Chapter 2: Pushed to the Breaking

"There is only so much
A heart can take
Before it shatters completely
And the pieces fall away
Like broken glass.

Puzzle pieces of a life
That no longer fit together
In the world around them
And nobody noticed when they vanished."

Year: October 21, 2304
Location: Cave of Fusion, Digital World

Greed's eyes snapped open as shouts suddenly echoed through the network of tunnels that made up the home of the 'DarkDestined', the noise steadily growing closer until they were joined with the sound of dripping water.
"You think you can betray me? You've outlived your usefulness Deceit!"
Greed rose carefully, his digivice at his side as he slipped from his cave into the tunnel beyond.
A sharp cry echoed further down the tunnel, the soft drip of water now mixed with something else. As he approached a split in the tunnel he could finally make out the shape of Pride in the dim light, her watery sword splattered with blood and still embedded in Deceit's shoulder.
Despite the pain she must have been in though Deceit was smiling, her fangs bared defiantly as she stared down her former leader. "I'm not sure you're done with me yet…you're still a weak leader. Do you think fear will bind them forever? Someday…"
The blade cut deeper, the water itself stained red as Pride stepped nearer her prey. "Silence, what does a liar know of leading? You were nothing when I brought you to this cave, less than nothing…for a normal human to be born with a core…"
Deceit hissed at that, her eyes narrowing dangerously as one of her crests suddenly flashed to life. "I am the child of miracles, you tried to silence my crest after killing the first destined… Knowing that those crests simply found another, you're afraid of them!"
Greed retreated into the shadows of the tunnel as the light strengthened, ending in a final blinding flash. When he could see again the tunnel had returned to blackness and Deceit was nowhere to be seen.
Pride let out a scream, her blade slashing deep groves into the stone where the traitor had been. Several moments passed before she registered his presence, the icy glare in her eyes warning that this wasn't over yet. "Greed… Gather the others in the main cave, we need to weed out any more traitors…"

Year: July 7, 2305
Location: New Chester County, Americanus North Neutral

Koko awoke early on the day of her sixth birthday and carefully pulled out the drawings she had been working on for a year. No one knew about them, except maybe impmon, and she enjoyed working on them early before Keith woke up.
By the time she settled by the small, ancient computer Ryan had helped her set up though, she could already hear Keith in the hall.
She started, knowing that him up so early could only be a bad thing, and shoved the drawings under the keyboard in hopes of saving them from his wrath. The doorknob rattled angrily behind her and she jumped up nervously to face Keith as he came in.
"What are you doing in here?" there was a growl in his voice that hadn't been there yesterday "If you like getting up early then you can get to work already!"
She ducked just in time to dodge a blow but accidently knocked the keyboard off the desk in her haste.
Keith spotted the drawings before she could move and snatched them up; looking angrier if that was possible. "What are these? You spend all morning wasting your time on digimon?!" he looked savage as he ripped the drawings apart, swinging the whip at her any time she tried to move "You'll get to work now!"
Koko had to work hard to keep from screaming, instead she bottled it up as she had done for years, and sulked out into the hall. She knew why he hated digimon but that didn't help, he had lost his own partner in a freak accident when he was still a toddler.
Keith wasn't satisfied this time though, he wanted her to suffer so he followed her into the hallway and snatched her arm "Come here, I have a special job for you today."
He led her through the little house towards the bathroom and shoved her into the tub. "You should be nice and clean for your birthday, worthless outcast" he sneered at her as he turned on the water.
Koko finally screamed, clawing at him in a vain attempt to get free as Keith ducked her under the water. Her last vision was one of him smiling in a strange, half-hearted sneer.

Ryan shot to his feet as a scream echoed through the usually silent house, followed by the sound of running water. Impmon joined him as he raced into Koko's bedroom and let out a strange cry at the scraps of paper littering the floor.
"What was it?" Ryan murmured, picking up one of the larger pieces to see half of a cat-like creature.
"Her digimon" Impmon replied quietly then snapped around as another scream rent the house, this one much weaker and ending in a growl "This won't end well, do you have your token?"
Ryan nodded and they both raced towards the back bathroom while Ryan pulled out his digivice and loaded the dog spirit token.
What they found in the room was enough to make them both stop, frozen in a mixture of terror and awe.
Keith lay crouched on the tile floor of the bathroom; his arms a bloody mess as he tried to defend himself and perched on the side of the tub ready to spring was a half-grown mountain lion cub.
The cub was small but powerful, her icy blue-amber eyes snapping to Ryan as he appeared and her faintly spotted pelt bristling angrily. She let out a soft warning growl and turned back to her prey, tail flicking as she slashed at Keith again.
Ryan finally shook himself out of his trance and rushed to his sister's side, afraid she would do something she would later regret "Stop it Koko, he's had enough."
She turned and snapped at him but impmon blocked her, also trying to reason with her "Come on, do you want to be a monster?"
Keith slipped out of the room as they spoke, trembling as he stumbled down the hall with blood still pouring out of his wounds.
The puma growled as her prey escaped but stopped as a blue light flashed and a digi-egg appeared in the pool of blood. She gave a strange, straggled cry and stumbled over to the egg, changing back to her human shape as she moved.
Ryan glanced at impmon and started towards them but before he could move another light flashed and both Koko and the egg were gone.