Chapter 34: Kinship's Bond

Victoria Kasuto

Valencian Prison, Yew

5 Minutes

 

This place is pretty big; if I’m not careful, I’ll get lost. I carefully glanced around the corner of a wall, sighing with relief when I saw nobody. As long as nobody notices me, I’ll be fine. I just need to find Michalis as soon as possible, and then we can go back to Thomas and Apollomon… I carefully looked inside each prison cell I passed by, ignoring the flirting and wolf whistles of the prisoners inside. Where is Michalis?! Where have they taken him?!

“Vic…toria…?” Michalis’s voice weakly resonated from a nearby cell.

“Michalis! Oh, I’m so glad you’re alright!” I ran up to the cell to see Michalis barely standing up, his hands weakly grasped around two of the bars of the cell’s door.

“Victoria…you came…back for me…”

“Michalis, are you okay?! They didn’t hurt you, did they?!” I asked.

“…No…I’m fine,” Michalis said. “…Are you going to get me out of here?”

I nodded.

“But…how?”

“Very easily.” I gently brushed my fingers against the back of his hand before reaching for my sword, which I used to slice cleanly through the door’s lock. “Come on; we have to hurry before the knights catch up to us!” I tightly gripped Michalis’s arm and began frantically searching for the door. “…There it is! We’re getting out of here, Michalis!”

“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.” Before I had reached the exit, the heavy footsteps and the loud, echoing clang produced by a person walking in a heavy suit of armor gradually approached me. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but I’m going to have to ask you to release the child,” Lector said.

“And exactly how do you plan on making you do that?!” I turned to face the large man, sighing inwardly with relief when I saw that he was alone. “If you had brought a few other soldiers with you, you may have stood a chance against me. But alone? There’s no way you’ll be taking him away from me.” My hand reached for the door just as a massive lance struck the wood just inches away from my hand. The lance strike made the door completely jam shut; escape was impossible.

“Please…just hand Michalis over,” Lector said.

“Michalis…stand back.” I tightly gripped the hilt of my sword and pointed the tip of its blade between Lector’s eyes. “This could get ugly.”

“Victoria, stop!” Thomas’s voice echoed through the empty hallway of the prison. Statuedramon and Zelda stood behind him.

How’d he find us so quickly?

“Don’t do this! Just allow Lector to take Michalis with him, and it can be over with!”

“…How can you say that, Thomas?! Do you have any idea who Michalis is?!” I yelled. Thomas and Statuedramon stared blankly at me. I had even surprised myself; not once had I ever raised my voice to either of them.

“It doesn’t matter who he is,” Lector said. “He has committed a crime, and it is my job as a knight to deal with him.”

“No…please! Michalis…he’s my son.” Thomas, Statuedramon, and Zelda stared back at me in disbelief; I heard Michalis gasp with surprise; Lector, however, didn’t show any sign of astonishment, or any emotions at all. “Nineteen years ago…I was raped by a man named Clive. Nine months later, I gave birth to a small baby boy, only to have him taken away before I could hold him. That baby…had brown hair, the same color as mine, and an x-shaped birthmark on the back of his right hand…just like Michalis.”

“That means nothing,” Lector said. “Surely, there must be hundreds of children Michalis’s age that fit that description.”

“No! Michalis is my son!” I shouted. “He doesn’t have any memory of having any kind of family because he’s been locked up in that laboratory all his life! He…he couldn’t have done…he couldn’t have…”

“Victoria. The only thing that matters is that Michalis has committed a crime, and now he must face his punishment,” Lector said. “Michalis will be coming with me!”

“That’s where you’re wrong, big guy.” Without any warning, the wall behind Lector caved in. Clive walked into the hallway first, and was followed by Magnus. “That kid’s going to have to come with us, I’m afraid,” Magnus said.

“You…who are you?!” Lector shouted.

“Never thought I’d be back in a prison,” Clive sighed, sounding obviously displeased with his predicament.

“Quit complaining,” Magnus said.

“Your arms…what’s wrong with them?!” Statuedramon asked, gazing at Magnus.

“You’re a Bio Hybrid, aren’t you?” Thomas asked.

“Yes, I am,” Magnus looked down at his arms; they were much larger than they had been yesterday, and were encased in gauntlets covered with gemstones. “I guess you could say I’m somewhat of a more advanced Bio Hybrid than Abigail or Adrian; I’m able to turn only certain parts of my body into that of my Digimon form at any time I want. These arms you see right now are the arms of my Digimon form!”

“Enough idle chatter; state your business at once!” Lector barked.

“I already told you, old man; we’re taking that kid with us, and you ain’t going to be able to stop us,” Magnus said.

“I bet you never would have realized it was us who sent you that false report that Michalis did something bad,” Clive said.

“CLIVE!”

“Wait…that was…you…who gave us that information?” Lector asked. “You lied to my superior officers about what that child did…they were going to make me end an innocent child’s life for nothing?!”

“You tried to have my son taken away from me?!” I glared angrily at the two.

“Damn it, Clive,” Magnus shook his head. “Well, whatever; if there’s anything you can do about it, just try and stop us!”

“Time to start earning my pay!” Clive placed his hand on the crumbled remains of the wall he and Magnus had just destroyed, and instantly, it became completely covered in ice.

“Well, it looks like we’ve picked one hell of a bad time to show up,” Statuedramon said. “Apollomon is not going to like this…”

“Worrying about our futures can come after making sure there is one,” Thomas said. “Time for the two of us to do what we do best!”

“Sure…go ahead and fight us. That is…if you think you can win,” Magnus said. “Remember who you’re dealing with, here. I’m a Bio Hybrid; I don’t go down so easily.”

He’s not looking; now’s my chance! While Magnus was speaking to Thomas, I ran up to him and swung my blade at his back.

“You fool…you really think I’d be dumb enough to have my back turned without protecting it?!” Magnus turned to face me just as my sword’s blade split in two.

“What?! But…how?! Just what are you?!”

“You really want to see what I can turn into?” Magnus asked, reaching into his pocket.

“Magnus, don’t! This place isn’t big enough for you to do that!” Clive said.

“Ah, you’re right; apologies, Victoria. It seems I’ll have to show you later.” Magnus looked behind me over at Michalis. “Well…now that your sword’s broken, there doesn’t seem to be anything stopping me from taking that kid. You were, after all, our biggest threat, Victoria. A pretty cute threat, but a threat nonetheless.”

“To use your words…that’s where you’re wrong!” Lector removed his lance from the door and thrust it into the wall between Michalis and Magnus.

“Oh, come on; do you really think you can stop me?! If Saias were here, he could have stopped me, but you?! You don’t stand a chance!”

“Sword of Dragon’s Soul!” A transparent projection was released from Statuedramon’s sword, striking Magnus in the side of the head. “Victoria, take Michalis and go! We’ll handle things here!” I quickly grabbed Michalis’s arm and began running for the door once again.

“Oh, no; I didn’t let you get away last time, and I won’t let you do it this time!” Clive’s shadow extended over the door, and it too became covered in a thick layer of ice. “Come on…scream for me, bitch. Just once, I’d like to hear what that sounds like…”

Should I tell him? Maybe that would distract him long enough for me to…No…no, he doesn’t deserve to know Michalis is his son!

“Come forth, Renamon!”

“Power Paw!” The astral form of Renamon suddenly appeared, kicking Clive across the face, sending the man crashing into the wall, his face a mess of minor burns and blood.

“Victoria, are you okay?” Zelda asked.

“Yes…yes, I’m okay…” My heart was still beating rapidly, and I was trying my best not to think of Clive, and of what he did to me.

“Hey…where did Michalis go?” Lector suddenly asked. My heart skipped a beat as I looked all over the hallway; Michalis was nowhere to be seen.

Michalis

 

All that fighting…if anybody were to get hurt, it would be my fault. Victoria…she came here to save me…if she got hurt…if she got hurt…I was looking steadily down at the floor as I ran, and though I was running aimlessly through the prison, I felt as though I knew where exactly I was going. But how? How do I know where I’m going? No, never mind that; I just have to get away from everybody…if Victoria finds me again…she’ll be hurt for sure!

“You look as though you are in need of assistance.” I looked up and saw a strange man. His very presence disturbed me…and yet, his presence seemed to calm me down, as well.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“You may call me Sephyrus, my child,” the man said. He spoke calmly and gently, and his eyes were filled with patience and understanding. “I know who you are, Michalis. And…I know what you are.”

“What I…am? I’m a Human…aren’t I?”

“No, Michalis. You, my child, are a Bio Hybrid.”