Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Descent into Darkness ❯ CHAPTER ONE ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. I do not claim to own Digimon. Toei own Digimon and Sensation Animation (formally known as Saban) make the dub. This is for fun not profit.

A/N: Yes, this is the rewrite I promised and yes I am still murdering canon

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Descent into Darkness

Part One

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+Drip+

Wherever she was it was dark but somehow Hikari found that she could see clearly. It was almost like being in a monochrome negative. The places that should have been darkest were almost light and the places that should have been lightest were pitch black and there was not a hint of colour anywhere.

+Drip+

It was disorientating in the extreme and made her feel sick. Everything about the place was just plain wrong. Worst of all she had no idea where she was or how she had got there but it wasn't Earth or the Digital World. That much she was sure of.

+Drip+

She found a track and followed it through a deserted and decaying fishing village to a lonely beach. The sea was dark and as she looked out across the waves she felt strange. What the hell was this place and why was she here?

+Drip+

And what was that dripping noise? Even in the midst of all this strangeness it was putting her teeth on edge. She looked around carefully but saw nothing to make it and soon enough she found that her gaze was drawn back out to sea. This time, however, she saw something else. Near the horizon a massive, vaguely human shaped figure stood waist deep in the water. Even at that distance it seemed to tower over her and it was looking at her with its eerie glowing eyes. Then it spoke in a voice thick with menace.

"Child of Light, come to me." It whispered. Hikari woke up in her hospital bed with a terror-filled shriek that was so loud that it brought a nurse running.

"Kamiya-san, are you alright?"

"I-it was j-just a n-nightmare, nurse. I'm sorry I bothered you."

"It must have been a bad one by the sound of the noise you made." The nurse reached down and smoothed her hair. "And you're drenched with sweat." She added in a concerned tone. "Do you want me to get you something to help you get back to sleep?"

"I think I'll be okay." Hikari managed to smile. "I just need to calm down for a minute."

"If you're sure." The nurse straightened the sheets. "If you change your mind just use the buzzer."

{That dream was so real.} Hikari thought as the nurse left. She took deep breaths in order to calm herself. {It was just a dream.} She tried to convince herself but there were nagging doubts in her mind. {It's everything that's happened. It's beginning to get to…} Her thoughts were interrupted by something that made her blood freeze.

"Come to me." The voice from her dream whispered in her ear. She turned her head quickly but saw nothing except for a flicker that might have been something vanishing. On the floor where it had been was a puddle of strangely dark water.

She didn't get anymore sleep that night after all.

-----

Most of the Chosen Children were currently in the Digital World helping demolish spires but Hikari had been released from hospital that morning after the CT scan showed nothing untoward and Takeru had been appointed to take the get well soon gifts to her. He had been glad, if a little surprised, that he hadn't had to fight with Daisuke for the honour. Mrs Kamiya had told him that she was tired and he didn't want to wake her if she was asleep so he tapped quietly on her bedroom door. She must have been awake because he was rewarded by an immediate if quiet. "Come in."

"Kari-chan?" He said as he poked his head round the door. "How are you?"

"Takeru!" She looked pale and tired but her face brightened when she saw him. "Come in. I'm okay."

"I come bearing gifts," He produced the box of expensive chocolates and the card. "We all put our money together and got them for you."

"Thanks." Even her smile looked strained and Takeru began to worry. Somehow he could sense that whatever was wrong went beyond the stress of her injuries.

"You are not alright, are you? You seem a little…" He frowned as he tried to find words. "Something is wrong, isn't it? I mean more than that." He pointed at her arm.

"I'm just tired." She told him. "Where are the others?"

"Where do you think? In the Digital World knocking down control spires left, right and centre now that we don't have to worry about someone stopping us."

"Unless those damned counterdestined try to co-opt the system." She growled. "Did Ken go along?"

"Yes he did and before you ask Iori wasn't exactly happy about it. Now stop trying to change the subject. What is wrong with you?"

"I told you. Nothing is wrong!" she snapped. He stared at her. Now he knew for certain that something was wrong.

"It won't do any good. She won't even tell me what's wrong." Gatomon told him from where she was lying down. "She's been tired ever since she got home but absolutely refuses to sleep. She's been doing everything she can to stay awake."

"You had to go and tell him that didn't you, Gatomon." Hikari sighed. "Now he'll just worry as well."

Of course I'll worry. I was already worried. I'm your friend." Takeru was beginning to feel exasperated. "And friends help each other when they are in trouble. You know that!"

"No one can help me." Hikari said in a strangely dead tone. Takeru had the strangest feeling that she didn't even know she was speaking out loud. "I have to face this alone."

"Over my dead body!" Takeru was shocked. He'd never heard such hopelessness in her voice before.

"That's what I'm afraid of." She said so quietly that he almost didn't hear her. He was sure he wasn't meant to. She turned and stared out of the window. "Please don't worry, Takeru, it's probably nothing. I'll see you at school tomorrow. I'm sure I'll feel better once I get back into the swing of things. You should go and help the others. There's a lot of spires to clean up."

"I'll go if you promise to get some sleep." He said.

"No!" Hikari sounded so terrified that Takeru knew he was onto something. His eyes narrowed.

"You can't avoid sleeping forever, Kari-chan. So why don't you tell me why you're afraid to sleep?"

"You aren't going to let this go are you?" She sighed. "Okay, I'll tell you."

When she finished describing what had happened at the hospital the previous night he frowned. "Are you sure that one of the nurses hadn't spilled something?" He asked, focusing on the only piece of physical evidence. She nodded and he sighed. "Well since it's obvious that this thing can also reach you while you're awake it's probably no good avoiding sleep. It's certainly not healthy."

Hikari sighed. "I guess you're right. I'm not thinking too clearly at the moment."

"I'm not surprised it worries you though." He smiled encouragingly. "I'm going to talk to the others." He put up a hand to stop the protest he saw forming on her lips. "Taichi needs to know at the very least. The creature called you by your crest and that means that this is to do with the Digital World somehow and an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us. For all we know this is another ploy by the counterdestined."

Hikari shook her head. "It isn't." She told him. He looked at her quizzically. "It feels different. All that that Chiharu girl wanted to do was to kill me. Whoever this is they want something else from me. I don't know what … yet."

"We'll find out." He promised. "I'll go and find the others. If anything else happens send us an email." He looked over at Gatomon. "And if for any reason she can't. You do it."

"Of course." The white cat digimon nodded.

"And don't leave her alone until we know what's going on. Unless one of the other digidestined or their digimon is with her of course."

"That goes without saying." Gatomon replied.

------

Daisuke was very surprised when Takeru joined them in the Digital World. He'd been hoping that Hikari would tell the other boy about her feelings but he didn't think there'd been enough time. What was more the blonde boy looked extremely worried. "Is Hikari alright?" He asked. When the Child of Hope frowned but didn't answer immediately he became even more concerned. "What's wrong with her?"

"We've got a problem." Takeru said eventually. "A team problem. We need to get everyone together. Something is attacking Kari-chan."

"Okay." Daisuke forced himself to get a tight grasp on his own concern, he needed to think clearly here. He grabbed his d-terminal. "Let's get emailing."

Once everyone was there they listened as Takeru told them about Hikari's problem with a dream monster that could apparently reach into the real world. Daisuke noticed that Ken paled as the story continued. By the time the story finished the former Kaiser looked positively scared.

"That place you described." Ken said when Takeru finished. "I think I've been there and I never want to go there again. But I've never seen the creature that she described."

"How did you get there?" Takeru asked curiously.

"I don't really remember much about it." Ken admitted. "I know that it was after my brother died and I received that strange email telling me to take his Digivice. Which was actually mine of course." He frowned in concentration. "I think that I was trying to get into the Digital World but I ended up in that dark place instead. It was there that my digivice turned black and became a D3 after I dipped it in the water." He shuddered. "The whole place is awash with dark energy."

"So she's probably not just dreaming." Daisuke sighed. He guessed that that had been a forlorn hope anyway. "It never rains but it pours."

"I have a theory." Koushiro announced.

"Already?" Taichi asked in an unsurprised tone.

"So what is it?" Daisuke asked.

"I think that this 'dark world' is similar in nature to this Digital World, that it is made of data, but at some point it fell to the Darkness." He looked thoughtful. "And whoever it is that currently rules that world is trying to spread that darkness to other worlds."

"Starting with the Digital World because it's the most similar." Ken's eyes widened and he nodded. "That makes sense."

"And it tried to use you to do it but what does it want with my sister?" Taichi asked.

"I'm not sure but it can't be good." Ken told him.

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It was just after midnight when BlackGatomon climbed in through the open window of Hikari's bedroom. Neither the girl nor Gatomon woke up. It climbed up onto the bedside table, went over to the jug of water and tipped the contents of a small bottle into it. It gave Hikari one quick, worried glance before it left the same way it had come.

Minutes later Hikari woke from another nightmare. She just about avoided screaming but couldn't help giving a quiet yelp that awakened Gatomon instantly. The digimon tried to calm her partner but she was almost hysterical.

"He said that I'd be his. He said that the Light would desert me just when I needed it most." Hikari was weeping. "He said that I couldn't fight against my destiny and it would only cause me pain if I did."

"He's lying. You're the chosen child of Light. In a very real sense you are the Light. It can't abandon you and even if it could it wouldn't." Gatomon told her over and over again until the girl stopped crying. "Try and go back to sleep. We'll tell the others about this in the morning."

"I'll try but I don't know if I can." Weeping had made Hikari thirsty so she poured herself a glass of water and drained it before she lay back down. She shivered for awhile before she finally fell back into a troubled sleep.

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"Did you manage to get any sleep?" Takeru frowned at Hikari as she slipped into her seat the next morning. She still looked really miserable and there were dark shadows under eyes.

"Some." She replied in a subdued tone as she attempted to unload her books one handed. "I kept on waking up…" She broke off as her books tumbled out of the bag to the floor. "Damn!"

"I'll get them." Takeru said as he knelt down and gathered them up. He placed them on her desk. "You had some more nightmares didn't you? Was it the same?"

"Yes. Well mostly. If anything they're beginning to get worse. The… thing… spoke more." He saw her shiver. "He said some strange things."

"We'll have to talk to the others after school." He told her firmly.

"Whatever." She said and he looked at her sharply. She was staring out of the window and it almost sounded like she didn't care one way or the other. He was about to ask her about it when Daisuke came and headed for his seat on the other side of Hikari.

"Good Morning, Hikari-chan, Takeru-kun." He nodded to them as he sat down. "How are things going?" Takeru expected Hikari to answer but she didn't even acknowledge Daisuke's greeting. She was never that rude. After a moment he frowned and replied.

"Hikari had some more nightmares… She says that they are getting worse. I think we should get everyone together after school. We need to deal with this quickly."

Daisuke looked concerned as he nodded. It seemed like he was about to say something more but just then Nakata-sensei entered the classroom and the day's lessons began.

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