All right, all right! Here's Chapter 8. (RoxXSterTriXie, you little brat, I owe you two chapters!) It should be a little…to say the least, earth-shattering. Kinda like when Kina found out her mom was an evil Digimon. But it just sucks on so many different levels. What happens? Read and see. (PS—Short chapter…my plate is very full at the moment and I seriously need an extension on my day. 24 hours aren't enough, and I waste 1/3 of them sleeping!)
Predestined
Chapter Eight: A Bond Broken
The troops of Fiannamon looked at Holly and laughed. "Battle is what we're all about, dear," one chortled. "And it is very important that we win this one."
"Why?" she asked, perturbed.
"It is the reason why the dark woman who came here tried to gain control of the land Gennai owns on Kai," another one said. "Underneath Starlight Plains, there is a terrible Beast contained. He was sealed away by a powerful witch and her coven of Digidestined almost 10000 years ago. It is rumored that he possesses such terrible powers that once they are unleashed, the universe will end. Permanently. Since he is waking up in oh, I'd say four weeks, we don't have a lot of time to stop the dark woman from controlling him. " Somehow, the way that he said "Beast" sounded like it deserved to be capitalized and punctuated with evil.
The kids stared at eachother in shock. "She must know about us somehow," Tina said. "Why else would she kidnap our friends? She knows we are a threat to her."
"Quite true," the one that had first spoken to them said. "And if your friends are in her hands, she's going to play around with them a bit before she murders them. You should see what she tried to do to Gennai when he refused to negotiate a treaty. The poor man had to have one of his eyes replaced."
Kinaka let out a shrill scream. "She hurt Gennai? Took out one of those gorgeous eyes?! Noooooo!" she said tragically. "If she messed up the rest of that face of his, I'll…"
Tina groaned. "Kinaka, we went through this with Lauren already—he is old. Got it?"
"Will you come with us, Digidestined?" the lead Fiannamon asked. "We need you."
Holly looked around at the others and immediately assumed her "leader" role. "We'll do it," she said bravely. She immediately felt pleased, having said it like a true Kamiya. "Are you all with me?"
"YEAH!" the other Digidestined cheered.
Silently, the Fiannamon spread their wings. "Climb aboard, then," they said.
The Digidestined got onto the backs of the Fiannamon, and they were off to Kai.
A bobbing yellow light appeared in the darkness. Kim desisted in trying to wake Lauren up as a slim black figure appeared.
"Well, hello, my little pets," a silky female voice purred. One of her black-gloved hands reached through the darkness and grabbed Chris by the back of the neck. She lifted him up with an almost inhuman strength and shook him a bit. "How are we today, loves?"
Lee sprang to her feet. "Just exactly who the hell do you think you are, you rotten witch?" she yelled. "First you stab me, then you drug me and bring me here!"
The steel-tipped whip that the woman carried with her lashed out, striking Lee in the face. She staggered back, with a small but not too serious cut on her face.
The dark woman stepped forward. Her deadly white face shone like a solitary star at night. "It won't leave a scar, but I wouldn't try that again, Witaki," she said coldly. "When you speak to me, you address me as Lady Kazuma. Got it?" To make her point clear, she brandished her scimitar.
"Like hell," Lee spat, but she shrank back anyway.
Hikaru and Chris clung to eachother. "Why did you bring us here?" he asked Lady Kazuma. When the woman looked at him with her death-glare, he added meekly, "Lady Kazuma."
"See? You're learning already," she smiled. "If you really must know, you're being held here because I suspect you are in connection with the final prophecy made by the…" She paused when she saw their blank stares. "OK, made by a nasty little bunch of annoying entities that are trying to kick little old me out of this world."
"I wonder why," Kim muttered.
"Until I've completed my work here, none of you are going anywhere," Lady Kazuma finished. "You'll just have to wait until I resurrect the Beast of Starlight Plains."
Hikaru's hand strayed to the thin gold chain holding her Tag and Crest. "Starlight," she murmured.
"Oh, yes. Those ratty little pieces of costume jewelry. I know all about those. I used to come here all the time, as a child. And I saw the Crests that belonged to the first set of Digidestined. Benevolence, Morals, Denial, Duty…"
"You're wrong," Lee said suddenly. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but you must be thinking about a different set of Digidestined. My parents were in the first group, and they had the first Crests as far as I know. And none of them bore the names you just mentioned."
Lady Kazuma's odd eyes flashed angrily. "NOBODY TALKS BACK TO ME, YOU LITTLE BITCH! DO YOU HEAR ME?" She backhanded Lee across the face, sending her flying onto Lauren's prone body. As Lee struggled to get up, Lady Kazuma put her boot-clad foot onto her chest.
"I don't have time for your stupid speculations," she snarled. She snapped her fingers once, and about twenty guards came running. "Take them all to the dungeon," she said to them, picking Lauren and Lee both up by the scruffs of the neck and tossing them at the guards. "I have a lot of work to do. It's a five-day journey to Kai."
Halfway to Kai, it began to rain.
"Great. I suppose we'll have to stop now," one of the Fiannamon groaned. "Damn humans."
"Hey!" Lucas cried.
The Fiannamon carrying him and Aibomon chuckled. "He was only kidding, lad. Hold your water!"
They flew low for a while, skimming the land for a place for the kids to camp. Finally, they found the perfect place—a fairly spacious cave just a few minutes away from an artesian spring. There was a dense forest surrounding it, which meant firewood if it wasn't too wet.
"Camp at last!" Holly cried. "No more leaky tent!"
Tina stuck her tongue out at her. "The tent wasn't leaky! I've only camped in it once!"
"What did you do, poke holes in it?"
"Come to think of it, Mike used it for a science project once…" Tina turned to Mike. "Hey! You said the canvas was still durable!"
Leon groaned. "Can we stop arguing and get into the cave already? I've got a Lipton Chicken Noodle soup calling my name."
Once inside, Kinaka started a fire with her lighter and put on one of their cooking pots to boil water for hot soup. Outside, the rain was lashing the ground and lighting flared in the sky. Lucas whimpered a little and held Aibomon closer to his chest.
"Scared of storms, Lucas?"
The little boy swallowed. "Yeah," he managed to mutter through a dry mouth. "I remember how bad storms can be here. Monsoon season, mama called it. I was three when I left here, but I still remember hiding under my tante's bed when it rained out. Deanna used to try to pull me out by saying she'd give me some cookies and milk…" he trailed off as he realized he was babbling. "Oh. Sorry."
"It's okay, Lucas. I don't mind listening."
Jenna was half-listening to Lucas while she absent-mindedly stirred the soup. Something was niggling at the back of her mind. She didn't like the idea of travelling to Kai. Even during her first stint in the Digital World, she wasn't particularly fond of traipsing through hot deserts, getting the fine skin she had inherited from her mother's side sunburned into a crisp. And now she was enlisted to fight this Beast, whatever it was…She sighed and blew one of the streaked sections of her hair out of her face. Sometimes, being a Digidestined really sucked.
Leon came up behind her and put his hand on her shoulder. "Happy anniversary," he said, kissing the nape of her neck. "How's the soup coming?"
"Anniversary?" she asked. Then she remembered—their plans that they had scheduled for their anniversary weren't about to happen tonight. The thought made her so vexed that she said unthinkingly, "Yeah, happy anniversary. Great getaway we have planned here—come and fight the Beast in a place we've never even heard of, but I'm sure it will be lovely once we spend another month or so, putting our lives on hold and not to mention in danger!"
Jenna and Leon had never, ever fought before, except once before they became a couple. Now his ruby eyes flared up, making them look like living flame. "It's my sister's life that's in danger right now," he said. His voice had taken on a bitter edge. "I think it's much more important to save our friends than lose a little time out of school, work, whatever. Just as long as we find them, bring down that woman who took them here, and demolish that Beast so we can go."
She shook her head. "I still don't think this is fair on us."
"Fair? What are you trying to say, Jenna?" Leon asked sharply. His hands balled into fists. "You saying that my sister's kidnapping messed up our plans? Say it, Jenna. Come on, say it. I know that's what you mean."
"You don't know shit about what I mean! And why are you making such a big deal out of this, anyway?"
"Dammit, it's my sister we're talking about here!"
Jenna stood up to face him, and crossed her arms over her chest. "OK, you know what? You're blowing this way out of proportion. I'm allowed to have opinions, aren't I? What the hell is your problem?"
"At the moment, it's my girlfriend being an insensitive—"
And Jenna, who had only raised her hand a few times when absolutely necessary, slapped him across the face. His right cheek showed a red handprint, like a smear of blood. "If the next word out of your mouth rhymes with 'witch', you're a dead man!"
"Is that a threat, Ichijouji?"
"It damn well is! And you know what, Leon? If you can't handle me wanting to vent once in a while, without you twisting it to make me look bad, then I'm outta here. Out of this cave, this stupid world, and out of your life!"
"Fine, then!"
"Fine!" Jenna pushed past him, pulling a drowsy Pikkimon with her. "Happy anniversary, asshole!" She spat at his feet, then stormed out of the cave into the rain.
Everyone watched her go with horrified expressions on their faces. "What was that about?" Holly finally managed to ask.
Leon sank heavily to the hard limestone floor of the cave and put his head in his hands. "I don't know," he said. "I think we've just…broken up."
As Holly came over to console him, he slipped one hand in his pocket and felt the cold ring there. Five minutes ago, he had planned on going on one knee right there, right then. Now he thought he might like to chuck the ring into the fire.
Jenna stormed past the two Fiannamon guarding the door. "I'm going for a walk. Don't come after me," she hissed at them as they began unfolding their wings. She then ran into the woods and toward the stream. Rain and winds beat at her face and whipped her hair, but she didn't care.
"Jenna, where are we going?" Pikkimon squeaked. "Jenna?"
"Away," she replied tersely. Tears stung her eyelids, but she did not give in to them. "I need to get away for a while. Away from them. OK?"
"But Jenna, they need us for the battle!" she squeaked, bouncing around her friend's feet. "Hey…you didn't really mean what you said to Leon, did you?"
They had finally reached the stream. It was dark and turbid, gushing with dark water that was beginning to spill over the banks. Jenna sat on a large rock facing the stream, and bowed her wet head.
"I didn't mean what I said about not wanting to be here," she whispered to her partner, the burning tears beginning to trickle from the corner of her bright hazel eyes. "But I think I meant what I said about Leon. Oh gawd…I don't know! I can't believe I just fought with him, after four and a half years! What is wrong with me?" She started to cry, and Pikkimon leaped into her lap to comfort her.
A tiny hand patted her back. "Don't cry," a sweet little girl's voice said. "My cousin Leon will be fine. But you'll get sick again if you don't get back inside."
She wheeled around. There, behind her, was a tiny dripping figure dressed in a paisley print skirt and a light green t-shirt, with a white bandana around her neck. She carried her pink and white D-X on the belt loop of her skirt.
Tania giggled at Jenna's startled expression. "I had to come and find my sister with you," she said. "Now can we go inside? It's really cold and wet out here."