.A/N. Here it is. The chapter I've been anticipating for the past two years. It's not the end of the story—the epilogue is next to tie it all together, and it's rather short, but I'm very grateful I've gotten the opportunity to write something like this. Because it's not for no reason that I've planned and written these last several chapters as I did. This build-up has been all for a reason, and it's for my friends, for all of you beautiful readers out there, and for myself. It's because I have something very important to say.

We've all felt like the negatives in our lives outweigh the positives, that the reasons to keep moving forward are dwindling. That we're alone, that the things we've done can't be forgiven, that no one loves us.

If I've learned anything throughout the course of writing this story, it's the importance of finding something worth living for and to hold onto it. Grasp it and don't let it go. No matter what it is. Just please don't give up, even when things seem to be at their worst, when all of the bad is out of your hands and just keeps piling on top of you. It will get better. Maybe not right away, but it will.

This chapter is for anyone—for everyone—who may need another reason to stay. I love you all. And I'm proud of you for persevering through those moments when you wanted to give up.

Inspired by my best friend, who is stronger than anyone I know.


Chapter 50

"Fine...I'm Mirai Kimishima, but please don't tell anyone. I'm not supposed to be here..."

"Have you ever thought about what may have happened if you had really died?"

"Open your own eyes! We're more powerful together than you think!"

"Past all your anger and sorrow, there's someone there I really want to become friends with..."

"I guess I should thank you, then."

"I'm not alone—I've never been alone! I can feel them! The spirits of every one of my friends are with me. That is the source of my power. As long as they believe, nothing can stop me!"

"I'm just saying your tough girl persona isn't enough to hide that distinct cute side of you."

"Being here has taught me many things, and if there's one thing that rises above all the others is this: Never give up fighting for the ones you love."

"We have the strength; let's win this together!"

"And we can all be friends if we try hard enough, right Mommy?"

"I want to fight; I want to make a difference!"

"I'm gonna give my family all a great, big hug! I want to show them how much I've changed!"

"And ya know, maybe when we get back to our world, we'll be able to double date!"

"We'll make it through this. We always do."

"You have to accept the reality of the situation and move forward!"

"You've shared so many things together and have so many memories. You don't have to tell someone you love them for them to know."

"Everyone will be live happily ever after now!"

"Sono contenta!"

"We're really going home..."

Everywhere. Voices. Reaching out with my mind, I recognized the voices and the memories attached to each one of them. But these voices, they were outside of my head. I opened my eyes to find the source, but saw the same as I saw when my eyes were closed.

It was empty, formless. Darkness was too much of a word for what surrounded me. It was just hollowness, void of feeling. It lacked all feeling of familiarity, but unusually I didn't feel motivated to be afraid of it. Too distraught, overburdened. I got the sense that I had summoned such a place; I wasn't thrust there by some all-powerful, divine force.

I looked right, looked left. It was solid, universal from its nonexistent beginning to its nonexistent end. I thought I heard something, something like a raindrop into a puddle, and willing up my voice from the depths of my belly, I called out, my voice stronger than how the rest of me was feeling, "Is there anyone here?"

Another drip.

This time I saw it, shimmering like silver, and it splashed into the darkness. Silver ripples flitted out from the epicenter where the drop disappeared, and from it, colors of every hue of the spectrum spread out like spilled ink on a blank canvas. The streams of color moved quickly and with purpose until a world around me took distinct shapes far more real than any painting. And with these shapes, came the natural sounds that were coupled with them. Distinct, healthy, green trees were accompanied by busy forest sounds of rustling leaves and shaking branches. The sound of water flowing hit my ears, somewhere far off.

Under my feet, which I realized upon looking down were bare, was sand that was white like freshly-fallen snow. On my toes it was warm, but it was odd because it wasn't sunny. Looking up, I was surprised to not see a sun at all. Instead of a sun, clouds, and sky, there were endless streams of Fractal Code connected edge to edge, moving all around in their shining colors.

Looking down from it, I turned my attention to the sand. It made up a narrow, unbeaten path that was smoothed over and without any footprints upon it until I began to walk upon it. There was no thought in my decision to go forward into the forest. In reality, my mind was rather empty. I couldn't bring myself to think about anything, consumed by emotion rather than thought. I was too focused on the feelings rooted in my wrongdoings to wonder what this world was that surrounded me.

As I entered the woods, I walked blankly and without caution. My steps were taken instinctively; I didn't waste my time mentally pacing myself. But with branches hanging over the path like a canopy and greenery everywhere around me, I quickly noticed the abnormality of this place. As all of the natural sounds came from the forest, there was no movement here. No branches or leaves moving in the breeze, no creatures scurrying about their business. I didn't see the water I had heard, but I had a feeling the water would be in the same state as the foliage here.

Only the effervescent Fractal Code comprising the sky was in motion.

After walking in a rather straight line for a time that seemed to go on forever yet somehow take but an instant, I rounded a sudden curve. The path straightened out immediately proceeding it, and led right to the forest's end. But rather than the trees just opening up to a clearing, the break in the trees was marked with an arch of the trunks of two trees bending towards each other with tightly-interlacing branches. It was an unusual sight to behold, but I didn't stop walking to deliberate.

And filling the opening between the trees was a sheet of light.

"That must be..." My voice was but the remnants of a hollow sigh; there was little left to show curiosity for. "...the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel..." I didn't know what expression I was making, but somehow it felt a little bittersweet. "...This must be it..."

Having no reason to stop, I closed my eyes, squeezing them shut and letting a symmetrical pair of tears seep from them, and passed through.

When I opened my eyes again, my vision was white for a moment. But when I saw what was before me, I felt the first real strike of surprise since the darkness had come into shape. Laid out in front of me was two worlds meshed into one. On my left was a forest much like the one in the place previous, but I knew this place. I couldn't find a way that I wouldn't have recognized the way it looked, the way it felt. It was the Digital World.

On my right were tall skyscrapers, sidewalks, signs, and streets. There were no people, no cars in motion. Even above the skyline was the Fractal Code, even as a place so real and non-digital. It was my own world, as close as it would be to it.

In the middle where the two worlds met was a seamless change from one to the other. The Digital World's grass folded over the top of the concrete, and maybe even sprung from concrete itself somehow. And as it ended up, my feet were each on one half, and I thoughtlessly knew that was how it was going to remain.

I walked on the border in the stillness, unable to appreciate the beauty of the two merged worlds I was surrounded by. My jaw was tight enough that I could feel the pain of it in my cheekbones, and my shoulders were rigid. I couldn't decipher if the grass under my left foot tickled or pricked, or if the concrete under my right burned or was comfortable. Maybe they were doing both. Maybe they were doing neither.

The further I went, it seemed as though I made no progress. There was no one, and there was no change in my surroundings. It was seemingly endless. But perhaps it was in my mind. My mind was making no progress, and so perhaps I convinced myself outwardly of the same.

Until I saw a pair of unknown entities shimmering in the light up ahead. My heart made a great lunge, and I was running. Why I had even the motivation to do such a thing, the answer seemed to be just out of my reach, as if it wasn't my own mind spurring me on but something greater. And suddenly, things were flying past me, trees and buildings alike all a blur. One step was like a bound, and the glints I saw far back grew larger until I saw what they were.

Upon reaching them, I saw that there was one on each half of this world, both in almost simultaneous reach. They were two large glass-like crystals, the one in the Digital World a deep red and the one in the real world gold, but equally translucent. With closer inspection, I saw shapes within each one, and when I realized what they were, my heart stopped.

On my left, trapped within the red were six. My fellow Warriors, my friends.

On my right, within the gold, were three. My parents, my brother Yukio.

Why?

How?

My mouth grew instantly dry. I wanted to reach out, test the reality of their state, but as my own body betrayed me, I whipped back and forth, throwing my arm out but drawing it back to myself each time without making contact. My fingers shook when I brought them back to my chest the final time, my cowardice and fear breaking through my barriers, and I collapsed to my knees.

I couldn't stop the tears as soon as they began, and all I could do was cover my face with my hands and try to catch them, but I barely had the energy for that. This is my fault. Everything I do ends with someone else getting hurt...They're gone. I can't believe they're all gone...

"Why'd you do it?"

That voice. My stuttering breath hitched and ceased entirely. The tears remained on my cheeks, but no more followed them. I brought my face up and looked back, but I reacted very little in regards to my facial expression. I could feel the lack of emotion in my closed-mouthed stare, even though the one looking back at me with concerned, golden eyes was none other than my Nii-san.

Neither one of us moved for a great deal of time. Our eyes didn't shift from the other's, and I didn't rise from my place, despite his height. It was as though now not just around us, but also between us, time itself had gone dead.

Then I asked it. I asked the question I didn't want the answer to. "I'm dead...aren't I?"

He didn't react—he didn't even flinch at the question. All he did was turn his head and look at our family within the golden crystal, and that longing look in his eyes hurt. He didn't look to me when he spoke again, his eyes unmoving from that same place and his voice subdued and crisp, "They're important to you."

I closed my mouth tight and nodded solemnly.

He must've sensed my gesture of affirmation, because he then turned and looked down to me. "And you to them."

My voice was just as quiet as his, but I noticed when I replied that his held much more feeling. "I guess I never realized it." I curled my fingers around each of my bent knees, and my head fell, feeling shameful but still able to speak openly to him as I always had, "But I see that I didn't realize a lot of things until recently..."

"You've gone from blaming too much on others to blaming yourself too much." His voice had hardened some, and I flinched at his honesty. Honesty that would've been a blessing back in our younger days together. "Two opposites ends of one side of a coin."

I shook my head. "So I haven't improved at all, then..." I mentally scolded myself; a part of me knew this all along. "It's just my friends did so much for me. I need to—" I stopped, realizing my error. "—I needed to make it up to them, but I just kept screwing up over and over again..."

"I never said you didn't improve. That is only one side of the metaphorical coin." There was a lighter tone in the midst of the seriousness of our conversation. "You've said so yourself; you can barely recognize the person you became since arriving at the Digital World. You know it, and your friends know it as well."

I glared at the ground in front of me. He was trying to keep me from feeling bad about myself again, just like when he did the same thing those years ago. Some things never could change. There was nothing he could do about the self-hate now, though. I was already far beyond redemption as far as I was concerned. "Well, this must be a pretty big setback, then," I remarked bitterly.

He didn't respond to this upfront remark either. It seemed that he was trying to avoid addressing my current state and location, and it was a few moments before he responded again, on a different note now and using a rather uplifting tone, "Nothing in your life wasn't supposed to happen. There were no mistakes on Fate's behalf. I hope and pray you realize that."

Now I looked up, over to my family, then over to my friends. I heard voices suddenly, like whispers, the voices contained in my memories. They were all so happy, so caught up in those lighthearted moments within the pain of war and battles.

"I can't let all you boys have all the fun and take all the glory for yourselves, you know!"

"And it's the best thing ever!"

"Five...four...three...yeah, whatever, blast off!"

"I dunno, but I dig it!"

"Yeah, because all great leaders have goggles."

"That means I was awesome in Mirai-speak."

Despite the context, the voices hurt. I had left all this behind. These lighthearted moments were all gone. No one was to blame but myself. Nii-san said I blamed myself too much. I was just being accurate. "I know," I answered, pushing the voices all away from me before I could decide I wanted them to stay. "I stopped believing in coincidences a long time ago."

So lately, been wondering who will be there to take my place. When I'm gone, you'll need love to light the shadows on your face...

"But..." I continued after a pause. My voice squeaked a bit more than I was hoping that it would, and I wrestled with my mental composure. "I, on the other hand, have made plenty of mistakes...I failed. I failed my family, my friends—I haven't done them any good. I'm a failure of a daughter, of a sister, and a friend."

If a great wave shall fall, it'd fall upon us all, and between the sand and stone, could you make it on your own...?

I could imagine his face at my words as soon as the skepticism in his voice became audible. "No." I envisioned him shaking his head, his golden eyes fleeing while doing so. "You only fail if you give up trying to succeed."

If I could, then I would, I'd go wherever you will go. Way up high or down low, I'll go wherever you will go...

A laugh—a short, hollow, empty fragment of a laugh immediately fell out in response. I rose up to my feet for the first time since collapsing there and turned to look at him directly, having to tilt my chin up a little to make direct eye contact. "It is far too late for something so cliché as that," I scoffed, my amused tone far too sardonic. "I'm freaking dead, Koichi. I screwed up—!" The sheer understanding of how much that was an understatement made the hysteria creep up from where it was hiding. "—I don't have anything to succeed at anymore! What do you think I can possibly do now?! Nothing, Nii-san, nothing! This is it!"

And maybe, I'll find out a way to make it back someday to watch you, to guide you through the darkest of your days...

I was so angry, so involved with my self-loathing, that I barely noticed the tears flooding from my eyes. "I was the Warrior of Time, damn it! You would've thought that I had learned my lesson from history constantly repeating itself! This isn't owning up to my mistakes—this is running away from them! There is no way I could've screwed up more than I did—I killed my friend and ran away!" The sympathizing look he suddenly was giving me angered me more. "There are no redoes for me, Nii-san! I'm not a Digimon—I'm human! And humans don't get a second chance!"

If a great wave shall fall, it'd fall upon us all. Well, I hope there's someone out there who can bring me back to you...

Something about my own words confused me enough to make the words stop coming. Open my mouth remained, for a good several moments, long enough for my tears to catch up with me. And when I came to the point of speaking again, my voice was too far gone to control, "I-I miss them already. I just left them—I didn't get to tell anyone goodbye and how much I love them and...and—" Overwhelmed, all that became of me were sobs smothered into my palm. "I'm...I'm not done yet. I can't be. I love them and they don't even know it..."

If I could, then I would, I'd go wherever you will go. Way up high or down low, I'll go wherever you will go...

"They say you don't know what you have until it's gone. Luckily for you, the ones you love have never left you behind." The composure and aloofness of my brother's voice caused my face to snap upward abruptly. "All the ones who love you, who you love, have always been with you. Such a funny word it is, isn't it? Love?" He smiled so warmly that it was perplexing. "It's taken you a long time to get here, but you've made it at long last. Love is a big word, and finally your heart has learned to truly grasp it."

Run away with my heart...

Run away with my hope...

Run away with my love...

"I've been with you every step of the way, watching your progress. In the Digital World, in our world. I knew you would persevere, as Ophanimon assured you and your friends that you would." I thought for sure I saw the aforementioned Celestial angel's symbol flash when I blinked, and that same moment, my brother's expression seemed to change ever-so slightly. "You've had your struggles and ups and downs, but I'm proud of you, Little Sister."

I know how, just quite how my life and love might still go on in your heart, in your mind, I'll stay with you for all of time...

While his words, his voice, and his face were all so warm, it didn't remove that depraved, helpless feeling that consumed me from the reality I had chosen. No matter what he could possibly say, it wouldn't change anything. I wanted to fall somewhere in the endless emptiness beyond wherever we were, lie still, and remain without disturbance until time stopped.

If I could, then I would, I'd go wherever you will go. Way up high or down low, I'll go wherever you will go...

"And fortunately for you—" The cheer, the amusement in his voice were both so unmistakeable that I was almost entirely forced to deny they were there at all. They were both far too genuine for the situation. "—Fate still has plans for you."

If I could turn back time, I'll go wherever you will go...

My eyes grew instantly wide. I looked up and he had an expression that knew more than I ever did. "What—what do you mean?"

If I could make you mine, I'll go wherever you will go...

"Go ahead—" With a glowing, gentle, sincere smile, he slicked back my bangs and placed a delicate kiss on my forehead. True love's life-giving kiss. "—go make your future."

I'll go wherever you will go...


It felt like I was rising, like I was floating on a cloud towards the warmth of a flickering, open flame. It smelled of disinfectant and cleaning products. I heard mutters, whispers, and a steady beeping sound. My mind reached upwards, craving, desiring to grasp the sounds and feelings, and all of a sudden, I wanted to see.

So I opened my eyes.

Blink once.

Blink twice.

I was greeted with white walls, white ceilings. A hospital room? Then I saw faces. Three faces coming into steady clarity the more I blinked and focused. And my mouth cracked open at what I saw. I couldn't believe it. There wasn't any way this was possible. The tears were coming instantly, and I let them. No. There's no such thing as impossible...

My face was contorting, but I could still feel the corners of my trembling mouth begin to curve upward. My family. It was really my family. They were here, I was here, and we were finally together. "I'm..." I bit my tongue in the emotions that were all trying to get out at once and prevent me from speaking. "...I'm home."

My mother was at my side immediately; she wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her face into my hair, saying my name over and over. My father, with a light, warm hand, grasped my shoulder and rubbed it up and down my upper arm. Yukio, furthest from me but looking more similar to myself than I had ever realized, just shrugged at my parents' sentiment and smiled.

They were worried about me. They really love me...

I let them fawn over me for as long as they felt necessary. I was just thankful I was here, and I was safe. There were no words to describe how much I missed my family and how much I didn't realize that fact. Nii-san was right. They were important to me, just as I was important to them. It just took a long journey compacted into ten minutes to realize it.

"I'm sorry for worrying you..." I murmured suddenly, but no less overridden by my feelings swirling all together like a storm inside me. For being where I was and for obviously having so many painkillers in me, I had surprising mental clarity. "...and for everything else."

They looked at me, then at each other, a little taken aback. They must not have been able to remember the last time I apologized to them. And now here I was, giving an I'm sorry with tears pouring out my eyes.

And it flowed on from there. We talked for a long time, longer than I could ever remember having a conversation with my family. They told me they came as quickly as possible when they received a call from the hospital; the hospital staff found my home number from Yukio's phone that I had had on my person. Mom in turn had called Dad, who came from work on the soonest Shibuya-bound train.

It was very strange. A good strange. I had never spent much time openly conversing with my family by my own decision, and they knew it. They saw that change in me—and it seemed with Yukio especially, who before leaving the house that day I'd sworn and yelled at—and they quickly received that change with open arms. After all, their angry, bitter girl had woken up happy and new. I welcomed the change as much as they.

In accordance to the event that brought me here, I assured them I wasn't in the right mind, I wasn't thinking, and that that was an understatement. My attempt was to be vague on my motive, but precise on my follow-up promise to rest their nerves. It was a bad decision, a mistake I'd never make again, and I was blessed that I had someone watching over me who loved me a whole lot. A guardian angel, not exactly. It was a big brother.

After I had thoroughly exhausted my explanation, my parents proceeded to tell me that according to the nurse on staff, I had apparently been unconscious several hours, and during those first hours, received a blood transfusion and got my arm reset. With such few injuries for such an experience, Mom defined it as "some sort of miracle", and I believed right then and there that she was right.

But her words were obviously not any kind of accident. I refused to believe they were any sort of coincidence. Perking up in my hospital bed, I looked to my rather quiet brother and asked him, "Hey, by the way, did you get your phone back?" My eyes shifted slightly so that they were on his ear instead of his eyes. "And also... I'm sorry for taking it from you..."

He shook his head dismissively and pulled out his phone. "Doesn't have a scratch on it," he remarked. "Talk about bizarre."

I extended my open palm of my good arm slightly, mindful of my IV, and he complied and handed it over to me. I turned it around in my hand, mesmerized by it. I wondered when it had turned back into a phone after being a D-Tector for so long, and it was really weird actually seeing its real form. It was so much smaller in my hand than my D-Tector, and it just felt so ordinary.

But as Yukio had said, there were no scuffs or marks on it. I had expected it to have been smashed to pieces, now that I thought about it, but it was like new. I wonder if...I bit my lip and checked through the messages. They're gone... All of the messages from the Digital World were nowhere to be found. I didn't think that Yukio would've deleted them, but I honestly didn't know what to think.

When I closed the inbox, my breath got caught. There was no missing it. I knew I didn't just imagine that familiar symbol of Ophanimon appear on the screen and then fade away.

I smiled. It's funny how it all works out. I go to the Digital World to save it, and in the end, it ends up saving me...

Looking up, a warm feeling starting in my belly and moving all around, I knew I'd never forget what the Digital World had done for me. For as long as I live. Thank you, Ophanimon. Thank you, Digital World. Thank you, Big Brother. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you all. I love you...

My eyes fell from the phone to my lap, and I thought a moment of the Digital World and all that had gotten me through to this moment. Then it came to me.

"Hey, um..." When I perked up again, my family looked at me oddly because of my changed tone. "...you guys remember Takuya Kanbara, right?"


I had spent the night at the hospital to be under further supervision due to my prolonged unconsciousness and sudden arousal from it. I had slept soundly, perhaps more soundly than I had ever slept in that world, and I woke up the following morning feeling practically like royalty. I had never thought that spending a night in a hospital would render me this healthy-feeling. The on-call nurse had said with how I was, I'd be released in no time at all, maybe as early as late morning.

"Knock, knock!"

"Guess who!"

My jaw dropped and then made an immediate transformation to show my absolute delight as my friends all poured into the room. "Guys, I don't believe it." Words that could've made any possible sense were all lost in that single moment and I openly struggled, my mouth hanging open and fumbling before I could get out anything coherent. "What—how did you know I was here?"

"Funny thing about that, actually." Takuya grinned that iconic snaggletooth grin and plopped down at the end of my bed. He was clearly in one of the best of moods, which would also make him as casual as he could possibly be. "We saw your parents leaving the hospital yesterday when we were here for Koichi—"

I lurched forward, which caused him to stop speaking. "Koichi," I repeated, and then I saw him. I wasn't sure how I didn't see him before, maybe I just wasn't thinking, but there he was, beside Koji, as real as everyone else. Immediately, I smiled. Or at least it felt like it was a smile until I was crying. Then I didn't know what sort of look I was sporting. "Koichi..." I dabbed my eyes with my palm one by one. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry..."

My voice faded out when we locked eyes and all he did was smile and shake his head. I stared for a little longer, unable to comprehend the extent of forgiveness, then smiled. I didn't know if I'd ever understand it, but that didn't matter. We were okay; we were both okay now.

"So when do you get discharged?" Zoe questioned, walking to my bedside and resting her hand on the bed rail. A silver-chained bracelet jingling and sparkling around her wrist caught my immediate attention. She was wearing a different set of clothes than the day before; they all were, I then realized. She was clad in a pink tank top and little jean cut-offs, and while she couldn't have rocked them better, it was bizarre seeing her something than that outfit she was stuck in during our time in the Digital World.

"Sometime today," I replied, shifting the shoulder strap of my sling. "But I have to deal with this cast for about a month. I guess it's kinda a pretty good trade for my stupidity." I laughed shortly to brush off my embarrassment and decided to change the subject. "Anyway, how's being home treating you guys?"

And we chatted for a good deal. It was all lighthearted things, and surprisingly, not many things regarding the Digital World appeared in our conversation. Maybe it was because we'd all come to a mutual understanding of the happenings in that world, of what it did for each and every one of us, and now it was time to look ahead to our time here, where we could resume our lives in an ordinary, peaceful world.

Well, maybe not entirely ordinary.

One thing that connected the two worlds we had the blessing of being a part of was our power to make a difference. We had to go to the Digital World to learn that, to be shown what impact we could make. And even as we left our mark on the world, miracles continued to be showered on us. We never ran out of miracles as Takuya had thought in those moments of doubt in the Shibuya Station basement. We'd always had them. We were living them. We were breathing them. We could make our own miracles happen if we poured our hearts out and tried.

And with that journey behind us, those lessons, those miracles could live on. They were a part of us, a part of our Fated, miraculous story.

The story of our time in the Digital world had come to a close. Rather, it was a chapter. It was a section of our existence we could never forget. We were connected to it. It was connected to us. And now our next chapter was just beginning.

Fin.