Chapter Text
Life sucks, and then you die.
To Mei, that sounded about right. She had a partner, she wanted him to be stronger, she felt it was needed but apparently not, screw her she guessed.
The vaporwaves didn't help much, not when her brain focused on that moment of loss so frequently. A stringmon collapsed next to her, crumbling from the overdose to his brain. Mei slightly craved decay, just to make her weaker, maybe she'd be taken back? She slumped further in the irradiated booth.
She just couldn't take the innaction and stormed out, her eyes slumping as she stumbled out into the main club, several residents of the forest town too muddled to feel feelings anymore, the sloshing pink liquids slurped or spilled slobbishly. Mei herself crawled out, the bright lights of the club too disorientating for her to take anymore.
The forest had some degree of calm since she came back to the digital world, no lights, no screams (ignoring the dying), and the quiet just let sleep take her all the easier. The place wasn't even worth attacking since the club was the only place of worth and that would mean crossing Gamigimon's reach, a fate no mon with a will to live wanted. Mei just found it calming slightly but calm wasn't something she could fully tolerate, it left her brain too free to flow, a field to open for her liking, too exposed in her mind.
She rushed away, focusing on anything else for now. Even the small patrols from a squad of Asmon's armies, welcomed in the area due to the shared interests of Gamigimon and Asmon. Mei didn't want to stay much, not given the known violence of the armies. She leapt through the fields away, noting a post she had passed many times.
It had stood for atleast 30 days and 30 nights, she saw it on every trip to the club, the poster advertised offers for a therapy group nearby, she had pondered the idea, she didn't have any friends, she knew she had issues, but she didn't trust somebody running a therapy group here of all places.
She took a slip just incase, her 60th one. They had to replace the poster atleast 11 times because of her yoinking copious amounts of slips. She didn't even have pockets... or clothes... she never really thought about the fact she was naked now... frick it, she ate a Gabumon's abdomen last week for food, nudity laws were not comming here.
... Maybe she did need this.
***
The location was... concerning. It was a well known Manor near alot of ruins and debris, the manor itself was said to host a minor demon lord, one whom commanded power not through his military might, but rather his connections, a massive web weaved under a master socialite.
That was the only explaination for the fabulous attire and a devil and priest being hand in hand drinking. Agaremon was formerly known in the area as Noble Pumpmon before a massive incident rocked the area to ruin and two lesser demon lords rose from the rubble.
Agaremon himself had resemblance to a bee, insectoid and sharp limbs with resplendant golds and crystal balls strung around his waist with a stygian glimmer. The merriment blaring in the lord's eyes. He carried himself with cheer like the kind in well aged wines, not quite youthful but still carrying his elderly form forth with the energy of a thousand whippersnappers.
"Howdy ho, young feline!" Agaremon swung off his guest and his massive form thundered infront of Mei, his legs piercing the earth like a god's spear. Mei knew she was quite tall herself, about 9ft. Agaremon matched that with his knee, Mei could tell that she'd be safe from the outside here... but god help her if her host bared a stinger.
***
The inside of the manor was... nice, it was decorated with the soul of a socalite, a queen bee if you will, with tastes of sweet honey tea. Mei had never even had tea, she couldn't even make orange juice, gods help her if she tried making tea. The manor itself soon gave way to a garden, many flowers and even bee-like digimon flourished here, looking further she witnessed a horror.
She couldn't fathom the memorial, hundreds of names, the thing stretched as tall as a tree and as wide as a house, each inch bearing the name of a dead mon. It wasn't even a grave, just something to honor loss. Agaremon ushered her along.
"That was to honor loss, there wasn't always ruins here" Mei recognised that gait, one of shame. She saw the same in herself when she wasn't good enough for her partner, but she figured what occured to Agaremon must've carved a ravine into his soul.
The guidance out the garden and into a small hamlet behind the manor, one with a few people, lead her to a single house, granted it was quite capacious, but it felt odd.
The entrance took them both, clearly the compression tech alot of buildings used, courtesy of Vulcanusmon's masterful craftsmanship, and Mei saw her seeming new room mates. She was thankful she only owner 30 slips of paper.
The first room mate to catch her eye was a literal child, a small white digimon similar to a lion in blue armor - Spadamon. He seemed to be the youngest one there, currently hiding under a table and snacking on a biscuit.
Second was near them, a mechanical entity unclear to her, it simply traced a bladed hand on wood. Mei briefly felt her heart freeze, believing a royal knight to sit there, she wasn't qutie sure, nobody had seen a royal knight in years.
Agaremon seemed to have left already, Mei elected to move away and towards the stairs. The slightly scared oak creaking as she pounced up. The upstairs had a few rooms, two doors ajar, one closed and the last was barricaded from the outside, the door itself in a poor state and covered from the inside seemingly when she looked through the bullet holes… just great, gun freaks.
It mostly seemed that people slept separate, even if she figured there only two people, the 4 rooms were definitely lived in judging by even the mess of the door before her having some snoring.
Then there was the others, one of the open doors were immaculate, but also led to a closet. The other open door had doodles of Death’s eye upon them, Mei heard about Deathmon from myth but seeing it’s visage so calmly applied to a child’s drawings was nearly sickening to a degree, akin to a child’s best friend being the reaper.
Then there was one, the last door had a few claw marks, smelt horrible and suddenly turned into the most messed up face she had seen in a while.
“Are you with the tax people?” Violet jaws slurred out against a writhing mass of coal black hair. It could’ve been related to the Leomon family but the form was frail, wrecked and steel had turned to rust on it’s frame. That and an empty bottle.
“What do you mean taxes?” Mei found herself yanked in, given a seat and a show of a lion man collapsing and stumbling back up after mimicking the sound of a factory crumbling down. Smelling of decay, living like a wreck…
He was just like her for real…
She did still want Riku to be her partner, but maybe making a Digimon buddy wouldn’t hurt, even if he looked like a dumpster, she was also a dumpster at this point in her life. Oh, self-deprecation does not help.
“So, what’s your name” Mei fidgeted with one of the bottles, she had a few dozen options for a choice but the closest one did fine, it was replaced by the one her fellow gloomy gato finished. The room itself wasn’t too great, a single mattress, a few photos, atleast 32 bottles (Mei was still counting them), and a single dresser missing a door containing of all things, a maid outfit… She wasn’t judging but still pretty odd.
The leomon’s mouth parted lazily, their eyes too dark to tell if they’ve never slept in their life or if they were born sleeping.
“Good question… but I was named Vivieron…” His tongue flopped, as if begging to be a carcas already, however the grim reaper was pre-occupied with being the friend of the kid downstairs so those would be unanswered pleas.
“What about Vivi?” Mei knew she was good at one thing, nicknames. Something proved by seeing her housemate contort his jowls into a smile.
“That would be appreciated, never liked the birth name anyway…” Vivi just slumped against the mattress.
“I can sleep on the floor if you want, fits better for me” Vivi rolling his head to meet Mei.
“Sir, we’re both in the dumps, let’s take turns.” Mei could atleast fall back on equal exchange, even if she believed it to mess up her partnership. Vivi did wince at the sentence initially but rolled onto the messy floor.
“Then it’s your turn, orange.” Mei stood, only to see Vivi running to sleep. The room was silent. Mei’s eyes drifted to a photo, she saw Vivi next to what seemed to be a child, smaller than Riku with a large bush of chesnut brown hair and a soft face like a marshmallow. Guess they did have more in common than she first thought.
***
The downstairs was quite quiet, barring their mechanical member.
“Doth thou’ll consume thine delectables through fork or stick?”
Utterly incomprehensible, she knew English but Shakespeare was not what she signed up for, she was a cat person, of course she didn’t know what the dickens a Macbeth was. There was also the fact that the Craniumon look alike (because turns out the real Craniumon was either too cool or too dead for therapy) spoke in such verse was baffling, even as she pecked at the dinner cooked, Spadamon was seemingly the most sane person here even if they were a morbid kid. Spadamon did act like a child would, even if they spoke of ‘mother death’ and had a slight degree of exhaustion in their voice.
Mei understood why this place was therapy, everybody here seemed to be messed up, even the guy who ran it.
***
Agaremon sipped nectar in Malbolge, the demon lords gathered. The big 7 themselves were mostly focused on each other while the lesser ranks mingled, Agaremon found himself to be one of these lessers alongside Gamigimon, who stood near Asmon. Agaremon stirred his drink as the music played, the motion of Gran Dracmon finally prompting motion…