120

To Press on Together

"Over the souls of men spread the condor wings of colossal monsters and all manner of evil things prey upon the heart and soul and body of Man. Yet it may be in some far day the shadows shall fade… And till then mankind can but stand up stoutly to the monsters in his own heart and without…" – Robert E. Howard, "Wings in the Night"

For a few seconds a beam of light hovered on the corridor wall as Anubimon and the Chosen Children gathered round, then it faded, leaving the group in darkness. This section of the monastery seemed not to have taken as much damage as had been the case elsewhere. The blackness would have been total if not for the faint glow from Anubimon.

"Daisuke-san is here?" Takeru asked. Hikari nodded, and Anubimon prepared his attack. The children's faces stood out ghostly in the greenish glow.

"Ammit!"

The roaring beams ate hungrily into the wall. Soon the light vanished, and the roaring with it, though in the dark stillness that followed the group could hear what sounded like dripping water. Hikari tensed at the sound, but it stopped almost immediately, and as they stood there the children's dazzled eyes tried to pierce the darkness. They felt a breath of frigid air upon them, distinct from the habitual coolness of the monastery's rooms and hallways. It was as if they had opened a door to a wintry night. To Anubimon something about this felt familiar, stirring in his heart a vague foreboding. He summoned his little spark, and the room beyond the broken wall shone a steely blue.

They saw something in the room's center, a dark shape they couldn't immediately recognize. It did not stir, and it wasn't until the breathless silence was broken by a low sound that they realized what it must be. And yet…

The sound came again – a boy's quiet sobbing. It chilled them fully as much as the air did. Takeru was the first to move, and Ken followed him through the aperture. One of Takeru's feet slipped a little on the icy floor, and he winced at the pain in his wounded leg. Together the pair approached slowly, partly because of the slick stone and partly from trepidation, half expecting to see something horrific. But it was only Daisuke, apparently unharmed, though doubled over, shins and fists against the ground, head bowed, his tears dripping onto the ice.

"Daisuke…-san?" Takeru said softly.

Slowly, Daisuke half rose and lifted his face. Incredible though it seemed after the destruction of the wall and the light that followed, apparently he had only now realized that he was no longer alone.

"Takeru? Ichijouji?" Quickly he wiped at his face with the back of his hands and looked at them with clear eyes. "Then—everyone else…"

"They're all okay," Takeru said, smiling.

"Hikari-chan and—" Daisuke began, looking past them to those standing in the hall.

"But, are you alright?" Ken asked.

"They got out," Daisuke murmured to himself, as if he hadn't heard. "Of course. Better off without me."

"Motomiya, what—"

"It's not alright!" Daisuke interrupted him. "I couldn't save her. I couldn't do anything. Just like I couldn't help anyone else."

"You couldn't save…" Takeru began.

"Nat-chan!" Daisuke answered, with something like anger. Then his expression changed. His eyes stared straight ahead into distance. "…You never met her," he said softly. "No one ever saw her except… me… But I couldn't…" He closed his eyes and drove the heel of his hand into his forehead. He'd begun to tear up again. "Ah! Useless! Everyone would be better off without me."

The other Chosen Children said nothing, too mystified by the outburst. But for Anubimon understanding was dawning.

"I saw her," he said. "Natsu, right?"

Daisuke opened his eyes and looked in Anubimon's direction, as if noticing him for the first time.

"Who are you?"

"I am Anubimon. A friend."

"He's been helping us escape," Hikari explained.

"You… knew Nat-chan?" Daisuke asked.

"I met her, but only briefly. I don't know her story, but I am sorry to hear that she is dead. I pity her – it must have been hard. He killed her, didn't he?"

"He?" said Daisuke, a fire lit in his eyes.

"The Dark One," Anubimon said, nodding. "The being that defeated your partner Digimon." All six of the Chosen Children looked at him. "I was there."

"Armadimon…" said Iori.

"Hawkmon…" said Miyako.

On their faces and the faces of Hikari, Ken, and Takeru mingled emotions played – sorrow, anger, fear… For Takeru, it was anger that gained the upper hand.

"That thing…!" he muttered, fists clenched. "Where could something like that have come from? Not a Digimon… but so powerful… Could it have come from this world?"

"I do not think it did," Anubimon said. "But this can be discussed later. For now the Dark One is distracted, but he may not remain so for long. Let us hurry while we have the chance to escape."

Most of the children nodded, but before any of them moved—

"What's the point?"

All eyes returned to Daisuke where he knelt upon the ice, his head hung forward. A few seconds of stunned silence passed.

"Daisuke…kun…" The shock that came through in Hikari's voice expressed what all her friends were feeling. Miyako was next to find her voice.

"What do you mean what's the point?" she asked, her voice shaky and indignant.

"What can we do if we get out of here?" Daisuke responded. "Without V-mon and the others, we can't fight. We'll just get killed, or put right back in here."

"This isn't like you, Daisuke-san," Takeru said, sounding troubled.

"Doesn't matter!" Daisuke said angrily. He still did not raise his eyes. "I don't hear anyone answering me. All we can do is run and hide, and watch everything we care about die. If that's the way it is… I'd rather just stay here!"

"M-Motomiya," Ken stammered, "We've never given up before. There were times…" But he didn't finish the sentence. There had never been a time like this, and he couldn't pretend that wasn't the case.

"There were times when we wanted to give up before," Iori said, speaking up in Ken's place. "But you never let us, Daisuke-san. Even though the situation looked hopeless."

Daisuke said nothing. He still didn't look up, and the others watched him, unsure of what more to say.

Iori's right, Daisuke thought. But V-mon is gone. I watched Nat-chan die and couldn't do anything. Could I go through that again if the next time it was Hikari-chan, or any of them? Without V-mon, I'm useless. I can't fight those monsters on my own. I'm stupid – Takeru and the rest all know that. I don't want to give up. But… but… Tears trembled once more at the corners of his eyes, when a solemn voice cut into his reflections.

"I have been where you are, Motomiya Daisuke." It was Anubimon speaking. "For a long time I had given up. Only when the situation seemed darkest did I manage to break free of my despair. I can't tell you with certainty that it made a difference in the end, because I do not know the future. But, for my heart…"

"Yeah." Finally Daisuke raised his head and looked at his friends. His face was grim, but free of tears. "That's right. If I give up now, V-mon died for nothing. Maybe things haven't been this bad before, but that doesn't mean I should do things differently. And besides… If I gave up now, there's no way I could pay that bastard back, for V-mon, and Nat-chan."

Takeru gave a grim nod, and offered his hand. Taking it, Daisuke got to his feet, and, accompanied by Anubimon, the Chosen Children left the chill of that room behind them.

Their race through the hallways of the monastery felt almost like a dream – less real than the nightmares they had lately suffered. The fate of their friends no longer in doubt, each of the children felt a kind of emotional exhaustion. They had nearly reached their physical limit as well. It occurred to a few of them to wonder how they could still move at all after a full day without food. Had something been administered to them while they were unconscious? Of course, Sato wouldn't have wanted them to starve to death. It would have ended his sport too quickly.

The mysterious white light had appeared less often the longer the search for the imprisoned Chosen Children had lasted, but Hikari could feel the power of which it was a manifestation still with her. The personality that was half hers and half something else seemed to know the way, even without the guiding beam's presence.

Twice the group had to negotiate a stretch of fallen rock. In these places a definite unease rose to the surface of their numbed hearts, for both times it meant a rift in the ceiling. Takeru and Ken had told the others of the terrible battle raging above them. Anubimon aided them in crossing the rubble as quickly as possible. He didn't want to have to deal with Demon until they could find a way to get clear of the monastery. Once outside, the deceptively rugged terrain would help conceal them from his gaze. Of greater concern was the Dark One, whose eyes saw much, and perhaps saw all.

For now Anubimon kept his worst misgivings to himself. And a few minutes after leaving the second stretch of debris behind, his thoughts turned to more immediate concerns. Neither he nor the Chosen Children said anything, but before long they had all discerned a faint glow up ahead, and each became fully alive to the situation.

That it really was a light, rather than the dull gray visibility of the outer world, was evident, though it was too dim and too pale to determine its color. Anubimon was the first to realize what it might mean. The group's speed had slackened, and at his whispered word they all stopped completely.

"What is it?" Iori asked.

"I don't know," Anubimon answered, "but it could be this base's control room. Sato would have a screen installed." It occurred to him as strange that in all his wanderings through the monastery he had never come across it. The place's strange atmosphere must indeed have had him mazed.

"Alright," Daisuke said under his breath. "He might be in there."

"Wait," said Anubimon. He turned to Hikari, who had remained the foremost of the group and was now gazing down the corridor with a set expression. "Is this truly the way?"

She nodded. "It's important that we go this way," she said. "There's something…" Her voice trailed off as she sought for words to explain what that sixth sense told her. It was Anubimon's turn to nod.

"Then let us press forward. I will take the lead."

Slowly they approached the glow. All of the children were tense. Hikari wondered if Sato Katsu really was waiting for her in that control room, and stifled a shiver at the thought. Surely he could do nothing to harm her, or anyone, with Anubimon and all the others present, but still she dreaded to face him again, as she might dread the presence of a contagion.

Anubimon was first to cross the threshold, but the Chosen Children pressed close behind him, all intent on seeing what lay within. The room was large and dome-like, the largest room they had yet seen, and the light issued from a large screen that seemed to hang in midair, but every gaze focused instantly on the figure standing before it.

Almost immediately after they made him out, Sato Katsu in turn realized that there were intruders in the room. He looked quickly in the group's direction, half turning, and for an instant there was an expression on his face none of them had seen before. Only in Hikari did it awake a dim sense of familiarity, but in the tension of the moment she took no time to wonder at it. Though caught off guard, in the next moment Sato had recovered from his surprise, and his face was set once more in the cold mask his victims had come to associate with him.