Disclaimer: I do now own Digimon. Or Heroes of Olympus. Or pretty much anything really. It's kinda sad actually...
Author's Note: Written for the Novel with Prompts Challenge found on the Digimon Fanfiction Challenges forum. The prompt for this chapter is "hate".
If you have asked a question in your review or made a comment that you'd like to know my response to, feel free to go searching on the Digimon forums here on the site. Find the forum called Digital Connections. I have a topic up called, "Blurring Boundaries: And so it begins..." which was originally put up as a place to discuss my other story but is now also hosting review replies to this story as well. You can also find author updates from me on what's taking so long to update and whatnot on there as well. Anyway, originally, I was going to wait to update this story until I updated Blurring Boundaries, but Chapter Eighteen of that story is coming out very... awkwardly. So, in an attempt to knock out some cobwebs, I kind of accidentally finished Chapter Five of this story instead! So, I hope you all...
Enjoy!
Chapter Five
Kari's heart wasn't in the girl talk.
Yolei talked about all of the current events going on back home in the real world concerning school and her home life – the math midterm, Mrs Hanari's baby, the guy that lived above her who always played his music way too loud – but Kari could barely muster any sort of response. Her mind was elsewhere. Not that Yolei was deterred at all. She just kept talking on, pointing out one of the buildings they had rebuilt four summers ago before hastily changing the subject. That was the building Kari and TK had worked on together, and Kari's stomach twisted with longing at the memory. Yolei continued to chatter on, skirting around any topics TK-related, which was particularly hard when all of their lives had become so intermingled since saving the world four years prior.
Kari wondered who sent the email, and how they had known to contact Kari directly. She wondered if TK was out there somewhere right now trying to find his way back to them, or if he was unconscious, needing their assistance. Was he locked up somewhere like a prisoner? Was Patamon okay? A million questions bubbled in her head, but she was afraid if she started to ask them aloud, she might burst, so she just kept quiet.
As they climbed a hill at the edge of Primary Village, Kari turned and got an amazing view of the multi-colored little town – toy blocks as big as skyscrapers, schoolhouses and nurseries nestled side-by-side, a wandering brook that surrounded the area, and fields of cribs and eggs – a bizarre assortment of Easter Eggs and brown wooden cradles that rocked themselves. In the distance, she thought she could see Davis leading a parade of baby digimon in a game of soccer. She cracked a smile, and then just as quickly as it came, it faded.
All of it seemed like a different world compared to the bleak snowy landscape waiting for them back home where TK was still just another missing teenager.
"It's hard to believe that Elecmon is gone, isn't it?" Yolei said. "It all just looks… exactly the same."
She looked at Kari like she was trying to read her mind.
"Yeah," Kari said. "Yeah, it does."
Yolei frowned. "You're taking all of this awfully calmly."
Kari couldn't tell her why. She couldn't admit that this just explained some weird feelings she'd been having for three days, or how it just confirmed everything that her dream had told her. Her dream had warned her this was coming. Why would she be surprised? Hope will vanish, the voice had rumbled. When it does, Light will cooperate or it, along with the world, shall be extinguished. Cooperate, and there might be Hope for you yet.
Kari took a shaky breath. "It's still a clue," she lied, not able to look her DNA Digivolving Partner in the eye as she said it. "Not the clue we wanted, but a clue. It's something."
Yolei studied her, and Kari looked away. Several feet behind them, trailed Gatomon and Hawkmon, and the feline digimon's watchful gaze on her partner wasn't helping Kari feel any less transparent. Between her and Yolei, she was going to have to be careful with what she said from now on. They were both very smart, and she didn't want to worry them.
"Really?" Yolei said skeptically. "Because if I were you, I'd be angry. I'd want to find those punks that sent us here and give them a piece of my mind. I'd want to rip my own hair out with worry. I'd want to tear the Digital World apart looking for him." She paused. "Actually, I kind of want to do that anyway, so I can't imagine how you're feeling. But I imagine totally calm isn't exactly on that list."
Kari's mind went blank. She heard Yolei just fine, but it was like her words had shaken her down to her core.
Yolei winced. "This probably isn't helping, isn't it? You just… you don't have to be strong around me, okay? We all know how worried you are…"
No, you don't, Kari thought shakily. You have no idea how worried I am that it's all my fault…
She started to cry. She felt like a total fool, but she dropped down onto the closest tree stump and just fell to pieces. Gatomon ran over to her as Yolei immediately started to babble out apologies, but Kari barely heard either of them. It was all just too much. One day, she'd woken up the girlfriend of TK Takaishi. The next, she was worried he had been left for dead by some terrible street gang. And now, he was apparently kidnapped by some evil digimon who was having the time of its life messing with her.
"Hey," Gatomon said. "We'll figure it out. TK's gotta be out there somewhere, and I bet you Patamon's with him. They'll both be okay."
"They make a great team," Hawkmon added. "They are undoubtedly watching each other's backs right now as we speak."
Not if he's dead or Patamon's destroyed. Kari's dark thoughts threatened to make her cry harder, so she dropped her head to her knees in an attempt to stop from becoming an even bigger mess than she already was. After several minutes of shaking, she finally got enough control to start brushing the tears off of her cheeks.
"You brought me up here so no one would see me crying, didn't you?"
Yolei gave her a sad smile. "I figured you were due for a cry. I don't know what it's like to lose your boyfriend, but I do know what it's like to lose a good friend… And it sucks."
"I just can't believe this is happening," Kari whispered.
"It is pretty freaky," Yolei agreed. "TK disappearing… Takato showing up here… It just doesn't make any sense."
"It does seem all too coincidental not to be related," Gatomon said. "There's still the chance that Gennai might know something that we don't, so now we just need to find him and make him talk straight for once!"
Hawkmon shot her a worried look. "Ah, Gatomon, I don't think threatening him will make him extra chatty."
Gatomon raised a furry eyebrow. "You'd be surprised."
Hawkmon shook his head. "Sometimes, you scare me."
"Thank you."
Kari let out a shaky sigh as she gazed out at the crazy assortment of colors that still peeked out beyond the trees that made up Primary Village. Her one clue, a gigantic bust – but maybe Yolei and Gatomon were right. Maybe, just maybe, the clue was still out there, waiting to be discovered. A part of her just wanted to curl up right where she sat and let the others look for it. They'd have a better chance of finding it if her bad fortune wasn't hanging over everybody. But she knew she couldn't do that.
"You want to head back down?" Yolei asked tentatively.
She didn't have a choice.
Kari gave a small nod as she moved to stand when she was hit by a wave of dizziness. At first, she thought that she just stood up too fast, but then the scenery around her changed. She saw flames, and a figure whose face was hidden behind a plague mask and a long snowy beard. She heard the same laughter as in her dream. She saw another figure draped in shadows, smaller, far more fragile, in chains and tied to a post in front of a roaring bonfire.
She dropped into Yolei's arms.
"Kari!?" Gatomon yelped.
Yolei turned to Hawkmon and shrieked, "Hawkmon! Go get some help!"
"No, it's—it's okay," Kari managed.
"Are you sure?" Yolei asked.
"Yeah. I just…" She had to get control over herself. With legs feeling like jelly, she managed to right herself once more. "I just stood up too fast. With so much happening today, I guess I just… But I'm okay."
Yolei hesitated. Then, she nodded for Hawkmon to stay. "Okay, if you're sure. You just went really pale… I thought you were about to pass out."
"I'm fine," Kari promised, though her heart was still racing. "But I don't think I'm ready to head back yet. Can we walk a bit more?"
Gatomon's gaze was impossible to meet as her piercing blue eyes were more unnerving than dagger blades. She seemed to be trying to read her partner's thoughts, and Kari felt instantly guilty. How could she keep anything from any of her best friends, especially Gatomon? But then again… how could she even think of telling them?
"Yeah, of course," Yolei said, but she didn't sound convinced. She kept shooting Kari worried looks out of the corner of her eye, like she expected her to faint any second. Kari tried not to look too guilty as they walked, mostly in silence now that they had run out of things to talk about. Kari didn't feel like breaking down again, and Yolei seemed to have lost interest in pretending nothing was the wrong.
Kari wasn't sure how long they had walked like this, just wandering further and further away from Primary Village, until Hawkmon cleared his throat, breaking the awkward silence that had fallen over the foursome.
"Uh, I don't mean to interrupt this lively chat," he said, "but don't you think we should be getting back to the others?"
Yolei looked up. "We have been gone a little while."
"They're probably missing us by now," Gatomon added. "Kari?"
The three of them turned to look at her, but Kari was barely listening. Her gaze was locked onto a place beyond the trees, staring at a strange glowing in the distance. As subtle as it was, it seemed to be calling for her attention so loudly that Kari was surprised that the others had yet to notice it at all. Her feeling of dread was the strongest it had been all day. Her dream – that horrible ultimatum – had something to do with that light.
"What is that?" Kari asked.
Yolei frowned, turning to look in her direction, but her confusion remained. "What is what?"
Kari headed in the direction of the glow, and Yolei, Gatomon, and Hawkmon followed, all sharing very confused looks. The closer Kari got, the more the glow started to solidify into several floating lanterns – except lanterns wasn't the right word, because these things were alive. Something was strangely familiar about them, like she had come across them before, but she couldn't immediately place where.
Kari glanced at her friends, expecting them to understand what she had been talking about, but they still looked just as confused as before. Their eyes were darting all around the clearing, their gazes glancing over the floating lights as if they weren't even there.
Yolei stepped back in the direction of Primary Village. "Um, Kari, maybe we should—"
"Hello?" Kari said instead, addressing the lights.
The light was in the shape of a diamond, and if it could turn to look at her, she was certain that was exactly what it just did. It spun on its axis as if restless, and Kari took an uncertain step backward. As strange and unusual as it was – she knew this light, this being.
"Child of Light." The voice seemed to come from nowhere, and it took Kari several seconds to realize that the light itself was speaking to her. "It is good to see you again."
"Again?" Kari asked.
"Who is she talking to?" Yolei asked, addressing Gatomon and sounding more than just a little frightened.
"Perhaps we should get her back to the rest of the group," Hawkmon suggested. "Maybe she's been out in the sun too long."
"No, wait!" Gatomon said. "I think I know what's going on…"
"What do you mean again?" Kari asked, ignoring her friends.
"Eight years ago, I used you as a vessel to talk to the rest of the digidestined. Unfortunately, the process wiped the memory of our talk from your mind," the entity explained.
Oh. Right. Kari remembered hearing about that afterward. As Tai and Matt fought in one of the worst fights they had ever had, some strange digital entity had taken control of her body to give everybody a history lesson. It was an effective end to the fighting or so she had been told. She remembered nothing about the incident. Her memory went from Tai and Matt fighting to waking up in Tai's arms later.
"Is that what you're here for? I kind of like having control of my body," Kari said.
"No," the entity said. "We wish to speak with you."
Kari let out a sigh of relief. "Who are you?"
"Are you sure she hasn't lost it?" Yolei whispered.
"Shh!" Gatomon snapped. Her eyes were on her partner, refusing to leave her face, as if she was waiting for the first sign of trouble. It both comforted Kari and made her nervous.
"I am Homeostasis," the entity explained.
"Is that a name?" Kari asked.
"It is what you may call me, and it is what I am. I am balance, equilibrium between light and darkness. When one becomes too great, balance is thrown off, and it is my job to put it right." The spinning entity seemed to shiver where it floated. "Balance has been lost, and it will continue to be lost. I see dark times ahead."
"You can see the future?"
"I can see bits and pieces," Homeostasis said. "And I can send prophecies to those who can hear me like you, all in an attempt to keep the world in perfect balance. Not always is it clear or make sense."
"Were you the one that told us to come here?" Kari asked.
"Will you please tell us what's going on?" Yolei shifted impatiently from one foot to the other.
"It's the entity," Gatomon explained quietly, "the one who took over Kari eight years ago to tell us about our history, about how she and the others were chosen to be digidestined, and how I got separated from the other digimon."
"Oh, I remember this story," Yolei said.
"Should we do something to intervene?" Hawkmon asked. "Is she in any danger?"
"I don't think so," Gatomon admitted.
Homeostasis spun unsteadily on its axis. "Yes and no," it explained. "I spoke to the digimon who sent the message, and they in turn messaged you."
"Then you know where TK is!" Kari gasped.
"I only see bits and pieces," Homeostasis reminded her. "Something about this boy you met in Primary Village and the Child of Hope's disappearance is connected. The exact way is still unclear to even me. I have been unable to consult with the other digital entities about the unbalance I have been feeling from the Digital World as I have been unable to reach them for the last month. Gennai and his counterparts have all been shrouded from me."
"Shrouded from you?" Kari said. "Wait… Are you telling me that Gennai is missing?"
"Gennai is missing!?" Gatomon, Yolei, and Hawkmon gasped.
Kari ignored them, her attention fully on Homeostasis at this point.
"If Gennai had been destroyed, his data would have returned to the Digital World to continue the cycle," Homestasis said. "But it has not, which leads me to believe that he is still alive… but shrouded from my reach. This started one month ago when I first started to feel the imbalance start to grow. I do not know why. I cannot find the source, and I cannot find Gennai."
"What sort of imbalance?" Kari said, trying to wrap her head around all of this. "Does this mean a new evil digimon is trying to take over the Digital World? Does he have Gennai? Does he have TK?"
"I do not know," the entity said. "Something is wrong in the flow of data in the Digital World. Without Gennai to give his perspective of the corporeal side of things, I cannot make sense of it. Data still flows, digimon still are reborn, but something is happening. Something… bad. Then the Child of Hope disappeared."
"And Takato showed up here in the Digital World," Kari supplied, but the words made her chest hurt, "with no memory."
"Are you getting all of this?" Yolei whispered to Hawkmon.
"Only half of it for obvious reasons," Hawkmon said, "but hopefully this means we may finally have some answers."
Gatomon nodded. "That's all we can hope for."
"It is no coincidence, but he does not belong," Homeostasis said.
"What does that mean?" Kari asked, but a part of her already knew the answer.
"He is not one of you, and he is not of this world. Beyond that, I cannot tell you much more. He is as clouded to me as Gennai's location. All I know is that the one with goggles that you found in Primary Village will lead you to discovering what happened to the Child of Hope. What that is… only time will tell."
Kari looked from Homeostasis to Yolei, Gatomon, and Hawkmon who were all watching her intently. She had a sudden desire to tell all of them about her dream, to confess that she knew what was happening – at least part of the story. And that the bad stuff was only beginning.
"I—" she said. "I need to— You need to know what—"
Before she could continue, Homeostasis's light flickered away only to be replaced by a hate-filled greenish glow. Dark violet claws reached through the haze and gripped Kari on the shoulders. She shrieked.
"Kari!" Gatomon cried out, but she didn't seem to know what to do against an invisible enemy.
Kari tried to back away, but the claws were like steel clamps, holding her in place.
Run away, little girl, the voice said, but it wasn't Homeostasis's voice anymore. It sounded demonic, deep and gravelly, not at all human, and like the being was speaking from somewhere far away, down a long, echoing pipe. I shall awaken, Kari Kamiya, and the earth shall swallow all of you. The solstice is your doom. Do not fight it.
The forest started spinning. Yolei tried shaking Kari out of whatever trance she was in, but it was no use. Green smoke enveloped Kari's vision, and she was no longer sure if she was awake or dreaming. The green smoke parted, revealing the face of a demon with goat horns coming out of the top of its head. Chains lit with green flames wrapped around its body, and the creature's red eyes bore into her. The creature's mouth opened, revealing its fangs and sending its horribly thick breath like perfume wafting over Kari. It spoke in the same echoing voice: We rise, and you cannot stop us. Greed is only the first. Bow to his will, and you may be spared when our king rises. YOU CANNOT STOP US!
Kari's knees buckled, and everything went black.