"Don't worry, Kitten. We'll have fun."
That's what she told me. Hmm! Fun my ass! She's worse than Ken, as if that were even possible! There's just something about her eyes. I dunno… It's as if they hold within them…pure evil. They're not like Ken's. In Ken's eyes, you can easily see that small hint of something in them—compassion and humanity, which he tries to hide, but I know it's there. But…in Candy's eyes…there's only pure hatred…evil…darkness…
Now, I told you that she's worse than Ken. Yeah, I know what you're thinking. "Not possible", right? Wrong… So very wrong. …I've got you curious now, don't I? You wanna see how this story ends… Well, okay then. You may not like the ending, but I'll tell you if you really wanna know…
It'd been a few hours since I'd first met Candy. I'd finally gotten something to eat and drink. I was starting to feel better. I was still very weak, however. I knew that was gonna last for a while. I lay on my bed, resting, thinking about what I was to do. I couldn't very well keep this up forever, now could I? Thoughts like that were going through my head constantly as I lay there. But those thoughts were suddenly interrupted as I heard the all-too-familiar sound of the cell door creaking open.
I heard unfamiliar footsteps coming towards me then. I had my eyes closed, praying she'd think I was asleep. Or better yet…dead. No such luck. The next thing I knew, I gasped and my eyes widened considerably as I was being grabbed by the hair and thrown to the ground. "Good. You're awake," she laughed cruelly at me just as I looked up at her. All I found was cold, unfeeling eyes, deep brown but seeming to flicker red, glaring back at me as Candy towered over me.
I became angry, not liking to be threatened by this woman I barely even knew. "What do you want, lady?" I asked her through gritted teeth, standing up tall directly in front of her. Before I knew what'd happened, a white-hot pain shot across my face and I fell to the ground. The demon had backhanded me across the face.
"I simply wanted to come and congratulate you on your little screw-up. I mean, you completely turned Ken off to you. He'd choose me now over you any day. And, to tell you the truth, I wouldn't blame him, quite frankly. I mean, look at you," she laughed cruelly at me, and my anger began to rise as I knelt in front of her, glaring up at her. "You're filthy, repulsive, weak, useless, and completely worthless. The Emperor would never accept you as anything more than a slave! Now me, on the other hand—I'm empress material, especially compared to such a common piece of palace dirt as you!"
That completely pissed me off. I finally snapped, after so long. I was tired of it and I wasn't gonna take anymore of this bullshit! I was sick of being beaten and ridiculed by Ken. I wasn't about to let this woman start up with it and try to get to me through Ken with all this "he-left-you-for-me" shit.
I stood up straight and, right in her face, shouted, "Repulsive? Hello! Why Ken wants anything to do with you is beyond me! After all, I'm not the one going around looking like I just got into a fight with a clown car and lost!" referring to the heavy make-up she wore and her own odd looks. And she thinks I'm the ugly one in the room! As if!
Well, that definitely made her angry. "Shut up!" she practically screamed, shoving me back into a nearby wall. I wasn't about to just stand and take that, though. I'd had enough of this woman! And so, I came at her. I growled angrily, rushing over and grabbing Candy by the arm, and threw her against the wall. I was seething with anger and didn't care about the consequences of what I'd just done. I just didn't give a shit! Well…until…
Maybe that wasn't the smartest thing in the world for me to have done… I saw the fire in her eyes as Candy got over the shock of it and glared up at me, her eyes glowing a deep crimson red. She stood up, growling angrily, and it was then that I really realized just how much bigger and stronger she was compared to me. I'm 5"5'. She's at least two inches taller than me. The next thing I knew, she began stalking towards me. "Bitch," she simply called me through clenched teeth before pulling out a cat-o-nine tails, seemingly out of thin air. My eyes widened and I instantly became afraid. I tried to back away from her, but I just wasn't fast enough. Before I could do anything, she'd wrapped it around my body and struck me on the back with it. I screamed and fell, writhing in agony, which all, unfortunately, put me in a very vulnerable position at Candy's feet.
Oh God, it hurt! It was way worse than Ken's whip—and that's bad! I winced in pain, looking fearfully at the woman towering above me. "How dare you!" she shouted angrily. "Do you have any idea who I am, slave—any idea at all who you're dealing with!" She struck me four times more with the cat-o-nine tails before continuing with her rant. "I, you little brat, am Candymon: digimon and daughter of Arukenimon and Mummymon!" (Me: Ew!) I gasped and stared up at her at this, crying, sweating, and panting for breath by then. I'd heard of them. They were supposedly some horrible digimon wreaking even more havoc in the Digital World right now. (A/N: Just go with me here, people, for story purposes!)
I trembled under her gaze as she continued heatedly. "I've been sent here to make sure that Ken stays like us, like he should be, and that you, with your sickeningly 'righteous' and 'good' ways, don't try to turn him away from his glorious destiny—ruling the Digital World! And I'll do whatever it takes to do it! Besides, you've crossed a line with me! And now…I want you dead!" And then with that, before I could react in any way, the cat-o-nine tails came rushing at me again. …And again…and again…and again…
She just wouldn't stop. No matter what I tried, she wouldn't let the pain end; she wouldn't allow my suffering to cease. "No! Stop it! ...Please!" I begged and pleaded for mercy, but was shown absolutely none. I screamed, cried and sobbed madly, called out for somebody to come and help me—no one came. It hurt so badly! Oh my God—I just couldn't take it! It was too immense, too much for my body to handle. It was so bad that I was almost overcome with waves of nausea and extreme dizziness. And…I could feel everything within me slipping away as she continued to whip me over and over again.
I shut my eyes tightly. I desperately wanted something to hold onto for at least the slightest bit of comfort. I clenched my fists firmly, so much so that my nails dug into the palms and my hands bled. My bones actually shivered from the pain as the feeling shook me to the core. And on top of all this, I was so weak from everything else that'd happened to me. I wasn't strong enough to withstand this torture anymore.
And so, after a few minutes of this unbearable torment, I collapsed, falling nearly unconscious in a pool of my own blood. All I could here was the sounds of the cat-o-nine tails against my delicate flesh and all I could feel was the anguish brought on by the beating as my world finally began to go dark and as I began to slip silently into the black of nothingness. But one more thing took place before my eyes before I fell completely unconscious. As she beat me, I heard the door slam open and a familiar voice shout angrily, "Candy, what the hell do you think you're doing!"
Ken had come, after hearing all the noise. Suddenly, the pain ended, and I saw a flash of colors darting away from me. Candy had taken off, made a run for it, terrified of what the consequences of her own actions would be, now that Ken had finally arrived. Ken turned back to me. I could just barely see him, since everything was blurry and growing darker by the second. "Crystal, hold on!" I heard him call to me in a concerned tone, his voice sounding distant to me, before everything faded out and I finally slipped into the unconscious state that'd been pulling at me for the past minute or so…
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I heard angry shouting. It was distant at first—very distant, and then it slowly faded in. after a moment or two, I began to distinguish the voices. Then I began to recognize them. I felt arms around me, a body holding me to it, wracking with sobs and rocking back and forth as it cradled me carefully. Whoever it was had been and still was crying over me.
I opened my eyes, very slowly and very weakly, and let out a soft moan. I felt so weak, and I was in so much pain. I turned my head towards the one holding me. I heard gasps as I moved. "K-Ken…?" I managed weakly before slowly everything going black again and me fading again into oblivion, hearing the startled gasps and exclamations of my friends, my fellow digidestined as they stood around me. They were alive!
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I regained consciousness again a short while after. The first thing I was aware of was someone carrying me, someone with gentle and caring and loving arms and a comforting embrace. Where were we going? More importantly, who was I with? I stirred softly, moaning again quietly. My body moving at all took a lot of effort from me and hurt immensely. I winced in pain, whimpered, and then opened my eyes slowly and turned my head to whoever it was. "Matt…" We were outside—that much I could tell. He was carrying me from Ken's base, I figured.
He looked down at me as I spoke, obviously startled. His eyes widened, and I could see the disbelief, followed by the vast relief. He knelt down where we were, in a small patch of soft grass on the edge of the woods surrounding the base, holding me in that wonderful embrace of his. He peers down at me, examining me. "Guys, she's awake!" he called to people around him. I heard a bunch of relieved sighs and murmuring, and I knew at once that my friends had finally come to save me and that they were alright. I was finally safe!
I sighed as he held me, enjoying the feeling I was getting with him holding me securely like that, despite everything. I felt so weak; I knew what was happening… I was slipping. I knew I wasn't gonna last much longer. And my friends knew it too, though each and every one of them tried to hide it and be strong. Matt held me close, trying to comfort me. He knew how much pain I was in, how much I was suffering. "It's okay, Crys. Everything's gonna be okay." His voice wavered as he spoke, and cracked at the end of this statement. I knew that he was crying. And that's when someone knelt down beside me. I turned my head to see who it was. Ken…and he was crying as well…
"Crystal…?"
"Ken…"
"Crystal," he choked through his sobs, pure compassion and emotion in his voice for once. "I'm sorry. Please, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen. I didn't mean for you to get hurt this badly. I didn't mean it, Crystal…" His words trailed off and he broke down crying again, the tears falling freely from his eyes.
I smiled up at him, all the negative feelings I had towards him just disappearing, washing away as I weakly and gently reached up, and caressed Ken's check softly. "Oh, Ken," I barely managed to whisper softly and feebly, removing my hand from his cheek and having his hand meet mine halfway to the ground to help me lower mine, and I held his hand caringly. "I knew there was some good in you, somewhere…" I whispered.
I could here everyone crying around me. They all knew that I was about to leave them any second. I smiled up at Ken and then turned back to Matt. "Matt…" I beckoned him to come closer. He leaned forward, crying, and stared into my eyes. We both knew what we wanted to happen then. I tilted my head up slightly, and he leaned into me and kissed me softly, his arms still wrapped around me. Oh, that kiss felt so good. Finally, after all this time, I got to fully express my love for Matt, and him for me.
And then, slowly, with the sounds of everyone crying in the background, I pulled away from the kiss, a frail smile on my lips, though I had tears forming in my eyes, to try and reassure everyone that it'd be alright…somehow…and slowly laid my head down…closing my eyes for one last time…
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A/N: Surprise everyone. I told you that you wouldn't like the ending! (Please don't kill me!) Oh, but wait—it's still not over! (Gasps) There's still one more chapter to go! (Thunderous applause once again) LLD almost killed me for this ending when I first came up with the general idea, but once she warmed up to it, she was helping me write it before I knew it! Thanks, LLD! You're the best! (Applause for LLD). Sorry this chapter took so long. I was having computer issues. Plus, this chapter was rather hard to write. I really hope you like it!
Both Piedmon and LadyLuck: (Open-mouthed stare) 0.o …
Piedmon: 0.o … No…way!
LadyLuck: 0.o … Diva'sDream, don't tell us you actually killed poor Crystal! How could you do such a thing!
midnight breezy: (Crying) Why, Diva! Why!
Ken: (Open-mouthed stare) 0.o … (Crickets chirp) … Great! I finally look like I'm getting a girl, and she likes Matt! Thanks, you two! (Glares at Diva'sDream and LLD)
LLD: You're welcome! Hehehe… That ending was awesome!
Everyone but Diva'sDream: 0.0 …
Diva'sDream: Now just calm down, everyone. There's still another chapter to go. Who knows? A miracle might happen or something. Although, we're sadistic, so… (Shrugs)
Everyone else besides LLD: What else can you possibly do!
LLD: (Evil smile) You'll see… (Insert evil laughter here)
Diva'sDream: (Joins in with her own evil laughter)
Everyone besides Diva'sDream and LLD: 0.0 … (Eerie music, lightning and thunder start up in background)
Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnn! To be continued…