"Damnation" By Luke's Dragon


A/N


I've really enjoyed writing this fic, but it's sort of come to its natural end and much as I love Blackwargreymon it just doesn't seem right to make him all sweetness and light and give him a happy ending without getting hideously OOC.

BTW I want to thank everyone who has either read or reviewed this fic, I think it's about the most reviews I've ever got and that's really nice since I like this fic, so thank you again to everyone.

Anyway I've re-written history a little in terms of the series, nothing major but I didn't want to stick faithfully to the events of the series.

Disclaimer

*Yawns at the prospect of doing yet another disclaimer*

It isn't mine, it probably never will be, and yet I still have to write a disclaimer every time, seems a bit stupid doesn't it?

Chapter IV- Penance

The circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. It is what we do with the gift of life that makes us who we are – Mewtwo

Better to light a candle than to curse the Darkness – Lao Tse

~~~

It is possible I am lost, not just wandering aimlessly through some part of the Digital World I have never been to before lost, but absolutely, totally, no idea where I am lost. I'm fairly sure that somehow when that white mist swallowed me I was transported to the world of humans, and now I have no idea where I am or what I am supposed to do next. I always wanted to make my own destiny, and once again I find that I really should be more careful about what I wish for.

Now here I am walking through this city of men, and strangely enough it looks as if the world has already ended here. The silence is almost tangible and the air seems thick with an overwhelming sense of isolation and loneliness. Of course it is not the first time I have ever felt alone, for so long I have wandered the world aimlessly and always by myself but there is just something about this place that seems to bite at my very soul.

I think what makes this city so sad is the fact that it looks as if there was some sort of party or celebration recently, I can just imagine these empty streets being filled with people, with happiness, hope and life.

Now there is just the debris of what used to be bottles lay smashed against the walls, the last dregs of their contents seeping away like blood. Discarded fast food wrappers dance around my feet, reanimated from death by the cold breeze, causing them to move once more, even after they are discarded and forgotten. Here and there bunting still flaps around, pretending that the party is still going on, whilst on the floor the carcasses of balloons litter the ground like slaughtered soldiers on a battlefield.

It really does seem as if the world ended and they had a party to celebrate the fact.

I am totally alone in this strange world; every now and then I see a human walking around in a stupor as though he had been bewitched by the sadness of the place. Whatever caused these souls to be in such an inebriated state of mind must be powerful in the extreme, as it causes them to either shout some incoherent words at me, perhaps mistaking me for one of them. Stranger still some are so far out of their minds that they ignore a black armored Mega level Digimon walking right past them, ignoring me as if I wasn't even there, like I was some insubstantial ghost floating in a different plane of reality.

The night is dark, the street lamps seem to create more shadows than light, or perhaps I just see the darkness more than the light. One light I cannot escape however is the moon staring down on me like a monster from the skies watching my every move. It is a strange moon tonight, not quite full, but too full to be a proper shape, I cannot shake the feeling that it looks like a huge white eye watching me, knowing that I am a stranger in the world it watches. It is so different to the moon back in the Digital World, back home I never paid any attention to a rock floating far above my head, maybe I should have paid a little more heed to it. How stupid is this, getting all worked up about the moon?

No, I suppose it is home that I miss, bizarre really that I, who was created to destroy the world, who attempted to destroy the destiny stones, who once believed it was my purpose to bring death and destruction to the world should now call it home.

Now I miss my world, my home and all I want to do is protect it, regardless of the cost. I don't know why I feel like this, from what I've heard all my world is made up from is data, a shadow of the world of men, maybe that's why I feel I want to protect it. I am just a shadow of Wargreymon, as my very name suggests I am just the shadow of that holier-than-thou imbecile. And yet we both seem to have the same goal, we both want to defend our home…I just wish I could see it again, but I cannot shake the feeling I won't be going home ever again.

As I walk ever onwards I come across a truly strange sight, an elderly human in torn, mucky clothing stands shouting about how the end is coming and the time for redemption is now. The prophet is quite obviously mad, no amount of prayers will protect you from evil, and I find it difficult to believe that there is some divine being influencing my destiny. He seems to believe that words and emotions will save you, foolish if you are to find any sort of peace or redemption then it is down to yourself. Still I must admire the courage of the man, I stood in the shadows watching him and he must have noticed me there, he walked towards me and gave me a pamphlet, then he noticed me and ran into the night. A shame really since I would have liked to have questioned him about some of his ideas. He got me thinking though, about how there is something incredibly noble about giving your life to your chosen cause, noble or perhaps stupid. I'm sure that ragged old man could find another cause to dedicate himself to in the blink of an eye, but would he be prepared to give away his life for his beliefs? I doubt it somehow. But perhaps he was totally wrong, I do not believe that there is some huge cosmic picture and reason, all that matters is me. My destiny, my life that is what is important, not trying to appease some cosmic being, maybe if my life can make some impact to this world then that is worth something.

Now I can feel a strong presence, a powerful evil force not too far away, since there seems to be nothing else to do I might as well go and investigate. I turn a corner only to be confronted by the Digi-Destined, Wargreymon and Imperaldramon. They are facing off against Mummymon and Arukenimon and this time there will be no escape for them. They may have been responsible for creating me, but they do not control me and they can never influence my destiny, but I blame them for my existence. Not that I hate existing but I hate them, I hate everything they have done. They don't see me, they are too busy taunting the Digi-destined, they do not see my rage building to a peak, and they do not see me taking aim right at them. And even if they see the pure energy I create in the form of my Terra Destroyer attack, it is far too late for them, in a second they are just dust, blown away on the wind.

The boy with the huge hairstyle appears to be angry with me; I am not entirely sure why since that duo of villains were enemies to them too. He is shouting about how they had a chance of redemption, again that word 'redemption'. I am not sure that I like the idea of regretting what I have done. The boy is loud, self-righteous and weak, I turn to leave but his partner, the one who is almost my mirror image, Wargreymon, blocks, my path. I have no option but to fight, perhaps I do have an option, but I want to test myself against him, to prove to myself who is the stronger of the two of us.

We catch hold of each other's claws, locked together in some sort of dance, looking like armored Siamese twins. He is strong, almost as strong as me, but not strong enough, digging my feet into the dusty ground I start to push him back, trying to get him to lower his guard enough for me to unleash one of my special attacks. Even as I push him back, every second moving his arms further away from the vulnerable areas of his chest and neck I hear the others shouting for us to stop. Weak fools! In the past, when I gave in to my darker desires I had people screaming at me for mercy, they found none, and nor will my adversary. He seems to be more affected by the pleas of the children, so much so that he lets his guard down just for the briefest of seconds. It is all the chance I need as I manage to connect with my Dragon Crusher attack, a wave of black light bursts from my claws causing my opponent to stagger backwards, damaged and off balance. Focusing I leap forwards, spinning into my adversary with my Black Tornado attack, drilling into his chest I hear him gasp as the air is driven out of him. Taking my chance I grab him, hands locked around his waist, I suplex him like some amateur wrestler and he goes sprawling backwards towards his friends.

I can see that Imperaldramon is just itching to get involved, but the child of hope and the youngest Digi-Destined are both holding him back. I wonder why the two of them do not treat me with as much contempt as the rest. I make a mistake, I take my attention away from the fight and in return I get myself slammed by my opponent's Mega Claw attack. Idiot that I am to drop my guard! Letting myself give in to the darkness inside I attack with all my rage, unleashing a fury of blows, punches and kicks find their mark. Then another throw and my opponent is down, I let my rage peak again, about to fire my ultimate attack and finish this rivalry once and for all, I attempt to unleash my Terra Destroyer, but I never get the chance.

Imperaldramon, obviously seeing what I am planning to do hits me with a blast of pure energy, usually I would be able to block such a move but my guard is down and the blow slams itself right into my chest. Pain, I feel blood trickling down my chest, still in a rage I leap into the air, my speed is too much for either of my foes and this time no counter attack stops me. In a moment there is a blue and an orange lizard looking rather sorry for themselves. I pulled the blow, if I had not then they would be reduced to dust too, but I could not bring myself to do it. The lie I tell myself is that they were valiant and worthy enemies

Panting from the duel I see out of the corner of my eye two old men who I had not played any attention to before. They appeared to be so engaged in an argument that they had hardly even noticed the battle between three of the most powerful creatures in existence. I on the other hand could hardly fail to notice the after effects of the duel. Imperaldramon's attack had landed heavily, hitting me square in the chest and doing vast amounts of damage, although by its self not a life threatening injury it was certainly going to mean that any further battles were going to be tough.

On of the men pushed the other to the floor and advanced to where the Digi-destined and myself were standing, according to the blue haired child who gasped the word with a degree of terror in his voice this man's name was Oikawa.

Laughing like a mad man he proceeded to describe some sort of plan about 'Dark Spores' and opening a gate to the world of evil. For a brief moment I wondered if this man might be a worthy opponent, but all he seemed to be was some crackpot sorcerer with delusions of grandeur. I was growing tired of his cackling and was about to walk away when he addressed me.

"Servant, destroy these children" Servant? Who does this guy think he is?

"Servant, I am your creator, do as I command" Creator? This guy is a total lunatic. Walking up to him I lift him off the ground with ease, for all his bravado he is just a weak old man. Growling I drop him to the ground as a warning not to annoy me further with all his stupid words.

"Very well, if you will not help me, I will destroy you too! I summon the Dark Vortex!"

With a sound like a thousand crashes of thunder all happening at once the sky was torn asunder. The sky once illuminated by the moon and the faint glow of the street lamps was now lit up by the sight of a heaving mass of darkness which seemed to dominate the entire night sky. I have heard that black is not really a color, more an absence of any color what so ever, and this was certainly the case here. The vortex seemed to suck all the light out of the entire area, leaving just a mass of total darkness raging above our heads, occasionally a bolt of totally black energy flashed across it, if such a thing was possible it made total darkness even darker.

"Behold the power of the Dark Vortex! Now I will destroy the entire Digital World, nothing can stop it now. It is destiny!"

Destiny…surely this cannot be true, surely the destiny I have been searching for cannot be the total destruction of our world, surely there must be something that I can do to stop this. After all the old fool doesn't look so tough, a quick claw and he'll be no more, but I cannot move. Out of the corner of my eye I see that none of the Digimon belong to the Digi-destined can move either, the power of the vortex is holding us all paralyzed and useless.

The other old man has picked himself up now; he is trying to convince the man called Oikawa that he should close the power of the vortex, that it will destroy both worlds and everything in them. The Oikawa man does not seem to care, he tries to push the old man down again, but this time he is ready for the attack. It seems that the man who smells of prune juice is a martial artist and he is now attacking the sorcerer with a flurry of punches and kicks, every time a blow lands the vortex seems to shrink slightly. There is nothing I can do to help, I am still held like a fly in a spider's web unable to help. I am unable to protect my world, and then just as it seems 'our side' is starting to gain the upper hand Oikawa manages to knock his opponent off his feet and begins chanting some sort of spell. And then the voice of my soul frees me, and I can move again.

So you wanted to be more than a monster?

It all happened before I could think that damn freak Oikawa called down a sphere of total blackness from the void and hurled at the old man who smelt of prune juice. The youngest Digi-destined shouted something at his partner, but the yellow armadillo was still held fast by the darkness. Moving with cat-like reflexes however was the child of hope, as time seemed to slow to a crawl he stood in the path of the dark energy. He must have known he didn't have a chance, and it all happened so quickly that I didn't have time to think, only to react. The darkness slammed into my chest, I felt everything inside me erupt with pain, my armor absolutely no defense against it, as I dropped to my knees I would have sworn that I saw a look I had never seen before flash across the face of the boy called TK. I don't know quite what the term for it is, the feeling that you would happily throw your life away just to see someone smile, but I felt it as I slumped forwards, a blooded mess.

Nothing can stop it now, it is destiny.

Destiny…?

Only a soul filled with darkness

A soul…?

Why can't I cry

I can now, at the very end

…Love?

Life is a strange thing, just when you think you learn how to use it it's gone

It is destiny

Destiny…my destiny is clear.

In the blink of an eye it all seems to be so clear now, all the rubbish about worlds, data and destiny fade into insignificance, all that matters is now, all that matters is that vortex of destruction, threatening this damned city and my own world all at once. Looking up into the swirling black maelstrom I'm sure I can see the rolling green hills of my home, or is it just a delusion brought on by my injuries? There is nothing there but darkness, blackness and evil, and I see myself reflected in the darkness. Everything I have ever been, all the evil deeds I have done are a part of it, but Okwia said it was made up of all the evil in the world. I guess this means that there must be a lot more souls like me than I thought since it seems to dominate the entire sky, still at least it is blocking out that accursed moon.

No, I am not like the others; I have done evil deeds in the past, but not anymore. I have a soul, a soul and a destiny, and the power to change the world. Still bleeding heavily from the wound in my chest I flick out my wings, it is with a degree of pride that I see everyone look around at me. Ignoring the protests of the youngest Digi-Destined I take to the skies, flying in slow motion towards the darkness I gather up all the power in my soul, focusing all my energies for what will be the very last time. This time it is not my rage or my destructive powers that I concentrate. It is not even my hatred for the darkness, or my fear that I am about to die, I cannot do this with negative emotions, this has to be more, it has to be the power of light that I use. I focus the desire to protect my home, seeing in my mind the Primary Village, where things can start over, the beauty of my home that I will never see again. I focus on those children down there, all my hope, hope that there will be a tomorrow, in my mind I see the sun rising over this doomed world, a symbol of hope. Again a sight I shall never again lay my eyes upon. Burning with all the power about to burst out of me I focus my very soul, the thing I have been searching for as long as I can remember, the thing that got me into this mess, and the thing that will kill me.

I have no regrets.

All my power, all my soul is focused into this, my final attack, the ultimate technique I, or any Digimon can perform, I hit the void with everything, my attack, my body, my heart and my soul. For the briefest of spit seconds I see the darkness vanish in a blinding light, Oikawa crash to the floor, his evil dying along with the vortex.

And then there is silence, then there is peace and then my world turns white.