Series: Division of Destiny||Story: Reign of the Undead King||Chapter: The Risks
Characters: Piemon, Vamdemon, Chosen Children, others||Pairings: Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken, Mimi x Sora/Sora x Mimi
Chapters: 24-40||Words: 2,552||Total: 63,629
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.
Osamu knew he should be worried. Someone they didn't know about was out there, and only Wizarmon and whatever lies he could spin stood between them and possible agonizing death. It could even be Vamdemon. From what little he knew of the vampire overlord, he would probably be more likely to blow their little meeting area to the heavens than simply wait outside, and that was if Wizarmon's spell even protected against him.
He wanted to think that it did. He wanted to think that the meeting had gone as well as he hoped it did. But until they knew for certain, he knew that should be worried.
And yet, despite how much he should be, he knew that he wasn't. His thoughts trailed back to the wizard Digimon, to the way his hands had clenched and unclenched around his staff, the way he'd confessed to what little he knew or could do to help, but how he would help whenever he could…
Wizarmon intrigued him. More than that, he wanted to talk to him, to get to know him, to be…friends?
Osamu tasted the word in his thoughts, turning it over and over, trying to figure out if it felt the way he thought that it did. It seemed to; he couldn't understand it, but it felt…right. It felt as if Wizarmon were a part of himself that he'd never known was missing until he found it.
He's a Digimon. He didn't hate all Digimon, not like some people he knew. But he'd never thought of having one as a friend. They were creatures that should depart his world as soon as possible, perhaps with a thanks if they'd somehow helped to defeat Vamdemon, and that was it.
The thought of never seeing Wizarmon again didn't precisely horrify him, but he wondered if he could really do that. Go forever without seeing or speaking to someone that could offer so much…
"Osamu?" Jun prodded him with one finger. "Are you all right? You look a little lost."
That was somewhat how he felt, but he shook his head. "I'm fine." Better not tell her. Jun wasn't a Digimon hater, but these thoughts simply fascinated him and he wanted time to consider them in peace before he expressed them to anyone who wasn't Ken.
Ken almost always understood him, no matter what. It hadn't always been like this; in the days before the invasion, when he was just starting to get a name as a genius, he'd ignored his brother far more than what was right.
He didn't want his world to suffer as it had underneath the heel of that monster, but there were times Osamu couldn't help but be glad that he didn't treat Ken like that anymore. Family and those other precious ones were too important to ignore for the sake of a few extra grade points.
"What do you see?" He pulled himself fully into the present and looked at where Daisuke and Ken had crawled to the top of a pile of rubble, apparently looking out to see what Wizarmon was up to.
"It's Yagami," Daisuke spat, making the name sound like the deepest of insults. He fingered his crossbow, and Osamu knew what had to be going through his mind. They needed to trim down the pack as much as possible, and here was Vamdemon's right-hand vampire, ripe for the plucking.
He wiggled his way up next to Daisuke and set a hand on his shoulder before the other could do more than start to bring the crossbow to bear. "Now's not the right time."
"Any time is right for this." Daisuke started to pull away, until Ken's hand rested on his other shoulder.
"Osamu's right. Not while Wizarmon is there. He's our insight into Vamdemon's army and we can't put him at risk. Not without telling him about it first."
Osamu didn't see a lot of teenagers pout these days, but Daisuke still managed to pull it off.
"Don't worry. You'll get your chance." They all knew they had to let Daisuke kill one of the vampires, if not all of them. His grudge was the most personal and if he didn't get that chance, no one doubted he'd go and take it for himself.
Osamu glanced back through the cracks in the cement blocks. He couldn't help but be more than a little worried about Wizarmon now anyway, and not just because of the chance Daisuke would attempt to take out one of the vampires without any sort of plan behind it. Wizarmon was going back into the realm of their enemy, with knowledge of who they were and at least one place where they could be found at a specific date and time. If someone worked that information out of him, then their small chance of victory vanished.
Yagami didn't seem too upset at the moment, though. He did shoot looks now and then toward the building, but that seemed more normal paranoia than knowing anything about who might be in there.
"We'd better get going while we can," he said after a few more nervous minutes. Yagami and Wizarmon still spoke, though he couldn't hear anything of what they were saying. Both of them easily hung in the air a short distance away, but the acoustics of this shattered area were simply off for hearing more than a vague whisper of voices. Or it might've been the results of Wizarmon's firewall. Either way, whatever they discussed wasn't audible.
Daisuke muttered a few words under his breath that in a brighter age might've had his mother wash his mouth out with soap. As it was, Osamu rolled his eyes, made a note to have him wash all the dishes for the next couple of days, and started to lead them back to the corridor they'd emerged from.
They hadn't gone far at all when a few stray pebbles skittered over the floor. All of them froze; that didn't come from anywhere near them, nor from where Wizarmon or Yagami could get in here.
Miyako gestured, and they all turned in that direction, weapons at the ready. Whatever it was, one fact had become clear over the years of conquest: a knife could kill almost anyone. The hardest part of that was finding a way to put it into the vulnerable areas, followed by learning what those vulnerable areas were in the first place.
Light as a feather, Miyako slipped over to where the sound came from, blade ready to pierce whatever had snuck into their meeting area. Whoever, whatever it was had to die, or be restrained in some fashion that would prevent it from telling Vamdemon or his Digimon what they were doing.
Osamu stood in just the right position to see her eyes widen for a heartbeat before she began to move forward. Whatever it was surprised her, but she wasn't going to let that stop her.
What did stop her was the hand that flashed out of the shadows, seizing her wrist and holding it firmly.
Miyako didn't bother with useless demands to be released. Instead, she brought one foot up and shoved it as hard as she could into the stomach of the one who held her. He stumbled back, and she brought her free hand down on the wrist of the hand that held her other one, growling under her breath at the same time.
"In my day, kids didn't play with sharp objects." A voice spoke, tired and a little gasping for breath. Everyone tensed as a set of footsteps sounded, and from a small dark area that Osamu would've sworn was far too tiny to hide one person there stepped an older man.
He wasn't entirely what one would call old, but he had clearly been an adult before the invasion, and now was in his forties or fifties. Old people were something of a rarity, given the privations that most of their world suffered under.
I don't think I've seen anyone that old in a while, really. Osamu mentally shook his head, then stepped forward, not having lost the grip on his knife.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?"
"This is my home. I should be asking all of you that." He folded his arms over his chest and stared at them all with a look that said clearer than any other that he wouldn't give up this place without a fight. "And I should also ask what you're doing meeting one of those monsters here."
"If it's any of your business, we're trying to save our world," Daisuke snapped, crossbow partially waved. Ken waved him back down with a slightly annoyed snap to his fingers; none of them wanted to see their precious vampire killing (maybe) ammunition wasted on a human that could just as easily be dispatched with a good knife strike.
Osamu had killed humans before, ones who had pledged their loyalty to Vamdemon and sometimes others. When they needed supplies or just to protect themselves, it was sometimes all that they could do.
The old man tilted his head back, a hint of a vague smile on his lips. "Really."
"What about you?" Osamu took another step forward. "You said this is your home, but no one lives here."
"I do." He must have; he didn't try to point to any one place as his home. Osamu guessed that meant he didn't want them to know where it actually was. A good idea if he wanted to keep his home safe from intruders like them.
"So who are you?" He doubted the other was any servant of Vamdemon, not if he considered Digimon to be monsters. But who would live in a place like this? Of all the places where humans could live now, this wasn't really one Osamu would've picked for himself. At least their location was hidden and easy to guard.
"Since you're the intruders, why don't you tell me first?" He didn't look armed, but the way he stared at them all said he knew far more than he was telling. Osamu tilted his head and listened; were those footsteps? They certainly sounded like them. Plenty of them too; they could be outnumbered. Which didn't bode well at all.
Perhaps Wizarmon could lend a hand, but a quick glance outside showed that he wasn't there anymore, nor was Yagami. The latter's absence didn't bother Osamu at all, but he had to hope Wizarmon wasn't in any danger. Too much lay at stake here, especially with this new twist of events.
"Ichijouji Osamu." Osamu relented enough to introduce himself. If this turned bad, then they would have to kill the stranger and perhaps find somewhere else to meet Wizarmon the following week.
One by one the others gave their names as well, though no one relaxed, least of all Daisuke. The old man looked at them all, giving the impression that he was committing each of their faces and names to memory.
"Now it's your turn," Osamu said, tapping the hilt of his knife in his best meaningful manner. The longer they stayed here, the more chances rose that Yagami could send someone to investigate the area, or come back himself. He wanted them all out of there before then. The strange man could go or stay as he pleased, so long as their security wasn't compromised.
He smiled a fraction, and Osamu wondered why he was oddly comforted by it. It was an expression that said he'd done this kind of thing before.
"Ishida Hiroaki." He turned slightly behind him and gestured. A woman, a long knife of her own in one hand, stepped out, eyes as cold and hard as river ice turning toward them all. "This is Takashi Natsuko. And you are not welcome in our home."
Gennai ran over what Leomon and Centauromon told him. Yamato, his fury, his attack, his strange silence, the way they'd spoken of his voice when he did speak…the way he treated them all as his enemies…they'd all known that after so many years under Piemon's wing, the three human Chosen wouldn't be as they'd once been. That only made sense.
Yet this was something that he hadn't even considered, that at least one of them would be out for his blood.
He needed to talk to him. As risky as the idea was, as much as it would put his life to risk at a time when they couldn't spare a single person, much less himself, who kept contacts between two worlds, he had to do it.
"You want to what?" Leomon stared at Gennai, as if he hadn't entirely heard the old man's suggestion, or didn't properly understand what he had heard. Gennai wasn't surprised.
"I told you. I need to speak to Yamato to find out what he wants. Maybe if I know that, we can unravel whatever it is Piemon did to him." At the very least they could find out where Takeru and Koushirou were and rescue them. He couldn't even begin to think of everything they needed to do.
Maybe he needed to start keeping a list. It surely would be useful.
"What he wants, as near as I can assume, is you dead." Leomon didn't look at all amused by this. "Or Piemon wants you dead and is using Yamato to do it."
"It doesn't matter," Gennai said. He considered the matter with all due thoughtfulness. This had to be done carefully or they would lose what little they'd managed to protect over the years and gain nothing at all for it. "We need to capture Yamato. Then we can get answers."
Leomon came within a hair's breadth of facepalming. "What makes you think he'll give them to you?"
"Because he wants to kill me." Gennai thought this a splendid idea, whether or not it stood the proverbial snowball's chance in hell of working. What else could they do? Approaching Piemon in his castle would be tantamount to a death sentence anyway. At least like this, they could control where and how they encountered Yamato. And how much he tried to shred them.
Leomon took in a long, deep breath. Gennai had seen this kind of reaction many times before, usually when Ogremon wanted to insist that they fight each other instead of the Dark Masters. "How were you going to stop him from filleting you? He's very good with his sword. Piemon's taught him many tricks."
"I have some ideas." Gennai didn't want to give them away just yet. He would have to go find just the right Digimon, and hope that they could steer this in the way that it needed to go. "Leomon, I need you to do a few things for me."
He wasn't surprised at all to hear a low, exasperated sigh from the great lion Digimon. "Gennai, a Digimon can be reformatted if they are defeated and killed. Can you be?"
"I really don't know, my friend." Gennai shrugged; it wasn't something that he'd ever thought about before. He guessed he probably should if he were going to risk his life to save their world. But before he went to all of that trouble… "This is what I need you to do for me."
To Be Continued