A/N: Late until the very end. Some urgent work-stuff got in the way, sorry about that! What's a little extended wait before the final ch, right? ...right?

The sky was so blue, like a baby powder. And after TK's eyes gained focus, he could see leaves and something else that was green above him. The ground felt soft like a mattress and it took him a long while to feel his own breathing and remember what had happened.

TK began to hoist himself up to a sitting position, and he felt before he saw Tokomon right next to him.

It was a relief to see that there were no larger visible wounds on his friend and as his gaze swept their surroundings. He immediately spotted everyone else in the same waking up stage as he was.

"Where… are we?"

TK knew the answer to Miyako's question, but Mimi beat him to it with a surprised tone. "It's the Primary Village."

The place looked exactly as TK remembered it from all his visits. Amidst many places in the Digital World, he still harbored a particular fondness over the place and the memories related to it. Even now, there were dozens of DigiEggs scattered around them like sprinkles on the green field and the building block towers framed the scenery — not looming over it but building a sense of institution, of something important.

"What happened?" Joe asked.

No one answered him. Everyone gazed around the area hoping to see something, even if they didn't know what.

The mood turned gradually from confused to somber as they slowly took in the situation, eyed each other for injuries, made sure that everyone was okay. The Digimons were largely in Baby II -stage, minor scuffs here and there but that was about it.

Sora was the first to break into a sob which she futile tried to keep inside. Taichi opened his mouth for words of comfort but found the words stuck in his throat. The next minute, Yamato strode to TK and enveloped him into the longest and tightest of hugs he had ever received — including the one his mother had given him upon his return to the Human World after the fight against Apocalymon.

TK still felt numb, not just because of the way Yamato was crushing him while crying, but mentally. Seeing… What had he even seen? Fortunately, Hikari repeated Joe's question, "What happened?"

"Angemon probably evolved to Seraphimon," Plotmon answered making everyone turn to her and continue, "But we were far and it was hard to see."

"Seraphimon?" Daisuke mused.

"One of the rulers of the Celestial Kingdom," TK recited from a memory that now felt so far away.

Everyone fell silent again, staring at a different part of the quiescent scenery. It was all so soft, so childish and playful, like a dream of a toddler. The contrast to their feelings was vast.

Koushirou was eventually the one to break the silence and focus on the fact that they had still a job to do, a future to fix, a home to get to, "My… My laptop doesn't work."

"Doesn't work as in…?"

"It can't access the Digital World," Koushirou answered aloofly to Taichi, his mind already on the problem instead of people.

"Maybe it's still re-building," Sora offered quietly while looking at the sky that on a closer look had no edges, just a small sheet on top of the File Island. "What if we found a place to rest and eat."

"These all house unborn Digimons?" Miyako asked from the back of the group as they made their way to the secluded spot near the river on the side of the Primary Village. Miyako lowered her gaze in a heartbeat after realizing that she had said the question out loud and thus broken everyone from their subdued thoughts.

"Elecmon lives here and takes care of the babies after they hatch," Tokomon turned to explain from TK's arms.

"That has to be quite a job," Iori commented, "Do the babies move to the continent after growing up?"

But Iori never got an answer to his question as Joe exclaimed smoke to rise from between the trees. It was a millisecond of stupefaction before Yamato shot running towards the campsite faster than Garurumon could ever have.

"Yamato!" Taichi tried in vain but everyone followed the blond teen's example despite their muscles protesting all the way. Because, sometimes, hope helps you achieve weird things.

It didn't take long before the group came to an abrupt halt.

Takeru.

A few prayers notwithstanding, no one dared to even breath. But it didn't stop Yamato from reverently walking closer to Takeru.

Takeru was lying unresponsive on his side next to a small campfire. Yamato nearly dropped to the ground but managed to compose himself to check for a pulse. However, before he managed to put his fingers on Takeru's neck, Poyomon peeked from Takeru's hand close to his chest, startling Yamato.

"Poyo."

A relieved smile formed on Yamato's face but it soon turned into a worried one as his younger brother's future had an extremely slow pulse. "Takeru." But just as Yamato moved to shake Takeru awake, Poyomon peeped again, and more pressingly this time. Few bubbles left the tiny Digimon's mouth.

Yamato stared at Poyomon, uncomprehending before Tokomon intervened from where TK had closed half of the distance, "I'd guess, that means don't disturb."

Yamato's hand stayed in mid-air before he took one long look at Takeru and then at Poyomon, earning himself a deliberate and unhurried nod in return.

"Food and rest?" Taichi offered to Yamato while beaming from ear to ear.

In the end, it wasn't just Takeru and Poyomon who needed rest: everyone did. They took turns to sleep just in case, but everyone slept well over 14 hours the next day. They knew from experience how to catch fish from the river and fruits from the trees. And then the day turned into another, and then another. The scuffs they had suffered were healing thanks to Joe's administration. The youngest kids wandered a few times to look at the DigiEggs and hatch baby Digimons, while the older kids did small search parties around the island, but mostly everyone stayed at the same clearing, taking glances at the sleeping form of Takeru and Poyomon.

Takeru was yet to give any signs of life, whereas Poyomon could be heard snoring softly from his spot between Takeru's palm and chest.

Two more days passed on the same routine before Poyomon maneuvered his way to Takeru's forehead. Yamato stood up uncertain, making Sora, Joe, and Gabumon glance at him. Everyone else was roaming around the island during the late noon.

Takeru squinted his eyes at Poyomon before letting them fall back again. Poyomon seemed satisfied with the result as it hopped onto the ground. Takeru turned to his other side.

Poyomon blinked its eyes a few times before gaining its bearings and digivolving into Tokomon, and immediately after, into Patamon. Patamon's digivolution into Angemon was slightly more arduous and the angel-type Digimon braced himself with his hands before raising to his full height. Angemon stretched his limbs and shook his wings as if shaking off dust. He waited for some time more to see if his digivolution had unintended side effects on Takeru. However, as nothing came up, Angemon tucked up the green blazer better over the sleeping human before walking over to the others.

Angemon coughed the raspiness out his throat and nodded, "Morning."

Angemon hadn't stayed around the camp for a long before leaving to find Elecmon. By the time the adult Digimon returned, Iori, Koushirou, Takeru, Hikari, and their respective partners had made their way back as well, slightly startled to see him awake.

"My laptop won't work," Koushirou remarked at Angemon once everyone had eaten and sat in silence around the fire. Even after saving the World and Takeru being most likely safe, the relationship between the kids and Angemon had stayed the same and small-talk was out of bounds.

"Most of the Digital World doesn't exist yet, the process will take weeks to complete. Till then, there is the overall framework, but it's inchoate at best."

Most of the kids turned to look towards the coastline they knew lied behind the forest.

"And my laptop can't yet grasp that," Koushirou concluded.

"There is nothing out there?" TK asked befuddled.

"It probably exists, it's just not in an accessible form," Koushirou answered giving up on his laptop for the first time since waking up here. "The data configuration must have rebooted the Digital World to start from scratch." Koushirou prompted after a silence.

"From the last stable point — what this world was before this mess," Angemon admitted with a small note of sadness in his tone.

"Before the timeline was skewed," Koushirou repeated already rubbing his chin in the light of the new information.

"What happens now?" Sora asked. No one dared to ask about Takeru yet, not any more than the short answer Angemon had given them earlier that Takeru would still to rest for a day or two.

"When this world has stabilized enough, the portal to your world should be accessible again. Before the reboot is fully completed you should head back through it."

"And that will return us from where we left?"

Angemon mulled over the question for a bit, "Possibly not. The reboot here won't affect the timeline in the Human World. You might end up with amnesia of the past month or so, and then we'll just have to hope that it won't disturb the sequence of things. —Or the Digital World might resort to the last save, and send you back with amnesia to the last point you crossed the barrier.

"The last time each of us traveled from the Digital World to our world." Koushirou surmised correctly.

There were many faces of uncertainty when the teens thought about what it would be like to forget all that had happened.

"And you?" Yamato asked voice flat.

Angemon held Yamato's gaze for some time before bowing in the older brother's direction and answering placidly, "We'll see."

"It should look smaller."

"You think you have grown up in height?"

Takeru hummed with good humor.

"I don't think this world works that way," Angemon reprimanded him with a smile.

Takeru had woken the day after Angemon but only to move closer to the fire and fall asleep again. It had taken him one more day of sleep before returning to the land of the living, and one more day to start to build his own routine. They had wandered with Angemon away from the camp with the excuse of going to talk to Elecmon.

Angemon kept an eye on Takeru at every step of the way but even then, he couldn't help the same feeling of fondness that Takeru felt towards their surroundings. Angemon knew that the Primary Village had been a place where Takeru had taken agency for the first time in the Digital World. Stranded by everyone and in a strange place, the bouncy castle-ish ground, bright colors, and the ethereality of the place had made Takeru forget his fears and loneliness. For the young mind, it had also been, as Takeru had once told him, the place that had really installed the idea of the Digital World in his head. The rainforests, deserts, and Digimons could have easily existed on Earth, in different countries and continents Takeru had never visited but only heard and seen on television. The Primary Village, however, was like a great playground, too good to be true — otherworldly in itself. It was also the place where Takeru had managed to assert himself, when he had had the chance to tour the others around the place before their departure to the Server continent. They had visited Primary Village from time to time, and somehow the sheer simplicity of the place, the stability, made an impression. They had a bond with Elecmon, and the babies brought a sense of timeless fresh start.

It was, in every sense of the word, a place that embodied hope. It was cozy here, always had been.

They had meandered a further amidst the pillowy towers. There wasn't anything specific that they wanted to see, Takeru had just wanted to stretch his legs and get a break from the group.

However, as Angemon watched Takeru look around serenely, the situation began to hit home and the walls Angemon had kept began to crumble.

Eventually, Angemon had to stop to gasp for breath when his emotions overtook him. Takeru stayed silent on the side but immediately caught Patamon into his arms once his partner devolved. Takeru sat slowly onto the ground and leaned against one of the feather-light towers while holding the shaking and earnestly crying Patamon in his arms.

It was hours later when Takeru and Patamon returned to the group. Patamon had calmed down and buried himself as invisible as possible in Takeru's arms.

"Everything okay?" Sora asked while handing out fish stew. Few of the kids turned to look at Takeru, whereas the Digimons focused primarily on eating and only their ears indicated their attention.

"Everything's okay," Takeru answered with a small smile and sat down: he meant the words much more than his tone implied. He nodded to Sora's questioning gaze that he would take a bowl himself.

"Angemon devolved?" TK asked breaking the silence; it was still awkward, the sense of hesitation on how to regard his future.

"Mhmm," Takeru nodded.

Not much was said after that, and as Takeru reached for the fish stew, Patamon corrected his position so that Takeru didn't need two hands to hold him. Still, the small Digimon kept his face buried against Takeru's stomach, and Takeru shook his head gently as his future sister-in-law looked in Patamon's direction to ask if this wanted to eat.

The early evening passed uneventfully and at some point, Takeru instinctively began to massage Patamon's back and he could feel the small Digimon fall asleep. Sora looked at him again when they were about to empty the pot to cook some water. Takeru shook his head again, "Patamon will eat later."

The group had so small already that Sora saw no reason not to ask more openly, "Is Patamon alright?"

The corners of Takeru's mouth curved upwards and he nodded, "He will be. I guess, everything just caught up with him today. — He has done an exceptional job, for a long, long time," Takeru explained focusing more on his hand movements, the feel of Patamon's fur and the tense muscles underneath than his words. "I couldn't be more thankful."

Takeru turned to look at the pillowy towers around them and let his gaze follow their shapes towards the sky. He wasn't so much searching as trying to see, uncertain if the still starless sky looked different or if it was just him.

Sora ushered Iori with her to fetch the water, leaving only TK with Takeru and Patamon.

TK looked anywhere except Takeru, and his expressions varied between timid and stubborn. It was still awry between them. Takeru could only resign to the fact that it had been likely; he had never been that good with his own shortcomings. And he was rubbish with small talk when others didn't want to hear it. Plus, they had already told the kids with Angemon that they would be sent home via the tablet (tied luckily to their data by Koushirou in order not to lose it when the whole world was turned upside down) in a week or two, what more was there to say? Neither one of them would touch upon the subject of the fate that he was condemning his younger self to or how TK didn't fight to change his future. But his younger self surprised him at the last minute, "Thank you."

Takeru blinked in confusion at the boy who looked at him just long enough to accentuate his acknowledgment before reverting his gaze to the fire.

"What for?"

"Jumping after Angemon," TK replied with his words decided.

Takeru surveyed his younger self for a minute before huffing a laugh; how to get your past self to like you 101. He could already guess the eye-roll Angemon would give him later when he told about this. For TK, he just dipped his head in appreciation. And maybe he would need to give something in return, "It'll be okay. With mom and dad and everything," Takeru sighed, wanting to rub his face or brush his hand through his hair but disregarding the will, "Angemon said so," he added with a smirk. After all, which of them was to be trusted in these things.

"You know, I'm proud of you. It was a difficult decision either way. You did well."

Angemon knew it wasn't his place to evaluate Takeru's actions, the least in something this big, but Takeru was his partner and in deep need of consolidation now when the others had left and their work done. The angel-type Digimon looked away from the ocean in front of them only to spot the slight redness on the human's cheeks, it warmed his soul, knowing that his words didn't go unnoticed.

"Thank you, Angemon," Takeru answered somberly. He still harbored a strong dislike towards the sea despite its calm state at the moment. And more than his own discomfort, he could sense the apprehension radiating from Angemon. Takeru knew that Angemon didn't like to leave Devimon's data so close to the surface but that was the status quo of this timeline. However, there was another hesitancy in the angel-Digimon's stance. More than that, Takeru was surprised to notice the redness on Angemon's cheeks and the small tilt of the head — shame.

A minute passed before Takeru put the hints together and continued with soft boldness, "You too. I'm thankful. I said it about a week and half ago already but you missed it in your sleep."

The fact that Angemon didn't reprimand Takeru for the repetition told Takeru just how much everything weighed his partner.

Takeru raised his right arm behind his head in an old gesture while subconsciously leaving his left arm down despite that the symmetric movement would not have caused him pain anymore. Honestly, he didn't know what form Angemon had been when he had reached his partner in the darkness, and he was quite certain that nothing he said would change Angemon's personal need to deal with the issue. Moreover, as he turned his head to look at Angemon now, he felt content to know that it didn't matter to him: their relationship was unchanged.

And then there was a whole new set of issues that would need to be solved at some point.

First of all, Takeru didn't know if he could die from a natural cause anymore. Like Angemon's life was tied to his own, his life was now tied to Angemon's life. Data doesn't stop existing unless someone deletes or rewrites it. It made him wonder if could age anymore either. If Angemon could mutate his data when he was injured, it was most likely Angemon could also reverse his aging — at least in the Digital World. What would happen to his form in the Human World was another question that would in, all probability, require decades of extensive research from Koushirou and Shou. What would happen when his corporeal body would give in? And what would happen if it didn't? In that case, his time in the Human World would be even more limited. Today's guest is the ever-young Takeru Takaishi.

The questions made him forget his quest to spot the continents that were forming somewhere out there and turn his head to look at the File Island behind them.

In addition, there was a new type of graving in his bones. He didn't grave the answers for his life anymore, not the route markers or hope. But despite having received his answers, there was something new as the ultimate peace had taken the step with him and kept its distance. And as Takeru kept watching inland, he could sense that Angemon felt it too, the need to be close — the need to get closer, mind-body-soul-data-genes-everything. If Patamon had always felt like his other half, now it was Angemon. His body had gotten a taste of what it was like to be much more efficient — complete in a new way —, and there was the faintest itch in his bones telling him that he was wrong. Like putting square tires on a car or running a sprint backward. The feeling that whispered him of peace if he merged with Angemon; if he just left his existence, he could be whole, never alone.

"Everything in good time," Angemon stated softly next to him, sensing his feelings.

They couldn't yet hold the connection for a longer period of time: too much of them didn't match. They had two minds, two hearts, and two sets of memories. And like learning to deal with the strengthened connection in the first place, this would take time, too — and most likely a whole lot longer. It wasn't easy, wouldn't be easy, but on some level, Takeru knew he could be at peace with this decision, knew that Angemon could be too.

"What do you want to do now?"

Takeru blinked at Angemon's question, the warmness in the tone told him that he wasn't in rush to answer. For the first time in a long while, he relished time and the lack of answers. "I don't know. — We could stay here for a while?" he mused out loud while looking at the wind-ornaments spinning lazily in the wind over the treetops.

Angemon murmured his assent "I doubt that Elecmon would refuse help."

The reply made Takeru smile.

A/N: Thank you SO much for everyone who read silently, followed, faved or reviewed!

A few words for those who are interested in the background stuff. This AU has been traveling with me since the early 2010s. For a few years I had about a trillion different plots: Takeru and Angemon traveling to the Adventure-era, 02-era, later on, Tri-era, the kids from these eras would travel to different points in Takeru and Angemon's life. Really endless juicy possibilities for drama but the main concept of time-travel, Takeru and TK meeting up, and Takeru and Angemon's backstory was always the same.

The only thing that was unclear when I settled for this storyline was Takeru's decision in the end: would he return to the HW, would he stay in the DW, would he die for good. And I pondered that so much but ultimately it was Takeru who made the decision page by page.

I was originally supposed to write Takeru's backstory into a fic but now that was squeezed into the flashbacks. This fic was also supposed to give much more room to the Digimons and other actors but that proved out to be too enormous of a task. I have almost 10k worth of bits that didn't make the cut, I might post them into a separate collection. If you want to request anything, please do so!

After this, I'll try to get back to the Daydreams:-curve (I haven't watched : since December so I've got a lot of catching up to do. And then I've promised to continue The Lockkeeper of Darkness. I still have a rough memory of the storyline and hopefully, I'll get to tackle it. It will be a lot shorter story than this one, though.

And once more because you all really made writing this fic a much nicer experience, Thank you!