Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. I do not own Heroes of Olympus. Just forget all of this even exists!

Author's Note: Written for the Novel with Prompts Challenge found on the Digimon Fanfiction Challenges forum. The prompt for this chapter is "unwritten".

Also written for July's Camp Nano. This chapter brings me to 2,987/40,000. I'm on my way! As you may have noticed, I'm not pumping them out quite as quickly as I was coming into July. I am still doing a lot of writing - Camp Nano, after all! - but I've caught up to where I was, so I'm trying to stay ahead of my updates. August is quickly approaching, though, but so far, I am on a good track for Camp Nano. My only concern is - will I finish with enough time to get everything posted before August 1? I think I will. I'm trying to stay positive. Let's pray, though!

Enjoy!

Chapter Forty-One

Kari dreamed she was in the gym at Odaiba High.

The constant beat of a basketball dribbling against the wooden floor was the only sound in the otherwise empty gymnasium. The rest of the basketball team had already called it an evening and were in the showers. But one team member had stayed back to keep on practicing. A swoosh followed by more dribbling signaled a successful shot that went straight through the net.

Kari lifted her hands and applauded, causing TK to stumble with the ball as he did a double take. He gave her a sheepish smile as the ball rolled away and disappeared on the other side of the court.

"I didn't know anybody else was still in here," TK admitted as he walked over to the sidelines and picked up a water bottle. "What are you doing here? I thought you were watching and Davis and Ken's practice with Yolei?"

Kari stood from her place on the bleachers and descended the steps to join him in front of the team bench. She watched as he took a healthy drink. He was covered in sweat, leaving a dark stain on his red jersey, and though Kari knew that there were some shallow girls out there who would have been a little grossed out by his appearance at the moment, she didn't mind. His musk smelled of burning sage and rainy days. His blonde hair was darker thanks to the perspiration, and it clung to his forehead and neck in a jagged design against his skin.

"I didn't mean to startle you," she said, bowing her head apologetically. "Yolei overheard Linh talking about how you had been staying late after practice. She sent me over here to make sure that you weren't overworking yourself." She searched his face for a moment. "…You must be really nervous about next week's game."

TK gave a small smile. "It's the first game of the season," he reminded her. "First time I'll be part of the starting team as the point guard. I guess I am a little nervous."

"TK, you're a great basketball player," Kari said. "Probably the best in the school. Even Davis will admit to that."

An amused grin worked its way onto his face. "You mean he's finally realized that he's actually not as good at basketball as he seems to think he is?"

Kari hid her giggle behind her hand. "Okay," she amended, "he'll admit that you are the best basketball player in the school… right behind him."

"Gee, thanks," TK said. He put his water bottle back down and looked at her uncertainly. "You didn't have to wait for me, you know. I just like getting a few more shots in, that's all."

"I don't mind," she said. She moved to take a seat on the bench. "I'll wait while you get cleaned up, so that we can walk out together."

She wasn't sure where the hopeful tone in her voice came from, but she sure hoped TK didn't catch it. Considering how his expression didn't even change as he moved to grab a hand towel to start dabbing at his face, she figured he didn't.

"You don't have to do that," he said.

"I know," she said. "I want to."

That got his attention. He turned slowly to look at her, as if to make sure that he had heard correctly, before a small smile worked its way onto his face. "I usually take a shower at home anyway. I can walk you out now."

Kari's face brightened, and she waited for TK to grab his stuff before they walked out together. Kari expected them to part ways at the school gate, but TK turned to walk in the direction of her apartment without saying a word. She wondered if she should protest him walking her all the way home, but she really didn't want to.

The sun was just starting to sink into the horizon, turning the sky a beautiful array of pinks, oranges, and blues. As they walked, every so often, they would bump hands or slightly veer into the other's lane. Neither of them said anything about it, but Kari could feel the anticipation of something building between them. Every time she felt his fingers dangling dangerously close to her own, her heart threatened to beat right out of her chest.

Then, as they came to a stop under two low hanging trees just a block from Kari's apartment building, TK took her hand – finally.

Kari hadn't realized that they had stopped walking until she turned to look up at him. The cool autumn air had dried his skin and most of hair, and the way the sun was setting made his eyes shine, as if there were specks of gold mixed in with the blue.

"So, Yolei sent you after me, huh?" he asked.

"She was very insistent," Kari said, as casually as she could manage.

"Why didn't she come with you?"

Kari gave a nervous smile. "I think maybe she thought that three would be a crowd."

"I can understand that," TK admitted. "Like right now. But it's probably going to get me in trouble."

"Why's that?" she asked.

He gave a nervous laugh and nervously ran his thumb over her knuckles. Kari's heart skipped a beat. "I'm about to do something, and I just… I hope it's not the wrong thing."

He offered his other hand to her, and she took it so that they were standing face to face. They stared into each other's eyes for several heartbeats before he finally leaned down and kissed her. Kari almost couldn't kiss him again, because she was too busy smiling.

x X x

Then her dream changed – she waited for the worst, expecting to find herself in front of Barbamon once more but was confused when she realized she stood in the middle of Primary Village.

"Why am I here?" she murmured.

"Many reasons," said a kind and gentle voice. "We needed to speak with you, Kari Kamiya."

Kari turned, afraid that she'd come face to face with an enemy – she had so many at this point, she was having a hard time keeping track – but instead saw that she was surrounded by several lantern-shaped lights.

"Homeostasis?" Kari said.

The light twirled as if pleased to be recognized. "Child of Light, you are only dreaming, but it was the only way to speak with you when you are so close the demon's lair."

"So… are you still near Primary Village?" Kari asked.

"Yes and no," Homeostasis said. "We are everywhere and nowhere at once, but we are attracted to where balance is the most prevalent. Primary Village is neither darkness nor light; it is simply life, so we are attracted to its purity."

"Then Primary Village is still safe?"

"Yes," the light said. "I know you must have many questions, and we're sorry we had to pull you out of your other dream. It seemed quite pleasant. But we must speak before you confront Barbamon."

Kari's face burned. She covered her cheeks with both of her hands as she tried to decide whether she was more or less embarrassed that the others at least weren't around to hear this. But all she felt was a hollow sense of gloom at the reminder of TK. "It doesn't matter. Not if we don't find him."

"Do not despair, Child of Light," Homeostasis said. "You know the Child of Hope's location now, and you will see him again. Of that, I am certain. Unfortunately—" The light shivered. "You have other trials to face first. Sirenmon will be back, along with many other enemies from your past as you have already seen. The Gate of Deadly Sins has been breached."

"What do you mean?"

The lights twinkled as if winking at her. "We think you know."

A cold feeling settled over her. "The Demon Lords… they represent sins… They, with Huang's help, have somehow managed to open the gate to… to the Dark World. It's allowing digimon who have been destroyed to escape back into the Digital World, be reconfigured, without having to be reborn and purified."

"Not just any deleted digimon," Homeostasis amended. "The ones most likely to hate the digidestined, to hate humans and humankind, and to want to see the Digital World destroyed."

"That's why the digimon aren't staying deleted," Kari guessed. "This open gate is allowing them to return immediately."

"The gate isn't fully open," Homeostasis informed her. "With each revival of a Demon Lord, a dark pillar of power rises from the depths of the Dark Ocean. There is only one left to rise."

"And they're going to use Gennai's sacrifice to do it," Kari said. "That dark digiegg…"

"The digiegg has already hatched," Heomestasis said. "However, while the Demon Lord still slumbers, there is hope yet. But he won't stay asleep for long. At sundown, he will wake."

Kari closed her eyes painfully against the words. "I have to save my brother first. I have to. I know the world is at stake, but…"

"There is time for both," Homeostasis said. "The Child of Knowledge was not wrong in that assessment. But you must move quickly. Time grows shorter with every passing minute."

Kari wanted to believe Homeostasis more than anything, but she couldn't deny the doubt in her heart. What if she saved Tai and doomed the world in the process? What if they managed to defeat Barbamon but then ran out of time to save Gennai? She couldn't imagine her life without her brother being somewhere in it, but she didn't know if she could live with the idea that she was the reason the Digital World had been destroyed.

She wanted someone else to blame, someone other than herself.

"Who is Huang?" Kari demanded. "Why is he doing all of this?"

Homeostasis hesitated. Kari couldn't see any sort of expression on the light, but she could practically sense her trying to figure out where to start.

"You have a strong will," the light mused. "We lights, we are never given much credit around the Digital World. Not many can see us and even less know we exist. When we push forward a prophecy or help return balance back to the world, it is often overlooked."

"But I doubt you protect the Digital World for fame."

Homestasis spun on her axis. "No. But without a reputation, many don't know whether to trust us or not when we appear to them. But you knew right away, because your Light and ours are similar."

Kari knew that Homeostasis was trying to tell her something, but she wasn't sure what. "Are you going to answer my question?"

"Patience, Child of Light," Homeostasis said. "The Light of our Digital World is the purest light among all the worlds, because it's gathered from the goodness and pureness of all the living creatures both here and in your Real World. But this Light makes our world a target to the darkness."

Kari pulled her pink D-3 off of her belt and studied it in her palm. "The darkness is always attracted to the light, even when they are repelled by it."

"Yes," Homeostasis said, "because even beings of pure darkness long for balance, whether they know it or not. Which means that you, Kari Kamiya, are a target as well."

A flash of a dark ocean with an undersea master flashed across her mind's eye, and she clutched her D-3 tightly to her chest. "I know."

"There is an entire unwritten history of the Digital World that only a few of us know. As a being of pure light, my creation is quite unique. I am the only Digital Entity who has been around since the beginning of the Digital World's creation. To me it was centuries ago; to you it would have been only a little over sixty years in the past."

Kari struggled to remember her computer history. "Wasn't that… when the first computer was created?"

Homeostasis made a movement that almost looked like a nod. "When humans first accessed the digital plane, it sparked life in our world, and we were created from all of that potential energy, a near copy of your world, but with our own life and our own history. The first sparks of life were us, the lights you see before you… and then came the Digital Entities like Gennai… and the very first digimon. But our world was still unstable. Every breath, every digivolution threatened to tear apart our very existence. As digimon were destroyed and the instability of our world resulted in panic and destruction… another world emerged."

"The World of Darkness," Kari whispered.

"Our world was already on the verge of collapse, to have another shadow world trying to merge with our own… We were not going to survive," Homeostasis continued. "One digimon stood up, a hero, and said that he would become one with both the light and the darkness, so that he could carry the burden of both worlds so that both may survive. Using the power of the Four Holy Beasts, he was sealed away in the core of all worlds, and while he remains there, our world remains intact."

"You're talking about Huang," Kari realized. "He was your hero?"

"Our savior," Homeostasis said. "But becoming one with both the light and darkness… and being forced to carry the burden of two worlds… and then more as others worlds attached to our own… He grew both powerful and bitter. He is more powerful than any other digimon ever seen, but the only way that he was able to maintain the strength to carry the weight of all the worlds is by remaining asleep, so he is both caged in the core of the worlds and in his own mind. It has driven him mad beyond reason. He no longer wishes to be our savior. He only wishes to wake and escape his prison."

Homeostasis went quiet, as if she were waiting for Kari to figure out something on her own, and she was as the pieces of the puzzle came together to create a dreadful picture.

"We can't destroy him," Kari said. "It would destroy all the worlds that he's holding together."

She hoped that Homeostasis would correct her, but the digital entity simply hummed in agreement. "He has slumbered for eons, but he is slowly waking. Even asleep, he is extremely powerful, but if he wakes and escapes… we will be doomed. Whether by his own hand or our imminent destruction of the worlds colliding into one another. Huanglongmon now works with the Demon Lords; he has fully embraced the darkness in his soul. He can open and close the gates of the Dark World freely once the Demon Lords are all awake. You must defeat the Demon Lords and lull Huanglongmon back into his slumber. Otherwise, the destruction has only begun. Deleted digimon will continue to return. Evil will regenerate with even greater speed. The Demon Lords will lay waste to the two core digital worlds keeping all others safe. And if they do that, the human worlds will be next to burn."

"If he was a hero once, maybe we could talk to him, make him see reason."

"He is lost," Homeostasis warned. "He has turned into a cruel overlord. He seeks to wake, and the only way that is possible is by sacrificing two pure heroes that hold the power of the Digital World in their hearts. He seeks you, Kari Kamiya."

Kari gave a shaky gasp. "You're talking about Cerberumon said… about my blood being required… Who—who is the second sacrifice?"

"Any digidestined will do, preferably one of the six of you who once had access to the ancient digivolution known as armor digivolving," Homeostasis explained. "The powers that reside in your crests and in the digieggs that granted digivolution… those powers reside in your heart… Powers that, once bled, will grant Huanglongmon the strength he needs to break free from his prison. But in particular, he seeks the two oldest powers, the very first two pillars of power ever created to protect the Digital World… The first was Light – as the Digital World became a spec of Light in the darkness during its creation, a spec of Light that turned into a whole world… And the second was Hope – the Hope at life… the Hope at surviving…"

"Is that why Gennai sent TK away?" Kari asked, her voice wavering with unshed tears. "Because he knew he was in danger?"

"I do not know," Homeostasis said. "But I do know that even where he is, he is not safe. Gennai was right to bring you together with the tamers for they do not carry the powers of the Digital World in their hearts as you do. But they, too, are vulnerable to the changing and weakening Digital World. Takato Matsuki is in far more danger than he realizes, of that I am certain."

Kari tried to push her own fear away and focus on Homeostasis's words about Takato. "What kind of danger? Do you mean right now?"

"Know this: If he digivolves further, he may not survive," Homeostasis said, as cryptic as ever. "The twelve of you must be gathered to defeat the Demon Lords, and when that time comes, you will have to take a different path. The two sides cannot succeed without you, but you cannot help them succeed if you do not follow your destiny."

"What destiny? What do you mean digivolve further?"

Kari's vision began to dim.

"You must waken soon, Child of Light," said the digital entity. "I do not always agree with Gennai or understand his actions. He is taking a bold risk, but I agree that it must be done. Only together will you have the power to defeat your foes. Now, wake."