Frozen in Darkness

by BridgitKiido

Disclaimer: -sings- I own nothing. Simply nothing. I own nothing, no nothing at all!!!!

Chapter 1

Bearer of the Gift, Judai Yuki

It was a dark and stormy night. Of course, that was to be expected now in Academia; ever since Darkness had become the Kaiser, it was always dark and stormy, no matter whether it was day or night. The citizens, once part of a proud, social culture, now locked themselves away in their houses, only going out to purchase a day or two's ration of food from the local market, and even then, these markets were ghost towns. The storms, of course, were only partially at fault; tales ran rampant about people who left their houses and never returned, only to have their broken, bloody bodies found floating haphazardly down a river two weeks later. No one had actually seen the Kaiser's minions, who were assumed to be at fault, but they were very much aware of their existence.

There was one place, however, where the anguished mood of the rest of the country was unable to penetrate. If it had been a temple, it probably would have been destroyed long ago by Darkness; therefore, it was very lucky that this place was nothing but an old, slightly broken saloon. The outside was very unimpressive; broken wood slats creaked and fell every now and again, and even the name sign, which still miraculously read "Osiris Red", was slightly faded and unstable on its ledge, obviously lopsided to anyone reading it on level ground. The inside, however, was quite nice in comparison; though much of the furnishings were obviously outdated and the occasional nest of carpenter ants lived under the staircase just out of reach, it was kept tidy and dust-free and had a homely feel. The owner of Osiris Red, a short, elderly lady known to her customers as Ms. Tome, made sure of that.

For the last few months, Ms. Tome hadn't had many customers; because the throne had been usurped, regular citizens hadn't dared to come, and travel between Academia and Nordia had been almost unheard of ever since the beginning of the war… oh, at least a decade ago now. It got rather lonely at times.

That's not to say that she didn't still have customers though. A few days after she found out about the events at the castle, Tome had been amazed to see the true heir himself, Sho Marufuji, and his advisor, a man named Daitoukuji, choose her inn instead of all others to stay at until things were deemed safer. Like any other customer, the two of them were welcomed with open arms, and they had stayed ever since. Sho would even occasionally do odd jobs around the saloon; somehow he managed to chase off the carpenter ants under the stairs, though he wouldn't explain how. Daitoukuji, meanwhile, could usually be found sitting at the piano, picking out a tune while his cat slept on top.

On rare occasions, there would be other customers that decided to come and go, though they were few and far between. Even rarer was the customer that decided to stay for an extended period, though there was one or two. Though these instances were few and far between, they were the highlights of Tome's otherwise mediocre life.

Then, of course, there was the one regular that Osiris Red had: Judai Yuki. He was a simple farmer lucky enough to have a Gift, a knack for befriending many monsters. Most people only befriended and made a pact with one, maybe two, but Judai had made pacts with at least twenty monsters in his short lifetime thus far, and he was constantly seen around the saloon introducing his newest kobun, or monster friend. He never seemed to care about the fact that Academia was under hard times; heck, he never seemed to show any signs of realizing that the country's leadership had recently changed. Ms. Tome sometimes worried about him, but always figured he would be fine as long as he had his monster friends to protect him.

Then again, he had been away for a while now…

The bell on the door suddenly rang, and a voice called out, "Hey, Ms. Tome! Could you whip up a pair of vanilla milkshakes for me and my friend here?"

Never mind. There he was, unscratched and happy-go-lucky as usual, this time accompanied by what appeared to be a brown hairball with wings. Not that that was surprising though – Judai was known for bringing in even stranger monsters.

"Well, what do you know," Ms. Tome replied with a grin as she reached to begin rinsing a pair of dusty milkshake glasses. "Who's your new friend here? He's awful cute."

Judai and his companion sat at a couple of stools next to the bar. Well, Judai sat; his friend sort of hovered. The boy's belt, which held as many runed tablets as it could (and then some), clinked softly as Judai patted his companion, who gave a happy kind of 'kuri' sound. "This is Hane, a Kuriboh type. I met him not too far from here, actually. I accidentally tripped in the woods on my way here, and then there was this strange guy wearing a sort of bluish-purple cloak. Strange hair too – it was spiked, black with red tips, but with bright blond bangs. But anyway, this weird guy asked me to take care of Hane here, and then he just disappeared, leaving just Hane." He shrugged. "Kinda strange."

Ms. Tome nodded, replying, "You've found yourself a real beauty there, Judai. Take care of him." She placed one of the glasses under the milkshake maker, but before she could begin dispensing the beverage, something outside of Osiris Red emitted a crashing sound.

Daitoukuji immediately stopped playing the piano, turning toward the door almost on instinct as his cat mewled in annoyance at the music's stopping.

"I'll see what happened," Judai offered as he bounded out the door, Hane close behind. The crash was an average crash – the "Osiris Red" sign had finally fallen completely off of the building.

What wasn't average was the large, black panther standing in front of the building and growling with its teeth bared. Judai could swear that it had a huge, black aura wrapping around it, but he knew that couldn't be right…

Most people's first instincts would have been to scream and run away. Braver people's instincts would have told them to make themselves as big as possible and try to scare it away.

Judai was not most people.

"Hey there," he said with a smile. "What brings you to this neck of the woods? Don't your kind live farther in?"

The panther responded with a roar and an attempt to pounce on the young teenager. It never got too close, however, as Hane dove in the way just in time and produced a shield, repelling the feline's attack. However, Judai did get knocked down as a consequence.

Daitoukuji, who was now watching as he peeked out from behind the door fame, was amazed. "It's been a long time since I've seen anyone with a Kuriboh; they don't usually interact with humans. And to see one with such powerful protection abilities…"

Ms. Tome, also watching from behind the doorframe, nodded. "Judai is an amazing boy, with amazing little friends, isn't he."

"Thanks, Hane," Judai said, getting up. Brushing himself off, he told the panther, "Okay then, you want to play? In that case, Hane and I shouldn't have all the fun."

He reached down toward his belt and unlatched two of the many runed tablets. Holding them upright in a fan-like manner, he called out, "By the conditions of our pact, I summon you! Element Armors Burst and Feather!" He then tossed the two tablets into the air, spinning them until they began to glow.

From the light of the glowing tablets emerged a pair of armor-like monsters, although their armor-like quality was the only thing similar about them. One of them held the form of a scarlet female warrior, her helmet almost birdlike. The other was similar to a green angel, brilliant bird wings protruding from his back.

"Amazing," Daitoukuji murmured, and his cat mewled in agreement. At this point, Sho had even managed to sneak toward the door and was now peeking out, though only enough that he could see without being seen.

"Now, merge!" Judai commanded, and the two armors obliged as they dissembled themselves and attached their various parts to Judai. When they were through, Judai was covered in an armor that was half crimson and half green, with a single wing protruding from his back. All three of the onlookers within Osiris Red were amazed by Judai's power.

The panther, however, did not appear to be so appreciative, as it took the opportunity to attack once again. This time, however, Judai was ready; he managed to catch the cat mid-pounce and, with a burst of fiery energy, threw it to the ground. The impact was so severe that the feline fell unconscious.

Judai sighed as the armors reassembled themselves individually. Then, he smiled at them and said, "Thanks, guys."

"It was no problem, Aniki," the green armor, Feather, replied.

"It's nice to get some exercise once in a while," the red armor, Burst, added. With that, the two armors disappeared.

Judai then walked over to the panther and said, "Poor guy. You must be scared, being this far away from your home." He began to attempt to lift the cat up, but before he could do so, he noticed a small rune fall off of its neck. Judai usually would not have been so interested, but he noticed that the glow he had seen around the panther itself earlier, now non-existent, somehow managed to be concentrated around this rune.

Without even bothering to think that it might be corrupted, Judai picked up the small amulet and looked it over. It was your average pact rune, except that it was flaking apart in places and obviously was not very strong. In fact, it was different from most other pact runes in that it only held one name inscribed on it…

"'Darkness'…" Judai read, extremely concerned. "Who is this 'Darkness' guy? And why would that person create a rune that forces innocent monsters to act against their wills? I cannot allow that type of person to continue what they are doing."

"Um," Sho piped up, walking cautiously out of Osiris Red toward Judai. "Darkness is… he is the person who has usurped the position of Kaiser of Academia. I-If you would like, I would be honored if you would join the resistance I am leading against him."

Judai tilted his head, looked toward Hane, who nodded with a small "Kuri", and smiled. "I would be honored to aid your resistance. My name is Judai. Judai Yuki." He extended his arm for a handshake.

Accepting the handshake, Sho replied, "And I am Sho Marufuji, younger brother of Ryo Marufuji, true Kaiser of Academia."

Author's Note: I hate writers' block… it took me three tries to come up with a suitable way for Judai to meet up with Hane. Combine that with school coming to a close… yeah. I'm sorry this chapter took so long…

Ms. Tome's name is pronounced like to-mé. Similarly, Hane is pronounced ha-né.

Daitoukuji playing the piano… I'm not sure exactly why, but somehow that's what I see.

Kobun is a Japanese term that refers to a henchman or lackey. In this story, it is the term generally used for the monster in a pact relationship.

Aniki is one Japanese term for brother, but it is also often used to denote a boss, often in gangs. In this story, it is the term generally used for the human in a pact relationship.

(Both of those definitions were taken from the subtitles of Digimon Savers episode 1, With the Will's subs, by the way. If I understand something wrong, please feel free to let me know.)

No, Johan won't be appearing in this story, I'm sorry. Nor will anyone who is introduced in season three. I know those characters, and I like those characters as characters, but I'd rather not write them into this particular story. They may show up in a sequel though…but it's too early for that yet.

And if anything, anything at all, seems strange, then go ahead and ask me for a better explanation. I'll be happy to give you one. After all, it all makes sense to me, but then I'm a strange person…