Echoes in Silence

By: Lena108

Rating: T (So far. May go up.)

Summary: AU. In the war-scarred Digital World there is nothing but hurt and turmoil. Digimon and humans alike are killing each other just for a meal, or maybe for some quick cash. Recently, though, there have been rumors… whispers of an old legend foretelling that the "Digidestined" will band together to save the world and restore it to what it once was—peaceful. But they're just a bunch of kids…

Author's Note: This fic is VERY AU. I was hesitant to post it because of how AU it is, but I'm giving it a shot. First, I'd like it to be known that no one's character will be sacrificed for the sake of making this AU. They will all be very much in character to the best of my ability. That being said, few of the kids know each other at all. It's set in the Digital World where the kids were all born there and people and Digimon coexist, so the Digidestined already have their Digimon partners, but they just figure they were lucky to see one being born. Here, there are two kings who rule together – a Digimon and a human. Most of the kids live in poverty, but Mimi is the princess, Ken is well-off because he helps the kings with technical problems and Cody's grandfather is the kendo master, thus enabling him to feed the family. Everything else will be explained in the narrative, but think of it like the beginning of the series where we know nothing of the kids.

It's technically set in the time period of 02, where Tai and most of the original Digidestined are in high school, but that is just in age during this fic. As for things like pairings and whatnot, there will be a few, but that is not the main focus of the story. This is far from a romance fic and the kids aren't going to really be worrying about things like that for the majority of the story.

Prologue: An Introduction of Sorts

"Let's go save the world."

That's a pretty bold statement, considering how life is right now. I never dreamed that I would be the one saying such a thing. In fact, it would have been stupid in any other circumstance to expect that I could say that reasonably... you know, and not be laughed at. I mean, this world would be pretty hard to save, considering, you know? I should probably start at the beginning so you know what happened leading up to this. I guess I'll start with my name.

I'm Taichi Kamiya, but you can call me Tai. I live with my sister Kari in a… well, I call it a box. Kari prefers to call it a 'shack'. She says it sounds more pleasant. I don't know if I agree. Anyway, this whole mess started on a day when the sun was actually shining through the smog. It was a good day, to be honest. We had some leftover food from the night before, so we were able to have lunch. I could even feed Agumon, but not to where he was full. We could never do that. At least Gatomon and Kari don't eat as much as we do. We're not too bad off because mom and dad were both able to find two jobs, they're just never home, that's all. So it's pretty much just me and Kari throughout the day since Gatomon and Agumon like to go out and try to help too.

We're not the only ones, though, there's Yamato Ishida, but he likes to be called Matt. He would be cool if he weren't such a jerk. I know we've got some food, but that's no reason to be bitter. I'd share if he asked, really. Anyway, we've had a couple of problems in the past, but I won't fight him like he keeps insisting. Okay, okay, so I threw a couple punches. I made them good though! He had it coming then. I try to avoid him… for Kari's sake. Gabumon never tried to fight Agumon, which I thought was pretty strange. Maybe he's nicer than Matt is, but I wouldn't expect it. He's always at Matt's side no matter what. I've seen him fight his battles and Gabumon is a pretty tough Digimon. I don't know what Matt's dad does, really. He's never home, but I don't know if he's got a job. It would make sense that it's why Matt is the way he is. I'd bet my goggles that jerk will end up dead in the street some day. Not that I want that to happen, but he's pretty hot headed.

Then there was Sora Takenouchi. Her mom runs a flower shop, but they don't get much business that way. Sora's main source of revenue is through renting out the building to tenants for really cheap. I think Biyomon does a lot of the room service with Sora because they clean that place up pretty quickly. I can't afford it, but some Digimon can. Sora doesn't really get along with her mom all that much, which is sad. I think they should work together and they might sell flowers and apartments! Anyway, Sora's dad is off in some distant land seeking his fortune I think. At least, I think that's what she said. I only met Sora recently because we went to the park at the same time and kicked around a soccer ball, but I know she's a great person, which is really rare nowadays. She's pretty cool.

Koushiro Izumi is the neighborhood's whiz kid. No one really knows how he managed to snag a computer, but he did. He got us all electricity so we can see in the dark. Tentomon calls him Izzy, so we've all kind of taken to calling him that. It's got a ring to it anyway. It's really Izzy that's keeping his family alive. His parents are both kind of timid, so neither of them have jobs, but Izzy manages to come up with some plans to keep them alive somehow. I wish he'd talk to my parents about his schemes, maybe we'd get more food that way!

Mimi Tachikawa is the country's princess. She's a spoiled brat if I've ever seen one. She's never even been out of her pretty palace garden, with its high walls blocking her view of the world. I don't even think Palmon knows what's going on, which makes her pretty perfect for Mimi. Some people say her daddy won't let her leave, others say it's her choice because she doesn't want to know the trouble that the world is in. Either way, I've never really wanted to meet her. She'd probably just call us all gross and get back into her carriage and drive away. How selfish can you get?

Jyou Kido, affectionately dubbed Joe by his brother and Gomamon, is working to become a doctor. No, I don't get it either. Doctors have to go through medical school, which costs a lot of money that they don't have. Plus, Joe's got some medical problems of his own. He should probably see a doctor before he becomes one, but he can't do that either. It's kind of unfortunate because his allergies get really bad in the spring. At least it was winter when this all started.

Then there's Takeru, Matt's little brother, who we just all called TK for short. He wasn't nearly as bad as Matt, but I'd never seen his temper. Maybe I never will. He manages to smile all the time, which is really weird because his mom isn't really the greatest, or so I hear. She divorced Matt's dad way back when, despite a whole bunch of financial problems it caused. I don't know how much she cared about that because it seemed like she just wanted to get away from the guy. I don't know much about that part of the family, but I know that TK and Patamon aren't home very often either. I don't really know what they're doing, but I've seen them around. Kari mentioned him a couple times, but I don't remember what she said. The times he's not out there's really no movement in the house, every day I walk by and wonder if he's died, but I think he just holes up in the house and just keeps still or something. Maybe he's reading, but not a lot of people do that nowadays. Weird kid, really.

Davis lives right down the street with his family. They're a nice bunch in my opinion, though his sister's a bit annoying. It's always 'Matt's this' and 'Matt's so that' and 'Why can't all boys be like Matt?' Yeah, weird. If she likes the crazy sort that's her problem. Davis is cool, though. Kari says he looks up to me. Cute. Anyway, his parents run a little restaurant that not many people go into. It's too expensive for most of us, but when they get leftovers from the day and can't eat it all, we get some. Veemon usually eats up most of their food though. That is a well fed Digimon. Davis gets pretty weird around Kari, though. I think he has a crush on her. I don't think she likes him like that, though. Kari's pretty oblivious to the boy thing, but I'm not complaining.

I never knew what to think about Miyako. She lives in the same building as TK and I keep hearing him call her Yolie. She's kind of loud, but seems nice enough. I don't really know her since we've never talked, I just know who she is. Who could miss that hair of hers? She's got a bunch of brothers and sisters, which probably makes life a little rough, but that's their problem. Hawkmon seems happy enough, but he can't get too much food with all those mouths to feed, but he's not a skinny Digimon. Maybe he gets the first helping.

Cody is a weird kid, for sure. I never know what that boy is thinking. I've said hi to him to be friendly, but he just nods his head. Maybe he's all stuck up because he gets a nicer house than the rest of us. His grandfather is some kendo master or something like that, I think. Anyway, the man goes to the palace a whole lot and brings back a bunch of money to his family. I admit that I'm pretty envious, especially looking at Armadillomon, who looks pretty healthy to me. Either way, Cody doesn't talk much, but I think he might just be shy. Or shy and stuck up. Bad combination, really.

Ken… I don't know what to say about Ken. I don't really know him. He's that one who goes to the palace to fix up the king's kitchen or something. I hear he's a genius, but I don't care. Genius can go pay his own bills. I don't even think his parents have to work. He's kind of snooty too. Doesn't really talk to anybody and keeps to himself. I don't think he wants to make friends, because then he'd have to share food and money with them. Wormmon is pretty cool, but he hangs around with Ken, so he can't be all that great.

Finally, there's my little sister Hikari, or just plain Kari, whatever. She's a great kid and really likes to help out. She does get sick sometimes, but we scrape together to get doctors for her. Joe even helped out once, which was pretty nice. Kari seems to draw people in with how nice she is, even Gatomon acts like a sweet cat around her, but we all know what she can do to a Digimon that's in between her and her next meal. I don't really know how she does it, but she's never been selfish. I even get a helping before her at dinner even when she's sick. Of course I say no, but she always insists. She's a strange kid, but she's my little sister and it's my job to look out for her no matter what and that's what I'm going to do!

I guess I don't really know my neighbors as well as I think I do. Either way, there's a lot of different people, but we all want the same thing, even though it doesn't seem that way with some people, I'm sure. I never really thought I'd be talking to these guys, let alone trying to make friends with them. The Digimon seem to get along better than we do anyway. Maybe we could learn a thing or two from them. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what we can do, but I don't know. We're just a bunch of kids…

END PROLOGUE

A/N: Thank you guys so much for reading! I'd love to hear your feedback. The first actual chapter should be up soon. This will be the only one in first person, so the rest will all be third person narrative. Next chapter will be up soon! I hope you all enjoyed it!