This is a tragedy through and through. Beware of what you're getting yourself into.

TK/Kari/Davis are about 15, so go ahead and do the math from there to find out everyone's age. Setting is separate from my other digimon fics.

No putting this off anymore...go on ahead and read.

Love to the Last

The sun glowed sadly through the bleak haze of the ravaged digital sky, polluted by the smoke billowing from destroyed cities nearby. The scene was one of despair, especially with the enemy marching over the horizon, aiming to level the last three towns standing on File Island. It was a shoreline community, and its occupants were preparing a full evacuation that was hindered badly by the panic that was nearly taking over.

It was only the endeavours of a certain auburn-haired Digidestined that kept the digimon from running full off in all directions in their fear. She and her champion partner, a phoenix digimon, were keeping the natives under control and as orderly as they could while several Whamon awaited to be loaded up with passengers. The entire populations of the three villages would be carted off to the desert in Server, where they would be safe for the time being from the rampaging digimon army.

Saving the innocent digimon wasn't Sora's only concern. There was something she had found on the top of Infinity Mountain, just before the enemy digimon invaded. She couldn't shake the feeling that they were looking for it. After a quick talk with Izzy, the two decided that its location was best kept secret, and should not fall into the wrong hands at all costs.

There was a rumbling and the sound of shattering brick in the distance. The army had apparently reached one of the villages, and were in the process of tearing it to the ground in search of the artefact that Sora held. In response to the din of destruction, a Gotsumon ran up to Sora, its eyes wide.

"I can't believe it! I thought he was here with me this whole time! Please help! He's probably still back in that town!"

Immediately, the child of Love put aside any thought about the artefact she had to protect, and found herself determined to save the lost digimon. She called out to Birdramon, and jumped up onto one of the champion's feet as she swooped by. The Gotsumon jumped up onto the other talon.

"He's my best friend," the digimon told Sora, seeing her questioning look. "I was only asking for your help. I don't expect you to do it alone."

Moments later they dove into cover of what remained of the town. As they landed, it finally occurred to Sora that if she were caught, she shouldn't have the artefact on her. She snuck into a patch of trees while the Gotsumon searched the nearby house. Finding the centre of the grove, she picked out a tree with three main roots spreading in each direction. One of them had a thick pad of moss growing beside it. Carefully peeling away the layer of foliage, Sora dug away at the dry dirt and eventually hit a good-sized stone. She lifted it just enough for her to get her fingers underneath. Sora pulled out the artefact out of her jeans pocket and gazed at it one more time. It looked a lot like Gatomon's tail ring, though the Digicode seemed to be different. She assumed it was some sort of password or maybe even the holy ring itself was a type of key. Either way, the thing just felt important, and she knew that she had to keep it safe. Sora pressed the ring into the dirt underneath the rock and replaced everything, filling in the hole and pushing the moss back into place on top. Satisfied that the place looked undirsturbed, Sora hurried back to the house, out of which the Gotsumon was just emerging.

"He's not in there! Come on, he's got to be around here somewhere. We used to climb trees a lot, so maybe he's hiding in those woods."

They were already at the edge of the woods Sora had just exited from. The enemy digimon were awfully close, and the ground shook with the power of Monochromon and the likes ramming into buildings like wrecking balls. As she followed the Gotsumon, Sora typed away at her D-Terminal, telling Izzy the location of the artefact. He didn't respond right away, which was unusual.

The Gotsumon stopped short, nearly causing Sora to trip over him. He cupped his hands over his mouth and cried up into the trees. "Hey, up there! Yo, freak!"

Sora followed his gaze up to see a trembling digimon trapped in the branches of one of the taller trees. "Birdramon," she said. "Get him down."

The Gotsumon jumped up to ride on the bird as Sora waited below, suddenly realizing how close the enemy was behind her. They were destroying the house that the Gotsumon had just searched.

And then the completely unexpected happened. Something stabbed her in the back of the knee, causing her to scream as her leg buckled and she fell. Reaching for the source of the pain, she found a wicked-looking syringe with a thick needle stuck in her leg. The chuckle of a DemiDevimon came from a ways behind her. Sora looked back up at Birdramon, and realized that by the time the champion untangled herself from the branches and made her way down, there wouldn't be enough time to fly back out. Common sense left Sora completely as she shouted out a shaky command.

"Go! Birdramon, just leave!" Sora had returned to this village to save a digimon, and that was what she was set on doing.

The sound of their approaching enemy was growing louder behind her, and Sora remembered the message to Izzy. What would be the purpose of hiding the artefact if they simply read the directions to it on her D-Terminal? Sora pulled out the device and feebly pressed at the keyboard, blearily trying to find the message. Her heart doubled its pace as she heard many footstomps of the coming enemy. She found the message, and hit the delete button. As it was doing so, she hastily typed out one more message to the whole group.

I won't be coming back. Love you all.

Too short for her liking, but she believed that was the core of what she had to say. Love. It had saved her in times past, and now she had died for its sake. One digimon had been lost in three towns, and yet her compassion would not let her leave it to die. Not while there was something she could do. And she did it. At least there was that sense of accomplishment. It definitely wasn't logical. The loss of a Digidestined was much heavier than a rookie digimon, but love and compassion weren't exactly logical in the first place. They just acted. Izzy wasn't there to do the reasoning and stop her, like what normally would have happened if she waited for the group to come with her.

The D-Terminal beeped with the notification that the message was sent. A second one followed saying that the other message to Izzy had been deleted. Sora laid her head on the grassy floor, paralyzed and unable to react as she heard the digimon's footsteps stop just behind her.

Her eyes were already closed, but she could still barely feel and still faintly hear. The last sensations she registered were the several vibrations and chirps from the D-Terminal, telling her the others were reacting to her message.

But without warning, something sharp stabbed into her back and through her heart.

Black silence followed.

As time goes on, these will probably get a little more graphic...but I guess personal bias got in the way. I like Sora...er liked.

Review! Should I continue?

And, btw, for those who may be wondering, Dark Waters will be updated this coming weekend, most likely. I have a pretty good sized chapter halfway written but on the back burner. If you haven't read it, please do! I love feedback.

Until next time...