Konnichi wa, minna-san! Remember me? Yah, hikari, the author who sorta
fell off the face of the earth and left all her readers wondering... -_-
; Gomen, everybody, I've been so busy lately, I haven't had time to
post...but I figured I'd get the next part out to you as a Christmas
Present. :) I went ahead and did that housekeeping I was going to
do...and combined a whole bunch of stuff, so the new part toward the end
of this chapter, so you can just skim thru the old stuff to refresh
what's in your memory, and go! :) So, Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah,
Happy Kwanzaa, Mele Kalikimaka, Feliz Navidad, um...and all that other
wonderful holiday stuff. You know what I'm saying. ^_^ Enjoy!
Games of the Mind *Chapter Thirteen*
Pipermon groaned, and her eyelids fluttered open. She ached all over,
feeling rather like she had been thrown down a large flight of wooden
stairs. She coughed, and sat up, grimacing. With a soft moan, she ran
the back of her hand across her mouth, frowning at the blood that
streaked her skin. She poked her tongue about the inside of her mouth,
making sure she still had all of her teeth. Glancing around, she found
herself in rather familiar surroundings. The room was dark...a dungeon,
perhaps... Pipermon knew just about every nook and cranny of Kurarimon's
castle, but it was too dark to really see for certain where she was.
There were two hallways that connected to the room, one forking off to
the left, the other to the right. The cobblestone floor was cold and
damp, suggesting that the room was below ground, but in Kurarimon's
castle, it was near about impossible to know for sure. There were no
windows, the only light coming from a single candlelit chandelier
dangling from the low ceiling. As she slowly gazed around the room, she
caught movement out of the corner of her eye, and turned quickly.
The children!
She had almost forgotten!
She looked to see if everyone was okay, but stopped just short of
standing when she saw Yamato slowly, deliberately, step between her and
the other children. An intense feeling of deja-vu swept over her, for he
had done that exact same action four days ago, when they had first met.
The only difference was, when they had first met, four days ago, she
truly HAD been their enemy. She did not speak, but there was a look of
such plaintive guilt in her eyes that they spoke louder than any words.
"Please, let me explain," she said slowly, finally finding the energy to
get to her feet. Yamato didn't let her continue her sentence.
"There's nothing to explain," he shouted, an angry growl in his voice.
"There is nothing to explain, Pipermon. You've been working for
Kurarimon all along, that's all that needs to be said."
"Now, wait a second--"
He silenced her with a sharp wave of his hand.
"We've heard enough of your lies, Pipermon," he yelled.
She fisted her hands.
"I NEVER lied to you!" she cried. "Never once did a false statement
escape my lips! It's true, I may have only given you PART of the
information, but don't you DARE accuse me of lying to you!"
"What about all that nonsense about wanting to atone for sins of the
past?" Jyou challenged, a hint of dejection in his voice.
"It wasn't nonsense," she replied softly, "I really did..."
"Sure have a funny way of going about it," Mimi muttered. "Betraying
everyone who ever put their trust in you, yeah, that's a real good way
to show it..."
Pipermon's eyes narrowed unpleasantly.
"I said I DID," she hissed snappishly. "That would be PAST tense."
"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?" Yamato shouted.
She refused to look at him.
"One can only stand being hated and feared wherever they go for so long
before they just stop trying," she said almost inaudibly.
"It would seem you are feared for a good reason," Yamato growled. "Your
reputation appears to serve you well."
She snapped her head up, her eyes widened.
"A sharp tongue can be a double-edged sword, Yamato-san," she snarled.
"So, too, can deception!" he seethed back.
"You don't know what you're talking about!"
"You BETRAYED us!"
"I did nothing of the sort!" she wailed, throwing her arms out at her
sides. "Did I ever once do anything but help all of you? Did I ever do
anything but UNdo what Kurarimon had done? You humans are such
hypocrites! You're such a paradoxical race--you ask to be handed the
world on a golden platter before you'll put your trust in anyone, but
all it takes is a single accusation from a total stranger to betray that
trust!? Where's the logic in that, I ask you? Kurarimon has tried to
kill all of you half a dozen times, and you would first take HER word
over MINE? When did I ever lay a belligerent hand on ANY of you??" She
paused, and her tone softened. "I risked my life to SAVE you, Yamato-
san," she went on, her voice quiet and wistful, "and all you have in
return for me...are accusations?"
There was a moment of silence, and then Pipermon slowly shook her head
with a bitter laugh.
"Fine, if that's the way you feel..."
She lifted into the air and wrapped her arms about herself, as though
she were suddenly chilled to the bone.
"If you don't want my help, then I'll leave you to yourselves," she
said. "You're on your own, just like you wanted." She floated slowly
backward, unhurriedly, fading gradually into the deep shadows of the old
catacombs. "After all," she went on before her form vanished into the
shifting shadows, "every creature in THIS world hates and fears
me...there isn't a digimon around who would give me the time of day..."
She paused for just a moment, her body now only a silhouette in the
blackness. "Somehow, however..." she added slowly, "somehow, I expected
a little more of the Digidestined humans from the real world." She shook
her head again. "Very well, then, I wish you luck, Digidestined," she
concluded, "you're going to need it."
With that, she snapped one arm up over her head, as though reaching for
the sky, and then brought it down quickly, and a small silvery object
flew from her hand and slammed into the ground.
There was an explosive crack! and a puff of white smoke, and when the
smoke cleared, Pipermon was gone.
"Pipermon--wait!"
Yamato snapped his arm out as Kari rushed forward with a plaintive yelp.
"Let her go, Kar," he said, blocking her path with one slender arm.
Kari's face hardened, and she shoved his arm down.
"Let ME go, Yamato," she growled.
He blinked, startled. Kari was usually so mild-mannered, it wasn't like
her at all to snap at anyone.
"Kari?"
She stepped out in front of him, a cold glare in her mahogany eyes.
"Yamato, don't you see what you've done?" she cried. "You've thrown away
our only lifeline! Without Pipermon, we have no hope of finding out
Kurarimon's weakness! We're up a creek with no paddle, Yama, we may
never find our way out of here!"
Yamato's jaw slackened a little.
"But...but I only--"
"Why are you so closed-minded, Yama?" TK cut in. Yama was taken aback.
"TK?"
"You never trust anyone, because you're too afraid," the younger child
accused, his eyes wide.
Yama paled. Sora took a small step forward, a look of desperation in her
green eyes.
"TK's right, Yamato," she said slwoly. "You're so terrified that they'll
turn right around and stab you in the back that you won't give anyone
the chance to prove their true colors to you!" she said, a tone of pity
in her voice. "You look so hard for the reasons NOT to trust someone
that you look right past the reasons why you SHOULD!"
"But she--"
"She didn't do anything but HELP us, Yamato!" Kari wailed. "She nearly
got herself killed trying to save your life, but all you could see was
the fact that she was affiliated with Kurarimon!" She paused and looked
into his azure blue eyes, slowly shaking her head. "For once, Yamato,"
she said, "try thinking with your heart instead of your head. Try
closing your mouth...and opening your eyes..."
He yelped when Kari brushed past him and darted off into the darkened
hallways.
"Kar? Kari!!" he shouted, and Gatomon started after her.
"Kari, come back!" the feline digimon cried, but stopped short of the
hallway. There was no way to know which way she had gone...the corridors
branched off into a dozen adjoining hallways, creating quite the
convoluted honeycomb of passageways beneath the mountain.
"Kari!" Tai cried, rushing forward. Yamato cross-blocked him, grabbing
him by the shoulders.
"Tai, stop it," he said firmly, and staggered back with a yelp when
Tai’s fist connected with his jawbone. Yamato regained his composure and
stared hard at Tai. "What the hell was that for, Tai??" he cried. "What
do you think you're doing??"
"Somebody has to go after her!" he shouted. "Someone has to find her!"
He lunged forward again, and Yamato grabbed the collar of his shirt.
"Stop it, Tai," he growled menacingly, "you can't go after her in the
shape you’re in. You can't even see where YOU'RE going, Tai, much less
where SHE went!"
Tai reeled back. Those words...he felt like he'd been slapped across the
face by the cold hand of truth. He let out a cry like an enraged animal,
and lunged forward again, shoving Yamato backward, hard against the cold
stone wall of the dungeon like room. He drew back his arm and tried to
punch at him again, but Yamato quickly leaned to the side and caught
Tai's fist in his palm.
"Tai--" he shouted, and shoved him back. "Tai, stop this--"
"This won't help anything!" Agumon cried as the others just watched in
horror.
"Tai, come on, knock it off," Sora pleaded.
But Tai wasn't listening. His anger, fear, and the stinging pain in his
heart from Pipermon's betrayal had left him raw and burning inside. It
didn't matter to him now that Yamato was his friend, he needed to punch
something. Something had snapped in the back of his mind, and he just
couldn't take it anymore...something had to give, or else all the pain
and pressure from these past four days would surely crush his soul.
He tried again to punch Yamato, but the taller boy dodged quickly,
spinning away, but he almost didn't move in time. He could feel the wind
from Tai's balled fist brush his cheek as he jerked away. Tai let out a
pained yelp as his fist hit the granite wall. He clutched his throbbing
fist in his hand, and lowered his head, his eyes narrowed.
"What's wrong, Yamato," he growled, "too proud to fight back against
someone with an impairment?" He swung his arm again, crazy with rage and
fear, and Yamato grabbed him firmly by the wrist. "What's the matter,
Yama," he challenged, baring his teeth, "you won't fight a man with a
handicap??"
"I won't fight a friend at a disadvantage!" Yamato cried back, almost to
the point of desperation himself. "Tai, you're walking right into
Kurarimon's hands, this is what she WANTS! She wants us to turn on one
another, we'll be easy pickings for her that way! Don't do this, Tai, we
need to work TOGETHER, now more than ever!" He squeezed his fingers
around Tai's writs until his knuckles turned white. "Tai, wasn't it YOU
who said we needed to stick together on this one?"
Tai recoiled as though he had been burned, and ripped his wrist from
Yamato's grasp. What am I doing? he fumed. Why am I fighting with him?
He slowly sank to his knees, his hands still fisted at his sides.
"Yama...I'm...I'm sorry," he said softly, closing his useless eyes. "I
just...I dunno what came over me." He shook his head. "It's just
that...well...Kari's..." He didn't finish his sentence, just buried his
face in his hands.
Yamato dropped to one knee and placed his hand on his friend's shoulder.
Tai flinched.
"Tai, have a little faith," he said quietly. "She'll come back. She'd
never break up the team, not like this."
"I'm sure she'll be back," TK said hopefully.
Sora nodded.
"Wherever she went, I'm certain she must have had a good reason," she
said.
"And she'll find her way back after she's done what she needs to take
care of," Jyou added.
"Kari's a smart kid, Tai," Gatomon said softly, "I think she can handle
herself."
Tai pulled away from Yamato and got to his feet. He sighed, a slump in
his usually confident posture.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," he said, and walked over to the wall. He
placed his open palm on the cool stone wall, and rested his forehead
against the back of his hand. "I guess you're right..."
But that wasn't the issue. He knew Kari could take care of herself...but
what was killing him was the not knowing. Where had she gone? And why?
What did she hope to accomplish by running off into the depths of
Kurarimon's catacombs? He winced silently as the questions burned
through his consciousness like hot needles.
God, if anything happens to her...
He didn't finish his thought.
He turned around and leaned his back against the wall, sliding down it
until he was sitting with his knees drawn up to his chest.
"I guess you're right," he said one last time, his voice almost too soft
to be heard. He dropped his head onto his knees.
At least, he thought, I HOPE you're right...
****here's the new part****
It was dark, the room was chilly. But then it seemed that they all were.
Pipermon didn't care, she didn't even feel the cold anymore. The chill
in her heart was far colder than the chill in the air. She had really
trapped herself in a corner this time...Kurarimon would never trust her
again...and the children certainly wouldn't... Kurarimon would probably
kill her for her disobedience...but she didn't care anymore, it didn't
matter. It just didn't matter.
She let out a gusty sigh.
She hadn't imagined it ending like this...she never expected thing to
happen the way they did.
It doesn't matter now, she thought sadly, sitting down against the wall.
She drew her knees up to her chest and rested her forehead on them.
Nothing matters anymore...
She snapped her head up when she suddenly heard footsteps. Short, fast
footfalls from somewhere beyond her line of sight. She tensed, and
quickly jumped to her feet, her flute shimmering into existence in her
right hand. She spun it quickly, and the footsteps came to an abrupt
halt. Pipermon bared her teeth.
"I know you're there!" she shouted, surprised by the volume of the echo
that reverberated off the old stone walls of the corridor. "I know
you're there," she said again, "show yourself! Or are you too much of a
coward to step into the light?"
She gasped when she saw who the footsteps belonged to.
"Hikari-san?" she said as Kari stepped out into the pale flickering
candlelight illuminating the room. "Hikari-san...how did you find me?"
Kari frowned.
"I dunno..." she said honestly. "I just walked. I wasn't quite sure
where I was going, but I followed my heart... I had to find you,
Pipermon...I couldn't let it end this way..."
Pipermon didn't quite know what she was talking about, but was touched
by the child's actions.
"Hikari-san...but what are you doing here? Why didn't you stay with the
others? It's not safe to wander around by yourself down here."
Kari frowned and clasped her hands together behind her back.
"I wanted to talk to you, Pipermon," she said softly.
Pipermon's eyebrows shot up.
"You DID?" she said in disbelief. She paused, and leaned back against
the wall. "What for?" she added. "It's a crime to consort with the
enemy, you know..."
Kari's expression hardened.
"I don't believe that," the young girl said, fisting her hands. "I don't
believe for one minute that you’re our enemy, Pipermon!"
Pipermon was a little taken aback by Kari's faith.
"You don't?" she asked, startled. Kari nodded, and Pipermon let out a
sigh and slid to the floor, "Well, thank you, Hikari-san," she said, her
voice melancholy, "but try convincing the others of that..."
"I won't have to," Kari said.
Pipermon looked up at her.
"Nani?"
"I won't have to convince them, Pipermon," she said again, "because
YOU'RE going to."
Pipermon threw her head back and laughed bitterly.
"You're joking, ne?" she snickered. "Oh, don't be ridiculous, Hikari-
san...even if I TRIED talking to them, you really think they would
listen?"
"Pipermon, PLEASE," Hikari implored. "We need your help if we ever hope
to defeat Kurarimon... Please, Pipermon, won't you come back with me?"
Pipermon hesitated. Kari had come all this way...had somehow managed to
follow her through the maze of tunnels beneath the castle... She
couldn't understand how Kari could still have even a shred of respect
for her after what she had done... She sighed and shook her head.
"Hikari-san...I...I can't."
Kari frowned.
"How come?"
Pipermon knit her brow.
"I just...can't," she said. "Please, Hikari-san, please try to
understand...I don't want to be your enemy...but I just can't help you
destroy Kurarimon... I cannot fight alongside you, I'm sorry."
Kari looked disappointed.
"I...think I understand," Kari said haltingly.
Pipermon took the child’s hand.
"Hikari-san, I am sorry," she said again, "I'm so sorry that things
turned out the way they did...I...I never wanted--"
"It's okay, Pipermon," Kari said, slowly pulling her hand from the
digimon's grasp. "You've already rescued us half a dozen times,
anyway...we can't really ask you to do anything more for us..." She
paused. "I really wish you would reconsider, though," she added after a
moment of pensive silence. "We really need your help, we're lost without
you, Pipermon, you have to know that..."
Pipermon smiled weakly, and held up her index finger, slowly shaking her
head.
"Iie, Hikari-san," she said, getting to her feet, "that's where you’re
wrong."
Kari blinked.
"You kids DON'T need me anymore," Pipermon went on. "I've gotten you to
where you need to be...you're out of the woods now...literally..." She
grimaced at her own bad joke. Then her expression sobered as she looked
into Kari's sad chestnut eyes. "I've taken you as far as I can on this
journey."
"But--"
Pipermon placed one finger over Kari's lips to silence her.
"I told you, I can't, Hikari-san," she reiterated. "I've reached the end
of the line on this one. From this point forward, you'll have to go it
alone." She smiled secretively and leaned down, her hands on Kari's
shoulders. She looked the girl in the eyes, and continued. "You have the
power to defeat her, Hikari-san," she went on, and tapped two fingers on
Kari's chest, just below her collarbone, "you just have to find it." She
stood up straight, and blinked slowly.
Kari scrunched up her nose.
"Whaddya mean?" she asked.
"Hikari-san, how do you get rid of darkness?" Pipermon asked.
Kari frowned.
"Ne?" the child said.
Pipermon smiled a cryptic smile, and softly recited,
"There is one way to beat the darkness,
One way to lift the black of night.
The only way to destroy a shadow
Is to use the powers of--"
She stopped short with a soft gasp, and spun quickly, twirling her flute
and whispering something Kari couldn't hear.
"Powers of what, Pipermon?" she asked as Pipermon's cloak materialized
in the air. The digimon quickly wrapped the cape around her shoulders
and moved in front of Kari. "Pipermon--?"
"Hush!" Pipermon hissed, flicking her wrist and fanning the floor-length
cape out a bit. "Don't move, Hikari-san, and don't make a sound..."
Kari obeyed, confused and a little frightened. She suddenly understood
what was happening when an unfelt breeze ruffled the cloak and made her
hair twitch, like static electricity had just been pumped into the room,
causing her hair to stand on end. The intangible silent wind blew past
again, and the bells at the bottoms of Pipermon’s ponytails jangled
softly, like far off sleighbells, as her hair swayed.
"I know you're here, Kurarimon," Pipermon said softly, "stop lurking in
the shadows."
There was a flash of light, and a silhouette appeared in the corner of
the room. Kari forbade herself to gasp when Kurarimon's low, unctuous
voice filled the air.
"I thought I might find you here, Little One," Kurarimon said softly.
"Ever since you fist came to be in my service, you would always come
here"--she spread her arms in a grand sweeping gesture--"to these cold,
dark catacombs beneath my castle, to think." She paused, and lowered her
arms. "I am lost, Pipermon," she went on slowly. "After I've done so
much for you...after I rescued you...after everything I have tried to
help you with...you would still betray me?"
"I never intended for things to go the way they have, Kurarimon,"
Pipermon said quickly, sounding rather like a teenager who had just been
caught red-handed by her angry father.
"Nevertheless," Kurarimon interjected before Pipermon could continue,
"they have." She paused, and a frown crept across her thin face. "Might
I ask you, Pipermon, WHY things happened as they did? Why you found it
acceptable or necessary to go against what I told you and help these
children?" She narrowed her eyes. "Why you felt you had to protect them
rather than obey me?"
Pipermon looked at the floor, and mumbled something indecipherable.
Kurarimon lifted her golden eyebrows.
"Come again?" she asked haughtily. "What'd you say?"
Pipermon snapped her chin up.
"I said 'because you're WRONG'!" she shouted. The echoes bounced off the
wall and left her ears ringing. "You're wrong," she went on a little
more softly. "You're wrong about them. They aren't the cause of you're
being what you are, Kurarimon, YOU are!"
"What??"
Pipermon clenched her fists.
"You blame the Digidestined for your becoming the monster you have,
Kurarimon, but that's just not true!" she cried. "No one is born evil,
Kurarimon, it's the choices you make that shape and decide who you are!"
Kurarimon's scarlet eyes narrowed angrily.
"Had it not been for the Digidestined," Kurarimon said, raising her arms
out to her sides, "I never would have been completed. I would have
remained incomplete and inanimate, I never would have had to live out
this wretched existence as a mismatched, patchwork digimon created of
stolen parts!"
"Had it not been for the Digidestined," Pipermon said icily, "you would
not be ALIVE, Kurarimon. You should be thanking them for giving you the
chance to live, not trying to annihilate them!"
"Why should I thank them for giving me this miserable course of life?"
Kurarimon demanded.
"YOU'RE the one who chose to make it miserable, not them!" Pipermon
shouted. "No one made you what you are, Kurarimon, except you. Nobody is
born into this world, or any other world, a demon...we are all born the
same. We are all born innocent."
"That's just the problem, Pipermon," Kurarimon wailed, "we WEREN'T born!
You, and me, and Hollymon and Ivymon--we weren’t born. We didn't COME
from digi-eggs, we did not lie in cradles in the Primary Village, we've
never even set FOOT there! We weren't born, Pipermon, we were CREATED!"
"Born or created, Kurarimon, a life is a life," Pipermon said coldly.
"Strip away all the horrible things we are guilty of, and we are the
same as those kids and their digimon. Beneath your skin, a heart beats
in YOUR chest, too, somewhere, even if you don't remember it's purpose!
Beneath all the evil on the outside you are a creature just as worthy of
life in this world as any of them!"
"Don't you DARE compare me to those creatures!" Kurarimon seethed
angrily, baring her teeth. "I'm not like them, and neither are you!"
Pipermon shook her head.
"You're wrong," she said. "Regardless of what you may think, our
lifeblood is the same as theirs. Digital, real, or otherwise, a living
creature is a living creature and nothing makes that living creature who
it is but itself. No one made you the monster you are,
Kurarimon...except you."
Kurarimon paused, and, for a moment, Pipermon thought she had gotten
through to the more powerful digimon. She quickly found she was wrong
when Kurarimon slowly began to advance toward her.
Pipermon's heart skipped a beat.
If Kurarimon discovered Kari behind her, the child would be killed.
There was no way Pipermon could stand up to Kurarimon's attacks, not
here, not in this castle. She tensed, holding her ground, a prayer
running loops through her mind.
Please, she thought, please stop. Please don't find Hikari-san...
She couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to the children.
Even though she was sure they must have hated her now, she couldn't
stand the thought of their downfall being at the hands of Kurarimon. And
Kari... Kari still had faith in her...after everything she had
done...after all the deception...Kari still believed...
No, she would not let Kurarimon win...Kurarimon would not take
Kari...not here...not now...
Not ever.
Kurarimon stopped, as though Pipermon's thoughts had reached her. The
two powerful digimon stood silent and still, in checkmate, it seemed, as
neither one appeared able to make the next move. Kurarimon narrowed her
eyes again, glaring daggers at Pipermon.
"Those children destroyed Piedmon, your master, your creator," she said,
a low throaty growl in her voice, "and that alone should be reason
enough to destroy them--that was the reason you joined me in the first
place!"
"Piedmon got what he deserved," Pipermon said, her voice equally as icy.
"He may have been the one to create us...we may be here by his
hands...but he would have destroyed this world, given the chance.
Piedmon got what was coming to him...and you may well, too." Her voice
was low and malevolent. "It was too late for Piedmon...his soul was too
far gone, his heart too long forgotten..." She frowned. "But it's not
necessarily too late for you, Kurarimon." She paused, and a lump formed
in her throat. "I blew my chance..." she whispered. "I blew my chance at
redemption...but you don't have to."
"What are you babbling about?" Kurarimon growled.
"Those kids are the most amazing creatures I've ever encountered,"
Pipermon said. "They are kind, they are gentle, and they're open-
minded...Kurarimon, they KNEW of my reputation, they KNEW what I had
done...they knew...and yet..." She paused. "And yet, they gave me a
chance anyway. I may have lost that chance forever, I betrayed their
trust just as I have betrayed yours...but they gave me a chance,
Kurarimon..." She fisted her hands. "And if you tried...if you really
tried..." She grit her teeth. "If you wanted another chance, Kurarimon,
I'm sure they would give YOU one, too... It's...it's not too late."
"It's ALWAYS too late!" Kurarimon screamed. "When you have nothing, it's
always too late!"
"Nothing??" Pipermon cried. "You think you've got NOTHING? You could
have anything you wanted! You could have everything, Kurarimon, you have
powers beyond imagination, and yet you use them for nothing but
destruction!" Her eyes flashed, enraged. "I'M the one with
nothing...without Piedmon, I was lost! I was totally lost, Kurarimon,
you said it yourself--I was a basketcase! You saved me...you saved me
from myself, and now I have lost everything! I've lost my master, my
savior, AND the children." She knit her brow. "You saved ME,
Kurarimon...now all you have to learn is how to save your OWN soul."
"Soul?" she repeated. "I HAVE no soul to speak of, Little One...for I am
a monster!"
"A DIGITAL monster, Kurarimon," she corrected desperately, "and DIGITAL
monsters have souls!" Her eyes were wet with unshed tears of hopeless
despondency. "Digimon DO have souls..."
Kurarimon made a soft scoffing sort of noise, and Pipermon squared her
shoulders.
"I don't care what you think, Kurarimon," Pipermon said, "it's not too
late for you. It's never too late to say you’re sorry."
"What if I'm not sorry?" she challenged, a bloodthirsty look in her
scarlet eyes. Pipermon refused to falter. Her blue eyes turned steely.
"Then YOU should be the one who is hunted, Kurarimon, not them," she
hissed, "for if you are not sorry for what you've done then you truly
ARE a monster..."
"Why should I ask forgiveness from those who are my bane?" Kurarimon
demanded.
"Why are you being so stubborn about this??" Pipermon shouted in
response. "Why can't you understand?? The solution to everything--to all
your problems, all your pain and suffering... It's all right in front of
you, Kurarimon, as plain as the scar on your face!"
Kurarimon flinched, and her hand moved to her jawline.
The scar.
It was like a constant reminder to her what an abomination she was.
It was about four inches long, and right down the middle of her left
eye. She wore her hair as she did in an effort to hide it...but she had
yet to figure out how to hide it from herself. She stroked it softly, as
though she could will it away, and then clenched her fist.
Pipermon had seen Kurarimon cringe, and knew she had hit a nerve.
"That scar blinded more than just your left eye, Kurarimon," she growled
menacingly. "You let your hatred consume you, and now you're too afraid
to allow yourself to change!"
Kurarimon lunged forward and grabbed the neck of Pipermon’s unitard.
"If I hadn't sworn to myself two years ago that I would not kill you in
a fit if anger," she snarled, "I would snap your neck."
Pipermon inhaled sharply, but her eyes betrayed no fear.
"And you swore that for why, Kurarimon?" she said through clenched
teeth. "Because you knew you would need me to get to the children??"
Kurarimon let out a furious growl, and dropped her hold on Pipermon's
neckline, causing her to stumble backward. With a silent gasp, Kari
moved quickly, remaining just barely hidden from sight.
"I will not help you, Kurarimon," Pipermon went on firmly, "I will not
harm those children." She scowled. "I won't hurt them," she repeated,
"so please do not ask me to."
"And if I ORDER you to?" Kurarimon dared, taking a small step back.
Pipermon shook her head.
"Then I will disobey those orders."
Kurarimon scowled.
"Very well, Little Piper," she said softly, "if that is the way things
are to be..." She turned on her heels and started to slowly walk down
the hall, back into the shadows from whence she had appeared, her cape
swishing behind her like a silver ghost.
Pipermon let out the breath she had been holding, and lowered her head,
relieved.
"Oh, and Piper," Kurarimon called back over her shoulder. Pipermon
snapped her chin up and straightened her back, startled. Kurarimon's
ruby eyes glowed like incandescent scarlet stars in the shadows of the
chilly corridor. "Pipermon, heed my advice, and do not leave this
place," the eyes said slowly. "If you value your life, you will remain
here. After I am finished destroying those children, I shall have a few
words with you." The eyes widened, then narrowed to venomous slits. "And
so, farewell for now, Little One," she said quietly. "I've got a date
with Digi-Destiny!"
With that, she was gone with a flash of silver-white light and a loud,
triumphant laugh.
"A few words, ne?" Pipermon growled in a mocking tone. "Oh, yeah, a few
words..." She hesitated, then shook her fist in the air. "I've got a few
words for you, too, Kurarimon, most of them consisting of four letters!"
she grumbled. "'A date with Digi-Destiny', puh!" she repeated, and made
a disgusted scoffing sound. "Oooh, she's so BAD! Even her CLICHÉS are
bad!"
"Pipermon?" Kari suddenly whispered, and Pipermon jumped with a short
cry.
"Hikari-san!" she said, spinning around. A smile split her face.
"Gomen...I had forgotten for a moment that you were there!" She laughed,
and patted Kari on the head. "I guess we fooled Kurarimon, ne,
konezumi?"
Kari grinned.
"Do you really mean that, Pipermon?" she asked. "You really won't help
her anymore?"
"I meant every word of it, Hikari-san," she said slowly. "I refuse to
help her in hurting any of you, I swear it." Then she snapped her head
up. "But we are running short of time. She's going to look for the
others." She hesitated. "We have to get to them before she does...we
have to warn them...if Kurarimon finds your brother and the other
children and catches them unawares, they'll all be killed before they
even have a chance to retaliate! She'll...she'll..."
Pipermon didn't finish her sentence, rather grabbed Hikari under the
arms and lifted her off the ground, holding her tightly against her
side.
"Come on, Hikari-san," she said, and jumped into the air, "there's no
time to lose."
"But I thought you couldn't fly," Kari protested. "Tai said--"
"Have you forgotten?" Pipermon said, and started to move forward.
"Within the stones of this mountain lie magic more powerful than you can
imagine, child. The rules I was bound by out in the forest have no
meaning here. Here, a digimon who knows how to use the magic that is
hidden in the very air we breathe can do near about anything...
Here..."--she paused, and winked--"here, I can fly."
She grinned cryptically, and they zipped down the hallway.
"Ara...Pipermon?" Kari said, and Pipermon looked at her. "Where are we
going? This isn't the corridor I came down before..."
"We'll never get there in time if we take the hallway you used," she
said. "Ii yo, I know this castle like the back of my hand, Hikari-san, I
know a shortcut." She paused. "You'll just have to trust me."
"I trust you."
Pipermon nearly choked.
She hadn't even hesitated.
I trust you. I TRUST you?
Had she really said that so unquestioningly? She felt a sudden pang of
guilt as she began to wonder if maybe she had misjudged the children.
Perhaps humans weren't so quick to jump to conclusions after all. If
Kari still had faith...could it be possible the others did, too? She
supposed it didn't really matter. Whether they regarded her as friend or
foe, Pipermon refused to let Kurarimon get the upper hand. If she could
warn them, that might give them a fighting chance. But, even
so...Pipermon feared that was all she could allow herself to do to aide
the children. Though she did not have any intention of HELPING
Kurarimon, she found she just couldn't fight AGAINST Kurarimon either.
She sighed, cursing her foul luck. Why did it have to be such that, as
soon as she found creatures with enough heart and soul to give her
another CHANCE at life...that she would be forced to choose between
them...and the digimon who had given her BACK her life...?
Kari took a deep breath as they raced through the air, moving so quickly
that she couldn't watch the walls as they flew past, for fear she would
become dizzy. She gulped, and tightly clutched Pipermon's arm as they
sped down the corridors.
Please let us get there in time, Kari thought, and she could tell by the
look on Pipermon's face that the digimon was thinking the same thing.
Please don't let us be too late!
What, you were expecting it *not* to be a cliffhanger?? ::shakes head::
You know me better than that, minna....
~~hikari
PS: "konezumi" means "little mouse", for anyone who wondered. ^_^
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