"In my eyes, one regret
In my heart, a regret I can't erase."
Kouji Minamoto—"In the Blue"
(Translated by KarenSedai)

With Broken Wings
Chapter One: "In the Blue"

Japan: January 4, 2003—Just after BelialVamdemon's defeat
Kouichi Kimura sat in the sand at the beach, letting the small grains slip through his fingers. Above him, the sky swirled with clouds of black and gray, but he didn't notice or care. All that was on his mind at the moment were the tiny grains of sand between his fingers.

Ah, how wonderful it felt, the microscopic pieces of who-cares-what in his hand, in his grasp, all depending on him to either let it go, or allow it to remain in his hands. And no matter how much sand he allowed to rejoin the shore and sea, there was always some to remain on his hand. It would always be there. It was like it was a part of him…

"Kouichi!" shouted his younger twin. He just ignored Kouji Minamoto and allowed him to approach. "What is it with you?"

Kouichi momentarily stopped sifting through the sand and looked at his brother, who was in his yellow T-shirt, midnight blue fleece jacket, and gray athletic pants from their adventure in the Digital World back in April. "What?" he asked roughly, uninterestedly.

"I want to know what your problem is. You yelled at Tomoki, who was only trying to ask a simple question, and you mouthed off to Izumi, who everyone this side of the Rose of Venus knows is your girlfriend. It's one thing if you're fighting with me, but with them…" His face was tense, yet pained. "What is it with you? It's like you're not the same person anymore."

"Sand is an interesting thing," Kouichi commented, seeming to completely ignore the original subject. "It likes clinging to things, staying in everything. No matter how hard you try to avoid it, you end up with sand in your shoes and between your toes. I'd say that you probably have half the beach in your sneakers right now, Kouji, and you don't even realize it." He then stood up, not bothering to wipe the sand off his long sleeved red T-shirt and unbuttoned green shirt that he had an inexplicable habit of wearing. "And it's always amazing what happens when you heat the sand up. It melts and becomes glass. You pressure it," he continued, emphasizing his point by clenching a fistful of sand, "and it will become something you don't expect." With that, he let the grains slip out of his grasp, like the sands in an hourglass.

"What's wrong with you?" Kouji questioned, his tone expressing his confusion. Though they hadn't known each other before the spring in the Digital World, they had become rather close, and it was painful to see the other like this. "Ever since Kouri was born, you've been this way."

"You know, Kouji, maybe you're right," Kouichi commented, his voice suddenly as soft and understanding as his brother's. But then he turned his face, revealing a sinister grin. "Maybe I'm not the same person anymore."

"What?" Kouji asked.

The sky suddenly spat a whip into Kouichi's hand. There is no better way to describe how the object went hurling from the sky in a flash of light and landed perfectly in his hand. He lunged at his brother with it, using the heavy cylindrical weight on the other end to strike his brother. It quickly made contact with Kouji's ribs, knocking him into the ground. Sand sprayed up from the force of his fall. Kouichi laughed evilly and removed the weight. Under it was a sickle-shaped blade.

"This should do it," he decided, snapping the whip across his brother's body. The blade slashed through Kouji's shirt—right where the weight had connected with his ribcage—and tore off a small chunk of his skin. And as he forced himself to stand, his older twin brother removed the blade from his newfound weapon, leaving it as an ordinary whip, which he immediately cracked onto the younger's neck. Kouji desperately pulled at the leather cord as his air supply was slowly cut off. Kouichi flashed another evil smirk and twisted a ring around the handle, releasing a blast of electricity guaranteed to kill anyone—especially the Warrior of Light.

The Chosen Children had been following Kouji for quite a while and had finally caught up with him, only to see their comrade collapse to the sand, his body trembling from the lethal electrical jolt. Kouichi retracted his whip and just stood there, cold and unfeeling.

"Kouji!" they shouted, running over. Izumi carefully cradled him in her arms and wiped the sand from his face, watching his chest gently rise and fall…rise and fall…rise and… fall…

"Kouji?" she asked, listening for his heartbeat, but there was none to be heard. She then looked up in horror at Kouichi, who had a numb look on his face. "Kouichi, how? How could you do this? How could you do this to your brother?"

He simply turned and walked away. But before he completely left, he turned his head and said, "Take this as an example of what will happen if anyone dares to cross paths with the Digimon Kaiser."

And with that, his clothes reformatted into a navy blue, white, and yellow jumpsuit, silver ankle bands and armbands, and a golden collar that accented a short cape consisting of two navy-colored triangular pieces of cloth, fastened to his neck by a silver buckle. He said no more, and left them in a night drowned by their tears.

Five Months Later:
Like all of the Digimon Kaiser's slaves, Kotemon knew all the legends. He was very young (only a Child level for six months, and he'd hatched from his egg less than a year ago), and he'd only been a slave for more or less two months, but he knew the greatest Resistance story imaginable—the legend of the Digimon Kaiser: how Kouichi Kimura murdered his brother and became the Kaiser, how Earth's economy was in disarray following the collapse of the World Trade Center in America, and how the boy used the powers of Darkness and his skills as a demagogue to sway the people of Earth to accept him as their absolute ruler, how he brought both the Digital and Real Worlds together under his authority, how the Kaiser's friends disappeared to fight in the small but vocal Resistance, and most importantly of all, the legends of Wolfmon and Garmmon—the protectors of the slaves. They were Digimon created from the Spirits of Light, and they were always there to protect the slaves whenever there was some accident. They were first sighted on the night shift, and they were always guarded: Garmmon by Colonel Reiyama, a human mercenary, and Wolfmon by Renamon, a Child Digimon solider. Nobody knew why, but it seemed to be their unspoken duty to protect the slaves. The slaves were usually political prisoners who spoke out against the Kaiser's reign or disagreed with it in any way, and their despicable duty was to pick up after the Imperial Guard and the Resistance. But in that dangerous profession, something was always bound to go wrong, and that was when Garmmon or Wolfmon would save the day. No one knew who those two really were, but Kotemon's cellmate and friend Koemon was the one slave who could brag that she had seen Wolfmon's true form—his Child level. She had been partnered with Wolfmon to clean up the site of one of the latest victories against the Resistance, and a pile of weapons mysteriously detonated, creating a gigantic explosion.

"He was kind of a werewolf-thing," she described, referring to a human myth of a half-man, half-wolf being. "He called himself Strabimon."

"You're making this up," judged Kotemon's other cellmate and friend, Sakiko Ayamisa.

"No, I'm not!" Koemon yelled at the teenage girl. "His name was Strabimon and he helped me! He took the blame for the explosion! That's why he devolved! The Kaiser, Reiyama, and Renamon began beating him, waiting for him to cry out in pain." She had a sad look on her face and a look of compassion, almost as though there was more to her feelings for Strabimon than just simple hero-worship.

"Why didn't he?" Kotemon had questioned, having just started the slave life.

"Don't you newbies know anything?" thirteen-year-old Sakiko demanded in exasperation. "Neither Wolfmon nor Garmmon will show any weakness. They'll never give the Kaiser the satisfaction."

"You mean…" Kotemon started.

"Yep," Koemon answered. "Even though they're here, those two are the truest Resistance fighters: ready to die without a second thought—all just for their cause."

So when the next battle came around, Kotemon nearly jumped for joy when Reiyama—a man who was practically the Kaiser's shadow—told him that he'd be partnered with Garmmon. It had taken hours for him to finally fall asleep and Sakiko and Koemon praised him for his good luck.

I wonder who's getting to work with Wolfmon, Kotemon thought as he walked out onto the beach that had been the scene of the battle. Despite the warm May weather, he shivered. Everyone knew this beach all too well. "Kind of scary, isn't it?" Garmmon gave no response, as though the black ring around his neck kept him silent. "I mean the fact that this is the same beach where the Kaiser killed his brother. Some people say that his body was swept out to sea, and whoever sees it will die an immediate and painful death." It was a rumor he believed, of course. It was common knowledge that anyone who saw the body would have a bright light burning their bodies from the inside out, first cleansing the soul with the shining radiance. It was true; a human boy had been consumed by the same bright white light only a few months earlier. And the slave that witnessed it had been executed the following day, as though to keep it all a secret. Kotemon was always terrified of this beach, but he felt safe around Garmmon. But even with that security, he kept his eyes out for discarded weapons, and not for the body of an eleven-year-old boy.

After at least twelve hours of picking up the discarded weapons from the battlefield, Kotemon began wondering if the great hero's reputation was all it was cracked up to be. Garmmon hadn't said a single word throughout the entirety of the job. Selfishly, Kotemon half-wished that something would go wrong, that Garmmon would be forced to show his true identity—then the little Child would have something to boast about in front of Koemon and Sakiko! But didn't appear it was going to happen any time soon…

And then he heard a click.

It was under his foot: a pressure-sensitive landmine. If he shifted his weight even just a little, it would detonate. Kotemon began panicking while Garmmon dropped the load of Imperial weapons he'd been carrying on his back (Strange that there weren't any Resistance weapons, Kotemon noticed) and allowed his body to be consumed by thousands of bands of DigiCode.

"Slide Evolution! Wolfmon!"

If possible, the transition from panic to shock nearly gave poor little Kotemon a heart attack; his heroes Garmmon and Wolfmon were one and the same! The collar that had been around Garmmon remained around Wolfmon's neck, and it began blinking with foreign red symbols. Kotemon guessed it was to alert the Kaiser, but why would the ruler want to waste his time with a slave's evolution?

Wolfmon carefully placed his foot on the mine and looked down at Kotemon.

"Get out of here," he ordered in a soft, but commanding voice. Kotemon hesitated. "Go!" The Child finally obeyed, but he hid by several large rocks that served as breakers between the waves and the sand.

Keeping his foot on the mine, Wolfmon crouched down and pulled out a small tab of plastic with a button on it and two steel loops around it: a mine defuser on a leather cord around his neck. Cautiously, he removed the rubber from two wires, exposing the copper. Then he wrapped the copper wires of the two protected wires around each steel loop of the defuser, being sure not to electrocute himself in the process. Once that was finished, he pressed the button on the defuser, melting the mine's circuitry. He stepped off of it, unaware of the fact that the Kaiser was right behind him. The Kaiser used the weighted mode of his whip to strike Wolfmon on the back of his head. He hit the ground silently, without so much as a thud. The DigiCode wrapped itself around him once more in a devolving phase. Kotemon was prepared to see the "werewolf-thing" Strabimon, the one that Koemon had described, but instead he saw a human boy—perhaps Sakiko's age or younger—with bluish-black hair and dark blue eyes. He looked somewhat familiar, but Kotemon just couldn't place where he'd seen him.

The Kaiser obviously didn't care that his slave was human because he switched his whip to electric blade mode, reserved for only the most rebellious Digimon—never humans. Ruthlessly, he beat the young human, rarely giving him the chance to breathe. As the blade continued to slash at the boy's body, causing muscle spasms from the electricity, Kotemon suddenly lost all desire to brag about his discovery.

Why doesn't he just yell for it to stop? Kotemon wondered as the muscle spasms forced the boy to cough up a great deal of blood. It's just that simple. Just one word, and it will all end. The Kaiser won't make him face anymore. But the boy's pride was at stake—it was the only thing he had that he could call his own. Eventually, the blade caught the boy's long hair, slicing the elastic band that had tied it back.

"If you haven't learned your lesson now, you'll just have to learn it another way," the Kaiser decided. "Reiyama, take him to his cell." The blonde mercenary literally pulled the boy to his feet and forced him to hike all the way back to the mobile base. But as the injured boy walked away, Kotemon caught a glimpse of him without the hair tie. What he saw was a near-exact reflection of the Kaiser, only kinder, weaker, and with longer, roughly-cut hair. It took several minutes to recognize who he was. It took several minutes for him to realize that the only burning on his body was from the hot sun above. The boy was the Kaiser's supposedly dead brother—the one he'd murdered.

No way, Kotemon denied. The Kaiser would do that to his own brother?

Deciding to try and find out the truth for himself, he discreetly followed them back to the slave barracks.

The Kaiser waved his hand as though dismissing someone, and a shroud of darkness concealed him, his brother, and Reiyama. Quickly and discreetly dashing in, Kotemon allowed himself to be cloaked in the void of existence too.

All around, there were humans and Digimon who'd been captured; only these were whole families, unlike the groups of orphans in Kotemon's cellblock. In each cell was a crucifix-styled torture rack hooked to the wall—each looking ancient, rusted, and unused. All these slaves were submissive and didn't need torture. Was this boy the only one that was alive enough to know their existence as slaves was wrong? Kotemon could hear the sick and dying coughing up their last breaths, babies crying in terror, their mothers shushing them, and children whispering. Every child had a story to tell, whether it was of how a family member fought against the Imperial Guard, or what he or she would do upon escaping. Kotemon wanted more than anything to have the chance to help those children achieve their hopes, but he didn't have to be Sakiko Ayamisa to know that it was all a pipe dream.

Just then, Reiyama opened a door to a concealed cell: the fabled and infamous Cell 24. The entire cellblock grew silent, and Kotemon began shrinking into a little ball within his martial arts suit. On every cellblock, there was room for twenty-four full-sized cells, but on every single one, only twenty-three existed. Cell 24 was the exception. It was a myth as infamous as the Legend of the Digimon Kaiser itself. No one knew who lived in there—perhaps a SaintGalgomon judging by the lack of Cell 24s on all the corridors? But it was obvious that the person or Digimon in there was forsaken by the gods—doomed to a fate worse than death. There were tales of torture rivaling those in the medieval ages and the secret cells in Iraq where Saddam Hussein kept his political enemies. This cell was only rumored to exist—everyone was terrified of it, but no one really believed it existed. But then again, the Kaiser's brother was supposed to be dead—his corpse swept out to sea five months before. If someone hadn't witnessed the murder or died at the sight of him, he or she'd found the boy's body washed up on a beach in Hong Kong, or had told the rare tale: had seen his friends take him to the Digital World to be buried. But despite his fear, Kotemon entered.

He could see that this cell was not so much different from the others, although there was a heavier feeling of despair in the damp air. Also, there was no electricity—just some candles and lanterns burning off to give off light and heat. A closer examination proved that some of the lanterns were filled with some kind of glowing white arrowheads—obviously from Renamon's Fox Leaf Arrowhead attack. He fearfully wondered how many times anyone (namely the boy) had to be beaten with the attack in order to collect that many arrowheads to produce that much light. There were the same shackles on a wall in the back, only new, shiny, black electronic instead of old, rusted, red iron. A family consisting of two women, a man, and a tiny baby, was sitting in front of a meager dinner of thin soup and stale bread—completely oblivious to their visitors because of the cloak of darkness. The baby was nursing from one of the women, and an extra place had been set on the stretch of stone floor that served as their table. Looking at the somber rations, Kotemon felt remorse for being allowed to have a bit more of a variety, including dry meat, partially molded cheese, and spoiling fruit and vegetables. His stomach nearly growled at the thought of the feast awaiting him back at his cell, but he really wasn't hungry for food. The only thing that could sate his appetite was the truth about this mysterious boy.

Reiyama practically threw the boy against the wall, slamming the electronic shackles shut tight on his wrists, and then locking the ones on his ankles, all in the crucifix position the Kaiser was notorious for using. The boy was now a few inches above the ground and completely helpless. And all the time Reiyama had chained him, the boy hadn't fought or struggled in any way. He calmly accepted his fate, as though he understood Death's ways, and kept them close to his heart. Perhaps that was why he spent all his time protecting the other slaves…

"Anything you want to say?" the Kaiser asked. The other boy remained silent. "Fine." He took his whip and began the lashes, all with the weighted mode. Each time, the boy looked to be in more and more pain—which he had to have been in—but something was providing him with hope. He continued taking hit after hit after hit, never flinching once.

And then finally, it stopped.

The Kaiser was clearly bored by now—the whole session of torture was merely a game for him—so he and Reiyama exited the cell. The cloak of darkness eventually wavered and dropped around the boy and Kotemon, revealing the boy to his family. Kotemon quickly hid in a dark corner so he wouldn't be spotted.

"Kouji!" cried one of the women, this one resembling him a lot. She ran over while the other woman tried to shield her baby's eyes from the cruel sight.

"The crucifix torture again?" she asked. The boy simply nodded his head, too tired to answer verbally. Had it not been for his warning to run, Kotemon would have thought he was mute.

The man came over, quickly forcing the shackles open, causing the boy to slump to the floor. As the boy sank to the stone, coughing up more blood, the man helped him stand, and they walked toward the women.

"Thanks, Dad," the boy whispered.

"Your hair tie," the first woman observed—obviously his mother.

"Got cut by the blade," he replied. "Mom, can I…"

"I had a bath ready for you," she informed. "I knew it would be hot out today, so I had it set early. I just didn't know that Kouichi would go so far in the beatings today." She cleared her throat to add more strength to it, but it was completely obvious that she couldn't stand the sight of her son in pain, or the thought of her other son inflicting the pain. "I saved some of the medicines and aloe I got from the other slaves when we got here. If you need to, go right ahead and use them."

"Don't worry," he assured. "I won't use too much." Painfully, he made his way to the area that housed the latrine, sink, and bath. Kotemon respected this aspect of the boy's right to privacy and decided to find out more about him and his family. This corner of the cell seemed to be more personal to the boy, holding some photographs of him and his friends. One photo featured a boy in goggles holding a soccer ball with a small pale boy in an orange hat; both boys were in an odd pose, utilizing the V-for-victory sign. There was another with an overweight boy teasing a girl with blonde hair while she threatened to hit him over the head with what appeared to be an aluminum baseball bat. The next was a real shocker: the same girl and the Kaiser kissing, while the destined ruler held up his hand to try and shove away the cameraman. It was amazing; the Kaiser was actually capable of love! But the next picture was even more surprising to see: the Kaiser, his girlfriend, and his brother—all three of them sitting on a bench. And they were happy, honestly and truly happy.

Can that person really exist within the Kaiser? Kotemon wondered. He then glanced over at the twin, who had changed back into his clothes and was drying his hair with a dirty gray towel. And can that happiness be inside him as well?

"Satomi, do you need any help with Kouri?" the boy checked.

"Thank you, Kouji," she answered. "But are you sure you can hold her?"

"I still have some strength in me," he assured. He carefully lifted the baby and cradled her gently in his arms. It was unthinkable; the same strong warrior who had been forced into harsh slave labor was still gentle enough to hold a tiny baby. For a moment, Kotemon could detect a glimmer of happiness in his face. The boy—Kouji, Kotemon corrected himself. His name is Kouji—seemed to be (for a moment, at least) the boy in the last photograph.

The family sat down to dinner, Kouji's mother praying for the strength to last through their enslavement, for Kouji's health, for thanks for their peasant's meal, and for the Kaiser's deliverance from evil. Their bread was too hard and stale to eat, so they dipped it into the soup, softening it. And during a lot of the time, Kouji gave the baby a taste of the softened bread and watery vegetable broth, ignoring his own need to eat. Kotemon wondered if all humans were this way, or if Kouji was the only one who put his own needs aside for someone else. Their dinner didn't take long to finish, and even some family members declared being full, so the bread and soup was saved for another time and another meal. Then they lay down on the cold stone floor and went to sleep. Kotemon left his hiding place and entered the shadows of another when Kouji came over to that corner to sleep. He shivered a couple of times, but he never once moved closer to his family for warmth. He seemed to be trying to keep them safe by staying away from them, like he was staying in one area so if the Kaiser decided he wanted to play again, no one else but he would get hurt. The black ring around his neck blinked a little bit, but eventually stopped as he fell asleep. Kotemon decided this was as good a time as any to get back to his cell, so he tried to escape. But the baby heard him leaving and began to cry. Kotemon tried everything he could to calm her down, but nothing worked, and he could hear footsteps approaching in the dark.

And the footsteps belonged to a boy with a blinking ring around his neck.

Despite how exhausted and beaten he'd been, Kouji was the one that had gotten up from his corner and picked up the baby. The blinking on his collar finally ended and he sat down next to his family, holding the baby.

"Shh," he soothed. "Kouri, it's all right. Somehow, we'll get Kouichi back. And if someone's out there, there's no reason to hide anymore. I've known you were here the whole time." Kotemon didn't emerge from his hiding spot in the shadows though. In his opinion, it was better to let Kouji think he was gone, so the tired boy could rest before having to face another day as his brother's slave.

The baby was still crying, and Kouji began reaching around in the darkness for something to calm her down with. Kotemon snuck behind Kouji and curiously reached one of his hands out to the baby. She giggled and grabbed his sleeve, alerting Kouji to his presence.

"So that's where you hid," Kouji realized, turning to see Kotemon. His eyes eventually adjusted to the darkness, and he saw who it was. "Hey, you're that Kotemon I helped before. What are you doing here?"

Kotemon didn't know why he was so flattered that Kouji had remembered him. "I, uh, just wanted to make sure you'd be okay."

"Thanks," he replied. "I appreciate it. By the way, I'm Kouji Minamoto."

"Yeah, I know that. You're the Kaiser's brother." He spat out "Kaiser" like a curse. Kouji nodded sadly and tried to get the baby to let go of Kotemon's sleeve.

"He needs that," he scolded.

"Who's this?" Kotemon questioned.

Kouji's disposition seemed to brighten a little. He wasn't overcome with enthusiasm as younger children would be, but he was noticeably less dejected. "She's my half-sister, Kouri Minamoto. You can blame the awful name on my dad and grandfather. They wanted another Kou child in the family. We share the same father, but my stepmother, Satomi, is her mother, while Tomoko is mine and Kouichi's."

"Oh," Kotemon answered, understanding. It was obvious that little Kouri was one of the reasons why Kouji was still alive after all these months. "Your sister's really little. How old is she?"

"Five or six months. She was born premature—in December. Satomi takes care of her most of the time, but it's basically my responsibility to see that Kouri smiles once in a while. No one can figure out why it's only me she smiles for."

"She loves you, that's why," Kotemon explained. "It's the same with your father, mother, and stepmother. Every time you have to go in for work detail, they know it could be the last time they see you alive. But they always act as though you will come back because if there's even one time that they don't, it's possible that you won't be." Kouji nodded, absorbing the information.

"Okay, Kouri," he decided. "It's time for you to get to sleep." He removed Kotemon's sleeve from her fist and began singing. It was the first song Kotemon had ever heard in his life, and it was in the last place anyone would expect to hear a song. But it was Kouji's own creation, and it was hopeful yet sad, full of regret, so it fit in perfectly with their surroundings.

Kouri was finally asleep, her small fist tightly holding her brother's finger. Kotemon now felt he'd overstayed his welcome and quietly slipped out of the cell, pushing on a certain place on the door that caused it to open. He considered calling them all to escape, but something felt wrong about the situation. Besides, he couldn't abandon his cellmates like that.

Luckily for him, everyone was asleep on that cellblock, and the Kaiser never bothered to place guards in the cellblocks to keep an eye on the slaves, so it was a rather uneventful run to Cell 22B, Cellblock 31, where he was able to surprise Sakiko and Koemon, who had stayed up the whole time, waiting for him.

"For a moment there, we were sure you'd escaped," Sakiko commented.

"No," Kotemon replied. "You know I wouldn't abandon you guys. You're my best friends. Besides, I had to track down the truth about Garmmon." Once he said that, he wished he hadn't.

"Oh, I forgot you were partnered with him today," Koemon remembered. "Sit down and eat while you tell us what you found out."

Kotemon removed his helmet and sat down to the bowl of food in front of him, but he didn't eat it. The image of Kouji's family was permanently impressed in his head. His baby-blue eyes brimmed with tears at the memory. If this bowl of half-rotted table scraps was a feast to Kotemon, he could just imagine what the watery soup and month-old bread were to the Kimura-Minamoto family.

"Well?" Sakiko demanded impatiently.

"Garmmon and Wolfmon are one and the same," he explained, still ignoring his food. Sakiko and Koemon stared at him in disbelief. "It's true. I stepped on a landmine and he slide evolved into Wolfmon so he could defuse it. He has a mine defuser that he keeps around his neck—I guess in case something happens like it did to me. There was some kind of black ring around his neck, and it alerted the Kaiser when he evolved."

"The Kaiser must control his evolution," Sakiko realized. "And when he goes against orders, the Kaiser always knows."

"You'd better eat up," Koemon advised.

"I'm not hungry, not after what I've seen," Kotemon replied. "I also saw where Wolfmon's cell is. It's the forbidden one—Cell 24." Both Koemon and Sakiko gasped in shock. Not even they could believe that the Kaiser would actually keep someone in there. "It's not as bad as legend says, but it's very depressing to be in. That's where the Kaiser keeps his family: his father, mother, stepmother, and sister." And brother,Kotemon added to himself. For some inexplicable reason, he felt as though he had to protect Kouji's identity. "He has this crucifix torture rack set up in there, and he beat Wolfmon in there, right in front of his family." Fortunately for Kotemon, neither Sakiko nor Koemon noticed his little slip-up there, but he made sure to be more careful with the remainder of his story. "The Kaiser made sure his family couldn't see what was going on by placing up a shield of darkness, blocking all sound and making them invisible." He would keep the rest to himself, Kotemon decided. There was no need to explain everything that he'd seen.

"You three," Reiyama alerted. For a brief second, Kotemon was afraid that the Kaiser's shadow had heard the whole thing, but then he realized that he or Koemon would have sensed Reiyama's presence. And also, they were whispering too low for anyone to hear.

"Yes?" Koemon asked innocently.

"Girl, you're working with Garmmon tomorrow," Reiyama informed, pointing to Sakiko. "The Kotemon will be with a Gazimon and the Koemon with a Shiisamon."

"Yes, sir," they answered, pretending to be submissive once more. When Reiyama was gone, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was a close one," Koemon realized.

"Yeah," Kotemon agreed.

"Come on, let's get to bed," Sakiko decided, pulling up a worn beige blanket over her slender frame. They all knew that somewhere on that base, the Kaiser was sleeping in silk sheets, and they all prayed to their various gods that the Resistance would win so they wouldn't have to get his leftovers anymore. Koemon snuggled in her course brown blanket made from a burlap sack, while Kotemon tried to make himself comfortable in a moth-eaten cotton blanket. It dawned on him that Kouji and his family had no blankets and relied on each other's body heat to keep warm, although Kouji shivered in that corner by himself. Kotemon promised himself that the next morning, he'd use his blanket to bundle up his rations from that night and slip them to Sakiko, so she could deliver them to the Kimura-Minamoto family. Knowing Sakiko, she would want to see that cell, anyway, he realized.

The words of Kouji's depressing song haunted Kotemon's mind. Finally, he called, "Hey, Sakiko."

"Hmm?" she mumbled.

"Do you sing?"

"Not really, sorry. Why do you ask?"

"No reason. Just thought it would be nice to have some music playing in this awful place once in a while."

And with those last words, he finally fell to sleep.

Mercenary: non-controlled member of the Imperial Guard

Soldier: controlled Imperial Guard member

I own neither Digimon nor any of the songs used in this. The line "Don't you know anything" was taken from Rugrats. This story is very much inspired by "Doppelgangland," by Ken's luver, who helped me work on this while I helped her with "Doppel." Naturally, there's a lot of inspiration going both ways.