Respect or Regret?

By: Aubrie1234

Luckily, Hideaki was fine, but he promised to keep an eye out for the digimon and tell them if he saw it. Afterwords, the Hunters were trying to decide who should go home with Ryouma and keep an eye on him. Ryouma didn't really care, saying he was tired and wanted to get home. Psychemon knew the real reason, however. Ryouma wanted to check up on his family. He didn't mention this to the others, of course, but he knew. Ryouma couldn't go a day without checking up on his family in person. That he knew for certain.

Later, since he spoke up about how he didn't feel any different, the Hunters nominated Psychemon to keep an eye on Ryouma and himself. He was doing just that as he flew Ryouma home as Astamon. Ryouma was unnaturally quiet for some reason.

"...Ryo?" he asked hesitantly.

"Don't call me that." the boy snapped, fiercer than normal. He flinched in response.

"I was just wondering why you've been so quiet. It's not like you to be this quiet, and especially not this snappy." he said. He could feel Ryouma slouch slightly from where the boy was riding on his back, below his neck but only by a few inches.

"Sorry Astamon. It's just..." he sighed, "I don't know. I can't seem to remember anything about that digimon we fought and its been nagging me ever since. I feel like I should know that digimon for more than one reason, but I can't figure out why."

"I'm sure we'll figure it out soon." he said. He knew that was probably a lie, but he wanted to reassure the boy. Seeing his best friend like this hurt him worse than the most terrible wound. Ryouma gave him a sad smile as they landed in front of the DigiQuartz version of his apartment. This version wasn't too far from the truth, in Real World terms. The place was completely abandoned except for him and his family, though it was still as good a shape as it was before it was closed down; which was better than a regular house and almost as good as a 4-star hotel. It's a wonder how no-one's put it back into circulation yet, because of how nice it still is; Even more impressive is how no-one's torn it down yet. This is also the same sentence Ryouma mused over every time he came home. This time, however, he didn't; he just wanted to get back to his apartment.

In just 5 minutes, he had ran to the outside of his apartment, breathing heavily. After he caught his breath and time-shifted back to the Real World, he unlocked the door and entered. Immediately, a young girl, about 8 or so, with silver hair and green eyes ran up to him and hugged his legs tightly.

"Ryo! Where did you go? You were gone so long, I was afraid you might not come back..." she sobbed softly. His eyes softened and he crouched down, bringing her eyes up to meet his.

"Ava, you know I would never leave you if I had the choice. I'm the only one who can take care of you, and I'm not about to go back on that." he said. Psychemon smiled. Ava was the only family Ryouma had left and it was his job to take care of her, since she was his little sister. He had also kept the secret so well-hidden that even Ren and Airu had no idea where he lived or anything about his family. But, since Ryouma had to take care of his sister most of the time, he home-schooled himself; Psychemon had helped with that after he had hatched out of his digiegg. Luckily, Ava was a smart girl and could take care of herself for most of the day, so that gave Ryouma time to learn more about Digimon from Psychemon and go on a Digimon Hunt sometimes. The only things Ava couldn't do were fix a meal for herself and getting to sleep. Fixing a meal was understandable; the sleeping part was confusing. Ava, for some reason, couldn't go to sleep unless Ryouma slept with her or when he sung her a lullaby. But, the strangest thing of all, was that Ava's only lullaby was more of an up-beat rock song from America. Livin' On A Prayer, Psychemon thought it was called. It was an American song, but she loved it just the same. It was the only song that would put her to sleep. Ava then turned her gaze to the digimon.

"Yay! It's Psychemon!" she squealed, letting go of her brother to pounce on the poor digimon. He was knocked out of his thoughts by this and was very surprised. Ryouma laughed at the look on his face before taking off his shoes (replacing them for slippers) and sitting down to watch what would happen next. Psychemon blinked, looked down at the snuggling ball of clothes and long silver hair on top of him, and sighed.

"Hello, Ava."

"Let's play, let's play, let's PLAY!" she said, jumping up and down on his tummy. There were several 'oof's and tries of getting his breathing back before he agreed. Even for an eight-year-old, it felt like she was crushing him. She was only like, what, 55 pounds? Ryouma, however, was smiling and it grew immensely before Psychemon had agreed. He was on the verge of laughing at the fate of his digimon, much to Psychemon's chagrin.

"Yay! DRESS-UP AND TEA PARTY TIME!" All of Psychemon's color visibly became quite dull as he paled. Ryouma could barely keep in his laughter as Ava dragged the digimon to her bedroom, a horrified look frozen on his face. As soon as Ava and poor Psychemon were out of earshot, Ryouma burst out laughing. He couldn't help it and besides, he needed it after a tense day. It took him a while, but he eventually calmed down enough to stop.

I haven't laughed like that since I started Hunting. he thought, but then his face took on a sad expression, Which was also the last time I ever really saw Ava or Psychemon this happy. I never want them to be hurt by my actions ever again. But, I can't change the past. I have to look towards the future, not reminisce over what I've done. He then sighed before standing up and heading to the small kitchen, hoping to make a meal before Psychemon started pleading to be let go and obviously being denied, which would make him go in there and tell Ava to leave Psychemon alone for the time being. She would whine as usual before finding something else to do while Psychemon would praise Ryouma for saving him.

Ryouma had just gone back into his room and was now reading a book by lamplight. Psychemon had (surprisingly) not called for help and had endured tea time. He had probably done that to keep stress off of Ryouma because of what happened earlier that day. Anyway, after dinner, Psychemon had watched some TV with Ava until it was time to go to bed. Ryouma sang her to sleep and had gotten dressed for bed, which then led up to now. Ava had invented a special bed for Psychemon to sleep in a while back, which he was now sleeping in on the other side of Ryouma's room. Ava was very smart for an 8-year-old and there was almost nothing she didn't understand. Back to Ryouma: he was reading his book until an hour later, where he put the bookmark inside it, put it on his nightstand, and turned out the light, going to sleep. However, that night's sleep wasn't going to last long.

"Stay back, Ryouma. Keep Ava out of sight."

"Stay away from our children!"

"Ryouma... Please, protect Ava... No matter what..."

"He'll come back again... All too soon if he knows about the two of you..."

Ryouma shot up in bed, panting. He was shivering slightly and covered in a cold sweat. Psychemon was by his side, looking at him with fearful eyes. Ava was there as well, holding his left hand with sad eyes. She had gone through this same scenario for several years already.

"It's okay now, Ryo." she said, gently patting his hand. He didn't hear her, concentrating on his nightmare. Before, it had been a bunch of twisted images. After ShamanWereGarurumon had attacked, it had gotten a bit clearer, but not entirely. Right then, though, he managed to make out voices. Two voices he knew all too well.

Mom... Dad... he thought, tears starting to well up in his eyes. Psychemon was surprised, but not Ava. She seemed to know what was going on, somehow. She always did.

"Ryouma, are you alright? You were tossing and turning and whimpering. I was just about to get Ava when she came in." Psychemon explained. Ryouma barely heard him.

"My nightmare... It was worse this time. I heard Mom and Dad telling me to keep Ava safe and out of sight..." Ryouma muttered, bringing his legs closer to his chest and wrapping his arms around them (Ava's hand had slipped out of his as he moved it away), resting his head on top. He tightly shut his eyes.

"This nightmare is becoming too much!" He then looked at them with teary eyes, "I want this to end. I don't think I can take it much longer."

"I know you can, big brother. I'm always here to help, and so is Psychemon." Ava said. Ryouma smiled. And gently wrapped his arms around his sister.

"Thank you, Ava. You don't know how long I've wanted someone to say that to me, even though you and Psychemon have for the past few years." he said, then pulled away, "Now, why are you up?" She yawned slightly.

"Even though you sang to me, I couldn't get to sleep." Ryouma chuckled, then stood up and picked her up.

"Then how about I sleep with you? It might be better for the both of us." Ava barely heard him. Her eyelids were already drooping. He walked out, leaving Psychemon to turn out the lights, which he did. He then went to Ava's room and peeked inside. Ava's room was very big and had a Twin bed, in case Ryouma ever had to sleep with his sister (which he did, occasionally). The room had many stuffed animals all over the place and posters hanging on the walls, which were covered in pink wall paper. Ryouma was already asleep with Ava laying against him, also asleep. Psychemon smiled, then slowly and quietly closed the door.

"You deserve some rest after today, sir." Psychemon said, then returned to his bed and went to sleep.

Happy New Year! Sorry if this took so long to make, but I wasn't in the mood for Digimon lately. Just Code Lyoko. By the way, I'm thinking of making a Code Lyoko story, not a crossover. Tell me if you guys want one, and please read and review!