Given some of the reviews, this chapter has been rewritten quite significantly. I swear I'm worse than Hikari and Takeru combined when it comes to my insane need to please everybody. ^.~

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Anyway, Digimon belongs to Toei and Akiyoshi Hongo. If it belonged to me, I'd have had Midorikawa Hikaru doing Adventure's Angemon and not only Frontier's. Of course, I'd also have proceeded to snicker every time Hikari talked to Angemon, just like I do with Frontier Patamon. I swear, Fushigi Yuugi exerts a bad influence on me, as you will see in this chapter. ^.^;

And can I plug my site of much Takari-ness? http: // www. kbruce.rcthost.net /reflections. (Take out the spaces.) Go. Be scarred for life by the picture of Betsumon. Be bitter about how little information I can find about either of Takeru's seiyuu. Be disgusted by pictures of Patamon being spat out by Garurumon. Fun for the whole family. ^.~

The final part should be out in a week or two, I hope.

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A Storm Over Blossoms

Chapter 21

Blue Wings

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Tears of pain and fear and anger streaming down her cheeks, Hikari crawled away from Dagomon. After everything they had faced and defeated - after Piedmon and Apocalymon and BelialVandemon and Cherubimon - she couldn't believe that this was how it was all going to end, that there was going to be no last-minute miracle for them. Takeru was dying, and she . . . she . . .

"NO!" she screamed, as one of Dagomon's tentacles wrapped around her right calf. Snatching up a shard of broken pottery from the floor, she drove it deep into his flesh. Dark blood bubbled up from the wound and Dagomon hissed in pain, but he did not release his grip on her.

"I have you now, my queen."

Another tentacle curled around her ankle and she kicked feebly at it with her foot, too weak and tired to put up more of a fight. It had no more effect than her makeshift dagger on Dagomon. Slowly, relentlessly, he dragged her across the slippery floor to him.

"A new world begins here, my queen."

A tentacle caressed her face, and she slapped it away from her.

"I won't . . . I'll . . . I . . . I'll defeat you." 

"And how will you do that?" Dagomon sounded amused.

"Kaijin . . . ."

Almost of its own accord the word rose to Hikari's lips. She did not know where it came from or even what it meant, but it seemed to her as if it had been waiting to be spoken ever since she had arrived in Dagomon's underwater kingdom. The dark god hissed, the coils of his tentacles tightening painfully around her leg, bruising her skin. Hikari was surprised to see he looked afraid, as much as his obscene, squid-like face could be said to have an expression.

"KAIJIN!" she shouted again in triumph, and the light rushed to fill her.

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Lying on the floor and choking on his own blood, Takeru realised that he was dying.

He had always thought death would hurt, but, despite his broken bones and internal injuries, he felt no pain. Instead, he felt strangely distant from his body, as if he were drifting somewhere above it and looking down at the bloody wreck that it had become. The blood rising in his throat, his lungs desperately gasping after air, his heartbeat slowing, they had nothing to do with him. The body lying on the floor belonged to a stranger, and he was light and free for the first time in his life.

Hikari's scream brought him back to himself with a shock, making him cry out in agony. He could feel every broken bone, every cut, every injury, but none of them mattered as much as what was happening to Hikari. She was trying to get away from one of Dagomon's tentacles, crawling and scrabbling across the slippery floor. Tears streamed down her cheeks, pink where they mingled with the blood from her cuts.

"Hikari . . . wait . . . I'll . . . ."

He tried to pull himself to his knees, but it was more than his broken body could manage and he collapsed back onto the floor.

"NO!" she screamed.

He closed his eyes, tears seeping out from beneath his eyelids, blood rising in his throat. After Yamato had saved him from Seadramon, he had promised himself that he would never be helpless again, that he would not be the little boy that everyone had to protect. After six years and a thousand promises, it seemed that he was still no different from the child weeping over feathers in dust. Hikari was going to be raped, and all he could do was cry about it.

"A new world begins here, my queen," Dagomon hissed.

"I won't . . . I'll . . . I . . . I'll defeat you." 

Despite the pain of knowing her courage was futile, he felt pride surge within him at that. No matter what had happened to her, Hikari was still the bravest and strongest person he knew. Her brother's sister, she put him to shame.

"And how will you do that?"

"KAIJIN!" the shout was triumphant, ringing off the walls of the bed-chamber.

As the light rushed into Takeru, he screamed in pain. Healing that should have taken months was accomplished in a matter of seconds – bones reknit, wounds resealed, muscles and ligaments repaired themselves  - and it hurt more than he thought possible.

When it was all over, however, he found that he was in better shape than he had been for a long time. He had been pushing himself too hard, afraid to let himself rest for the thoughts and memories that would rise out of the dark emptiness inside him, and he had paid the price for it. However, the light had healed him completely, restoring him in body and mind. He breathed deeply and even the tainted air of Y'ha-nthlei felt good in his lungs.

Slowly, he got to his feet and turned to check on Hikari. His eyes widened when he saw her. She was floating in the air, haloed by a blue and shimmering radiance. Her face was unnaturally serene and her eyes were empty pools of light. He did not know what she had called out to moments earlier, but it had possessed her.

"Spawn of the sea, you dare challenge me?" the voice that came from Hikari's lips was not her own. It was the most terrible voice that Takeru had ever heard, rich and deep and utterly without pity. A shiver ran down his spine.

Something that could have been terror passed across Dagomon's squid-like features, "Seiryuu . . . ."

"I am displeased that you sought to use my chosen child for your vile purposes," Hikari\Seiryuu continued in that same terrible voice, "Yet, I will triumph over you through her. All your careful schemes shall come to nothing, and you soon shall be no more than a name whispered by the sea-breezes as they blow to shore."

Dagomon snarled defiantly, "You would challenge me in my own kingdom? You truly believe you can defeat me and all my followers, Seiryuu?"  

"Yes, I do. All the oceans and all the seas have been my dominion since the dawn of time, and your followers are poor, weak, degraded creatures that crawl on their bellies on the ocean-floor." (1)

"Demon, to me!" he roared in fury, "Help me defeat him!"

Takeru watched in horror as a purple shadow spread across the floor and Demon slipped out of it, a sinister, horned figure in blood-red robes that left only the blue sparks of his eyes visible. He had almost forgotten that they had used Ken's black Digivice to banish Demon to the Dark Ocean.

His stomach turned at the memory. They had not been able to defeat him two years ago, even with all their forces combined. How could Hikari, or Seiryuu, or whatever else might have taken possession of her hope to defeat him alone?

"You are more of a fool than I thought, Dagomon, if you believe this insect can do more than annoy me," Hikari\Seiryuu's voice was even more terrible in its amusement. She\he raised a small, white hand and a ball of blue energy sped towards Demon.

The dark Digimon made no move to get out of its way, but sketched an arcane symbol in front of him with a finger. It glowed in the air for a second, then a silvery barrier sprang up between the two of them. Rebounding off it, the chi hurtled back towards Hikari\Seiryuu. She\he caught it with ease and closed her\his fingers around it to extinguish it.

"Even if you are not the insect I imagined, I shall still crush you."

"If you are not crushed yourself . . . ."

With shocking speed, Dagomon's tentacles snapped out to coil around the shining girl's waist. A contemptuous look on her\his face, Hikari\Seiryuu began to glow even brighter until the white walls of the room shone with reflected glory and Takeru had to shelter his eyes against her\him. The dark god screamed in pain and Takeru could see cracks spread and blisters rise on his skin, but he did not loosen his hold on him\her.

"Demon, finish him," he hissed, "I cannot hold him forever."

Obediently, Demon lifted his hand and started tracing another complicated symbol in the air. As he did so, he muttered a cantrip in an ugly and obscene-sounding language. Takeru did not know what it would do to Hikari and the god that possessed her, but he knew he couldn't allow him to finish it, no matter what happened to him.

Snatching up a long shard of pottery from the ground, he hurled himself at Demon and drove it deeply into his back. The two of them fell to the floor in a tangle of robes and arms and legs. With a snarl of anger and rage, Dagomon pinned the smaller and lighter boy beneath him and reached around to withdraw the shard from his back. It was slick with black blood and Takeru realised in horror that it was eating into the pottery as if it were an acid.         A drop fell on his arm and he gasped at its sting.

"I know you," Demon said in a low, dangerous voice, "You were one of the children who banished me to this place. It seems like I will get my vengeance for that today."

Takeru tried to wriggle free, but the Digimon was surprisingly heavy and he could not move his legs. Sitting on top of him, Demon raised up the shard of pottery to stab the boy . . . only to have it blasted to dust by a bolt of blue energy. Hikari\Seiryuu had chosen that moment to break free of Dagomon's grasp - two of his tentacles lay wriggling on the ground, while he roared in agony and clutched at their stumps. She hovered above them both, her face impassive.

"The Child of the Starlight is mine and you shall release him."

"After I've killed him," Demon clenched his injured hand into a fist, acidic blood dripping freely down his robes and eating away at them. Through the holes created by it, his maggot-pale skin was visible. It had a faint silver-blue shimmer to it, as if he were not quite a creature of flesh, blood or even data.

"Child of Starlight, do not be afraid," Hikari\Seiryuu said, "My wings are always over you."

As she\he shut her\his eyes, the blue shimmer around her\him solidified into the coils of a dragon. It was the most beautiful and profoundly frightening creature that Takeru had ever seen. Its scales glowed like sea-polished sapphires; its mane was the white of sea-foam; while its eyes were as dark and deep as the ocean.

Roaring, Seiryuu flew at Demon and snatched him up in its talons. It dropped him onto the floor, before blue-white fire erupted from its throat to engulf the dark Digimon. Writhing in agony, clawing at his burning robes, he was helpless before his assault. His dying screams echoed through the chamber, as he winked out of existence. The blue dragon disappeared with him. Turning his head to one side, Takeru was violently sick.

"You've dealt with my Demon, but I remain," Dagomon hissed. Wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, Takeru slowly lifted his head to see the dark god glaring defiance at Hikari\Seiryuu. Blood streamed freely from the two stumps where his tentacles had been severed, while the others waved wildly about him.

"A broken god worshipped by a degenerate people," she\he replied, "It would be a kindness to kill you now."

Infuriated beyond thought, Dagomon threw himself at Hikari\Seiryuu, but she drifted  lightly to one side and he crashed headfirst into the wall. He lay dazed for moment, then rolled onto his side and cupped his palms in front of him.  He whispered a few words in a fluid tongue, and a flood of black energy rushed out from them to hide him\her from view. For an awful moment, Takeru thought that she\he had been destroyed, but then saw blue glimmering through the darkness.

In something like panic, Dagomon threw wave after wave of energy at the god, but all of them washed over her\him as if they had been no more than water. He panted in exhaustion, as Hikari\Seiryuu shone cool and serene above him.

"I am done playing with you."

 "Mercy . . . Lord Seiryuu . . . I beg your mercy," Dagomon sounded terrified as he backed away from the shining girl. For a moment, Takeru almost pitied him, but then remembered how he must have turned a deaf ear to Hikari's own pleas.

"I am no Suzaku to be merciful or compassionate," she\he replied, "I am god of war – my wingbeats are wardrums, my flame is the burning of conquered cities, my talons are sword and spear and arrow - and all who oppose me shall be destroyed. Your reign is over, Dagomon."

She\he raised her\his small, white hands in front of her and blue energy began to gather between them. It was a faint glow at first, but grew brighter and brighter until he could no longer stand to look at its lightning-brilliance. It shot out at Dagomon, but Takeru could not see what happened to him. The light was simply too bright for that. However, his scream seemed to continue forever.

When it faded away at last, Dagomon had vanished and a strange, sad music rose from the walls around them. Takeru realised that the city was somehow singing a dirge for its master.

"Child of the Starlight, you have done well," Hikari\Seiryuu turned to Takeru, and fear replaced nausea inside him, "Now, get her home."

The blue glow faded around Hikari, and she fell to the floor. . . .

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TO BE CONCLUDED! AT LAST!

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Notes:

1) Seiryuu is the god of the sea among other things.