DISCLAIMER: The following story contains various themes and subject matter that may not be suitable for children under the age of thirteen. Viewer discretion is advised.

Digimon

GODFALL

By. Sonfaro

Chapter 17

A/N: Be careful of the Hurricane. Enjoy.

I'm slipping into darkness.

It's weird: I feel like I'm slowly sinking into the most relaxing pool ever. Except in a pool there's a bottom. I don't see a bottom here.

Of course I can't see much of anything, here. Wherever here is. Whatever here is… All I know is that I'm falling slowly and I can hardly see a thing. Well maybe that's not true. Every now and again I slip through a kind of cooling mist – like a cloud in the sky. But this place isn't the sky. So what is it?

Well, it's a dark place, that's for sure. But not a black place. There are blues in the distance, dim but beautiful – like dull fireflies lighting up a fog. And it's peaceful out here. I don't really hear anything at the moment, things are pretty calm and serene right now. It's not too hot, not too cold. If this is what the afterlife is like then I don't think it would be so bad.

Am I dead?

No. I don't think so. Usually when people die they head towards the light, right?

…

Unless I'm headed to the other place. I mean, I am headed down… Y'know, come to think of it I wouldn't be surprised. I can be a naughty boy…

Focus.

I'm not dead. I can sense my pulse somewhere, though I can't really feel it through my wrist. It's more like I can hear it, throbbing in the back of my head. I don't feel the pain from earlier, but I can feel it, y'know? It's weird, like my arm has fallen asleep around a very thin line along the bicep. I feel where the wound is, and I feel a dull sensation. But I'm not hurt. I'm fine. I'm not dead. But I'm not really real – pardon – digital anymore.

It's like I'm imagining myself into existence.

Whoa. Did that just blow my mind…

I think I'm a ghost-that's-not-a-ghost. I guess. It's more like I'm having an out of body experience, but my body is really far away if that makes sense. I can't be sure. Maybe Izzy can sort it out later. Can't dwell on the exact nature of what I am right now though. Besides, I've got bigger problems right now I have to deal with.

I touched a black wire. Heck, I shoved a black wire into my arm. Not all that discrete, I know. Matt's gonna kill me.

But I had to try. See, I had to know where he put them – his victims. From his own words, absorbing their minds into his own apparently takes some time. How much time? That's what I'm worried about. Rei was still fighting him when I let myself be taken. Maybe it won't be that hard.

But how the hell am I supposed to find another mind when there's nothing but darkness around me?

And how are we supposed to get out?

Before I get an answer there comes a terrible rumble in the distance. A light catches my eye and I turn as I continue to drift downwards. In the distance, muffled rays flicker from behind what appears to be clouds, and the sound of thunder finally pierces the silence. I focus my eyes, trying to see where this storm came from – if it is a storm at all. The more I look in that direction the more doubt I have. With every boom of thunder, with every flash of light from behind the dark clouds, I see the silhouettes of long lines moving in the darkness.

Things don't feel so calm and peaceful then. My descent slows dramatically, while the rumbling in the distance comes sooner and sooner. The flashes are larger, as if the storm that forms them is growing, or the area I'm falling in is shrinking. And with every flash I see the eel like silhouettes wriggle and flail during each brief flash. The clouds begin breaking away, but the flashes of electrical currents course through the space around me, lighting up the darkness. That's when I recognize them for what they are.

Black wires.

Undulating, pulsing, giant black wires are swinging through the dark clouds of this world within Datamon. They can't be real. They don't even have a base. But there must millions of them – the last remnants of the dark network swirling around in Datamon's head.

What am I saying? Datamon is the dark network now. I'm in his head!

I've all but stopped falling; I'm practically suspended in place. The wires appear to be coming closer, along with the clouds and thunder and my own true and final death if I don't figure something out soon.

I try to swim for it, but there's nothing to push against – no water, no matter. I'm truly freefalling in space, and there's nothing I can do. I can only watch as one of the wires breaches it's cloud cover and floats its way towards me. At the head extend three metal claws, reaching for me. This may be it. I may be done for. I grit my teeth and clench my fists. If I'm going down I'm going down my way – fighting tooth and nail, no matter who tries to stop me. And I'm willing to do that until I feel something grabbing tight to my legs. I look down.

A hand, slender and feminine and glowing blue, has caught a hold of me.

I don't have time to shriek. I'm pulled beneath the clouds just as the giant wire crosses above me. I can feel wind rush across my head, though the sensation is numb to me. Either way however, I am alive, thanks to my mysterious savior. I turn my head down, hoping to get a good look.

She's a nice looking lady, maybe twenty-five. Surprisingly young. Her brunette hair comes up just below her shoulder blades and splits at the ends – a look I find hauntingly familiar. She appears to be glowing, or at least backlit by a blue aura that I can't explain. She keeps deep brown eyes glaring above us through the clouds, waiting, before regarding me.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm… uh… fine."

"Good," she says. She sighs, closing her eyes and giving herself a chance to rest. "If he had taken you then all would have been lost. I know it."

"How are you doing that?" I ask.

She blinks. "What?"

"Glowing."

She blinks, looking down at herself. "Um… I'm not sure. It starts happening if you've been inside long enough."

"Oh… And the flying?"

She shrugs. "Practice. There are no limits here. In this world there are no rules as gravity or basic physics. The only law is thought."

I shake my head. "I don't understand."

"It's like a dream", she explains. "In a dream if you wish to fly, you fly. Laws of physics be damned. It took me a while to figure that out. This world plays tricks on you."

I frown. "What is this world?"

The woman clears her throat. "You are within Datamon himself. Welcome to the mind of a virus."

"Datamon's mind…" I furrow my eyes. "So what was that thing just now? An antibody?"

"No. More like his search engine. He knows you're in here. He's going to try and find you."

"Why?"

She pauses. "He wants you at the front of the line…"

I shudder. The idea of my thoughts being dissected and digested by the little imp sends goose-bumps down my spine. "Crap… Thanks again."

"You're welcome," she tells me. She extends a glowing blue hand. I hesitate, before shaking it. No use distrusting everyone down here… Where ever here is. After the shake ends she takes back her hand, absently glancing up – or at least the direction above us. I supposed she's keeping an eye out for another of those giant clawed wires. "I was the head of the Prime-Life project during its final stages. My name is –"

"Reiko Saibachi," I answer for her, and then I give myself a mental pat on the back for even remembering.

She turns back to me, an eyebrow arching upwards with curiosity. "You know me?"

I shake my head. "Not really. I mean, I know who you are but…"

"You don't know much." She nods, taking a deep breath. "Still, it sounds like you know more about me than I know about you Taichi Kamiya."

I blink. "You know my name?"

"Of course. Ko-ko used to talk about you all the time –"

I frown. Who the hell was Ko-ko? Did I have an ex-girlfriend who worked for MAGAMI? Most of my crazy exes were still in school. I clear my throat. "Ko-ko?"

"Um... That's right. Koushiro Izumi."

I blink. "Izzy?"

She nods. "That's right."

I blink. "Four foot nothing? Giant eyebrows? Kinda a wimp?"

"That's the one," she giggles.

My grin goes wider. "Ko-ko?"

"MmHmm! Ko-ko's my favorite intern. He keeps up with most of the adults. He's brilliant!"

I don't let her off the hook. "Ko-ko?"

"Eh… I used to call him my little Ko-ko cause he was so cute… I think he may have had a bit of a crush on me."

My grin cannot grow any bigger. "Really?"

"Eh… I don't think he would have wanted me to tell you that."

"Psht, It's not like I'd ever tease him about it." I lie.

We laugh. It feels good too, laughing with a stranger inside a villains mind. But I know it can't last for long. As our laughter dies down, Reiko clears her throat. "You're taking a big risk Mr. Tai."

I shrug. "No guts, no glory."

"You can't fight him here Mr. Tai. This is his domain. His mind."

"Sure you can! There's got to be some way to knock him around. He isn't perfect. Besides, you can't hide out here alone forever."

She makes a face. "Who says I'm alone?"

I frown, confused. Noting my expression, Reiko extends her hand below us. I follow her direction, and have to take a breath.

"Whoa…"

Those dim blue fireflies floating in so far away earlier have shape at this distance. I see their faces, their bodies. People. Humans. Some of them are wearing lab coats, others robes. A few even have camo. All of them floating along in the trackless space, their focus out into the distance. It's all a shade of blue, but in a moment I realize what I've stumbled onto. Datamon's victims. The research team. The investigators from Neo-Delhi. This is where they end up.

Does that mean they're still alive? Or that…

I look back up to Reiko, floating patiently in front of me. "Is this… Are they the research team?"

She nods. "It is. What is left of the Quantum Accelerator Project… as well as a few others we've come across."

I catch her by the shoulders. "Hey! He still hasn't digested you guys. That means I've got plenty of time!"

"For what?"

"To save all of your butts. Just watch!" I force myself to turn in the air, facing the specter-like spirits of the fallen. "You all hear that! My name Tai Kamiya, and I'm gonna find a way to save you guys! I –"

She catches my wrist and spins me around to face her. "Stop that!"

"What? They should know that I'm here… Together we can take this guy!"

"What makes you think we haven't already tried?"

"Maybe you have." I grin, pointing to myself. "But I don't think you've ever been with a Digidestined before!"

She pauses, a curious look crossing her face. "No… I suppose you're right. Maybe… Maybe you can lead a revolution in here. We were worried when he took you. But now that he has, I'm glad you're here."

I nod. "Thanks… I think. Uh… Now that I AM here… How do I get out?"

"…"

"What?"

"You don't have a plan?"

"…No."

She looks incredulously at me. "What on earth were you… I mean you let him absorb your mind. You stuck a wire in your arm!"

"You saw that?"

"I sensed it you idiot! We all did. We thought you had gone nuts!"

"Yeah, yeah. I know. Not one of my brighter moments. I know... Geez you sound like Matt."

"What the hell were you thinking!"

I frown. Definitely like Matt. "I was thinking: 'Datamon's so distracted with other people's minds that maybe I could slip into his.'"

"By stabbing yourself with an exposed wire?"

I place a hand to the back of my neck. "Well… Yeah. That's how he got to her. And I knew I'd still be around because I could see her fighting it. There just had to be some way to make the leap. I took a risk and... well… here I am."

She stares at me as if she cannot believe the things I just spoke of were even based in words. "I don't know whether to think you're brave or stupid."

I shrug. "My friend Sora says I'm 'stupid brave', if that helps."

She pauses, unsure how to react. And then she laughs, placing a hand to her mouth to hide the giggles. "You're funny. I can see why she likes you."

"Who?"

"Rei."

"Rei?" My heart skips a beat. I can feel it. And then it starts pounding dimly in my chest. "Wait, how do you know that? Is she here?"

Reiko nods. "She is. I could hear her moaning your name so I knew you'd come when he took her. I didn't expect her to be so worked up over you though." She looks at me quaintly and gives me a smile. "She really does like you."

If I were back in the Digiworld I'm sure my cheeks would be burning. "She does?"

Reiko nods. "I can tell. You're special to her."

"Oh… Uh…" I clear my throat, trying to regather my thoughts. "Is there some way to make the leap… out?"

She shakes her head. "None that I know of. Least, not ones that are safe."

"What do you mean? How is Rei getting though?"

"We're in Datamon's mind. But Datamon's mind is within her. It's taken over her body, but it's still her body. All she needs to do is wake up and she'll –"

I nod, a grin returning to my face. "She'll throw him out like bad tuna!"

She gives me a funny look and then smiles and shakes her see through head. "I would have thought of a more… tactful phrase but. Yes. She will throw him up like bad tuna. For that reason it appears that he's keeping her heavily sedated within her own consciousness."

"That parasite." I swear, crossing my arms along my chest. "Do you know where she is?"

She turns a finger down below us and into the darkness. "Down that hole."

I follow her finger to what lies below. The farther 'down' we are the darker it appears to get, with a deep blackness that's beginning to hurt my eyes dead center. I flinch and look back up to her, wondering what the hell that represents, then realizing that if she really is down there it doesn't matter. "Wow… That's kinda… empty."

She nods again. "It is."

I take a deep breath. "I have to get down there."

"And then what?"

"I… I don't know. But… I have to do something. I have to try. I have to save you guys!"

At my declaration, Reiko Saibachi makes a strange disbelieving face. "I see… You don't know."

I frown. "Know what?"

She fidgets, her eyes turning away from me for a moment. "Some of us won't be saved today Tai. I need you to know that."

"Nn?"

"…I won't be saved today."

I frown. "I don't know if you know this or not, but I have a zero tolerance for leaving people in danger behind."

She shakes her head. "It's not an issue of danger Tai. Some of us… some of us just aren't going to be able to go."

"What do you mean?"

"Tai, some of us don't have bodies anymore…" She looks away, a chilling sadness creeping onto her glowing blue face. "I don't have a body anymore."

I blink. "What are you talking about? I can see your body right here."

She sighes. "When the Prime life-form… When your Datamon took me, he left me in my robe. Kurata's sentries took care of the rest."

"Wait… So…"

She keeps her gaze averted. "Even if you find us a way out… there are those of us who have nowhere to go."

I can only stare. "…You really are ghosts."

"The remnants of a mind: saved in a computer program that plans to merge us all together. I've already forgotten a lot. We all have. It will not take him long to find the rest of us and take our memories for his own. And then we will be Datamon. I've forgotten people, places… It's like I'm dreaming but I can't wake up. I remember… but I don't."

I clear my throat. "…You didn't forget about Ko-ko though."

Her glowing face gives of a sad quality, even though she's smiling. "No. No I didn't. He was like family to me. I hope he can forgive me one day."

"For what?"

"Everything that's happened here… Is my fault."

I frown, floating closer to her. "Hey, it's not your fault! You can't control what other people are doing."

"But I was responsible for it. I was team lead. I should have done my homework on this. I didn't. It's my fault and I have to fall on my sword. I've done a lot of things for the company. A.o.A… MAGAMI. I've done things I'm not proud of. Perhaps this is my penance. But if there is one silver lining in this it's her. My daughter."

My eyes widen in recognition. "Rei."

She nods. "They called her Construct Zero. But I always thought that was so informal. I used to call her my 'Zizi'. But… I like the name you gave her better. It suits her."

"…You know what she is now, right?"

She nods. "I do. I'm sorry he did that to your friend. Had I known then none of this would have happened, I can assure you."

"It's okay." I tell her. "Then I wouldn't have met her. And I would have been stuck doing homework. Trust me, getting stabbed in the arm is worth it."

She blinks, as if she can't tell I'm not being serious. And then she smiles, that familiar look on her face. "You're everything my Ko-ko said you were."

I grin. "That's a compliment right?"

She laughs at that. She goes to say more, but a heavy rumble rolls above our heads. We look up to watch the clouds above us part. Behind them, a single giant claw begins its descent, three fingers out stretched for us. Reiko turns back to me, fear in her eyes. "No…"

"It's found us!" I cry.

"No," she tells me, her eyes never leaving the claw. "It's found me."

My eyes go wide. "Reiko?"

"You'd better hurry."

"But what about –"

"Go!"

She grabs hold of my shoulders. Before I know what she's doing, she's heaved me towards the spiraling black hole below. I hurtle downwards, with no friction to slow my descent, racing past staring ghost/people. They're applauding. Some are cheering. All I can do is look back to her as I fall closer and closer to my destination. "Reiko!"

I barely hear her last request as the claw bears down on her. But I can hear it. "Tell Zizi… I would have loved to have seen her one more time."

And then the claw takes her. Her body fluctuates in color when the three sharp fingers catch hold of her midsection, and she grunts in pain. But she doesn't scream. Even as the arm begins to rise again through the clouds, even as her collegues encircle to watch her ascension, Reiko Saibachi holds her head high and bears it. All I can do is watch.

If… When I get out of here, she will be remembered. I'll make sure of that.

I bite my lip and concentrate. In this world there are no rules as gravity or basic physics, right? So I can speed up my descent on my own. I grit my teeth and think about moving faster. My body surprisingly responds, my long thick hair shifting as my body creates wind on my descent. I fall deeper into the darkness, now more black than blue and growing bleaker by the second. But she's down here. I can sense it.

It takes me many moments of searching. As I fly/fall deeper into the dark recesses of Datamon's mind, I wonder if I haven't crossed the line. I'm risking it all for the clone of a friend – a creature who, just recently, tried to kill me. A part of me asks why I'm doing it. I ignore that part of me. Instead I focus on the task at hand. Namely, discerning direction in a black hole. I never stop moving downwards, even though my eyes wander. The last thing I need is to be lost within Datamon forever.

And then I see it, a tiny speck of light in the distance.

Curious, I press towards it. I'm not so good at this mind-flying thing that I can do it in a straight line, but I've begun making good time through the silence. The darkness is everywhere, choking my eyesight with its blackness. But I still see her. A single light orb in the darkness surrounds her. She lies on a long metal slab, just waiting like a princess in some European fairytale. I've found her alright.

But it's not how I was expecting to find her.

She's wearing that yellow sleeveless and her favorite jeans, the pink fanny-pack Mimi forced her to take as a present on her ninth birthday strapped to her waist, and that silly baby blue hat snuggly fit to her short reddish-brown hair. She can't be more than eleven years old – her shoulders still freckled a little from the sunlight. She stirs, and the metal tubes and wires and mechanical restrains begin to fall off, she gives a groan and her eyes drift open. I see those hazel browns, and I swear I feel like I'm eleven years old again.

"Sora?"

It slips. A knee-jerk reaction I should have stopped. Should have avoided. She turns to me, nice and slow. She has a serious case of drowsiness, but she looks just like Sora did seven years ago. Except she isn't Sora. There are still scars on her wrists just above her gloves, and her hair is a little longer than I remember. It's Rei alright. Not Sora. She lights up when she sees me, and it breaks my heart.

"T-a-i!"

She sounds like she's on fifty different pain killers… or maybe one joint. 'Out of it' would probably best describe it. I laugh sheepishly. "H-hey there…"

She smiles, a bright wide happy smile that lifts her sleepy eyes a little."You… came."

"Yeah. I'm right here."

"I'm… glad."

"Rei?"

She shakes her head, the ends of her lips tilted into a smile of playful disappointment. "T-a-i…" she admonishes me. "Soh-rah…"

"Sora?"

She nods.

I sigh. "No. Not Sora."

She stops smiling. Her hazel brown eyes darken as her eyebrows furrow, and she gives one of the cutest pouts I've ever seen. "Soh-rah!"

I grab onto her shoulders, kneeling until the two of us are at eye level. "Listen to me. You're not Sora. You have to accept that…"

She catches me by the collar. There are tears in building in her eyes. "Sora and Tai! SORA AND TAI!"

I shake my head again. "No. You're not."

She's shaking, a combination of rage panic and withdrawal as whatever Datamon was using to keep her subdued within him begins wearing off. She stares at me with those stolen brown eyes, waiting for me to take back those words. I don't. I can't. Her fingers loosen from my collar and she floats backwards, that familiar look of devastation plastered to her face. "N-not… Sora?"

"No… You're not. Remember?"

"Not… Sora… Not Sora…"

"Rei?"

Her eyes glows red.

She screams and pushes me, hard. Her tiny eleven year old arms aren't strong enough to knock me over, but I do float backwards a bit.

"Not… Human." She spits. "Not Digimon…"

I try to float closer. "Rei… C'mon…"

"Not… Anything…"

Along her face, a single sliver forms. A crack in her data… or her mind or her soul or… or whatever we are! She's falling apart. And it's my fault.

"No." I tell her. I don't think she hears.

"A zero… I'm a… I'm a zero."

She repeats that. Zero: over and over again as if the word will sprout wings and take her away. When it doesn't, she can only put her head in her hands. As she slips out of sanity her skin begins to crack, showing fissures in the lining of the girls data. She cries like a banshee, a loud scream that chills the heart. The cracks grow deeper, splitting along her eyes and nose, cutting apart her lips. She's dying like this. If I don't figure out a way to save her subconscious then she'll be lost. And I don't… I just don't know if I'll be able to save her.

…

Yes. I will. I have to.

"That's not true," I tell her. "You're not just a zero. You're more than that. You're… You're Rei."

She looks up at me, her brown eyes fading. "…Rei?"

"Go. Shii. San. Nii. Ichi. Rei. That's your name. That's who you are. You're hyper, and uncontrollable and vengeful, and compassionate and kind. You are you. You are Rei. The Zero to my One…" I look at her… really look at her. "And I wouldn't have it any other way."

"...Rei."

She says that word, that name I gave her only a day ago, as if it's become the most delicious word in the world. The little cracks that had been building in her face have begun to recede. For a moment I think that the worst is over. And then she begins to glow.

I watch in horror as the girl begin to physically alter herself before me, her skin peeling back to reveal what looks like wireframe as she becomes something else. She closes her eyes, her skin glowing pale from the light within her. I can only stare in awe as this eleven year old girl shifts and morphs into something new, yet something familiar. Before it the light forms an oval shell around the Sora look alike. Not unlike…

A digivolution.

It's over before this realization hits me like a ton of bricks. The egg splits open, and her figure is shown to me, new and wonderful. And at once, the same. Her hair hangs lightly to her shoulder blades. Her skin is a light tan. She's adorned in white, a modest dress and blouse set I've never seen her in before. Aside from the robe, it's the most she's worn since I met her. It looks good on her.

What am I saying? She looks good regardless.

I float forward. "Rei?"

She nods. "Rei."

It's a statement. A declaration. Like Agumon announcing the birth of Greymon with every transformation. There is no hesitation, no second guessing. She accepts it. No more running.

It's gonna be alright.

I smile. "Rei."

She smiles back. "Taichi."

Before I know what happened she's thrown her arms around me and squeezes, hard. Her head burries itself into my chest as she heaves into me, her pretty ginger hair just below my nose. I return her hug instantly, tight along her shoulders. We hold like that, just happy to be together again. After a few seconds she looks up at me, those hazel eyes the same as…

I shake the feeling. "I… missed you." I tell her.

"I missed me too." She lowers her head, though her eyes never leave me. "I'm sorry for being asleep for so long. I'm sorry for everything."

I give a half hearted shrug. "That's alright. I was kind of a jerk to you."

"I cut your arm open with a knife."

I blink. "You did do that. That's true."

She fidgets. "Um… If it's any consolation, I promise to never do it again."

I laugh to let her know it's alright. "Sounds good."

She bites he lower lip eyeing me through a smile. And then she leans into me, deeper than before. I feel her smile from into my chest.

Briefly I wonder if Sora would feel like this.

"Thank you." She whispers through the tears.

I blink, looking down at her. "For what?"

"Coming for me. That's all I…" She stops. The smile fades for a minute and those eyes lose their shine. She turns her eyes back to my chest. "…Sora ever wanted."

Sora. My best friend Sora. The one whose back in the real world, likely tired as hell waiting for word. Not from me. From Matt. That's the man she's waiting on back there. I look down at the girl in front of me. She looks like her. But she isn't her. No. Rei is Rei. I take her by the chin and lift her eyes back to mine. "You're right. She got what she wanted. Did you?"

The smile grows again, wider than ever. Her teeth shine, white as snow. She nods slowly, eyes sparkling. "Nn-hmm…."

She lays her face against my chest again, and I lean my chin atop her ginger hair. It's the kind of embrace I wouldn't mind lasting forever. Not romantic. But loving just the same. I made her a promise – we'd find her name. We found it, together. We've been through a lot together. Rei and me, Agumon and Gabumon and…

Matt.

Too soon I pull away from her. Her eyes show panic for a second before adjusting to the reality we've found ourselves in. "We have to go now… Right?" She asks.

"That's right." I answer. "Matt's waiting for me. Us."

She nods. "Okay. Take me home Digidestined."

I nod back. I slip around her so that my arm is beneath her shoulder to give her support when we go flying upwards. She holds on tight. We smile at each other before looking up. We stop smiling as soon as we do.

In the momentary seconds that I looked away, everything about what lies above us changed, and the cruel hands of fate weaved their spell once more. Above us, tentacles with three claws pour below in search of me. Rei holds closer to me, her breathing labored and concerned.

I flinch. "What's going on?"

"He knows what you've done. He's trying to fish us out."

"Don't panic," I tell her. "I'll protect you."

"You've done enough of that today Taichi. It's time to wake up now."

"What? What are you saying?"

She floats in closer. The wires are bearing down on us hard but her face is peaceful and serene. She smiles at me. "It's time to wake up Taichi."

"Rei?"

She leans into me fully, her lips coming closer and closer. I can feel every curve of her body pressed against mine. Her mouth parts, and the breeze from her lips tickles my own. She says it simply, but I understand immediately. And I wonder how I missed it all this time.

"Wake up!"

I blink, and in that partial second nearly miss what happens to me. Rei catches me by the collar and lifts. She pushes me, and suddenly I am hurtling upwards at excruciating speeds. The rumbling shakes me back and forth as I speed 'higher' and 'higher'. I can't control my ascent at all. It's as if some force has caught me by the shirt and hurled me towards the sky. Away from Rei.

I reach for her. I call her name. But she remains, floating there. Alone. She's smiling as she looks up to me, as if to tell me it's alright. But I don't know how that can be possible. The world around me is breaking apart, fissures in the clouds forming white cracks along Datamons mind. And Rei is caught in the thick of it.

The rumbling extends as wire after wire hurtles towards me. Through the specters of dead and dying human spirits they come, aiming at destroying my identity. But I'm too close to the end now. I shut my eyes as the light intensifies, Eventually the wires break apart, alone with nearly everything else around me. The next thing I know the whole world turns bright white…

Pain shoots throughout my torso. My eyes clench together before I even get a view of my surroundings. My arm has been set on fire. My fingers ache. I gasp and my digital lungs fill with digital oxygen. I'm waking up. I'm waking up and I am alone. I clench my eyes, trying to return to that world, but it's no use now. It's over. I've failed.

No.

Not like this.

Before I can delve deeper into my moping, a sensation of touch jolts me from my musing, and I feel something warm along the edge of my face. I open my eyes.

My hands are across Matt's throat.

GODFALL

17

Digimon