______________________________________________________________________________________
For They Shall Be Filled
By: Vain 5/31/2001-1/26/2002
__________________________________________________________
Vain: Okay, before you embark on the next four chapters, I just want you to know that I have the cold from hell while I am editing them. Does that make sense? Whatever. I feel horrid. However, for some ungodly reason, I am determined to make my deadline. So shut up and enjoy the story.
Remy: La pauvre.
Vain: That goes for you, too, Cajun. Special thanks go to PeaceKeeperAlpha for making sure that chapters 31-34 are coherent. As usual, I own nothing—which is really just sad given all the time I put into this. Oh, just R&R.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
~"All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written:
'I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.' "
-Matthew 26: 31
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part Thirty-One
"What Sad Gods . . ."TK groaned as he opened his eyes. Cold. He was wet and cold. His eyelids fluttered closed again.
"TK!! TK, where are you?!"
"Patamon?" He opened his eyes again and forced himself up, grimacing as his body creaked in protest. Scratch that; he was wet, cold, and horribly stiff. "Patamon . . .?"
He winced and looked around. A stone seemed to settle in his stomach as he recognized the non-light filtering through the dead air to illuminate the utterly forgettable scenery. He looked down. He was laying in water . . . thick, black water. It flowed up around him and lapped hungrily at his shorts, making the ash-like sand a soupy mud that clung to him and seemed to seep into his very pores. "The Dark Ocean . . ."
He lurched to his feet, panic squeezing his heart and drying his throat. "KARI!!!"
A flutter of leathery wings answered him as his orange and cream-colored batpig flapped into his view. "TK!"
Breathless and exhausted, Patamon coasted the rest of the distance separating them and landed in his human's waiting arms. "We've been looking for you for nearly an hour!"
"An hour?"
"Uh-huh." Patamon nodded and snuggled down into his partner's arms. "The others are all just a little bit up the beach looking for you. C'mon. It's that way." A dark paw pointed back the way he had come and they started off in that direction.
TK cast a glance down at the desperate-looking waves for a moment before turning away with a shudder. "Is everyone okay?"
Patamon fidgeted uncomfortably in his arms.
"What is it?"
An enormous pair of blue eyes turned to look dolefully up into his. "We can't find Ken, Kari, and Gennai."
TK stopped. He felt like someone had just punched him in the stomach. "What?"
"Ken, Kari, and Gennai are missing," the rookie repeated.
"Hey look!!" Yolei rounded the bend right in front of them. TK blinked in confusion as Yolei glomped him. "DAVIS!! I FOUND HIM!!"
Patamon let out a muffled squeal of indignation as the enthusiastic Child of Love and Purity squeezed him. "We thought they'd taken you, too!!"
"Taken?" TK struggled briefly to free himself and Patamon before they were both crushed. "Taken where? By whom?"
Yolei's eyes clouded over. "Come on. I think you better talk to Stingmon, Gatomon, and XV-mon."
**************
Come home, Gennai.
"Come home."
The voice was distant and tugged at the edges of the foamy gray dream that held his mind captive.
"Come home."
Home? Where was home? He had no home. Not since they had taken him away from his home.
"Come home."
He'd never liked home anyway. The Guardians of the Digidestined and the Holy Beasts became his home, his family, his everything. Until-until-until what? He couldn't remember. He needed to remember, though; it was very important.
"Come home."
Go away. Leave me alone.
Home. Where was home? They were home. Them. And home would always be where they were . . . Kazunori Saito—the servant of the Water Tiger and Guardian of the West and the Chosen of Courage and Friendship, Elaine Barre—the servant of the Earth Tortoise and Guardian of the North and the Chosen of Love and Purity, Denisov Romanovich—the servant of the Firebird and the Guardian of the South and the Chosen of Faith and Knowledge, and Sanghee Kiangtzu—servant of the Air Dragon and Guardian of the East and the Chosen of Light and Hope. They were home. The Holy Beasts were home. This place was not home. He wanted out.
"Come home."
Help me.
He wanted out. He wanted to hear Elaine laugh her rare, gentle laughter. He wanted to see Denisov grin and tell one of his odd nonsensical stories with his thick Russian accent. He wanted to watch the way Sanghee's beautiful skirts moved in the breeze as she gathered herbs for the hatchlings in Primary Village. Most of all though, he wanted to hear his master's gentle baritone roll over the strange barrier between him and the rest of the world and call him back.
Master . . .
Come home, apprentice.
And was that Sanghee? She had always loved his master so much . . .
Kazunori? Kazunori! Let the boy sleep, beloved.
And Denisov, too?
Boy? He's only six years your junior, Sanghee. Besides, you spoil him, little one.
Elaine . . .?
And you'll be better when you get your apprentice, Denisov?
Help, he whispered across the barrier. Come find me.
"Come home."
Come home, apprentice.
Help me! Please! Master Kazunori! Sanghee!
Why didn't they come? He would be safe if they would just come.
They're not coming, a tiny voice whispered in response. This is all a dream-a fantasy. Denisov is dead. Elaine has gone mad. Sanghee is gone. Kazunori is lost to you. They are all gone, Gennai.
No!
"Come home."
They are all gone and you are alone.
No! They haven't left me! They wouldn't . . .
They have.
No!! You lie!
They are gone, Gennai. Will you go to where they have gone? Will you follow in your infamous Master's footsteps?
No . . . I want to go home.
They were your home, Gennai. Remember? Where they were was home. The Holy Beasts were home. They are gone Gennai.
No . . .
"Come home."
Your Gods are a sham and your idols are gone. You have no home.
Gennai opened his eyes and peered blurrily into the off tone light. All he could see around him was white. He couldn't move. Why couldn't he move . . .?
The answer came as a mass of darkness appeared to his right. He tried to turn his head but couldn't. He licked his lips and his voice was a croak that seemed offensive and sacrilegious in the hazy white. "Where . . .?"
The Darkness seemed to swell until it filled his vision-until he was drowning in it.
"Whu-"
And then a face appeared. It was a handsome face, a Japanese face. It was a familiar face-a human face. It was the face of a man he had seen destroyed long ago; destroyed and replaced by something new-something horrid. And Gennai wanted to scream, but he couldn't seem to find the sound.
The Dagomon once known to two worlds as Kazunori Saito smiled then—a vicious, cruel expression. "Welcome home, apprentice."
**************
Cody bit his lower lip as he stared at Stingmon's back. He hugged Upamon a bit tighter. "We'll find him," he said quietly. The tall Champion said nothing and Cody looked away.
"Davis?" Cody relaxed a bit at the sound of TK's voice as he and Yolei appeared. The blonde's face was flushed and he looked afraid. "Davis, where are they?"
Davis looked up from where he was tending to a gash on X-Vmon's leg and frowned. His chocolate brown eyes were unusually serious and he set his lips in a harsh, firm line. "We don't know."
Stingmon let loose a low growl. "Ken-chan . . . I had him. I had him . . ." He lifted his large hands and stared down at them morosely. "But they were stronger. I had him and they pulled him right out of my hands. He just . . . slipped through my hands."
X-Vmon looked over at the other Champion and his eyes gleamed. "We'll get them back, Stingmon," he growled. "But you won't do Ken any good if you go out and do something stupid and get yourself killed."
"He's right," Gatomon said. She lashed her tail in agitation. "I saw them take Kari, too. But this isn't the Digital World. If you get deleted here, there's no guarantee that you'll be reformatted."
The insect type's wings snapped out and he turned, his antennae whipping around with the motion. "You don't understand! I just got him back and now I've lost him again. I couldn't protect him again!"
"You think I don't understand?!" the feline Champion growled angrily. "You wouldn't believe what I went through to find Kari. I actually tried to kill her! I don't want to lose my human either, but losing it is not going to help anyone!"
For a moment it looked as though Stingmon was going to argue, but instead he simply slumped his shoulders and turned back around without a word.
TK looked from face to face in confusion. "Who took them?"
Gatomon frowned at him, her large blue eyes betraying her anxiety. She lashed her tail again. "I'll tell you. Me, Stingmon and X-Vmon were the only ones who didn't lose consciousness. There was an explosion and all this fire came out of the wall towards us. Stingmon grabbed Ken and X-Vmon grabbed Davis and I had Kari but instead of the fire burning us up when it hit us, everything just went a hazy white color and it got really cold. You were all out like lights and the others had all dedigivolved except for Patamon, Stingmon, X-Vmon, and me. We tried to keep hold of you all and stay together, but this wind was blowing and it felt like we were falling and it was really, really hard to concentrate on anything." Her ears drooped a bit and she bowed her head. "Then all these black tentacles came out of nowhere. They latched onto Kari, Gennai, and Ken and just ripped them right out of our arms. We really tried to hold onto them, but it was so cold and the tentacles were just too strong . . ." she trailed off, looking more and more dejected with every word.
TK knelt down and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "It okay, Gatomon. I know you did your best."
Davis knelt down on the opposite side of her and grinned. "Yeah. Besides, we've been through worse. At least Ken's not gonna try and feed them to a Deltamon, right?"
Stingmon glared at him, the digimon stared, and TK and Yolei both sweatdropped.
The goggle-boy laughed uncomfortably and scratched the back of his head. "I guess that this wasn't the best time to bring that up, huh?"
Cody sighed. "Idiot."
TK stood up. "So what do we do now?"
Davis frowned out towards the water. "I dunno. We have to find the others first though. If we're gonna face this dark undersea guy, we're gonna need all the help we can get."
"No truer words were ever spoken, Child of Courage and Friendship."
Davis stood up and everyone tensed.
"Upamon digivolve to . . . Armadillomon!!"
"Poromon digivolve to . . . Hawkmon!!"
TK looked around in confusion. There was nobody there.
Yolei stepped closer to the water. "Show yourself!"
Cody looked around nervously. "Yolei, I don't think-"
"Show myself?" Deep, sinful laughter filled the air around them and the waves seemed to get louder and more aggressive. "Show myself? To you? Very well, little girl."
A small swirl appeared in the water and grew to form a pillar of water standing roughly six feet above the water. The dark liquid fell away with a crash and revealed a woman with teal hair and terribly pale skin standing on the Ocean's surface. Her full rose bud lips were set on a bluish white face and her long silky looking hair fell to her waist in long coils. A tight, long black dress concealed her petite form and fell with careless grace to the ankles of her tiny, booted feet. It was her eyes that arrested the attention, though. She had none. Where her eyes should have bee there were only empty sockets. A light seemed to glow in them, a glimmer somewhere in the back of her skull that barely shone through. Her hands were also unnatural. They were enormous, and every abnormally long cylindrical finger was razor sharp and cruelly tapered.
She smirked, a cruel expression, and turned her empty eye sockets to Yolei. "Happy now, Love and Purity?"
Yolei paled and staggered back. "What are you . . .?"
The woman's smirk broadened.
Stingmon moved forward. "What have you done with Ken?!"
A look of mock surprise passed over her face and she tilted her head to the side. "Ken? Ken?" A long, razor-sharp finger rose and gingerly tapped her flawless chin. "Ken, Ken, Ken . . .?" Recognition dawned on her face. "Oh!! You mean the dear little Brat Emperor!" Stingmon growled and she smiled broadly. "He's very much alive for the moment. It's simply amazing what a high tolerance for pain the child has too! I do believe it was a good half an hour before he started screaming and then of course, we just haven't been able to get the little darling to stop-"
Stingmon leapt at her. "Spiking Strike!"
Davis stepped forward. "Stingmon, no!"
A wall of water rose up in front of the woman and slammed into the insect type as he hurled himself forward, knocking him out of the sky with disturbing ease. Stingmon was thrown back into one of the cliff walls with a grunt and the water returned to the Ocean. The woman smiled.
"That was stupid of you, insect." She walked across the water to come to stand on the beach. "I was lying; I haven't touched your master yet. What even makes you think I'll harm him?"
Cody eyed her warily. "What do you mean?"
She sighed and flicked her hair from her face. "I have great interest in Ken Ichijouji-interests which are best served in keeping him alive. He has a great deal of potential." She raised her fist to the sky and smiled down at him sweetly. "Of course, the same cannot be said for you." She opened her fist. "ATTACK!!!"
Yolei grabbed Cody's collar and yanked him backwards as water surged forward, depositing over fifty slimy, grayish looking digimon on the beach. Half-fish, half-man, the odd creatures had wide mouths with thick pink lips. Metal tubes traveled from their mouths and to large metal oxygen tanks strapped to their backs. A fin adorned either side of their heads and each creature carried a harpoon in its hand.
Cody stared. "What are those?"
"Scubamon," Hawkmon informed him. "Although I've never seen them, they are supposed to be fairly useless Ultimates. They're not very bright. They're main attack is 'Strike Fishing,' but I'm not quite sure what's it's supposed to do. They mainly stay to themselves and are supposed to be harmless." He eyed the creatures warily as they growled at him. The smell of rotting fish was suffocating and the bird flapped backwards. "Unless of course they're angry . . . or attacking in packs . . . like now . . ."
Davis glared at the woman as the army of creatures assembled on the beach. "I don't know who you are, what you want, or what you're talking about, lady. But I do know two things for sure. One, you're really freaky, and two, you know where Kari and Gennai are, too!"
She lifted an eyebrow. "How perceptive," she sneered. "Why is it that whoever possesses the Crest of Courage is an idiot?"
X-Vmon growled and TK pulled out his digivice. "That's all I needed to hear. Patamon . . ."
"Patamon Armor digivolve to . . . Pegasusmon!! Flying Hope!"Yolei's glasses flashed brightly. "Hawkmon, digivolve!"
"Hawkmon Armor digivolve to . . . Shurimon!! The Samurai of Sincerity!"Cody nodded to Armadillomon. "Do it."
"Armadillomon digivolve to . . . Ankylomon!!"The woman laughed as the digimon moved forward to protect their Children. Gatomon glared fiercely at the creatures, but hung back. Without her Tail Ring, she'd do more harm than good in this fight if she interfered with the others and she couldn't digivolve without Kari. Stingmon pulled himself up and launched himself towards the woman, but was stopped when a dozen of the new digimon leapt up onto him. He growled and tossed the closest ones aside.
The woman laughed again. "Entertaining as all this is, I really must go. I'll be sure to give Light and Kindness your regards."
TK frowned. "Pegasusmon, stop her!"
"I need Nefertimon!"
Gatomon hissed.
The woman stepped back into the Ocean and waggled her fingers. "Ciao!" Water swirled up around her and when it receded she was gone.
"No!" TK clenched his hands.
"We have bigger problems, TK!" Yolei snapped.
"What?"
The majority of the Scubamon who had been milling about anxiously suddenly surged forward, dragging Stingmon down to the ground and leaping up to yank at Pegasusmon's wings and mane. The horse-like digimon reared.
"Pegasusmon!"
Cody's small hand gripped TK's wrist. "This is only going to get worse. We need to stick together."
Davis nodded and pointed to the cliffs behind them. "Cody's right! They have us surrounded. We're trapped."
**************
Ken opened his eyes and grimaced. His hand-the one with the weird brand on the palm-and his neck throbbed horribly. He felt extremely disconcerted-like he had been spinning around in circles-and his mind was extremely hazy, making it difficult to think. After the pounding in his head subsided to a dull mamba, he looked around. "Wormmon?" All he could see was darkness, but his instincts told him that the room he was in was extremely small. He pushed himself up and felt a wave of nausea. "Wormmon?"
"He's not here, Brat Emperor."
It took all of the boy's self-control not to shy back from that sensual voice. His violet eyes widened and he looked around. Focusing was very difficult for him and he felt a sharp sting of irritation and frustration. "Who are you?"
"The past," the female's voice drawled mockingly.
He swallowed hard.
"I was once like you, you know," his unknown companion continued a bit wistfully. "Weak, fallible, human, hungry . . . Now, though, you're an insect to me. You're friends are even less than that . . ."
Ken could be a very patient person when the situation warranted it. He had ruled an empire, after all, and conquest takes patience. Ken, however, also had a violent temper, and between the pain running up and down his spine, the throbbing behind his eyes, the burning in his hand, and the gymnastics routine his stomach was doing, he was not feeling very tolerant. His violet eyes seared the heavy darkness in search of this woman. "How touching," he sneered caustically. "I don't care. Where am I and what have you done with the others?"
Dark laughter rolled to him through the blackness. "Oh, what a treasure you are, Brat Emperor! I can see why you were chosen for Darkness now. Such fire!"
"Chosen?" Ken looked around, frustrated. He didn't like not being able to see the person he was talking to-it reminded him of his first trip to the dark whirlpool and he wondered briefly if this was all in his head. The thought of hearing voices again was not pleasant. Voices were what drove him to don the garb of the Emperor. "I made my own choices. Nobody chose me!"
"Silly Brat Emperor. Don't you know anything?"
The fear that Ken had buried suddenly leapt up and clutched his heart with icy fingers. "What are you talking about?"
"Do you really think that you could have come to power without the blessing of something beyond you?" The voice turned into a venomous hiss. "You were a tool: nothing more than a game piece in a power struggle that you can't even begin to comprehend. You and that stupid human who's tampering with the Digital World's Gates. The Guardians weren't just curious about your power; they used you! But those fools never imagined that you would transform the Code and block them out. They never imagined that you would catch the attention of the Dark One."
"You're lying." Even to his own ears, the whisper sounded weak and forced and Ken swallowed hard. It was getting harder and harder to focus on her words and his hand and neck hurt horribly.
"Am I? You don't sound so sure, Brat Emperor. In fact, you sound a bit frightened. Are you frightened, Ken Ichijouji?"
He shuddered in the darkness as a chill hit him. "No."
"You should be." The damp air next to his face moved and the temperature seemed to drop as cold breath whispered over his ear. "You should be very afraid. Do you know why you are here, little one? I'm not going to kill you, Ken Ichijouji. I'm here to bring you home."
The flip-flops in his stomach ceased and something heavy and solid settled deep inside him. There was no doubt in his mind that she was serious, but he still wasn't afraid even though he felt like he should be. "Home?"
"This is your home, Ken. This is where you belong. Here. With me."
"Why?"
The woman seemed to stiffen, but Ken wasn't sure.
"What?"
"Why?" Ken repeated. It was a serious effort not to turn his head in the direction of the whispering voice. "Why not kill me? I'm here to kill you. I don't want to, but this is just the way things are. All I want are my memories-my past. I want to know who I am. Why I've become what I've become. If I can change. I want to change."
"Why do you want to change?"
He shivered as her chill breath caressed his ear and two cold hands slipped around his waist. She stood, lifting him up to his feet. "What a tiny little thing you are," she murmured. "It must be hard for such a fire to burn in such a fragile vessel."
Ken realized that his teeth were chattering and he wished that she would move back and stop touching him, but knew that he would have fallen down without her support. He was very tired, but he also hated to be touched and her very presence was suffocating him. "I hate what I am," he told her.
"Why?"
The words were stuttered because of his tremors. "B-because I hurt people. Always. My friends. My brother. My partner. Everyone leaves me. Sometimes . . . I can't tell . . . I mean . . . It's like I'm not real sometimes . . . like I'm not really here."
"So? Why should you need others? Why should you have to prove yourself-your reality-to anybody?" The woman drew him closer until he was pressed against her and wrapped him in an unbreakable embrace. "The Darkness is here. I can feel it. It throbs within you, a deep well of power that runs through your veins. This is your birthright. This is what you are. Gennai has deceived you. He did not tell you the whole truth about the Ninth Child. You are the key to everything-the wild card. This is why all your predecessors were denied their destinies. This is why your Crest was halved. You have the power to destroy them. That's why they fear you.
He felt dizzy and weak and rested his head against her chest and closed his eyes. Why am I so tired? He relaxed in her arms and felt all the strength and tension drain out of him. It felt good.
Her gentle voice slid through his rapidly congealing thoughts. "Why do you want to change? You are Power."
"Why don't you want to kill me?"
The woman exhaled deeply and Ken moved with her sigh. "To save myself. To save us all. The Master is mad. He will destroy us all. I do not wish to die. It isn't my time yet. You will destroy him, though." Her arm tightened around his body and it was getting harder and harder to breath. He didn't struggle though. "You and he are alike. You should have been one of us from the start."
It suddenly occurred to Ken that he was being slowly suffocated-crushed-in her icy embrace, but the thought was a distant thing that didn't really seem to matter. "I'm so alone," he murmured into her chest in a drugged voice. "I feel so alone. I'm so empty . . . I want to be filled. Tell me who I am?" he pleaded. Cold trails of tears froze on his face. It was so cold . . . he was so cold . . . Empty. Just like that horrid room-that awful, awful lightless room that the Emperor had called his destiny.
"Shh . . ." she whispered. "Go to sleep, little Emperor. It'll be alright. Everything will be made clearer when you awaken. Just open your heart to the Darkness. Let it soothe you . . . become you . . ."
Ken's eyes felt heavy and it was far too much of an effort to open them again. Why was he so tired?
The woman tightened her grip and he felt his ribs creak. Spots and bursts of color began to explode behind his eyelids. He was so tired . . .
A sudden, white-hot pain shot through his aching hand, up his arm, and attacked the throbbing in his neck and along his spine. His eyes snapped open and he screamed, jerking out of the surprised woman's arms. Light wrapped around him, burning all the way through to his soul. It hurt, it seared, it felt like his veins and arteries were being torn out through his skin one by one.
Sanghee stumbled backwards and raised her arms to shield her non-existent eyes as a brilliant white light engulfed her would-be victim. She knew that light-it was the Light of Miracles. But she had personally gone after the Digimental of Miracles and found it missing. She also knew for a fact that neither Ichijouji nor Gennai had had it. It hadn't been anywhere near the base! So then how could he possibly . . .? The Light around him grew brighter and until he was floating a good foot off the ground. How could he possibly . . .?
The woman staggered back towards the door and grappled for the door handle. This Light . . . it was far too much. This human was far too much!
The door boomed shut, cutting off that horribly intense Light, as she fled the room and tripped over her own skirts, falling down backwards. She groaned as she hit the ground hard and stared at the door. "What was that?" she murmured in amazement.
Inside the room, the Light extinguished as soon as the door slammed shut and Ken collapsed on the floor in a heap. He ached everywhere and was gasping for breath, but somehow he felt cleaner, clearer, like the fog had been burnt away from his mind. After the pain faded and he could breath again, he rolled over to lay flat on his back on the floor and stared up into the blackness.
Ken knew that he should be upset. He knew that he should be afraid. He knew that he should feel something. Anything at all. Anything. But he didn't. He was empty. The leaden feeling in his stomach remained and he felt old.
"What's happening to me?" he whispered emotionlessly.
The darkness offered him no reply.
**************
Power flared somewhere close by, tugging urgently at Kari's mind and drawing her back to reality. It was warm and vibrant, but with a dark throbbing undercurrent that both fascinated and repelled her.
Kari . . . you have to wake up now.
She cringed back, feeling something in her soul leaning eagerly towards that odd blend of Light and Darkness. It felt familiar-like something she needed, but had never felt until this moment. It reminded her of when she first met TK.
Kari! You need to wake up. They need you.
Her mind recoiled, not understanding the nature of this power or the sudden longing it inspired in her. Then it was gone, as suddenly as though someone had turned off a light. A dull hollowness replaced the need then and for the first time since she had found Gatomon, a sense of anticipation and incompletion filled her. She stretched out her mind in instant regret, silently pleading for that power to return. It did not.
Kari! It's time to wake up now, Kari. They need you. Please . . .
Kari opened her eyes. "Tai . . .?" Her head hurt.
A boy stood in front of her, maybe fifteen years old. Wild light brown hair stood up on his head and a pair of green eyes stared at her, sober and morose. He shook his head, blurring his delicate features in her mind into something indistinguishable.
"Who-?"
A pair of rough white-gloved hands arose on either side of her head and it suddenly occurred to Kari that she was strapped to a wall. Then she realized that she could see through the hands.
A scream lurched up from the center of her body, but became lodged in her throat when the mysterious boy moved one of his hands slightly.
None of that now, a voice murmured in her mind. None of that. A pained expression danced across his face and she longed to be able to focus on his features. Tears of fear, pain and frustration sprang to her eyes and slid down her cheeks.
She sensed a wave of sorrow from the boy then and realized that he was upset because she was crying.
I'm sorry, he murmured in her mind. We never wanted to be like they are, Gennai and I. We never wanted to hurt you all like they do. But we really don't have a choice-none of us have choice, not even them. Kazunori and Sanghee are trying to do it again, Kari. They've taken Ken and Gennai as well. If they cannot convert you, they will kill you. He put both his hands on her skin and it felt like being stabbed by ice. I'm sorry, he said again, but you must know the truth. This is what they are-what this all is. This was their failure, just like Ken and Anya, but this time they couldn't make it better or make it disappear. I'm sorry.
The girl wanted to tell him that it was alright and that she wasn't angry, but the words seemed to get lost somewhere between the terrible pain in her head and the awful cold of his hands. He seemed to frown then and the fingers against her temples suddenly pushed.
You must understand, Child of Light. There is the Oath, there is the Code, but there are and will always be the Prophecies before everything. Understand them, and you have the key to everything.
A new voice came then, not the boy's but something as old and deep as the very earth itself and Kari's mind recoiled from it in terror.
No!! I don't want this!! Please!!
But the voice ignored her and it began to speak, a deep throbbing in her mind etching its words were etched indelibly into the substance of her soul.
'In the beginning, not the beginning, but a beginning,
There shall be Four, and Four, and Eight,
But fear of the one that should have been-
The Fifth-will overcome these sacred bonds.
Because of this, the Ninth, the one that should not have been, will be begotten.
Begotten of Light and Darkness, Hope and Despair, Courage and Cowardice, Friendship and Isolation, Purity and Impurity, Love and Hatred, Knowledge and Ignorance, Faith and Doubt,
This Ninth Crest-a Miracle, a Disaster-will be the weakest and the strongest.
This one will destroy them all.
And out of the Code, through the Oath,
Those that should have been Light and Hope and Courage and Friendship will rise.
They will rebel against their Masters.
They will murder their kin.
They will bring darkness to the Binding Land
And there will be no peace in any realm
And Light will fall to the wayside until the lost one returns to the fold.
And then a terrible light will shine in a Darkened land,
And upheld by the Eight, a Ninth shall rise,
Born for the Light, felled to the Dark, and risen again.
And then a Miracle shall strike the Darkened Land-the Binding Land-
Like the outstretched hands of the Gods
And the long forgotten power of the Sacred Triangle will once again summon
The Dragon of the Worlds-a lightform born of all Powers and Spheres
And the strength of the bones of the earth itself.
And then there shall be a peace upon the land,
Cold and empty as the Guardian who brought Darkness to the worlds,
Benighted and torn as the Child who shall bring Light.
And this peace will not be a peace, but a silence,
For this is only the beginning, another beginning in the cycle of death.'
And a thousand memories were shoved directly into her mind. If Kari had been capable of coherent thought at that moment, she would have tried to scream. Not that it would have mattered: the sound never would have made it past her throat.
**************
"Why are you doing this, Kazunori?" Gennai's sad eyes stared into the Darkness that was both his prison and his Master. "Why are you pursuing this insanity?!"
"Insanity, apprentice?" The face floating in the shadow twisted horribly for a moment, before exaggerated creases of psychotic laughter once more transformed it. "You call this battle insanity when it is you who obeys the whims of the mad Holy Beasts. The same Beasts who chained both us and you and the Tamers and Chosen to a dark fate without hope of escape or peace? And yet you would call me mad?"
Gennai's face hardened against the tears he felt swell in his eyes. "You killed Denisov. You drove Elaine mad. You joined with the tainted Dagomon and waged war against the Holy Beasts-those same High Gods you swore to protect. You lured Sanghee, Anya, and Ly Le away from the path of the Chosen. You tried to kill Takada. You split the Worlds and very nearly destroyed us all!"
His voice began to rise with every word and anger and betrayal bled into his speech and facial expression. "It was by your actions and yours alone that the hatred that became Apocalamon was allowed to grow and spread. It was you that awoke the Millenniumon from his long slumber. How, when you're faced with all this blood on your hands, can you dare call the Masters mad? They made you all that you were! They took you from a world that feared your potential, your gifts, and brought you to a new one! How could you do this?! How could you do this to me?!" The young man collapsed back into the darkness again, as though all his strength had been drained by that final, desperate scream.
The Dagomon laughed again darkly. "So much anger, apprentice? Are you sure that you aren't angry at someone else?"
Gennai glared. "You abandoned me. You betrayed me. Yeah. I'm pretty sure that my anger is being directed at the right person."
"Even after what they've made you do? It was them, after all, that made you give the order to Digi Tomamon to kill Anya and foil my plans. It was the Guardians, not me, who ordered that you abduct Ryou and delete Ichijouji's memories. It was the Guardians who ordered that you not interfere with the young Emperor when he began to rise in power in the Digital World, even though they knew of the Spore growing in his body. They knew that he had been to my world. Yet you are angry at me?"
Gennai turned away and bit his lip.
Kazunori smirked. "You've seen what they do, both to humans and digimon. Every creature that encounters them is scarred. They allow evil to run rampant in the Digital World and destroy those who would do good, all in the name of a supposed 'balance!' They manipulate others as though it were no more than a glorified game of chess! They squabble amongst one another like children fighting over a doll rather than like High Gods who must decide the fate of two worlds! How are they just, apprentice? How are they right or true to the causes for which they demand your absolute obedience and loyalty?!"
"We were told-"
"We were told, we were told-we were deceived!! We were lied to and used and would have been discarded if we had not rebelled, just as you and the child they took to be your apprentice will be one day! Denisov and Elaine did not see that, so they had to be destroyed. I had hoped that you would see through their lies during the first battle and side with the right side, but you did not understand then, even though you knew we were in the right."
Gennai looked up and his eyes hardened to sheets of glass. "What are you talking about?"
The face floated down closer to Gennai and a cold breath whispered in his ear. "You saved us. They were going to destroy us, our Digidestined, the Chosen we were sworn to protect, were on the brink of destroying us in the name of their corrupted Gods. And yet you saved us. You knew that we were on the side of good, Gennai. You knew that we were doing what was right. That's why you couldn't let them kill us, Gennai; you knew the truth."
Gennai recoiled. "The right? The truth? Good? You don't even know what those words are!! I spared you out of weakness! I spared you out of pity and some faint vestige of love I once felt for you before you destroyed everything! You were never right!"
Something slapped him in the Darkness. "Have they really brainwashed you that much?!"
"And what about the Oath, Kazunori?" Tears slid down Gennai's cheeks and he stared downward so that they were hidden. "You swore to an Oath. Your life, your soul, was bound for eternity to the will of the Holy Beasts."
"Oath?" Kazunori's face reared back. "The Oath?! The Oath is dead! Only the Lie remains!!"
Gennai sneered.
The face lowered once more. "Join me once more, apprentice. You should be my heir, standing proudly by my side against the Holy Fools, not standing by them with your head hung in shame fighting against me. You know what you have to do! You know what is right!"
Gennai looked up and his feature softened infinitely. He nodded slowly, a faint smile grazing his lips. "You're right, Master. I do know what I have to do."
Kazunori smiled in triumph and it seemed that the Darkness around them pulsed hungrily, eagerly, as though it were opening his arms to him.
Gennai blinked slowly and leaned forward. "I heard something once, in a movie or something."
The creature narrowed his eyes and the Darkness seemed to tremble.
"Sometimes, you just have to do what you're told, Master. That's who we are. That's what we are. Without that . . . we are nothing but shadows-outcasts without a world and without a purpose. Go to hell, Kazunori Saito."
The Darkness slammed close around them and for an instant the man become Dagomon stared at his former apprentice, unable to conceive of this betrayal. Then pain exploded out of every cell in Gennai's body. The Darkness muffled the sound of the scream and Kazunori leaned forward again.
"Only if you come with me."
And then there was nothing.
**************
A loud creak intruded upon the warm emptiness of his awareness and a solid bar of light cut through the darkness as the door swung open again.
"Back so soon?" His voice echoed hollowly in the darkness. He tried to turn his head so that he could see her, but his body refused to cooperate so all he could do was stare straight up at the black ceiling.
". . . Ken . . .?" The voice was hesitant and feather soft.
"Kari?" Ken turned his head slowly and squinted at the slight form silhouetted by the light. "Kari, what are you doing here?"
She entered the room quickly, her slender body moving rapidly to where the boy lay prone on the floor. The Child of Light knelt at his side and pressed a hand to his forehead. He peered up at her face, struggling to catch a good look at her in the darkness.
"Are you alright, Ken?" She tried to pull him up. "What happened? Can you move?"
"How-?" He couldn't see her face. That bothered him for some reason. Why wouldn't she just let him see her face?
"Hush. We have to get you out of here. We need to find the others."
"Kari, I don't think that-"
"Lean on me, Ken."
And she sounded strange too, like there was somebody else using her mouth and they weren't quite comfortable with it yet.
"Kari, let me go. There's something wrong."
"Damnit, Ken, quit arguing with me! I promised him I'd look out for you, didn't I?!"
Ken ripped himself out of the girl's arms and shoved her backwards as he scrambled to his feet, eyes wide and his breathing suddenly harsh and loud in the chill air. Kari hit the ground with a cry of pain and a dull thump and Ken pressed himself against the wall. His heart was hammering in his chest and his stomach was clenched into a tight ball, but somehow the physical panic didn't touch him emotionally. His eyes flicked from Kari to the door and he began to wonder if he could move past her fast enough to escape.
Kari pulled herself to her feet and glared at him peevishly from across the cell, pouting in a most becoming fashion. "We don't have time for this, Ken. The others need us."
He tilted his head to the side and licked his lips. Clinically, he wished that he had the emotional capacity to laugh at the moment; this all struck him as being terribly ludicrous. His head was beginning to ache again. "Who are you?"
Kari let out a hissing sigh. "Do you always have to turn everything into a big production? You weren't like this before."
A shadow fell across the entrance and two heads snapped in the direction of the door. Sanghee stepped into the cell and looked from one Child to the other. He empty eye sockets narrowed. "And just how did you two manage to do this?" She glared at Kari and her fingers seemed to grow impossibly longer. "Naughty little child . . . You do realize that you'll have to be punished for this, don't you?"
A small, totally uncharacteristic growl of disgust slipped out from between the dainty lips of the Child of Light and the girl took a step towards the former Guardian, her delicate hands balled into fists at her sides. She tossed her head to the side in an absent motion, flicking an errant strand of hair from her eyes. "Listen, bitch, because I am NOT going to repeat myself. We are leaving and you are going to get out of our way, Sanghee. I know who you are. I do not like you. You do NOT want to piss me off right now, understand? Move."
Ken lifted an eyebrow and Sanghee paled with fury. At least he wasn't the only one who had lost his mind today.
The taller woman stepped forward-"You little-" and Ken leaned back against the wall. This was going to be . . . interesting.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
