Until the Dawn

PG-13

Chatay

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. I do however own this plot, and background settings

Kat: This so ended up being longer than I had planned

Daisuke: Well that's a good thing right?

Kat: Well yeah, I guess... but I had to put off ideas I wanted in this chapter

Ken: Just makes it for a longer series

Kat: Well this series is already becoming horrendously long as it is. I'm so glad I didn't decide for this to be a one-shot like was originally planned.

Daisuke: Hey when do I get to glomp Ken?

Kat: When I feel like it you hormonal freak

Daisuke: pouts no fair

Kat: sighs Fine whatever, but only like ten minutes and don't make a mess!

Daisuke: Yay! grabs Ken and runs off into a corner

Kat: sighs Ignore them -.-

Chapter 3 - Assault at Chozien

People. So many people, not to mention the people seemed to currently be running around like chickens with their heads cut off. There was just way too many people in his immediate space for Ken's taste. He shifted nervously and glanced at Yamato who had a frown upon his face.

"Mmmm, there's normally not so many people here. Something must of happened," he mused.

"Yamato! Oh thank goodness your back!" cried a new voice.

A young woman with reddish brown hair ran up to the group. Her warm auburn eyes held a sense of intense worry, as her features settled upon the small group.

"Sora? What happened?"

"Another attack," replied Sora.

"Where at?"

"Chozien to the south. I'm going to be heading out there with Mimi to see what can be done, there's already at least fifteen casualties. We're not sure on how many others, they haven't gotten to the bottom of all the collapses yet," stated Sora.

She then noticed Daisuke who was slung over Yamato's back, "What happened here?"

"Ken here says they were attacked by a group of technologicals. Daisuke got hit by two of their darts about two days or so ago, he's been like this since then," replied Yamato.

Sora glanced over at Ken, "Has he woken up at all since then?"

Ken nodded, "Once, but only for a minute or two."

Sora raised her hand and placed it on Daisuke's forehead and frowned slightly, "He's got a bit of a fever... but that.."

"Sora! We need to get going!"

Ken glanced at the girl who was quickly running up to them. She had pink hair and seemed to be quite frazzled. She stopped shortly when she saw Daisuke though.

"Oh! What happened to Dai?"

Sora frowned, "You have all your stuff ready, right Mimi?"

Mimi tiltled her head in confusion, "Yes, but what's that got to with it?"

"I want you to take them up to Daisuke's room and get them settled. Yamato can explain what happened on the way up. Then call for Jyou and have him do a check up on him. I don't think he's in any immediate danger, but I really don't know what happened here either. I'll meet you outside in a half hour, " replied Sora.

"Okay, " replied Mimi and with that Sora took off in a slight run down the hallway.

Mimi turned and faced towards the other end of the hallway, "Ready?"

Yamato and Ken nodded, and Mimi began heading down the hallway. She then turned and started walking backwards, "I'm sorry for being rude and not doing introductions. That girl earlier was Sora and I'm Mimi. We're healers here at the castle. You are?"

"Ken."

Mimi nodded somewhat satisfied and then turned to ask Yamato what had happened. Ken glanced at the pictures that adorned some of the corridors in a slightly curious fashion. It would seem that Hikari was not a descendent of the previous rulers of the castle. Also from the sounds of it, they were in some kind of dispute with a country.

"We're here, " stated Mimi as she pushed open a quite casual doorway to reveal a large set of stairs, "Daisuke could have any of the rooms here, but he prefers the tower, god only knows why. Poor Jyou, he's going to have an attack, climbing all these stairs."

Yamato grinned, "It'll be good for him. Besides, Dai would be whining when he wakes up about not being in his room. And then I'd have to carry his awake ass up these stairs, I'll take the quieter version thanks."

They ascended the stairs and came into one single room within the tower. It had two windows on opposite ends. On the wall hung a few paintings of different areas of Diluculo. A bed was sitting near the farthest window, on top of it sat a blue bundle of fur.

The blue ball's eyes promptly opened upon their entrance to the room. He took one glance at them then bounded off of the bed and towards them. It stopped abruptly as it noticed Bui who was sitting atop Ken's head.

Bui blinked a few times then scurried down Ken's body and stopped in front of Veeh. Veeh blinked and then promptly glomped the other wynn. Ken raised an eyebrow at the sight then shook his head.

"You'll have to forgive Veeh, he's very energetic and loving. Just tell him to stop if he bothers your wynn to much, " stated Yamato as he laid Daisuke down on the bed.

"Okay so do we have any clue as to what was in the darts?" asked Mimi.

"Not really. We do know the people who were attacking were technologicals because Ken says that's the only type of people who were residing in the caves at the time. So it could be a variety of things, poisons, or bugs, " replied Yamato.

Mimi frowned, "Well I don't think it's a poison. His fever's not that high and he's not showing any other symptoms. It's most likely a bug. Which is thankful for the most part, Daisuke's magic should be enough to kill the bug given time, I'll prescibe some herbs though just to keep the fever down."

"Bug?" asked Ken.

"It's a type of machine that the techs use. It's nearly invisible to the naked eye and can enter the blood stream through the use of darts. To people of Daisuke's level it doesn't really do too much damage, puts them out of it for a while, but other than that nothing. If Daisuke wasn't so high magically, it could do a variety of things. Some people it just kills, others it controls them for a length of time, till the techs decide to destroy em," replied Yamato.

Mimi sighed, "I'll let Jyou know what's up and he'll probably be up later after the meeting breaks. I'll leave you guys to watch Daisuke for now, cause I gotta get going to Chozien with Sora."

Mimi waved and then turned to scurry down the stairs. Yamato rubbed the back of his head slightly, "I need to go get the others. With attacks going on, its definately not a good thing to leave Hikari out there, think you'll be okay? I mean there's water and food up here if you need anything, and Jyou should be up soon."

Ken nodded, "I should be fine."

Yamato turned to head down, "Just don't leave up here okay? Cause everyone's frazzled and they don't know your here, it just could equal a bad situation."

Ken nodded and Yamato continued down the stairs. Ken sighed and slumped down in a chair next to the bed. He didn't know what he was doing here. Three days ago life had been normal, now he was in a new place, watching a redhead he didn't even know, but was dangerously bordering infatuated with? Just lovely.

000

Ken woke up a few hours later to a body of fur on top of his face. He coughed and sputtered somewhat sending Veeh flying. Veeh made a very annoyed meep as he hit the floor. Ken brushed his face off then turned over onto his stomach.

'What?' he thought confused as he noticed he was on a soft surface. He opened his eyes and saw a mass of red hair to his left.

'How the hell did I get in the bed? No, no, no, no... ugh...' Ken pondered as he buried his face into the mattress.

His body went rigid as Daisuke turned over in his sleep and latched onto Ken. Ken sighed and slowly tried to inch himself away from the redhead. Of course Daisuke choose this time to start waking up, "Huh..." he murmed sleepily.

"The hell?" cried Daisuke as his eyes opened and in shock he went flying to the other side of the bed and off of it. Ken buried his red face into the mattress even further. Veeh who seemed very amused by this meeped happily. Ken sighed and inched his way over to the edge of the bed and looked down. Daisuke was rubbing his head in pain and attempting to rise back up and failing miserably. Daisuke sighed and fell back on the floor and looked up into Ken's face.

"Cave?"

Ken nodded and watched Daisuke's reaction. Daisuke closed his eyes, "Daisuke, you?"

"Ken."

"Pleasure, what are we doing here?"

"You and your group were attacked by technologicals. You were injured, so they took you back here," replied Ken.

Daisuke went to ask another question when a ball of fluff suddenly landed on his stomach. He laughed slightly and rubbed Veeh's head affectionately. The wynn meeped happily before hopping down and running under the bed where Bui was hiding.

"How'd you get here?" asked Daisuke.

"I led your group out, there was a cave in, so I got taken along as well," Ken explained partially.

"Now, why were you in my bed?"

Ken's face was tinged with pink and he sighed, "I wish I knew. I went to sleep on the chair and woke up there."

"You shouldn't be sleeping on the chairs. They're really not that comfortable, I can guarantee you that," stated Daisuke as he made another attempt to try and at least sit up.

"Neither is the floor, want some help?" asked Ken, somewhat amused.

"I can get it," replied Daisuke, as he made another attempt and fell back on the floor. Ken grinned and waved his hand and Daisuke floated up into the air.

"What the? Awesome!" replied Daisuke as he twisted his neck to look around.

Ken shook his head and plopped Daisuke down on the bed next to him.

"So what are you?" asked Daisuke as he rolled to face Ken.

Ken frowned, "Rather forward, aren't we?"

Daisuke shrugged, "Don't wanna talk? Awww... you're no fun. How about this, I ask a question, then you ask a question sort of thing?"

Ken shook his head and smiled slightly at Daisuke's pouting face.

"Well, fine then. You leave me with no choice, but to tell you what you are," stated Daisuke confidently.

"Mmmm... you can do that?" asked Ken, unconvinced.

Daisuke grinned a cocky grin, "Of course! I am a priest after all."

"Mmmm, priest are you? Priest of what? Hopefullness?"

"Noooo, I'm a sun priest, thank you," Daisuke huffed.

"Sun priest?"

"Well, I suppose for starters, since you've been living in a cave for like years. Do you understand the differences in the power types?" Daisuke asked, seriously.

"For the most part yes, I don't know much about healers since I haven't seen or known many of them," replied Ken.

"Meh, well healers are no big deal. Anywho you've probably met Hikari right? She's a priestess, priestess of light, to be exact. A priest or priestess's powers are different from the other power sources. Sorta how elementals only have power over three elements at most. Well a priest can control more than just like that. Like me, I can do a bunch of things. I can create fire, lightening, sun, and stuff like that. I also have some healing powers, but I'm not too good at that."

"Oh, but Hikari's different from you," replied Ken.

"That's cause she's the priestess of light, that's like the whole second in command or what not. She's not really meant to be overly powerful in the sense of elemental powers, she's more of a mental power thing," replied Daisuke as he closed his eyes once more.

"Second in command? Isn't she the ruler?"

"Well, yeah she is, but only temporarily. You've probably seen the pictures on the walls right? Yeah, Hikari isn't a descendent of the royal line. She's second in command, and there was this whole mess where the royal family was lost during the fire, so until we find the prince, she's in charge."

Ken nodded taking in this information, "Tired?"

"Mmm.. maybe a bit. What the hell happened to me anyways?" Daisuke asked as he brought his hand to his forehead.

"That's what I'd like to know," stated a new voice.

Ken looked up to see another boy, close to Yamato's age, with features not to far from his own. With the exception that the boy's hair held more of blue tone to it, than his own.

"Hey Jyou," Daisuke murmured as he raised his hand and waved it slowly, "Ken. Jyou. Jyou, Ken."

"Nice to meet you," stated Jyou to Ken, and then turned to face Daisuke once more, "So how do you feel?"

"Like shit, you can't tell?" Daisuke asked amused.

"How about you try actual symptoms instead of sarcasm?" responded Jyou, dryly.

"Tired, Ken here had to lift me off the floor. Not to mention a killer headache," stated Daisuke as he let his hand fall limply to his side.

Jyou frowned and placed his hand to Daisuke's forehead, "Well you got a bit of a fever there, probably what's accounting for the tiredness and the headache."

"Lovely... just lovely..." murmured Daisuke as he turned and then started to burrow into Ken's side. As Ken went rigid. Daisuke continued, "I'm cold and the light hurts, you're warm and dark, live with it."

Jyou shook his head and headed over to the small kitchen on the other side of the tower room, "Don't mind him. He has no use for common courtesy."

Jyou pulled some small bottles of power out of a bag and then filled a glass with water. He then began to pour the powder in the water and mixed it slowly. He made his way back over to the bed, "Get up and drink this, before you give Ken there a heartattack."

Daisuke frowned and turned to face Jyou and raised a hand to take the glass which Jyou pulled away. Daisuke frowned at him and Jyou sighed, "Your hands are shaking, you're going to spill it all over."

"Well, I'm not gonna let you feed it to me," muttered Daisuke.

Ken took the glass from Jyou's hands and the pressed it to Daisuke's open mouth, "Just drink it already you whiner."

Daisuke frowned at Ken, "And here I thought you were the quiet docile type."

Daisuke drank a few sips of the drink and stuck his tongue out in disgust, then swallowed the rest, "That crap tastes like Takeru's cooking."

"Well, that crap as you so kindly referred to it, will take your headache away and keep your fever down. It'll probably make you pretty sleepy too. Well, I've got to see how things are progressing with the other issues. I'll be back in a few hours to check on you."

"Issues... what... issues?" murmured Daisuke, sleepily.

"Nothing that you can help with like that, so get some sleep, and leave it to the rest of us for once. Nice meeting you, Ken. If you need anything feel free to let us know. There will be a maid outside the door, she's aware of your presence and is only letting certain individuals in. So talk to her if you want something," stated Jyou as he continued down the stairs.

"Issues.. what's he talkin.. bout?" asked Daisuke, once more.

"Nothing, why don't you give it up, and go to sleep?" asked Ken.

"Fine, fine... but you're... comi... wiiths... mes.." muttered Daisuke as he latched onto Ken and laid his head upon Ken's chest. Ken gasped and then relaxed slightly as he felt Daisuke relax into sleep.

00000

"Where's Daisuke and Ken?" asked Hikari as she walked swiftly through the halls.

"They're up in Daisuke's room. Mimi saw to Daisuke before she left for Chozien. She has Jyou watching over him until her return. She said she figures it's just a bug, and that after some rest and once his body rids him of it, he should be fine," replied Yamato.

"Good, what happened in Chozien? I thought the rebels were taken care of," she asked.

"It would seem that they knew of your departure with Daisuke, your highness. This attack was strategically planned so that we could provide no resistance and to scare the villagers," replied Gennai.

Hikari regarded her general with a stern eye as they entered the throne room, "Do they have a new leader perhaps?"

"It would seem, that Oikawa may have only been a general, while we are not certain of this, it's a possibility."

"How is this a possibility? Elaborate," replied Hikari as she seated herself upon the thrown.

"The rebels groups tactics are nearly identical. So it is probable that either Oikawa had an apprentice, or he was merely meant to be a distraction. We have been unsucessful in infilitrating the rebels. Anyone who goes that way tends to never return, we fear that they have quite a few technologicals on their side," stated Gennai grimly.

Hikari sighed, "Very well, wait until the others return from Chozien, then we must figure this out. Til then have your troops move the people of Chozien within Mynervn."

Gennai nodded and then bowed before leaving the room. Hikari raised her hand to her forehead, "What a mess we have here. We need to do something soon don't we brother?"

Taichi, who was sitting on the steps, nodded in agreement, "We should pay a visit to the old woman as well. We are very uninformed here and that makes it difficult to decide in which direction we should go as well. We also need to ask her about Ken."

Hikari frowned, "Mmm... his odd powers right?"

"I worry about him being a rogue, Hikari."

"I don't believe he is a rogue, he's something different, but not a rogue. He holds no aura of black magic."

"He would not be the first rogue to hold no dark power, do you forget Daeson?"

Hikari sighed, "You are right. However til I say otherwise, no one is to harm him, and that includes you brother."

Taichi nodded and turned to face the doors as they opened. Jyou entered the throne room a neutral expression on his face.

"I wouldn't worry about Ken too much," he stated casually.

"What makes you say this? You have seen Daisuke right? How is he?"

"He was awake when I saw him which was good, to say the least. He had a bit of a fever and a headache, typical symptoms of a bug, I gave him some herbs though. I would say he should be up and about in a few days, a week depending on when his fever leaves him," replied Jyou.

Hikari smiled in relief, "That is good. What do you think of Ken?"

"I didn't have much to judge on, he seemed very reserved. He did however seem to care somewhat for Daisuke, he got him to drink the herbs at least and rest. I don't think he's a threat even if he holds the possibility of being a rogue."

"How do you know of his powers?" asked Taichi.

"I may not be overly magically inclined myself, but to even my eyes, magic flows around that boy like mists. It shines in his eyes, and his skin nearly glows with it. He is very powerful," replied Jyou as he took a seat next to Taichi, "However, I think it more likely for him to be something else, other than a rogue."

"Like what?" Hikari asked, curiously.

"His powers, they remind me of Daisuke's."

0000

Ken's eyes flew open as something hit him in the stomach. He turned to see Daisuke thrashing around in the bed, muttering incoherently. Ken sat up quickly, and inched over to the redhead.

"Daisuke. Daisuke, wake up," Ken whispered, somewhat nervously.

Ken raised his arm to the redhead's forehead and frowned at the increased temperature. He rose quickly from the bed and headed over to the sink. He poured some water into a small bowel, and grabbed a small cloth off of the counter. He headed back over towards the bed and dipped the cloth in the cool water and placed it over Daisuke's forehead.

Daisuke calmed down a little bit, but was still muttering and his face was scrunched up in pain. Ken frowned and glanced at the doorway, he needed to get someone. He held some healing powers himself, but he had never tried them on another individual. Ken shifted his shoulders back, trying to gain some confidence, then he headed down the small stairway.

He opened the door slowly and saw a young girl with blonde hair standing just outside it. She smiled at him warmly, "Do you need anything sir?"

"The doctor, Jyou right? Could you get him, I think he should come back and check on Daisuke," stated Ken.

The girl's features took on a worried look, but she nodded, "Don't worry. I will go fetch the doctor, please stay with the young master til then. It shouldn't be too long."

With that the girl took off in a slight run down the hallway. Ken sighed and headed back up the stairs. Daisuke was now sitting up in the bed with his eyes closed.

"Daisuke?" Ken asked cautiously, something didn't feel right about the situation.

The redhead's eyes opened, but they were unseeing to the world. Daisuke's head turned at an unnatural angle to face Ken.

"Did you do it?" Daisuke whispered.

Ken's eyes widened, "Do what?"

"You killed them, you killed them all. Fire, so much fire, flesh burning... screams. Did you enjoy their screams as they echoed through the rubble?"

"What are you talking about?"

Daisuke scooted to the edge of the bed till his toes were touching the floor. Ken watched him with nervous eyes, his ears picked up footsteps running up the stairs. Jyou stopped at the doorway just behind Ken.

"Ken, what's happening?" Jyou asked.

Before Ken could reply a blast of power sent them both flying backwards onto the stairs. Ken rubbed his head and then looked back to make sure Jyou was okay, "That is what's happening. Something's wrong, his fever got really high, so I called for you. Now he's claiming I killed them all."

Jyou's eyes darkened a bit, "Did he say who they were?"

Ken shook his head as he rose to peek back inside the room. Daisuke had obviously tried to stand, and despite his recent blast of power, he was still unable to stand. He was sitting on the floor, muttering. Jyou walked past Ken, towards Daisuke.

"Daisuke, wake up," whispered Jyou soothingly.

"Dead.. all dead, burning alive, fire, smoke. Darkness, power, cries... dead. All dead, dead, dead, DEAD!" Daisuke screamed as he turned to face Jyou.

Jyou took a step back, as Daisuke was preparing to attack again. Ken however was one step ahead and ran forth and threw his arms around the redhead slamming them both into the ground. The impact of the shock seemed to knock some sense into Daisuke as he blinked lazily and relaxed, "Ow... dude... Ken?"

Ken who seemed to realize what he had just done, blinked and scrambled up off of Daisuke. Daisuke blinked, "What happened?"

Jyou who seemed to have decided the situation was past dangerous, bent down and placed his hand to Daisuke's forehead, "I think your fever spiked a bit, so you were a bit on the dellusional side, it would seem that it broke though."

Daisuke sighed, "Can I have a lift?"

Ken who had been making good use of staring at his shoes waved his hand slightly and Daisuke was lifted back onto the bed. Daisuke grinned sheepishly and burrowed into the covers.

"I suppose we need to find you a room, Ken, " stated Jyou, "Sorry about our lack of hospitality. The current situation has definatley taken up most of our resources. The priestess has returned and will most likely be wanting to speak with you tommorow midday."

"Mmm... Ken can stay here, " murmured Daisuke.

"There are tons of room in this castle, Daisuke and you're gonna have him stay up here with you?" asked Jyou, somewhat annoyed.

"Well, he doesn't know anyone here, and you're gonna have him stay in a room all by himself?" countered Daisuke.

Jyou sighed, "Fine, whatever, as long as Ken doesn't mind. After tonight he will have his own room, Daisuke, it just isn't proper."

Jyou waved a farewell and headed back down the staircase. Daisuke opened one eye to peek at Ken who was standing near the end of the bed, somewhat fidgeting, "You didn't mind did you?"

Ken blinked then shook his head, "No... I suppose. I haven't been around this many people in a long time. It's all rather unnerving, I probably wouldn't get any sleep."

Daisuke smiled something beautiful and waved for Ken to come over to the edge of the bed, "Well, I don't know about you, but I wanna sleep."

Ken sighed and laid down on the bed near the edge, he wasn't as surprised when Daisuke started to cuddle next to him. This situation was just odd in general, he hadn't had human contact in ages, and now he had someone who seemed rather attached to him and he knew nothing about him. Ken had to admit the mingling of their magics was somewhat comforting. He sighed as his gaze fell to the floor, maybe this change wasn't so bad after all.

AN: I don't think I overly got into cultural explanations as much as I wanted to there. Primarily because I didn't factor in how long this chapter actually ended up being, so I suppose it'll be more of a cultural experience next chapter. Also some more characters will be introduced as well. Also as for Daisuke's random glompiness of Ken. Well for one thing, Daisuke has always struck me as someone who did what he wanted, regardless of what the other person thought.

Next Chapter Expectations - Daisuke out of bed! Yay! Some debates over Ken's powers and origin, a bit of Daisuke background history (possibly) and dancing!