*Disclaimer* - I don't own the characters, never have done, never will do. Sueing me will earn you all of $5.36 and if you're really that desperate for cash then you can start saving money by getting the hell off the internet. Unless you have a completely free server of course. In which case I envy you greatly. Anyway, on with the fic...
A Love Born of Hate (Part Eleven)
Moment of Truth
I didn't know what to say. I didn't know whether to thank him for saving me, or to scream at him for being such a bastard as to run off in the first place. He just stood there looking unsure of himself, waiting to see what I would say. His eyes met mine briefly, and then we both looked away. I think I flushed.
"Is Takeru all right?" I asked finally. Taichi shrugged.
"I haven't seen him," he replied. He licked his lips nervously. "Look, Matt… We've got some stuff we need to talk about." The floor seemed to be interesting him greatly, suddenly. "But not here and not now. So maybe we should just…" His voice trailed off.
"Set our differences aside?" I suggested coldly. I wasn't about to forgive him for what he'd put me through that easily. "Sure, Taichi, I just won't dwell on the fact that you see me as a sick perverted freak for a bit. That ought to be easy." Bitter sarcasm oozed from my words like a poisonous honey. Tai winced.
"I'm not asking you to be nice to me, but we need to co-operate," he pressed. "And we need to get out of here before Kelimon comes round… Here, I'll untie you." He moved swiftly round behind me and began picking deftly at the knots which bound me to my post. "See, I've been thinking –"
"Makes a pleasant change," I interrupted bluntly. So what if I was being catty? He deserved it. I cried out in sudden pain as he wrenched the rope from my wrists, then spun me ruthlessly around to face him.
"I'm *sorry*, okay!?" he burst out. His earnest gaze met my startled one, and I felt uncomfortable but didn't look away. "It sounds lame, but I swear to God it's true. I –"
"Whatever." I turned away then – his excuses hurt too much. "Let's just get the others and get out of here."
Taichi sighed in a defeated way behind me. "Right. Do you know where they are?"
"…Uh… yes…" I replied distractedly. Something had caught my eye on the shelf opposite. Something round and pale. Seven round and pale somethings.
//This is going to absorb all your digital energy when you die.//
With a cry of triumph, I snatched one up and threw it to the stone floor as hard as I could. It shattered from the inside out, like a supernova star. Taichi gaped. "Matt! We have to be quiet, stupid!" he hissed. Ignoring him, I grabbed another from the shelf and aimed it at the wall. If Kelimon didn't have her orbs, she couldn't create her portal – and that meant that none of the DigiDestined's deaths could be of any use! The second sphere made an extremely satisfying SMASH sound as it hit the wall and blew up.
"No! Don't touch them!"
Kelimon staggered to her feet in the corner and made a beeline for me, eyes glittering savagely. "You've destroyed them!" she shrieked. "They take *months* to grow, and I can't get into the human world without all seven – you little brat!" She lunged for me, howling like a cat, and I scrambled out of the way just shy of fast enough. Her fingers closed around the hem of my top and she yanked me back. Caught off balance, I threw out a hand to steady myself, and it lashed against the shelf. Four more orbs toppled to the floor and exploded in showers of glass. I went down hard amid the pearly slivers and felt them crunch underneath me, digging sharply into my skin. One unprotected arm was gashed wide open, and the other suffered a thousand tiny pieces of glass sticking out of it. Blood ran freely from the more badly injured left arm. I could hear Kelimon screaming in anguish.
"Matt!" Tai grabbed me under the arms and hauled me up. I staggered back against him briefly before finding my own feet, trying to ignore the feel of his steadying hands on my waist. There was still one orb on the shelf. I didn't know how Kelimon "grew" her orbs, but I wasn't willing to risk that she might plant this one and have a bushload more by the next time we met. I had to destroy all of them. I lunged forward.
"Razor Shards!"
"Shit!" I ducked, and they flew over my head. Taichi grabbed my right arm and I hissed in pain.
"Matt!" he yelled. "Come on!" He started tugging me towards the door, but I resisted. I wished I had the breath to explain to him, but I didn't, and the burning in my arms was getting worse, and everything was so jumbled up inside my panicking head I couldn't form the words. But I *had* to smash that orb! Couldn't he see it was important? I mentally cursed him for being so thick as he pushed me towards the door. The ordeal of hiking for hours through treacherous forest, nearly getting myself killed and then losing about a gallon of blood was taking its toll, and I was pretty ashamed to discover there wasn't much fight left in me. I gave up and let Tai drag me out of the room. Kelimon, hysterically bemoaning the loss of her precious orbs, was as yet making no move to prevent our getaway.
Still tightly gripping my arm, Tai led me down the corridor and round a corner in a kind of half-run. I wasn't feeling particularly steady on my feet and I was suddenly exhausted beyond belief, but it seemed like so much of an effort to argue with him, so I let him tug me onwards. The walls kept tilting at odd angles and I was only semi-aware of what he was saying. "Damn idiot thing to do!" he was berating me. "Could have got yourself killed, could have got me killed, look at your arm, dammit, you're hurt. Thought I was supposed to be the impulsive moron, you're meant to be the one who thinks before he acts, not goes rushing into danger like some kind of…"
He was talking so fast, and the words all bled together to make a continuous stream that washed over me. Not much of it went in. Two more corners, three, four. And then the world suddenly skewed off to one side so sharply that I fell against the wall. Dizziness attacked me from all directions. My knees felt weak.
"Matt?" Tai was by my side in an instant. "Are you okay?"
I nodded, and the dizziness got worse. One of my knees gave out and I lurched into Taichi. For one horrible instant I could strongly taste vomit in the back of my throat, and I was filled with the certainty that I was about to throw up, but then it passed. Tai slid me to the floor and I sat with my head between my knees, gasping for breath. Slowly but surely, the dizzy feeling began to recede. I felt a hesitant hand on my shoulder.
"What's the matter?" Tai asked gently. I shrugged his hand off. I didn't need his sympathy. He chose the wrong time to start giving a damn about me.
He fell silent after that. I started to feel guilty for being so harsh, and wondered if I'd hurt him, but then I stamped savagely down on that train of thought before I started caring too much. I took deep breaths for a couple more minutes and then, feeling much better, I stood. My arm wasn't bleeding as much anymore, but faint dizziness still haunted me as I rose. I ignored it. "I'm ready," I told Tai, not looking at him. "Let's go."
"Right." His voice sounded weird. I risked a glance at him, but he had already turned his back to me, fists clenched. "Where are the others?"
"I'm not sure, from here." Taichi nodded, and started walking. I followed behind, at first in silence, but then curiosity and worry for Takeru got the better of me. "Where are we going?"
"Looking," he replied roughly, without turning around. I glared at his unresponsive back. What the hell was *his* problem?
"You should have let me smash that orb," I told him haughtily. "It was more important than you know." He didn't reply, so I continued relentlessly. "Seven orbs for seven DigiDestined kids, Taichi. She was going to use them to absorb our digital energy after she'd killed us, and make a portal to the real world. I could have stopped her."
"She said she needed seven. You destroyed six. It was enough." Tai's voice was positively hoarse now. I wrestled with wanting to ask him if he was all right. I didn't care, dammit!… But I did. Too much. It hurt.
"*NII-CHAN!!!*"
Both Taichi and I stopped dead. "Takeru…" I breathed. I pushed past Tai and sprinted ahead, not caring whether or not he was following. I wanted to call out to my brother, I wanted to so badly, I wanted to let him know that I was coming for him and that he'd be okay, but I knew that if I gave myself away then I'd lose any chance I had of rescuing him. I chose left at the first corner… right at the second… I hoped blindly that I was going in the right direction. And then, suddenly,
*I remember this.*
And I did. I remembered scurrying after Kelimon, Tokomon under one arm, as she led me towards the place where she was keeping the rest of the DigiDestined. I remembered another right turn, then two more lefts. And then:
"Matt? Matt! Tai!" Sora leapt to her feet, and Jyou, Koushiro and Mimi yelled in delight and sprang up behind her. An iron gate stood between us and them, with no guard or key in sight. Tokomon was being looked after by Jyou.
"Where's Takeru?" I demanded frantically, just as Tai asked "Are you guys all right?"
"We're fine," Koushiro answered quickly, "but Takeru was removed by Kelimon just a few moments ago. She was talking about a last orb - it having enough power to at least get her back home. However, I fail to understand how this relates to Takeru." He frowned in a puzzled way. Tai was looking at me with eyes like saucers.
"The last orb… Matt…"
I didn't waste time or breath on words. I turned my back on the lot of them and bolted on up the corridor as fast as I could. Tai rattled off a garbled promise to the others to return and get them out, and then I could hear his feet slapping rapidly on the floor in my wake. My pulse was pounding inside my head as I ran. I should have got to that last orb. I should have done it no matter what, even if it meant being seriously hurt or even killed. If Takeru died now, it would be my fault. *My fault*. I skidded to a halt as I came upon another junction. I hated the maze-likeness of this infernal place.
"Which way?" I muttered. "God, which way!?"
Tai drew up beside me, panting for breath. "You go left, I'll take the right," he wheezed. Indecision wracked me, but I knew there was no other choice. Not even pausing to nod at Tai, I set off down the left path at a run, my footsteps' echoes ricocheting off the walls at me like gunshots.
The corridor seemed to stretch on for ever. It curved gently to the right from time to time, and I was struck again by the impossibility of such vast and endless hallways in a place that looked so small from the outside. I scowled savagely, and bitterly demanded of myself why it was always Takeru that got into these scrapes. Why couldn't it have been one of the others, for crying out loud? Anyone but my otouto-chan…
I stopped dead. I was suddenly facing a glittering crystal spiral staircase. I licked my lips nervously. What if they hadn't even come in this direction? What if I was going entirely the wrong way? I closed my eyes for a moment, and imagined that Tai was with me. I didn't care how mad I was at him. Impossible obstacles always seemed easier to overcome when we were together. And now… He had apologised, and I had thrown it back in his face. What if he never wanted to speak to me again? What if -
My wild ruminations were interrupted by a short shrill scream above me - short because it was suddenly cut off. My heart leapt into my throat and I threw myself at the stairs, taking them two or three at a time. Being somewhat lanky has its advantages. In my mind, Taichi was right behind me. I felt braver that way. In ten seconds flat I had reached the top and burst through the silver archway into the circular room beyond. The sight before me was permanently emblazoned upon my memory with just one look.
The room was dim. The only light came from the pearly orb that Kelimon was holding; and from a round pit in the centre, maybe some twenty feet across, from which a dull, hot red glow was pulsing. And suspended above this pit, jerking and whimpering on the end of a rope, was Takeru.
"Matt!" he cried when he saw me. It broke my heart to see how his little face lit up at my entrance - he was so sure I could save him. But how could I defeat Kelimon on my own? One simple attack would send me tumbling straight into that fiery pit, head over heels. I was rooted to the spot in panic. "Onii, help me!"
"Takeru…" I couldn't reach him. Tall as I am, it was too high up. From the light of her orb I could see Kelimon smiling at me in an evil and twisted sort of way.
"The game's not over yet, Child of Friendship," she hissed. "Seven orbs to make a new portal, yes, but only one to re-open an old one. I'll simply return to the Magiworld and grow new orbs… and when I return, I will crush you like insects. I think I shall especially enjoy watching you die. You have eluded me once too often."
I pounced on the flaw in her logic. "But if you use Takeru's digital energy to return to the Magiworld, there will only be six of us when you return!" I yelled defiantly. "You still won't be able to get into the human world - you can't use Digimon. If you could, you would have already!"
Kelimon's smirk widened. "You forget about the Eighth Child," she said. I blinked.
"Eighth… child?" Since when were there eight of us? This had to be a trick. Kelimon laughed nastily.
"It's of no matter, you'll learn soon enough. Ask Myotismon. He quite obligingly told me all about it. Razor Shards!" Her ice attack flew at the rope binding Takeru, cutting it almost through. He screamed as he jerked sharply downwards and then began to slowly spin, the remaining fibres of rope pinging apart one by one.
"Matt!"
"'Touto!" I ran towards him, skidding towards the pit and stopping just in time. My toes stuck out over the edge. Searing heat assaulted my face. I looked down, and swirling red energy roared hungrily below.
"Welcome to my portal room!" Kelimon yelled above Takeru's terrified screams. "When your *dear* little brother - he is a sweetie, isn't he? - hits that fire energy and *diessss*…" She drew it out into a long hiss. "…The orb will suck up all his digital energy. Then all I have to do is throw the orb into the pit, and the portal will appear below! Isn't it ingenious?"
"Let my brother go!" I screamed furiously, fists balled, tears sticking to my eyelashes. "Let him go, you bitch!"
"Or what?" she asked lazily, one eyebrow arched. She flicked the orb from hand to hand. "You'll bite my ankles?"
Helplessness consumed me. Above, Takeru choked on a sobbing gasp as he jerked still lower. I stretched desperately towards him, but he was too far out and too high up. I teetered on the edge, trying to reach him, but he remained elusively just beyond my fingertips. And then my feet slipped, my balance shattered, and I was falling. I yelled, twisted and caught the lip of the pit with my fingers. My torn and bleeding arms screamed in protest at the sudden strain, and my grip weakened. I slid down several feet before my sore, scratched fingers found a outjut to grab, and I hung grimly on.
Then, I heard a snap, and Takeru plummeted screaming down behind me.
"NO!" But it wasn't just me who had cried out. In the next instant, Kelimon zoomed down after the tumbling Takeru, wings flat against her back, arms outstretched. Had someone pushed her? Tai? Oh God, Takeru… My arms felt weak. I didn't have the strength, either of body or mind, to hold on much longer. I could still hear otouto-chan's shrieks as he fell away from me. Tears dribbled down my face as I waited for the agonising instant in which they would be muted. I couldn't look.
A gasp. Silence. I sobbed wretchedly into the wall, my entire body wracking, fingers slipping. I didn't care if I died. I had let Kelimon kill Takeru - I didn't deserve to live.
"Onii-chan!"
"He's dead, you little idiot!"
My head snapped up and I twisted to look behind me, digging my fingers in hard. Rising out of the pit, apparently unharmed, came Kelimon, her back to me. Peering anxiously at me over her shoulder was Takeru. My mouth fell open, and it suddenly made sense. Kelimon hadn't seen me! She thought I had fallen right down and been killed, and so she caught Takeru in order to have seven children left to get into the human world with - including the Eighth Child, whoever he was. Relief washed over me, making me weak. *Don't give me away, Takeru,* I pleaded silently. *Please don't give me away.*
Takeru stared a moment more and opened his mouth. I shook my head frantically at him. He hesitated, then started beating on Kelimon's chest with his little fists.
"YOU KILLED MY ONII! WANT MY ONII!" He burst into an impressive bout of hysterical wails.
"Oh, put a sock in it," Kelimon snapped irritably, dumping him onto the solid ground above. I looked up for another ledge to grab onto, to try and claw my way up, but there was nothing. The inferno below was sticking my top to my back with sweat, and my hair was wilting into my eyes. I began to feel desperate. I looked down, and the vast greedy red power mesmerised me. I was too terrified to look away.
"Hmm… that's odd." I could hear Kelimon's frown in her voice, and the sound of fingernails tapping on glass. "The orb should be glowing. Why hasn't it collected his energy?" She sounded slightly frantic. I prayed that she wouldn't come and find me. It was in vain. I could hear her footsteps clicking closer…
"Hey, Kelimon!" Takeru yelled suddenly. "Come and get me! I'm running away!"
"Blue stun!" There was a thud as something - or someone - hit the floor. I winced. As least now he wouldn't have to watch if… if…
"Takeru!" cried a familiar voice.
"*You!*" Kelimon snarled.
"Where's Matt?" Tai demanded fiercely. I gave a silent cheer. Good old Tai! This was the second time he'd come to my rescue in under half an hour. But… I craned my neck up desperately. How would he reach me? I had slipped too far down…
"You're too late," Kelimon told him in a cold, hard voice. "I already killed him."
There was a shocked silence. It lasted for several moments. Then, "I don't believe you," Taichi whispered. "I'd know if he was dead. I'd - I'd just *know*."
"Well, you know now," said Kelimon harshly. "He's dead. I threw him in the pit. His miserable little life has come to an unfortunate but necessary end. Get over it. Dammit, why won't this orb work…?"
There was another thud sound, which I took to mean that Taichi had slumped to his knees. The unmistakable sound of a sob being wrenched out of a person by force came to my ears. Taichi was crying… for me? I struggled for a better grip, but my fingers were too sweaty. I dug the toes of my shoes into the wall to try and help. Perspiration ran in rivulets down the side of my face. If Kelimon found me now, she might not cast me down. She might throw Takeru into the pit, or Taichi. I couldn't let that happen. I'd rather be killed.
"He's my best friend," Tai said, in the same hoarse voice he'd used earlier. Had he been crying then, too? I'd made him cry. God, I felt so guilty in that moment. "You can't… you can't just kill a guy's best friend, just…" He broke down sobbing again. *I'm alive, Taichi!* I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to tell him that I was okay. But that would have spelt death for any one of us. I closed my eyes, and tears leaked from underneath them. It really didn't seem to matter so much anymore, me crying. In fact, it seemed pretty insignificant.
"I never told him!" Taichi choked. "I j-just ran away from him, and now… now…" He gasped for breath. "This is all my fault! If I hadn't been such a bastard to him, this w-wouldn't have happened!"
"Will you SHUT UP!" Kelimon yelled suddenly. "I'm trying to concentrate here!" Tai regressed back to sobs. "Come on… Glow… Glow! Did I grow it right? I know I did. I performed *countless* trial runs." She was outright panicking now, I could hear it in her voice. "WHY. ISN'T. IT. WORKING!?"
Tai had stopped crying. I wished I could see what he was doing. Kelimon was still muttering frantically to herself - and then suddenly, she screamed. It was a shrill and unending scream of pure pain. I tensed myself against the wall, breathing raggedly. I heard Taichi yell something about burning in hell, and then Kelimon toppled past me, screeching at the top of her lungs. Blood spattered my back as she fell. I panicked. *She's going to see me the minute she starts flying back up!* I thought hysterically. But… she wasn't flying. A moment later, a single fine dragonfly wing fluttered past me, leaking blood. It scorched to black and fell apart in the roasting air even before Kelimon's screams were cut short. I stared down. She had vanished. Was she… dead?
"Matt…" Tai's whimpering brought me back to my senses. If I stayed here any longer, I was going to fall. My feet kept slipping out of their little niche, and my fingers were aching with the effort of maintaining their grip. Everything ached. I had run out of adrenaline, and I just wanted to be safe again.
"Tai." It came out as a tiny dry squeak. I barely heard it myself. I swallowed painfully, several times, My throat was dry as a bone. "Tai!"
Sudden silence above. Had he heard me? I tried again. "Tai! Taichi!"
A scuffling noise. Taichi's face appeared above me, eyes red and swollen. His lips parted in disbelief. "M-Matt?" he stammered.
"Yeah!" I was still crying, I couldn't help it. "Get me out of here!"
"Christ…" He looked around for something to throw down to me, but evidently couldn't find anything. "Hang on!" he called. "Don't let go!"
Yeah right, 'cause I'm gonna be doing *that* of my own free will, I thought sarcastically. He stretched an arm down, but it barely covered half the distance between us. He got this weirdly resolute look on his face. "I'm coming down to get you!"
"What!?" I couldn't believe what an idiot he was being! "Don't be such a pillock." His only response was to swing his legs over the edge. "Tai! Moron alert!"
"I don't care," he said through gritted teeth, lowering himself down a little. He scrabbled for a foothold, found one, and gingerly put his weight on it. It broke away and he was left kicking over air.
"Kamiya Taichi, you climb back up *this instant*!" I yelled at him.
"You sound like my mom," he huffed, testing out another smaller ledge. This one held. "Hot, ain't it?"
"Tai, please," I begged. "Even if you get down here, what good will it do? You can't carry me up!"
He hesitated then; looked down, and then up. Who knows, his brain may even have started working. "I'm not gonna let you die!" he yelled suddenly.
"Then stop acting like a damn fool and do something useful!" I yelled back. He looked at me, then shook his head fiercely and stuck out a hand.
"Grab on!"
"TAI!"
"Do it!"
I gauged the distance between his hand and mine. I might actually make it. But what if I pulled him down with me? "You'll fall!" I shouted at him. "I won't do it!"
"Then I'm coming down," he answered stubbornly. I wanted to scream at him. I looked above again, searching desperately for something to grab onto so I could climb up, but there was just nothing there. One of my feet slipped. My weight jerked onto my hands, my hands gave way, and I flung one arm up instinctively to try and grab something, anything…
Tai's hand clamped around my wrist, and I dangled, gasping. "Cling onto the wall!" he shouted. "I can't hold you for long!" I obeyed, digging my protesting fingers into a slim crack in the rock. My feet found a purchase, too. There was another little ledge above me. "Climb up," Taichi ordered. I didn't move. I couldn't. I'd fall, I knew it. I was paralysed with fear.
"Dammit, Matt, climb!"
Perhaps I still had some energy left after all - or maybe it was that climbing up seemed relaxing compared to arguing with Tai - but either way, I lunged up with my right arm and clung onto the ledge above. "And again!" barked Tai. I did as I was told, scrambling up with my feet and snatching out with my hand. Tai started climbing, too, pulling me on and shouting at me to keep going when I stopped. It seemed an eternity before Tai was able to haul himself back over the edge to safety. It still seemed so far away to me. The heat and exhaustion were making me faint, and if I had to drag myself one inch further I was going to pass out. Another hand grabbed my wrist. I looked up, and Tai had both hands wrapped tightly around my arm, whilst Takeru (when had he regained consciousness?) held onto Tai's ankles for dear life to stop him slipping. Slowly but surely, me kicking against the wall with my feet and Taichi and Takeru pulling with superhuman effort, I slid over the edge of the pit and collapsed bonelessly onto the floor, eyes closed, gasping.
"Onii? Onii! Onii-chan!"
"He's all right, Takeru." I could feel a hand stroking my hair. "Here, take this key and go let the others out. You remember the way?"
I presume Takeru must have nodded. "But where's Kelimon?" he wailed worriedly.
"She's gone now. She fell into the pit. You don't have anything to worry about - go on, Tokomon's waiting for you."
Little arms clutched tight around my chest. "I'll be back in a minute, Matt," Takeru promised, and then scuttled off down the stairs. "I'm coming, Tokomon!"
Opening my eyes seemed like too much effort. So I led there, breathing in gulps, and let Tai stroke my hair. It felt nice. There was companionable quiet for a while, and then Tai asked, "Are you all right?"
I started to nod automatically, then sighed and shook my head. I opened my eyes then, and smiled at Tai, albeit somewhat wonkily. "I will be, though," I promised him.
I've never believed in all that romance-novel crap about two people 'feeling a spark of electricity pass between them' when they look at each other, or a person instinctively knowing what somebody else is thinking, just because they love them. And it wasn't like that. It was just that, for no reason at all, we suddenly understood each other, and we both knew what the other needed. I shoved myself roughly into a sitting position and flung myself at Taichi, and we wrapped our arms around each other, chests pressed close, Tai's hair tickling my nose. And God I could have thrown myself back into that pit right then and there, if only I could have died feeling like this.
"I thought you were dead," said Tai in a trembly voice. "She said… and I thought…"
"It doesn't matter," I told him, hugging him tighter. "I'm all right. You're all right. I've got you, you're safe." I blushed - did I really say that?
"I'm sorry." I felt a wetness trickle onto my ear as Tai whispered the words. "That I ran off. I was so stupid - don't be mad at me, please. I hate it when you're mad at me."
I shook my head. "I'm not mad at you, not anymore. It's just, I thought you hated me…" I swallowed. "That hurt." A painful admission.
A hand brushed my cheek. "I don't hate you, Matt," Tai said thickly. I smiled.
"I know," I whispered. I could feel him nodding slowly. He pulled back, hesitating a little, and we looked at each other. A split second before he did it, I knew what he was going to do. I closed my eyes as he leaned forward…
He did it. He kissed me, so softly I could hardly feel it at first, and I melted in his arms. God knows if I was kissing back or not. There was no heavenly music, no fireworks or flashing lights. Like I said, that's romance-novel crap. Any of that rubbish would have just been distracting - it was wonderful for what it was. And I didn't want him to stop, ever. It was perfect.
"…Onii-chan!!?"
* * * * * * * * * *
I can't believe I wrote that. Dear God. That was pure Mills & Boon trash… only not, for obvious reasons. *hides her face* Err… blame it on my muse? ^_^;;; See you at Part Twelve XD :-P -Kae Ti xx