Chapter 21: Date With Destiny
Gabumon held his head down as he tirelessly followed Matt through the icy region of File Island. His fur had begun to grow icicles and his body no longer gave him the warm feeling of life.
Ahead of him, Matt walked aimlessly with his hands in his pockets. Since they left the group four days ago they hadn't talked to each other much. Only when they went to sleep did any kind of conversation sprout, but even then it was only goodnight.
A ball of light passed overhead and Matt stopped walking.
Gabumon bumped into Matt as he came to a sudden halt. He fell backwards into the snow and received a sharp, cold bite on his butt. Gabumon got up and rubbed his nose, "What is it, Matt?"
Matt didn't answer him. His turned slightly as he examined the ice covered valley they had ventured into. "This is it," Matt said.
Gabumon was puzzled by his friend's words. He looked around, but found nothing out of the ordinary that could justify it. "What do you mean?" Gabumon asked, "What is it?"
Matt spread his arms to appoint the entire valley. Ice cold wind blew through it, shooting snow into their faces. The sound of passing wind bounced between the walls. The walls of ice were so smooth that you could see your reflection in them. "This, Gabumon," Matt continued, "This is me."
Gabumon still didn't get it. He looked harder to try to make sense of Matt's words, but couldn't find anything. "what are you talking about?"
Matt put his arms back to his sides and let them rest there. He turned around to give his friend an empty stare. He looked into his eyes for a brief moment, then said, "This valley is me, Gabumon. Feel how cold it is. How it rejects others from entering with its bitter winds. This is how I feel inside."
"That's nonsense!" Gabumon eyes squinted and his teeth began to show. "You know as well as I do that you're a caring, accepting human being."
"Am I, Gabumon?" Matt took his gaze off of his furry companion. "Lets look at the facts about my life then."
Gabumon got an idea. He would simply give Matt all the good points, "You care deeply for your brother."
Matt shook his head, "Selfish of me. I only did it so that he would depend on me to protect him."
"What?" Gabumon stepped back, "You can't care for someone just so that he depends on you."
"That is why I'm so cold."
"What about your girlfriend, Kristin?" Gabumon knew that Matt couldn't possibly be selfish with her. He was too giving when it came to Kristin. Expensive gifts and dinners.
"Did it all so that I would be loved." Matt put his hands behind his head, "I didn't care one bit about her feeling happy. It was just necessary in order for her to care for me."
Gabumon felt a hot pit forming within him. His friend's words angered him. They made him want to hurt him for saying such things. Gabumon began to glow a bright red, "But what about your sacrifice? You let Angemon hit you with an arrow to destroy Myotismon!"
Matt grinned, "All so that I could live to see the next day. I didn't care about any of the others too much."
"Matt!" Gabumon couldn't hold it in any longer. He released his anger and let fill him to his heart. The negative energy plagued his entire body. Twisting it into a new form. His body extended and formed sharp quills along his spine. Black wings grew out of his shoulders. His legs stretched as flames engulfed him. His head shot out blue fire and split into three separate heads. With a roar his transformation ended, "Heartless one!"
Matt seemed a little shocked at his friend's sudden change. He stepped back a few feet as the heat radiating from Gabumon's body melted the walls of the valley. "Gabumon? What's happened to you?"
"What's wrong, Matt?" The digimon spoke in a low, demonic voice that shrieked in rage, "Don't like what your feelings look like?" The digimon began to slowly advance towards Matt, "Did you forget that we digivolve to represent your feelings? I'd hate to tell ya, but you're whipping up quite a devil!"
Matt retreated as the digimon came closer, "Who are you?"
The digimon stopped and roared with all three heads pointing at the sky. They breathed out red flames, "I am Cerberusmon! The physical form of your cold heart!"
Matt stopped stepping back and froze in shock, "Cold heart? You've changed to match with me?"
Cerberusmon brought his heads to a level position to look at Matt, "I'm afraid so! You see, Matt, your selfishness has forced others to change for you. You think that you're all that matters! The entire group of Digidestined have all made changes for you, but did you ever change for them? No!" Cerberusmon stepped closer and shoved his center head in MAtt's face, "You just forced your ideas and opinions on them! And when they refused to change again you left!" Cerberusmon's eyes began to glow as the words came out. A furious rage seemed to fill him as he brought the truth to Matt's head.
Matt stared into Cerberusmon's glowing eyes, "Why are you talking to me this way? You're supposed to follow my commands!" Matt tried to look stronger than Cerberusmon, but he could feel his fear overtaking him.
Cerberusmon showed his teeth to Matt. They were six inches long and sharper than any knives Matt had seen. "That's the same cocky attitude that Tai had with SkullGreymon! And we all know how that ended up!" Cerberusmon pushed Matt down, "Now you must learn to change, or I will be just like SkullGreymon! A devil that lives to destroy!"
Matt could feel his eyes shaking. In fact, his entire body was shaking, but it wasn't from the cold. No, his body felt quite warm. But the fear within him kept him feeling cold inside. Could Cerberusmon be right? Am I really the source of the evil that twisted him? Matt tried to speak, "Cerberusmon..."
"What is it, boy?" Cerberusmon's words became more like that of a demon's.
Matt failed to see the virtue in Cerberusmon's words. He got up and shouted, "You listen to me!"
Cerberusmon roared at the sound of the command. His eyes went completely red. He shot out flames in every direction and went into a mad rampage. He whipped his tail at Matt and melted the ground and walls with his flames. He slashed at everything with his claws and tore apart anything he could bite.
Matt ran away as his friend became a savage beast. He didn't once think that this was his fault and continued to demand attention, "Damn it! Listen to me!"
Cerberusmon gave no intelligent reply. He simply became angrier and began to aim his fire at Matt. All three heads concentrated their attacks on the human and gave no sign of giving up. Matt tried his best to avoid the flames. He rolled to the side as the shots came at him, but the slippery ground slowed down his reflexes and made it clear that he would soon fail to dodge the engulfing inferno.
Matt tripped on a rock and spun to land on his back. He watched as all three heads fired together to give them a better radius of fire. Matt shielded his face as the flames came closer. He could feel the intense heat on his body, but never felt the flames cover him. He opened his eyes to see a man with long, purple hair blocking the attack. He wiped some sweat from his face with the back of his hand, "It's a good thing you came!"
The man turned around as the flames ended their attack, "Still self thinking? Even when someone has saved you? My God, Matt. You're even worse than I was!"
Matt got up, "What are you talking about? Who the Hell are you?" He tightened his right hand into a fist and lifted it to show his strength.
The man squinted his blood red eyes, "I'm Darius, the 2nd child."
"I don't think so!" Matt shouted, "I'm the second child!"
Darius turned around as Cerberusmon attacked them again. He pulled out his sword and deflected the flames to the right. "You don't deserve to be a Digidestined! You're too selfish! Your a threat to everyone around you!" Darius returned his sword to the sheath on his back and pointed at Matt, "You may have been able to trick the Fates with your display of fake changes, but you can't fool me!"
"So what!?" Matt persisted, "Why should I have to change?"
Darius pulled his fist back as more flames came at them. His fist absorbed the flames and gave him more energy, "You don't get it, do you?" Darius returned his fist to his side, "The Digidestined must all make changes to realize their true strength! You refuse to change, so you are weak! What's worse..." Darius spun on his heel and kicked Cerberusmon as he made a charge. The beast fell back and hunched into a defensive position. He circled around the two to wait for the perfect moment to strike.
Matt squinted and stepped closer to darius, "What's worse?"
Darius gave Matt a look so angry that it made Cerberusmon look friendly, "What's worse is that you forced the others to change for you in your way! They have been side tracked by this so much that have been unable to reach their potential as well! You've infected the Digidestined!"
Matt heard the words echo through the valley. He fell to his knees and spoke to himself in disbelief, "Infected the Digidestined? MAde them weak?" He paused a brief moment before finishing, "Me?"
Cerberusmon shook his head violently as he regained control. His eyes returned to normal and he was able to speak again, "Matt... You're beginning to realize!"
Matt felt tears run down his face. They froze on his cheeks and gave his inner pain a physical form, "It's all my fault! The reason we almost failed to defeat the Dark Masters! Tai and Agumon almost died because I refused to fight! Tai refused to fight in the end as well! He waited for me!" Matt pushed his head into his knees. The tears melted under his warmth and ran onto his pants.
"Matt..." Cerberusmon became tired and returned to Gabumon.
Gabumon ran towards Matt, "Matt! You can do it! You can change!"
Matt continued to cry, "All this time I thought that they were wrong I was the one that was wrong! I could never accept that I had to change my opinion or way of doing things!"
Gabumon put his paw on Matt's shoulder, "It's ok, Matt. They're your friends. They'll understand."
"Will they Gabumon?" MAtt asked, "I've betrayed them all!"
Gabumon remained silent. Although he knew that the others would welcome them back, he wasn't sure on how he could make Matt realize that.
Darius crossed his arms and stood up straight, "Don't give up, kid. You just have to..." Darius stopped his sentence and looked at the top of one of the valley walls.
Matt stopped crying and looked at Darius, "I have to what?"
"Shh!" Darius pushed out a hand at him to tell him to stop. He remained completely still and silent, "I heard something from over there..."
The trio remained perfectly still and silent for nearly five minutes. The only sound that could be heard was that of the wind bouncing off of the walls of ice. Matt whispered, "What is it?"
Darius wrinkled his nose and shook his head, "Must be my imagination." He turned back to face Matt, "Anyway, Matt." He continued his previous sentence, "You have to learn to accept the other people in the group and to change once in a while for them."
"I understand that now, but what should I do?" Matt seemed anxious to learn the answer. He rushed his words out to try to get to the root of the problem quicker.
"You must return to your friends..." Darius' last word was overshadowed by the sound of something exploding on his back. He fell onto his stomach to reveal and large burn on his lower back. Smoke rose from his flesh and gave the air a rancid smell.
"Darius?" Matt shook him, "What's happened?"
"I'm sorry, but your friend needs a time out!" A six winged figure appeared over the wall that Darius had suspected. The figure stood 7 feet tall and had a scythe in his hands. A helmet hid his eyes. Two long horns shot out of the back of his hemet, giving him a menacing appeal.
Matt stepped a bit closer to get a closer look. What he discovered made his entire body turn cold, "DarkAngemon!" His fist shook as he remembered the terror that the cursed angel had brought to Tokyo.
DarkAngemon spread his wings and floated down to the ground were Matt stood, "Ah, you remember me. I'm touched." His voice was low and added contempt to every word he spoke. DarkAngemon thrusted the bottom of his scythe into the ground to let it stick there.
"You can't be here! Myn defeated you!" Matt made both his hands into fists and made it look as if he was going to attack the evil digimon. Matt, however, wasn't stupid.
"Indeed he did." DarkAngemon grinned. His black wings contrasted with the white snow. In the land of pure white, DarkAngemon truely looked like the ultimate devil. "But I managed to survive." DarkAngemon lifted his scythe out of the snow and swung it around, "You see, Digidestined, my body was unable to be deleted since I fell in the real world."
Gabumon growled and came to Matt's side, "What does that have to do with anything?"
DarkAngemon shot Gabumon with a small blast of energy. The small creature fell back and was knocked unconscious, "Silence!"
"What?" Matt loosened his fists, "I don't get it!"
"Don't you get it? Digital bodies can't be deleted in the real world, so they rot." DarkAngemon gave no sign of emotion to this fact. "Well, my body remained hollow for some time." DarkAngemon continued his tale, "When LordDevimon was defeated his soul entered into my body to bring me back."
"So that's it!" Matt couldn't hold his anger in. The nightmares that this monster had brought to the real world were to destructive to be allowed to happen again.
"That's right, 2nd child!" DarkAngemon laughed as he spoke, "I've returned thanks to you and the other Digidestined!"
Matt tried not to break out in anger. He felt something grab him by the ankle and tried to kick it off.
"It's me!" Darius coughed, "It's me..."
"Darius?" MAtt stopped kicking and looked at the man on the ground, "You have to help me! DarkAngemon is back!"
"I know..." Darius tried to get up, but was too weak. His muscles gave up and he collapsed. "I am too weak to fight!" Darius reached his hand for Matt's, "Matt! You must join with me! Just like Myn did with Tai!"
Matt looked at his hand, "Join with you?" He remembered the power that Tai had received when he fused with Myn. "Can I really handle such power?"
Darius pushed harder to try to grab MAtt's hand, "It is your destiny!" He coughed out blood, "The legend of the 2nd child's Legacy!"
Matt grabbed Darius' hand. He felt a warm feeling rush through his body. It quickly became hot and his vision blurred. He soon couldn't see a thing. His body glowed a bright white as did Darius'. "Ah!" MAtt cried as the hot feeling burst through him.
Darius mumbled under his breath. His eyes were shut and his body calm. He reached back and pulled out his sword. With it in his other hand he placed it in Matt's free hand. He opened his eyes, "May the Fates smile upon you, 2nd child..."
With the process complete, a bright explosion ripped open the valley of ice. DarkAngemon disappeared into the sphere of chaos and light. A war cry echoed with the explosion, signifying the birth of a warrior.
When the light died down, DarkAngemon stood with his scythe. He looked at the revitalized Darius, "finally completed your journey, eh?"
Darius didn't answer. He held his sword in his right hand. His blood red eyes pierced into DarkAngemon's soul. He looked at his blade. It was black and pulsed with the feeling of chaos. "This is the 2nd child's legacy..." He looked at the demon before him and brought his blade up for battle, "It is my legacy!"