I don't own digimon.

Session 86

Clingy Ends

Lily took a deep breath.

Even as she ran towards 'Elena', the succubus knew that it wasn't her. Ever since what had happened in Bonessa, her attention had been focused on that stupid gambler. Or maybe it was just more apparent then than it had been in the past.

Either answer was good enough in her book.

"You're almost there, Lily!" the illusion shouted as the plush succubus cautiously approached, pulling her yumi up in the process. "Good job!"

She fired her yumi off, watching the arrow pierce through and force it to either disappear entirely or teleport to another spot of the map.

"Figures." Lily whispered and sat herself down, choosing to take the time to observe her surroundings. At the far edge of the clusters of the huts appeared to be an exit, or perhaps the entrance. "What's the point of this?"

She got no answer to her question.

"Of course."

She closed her eyes, trying to visualize someone, something to put her at ease. But all she saw were people with their own commitments and empty chairs that should've been filled.

"Why, why, why?" Lily whispered as she slammed her hands against the floor. "Why can't I seem to get someone who cares?"

She focused in on the huts, searching for any potential inhabitants.

"It's a titan!"

"AHHH!"
"Get away from us!"
Lily made a glance towards the ground, holding her hand out in the process.

"You there!"

What appeared to be a tiny snowman jumped up, staring up towards Lily.

"Yes?" Lily whispered and brought the little guy up. "Is there anything you need from me?"

"Why of course, citizen." the snowman answered and pointed towards. "We've come to kill you and take the digital tome."

Lily gave the pile of snow a confused glance, unsure how to react. While they made their motive clear, it was kind of hard to take something so small seriously. She carefully flung the initial snowman onto the ground, pulling her yumi off her back in the process.

Incense Burn!

She dropped an incense stick to the ground, giving it a quick stomp. Reddish brown smoke surrounded her, filling her with a sense of reminder of all that she had fought for.

Yumi Barrage!

Lily cocked arrow after arrow back, making sure that not a single one of these potential assassins got a chance to kill her or take her tome.

"Did you really think you could kill us?" the snowman answered as they retreated away from Lily, only to gather in one spot and fuse into one large snowman.

"All we want is your love." the snowman greeted. "But you were always so busy, focusing on the others over me."

The snowman flung a ball of white towards Lily, only for the succubus to dodge it.

"Well, I'm here now." she answered and watched the snowman laugh.

"You say that, but do you believe it?"

Silence filled the area, with neither party quite willing to even make eye contact as the incense faded away. Lily debated snapping another one, but didn't want to deal with the effects at the moment. Eventually, she gave into the temptation and returned her attention to the snowman. Only now, she was staring a copy of her. Well, if she had an actual 'human' body and had decided to wear her dress instead of her kimono.

"Is this one of those 'you're me' sort of things?" Lily remarked and rolled her eyes, only for the doppelganger to laugh.

"Would it help if I said no?" the doppelganger answered and took a step forward, only to use the now decreased space to gaze intently at the original.

"Sure."

Lily pulled her yumi up, cautiously putting an arrow in. But try as she might, she couldn't go through with it.

"You've grown soft, almost boring to some extent." the doppelganger taunted. "You had this huge wonderland and you chose to give it all away."

"Shut up!"

Lily charged towards the copy, swinging her bow towards the opponent. Mid-swing, the arrow felt out but she didn't notice. Especially since the attack only managed to fling her back.

"We're always searching for that white rabbit, never seeming to quite catch it. You thought you had caught your's, only to watch it slip right through your fingertips."

Lily didn't answer and took a couple steps back, picking up the dropped arrow in the process. She then cocked it back, only to watch the projectile pass right through her doppelganger.

"Just leave me alone!" the plush succubus screamed, only for the doppelganger to revert to its gooey form.

"Why?"

Both of the 'Lily' stared at each other, unwilling to break away.

"Because you wanted someone to love you." the doppelganger remarked and 'jumped' onto Lily. "And that's what I'm here for. To love you. To make you whole again."

Yet, the succubus pushed the nuisance away, having had more than enough of her antics. She then focused in on the stairs and quickly made her way towards them, not at all caring what exactly happened to the doppelganger. While it would've possibly given her what she wanted, it was the sort of thing that seemed too good to be true. Lily gave the doppelganger one last glance at jumped up the stairs, attempting to take two at a time as much as she could. But try as she might, the doppelganger refused to let its prey go. Somehow, it managed to make it's way up the stairs and towards her.

"Please don't go." it called out, but Lily chose to ignore it. "I just want to be your friend!"

As the doppelganger said that, Lily closed her eyes and dropped an incense stick in front of her. She gave it a quick stomp and cleared her head, focusing instead on those that she had met on this journey. At first, they were blurry and unrecognizable, as if the details did not matter at this point and one was going for the general shape of these people. But once all the general shapes had 'appeared', the details slowly filled themselves in. It started with the colors, which came in 'waves' for some reasons. Texture came next, having decided it would work much quicker than the previous two steps. Shading followed in its footsteps and made sure to slightly pick the pace up. Finally, was the finishing touches in the form of faces and hair. And while a lot of the details contained within this version of Delta didn't match up to their counterparts outside of here, the succubus was fine with it. They were her friends and to some extent, wannabe love interests. And while her journey had not led her to what she sought, Lily was more than willing to keep going in search of a potential destination.

Her eyes then shot open as she began to climb the steps at even faster pace than before. The doppelganger still followed right behind, but had started to fall behind in this race to the top.

Eventually the stairs gave way to an open area similar to the one they had just left. But unlike the lower level, it appeared that these huts had been constructed in order to accommodate either much larger or a wider variety of inhabitants. At the far end of the area, a pair of figures were about ready to take on a third person.

"Wait a minute…" Lily whispered and dashed over to a nearby hut, sticking her head slightly out in the process. "Is that me?"

She got no answer, but chose to charge towards the potential alternate self. Somehow, this didn't stop her from walking the short distance there. There she gave the people a quick onceover, only to focus on the northern figure.

It was a teenage girl, dressed in red. In a way, Lily was reminded of her old outfit to some extent. Of course, it gave her a questionable idea.

"Here it is. A spare copy." the succubus whispered and managed to grab hold of a leather-bound tome, only to be whisked away as she opened it…

.

Consligmon sighed.

He was used to finding himself in a variety of unique situations. It came with being a 'retired' mercenary and just time marching on.

"What will it be this time?" he whispered and made a glance down at the desk he was sitting at, finding a revolver along with a note.

Shoot me

Notes:

This chapter is kind of a mess, but that isn't anything new here.

Also, the scene at the end of the chapter before the preview is actually where Outlaws 'ends'. Which was more of a result of running out of time back then and moving onto other projects.

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Next time: Just another day in the classroom...