Chapter Text
She looked through the gated window to outside wondering what the day would bring her and wondering how she had actually ended up where she was right now.
Whenever she remembered, she always immediately felt sick to her stomach, and the nagging feeling of wanting to get out all the more, because she was so sure that she didn't belong here at all. Even if it was the only thing she was sure of.
"This is only for your best!", her parents told her on that fateful day she had been taken to this institution after even all the doctors, psychiatrists and psychologists could do nothing to end her so-called delusions. She already had received countless drugs before with the promise that these would end her halluscinations, but even after dutifully taking all of these, receiving shots from syringes, it simply didn't want to stop, and the visits that she had during the nights also didn't want to end.
It was dark and it should be a safe darkness because she knew that there should be nothing else in her room besides the things that she had already known for her entire life - the things which belonged to her, her decoration, the cupboards, her clothes which hung down from a chair, everything was in the usual place.
Her blonde hair hung down while she turned around in her bed to the direction of her window, not able to fall asleep fearing that THEY might come again this night.
THEY... they were the monsters that she always saw.
But then again, they didn't seem to be the kind of monster which one would suspect to be living under the bed.
It didn't last very long until she could hear this weak whispering again, which has woken her up from her sleep so very often.
"Who is there??", the words immediately escaped from her when she straightened up from her bed and stared into the darkness only to discover that nothing was there. Frightened and confused, she let herself fall into the bed again, and pulled the blanket over her head in a try to not hear these whisperings any longer. Just why does she have to hear all these sounds all the time? Wasn't this is a sign that she probably suffers under some kind of mental illness? Perhaps it was schizophrenia? Should she tell anybody about it?
But she was already afraid of the consequences that would follow, because who would dare to believe her if she was the only one to hear these sounds, and when she was the only one who could see the monsters from which all the sounds came from?
She had to make this observation on one day when she was on her way to school as she suddenly noticed this creature on the wayside.
Isabella sighed again because she was bored. She looked at the clock which was high above on the wall of the otherwise plain room, which merely contained a bed and a cupboard. There was nothing sharp in her room with which she would have been able to hurt herself; this had been an instruction of the leading doctors who only wanted to ensure that Isabella couldn't hurt herself if they couldn't find out what exactly was wrong with her.
Perhaps she was to blame for the entire situation herself, she thought. She had been too honest, probably shouldn't have told anybody about the fact that there was something that tortured her. Who knows, maybe she just should have kept quiet about it, and she could have learned how to deal and live with it. She simply could have smiled no matter how it looked inside of her and no matter how uncertain the constant encounters with the monsters made her feel.
What did they actually want of her? And what were they exactly? Were that really monsters, or creatures from another dimension, maybe even extraterrestrials in the end?
But why was she then afraid of them if she couldn't remember that she had ever been hurt by them? Even here, she was afraid of the consequences, maybe irrationally, but she simply didn't know the intention of these creatures. Up until now she always had been able to escape from them, ignore them or flee. But it was when they became even more obtrusive what has gotten her in here in the end. She could have lived on in this ignorance if this fateful day hadn't happened... which made her open up towards the people around her, and which caused her to spend her destiny in this room behind a gate which was not at all dissimilar to a prison.
"Hey, will you finally come along?", a voice woke her up and when she looked up, some fair-haired strands fell into her face and obstructed her view a little bit. "One Moment!", she called and grabbed her schoolbag, "Now we can go!" With that, she ran after her friends, who had already walked some steps ahead in order to arrive to school in time for the first lesson.
As always they still had enough time for gossip.
But just in that single moment in which she didn't listen to the gossip at all because the memories of the previous night didn't want to leave her alone, she noticed this funny creature on the wayside.
Isabella looked up, not understanding what it was that she saw there. An almost round creature with long ears, without legs and feet but with a big broad mouth and beautiful ruby red eyes.
It simply looked at her, perhaps just two or three steps away from her in a hedge nearby the street.
Shocked, Isabella stopped and her two friends looked back at her, confused. "Isabella, is something wrong?" but she was incapable to say any word.
"Have you just seen this?", she finally asked her two friends with a hoarse voice which she wouldn't have expected of herself. Confused they looked up to the direction into which Isabella pointed, only to shake the heads afterwards. "Isabella, what do mean? There's nothing!" "You can't see this? But one can see it clearly, this thing is directly in front of us! How can you NOT see this??" "Isabella, are you sick? Do you need medicine, do you have a fever?" "Yeah, really, Isabella, if you already see things, you probably should think about getting a rest of some sort so that you can recover. It's not good if you let all the stress go to your head." "Y-yes, but.." "No buts! Now let's hurry!"
The memory shreds flew around in her head and especially these last sentences reverberated particularly loudly. "Are you ill? Do you need anything? You don't have to let it go to your head!" had been exactly the things which she never wanted to hear again.
When she had her look curved to outside the window, she noticed that darkness had sunk over the country. Soon, the male nurses would come with the dinner as well as with another syringe which she detested so much.
She hardly thought this when she already heard a click at the door. When it opened, she could see two male nurses dressed in white, one with a medical suitcase, the other one with a tray containing her meal in his hands. Her gaze fell on the meal which was a stew, which could be spooned up so that one didn't need to use knives or a fork. Just so that she couldn't hurt herself. Honestly, sometimes it was tempting to do so.
"Isabella, we wish you a good evening ", one of the male nurses addressed her, " you already know the routine here, isn't that right? We must give you the injection first, and after it you can eat. I hope that this is okay for you?"
She didn't even have to nod because they wouldn't have waited for her answer anyway. They just came into the plain room, directly to the girl, grabbed her by the arm, while one of them pulled up the sleeve of the top. set the syringe and already squeezed the contents of it into her bloodsteam. She gasped because it came a little sudden but the procedure already was over. They put the meal for her on the table and sat down to watch her eat it just to take the empty plate back with them later on. In the meantime, she perhaps could have talked with them but why should she and about what should she if they didn't want to believe her anyway. No-one wanted to believe her. No-one would ever believe her.
Later, she simply would fall asleep.
A gigantic ball-like shape had followed her up to the school building, of this she was quite sure. She had seen this creature, became afraid and has run away from it, but it seemed to chase her now. When she leant against the wall, she noticed the heat on her cheeks. God, how embarrassing was it that she was behaving like this and screaming around like a little child. She had never done this but this creature was simply terrifying. It was worrying that this time around, they pursued her. Not only that, it seemed to have pursued her specifically for quite some time already.
The fair-haired girl moved her glasses a little bit before she dared to look up.
But when she did, she couldn't believe who stood in front of her.
The creature looked at her with eyes hidden behind sunglasses; his short gray hair on the side of his ears and his beard rustled a little bit in a gust of wind.
She all of a sudden opened the eyes. Just what kind of noise has that been now?
Suddenly she could hear the clatter of feet from the staff of the station, also excited whispering when they walked by. She got up from her bed quietly, stood up and put an ear on the door to eavesdrop.
"Shouldn't we bring the patients to safety?" "Why, it is all in best order anyway!" "It isn't! I have seen them myself, these monsters! And we wouldn't have gotten these instructions if there really wasn't anything!" "Hm, that's true. But be quiet. We don't want the patients to get worried. Simply execute the orders. Safeguard the hallways and keep your eyes open." "Yes!"
When the fair-haired girl heard this, she couldn't believe it. Monsters? Here in the institution? What did this mean? And the staff knew about it? One of them had seen a monster, whatever kind it might have been.
"No worries, you don't have to be afraid, nothing will happen to you."
When she heard this voice coming from right beside her, she jumped up so suddenly that her glasses fell off her nose. She could see nothing through the veil of her weak eyes any more and all she really noticed was something like a red light in the big plain room. Isabella bent down, felt around on the dark ground to find her glasses and before she could find her necessary object, she could feel that something pushed it back onto her nose. "Oh, thank you so much." "Oh, no problem", said a fireball with deep blue eyes beside her.
Isabella immediately yelled out when she saw the creature but then she put a hand over her mouth so that the nurses wouldn't notice the commotion. It was better for several reasons if she remained quiet. But in the moment she couldn't help but be surprised and frightened because of the creature with her.
It looked like a little fireball, had deep blue eyes with a mouth which seemed sewn up by a thread.
Intimidated, the fair-haired girl pressed herself to the wall almost as if she had the firm will to merge with it and the little fireball looked at her in silence, tilting the head. "What is wrong with you? Have I frightened you?" Before she could say anything, she looked around the room, to check if there weren't any more monsters in the room, which wasn't the case.
Even though her heart beat up to her neck, she decided that the creature in front of her could have already hurt her if it really intended to harm her.
"I am sorry that I have been so afraid. I only have ... seen creatures as you way too often and it always scares me to death." "Really?", the monster asked curiously, and tilted its head again, "that might be, special human children can see us Digimon far better than others." "Digimon? What is a Digimon?" "I am a Digimon." "Okay, and what exactly is a Digimon? Do you all look like monsters? Or are there essential differences?" The small Digimon looked at the girl with big astonished eyes before it fell into a confused stuttering. "Ehm, eh ... I ... I ... I dunno how to explain all of this to you..." it began, but then Isabella interrupted the creature: "I still believe that I simply imagine all of this, you know? I mean, I am in a lunatic asylum, then I just have to be lunatic, right? And all of these creatures, these Digimon which have followed me everywhere... which reason should they have for doing so?" "I don't know...", the fire creature said in an even more thoughtful tone, "...hm, but as far as I can think for a reason..it.. erm.. it might be that .. that you have something that they want to have." "And what shall that be? I just want to be left alone, in peace. Is that so hard to understand? It is hard enough to know that I am in a lunatic asylum already, but the outlook that it might never stop isn't actually something that cheers me up." Isabella made a gesture saying no and the little creature in front of her winced briefly before it asked: "Are you mad at me because I have appeared before you so suddenly?" The girl looked up and looked thoughtfully at the creature while it was looking at her unsafely with the big blue eyes.
If she thought about it, then this creature, a so called" Digimon" was the only one that she wasn't afraid of - to the contrary, she was sure that this creature wouldn't harm her, that it was even kind and nice. "No, I am not angry with you", she said as an answer before she asked: "What is your name? I am Isabella, nice to meet you." The expression on the face of the monster brightened before it gave a cheerful answer: "I am Demimeramon! I am so pleased to meet you, Isabella!" It hopped up and down joyfully before it noticed how the girl in front of him extended her hand towards him in greeting. Demimeramon questioningly looked at the hand while the fair-haired girl blushed while explaining: "Well... it's supposed to be a handshake, do you understand? As a kind of celebration that we have met." "Ah, I understand! But don't I burn you if we shake hands?" "Hm, this is what I wondered right now as well.... but then again, if you were able to push the glasses onto my nose again without burning me, I guess that a handshake will not hurt either." "G-good, if you think so."
Demimeramon raised his fiery hand and put it carefully on the one of Isabella.
A strange feeling flashed through her and she thought that she has been wrong and that the fire creature had burned her hands after all, when she saw this sudden flash of light. She opened her eyes, only to see how Demimeramon suddenly grew within a bright light -- his flames got bigger, wrapped around him and she could see as it died down and changed his form as if he were made of fluent wax.
She made her way to the wall once more and clung to it like to a life preserver. What the hell was the matter again now? What was happening to her new friend ???
As soon as the light had disappeared, she couldn't see Demimeramon anymore because the little fiery ball with the deep blue eyes had disappeared. Instead, in its place, she saw a monster now... yes, which looked just like a candle with a stand. It had two red eyes, and on his head burned a flame that looked just like a small Demimeramon.
Once more, it costed her quite some restraint to not simply yell out, but the new monster calmed her down: "Isabella, don't be afraid, it's just me!" "Who are you??", the girl exclaimed, "And what have you done to Demimeramon!!??" "I tell you, it is me!", the candle creature just said, and then it mentioned a word with which she could begin nothing. "I have digivolved, that is all." "Digi-what?" "I have digivolved and this is thanks to you!" "That... doesn't help me in the least and it also doesn't answer my question at all." "It's me, Candlemon! That means, I was Demimeramon before, and now that I have digivolved, I am called Candlemon." "I don't think I understand .. why has your look changes?" The candle looked at her, confused. "Err.. I, I don't know.. but I only know that it happened thanks to you! Yes, right, it happened only thanks to you!" "I wouldn't know what I would have to do with that ...I only have touched you and then it happened.." "Maybe it is because of that..." "Hm?" "Maybe this is the reason why you have been followed by all kinds of Digimon, right? Maybe because they know that you have the power to let them digivolve?" "I have the power to let them digivolve??", the girl asked confused and even though she had always wished for an explanation for her current situation, this wasn't exactly helpful or what she always wanted to hear.
"I think, that you mixed something up here... how can I have this weird power when I am nothing but a normal girl and on top of that... a girl who is locked up in a lunatic asylum because everyone thinks she is crazy..."
"Then I will help you."
"What?"
"Then I will help you to get out of here!!"
The girl looked at him speechlessly. "You want to help me to get out of here??" "Yes." "But..I will get out of here somehow anyway, I just don't know when this will be the case..." Isabella broke off in the middle of the sentence because this possibility that Candlemon just offered to her sounded more than enticing. Instead of waiting until she was finally let out, she just as well could try to free herself and shorten her waiting time until liberty by quite a stretch. And in addition she had a Digimon by her side now which meant that she had proof she wasn't crazy. That there really existed monsters like that. But still she distrusted the whole thing a little. A monster which offered her his help...nobody would do simply offer that unless they had some ulterior motive, right?
"You certainly don't want to help me get out of here without a service in return, right, Candlemon? What do you want from me in exchange for helping me out?" The monster looked quite depressed upon hearing this and noticing that the girl still didn't quite trust him, but then it seemed to have thought of something. "I have only wanted to do this because I see that you need help, but if you really insist on doing something for me in return, then..." Candlemon's gaze at her took on a serious tone when he spoke the next words: "Help me find someone who is very important to me." "And who is that supposed to be?" "I am looking for a Digimon named Arukenimon. She is a spider Digimon, red, with violet stripes and light-blue hair." Isabella noticed the blush that has crept unto Candlemon's face when he described the person to her, and it caused the girl to softly giggle. "She must mean so much to you, Candlemon! You're totally blushing!" Without further hesitation, Isabella nodded: "Okay then, I will help you find Arukenimon." "Wh-what?! Thanks, thank you so so much!" Immediately, the blonde girl was jumped at by the candle-like Digimon which hugged her so hard that it almost cut off the air supply to her lungs. "Hey Candlemon, not so intense!" "Whoops, I'm sorry, Isabella..." "I-It's okay. But say, have you already thought about how exactly you intent to get me out of this room if the door is locked? I mean, we do have to start somewhere, right?" "Truth is, yes. I have an idea. W-wax attack!" Candlemon hopped to the door and formed a fitting key out of the wax in his hands, which quickly hardened. He carefully slid this new key into the lock at the door, shifted and rattled it until both of them finally heard a clicking sound, confirming that the door was now open. Isabella couldn't believe it when Candlemon kicked the door open and she was able to finally take a step into the hallway outside. She could feel tears coming to her eyes from the sheer happiness of finally having another sight in front of her, something other than that damn room she had been seeing for several spent most of her time in.
seeing for several months now. She had almost forgotten how the world outside actually looked like. All she could feel was happiness, even though she knew at the back of her mind that she wasn't exactly all the way outside yet. The girl ran to one of the windows which was situated at the end of the hallway, past Candlemon. The window also was gated for obvious reasons, but it nevertheless still granted a view into the world outside.
And what she saw there took her breath away.
Her gaze fell upon the area around the lunatic asylum, the gardens and the surrounding area outside, but the sky looked strangely distorted. It wasn't the sky-blue she would have expected, but actually deep black. Lightning flashed across the sky, and thick clouds took away any light. The girl was horrified by the sight. She had no idea that she had already been locked away in this asylum for so long that all her sense of time was lost. She could have sworn that it was supposed to be bright outside and not this dark. But there was something about this darkness that was ominous, like a foreboding of the evil things to come. Something about it was not normal.
The horrified voice of Candlemon woke her from her thoughts. "Isabella!", he called and hurried up to her to grab her arm, "don't run off like this without me" "Oh yes.. I know, I'm sorry, I didn't want to..." Candlemon interrupted her. "Don't you notice something strange is going on?", he asked. "Oh yes", she responded, and pointed to the window, "The sky... it looks strange. I could've sworn that it was supposed to still be daylight." "It is", Candlemon confirmed with a thoughtful tone of voice, "I don't quite understand what is going on here, but... I can feel the presence of other Digimon within this building." "WHAT? There are others like you here? But! I wonder what has happened to the nursing staff... Usually they would be nearby to check that their patients don't leave their room unauthorized, just like I do it right now." When Isabella looked up, she noticed that Candlemon had started to tremble uncontrollably. "Candlemon, what's wrong?" "I can't do this!", it whispered in a panicked voice, "I-I don't know what to do... I wish Arukeni would be here to tell me what to do... just like she always used to...." "Candlemon, please calm down! I have promised you that I will help you to find her. But until we get out of here you need to stay strong." The Digimon looked up into the greenish-blue eyes of Isabella, who gave him a friendly smile and tightened the grip on his hands to reassure him. It worked, as he could feel the tension within him slowly fall away, since he understood he was not as alone as he felt seconds ago. He didn't have the one Digimon by his side that he longed for the most, but at least Isabella was here. That reduced his fear somewhat, but he was still worried, for he felt the powers of darkness way too strong to feel completely safe.
From the corner, he could suddenly heard movement. "Watch out, Isabella!", he yelled and pushed the girl behind his back. "CANDLEMON!!" She had gotten thrown back, but got up immediately, to rush at Candlemon who now lay on the ground, injured. As she looked up from him into the hallway, she noticed that more monsters rushed right at them.
They were orange-yellow colored monsters with dark, sharp claws on their backs.
Isabella turned rigid with fright and could see one of those monsters jump right at her.
"HOT WAX!"
The candle-Digimon got up and managed to counter one of these monsters with a fireball that he spat at it. The strange monster was flung back into the wall, as Candlemon seized Isabella's hand. "We have to flee, the next are coming right at us!" They ran away as fast as they could, but their opponents were just as quick and could not be left behind that easily. Unless..
When they turned around the corner, they found an open side door, through which they could escape into a room. Isabella immediately closed the door and Candlemon sealed it with a little wax in the quiet hope that it wouldn't be as easy to open again, even if deep within, he knew it was too weak of a measure to hold back such enemies in the long run.
As soon as they were inside, they stayed quiet, and listened in. They could hear the monsters run further past their room down the hallway, apparently ignorant that they have hidden in here.
When she was sure that no-one could eavesdrop on her, Isabella asked her Digimon quietly: "What creatures were those?" "They were Gizamon. Digimon on the Rookie-Level. Like I am", Candlemon explained in short. The blonde girl looked up when she noticed the nervousness of Candlemon again. First he nearly broke down because he doesn't seem to know what to do without that Arukenimon and now their situation wasn't probably going to get better. "Candlemon.. I don't understand that. What the hell is going on here??" "If I just knew this", it replied anxiously, "normally Gizamon do not attack like that, especially not in such a huge crowd as that one. But that would mean that they serve someone.. which means that dark powers might be behind this all." "Dark Powers? Which dark powers?" Suddenly Candlemon really could not speak any more but only trembled like aspen leaves. Isabella understood nothing at all. Neither why all this happened nor why Candlemon was so horrified. Okay, if she thought more about it she could understand it a little bit, because this dark power was anything but calming. It was especially worrying because Candlemon who has promised to help her out of here had already so much fear that he was not able to think clear enough now.
"Okay, now we have dark powers at work here", Isabella admitted after thinking it over briefly, "but what could we do against it? We have to find out what really happened and try... when we don't want to be involved in a fight, we have to avoid all the monsters here and need to ask the nursing staff what is going on here."
"B-but...!" "No, Candlemon, listen to me. I know that you are afraid, because I also too, because... Shit!! Shit, I wish I would understand what is going on here! This is a lunatic asylum, damn! I... I am supposed to be the crazy one here.. not the world around me!" The blonde girl his her face behind her hands in the own fear that seized her and Candlemon looked up at her, realizing that he needed to be far stronger than her. He couldn't expect from that girl that she would take everything into her hands just because he could not handle his fear, especially if Isabella already has been in this lunatic asylum for so long that she still had to suffer under all these impressions.
"Isabella ... I am so sorry, that I cannot be of greater help for you ... I am so ashamed..." She looked up. "Hm? Why?" "That...", and Candlemon avoided her gaze at that, "that I cannot fight when I actually have to, because Digimon usually fight against each other when they are forced to do so, and especially when they have to defend themselves in case they are attacked. Don't understand me wrong, but.. It is not exactly the fight that I fear but.. but.. well, actually, I do fear it, because if the powers of darkness are really behind this then.. then.." Confused Isabella stared at the Digimon and waited for it to end his sentence. Candlemon looked at her with his ruby red eyes, full of despair. "I just don't want to die once again!", it completed the sentence.
She didn't know at first what she should say to this. She decided not to go further into this topic and how it could be that Candlemon obviously had died once before and had been reborn afterwards, but in this case she understood his fear.
"So, you have already died before?" "Yes ... and these impressions still follow me. This means... they follow me since I have been reborn. That happened not long ago actually and I will explain to you another time how the rebirth thing exactly works, but... oh..." "I understand that.", the girl assured him, "if I had died before and then had been reborn again just to find myself in that situation... if I would know that probably the same powers that have killed me before might be behind this... then I probably would feel the same." Candlemon looked at her, smiling, but then his facial expression faded and he got sad again. "Yes, but added to that the fact comes that this is not the form that I am usually used to. In reality, I am called Mummymon, but I am that only at a higher level. And with these many enemies lurking out there it would be better if I was on a higher level." "Hm.. so it's like in these videogames in which your character gains experience to level up, right?" "E-eh, y-yes." "Hm..however, if you say that your level is far too low... then we have to help ourselves otherwise! In this case it brings nothing to fight them direclty. You know yourself just as much as I do that we cannot go on a search for Arukenimon if we just stay here. If you have too much fear you will not be able to find her." "Y-yes, you are right." "I can say that to you again, I am with you, and together, nothing will happen to us. I promise you that I won't let anyone harm you or even kill you!" "Isabella.." Candlemon was speechless in view of the reliability which radiated from the girl in front of him. Even though he knew that she maybe should be the one who should be more afraid; still it was her who reassured him, not the other way around, just as it should be - because he was the Digimon here, not she. No, that wasn't true either. Wasn't he still half human? What was he really??
He shook the head to throw these thoughts off the boat. The time to ask himself existential questions wasn't now, because they could do this once they were in freedom again.
"So, do you have an idea?" "Hmm", Isabella thought something over," we simply must have a try, to avoid the monsters ... we should try and hide among them to find out what is the matter here... AH! I've got it!"
********
A Digimon similar to a gray rabbit approached the Gizamon slowly, with a question on his lips. "Is everything alright there? Have no unwanted subjects gone through?" "No, Sir Gazimon!" The gray Digimon put itself up contentedly, glanced at the orange yellow colored one and trotted along further until it noticed a Digimon in the hallway which came towards them. It was a Candlemon, and it dragged a girl behind him which was tied up at her hands. Because this sight seemed a little bit suspicious to him, Gazimon stopped them with a movement of his hand which showed the Candlemon to not move now. "Please excuse that I have to stop you here, Candlemon, but I need to know what you are doing here", the Gazimon said to the candle-like Digimon and his human companion. The Candlemon immediately bowed to the Digimon before it answered: "I have caught this girl in one of the hallways when she was walking around just now and have taken her captive." "Ah, good work then, Candlemon!", he answered in an appreciative tone when Candlemon asked him: "I just have a question, Sir." "Yes?" "Do you know where I could bring the girl to? Unfortunately, no one has told me yet where the other prisoners are or what shall happen with them." "Hm, well, for now it's good if you could bring the girl into the big room where we have the other human beings locked. What is about to happen to these human beings is not yet decided, that is something that master Nanimon still has to decide." "And where do I find this room?" The rabbit creature raised its hand and showed him the way - down the hallway. "Go down there, then left, further down, then to the right. In front of the room a Demidevimon is the guardian. Tell him that I have sent you." "Good, thanks a lot!" Immediately the Candlemon took the way that was showed to him and left Gazimon and Gizamon behind. The orange Digimon just looked at the grey one when it asked: "I just wonder where the Candlemon comes from... do we have Candlemon in our team?" "Hm, maybe not in the one group that is supposed to be working here, but we have several in our army of darkness, yes." "Okay, I just was wondering.."
Candlemon couldn't believe that his hide-and-seek game has really worked, even better than he himself has expected. When they were far enough from the hearing range, he breathed a sigh of relief, but still couldn't untie the hands of the blonde girl just in case somebody could still meet them on their way.
Isabella whispered at Candlemon: "You were amazing back there! I almost haven't expected you to be this good, considering how you have shaken before we started..." The creature blushed because of the compliment. "But you were right... that I must do something if I really want to go on a search for Arukeni.. but what do we do now? We have come past the first guards and we now know where the nursing staff is supposedly held captive but... shall we go to them or what shall we do?" "This is a good question. We could try... no, we have to play our hide-game a little bit longer, at least for now, until we know what we can do to free the humans here and to make the Digimon here flee." "B-but, didn't you just want to flee from here?" "I don't know if I can do that while knowing that there are people here held captive by monsters... I mean... in addition.. not all of the the staff has not seen that the monsters which I have always seen are real. They now really don't have a reason any longer to doubt me and my sanity or they must accuse themselves to be the crazy ones in here." "So, we should just go to Demidevimon?" "Yes. It must certainly know where the other people are. You have to keep up your role for now, okay Candlemon? No matter what happens, you just have to!" "Y-yea. b-but..", it wanted to speak up but noticed then that it was important that also he took a share. Isabella relied on him and he wouldn't risk to permit himself to become unreliable out of fear.
He nodded, with an almost courageous look on his face. "You can rely on me, Isabella! No matter what happens, I will take you out of here!" The fair-haired girl giggled quietly. "Yes, I know. And now do what you must do!"
They again sank back into the roles which they have accepted to get further. They finally saw a Demidevimon at the end of the hallways which waited in front of a locked door. Muffled calls for help could be hears coming from the door. Candlemon swallowed briefly, trying to get himself and his emotions under control before getting too close to Demidevimon so that his lie wouldn't be exposed immediately by his loud heartbeat. Then again, he could have saved himself the effort when he noticed the bored look on the face of the bat. It turned towards the door and kicked a foot against it, shouting with rage: "BE QUIET NOW! Damn, why can't these humans be quiet for just once... if they just knew what we.." The last part of the sentence was only mumbled before his look fell on Candlemon who has watched him. Demidevimon just looked at him with his big yellow eyes - he didn't know that someone has sent down Candlemon to him, but maybe it was already time for a shift-change? He hoped so at least.
"Hey!", it called Candlemon to himself, "Hey you!" "Hm?" "Yes! Yes, you, I have meant you! Come to menow!" Astonished by the impudent behavior of the Digimon and because the disguise was so very important, the candle-like Digimon did what he was told and came closer to Demidevimon. "What is it?" Demidevimon fluttered around Candlemon and the girl with a thoughtful face before he landed again and gave them a suspicious look. "I have never seen you here before!", the bat noticed and Candlemon tried to keep the setting by answering: "I am new here. I was sent here by Gazimon to bring this girl down here." "Hm-hm.. understood! Good, you can bring the girl inside, even if I am not too fond of the idea to keep even more of these pains in the neck all inside there. Honestly, I don't understand why we have to hold them captive. I have told Master Nanimon that it would bring only problems but... I know he is right and that it isn't good if these humans are running around here freely, but... They are getting on my fucking nerves!" "Eh..y-yes, they do", Candlemon agreed to this with a nod in the hope that he hadn't insulted Isabella with what he just had said. Demidevimon on the other hand was more than happy that finally someone was of his opinion and he used the opportunity to further babble about how the behavior of the prisoners displeased him.
"I mean, how can one whine on all day long that they are locked in? They can be happy that Master Nanimon hasn't done far worse things to them by now!" "Yes, that's too true!", Candlemon nodded, until Demidevimon clapped himself with one of his feelers to the forehead. "Oh, I've forgotten completely, I only hold you back. Forgive me! Bring the girl in, but pronto, so that I can seal the door quickly!" "Yes, okay."
The Bat Digimon then proceeded to get the keys out from behind a loose wall stone, and attached the stone back into the wall after extracting the key. Candlemon watched his movements carefully to memorize where he could find the key again, should it be needed. He already felt guilty that he has to leave behind Isabella for now. But he had to be patient and fetch the key on a later occasion.
As soon as Demidevimon had the key, it opened the door to the room and shoved Isabella in roughly before anyone of the people inside would be able to escape from in there. They of course tried immediately to overwhelm Demidevimon when they had the chance. He quickly locked the door again and exhaled a sigh of relief after noticing that he had managed it. "Bah, I already thought these humans will come out!" But he had hardly brought the sentence over the lips when he already heard loud taps against the door together with the cries and requests of the people to open it. Candlemon now definitely became sick with the thought of leaving Isabella inside there. He knew nothing about how to be manipulative but still it all depended on it, so he needed to gain the trust of Demidevimon. But how does one do that? He has seen it so often with his partner Arukenimon, seen how it works - manipulation. To creep in by pretending sympathy. He himself hasn't done that in an eternity, at least not since they had abducted children with the seed of darkness under the control of Yukio Oikawa. But to talk with children is something else, because they easily trust strangers, especially when you are nice and this just was the way Candlemon was. Yes, maybe the same could work on Demidevimon as well!
Candlemon looked a little flabbergasted at Demidevimon, who sat down on the ground, and breathed out a sigh of exhaustion. The bat then looked at the candle before he asked in an irritated way: "And what do you still want here? You have already handed the girl over to me, so you can disappear!" "Eh, well.. Gazimon hasn't given me any new orders yet", Candlemon began, "and because... well because I see how exhausted you seem to be I thought that maybe we could... change the shifts?" The Digimon gave a kind and naive smile to the bat who suddenly was lost in thought, but not too long as the opportunity for a short break was far too delicious to be overseen. "Does that mean that you really want to stand guard here for a while?" "Yes", Candlemon nodded, and Demidevimon and a grateful smile spread on the face of Demidevimon. It rattled on immediately, stretching his wings to their full width before rising into the air. "Well, I agree to it. But you must stay and move in no case, is this clear? If I come back and the humans aren't in their room any more then.." "AiAi!!", Candlemon said and saluted before Demidevimon, "I will stay here until your return!" "Very good. We'll see each other later on!"
As soon as the bat had disappeared, Candlemon looked around to determine if he was truly alone. Then he extracted the key to the door from the wall exactly as he had seen Demidevimon do before. Giddy that he had been able to complete the task, the opened the door to the room.
Immediately, dozens of humans burst out of the room into the hallway, almost trampling the poor Digimon, until finally Isabella emerged from the chaos and hugged Candlemon tightly. "You did that so well!", she praised him, and the humans around them went quiet, their gazes now stuck to the girl and her Digimon.
One of the nurses leaned forwards, and also thanked the Digimon: "Thank you so much for letting us out of there!" Candlemon blushed from embarrassment, but one of the other male nurses from the bystanders sighed and put his hand on his forehead, while his colleagues each patted him on the shoulder. "I don't understand how this could happen!", he said in a whining tone, "and I don't understand how there suddenly are monsters everywhere!" "I already tried to explain that to you earlier!", Isabella said quietly, but also a little bit angry, though only Candlemon could really read this from her, "these monsters are named Digimon, are pretty real and are the very creatures that I have always seen, that have haunted me wherever I was. Which means that I cannot be crazy, if I can see them and all of you also do the same!" Silence spread between all of them and on the faces of the bystanders an expression of awkwardness and helplessness appeared. "Does this means that we made a diagnostic error? Is that what you want to say with that?" "Hold back, Manfred!", one of the nurses pleaded with the man who just spoke and grabbed him by the arm: "Aside from that, we still have to try to get away from here and away from the monsters! We also cannot forget the other patients, and that not we, but this girl is the one that seems to know more than us. Unfortunately, we have to trust her if we want to move forward!" "Hmpf, as if you can trust a crazy person!", he shouted back, but then Candlemon interrupted all of them with a harsh tone after it noticed the sad facial expression of Isabella. "NOW EVERYBODY PLEASE STOP!!", it shouted, before it continued more quietly: "We all are in the same situation, and have to realize that Digimon are a reality, otherwise, you wouldn't have been kept in that room there, right?" Horrified, the nurses looked at the Digimon in the girl's arms and took a step back from them. "We only want to get away from here", one of the nurses said, "and I have to know what happened to the other patients!"
Now Candlemon noticed that many more persons have been affected by the powers of darkness that have so suddenly befallen this place, he could feel the color drain from his face even more, even though the face of the wax Digimon was already colorless to begin with. Isabella noticed that, and straightened herself out into her full height and just said one thing to the nursing staff that has held her hostage for so long: "You have to do what I am saying to you now: You have to go, get yourself to safety first! If you cannot understand that this is the best to do for yourself right now, then you indeed are the crazy ones here!" And with that, the girl took off with her Digimon, leaving the people to their fate for now.
"Isabella, what was that about?", the Digimon asked the girl, "You know that we cannot just leave them alone like that!" "Yes, I know, but.. I just can't do that. They have held me prisoner here. Besides, what should we do as a mass of people? If all of us move through the rooms together, then we are more easily spotted. Which means that we have to go separate ways anyway." "But Isabella... I know and I can understand that you are angry at them, but it only brings us into trouble if we act without thinking. I have seen the consequences to that often enough in the past..." "You are right", the girl admitted belatedly, "but I was overwhelmed by the situation. I have never been responsible for so many people before, so I threw the towel..." "We still can go back", Candlemon suggested, "we still could try to help them!" "And how? We can't take all of them with us, that way we never find out who is responsible for the chaos here!"
But then a dark idea formed in Isabella's mind and her expression got darker momentarily. She turned around and ran back the way they came from, in the hope that the nursing staff was still there, but she found no one there any more.
So they have decided to move on and possibly get themselves into more danger. Isabella could feel a cold shiver go down her back when she imagined what could happen to them and Candlemon noticed that, so he tried to cheer her up.
"Don't worry... I don't think that something bad will really happen to them. They are all adults and what else could the Digimon here do but to keep in locked rooms again?" Isabella thought about that for a few moments, before she turned around to Candlemon and nodded. "Yes, I hope you're right. Then let's move along alone for now. Could we use our trick from before again?" "No, I don't think so. Not now when all the humans went out of their room. Oh damn!", Candlemon blurted out, "by freeing the humans now, I can't ask Demidevimon now who is behind all of this!" "That's no problem, in this case, let's leave this place behind and move on. We can try to play our trick as far as we can go with it."
Candlemon bit his lower lip. "I'm not so sure about that." "But we have no other choice for now, unfortunately." "But still... the rumor might have already spread that a Candlemon has been going around here, and if I bring the same human girl twice, this will be more than just suspicious!" "In that case we have no choice but to fight! We can't avoid this forever!", Isabella said with sudden courage in her voice. But she didn't know if this really was the right course of action to take and if Candlemon was really build for fighting. She lowered her head, gazing at Candlemon to assess him, and noticed how fragile he seemed, this candle-Digimon apparently made out of nothing but wax. She quietly asked him "Do you think you can fight? Do you think you can make it through a fight?" Candlemon looked at her, surprised by the question, because this was not a question that a Digimon could be asked - all of them were there for fighting, because fighting is the ever-lasting primary principle in the Digital World. A world he did not originally come from, but he still knew how to fight. He was just afraid that he could have forgotten some of it in the meantime, that was all.
"Don't worry, I can fight. I remember back then, and I always had to be ready to fight when needed. To protect somebody. And now, I will have to protect you the same." Isabella slightly blushed at Candlemon's words, because this seemed like a weird thing to say. To say that he will protect you had a slightly romantic undertone, and she had to admit that she already held Candlemon dear to her heart, more so than any other Digimon, because he was so nice and appreciative and even cute.
"Thank you, Candlemon. And don't be afraid, I am with you and together we will get out of here somehow."
Her words too had a positive impact on him. Because it was a seldom occurrence to hear words of praise. All that he had known from his previous life were evil words of denigration, which caused him to feel even more warm inside whenever he heard Isabella's praise.