Reality Redux
By ArchangelUK & Digicowboy

AAUK: *shouting and swearing*
DC: Er, that's right...
AAUK: *More shouting*
DC: Yes, the disk corrupted...
AAUK: *More swearing*
DC: That's right, you'll have to do this chapter I'm afraid.
Wolfie: You two idiots woke me up! *LOTS of shouting and swearing*
DC: ...
AAUK: Damn, no need to be so rude...*walks off tutting with DC*
Wolfie: *Blinks* WHAT??

In the event of either of us owning Digimon please break glass.

Chapter 22 - Purgatory

"Where am I?"

The question seemed rather pointless considering what had happened, he obviously was nowhere specific as the white mist prevented him from seeing anything much. He guessed he was unconscious somewhere or the other and this was his mindscape as such... Angelus sighed. Before he had been sucked into the Digital World things had been okay, he had never been threatened with a bladed weapon, he had never been knocked unconscious, he had never been tortured at the hands of malevolent illustrations and he had never had the fate of three worlds thrust upon his shoulders. He was tired. Tired of the battles, the bruises, and the wounds, true having Sora Takenouchi as your new girlfriend and regular tonsil-hockey partner was a plus. As was the fact he could basically travel to innumerable locations, now had his own sword and was a demi-god. To him to be a student one day and a demi-god the next was quite a leap up the job ladder, indeed it produced a very large smile when he realised he was now at least a good dozen rungs above Bill Gates and Richard Branson combined with the fact her Majesty was also left to eat his divine dust.


There was one thing that was seriously getting on his wick however - the mist.

Whenever there was a mysterious place or he got contacted by bizarre people, recordings, travellers, Digimon, other fictional characters etc there was always mist. Purple mist, blue mist, green mist, red mist, yellow mist, mint mist, pink with blooming choco-bloody-late spots mist.

"ENOUGH WITH THE MIST ALREADY!!!" He roared, "There must be someone here there always is! Show yourself now, I'm fed up with the bloody waiting all the time!"

As it was his mind he found the mist began to clear and two figures immerged.

"Greetings." Both said together and Angelus covered his face with his hands.

"Oh no... not this again!" The two figures exchanged glanced of concern, "Not the alternate self thing again, I've already had multiple me's on a couple of occasions now(!)"

"Then you should be used to it." The one who spoke was on Angelus's left hand side, and yes he was a duplicate of Angelus as such. "I am the you before you. Or rather the you that was before this adventure, I am Archangel, I am the representation of your mortal soul." That was true as he looked like Angelus had been before he exited the Dark World the first time; blue jeans, shirt, short brown hair.

"I on the other hand am Gatekeeper." I am Gatekeeper? That didn't make sense surely, but that was most assuredly what he was. He looked like Angelus did now, only a more evolved version further away from 'Archangel' than he was now. There was no black leather coat, no black at all actually. It was all white, the clothing, the hair, the eyes. The Gatekeeper Sword was attached to a seemingly ceremonial scabbard on his belt, the wings were bigger, and he also appeared to be levitating approximately twelve inches above the 'floor'. "I am your immortal soul, what was and shall always be."

"I see." Angelus said to his alternate incarnations, except he didn't obviously as he was completely bamboozled. "Err, why do I have two souls?"

"When we defeated Arnakmon we used a great amount of our energy." Angelus didn't like the fact Gatekeeper was referring to them as a collective. "It was a risky strategy that we were foolish to formulate."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Angelus held up his hands, "Let's stick to the basics. Why are you here?"

"We called you here." Archangel responded with a sloppy grin, he ran a hand through his messy brown hair.

"What happened to me?" Angelus asked, Gatekeeper stepped forward,

"The Keymaster sealed a gateway, a gateway that he had created to drain your energy. Allow me to explain..."

"Please do."

"There are three true worlds and the false dark world, therefore there are four gateways. As the Gatekeeper, we are able to open these gateways anywhere between two worlds." There it was that talking in the plural again, "There are other gateways however, sub-gates if you will. These sub-gates are the ones that can link to alternate dimensional planes such as the Chaos Plane, the higher plane where we and Gennai journeyed to see the three true worlds and more. The difference is between us and the Traveller is that we can open controlled gates to specific places. Gates which are closed can be opened by us, this is not true of the Travellers."

"What is a Traveller?" Angelus asked, "No one has really bothered to explain."

"No." Archangel took over, "The Traveller is able to travel freely, but only through uncontrolled sub-gates that are open. A Traveller cannot open gates or close gates yet unlike us he can travel through dimensional rips to places unknown, though unless he carries a Traveller Staff to focus his energy he will be pushed out at random."

"And Wolfie?"

"As Jasmine said she is a mender and has her own destiny to follow. Her path lies away from you, the Traveller and the Chosen Traveller."

"The Non-Chosen Traveller being Sora?"

"Correct."

"Maybe that bit's for the best..." Angelus mumbled, remembering the seemingly endless hatred both held for the other. "So what does this have to do with the pain I felt?"

"The Keymaster used some large source of power, possibly a dark digicore to temporarily link an extra world from another dimension to our own."

"Whoa whoa! A DARK digicore?"

"Yes, everything has it's opposite, a nemesis - it is a fundamental law of the universe."

"I see, please continue."

"It was this sensation that felt pleasant. As the Gatekeeper our power resides in all three true worlds, yet when this extra world appeared some of our power flooded into it to maintain the balance. As there were no sub-gates the Keymaster was then able to seal that new main gate, locking off that part of us for all time."

"So what your saying is he lulled part of my soul into a trap."

"Correct."

"You DO like saying correct don't you?"

"Correct."

"So... wait a minute, where did he find a dimensional tear?"

"Near here, the energy bond that you learned about from Jasmine drained him almost to death. He escaped via this tear with Mimi."

"How do you know this?"

"Your ears... they listen even in this state between life and death."

"All you need know is that our actions in defeating Arnakmon led to a feedback of energy which drained you of half your divinity, you were originally a full God looking like myself." Gatekeeper gestured, "Your mortal half died so your mortal soul which was created to fill the void left by half of your immortal soul rose to the heavens. Yet your immortal soul was caught in between realms and was forced to suffer a millennia of pain."

"You mean it went to purgatory."

"Correct again."

"But Ben... the gate is sealed?"

"He is lost, and there is no way of knowing where." Archangel confirmed. "Yet within this dark hour a ray of light shines, the process has reconnected your two souls. We are finally as one again."

"But the staff! I need to tell him about the staff!"

"We know the answer now don't we, the answer to the recording's message?

"Yes. 'Beware he who does not believe' - someone who does not believe is an Atheist. Aeth."

"We are right in this assumption, he hides something else."

"That's all very well. But this life bond... when Angemon mega-digivolved it felt as though someone was crushing my chest."

Gatekeeper's eyes glowed a bit brighter. "With the Traveller gone the burden is ours alone, as is its pain."

"Beware for we cannot hold this bond for much longer, it drains us and we have very little of our immortal powers left. We cannot hold that link forever."

"But if we are to defeat the Keymaster, I must tap in to that energy yes?"

"That is the dilemma." Archangel nodded, "To maintain their lives it may be necessary to sacrifice that divinity you still possess, yet you will most likely need it to hold the powers of being the Gatekeeper in check. That which is divine and that which is Gatekeeper are not one and the same, there will always be a Gatekeeper. The problem is whether the bond drains you of everything before you and The Chosen Traveller face the Keymaster in combat."

"How long's he been out?" Tai asked sitting down next to the bed,

"Too long." Kari answered sleepily from TK's arms, making the blond haired teen smile sadly and hug her a bit tighter.

"We told Sora about what happened to Ben." Tai cast an eye over Angelus, taking in the full extent of the burns to his hands, face and most obviously wings. "She went down there with Joe and Izzy but she couldn't sense, if that's right words, the dimensional tear."

"You spoke to Gennai yeah?" Wolfie asked, slumped in an armchair with Raptormon dozing by her feet. "What did he say?"

"He believes the Keymaster somehow turned the tear into a gate and sealed it. Ben and Mimi are gone."

"They're...gone?"

"Unless they find another tear in that world which leads back to here we will never see them again."

"Man." TK sighed, "Sora must be worried as hell."

"Yeah, her brother's gone and her boyfriend's in a coma." Tai felt a slight pang of jealously as he said the b-word. "She's a bit of a wreck."

"I can imagine."


Sora looked upwards to the sky, the sun was setting over the horizon. She didn't know what to do, her brother was gone, and Angelus was in some kind of coma... Who was she to help first?

"Mother... What should I do?"

To Be Continued....

Sora: What should I do???
Wolfie: Well you could...
Sora: That's a rhetorical question furry face!
Wolfie: Oh, you wanna start something again do ya?
Sora: Bring it on! *fight breaks out*
AAUK: *Sighs* Tune in next time for the answer and more Digimon: Reality Redux!

Kari's Angels - http://www.geocities.com/happy_hylian/