Series: Division of Destiny||Story: Reign of the Undead King||Chapter: The Escape
Characters: Piemon, Vamdemon, Chosen Children, others||Pairings: Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken, Mimi x Sora/Sora x Mimi
Chapters: 34-40||Words: 2,723||Total: 90,264
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.

"Where are they?" Scarlet energies lashed out from Vamdemon, slamming Wizarmon harder against the wall. He couldn't fall; the chains kept him there, but it took a fraction more strength than he actually had not to make a noise of pain.

Wizarmon didn't remember how long he'd been here. There had been FlaWizarmon's fire and then he'd awoken in this dungeon, minutes or hours or even days later. From that moment, not a single instant had pasesd when he wasn't in some kind of agony. If it wasn't Vamdemon, then his fiery counterpart or DeviDramon did something to hurt him, mostly for the thrill of doing so, since unlike Vamdemon, neither of them asked him any questions.

Vamdemon asked him only one. Wizarmon refused to answer. Over and over the same three words rang through his mind, and Wizarmon never stopped being grateful that he didn't know the answer. That he'd made certain he wouldn't know the answer.

"Where are they?" Vamdemon slashed at him one more time with Bloody Stream, and Wizarmon tilted his head back and gave voice to his pain, screaming at the top of his lungs. He didn't even try not to. Fighting it wouldn't have done anything but make it worse, and since he couldn't answer the question, he felt no shame at all in letting the world know what Vamdemon was doing to him.

As if the world cared in the first place. This world had too much suffering of its own to deal with to worry with one little Digimon.

A gloved hand tilted his head upward and he found his attention caught by mad blue eyes. "You must know where they are, Wizarmon. What does it profit you to keep it to yourself? What can they do without you? Neither of them knows anything about surviving here. They need me to keep them safe."

Wizarmon drew in a deep, hitching breath, and slowly shook his head. At least he thought he did. From the way Vamdemon glared at him, he probably had.

"Why are you so stubborn? You've done nothing but condemn them to a slow death. Do you think I will harm my most loyal servant? LadyDevimon belongs to me. She would never go astray without your influence."

Wizarmon knew his mouth wasn't visible, but he smiled nevertheless. It seemed he knew his old friend far better than Vamdemon did. But there was no reason to let that slip. Instead, he let his head droop as best that he could and closed his eyes. It wasn't subterfuge; he needed all the rest that he could get.

"Are you going to reformat him?" DeviDramon's voice, still as subservient as always to his lord and master. "If you are, can I do it? I really want to!"

"No. Not yet. I have other plans for him," Vamdemon said. Wizarmon didn't like the sound of that. He would have to get out of here as soon as he could. He didn't know how, but it was something that needed to happen.

He didn't hear anything else; he wasn't even sure if they said anything else as they left. He sank down lower in the chains, his mind spinning and whirling. He couldn't stay here. Not that doing so had ever been an option, but if he suffered under Vamdemon's torture much longer, he knew he'd give away the truth: that he might not know where they were, but he knew very well where Hikari and LadyDevimon would be.

That couldn't be allowed to happen. They'd all done too much already to let themselves fall back into Vamdemon's clutches. So, the course before him was clear: get out of here, find his friends, and cross to the Digital World. After that, stay as far away from Vamdemon as possible, unti they were somehow strong enough to defeat him. If that ever happened.

Wizarmon drew in deep breaths and fought back the pain. It wasn't easy and he knew he'd pay for it later, but for the moment, he pushed all thoughts of how much he hurt to the side, and lifted his head so he could examine the area.

Hikari's old dungeon had been roomier than this, but she'd been meant to live there, not to be a temporary occupant. This was a cell for someone with a short lifespan. Perhaps five paces from left to right, with another ten between him and the door; just enough room for someone to stand there and torture him. One door, thick and solid stone, currently closed and chained.

The harder he fought, the clearer his thoughts became. They didn't need to get much clearer, since his objective wasn't difficult. But how to accomplish that objective, that was the difficult part.

If I had my components, I could melt the chains. He'd used up everything he had with Hikari's cell, though. And even in that event, getting them from inside of his cloak wouldn't have been easy. Perhaps not even possible, given how he was chained in the first place.

What he could use was another person to undo all of this for him, someone who could get the keys to the cell and the chains, or just blow them up for him. He'd lived a long, lonely life, before and after meeting Tailmon all that long time ago, and until now, he'd never imagined what it would be like to have someone he could count on.

An image flaoted in his mind for a few heartbeats: a young man with a spill of blue hair and sharp, alert eyes. He knew who it was: Osamu. Why would he think of a human at a time like this? When he was wondering what it would be like to have a … a …

The word burst into his mind and fit into a small missing part of himself he'd never once thought existed, until now.

A partner.

He didn't know what made a Digimon and their partner, what bound them together, but in that moment, as he realized that he wanted Osamu's help, and he was equally glad the human wasn't anywhere near Vamdemon, he knew that he and Osamu were partners. How this could be baffled him beyond words. But it was so.

And it could do nothing to help him right now. If he were going to be able to do anything at all to help Osamu, then he needed to get out of here, and he would have to do it on his own.

And I could do that so much better if I had my staff. He tilted his head enough to get a good look at the chains binding him. So far as he could tell, there wasn't anything magical about them, nothing that would prevent him from using his magic on them. Of course, he hadn't been able to detect the spell on the bars of Hikari's cell either, so he didn't want to rule out that something could be there. All the variations on what could be done to keep him here ran through his head; sapping at his physical energy so he couldn't use his magic, draining his magic itself, something that would set up a backlash that would destroy him if he did manage to break the chains...

And those were just the ones that he could think of. Vamdemon had much more experience than he did with setting up ways to torment those who angered him.

Given that his other option was to stay here and rot until the undead king decided it was finally time to get rid of him, Wizarmon knew that he'd have to take the chance.

There would be guards somewhere, likely right outside the cell, and in other areas as well. Vamdemon did not like his prisoners escaping and set up everything he could to make sure they didn't.

Wizarmon, on the other hand, enjoyed making certain that Vamdemon didn't get what he wanted, and since at the moment that included himself as a prisoner, and the return of Hikari and LadyDevimon, he was twice and thrice over determined to ruin Vamdemon's plans.

All right. Enough planning. It might be easier with his staff, but without it wasn't impossible. Wizarmon closed his eyes and fought the pain back just that little bit more, just enough so he could completely focus on what he was doing now.

He breathed a little harder. He stared intently at the wall opposite him, working his fingers as best that he could to aim correctly. At least Vamdemon's torment hadn't done any severe damage, yet. If he stuck around, that would change, without a doubt. Yet another point in favor of not sticking around.

"Thunder Ball!" It wasn't nearly as impressive as it could've been if he'd been at the peak of his strength. But, with crackling energy lashing out from every inch of it, it did the job, smashing into the opposing wall, and then bouncing back to strike his chains. Part of the wall he was held against shuddered and broke off, small pieces of stone crumbling on his shoulders and head. He yanked as hard as he could a few times, focusing what energy he had left on increasing his attack's effect. Just a little more, that was all he needed, just a little more!

"What's all the racket?" With a rattle of chains and slide of bolts, the door slid open to reveal FlaWizarmon. Wizarmon almost would've preferred seeing Vamdemon. At least the vampire wasn't a near mockery of himself. The fire sorcerer needed only a few moments to realize what was going on, and gripped his staff hard. "I didn't go to all the trouble of capturing you to see you get away."

"I don't think you realize how little I care about what you caught me for," Wizarmon hissed, yanking his bonds that one little bit more than allowed him to fall free of the wall. He stumbled, trembling, and then slowly pushed himself to his feet, weaving as he did his best to focus once more. He needed rest and food and he would likely not get either, not any time soon.

FlaWizarmon began to raise his staff. Wizarmon did not dare let him get a spell off; he needed to save what little energy he had left in order to get past all the other guards and wards. So he did something that few magic users, Digimon or otherwise, ever bothered to do.

He picked up a piece of rubble and threw it at FlaWizarmon.

It wasn't much; he doubted it would have even bruised the other. But it did the job. FlaWizarmon lowered his staff and stared at him in complete disbelief. Wizarmon took the chance to charge at him, not worrying about fighting. Fighting could come another day, when he was actually ready for it. For now, he pushed his way past his counterpart and into the hallway beyond.

He cursed for a few momennts the fact that he'd never visited any other dungeon aside from where Hikari had been kept. He needed to get out of here quickly and not lose time on the confusing corridors.

Well, he'd tried this once before, and it hadn't ended well for him then. But the direct route outside would have to do.

His second Thunder Ball wasn't as strong as the first had been, but it blew enough of the wall apart so he could leap outside. He dropped a few feet, already hearing the furious cries of the guards and FlaWizarmon behind him. He had to hurry. He wasn't going to get caught a second time. Vamdemon wouldn't waste time torturing him; by now even he had to realize that Wizarmon didn't know where the other two were. It would be a quick reformatting and that was it.

And while that was one way to get away from Vamdemon, it wasn't a way that Wizarmon wanted. No one knew if Digimon who died on Earth could even be reformatted at all. Without contact with the Village of Beginnings, there was no way to know. Wizarmon refused to volunteer to find out the hard way.

"After him!" He really wanted to know why FlaWizarmon and DeviDramon hung out together. He hadn't associated with either of them enough to know, but they seemed to be together now more than they weren't. Yet another mystery that would take time to solve, and he didn't have the time to spare to look into it.

At the moment, he simply focused his flagging energy and flew with what speed he could manage out to the city.

FlaWizarmon cursed vividly, filling the air with language that by all rights should've set the stones themselves aflame. He gathered himself up, preparing to go after his counterpart, when Vamdemon-sama spoke.

"Follow him. Don't let him know that you're doing so."

The flame sorcerer turned toward his liege, bending his head in a quick bow. "Of course, my lord. May I ask why?"

He wanted to destroy Wizarmon. He'd wanted that for years, for longer than he could remember. Everything about Wizarmon infuriated him, made him want to burn things, more so than he usually did. He already had plans to take over Wizarmon's personal chambers and reduce everything there to a small pile of ash, before doing the same thing to Wizarmon himself.

"He might not know where the Child of Light and LadyDevimon are, but he will seek them out. They escaped for a reason, and I want to know what that reason is. Find them, watch them, and let me know. Do not let any of them know that you're there. Keep yourself undercover by any method you must."

FlaWizarmon bowed again. He didn't always understand Vamdemon's orders, but he always obeyed them. Unlike a certain other wizard he could've named. The thought of such treachery burned him alive. It made all of the magical Digimon look bad, to have one of their number turn against Vamdemon-sama. Once an oath was given, it was sacred, and Wizarmon should've died before breaking it.

He'll just have to die after breaking it, then, FlaWizarmon decided. He glanced to DeviDramon.

"Would you like to come along?"

"Sure!" The two of them had known each other only for a few short years, encountering one another not long after the invasion of Earth had been settled. Then, DeviDramon had still been PicoDevimon, small and round and given to all manner of treachery.

That last part he still was, though FlaWizarmon had impressed upon him that betraying him would lead to a fiery demise that he would follow up by finding the resulting egg and boiling it for dinner.

Vamdemon gave no orders to the contrary, so together the two of them leaped into the dark skies and traced Wizarmon's trail. There wasn't much of one, and the few precious moments lost to listening to Vamdemon's orders had given him something of a head start.

We'll find him. FlaWizarmon was not one to fail a task once he chose to take it in hand. It might take him more time than he'd thought to accomplish it, but he did not fail. Ever.

Vamdemon watched as his servants vanished into the thickening night skies. Thunder rolled in the distance, with flickers of lightning arcing through the clouds. It would be a bad night to be out without shelter.

That, however, would work in his favor. Wizarmon would seek out LadyDevimon and the Child of Light that much quicker, and FlaWizarmon and DeviDramon would find them then.

Something somewhere had gone wrong. He didn't know what it was, but it worried him. Something had changed. And the only change Vamdemon approved of was change he sponsored for himself.

He opened one hand to reveal the Crest of Light and frowned down at it. It hadn't glowed in all the years that he'd kept it, and the thought that it might happen at last, that she could...

No. Without her partner, that wasn't possible, and for all of his searching, he'd never found the Eighth Digimon. He'd eventually given it up as a lost cause.

The Chosen were no longer a threat to him. And to remind himself of that, he went in search of the pack.

To Be Continued