Series: Division of Destiny||Story: Reign of the Undead King||Chapter: The Theft
Characters: Piemon, Vamdemon, Chosen Children, others||Pairings: Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken, Mimi x Sora/Sora x Mimi
Chapters: 29-40||Words: 2,603||Total: 76,739
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.
Vamdemon is going to know. The thought failed to cease ringing in Wizarmon's mind for a single moment. Going to know, could very well already know. It didn't make much of a difference, because the end would be the same: he would have no questions about who had set Hikari free and the moment he arrived at the castle and began to sort through the rubble, he would know what to do. They would be lucky if he didn't send the flock after them. Wizarmon thought that together, he and LadyDevimon could stand whatever Digimon came against them.
Unless Vamdemon himself came after them. That sent even more chills going through him. He didn't want to think on it too much; that would freeze him where he stood, and the sooner they reached the gateway, the better.
He glanced forward to where LadyDevimon flew, arms still wrapped around Hikari protectively. If only he knew where the Crest of Light and the old Digivice had been hidden. But Vamdemon had kept that information to himself all this time.
I have to go back. He could not have gone paler if he'd tried. But the certainity of it rang through every ounce of his heart. They would need those things if they were to have any chance against Vamdemon. He didn't know all of their uses, but they were blindingly, unquestionably necessary.
"LadyDevimon!" Wizarmon called out, moving to catch up with her. "Do you know where the portal is?"
"Sort of." A faint tinge touched her pale gray cheeks. "I never paid much attention to the gossip."
And there hadn't been many who would've chosen to gossip where she could hear them anyway. He shook his head quickly.
"Find a place to hide until I come back. I've left something behind that we will need." He hesitated only a moment. "I'll either bring it myself or send it through someone you can trust."
He wasn't certain who he could trust at all, but he would find someone if he couldn't bring it himself. Even if he had to make certain he could trust them in a way that he didn't like doing.
LadyDevimon tightened her hold around Hikari. "Are you certain?"
"Yes." Wizarmon wasn't going to let this chance slip away. He thought he might know where the items were, but getting them would be almost impossible, even for him.
Even so, almost didn't mean completely, and he would put all of his effort into this. He gestured for them to go on, and turned back, taking the long way around. At least the confusion that still reigned would keep most people from even noticing him.
There were few places where Vamdemon would've wanted to hide the Crest, Tag, and Digivice of Light. They were the tools of the one meant to destroy him, and even when he had her firmly in his clutches, he wouldn't take a chance that someone else might claim them and find a way to use them against him.
He would hide it somewhere where no one else could even see it. Where no one would ever think to look for it.
Only one place fit that condition, and in all of his life, Wizarmon had never wished he had a companion as much as he wished for one now. The image of dark blue hair and serious eyes rose in the back of his thoughts, and he shoved it away without remorse. As much as the thought of having Osamu with him appealed to him, this was also the very last place he would have ever wanted to see him.
Going not just into Vamdemon's castle, but into the wicked vampire's personal bedchamber? The only human Wizarmon knew of who'd ever come out of there in one piece had been Daisuke, and even he had mental scars from that. He wouldn't even put Osamu close to being in that position. Vamdemon would drink him dry, and then bring him back as one of the pack, if he had even an inkling of how much Wizarmon wanted to keep him safe.
Exactly why he wanted that flickered and danced like a flame in the breeze in the back of Wizarmon's mind, and he refused to pay attention to it. Another time, another place, that was what it would have to be. Here and now, he needed to get his treasure and get out of here.
No one guarded Vamdemon's chamber. No one sane would want to go in there. But with every move that he made, Wizarmon still could not shake the feeling that cold blue eyes rested on the back of his neck, and gloved hands awaited the chance to close themselves around him, cutting off his hair and bringing him to his most brutal end.
He breathed just a fraction harder. If Vamdemon had protections on Hikari's cell that he couldn't detect, then who was to say that he couldn't have them here, in his most private rooms? It made sense for them to be warded, and Wizarmon's imagination provided a thousand different results of trespassing on those wards. Incinerated, pierced by a thousand spikes, captured and held until the vampire himself came to deal with the intruder...and those were only the beginning of what he could imagine. Vamdemon's twist for punishment could provide even more, ones far beyond what Wizarmon could even begin to think of.
He had to keep going, though. If he didn't find LadyDevimon and Hikari after a long enough interval, he had to trust that they would go on without him. What they might do without what he wanted to bring them he couldn't yet guess, but perhaps Gennai would be able to help them. He cursed to himself, wishing he'd been able to get a message through concerning them.
He would do that as soon as they crossed over. Though he also wished he'd been able to send one to Osamu. He would have to sort all of this out.
Taking one step at a time, he crossed over the threshold into Vamdemon's chamber. He held his breath, more from not wanting to make a single sound than anything else. One step, and another, and then another. He looked around, recalling the way Vamdemon's chamber had been set up in the castle in the Digital World. He'd only been there once, to receive some special orders for a mission with Tailmon, but he remembered very clearly.
Vamdemon's quarters consisted of five rooms, three of which were devoted to his own personal comfort and possessions. The other two hadn't been used in the Digital World, but here, Daisuke had lived in them for some years: a small room that was more of a closet than a bedroom, and an equally small room for personal needs.
The other three consisted of Vamdemon's personal bathing area (which was much more richly decorated than the small one his blood pet was granted use of), a huge library that consisted of what seemed to be endless books of spellcraft and lore, and a bedroom, where a large coffin rested in the center of the room.
Wizarmon hadn't ever asked if any of the pack slept in coffins. He didn't know where they would've found them here anyway. But Vamdemon's rested there, closed and silent. Wizarmon's gaze was drawn to it, fully aware of all of the wards that protected it: or at least some of them. After what happened with Hikari's cell bars, he wasn't going to trust anything not to have some kind of guard on them.
More careful steps in, and sweat pooled in the small of his back. Here, he couldn't hear the rush and chatter from the Digimon trying to work out what had happened in the cells. Everything remained quiet. The kind of quiet that reigned just before disaster struck.
I have to hurry. There were so many possible hiding places in this room alone, and that didn't include the simple possibility that Vamdemon carried the items on his person. That would be the absolute worst.
But that was also something he had to take a chance on. He drew in a breath and flipped open the coffin, ready for defend himself.
Nothing happened. Within the coffin, a silken pillow rested on a liner of dark satin, nothing more. Wizarmon let himself breathe the slightest fraction before he pulled the pillow to the side.
Still nothing. He looked around, trying to find anywhere else. The items would be held where Vamdemon himself felt most secure putting them, where no one could find them, even if he wasn't there. His own person still seemed the best choice, but Wizarmon couldn't check there, not now. The coffin was second best, but they weren't there.
He glanced at it again, and this time something else caught his attention: the size inside and outside didn't match perfectly. The wizard's eyes narrowed as he leaned forward, running one finger alongside of it. Math wasn't his best magic, but if he judged this correctly...
He seized the liner and yanked it back, revealed the bottom of the coffin. The metal coffin gleamed in the pale flickering torchlight, the faintest of lines visible as well. Wizarmon plunged his hand there, sparkles of light flaring up his arm, and he knew that even if he'd somehow failed to set off an alarm before, now he hadn't. Now Vamdemon knew that someone was in his personal rooms, looking to take something from there. And on today, when Yagami Hikari had been freed from her prison, there could only be one target by such a thief.
His hand closed around a small box and he pulled it out. Carved into it was a symbol he'd seen only once before, when Vamdemon showed them all the Crest of Light to prove that he owned it. But here, it had been slashed through as if by a knife. Negating it; the power that it represented held dormant and captive.
Wizarmon snarled as he pried at the golden lock, and more sparks flared, stronger and sharper than before. Warding? More of it? He would have to work harder in order to get through it, and he didn't want to do it here, just in case...
"I suspected that it was you."
Vamdemon stood in the doorway, arms folded over his chest, one golden eyebrow arched upward. "Put away what isn't yours."
"It's not yours, either. And I plan to return it to the rightful owner!" There wasn't any need to hide that, at least. Wizarmon liked that, not having to lie and conceal who his loyalty truly belonged to anymore.
The vampire's lip twitched upward. "Really. You think that a broken doll can do anything with that? Even if you take her out of here, she's a useless husk. She can be nothing more."
"What makes you so certain of that?" Wizarmon backed away, far too aware that this place had no windows. He needed a way out, and the only way he knew was through the door Vamdemon now blocked.
"You'll see. Those are nothing more than trinkets, the remnants of a long gone age that will never come again. I know you think you can defeat me if you have them, but I am unstoppable." Vamdemon chuckled as he took a step into the room. "I think perhaps this time, when I recover her, I won't bother with keeping her. She's not as much fun to play with as she once was." He paused, and Wizarmon knew whatever he said next would be meant to hurt, to carve out more pain in his heart. Vamdemon was very good at that. "I think her brother would very much like to meet her, don't you?"
Wizarmon brought up his staff and lit the tip of it, bright light sparking. Vamdemon hissed for a moment before bringing one hand down in a sharp gesture, and thick shadows gathered before him.
"You won't hurt her like that. You won't hurt her ever again. I won't allow it."
That pulled a laugh from Vamdemon. "Is that what you plan to do? Be her guardian?" A faint question rippled through his voice. "You, the Eighth Digimon?"
He doesn't know! Wizarmon could've leaped for joy. It put him in more danger, but it also gave more protection to LadyDevimon, for the moment. How Vamdemon hadn't figured it out in all these years, he didn't know, and right now, he cared absolutely not at all. Instead, he let himself smile, the expression only vaguely visible behind his scarf.
"So what if I am?"
He moved before he even finished the question, charging straight at Vamdemon in what he knew could end up being a suicide move. But he'd read many books by humans over the years, and he knew something very well: the wisest of warriors feared not the second greatest, but the one who knew nothing at all of warfare. For that inexperienced warrior would make the mistake that couldn't be predicted.
Such as charging directly at one's mortal enemy while in the heart of their stronghold and holding what could be the keys to their defeat in one's hand.
Vamdemon stumbled back only a little, but that little was all Wizarmon needed to squeeze past him and rush for the steps that led to the corridors. He knew those corridors would lead to the outer rooms, which would give him access to windows he could fly through.
Vamdemon's voice rang throughout the castle. "Wizarmon is declared a traitor from this moment onward. He released my prisoner and has abducted LadyDevimon and stolen treasure from my sanctuary. I want him brought to me alive. If one of the flock brings him back, you may hunt as you please for a month. If someone else does, you may name your reward. All that is within my power to grant is yours."
Wizarmon spied a window ahead and was in the air a heartbeat later. He wanted to shout with joy, before a collection of Digimon drew around the corner of the stairs, headed by DeviDramon. And not just any DeviDramon. Wizarmon knew this one quite well. When all of this war had begun, he'd been PicoDevimon, Vamdemon's personal spy and snitch.
"Hey! There he is!" There were still echoes of that voice in the one he had now, though this one came from a deeper chest and more powerful body. "Let's get him!"
DeviDramon leaped forward, claws reaching, and Wizarmon shot through the window at top speed, the glass tearing into him. He didn't make it as far as he wanted to; DeviDramon's claws dug into his cape and started to pull him back toward the castle. He struggled and strained, hampered by the box in one hand, and started to lift his wand, flame igniting on the tip of it once again.
A hand struck against his wrist, and the wand fall to the ground, far out of his sight. He jerked his head upward to stare into a set of crimson red eyes, and a face almost identical to his own, though far more...fiery.
"I think I like the idea of being able to claim any reward I desire from Vamdemon-sama," a harsh and cold voice spoke. A wand that brought to mind an unlit matchstick flamed into life. "I think I might ask him if I can burn a few Digimon you know. Maybe one of them in particular."
FlaWizarmon smiled, a slash of shadows and flame, before two words and fire took over Wizarmon's world.
"Fire Cloud!"
To Be Continued