Warnings: death, blood, body horror

fourteen - where we ended up

Taiki did not struggle. He'd considered it, of course, before throwing his Xros Loader away to Akari. Never mind that he wouldn't be able to win. It was the struggle that was important. But he needed the energy. He needed the strength to endure what was coming next. He didn't know exactly what was coming next, but he'd seen enough cartoons. He'd seen enough of the Bagra Army. He could extrapolate.

But he didn't have all of the Code Crown pieces, and Taiki didn't know how to start gathering them. So no matter what it would take time for all of them to be gathered, which gave him time to escape and everyone else time to find Kiriha and get out of here. Of course, if Kiriha was actually going to help Bagramon, that was a wrinkle, but it was a wrinkle he could work out later.

That was stupid, Shademon told him through the clenched weight of Bagramon's wooden fingers. Just because he's your father doesn't mean he won't hurt you.

Yeah, he kind of figured. He still couldn't let him succeed. Father or not (and Taiki was still skeptical of that part, honestly.), his plan was to reset everything. Resetting things wasn't how it worked. If you succeeded you tried to repeat, if you failed you tried again. A slate was never really wiped clean. It couldn't be. There were choices involved.

He's not going to listen to you, Shademon said wearily. Never does. Even Zenjirou listened and he was using me to DigiXros.

...Ew.

Yeah.

Still. What did Taiki have to lose? If he failed they'd be dead anyway. Might as well try to do the right thing.

Bagramon had spoken, Taiki had vaguely seen his mouth move. But he hadn't cared enough to listen and in retrospect, with the hand squeezing tighter, he probably should have. Now it was starting to hurt.

"Your Xros Code is very strong," Bagramon mused. "Killing you is not what I wish to do."

"But…" Taiki choked out. "But here you are, doing it anyway."

"I do not have to," Bagramon said softly. "Help me, Taiki, and I will not have to."

Shademon - he - hissed. "No," Taiki said. "Not with this. Not like this."

Bagramon smiled and the expression was cold and tired and a little cruel. "I did not say that you would be given a choice."

He squeezed and the mild pain quickly turned white hot and blinding and sharp, sharp cracking and popping like popcorn on the stove and hot hot rumbling and his world tumbled into white light bright as the sun and his mother's face and a rush of something like air.

"Pain is a good teacher," Bagramon told the lifeless body in his hand as it oozed red. "It is good practice, it is a good place to gain experience and wisdom." Red light poured from Taiki's mouth, nose and eyes, too bright to be blood, too thick to be liquid, coalescing into a single orb of light left on the floor. "It's easier to remake the lot separately."

Shademon screeched in a thousand tongues, a million eyes spreading across the walls and ceiling to look over the fallen angel with rage.

Bagramon merely set the still flowing body onto the floor. "And what will you do little shade?" He was no longer smiling. "What will you do to me? You are not a child of wrath, but one of empathy."

The screeching quickly faded. All of the eyes closed. The torches went out.

"You're right," Shademon said in Taiki's voice. "That's true. I'm not, I'm not very good at being angry." Another pause. "Or wrathful, I suppose." Sharp teeth bled out of the walls now, curling into many overlapping smiles. "But I'm very good at not listening to what people tell me to do." The shade bled away, slipping through the air and into Taiki's lifeless body.

Taiki flexed his fingers slowly, with care. "Bit tighter than I remember," he said with a small smile as eyes popped into place over his cheeks and down his visible skin, closing and opening until all but the human two were looking at Bagramon. "But it's temporary."

"And just what do you imagine you can do in that thing?" Bagramon began. "Aside from kill your host?"

Shademon laughed. "Not what I'm supposed to, apparently."

The air ripped as Shademon gathered the tiny red lights under an arm. They sparkled feebly. "It'll pass," he told them. "It'll be all right. We just need a little time."

Bagramon's eyes went wide and he reached for them both. "Don't you-"

Shademon grinned and it stretched his cheeks. "Code Crown!"

There was a flash of light, of a light more ancient and undying than Bagramon could imitate anymore. Then they were both gone, gone and left with feathers from white wings.

Bagramon stared off into space for a moment, and then shook himself. There was nothing for it. There was work to be done. He'd hoped to be able to use his son as a hostage, to get a quiet hostage who could not cause any problems and make his friends surrender. It just wasn't in the cards. But he would find the boy again. And shade or no shade, the boy would learn.

Meanwhile, in an unfamiliar city, at an unfamiliar apartment, a boy dropped onto a balcony, in front of a little girl with red eyes. The little girl, used to strange things happening to her and no one else, did not panic. She just looked for a first aid kit, and went from there.

And the monster boy slept on, hued in red.

Akari, after a few solid minutes of panicking, felt a solid sting on her cheek. Nene was staring, glaring into her eyes, her own purple ones awash with tears. One of her hands was on Akari's shoulder. The other was raised, ready to strike again if need be.

"With us?" she asked, voice harsh, but there was a kernel of worry there, one she didn't need right now.

Akari took a deep breath. Then another. Then another.

Then she burst into tears, loud, awful sobs that reduced her to blubbering and failing for words. She gripped Nene's dress tightly and wailed.

Nene hesitated. Then she wrapped Akari in a hug. "We'll save him," she promised, unsure if it were true, but promising it anyway. After all, what choice did she have? She wouldn't just leave him behind.

"We need to go home," Zenjirou said. Nene looked up at him and glared. He raised his hands defensively. "Wait, hear me out. That Quartzmon thing is still around, if half formed. If it just wants to be loved, or acknowledged or something like that, shouldn't we find and convince it? We also need to hide Taiki's Xros Loader. It has Code Crowns in it, and we can't let Bagramon have those! Any of them!"

Nene continued to glare. Then her shoulders sagged. "You're right. And we'll need a way back home as it is. We don't have enough supplies, and even transfers won't work forever. But we can't let him get anymore Crowns either. So we'll need to be fast."

They still had no idea if Kiriha was on their side or not. But then, he was probably on his own side, which is just as bad. Understandable, but a problem.

Yuu was holding Taiki's Xros Loader, tapping the buttons to keep the digimon inside. "Should we split up?" he asked after a while, periwinkle eyes furrowed and low. "We might get done faster."

"No."

Akari's voice was choked with tears, but solid. She coughed, but picked herself up. She was leaning on Nene for support, but Yuu saw his sister didn't mind. "We need to stay together," she said. "Even if it takes longer. We're stronger in numbers. And we need all the tactics from each other. Going off on our own won't help anyone."

She swallowed. "So… so, we'll start by finding Kiriha, then going home and making supplies and if we find something else along the way…" Her eyes began to glow with resolution. "We'll take care of it together."

Nene nodded and Zenjirou pulled off a smile of his own.

Yuu looked at his hands and for a moment, remembered a very different world, and a very different time. A time where he was alone, struggling with his feelings, struggling with himself.

Then he met everyone's eyes. "Sounds good to you, Shoutmon?"

"Che! Hell no!" The digimon's voice was a bundle of fury and endless optimism. "But you guys are my soul brother's friends! Who else would I trust to watch my back without him?"

Akari couldn't help it. She laughed. The others laughed too, and the tense air slowly wafted away with the sensation of hope.

"Yeah, there is that," Yuu agreed, closing his eyes and then opening them one more time. "All right," he agreed. "Let's get going. No time like the present, right?"

It was agreed, and they set off to explore the zone they had fallen into.

There were quite a few people waiting for them. There was no time to waste.

A/N: And that's the end. Bagramon got to do what he wanted, mostly, the dreams got resolved and now everyone is confused and screwed over. And it's going to get worse. Please look forward to the sequel beyond our borders. Thank you for supporting this story!