Can you hear the bells?

Characters: Chaos/Sachiko

Universe: Digitalverse

Notes:

You can do it, Chaos!

Chapter 77

Memories of you

Chaos was afraid.

Each step seemed to bring with it more butterflies within her. A ring box hung behind her back, quite ready to fall out of her shaking hands.

"I can do this." she thought as the door to her former master's office came into view. Using her free hand, she pulled the door open.

Inside, Sachiko had fallen asleep at her laptop. A BlackGatomon plush decorated with ribbons and a bell sat in her lap, seeming to hide something from her gaze. Carefully, the white mage gave her interpreter a slight tap, watching her slowly wake up from her slumber.

"What is it?" Sachiko whispered as her head slowly raised to meet Chaos's gaze. "Is there something that you want to tell me?"

Chaos let out a deep breath. Carefully, she got down on one knee and pulled it open.

'Whenever I'm around you, I find myself on an adventure.' she signed, making sure to keep the ring box behind her. 'At first, it had been a hellish experience where we were at each others throats.'

Sachiko's eyes seemed to widen, letting the past events run through her head one more time.

Their first meeting had come on the set of Tri Abridged. She had just arrived on the site of the first battle, via a broomstick for some reason.

"Let's do this, Witchmon!" she announced, getting a groan from her currently transformed partner.

Baluna Gale!

A gust of wind shot forth from the digimon, aiding in the efforts of her ally digimon.

BlackGatomon warp digivolve to... Ninamon!

She turned herself around, finding herself facing down the white mage herself. Her green cloak seemed to wave about in the wind, making the blood upon it even more noticeable.

"Oh, Chaos~" Sachiko whispered and watched Chaos turn around.

"Yes?" the white mage answered.

"Could you come over here, sweetie?" Sachiko added and watched Chaos make her way over, only to find herself unable to move. She made a glance down, finding her feet held back by vines.

"If this has to do with mahora, go and find Usagi." Chaos muttered and turned her attention to the geomancer. A quick slice later, they were face to face. "Anything else to say?"

But her opponent let out a laugh.

"I have many things to say." Sachiko countered and grabbed hold of Chaos. "Do you want to hear them?"

Before she had a chance to really say anything, Chaos had broke away. Which was consequently Sora's cue to join everyone, drunk no less.

The rest of the fight passed without incident up until the point they got picked by Cora. They had been on the subject of Joe, only for Sora to blurt something out.

"At least we got Mimi back!"

Sachiko rolled her eyes, hoping to god that the stupid costume that she had to wear copied her actions.

"Yes, but we lost Izzy in the process." she answered and let her gaze focus on Chaos. "Anything to say to that?"

Chaos let out a deep breath.

"You don't really get it, do you?" the white mage muttered and leaned forward. "It was something that needed to be done."

But Sachiko rolled her eyes.

"Like you have any right to let those words come out of your mouth." she countered and reached for Chaos. "After all, didn't you kill everyone at least three times?"

Her opponent took a deep breath and followed it up with a sigh.

"It's not that simple..." the white mage whispered and found a hand on her neck. "I made a choice, accepting the punishment that came with it."

"Punishment?"

"I was stripped of some of my abilities in exchange for interfering with the story." Chaos responded and cracked a smile. "But by doing so, I just improved your chances greatly."

Her response seemed to catch everyone by surprise. Sure, they hadn't really known who Izzy actually had been, but from what they had just been told maybe it had been for the better.

"You're just going to believe her?" Sachiko shouted and got a weak laugh in return.

"What done is done, magical girl." Chaos countered s she pushed the geomancer away. "We don't want Mahora, do we?"

Silence fell over the van as it dropped them all off. When it came to Sachiko's turn, she flipped the white mage the bird and ran off. What followed, was her running up to the apartment and just taking a shower.

"She has to have some sort of weakness." she thought, hoping that the hot water clear away the thoughts. But try as she might, images of the white mage seemed to dance about in her head. If anything, they seemed to drill even further into her mind.

'At times, it seemed like the feeling I had within me was a lie, almost mocking me.' Chaos continued and took a step closer to Sachiko. Which was right as another memory reared it's ugly head.

"Just flipping great." Sachiko scowled.

Currently, she and her fellow 'actors' were doing the second part of Tri Abridged. Given the choice, she would've bailed on this project and never came back.

But at the moment, they were at a gazebo trying to figure out what had gone wrong.

"This is ju'

Before she had a chance to finish that particular sentence, Chaos let her hand connect with the geomancer's face.

"We all make mistakes." the white mage countered and focused in on Sachiko. "It's only when you allow it to take hold of you does one's vision cloud and your decisions become based upon that misstep. You just have to keep going and learn from it."

"Wonderful advice from a bitch that could have totally prevented the Mahora Incident!" Sachiko screamed and got a deep breath in return.

"That's nice thinking and all, but I was trapped in a limbo." Chaos countered. "I didn't find out until well after the fact from the author."

"Can anyone vouch for you?"

Chaos pointed to Kari, who came over.

"I saw her before I got split in two." she explained, even if only one or two of them really understood what had happened. "Is that good?"

A smile formed on Sachiko's face.

"No sense hiding it now." she whispered and let her disguise fade away, revealing her lotus tattoo for the world to see.

Witchmon dark warp digivolve too... DarkRosemon!

In place of her partner, a purple rosemon appeared.

"Yawn." Chaos answered and pulled her claymore out. But before she had a chance to use it, a whip of thorns slammed into her body and pierced through.

"Oopsy!" Sachiko remarked, only to fill the gaze of an unknown entity fixate on her. "Now what?"

"Are you sure that you should've done that?" Chaos's partner, a blackgatomon remarked and focused in on her. "I rate your odds as 100-1 in Chaos's favor."

She shot the strange cat a look, only for her gaze to focus in on Chaos. Currently, the white mage was engulfed in some form of purple energy and seemed to be convulsing about. When it finally stopped, Sachiko found herself within the hand of a large armored titan.

"Are you happy now?" the titan mocked, pulling the geomancer up to her face. "You're nothing more than an ant when compared to me."

She then flung her into DarkRosemon, watching the two collide with a thud. She then reverted back, with Sachiko's partner doing something similar.

'But when the dust settled, I found my fears unjust and our true colors emerged.' the white mage continued as Sachiko leaned forward, letting another memory pull her in.

At this particular time, the third part of Tri Abridged had just finished and everyone was just settling down for what would be nearly a year of preparations. Currently, that meant the more skilled people teaching those who could use some help. That particular day, she and Chaos had been assigned a group of trainees. None of them had actually showed up for their session, leaving the two with very little to do.

"Why don't you talk to me anymore?" Chaos remarked, catching Sachiko by surprise. "You used to be all up in arms about me. But now, you haven't said a word to me since we beat Yami. What happened?"

Sachiko didn't respond, instead she went for the more violent option. Which basically meant stabbing Chaos in a non-vital part of the body. Or at least, trying too.

"It's not like that..." the geomancer whispered and closed her eyes, only to hear the sound of metal hitting metal.

"Then what is it then?" Chaos responded, pulling her weapon even further back with each word. "Was it scare at the gazebo, the whole mess over Evil Izzy or some other issue that I don't remember."

But she got a head shake in return.

"None of those things, Chaos." Sachiko whispered and swung her spear, knocking the claymore away. "There are so many things that I want to say to you, but I'm not quite sure how to put the words together to express them."

She had expected her remark to catch the white mage off-guard. Or at the very least, come as a surprise. But it was the opposite.

"Every time I'm with you, things feel clear." Chaos remarked and picked her greatsword up. "It's different than the feeling I get with my creator, it's a sort of warm feeling when I'm around you. The sort that makes me want to snuggle with you."

Carefully, she made her way over and let her arms wrap around the geomancer. Sachiko returned the favor, with both letting the warmth take them in.

'Even when I was at my lowest, you stayed by my side. For that...'

By this point, both girls were mere inches of each other.

'Sachiko, will you marry me?'

The geomancer knew these words were coming, but it didn't change the feelings in that moment.

"That's funny." she remarked and carefully picked the cat plush up, revealing a ring box of her own. "I was going to ask you the same thing."

Chao's eyes seemed to grow at the sight of that, even more so when

"Chaos, will you marry me?" Sachiko announced and got down on one knee, joining her girlfriend on the floor.

'Yes.' the white mage whispered, watching her fiance slip the ring on. "I'm guessing it's a yes for you, as well?"

She got a smile and nod in return, letting Chaos slip her ring on.

"We're a pair now."

'Yeah.'

And with that, they embraced.

Notes:

Aw...

I guess this is AWC's unofficial 7k celebration.