DISCLAIMER: OK, everybody should know the gist of what I'm about 2 say. Digimon and all its characters aren't mine, they're they official property of Toei, Saban and Bandai. Added to this, I doubt they ever will be mine as I am so indescribably poor that holes in my pockets have holes in them, and I think they're going to cost a little more than fluff and an old sweet wrapper I found in there.
Same again with the whole 'death-threats-if-NE1-tries-2-steal-this-fic-because-it's-mine-and-I-have-copyright!" part of my blurb. Don't do it and I won't hurt you. Simple enough, isn't it?
Many thanx 2 DC Baller, who reviewed "Forgotten Friends", I was having my doubts about that chapter but you laid them to rest. I shall have 2B careful soon, or my head won't fit out of the door NE more.
Mandatory blurbish out of the way, here is the fifth chapter in my saga. Hope you like it. I'm not very good at writing these... ah, but that would be telling, wouldn't it. Read on, my friends, read on...
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"The Darkness Within" By Scribbler
Chapter Five ~ "Silent Angels"
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"There are times when silence has the loudest voice." -- Leroy Brownlow
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Sora walked quickly through the darkened streets, unsure of where she was going, but not really caring either. She'd had enough of all the arguing and discussions. With every procrastinating word spoken by her comrades Tai might be getting further away from them. Now was not the time for deliberations. Now was the time for action, before it was too late. From the split second when she saw Tai jump from the balcony Sora had sworn she wouldn't lose him again, and she intended to make good on her promise - with or without the aid of her friends.
The hazel-eyed girl shivered. She wished she'd thought to bring a coat, but it had been an impulse decision to leave the apartment. With any luck, it would be a few minutes before anyone realised she was gone. By then she should have gotten far enough away to escape anybody looking for her. She knew Matt well enough to realise that he would only bring her back and keep her cooped up while they came up with a plan. Well, let them construct their plans if they wanted to, but she wasn't about to let another second pass without making some sort of effort to find Tai before it was too late. She hoped most of the Digidestined weren't too familiar with this area of Tokyo, then she could continue with her search unhindered.
Turning down a dimly lit alleyway, Sora quickened her pace. She fancied she could hear voices calling her name not too far away, and was anxious to put as much distance between herself and them as possible. Her actions were not purely selfish, however. Sora had enough about her to discern that if Tai were trying to avoid detection he would stick to the less populated parts of the city - namely, the back streets. That warren of alleys and side streets that housed the ever-growing population of rodents and rotting garbage the Japanese capitol engendered. Here was where she would enact her quest.
It was criminally under lit down her chosen path, and the chestnut haired teenager was forced to blindly feel her way down the narrow alley along the brick wall of a building. Both the rough surface of the stones and moist furriness of gathering moss passed beneath her fingers as she sightlessly stumbled across the shadowy waste ground, several times tripping on various items of refuse and skinning her palms and fingers. Inadvertently, she shuddered; overactive imagination creating horrible images of what she was stepping on. She continued hurriedly on her way, turning down yet another tiny alley to her right, then again to her left. Certain she could find her way back again, Sora pressed on, the thought of finding Tai and bringing him home echoing like a knell through her determined mind.
After a few more blind changes in direction, Sora found herself in a dead end. A tall wire mesh fence stretched across the mouth of one dark - albeit slightly lighter than the rest - alleyway. With a sigh the slender girl turned, intending to retrace her steps and continue on in another direction, but found her way blocked by a person. A cold knot of fear manifested in the pit of her stomach as she surveyed the brawny man standing before her. He wore a ragged pair of jeans coupled with a vest and denim jacket, apparently oblivious to the cold through his flimsy attire. Sora froze where she stood. Menacingly, he took a step forward.
"Hello, girly." His voice was thick with sarcasm, and Sora recoiled as a foul blast of halitosis hit her face, the unmistakable stench of alcohol evident on his breath. She didn't answer, instead taking a step backwards, away from the intimidating individual and towards the metal fence. The man - who wasn't very old, only in his late twenties at most - tutted at her. "No need to be afraid of me. I ain't gonna hurt you. Come here." Sora ignored his words, taking another step backwards. The stranger twisted his head to call mockingly into the shadows to his left. "Hey, guys, looky what I found."
Sora's eyes widened as two more men, just as burly and ragged looking as the first, hove into view around the corner. One stumbled slightly against the other, dragging his feet and obviously drunk. She considered taking another step backwards, but her spine was virtually pressed up against the wire mesh as it was, and with a sickening lurch she realised that in her panic she had effectively trapped herself. Doing her best to seem unafraid in the vain hope that the trio would leave her alone, Sora straightened her stance.
The first man gestured to the ensnared teenager, and one of his friends - a bald man wearing a Hawaiian shirt with bare arms - whistled appreciatively at her.
"Whoo! Look what you got, Jim." He chuckled in a booming baritone unsuited to his squat frame. His accomplice agreed heartily with him.
"How'd you get her to come way out here? Did you promise her candy if she was a good little girl?" He guffawed at his own joke, and Sora stiffened at the sound.
"Naw. She was already here all by herself, like she was waiting for someone to come along and collect her." The first man chuckled, and every hair on Sora's body stood on end at the pleasant sound, so mutated when escaping from the man's mouth. Unlike the other two, the one known as Jim didn't sound drunk at all. By comparison, he sounded chillingly sober, every word and move calculated to evoke fear into her heart and increase the block of ice forming in her gut. Her hazel eyes sparkled with terror as Jim took another threatening step forward. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to run, and the three stalwart characters were obstructing her only escape route. Unless....
Sora hastily cast a surreptitious glance at the fence behind her. It was very high, and quite flimsy, but the mesh might serve as usable hand and footholds. Having little other choice, Sora whipped around whilst the men were still at the other end of the alleyway and began to climb. There was a shout from behind her, followed by the unmistakable sound of running footsteps, and she tried her best to swarm up the steel netting, trusting to the strength borne of her years of soccer training. Her fingers were finding it difficult to get a firm grip through the holes in the closely-knit mesh, her feet even more so, but gamely she struggled up the arduous obstruction.
She was nearly half way up when muscular arms grabbed her roughly from behind and yanked her slim frame astringently from its perch. With a cry, Sora fell back into their waiting embrace, her waist locked firmly in an iron grip. She struggled, arms and legs flailing wildly, and was rewarded by a muffled grunt as her foot made contact with some soft part of Hawaiian-Shirt's anatomy. He groaned, and had Sora's mouth been capable of smiling it would have been adorned with a bitter grin at that moment. As it was, her face was at present covered by a foul smelling hand, which seemed intent on cutting off her oxygen supply as much as she was intent on retaining it. Jim leaned his head onto her shoulder from behind, one arm locked around her waist, the other clamped across her visage. His action was reminiscent of Matt's loving encirclement, but Jim's intentions were much more injurious. Despite her intense endeavours to free herself, or at least cause as much damage as possible to her attackers, the intimidating man spoke softly into Sora's ear, his every word sending a fresh new shiver down her spine.
"You shouldn't have done that." He whispered, breath blowing gently across her skin in a mocking parody of a lover's intimacy. With a burst of strength, Sora tore her head out from under his palm.
"Go to hell!" She gasped, before spitting in his grimy face. Jim snarled, twisting Sora's arm behind her until she felt sure it would snap. Unable to contain herself any longer, Sora released a terrified scream, which echoed hollowly around the deserted alleyways, its only company Jim's taunting laughter.
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Tai sat in a deserted shop doorway, head in his hands. Why had he gone back? Why had he taken the chance? Now they knew. Not everything, but enough. They knew that he was alive, and here. He should get out of Tokyo as fast as possible. Leave them all behind before they did anything stupid, like try to look for him.
Yet still he sat in that abandoned and desolate place, unable to move. His id screeched at him to pick himself up, move his feet and depart, just like he'd done all the other times, but some inscrutable force kept him welded to the threshold. He stared at the cracked concrete, his mind a confused and tortured mess. Why didn't he go? He knew it was the best thing - no, the safest thing - for everyone. Was he really that selfish that he would put all their lives in danger for his own personal happiness? No, he couldn't believe that. But at the same time, he discerned that it must be true. Why else was he snivelling here like an infant, intent on getting its own way?
A small child stood before him. She was about five years old; thin, with blonde hair cascading down her back like a golden waterfall. She wore a pair of dungarees, cut roughly at the bottom into shorts, and long white socks inside battered sneakers. Her summery garments were completely unsuitable against the biting chill of the Tokyo night, but she didn't seem in the slightest bit averse to the cold. In fact, she appeared completely unaware of the gelid breeze blowing her flaxen tresses about, her piercing grey eyes fixed firmly on the shivering teenager before her. At first glance the scenario seemed odd. However, upon a second look it was almost unbelievable. For you see, the edges of the child's body were hazy and indistinct, as if someone had taken an eraser and smudged her outline. But what was truly amazing was the shape of a building visible through her chest. The tiny girl was entirely translucent.
She tipped her head at Tai. "Aren't you going?"
Tai sniffed, then looked up at her for the first time. "You. Why can't you leave me alone, Terri?"
"Because." She answered in the simple way that five-year-olds do.
Tai only stared at her. One of his demons. One of the reasons he never wanted to cause any more pain to anyone ever again.
"Aren't you going?" The girl repeated. "You should, you know."
"I know, but...." Tai trailed off, his eyes sliding to the pavement.
"You want to hurt them, don't you?" She accused in a merry, singsong voice. Tai looked aghast at the suggestion.
"No! That's the last thing I want!"
"You do! You do! Otherwise you would have left when you had the chance. You want to pay them back for forgetting you. For living their lives without you around!"
"NO!" Tai almost shouted at the ethereal child. "I... I...." His voice became soft, his hazel eyes sorrowful. "I want to die."
The girl stopped smiling, and her voice, when it brushed over her lips, was smooth. Too mature to come from a child.
"Death is horrible. It's cold and dark. There's nothing there. No light. No air. Nothing." Her impassive grey eyes locked Tai's. "Why did you send me here?"
"I didn't - " Tai began.
"You did." She cut him off. "All we ever gave you was comfort. A home when you had none. Food when you were starving. Love when you were alone. Why did you bring me to this place."
"I... I didn't mean to."
"You never mean to, Tai, but you do it anyway."
Tai's voice cracked as he spoke, filled with emotion at his past deeds. "Why can't I die? Why?"
"Because you have to pay for your crimes, and the only way to do that is by living with what you've done." The girl's tone was harsh and unforgiving.
"I'm... I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." Tai breathed.
"Apologies won't bring me back. Sorry won't change what you did." Her stare was almost tactile on his face. Tai wanted the ground to open up and swallow him whole. He didn't care if he went to hell, if only he could stop this endless cycle of pain and loneliness. She spoke again, intonation clipped and frosty. "What was it like, Adam? What was it like feeling my blood run through your fingers? Seeing my body on the patio? Did it feel good? Did you like it?"
"No!" Tai vociferated, covering his ears with his hands and shaking his head to rid himself of the empyreal child's words. "No! No! No! No! NO!" He trembled, both from the cold and the accusations slithering into his ear. "I didn't want you to die! I didn't want anyone to die!"
"But you did. Admit it, Adam. You liked the feeling of power you got from taking my life. You enjoyed it." She sneered.
"NO!" Tai yelled. He closed his eyes to block out her arraigning expression, but her voice seemed to echo inside his brain, prying into every nook and cranny of his mind until he felt like screaming to make her stop.
Tai blinked. Somebody was screaming. Was it him? Unsure in his present state of mind as to whether he would recognise his own scream, he touched his mouth with a quivering hand. No, he was silent. So who was it? The voice sounded female, and terrified. Yet through her anxiety was a permeating familiarity. The scream came again, satiated with fear and something else... pain?
Tai jerked his head up as the voice suddenly slotted into his memory.
Sora! It was Sora's voice. Sora's scream.
Hastily, the hazel-eyed boy scrambled to his feet. Of his demon there was no sign, but in his alacrity Tai failed to notice that she was gone. Only the sound of one girl's scream filled his head. He had to find her. Had to help her. All his own troubles were driven from his mind as that one purpose drove him forward. Into the bitter night, towards the origin of that panic-filled screech. She was nearby, but where? He followed his ears, praying that he could reach her in time to save her from whatever caused her screaming.
I'm coming Sora! Don't worry, I'm coming!
If anything's happened to her....
I'm coming!
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Sora's head snapped back as Jim slapped her across her face.
"Shut up!" He growled vehemently. Sora gulped, her neck twisted so that she still faced away from him. She could hear Hawaiian-Shirt laughing.
"Ha ha! Hit her again, Jim. Go on!" Jim grabbed her chin in one hand, yanking her face back to press his dirt-encrusted visage into her own. The stink of his breath invaded her nostrils, making her gag.
"Shall I hit you again, girly? Shall I?" He snickered maliciously, enjoying her discomfort as she struggled to escape his grasp. "Oh, a feisty one, are you? Well, I like 'em feisty." Sora kicked his shin, hard, but he didn't even seem to notice her feeble attempts to defend herself. "That'll teach you to spit on me. I don't take no guff from nobody, you hear?" She didn't answer. "You hear?" Jim repeated, raising his voice. Terrified, Sora only nodded.
Why had she gone so far away? Why hadn't she waited for the others? Sora fought back tears as Jim stroked her cheek with one filthy index finger, leaving a trail of grey dirt across her ivory skin. A shuddering sob inadvertently wracked her slender frame.
"Aw, don't be so unresponsive, girly. I ain't gonna hurt you. We only want to have some fun." Jim murmured softly, tracing the shape of the teenager's mouth. Sora made to bite his hand, but he was deceptively quick, catching her neck in a vice-like grip. The frightened girl emitted a harsh choking noise as his palm pressed against her throat, cutting off her air supply. Jim only sniggered as her hazel eyes became wide from both fear and lack of oxygen. Slowly, and with deliberate fulmination, the threatening man leaned closer, mouth slightly parted. Sora could only watch helplessly as his mouth descended on hers.
In the ghostly glow of the moonlight, a solitary tear slid down Sora's cheek, illuminated against her skin as a sickening symbol of her impending violation.
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Tai rounded the corner of an alley and halted abruptly in his tracks. There before him, on the other side of a tall wire-mesh fence were three men, clustered around a smaller figure pressed up against a wall. One of them, a widely framed guy wearing a faded denim jacket, was leaning over this individual, apparently in the middle of a lover's embrace. As he moved his head fractionally, Tai saw with horror the face of the third person.
Sora. Her eyes wide, cheeks smeared with grime and tears. Tears? But Sora didn't cry. However, one look at her petrified visage, hazel eyes filled with hopelessness and dread, was enough to manifest a core of anger in Tai's stomach. His fists clenched, his teeth gritted, and his eyes burned with hatred for her attackers. Each one of the grinning, laughing goblins sliced a gash of ire into his heart, until he felt he couldn't bear it any longer.
Too late, he realised what this intense hatred would spark. He tried to turn away, to calm down, to do anything in order to halt the bubbling broth rising in his throat, but it was no use. Tai clutched powerlessly at his chest, striving to beat down what was to come, despite knowing it was inevitable. Perspiration beaded on his forehead as he was forced to his knees by the scorching agony filling his body. No! Not now! Please, anything but that!
The hazel-eyed boy's silent pleas went unnoticed, though; and in the insignificant gloom of the Tokyo back streets, all hell suddenly broke loose.
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Sora heard the roar before she saw what caused it. The ear-splitting noise cleaved through the night air like an approaching tornado, closely followed by the sound of rending metal. The deafening bellow came again, accompanied this time by a cry from one of the three men surrounding her. Jim jolted his head up, and Sora twisted around enough to see Hawaiian-Shirt go flying through the air behind him. There was a gut-wrenching thump of him hitting the ground, and Jim cursed fervidly under his breath. The muscular man released the Sora's throat, and the weakened teenaged simply slid down the wall she was pressed against, gasping for air like it was the elixir of life. She watched as Jim tried to run for the mouth of the alley, but was stopped as the body of his second companion slammed into him, knocking him forcibly to the waste-filled ground.
A figure stood beyond them in the shadows, face half obscured by darkness. Only a pair of glowing red eyes were visible through the almost opaque blackness. Inhuman eyes. Such eyes as have permeated the tales of man for centuries concerning Hades and the land of the dead. These two gleaming orbs were fixed on the two men sprawled on the floor, the body of their comrade lying some distance away, unmoving. A nonhuman snarl split the air, punctuated by the heavy breathing of the thing.
Jim's compeer scrambled to his feet and lumbered down the alley, trying vainly to make his escape. With a feral yell, the crimson-eyed creature lunged at him, tackling him to the ground with ease. Sora noted that the attacker was considerably smaller than the thug, but seemed at least ten times as strong. From where she was slumped, the girl could discern only the outline of the strange creature. It was vaguely humanoid, but moved so fast she could barely make it out. Only its eyes were truly visible, shining scarlet as it darted to and fro in the shadows. A hiss filtered from its mouth, succeeded by a strangled gurgling from its opponent as he was pinned to the floor. The creature leaned its head down from where it straddled the man's back, effectively disappearing from view in the gloom. Sora listened despite herself as a ripping sound was heard, then a noise comparable to a bucket of water being dumped over cobbles.
The creature raised its head, still hissing. Small flecks of saliva showered from the darkness where it crouched. Saliva mixed with something else. Something darker, more viscous....
Jim backed up, crawling, the would-be attacker now obviously as scared as his victim. He'd been on the streets and in enough fights to recognise the sound emanating from the dimness. Slowly, on his hands and knees, he edged his way down the alley, trusting that the thing was too occupied with his comrade to notice him. If he could just get to the end of the enclosed space, he could run and get away safely. He knew these streets like the back of his grubby hand, and was certain he could escape if only he could slip into the maze of alleys beyond. Quietly, he practically slithered across the garbage-covered ground, at one with the shadows.
But not as one with them as the creature.
The air was driven from Jim's lungs, as the very shadow he cowered in suddenly seemed to take on a life of its own. The burly man found himself picked up by some invisible force and hurled the length of the alley, back towards the fence. He landed face down in the dirt, arm twisted oddly beneath him. A resounding crack signified its breaking, and he clutched at the injured limb as he tried to scrabble back to his feet.
Unsteadily he hoisted himself up, using the twisted fence as a lever. The metal was melted and red hot, causing Jim to jerk his hand away in pain. He stared at the fence, or rather, at the huge hole in it, which was composed around the edges of colliquated wire and warped grey mesh. It appeared to have been caught in the blast from some huge explosion, like a grenade or other explosive. But there was nothing like that around here.... was there?
Jim turned sharply at a low growl behind him. From the abstruse gloom a pair of glowing eyelets emerged. They focused unblinkingly on the pusillanimous figure, who at that moment attempted to flee through the smouldering aperture in the fence. A tendril of shadow snaked towards him with lightning speed, wrapping itself around his gut and dragging him coercively into the folds of darkness where the creature waited. Jim struggled vainly as more and more tongues of blackness manacled his body, imprisoning him in a vice-like, but wispy, grip.
Sora watched, horrified, as the man was pulled upright to stare into the red eyes of his attacker. His face was a mask of fear as he gazed into those gleaming orbs, devoid of pupils or mercy. She heard him cry out as the creature clamped its hands onto his shoulders and effortlessly lifted him up into the air. Unable to tear her hazel eyes away from the sickening scene, she observed as his mouth widened in a silent scream, and how the shadows around him seemed to gather together and flow into his gaping maw. Jim's eyeballs bulged, and his muscular body thrashed helplessly as sparks of blue electricity pulsed from him, lancing through him to fizzle pseudo-harmlessly into the air around the pair. The creature remained untouched by these inexplicable jolts of power, retaining its steely gaze without even a hint of clemency for the pain-wracked man in its grasp.
The stench of scorching flesh reached Sora's nostrils; incongruously reminding her of a barbeque she'd been to when she was five years old. She'd hated the smell of charcoal and burned meat even then, and had slipped her share of the unappetizing fodder onto her mother's plate when she wasn't looking.
Mother. Where are you? I'm scared.
The grisly scenario finished abruptly. There was a hollow explosion, followed by the wet splat of existence hitting the walls of surrounding buildings, and suddenly the body clutched in the creature's gnarled claws had no head. The red-eyed figure let it drop unceremoniously to the floor, blood seeping across the concrete like the crimson tide of a dead ocean.
Sora sat frozen with fear where she'd fallen, her mind a maelstrom of terror and random images. She'd wanted to be rid of the thug, but not like this. Not through death. Unbidden, her body started shivering, trembling muscles ignoring her orders to move and escape. Her gaze was captured completely by the rivulets of blood dripping slowly down the walls and over the stony ground towards her. So red. So unbelievably red. She'd never really considered how red blood was before, but now the fact seemed unavoidable. Sticky liquid ran freely through her mind, clouding all her thoughts with its indisputable redness.
A foot appeared at the edge of her vision, and Sora finally tore her eyes away from the nauseatingly captivating colour of Jim's blood long enough to recognise it as a foot. Her gaze travelled up, trailing the limb it was attached to as the deadly creature stepped out of the darkness. Her hazel eyes widened as a mop of unruly brown hair emerged, traced through with a strip of blue fabric, now spattered with drops of scarlet. Tanned skin tight and drawn over a manic snarl, sharp white fangs jutted over the once soft lips. The lips that used to grin so winningly at Sora when she was mad. The lips that used to purse when their owner concentrated on kicking the soccer ball at his feet. The lips that used to form words of encouragement and friendship to the Digidestined when they needed it most. The lips now stained with glittering driblets of blood from their victims.
"Tai?" Sora breathed incredulously. The figure faltered, as if confused by the sound of her voice, but almost immediately shook its head and continued advancing towards her.
The entity once known as Tai Kamiya growled softly, each syllable menacingly savage. His crimson eyes glowed with bloodlust, fixed unremittingly on the frightened girl before him. Sora cried out.
"Tai! Tai, it's me. It's Sora."
The creature didn't even hesitate for a second at the sound of her voice. Sora scrambled shakily to her feet, muscles still unwilling to obey her. Back pressed against the wall, she stared at the oncoming individual with pain in her hazel eyes.
It... he didn't remember her. It was as if she hadn't spoken at all, for all the good it had done.
"Tai, what happened to you?" She yelled, hoping to reach him by volume alone. In answer, the creature bunched his own muscles together and sprang at her. With a gasp, she dove aside, its claws...no, his hands, narrowly missing her. Deep gauges etched into the brickwork where she'd stood, and the entity reached for Sora again with amazing quickness. She screamed as he grabbed her leg, talons where there shouldn't be talons digging into her flesh. Warm blood flowed, and Sora kicked the once-boy hard in his leering face. He fell backwards, surprised by the force of her blow. Mentally thanking her years of soccer training, Sora leapt to her feet. She stumbled slightly as the torn muscle in her calf gave way, but hobbled stubbornly on towards the alley mouth. Perhaps she could raise some help. Perhaps there was someone else around. Perhaps. Perhaps.
The Tai-monster roared and chased after the hurt teenager. Sora whipped round and dodged aside as he charged her, but not before his dagger-like claws had raked her arm. Sora fell back, gasping in pain. A pile of garbage seemed to appear from nowhere behind her, and she tripped to land heavily among the rotting wastage. A dark stain began to appear through her tattered sweater, and blood dripped copiously from deep gashes in her flesh.
A shadow fell across her as she struggled to escape from the odorous hindrance she now found herself in. The Tai-monster loomed over her, preparing to strike. Desperately, Sora called out to him.
"Tai! Please, don't do this! Don't you recognise me?" No response save for the spittle dribbling through his needle-like teeth. "Tai! It's Sora! Please, Tai!" The creature that had once been a boy tensed his sleek muscles and launched himself in her direction. Sora covered her face with her arms, awaiting the blow that would end her life. Waiting for the bolts of blue energy to lance through her body, for the shadows to fill her mouth, choking her until finally her mind exploded. Just like Jim. Trembling, Sora waited for death at the hands of her closest friend.
"Celestial Arrow!"
Suddenly, the ground before the Tai-monster opened up in a blaze of pink and white light. The force of the explosion threw both him and the chestnut-haired girl back - albeit in different directions to each other. Sora slammed against the floor, in pain but miraculously still conscious. The red-eyed creature twisted in mid air with all the grace of a professional acrobat, landing on all fours upon the side of the building. Like an insect he stayed there, stuck by hands and feet like a deranged version of Spiderman. He hissed at his prey and made to spring at her again, raining death from above.
He vaulted from his vantage point, but was halted before reaching his target by a massive winged figure floating before him, who caught his outstretched arms and swung him round to crash back into the wall. He struck the side of the disused building with his back, and having no purchase on the mossy brickwork, plummeted to the alley below like a stone.
Sora watched him fall, her mind hazy from the amount of blood running down her leg and soaking through the remnants of fabric covering her arm. Blearily she saw the figure smash into another mountain of trash, only to leap out again, snarling at the newcomer who dared to deny him his prize. The teenage girl looked up to see what appeared to be an angel hovering above her. An angel? No, that was silly. Angels didn't really exist. But...there was something strangely familiar about this angel, like she'd seen it before, a long time ago. Weak from loss of blood, the exact time and place escaped Sora's cloudy brain, and she felt her heavy eyelids close by themselves.
Sleep. That was what she needed now. So what if there was battle going on around her? All she knew was that she needed to rest. To lose herself in the comforting numbness of slumber.
"Sora!"
A voice. Familiar. Who...?
"Sora! Hold on!"
I know you... Kari?
With immense effort, Sora opened her hazel eyes and twisted round to see a slender figure running full pelt towards her. Brown hair flying, sneakers thudding on the concrete, Kari Kamiya sped towards her fallen friend. She reached the older girl's side and knelt next to her.
"Sora! Can you hear me?"
"K... Kari?" How could Kari be here? She was supposed to be in the country with her Grandmother, not in Tokyo. It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense!
Kari leaned towards the injured teenager, glancing at her torn and bloody arm. "Sora, don't go to sleep. You hear me? Don't go to sleep! Stay awake, Sora, stay awake!"
Awake? That was easy for her to say. But she'd try. She was so... so tired, but she'd try. Sora forced her eyelids open just in time to see a pair of crimson eyelets streak towards them out of the gloom. Kari turned at the same time.
"Angewomon!"
The creature was plucked from the air as Kari's Digimon partner appeared above them, hurling him once again into the wall; and once again the seemingly indestructible entity came back for more, leaping savagely at Angewomon's throat. The Digimon knocked him away with one gloved hand.
"Get it, Angewomon!" Kari called, confident her digievolved friend could deal with this strange creature without difficulty. The female angel nodded, her helmet glinting in the pallid moonlight, before descending to deal another blow to this abnormal enemy.
Sora blearily contemplated what was happening. "N... no, don't." She stuttered, mouth reluctant to form the words she needed. Kari turned, eyebrows raised at this unusual request.
"What?"
Sora took a deep breath, hoping to dispel the mist fogging her thoughts. It didn't help, and she endeavoured to communicate her message with the utmost effort she could muster in her weakened state.
"Not mon... monster." She gabbled, anxious to halt the battle before Angewomon delivered another crushing blow to her opponent, or visa-versa. "It's..it's..."
"Who?" Kari demanded in her gentle yet commanding voice. Sora poured the last of her conscious though into speaking the name of the creature.
"T... Tai."
Kari's eyes widened, and Sora slumped back into the pile of garbage, utterly spent. The younger girl shook her elfin head disbelievingly, then spun round and screamed with all her might into the all-consuming darkness where sounds of the battle raged.
"Angewomon, it's Tai! Stop! IT'S TAI!"
Angewomon faltered at the raw pain in her partner's voice. She'd never heard Kari in such agony before. This small opening was all the Tai-monster needed, and he sprang forward to lock onto the Digimon's wrist with both teeth and claws. Angewomon yelled in pain, and without thinking, dislodged her attacker by smashing him bodily against the wall, then body-slamming him with her considerable bulk. The creature cried out as the last pocket of air was driven from his lungs upon impact, then yelped again as he was mercilessly crushed against the unyielding surface. When Angewomon floated away, he tumbled limply, lifelessly, like a rag-doll to the street below. A gloved hand flew to her mouth as Angewomon realised what she'd done.
"TAI! NOOOO!" Kari screeched at the sight of her kin, falling to be dashed against the concrete beneath him.
Sora's eyes flickered open as a streak of white dropped parallel with the body, catching it before it struck the earth, then opening her many wings and fluttering safely into the darkened alley.
Angewomon gently deposited Tai's still form beside the two girls. His eyes were closed, and the fangs were no longer visible over his bottom lip. His entire face had relaxed, and once again he seemed like the boy Sora had known. Innocent and peaceful, it was hard to believe he'd been the snarling beast trying to tear her throat out only moments ago. Silently, tears began to slide unchecked down Sora's grubby cheeks, and she turned into Kari's warm embrace, sobbing as if her heart would break, not caring any more about showing her weakness. All she cared about was that still, quiet boy laid out before them, an angel quiescently kneeling over him in the dim moonlight.
Kari's arms encircled her weeping friend, tears filling her own hazel eyes. Neither girl spoke a word as they rocked soundlessly in the darkness; the only witnesses to their sorrow the shadows and a silent angel.
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AUTHOR'S NOTES: The chapters in this fic keep getting longer and longer. This one was even longer than the last. But was it worth it? Please review and let me know, all C&C is welcome, and I mean ALL! I wasn't sure about this one, I've never been very good at writing action sequences or fight scenes, so lemme know if it was OK, K? Once again, please be patient with me for the next instalment. I promise you, I have it, it's just being fine-tuned at the moment. I will post it as quickly as possible, think of it as a Christmas present.
Remember, always recycle.
Scribbler ^-^
Same again with the whole 'death-threats-if-NE1-tries-2-steal-this-fic-because-it's-mine-and-I-have-copyright!" part of my blurb. Don't do it and I won't hurt you. Simple enough, isn't it?
Many thanx 2 DC Baller, who reviewed "Forgotten Friends", I was having my doubts about that chapter but you laid them to rest. I shall have 2B careful soon, or my head won't fit out of the door NE more.
Mandatory blurbish out of the way, here is the fifth chapter in my saga. Hope you like it. I'm not very good at writing these... ah, but that would be telling, wouldn't it. Read on, my friends, read on...
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"The Darkness Within" By Scribbler
Chapter Five ~ "Silent Angels"
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"There are times when silence has the loudest voice." -- Leroy Brownlow
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Sora walked quickly through the darkened streets, unsure of where she was going, but not really caring either. She'd had enough of all the arguing and discussions. With every procrastinating word spoken by her comrades Tai might be getting further away from them. Now was not the time for deliberations. Now was the time for action, before it was too late. From the split second when she saw Tai jump from the balcony Sora had sworn she wouldn't lose him again, and she intended to make good on her promise - with or without the aid of her friends.
The hazel-eyed girl shivered. She wished she'd thought to bring a coat, but it had been an impulse decision to leave the apartment. With any luck, it would be a few minutes before anyone realised she was gone. By then she should have gotten far enough away to escape anybody looking for her. She knew Matt well enough to realise that he would only bring her back and keep her cooped up while they came up with a plan. Well, let them construct their plans if they wanted to, but she wasn't about to let another second pass without making some sort of effort to find Tai before it was too late. She hoped most of the Digidestined weren't too familiar with this area of Tokyo, then she could continue with her search unhindered.
Turning down a dimly lit alleyway, Sora quickened her pace. She fancied she could hear voices calling her name not too far away, and was anxious to put as much distance between herself and them as possible. Her actions were not purely selfish, however. Sora had enough about her to discern that if Tai were trying to avoid detection he would stick to the less populated parts of the city - namely, the back streets. That warren of alleys and side streets that housed the ever-growing population of rodents and rotting garbage the Japanese capitol engendered. Here was where she would enact her quest.
It was criminally under lit down her chosen path, and the chestnut haired teenager was forced to blindly feel her way down the narrow alley along the brick wall of a building. Both the rough surface of the stones and moist furriness of gathering moss passed beneath her fingers as she sightlessly stumbled across the shadowy waste ground, several times tripping on various items of refuse and skinning her palms and fingers. Inadvertently, she shuddered; overactive imagination creating horrible images of what she was stepping on. She continued hurriedly on her way, turning down yet another tiny alley to her right, then again to her left. Certain she could find her way back again, Sora pressed on, the thought of finding Tai and bringing him home echoing like a knell through her determined mind.
After a few more blind changes in direction, Sora found herself in a dead end. A tall wire mesh fence stretched across the mouth of one dark - albeit slightly lighter than the rest - alleyway. With a sigh the slender girl turned, intending to retrace her steps and continue on in another direction, but found her way blocked by a person. A cold knot of fear manifested in the pit of her stomach as she surveyed the brawny man standing before her. He wore a ragged pair of jeans coupled with a vest and denim jacket, apparently oblivious to the cold through his flimsy attire. Sora froze where she stood. Menacingly, he took a step forward.
"Hello, girly." His voice was thick with sarcasm, and Sora recoiled as a foul blast of halitosis hit her face, the unmistakable stench of alcohol evident on his breath. She didn't answer, instead taking a step backwards, away from the intimidating individual and towards the metal fence. The man - who wasn't very old, only in his late twenties at most - tutted at her. "No need to be afraid of me. I ain't gonna hurt you. Come here." Sora ignored his words, taking another step backwards. The stranger twisted his head to call mockingly into the shadows to his left. "Hey, guys, looky what I found."
Sora's eyes widened as two more men, just as burly and ragged looking as the first, hove into view around the corner. One stumbled slightly against the other, dragging his feet and obviously drunk. She considered taking another step backwards, but her spine was virtually pressed up against the wire mesh as it was, and with a sickening lurch she realised that in her panic she had effectively trapped herself. Doing her best to seem unafraid in the vain hope that the trio would leave her alone, Sora straightened her stance.
The first man gestured to the ensnared teenager, and one of his friends - a bald man wearing a Hawaiian shirt with bare arms - whistled appreciatively at her.
"Whoo! Look what you got, Jim." He chuckled in a booming baritone unsuited to his squat frame. His accomplice agreed heartily with him.
"How'd you get her to come way out here? Did you promise her candy if she was a good little girl?" He guffawed at his own joke, and Sora stiffened at the sound.
"Naw. She was already here all by herself, like she was waiting for someone to come along and collect her." The first man chuckled, and every hair on Sora's body stood on end at the pleasant sound, so mutated when escaping from the man's mouth. Unlike the other two, the one known as Jim didn't sound drunk at all. By comparison, he sounded chillingly sober, every word and move calculated to evoke fear into her heart and increase the block of ice forming in her gut. Her hazel eyes sparkled with terror as Jim took another threatening step forward. There was nowhere to go, nowhere to run, and the three stalwart characters were obstructing her only escape route. Unless....
Sora hastily cast a surreptitious glance at the fence behind her. It was very high, and quite flimsy, but the mesh might serve as usable hand and footholds. Having little other choice, Sora whipped around whilst the men were still at the other end of the alleyway and began to climb. There was a shout from behind her, followed by the unmistakable sound of running footsteps, and she tried her best to swarm up the steel netting, trusting to the strength borne of her years of soccer training. Her fingers were finding it difficult to get a firm grip through the holes in the closely-knit mesh, her feet even more so, but gamely she struggled up the arduous obstruction.
She was nearly half way up when muscular arms grabbed her roughly from behind and yanked her slim frame astringently from its perch. With a cry, Sora fell back into their waiting embrace, her waist locked firmly in an iron grip. She struggled, arms and legs flailing wildly, and was rewarded by a muffled grunt as her foot made contact with some soft part of Hawaiian-Shirt's anatomy. He groaned, and had Sora's mouth been capable of smiling it would have been adorned with a bitter grin at that moment. As it was, her face was at present covered by a foul smelling hand, which seemed intent on cutting off her oxygen supply as much as she was intent on retaining it. Jim leaned his head onto her shoulder from behind, one arm locked around her waist, the other clamped across her visage. His action was reminiscent of Matt's loving encirclement, but Jim's intentions were much more injurious. Despite her intense endeavours to free herself, or at least cause as much damage as possible to her attackers, the intimidating man spoke softly into Sora's ear, his every word sending a fresh new shiver down her spine.
"You shouldn't have done that." He whispered, breath blowing gently across her skin in a mocking parody of a lover's intimacy. With a burst of strength, Sora tore her head out from under his palm.
"Go to hell!" She gasped, before spitting in his grimy face. Jim snarled, twisting Sora's arm behind her until she felt sure it would snap. Unable to contain herself any longer, Sora released a terrified scream, which echoed hollowly around the deserted alleyways, its only company Jim's taunting laughter.
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Tai sat in a deserted shop doorway, head in his hands. Why had he gone back? Why had he taken the chance? Now they knew. Not everything, but enough. They knew that he was alive, and here. He should get out of Tokyo as fast as possible. Leave them all behind before they did anything stupid, like try to look for him.
Yet still he sat in that abandoned and desolate place, unable to move. His id screeched at him to pick himself up, move his feet and depart, just like he'd done all the other times, but some inscrutable force kept him welded to the threshold. He stared at the cracked concrete, his mind a confused and tortured mess. Why didn't he go? He knew it was the best thing - no, the safest thing - for everyone. Was he really that selfish that he would put all their lives in danger for his own personal happiness? No, he couldn't believe that. But at the same time, he discerned that it must be true. Why else was he snivelling here like an infant, intent on getting its own way?
A small child stood before him. She was about five years old; thin, with blonde hair cascading down her back like a golden waterfall. She wore a pair of dungarees, cut roughly at the bottom into shorts, and long white socks inside battered sneakers. Her summery garments were completely unsuitable against the biting chill of the Tokyo night, but she didn't seem in the slightest bit averse to the cold. In fact, she appeared completely unaware of the gelid breeze blowing her flaxen tresses about, her piercing grey eyes fixed firmly on the shivering teenager before her. At first glance the scenario seemed odd. However, upon a second look it was almost unbelievable. For you see, the edges of the child's body were hazy and indistinct, as if someone had taken an eraser and smudged her outline. But what was truly amazing was the shape of a building visible through her chest. The tiny girl was entirely translucent.
She tipped her head at Tai. "Aren't you going?"
Tai sniffed, then looked up at her for the first time. "You. Why can't you leave me alone, Terri?"
"Because." She answered in the simple way that five-year-olds do.
Tai only stared at her. One of his demons. One of the reasons he never wanted to cause any more pain to anyone ever again.
"Aren't you going?" The girl repeated. "You should, you know."
"I know, but...." Tai trailed off, his eyes sliding to the pavement.
"You want to hurt them, don't you?" She accused in a merry, singsong voice. Tai looked aghast at the suggestion.
"No! That's the last thing I want!"
"You do! You do! Otherwise you would have left when you had the chance. You want to pay them back for forgetting you. For living their lives without you around!"
"NO!" Tai almost shouted at the ethereal child. "I... I...." His voice became soft, his hazel eyes sorrowful. "I want to die."
The girl stopped smiling, and her voice, when it brushed over her lips, was smooth. Too mature to come from a child.
"Death is horrible. It's cold and dark. There's nothing there. No light. No air. Nothing." Her impassive grey eyes locked Tai's. "Why did you send me here?"
"I didn't - " Tai began.
"You did." She cut him off. "All we ever gave you was comfort. A home when you had none. Food when you were starving. Love when you were alone. Why did you bring me to this place."
"I... I didn't mean to."
"You never mean to, Tai, but you do it anyway."
Tai's voice cracked as he spoke, filled with emotion at his past deeds. "Why can't I die? Why?"
"Because you have to pay for your crimes, and the only way to do that is by living with what you've done." The girl's tone was harsh and unforgiving.
"I'm... I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry." Tai breathed.
"Apologies won't bring me back. Sorry won't change what you did." Her stare was almost tactile on his face. Tai wanted the ground to open up and swallow him whole. He didn't care if he went to hell, if only he could stop this endless cycle of pain and loneliness. She spoke again, intonation clipped and frosty. "What was it like, Adam? What was it like feeling my blood run through your fingers? Seeing my body on the patio? Did it feel good? Did you like it?"
"No!" Tai vociferated, covering his ears with his hands and shaking his head to rid himself of the empyreal child's words. "No! No! No! No! NO!" He trembled, both from the cold and the accusations slithering into his ear. "I didn't want you to die! I didn't want anyone to die!"
"But you did. Admit it, Adam. You liked the feeling of power you got from taking my life. You enjoyed it." She sneered.
"NO!" Tai yelled. He closed his eyes to block out her arraigning expression, but her voice seemed to echo inside his brain, prying into every nook and cranny of his mind until he felt like screaming to make her stop.
Tai blinked. Somebody was screaming. Was it him? Unsure in his present state of mind as to whether he would recognise his own scream, he touched his mouth with a quivering hand. No, he was silent. So who was it? The voice sounded female, and terrified. Yet through her anxiety was a permeating familiarity. The scream came again, satiated with fear and something else... pain?
Tai jerked his head up as the voice suddenly slotted into his memory.
Sora! It was Sora's voice. Sora's scream.
Hastily, the hazel-eyed boy scrambled to his feet. Of his demon there was no sign, but in his alacrity Tai failed to notice that she was gone. Only the sound of one girl's scream filled his head. He had to find her. Had to help her. All his own troubles were driven from his mind as that one purpose drove him forward. Into the bitter night, towards the origin of that panic-filled screech. She was nearby, but where? He followed his ears, praying that he could reach her in time to save her from whatever caused her screaming.
I'm coming Sora! Don't worry, I'm coming!
If anything's happened to her....
I'm coming!
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Sora's head snapped back as Jim slapped her across her face.
"Shut up!" He growled vehemently. Sora gulped, her neck twisted so that she still faced away from him. She could hear Hawaiian-Shirt laughing.
"Ha ha! Hit her again, Jim. Go on!" Jim grabbed her chin in one hand, yanking her face back to press his dirt-encrusted visage into her own. The stink of his breath invaded her nostrils, making her gag.
"Shall I hit you again, girly? Shall I?" He snickered maliciously, enjoying her discomfort as she struggled to escape his grasp. "Oh, a feisty one, are you? Well, I like 'em feisty." Sora kicked his shin, hard, but he didn't even seem to notice her feeble attempts to defend herself. "That'll teach you to spit on me. I don't take no guff from nobody, you hear?" She didn't answer. "You hear?" Jim repeated, raising his voice. Terrified, Sora only nodded.
Why had she gone so far away? Why hadn't she waited for the others? Sora fought back tears as Jim stroked her cheek with one filthy index finger, leaving a trail of grey dirt across her ivory skin. A shuddering sob inadvertently wracked her slender frame.
"Aw, don't be so unresponsive, girly. I ain't gonna hurt you. We only want to have some fun." Jim murmured softly, tracing the shape of the teenager's mouth. Sora made to bite his hand, but he was deceptively quick, catching her neck in a vice-like grip. The frightened girl emitted a harsh choking noise as his palm pressed against her throat, cutting off her air supply. Jim only sniggered as her hazel eyes became wide from both fear and lack of oxygen. Slowly, and with deliberate fulmination, the threatening man leaned closer, mouth slightly parted. Sora could only watch helplessly as his mouth descended on hers.
In the ghostly glow of the moonlight, a solitary tear slid down Sora's cheek, illuminated against her skin as a sickening symbol of her impending violation.
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Tai rounded the corner of an alley and halted abruptly in his tracks. There before him, on the other side of a tall wire-mesh fence were three men, clustered around a smaller figure pressed up against a wall. One of them, a widely framed guy wearing a faded denim jacket, was leaning over this individual, apparently in the middle of a lover's embrace. As he moved his head fractionally, Tai saw with horror the face of the third person.
Sora. Her eyes wide, cheeks smeared with grime and tears. Tears? But Sora didn't cry. However, one look at her petrified visage, hazel eyes filled with hopelessness and dread, was enough to manifest a core of anger in Tai's stomach. His fists clenched, his teeth gritted, and his eyes burned with hatred for her attackers. Each one of the grinning, laughing goblins sliced a gash of ire into his heart, until he felt he couldn't bear it any longer.
Too late, he realised what this intense hatred would spark. He tried to turn away, to calm down, to do anything in order to halt the bubbling broth rising in his throat, but it was no use. Tai clutched powerlessly at his chest, striving to beat down what was to come, despite knowing it was inevitable. Perspiration beaded on his forehead as he was forced to his knees by the scorching agony filling his body. No! Not now! Please, anything but that!
The hazel-eyed boy's silent pleas went unnoticed, though; and in the insignificant gloom of the Tokyo back streets, all hell suddenly broke loose.
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Sora heard the roar before she saw what caused it. The ear-splitting noise cleaved through the night air like an approaching tornado, closely followed by the sound of rending metal. The deafening bellow came again, accompanied this time by a cry from one of the three men surrounding her. Jim jolted his head up, and Sora twisted around enough to see Hawaiian-Shirt go flying through the air behind him. There was a gut-wrenching thump of him hitting the ground, and Jim cursed fervidly under his breath. The muscular man released the Sora's throat, and the weakened teenaged simply slid down the wall she was pressed against, gasping for air like it was the elixir of life. She watched as Jim tried to run for the mouth of the alley, but was stopped as the body of his second companion slammed into him, knocking him forcibly to the waste-filled ground.
A figure stood beyond them in the shadows, face half obscured by darkness. Only a pair of glowing red eyes were visible through the almost opaque blackness. Inhuman eyes. Such eyes as have permeated the tales of man for centuries concerning Hades and the land of the dead. These two gleaming orbs were fixed on the two men sprawled on the floor, the body of their comrade lying some distance away, unmoving. A nonhuman snarl split the air, punctuated by the heavy breathing of the thing.
Jim's compeer scrambled to his feet and lumbered down the alley, trying vainly to make his escape. With a feral yell, the crimson-eyed creature lunged at him, tackling him to the ground with ease. Sora noted that the attacker was considerably smaller than the thug, but seemed at least ten times as strong. From where she was slumped, the girl could discern only the outline of the strange creature. It was vaguely humanoid, but moved so fast she could barely make it out. Only its eyes were truly visible, shining scarlet as it darted to and fro in the shadows. A hiss filtered from its mouth, succeeded by a strangled gurgling from its opponent as he was pinned to the floor. The creature leaned its head down from where it straddled the man's back, effectively disappearing from view in the gloom. Sora listened despite herself as a ripping sound was heard, then a noise comparable to a bucket of water being dumped over cobbles.
The creature raised its head, still hissing. Small flecks of saliva showered from the darkness where it crouched. Saliva mixed with something else. Something darker, more viscous....
Jim backed up, crawling, the would-be attacker now obviously as scared as his victim. He'd been on the streets and in enough fights to recognise the sound emanating from the dimness. Slowly, on his hands and knees, he edged his way down the alley, trusting that the thing was too occupied with his comrade to notice him. If he could just get to the end of the enclosed space, he could run and get away safely. He knew these streets like the back of his grubby hand, and was certain he could escape if only he could slip into the maze of alleys beyond. Quietly, he practically slithered across the garbage-covered ground, at one with the shadows.
But not as one with them as the creature.
The air was driven from Jim's lungs, as the very shadow he cowered in suddenly seemed to take on a life of its own. The burly man found himself picked up by some invisible force and hurled the length of the alley, back towards the fence. He landed face down in the dirt, arm twisted oddly beneath him. A resounding crack signified its breaking, and he clutched at the injured limb as he tried to scrabble back to his feet.
Unsteadily he hoisted himself up, using the twisted fence as a lever. The metal was melted and red hot, causing Jim to jerk his hand away in pain. He stared at the fence, or rather, at the huge hole in it, which was composed around the edges of colliquated wire and warped grey mesh. It appeared to have been caught in the blast from some huge explosion, like a grenade or other explosive. But there was nothing like that around here.... was there?
Jim turned sharply at a low growl behind him. From the abstruse gloom a pair of glowing eyelets emerged. They focused unblinkingly on the pusillanimous figure, who at that moment attempted to flee through the smouldering aperture in the fence. A tendril of shadow snaked towards him with lightning speed, wrapping itself around his gut and dragging him coercively into the folds of darkness where the creature waited. Jim struggled vainly as more and more tongues of blackness manacled his body, imprisoning him in a vice-like, but wispy, grip.
Sora watched, horrified, as the man was pulled upright to stare into the red eyes of his attacker. His face was a mask of fear as he gazed into those gleaming orbs, devoid of pupils or mercy. She heard him cry out as the creature clamped its hands onto his shoulders and effortlessly lifted him up into the air. Unable to tear her hazel eyes away from the sickening scene, she observed as his mouth widened in a silent scream, and how the shadows around him seemed to gather together and flow into his gaping maw. Jim's eyeballs bulged, and his muscular body thrashed helplessly as sparks of blue electricity pulsed from him, lancing through him to fizzle pseudo-harmlessly into the air around the pair. The creature remained untouched by these inexplicable jolts of power, retaining its steely gaze without even a hint of clemency for the pain-wracked man in its grasp.
The stench of scorching flesh reached Sora's nostrils; incongruously reminding her of a barbeque she'd been to when she was five years old. She'd hated the smell of charcoal and burned meat even then, and had slipped her share of the unappetizing fodder onto her mother's plate when she wasn't looking.
Mother. Where are you? I'm scared.
The grisly scenario finished abruptly. There was a hollow explosion, followed by the wet splat of existence hitting the walls of surrounding buildings, and suddenly the body clutched in the creature's gnarled claws had no head. The red-eyed figure let it drop unceremoniously to the floor, blood seeping across the concrete like the crimson tide of a dead ocean.
Sora sat frozen with fear where she'd fallen, her mind a maelstrom of terror and random images. She'd wanted to be rid of the thug, but not like this. Not through death. Unbidden, her body started shivering, trembling muscles ignoring her orders to move and escape. Her gaze was captured completely by the rivulets of blood dripping slowly down the walls and over the stony ground towards her. So red. So unbelievably red. She'd never really considered how red blood was before, but now the fact seemed unavoidable. Sticky liquid ran freely through her mind, clouding all her thoughts with its indisputable redness.
A foot appeared at the edge of her vision, and Sora finally tore her eyes away from the nauseatingly captivating colour of Jim's blood long enough to recognise it as a foot. Her gaze travelled up, trailing the limb it was attached to as the deadly creature stepped out of the darkness. Her hazel eyes widened as a mop of unruly brown hair emerged, traced through with a strip of blue fabric, now spattered with drops of scarlet. Tanned skin tight and drawn over a manic snarl, sharp white fangs jutted over the once soft lips. The lips that used to grin so winningly at Sora when she was mad. The lips that used to purse when their owner concentrated on kicking the soccer ball at his feet. The lips that used to form words of encouragement and friendship to the Digidestined when they needed it most. The lips now stained with glittering driblets of blood from their victims.
"Tai?" Sora breathed incredulously. The figure faltered, as if confused by the sound of her voice, but almost immediately shook its head and continued advancing towards her.
The entity once known as Tai Kamiya growled softly, each syllable menacingly savage. His crimson eyes glowed with bloodlust, fixed unremittingly on the frightened girl before him. Sora cried out.
"Tai! Tai, it's me. It's Sora."
The creature didn't even hesitate for a second at the sound of her voice. Sora scrambled shakily to her feet, muscles still unwilling to obey her. Back pressed against the wall, she stared at the oncoming individual with pain in her hazel eyes.
It... he didn't remember her. It was as if she hadn't spoken at all, for all the good it had done.
"Tai, what happened to you?" She yelled, hoping to reach him by volume alone. In answer, the creature bunched his own muscles together and sprang at her. With a gasp, she dove aside, its claws...no, his hands, narrowly missing her. Deep gauges etched into the brickwork where she'd stood, and the entity reached for Sora again with amazing quickness. She screamed as he grabbed her leg, talons where there shouldn't be talons digging into her flesh. Warm blood flowed, and Sora kicked the once-boy hard in his leering face. He fell backwards, surprised by the force of her blow. Mentally thanking her years of soccer training, Sora leapt to her feet. She stumbled slightly as the torn muscle in her calf gave way, but hobbled stubbornly on towards the alley mouth. Perhaps she could raise some help. Perhaps there was someone else around. Perhaps. Perhaps.
The Tai-monster roared and chased after the hurt teenager. Sora whipped round and dodged aside as he charged her, but not before his dagger-like claws had raked her arm. Sora fell back, gasping in pain. A pile of garbage seemed to appear from nowhere behind her, and she tripped to land heavily among the rotting wastage. A dark stain began to appear through her tattered sweater, and blood dripped copiously from deep gashes in her flesh.
A shadow fell across her as she struggled to escape from the odorous hindrance she now found herself in. The Tai-monster loomed over her, preparing to strike. Desperately, Sora called out to him.
"Tai! Please, don't do this! Don't you recognise me?" No response save for the spittle dribbling through his needle-like teeth. "Tai! It's Sora! Please, Tai!" The creature that had once been a boy tensed his sleek muscles and launched himself in her direction. Sora covered her face with her arms, awaiting the blow that would end her life. Waiting for the bolts of blue energy to lance through her body, for the shadows to fill her mouth, choking her until finally her mind exploded. Just like Jim. Trembling, Sora waited for death at the hands of her closest friend.
"Celestial Arrow!"
Suddenly, the ground before the Tai-monster opened up in a blaze of pink and white light. The force of the explosion threw both him and the chestnut-haired girl back - albeit in different directions to each other. Sora slammed against the floor, in pain but miraculously still conscious. The red-eyed creature twisted in mid air with all the grace of a professional acrobat, landing on all fours upon the side of the building. Like an insect he stayed there, stuck by hands and feet like a deranged version of Spiderman. He hissed at his prey and made to spring at her again, raining death from above.
He vaulted from his vantage point, but was halted before reaching his target by a massive winged figure floating before him, who caught his outstretched arms and swung him round to crash back into the wall. He struck the side of the disused building with his back, and having no purchase on the mossy brickwork, plummeted to the alley below like a stone.
Sora watched him fall, her mind hazy from the amount of blood running down her leg and soaking through the remnants of fabric covering her arm. Blearily she saw the figure smash into another mountain of trash, only to leap out again, snarling at the newcomer who dared to deny him his prize. The teenage girl looked up to see what appeared to be an angel hovering above her. An angel? No, that was silly. Angels didn't really exist. But...there was something strangely familiar about this angel, like she'd seen it before, a long time ago. Weak from loss of blood, the exact time and place escaped Sora's cloudy brain, and she felt her heavy eyelids close by themselves.
Sleep. That was what she needed now. So what if there was battle going on around her? All she knew was that she needed to rest. To lose herself in the comforting numbness of slumber.
"Sora!"
A voice. Familiar. Who...?
"Sora! Hold on!"
I know you... Kari?
With immense effort, Sora opened her hazel eyes and twisted round to see a slender figure running full pelt towards her. Brown hair flying, sneakers thudding on the concrete, Kari Kamiya sped towards her fallen friend. She reached the older girl's side and knelt next to her.
"Sora! Can you hear me?"
"K... Kari?" How could Kari be here? She was supposed to be in the country with her Grandmother, not in Tokyo. It didn't make sense. Nothing made sense!
Kari leaned towards the injured teenager, glancing at her torn and bloody arm. "Sora, don't go to sleep. You hear me? Don't go to sleep! Stay awake, Sora, stay awake!"
Awake? That was easy for her to say. But she'd try. She was so... so tired, but she'd try. Sora forced her eyelids open just in time to see a pair of crimson eyelets streak towards them out of the gloom. Kari turned at the same time.
"Angewomon!"
The creature was plucked from the air as Kari's Digimon partner appeared above them, hurling him once again into the wall; and once again the seemingly indestructible entity came back for more, leaping savagely at Angewomon's throat. The Digimon knocked him away with one gloved hand.
"Get it, Angewomon!" Kari called, confident her digievolved friend could deal with this strange creature without difficulty. The female angel nodded, her helmet glinting in the pallid moonlight, before descending to deal another blow to this abnormal enemy.
Sora blearily contemplated what was happening. "N... no, don't." She stuttered, mouth reluctant to form the words she needed. Kari turned, eyebrows raised at this unusual request.
"What?"
Sora took a deep breath, hoping to dispel the mist fogging her thoughts. It didn't help, and she endeavoured to communicate her message with the utmost effort she could muster in her weakened state.
"Not mon... monster." She gabbled, anxious to halt the battle before Angewomon delivered another crushing blow to her opponent, or visa-versa. "It's..it's..."
"Who?" Kari demanded in her gentle yet commanding voice. Sora poured the last of her conscious though into speaking the name of the creature.
"T... Tai."
Kari's eyes widened, and Sora slumped back into the pile of garbage, utterly spent. The younger girl shook her elfin head disbelievingly, then spun round and screamed with all her might into the all-consuming darkness where sounds of the battle raged.
"Angewomon, it's Tai! Stop! IT'S TAI!"
Angewomon faltered at the raw pain in her partner's voice. She'd never heard Kari in such agony before. This small opening was all the Tai-monster needed, and he sprang forward to lock onto the Digimon's wrist with both teeth and claws. Angewomon yelled in pain, and without thinking, dislodged her attacker by smashing him bodily against the wall, then body-slamming him with her considerable bulk. The creature cried out as the last pocket of air was driven from his lungs upon impact, then yelped again as he was mercilessly crushed against the unyielding surface. When Angewomon floated away, he tumbled limply, lifelessly, like a rag-doll to the street below. A gloved hand flew to her mouth as Angewomon realised what she'd done.
"TAI! NOOOO!" Kari screeched at the sight of her kin, falling to be dashed against the concrete beneath him.
Sora's eyes flickered open as a streak of white dropped parallel with the body, catching it before it struck the earth, then opening her many wings and fluttering safely into the darkened alley.
Angewomon gently deposited Tai's still form beside the two girls. His eyes were closed, and the fangs were no longer visible over his bottom lip. His entire face had relaxed, and once again he seemed like the boy Sora had known. Innocent and peaceful, it was hard to believe he'd been the snarling beast trying to tear her throat out only moments ago. Silently, tears began to slide unchecked down Sora's grubby cheeks, and she turned into Kari's warm embrace, sobbing as if her heart would break, not caring any more about showing her weakness. All she cared about was that still, quiet boy laid out before them, an angel quiescently kneeling over him in the dim moonlight.
Kari's arms encircled her weeping friend, tears filling her own hazel eyes. Neither girl spoke a word as they rocked soundlessly in the darkness; the only witnesses to their sorrow the shadows and a silent angel.
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AUTHOR'S NOTES: The chapters in this fic keep getting longer and longer. This one was even longer than the last. But was it worth it? Please review and let me know, all C&C is welcome, and I mean ALL! I wasn't sure about this one, I've never been very good at writing action sequences or fight scenes, so lemme know if it was OK, K? Once again, please be patient with me for the next instalment. I promise you, I have it, it's just being fine-tuned at the moment. I will post it as quickly as possible, think of it as a Christmas present.
Remember, always recycle.
Scribbler ^-^
