Sinister Remnant
Part 2 - Sun Goes Down
by Meimi

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Standard disclaimers apply.

SPOILER WARNING: Spoilers for all of 02 except the epilogue.

YAOI WARNING: Erm... hmm, well there's going to be boy x boy stuff all throughout this fic, but I doubt it will get explicit. I don't really want to call it shonen ai though, because there's not going to be much WAFF at -all- in this fic. Just loads and loads of angst.

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"I hate to say it," Yamato said distastefully as they waited for the elevator in Ken's apartment building to reach the proper floor. They being him, Takeru and Hikari. The plan for the day had been for the three of them to go out to lunch, bum around and basically have a good time together. Yamato had planned this particular outing because it was such a rare occasion to see his brother without anything else bugging them, like his band or the fate of the Digital World. Hikari was along because it was nigh impossible to separate the two most of the time and because Yamato wasn't fool enough to try. Of course, that was all shot to hell with Takeru's little decision to change things. "But this has got to be the dumbest idea you've come up with in awhile, Takeru."

"Oh come on Yamato, give Daisuke some credit," Hikari practically beamed up at the older boy as she wrapped her arm snugly in Takeru's, looking to all the world as if they were a couple... or something. Sometimes, even Yamato couldn't tell whether they were -just friends- or what. He wouldn't ask though. He wasn't quite that tacky. He'd just get Taichi to do it one of these days. Yeah, that would work. Maybe.

"I am giving him credit," Yamato sighed as he envisioned how the rest of the day would go, "I'm sure he won't try to pick a fight with Takeru the entire time, but it will certainly seem like he was doing his damnedest afterwards."

"This from Mister 'Oh let them fight'," Takeru smirked as Yamato scowled at him in reply. He knew full well he and Daisuke didn't get along spectacularly well, but Ken had really appeared to be in sore need of some relief yesterday. So, he had just invited both Ken and Daisuke to lunch in the same breath in hopes that it would help somewhat. He knew that Hikari wouldn't mind at all. His brother, on the other hand...

"That was different," Yamato muttered sourly as the elevator stopped and the doors opened. He generously waved the pair off before following behind them. "I wasn't going to have to put up with it for most of the afternoon."

"If you say so. Though personally, I don't see much of a difference," Hikari smiled sweetly as she glanced sideways at Yamato.

"It is! And you know how he's going to be," Yamato gestured sharply with his right hand to emphasize his point, "He's going to start up at the first opportunity. Daisuke's a great friend, but lately he's been more prickly than Togemon."

Takeru and Hikari shared a knowing glance at this and giggled, or chuckled in Takeru's case. Yamato stared at them for a moment, almost certain that they were both about to sprout horns. Those little laughs didn't exactly sound innocent.

"Okay okay, I must be missing something," Yamato raised a suspicious eyebrow as they turned twin faux innocent expressions on him. "What is it?"

"Nothing earth shattering, big brother," Takeru shook his finger at Yamato and tsked. "Just pay better attention, it's not that hard to figure out." He winked in amusement as they finally reached Ken's apartment door. Squashing another chuckle at Yamato's baffled look, he reached up to ring the doorbell.

They waited. Hikari shifted closer to Takeru. They waited. Yamato stuck his hands in his pant's pockets to keep from fidgeting. They waited. Hikari leaned her head down onto Takeru's shoulder and looked up at him in question. Takeru shrugged vaguely in answer. He didn't know what was taking so long. And still, they waited.

Finally, Yamato burst out, "Good grief, what's taking so long? Are they taking a shower together or something?" Totally oblivious to the uncomfortable coughing from the pair at his interesting choice of words, Yamato twisted the doorknob, which was mysteriously unlocked, and pushed the front door open.

The sunlight spilled in from the doorway and revealed a thick haze of dust within, appearing almost as if the apartment hadn't been lived in for ages. Littered across the floor were heaps of torn paper, pages ripped out of books and later shredded even further. Some even appeared as if they had been burnt in a flame of some kind. Over it all hung a gloom of shadows that forbid the light from venturing any further into their inky depths.

Takeru sucked in a breath once the shock wore off. This was not, this was... He had just talked to Ken yesterday. What was this? What had happened? Was Ken okay? What about Daisuke? What was going on? Shaking his head to clear it of his fear filled questions, Takeru gently shrugged out of Hikari's grasp and stepped forward.

Yamato's arm shot out instantly halting Takeru's progress. Yamato shook his head when Takeru looked over at him in uncertainty. "Stay behind me," he ordered flatly before stepping within. He flipped the light switch beside the door, but wasn't surprised when it failed to produce any illumination. A portion of his mind shivered and told him to get the hell out of there while he still could. Another part bitched him out for not telling Takeru and Hikari to stay out of this damnable place. And yet another larger part was frightened of what he was going to find. His friends... Were Ken and Daisuke in here? What happened here?

The silence that descended upon them past the threshold could easily be summed up as oppressive. It enveloped them as they stepped within, the terrible sound of nothingness making them want to shiver from all the dark emotions that welled up in response to it. Something happened here, it whispered, something frightening. It's something you can't understand. It's something you can only fear.

In this disturbing silence, every breath Yamato took sounded too loud to his ears, too grating. He wasn't sure whether it was the silence or the atmosphere that was making his skin crawl, but he'd place even odds on both. A quick once over of the living room only produced more piles of shredded paper as well as the books they had been ripped from. They looked like school books, at least, from what he could discern in the gloom. Just papers and things though, no sign of anything human, living or... otherwise.

Takeru and Hikari stood in the hallway peering into the shadowy mess that was the Ichijouji's living room. With the wan sunlight wafting in from the doorway back-lighting them, Yamato could almost fool himself into thinking they really were angels descended into this darkened hell in search of someone precious to rescue. The image was disturbed, though not destroyed, when Takeru pointed down the hallway and softly said, "Ken's bedroom is this way."

Yamato hesitantly nodded in understanding and headed back out into the hallway. Takeru wanted to do what his brother had told him to, but he also wanted to find Ken and Daisuke -now-. If they weren't in the living room the next place to check would be the bedroom. Sighing soundlessly, Takeru, with Hikari in tow, followed after Yamato further back into the hallway. The atmosphere in the apartment grated on his nerves. It was a familiar sensation and yet not. He couldn't figure it out. Who would do something like this to Ken's home? And why did he have this sneaking suspicion that he should already know part of the answer to that?

The gloom seemed to deepen exponentially the closer they got to the back bedroom. The oppressive air was thick and clung to them, making them hesitate in their footsteps. It was strange, as if whatever lay beyond wasn't meant to be found... wasn't meant to be known. But leaving wasn't an option and soon Yamato found himself standing in front of the bedroom door. He reached for the doorknob. The chill of the metal bit into his hand as he twisted the knob and pushed against the door.

Yamato wasn't quite sure what he was expecting, maybe for an intruder to jump out at him or something, but nothing happened. The door swung open. The air seemed to clear. At first glance, the bedroom looked neat and tidy. It was a vastly tangible difference from the pall that hovered over the rest of the apartment.

The sunlight filtering in through the balcony drapes gave more than enough light to see in, but still Yamato missed the figure curled up on the floor at first glance. His second sweep of the room was another matter altogether. Yamato spied Ken on the floor with his back to the door at about the same time he heard a gasp behind him. An instant later, Takeru and Hikari darted around him and swooped down to the boy laying on the floor.

Yamato could almost fool himself into believing the boy was just sleeping as he joined his brother at Ken's side. Almost. He wasn't a fool though, Ken looked far too pale even in the distorted sunlight. Part of him was loathe to touch Ken for fear of finding the boy dead. But reach out he did, and he was relieved to find that while the skin beneath his fingertips was cooler than it should have been, it was certainly warm enough for someone living.

"Ken?" Hikari called out quietly, hunkering down on the floor as she brushed the locks of dark hair from his face. No answer, not even the slightest of stirrings. They could barely even tell Ken was breathing he was so still.

Yamato waved the pair out of the way as he gently drew Ken up into his arms. It was when the boy's head lolled against his shoulder that the problem was revealed. Hiding beneath the collar of Ken's shirt were twin symmetrical wounds that marred the pale skin of his neck. A vampire bite. Once upon a time, Yamato would have brushed the thought of vampires off as just simple superstition. But that was before the Digital world and -before- Vamdemon, a very real vampire even if he had been a digimon too.

"Shit! Takeru," Yamato looked up, catching his brother's worried gaze. His tone was deadly serious as he continued, "I don't think Daisuke is still here, but I need you to check to make sure. Okay?" Takeru nodded shakily in understanding before climbing to his feet and heading back out into the hazy apartment.

"Why is this happening now?" Hikari murmured hopelessly as she watched Yamato settle the boy more firmly in his arms. Leaning forward, she helped steady him as he climbed to his own feet. The added weight was making it a bit awkward for him.

"I don't know," Yamato answered distractedly as he carefully hefted his precious burden. Ken was far too light for his liking. "We never seem to catch a break, do we? First thing's first though, we have to get Ken to the hospital. We'll figure out how to find Daisuke and find out what the hell happened afterwards."

~*~

Ken. It was always and had always been about Ken. Everything he had ever done, everything he had ever wanted to do, revolved completely around Ken. Why had it taken him so long to figure out this simple, yet ever so important detail? His life before Ken had been dull and boring and utterly normal. And then, Ken had come along to upset the normalcy of his uninteresting life. The Kaiser had waltzed along and kicked over his unimaginative, pathetic sand castle and had then gleefully kicked the sand into his face.

The Kaiser's very existence had screamed: Look at me! I'm everything you've ever wanted. I'm the dark undercurrent that makes your blood boil. And guess what? You're too stupid to figure that out. No, I have to beat you down, make you beg for me... and still you know nothing at all. You're unworthy of me.

And it was true. The clueless idiot that he was had been unworthy of what the Kaiser had offered and so the Kaiser had fallen. The Kaiser had been broken. And left in his place had been the most fragile, beautiful boy that he had ever seen. It wasn't until then that he had started to figure out just what it was that he wanted, what he had needed. Oh, in the beginning he had simply wanted to help Ken get his life back on track, or so he had assumed. But it went on, the little things that happened that just made him want to cling closer and closer to the boy who had done nothing extraordinary to become the center of his universe. And yet, that was exactly what Ken was.

Everything became something that had to do with Ken. Ken was everything to him. He had to be with Ken. But Ken blissfully ignored his need. And why should Ken pay attention him -now-? He had ignored this need when the Kaiser had been around so why should Ken even give him the time of day now? He was an idiot. He had been too slow. But he still needed to be with Ken... so why wasn't he now?

Daisuke was just barely conscious now, but he instinctively knew he wasn't anywhere near Ken. And this odd bit of information didn't seem to compute with his last memory of having an argument with himself before falling asleep in Ken's bed. If he wasn't still in Ken's bed at Ken's apartment, and thus near Ken, then where was he? That was a very good question indeed.

Sensations began to register in his mind as Daisuke decided that he really should find out where he was and how he had gotten there. There was a strange metallic taste in his mouth again, not unlike the taste from before, though this one was much stronger. He was propped up against a wall, brick by the feel of it, and seated on a bare floor, which was quite cold. One of his arms was laying in his lap, the other was hanging halfway up the wall. Something was holding it up, something hard and metal by the feel of it. That wasn't good.

Cracking open his left eye, Daisuke grimaced at the sunlight filtering in through a high window on the other side of the room. It wasn't much light and it was pretty distant from him, but for some odd reason it just hurt to look at it. Scowling at all the little oddities that were adding up into something too bizarre for him to fathom yet, Daisuke tilted his head to the side and peered over at his arm. He had been right. It was hanging there, chained to the wall with something that looked vaguely like a handcuff some European medieval freak would come up with in their spare time.

The wide cuff, which looked like it had been forcibly bent around his wrist, seemed to be made of some light, polished metal that appeared rather dull even in the dim light. Thick chain links of the same type of metal hooked onto the cuff at the only break and were attached to the wall by a solid metal plate. The links didn't end at the wall though, they continued on down to the floor and disappeared into a hole drilled into the cement, which explained why the floor was so cold. It was made of some type of grayish cement.

Daisuke gave the chain an experimental yank, but it didn't budge an inch. He was well and truly chained to the wall. Who did it and why were the immediate questions that came to mind. These were followed by a bewildered wondering as to how somebody could do this to him and for him to not even know it was happening.

The sound of a bolt being turned prevented his mind from pondering any further along those lines. It seemed as if his questions were about to be answered. The door to this place, which he had missed as it was on the other side of spill of sunlight, opened to reveal a rather familiar figure. He had only seen her under black lights for the most part, but Sumire certainly wasn't the type that anyone, much less he, would forget so easily.

He noted the differences in her demeanor and looks as she carefully skirted the pool of sunlight and walked towards him. Her hair was pinned up in back, but from what he could make out it was platinum now, not the gorgeously appealing purple that had so enamored him. She wore black dress pants and a white button up shirt, silk most likely. There were cuffs of loose lace falling around her wrists, but they seemed to be the only decoration on her. The black heels she wore clacked lightly on the cement as she approached. It wasn't a very loud sound, but it echoed painfully in his ears.

"Afternoon, pet. How are you feeling?" she asked facetiously as she came to a halt a few meters in front of him. Her winsome smile was much like that of the cat who caught the canary as she continued, "Perhaps feeling a tad bit hungry? Hmm?"

"Look psycho bitch, I don't know what game you're playing at, or what drug you gave me, but it's against the law to kidnap someone," Daisuke growled out, unsure of what to do but knowing he had to do -something-. If he could just away from this weirdo and get back to Ken's apartment, then everything would be fine. "Let me go!"

"Aw, feeling a little trapped are we?" Her smile widened in seemingly good cheer as she kneeled down before him. The smile soon vanished as her hand darted forward and slapped him across the cheek with stunning force. "Willful child! Running off during the day from your mother when you are just newly born. If I did not need you so badly, I would have left you to the consequences of your beast's actions and I highly doubt your sanity would have survived -that-."

"You're crazy," Daisuke rasped out. Nearly the entire side of his face along with his cheek ached horribly from the slap. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Now that would be telling," Sumire murmured, her smile returning full force and she stood back up. Crossing her arms, she leaned forward slightly over him. "Truly, it certainly would be fun to tell you exactly what your beast did. But, I think it shall be more entertaining by far for you to find out on your own."

"No way in hell are you my mother! And what my beast did? Sounds like you've been taking way too many drugs, lady. Maybe you should lay off them for awhile," Daisuke scowled as he yanked on the chain that was imprisoning him here with this obvious psycho. "I demand you let me go!"

"A little slow on the uptake aren't you, pet?" Sumire closed her eyes and sighed as if she were about to humor a fool. When she opened her eyes again they glowed a harsh icy blue. "Now then brat, let me explain a few things to you. I -am- your mother now. You are my little pet vampire. I have made you so as you can prove somewhat useful to me in my search for the Master. Unfortunately, your beast seems to be of a one track mind and has asked for a particular concession before agreeing to the final step. As the concession would probably end up ripping you apart and thus prove highly amusing, I have agreed. So you will remain here, you will obey me and you -will- be punished." She hissed out this last bit and sneered down at him. "While your fate will entertain me greatly, you will starve for however long I feel is necessary for you to understand who -your- master is." Straightening up, her eyes dimmed down to their regular blue and she smiled cheerfully. "Do you understand?"

Daisuke shook his head dazedly. No way could this be happening. No fucking way. "You're nuts. Nuts," he whispered in disbelief as he again yanked on the chain. "This has to be a nightmare or... or... or something."

"No nightmare, pet. Or at least, not one you'll be waking up from," she purred before turning around and heading back towards the door. Halfway across the room she stopped and turned to look back at him in afterthought, "There's really no hope of you escaping that chain. It's titanium and can almost hold an ultimate. But as your strength is barely that of a champion at this stage, the chances of you breaking it are next to nil." Turning back towards the door, she waved carelessly as she walked out of the room, "Have a wonderful evening, pet, and hope I come back soon." The door clicked shut with dread finality at her parting words.

Grimacing, Daisuke gave the chain yet another vicious yank and mulled over what the psycho bitch had said. Okay, the weird glowy eyes were some type of trick or maybe a new hallucinogenic. Yeah, that had to be it. But that talk about ultimates and champions had to be about digimon. Maybe she was some kind of nut who had been in league with Oikawa. But even then, the vampire thing just didn't make sense. What exactly did she want him to do? And what was that whole beast thing she kept hinting at?

Even worse, now that he thought about it again, his last memory had been at Ken's place. It was sketchy at best, he must have still been pumped full of drugs, but it had definitely been Ken's bedroom. She would have had to break in to snatch him again. She hadn't done anything to Ken had she? If she had, he'd kill the bitch.

Unconsciously growling at that particular train of thought, Daisuke shifted around trying to get comfortable. He didn't know why, but his stomach was starting to burn mildly for some unknown reason. It really, really didn't feel good. Maybe it was the drugs. Had to be. What else could it be?

~*~

Rubbing the back of his neck which was starting to ache from tension, Yamato sighed and leaned against the white-washed wall. He would have joined Hikari, who was seated on one of the waiting room couches, but he just felt too antsy to stay still for however long it was going to take Taichi to round up Koushirou and get them both over to the Tamachi hospital.

The doctor on duty had taken one good look at the little holes in Ken's neck and had promptly called the police even before Yamato could get to a phone. Not that he could blame the guy, he was pretty creeped out himself from seeing something that was all too familiar from several years back. He had called Taichi afterwards and given him the news about Ken and Daisuke. Taichi had instantly reverted to leader mode and told him that he'd go snag Koushirou and be right over. Then the police had arrived and both he and Hikari had had their turn at answering questions. Now it was Takeru's turn. The doctor had already been out during Hikari's questioning to tell them the expected diagnosis: extreme anemia brought about by unknown means.

For the most part, Yamato was pretty certain it had been a vampire. It made a lot of sense considering who the victims were. Either Vamdemon had left something behind or it was Vamdemon himself. They couldn't rule that out since that damned digimon had come back twice already. And who better to take revenge upon than the leader of the new kids who had been the ones to kick his ass -again-? Yamato shuddered at the thought of Vamdemon's revenge and hoped it was just a hostage type situation instead. Daisuke could be annoying at times but no way in hell did he want to see the kid dead. And if it wasn't Vamdemon, if it was someone else altogether, well that changed the playing field a bit more than he liked.

Hikari stood up and walked the short distance over to him as Takeru finally returned. His little brother didn't look the worse for wear, though he did look about as tired as Yamato felt. All three watched as the police spoke briefly with the doctor before heading out.

Takeru shook his head and murmured, "They're going to check out the apartment, see if they can find anything, though I doubt they will. I don't know about either of their parents, but the police said to let them handle it. I don't know though."

"That's probably for the best," Yamato said quietly after a moment spent thinking about it. "Even though they all know about the digimon now, it would be better to find out what we're up against first before giving any of them phantom worries."

"Do you think..." Hikari's brows crinkled in worry as she voiced the one concern they all felt. "Do you think it's Vamdemon again?"

"I hate to say it, but I hope so," Yamato frowned sourly. "At least we know how he operates. If it's not him, well, we're basically in the dark without a flashlight. At least we know he's alive though," he added quickly in an attempt not to worry them both as much as he already had. "If he were dead we would have found him at the apartment."

Takeru shrugged helplessly in agreement as Hikari glanced over at him, her eyes showing as much concern as he felt. "So what do we now?" he asked, not really caring who answered at this point.

"We wait for Taichi to get here. Then we wait for Koushirou to figure out a way to find Daisuke. And then we go get him from whoever has him," Yamato answered simply. He didn't want to go any further into it as he wasn't sure about anything right now and he certainly didn't want to add to either of their worries.

Hikari shook her head and sighed, "I guess that's all we can do right now." Giving Takeru a weak smile, she laced her arm through his and tossed her head back towards the couch. "Come on, let's go sit down. They're probably still on the train so it'll be awhile yet."

Takeru gave his brother a quick pat on the shoulder before allowing himself to be dragged off. Yamato chuckled at them for a moment and then returned his thoughts to the matter at hand. Ken would be fine after a good bit of rest, but Daisuke was another matter altogether. Who had him and where was he? Yamato severely doubted that he would like what the answers to those questions were going to be.

~*~

The light spilling in from the window was turning a decided shade of orange as the sun slowly sank in the west. Night would fall soon, but it wouldn't be soon enough for him. The metal plate that had chained him to the wall lay haphazardly on the floor, unfortunately it had been the only thing to give. The chain was still threaded through the floor, though there were gouges in the cement now as proof of his violent need to get free. But he was still chained. He was still a prisoner here. And he really didn't like that.

He lay sprawled across the floor, about as far as the chain would give. Sweat stood out on his brow and his breath came in hard, heavy gasps. It wasn't because he was tired from his attempts to get free. In fact, it was the opposite of that. He was energized beyond anything he had ever felt before. But even -that- wasn't the problem. No, the main problem was the fact that his stomach had sprouted serrated fangs and was now hellbent on chewing his insides up in complaint at the terrible hunger he was feeling.

It ached. It burned. This hunger. It wanted something warm and fresh and liquid to quench it. Something that tasted mildly metallic with a bit more body to it than either water or wine. Daisuke would have curled up in supreme horror with the revelation of just exactly what it was he needed right now. But then again, Daisuke wasn't the one who was awake right now.

He blinked, his eyes glowing a dull crimson as he stared up at the ceiling. A smirk twisted its way across his lips as he thought back on what she had called him. A Beast. Well, Daisuke's Beast, though he rather thought it was the other around actually. The Beast's Daisuke, so to speak. After all, without him Daisuke wouldn't have those luscious memories of the night before. Well, Daisuke would have them as soon as he could figure out how to insinuate himself into Daisuke's psyche so that the idiot would remember him during the day.

In the meantime, he needed to feed and soon, before the hunger drove him mad with want. Truly, he had had a veritable feast the day before, in more ways than one, but it didn't seem as if it had lasted very long. He hoped it was just a side effect from being newly made and not something he would have to go through every single night. After all, he needed most of his time to devote to his beautifully gorgeous, darling Ken. And -that- took precedence above all else.

As for Sumire, well she was pretty and all and certainly had benefited him greatly. Still, he had very little use for her once she kept her end of the bargain. So he was left with the dilemma of going along with her little plan or finding a way to dispose of her. Frankly, he was more inclined to the latter, but it would prove to be quite a challenge. She was amazingly strong, stronger than he was now as she had already proven the night before. She probably had other means to defends herself as well, means he had yet to see. That would be problematic.

It didn't take a genius to figure out who her Master was. He supposed Vamdemon had left some type of human/digimon fusion pets behind when he had invaded Odaiba. From what he had heard, Vamdemon had had that aristocratic type flair going on. It must have offended that damned vampire's tastes terribly to be forced into using someone like Oikawa. Now that he thought about it, it was rather amusing.

Still, the Sumire situation was a problem. She wanted to go to the Digital World. He was supposed to take her there. He wanted her to do something for him before he would agree to that. But, if she did that little something for him as she said she would, he'd still be left with the main problem. Sumire wanted her Master's return to life and power. Her Master was Vamdemon. Vamdemon had made Ken's life a living hell. Because of that Vamdemon deserved to stay dead. Sumire probably already knew a way to resurrect Vamdemon once she was in the Digital World. He'd have to figure out a way to get rid of her... but not until she gave him what he wanted. He would have that, oh yes, of that there was no doubt. Everything else could wait until after that.

Right now though, he was very, very hungry.

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There, after two months of real life tragedies and the hell that can be online life, I am finally finished with this damned part. And well, it sucks. Oh well, I can always rewrite it later I suppose. You know, most of this part was pretty hard to write, except for Beast Daisuke. He was rather easy to write. Go figure. ^_^ Well anyway, here's hoping I get the next part out a bit sooner than it took this one to get finished.

By the way, the title for this part is my absolute favorite Japanese Digimon song "Sun Goes Down" by AiM which is why there is no 'the' in it, much less anything else. I was going to title it "The Thrall", but that matches the next part better in terms of atmosphere.