Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ The Steadfast Tin Soldier ❯ One-Shot

**I do not own Digimon nor do I own the original story (The Steadfast Tin Soldier) this fic is based on. In fact, I don't own rights to anything. Shut up.

The afternoon faded into a black-blue and the clock on the mantle struck eight chords to mark the hour. Careful hands tucked each noble tin soldier safely away in their proper tray. Then footsteps could be heard, shuffling across a wooden floor and, with the tweak of a switch, the light diminished and a door shut.

As the echo of footsteps disappeared down the hallway, a fire sparkled alive in the fireplace and a tender tinkling could be heard as the tin soldiers roused each other and leapt up from their tray, bayonets clutched in each palm and the body of their weapons resting along their shoulders. As we all lined up along the table, I used my bayonet as sort of a crutch as one of my legs was missing from the knee downward. I was uneasy. Tonight was my night for patrol of the master's playroom while the others could do anything to their leisure. I hate this job.

As the other soldiers leapt down from the table, scattering off to lounge about or flirt shamelessly with the available dolls, I sat myself on the table's ledge, my solitary foot dangling. I stared longingly at the stump that was my handicap and touched the phantom leg that was lost forever. I sighed, brushing my midnight blue bangs off of my forehead, readjusting my tall hat. Moving my chin into my palm, I gazed around the room, trying to find anything of remote interest, anything that would take my mind off of my lost appendage, even for a moment.

Suddenly, a flash of white caught my eye and I turned. There, on a mirrored surface, stood what I first mistook to be an angel standing effortlessly on her toes. I scrambled to stand and hobbled over to her. Her one leg was behind the other in a graceful stance, one arm rose in an arc above her head while the other arm curved beneath her breasts in a sort of circle. Her mousy hair was pulled to the side casually with a simple pin, allowing one to gaze upon her soft, sweet features. She was a ballerina, a new toy no doubt, but one of great artistry and beauty.

I swallowed hard when she suddenly lowered herself to the flat of her feet, her arms resting at her sides. Her eyes, closed before serenely, now looked upon me with a gentleness I had never seen before. She blinked once, then spoke.

"Who are you?" Her voice matched the gentleness her eyes spoke of.

My voice was on the tip of my tongue, grating itself against my teeth. This was terribly uncomfortable. I had never been one to talk much, but now that I yearned to converse with this one toy, I was painfully mute. But somehow I managed to respond.

"Ken," I croaked. I knew my handsome soldier's garb would hoodwink her into thinking I was valiant and busied myself with random acts of bravery. How I didn't want to disappoint her.

"Ken," she repeated, tapping her pointer finger against her chin, as if pondering the mystery of it. "A hero's name."

I blinked. Oh, I have deceived her, and I felt sick about it. She thought me a true soldier, yet I was a coward. I never fought in battles or duels against other enemy toys, most of the time I was merely put on patrol. How could I get into trouble doing that?

"I am Hikari," she said, extending her hand for a formal handshake. This suprised me slightly, she seemed much too sophisticated for something as demeaing as a handshake. Yet, for the sake of not offending her, I took her hand in mine and shook it congenially. Her soft digits laying across my palm felt so nice, like a refreshing whisper of wind, yet she slipped out of my fingers and I bit my tongue.

Then there was a glint of playfulness in those creamy eyes of hers and she suddenly twirled around me in a fashion so perfect, I could have sworn she sprouted wings for a moment. Her milky dress fanned out around her legs as she continued her whirling dance. I allowed myself to smile, albeit inwardly, and then she stopped before me, taking a hold of my hands and waltzing with me on the glass surface. I was suddenly lost in the dance, in her eyes as she wove her ballerina's spell on me, a spell that dulled my senses blissfully until I looked down and saw my stump's reflection waving at me from the surface which we danced upon. I suddenly stopped, releasing her from my hold, and dropped down to sit. Hikari watched me carefully, probably thinking I had just tripped and needed to catch my second wind.

"Aren't you getting up?"

I shook my head and her eyes glazed over sadly. She moved closer to me and bended downward, her hands on her knees.

"You're upset about your leg," she stated. I couldn't bare to look at her. Then she moved again and kneeled in front of me, my miserable chin between her thumb and forefinger, tilting my face up to hers. For a moment, indigo mixed with creamy brown in a perfect painting, pairing.

"I can't dance, I'm sorry." I removed my tall hat and set it between my legs, tapping the flat top of it. My hair fell around my cheeks and I heard her whisper a gasp. I looked up to see what was the matter when her fingers tangled themselves in my locks. I moaned and she stroked my face, smiling with her eyes.

There was a rustle beside us followed by a pop. We both turned to see a crude face leering at us, his eyes hidden behind golden and violet glasses, his hair a pallet of violet-blue angrily jagged every which way. There was a bitter twist to his mouth before gloved hands lifted from his accordion neck and gathered Hikari into them. She cried out to me. The offender laughed. Regardless of my loss, I had to take some form of action.

"Let her go!" I growled.

"This snowy doll belongs to Kaiser!" He declared vehemently, tucking Hikari under one arm and gesturing to himself with the other. She struggled in his grasp, twisting against the black accordion-like stem of his body.

I posed with my bayonet, ready to aim and fire. Again, Kaiser merely laughed, and I felt the red of frustration rise to my cheeks. This only added to the fire that had developed in my belly. With a shout, I lunged for him, my weapon clamped tightly in my sweating hands. But he simply raised one of his own hands and backhanded me, I landed with a tumble on the window sill, fazed but not defeated. I was poised once more to strike when the winds rose and carried me from the warmth of the playroom to the cold of the evening streets. I fell, not onto the cobblestone below, but in the bushy chestnut crown of a young man. Instinctively, I grew still as his dark hand reached up and raked me from his hair.

"Yamato, lookit this," he stabbed a finger against my chest, but still I remained dormant. Another boy, a blond one, the master's elder brother, leaned his face over me.

"It must be Takeru's," he remarked, retrieving me from his brunette friend's hand. He noted, with what looked like a hint of disgust, my lack of leg. "God knows why he keeps this one." Yamato then looked around, his golden hair shimmying about his face, before he found what he seemed to be questing for. He quickly bent down and then picked up one of the master's wooden boats. Yamato flashed a sly smirk the other boy's way and laid me down in the heart of the twiggy raft. "Shall we send brave soldier on a voyage of no return, Taichi?"

"Definitely," the brunette replied, "Let's find out if he can valiantly face the dangers of the sewers and return in one piece," he finished, patting my legs.

The two laughed and, chanting "cripple", crouched along the curb of the street. There was a little stream below the curb, more of a rapid to me, and they placed my boat on the wrinkled surface of that water and continued their chatter once more before I disappeared between rusted grates. I was suddenly flung down a stinking waterfall and thrown from my boat into the sewer waters.

Out of the presence of humans, my body awoke from its doll's sleep and began struggling against the current of water and waste. I managed to latch onto some broken can before I realized just how much danger I truly was in. Thirsty ruby orbs glared at me from the inky shadows; hisses emanated from every orifice. Rats. They'd--they'd tear me apart!

Thinking quickly, perhaps not practically, I released my hold on the can and dropped beneath the water's dirty surface. There it was black, too black, a black that has no name. I flailed and my hat was lifted off my head and was lost. Suddenly, another being launched into my side, and my bayonet was ripped from my hands and I couldn't grab ahold of it again. It, too, was gone. I felt a presence beside me and I squinted into the darkness to get a better look. Scales glittered in my face before I realized, with a freeze shuddering through my body, that a fish was inches from me. Before I could make for the surface, the monster fish swallowed me, and then I was the one who was lost.

Silence, all was silence until sharpened steel and natural light ripped through the quiet. Meat was pulled apart and I, rigid, rolled out onto the cutting board. A hefty, red-faced woman gathered me in her thick fingers and regarded me for a moment. Suddenly, a small blond wandered into the kitchen. The master!

The red-faced chef turned about and offered me to the master.

"This yers?" The master immediately recognized me and his smile nearly sent me into a dance. Dance. Ballerina. Hikari! My mind was suddenly in a whirl and before I knew it, I was back in my tray and the master had exited the playroom. I leapt into a stand and was acutely on the lookout for my snowy doll.

I hobbled about, that now familiar fire burning within me, my face hot with determination before I found the Kaiser's box, the angled handle ready for a good turn or two. And I did precisely that.

After a crude melody, the lid popped open and Kaiser appeared, leaning over and grinning maliciously at me.

"Soldier come back?" He sneered, twiddling his gloved thumbs mockingly. "Save snowy doll?"

I nodded violently, my hair flying into my eyes. He just laughed that awful, cackle in my face. I took my soldier's stance, pulling a dagger from a small decorated scabbard and held it steady. Before he or I could make our move, Hikari appeared behind his box, her arms outstretched to me.

"Ken! I thought you'd never come back," she rushed to me and I dropped my dagger. Stupid mistake. There was a flash in Kaiser's eyes before he tossed Hikari to the side and chucked me across the table and over the ledge. Luckily, my hands caught the edge whilst the fire in the fireplace roared beneath my feet. I attempted to lift myself back onto the table in vain and my hands burned with the effort of holding up my suspended weight. Suddenly came the clatter of footsteps and I saw Hikari's pretty face leaning over the ledge of the table, her eyes gleaming with the hints of tears, yet her face was bold. She clasped her hands around mine and she strained with trying to lift me up, but the angel never faltered in her grip.

Behind her came Kaiser, dragging himself along the table's surface, his face, what I saw of it, absolutely terrifying. Hikari's eyebrows furrowed, Kaiser's hands closing around her shoulders when she lurched forward, her hands still on mine, into the fire.

As we burned, her hands never left mine.

End.