Lucia Delbray
17 Hours
“…We’re home,” I smiled. The side of the fortress we approached was illuminated in the golden light of the rising sun. I regretted not stopping to eat or even rest; I forced the three of us to skip breakfast this morning and dinner last night so we could get home as quickly as possible. But now, as my stomach painfully roared, I silently cursed my decision. “How are you holding up, Matthew?”
“I’d be better if you’d have let us stop to rest at least once on our way back home,” the archer said.
“Hey, at least she let you eat!” Coronamon snapped. “She didn’t let me eat, you know!”
“Hey, don’t think I’m not hungry either, pal!” I snapped. “I’m so hungry, it feels like I’m being stabbed in the belly!”
“It’s your own fault,” Coronamon muttered as the three of us walked into the fort. To my relief, there were a few people in the lounge having lunch, but the scent of their various meals made my stomach growl and hurt even more.
“Welcome back, everyone,” Heather smiled, sitting on a couch. “Matthew, sweetie, Eleanora’s waiting for you in your bedroom.”
“Oh, yeah; I guess I’ve been gone pretty long,” Matthew said. “Go ahead and eat if you’d like, Coronamon; I’m going to go talk with El about Fenrirmon.”
“…Fenrirmon?” Elizabeth was looking intently at us. Her voice was as distant and empty as ever. “So, he’s awoken at last, has he…?”
“I’m afraid so,” I said. “Sparrow, Hawkmon, and Mihiramon are currently tracking him down, but when we all fought Fenrirmon, we were no match for him. We’ll need to get everyone I can get to help fight him, or he’ll never be defeated.”
“Well, we’d both be happy to accompany you, Lucia,” Quetzalmon said, slithering up next to Elizabeth.
“Count me in!” Heather exclaimed.
“Nope.”
“C’mon…Pleeeeease?”
“No, Heather. You’re heavily pregnant, and I don’t want you or your unborn children to get hurt!” I said.
“I don’t either, but—”
“But nothing! I will not let Fenrirmon tear those babies out of your belly, so you’re staying here!”
“Okay, okay…”
“Well, I’m afraid that almost everyone else is still out doing some jobs,” Quetzalmon said.
“The boss hasn’t returned yet,” Elizabeth said.
“Please tell me Edmund’s here,” I said.
“I’m afraid not,” Quetzalmon said. “Aside from Lizzy and Heather, the only ones here are Larraine, Eleanora and Katsumi.”
“Damn it; Matthew was hurt earlier, so I’d prefer it if Eleanora stayed behind with him,” I said. “I guess I’ll just have to take you and Kit with me.”
“I’ve no objections,” Elizabeth said.
“Great! I’ll go and find Kitty so we can all get going!” Quetzalmon exclaimed, coiling and flying out of the room.
Eleanora Kasuto
“Eleanora, you shouldn’t stay in bed all day, every day like this,” Lunamon said. The small Rookie sat next to me on my bed. I looked at her and smiled, gently placing a hand over the crescent on her forehead. As she said, I’ve hardly done anything else but lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling during Matthew’s absence, other than going down for a nice, big meal. “A day off once in a short while is quite fine, maybe necessary for most of us here, Ellie, and I know you’re just worried about Matthew, but if you keep doing this, sooner or later, your belly will turn soft…and…which will…uh…”
“That’s okay, sweetheart; a soft belly is a sign of a mature woman,” I said quietly. “If that happens, you can just use it as a pillow; that’ll help keep us both warm at night.”
“…Okay…But promise me you’ll at least sit up when Matthew returns.”
“I will. He’ll be here any second now…I can smell him coming,” I said.
“You can what…? Oh, I forgot; the Marked have the heightened senses of Digimon,” Lunamon giggled. As I suspected, the door opened at that very moment, and my twin brother walked in.
“Eleanora…I’m sorry I was gone so long,” Matthew said. I saw him instantly avert his eyes. “Sorry…I didn’t realize you were changing…”
“…Don’t worry about it, Mattie,” I said. “This is our room, remember? If I were uncomfortable changing in front of my twin, I wouldn’t be sharing a room with him. But that’s beside the point; like you, I’ve decided to show more pride in my heritage as one of the Marked, so I will choose to have it showing at all times like you, my brother.”
“…I’m proud of you, Eleanora,” Matthew said, sitting down on my bed next to me. Yes, we are the closest of siblings, even as twins go. Yes, we share a bedroom. And yes…we occasionally bathe together. But we don’t share a bed. That would be just plain weird. “Anyway…the reason I was gone was because Lucia dragged Sparrow and me our three partner Digimon away to go and fight Fenrirmon.” A surge of rage pulsed through my body.
“She did what?! Just the six of you?!” I exclaimed. “Jeez, how irresponsible can you get?!”
“Well, if it’s any consolation, Lucia developed a crush on me for some reason and more or less did my share of the fighting.”
“WHAAAAAAAT?!”
“Well, I wasn’t sure if she was kidding at first or not, but I think she actually has fallen for me…”
“That’s not what I meant, Matthew!” I yelled. “What…?! How…? Lucia, of all people?!”
“Jeez, El, don’t sell your twin short, now,” Lunamon said.
“N—No, I wasn’t…I mean…”
“Well, we were able to find Fenrirmon, the six of us, but he beat us senseless, and because I was hurt, Lucia brought me and Coronamon back home to get as many people as possible to fight Fenrirmon, and—”
“Matthew, slow down!” I said. “You were hurt?! What happened?! Are you okay?!”
“Well, Fenrirmon had a Human form, and I shot an arrow at him, but he caught it and threw it back at me and it wound up in my shoulder, but after that, he turned into Fenrirmon and attacked us, and we all passed out, but when I came to, the wound was healed up like it had never happened.”
“…And where is Lucia right now?” I asked.
“She’s probably gone by now,” Matthew replied. “She wanted to get as many people as possible to go with her to fight Fenrirmon, but she told me to stay here with you, El.”
“…I swear, I will never understand that woman,” Lunamon said.
Lucia Delbray
“Thanks for flying us, Quetzalmon,” I said. “I left Sparrow and Mihiramon near the base of the Trillium Mountains; if we’d have walked, it would have taken us all day.”
“No problem! You ladies are all light as feathers!” Quetzalmon exclaimed.
“…You’ve always known how to sweet talk the ladies,” Elizabeth said.
“Well, sure! How do you think we became partners in the first place? Unless it was my rugged good looks, of course.”
“Hmm…it must’ve been your sweet-talking,” Elizabeth giggled, making no effort to hide her blush.
“Ha, ha…” Quetzalmon began undulating his long body in a casual, playful way.
“How are you holding up, Katsumi?” I asked.
“…I’m okay,” the sad witch replied. “…I hope I don’t slow you down, Lucy…I know…you wanted Edmund…but you’re stuck with me…”
“Oh, Kitty; you know I love having you around…You’re a very talented sorceress; I think you could even be better than Edmund in some aspects.”
“…Like…what…?”
“…You’re really adorable?”
“I knew it. I’m useless…”
“Katsumi, you are not useless! You’re a powerful spellcaster! You’re sweet, and your pretty; you don’t have a single ounce of mean in your entire body! You’re Wisemon’s daughter, after all; your magic power is more than likely off the charts!”
“…T—Thank you…Lucy…” Katsumi raised her head, giving me a faint, tiny smile, but a smile much bigger than any I have ever seen on her lovely face. However, it was short-lived, as she raised her head and began looking around anxiously.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“…It’s getting…brighter,” Katsumi whispered. “It’s not sunlight…It’s from an organic source…”
“Radiance of Spica!” Bright rings of conjured light surrounded the entirety of Quetzalmon’s long body, promptly exploding on contact. The Mythical Animal began spiraling downwards; the three of us hung on tightly to avoid being tossed off.
“What’s going on; who attacked us?!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.
“Quetzalmon, wake up!” Elizabeth shrieked over and over, but her Digimon partner would not respond. As we were plummeting, I saw the form of an Angel Digimon, watching us in the sky.
“Who are you?!” I asked. I was certain it was her who attacked us, but she had such a forlorn expression, not unlike Katsumi, my anger instantly faded. She looked down at the rugged ground, which was when we noticed we were only a few feet from crash-landing. I looked back up at the angel, and saw her raise her slender arms. I blinked, and we were on the ground, all of us in one piece, nobody splattered. The angel lighted down before us.
“…It can only be called destiny…that we would meet on the field of battle as enemies,” the Digimon said. “Rather than meet as comrades, we are being forced to fight for our own individual beliefs. But I, Virgomon, shall do my duty…and put an end to you and your group!”
“…You don’t want to fight, though,” I said. “There isn’t any point of fighting one who has no will to do so much as defend themselves.”
“It is not I who I defend,” Virgomon said. The Angel raised her arms. Her hands were glowing with light, and she was ready to attack again. Quetzalmon raised his head, glaring down Virgomon.
“Your reasons are of no concern to us, angel; the only thing that matters is that you threatened the lives of my friends!” he said.
“…And do you honestly think you can defeat me, Armor-level?”
“I don’t care. I will protect Elizabeth until the very end!” Quetzalmon lunged forwards to attack, but Virgomon jumped back at the last second.
“Screams of the Siren!” Virgomon began humming a lovely and melodic song. Quetzalmon stared at her intently, completely enraptured with her voice.
But I don’t understand; why is she singing…?
“Quetzalmon, what’s wrong?” Elizabeth asked. I looked over at Katsumi, who had a similar look of enamorment on her face. “Quetzalmon…”
“Elizabeth; I think she’s producing a sound wave hidden in her song that only the Digimon can hear,” I said. “Katsumi has the Mark, so she’s able to hear it too. We have to do something!”
“I’ve got it covered.” Between two of her slender fingers was one of her kunai. It was gone in an instant, the blade of her weapon having found its way into the middle of Virgomon’s thigh. Her sad expression did not fade, not even with the slightest flash of pain. Instead, she resumed humming the same lovely tune, and before my eyes, the blood that had been spilled vanished, the kunai along with it; even the tear in her pure white dress vanished.
“…It was you,” I said. “You were the one who healed us after our battle with Fenrirmon…” Virgomon shook her head.
“Please…don’t say things like that…Let us just get this senseless bloodshed behind us so I can…so I can accomplish my goal.”
“I’m not going to fight you, Virgomon,” I said. “You did more than heal my own wounds, Virgomon; you saved Matthew’s life. You saved the life of the man I love…” The Angel Digimon tightly shut her eyes.
“Please…stop…Keep fighting…Please…I can’t afford…to be friends with you! I just want to save my baby sister, and I won’t do anything to ruin my chances of doing so! So, please; stop talking and fight me so I can save her!” Virgomon seemed shocked by her own words. “…No…I didn’t…Why did I…?”
“The moment you stopped your song, I was able to move again,” Katsumi said. “That gave me enough time to cast a tiny spell; it works sort of like a truth serum, but its main purpose is to get information from whoever the spell was cast on. I wanted to know why you continued to fight while on the verge of tears…”
“N—No…you don’t understand…If they find out I told you…they’ll kill her,” Virgomon whispered. “They have her Digi-Egg; if I do something they don’t like, they’ll smash it!”
“We won’t let that happen,” I said calmly. “Fight us if you must…but I promise you that we will not allow anything to happen to your sister’s Digi-Egg.”
“…Radiance of Spica!” Virgomon once again readied her attack as a giant shadow passed overhead.
“Samurai Tiger Tail!”
“Mihiramon!” I gasped. My Digimon partner struck Virgomon in the ribs with his tail. “Mihiramon, what are you doing here?!”
“Well, I guess you could say I was simply in the neighborhood,” Mihiramon said. “Sparrow sent me out on someone’s trail; apparently, they’re allies of Fenrirmon.”
“…That monster has allies?!” I gasped.
“Yeah; I just happened to run into the lot of you while tailing them.” I turned to look at the Angel.
“Are they the ones who are holding your sister’s Digi-Egg hostage?” I asked. Virgomon stepped back, and twitched her wings. That’s an almost definite ‘yes.’ Virgomon clenched her small fists, and rose to the sky.
“Radiance of Spica!”
“Horn Blade!” Once again, Virgomon’s attack was interrupted by the attack of yet another Digimon, this time, Moosemon, with Sparrow on his back. Virgomon caught Moosemon’s horns in her hands, but was still forced to the ground.
“Sparrow, what brings you here?” Mihiramon asked. “Nothing happened…right?”
“I’m afraid it’s pretty bad,” Sparrow said, climbing off Moosemon’s back. “Fenrirmon woke up. He’s heading right this way.”
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