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If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap.

If you want happiness for a day, go fishing.

If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune.

If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.

- Chinese Proverb

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Thanks for all the support, everybody who reviewed chapter 6. I was scared nobody'd like the twist with Cronus. I hope you enjoy this one!

-N

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"I saw it! Cronus is one of the monsters!" Noria repeated.

Oh shit.

Takato froze up as he watched them advance. There were a few dozen of them. He could barely hear Cronus try to explain to them what had happened, and Cronus was right next to him. Takato looked frantically through the crowd to see Mala, but he only got a glimpse of her before she was overwhelmed by the mob. One of them grabbed Cronus's arm, and Takato saw Cronus jerk it back in response. Immediately after, six more arms grabbed at him, and then four more.

Noria must have followed us. She thinks Guilmon's one of the monsters. She thinks Cronus is one of the monsters.

Seeing as how the village was not listening to Cronus's or his own protests, Takato decided to try to give his partner a better fighting chance, and reached into his pocket and produced his D-Arc and touched it to Cronus's hand in hopes that he'd be able to revert to Guilmon and defend himself, but to no avail. Takato had also hoped that Cronus would at least be able to repel them in the same way that he had repelled the monster. But he didn't change. Takato had at least expected Cronus to fight them off as he had the real monster, but something told him that it wouldn't happen. And it didn't.

"Takato!" Cronus called as more people grabbed him and pulled at him violently.

"Get off of him!" Takato shouted, swatting the advancing mob away. The crowd immediately began to go after Takato at that time, starting with someone grabbing him around the waist. Takato spun out of it and swung his elbow into the face of the man who'd done it, followed with a kick between the legs of another who was fast approaching. But all too soon, Takato, too had been removed from the fight. He could barely see through the crowd that moved as one, but he struggled to see if Cronus and Mala were all right. But he couldn't.

Takato struggled fiercely, until he received a strong punch to the stomach by a large man, who then grabbed him from behind and covered his mouth. He tightened his grip as Takato flailed, but proceeded to drag him after the mob. Takato had no choice but to succumb to his captor and see what the village's intentions were.

The mob moved towards the center of the village, with Takato and his captor immediately behind. Takato managed to turn his head to the right just enough to see Mala in a very similar predicament, who shot Takato a look of confusion and terror that only took a moment to communicate. Takato tried not to look into her eyes and to remain focused.

She has even less of an idea what's going on than I do.

They eventually arrived at a house Takato had walked by many times, but when everyone began to enter, Takato began to wonder its purpose. Four dozen people shouldn't be able to fit into any of those shacks. But when Takato's captor pulled him inside, Takato saw that it was empty except for a spiraling dirt ramp that led down. Takato didn't move as he was forced down, and at the bottom, he saw that Cronus had been thrown into a cell. Takato looked to the boy's face and saw blood above his ear, that was running down his cheek. Cronus himself looked dizzy, and struggled powerfully not to fall over. Whenever he stumbled to an edge of the cell, though, he was either punched, kicked, or shoved by the villagers who were nearest.

"Stop it!" Mala screamed.

Mala was next to Takato, and they were both held by large men. Takato looked forward to see that the villagers had complied to her request, and took a step back from Cronus, who fell to the ground weakly. Takato saw the crowd shuffle as Noria forced her way into view, in front of Takato and Mala.

Noria nodded to the men, and they let Takato and Mala go, and pushed them forward. Takato stumbled and fell to his knee, but Mala stood strong.

"Noria, why are you doing this?" Mala asked desperately.

"He's a danger to us, Mala." Noria said flatly. "I told you from day one that he was, but you wouldn't believe me."

"He's not a danger!" Takato protested, standing up. "He killed another of the monsters."

"And became one!" Noria hissed at him fiercely.

Mala turned to him. "Takato, what's she talking about?"

Takato didn't have time to explain the situation to Mala, not that he could, as he knew little more than she did. But when Noria turned to Mala as she spoke, Takato lunged forward in anger, tackling her down.

Noria flailed, and kicked Takato in the stomach, who stumbled back and was grabbed by one of the villagers. Noria didn't smirk as she stood up, and looked at him.

"He'll be executed in two days." She said quietly.

Takato's heart sank as he absorbed her words, and looked to Cronus, who he couldn't see through the crowd. As Noria walked past him and up the ramp, the crowd followed her, leaving Takato and Mala alone with Cronus.

Takato looked to Mala, whose eyes welled up with tears. He didn't console her though, but instead ran to the door of the cell, which he tugged at in vain, as it was locked tightly.

"Damn it." Takato cursed.

He looked inside the cell. Cronus was lying in the middle of it.

"Cronus? Cronus!" Takato called at him.

Takato saw the blonde boy's leg move slightly, and then his whole body as he slowly shifted into a sitting position.

"Cronus, are you alright?" Mala asked, approaching the cell.

"No." Cronus said weakly, rubbing his head. "Takato they have it all wrong, I never—"

"I know you didn't hurt any of them, buddy. You've saved them, and me."

"I want to know what's going on." Mala said with a very serious tone in her voice.

Takato looked at her, then to Cronus, then back to her. "Mala, Cronus is a digimon."

"What?" she asked, indignantly. "I've seen digimon, Takato. He's not like one."

"I know he's not like one." Takato looked to him, then back to Mala. "He's gotten his memories back."

Her eyes widened, and she looked to Cronus, who lowered his gaze to the floor.

"He's my partner." Takato said finally. "He's Guilmon."

Mala stared him down. "How could a digimon become a human?"

Takato looked right back at her. It suddenly occurred to him that Mala hadn't explained to him how she knew about the digital world, or anything else related to it.

"Mala," he asked quietly, "Who are you?"

--

"Excuse me?" Mala was shocked. "Who am I? You're the one who just fell from the damn sky!"

She moved to the lock and tugged at it to distract herself, but Takato wasn't giving this up.

"And how did you get here? You knew about the digital world. I want to know how? How did you know about the beacon? Are you a Tamer? How do you know so much about this place?"

"I don't know anything about this place!"

"Mala, I want the truth."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Takato was being extremely hypocritical. He had told her just as little as she'd told him, and he was accusing her of hiding things. Takato knew that she didn't want to talk about how she got to where she was. It wouldn't help them out, at any rate. Apparently the beacon had been more successful than she'd thought a few months ago when she activated it—Takato said it did indeed connect the digital and real worlds again. But how she got there was none of his business. For all she knew, Takato could be in league with Alex, the bastard who sent her there.

"How about you?" she snapped. "How did you get here? And why do you think that Cronus is a digimon?"

"Ow!" Cronus suddenly yelped, jumping up, and holding his hand to his head. "Damn it!"

"What happened?" Takato asked.

Cronus uttered a curse, and shook his head a little bit before looking up. "Who's Valn?" Cronus asked suddenly, causing Mala to freeze. She looked at him. She'd never mentioned Alex's name to him.

How does he know that?

"What?" Takato asked, which made Mala look at him to see the same look of shock on his face that she had on her's.

"You both know a Valn, right? Who is that?"

"How did you know—" Mala started before dropping to silence.

After sharing a look with each other, Mala was relieved when Takato decided to give the answer. "Remember the monster that was chasing after us? Valn was the scientist who made it."

"He took Ryo?" Cronus asked.

"Yeah, he did."

"I remember you left to go find him, and then you didn't come back."

Takato spoke quietly. "I got trapped on the way out. Rika and Ryo didn't have a chance unless I was behind them."

Rika?

Mala's mind tried to make the connection to where she'd heard the name before, but she just couldn't place it. She'd made the more important connection, though.

So Valn and Takato weren't on the same side.

"You stayed?" Cronus asked, apparently hurt.

After a slight pause, Takato nodded. "After I unlocked the door for them, I got trapped. But I found a portal generator, and I ran it, and then I found myself here."

Mala had been listening very carefully to what Takato had been saying. It was difficult since she could barely remember what Alex looked like, but it sounded like he'd hurt Takato and his friends as much as he'd hurt her.

"He threw me in." Mala suddenly spoke up, causing Takato and Cronus to both look at her. "Alex. Valn, I mean. He's the reason I'm here. There was a portal, and Joseph was—he was supposed to go in, and turn on the beacon. But Valn knocked him out with something, and then he grabbed me, and he—"

A tear rolled down her cheek as she relived the horror, and when she looked up, Takato was looking at her with could very well have been either sympathy or pity.

"I'm sorry." Takato finally said to her.

"It wasn't you fault." Mala said. "I just—it all happened a long while ago."

Telling Takato and Cronus how she wound up there wasn't as difficult as she thought it would be. Contrary to what she'd expected, the information could prove useful, at least if they ever made it back to the real world.

"Valn's dead." Takato said suddenly, as if he was just realizing something. Mala didn't have any reply, but instead nodded. She hated the fact that she didn't sympathize for Alex's death. But he was responsible for her being trapped in the digital world, and, as it sounded, responsible for much chaos and trouble in the lives of Takato and his friends.

As for Cronus, Mala believed it. It explained how Cronus just knew how to find Takato, and even how he was capable of defeating the monsters, something no human could have hoped to achieve. She'd never considered the possibility that he wasn't human—not that she might not have believed it if she'd considered it, but she never allowed herself to consider it, as she knew it would upset him, and it was the last thing she wanted.

"Cronus, can you break out of here?" Mala asked, trying to change the topics her mind ran through.

Cronus stood and went to the door, and pulled with much effort, but to no avail.

"Doesn't look like." He said, disappointed.

"I honestly didn't expect them to be able to take you." Takato admitted.

Cronus looked to the ground, and returned with a look of both embarrassment and shame. "I couldn't fight back. I tried to, but it just—I don't understand what happened."

Takato just nodded, but he didn't seem to understand what Cronus meant any better than Mala did.

It was Cronus who spoke again. "How long do I have?"

"Noria said two days." Takato said quietly.

"Do we have a plan? Is there anyone here we can get help from?"

Mala lit up. "Not here. But we could sent out a signal from the beacon. Maybe someone in the real world will—"

"The beacon won't go off for another three nights." Cronus interrupted.

Mala thought hard. "Do you think we can talk our way into some more time?"

"We don't have anything she wants." Cronus mumbled.

This time it was Takato who had the idea. "Our digivice." He said to Cronus. "We can promise it to her if she holds off for some more time."

He looked at Cronus for support, but when Cronus didn't answer, Takato turned to Mala for the support he was looking for.

"It's worth a shot." She admitted.

Takato walked to her and gave her his D-Arc. Mala accepted it carefully, before walking hastily up the stairs and out of the building to speak with Noria, alone. But not until she made a stop by her house.

--

"He's no danger." Mala pleaded.

"He's a monster, Mala."

"Come on, Noria, think about it. What has he done to hurt us? Any of us? We owe him for defeating some of those things out there. You know that they've been getting closer and closer lately."

"You mean since he arrived?" Noria asked defiantly.

"We don't know that he has any connection with those, and we don't have a reason to assume so." Mala retorted. "The only reason to mention Cronus in the same breath as the monsters is to say how he saved us from them."

Noria sighed and closed her eyes, before tugging at her hair anxiously. "Mala, I know you care about him, so I'd like you to know that his execution wasn't my decision."

Mala found herself believing her. Noria was pretty rude to Cronus, but then again, she was rude to most people.

"I had to tell them what I saw. Him changing into that—thing, I mean." Noria continued. "You can't blame me for that."

Sure I can.

Mala knew she shouldn't, though. However little personal relationships meant to Noria, she was trying to do the right thing, and Mala did respect her for it. She didn't have to like it, though.

"You were at the head of the mob." Mala noted out loud.

Noria's head sunk to the ground. "I had to tell them." She repeated. "I didn't get much time to think about it until the crowd cleared. The whole village wants him gone." Noria finished.

I don't.

"Then make him leave." Mala whispered.

"I already suggested that. They're scared he'll come back."

"I need you to hold the execution, then." Mala declared.

"I don't think I'll be able to—"

"I've brought a bargaining chip." Mala went on, holding up her offering.

"What's this?"

"You should have seen it. Cronus said it was a part of what happened to him back in the forest."

Noria inspected the D-Arc carefully, but eventually nodded in acceptance. "I'll get you as long as I can."

"I need at least two extra days." Mala said flatly.

"Why?" Noria questioned.

Mala didn't answer, but returned to Takato and Cronus back at the cell to await the response of the village.

"You know where I'll be when a decision has been made."

--

Mala walked down the steps to the cell, and found Cronus leaning against the wall of it, with Takato leaning against the bars. They both perked up as they saw her approach.

"Well?" Takato asked eagerly.

"Noria's talking to them. She says she'll get us as much time as she can." Mala reported.

She heard Takato mutter something nasty about Noria, but Mala chose to ignore it. She wasn't sure whose side exactly Noria was on, but wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Mala walked straight to Takato, and handed him his D-Arc. "Here."

Takato looked surprised. "You didn't need it?"

Mala broke eye-contact. "No, I didn't."

In fact she hadn't needed it—she'd made a stop by her house and given Noria her black-and-white D-Arc, and prayed that it had been too dark to see the red on Takato's. It had been a difficult item for Mala to part with—it was her last memento of Tigremon—but she knew it was for a good cause if it could help save Cronus's life.

"Okay, so say we send out a signal." Mala started. "Then what?"

The three shared looks with each other.

"We hope someone answers the call." Cronus said hopefully. When Noria had returned from her spying, and Mala had been taken by villagers who knew she would oppose the idea, Noria had made it sound like Cronus was capable of tearing down walls. But there he stood, the same innocent goofball she knew he was.

Takato opened his mouth to—what Mala assumed was, for some reason—to argue, but was suddenly cut short by Cronus screaming.

"What's wrong!" Takato and Mala both asked.

Cronus continued to scream as he dropped to the floor and began to writhe on the ground, his hands covering his ears.

Mala looked to Takato for him to do something, but his expression showed that he was as clueless as she was.

He continued to scream for another ten seconds before he stopped, but was left breathing heavily, and apparently in some physical pain.

"Cronus!" Takato called.

"Are you alright!" Mala asked desperately.

Cronus didn't curse as he had the last headache. "The beacon will work." He said flatly.

"How do you know?" Takato challenged.

"I don't know how. But I know it'll work." Was Cronus's answer that wasn't extremely encouraging for either Mala or Takato. "It will work."

Mala wanted to question for more of an assurance, and she could tell that Takato wanted to as well, but said nothing, not to take away Cronus's hope.

The three sat, discussing what their course of action would be. They concluded that Mala and Takato would both go into the forest. If the deal came through, they'd have to trust Noria to hold up on it. Takato was more than a little uncomfortable with the idea, but Mala and Cronus affirmed him that Noria wasn't one to lie about something like that.

It was a half hour of mostly awkward silences before Noria arrived.

"I've gotten you some time." She said as she entered.

"How much?" Takato asked.

"Five days."

Just enough.

If the beacon was to go off in four nights, then they could be back in time. If it worked.

It will work.

Mala paused before she smiled as she realized that she found Cronus's hope strangely infectious.

--

Takato and Mala had waited three days before they departed. They'd left very early on the day they did, the night of which was predicted that the beacon would be active. Takato had spent most of him time preparing for the trip—he'd brought some knives and bandages with him, and anything he could find that could be used in defense or to run from the monsters. Mala, however, had spent most of her time worrying about Cronus.

Takato had been pretty shocked to hear that Valn was responsible for Mala's situation. He wondered how many other people in the village were connected to Valn in some way.

They made sure to take the same path that Cronus and Takato had taken before, and stayed very alert of their surroundings as they spoke. He hadn't pressed Mala for many more details, but did volunteer some of his own situation. He told her of how Valn had used a virus to create a monster that hunted one of his friends. And how another of his friends was infected by the same virus.

He told her about Jeri, the girl who he'd last seen unconscious almost two months ago on a hospital bed. He told her about Guilmon, the adventures that they'd had together, and how happy Takato had been to see that he was still around.

"So how'd you get to be this way?" Takato asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Mala sounded confused.

"Helping me out when you had no idea who I was. Same with Cronus. Volunteering for a dangerous mission that might not work—how'd you get like this? I'm curious."

"Well, how did you?" Mala countered.

Takato hadn't really thought about it, but spoke as he figured it out. "My friends had always looked to me to lead. I don't know why, either. My friend Henry was way more mature than I was when the whole situation started. So I guess I just had to learn to do what was right when I had people counting on me." Takato was pretty satisfied with his answer. He still felt the shame of all the lies he'd told his friends back when he was helping Yamaki study Valn's monster, but ignored it.

"My partner was killed by the D-Reaper's agents." Mala suddenly volunteered.

Takato looked at her and reflected silently. In that moment all he could think of was Jeri, and how hard it was for her to go through. But Mala went on sorrowfully. "Tigremon and me—we were fighting them off, and we were doing pretty well. But we looked up, and we saw a Sakuyamon charging towards the D-Reaper itself."

Rika.

Takato hadn't thought that Mala had really been a Tamer, let alone part of the D-Reaper battle.

"There were agents coming in from behind her." Mala continued, not looking directly at Takato. "They were moving fast. And Tigremon jumped up to protect her. He took out the first one, but the second one—"

"I'm so sorry." Takato interrupted.

"When I'd stopped screaming, I realized that I'd dropped my weapon, and I was surrounded. Backed against a wall. I thought I was going to die, but—but a Justimon came, and he saved me."

Yes, that would be just like him.

Mala looked confused, but continued. "But then, he—the Justimon—he turned into two things. A boy and a digimon. He'd saved my life, and had acted like it was no big deal. He said he was just doing what was right. It was all I could think about for the longest time. They both left very shortly after they'd saved me, but I kept thinking about it. I'd never actually been inspired by anyone before then. So I promised myself I'd do what was right whenever I could. I guess that's why I'm this way. Because of him."

"Ryo does tend to have that effect on people." Takato admitted.

"You know him!" Mala was stunned.

"Both of them." Takato said, still walking. "The Sakuyamon was my friend Rika. The Justimon—well, the guy, was Ryo."

"Ryo—you mean the one who was infected by Valn?"

Takato nodded. "Yeah."

"Is he okay?"

"Valn had kidnapped him shortly after I found out he was infected. By the time I found Valn's lab, Ryo was cured of it, but locked up. Rika had gone after him too, and when we were all escaping, the building started to come down. And it sounds like you know how far underground this thing was. I told Rika and Ryo some lie about having to destroy the virus once and for all, and ran to the bottom of the complex. Told them I'd meet them up top." Takato was reliving the events as he retold them to her. "Valn had locked the building down. The only way to open the doors for them to escape was from the bottom. When I opened it for them, I got trapped. But then I found a portal, and I took it. That's how I got here."

Mala nodded solemnly. "Are they alright?"

Takato sighed quietly. "I don't know. I got the exit open, but I have no idea if they got there. We were really far underground."

Mala looked upset. "When we get back, will you thank him for me?"

Takato smiled at her. "I'm sure you'll be able to thank him yourself."

Takato had found a new respect for Mala. He had never guessed that she'd saved one of his friends, and been saved by another. As they continued through the forest, he thought of how things might have been different if she'd met up with him and his friends before going to the digital world—if she'd been part of their group.

The trip was long and tiring, but they arrived at the location of the beacon that afternoon, and camped out until night. Takato knew they both had plenty they could speak of, but neither did—they both sat anxiously and waited for the light to flash on.

Takato was resting his eyes.

"Takato?" Mala whispered.

Before he opened them, he could see that something was starting to give off light, as he saw a bright red from underneath his eyelids. As he slowly opened them, he saw that the source was, as he'd expected, the bright blue he'd seen for weeks. It was pulsing on and off just as it had before.

"So what do we do?" Takato asked Mala, who he knew had done this before.

"When I did it, I walked over and touched it." She said, not taking her eyes off of it.

Takato slowly and fearfully walked to the light, and when he got close enough, he could see that the source of it was a small blue orb the size of his fist.

Here goes.

He reached forward and put his hand on it. The light grew even more blinding than it was, and Takato slowly backed up, and moved Mala behind him to protect her as best he could.

But when the beacon grew brighter, the light it gave off was sent directly at Takato and Mala, and they could barely see at all. He squinted and held his hand over his face and managed to see a figure emerging from the light.

Takato knew that it could be help, and what was happening was exactly what they'd been hoping for, but he still found himself terrified. He grit his teeth and braced for some kind of pain—

—until he heard the figure speak.

"Takato…?" a familiar male voice asked in disbelief, stepping out of the light.

Takato squinted past the bright blue light that silhouetted the slim figure, but when the portal closed and Takato's eyes refocused, he found himself staring into the face of Henry Wong.

"Henry!" Takato asked, shocked. "How'd you get here?"

"I was able to open a portal when a massive amount of energy was sent to the real world from this place." Henry said, looking around. "Who's this?" he asked, looking to Mala.

"Her name's Mala." Takato answered.

"It's nice to meet you. My name's Henry Wong." Henry said, extending his hand, which she took carefully before shaking. When they let go, Henry retuned his stare to Takato. "Takato, how did you get here?"

Takato stifled a laugh. "I don't know where to begin."

"Why don't you start from the beginning?" Mala suggested carefully.

"Well, when the lab collapsed, I found a portal generator. It dropped me a few hundred feet that way." Takato said, indicating a direction.

"So the portal opened up in the air?" Henry asked, dumbfounded.

Takato winced as he recalled. "Yeah. That one uh…" he stammered before he grinned. "That sucked."

"Sounds like." His friend murmured. A moment passed. "Takato?"

"Yeah?"

"How did you survive?"

Takato stopped smiling at the question as he seemed to think very deeply.

Cronus.

--

Wooh! Now we're getting somewhere.

Please review if you enjoyed it!

Another thing—by the end of the story, would you rather have Takato's partner to stay in the digital world as Guilmon, or return to the real world with Takato as Cronus?

'Til next time,

-N