Author's Note: I'm sorry to those who left reviews on the story, but I'm reposting this as a chapter instead of a story. So to those who already read this before, nothing has changed.

Scared of the Dark

Daisuke stared into the darkness. He wasn't sure why, but he found that the supposedly-comforting darkness was revolting to him. A part of him thought that if he focused all of his will, he could make the dark go away. And almost immediately, the other, more rational part rebuked the thought. Of course Daisuke knew it was impossible to chase the darkness away. It was there to stay – or at least until the sun rose to chase the blanket of night away again.

Perhaps it was the recent run-ins with the powers of darkness. The apocalyptic beast that was Kimeramon had left a much deeper scar on Daisuke than he had expected. It was impossible to escape such an ordeal unscathed, Daisuke knew, but this uncertainty, this… fear – worried Daisuke more than a hundred Kimeramon.

Was he afraid of the dark now? He found that particular thought hard to believe. He was Daisuke, bearer of Courage – complete with capital 'C'. He was courage incarnate. To be afraid of something was somewhat foreign to him. Never in his memory had he been afraid – not when he got lost in the mall as a little kid, not when he was about to do public speaking – not even when he was faced with hordes of dangerous, malicious and bloodthirsty digimon waiting to tear his heart out and hand it to the Kaiser on a silver platter. He had always felt a thrill. He was excited to go up and speak his mind, or to wander the mall, or travel the digital world. The concept of fear had just never occurred to him. Daisuke laughed at that. Miyako might call him foolhardy rather than courageous. Not that he ever listened to what Miyako said.

But why now? It was over, wasn't it? Kimeramon had perished under Magnamon's blinding radiance, and the Kaiser – Ken – had repented, or at least left the digital world for good. There had been no sign of the Kaiser for a week now. So why was afraid now, and afraid of something as trivial as the dark?

He ran a hand through his spiky hair. He wasn't used to thinking about his problems. Not because he was repulsed by the idea of thinking, but because he had always viewed dwelling on problems a waste of time and energy – energy that could be diverted towards other things, like kicking the Kaiser's butt to the moon.

A knock on the door broke into Daisuke's thoughts. Taichi Yagami strolled in, hands in his pockets. His casual pose quickly changed to one of concern, however, when he saw Daisuke's face. Hikari followed half a step behind, and her face rapidly mirrored her brother.

"What's wrong?" his mentor asked.

Daisuke shook his head. "I don't know," he confessed. "I just feel…um…" Daisuke struggled for a way to say it to his hero.

"Scared?" Taichi supplied.

Daisuke looked up, somewhat surprised, when Taichi clapped a hand on his shoulder. The older boy gave Daisuke a grin like that of a six-year-old.

"Too scared to admit that you're scared, hm?" Daisuke nodded dumbly. He felt somewhat ashamed that Taichi, the original avatar of courage, saw through him, right into his fearful heart.

Taichi shrugged. "Good", he smiled, "you're human."

Daisuke looked up again. "W-what do you mean?"

"Everyone's scared. Death, failure, the unknown; everyone has something they're afraid of."

"But," Daisuke protested. "I'm the chosen of courage. I can't be afraid!"

"Courage isn't whether you are scared or not. It's what you do with your fear. Take my case for example. Do you remember the story of when my crest first shone?"

Daisuke nodded. Taichi had defied rational thought and reached through an electric fence to save Sora. And, almost as a reward, his crest shone and Agumon morphed into the titanic MetalGreymon to win the day. Daisuke considered it a "crowning moment of awesome", something he was determined to live up to.

"I was scared… Koushiro had said that we could potentially die, and that shook me up really badly. But I reached through, despite my fear, to save Sora – and to save myself. And later, when the eight of us returned to face the Dark Masters, we went willingly, despite our fear. We could have stayed – in fact, our parents wanted us to stay – but somehow, we conquered that fear to save the world. It's not something a couple of eleven-year-olds are expected to do, after all," Taichi added.

"And a pair of eight-year-olds," Hikari finally spoke up. Taichi nodded sheepishly, clearly embarrassed that he had forgotten his own sister.

"But more importantly, Daisuke, tell us what you're afraid of. Maybe we can help," Hikari offered.

"It's…it's…I guess I'm afraid of the dark now," Daisuke blurted out. He cringed in preparation for the laughter that would surely accompany his statement.

None came. The room was oddly silent as the Yagami siblings considered the implications of that statement. Neither of them were strangers to the malignant dark.

Finally, Taichi spoke up. "Is it because of Kimeramon? Or seeing Agumon turn into a darker version of himself? Or perhaps the Kaiser?"

"First one," Daisuke muttered. "I don't know why! Kimeramon's dead and all, and Kais—Ken isn't about to raise another one anyway. But somehow, the concept of Kimeramon scares me. Even when I was brought in front of Myotismon, I didn't feel this way."

"Myotismon – he was smart," Taichi replied. "It didn't make him any less despicable, but he was smart. Kimeramon was a living juggernaut of destruction. There's a difference. But back to darkness… yes, it exists, but don't forget that the dark is a natural part of life. There are pre-destined hours of daylight and similarly pre-destined hours of night. And there are things you can do in the dark that you can't do in the light."

"But the darkness that was Kimeramon… don't forget that there are people fighting against it. People like you and V-mon." Hikari added.

Chibimon twitched in his sleep at the mention of his name, and Daisuke turned to regard the miniature azure dragon fondly.

"I won't tell you not to be afraid of the dark," Taichi said, "But you're not alone in it. And it's what you do with your fear that makes you either a coward or a hero."

Daisuke nodded, and turned back to the balcony window. From beyond, tiny individual beacons illuminated Odaiba. Above the island, far above the reach of the beams floated dark clouds, but they were clouds of peacefulness and dreams, rather than an smothering haze of darkness. Perhaps the blanket of night wasn't so revolting after all.

END

Author's Notes: This is the second story I've written while on the bus, at night, travelling from school (Hamilton) to home (Toronto). For those of you who are familiar with the area… there's a stretch of the 403 (I think it's the 403; it might be the beginning of the 407), just after one leaves Hamilton, where there are very few streetlights, and the hills block an light from the surrounding residential area. I was wondering whether I could write a story about the dark, and here it is! I was also listening to a bunch of somewhat angsty songs too, such as "Time is Running Out" by Muse.

I've been quite inactive as of late too. There's a challenge I've been working on (and slacking off on) so expect that sometime… it will focus on KEN.