One Lost Soul
by Digi Angel

He had done it. I still can’t believe that he had done it. A dream and a reality, it had stunned us all to see the armor-clad figure staring down at us as we all changed back from dolls. I can still remember that moment vividly, but now, a good month later, it still seemed like a dream. Yes, Kimeramon was dead, but there was a minor problem left; sort of a fugitive Digimon Gennai had called us back to go after. No big deal, he was only an Ultimate, who went by the name of Anacondramon.

But to me, that wasn’t the problem. It was MagnaAngemon. I thought that I had lost him...

He was so cold, so unemotional. Even when T.K. was around him he never smiled anymore. Not Kari’s wry humor or Tai’s clumsiness or Mimi’s dumb remarks would make him laugh; instead, they earned a long stare from him, fortunately hidden behind his helmet. He was always so serious and so quiet. It was as if he didn’t care anymore.

What disturbed me the most was his attitude towards me. Once, when we finally got some time alone together, (which was rare) I moved over to him and embraced him, going to plant a kiss on his cheek. But instead, he pulled away from me, muttering an inelidgeble excuse and then leaving. My heart sank.

I was worried about him. Not for the sake of our relationship together, but that the old Angemon had left the mon who had loved everybody and who everybody had loved. Still, I refused to let go of the faint glimmer of hope that somewhere deep down inside, under all that armor and no emotion, the old Angemon still remained, hidden in his heart somewhere. It was this tiny hope that kept me from breaking every time he gave me the cold shoulder.

Still, he was invalluable in battle. He easily took care of what one or all of us couldn’t. He never seemed to tire. Although one night, at the end of his six-hour watch, I saw him lay down next to T.K. and gather him in his arms, wrapping his wings around him. It restored my faith in him completely.

The next morning, we all awoke late. I found that I had fallen asleep next to him, very close, in fact. He opened his eyes slowly and saw me. The old Angemon would have smiled warmly, but there was no warmpth whatsoever in MagnaAngemon’s features. Instead, he blinked once, then gently shook T.K. awake and sat up.

What has happened to you? I thought, fighting back the warm tears that threatened to spill from my eyes. Why do you act all but angellic anymore?

“So, now what?” came the voice of Matt, breaking the silence. “Where do we go?”

“Nowhere at the moment,” Tai said.

“I want some breakfast,” T.K. said, “I’m hungry.”

The others agreed to that.

“We’ll go out and find some,” Gabumon volenteered. “I’ll take Agumon and Palmon with me, and together we can bring back a whole bunch of goodies!” He beamed.

“And I’ll go fishing!” Gomamon added cheerfully. “Of course, I won’t bring back any friends of mine.” The four went off.


“Oh, good, let’s walk,” Mimi complained sarcastically as our group trudged through knee-high snow after the large breakfast the others had brought us. It had come from out of nowhere, but Gennai had said that we had to cross it. “Then after that we can walk some more. And then do more walking.”

“Mimi, can you complain a little quieter?” Tai asked pointedly, clutching at his arms to keep them warm. Suddenly, he fell into a weak hole in the snow and climbed out, shivering even more.

I noticed Kari shivering herself and picked her up, wrapping my wings around her to keep her--and me--warm. Looking over, I saw that MagnaAngemon had not done the same for T.K.

“T.K., aren’t you cold?” I asked, hoping to give MagnaAngemon a hint.

“Yeah,” he admitted. “But I don’t have a jacket. I guess I shoulda listened to Mom when she said I shoulda brought one.”

I looked up at MagnaAngemon. Still, he did nothing. Undeterred, I tried again.

“Well you know,” I said with a forced smile, “You’ll always be warm if you stay close to the ones you love.”

“I know,” he replied.

MagnaAngemon still did nothing.

“Isn’t that right, Angemon?” I asked, my voice with a slightly irrated edge to it.

“T.K. is not a little kid anymore,” he replied instead, not even looking over at me. “He’s big enough to take care of himself.”

I could have smacked him. Finally, I gave up and moved over to Ikkakumon, who had Digivolved to keep Joe warm with his thick, heavy fur.

The day was rather quiet after that. Nobody really talked, although MagnaAngemon still never did anything to make sure T.K. stayed warm.

That’s not fair, I thought. T.K. may be a big boy, but he’s still young. All of the other Digimon are keeping their partners warm and yet he is not. What is wrong with him? Does he really not care?

The thought was scarey.

“Angewomon, what’s wrong?” Kari asked, looking up at me with concern in her eyes. “I can tell somethin’s the matter. What’s buggin’ you?”

“Nothing, Kari,” I lied, smiling. “I’m just a little cold. Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she said, then gave me an odd, almost puzzled and searching look, before turning away again.

Later that afternoon, we were attacked by a white, hairy, gorilla-type Digimon appropiately named Gurrilamon. MagnaAngemon and I quickly lept into action, followed by Ikkakumon and Weregarurumon; the others were simply too cold to Digivolve. I took to the skies and readied my bow, but before I could even knock an arrow to the string, a flash of purple streaked by, and suddenly MagnaAngemon was locked in combat with Gurrilamon. His sword against the ape’s heavy paws easily won, and almost as soon as it attacked it was sucked into the Gate of Destiny and gone forever from our lives. Suddenly, I understood.

The Holy Warrior, MagnaAngemon... I thought. That’s what all of the prophecies had called him. He wants to fight; it’s in his genes and data. Can that really be why he’s so cold to T.K. and the others?

That night, I asked him the same question. Almost. We were both set on watch so that if one fell asleep, the other could wake them up so they wouldn’t freeze to death. The children were all slumbering safely inside an ice cave next to a roaring fire built by Agumon

I sat down next to him on an ice-coated log outside the cavern and looked over at him; he was apparently too busy looking up at the stars to notice me.

“Angemon...” I began softly. “Angemon, you love T.K., don’t you?”

Finally, he looked down at me, unblinking as far as I could tell. He said nothing.

“Well?”

“Why wouldn’t I?” he finally said, those being the most words I had heard from him all day. “I Digivolved to save him. Why would I do that if it were not out of love?”

“But you always seem so...” I fumbled for the right words. If it was one thing I had learned, it was that MagnaAngemon had very little patience, and if I worded something wrong, I’d probabaly set off his temper. He did have a nasty temper, if you got him mad enough.

“Yes?” he asked.

“So...oblivious...to him.” Oblivious?

“Oblivious?” I thought I saw his frown deepen. “Why do you say such a thing? You know I love him. He is my partner, through everything, no matter what. We share a special understanding with each other that none of you others will be able to ever comprehend. I know it’s not obvious, but sometimes the best relationships form when two people are apart, rather than always together.”

“That makes no sense!” I blurted. “How can that be?”

“I told you that you would not understand.” He turned back to his stargazing.

Scowling, I went into the cave and gently woke Kari. With a groan, she sat up and rubbed at her eyes, then looked up at me sleepily. “Don’t ask questions,” I whispered, hastily, as I scooped her limp body up in my arms. “But we’re leaving. We can stay here no longer.”

“Why?” was the question I knew she wanted to ask, but was too tired to, and instead she fell right back asleep again as I flew her out of the cave and into the darkness of the frosty night.

***

When MagnaAngemon woke up that morning, he had no idea that anything had gone wrong...except that he had fallen asleep on guard. Mentally kicking himself for failing to keep his watch, he stood and went inside the cave where the others were, only to be trampled over by a crying T.K.

“She’s gone! She’s gone! Oh, Angemon!” The boy burried his face in MagnaAngemon’s chest, sobbing piteously.

Blinking, he put an arm around T.K.’s waist and tried as best he could to look him in the eye. “Who’s gone? What is wrong, T.K.?”

“Kari,” T.K. sobbed, clutching at the golden shawl wrapped around MagnaAngemon’s neck and chest. “An’...an’.....Angewomon’s gone, too.”

“What?” Gently, he unwrapped T.K.’s fingers from their death-grip on his shawl and held him a little away to get a better look at him, astonished. “You can’t be serious!”

“I am,” T.K. said sadly. “There’s no sign of ‘em.”

For once in his life, MagnaAngemon felt true dread. What if...kept running through his mind. He felt awful. So many things could have happened to them...and it was then that he realized how devestated he could become without his counterpart around.

With that, he picked up T.K., put him on his shoulders piggy-back-ride style, and began walking out the cave.

“Hey, MagnaAngemon, where do you think you’re going?” Tai asked. “You can’t just leave us! We’re supposed to stick together here!”

“You have no clue, do you?” MagnaAngemon asked instead, then flew off.

***

As an icy rain beat down on me, I had not realized it was there until Kari’s caughing broke me out of my trance. Startled, I looked down at her to see her soaking wet and looking miserable.

“Oh Kari, I’m so sorry!” I gasped, clutching her to my chest to shield her from the onpour as much as possible. “Why didn’t you say anything? I would have landed and found a place for us to rest until this rain stopped!”

“I’m sorry,” she said weakly, gazing up at me with half-lidded eyes. “I thought you were going somewhere important. I didn’t wanna slow ya down or stop ya or nothin’.”

“Kari,” I said. “Remember the last time you tried that? You--” I broke off in a fit of coughing. I could feel some fluid in my lungs and realized that the rain was giving me pnemonia.

“Angewomon,” she said, “why did we leave? Were we--” she paused to cough a couple of times “--supposed to?”

“No,” I admitted, squinting as the rain pelted down harder, feeling like a thousand tiny needles pricking at my skin. “It’s better that we did though, Kari. Remember when Matt did it, and Joe? Even...Angemon...did it once. Some people need some time alone, and this time, I need it.” I had another caughing fit and was struck dizzy by the time it was over.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck down next to me, missing us by a mere four feet and striking a tree down below, catching it on fire briefly before the wall of rainwater put it out. Startled out of my wits, I veered to the right, just as another lightning bolt came down...

Screaming, I clutched Kari to me tightly and wrapped my wings around her body to keep her safe, tensening my muscles and preparing for the worst. But in a sudden gust of air, a large figure flew in over me, taking the hit just in the nick of time. With an agonized cry, he then fell from the air, and I was horrified to see that there was a smaller figure with him.

“Why...why did he do it, T.K.?” I heard Kari ask as she gently wiped off a cut he had obtained from his long fall. We were in the shelter of a sandstone cave, as the rain continued to beat down relentlessly outside. After taking the lightning for me, I had dragged MagnaAngemon in here. T.K., who was with him, was okay save for a few cuts and bruises, which Kari lovingly tended to. But I...I was much more devestated.

“I dunno,” T.K. said. “He just wanted to protect you guys, I guess.”

“That was brave,” Kari said. “But he hurt himself...”

“I know,” T.K. said gloomily, which was followed by a quick “ow!”

I stopped listening to their conversation then. I was in another section of the cave, adjacent to theirs. It was a small, warm cavern, where I had lain MagnaAngemon’s lifeless body. Despite the fact that my coughing fits were getting worse, I only layed there on the floor with him, head resting on his chest as I listened to his faintly beating heart. I know I must have been quite a sight, but I could only lay there with him, stroking his pale, drenched hair as I mentally told him not to let go. Suddenly, some words came to my lips, words I didn’t even know I knew until then. From some locked away memory, I softly sang in his ear,

If I never knew you,

If we’d never met

I’d hate to see, what I would be

Though time would soon forget

If you left me standing

You’d break away my soul

I could not live, with what fate gives;

I couldn’t let you go...

And I continued my song, verse after verse, until I fell asleep from sheer weakness and exhaustion.

***

If I never knew you...

The words played through my head, bringing me out of my deep, deep slumber. Sung by the most beautiful of male voices, I stirred, smiling in my dream. Suddenly, I felt a pleasent warm current flow through my body, and I realized that I was not actually dreaming.

I opened my eyes, only to be momentarily blinded by a soft but radient rainbow light. But as soon as I did, the light faded away and was replaced by soft, downy grey feathers.

“You’re awake,” said a rich, warm, but masculine voice. “Are you alright?”

“Hmm?” I blinked. Who was it speaking? The voice didn’t match MagnaAngemon’s cold, harsh tone. But when I looked up, I looked into his eyes...His eyes! I had never seen him with his helmet off before! They were so amazing...It was hard to think of a word to describe them. A lively, turquoise-blue, I was easily lost in them and felt that I was gazing into Heaven itself. His face had changed considerably from Angemon’s soft features to a more rugged look, but it suited him; I felt my heart throb the more I looked.

“I said, are you alright?” he asked again, gently. The voice did belong to him.

“I’m fine,” I said, sitting up a little. “But...what happened to you? You don’t sound the same and...you’re smiling.”

His smile widened into a bit of a grin. “It was you,” was all he said, but suddenly I had realized that I had melted the coldness that surrounded the origional MagnaAngemon and brought out the true Angemon within.

Smiling, I embraced him tightly and knew things would be alright from then on.

***

The next day, we flew off with T.K. and Kari to find the others, who we had so carelessly left behind. I then felt sort of guilty the more I thought about it, for I had really left for no reason at all and put Kari in danger. But it all had turned out right--and all injuries had been healed by MagnaAngemon.

By the middle of the afternoon, we were dead tired. The sun beat down on us as if taunting us, ironicly a major change from the freak storm that had hit us last night. Finally, I spotted a long, sheer line of some sort of black rock among the trees below and we landed to bask in it’s shade.

The stone was very odd. Pitch black, it seemed to be blacker than night, with a sheen to it’s leathery-textured surface that reminded me of the moonlight reflecting off the water. It had an unnatural pattern embeded in it’s surface, almost like the scales of a fish of something. Nevertheless, it was very cool, and a welcome relief from the afternoon heat.

But as I began to fall asleep next to MagnaAngemon, the stone shifted--a lot. Letting out a startled cry, the four of us lept to our feet to see it sliding past, like a train of some sort. Suddenly, there was a loud, dry, rasping hiss, and we looked up, way up, into the cold, glowing eyes of a hooded serpent.

It was huge! It’s two fangs were easily as long as MagnaAngemon, from the tip of his helmet to the heel of his boots, and the rest of it’s sharp teeth were easily as big as Kari. It’s enormous hood blocked out the sun so that it was nearly as dark as night, and I estemated that it’s tail lay somewhere across the forest a mile away.

“W-what is that?” T.K. asked, trembling as he cowered behind MagnaAngemon.

“Death itself,” I said.

“That’s Anacondramon,” MagnaAngemon said. “He’s the reason why I never de-digivolved. I knew we’d meet him unexpectedly. Even though an Ultimate, he is a nasty Digimon; one bite and you’re dead, no matter what your level.”

“He...he could kill a mega?” Kari asked, horrified.

I nodded. “He could, Kari. His poision would have taken down Piedmon in a minute.”

“Ssssssssso!” The snake-dragon Digimon hissed, voice like dry leaves running across the ground. “I have found two of the Digidessssstined! Foolssssssssss! I will desssssstroy you ssssssssso easssssssssily!”

“T.K., get back! Run as far away as you can, and hurry!” MagnaAngemon shouted. “I want no arguments, just go!”

“But what about you, Angemon?”

“Go NOW!”

He ran off with Kari’s hand in his, fearful.

When I turned back around, I saw that MagnaAngemon was already up in the air, slashing fearlessly at Anacondramon’s eyes with Excalibur. He had the right idea; the snake’s eyes were the most vunerable. Taking to the skies as well, I aimed an arrow at one and fired, and it hit it’s mark.

With a horrible scream that sent chills down my spine, Anacondramon reared back in pain, whiping it’s head about violently. Suddenly, with black blood streaming down it’s face, it turned back to face us.

“Death Ray!” It fired off a purple-black beam from it’s mouth, hitting first MagnaAngemon, and then me. He raised his beam shield just as the attack hit and flew backwards into the ground. As I saw it comming for me, I wrapped my wings around myself as I had done when VenoMyotismon attacked and created a pink light shield, which kept it from doing more than slamming me into the ground.. But I couldn’t breathe, and lay there stunned.

Anacondramon hissed evily, his vile breath reaching my nostrils. He raised his tail to smash me with when MagnaAngemon flew by in a streak of white and purple and sliced the end cleanly off. I rolled away in time to avoid the river of black blood rushing down as a result, then willed myself to fly once more.

The giant snake snapped at MagnaAngemon, missing him by mere inches. I realized that he was stalling for time as he recharged his most lethal attack. Then I had to stall, too, to give MagnaAngemon enough time to form a Gate of Destiny.

“Heaven’s Charm!” I cried, lashing out with the pure energy of Light as Myotismon did with his Crimson Lightning. I whipped Anacondramon smartly across the face, again and again, sending him crashing into the ground. “Now, Angemon!” I shouted.

“Gate of Dest--” he was cut off as Anacondramon brought up his bleeding tail and smacked him with it. He fell down into the trunk of an old tree, breaking it in two.

I gasped. “Angemon!”

“Death Ray!” Before I could react, the attack hit me, and I felt as if my soul had been ripped from my body. The world became a blur as I fell towards the earth, and I never felt myself hit. I thought I was dying; I very well could have been. But suddenly that voice came to me again, the one that had awaken me from my slumber....the beautiful masculine one of MagnaAngemon. I opened my eyes and realized that he had caught me.

“Death Ray!” Came Anacondramon’s cry again. MagnaAngemon raised his shield and reflected the attack again, and this time some of it hit it’s source. With another horrible shreek, the snake reared back.

“Wrap him up and hold him!” MangaAngemon said, flying high up into the sky. Up, it seemed, into the sun.

“Heaven’s Charm!” Again, I lashed out with the pink energy and used it to wrap up Anacondramon, thightly. He writhed and winced in pain. Suddenly, MagnaAngemon appeared, diving from the sky at an incredible speed, sword poised and pointing directly at Anacondramon’s throat...

SNAP!

I couldn’t believe it. With a horrified cry, I stopped my attack, and gazed on, aghast, as Anacondramon suddenly shifted and swallowed MagnaAngemon whole.

“No....” My heart sank; tears streamed from my eyes. How could it be? This couldn’t happen! “NOOOOOOOOO!” My cry was filled with, as Kari would tell me later, anguish that struck her heart and soul-killing fright.

I sank to the ground, sobbing heavily. Every muscle in my body felt limp; I shook and trembled uncontrollably. He was dead. The only mon I had ever loved was dead. But suddenly, something he had once said came back to me...

You must have hope, T.K., or otherwise your crest will never glow. That’s how it works. We all must have hope, or otherwise we will be lost in the darkness we keep in our hearts; ask your brother. The exact thing happened to him...

Hope? I had that, but not much...But suddenly, as soon as my flashback ended, Anacondramon let out a startled cry. I looked up to see an unnatural bulge appear at the base of his hood. It suddenly began to throb, and suddenly a purple streak formed around it and...his head fell off. Head and body crashing to the ground, I turned my head away from the greusome sight.

But suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move. I looked to see MagnaAngemon stumble out of the body, panting and a slimy mess. But when he saw me, he only smiled and gave an “isn’t this ironic?” laugh.

I didn’t care. Laughing as well, I rushed over to him and gave him a hug and kiss anyways.

***

Later that afternoon, after a long bath, of course, we were reunited with the others, who were more than relieved to see us and surprised at MagnaAngemon’s change. With Anacondramon gone, we all finally had some time to relax, and we finally all got to enjoy our last week with each other in peace. And as for me and MagnaAngemon? We finally got some time alone together, and we used it wisely: sleeping, in each other’s arms.

THE END

BACK