Chapter Two: A Deal With the Devil

Seventeen year old Koushirou Izumi, dubbed "Izzy" by his peers, was busy upgrading Yolei's labtop when the message came. He idly installed the latest monitoring program he and Ken had developed to keep an eye on the digital world, trying his best to tune out Yolei's heated chatter. He wasn't quite sure what she was going on about but the phrases "Ken", "I can't believe", and "Just wait until I get my hands" didn't sound too good. Izzy sighed, the cheerful "ping" of his mailbox snapping him out of his daze. As he scrolled through his messages, the redhead smirked. Ken might be a genius, but the kid still had a lot to learn when it came to girls.

From:

To: Digidestined

Hm. Curious. Izzy clicked on the letter, a bit surprised that one could even leave an e-mail anonymous in such a fashion. He had assumed that the e-mailer's account automatically filled in the "from."

"Izzy. Izzy! Are you even-!? Hey..." Intrigued, Yolei looked over her friend's shoulder. "Whatchya reading?"

Shocked, the two computer nerds stared, engrossed in the short message.

Izzy swallowed, trying to locate his voice. "We gotta call the guys."

Hell. Purgatory. It was really the same thing wasn't it? Suffering for your sins. A punishment for all of the ill things you had done in life.

The roar of the waves against the shore had irked him at first. Now it had faded to a mere hush of background noise. Funny how things that would have bothered you so much in life meant so very little in death. It was worse than any fire and brimstone of the human hell; this emptiness. Here he was, left with nothing, filthy, beaten, and for once unable to develop a course of action. All he had was himself and this damned colorless shore to brood on. But he had nothing to think about. No elaborate schemes, no sinful temptations, he couldn't even recall a blasted piece of literature to save him from this madness. He had done so much thinking when he had first arrived that his mind was spent.

"Having fun?"

A bit startled at the presence of intelligent contact, the vampire snapped to attention. Quicker than the eye could process, he had abandoned his feeble crouched position and had risen to his feet, spine rigid and fists clenched at his sides. His cold, calculating eyes scanned the vast shore, shocked to see a forest that he would have sworn hadn't been there previously. A bit dumbfounded and not used to this feeling of confusion, he took confident strides towards the woods. He tried to speak, but his voice was too hoarse to produce words. He doubled over, fighting the dryness of his throat with a coughing fit. With a final clearing of his throat, his watering eyes scanned the forest for movement. He stiffened. There, leaning against a tree as if he belonged there, was a figure hidden beneath a faded brown cloak. At first, he was stunned, not knowing what digimon would travel in such an odd fashion, especially since they were trapped in a place full of villains. Why would you need to hide from fellow criminals?

A smirk crossed his bloodless lips as the stranger approached. Perhaps it was because he wasn't even a digimon at all. "Ah." He rose to his full height, his voice far less strained. But it was hard to be sarcastic when your entire body felt like you had been hit by a damned truck. "At last. I wondered when you would show up."

At being addressed in such a fashion, the figure smirked, carefully lifting back his hood to get a better view. What met his gaze jarred him for a moment. A once, neatly pressed uniform was caked in sand, chunks of cloth torn away, the left pant-leg missing from the knee down. Pale skin was covered in sickly blackening bruises, blood trickling from open wounds. If he didn't think a vampire could get any thinner, he would have thought that the creature had lost weight. The sunken skin in his cheeks was deeper, his boney structure making his face appear almost skeletal, the bones in his exposed calve prominent. Golden hair hung in thick, crusty strands across hollow eyes. It was longer, nearly to his shoulders, but it was so matted with blood and who knows what to tell. The guardian absently shook his head, trying to douse the small flame of pity that was burning in his stomach. He told himself it was just bile. He would never pity such a monster. No matter how un-like himself Myotismon looked.

The vampire in question, however, was unfazed, continuing his banter as if they were sitting in some pleasant place discussing the weather. Gennai blinked, thrust back into the reality of the situation. Well, at least not everything had changed. "Tell me, has your Holy Council decided my fate?"

Gennai sighed, cautiously making his way closer. "They are... rather preoccupied at the minute."

Myotismon's smirk was gone, hidden under a layer of false irritation and indignance. "Hmph. Can't even be bothered to condemn a crazed warlord these days."

Gennai merely watched as the vampire slumped against a tree, one ankle casually crossed over the other. That is, if you could call the graceful movement "slumping." Even in immense pain, Myotismon still managed to live up to his aristocratic title. Gennai grit his teeth as a torn glove was pulled away to examine sandy fingernails. Yes an aristocrat. And still a royal pain in the ass as always.

Not taking lightly to being ignored, Gennai crossed his arms and cleared his throat, shooting his adversary a pointed look. "This is serious, Myotismon."

Blue eyes found his, feigning innocence as best they could, having not known the emotion for quite some time. When he realized his act wasn't being bought, purple lips crooked into a twisted smile. "Of course. Forgive me for simply mentioning that they are rather lax in their enforcement. I don't have all day."

Gennai looked to the sky, silently praying to whatever righteous force that would listen to grant him patience. Damn. He should have known that without anyone to manipulate, Myotismon would jump at the chance of fresh meat. He had no time for these mind games. "You have all the time in the world. You are in purgatory aren't you?"

An eerie coldness slithered up the guardian's spine, tensing every muscle in his body. It took him a moment to realize that the feeling had actually been spurred by Myotismon's smug laughter. He swallowed a lump in his throat, thanking Fangloungmon that the Seven hadn't bothered to flaunt such power.

Myotismon once again seemed to take interest in picking out the dirt from his nails. "I'm not Catholic."

Gennai gave a sigh. Fine. If he wanted to play mind games, they were going to play mind games. "Have you wondered why you're still alive?"

It was obvious that the question startled him, but he recovered quickly, dismissing the question with a small wave of his hand. "I'm not alive."

"Yet you feel pain."

He shrugged, pushing away from the tree in a small show of interest. "This is hell. There is no life here. I will not die, but I will suffer. Isn't that your objective in condemning me here?"

Now Gennai was confused. "My objective?" He narrowed his eyes, a bit offended at the force behind the accusation. As if he would just condemn someone to the dark ocean. "No, you dug yourself into this hole, Myotismon."

But the demon lord was unabashed, prepared with a retaliation as always. The self-satisfied smile that tugged at his lips was unnerving. "And the sovereigns have dug their own."

Stalemate. For what seemed like the hundredth time, Gennai sighed, absolutely tired of hearing the sound escape his lips. "Very true. But who expected that beings of light could be possible of such treachery?"

"Oh, who indeed? They must all be pure because they are beings of light." Though the smile was gone, the angry glint in the vampire's steel blue eyes was chilling.

"It was an assumption that will never be made again."

With a rather ungraceful snort, Myotismon tossed his ruined glove to the ground. "It was discriminatory."

Gennai almost sighed again, but quickly caught himself. He felt so old at that moment. "Yes. It was."

"Hmph." Myotismon peeled back his remaining glove, giving it a sharp flick so it landed near its ruined mate. "Imagine that. The great Sovereigns."

Why was he wasting time? Did it really matter if he gave a rebuttal? The vampire would just find a new way to get under his skin. Gennai pinched the brim of his nose, scrunching his eyes at the oncoming headache. But that had gotten under his skin. The sovereigns weren't bad digimon. "Everyone has their faults. You should know this yourself."

And of course came the witty comment. "Everyone has faults. But I am surprised to see that the holier than holy will admit to being proven wrong. Or is that why you are asking for my help? To take the fall?" Myotismon smirked, his fangs an unspoken threat as they flashed between his lips. "We both know that I would never-"

"And I wouldn't blame you!" There was a stunned silence until Gennai continued, a bit softer than his initial outburst. "Not for what they did to you."

He looked away, then scoffed. "I don't need your pity."

Gennai didn't know where he had gotten the courage, but he was suddenly in front of the towering vampire, glaring up into his menacing face."Let's get one thing straight."

A golden eyebrow shot up above the remains of his crimson mask, but Gennai ignored it. "I don't pity you. I will NEVER pity you. You are a vile, malicious being who is far too selfish for his own good. But there is good in you, even if it's so buried by hate and apathy that it's too far down to see. It is your nature to be angry. You dark digivolved. I wouldn't expect you to be a merciful, joyful being. Even still, back in your youth, you were too intelligent and too caught up in your anger for your own good."

Myotismon snarled into the shorter man's face. "I'm not a child that needs to be chastised."

Gennai glared in turn, fighting not to say exactly what he was thinking: Then stop acting like one. "No. I'm just making my point."

He crossed his arms, leaning back from the guardian a bit in annoyance. "And that would be?"

Grinding his teeth couldn't stop him from the distasteful truth he was about to reveal. "That I respect you."

Colbalt eyes were wide. Myotismon stood, not liking that he had been caught off guard so many times in one day. But before he had a chance to even think of a reply, Gennai added, "And all I ask is that you do the same."

It was very quiet for a moment. Gennai had the feeling that the vampire was mulling it over. His deep voice shattered the silence."Fear me, you mean."

He shook his head."No, there are not many digimon I fear. Not you, not even Apocalymon."

Myotismon gave a short laugh. His nostrils flared as if he could smell the discomfort radiating from the digital guardian. "You lie. There are seven digimon who even your sovereigns fear."

And for the first time in the whole conversation, Gennai smirked. "I know… I have spoken with them."

Myotismon's voice was softer, intrigued. "You surprise me. They aren't the most honorable beings."

"No, but we all agree on one thing. Desperate times call for desperate measures."

"Hmph."

Gennai shrugged. "It surprised me to learn that, despite your evil ways, you have earned a name for yourself in other ways." He laughed. "Despite how hard you tried to squash the hopes and dreams of anyone you came in contact with, you were hope to others."

The golden arch climbed his pale brow once again, this time accompanied by his trademark smirk. "Hope? You do realize who you're talking to? You are sure that your mind is as youthful as your appearance?"

But Gennai was insistent. "You brought hope to the small and the weak of the dark digimon. As well as earned the respect of very powerful dark beings."

"How?" The vampire was clearly amused.

"Because of your ambition."

All sense of play gone, Myotismon furrowed his brow. "My ambition had countless digimon killed. My ambition drove even more out of their minds and forced them into servitude. My ambition nearly killed an eight year old girl how many years ago and countless other children years later. My ambition killed a man." As if to reinforce his last statement, an uncharacteristicly warm breeze fluttered across his skin. He grit his teeth, silently cursing Oikawa for the reminder. But he couldn't help shivering. "It doesn't seem to me to be a very admirable trait."

Gennai blinked, truly amazed. He smiled. "You feel bad about it."

"What?" At this, the vampire threw his head back and laughed. But it did not deter him.

"Say whatever you want, but it won't make a difference."

Myotismon rolled his eyes. "My ambition… peh…"

"It was strange. For as evil and hated as you are in the eyes of "good" you were a sort of dark knight if you will."

His lips twitched. Then the laugh came. But strangely, it wasn't full of ill intent. It was simply... amused. Gennai was admittedly a little curious as to what could make such an evil being laugh that wasn't at someonelse's expense.

"What?"

Myotismon shook is head, his matted locks whipping about. "Nothing. I've lost my bats." He stifled another chuckle, silently claiming that he deserved a good laugh and was merely delirious. He smirked. "For a humanoid being, you aren't as up to par with human culture as you should be."

Gennai raised an eyebrow, still not getting the joke. "And you are?"

He shrugged, once again a master of grace. "If you haven't noticed, it's sort of impossible for me not to be."

This is why he had come. Gennai listened intently."Oh?"

Myotismon coughed, looking away. Gennai labeled the action as his way of displaying nervousness."I've... had a lot of contact with the human world."

Gennai gave up all attempts at subtlety. "You aren't just talking about Japan, are you?"

They were left staring at one another for almost a minute of silence. He wasn't going to answer, so Gennai didn't let up. "I know your secret, Myotismon. She needs you. And like it or not, you need her."

He looked a bit perturbed, but confused. "Who?"

Gennai wasn't sure if he was pretending anymore, but the plain confusion on the vampire's face was compelling. "Some centuries ago in our world, you were transported to the human world and came into contact with a young girl. It was said... as declared by the Holy Council-"

Ah, this he did remember. Myotismon's hate filled stare stopped Gennai in mid-sentence. "Enough. We both know of these matters. There is no need to speak of them."

"Re-live them you mean?"

Once again, Myotismon gave an uncharacteristic snort and looked away, his arms crossed.

"Do you remember why you were convicted?"

The look he gave Gennai could freeze ice. "I remember what I was convicted of, but as to why... I have my speculations."

A small moment of unspoken agreement passed between them. There were a lot of things that should not have happened because of the holy council.

"She needs you, Myotismon."

Myotismon took a step toward him, the movement slightly threatening. "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't remember..." But he couldn't finish. A sharp pain was pulsing in his head. He gently brushed the ache with his fingers.

Gennai's voice was encouraging. "And I ask again, after so many failed attempts, after so many brushes with permanent death, why are you still alive?"

He paused, gingerly rubbing his head. Then he stopped. His cold eyes were still, looking to the ground, but seeing nothing. "You seem to know."

The guardian shifted his footing, uncomfortable. "You were supposed to be reborn in primary village, but you were sent here by the holy council."

Suspicion clouded the vampire's eyes. "Reborn? But my programming was... I thought that was why I was sent to the dark ocean, because I could not exist on that plane of the digital world any longer."

Gennai crossed his arms, his expression was serious. "If you were an average digimon, you would be gone, nothing but scattered data, broken down to the point where you couldn't reginerate no matter how much energy you obtained."

"What are you suggesting? That I am not normal?" He chuckled. "I have come to terms with that fact many y-"

"Chosen digimon cannot die."

Myotismon stood rigid, his eyes wide for a moment. Then his stillness crumpled and he was... laughing? "You do realize who I am?"

Gennai smiled slightly, happy to get that off of his chest. "Better than even you, i think."

He was still laughing. "Your sovereigns have lost their minds."

"If it were up to them, you wouldn't be in existance right now."

The laughter ended abruptly, leaving the vampire silent and curious. Gennai felt the need to explain. "When the two of you met, you sort of... bonded with her, on an actual, physical level."

The look of absolute shock and revulsion was priceless. "I'm not that twisted."

"OH... um.. NO!.. no.." A slight blush filled Gennai's cheeks. "I mean that... somehow, some way, just as Agumon and Tai created a bond... as did you and this child. And as of now, she is in great danger if the holy council finds her."

The demeanor the vampire now wore was not what Gennai expected. Any other digimon who had just found out that a child's life was in his hands would be frightened, angry, willing to help. But not Myotismon. He looked... as if it were a mere waste of his time. "And why should I care?"

Gennai knew now that the only form of pathos that would appeal to the vampire's blackened heart would be the fear for his own life. "Because she's the reason you're alive to begin with. The two of you are linked. If not for her sake, then in this one thing I implore you to be selfish and do it for your own sake. If she dies then you are lost." A little threat didn't hurt either. "You'd be stuck here, forever, that is... until the Holy Council finally does get around to your sentence." He swallowed, knowing that this was going to come back to kick them in the ass, but he would do as Azoulongmon had bid him to do. "And if you save her, you will be cleared of all of your charges... And will be left free to roam the digital world once again."

He knew he had him when that awful cat-who-ate-the-canary smirk crossed his face. Only Myotismon didn't eat canaries. He dined on much juicier and much more human prey. "Well... shall we go, then?"

Gennai swallowed, secretly nervous for the child who had to deal with him. Fangloungmon help him. He had just struck a deal with the devil.

Okay. If there are any mistakes, I'm sorry. I really hate this spell check. If I forgot to mention before, Fangloungmon is supposedly the digimon who created the digital world and his higher up than even the soveriegns, but he is sort of a myth because there isn't much on him. And if you didn't get the little joke about the dark knight... yeah, it was batman. And if you are wondering just how the heck Myotismon knew about batman, he was in Japan chasing kids for a few days, probably researching them sometime before them. So yeah, once or twice, comicbook heros might have came up. I have a twisted mind. Leave me alone. :) Please review!