Okay, here's chapter 12.
Crossing Paths
The Demon Lass
So yeah... It's a wonderful day to be slaying Demon Megas and getting our butts whopped, don't you think?
"Gah!!" I let out a minor shriek as a rather nice looking crimson colored dagger found it's home in the flesh of the Mega that had decided to try and take a bite out of me. Did I forget to mention that the dagger turned out to be a sword? And that it's end was about an inch away from my face? "Hey buddy, watch where you're...aiming...?"
My eyes felt like they were gonna pop out of my head. This mon was cute, and I'm not talking cute as in a baby cute, I'm talking dating material cute! He looked kind of like the new Lucifer, only without the tail, crimson red hair down to his shoulders with rather cute looking demonic bangs, small fangs, and red eyes that sent a chill down your spine if you looked at him just right. His outfit was a rather snug looking piece of crimson and black armor, and he had a crystal shard serving as his earring on his left ear.
*Earth to Nina, come in Nina. HELLO?!?!?!* Lucifer's mental shout snapped me back on task.
"A human?" the mystery mon questioned, an edge of agitation in his voice.
"Well duh. Who were you expecting, the original Athena?" I smirked, a twinkle in my eye. The newbie just sort of blinked at that. Lucifer, however, let out a silent moan.
*Chaos Lord, I'll warn you now. Nina's found dating material.* Lucifer moaned mentally. I glared at him for that, to which Chaos Lord merely chuckled.
"A bit ironic that the Keeper of the Crimson Items would find herself face to face with one of the Crimson Nobles, no?" Chaos Lord smirked. This Crimson Nobel guy withdrew his sword from the carouse, sheathed it, and turned to face him.
"Chaos Lord. I was separated from Zedomon and the others. Crescent is making her way to the main throne room, and...MoonMachinedramon has been completed." Chaos Lord looked slightly dumfounded by this information, but slowly, he sheathed his own sword and demanded,
"Whom, may I ask, are you?"
"My name is Neo Crimson,"
*Neo Crimson... Ah...* I let out a mental sigh. Lucifer walked over and whacked me up side the head, making Neo blink.
"Hey! What was that for?!"
"What do you think?" he smirked down at me, his tail swishing lightly in a teasing manor. Neo Crimson looked from him to me then back to Lucifer, his eyes wide in shock.
"...I-Impossible... Lord...Ancient...?"
"No, my name is Lucifer. It's a rather long story on why I look like Ancient, but it's going to have to wait for another time. Like you said, we've got to hurry to catch up to the others." Lucifer quickly stated.
*That was mean!* I pouted in my mind, slashing through another enemy.
*It'll be even worse if you don't start moving. After all, your 'eligible date' is making you look like a novice.* I looked ahead, and sure enough, Neo had cut down half the attacking forces.
*So?! He's a Digimon! He's allowed to be stronger than me!*
*If you ever hope to date him, then you'd better be able to handle yourself as well as he can in a fight.* Chaos Lord teased. My cheeks blushed bright red, and before anybody knew it, I was mowing down the enemies. Chaos Lord and Lucifer paused for a moment to exchange a blink.
"We need to work on her motivation, don't we?"
"Yep,"
"Hey! Zedomon!!" My sudden laughter caught the two off guard, making them look back at me and blink. Sure enough, Frienze, Zedomon, and Bolt were all in the middle of a fight with a rather familiar witch. My laughter stopped there. "...Great...Crescent..."
"Ah, so the Keeper of the Crimson Items has managed to make it this far! I thought that worthless fool of a general would have disposed of you by now..." Crescent smirked, an evil glint in her eyes.
"Yeah well, I got one hell of a great times ten gramps to keep an eye on me." I laughed, pushing my hair back.
"Now is really not the time to be chitchatting..." Zedomon whispered over to me. I closed my eyes and smirked.
"I know,"
*Nina? What have you got planed?* Lucifer demanded. I let out a little laugh.
*How about a classic pincer move? That should get her.*
*One problem; she can sense where we are.* Chaos Lord stated rather bluntly.
*Not if I do that one magic trick I tried before. I'll cover you, you guys do the pincer, deal?* Chaos Lord and Lucifer exchanged a glance.
*...Be extra careful, though...*
*Like I'm not anyway?* I smirked, looking back over at him.
"Oh, what's this? Thinking that I wouldn't be able to tap into your little telepathic line?" Crescent smirked, her staff glowing. "I've got quite the present for you three fools. It's a famous technique among us Black Waltzes, known for it's ability to split the mind and soul of the same person and force them back into the past."
"...Dam! She knows that spell..." Chaos Lord cursed, bracing himself for an attack.
"Oh, I do indeed. The Spell of Past... For you!" One big black bolt of energy shot out, forcing Chaos Lord to raise his shield in hopes of blocking it. The whole field seemed to explode then implode, then explode again, leaving nothing but dust to cover the fighters. Chaos Lord blinked when he saw that nothing had happened to him, and instantly began to look around the field. When his eyes hit who the target was, or to be more exact, where the target should be standing, his heart hit the bottom of his shoes.
The witch let out cackle after cackle when she saw the look on everyone's face. Her Spell of Past had been cast, but not on Chaos Lord...on me. Chaos Lord felt as depressed as Lucifer looked, Neo seemed emotionless, as too did Zedomon and the others.
"I hope you had a chance to say goodbye to your sister, you two fools!" Crescent cackled, tipping her head back in laughter. Her laughing was cut short by a grand wolf howl echoing from the still scorched and smoking earth where I had been standing, and a feeling of pressing magical energy that seemed three times too grate began to slam out around the area. Everyone gulped.
Several orbs of black energy suddenly appeared around the smoke-covered pillar, making everyone gulp, including Crescent. Two glowing crimson eyes suddenly snapped open through the smoke, signaling the orbs to chase their prey. The six orbs stopped short of hitting my friends and relatives, hovering in an almost confused manor around their heads before finally settling on attacking Crescent. She let out a shriek of pain when the first orb hit, and showed her true colors when the others gave chase.
"No one, move..." Lucifer whispered in warning.
"...That energy..." Bolt gulped, somehow seeing something familiar in it.
The wind began to blow away the smoke, reviling not me, but some other being. It was female, standing on tall grayish-silver wolf legs that made it as tall as Lucifer's mid chest. Claws in replace of human nails on human hands were bared, fangs set in an otherwise human mouth gritted in anger and pain, and wolf/cat like ears twitched in all directions in show of annoyance from the top of its head. Long silver hair that stopped just before the human shoulder blades fluttered lightly in the wind, adding a silver colored aura-like effect for the background, while a long silver tail whisked to-and-fro in a steady rhythm of anger, and the only thing it had for clothing was a black and silver sports bra and pure black ripped shorts. Demonic blood red eyes, once beast like, were beginning to soften in to tears as the more human side of the beast began to reawaken.
Lucifer saw those tears first, closed his eyes and nodded his head slightly in recognition, and began to move forward towards the beast.
"Lucifer, stay back! It might attack!" Firenze warned.
"Oh, I doubt that." Lucifer sighed, almost sadly. "Don't mind us; keep moving. Memoria needs your aid more than we need your company."
The others stood fast as Lucifer approached the beast. It stiffed, backing away slightly while fighting back tears. It seemed to shake its head no as if it had heard some call to go to Lucifer, continuing to back away from him till it couldn't move any farther back. Bolt took that cue to run, dragging Firenze and the others with him. It didn't even notice that they were gone, but stared wide-eyed at Lucifer as he stopped a few feet away from it. It shut its eyes, tensing as if it were concentrating on something.
*Nina!! Don't you dare cut yourself off again!* Lucifer snapped mentally. The beast opened her eyes again, looking at Lucifer with fear, worry, pain, echoing as clearly as day. He rested his hand against its shoulder for a few moments, sympathy echoing in his eyes for it, before grabbing it tightly in a hug and hiding all but her tail with his wings. It began to sob in Lucifer's grip, holding tight to his jacket and pushing her head against his chest. I finally let go and admitted it.
"L-Lucifer...!" when the beast opened its mouth, my voice came out in a squeak. Lucifer simply sighed, patting my back lightly in a sympathetic gesture.
"It's alright, Nina... It's alright..." Lucifer whispered, resting his head between my ears. I continued to sob against his shirt, pulling myself even closer to him.
*...What am I now...? Some kind of a freak...?* I questioned mentally; even my mental voice sounded like it was about to crack in sadness.
*No, Nina, you are not some kind of freak!* the way he countered that made me wince slightly. Lucifer continued on with a softer edge in his tone. *Do you remember when Ancient used a power called 'Awaken' on you after you first closed yourself to the rest of the world?*
I nodded my head slowly against his shirt.
*That power did more than reopen the mental link for us; it awoke what little bit of demon blood you had in your veins. When Crescent tried to use the Spell of Past, she forgot to take your demon blood into account and made it so that your demon blood could take control of your body, changing you into a Youkai.* Something across the metal link on Bee and Black's side made us both gasp, our eyes snapping open in unison out of shock.
*What was...that...?* I whispered mentally.
*They couldn't...they can't...?* Lucifer stuttered. I looked up at him, whipping away the last of my tears, and blinked.
"What? What's wrong?" I demanded verbally. Lucifer looked down at me as best he could, his eyes wide in awe.
"Bee and Black...."
* * * * * * * * 10 Minutes Before the Spell of Past * * * * * * * * * * *
....And Lars and E-Vie were still stuck to a tree...
"So that's it, huh? You're just gonna forget about 'em? You're not even going to try and take revenge on whoever woke up your Dark Modes?" Bee growled in anger.
"Personally," Black growled, adding in his two cents, "I'd say they are cowards and forgetful fools; forgetting their parents and discarding their memories as if they were nothing."
"We haven't...!" E-Vie was cut short when Black pushed her deeper into the tree.
"You haven't, have you? Then why are you and your brother allowing us to hold you here as if you had no will left to live! Even as we speak, the Shrieking Shack is under heavy attack by Elrond's forces." Black snapped.
"If you two don't get your rears in gear and prove that you've got your acts back together, then we might as well kiss our friends' rears goodbye! We need every mon up to full strength, and havin' you two in the middle of a pity party like me, Black, and Lucifer were after Nina disappeared is the," he paused so that he could add extra emphasis to the last part of his sentence by throwing Lars across the field again, "Last dam thing we need right now!!"
Much to his doubled shock and joy, Lars back flipped through the air and landed on his feet in a crouched position. The younger mon withdrew both of his blasters and discarded them before standing up again, a new fire raging in his eyes.
"I ain't gonna let you call me a coward, not when father made me promise to keep on livin'." Lars growled, spreading his claws in show he was ready to attack. Bee smirked at that, tossing his own blasters aside to make the fight fair.
"Yah know, you both remind me of your pop; stubborn idiots till the very end." E-Vie sort of blinked at that, before anger got the better of her fears and guilt and she kicked Black off her.
"Take that back about my father!" she snapped, guns drawn. Bee was a little distracted at the moment, with Lars charging at him and all, to deal with her, so Black kindly punched her in the face and kicked her blasters off where Bee's were.
"I'm sure he would kindly do so if it were not the truth," Black smirked, although you couldn't see it from behind his face mask.
It wasn't long before both had a nasty set of cuts and scrapes on their firsts and arms, and the twins had the upper hand. Bee and Black stood back to back, staring down their respected opponents with a slight twinkle in their eyes.
*I would guess to say you managed to snap them back on task, Bee.* Black smirked mentally.
*Yeah, well, I'm starting to regret the fact I called Rouge an idiot to their faces.* Bee smirked back teasingly.
*You were simply telling them the truth. It's not your fault they dislike it so much.* Bee just shrugged at that one.
*Eh,*
"And what the hell are you two thinking about?" Lars growled.
"Ah, just how we're gonna explain to Rouge when we eventually head on up that it was us that had to send you and that pathetic fighter of a sister to an early grave when we were just trying tah get yah back in check." Bee smirked, a dark twinkle in his eye.
"That's it!" E-Vie boomed. Both she and Lars charged out at the two, and both hits were about to connect, when something happened that made all combatants and spectators stop what they were doing.
Bee and Black's eyes had suddenly snapped wide in shock, and the both of them had doubled over in pain in unison. Lars and E-Vie instantly stopped their attacks mid kick and punch, and instead of hitting their would-be teachers, the helped steady them.
"What's wrong?" Rico demanded instantly, running out to try and help as much as he could with Kimber, Wyna, and Wick right on his tail.
"Good question~!" Bee gasped, his voice cutting off mid-word as another blast of pain shot through him.
"...Nina...!" Both Black and Bee exchanged a look and gasp of shock as it finally clicked what was happening.
"Huh?" Tosh blinked, rubbing the top of his head in confusion.
"Nina...is in pain...! And we...are feeling the blunt end...of it!!" Black hacked, holding tight to his gut in pain. A sudden boom of power replaced the pain, making the both of them gasp again and their eyes light up like little white light bulbs. Wick quickly pulled Lars back, who in turn pulled Rico back, leaving Wyna to cause a similar female domino effect with E-Vie and Kimber.
"W-What's happening to those two!?" Heather gulped.
"They couldn't be...Spirit Digivolving!?" Dae gasped, taking a step back in shock.
Both Bee and Black began to glow in the same white light, their physical forms breaking apart and forming into a single form. Chaos Lord slowly began to appear in the light, kneeling down on one knee with his eyes closed, only, this was definitely not the normal Chaos Lord. His armor reflected Bee's healing ability, meaning that it was now pure white, etched with lines of silver and grey. His shield was absent, his sword seemed to be even redder with crimson hues lined and dashed in intricate patterns with silver lacing, and his hair, still demonic red, had lengthened so that it was down to about the middle of his back. With a silent boom of power and a gasp of shock, Chaos Lord's eyes snapped open, reviling them to still be their familiar amber color. His hand instantly went to his racing heart in an effort to calm it's almost erratic beat.
"...Wow..." was all Heather could say, where as Dae was shocked witless and wordless.
"C-Chaos...L-Lord...?!?!" When Dae squeaked out his name, Chaos Lord looked over at him, making him feel as if he had just been pinned down by another curse spell. The combined form of Bee and Black smirked slightly, making the Demon Lord Digimon blink.
"You've never seen my two parts as this whole, have you?" Chaos Lord smirked. He slowly stood up, the strange new, yet familiar, feelings of power telling him everything that he needed to know. "We can wait no longer. We must press forward to the Sacred Sanctuary as quickly as possible."
*...C-C-Chaos...L-L-Lord....?*
Chaos Lord shut his eyes the moment he heard my mental squeak, concentrating on my mental voice with all his energy. He almost surprised himself when he managed to see me as if I were standing right next to him with half the effort it normally took. Thankfully, he only did a mental double take.
*N-Nina?! L-Lucifer?!?! What happened to you two?!* I sort of gulped.
*Long story short; Nina's a demon, I was saved by her great, great, great...* I clammed Lucifer up there.
*I got a great times ten gramps who accidentally awakened my demon blood and who was a spirit that saved Lucifer after he got his heart ran through by some higher-up general dude in Elrond's army, and yes he has an army now, with the witch Crescent who has really ticked me off as his main magic advisor who really screwed up a spell she was casting to lock my soul and Athena's in eternal torment which instead of killing me allowed my demon blood to turn my body into the body of a Youkai, and that's it in a nutshell. What's up with you?* Boy was I glad you didn't have to breath when speaking mentally!
Chaos Lord sort of blinked, before shaking his head clear of cobwebs.
*We're stuck outside of Sacred Sanctuary due to the fact both Rouge and Alara are dead.* he stated bluntly.
*Take the route through Ancient's Forest. It's shorter, and with the amount of gems you have now, it should be relatively easy to unlock from the outside. Nina and I will double back to meet you at the gates.* Lucifer explained.
*And don't tell 'em I'm a demon, kay? I want to make that a surprise!* I laughed, feeling a slight bit more like myself.
*Alright then, I won't and will. We'll meet you at the gates.* And with that now out of the way, Chaos Lord opened his eyes just in time to see Heather standing up on her tip toes waving her hand in front of his face. Dae nearly had a heart attack when Chaos Lord grabbed her hand and gently pulled it away from him.
"I was in the middle of a conversation, dear lady, hence I was zoned out." Chaos Lord explained, a slight smile on his lips. Heather gulped, almost running back over to Dae in fear. Chaos Lord let out a sigh, before turning to the others. "Due to the fact we can no longer take the direct route, and that our presence is needed in Sacred Sanctuary now, we're going to have to take a shortcut through Ancient Woods."
"Ancient Woods?! That's insane!" Dae snapped out before he could clam himself up.
"Normally, yes; with Nina and Lucifer saying that they'll be there to help open the gates to the Land of the Forgotten Kings, it's only half as insane as it sounds." Chaos Lord almost laughed.
"Well, all in favor of insanity, say I." Rico joked.
"I," Dae and Heather exchanged a look, before slowly agreeing.
"I-I guess we could tag along too, if you don't think we'll be a burden..." Heather gulped.
"Are you kidding? The more the merrier, yah know?" Tosh laughed, slinging his arm around the girl in a teasing fashion.
"By any chance, does this wood happen to have demons and other possessed hell-monsters in it?" Renamon asked, obviously for Jennifer. Chaos Lord looked over at the girl, and with a mischievous smirk dancing in his eye, he said,
"Only the friendly kind,"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Back where Ancient lived.....
"Nina! Come on! We don't have all day!!" Lucifer almost screamed up at me.
"Ah, keep your fangs in! And while you're at it, get rid of these for me, will yah?" I huffed, tossing down the old pair of ripped jeans I had worn. They landed right on Lucifer's head, making him cough and toss them into what he had called a Firewood – a tree that never stopped burning.
"What are you doing up there?" He demanded. When I gave no answer, he slowly started to ascend up to the old house. His jaw hit rock bottom.
"Well, how do I look?"
"...Like Ares, only with a tail and fangs and no earring..." Lucifer whispered.
My outfit was now a black and silver feminine top piece of armor, with a more wolven-shaped pair of black jeans I had found lying around somewhere. The Crimson was still where it had always been, only now, you could just barely make out the top part of the Jewel peaking out over the top of the silver-lined black shoulder guard.
"I take it that's a good thing then?" I smirked. Lucifer merely nodded in answer. "Great! Let's go scare the others!"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Iniora: You have been warned; the next chapter starts off with comedy
Crossing Paths
The Demon Lass
So yeah... It's a wonderful day to be slaying Demon Megas and getting our butts whopped, don't you think?
"Gah!!" I let out a minor shriek as a rather nice looking crimson colored dagger found it's home in the flesh of the Mega that had decided to try and take a bite out of me. Did I forget to mention that the dagger turned out to be a sword? And that it's end was about an inch away from my face? "Hey buddy, watch where you're...aiming...?"
My eyes felt like they were gonna pop out of my head. This mon was cute, and I'm not talking cute as in a baby cute, I'm talking dating material cute! He looked kind of like the new Lucifer, only without the tail, crimson red hair down to his shoulders with rather cute looking demonic bangs, small fangs, and red eyes that sent a chill down your spine if you looked at him just right. His outfit was a rather snug looking piece of crimson and black armor, and he had a crystal shard serving as his earring on his left ear.
*Earth to Nina, come in Nina. HELLO?!?!?!* Lucifer's mental shout snapped me back on task.
"A human?" the mystery mon questioned, an edge of agitation in his voice.
"Well duh. Who were you expecting, the original Athena?" I smirked, a twinkle in my eye. The newbie just sort of blinked at that. Lucifer, however, let out a silent moan.
*Chaos Lord, I'll warn you now. Nina's found dating material.* Lucifer moaned mentally. I glared at him for that, to which Chaos Lord merely chuckled.
"A bit ironic that the Keeper of the Crimson Items would find herself face to face with one of the Crimson Nobles, no?" Chaos Lord smirked. This Crimson Nobel guy withdrew his sword from the carouse, sheathed it, and turned to face him.
"Chaos Lord. I was separated from Zedomon and the others. Crescent is making her way to the main throne room, and...MoonMachinedramon has been completed." Chaos Lord looked slightly dumfounded by this information, but slowly, he sheathed his own sword and demanded,
"Whom, may I ask, are you?"
"My name is Neo Crimson,"
*Neo Crimson... Ah...* I let out a mental sigh. Lucifer walked over and whacked me up side the head, making Neo blink.
"Hey! What was that for?!"
"What do you think?" he smirked down at me, his tail swishing lightly in a teasing manor. Neo Crimson looked from him to me then back to Lucifer, his eyes wide in shock.
"...I-Impossible... Lord...Ancient...?"
"No, my name is Lucifer. It's a rather long story on why I look like Ancient, but it's going to have to wait for another time. Like you said, we've got to hurry to catch up to the others." Lucifer quickly stated.
*That was mean!* I pouted in my mind, slashing through another enemy.
*It'll be even worse if you don't start moving. After all, your 'eligible date' is making you look like a novice.* I looked ahead, and sure enough, Neo had cut down half the attacking forces.
*So?! He's a Digimon! He's allowed to be stronger than me!*
*If you ever hope to date him, then you'd better be able to handle yourself as well as he can in a fight.* Chaos Lord teased. My cheeks blushed bright red, and before anybody knew it, I was mowing down the enemies. Chaos Lord and Lucifer paused for a moment to exchange a blink.
"We need to work on her motivation, don't we?"
"Yep,"
"Hey! Zedomon!!" My sudden laughter caught the two off guard, making them look back at me and blink. Sure enough, Frienze, Zedomon, and Bolt were all in the middle of a fight with a rather familiar witch. My laughter stopped there. "...Great...Crescent..."
"Ah, so the Keeper of the Crimson Items has managed to make it this far! I thought that worthless fool of a general would have disposed of you by now..." Crescent smirked, an evil glint in her eyes.
"Yeah well, I got one hell of a great times ten gramps to keep an eye on me." I laughed, pushing my hair back.
"Now is really not the time to be chitchatting..." Zedomon whispered over to me. I closed my eyes and smirked.
"I know,"
*Nina? What have you got planed?* Lucifer demanded. I let out a little laugh.
*How about a classic pincer move? That should get her.*
*One problem; she can sense where we are.* Chaos Lord stated rather bluntly.
*Not if I do that one magic trick I tried before. I'll cover you, you guys do the pincer, deal?* Chaos Lord and Lucifer exchanged a glance.
*...Be extra careful, though...*
*Like I'm not anyway?* I smirked, looking back over at him.
"Oh, what's this? Thinking that I wouldn't be able to tap into your little telepathic line?" Crescent smirked, her staff glowing. "I've got quite the present for you three fools. It's a famous technique among us Black Waltzes, known for it's ability to split the mind and soul of the same person and force them back into the past."
"...Dam! She knows that spell..." Chaos Lord cursed, bracing himself for an attack.
"Oh, I do indeed. The Spell of Past... For you!" One big black bolt of energy shot out, forcing Chaos Lord to raise his shield in hopes of blocking it. The whole field seemed to explode then implode, then explode again, leaving nothing but dust to cover the fighters. Chaos Lord blinked when he saw that nothing had happened to him, and instantly began to look around the field. When his eyes hit who the target was, or to be more exact, where the target should be standing, his heart hit the bottom of his shoes.
The witch let out cackle after cackle when she saw the look on everyone's face. Her Spell of Past had been cast, but not on Chaos Lord...on me. Chaos Lord felt as depressed as Lucifer looked, Neo seemed emotionless, as too did Zedomon and the others.
"I hope you had a chance to say goodbye to your sister, you two fools!" Crescent cackled, tipping her head back in laughter. Her laughing was cut short by a grand wolf howl echoing from the still scorched and smoking earth where I had been standing, and a feeling of pressing magical energy that seemed three times too grate began to slam out around the area. Everyone gulped.
Several orbs of black energy suddenly appeared around the smoke-covered pillar, making everyone gulp, including Crescent. Two glowing crimson eyes suddenly snapped open through the smoke, signaling the orbs to chase their prey. The six orbs stopped short of hitting my friends and relatives, hovering in an almost confused manor around their heads before finally settling on attacking Crescent. She let out a shriek of pain when the first orb hit, and showed her true colors when the others gave chase.
"No one, move..." Lucifer whispered in warning.
"...That energy..." Bolt gulped, somehow seeing something familiar in it.
The wind began to blow away the smoke, reviling not me, but some other being. It was female, standing on tall grayish-silver wolf legs that made it as tall as Lucifer's mid chest. Claws in replace of human nails on human hands were bared, fangs set in an otherwise human mouth gritted in anger and pain, and wolf/cat like ears twitched in all directions in show of annoyance from the top of its head. Long silver hair that stopped just before the human shoulder blades fluttered lightly in the wind, adding a silver colored aura-like effect for the background, while a long silver tail whisked to-and-fro in a steady rhythm of anger, and the only thing it had for clothing was a black and silver sports bra and pure black ripped shorts. Demonic blood red eyes, once beast like, were beginning to soften in to tears as the more human side of the beast began to reawaken.
Lucifer saw those tears first, closed his eyes and nodded his head slightly in recognition, and began to move forward towards the beast.
"Lucifer, stay back! It might attack!" Firenze warned.
"Oh, I doubt that." Lucifer sighed, almost sadly. "Don't mind us; keep moving. Memoria needs your aid more than we need your company."
The others stood fast as Lucifer approached the beast. It stiffed, backing away slightly while fighting back tears. It seemed to shake its head no as if it had heard some call to go to Lucifer, continuing to back away from him till it couldn't move any farther back. Bolt took that cue to run, dragging Firenze and the others with him. It didn't even notice that they were gone, but stared wide-eyed at Lucifer as he stopped a few feet away from it. It shut its eyes, tensing as if it were concentrating on something.
*Nina!! Don't you dare cut yourself off again!* Lucifer snapped mentally. The beast opened her eyes again, looking at Lucifer with fear, worry, pain, echoing as clearly as day. He rested his hand against its shoulder for a few moments, sympathy echoing in his eyes for it, before grabbing it tightly in a hug and hiding all but her tail with his wings. It began to sob in Lucifer's grip, holding tight to his jacket and pushing her head against his chest. I finally let go and admitted it.
"L-Lucifer...!" when the beast opened its mouth, my voice came out in a squeak. Lucifer simply sighed, patting my back lightly in a sympathetic gesture.
"It's alright, Nina... It's alright..." Lucifer whispered, resting his head between my ears. I continued to sob against his shirt, pulling myself even closer to him.
*...What am I now...? Some kind of a freak...?* I questioned mentally; even my mental voice sounded like it was about to crack in sadness.
*No, Nina, you are not some kind of freak!* the way he countered that made me wince slightly. Lucifer continued on with a softer edge in his tone. *Do you remember when Ancient used a power called 'Awaken' on you after you first closed yourself to the rest of the world?*
I nodded my head slowly against his shirt.
*That power did more than reopen the mental link for us; it awoke what little bit of demon blood you had in your veins. When Crescent tried to use the Spell of Past, she forgot to take your demon blood into account and made it so that your demon blood could take control of your body, changing you into a Youkai.* Something across the metal link on Bee and Black's side made us both gasp, our eyes snapping open in unison out of shock.
*What was...that...?* I whispered mentally.
*They couldn't...they can't...?* Lucifer stuttered. I looked up at him, whipping away the last of my tears, and blinked.
"What? What's wrong?" I demanded verbally. Lucifer looked down at me as best he could, his eyes wide in awe.
"Bee and Black...."
* * * * * * * * 10 Minutes Before the Spell of Past * * * * * * * * * * *
....And Lars and E-Vie were still stuck to a tree...
"So that's it, huh? You're just gonna forget about 'em? You're not even going to try and take revenge on whoever woke up your Dark Modes?" Bee growled in anger.
"Personally," Black growled, adding in his two cents, "I'd say they are cowards and forgetful fools; forgetting their parents and discarding their memories as if they were nothing."
"We haven't...!" E-Vie was cut short when Black pushed her deeper into the tree.
"You haven't, have you? Then why are you and your brother allowing us to hold you here as if you had no will left to live! Even as we speak, the Shrieking Shack is under heavy attack by Elrond's forces." Black snapped.
"If you two don't get your rears in gear and prove that you've got your acts back together, then we might as well kiss our friends' rears goodbye! We need every mon up to full strength, and havin' you two in the middle of a pity party like me, Black, and Lucifer were after Nina disappeared is the," he paused so that he could add extra emphasis to the last part of his sentence by throwing Lars across the field again, "Last dam thing we need right now!!"
Much to his doubled shock and joy, Lars back flipped through the air and landed on his feet in a crouched position. The younger mon withdrew both of his blasters and discarded them before standing up again, a new fire raging in his eyes.
"I ain't gonna let you call me a coward, not when father made me promise to keep on livin'." Lars growled, spreading his claws in show he was ready to attack. Bee smirked at that, tossing his own blasters aside to make the fight fair.
"Yah know, you both remind me of your pop; stubborn idiots till the very end." E-Vie sort of blinked at that, before anger got the better of her fears and guilt and she kicked Black off her.
"Take that back about my father!" she snapped, guns drawn. Bee was a little distracted at the moment, with Lars charging at him and all, to deal with her, so Black kindly punched her in the face and kicked her blasters off where Bee's were.
"I'm sure he would kindly do so if it were not the truth," Black smirked, although you couldn't see it from behind his face mask.
It wasn't long before both had a nasty set of cuts and scrapes on their firsts and arms, and the twins had the upper hand. Bee and Black stood back to back, staring down their respected opponents with a slight twinkle in their eyes.
*I would guess to say you managed to snap them back on task, Bee.* Black smirked mentally.
*Yeah, well, I'm starting to regret the fact I called Rouge an idiot to their faces.* Bee smirked back teasingly.
*You were simply telling them the truth. It's not your fault they dislike it so much.* Bee just shrugged at that one.
*Eh,*
"And what the hell are you two thinking about?" Lars growled.
"Ah, just how we're gonna explain to Rouge when we eventually head on up that it was us that had to send you and that pathetic fighter of a sister to an early grave when we were just trying tah get yah back in check." Bee smirked, a dark twinkle in his eye.
"That's it!" E-Vie boomed. Both she and Lars charged out at the two, and both hits were about to connect, when something happened that made all combatants and spectators stop what they were doing.
Bee and Black's eyes had suddenly snapped wide in shock, and the both of them had doubled over in pain in unison. Lars and E-Vie instantly stopped their attacks mid kick and punch, and instead of hitting their would-be teachers, the helped steady them.
"What's wrong?" Rico demanded instantly, running out to try and help as much as he could with Kimber, Wyna, and Wick right on his tail.
"Good question~!" Bee gasped, his voice cutting off mid-word as another blast of pain shot through him.
"...Nina...!" Both Black and Bee exchanged a look and gasp of shock as it finally clicked what was happening.
"Huh?" Tosh blinked, rubbing the top of his head in confusion.
"Nina...is in pain...! And we...are feeling the blunt end...of it!!" Black hacked, holding tight to his gut in pain. A sudden boom of power replaced the pain, making the both of them gasp again and their eyes light up like little white light bulbs. Wick quickly pulled Lars back, who in turn pulled Rico back, leaving Wyna to cause a similar female domino effect with E-Vie and Kimber.
"W-What's happening to those two!?" Heather gulped.
"They couldn't be...Spirit Digivolving!?" Dae gasped, taking a step back in shock.
Both Bee and Black began to glow in the same white light, their physical forms breaking apart and forming into a single form. Chaos Lord slowly began to appear in the light, kneeling down on one knee with his eyes closed, only, this was definitely not the normal Chaos Lord. His armor reflected Bee's healing ability, meaning that it was now pure white, etched with lines of silver and grey. His shield was absent, his sword seemed to be even redder with crimson hues lined and dashed in intricate patterns with silver lacing, and his hair, still demonic red, had lengthened so that it was down to about the middle of his back. With a silent boom of power and a gasp of shock, Chaos Lord's eyes snapped open, reviling them to still be their familiar amber color. His hand instantly went to his racing heart in an effort to calm it's almost erratic beat.
"...Wow..." was all Heather could say, where as Dae was shocked witless and wordless.
"C-Chaos...L-Lord...?!?!" When Dae squeaked out his name, Chaos Lord looked over at him, making him feel as if he had just been pinned down by another curse spell. The combined form of Bee and Black smirked slightly, making the Demon Lord Digimon blink.
"You've never seen my two parts as this whole, have you?" Chaos Lord smirked. He slowly stood up, the strange new, yet familiar, feelings of power telling him everything that he needed to know. "We can wait no longer. We must press forward to the Sacred Sanctuary as quickly as possible."
*...C-C-Chaos...L-L-Lord....?*
Chaos Lord shut his eyes the moment he heard my mental squeak, concentrating on my mental voice with all his energy. He almost surprised himself when he managed to see me as if I were standing right next to him with half the effort it normally took. Thankfully, he only did a mental double take.
*N-Nina?! L-Lucifer?!?! What happened to you two?!* I sort of gulped.
*Long story short; Nina's a demon, I was saved by her great, great, great...* I clammed Lucifer up there.
*I got a great times ten gramps who accidentally awakened my demon blood and who was a spirit that saved Lucifer after he got his heart ran through by some higher-up general dude in Elrond's army, and yes he has an army now, with the witch Crescent who has really ticked me off as his main magic advisor who really screwed up a spell she was casting to lock my soul and Athena's in eternal torment which instead of killing me allowed my demon blood to turn my body into the body of a Youkai, and that's it in a nutshell. What's up with you?* Boy was I glad you didn't have to breath when speaking mentally!
Chaos Lord sort of blinked, before shaking his head clear of cobwebs.
*We're stuck outside of Sacred Sanctuary due to the fact both Rouge and Alara are dead.* he stated bluntly.
*Take the route through Ancient's Forest. It's shorter, and with the amount of gems you have now, it should be relatively easy to unlock from the outside. Nina and I will double back to meet you at the gates.* Lucifer explained.
*And don't tell 'em I'm a demon, kay? I want to make that a surprise!* I laughed, feeling a slight bit more like myself.
*Alright then, I won't and will. We'll meet you at the gates.* And with that now out of the way, Chaos Lord opened his eyes just in time to see Heather standing up on her tip toes waving her hand in front of his face. Dae nearly had a heart attack when Chaos Lord grabbed her hand and gently pulled it away from him.
"I was in the middle of a conversation, dear lady, hence I was zoned out." Chaos Lord explained, a slight smile on his lips. Heather gulped, almost running back over to Dae in fear. Chaos Lord let out a sigh, before turning to the others. "Due to the fact we can no longer take the direct route, and that our presence is needed in Sacred Sanctuary now, we're going to have to take a shortcut through Ancient Woods."
"Ancient Woods?! That's insane!" Dae snapped out before he could clam himself up.
"Normally, yes; with Nina and Lucifer saying that they'll be there to help open the gates to the Land of the Forgotten Kings, it's only half as insane as it sounds." Chaos Lord almost laughed.
"Well, all in favor of insanity, say I." Rico joked.
"I," Dae and Heather exchanged a look, before slowly agreeing.
"I-I guess we could tag along too, if you don't think we'll be a burden..." Heather gulped.
"Are you kidding? The more the merrier, yah know?" Tosh laughed, slinging his arm around the girl in a teasing fashion.
"By any chance, does this wood happen to have demons and other possessed hell-monsters in it?" Renamon asked, obviously for Jennifer. Chaos Lord looked over at the girl, and with a mischievous smirk dancing in his eye, he said,
"Only the friendly kind,"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Back where Ancient lived.....
"Nina! Come on! We don't have all day!!" Lucifer almost screamed up at me.
"Ah, keep your fangs in! And while you're at it, get rid of these for me, will yah?" I huffed, tossing down the old pair of ripped jeans I had worn. They landed right on Lucifer's head, making him cough and toss them into what he had called a Firewood – a tree that never stopped burning.
"What are you doing up there?" He demanded. When I gave no answer, he slowly started to ascend up to the old house. His jaw hit rock bottom.
"Well, how do I look?"
"...Like Ares, only with a tail and fangs and no earring..." Lucifer whispered.
My outfit was now a black and silver feminine top piece of armor, with a more wolven-shaped pair of black jeans I had found lying around somewhere. The Crimson was still where it had always been, only now, you could just barely make out the top part of the Jewel peaking out over the top of the silver-lined black shoulder guard.
"I take it that's a good thing then?" I smirked. Lucifer merely nodded in answer. "Great! Let's go scare the others!"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Iniora: You have been warned; the next chapter starts off with comedy