Title: so much for childhood dreams
Fandom: Lost/Digimon
Summary: The Island has more than one monster. Juliet must tame one of them. [AU fusion crossover with the "Digital Monsters/Digimon" series, season 3/'Tamers.' Told in a series of drabbles]
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Juliet, ensemble; some Juliet/Richard, Juliet/Jack
Genre: gen
Rating: PG-13
Notes: Originally for lj user missy_useless's 'crossover' prompt at the 2010 Lost Luau at the lostsquee lj community. Check out the Digimon Wiki online, google it (can directly search for "Impmon," "Beelzemon," "Digimon Tamers," "Monster Makers," "Antylamon," "Indramon") for images and more general info.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Lost.
Rachel was gone, along with her unborn child. Juliet learned it had been a boy. She had no idea what his name would've been, her sister had still been undecided the last time she asked her about it.
Some time afterward, Richard Alpert had interviewed her for a research position. After she heard more of the details, it didn't take her long to accept the job offer.
###
"We haven't been exactly honest with you," began Richard hours after she had landed on the Island. And seen a triceratops turn a series of bug-eyed slime creatures into flickering dust.
"You did say I would see amazing things on this Island," Juliet reminded him in a dazed voice. "And you made it more than clear that your group's rather covert."
"Follow me, there's more I need to show you." Over his shoulder, Richard continued, "For the record, that wasn't exactly a dinosaur."
He took her to a temple, like something straight out of an Indian Jones movie. Inside was a pool, where large, differently patterned eggs floated in the water, and at the edges, people washed creatures as small as infants, but clearly not human. They were creatures of varying soft, blob-like features, like plush dolls, most little more than heads with large eyes. They made soft cooing sounds like infants too, and spoke to their caretakers in voices that sounded like a human toddler's.
"It was actually an artificial life form-just like the creatures it killed, just like these infants here." Richard then knelt down by the pool; Juliet stayed standing, staring.
"Do they all come in eggs?" She asked, her voice still distant. After Rachel's death, it seemed she was finally numbed by something other than grief: pure shock.
Richard nodded. He opened his mouth, but she cut him off, asking, "Then what, is this your version of baptizing?"
The man shot her a smirk. "Something like that. This water has unique properties that react to these creatures, especially when they're young. If anything, they're more like a vitamin supplement for them."
Juliet kept half an eye on Richard, half an eye on a dark furred infant splashing in the water, over the protests of a woman's warning to mind the eggs floating in the pool.
"They started as experiments in artificial intelligence conducted by university students. Their school shut them down unexpectedly. But the remnants of those experiments evolved into a rather large multimedia empire in Japan, with video games, a television series, a card game-from that, they're more commonly known as digital monsters-digimon, for short."
"Clearly, that's not the whole truth," Juliet softly murmured.
Richard shook his head; "Not at all. The digital monsters reached a point where they could evolve on their own-and here we have the result." He looked away from her, staring at the bustling pool again. "All of them are sentient, and we wish to understand them further." A rueful smile grew on his face. "Some are kind, some are neutral-others are…territorial, to say the least-violently so." He looked her in the eye. "Security's always a priority here."
Juliet finally took a step back. "I'm a human fertility specialist, Mr. Alpert."
"And my superior still needs your expert help in that area. But my other superior, Jacob, sees you as a candidate for something else, Dr. Burke."
Bright blue eyes stared back at Richard, hard. "A candidate for what?"
###
Juliet stilled, hearing a clicking noise in the air.
Then something dark tore out of the trees in the distance-it was smoke, but it impossibly held something, it was beating it against the ground, something as small as a child...
She ran over, but just as quickly as the smoke monster appeared, it left, callously dropping its small prey.
Juliet skidded in the dirt next to it, and realized that its size didn't mean it was human. Before her lay a bruised, torn and bloody digital monster covered in dark violet fur. He had a head like a dog's or a cat's with pointed ears (now drooping), and with a white Mickey Mouse face (now cut and with black and blue blotches). He looked bipedal, with the three-toed feet ending in claws, hands with the same number of digits, but in red gloves-there was a matching, filthy red scarf wrapped around his neck. On his stomach, there seemed to be some sort of yellow marking beneath the slashes rent in the flesh. His small chest rose up and down shallowly, weakly.
She called Ben on her walkie talkie, alerting him that she'd need medical attention for a monster child at the station nearest to her. Then Juliet carefully picked the creature up, and warily noted that it had a barbed tail, like a little demon's-but the point looked blunt. Not to mention that even the tail looked rather brutally crooked.
Juliet descended down the hill, and found to her dismay that no one medically trained had arrived yet (the others were still struggling with understaffing issues). She couldn't wait-the others on the Island may've only started training her in the bare essentials of first aid for the monsters on the Island, and she was not a veterinarian, but to her understanding these creatures were fully sentient, and typically anyone this size was a child, and this was still a patient-nonhuman, but a patient nonetheless. And it was an emergency.
###
She leaned over the child-sized monster in the hospital bed.
Juliet had done all she could for now-bandaging the creature, cleaning out all the lacerations, dealing with his broken bones-after that, her body fell into a chair, and started shaking like a leaf.
Then she straightened, and took the violet furred monster's filthy red scarf and gloves to the room's sink. Perhaps she should've done that first, cleaned them-so much for keeping her medical knowledge intact in the face of crisis, despite her conviction in treating the patient, no matter his species (but he had bled so much, she had to stop it, had to). Hopefully someone more experienced with this kind of patient would arrive soon.
Juliet scrubbed out all the dirt and blood, her head down and face hidden. Her head snapped back up when the small thing stirred, and she saw the strain on his bruised face spreading, traces of fear starting to grow on what seemed to normally be pure white skin.
Drying up and making herself as pristine clean as she could (get your head back into the game, minimize a patient's chances for infection), Juliet walked over to the monster's bed, wincing as his barbed tail had broken free from the covers and started to flail wildly around. It still looked far too crooked-should she try preparing a splint for it too, like she did for his broken arm? She had no idea how to tend to a tail that was possibly broken or cracked.
Not taking the time to pull her chair over, Juliet went down to her knees and spoke urgently to the monster, hushing him (she hadn't met a digital creature here that couldn't speak English yet).
The young monster's eyes opened, bleary green staring up at Juliet.
"Are you thirsty?" Juliet asked, softly stroking the fur between his pointed ears, on his forehead-he was still growing warmer, possibly developing a fever.
The monster weakly nodded. Juliet moved to the table and returned with a water bottle, twisting the cap off. Tenderly, she raised the creature up, lifted the water to his lips, and he drank with a deep hunger.
Juliet continued to tip the bottle into the creature's, not unlike feeding an infant. The monster's one unbroken arm was out of its cover, trying to hold the bottle up by himself, but Juliet would not let go.
"Are you done?"
"Don't need your damn help to drink, human," snapped the monster, his tired green eyes glaring. His voice was groggy, grumbling boyish, sounding on the verge of a human adolescent's tone.
Juliet glared back, which intensified when the monster tried to pull the bottle away from her. When he spilled some of the water and simultaneously cringed as his arm suddenly stilled, Juliet bit back the urge to shout at this stupidity, her mouth instead going into a very thin line and her eyes closing as she counted to ten.
Then she took charge and tended to him once more, tried to soothe him-she reconsidered that he may be frightened by the surroundings.
The small monster didn't seem exactly convinced by her sincerity, but he looked resigned, accepting he was too tired to do much.
"I'm Juliet," she offered, seeing if that would help calm his nerves.
His green eyes (rather large, she realized) were narrowed at her, staring hard; but he muttered, "Impmon."
Richard had told her that the creatures had the cultural tendency to have all their names end in 'mon,' the shortened name for monsters similarly used in their whole species classification. Juliet still wasn't sure she'd get used to that, but she figured it was similar to how the Japanese had honorific terms such as '-san' at the end of certain people's names, as Dogen had taught her.
Later, when Impmon was back to sleep, Ethan finally arrived to treat him.
As Ethan looked over the monster child, Juliet reported to Richard what had happened.
She felt a little disturbed when Richard quietly said that the smoke creature was not a digital monster, but he wouldn't tell her anything more on the matter then, just that she was fortunate and to stay away from that thing.
###
Her first pregnant woman had died. There was the loss of that, but Juliet couldn't help but feel the wound over Rachel and her unborn nephew's death had opened anew; she couldn't help but confuse her grief.
She hid in the lab, curled up on the cold floor, crying.
"Um, hello?" The doctor jerked at the unsteady voice, sitting up straight and twisting around to find Impmon, looking small in the doorway and eyeing her warily.
"What are you doing up?" Juliet asked, trying to keep the sniffling out of her voice, noting the bandages still wrapped around his body: torso, arms, legs, forehead and all.
The monster frowned, grumbling, "I'm gettin' better; besides, your buddy Ethan gave me the okay to get up once in a while, s'long as I don't leave the place." One glove (now washed clean, the same with his scarf) wrapped around his other bandaged arm, rubbing it awkwardly. "I just heard some noises in here and I was curious-I didn't know you were…y'know."
Sighing, Juliet scrubbed at her wet eyes with her hands. Impmon hesitated, then walked to her (the claws on his toes tapping on the floor), untying the scarf around his neck and offering it to her. She hesitated it too, but then took it and carefully dried her eyes with it.
"I'll have this washed for you again."
"You better." But then the monster bowed his head, his violet ears drooping a little, and she arched a brow at him looking contrite. "I mean…well, y'know, I never thanked you for giving me a hand out there, so…thanks."
"Your welcome," she murmured, then neatly folded the moist scarf into fours, pocketing it in her lab coat. "May I ask what happened?"
Immediately Impmon's mood soured again; he snapped like a petulant child, "Why were you being a crybaby?"
Juliet's hands fisted in her lap, and Impmon immediately looked sorry again. He sighed, and muttered, "I don't remember much after the freakin' storm cloud beat the shit out of me."
Blinking, Juliet stared again at the bandages wrapped around his head. "Have you told Ethan?"
Very quietly, Impmon said, "No."
###
"Does this have anything to do with my candidacy?" Juliet asked Richard, after she had received the order that Impmon would now be her ward while on the Island.
Richard nodded; "Jacob is looking for people and monsters who bond particularly well with each other-exclusively to anyone else. Partners, in a way."
They were on her porch, politely drinking the lemonade Juliet had prepared. She sipped idly at her glass, then asked, "Like Ben and the oversized rabbit? Antiramon, was it?"
"Antylamon," Richard quietly corrected. "Yes, they're candidates too."
Her brow furrowing, Juliet said, "And there are other monsters in our quarters, the infants…but no one else seems to be partnered, as you say. Not like Ben and her."
"No-it seems to be a rare thing. You can understand why it would interest Jacob then."
"I suppose..." Juliet waited a moment to see if Richard would clarify, but only silence met her. Instead of directly pressing for more detail, she asked, "Is that the same thing you told Impmon?" She ran a hand through her hair, slightly anxious. "He doesn't seem like the type to go along with this..."
"We've spoken, and he's somewhat persuaded," offered Richard, then bluntly continued, "Our quarters offer him more security from the other older and more powerful monsters that don't think much of devouring the younger, weaker ones-and for all his pride, some part of him can't resist that. And frankly, he seems to be growing fond of you."
"And that's the whole point, right?" Juliet then eyed the cheery yellow house Ben had given her. "Is that why this place has a second room?"
Richard just smirked.
###
Impmon was very proud and pleased when all the bandages came off and he was in top shape, but Juliet's eyes immediately went to his stomach.
"…what's that?"
The monster looked down. There, on his torso below the scarf around his neck (he had shyly thanked her when she returned it to him, cleaned), was a yellow smiley face with a fanged grin, standing out from all the violet fur.
"What, this? Just something I was born with, like a birth mark or a tattoo or somethin'..." He then stared at her stomach. "Don't humans have somethin' like that under their shirts.
"No-I mean, sometimes-" Juliet then sighed, running a hand down her face.
Impmon just shrugged, saying, "Well, other digimon don't have a mark as sweet as this either."
Juliet decided she would never tell him to his face how gaudy the mark was.
###
Given his name, Impmon was rather troublesome. Juliet wasn't sure if it was in his nature or if it was because he was suddenly confined to a community of humans and digimon with certain rules (she later concluded the former). He had the rather regrettable tendency to plan pranks on other people-it didn't help that he could apparently generate and toss balls of fire (and sometimes ice too, but he'd confidently told her fire spooked people more). Despite her grief rather numbing her, Juliet was still surprised how the monster's poor behavior spurred her to raise her voice and be more…well, authoritative was the polite way of putting it ('forceful,' perhaps not so much). It was a startlingly contrast to her meek attitude before. But it seemed the only way to control him, and she tried to be more observant with him so as to figure out better ways to manipulate-that is, quell the monstrous little boy.
###
Juliet sometimes lied awake in bed. Turning over the pregnancy problem over in her head. Marveling at the monsters she'd seen that day.
She sometimes checked up on the Impmon sleeping in his bed, just a quick peek through the door. He looked much more peaceful in sleep.
Lying awake, she'd wonder if this is what it would've been like having a nephew, but with more responsibility.
###
Undoubtedly because of the pregnancy issues, there were no human children on the Island. But there were still the infant digimon from the Temple for Impmon to play with, but only sometimes. Even though they could all talk, there still seemed to be a generational split between the Impmon and the infant monsters, so more often than not he grew bored with them, or felt awkward, since until they evolved, he was the only child monster in the community-others were not younger, but too old for him.
Sometimes a woman named Danielle Rousseau visited with her young, growing teenage daughter, Alex.
"It's a long story," Ben had first answered when Juliet asked about them. He then explained in brief terms that Danielle had been part of a research team that had crashed on the Island. They had fallen prey to the wild monsters and a sinister infection that twisted their minds, and today still remained largely mysterious. Ben and the others had thought Danielle too was infected-she had certainly seemed insane then, but she had given birth to Alex all the same. They had taken Alex; Ben admitted there was talk of killing Danielle, citing that she was too much of a risk-but they just took her to the Temple and tried to help her. It finally seemed to work when one of the digital monsters of the highest rank agreed to help her. Along the way and at some point afterward, they outright recruited Danielle, and she currently did research and other odd jobs for their group; she and Alex still had a house on the Island which they used during their visits, but Danielle had more of a home in the outside world.
Juliet found that she and Danielle got along well enough, and she noticed how much Impmon and Alex enjoyed playing together, even though Alex was getting to a point where she wouldn't call it that per se. They would play soccer together and climb the trees, and Impmon would listen with interest to all the things Alex told him about the outside world-she'd seen a lot, accompanying her mother on her work all over the globe.
Impmon would always be disappointed to see her go, but Alex would write letters and send postcards. That really helped motivate Juliet to teach Impmon how to read and write in English (he hadn't been the most avid student before).
###
One day Impmon followed her to the shooting range, where she was being taught to handle a gun.
After frowning, she'd checked to see if they were protective ear muffs that would fit him too (Juliet had found that his large pointed ears weren't just for show-they were more sensitive than hers). There was some ear muffs approximated to digital monsters in stock, and she made Impmon wear one.
He didn't complain much, just watched her shoot in awe. She was already becoming quite proficient.
"I wanna learn how to do that!"
"What?"
"Shoot a gun!"
"But you already shoot fire." Juliet didn't think she could take it if Impmon learned how to handle a gun.
"Yeah, but it's cool-"
"The answer's 'no.'"
Impmon pouted, but he recognized the tone of her voice and look on her face. Instead, he asked, "Could I still watch you practice?"
Sighing, Juliet nodded her head.
###
"So, what do you do exactly? You know, with all the lab work and pregnant ladies?" Impmon asked her one night over dinner.
Juliet carefully explained, trying to simplify the matter but make it clear.
It occurred to her that maybe she should've more deeply censored the information when Impmon looked ill and wouldn't eat anymore that night (unusual for someone with as ferocious an appetite as he, always finishing his dish and asking for seconds, thirds even).
She had just wished to inform him-but when she checked up on him and found him scrambling in a nightmare, Juliet was further convinced that a simplified but truthful explanation wasn't the best thing.
This was why she never wanted children of her own, or anything close to that. She wasn't any good at it.
Still, Juliet seemed to soothe him all right, and he didn't have any more nightmares afterward, and Impmon even seemed to respect and obey her more.
###
"I think the problem starts at conception." Juliet took a breath, then said, "Ben, I want to take a patient off the Island. Then we'd have a definitive answer."
Her employer was silent a moment; then he nodded, imperceptibly, "All right. How soon-"
He paused, and both looked in the direction of the monster child's delighted shriek. Impmon was farther down the rocks, wading in the water, where a particularly strong current had splashed over him; Antylamon was with him, and it only went to her knees. She was just sitting on the rocky coast, keeping an eye on the younger monster.
"She seems like about the same age as you," Juliet softly muttered, her question implied. She looked Ben's monstrous partner over-she was incredibly tall, a bipedal figure with brown and white fur, and long brown ears edged in soft rose shades, her face somewhat like a rabbit's too (red eyed-but above them, three short horns). Her proportions were warped by human standards, her clawed arms stretching to her ankles, and already her legs were long. Like Impmon, she seemed to wear clothing, even a scarf around her neck too, but it was larger and either a pale blue or a violet. But she apparently had more garments, an outfit that seemed a cross between light armor and a performer from Cirque du Soleil, pristine white pantaloons and all.
"She's actually older," answered Ben, watching Antylamon flick water at the smaller violet monster with a gesture of her large claws in the ocean. "I've known her since I was a little boy, and she was already what you and her own people would consider an adult back then."
"There've been other variations. There was once a young girl who seemed to partnered with an infant monster, and they were relatively the same age. But I've never seen a partnership like that again, or like the one I share with Antylamon-you and Impmon are a first too."
Juliet blew out a breath, pinching her nose between closed eyes. "It'd be nice if he was like a little boy or a teenager, but he's like a moody mix between both-"
"Isn't that a preteen then?"
She shot Ben a glare when she noticed the small smile playing around his lips.
###
Juliet made her way carefully down the rocks to fetch Impmon, it was almost time to cook dinner.
"You'll see, when I evolve I'm gonna be tougher than even you!" To Juliet's relief, it was just a loud boast from Impmon, not a furious outburst.
Antylamon's mouth was small, and Juliet barely noticed the little smile (not unlike Ben's) she favored the younger monster with. "We'll see, Little One."
Impmon's jaw clenched at the diminutive name, but he saw Juliet approaching and bit his tongue (she didn't like it when he cursed).
"Evolve?" Both the monsters turned to the woman, noting the question in her voice.
"That was explained in the orientation, surely?" Antylamon asked, standing up to her impressive full height, her shadow cast over both Juliet and Impmon.
"Yes, but it was kinda…vague..." It was still difficult for Juliet to wrap her head around what Richard spoke about-the digital monsters' ability to instantaneously evolve into more powerful bodies... "Something like shapeshifting, I think..."
"Did it explain how we could also go backwards?"
Juliet blinked. "What?"
Immediately the air around the towering monster shifted, there was a brief glow, flash of light, and her body shifted and twisted and shrunk, and Juliet found herself looking at a brown-and-pink creature with floppy, oversized rabbit ears that dragged to the ground, and who was about as tall as Impmon now.
"Do you have a different name now?" Juliet asked, remembering that the monsters' cultural practices also included giving a new, individual name to each different level of growth.
"Lopmon," the now smaller monster said, in a younger girl's voice, but heavy with maturity.
"It takes practice and a lot of mental focus, but I can revert to my previous forms." She then shifted back to Antylamon; Juliet noticed the obvious envy on Impmon's face as he watched the transformation). "But normally my people revert when they are particularly weakened in battle."
Looking at the still jealous-looking Impmon, Juliet said, "The orientation didn't really mention how evolution for you happens."
"There's more than one way for my people. One is the steady absorption of data, which is normally done by killing other digimon and taking theirs." Antylamon folded her large arms, looking away from them. "That's the most common method-Benjamin calls it rather Darwinian of us."
"That can be supplemented by personal training-or that could be its own method. Another thing that can be a factor or its own process is the most difficult-it's based on emotion. Anger, grief. Trauma, overall." Antylamon turned back to them, fixing her red eyes on the two; Juliet stayed calm and still, but Impmon began to fidget at her side. "More of a need, not a desire."
Back home, while Impmon helped Juliet wash the dishes after dinner, he asked her, "So, the last part that crazy dog-bunny talked about-did any of that make sense to you?"
She shrugged. "Not really."
###
"Can't I come?"
"No-"
"But-"
"I'll be back soon. I'll bring back photos."
"Whatever."
"I'll get you a souvenir."
"Just get going!"
Impmon turned his back on her, stiff and grumpy, but Juliet still softly ruffled the fur between his ears. "Don't make too much trouble."
"…Good luck with the pregnant lady."
###
Noting Impmon's blatant interest in the beer she unthinkingly pulled out for Richard and her, Juliet immediately set to work to making a big show of making an ice cream float for him instead. To her wry amusement, Richard showed more interest in the ice cream float when he noticed the chocolate carton-soon, the beer lay forgotten.
They had their cold treats and played checkers until Impmon fell fast asleep on the couch. Juliet gently took him to his room, which had, since he claimed it, easily resembled a child's-messy, with crayon drawings and toys strewn across the floor; the bed unkempt; art on the walls she'd let him keep and continue to decorate at will.
She tucked him in, and softly closed the door.
The beer was remembered as Juliet and Richard each popped one open.
They talked in private for a while.
"I heard the off-site experiment went well."
"Very. Ben's setting up a system for pregnancies to be carried to term off Island."
They had gone to Portland for the experiment, and with a certain curl to his smile, Richard asked how that visit was.
Juliet shrugged, giving her own light smirk. "Didn't have that much time to sightsee, just took a couple of photos. Impmon liked that, and the toy gun I bought him."
She downed more of her beer. "It's not like I have anyone to really visit back there."
Richard put his now empty can down; said quietly, "I suppose that's something we have in common."
###
Juliet saw a monster as tall as Antylamon (possibly taller) that deeply resembled a horse, but like many other monsters she had seen, it was largely bipedal despite its large, golden hooves (a pair stood on the ground, while the other pair-god, they were like a substitute for his arms, there was no conceivable way it could grip anything with them). It was a deep purple, and had matching gold armor with a blood red scarf wrapped around its thick neck (it was vaguely similar to Antylamon's style of clothing). Its grayish white mane covered its eyes, and above that thick hair were sharp red horns; its furred tail waved lazily around. He carried something large on his back, wider than himself-it was gold too, and like a shell, but hollow, and there was a small horn on the other side, as if to blow into it.
More importantly, the thing was about to slam one of his hooves onto Impmon, who lay prone on the floor, torn and bruised and bleeding and…flickering, as if he would die and dissolve into his component pieces of data, fresh for this beast to devour and absorb...
Juliet promptly shouldered her rifle, aimed, and shot point blank at his face.
Predictably, it didn't do much-but that was the point. The thing was distracted enough to look away from Impmon and in her direction-failing to notice Antylamon barreling into him.
Impmon staggered to his feet as Juliet ran over to him.
"C'mon, we have to go-"
The wounded monster tried to pull away, snarling, "I don't need your help-"
Juliet's eyes widened. "Did you start this fight?"
Impmon's eyes widened slightly, and he looked disturbed by something; "I-"
Juliet saw red. "You could've gotten yourself killed!"
She dragged him away without another word, heading toward the jeep, where Ben and Tom were urging them on.
Impmon was a child's size and about as heavy, and he was gravely injured-but he still furiously thought. "Let go! I can fight my own battles-"
"No, you can't-"
"Don't tell me what I can't do-"
Juliet finally picked him up and belted him into the jeep. "You think you can do all these things, but you just can't."
Impmon looked more hurt from her words than from any injury he'd suffered from the horse-like monster. He then deflated, his eyes narrowed and his face downcast as he whispered, "I hate you."
Juliet tried not mask her surprise and own hurt, as Tom began driving away, with Ben looking worried behind as Antylamon continued to fight the giant horse monster.
They didn't get very far.
Antylamon was soon thrown into their path. Juliet grabbed at Impmon as Tom twisted to avoid the struggling rabbit monster. Looking back, Juliet saw the horse monster slam both hooves into the ground and-the ground split beneath them.
The jeep became stuck in one growing track-they soon abandoned it, forced to go on foot. Carrying Impmon, Juliet was soon separated from Ben and Tom, though she could still see them in the distance; they were on a piece of earth that remained up, while hers lowered, lowered...
Antylamon and the horse monster crashed into each other again, and as they struck out, their blows becoming more vicious and faster, the ground cracked further-No, was the last thought that ran through Juliet's head.
She had made the wrong step, and was now falling-they were both falling. She was too shocked, and it was so fast-she didn't have time to scream before all the air was knocked out of her and she heard something break and everything went black black pure white
###
"Juliet Juliet Juliet, Juliet-!"
Finally she woke up, coughing out blood. Seeing Impmon's panicked and furious green eyes on the verge of tears choked back her own pained sobs.
"Can you still climb?" She asked weakly past a bubble of blood, staring at the blurry rock walls around them, at the tree-filled sky above them. She could still distantly hear the sounds of battle...
"I need to get you out of here," Impmon breathlessly said, gingerly gripping her bruised hand and looking around. She tried to get up-and didn't move an inch. She was stuck lying on the cold dirt ledge, suspended over further blackness.
"You can't…not safely, not at all..." Juliet tried to say more, order him to just go, but she was tired. Her eyes must've even started to droop, because Impmon screamed her name again, and she wearily opened them wider.
Impmon stared down at her, his jaw clenched, biting his lip. One tear finally squeezed out of his eye, down one bruised and cut up cheek. Juliet wondered if she had looked something like this as she stared down at her sister's dead, dead face...
Then there was suddenly a brilliant flash that blinded her, made her shut her eyes. As soon as it was over, she opened them to find-sonofabitch.
Above her, far above her, were Impmon's green eyes-but they were narrower and looked more human. And there was a third one.
Juliet stared and stared at all three eyes, now seen through holes in a dark, mask-like helm with pale blonde hair poking out in the back. It covered a pale human-like face, and the rest of him was a very human, lithe figure-and dressed in…dear god, something liker a biker's outfit. It was dark leather all over, leather jacket with a furred collar and the same red scarf wrapped around his sleeve instead, leather boots with three spikes where his three clawed toes should've been, a mix of leather and metal arm guards and claw-tipped gloves. Poking from his back, there were the handles of two guns. A long reptilian tail whipped back and forth behind him, and dark raven wings sprouted from his back.
Did Impmon just…evolve? Juliet instead began to wonder how hard was her head hit.
The largely alien (yet vaguely familiar) figure leaned down and carefully scooped her up in its arms. Juliet realized then, now that she was closer, he wasn't impressively or monstrously large like Antylamon and her horse opponent. He was almost proportioned like an average male human, but slightly off-a little too long, a little too tall (just enough to be eerie).
He quietly beat his wings, and they were up in a rush of air, the rocky walls flying by her weary sight.
"Impmon?..."
"It's Beezlemon now," he softly growled in a voice that on the surface sounded nothing like Impmon, much deeper and gravelly-but she thought she heard a vague spark of his spirit in there.
The winged monster flew out of the crevice, and flew around, looking for something-
"There," breathed Imp-Beezle-whoever, gliding toward Ben and Tom. The two men immediately raised their guns at the stranger, and Juliet called out a warning. Tom and Ben paused, then looked again, noticing the bloodied woman in the winged, human-faced monster's arms. They lowered their weapons as Beezlemon landed.
"Take care of her," said the changed monster as he gently passed Juliet to Tom, and she watched him as he flew straight for-Antylamon and the horse monster. Juliet immediately found her sight getting better, the adrenaline somehow helping.
"Wait-" she paused as Tom and Ben stiffened beside her, as they had just seen the same thing-the monster that had been Impmon tear into the large horse creature.
A certain horror finally grew in her as she watched him fight. Antylamon stood back, just watching.
Juliet's mouth opened slightly-he was mauling the other monster, and his eyes-his eyes had turned red now-
She shouted a curse when the horse monster managed to slam a hoof across Beezlemon's masked face, throwing him aside. Immediately Antylamon took his place, dueling with the torn up horse again. Juliet's attention remained on Beezlemon however; she breathed again when he picked himself up, and blinked when he pulled out his guns-either because of the blood loss or the fast pace of new events, Juliet wasn't immediately comprehending.
"Antylamon, move!" Ben shouted, and she twisted away from the horse monster without question-just in time to avoid the four bullets slamming into her opponent's head.
Juliet belatedly noticed the two holes in each of Beezlemon's guns. She stared and stared as he pulled the trigger again and again; the feral look in his red, unfamiliar eyes with each bullet shot-
Finally the horse monster dissipated into data, and drifted toward the winged monster as he absorbed its energy. With every scrap of data devoured, Beezlemon then dropped his guns from his limp claws; he gripped his head, as if staving off a headache; his eyes flashed back to green; then he fell to his knees, trembling.
Juliet immediately tried to go to him, but felt stabbing pain all over too-
"Antylamon will tend to him-we need to get you to the medical bay," Ben whispered in her ear, and he and Tom helped Juliet to the jeep, miraculously loosened from the crack in the ground from renewed trembling.
In the rear view mirror, Juliet watched Antylamon kneel next to Beezlemon crouched on the ground, until they were out of sight.
###
"So…do mons sometimes go kinda crazy when they evolve?" Tom asked Ben, again at the wheel.
Eyeing Juliet, Ben answered, "Yes, the power can tend to go to their head, but it doesn't have to be permanent. And Impmon-" Ben shook his head. "He seems to have evolved too fast..."
"I thought it was instantaneous," murmured Juliet, lying down in the back seat.
"That's not what I meant-I mean, he seems to be at the highest level, skipping a couple of intermediate ones in between-" Sighing, Ben continued. "It's not unheard of. Child or rookie level digimon can 'warp' evolve straight into the highest level-but only after they've reached the intermediate ones in order. This is a…well, bit of an anomaly-"
"And that could explain his…mental instability, or what looked like it?"
"It…it could've increased it."
Juliet took a shaky breath. "Impmon-Beezlemon-he almost shot Antylamon."
Ben arched a brow, looking over his shoulder at her. "Is that an apology?"
"I don't think it would mean as much coming from me."
Looking away, Ben replied, "It was a lapse-Antylamon and I understand." Juliet noted something unreadable in Ben's tone. But then he softly said, "He'll be fine."
"But he might be stuck that way for a bit-I dunno if he'll still fit in that bed of his-"
"Tom, I never got him a child-sized bed, and what the hell do you mean."
"I mean that sometimes newbies can't go back to normal-you know, change back to their earlier body when they first evolve-"
"But it'll happen eventually," Ben reassured her.
Soon Juliet grew too tired to talk or listen, and the conversation drifted away.
Eventually, they arrived at the medical bay.
###
Lying in a now comfy soft hospital bed, Juliet woke up to find Impmon still Beezlemon, sleeping a chair that he barely fit.
"You're not back to normal yet," she softly murmured, but his hearing seemed to be as sensitive as ever-the winged monster immediately woke up and leaned carefully over her.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry-"
Smiling weakly, Juliet ran a gentle hand down his cheek, whispering softly that it was all right, trying to soothe him.
###
"So…'Beezlemon'…isn't that kinda-"
"Biblical?" Ben offered, eyeing Tom from behind his glasses. From her hospital bed, Juliet idly flipped another page in her copy of Carrie.
"I was gonna say more like Paradise Lost-isn't there a demon named Beezlebub in that?"
"Yes, and in the Bible too."
"Is that normal?" Juliet finally popped up, though her eyes were still on the book. "Are digital monsters often named after biblical figures?"
"Hell, I've heard of 'mons that are like goddamned angels!" Tom said, finally taking a seat.
"Like Imp-Beezlemon?"
Ben looked to Juliet; "Beezlemon's like the demon biker from hell."
"Except without the motorcycle. Oh Lord, he's gonna want a motorcycle for real now, isn't he?"
"Tom, he can fly, he doesn't need a bike," replied Juliet. "And Ben, he has feathered wings."
"So do crow demons."
"That helm does make him sorta look like a bird," muttered Tom.
"Then perhaps we could say my partner's more like Hawkman than satanic," Juliet snapped, eyeing Ben warningly.
"As long as you don't get too sentimental and imply he has an angelic appearance."
###
"…What are you doing?" Juliet was well enough to walk and get some exercise. She found Beezlemon outside, standing on his head, his wings flared.
"Danny said if I let the blood rush to my head I'd go back to normal, like you want."
"Didn't you break Danny's window last month when you and Alex were playing soccer?"
"…Shit, he got me," growled Beezlemon with Impmon's petulant tone as he fell to the side and rolled into a sitting position.
Juliet snickered; it felt good.
Then she quietly said, "When I said 'normal,' Imp-Beezlemon-" Juliet sighed, then said, "It's just very new to me. And to my understanding, it's expected than even when you evolve, you still go back to your previous form until you're older and have more control."
"And I won't have to bend down to enter doors," Beezlemon offered in a grumbling voice. Still, he flexed a claw. "It is great, way better than I imagined it would be-but it's kinda weird too." Leaning back, he laid in the grass, his arms pillowed beneath his head. "Guess it'll be nice to be 'Impmon' again soon."
"He's grown on me," Juliet agreed with a smirk, sitting down beside him for a breather.
###
When Juliet saw that plane break apart in the blue, blue sky above, she eventually heard the beating of wings above her head, saw a shadow dash over her, felt a feather graze her cheek and land on her shoulder.
"It's too late!" She shouted at him, but Beezlemon still flew off into the air.
She watched him, along with Ben and the others, but as she expected, all parts of the plane had fallen before the winged monster could reach it. Now they watched his dark figure angle and follow one plane part.
"We need to get him a walkie," Juliet muttered as Ben shouted orders.
###
Juliet and her team took two jeeps, but they had to walk the rest of the way given the terrain. At first, in the chaos of the crash, they blended in. But when they mentioned the medical station and began preparing who would be up for the trip, the survivors soon believed they would be all right, that civilization was here. They noticed their guns, but reassured themselves that these people were probably just the local law enforcement-look how they were helping them (and Juliet supposed they kind of were-that is, they could take up the position if their community needed it).
Juliet took special care of Claire, very far along in her pregnancy. She breathed when it finally kicked, and basked in the young mother's relieved glee.
Fortunately, there was another doctor, alive and on board. Jack was a great help, especially after he had finally asked Juliet to stitch up the slash across his side.
As they worked, she would watch the sky though, and wonder. She was positive she saw Beezlemon fly in this direction, he should've been here by now. Juliet had contacted Ben on the walkie; he had told her that he and no one else knew where he was, that he seemed to be off the radar. He told her he had a few men and digimon looking for him, but a lot of effort was going into helping the survivors and trying to contact their operatives on the outside.
When it was almost night, he called again, and told her they found the pilot-dead in the tree. Mauled.
Chilled, Juliet took a breath and informed the survivors of what had happened, though left out any indication that the pilot was killed by anything other than the crash.
After that, Juliet tried to explain to them where they were.
Her little speech was interrupted by a familiar clicking in the shaking trees, a moaning and a howling that made everyone stand up and edge away and wonder what the hell it was.
Juliet and her team pulled out their guns, aimed-all was silent except for the smoke monster-
Then Beezlemon came hurling out of the jungle, beaten and torn, and Juliet shouted at her people to hold their fire. Fortunately they heard her order over the survivors' terrified yells and screams.
Her winged monster skidded in the sand, and when he finally stopped he had shifted back into Impmon, moaning and grumbling as the tides splashed over him.
Juliet swiftly ordered her people to set up a perimeter, but to not enter the forest-fortunately, the smoke monster hadn't left the foliage yet and would hopefully stay there, content with defeating the digital monster. She ordered Ethan to contact Ben immediately, and told the survivors to get back-Jack and another man named Sayid were already helping with crowd control.
Then Juliet finally ran over to Impmon, gently sliding him out of the water.
She was silent as she carried him to the makeshift medical tent they'd set up.
"Who are you?" Impmon slurred, staring at with half-lidded eyes, and Juliet's hands immediately went for his head, her blue eyes wide and disbelieving-
"Just kidding, Juliet," and Impmon flashed her a smirk, and never mind the blood dripping down his mouth, she wanted to slap it off him.
"Were you kidding before?" She asked tersely as she began cleaning his wounds with water and iodine that stung.
"Nah, I was serious-if I really was lying, I would've told the truth instead of going to more sessions with that Harper bitch-"
Impmon's laughing face paused as Juliet wrapped a bandage really tight around his head.
He stared when the flap tent lifted, and so did Juliet; it was Jack, looking a little awkward but determined.
"Do you need any help?" He asked, trying not to stare at Impmon, which Juliet found really funny because he was unabashed about staring at Jack-
"You have a tattoo. Tattoos. More than one!"
Juliet realized Impmon had been fixated on Jack's arm, and the spinal surgeon looked down at it in, surprised. Then he looked back at the wounded monster, and hesitantly said, "Yeah…?"
"That's so cool!" Juliet bit back her laugh, but she still smiled as she continued wrapping the young monster up in bandages. Impmon was staring at Jack in complete awe and worship, while Jack just looked more and more embarrassed by the minute.
###
Impmon was fully bandaged and fast asleep when Juliet received a message from Harper.
When the other woman had first shown up, Juliet had wryly wondered if Harper somehow knew what Impmon called her, and what he thought of her therapy.
"Jacob gave this list to Richard, who gave it to Ben, and he wanted me to give it to you. He sent a copy of it to Goodwin at the tail section."
Juliet unfolded the sheet of paper, smoothed it out, and looked down the list of names. Her eyes widened at the little note beneath them. She looked up, scanning the crowds of sleeping survivors on the beach, scattered among the plane debris.
She looked back to Harper, but she was already gone.
###
"What's up?" Impmon mumbled as he groggily opened his eyes, watching Juliet pour over a scrap of paper. It was still dark out, but it could've been morning.
"What?" Juliet started, looking up with a distracted air and turning to him. She immediately went forward, gently poked and prodded, checking him over; running a hand over his bandaged forehead, checking for fever.
"What's wrong, you look freaked-" Impmon gave a large yawn, his mouth opening wide with his rows of small white fangs showing.
Juliet sighed, resting her forehead against his. "Got a list of people from the crash. Jacob says they're candidates."
Impmon jerked away, staring at her with wide eyes. "Really?"
"Yeah."
"What are you gonna do?"
Juliet didn't answer.
Impmon yawned again, and Juliet told him to go back to sleep. Noting the exhaustion in her voice, the monster did as he was told. He soon fell asleep, Juliet's hand wrapped around his three-fingered glove, her other clutching at Jacob's list.
Notes: Hope you enjoyed! I'd like to continue this in some way, but have no idea when that'd be.