The Fallen:  Fallen Angel

By Evolution

She fell from greatness… as did they all… but hers was the longest fall… but her beauty and power remain… roaming the dying Hell… like a fallen angel…

Rika looked across the sea of lights looming below.  Another explosion sliced through the darkness.  She pulled out a cigarette and lit it, pleasantly breathing the smoke into her lungs.  She didn’t turn her head as Henry sat down next to her.

“Remember how it used to look?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah, there were a lot more lights and a lot fewer explosions,” Rika mumbled.

“Yeah, people were always saying how bad the world was getting seven years ago.  I think those people would have heart attacks if they could get a glimpse of their future.”

Rika sighed, “How are we going to fix it?  It seems impossible to get the world back to the way it was.”

“We’re not going to try and repair it.  We have to start again, create a new world.  It may take a lot of work and time, but I know we can make it as good as it once was, if not better even.”

“I don’t know; it seems pretty impossible.”

“We have to hope-“

“Henry, what happened to your family?”

“They refused to tell the government where I was hiding, not that they knew as it was.  So they were sent to the camps.  I tried to keep track of them for a while,” he sighed, “but eventually I lost them.  They’re probably dead now.”

“I don’t know what happened to my Mom, the last time I ever saw here was after Renamon and I killed those officers, when you guys just left us to die.”

“We didn’t abandon you Rika.”

“Like hell you didn’t,” Rika spat. She glared angrily at Henry; then turned back to overlooking the city.  She took a final puff of smoke and then tossed the filter to the street many stories below.  “You could have at least warned me that they were going to start rounding up Tamers.”

“We found out just a little sooner than you did.  We didn’t have much time, I even sent you an email, but the officers must have come before you could read it.”

“Sure.  So how’d you find out anyways?”

“We, I mean everyone except you since you didn’t want to work with us, had followed a Digimon back to the Digital World.  He hadn’t quite bioemerged completely and since we were there to meet him he went back, and a portal was open for us to follow.  We got there and beat him pretty easily, actually, but for some reason the portal didn’t close.  We were about to head back when we noticed something strange in the distance.  It looked like a camp.  Ryo and Cyberdramon went and checked it out, and when they came back Ryo told us he overheard some of the soldiers being briefed.  All of us turned pail when he told us that Tamers would soon be the residents of the camps.  So we came back here as soon as possible and prepared to leave.  It was less then an hour from the time we got back to the time some officers knocked on my front door.  I was sending you the email when they knocked, I would have called but you weren’t talking to any of us.  I barely managed to escape.”

Rika was silent as she gazed into Henry’s serene eyes.  They seemed so young still, and they didn’t even tear up as he spoke.  Rika wondered how he had managed to overcome the years of suffering she had undergone.  Every time she looked into a mirror and stared at her eyes, the eyes reflected back at her were dead, cold, and filled with despair.  She had survived, but she hadn’t lived in years.  It wasn’t till the moment she realized the man in the bar was Henry that she had felt her heart beat for the first time in years… 

Maybe, she wondered, deep down in my heart I want things to be back the way they were.  Before the persecution, before the accident, before they had even gone to the Digital World the first time.  We were a group back then, a team.  They were like my siblings, yet more in so many ways.  Her heart began to swell; she had treated those days as a waist of her time.  But now, she would gladly walk through the pits of Hell just to spend five minutes back in that bliss.

“So I suppose that it was my own fault for acting the way I did.”  Rika closed her eyes.  “If it hadn’t been for my stubbornness my grandmother would still be alive, or at least she wouldn’t have died trying to protect me.”

”We can’t see the future, Rika.  We would have done a lot differently if we had known that we’d be in this situation now.  Though I think that you did overreact a little after you recovered from the accident.”

Rika blinked, “The accident…”

It seems like such a blur to me, partly because it was so long ago, but also because I barely survived.  I was told many times that I was lucky to be alive… but back then I think I would rather have been dead. 

The day it happened had been a day that seemed like nothing could go wrong.  The sun was shining brightly and the perfume of sweet summer flowers floated through the air. Of course I hated flowers back then, but I wouldn’t mind seeing one now, considering how rare they are.  We, all the Tamers that is, had been planning to spend the afternoon in the park and then we were going to try the impossible feat of sneaking our Digimon into the movies.  They had never seen one in a theater, and that’s an experience that everyone should have.  But of course, all of us, the kids at least, had to sit through an entire day of boring class.  I had told Renamon that I would meet her at the park where Guilmon usually hung out, as soon as I got out of school.  It’s not like I was in any danger…

 There was this new girl in class, and of course she ended up sitting in the empty seat next to me.  She was a typical dizzy slut, but worse than most.  She had the air of a goddess, and I hoped that later in the semester I would get a chance to show her how badly a Tamer can mess up the face of a goddess.

The stupid girl just didn’t seem to get it.  No one likes to sit next to me because I never talk to them and give them death glares.  This girl just wouldn’t shut up; she assumed I was her best friend or something.  She droned on and on about how her boyfriend was in high school and how he was so tough.  He was obviously a loser, dating someone so much younger, and anyone dating her couldn’t be too bright.  From the parts of the conversation that I can remember, and the parts I paid attention to, she had been forced to come here by her parents.  She had gotten into a lot of trouble for hanging out on the streets and making friends with the wrong people.  Whatever; who cared.  I just kept hoping the teacher would shut her up.

I was about ready to give her a black eye when I remembered how it would ruin my plans for the afternoon.  So to block her out I started doodling on my paper.  I drew a picture of Renamon fighting some evil Digimon I made up.  I was at the bottom of the picture, standing next to Henry, who I had kinda liked at the time.  I never would have admitted it back then, because I wasn’t really into boys.  But I enjoyed being around Henry, so I guess that means I had a crush on him.

When I finished my sketch, and was admiring it, remembering some of the adventures we had had, the girl’s voice managed to get past my mental block:

“What the hell’s that supposed to be?”  I shook my head, waking from my fantasy, and looked at her.  “That ugly fox thing, what’s that?”

“Nothing,” I growled, holding back the urge to kill her, she was too dumb to realize she was insulting my best friend. 

“Why are you in there?  You should grow up little girl.”  I didn’t say anything.  I really didn’t want to get grounded for the afternoon.  “Man that boy’s ugly.  Are you ignoring me!?”

“No duh, you should be in college with deduction power like that,” I rolled my eyes.

“Well at least I don’t have an imaginary friend and fight imaginary monsters with my imaginary boyfriend!”

“All the people in this picture are real, your boyfriend’s probably the imaginary one.”

That’s when I felt the sting slap across my face.  “You bitch!” She stood up and yelled.

I rubbed my face, “Nice shot.”

“I am gonna kick your ass bitch!”

“Miss Barnes!” our teacher yelled.  “I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in my class!”

The girl looked at her pathetically, “But this stupid whore started it!”

“Rika is the smartest and most well behaved girl in class, she would never start any kind of trouble.  Go see the principle immediately Miss Barnes!”

The girl shrieked and sobbed angrily.  Then she bent down to me and growled, “You’ll pay for this bitch!”  Then she stormed out of the room.  I just stared at my drawing triumphantly; I had managed to keep out of trouble.  But I hadn’t…

I can’t remember what happened the rest of the day until I got out of school.  I remember heading to the park afterwards.  I was feeling good, it was a Friday, I didn’t have any homework, and I was going to go have fun with my friends.  The incident with the girl had completely slipped my mind, until I passed an alley and felt a thick hand grab the collar of my dress.

The hand dragged me deep into the alley and I don’t remember seeing much at first because of my struggling.  But then the hand set me down and I saw her, the girl from class.  She was obviously afraid to fight me on her own, because there were three big guys, probably high school aged.  I assumed that one was her loser boyfriend.

“Hey bitch,” she yelled at me.  “Here’s my imaginary boyfriend, where’s your imaginary fox monster?”  I wish Renamon had been there, she would have made all those guys piss their pants.

I didn’t need this, not now at least.  I smirked and laughed, “I guess you win, mine’s imaginary and yours is real.  Congratulations!”

Two of her thugs grabbed my arms and held me so she could get close.  “You got me suspended!” she spat into my face.

“So you’re going to have these guys beat me up?” I laughed.

She shrieked and punched me in the stomach.  It didn’t hurt much because she hit well… like a girl, but she had just pushed me over the edge.  I wasn’t about to just sit there and let some stupid girl pummel me while her friends held me back.  She was coming for another punch, this one aimed at my face, when I brought my foot up, kicking her square in the jaw.  She tumbled to the ground and looked up at me, blood dripping from her mouth and a few shattered teeth lying on the ground.  She began to cry hysterically.  I smirked.

Then I felt it, all the air fleeing my lungs.  I tried to gasp for air, but the guys were no longer holding me, all of them were hitting me.  I can’t remember exactly where or how many times they hit me, but I knew I couldn’t fight all three of them, one alone was probably more then I could handle.  I remember crying for Renamon a few times, but getting hit in the head pretty bad.  Strangely I came out of that fight without a single scratch on my face, though I was told that it was pretty bruised up. 

Yet it wasn’t the punches of those guys that messed me up.  Getting out of there was my only option.  I remember falling to the ground and being at the level of one’s crotch, so I balled my fist and hit him there as hard as I could.  The next thing I remember was the guy lying on the ground and I was running away from the alley and toward the street.  Everything was blurry though, and I was pretty confused.  Dazing lights and echoing cries, nothing made sense.  The next thing I remember was seeing the headlights coming toward me, and the blare of a horn in my ears, telling me to get out of the way.  It was too late.

I call it the accident because it kinda was, the guy driving the car didn’t mean to hit me.  I remember a little after the headlights.  There’s the image of a crowd standing over me while some guys crammed a tube down my throat.  Then, a little while later, some doctors, at least I think they were doctors, saying something about how they need to open my chest because my heart was failing.  Another vision with more bright lights and some more doctors standing over me, doing surgery I guess. 

I’ve been told that I was comatose for three weeks after being hit by the car, but it seemed like a lot longer.  I had a lot of strange dreams, and my friends and family seemed to always be floating over me saying: “Hang in there Rika!” “Rika, please wake up.” “We love you Rika.”  Henry’s apparition seemed to be the most common, but I can’t remember if he said anything to me.

It was when I woke up that the trouble started.  When I first woke up things were still really hazy, but I remember a lot of people celebrating, and a lot of pain.  I remember Takato saying something to me about a lot of Digimon bioemerging, and Henry saying they were having a lot of trouble fighting them off.  Yet they seemed to be less distressed than they sounded.  I figured that they would be in deep crap without me.

It was when Ryo came to visit me that I pulled everything together.  Yeah, Takato and Henry had been facing a lot of Digimon, but they weren’t in too much trouble because they had Ryo there to help them.  I remember his cocky face, how he pretended to be sympathetic for me. 

At first I wasn’t bothered by the fact that they were doing all right without me, I didn’t want them to get killed by some Digimon or anything.  But then Kazu said something when everyone thought I was asleep, something that I just couldn’t believe a friend would say.

“Man,” he laughed, “you guys really showed that Myotismon today!”

“Awe,” replied Ryo, “He wasn’t too tough.”

“Yeah right!  If it had been Rika instead of Ryo there, you might have gotten your butts kicked!”

“Shhh,” replied Jeri, “Rika is right there you know!”

“Well,” whispered Kazu, “Rika’s never really been that important.”

“She’s had her moments,” that was Takato.

This was Kenta, “Well, I doubt she’ll be much use even if she gets better.  Maybe we should rely on Ryo more now.”

“Hey, I do what I can,” laughed Ryo.  “But Rika doesn’t seem to be growing as strong as us.”

“We cant just cut Rika, she’s been a Tamer longer than all of us.” Takato.

“Well, the cold fact is that we don’t really need her…” I couldn’t remember who said that or what else was said because the drugs finally knocked me out, but I had heard enough.  Henry hadn’t said anything the entire time, but I’m sure he was nodding at all that was said.  Friends… yeah right.  Friends always seem to betray your trust, ditch you when things look bad.  Only two have stood by my side in the darkest of times: Renamon and Ben the bartender.  The only way to cure that pain is to prevent it.  I will not allow any false friendships with the Tamers grow in my heart, not this time.  Being lonely is painful, but far less than painful than betrayal.  I will never make another friend, I will never be a heroine, and I will never love… life is about survival of the fittest…

They needed her now, and she was actually helping them.  “The accident,” Rika repeated, “only showed me what you guys really thought of me.”

“Rika,” Henry replied, “after the accident I sat by your side as much as I could.  The only times I left were to go to school, to sleep, and to fight an occasional Digimon.  I described every fight to you, and told you how much better we would have done if you had been there.  I even snuck Renamon into the hospital a few times.”

“Yeah sure, tell me how important I am when I’m in a coma, great idea.”

“Over the years we’ve concluded that you overheard us talking about how Ryo was a better Tamer than you, and that we didn’t need you.  That’s why you left us, isn’t it.”

A glaze formed over her eyes, but quickly turned to rage.  “Yeah, its great overhearing your friends talk about how worthless you are.  And if I remember correctly, you didn’t say anything in my defense.”

“I wasn’t even there Rika.  Takato told me about it later.”

Rika laughed and stood up, “Yeah, sure Henry.  Try and redeem yourself.  You didn’t agree with a single thing that was said?”

“I really wasn’t there, honestly.  I must have gone to the bathroom or something, because I know I wouldn’t forget a conversation like that.”

“Well, even if you weren’t there, it doesn’t change what the others said.”

“Who said most of it?” Henry challenged, grabbing he shoulders and staring into her eyes with determination.

Rika looked at him angrily, “Kazu… and Kenta and Ryo seemed to agree with him.”

“Yeah, Kazu the big mouth.  Don’t you remember how he never looks at things logically?  Sure, maybe we were doing ok with Ryo at the time, but none of us would even think of getting rid of you.  And Ryo, he’s always joking, I’m sure whatever he said was supposed to be sarcastic.  And you never listened to Kenta before, so why then?”

“I… don’t know…”

“So you would trust what you heard while you were pumped full of drugs and probably delirious over the word of your friends?”

“SHUT UP!” Rika screamed and ripped herself from his grasp, turning her back to him.  “I don’t need to be lectured by you Henry!  You’re so much different than me.  I enjoy killing, I prefer darkness to light, and I’ve never been as good at making or keeping friends as you.  You never lose yourself in the excitement of battle, yet that’s all I live for!”  She turned back to the dark haired boy, tears welling in the corners of her eyes.  “You say I should have trusted my friends, well its not like I’ve had a lot of friends to trust.  You make it sound like you cared so much for me when I was in the hospital, that you were by my side more than anyone else.  Hell, you make it sound like you loved me or something!” 

“I did…”

Author’s Note: I hope people still like this story…