AN: Second chapter in one day lol because I felt bad for my readers. xD
End of AN!
"Wake up...Wake up, Bethany: your family needs you."
Bethany (she preferred Beth) Faber blinked her eyes blearily, slowly figuring out where all of her limbs were...
She felt warm around flowing around her...blanketing her...
A sudden gust caused her to startle, fully opening her eyes now.
"What's-" Beth's strangled cry was cut off as she realized she was floating on...nothing! On air? She flailed her arms and legs wildly - and then suddenly she was descending, slowly falling until she landed on solid ground. It was water. A shallow pool of warm, pleasant water? The ground felt like...smooth, polished stone or marble. She looked around herself, seeing darkness, with large balls of blue light floating on the air to light the area up. It was a massive cave of some kind. As big as a football field - no, a baseball stadium. She could only make out the edges because of the lights. But the lights far above didn't reveal any kind of ceiling to the woman. It looked as if it went on forever.
"Beth...?"
Beth turned sharply. She gasped as she recognized- "Daniel? What's going on? What happened?"
Daniel sat up slowly, water drizzling down his suit. He shook his head of wet hair, then unclipped his tie and tossed it away. He took a long, slow look around, the same as Beth had. Only he didn't look in any way alarmed or shocked out of his mind. To Beth's surprise, in fact, the man gave a small smile, visible in the blue hue of the floating lights. But the smile was gone as quick as it came. He looked to her with a frown now. "What do you remember?" he asked lowly, getting up and walking over to her, his shoes trudging in the water that barely even reached his ankles.
Beth shook her head, frowning now herself. She put a hand to her wet hair, pushing it from her face. "I remember...Helena. She was on the news - there was some...giant Digimon? And Marlene - I tried to stop her, but she-! I went out looking for her! But I couldn't find her, and then there was this...this light. A blue light. And a wave - an...explosion? And then I woke up here. Wherever here is...I assume you know?" she added, glancing at him.
Daniel nodded to her. He slowly sat down next to her, pulling up his knees. "Helena used Omnimon to destroy Wallgate," he said flatly. "That was the light you saw - the explosion. I can't imagine the devastation that's occurring there, or the death toll. But I know that our families made it out alive. My family is safe, Bethany, and so is yours."
"Marlene's alive? Where is she?!" That was all Beth could think about (all she could bring herself to think about). To even consider the idea of her entire home, an entire city, being wiped out like that in an instant...it was 9/11 times a thousand. It wasn't even something she thought she could start to get her mind around. So she wouldn't try. Not until she had to. Until she had to see...
"The same place as us: somewhere inside the Digital World," Daniel responded.
"We're in that Digital World...The place Lopmon comes from? The place you and my sister, and Helena all..."
"Yes. I watched them go through the...portals, myself. Before the blast hit."
Bethany felt relief, uncoiling in her chest. She allowed herself to sit back on her hands, to breathe again. "Then we need to find them."
"We will - but first we need to figure out where we..." Daniel trailed off, his gaze sliding away from Bethany. Past her. He stood up and started off across the pool of water. Bethany turned to look, as well, and saw another figure laying in the waters: a tall, broad-shouldered man, it looked like. Daniel knelt down next to this other man, reaching out to turn him over gently. He gave the man a small shake. "Richard...you should wake up and see this. It's what you were searching for..."
The other man - Richard? - he roused quickly, surprisingly so, and sat up. He gazed at Daniel - then his eyes flickered to Bethany. And then, he took a proper look around himself. His chiseled face held undisguised wonder and curiosity. But then it was gone, his face hardening. He looked down at himself, raising a fist to clench it. He brought that fist to his forehead, closing his eyes. He took a breath, let it go...then opened his eyes again, letting his hand fall away. "This is the Digital World?"
"It is," Daniel said simply.
Richard climbed to his feet, wobbling slightly before regaining his footing. He was wearing a grey longcoat; the water went drizzling down it. He ran a hand through messy dark hair, pushing his fringe out of his eyes. "All right, then. The only question I have is this: how did we get here, and how do we get back?"
"I'm not leaving this place until I find my niece," Beth said loudly, starting forward, sloshing water over her shoes and ankles. Richard looked at her again - with recognition - but then it was gone, too. For her part, Bethany thought there was something vaguely familiar about this man, herself, but she didn't care to dwell on it. "Where would this - portal of yours have sent her?"
"Potentially anywhere," Daniel sighed. "But I'm sure that they're all together - them and their Digimon partners. As long as their Digimon are with them, they'll be safe. Protected. The Digital World is generally a safe place, at least beyond the bounds of Helena's empire. Most Digimon are curious, welcoming, friendly beings - like most humans are."
"Well, you know this world best," Richard stated, tugging at his coat. "I'll defer to your expertise here."
Daniel nodded. "Although...it has been fifteen years and twenty-thousand since I was here last, so I can't guarantee much of anything."
"You still know more than I do, I'm sure," Beth spoke, gazing at him intently (and trying desperately to ignore the implications of the casually dropped phrase "twenty thousand years" as well - another to add to the growing pile of mind-shattering information).
Daniel met her gaze, and held it. "I do."
"Can you get us out of this...cave, somehow?" Beth asked, gesturing to their vast surroundings of darkness and water.
Daniel gave a small chuckle. "I'm not magic, Beth - and I haven't even been a Tamer in fifteen years. We'll have to try the old-fashioned way, and take a look around. See if we can't find an exit - some kind of tunnel or doorway - near the edge."
Beth nodded, turning away and immediately starting off across the water. For the edge of this mind-bogglingly huge cavern. She hadn't gotten far, though, when a new light suddenly appeared in front of her - a green light, small enough that she could have reached out and taken it in her hand. Beth took a step back, staring at the pulsing green orb. The light dimmed, revealing a familiar handheld device floating in the air. One of those...Digivices, like the one her niece had? Beth shook her head, turning away to look back at the two men.
They both came hurrying forward, eyeing the Digivice - and her.
"What is this?" Beth asked Daniel, frowning. "Why did that thing just-"
"Of course this is all Ymir's doing," Daniel spoke, more to himself than to her. He gave a laugh. He pointed to the Digivice. "She must be the reason we're here: she must have saved us at the last moment. And it looks like she's chosen you to be one of the new Tamers. Though, I don't see any Digimon around for you to partner with..."
"What?" Beth stared. She looked at the DIgivice again. Then back to Daniel. "No! No, I - I don't want to get caught up in all of this. I don't want my niece to, either. I - you - whatever my sister was...whatever you were...and Helena- I just want to find Marlene and go home. Okay?"
"I don't think we have a home to go back to anymore," Richard said quietly - ruefully. "You can thank Helena for that. Don't you see: you're already involved in this, and there's no escaping it. One way or another, it will find a way into your life. Your sister, your niece, Helena...the question is: do you want to be able to protect yourself and your family when the time comes, or do you want to be a helpless bystander?"
Beth shook her head again, more fiercely, stepping away. "I- this is...ridiculous...it's crazy, I..." She breathed in quickly, touching her hair. She looked at the Digivice once more. She remembered Helena showing up at her apartment, and she remembered the shockwave and the light sweeping across the city - sweeping her away with it before she could even comprehend the sight. The only duty she had in this world was to care for and protect her sister's child. But against city-destroying monsters and a psychotic...evil scientist woman...she couldn't do a thing. If not for this place, for...whoever this "Ymir" was...that would have been it for her? She would have been gone, too, like her sister. Leaving her niece...her sister's daughter...all alone in the world.
Beth slowly reached out, and trembling fingers grasped the floating Digivice. It was warm against her palm. The light faded away. She stared down at it, eyeing the buttons on the face of it, and the little screen it had. "If this will help me find and protect Marlene, then I'll take it," she spoke aloud. "I'll do whatever I have to to make that happen."
Daniel gave her a nod and a smile. "That's good. And we'll..." He trailed off as a red light flared to life in front of his face - while simultaneously, a blue one appeared before Richard. Daniel stared for a moment, but then he reached out and snagged the device out of the air without hesitating. He looked down on it with pure nostalgia, with fondness and affection. He caressed it with a thumb. "It looks as good as new..." he murmured.
Richard watched Daniel, then looked to Beth. He looked uncertain for some reason. He gazed back at his own Digivice. He half-raised a hand, then paused before touching it.
"Take it, go on," Daniel told him. "It's more than fitting that the man who wants to be the bridge between worlds should actually experience entering into a partnership with a Digimon personally. How else is the rest of our world going to get used to human-Digimon relations in general? Especially after what Helena just did...we're going to need some positive representatives of this world to counter that."
"You're right, of course." Richard shut his eyes briefly, then grasped his Digivice in a strong hand. The corners of his lips tugged into a tiny smile. "The only way forward is to lead by example."
"So how do you fit into all of this, anyways?" Beth asked the man suddenly.
Richard looked at her in surprise. "My role was a minor one, all things considered: Fifteen years back, I was a private detective, investigating mysterious events happening across the United States. Freak accidents, storms, etc. At least, that was what the public attributed it all to - but I discovered it was actually the actions of Digimon, who had been sent to our world by Helena. At one point, I personally stumbled into a situation I shouldn't have, and Daniel here saved my life - and brought me in on the truth of things. After that, I went on to establish and head a top secret military division: DATS - D.A.T.S - which has devoted itself to monitoring the space between our world and the Digital World, in case of any more potential crossovers...whether they turn out to be hostile, or more benign in nature."
"Right," Beth murmured. "Okay. Why not? Of course the government would know - and keep it all from the public."
"Helena is part of the public," Richard said quietly. "She's only paranoid, delusional, and possessive. Now imagine a true sociopath or psychopath getting their hands on her power - on a Digimon's power. Someone truly intelligent, cruel and calculating."
"My niece and his daughter are the public, too," Beth responded, jerking her head at Daniel.
Richard nodded. "Exactly. And you can never know which one you're going to get, can you? Who's going to be curious and kind, and who's going to want to take advantage of things? Who's going to be respectful, or ambitious and sadistic? If the whole world knew, if the whole world had access...You saw what that Digimon - Omnimon - did. Imagine every casual, random joe or jane on the streets having access to their own personal nuke. Literally. It's bad enough already with firearms. People go into a rage at being disrespected, over some petty dispute, and then you have a little girl dead in her carseat, or at the grocery store. You think the average, mentally unsound person can be trusted with the power Helena has - or a Digimon partner, who they could just order to attack someone on command because they looked at them funny?"
"Well the whole world knows now, don't they?" Beth said, looking down at her Digivice. "Good luck figuring that out..."
To her surprise, the man laughed softly. "It's going to be a hell of a job, yes. But we won't have to worry about it until we get back, at least. For right now-"
Suddenly, a golden pillar of light shined down from above - from the endless darkness stretching upward - touching the water's surface. It was so brilliantly bright that it lit up the entire cavern. Beth squinted, and saw for the first time that this wasn't a cavern at all - at least not one made of stone. It was...a wooden tower? The vast, circular chamber, those edges, it was thick, aged wood. Wood that continued upward, so far that even with this new blazing light source, Beth still couldn't make out what was at the top of it!
A tower? No...it looked more like they were inside some sort of...massive tree?
As Beth's eyes struggled to adjust to the light, she saw a figure against the pillar of light - framed. Shadowed. A woman? She was walking forward across the water - on the water. Her feet weren't dipping below the surface, weren't making so much as a ripple or splash. This woman came forward, and came into focus. She was tall, dark-skinned, with long pointed ears and gleaming gold eyes. She had shiny black hair tied into a simple ponytail. She wasn't wearing any shoes, and she wore a plain, simple dress of white that reached her ankles. Beth could only think that this woman looked straight out of a fantasy story - like some sort of- elf woman.
"Who are you?" Beth questioned, tensing up. Though, as she glanced toward Daniel, the man didn't seem at all worried or wary about this woman. In fact, he looked...happy. Welcoming. A smile grew on his face.
"It's Ymir," Daniel spoke warmly, starting forward, his eyes practically shining now with emotion. "I was right, wasn't I? You brought us here. You did this. You saved our lives. And you made us Tamers. Well, me...again. To someone new, or to Aria again?"
The woman - Ymir - folded her hands at her waist, and she bowed low, slow. Gracefully as the water she stood on. She straightened again, and there was a small smile on her dark, thin lips. Her eyes swept over the three of them, before returning squarely to Daniel. "I did not save your lives and make you Tamers: I made you Tamers to save your lives," she spoke at last. Her voice was low, raspy and subdued.
Daniel's eyes widened. Then, he nodded. "Of course...understood."
"Just as I did for your daughter," Ymir went on. Her eyes found Beth now. "And for your niece."
"What are you talking about?" Beth demanded.
"Marlene Faber jumped from a bridge: my intervention, transporting her to the Digital World, saved her life," Ymir stated, factual and quiet. Her eyes flickered to Daniel. "Rachel Kreissberg would not have survived the impact with the truck that she was on a collision course with; I pulled her from her vehicle, allowing her to survive."
"So you made them Tamers only because it would enable you to save their lives?" Daniel said quietly.
Ymir shook her head gently. "That was only one reason for doing so."
"And what was the other?" Beth questioned. But she wasn't afraid of this woman anymore. How could she be, when meeting the woman claiming to have saved Marlene from that bridge the other night?
"Because both Marlene Faber and Rachel Kreissberg have the heart and soul, and the strength to succeed where you once failed," Ymir told Daniel, directly and shamelessly. "They have the spark. What you once had - lost - and have finally found again, in those final moments when you chose to save the lives of your wife and daughters with no thoughts for your own. The new Digivice will help facilitate the connection that already exists between yourself and Arukenimon - the bond that has never broken. You took the Digivice, so I will assume you are willing to take up the responsibility again."
"And you chose me for the same reasons?" Beth asked. "This...soul, strength, this spark? What is it?"
"The power Helena wields - the power of this world," Ymir replied. "And the power she lacks: the power to connect with a Digimon's soul, to share in power, in emotions. This power can overcome hers, if used to its full potential."
"I suppose I don't need to ask why I was chosen," Richard spoke lightly.
Ymir gave the man a small smile. "Daniel laid it out quite well, I believe. Are you prepared to take on the responsibility?"
"I am," Richard stated.
Ymir inclined her head. "Then I look forward to spending more time together with you in the future, Commander Sampson."
"And I, with you," Richard replied, quiet and sincere. "If we can solve this mess with Helena first."
"I can only say this: it is much more of a possibility than it was twenty-thousand years ago," Ymir said certainly. "And once she is gone, this stagnation and instability of my world will finally end, and it can begin to evolve into a new stage of existence."
"As will ours," Richard agreed.
On that, Beth silently agreed with the pair of them. Even if she couldn't begin to wrap her mind around even the half of all of this...she knew it was going to change the world regardless. And her niece, her Marlene, was likely to be at the forefront of it all. Which just meant that Beth had to be there to support her - to look out for her.
If only she could find her first.