The Fate of the World: Shield, Tear, and Light

by Creedogmon

edited by Godeerc VanDrey

Category: Digimon

Genre: Fantasy, Action/Adventure

Rating: PG (for mild language and tense situations)

Language: English

Summery: Jessica finds herself in danger. Justine and Anna have a rough night.

A/N: I'm unusually excited about this chapter. I, for some reason, feel that I am going to enjoy writing this chapter. It's going to put a lot of stuff in perspective. If for some strange reason, you haven't read the previous two parts, The Powers Within and Dark Reflections, I would do so. I'm surprised a person as lost as you could get this far without becoming annoyed, because I'm not much for recapping, which is only good if there's a lot of material between now and background information you need to know, and this has been a rather linear story, despite some brief flashbacks and concurrent storylines. Anyway, this author's note is getting ridiculously long, so let me let you read the story, which is the reason you're here, I assume.

Chapter 15: Shield, Tear, and Light

I have to shield my eyes from bright sunshine before getting out my sunglasses, bringing some relief. I look around. I am not where I used to be. The hilly grass plain is gone, and instead, there is a bleak desert. Yellow sand is everywhere; the heat causes refracted light to make my vision blurry. There is nothing around me, not Diana, not Katmondu, not Hawkmon, not Salamon, not the cave, nor anything that was there two minutes ago. For a moment, I think it might be a mirage, but I check anyway. I see Jessica standing, motionless. As I approach, I realize that she's standing on train tracks. She doesn't turn her head as I approach her.

"Jessica…?" I say.

She looks at me, "Hey, Christopher, what are you…" but she trails off.

"Um, I'm not sure. I heard you scream, and I connected with you. It brought me here." I assume this must be some sort of mirage in my mind that allows me to see Jessica where she is. It's a fairly good one. I'm hot and sweaty; the sand sinks in as I walk through it. I continue talking, "Uh, where are the guys? And the Cave of Destiny?"

"I don't know. The Cave of Destiny is built at the base of a mountain, at the edge of a forest."

I look around. There are a couple of mesas, but no forested mountains. "How did you get here, J?"

She scoffs, welled-up emotion stifled, "I don't know… We were looking for a place to camp out. It was getting dark, you know?" The Cave of Destiny might be a time zone or two away, and that would explain a couple of hours of sunset delay, but the sun here in directly overhead. We must be halfway around the DigiWorld. She still hasn't moved from the train tracks.

"You waiting to catch a train?" I ask, humorously.

"You could say that," she remarks flatly. The creepiness of the response catches me off-guard. I look to the left. Barely visible, very far down the tracks, is a train. "Well, then, I'd get off the track. Or you'll be extreme front row seats."

She doesn't move and I repeat myself. "I can't," she remarks.

"Why? There's a train coming toward you." I look again. It's an old-fashioned steam engine, still quite far away, but approaching. I look back to her. She's holding back tears. I look her up and down. I don't see anything physically binding her down.

I check for the train again. It's closer than I expected. It's kind of wobbling, barreling down the track, at a manic speed that it would seem incapable of moving. I feel the ground start to vibrate. I state firmly, "Jessica, get off the tracks. It's me, but not in the flesh. This is something you're miraging."

She sighs, looking at me with a sad look. Not a panicked, oh-God-I'm-scared-for-my-life look, more like a my-cat-just-died look. The train is coming, oddly dark smoke erupting from its smokestack, the wheels bouncing on and off the rails. "Jessica," I hiss, "I'm not corporeal. I can't shove you off this track. Move!"

She closes her eyes, tears falling down her face. The train is too close. I leap forward, desperately wishing I could push her off. I lose my breath as my hands collide with Jessica's torso. I pull my legs away as the train goes hurling past, looking at the frightened Jessica. "Jessica…?" I say.

"Yeah…" she replies, dazed.

"You're alive?"

"Thanks to you," she replies, cryptically. She watches the crazed train with disbelief.

"J.J., I'm not here. I'm sitting in a cave near the plain, in a very deep mental connection with you. Where are the guys?"

"I was just with them. We were settling down for the night. We'd found the Cave of Destiny. And I went to sleep. And then…" she trails off.

"Are you dreaming?" I ask, in a mix of emotions.

"Déjà vu," she states, "I've been having this dream before. Only, you're never here. Not before."

"And do you get hit by a train?"

"No, I always wake up before it hits me."

I try not to roll my eyes at the cliché. "So, can we avoid the conversation about knowing when we're dreaming, and whether one of us is dreaming about the other saying they're dreaming, or whether we're sharing a dream. Let's just leave it at the fact that we have the connection, and we're both here, and if not, we can both forget it."

"Sorry about your sunglasses," she says, holding up the mangle rim of the left earpiece.

"It's okay; I've got three pair and I don't think any of this is real. Or at least DigiWorld real. By the way, back in the Real World, or the Real DigiWorld, should I say, what's been going on?"

Jessica relates the story of her very hectic and busy journey to the Cave of Destiny. I tell her I understand why she collapsed on the ground. I relate the occurrences in my life, about not seeing any evil creatures since we were there. I do tell her about all I've learned from the computer digivices. "Apparently, there are semi-scientific reasons why we're able to do this stuff. Of course, it's mostly how, not why, and not all the how, either. How we magically change clothes still alludes me, but from what I know about the DigiWorld from past experiences—"

"Past experiences?" she interrupts, "You've been here before?"

"The show," I reply. It's strange trying to remember that everything that's happening to us, all of it, is supposed to occur in a fictional, Japanese, animated television show. "As I was saying, the DigiWorld seems to be a separate, universe-void that had a parallel creation-structure of computers and the Internet, so when we invented those things, the DigiUniverse started to imitate the real world, but didn't get everything right. For one, I don't think this is a physical universe. I think some fundamental laws of physics, those that would be really hard to define, such as the Conservation of Mass and Energy, can't relate, so that's how we're able to do such supernatural stuff. Understand?"

"Not a word." I frown, but she remarks, "Is it like The Matrix?"

"Haven't seen the movie, but from the way Matt describes the plot, yes." I say deliberately, knowing I'd be going nowhere trying to explain the differences I myself am unsure about.

"So, you get why we all can go all powered up?"

"Not why, but individually how, yeah. The digivices seem to be able to call upon the powers, from where, who knows, but I've found out that the digivice can detect adrenaline flow. You'll notice whenever you're scared, your impenetrable defense aura will come up and protect you. How the digivice or the DigiWorld mainframe chooses what powers you get to have, I don't know, but how it works I can explain. In your case, the energy boost brought to you gives you a two-way line to the minds of others. You can directly, or really through a mediator, control the senses of others. You want us to see something, we do. The sound thing and the touch thing is not a far stretch, just becoming better in control of your power."

"And in your case?"

"Water power? My connection with the mainframe allows me to alter the physics of bodies of water, but it's not that strong. You'll notice I'm not moving entire lakes. I can't really get a hold of a lot of water with my power, but it's enough to fight evil. But, I'm compensated for it. Because not all my power is directed at controlling water, the excess energy will boost my brainpower…"

"Which a straight-A student really needs…" she quips.

"It hyperactivates my brain, allowing me to see things in slow-motion."

"Like controlling time?"

"To me, yes. I don't move any faster, I just am able to fine-tune my movements since I have more 'time' to react. It's actually very frustrating, because you feel like your body's full of lead because forces are so much 'stronger' in relation to you,"

Jessica moves her hand over her head, indicating I've switched to technospeak again.

"Sorry,"

"No big deal,"

The sun is now lower in the sky, and it starts to cool, so we continue to converse. I tell her about all I've learned from the digivice program. I leave out the part about having full anatomical scans of everyone. I haven't looked at them, though the temptation is great. I did open Anna's briefly, unaware of what I'd see, because of the DigiCode-labeled buttons. It only showed as far down as her collarbone, but the bare shoulders part told me too quickly what would happen if I scrolled down. I closed that in a hurry. I was in the company of three other sentient beings, of course.

Before we knew it, the sun is setting again. It felt like a short day, though we don't know if time flew by because we were having fun talking or because it was convoluted dream-world time. I long since decided that this must be the real Jessica that I'm talking to, in her dreams, possibly mine too, because the conversations I have with people in my dreams tend to be illogical. Regardless, I finally ask the question, "How do we get out of here?"

"I don't know," she replies, "I've always woken up. This is the first time we've had a dream together. Visions always end by themselves. But how do we get out if this is different?"

I am silent, as is she.

: : :

Justine and Anna share a smile as they watch the peacefully sleeping Virginia. After a quick diaper change and feeding, the rambunctious two-year-old was more than willing to fall asleep on the double-layered quilt. Her small shoulders rise and fall as she breathes in and out ever so slowly. On either side of her, the two girls recline on their sides, watching the dormant toddler.

Justine whispered to Anna, "We've only got four more diapers left. Whatever's going down here, it better do down fast, 'cause our supplies are low. You did get rid of that last diaper right?"

"'Course" Anna replies, anxious to forget the experience of holding a smelly diaper with two fingers which running a quarter mile before finding a small indention in the ground and covering it with a large rock and running back before her lungs gave out.

Justine looks down at Virginia again, and Anna quietly comments, "Justine, I don't like look in your eye, girl. You're fourteen years old."

"What?" She laughs, "Yeah, she's cute. It doesn't mean I want to have one of my own right now."

"Justine, you seem worried,"

"Well, we just brought a two-year-old within a mile of something real evil,"

Anna looks around, "We're close? How close?"

"I don't know. But it's not far from here."

Anna smiles, "Justine, Virginia has proved to us on several occasions that she's very powerful."

"She's asleep. She still needs to be watched carefully."

"Why don't you just figure out when we're going to get attacked and where, and we'll be ready."

"Very funny, Anna,"

"What?! I didn't mean it like that. I thought you could figure out whatever you needed."

Not whispering, Justine snips, "It's not that easy!"

Virginia makes noises and coos, but doesn't wake up.

Justine closes her eyes and walks away. Anna briefly checks Virginia and walks over to her out of Virginia's earshot.

"Justine, what is up with you?" Anna asks, genuinely worried and not one to enjoy tense situations.

Almost crying, Justine replies, "Anna, you don't know what it's like. Yeah, you hear things a lot. A lot of the time, it's helpful, but…" she trails off as she kneels down on the ground. Anna joins her, putting her arms around Justine's shoulder. Justine continues, "I can't walk down the school hallways without each locker whispering its combination into my ear. It's not fun to read books anymore because there are no surprised endings or sudden twists. I've got the biggest damn headache from having Fate constantly whispering in my ear for two weeks straight." At this point, she breaks down crying. Anna holds her, letting her head rest her lap, she, too, crying and stroking Justine long, dark hair.

"Anna," she gets out between bouts of weeping, "it's killing me."

"Justine, don't say that."

"'Procurare' means 'sacrifice' in Latin,"

"What?" Anna yelps.

"The rest of the names in the prophecy were just names. But 'the Shield of Procurare,' my gift, it means 'the shield of sacrifice.'"

"Don't say that, Justine…" Anna weeps

"Anna, I can deal with being a martyr, but for God's sake, I'd like to know what I'm dying for."

"You're not gonna die, Nova," Anna says, her voice taking on a rather thick, Southern accent, like her mom's does when she's yelling at her father. "I won't let ya. We've gotta protect Virginia."

Justine suddenly screeches.

"Nova…?"

Justine starts to mutter, "The attack… the evil… it's gonna happen right here, over there at the coast…" she says, pointing back toward the coast, with the sleeping Virginia between them. Anna looks over, seeing a cove. There's a rather short beach, no more than five-hundred feet in a three-quarters-of-a-circle pattern, which a sort of gateway between two, tall bluffs with impressive pinnacles.

"There? When?"

"Midnight," she says, her face scrunching. Anna looks at the moon high in the sky, and then at her watch: 11:57 PM. She curses, grabs Justine's wrist and starts running manically toward Virginia, Justine in tow.

They reach the quilt just as a loud, inhuman screech fills the air, waking Virginia, who begins to cry loudly. The loud splash and crash of waves, indicating something large emerging abruptly from the water alert the two girls. Anna causes several fires to erupt on nearby vegetation, giving them a ghastly view of the monster from the bright moonlight and brushfires.

The creature somewhat resembles a large octopus, with no eyes, and one of those round, fanged mouths that you only see in movies. The color is almost indistinguishable, but Justine's bet would be a poisonous purple-gray. The tentacles are not octopus-like, but rather like an opaque jellyfish's: formless, bulgy, and prickly on the ends.

Anna gets a fire in her eyes, "Hey, Justine, watch Virginia. I think we're having sushi tonight. Cooked if you don't mind…" but she doesn't finish her monologue. Justine is already a third of the way to the cover, deliberately walking. She tries to call out, "Justine, get back here," but retreats to protect and comfort the screaming Virginia.

Justine breaks into a run, emitting light, and jumping into the air as the Inquirer. "Enigma of Star!" she cries out, emitting a huge blast of starlight at the monster, who hisses in pain before jutting several of its pointed tentacles at Justine, causing her to fall form the sky. Anna doesn't leave Virginia's side, but transforms just the same, suddenly feeling a chill because of her thin, wispy dress. It doesn't help that she is naturally warm-blooded.

But Justine pulls herself up, much to Anna's relief. The relief is fleeting, because, to Anna's horror, the monster starts to crawl from the water. Anna picks up Virginia and moves forward, in case she needs to aid Justine. She fears not for Virginia, who has lived through these adventures before due to her own spherical defense aura and those of her protectors, not to mention the powers of both parties.

"Hey, you," Justine cries, "I'd get back into the water if I were you. You're gonna have the Inquirer to mess with, buddy!"

"For goodness's sake, Justine, stop. He's too strong."

In her own cryptic way, Justine replies, "I know."

Anna runs closer, adamant that Justine not do what she's trying to. To her bad fortune, she has ignored the creature, which has aligned all his tentacles into a crude firing range-like array. Justine, sees this, turns, and runs to warm Anna, but she's too late. The swarm of needle-like projectiles burrow themselves into the ground like javelins. Three do the same to Justine: one through her left shoulder, one through her right upper arm, and one through her right hip, all three deeply imbedded. Now, she is only feet from her friends. Anna examines the angles of the needles immediately. The one in her arm would have gone through Anna's heart; the other would have struck Virginia somewhere on her torso. She kneels down, still ignoring the monster. Justine looks up, pained, "I'm okay,"

Anna tries to say something, but can't; she just grabs hold of Justine. There's still a chance she could live. Tears begin to flow from Anna's eyes. She lowers her head to the ground, not knowing what to do.

Her semispherical aura flickers, then starts to burn all over, creating a dome of fire around the three girls. As if fuel were suddenly thrown on top of it, the fire grows, slowly at first. Unlike the loud crackle of a so-called roaring fire, this fire roars with the volume of a thousand lions. From a distance, it looks like the rising sun as it explodes in size. The earth shakes; the noise is deafening; the heat is unbearable.

: : :

James, Matt, and Daniel watch over the sleeping Jessica. It's been four hours since she conked, but the boys are still restless. Well, James and Daniel are plenty awake. Matt is comfortably resting with his back against a log, his eyelids heavy.

"Is that the sun?" Daniel asks, looking at the glowing horizon.

James replies incredulously, awkwardly turning around. "Can't be. That's the west. That's where the sun sets."

: : :

Diana sits by the fire, worried about Christopher, who has been sitting in place for two hours, in a trance, apparently communicating with Jessica.

She watches the horizon and the rising sun. She looks at her watch: 12:32 PM. Plus, the sun is rising from the direction they came: south!

But the light fades away.

: : :

Eric and Phillip lay, quietly snoring on top of their sleeping bags, a few feet apart, Wormmon sleeping belly-up on Eric's stomach, and Falkmon lying on his side on Phillip's stomach. A yellow light temporary lights up their faces, but subsides, affecting none of the group.

: : :

As the real Sun rises, Anna lies on her side, curled up, in her civilian clothes. Virginia walks around in her overalls before seeing her diaper bag lying on the singed remains of a quilt, covering in dirt and ash. She unzips the bag and pulls out her kiddy cup of apple juice, which she begins to drink. She looks back at her sleeping babysitters. Justine is on the ground, her face streaked with ash, her shirt with the left shoulder missing and the right nothing more than a strip of cloth. Much of the bottom half is missing as well. Her jeans are a mess, too. The left leg is gone up to mid thigh; the other leg is intact, but needlessly, as the waist area of the intact legs is burned away, exposing Justine's sunburned thigh. Her hair is frazzled and the ends curve up. She is barefoot, but scraps of scorched leather nearby look suspiciously like random sections of sandals.

The area around the cove looks like the result of nuclear blast. The two bluffs around the cove are gone, but much of their remains can be seen in the water. The right mountain is less than a hill and the lake can be seen to curve around that that the obstruction is demolished. The left bluff, stretching father, picks up again about a quarter mile down. The lake is calm, but low and littered with dead fish. The ground outside the lake facing the two motionless girls is devoid of any vegetation. There is not grass, no trees, nothing but black and dirt-brown. The forest can be seen to pick up on the far side of the lake. Behind the girls, opposite of the lake, is not so bleak. The grass is patchy, and the trees are leafless and scorched, but there are forms besides hills. By some miracle, the backpacks are intact, though the plastic logos warped beyond recognition, and the dye uneven, and the mount of dirt that was created by the heat protected them from complete obliteration by the inferno.

The area is also devoid of any animal life, not counting the dead fish. That is, until a pair of birds settles down on a naked tree overlooking the wandering Virginia. It is a very unlikely pair of birds. One bird is a bright orange macaw parrot with bright blue eyes swaying gaily. The other is a dark purple nightingale with a long neck, long tail feathers, and a long pall flowing backwards from the crest of her head, standing with regal grace. They both hop down and land on the ground, one excitedly, the other gracefully and walk toward Virginia.

Virginia's face is dusty, though she is oblivious to the condition. She is, however, very interested in the birds and holds her hand out to touch them. The macaw extends her neck, playfully trying to nip her fingers affectionately, but the nightingale intervenes, using her neck to block the macaw. She scoots up and lowers her head, allowing Virginia to stroke her feathered mane. She uses her head to lightly pop Virginia on the chest. She giggles affectionately. The macaw, disappointed, starts to hop toward the girls, and her companion soon follows, with Virginia behind her, her curiosity far from waning. The other two girls' faces are also dirt-caked, but two lines of exposed flesh can be seen on Anna's face, tear-streaked.

: : :

A/N: Hmm, that really took it out of me. I am physically tired. This has been the longest chapter yet. Expect more in the future if I keep up on this kick. Would you like a preview of the next chapter? Okay, maybe. I'm not saying it involves the Outer Triad and the Cave of Destiny, I'm just saying… Anyway, don't expect dull chapters from here on out.

(Sonriso) - Whoo, that was fun! If only I had remember to put on sunscreen! Creedog, where's the aloe vera?