Natural Born Leader
A Digimon Fanfiction
By: Bekah-chan
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: (Okay, here I go) *sniffle* I DO NOT *cringe* OWN *wince* DIGIMON *sniffle* (I did it!!!) I do, however, own (or came up with) most of the stuff that doesn't have to do with Digimon. So, HANDS OFF!!!! Thank you ^_^
Thanks for the Reviews!!
Part IV:
I briefly wondered what Izzy must be thinking about all this, but did not dwell on it for long. I'd probably have to tell Izzy most of it, anyway, before this was over. He could just stay startled for now.
My eyes moved from Izzy back to Tai. He looked so small and pale lying there; Sharply reminding me of that little kid I'd found crying on a park bench all those years ago... I'd clearly seen that he kept the promise he'd made that day; Kari was a safe and happy little girl. I was proud of him, he'd kept *all* those kids safe in the Digital World, and they'd won. They'd won, and had every reason to think they would be safe here in the real world, and now this... This had all been my fault, well me and whoever had pushed me out of the window. I sighed and took off my goggles (the same pair I'd given to him), placing them on a stack of magazines I was sharing the coffee table with.
I could feel Izzy, still watching me, as I fished under the neck of my shirt and pulled out the golden chain from which my signet ring hung when I could not wear it, so I could keep it close to me. I slipped the chain up and over my head, letting the links, which were unbroken by a clasp, pool in one hand, the fire-opal ring resting on top of the shimmering pile.
The linked golden strand wasn't really a chain- Or, wasn't *only* a chain. I placed my right hand over the one containing the jewelry, then I closed my eyes and said a few words under my breath. I felt a warm glow between my fingers and, when I lifted my hand again, there were two rings resting in my left palm; The signet ring and a, smaller, twisted gold band. The later, a dormant form of the chain, I placed on my right pinky finger, ready for when it would be needed again.
The signet ring went onto the index finger of my left hand. I sat back and waited for the tingle from the fire-opal that would mean Jun was using her own ring to get here. But, what I felt next didn't come from the ring, it came from Demiveemon who was tugging on the left leg of my shorts, trying to get my attention.
"Davish?" the little digimon asked.
I looked down into his wide maple-brown eyes, "Ya?"
"What happened to Tai?"
I sighed and leant down, lifting the small blue form into my lap, "He was attacked."
"Oh," -Blink- "Was it a digimon?"
"No." I smiled at him, softly, "If it had been, I'd have asked you for help. You're way better than me at taking care of Evil Digimon."
"Right," Demiveemon returned my smile with a little nod. His smile faded as he examined Tai again, before looking back up at me, "What happened, then?"
"I would like to know, as well." added Izzy.
I sighed again, but was saved from answering when the ring on my finger gave a twinge, like a pin prick. This was my five second warning, "I'll explain later," I promised as I quickly passed Demiveemon to Izzy, and turned to jump over the coffee table.
"What are you doing?" Izzy fumbled and almost dropped my digimon before getting a better grip on him.
"Jun needs some room," I explained, standing in the middle of the livingroom and holding out the hand with the ring on it, "It wouldn't do for her to appear in the couch, now would it?"
Jun's hand, with its own fire-opal ring, soon appeared in mine, and the rest of her followed with a shimmer and a small 'pop'. She was wearing jeans and a T-shirt (with 'I love Matt' painted on it) and holding a 'Hello Kitty' backpack in her other hand.
I released her hand and raised my eyebrows at the bag.
"What?" she demanded, "It was just the right size for a first-aid kit! Besides," and now she smirked a little, "I found it in your room."
Oh... That was different then. I decided to change the subject, "Thanks for coming so promptly." I told her.
She blinked, "I had a choice?"
"No, not really" I still outranked her, after all.
"I didn't think so. Now, did you say someone was attacked by a salamander?"
I nodded, and gestured over to the couch, "Tai."
She walked over to take my former place on the coffee table, looking closely at Tai's shoulder. She winced, "Where and when did this happen?"
"Out in the hall, a few minutes ago," it was Izzy who answered. Jun flicked her eyes in his direction, no doubt taking in his wide eyes and shocked expression, and turned back to me;
"Davis, *what* is going on? Why would a salamander attack someone in an apartment hallway?"
"Ummm... Well, I kinda had to use unshielded magic..."
"What! Why? You know how stupid that is!"
"Hey, it wasn't my fault! Someone pushed me out of the window," I pointed to the, still open, portal on the west wall.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
Nice of her to be so concerned.
"Yes, I'm fine. But I did use magic, and the made-dragon--"
"-- traced it." she finished.
"Yes, and Tai was in the wrong place at the wrong time."
And he didn't duck when I told him to.
She sighed and turned back to Tai, "He's lost a lot of blood," she observed.
No kidding.
"Where is it?"
Now, why would she... Oh, right, "In the hall. I'll show you."
*****
Jun has always been very creative, magically I mean. I've hardly ever seen her cast a spell exactly as she'd been taught it; she always has to change it, just a little, so that it 'worked better'. And they always are better... Except for that one time when... Um, never mind. The point is, she's kind of a genius that way. I've even seen her make up spells completely on the fly; and those work too, usually better than other, similar spells, invented by other people.
She used to drive our magic teachers crazy, we never had the same one for more than a few months, they quit so fast. Finally our parents had just paid for my magic lessons, and set Jun loose in the magic section of the palace library, to fend for herself. Jun hadn't minded in the slightest, after that she spent most of her time in the library, and a small atrium she dubbed her 'workroom'.
In later years, after we'd left the elves, she had more cause to invent spells, but she didn't enjoy it as much... Not after what happened to mother. Despite the fact that the King and Queen left us to our own devices during the day, they insisted that we have dinner as a family whenever possible, which was most of the time. It wasn't a secret, everyone knew, and someone decided that it was the perfect time to attack. What they hadn't realized was that their plans fell on the one day of the year my parents ate dinner alone, their anniversary.
They'd died, been killed, on their 154th wedding anniversary.
Jun had been in the library when it happened, I'd been at fencing practice. But, when the fighting began, we both ran for the royal family's private dinning hall. We saw mother first. She was right inside the door, she'd almost made it to the display of swords on the wall before someone cut her throat.
She was still alive, barely, and Jun didn't even pause on her dash through the door. In seconds she had pulled the fire-opal ring from our mother's hand and touched it to the pool of blood surrounding her. Jun said a few words in the language of magic, and even some words in a language I'd never heard before, and the blood started to disappear. It took me a moment to realize it was being absorbed into the ring, turning it from a faint orange/red, to a burning magenta.
When the ring had sucked-up most of the blood, Jun had held it over the wound and reversed the flow, putting it back in the Queen's veins, where it belonged. Mother seemed a little better then, she even opened her eyes and blinked at us;
"Junita... Davainer..." her voice was a pale, raspy, reflection of her usual warm tones, I almost started to cry when I realized the difference was because her vocal cords had been damaged.
"It will be okay, Mother," Jun told her, now saying healing spells over the, still bleeding, flesh of her throat.
"No..," she gasped and the blood Jun had just put back, began spilling on the floor again, "No, Junita..."
"What do you mean? Of course it will!" Jun was crying, "I can heal this, no problem!"
"I.. Know that.. But... poison"
I couldn't hold back the tears anymore, and Jun was openly sobbing.
"No.. No, I can fix it! You'll be okay..."
"...dying..."
"No!"
"She's right, Junita," We looked up as our father stumbled around the far side of the table. I hurried over to help him, noticing that he was injured also, although not enough to merit his obvious weakness.
"We've both been poisoned, it was in the food" he continued when we got over to the Queen and Jun. He eased himself down beside his wife and took one of her hands, gently, in his own.
"Poisoned? With what? I can still cure you!"
"No, not this time, Junita. It's elfshot-- "
"Nooo..." and Jun crumpled completely, she knew there was no way to save them now. Elves can heal, or be healed, from almost anything... But not this; Not this. Elfshot was a poison made from over twenty different plants, and a ceremony of blood magic. An elf's body will react just from the evil energy it contained, wakening enough for the poison itself to take effect. The usual method to distribute it to the victim, is by the coated blade of a weapon or dart (hence the name); Sometimes such a wound can be cured, depending on the amount and strength of the elfshot... But Father had said it was in the food, they'd ingested it, we couldn't help them now.
And the blood Jun had just put back in our Mother's body was tainted as well; She might not bleed to death, but she would die all the same. This also explained why Jun couldn't heal her wound, this elfshot was very powerful, and one of the ingredients prevented healing spells.
"You two need to leave now." our father said.
"No, we can't" Jun recovered a little, wiping some of the tears from her face, "We can't leave you."
"You have to, Junita. The rebels are coming back, they left us for dead and went to find you, but they'll be back."
"No..."
The king let go of mother's hand long enough to remove his signet ring and pass it to me, "You will be King now, Davainer," he told me, "Come back and save the kingdom some day," he gave me a painful smile, "I'm sure you won't want to, but our people need a good ruler. And, I doubt the leader of this, surprisingly successful, debacle would be a good ruler."
"But, Father..."
Why was he excepting defeat so easily?
"What's the point in fighting now?" he asked me, as if he'd read my mind, "There is nothing I can do. And.." he bent, releasing one hand from the Queen's slackened grip, to close her sightless eyes, "... what would the world be without her?"
He gave me a final look, conveying his love and trust in Jun and I; Telling me to get Jun out of here, and keep her safe. So, I got Jun to her feet (she was sobbing so hard she hardly noticed anything anymore) and we left our Father to die in the place he'd most wanted to live... Next to his wife.
*****
The rest of our escape from the palace was a blur. We'd hurried through the family apartments and kitchen, picking up what we could, and out one of the underground passages. There were enemies everywhere, and it was lucky that Jun recovered enough to help me fight our way out; after she placed Mother's fire-opal, which had still been clutched in her hand, on her finger... She'd never taken it off again, to my knowledge.
We'd never talked much about that day, but she'd used that blood spell to save my life once or twice. Hopefully she could do the same for Tai.
To Be Continued ^_^