DC: Scapegoat, Pt. 1

DC: Scapegoat, Pt. 1

Azazel’s POV
There have been many Angel and Archangel types who have fallen for various reasons, including Viral corruption caused by various emotions and Dark Evolution. There are those who dreamed of power and those enticed by other fallen beings.
This, however, is the account of a Digimon who fell for another reason… This is the tale of my corruption and subsequent excommunication from the ranks of the angelic Digimon. This is the story of my fall.
No POV
“Lord Azazel, there’s been a report of more Digitama at the old Primary Village site. Shall I have them send a squad to…” the Angemon trailed off as he walked across the large courtyard of Holy Angel Castle.
The HolyAngemon smiled as he shook his head. “No, Michael. I’ll go myself,” he said softly. A chorus of protests from the Baby Digimon that surrounded him met this statement.
“I don’t think the children want you to leave,” Michael said with a laugh.
“Of course not!” a Chibimon called. “We still wanna play with Lord Azazel!” The other little Digimon cheered in agreement.
The Perfect archangel smiled again. “I’ll retrieve the Digitama after the little ones go to bed.”
Michael nodded. “I’ll tell General Joel not to send anyone then. But Lord Azazel … please promise that you won’t do what I think you’re going to do.”
“Michael, I must. Why else would I want to get the Digitama alone?” Azazel’s tone was serious as he locked eyes with the other angel. “No matter what YHWH says, I will not allow anyone to destroy any more Virus Digitama.”
Azazel’s POV
I can’t remember much of the time before YHWH came to our world, but I remember it was a much happier time. Of course there were Viruses who tried to take over or destroy our world, but most of them were as peaceful as the Data types and us Vaccines. But then he came…
YHWH, a DORU being known as a Writer, came to our world and set up residence in Holy Angel Castle, the haven most angel, archangel and various god types have always called home. He came with a message of peace, claiming that with his programs, he would rid this world of all its problems.
His solution is the DigitalPURGE – Program for Ultimate Removal of Gehenna Elements. This program… is a terrible force of destruction that destroys all Viruses indiscriminately. This program has started a war between the Viruses and YHWH that has brought nothing but despair to our world. It even caused the fall of a Darcmon called Akasha, one of my closest friends.
The Viruses have been isolated to the southern half of the Giga Continent and a few small islands. The Data Digimon were forced to choose between the Viruses and Vaccines. Primary Village was destroyed because the Elecmon in charge was a member of a Viral subspecies.
When I was an Angemon, I became the caretaker of the Vaccine and select Data Baby Digimon and Digitama, the latter collected by elite squads at the ruins of Primary Village after each major battle… but nearly all Virus Digitama that are found are destroyed.
No POV
Azazel left Holy Angel Castle not long after sunset, flying south to the site where Primary Village once stood. Even though he was enjoying the fresh night air, the HolyAngemon could not keep his mind clear of a dark thought. If Michael hadn’t tipped him off about the newest Digitama, the dragon-type troops who served under a WarGreymon called Joel would have destroyed the eggs deemed unfit by YHWH.
He soon reached the ruins. It was the first time he had actually visited the site himself. A tear slowly rolled down his cheek as he unclipped a small device from his sash. “Why did all of this have to happen?” he whispered to himself as he began to scan the Digitama.
The device beeped each time it found a “good” egg. A press of a button, and the egg became data, which the device absorbed and stored. Over the beeping, Azazel heard the sound of rustling vegetation. As the last device uploaded the last Digitama, he turned his attention to the line of trees left on the edge of the village, gasping when he realized what was there.
Two female shapes emerged from the plants. Azazel could tell by their auras that they were Virus Digimon, Perfect level like him. He felt that one of the Digimon was familiar, but he wasn’t sure why.
The duo moved swiftly, checking the eggs as he was, picking up the Virus Digitama as well as a few Data. A smile crept across his face at this sight, and he sighed in relief. These two would take the Digitama he couldn’t bring back to Holy Angel Castle and allow them to hatch.
One of the Viruses stopped after he sighed and turned in his direction, speeding across the large empty space. “Azazel,” she breathed as she reached him. “It’s been so long… Do you remember me?”
“Akasha,” he said softly. “You’re still alive… But what happened to you?”
The Digimon standing before him was a LadyVamdemon, a newer female subspecies of Vamdemon that had emerged after the PURGE started. The Akasha he remembered had been a Darcmon, an Adult-level angel Digimon.
“You know how strongly I felt about the cruelty of the PURGE… YHWH cast me out of the castle after integrating a Viral program into my data. I made my way into the Virus territory, and eventually met a resistance group…” As she spoke, the other Digimon crossed the field.
“She was found by a Beelzebumon Blast Mode named Tres, and not long after, evolved to this form,” the other Digimon, a LadyDevimon, said. “I’m called Barbello. You… must be Azazel. Akasha has told us all of your sympathy for the Viruses.”
Azazel stood speechless for a moment, mouth hanging slightly open. “You’re collecting Digitama… They’ll get to live. The other troops won’t destroy them,” he said finally.
“It’s what you would do, isn’t it?” Akasha asked. “Tell me; are the others still in agreement with your views?”
“Jophielle is… but Raguel no longer believes that the Viruses deserve to live. He’s become YHWH’s lead general… but I’ve found a few more allies… Michael, an Angemon, and Raziel, a Cherubimon Zen, are on our side.”
“So there are still angels who believe in us…” Barbello mused. “I’m glad you’re the one who came to get the Digitama, Azazel. Now these little ones will be able to grow and fight the PURGE someday. You see…” She picked up an egg bearing the same symbol as the one on her hand. “Some of these Digitama contain the Chosen Digimon who will stop this destruction.”
Akasha smiled and nodded. “There should be seven according to our new ally. We’ve found a Writer called Lucifer. He’s willing to create a program to destroy the PURGE, and is sending for help from the Real World.”
“That’s… wonderful,” the HolyAngemon said. “I have to get back and tell Jophielle! She’ll be very excited, and when I tell her that you’re okay…” He took to the skies. “Goodbye, Akasha, Barbello. I hope we’ll be able to see each other again soon!”
Azazel’s POV
I didn’t know it at that time, but I would be seeing them much sooner – and in a much different way – than I thought. YHWH’s cruelty knew no end, and I would see how terrible his wrath was firsthand…
I told all of my allies about this other Writer, but only Jophielle heard the news about Akasha. She would’ve been the only one who knew Akasha anyway. But apparently, there was another who overheard our conversations…
No POV
“Did the children make that pendant for you, Azazel?” the Angewomon asked. Azazel looked up across the smaller courtyard in the center of the castle and smiled.
“You know they did, Jophielle. They said you were the one who found this stone,” he replied. He turned the white winged pendant so that the sun gleamed off the yellow-green stone in its center.
Jophielle nodded. “It matches those unusual eyes of yours. But there’s something about its design that’s kind of familiar… It’s like I’ve seen something like that before… Oh, I think there was once a Darcmon with a brooch like that.” She paused, glancing around nervously before continuing. “Did you hear about Raguel evolving..?”
“He’s a Dominimon now.” Azazel’s voice contained a hint of scorn. “And YHWH wants to see us later.”
The female Digimon froze. “Do you think he found out..?”
“Yes,” was the simple reply as the HolyAngemon turned the pendant’s stone away from the sun. “He knows, and now we’re going to be punished just like Akasha was so long ago…”
Azazel’s POV
Little did we know, YHWH had evolved Raguel as a reward for betraying us. The Writer called Raziel into his chambers first. Both Jophielle and I were very concerned when he never came back, but Jophielle was soon taken away as well. When summoned, she walked stiffly with an uncharacteristically grave expression on her face. “You’ll be the only one left,” she said to me. “That means you’re the one who will have to stop him. All of our hopes rest with you, Azazel.”
That was the last time I saw Lady Jophielle the Angewomon.
No POV
“Jophielle and Raziel have been destroyed, Azazel. They will now serve their purpose. Michael will not be punished because his purpose has yet to be fulfilled. But you…” The grey-haired Writer smiled coldly. “What to do with you? You aren’t terribly important to my plans… but I think I can find a purpose for you.”
“My Lord… I…” Azazel could feel himself shaking. YHWH held up a hand to silence him.
“You know what happened to Akasha, right?” he asked casually, dropping the formal tone he usually used. “She stood up for the Viruses, and now she is one. You have quite a fascination with them as well, don’t you?”
“I…” The Perfect Digimon clenched his fist. “I don’t agree with your views. You’re destroying innocent lives, just because of their attribute. The Viruses have always been peaceful Digimon in general… There were only a handful of deviants.”
YHWH gave a short laugh. “But those deviants have caused a lot of damage, haven’t they? I see you have a new pendant. Do you know what Digimon also has an item like that? It’s based on something owned by a terrible Virus. Two of that species have threatened this world in the recent eras.”
“The… the children… and Jophielle said a Darcmon had one once…”
“The children made that on my command, Azazel. And the Darcmon that owned one of those was actually another Digimon entirely. It was supposed to be a hint as to your punishment.” The Writer produced a small device and pressed a button. A small beam of light struck Azazel in the chest, and the archangel fell to his knees. “This is the basically same virus I implanted in Akasha when she fell, but this improved version is more potent. It will consume you in a matter of minutes. Now…” The doors to YHWH’s chamber opened. “You fall.”
Azazel shouted in pain as an invisible blow thrust him backwards across the castle’s main courtyard. A burning sensation spread throughout his body; YHWH’s antivirus firewall had repelled him. He knelt in front of the Writer’s chambers, holding his head in his hands, moaning in agony, eyes closed. Suddenly, the pain stopped…
A large crowd of Digimon had surrounded him. He raised his head and opened his eyes, and several gasps escaped from the crowd and loud whispers rang through the air. The most noticeable word uttered was “Murmuxmon.” He realized that was what the others were seeing. That was what the pendant belonged to. That was what YHWH’s virus had turned him into.
“No…” Azazel whispered. “I… I’m… aaaah…” He buried his face in his hands again. “This isn’t happening,” he whispered to himself for nearly half a minute. His usually calm composure broke after that. Lifting his face to the sky and clenching his fists, the now-demonic Digimon shouted in a breaking voice. “What have I become!?”
In an instant, his face was against the ground, a stabbing pain in his back. Azazel sprang up quickly and whirled around, only to come face-to-face with a Dominimon. “Ra… Raguel… You told him…”
“Of course I did,” the dominion said with a look of disgust plastered on his features. “Our Lord must know that there was a traitor in our midst.” He turned to the crowd. “Behold: the Digimon you knew as Lord Azazel the HolyAngemon is actually a Murmuxmon, a demon lord type. He was sent here by the Virus resistance to corrupt your minds and trick you into helping his kind. As soon as I found out, I told our Lord YHWH, but Azazel somehow managed to learn of this. Without hesitation, he destroyed Lady Jophielle and Lord Raziel, his so-called ‘friends,’ so they would not be able to testify against him.”
“Th-that’s not true… I really was a HolyAngemon.” Azazel was nearly in tears. “Raguel, we’ve known each other since we hatched. You agreed with me not that long ago, remember..?”
The Dominimon shook his head. “I might have listened to you for a brief period, but I soon realized the truth about you. You did such a good job masquerading as an archangel; it was hard to figure all of this out. Of course, when I saw that pendant, I realized what you were. Every self-respecting high-level Digimon knows that Murmuxmon can take on the appearance of any Digimon they wish, and that—“ he pointed to the pendant now attached to the other Ultimate level’s clothes, “—is their symbol. Both the general of the long-ago Commandments and the demon who tried to awaken Ornismon even earlier had one.”
“Raguel… old friend… Why are you doing this? You know I’m not…” The demon lord stopped.
“Not what, a Virus?” Raguel smiled coldly. “If you aren’t a Virus, why did Lord YHWH’s firewall deflect you just now?”
Azazel clenched both fists. “Because YHWH did the same thing to me as he did to Akasha. He spliced both of us with a program that corrupted us and turned us into Viruses.”
“Lies. You know Akasha was destroyed for her hearsay,” the angel replied flatly. “And it was all because of you.”
“No.” the demon shook his head this time. “Akasha is still alive. When I went to get those Digitama, I saw her. She’s a LadyVamdemon now, and she was with a LadyDevimon named Barbello—“
“So you went by yourself that night to meet with others of your kind. Tell me, were you in HolyAngemon form, or did you appear to them as you really are?”
Azazel started to answer, but stopped. He had realized that no matter what he said, Raguel would twist his words into a more incriminating form. He dropped his gaze to the ground in defeat.
“I’ll tell you what, demon,” the dominion said after a short pause. “I’ll give you a ten-minute head-start to go wherever you think you’ll be able to go now before my top troops come after you. If you can make it past Infinity Mountain before they catch up, you’re free, but if they catch up before then… they won’t stop attacking until you’ve been destroyed.”
The Murmuxmon stared at his bird-like feet. “I... might as well just die here…” he laughed nervously. “ You’ve taken everything from me, and there’s nowhere I can go… I’d never outrun those Digimon, especially now.”
“No, Lord Azazel! You can’t die!”
The entire crowd of Digimon was surprised to hear the tiny voice. A chorus of little cries rose up in response as a Chibimon called Roark, the little leader of the tiny Digimon, ran towards the dominion and devil. The Baby stopped at Azazel’s feet with tears in his eyes.
“I don’t care if you’re a Virus, Lord Azazel! You’re the only one who’s ever been kind to us Babies! You played with us and made us better when we were sick and taught us all kinds of stuff! If you die…” The tiny dragon sniffled. “If you die, who’s going to take care of us?”
Azazel could feel tears running down his face. “I’m sorry, Roark… but I can’t stay here with you and the others anymore… I won’t die, just for you and the other little ones… Maybe someday, after the PURGE is gone, we’ll meet again.” He turned and made his way towards the edge of the courtyard, flexing his new wings as he walked. The Digimon around him parted, quickly moving to get out of his way and avoid touching him. With one last look back at the castle he’d called home all his life, the fallen Digimon took to the skies.
Azazel’s POV
I flew as fast as I could to get away from Holy Angel Castle. Having only two wings made travel much more difficult than it had been with the eight I’d had as a HolyAngemon, and I had no idea where I was going, but I knew if I kept going south, I’d find other Viruses. I remembered making it past Infinity Mountain, but I was soon attacked by one of YHWH’s troops. I should have known Raguel wouldn’t have kept his word. I lost consciousness not long after that.
When I woke up, there was one hell of a surprise waiting for me.