Shattered Light

By: Linkmaste

Chapter Twenty Seven: A Broken Curse, A Goodbye, and A New Guardian

Author's Note: Remember how I said that I don't ever bring dead people back?

I lied. Er-sorta.

Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon. I do not own Fate or Destiny BWG owns them. I own Lindy, Naomi, Eve, Iro, Azazel, Domovoi and...him.

The joyous cries went all around. Everyone was jumping for happiness and hugging one another in glee. Witchmon and Wizardmon hugged Alphamon and CalvisAngemon happily. Lucemon CM let out a breath feeling relieved that the group made it out alive. They saved almost all the eggs. A few had been deleted at first, but without their help, so many more would've been lost. All of them were piled upon themselves near the digi-egg statue twitching and buzzing-like they knew something good had occured. Several baby digimon babbled happily in the arms of Witchmon and Wizardmon. None of them were harmed.

The hybrid counter-parts ran up to Kashimon and Allocenmon with awe blooming on their faces. They took in the new forms giving it a once over.

"You guys look so sick." Wizardmon breathed looking up.

"Tsh, you know it." Allocenmon folded his arms, but jolted and widened his eyes as he doubled over. A bright burst of violet light came from within him and Mako fell to the ground with an exhausted Yaamon in his hands. Mako felt exhausted too, but it was such an incredible rush being a digimon. No wonder the others enjoyed Biomerging. Mako still felt his heart racing from flying in battle-it was one thing to fly with Beelzemon and Lindenmon but to actually be in control of the flying was a new territory. Needless to say, Mako was in love with it.

Kashimon parted as well, and Ai fell on her butt with Lindy's in-training form in her arms-a dark blue Yaamon with a sad expression. She looked up at Ai with light green eyes.

"I hate this form! I feel useless."

"Well, you weren't useless just a second ago. You did great."

Lindy blushed. "You did too, Ai. We're an amazing team."

Then something strange happened between Yaamon and Lindy. A soft flood of light came from within them and two devices appeared. The first was from Lindy and it was a sea green and white D-Arc with golden digi-runes inscribed onto the device. It looked so shiny and new. Ai made a noise that sounded like a shriek and a laugh of happiness.

"We get new D-Arcs!"

The second light came from Yaamon which was purple and black D-Arc with silver digi-runes on the sides as well. Mako made a sigh of relief, taking the device from mid air.

"We can tell the difference finally between both of our D-Arcs."

"They look cooler, too. I approve of 'em." Yaamon gave a nod.

The battle had finished and everyone had started to change back to normal. The only thing that anyone agreed on was to clean up the village. While most of the work was done by Destiny, Fate, and the Ancient Ones, the Tamers, digimon and hybrids worked together to make sure all the eggs were in their proper place. A few introductions were made with Witchmon and Wizardmon to the group who waved happily at the large array of digimon, Tamers, and group leaders. Some waved back, others nodded their head at them.

"Thank you for protecting those eggs. You two, Alphamon, Lucemon and CalvisAngemon saved so many lives. Dominimon would be proud of you all." Takato said looking at the group. The two magical champions accepted the complement without asking much about Dominimon. Lucemon rolled his eyes saying that the Tamer shouldn't get used to the charity acts while CalvisAngemon bowed at the complement. Alphamon put a hand on Takato and Guilmon,

"Who would think my newest recruited Royal Knights held so much potential...you two will have to tell me your story."

As well, Fate and Destiny introduced themselves to Ai, Mako, Lindy, and Yaamon. Giving a polite bow, they explained they were the voices in their D-Arcs when they were in the alternate reality. The quartet was surprised by Fate's appearance looking like an exact replica of Impmon with Lindy's same sea green eyes. Lindy could tell the twins were looking between them and the copy cat of Impmon excitedly.

"We wanted to help you more, but our prophecy restricted us." Destiny held a straight face but her eyes told a different story. They were apologetic.

"Also, we're jerks and wanted to see you struggle." joked Fate, earning a glare from Yaamon.

"...Ya not like our kid from another dimension thingy, are ya?"

Fate rolled his eyes.

"Hardly. No resemblance and I am way better looking."

"Are ya freakin' serious? I am the hotter one by a mile!"

"Oh, boy." Lindy groaned along with Mako and Ai. Here we go they all thought.

Ai and Mako were disappointed by Fate not being related to Lindy and Yaamon. Lindy blushed profusely which ended up with a beet red in-training trying to cover her face with her 'ears'.

"Would you two quit it already? Impy and I will have children when we're ready. Stop pushing it!"

When everything was cleaned up, a few moments were taken for everyone to explain their stories and what had been going on. Takato, Rika, Henry, Terriermon, Renamon, and Guilmon told everyone of the trials, Vulcanusmon, and Dominimon. Ai, Lindy, Mako, and Yaamon told them of their adventures in the alternate reality. When it came to breaking Rose out of jail from Rika and Renamon, the fiery Tamer looked pissed.

"I end up being some stupid brat with a grudge! I wish I can go kick her ass and teach her a lesson."

"At least you're alive." Takato groaned. The other reality sounded terrible. Guilmon gave a small whine in sympathy.

"And we ran away...that's the last thing we would do." Henry furrowed his eyebrows. "Can't we go there and fix it?"

"Yeah and then what? What's happened, happened." Mako shrugged.

"Besides, some good things happened there that can't here." Ai told the group thinking back to Leomon's egg. At least the Jeri there had her peace.

"Still...so many died." Terriermon looked sad.

"They're strong." Lindy said. "It will take time, but eventually it will get better."

Then Suzie and Lopmon, who changed recently, recounted how after everyone disappeared, everyone else went into a panic. Parents were mad, the others were worried, the Canadian Tamers stayed back to help out, and Yu's phone wouldn't stop ringing off the hook. Suzie and Lopmon were summoned by CalvisAngemon for a mission and were the only ones who came to the digital world. And then, Azazel struck covering them in that 'Shattered Light' spell as soon as they landed in the Sanctuary.

"He was clever to trick us into Biomerging first. Then he used CalvisAngemon to distract us and hit us with that spell." Suzie said.

Henry put a protective arm around his sister, apologizing. She shook her head, bright pink eyes looking embarrassed.

"Henry, I'm the one who should be sorry. I should understand that everyone has their own way of grieving. I was selfish to think you have to do the same thing I do. Dad would want us to get along and be family."

While the group was all talking, Fate and Destiny went over to Naomi. They had so many questions, so many comments. It was nice to actually see someone who could know all the answers. Why did the prophecy go so astray? What exactly was Azazel? Why did they withheld so much information?

"Naomi, we need to talk to you." Destiny walked up with an unsure way to approach the Ancient One. Fate was the only one who could see the nervousness in Destiny's words. The mysterious woman's bright blue eyes met with dark blue ones.

Still so young and such a way to go Naomi thought while she looked down at the duo. In a unusually soft voice, she addressed the two prophets while taking a knee,

"You and Fate have done a good job. Thank you."

Naomi lifted a hand and was about to flick her wrist.

"Wait-" Destiny and Fate cried, instantly knowing what the Ancient One was going to do.

Pop.

It was too late. Destiny and Fate had 'popped' away and just like that, all memory of Fate and Destiny was erased from everyone's minds. Naomi felt bad, but it was easier than being asked twenty questions. They had other places to be...and more prophecies to fulfill. After all, that was their duty.

"Naomi."

The Ancient One turned to her friend, the Ancient One of Life. She looked at the group with a frown chiseled into her features.

"We need to fix this mess still." Eve said.

"Yes, I know Eve. Let's gather them." replied Naomi.

"And break it down to them easily. It's going to shock them." Iro coached. He always had a more sympathetic side to living creatures. They always made him so happy to watch and he treated them like delicate china. He always considered the emotions of beings-digimon or human.

And so the Ancient Ones gathered everyone together and recounted of what Azazel was and what they were. Naomi went into the history of ENIAC and even said who UltimateChaosmon true identity was. Then, Naomi explained Azazel's obsession with creating hybrids, and how bored he had become with everything. How he had seen it all and was tired of the same thing happening over, and over again. It drove him mad.

"To think you have done everything..." Renamon muttered to herself. "And have nothing left to do but be evil...that would be the worst kind of life."

"It can be...predictable." Naomi chose her words carefully. "But the four of us strive to help balance good and evil, make prophecies go smoothly, help not alter reality and time to suit one person's needs. We wear different hats here in the digital world and even in the human world. What happens here, will definitely happen in the human world. We are not ignorant to that."

The Ancient One of Balance, Domovoi took lead into the conversation folding his arms within his cloak. The shrewd man's voice spoke,

"Apathy and ignorance lurks in all of us, threatening to turn us ill. We must hold ourselves accountable, and not abuse our freewill."

"Yes, Domovoi," Eve said. "I could have agreed more with your wisdom. We are all at risk to become like Chaos or Azazel."

"So, what are you planning to do about it?" Takato asked looking puzzled.

"Our wisest decision is to simply let this world fly. We must bid farewell and say our last goodbye." Domovoi rhymed.

"Hold on!" Rika cried. "You're all just going to leave?"

The group looked astonished at the plan of the Ancient Ones. That was it? This was their solution? To just...disappear? Domovoi went up to the young woman and put a gentle hand on her head. Rika shivered, feeling not uncomfortable but surprised. It was like a rush of power went through her body and left in seconds. The Tamer could fully understand what Renamon was talking about when she and the others met Domovoi. It wasn't a bad feeling, but his presence with the other Ancient Ones had her on edge. The last time she felt remotely like this was with the Sovereigns.

"There is more to death than any of you can comprehend. We have discussed this before and agreed: this is the end."

"But what about Azazel or UltimateChaosmon?" Henry asked. "How will we keep them from coming back?"

"There will always be new heroes to appear. Take comfort in that, Henry." Naomi put a hand on the Tamer's shoulder and he was for a moment, at a loss for words.

Domovoi looked at Witchmon and Wizardmon,

"We cannot express our deepest sympathies for your loss and the balance of your zen. Keep holding onto hope and maybe one day, you'll see your friend again."

The two looked at him with a look of hope etched onto their faces.

"As well, a promise is a promise," Naomi said. "You two have held your end of the bargain. Now, we will hold ours."

Eve, Iro, Domovoi and Naomi held hands around the two hybrids. Wizardmon looked uneasy but Witchmon gave his gloved hand a quick squeeze.

"It'll be alright."

Wizardmon grimaced, feeling the pain of his hybrid form-he had ignored it for so long now it was either be cured, or die.

"Uh, what's going on?" Takato asked. Most of the group did not know who the two champion digimon really were. They were introduced as just Witchmon and Wizardmon. Yaamon smirked,

"Watch and see, goggle head."

It was exactly like before when Lindy and Impmon were cured after defeating UltimateChaosmon. The two hybrids glowed brilliantly and levitated into the air. Closing their eyes, they let the power of the Ancient Ones do their magic. Slowly, they changed, revealing their true identities to the group. Many digimon and Tamers gasped in unison.

"Ai...Mako?" Rika looked back and forth from the twins that stood beside them to the ones that were caught in the light show.

"They're our alternate selves from the reality were stuck in." Ai explained.

"They're hybrids and Ai was cursed for years with it. The other me was changed by Azazel as well." Mako said.

Hybrid Ai changed drastically from her five year old body. Her hair grew longer, reaching past her back. As well, her body grew to the height of Makato and she had on a long white dress. Her feet were bare. Makato held no physical change but the pain of Azazel's cruel methods to transform him melted away. He could also be able to hold his form longer, and not threaten to break like Kazu did as HiAndromon.

"That's...so weird." Takato couldn't take his eyes off the scene.

"Yeah, you pretty much said it, Takato." Terriermon confirmed.

The newly cured twins looked at each other and at themselves. Tears in his eyes, Makato stared at eleven year old Ai with astonishment.

"Oh my God..."

Ai examined herself breathlessly. She spun around, taking it all in and letting out a whoop of joy. Excitement swooped in and letting the rush seize the two like a gust of wind. She jumped onto Makato for a hug. They both screamed in happiness.

"I'm normal!"

"-you're cured-"

"-I'm so big-"

"-how do you feel-"

"-amazing!"

The babbling stopped between the two. Another wide grin was appearing on their faces. They had to test out their power. In a flash of light, Witchmon and Wizardmon appeared and again, then back to the human twins. The twins looked at the Ancient Ones.

"Thank you." Ai whispered, wiping tears from her eyes. "You have no idea how much this means to us."

"We are glad you two are happy again." Iro smiled. "Brother and sister...a bond so strong. You two need not to be jealous of one another as each of you has your own strengths and weaknesses. Divided, you are not much but together...you two are powerful."

The newly cured hybrids hugged the Ancient One of Space, laughing. He stumbled back but returned the hug, laughing with them. He was a warm and hearty Ancient One, unlike the cold Naomi who turned away from the scene.

"Now, to more pressing matters." Naomi announced and looked at everyone. "The discovery of Primary Village was obviously unintended and needs to be fixed."

Everyone's expression changed to a curious one. What did Naomi mean by that?

"We cannot risk the safety of the village by all of you knowing its existence." the Ancient One of Time explained. "Therefore, we must alter everyone's memories-"

"That's bullshit!" cried Terriermon followed by various protests from everyone.

"If you are worried about our groups trying to claim this place, rest assured we have learned our lesson." Alphamon said with Mangamon beside him.

"Virus, vaccine, data, and all in-between are born here. It would be utter stupidity to endanger this place." Lucemon pointed out. Lilithmon didn't give any kind of response but by the look in her eyes, she agreed with what he said.

"We are capable of retaining this knowledge, Ancient One Naomi. Please, trust us." begged CalvisAngemon.

"What about your successors? Leaders that come after you may not have the same opinion. No. It is best if you all forgot about this place." Naomi narrowed her bright blue eyes.

"Then who will protect it? Dominimon sacrificed itself..." Guilmon hung his head low. The pain of Dominimon's demise was still fresh. A lot of the losses still were; from Impmon to even Kazu from the alternate reality. Their victory didn't happen without significant losses.

"We will assign a new guardian to this place. Do not worry."

"Will we forget everything?" Lopmon asked.

It would be horrible to simply forget everything that happened the past three weeks. A lot had changed. No one was sure if they could go back to the way it was before. It would mean no memory of the trials, the alternate reality, their new forms they achieved and all the epiphanies in-between.

"Not everything- that would be impossible." Naomi said. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "Anything about the village-it would be replaced with another memory."

"It doesn't seem like we have a choice." Renamon crossed her arms. "I do see your point Ancient Ones, but I still disagree with it."

"We're sorry." Eve gave a sad smile. "But it's for the greater good. Life is scared."

"And it's time for you two to return to your own reality." Naomi turned to the hybrids Ai and Makato. "You would want to say your goodbyes now."

The twins ran over to their counter-parts and hugged them fiercely.

"Hey, I'm sorry for being a bit of a brother hogger." hybrid Ai blushed, fidgeting with her white dress. She and the Ai looked polar opposites-from their different hair styles to their attire. Ai still had on her black jumpsuit from the casino rescue mission and hair tied back into a high braid. The other Ai had her white dress, and soft straight hair let down to her lower back.

"It's cool. I'm glad you're back to normal." Ai replied, but she caught a glance from Lindy. "...and I'm sorry for acting like a jealous brat. Can you thank Jeri for us? She was so amazing to let us stay at her house all that time..."

"No problem! Jeri is family to us." the hybrid smiled.

"Take care of everyone okay? You two have big shoes to fill." Lindy told the duo in a stern voice. "No horse playing with your forms-it's a huge responsibility."

"We will. Don't worry, we can start fixing our world little by little." Makato hugged his counter-part. "Impmon would have wanted us to do that."

"And look out for each other-ya hear me?" Yaamon glared at them but his eyes softened. "...and please look after Jeri and Leomon."

"We will." the boy hybrid smiled at the in-training. "Nothing will happen to Jeri and Leomon as long as Ai and I are around."

Naomi summoned a portal and the twins stepped inside, waving one last time at everyone. Then, they were gone. The portal disappeared.

"I'm going to miss them." Mako sighed.

"Just look in the mirror and you'll be fine." joked Yaamon. Ai and Lindy laughed.

"Now, it's time for the rest of you all to return home." Naomi set Lucemon CM, Lilithmon, Alphamon, Mangamon, CalvisAngemon all back to their respective homes. Lucemon CM gave Yaamon a stern look,

"When you are done, come back to my castle-if our memories aren't completely warped by that strange woman. We need to talk about taking turns of running the Demon Lords. Bring Daemon with you as well."

Yaamon made an eye roll when Lucemon CM left.

"I ain't babysitting some stupid demons."

"We'll do it together," Mako said. "It could be fun and I actually miss the digital world."

"I don't miss it. I want to go home-" huffed Ai, making a face that resembled someone who watched Impmon eat a stick of butter in one bite.

"You too Lindy. You're still a Holy Angel and we need to talk about what happened." called CalvisAngemon and disappeared as well.

"-well, crap. I guess I'm going too." Ai muttered. Lindy sighed and prepared to scold Ai for language again.

"You as well, Takato and Guilmon! Report back to the Royal Palace for a full report on this! We have a lot of paperwork to fill out!" Alphamon's voice echoed.

The pair groaned and Guilmon slumped to his knees, crying out he didn't even know what that meant, but it sounded horrible.

"Well, maybe it won't be too bad." mused Lindy. "If us, Takato and Guilmon were running the three groups together then we could have an excuse to all hang out."

"That's true. I was going to take a year off of school." Takato turned to his partner. "Think we can run the Royal Knights for a little bit, buddy?"

"Can I get to eat all the peanut butter I want?" the red digimon asked. "Cause that's all I really wanna do right now."

"Guilmon, I'll give you all the Nutella pockets you want when we get back." Lindy said. The digimon's eyes sparkled and he sat there looking dazed.

"Nutella..."

"Great!- You broke him, Lindy! Now he's just going to sit there and drool." Terriermon shook his head.

Everyone laughed. That was when everything slowly went white from the Ancient One's power, and it sent them back home with altered memories of Primary Village and Dominimon. To them now, both never existed. In their minds, Azazel was trying to take over the digital world instead, and the group had done a good job of imprisoning him.

Then, it was just the Ancient Ones left. They stood silent, taking in the beautiful village. The sky was back to being the brightest blue, the grass was soft and lush again, the eggs were peaceful and in the distance you could hear playful babble of the baby digimon. A new feel overcame them. It was...bittersweet.

"We still need to create a new guardian." Eve said with a hint of tenseness in her voice.

"Indeed." Iro replied.

The two turned to Naomi. Usually, she would have the answer, or at least a clue of what was going to occur. The Ancient One blinked slowly and lifted her hands with a strange smile on her lips.

"I have collected his data and kept it safe for a long time." The data in her hands appeared and glowed. She looked warmly at it. "He saved that girl's life from that program..."

"Oh, him." Eve looked surprised. She examined the data, and analyzed it. Naomi's idea was plausible, and it could work. He needed some repairs and some extra data to fill in some gaps but it was mostly there. "Will he be capable?"

"We will give him a partner to help." Naomi cupped her hands. The flecks of data swirled and flickered.

"He is not whole I see, some parts need to fulfill he." Domovoi had already examined the data and stroked his beard thoughtfully. Sometimes, after a long while in the depths of the digital world, data would separate more and combine with other data. If you tried to bring back together something that was destroyed, it was like picking out only one colour in a bowl of sprinkles. It would be almost impossible. But Naomi did a good job keeping most of it together. She must have planned this for a long time...

"Yes, I could not save all of it but with our help, he will be fine. I added our power."

The data was composing together on the ground. It looked like he was loading, with an outline of a figure being made and slowly filling up. Static crackled around it, and the wind picked up making digi-eggs shake.

By the time the data regrouped, it formed into an older man in his fifties. His body was in a white robe, and it ended at his bare feet. The man had tanned skin that was worn like old leather. His greying hair still had strands of light brown in it, and was styled like a teenager, all wavy and at the lobes of his ears. Underneath the locks, was bright blue eyes that were as beautiful as the ocean. He had a long nose and a square jaw, where a trimmed grey beard was. Even though he looked older, he moved like he was a fourteen year old boy. The man stumbled to life, looking around wildly.

"Where am I?" he asked. He held his hand and felt uncomfortable like being dunked in cold and hot water at the same time. The image of a girl with bright blonde hair and blobs of red faded from his memory but one thing remained. A name. His name. "What was I doing?"

Images and thoughts raced into his head and out. It caused him to pick the images apart and slowly understand the new form of communication. With closed eyes, he murmured back some of his orders.

"Guardian of Primary Village...take care of the baby digimon..." His eyes snapped back open. "...partner?"

Looking down, a small white creature with no arms and legs sat patiently. He had big black beady eyes, small golden wings, and a white lick of puff at the top of his head.

"Hey, what's your name little guy?" the new guardian asked, scooping up the white puff. It babbled, but strangely the man understood it.

"Puttimon? That's a strange name. I'm Ethan."

The digimon named Puttimon yipped more.

"Yes, I guess my name is odd too. Say, I have to run this village. Would you care to help?"

Puittimon yipped happily, nuzzling into the older man. He chuckled.

"Okay, 'Putts' it is then and thank you. I don't exactly know what I'm dong." Ethan looked down and saw a green glowing sword with a scabbard next to it. Picking it up, he examined it. Unknown to him that the sword was Excalibur and it belonged to his predecessor, the last courageous Dominimon.

"That looks sharp. No way safe for baby digimon. C'mon Putts, let's go put this thing away somewhere and figure out what to do next."

The two walked away, starting their adventure. They didn't notice a trickle of data leaving the village-collectively becoming one with the digital world, a promise kept by Ancient Ones to let the world move on and fly on it's own...

Author's Note: Well, that's it for the Ancient Ones. They're all gone now except for Azazel and UltimateChaosmon who are imprisoned. We said goodbye to the other Ai and Mako (who are cured), the memories of Dominimon and Primary Village are gone but at least we have kind of a familiar face to be their new guardian. Ethan, a character I have written so much about in the background but I never written him 'alive'. If only Lindy knew...

Technically, he isn't alive but...hes now just data that was absorbed into D-Reaper. Kinda like Gennai from Season One.

I listened to 'His Theme' from Undertale while editing this-and I did shed a few tears. What's with the Undertale music? I like Undertale-isn't it obvious?

Next chapter may or may not be the last chapter. It is based off how quickly I wrap everything up. We still need to address three or four final things. Rika facing Ryo, Takato facing what he will do with his life, and one final important conversation between Impmon and Jeri and...well, someone else we kinda forgot about and a little special treat for my lovely readers. See you later!