Chapter Two
The willowy, dark-haired girl smiled as she gently closed the locker from which she had just retrieved her books and turned and walked down the hallway towards the school library, all the while feeling the eyes of every single male student that she passed turn longingly in the direction of her skirt. Rio broke no less than a hundred hearts every time that she made that walk, and she could not help but allow herself a secret smile.
Very rarely in her short life had Rio ever had the chance to be admired by those of the opposite sex without at the same time having to worry that one of them might attack her for what she would not give freely. After the death of her parents the girl had grown up around a very rough crowd, with only her brother to watch her back. With Roan beside her, of course, she was rarely actually troubled... and if someone did try to take advantage of her, it never happened twice. Yet what Roan had demanded from her in return... the girl cringed at the thought.
Rio felt an icy tremor go down her spine, and shook her head to clear that horrid thought from it. That was all a distant memory. Now she was safe, hidden away in the blessed anonymity of a public school a long way from where Roan would ever think to look for her. Of course, she acknowledged sadly, it also meant that she was the same distance away from Matt.
Matt. The girl felt an tremendous and abiding warmth arise in her chest at the thought, and she abruptly stopped in the middle of her walk and leaned against a nearby wall. Closing her eyes, she could once again see the tall, lanky, blond-haired boy clearly in her mind. It had been little more than a year since she had left him, convincing herself that it was the only way that she could keep him safe from her brother. And with each of the days that had passed since then, she felt a little less alive.
She stopped, then quickly gathered herself and completed her march to the library and sat down. She had to stop thinking about him... at least until she was away from the school and back at the apartment that she called 'home'. If she didn't stop now then she'd break down again, and that would lead to another trip to the counselor's office and many more questions that she could not answer. For here at this school her name was not 'Rio' and her parents were not dead. Thanks to some nifty forgery by one of her more decent associates from her criminal days, she was now simply a transfer student from a small school upcountry.
"You look like you could use a friend."
The girl looked up in alarm, not expecting to find anyone around. Just a moment ago she had been all alone at the table which she had chosen in the library, and most boys in this school simply didn't have the nerve to strike up a conversation with her.
"Ah... well, no. Actually I was just going to... to..." the girl trailed off as she looked up at the one who had just spoken to her.
Rio had never seen the boy before, she was certain of that. If she had, she would have remembered, for her memory was almost photographic, and there was no way that she could forget a face like his. It was almost... beautiful. She couldn't think of another word to describe it. He appeared to be her own age, with a kind smile on his lips and in his eyes as well.
His eyes...
The girl stared closely. They were golden. Not hazel... golden. His hair was a dirty blond, and a long braid trailed down the side of his face, just forward of his ear. And he was tall... and very well-built.
"Are you finished?"
Rio flushed a bright red, and turned her eyes away from the boy. She had not realized that she was staring, but it seemed impossible for her not to do so. She did not know him, she was certain of that. But somehow... she was almost as sure that she recognized him from somewhere. As if he were an old, old friend that she had not seen in many years...
But that was silly. "No... I mean, yes. I mean, I'm sorry that I was staring at you like that. You just surprised me, that's all."
"That'd be normal," the boy replied, pulling up a chair and sitting down at the table beside her. He looked at her intently and for a moment, Rio felt as if the other were staring straight through her flesh and bones to the spirit that lived within. "But you still look as though you could use a friend. Want to talk about it?"
Rio started to refuse, to tell the boy to go away as she had so many others who had tried to worm their way into a conversation with her. But oddly enough, as she stared at him, she could not think of anything to say except... "Yes."
The look on the other's face was kind, and exceedingly gentle. Matt's little brother. T.K. It was the only point of reference that she had for such a look. Yet it was more... so much more than even the smallest of the children had shown her. "You're lonely," the golden boy said, more of a statement than a question.
From any of the boys in the school it would have sounded suspiciously like a pick-up line, but the other's voice was just too... honest... to imagine any such thing. "Yes," she whispered, the sound of the boy's voice soothing away any resistance to his words.
"And sad."
Hearing those words from anyone else, Rio would have denied it. She had even denied it to herself on several occasions... mainly for the fact that if she acknowledged her sadness, she would be forced to do something to rectify it. No. No, she could not be sad. She was safe, Matt was safe, and Roan was far, far away. She had to be content with that.
Rio didn't answer. For some reason she could not lie to the strange boy, but she would not, could not acknowledge that truth.
The girl shook her head as she fumbled for one of the schoolbooks in front of her and opened it to a random page. "Excuse me," she replied, making as if she had serious work that had to be finished. "I have to get some reading done..."
The boy smiled, and moved away from the desk as he went to stand behind her, nodding as he glanced at the page which she had turned to. "A very wise man, indeed," he murmured, indicating an old photograph in the book.
History. Rio's eyes fell on the picture as well, and then she read the caption below.
All that is required for evil to triumph is that good men stand by and do nothing.
"That goes for young ladies as well, you know" he whispered, his breath warm on the back of her neck.
Rio whirled around and stared at the boy, a look of confusion and astonishment in her dark eyes. "Who are you?" she demanded loudly.
A dozen pairs of eyes turned on her, the owners of most of them frowning at having their work interrupted. From the desk at the front of the room the librarian placed a single finger to her lips, her deadly gaze promising dire consequences if the girl could not keep herself quiet.
Rio looked somewhat abashed. Then again, only more quietly now, she hissed at the tall boy, "Who are you?"
The other returned a smile, his golden eyes boring into her. "Like I said, you look like you could use a friend. If you'll let me, I want to be that friend. And I don't like to see my friends sad."
"That's not an answer," Rio chastised in response.
The tall child smiled gently, easing away the girl's exasperation. "He's still waiting for you, you know. He keeps your letter with him everywhere he goes, and reads it every night before he sleeps. The memories of the time that you two shared haunts his dreams as they do yours. It's not really fair of you to deny him -- and yourself too -- what the two of you had together."
Rio blinked, the words striking mercilessly at her soul. "He... he wouldn't be safe," she stammered, her thoughts in a jumble.
"Any less safe than he is now? You know what your brother is capable of. Do you honestly think that if Roan wants to hurt Matt, your absence would make him delay one single instant? If anything, I'd think that they'd all be safer with you around, since you know him as well as you do."
Rio looked stunned. Who was this stranger who had appeared out of nowhere, to whom she could not lie, and who seemed to know everything about the situation she was in?
The boy peered closely at her. "People are given too few chances in life to be truly happy, and should never forego a single one of them. If your brother is to be stopped, Matt and his friends will need you. Even now he has crafted a new plan, one of such malevolence that an untold number of others will suffer because of it. Indeed, there are a few whose suffering has already begun. You are avoiding your responsibility, Rio, and denying yourself joy in the process."
"I... I can't fight Roan." The girl's voice was quiet, but at the same time inundated with fear. "He terrifies me... more than anything else in the world. He is my brother, but at the same time is like a nightmare come to life. You don't understand what it's like. I can't... I just can't go back."
The other looked sad. "Even while you know the suffering that will occur if you do not?"
All of a sudden Rio felt very frightened, and very alone. Things were happening too fast for her. The mysterious stranger with his astute words and kind voice made undeniable sense, but there was still Roan. The dark-haired girl had seen much in her life to be afraid of, but nothing had ever compared to him. She alone had seen what he was truly capable of. At times, she had even experienced it.
But then... there was Matt. In his arms the girl had known no fear. Even the night when Roan had come to her in her dreams, to once again force upon her what no brother should ever force upon a sister, she had awoken in his arms. In Matt's embrace she could once again be strong, she was certain of it. And the strange boy was right. If Roan, with all of his cold-blooded shrewdness had come up with a new plot to inflict misery upon others, she alone had the best chance to stop him. The girl grimaced. "What should I do?"
The other smiled kindly, and a tender warmth flowed through the girl's body at the look. "When you return, you will know what to do. But first you must go in search of another, one who is also forestalling his responsibilities. For your brother is not alone in his new venture. Return to where you first declared your love for the boy, and seek out the spirit of the one who knows your brother's cohort as well as you know him."
*****
Roan ran a single finger slowly down the massive crystal automaton before him, smiling at the diamond-hard feeling of the shell. It was inert, unresponsive now, simply a finely crafted piece of rock in the form of a massive biped. But his new partner had assured him that, given the proper conditions, it could be made to live. The boy's hand went to his vest pocket, and there he caressed the three crystal shards that were all that remained of his crest of hatred. With those, he could bring this creature and its brethren to life.
One of the slivers of the crystal was now larger than the others. The boy, the dark-haired child held in the caverns beneath this temple, had been afraid for a moment... just for a bit when he had identified himself. And that fear had caused one of the gems to briefly shimmer and become a bit larger than the others. The boy's life force was suffused with courage, and if he could be made to deny that virtue, then bit by bit the crystal could be used to steal his soul.
The girl was the same, but her spirit was maintained by love. Roan smirked, having little real doubt that he could cause her to feel hatred in the presence of the second shard. Indeed, making her hate him promised to be one of the more entertaining parts of his whole plan.
And the third, the youngest child. Knowledge. Roan frowned. In order to make the third crystal grow, the child would have to become like a mindless brute... as his old companion Ian had been. To get such a polite, seemingly docile child to commit an act of sadistic brutality in his presence...
But first things first. The other boy, their leader. He had to be made to feel fear. And not just the ordinary, mundane fear that most common people lived with every day of their lives. No. In order for the crystal to mature into what Roan needed, the boy called 'Davis' needed to know a fear almost beyond human comprehension... and for that, the older teen would require the assistance of his new partner.
The teen looked out upon the village of humans of which he was now the nominal ruler, watching as the drab, almost lifeless souls went about the business of their master. Roan peered up at the massive stone monument to his new partner that towered above the little thatched huts which housed the human population of this world... those few humans who had supported the undead creature when he had initially attempted to take over the 'real' world. Ostentatious, to say the least. The colossal stone statue of the vampire had to be no less than thirty feet tall.
"Myotismon," the teen murmured, bringing a hand to his salt-and-pepper goatee and stroking it quietly. Then he turned around and allowed his dark eyes to slowly scan the room. After a moment of no response, he tried again, now more insistently. "Myotismon!"
A moment after this second call a shadowy haze started to form about the floor of the room, a haze which drifted steadily into the center of the room and slowly coagulated into the form of his monstrous cohort. In this world, which Roan now understood was the other's homeland, he was much more corporal than his shadowy presence in the other world had been. Yet, strangely enough, while he and the human slaves could easily see him, the children held beneath his residence apparently could not.
"Yes? What is it?" the other demanded in irritation. At the onset of their coming together, the dark fiend had agreed to come the very instant that Roan called him, yet the mortal always seemed to call at the most inappropriate times. Just now he had been accepting the noisy, if reluctant praise of those humans who had been banished here along with him. They had no choice, really. Were it not for him, after so many years here they simply would have faded away.
Myotismon smiled. This world was, in many way, better than either the digital world or the world which had had sought to conquer. This was where all lost souls, those who would not be accepted by any other of the afterworlds would end up. The humans who had willingly surrendered their humanity, those Digimon who had died away from the digital world and thus lost their chance to be reborn, and a thousand, thousand other creatures who no longer had a home.
To the evil fiend's delight, the concept of 'good' was evidently a fallacy here... righteousness did not exist, at least not for very long. And thus his dominion over those mortal humans. Without him, they would cease to exist. Not die, for they were, in a sense, already dead. So what they avoided by serving him now was, in essence, death for the dead.
"It's time," Roan said with a nod, indicating the massive crystal beast opposite the pair of them. "Are the others ready yet?"
"My people will have the other husks ready when the time comes. All that they await is for you and the children to provide them with life. With which will you begin?" Myosismon was almost galled at having to treat this human as an equal, when for years he had treated all of that race as little less than slaves, or whores... or even food if the situation demanded it.
"Have your people returned with the third child yet?" the teen queried.
"Just now, but still he sleeps. You would begin with him?"
Roan's brow furrowed as he shook his head. "Begin with the strongest, their leader. Break him first, and the others will be a mere formality." He paused, and studied the other closely. "Now, you can bring to him the horror that you promised, yes?"
The other grimaced, as if galled at having been asked such a question. "Of course. Humans are such a pathetic, flimsy race... present company excepted, of course."
Roan smirked. "Of course."
The two stared at each other for a moment, each striving for dominance. Between those two enormous superegos there was only room for one leader, and a true partnership was beginning to seem further and further away from a possibility... yet both also recognized the need for one, at least temporarily. But trust... that would never exist between them.
"Then let us go," Roan said with a bow, extending his hand towards the door.
Myotismon scowled briefly at the other, then dissolved into a gaseous form and vanished into thin air.
*****
Matt sighed in heavenly contentment as his strong arms embraced the girl opposite him, his senses almost overwhelmed with joy as buried his face into her shoulder and inhaled the delicious scent of her hair. He had suppressed the more tender side of his soul for over a year now, and as he held Rio all of that pent-up love threatened to come pouring out in one massive gush of passion. She felt the same way, he was certain, as he could feel her body trembling against his in fervent adoration.
T.K. stood quietly off to the side, not wanting to intrude in the private moment between the pair. He had a welcome to give to the older girl as well, but it could wait until Matt had completed his. Well, perhaps 'completed' was too hard a word. This was a welcome, an expression of love that might possibly never be truly completed, but would exist and grow over the span of many years. The boy wasn't certain how he knew that fact, he just that he knew it to be true.
And now Kari and Gatomon were welcoming Wizardmon. The little feline Digimon had initially attempted to embrace her former companion, only to have her heart broken again at finding out that the other was still quite incorporeal. Tears of joy were in her eyes at seeing the other again, and the promise that he was not there simply to deliver a cryptic message to her and then disappear as he had before. "I don't understand, Wizardmon. Last time it seemed like you couldn't come back. How did this happen?"
The ragged, incorporeal creature leaned on his staff, and then turned to Rio. "I'm... I'm not entirely certain, Gatomon. But I think that she had something to do with it. There's something about her..."
The two children and their partners also turned to look at the girl with hair like the raven's wing, who was able to tear herself away from Matt to return the look and nod. "There was a strange boy who came to me, who explained that Wizardmon was like me. That we were souls who were once bound in darkness, but who had willingly embraced the light. I was told that, for myself, I would no longer be the warden of indifference, as I had been when first we all met. Now, he said, I could be looked upon as a servant of redemption."
A feeling of solemnity hung in the air at her words, and everyone remained silent for a few moments. It was Kari who finally spoke, but only after a long while. "So you're one of us now?"
Rio opened her mouth as if to respond, but said nothing for a bit. Then, "I... I'm not sure. I don't think so, at least not entirely."
"What about Davis, Yolei and Cody?" the girl pressed, and T.K. felt a bit ashamed of himself for a moment. Amidst the exhilaration that he had felt for his brother and Rio, he had momentarily forgotten about his lost friends.
Rio nodded to Wizardmon, and the ghostly figure started to explain. "They have been taken by my old master, and hers. For what purpose, I don't really know. But now they are being held prisoner in the Void... or, if you prefer, in Limbo."
Patamon fluttered up and landed on T.K.'s shoulder. "That doesn't sound so bad." The little creature seemed, oddly enough, a little bit upset at the reappearance of the ghostly figure, and T.K. began to get a suspicious feeling in his stomach whenever he looked at his little partner. But, certainly not...
Wizardmon's face fell. "It's worse than you can possibly imagine. That is where I was sent after what happened to me all those years ago, after I found out that my essence could not make its way back to the Primary Village in the digital world. I had counted on that happening, but I just could not return. Limbo is like a horrid nightmare. It is the worst of all places wrapped up into one barren wasteland of misery."
Kari made her way back to T.K.'s side, and her hand crept nervously into his grasp. The blond boy gave a tight squeeze of reassurance, then looked to Matt. "We have to go after them."
The older boy frowned, and he looked down at Wizardmon. "Can you get us there?"
The other affixed the boy with a stern glare. "You don't want to go there. Believe me when I say that I can sympathize with what you feel for your friends, but you would be better served to forget them. More than likely they are already dead, having been in that world for so long, and if they are not then I imagine that they are wishing that they were. Rio and I had been intending to wait here until Roan and... and He opened the gate to return to this world, and to stop whatever plot they have come up with from here."
The room fell silent for a moment before T.K. spoke. "No. No, we have to go. If there's even a chance that they are still alive then we have to go after them. It's not a matter of wanting to go or not. We can't abandon our friends. I suppose that we've been on enough adventures to be prepared for most anything that can happen."
"No, you can't," Wizardmon snapped back. "Don't you understand what I'm trying to tell you about that place? The concept of 'good' does not exist there. Evil reigns supreme." He looked at Gatomon and Patamon, standing very close to their human partners. "The two of you will be powerless there. There is nothing that you can do."
Matt frowned. "T.K.--"
"Matt, I'm going. I don't believe that there is any place that can be entirely devoid of good... but even if it is and there's a chance that the others are still alive then that's a chance that I'll have to take." He turned back to Wizardmon. "Can you take us there?"
The other gave a ghostly sigh. "Of course. It's sinfully easy to go there... of course, leaving is another matter entirely."
Kari embraced the boy tightly, the warmth of her touch sending delightful shivers down his spine. "If you're going, I am too."
"But--"
Kari had expected a protest and quickly moved to cut it off, standing on her toes and pressing her lips tightly against his. The girl maintained her bond with the boy for a few moments longer than could be construed as a harmless gesture of affection before Matt placed a fist to his mouth and gave a forced cough. At hearing the older boy, Kari released his brother and looked up at him. "You were saying?"
T.K. blinked in astonishment, then smiled mischievously. "Well, I was going to say that I wouldn't dream of going without you. But if you're going to interrupt me like that again, I suppose that I could put up a fight for a little while."
Kari lowered her eyes, her cheeks turning a bright pink. "But I thought... it sounded like..."
Gatomon smiled up at Kari, her tail swishing from side to side in amusement. "I think he got you. You always jump to conclusions too fast, anyway." She paused, giving the girl a sly wink. "And if you're going, I'm going too."
The girl caught the prompt. "But..." she said slowly, and the word trailed off into silence.
Kari and Gatomon were still staring at one another for a couple of moments before both pairs of eyes turned to T.K. The little feline Digimon flicked the boy sharply on the rump with her tail. "That's your cue, stupid."
"Huh? Oh..." the boy responded as he leaned over and returned the girl's kiss, a confused look in his cerulean eyes. Even after years of playing romantic games of a sort with Kari, the innocent boy still evidently didn't understand all of the rules quite yet.
Rio studied the two closely, a playful look on her face at the easy display of public affection. Despite the fact that she had been separated from the group for over a year, she still was able to pick up on the powerful feeling of family among these people. And for the first time, she was actually beginning to feel a part of it. "Should the rest of us shut off the lights on the way out so the two of you can make love in private?" she teased.
T.K. broke his bond with Kari with a cough as he turned to the older girl, blushing furiously and with a stunned look in his eyes. "We... I mean, I--"
"Well then, if you're going, I'm going," Patamon interrupted with a fervent squeak at Gatomon, peering down at the little cat. Everyone paused for a moment before the small creature's eyes began to flit about the room to catch a glimpse of the reactions of the others. After a little while the winged Digimon started to pout. "Well? Isn't anybody going to kiss me?"
Rio smiled as she stepped away from Matt and planted a kiss squarely on the Digimon's furry forehead. "I think that we're all going," she said, looking at the rest of the group. Everyone looked about the room at all the others, the love of family encircling them all and enfolding them into its embrace. Matt nodded with a fierce look in his eyes. "Damn right."
Wizardmon frowned. "You're all crazy, you know that, right?" No one answered, and the ragged little creature gave a quiet sigh of surrender and held his staff directly out in front of him, his eyes closing tightly. After a moment or so the tip of the rod started to glow, and in the air before them he drew a large circle. "Just remember, I warned you against this."
And then the other six felt suddenly impossibly smaller and were drawn inexorably towards the circular void in the center of the room. "Close your eyes!" Wizardmon shouted above the roar filling the ears of each and every one of the others, who obeyed just in time to avoid the blinding flash of light that exploded in the room.
And moments later the room in which they had all met was empty, with only the slight smell of sulfur remaining behind as evidence that they had ever been there.
*****
A pair of burly men, their lifeless eyes sunken into their faces and their skin a pallid, grayish color dragged the limp form of Cody to a single cell opposite that of Davis and Yolei. Almost seeming mechanized in their motions, the two roughly threw the boy though the grated door and slammed it violently shut behind him.
The little dark-haired boy gave a quiet groan at the rough treatment, kneeling on the floor and gripping his ribs tightly with one arm. A horrid, gummy taste was in his mouth, and the odor of the surrounding area was foul... smelling strongly of sulfur. Feeling easily as horrid as he ever had, the little boy blinked open his green eyes. "Ow!" he cried, moving a hand up to his forehead.
"Cody?" a voice came from the opposite side of the room. "Cody!" Davis insisted, more loudly now, and the older boy's voice pounded through the younger one's skull. "Close your eyes. It'll go away in a little while."
Cody complied, and as he shut out the dim light in the room the pain diminished substantially. "Davis?" he queried, his voice thick and even more coarse than normal. "Where are we? Are the others here?"
"I'm here too, Cody," Yolei's penetrating voice rang out, and Cody winced.
"Shh! Not so loud," Davis hissed at the girl. "Remember?"
"Oh... right. Sorry, Cody," she murmured.
The boy licked his lips. "Where are we? Are T.K. and Kari here?"
"No, they aren't," Davis answered, keeping his voice intentionally low to avoid causing the other pain. "And we haven't been able to find out where we are. There's some big jerk that comes down here once in a while and talks to himself and leaves, but we still don't know what's going on."
"Indeed..." a dark, powerful voice echoed from the shadows at the far end of the room, and as if summoned by Davis' words, Roan stepped forward into the dim light of the room.
"Speak of the devil himself," the brown-haired boy muttered angrily, casting a vicious glare in the other's direction. Unlike before, he now had his facilities entirely about him, and was prepared to take on the larger teen one-on-one if he could just through the iron bars to confront him.
Roan paced over to the other's cell as Davis stood just behind the bars, the insolent look in his eyes daring the other to try to kick him again. The older teen pushed a hand through his white hair and smirked at the boy. "Impudent child," he hissed darkly.
"Why don't you let me out of here and I'll show you just how impudent I can really be?" Davis dared with a scowl, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the cold metal bars of his cell tightly.
"Davis..." Yolei whispered from the cell next to the boy's, surprise and a touch of grudging admiration evident in her voice at the other's name. It was a completely unexpected feeling that overtook her at hearing his words, and it confused the girl. There was something about the emotion building in her chest... it was somewhat familiar, and yet at the same time not.
"Hmm. In a moment," the dark teen returned to his captive, turning his back on the boy and pacing quietly over to Cody's cage. "Finally, the last has arrived. How was your trip, boy? Unpleasant, I trust?"
"Don't answer him, Cody!" Davis called out. "And stay away from the bars. This tough guy thinks it's funny to hit people who can't fight back!"
Roan whirled angrily on the other. "I'll deal with you in a moment, little boy. First, though, I think that I have someone here that your little friend would like to meet." And then the tall, athletic teen snapped his fingers into the dark, and the three could hear a light scuffling of feet as another figure approached.
Despite the pain, Cody forced himself to open his eyes at the words, to see just who the other had brought to torment him. The boy was, to say the least, a bit surprised.
It was the tiny blond girl who he had been helping to find her 'cat' in the little forested area, but here she looked quite different. Her hair no longer had the shimmering, golden quality to it that he had been attracted to, and like her eyes appeared to be a dull gray color. At seeing the pained look in the little boy's eyes she bowed her head and went to stand in front of Roan, who placed a hand on each of her shoulders. Then, a smirk on his lips at the injured look in Cody's eyes, he placed a hand on each side of her bowed head and forced it upwards to look at the other. "Take a good look at her, boy. This is what happens when you trust people."
Those malevolent words hung in the air for a moment as Cody and the girl continued to stare at one another, the boy with a look in his eyes that could only be described as hurt, as if someone had struck him savagely in the stomach. The girl, for her part, returned a look that begged for forgiveness... but also reflected the fact that she expected anything but.
"Now begone, brat," Roan commanded, throwing the little girl savagely to the side and wheeling away from Cody's cell and returning to Davis'. Another snap of his fingers summoned the two burly men, the same two who had brought Cody, forward from the shadows and to his side, and they slowly moved to open the cell door.
Davis was out in a flash, leaping with almost inhuman speed at the older teen and his hands reaching for the other's throat. Yolei's jaw dropped in amazement at the sight. Where was he getting the energy to do that from? There was something about this place... whether it be the air or just the awful feel of it that drained all of her strength. And Davis had been here just as long as she had. Again, unexpectedly, her admiration for the dark-haired boy grew a little stronger.
Despite the massive figures standing between the two of them, Davis was able to latch a hand around Roan's collar briefly before the men grabbed his arms and pulled him away. Roan snarled, though whether it was at the boy for the attack or at the two men for failing to stop it, Yolei was uncertain. In any event, after a moment Roan brought a hand up to gently massage the area where the boy had grabbed him, and at that moment Yolei caught a glimpse of the reddish crystal dangling from a silvery chain about the teen's neck.
"Come on!" Davis insisted, almost spitting his defiance into the older boy's face as he continued to strain mightily against the steel-like grip of the large brutes.
Roan clenched his teeth in anger, but then after a moment he seemed to calm a bit as he examined the smaller child trapped between the two. "Take him," the teen murmured darkly, a wicked smile on his lips. "I'll be along in a moment."
The large thugs dragged Davis away, the dark-haired boy still struggling furiously in an attempt to get at Roan. This was, so far, his best chance to free his friends, and he refused to let it go without his best effort.
The three soon disappeared into the darkness, far out of Yolei's sight. "What are you going to do to him?" she demanded of the white-haired teen, her voice breaking in concern.
Roan returned an almost lecherous glare at the girl as he toyed idly with the crimson crystal about his neck. "Just wait your turn," he said, his menacing voice promising myriad horrors to the younger girl when indeed that turn did come.
And then he whirled about, making to follow in the direction that the guards had taken Davis. "Wait a minute!" Yolei insisted. "At least let us out for a little bit. I need to go to the bathroom!"
Roan craned his neck over his shoulder, looking derisively at the girl and the lack of contents in her barren cell. "So what's stopping you?" he asked, then chuckled briefly to himself as he followed the other three into the darkness.
*****
Davis strained against the metal shackles which held him to the wall in the darkened, musty-smelling room. From somewhere on the opposite side of the area where he was held he could just make out the sound of water falling from the ceiling and pooling on the floor. The sound only served to remind the boy of how desperately thirsty he was. Ever since he had awoken the day before with the horrible taste in his mouth he had been denied anything to drink, and hearing it now just beyond his reach threatened to drive him mad.
From somewhere in front of him a door opened, and soon the tall figure of his jailer came into view. "Now," the older teen started, his black cape making him almost invisible in the dim light of the cell. The only thing which was clearly visible was the bright crimson jewel resting against his chest. "What was it that you said about wanting to fight?"
"Bring it on!" Davis snapped, pulling at his shackles in an attempt to get at the other. "If you're not gonna let me out of these then just come on over and I'll fight you like this!"
Roan smirked at the other's bravado, and turned his head to the side. "And you still think that you can terrorize him so easily?"
Davis focused his eyes into the darkness of the room. Clearly the older teen was speaking with someone there at his side, but the boy still could not...
"Yes, I can," a nearly silent voice floated from out of the darkness in response to the challenge. And then, as if his eyes had been opened along with his ears, the dark-haired boy could just discern the outline of a ghastly figure at the other's side. Just a silhouette, and nothing more, but he could now see that, in fact, he was faced with two adversaries.
Myotismon was almost offended at the question. He had been here for almost five years, and during that time he had learned to wield the power of fear like a weapon. Every now and then, one of the humans that had been sent to this world with him would take it into their mind to challenge his dominion over them, and such a challenge always demanded an appropriate chastisement. "I promise you, Roan, by the end of this day he will know terror."
"Try me," Davis snarled at the creature, his eyes flashing at the other despite the darkness.
"Very well," Roan said, taking the jewel from about his neck and turning to leave, stopping to place the chain on a hook on the far wall away from his captive. "I leave it in your capable... hands, then." And with that the teen slammed the door shut behind him, plunging the pair left behind into utter darkness.
A moment of silence passed, and Davis smirked. "Bad try! I haven't been afraid of the dark since I was five years old!" he shouted into the darkness, folding his shackled wrists over his chest.
And then there was silence for another few moments... silence which was soon broken by a blood-curdling scream that emanated from the darkness and assailed Davis' ears. The boy frowned and winced at the headache that the penetrating sound caused, but he remained steadfast and defiant. "Ooh! Scary noise!" he returned, trying to match the volume of the sound with his own raspy voice. Far from being scared, the only irritation that he felt was still hearing the sound of dripping water and having it remind him of his thirst.
And then a shimmering, ghastly image appeared out the darkness just in front of him. A white, transparent figure which darted quickly at the boy's face, stopping just short of a collision and howling the same horrid wail that he had heard earlier into his ears. The 'face' portion of the image was nothing short of gruesome, appearing to be the shattered and shredded remains of a human being long since dead.
Davis winced, but then stood back up as he realized that the figure, while loud and quite visible, could not touch him. An icy feeling rushed through him as the figure howled at him, but Davis gritted his teeth, judging that the sensation was only some sort of affect from the creature and was not, indeed, fear on his part.
"Still nothing!" the boy shouted, and managed to bolster that statement with a forced laugh. "Try harder!"
And then another figure, this one different but just as ghastly, appeared in front of the boy. And when those two continued to fail, another one appeared, and another, and another...
****
Seven hours later, Myotismon snarled in frustration, slamming a ghostly fist into... or rather through... a nearby wall. What was happening here? This was a child, just barely into his teens. This particular technique had turned dozens upon dozens of strong, adult men into whimpering babes at his feet, yet despite his best and prolonged efforts, this boy not only remained fearless but also utterly defiant.
"How about the green one again?" Davis called, continuing to taunt the other. "That one was kind of cool!"
Despite having the cold emotionlessness of the dead, the boy was beginning to get on Myotismon's nerves... assuming that he had any left. Seven hours, and still the jewel dangling on the far side of the room had not given one single indication that it had been able to feed off of this boy's soul. It was galling... and really quite embarrassing. "What are you made of, human?" he murmured to himself.
Then, just as the creature had been prepared to send another barrage of the creatures against the child the door on the far side of the room opened quickly, and Roan entered, light flooding the room at his back. As his dark eyes fell on the still smallish jewel, he surveyed the room in anger.
"Hey, you're back!" Davis welcomed. His legs were about to collapse from underneath him after seven hours of continuous standing and he was still dying of thirst, but he was not about to show anything of the sort to the other. "Still wanna fight?"
Roan's eyes encountered the transparent form of Myotismon on the far side of the room. "What is this? What's taking so long?"
The creature's fanged teeth snapped together. "He'll break. Eventually, everybody learns fear. If this won't work, it'll have to be something else," the creature promised, then paused. "As soon as he sleeps and his consciousness is no longer there to guard him, I will find something in his mind that will cause him terror. Rest assured of that."
Davis blinked, though he was careful to keep his alarm from the others. Was that true? He certainly hoped not, for he was feeling extremely tired at that moment. Traces of whatever his captors had used to drug him were still in his system, and that, coupled with so many hours without sleep were beginning to take their toll on him. As the two 'friends' continued to bicker with one another, the boy idly started to massage his chafed wrists where the iron shackles bound him.
"We don't have time for this!" Roan snapped, yanking fiercely on his goatee. "You said that this would be no problem!"
Myotismon seethed inside... not only for his apparent failure but also at being berated by a human for it. "Just get started on the others. I'll send word as soon as I'm done with this one. He can't stay awake forever."
Roan frowned, then turned to the door and snapped his fingers. At once one of the burly guards entered the room, and the dark teen grabbed something from a small pouch at the man's side and whirled on Davis.
"Oh, good!" the dark-haired boy said, clenching his fists and almost daring the other to come within range of one good, solid punch.
Roan's dark eyes flashed, showing for the first time a bit of concern. "Hold him," he said to the guard at his side.
The burly man nodded and approached the shackled boy. Davis backed up until his was against the wall, forcing the other to reach for him. And then quickly, belying his fatigue and thirst, the boy stepped forward and slammed a knee into the man's groin, then smashed his forehead into the other's face as he bent over.
Blood gushed from the guard's broken nose as he fell to the ground, clutching at his gut while giving a low moan of pain. The boy quickly reached for the ring of keys at the man's belt, then strained at his bonds in frustration as they brought him up just short of the means of his escape.
But as the boy reached for the ring, Roan slipped to his side and jabbed the syringe that he had taken from the guard into the boy's upper arm, digging it in deep and injecting a large portion of the powerful depressant into his system before whirling away from the other's attempt to grab at him. A well-placed kick at the tall teen's backside similarly came up short.
Davis clenched his teeth at the sharp pain that the attack brought to his arm, looking fiercely at Roan. The older teen smirked at his prisoner. "Now, be a good little boy and go to sleep, won't you?" he taunted.
The dark-haired boy panted, feeling the drug starting to make its way through his system. He was already tired... so, so tired, and the powerful substance was making it almost impossible for him to keep his legs underneath him. The figure of the other boy started to blur in his sight as he pulled the burly guard to his feet and dragged him from the room. "And get it done right this time!" he shouted at Myotismon before once again slamming the door behind him.
Far down the corridor, Yolei watched as the tall form of her jailer appeared out of the darkness of the corridor and made his way back down the far hallway, the dark teen howling and slamming his fist into the wall over and over again as he went, howling in evident frustration. The string of profanities coming from the teen's mouth was really quite creative, and the girl almost cowered away from the area where he might notice her in his incensed state.
Cody, too, watched in amazement, the small child rubbing the sleepiness from his verdant eyes as he smacked his dry lips together. "Wow," he murmured quietly, too much noise still causing him a great deal of pain. "I wonder what happened to him?"
A little smile appeared on Yolei's lips, the girl's eyes gazing down the corridor from which the boy had come in admiration. The strange, warm feeling was still lodged in her chest, and the girl started to have a peculiar suspicion. "Davis. He's still okay..."
Cody frowned. "What makes you say that?"
The girl gave a brief chuckle, shaking her head in admiration. "Only Davis can make somebody that insane."
It was nearly two hours later when Davis, having used every trick that he could imagine to fight off his impending sleep finally passed into unconsciousness, his weariness and the powerful drug finally having overcome the young boy's almost indomitable spirit. Reeling, the boy slumped against the rough wall at his back, the chains attached to the shackles around his wrists falling to the floor with a noisy clattering.
As he fell the last words of the quotations that he had been repeating to himself in one last, desperate attempt to keep his mind active to ward off the physical necessity of sleep passed his lips, the words becoming somewhat jumbled in his mind's disorderly state.
"one... fought...a good... fight... finished..."
Then the boy fell back into the waiting arms of sleep, and there found himself suddenly unable to breath, and a blinding needle of pain thrusting into his eyes. The impossibly long tongue of the lizard-like creature wrapped itself tightly around the young boy's face, and he was drawn inexorably towards the horrendous mouth of the waiting beast as he heard the roar of combat at his back. He could not fight, and the others... the others would not come for him.
And to Myotismon's delight, the crystal dangling on the far side of the wall suddenly began to shimmer with a powerful, angry crimson-red glow...
