Summary: When the princess runs away a war begins in which all sides want her dead or as a weapon. But Kari's heart is torn between her freedom and doing the right thing. With dangers at every turn the time to choose draws close and she's not ready.

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon, its characters, or anything relating the the franchise.

Chapter 10 – To Mark

Before Kari had time to register anything Patamon was flying wildly down into the town and through the thickening smoke.

"Patamon," cried Kari running down the hill. Knowing that harm would likely befall the small digimon, she chased him down into the town, her heart beating faster than usual out of fear for her companions. The first thing she could notice was the acrid smell of the whole place burning; the second was that she had lost sight of Patamon in the thick smoke. She pushed her way into the crowd, losing herself in the swirl of panicked people as she searched for TK.

People were screaming an crying all around her, trying to find friends and family, hoping against hope that they weren't trapped in the inferno. She barely registered one limping girl with a heavy gash above her eye, causing by something unknown falling on her or the screaming woman with burns down the side of her body.

"TK?" she called out, echoed by Gatomon, "Patamon? Where are you?" She felt an icy chill in her heart. She couldn't see them anywhere. There had to be something. She was knocked to her feet as a small green digimon pushed past.

"Mimi," it cried, jumping into its partner's arms.

Kari looked away for a second and continued scanning the crowd when a memory flashed in her mind. She turned back to the pair. The digimon she recognised as a Palmon but it was her partner that caught her interest, her honey coloured hair, stylish but obviously worn clothes and large hat were very familiar. She had been right. This was the lady who had served them in the tavern – which was the last place where she had seen TK.

She pushed her way through the crowd, trying to catch up with her as she too made her way through the crowd. "Gatomon, go stop her," she cried out as two people blocked her past and Mimi vanished from view. Gatomon nodded and leapt from person to person, navigating quickly through the ever-growing crowd. She finally reached the barmaid and grabbed her ankle. Mimi gave a squawk of surprise and turned around.

"Please, my partner wants to talk to you," Gatomon said.

Mimi looked nervously at the cloud of smoke but, biting her lip, she nodded and followed Gatomon, as she led them back to Kari, who bumped into them as she forced away through two people. There was a flash of recognition in Mimi's eyes as she remembered what Kari had done almost two hours before.

"You're the maid from the tavern right?" asked Kari.

"Y-Yeh," answered Mimi nervously.

"My friend went in afterwards and I wanted to know if he's still in there. He's about my age, a bit taller and he has blonde hair, very blonde hair," Kari said, almost desperately.

"You mean TK?" Mimi said panicking. Kari nodded and Mimi turned tail and ran, with Kari in hot pursuit. Kari gritted her teeth angrily and grabbed Mimi's wrist a little harder than necessary. It was an odd scene to see such a small girl have so much power over someone so much taller and bigger than herself but when unnoticed in the flurry of the crowd.

"Where is he?" growled Kari.

"When the fire started I just panicked. I didn't mean to leave him there but when the beam fell I just ran," Mimi said flustered, as Kari's eyes widened in fear at what her words meant.

"Just tell me where he is," demanded Kari, unable to comprehend why she cared so much about TK's safety.

"He's in the back room," Mimi said, tears beginning to appear in her eyes from Kari's grip, "I'm sorry," she said, but Kari had already disappeared into the crowd, pushing her way towards the burning streets.

A man attempted to block her as she broke away from the crowd and into the city, receiving a swift blow to the jaw as she stormed past him. Nothing was going to stop her from helping TK.

Several people called out to her to come back but she ignored them, covering her mouth with her hand as she ran into the smoke.

Her eyes stung and teared up as ash and smoke blew into them mercilessly as she ran through the fiery town, Gatomon at her side, suffering as she was. Kari jumped as there was an explosion beside her and a building half collapsed. "You don't have to come Gatomon. You can just go back to safety if you want," Kari said as they navigated through the barely visible streets, fearing for her partner.

"Hikari Kamiya," Gatomon said, not caring if anyone heard her call the runaway by her full name, "remember the promise we made? I'm never going to leave you." Kari felt a lump gather in her throat that had nothing to do with the smoke. It would have been a beautiful moment if they had not arrived at the tavern at that moment. It was covered in ash and the structure was visibly unstable, choosing that moment for the top left hand corner of the building to crumble away.

Kari gulped and pulled open the rickety door, blackened from the smoke. She yelped as a cloud of boiling smoke billowed out of the building, making her cough and splutter but she carried on into the building anyway, feeling for Gatomon's comforting presence to make the fear go away.

Her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the building. It was dark and there were pieces of debris scattered everywhere and the floor was glistening like the stars as light from the crackling fire reflected on the broken glass that covered the entire bar. The heat was immense and brought tears to Kari's eyes. She dropped her hand and pulled her cloak up over her mouth to filter out some of the smoke. She looked sympathetically at Gatomon, who looked like she was having a hard time breathing in the smoke.

"In my arms," she commanded. She was shocked by the authority in her own voice. She never gave orders to Gatomon – they were partners, meaning she wasn't in charge of Gatomon and Gatomon wasn't in charge of her. Gatomon looked at her but knew that Kari was just worried for her. It wasn't an order as such but more like Kari was doing what she could do to protect her and so she complied without complaint.

Kari clutched Gatomon to her protectively, pulling the cloak over both of their mouths, although it was completely over Gatomon, and quickly made her way behind the bar and through the door, just in time to avoid a glass bottle exploding in the heat. She found herself in a narrow corridor that was almost pitch black. "Almost there Gatomon. Everything will be OK, you'll see," Kari managed to say softly, hoping to comfort her digimon.

She reached the end of the corridor and felt her shoulders slump in defeat. A large beam had fallen, blocking the small doorway. There was a small gap behind with a patch of tan fur hanging on it. "Patamon," whispered Kari. She gathered her strength and tried to shift it with Gatomon jumping out of her arms to help but it wouldn't budge an inch. She felt her herself becoming slightly light headed, as the smoke blocked the oxygen from entering her body.

Gatomon was panting in the floor, her eyes bloodshot. 'I have to do something.' She concentrated on everything that she had learnt at the palace, every single lesson to try and recall something useful. 'Physics, physics, physics – come on there has to be something…pivots!' "Gatomon, stand back," Kari said and drew her ruby sword, its silent glow giving her light to work in. She slid the end of the blade under the beam and forced her weight down on the handle. The beam groaned, lifting into the air momentarily before dropping back into the same position as before.

Kari let out a cry of frustration, laced with fear. Gatomon wouldn't be able take much more of the smoke and nor would she and TK was still trapped. She focused all of her energy into forced down on the sword. This time the resulting groan seemed to shake the room, before the beam fell away to the side, creating a gash in Kari's leg in the process. She cried out in pain, fresh tears working their way into her eyes but tried to ignore the pain and continued with the task at hand.

She sheathed her sword and took a weakening Gatomon in her arms once as she staggered through the door, which collapsed as she began to open it. She limped into the room, unable to see a thing. Suddenly the ground gave way as she tripped over something warm. Panic flew through her as she felt the person's chest. It wasn't moving. "TK?" She drew her sword again, then soft glow allowing relief into her heart. It wasn't TK, just someone else.

She clutched Gatomon close to her protectively, sensing her partner had lost consciousness. She dragged herself across the floor weakly; her energy was rapidly abandoning her now most likely because of blood loss from the injury and smoke asphyxiation.

She reached down and touched her leg and felt the warmth of her blood, her suspicions confirmed. And, as if things couldn't get any worse, the room was filling with more smoke now and she could here the gentle crackle of flames nearby. She had wasted too much time in shifting the beam and the fire had caught up with them.

Through the murk she could make out a figure across the room. She drew on her remaining energy and got to her feet and limped most of the way towards it. The smoke parted for a second and she could make out TK's blonde hair, knowing that he was there, her energy left her once again, leaving her to crawl across the room until she collapsed by his side, the rising heat of the room becoming too much for her.

She was almost there but she was unsure if she could make it any further. She rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling, the beam above her was ablaze in a strangely beautiful way. 'I'm so sorry Gatomon. I've let you down, even though I promised I would never let anything happen to you.'

-

The young princess cried as Salamon was returned to her arms, her paws bleeding and blue eyes full of pain. "I'm so sorry Salamon. I didn't know that this would happen to you. This shouldn't have happened."

"It's OK Kari," Salamon said, putting on a brave face, "I'm fine."

Kari heard her but her eyes told her otherwise. "This is all my fault. It should've been me. I'm sorry."

"It wasn't your fault Kari. You weren't the one who did this."

"But it's my fault for angering father. If I didn't then he wouldn't have punished you."

"He punished you too, worse than me."

"But if I didn't try to escape then you wouldn't have had to go through that pain and don't say you didn't. I could feel it," tears began to fall on Salamon, "You must have been in so much pain for me to feel it and it was my fault. You're hurt because of me."

"I don't mind. I just want to see you happy and that will never happen whilst you're here. I promise to stick by your dreams no matter what happens. I'll never leave you." Her eyes were so full of love, trust and loyalty that Kari almost burst into tears again. She needed to give something back to Salamon.

"Then I promise never to let anything happen to you if I can help it." Kari shed a tear that began to glow as it landed on Salamon's forehead. As Kari embraced her only friend left in the world, Salamon digivolved into Gatomon for the first time.

-

"No," Kari said stubbornly, "I won't let you down. I made a promise."

As she rolled back to face TK, Kari felt herself losing consciousness. The ash filled smoke was cloying up her lungs and sticking to the moisture of her teary eyes. She could barely see TK next to her. He was unconscious from what she could tell. Patamon had curled up in TK's protective arms and she could tell the smoke was already taking its toll on the small creature, who didn't appear to be moving.

Her arms were wrapped protectively around Gatomon. She could hear the flames licking at the door and she shuffled weakly over to TK, silently cursing her body for giving in to the smoke. She placed a hand on his chest and was somewhat relieved to find it moving slightly.

She coughed, the ash grating across her throat painfully, and she moved her hand to Patamon's chest and found that it too was moving, although weaker than TK's and – it scared her. Despite her constant glares she had developed feelings of respect for the travelling pair and certainly didn't want to see them turn up dead. There was a loud thud as a beam gave way and crashed to the floor, where she had been only moments before.

Despite the unbearable heat, she shivered at how close a call it had been but knew that it was just the beginning. She was too weak to carry TK and Patamon out and even if she could the door was blocked and on fire and there were no windows. She could see no way out. 'Gatomon.'

-

Gatomon opened her eyes, feeling a familiar wave of energy. She looked up to see Kari's eyes glowing. "You hear the drums don't you?" she asked in a raspy voice. Kari nodded. "Just be careful, remember what happened last time. You scared me."

Kari nodded and dug inside her bag, removing her most treasured possession and placing it on the floor. She could see the forest clearly as the mist faded. Gatomon automatically held onto Kari, as the girl leant over TK and Patamon, wrapping one arm around them whilst placing her free hand on the mirror.

The world seemed to swing around them and for terrifying second they were looking down at the ceiling of the tavern, falling upwards towards them, as they floated in the air as it swung below them but the moment passed and they were lying on the forest floor. The cool earth smelled sweet compared to the choking air of the fire. The birds sounded all the sweeter without out the sound of the crackling flames in the background. The air, free of the suffocating smoke, was sweet and pure.

Kari smiled weakly, knowing that they were safe and pushed herself to her feet, replacing the mirror in her bag and out of sight before she began shaking TK. He groaned, coughed and opened his eyes. His cloudy eyes suddenly focused and he bolted upright, patting himself as if to make sure he was really there.

"I'm a alive," he laughed, "I'm alive, I'm a-Patamon?" His eyes landed on his furry friend and Kari watched in amusement as Patamon opened his eyes and TK joyfully started throwing him up in the air and catching him.

"It's good to see yo…" Kari's voice trailed off and she fell backwards, seemingly floating to the floor as her eyes closed.

"Kari," cried TK, somehow managing to catch her before she fell, forgetting about Patamon who landed on the floor with a disgruntled look.

"What happened?" demanded TK, after checking that Kari was still breathing.

"She's OK, apart from that gash on her leg. She just tired herself out too much. I told her to be careful. I reminded her that this is what happened last time but then we had no choice. Pass out for about twenty-four hours or die from asphyxiation or possibly burning to death in that god forsaken tavern," Gatomon said. She might have sounded harsh but really she was just concerned.

"What did she do?" asked TK, more confused than he was before, "And what do you mean 'pass out for twenty-four hours'?"

Gatomon looked down, wariness filling her expression and her eyes guarded. "She saved your lives and that's all you need to know for now and as an answer for your second question, that's the price she had to pay for saving all of our lives. You wouldn't believe how close a call it was."

TK studied Gatomon. The air of mystery around her and her human was stronger than ever and he knew he wasn't going to hear another word on the matter until they were ready to talk. "Fine but we better sort that wound out before we do anything else. It looks pretty bad. Do you think she can handle it?" TK asked, looking up at Gatomon.

"She's had worse," she replied gravely, before disappearing into the trees. TK raised an eyebrow, looking from the trees to Kari. 'Why did Gatomon just leave her partner? And what does she mean by worse?'

He shrugged it off and delved into his sack, removing an old shirt and tore it into strips, before picking up his decanter of whisky, which he didn't drink – the alcohol in it was good for cleaning wounds, and taking both over to Kari.

He knelt down next to her and lifted her trouser leg so that he could inspect her wound. It looked nasty that was for sure and was still bleeding but luckily it was clean, meaning whatever caused her such a nasty injury wouldn't have poisoned her but that still left her open to airborne diseases.

He poured some of the whiskey onto one of the strips of cloth and began cleaning Kari's wound, the alcohol killing off anything that shouldn't be there. Even in her unconscious state Kari winced in pain as TK laboured over the task, when he was finally finished he picked up what looked to be the cleanest part of the cloth and was about to bandage the wound when Gatomon appeared with a mixture of berries in her hand.

"Wait," she said, placing a paw on his hand to stop him wrapping the makeshift bandage around Kari's leg. Gatomon then picked up to large and smooth stones. She placed the berries on the flatter of the two and mashed them into a fine purplish paste, which she put on Kari's wound, not fearing she could be making it worse. Seeing TK's questioning look she spoke up, "The paste helps prevent disease while making the wound heal faster at the same time. You can bandage her now if you like."

TK nodded, dumbfounded by Gatomon's knowledge of healing plants. Most travellers knew the basics, dock leaves for stinging nettle stings, lavender for relaxation, elderberry to speed up recovery from the flu and poppy seed to help sleeping and relieve pain, but what Gatomon appeared to know seemed to go beyond the basics. He would have asked, if he had not seen the look on Gatomon's face warning him not to.

Gatomon silently curled up next to Kari, trying to hide the irrational fear in her eyes – irrational because she knew Kari would be fine.

He studied the pair and smiled at how perfectly they went together. They were one of the closest, if not then the closest, partnering he had ever encountered between a human and a digimon.

In the short time he had known them he had come to learn that they had the perfect symbiotic relationship, giving each other support and unconditional love constantly without out the other having to appeal in any form for it. They needed each other that much was clear. He could tell that they would do anything for each other and it warmed his heart, making him hope that his and Patamon's relationship was just as strong.

-

The first thing Kari became aware of was the unpleasant throbbing in her leg, not that it hurt, in fact she couldn't feel much pain at all, it was just the unnatural pulsing of her leg made it seem so. The second thing that she became aware of was that she was awake, or at least capable of conscious thought so she must have regained one form of consciousness or another.

In the moment of peace, the sounds and sights of the world around having not returned yet, gave her a chance to relax and not worry about everything that had happened, forget that she was a princess on the run and forget that her friends – for that was what she had to admit, somewhat reluctantly, to herself at least was what TK and Patamon had become to her – had almost died.

In the quiet darkness she found herself in she concentrated on remembering why she was there in the first place. She could remember the fire but what happened after that? Did they get out? Scratch that, was she dead?

She couldn't remember getting out – that had to mean she was dead right? But then again, if she was dead, why was her leg throbbing in the unpleasant manner that she was becoming accustomed to? Surely if she had died than such an injury wouldn't bother her because she would have no solid presence or body. No, she came to the conclusion that she was very much alive. The only thing that bothered her was the how she was still alive.

Try as she might, every time the answer came close it seemed to be pushed out of her mind by some part of her subconscious that didn't want her to know. Unfortunately that just made her want to know more than ever. She concentrated hard on the memories.

Suddenly the dark world around her came alive. She could see flashes of the fire, feel brief flashes of the pain and smell the smoke. She shook her head violently to tear herself away from the memories; it was just too real to comprehend. It was like the memories were coming to life around her. She could feel the panic rising in her again, the beat of her heart rising steadily in her ears.

It died away almost instantaneously, she the calm darkness surround her again and began to understand that it was best not to force the memories, wherever she was.

As she lay there, at least she assumed she lay there but nothing could be certain in her state of half consciousness, she let herself relax and decided to think about something else, letting the memory flow through her. Once again the now familiar darkness changed and was replaced with stepping-stones going over a crystal clear river with grassy meadows at each side.

She was standing on one of the stepping stones now and looking into the water she could see her reflection, she looked about ten and Nyaromon was by her foot and although she knew these images well, they were blurry and unfocused due to the loss of a few minor details in the years since it had happened. She turned to her blonde friend 'Takumi' and his partner. They were unfocused too and Kari couldn't see any distinctive features of his face.

She looked back down at the water. It looked cold considering it was almost winter. "Careful not to slip," she teased as she hopped to the next stone.

Nayaromon was on the stone in front of her and her best friend was behind her, she moved to jump forward again but she noticed Nayaromon hadn't moved and so suddenly stopped, as to avoid falling in the water because the stone was taken, unfortunately when she made the move to jump 'Takumi' had done just that, and crashed into her back, falling backwards into the water. In a last ditch attempt to stable himself he grabbed Kari's wrist, only to pull her into the water on top of him.

They fell into the icy water with a tremendous splash. "Kumi," she shrieked, water pouring down her face and onto his from the compromising position they had landed in, with her on top of him and arms still holding him tight from where she had tried to shield herself from the fall.

"P-Princess K-K-Kari," her childhood friend stuttered in embarrassment, "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to."

He was cut off by her laughter. "It was my fault, anyway. And there's no harm was done."

"I guess," he said uncertainly, looking up into her twinkling ruby eyes, which was when he realised they were still in the compromising position. "Princess, I think you need to get off me now or we'll freeze in this water."

Kari's face turned red in embarrassment as she rather quickly forced herself off Takumi and stood up. "Sorry. I didn't realise," suddenly there was a mischievous twinkle in her eyes.

"What are you up to Princess?" Takumi asked, shifting backwards in the river.

"Nothing," she said taking a large step towards him, before splashing him in the face. The princess stood over him laughing, a smug look on her face.

"Princess," he exclaimed as he shivered and splashed her back, wiping away that smug look. They began laughing and running around splashing each other, as their digimon watched from the safety of the grassy banks. Eventually when they tired they climbed out of the water and lay on the side shivering.

Kari remembered how they had been ill for a week after that. The cool darkness surrounded her once again, when she felt eyes on her all of a sudden. She looked up and saw a man standing over her.

Even in the strange state she was in she knew that this wasn't a memory, somebody else had joined his consciousness to hers for the time being and she knew what was going on. According to the book that she learned of her powers of she was untraceable by magic but that didn't mean there weren't ways around that.

Dark ways.

The man was looking at her like she was prey and in that moment, that's what she became. She tried to move but found that it was impossible, a circle made of ancient runes was glowing around her, freezing her to the spot.

Her feet were heavy, as if set into the ground itself. She began to struggle but the same stiffness travelled up her body into she felt like nothing more than a living statue. Her mind cried out, screaming for help but the world around her remained silent.

The man walked over to her, his face covered by his hood, shadowing his features. Whisps of dark smoke seemed to flaot around the pail patches of his face that she could see like a mask.

"You've become much of a nuisance, Princess Hikari," he said, his voice came from all around her, sometimes close to her ear and sometimes further away, cutting off at different points in the sentence and changing locations. It sent chills down her spine.

She tried to struggle more but the runes at her feet glowed brighter and pain shot down her body.

"You really shouldn't struggle. It'll make this much harder for the both of us."

Without a word he grabbed her wrist and she felt it burning in pain, like someone had clamped a molten shackle around her wrist. She tried to cry out, move, pull away – anything – but her body did not respond to her wishes. She wanted to cry but no tears came.

Hatred filled her, resenting the man who took away the control of her body and attacked her in her very mind. Thoughts of bitteness consumed her into the pain took all thoughts away. There was nothing but the burning, the fire travelling up her arm.

There was only pain.

Suddenly the man released her wrist and she could see a tattoo had been burned into her skin. The gruesome snake encircling her entire wrist, the head and tail looped at the end forming a complete circle.

Looking up she saw that the cloaked man hadn't released her willingly; a second figure had in fact torn him away from her, his dark brown bangs hiding his eyes.

The first man struggled against him, twisting his elbow up into the second's face with force. Imobile, she watched as they struggled against each other, the newest arrival seemingly trying to keep the second away from her.

She was unsure whether to feel grateful or not, while he appeared to be protecting her for some reason, he too had broken into her mind. He had forced himself into the most private of places.

The second appeared to have won the fight as the first faded into nothing, although the mark on her wrist remained, meaning the damage was donw.

The brunette turned to her, walking closer to her as she struggled against the runes. He grabbed her wrist and, although much gentler than the first sorcerer, she still felt the rage at being unable to defend herself. He examined the mark closely, his face obscured by the mess his hair had become in the fight but she could clearly make out the frown on his face.

"The man has marked you with his own seal of magic," he informed her, still examining her wrist, his hands fading slightly. "I can't stay much longer. Know that whoever has marked you will be able to trace their own magic. Your location is no longer a secret Hikari.

"You must move before they find you, don't stop, and whatever you do keep your mind protected. I will not be able to help you next time."

The glowing runes faded slightly and she regained some movement.

"Who are you?"

"An ally."

The man faded into nothing along with the golden runes that had ensared her mind, freeing her from its binding.

Kari opened her eyes.

-

She knew this time she was fully conscious, her panting breath was heavy in her ears, the smell of pine filled her nostrils and Gatomon's wide eyes were staring at her worriedly. She knew what Gatomon would be seeing. Her own eyes were dilated in fear, she was breathing heavily to calm herself down and she had just come round from unconsciousness very abruptly.

"What is it?" Gatomon asked, her voice filled with concern.

"Nothing … It's nothing," Kari lied, not wanting to worry her partner further, "Just a nightmare." Gatomon nodded. She was used to Kari having nightmares, although they were much rarer now than they used to be. "Could you go get TK, I'm guessing I've been unconscious a while and he'd like to know, after that you can explain just why I was unconscious."

Gatomon nodded. "Sure but it would be easier to tell you what happened without them here."

"Why?"

"You used the mirror." Kari looked shocked for a moment before the memory came to her. She nodded in understanding.

"What have you told them?"

"Nothing yet. I told them that you'd explain once you came round."

"OK, I'll think of something whilst you fetch them."

"You sure that you'll be ready."

"Do you doubt me?" asked Kari.

"Course not but you're still tired, I'm just worried."

"I'll be fine," Kari smiled. Gatomon nodded reluctantly and went to fetch TK and Patamon, disappearing through the bushes to meet them by a river they were fishing in.

Once she was out of sight Kari pulled up her sleeve, revealing her new tattoo. It pulsed momentarily with a light blue light.

This was going to be a problem.

A/N: Please review. I'll be updating probably every two days now. So that's good for all my loyal readers.

Changes made to this aren't so dramatic. I changed the scene where the seal is put on her arm a bit. She didn't get to talk to the brunette before. Also there's a few small bits that are building up to a point that I'm trying about Kari. (You won't know until later. *grins evily*)

Also I'm rebuilding fight scenes this has, especially the one that's in the next chapter, which I have to admit was a pretty poor attempt. It's going to be slightly darker but there's more character in it. It's not going to be too dark, just slightly. Afterall, it's a war and I've been avoiding death.

That said, please REVIEW. Tell me what you think and what could be done to make it better.