The Bearer of Love
Summary: A new malicious evil is trying to conquer the Digital World. The Digidestined must oppose Apocalyptic forces to save the remains of the war erupted era. Only one power is strong enough to withstand the pandemonium dominion of evil. The Digidestined must fight to save a loved one. A new adventure with a new boost of power awaits them but also a new wicked adversary.
Chapter 1: The New Threat and Nightmare
The night was quiet and peaceful for almost all the Digidestined. Everyone lay in a peaceful slumber, all but one that is. Sora's sleep was restless, she tossed and turned recklessly while evil dreams raced through her mind like whirlwinds. One vicious, frightening voice after the other, everyone saying something about wanting her power and would do everything to get it. One voice in particular stood out from the others. It was part scary and part soothing and calm. It made her tense muscles relax and her throbbing head stop hurt a little. But it too wanted something from her. Once she managed to catch and hold onto one dream, she discovered that she stood in a dark field. All the flowers were dead and the whole scene was covered with a grey mist. She soon realized that she couldn't move her body at all. She focused all her strength in lifting her feet a step forward, but failed. With every try she made her muscle hurt more and more. The pain was too much for her and she screamed. She knew no one was out there, but she kept calling the names of her friends. She knew they would help her. She screamed one name more often than the rest. It was the name of the person that meant more to her than her own life. She would rather take a dagger to the heart than loose him. This human being had saved her from death once before and she knew that he would save her from this new evil threat, if she told him. Suddenly her thoughts were broken by the same calm and eerie voice she had heard a few minutes before. She saw a shadow approaching her from the opposite side of the field.
"You, the bearer of love, I want your power." The shadow said with a cold but soothing voice.
"But I don't have any power." Sora managed to force out thorough her shivering lips. She wanted it to sound fearless, but instead it came out just like she felt inside, complete helpless and afraid.
"So I guess you don't know anything at all. Haha! This is going to be a lot easier than I thought!" The threatening figure said while taking another step forward.
The malice laughter was filling the entire field and it sent shivering down Sora's spine. Suddenly she could feel an immense pain going through her body. Her head was beginning to swim and her sight was blurry. The laugh filled with evil was coming nearer and with every move her enemy was taking the pain she felt doubled. With the last of her strength she screamed out in pain, fresh tears falling from her crimson eyes.
"You are all alone bearer of love, no one will save you, not even your friends. Do you honestly think they would bother to save you again? They have already forgotten all about you my dear. Come and join me and I will save you from your fate or else you will be trapped in this dark realm for all eternity." His voice was full of evil and bloodlust, but at the same time caring.
His hand was outstretched waiting for her to choose between joining him or suffer for eternity. The thought of being lost in this misty shadow realm for eternity, forgotten by her friends and taunted by these horrid voices washed over her as realization come to her mind. My friends, what if they really have forgotten me. I didn't really mean a lot to them now did I? Sora thought as another tear rolled down her cheek. But that does not mean I will put them in danger by joining this bloodthirsty freak. I have to stay strong and take one thing at a time, I won't let my friends down even if they have forgotten about me! I will not take the easy way out I will keep him safe. Sora could feel her power returning to her and managed to freely move her body.
"No, I will not join you. I won't let you have the power you seek so badly! I will rather burn in hell than help you!" The word just flew out of her mouth with firmness. Nothing of the fear she felt inside had slipped into her words, they were fearless and strong.
The silhouette of the man before her was taken aback by her words. He thought he had scared her out of her senses, but apparently not. Well this should be interesting after all, he thought as a wicked grin formed on his lips.
"Very well then, I will take my leave now, but don't forget, I want your power and I will get them no matter what." His voice slowly turned into a whisper, but the last thing he said made Sora jump in fright. His words were "I will keep tormenting you with nightmares and evil until you give me what I want. Bearer of love join me or your loved ones will pay the ultimate price."
"What am I going to do? I can't let him hurt my friends." More tears filled her crimson eyes and burst over raining down her cheeks.
The eerie voices had returned shortly after her captor had vanished. As the fresh tears kept falling from her sad eyes filled with pain and loneliness, she heard a faint, but soothing voice wash over her, calling to her. It washed away all the evil voices from her mind and replaced it with a soft murmur of a voice she could recognize everywhere. Her eyes snapped open, Tai was looking at her with concern in his eyes.
"Sora are you okay?" he asked, his eyes scrutinizing her.
She rubbed her eyes, the nightmare still fresh in her mind. "I-I'm okay," she stuttered.
"You're lying," Tai said with his arms crossed.
"It was just a bad dream, that's all." She protested. He gave her a stern look.
"Look Tai, I don't need you to worry about it. It was just a nightmare after all, it won't come back." Her voice rose just a little out of annoyance. It's just that I hate to see you worry about my problems, I will not put this burden upon your shoulders and besides you have it tough already being the leader and all. She thought as she stretched her sore muscles.
"I'm just worrying about you that's all. You don't need to bite my head off!" His voice was warm and gentle at the first part, but got a lot colder at the end.
"I'm sorry Tai, I didn't mean it." What am I doing, pushing the one that cares for me away just like that? A tear rolled down her cheek and she let her auburn bangs cover her eyes and turned away from him.
"Sora, I-I'm…" the word got stuck in his trout as he watched a tear slide down her lovely cheek. He was about to say something more, but didn't want to start another fight so he went back to being the night watch.
The next morning the Digidestined took of wandering towards Genni's place. The sun was barely shining through the thick layer of leaves on the trees above them.
Shortly after their return to the Digitalworld or Digiworld for short, Genni had appeared as a hologram telling them to meet at his place. He said he had something important to tell them, something about a new threat and prophecy. Before he could tell them more, his hologram was disturbed by some kind force field and he kept on flickering back and forth, his words kept coming one at a time. The only thing the Digidestined heard was "Hurry, it's really important. He left them there with a thousand question and no answers, so the only thing they could do was go to Genni's and get the answers he promised them. They knew their return to the Digiworld would be nothing like vacation, but they hoped for an easy task, no more "the fate of the world rest on your shoulders" stuff.
Sora's thoughts turned back to when they returned to the Digiworld and saw someone they never thought they would see again, their friends and partners. They were the first sight the Digidestined saw when they opened their eyes and realization dawned on them, they were back in Digiworld. Their Digimon stood there with smiles on their faces rushing to their partner and best friend.
"I've missed you so much Biyo!" Sora said to her pink little bird friend in her arms, with tears forming in both their eyes.
"I've missed you too Sora! I thought I would never see you again!" Biyomon said with a shaking voice to her best friend.
"It's okay Biyo, I'm here now and we're together again."
It was shortly after their reunion that Genni showed up and gave his important message then disappeared, leaving them to wonder and guess what the new evil was.
"I wonder what got Genni so worked up." Joe said to no one in particular. It was enough to break Sora's train of thoughts and return her to the real world.
"Yeah, he sounded very disturbed by something and Genni hardly gets worked up, so it must be really important." Mimi said with worry written on her face.
"Don't worry Mimi, we will get through this just like we did last time, right guys?" Matt reassured her with his usual cocky smile.
"Nothing could possibly be worse than the Dark Masters!" Joe butted in with wary in his voice.
They all hoped he was right and the gang kept walking in silence once again.
Sora who had been slowly falling a little behind the others realized that their surroundings was way to quite. She hurried up her pace to reach the other, but before she could tell them that something was wrong a loud, piercing roar could be heard. The trees rustled and a black massive dinosaur came running out of the forest, an eerie fog following him. The fog covered the entire area and the scene before them was now horrid. All the green and fresh leaves on the trees had fallen dead to the ground and the once flower filled path they were walking on was now covered with a thick smog and all the flowers had withered.
It only lasted a moment, but Sora was sure she saw the same shadow from her dream pass her on the now dead path whispering "Your power will be mine sooner or later". Chills went up and down her spine as her head felt heavy and her vision became blurry. She could feel herself fall to the ground with a low thud.
Sora slowly opened her eyes, all her friends stood over her with worry covering their usual cheerful faces. Their lips forming words but the sound never came out. Her vision was kind of obscure and her head didn't stop throbbing. Her vision soon came back and Sora quickly realized that their surrounding was completely back to normal. All the trees surrounding them were filled with green leaves and the path was again flooded with colorful flowers. It was like the earlier events never occurred in the first place.
"Sora, oh thank God you're awake." Tai said with relief filling his voice.
"What happened Sora?" Joe asked while checking her for any injury.
"I-I'm not sure, I suddenly felt very dizzy and that's when I passed out."
"Hmm, well you should take it easy a little while." Joe said with a doctor's seriousness and skeptical eyes.
"Are you going to be okay Sora" T.K. asked her with a shaky voice. He didn't want his earlier mother figure to suffer. When they first came to the Digiworld Sora was like a mother to him, she took care of him and comforted him when he was sad and lonely and over the years he had grown to see the tender girl like a caring big sister.
"Of course I am T.K. you don't need to worry." Sora answered while trying to stand up. When she once again stood on the path they were following a sudden nausea came over her. She stumbled slightly and Tai was at her side in a second. He took one of her arms around his neck and one of his in a tight grip around her waist helping here out on soft green grass by the path.
"Sora, are you sure you are alright?" Kari asked with hints of tears in her eyes. She really adored Sora. She was like a susceptible sister to her. Sora always stood up for her when she had a fight with her brother. Her bond with this sincere and gentle girl had started to blossom when Kari's health had taken a turn for the worse and she fell ill in the Digitalworld. Sora had taken care of her and protected her from the evil clutches of Machinedramon. The strong bond between them turned into an unbreakable sisterly bond. She realized that she was indeed very lucky to have two such strong and lovingly persons to watch over her. And now one of them was feeling ill. Kari felt tears coming to her eyes as she watched Sora's pale face.
"I'm fine Kari, don't worry. I just stood up to fast that's it." Sora gave a fake smile, but managed to fool almost all her friends.
"So I say we take a short break here, is that okay with everyone?" Matt suggested while giving Mimi a smile. Everybody nodded and small yes' could be heard.
"Thank God! I was beginning to get sore feet." Mimi whimpered.
Izzy sat with his back against an oak tree, his laptop already in his lap, his fingers racing over the keyboard at lightning speed.
Sora sat with her chin on her knees, looking straight forward at nothing in particular. Her thoughts went back to her nightmare and the earlier events. Was it all in my head? She thought. None of the other seemed to react and everything was back to normal when I woke up. Maybe it's him, the shadow in my dream. He said he wanted some sort of power from me, but I don't have any special power. I would understand it if he wanted Tai's power or Matt's. They have a strong power inside. But what is it he wants with me? This is all so confusing and it's making me lie to my friends. I know I shouldn't do that, but I just don't want them to worry about me that's all.
"Sora are you feeling any better? You have been kind of distant some time now, is something wrong?" Tai asked, breaking her train of thought. He sat down beside her and they locked eyes, his amber scrutinizing her crimson ones.
"I'm okay Tai, just worried about what Genni is going to tell us."
"Relax Sor, whatever it is I'll protect you. I won't let anything happen to you again, I promise." Tai said with a soft voice.
Tai watched as the cute pink color formed on Sora's cheek. He too could feel his face warm up. He looked into Sora's beautiful crimson orbs, he could tell she was worried about something else, her eyes says it all. 'They are filled with worry and concern.' He thought as Sora's gaze once again fell on the sunset before them. The sky was filled with all kinds of warm colors. From pink to orange and crimson, the eternal battle over the sky.
The two friends sat in silence as the sun went down behind the mountains in the west. As the warm day grew into a chilly night, the other Digidestined made a fire and started cooking dinner.
Sora hugged her knees tighter against her chest as the cold breeze played with her hair and made the chilly night air colder. She blushed at the thought of Tai's sentence some hours before. He had said he would protect her. The thought made her smile. He had also called her by the nickname he had given her. She could still remember the day he had given it to her. They were around seven and out playing football.
FLASHBACK
"Hey Tai, pass me the ball!" A young Sora yelled while running towards her best friend Tai.
"No way Sora, you have to take it from me!" Tai yelled back with the ball a few centimeters in front of him.
"I gave you a chance, but here I come." A chuckling Sora said. She sped up and was beside Tai faster than he had predicted. He lost his focus on the ball and Sora took this as an opportunity to take it from him. She gracefully managed to take the ball from his feet before Tai got back to his senses. Soon he realized what was missing and saw Sora racing towards his goal. He almost caught up to her but it was too late, the ball was already in his goal.
"Heh, I said I could beat you Tai" a breathless Sora said.
"It was only luck, you won because I lost my concentration for a split second." Tai argued.
"Whatever, but we promised each other that the one who lost would buy ice cream." Sora stated.
"Okay fine, a promise is a promise after all. Let's go Sor." Tai said in his usual cheerful tone.
"Sor?" Sora asked looking at him with wondering eyes.
"Yes, I thought that nickname would suit you. I really like it, it sounds cute." He said blushing madly.
"Oh, thanks Tai, that's really nice of you." Sora answered while wiping a tear from her eye. She too blushed, a beautiful pink color. They looked at each other a while before Tai asked
"So which kind of ice do you want Sor?" The blush still lingering on his cheeks.
End FLASHBACK
Tai watch as the emotions on the face of the girl next to him change from distress to cheerful, her eyes were tender as she once again looked at him. Her gaze made him melt inward. It was full of love and kindness.
"Tai, do you remember the day you gave me my nickname?" She asked shyly, a blush spread lightly across her cheeks.
"Of course I do Sor. It was the day you for the first time beat me in football." Tai said laughing.
"So you finally admit defeat?" Sora said joining the laugh. The depressive atmosphere change from an unbearable silence to a joyous conversation.
"Yes, I do. I must say back then I was stunned by how fast you managed to catch up to me and I was even more amazed by how gracefully you took the ball from me." his last word came out in a gentle mumble. He once again got a light blush on his cheeks.
"And I was so surprised when you said Sor, I thought you forgot to say a, but when you said that it was my new nickname I was so happy." She murmured.
A shiver went through her as she hugged her knees tighter. Tai who witnessed this said:
"Let's go back to the other Sor, it's getting pretty late and cold out here. And I'm getting hungry." He smiled at her and stood up. Once he was up he gave her his hand and she shyly took it. It was then he noticed how cold she was. Her small hand felt like ice.
"Sora why didn't you say you were cold? We should have gone back sooner? Tai asked her anxiety filling his voice.
"I'm sorry Tai, I didn't mean to worry you, I just wanted to clear my head and be alone a little while. And besides we did have a nice time talking. I didn't notice how cold I was until now." Sora answered with an apologetic look.
They walked back and joined the others for dinner. The silence was broken by a yawn from T.K. giving the signal that is was bedtime.
"So who want to stand guard first?" Matt asked after finishing his food.
"I can take the first watch." Sora said after a moment of silence. "Besides I'm not sleepy at all."
"Okay, then Tai so Matt, Joe after that and me last. Is that okay with everyone?" Izzy asked.
"It sounds good enough." Joe answered while cleaning his glasses.
"What about us? We can help to!" Agumon asked his partner Tai.
"We may need you guys tomorrow if we encounter anything dangerous. You need to be well rested all of you if needed." Tai answered him.
"Okay, we understand." Biyomon said smiling.
By the time of midnight all of the Digidestined were asleep except Sora. She sat on the ground by the fire with her knees pressed against her chest. She was poking the fire with a stick when a flare burst out and hit her left shin.
"Ouch, that's going to leave a mark!" She hissed while rubbing her shin. She could see a red mark take form and stood up to get some cold water to ease the growing pain on her shin. It was when she stood up she felt it, the stinging pain didn't calm at all it only got worse. Sora looked down and discovered the flare still on her skin. She took the water can and poured the liquid on her shin. The pain subsided and she once again sat in front of the fire with her legs under her chin. She had to tie a bandage around the little fire burn so the wound didn't get infected.
She looked at the lake before her. The moon reflected its white crescent shape on the surface of the dark lake. The wind brought the sounds of waves and the fresh smell of moonflowers. It was then Sora really looked at their campsite. It was the most magnificent place she had ever seen. The field surrounding them was filled with beautiful white and pink moonflowers. The wind scattered the scent all around them. Trees filled with leaves rustle in the wind making a beautiful and peaceful sound. Making the scenery even more perfect was the majestic and respectful lake in front of her. The moonlight making it mysterious in its own way, laying there in silence only the wind making small movements on the surface.
While she sat there in her own world, watching the nature before her a twig snapped by the pressure on top of it. A figure stepped out of its safety within the shadows. She came closer and closer to her target. She remembered her orders with disgust "You have to bring me the Digidestined with the crest of love. Do not fail me!" the voice echoed in her ears over and over again. She loathed that voice, but wouldn't dare to oppose him. She knew she was a coward and hated herself for it. She hated being commanded. She knew she was worthy of ruling this world as much as Piedmon, but in her master's eyes she was obviously not. She gritted her teeth at the thought of Piedmon, that bloody lunatic, who knows what's going on inside his mind, why is he considered more sinister than me? Her mind went back to the task at hand and her eyes reverted back to the girl before her. The cold breeze was playing with her short auburn hair. She was wearing a yellow top with blue jeans and black sneakers. She looked like a girl in the sixteen's. Her slender arms were wrapped around her slim frame.
Sora was brought out of her trance by a cold hand wrapping around her upper arm. She could feel sharp nails digging into her soft flesh. Another hand wrapped around her mouth and prevented her from screaming for help. She tried to struggle free from the iron grip but that only made the grasp tighter and the nails pierce her skin. A small blood stream ran down her arm and Sora winced in pain. She could tell that the shadow behind was smiling by the pain she was in. Tai, please help me I need your strength! She pleaded in her mind.
Tai's sleep was becoming restless. He could sense that something was wrong but couldn't put his finger on it. He tossed and turned in his sleep, his mind giving him different vision of a blurry person that was constantly in danger. Why was his heart pounding so hard every time the person in front of him was smiling and what was it telling him to do?
A scream pierced through the silent night. Sora had managed to bite the hand covering her mouth but in that instant the other arm binding her to her captor had sliced through the skin on her back and blood was now flowing freely from her open wound. She screamed out in agony.
The instant the scream reach Tai's dream he recognized it without a second guess. That was Sora's scream. That's when the click in Tai's brain connected the loose treads. Sora was the figure in his visions. She was in trouble!