Lullaby
Sora sat at the edge of the pond where they had decided to camp for the night. A light breeze playfully rippled through her drying hair. She had to admit, it felt nice to take her soccer helmet off once in a while, if even for a minute or two. She was the only girl she knew who suffered from perpetual hat hair. Mimi's long, smooth hair could probably survive an atomic blast. She giggled. Tai's looked as if it had.
The sun was setting, it's last golden, dying rays reaching across the water towards her. No matter if it wasn't a real sun, or a real pond. It felt real to her, so for all intents and purposes, it was real. As real as her or Biyomon or Piedmon. As the sun finally sank into the mountains, the breeze died down and the air grew colder. She rose and headed back to the fire and the delicious smells of their dinner.
Tai was, as usual, too impatient to wait for his food to cool and was nursing burnt fingers and tongue. TK and Kari were waiting patiently, fanning the steam off their food gently. Izzy was doing what he did 99 percent of the time: clicking away on his laptop. Sighing, she carried his dinner over and placed it in front of him, at the same time drawing away his favorite toy.
"Hey," he squawked indignantly, "I was working on that! I want to input all the new digimon we saw today into my analyzer program tonight. Then, at least, we might have some idea of what to expect, instead of getting any more nasty surprises."
Sora chuckled. "I doubt we'll ever know what to expect here. The digital world operates on a completely different set of rules than our world. Just ask them." She gestured to their digimon, who were busy devouring their share of the meal. "You should follow Tentomon's example. No sense working on an empty stomach. There's no telling when we'll have a good meal again."
Izzy sighed. "I guess you're right." She smiled. Once you got through to him, Izzy was really a nice, level-headed boy. Not at all like Tai. Or Matt, for that matter. As she ate her share of the food, she thought about Matt. She wondered if he was okay, if he was also enjoying the luxury of a fire and warm food. She hoped so.
They ate in silence for a while, content to enjoy a meal that was filling and warm. Although they were in no danger of starving in the digital world, Sora could remember many, many meals that were less than adequate. Finding enough food to satisfy eight human children and even hungrier digimon was rarely easy.
She noticed TK looking hungrily at what was left of their dinner. There had been enough for some people to have seconds. She hadn't, but then she was older and was more concerned about the smaller children. She wondered what Mimi and Joe were up to. Were they also gazing into a campfire with full stomachs?
As they began to settle down around the fire, she couldn't help thinking they were missing some people. Matt was off on his own, determined to find his destiny and purpose alone. Well, not entirely alone. Gabumon was with him. And Joe and Mimi were back at the edge of the forest. She hoped Mimi would find the strength to face her fear and overcome her sorrow and grief. Despite her often whiny, spoiled-brat exterior, Mimi was an extremely sensitive person. Her grief over the digimon they'd lost was deep and sincere. Sora could understand why the girl was reluctant to risk losing any more to Piedmon and company. She hoped Joe could bring her around soon.
Joe. As the oldest of the Digidestined, he took it upon himself to look after them all. It was this devotion that made him seem perfect as the holder of the crest of reliability. He often used humor, sometimes at the expense of his own dignity, to lighten the morale and comfort the group. She hoped, knew he was there for Mimi now. She sighed. As much as she understood why the group had separated, she devoutly wished they would reunite soon. It was only as a team that they could hope to defeat Piedmon.
She hoped Tai would eventually see that. Branded the unofficial leader of the digidestined, what he lacked in maturity he more than made up for in, well, recklessness. He was always the first to charge into a dangerous situation, and the last to leave. And somehow, despite his recklessness, he always seemed to land on his feet, often having saved the day. Either he was extremely lucky or favored by some god or other. Her greatest fear was that one day he would pay the price for his reckless manner. Though he by no means held the monopoly on headstrong stubbornness.
She often thought the reason Tai and Matt fought so much was because they were so much alike. Both were stubborn to a T, both shared a sense of responsibility for their younger siblings. No that she would ever tell either one that, even if they believed her.
As the fire slowly burned down to glowing coals, she divided the last bit of food between TK and Kari. They flashed her grateful smiles before finishing up. Soon, the day's toiling had caught up to them and the children were yawning and rubbing their eyes. She was helping TK snuggle into the pile of leaves they used for blankets when the little boy looked up at her solemnly.
"Matt's okay, isn't he, Sora? It's awfully dark tonight." She let the ghost of a smile cross her face. Until Kari had joined them, TK had been the youngest and smallest of the group, a position he had found insulting because everyone treated him like a child. But it was times like this that Sora was reminded just how young they all were. She still found it hard to believe that the fate of the digital world, maybe even the real world, depended on a group of children who hadn't even hit puberty yet.
"I'm sure he's okay, TK. He has Gabumon with him, remember? Our digimon are here to protect us."
The younger boy nodded, his worry somewhat diminished. "Like Patamon protects me." He was about to say something but was interrupted by a yawn. Sora lightly brushed a stray strand of hair from his face.
"Go to sleep now, okay?" Around her, the other children were doing the same. With a sigh, Izzy powered down his laptop and carefully stowed in his backpack. The digimon, too, had curled up beside their children. But even though they were tired, sleep did not come easily to them. They lay in silence, staring up at the moon and star-laden sky each lost in their own thoughts that were more similar than they would have guessed.
"Sora?"
She sighed. It was going to be one of those nights, allright. "Yes, TK?"
"I miss my mommy."
"We all do, TK."
"Even you?" The question caught her by surprise. Her relationship with her mother had always been somewhat strained, and even though they had bonded somewhat during their short return to Earth, she still had a hard time thinking about her mother. TK's question, while perfectly innocent, had raised feelings in her that she would rather not address now.
"Even me." The conversation had not gone unnoticed by the others. Kari propped herself on her arms and looked around.
"I miss Mom and Dad, Tai." Her voice was strong, but Sora could hear the longing and regret in it. Tai did too, because he sat up and regarded his sister in the moonlight.
"Me, too. But it's not like we're never going to see them again. I mean, we'll probably go home sooner or later. Unless we're stuck in the digital world forever." Kari's eyes had opened progressively wider, and now they were starting to fill with tears. Sora sighed in exasperation. Tai could be about as sensitive as a block of wood. Getting up, she sat down next to the girl and put an arm around her shoulder.
"Ignore him, Kari," she said, shooting Tai a nasty glance, "He doesn't know what he's talking about." The short, elfish girl looked up at her.
"So we will go home?"
"Absolutely."
Izzy stirred. "I wonder what my parents are doing now." His eyes brightened as he pictured them. Even though they weren't his biological parents, they were still his parents and loved him very much. Of all the children, he had told only Sora and Joe the whole story. The rest knew that something had happened on Earth, but not what. The reason was simple: though he wasn't ashamed of his parents, he wasn't ready yet to face the others, especially since he hadn't sorted out all of his feelings.
The children sat in silence, each feeling the familiar homesickness wash over them as they thought about everything they had left behind. TK began to sniffle, trying to hide it behind his hands. He hadn't meant to start crying, but he felt as it everyone had left him, even Matt. sat down between him and Kari and drew them to her side. He quickly wiped his face and looked away, hoping she hadn't seen his tears.
Sora was at a loss. She experienced the same loneliness and homesickness that the others did, but she usually threw herself into helping everyone else out in order to distract herself. Now, seeing TK's misery mirrored on the other's faces, she didn't know what to do.
"Mom used to sing songs to me when I had a bad dream or couldn't fall asleep." TK's voice was wistful.
"Mine too." Kari nodded in agreement.
"Sing me a song, Sora. Please? So I don't miss my mom so much."
She started to refuse, then saw how hungrily both TK and Kari looked at her, their eyes pleading. She sighed.
"Okay, but you have to go to sleep after, ok?" They nodded, and as she began to tuck them in to the warm leaves, her voice rang out across the pond, the simple melody clear and true.
"Lay your head down,,
and sleep on my shoulder.
Lay your head down,
and start a new dream."
The other children lay still, mesmerized, carried away by the sweet voice to happy memories and loved ones far away. Even the fire stopped rustling, as if to listen also.
"And for tonight,
the moment is over.
Drift in a lullaby,
here where the stars reside
and angels are always seen."
The notes carried away from the pond, through the forest and across the river to another cluster of glowing coals, and the two figures who sat hunched over it. Matt looked up as the first few words washed over him, carrying love and a peace he had seemed to lack lately. For a moment, he let himself forget his quest, his pain, and simply listened. Next to him, Gabumon watched his friend, and a small, satisfied smile replaced the worry that had been evident.
"And lay your head down,
the stars, they have whispered.
Hear what they say
and know that it means:
the moon is your guide,
the stars they have kissed her."
And still farther the gentle melody traveled, till it reached the ears of another small group of world-weary travelers gathered around a fire in the sand. Joe and Mimi listened, enraptured and content, for the moment, in their lives, reassured by the clear tones that, for the moment, all was right in the digital world.
"As she flows gently by,
light as a baby's sigh,
Safe on a fairy-tale stream.
And start a new dream."
All over the digital world, the song spread, leaving in it's wake contentment and a peaceful tranquillity. Digimon large and small, good and evil, heard it and knew it's meaning. And so, as the moon shone brightly down over the ocean and shore, mountains and forests, over the city and desert, the turmoil and conflict was vanquished, if only for a moment, and in it's place reigned love and tranquillity. All this while the moon shone down on the sleeping children.
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