Mind of an Empress
* * *
Endgame
* * *
I do NOT own Digimon. I never have, never will. *sigh* Anyway, not suing me for this little work of fanfiction would be very cost-effective, as I'm not worth it. Anyway, this story contains yaoi. Which means two men are *involved.* If I have to make it any clearer, I'm not sure you should be allowed near anything sharp. Done? Now, if this makes you squeamish, or inclined to go off on a religious tirade about the evils of such practices, or inclined to flame me, please leave. Thank you, and please continue.
* * *
In the FBI headquarters in Washington, DC, a phone call came through. Jon Cushing, a slight man with a heavily muscled arm, picked up the phone.
"Yello?" The voice on the other end was a smooth, sophisticated voice known around the world as acting president of the Tetra, Inc. Board of Directors.
"Hello, my name is Georges Allenberes, and I'm calling on behalf of our late CEO and her absent assistant, Maria Byles."
"*Late* CEO?"
"Yes, I'm afraid there was an accident on her latest fact-finding mission. You see, we at Tetra, Inc. are very...sympathetic to a certain terrorist organization. In fact, our late CEO was quite well-known in the organization. I believe you know her as-La Reine." Jon made a fumbling motion to page his supervisor, and checked to see that the recording device was working.
"La Reine?"
"Indeed, which brings me to my next point. I know it's a tad unbelievable, but the current-situation-is a result of several of our experiments." The FBI man nearly dropped the phone.
"W-what?" Georges laughed lightly.
"It's very complicated, but I assure you it is our fault. Nevertheless, according to a communiqué from our acting CEO, we are declaring the world our hostage."
"Hey, now wait a minute; you can't do this!"
"Yes we can. In any event, unless control of all world nations is turned over to the Board of Tetra, Inc., this weather will continue until the world is plunged into a winter second only to the Ice Age!" Jon grabbed a folder, flipping through pages of protocol, and stopped at Terrorism.
"Listen, Mr. Allenberes, the USA has a strict policy to not negotiate with terrorists."
"Fine. Just let me remind you: coffee can only grow in a tropical environment. So don't come crawling to me when 70% of your country goes into massive withdrawl. Ta-ta!"
* * *
As Ken led the way through the blizzard, Taichi took a moment alone with Takeru.
"What is with you two? Didn't he try to kill you, Takeru?" Takeru smiled, embarassed, before speaking.
"I suppose the reason behind it is that I-love him."
"But he tried to kill you!"
"Tai-kun, you *know* that Alex-san is able to confuse people to no end. She convinced him that beating me up with that neuronic whip would make me love him, or something like that." Taichi frowned.
"And now..."
"We realized that she's a lying bitch, and that we love each other."
"Ah." Suddenly, Ken indicated that the cave was just ahead. Taichi hurried forward, leaving the two of them to enter at will. As he entered the cave, he was tackled by a flying Sora.
"Thank GOD, Tai-chan! We were so worried, well, except for the human *iceberg!*" She aimed the bitter remark at the blonde still sitting in the corner of the cave, who only grunted in reply. Taichi carefully extracted himself from the embrace before walking to sit down next to Yamato.
"Hello, Yamato," he murmured. Yamato was dangling his harmonica from his fingers, a remnant from the old days.
"Listen, Tai, I'm sure you feel upset and betrayed right now, but it's all for the-"
"Don't give me that BS, Ishida. I know what's wrong, and I'm not letting you leave until we've worked them out!" Yamato glanced up before dropping his gaze again.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Taichi. I just don't love you anymore, all right?" Taichi clenched his fists, took several deep breaths, and spoke again.
"Yamato, you don't just stop loving someone. I know what she did." Yamato froze, like a deer in headlights, and tried to stand up. But Taichi held his arm firmly.
"Tai, let go of me!" he snapped. Taichi pulled him down, and stared into his eyes.
"Yamato, I want you to tell me that this doesn't mean anything to you." Before Yamato could say anything, the brunette pulled him in close and kissed him. Reacting by pure instinct, Yamato wrapped his arms around his ex-boyfriend's shoulders, pulling him closer as they kissed. But a moment later, he broke away.
"Hormones, Taichi. Just hormones. It doesn't mean anything." Taichi glared at Yamato, and took the man's hand in his own.
"Yama-chan, I understand what she put you through. And I want to explain to you about this. I love you, and I know that you love me." Yamato tried to protest, but Taichi glared at him. "Stay quiet. I know what it's like to have your worst fear realized. Once, it was losing Kari, and that almost happened so many times, I..." He paused, his eyes tearing. "But I realized that I can't control that, all I can do is be a good brother and help her if I can. And then, recently, I realized that losing you-would be worse than anything else I could think of." Yamato ripped his hand away, and held his head in his hands.
"Tai, I feel bad enough about this, so don't try to guilt me into a relationship!"
"I would do anything to get you back, Yamato, just like you would do anything to escape that-that-" Yamato turned away angrily, sobbing.
"Just stop it! I don't want to hear about it!" Taichi gently turned Yamato around and cradled the other man's head in his arms.
"It's all right," he muttered softly, rocking him back and forth. Suddenly Yamato pulled away.
"Just stop this, Taichi. I told you, it's not going to work. I-how are we supposed to get along if-I'd wish that on you?" He drew back angrily. "Taichi, I'm sorry, but-"
"Goddammit, I can't deal with this! Can't you see how much I love you? And can't you see that you love me? *God,* Yamato, it's killing you to do this to me! How can you not see that?" Yamato glanced up, his eyes still haunted.
"Taichi, I-"
"Don't love me. Right. Do you know what, Ishida? I'm going to go out there, find a nice high cliff, and jump off. There's a chance the fall won't kill me, but I'm sure the cold will. Because, you know, life's not worth living without you." But as he stood up, Yamato grabbed his arm.
"Don't." Taichi ripped his arm away, walking to the front of the cave.
"And why not, Yama-san?" Yamato winced at the formal name, and hurried after the other man. He grabbed him by the arms and glared into his eyes.
"I love you too much to let you do something so phenomenally stupid as that!" Taichi grinned at Yamato.
"So why in the world would you try to break off our relationship?"
"Because I-" Yamato broke off, confused.
"Face it, Yama-chan, you do still love me, and I know what happened to make you think you didn't. I love you, Yamato, and I want to help you through this. But none of us can help you if you push us away! Listen, I would do anything for you-"
"And I don't deserve that! Don't you understand? I wanted something terrible to happen to you-and I still stand by that decision, not necessarily consciously, but given the same circumstances, I would do it again!" By now, Yamato was sobbing. Taichi wrapped his arms awkwardly around him.
"I don't see why *you* don't understand. I love you, and always will. If something like this happens to you, do you think I'd just give up on you? Wouldn't you think that I would try to help you, to help us get through it?" He stared for a moment at Yamato's cold blue eyes, and then sighed, exasperated. "I've got only one other way to get through to you, Yamato." He grabbed Yamato close and gave him a full kiss, holding onto the other man's arms to keep him from leaving. Finally, he broke away, but kept holding Yamato's arms, gently. "I love you, Yamato, and I'm going to do everything I can to help you." Yamato sobbed, clutching at Taichi's shirt.
"oh, god, please, forgive me," he moaned, tears suddenly running down his face. "I didn't mean-I love you, Tai, and I'm sorry. Please-just hold me..." The tableau held as Taichi rocked Yamato back and forth gently, murmuring quietly to him.
"It'll be all right, Yama-chan. Just be quiet, we'll get through this." And outside the cave, the snow had nearly reached the top of the opening.
* * *
"How touching. Chealsea, initiate acceleration sequence. I want them sealed in with ice by morning." The computer terminals around Maria glowed with life, and responded with a teenage female voice.
"Yes, mother." Maria smiled. She was so glad she'd stopped by the real world. It had allowed her to gain some useful and enjoyable assets.
"I'm kidding, of course, honey. Take all the time you need. I weas just hoping that we could end this quickly." The image of a sixteen-year-old blonde appeared in the center of the room, smiling.
"Of course. I'll get right on it. After all, there's not much else to do here, and I want to get back home." She smiled and vanished, and the computers began to whir with activity. Maria giggled, and turned her attention back to her computer moniters.
* * *
"It has been confirmed that Tetra, Inc., a front for the operations of la Reine, is responsible for the worldwide temperature drops. The FBI has reported to NATO that Tetra has issued an ultimatum: give the Board of Directors of Tetra, Inc. complete authority over all nations of Earth, or let all humans perish in an eternal winter." Mrs. Kamiya turned off the television, and sighed. These blizzards were worrying her, especially since the phone lines were down. Her husband had been at work, Taichi was at his dorm, and Hikari had been going to Takeru's house. She had said something about an emergency, but hadn't-
"Could it be?" She rummaged through a drawer, pulling out several old newspapers. Each were at least eight years old, talking about those ridiculous disasters of that time, when her children had been transported to another dimension to save the universe. "Could they be trying to save it again-?" She laughed, and looked out at the falling snow, which was now turning to freezing rain. "Please succeed," she murmured, looking worriedly at the storm. "We're all depending on you."
* * *
"All right, I've got some bad news," Koushiro announced.
"You're telling me," Ken muttered, "Hikari and Daisuke are trying to keep the freezing rain from sealing us in here, the fire's running out, and we've got no food." Koushiro looked up from his computer, sighing. He entwined his fingers with Jyou's, seeming to draw comfort from the contact.
"Well, there's only one way to stop this, and that is to get Maria-san to reverse it."
"What?!" Takeru demanded. "There has to be a better way!" Koushiro shook his head.
"Sorry, Take-kun, but there isn't. And she's making sure we can't track her down. Her mansion, whatever it looks like, is teleporting randomly about the Digital World. She's avoiding us." Ken stood up, stalking over to the computer.
"Well, that's just great. She's completely inaccessible." He tapped the computer angrily, and stalked back over to Takeru. "She's bound to be able to completely avoid us, unless-"
"You may be right, Ken-kun, just let me check..." There was a moment of silence, and then Koushiro grinned. "Yes! We can get one or two people there...if they have no Digivice. And then, your presence will lock down the location of the fortress, and we can bring backup." He suddenly found himself in a fierce hug by Jyou.
"I knew you could come up with something, you little genius, you!" Ken frowned.
"But-"
"Hey, Ken-chan, I know you deserve the credit, too." Takeru wrapped his arm around Ken's, grinning.
"Okay, we've realized that we're fighting a losing battle, so we might as well put any plan we have into effect, and then just leave," Hikari announced.
"Right, here's the plan. Ken and Daisuke, I'm going to try to see if I can tap into her computer system, and then send you there. Then Taichi, you-" Koushiro looked around for a moment before locating the brown-haired man, letting a sleeping Yamato lean on his chest. "You get Agumon to blast the snow and ice blocking the cave entrance. Sora, Takeru, and Hikari, get your Digimon to Digivolve, and I'll get Kabuterimon around. We'll fly out of here, and I'll track down where you've locked her down." There was a collective nod, and Ken adn Daisuke moved closer together.
"So, we have to follow them?" Hikari asked. "But what do they do until then?" Koushiro barely looked up from his computer.
"They avoid Maria and any automated defences she may have erected in the building. Now, hold still." He tapped a few keys, and a faint blue glow surrounded Daisuke and Ken. "I'm locking you into the computer network she's built; just one more moment..." Suddenly, the two teenagers vanished in a flash of light.
* * *
Ken fell heavily to the floor, grunting as the rock scraped against his skin. He looked around for Daisuke, but didn't see the redhead anywhere. Suddenly, he heard the sound of a woman clearing her throat. He turned his head upwards, and his eyes met with those of a blond, blue-eyed woman, smiling viciously.
"So you've decided to track me down, ne?" She reached back nonchalantly, and pulled a gun from her back pocket. "I do hope you got to say your proper goodbyes; you're not going to see them ever again."
* * *
* * *
Endgame
* * *
I do NOT own Digimon. I never have, never will. *sigh* Anyway, not suing me for this little work of fanfiction would be very cost-effective, as I'm not worth it. Anyway, this story contains yaoi. Which means two men are *involved.* If I have to make it any clearer, I'm not sure you should be allowed near anything sharp. Done? Now, if this makes you squeamish, or inclined to go off on a religious tirade about the evils of such practices, or inclined to flame me, please leave. Thank you, and please continue.
* * *
In the FBI headquarters in Washington, DC, a phone call came through. Jon Cushing, a slight man with a heavily muscled arm, picked up the phone.
"Yello?" The voice on the other end was a smooth, sophisticated voice known around the world as acting president of the Tetra, Inc. Board of Directors.
"Hello, my name is Georges Allenberes, and I'm calling on behalf of our late CEO and her absent assistant, Maria Byles."
"*Late* CEO?"
"Yes, I'm afraid there was an accident on her latest fact-finding mission. You see, we at Tetra, Inc. are very...sympathetic to a certain terrorist organization. In fact, our late CEO was quite well-known in the organization. I believe you know her as-La Reine." Jon made a fumbling motion to page his supervisor, and checked to see that the recording device was working.
"La Reine?"
"Indeed, which brings me to my next point. I know it's a tad unbelievable, but the current-situation-is a result of several of our experiments." The FBI man nearly dropped the phone.
"W-what?" Georges laughed lightly.
"It's very complicated, but I assure you it is our fault. Nevertheless, according to a communiqué from our acting CEO, we are declaring the world our hostage."
"Hey, now wait a minute; you can't do this!"
"Yes we can. In any event, unless control of all world nations is turned over to the Board of Tetra, Inc., this weather will continue until the world is plunged into a winter second only to the Ice Age!" Jon grabbed a folder, flipping through pages of protocol, and stopped at Terrorism.
"Listen, Mr. Allenberes, the USA has a strict policy to not negotiate with terrorists."
"Fine. Just let me remind you: coffee can only grow in a tropical environment. So don't come crawling to me when 70% of your country goes into massive withdrawl. Ta-ta!"
* * *
As Ken led the way through the blizzard, Taichi took a moment alone with Takeru.
"What is with you two? Didn't he try to kill you, Takeru?" Takeru smiled, embarassed, before speaking.
"I suppose the reason behind it is that I-love him."
"But he tried to kill you!"
"Tai-kun, you *know* that Alex-san is able to confuse people to no end. She convinced him that beating me up with that neuronic whip would make me love him, or something like that." Taichi frowned.
"And now..."
"We realized that she's a lying bitch, and that we love each other."
"Ah." Suddenly, Ken indicated that the cave was just ahead. Taichi hurried forward, leaving the two of them to enter at will. As he entered the cave, he was tackled by a flying Sora.
"Thank GOD, Tai-chan! We were so worried, well, except for the human *iceberg!*" She aimed the bitter remark at the blonde still sitting in the corner of the cave, who only grunted in reply. Taichi carefully extracted himself from the embrace before walking to sit down next to Yamato.
"Hello, Yamato," he murmured. Yamato was dangling his harmonica from his fingers, a remnant from the old days.
"Listen, Tai, I'm sure you feel upset and betrayed right now, but it's all for the-"
"Don't give me that BS, Ishida. I know what's wrong, and I'm not letting you leave until we've worked them out!" Yamato glanced up before dropping his gaze again.
"I don't know what you're talking about, Taichi. I just don't love you anymore, all right?" Taichi clenched his fists, took several deep breaths, and spoke again.
"Yamato, you don't just stop loving someone. I know what she did." Yamato froze, like a deer in headlights, and tried to stand up. But Taichi held his arm firmly.
"Tai, let go of me!" he snapped. Taichi pulled him down, and stared into his eyes.
"Yamato, I want you to tell me that this doesn't mean anything to you." Before Yamato could say anything, the brunette pulled him in close and kissed him. Reacting by pure instinct, Yamato wrapped his arms around his ex-boyfriend's shoulders, pulling him closer as they kissed. But a moment later, he broke away.
"Hormones, Taichi. Just hormones. It doesn't mean anything." Taichi glared at Yamato, and took the man's hand in his own.
"Yama-chan, I understand what she put you through. And I want to explain to you about this. I love you, and I know that you love me." Yamato tried to protest, but Taichi glared at him. "Stay quiet. I know what it's like to have your worst fear realized. Once, it was losing Kari, and that almost happened so many times, I..." He paused, his eyes tearing. "But I realized that I can't control that, all I can do is be a good brother and help her if I can. And then, recently, I realized that losing you-would be worse than anything else I could think of." Yamato ripped his hand away, and held his head in his hands.
"Tai, I feel bad enough about this, so don't try to guilt me into a relationship!"
"I would do anything to get you back, Yamato, just like you would do anything to escape that-that-" Yamato turned away angrily, sobbing.
"Just stop it! I don't want to hear about it!" Taichi gently turned Yamato around and cradled the other man's head in his arms.
"It's all right," he muttered softly, rocking him back and forth. Suddenly Yamato pulled away.
"Just stop this, Taichi. I told you, it's not going to work. I-how are we supposed to get along if-I'd wish that on you?" He drew back angrily. "Taichi, I'm sorry, but-"
"Goddammit, I can't deal with this! Can't you see how much I love you? And can't you see that you love me? *God,* Yamato, it's killing you to do this to me! How can you not see that?" Yamato glanced up, his eyes still haunted.
"Taichi, I-"
"Don't love me. Right. Do you know what, Ishida? I'm going to go out there, find a nice high cliff, and jump off. There's a chance the fall won't kill me, but I'm sure the cold will. Because, you know, life's not worth living without you." But as he stood up, Yamato grabbed his arm.
"Don't." Taichi ripped his arm away, walking to the front of the cave.
"And why not, Yama-san?" Yamato winced at the formal name, and hurried after the other man. He grabbed him by the arms and glared into his eyes.
"I love you too much to let you do something so phenomenally stupid as that!" Taichi grinned at Yamato.
"So why in the world would you try to break off our relationship?"
"Because I-" Yamato broke off, confused.
"Face it, Yama-chan, you do still love me, and I know what happened to make you think you didn't. I love you, Yamato, and I want to help you through this. But none of us can help you if you push us away! Listen, I would do anything for you-"
"And I don't deserve that! Don't you understand? I wanted something terrible to happen to you-and I still stand by that decision, not necessarily consciously, but given the same circumstances, I would do it again!" By now, Yamato was sobbing. Taichi wrapped his arms awkwardly around him.
"I don't see why *you* don't understand. I love you, and always will. If something like this happens to you, do you think I'd just give up on you? Wouldn't you think that I would try to help you, to help us get through it?" He stared for a moment at Yamato's cold blue eyes, and then sighed, exasperated. "I've got only one other way to get through to you, Yamato." He grabbed Yamato close and gave him a full kiss, holding onto the other man's arms to keep him from leaving. Finally, he broke away, but kept holding Yamato's arms, gently. "I love you, Yamato, and I'm going to do everything I can to help you." Yamato sobbed, clutching at Taichi's shirt.
"oh, god, please, forgive me," he moaned, tears suddenly running down his face. "I didn't mean-I love you, Tai, and I'm sorry. Please-just hold me..." The tableau held as Taichi rocked Yamato back and forth gently, murmuring quietly to him.
"It'll be all right, Yama-chan. Just be quiet, we'll get through this." And outside the cave, the snow had nearly reached the top of the opening.
* * *
"How touching. Chealsea, initiate acceleration sequence. I want them sealed in with ice by morning." The computer terminals around Maria glowed with life, and responded with a teenage female voice.
"Yes, mother." Maria smiled. She was so glad she'd stopped by the real world. It had allowed her to gain some useful and enjoyable assets.
"I'm kidding, of course, honey. Take all the time you need. I weas just hoping that we could end this quickly." The image of a sixteen-year-old blonde appeared in the center of the room, smiling.
"Of course. I'll get right on it. After all, there's not much else to do here, and I want to get back home." She smiled and vanished, and the computers began to whir with activity. Maria giggled, and turned her attention back to her computer moniters.
* * *
"It has been confirmed that Tetra, Inc., a front for the operations of la Reine, is responsible for the worldwide temperature drops. The FBI has reported to NATO that Tetra has issued an ultimatum: give the Board of Directors of Tetra, Inc. complete authority over all nations of Earth, or let all humans perish in an eternal winter." Mrs. Kamiya turned off the television, and sighed. These blizzards were worrying her, especially since the phone lines were down. Her husband had been at work, Taichi was at his dorm, and Hikari had been going to Takeru's house. She had said something about an emergency, but hadn't-
"Could it be?" She rummaged through a drawer, pulling out several old newspapers. Each were at least eight years old, talking about those ridiculous disasters of that time, when her children had been transported to another dimension to save the universe. "Could they be trying to save it again-?" She laughed, and looked out at the falling snow, which was now turning to freezing rain. "Please succeed," she murmured, looking worriedly at the storm. "We're all depending on you."
* * *
"All right, I've got some bad news," Koushiro announced.
"You're telling me," Ken muttered, "Hikari and Daisuke are trying to keep the freezing rain from sealing us in here, the fire's running out, and we've got no food." Koushiro looked up from his computer, sighing. He entwined his fingers with Jyou's, seeming to draw comfort from the contact.
"Well, there's only one way to stop this, and that is to get Maria-san to reverse it."
"What?!" Takeru demanded. "There has to be a better way!" Koushiro shook his head.
"Sorry, Take-kun, but there isn't. And she's making sure we can't track her down. Her mansion, whatever it looks like, is teleporting randomly about the Digital World. She's avoiding us." Ken stood up, stalking over to the computer.
"Well, that's just great. She's completely inaccessible." He tapped the computer angrily, and stalked back over to Takeru. "She's bound to be able to completely avoid us, unless-"
"You may be right, Ken-kun, just let me check..." There was a moment of silence, and then Koushiro grinned. "Yes! We can get one or two people there...if they have no Digivice. And then, your presence will lock down the location of the fortress, and we can bring backup." He suddenly found himself in a fierce hug by Jyou.
"I knew you could come up with something, you little genius, you!" Ken frowned.
"But-"
"Hey, Ken-chan, I know you deserve the credit, too." Takeru wrapped his arm around Ken's, grinning.
"Okay, we've realized that we're fighting a losing battle, so we might as well put any plan we have into effect, and then just leave," Hikari announced.
"Right, here's the plan. Ken and Daisuke, I'm going to try to see if I can tap into her computer system, and then send you there. Then Taichi, you-" Koushiro looked around for a moment before locating the brown-haired man, letting a sleeping Yamato lean on his chest. "You get Agumon to blast the snow and ice blocking the cave entrance. Sora, Takeru, and Hikari, get your Digimon to Digivolve, and I'll get Kabuterimon around. We'll fly out of here, and I'll track down where you've locked her down." There was a collective nod, and Ken adn Daisuke moved closer together.
"So, we have to follow them?" Hikari asked. "But what do they do until then?" Koushiro barely looked up from his computer.
"They avoid Maria and any automated defences she may have erected in the building. Now, hold still." He tapped a few keys, and a faint blue glow surrounded Daisuke and Ken. "I'm locking you into the computer network she's built; just one more moment..." Suddenly, the two teenagers vanished in a flash of light.
* * *
Ken fell heavily to the floor, grunting as the rock scraped against his skin. He looked around for Daisuke, but didn't see the redhead anywhere. Suddenly, he heard the sound of a woman clearing her throat. He turned his head upwards, and his eyes met with those of a blond, blue-eyed woman, smiling viciously.
"So you've decided to track me down, ne?" She reached back nonchalantly, and pulled a gun from her back pocket. "I do hope you got to say your proper goodbyes; you're not going to see them ever again."
* * *