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Leader of the Lonely, Part 1
"We will wait for your return Lord Matt." Snowy said as he and the other Garurumon bowed down before their leader. Matt nodded and walked forward to Snowy.
"Until we meet again, I bestow my leadership onto you Snowy." Matt declared as he placed his hand on Snowy's head.
"Thank you Lord Matt. You will forever be our leader."
Matt sighed deeply as he laid down on Garurumon's back. It had been hard leaving his pack, the only one's who he felt that understood him. That had been until Sam and Sarah had turned up. From those first moments, Matt knew that Sam was like him, not only his behavior but also in his features, blonde hair which was styled like Matt's (except flatten) and glistening blue eyes to boot. He was also strong and silent. Anyone from their situation would be, growing up without a mother. Although Matt knew that he was more fortunate than Sam. At least he could still see his mother every time that he did go over and see T.K, even if that wasn't very often. Sam's mother had died when he was 2 years old. He couldn't even remember what she was like. His father had done his best to bring him up, but with a job as demanding as being a pilot the only options that Sam had a choice of was stay at home with a nanny or fly around the world with his father. Being moved around every couple of years didn't do wonders for anyone's self esteem either, having to make friends only to leave them again so, as Matt found out, Sam didn't really bother to make friends anymore when he arrived at a new school. Matt didn't know much about Sarah's past, apart from what he picked up from talking to Sam. He did know that she was popular at the school that they went to and she did like to talk. Apparently she moved from Zimbabwe, where she was born to escape the uprising of the native Africans there who were starting to kill the white population to take 'their' land back. Those two were enigma's but Matt felt sure that he could get Sam to break his shell and Mimi would be a perfect friend for Sarah. He was just hoping that they wouldn't gang up and turn on the rest of the group when they wanted to stop for a rest.
"What you thinking of Matt?" a soft voice behind him asked. Matt opened his eyes to see Sora looking down at him.
"Nothing much." Matt replied as he sat up, "Just how the rest of the group will react to me returning."
"I think they'll be happy to see you. Especially T.K." Sora told him smiling. But her mind was asking, 'Why can't you open up to me Matt?'
"I just can't believe I was the one who defeated Puppetmon." Matt said all of a sudden, "I thought WarGreymon would have been able to destroy him no problem. But I realize now that defeating the Dark Masters isn't just about strength, it's about defeating them with their weakness as well."
Sora looked at Matt intrigued, wondering what brought this thinking out.
"I noticed with Puppetmon, he was acting like a spoilt brat with everything which lead me to believe that he didn't have any friends. Plus when he got Cherrymon to try and break up my beliefs that everyone was my enemy and not my friend, I knew it was certain." Matt continued.
"Why are you telling me this Matt?"
"I want to apologize." Matt said as he lowered his head, "I want to apologize to you first because I know it hurt you to see two of your friends fighting over nothing."
Sora sighed as she pulled his face up to look at hers, "Look Matt, you weren't fighting for nothing. You believed that you were standing up for yourself and I know that MetalGarurumon didn't regret what he did, so you shouldn't either."
"Thanks Sora." Matt smiled gratefully and looked up to see Eagleamon flying gracefully above them.
"Do you think we should stop for the night Sam?" Matt yelled above as he saw the sky turn from a dark red to a pale blue.
"Yeah, I guess we should crash for the night." Sam called back as Eagleamon landed in front of Garurumon.
Matt stared at the jumping flames of the fire, transfixed on the pattern that they made on the black sky behind them. Then suddenly coughing broke his gaze and everyone around him attempted to comfort him.
"At least that one was shorter than before." Matt commented as he gave a small smile and held his sore throat.
"Yeah, but don't get too excited." Sam told him as he handed Matt a cup of water with his medicine in it, "You've still got a long way to go. So you stay by the fire and I'll take your watch. You need all the sleep you can get."
"I'm not a baby Sam." Matt complained and was just about to start arguing when Sam interrupted him,
"You may not be, but you are ill and you need to get better if we're going to crush Piedmon."
"Bite me." Matt muttered and Sam got up and walked off into the woods, taking his MiniDisk player with him.
"Matt, what did you do that for?" Sora scolded him, "You do need your rest and everyone's worried about you."
Matt just pulled his blanket over his head and muttered his goodnights.
"Boys huh?" Sarah asked, to which Sora nodded.
"They can be so stubborn sometimes."
"We can't change them unfortunately, or else they wouldn't be themselves." and with this Sarah sighed and looked in the direction that Sam had walked off in.
"Will he be alright?" Sora asked as she saw where Sarah was looking.
"Yeah, he'll be fine. He just needs to cool down a bit."
Soon the quiet sounds of singing and the accompanying broke through the thick silence.
"Sometimes you're better off dead,
There's a gun in your hand and it's pointing at your head
You think you're mad, too unstable
Kicking in chairs and knocking down tables
In a restaurant, in a West end town
Call the police, there's a madman around
Running down the underground to a dive bar in a West End town
In a west end town in a dead end world
The east end boys and west end girls
In a west end town in a dead end world
The east end boys and west end girls.
West end girls"
Sora looked at Sarah with a confused look on her face, this wasn't the kind of music she thought Sam would be into. Sarah saw the look and just shrugged her shoulders.
"It was one of his favourite songs as a kid." she simply stated.
"Too many shadows, whispering voices, faces on posters
If, when, why, what?
How much have you got?
Have you got it together?
If so how often?
Which do you choose a hard or soft option?
In a west end town in a dead end world
The east end boys and west end girls
In a west end town in a dead end world
The east end boys and west end girls.
West end girls
West end girls."
At this Matt opened his eyes, it was too much. He knew the inner turmoil that Sam was going through, he was going through the same thing. Matt stiffly got up, avoiding the looks that he got, and walked after Sam. Standing behind the young man, Matt started singing along.
"In a west end town in a dead end world
The east end boys and west end girls
In a west end town in a dead end world
The east end boys and west end girls.
West end girls
You got a heart of glass or a heart of stone
Just you wait till I get you home
Got no future, we've got no past
Here today, built to last
In every city of every nation from Lake Geneva to the Finland Station
In a west end town in a dead end world
The east end boys and west end girls
In a west end town in a dead end world
The east end boys and west end girls.
West end girls
West end girls"
Sam looked up to see Matt's grinning face behind him. Sam chuckled slightly before pulling his headphones off and stood up.
"That seriously isn't your idea of freedom is it?" Matt asked jokingly to which Sam shook his head.
"You must be kidding me." Sam replied, "My idea of freedom is singing and flying."
"Good to hear it."
Sam placed a hand on Matt's shoulder, turned him around and lead him back to camp.
"Now you got to sleep." he commanded, to which Matt gave a mock salute.
"Yes, sir!"
"Stop being so hard on him Sam, he may be younger than us but he can take care of himself." Sarah told him.
"I know. Listen, you two had better get to sleep as well. I'll wake you when it's your watch Sarah." said Sam.
"Alright." Sarah sighed, "I'm going. I've got to get my beauty sleep anyway."
Sam rolled his eyes as he stood up and threw another log onto the fire, ashes flying everywhere.
"I'm hitting the rack." Hawkimon said as he curled up in Sam's sleeping bag, "Call me if a big bad digimon attacks. Just be careful Arachamon doesn't jump up behind ya."
Sam immediately started checking around them, terror in his eyes.
"You know not to say that. Now I'll be up all night."
"I know," came the tired voice, "That's why I said it."
"Great, now I'm all alone with my fear." Sam muttered as he pulled out his model aircraft and started cleaning out the engine from a crash and burn that occurred earlier the previous day.
"Sam?" a quiet voice spoke up. Sam looked up from what he was doing and saw Sora sitting up looking at him.
"What's up Sora?"
"Nothing, I just couldn't sleep." she replied as a cold breeze swept past her and she shivered slightly.
"Here." Sam said and threw a blanket over to her and continued cleaning out the cylinder heads.
"Thanks." said Sora quietly, then looked back up at him. There was just something so familiar about his mannerisms and behavior, if he was older she swore that Matt could almost be Sam. That was it!
"Hey Sam, I never got a chance to ask you yours and Sarah's last names." Sora said, poking the fire with a stick that was near her.
"Sarah's last name is Jones. Mine is...." Sam hesitated, he hadn't even told Matt yet, and he was family. 'She looks trustworthy though' Sam told himself and so finished his sentence.
"My last name is Ishida."
'My last name is Ishida.' Those words were circling around in Sora's head as she looked at Sam strangely. Matt had never mentioned having an older brother.
"I think you might have the wrong idea." Sam said as he noticed the look on her face, "I'm his cousin. Our father's are brothers."
"Matt knows." Sora stated, then after seeing Sam's face fall asked, "Doesn't he?"
Sam lowered his head then shook it in the negative, "No, he doesn't."
"Why haven't you told him?" Sora asked him.
"I just haven't had the heart. Our fathers don't talk at all anymore, not after my dad married my mum."
"Why was that?"
"Because Uncle Bill is one for the old traditions, Matt's real name is Yamato after all, and my mum was English." Sam relayed his story to her, "Dad's a pilot, so he flew all over the world. When he was in England one time he met mum at a bar and the rest is history. It's just that when he returned to Japan to announce their engagement, Uncle Bill being the eldest and grandpa having died two years before, had to approve of the match. He didn't, so dad and mum went behind their backs and got married anyway and Uncle Bill didn't like that so he refuses to talk to him. He'd be so pissed even now if he knew that I was here with Matt, he'd probably give me 50 lashes with a whip."
"Surely your exaggerating a bit." Sora told him, to which Sam shook his head.
"He's a right horrible bastard when you get him pissed. He dragged dad away when he got the chance and nearly beat him to death. I've heard from dad that he's not really like that with Matt, thank God."
Sam's eyes fell on his cousins sleeping form.
"I just wish I could have grown up knowing him. Maybe neither of us would have turned out the way we did, alone."
"Well at least your spending the time with him now. That's all that matters." Sora said smiling.
"Yeah, you're right." Sam smiled back at her, "You got some sleep now kiddo, we've all got a big day tomorrow."
"I'm going to sleep." Sora told him, yawning, "Just don't call me kiddo again."
"Deal."
While the conversation between Sam and Sora had been going on, neither noticed the movement or opening eye's coming from Matt.
'He's my cousin?' Matt thought to himself, 'Why didn't he tell me?'
Matt's mind raced to find an answer but he couldn't formulate one, neither could he fully comprehend what Sam had just said. They were cousins. This thought became too much for Matt, who got up quickly and ran off into the woods.
"MATT WAIT!!!!!!!!!" he heard Sam yell, but he ignored it. The pain of this knowledge being too great to face and kept running. Tears started forming in Matt's eyes as he sprinted and slipped through the thick foliage of the trees, tears that made his vision blurry and not see the rock on the ground in front of him. Tripping on the rock, Matt heard a sickening crack from his ankle and sprawled out on the forest floor. Matt tried to get up, which he did successfully after many tries only to take a step forward and he felt a searing pain shoot through his ankle and he fell down again the pain becoming too great for his body.
"Sora." he whispered as his vision began to blacken and he lost consciousness.