Series: Division of Destiny||Story: Reign of the Undead King||Chapter: The Trip
Characters: Piemon, Vamdemon, Chosen Children, others||Pairings: Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken, Mimi x Sora/Sora x Mimi
Chapters: 13-40||Words: 2,676||Total: 34,668
Genre: Romance, Drama||Rated: PG-13
Summary: Vamdemon and Piemon rule supreme. Only now, ten years after their victory, are things about to change. For good or for ill.
LadyDevimon didn't know how much time passed after Wizarmon departed before another set of footsteps made their way down the stairs and to the door. This was one set she recognized as easily as her own breathing, and she rose to her feet as the door swung open.
"Vamdemon-sama." She bent her head, a faint flicker of tension tightening all through her. "What can I do for you?"
The vampire moved forward to where he could look at Hikari, not answering her just yet. LadyDevimon's gaze shifted slightly toward her charge, and she breathed a faint mental sigh of relief that the girl didn't look very interested in anything at the moment. She lay on her cot, staring up at the ceiling, not showing any sign that she'd even noticed her chief captor's arrival.
"And how have matters been here?" Vamdemon asked at last. LadyDevimon shifted to attention a bit more at the question.
"Everything has been quiet, my lord." Even those few questions Hikari asked made it too quiet, and that knowledge forever wrenched at her heart, no matter how often she told herself that it shouldn't. She shouldn't care about Hikari. The girl was only a task, a job. But no matter how often she told herself that, the truth never changed: she was more.
Vamdemon nodded, his gaze still on the girl. "I noticed that Wizarmon came to visit you."
"He does that on occasion." LadyDevimon shrugged, truly not understanding why. Those faint memories from long ago, when she was merely Tailmon and still didn't understand her place in the world, didn't make much sense to her. She avoided thinking about them as much as she could, in favor of matters she understood better. "I don't know why."
The master of Earth nodded again before he turned to look at her head-on. "Is there anything that you require here?"
LadyDevimon considered that. She didn't need much. She kept a supply of books on hand just to give herself something to do when Hikari slept and she herself wasn't tired. She was provided with the best food available, which she preferred to eat when Hikari couldn't see her.
"I would like to…" When she realized what she was about to ask, she tensed more than ever. She'd never asked for anything like this before, but now that the idea had struck her, she knew she had to at least try. Doing otherwise was unthinkable.
"Yes?" Vamdemon's eyebrow quirked a trifle, and LadyDevimon steeled herself. At worst he would say no and all would continue as it had before.
"I would like to take the girl out for a flight. Not for very long, only a few hours, and we wouldn't leave the confines of the city." She scrambled quickly for other words that would make this more acceptable to her master. "I think seeing the world as it is now would help to keep her as obedient as she's been."
It would give her fresher air than here in the dungeon. It would show her that the world still existed outside of this place. Perhaps she might even see a few stray humans going about what muddled business they might still have.
She kept her features as calm as she could, not wanting to betray how much she also wanted to get out for herself, to see what the world was like now, to just fly and touch the sky. Some part of her forever whispered that flight was her fate and the skies her right, and staying down here forever with Hikari was wrong.
She needed to be up there with Hikari, and she would find a way to do it.
Vamdemon appeared to be giving her request consideration, and she fought back every ounce of glee and hope that wanted to surge through her when he didn't immediately turn her down. She wanted this; wanted it as she could not remember wanting anything else in her entire life.
Someone I'm looking for, someone who needs me, someone who I was always supposed to be with…
She blinked only for a moment and thought she could see Hikari as she'd been years earlier, a hopeful and happy child, unaware of the years of isolation that lay ahead of her. She didn't let it distract her. Distractions could mean she didn't get permission. It could not happen like that.
"Very well." Vamdemon said at last, and LadyDevimon held herself back from a very undignified squeal of joy. Instead, she bent her head gracefully.
"Thank you, Vamdemon-sama." She wondered how humans would react to a gift like this being given, and decided it was better she didn't know. Vamdemon considered humans nothing more than food or slaves. Or both at the same time. Only Digimon, or his pack, were worth more in his eyes.
He nodded, still looking at her, and she tensed more. "Return within four hours. Make certain she speaks to no one, human or Digimon, save you. Tell no one who she is. Keep up high; there could be danger closer to the ground."
She'd expected nothing less and nodded once more. "As you wish, Vamdemon-sama." If it meant she could take Hikari outside, then she would agree to almost anything. She wondered what season it was meant to be and if the girl would need a jacket; didn't humans get cold at times? She hadn't seen enough of them to know, but what information had filtered in from the Chosen's trip before Vamdemon's defeat had included something to that extent. It had been quite some time since she'd read that.
The vampire turned and left without another word. As soon as the door closed behind him, Hikari sat up and looked at her, faint hints of interest sparking in the back of her eyes.
"Why did you ask for that?" She murmured, keeping her voice low enough that LadyDevimon herself barely heard her.
"You heard what I told him." LadyDevimon fought even harder to keep her expression neutral. If Vamdemon had learned of her true reasons, then they could both be killed. If Hikari learned, it would be even worse. The girl could never know that…she could just never know. Never.
Hikari said nothing, only kept on looking at her, and LadyDevimon decided it was better to get moving. It only took a few moments to get ready; neither of them had anything to change into. They would have to risk how chilly it was. Getting Hikari out of the cell and up the steps took only a few more moments. The girl breathed a little faster as the concept of actually going outside became something more of a reality, and LadyDevimon couldn't fault her one moment. She felt the same way, imagining what it would be like to feel the winds once more.
She knew of the changes Vamdemon's rule had imposed on the world, and had seen them to some extent during previous trips spent with Hikari being displayed as the last Chosen. But the sight of dark, starless skies and winds that held little life to them still struck a pang deep on the Digimon's heart.
"This was… my home?" Hikari murmured the words, recalling as well as LadyDevimon did Vamdemon's orders. LadyDevimon carefully lifted her into her arms.
"Your home is here now." The difference in meaning didn't escape either of them. This world would never be the same again, no matter what might happen. Everyone, human and Digimon, needed to accept that.
She wondered, even as she took to the air, what sort of danger Vamdemon meant could be 'close to the ground'. It would have to be human; there were plenty of flying Digimon, so if it were a danger from them, it could come from anywhere. And there weren't any Digimon who could pose a threat to her regardless. She doubted there were any humans who could, but they might think they could, and they would most definitely be able to kill Hikari anyway.
That, she would not allow, under any circumstances. Anyone who lifted a hand against her charge would find out exactly how powerful a Perfect-level Digimon actually was.
But she didn't worry herself about that much now. Instead, she lifted them higher and higher as they coursed out of the castle boundaries and into what had once been a city of some size. Or perhaps it had been a district. LadyDevimon hadn't bothered herself to learn the terms as they'd once been used by humans, and they didn't really matter anyway. All she wanted to know was that she was in the area deemed safe for their trip.
Hikari clung to her, eyes large and round as she stared at the castle rapidly receding into the distance, and at everything else that filled her vision with each passing moments. Trees, some still tall, though their leaves had long since fallen, turning them into barren twigs reaching up against skies that held no light, poked here and there. Buildings and the remains of buildings stretched out in every direction. Moss crept over the ruins and surviving structures alike, lending everything a half-dead air. Once in a while, a few vermin crept here and there, notable more by the few sounds they made, small claws against broken stone than being seen.
Something wet dampened LadyDevimon's arm and she looked up at first, wondering if it rained. But the shadows held no clouds for that, and it was another moment before she realized what was going on.
Hikari wept.
"Child?" Oh, how she wanted to use the girl's name, to remind her of her own identity. But she could not.
"I think…I think I remember…a little." Her grip tightened on LadyDevimon's arm. "I don't think I lived here…I can't tell. But I…it shouldn't look like this."
LadyDevimon held her closer, the tears still dripping down, scorching the Digimon to the depths of her soul. She didn't say anything. She wasn't certain if she could. She couldn't remember if this was where Hikari had once lived or not, and she'd long taught herself that it didn't matter.
"Do you want to go back?" They'd scarcely been out a full hour yet. Hikari shook her head at the question, and LadyDevimon nodded, carrying her onward.
Keeping to the rules Vamdemon had set still gave them a large amount of territory to explore. LadyDevimon made certain to keep them away from the stretches of land occupied by human slaves, dedicated to raising food for more human slaves. She didn't want Hikari to shed more tears over her fellow humans working like this, and she didn't want them to get any ideas about why one of Vamdemon's servants carried a small human around with her. They saw enough if one of the pack decided to keep a blood pet for a while.
Tiny teeth of curiosity nibbled at her as they traveled, though, and LadyDevimon found herself keeping a sharp eye out for anything that might cause her or any other Digimon trouble. Something about that wiggled and fretted in the back of her mind, mostly driven out by being able to take Hikari out, but not truly forgotten.
Somewhere in the middle of the journey, when they ghosted over the top of a tall building that had once held hundreds of human families, the thought slid itself into the proper place in her mind, and it was all LadyDevimon could do to make certain she kept a firm grip on her charge.
There was an attack. On one of the pack. Somewhere out here. Wizarmon had mentioned it! He'd made as if to brush it off, presenting it as nothing very important, and she'd not paid attention to it. If she had, she wasn't certain if she would've asked for this trip until after she'd known Vamdemon and the pack had taken care of the matter.
And yet Vamdemon allowed them out anyway. A faint thread of worry wound itself all around her. Did he hope that she would disobey orders and one or both of them would end up dead?
No, it couldn't be. If she died, then he would've lost his precious prisoner, and if Hikari died, he lost her altogether, the walking evidence, aside from the pack, that he'd won. He must have trusted to her skills as a warrior to keep them both alive, and warned her about keeping away from the low-lying areas. As disinterested as Hikari was in everything in general, he still wouldn't have spoken of a human attack. She was never to know such matters even happened, and Wizarmon had risked much to speak of it at all.
But now she knew, and now she kept a sharper eye out for what was going on around them. There were movements, usually in the darkest areas between buildings or underneath the remnants of trees and bushes, and once she thought she caught an actual glimpse of a human, but before she could be certain, whoever it was, if it was anyone at all, ducked away out of sight at all.
What would I do if I found one? She would defend Hikari if one attacked, but what to do about those who simply cowered away? Leaving them be seemed the most sensible option. They weren't able to cause any problems if they didn't attack.
"We need to go back." They still had a little less than an hour before their allotted time passed, but it would still take time to get back to the castle. Perhaps if they did well this time, they could go out again later. Not very often; Hikari's punishment kept her from being allowed to interact at all with other humans, and to be kept away from them all as much as possible. But perhaps once a week or so would be enough to satisfy Vamdemon's requirements.
Hikari said nothing, only tightened her hands just a little on LadyDevimon's arm. Her tears no longer dropped, for which the Digimon found herself grateful. She didn't want to explain them to anyone.
LadyDevimon raised them just a little higher, enough so the wind of their passing kicked up a few leaves and no more. Most humans who would be on the ground would think of it as nothing more than a slight breeze.
It was little more than a movement somewhere off to the left, as they passed over an area that looked to have once been some sort of playground. LadyDevimon would've ignored it altogether, if the breeze that she followed hadn't brought the faint scent of humans to her nostrils. While her senses couldn't compare to those of some other Digimon, especially with all of her time spent guarding Hikari, that was an aroma she knew quite well, and coupled with the faint sound of a foot scraping as whoever it was moved out of sight, or tried to, she did not doubt at all that there was a human there.
Hikari glanced that way the same moment that she did, attracted by something LadyDevimon didn't know. Perhaps she'd heard that footstep as well, or caught the movement. But LadyDevimon's grip tightened in caution. She could not let this human harm Hikari.
She meant to speed up, to hurry their return and thus make certain her charge remained safe. But before she could gather herself enough to do so, Hikari did something she almost never did.
"Hello." She lifted herself up and spoke, directing her words to the curve of shadow created by two fallen trees braced against one another. "Who are you?"
LadyDevimon didn't have the language skills that some of her fellow Digimon did. But she invented several new curse words in the few moments before the shape in the shadows moved forward, just a fraction, just enough so they could see the human that stood there. Wonder and confusion lit his expression as he stared at them both, far enough away that an attack wouldn't be easy for either of them.
"Ichijouji Ken."
To Be Continued