A/N: And that's it. I can't believe I actually managed to finish this in three and a bit days. Seriously, its 17,360 words (yes, I counted; I was curious – that's without the dividers and A/Ns: fanfiction counts both). A busy and yet docile week at uni provided that opportunity; mind you I had pretty long hours this week for some reason (which was several weeks ago by the time I post this). Lectures collaborate even worse than teachers do.

The ending might seem a little odd, but remember they're still technically in the middle of a fight.

Thanks for sticking with. Hope you enjoy this conclusion. Rocked in my head, but I'm not too sure how it came out on paper.

Turning Towards Light

Chapter 3 –Emotion

No-one really knew what was going through the mind of Koichi Kimura, the once warped warrior of darkness that had so easily defeated them. No-one brought the topic up, and the other had simply told his own tale flatly before lapsing into the silence. His voice kept his secrets, but his body posture betrayed many things: guilt, uncertainty…there was even a degree of self-loathing there, but there were other things too. Pride for one, and an unusual quality as well, particularly when seen against its couples. There was definitely an element of courage too, but there must have also been something else, because neither of those things accounted for why he was going to the Rose Morning Star before Takuya had (apparently wisely) asked for his guidance.

None of them really understood what he meant by debt; they supposed it was simply a circumstance they would have to experience for themselves before it made sense. They hadn't much to associate it with, except perhaps Takuya and his momentary journey back to the real world. The Dark Trailmon trip somewhat served as a more placate reincarnation of the circumstances of the boy they had learnt was Koji's twin brother.

In addition, they failed to understand what he meant when he had claimed he was "glad".

They also hovered between various degrees of belief. JP for one was rather reluctant to accept the tale; "It could so easily be a trick," he protested, and Koichi did not rebuke the statement. But it made a sublime degree of sense, once they considered the inability of Duskmon to strike down the warrior of light and the sudden tunnel-focus upon him. If anything, he should have gone after Takuya: the initial target he had failed to strike down. After all, he had cut through the flesh on Koji's back. He could have ignored it, but something had pulled him in. That something was the knowledge and the purpose that had, somehow, initially led him to this world. The purpose that, perhaps, prevented his soul from rest.

Zoe found the entire story really sad; the law was just that messed up to bring a cycle of events to this. Takuya had seen the most first-hand, and while he could be an idiot at times, he was no liar. They really didn't have a choice but to believe that the beast warrior of life, the metallic wolf, had been warped into a man-eating hyena. He had not responded to the name, but he had to the finer details, albeit barely scraping the surface of the skin with a spontaneous verbal attack.

They'd have to do far better than that.

Tommy was watching Bokomon flip through his pages once again; each new search was as fruitless as the old. There was nothing on the hyena. Nothing on Duskmon, but at least they knew the name of the latter. Why hadn't they thought to look before? Not that it would have much of a difference, the young boy supposed. They didn't know what they were up again anyway. But he was confident. After all, they'd rescued him from his nightmare. They'd rescued Takuya from his beast spirit.

It was just the silent boy in front of him that unnerved him, enthralled in his own thoughts. He wondered if someone had saved him too, whether it had been Koji ripping the spirits from his body or Takuya helping him…or if it was just a matter of removing a piece to simply replace it at a later date with the same consequences. It would be really sad if that was the consequence; now that they knew Duskmon was a human like them, it would be that much harder. But it would be harder still to fight Koji, who they all considered a friend.

Or perhaps not. It was that bond of friendship that had saved them in the initial circumstances. In that case, it was the battle the boy leading them was encased in was the hardest of them all. But perhaps Patamon, riding on his head, was helping the matter as a small smile was still present on his lips as he stopped, although it quickly slipped away into a neutral expression.

'We're here,' he said.

There were two guards, but getting past them had been pretty easy, all things considered. Too easy, some of them thought, before they were reminded by Koichi's earlier assertion that it was a trap.

'This Cherubimon really is overconfident,' Takuya said aloud as they passed through a labyrinth with mirrors hanging on its dark walls. He stopped to look at one, peering at his reflection before jumping back as a shadowed hand reached out to claw him. 'Err…'

'They're harmless,' Koichi said, and this time the guilt was definitey present in his voice.' They're digimon who were given the spirit of darkness, and it broke them.'

No-one really knew what to say to that. Of course, that didn't keep them from being silent. It was, apparently, a characteristic that most of their group shared...or rather, they all had at a certain time or circumstance.

'You're lucky then,' Zoe mused aloud, before covering her mouth as she realised it mightn't have been the best time to assert the fact.

'Yeah…' the other replied. 'I've been lucky with a lot of things.'

The tone sounded almost bitter, and Patamon fluttered into his arms as they continued walking.

Eventually, the came across a doorway, and then a room that burnt their eyes with its bright light.

'Where are we?' Tommy asked.

'Chamber of Light,' Koichi replied, shielding his eyes and wincing at the intensity. Even when he didn't possess his spirits, the chamber had a strain on his body.

'And why are we-oh!' JP exclaimed as he saw Patamon shoot out of the other's arms and fly towards a cage of light hanging from the ceiling. Inside, barely visible in the luminescence, was a beautiful angel that held a great degree of resemblance to Seraphimon.

'Children,' the angel uttered, her voice melodious and echoing gracefully upon the mirrors that surrounded them all. 'You have come at last.'

'Who is that?' Neemon asked.

Bokomon snapped his waist band. 'That's Lady Ophanimon,' he snapped back. 'One of the Three Celestial Digimon.'

Patamonsimply stared up at her in awe as the three with flying forms evolved to fly up. 'Hang on,' JP declared. 'We'll get you down.'

But the light reflected and stopped them all.

'You must not waste your time on me,' Ophanimon pleaded. 'There are more important matters you need to attend to, but before that I must explain why you all are here.'

It was a tale seven of them had heard before, albeit that of the initial six was variant from the seventh as the storytellers themselves were a significant part of the conflict. But the tale was quickly brought to the matters of the spirits, and particularly those of light and darkness.

'I know of this,' the blonde angel said, somewhat sorrowfully but with the air of being somewhat separate from the transpired events. Perhaps that additional coldness was necessary to bring children to a world that was not their own in order to save it, to put those extra lives at risk for their own salvation and watch the consequences that, while leading towards advantage, weren't always so. 'Seraphimon and I only possessed five of the ten spirits between us while Cherubimon held the other five. He used four of them and created his army of evil digimon and set them about pillaging our world, but the remaining spirit, the spirit of darkness, would not be subjected to the same action. Light and darkness hold the balance in our world you see; it is a thing of legend that no-one wholly understands, but the power of the legendary spirits only led to their corruption as Cherubimon failed to create or find a compatible host. But when I opened a channel to call upon your world for aid – a world where I had believed Cherubimon held no power and it was true at the time – the connection between the spirits of light and darkness allowed him to bring another child into this world, and this one was compatible.'

Her blue eyes met another shade of blue at that moment before she continued on. 'Lost in the border between life and death, anyone would be easily seduced by the thrall of apathy, but what is important is that you turned away from it.'

Koichi turned his face slightly away. Evidently he did not believe that, or at the very least held some doubt to the statement.

'You realised that the blanket in which you had wrapped yourself would not ultimately bring you the comfort you desired and so you unconsciously cast it aside,' the angel explained. 'In doing so, you opened your mind and my power, restrained as it was, was able to reach you and restore your memories. Alas I tried to reach the warrior of light inside that beast of steel, as did Seraphimon's essence, but we both failed in that account. All is not lost however.' Now, she spoke to all of them again, turning from the warrior of darkness who mulled over her words. 'Your strength and courage has far surpassed any expectations that may have been placed upon you. All of you. I know it won't fail you here.'

'That's right,' Takuya agreed, slamming his right fist into his open left palm. 'We're going to restore peace to this world.'

'Yeah,' everyone agreed…except Koichi.

'Now would be a good time to tell us which side you're on,' JP said to him, a tad pointedly.

'JP!' the rest scolded.

'What? You're all thinking it. Maybe I should keep my mouth shut in the future, then someone else can say it.' Or no-one perhaps, in which case the curiosity would be left unquenched.

Zoe gave him a scathing look, before reconsidering. 'You do bring up a fair point,' she admitted. 'But you really need to watch how you say it.'

'Um…guys?' Tommy looked up at Ophanimon, whose expression had somewhat dimmed, before back to the humans. 'Is this really the time for this?'

'Yes it is.' Funnily, it was Koichi who replied. One would think he would be the one avoiding the question. But he was biting his lip slightly.

Admittedly, he had given the matter quite a bit of thought. It was partially the reason for his silence; there was, of course, many other factors to consider as well: he had been Duskmon, he didn't belong as a part of this group…and the list went on.

'I'm on no-one's side,' he said finally, turning his head down so he didn't have to meet anyone's eyes. 'Everybody makes mistakes. Everybody has made mistakes. I can't just pick a side like that.'

Takuya opened his mouth, but surprisingly JP shrugged. 'Fair enough.'

'JP,' the other brunette protested. 'Are you crazy?'

'Look,' the elder replied, a little exasperated. 'I wouldn't trust a guy who doesn't believe for what he's fighting for the distance I can throw them, and I'm perfectly serious when I say that. The fact that he admitted that means he can be trusted when he chooses to say: I'm on this side or that. But persuading or forcing someone to be on a side or to chose isn't going to help in the long run. They're the ones who aren't dedicated, and they turn out to be the ones you can't trust.'

'My, those are quite wise words,' Bokomon said, opening his book to a blank page and scrawling it down.

'It works in both sides of the coin,' Ophanimon continued, causing them all to look up and the "wise" speaker to blush slightly when he remembered the remainder of his audience. It was much easier when the listener wasn't a tall and strikingly beautiful angel with enormous power…even if she was currently captive. 'Cherubimon always was afraid he'd lose control over the spirits of darkness. In part it attributed to the extra care he took in shaping his warrior and the dismissal when he realised his fallacy.'

'Does that mean the same thing applies with Koji?' Tommy asked, blinking slightly. 'That should make things a little easier, right?'

'I'm afraid I do not know.' And again, her voice sounded distantly regretful. 'I fail to see the purpose of such an act to be honest.'

'Why?' This time it was Takuya, accidently cutting Zoe off as she opened her mouth.

'Because the spirits of the ten legendary warriors are now within my grasp,' the corrupted Celestial Digimon himself replied, staring down upon them from the ceiling, somehow stifling the gasps that echoed all around as Ophanimon (and all of them really) looked up in shock. None of them had seen or heard him, nor did they understand how he could be up there when it defied the laws of gravity (except Koichi, who knew well enough the real Cherubimon wouldn't grace his presence where a projection would do).

The large eyes passed over Ophanimon first as she gracefully shrank back in her cage. 'It is fruitless after all, the large warped bunny said in an almost soft tone. 'If you join me now, we can share this new utopia.'

'Never,' the female replied strongly. 'You once told us chaos is the world's natural way. You cannot impose your will upon it, nor will you succeed in banishing pain and suffering when an equal amount of happiness and growth stems from it. It is a balance you cannot change.'

'Silence!' the other thundered, and Patamon flew into his Papamon's pouch as the two rookies quaked as well. 'Then you will perish with the rest.' But then the scowl turned upwards into a smirk, and he looked down upon the humans who stared up at him. On the ground, they looked and felt so small in comparison. 'But first I will have your spirits.'

There was a chorus of protest…again except for Koichi, this time for the reason that he was lacking his spirit. But then there was a snarl from somewhere within the room, and it was Koichi shouting something…although his words got lost in the growl. The meaning carried, particularly since the dark haired boy tackled Takuya down as the hyena, who had arrived while their attention had been diverted, landed neatly before them.

The next moment, he was leaping for Takuya again, but this time he had enough bearings to roll out of the way.

'What the heck are you doing Koji?' he yelled, narrowly missing the claws that swiped at him.

'You cause pain,' the other growled, somewhat fragmentally. 'You must go.'

'Hey,' the other protested, wincing slightly as the claws managed to cut a thin line into his arm. 'I didn't start this, remember?'

The hyena turned slightly, then changed his target to the dark-haired boy…who fared a little better when it came to avoiding the claws. Perhaps it had something to do with his training as Duskmon.

'Stop this!' Ophanimon cried.

'I will have the spirits,' Cherubimon responded, and lightning began to crash down upon the digidestined.

'Well, we're not going to stand here and let that happen,' the warrior of flame shouted up, pulling out his D-tector. 'Let's go guys.'

The others followed suit and they began their attempt to claw down the corrupted Celestial Digimon.

The chamber of light had suddenly turned into a warzone, full with flashes and bangs and wayward attacks reflecting off the mirrors and intense light waves. On top of that, the thunder was raining down about them too, and it was due to luck alone that he had not been zapped…although the hyena had and seemed no worse for it.

And he couldn't hear himself think, so there was no way there'd be any talking involved. And what other weapon did he have when the other had scanned his spirits?

The only option was to abandon the chamber of light and the war and choose a more advantageous location. In any case, it was like he said: he wasn't on anyone's side because everyone made mistakes. With this fight, he would choose his side, and if he couldn't, he would wait and go on till the opportunity presented itself.

Which was how they wound up in the labyrinth, and how they'd managed to break enough mirrors between them to earn more than two lifetimes worth of bad luck before he was groaning slightly from the stinging in his back as he lay amongst the shards he had been shoved against…and the hyena panted in front of him.

That was one good thing about those sorts of hunter digimon…or rather the animals they took after. They tired rather easily.

'Why…fight…' the hyena panted. One could not call him KendoGarrurumon; he looked nothing like his predecessor. One could also not call him Koji; he was far from human, even if the separate identities did theoretically converge into a single being and that being could be summarised under the name of Koji.

It wasn't until the other managed to crawl to his knees that he registered the half-formulated question. 'Excuse me?' he asked, blinking…then cringing at the look he received. It looked so familiar; he could swear he'd stared into a mirror and seen that exact gaze in his reflection. True, the eyes were yellow instead of red, or even blue, but he remembered that gaze reflecting off the carmine surface of his blade. When he had wondered (or perhaps wondered was too docile a word) why the other's face had affected him so much. When he wondered why the other succeeded in disturbing his concentration. Soon thereafter he had persisted in finding out the reason, and that had led to their encounter inside Sakkakumon.

'Pain…too much pain…' the digimon groaned, and he really did sound like he was hurting amongst the tiredness. Perhaps it was simply tightness in his chest. Perhaps not, but the fact of the matter was that he was in agony. 'Why..?'

The question still didn't make a whole lot of sense, but it was at least more coherent than it had been before.

'You can't stop it,' the human answered eventually. 'I've tried. You're trying now. Both of us know it's not possible; it's just that much more painful in the end.'

He was on his feet by then, prepared to start backing away if need be.

'Wrong!' the beast shouted, lunging and the other dodged back. It was lucky his sneakers were new; they'd had to buy a new pair when the old ones simply could not forge on any further. But if they had been the more worn pair, his soles would probably be bleeding. Actually, he'd been scratched a couple of times, and the claws had even caught his face and yet he was blood-free.

It wasn't a fact he was going to think about though. He was occupied with not getting himself killed. It was remarkable how it cleared the muddle thoughts that took comfort in a person's brain. He didn't have the time to feel guilty or sorry for himself because all that impeded on the current situation. The mess that had been his feelings on the situation took shape: yes, he did feel guilty. Yes, he was feeling rather low…but it helped quite a bit to see someone else making the same mistake and being in the same situation. Despite how sadistic it was, despite the fact the other was his brother…it was a human instinct that could not be denied. Of course, he felt guilty about the thought as well, but the cause far outweighed the effect. It somewhat justified his own choice; it wasn't a matter of his particular weakness as he could have so easily believed if the circumstances were any different. It was a weakness of humankind, and their susceptibility to pain.

He backed into a different chamber, this one with a single orb glowing in the centre of a square tiled with a mosaic of white and black. It was only until he was against the statute that held the orb to his chest level that he realised the pattern was actually the symbol of darkness repeating itself over and over in a tandem.

It was when that point registered that he realised what the sphere was. The warped beast of light cringing away only served to validate that.

It was the beast spirit of darkness. It had to be. And the room they were in was the holding chamber, where once the human spirits too had resided.

The hyena had resorted to pacing slightly, as if stalking his prey. They both knew there were only two options: either take up a spirit warped beyond belief or to back out of the protective circle and continue the little dance they had engaged themselves in. And the beast also knew that he was human, and would fall to human weakness far faster than any man-eating animal…even if the animal would be the first to tire. It was the hunger for meat and desire for death guised as the elimination of all causative agents of pain that would push him until the blood was seeping through his jaws. It was almost reminiscent of a fictional vampire in a way; perhaps that was where the creators had gotten the inspiration thereof, past the bat that had lead to the blood-sucking name.

Behind the other, the spirit flared. It was almost as if it detected the affinity, and was reaching for him. The instinct was to move, either towards it and seize up the thing that completed his soul or cringe away from the same thing, one that would possibly warp his mind and obliterate his heart till he was worse than the lost beast before him.

It looked like such a simple solution from that perspective. Obliterate pain. Never feel it again. But it was impossible. They were human, ultimately. They were forever searching.

Even now, even though it had simply been fight after fight with little recovery time in between, the hyena was shifting his head this way and that, sniffing, as if he was searching for something. Animals, particularly of the canine heritage, searched by their noses as opposed to their eyes.

Koichi sincerely hoped the smell of fear on him would not incite the other. He wasn't about to go denying to himself that he wasn't scared…because he was. And he was, in essence, stuck between a hammer and an anvil.

C'mon, he shouted at himself. Think.

The yellow eyes stared at him and he resisted the urge to gulp, gritting his teeth instead. Freaking out here wasn't going to help anyone. The others were still busy with Cherubimon, otherwise they would have come to help their friend…

And he was thinking, and perhaps even worrying, about them. He was fairly sure the five didn't stand all that much of a chance against even a projection of Cherubimon. He was made from the shadow. Only the true darkness, the thing that made the shadows, could defeat it. Unless the light could shine even stronger than that. Or that's how the legend went anyway; it was one of the secrets of the chamber. There was a lot more on this true darkness too: its fusion with the true light was what sealed Lucemon long ago. It was once the bane of the creation of the universe. But there was no explanation. He doubted it had anything to do with the spirits; why would they be kept there of all places otherwise?

Heh, apparently he had made a choice after all. And it seemed like it had been long made: when those eyes, the colour of sickness, had first looked at him in fact. It was almost ironic to think it had been a situation when their roles had been reversed that had succeeded in freeing him from his self-enacted cage.

Of course, a re-enactment would only work if he used the spirit behind him. His human one was out of his reach. But he could feel the taint; apparently he still held quite an affinity to darkness. It rolled off his skin in waves, almost like the heat from a stove blasted too high, burning without the beads of perspiration crawling down one's skin and providing relief.

The hyena growled, but it was far from impatience. No doubt he felt the darkness too, just as he had felt the light from the light chamber. It hadn't been so bad, but as Duskmon it had been the equivalent of a rather bad migraine. If digimon could vomit, he would have regurgitated his entire stomach contents more than once. Fortunately, they couldn't. The smell was just as bad as anything else, even if it didn't cause him to lapse into a cascade effect. It was remarkable how people simply assumed he couldn't stomach the smell, or the sight of blood, or some particularly gory scene from a horror clip. He liked none of those things, but he wasn't the one screaming or clinging to another at the sight of them.

'Move.' The command was…tethering almost, but pleading. Definitely pleading, albeit it was forced. It sounded like the speaker was unused to reducing (or elevating depending on the perspective) himself to such statuses.

'Why?' the human returned, attempting to keep his tone from shaking but ultimately failing. It didn't matter though; fear in tone wasn't about to make more of an impact than fear in scent. In any case, it was futile to pretend to be brave when the body was the quickest to betray…and in particular the eyes. But he had to see. He had to look.

'Move.' The tandem was repeated.

'You can't tell me why, can you?' Koichi's mind grappled for a hook, a clue…could he convince the other with the power of words alone, even knowing that as one of his greatest weaknesses? The growl became more dangerous as the thought crossed his mind. More menacing. He was really trying the other's patience, but he pressed on anyway. He hadn't left himself much choice; the spirit behind him was little option as it oozed with corruption…

…but somehow he had imagined it to feel a lot worse than it did.

Eyes flickering slightly, he half turned towards it, before a third growl, this one insistent, broke in and he looked back to his bane, his current adversary, as the other spewed the yellow liquid in his direction.

He ducked with a reflexive shriek, covering his head with his arms as the support toppled to the ground with a resounding crash. The sound echoed off the tiles and the tall sloping walls, almost like the chime of a bell winding down from the twelfth hour. The sphere toppled from its pedestal, tumbling to the ground along with the broken marble and coming to a rest by his foot. It was almost nudging him. Tempting him. Asking him.

No, not now…

'You can't escape it.' The hyena was slowly backing away; he had started when the marble slumped upon its weight, but the movement had slowed since, becoming harder to spot. It was only because the beast warrior consumed most of his focus that he was able to notice it still. 'You can never hope to escape all the negativities of the world, because then there wouldn't be anything good about it. Remember what Cherubimon said to me: "Rid this world of evil, and you'll never have to suffer again." Remember what you said in reply: "It's not true."'

The other was certainly blunter than him.

There was a hesitant pause, and then the monster growled, somewhat brokenly: 'I…said that?'

'Yes, you did.'

Another pause.

'You lie!' And the human flinched back from the growl that erupted from the hyena's throat. 'Hate pain.'

'Everyone hates pain.' The sphere was digging into his foot now. It was insistent…and there was something a little different about it. A little more calming.

And then the hyena sprung with a fury he could not understand nor counter; everyone was different, but they were the same in that they attempted to avoid pain, and should that fail, deny it. And no-body liked to admit they were wrong. Humanity was created with those errors. Or perhaps those facets for improvement.

The spirit by his feet winked at him as he fell upon it; it was either that or bleed from punctures courtesy from the splintered marble. The beast wrapped within trilled at him: a mix of raw power. It was almost as if there were two tangible aspects to it: the power he had possessed before it had been ripped away…and it was curling away from him as if he had gone at it with a hot iron, and a different sort of darkness that was softer, warmer, and more reassuring.

The darkness that cloaked and hid and shut away, and the darkness that protected and comforted and utilised to create, reshape or destroy. A darkness that didn't have to be evil if it wasn't the owner's hand that stayed it to that path – and that was exactly what Patamon had said, the wise guy – but simply an element, a force, that possessed only the potential that another gave it.

Light did not exist where there was no darkness. And the deeper the darkness, the stronger the light would shine. He wasn't sure where he had heard that – sounded like something out of a fantasy novel, but he had to get the spirits of light away, if only for a little while. And he had to believe in the path he had chosen for himself, that he wasn't going to drown himself in apathy again.

Once more he found himself guiltily glad that the other had followed him down that dark path. It made it easier to look towards the light.

His right hand suddenly shone, and a D-tector appeared. Like the other models, but black and grey, and currently empty.

But not for long as the beast spirit beneath him lit up as well. There was a roar, somewhat distant…but then the entire human form was glowing in fractal code…and evolving.

He could have sworn he saw an eagle at some stage, but he had to admit that the lion beast form was…comfortable. Barring the imagery, it fit him like a glove. The symbolism…was somewhat questionable.

The warped beast of light didn't even look taken aback. A new look had entered his eyes; the other wondered for a moment if he had done the opposite to his intentions…but things had to get worse before they got better, or so the saying went. And now he had a way of taking the spirits…and accomplishing something without running away.

He lay flat as the other sprung, letting the man-eater fly over his head. The irony was not lost on him: the male lions did not hunt; they only got the first share of the pickings. The hyena, while spotted ones were known to hunt for themselves, were typically scavengers. They could have been fighting for a carcass. They were, in a sublime sense. A carcass called apathy…or perhaps it was called emotion.

It didn't really matter. A black orb of darkness collided with the beast mid-air and knocked him down.

A single Ebony Blast wasn't going to do it. Nor was a single spray from the nameless attack which he quickly pounced like the remnant feline to avoid. The game had become far more dangerous, but his purpose, ultimately was stronger. Apathy carried nothing else; emotion carried faith, it carried reason. It encompassed the entire world: the good and the bad. It rose, it slumped…he hoped it was a peak, where it backed him up instead of tossing him headlong into a raging river.

After all, he'd already had that once.

But finally, his jaw enclosed around something hot, like tea fresh off the stove. It somewhat scalded his throat, soothing it, wiping away the red…and then he realised what it was. His human spirit, but it was free of corruption, free of taint. The warrior of light had purified it.

But how?

Brown eyes met yellow…and then he mentally slapped himself for not realising sooner. Light and darkness. Darkness and light. If the other could purge his spirits without them going through the D-tector, then he could do the same.

He sprung again, barely giving the other time to scream. This time, the jaws enclosed around something that froze his jaw worse than dousing it into ice. But lions were also known for their stubbornness…or maybe it was him.

Koichi wondered if the situation would have been more or less awkward if the cascade of events hadn't taken place. Koji was on his knees, and not quite meeting his eyes. He still possessed his human spirit, but whether it would cause a problem or not would be entirely up to him. The other was proof of that.

It wasn't the first time he was guiltily glad. But it would be the first time he said it sensibly.

'I'm glad all this happened you know.'

He could have burst out laughing at the expression but the situation dictated otherwise. Even if the conversation was going to go on record for being one of the most awkward ones he'd ever have to force himself through. It was even worse than any envisioning of their "first" meeting, but they'd have to make do.

'Are you supposed to be my conscience?' The other's tone was drowning in emotion, but all in all it was a tone he could recall from his not-so-distant memories. There was even a bitter and somewhat ironic twist to the tone; it only marginally differed from the: "why are you trying to save me" question.

This time, Koichi couldn't help but explode into laughter at the question though. Seriously: conscience? Him? The guy who'd been the first to hop onto this particular Volkswagen. What in the world had even possessed the other to ask that sort of question? Unless by conscience he meant an element of the supernatural. Of course, it didn't help that they shared the same face.

Although the other's expression had twisted into a somewhat sour glare.

Unfortunately…or perhaps it was another degree of good fortune (adrenaline really was a miracle worker), the bangs and flashes distant disallowed much of a conversation. Particularly since it was almost all black lightning now.

'I think we'd better deal with Cherubimon first.' And he offered the other the beast spirit he still held.

If it were him, he wouldn't have taken the spirit. He'd taken long enough with his own after all, and that had been standing innocently in the middle of a chamber. The other knew perfectly well he had been Duskmon, even if the human identity was lost. But he had taken the spirit without much of a fight. He hadn't used it immediately though. He had just looked at it.

It was a while before he spoke again. The flashes probably sped up the process though.

'I could blame myself.'

Silence.

'I could blame you.'

'You could,' the slightly elder of the pair agreed.

More silence.

'You could blame Cherubimon,' Koichi offered.

'So could you,' the other pointed out in much the same tone he had used previously…and completely contradictory to the other's which held only relief.

It wasn't lost on either of them the similarities they both shared, both in appearance and experience.

'He saved my life though.'

'He did the same with me.'

Were they trying to justify their own choices or Cherubimon's actions?

Then there was screaming they hadn't heard before.

'They're my friends.'

Koji said it slowly but truthfully. 'They're my friends.'

The other stared wordlessly at him. Unblinking. It was a little unnerving, a conundrum that still needed to be unravelled. But there was so many things.

It was easy to see how the lure of apathy was so…alluring. But he could, perhaps in an extremely oblique way, see why the other was glad. Having someone who shared the experience made it less of an individual mistake and more a flaw of humanity.

Koichi said nothing to the comment, simply adding one of his own: 'They need your help.'

The other was gone as soon as the words finished pronouncing themselves. The ponytail whipped behind him as he vanished into the labyrinth. The wraiths wouldn't bother him anymore; they'd broken all the mirrors in that hall. More lives Cherubimon had saved. More lives they'd freed from a loop that eventually led back into the cycle. Perhaps that was how life worked. It really did seem unavoidable.

He followed, more slowly, after his brother. Maybe one day soon he'd be able to say those same words in the same tone. If someone had told him they'd share such a thing together, he'd have laughed in diluted scorn: his way of showing disbelief, although it often got misinterpreted. But if light and darkness could fall into the same trap, humanity must be really messed up.

But they also had hope. Because with all bad in life came the good. And they'd both been lucky: to have each other, even if the situation had been nothing he'd ever dreamed of, to have those who would take an enemy without a second thought…he still believed the brunette was rather naïve on the matter though, but it wasn't necessarily a bad thing in equation. The whole world worked like that after all, and its principles were no different.