Here it is. I've been nitpicking this chapter to literal death. I hope that you enjoy it. This has been a long time coming. I've been waiting to write this chapter and the following chapter, for YEARS. Haha. Please leave reviews! And a HUGE thank you to everyone who has reviewed the last couple of chapters, you guys are so nice and it makes me so happy to hear how much you're enjoying my work. When someone says they binge read my 30+ chapter fic, (and most of my chapters are pretty large imo), I'm impressed and honored. Thank you for reading!
T.K. sat inside the mouth of the cave, Patamon passed out in his lap as he watched the rain pouring down in sheets, the weak flames of their small fire illuminating the inside of the cave behind him. He was staring at the wound on his wrist. It was incredible how fast he was healing—the power of light was strong. It would be nothing more than a scar in a couple days at this rate. Patamon had recovered considerably from Angewomon's powers, however, he didn't have the benefit of the Crest of Light that T.K. had.
Without warning, his head began throbbing.
Gate.
He winced.
"Stop it." T.K. murmured.
You are the gate.
"No." T.K. moaned. "Get out of my head."
It is time.
T.K. yelp in pain, startling Patamon. "T.K.!"
"I'm—" he gasped. "…fine."
Patamon leaped into the air and floated in front of T.K. "I can't help you if you won't tell me what's wrong!"
"I can…" T.K. grimaced. "I can hear him."
Patamon's eyes widened. "Wisemon?"
T.K. nodded, his hands were shaking. "Yeah…"
Patamon looked around them, frowning. "He's here?"
T.K. shook his head. "I don't know. I don't know…"
"Should I…?" he paused. "T.K.?"
T.K. was staring out into the rain now, his gaze fixated on the darkness. It was like back in the real world when he'd felt like he was being watched. Everything felt muffled and closed off. "Digivolve. Digivolve, now." T.K. shoved himself to his feet and staggered backwards. He'd barely even registered that Patamon was already Angemon.
As quickly as Wisemon's presence had overcome him, it had disappeared. The rain was suddenly loud and crisp, and the only other sound around them was his labored breathing.
"T.K." Angemon lowered his staff and turned to the boy. "Is he gone?"
T.K. swallowed hard and inhaled, his knees going weak, slumping down in a heap. "I can't feel him anymore." His voice shook.
Angemon didn't devolve. Instead, he stood beside T.K., trying to comfort him with his presence. "I'm here, T.K."
He nodded again. "Yeah…"
#
T.K. hadn't remembered falling asleep, but when he opened his eyes, it was getting light out.
The fire they'd built during the night was out cold and Patamon wasn't there. Or had he still been Angemon when he fell asleep? T.K. couldn't remember. Something didn't feel right. Patamon wouldn't have left him without saying something. Frankly, he didn't think he'd leave his side after what had happened the day before.
He pushed himself up groggily. Reaching up to rub the sleep from his eyes, he stopped midway—the cut on his wrist steadily bleeding. "What?" he scowled at the blood running down his arm. It had nearly healed the night before, so how…
He recoiled, hearing a scream from deep inside the cave behind him. He stared wide eyed into the darkness. "No…" he gaped. "No…" That scream, it was her.
Struggling to stand, his vision blurred, and he felt lightheaded as he staggered toward the darkness. A voice, an unrecognizable voice, like a distorted echo in the back of his head called out to him. It sounded like fractals of light bouncing off mirrors. Sharp and high pitched. Like an aura of a voice, without comprehensible words.
It somehow felt like a warning, but without the words to go along with it, he quickened his pace toward the darkness. The farther behind him the light of the outside grew, the slower his pace became, but knew she was there. She was inside the darkness.
"Kari?" T.K. whispered.
"T.K.!" A jolt of panic shot through him. It was her. She was much deeper than she sounded before.
He started running. He couldn't even see anymore; it was too dark.
Another wave of that voice echoed through his mind, making him stop, falling to his hands and knees, crying out in pain. He couldn't understand it, but it wanted him to stop.
"Help me!" She was further away now.
He opened his eyes. He was kneeling on thick, dark, green grass instead of the hard rock of the cave. It was so dark; he could barely make out he was in a forest now. His wrist ached, his entire arm searing with pain. He blinked. Blood had pooled around him now, he lifted his wrist up to see the blood steadily running over his arm onto the ground silently. He couldn't move his body anymore, and just ahead of where he was kneeling on the ground, Kari's pale, fragile figure was laying just out of his line of sight. The edges of his vision darkening slowly. All he could make out was her blood-stained hand.
"Kari…" he spoke her name, but he couldn't hear his own voice. "Ka… ri…"
#
"T.K.!"
T.K. bolted upright. His head felt heavy and throbbed. He inhaled sharply and grabbed his head, resting his forehead against his knees. "Damn it…" he murmured.
"T.K.!" Patamon shouted again.
"What?" T.K. snapped.
"Your phone is going off." Patamon tugged at his pants pocket, unable to free the device.
T.K. frowned and shook his head, glancing down to his digimon. He glanced at his wrist, verifying it been a dream. Sliding his hand into his pocket, he pulled his phone out. It was from Davis. He let out an exasperated breath and tossed his phone down onto the ground in frustration, not even caring to see what the message said.
Patamon looked worriedly at T.K. "Were you having another nightmare?" The first hint of daylight lightening the sky.
He groaned, resting his forehead on his crossed arms that he'd propped on his knees. "I'm exhausted…"
Patamon sighed. "You hadn't been asleep long. But it might have been from Gennai." Patamon shuffled over to the phone and lifted it up, seeing the preview for Davis' message. "What's this?" he frowned.
"I can't deal with them right now."
"Open it." Patamon shoved the phone in his hand.
T.K. grumbled and looked at the message preview.
Davis Motomiya
This is serious. Please, Kari's being…
T.K. opened the phone to read the message. "It's just…" he trailed off, straightening he blinked hard, reading the message fully.
Davis Motomiya
This is serious. Please, Kari's being reckless. I tried to talk her out of it. You need to do something. I'm worried she might get hurt. We don't know where she is, but she's in the digital world, alone. She doesn't have Gatomon with her.
T.K. blinked hard. He almost laughed at the irony. She was purposefully putting herself in danger. "Shit!" T.K. stood up, wavering as he did.
"T.K., calm down. We should just let the others look for her." Patamon tried to reason with him.
"She's…" T.K. was angry. "I can't believe her!" He was terrified. "Damn it!" The images from his nightmare resurfacing. What was a dream, and what wasn't?
"We can't be impulsive. We'll end up right in Wisemon's grasp if we do."
"You're right." T.K. admitted calmly. "But I have to go. None of this will matter if they're… if she's caught in the middle."
"What do you want to do?" Patamon asked reluctantly.
"I don't know." T.K.'s fists were shaking. "This is my fault. I should have just confronted her like I did with Ken and Matt! I'm such an idiot."
"Calm down, T.K." Patamon floated into the air. "Do you know where she might go?"
T.K. inhaled slowly. "Not really…"
Patamon gave him a look. "Then what?"
He knew Patamon wouldn't like it. "If we can't find her, we just have to make sure we find Wisemon."
"You can't be serious." Patamon glowered.
T.K. looked away from his partner with a defeated expression. "What else am I supposed to do?"
"Not get yourself killed! We've worked too hard for you to just give yourself up now."
"We fight Wisemon here and now or I—" he closed his eyes in frustration, he reached over and pressed his hand over his wrist tightly, still feeling the ache of the wound.
"I won't let you die, T.K.!" Patamon cried.
T.K. bit his lip hard, trying to compose himself. It didn't work. "I don't matter!" He shouted.
Patamon shook his head. "I won't just throw you into danger on purpose."
T.K. felt his chest tightening, "Kari will get hurt and I will have to go with him to save her."
Patamon saw the distress on his face. "You're letting your love for Kari, kill you!"
T.K. threw his arms in the air. "How is it so hard for you to understand? You did the same thing for me!"
"That's different!" Patamon growled. "I would come back. You won't!"
"That doesn't make one damn difference, Patamon. You would have done it whether or not you would have come back!"
Patamon stopped. He couldn't argue. He couldn't, because T.K. was right. It was the same. He would have defeated Devimon all the same, no matter what happened to him, if it would have saved T.K.
T.K. saw the defeat in Patamon's downcast expression. "It's now or never."
Patamon let himself forget, again, that T.K. wasn't making irrational decisions, he wasn't losing control and allowing his emotions to guide him impulsively. T.K. had been suffering alone for months, contemplating carefully all the choices that he could face. And even then, Kari's life over his was not one that Patamon thought T.K. would need to think too carefully about, before making. It was a decision he knew T.K. would have come to easily, no matter the circumstances. T.K. had cared for her as a child, which blossomed into real, genuine love over the years—He was in love with Kari now. It didn't matter what happened between them; he was completely in love and would gladly lie his life down for hers. Patamon knew this. "I'm sorry, T.K.—"
"Let's just go." He looked down at Patamon, his expression fading, a numbness overcoming him. Motioning for Patamon, he heeded without a word, armor digivolving to Pegasusmon in a flash.
#
T.K. was watching his digivice carefully as they flew over the forest. He knew Patamon digivolving would trigger his digivice signal and that it was potential for someone to confront him again.
A buzz from his back pocket made him blink hard. He hoped it was Davis saying they'd found her, but he also feared what else it could say. He pocketed his digivice and pulled out his phone.
"It's Gennai." T.K. said, surprised.
Gennai
I found several of the crests along my way—we may have most of them between us. I'd like to meet soon. And no, I haven't solved our other problem, however, I think I'm getting close.
"He thinks between us, we might have most of the crests now."
Pegasusmon huffed. "That's good, right?"
T.K. grimaced. "None of that matters unless we can get mine out."
Pegasusmon remained silent.
"Either Wisemon dies, and the threat is over. Or I die." T.K. sighed. "Don't give me that look. You knew that getting the crests wasn't the actual goal, it was a preparation for if we reached the real goal. And he hasn't found a way yet."
T.K. phone vibrated again. He sighed, expecting another text from Gennai. His eyes widened.
"Pegasusmon—!" he choked.
"T.K., what's wrong?"
Davis Motomiya
Where are you? She's hurt. I don't know what to do. We need your help!
T.K. felt a chill run through his entire body. He couldn't breathe. He blinked hard, trying to clear his blurring vision. He felt trapped in his nightmare all over again. Bright red blood on her porcelain skin.
"T.K.!" Pegasusmon shouted.
T.K. gripped Pegasusmon tightly. "She's hurt."
Pegasusmon reared in the sky. "Where?"
"I… hold on." He shook his head and pulled out his digivice. It was barely visible on the screen, but he saw a digivice signal in the distance. "South."
#
If he hadn't been so concerned about Kari, he would have felt suffocated by the intense amount of shadow and darkness around him, every single shadow threatening to have those beady eyes staring back at him.
T.K. was close now, so close he could probably have seen her if the forest hadn't been so thick and dark. "Just up ahead…"
Patamon's eyes shifted from side to side, ready for the darkness to leap out at them and swallow them whole. "This place is too thick and dark. It could be a trap. Wisemon—"
"Why wouldn't it be a trap? If Wisemon has them…" T.K. stopped and ran his hand through his hair. "Promise you'll save them, no matter what happens to me."
Patamon looked at T.K. "You really want the last thing I say to you, to be a lie?"
"Patamon, please." T.K. reached up and grabbed Patamon out of the air, surprising the little digimon. Embracing him tightly, T.K. swallowed hard. "I'm sorry about everything. All of this. I'm sorry."
Patamon felt tears dropping onto his head and T.K.'s shoulders were quivering. "T.K.…" Patamon's own eyes burned with tears. "…This isn't over. All right?"
T.K. nodded, composing himself. "If anything happens to them, all this was for nothing."
T.K.'s heart stopped at the sound of Kari's voice. It didn't register right away that it wasn't a desperate yell or a scream, but hearing her voice alone sent him into a panic, those bloody images flashing through his mind.
"T.K., wait!" Patamon called over him as he took off through the forest.
T.K. shoved through into a clearing just a few seconds later, staggering to avoid falling as he unexpectedly went down a slight decline into the open area. More light shone down here, making the surrounding forest seem even darker.
"Kari!" T.K.'s voice broke, seeing her standing in the middle of the clearing, her back to him.
She stiffened at the sound of his voice and turned to face him, eyes wide in surprise, tears sliding down her face as she blinked. "You came…" she breathed, smiling with relief.
T.K. took a step, his eyes examining every inch of her. He stopped. She didn't look hurt. "What happened?" He frowned as a look of guilt flashed across her face briefly. "…Davis said… you were…" He felt his chest tighten, his heartbeat racing, and he couldn't swallow the lump that was forming in his throat.
"I didn't know what else to do…" she looked at him and smiled sadly. Kari ignored the look on T.K.'s face and walked toward him.
T.K. instinctively took two steps back as she did, making her hesitate. "Don't." T.K. spoke coarsely.
"T.K., it will be all right." She lifted her hands in the air, trying to calm him.
T.K. shook his head slowly, his frown deepening. She couldn't have done what it looked like, right? "I don't understand."
Kari gave him an innocent smile. "T.K., we need to talk."
He shook his head. "You… it was all a lie." he took another step back, he felt sick, he swallowed hard, trying to keep the nausea from overcoming him. "You don't know what you've done…"
Kari pursed her lips, frowning back at him. "It wasn't a lie, I am hurt. What you're doing is hurting me. And I'm not going to just sit by—"
"I can't believe you." T.K. felt himself starting to lose it.
"What other choice did you give me?!"
"There was the obvious choice of not tricking me!" T.K. retorted.
"I'm not about to let you kill yourself!" She blinked away tears that stung at her eyes, looking at him desperately. "I know, I haven't been there for you, not like I should have, and I'm sorry. But now—"
"You think I'm just going to stand here and listen to you, after you lured me here like that?" T.K. laughed, tears pricked at his eyes.
"T.K." Kari said his name sternly. "This is happening. You can't run this time."
T.K. shook his head. He was getting lightheaded and his breathing was becoming harder. He turned around—run, get away, escape! The warnings flashed in his mind rapidly.
He stopped.
"T.K., don't." Ken's voice registered before T.K. realized he was standing in front of him, blocking his retreat.
"Shit." T.K. hissed aloud. Turning to the side, he inhaled sharply, holding his breath. The panic was slowly starting to fade as his anger rose. Davis and Yolei were there. He could hear another person behind him now. He prayed it was Cody or anyone other than Matt.
"T.K., stop running." Kari tried to draw the attention back to her.
T.K. opened his eyes, glaring at Kari as he turned back to face her. "Fine. Now what?" He whispered seethingly.
Kari sighed. "Now talk."
T.K. shook his head. He relaxed slightly, seeing only Cody off to his right. "This is pointless." He glanced down at his digivice, still gripped in his hand tightly.
Kari saw where his gaze had dropped to. "Are you actually thinking about fighting us?"
Patamon had floated down to the ground and sat near T.K.'s legs at some point, T.K. didn't even realize it until he spoke. "Calm down, let's just humor them." He tried calmly defusing the situation.
Kari let out a deep breath. "Are you all right?" She nodded toward the bruises and scrapes scattered all over T.K.'s arms, neck and face. "Is your wrist…?"
T.K. glared at her darkly. "I'm fine." He snapped.
T.K. realized quickly that everyone's partner digimon sat a little way behind their human partners. "I told her all I have to say." T.K. fixed his gaze on Gatomon. "I'm done."
Gatomon's eyes shifted from T.K.'s guiltily.
"That isn't even half of it." Davis snapped. "Try having a little respect for your friends, we're not idiots."
T.K. shot Davis a scowl, his eyebrow twitching with anger. "Go screw yourself, Davis."
Davis walked forward, abandoning his post, but Yolei grabbed his arm. "Stop it."
T.K. cursed under his breath, Davis was probably the only one he could have goaded out of position, giving him the opening that he needed to escape.
Davis growled and pulled his arms away from Yolei angrily, before stepping back. "Damn it."
T.K. inhaled slowly. He desperately wanted the air, but it barely felt like he could fill his lungs even half of their capacity. He looked back at Kari, waiting.
Ken spoke, but T.K. didn't turn to look his way. "Look, I know you're mad."
"Clearly." There was no energy to his words.
Kari could see he hadn't regained his composure from finding out they'd deceived him. Taking advantage, she took a deep breath. "I know things haven't been normal between the two of us, and that's my fault. I just want to talk to you." She gave him an encouraging smile.
"No. We're done here." he glared at her; his voice cold.
She hated the look in his eyes, anger, betrayal, fear. "No. We're not. All the lies and running, it stops now. You don't get to choose for us."
T.K. narrowed his eyes. "You don't get to choose. This doesn't involve you. It literally has nothing to do with any of you. I know it's hard to fathom that I might not being going on some daring, self-righteous suicide mission. But it's literally the opposite."
"Then why would you…!" she bit her lip and closed her eyes. She wanted to ask him why he'd seemingly cut his wrist, but the thought alone made her sick.
Yolei spoke this time. "We're your friends, which automatically gives us the right to choose. And at the very least, I think you owe us an explanation."
"But we're not friends." He snapped, his icy gaze boring into Yolei's. "None of you even cared where I was or what I was doing before I came here. Now that it somehow involves digimon and not just my personal problems, you suddenly give a shit—?"
"What were we supposed to do?" Cody shouted, cutting him off. "You're the one who pushed us away."
Ken cringed at Cody's rebuttal. The boy wasn't prepared for what T.K. would reply with. "Stop. This isn't why we're here—"
T.K.'s turned to face Cody, his expression dark. "You respected my silent request to be alone without a fight at home. Now that I'm literally spelling it out, you won't get off my ass. Here, you want information. I was in the same danger in the real world as I am here, right now. Where were my friends then?"
Ken barely saw Cody's reaction to T.K.'s words, too focused on them himself. "If you were in danger in the real world, why couldn't you just tell me one of the hundred times I asked?" T.K. turned his face to Ken, staring at him apathetically.
T.K. remained silent, averting his eyes to the ground after a few uncomfortable moments. "It doesn't matter." The resignation in T.K.'s downcast expression made Ken frown.
"You've given up." Ken's voice shook. "You don't think you'll survive this, do you? Is that why you…" he couldn't say it, but his gaze fell to T.K.'s left wrist.
Everyone looked at Ken. A suffocating silence fell over them. T.K.'s eyes lifted back to Ken's and for the first time in months, he saw the old T.K., surprise and worry betraying his front briefly before he shook his head and looked away again, his distant expression returning, but with a hint of distress.
T.K. couldn't look back up at Ken's accusing stare. "Patamon…" he spoke so quietly, he wasn't sure Patamon heard, but the glance his partner sent his way confirmed he had. He wanted to run away. But if he ran, they'd chase him and Patamon would have to fight. Could he get away? Probably not without losing track of Patamon—leaving him alone and defenseless in this unnecessarily disturbing and dark forest. Wisemon pulled to the forefront of his mind, smothering him. Every second he was around them was another chance for Wisemon to show himself.
You are the gate.
T.K. ignored the voice.
Ken waited, his frown deepening with worry at each second that passed. "Answer me, damn it!"
T.K. ran his hand through his hair irritably, daring to meet Ken's eyes again, keeping the exasperated look on his face as best he could. "It doesn't matter."
THE GATE.
T.K. winced at how sharply the whispering voice sliced through his mind.
"It all makes sense." Ken muttered. "Pushing us away the way you did, running off without warning, not giving a damn about the severity of your injuries."
T.K. rolled his eyes. "Boy genius, Ken Ichijouji." His dull voice full of sarcasm. "What do you need me for again? Sounds like Ken's got it all figured out."
"Is it true?" Kari spoke firmly, making T.K. flinch—he was trying to aggravate the others and by some time to think of an escape. He didn't want to do this, not now and not in front of all the others.
T.K. inhaled as deeply as he could, which didn't feel like much, turning to face Kari now. "What do you think?"
"I know you better than anyone." She looked at him seriously. "I know when you're lying."
T.K. forced himself to scoff at her. It made him sick seeing the hurt in her gaze, but it was concerning how fast she recovered her determined frown. "Your narcissism never ceases to surprise me. Especially after what happened between us…" he hoped mentioning the fragile topic she'd been tiptoeing around for months, would silence her.
She gave him a look, one that looked apologetic and sad, but it didn't seem to faze her the way he'd hoped. "Right, about that…" she trailed off. "I haven't been able to bring myself to talk to you about that day…"
T.K.'s heart sunk. "You're doing this, now?" his voice genuinely dejected, his expression again falter—he wasn't ready for this confrontation to begin with and what little he had grasped onto was being stripped away by Kari's perseverance.
"Yeah, I am. Unless you'd like to change the subject and do some talking?" She frowned sadly. After a brief silence, she continued. "I owe you an explanation. I—"
"Seriously?" T.K. almost laughed, panicked. "In front of everyone?" he lost his guise, genuinely concerned. "No. I'm not doing this with you, Kari." He thought quickly, Cody would probably be the easiest to get by, his resolve to stop T.K. most likely the least determined out of everyone, he shifted his feet, but stopped at Kari's loud response.
"I'm sorry you thought I rejected you. T.K." Her voice shook.
T.K. closed his eyes, grimacing. This time he wasn't sure if he was holding his breath because of her words or because he was trying to stop himself from panicking. He slowly opened his eyes, a pain showing in his eyes that was not intentional. "Don't do this." His weak voice shook. He couldn't stop himself from analyzing her wording. Thought she rejected him? Was this just another lie to get him to talk? No, no, no… T.K. wanted his mind to shut off.
Cody seemed like he was the only one surprised by Kari's statement. She'd told the others, it seemed.
Kari gave him a determined glare. "When you said you liked me and I didn't respond, I wasn't trying to hurt you. I was trying—"
"You've had two damn years to do this, Kari, why the hell are you doing it right now?" He didn't care how badly his voice shook, he had to yell, trying to remind himself how to breathe. Quick on his feet, he added. "Or are you just trying to ease some guilt before it's too late?"
Kari's eyes widened in surprise at his blunt words. Her eyes shimmered with the threat of tears. "I was trying to process my own feelings for you." She finished firmly.
T.K. averted his gaze from hers. "This isn't funny, Kari." He felt lightheaded.
"It's not a joke, T.K." she scowled. "Not that I don't deserve your skepticism, but do you really think I would lie about something like this?"
He blinked back tears, praying that Kari didn't notice, but he was sure she had. "Your timing is shit, Kari." He grimaced, the words were cruel, yet he meant them wholeheartedly. The next words made him nauseous, the lie sending a painful shiver through his body. "It doesn't even matter anymore. I'm over you."
She narrowed her eyes at him, her voice calm. "That's not true, you told me as much that first day."
T.K. scowled. "A lot has happened since that day." He tried to recover.
"Then why did you show up today?" She tilted her head ever so slightly, concentrating on his face.
"My mistake." His voice was quieter than he'd intended, but she heard.
Kari let out an exasperated breath. "I won't let you push me away. Damn it, T.K., I care about you too much!"
T.K. let a chuckle escape his lips. His voice shook subtly. "Yeah, I've heard that before, didn't amount to much then either." He shook his head, trying to find the words he needed and force them out of his mouth. "Your feelings… what better way to manipulate me? I'm just trying to figure out if it was yours or Ken's idea. Hell, maybe it was Matt's."
"T.K., I know how it looks. But I didn't know how I felt until it was too late. I thought it would be cruel to tell you after I hurt you. I was punishing myself for hurting you, I didn't deserve you. And after seeing the hurt look on your face when you came home, it only proved what a horrible person I was. How could tell you the truth? That you'd been miserable for no reason all that time?"
T.K. narrowed his eyes at her. Again his ability to breathe seemed compromised, his bitter tone barely making it through in his weakening voice. "I don't know. I guess letting me stay miserable just seemed like the better option."
Kari closed her eyes, regret visible in her expression. "No. You know that's not true. I made mistakes and continued to make them. I thought I was punishing myself, but…" Kari opened her eyes, tears slipping down her cheeks freely. "I'm in love with you, T.K."
T.K. stopped and stared her at, all emotion draining from his face. His facade shattered. He felt himself inhaling and exhaling, but it didn't seem to reach his lungs. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
Guilt had replaced the determination in her expression, and her voice grew more timid. "I love you. I always have." She watched him anxiously, his eyes void of any reaction at all. "T.K.?"
It couldn't be true. He wasn't hearing her right. The obvious lack of oxygen to his brain was causing him to lose his mind. But, if Kari was lying, he would have seen it. He knew her tells. How her voice rose just a little, and how she'd close her eyes and tilt her head. How he'd add a chuckle at the end to be endearing. She did none of those things.
"T.K.?" She said his name again, her concern growing.
His cold and hostile act vanished in leu of this much more genuine reaction. "Don't." He snapped. "You've lied enough today." The words came bitterly.
Kari's eyes widened. "What? I'm not lying." She frowned. "I would never play with your emotions like that—!"
T.K. shouted over her. "If that's true, then you've been playing with them for two years." It was apparent to everyone that his breathing was becoming labored.
Kari's voice caught as she opened her mouth to argue, but he wasn't wrong. "T.K., I understand I was wrong, now. But I never wanted to hurt you."
T.K. let a slight laugh escape his lips, shaking his head. The irony of it all was laughable. And even though this was the last problem on his mind, it was more overwhelming than anything else. He never thought he could be this mad at Kari in his entire life. And all the same, he couldn't help how his heart wanted to beat right out of his chest. In love? He'd yearned for those words for years. But he couldn't let himself accept it, because even if it were true, it meant nothing now. Ken had seen right through him, T.K. had never thought he would make it out alive. He just couldn't see it. T.K. realized then that he had resigned a long time ago. He was fighting for others' sakes, not his own, and he couldn't go on much longer on the will of others alone. He was exhausted. And God, why was it so hard to breathe?
Ken stared at T.K.'s quivering shoulders. "T.K.?"
T.K. felt lightheaded, and hot, it was so hot. "I'm done." He muttered. He needed to get away, find a place where the air wasn't so stifling. He moved toward the gap between Kari and Cody, but she was quick to step in his way, her hands gripping his wrists tightly.
"Look at me, T.K." She glanced at the metal around his right wrist, before focusing her gaze on his face.
T.K. shook his head and tried to pull away. "Let go of me." He spoke between clenched teeth.
Ken's voice was right behind him. "Kari, I think he's starting to hyperventilate again."
Kari lost her grip on his right wrist, but not the left. It hurt him, she could tell as he wasn't trying to pull away as roughly. "T.K., stop. Look at me. Can you breathe?"
GATE.
T.K. closed his eyes, grabbing his head with his free hand. "Shit." He winced.
Kari reached up and put her hand on the side of his face. His eyes opened slightly, drawing his gaze down to hers. "Hey, just take a deep breath. It'll be all right, T.K."
"No." He whispered, reaching up and grabbing her hand, he pulled it away from his face, hurt burning in his eyes.
Kari's fearful eyes gleamed in the streams of sunlight that peaked down at them through the thin canopy of leaves above. "I won't let you push me away."
"Who started pushing who away first?" He retorted. "You're the one who stopped talking to me." He leaned down, close to her ear, inhaling her scent, his breath raising goosebumps on her neck as he whispered. "Do you want me to tell you how irrationally, madly in love with you I am, how I have spent every single day regretting moving away or how terribly I want to kiss you right now? Because I can't…" His voice broke. He hesitated at the last words, because there was no taking them back. But her life was more important than any of this. "…I can't lie to you, the way you just lied to me." He did it. He said it. Her resolve faltered, even if it was only for an instant, losing her grip on his aching wrist.
Kari realized her mistake a second too late, losing sight of him in the thick forest as she sprinted after him.