The Hero of Love

Throughout the rest of the night, Yugi, Joey, and Kaiba took turns standing guard. It was the brunette's turn right now. He only left his post once to check on Emily and see how she was doing. He felt her forehead. She wasn't as warm as she was last night. This meant that the medicine was working. Hopefully when she would wake up, she would be feeling better.

He looked out the window and saw the sky brightening up. "It's morning," he observed. He figured now was a good time to wake his friends. "Yugi, wake up," he whispered, shaking his shoulder.

Yugi groaned and opened his eyes. "Kaiba?"

The brunette placed his fingers close to his lips. He then turned to Joey and started waking him up.

"What the-?" Joey groaned.

"Quiet," Kaiba hissed. "Get up." Yugi and Joey do as told and get on their feet. Kaiba then approached Emily's bed. "Briar," he softly called, gently pushing her shoulder. "Briar, wake up."

A few seconds later, Emily sat up and yawned. To her delight, she saw her friends. "Hey, guys."

Yugi smiled. "Emily, you're all better," he said softly, hugging her.

"I feel better," she replied, returning his hug. "Now that you're here."

Joey sighed of relief. "Thank God. Now we can get out of here."

Before they could, the heroes heard voices on the other side. Emily was able to recognize one of them and realized what it meant. "Frollo's coming," she alerted her friends. "Hide, quick!"

Kaiba nodded and quickly waved his scepter to turn himself and his friends invisible, leaving only Emily and Gatomon visible. As Emily heard the door opening, she began acting like she had just woken up by sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

"Ah, you're awake," came the minister's voice. After clearing her vision, Emily gasped at the sight of him. Once more, Gatomon took the same stance by getting on her paws and growling at him. "How are you feeling, my dear?"

Emily frowned. "Are you asking just to be nice or do you actually care?"

"Is that your way of thanking me for saving you?" he snapped.

"I'm surprised that you even would," the blonde replied. "I would think you would leave me to die after the way I refused you."

The minister forced a wry grin. "I thought that perhaps you would reconsider if I did you a small kindness."

Emily scoffed. "I'd hardly think of it as kindness. You didn't do it because you love me – and I know you don't. You just didn't want me to die yet."

It was taking every ounce of willpower for Frollo to keep his temper. Perhaps he should have left her to die. But then the torment wouldn't end. He calmed himself and asked, "Perhaps you would have rather died without seeing your love one last time?"

Emily was silent at that statement. She didn't prefer that at all. She decided to change the subject. "Frollo, you pride yourself on being a righteous follower of God. Let me ask you, when you said you wanted to help me, did you really care for me or were you just trying to get to me for your pleasure?"

He narrowed his eyes. "What are you going on about, young princess?"

"I have the power to look inside a person's heart and see their truth," she was explaining. "When I looked inside your heart, I saw darkness, impurity, and lust," she finished coldly. "Anyone who would really be pure would know not to let themselves be consumed by such sensations."

He hated to admit it, but she was right. As Frollo watched Emily sleep, even then he was tempted by her. But he knew that if he were to lose control of his lust for her and give in to sin, he would no longer be the pure and righteous man of God he prided himself on being. It didn't change the fact that he wanted Emily, though.

"Face the facts, Frollo," Emily was saying. "You weren't trying to lead me on the path of righteousness. You were consumed by lust and wanted to get close to me so you could make me as impure and corrupted as you!"

Having had enough, Frollo slapped her across the face, causing her to fall back and yelp in pain. Gatomon gasped at the sight. "I offer you a chance to be saved and you deny me."

She looked up at him and argued, "No, Frollo. I know what kind of man you are and you are not a man of justice or righteousness. You're full of impurity."

"I told you before, young princess, I am more than you will ever be," he argued. "You were born an abomination and you will die as one for your sins."

Emily caressed her cheek and released her tears. "You know, you remind me of someone I knew from long ago. He too, had misguided ideals on changing the world and making it a better place. To further his selfish ideals, he manipulated so many people. In time, he realized what he was doing was wrong and was able to be saved from the dark influences controlling him. But you…" she paused, then said, "you will never know true love or friendship or kindness or understanding." She looked at him in shame and said, "For that, I pity you."

At first, Frollo found pain in her words, but for all he assumed, she was trying to manipulate him. After all, a girl like her couldn't possibly understand real love. She wasn't a child of God, so of course she couldn't. "I've heard enough from you, Princess. It's time for you to be put in your place."

She stood up and boasted, "I am not afraid of you!"

"You will be," he promised her. "You may be a princess, but you have no power here in my world. One way or another, you will submit to me."

Gatomon could take no more. As she saw Frollo moving closer to Emily, the cat Digimon climbed up her partner, jumped, and kicked him away. The minister stepped back and fell. "So, Frollo, how does it feel when someone kicks you to the ground?" Gatomon asked.

The minister was in shock. "You can talk," he said, more as an observation than a question.

"That's right, I can," Gatomon replied. "But I never wanted to talk around you."

"This is sorcery," he muttered. "Witchcraft," he said aloud. "Work of the devil." He faces his opponent and comments, "But I suppose that's to be expected from an unholy demon such as yourself, Princess."

"The real demon is you," Gatomon argued, pointing her finger at him. "And you should know a real gentleman would never hit a princess," she scolded.

"Gatomon, no," Emily begged, not wanting to see her get hurt.

"Don't worry, Emily, I'll protect you," she promised.

Frollo chuckled. "How amusing, a little cat protecting a girl." He drew his sword. "Not to worry, I'll see to it you both meet the same fate."

Yugi had enough. "I won't let you!" He came out of hiding and drew his own sword.

"Yugi?" Frollo asked in shock. "How did you escape?"

Gatomon spoke up. "That's my doing," she said. "You see, Frollo, my friends have friends in high places."

"That's right," Kaiba said, approaching his friends. "And Gatomon's right about you being the real demon. I know because we've seen our fair share of monsters. You're no different from any of them."

"Yeah," Joey said in agreement. "You're the one filled with impure thoughts and hatred. And while we may be in service to another deity, at least our cause is more noble and just than yours!"

"Lies!" Frollo shouted. He came at the heroes with his sword drawn. Yugi stopped in front of him and their blades began clashing. Joey and Kaiba took Emily and Gatomon out of the infirmary and into the halls. Yugi was holding Frollo off so he wouldn't be able to go after them.

This was actually one of the first times Yugi was in a swordfight. He had practiced combat with Inuyasha and Sango back in the world of feudal Japan, but hadn't been in a real fight. He felt his adrenaline rushing through his veins. Was this what it was like to fight for a loved one? Was it his will to protect his friends and his love driving him to this level?

Frollo had to admit that Yugi's display was admirable, but also lacking. Then again, the minister had more experience wielding a sword than the lad did. "Your efforts are impressive, boy, but you're hardly doing anything to fight back."

"I don't want to hurt you," Yugi said, jumping back and holding his sword to block his opponent's attack. "I don't fight to hurt my enemies; only to protect those I care about. But you, you don't care who you hurt as long as you get what you want."

Frollo used his strength to push him back. "She will be mine, Yugi."

"Never," he argued, and their blades began clashing again.

"Why don't we just see how a warrior of Millennia will fare against a Dark Master?" the minister suggested.

"Dark Master?" Yugi asked.

"That's right. You see, Yugi, I am one of the four Dark Masters," Frollo revealed. "My brethren and I are the most feared and most powerful of our kind. We destroy any who stand in our way and we dispose of those who are of no use to us. When your friend Joey asked why I hadn't killed any of you yet, you were all still valuable to me. But now it's come to this." And he continued lunging his sword, trying to attack his opponent.

Joey drew his bow and took an arrow from his quiver, but had a hard time aiming. "I can't get a clear shot with so much movement."

Even Kaiba wasn't sure what to do. He wanted to help Yugi, but didn't know how.

Frollo lunged his sword towards Yugi. The boy managed to weave away, but still ended up taking a cut in his arm, close to his shoulder. Yugi clutched his arm and groaned in pain and got on his knees. He looked up in horror as he saw the minister raising his sword. Not waiting to see her love get killed, Emily created a Lucid Barrier around him, protecting Yugi from his enemy's attacks. Afterwards, she attacked Frollo with her Lucent Beam spell. The attack didn't hurt him by much, but he still ended up losing his grip on his sword. Before he could recover it, Emily charged at him and pushed him away. Keeping on his feet, the minister backhanded her, causing her to fall back. This was the second time he struck her in such a way. Even the rings on his hand left a few small scratches on her cheek.

Frollo grinned and commented, "Well, I certainly must commend you, young princess, you turned out to be more trouble than I would have ever thought possible." Emily breathed for a few seconds as she looked at him in anger, then got back up and tried to strike him, but Frollo caught her by the wrist and forced her arm away and slapped her again. "You truly are temptation at its strongest," he told her. "But eventually, all who are wicked must be brought to justice."

"Right," Yugi said, standing up after tying some fabric over his wound. "I couldn't have said it better myself." He raised his sword and began clashing blades with Frollo again. Their blades connected for a few times until Yugi finally got the edge he needed. Holding his sword with only his right hand, he lunged it for Frollo, cutting his side. The minister screamed in pain and dropped his sword and held his side. He moved his hand away and saw that it was stained with blood.

Yugi, breathing heavily from the battle, pointed his sword for the minister's head. Frollo weakly laughed. "You haven't got it in you, boy."

Yugi continued breathing. He looked down at Frollo, his eyes filled with fury for the atrocities he committed and what the man had put him and his friends through. "Today," he was saying, "justice will be served." He raised his sword and yelled. Frollo tightly shut his eyes, bracing himself. The others watched on in fear of what their friend was about to do. Instead, Yugi just threw his sword to the floor, leaving a clanging sound from the impact.

The minister opened his eyes, seeing the sword right next to him. Then he looked at Yugi and asked, "What?"

Yugi relaxed after tensing up. "You should know I also represent justice as well as courage. Besides, I'm not like you, Frollo. I don't believe justice can served by killing." He picked up his sword and sheathed it after cleaning the blood off.

Joey smiled at his friend, seeing that he was the better man. Seeing that the minister was weak, Kaiba knew that this was his chance to land an attack. He raised his scepter, but before he could perform a spell, Emily stopped him, placing her hand on the weapon and lowering it. "It's not worth it," she told the brunette. Then she walked over to Yugi and looked down at Frollo. Yugi and Emily looked at each other. He nodded at her. She was about to use her magic to heal the wound in Yugi's arm, but he wanted her to take care of Frollo's wound first. So she got down and began healing him with her magic. Her eyes glowed with a blue light and that same glow surrounded her hand as she placed it close to the wound.

Frollo felt a chill coursing through the area of the wound as it was being healed. Slowly, his pain was subsiding. When Emily pulled her hand away, the minister saw that his cut was gone. He looked at her and asked, "Why would you defend me the way you did and then use your magic to heal me?"

"Because I'm nothing like you," she told him, throwing his words back at him. "And when I looked inside your heart, I saw other things. I saw that you had been in pain and suffering for too long all because you never had someone to love you or to teach you about love." She stepped back and looked at him in sadness. "Frollo, you were just a boy when you lost your parents to a plague that nearly killed off everyone not just in Paris, but the entire European continent. You lost your childhood and your innocence too soon when you had to take care of yourself and your younger brother. It was because you were alone for so long that your heart hardened over the years. You were distorted with anger, hate, and prejudice. And though it pains me to see you in such a way, there's nothing I can do. I can't be the one to help you understand true love because even I still have a lot to learn about it. The only person who can help you is yourself."

Kaiba understood what she was talking about because he had read the book. Frollo, however, was astonished that this girl could know about what a tragic past he went through.

"Love didn't fail you, Frollo," continued Emily. "But if you continue to be the way you are, you'll never come to realize that." She turned away. "I should hate you for what you've done not just to me and my friends, but to the people you've persecuted. Yet, somehow I can't bring myself to. Is it because I'm the hero of love that I can't bring myself to harbor feelings of hate for anybody? Or is it because I just feel sorry for you knowing what you've been through?" She looked the other way. "Then again, how can I call myself the hero of love if I can't even feel love for someone like you? Maybe I really am misguided." She looked at him directly. "I don't love you, but I can't seem to hate you either. I guess all I can feel for you is sorrow and shame." She turned around and rejoined her friends and took Gatomon in her arms. She also used the same spell to heal the wound close to Yugi's shoulder.

Frollo was silent for a moment. Then he stood up and said, "This isn't the end, Heroes of Millennia. One of these days, we will meet again. And when we do, you will all be brought to justice."

Emily stopped and turned her head back. She looked at him in shame and said sadly, "I still pity you." Gatomon scowled and stuck out her tongue. Yugi, Joey, and Kaiba shot a few last looks of anger and disappointment. Then they all climbed up the ledge of the colonnade and unfolded their wings and flew down into the streets. Frollo picked up a feather that came from Emily's wings. As he watched her and her friends take their leave, he clutched the feather in his hand.