"Please tell me that this poor guy gets his memory back at some point." Takato's friend seemed to be showing a great deal of pity whenever Takato mentioned Cronus's memory loss.
"Yeah." Takato said with a nod. "He does. At some point."
--
Mala stretched. She'd slept well considering the events from the evening before. Not that she found them particularly cumbersome or dull, even, it was just that she was up very late talking to Takato. He seemed to be adapting better than she would have expected. She hoped they could be friends—she recognized qualities in him that she would not object to have by her side.
And she'd need all the help she could get, too. Mala imagined she had a long day ahead of her. She was certain that by now, word had gotten out that Takato had woken up.
Cronus had to kill something that was hurting them, and they still barely tolerate him. What on earth can Takato do to win them over?
Mala paused a moment, wondering how exactly she came to be so influential in the village. It wasn't something she forgot, she knew that much. But it was something she never knew, and didn't bother questioning.
Deciding it wasn't important enough for the then-and-there, Mala continued to tidy her home.
Home.
She sighed at the thought of the word. She'd been slipping up more and more in its usage; she knew she wasn't catching herself every time she said it. She didn't hate it where she was. But it wasn't home. Not even close.
Mala walked to her dresser, and dug around in the middle drawer. When she removed her hand, it contained what she'd expected: her D-Arc. It was useless, now—the screen remained dead ever since her partner—ever since she—lost life.
--
Mala walked the streets absentmindedly.
She hadn't anywhere to go, and nobody to worry about the fact that she wasn't there. A tear rolled down her cheek as she thought of the fight with her mother she'd had before she insisted on running out of the house to battle the D-Reaper. Before her partner was killed.
It had been a week. The D-Reaper had been killed—no thanks to her—and the digimon were gone. Mala'd been living on the streets since that night, but you couldn't tell it from looking at her. She managed to keep clean, and any passerby wouldn't know that she was technically homeless. She stopped home the night after her battle with the agents to grab some clothes and a few personal effects, which she carried with her in her backpack.
If only her partner had made it through that last battle. He could have returned home. Maybe she could have gone back to her home, too.
Her thoughts turned to the boy who'd saved her. She could vaguely picture him in her mind, but in doing so felt that she must be exaggerating the color of his eyes, which she remembered prominently. She wondered how he felt then—if all the digimon returned, his partner would be gone, too. But she'd seen him—he was the Justimon, just as much as his partner was. Maybe he too, left this world for the other.
The streets were just about empty as she walked along them. With her left hand, Mala fiddled with the object attached to her belt. She still kept her D-Arc with her—though she wasn't sure why. It confused her—it had been a comfort to her for what seemed like a very long time, but she now thought of it as a burden—a ball and chain that she found herself having to look at every day. She knew it, too, but it made things no easier. Deep down, she knew that she stared at it in hopes that it would somehow give her a sign that things would be alright.
And as she thought this—about how things couldn't get any worse—she felt a hand wrap around her mouth and pull her into an alleyway. The scream couldn't get out.
--
Mala carefully placed the D-Arc back into the drawer and closed it. Uncomfortable with the room's temperature, she pulled the door wide open, and hung a thin blanket over the opening, as she usually did. She had always been resourceful. She'd sewn many of the blankets in the village, and even made a few shirts and pants. She'd mended her jeans more than a few times.
She wondered if that was why the people in the village didn't mind her company. She was useful. Cronus managed to help them out, too—
—Poor guy.
Mala really did pity Cronus. He spent so much time every day trying to piece his life together, to get back his memories, while Mala would be more than willing to trade-places with him…to forget everything that she had done, and to forget everything that had happened to her. She really hoped that Takato and he would get along. She felt she knew Takato better than she did, at least enough to feel that he and Cronus could be good friends if things went well.
She decided that she'd talk to Noria about Takato. While Noria was rather hot-headed, and wasn't particularly fond of Mala, she too was very influential around the village, and Mala knew that if she could convince Noria that Takato was no threat, then surely the others would follow suit. Mala didn't particularly care for Noria's company, but she respected her devotion to the village's safety, however negatively Mala felt it influenced her behavior.
As much as she hated procrastinating, she embraced the idea of it then. Cronus had been trying to convince Noria for weeks that caring for Takato was the right course of action. Mala herself stayed out of it—though she'd certainly heard the two of them argue about it. The issue was, that while Noria had nothing against nursing Takato to health, she knew about Cronus's usefulness around town, and argued that Cronus's time would be better spent on other actions. Mala would have volunteered to take care of Takato herself, if it didn't support Noria's obvious desire to send Cronus out into the forests. Mala didn't exactly approve of dark, scary places.
--
"Shh!"
Mala felt tears well up in her eyes as she struggled against the person who had her at his mercy. He had one arm bounding hers, and the other covering her mouth. She'd taken some self-defense courses, but she found herself paralyzed with fear. She even had a knife in her backpack, but there was no chance of her getting to it.
"You're Mala, right? I need your help. It's about the digimon." The man asked
She suddenly stopped struggling, though she continued to breathe heavily. She felt the grip loosen, and she pulled forward and spun around. The man she stared at looked to be in his 30's, had reddish-brown hair, which was cut short and had a strong build. He wore a navy sweater, and some black jeans. He held his hands up and backed away a step to make Mala more comfortable.
It would have, too, if the asshole hadn't just pulled her off the streets.
"Who are you?"
"My name is Joseph." The man told her.
"What do you want?" Mala wasn't feeling a driving need to be courteous and introduce herself.
"I need your help." Joseph answered promptly but slowly.
"With?"
"The digimon." He repeated.
"They're gone." Mala said coldly, the image of Tigremon flashing into her mind.
"I know. I'm trying to get them back."
--
Mala slipped on her shoes, and headed to Cronus' place. She knew some of the villagers were resentful of his friendship with her. Mala wasn't conceited, but she knew that most of the people in the village wanted her time spent on them. But Cronus was the closest thing she had to a friend there. He was the only one who believed her that there was another world.
She knocked at his door when she arrived. It took a moment for him to answer, but when he did, Mala realized that he'd been sleeping. What got her was that it was just after noon, and he barely seemed to sleep.
"Taking the day off?" she grinned at him, causing him to force a weak smile back at her. She stepped inside without being invited, which was the impolite tradition amongst the two. She looked to him and held in a laugh. His hair was flat on one side, and his eyes were half closed. He wore his usual green t-shirt, and a pair of shorts that she'd made for him a few weeks ago.
"Apparently." Cronus groaned, walking back to the bed and flopping over on it, lying down on his back, and closing his eyes. "I take it it's not morning?"
"Not even close." Mala answered, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Have trouble getting to sleep?" she asked.
"Nah. Takato must have, though. He came by for a while last night after you guys talked."
Mala wasn't surprised that Takato had trouble getting to sleep. Who wouldn't, their first night, suddenly being thrown in a place like this?
Well, Cronus…
He'd adapted much quicker than she did, and probably quicker than Takato would. Granted, he was usually a pretty easygoing person.
"So what do you think of him?" Mala asked, masking the eagerness she felt.
"He seems like a pretty nice guy." Cronus answered. "The guy has a whole lot of questions, though, he just wasn't asking them."
"Oh, you're lucky." Mala told him. "Try having him ask you things you don't know the answers to."
"Yeah, sorry about that." He murmured
Mala hadn't been thinking of him when she'd said it.
"I didn't mean—"
"I know, just trying to make you uncomfortable."
She smiled but didn't say anything for a few seconds. Mala turned to him, who hadn't opened his eyes. She turned away from him and looked to the floor.
"We're going to have a tough time convincing everyone that Takato's on the level." She said quietly.
"We?" he mumbled.
She turned to him. "You don't think we can trust him?"
"Didn't say that."
"I need to know if you're on my side with this." She said seriously.
"Of course I am. I'm just really tired." Cronus replied with mock-seriousness. She would have smacked him if he didn't have such an adorable grin on his face. His eyes were still closed, though, so she took the opportunity to punch him playfully but firmly in the stomach. It actually hurt her hand a little, but the sting was dulled by the laughter that came from seeing his reaction. He, too, laughed, but was winded, so Mala knew she was safe. She hopped off the bed towards the door before spinning back to him. "Get out of bed sometime today."
Seeing that she was leaving, Cronus must have known he too was safe, and mumbled some kind of affirmation before rolling back over away from her.
Mala closed the door quietly, deciding she'd bothered him enough for the time being. She assumed that Takato too would probably still be asleep, if he'd been with Cronus. She wasn't comfortable with the idea of waking him up, though, so she decided to head back to her house. She'd only taken five steps towards it from Cronus's door before she stopped and turned the other way, to go see Noria.
--
Mala wasn't sure why she followed Joseph. But she did. Literally. She made him lead, and he even let her take the knife from her backpack. "Anything to make her comfortable", is what he'd told her. Where she followed him to a doorway in a nearby alleyway. Inside was a stairwell that led down. Maybe she followed him because she had no one else to follow.
Bring them back.
Mala knew that the chances of him meaning "from the dead" were one in a million—that he meant he wanted to re-open the portals that the Monster Makers had closed. She didn't have to think about it long before she figured out what she'd hoped to accomplish. If she could help open the portals to the digital world again, then she'd be even with the blue-eyed boy who'd saved her.
Mala was very mindful of such debts. Not so much of what people owed her, but she hated the feeling of owing another. She typically paid favors back many times over before she felt free of it. Reuniting the boy and his partner—it'd be a good place to start.
"How did you find me?" she asked him.
"I saw you fighting the D-Reaper last week." Joseph suddenly stopped and turned to her. "I'm so sorry for what happened to your partner."
Me too.
She just looked at him. It wasn't his place to say such a thing, however good his intentions might have been. But she wasn't thankful for his bringing it up, and the feelings all negated each other.
For a few minutes, as they went down the stairs, it got colder, the deeper they got. But soon enough, Joseph led her to a door, and when she stepped through it, she felt much more comfortable. Physically, at least.
The place that Joseph had taken her was a giant hallway. Farther down it were at least two intersections, and at the very end was a stairwell that she could see lead both down and up.
"What is this place?"
"This is where I work." Joseph began. "It's a 38-story underground complex."
"And what exactly happens here?" Mala asked, looking down the hallway instead of at him.
"Research, mostly." He said thoughtfully.
"What kind of research?"
"Medicine, most prominently...though lately the focus has shifted towards the digimon."
Mala suddenly lit up. She'd nearly forgotten about why she came with him, she'd been so overwhelmed by where she stood.
"You said you wanted to bring them back." She said, looking back to him. "What did you mean?"
"Just that." Joseph answered. "To defeat the D-Reaper, the Monster Makers had to pull all digital life back to the digital world. Now that the threat is gone, there's no reason that they should have to stay there."
Mala approved of the idea—it was what she had hoped for. But she still had one more question before she'd even consider it.
"Why?"
"The children whose partners were sent back—they think they'll never see them again. They don't even know if they're alive. And I think they deserve to. Don't you?"
He had her with that.
"Okay. I'll help. What do you want me to do?"
--
Mala knocked on the door after a deep breath. Noria looked surprised to see her there. Noria was wearing what she usually did—the black shirt and the pair of jeans that Mala'd given her. They were one of the changes of clothes that she'd had with her when she came.
"Oh. Hi, Mala." Noria said before holding the door open for her. "Come on in."
"Hey, Noria, how are you?"
"Getting by. You?"
"Life stays interesting." Mala replied after some thought.
"So what occasions the visit?" Noria asked.
Ow.
Straight to the point. Oh well. "Well, I'm sure you've heard about T—about Cronus's friend waking up."
"Yeah, I saw him yesterday." She answered with a snicker. Mala wasn't sure she even wanted to know what had happened.
"Well, I know there's going to be some disagreements around town about him staying here, and I'd like to know where you stand."
"Fair enough." Noria smirked. "Well, you know how I don't approve about outsiders."
Crap.
"You don't seem to really disapprove of me." Mala noted.
"Yeah, but you're a special case." Noria tried to explain.
Mala wasn't sure what she meant, but did not want the conversation to lead to a 'Mala's-an-outsider-too' direction, so she made a mental note to think on it later.
"You've done a lot of good here, is what I mean." Noria went on. Mala would have blushed if she wasn't so nervous. She found Noria intimidating as hell. She had a way about her that Mala found downright scary sometimes.
"Thanks." Mala told her.
"But you know how many problems our village has—just yesterday, someone told me that they saw one of the monsters outside of the forest. Not by much, mind you, but it came out from under the trees." Noria said seriously. "They never do that."
"What are you implying?" Mala asked carefully.
"I've no reason to think there's a connection between him and them, I'm just reporting what I've been told." Noria said defensively.
"Okay. Sorry." Mala told her. "What's the verdict on Takato, then? He hasn't done anything wrong."
"Well, he hasn't given me any reason to trust him." Noria started. "But he hasn't given my any reason to think he's a threat, so I'll give him a chance. I certainly don't think he's the savior Cronus thinks he could be, but he can stay. For now."
"Thank you."
"Please don't. I don't trust him any more than I trust Cronus. So tell both of them to watch what they do."
"Alright. I will."
With very little else, Mala left Noria's house, and after a minute of breathing deep, she let out the smile she didn't expect to come.
--
"So how long have you been a Tamer?" Joseph asked her.
The question took her by surprise. Mala never really thought of herself as a Tamer. To her, the tamers were the kids that the news talked about. The kids that helped.
"A few months ago, I was at the zoo after school." She told him. "I don't know why I went, but I did. I was looking at the monkeys when I heard something behind me. When I turned, I saw Tigremon standing there, not two feet away from me. A lot of people saw him, and they were scared. I heard people panicking, and screaming, and saw them run away, but I didn't even flinch."
Joseph smiled at her, and she realized how passionate and reminiscent she must have sounded.
"It was a long time ago." She mumbled, embarrassed.
"How old are you?" he asked, letting her off the hook by changing the subject. "Fourteen, fifteen?"
"Fifteen." Mala answered.
Joseph nodded. "Do you know a girl named Rika?"
Mala thought for a moment, but told him she didn't after she realized she'd never even heard the name before.
"Should I?"
"Probably not, I guess." He seemed awkward then, but before Mala could ask who she was, a man walked in.
"Nonaka?" the man called to him.
"Yes, Alex?"
"Who's this?" the man asked Joseph, indicating Mala. The man was slim and tall, and wore a white lab coat.
"This is Mala. She's going to help me with my project to open the digital portals."
Mala stepped forward. "Nice to meet y—"
But Alex cut her off. "We've been over this. We decided that pursing that project doesn't make sense."
Joseph sounded irritated. "No, you said it doesn't make sense. I still happen to think that it's worth doing. Besides, Alex, I'm funding it, so this doesn't affect you in any way."
Mala heard Alex curse under his breath as he stormed out of the room.
"I'm sorry about him." Joseph told her.
"What's his problem?"
Joseph laughed a little. "The people here—we don't get out very much."
Mala had already noticed that, but she wasn't quite sure why, so she asked.
"Why not?"
"We're kind of top-secret. Legally, most of us are dead."
Mala hadn't expected that to be the answer. That morning she'd been eating half eaten muffins people'd left on tables at a crappy restaurant, and now she was mingling with people who are hiding out from the world.
She was there for several weeks, helping Joseph with his research. There was little she was trained to do, but Joseph insisted her participation in the many scans, and the answering of his questions, and allowing him access to her D-Arc was helping immensely.
One day, her curiosity got the best of her.
"So who is she?" Mala asked.
"Who?" Joseph asked, not looking up from his work.
"The girl you asked me about."
Joseph did look up, then, but not at her. He seemed to just be thinking. "Rika. She's my daughter. She's your age." He returned to his work.
"So why'd you think I'd know her?" Mala asked.
Joseph looked around before beckoning her over. She did, and he whispered to her, "She's a Tamer, too. Alex doesn't know, though. If he did, he'd insist I bring her in on this project."
"Why don't you?"
"I only need one assistant." He said, smiling at her.
Mala actually felt her heart warm then. Her own father had died when she was a little girl from a tumor in his brain. Not that she was looking to replace him, or anything, but she found it nice to have someone there who wanted to take care of her.
"So why'd you ask me instead of her?"
"You looked to be needing the help." He said with a grin.
Mala smiled a little, too, and was filled with a sudden rush of appreciation for his taking her in.
"Thanks, by the way."
"For what?" he asked coyly, returning to his work.
--
Mala was doing some sewing when Takato came by later that afternoon.
"Hey, what's up?" Takato asked casually.
"Not a lot. It turns out I kick ass at problem solving." She said just as casually, getting a laugh of Takato.
"Do I want to know?"
"Probably, but I'm trying to get my mind off of it for now." Mala was telling the truth. She sewed primarily to distract herself from other thoughts, and it was coming in handy. "So what do you think of Cronus?"
"I think he's a good guy." Takato said with a nod.
"I'm glad."
"Yeah, me too."
"So how'd you sleep?"
"Not bad at all, actually."
"That's good."
"Yeah. Anyways, yesterday, you asked me to come by today?"
Mala looked up, accidentally pulling the needle away from the thread.. "Yeah. It's just—I know it's difficult—adapting to this place. I just wanted to make sure that you're doing okay."
Takato nodded, but didn't say anything.
Mala went on. "Well, you know where I live if you need me. Cronus too. Both of us are here if you need us, and even when you don't. The others in the village are still worried that you might be a danger somehow, but they're coming around. You've got your work cut out for you if you plan on having Noria as a lifetime friend, but, given our situation, I'd say things are going well."
Takato suddenly smiled a little bit. "Are you always this optimistic?"
She didn't answer, threaded the needle effortlessly, and went back to work.
--
"You don't get to see her, do you?" Mala asked suddenly. "Your daughter, I mean."
Joseph frowned. "No, not really. I see her, I mean. But she—she doesn't get to see me."
"I'm sorry." Mala told him. "It must be hard."
Her father figure nodded. "Yeah. It makes it easier that I'm so proud of her, though. If this project goes through, I'll have done enough here to quit and finally go see her—and have her be able to see me."
Mala was glad that he was making the best of his situation. "Okay, so are we ready to try this?"
"I think so." Joseph said carefully, after double-checking his figures.
On the rail behind Mala was her backpack, but they both looked past it and down to the portal generator. It just looked like a large platform. If all worked well, a portal would open on it, and the digital and real worlds would be connected again.
"Okay." Joseph said, nervously. "I'll go in, and activate the beacon. When I do, it should send enough power back to this world to open the gates that were here in the city a few months ago." He indicated the map, and repeated the same thing he'd told her over and over the past few weeks. She didn't mind hearing him say it, though. "Now the portals in this area here," he said, indicating the forest next to the city park. "the portals in this area are the ones we're going to try opening. Wish me luck."
"Good luck Joseph." Mala said. She was extremely excited. She hadn't had anything to look forward to in a very long time. Mala activated the switch, and she and Joseph looked over the rail to the platform—and sure enough—a grey sphere suddenly appeared—the portal.
Just then, Alex stormed in, a look of pure fury on his face. "You idiot!" he hissed. "You damn near killed us all!"
"What are you talking about?"
"You opened a portal to my project!"
"You mean you've been—" Joseph began. He got cut off, though, when Alex raised a gun that fired two darts containing a red liquid into Joseph's neck. "Valn you—"
"No!" Mala called.
Alex's expression of anger hadn't changed since he'd entered the room. Mala hadn't moved at all—was too scared to. She moved though, when Alex planted his right foot into her ribs, and she felt her back hit the rail as she fell backwards. Her backpack, too, fell down, and the last thing she saw before she entered the portal was him looking down at her.
--
Well, that's chapter 5 for you. The way things are looking, the next chapter is going to be a longer one, but it'll make sense of Cronus for you all.
Review if you enjoyed, and thanks for reading.
-N