Defeat... Well, not quite defeat, the evil had been turned back, but... So many digimon, so many who came here merely to seek refuge, slain brutally by Demon and his troops... And had Angemon not saved him there, he'd be among them, instead of walking the streets of a Factorial missing two thirds of its population, regretting every move he made... If they triumphed, history would speak of this battle as a heroic defense, how the digimon of Factorial rose up and saved the digital world from evil... But it looked more like a massacre then a heroic defense, and for all Angemon had done for the darkness, he really had only himself to blame...
After all, wasn't he the one who Angemon's desire for turned the angel digimon to darkness? Wasn't he the one who told the digimon of factorial fortress to "Show those monsters the true power of the digital world?" And wasn't he one of the chosen, the ones who should have protected the digital world instead of letting this horrible evil engulf it? Hearing light footsteps approaching, he sadly said "Don't come any closer, I'm the one to blame here, don't waste time trying to make me think otherwise." A mix of sorrow and detachment running through his voice, as an auburn-haired girl who wore the crest of love approached from behind...
"Takeru-kun..." Sora said sadly, looking upon the various digimon still crumbling into data... "I can't let you fall to darkness..." She said, collapsing into the arms of the bearer of hope, her brown eyes gazing lovingly at him as she fell, but the bearer of hope seemed to pay no mind...
"Angemon... I need to find Angemon." Takeru said, his voice as it was when speaking about the powers of darkness... "Sorry, Sora-chan, but I have to do this to protect both our worlds... Love can wait." He muttered, and then left Factorial and walked through one of the tunnels towards the forests outside, in search of the digimon that stood by his side for so long, the digimon he had once loved...
"Traitor!" a Modoki Betamon cried out, zapping the fallen angel... Yes, fallen angel, what else could he call himself now? Even if he had saved Takeru in battle, the bearer of hope surely still despised him for helping the darkness. "I'm so pathetic... I gave into the darkness, and this is my rightful fate." Angemon said sadly, holding his staff across his neck, and then beginning to fall upon it while thrusting upwards...
But just then, just as he neared taking his own life by staff, the voice came, the voice of the one being who could stop him...
"Angemon... I'm sorry I've done this to you." Takeru said sadly, looking with sympathy at the angel digimon... "I wish I had those feelings, I know how painful that can be..."
"Takeru... It's hard, but it's no excuse for what I've done..." Angemon said, moving the staff into proper seppuku position.
"No, it's not... But we still need you, I may not love you like you want me to, but... I still care way too much about you to see you die!" Takeru yelled, tears falling from his face, as the angel digimon wrapped his wings around him...
"And if the thought of my death will bring you this much pain..." Angemon said sadly... "It seems no matter what I've done, I'll have to live a little while longer..."
He's so sad right now, and I wish I had a better reason... But if it will keep him alive, it's worth it, I don't want to lose him again...Takeru thought, thinking back to the nightmare that had haunted him for the past six years, thinking of that time when Angemon was killed in battle, that time he had lost him... Sure, he had been reborn, but that didn't do anything about the uncertainty he felt then, nor did it heal the shock of seeing your digimon partner disappear before your very eyes... "Angemon, I'm so sorry..." He said sadly, a teardrop falling to the ground...
But just then, the ground turned to ice, and a frozen claw ripped across the white sky... Angemon shifted quickly to guard Takeru's face, but the impact cracked his silver helmet, which broke into five pieces and fell to the icy fields beneath... "This time, this time I will protect you..." Angemon said, filled with grief, and turned to face the assassin, hoping that at the very least his death could make up for the treachery he had committed, as Takeru looked on, thinking how much what was happening was like those events of six years ago...
"Takeru... I'll come back again, if you want me to." Those words, how clearly they still rang in his head, and now that Angemon was confronting an Ice Devimon in the same way... He feared for Angemon's survival...
"Zero Freeze!" Blasts of cold, black ice shot from Ice Devimon's frozen wings, headed directly at the broken Angemon... Slowly, he moved his staff up and barely deflected them away, with so little enthusiasm that one watching the battle couldn't tell if he even desired victory...
"He can't win..." Takeru said sadly, looking at how little Angemon seemed to care... "No, he doesn't want to win... He has no will to live left, he just wants to throw his life away in battle..." He added, as an icy claw raked across Angemon's once-beautiful face... "Angemon!" Takeru yelled out, wondering how much longer his digimon would last...
"Takeru-kun..." The bearer of love said sadly, looking onwards... "I can't let this sadness continue, I don't want him to lose Angemon again..." She added, and then resolved to do the only thing she could think of that could convince him to live... "Angemon! Angemon, I forgive you!" She yelled out to the angelic digimon, who turned and saw the bearer of love, his romantic rival, the one he wounded in battle... And she wanted him to live, in spite of all he had done...
"Ice Devimon, let your fate be a warning to all who threaten the peace of the digital world!" Angemon said, his hair waving magnificently over his face, and then pulling to the back as he raised a fist... "Heaven's Knuckle!"
In a blast of light, the demon vanished... Angemon had won the battle, but now, for the aftermath...
"Come back here Takeru, everyone was worried about you!"
"C'mon, can't I get at least one moment of peace around here, even if I'm the hero?" Takeru asked, amusement clear in his voice, as he drew Sora into a long, passionate kiss...
But though the lovers were awash in happiness, Angemon's feelings were a bit more mixed, to say the least...
"I've betrayed everyone, I've failed the one I'm sworn to protect, all because I couldn't win his love... I'm pathetic, I know, and I probably don't deserve to live right now... But Takeru needs me, and even if he doesn't love me, for his sake, at the very least I shall continue to live..." Angemon thought as he flew back into the gates of the ruined Factorial, still saddened that he had caused all that, but at least this time, this time he at least had a reason to live...