Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit.
Fandom: Digimon Frontier
Title: Shadow of Light: 1-4: Abduction
Characters: Kouji, Kouichi (Duskmon)
Word Count: chapter: 3,490||story: 3,490
Genre: Drama, Angst||Rated: PG-13
Feedback: All forms eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Summary: Injured after Duskmon's attack, Kouji shouldn't have been able to get away. But he was the only one not caught by Mercuremon and Ranamon. Perhaps this is why.

Kouji.

Kouji.

Kouji.

Bright as a lance of light, the human's name echoed in his mind, thudding against parts of himself Duskmon hadn't even imagined existed a single heartbeat earlier. He'd dreamed only of defeating the ridiculous human children who thought they could stop Cherubimon-sama and his divinely ordained plan. None of them could stand up to him. Their best efforts amounted to less than nothing to him. A single hit would've finished their so-called leader off, a hit he'd relished delivering.

A single hit someone else had taken.

Kouji.

Kouji.

Kouji.

He stared down at the human crumpled before him, a thread of scarlet seeping through the boy's clothes. Duskmon stepped back, that sharp coppery scent strong in his nostrils. He'd never encountered it before, but he still knew what it was.

Blood. He'd made Kouji bleed.

But...that was good, wasn't it? He shook his head, completely unaware of everything except the human who lay there, eyes closed, shuddering in pain. He should leave the human, let him suffer and die. It would take out one of those who dared to fight against them.

Duskmon began to turn.

Kouji hissed, tightening harder around his middle. Duskmon's subordinate eyes all turned at once, focusing on him, and Duskmon himself stopped in his tracks. The other didn't seem aware of him at all. He wouldn't know if he left. He wouldn't know if he stayed. He'd probably prefer if Duskmon left. And yet, Duskmon did not move.

Why? Why should he stay? Why should he do anything to help the stupid boy who'd given up his life for the other?

That name echoed in his mind yet again, answering the question in a way that made sense and no sense all at the same time. He should stay because this was Kouji and he couldn't leave him.

"Takuya? Kouji?" One of the other humans. He didn't know which one and he didn't care. But something sharp and cold shot through him at the same time, a frisson of jealousy he would never admit to feeling at all. They wanted Kouji.

They could not have him. No one could. Kouji was his. His to kill. His to save. His to do anything with, no matter what 'anything' might be.

Duskmon moved swifter than human or Digimon eyes could perceive. He scooped the boy up in his arms and before the shadows that poured from him parted, no trace remained at all of either him or Kouji.

He didn't know where to go, other than 'away'. He couldn't take Kouji to their base. Cherubimon-sama would demand his death at once, and Duskmon knew he couldn't let that happen. Not yet.

I'll kill him, but I will decide when that happens. There were too many questions rising in the back of his mind for him to want to do anything else. Questions that he knew Kouji had the answers to, because if he didn't, who would? Something wasn't right. It wasn't a feeling he'd ever had before.

Not that he could remember many feelings. He'd spent his life waiting for Cherubimon-sama's orders, not bothering with anything else other than watching Grottmon and the others make fools of themselves. How long had that been? Weeks? Months? It didn't feel like long at all.

He had to have existed before that. But who he'd been then, he no longer remembered. He'd never asked Cherubimon-sama. He'd never felt an urge to. It just didn't matter. All of his past was lost in the darkness, and he was the Warrior of Darkness, and that was all he'd deemed it necessary to know. Until now.

Duskmon stared down at Kouji, the blood-scent stronger in his nostrils now. He had to do something. Humans who evolved into Digimon took damage in battles, or so he'd observed from the little watching he'd done of them. He couldn't tell if this was more or less than what they would have otherwise, but one thing was plain: Kouji needed assistance of some kind, and the only kind he would get would be what Duskmon himself provided.

Very well. Then he'd get it. This was the Continent of Darkness, his land, and if anyone could find ways to help, then he was that one.

But first, he needed a place of safety. It wasn't hard to find; few Digimon would bother him anyway. If any of them dared to attack, he would make certain they regretted it. The human children wouldn't dare approach him while he had Kouji, either.

A deep cave, with an ice-cold stream a short distance away, gave him the safety he wanted. Thick moss covered the back and sides of the cave and he settled Kouji there before he set off in search of other items he would need. He'd never hunted them for himself, but listening to Cherubimon's other warriors provided important clues.

Spotted green mushrooms, that's what Grottmon said. Those mushrooms, when eaten, would help toward healing. At least that was what Grottmon said. Duskmon couldn't bring himself to believe it without reservations, not until he saw it with his own eyes.

He cast back and forth, keeping at least part of his attention focused toward the cave. He didn't think Kouji would escape while he was away, since so far as he was aware, the boy still hadn't regained full consciousness. Yet the scent of blood in the air worried him. Perhaps he should take the time to clean that up once he found the mushrooms. Who knew how long he'd have to watch over Kouji...

For a moment he hesitated, torn. Cherubimon-sama will know. Nothing escaped his master's knowledge. It wouldn't matter if he brought Kouji to the base or not, Cherubimon would know.

Duskmon shook his head and started to search once again. What was done was done. If Cherubimon-sama chose to punish him, then he'd accept it. But even in the face of his master's fury, he could not let Kouji die. Not like this. Not without answers to the questions that simmered in the back of his mind, so far back he only knew they existed as questions.

Once he had those answers, of course, he would finish the Warrior of Light off without a second thought. No other hand but his would bring about that end.

Which led him right back to where he was now, searching for a remedy for the damage he'd done.

Kouji didn't want to wake up. The burning pain in his ribs and stomach gave a very clear reason on why. He kept his eyes closed, doing his best not to move, mostly because if he did, his guts churned and he had to fight to keep from throwing up. He bit his lip as hard as he could and tried to make some sort of sense out of what was going on.

The trouble with that was, so little of what he remembered made any sense whatsoever. They'd fought Duskmon. Duskmon barely noticed they existed. He'd targeted Agnimon, an attack that would've killed him. Kouji didn't doubt that Duskmon fully intended to kill the other. So he'd jumped in between them, taking the brunt of the blow on himself.

That much made sense. After that, nothing did. In truth, he wasn't certain what happened after that, only a sense of being carried somewhere. Now he found himself on a soft moss bed.

Where's Takuya? He needed to know if the other was all right. He needed to know if everyone was all right. What had Duskmon done to them?

He thought about cracking his eyes open and changed his mind. Just considering it made him even sicker to his stomach. His ribs throbbed and he shifted one hand as best he could to try to figure out how badly he hurt. In all their months of fighting, he'd never hurt like this afterward. Was it because of Duskmon? He couldn't think of any other reason.

Kouji took in a single deep breath and winced. I shouldn't have done that. He tried to touch his ribs again and shuddered. I don't think anything's broken. But bruised. And bleeding. Something wet and sticky trickled down his side. He knew what it was, even without seeing it for himself.

"Takuya?" He breathed the word out, addressing the moss on which he lay more than anything else. "Izumi? Junpei? Tomoki?"

No answer came to anything he said and he wondered if perhaps they just hadn't heard him. He couldn't hear anything going on around him, truth to tell, not even the warm crackle of a fire or the sounds of people trying not to wake an injured person up. For all he could tell, he'd been laid down where he was and abandoned.

His friends wouldn't do that, which led him to believe that someone else had.

Slowly, reluctantly, he dragged his eyes open and lifted his head just a fraction, fighting back the nausea. He had to find out what was going on, even if he ended up throwing up because of it.

All that met his gaze when he got his eyes open was the far side of a cave, just as covered with thick, rich, dark green moss as the floor beneath him. He closed his eyes again and turned his head, not wanting to start moving around too much just yet, not with how he hurt.

I wish I had an aspirin. Or ten. They'd never bothered with any kind of painkillers until now. They'd never needed them, since their injuries were either too minor to worry about or healed soon after they reverted to their human forms.

When he opened his eyes again, this time he could see the opening of the cave, half-covered in thick bushes and more moss, making it hard for anyone to look inside. What he didn't see were any of the other Chosen, much less anything like a campfire or anything else he might've expected.

Where are they? In the normal course of events, Kouji knew he would've gotten to his feet and hurried out to find his friends. But in the normal course of events, he wouldn't have been here in the first place.

He closed his eyes and sank back down, what little energy he'd stored up ebbing away. Wherever they were, they would have to stay there until he could go find them, and he didn't think that would be any time soon.

Forget about where they are. Where am I? How'd I get here? He recalled that faint sensation of someone carrying him somewhere. Had some Digimon come along and picked him up? They knew almost nothing about the Digimon who lived here in the Dark Continent, so it wasn't impossible. He doubted it would be any of their enemies. Any of those would've been just as happy to stab him where he lay.

First things first. He'd get himself back into shape and then he'd go find the others. Then they'd try to figure out what to do about Duskmon.

The very thought of the dark warrior sent chills down Kouji's spine. He'd never encountered anyone like him before. Yet that didn't shake the feeling that perhaps, somehow, he should have. Something about Duskmon called to a part of himself he'd never thought about before, never even known existed before.

He's our enemy. He tried to kill Takuya. He wants to kill us all. Every word of that rang true, but it didn't change the way his heart thudded at the very thought of Duskmon. Fear didn't even begin to cover what he felt.

Later. He'd work with that later. He wanted whoever it was that brought him here to show up so he could get some answers, and maybe some food.

His stomach growled. Definitely food.

He let himself relax. He'd need all the strength he could get soon enough.

I hope Takuya's all right. Why would whoever had taken him not bring the others along? Why would someone else even take him in the first place? Too many questions and not nearly enough answers, and he didn't even know where to begin to look for the answers.

Kouji'd almost drifted back to sleep when something brought his eyes wide open. He wasn't sure of what, only that he knew he wasn't alone anymore. Good, now I can find out who this is. He started to sit up, bracing himself on one elbow, and opened his mouth to greet the other before turning to look.

"Stay where you are. You're still injured."

Ice replaced the blood in Kouji's veins. He'd only heard it a scant handful of times, but he couldn't mistake it for anyone else's voice, ever. It took him three tries to utter a single word.

"Duskmon."

The dark warrior stepped closer and only now did Kouji realize how high the ceiling in this cave was, more than enough for Duskmon to stand to his full height. All of those eyes turned on him, cold and merciless, aching for his death...

Duskmon stepped closer, bent down, and dropped a handful of mushrooms in front of him. "Eat those. They'll help heal you."

Kouji stared from the fungus to his enemy. Every instinct he owned told him to get to his feet and evolve, striking his hardest blow. His common sense told him Duskmon could break his arm in five places before he ever got the chance to so much as stand up. His appetite told him to eat the mushrooms.

"Why should I believe you?" Even in the Digital World, where meat grew on trees and other trees could show images of home, his enemy taking care of him made no sense.

"I don't care if you do or not. But eat before I push it down your throat." From the tilt of those eyes, Duskmon wasn't joking. Kouji didn't think the other knew how to joke. Which meant if those mushrooms could help him, then Duskmon wanted him alive.

Frankly, that scared Kouji more than anything short of Duskmon's very existence. But given a choice between eating freely and having something forced down him, he reached for the mushrooms. They weren't very tasty, but the moment one passed his lips, his eyes widened in surprise. The pain in his ribs ebbed, not fading entirely, but enough so he could sit up and perhaps even move around some. He finished them quickly, washing them down with a drink of water Duskmon also provided, a battered twist of hollowed out root serving as a cup.

"Why are you doing this?" Kouji finally asked, looking over to where the other leaned against the wall of the cave. "What is it that you want?" He wasn't certain of what answers he expected, or even if he'd get any, so he wasn't surprised when Duskmon said nothing at all. He only continued to stare at Kouji, as if the other carried answers he himself wanted.

He wasn't going to just sit there himself, though. "Where are my friends? Where are we?"

"I don't know where they are." He doubted Duskmon cared, either. "We're in a safe place." That also didn't surprise Kouji. Who in their right mind would attack Duskmon?

Takuya. Well, he wasn't all that certain if Takuya were in his right mind, but other than that...

Other questions skittered through his thoughts, but he wasn't sure how to voice any of them, especially since most of them were variations on the one Duskmon hadn't answered: why had he done this in the first place? Perhaps Duskmon didn't even know himself, if the looks those eyes on his shoulders and legs kept shooting him meant anything.

"How long are you going to keep me here?" Perhaps that would tell him something. Presuming that Duskmon answered it in the first place.

"As long as I choose." Duskmon bit the words off, not looking at him, not with his head, anyway.

None of that improved Kouji's mood, much less made him feel any safer about being here in the first place. Was this what everyone else used to feel like about me? A silent figure of the shadows that spoke only rarely and never to say anything reassuring...

Before he could go very far down that trail of thought, a yawn caught him and Kouji did what he could to stifle it. He didn't know what else those mushrooms did, but he definitely wanted to get some sleep. Not the quasi-rest of being too drained from his injury to move, but actual sleep.

Remembering the wound, he lifted his shirt and ran one hand over his ribs, tense for the slightest hint of pain. He was almost more surprised when they twinged instead of aching. It was a sharp twinge and one he didn't want to repeat, but much better than how he'd felt before. I've got to find some more of those mushrooms! He wasn't sure he even remembered what they looked like; he'd recognized them more from their shape and scent than their looks, given how dark the cave was.

Wonder if that's all he plans to give me. Not that Kouji intended to confine himself to just what Duskmon brought him to eat. He glanced toward the opening of the cave, wondering what else he could find out there. Maybe a meat apple tree? He had a bit of a taste for those, and the thought of a good juicy one made his stomach rumble.

He tucked his shirt back down and got himself as comfortable as he could. At least it wasn't cold to the point he really needed a fire. The thought of gathering wood and finding something to light it with sent a shiver through him.

"You're going to stay here until you're healed completely." Duskmon didn't appear to take no for an answer. Kouji lifted his head and glared at him.

"Why?" It didn't matter how often Duskmon refused to tell him the answer. He wanted an answer nevertheless, whether or not he understood it.

Again, there was no reply. Despite how dark it was, Duskmon still seemed capable of seeing him. Kouji didn't drop his gaze, doing his best to bore into through the other with the force of his anger.

Duskmon remained silent and stared at him. Kouji's hands tightened on the moss beneath him. He knew he could evolve; he could feel the weight of his Digivice in his jacket pocket. But what good would that do when nothing they'd done combined had so much as mussed Duskmon's hair?

Maybe it would at least give him the chance to get out of there. He couldn't stay forever. He would have to meet back up with the others, see if Takuya was all right, and then together they could figure out what to do next.

Maybe if I stay here, that'll give us some answers? He doubted Duskmon had any kind of secret weakness that would get revealed by spending a day or so there, but just learning more couldn't hurt anything.

Not to mention, it made a very convenient excuse for staying. There was also the fact that he still couldn't quite move without pain. If he did try to give Duskmon the slip, the other could probably catch him before he'd gotten past the cave mouth, assuming he didn't realize from the first moment Kouji moved what he had in mind and do something about it.

Silence stretched between the two of them, but Kouji couldn't find it all that wrong. If anything, it felt oddly right. He tried to shake it off, not liking feeling anything right about the other. I wonder what he thinks about this. No hint of whatever Duskmon might think about any of this made it past the other's armor, though. He stood there as if carved out of ebony and shadows, staring at something Kouji either couldn't see or that wasn't there at all. Kouji decided he didn't want to know which it was.

As tired as Kouji was, he didn't really want to sleep, not with those eyes staring at him from the darkness. It wouldn't make any sense at all for Duskmon to attack him while he slept, but that didn't make him any more comfortable.

I don't think anything's made sense since the day I got here. Why should it start to now? It might not make sense for Duskmon to attack him after helping him, but that wouldn't stop Duskmon from doing it if he wanted to. The question just was, would he do it and what would Kouji be able to do about it if he tried?

Try as he might, Kouji's eyes just wouldn't stay open. Inch by inch he slipped down into a deeper rest than any he'd had before, and the last thing he saw were those eyes, still staring at him.

To Be Continued