realize until rereading this story about a year and half after I wrote it. So issues, let me show you them. :) Hopefully you enjoyed this little story! I know I enjoyed writing it.
Sayonara!