Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon or any of its characters. All I won is my own original character Lain Auska X and some of the plot.

Digimon

XIII: Awaken

Saga: The Child of Darkness

"Red… The color of blood," Lain said looking at the lighthouse. Ken was at her side, starring around the two of them anxiously as though he was waiting for something horrible to happen.

"Where do you suppose Kari is at?" Ken asked. His whole body was shaking now, though he managed to keep a calm and plain look on his face.

"You need to calm down first," Lain said smiling at him. "Ken you've got to think positive okay? You're to scared and freaked out. I'm scared too but I'm not going to let it get to me. Cause I know we're going to find Kari and bring her back right? Cause we're her friends and she's counting in on us!"

"I guess you're right," Ken replied. His voice may have sounded confident but his face showed no sign of it, full of fear.

Lain sighed and then moved her hand towards his, holding onto it tight.

"We're gunna go to that lighthouse first," Lain said starting towards it. "I mean after all. It's the only thing in this horrible place that stands out right?"

Ken laughed a little and then put a small smile on his face as he followed.

"Was that such a good idea to send them after her?" Joe asked. The room had been quite ever since the two of them had embarked to the Dark Ocean.

"Of course it was," Matt said sounding confident in his answer. "Don't you guys trust Lain? She'll bring Kari back. I know she will!"

TK just looked up at his brother with a small smile on his face. "You're right. Even if she might be changing on us, I know she'll remain loyal…"

Davis looked down at his shoes and then out a small laugh.

"What's so funny Davis?" Yolei snapped at him, her face was twisted up with anger.

"I was just thinking," Davis, replied, a smile still on his face. "Ken and Lain are kind of alike. I mean them both being so prone to the darkness and everything… What if they like fell madly in love with each other or something while they were there!?"

Yolei had a horror stricken look on her face as she heard what Davis had just said. The rest of the room was looking at him stupidly, though all their minds had now been taken away from Kari.

"SHUT-UP! HE WOULDN'T DARE!" Yolei screamed out bashing Davis over the head. "He loves me too much!"

"Ow! Yolei! Stop hitting me so hard!" Davis shouted out trying to get away from her, the whole room was now in laughter.

"Well here we are," Lain said stopping in front of the entrance to the lighthouse. "Are you ready Ken? Are you ready to see what's inside?"

Ken nodded his head and then pushed the door open with his free hand. "Let's go then!"

The door opened and Ken stepped inside. Almost falling over when he realized Lain had not moved a step.

"Lain?" Ken asked looking back at her. "What are you doing?"

"It's the same smell as before," Lain said trying to clear her head of the stench. "Just like the color of the light. It smells of blood, can't you smell it Ken? Can't you smell it!?"

"Calm down Lain! I can't smell a thing! It's all in your head!" Ken said to her in panic. If she lost all confidence in their mission then he would be soon to follow. She was the only thing holding this operation together. "Lain!"

"NO!" Lain screamed out hunching herself over as she clutched the top of her head with her hands tightly. Her eyes had dilated and she was now shaking madly. "GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY FUCKING HEAD! YOU'RE DEAD!"

"Lain!?" Ken screamed at her, trying to pull her into an embrace but only got pushed to his knee's by Lain screaming at him madly.

"DON'T TOUCH ME! GET AWAY! I SAW YOU DIE! YOU'RE DEAD! GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT NOW!" Lain screamed falling backwards. She fell to the ground, hitting her head on the ground sharply. "Get… Get out…"

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Black. Everything around her was a horrible black. She begun to walk forward, only hearing her foot steeps for any signs of life in this new area she had just arrived in.

"H-hello? Is anyone here?" Lain asked, her voice echoing throughout the room.

"Welcome Child of Darkness… It's nice talking to you face to face once again," a cold voice said aloud, ringing through the air, longer than her own did.

"L-Lord Fukushumon?" Lain asked, her eyes getting wider as fear quickly spread across her pale face.

"Still fear when you speak my name?" Fukushumon asked steeping out in front of her, he seemed to have just blended in with the darkness before.

"Why are you here!? Where have you taken me! Where's Ken!?" Lain screamed at him, suddenly regaining confidence in herself. A frown was pasted on her face, but she seemed oddly pale.

"Haven't you figured it out yet?" Fukushumon asked her narrowing his eyes. "You're not in the realm of the Dark Ocean anymore. In fact you're not even in a world at all, just in a state of dreams…"

"I don't want to be here…" Lain answered frowning, an unhappy look coming across her face. "I want to wake up…"

"I have no time for your stupid chatter!" Fukushumon shouted out taking a few steeps towards her and then grabbed her wrist. "Now Child of Darkness! Give me the power I seek of to control the Digital World! I will become its Kaiser!"

"What are you talking about!?" Lain screamed at him angrily, jerking her body away from his grasp. "Get away! Just get away from me! I want nothing more to do with the Dark Empire! I'm done being your pawn! I'm tired of this all! JUST GET AWAY FROM ME!"

"You want me to get away from you?" Fukushumon asked laughing to himself wickedly. "If that is what you want…" he raised his hand. "Mental Destroyer!"

A wave came shooting towards Lain, going straight through her as though it were a ghost, seeming to leave no cause of harm. She looked down at her hands and saw nothing wrong.

"What did you…" she stopped in mid sentence, Fukushumon had already gone. "What was that all about?" She sighed closing her eyes.

They shot open, just as soon as she had closed them. A strong scent of blood filling the room she was standing in. Her eyes were huge once more; fear had come back to her face. "What… What is this!?"

A body lay in front of her, hunched over in a loose looking fetal position. All life seemed to be drained away from its body.

"N-n-no…" Lain choked out; her hands flying up to her face as tears welled up in her eyes. "This is true… He isn't there! He isn't there! You're not my brother!"

She fell to her knee's screaming out in anguish.

A white haired boy lay on the ground in front of her. His red eyes open as far as they would go, starring out in horror. Blood all over his white shirt and all around him.

Her screams continued.

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"I'm… I'm so sorry," Ken said looking at the others, Lain's unconscious body in his arms. "She's… I'm not sure what happened…" He looked over to Tai. "Kari… We, we didn't see her there, but there's still hope… We never got a chance to search the whole place… She… She passed out…"

Tai's face lowered in disappointment, it had all come as a great shock when Ken suddenly burst through Matt's bedroom door, Lain in his arms.

"It's all right… You're… You're probably right, she's still back…" Tai stopped himself, images of his sister sitting alone hurt or crying in the dark alone shot into his mind.

"Tai…" Sora said locking her hand with his. "I'm sure she's all right… As soon as Lain gets better I know she's going to go back to look for her…"

"Yeah, you're right," Tai said forcing a smile onto his face.

"But Lain… How, how did this happen?" Matt asked ushering Ken over to the couch to lay Lain on it. "How did she manage, to get in such a state?"

"I…" Ken started and then stopped, his eyes lowering to the ground. "I'm not really sure… She, she was seeing something I couldn't. She also smelt blood as soon as we entered the tower. She's in this state because of me… I was the one who pushed her on… This, this is all my fault."

"No it's not," Matt said shaking his head in reply. "If she really wanted to stop that badly than she would have…"

"He's right," TK answered, backing him up. "Lain wouldn't have done anything to hurt herself on purpose." A reassuring smile spread across his face as he looked at the others. "Nothing bad is going to happen to her! So no worries everyone! She should wake up soon!"

"She's in a coma," Joe said.

The whole room snapped over to him, apparently he being the only person close enough to a doctor in the room had been looking for some symptoms she was in.

"What do you mean…" Matt asked looking at him a little frightened. "Joe! What are you saying!?"

"She's gunna be asleep for a lot longer than we would have imagined," Joe answered turning away from his face. "It… I, I don't know how long she'll stay in one Matt… It could be days, months of ever years…"

Matt's who face twitched in anger. "Fine… If that's how it's going to be… Then I guess we'll just have to stop the Dark Empire and save Kari ourselves!"

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Lain sat alone on the ground, darkness surrounding her.

"I'm asleep aren't I…" she asked herself, wrapping her arms around her legs. "I'm probably not going to wake up for a while… But then again… What does it matter anymore?"

She got up from the ground; a small light shone above her.

"They probably don't want to see me again, after all… I only did let them down," Lain said starting to get angry with herself. "When they counted on me most I let them down… Especially Ken… I don't blame him if he hates me forever… I let him down… I let everyone down…"

"You're absolutely right!" a male voice said echoing through the room.

He steeped forward, revealing a skinny figure. His hair was collarbone length and curled a little at the bottoms and the parts where it had been layered, the color of his hair was a dark brown. His eyes were the same dark brown but showed regression and pain in them. His skin was slightly tan but not enough to be quite that far from a dark peach. A plain black shirt covered his chest and plain black baggy pants for his waist and bellow. Black dress shoes were on his feet and a short sleeve black trench coat was over him.

In his left hand he held a red and black acoustic guitar.

"Who are you?" Lain asked him, looking a little worried. He was not indeed Fukushumon as she would have thought, or at all part of the Dark Empire as it look. He appeared to be… human.

"Erick Kiddo!" Erick pronounced smiling at her. "Lain Auska X right?"

"Yeah," Lain said calming down a little. "How did you get here?"

"Don't really know," he answered shrugging his shoulders. "But what ever it was lead me straight to you…"

"Oh…" Lain answered frowning a little. "And that's all you know?"

"Yep," Erick answered nodding his head. "So about these friends of yours?"

"What about them?" Lain asked narrowing her eyes at him. "What is it exactly that you want to know?"

"We'll you betrayed them or something right? How exactly did you do that?"

"I let them down when they needed me most…"

"How'd you do that?"

"I panicked, I saw something horrible… And I guess you could say I died that moment… As soon as those memories came back I died… Though I know I'm not dead right now, it just felt like it…"

"What memories?"

"Of my brother…"

"So if they were of your brother then why were they so bad? Why would you panic over them?"

"I… I don't think I should be telling you this?"

"Why not? It's not like I can tell anyone else… I'm right here Lain… If you tell me I'm sure it'll make you feel better…"

"Okay…"

"So why were they bad?"

"It all started when I made my first trip to the Digital World…"

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Lain…Matt looked down at her motionless body. A few moments ago they had just entered her into a hospital nearby in Odiba. Figuring the best place for her to go now was somewhere where they would be able to watch out and take care of her right.

"Matt… We have to go… We've… We've got school tomorrow you know," Tai answered, looking at his best friend a little hurt. He hadn't seen him this depressed since the time Sora bad broken up with him.

"Just a little longer Tai… I… I want to be here if she wakes up," Matt answered. "I want to be here… Letting her know I was waiting for her the whole time… I bet… It… It would probably mean so much to her."

"She's not going to be waking up anytime soon…" Tai answered. "I'm sorry Matt, but don't expect her back so soon. We all want her to wake up as much as you do… And if she does, the first place they're going to call is your house right? Cause you're the ones looking after her…"

"You're right," Matt asked turning his back to her, a wave of regret and pain rushing through his body. "When she wakes up… Let's throw her a party or something all right?"

"Can be done bud," Tai said clapping his hand on his best friend's shoulder. "And you have to get her to dance with you…" He flashed his friend a toothy grin. "Okay? Ya promise me that all right!"

"Yeah," Matt answered laughing. "Wonder how she'll act about it…"

"What do you think?" Tai asked laughing at him. "Eeikk!! I don't want to dance! It's too girlish and I don't like wearing dresses! No way am I going to dance with you Yamato Ishida!" He had been mimicking her in a high pitched voice.

They both broke up laughing and then exited the room.

"Yeah, you're right," Matt said catching his breath. "I'd love to see it though…"

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"And then he killed him…" Lain answered. "He killed everyone that I had any relationship or attachment too…"

"This Fukushumon sounds like a bad guy…" Erick answered.

They were both now sitting on the ground. Erick's guitar at his side as he pondered on what she had been telling him.

"Do you miss your friends right now?"

"No… They're probably glade I'm gone…"

"What about Matt… Do you miss him?"

"He probably thinks of me as such a big annoyance. I lied to him; I lied to everyone… It's funny… I'm here telling you all of this stuff about myself when I've never told another single living person or Digimon about this in my life… I haven't even told Black WarGreymon this much…"

"Well that's because I'm part of you!" He smiled at her.

"Part of me?"

"I'm one of your forms. If you were a boy this is what you would look like!"

"A boy?"

"Yeah, and if you were me I would be you. We are one you know…"

"I don't get it…"

"How should I explain this…" he placed one of his hands on his chin and went into some thought. He came out of it a second latter with a happy smile on his face. "It's like this. If you want to be a boy this is how you would look… And since you choose to be a girl that is who you are! In fact you could be anyone you wanted. You could look how ever you want and do basically what ever you wanted."

"This power… What are you saying?"

"You're data. Kind of like computer data I guess…"

"Data child… That's what Arcmon called me… If I am truly like data as you say then how can I exist in the real world?"

"How can Digimon exist in your world if they are data too?"

Lain slowly drew her knee's up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them once more. Lastly burying her head in them.

"So then I don't really exist? I can be just… deleted?"

"Hey! You're catching on quick! I'm glade you didn't freak out like I thought you would have!" He smiled at her again. "But don't worry! You are who you are right? And as long as your code doesn't break you'll be fine!"

"My code… So how… How did I come to exist like this? I mean… Did I really have a family? Where my parents and brother all just data too? Something created to keep me sane, happy? Like everyone else?"

"Oh no! They were real! You were once too!"

"I was…? Then why am I like this now?"

"You died," Erick answered leaning back on his hands. He gazed up at the endless abyss above him. "Don't you remember? You committed suicide after what happened to you from you friends… With that razor, in your brothers bathroom…"

"But they said they took me to the hospital in time," Lain said looking up at him confused. "I don't remember dying, I don't remember it all… Not even the pain I felt…"

"Our dad… He was a genus in science and stuff like that… So was our mom… I guess that was why they stayed together so long! He recreated you… You're kind of like a doll, but you posses all working organs, a brain. Memories of your life… But in the inside you have this computer thing that allows you to be whatever you want… Dad installed that in you to make you happy…"

"I'm a soulless doll? Nothing more than a fake being?"

"Kind of… It's hard to explain though… But aren't you happy that you got a second chance though? At living!?"

"Go away," Lain hissed at him. "I don't want to talk to you anymore. You're worthless to me… All these lies… Just go away."

He was gone.

"Why couldn't I have just stayed dead… Then I wouldn't have had to meet them! Then everyone I loved wouldn't have had to die! The world would be so much of a better place without e taking up it! GOD! WHY CAN'T I JUST DIE AND STAY DEAD!?"

"But if you died then I would have never got the chance to meet such a nice girl like you," a girl spoke out.

Lain jumped to her feet, her face a little shocked. Sora stood right before her with a soft smile on her face.

"I really am glade to have gotten to know you Lain. You've become one of my best friends without even know it!" Kari said appearing at her side.

"I'm so glade to have meet you!" Yoeli said next to Kari. "Though I do wish you dressed a little bit more like a girl…"

"I'm not exactly sure what you've done to Matt…" Tai begun. "But what ever it is you sure are making my best friend happy. And I accept you ten times more because of that!"

"I was a little hesitant at first… The thought of you staying with me and my brother at my dad's house was a little weird," TK Said quietly to himself. "I mean since you did try and kill us and all," he flashed a nervous smile. "But I can over look that… And appreciate the fact that we became friends in the end!"

"You're a good person," Cody said. "I can tell these things… Though I do think you should come over to my house one day and teach Grandpa and me a few things about kendo! My mom makes the best macaroni and cheese too! So make sure to stop buy on Wednesday nights okay!"

"It's all right if you don't want to go out with me, but let's still be friends all right?" Davis asked, giving her his soccer star grin.

"You didn't let me down Lain, you tried your best, even though you might have failed I'll still accept you for who you are no matter what," Ken said looking at her with a small smile. "Because you are my friend."

"We'll I wish I could have gotten to know you better," Joe said a little nervous. "But from what I've seen about you, you're a good person. And I guess that's good enough for me to consider you as a friend."

"From what the others have told me… Especially Matt, you're a good kid and I'm glad about that," Izzy said scratching the back of his head nervously.

"You should come to New York! I'll take you shopping and get you a pretty dress for prom night!" Mimi shouted out giving her a victory sign.

Lain fell to her knee's all of her friends standing around her. Trying to cheer her up. Trying to make her regain her confidence… Lying to her?

"Lain," a soft voice spoke out, putting his hand on her shoulder. "I'm so glade to have met you… I bet there isn't another girl out there in the world that can take your place… Another girl that could win my heart over as you've done now…"

"Matt," Lain breathed out, tears falling down her face. She held out her arms and tried to wrap them around him. He only turned to dust, blowing away in the wind along with the other Digidestinds around her. "They really do care."

She smiled.

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Lain shot up from her bed, ripping the IV out of her arm. Her eyes wide open as she flung back the covers that were over her. She stood on her feet a little wobbly and started for the door to the left of her bed.

She threw it open and started her way down the busy hallway in front of her.

End. Hope you all like! Sorry it took so long to get posted! Writes block I swear!