The Road to Hell
By Saint Paul
The darkness was all enveloping. Ken couldn't see anything. He
felt helpless, and that irritated him.
"Where am I?" He yelled into the darkness so thick it was almost tangible.
He received no answer. "Who is doing this? Show yourself!"
"Kind of hard to do that in all this darkness, don't you think?" A small voice, a child's voice asked. A piercing
shaft of light, blinding at first, cut through the darkness. Ken cringed away from it until his eyes adjusted.
Then he looked, and gasped. Illuminated by the shaft of light, was.... him. A least a former him.
The child, the younger version of Ken that is, looked up at him. "So, Ken, are you surprised to see me?"
Chibi-Ken asked with an almost mocking smirk upon his young face.
"Who...? What...? How..? Why...?" Ken stared dumbfounded at his younger self, who glared back.
"Well as for Who, and What, I'm your...shall we say...lost innocence? Your inner child? Then there's the How,
well...I don't exactly know how I came to be here. And Why... well you'll see. But," The child's look turned
harsh. "You forgot 'When' Kenneth." The young child glared at him, "And that's the most important one...
when. When did I turn into you? When, along the path of life, did you lose your innocence? Was it when Sam
died? Or was it when you became the Digimon Emperor? Maybe, it happened throughout your entire life? Well, let's find out. Shall we?"
A bright flash of light, and they were many miles and many years away....
Siren's blared as Ken opened his eyes his eyes adjusting slowly to the harshly bright sunlight. When his
vision cleared he saw, the absolute last thing he had ever wanted to see again. The ambulance, the
stretcher, his brother... Oh God his brother.
"It's your fault he died Ken." Said the child who had appeared
beside him.
"How could his death be my fault? I wasn't driving the car!" His younger self waved the defense away like an
annoying insect. "The car doesn't matter, it was you who wanted him dead."
"I didn't want him dead I just
wanted him ..." Ken stopped short, a look of horror spreading over his face
"Dead?" Chibi-Ken finished for him.
"No! Never! I never wanted him dead, I...I just wanted him gone. That's all, just gone. Gone for good!"
Chibi-Ken held a look of sarcastic innocence on his face. "What do you think 'death' is?"
Ken shook his head violently. "I'm not responsible for this! I'm not!" He shot a wild look at his tormentor, his
younger self. "It's your fault! you're the one who wanted him dead!"
"But," the child Ken said with an unearthly calmness in his voice "I am you."
"No! I don't believe it! I won't believe it!" Ken slumped down by a tree as the ambulance containing his dead
brother rolled away. Chibi-Ken looked at him, forever the mockery of innocence. He stared at the older
version of himself.
"You really believe that, don't you? You believe that you are absolved of all guilt."
"I don't feel guilt. I'm above it!"
"Shall we make a list of your sins? To see if you truly are above it all?"
"Fine. Go ahead then. You'll see I am guiltless!" Images began to flash through Ken's mind, of his life, as a
child, as a teen, as the Digimon Emperor.
"Envy." Images of Ken's brother passed through his mind, Sam was always the favorite, the Prodigy. The Genius. He got all of the attention, Ken got whatever was left over.
"Pride." The images of his brother were replaced with images of himself, after Sam's death. Now HE was the
favorite. HE was the Genius. HE was the Prodigy. He was the best at anything he had ever tried, school, sports, life, it didn't matter, whatever it was he was guaranteed to be the best.
"Hate." More images, images of him every time the Digidestined had defeated him. His hate for the growing with every destroyed spire and every freed digimon. The hate was all consuming, until it was almost maddening, until his only goal became destroying the Digidestined. Especially Takeru and Davis, the simpering nitwits!
"Cruelty." The parade of memories continued, this time it was Ken capturing helpless Digimon and turning them into slaves. Ken destroying cities with Kimeramon. Ken kicking and beating Wormmon every time he dared to speak.
"Lust." Images of Her appeared, her long flowing violet hair, her sparkling eyes, her beautiful smile. Her intelligence, her courage, her love. "What?" Ken shouted. "What is this? I don't love...her!" Chibi-Ken smiled knowingly at him "You can't lie to me Ken, after all, I am you."
"I have never felt love towards that...that girl! Never! I don't need love. I am above such petty emotions! Love is for the common, simple-minded fools."
"You don't really believe that."
"I do. Love is for poets!" Chibi-Ken seemed to sigh.
"Did... did you love your brother?"
"No! I wanted him out of my life! For good! Forever!"
"The accused has confessed!" A loud voice rang out. Ken found himself chained at the neck and wrists in a shadowy courtroom, where only the judge's seat and witness' stands were visible, the rest of the room was blanketed in shadow
"I confess nothing!" Ken shouted into the darkness around him. "Nothing!" The accusations flew from the
shadows striking Ken like a daggers into the heart each time.
"Liar!" one voice hissed.
"Thief!" another cried.
"Coward! Demon! Slave-Driver!"
"MURDERER!" Ken fell back as if he had been struck by multiple blows each time. He glanced around him,
fear actually showing in his eyes.
"No! I, I'm not! I'm not a murderer! Please!" He looked around the room looking for someone to help him, but found only shadows. "Enough!" The Judge cried. "I pronounce sentence!" The shadow swept away from the judge's face revealing...
"Yolei?" Ken stared at her dumbfounded. "What...?"
"Silence!" Yolei shouted, an unusually hard glare on her face. "I loved you once Ken, then you turned out to be the Digimon Emperor, now I loathe the very sight of you."
"But Yolei..." Ken protested.
"You're scum Ken." Yolei, who had turned into Takeru, said. "Evil and vile. You're nothing but scum."
"Who are you to judge me? You aren't God! WHO ARE YOU?" "Why Ken," The Judge, in a new voice, one he
was familiar with, said. "I'm you." Ken looked up, shocked by the new voice. For a moment it had sounded
like, a ghost from the past.... but no. It was only Him. The Digimon Emperor.
The Emperor grinned at him. "Surprised to see me Kenny?" He laughed mockingly "You shouldn't be. You should have known I would make an appearance sooner or later. After all, I'm you."
"No, you're not! Not anymore! I've changed, I'm different now!" The Emperor laughed at him. "Change? It's too late for change! Your fate is sealed. You've taken the first three steps down the road to Hell." He stood glaring down at Ken. "Ken Ichijouji, for crimes against humanity and the Digital World, I sentence you to...." A cruel smile formed on his lips. "....Death. Take him away." The crowd surged upon him dragging him away.
The crowd laughed as they pushed his neck into the Guillotine designated to be the instrument of his death. "No! Please, stop! I'm begging you! Have mercy!" The executioner stepped forward a gleaming blade in his hand and a black mask upon his face. "No! Please!" The man whipped off his mask revealing the smirking face of his long dead sibling.
"Sam?" Ken gasped. Sam leaned forward to whisper in Ken's ear, the smirk still playing on his lips. "Turnabout's fair play....Brother." Sam stood up, cast one final glance at his brother, raised the razor sharp blade into the air and without a final thought he cut the rope.