Chapter Twenty-Four: No Reflections

I knew Luna was feeling better because she was taking great pains to try and hit Alec over the head with her ears. Or maybe it was less 'feeling better' and more of 'feeling too worried about me to mire in self-pity'. Either works at this point. Didn't make my guilt complex go away but anything helped the mission, I guess.

I landed onto old brick and the smell of ivy and rot. Thriller Ruins was either humid or chilly, and tended to rain every other day or so. Of all the places in Folder, this one was one of the weirdest. The only weirder one I had heard of was Transfield and people didn't just go there. You got invited. Maybe. By who I couldn't tell you. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a peppermint. I didn't like them much but they were good for getting rid of the nausea of using a teleporter.

Once I could breathe in the humid air and not double over, I stepped forward. Julia wouldn't be here at the outskirts. Not if she'd been gone for as long as she had. I had to make my way into the mansion, where the little ones hid that didn't fight or the baddest of the bad. I'd been there once. It was kinda fun, looking back.

Guile marched beside me, red dragon wing ears twitching with his nose. I scratched him on the scales. Normally, I would have Doru out too, but she didn't like this area very much. Though neither did Alec. That was probably because they were inclined towards having super holy powers.

Gotta wonder why I'm in Night Claw sometimes.

My Digivice beeped and I paused, ducking into a ruined alcove. Guile remained outside, shooting small fireballs at passing Kokuwamon. Brat. This didn't help anyone like us.

"Yeah Raigo?" My voice was low, but he was close enough to the speaker that it was probably irrelevant. "Did you forget something?"

"A bit. We've been digging around for how we got the signal in Thriller Ruins."

I raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, she has a Digivice."

Raigo shook his head. "That wouldn't necessarily mean we'd get a signal from her especially if she's gone missing, you know that."

I blushed, olive cheeks turning slightly bronze in the reflection on my screen. He was right: I probably should have thought of that. "Then why did you send me out here? Do you actually get off on sending me into deadly situations?"

"Because if it is a deadly situation, I trust you'll be boneheaded enough to find your way out." The connection shut off as abruptly as it had opened.

I scowled at the screen. "Well screw you too, man." I pushed off the wall and kept walking.

Within fifteen minutes, I was running. Lightning was crashing overhead with the thunder and my ears rang like the school bells on cartoons. It was hard to move like that but putting Guile back in the Digivice made it easier. Of course this was Luna's perfect opportunity to evolve a bit, pick me up under an arm (at least it wasn't a bridal carry, I don't think I could ever live that down.) and bolting in the direction of the mansion. I would yell at her about her constant unconscious use of my DigiSoul later. It wasn't like it wasn't a good exercise.

The weird thing about Thriller Ruins is that it was a bitch to actually see the mansion. It would come and goBecause the Digital World is the Digital World, and Folder is a continent that might as well be acid the landmass so I mean, what else could you expect? A disappearing mansion was pretty normal.

"Luna, for fuck's sake!" I shouted through the downpour. "Where are you going?!"

"To the mansion!" she shouted back, spitting water.

"I'm gonna get sick! Just find the portal!" Because every house everywhere required fucking teleportation pads. Seriously, that's a design flaw if I've ever seen one. I sneezed. I am so gonna get sick.

"The portal will be gone by the time I get there!" She made a face at me. "Just, like, make the rain into an umbrella or something!"

I would have raised my eyebrow if I could have. "I can't control water, you dunce!"

"Sure you can, I've seen you do it! Humans have superpowers come on!"

Now is really not the fucking time, and I really had no idea what she was talking about.

Ten minutes and multiple scrunching up of my clothes later proved that I cannot control water. Smooth, Luna. At least we got to the god damn mansion.

I squeezed my hat out again, curling around a fire Guile had made and bundled up in an outfit I left in the Digivice ages ago. It was a little big on me, but I'd probably lost some weight during the last three months of panic and fear. Or whatever it was at this point. Oh well, at least it was dry and clean. Gao paced about nearby, sniffing around with his ears up. Then he snuggled up next to me, making me jump. It was a good thing we were in one of the abandoned rooms, or half the area would have heard me yelp.

"Gao!" I hissed. "You're heavy."

He made a huff of irritation. "I'm warmer than that fire," he declared, moving further onto my lap. This gave me no choice but to hold him. Have you ever tried to shove a dog off? It doesn't work like that.I gave up and settled around him. Dozy dog.

Well, he was warm. I would give him that. I wrapped my arms around him, and his curly tail wagged at

I shut my eyes to listen to the outside. A Digimon was meant to be an extension of a Tamer, a former trainee once said to me. That didn't mean anything if you tuned the world out in the process. Hence why that was a former trainee.

I listened and tilted my head to the left, then the right. I'm not an owl, that doesn't really help, but it does keep away from having a crick in my neck. There was a shuffling noise by the door. Guile jumped up, growling at the door. Gao tensed, but he didn't leave. The door creaked open, revealing a purple and white face, then another, then another, until there were like: five of the little, purple things. Tsukaimon. Not uncommon, especially not this deep into the area.

"Hello," I said, voice low. I was trying to go into this assuming that they were intelligent and not like the random Kokuwamon that wandered around and zapped people for fun. "You wanna crash here?"

Staring. They don't know how to blink. Or maybe that do and I don't want to. I'm not sure. One of them eventually nodded. They slipped inside and shut the creaking door behind them. I didn't question them. Outside, the wind howled and wailed against the windows, rain pattering a steady staccato. I didn't even hear the Tsukaimon settle before my eyes began to droop.

The rain had stopped.

Its silence had woken me like an alarm. I sat up a bit, Gao slipping off. He snored lightly in his sleep. I felt a weary smile touch my face and scratched his ears. His tail wagged, even in his sleep.

Why do you all love me so much? I don't understand.

I slipped away from him and went to change. I shivered. My hair was still a little damp. I'd just have to ignore it, focus on finding the chief and maybe she'll have clues on the Light Fang. And a towel.

I paused as I snapped the button on my skirt. Why was it so… quiet? My skin felt clammy, gooseflesh rising up on my arms, as I noticed the silence just grow louder and louder. I cast my eyes about the room. The Tsukaimon were in a pleasantly sleeping pile, Guile was dozing with his tail in the ashes of the fire Gao was where I had left him.

Where was Luna?

My limbs felt heavy again. I tugged for my Soul, and it responded, slow wisps of purple. It was smaller than it had been when I got here, so either I was getting a cold or someone was using it. Considering Luna's track record… fuck me.

I really need to talk to her about this. Maybe she's not doing it on purpose? Maybe we're just that close? I wasn't sure. I didn't like it, whatever it was. It really wore me out.

"It's only because I love you, you know that Sayo."

I grabbed my hat and put my boots on. Don't think, don't feel too much just move forward and focus on what's forward, what matters, not yourself. Alec's soft intake of breath from inside my Digivice made me nod as I stepped forward, pushing the detrimental (hey I can use big words!) out of my mind.

That's right. I just had to focus on my mission.

I left the room and heard a loud thump and scream. It was a loud scream. Loud and pitched and pissed.

Damn it Luna. Why did she have to always do this stuff?

I took off running, crashing through a door. (Looking back I should not have been able to shatter the door no matter how old it was.) I skidded to a halt to find Luna, scythe up and drawn towards a familiar fossil dragon. Behind her was another little group of Tsukaimon. Her red eyes were narrowed.

I stiffened. Skull Baluchimon. Fuck me again.

"You really don't think I'm gonna just hurt those little guys, do ya?" he said with a grimace. "That's bad for business."

"Not on purpose," she countered. "What do you think we're standing in, a skyscraper?"

"Just let 'em go. I just want to talk to your kiddo, that's all." He sounded almost… annoyed. "Come on, you have to admit, it's kinda weird for you to be here all by yourself. Mercurymon said once you found someone you'd never let go."

I ignored the thud in my chest.

"I'm just training out here." She harrumphed, looking as regal as only a Crescemon could. "Whatever Herjin's said, he knows I hate to lose."

SkullBaluchimon laughed. "Yeah! He was joking about that for ages. You really did a number on his ego too!"

"Good." She was smirking under her mouth guard, I could tell.

The dino paused and scowled, jumping closer. The little critters eeped in fear. "You're distracting me! Come on, where's your Tamer? We need to have a talk!"

"About…?" she adjusted her grip on her scythe.

"Her bullshit, that's what!" He moved closer again, raising a giant claw and I felt my body move. I was freezing cold again, but it didn't matter, because I was also up in the air and kicking his claw as hard as I could with both of my booted feet. He yelped in indignation and I managed to smile. Luna caught me as I dropped.

"Dumbass," she told me. I raised an eyebrow.

"Says you," I said. "Go on." My last order was directed at the tiny, trembling Digimon, who bolted from the direction I had come from. "Who knew you could be such a softie?"

Luna turned up her nose. "I have a Core somewhere in my chest."

I was just going to pretend I understood that turn of phrase and turned to SkullBaluchimon, who was shaking his paw. I could not have hit him that hard. "So, dog treat," I said, trying to sound as cocky as possible. I could only hope all the damn noise would wake my pair of idiots up. "Any reason why you're looking for me?"

The dinosaur almost sat back on his haunches. Almost. That would be just weird. "Well," he said, giving me a look of… was that fondness? Did he like me? Ewwwww! Fucking gross. "You keep getting in the way of Kowloon business. First me, then Mercurymon. You know that's a bit of a pain in the ass for people as good as us at doing our jobs."

Kowloon… Oh right, the Merchants of Death or whatever. That was why they had sounded so familiar when it came to D-Words and stuff.

"Well," I said, trying to play it like I didn't know I was totally fucked over. "when you're making dangerous deals with who was probably my missing baby sister, I suppose I'm going to be sticking my nice nose where it doesn't belong."

"Your what?"

"Sister," deadpanned a low voice and I swore again. Couldn't I catch a break. Just once? "A sibling. Like Artemis has a twin."

SkullBaluchimon huffed. "I knew what that was."

Mercurymon snorted as he strolled up behind me, casual as could be. "This is why we send WaruSeadramon to these things instead of you."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

I looked around for a portal because getting the fuck out of here sounded really great. Of course, the ground started shaking so that idea went quickly out the window. I tensed up and something formed only feet away. Well, I should be more specific. It was a god damn samurai warrior the size of a giant. It would take three of me to even get close to his waist height.

And the power. Hoo shit. It made my knees tremble. Then it was an Ultimate level, like Luna at her best, like Mercurymon. Fuck me.

"So," he said softly. "This is that Tamer."

Luna tensed up beside me, eyes wide. I felt my hair dripping again, which was a weird thing to notice. Then again, it might have been sweat.

"Yo, Gaiomon," Mercurymon said, the laziness dripping from his voice, mixed with the fondness. "We cornered her. Took a bit though."

Well that confirmed all of my bad thoughts.

Gaiomon's cat red eyes narrowed as he looked down at me. "It's very rude to steal our merchandise and get in our way like you have been." He raised one of his swords. "And that needs to stop today."

I was stuck there for a moment. There were loads of smart remarks I could have made and ruined the moment. But all I could do was silently raise my fists in preparation. Cause if I was going to go down in any sense of the word, I was gonna go down kicking as much ass as I could.

Then another voice (How many people were crashing this party?) echoed across the mansion. "As if you can stop Sayo."

I turned my head. It wasn't Julia, or Raigo. It wasn't even Yuki.

It was Koh.