FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Next chapter! Woot me!

Anyway, Uni has just gotten damn hard, so I've got even less time to write than before. I will, however, be posting whenever I can, so you can probably expect the next two updates to be somewhat sporadic. Also, I have descided to take a two month sabatical in this story after chapter 20, so as to build up a buffer and get the storyline thing properly sorted out. Also, exams are starting soon, so I need more time to study.

---

Craig groaned as he blinked his eyes open, the light of dawn streaming in through the light fabric of the curtains. Sitting up, he looked around the otherwise empty room, rubbing his head as it throbbed.

"What happened?" he groaned, waking up as he recalled what had happened "There was a horde, then the data storm, and him!"

Craig leapt out of the bed, the mantle already forming around his body, shifting itself into clothes. Staggering to the door, he startled the two guards as he stumbled past. A firm but careful grip held him back as one of them spoke.

"Woah there, tiger, you're safe here,"

"Wha..where am I? What's going on?" Craig groaned, the pain in his head increasing, his vision blacking out as his knees gave way.

"You're in the Grand Citadel, you arrived three days ago with the rest of the gang and have been unconscious since," the strangely familiar voice explained, "Come on Tiger, let's get you back to bed.

Craig felt another pair of hands grab his other shoulder, the two unseen digimon leading him back to the bed, something cool being pressed into his hand as he lay down.

"It's water, you're badly dehydrated, so you must drink it," another familiar voice instructed as he sipped at the glass, the cool water feeling like heaven on his dry and puffy tongue, "We'll let you rest some more before we tell the other's you're awake."

"Who are you?" Craig asked as his vision began to return, the two blurred forms sharpening into a white canine and feline, "I know you..."

"Well, you sorta do," the cat digimon laughed, "We only guarded you for like a week!"

"Wait, you're Selinta...and the other one is Lerranna, right?"

"You got it, Tiger," Selintra chuckled, "How you feeling now, any better?"

"A bit, but what happened? There was..." Craig trailed off as his thoughts returned to the figure that had been on the arena, that person whom he knew all too well, "Impossible..."

"What is?" Lerranna asked, staring at Craig in confusion, shrugging when he shook his head, "Well, as for what happened, all I can tell you is that High Master Blake managed to locate your 'vice using his machine just after you got close enough to the layer's Beam. You were already unconscious by then, but the High Master was able to create a link between out Beam and that one, making a portal type thing that you and the other's were able to jump through to here."

Craig sighed as he stared at the ceiling, the throbbing in his head dying down as he lay there quietly. A soft click made him glance to the side to see the two guards trying to hold someone back.

"You can't see him!" Selinta growled as she clung to the girl, "He's still unwell!"

"No! I haven't seen him in days, and now he's hurt! You have to let me see him now!" the voice echoed around the room as the owner sobbed, falling to her knees in exhaustion as the other two sighed in relief.

"Mary?" Craig croaked, turning his head slowly to look at the plant girl, shocked at her appearance, "What's wrong?"

The plant girl was far paler than before, her eyes swollen and puffy and her hair looked like wilted leaves, trailing down her face in clumps. Jumping back to her feet, she wobbled slightly as she tried to approach him again, the two other digimon still holding her back, her vines hanging weakly behind her.

"Craig! Oh gods Craig!" she sobbed, the tears trickling down her face slowly, "i was so worried! After you got knocked into the beam, then when you appeared back here unconscious! Please, you have to be alright! You have to!"

Craig gave a slight groan as Mary managed to pull herself free, jumping onto the bed and wrapping her arms around his neck, sobbing loudly. The two guard digimon moved to grab her again, but stopped when Craig shook his head at them, giving a slight smile as he wrapped an arm around Mary's waist.

"I was...worried about you too..." he wheezed, his voice cracking in his parched throat, "I'm sorry I left... left you behind..."

"Not at all," Mary sniffed, smiling at him, "Sounds like you had a real hard time, fighting with both sides."

"Tell me about it..." he wheezed, "I'm tired now...so can we talk...later?"

"Okay, I'm just happy you're safe," Mary sighed as she snuggled closer to Craig, a soft smile on her face.

=++=++=++=++=++=++=++=++=++=++=

The door creaked open as Craig lay curled on the bed, the familiar shadows of his room now seeming to teem with unseen horrors as he heard the groan of the stairs. A soft thud, followed by barely muffled swearing made him cower further under the sheets.

"Darren? Is that you?" his mother's voice sounded shallow and empty, almost like a recording.

"Yeah, what?" Darren's voice growled, "If you want to know where I've been, it's out drinking, and don't give any of that alcoholism crap, you'll understand when you find out where I'm going."

"What? You mean the operation has been finalised?"

"Yeah, and I'm a squad-fucking-leader," Darren hissed, "Going to have to babysit a bunch of kids who think they're saving the world or some shit."

"But sweetheart-."

"Don't fucking 'sweetheart' me!" Darren shouted, making Craig jump, "You're just as bad as they are, can't do a fucking thing for yourself or that gods damned child of yours!"

"Don't say that about him," Craig could hear the tears in his mother's voice, "He's a good boy, smart and resourceful, just like his fath-."

"Don't say it! Don't say that word!" the shout echoed through Craig's mind as the shadows rippled, growing unfocused as the voice's faded, only that shout blasting through his mind, "Don't say that word!"

=++=++=++=++=++=++=++=++=++=++=

The cold air ached in his throat as Craig sat up in the bed, shivering as the beads of icy sweat ran down the bare skin of his back. Looking around, he gripped the covers tightly as the room around him came back into focus, the soft shadows of his old bedroom room hardening until the room seemed to became more than real. A soft sigh beside him, followed a warm hand slipping up his chest pulled him from the shock. Looking down, he stared at the half awake Mary as she yawned.

"What's wrong?" she asked, sitting up in the bed, her eyes widening as she looked around the room, "Where are we?"

"M-my old room, back in the real-world," Craig stammered, moving to get out of the bed, Mary's hand grabbing onto his shoulder holding him back.

"Craig, that can't be right!" Mary whispered fearfully, "We would have known if we were sent back to the real world! Our digivices would have at least alerted us!"

Craig looked around the room again, shivering again as he realised the Mary was right.

"Digivice, loca...tion..." Craig trailed off as he looked down at the watch like device on his wrist, the black ooze-like substance of his mantle seeping out of it and onto the bed, where it disappeared into the fabric.

"Craig?" Mary whispered to the confused boy, pointing at the far door, a beam of light peeking through as the sounds of a muffled struggle came through the gap, "What's going on?"

"Craaaaaaaiiigg? Whhaaaat'sssss goooinng oooooonnnn?" The voice slithered through the gap, barely above a whisper, but somehow it made Craig's heart freeze the instant he heard it, "Crraaaaaaaiiigg, diiiiiiiiid yoooooou waaaaaaaakkee uuup?"

"N-no," the word left his mouth before Craig had even realised it, the door suddenly flying open as light flooded the small room.

"Liar!" the whisper had become a screech as a shadow leapt through the open door, looming over the two as it hissed viciously, "Do yooou knooow whaat haappeeens too liiiaaarrs?"

"N-no! This...this isn't real!" Craig suddenly shouted, leaping back off the bed, Mary shrieking as she was thrown back, landing painfully on the cold floor as Craig continued to scream, "This isn't real!"

"Craig!" Mary tried to stand, looking down in surprise when she couldn't move her body, her eyes going wide as she watched it sinking into the pitch black floor, "Craig, help me!"

"Not real! Not real! It can't be real!" Craig sobbed, falling back onto the floor beside her as the shadow continued to loom over them, "You...you're dead!"

"Craig!" Mary shrieked, as her body disappeared into the blackness, "Save me!"

The shout seemed to surprise the boy, making him look away from the shadow, shock flashing across his face as he watched Mary vanish into the floor. Leaping towards her, he clawed at the floor with his bare hands trying to dig into it.

"Crrrraaaaaiiiigg?" the shadows voice curled around him, making him shiver in fear, "Whaaatt aaarrre yoooou dooooiinng?"

"I...I have to save her!" he shouted back, the floor suddenly giving way beneath his fingers, "S-she's important to me! She's...she's..."

"Deeeaaad," the voice crooned, icy tendrils wrapping around Craig's wrists as he continued to dig, "Gooone fooreeeveer!"

"N-no...no, no, no, no!" Craig howled, slamming his fist into the ground, the sudden force blasting away the tendrils, the shadow stepping back in surprise, "She's important to me, I can't let her die! I can't let her die!"

"Whyyyy?!" the shadow screeched, leaping forwards, its body suddenly freezing in mid-air as Craig's hand shot out, grabbing it where the throat should be, slowly rising to his feet and turning to face the formless mass.

"Because I love her."

The room shook slightly, cracks appearing in the shadows as light began to overwhelm the darkness. The room crumbled slowly around them, the floor falling away to reveal an unconscious Mary shivering violently. The shadow flickered slightly, its form retreating, becoming more human, the dark figure in front of him grinning.

"You may have won this battle, but this war has always been lost," it cackled, "You are the same, whether you want to be or not, and I am the darkness that lies within you, waiting."

"Then wait; and wait some more," Craig hissed back, "Wait until you are nothing more than a bad thought in the back of my mind, because I will not become like him. I know we are the same, but I am still my own person, and nothing will change that."

The shadow looked at him in surprise, then grinned again, its body collapsing, the dark liquid dripping out of Craig's hand and slivering underneath him, where it disappeared into his own shadow. Turning, he picked up the shaking Mary and laid her back on the bed, climbing in next to her.

The pure white world around them rippled, suddenly breaking apart as Craig's mantle returned to his digivice, the room he had woken up in earlier now surrounding them. Shivering again, Craig slid under the sheets and pulled Mary closer, the plant-girl automatically snuggling closer, tears streaming down her face.

"I promise, I'll protect you," Craig blinked at the words, looking down at Mary as she suddenly began to cry in his arms, "I'll protect you no matter what! Just don't leave me like that ever again!"

Craig could only smile, pulling the girl closer to him and squeezing her gently, his voice barely a whisper as he slipped back into sleep, "I'll try."

=++=++=++=++=++=++=++=++=++=++=

The room hummed with a strange energy, the vary air seeming to vibrate as Craig entered through the massive double doors, Luna and Blake close behind him. Looking around, Craig couldn't help but be impressed by the massive structure, the six strange pillars in the centre of the space seeming to force reality away, making the room appear greater than it was.

"So, what are these things?" he asked, walking up to the structures and running a hand over the cool surface of one, "I've never seen anything quite like them."

"And you probably never will," Blake chuckled, standing next to Craig as he stood in the centre of the circle, "These are the Pillars. Not a very imaginative name, I know, but it works for us."

Craig stared up at the six objects, his eyes trailing over the strange symbols and text that were engraved on their surfaces. One Pillar in particular drew his eye, the strange structure seeming to draw him towards it more powerfully than the rest.

"That's the Pillar of the Reaper," Blake explained as Craig ran his hand over the lowest group of symbols, "Your Pillar. And the most cryptic."

"Cryptic?" Craig asked, staring at the writing as if willing it to suddenly translate, "How so?"

"Well, the first bit is pretty standard, it just describes your arrival. "The Reaper shall come bearing the wind." Basically says that your first element was air, right?" Blake explained, smiling when Craig nodded, "Then it gets a bit weird, "The first Angel is found in a land of war; her heart secured thereafter as they fly through the unending light." Now, I happen to know that the "unending light" are the data beams, because it's mentioned in all the other Pillars as well. But then there's still the question of-"

"Who's the Angel?" Craig interrupted, stepping back from the pillar, "What else does it say?"

"Well, then it goes on about finding the second Angel in a land of peace," the older man explained, stretching his wings slightly as he pointed to the third set of runes, his hand trailing down as he continued to translate, " After that it says "An enemy made ally in an Outsider's attack, and again through the unending light." My guess is the Outsider's attack was that robot you fought."

"Wait, you know about that?" Craig stared at the other man in confusion.

"It attacked one of my Citadel Stations, why shouldn't I?" Blake laughed, shaking his head as Craig nodded slowly in realisation, "Anyway, after that it gets even weirder; "An evil of past and present does show its face. One heaven is lost in his anger, devoured by its life." Any ideas what that might mean?"

Craig stared at the Pillar in silence as Blake watched; a look of worry on his face as Craig nodded, anger flashing across his face, "I know what it means, I destroyed a layer with the data, with its "life"."

"And the enemy?" Luna asked, breaking her recent silence as she stepped beside Craig.

"It'll take a while to explain, but I think there's something you should know first," Craig sighed, "Last night I had a dream, no, a nightmare I haven't had in years... My mantle made it become real."

"A dream? Your mantle made a dream become real?!" Craig nodded as the other two digi-destined stared at him in amazement.

"How is that possible? Is that how the mantle works?" Blake chattered as they stood amongst the Pillars, "If it is, then I don't know if I want mine anymore, despite what the Pillars say..."

"Well, the mantle does respond to mental commands, so maybe you inadvertently triggered it when the dream started," Luna sighed, rubbing her temples, "What was the dream about?"

"It was about a night nine years ago. I was eight and I was woken up late at night by my...father coming home," Craig explained, "He told my mom that a mission...no; an operation, had been finalised, and that he was going to be a squad leader. That operation was the Great Reset."

"Wait, your dad was a squad leader for the great reset?!" Blake shouted, leaping out of his seat, "That may explain some of the stranger passages on the Reaper Pillar, but some things still don't add up..."

"He stayed in the old Digital world when it was reset," Craig growled, clenching his fists as he glared at the Pillar, "And I think he somehow managed to survive."

"What?!" Blake and Luna shouted in unison, staring at Craig in disbelief, "How is that possible?!"

"He was already a monster," Craig chuckled sinisterly, "All he needed was the right body."