Digimon Fan Fiction ❯ Gate of Destiny ❯ A Vampire's Reflection ( Chapter 7 )

A/N: Cool chapter alert! Also seems to be delayed, but that's what happens when you don't have enough time on your hands… Anyway I hope you all enjoy, and I'd have to say that the biggest cliché of all in this fic is on the review panel… I got about five "Yay! Wizzy didn't die!"s on there. OK, here's the chapter, with no clichés up here, but with an alternate universe! BTW, Wizardmon will have a lot of air time in the next few chapters. Daemon will have plenty of air time in the final three chapters after this one. In the meantime, read, review, and ENJOY!

Chapter 7

A Vampire's Reflection

Angemon arrived at the closed TV station and entered through a loose panel on the dome part where the portal was located. The glowing light signified the open portal, so the angel flew through and entered Myotismon's castle.

The castle seemed quite different than it had been when he last visited it as Patamon. The air was warmer, and it was more brightly lit. Plus he could wander the halls without getting queasy or confused. Last time the halls had- literally- been a maze that had reminded him of a painting he had once seen, with staircases and passageways leading in different directions, but with a more horrific feel to it. Now the air didn't make him want to shiver, and the halls could be navigated more easily.

The angel digimon slowly walked through the empty halls, which had no henchmen or Bakemon servants running or flying around. Either they had all been put to death or had been set free. According to the dream TK had, Myotismon must have set the servants free and let them stay if they desired. Angemon was beginning to feel more comfortable, a feeling he did not possess when an aura of evil was around.

He could not smell the foul stench of evil or hatred in the air, like he had on Infinity Mountain or Spiral Mountain, and even in the castle. None of the other digimon could smell it, but being an angel digimon, Angemon could smell evil. A few traces lingered in the air, but it was from the past. Of all the places that reeked of evil, Myotismon's castle was the worst of all. As Patamon, he did not have the sense, but after digivolving as Myotismon did his evil deeds in Odaiba, the city began to reek of evil.

The angel took off on his six white wings and flew down the halls, which were softly lit by torches. He could hear the pounding rain on the walls and on the windows, which only revealed a pitch-black sky. Once in a while, a few Bakemon flew past and gaped at him because they didn't know what an angel was doing in a vampire's castle. Finally he landed in front of the double wooden doors that led to the study, and without knocking, he entered.

"Myotismon? I'm here for you," said Angemon as his wings folded back into a resting position on his back and as he walked along the stone floor. He gazed around, searching for the vampire and examining the surroundings. "I know you are a good digimon. It's me, Angemon. Please don't hurt me if it's not true what you told TK in his dream."

Then he saw a blazing fire in a fireplace and a large chair in front of it, facing the fire. Myotismon was sitting in the chair, his head leaning on his right hand, which was perched on the arm of the chair. He was staring into the fire, which reflected in his blue eyes. An open book lay in his lap and the same glass of red wine lay untouched on the table on the left side of the chair. He looked generally harmless.

"Are you feeling fine?" asked Angemon. "Did you really give TK the dream?"

"Angemon?" asked the vampire, turning his head around and seeing the angel digimon standing near the chair. "What are you doing here?" An air of calmness was in his voice.

"I am here because I know how you feel, and how your experience has changed you," replied the angel. "I am an angel digimon, you know." He found another chair facing the fire and sat in it. It was old and had a musty smell, but the fire was warm. Even though he tried to destroy him the last two times he was encountered, Angemon trusted Myotismon and felt as if they could have a decent conversation as the vampire could open his heart and reveal some of the past and to why he was like this. "I'm sorry if this… offends you in any way, but I would like to know why you became so good in the first place. Why after you disappeared and not before you did so."

"It is a very long story, Angemon," replied Myotismon. "I do not know exactly when it started. It might have started back to Gennai's day, when his data created my digiegg; or the infamous email viruses and nightmares of the humans who were infected, infected my digi-egg and turned me into a virus; or when I was abandoned by all the others in Primary Village many, many years ago…" He stared into the fire, and the flames danced before his and the angel's eyes. "But I became completely good after the transition through a gate… it was your Gate of Destiny. It lives up to its name. It altered my destiny, and it truly was a gate of destiny. Maybe my destiny was not to be the king of both worlds, but to redeem myself and get a digi-destined."

"You have a digi-destined?" asked Angemon. Then he remembered. "Oh, you are talking about Tali. TK talked about her. She seemed like a nice girl, according to his description of her. He did not mention you except when he said, 'I'm so glad we didn't have to search for her when Myotismon was attacking the real world.' I don't think he knew about you having the remarkable connection to her."

"I know she was afraid to tell them. If she did say I was her digimon, the others would abandon her and possibly make her evil… like they made me… or their digimon would attack her and come after me again without knowing I changed or anything."

"I am one of their digimon. I know you changed. Of course, I did not really think so before you came to TK in his dream. But that is why mistakes can be mended. No matter…" Angemon paused. "No matter how drastic they may be." With a wave of his hand, the fire glowed and grew warmer. He stared into the fire. "I know what you have done may have been more than just a bit… unorthodox, but think about where the digi-destined would have been without you around. Where would YOUR digi-destined have been?"

"With her family, all the members alive and well."

"I know that might have been an accident, except for the mother. Someday I know she will think of you as her family. It might take some time to adjust to, but…" Angemon trailed off, staring into the fire. He could remember one night when he was Patamon the night before everyone was in the convention center, he flew over just to get a good look at what was happening and came across something he wished he could get out of his mind… it also explained why he was so weak and hungry that next morning when he woke up in bed. He had told no one about it.

The angel, as the mere rookie of Patamon, was taking his nightly flight around Tokyo to see if he could talk with Palmon when he saw something peculiar coming from the convention center and the TV station. It looked like white dots at first, but he realized it was actually Bakemon.

"Heh, I eat a lot of roast beef, I try to fly it off, and I end up defending the convention center from a group of Bakemon…" muttered the bat pig. "Oh well I had better go over there to see what's REALLY going on." He flapped and flapped his wings with all his might, with each passing flap taking him closer than ever to the TV station. He remembered it well because Matt had taken him there as a side trip, and he had a pretty good idea of what was there.

Patamon landed in front of the doors to the TV station and snuck around to the backside, where he was sure the Bakemon couldn't exit. He flew up to the handle, but found out it was locked.

"Shoot!" he exclaimed, pouting. Suddenly he heard a banging coming from the other side.

"Hey, the damn door's locked!" shouted a raspy yet haunting voice that could have only come from a Bakemon. The door vibrated with a bang. Patamon knew he had been caught.

"Dontcha worry, I have the key," declared a second Bakemon. There was the sound of jangling metal, and then the rattling of the door.

Patamon knew he had been caught. Suddenly he saw two garbage cans near the door, and he quickly flew over to the cans, pushed the lid off, went inside, and closed the lid with a clang, leaving enough room to see what was going on. It reeked inside the garbage can, and the bat-winged digimon was desperately in need of fresh air, but he needed to see when the guards were leaving.

Two white-sheeted Bakemon flew out the door, and looked around. Suddenly one of them eyed the garbage can and flew over. Patamon tried as much as possible to conceal himself beneath a few old newspapers, trying his best to ignore the rotten fruit underneath his feet. He held his breath and urged himself not to move.

"Hey look at this!" exclaimed the first ghost digimon, who was no doubt the stupider of the two. "A free meal!" He sniffed the air. "Mmmmmmm, I smell fish heads!"

The second Bakemon slapped his work partner. "Hey, we're not supposed to be eating! We're supposed to be working and keeping a lookout for workers at the TV station. We can't take any chances. The master will have our heads!"

The two of them flew around and over the fence that surrounded the TV station in the middle of the city. Patamon grabbed his chance and quickly leapt out of the can, making a huge clang and tipping the can over. Then he flew on his smelly wings into the station. The first thing he needed to find was a bathroom, and then to find out what was going on so he could tell the digi-destined.

Five minutes later, after taking a quick bath of cold sink water and dispensed liquid soap, Patamon smelled considerably better, and according to him, the garbage can odor was gone. So he flew out of the bathroom and down the empty halls, which were dark and eerie, like the duct to a vent. Also, it was silent. Too silent.

Then a group of Bakemon flew up to Patamon and surrounded him in a dome of hideous, grotesque white ghosts. The bat-winged digimon was too scared even to move, but he let out a shrill cry and tears spurted out of his eyes. "WAAAAAAAAH! I WANT TK!" he screamed.

"DARK CLAW!" shouted all the ghost digimon at once, sending out huge blasts of dark energy that battered up Patamon so much, bruises and scrapes were all over his body, and he was moaning in pain.

"Boom… bubble…" Patamon let out a small burst of wind that only hit one of the Bakemon and only made him laugh.

"Ow. That hurts," said the ghost sarcastically. "Come on, guys. If he's not one of us he's one of THEM. And you know how we all feel about THEM."

All of the Bakemon opened their mouths wide and their arms up, prepared to attack and in their attacking position.

"Please… help…" gasped Patamon. Back in TK's apartment, the blonde bearer of hope clutched his digivice tightly, and it began to glow a brilliant saffron yellow. So did the bat-winged orange digimon.

The Bakemon all gasped and backed away.

"Patamon, digivolve to… ANGEMON!" Suddenly, in the center of the barricade of ghosts, the angel digimon stood, brandishing his rod and preparing to attack. "Move out of the way, and do not make it harder than it is!" He took his hand and made a bright beam of light shine out of it, seemingly scorching the ghosts' sensitive eyes. He spread his wings and flew down the hall, exhausted but with a sense of preserverance.

Suddenly his flight halted. There was a foul stench in the air, and it had nothing to do with him. At first it was confusing, but he knew it was evil. The stench was the same in Devimon's fortress on Infinity Mountain. Only this one was worse, and he knew it was evil. The stench was the strongest down the hall, behind a door. It smelled worse than something rotten, because it was pure evil behind the door, and he actually would have rather been back in the trash can. No one could smell good or evil like an angel could.

There were muffled crashes and yelling coming from behind the unlocked metal door. Angemon was afraid to peer through the door and see what exactly was occurring. But he quickly gathered his courage and held his breath, silently opening the door. Then he saw one of the most disturbing sights he had ever seen in his life in the empty office. Its furniture was moved to the sides of the room, and the windows were open.

"Are you one of them?" asked Myotismon, holding a whip of his Crimson Lightning. A few bats were flying around.

"Look, fangy, I don't know what you're talking about!" shouted a man who apparently worked at the TV station. "We're doing our jobs when these ghosts tie us up and stuff us in the closets and then you come out and ask us these questions you expect us to know the answers to. I don't know what you mean!"

"Are you with the digi-destined brats or not?" questioned the vampire, taking the man by the wrists and pinning him to the walls.

"I-I don't know what you are talking about!" insisted the worker. "Now let us go!"

"Will you talk? Where are you hiding the eighth child?"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

"Well…" Myotismon bared his fangs in a sinister grin. "Then we will need to make you. GRISLY WING!" A ton of fluttering bats flew out from his cape and started gnawing on the man and the four other men in the room, tearing off their skin and making them cry out as they swatted at them and pulled out clumps of their hair, revealing a bloody scalp. "CRIMSON LIGHTNING!" The whip of lightning hit the workers across the chest, forcing them to double over as they got shocked. Then the one who didn't know anything was whipped across the face, leaving everything burned and bleeding. Blood was flowing out of his nose and mouth as he cried out with every blast. "Will you talk now, or will I kill you all?" He snapped his fingers, and his bats ceased their attacking.

Angemon gasped, and then gathered his courage. Though he was not a human, he felt the compassion for all the innocent humans who were killed by the vampire's wrongdoings. He burst through the door. "LEAVE THEM ALONE!" he cried.

Myotismon turned his head around and saw Angemon entering the room. He shielded himself from the brilliant light that filled the room. The five workers lifted their heads as if in prayer or awe at this miracle.

"Angemon! The children must be very desperate. Tell me, are these humans yours?" asked the vampire. He grabbed the first one by the collar and thrusted him forward. "Take them. They won't tell me anything, and if you want their miserable lives to be spared, you will need to fight me."

"Then fight I shall," declared the angel. "HAND OF FATE!" He blasted a beam at Myotismon's chest, but he was so formidable that he didn't do as much as bend over.

"CRIMSON LIGHTNING!" Myotismon sent out a huge whip of Crimson Lightning, and whipped the angel across the chest. It burned his white suit to his chest, and it burned slightly, but Angemon would not give up, despite his energy being drained. "Would you like some more?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing, vampire boy," said Angemon. He only had one chance, because his energy was being drained quickly. "ANGEL ROD!" He swung his rod, and whacked the vampire across the face and upper torso with it.

"RRR!" fumed Myotismon. He grabbed the rod out of the angel's hands and made it glow a bright crimson. "Never mess with me! CRIMSON LIGHTNING!" He hurled the rod directly at Angemon, knocking the wind out of him and forcing him to fly out the window to the front of the TV station. "And take your humans too!" He pushed the five humans out of the window as well, and they landed on top of Angemon.

Time passed slowly, when the Angel lay on the ground, then de-digivolved to Patamon. He didn't know what would have become of him if Mr. Ishida hadn't had his beeper on. According to his story, one of his junior workers was minding his own business when he saw the pile of humans in front of the station, apparently lying on top of an orange bat pig. Matt's dad rushed over to the station as quickly as possible, and saw Patamon in the mess. Recognizing him as TK's digimon, he called the emergency room to send an ambulance for the workers and took Patamon to the Takaishi's personally.

When TK woke up, he didn't have a clue about what had happened the night before. Patamon refused to utter a word about his loss the night before, and to why he was so exhausted and asked for seconds and thirds at breakfast.

Angemon had decided not to tell the story to Myotismon; it would only dishearten him even more. He was already so depressed about what he had done. Instead, he decided to change the subject. "The world is in so much better condition than it would have been if you had taken charge of both," he declared.

"How would you know?" asked the vampire.

Angemon cracked a smile on his usually expressionless face. "My Gate of Destiny does a lot more than conceal a digimon within its walls," he said. With a wave of his hand, a small portal lit up in the middle of the fire. "Now watch the image that appears in the fire." The portal grew larger until it was about two feet tall and had the same width. Then it revealed the alternate universe.

A cold wind blew across the grayish dusty ground, which was set off by the eternally-black sky. The sun was completely blocked out, and all humans would have given anything to see the glowing yellow star again. If only they hadn't taken the sun for granted. The water, though still fit for consumption, was now a dark gray. Plants had withered away and had become a dry brown.

Fruits, grains, and vegetables were now a luxury to have, and all humans had been deprived of all "normal" foods. Their daily intake was a bowl of watery chicken soup for breakfast, a slice of dry bread for lunch, and soup with bread for dinner, with maybe a boiled potato. Sometimes the luckier humans were alotted a fish or two. Humans were now weak and pale, and were praying for this hell to end.

The cities were much different as well. Tokyo had become the capital city of the merged world. Digimon were scurrying about the place, surveying every city in the world, from the larger ones like New York and Paris to the smallest cities in tiny unimportant countries, making sure no one defied the rules of their new master. All humans who lived in Tokyo were automatically servants of the king of all the merged worlds.

In the heart of Tokyo was a small mountain that had been erected where the TV station and convention center once were. The castle was Nightmare Castle, and it was a large, black sinister castle with a huge thundercloud hovering over it and was constantly surrounded by bats and ghosts, and a moat filled with white tentacles that belonged to the Gesomon.

And inside the castle was the one who ruled it all. Standing on the balcony, especially regal in his black cape and new black suit, was Myotismon. He was now known as Emperor Myotismon, the ruler of all the worlds. He was no longer just a Vampire Lord of Server. He was now the Vampire Lord of All Worlds. The real and digital worlds were his. Just thinking about it made him tingle with pleasure.

"Master?" asked a small voice from two feet above the ground.

Myotismon turned his head and glared at Wizardmon, who was on the ground. "What is it?" he asked.

"Everything is fine, master," replied the young wizard. "I would like to tell you what a wonderful job you are doing of ruling the world." Wizardmon refused to say anything negative about the king of all worlds, lest he be put to death. "It is just wonderful that you attacked Kari and Gatomon, killing them, and then using the crest to defeat the digi-destined." A tear formed in Wizardmon's eye, just thinking about it. It was just devastating that all his friends, the only ones he had in his life anymore, were taken away from him like everything else. His freedom… Everyone's freedom…

Freedom. It was a funny word. Everyone took freedom for granted before the vampire began his eternal reign of night over the world. They had complained that they didn't have enough rights, but even a couple rights would have been the greatest thing in the world.

"I know it is," said Myotismon. He looked over the city of Tokyo, knowing that the digi-destined, after they were found, would be put to death so he had no one to crush. Even the previously defeated enemies and the Dark Masters- how he hated them so!- bowed down before him. He loved the feeling every time he called one of them in and they- even the powerful ones like Ladydevimon, Piedmon, and even Daemon!- bowed before him. Dark Towers were implanted everywhere, sprouting up like the common weed. Every time one had been knocked down in some way, two had been implanted in its place. The Dark Towers surveyed everything that was happening everywhere in the world.

"Master! Master!" Demidevimon flew onto the balcony and flapped his wings around. "The last of the Dark Towers has been implanted underneath the sea, so not even those water digimon you keep complaining about won't disobey your orders now!"

The vampire king bared his fangs in a sinister grin. "Excellent," he said. His bats fluttered their wings on the ceiling.

A Bakemon flew into the room. "Master, your girls have been chosen," he said. "I hope these are better for you than the last group of them, and that you may FINALLY choose the one who may give you her hand in marriage."

A line of five girls walked apprehensively into the room, shaking with fear. They were all beautiful. One of them had auburn hair and green eyes. Her name was Tali Nadir. Myotismon went over to the fivesome, inspecting each one. He reached a girl with blonde hair and green eyes and cradled her chin in his hand. He glared at her with his ice blue eyes and seemed to drain her power with that glare, because she fell limp. Then he proceeded to another, and another, repeating the process.

"Why can none of these please me?" he shouted to the Bakemon. "I should be pleased with all I have done, but I seem displeased now."

The ghost shuddered as he reached Tali. He cradled her chin in his hand, pinching it. "Well, you don't seem like much of a prize," he declared. "Lock her up, and I hope I may never see you again!"

"Who are you?" asked Tali. "And why do I think I know you from another time in my life?"

The vampire sighed as he stared at the scene in front of him from his castle balcony. The real and digital worlds had been merged, enveloped in darkness, and slowly withered away until it was nothing but a wasteland. And the world was his. Still there was something that did not seem right. The scene fast-forward to when he rested in his chair hours later, sipping a glass of red wine, and was thinking.

"I know that I should be content, but I wish for more than this," he said to himself. "The prized jewel of the real world is mine, and all humans are at my command. Still, I need more. I need more power to be the ruler of ALL worlds and all time. The past, the future, the alternate universes, and most of all, this human universe."

"You know, that is impossible," said Demidevimon. "I heard you musing in here and I decided to eaves- I mean, add to the conversation a bit." He flew up to the chair and perched on top, carefully avoiding the bats that were in the said area, then shuddered as he saw the winged creatures on the ceiling. "I bet it's really hard to take over the alternate universes and all that crap, so why start now? You've wanted to be the king of the real world since you took me in, maybe even before then, and now you want MORE??? Does this mean you'll be hanging me over the hell pit if I can't get the leaders of the future to cough up enough money or something?"

"If you can't get Devimon and Piedmon to do their jobs right," replied Myotismon. "And they had better not fail or I will have your head. I can trust them, and don't think they are such a pain in the ass as you or that stupid overrated rock monkey who called himself a villain."

"So that's why you slaughtered Etamon!" Demidevimon exclaimed.

"I will formulate the plans, and you will not mess them up, or I will make sure my bats have you as their next chew toy."

"Will do, master," said the imp, trembling and backing out of the room.

Once again, Myotismon let out a long sigh. It would be a long time until he controlled all the worlds.

"And that is what would have happened if you had won," replied Angemon.

"And how did I do it, exactly?" wondered Myotismon.

"Well…" the angel rubbed his chin in thought. "well… I think I saw it once. If you had attacked Tai and Greymon with your Grisly Wing attack and then finished them off with your Crimson Lightning, therefore destroying the leader of the group and causing absolute pandemonium, you would have won against all the digi-destined. If you had attacked Kari and Gatomon, that's a completely different story I prefer not to tell you about."

"It might have been the best thing when I attacked you. If not, I would have never found the error of my ways."

"To tell you the truth, I didn't know that, exactly. I just wanted to confine any evil digimon I could inside the gate so the worlds could be safe. I had no idea it would send a digimon to the Dark Ocean. In my opinion, it's sort of like a hell or limbo for certain digimon that have either been evil or have accidentally travelled through the gate. I knew about it since Gennai told me about it, but I haven't bothered to tell TK about it."

"It's best he doesn't hear about it. Marinedevimon rules there, and I don't know what TK would think of him. And so does Daemon. He's much worse, and he liked to mock me. He stole my power and attacked me with it, for pure mockery. He didn't know that he actually made me a good digimon."

"If I had been you, it would have taken a lot more than Daemon and his henchmen to cure me of my malevolence."

"You are an angel. You haven't felt what I have. So many terrible things have happened to me in my life. When I was a baby digimon and all those like me abandoned and isolated me… to when I was kidnapped as a Demidevimon… to when I finally digivolved and Toxidramon gave me the scar that spanned my face, which forced me to wear a mask to conceal it…"

"Can I see?" wondered Angemon. Myotismon had worn his mask throughout his visit. "I was always wondering about why you wore it…"

The vampire reluctantly removed his mask, revealing the remainder of his handsome face. The only imperfection on it was the faint red lightning bolt scar that ran between his eyes. Angemon gasped as he saw that it looked exactly like a bolt of his Crimson Lightning.

"I believe that is the source of your Crimson Lightning attack," said the angel. "Tell me, were you a slave to Toxidramon?"

"Yes," admitted Myotismon. "I was once the lowest slave towards a greedy digimon who wanted to take over the digital world, and the day I digivolved to Devidramon that jerk fought me for defying his so-called authority and attacked me with his horn, leaving a nasty deep cut between my eyes, which healed to become a scar that I wanted to hide. The day I digivolved to ultimate, the mask came to me, and I attacked with a lightning bolt that bore a remarkable resemblance to that scar Toxidramon gave me."

Angemon realized something that seemed very important. "I understand everything! The past became so agonizing it left two scars: emotional AND physical, and you wanted to just hide it from everyone so they wouldn't know about anything that happened! Though you had a mask that concealed everything, the Crimson Lightning was an exact replica of that scar on your face, and you USED that Crimson Lightning to torture your henchmen like the Toxidramon did to you in the PAST! You had used your past to harm others!" He had never intended to be so angry or to raise his voice that way.

"I know, and I hate it all!" shouted Myotismon. He waved his hand in the direction in the doors and said, "Please leave. I need to be alone for a while." As Angemon stood up to leave, he added one more thing. "Oh, and Angemon?"

The angel turned his head around.

"Thank you so much. If you hadn't confined me in the Gate of Destiny, I would have never found the error of my ways."

Angemon bowed respectfully, an action he would have never once thought of doing before an evil digimon, especially Myotismon. Then he spread his white wings and left the room without a trace.

"This is me," said the vampire, examining his mask. "This damn mask is me! Hiding my past for pure evil and intimidation… no more of that!" He stood up and hurled the red mask he had treasured so much, the part of him that he was so well-known for having, into the heart of the flames, where it burnt to a crisp and smoldered in less than thirty seconds. Myotismon knew he had let go of much of the angst of his past that weighed down his heart. All he needed to do was repay the debt he held towards the digi-destined. There was only one way to do so, and that was to defeat Daemon.

Still, one thought kept him from being more light-hearted. "Why is it that part of me wished I had controlled the real world? Could it be that I am turning evil again?"

To be continued…

Three chapters to go! Yes, I will miss writing it. Oh, and sorry that took so long!