Series: Sanguine Bindings||Story Title: Ruler of the Shadows
Characters: Ken, Daisuke||Romance: Ken x Daisuke/Daisuke x Ken
Chapter: 19-40||Chapter: 500||Total: 9,500
Genre: Supernatural, Romance||Rated: PG-13
Notes: In the setting of this story, these are the differing points: the Chosen are roughly five years older than in canon, meaning that Ken, Daisuke, Takeru, & Hikari are sixteen, while Miyako is seventeen, and Iori is fourteen. There are some other differences, but those will be revealed during the course of the story. Except for this: this story will involve vampires. It begins in episode 2, once Daisuke's been captured.
Summary: On his second trip to the Digital World, Daisuke is captured by the Kaiser. Time to learn a little about the guy he's just started fighting. Like the fact he has sharp, pointy teeth and a thirst for more than conquest.
No one said a word. No one had the strength to say a word. It took all they could do just to huddle in the depths of a distant grove of trees, gray sheets of rain pouring down all around them, and try to figure out what they could do next.
Some things were obvious: they needed to get to one of the portals and talk to Koushirou. But moving in this rain wasn't something any of them wanted to do, mostly because there wouldn't be any way for them to see where they were going or if they were about to be attacked by the Kaiser's forces.
They'd had enough of being attacked right now. There wasn't a single Digimon among them who had the strength to evolve, nor would they until they could get some food.
Miyako managed to dredge up the energy to speak first. "Are you all right, Iori?"
He pulled some of the remaining silk strands off of himself and tossed them onto one of the bushes they huddled against. "I will be. When we stop the Kaiser."
No one spoke of how close he'd come to being the Kaiser's prisoner or how lucky they were the Kaiser seemed interested only in Daisuke at the moment.
If they wanted to call that luck. None of them really did, especially since Daisuke wouldn't.
He'd fought. They'd all seen it. It hadn't been much, his will still sapped by the Kaiser's overpowering mental grip, but it existed, and that was enough to give them all hope for the future.
There wasn't enough coverage in the grove to truly keep them all dry. The best they could manage right now was just to keep themselves hidden, and none of them were certain they really were. There just weren't any enslaved Digimon in the area to find them. Not yet. Kaiser would probably get here eventually.
"Are we going back?" Miyako wanted to know, staring down at her D-3 as she did. One wet straggle of hair drooped over her eyes and she didn't bother to move it out of the way. It would just fall right back anyway.
"He said if we left, he'd seal the gates. He probably means to do that anyway." Takeru wasn't entirely convinced that was possible, but he guessed the Kaiser would try it. "We need to let Koushirou know that as fast as possible.
Iori pulled out his D-Terminal, hunched over it to keep the rain away, and started typing. For several minutes, that was the only sound in their little area, aside from their breathing and the occasional grumble of Digimon stomachs. Silence fell once he sent the message.
"The Kaiser's a vampire and he has Daisuke and V-mon," Hikari said to break the silence. None of them had said the words until now, though the facts remained clear to them all. To hear it like this made it real, made it solid.
Meant they had to do something about it.
To Be Continued
Note: This is shaping up to have a sequel because there's no way I could resolve the whole thing in another 21 chapters/10,500 words. But you don't mind that, do you?