This is a catholic themed Digimon fanfic, written by a Digimon fan who is also a devout Catholic. If you don't like the theme, don't read it.
Context: This fanfiction story takes place two years after the events of Digimon Adventure 01, which is itself a year before Adventure 02.
The two passages of the Bible that appear in this story are taken from the New American Bible.
Additional note: If the song of the Panis Angelicus is not known, it is suggested to look for him on YouTube at the time it is mentioned in the story.
Christ is the centre of the angelic world. They are his angels. The whole life of the Church benefits from the mysterious and powerful help of angels. (Catechism of the Catholic Church 331, 334)
A year had passed after the adventure of the 8 chosen children in the Digital world. To a certain degree they had returned to their normal lives as children, but never forgetting their Digimon and what they lived with them. Of the two youngest children in the group, the blond-haired male child, T.K. Takaishi, still carried within him the pain of two moments that had hurt him deeply. One, the divorce of his parents, which meant the separation of his family, especially with his older brother. The other, seeing his Digimon partner, having first Digivolved into Angemon, die before his eyes after being the only one who could defeat their first enemy Devimon. All the pain on his heart being just a 10 year-old preteen.
T.K. was the only one of the of the chosen children who had been educated in the Catholic Christian faith, this by his mother who is half French. (Since Catholicism is a minority religion in Japan.) His mother had found in the Catholic faith in which she was raised by her parents a source of strength and comfort after he divorce, and having kept the custody of her younger son, she was interested in raising him into the catholic faith.
That year was the year that T.K. had to do his first communion, that is, the first time he would receive the bread and wine consecrated by the priest on the altar, transformed into the Body and Blood of Jesus. Throughout that year, T.K, was attending his catechism classes to prepare for such moment. Even though he tried into receiving what he was learning in a good way, something inside him made him into question: If this God that they told him so much exists and really loves him as much as they told him; why did He allow all this? Why did He allow his parents to divorce and to be separated from his brother? Why did he have to suffer seeing his partner Digimon die in front of his eyes? It might seem surprising that a 10-year-old would ask such questions but considering everything he had already experienced at his young age, it was not something difficult to understand. Nevertheless, he tried to continue taking his catechism classes willingly.
His mother had told him that he could invite as many friends as he wanted to his first communion and that he would also invite his father. T.K. invited his other friends from the chosen children, but among them the one he wanted the most to invite and to be there with him on that special day, was the other chosen girl of his same age, Kari Kamiya, Tai's younger sister. Whom during his adventure in the Digital world he felt called to take care of her and protect her. The highest point of this was when they were almost killed by Piedmon, the chief of the dark masters, from whom they were saved by MagnaAngemon who digivolved to that stage for the first time.
That day, T.K. was a bit anxious, he felt happy that at least for that day, his family would be reunited again. But, on the other hand, somehow the pain did not stop resonating in his mind and in his heart, the pain that still hurt him inside, the fear of losing his family again, Patamon, his friends and from his friends especially… Kari.
The Mass began, and there was something that made him more anxious, his father was not there. But one thing did make him smile, he caught a glimpse that Kari was in one of the back seats, along with their brothers Tai and Matt. His brother Matt, having stayed with his father, had only been baptized as a baby, but was not later raised in the faith like T.K. so just like Tai, for them a catholic church was something that seemed foreign and unknown. Being more used to seeing Shinto and Buddhist temples which are more common in Japan, the image of a Catholic church was something new for them.
TK wore a typical western first communion outfit consisting of white pants and shirt with a navy blue jacket. He tried to stay focused, tried to silence as much as possible the negative thoughts that might come to his mind. He would have liked Patamon to be there with him too, he missed him. Memories came back to him, memories of his parents' separation, memories of when Piedmon almost killed him and Kari, of Angemon's battle with Devimon. That battle between an angel and a demon, that was what he felt inside him, he felt angels and demons fighting inside him. He couldn't help himself and had to shed a tear, no matter how hard he tried to hold it back.
Suddenly, he saw that everyone stood up to sing Alleluia, he came to his senses a biit, he also stood up and the priest proceeded to read the Gospel, as follows:
-The Lord be with you.
-And with your spirit.
-A reading of the Holy Gospel according to Saint Matthew 18:1-7,10
-At that time the disciples approached Jesus and said, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a child over, placed it in their midst, and said, "Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one child such as this in my name receives me. "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of things that cause sin! Such things must come, but woe to the one through whom they come! "See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.
- The Word of the Lord.
As T.K. listened to the reading, he was shocked. For a moment, he felt as if the battle that was taking place inside him had stopped. Was his digimon partner more than just a digimon? Was there a greater purpose when he first digivolved into Angemon? At least for a moment, for the first time and without fully understanding it, his heart rested.
Moments later, the time came to receive the Eucharist. For the first time, he would receive that host and that wine that the priest raised to the words "This is my body. This is my blood." alluding to the words of Jesus in the last supper. T.K. rose up and got into a line with the other children in order to approach the altar, while the singing of the hymn Panis Angelicus was sung by the choir, a hymn that alluded to the "bread of the angels, that became bread for men, from which the poor, the servants and the humble are fed."
T.K. received the consecrated host and the consecrated wine, when he tasted it, it seemed to him that it was a normal wafer, with all the appearance of a normal wafer. However, something inside him that was beyond his bodily senses told him that he did indeed had something sacred inside him, something greater than anything he had ever seen. At that moment, he remembered that under his shirt, he had his crest of hope, and was surprised to see that it began to glow very lightly so that only he could see it. At that moment, in his heart, he heard a Voice that said to him:
- My son, I know what you have been through, I know your pain, all your suffering I also felt it on the cross. This that you receive is the love I gave for you in My own suffering. Just as I break myself in in this bread to reach my love to all of you; you will also be called to, through your suffering, give yourself in love to the ones you love. But do not fear, because you will not be alone, I will be with you always, both here in this sacrament and spiritually through those you love. You will also always have your guardian angel, who both in this world and in that other protects you and will fight for you. Just like him, you too are called to be like an angel for others, a reflection of My love for them. You will also be called to be an angel for a special person, and that person will also be like an angel for you. You will treasure that person´s heart and that person will treasure yours. Do not fear my son, since the forces of darkness both in this world and in others will seek to shake you and hurt you. Do not allow your fight against them to become your own darkness, because that will be your weakness that you must be aware of. During your life you will face many temptations and tests, because they are the consequence of humanity's sin, which will be present in this world until My second coming, when I will bring forth a new heaven and earth. Don't ever have doubts of My love for you, because it is only knowing you are loved that you will be able to love others too. Rest in Me, my son, I will heal your heart and make it like Mine.
In that moment, T.K. felt how that the sword stuck in his heart was slowly removed. The tear that shed from his eye was no longer one of pain but of joy. At the end of Mass, he felt a strong need to hug everyone; his mother, his brother, to Tai whom he also saw as a second brother, and finally to Kari, who had already matched her in height after she was taller than him 2 years ago.
In a moment when they were alone outside of the church, Kari asked TK:
-T.K., what did you feel?
-I don't know Kari, I can't explain it with words, but I only know that from now on every thing we face, whether it's a new enemy in the Digital world, or some problem here in the real world, I feel that I have a different energy to face it.
Kari just smiled and just thought that she felt happy for her friend. Although she did not understand Christianity very well, even though T.K. tried to explain to her in a very basic way what was the sacrament he was going to receive, she felt happy for him. In that moment she remembered what happened 2 years ago, when Piedmon almost captured and killed them, until MagnaAngemon saved them. At that time she was scared to death, and she knew that T.K. was scared to death as well, but she noticed that he did everything possible to be brave, at least appear to be. It scared her to think that one day they might find themselves in similar danger. Then, she turned to see the door of the church, and could see that on it was an inscription that said:
Because you have the LORD for your refuge and have made the Most High your stronghold. No evil shall befall you, no affliction come near your tent. For he commands his angels with regard to you, to guard you wherever you go. (Psalm 91:9-11)
Reading that she remembered that Angemon and Angewomon are Angel Digimons, that only they had partner Digimons like that. Without being very clear about what she believed about whether there was a superior order to her world and the Digital world, she at least calmed down realizing that she felt safe with T.K. and that she cared about him.
That night, T.K. and Kari slept feeling a peace they hadn't felt before.