Chapter 44: Victorious Takeru
The day after they fired the Reaper at Cloud Continent, Seraphimon's headquarters fell in deep silence. His generals had gone off somewhere; only few of his followers had remained in the building. Not even the Spirit of the World had spoken to him, but that had been the case for a few days.
Seraphimon was right. He had to be. His decision had been fair. That was the only way to stop the rebels from regrouping. They had forced his hand and were to blame for dying. He had done nothing wrong! Seraphimon could never do anything wrong! Otherwise the Great Spirit wouldn't have had chosen him to save the world!
He had been repeating that to himself without stopping for the last hours. Nevertheless, his heart couldn't be at ease. If Seraphimon had done the right thing, he shouldn't be feeling that much dread. Why couldn't he be proud of his actions?
The angel secluded himself in his chamber with all the windows closed. He tried to escape those nasty feelings, but wasn't able to. In the dark, guilt devoured him more fiercely. Many times, he had been plagued by the faces of his enemies that had been cut by his sword. What he was going through in that moment was different from anything he had ever felt. His enemies were faceless and had succumbed far away from him; it should be easier this time. Why did he feel that they were glaring at him? Seraphimon could almost feel their presence filling the air, trying to suffocate him.
The darkness didn't provide him any comfort. And then, someone let the moonlight invade the room.
Ofanimon was standing in front of a large window that had been forcibly opened. In her right hand she held her spear.
"I know what you've done." She said in a disappointed voice. "How could you?"
"That place was plagued by rebels… I did what I had to do…" He justified himself. "When I left File Island that day, I promised you I would pacify the whole world, remember?"
"I can still hear their screams." Ofanimon told him. "They can't be reborn and can't stop suffering. Why did you do that?"
"They've brought that on themselves for opposing me!" Seraphimon retorted. "I've been killing my enemies for a long time and you never said anything against it. Now, just because I've caused permanent deaths, you suddenly have a problem with my actions?"
The woman stood still, not saying anything for nearly two minutes.
"That Patamon I grew up with… the kid that liked to have fun and laughed all the time… that sweet child…" She muttered, trembling. "He's long gone, isn't he? My brother was already dead when you returned from that well as Angemon… but I didn't want to accept it…"
"I am your brother!" Seraphimon shouted. "I never stopped thinking about you! Remember that Cockatrimon that kidnapped children from the Village of the Beginnings and turned them into stone? Ever since we heard about that, I couldn't stop thinking that he could do that to you! And if it wasn't him, someone else could come and hurt you! There were tons of evil digimon like that! I couldn't let that happen! I killed him for you and rescued all his victims! I took the key code of Infinity Mountain and gave it to you! Remember what you did then? You thanked me for taking his life! You said I had done a good thing because the world was better off without that villain! There's no difference from what I did that day to what I've been doing ever since!"
"I know what I said that day." Ofanimon murmured. "I was foolish… I didn't realize what you were becoming and kept lying to myself about you… I kept excusing your actions… I didn't stop you and now I have to take responsibility."
She pointed the spear in his direction. He couldn't believe in what was happening.
"What are you intending to do, sister?" Seraphimon inquired. "You're not a murderer…"
"You're the first and last person I'll ever kill." Ofanimon promised, walking towards him.
"You don't actually want to do this, do you?" He asked. "Stop, Ofanimon!"
"Of course I don't want to do this! But what other choice do I have?" She cried. "The world won't be safe for as long as you're alive!"
"The world can only be safe under my rule! That's why I wanted power!" Seraphimon affirmed, picking up his sword. "I was chosen by Fate for this purpose! All my actions are righteous and those who oppose me are not only my enemies, but enemies of the world!"
They pointed their blades at each other's chests. Ofanimon's entire body trembled, sweat dripped from her face and she took air in with her mouth. To have her so close to him made it impossible for Seraphimon not to notice the agony tearing her apart.
He thought about that Plotmon who liked to sing and to dance, that innocent child that couldn't stand to see others suffering. She wasn't capable of taking a life; nothing could be more against her nature. Yet, there she was, forcing herself to take him down. Her pained expression made it seem as if she was the one about to die. The male angel knew that he was the one responsible for her suffering. That knowledge was unbearable to him.
Seraphimon let his sword fall from his hand.
Ofanimon pierced his chest with her spear.
"Be better than me, then…"He whispered as his data began to break from his body. "If you're so sure my ways are wrong… if you think you know what this world needs… then prove it… Ofanimon…"
"I will."
Those were the last words he heard in that life.
For thousands of years, her reality had consisted of that suffocating dark space. The cries of the innocents that had fallen that day never truly stopped, but she could soothe some of them with songs. They had been together for such a long time that Ofanimon no longer knew where her body finished and their data began.
In that solitary existence, she peeked at the Digital World to distract herself from the never-ending suffering. However, she rarely saw anything that could make her feel better. All the effort Ofanimon had put towards correcting her brother's crimes, all her work to better the lives of the digimon, everything she had built had been so easily destroyed. It was as if nothing had been done to begin with.
If only she hadn't shown mercy towards the Academy… if only she hadn't felt sorry for those humans… Ofanimon had wanted to take them home safely, but things escaped her control. After the youngest one was murdered, the others became more and more bloodthirsty. But not even in her wildest nightmares had Ofanimon predicted that the chosen children would attack the data sphere that hovered above what once had been the Cloud Continent. She tried to protect those souls from further torment and opened a pocket dimension to hide them. However, the overwhelming attacks from the holy beasts were too much for Ofanimon and her followers to handle.
She was forced into the pocket dimension. Her nearly destroyed body got mixed with the corrupted data, which allowed her to survive. In order to protect her brother's victims, Ofanimon sealed that dimension with a spell that established that only an ultimate level angel could open a door to that place. Her eldest daughter, who came to create such door, wasn't pleased when she found out about that.
Even in that dimension, Ofanimon kept looking for a way to save the corrupted digimon. It was a harder task than before since most of her forces in the outside world had been obliterated by the Academy. But she wouldn't give up, no matter what. She couldn't bear to do it. If she did that, it would prove that everything had been for nothing, that she had killed Seraphimon for no reason.
Ofanimon eventually found an answer to the problem, but it was an answer that she couldn't accept. It went against everything she had stood for and would break the last promise she had made to Seraphimon. She sought for another solution for a long time, for anything that could be better than that. But the passage of time and her exhausting research proved to be pointless. There was no way to cure the damage to the data of her brother's victims without rewriting the whole Digital World.
It wasn't fair to let the victims languish in eternal pain just so Ofanimon wouldn't compromise her morality. Wasn't that same morality what had allowed the Academy to defeat the Sanctuary? Wasn't that the reason why the chosen children had won? Ofanimon hadn't thought about morality when she closed her eyes to her brother's actions, which led to so much tragedy. What right did she have to do it at the expense of those poor digimon?
Ladydevimon and the Dark Masters didn't accept the plan in the beginning. Nevertheless, the fact that nobody had found any other answer in thousands of years forced them to acknowledge that plan as a necessary evil. It was more acceptable to let all digimon die for a brief period of time and then be reborn than to let so many innocent souls suffer for eternity.
After the demise of the new chosen children, the Sanctuary began to implement her plan of salvation. With that, Ofanimon believed that the past would be left behind soon and definitely. But things changed.
One day, while peeking at the Digital World, Ofanimon saw the return of the humans and their digimon partners. Shocked to see them alive, she failed to contact her children right away. Several concerns filled her mind. There was so little left for the plan to be concluded and for those souls to be saved, Ofanimon couldn't allow anything to go wrong. She couldn't afford to be merciful to humans anymore. But maybe she didn't have to do anything. If those human kids didn't leave that world, they would die along with it, but, unlike digimon, they would never be reborn. The chosen children didn't have the time or the means to do anything against her.
When the kids got separated, Ofanimon paid close attention to the youngest one and his Patamon that soon evolved to Angemon. It was impossible for her not to think about the past looking at that monster. Once those two and a Gabumon landed on File Island, the behavior of that angel began to bother her. Angemon trembled with violence as he examined the fog made of corrupted data. His distress was so great that he returned to his child form and cried profusely.
"My sister… what has she done…?" Patamon asked, horrified. "She's repeating my sins… but she had promised me… when she ran her spear through my heart, she promised me… she was supposed to be better…"
Ofanimon felt as if the world had grown silent suddenly. For the first time in thousands of years, she thought that she was able to hear her own heartbeat instead of the incessant cries around her. Her heart ached in a way she didn't remember ever feeling. It was still painful, but there was something different in that emotion, something comforting, almost pleasant.
She stretched her fingers in the direction of the hovering screen generated by her magic. As she caressed the image of the Patamon, a single tear fell from her uncovered eye. Ofanimon wanted to smile, but a loud sob escaped her lips.
"Brother?" She called in a murmur.
The more Ofanimon looked at him, the more she recognized him. Her brother had returned at last, but as the partner of a chosen child. He was her enemy, without any doubt.
That shouldn't be a surprise. She had betrayed him and taken his life, after all. Ofanimon was determined to destroy what he had created, what revenge would be better than for him to do the same to her? She wouldn't mind if her life was all he wanted, that would just be fair.
However, why did he seem so shocked at her actions? Did he actually want her to be better than him? Ofanimon had believed that his last words for her were nothing but mockery. Back then, Seraphimon seemed to be sure that he was in the right; he couldn't have seriously wished for her to do a better job at ruling the world. To see her following on his footsteps and taking so many lives should have been gratifying for him. He should be scornful of her broken ideals, not upset.
Ofanimon needed to understand her brother's current actions. She wasn't going to stop watching him until she did.
Patamon, Takeru and Gabumon wandered for a while. They passed by the Pyokomon village but found nobody there, or anywhere else on File Island. Gabumon pleaded for them to go to the Village of the Beginnings. The boy nodded. Patamon looked down.
Takeru was still holding the crying Patamon on his arms. His partner had been like that since they had landed. The boy glanced at the fog, thinking about the data of the digimon trapped in there. He remembered when Devimon had used corrupted data of the digimon he had killed with his gears to attack the chosen children. That day, his partner evolved to adult level for the first time and died. And with Patamon's rebirth, the monster's ignorance about his past ended and he never found peace again. Nor did Takeru.
It was one thing to abstractly know that his friend had done terrible crimes in a past life and another thing to see those crimes replicated in front of him. What they were witnessing on File Island in that moment was something Patamon had done to an entire continent a long time ago. It was something Devimon had done in a smaller scale. Thinking about all that made Takeru feel sick. Despite wanting to be a supportive partner, it was almost impossible not to deem the perpetrators of those actions as evil. But Takeru had to be kind to Patamon. He had to push those dreadful thoughts away and be more understanding.
"She's doing this to the entire world, isn't she?" Patamon murmured. "To save the digimon I corrupted, she's going to reboot the Digital World and convert everyone's data... it's the only explanation… but it shouldn't be like this! She should've found a better way! She was supposed to…"
"How can you be so sure?" Gabumon asked, keeping his eyes on the path they were taking among the trees. "She could just be acting out of cruelty."
"My sister was kind!" Patamon stated. "She didn't have one cruel bone in her body!"
"Kind people don't commit mass murder!" Gabumon retorted. "You should know that better than anyone."
"Patamon isn't like that anymore!" Takeru hurried to defend his friend. "He changed!"
The boy hadn't thought twice about what he was saying. The words came out automatically, almost mechanically. Takeru had been telling himself that for too long and wasn't so sure anymore if there was any meaning behind the words that left his lips. Pondering about that led him to feel a sting in his heart.
"What difference does that make?" Gabumon asked the boy, bitterly. "If it wasn't for Patamon, there wouldn't have been an Academy or a Sanctuary! There wouldn't have been Devimon and Carer would still be alive! There wouldn't have been chosen children! The world wouldn't be like this! Pinocchimon wouldn't have taken the Village of the Beginnings and the babies would be okay now!"
"They could still be okay!" Takeru told the other. "We have to think positively! There's no reason for us to believe-"
"Look around! What reason do we have to believe they're not dead already?!" Gabumon shouted. He stopped walking and turned to the boy. His intense glare made Takeru and Patamon shiver. But then the digimon's eyes filled with tears and he looked down.
He's frustrated and scared, Takeru thought, not able to reprehend Gabumon for behaving like that. He had been in a similar position before. The boy knew how it was to want to make someone responsible for everything that had gone wrong and to want to lash out at that person; he understood that anger too well.
Patamon flew from his partner's arms in Gabumon's direction.
"I can't change the past. I wish I could…" Patamon said, landing in front of Gabumon. "All I can do now is to atone for my crimes. I want to help you and the Village of the Beginnings. If when we get there we see that it's too late to save that place… I'll find a way to help whomever I can."
Gabumon stayed quiet for almost one minute. Then, he looked at Patamon again and asked:
"If Pinocchimon killed the babies, will you kill him?"
Patamon's eyes widened. He didn't answer.
"That's the least we could do to prevent him from hurting others..." Takeru muttered, earning an approving smile from Gabumon and a shocked look from Patamon.
"What?" Takeru asked, confused by the way his partner was looking at him.
"My sister adopted many children digimon once I gave File Island to her, children that had been lost, exploited and sometimes even tortured by the old rulers of this place… if I can call those maniacs 'rulers.'" Patamon began to say. "Most of those children eventually evolved and left, but at least two of them always stayed by her side. By the time of my death, I think they were Angewomon and Pumpmon. A possible evolution of Pumpmon is Pinocchimon."
"Who cares about who Pinocchimon used to be? He's a villain now!" Gabumon nearly shouted. "Someone who's willing to hurt babies doesn't deserve mercy! You didn't show mercy to Devimon when he did the same thing!"
"Devimon…" Patamon murmured. "Devimon was one of her children as well… I guess she took Vamdemon in too… and I killed them both without hesitation. Now you expect me to kill another child of hers. Can't I ever stop tormenting my sister?"
"What do you suggest we should do, then?" Takeru inquired. "Do you want us to let him go off unpunished just because of your relationship with Ofanimon? Do you want us to let him continue to commit crimes?"
"We don't have to solve things violently, do we?" Patamon asked.
"Why not?! That's what Pinocchimon and the Queen are doing anyway!" Gabumon told him.
"We have to stop them from hurting anyone else, Patamon!" Takeru affirmed. "There's no other choice but to fight!"
Patamon smirked bitterly.
"You sound just like me back then…" He said. "I used to tell myself that I didn't have other choice every time I was about to kill someone. I believed I was right about everything and everybody that opposed me… everybody that disagreed with me… deserved to be punished…"
"It's not the same!" Takeru stated. "Pinocchimon and your sister did terrible things!"
"So did I!" Patamon reminded his partner.
"But you regret them!" Takeru retorted.
"They can regret their actions too!" Patamon said. "If we talk to them, maybe-"
"NO!" Gabumon shouted. "If those monsters hurt the babies, they have to be stopped! If you're not willing to do what's necessary, then I don't need your help!"
Gabumon stormed off. Takeru and Patamon were left alone.
"We promised to help him." The boy said. "We can't just…"
"I once vowed to save the world. In the beginning, I only killed digimon that had committed truly heinous acts. But the more lives you take, the easier it becomes to take others. It's a gradual process; I didn't notice that I was turning into something twisted. A time came when I thought it was reasonable to wipe out a continent and corrupt its inhabitants' data. I became the worst villain this world ever knew and it all started because I wanted to help others." Patamon told his partner.
Takeru felt his heart get heavier. Otae's old warning about the boy's future came to his mind.
"You think I could become twisted… that I could take a dangerous path…" Takeru didn't phrase that as a question. "I already know… I'm fully aware of my darkness…"
Takeru sat by his partner's side and stayed quiet. Among the chosen children, he was the one most likely to resort to violent solutions. The boy had come a long way since the time he so easily divided digimon in good and bad and thought there was nothing wrong in killing the bad ones. However, he still felt things so strongly that it was hard for him to control himself at times. It was so easy to be self-righteous and pass judgment on others. But reality was more complicated than he had believed. People were too complex to be put in boxes. Takeru wanted to get rid of that childish worldview. He wanted to mature and grow into a more understanding person. But he still relapsed from time to time.
"You're kind, Takeru." Patamon told him. "But kind people aren't immune from slipping into darkness. It's easier to turn back when you're in the initial stages. For those that have been drowning in darkness for too long… it takes all their strength to crawl their way back up, but it only takes a breeze to make them fall… and that cycle might never end…"
Takeru glanced down when he understood that his friend was more worried about himself than about the boy. The situation was harder for Patamon than for anyone else, his past was too fresh in his mind. The digimon wished to walk away from his old self and his partner should help him with that instead of appealing to the digimon's darkness. However, there was more at stake at that moment than only Patamon's soul.
"We can try your way with Pinocchimon…" Takeru muttered. "But we should be ready for the possibility of him not changing his mind. We would have to fight in that case, for the sake of the Digital World. You understand that, don't you?"
Patamon took flight, not looking at the boy.
"We should go after Gabumon." The digimon said, leading the way.
Pinocchimon was sitting under a dead tree in the Village of the Beginnings. Nothing around him was alive; he had made sure of that. His Mother's plan was in full motion. That was what he wanted. Pinocchimon should be happy, but that was a hard task after what he had to do. Reminding himself that it had been quick and painless and that the babies would be reborn soon didn't help.
Would things really be alright once the world began anew? His Mother believed that peace would be possible in a world without such a violent background. Maybe if nobody could remember the past, but there would always be digimon able to do that. Just like there would always be digimon who evolved first and believed they were entitled to subjugate those who were weaker. What if that was just how things were bound to be? What if the new world was going to be doomed to go down that same route repeatedly and his Mother's plan wasn't going to make a big difference?
Pinocchimon missed the days when he didn't think about those things. Back when he was a Pumpmon and lived in Infinity Mountain with his sister and Mother, every day was happy. Ofanimon barely spoke of her brother. But then those three generals came and changed everything. His Mother left the island and, when she returned, Ofanimon never smiled like she did before.
He had hoped that things would get better, but they never did. The Academy rebelled against them, the chosen children came, Devimon was banished… Pinocchimon wasn't actually upset about the last one. That guy was probably Seraphimon anyway; he wished he could have killed that fallen angel himself for everything he had done to Ofanimon. But Devimon came to help them when the chosen children attacked the data sphere. They all fought together and failed together.
"Pinocchimon!"
Ofanimon's voice echoed in his mind, startling him. She usually didn't speak directly with people other than Ladydevimon. She hadn't talked to him ever since she had given him the instructions to carry out his part of the plan.
"Mother, what is it?" Pinocchimon asked, concerned.
"You must leave the Village of the Beginnings immediately and return to Infinity Mountain." She ordered.
"We've talked about this before, I don't want to be close to anyone when my time to die-"
"You have to get out of there before he finds you!" Ofanimon interrupted.
"Who is going to find me?" He was confused.
Ofanimon hesitated for a few seconds, but replied:
"My brother."
"Seraphimon…?" He whispered in disbelief. "H-How can he…? D-Did Devimon…?"
"Devimon was never him." Ofanimon explained. "My brother returned as the partner of the chosen child with golden hair. He was actually the one who killed Devimon…"
"And he's coming towards me now?" Pinocchimon smirked. "The bastard is going to get what he deserves!"
"I don't want you to fight him!" Ofanimon stated.
"I'm not afraid of him! Besides, even if he killed me, I was going to die for our cause anyway! At least I have the opportunity to go down with glory! That villain is going to pay for his cruelty!" Pinocchimon insisted.
"I don't want you to hurt him!" Ofanimon said.
He felt as if his heart had stopped after that remark. His beloved Mother was worried about Seraphimon? She, who was okay with sacrificing her devoted child for the greater good, wanted to protect the maniac that exploded a continent, corrupted millions of digimon and broke her heart? That couldn't be right! It had to be a joke!
"I've been observing him… there's something different in my brother…" Ofanimon sounded hopeful. "I think he regrets what he's done in his past life. He has seen the error in his ways… but if he sees what you've done to the Village of the Beginnings, my brother might relapse and fall back into darkness."
A couple of tears formed in Pinnochimon's eyes. She was worried only about Seraphimon, despite everything he had done. She cared more about her unworthy brother than about her children and the rest of the digimon. Thousands of years trying to fix what Seraphimon had destroyed, thousands of years of blaming herself for that guy's actions and of putting the well-being of the Digital World above everything and everyone else… only for her to forgive her brother? She wanted to give that psychopath a second chance because she thought he had changed? How could she be that deluded?
"I'll do what I have to do, Mother." Pinnochimon said, keeping his rage under control.
Takeru and Patamon caught up with Gabumon when he had just entered the Village of the Beginnings. The thick dark clouds and blue lightning made the place look menacing and uninviting. The fog was dense, but they could spot a few things around them. The cubic buildings were gray and dirty, just like the lifeless ground, which had remains of broken toys spread on it. Pieces of destroyed cribs and empty bottles could be seen everywhere. Gabumon fell to his knees and wept; Takeru and Patamon stayed by his side. They couldn't think of words of comfort to say.
"So… you returned, Gabumon." A sinister voice came from their right, but the fog didn't let them see who was there. "I was merciful to you and let you run away, but here you are, ready to die."
"You killed them all, didn't you?!" Gabumon shouted, fighting against the tears. "How could you?"
"I was following orders." Pinocchimon replied.
"Orders from Ofanimon?" Patamon asked in a sorrowful voice. "She ordered you to murder children?"
Steps were heard coming in their direction. Soon, a living marionette a little taller than Takeru emerged from the fog. The digimon was made of wood and had strings connecting each limb to a cross on its back. Pinocchimon was holding a metallic hammer with six large bullets; the object resembled a revolver.
"Who are you to judge anyone for that, Bloody Lord?" Pinocchimon inquired, looking down at Patamon.
"How do you know…?" Takeru wondered, preoccupied.
"You're one of her children, right?" Patamon asked, taking a few steps in Pinocchimon's direction. "What happened to her to make her take such a path… to force her children to do the same…?"
"What happened to her?" Pinocchimon repeated the question in an offended tone, holding the hammer with more force while glaring at Patamon. "Don't play dumb with me!"
"I'm not playing dumb! I just want to understand!" Patamon told him. "She wanted to make the world a better place! That's why she took my life! Why did she-?"
"Because of you! Because of what you did!" Pinocchimon roared. "To save those you condemned to eternal misery!"
"Sacrificing innocents for a greater good was what I thought I was doing! She killed me because that was wrong and promised me…" Patamon started to cry. "Ofanimon was good! She was kind and idealistic and was supposed to save the world! If even she couldn't escape from falling into darkness, if someone like her couldn't stay good, what hope do I have…?"
"Enough with this pointless talk!" Gabumon yelled. "We have to make him pay for what he did!"
"Don't act all self-righteous when you've allied yourself with that murderer!" Pinocchimon spoke with spite. "I'm the one who will make justice today! Justice for the world and for my Mother! Assume your true appearance, Bloody Lord! Show your true self and die by my hands!"
"I'm not going to fight you!" Patamon stated. "I'm not Seraphimon anymore and I will never be again! I don't want to repeat my mistakes in this new life! I don't want to hurt Ofanimon anymore! I don't want to hurt anyone!"
"What about what you did to Devimon?" Pinocchimon questioned.
"That's different… I… I didn't remember…" Patamon tried to explain himself.
"Devimon was threatening the Village of the Beginnings! Patamon couldn't have done anything differently!" Takeru defended his partner. "Devimon… Vamdemon… they wouldn't listen! They wouldn't repent and change! They brought their deaths upon themselves!"
"So he killed Vamdemon too?" Pinocchimon murmured. "I didn't care about that conspirator. And even if Devimon wasn't you, he still murdered that kid and caused that whole mess. But Mother was sad about Devimon… and I know she worried about Vamdemon too. Those guys were no good and didn't deserve her love, yet she loved them anyway. Mother loves everybody, but she loves some more than others… and one above everybody else…"
Patamon, Takeru and Gabumon watched astonished as thick tears fell from the marionette's eyes and his body trembled. He was still glaring at Patamon, without blinking.
"She still loves you, Bloody Lord." Pinocchimon continued. "And now she's deluding herself by believing that you changed! But I'll show her the truth! I'll make her see who you really are and recover her senses! Show yourself, Seraphimon! Face me!"
"I WON'T EVER BE SERAPHIMON AGAIN!" Patamon cried his heart out.
"YOU CAN'T TRICK ME LIKE YOU TRICKED HER!" The Dark Master shouted.
The marionette swung down the hammer in Patamon's direction. Takeru grabbed his digivice and urged his partner to evolve. However, Patamon stayed still, keeping his wide open eyes on the ultimate level monster. The former tyrant refused to fight and was willing to sacrifice himself for that determination.
Gabumon wasn't willing to sacrifice him, though. He pushed Patamon out of the way and was hit on his place.
Pinocchimon took a step back, bearing a shocked expression. Patamon stared at Gabumon's body, watching in horror as the first particles began to break off from it.
Takeru didn't want to believe in what he was seeing. Slowly, he approached Gabumon, hoping that the digimon's injuries weren't as bad as he thought. But at a closer distance, he could see they were worse than he had imagined. As his sight got blurred with tears, Takeru kneeled close to Gabumon, who glanced at him with half open eyes.
"You promised… you would protect the Village and me…" Gabumon spoke in a weak voice. "When we met, you promised you'd help… and when you saved us, you said I should call for help if I needed… I believed in you…"
"I'm so sorry…" Takeru said among tears. "We should've done more! We should've done what you wanted! I'm sorry… I'm sorry!"
Gabumon closed his eyes. With his last strength, he told Takeru:
"You are a child yourself…"
The digimon's body turned into white particles that then became dark and floated away. Takeru kept staring at the spot where Gabumon had been a little before. The boy remembered when they had first met that Tsunomon who was so afraid of dying but still worried about those younger than him. He had asked them for help only to return to the village and find out those he should've protected had been murdered. In his despair, he wanted to at least have revenge.
But Patamon refused to respect Gabumon's wishes. He refused to fight. Refused to evolve. All because Takeru's partner prioritized a relationship from a long gone life over what he had to do in the present. He considered his murderer sister's feelings to be more important than Gabumon's. The digimon was driven by guilt and wanted to leave his past behind so badly that he wasn't willing to measure sacrifices. Patamon was ready to let Pinocchimon take his life despite the promises he had made to Takeru in the human world. Takeru wasn't his biggest priority anymore. And now Gabumon was dead because of Patamon's selfishness.
"It's your fault!" Takeru accused, getting to his feet and glaring at Patamon. "Gabumon died because of you!"
Patamon stared at him with wide eyes but didn't say a word. Takeru felt his heart beating so fast that he thought it could explode. His chest hurt, his head felt like it was spinning and there was a weight on his shoulders pushing him down. Takeru kept seeing Gabumon dying in front of his eyes, kept hearing his final words and kept asking himself more and more desperately why Patamon had let that happen.
"Takeru… you need to calm down…" Patamon pleaded, showing a pained expression. "Your negative emotions… they're affecting me…"
"You just think about yourself!" Takeru retorted. "You always did, no matter the life!"
"That's true." Pinocchimon muttered, looking at the other two with contempt. "It seems that the Bloody Lord continues to destroy anyone that cares for him, just like what he did to Mother."
Patamon looked from his partner to Pinocchimon and then back at Takeru, increasingly distressed. The little digimon breathed with difficulty and cried a lot.
"You believed in me, Takeru… you believed I could change…" Patamon spoke in low voice. "I was just trying to do the right thing. You know that, don't you? I was trying to be better!"
"And someone innocent got killed because of your misguided ideas! How is that different from how you were as Seraphimon?!" Takeru cried, clenching his fists. "Are you really capable of changing?!"
The air around them became heavier and colder. Dark smoke slowly surrounded them. Staring at each other's eyes, Takeru and Patamon didn't notice that the smoke was coming from the boy's digivice, which had turned pitch-black.
Takeru closed his eyes, letting a couple of tears fall from them, and concluded:
"I don't think you can."
In the deep darkness, the boy heard:
"Patamon evolves to… Demon…"
When Takeru opened his eyes, he saw a beast man covered in brown fur, except on the extremity of the limbs, the head and the middle of the chest. The blue of its skin contrasted with the vivid red of its long nails that resembled claws. One of its arms was longer than the other and had a tattoo of a pentagram close to the shoulder. Two white horns erupted from the sides of its head, which had long black hair. A third eye was seen in the middle of its forehead. Its mouth had many sharp teeth. The creature had a pair of purple wings with red claws on their upper extremities.
"Patamon…?" The boy asked in a murmur, not understanding what had happened to his partner. He looked down and noticed the black digivice stuck on his backpack's strip.
"There's no point in taking the form of an angel. I won't fool myself anymore." The creature stated. "I've always been a Demon in my heart, haven't I? I've only been disguising my wickedness with good intentions… I can't change who I really am. No matter what I do, I can only bring suffering to people. Why fight my nature if the result will always be the same? It's easier to accept it…"
"You're finally showing who you are! Excellent!" Pinocchimon grinned. "Now I'll destroy you entirely!"
Demon fired a stream of flames from its hands, but Pinocchimon dodged them in time. The marionette fired the bullets from his hammer and pierced the other's wings. Demon attacked with a tornado of black flames, forcing the other to retreat a few steps. Then, Pinocchimon hammered the ground, splitting it open. Demon tried to fly, but the damage on its wings was too severe. The diabolic digimon jumped to stable ground and advanced against Pinocchimon. The clash between fists and hammer created a wave of shock that knocked Takeru down.
He didn't want to get up. After his anger boiled down, Takeru felt as if his heart had been emptied. There were no longer feelings like sorrow, disappointment, regret, shame or disgust. It was like sinking in a sea of nothingness; it felt pointless to swim back to the surface.
His partner had embraced his darkness, fueled by the darkness within Takeru's heart. That nastiness he had tried to push away but that always returned had now enveloped him completely. The wickedness Takeru had been warned about and tried to fight had defeated him. That must've been as inevitable as his partner's fall from grace.
His sight turned dark.
Then, a voice he didn't know spoke:
"Why did I think he could change? How long will it take until I learn my lesson? If I had stopped him sooner… but I didn't see it until it was too late… it's my fault…"
Takeru turned his head to the left and saw a woman suspended from the ground by dark claw-like hands; some of them pierced her broken armor and crossed her trembling body. Her arms were being pulled in opposite directions. The right side of her head was protected by a broken helmet and the left side was exposed. A single blue eye shed tears on her face filled with scars. Her long blond hair was pulled in different directions by more shadowy hands. Many laments could be heard around her, but none could be compared to her agony.
"Brother… why did you have to change…? We were happy… why did I let you go…?"
Takeru stood up when he heard laughter coming from his right side. On a foggy screen he could see Patamon and a tiny white digimon with a golden ring around her neck inside what looked like one of the cubic buildings of the Village of the Beginnings. Patamon was messing with a jukebox. An Italian song began to be played:
"Quando sono solo / Sogno all'orizzonte / E mancan le parole / Si lo so che non c'è luce / In una stanza quando manca il sole / Se non ci sei tu con me, con me / Su le finestre / Mostra a tutti il mio cuore / Che hai acceso / Chiudi dentro me / La luce che / Hai incontrato per strada."
"Bocelli! I really like it!" The white digimon exclaimed in a cheerful voice. "I think the song is called 'Con te partirò'."
"Do you know what it says, Plotmon?" Patamon asked.
"No, but I'll learn one day!" She replied.
"Translate it to me when you do, please." Patamon asked.
"Oh, I love this part!" Plotmon said, starting to dance and to sing as Patamon smiled at her. "Con te partirò / Paesi che no ho mai / Veduto e vissuto con te / Adesso sì li vivrò / Con te partirò / Su navi per mare / Che, io lo so / No, no, non esistono più / Con te io li vivrò…"
Suddenly, Elecmon entered the place, startling the children.
"You two should be sleeping!" Elecmon reprehended them. "How many times do I have to tell you not to use my things without asking?"
Plotmon was about to say something, but Patamon flew towards her and put himself between the two digimon.
"It was my idea! Get mad at me but not at her!" Patamon told him, earning a smirk from Elecmon, who replied:
"Always looking after your sister, huh?"
"Of course! That will never change!" Patamon stated, beaming.
Takeru felt a knot in his throat and walked away from that screen. He soon found a new one showing Ofanimon on a beach with a group of digimon. Takeru noticed that the ultimate angel was wearing a necklace with a prism.
"I am Jokermon." The monster that resembled a clown introduced himself. "These are Metalseadramon and Megadramon. We are the three generals of Seraphimon."
"Mommy, if you hadn't interrupted, Nee-chan would've kicked their butts!" A little digimon that had a white stuffed body and a pumpkin for a head (with an ax stuck on it) and wore a green cape said, pointing to an Angewomon.
"Just because she was kicking Jokermon's butt, it doesn't mean she would've kicked ours, come on!" The monster that looked like a cyborg dragon stated.
"And I doubt she could defeat me, an ultimate level digimon." The digimon that resembled a metallic sea snake affirmed.
"First of all, you've been an ultimate for a matter of hours, Metalseadramon! You're not as strong as you think!" Jokermon said, angrily. "Second, I've always showed more prowess in battle than you, Megadramon! If she kicked my butt, she would've sent you to the junk yard!"
"Oh, my! It seems that I'm the strongest digimon on this island after Mother!" Angewomon laughed, which made Jokermon blush.
"Are you done with this nonsense?" Ofanimon inquired in a serious tone. "I believe there's something more important for us to discuss."
"Indeed… Seraphimon-sa-" Jokermon stopped talking suddenly, then continued. "Seraphimon fired a weapon of mass destruction against the Cloud Continent, killing everybody there… and deforming their data in a way that prevents them from being reborn."
Angewomon and the little pumpkin monster gasped, horrified. Ofanimon didn't show surprise. She held her trembling hands together, as if she was about to pray.
"Lady of Infinity Mountain, you're the only other ultimate level angel we know of… and you're his sister!" Jokermon continued. "You're the only one who can put a stop to Seraphimon's reign of terror! Please, Ofanimon-sama!" He kneeled down and held his hands together. "Please, save the world from that demon!"
"Are you seriously asking her to kill her own brother, you heartless bastard?!" Angewomon was furious. "Why don't you stop him?!"
"I don't have enough power! None of us has!" Jokermon contested.
"But you were there, right by his side, aiding him in his conquest!" Angewomon reminded him. "You let that guy get this far! It's your responsibility to stop him!"
"It's my responsibility!" Ofanimon stated, taking off her necklace and giving it to the pumpkin digimon. "Please, take care of it until I return."
"Return?! W-What are you intending to do, Mother?" Angewomon asked in a frightened voice.
"It's my responsibility." Ofanimon repeated. "I must go."
"Please, don't do this!" Angewomon asked. "If you go through this… if you kill your brother… what will you become?"
"Whatever I need to become for the sake of everybody else." Ofanimon replied in a depressed voice.
Takeru walked away from that screen too. He didn't want to feel sympathy for Ofanimon, but it was hard not to do that after seeing her current state and memories. The boy had to remind himself of the terrible things she had done, but the signs of her misery were too glaring to be ignored.
Then, Takeru noticed Pinocchimon sitting on a far away spot in that dark place. That couldn't be right. Wasn't Pinocchimon fighting the boy's partner? The memory of Patamon turning into that thing made Takeru shiver. The boy had been responsible for that and cursed himself for it. All because Takeru couldn't learn to control his anger! He had tried so hard to control his emotions, but when he had seen Gabumon dying…
Trying to escape his thoughts, Takeru approached the marionette that stared sadly at the ground.
"I just wanted to make her happy…" Pinocchimon lamented. "Whenever we played together, she smiled. But after those three generals appeared, Mother… Mommy…"
A foggy screen appeared close to him and Takeru took a look at it. He saw the digimon with the pumpkin head entering a bedroom. Ofanimon was sitting on a chair close to a table covered by open books. She wasn't looking at any of them, though, but through a window at the rocky wall. Ofanimon had her necklace back. It was raining outside.
"Mommy, let's play hide and seek?" The little digimon asked. "It's our favorite game, I'm sure it'll cheer you up!"
Ofanimon paid him no attention.
"Please, talk to me." He begged, fighting the tears. "It's been days and you've just been sitting there… what can I do to make you feel better? I'll do anything for your happiness, Mommy!"
He was held by the cape and dragged out of the bedroom. Once they were far enough, Angewomon scolded him:
"Pumpmon, how many times do I have to tell you that you can't disturb Mother while she's working? She's looking for a way to save the corrupted digimon, that's extremely important!"
"Is she going to smile again?" Pumpmon asked in low voice, rubbing his eyes. "What can we do to make her go back to normal?"
"We just have to be there for her whenever she needs." Angewomon told him. "Instead of asking her to play with you, you should train and get stronger. If we're strong enough, next time she won't have to dirty her hands again."
"Next time?" Pumpmon had a concerned voice. "But she already saved the world from Seraphimon!"
Angewomon stayed silent for a few seconds and then said:
"There will always be someone out there ready to ruin our happiness."
Takeru walked away again. He refused to feel bad for Gabumon's murderer. But just like with Ofanimon, it was difficult not to do that. Why was he able to see into their past, anyway? The boy stopped walking and picked up his black digivice. That object had to be the thing connecting all of them. Just like his dark emotions had added to Patamon's, maybe they were also getting mixed with similar emotions from other people.
And then, Takeru saw Demon in front of him, kneeling on the ground while crying. That digimon didn't seem as malicious and scary as before, despite looking exactly the same.
"Takeru hates me… he doesn't believe in me anymore… I let him down… what should I have done? What was the right thing to do? I never know what the right thing to do is… if I can't know that, I can't change… I can't change… there's no hope for me…"
A screen appeared next to the monster and Takeru watched the memory of the night Seraphimon had been killed by Ofanimon. Differently from the others, the boy could listen to some of his partner's thoughts and feel what the other felt. Seraphimon was so scared and confused at first and then became so angry at Ofanimon. But once he realized how much she was suffering, Seraphimon was overtaken by guilt and let her kill him. That must have been similar to the guilt he had felt towards Pinocchimon.
After showing the angel's death, the floating screen turned off and on again and a new scene appeared. Takeru recognized it. It was the last discussion the boy had with his partner before Patamon's transformation.
Takeru was shocked at how terrifying and devastating his own enraged expression was while he told Patamon he couldn't change. Just like with the previous memory, the boy could also feel what his partner had felt: shame, hopelessness and a fear that was too familiar.
"Don't leave me, Takeru… please…" Demon begged among sobs. "I can't bear to lose you… don't leave me…"
Takeru felt as if he had been punched in the stomach. In that moment, he fully understood what he had done to his partner. The boy remembered the time when he had said something similar to Patamon, right after the digimon had revealed the truth about his past and wanted to part ways.
"YOU'RE NOT GOING TO LEAVE ME! NOT YOU! We can overcome this! We can figure this out together!"
Takeru was afraid of being abandoned and promised his partner that they would solve things together. He told Patamon that he had to stop running away and face his problems; the boy told him that he had to work hard and atone for what he had done wrong in the past.
But then, overwhelmed by the situation of the Digital World and then by Gabumon's loss, Takeru went back on his words. The boy was angry because Patamon had refused to fight and that led to Gabumon's death. Takeru wasn't thinking straight, he didn't want to do that. The child wanted to hurt Patamon, to blame him, as if Takeru would suffer less if he caused pain to someone else.
That was when Takeru realized that everybody connected to him in that strange subjective dimension was suffering and hurting others because of unbearable misery. The more pain they inflicted on each other, the more pain was generated and the more they suffered. It was a never-ending cycle of torment. They couldn't see what they were doing because none of them could see the full picture, except for Takeru.
He looked again at his dark digivice. That object transmitted and amplified his emotions. He had believed that his darkest feelings had to be restrained, but maybe he was looking at the situation from the wrong angle. It was true that he hurt other people when he let those destructive feelings loose, but if he didn't have them, it'd be harder for Takeru to understand how other people felt and to empathize with them. It was precisely because Takeru had darkness inside him that he could recognize and see beyond the darkness in others.
"PATAMON!" Takeru called, grabbing the digimon in his front by both arms. Demon looked at him, blinking in confusion.
"Takeru…?" He asked. "I… I don't know what to do… what I should have done… I don't know… I just wanted to… I'm so sorry…"
"I'm not sure what was the right thing to do." Takeru acknowledged. "I'm sorry for turning against you instead of being supportive. I didn't know what to do with my pain and took it out on you, I shouldn't have done that! I shouldn't have acted as if what I felt was more important that what you felt."
"Where do I go from here, Takeru?" He asked. "Look at me now. What have I become? I can never escape the darkness… I can only keep on going further down…"
"How about we stop being scared of the darkness in us?" Takeru asked, showing a little smile. "It's part of who we are, we can't escape it. But we can use it in constructive ways. The darkness we have can help us to relate and reach others."
"Will I forever be that tyrant Seraphimon?" Demon asked in a pained voice.
"You don't have to be a tyrant anymore." Takeru told him. "Just be the brother who wanted to have his sister's back and was full of good intentions. Patamon, you learned from your mistakes, I have faith that you won't repeat them."
"But if I become evil again…"
"You will never be evil!" Takeru stated, looking into the other's eyes. "Stop hating your past and accept who you are! Grow from it! Everything in life is always changing and we can't ever stop that! But we can hope for things to get better! For us to get better! We can work to achieve what we want! Right now, what do you want more than anything?"
Demon stayed quiet for a few seconds.
"I want to see my sister again." The digimon said. "I want to help her and give back to her the kind brother she used to love."
"Let's go save your sister, then!" Takeru told him.
The boy's digivice shone with bright yellow light that enveloped everything. When he could see his surroundings again, Takeru noticed that he was back on the Village of the Beginnings. Pinocchimon, still holding his hammer in a shaking right hand, was severely bruised and had been cornered against a tree. Demon wasn't the one holding a sword against the other. An angel with golden wings wearing armor was.
"What happened to that talk of you not being Seraphimon anymore?" Pinocchimon asked in a taunting voice. "You can't just stop being who you are!"
"You're right." Seraphimon replied, dropping the sword to the ground and taking two steps back. "I'm done with lamenting my past. I'll keep looking back at it to learn from my mistakes, but I won't stop looking forward for ways to improve myself."
"If you think you're going to conquer the Digital World again, you couldn't be more wrong!" Pinocchimon told him. "This world is ending today, nobody can stop it! You will die with it!"
The marionette held the hammer with both hands and jumped on Seraphimon. The angel grabbed the tool with one hand and threw it, along with its holder, to the ground. Pinocchimon kept trying to attack, but couldn't succeed. After a few minutes, he was too tired to continue doing that.
The wooden monster was now standing with difficulty, using the hammer to support himself. Takeru approached him.
"While I was drowning in darkness, I saw you and Ofanimon… I saw some of your memories…" Takeru told Pinocchimon.
"You saw her…?" Seraphimon asked.
"She was nearly being torn apart by dark hands, like the ones Devimon had made of corrupted data back then." The boy explained. "She blames herself for not stopping her brother when she could and has done nothing but try to set things right ever since…"
"She killed me..." Seraphimon completed his partner's sentence. "My sister followed her ideals and did what she believed to be correct. Nevertheless, she must've suffered a lot…"
"What she did to you destroyed her!" Pinocchimon told the angel. "Mother was never the same after that! She couldn't live with what she had done…"
The Dark Master's eyes were tear-brimmed. His hands slipped down the hammer's staff and he kneeled on the dead grass. For a couple of minutes, his sobs were the only sound heard in that place.
"Mother still loves you, despite everything you did… none of us could ever fill the hole you left in her heart, no matter how hard we tried…" Pinocchimon spoke with a mix of spite and resignation in his voice. "We couldn't bring her smile back."
"I want to bring her smile back." Seraphimon told him. "I want to go to her and talk to her. Please, tell me how I can do that! I just want to help my sister!"
Pinocchimon stared at the angel for a while without saying anything. Then, he closed his eyes and sighed.
"Inside Infinity Mountain, close to its top, there's a door my sister created to reach Mother's dimension." Pinocchimon let them know. "Mother cast a spell… only an ultimate angel can free her from that place. She could've opened that door any time, but never did. You're the only one that can take her out of there."
"Thank you!" Seraphimon said, bowing to the other. That gesture angered Pinocchimon, who looked away.
"I can't bring myself to forgive you for what you did." Takeru told the Dark Master. "But I understand you. And I don't want to fight you or anyone else from the Sanctuary anymore."
"I don't give a damn about your forgiveness or the Bloody Lord's gratitude!" Pinocchimon roared, glaring at them. "I shouldn't even be helping you! But if this is the only chance to give Mother some peace, it doesn't hurt to try!"
Pinocchimon had lived without hope for such a long time that he had forgotten how it felt to have that feeling. But during his fight with Demon, at the same time the Bloody Lord was wrapped by yellow light and changed form, Pinocchimon felt something light up in his heart. That spark wouldn't go away; it only became stronger and brighter. He wondered if that had been caused by that boy's crest. Could it be that his Mother also felt something like that? He couldn't stop wishing for that to be the case.
The Dark Master watched as Seraphimon carried the human child in his arms and flew towards Infinity Mountain. Pinocchimon leaned against the dead tree. He grabbed his hammer with both hands and swung it. Infinity Mountain wouldn't be affected by his actions; his Mother would still have the opportunity to escape her imprisonment. Pinocchimon still had the responsibility to go forward with the plan. Seraphimon's victims still needed to be saved.
"Mommy…" Pinocchimon whispered, ready to deliver the hammer's strike. "Next time, can we play more? We'll have so much fun together... I can't wait to meet you… and to love you all over again…"
He had never wanted to be a Dark Master, but became one for Ofanimon's sake. Now that his life came to an end, there were only two more Dark Masters left in the Digital World.
By the end of that day, there shouldn't be any.