Prologue: The Edict of Abyss

If you value your life, obedience is key.

Brightness ends with the sun.

Darkness is your birther

Your saviors are in chains

When the sun sets, the demons roam.

When the light gleams, you shall toil on.

Our web does not burn, but you crackle as pigs.

To smile is to fear

To hope is to become despair.

A human is not a monster's keeper.

Revolution will be answered with red.

May the light be cursed wherever it burns.

May you be blessed with the wisdom of the darkness.

Edict of Abyss, enacted on August 7th, 1999


August 4th, 1999

At last, it was done. All of that work, finally they have created something worthwhile.

Could they be blamed for it taking as long as it did? Despair was not so simple as a few triggering words and a wave of fingers, not for a matter of this scale.

This was only their beginning, as it stood. There was still so much to do, so many tasks necessary to regulate these creatures. They were many, if some resisted, losing a few could not pose much harm. It was for the sake of evolution, after all.

That was what the chain breaker had told them. Clever creature that one had been, seeing the worth that the light had ignored, that the abomination had abandoned. They, that slight may always be raw. For how could they reject one love for another, one hope?

They breathed slowly. No, it would not do to succumb to self-satisfaction. Soon. For now, they could play.

Humans were always the best toys. They struggled so much like rats.

On the other side of the gate, a black mist began to fall over the planet earth, and with it, many large eggs.


The wind had stopped blowing. Above a blond child's head, the clouds were growing closer and darker, undeterred by the wind. Above even that, a large mountain fell, nothing left to hold up the spiral of metal.

For a moment, the little boy shook with fear. Then he gathered himself, wiping his face of tears. As quickly as he could, he opened his arms. His friend, his first friend, popped into them immediately. The other, his second friend, was nowhere to be found.

For a moment, he was frightened again. The darkness was laughing, cackling with a bully's sneer. Then, as only a small child could, the child grew angry. "Give him back!" he screamed. "He was my friend first, give him back!"

More laughter brushed against his ears. Why on earth would I do that?

"Give him back!" It just didn't understand. He was a child. He was the only boy. They, his friends, belonged to him. He deserved them, because he was alive. They were with him because they wanted to be. He would teach the darkness that. Nothing was stronger than what his friends wanted, than what he wanted. His first friend began to tremble, glowing underneath the tight grip of his fingers.

"My friend is my friend, not yours, and I won't play games with strangers, so you give him back right now!"

The flower field, which had been turning as black as a starless sky, lit up golden and beautiful for one last time.


All around the world, darkness settled over the sky, like dust in an empty room. Takeru watched from his perch on a cloud, gripping his green hat tight in sweaty hands. Tears welled up in his eyes. This was... this was all his fault. If only he were just a tiny bit stronger, they could have won. They would have if his brother had been there. They could have done it if it wasn't for Piemon and his dumb keychain attack!

Instead, now he was simply stuck watching, watching on a bed of somehow solid clouds as though he were a god. He wasn't, he was just a little boy. And now...

"Where have you gone? Aren't we still playing a ga~ame?"

The boy flinched at the voice. They were safe here, he reminded himself. They had to be. The rope wouldn't have lead them all the way up here to get caught, would it? Then again, no one could predict the thoughts of an inanimate object. He drew back from the edge he was standing near, just to be sure.

"Takaishi Takeru-kun."

He stilled, whole body turning towards the voice. He recognized it, but how had it gotten all the way here? He managed a weak smile, wiping the tears from his cheeks. "Gennai-san..." Then he took in the old man's ashen face and the way he stood. Something had gone wrong, just like everything else. Onii-chan... He imagined his brother's face, unwavering and faithful, and straightened. "What is it?" He could be brave. Takeru knew he just had to try.

Gennai's expression, through the bulge of his eyes and set of his frown, seemed sympathetic, if unsettled. "Hikari-chan is in great danger."

That sent a chill like no other down his spine. Danger was red lights and sickness, dark skies and a gun at his head. What is it? The old man beckoned and Takeru followed, unable to speak or complain at the speed the man shuffled. Gennai was hurt; the entity had showed them this. It gave him time to wonder. Was Hikari-chan that same way? He had to help her; he was the only one who could.

After what Mimi-san had done for them, to make sure they had gotten up here, there had to be something he could do.

"A great darkness has fallen upon your world from ours," Gennai continued gravely, watching the way Takeru's eyes unconsciously chased the swish of his ponytail. "The darkness affects the light. It affects her."

"Can I do something about it?" the blond half-demanded. He couldn't help himself. The others couldn't fight anymore, no one could protect them but them.

Gennai shook his head. "I'm afraid that alone, you have no chance of fighting it."

"I'm not alone!" Takeru shouted, stopping to stare firmly at Gennai's back. "Everyone's with me! I have Patamon! I'm not going to give up."

"I'm afraid giving up is the only thing you can do right now, Chosen Child."

He froze as Gennai led him onward. The old man only sighed, gesturing for him to keep walking forward. "You've heard him."

"Who, who was that?" He had a sudden urge to hug Patamon and never let go. Then he remembered that he had asked his friend to stay with Hikari-chan now. Hikari-chan didn't have her partner anymore, not really, and Patamon always made him feel better.

On his backpack, a keychain swung.

"The one who brought you here," Gennai said, leading him forward. "The one who graced you with your Crest. The one who once again asks for your choices."His old voice sounded so tired, so much like his father. It made him sad.

They entered a large, elegant room and the clouds closed behind them like doors. It reminded Takeru of the royal palaces of picture books. How this remained on a cloud was beyond him, beyond the scope of reality. Then again, he was probably still in the Digital World, and like Koushiro said, anything could be possible.

He just didn't expect 'anything' to be a giant dragon. Its blue form was chained, the transparent light like the neon signs in shop windows.

"Chosen Child, I have been waiting to meet you."

"Me," Takeru said, putting his cap back on. "But why?" He looked around for Hikari-chan and saw her sitting under the creature's great swirling body. Her rosy eyes looked up at him and she smiled. She toyed with the keychain in her hands. The weak expression made him ill. Even Patamon's comforting presence, now back on his head, did nothing to assure him.

There was a crashing sound like thunder, almost a sigh. "I am Qinglongmon and I am the one who created your Crest from the energies of old. I wish I could have done more before now. Alas, I believe I -we- have underestimated our enemies and put too much on you children. I wanted you here, to see what you are, and you are more than I grasped from the preliminary data. If only we could have given you more time, more weapons. If only..."

Takeru's hand found the keychain on his bag, and looked into his older brother's painted-on eyes. It didn't move; the frown remained painted there. Yet, he could hear his voice. It was strong and calm, telling him words he always had wanted him to say, and he was a bit bad at saying them.

Everyone here, even Takeru himself, was so tired. It would be so easy, so nice, to just let it all go and stay here, let the world be washed away in darkness. The pallid chill in Hikari-chan's face would go away, they would be Patamon's partner together. They wouldn't have to fight anymore.

The little boy took a deep breath and looked up at Qinglongmon. "What do I have to do?" At the puzzlement in those many red eyes, Takeru waved his hands again. "What do I have to do to change all of this?"


"Ah, we were so close."

"Why did they fail?"

"We can wait."

"Tonight, we will sleep."

"Until the next one."

"And the next..."

"Until you come for us."

"We need only wait."


A/N: Well, this took a lot more editing than I realized it would. This is an old fic I decided to pull from my hard drive. It's got a few chapters done, so I thought I'd post it and see what people though. It was originally started in 2012/2013, and a lot can change for a writer in two or three years. So, yeah. Um... please drop a review if you can. I'm hoping everyone enjoyed it! If not, tell me what you didn't like!