Chapter Six: The Dream and the Mission
The night wore on. Kay lay awake, unable to sleep. "I'm such an idiot," she muttered to herself. "I can't keep my mouth shut nowadays. What happened to Kaylasii, ruler of the alleys? What happened to the devil-angel? Have I changed so much that I don't know how to be the person I once was?" Sighing, she stared into the fire, watching as the flames burned lower and lower. "I have to do something. Even if it takes everything I have... I won't let them face Him." Rolling onto her side, she watched her young friend. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully enough, and the sight brought a smile to Kaylasii's cold lips. "I won't ever let anything happen to you," she murmured, reaching out to touch his face. "You're like the Little One.... the one I hold in my heart. Sleep well, Izz-man.... you have a guardian angel watching over you." Slowly Kay pulled her hand away and rested her head on her arms. Gradually her eyes closed and soon she drifted off to sleep.
A dark alleyway. The sound of a child crying... the mocking voices of two teens taunting him. Darkness. Blood. A knife, ripping through flesh. Silence. Wide eyes, sweet, young, and filled with tears. "Are you an angel?"
Kay's eyes snapped open. It was the dream... the dream, which
always came back to her. The dream... which hadn't been a dream. Somehow,
though she had the dream so often, parts of it were a mystery to her. She
remembered the event from three years ago.. She remembered the child. She
remembered him thinking she was a "guardian angel". But try as she might,
she could never remember the child's name. It was like a constant question,
a puzzle with a missing piece. But why'm I having this dream again? Kay
thought to herself. It's been keeping away for the past few months... and
it was different this time. "The eyes," she whispered. "Before, it didn't
have the eyes."
Slowly, Kay sat up and brushed back a strand of translucent hair.
A bead of sweat trickled down her forehead, and she wiped it away, blinking
as she realized that the sun was beginning to rise. A soft golden glow
had spread to illuminate the world, bathing in its gentle light. From where
he lay at Kay's side, Izzy mumbled in his sleep. Then, all was silent.
Something by the fireside glittered, catching Kay's eye. After
observing it from a distance, she realized it was Dracomon's chatoyant
dragonfly wings, catching the light of the morning sun. Barely visible,
the dragon lay beside Izzy's digimon, tail curled around the large insect.
Slowly, Kay made her way over to the digimon pair and gently prodded Dracomon's
stomach. When the dragon didn't respond, Kay glared at her and began running
her fingers along Dracomon's thin head spines. "I know you're awake," the
teen murmured, a mocking tone to her voice. "You can't fool me..."
The dragon's eyes snapped open and she glared up at her human
partner. "Fine," she hisses as she uncoiled herself, bright green scaled
flashing in the light. "But I'd kinda like to know why ya always wake me
up just when I'm gettin' comfy..."
"Force of habit," Kay replied, grinning. "So what were you up
to last night? I didn't see ya around after you wandered off with Buggy-Boy..."
"His _name_ is Tentomon," Dracomon growled, eyes flashing aggressively.
She jumped up into Kay's lap and placed her paws on her friend's shoulders,
digging her claws in through Kay's thin jacket. "Got it?"
Kay smirked. "Sounds like you like 'im..."
"He's just a friend," Dracomon muttered. "And not even that.
He was just tellin' me about their mission and all that, that's all. Besides,
you should talk. I've seen you talkin' to that Ishi or whatever his name
is..."
"Izzy?!" Kay burst out laughing. "No way! Sure, I'm kind of attached
to the little guy, but that's 'cause he's like a little brother to me.
Besides... I'm a little old for him, ya know?"
Dracomon's tail twitched, and the corners of her mouth turned
up in a smile. "Fine, then," she said, grinning. "You forget any notions
you have about me and Tentomon, and I won't say anything about you and
Ishi."
"His _name_ is Izzy," Kay growled. "But it sounds find to me.
I don't blab, you don't blab. Deal?" She held out her gloved hand and arched
an eyebrow.
"Deal!" Dracomon replied, claws grasping her friend's hand firmly.
"So, did the nerd tell you anything about what he and the rest
of 'em are up to? I'm sorry to say, I don't think my weasling abilities
are up to snuff. I couldn't get much info out of Tentomon.."
Kay swallowed, and smiled sheepishly. "Well, I didn't get much
out of Izz-man, either... but that's 'cause I wasn't really trying to find
anything out. But... I know that this is their third time coming here...
and that they know about... Him."
Dracomon's eyes widened and she dug her claws into Kay's arm.
"How did he know? You didn't tell him did you?"
Kay cringed and tried in vain to pry away the dragon's claws.
"No! Of course not! But I think he guessed that there's something evil
up in my territory. He said something similar happened to him before...
and he's a smart kid, so he was bound to figure something out."
Dracomon frowned. "You got a point. According to Tento, he's
a regular smarty pants. And that ain't good as far as we're concerned..."
"Yeah... but what do we do about it?"
"Well..." the dragon paused for a moment, thinking. A sly smile
spread across her face and her eyes developed a bizarre glint. "Simple.
We kill him."
"What?!" Kay gasped, staring at her friend as if she were insane.
"Gods, I'm just kidding! Can't you take a joke?"
Kay's eyes narrowed and she flicked the dragon between the eyes.
"Not when it concerns killing my little buddy. Got it?"
"Yeah, whatever..." Dracomon muttered, looking away. "Anyway,
what we gotta do is simple. Y'see, there's nothing we _can_ do. Not yet,
anyway. All we can do is keep quiet... and at the right moment, we split.
Standard procedure."
"You sure?" Kay asked, hesitant.
Dracomon nodded. "You got it. It's the only way... the only one
that isn't a suicide mission, that is."
Kay sighed and glanced over at Izzy, who was still sleeping peacefully.
Somehow, she still doubted the dragon's plan would be as efficient as she
implied. "All right," she said after a moment. "We'll go for it. Not that
it sounds right, but... I just can't think of any other way. And I'd rather
leave them than know that they got killed just 'cause I'm too stupid to
keep my mouth shut."
To be continued...