Warnings: Er…angst. And some bad language on Lobomon's part. But not too much.

POV: Lobomon

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or anything related to it. Don't sue me, I think I need the money for therapy.

Account of Abduction

Chapter 7: Spiritual Connections

It isn't generally known, but the feelings and emotions of those humans once bound to our Spirits remain a part of us even after we have been separated from them. The six of us, that is, six warriors out of the ten, still have an empathetic relationship with our human 'partners'. We feel what they feel. Their joy is our joy. Their pain…is our pain.

So when Lowemon suddenly, without warning, removed himself from the rest of us, everyone know something had happened to Kouichi.

The fact that this all went on barely a month after Duskmon's digital 'essence' disappeared from its captivity deep below Seraphimon's castle did not sit well with anyone. There had been no trace of it, so the Great Angels could only assume that the virus had escaped into the Human World, where we could not interfere.

Minute changes in the other Warriors indicated how far the problem had stretched. Kazemon became gradually more anxious and scatterbrain, forgetting what she had said seconds before with awkward moments of distant expressions in between. Agunimon grew depressive and melancholy to an almost alarming point, especially for his usually bright, happy attitude. Beatlemon's body let off nervous sparks every few minutes, while Kumamon's aura became icier and more distant than ever.

I was not immune. Kouji's anxieties and anger pulsed through my being with unsurprising fury, driving me to snappish reactions and brutal retorts to the most innocent questions, occasionally developing into violent outbursts. Which is why I waited until my emotions were firmly under control to visit Lowemon.

It wasn't that I didn't care. That would be impossible.

It was just…I didn't want to cause him any more suffering than he was already going through. It would kill me to be the source of his pain. Lowemon is just as much my brother as Kouichi is Kouji's, we were as such even before the Children were called in. I remember, though it must have been decades upon decades ago, how the two of us used to play and train together daily as only In-Training level Digimon. There was not a time before our separation at the hands of Lucemon that I can recall us being apart. He's precious to me.

So, naturally, I worry for him. Which is why, after composing myself, I sought him out.

I found him in one of the lower levels of the Rose Morning Star castle, contained to one of the chambers he'd been given by Cherubimon after the three Angels regained their powers. Ophanimon had offered me similar lodgings, but I had refused.

The room was dark and had a pleasant hint of a chill about it, just the sort of place my spiritual shadow-brother would seek comfort. He sat in a corner, his back against the wall, his long legs curled up so he could cross his arms over them and rest his head upon them.

His golden-brown eyes gazed up at me painfully as I walked to his side, echoing sadly in the shadows of his helmet. Everything about him seemed tired, nearly exhausted.

I could feel his pain just by laying eyes on him. His aura pulsed with physical wariness, tinged red with gleaming pain. He had chosen such a position so he could not have to move his aching joints more than necessary.

But despite all of this, he managed to smile at me and whisper, "Hello, brother."

"Good evening." I muttered and sat beside him. I wanted to hold him, but it would only cause him more pain, so I chose to sit as close as I could and share warmth. I said nothing. If he wanted to speak, he would.

And he did.

"Lobo…" He gulped with a dry mouth. "Kouichi…He's hurting him…"

"Duskmon?" I whispered.

Lowemon nodded and shuddered lightly. "Kouichi…He's all alone and…and scared, in so much pain. He…Duskmon…he's taken so much from him."

I reached out and took his hand. He held on limply, unable to grip for all the pain racking his form. "We'll find a way," I whispered. "We'll find a way to drag that…monster…back here. We'll make him pay…"

"It won't be enough." Lowemon shuddered again and groaned under another stab of pain. "What he stole…What Duskmon stole from him…It won't get it back. There's nothing we can do to make it come back."

The tone of his voice worried me. It had dropped to a hesitant, ashy whisper, dry-mouthed and tortured, the voice of a broken man. Lowemon is, I suspect, a model for the type of man Kouichi will be when he grows up, though whether that is the affect of their ever-present contact and connection, I do not know. But as a result, Lowemon is…sensitive. Gentle. And feeling Kouichi's pain while he was utterly helpless to assist was tearing him apart.

In the privacy of my own mind, I cursed Duskmon for not just killing the poor boy and getting it over with quickly.

I know how horrible that sounds, but I couldn't help but wish it had been as such. If Kouichi had died, his suffering would be over and he would be free of Duskmon's grasp forever. Lowemon would be free as well, away from the pain and the torture, free to strike out against the Virus that had once possessed his spirits and avenge his innocent charge.

But because of Duskmon's twisted nature of constantly toying with his prey, they were both stuck in a wallowing pit of despair and torture.

"It won't be enough." Lowemon repeated again in a painful groan. "We're too late, Lobo. There's no way we can get it back…"

"What?" I finally asked, squeezing his hand a bit more. "What are you talking about? What did Duskmon take?"

Lowemon looked up at me with a pained, aching, longing look. His voice was on the very edge of breaking.

"His innocence." He whispered, stressing the words. "Duskmon stole his innocence."

It took a long while for me to fully understand what exactly he meant. Most Digimon wouldn't have been able to gasp it at all, seeing as, born such as we are, the concepts of 'sex', how incredibly personal it is, and the trauma of being forced into such an act are all inconceivable to us. But for Lowe, the others, and I, our bond with the humans gave us some sense of what it truly meant.

It also gave way to some colorful language, as the first words out of my mouth were, "Son of a bitch."

Lowemon actually smiled, if only a little bit. The tirade that followed, which involved the use of the word 'bastard' at least five times in three sentences, made him smile a bit more. He finds it entertaining when I react so badly, no matter what his mood.

But at least he could smile.

My anger was quelled by this, but it only settle a bit when a familiar ripple rolled quietly through our beings. The peace it brought was very…familiar. It was a Calling.

"What the hell do they want now?" I muttered, rising to my knees.

"Don't take it out on them, Lobo." My Shadow-Brother begged. "The Angels are trying their best, you know that."

I sighed and pulled myself to my full height. The Calling, which all of th Ten Warriors could sense, was loud and pretty close to us, which meant we were being called to Cherubimon's audience chamber only a few floors up.

But before I could head up there to see what they wanted, Lowemon reached up and grabbed my arm with both of his hands.

"Help me up." He muttered, tugging like a small child. "I'm going too."

I faltered. "Can you…can you even walk?"

"Of course I can. Help me up."

I can't refuse him anything, I never have been able to, so I pulled him up and hoisted his arm over my shoulders. He limped, which meant that either his foot fallen asleep, or that Kouichi's ankle was badly injured. I hoped for the former as we trudged up the stairs together, making sure to keep the pace even enough that he wouldn't be hurt.

When we stumbled through the grand doors of Cherubimon's audience chamber, the Three Angels and the gathered Warriors all reacted with a certain amount of surprise.

"Oh, Lowemon!" Gasped Kazemon, racing up to us with a flurry of her butterfly wings. "We've been so worried about you! Are you all right? Here, let me help you sit down…"

"I'm fine. I'm fine!" Lowemon groaned. He hates it when others fuss over him, always has. Beatlemon dragged a chair over for him and Kazemon and I made him sit down anyway.

Ophanimon looked down (if only because she's a good half a meter taller than any of us) at our Spirit of Darkness with her ever-kind eyes. "There was no need for you to attend this meeting, Lowemon." She said gently. "I know the pain you are in must be terrible indeed."

Lowemon gave her a light nod of the head, a dismissive bow, and muttered that she shouldn't worry about his health at a time like this. Cherubimon sighed and gave him a sympathetic look…he's always felt guilty for putting Kouichi and Lowemon through Duskmon's pain the first time around, and this new outbreak is paining him as much as any of us.

Seraphimon, ever the supreme justice in this world, opened the meeting as calmly as he could. Eight of the Ten Warriors had gathered there, missing only Grumblemon (who was monitoring Drimogemon mining in the mountain regions) and Mercurimon (checking up on the scientific discoveries of several Vademon and one very clever Datamon in the southern part of the Continent of Ice, heaven only knew when we'd see him again). With the three Angels, our little circle was nearly complete.

Of course, the first thing asked when he opened the floor came from Agunimon's mouth. "Have you found Duskmon yet?"

All three Angels winced visibly. Seraphimon let out a sigh. "Yes…"

"REALLY!"

…There are times when the Angels regret choosing children to meld with our six Spirits, if only because the eager, childish reactions from several full-grown 'adults' makes for a bit of a noisy situation.

"Where is he?" Kumamon gasped.

"How'd ya find 'em?" Ranamon asked breathlessly.

"And when do we get our hands on him?" Beatlemon slammed one sparking fist into the other palm, a grinning Arbormon nodding behind him with a few eager chortles.

Cherubimon waved an awkward paw, trying to get some sort of order. "Settle down, settle down, please."

We managed to get quiet all at once. Ophanimon cleared her throat and continued. "We have found Duskmon. He entered the Human World by possessing the body of a human…an older man, mentally unstable."

"And…as we feared…" Seraphimon took a deep breath to prepare us all for the next few words. "He has captured Kouichi, without knowledge of his family nor of the Human Police."

There was a decent amount of mumbling. I scowled a bit. "So what are we going to do about it?"

A few more mumbles. Cherubimon leaned back in his seat with a pained sigh. "We can't. We can't do anything."

The mumbles turned into angry shouts, another mini-riot in the making.

"You've got to be joking!" Kumamon exclaimed.

"We can't just leave him there!" Beatlemon shouted.

Kazemon whirled around suddenly. "Lowemon!"

I shot to him. My spiritual brother was hunched over again, gripping his abdomen with both arms, the face behind his mask contorted with pain. In an instant, I was at his side again, rubbing his back to comfort him as best I could.

"See?" Agunimon exclaimed, motioning to Lowemon with both hands. "This is our problem too! I can't believe you're just going to let Duskmon run around in the Human World just because of a few lame rules!"

Ophanimon raised one hand in a silencing motion, lowering it in the follow silence with a mysterious smile on her face. "Do not fear." She said softly. "Though we cannot interfere directly, we are doing everything we can to rectify the situation."

The group was finally completely quiet, all eyes on the female angel. She continued to grin mysteriously, her explanation as cryptic as ever. "We are able to alter the strands of probability just enough for an otherwise coincidental event to occur with a much higher likelihood."

Unfortunately, none of us understood what she either. So we turned to Seraphimon for an explanation of the explanation, which he quickly obliged.

"In a few weeks, there will be an…event…a Duskmon's new home." He smiled an almost mischievous smile. "We have managed to pull at the strings of possibility to make sure that certain 'friend' is there that should put an end to all of this."

Ranamon blinked. "Who?"

Cherubimon smiled now, as well. "A man named Hiroaki Kanbara."

And it all went into motion from there.

TBC…

Dammit, that ending sucked, but I couldn't think of anything else…I hope the meat of the chapter was enough for you guys. I'll get a better ending next time…somehow…