"Two Faces, One Mask"
3. 'Heavy decisions'
"We all begin with good intent
When love is raw and young,
We believe that we could change ourselves,
The past can be undone.
But we carry on our back the burdens time always reveals
In the lonely light of morning,
In the wound that would not heal.
It's the bitter taste of losing everything
I've held so dear."
'Fallen' Sarah McLachlan
The streets were surprisingly quiet for the time of day. If Ken had been paying attention, he would have felt the nip in the air as well as the sent that traveled on the wind, bringing the promise of rain. But his mind was too busy trying to wrap around something else entirely. He had just found out his soul had been split in half. His dark side was now running rampage in the Digital world and he carried all it's emotions, conscience, pain and guilt. In a way he envied that half. It was free of all he felt. Free to do as it wished. While he, as always was left behind to clean up and deal with the mess it made. He sighed heavily and ran his fingers through his Indigo hair (just below his chin and just above his shoulders now) and noticed that it was damp. He looked up into the dark sky and found it to be raining. Only lightly, but enough to soak everything it touched. He didn't shun it; he welcomed it because as he examined himself in a window, he noticed it hid his tears. His eyes looked as if they had gone a few rounds with a bouncer of a very trendy club and they were dull and tired. He laughed through his nose quietly at the thought; "Eyes are the windows to the soul." And then shook his head.
His feet seemed to be on auto-pilot because he really had no destination in mind, but found himself at the park. He surrendered to it and sat down on a swing, put his elbows on his knees and ran his hands through his hair again, leaving them at the back of his neck. With no effort to stop them, tears flowed and mingled freely with the rain on his already damp cheeks. His body convulsed slightly with his sobs that were not audible over the thunder in the sky. Was this possible? Why did this always happen to him?
"I can't do this again. If I don't die from not having my full soul, I'll die just from this excruciating decision. I have always wished for him to be gone. To not be apart of me anymore, how can I now rejoin with him? I should learn to be careful for what I wish for." He was talking to the air around him. Or was it someone close to him that he felt was there?
"I never wanted to go back there. That place was filled with many good memories for the others, but for me? What did it give me? Pain, guilt, anger, hate!"
"And friends."
Slowly, as if he knew she would be there, he lifted his head to face Mae. "I am thankful for my friends you know." He said slowly, biting back the sobs. "But all I have there is bad memories. I can't face this again. Enough is enough Mae. Please."
"I wish I could say that you don't have to go, but that is where the Emperor is and in order for you to live and save the Digital world, you have to go there."
"Are you-? Are you dying too?"
She hung her head and closed her eyes tight; "I don't get that privilege remember."
"Wanna trade?" he said half sarcastically.
"Ken, don't."
"I was only joking-"
"No you weren't." she snapped. "I know how this makes you feel. Death has never scared you has it? You even welcome it sometimes and now you are dying and you're not going to do anything to stop it are you? Is that how you feel?"
Reading him that well agitated him greatly and he stood up forcefully and walked away from her. With his back to her he growled, "Don't stand there telling me how I feel! I already know how I feel! I already know that sometimes I just want to go to sleep and never wake up. I already know that I love Yolei and she loves me and that she would die if anything happened to me! The same goes with Wormmon and Davis! I already know that the digital world depends on us to save it! You know how I know this, because my conscience has been berating me ever since I found all of this out! I don't even know if this is real. How do I know you are telling me the truth? You could just be tricking me again for another test!"
"Enough! Ken, listen to me. This is no test, don't you feel like something is missing?"
"Yes-"
"There! That's proof, half a soul is always missing something! Now are we going to argue about this in the rain or are you going to help me save the Digital world?"
Ken swallowed and after a long silence replied, "Let's find a port."
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"This is too far gone." Davis sighed, "I can't believe this is happening to him. How much more crap must he go through till he is left alone to be happy?"
"This isn't fair I know Davis," Yolei started, "but we really don't have time to dwell on it. We have to go to the Digital world to check in with Gennai and help out where we are needed."
Kari put a comforting hand of support on her best friend's shoulder, "He'll be okay Yolei, don't worry."
"Yeah," TK added, "we won't let anything happen to him."
"I hate to break it to you 'TZ the pep squad', but something already has happened to him! He's dying remember? And we don't even know how long he has before he can join back together with the Emperor."
Yolei choked back a sob.
"Davis!" Kari scolded, "Stop it!"
"No! I'm sick of this positive attitude of thinking we can always fix things! I know I'm usually the one starting it, but enough is enough! I'm sick of seeing my best friend suffer for past mistakes. And I'm sick of always fighting. And from what Mae told Yolei, we are gonna have to fight a side of our friend. My best friend and I don't know about you guys, but that makes me sick to my stomach. It's different now. We know the Emperor and we know he belongs to…he belongs to a great person."
TK made to pat Davis on the shoulder in sympathy, but he shunned him and walked away from the group to sit on the couch.
"We really should get going." Cody finally said after what felt like hours.
Wordlessly the group and their Digimon nodded and headed to the computer.
"Yolei, your door is unlocked." TK commented.
"Leave it, it's for Ken and Mae when they get back. Hopefully they will take this port to the Digital world and meet us there." She sniffed and turned back to the monitor and showed her D-3 to it yelling, "Digi-port open!"
------
"I would say this was a good first day." A cruel male voice commented as he watched hundreds of Digimon busy at work on spires, from behind violet tinted visors.
"I would have to agree with you there." A silky timbre traveled from the door to his ears.
"Though there is still so much to do." He added.
"Indeed." She replied while rubbing his shoulders. Her long fingers tipped with crimson nails pinched his flesh and he spun to face her quickly. Her long straight red auburn hair framed her face in a mysterious way and her bright green eyes sparkled with evil, while her crimson lips, pouty and kissable, grinned wickedly at him. "We could have some fun first though. All work and no play makes Emperor a dull boy." She raised her eyebrow.
"What did you have in mind?" He asked grinning.
"Well, we haven't caused mass panic in that sector yet." Her long slender finger indicated towards a map of the digital world where an area was indeed free of their terror.
"I thought you didn't want to work anymore today." He commented as he cocked his head to the side.
"Who said this was work? I find striking terror in those weaker than ourselves fun, don't you?" She began to giggle, until finally it climaxed into a maniacal laugh.
"So what are we waiting for?" he said getting up and engaging her with a passionate kiss.
------
"Oh my God, look at this place." Kari gasped.
"It's worse than I imagined." Gatomon added.
Their eyes fell on the destruction all around them. Ash littered most of the land they stood on and in some areas fire was still burning. Spires were everywhere they looked and there wasn't a Digimon they found not wearing a dark ring.
"Terrible isn't it?" a melancholy voice said behind them.
They turned slowly to see Gennai standing solemnly amongst the burnt forest.
"How did they do this? And in such a small amount of time?" Cody couldn't believe what he was seeing. "They are power. And they are ruthless. Nothing stops them. Anyone who tries, is killed." Gennai hung his head.
"Blast marks." TK breathed, looking at a tree.
"What?" Davis inquired.
"Blast marks. All the areas that were burnt or burning were caused by them blasting balls of energy or fire at Digimon. Am I right Gennai?"
"I'm afraid you are TK. The Sorceress has given the Emperor a sip of her power again. They are practically unstoppable. The only way to stop them is to join them back together with Mae and Ken." Gennai glanced around himself, "This area is near their base, we should leave now and find safety."
"What?" Cody yelled, "Leave? We are so close to their base. Let's just fight them, subdue them and when Ken and Mae get here, join them back together and go home."
"Cody, it's not that simple! They are not the enemies you remember! They are evil. Pure and simple. They have no conscience, no remorse, nothing! They will kill you if you get in the way of their TV, much less in the way of their plans. This is no light matter Cody, we have to think this out very carefully."
"You're telling me." A small voice said coming up behind them.
Yolei spun to see Ken and Mae walking towards them and away from the TV they had just come out of.
"Ken!" Yolei choked and flung her arms around him.
"Hey." He said quietly to her.
"So what's the plan Mae?" Davis asked.
She took in a deep breath and sighed, "Like Gennai said, we should get out of here and think of a plan."
"Aww leaving so fast? I didn't even get to say hello."
Slowly, each head swiveled to see Daemon standing tall behind them, and if his face were not covered, they would have seen he was grinning wickedly.
"This can't be good." Veemon commented.
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(A/N)
Wow, sorry guys, I forgot how short this chapter was. Thing is, I had to cut it there otherwise the fourth chapter just wouldn't have been right. I think this is the shortest chapter out of the whole story. It took me a really long time to write it though, that I remember because I deleted the whole thing and started it again. I hated the first draft, it sucked. Okay, well now since the exposition is out of the way, we can get down to the nitty-gritty of the story. Hope you're enjoying it. Tell me what you like and don't like.