Warning for trauma, actions harmful o minors, non graphic violence, implied past death.


Chapter One - Yuri (Lillies)

Inoue Miyako rubbed her amber eyes, glass of milk and tea cookies in hand, as she left the kitchen. Poromon had just had to take advantage of her late night bathroom run to get a snack. She was lucky there were sugar cookies in the house that her brother hadn't scarfed down yet. She rubbed her eyes again and yawned, making it back to her room.

It was just another night in the Inoue household.

She paused midstep, head tilting despite itself to look at the sleeping bag occupying a few squares of her floor. Purple hair poked out of the comforter, rising and falling with the slowness of feigned sleep.

Miyako paused and almost knelt to look. She settled for placing the warm milk mug and its comforting steam by her head, then tiptoed back to bed. She was suddenly wide awake again. Only when she saw the pale hand loop around the mug, did Miyako close her eyes and turn over, guilt in her stomach.

In a way, this was the Digital World she loved at work. Sometimes being a hero had consequences.

This was the world's way of making them pay for it.


Two months before, with the Digital World healing steadily and its Chosen Ones hard at work at repairing their lives, someone threw a stone.

It broke the gymnasium window and almost hit Takaishi Takeru on the leg. The room erupted with shouts and the coach ran to the window. Takeru, more slowly, hesitated, like there was a weight on his chest that had only just appeared. He moved over to look, curiosity outweighing fear, and there was a salaryman with another stone in hand.

"Give back my wife," he shouted. "Tell those monsters to give back my wife!"

The raw emotion made Takeru stumble back, which was just as well. The other stone nearly hit him in the face.

The screaming man was hurried away, tidied up like an unhappy accident. But Takeru looked up at Patamon, watching him shrink away in his corner.

Then, like an avalanche, it all tumbled down.

Jun was followed home after a Kapurimon appeared in her lunchroom, leading to Daisuke guarding her like a somehow terrifying puppy. Many Odaiba Elementary shoe lockers were vandalized. Hikari was attacked by middle schoolers on her way to class, leaving Tailmon no choice but to scare them off. Miyako came home to her parents' store being broken into and drove them out with her duffel bag and a police call.

Help always came, though more reluctant as times went on. Newspapers spread quiet rumors and the television made reports of monster attacks that weren't there.

Then, Koushiro got an email from a government official.


"So to sum it up," Taichi scratched his head and taking his seventh cookie. "They want reparations… from us?"

Koushiro nodded, looking around the room at the group who had managed to gather. "In some manner, yes. The idea is that we, or the Digimon, are the cause of all this and that the events since 1999 are, to the public, our responsibility."

"But we made things right!" Daisuke's protest beat Miyako's by a hair and she shut her mouth, because two people shouting was never good. "And we're all kids! We can't get part time jobs yet or go rebuild houses!" He huffed, sitting back next to Hikari, who patted his shoulder in solemn understanding. "I'm pretty sure that's like: child labor or something too!"

"People died or were injured because of the Digimon," shHikari said before anyone else could interject, voice tired and wan. Yamato touched his neck almost discreetly, but Miyako's eyes were flickering to everyone at once. "Because of enemy ones yes, but to people like this, they're all the same."

Tailmon made a face, scratching a paw. "Digimon can think that way as well."

"That's stupid." Daisuke shook his head, scratching Chibimon behind an ear. "I was stuck with Vamdemon. My whole family was attacked by Vamdemon. If it weren't for Taichi-senpai and everyone else, we would be dead!"

"But people need a scapegoat." Ken looked up at Koushiro as he spoke, hands folded and eyes probably twenty years from now. "Izumi-san, what did they ask for?"

Koushiro let out a sigh. "Community service, agreement to disclose information to the government about Digimon and their world. They want access as well, and we can't grant them that. Not even Gennai will, I imagine. Assistance to suffering families and…" He swallowed, shifting slightly in his decrepit chair. "Adoption of a child orphaned in BelialVamdemon's attack, for those who can afford it. Those were the first suggestions they offered."

The room went silent. Even the Digimon stopped talking, but more out of confusion than anything else.

It was something they had all thought about, some more than others. There had been blackouts, hospital attacks, destroyed buildings, fires. The Digimon had caused humans a lot of pain. People had to have died. But how was it their fault? Because they had been chased? Because they had fought back? Why was that their responsibility?

Or because like Ken said, they were scapegoats, more than likely. None of those people who chased girls and threw rocks would actually stand up to Vamdemon. None of them could even consider it. Why bother?

Miyako looked at the others. This isn't fair! Our parents can't pay for this! And what are we getting attacked for anyway? And it was punishing everyone for the actions of a few, powerful people. She turned it over for a while, chewing on her lip to keep herself from venting at the wrong people. "Do we get anything in return?" they all looked up and she continued. "Other governments too. There are Chosen everywhere! We need to ask them if they have the same problem. Then we can argue for the same standards everywhere, because that's a little too… much, you know?"

Ken nodded, catching on. "if we're still going to be attacked for leaving our houses, we need to be compensated. Otherwise, the people we are helping are put into danger as well."

Koushiro and Taichi nodded in agreement. "It's fine for us to help people," Taichi said, voice thoughtful. "Least we can do, if we can do it. But if they think we're still stupid kids who will bow our heads, they have another thing coming." He paused. "Let's all still talk to our parents though. They might come up with better solutions and counterarguments than us before we send back a reply."

They hopefully could. After all, they were parents.


Miyako, lucky or unlucky for her, also had a brother and sisters. None of them were directly related to Digimon, not yet. They had a little distance, and that was enough to help her ask them. She still dragged her feet home to do it, Poromon in her arms. He was very quiet, as he had been since they had left the meeting.

Which really hadn't been much of a meeting. More of a debriefing with some yelling mixed in. They had all left after making promises to keep each other posted because real life continued on and they had exams and homework and practice and class. All of these things that almost made these people's anger irrelevant simply due to being alive.

Almost, but not quite.

"Poromon?" she said as she walked, spotting the lights on in the shop through the boards. "What do you think?"

Poromon sat against her chest and didn't answer. Figuring he was distracted, she opened her mouth to repeat it a little louder, but then he responded with, "Humans are very strange, Miyako-san. Certainly they are hurt, but weren't you? We, Digimon, hurt you, but you love us and our world, don't you?"

She stopped walking. Her brow furrowed and she thought of Ken, his maniacal laughter and evil rings, of BlackWarGreymon's desperation, of BelialVamdemon's brutal murder. She thought of Takeru and Hikari, attacked as small kids, of Oikawa becoming butterflies in the wind.

"Yeah," she said to him. "We were and we do, but…" She grumbled a little. "That doesn't mean anything, I guess… argh, I didn't think being a Chosen Child would get this complicated."

Weren't they supposed to be heroes? Weren't they supposed to be people who made things better for others? People who saved the world?! Hadn't they done what they were supposed to do?

Suddenly, Miyako didn't want to go home. She would only snap at her family, which didn't help. So she kept walking. Poromon didn't complain, but she might not have listened this time even if he had.

Her eyes fell on random people. Most ignored her, going about their routines like there was nothing wrong. Like Poromon wasn't even there. They talked to shopmakers, ran through streets. Everything was fine.

Except, now that she was looking, some were watching her. Or rather, watching a stiff Poromon in her arms. She scowled behind lavender hair. Where did they get off doing that? Nothing was happening! Nothing was wrong here! They were just walking-

"Miyako-san?"

Miyako's eyes opened and Hikari was on the crosswalk, Tailmon about her shoulders and bag in her arms. She was getting just as many looks.

Miyako grinned weakly. "Hikari-chan! Hey!" She crossed to meet her. "I thought you went to get your essay done."

"Ahaha," Hikari laughed. "It was a bit easier than it looked and hearing Mom and Dad and Onii-chan talk got to be too much after a while. I just needed some air."

Miyako could definitely relate. "Me too. Wanna join me?"

Hikari smiled a little more and for a moment, she could almost ignore the bags under her friend's eyes. Tailmon twitched but that was all. "If it's not too much trouble."

"Not at all." She turned the way Hikari probably hadn't come from and they walked together, ignoring the whispers and just talking. As friends did. The Digimon were quiet, but then, why would they want to socialize right now? These guys hated them.

Hikari stopped abruptly, looking out at the water below. "Do you think these people are being unfair?"

The yes was right on her tongue and Miyako felt it slip out. "We saved them."

"But we didn't save everyone." Hikari's voice was was measured only by her fingers in Tailmon's fur. "We did what we could, but it wasn't perfect."

"It couldn't have been, Hikari." Tailmon said from her shoulder. "That's not your responsibility. That is no one's responsibility. And perhaps we… we do need to help with the aftermath, but…" She nosed her partner's cheek.

Poromon looked up at Miyako. "Miyako-san… this world is very confusing."

Miyako nodded. It should be easy to want to help people, easy to accept this as a part of being a Chosen Child. But how was being sneered at and attacked easy?

Then both Digimon tensed, and their D-3s beeped wildly, glowing and sparking in the setting sun.

Miyako looked up, as though drawn to it, and for a moment something flickered in the sky. Like an island, right side up, crumbling to pieces. The sky shuddered, turning purple-yellow-black, before the colors returned to normal and the strange island was gone.

What even was that?

"Miyako-san!" Hikari-chan's voice pulled her from her surprise and she looked over where the girl was pointing.

A small child stood on the water, feet barely rippling below. She seemed barely Iori's age, pale skin covered in rags bar the purple hat atop her head. She swore she saw something swish by her legs. Then, the girl dropped into the water, a large splash in the middle of the river.

Poromon squawked and Hikari didn't even think, rushing over the railing with Miyako just behind her. Together, they pulled the young girl's body out and Miyako rushed to a payphone.

Hikari checked her pulse, then made the girl spit water, as Taichi had taught her to do.

As she did so, however, the purple hat went and flopped to the ground, too heavy to stay on.

Hikari yelped and Tailmon hissed. Miyako came back just in time to see the little girl's purple and white furry ears twitch in unison with a similar looking tail.

Miyako gaped for one moment, then rushed to put the cap back on and lay the girl back. They couldn't have this. The Chosen Children were already in the spotlight, now they had a fox girl.

She had to call the others, right? They could figure this out.

Hopefully. The parents definitely couldn't help with this.


A/N: Oh look, here I go again, with the crossovers and the suffering. I love it. Please read and review. I really appreciate it.

Challenges: Three Sided Box hard level, Advent Calendar 2016, Epic Masterclass (interseason) 8. Not-So-Secret Santa, 100 Prompts, 100 MCs Challenge prompt 'tense', Interseason Big Bang on the DFC.