Hi! I'm Quatre's girl, or just QG! ^_^ This is my first Digimon fanfic. This is a Ken story. ^_^ This is not a couple story, but I might hint VERY subtly at the couples I like. You'll probably miss the hints; they're so small. I try to be accurate to the series, but I again apologize if I'm not. ^_^() I also apologize if I misuse some words; I'm trying to get it as accurate to the Japanese as I possibly can, so I'm trying to use the Japanese terms for things. If you get confused, email me. Anyway, reiterating back to the story, this is a Ken fic. It happens more or less one month after he becomes good, when the dark towers are first appearing in the real world. There's a lot of manipulation, darkness, and desperate struggles against evil. Did that spark your interest? It's rated PG for the darkness, the fact that I say "hell" once in this chapter, and later on maybe even PG-13 for violence. I hope to continue this whenever I can, but I'll try not to make it too long. ^_^() Well, enjoy!

P.S. I don't own Digimon. ^_^

-------------------------------------

It was mid-December. Snow was lightly falling, powdering the ground with white. It was midday and the half-obscured sun was casting shadows on everything. What you could see of the sun illuminated the snow, making it appear to sparkle. This breathtaking effect was lost on me, though; I walked along the sidewalk with my head down, face hard with thought. I was thinking of everything that had happened over the past month. I had been defeated as the Digimon Kaiser. The five people who had beaten me turned around and became my friends. I had helped them to destroy dark towers left over in the Digital World. I had also helped them find and defeat Black War Greymon, who was trying to destroy the holy stones. And now, the dark towers and evil Digimon had entered our world. A sudden cold whistle of wind interrupted my thoughts and I shuddered, cursing the thin material of my uniform and regretting not wearing my sweater. I sighed. If it wasn't one thing, it was another. My Digimon looked up at me.

"Is there something bothering you, Ken-chan?" he asked. My gaze softened as I looked to him.

"No, Wormmon. I'm fine, just a little cold. Thanks for asking," I responded.

"Well, that's what I'm here for. To help you when you need me," he said and nuzzled my leg. I smiled and picked him up before I continued down the street. Suddenly, I heard two familiar voices behind me.

"Look Archnemon! It's one of those Chosen brats!" That was Mummymon. I spun around, looking for them. They were standing on top of a building and, when I noticed them, they jumped down in front of me. I took a step away from them and Wormmon jumped out of my arms.

"What's wrong?" Archnemon sneered. "Are you frightened of us?" I turned to my Digimon.

"Wormmon, shinka!" I yelled. He nodded, but when he tried to, nothing happened. He tried again. Nothing.

"Not so fast. No shinka allowed," Archnemon said. She gestured towards a dark tower, which had been recently put up. I cursed silently.

"I'm really sorry Ken-chan," Wormmon apologized. There was a time when I would have kicked him for less, but I only smiled.

"It's all right. You gave it your best shot," I replied. Mummymon, meanwhile, was talking to Archnemon.

"My darling Archnemon, I know that you haven't taken any of my affections for you seriously yet. And I know you're never going to believe me until I can prove myself and my love to you. I'll prove I'm worthy of your love by killing this Chosen Child and his Digimon!" he exclaimed. I froze. Killing me? Mummymon morphed into his Digimon form and advanced on me, a giant monster covered in bandages, wielding a huge gun. It was not comforting. I began to back up in fear.

"There's none of your fellow Chosen Children to save you now," he said menacingly. I took another step back. Suddenly, he threw yards of bandages at me. They entwined themselves around me, imprisoning my arms. I cried out as he fired electric shocks from his gun into my helpless body. Wormmon ran up to Mummymon, butting him with his head.

"You stop hurting Ken-chan!" he cried. Mummymon only laughed and kicked my Digimon aside.

"Wormmon!" I yelled before the bandages tightened their hold. They were squeezing my body; I felt my lungs being pressed in. I gasped desperately for air and Mummymon laughed acidicly.

"What's wrong? Can't breathe?" he taunted me. I again gasped for air but found it impossible to intake any. I couldn't breathe! I felt everything begin to fade out around me...when, suddenly, I heard a familiar call of "Fire Rocket!" and felt the bandages disintegrate around me. I fell to my knees and began coughing as I gasped for breath.

"Ken, are you okay?!" I heard Daisuke yell. I caught my breath and looked up. All of the five Chosen Children were there, looking immensely worried.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you for saving me," I said. Iori helped me to my feet. Wormmon, who had recovered from being kicked, ran to my side, extremely relieved to see that I was okay. We six Chosen Children turned to face Archnemon and a shocked-looking Mummymon.

"You guys are going down!" Daisuke shouted.

"Putting up those dark towers is one thing, but nearly killing Ken is unforgivable!" Hikari yelled. They started forward, but Archnemon held up a hand.

"Wait! I have to ask Ken something," she said.

"Like hell you will! You almost killed him!" Takeru yelled angrily. She smirked.

"That was Mummymon's idiocy, not my doing. Now, I need to ask Ken a question," she said again. I stepped forward.

"It's okay. What do you want to ask me?" I said with contempt.

"Why are you wasting your time with them?" she asked. That statement threw me.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. She gestured to the other five Chosen Children.

"Them. Why are you wasting your time with them?" I cast a glance back at the five children who I now considered allies or possibly even friends.

"T-they're my friends..." I replied softly. She flicked her hair.

"Ha. What has friendship ever done for you? What power has it given you? Think about it. How do you even know they're really your friends? They could be using you for your Digimon..." she said. I gasped. That couldn't be true. They had stood by me, forgiven me, even befriended me after I had done such horrible things to them as the Digimon Kaiser. They wouldn't be using me... would they?

"Don't believe her, Ken!" Daisuke shouted. I trusted him. He was the first friend I had gotten ever since the forces of darkness had lost their power over me. But... a seed of doubt was still there. What if... what if he really didn't want to have me as a friend? What if none of them did? The thought of my only friends turning on me frightened me on a strange and fundamental level. They would leave me though, if I turned back to evil again, I just knew they would. I could picture their faces, as they would look if they turned on me. I knew that if I gave into evil, they would abandon me, leave me alone in a sea of darkness. And that was something I wouldn't be able to bear...

"Ken, you don't truly believe that they are friends with you, do you? That they actually care about you? Do you think you belong with them?" she asked. I glanced back at them again, this time hesitating. Of course, I would say that I was friends with them, that I did belong with the other Chosen Children, but did I really? Archnemon noticed the flicker of doubt.

"Yes. You understand it, don't you? You really belong with us. Just give in to the darkness, become one with it. You'll see who your true friends are," she said. My mind flashed back to a nightmare I had had the previous night. In it, I had once again become the Digimon Kaiser. I had forced the Chosen Children to their knees; they had begged me to spare their lives. I had showed no mercy as I slowly tortured each one...

I shuddered at the memory of how it had felt. How it felt to once again embrace evil, to cause pain and suffering. I remembered the feeling of power I had when I really was the Digimon Kaiser, when I slowly began to conquer the Digital World and turn everyone into mindless slaves. But I also knew the pain, the pain inside my mind of the overwhelming abyss, the horrible cold that had taken hold over me. I couldn't let it happen again, I couldn't hurt anyone. But were my friends really who they said they were? Did they really care about me? Or was it just a lie, designed to bring me down? Was my true purpose that of evil? Then I could feel it, its presence turning my insides to ice, it was there in the chillingly cold air, surrounding me, that oppressing darkness, pressing on my will, twisting my thoughts. I was losing control...

"Ken, will you join us once again?" Archnemon asked, her eyes narrowing wickedly.

"Ken-chan, don't listen to her!" I heard Wormmon cry. Midnight was engulfing me; I had to fight it...

"Ken we need you!" Miyako yelled.

"Well, what is your answer Ken? Will you join us?" Archnemon questioned. I tried to resist it, tried to keep myself from answering. I felt myself being overpowered, felt the cold, frightened, alone feeling grow inside of me. Dark began to surround me, cover me, just as it had done before...

"Yes," I whispered looking down in defeat.

"No!" Daisuke cried. I let Archnemon lead me to the back of a van parked nearby. Without looking at the Chosen Children, I got in and sat down. I heard the door shut and Archnemon got into the van with Mummymon. I never looked up. As we drove off, I heard Daisuke shouting my name, over and over, trying to reach me. His shouts fell on deaf ears, drowned out by the sound of nothingness. I felt cold, uncaring.

Inwardly, I fought to gain control of myself and for a second, I did, and realized what I was doing. I was cooperating with the enemy, letting the evil in my body take me over, forcing me to revert to what I had been. My eyes widened with horror at myself. I stood and began pounding my fists against the door in back of the van in a desperate attempt to break it open.

"Daisuke!" I yelled. He was running after the van, and kept yelling my name. Suddenly, I felt a stab of pain in my skull, like it was being split open. I clutched my head as I sank to the floor of the van, screaming in pain. The darkness was trying to take control of me again, trying to force me into submission. I felt my muscles tense as I tried to fight it. I was not going to be taken over, was not going to succumb to what I had been. I continued to scream as memories flashed through my mind. Everything I had done as the Digimon Kaiser, all of the people and Digimon I had hurt, I had killed. But most of all, I felt the consuming nothingness, the feelings of evil. I could not let myself become that again, could not let it happen. I could not hurt the people I considered friends. I screamed in utter agony as the horrid blackness pulled at me, tried to imprison me in its shapeless void. I screamed until I felt something hard and heavy hit the back of my head and my vision dissolved into darkness.