Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. Or Heroes of Olympus. But at least I've got chicken!

Author's Note: Written for the Novel with Prompts Challenge found on the Digimon Fanfiction Challenges forum. The prompt for this chapter is "loath".

Also participating in April's Camp Nano. This chapter brings me to 9,377/25,000. I've had comments about how this story is really good (or bad) about continually opening up more and more side plots. I have a lot of fun doing this, because I know that I will eventually have each other of them pay off... or at least, that's the idea. That being said, I know it can be a bit much to keep track of at times, so I hope you all don't kill me as I open up two more mysteries. I just love taking canon and flipping it on its head a bit. Ah, to frikkity frakk with lore is the best!

Enjoy!


Chapter Twenty-Eight

"You do want to fight, don't you?" Sirenmon egged on. "You loath each other!"

"Don't listen to her!" Gatomon said. But the boys were already glaring at each other, as if it was just dawning on them how they really felt.

Kari had never felt more helpless. She wondered if this was how TK felt as he led her through Piedmon's castle, knowing that he and Patamon were the only ones left to save her – to save everyone. The pressure was almost too much. Kari couldn't understand how TK had managed to handle it at eight years old. And even though she knew it would probably be useless, she wished he were here right now. He probably would have been right there next to Davis, under Sirenmon's control, but just to be able to see his face would have filled her with the hope that she so desperately needed right now.

She thought of Tai next, but he probably would have been even more useless than TK. He had always been more susceptible to pretty faces. Sora and Mimi often tag teamed Tai to persuade him to do what they wanted, and they didn't even have to use digital magic to get it. But still – she wished he were here, too. She could really use his courage right about now.

Cody scowled. "Davis, you never take anything seriously. You're supposed to be our leader, and all you do is lead us into traps!"

"Me?" Davis said. "At least I actually have the courage to do stuff, dude! All you do is wait around until things go wrong and then say I told you so! Talk about the most useless member on our team by far."

"You can't talk to Cody that way!" Armadillomon said. "He's smarter than any of you!"

"Says you," Wormmon said. "Ken's the smartest one here. We all know that. And all you do is take him for granted!"

"Perhaps it wouldn't be so easy to do so if he put that brain to work for more than just self-pity," Hawkmon said.

"Please stop!" Kari pleaded, but nobody seemed to even hear her.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Ken snapped. "You don't know anything about what I go through. All of your problems are miniscule compared to what I go through every day."

"You think you got problems?" Veemon said. "Look who I've got for a partner!"

"What the hell does that mean!?" Davis snapped.

"Can all of you just shut up!?" Takato snapped. "Why did I have to get stuck with the most annoying self-absorbed group of teenagers of all time?!"

"This is bad!" Gatomon said. Her arms were outstretched to keep Yolei and Kari from trying to interfere, and for good reason – the boys seemed about two seconds from jumping into an all-out brawl. Their digimon were no better. Guilmon was hunched down low, growling, and his face practically feral with unrepressed rage.

"Let them go," Sirenmon urged. "I'm doing you a favor, Child of Light. Let it happen now, and it will make your choice so much easier. Barbamon will be pleased. You could have your brother back today!"

"What are you talking about?" Yolei asked.

Kari could feel Yolei looking from her to Sirenmon and back, searching for answers, but she couldn't bring herself to look at her best friend. Sirenmon's enchanted voice didn't work on her, but the persuasion was still enormously strong. Her brother back today? Despite her best intentions, Kari wanted that. She wanted her brother to be safe and unharmed so much that it hurt.

"You work for Barbamon," she whispered in horrified realization.

Sirenmon laughed. "Serve that Demon Lord? No. But we serve the same greater cause – our very generous patron whom you cannot begin to hope to defeat. Walk away, Child of Light. This does not have to be your death, too. I'll even spare your digimon and your little girlfriend there. Save yourself, and your brother can go free."

The boys and digimon were still facing off, ready to fight, but they looked unsteady and confused as if waiting for the next order. Kari hoped this was a sign that they were still trying to resist Sirenmon's magic, that this was going completely against their nature. Yolei and Gatomon didn't say a word. Kari wasn't sure if it was because they were too stunned to react or were waiting on Kari to make the next move, but Kari felt as frozen as the boys. She wished she knew what to do.

"Listen to me, girl." Sirenmon glided over to the nearest fountain and reached her hand out into the stream of water. "Reflective Waters." The water running through her fingers shimmered and started to change colors until the surface of the waterfall solidified into a picture of Barbamon's summit. Barbamon stood in the purple firelight with a bushy-haired figure stretched out by his feet, bound, gagged, and unconscious.

"Tai!" Yolei and Gatomon cried.

"Hello, Barbamon," Sirenmon said.

Barbamon turned toward the image calmly. "Hello, Sirenmon. What can I do for you?" His eyes flickered from Sirenmon's face to look beyond her. His expression didn't change, but Kari knew that he was looking right at her with amusement. "Hello, Kari."

"Y-you—" Kari was so terrified she could hardly speak.

Barbamon laughed. "You didn't think that I was working alone, did you, Child of Light? No, I have friends everywhere. I needn't leave my summit to torment you, to warn you, or to snatch up your brother right from under his friend's noses. I'm quite resourceful that way."

"But he sure does like taking the credit for everything," Sirenmon said, letting out a self-pitying sigh.

"Well, I am the Demon Lord of Greed, after all," Barbamon said.

"You are indeed." Sirenmon smirked. "I must commend you, though, Barbamon. Capturing the Child of Courage could not have been an easy feat, especially with that annoyingly loyal group of friends that he always has around. You could have gone the messy route and had them all destroyed, but instead, you just roughed them all up and got them separated. It took them ages to figure out who was okay, who wasn't – and who was missing. The confusion still hasn't completely cleared yet. No one knows where he's gone – or if he's been taken at all. What a nice touch."

"All digidestined seem to have the same flaw," Barbamon said. "They're far too loyal to each other. All I had to do was tell him that his sister was in danger, and he was so easy to lead away from the pack. I've had to keep him and his digimon sedated, though, as they are quite annoying when awake, but I suppose everything can't go as planned."

Kari dropped her head as helpless tears started to fall. She held her pink D-3 in her hand, and it trembled with the weight of the world that she had been carrying for four days. Everything was coming crumbling down around her, and she didn't know how to stop it. She was just some little girl who had no chance to winning. What was she even doing?

"Well, I just wanted to call and tell you to standby, Barbamon," Sirenmon continued. "If the girl cooperates, it may be time to let Tai Kamiya go. The boys here seem quite excited at the prospect of killing each other, so they may not even be reaching your summit after all."

"What a pity," Barbamon said.

"Indeed, but it can't be helped. This is the easiest way for things to work out, after all."

"Of course," he agreed. "I'll wait for your call."

Sirenmon pulled her hand out of the water, and the image faded. She turned toward Kari. "There, you see?"

"You lured Tai into a trap," Gatomon said, her voice shaking. "You helped that Demon Lord hurt our friends! And you're probably behind TK and Patamon's disappearance too, aren't you!?"

"Oh, please, Gatomon. You'll throw yourself into a fit if you keep trying to put everything together. I've been preparing for this moment my entire existence, even before I was reconfigured. Waters of the Digital World have always granted me great powers, powers even the great Ebonwumon would be jealous of, powers that allow me to see bits and pieces into the future."

"You're delusional, lady," Yolei said.

She glared at Yolei for a moment before continuing her tale, "Years ago, still suffering my deletion with my data floating forgotten in the Dark World, I had a vision. I saw your friend Davis here, and saw that he would be an important enemy someday. I saw Ken Ichijouji… Cody Hida… Takeru Takaishi… and I saw you, Kari Kamiya."

"What are you talking about?" Kari whispered.

"I stirred the consciousness of my patron, gave him information, and he managed to wake just a little – just enough to contact Davis, try to get him out of the picture…"

"You sent him after Davis!" Gatomon said. "Veemon, Davis, listen to this! She helped to try to kill you!"

"Uh-huh," Davis mumbled, in a daze. He frowned down at his balled up fist, like he wasn't really sure what to do with it. "So… I just attack them? It's okay?"

"Perfectly safe," Sirenmon promised.

"Davis, no!" Kari said, desperately trying to distract Sirenmon from giving the order that may be unable to be reversed. "And what about Ken, Cody, TK, and me, huh? What'd you do to us?"

Sirenmon smirked. "Well, if you insist… My patron couldn't visit all of you, you see. He only had enough power to focus in on one, so he used others to do his dirty work for the rest of you. He whispered information to a loyal digimon of the darkness named Devimon, figuring he would like to know who would be the one to destroy him… Figuring that with the Child of Hope so young, surely Devimon would be able to handle him. Unfortunately, he was wrong. My patron also had the ear of Myotismon… though he trusted Myotismon a lot less. Myotismon was power hungry, disloyal, not someone you'd typically want at your back, but Huang knew that he could still use him… He whispered orders to find the eighth child, to find you, and kill you… and he was so very close to succeeding."

Kari's heart pounded in her chest. She felt like she was hearing her own life story for the very first time, hearing her boyfriend's story. It was like everything she'd known about her life up until this point had been completely wrong.

But Sirenmon wasn't done. "But these direct approaches came after trial and error. First Davis… then Cody… then Ken…"

"What about Cody?" Yolei asked, unable to keep her mouth shut. "What about Ken!?"

"He made sure that certain… tragedies destroyed their worlds, hoping that it would derail them from ever becoming digidestined at all. And he got quite close."

"Tragedies…?" Kari said, her eyes widening with horror. "You can't mean—"

"Cody's father… Ken's brother…" Yolei whispered.

"Oh, digimon, dears," Sirenmon said, practically ignoring them. "Don't hold back against the humans. Show me that you're still worthy to be called digimon at all, even with the taint of humans all over you."

"Veemon, Wormmon – she's tricking you!" Gatomon cried. "Don't attack each other; don't attack anybody. This isn't what you want to do!"

Sirenmon rolled her eyes. "Please, Gatomon. You're no match for me. I spent eons in the Dark World, learning from Dragomon himself, all about human and digimon's deepest darkest secrets and desires. And in the end, we're all the same. We're just savage beasts, just waiting for the chance to tear each other apart. What hope do these pathetic beings have against me when I can bring them down to their knees with a simple request? Now, boys – Kill each other."

"No!" Kari cried. "Please, listen to me!" She put all of the emotion in her voice. For the past week, she'd been trying to control herself and not show weakness, but now she poured everything into her words – her fear, her desperation, her anger over this whole messed up situation. She knew she might be signing TK and Tai's death warrants, but she cared too much about her friends to let them hurt each other. "Sirenmon is enchanting you with her voice. It's part of her magic. You are best friends! Don't fight each other. I know you don't want to. I know deep inside you're fighting this as much as you can, but you have to fight harder. You have to fight her!"

Kari pointed dramatically at Sirenmon with the hand still clutching her D-3, and as if on cue, the little device exploded with pink light. Everybody recoiled from the sudden blinding flash, and when Kari managed to see again, she saw a strange pink dome of light had been created around the boys – all of whom looked extremely confused.

Veemon blinked. "Wormmon, was I just about to head-butt you?"

"You… you said something about Sam…?" Ken frowned, turning toward Sirenmon.

"And my dad?" Cody's voice trembled with repressed rage. "What. About. My. Dad."

"Lady, I've got a tail hammer with your name written all over it," Armadillomon threatened.

"W-what!? What is this!?" Sirenmon hissed. "No matter… You still can't defeat me! Reflective Waters!"

She stomped one of her large tentacles into the shallow layer of water on the ground, and the building rumbled. Guilmon shot a red-hot fireball out of his mouth at Sirenmon, but she melted into water and reappeared at the base of the staircase.

"You're too slow, rookie!" she laughed. "Have fun with my pets!"

Before any of the boys could take off after her, the large gold barred door of the drainage tunnel swung open. At least a dozen armor digimon – the ones they'd seen above ground right before they landed – swarmed in. Not all of them looked very threatening – in fact, there was at least one or two that looked downright adorable – but the number and size of the mob was threat enough.

"So I'm guessing these are your most recent customers?" Veemon asked meekly.

The armor digimon moved to surround them. The pink dome of light held, but Kari had a very strong feeling that it wasn't impenetrable. The only job it was doing was protecting the boys from Sirenmon's enchanting voice. She was pretty sure they could still get maimed.

"They're all armor digimon!" Takato said. "That means they all have higher defense and will be harder to defeat than a normal digimon!"

"Indeed!" Sirenmon was leisurely walking back up the staircase, her eyes were watching the action down below, not wanting to miss the fun. "Meet twelve of my finest creations! They're all so loyal to me, and just love me to death for the gifts that I've given them. They're my protégés, my creations… And they would do anything to protect me. Oh, boys!" She practically sang down to the first floor. "These bothersome humans want to steal the digicores and hurt your mistress. Are you going to let them do that?"

As a single unit, every single armor digimon answered at once: "No, Your Majesty."

"How sweet of you. Have fun. Ta-ta!"

The armor digimon lunged.

"Veemon!"

"Guilmon!"

Takato and Davis cried out in unison. "Digivolve!"

Kari was amazed at how fearlessly and seamlessly the boys reacted – working like a team who had fought together for years. Growlmon and ExVeemon charged to intercept the attackers. Ankylomon and Stingmon joined them a second later.

Hawkmon flew up to them. "Yolei, can I?"

Yolei crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her partner. "I don't know, Hawkmon. Maybe you should ask your new partner, Sirenmon."

"Yolei, I am deeply sorry about the way I acted, but can we deal with this another time? The others need our help!"

She stood there stubbornly for a second longer before she let out a defeated breath and ripped her D-3 off of her belt. "Oh, alright."

"Us, too, Kari!" Gatomon said.

But Kari wasn't looking at her partner. Sirenmon had passed the second floor and was moving to head up to the third. If she reached the fourth, she'd be able to choose from a wide assortment of deadly jewels to use against them.

"Yolei, make sure the boys don't leave the dome of light!"

Yolei blinked at her. "Kari, what are you—?"

"Make sure they don't leave it!" she repeated before she took off running toward the staircase. "Gatomon, come on!"

Sirenmon spotted them coming, and she started to climb in earnest. She was quick for an eight-legged lady. Kari cried, "Digi-Armor Energize!" and jumped onto Nefertimon's back, but Sirenmon had quite the head start.

Down below, Kari heard the battle raging. Davis and Ken were yelling insults out at the digimon to keep their attention, and Takato was intermittently shouting Digi-Modify something or other. Yolei rode on Halsemon's back as she acted like an air commander commanding her troops, and Cody would shout out warnings anytime any of the digimon or digidestined attempted to venture too far outside of the safety zone Kari's digivice had created. Kari only spared a half-second to look, but her goal was up on the fourth floor – as was Sirenmon's. She knew she had to catch her first.

She and Nefertimon reached the top floor, but they were too late. Sirenmon was already standing at the jewelry case.

Her Majesty grabbed a magenta-colored gemstone – the one that caused insanity – and Kari cried, "Nefertimon, now!"

"Rosetta Stone!" A pillar of light appeared over Nefertimon and formed into a giant stone tablet before it launched across the balcony.

Sirenmon turned triumphantly just in time to get hit in the chest by a fifty-pound gravestone. She fell backwards, crashing into the counter, breaking glass, shattering gems, and knocking down shelves. Kari dismounted off of Nefertimon's back and stared at the scene. When Sirenmon stood from the wreckage, her skin and armor were embedded with different shards of glass and crystal. Many of the shards were smoldering and sparking.

"You fools!" Sirenmon screeched. "Do you have any idea what so much loose magic will do when mixed!?"

"Stop you?" Nefertimon said hopefully.

A light show started to erupt around Sirenmon's tentacled feet. She coughed, and her face contorted in pain – or was she faking?

Below, Yolei screamed.

Ken yelled, "Stingmon, help Yolei!"

Kari risked a quick look and almost sobbed in despair. One of the flying armor digimon had ripped Yolei right off of Halsemon's back and was flying her high into the air. Another had crashed into Halsemon, pinning him to the ground. The other digimon were all stuck in battle, Stingmon included who now had two armor digimon pinning his wings, keeping him grounded. They were all too far away to assist.

"Nefertimon, go!"

Nefertimon made a quick decision and listened to her partner as she chased after Yolei, leaving Kari alone with Sirenmon. "Queen's Paw!" Two projectiles shot out of Nefertimon's leg armor, catching the Pteramon in the chest. Yolei dropped and screamed, only to be snatched out of the air by Nefertimon.

Kari looked back at Sirenmon. Smoke rolled across the stone floor as the sparking light show spread, throwing sparks and setting fires to anything flammable that it could reach. The entirety of the fourth floor was being engulfed in loose magic and flames. Kari could feel the heat intensifying around her. She backed up to the edge of the railing.

"I will not be defeated like this!" Sirenmon cried. "You want to know where your boyfriend is? I can tell you, it's not where you think! Take me with you, and I'll tell you!"

Kari glanced behind her. Cody, Takato, Ken, and a de-digivolved Guilmon were on Halsemon's back, and Nefertimon had picked up Davis and a de-digivolved Armadillomon. Stingmon and ExVeemon were covering their retreat. Nefertimon snatched up the gilded cage that contained Elecmon in her paws while Halsemon swooped down to grab the three digicores; both digimon began to ascend.

The building rumbled. Fire and smoke and loose magic were running up the walls. Railings were melting; the air grew poisonous.

"You'll never survive this journey without my knowledge!" Sirenmon promised. "The Digimon Tamer Takato will remain ignorant forever, your brother will die, and your boyfriend will never be found. Take me with you!"

For one long agonizing moment, Kari was more tempted than she would ever care to admit. She looked down, fighting the temptation to say yes even as she knew that it would be the worst mistake she ever made. Then she saw something glinting, sparkling in the firelight. Her heart leapt into her throat at the sudden confidence seeing that trinket gave her, and she looked up to spot Sirenmon's grim smile. She was confident in her enchanting voice and her powers of persuasion, confident that she would always win in the end, always get that second chance.

"Not today." Kari rushed past Sirenmon, leaping over fire as she did, and grabbed the crest firmly in her hand before she jumped over the side of the railing. She plummeted only for a second before Nefertimon caught her, and Davis and Yolei hauled her onto her back.

She heard Sirenmon screaming in rage as they soared toward the ceiling, blasted it open with a few well aimed attacks, and shot into the clouds with Halsemon just a few feet away. ExVeemon and Stingmon caught up, and the underground castle exploded behind them.