Warning for character death, child trauma, murder, violence.
Chapter One: Someone Is Having a Bad Time
Most tales begin with a 'once upon a time', or something cheery and safe. A day in the life that would soon change or turn upside down. This would not be one such tale, he knew, when it would be told later. This tale would begin with war, death and the end of an era. The day the last guardian fell while trying to fling his legacy into safety.
This day had long been coming, he knew. After escaping with the eggs, Digivices, tags and crests at the cost of the lives of everyone he worked with at the hands of these jackals, after sealing away their creator and master away into the void from whence it came, using his precious daughter's crest as the seal to keep it from coming back, after humiliation after humiliation he subjected them to, Rekushin knew that the Dark Masters would come for them like the ferocious honey badgers they all were. It was, indeed, all they had left for themselves as far as he knew.
Hector, Arthur, Merlinus and his father were all holding them off as best they could, he could hear the explosions, the roars, the maniacal laughter as those titans fought, but Rekushin knew his Digimon friends could only hold them off so long. He held his daughter close, the young girl curled against him in his arms, as he ran down a long, winding tunnel that would take them to the lab There, their last hope awaited them. A portal to the human world, to be used only in the most dire of circumstances. He considered this the most dire of circumstances.
He broke into the room at last, bashing the door open and then kicking it shut. He leaned against it and took shuddering, frightened breaths, trying to steel himself for the thing that they would need to do. He steeled himself to live the last moments of his life.
He heard the clicking of fingers on a mechanical keyboard cease for the moment, his mother coming over to check on them both. She pursed her lips, for once without her black lipstick. Her golden, reptilian eyes had the same shadows as his did under him, and he could tell how clammy her pale skin was without her hands brushing against his face. She was just as afraid as he was. How could she not be?
"Are you two alright?" She asked the unnecessary question, acting as the mother she was and looking them both over for any obvious injuries.
"I merely need... To catch my breath..." Rekushin gasped, shuddering once more and squeezing his daughter close.
"Very well. And you, my dear Mirei?" The woman asked, turning her attention to the girl clinging to her father. She had two little Nyaromon under her other arm, both of which were squirming to go out and join the fight, despite being too small and helpless to do much, if anything, in that battle of titans she heard going on. The shudders of the earth around them gave way how pitched it was, despite being miles above them.
Bright purple eyes peeked out from short, barely controlled violet locks to look up at her grandmother. Another shudder around them made them squeeze shut for the briefest of instants, but she forced them open again. Mirei managed to nod, pressing her lips into a fine line so as not to make a sound, not to cry, not to burst out with the undeniable desire to fight. Even though it would be hopeless, even though her little cats were helpless and useless, she couldn't turn away from that desire. At least she would be with them at the end if she stayed.
Even so, her Papa had given her this mission, and for all her dismay, she refused to disappoint him on it.
"I-I'm all right," she finally managed to say. The Nyaromons squirmed again and she tried, feebly, to shush them, as she tightened her grip on her father. Mirei knew better than to let go now, it was too soon. it wasn't a very hard guess to know what was coming. She did not want to let him go. She didn't want to let any of them go, really. She closed her eyes and felt inside for the steady pulse of the Crest's power easily running in her, through her. It warned. It warmed. It wasn't of any comfort. In fact it made her tears harder to control.
"Good." The woman managed to give a small smile and brushed the girls bangs aside, kissing her forehead gently. "Precious littling... I'm sorry things have gotten to this. We're putting a terrible burden on you this day, my dear."
Mirei felt her lips twitch, wanting to smile, to reassure her grandmother that things would work out, that she would find a way. The truth was however, that she had no idea what was going to happen to her, or even if this world was going to accept her as her home did. The fear in the room wasn't exactly helping but everyone had good reason to be afraid.
She forced her smile, something she wouldn't have done before this, something she could have given freely and easily to one of the mother figures that she had. "This is... this is for the best. You had to do something." Oh, how those words hurt with their reality. They had to do something or they would lose everything. The fact that it was her involved in it didn't make it any easier to do.
Her grandmother had to move away when Rekushin finally pushed himself off of the door, setting his daughter down. She kissed him too, on the cheek before moving away entirely, allowing her son to bring Mirei to the center of the room, where the portal machine sat. It was less of a machine as we knew it, being several large circles in the floor with carved numbers and code near the etched lines of the circle. A large, star shape ruby sat in the middle of all of this, one that faintly glowed and thrummed with a power that still mystified even Rekushin. His last two Digimon friends, a Dynasmon and Alphamon, were putting some finishing touches on this odd machine, shooting lasers into the floor from the gems imbedded in their hands and carving out the last few symbols needed to get the machine set for its intended purpose.
"Is it ready yet?" Rekushin asked, nervous, anxious and fearful. He didn't want to do this, but his hand had been forced - the Digivice and crest had glowed for his daughter, she was chosen. There was nothing more he could do but send her to the world that had rejected him and so many others, out of the reach of these villains - so that she could grow up safe and strong. Hopefully his brothers would be old enough to care for her by now, to bring her up right and prepare her for her destiny.
"Rek, lad, this isn't anythin' that I've ever done before," His Dynasmon friend answered, irritation thick in his heavily accented voice. He must have been really agitated if he was letting his accent go that uncontrolled. "In all my years as a Royal Knight, I never had tae do anythin' like this. We're technically goin' against everythin' Yggdrasil wants us doin', gettin' so involved like this. Especially makin' a portal to that human world. It takes time to set it up correctly."
"Time which we have never had much of," Alphamon added in a low, patient voice, shooting Dynasmon a chiding look. Not that this wasn't a tense situation, but was it really necessary to state that much of the obvious? "But, judging by the noise up there, I daresay we have even less of it than we did beforehand. Whelps, the lot of them."
Mirei drew closer to the device, barely remembering to keep her grip on the two Digimon. It was strange, apparently, to have two. Most only got one. It was a rarity, she supposed. Ivy made to nip at her fingers, startle her, in a bid for freedom, but Mirei ignored her. This was it. This was the plan.
She shivered, but not from cold.
Dynasmon didn't seem to catch their look, only muttered softly for a moment. "Aye. Aye, whelps who sealed away the Sovereign, fat lot of good those old twits ever did for this world." He sniffed. "Didn't even do anything right up to them getting thrown into the same void they be happily using to put away things they don't like. If it weren't for the fact these bastards didn't stop there, I rightly think they might've been heroes."
"That's going too far, Fafnir, and you know it." Rekushin chided him, still collecting himself and wiping sweat from his forehead. "Their major component parts were sealed away, and without those parts the whole could not be made again. I have no doubt they would have helped us if they could, but their first act in this war was making the ones we didn't have on hand sealed away from us. I know you don't like them, but don't demonize them in that way!" The contractions slipping from his mouth caused his daughter to gently cling to him again. He rested a hand in her hair.
"Ah... Sorry, lad." Dynasmon actually looked apologetic for once. "I... Well, I didn't mean it for all of them, just the more contrite bastards. I'm... Well. I'm sorry, I guess. Nothing more I can say about that without sticking both my feet in my mouth, and it doesn't open that wide."
Rekushin nodded after a moment, having to collect himself and blocking out the rest of Dynasmon's ranting as he went on again. Getting back to the more important topic at hand, knew it took time to get the portal in working order, he knew that. He had remembered once being called a Hero of Time, by the very goddess who commissioned his Digivices, Tags and Crests. He was supposed to know all about how time worked even if he wasn't sure how he was supposed to know. He hadn't known or cared why she had wanted those blasted items either, until his people had all been murdered for making them, but he had long since put away thoughts of revenge for the sake of survival. In many ways, he wished he could hate the goddess, hate Yggdrasil, but he didn't know if she had known they would be targeted for taking the commission in the first place. He squeezed his daughter's hand now, sensing her distress. "Mother," he began, turning to the pale woman, "Have the tags and crests been suitably hidden?"
"Yes, my good for nothing brother sent me a message days ago, telling me he finally managed to find all of them a good hiding place. The tags were all placed in the different biomes of File Island while the crests were hidden as plain stone tablets in ruins dotting the continent of Server." The pale woman walked over to a machine that had several copies of the same device clipped to Mirei's belt holstered in a bunch of glowing, colored slots. She gave a snort as she began to pluck them out, one by one. "I should be thankful he's an otherwise dottering idiot, these 'Dark Masters' paid no mind to the one eyed man with a cane setting up the wards to protect these items of power."
"They consider us a higher priority target." Rekushin didn't need to hazard that guess. He knew why. "Get the Digivices and the crests are useless." He frowned. "I'm leery of the tags being on File Island though. Wasn't that where we put the rest of the eggs, and is that not the domain of Devimon?"
"Was the domain of Devimon." The woman reported curtly, walking back over to them and kneeling down to Mirei, handing her the seven other Digivices to put away. "My good for nothing brother is good for nothing, after all. He completely destroyed that whelp, along with Datamon and Myotismon on Server, even though we told him to be low profile."
Rekushin balked at her a moment. "... He took out their lieutenants and yet they still come doggedly after us?"
"We likely annoyed them to the point of true irritation." Alphamon ignored Dynasmon's mutterings: they knew he was ever so fond of them. Then again, they barely remembered a time when the dragon knight was calm in any sense of the word. He tended to prefer a consistent stability of irate. Yes, that word fit.
"Why couldn't we have helped there?" one of the Nyaromon whined. Her sister smacked her over the head with her tail, slightly difficult because they remained trapped in their partner's grip.
"Cause," the other hissed. "We're needed here, to help. I dunno about you, but staying behind sounds like it'll bite. We gotta go. Mirei needs us!" The words were supposed to be comforting in some sense. But they were little ones, so it was likely they were anything but.
Mirei took each device, slipping them into the bag over her shoulder. It was the first thing she had ever made for herself, and it had survived many small, playful adventures. She had to hope it would handle what came next. Digizoid was durable, but would it stay that way? She squeezed her father's hand, reveling in the warmth of it.
The woman gave Mirei a small, tired smile and once more kissed her forehead, giving her a brief, loving hug. "My dear Mirei, my granddaughter... Be brave for what's to come." She whispered softly into Mirei's untamed, curly violet locks. She reveled in the small body pressed against her for a moment before standing up and giving a meaningful look toward her son.
Rekushin hesitated for a moment. He did not want to do this. If he did it would only continue the horrible, horrible family tradition that his birth parents started, that perhaps his wife had continued. He didn't want to do it but... It would be his last chance to do this ever again. So he bent down, kneeling in front of his daughter and gently brushed her dirty cheek with his hands. He looked into her violet eyes behind her glasses, so much like her mother's (may the goddess rest her soul), her face still chubby despite the lean times they had come by recently, her violet locks in disarray, just like his... Goddess, he didn't want to do this to her, he didn't want to hurt her like this. But he did it anyway.
He drew his little girl into a hug and pressed her tight against him, trying to repress his own grief and sadness over what would have to come next, kissing the top of her head. "My darling," He managed to get out despite his throat wanting to close up. "My baby, my little Mirei... I'm so sorry for this. I didn't want this for you, I didn't want to be forced to do this. I'm so sorry that I can't protect you from those monsters. This is not the life I ever wanted for you, my darling. I'm so, so sorry I've failed you so badly."
Mirei felt her eyes water and didn't rub them. This made it worse, so much worse. She didn't want this, how could anyone accept this? Her kittens went quiet, going still as she managed to wrap one arm around her father's waist. Surely, if they tried together, they could at least pull him through with them, couldn't they? But the world would reject him, wouldn't it? They had told her that. It wouldn't let them both in together, and then they would die between worlds. She couldn't allow that... He wouldn't go anyway, none of them would. They were doing this for her sake, and for the sake of the world.
Telling herself that actually made it worse, come to think of it.
Still, she would relish it, this last, good moment with her family, at least, as many of them that remained here as possible. Mirei wasn't certain of her father actually failing her. He couldn't predict every evil or stop every boogeyman. He was going to do everything to protect her, wasn't that enough?
"I love you, Papa," she mumbled into his shoulder. Even though you have to go, I love you. "I'll do my best. I promise. I'll be as strong as I can." And she would. Her and her cats, and whoever was with her. She would find the other chosen ones and they would be fighting as hard as they could to create tomorrow, because there had to be one or nothing would matter anymore. "I'll miss everyone." That was also true but there weren't enough words to quite express how much she would miss them.
"I love you too, my darling." Rekushin trembled softly, trying so badly not to cry. He couldn't help the tears running from his eyes, but he could hold back his sobs. This was already hard enough, they were already wasting time with this, but they needed to do at least this much. He could afford this for his darling daughter. "I love you so much. I know you'll do your best, I know you'll get strong. You are so strong already, I know you'll only get stronger. We'll miss you too. All of us." Even though there probably wouldn't be anyone left after this, something tangible in this had to keep her light shining.-
Dynasmon had turned to watch them but after a moment turned back to his job and finally finished carving the Digimoji into the floor. "Done on my end, laddie." He told Alphamon. He knew that his 'commanding officer' didn't like going by gendered pronouns but honestly he never cared. He made sure to switch up the pronouns anyway. "You done yet? I wanna give the little miss my goodbyes, too."
Alphamon nodded, making the last marking and stepping away to join him. "Excellent," they said in a low sigh. "Now, to the rest of it. The time to put this to a close has arrived." They wanted to tease the others one last time, but it wouldn't be proper. Not until the little miss was too far gone with her cats, make it a true last hurrah. I suppose I could have been summoned for much worse endeavors. All of it has been interesting.
Still, if Yggdrasil permitted, they hoped they would be reborn to a more peaceful time.
Rekushin pressed one last kiss to his daughter's head. He needed to let go. Even if only so others would get to say goodbye, he needed to allow his darling to leave the nest (she's too young, she's far too young damn the goddess for choosing her as a soldier if this was the only reason he hated her it was the only one he needed). His poor little girl…
Mirei nodded, unable to pull away out of sheer desire not to. Even though her father wasn't crying anymore, she could feel the small shakes in his shoulders, and the wetness of the shed tears falling into her hair. "I'll miss you all too." It was harder than she thought to keep the sobs from breaking her throat, but she was managing it. She could keep herself from breaking entirely for Papa. He needed a good memory of her, a last one to tell her Mama about when he saw her. Wherever they were, as long as they were together, if that was what happened, it would be enough.
She didn't want to pull away, but her uncle, her family friend, her grandmother, she needed to give them her farewells too. She needed good memories of them. They would keep her Crest burning, wouldn't they?
Dynasmon knelt beside them, and it was only then Rekushin let his daughter go. Dynasmon gently took the little girl in his arms and tucked her against his chest, just under his chin. It was the most comfortable place to hold the little one, for her sake. "Do I get some hugs too, little miss?" He asked softly, sounding like he was barely choking back emotion as well. "Gonna be a long time 'til I see ya next, after all... Ye might be all grown up with kids of yer own. I'll probably hardly recognize ye."
Even in this dour situation, the images her uncle brought to mind made the young girl wrinkle her nose. "Uncle," she whined, hugging him back. "That's gross!"
"Amen to that," the Nyaromons muttered together. They had stopped squirming now, merely settling on the floor. It was too late now, they knew. But if they could, they would offer their partner a few extra moments of privacy, of goodbyes. They liked these people, sure, but it wasn't the same as it was for her. Even their own mum wasn't as important to them as she was.
Mirei looped her arms around her uncle's neck and went very still, breathing softly, trying to memorize every bit of him that she could. She almost started when she felt Alphamon's hand gently rest on her head, but relaxed. Alphamon had only just been getting used to physical affection. If only they could teach them more, if only their family could have helped a little further.
The tears welled up and she gave her eyes a furious rub. She shouldn't be such a baby.
(Never mind that this made her family cry.)
Dynasmon chuckled softly, rubbing his chin on her head. It was the closest he could get with giving her a nuzzle, what with his horns and the sharp bits of his helmet. "Ye say that now, lass, but just ye wait. You'll be all grown up and having different thoughts than ye think now. Even if yer kittens will give ye hell over it." He rocked her gently, tutting softly. "Come now, little miss. No more tears. Give me a big smile so I can have something good and bright to think about in the times to come."
It always amazed Rekushin how much Mirei changed his irate, fierce friend into such a puppy. He knew that term was deeply insulting when used to describe a dragon, but that was exactly how he acted around Rekushin's daughter. A big puppy that knew how sharp and un-fluffy he was so he was extra gentle around the new soul. In any situation this would have gladdened Rekushin's heart to see. Now... Now it made him so incredibly sad.
If it was an appropriate time, the little girl would have rolled her eyes. Yeah, she'd have those thoughts then, not now. Now they were just gross and adulthood and your parents holding each other too tightly. He was trying to cheer her up; she knew that. It was working too, though it really shouldn't have been. Her lips twitched.
"We will not!" protested the first kitten head, finally catching on.
"You will," muttered the second. "You always do."
"Oh and you don't?"
Mirei felt the giggle bubble out of her throat in that instant, hearing her kittens squabble and fight like things were going to be all right lifted her heart enough for it to ache. She smiled up at her uncle as wide as she could, making sure he could see it, memorize it for wherever he was going.
"There's my girl." Dynasmon's eyes smiled, since his helmet wouldn't allow him do it. He cuddled Mirei close once more, her tiny form almost disappearing in his large hands. He, like Rekushin, didn't want to let the girl go. He wanted to hold her forever, to make this moment freeze in time so that they wouldn't have to send her into a strange world all by herself and leave her knowing what would befall them. Well, no, not by herself, she had her kittens... But they wouldn't know what was safe and what wasn't. "I'm gonna miss ye, little miss. The memory of yer smile will help keep me goin' in the days tae come."
"I'll miss you too." Somehow, those words didn't seem strong enough, with or without the tears. "I'll miss all of you... I don't want to go." There, she'd said it. The words were out in the open and shameful. And yet, at the same time... "But I have to. I know I do. So..." She loosened her grip, but did not insist on being put down. Mirei already knew, even this young, that some things had to be done. "I'll be strong and I won't forget you. Even if... even when..." she swallowed the words and finished with "No matter what" instead.
The touching scene was shattered by the sound of a heavy impact. Everyone paused and turned to the door, watching the wall around it dent inwards.
"I believe our time is up." Rekushin's mother spoke up, instantly at the console.
Fafnir put Mirei down on the ruby in the middle of the circle, before going to stand in front of the door, arms spread and hands ready to catch an attack. Rekushin joined his mother at the computers, entering in the key codes.
"You can go with her, you know." His mother told him quietly, so that no one else could hear. "You don't have to send her alone. It'll take some doing but the energy required to send you both won't be much more than sending her by herself."
Rekushin glanced at her a moment, his face drawn. "... I have thought about it. I just might. But if I do, then they will search for a way into the other world even harder than they already are. We can still possibly escape this if I stay."
"We can escape," His mother told him softly. "Without having to worry about you. We'll keep them busy until the chosen ones come back to save this world. Don't... I know we have said all our goodbyes already, but please don't send your daughter away without her father." Rekushin looked at her a moment, his expression pained. She gave him a kind smile and pat his shoulder. "Please."
"If they give us time." Rekushin answered finally, watching the figures roll by on the computer monitors.
The door dented again and Mirei shivered at the thump of it. Alphamon waved a hand and the girl and her tiny Digimon were enveloped in a pale green bubble. "Stay there, little miss," they said in a low voice. "Just in case."
Before the girl could even nod, a strange hammer crashed through the door, followed by an absurdly large metal claw. The claw ripped the door off of its foundation throwing it aside like a dog's frisbee. In the back, a cheerful voice let out a hum.
"Oh I do hope we weren't interrupting."
"Ye are, the lot of ye." Fafnir replied, channeling enough of his own power to send a minor shockwave back and those who dared intrude. "In fact, as yer a bunch of genocidal scumbags, I not so politely request ye get yer lard filled abscesses off of our property, which includes that tunnel yer all just dying to get out of."
"Your threat level is minimal, Royal Knight." The creature with the claw boomed into the roomed, using that claw to smash down more of the wall so it could walk in. A saurian creature with giant canons on its back, made of metal and wiring. Mugendramon slammed a clawed foot on the ground as it began to walk into the room. "You are a Data type. Most of us are Virus types. You will be destroyed handily."
"That so, then?" The Dynasmon smirked. "Why not put yer money where your mouth is and prove it?"
Alphamon almost sighed. "Dear, don't ever change. I'll miss your wit too much." They lifted their hands and spread out their hands. "In the meantime, no need to wait, I suppose."
A large metal serpent floated in, chuckling so low it reverberated on the walls. "Gladly." Without any hesitation, he fired for the little girl. Mirei ducked without thinking and rolled, grabbing her cats and Alphamon's eyes flickered, turning the attack to ice.
"Underhanded, but understandable," they deadpanned.
The other dark chuckle came again. "Come now everyone, can't we talk this out? Like adults?"
"Ach, like adults go 'round doin' what ye've been doing." Fafnir said, rolling his neck. "Ye lot have been throwin' a temper tantrum this entire time, lookin' fer us. Now ye found us, and if you all truly were as tough as ye wanna project ye wouldn't be wasting time posing or probin' us for weaknesses. Did the fight above really wear ye out that much? Must be a right shame to be locked away from what gave ye most of yer power then, don't it?"
"Enough of this." Mugendramon said, its cannons beginning to light up. Apparently he didn't take too kindly to those words. "InfinityCannon."Twin blasts of green energy were fired upon the Dynasmon, but he merely held his hand up caught the blast in his palm gem. It was instantly absorbed, giving the group of Dark Masters pause.
"Aye. I agree. I'm tired of yew pests constantly badgerin' us." Fafnir said. "So much so I wanna do the Little Miss an' her father a solid and rid the world of ye. Dragon's Roar!" He pointed his other hand at the flying serpent, and Mugendramon's energy blast came flying out of the palm gem at twice the power.
MetalSeadramon didn't even get the chance to roar in pain before he exploded, struck by the raw blast that managed to crash into the other side of the wall.
Alphamon couldn't contain a chuckle. Fun was already being had, it seemed. Very well then. They lifted their hands up and a magic circle began to form, the air rippling and trembling above their hands.
Piemon sighed. "Oh must we really?" Then he smiled and unsheathed two blades, dancing for Rekushin with a puppet at his heels.
"Oi!" Fafnir barked, aiming to stop them - but Mugendramon began to throw several salvos of his Mugen Cannon attack at him while his attention was taken away from the hulking saurian. He lifted his hand back into the air, absorbing the blasts as they came - but Mugendramon, true to his attack's name, just kept on firing it. Probably calculating that Dynasmon would eventually explode from containing all of them.
Jokes on him. Fafnir could just point his other hand and let loose all he was getting. It did stop him from going to Rekushin's defense, however. "LAD!" Fafnir barked. "NO TIME FOR FANCY, PROTECT THEM BOTH!"
Rekushin and his mother both looked up, both grim. They keyed in one last then, and the machine Mirei was curled on began to hum to life, the ruby glowing. Then both prepared for battle.
Alphamon scowled beneath the armor. This wasn't for fancy. This was a magical circle and after having used magic on this device it took time to- oh forget it. He had no sense of timing. The monster from within the seal dove down, rushing towards Piemon to strike him in the back. The clown turned and parried it with a blade but was not prepared for the weight of a fist right in his face. Alphamon moved between them, darting to the side and raising a blade from virtually nowhere. The next blast from Mugendramon nearly went astray, only to be carefully blocked.
Piemon actually laughed and unsheathed another blade. "How intriguing. You value the small one more than your lives. I wonder for what purpose." A handkerchief danced at the tips of his fingers.
Pinnocchimon managed to reach the woman and her son and brought his hammer down upon them with a manic laugh - which ended oddly when the woman reached out and grabbed the pole of the weapon just under the hammer head and stopped it dead in its tracks. The Mega blinked, shocked, before watching it get wrenched out of his grip. He tried to dodge when she took the hammer and swung it into the side of his face, but the blow was far too fast and obviously very powerful, because she sent him wheeling into a wall. The puppet didn't move after that.
Then she hefted the hammer and threw it at the distracted Piemon, aiming to bean him in his face with it. She grabbed her son and began to cart him over to where Mirei waited. She needed to get them both out of here now.
Piemon managed a narrow dodge. That was much too heavy a projectile for him to even think about letting it hit him. To do that would just be...silly. He made another slice with his sword and Alphamon moved carefully out of the way. Mentally, they cursed the tight quarters they were fighting in. They had to be careful to avoid bringing it all down on everyone's head, for the moment. Their monster rose and began swirling around Piemon, aiming to keep him from moving another step without serious injury. Piemon made to slice to the side and failed.
He smiled. Intriguing.
Mirei watched all of this with her heart somewhere in her esophagus. As she saw her grandmother drag her father closer to her, a glint of fiery light caught her eyes. She began to beat against the shield, trying to get them to look behind them.
Rekushin saw his daughter's reaction and barely managed to look back before acting. Pinnochimon had gotten back up and brought out his reserve weapon, a gun that looked like a .44 Magnum Revolver. He had rocked the hammer back and was aiming for Rekushin's mother's back, his eyes narrowed in anger and a sneer on his wooden face. Rekushin immediately broke from his mother's grip on his arm and dove in front of her, summoning a shield made of ice from the water in the air in front of him.
The sound of the gunshot echoed in the chamber, pausing all battle for the moment.
To Rekushin's credit, he'd managed to summon a shield of thick ice on the level of glacial toughness to try and stop the blow, and it mostly worked. Mostly. The gun's ammo was explosive, however, and the gun was made with damaging Digimon in mind - the shield may have stopped the bullet, but the bullet exploded and shattered the shield immediately. The shrapnel from it flew everywhere, including into its summoner. Rekushin stumbled back into his mother for a moment, who caught him, staring down at the blade of foot long ice sticking out of his chest. His red robes soon became stained with his own blood.
Fafnir roared, breaking the silence. His body became coated with his own energy and that which he'd stolen from Mugendramon's attacks, forming into the shape of a dragon so large it dwarfed Mugendramon. The robotic saurian began to shoot at him, again, but his Infinity Cannon did nothing and it only made him Fafnir's first victim. He was sliced in half by Fafnir's claw before exploding from all of his various fusion and fuel storage cells rupturing from the attack.
The dragon Fafnir had become turned its three eyed visage over to Pinnochimon next, who stared up at him in shock as his gun dropped from numb fingers. He began to hold up his hands in surrender but Fafnir wasn't having it. The large head of the thing Fafnir had become lunged down to swallow the smaller Mega up and destroyed him instantly.
Mirei's scream was so quiet, it may have been more accurate to call it a whimper. The tears froze over her face as the sound continued from her mouth, almost endless in how it started to echo. The air rippled, beginning to crystallize and chill. The small pieces of ice didn't seem useful at first, but they grew, sharper as the sound died out. Ice crawled in thin veins over the remains of the walls, spreading. The rest, suspended, then flew forward, right at the clown.
He dodged them all of course. It was a very emotional attack from a very inexperienced child. It wouldn't have hit even if they had been right at his nose. It was still intriguing. His lips curled further. "Oh well, that is a treat. You've taught her well, boy." He sneered at Rekushin's bleeding form, the smell taking the edge off of his... irritation. "You are such a stubborn lot. Why don't we end it with this? Give me the girl, your darling will not be harmed, I swear it, and I'll leave."
From her curled up form on the floor, Mirei started to shiver.
Rekushin, to his credit, continued to stand. His mother wanted him to lay down, to let her fret, but he refused. He remained standing, even though the chill of the ice stabbed into his body sapped at his physical strength. Something else was replacing it. Something he hadn't felt in a long time. Something that stirred in him even as Piemon taunted him. After all, Fafnir was right... For all this blow that had been dealt to him, three of Piemon's fellows had just been destroyed. They were posing, his father and their friends had weakened them this much. They wouldn't need to DigiDestined soon.
What stirred in Rekushin's breast was Determination.
Rekushin chuckled, coughing roughly. Blood leaked from his mouth as he smiled. "You don't know parents all too well, do you?" He asked, the question rhetorical and taking the smile right off Piemon's face. "That choice is never an option. Especially not when you made this same offer when Gennai and my wife were in your 'loving care.' You wanted the tags, the crests, the Digivices and all of the eggs... My answer is going to be the same as back then." Rekushin slowly raised up his hand as he pulled something from his pocket. In his hand was something that looked almost like a dagger fashioned like the Omega Sword that Omegamon had been proud to call his once upon a time and had the screens and buttons that looked like those of a Digivice at the hilt. "If I only had this back then... Then my friend, my wife, all of those poor children... I could have saved them from you. But now? Now, when my daughter is about to be safe from you monsters, when everything we have worked for is in our grasp... Now, all I can say is... Biomerge, Activate."
The screen lit up and suddenly Rekushin and Fafnir became balls of light that crashed together, forming into a figure that was both armored, humanoid and scaled. White armor covered the new form almost from head to toe, the only things not covered were a blue scaled tail and the beings hands, which were covered in blue scales. Golden trim and spikes were on key points of the new being's armor, such as on the shoulders, gauntlets, knees and feet. Great white wings flared from the new being's back and red eyes glared at Piemon. In his hands was a much larger version of the Omega Dagger Rekushin had, only lacking the Digivice components. The Omega Sword glimmered with a light that seemed to come from within it.
"You will have to try harder than that." Imperialdramon Paladin Mode said before launching himself at Piemon to thrust his blade at the demon clown.
Piemon barely avoided it, swords snapping. He moved to the side, frowning immensely. "Well, that's rude," he said, taking advantage of his smaller size. "You can always make another one. I'll even give her back to you, safe and whole, just changed." He ducked and weaved as Alphamon stepped back, moving towards the machine.
"Rekushin," Alphamon intoned. "We don't have much longer. Hurry." They gave a glance to Arachnemon and then turned to their opponent, just in case.
Piemon drew his other two swords and laughed. It would be his final sound.
Imperialdramon Paladin Mode nodded at Alphamon, his red gaze furious as he glared down Piemon. "Very well. My most powerful attack, then." The armor on his chest opened, revealing a cannon that poked out and began to charge up an attack. Piemon barely had a second to think 'oh crap' before a blast of dark matter shot from the cannon and consumed him. Piemon screamed as the energy tore him apart before he, as well, exploded into glowing pixels. After a moment, the blast ended... And Piemon was gone.
Imperialdramon fell to one knee after that, glowing and splitting into Rekushin and Fafnir as he degenerated. The man was still injured and Fafnir had to hold him to keep him standing. The dragon knight grabbed the man up and brought him over to Arachnemon, Mirei and Mirei's kittens. The woman was gently petting Mirei's hair to calm her down but... Well. It was obvious no good was being done there. The air was still freezing cold.
Fafnir gently placed Rekushin down near them. The man weakly reached over to hold Mirei's hand. "My darling..." He coughed, smiling at her. "The demons... They're gone now... There is no need for you to cry anymore…"
Mirei's eyes watered. "But..." she fished for words and failed, continuing to sob as she gripped his hand tight. "You're not a demon," she managed. "You can't go. Not now! Not when we've... not when you won... please, please Papa…" She had thought she was prepared, thought she had managed to steel herself just a little, but now it was real. Now it was happening.
Rue looked up Arachnemon. "Will it do him any good if we take him through with us? Can we save him, do you think?"
Alphamon silently moved to the machine, beginning to add what energy they had remaining.
"We can't keep him here, anyway." Mirei's grandmother said, petting her son's hair now. "We're too far away from help. Her uncles, my other sons... They wait for you on the other side. They can help him, they can save him. So yes, we'll have to send you with him."
"I'm gonna go too." Fafnir said. Arachnemon snapped her head up to look at him. "I can help power things from here. But I ain't leavin' them, not like this. I couldn't keep him safe before, I need to be able to keep him safe here." He chuckled bitterly. "Mugendramon gave me more than enough energy to help with this, so that won't be a problem."
Rekushin smiled at that, brushing his daughter's cheek. "You hear that, my darling...? Papa's coming too..." He was too tired to protest now. It seemed that his mind was made up for him, anyway.
Alphamon nodded their head. "I will as well. Fafnir will want to be at Rekushin's side more often than not. Someone will need to guard the little miss and her reckless little cats."
"Hey!" Ivy managed to protest, only to be hit with Rue's tail.
Mirei managed a tearful smile and nodded, holding onto his hand as tight as she could.
"... I guess it's decided, then." Arachnemon sigh, pressing a kiss to both Mirei and Rekushin's heads. "I love you both. Take care of each other. And don't you dare die, son."
"I think I learned enough on how to be stubborn from you and father, mother." Rekushin laughed tiredly. "Go. Get us to safety... We don't know when their armies will come here as well..." Arachnemon nodded She ran off to the console and waited for Alphamon to get into the circle as well, both they and Fafnir beginning to feed it. She began to enter the final few figures and then, with a heavy heart, activated the sequence.
She watched the ruby flash, and then everyone in the circle disappeared after a concussive sound of the world tearing echoed in the ruined chamber.
In the silence, in the aching loneliness, she wept.
A/N: Hello there! So I'm reposting this on my account. I'm writing chapter 11 as we speak. So I'll be updating weekly to keep us ahead of the game.
For anyone who is confused, Onix is too busy to cowrite this right now, so he will be helping me out with it in terms of betaing instead. So these first ten chapters may seem a little familiar. Hold onto your hats though! It's going to start diverging fairly early as I edit some things. Now, please review! We really do appreciate it as writers.
Challenges: Season Rewrite, What If, and Diversity WRiting M20.