Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

Hazard's Sorrow

Chapter: 6/ The Aftermath

"Takato…"

"Guilmon?"

The boy was surrounded by darkness. He craned his head around to see if there was any place around him that could offer illumination but all he could see was the same pitch-blackness. It enveloped him, suffocated him like an all-consuming presence. He wanted light desperately, but what was more he wanted…

"Guilmon? Where are you boy? I can't see you."

"Takato… it's so… dark… There's no bread here, Takatomon… no smells either…"

"Guilmon?" The boy called out again. He could see something now, a faint outline. He couldn't really tell for sure what it was. Just that there was finally something that he could see, and at this moment that was what mattered. It gave him something to aim towards as well as to orient himself. That and it also looked like it was moving…

The boy reached out tentatively as he began to move his feet towards the outline, once more calling out the name of Guilmon, hoping beyond hope that he would get an answer. Something that would comfort him, and end the nightmare that he had been having, the nightmare that filled him with loss each time he remembered it.

"Takato?" The voice that the boy called 'Guilmon' called out, and the boy's face brightened, becoming hopeful and his pace quickened in response to the familiar, friendly voice. The outline of the figure was becoming clearer. He could almost make it out now. It looked like…

That's not Guilmon, thought the boy, as a bright glow appeared around the visage that he was approaching, revealing its form to be that of a blonde haired child with angelic wings. The boy stopped in his tracks, pulling back his hand as the other raised his own, the glow intensifying around it as the angel regarded the boy with an impassive expression.

"Die now, child of the Hazard…" said the angel, and a burning light erupted from his hand. At the same moment another voice shouted as a heavy body pushed the boy out of harms way.

"LOOK OUT TAKATO!"

"GUILMON!"

Takato Matsuki bolted upwards from his place on the floor, throwing aside the blanket that he had wrapped around him. For a second he looked around him, unsure of where he was but soon recognized the surroundings of his room. But where was Guilmon…?

A hand fell on Takato's shoulder. Turning, Takato looked into the concerned face of his friend, Henry Wong, with Terriermon sitting on his shoulder.

"Takato?" Asked Henry as he looked at his friend worriedly. "You okay?"

Takato's face became downcast and he turned away looking towards the balcony that led outside of his room. Henry sighed. Today and yesterday, two days since the incident had occurred, Takato had been like this. Not talking much, reclusive, sleeping a lot as if by doing so he could escape the memories that plagued him, though if what Henry heard now, and from what Jeri had told him, Lucemon's actions had robbed him of the peace that he otherwise would have found in rest. Once more, Henry wished that there was something that he could do for his friend, but so far he came up with nothing. This was something that Takato was going to have to get through on his own, whether or not his friends were there to support him. Even Rika, who, just as she did with Jeri when she lost Leomon, had been showing a great amount of concern for the emotional well being of Takato, had admitted as much, but refused to be discouraged by it. Still, Henry felt that out of all of them, Jeri was perhaps the best qualified to help him. She had, after all, personal experience with loss.

"Where's Jeri?" asked Takato suddenly, as though he had read Henry's thoughts.

"I had Jeri go home today Takato," said Henry, and went on to explain his reasons for doing so. "She's been exhausted all day today, and yesterday too. As I heard it from Kazu and Kenta, she nearly fell asleep in class today. Twice. I thought that it would be best that she get some rest before she saw you again."

Takato nodded in understanding. Jeri had been visiting him since Guilmon had been killed, and had been the one to explain to Ms. Asagi why he wouldn't be coming in to class for a while. According to his parents, she had taken to staying late, and after what happened to Guilmon he imagined that she couldn't have been sleeping very well either.

It'd be even worse for her if I told her the truth, thought Takato as guilt burned his conscience like acid. If I told her the reason why Lucemon attacked me and Guilmon, she might start to blame herself for it, because of what happened… because of what happened that helped created Megidramon…

The memory of the day that Guilmon turned into the great dragon, Megidramon, the day that Beelzemon had destroyed and downloaded Leomon, was one that came to mind far more often lately than it had in the past. Where before he had considered that hatchet buried, it had seemed that his actions, his loss of self-control on that day had had unforeseen consequences, and two days ago the bill came due, and he had paid two days ago with the life of his friend. And Jeri he felt, despite the fact that the situation had been beyond her control when she lost Leomon, would hold herself to blame for the part that she had played in it, however unintentional, and the same was true for Impmon as well. The little rookie had paid him a visit yesterday with Jeri, having been informed of what had happened by Renamon, and had expressed his own anger in the form of numerous, loud expletives that were swiftly silenced by a look at the former, unofficial leader of the Tamers. Like all his other friends, Impmon had told Takato that he'd be there for him if he needed him, and Takato had thanked him, smiling a little as he remembered how nearly a year ago they had tried to kill each other in the digital world. Funny how things worked out. Back then Impmon wouldn't have shed a tear but now…

Takato made a choking noise as he tried to hold back a sob. Part of him wanted desperately to let it out, but at the same time he wanted to keep it in. He was sick of crying, tired of the pain that he felt in his heart, but it wouldn't leave him. Oddly enough, Takato wasn't sure if he even wanted it to leave him. For the pain to disappear felt almost like forgetting Guilmon. The pain, was like a close reminder of the promise that they made to each other, about how they would always be together, though it was broken now. He was scared that if he lost the pain, he would lose Guilmon for sure, even though he knew his friend would want him to move on and try to be happy. But it was all too soon… all too soon…

A weight settled on Takato's shoulder and he felt Terriermon's long ears embrace him as Henry squeezed his shoulder in an attempt to give him comfort.

"Momentai," said Terriermon forlornly, and as if that word carried hidden permission, tears began to roll down Takato's cheeks as he continued to sob quietly.

Henry stayed with Takato for a couple more hours before heading downstairs with Terriermon, just in time to see Kazu and Kenta enter through the bakery's doors, with Rika in tow glaring at them, her eyes promising them bodily harm if they did something to cause even the slightest amount of chaos in the Matsuki bakery. Not that it would have made much difference. During the time that Takato had been out of school due to his 'loss', the bakery had been closed down. It would open up again by tomorrow though, or maybe the day after. Takato's parents had said as much when he had come in, but they themselves didn't sound too sure of it. They were also in debate as to whether or not to continue making their now famous line of Guilmon Bread, out of respect for their son, but that was something that only Takato could really make the call on, having created and been friends with the genuine article.

Rika's eyes lighted on Henry and she stepped forwards.

"How is he?" She asked, her face betraying worry.

"Asleep again," said Henry. "He's in a bad way right now."

"Is Jeri still up there with him?"

Henry shook his head.

"I told her that it would be best if she went home today. You know how she's been staying with him until its late out."

"She almost fell asleep in class twice today," spoke up Kenta, trying to support Henry's reasoning. Even though he hadn't been there when Henry had spoken to the girl (having been stuck in detention again with Kazu), he had taken notice of Jeri's exhaustion. Rika's eyes just narrowed, but she nodded in understanding.

"So what do we do now? Just sit here? There's got to be something that we can do to help him!"

"We've already been through this before Rika," said Henry calmly. "The only thing that we can do for him is be there for him when he needs us. It's up to him as to whether or not he moves on."

Rika just crossed her arms.

"And what's Yamaki and his bunch got to say about this? You didn't really say much about your meeting with them, and all they did yesterday was show up and offer their condolences. Not really all that helpful on their part if you ask me."

Henry sighed as he ran a hand through his hair, and Terriermon looked at him expectantly.

"Yamaki wasn't at all thrilled to hear about what had happened to Guilmon, as you know, but from a logical standpoint…"

"Let's get one thing straight Einstein," growled Rika. "I… don't… care about a logical standpoint. I want to know what they're going to do about this."

"Well, I've been talking to my dad about it, but all he says is that they're looking into it. He won't go into any details either, but I think that's because he doesn't want to give any of us false hope if they think that there's a way to bring Guilmon back."

"Do you think that there's a chance?" Asked Kenta, almost timidly.

Henry thought about it for a few seconds, letting the question sink in before giving an answer.

"I don't know," said Henry finally. "Maybe. Guilmon's data wasn't loaded, and since he wasn't in the digital world when he was destroyed his data is still floating around out there, trapped in this world. I can't say for sure if that means we'll be able to get Guilmon back, but I do know that the more time that passes the less of a chance that there is that it will happen."

"And even if we did we don't know if we can put Guilmon back together again, right?" Asked Kazu, who had up until this point been silent during the entire conversation. Rika and Kenta gave him a surprised look, but Henry nodded, glad that someone was seeing where he was going.

"We've never restored a digimon after it's been deleted. We've had no reason to in the past, so we have nothing to go back on."

"Maybe if we could get in touch with one of the Sovereigns…" began Kenta, but Rika cut him off.

"Good luck. I doubt that they'd try to help us anyway."

"I'm pretty sure that's just your experience with Zhuqiaomon talking," said Henry. "Remember, Azulongmon was more than willing to help out when we first met him."

"And how do we find him anyhow?" Demanded Rika bitterly. "It's not like we can go back and forth between the real and digital worlds like they do, and it's hard enough just trying to find them."

"We could ask Ryo," said Kenta. "He once said that he came across Baihumon's castle."

Rika growled something inaudible under her breath but didn't say anything in response.

"Well," began Henry. "I don't know. Like Rika said, we don't have an easy way of getting back and forth between the digital world and our world, but we should have a word with Ryo since he knows more about traveling around the digital world than we do. But I don't think that we should even consider going to the digital world. For one thing, Takato's going to need us and the Sovereigns might not be able to help us anyway."

"Are you being a quitter on us Henry?" Demanded Kazu heatedly.

Henry frowned at the visor-wearing boy.

"I didn't say that. I'm just saying that we've got to really think about this before committing to any serious course of action."

"We should still talk to Ryo though," chipped in Terriermon.

"Hmmm…"

"We can do it," said Kazu, indicating himself and Kenta.

"Typical," muttered Rika.

"I'm serious. Well, maybe Henry might want to tag along, but I know that I'd like to hear what Ryo has to say, and it's not like you'd want to see him anyway. You've barely said more than three words to him since he showed up in that fight two days ago."

"Yeah, what gives?" Asked Kenta.

Henry nodded mentally. Though Kazu had exaggerated again about Rika's attitude towards the Legendary Tamer, she had been rather quiet towards him. She no longer acted angry around him as she had the day that Takato lost Guilmon, but she was definitely acting rather removed, and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing.

Something to ask Ryo about at some point, thought Henry.

Rika folded her arms and looked away.

"It's nothing," Rika said quietly. In truth, she was a little unsure of her reasons herself now. Two days ago, she knew perfectly well that it was because Ryo had stopped her from deleting Lucemon, but he had done so because he saw something in the way that she was reacting towards the angel that had disturbed him. That, and that he had been unaware of what had happened to Takato and Guilmon when he had arrived onto the scene. He couldn't have known. Thinking back on it, her reasons for being angry with him were rather stupid, but she wasn't about to apologize for it, just as he wasn't about to apologize for stopping her. There was an unspoken knowledge between them that allowed them to understand the reasons behind their actions, and as such it rendered apologies unnecessary. The only thing that was left was how to move on from there, hence Rika's current reasons for being standoffish around Ryo. It was something that she would get around to ending, but until she felt ready to make that change, things would continue as they stood. And right now, even with an opportunity to make that change, she still didn't feel ready to do just that.

Henry coughed.

"Um… anyway, I think that we should try to talk to Ryo, and see if Hypnos has come up with anything new. Kazu, if you're going to see Ryo I'd like to tag along and see if there's anything he can tell us or help us out with, but for now I think that we shouldn't start planning any trips to the digital world any time soon."

"Hmmmnnn…" Kazu shifted a little as though in protest, but reluctantly consented to Henry's advice. Kenta and Rika both nodded. The children were silent for a moment.

"Hey guys?" Asked Kenta, almost timidly. "I was thinking that, maybe we should hold a memorial for Guilmon. I overheard Takato's parents talking about it yesterday, so maybe we should have one also, maybe at Guilmon's old home."

Silence reigned once more as they let the idea sink in.

Takato had been trying to drift after Henry left his room, trying to find refuge from the memories of his friend, Guilmon, and finding little success. He had heard snatches of conversation from downstairs and guessed that his friends were downstairs. Getting up from his bed he headed towards his bedroom door, rubbing his eyes so as to dry them of whatever tears that were left. He opened the door and started descending the stairs, wanting to see the others, and to show that he was okay.

He didn't want them to worry about him.

Entering the bakery section he nodded numbly to his parents, who asked him if he needed anything. Takato responded by saying that he just wanted to see his friends and he was directed to the living area of the Bakery, where he found Henry, Terriermon, Rika, Kazu, and Kenta, standing in a circle, not saying anything. Takato walked in, his movement catching their eyes and they turned to look at him.

"Takato…" began Henry, and Takato forced a smile on his face.

"Hey guys," Takato croaked, his voice harsh from his grief, but he was trying to hide it. "I heard you upstairs so I came down to see you."

The other Tamers smiled and nodded.

"Hey, Takato?" Asked Henry. "Kenta was just saying… he thought that we should probably have a memorial for Guilmon. I was wondering what you would think about it."

A small, tired smile appeared on Takato's face, but it didn't reach his eyes.

Yamaki flicked his lighter closed in frustration as he exited the Hypnos building with his colleague and employee, Janyu Wong, his mind once more focused on the meeting that he had with the Tamer, Henry Wong and his partner, Terriermon two days ago. It wasn't something that he had reacted well to, expressing first disbelief, and then anger, something that hadn't really happened with him since the days of the Devas and D-Reaper, and he had reasons for this. Takato and his partner, Guilmon had been a valuable asset to the Hypnos program, and now that they were gone…

Yamaki frowned.

When did I start thinking of them as assets instead of living creatures with hopes and dreams of their own? Up until now, Hypnos and the Tamers have had something akin to a business like relationship, or at least more like a military chain of command. They were our unofficial ground troops for handling any digimon that broke through the barriers.

Yamaki let out an exasperated sigh, which caught the attention of Janyu as he walked next to him.

"Thinking about Takato again?" The Chinese man asked. A pointless question to be sure. That had basically been the only thing that he had given any amount of thought to. The chief operator, Rielly, had commented on it and had offered her own commiserations for the boy, but for Yamaki, he had taken the loss most personal.

"Yes," said Yamaki gruffly. "It just doesn't seem right that Takato's partner has been deleted…"

"Not necessarily deleted," said Janyu, reminding him of a conversation that they had had earlier, sometime after Henry had departed for home. "True, his physical form was broken apart into individual data and fragmented…"

"Either way," interrupted Yamaki. "Guilmon is affectively dead as we know him."

"Shibumi doesn't…"

"As promising as Mizuno's theories are, he has admitted that he's not sure whether he could do anything for him. Even I have my own reservations about his theories. I still don't know why I allowed him access to the Juggernaut program."

"Perhaps he knows something that we don't," said Janyu simply. "Besides; if you had no confidence in his abilities then you wouldn't have given him permission to pursue his plan."

"Perhaps it's not so much confidence as it is desperation," said Yamaki as the two men approached the parking lot. Janyu raised an eyebrow.

"Desperation? That's not like you."

Yamaki flicked his lighter open once more, and a second later it was closed.

"Times change," said Yamaki coolly. "People change. There was once a time where I wouldn't have lifted a finger to help the Tamers, let alone Takato, but his attitude towards the digimon, his personality had an affect on me. He gave so much of himself in the battles against the Devas, D-Reaper, and the Parasimon… it doesn't seem fair in my eyes that he and Guilmon should be parted again, especially in the way that they were. Which reminds me, did Henry say anything about the reason behind the attack?"

"Takato didn't tell you when you talked to him?"

"He said that he didn't know, and for some reason I doubt him. While digimon have been known to cross over and commit reckless acts of violence, they are rarely without reason. Some digimon, for example, have crossed over looking for revenge." Yamaki grimaced at the memory of the Musyamon that had evaded the Yuggoth program prior to the appearance of the first Devas. A sign of things that were to come…

Janyu shook his head.

"No, Henry doesn't know what the attack was about. Why do you think that Takato isn't telling the truth?"

"Call it instinct," said Yamaki. "But let's leave that for now. You've seen Shibumi's data as have I. You know my feelings on it, but what about you?"

"Difficult to say, especially with the amount of time that has passed since Guilmon's destruction. Shibumi knows quite a bit about a digimon's structural form, but it's still all in the theoretical stages so far. Even with the information that Hypnos has gathered on digimon and its resources, it still seems unlikely that we could accomplish anything. Perhaps Shibumi will have something for us tomorrow. He has been working on it non-stop since you gave him the assignment, though I think he would have pursued it anyway…"

Yamaki sighed as he took off his sunglasses and rubbed his eyes, as though feeling exhaustion or some tiring weight on his shoulders.

"I wonder if I should see Takato tomorrow and see if there's anything more that we can do for him and his family for the services that he has rendered."

"I'm sure that the sentiment would be appreciated," said Janyu. "Out of curiosity, if you do go to see him, do you intend to tell him anything about what we've discussed?"

"As tempting as it is," said Yamaki as he put back on his sunglasses. "I don't think that we should give Takato false hope, especially since we don't know what the result would be ourselves."

Janyu was silent. He could see Yamaki's reasoning, but he wasn't entirely sure that they should leave Takato without any hope as to getting back Guilmon. Well, he wouldn't say anything to Takato, Henry, or any of the others, but Janyu did question as to whether or not it was the right thing to do. He was leery of keeping secrets from the Tamers since D-Reaper, but now as it was then, he would do so if he felt that it served a better purpose. If Shibumi succeeded in his goal, if he could even attempt it at all, then it would serve as a pleasant surprise for Takato and the others. If not, then nothing would be changed. Perhaps it was best to not let the Tamers know, but all Janyu could see in his minds eye as he and Yamaki parted ways to go to their respective homes was the look on Henry's face when he arrived at Hypnos. It reminded him far too much of the day that the digimon had been forced to return to the digital world.

Takato trudged back upstairs after his friends left, having assured them that he would be all right tonight, and that he would get out to meet them in the park after school. He considered going in tomorrow, but he wasn't at all sure if he was going to be up to it, two days after losing his best friend. A fresh tear trickled down his face as he entered his room and closed the door with a click. Leaning his head against its wood, Takato let out a soft gasp as he once more struggled with the dull ache that he felt in his heart.

Guilmon…

Pushing off from the door Takato walked over to his desk, and on pure impulse he began sorting through the various papers that he had stashed on the surface, barely pausing to look at the old sketches and homework assignments until he finally found what he was looking for. Blinking, he carefully picked up his first drawing of Guilmon, the one that he had made the day that he got his digivice, still wrapped with the rubber band with the stats he had created for his ideal partner. Almost without thinking, Takato raised his D-Arc and looked at the screen. It stared back, static filling it. Dead, empty like Jeri's digivice had been when Leomon had been destroyed. Now there was another thing that they shared in common…

A strange thought came to Takato and he raised his drawing to his D-Arc, his face thoughtful for a moment. But then the thought passed, and Takato set his digivice and drawing back down on his desk, pausing a moment to look at his goggles that hung lifelessly off his chair before climbing up the ladder to his bed and settled down to sleep. Time passed, and he heard his mother enter the room, and he imagined her looking at his back, worried about him, trying to understand what he was going through. After what felt like an eternity she walked back towards the door, clicking off the bedroom light as she did so and whispering a barely audible good night before closing the door. Takato's eyes once more brimmed with tears, but none were shed in the silence of the night.

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