GONE WITH THE WIND

Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended; I do not own Digimon nor do I own the song "Chapter One" by Lifehouse. The only thing I do own is the storyline.

1. CHAPTER ONE

"Nana naa na naa, nana na naa" a certain auburn haired girl hummed to herself as she took the key of her apartment out of her bag.

It was a Saturday afternoon and the weather forecast had predicted a lovely weather, despite it being just spring. So, she had decided to wear a blue well-fitting jeans and a flowing red top with spaghetti straps that morning; courtesy of Mimi, who had made it her personal mission to introduce her to the wonderful world of fashion and style. And although they didn't always agree on what was wearable and sometimes a little, let's say, too revealing, her courses had worked their magic to transform her from a tomboy into a more girly girl over the years.

'Where could they all have gone? I mean, they're not at Tai's, Matt didn't have band practice but he wasn't home either and Mrs. Tachikawa said Mimi's not out shopping but she couldn't tell where else she might've gone to... No sight of Joe, Izzy, Kari or TK either... Something very strange is going on here.'

Frowning at the door because of this, which, if there were any witnesses present, would've probably looked like she was angry at the entrance for not opening on pure willpower, she thought: 'Oh well, guess I'll have to spend the rest of the day on my own.'

When she was about to insert the key in the lock, though, a sudden gust of wind from behind her almost made her drop it and sent shivers up her back immediately, prompting an eerie presentiment. All worries about her friends' whereabouts were put aside and alarm bells in her head went off, ringing heavily to the point of near deafness. That is, if real bells could go off in one's mind, in this case resulting in near imaginative deafness.

However, when she turned around, expecting some sort of change, even considering a mugger standing right behind her in an attempt to tackle her and break into her house, nothing seemed to be out of place. Except maybe the sunshine that had disappeared, clouds having moved in front of it, which made her corridor look like it was drained of colour, a fact that only enforced her paranoia.

The feeling of looming darkness wouldn't subside.

After staring down the corridor a bit longer though, inspecting every possible cause, she shook it off as an unclosed window in the hallway a couple of floors below and turned around to put the key in the door lock. She took one last glance behind her, frowning at the strange airstream and odd fading colours, and still not seeing anything out of the ordinary she entered her apartment.

KABOOM! A red balloon exploded right into her surprised face and confetti flew up in the air, covering her in a rain of coloured circles of paper.

For a moment of sheer unknowingness in which she instantly shifted her body so that it was ready to beat the hell out of her assailants, that was all she could see. But when the colourful curtain disappeared, she could make out seven familiar faces smiling up at her, others in tow.

"Happy birthday, Sora!" they all wished her.

Indeed, it was Sora's 16th birthday and her friends had gone through a lot of trouble throwing her a surprise birthday party. They had been busy for two weeks planning it, and more importantly keeping it hidden from her, which was rather nasty seeing as she could see through people pretty easily.

She dropped her fighting stance, realising that muggers usually don't throw confetti at their victims, and was dragged inside to enjoy the traditional customs birthdays were all about. Barely having time to take it all in and curse herself for having forgotten her own birthday, she had to endure lots of impediments such as holding in her breath for a long time due to being hugged to death by everyone present in the room, or using the most facial muscles possible because of her constant smile when she could finally use oxygen again and saw her friends making a big happy fuss handing over their presents.

Well, "impediment" may not be the appropriate word in this context, but from a subjective point of view, it was certainly fitting.

Sora felt her heart swell of joy, and it finally set in: from this day on, she was officially 16 years old. Every ounce of previous obscurity vanished at this realisation.

'This means we've known each other for 5 years already... 5 years since we became the Digidestined.' Happy times were remembered as their wild adventures sprang into mind.

However, the ginger haired girl was pulled away from her trip down memory lane when she perceived what her friends and mother had done to her living room. Her mouth almost fell open because of sheer amazement at its metamorphosis.

Her living room, which had been a combination of white, beige and brown shades now more resembled a circus. Places where cupboards, tables and chairs usually, and as far as she knew, stood were now transformed into rainbow coloured attributes, laden with food and drinks. That is, if popcorn, pancakes, cake and fizzy drinks can be considered edible items.

Music was drumming through several speakers she presumed were Matt's contribution; ribbons and streamers were spread all over, a larger banner with "HAPPY BIRTHDAY SORA!!" hanging from the ceiling, which was most likely the girls' doing, and everywhere Sora looked everybody was having a good time. In short, a real circus, or as some high school students like to call it: a 'party', minus animals that is.

At least, that's what she thought anyway, until she saw two of her friends pass by.

"I'm telling you, TS, she's going to ask me out any minute now" Davis said confidently – well, as far as looking confident goes with a mouthful of various pieces of food. TK, who was walking beside the aforementioned boy in turn opened his mouth to bring his friend out of this dream world and ask him how he managed to produce words at all, but settled for a mere sigh. He was used to Davis' inexplicable powers of fitting enormous amounts of food inside his mouth and still being able to pronounce understandable words while doing so. And he knew Davis would never admit there was even the slightest possibility he could be wrong about the subject, something the never ending misspelling of TK (seriously, how hard can it be to spell two letters correctly?) proved.

Yep, her living room had definitely been morphed into a circus, 'animals' included. Sora smiled at their antics and praised her friend, about whom the two were bickering about, lucky. Although, at the same time, she couldn't help but feel tinges of jealousy directed at Kari. At least she had someone who loved her, Sora reasoned. And, in her case, two someones.

Don't get her wrong, though, Sora loved all of her friends dearly and would never say one bad word about them. But she did envy them.

It wasn't only Kari who made her feel this way, Mimi, her best friend did too. For you see, Mimi and Sora don't exactly share the same interests, or social groups for that matter. In fact, all they share is their friendship, that sprouted on their adventures in the Digital World. If it hadn't been for that fateful event, they probably would've never spoken to each other at all. Whereas Sora is the sportive loving one, not popular at all, Mimi is the kind of girl who never crosses the aisle to take her schoolbooks out of her locker without her fan club swarming around her like bees who admire their queen.

But, unlike other bee queens you see in teenage movies, Mimi never acts snobby or bites off noses, regardless of what one might think – unless of course, those people deserve it, which is probably why Sora and Mimi got along so well: they are both kind-hearted people. The fact that they've gone to another world could also play part in this friendship, though.

She looked about her and found the pink haired, short skirted, good looking girl talking to a couple of boys who looked like they were about to drool on her every minute. Mimi, on the other hand, was doing her best not to seem too annoyed.

Well, that was an obvious failure.

Boys can be so dense! She could practically hear Mimi bellowing this, as she had complained about it on several previous occasions.

Sora decided it would be best not to mingle in the conversation and save herself from what would probably end up in Mimi trying to hook her up with some cute guy at the party, leaving the ones in front of her to stare after her as if she had been a shiny object that had dazzled them so much they were too slow to call back after her.

One of her closest friends, Tai, approached her and put a party hat on her head.

"Why're you standing here all by yourself, birthday girl? This is no way to act on a party" he admonished, waving his finger at her.

"Not everyone is like you Tai, having an inexhaustible amount of energy to dance the entire time."

"Meh, they should, though! You didn't see this one coming, did you Sor?" he said with a goofy grin plastered on his face.

"No, I have to say, I'm just speechless", the obviously happy birthday girl replied. "But very surprised you managed to pull this one off."

"Yeah, I have to admit, keeping everything a secret from you was one hell of a job," Tai stated putting his arm behind his head laughing a bit nervously. "They threatened to put me in a closet and put tape over my mouth because they knew you'd see I had something to hide from you."

"But I didn't cave in" he announced proudly.

"I already thought you were acting suspiciously", Sora pulled him out of his fantasies.

"I believe Matt promised me two large boxes of chocolate cookies if I shut up. Hmm, better let him know, you know, just in case he forgot," Tai decided with a big wink, quickly leaving with a hungry stomach, not having heard his friend's reply.

'Same old goofy Tai.'

Turning around to pour herself a drink, she saw Joe and Izzy sitting only a metre or two away from where she was standing, debating on what seemed to be either a scientific or computer-related subject. Or both.

"Say guys, why aren't you dancing like everyone else? No need to crawl in a corner, I mean look at Tai" she said, glancing at the improvised dance floor where the boy in question seemed to be shaking his body on the music conspicuously. If it were due to alcohol or an overdose of sugar, she couldn't tell.

"Are you kidding me? I'd rather be doing homework than perform such dangerous moves which are bound to result in some sort of injury." Joe replied instantly, unaware of Sora's ironic hint.

"We were actually discussing an important matter."

"Really? Just what may this important matter be?" she asked the redhead politely, anticipating an excited explanation full of superintelligent terms mere mortals weren't capable of understanding.

"Well, I guess we could tell you seeing as you're the Bearer of Love and all." Izzy shifted his eyes to Joe, who addressed Sora with a question she had not at all expected.

"You know the girl who sits two rows in front of me on the left side in my Trigonometry class? I think I like her. Like like her. And I've got absolutely no clue how to make her notice me. Could you give me some advice?" he practically begged of her.

"Yeah, and the girl arguing with Davis right now, you know Yolei, the one with the lavender hair and the huge temper from Kari's year, has a crush on me. Any idea how to make clear to her I don't exactly return her feelings with me actually coming out alive at the end?" Izzy added worriedly.

"Uh... Well, uhm... I gotta go to the bathroom for a sec, sorry" she excused herself with a small smile, hurrying off to the other side of the house. She didn't turn around again to see her friends' baffled looks at her strange behaviour.

'What the hell is wrong with me?! Why couldn't I answer their questions? It's not like I wouldn't have known what to answer, I carry the Crest of Love goddammit. Yeah, I should just go back and tell them what to do. Joe just has to.. Uhm.. Well, Izzy's got to... Argh! This is insane! I can't even answer them in my head! What's wrong with me?! Love is supposed to be my area of expertise, right? Why else would the Digital World entrust the Crest to me?'

'Have you forgotten how long it took for you to actually figure out its meaning? And it's not like that kind of love is the only one in the world. Romantic feelings are completely off limits for you. It's pathetic, really.'

Sora looked at herself in the mirror, her hands firmly gripping onto the sides of the washbasin. "Great, now my own head is talking back to me."

But what she saw only increased her feelings of insanity. She could've sworn she had switched on the light when entering the small bathroom, but as she reopened her eyes at the sink, all was covered in darkness, the only light source coming from the full moon and a lamppost in her street which shone through the window above the bath tub. Frowning at what appeared to be her own stupidity, she tried again. No lights.

To top it off, the same strange wind she had felt in the corridor made her shiver again. Knowing there was no way it could've come from the closed window, she began to panic somewhat. Opening the bathroom door again, preferring a blunder with her friends over an unknown force creeping her out, she made her way back to the living room, practically running to get there.

Something was out of place. The perfectness that came with living with a control freak mother, at least in household matters, should not allow the bright-polished cupboards or the Mr. Proper floor to be grey, not even when it was rampaged by a bunch of teenagers for at least 4 hours. And were the walls always this void of colour? Come to think of it, her guests were not acting like they normally would on a party. The vivid teens who were always filled with exuberant energy now were coming her way with a look that could come right out of a zombie movie.

There was only one explanation for their strange behaviour: this was a dream.

'More like a nightmare', she added for herself. 'Okay, nothing to worry about, they're just a little drunk, that's all.' Unconsciously, she started to put distance between herself and the others.

'This cannot be happening' she thought, 'wasn't I just at the party? I can't remember going to bed already...'

When she felt the wall bump into her back, the gap she had created between them started to close up again.

"What's wrong, Sora? Aren't you happy we all came to see you?" Matt asked her.

"This is no way to act on a party." Tai's expression, that once had been like it had always been, goofy and smiling at her, suddenly contorted into a hungry smile. She had never, not once in the 10 years she had known him, seen him like this. As a reaction, she tried to move even further backwards, but the stupid wall kept her from moving another inch.

"Yeah Sora. What's up girl? Are you sad, because I have boys lining up before me and you haven't even kissed one?"

Sora could not believe it, her ears must have been playing tricks on her. How could Mimi know what she had been contemplating not an hour ago? Moreover, why would she even bring it up, especially at a time like this? Surprise and hurt were evident on her face, conflicting with each other as to which was the stronger one. Hurt won.

"You're right Mimi. I mean, I'm just 14 and even I got a boyfriend. Isn't that right, smoochiekins?" she asked the blonde boy beside her seductively, TK himself responding in a way equally sensual.

More pangs of hurt were sent straight to her heart, visibly causing her to wince.

"You want us to show you what love is, dear Sora?" zombie Tai added. Not waiting for her reply, which she could never have given anyway due to her state of utter shock, he grabbed Mimi around her waist moving his hand slowly, but closely following the outlines of her white skirt towards her bum.

Sora's eyes welled up at the sight, anger and hurt filling her mind, so much that she was completely stupefied by the event enfolding only two metres away from her to even feel them shed.

Mimi, in turn, weaved her hands through Tai's wild brown hair and moved her body so that it was entwined with the young man whose hands and other body parts clung to her as if they were afraid to never feel a thing again if they were to let go, letting her other hand race over his body the same way. Their lips seemed to be waging a war against each other, moving too fast for the bystanders to even catch which ones belonged to which person.

At this sight, repulsive to the core, Sora closed her eyes shut, causing more tears to roll down her cheeks. Her legs gave way under her and she slid down the wall.

'No more.'

The kiss, if it could even be described as such, made Sora flinch for what felt like the umpteenth time that evening. She felt her heart change matter. What was alive and palpating just moments ago was now twisting and contracting, until she felt it to be made of something that resembled stone. An inevitable gasp was released at the feeling of it being out of place.

She wanted to toss it away, burn it, do anything in her might to remove the large amount of hurt coursing through her body. However, there was no time to consider which option would fit best as she felt it fall from her chest in slow motion, collapsing on the floor and shattering to an infinite number of pieces, too small to even consider picking up, leaving nothing but a hollow hole in its wake.

The auburn haired girl couldn't care less.

"Stop it" she managed to whisper.

As everyone present was busy watching the pink princess and the goggle-wearing football star, even cheering them on, no one caught those faint words.

Not able to take any more of it, Sora yelled: "Stop it!"

Several heads turned in the direction of the high pitched noise this time, but something was amiss. Time seemed to go slower than usual and by the time the 'couple' had managed to untangle themselves it appeared to have stopped entirely.

"What's happening?" a teary-eyed Sora asked, still in a daze.

Out of nowhere, wind started to blow, signalling a black hole opening in the ceiling above her almost instantly. Her hair swept across her face, almost preventing her from seeing an unknown small form descending from the fissure that warped her living room and its occupants, who already looked drained from colour.

The figures standing in the middle of the living room remained unmoved by this strange phenomenon. Unlike Sora, who was petrified. What could possibly cause a dark portal to open in her house? Heck, what would cause a portal to open anywhere? Her question was soon answered as a voice boomed from the ceiling, not showing a face or any other human part to indicate where exactly it came from. The only prominent features she could make out after a couple of moments of squinting, were two long arms protruding from the small bodice of the strange creature, which only added to her worries and fright.

"Do you see now?" the oddly familiar sounding voice called out, "Are they really your friends if they put you through something like this?"

"Who are you? And what do you want with me?" she replied in a courageous attempt.

"Ah, already a question I cannot answer for the time being. I can however tell you I am no enemy and that I am here to help you."

"Help me, with what?" Sora asked suspiciously.

"With your view on love, dear child."

At this, a frown creased her forehead, both at suspicion and confusion, and a feeling of truth backfiring at her triggered a blush of embarrassment, as if she had been caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar. Memories about lovey-dovey couples crept into her head along with her doubts as to what the true definition of love was. She had pondered its meaning for countless times, never getting a satisfactory conclusion. Sometimes it seemed to be happiness and caring for other persons, whereas other times, it looked like all it resulted in was hurt and broken hearts.

Of course, she had unlocked her crest years ago when she realised why her mother kept her from doing the things she wanted; she did it out of worry and concern for her only child, having a strong urge to protect her from any harm. But as the years passed, Sora came to realise that that might not be the only love out there.

Being a fervent fan of romantic novels she had seen her fair share of love stories, movies, books, TV shows; name it, she knows it. Her friends had always ascribed this passion to her affinity to her crest, but for Sora herself, there was more to it. She had taken an interest in love stories because she simply wanted to find out what it meant, and not just settle for a fragment of its essence.

However, as time progressed, she began to despair if she would ever retrieve what she was looking for. The longer she searched, the more she leaned towards the more negative connotation, which, in this particular situation, could not be a good thing.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Tell me this instant what you've done to my friends!"

"I have done nothing to them what they didn't want to do themselves. What you've just witnessed was of their own free will, I am merely here to offer you an exit to your feelings. You shouldn't deny them, for I can see right through you."

The mysterious being did have a point. Her feelings were mixed up badly as of late, almost going as far as to drive her to the point of depression. Maybe it weren't so bad if she were to admit to his inquiry?

"What will happen to my friends and my mother if I were to go?" Sora spoke carefully "I have to be sure they're safe..."

Every other normal person would not even consider this given option, but Sora was not a normal girl. Not since that evening that is; not after she been hurt tremendously by those she believed could be trusted at all times, betrayed by her closest friends who made a fool out of her in front of every other invited person, not after her dreams and thoughts were smashed in a time span of a few minutes and were lying on the ground, shattered and visible for everyone to humiliate her even more. This was a reality she could not live with.

"They will be fine once we have returned to my residence, I assure you."

As she had not found the courage to stand up again during the 'incident', she now pushed herself to her feet in order to escape the aching hole inside her where her heart had once been.

Her eyes darkened, tears no longer drowning her eyesight, and with clenched jaws and fists, her gaze befell those who were frozen in time.

Tai with a lipstick smothered mouth.

Mimi and her triumphant smirk, looking directly at Sora.

Matt, who was cheering them on the most.

Kari and TK, resembling the embracing pose of their older friends.

Joe, who appeared to have solved his love problem on his own and whose hands were wrapped around the Trigonometry girl.

Izzy, whose mouth was open and fist was up in the air, and if the flow of time had not been affected would've probably yelled something to the couple as well.

Her mother, who she had not seen before, with a malicious smile plastered on her face like the others who had been cheering on the ones closest to her.

And the rest of the crowd, who looked at her wickedly, enjoying her previous breakdown, daring her to fall to pieces even more.

Filled with disgust and not able to take more of this, she averted her gaze. She needed to run away, run off with the only one who seemed to give her a solution and a way out of her crumbled world.

"I will come. And I no longer care what happens to them. I can never forgive them for what they've done to me." Her eyes darkened another tint at this and she turned to her saviour. "They're no friends of mine."

"Take me with you."

"As you wish, my child", the figure replied, a clear hint of victorious laughter in its voice.

The vortex once again began to open, sweeping her hair in front of her eyes as the wind blew into her strongly. She sneaked one last peek at her own world, at the stars, shining brightly now alongside the eternal moon. No remorse could be seen in her posture.

As the swirling darkness engulfed her and her living room was warped for the second time in half an hour, every happy memory was banned from her mind, every friendly gesture ever made towards her, every joyous moment; erased as she was transported, like a film that was played in reverse, unravelling her life and only maintaining the bad times.

She didn't bother to care though. All she wanted was escape.

And thus, she vanished, leaving her old life behind.

Well, what did you think? This is my first fanfic ever and my first attempt at writing something remotely creative for a change, so be nice plz. :)

-x-