Yyyyeeeeeeesssssss! It's finally done! :DDDD I don't think I've ever been this happy to post a new chapter in this. I've been waiting for forever to finally write all of these parts, and it's the most amazing feeling to finally be able to. A lot of really big events go on in this chapter, and it's just...I just couldn't wait to write all of these parts and I really hope that you guys enjoy reading them as well!

The story is starting to get to that point where I'm planning out how many chapters I have until the end, and I'm thinking that I might only make it to around...17 at the most. Maybe. I'm not sure how much more I can drag it out, and honestly, I don't want to make it last forever because every good story is made great by its ending, and I want to make the best ending I possibly can so that I don't feel like I couldn't done better and you guys don't feel like you got the short end of the stick and feel dissatisfied. But don't worry, I'll think up something awesome :D

I feel like there's something else that I've got to tell you guys, but I can't remember it, so... XD Thanks a bunch for sticking with me this far despite how much time it takes for me to finish a chapter in this (and all of my stories for that matter lol. Sorry about that), it really means a lot to me that people like this story and are enjoying the time they spend reading it. I'd love to know what you guys think, so please leave a review if you can spare the time :)

Please enjoy!

Chapter 10~

I don't think that any night had passed as slowly as yesterday's had, and I had plenty to pick from due to my inability to sleep. But there was no contest.

Ken and his mother had done the best that they could to at least cover up the damage that Strabimon and I had made to the floors and the glass, but most of it would need to be repaired by a professional. I'd done what I could to help and had apologized multiple times, but none of it felt like it made up for what I had caused. Both Mrs. Ichijouji and her son had attempted to convince me that what meant the most to them was that everyone was safe and that Strabimon was gone because of my fighting him, but it didn't make me feel all right. Nothing that they said rid me of my rightful guilt.

And it really didn't help when Mr. Ichijouji came home and flipped out over my being there. Not to mention all the damage to the apartment—which he automatically and rightly blamed on me. It had been a pain in the neck attempting to explain to him how I wasn't going to hurt anyone, especially when he went and got a weapon: The deadly, deadly, cursed broom. Because what monster isn't afraid of those?

Of course, just to make sure he never tried to defend his family with a stupid broom ever again, I easily took it from him and completely destroyed it to show how pathetic a weapon it was. However, looking back on it now, I realize that that probably wasn't the best thing to have done to someone who you're trying to convince that you're not as dangerous as you look. Thankfully, I'm a brilliant liar.

Nevertheless, I hadn't been able to change Mr. Ichijouji's mind on my own, and I probably would've been kicked out if Davis, Ken, and Mrs. Ichijouji hadn't given me a hand in explaining everything. They described the fight with Strabimon and how I'd protected the three of them at the expense of the apartment—which I still felt really badly about. I knew that I shouldn't since the soul was far more important than material things, but still. I just couldn't stop.

After staying up the whole night watching over the four of them and making sure that Strabimon wouldn't come back for a sneak attack, I ran Davis and his Digimon partner back home early in the morning. It didn't feel…safe on the subway train anymore. Being in an enclosed place with a bunch of other humans when the only human that truly meant anything to me was being hunted because of me…it was a death sentence for anyone involved.

So, not wanting me to be uncomfortable and twitchy in public, Davis reluctantly allowed me to carry him to his home. I'd wrapped him up in a blanket that the Ken had let me borrow to keep Davis from freezing in the rain, but even with that on he'd been soaked when we got back to Odaiba and his apartment building. DemiVeemon seemed to have liked the ride though.

When we did get back to his home, the both of us were barraged by questions from Davis's parents concerning what had gone on last night since Mrs. Ichijouji's phone call hadn't been very informative. If anything, it had brought up far more questions and concerns than it had eliminated. Granted, the woman had been pretty flustered when making the call in the first place, so it made sense that the recipients of the message hadn't been put at ease.

The brunette's parents had never really officially met me before, so they weren't that eager to believe that which I told them. However, when compared to Davis's version of the story and given proof through my own rapidly healing injuries and the cut that Strabimon had made on Davis's leg, they saw that we were telling them the truth and let the subject drop. As long as I never let it happen again. And I didn't intend to.

To be honest, I had been surprised that they let it drop as quickly as they had. I mean, Mr. and Mrs. Ichijouji had nearly made themselves black out with fear and worry for their son, but the Motomiya parents had taken the news so…calmly. At first I'd thought that they were just used to their son going after different evil Digimon and they didn't fret as much about him anymore since he always came back in one piece, but when I thought again, I saw that that wasn't entirely true.

I saw later that their silence and calm demeanor was a mere façade, a guise of shock that hid their panic and terror from their son as not to disturb or alarm him. They were worried and scared to death for their child, for they knew that he fought against foes that they could neither understand nor protect him from since his life was intertwined with the very existence of those creatures, of Digimon. Of monsters like me.

I discovered that their mask of serenity and understanding of the situation had been a fake when Davis had left the living room to yell at his sister about a song that she was playing, but his parents had stopped me before I could follow. I'd thought then that they were going to forbid me from being there with Davis anymore since it was painfully obvious that if I'd never come, then none of this mess with Strabimon ever would've taken place.

But that's not what they wanted to talk about. Well, it was, but…kicking me out of their son's life wasn't the point that they were after. Instead, the conversation began a moment or two after they convinced me to sit with them in the living room. "…Moroamon," Mr. Motomiya started off the entire thing by almost forgetting what Davis had been calling me for the past while. But that didn't bother me. What did, however, was the air of urgency that I felt wafting through the atmosphere, clouding it with anxiousness and fear. I didn't like it.

"The Mrs. and I both know that there are a lot of things about Davis's life that we're never going to be able to understand—meaning, all of this…Digimon stuff. But he's said a lot about you, and he seems to trust you with a lot more than what he probably should be, and that's what we need to talk to you about. We need you to promise that whenever our son walks out that door, you'll be right there with him and you won't let anything happen to him," The man and his currently silent wife stared strongly at me, their worry for their son giving them that power to look upon me with false confidence. "Please. We need your word."

I gazed blankly back at the both of them, watching their uneven breathing, listening to their fear force their hearts to pound loudly and quickly. The scent of their overwhelming emotions fogged my mind to the point where I felt the need to snort or breathe through my mouth instead of my nose. But I knew better than to focus solely on what my physical senses could pick up. In this situation, none of that mattered. I had to test the waters of their souls, not the solidness of their physical forms. I had to understand them completely.

And, in reality, it was simple to do so.

Davis's father was the only one speaking because his wife was obviously too distraught over the thought of losing her only son that she found talking next to impossible. Besides, the man was supposed to be the leader of the human household anyway, so it was his job to protect and defend his family. This time, however, Mr. Motomiya found himself powerless against the evildoers that threatened harm upon his child, but he still knew that he needed to guard his family somehow. So, he was begging me to make up for where he would surely fail.

And, in love and loyalty to the only one who'd stayed, I had no other answer aside from the one that I gave to them. Standing, I declared to the two of them in a strong and bold, yet hushed voice so that Davis and his sister would not overhear, so that Master might not overhear, "I will guard every breath that he breathes until I can no longer breathe myself. Your son will never see harm from the demon I call 'master' as long as I am beside him. You have nothing to worry about, I swear it."

Currently, I was with the very person that I'd given my entire life to through an oath of sentinel-ship. Well, I was with him in a way. I was sitting cross-legged on the ground, acting as an umbrella for DemiVeemon, watching Davis like a bird of prey as he practiced with a soccer ball. My eyes were constantly being drawn to the droplets of rain and skidded across his bandaged wound, courtesy of that white devil Strabimon. But the cut didn't seem to be bothering Davis all that much, let alone the onslaught of precipitation.

The little blue Digimon who was using me to keep dry had been bouncing/swaying side-to-side on my leg for the past little while, mumbling the lyrics to one of the songs that Jun had been yelled at by her brother for playing. One, which Davis had moped greatly over, was by a fairly well-known female country/pop singer who wrote mainly wrote songs about love or some brand of heartbreak. The one that had upset him—and the one that DemiVeemon was currently humming—had been about heartbreak, but he'd refused to talk to me about it when I'd unsurely asked about it.

So, instead of pouring his relatively troubled heart out, he'd opted to go and beat out his problems through the use of a soccer ball. And honestly, as long as it made him happy, I would follow him anywhere that he wished to go, no matter what the weather and no matter the distance. It had never been of my nature to care about such trivial and miniscule things, and nor would it ever take up even a small part of the worrying mind.

Davis had brought to light a very good point a good hour or two ago when we'd first gotten to the park that we were presently in, though. The bright-eyed boy had wanted me to practice with him so that he'd actually have some competition (apparently DemiVeemon had a hard time blocking the ball, seeing he was so…tiny), but we'd realized the predicament that that would cause in a matter of seconds: My claws were sharp enough that even the slightest miscalculation on my part would cost the soccer ball its life.

With that thought in mind, the brunette decided that it would be best if I didn't touch anything, which was fine with me.

Besides, I had things that I needed to sort out, and watching Davis use the life that he'd been given usually helped me to think. And currently, I could use all the help I could get my hands on. What with the becoming-more-and-more-obvious-by-the-second betrayal I'd crafted against Lord Devimon, the vicious killer that was now after my soul purpose for remaining alive, and the unease that I felt knowing that Izzy now knew something knew that probably had to do with me…well, it all got a bit overwhelming at times.

Even the sight of Davis made everything more bearable.

However, he didn't explain anything for me—if anything, he made things even more complicated. If for any reason other than the fact that he tended to mess up my thoughts far more than he helped their processing, then because he was the main reason—if not, then the only one—that I needed to go through all of this in the first place. If I had not met Davis, none of this would've happened. He would not be in danger of Strabimon, I would not be in danger of Master's rage…

And yet, I would've wanted this same outcome every time, as long as I got to spend a moment with this hope-giving soul. Nothing had mattered this much to me before, and I wasn't about to trade something so incredible for the tiny victory of not facing trouble and hardship and pain anymore. I felt that now I understood more of what I was, and was starting to see that it was all right. I could spend eternity like this. I would watch over Davis as his life progressed as it was supposed to, and then hold fondly to his memory when he left me for a place I was not allowed to go into.

It would hurt to watch him leave me, I knew that it would. It would pain me more than anything that Master had ever put me through. But the only way for Davis to live forever was to become something like me, and that was completely out of the question. Something like me was only sought out by one person, and Davis could never come into contact with such an evil being. His soul was too precious to be lost the darkness as mine was. I would drown myself before I let that happen.

But there was one out there who would love for me to go to that extreme and I knew it. Strabimon, my demon-brother, waiting in the shadow of the rain until I lost my focus on Davis for a mere millisecond so that he could make his move. I could imagine the scene in my mind as if it were happening right before me, and the images made me shudder inside. There was an undivided knowing within me, however, that Davis would never be killed by Strabimon, for I would not allow such an outcome to be admitted to reality. It was one of the few things that I ruled as impossible.

The only reason that I saw it like that was because of how the emotion I felt for Davis worked, what it thrived on, what it needed, what it made me willing to do. There was no end to the list of acts that I would commit, words that I would utter, thoughts that I would brand within my own mind, if it meant something important regarding Davis. There was nothing that I would not do to protect that DigiDestined. I might even be able to summon enough courage to face-off against Lord Devimon.

My mind snapped back down to ground level at the unimaginable thought, the thought that sent a surge of terror and anxiety rushing through my body like blood through a human. I'd never fought against Master before, merely struggled some whenever he beat me, but that was all. It had never even crossed my mind before for fear that he might read my thoughts and deal with me harshly for thinking of such treacherous ideas.

But I couldn't help myself anymore. There were things that needed to be thought of, questions that I know knew needed to be voiced, and answers that would have to find their way to me one way or another. However, I could not ask Devimon these things. He would sooner strike me down dead than allow my mind to wander from the mission that I was supposed to be fulfilling. He knew not of mercy.

This meeting today with Izzy and the other DigiDestined, however, might be the opportunity that I'd been hoping for.

The message that Izzy had sent to Ken last night had been brief but filled with a sense of urgency, need-to-know-now information dwelled within his mind. And a part of me knew that this information had something to do with me. It may be a close connection, or it may be a string of events and persons tying me to what he needed to say, but I knew that I would be part of it. Why else would he have needed to be sure that Ken and Davis would find a way to get me there?

That same part of me that knew that the meeting was going to be about me also had a bad feeling about the information that would be leaked. Everything about me that hadn't already been told was to remain untold for a reason. It was all about how I was a follower of Devimon. How I wasn't actually a human but had tricked them into thinking that so that they would find it easier to accept my presence. How I truly was only here to kill. How I hadn't been being controlled, that it was all me.

If that was the data that Izzy had uncovered about me…then I was doomed in every meaning of the word.

Davis would fall away from me, Master would send all kinds of his servants after me to make sure that I paid the price for my insolence and failure, everything and anything that had once made my world bearable in the least would fade and become nothing. I would be alone in a life that would never end until someone was finally able to kill me, a feat that no mere being would be able to accomplish. But I might have a chance at succeeding at that same challenge.

That thought alone was enough to send a small shudder through my spine; it was disturbing, how I knew that it was incredibly true, an incredibly real outcome of my solitude. In a normal world, solitude didn't bother me, but after having spent so much of my time on Davis, thriving and yearning to find myself because of the strange influence he had on me…If that were to change between us and leave me to suffer with Master for the rest of eternity, there was no doubt about what I'd do. What I'd need.

And that one thing would be a way out.

Pulling myself from my thoughts for a moment, I re-focused my gaze upon the rain-soaked brunette. However, the precipitation didn't seem to faze the boy in the slightest, and he continued to practice a number of techniques with the muddied soccer ball. It was quite surprising, actually, how graceful he could be, how fluently he could move, how devoted his soul was to whatever he set his heart upon. In all honesty, it was inspiring.

Though, even the brightest glory of all had a few moments of darkness tainting it, a reminder to remain humble in the face of all those who were prideful, and Davis was the same. As the DigiDestined dribbled the ball in the general direction of the tree that he'd been mercilessly beating upon for the past few hours, he drove the ball hard with his foot at the trunk, just as he had many times before. But this time, the ball hit in just the right spot so that it came flying back, and before Davis could react, it smacked him hard in the face with a sound that sounded like a slap from an angry woman.

He let out a groan of pain, gripping his face in his hands as his head began to pound and throb with pain. Brown eyes noticed my stare after a moment, and Davis turned to me and called with a hint of embarrassment, "…You didn't see that one, right?" I could sense the death of his pride nearing quickly, and it influenced my reply a great deal.

"Would it make you happy if I said I didn't?" I questioned with the same blank, wide-eyed look that I always wore. It was a kind of expression that I knew exerted a sense of mysteriousness, something that assassins needed desperately if they were to be successful, if they were to complete their missions and keep from the discipline of their ring masters. The boss that would quicker have them shot and dismembered than wait a mere second for an explanation or apology.

I knew that Davis would do nothing of that sort, but I was too used to that kind of treatment to be able to give any other kind of stare to those I spoke unto. It was burned too deeply into my innermost being, memories of beatings, of pain, of death and destruction and malice and hurt. Those were things that a person never forgot, thought the memory may fade. You never forgot.

Davis thought for a moment, biting his bottom lip as he mulled over the positives and negatives that his reply would deal to him. But he chose his words rather quickly. "Kinda, yeah," he said in a tone that stated clearly that he wished that time travel had been invented around this time so he could go back and convince himself to duck faster. Or not kick soccer balls at trees anymore. Either one.

"Then I didn't see a thing." Upon hearing my response, a small but sweet and pleased smile graced me with its presence. The gesture that so strongly told me of his belief in our friendship made me want to return a smile like that, one that was not lying or filled by jagged saws that shouldn't even be called 'teeth'. My mouth had never been meant for a peaceful grin, never one that expressed anything except for that lust for blood, for pain, for destruction and fire. I couldn't give Davis one of those smiles.

I was forced to settle for a small upward twitch of the corner of my mouth, which felt like it was so forced that you could see the string yanking up on my lip. But Davis seemed satisfied with it, and even gave a little chuckle at how socially awkward I was (well, that was what he called me at least. And Jun. And all of the other DigiDestined apparently thought that as well. And Davis's parents. And everyone else who'd ever seen me) before gleefully returning to his practicing.

I wasn't sure that I would ever stop wishing that I hadn't lied to him before, about me actually being a human that had been turned into a strange Digimon-human creature. I wished that such a thing was true so that there would be a chance for me to become like him, so I wouldn't have to be constantly plagued by the knowledge that I would never be able to live a normal life with him, that he could never live one with me around. I would have to leave eventually, hide in the shadows of his world and never appear to him again.

Like the scene that had flashed through my mind once before, I would only ever return on his last day. Just so we could see one another face-to-face one last time. I would need that memory if I was to spend eternity on my own—

"Moroamon?" I was ripped from my thoughts when DemiVeemon's tiny voice came to me, the sound of it almost drowned out by the thudding of the rain upon the dirt. Glancing down at the blue creature, I saw that he was staring up at me with those large scarlet eyes, though they were now sad. "I've been wondering something about yesterday. Strabimon said that he'd come for Davis because…'Lord' Devimon sent him. And then…you said 'Master'…

"Do you work for…Devimon, Moroamon? Have you been lying to us?" My breath found itself trapped in my throat; my lungs refused to accept any more oxygen until my heart re-started. I'd never thought once that any of them, especially one of the Digimon, would even get a guess at who my leader was. A brief thought had passed through me last night that one of them might hear Strabimon talking, but I hadn't thought that anyone actually had!

But DemiVeemon had. He knew, though he wasn't completely sure yet. The Digimon on my lap had a kind heart, I knew, and that was why he'd come to me with his suspicions first. He hadn't wanted to spread a fact that he thought that he knew, only to have it end up being a rumor that caused all kinds of trouble for everyone involved. He didn't want to come right out and accuse me. He wanted my side of the story, my explanations. He wanted me to say 'no, that's silly'.

And I couldn't do any of that. Not without more lies.

I had no choice, though. It killed me now, to stare down into the innocent eyes of a Digimon that trusted me with his best friend, his partner, and lie right through my teeth, but I just didn't have a choice anymore. There were no choices with Master. "…Devimon is the one that changed me, yes, but you cannot tell anyone, DemiVeemon," I reinforced my whispered words by touching a claw to his lips very gently. "If they know, they will be targets. They will be hunted by beings far worse than Strabimon, far worse than me, and they will die. You are safe; you can protect yourself.

"But you can't protect everyone…" I trailed off when DemiVeemon's now tearful gaze dropped from mine, a strange tearing at my soul making it hard to continue to speak. And in this silence now cast between the two of us, a new sound reverberated quietly in my ears: Footsteps, coming closer. Looking around for a moment, I quickly found the owners of the noise. Three of Davis's DigiDestined friends, TK, Yolei, and Cody, were approaching with solemn faces.

It was time for the meeting.

However, Davis didn't notice them. His senses were not as strong as mine, and his focus was yet again solely owned by the soccer ball spinning and rolling in whatever way his feet desired it to. His concentration was broken when Yolei called out his name, the sudden, unexpected shout distracting and slightly disorienting the boy just long enough for his feet to get tangled together with the ball. Sensing that he was about to fall, I shifted DemiVeemon to one arm and rose.

Before gravity had even formed a single thread of thought on how it wanted Davis to fall, I was at his side with my free arm around his waist, steadying him and keeping him from hitting the ground. The brunette had pinched his eyes closed, bracing himself for the impact, but slowly opened them again as his face took on a touch of surprise. Upon doing so, he saw me and realized what had happened, only to break out a grin. "I'll never get over how awesome you are…"

I gave him my now signature smile-twitch as the other three DigiDestined approached us, all of them keeping a wary eye on me. TK, however, kept both on me even as Cody began to speak; I returned the blonde's heavy gaze, but there was no malice in it like there had been the first few times we'd met. He was Davis's friend. Therefore, he had my protection, something that would remain with him no matter what he desired.

"Davis, you and Moroamon are supposed to be at Izzy's place right now! We've been waiting for you guys for a half hour and have been messaging your D-Terminal—" Which, might I add, Davis had forgotten, realized he forgot it, and then not bothered to go back and get it even though it would've taken me a matter of seconds. "—but you wouldn't answer, so the three of us had to go out in the pouring rain to find you!" Cody was quite the opposite of amused, judging by his tone.

"Yeah!" Yolei said in a very loud voice before brushing past me (I was shocked by how close she dared come to me, and after she realized what she'd just done, she seemed a bit stunned by her actions as well) and beginning to shove Davis in the direction that Izzy's house was most likely in. "So get your butt in gear and let's go!" The lavender-haired girl forcefully pushed her fellow DigiDestined out of the park and down the sidewalk, the boy uselessly fighting against her the entire time.

The two of them bickered and snapped at one another during the beginning of our little trek over to the Izumi household, but they finally quieted down when Yolei allowed Davis to walk without her shoving him. He soon fell in stride with me, walking between me and TK, who seemed less than thrilled to be so close to me, even if we were separated by another body.

But my presence apparently wasn't the only thing about me that bothered him. "Davis, doesn't it bother you at all that…she follows you around everywhere? Does she ever even leave?" I kept my gaze off of TK and on the horizon, staying out of the conversation despite it being about me. I was actually a little curious as to what Davis would say. I would like to know very much what he thinks of my behavior…

Davis made a small noise of irritation; topics regarding me were things that TK brought up rather often, apparently. I wasn't entirely surprised though, especially with the way that TK was the only one who seemed to see through my lies and the façade that I'd made to hide behind. "Listen, TK, I know she can be a little odd, but everybody has those kinds of moments. Hers just happen to be all the time. And I'm all right with it because it's who she is. She's not fake."

My eye twitched anxiously as I suppressed the urge to gulp again. I wasn't sure that I'd been in a more emotionally taxing situation that didn't involve Master beating me into a fleshy pulp. Finding it incredibly hard not to grind my teeth just for something to distract me, I had to continually remind myself that if I did that, I would end up shredding my lip by accident.

The cause of my nervousness? I was sitting next to Davis in Izzy's home, with pretty much all the other DigiDestined standing opposite the two of us. It was quite unnerving.

Not everyone was on the other side of the room, though. Ken was sitting with the two of us, but he was farther away from me than what Davis was by a good yard or so. I wasn't surprised, but at the same time it still made my stomach do antsy flips and tumbles that made me feel like I was about to be very, very sick. I hadn't really been looking forward to this meeting at all, and here I was, completely psyched out, and it hadn't even begun yet.

I was unsure what we were waiting for, though, since it appeared to me that everyone was here that needed to be. Izzy's mother was still in the apartment, however, but she was in the kitchen and probably wouldn't pay much mind to what was going on in here. She'd seemed very…calm about my appearance and hadn't asked much about me aside from my name. She hadn't appeared particularly afraid, but that didn't mean that she was comfortable having me in her home.

If it meant anything, she should know that I wasn't exactly comfortable myself.

"So, Izzy," The taller of the two blondes in the room, Matt, turned his head to glance at his friend. There was a somewhat tense look in his eye, like the silence and lack of motion in the room was just as unnerving to him. "You said that Mimi was visiting Japan again, right? Is she coming to this little conference of ours or are we waiting for the grass to grow a bit more?" The name rung a small bell in my mind; Davis had mentioned her before. She'd moved to New York City, a very nice place to hunt with…so many people…

The red-head didn't pause in his typing or glance up from the screen of his laptop as he answered, "Yeah, she's visiting again, but she's not coming. She said…well, she actually gave a lot of reasons why she didn't want to come, but the main thing was…" His fingers slowly stopped typing; I could tell that he was having a hard time not looking at me. I almost wanted him to, just so I could see more clearly into his eyes, guess with more accuracy at just what that girl might've told him.

"…I explained the situation with Moroamon to her, and she kinda freaked out—a lot worse than what's normal for her, too. She started going off about all kinds of stuff that's happened in America and how the entire nation was in a frenzy over this…serial killer…" He tapped another button on his keyboard before setting the small computer on the table in the middle of the room. "She sent me to this newsfeed online so we could understand a bit more about what's going on. And why she won't come."

Everything seemed to stop around me as the static-filled clip's sound began to fill the entire room, stealing away every thought of escape in my mind, every single fiber within me that screamed for me to get out of there now before things got worse. But I couldn't move. If I left now, then I would be condemning myself. I had to fight to prove my innocence to them if it was questioned.

Even though I had none, they needed to believe that I did.

A female reporter's voice broke through the quivering static, and the DigiDestined gathered around the laptop's screen as pictures of the scenes I'd made began to appear. But Davis sat with a stoic face beside me, never once making a move to go over to see what the others were staring in horror at, not even as the woman began to give her story.

"I'm here in the Lower East Side of New York City, currently entering the Sunnyside building, voted one of the best places to live in the entire city. However, with the latest series of events that have happened, I doubt that it's going to be getting a whole lot more business from the locals anymore. The nationwide killer has struck again, and from what I hear from the tenants who survived, it's one of his most horrendous acts yet.

"This is the twenty-third time that the killer has struck in the state of New York alone, and he seems to have no motive other than to kill. Most of the murders have been children under the age of fifteen, and I believe that that's what makes his crimes truly horrible, not to mention the gruesome way that he does it. Police still aren't entirely sure what kind of a weapon he uses to do the sort of damage that he does.

"I am now right outside the door to the apartment that was struck, and as you can see, there are no discernible nicks of any kind on the door to show forced entry here, and there are no other signs on any of the windows either. Whoever this man is, he obviously has an impressive intellect to be able to complete such 'missions' without leaving a single piece of evidence that would condemn him or give police even a thread to chase after.

"And, the moment of truth begins now. For the first time since the killings began, we will be getting a first-hand look at what these crime scenes look like. The bodies have been moved and the place has been scanned for evidence, but the rest has been left for us to show the world—" The sound of a door creaking open echoed throughout the room, followed by the reporter's blood-curdling scream, which Izzy quickly cut short by pausing the video.

"…The rest is her screaming and rambling while a bunch of other people try to calm her down…" Izzy informed the others as he closed the laptop, not wanting to look at the pictures that the cameraman had gone on to take of the sight that had terrified his co-worker and sent her spiraling into a moment of insanity. I, however, did not need the shots to remember the place that they were looking at.

There had been five children, all of them under the age of ten, some related and some not. I hadn't been sure then that they even knew that they were DigiDestined, but it didn't matter. Master wanted the data that they concealed within their bodies, and he wanted it fast. He never told me what he needed it for, but then again, I don't recall ever asking. It hadn't mattered to me, really.

The parent watching over them had left the apartment, walking downstairs to the lobby to pick up the mail. She would be gone for about ten minutes, possibly more if she stopped to talk to someone while downstairs, the time also depending on if she took the elevator or the stairs. But time didn't really matter to me; I needed only an opportunity. If she got in the way before I was done, I would just kill her too. Or let her rot in her guilt and horror for the rest of her life. Either one.

It had been a quick mission, a quiet one. I had slit their throats to silence them, then tore them apart. Blood splattered everywhere; the ceiling looked like a white version of the night sky, little speckles of red being its stars, a big streak made by a thrown limb its crescent moon. The absolute stillness that had filled the room after that feeding haunted me now, how mindless and vile I'd been to those humans…

I was no better to the DigiDestined than what Master was to me. Back then… I was him. And even now, somewhere deep within me…I was still him.

The frightened and confused silence that had gripped everyone was shaken slightly when Joe spoke up in a feeble voice, "Izzy, please tell me that you've got something besides that for us. I don't think I'm going to be able to sleep ever again after that, and I'd like something to distract myself from the stuff that goes bump in the night in my dorm room." If we'd been in a normal situation, the quips of agreement coming from a number of the others in the room would've been humorous to me.

Clearing his throat and rubbing his nose to try and help himself get over the images, the genius of the DigiDestined stood and started to pace. "Of course I've got more, Joe. That was just to explain why Mimi was afraid to come here with Moroamon being here. You see, they haven't found any incriminating evidence that would actually help out the investigation—but they're looking for a human.

"I did a bit of research after I watched that the first time earlier today, and found out that they did 'find' something very odd at all of the crime scenes, and Mimi noticed it, too: Claw marks. They were on the bodies, the furniture, everywhere that they could possibly be, even though they fit into the other destruction in the room like camouflage, so they were hard to spot if you weren't looking for them like I was." He stopped for a moment, allowing the words to sink in.

I gulped, restrained myself from standing; Davis noticed my anxiousness, appearing both concerned and a little afraid that what he was hearing was truly about me. This was very, very bad. But I still couldn't leave. "…Davis, Ken, come over here by me." Tai's command was tense, hard as the wood of an oak. "I want you to get over here now." My breaths were coming in short, quiet gasps now. I couldn't think of a single way to recover from such a plunder as this.

I was trapped. I was stuck. My lies were being uprooted. I was—

Ken reluctantly obeyed the older boy, but Davis didn't move a muscle. I watched him out of the corner of my eye, noticed that he was staring hard at the floor with a conflicted look on his face. I knew that he saw Tai as a mentor of sorts in many ways, but what was Davis doing by not listening to him? I could tell that Tai was about to ask the same sort of question, but Davis's voice sounded before he had the chance, "Keep talking, Izzy. You said you had more to tell us.

"I want to hear the rest of this before I decide whether or not to abandon my friend." The brunette's words were laced thickly with his stubborn attitude, his eyes burning brightly with hurt at how quickly his friends had turned against me. His words were chosen, I could tell, for a specific reason, though I was not sure why. Tai seemed to get the hint, however, and didn't make another sound. I wasn't sure what had gone to make that so effective, but…

"…Well, I did a bit of thinking and got in contact with Gennai about all this rain that we've been having lately, and he said that if there was something in our world that shouldn't be, the chemicals and atoms that oppose one another might cause all this precipitation. So, basically, the world is trying to wash away the thing that isn't supposed to be here. And it didn't start raining until Moroamon got here.

"But the main thing I wanted to talk about is a bit more disturbing than the whole homicide business, believe it or not," Izzy sat down on the arm of the small couch that Yolei, Kari, and Cody were on. He leaned back and picked a folder up from a nearby bookshelf, taking a few things out of it and passing them to Matt. "You and Tai should recognize her. I know that I do."

I was completely lost as they went through this little spat. Most everyone was, really, so we watched the scene before us unfold with an unwavering gaze, lest we miss a single detail. "…Yeah," Matt muttered almost inaudibly as he stared down at the picture of a young girl that he'd been handed. "She…she was a friend of mine back in the day! She gave me a nickname that had something to do with my old harmonica—who could forget that?"

The picture was passed then to Tai, whose face lit up instantly with recognition. "Yes! That girl used to make fun of my goggles and snap me in the forehead with them!" The bit of irritation in his voice at the memory faded and his tone became solemn as more memories rolled into his mind. Matt had seemed to have been hit in the same way. "She…she was supposed to come over to my house…but then she—"

"Disappeared." Izzy finished for him in a stiff tone. His arms were now crossed before his chest as he continued, all of the information that he spat out coming straight from his memory, "Five years ago today, a twelve year old girl named Satu Himiaku vanished without a single trace. The police looked for days, but eventually gave up and assumed she was dead. Her family was hysteric and moved out of the city about a month after. She was never given a second thought again, at least not by anyone with the means to find her.

"Until today." A few of the other DigiDestined made quips of surprised and confused joy at his words, others trying to get him to elaborate, while everyone wanted to know where this Satu was. But Izzy remained silent for a moment more, and then rose from his seat and strode slowly over to stand before me. I raised my trembling head to stare up at him with wide eyes, expecting him to accuse me of murdering this girl along with all the others.

But he didn't. Instead, the dark-eyed boy rested a mentally-fatigued gaze upon me, tired from trying so hard to decide what was truth and what was lies, what he would believe and what he would try to fight against. Izzy reached out and set a gentle hand on my shoulder, choosing to believe the part within him that said I was safe. "…Satu…" His voice was quiet as he said that name again. But…the way he was looking at me…it made it seem like he was calling me that… "I wanted to find you…and now I have."

"…Wh-what?" My voice was nothing more than a squeak and he comfortingly squeezed my shoulder before letting his hand slip away from me. I could feel it as the world began to slip away from me as well, as reality tumbled and fell into the darkness of the true reality, shattering as soon as the realization hit: Izzy was saying that I was a human. "No…no! That…I'm not—"

My horrified mutterings went by unheard, and Izzy went on to explain to the others how he'd come to this conclusion, while I just sat there and fell apart. "Moroamon seemed familiar to me since the very first day that I met her. I couldn't put my finger on it right away, so I let it go without much thought. But after a while, everything that Davis told me about her was starting to bother me. She seemed too…too much like someone that I'd met before.

"So, I did some searching and talked with a bunch of old classmates to see if any of them would fit with the vibe I got from Moroamon. None of them did, and, eventually, I thought about Satu. I thought about her behavior, her quirks, her vocabulary, everything about her that might connect the two of them. And, aside from the obvious qualities that make Moroamon different, she's basically a very, very advanced version of Satu herself—"

"That can't be true…" I interrupted, rising rigidly from my spot next to Davis and beginning to back away from these people. The people who were trying to make me believe my own lies. The people I was supposed to have killed long before now. The people I should've killed long before now. If I had, then my mind wouldn't be breaking into a thousand sharp-edged pieces right now. I wouldn't be questioning myself, my entire life.

I wouldn't be questioning Master again.

"…What do you mean?" Sora, who had remained inaudible and invisible by TK and Tai for the majority of this trap of a group meeting, tentatively tried to calm me, her voice low and gentle. But I wasn't falling for it. I wasn't going to let them do this to me. They couldn't pull me down into my own bottomless pit of lies as long as I didn't give up. I couldn't succumb to what they were trying to convince me of.

I was not human!

A defensive growl rose up in my throat and I fisted both my hands so hard that the skin beneath the fur and leather was beginning to turn white. I would not fall for my own lie! "It's not true! It can't be!" My shouted words came out so harsh and sharp, like nails on a chalkboard, that Izzy's mother peered into the room to see if everything was all right. But everything was not all right. This wasn't right!

"Why can't it be, then?!" Davis stood then, his arms spread away from his body as if he were offering to hold me, his body completely open and unprotected. Why is he doing this? Why is he like this with me?! What is he doing?! "Moroamon, you're not making sense!" I have to tell them why. I have to tell them that I lied. I have to or they won't let me out of here without brainwashing me into believing this load of sludge! I have to get out of here!

Matt took a step toward me now, angling his body so that he appeared smaller, less threatening in the eyes of a beast. "Moroamon, take it easy and just listen to me for a second, okay? You heard what Izzy said: He compared the two of you, Satu and you. And you matched perfectly! I see it in you, too, and so does Tai! The odds are against you three to one, Moroamon. Just calm down and let Izzy t—"

"Wait a second!" TK cried out over his brother's serene voice, breaking the blanket of calm that he'd been trying to contain my breakdown in. The smaller of the two blondes took a few steps away from his friends, hateful glare digging into my contorted, snarling face. "You told us that you were human, but changed into a Digimon! How could you deny it now unless you—"

"I lied!" I shouted over all the voices, TK's and the ones echoing incessantly within my own head. Nothing mattered anymore. Nothing except getting this stupid voice that kept telling me that they were right and I had to take it easy and I had to listen and just stop before something bad happened—No! That part of me was foolish and stupid and imaginary and wrong! I was not human! I was not human!

My icy blue eyes were on fire, burning and burning like those of a caged and cornered animal that knew it would have to fight its way out if it was to survive. And for me, I would have to throw the mission. I would have to give up. "I lied to all of you! I'm not human! I'm not Satu! I'm not some innocent little human girl who got picked up by some vile being one day who thought it would be fun to torment the human race with one of their own!

"I am the highest ranked soldier in Devimon's Nightmare Army! I am a Digimon who strikes fear into the hearts of any who hear my name or speak it! I am a creation of Lord Devimon himself, made from the very evil that surges through his veins like blood! I am his and his alone! And he sent me to kill all of those people! I killed them all!

"They were DigiDestined, like you, and I killed all of them! I was supposed to kill all of you as well, you filthy—" All words ceased to form on my tongue when I sensed someone nearing me. My head snapped in the direction of the one who dared to approach me, my eyes meeting the very boy who had stopped me from killing all of these people without a single act of violence. Davis. His steps were unhesitant as he came over to me.

I snarled at the boy, now mere feet from me, but he didn't flinch. His gaze was determined and unafraid; he wasn't afraid to be this close to a being that could easily kill him with one swipe to the side of his head, with a jab into his ribs. I wasn't sure whether to be impressed by his bravery or be stupefied by his idiocy. I never could decide between things like that when it came to this one. Maybe that was something else that made him special.

"…He's got his claws in you so deep…that you can't even make a decision on your own anymore…" Davis's voice drowned out all the others shrieking in my mind, stilled my thoughts and soon my snarl began to lose its drive. What was he…was Davis talking about Devimon? Why the hell would he make any difference right now? Why wasn't he calling me out for lying right to his face? "…Izzy found your body. Sure, it's been changed now, but still. He found you, Satu.

"But your mind…Devimon has that in the palm of his hand," The DigiDestined raised his own hand and stared down at it with contempt, as if imagining it were my master's. His eyes rose up to meet mine again, so boldly and freely, as if he still believed that we were still friends somehow. He's wrong. He has to let me go or I'll never be able to let him go. "I know you can't see it in yourself, your mortality, but I see it.

"I see it in the way that you laughed with me, the way that you try so hard to smile. You were trying so hard to be human with me—not to trick me, but so that we could be friends. And we are! You've saved my life what seems like a thousand times and I've only known you for a few weeks!" A sort of desperation crossed Davis's face, a hope that I might believe him flitted into his eyes like lightning across the sky. He began to raise his hand, wanting to touch my face, wanting to show me that he was being truthful when he said these things. "We're—"

I caught his wrist before he could touch me, forced it away from my face but did not release it even then. Squeezing him tightly as a warning, I hissed out my words to hide the trembling that I could not stop, "We. Are not. Friends. You should understand that by now. Did you not hear me when I said I lied to you? When I told you that I plotted to kill you from the beginning of all of this?! How could you still call me your friend?!" My voice had grown to an unwavering shout by the end of my speaking, my breaths fast and worthless, my eyes wild and just daring him to answer me.

A moment of silence passed between us before my gaze focused and I saw something that haunted me, froze my anger and confusion and paranoia solid. It was there in Davis's eyes, something that I'd never seen in him before. It was not that bravery that I could've easily confused for stupidity, nor was it anything of that sort. No, it was something unmistakable, something that I knew not of. I could not deny it any more than I could wish for it to be.

Love.

Not a romantic kind, not that 'true love' crap that people said existed. Nothing like that. And not the love that lasted only for a moment and was gone the next time that you looked at the person. Not the 'I pity you so I'll tell you this and make you happy for a while' sort of love. And definitely not the kind of love that Master had for me.

No. This was a love all his own. Davis's love was something else. And he was giving it to me.

I released his wrist with a shudder, watched as he resisted the urge to rub the pain away. Davis shook his head then, lowered his eyes from mine to the floor. The love was still there, but something dark was joining it. Something that looked an awful lot like hopelessness, sadness, defeat and despair. He felt all of those things for me, and they were fighting against the love that he wanted me to have. He wanted so badly for me to believe that we were friends.

That I was human.

But why would he believe all this so strongly if I was, in fact, not human? Why would he go through all of this emotional turmoil for my sake if he did not truly believe it, if he didn't see it hiding deep within me somewhere? It had to be all in his head, right? It had to have all been Izzy's little speech, it had to have been. Davis couldn't really see a human in me!

But…

I looked up at a nearby picture frame, looked at myself in the glass. Sure, I guess I looked sort of like a human. I had far too many bestial features and other-worldly things about me for it to be obvious, but sure. I suppose you could mistake me for a human in a costume. However, my physical appearance was not what Davis had referred to before.

He'd mentioned my laugh, my smile. My soul. The way that I'd cared about him, wanted to be with him, tried to be human again for him, so that we could be friends. So that we could be friends! I wanted to be human, was trying so hard to fit into the world around me, not because it was necessary for my mission, no! That wasn't even necessary! I'd never done it before, so why do it now?!

No, I was trying to be human for the very reason that he'd given. I wanted to be human again because that's what I was deep down. I wanted to fit in with other humans, be accepted once more, not have to hide in the shadows and stay up all night and hunt for blood and follow orders from evil ones for eternity. I wanted to be with Davis, but not forever. I wanted mortality, because that was what I was meant to have.

I had to be human. I was human.

My name…wasn't Moroamon. At least, it wasn't supposed to be. I was supposed to be Satu Himiaku.

But…but if I truly am human…then that would mean that I mercilessly killed hundreds of my own kind… My next breath came shuddering into my lungs. I heard a few of the DigiDestined shout my name as I dropped back onto the floor, now swimming in thoughts that screamed 'Murderer! Guilty! Kill her! Murderer!' at me louder than anything I'd ever heard from anyone else. Someone tapped my face, called out my name, but I couldn't hear whoever it was. I was lost to this world.

I had killed and mutilated children. Innocent children, who had still been blind to the true evils that hid in the dark alleys of their world, had been shredded by my claws. I'd killed mothers and fathers if they got in my way or appeared as a threat—but then again, I was not a creature that a regular human could harm easily. They had never actually been dangerous. I'd killed them because I knew I could and I was willing to put in the slight bit of effort that it took to do so. I had even killed random people just because I was hit with the urge.

How many people's lives had I ended just because Master told me to? How many lives had I ruined because I took away their son, daughter, mother, father, brother, or sister? How many people had I indirectly killed by following Master's orders? What the hell had I been thinking? Had I been blind?! I-I bled just like they did when I was harmed—why had I never noticed that?!

"Moroamon? Moroamon, come on, stay with me! Snap out of it, come on!" I felt myself being shaken slightly, my face being tapped in an effort to bring me back to the world of the living, tear me from my sickening thoughts. My vision began to return to me, and I forced my eyes up from the ground to meet the bewildered eyes of the humans around me. Davis and Matt were keeping me upright, Tai standing before me with a hand on my shoulder as he tried to get me to hear him. "…Satu?"

…That's my name…isn't it? "There's…there's only one way to know for sure…" My unexpected words surprised them, Tai's hand dropping from my shoulder as he muttered a quiet '…What?' and Davis and Matt's grip on me lessened for a moment. I shrugged the rest of the way out of their grasp, dragged my eyes from the floor to scan the room. Stopped to stare at Izzy. "There's only one person who can either make or break your theories. He's not here, but I know where to find him."

Realizing quickly who I was referring to, terror filled Izzy's eyes as he shot forward to stop me. "Don't, no! Davis, grab—" But they were all too late. I felt Davis's finger graze my side for half a second as I shot from the apartment faster than any of them would ever be able to move on their own. There had never been a single chance that they would've been able to stop me. I was gone and rushing through the rain before anyone back in the apartment had a chance to figure out what the hell had just happened.

However, none of that mattered. They could never go where I was going right now: Through the portal at the bottom of that pond, through the dark night that currently shrouded the Digital World in a sweet slumber that made them oblivious to the turmoil that was suffered by those who were still awake, and finally, into the black throne room of the master of deceit.

I flung a protesting DemiDevimon out of my way before bursting through the doors of the large and empty chasm I'd once known as 'home'. Master was there as he usually was, sitting upon his throne, the shade of it darker than dried blood. He was playing with some kind of bright light, watching it with a small, sadistic grin as he bounced it back and forth between his long fingers. It moved slowly through the air when he hit it, like one might expect an angel to float.

It was a strange and unusual sight, but I let it pass by without much thought. I had more problems than simply some villain playing with a ball of light. I stormed up to him, not paying any mind to the bowling-ball-bat fluttering around my feet. Stopping a few meters before his throne and causing DemiDevimon to crash into the back of my leg with the abruptness, I reluctantly stopped myself from bowing. Instead, I questioned him in the strongest voice I could muster, "What am I?"

Despite the audacity of my entrance and rather rude way of approaching him, Devimon did not look up at me nor seem upset in the least. He continued to toy with that strange thing in his hands, his scarlet eyes focused on it as if it were a long-lost treasure he'd spent his life looking for but had now found. "You know I don't like this game, Moroamon." He said as a rare, actually cheerful chuckle escaped his lips.

But I didn't have the patience to deal with the trouble of keeping him in a good mood. And besides, if I truly was…what I thought I was, then I shouldn't even be in a place like this with a being like him. "Stop avoiding my question! Just stop!" I shouted with a strength I knew I didn't have, a snarl tearing through my throat to try to make it seem like I did. "Just answer me, you—" I stopped short of my next insult when Master stood and tossed the light away from him, only to have it disappear.

"I don't think I like your tone," His relatively good mood had evaporated just as the ball of light had done, his small smile now nonexistent, having been replaced by a deep-set frown. Long, leather-clad legs closed the distance between us; I leaned my head back to stare up at his cold, glowing eyes. "Care to change it?" He hissed out between his vampire-like teeth, his breath as hard and chilled as the heart within his chest.

The DeviDramon in the room with us, LadyDevimon, and DemiDevimon had all grown silent, watching in awe and wonder as the scene before them unfolded. Somehow, they must've figured out about my struggles with the DigiDestined I'd been sent to take care of. They must've all known about my humanity. They had known from the beginning that this moment would come, what would become of me when it finally did. But still, they could not look away.

Don't be afraid; fear is weakness with Devimon. You can't afford to be weak right now. "I…I used to be like them, didn't I? I used to be…human…" I wanted to look away from the absolute look of hatred on my used-to-be Master's face. I'd never seen such an expression on him before, and not knowing what he plotted to do now sent thousands of knives crafted by fear into my spine and skull. "I…My name was—"

"Satu Himiaku. Yes, I know," Shock darkened my face as I tried to form words to question him with, to try and make sense of what he'd told me. Why…why would he give up the discussion to me so quickly? Did it even matter to him that I knew? "I never thought that you'd—" The back of his bony hand struck the side of my face hard, slamming the astonishment from my face and knocking me backwards onto the ground, only to have him pin me to the ground by my throat. "—figure it out…"

I struggled against his grip, trying to keep his palm up enough that I might be able to steal a few breaths here and there, but it was difficult. I hadn't had any kind of nourishment for a good few weeks now; I didn't have the power to fight someone as tough as Devimon. "You were such a little, insignificant, worthless child then, but that changed when I made you what you are now. Now you matter. But for some reason…" The demon forced his hand down more; my eyes rolled into the back of my head as I continued to fight for air.

"…You think that some rotten human—a putrid, good-for-nothing DigiDestined at that!—and his presence surpasses the great gift that I've given you…" Contempt, not just for me, but also for Davis filled Devimon's burning eyes. He didn't hate only me for trying to walk away from him, he hated Davis because he was the one who had shown me the truth! Master had wanted my only friend dead! That…I won't ever forgive you for that! "What a—"

Lord Devimon's words rapidly turned to a howl of agony when I dug my claws into his hands and pulled. Bones shattered and tendons snapped; he stole his hand back from me and I scampered back a few feet, panting and wheezing as I tried to regain what oxygen I'd missed out on before. "You know…nothing…of him. Or any of them!" I cried out boldly between troubled breaths. I knew I was testing his patience (or lack of it), but I no longer cared about what happened to me.

I knew the truth now. Nothing else mattered.

With a roar ripping through my lungs, I tore into a run and flew at Devimon's face, aiming to tear him to shreds and burn the pieces until he was nothing more than ash. Torches rested on the walls all around us; it would be simple. No one else here would be able to stop me once I was rid of their leader. They were like aliens on a new planet without Devimon; they would be at my mercy, unable to think for themselves once the shock set in.

However, Devimon was still far faster than I, and he swung his good arm at me, hitting me like a baseball bat would the ball. My body was sent soaring across the room and into the wall, only to bounce off of it in a spray of debris and end up sprawled across the floor. A grunt of pain slipped from me when my head hit the stone, and I found myself without the will needed to rise again. I tried once, my muscles quivering and entire physique shaking with the effort, but it got me nowhere.

I can't do this. I can't defeat him! I can't…I won't make it out of this...

As dark, despairing thoughts began to fill my mind and I felt what little power I had left being drained from me through the very collar that Devimon had said would help me, that very being began to rise up through the floor beside me as if it were not even there. Another moan of agony bleated through my lips as I attempted to pull my aching self away from him, but he easily grabbed me and slammed me viciously up against the nearest wall.

"It's such a horrid pity," Devimon cooed in a tone that should've been used to comfort but was instead being used to torment. "You were so beautiful, the killing machine that you were—the valiant murderer that you'd become. You did so well for me, collecting all of the data that I needed and then some, and all because I gave you the means and told you to go. You were my favorite. I loved you.

"And now look at you! Weak, pathetic, feeling!" He squeezed his uninjured hand around my throat as one might try to squish the life out of a small spider, or crush an irritating gnat. I tried to tear his hand away again, but I couldn't find the strength I'd had before. It was gone; Devimon had stolen it from me. "It's absolutely sickening—even more so with you, knowing what you used to be. These useless emotions…they've made you worthless again! They've made you nothing!"

I don't care about me… I tried to raise my voice to speak, to get my thoughts out in the open, but I couldn't breathe. My words came out as a mere croak every time that I attempted to fight against the accusations that Devimon was forcing upon me, the adjectives that he was trying to pin me with. I knew that he was wrong, but if they entered my mind at all…I knew that it would find a way to twist his words so that they would make sense to me and eventually poison me from the inside.

Darkness began to slip in and out of my vision as Devimon's voice took on a this-is-the-end tone, a grave noise that made me tremble, "You have betrayed me, fool, left me for a powerless human, a moronic, weak, cowardly whelp of a creature—" With a shout of frustration and rage, the black devil tossed me from him, sent me into the ground far from him. I skidded across the rough floor and stopped at the large feet of the beastly DeviDramon.

"She means nothing to us anymore. Call off Strabimon, tell him his services are no longer necessary," I felt his scorching eyes digging into my flesh, though my sight had already begun to leave me as the last bit of strength I had faded from me. "Break her. Then get her out of here and put her somewhere she can die a death worthy of her treachery."

So, there you have it! I really hope you guys liked it even though it got pretty dark and stuff in some spots, and it's a bit longer than what most of my chapters in this usually are.

Nevertheless, I hope to get the next chapter out as fast as I possibly can, even though I've got a number of other projects that are next to be finished and updated before I can get back to this one. But, as soon as I am able, I will put everything I can into getting that next chapter out to you guys :)

Thanks again for reading, and please let me know what you thought :)